Dreamwalker's Tale: The Descent

Chapters

This Is Fine
No Really, It's Fine
Putting on a Show
Food
The Sewer Level
The One
Invincible
Misconceptions
Legacy
Epilogue
Might and Magic

This Is Fine

I was content.

Some minor inconveniences bothered me ever so slightly, but they failed to make a dent in just how content I felt. It was a little bit too warm for my tastes, mostly due to my work and the late afternoon sun. I was sweaty. Very, very sweaty. And shortly after I started working, I had managed to take a very unfortunate step and a jolt of pain ran up my left front leg. That had been a few hours ago, but it still occasionally hurt a little if I put my hoof down just right. Or wrong. I just shrugged it off and continued on. There was enough work to be done, after all.

A loud caw overhead made me pause and look up. White Tip flapped his wings quickly and landed in one of the lower branches of a nearby apple tree. And he stared at me menacingly. I chuckled. “I know what you’re going to say and yeees, I’m going to take a break soon. Sheesh.” I shook my head and moved over to the next tree. I heard White Tip fly off again and gave it little mind. My feathery buddy had been helping out the entire time. Well, as far as he could.

Another tree and another bushel full of apples. I tilted my head to the left and heard a quiet but satisfying pop in my neck. I was about to levitate the full bushel over to the cart when I heard my pet return, his wingbeat indicated that he tried to hover and the explanation for that followed a second later.

A small stream of water splashed on my head.

“Oi!” I complained and looked up as soon as the attack was finished. White Tip hovered over me and still carried the wooden ladle from the water bucket in his claws. “What’s gotten into you? What was that for?” He cawed again, quickly flew back to the cart and put the ladle back into the bucket. And then he sat on the edge of the cart, stared me down and cawed again.

I huffed and rolled with my eyes. “You’re such a menace sometimes,” I grumbled, but I could already feel a smile grow on my muzzle as I picked the bushel up and carried it over to the cart. I placed it down next to the other three. A single empty one remained. I was tempted. I could pick it up, fill it up, and the cart would be done. Ready to return to the barn. To be emptied, before the next round started. It would be a decent opportunity for a break.

But I knew myself. I would not stop. If fatigue or a heat stroke would not force me to do it, I would not take a break. There was always more to do. And I was an avid defender of the ‘work first, fun later’-philosophy. Was it not strange how taking a break counted as fun, apparently?

Thing was, though: White Tip knew me just as well. Thus he looked out for me. Looked after me. And forced me to take a break every now and then. I had tried to ignore him once. It was no fun harvesting apples when the occasional random fruit was dropped on my head like a water balloon. Even more so since I knew that Applejack would give both of us Tartarus if she were to learn of this. Him for ruining her perfectly grown apples and me for being stubborn. Go figure.

So I sat down on the back of the cart and took a breather.

I always underestimated — or simply forgot — how incredibly large the east orchard was. Rows upon rows upon rows of trees. Not all of them were apple trees, just most of them. The sunset in a few hours would be spectacular from that nearby hill I could see. Too bad I had nopony to share it with. Twilight was still busy teaching the Tantabus not to eat books or something, so she could not make it today to begin with. And Pinkie and Rarity had left an hour ago. Both had been pretty worn out. They had worked their pretty rumps off trying to help out. It was such an incredible statement. The three of us worked tirelessly for a good few hours, from early morning to afternoon. And we barely managed to get done what Big Macintosh could have achieved on his own.

Applejack probably would not have asked for our help if the Big Red would have felt up to the task. Especially on such short notice. Rarity had to leave early. There was a fashion show in Canterlot that had a chair with her name on it. Probably literally. And she had to take one of those trains that left so early that I would deem it legitimate to call it a ‘night train’.

And nopony was about to ask Fluttershy. Or even let her, had she offered. She was ten months into her pregnancy. Another two to go. No condition to do hard manual labor.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I asked White Tip. He had carefully walked along the edge, over to my side and looked out the same direction I did. Fields and more fields. But the orchard had an almost magical charm to it I could not describe properly. It felt like home in a similar manner breathing in the library air of the castle did. Similar to the scent of textile dyes, tea and perfume when I entered Carousel Boutique. Or the smell of critters and flowers when I visited Fluttershy’s cottage.

For somepony with a bad sense of smell, a lot of my memories and stronger reactions seemed to revolve around that particular sense.

I felt the calmness wash over me and closed my eyes for a moment. Each breath became a controlled, conscious affair. I felt the sweat grow colder. Felt it collect and felt a single droplet run down my coat on my left side. I followed the sensation as it crossed the length of my neck, across my shoulder and down my barrel. I shivered a little. I heard birds chirp nearby. Heard the soft breeze rustle in the leaves of the sea of trees surrounding me.

Peace.

When I opened my eyes again, I had a newfound understanding of the phrase ‘getting one’s second wind’. I looked to my left and quickly scanned the bed of the cart for my satchel. I opened the little zipper and levitated some nuts and seeds out before I closed it again. “There, for you.” White Tip cawed happily and pranced over to indulge in his snack. I knew that he could open the zipper all by himself. He was astonishingly smart, being a crow and all. But he refrained from doing so. Usually.

I smiled and watched him for a moment. He even opened his wings and presented his pretty feathering so that I could appreciate it even more. I petted him with a hoof. Those white-tipped feathers were quite an eyecatcher. Once he was done, he looked back up to me. I had a little bit of difficulty gauging the meaning behind it. Was he asking for more? I decided that if he was, he could make it known in other ways. “Alright. I’ve done my obligatory break, am I allowed to continue now? It’s only one bushel more and we’ll head back to the barn.”

He cawed and I nodded and slid off the cart. I did not have to tell him that I intended to go for another full cart after this one. After all, I felt the ache in my legs, sure, but I was still good to go on for another few hours. And I would drop dead this evening either way.

Depending on how heavily laden the branches of a tree were, a single bushel could hold between three to five loads. Four bushels per cart made for a maximum of twenty trees harvested per cart. One cart per half hour made for forty trees per hour, meaning roughly three hundred and sixty trees harvested so far.

The calculation was all kinds of messed up, obviously. Mostly because I had worked alongside Pinkie and Rarity until an hour ago and while Rarity was slower than me, Pinkie was faster. A lot faster. We had a cart full maybe every ten minutes or so? However, getting back to the barn, unloading, waiting for Apple Bloom’s okay — that took time, too. But I was not actually trying to figure out how much work had been done. I merely kept my head busy by pushing around idle numbers. It was fun.

Another tree was done and I levitated the bushel over to the next one. I knew that Applejack had her own routines, refined over years and years of farming experience. She usually laid all the bushels out in one go, filled them all up and then put them back onto the cart. I had tried that myself and somehow always got confused. What I did was less efficient, but at least it worked for me.

I heard a shrill whistle and smiled. She was coming. I smacked my lips together so as to not embarrass myself, even though only White Tip was there as a witness and I doubted that he cared much. And then I tried to whistle back. The first attempt failed and I merely sputtered a little. “Ew.” I wiped my chin with a hoof, tried again and actually managed to produce a decently loud noise this time. And then I continued. After all: Two more trees to go and I could present another full cart.

I actually managed to get that done before she honed in on my position. I loaded the bushel onto the cart and closed the back flap when I saw her orange coat between the tree trunks. White Tip landed on my back as I leaned against the cart.

“Howdy, partner,” she greeted as she trotted over.

I grinned and we hugged for a moment. I could feel the fine layer of dust and grime on her coat. She had been working the entire day as well. “I was just about to take the cart over to the barn.”

She nodded and we wordlessly agreed to do just that. Applejack placed the harness on her back and pulled. I did not mind her taking over that part. While I was able to pull a full cart, I was not exactly keen on doing so. I was not the strongest pony around, not by a long shot, and pulling a full cart was exhausting. She did it without much effort, of course.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?” I asked in a posh accent as I trotted along the dirt path beside her. “You were worried that I had passed out an hour ago, weren’t you?”

“Nope, not at all,” she replied with a chuckle. “You know Twilight would have your hide for it. And once she got her fill, I would have your hide for it. You know that. And I know that you know that.”

I pouted a little. “And here I hoped you would tell me that you trust in me being reasonable.”

She outright laughed and smirked as she looked over to me. Her gaze wandered along my back to White Tip. “You know as well as I do that your reason sits on your back right now.” My pet happily cawed in agreement, much to my dismay. I would have loved to whisper a little ‘traitor!’, but I knew that Applejack would hear it. “Made him take his breaks, did you?” Another caw. “Good fella.”

I sighed. “Why is everyone constantly conspiring against me?”

Applejack shrugged in her harness with a good-natured laugh. “We wouldn’t have to if you would be less stubborn and take care of yourself.”

Oh you did not! I grinned widely. “Oh really now? Look who’s talking.”

She chuckled and averted her gaze to the ground. “Well… yeah, fine, point taken.”

We walked in companionable silence for a few minutes until the barn came into view. With the cart inside, we unloaded the bushels. “Where’s Bloom?” I wondered. She should have been here to sort the apples. They were not meant to lie on the ground for too long. I did not understand why, or how that worked, but apparently it accelerated them spoiling or getting pressure marks or something.

“I reckon she’s bein’ a good filly and takin’ a break,” Applejack said teasingly and shot me a wink.

I half-groaned, half-laughed. “Would you cut it out already? I got the message the first time. I’ll have you know that I took more than enough breaks the entire time! Not like Rarity would allow for anything else, you know. And she made White Tip swear that he would take over her responsibility with her being gone.”

Applejack chuckled and put the empty bushels back onto the cart. “I should buy her some fancy new hat or somethin’,” she mused with a grin.

I shook my head and decided not to engage that tease any further. Once we were done, I placed the last bushel back on the cart, she put the harness back on and we were on our way out into the east orchard again. There were still a few hours of daylight after all. And Applejack was glad for the help.

“So tell me,” I restarted our conversation halfway to our destination, “how are you holding up?”

She sighed and yet smiled with the fondness of a sister as she looked over to me. “You’re fussing too much.”

“So is that a ‘I’m doing great, thanks for asking’ then?” I teased even though the seriousness in my voice remained.

She grimaced ever so slightly. She was not about to lie to me. “No,” she admitted. “It’s not. It’s hard. And I miss her an awful lot. But we knew what we were gettin’ ourselves into. She’s been gone for a couple of months and it’s goin’ to be another two until she’s back where—“

She cut herself off, but that one word too much had already been sufficient. “Where she belongs,” I finished.

Applejack shot me a wry smile. “Never thought I’d miss that featherbrain. Not like this.”

I smiled and stepped closer to her. She slowed down her walking pace a little and I bumped my shoulder against hers. “You know you can always come to us, right? If you need to talk, if you need company, whatever. Twilight and I would love to have you over for a night or ten.”

She laughed. I could see her spirits rise a little as a grateful smile remained behind. “I know. And thank you. It’s just… with me bein’ gone for ten days, that would leave Big Mac and Apple Bloom in charge of the farm. The whole place would come down!”

I laughed and nodded. “Probably.” Once I put a little bit more distance between us, she sped up again and I followed suit. We eventually stopped, unloaded the bushels and got to work again. I needed half an hour to fill a cart. Together, we took ten minutes. It was ridiculous.

“How is Big Mac doing anyway? Is he feeling better?” I asked. All Applejack had told us was that he was not feeling well. We had been worried of course. It usually took half the world being on fire for an Apple to refrain from working themselves to the bone. Then again, Big Macintosh had always been more reasonable than his sister. Apple Bloom excluded, as she was the most reasonable one of the three, as far as I was concerned. But Applejack had insisted that it was nothing too serious. Nothing that he could not sleep off.

She grinned and shook her head. “Yeah, he’s doin’ great, I’d say. After sayin’ thanks and goodbye to Rares and Pinkie, I went to the house for a breather. He’s takin’ a bath with Marble.”

I snorted. “Is ‘taking a bath’ your code for ‘having sex’?”

She laughed and bucked another tree. “Why would I use code for that? No, they are ruttin’ like a pair of rabbits up there. In the bathtub.” She laughed even harder as I blushed. The mental images in my head were hard to keep under control. Big Mac was almost twice the size of Marble and she was such a cute, sweet little thing…

I shook my head to dislodge the images. “So you just, uh… sat there, sipped your water and… listened?”

She actually had to stop. She held her sides as she laughed and gasped for air. “What, you think I’m some kind of pervert? That’s why I took a little walk outside and came by. To give them some privacy.”

“O-Oh. Yeah. That… that makes a lot of sense, actually,” I mumbled. I thought Granny Smith for a second, but she was ancient and slept most of the day. And she was almost deaf anyway. The more I thought about that, the more I furrowed my brow though. “So you can hear them? I don’t mean, like, this time. In general? Doesn’t that… I don’t know… bother you?”

Applejack walked over to the cart, took a sip from the ladle and put it back in the water bucket. She leaned against the cart and shrugged. “Not really, no. See, we live in a three-generation household. And I bet in a few years time, if we’re lucky and can keep Granny around for that long, it might even become a four-generation household. It’s always been like this. We grew up like this and so did ma and pa and Granny. You get used to it, is what I’m tryin’ to say.”

“And Marble doesn’t mind either?” I asked. I knew how the Apples lived. I had lived with them in prior lives. I had married into their family at some point. But the fractured memories I had of that time did not provide meaningful hints to what the daily life of such a household meant. And I had never really thought about it in depth.

Applejack shrugged again, albeit with a fond smile gracing her lips. “As far as I know, the Pie’s aren’t any different. Their grandparents ain’t around anymore, sure. But they have a small wooden house they all live in. Makes for thin walls, you know? I think that might be why Marble fits in so well. I can’t honestly imagine the other Pie’s bringing home many, uh, visitors from what I’ve heard about their upbringin’. But if they do, it wouldn’t be much different.”

I walked over and took the ladle myself for a sip before I sat down on my haunches nearby Applejack. We were apparently taking a break right now. “What about Apple Bloom then?”

She regarded me with an inquisitive expression for a moment. “You’re not tryin’ to be weird about it, are you?”

I chuckled and shook my head. “No, I’m not. Don’t worry. I’m just trying to wrap my head around it. Never gave it much thought, to be honest.”

“Didn’t you tell me we were a thing once?” she asked and cocked an eyebrow.

I grinned lopsided. “Yupp. Doesn’t answer my question though. You know how it is. Bits and pieces. It’s all just bits and pieces.”

Applejack smiled and I could see her try to remember something. Her smile shifted ever so slightly into something more nostalgic and mirthful. “Well, Apple Bloom obviously got curious quite early. You can probably imagine that if I can hear Mac and Marble, they can hear Dash and me just fine.. And Bloom can hear all of it.” She chuckled and I quickly chimed in. Poor Apple Bloom. “She had a lot of questions, of course. But I like to think we’re a responsible, reasonable bunch. We sat her down and had a long talk with her. And we explained the birds and the bees and all that. Mac and I don’t tend to use many fancy words. We were pretty plain about it, which I like to think helped her a lot more than if we had beat around the bush.”

I grimaced a little bit as I imagined the ripple effects that would have. Apple Bloom was down to earth in very much the same way Applejack was. And the Cutie Mark Crusaders were a very tightly knit group. It could come up by sheer happenstance. She would tell Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. And they would have questions she could not answer. So they went to Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow. Funny. I wondered if Scoots had been part of that whole ‘sitting her down and having the talk’-scenario.

While I daydreamed, Applejack stayed silent. And as time went on, I could feel how she watched me. I blinked and looked up to see her grin a little. “What about Spike?” she asked.

Yes. What about him? I furrowed my brow in confusion. It took me a moment to understand what she was getting at. “Crystal,” I answered with a wry smile and in turn managed to confuse her.

“Beg your pardon?”

“You said it yourself,” I explained, “the walls of your house are made out of wood. We live in a crystal palace. Thick, very solid walls. And the place is massive. As far as I’m officially aware, he doesn’t get any visitors.”

“Officially aware?” she echoed in suspicion. I merely grinned wider and nodded. That was indeed what I had said. She caught on quickly and smirked. “Twilight. Gotcha.”

However, the topic did present an opportunity of sorts. One of the reasons Spike and I got along so well was that I was his buddy. He wanted to keep something secret? He could rely on me not asking too many questions. But I did worry about him occasionally. I was not just nosy like certain fashionistas, no, I was genuinely worried. I had good reason to believe that Spike was romantically involved with more than one pony. Which was still his business and his business alone. But relationship constellations like that were exceedingly complicated. One had to be very careful about how to balance multiple partners. Every relationship depended on a solid basis of trust and open communication. But something as complex as this relied on it even more. And for someone without prior experience with ‘normal’ relationships, it was probably even harder.

I was just worried that somepony might get hurt. Unnecessarily so.

“Applejack, should I be worried?” My smile was gone, replaced by a little frown that perfectly accentuated my inner turmoil. I did not care if Spike was active, or with whom he had his fun. But Applejack seemed to know more than I did. Probably because Apple Bloom idolized her big sister so much and would tell her just about anything if asked. I needed to know that they were doing well so far.

Applejack watched me for a while before she sighed. “You’re a worrywart.”

I sighed as well. “I know. I just… I need to know?”

She smiled after a moment and nodded. “I know the feelin’. I still dote on Apple Bloom every chance I get and she’s a young mare in her own right by now. Well, let me put it like this, then: They are fine. He has been nothing but a gentledrake.”

I smiled and stood back up to hug her. “Thank you.” We pulled apart again and I looked around. “Alright. Back to work, or does your lazy flank require more R&R?”

She chuckled and gave me a good, solid shove towards one of her apple trees. “I’ll show you my lazy flank, you loudmouth!”

I grinned over my shoulder. “Oh, please do! No Dash around to get riled up over it.”

She cocked her eyebrow again and grinned defiantly. “I reckon I could easily kick you from here straight back to the barn. Wanna find out?”

“Oh believe me, I know,” I retorted with a smirk. “Because of those perfectly toned, powerful hindquarters of yours. I can see all the muscles work like instruments in an orchestra, blending into the perfect harmony. It’s a work of art, your body.”

I broke out into uproarious laughter as I saw her blush furiously. I had clearly won that round. She had a decently threatening ‘maybe I really should kick you’ written all over her face. “I don’t usually care about fancy words,” she muttered, “but gosh-darn, I can sometimes see why we could end up together. Is it mean that I sometimes wish Dash would say somethin’ like that to me?”

I managed to dim my amusement down to the occasional chuckle and wiped a few tears away before I shook my head. “Nah, I don’t think so. I mean, remember that song she wrote for you. She clearly can be all mushy and wordy if required. Maybe you should just tell her that she could do it more often.” I watched her mull it over in her head and make a mental note. And I felt a little mischievous. “Let me guess, according to her, your flank is ‘totally awesome’? Oh, no, wait, scratch that! Everything about you is awesome, right?”

She chuckled and shot me another wry smile. “She does know more than one word, you know?”

I smiled warmly. “I know. She’s actually pretty smart. I have no idea why she’s so afraid to show it more.”

“Do you want to discuss Dash the entire time, or do you actually intend to work?” she teased and bucked a tree.

I shrugged with a grin. “I don’t mind discussing Dash’s flank.”

And she grimaced just as expected. “Please don’t.”

A couple minutes later, we had the cart almost full again. Applejack went to retrieve the bushel I had filled while I already walked over to the cart to take a sip of water. White Tip balanced on the cart's edge again and seemed quite content with me actually minding my own break times for once.

“What in tarnation?” I heard Applejack mutter.

“What is it?” I asked, but I did not look or stop. I arrived at the cart, drank a little bit and only then looked over. Applejack inspected something small just beside the dirt road a few dozen feet away. “Applejack?” She did not answer as she seemed to be entirely focused on studying what was right in front of her muzzle. So I shrugged and walked over to her.

There was a little black something on the ground. Or rather, it stuck out of the ground. It looked quite ungainly. “Is that a rotten root?” I asked and furrowed my brow. I knew that there were different kinds of rot that could befall trees. Some made the leaves brown and caused them to wilt. Others made the bark almost stone gray before it fell apart at the lightest touch. As if it crumbled to ashes. But I had never seen something color bits and pieces black as night. The root looked shriveled too. And why was this root sticking out of the ground to begin with? Roots were supposed to grow downwards.

Applejack seemed stumped as well. She eyed the black little tendril for a good while, but she looked almost suspecting. She planted her front hooves to either side of the tendril and closed her eyes. I vaguely knew how earth pony magic worked and suspected that she tried to follow the life essence of that plant. Either to confirm that it was a rotten root, or to know exactly to which of the surrounding trees this root belonged.

While she did that, I could not shake the feeling that this thing looked strangely familiar. I focused on my flashes, on the myriads of forgotten, broken and half-buried memories in hopes of getting anything useful out of them. The closest thing I got however was a vague feeling of dread.

That thing looked strangely similar to the roots Discord had used in several cycles to abduct Celestia and Luna. Plunderseeds, I remembered. He had spread a bunch of those in the Everfree and they were responsible for the forest growing into the chaotic, twisted mess it was today. And they had managed to capture both princesses from miles and miles and miles away, straight out of the palace in Canterlot.

This cycle had no reemerging Discord. But it was likely that he had planted those seeds anyway. The Everfree Forest sure seemed chaotic to me. However, the timing was all kinds of wrong. And why would they emerge here of all places? The east orchard was obviously a lot closer to the forest than Canterlot, but that was still no explanation.

“That’s no rot,” Applejack exclaimed as she opened her eyes again. “And that is no root! I swear I saw that thing wiggle before I came over.” She quickly leaned down, snapped her teeth shut around the black tendril and tried to pull it out.

And that ominous dread I felt surged to the forefront of my mind. I slowly retreated backwards. “Applejack, maybe we shouldn’t mess with the creepy black vine?” I asked her to stop. But she would not listen. Because I’m the stubborn one here, right? I sighed and shook my head. “Applejack, please! Let’s get Twilight and just—“

The ground cracked. Several fissures ran away from that single, tiny tendril. Each one several feet long. The loose dirt of the road started to trickle down into wherever this led. And Applejack let go of the black vine. “Y-Yeah… maybe we should just call for Twi,” she muttered hesitantly as she observed the fissures only growing longer and wider. They formed little side-cracks, like a spider’s web.

“Slow and steady,” I whispered. I did not know why I whispered. Being quiet would do little to keep us from falling however deep the hole beneath our hooves might turn out to be. I slowly walked backwards and Applejack followed me while the cracks continued to get worse. I saw half a small hill slowly trickle away into a nearby rift, exposing some of the roots of the tree that stood on top.

Then I saw it too.

That tiny black tendril in the middle wiggled. Like a tentacle or something. It was so creepy how it moved, it gave me goosebumps. “Speed up, AJ,” I pleaded with her. That tendril wiggled and the fissures got worse faster. And then we both heard that singular, loud crack. “Run!”

I turned and followed my own advice while I heard the ground give way behind me. I managed to reach the edge in time and immediately turned to catch Applejack in my magic. She could not have hoped to make it in time. She had been a lot closer to the center. I saw her jump towards the edge, but she would not make it far enough. So I brought my horn to life and tried to catch her. I only needed to lift her over a couple of feet and we would be good.

Only a couple of feet.

Maybe I should have yelled ‘I got you’ or something. But my mind raced in panic. I was so focused on grabbing her. She realized a second later that she would not make it. Her jump would bring her up short. And she did the one thing I hoped she would not.

She struggled. She wildly flailed her limbs in an ultimately fruitless effort to somehow grab the edge. My magic wrapped around her and I strained as hard as I could to keep it up, but her violent movement broke my spell and she fell.

“Applejack!” I yelled and ran along the edge to the point where she could have landed.

I looked down into a rising dust cloud. The early evening sun was still strong enough that I could see the ground of a cave of sorts. Maybe sixty feet below. A sixty feet drop. I swallowed hard. “A-Applejack?” I asked and immediately hated how scared and meek my voice sounded. “Applejack, please say something…” Anything.

I looked around for White Tip. The ground breaking away gave him a good scare as well and he had flown off. He was smart. Being smart and being brave was sometimes exclusive to each other. But I saw him circle above. “White Tip! It’s—“ I looked around. The edges of the hole seemed to hold for now. No dirt trickled down, no rocks fell, no stone cracked. “It’s safe, you can come down. I need your help!” He swooped in and landed on my back. “AJ fell. I need you to fly down and see if she’s alright, okay?”

He cawed and swooped into the hole as the dust started to settle. It was then that I heard a cough from below. “Urgh… I’m okay,” Applejack yelled. “I’m alright.” I sighed in relief. And grimaced a second later as I heard her hiss in pain. “Crud,” she quietly cursed.

“What’s wrong?” I yelled down. The dust settled slowly and I could make out more and more of what we were dealing with, but I had yet to spot her coat or hat or any other sign of her.

“I reckon I sprained my ankle.”

I sighed in relief. If that was the worst she took away from this tumble, then we were in the clear. “Is White Tip with you?”

“Yeah, he’s here.” And I heard him caw in confirmation.

“Good, good. You keep each other’s backs and I try to get you out of there.” After my last attempt and a whole day of field work, I was less than confident in my ability to levitate her out, especially if something were to intervene. I could not risk her tumbling down again. So I turned to the cart and rummaged through her toolbox. The little chest tugged away on the side contained all the required necessities one might need in a pinch when out in the field and far away from the house. A first aid kit that I already put aside for later, a few tools to fix broken fences and cart wheels and a good, solid, long rope. With one of the trees nearby, I could easily fashion a sling and lift her up that way. So I quickly got to work and made one of the knots she had taught me to secure the sling itself. And I fastened the other end to the tree.

I returned to the hole in the ground. With the dust almost gone, I got my first real glimpse at it and it was honestly terrifying. A solid forty feet diameter of ground was just missing. The hole was in the middle of the ceiling of a cavern below, so no walls would aid in her escape. What I could see of the walls looked like solid rock, so at least I hoped I did not have to worry about more fissures.

And I could see Applejack now. She stood nearby a pile of rubble in a small cone of daylight and faced away from me. “I’m over here,” I announced, “I’m throwing you a rope. It’s secured to a nearby tree.”

I got antsy again as she did not react for a solid ten seconds or so, her ears intently focused on something out of sight. But then she turned, looked up and smiled. “Hey there. Didn’t see you. Do you come here often?”

An odd mixture of a sniff and a laugh escaped my throat and I wiped a tear away and sighed in relief. “No, actually, I usually try not to fall into big holes.”

She nodded and continued to grin at me. “Yeah, that sounds very reasonable. I should try that sometime.”

I laughed and a little bit more of my anxiety bled away. “You totally should. Please do.”

I had to lean over the edge to see her inspect the loop of rope. “Hey, I know that knot!” she announced with pride in her voice. “That’s a really good knot.”

Despite the little pang of guilt and worry when I saw her limp that one step, I still smiled proudly. “That was one heck of a smart pony that taught me that one.”

“I bet.”

But then her head snapped back down and her ears swiveled around. White Tip cawed at something and they both turned in the direction she had looked to prior. It put me right back on edge. “AJ? What’s up? What’s down there?”

She slowly shook her head and whispered something. I had to strain and barely heard it. “We’re not alone down here.” It was that tone of her voice that made my blood run cold. And we both realized simultaneously that getting her out with the rope might not be an option after all. “I could use some help!” she said louder and in the next second turned and ran as fast as her injury allowed her.

“Shoot!” I cursed and quickly looked around. There was literally nothing else to help her.

You’re a guard, are you not?, a voice in the back of my head sneered.

I grimaced. It was true. I could help. Maybe. Hopefully. So I scraped together what courage I had and concentrated. I levitated that spade over the edge and let it fall. It would be a better weapon in a pinch than my bare hooves. Then I levitated myself and carefully lowered my body down into the hole.

As soon as I arrived, I yanked at the arcane thread and summoned my armor. It landed with the by now familiar feel of additional weight and once the enchantments started working, my form was covered by the illusion of just another random batpony and my slitted eyes were enhanced to see in bad light conditions.

The cave was shaped like a hemisphere, with the hole at the highest point right in the middle of the ceiling. I saw no traces of the black vine that had caused this breakthrough. What I did see was some kind of path or road leading down to my left and a railing securing said path on one side while the other was a solid wall. There was a drop there, apparently. And the railing continued into this room, securing the section right in front of me as well. I could even see the pitch-black abyss beyond it.

I did not take my time to make out further details of our surroundings. I spotted what Applejack had meant with her remark.

I did not know what that thing was. Not right away. But it stalked towards me, or maybe towards Applejack who stood a dozen feet behind me. “White Tip, get help,” I ordered my feathery friend. He cawed and flapped his wings and was gone in an instant.

My opponent was a collection of floaty rocks. Some of them sported intricate carvings, like runes or symbols or something. They were clearly hewn to resemble bones. Ribs. Humeri. Pelvic bone. Dorsal vertebra. And a very distinct skull. These ‘bones’ formed the semblance of a diamond dog. A skeletal diamond dog, made out of stone.

My eyes were drawn to its chest. A hoof-sized diamond floated right in the middle of it and emanated a faint glow in a light blue hue. The same hue that danced as little spots of light in the eye sockets of the creature’s skull.

It was an obvious weak spot. Too obvious to go for it. I picked up my spade and placed it in front of me as a defensive measure. I was not naïve enough to hope that this thing was not hostile. The only reason it still stalked around me was… well honestly, I had no idea. I didn't even know if it was sentient and capable of higher thought.

Rarity would kill for a diamond of that cut, clarity and size, I nervously chuckled in the privacy of my head while I waited for that thing to make its move.

I did not have to wait long.

With every step it did to the side, I did one as well. We circled around each other, slowly, with the distance between us never diminishing. I made sure of the latter especially, as I did not know how much reach an assembly of floating rocks had when it decided to lunge.

What I had not considered was that this thing might simply bring me into a position it favored. For whatever reason.

But all of a sudden, it leaped forward and ran towards me. And it was quick. I expected a strike from its impressively sized stone claws. After all, the entire creature was maybe double the height of Celestia. But it did not strike. I realized this too late and could merely brace for impact as it barreled straight into me with its shoulder. I dug my hooves into the ground as best as I could, but the stone would not yield and the stone creature continuously pushed me further and further back. Even as it slowed down, it put all its impressive strength in that one push.

I looked over my shoulder and saw the railing. Now that I got closer and closer, I could make out that it looked distinctly wooden. And very, very old.

It tries to push me into the abyss.

I panicked a little and tried to get away to the side, but as soon as I shifted, it pushed harder and I had to refocus on offering as much resistance as possible. Which was still not enough to force a standstill.

And then a flash hit me.

They always had the most unfortunate timing.

I saw light blue eyes glow in absolute darkness. I saw a city of spectacular industry and a people of impressive ingenuity. I heard their dying screams. Felt their warm blood on my hooves as I ran. Felt my lungs burn as I powered through the fatigue. And due to the smoke. Flames occasionally licked at my coat. I felt the goosebumps as I thought about how I might not make it out of this massacre. And I heard a voice. A single, male, old and decrepit voice. There were too many emotions bound to that voice alone, too many to sort through.

The flash threatened to overwhelm me. I could already feel my knees buckle. I could feel how that stone creature—

Golem. These guardians are called golems, I remembered.

It sped up. It pushed me towards the railing. Every second now, I would break through. I needed to stop it. Our safety depended on that. Applejack’s safety depended on it.

Stop it.

Stop it.

Stop.

“Durmak!” I heard myself yell. But my voice sounded strangely muffled. Distant.

The golem stopped. It looked at me. And a second later, I distantly heard Applejack yell “Duck!” I tried. I tried to carefully lower myself, but I simply toppled over. And I saw her grimace even before her powerful rear hooves connected to the golem’s back. Her sprained ankle would not forgive her for that. She kicked the golem as hard as she could. Never underestimate earth pony strength. The thing gave no sound as it flew straight through the rotten railing and vanished into the dark.

She then limped over to me with worry plastered all over her face. I tried to smile and the lights went out.

I sat down on my haunches and sighed. While I was always glad to see the endless beauty of the dreamscape and it rarely failed to put my mind at ease, there were times when I was worried about the circumstances that led to me being here. I was not an adventurer, or a fighter, or anypony else that got knocked out on the odd occasion. No, when I involuntarily entered the dreamscape, it was usually due to one of two reasons. Either I had tried to pull an all-nighter and failed, or a flash of insight had overloaded my brain with too much information.

Neither happened often and it was always an annoyance when it did.

I rubbed my muzzle and shook my head. “She’ll be fine,” I tried to reassure myself. “She’s Applejack. Of course she’ll be fine. She saved the world a couple of times. She didn’t really need me down there.” And then realization struck me. “Ah crap. And now I'm an additional weight she has to haul around. That’s just… just peachy. Urgh.” I had a normal build. I was neither muscular, nor pudgy or slim. But the armor added a good deal of weight and I had not gotten rid of it before I fainted.

Maybe White Tip was smart enough to inform Twilight. She could lift entire houses, one night guard should not pose a problem.

I did not know how long I would be knocked out. And admittedly, after this day of field work, there was a good chance that I would drift into regular sleep once the flash had run its course. I had ignored my fatigue for a few hours already, after all.

“Might as well make myself useful,” I resignedly decided.

I stood back up and focused my mind on finding Luna. The entire disaster had happened around early evening, so I would have been less surprised to find her awake or in the middle of waking up. But no, I walked right up to her as she calmed down another dream with a whisper. “Busy night?” I greeted. I chuckled as she gave a startled yelp and whirled around with her scythe ready to pummel into submission whoever dared to oppose her. “Please don’t strike me down, kitten, that would be so inconvenient right now.”

She sighed, lowered her weapon and pulled me in for a quick kiss and a less quick hug. “Moon and stars, you surprised me.”

I grinned and nuzzled her chest. “And here I thought nothing could surprise you anymore, oh Mistress of the Night.”

She pushed me a little bit away to get a better look at me. I was having none of it, but she simply overpowered me. So I sat there, flailed with my limbs in a futile attempt to get back to her and decidedly ignored her amused grin. “You look tired.”

“I’ve been working in the east orchard all day,” I explained. Her eyebrow rose ever so slightly. The kind of tiredness she referred to was not caused by mere physical exhaustion. “Did I forget to mention that there’s a hole in the east orchard now? And we maybe might have kind of fell into it? And there might have been a diamond dog golem attacking us? And I might have had a flash in the middle of the fight that knocked me out?”

To be fair, I could always count on her playing along with my stupid little shenanigans. I loved that. She stayed serious and gave a curt not in reply. “Yes, you seem to have forgotten to mention that.”

“Oops. Silly me.” She finally allowed me to crawl back to her and press my cheek against her chest. She was warm and fluffy and smelled fantastic. And maybe I was a little bit tired.

“I take it both of you are alright then?” she asked while her hoof stroked down my spine.

I wished I could purr like she sometimes did. I had no idea how she did that. All I could do was sigh happily, but it just was not quite the same. “Yupp, I think so. AJ bucked that thing straight into a giant hole or crater or something. I had already sent White Tip to get help and there’s a rope dangling to the ground. I think we should be fine.”

“It has been months since you had a flash this strong,” Luna mused. “Anything interesting yet?”

I shook my head. “I managed to catch a command word to make it stop, I think. But the rest still needs to sort itself out. If I remember anything concrete at all, it’ll come to me after I wake up. Until then, I’m out of commission. But hey, I’m here, so… mind if I keep you company?”

Luna shifted ever so slightly. She pulled away from me. And I silently sighed. So she was about to wake up. “I fear that I may have to leave you alone for a while. There is a plate full of scrambled eggs with my name on it.”

I nodded and let go of her. I dusted myself off a little, summoned my armor onto myself and half a dozen translucent longswords to my side. “It’s fine. You go have breakfast and I get to work. Mind giving Sunny a kiss from me?” I asked with a smirk.

Luna chuckled and shook her head. “Not the kind you are thinking of. But I will relay your greeting. Maybe I can shuffle my duties around a little bit, start with dreamwalking and hold Night Court later on so you are not alone for too long. We shall see.”

I smiled happily. If my theory was correct and I would be here all evening and all night, then it would help little. She would have to leave at some point to hold Night Court. Buuut… I was not about to complain about having her here with me sooner rather than later. “Have a good morning, Luna.”

We shared a satisfyingly long kiss before she departed. I stared at the point she had vanished from for a few moments before I sighed and turned around to regard the floating sea of dream spheres. “Let’s get to work then, shall we?”

No Really, It's Fine

I woke up and a smile tugged at my lips. Not only because I could still hear Luna giggle about my silliness. I had tried to imitate what I thought a vanishing ghost sounded like and faintly whispered “goodbye” to her. But as happy as her laughter made me, the reason I currently smiled was familiarity. I knew these bed sheets. I knew that body in front of me. I knew that scent that filled my nostrils. I knew that breath that tickled my muzzle.

I was at home.

“Hey gorgeous,” I mumbled quietly.

Twilight shifted ever so slightly. Her embrace tightened for a second before she sighed in contentment. “Hi.”

I took a deep breath and felt… whole. It was easy to scooch just that tiny bit closer. I tilted my head a little forward and buried my muzzle on her chest. I had to be careful not to poke her throat with my horn of course, but after years of experience, I knew my way around. Even blind, as I refused to open my eyes just yet. “This is nice.”

Her body trembled a little bit. She giggled, I assumed, but I heard no sound leave her throat. “Mhm,” she instead replied shortly after.

We spent a couple of minutes in silent company. I had all the time in the world to wake up. And I eventually dared to open my eyes. Light filtered in through a small gap in the curtains. From the angle alone I could tell that it was about… early morning, still. I once again made a mental note about how weird time and the dreamscape interacted. I had not felt like I spent hours and hours and hours there. And yet here we were, cuddling after the entire night had passed us by.

I smirked a little and placed a kiss on her chest. But instead of retreating after, my lips lingered and I let the tip of my tongue part them to trace a circle on her coat. She sighed contentedly. So I nipped her and chuckled quietly as she gasped and then faintly giggled.

“I see you are well and awake now,” she whispered and her hoof stroked through my mane.

The feeling was so heavenly that I involuntarily closed my eyes again, just to trace that feeling with more focus. I placed my lips on her chest once more as she stopped and dared to let my mind run wild. My tongue play on her coat quickly grew more daring, more sensual. I would certainly not mind fooling around a little. It was such a nice morning. That would be the icing on the cake.

But she sighed. And I could hear that it was carried by both appreciation and regret. I was glad she could not see me pout and I already pondered if I could not sway her if I tried hard enough. “Are you alright?” she asked.

What I heard was genuine concern. Had she held back this entire time for my sake? Or had she remembered her troubles just now? Either way, it put quite a damper on my mood. I did not like it when she worried over… anything, really. The same way everypony kept telling me that I worried too much, I kept telling her. I sighed to myself and placed an innocent kiss on her chest, as a final goodbye to the idea of a morning filled with excitement and her sweet, sweet moans.

Her question deserved an honest answer. It would have been easy to blurt out ‘I’m fine!’, just to ease her worries. But it would not have worked, because she knew me. Despite my confrontation with the golem the day prior, I could not feel any overly dramatic aches or bruises. My armor had apparently managed to take the brunt of the hit when that thing barreled straight into me. And there had been little in regards to other exchanges of blows. The entire fight was over so quickly…

That left me to evaluate my state of mind. There was the usual mess waiting for me. Nothing too dramatic, but major flashes like this one always took their toll. I had slept long enough to circumvent the entire ‘goddess, I feel like I could sleep for an entire week – care to join me?’-phase. I was wide awake, filled with energy, ready to do something. But there was a nasty bit of diffuse pressure on my temples and behind my forehead. Again, nothing too bad. Just a minor case of headache. But it would accompany me throughout the entire day and I did not look forward to that.

“I’m alright,” I finally answered. “Little bit of a headache, but otherwise, I’m fine.” With that out of the way, one obvious question demanded an answer. “How’s Applejack?”

That was enough of a prompt for her to regale me with all the events and mishaps I had missed. “White Tip came by and informed me that something had gone awry.” I smiled proudly. My feathery buddy was a grace for his kind. I wondered for a moment how that might have looked. He could not talk as such, just caw and crow. So getting Twilight’s attention would have been easy, but how exactly did he make clear that we were in trouble? A few amusing images aside, it was not important enough to interrupt her. “I teleported to the farmhouse and asked Big Macintosh where you were.” She stumbled about his name. It was almost imperceptible. Maybe she had found him in a slightly unpresentable situation? The thought made me grin. “I followed his directions to the east orchard and heard Applejack yell. She had already put you in the rope sling and tried to lift you out. It proved difficult because she did not want to hurt you and you kept bashing against the rock ceiling.”

“She was already out?” I asked in surprise.

“Oh, yes. She jumped.”

“She—“ —what? That height? I knew Applejack was strong. I knew that. Her love tap from a front hoof had sent me wheezing and her hindquarters were a lot more powerful. But jumping that height was something I considered impossible, even for her. Maybe Pinkie could do that. But Pinkie ignored natural laws whenever they got in the way anyway, so it was not all that special for her.

Twilight shrugged. Apparently that was not a point of concern for her. “That is what she said, yes,” she confirmed before she continued on. “I was a little bit worried because of your unconsciousness, but my spell showed no immediate signs of damage. Then again, I am not a medical professional. She carried you and told me what happened on our way to the hospital.”

I grimaced. I would have loved to bite down on that stubborn mare’s ear and pull. Hard. So that it would hurt. Because apparently, pain was the only thing she even remotely understood sometimes. She had injured herself. She suspected a sprained ankle, of all things. And with that, she jumped out of a massive pit and carried my entire additional weight across the orchard, through the entirety of Ponyville and to the hospital.

I would have loved to hug her, and then kick her.

“Let me guess. She limped ever so slightly with her left foreleg.”

Twilight remained silent for a couple of seconds before she sighed. “She promised me that she was fine.”

“Sprained ankle?” I continued to guess.

“We were about to let her walk out of the hospital and back to the farm. She insisted she was fine. But she took the wrong step and failed to stifle a hiss. At that point, nurse Redheart switched into her usual ‘difficult patient’-mode that she always employs when dealing with an Apple. She examined Applejack and… yes, sprained ankle.” I growled a little. “I am sorry. I really hoped she would be—“

But I cut her off as I shook my head, pulled away from her and pressed my lips to hers. She relaxed a little and I felt a bit of my anger drain away. “It’s fine. You did nothing wrong. Considering she’s the freaking Element of Honesty, that crap happens way too often. I’m going to kick her flank later for lying about it. Somepony needs to do it.” I huffed and tried to calm down. I closed my eyes, focused on that feeling of peace and calm I had started this morning with. I tried to invoke this serenity. And it certainly helped that she gave me a quick peck. It made me chuckle and open my eyes again.

Gosh, she’s beautiful.

I smiled, leaned in and stole a proper kiss from her. “So I take it she got treatment? And a proper reprimand from Redheart?”

Twilight nodded. “She did. And from me as well, of course. But you know Applejack.”

I chuckled and nodded. “Yeah. Takes a charging buffalo to get through that thick head of hers. She’s at home, I presume?”

Twilight shook her head. “No. She should be on a train to Appleloosa right now. It was a good effort that you and the girls pitched in yesterday, but with Big Macintosh still a little wobbly on his legs and her being out of commission as well now, she needs help. I convinced her to ask her relatives over there if they can spare a few helping hooves.”

“Well, at least neither Big Mac nor her got any funny ideas about doing the entire harvest alone. Again. It’s always such a pain in the rump to deal with stubborn and unreasonable Apples. Except Apple Bloom, bless her heart.”

We smiled and fell silent for a minute or two. But Twilight eventually found her golden thread again. “The doctor could not find any injuries, just mental exhaustion. And I presumed that you would rather wake up at home than in a hospital bed, so I asked if it was okay if I took you back home.”

A playful grin tugged at my lips as I watched her. “So you scraped me out of my armor, hm? Did you like that? Pulling it off piece by piece?”

It was such a stupid tease, but she played along anyway. She rolled with her eyes and grinned. “I can assure you that I was most professional about getting you naked!”

I chuckled and barely managed to keep the lid on it. “Right, right, of course. What a shame then. I doubt I would have minded you being a bit unprofessional.”

“There’s nothing I have not seen already!” she insisted.

And I put extra effort into my pout. “Aw. So you don’t want to see it again?”

Gotcha, I hollered in my head as I saw the faintest tint rise to her cheeks. “I did not say that,” she quietly replied. I leaned in once more and we met halfway for another kiss. And once again my mind drifted down that well-trodden path and I played with the idea of escalating this. I could easily pull her closer, could let my hoof trail over her barrel down to her flank, I could deepen our kiss with my tongue tracing along her lips, asking her for a dance.

But I knew that there was still something on her plate. Something she wanted to know. Maybe even needed to know. So I remained patient. And she did not make me wait for long.

“Do you remember anything?”

The question as such was harmless enough. The consequences… less so. But I knew that her curiosity burned a hole in her analytical mind right now. My headache surged and got a bit worse as I turned my attention inwards and towards the mess of barely sorted, newly arrived information. She did not ask if I remembered anything-anything, but if there was anything concrete that I could tell her. Ever the student, the scholar, the researcher. My initial findings were less than spectacular. It once again felt like I stood in a muddy puddle and tried to grasp stones from the very bottom and every time I put a hoof into the water, I lost sight of my target.

“There’s a lot,” I could at least already tell, “but it’s all fuzzy. Diamond dogs used to have a buzzing civilization. It was an incredible marvel to witness at its peak. But something went wrong. It went so horribly, terribly wrong that I get goosebumps thinking about it.” And indeed I got them. “Their technology uses gemstones. I don’t… I don’t know how that works. But it’s the sole reason they are so obsessed with them these days. After everything broke apart, their machines stopped working. Few remember these glory days. They have… tales. Myths and legends they carry down from generation to generation. And they yearn for these better days. A pack that manages to reactivate one of the old machines is praised and showered with respect and renown. Even if that machine falls apart seconds later. Because they did it once, surely they can do it again. But it's all just luck. They dig endless tunnels for gemstones and test each and every one and it’s all just luck. They don’t understand their old ways anymore.”

She remained silent for a while and mulled over what I could present her with so far. She eventually reached the obvious first conclusion. “That sounds terribly sad. And desperate.”

I nodded. “It is and they are. Their kingdom was massive. Endless hallways of impressive size stretched out over thousands of miles. Below ocean floors and our own cities. They connected dozens, if not hundreds of settlements and cities.” But this one was different, was it not? I could not explain why. But I felt it. “I think there’s an entire abandoned city down there.” One of many. Many, many, many. But this one’s different. Different how? I tried not to let myself get too frustrated.

“How do you know it is abandoned?” she asked.

I shot her a wry smile and shrugged. “No lights. When I was down there in my stupid attempt to be a brave hero for Applejack, I saw a gaping black maw of nothingness. I will admit that things went out of hoof quickly and I was not exactly all that attentive, but I think even a single pack would still require a campfire or something. Diamond Dogs live underground, their eyes have adapted somewhat, but they are not blind and they can’t see in absolute darkness either.”

Which would mean that they had been another surface-dwelling race at some point, right? Maybe the entire diamond dog kingdom was just a fad. A short-lived thing of a couple of decades before everything crumbled? If so, what had led them underground in the first place?

I did not mind and smirked slightly as Twilight summoned her writing supplies and started to make notes. Her feather scratched over the parchment, occasionally dipped back into the inkwell and after a few more lines, another page was turned or sorted away to the windowsill. I doubted that I had really given her enough material to fill three pages, backside included. She probably took notes on her own thoughts and theories as well.

Her writing supplies vanished once she was done, but her notes remained on the windowsill. Her attention returned to me and there it was. That studious gaze. I was a source of information. And she was eager.

And I could not shake the impression that I knew what came next. So I sighed and addressed this head-on. Maybe Applejack would be proud. “You want to go down there, don’t you?” I asked her.

I might have phrased it as one, but it had admittedly not truly been a question. I knew my little peanut well enough to know how this would play out. I was not surprised when she hesitantly nodded. She tried to read me, tried to find any traces of approval or disapproval. She certainly found no enthusiasm, that was for sure. I knew that it was dangerous down there. I did not know why it was dangerous, but what did that matter?

I was a scaredy-cat. I knew that some of her friendship-missions could be dangerous. That was the reason why I always had to battle my anxieties when she went on another one. Why several of my friends had developed ‘tactics’ for how to deal with me when she was gone. I worried much in the same way when my other friends went on these missions as well, but it was less severe. And I was grateful that nopony took offense to that.

I knew my peanut. There was no chance that I could successfully convince her not to go. But I had to try, at least. As a matter of principle. “Wouldn’t it be better to leave the exploration of ancient cities to professional archeologists? Or maybe some diplomat or something? Just in case the diamond dogs actually want their city back, undisturbed?”

She saw right through me. She smiled patiently and I made a stupid face as I tried to both smile in reply and grimace. And she pulled my head forward and gave my forehead a kiss, right at the base of my horn. A tiny, pleasant shiver ran down my spine. “But I am a diplomat, am I not? Who better to negotiate with a foreign nation than me?” I did not dare to object to that one. It was true, after all. In these past years, none had made so much progress in international relationships than her. Problem was: There was no ‘diamond dog kingdom’ left to address. Their entire society had crumbled in the aftermath of whatever catastrophe had brought their nation to its knees. There were packs now. Packs of various sizes, squabbling over remains of a better time. A ‘village’ was just a collection of packs that got along with each other for whatever reason, but each pack had its own alpha and a strict internal hierarchy. Negotiations with diamond dogs meant negotiating with a pack. Maybe a couple of packs. But to address all of them meant addressing hundreds, if not thousands of packs.

Twilight watched me. Searched for something. “From what Applejack could tell me, that creature that attacked you two was made from stone and magic. I doubt that a fall would destroy it. Maybe if it fell from such a height that the stone pieces shattered, but with magic being involved, everything is possible. And there could be other dangers lurking down there too. I agree that professionals should be given free reign over this discovery. As soon as I have made sure that nothing will jump from the shadows and eat them.”

I had already inhaled to cut in, but she slightly raised her voice and continued and took all the wind out of my sails again. I knew that I could not succeed. Yet it was still a little depressing.

She was a powerhouse of raw magical talent and ingenuity, coupled with the durability of earth ponies, their natural resistance to magic, poisons, diseases, pain and wounds and other ailments. And on top of that, she could fly as well. She was no Rainbow Dash, sure. But it was good enough for a quick getaway or a swift swoop-in.

It was Ponyville, I told myself. There was a dangerous area right beneath Sweet Apple Acres. All my friends lived here. My sister in spirit lived right on top of that area. And her adorable little sister. And her almost deaf grandma. And her brother. Twilight was a princess and felt responsible for this town in a way I could probably barely understand. But even I felt responsible for it. This was my home. These were my friends. They were my family.

And as understanding dawned on me, I saw that empathic look in her eyes. “I’m coming along, aren’t I?” I asked without asking again.

“You do not have to,” she offered the obvious. But I did. I did have to. And we both knew it. “We barely know anything about diamond dogs. Rarity’s run-in with Rover’s pack aside, we had maybe half a dozen sightings across all of Equestria in the last half decade. They live right under our hooves and we know almost nothing about them.”

“But here I am and I remember stuff,” I interjected with a sigh and a wry smile.

She leaned in and we crossed our horns. It was a pleasant sensation. Her mane tickled my forehead as strands of it fell across. “You managed to stop that golem once. Maybe you can talk to it next time. Or at least stop it again if it attacks us.”

I softly shook my head. “That’s not how it works, peanut. Golems aren’t sentient. They are automatons. Constructs. They are programmed to follow a very simple, very short set of given orders. Defend this place from intruders. Let no creature aside from diamond dogs pass. Smash everything that moves and does not present this symbol. Stuff like that.”

She accepted my objection, but we both knew that the other point still stood. I had gleaned a command word from the initial first waves of the flash. It would hopefully work again if needed. But Twilight was not done. Of course she was not done. “Luna tried for years before you showed up. She tried for years to convince me to accept a part of her guard to ‘keep me safe’. And now I have you. And she does not bother me with it, because she trusts you to keep me safe.” Ouch. That was a bit of a low blow, was it not? “You are a trained guard, even though you might not see yourself as one. They drilled certain skill sets into your head for five years. Some of those might come in handy down there.”

It would have been easy to put up more resistance. My training had concluded more than one and a half years ago. I rarely had any need for any of those ‘skills’. Maybe I was a little rusty or had simply forgotten half of it? But despite my desire to resist, despite the urge to object, I could see her point. I might be able to help. “What about the girls?” I asked before thinking this through. Rarity was in Canterlot. Rainbow toured Equestria. Applejack had a sprained ankle and was on her way to Appleloosa. Fluttershy was pregnant. Maybe—

“Pinkie is at the hospital,” Twilight answered. “Apparently there is some sort of complication with Fluttershy. Nurse Redheart assured me that there was no reason to worry, but Pinkie is with her anyway.”

I smiled. “Of course.” After all, all the doctors and nurses in the world could tell me I was overdoing it and had no reason to worry, but if Twilight were pregnant and something went wrong — anything, no matter how miniscule — I would do the same. They would need several crowbars and a couple of minotaurs to pry me from her side.

So her usual ‘let’s fight baddies’-retinue was out for the count. I sighed and finally gave in. “I already hate it.”

What I said was less important than how I said it though. I smiled wryly. And those few inches that separated us were quickly reduced to nothing by my very, very excited and overjoyed peanut. “Thank you,” she whispered as she peppered my muzzle with tiny pecks. “I had so hoped you would agree!”

I chuckled as she continued her assault. “I am noticing that, yes,” I replied and fixed her cheek in place with a hoof so that I could share a proper kiss with her. I closed my eyes and sank into that warm, soft feeling of her lips against mine. I had no idea how many times we had kissed this morning alone, but I never felt like I had enough of this. We pulled apart again and I gazed into her eyes and I felt so much love for her. And a rising desire the longer she returned my gaze and stayed silent.

I was mere seconds away from lunging when my stomach decided that enough was enough. It made its displeasure known with a loud rumble and I grimaced as the spell was broken. “I swear, everything conspires against me,” I whined quietly.

Twilight giggled and placed a final peck on my muzzle. “Another time then.”

I pouted as she exited the bed. I pouted harder as she opened the curtains and the windows beyond those. And I pouted hardest as she shamelessly levitated the blanket off of me, only to blush and put it back down. At that point, my pout inevitably morphed into an amused grin. “Nothing you’ve never seen before, I’ve been told,” I remarked smugly.

She stuck her tongue out at me and in retaliation, I sent a wisp of my magic across the room and smacked her lightly on her rump. She yelped a little and stared at me in disbelief before we both broke out into laughter. “I was so close,” I muttered as I climbed out of bed as well, “So close.” I tried to play it cool. To remain innocent looking. But once again, she was smarter than me. Or maybe better at reading me and anticipating my thoughts than I gave her credit for. She noticed how I walked between her and the door and she did not risk it.

“Yes. You were,” she announced with a smile. She blew me a kiss and vanished in a fizzle of light, sound and the scent of ozone.

“Aw come on,” I complained to an empty room. “That’s so unfair!”

“So we meet again, you wily temptress!” I growled towards Twilight as I entered the kitchen.

She giggled merrily and levitated a glass of grape juice in front of my muzzle. “Don’t be glum.” And she shot me such an adorable, pleading look that I found it hard indeed to stay mad at her. It really was unfair.

“Please warn me if you want to go any further,” Spike interjected, “so I can flee in time.”

I chuckled, walked over with my glass lazily trailing behind me and ruffled his head a little. “Don’t worry, buddy. No torture incoming. Good morning, by the way. How was your night?”

“You mean other than Twilight dragging your seemingly lifeless body home in the middle of it? Actually, it was really decent. You need to stop that, though. Gave me half a heart attack.” We both chuckled and I hugged him for a moment. He had grown fond of me. Enough so that these recurring mishaps worried him each and every time. It was flattering, in a way.

“Sorry that I disrupted your beauty sleep,” I teased and gave his shoulder a little shove. He grinned and put the coffee pot onto the table. Twilight already sat down and inhaled the vile vapors with a deep, satisfied hum before she gulped down her fist pot in one continuous go. I sat down next to her and as usual, tried to ignore the pungent stench. I focused on my grape juice instead and on a lovely looking plate full of pancakes with a smiley face drawn on top. “And who’s artistic expression might that be?”

Spike shrugged with a grin. “Isn’t that obvious?”

I took a closer look. The smiley had been painted in strawberry jam and in haste. But I still managed to make out that it stuck its tongue out at me. I raised an eyebrow and looked to the side and sure enough, Twilight was transfixed on her coffee and tried to ignore the slight tint in her cheeks or the restrained laughter that shook her. I knew her ticklish spots though, so I had no remorse about the inevitable retribution. “Twilight darling,” I started in my best Rarity-impression. Something that, according to Spike — and he ought to know a thing or two about that, right? — was actually half-way decent. “Would you mind terribly putting that mug down for a moment? It shan’t be long, I promise.”

Like the good little filly that she was, she put her mug down. And that was the moment I struck. I tickled her with both hooves and my magic for good measure and despite my little prelude, she apparently had not seen that one coming. She laughed and I caught her as she fell from her chair to the floor, but as soon as she landed safe and sound, I continued my assault. She tried to squirm away from me, she even tried to string a couple of words together for a coherent plea, but I was relentless.

I only showed mercy at some point because I felt that her breathing grew a little bit too erratic for my tastes. She stayed down for a solid minute or so and I sat down beside her with the smuggest grin plastered on my face. Only once I raised a hoof, set it down on her chest and let it idly, tenderly trail along her barrel did Spike make his presence known again by coughing ever so quietly.

I was about to look over my shoulder in his direction when Twilight raised her head and looked at me with such an intense, smoldering gaze that I wished so desperately she would teleport both of us back to her room right this instant.

I sighed heavily. She had a lot more self-restraint than I did. But at the same time, I could not help but grin. “You good?”

She grinned as well and nodded. “I think so. Am I allowed to get up from the floor now?”

My eyes trailed along her lithe yet powerful form. I knew every inch of her body. And as I followed that trail, memories sparked to life before my mind’s eye like an adventurer’s map. “I don’t know,” I mused, “I actually quite like seeing you sprawled out like that…”

Spike coughed a little bit louder.

“I mean, come on, buddy,” I addressed him as I half-turned in his direction, “you had plenty of opportunity to flee by now.”

But he merely crossed his arms before his chest and raised a scaly eyebrow at me. “While you two were busy doing whatever in her room this morning, I mopped that floor. You make a mess, you clean it! Got it?”

The absurdity of this conversation struck me with a sudden realization and I broke out into laughter. I just loved them. I loved that we could clown around like this. I helped Twilight up and we sat down at the table again and Spike seemed satisfied with our decision not to ruin his hard work immediately. We shared our breakfast. And I devoured the entire stack of pancakes. I had involuntarily skipped dinner, so it only made sense to eat for two meals, I told myself. However, the fact of the matter was that Spike’s cooking was just as great as it usually was and he spoiled us rotten with these treats.

With my plate empty, the coffee pot empty as well and us just sitting at the table to deal with the post-meal food coma, my aimless gaze roamed the kitchen and I finally noticed my new archnemesis: Saddlebags. Both Twilight’s and mine. Stuffed to the brim.

It did not really surprise me to see mine as well. She had intended to go back to the hole even before I woke up and she knew me well enough to know that I would not let her go alone. Still, it was a rather unwelcome callback to ‘adventure time’. “So mind telling me what’s in there?” I asked Twilight.

She furrowed her brow as she stared at the saddlebags as well. Almost as if she had issues remembering. And then I realized: She did have those issues. Because she made a mental list of all their contents. She inhaled and I put a hoof to her muzzle. “I think the inventory checklist will do, peanut,” I offered with a lopsided smile.

She replied with a smile of her own, nodded and quickly levitated said checklist out of one of the saddlebags. She gave it to me and I quickly skimmed through what we brought along. She was the expert on friendship missions and some of those led to unusual places far-off from civilization. She occasionally went camping with our friends and did not beg Rarity to be allowed into her pompous tent. That said, I simply hoped that my recent experiences coupled with my fuzzy memories might help me spot missing stuff if there even was such to begin with.

Most of the content was — or at least sounded like — Twilight’s sciency gear. Test tubes and flasks and whatnot. Another section sounded like gear Maud would pack. Two miner’s helmets, a small pickaxe, a lantern, a small canister of lantern oil, fifty feet of rope, a journal, writing supplies, a neverend bottle, a—

Hey, wait.

“Didn’t I bring the bottles back to Zecora?” I asked.

Twilight’s eyes grew wide as she quickly snatched the list from my grasp, scanned the content and grimaced. “Shoot. That was not meant to—… aw.” I was not entirely sure what was going on, but seeing her shoulders slump in disappointment made me feel incredibly guilty.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry or anything.”

She sighed and shook her head. “No, it is fine. I did not think about it when I gave you the checklist.” A section that was noticeably missing on the list was ‘general camping gear’. She had packed two regular waterskins, but no source. No tent either, and no food. And why would we need any of that. Ponyville was right there, above our heads. If this exploration took longer — something I was inclined to assume —, then we could easily retreat for breakfast and dinner and sleep in our own beds at night. We had all the luxuries in the world.

She sighed. “It was meant as a surprise. After you brought them back to Zecora, I went to visit her and bought one. I wanted to fill it with juice as a surprise. A little memento of your first adventures. But when this came up, I thought it would be a decent backup in case something went awry.”

Oh my goodness, that is so sweet. While I squeaked internally, I beamed at her and quickly pulled her in for a tight hug. “I love it,” I whispered into her ear and kissed her neck. It was such a lovely gesture. And I hoped I managed to smooth over her disappointment about revealing her plan too early. She had probably hoped that she would not need to reveal the presence of the bottle at all. It was just an emergency backup, after all. I wondered what juice she had chosen to fill it with…

My friends usually went for the cherry flavor. Because I liked cherries a lot. But that was in a similar vein as Spike eating loads of sapphires, even though he preferred rubies. He just did not wish to get accustomed to ruby. It was meant to be special.

I shook my head and mentally shrugged the idle musing off. “And I love you,” I quietly added before I pulled away from her and placed a quick peck on her nose. She wrinkled her muzzle, but she smiled. And that was the important part. She smiled again.

“Are you really already up for another adventure?” Spike hesitantly asked.

“This is not an adventure,” Twilight quickly insisted with a side glance in my direction that admittedly amused me a lot. “This is a danger assessment mission. A reconnaissance. A scientific field study.”

She looked over, probably to check if her attempt yielded any success. I chuckled and shook my head. Ever since I returned with Luna, my friends treated that word like I was allergic to it. I still considered that quite funny, even though I was aware that this joke would grow old fast. “Oh, please, don’t let me stop you,” I asked Twilight, “Do go on. I’m curious how many more versions you got.”

She proudly puffed her chest out and shot me a challenging look. “I am a walking, breathing thesaurus. So I got lots.”

I saw that playful tinkle in her eyes and laughed even harder. “Right, right. Lots. Sounds very scientific. Right, Spike?”

My scaly buddy chuckled alongside me and nodded. “Yupp, totally sciency.”

“Also, thesaurus sounds lizardy and wild. Rawr!” And I waggled my eyebrows at Twilight for good measure.

We all had a good laugh. Only after we calmed down did we get back to the tasks at hoof. Spike stacked the dirty dishes and cleaned them, I dried them off and put them back into their respective cabinets and drawers and Twilight took her list back and triple-checked our gear.

Once we were all done, I walked over into the library. Owlicious was fast asleep on the left side of his perch as per usual and White Tip was dozing on the right side. “Psst.” It was all it took for him to wake up. He looked over and with a careful wingbeat glided through the room to settle on my back shortly after. “Good morning, buddy. Are you ready for a little trip? This time I might actually be able to take you along for once. I’m sorry I’ve been off for so long again.” He cawed quietly. I liked to think that he did not hold any grudges. So I picked up the small satchel that lay in one of the bookshelves and put it around my neck. It still contained an assortment of nuts and seeds, little treats for my pet.

I returned to the kitchen with him on my back. Spike was in the middle of accepting the probably third repeat of his daily chores from Twilight and I silently waited a couple of steps away. We should be back by sundown, she said. I hoped so. But thinking about it made my stomach twist and turn, so I tried to focus on something else.

Once Twilight was done, we bid our goodbyes and Spike ran off do get his stuff done. The quicker his chores were out of the way, the sooner he had the rest of the day off. Twilight smiled fondly as she watched him go and then turned to me, only to furrow her brow as she spotted White Tip. “Do you think that is a good idea?” she asked.

I looked over my shoulder and saw White Tip inspect the saddlebags with curiosity. “Yes, actually,” I replied with a smile and turned to her. “See, you can fly because of magic. He can fly without it. He’s small, smart, quick and unassuming. I sent him to get help and he fetched you, didn’t he? If things get dicey, I will send him home. I don’t intend to risk his health, of course. But I do think an additional set of eyes can’t hurt.”

She mulled my pitch over and accepted it. So we put our saddlebags on, I joked about her packing too many bricks and we made our way over to Sweet Apple Acres. It was yet another sunny and warm early autumn day, but I could already see a few clouds the weather team assembled. It was supposed to rain in two days, if I remembered correctly and tomorrow was supposed to be cloudy. Not that it would matter much, with us being stuck in a hole.

I hoped we would run into Big Mac, but the red giant was nowhere to be seen until we reached the east orchard and the section within it that contained the hole. And while I knew the orchard quite well myself, it was still a good help that White Tip flew ahead of us and guided us to our destination. Even though it made me think of a dead body first when I saw him circle above the spot.

He’s not a vulture, what is wrong with me?!

“I’m going to kill her,” I growled when we reached our target. A set of barriers was placed in a circle around the hole. I recognized them from the barn. Whenever a family reunion came around, they fetched them from there and built an obstacle course with them for the teenagers to jump over and for the fillies and colts to duck under. And to top it all off, somepony had fashioned some kind of improvised wooden plug from planks and rope to seal the hole off. An entire tool shed worth of planks, maybe more. Probably more.

“Maybe it was Big Macintosh?” Twilight meekly offered.

I shook my head, despite the fact that I could not disprove her attempt. “Maybe.”

The important thing was: Whoever built this plug had crafted a very crude trapdoor into it, smack dab in the middle. And some of the rope used to keep the planks in position and bound led over to the trapdoor and laid there in a neat little pile. The entire wooden construction, despite its improvised nature, looked sturdy enough to support our weight and the rope was secured on it, ready to carry whoever down and allow climbing back up again as well.

I could not argue that this thing did look useful. Problem was: We had a Twilight. We did not need climbing aids. Plugging the hole was probably a good idea though. Nopony wanted a golem roaming the orchard. And the barriers, while not effective as such, would hopefully warn away anypony with too much curiosity. Like Apple Bloom.

Due to its makeshift construction, there were still more than enough holes in the plug for rain water to get in. Something I tried to keep in mind. We did not know how large whatever we would find down there was. And a flooded something might be a problem later on.

“White Tip?” I called and he quickly swooped down to land on my back. “Take a look if you can get in and out of some of these holes. I’d rather not leave the trapdoor open if we don’t have to.” He nodded, cawed and glided over. It looked funny how he hopped around and inspected the different sections of the plug.

Twilight meanwhile stepped up to my side and watched the spectacle with me. “You are not really angry with her, are you?”

I sighed, leaned over and nuzzled her mane. “No. But I want her to take more care and it’s frustrating when she gets like this.”

She smiled and replied in almost a whisper. “Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.”

I chuckled meekly. “I like you. Don’t test my resolve.”

She nuzzled me back and White Tip returned. He cawed to get our attention, flew over to a specific spot and slipped between planks as a demonstration. Getting in was no problem, then. But I had been more worried about him getting out anyway. Luckily he managed just that a moment later. It looked a little bit weird how he did it. As if he clung to the ceiling with his talons like a bat and then wiggled his body through the gap. The only important thing for me was: He could make it.

“Alright. I think we’re ready to go?” A nod, a caw and a teleport.

“Every. Single. Time,” I wheezed as my stomach twisted itself into knots. Half a minute passed by and I finally managed to stem the tide of my nausea and push it back down. I gratefully accepted a sip of water from the waterskin Twilight offered me and got rid of the acrid taste in my mouth.

“I tried,” she offered and stroked a hoof along my back.

“I know. Don’t worry, I’m fine,” I tried to ease her concerns. After yet another minute, I took a deep breath and raised my head again. Twilight had already sparked her horn to life to give us more light than what the plug above our heads allowed through. Andshe had already levitated a bunch of rubble to the side while I fought my usual queasiness. “What are you searching for?” I asked in hopes of making myself useful.

“When Applejack retold the events, she mentioned a black vine being the initial reason for this sinkhole. I hoped that I could maybe find and study it.”

Made sense. So I helped her dig through the pile Applejack had landed on. Or in. And yet even before we finished our search, I already had that nagging feeling that we would not find anything. The way that thing had moved indicated that it was alive. Maybe even aware, somehow. I assumed it had simply fled the moment the ceiling came down.

After our first failure, she poured more light into the chamber. We searched the walls and the ceiling and for the most part found nothing but a nondescript cavern. That is, except for one side I had not noticed prior. There was some sort of cave-in blocking a passage that seemed to lead somewhere. Twilight plunged us into darkness as she canceled her light spell and cast another one. “It is a tunnel that leads down. Hundreds of feet of it, but it is blocked for almost the entire length I can currently perceive.”

I nodded, even though I could not see my own muzzle. “That will require an actual excavation team then. Right? We’re not starting to dig here, right?” We had a pickaxe. A single one. One she had marked down as a small pickaxe.

Light returned to her horn and she smiled wryly. “Although I would love to let my curiosity run wild, that is not what we are here for.”

I sighed in relief. And with that, we turned ninety degrees and walked over to the ancient wooden railing. Now with a hole in it where the diamond dog golem had taken a tumble down. Twilight’s light was enough to see that there was a solid floor maybe sixty feet below us. This floor did not look like natural, unworked stone though.

And my headaches got worse again. I hated these aftershocks. It had been hours since the flash. Almost half a day. I shook my head to clear it and when I looked up, I saw worry on her face. “Don’t,” I asked. I’m fine, I wordlessly reassured her. She nodded curtly and I turned my attention to the nearby path that led out of this entrance cave. “I think I got something. Do you have… I remember from other times that you had, like, a ball. A ball of light. It was some kind of light spell. The size of a filly, really bright. You could control it over long ranges and make it explode like a firework.”

She furrowed her brow and after a moment of consideration merely shrugged. “I do not have such a spell, but it should not be hard to replicate.”

I smirked. Sure, let’s make new spells on the fly, what could go wrong. “Are you sure you’re up to the task?”

She replied to my challenge with a cocky, Dash-worthy grin. “Watch me.” It took maybe a minute or two. She closed her eyes and furrowed her brow and I could almost see all the complex calculations she did, the careful consideration of energy exchange and arcane theory, until she dimmed her light down again, only to bring it back to life in a first attempt to cast a new spell in her repertoire.

It was absurd how easy she could do stuff like this. And I felt no small amount of pride as I saw her create a very familiar looking spell. Familiar, but not identical. The light spell I vaguely remembered hummed a little and rotated clockwise. This sphere of light rotated counter-clockwise and was absolutely silent. And for a brief moment, I felt a burning curiosity. Where did these differences come from? Maybe one Twilight had made a miscalculation? Or maybe both spells differed because they were created with different purposes in mind? But I kept a lid on it and remained silent about it.

“Impressive,” I praised and she grinned bashfully.

“Thank you.”

I looked over to the side, where the path led down into what I presumed was a city. And with the most recent aftershock, I was decently sure that I even knew a few things about its structure. “You see the path over there?” I asked and directed her attention by pointing a hoof there. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s the main street. It should curve in a wide arc. And I mean wide arc. It describes a circle, and at some point should drop down to a lower level. That should repeat a couple of times, with the circles growing more and more narrow the further down we get. I don’t know if you have enough reach, but maybe it would be a good start to get a decent impression of the size of things if you could follow that path as best as you can? And in the end, raise it back up to our level and let it go boom. Should be quite a spectacular sight.”

She listened intently and then sent the sphere on its merry way. We sat down right in front of the railing, without touching it of course. It did look like it would break away if we so much as sneezed at it. And we could watch the sphere illuminate parts of a city from our little overhang. Light reflected off of speckled, whitish houses. So many of them. Twilight let her sphere follow the street as best as she could even though it seemed to be miles away at one point and it eventually reached a spot at which a long set of stairs flanked the now steeply downwards angled street into a lower layer. It became harder to make out details with the sphere growing smaller and getting further away, but we saw layer after layer after layer, packed with houses in vastly different build styles, fashioned from different materials and in different sizes. These were the districts, I vaguely remembered. Different city districts. Everything had been very orderly.

The first layer was the residential quarter.

At the very bottom of the city, more than six hundred feet below us, was a single structure right in the middle, surrounded by several concentric circles of what appeared to be water. Twilight then lifted her sphere up and just as I had asked, let it explode into a shower of light. I saw the pure awe in her face as she took in the grandeur this city once presented. Its inverted cone-shape gave it a vastly distinct feeling than say Ponyville, where everything was even and on the same level. Maybe Canterlot was a decent comparison, as some districts there were on a higher elevation as well. But this was still different. Everything went down to the middle. Every weary traveler. Every gaze thrown into this hole. Every resource delivered to this city. Everything was designed to be drawn downwards.

“This really is a city,” Twilight whispered breathlessly. “There must have been hundreds of residents here…”

“Thousands,” I corrected with a strange feeling of weight bearing down on my shoulders.

“I wonder what happened here,” she mused. I knew that she merely talked aloud. Gave voice to her thoughts. She probably had not listened to me, which was fine. By all means, I had not contributed anything worth hearing. But her non-question still sent a shiver down my spine.

“I can’t tell,” I replied. And in those last remnants of light, I tried to make out any details. I tried to see any movement in reaction to the sudden light intrusion. But the entire city continued to lie dark and dead. Our ‘friend’ the golem was probably roaming around somewhere down there. We had not seen him lying beneath our ledge. Not even pieces of him. And I could not shake the foreboding feeling that something else was down here as well.

That wiggly black vine had to come from somewhere, after all.

“Do you still think this is a good idea?” I asked her. I would not mind her suddenly having second thoughts. But her scholarly enthusiasm returned in full force and she grinned like an excited little filly.

“Absolutely!”

I sighed and tried to put up a brave façade. “Well, would the tourists please follow me then? Keep your hooves inside the vehicle at all times, inform our employees about any funny smells aside from the to be expected stale air and please refrain from suing us if your action-adventure experience turns out to be boring.”

She rewarded my effort with a quiet giggle and followed me. I hesitated briefly before I stepped onto the street. It was a distinctly different feel and sound. Enough so that Twilight increased the light again to take a look at what exactly we walked on. “Is that andesite?”

I turned around and nodded. “I think so, yes. Honestly, I’m not Maud. But it would fit.”

She furrowed her brow and looked at me. “Why?”

I pointed with a hoof over to the first house. “Because they built a lot with volcanic stone. The reason these houses looked so fancy when your light sphere passed them by is because they are built entirely out of diorite.” She walked a little bit closer and inspected the speckled, whitish wall. Parts of it seemed to almost reflect the light. Which gave the entire building a little sparkle. “I believe it was a sign of wealth or something. It’s hard to get large quantities of that stuff and they build their largest district out of it.”

We continued down the main street, but every time a byroad split off, she stopped and looked down that path almost longingly. The residential quarter was huge. It housed most of the population, after all. If we would poke our noses into every nook and cranny up here, we would be here for weeks, minimum. And no matter how much her curiosity burned, this was not what we were here for.

Right?

Then why is she walking down to that plaza?

I blinked. What? As soon as I turned around, I saw her walk off. That probably explained the slight back pain — White Tip dug his claws into my coat to make me aware of it without needing to caw down my ear. The latter could attract unwanted attention, after all.

I sighed and walked after Twilight. “Come on, peanut, you can’t be serious. If we start here, we’re not going to stop!”

Twilight stopped in front of a street lantern and inspected it. “I’m not… I mean…” She looked back at me with those big, pleading eyes. “Just a little peek? Please?”

I sighed in defeat and as soon as I nodded, she grinned and got her journal and writing supplies out. A quick sketch of the entire thing, a few more of one of the buildings, a bunch of notes on materials and suspected building techniques. She eventually noticed the little hatch at the bottom of the street lantern. “You mentioned they used gemstones to power their technology, right?”

I grinned and sidled up to her. “Yes, but that’s not a gemstone slot. That’s a slot for a fuse. I’ve seen a bunch of these missing in the other lanterns we passed by already. My best guess is that whatever happened here overloaded their electrical systems.”

“So these street lights were all powered by electricity?”

I was about to blurt my answer out, but stopped. It was so easy to just say ‘yes’. She had no way of checking. And much to my dismay: Neither had I. Because even though that answer felt right, the evidence was less conclusive than I would have liked. That slot could have been used for other means. I was guesstimating a lot on the basis of fuzzy memories from who knew how many cycles ago. “I think so, yes,” I hesitantly answered.

It was that hesitation that made her pause and she watched me for a brief moment. “You don’t have to, you know?”

She tried to be nice and accommodating. And I sighed in reply. “I know. It’s just… it’s difficult. I wish I could give you all the answers. But I don’t have them. Take everything I tell you about this place with a grain of salt. I don’t entirely trust these memories. And neither should you. Just because I knew a place like this in a different life doesn’t mean that I know this place. There’s always been variations. Some minor, others… less so. If you promise me to keep that in mind, I promise you to stop worrying.”

She grinned slightly lopsided. “I don’t think you can stop. But I like that deal anyway.” She took down a couple of notes and once done, she looked down the byroad. “There seems to be some kind of plaza in that direction.”

I snorted and hung my head. She was impossible. “Fine.”

When I looked back up, I saw her grin with that unbridled joy again and found it quite difficult not to smile in return. So we went down the byroad and entered the little plaza. It was surrounded by houses, each house entrance led directly to it. The houses themselves usually had two stories, only a few were smaller. We saw windows with glass, additional wooden shutters on the outside and even small stripes of dirt in front of the houses, to the sides of the entrances. Strangely enough, we saw no doors.

Before we concerned ourselves with that, we walked around the plaza for a moment. A fountain was the centerpiece of it, but it had long since dried up. It was crafted from marble, as far as I could tell, and the figurine on top was probably some notable diamond dog of ages long past. Above his head was a whitish ball the size of a head, roughly five feet higher. It was suspended in midair by a steel cable that was anchored to two of the buildings. I knew the question before I even looked in Twilight’s direction and yet I had a difficult time giving a proper answer. I looked around for clues and once again noticed the dirt patches. The andesite street went all the way down through all the layers. Even these byroads that split off every so often left no room for something as simple as…

A flowerbed.

“I think this was some sort of artificial sun,” I explained while I furrowed my brow and stared at one of the dirt patches. “Plants need a certain light to grow. The theory should be easy enough to test. If we find these strange contraptions whenever we find more dirt patches, that should be a good indicator.”

White Tip hopped off my back, over to one of the patches and returned to me after he picked at the dirt with his beak. Twilight came closer and lowered her horn to look at what he presented me with right before he hopped back onto my back. A few seeds. Dried out and long dead, but indisputable proof that something had grown in those dirt patches sometime. “Good find,” I praised him and levitated a few seeds out of my satchel. Those were a lot more appealing to him and he happily accepted the treat.

Twilight meanwhile took one of her test tubes and secured the retrieved samples in them. She scraped a bit of diorite from a wall and scraped a sample of dried out, long-dead mucus from the bottom of the former fountain. And everything went back into her saddlebags as soon as it was properly secured, of course. I could not help but chuckle quietly. I felt a little bit like a moving lab.

“Have you seen the cable shafts near the rooftops?” Twilight asked and looked up with almost the same fascination in her eyes as if she were to marvel at Luna’s glorious night sky. “They are easily accessible from the roof, I bet. That would ease maintenance access. And they seem to lead into each and every house.”

I nodded, even though she would not see it. “They do. It’s like… half of their stuff was powered by electricity, and half of it by magic. The latter being gemstones, somehow.”

“With a city of this size, they must have had an enormous demand.” While she calculated on the basis of what we had seen so far, I thought about the hydroelectric dam upriver from Ponyville. I knew that Ponyville’s hospital used electricity to power some of the advanced apparatuses and machines. But most of the town still relied on more conventional, ‘old-fashioned’ means. Firefly lanterns, for example. Or simple light spells to power a street light. They were not that hard to learn and cast. Even a weak unicorn, given they could learn light spells to begin with, could power a couple of street lights for a night without exhausting themselves.

While I still pondered why Ponyville even had a hydroelectric dam, Twilight noticed something else. Her light was caught and briefly reflected by something that was not a diorite wall or a glass window. “What is that…?” she mumbled in curiosity. I quickly shook myself free from my thoughts and followed her gaze to one of the doors. And I grimaced.

There is still a good chance she won’t enter.

I sidled up to her side and followed her over to the entrance. A thick metal bolt stuck out of a piece of machinery beside the entrance, right on the inside. “It’s an electric door lock,” I explained. “See that switch there? The latch would be drawn back and the door is open, or it sticks out and blocks it from being opened.”

She nodded, but I could already see the gears turning. “It is just that… there is no door…”

I remembered the ancient wooden railing. There was only so long wood could survive until it vanished. But just as Twilight did seconds later, I noticed the few scraps of it lying on the floor. Spread out in a way that only left one reasonable conclusion: Something had smashed its way in. Which explained another very uncomfortable detail.

The metal latch was broken off in the middle. And the missing piece was probably somewhere inside the room. Something had smashed the barred door open, with enough force to break a metal bolt clean off. It was not bent. It was broken off.

“Twilight, please don’t—“ —enter. I sighed. Too late.

Her muzzle wrinkled as her nostrils flared. “Urgh… do you smell that?”

Yes, peanut. That is what old death smells like.

I sighed and stepped in after her. I could not spare her any longer, it seemed. So maybe it was better to just get it over with. I took a deep breath, despite the stale, dead air and refocused. “The stench comes from upstairs,” I told her. She nevertheless looked around curiously and took note — figuratively and quite literally — of all the little doodads and unidentified household objects. And only then did we carefully make our way up the stone stairs. Whatever carpet had once muffled the steps of those on their way up was long gone. As were any and all curtains, tablecloths, rotten food. It was a small miracle that even parts of the shelves, tables and chairs remained.

We followed our noses to one of the bedrooms. Another broken down door. This time, it was more noticeable what had happened. Parts of the surrounding wall were broken off, scattered pieces of diorite lined the floor into the room. Something had crashed through here. And a single piece of metal still clung to the wall. One hinge of the door.

Twilight grimaced. First because of the stench that got a little worse when we entered the bedroom. And then because of the scene we discovered within.

They never stood a chance.

Bones were scattered in the far corner of the room behind the broken down remains of the bed. Some of these bones were broken. Three skulls. Two considerably smaller than the other one. The larger skull had a clear piercing wound right in the middle. And the diorite wall behind those piles of bones had a dozen holes. Whatever smashed through that door was after them. After him or her and their two children. They tried to keep it out and failed. They hid in this room and it found them. It pierced their bodies with enough force and speed to punch a clean whole into a solid skull. Enough force to penetrate the very stone behind their bodies. Twelve times. Twelve attacks for three probably very helpless targets. That was not efficient. That was overkill. It spoke volumes about resentment, about anger and hatred, maybe even about satisfaction and joy.

Whatever had killed them was retrieved after the attack had been finished. Either that, or the weapon of choice had been organic in nature and long since rotted away. There was no trace of it left. No spearhead embedded in the wall. No pieces of a wooden lance on the floor.

Twilight’s analytical mind figured out what I gathered. Probably quicker than I did. Maybe in more detail. “They were children,” she almost inaudibly whispered as her gaze was drawn back to the pile of bones. Back from all the details telling the story of this room and their last few seconds.

Life’s not fair.

I shook my head slightly to dislodge the thought and walked over to her side. And I leaned a little bit against her. To comfort her. To distract her. “There’s nothing we can do.” They had been dead for a long, long time.

I managed to slowly, carefully usher her out of the house again. And on my way down, I noticed the disturbing, single-minded focus of the intruder. It was hard to tell with table legs eventually giving out and with drawers breaking down over decades. But most of the furniture were now neat little piles of rotten wood. Right where they stood. No table was flipped across the room. No pottery was smashed on the ground. I even saw a half-intact door that probably led to a kitchen or bathroom or any other room that had not housed any escapees at the time of the collapse.

We both took a deep breath once we were back outside. The air down in this cave was still stale, but it was bearable. Bearable compared to the inside of that house, anyway. I sighed as I realized that this, this one instance, was not enough. Not enough to make her aware of the issue at hoof. “White Tip?” He pressed his claws into my back to let me know that I had his full attention. “Would you kindly make a round? Fly up to the windows of the other houses, into the entrances if necessary? See if you can find similar scenes.” While my feathery friend flapped his wings and was off and quickly flew from window to window here in the plaza where he had light to see inside, I turned to Twilight and saw the dreaded realization dawn on her. Up to this point, she had not even considered that this grisly sight might not have been an isolated incident. But all the doors were missing. All the entrance doors, anyway.

White Tip quickly returned and landed on the andesite street before us. “More like that?” I asked. And he confirmed. “In every house?” And he confirmed. I nodded and gestured for him to hop onto my back again while I turned to Twilight. “I’m sorry. But… this place is a graveyard.”

She had to wrangle with this revelation for a bit. It was alright. I gave her as much time as she needed. But I did not like the uneasy look with which she regarded me at the end of it. “You knew.” It was not a question. A statement, at best. An accusation at worst.

I sighed and shook my head. “No.” And she tried to argue in my favor, I could see that. She patiently waited for more, so I tried. After all, I did that a lot. “I knew something bad had happened down here. I told you, it’s all fuzzy. I did not know we would find street lanterns, but once I saw one, it was like… yeah, of course they would be here, they are all over the place. And there was this… hazy sense of foreboding when we veered into the byroad. And again when we entered the house.”

“Why did you not say anything?” she asked quietly.

I had to swallow that lump as I heard regret lace her voice. “I tried.” I sighed and brushed a hoof over my muzzle. “You wanted to see that lantern and study it and while I felt uneasy, I thought: Hey, why not. It’s just a lantern after all, right? What’s the worst that could happen? And then we entered that plaza and you were just so… I love seeing that side of you. I should have put up more resistance then I had, I’ll admit that. But you were so happy. And when you entered that house, I was… too late. Too slow.”

“You could have told me before we went up the stairs,” she answered. Despite her phrasing, it was not an accusation. Which already relieved me a little bit.

“Would that really have stopped you? ‘Hey peanut, sorry, but we really shouldn’t be here. We would find something that isn’t easy to shake off again. Let’s turn around and just go.’ Like that? Would that really have worked?” And neither did I accuse her. It was an honest question. I knew her. I knew her well. But with my headache merrily thumping away, with hazy memories mingling in that foggy mess up there, I found it difficult to gauge how she would have reacted to something like that. She would have wanted answers. I could not give those.

“I trust you,” she replied.

I nodded. I knew that. “You would have followed me out again. But would that really be the end of it? Maybe I made a mistake by thinking you would react the same way I would. You do show better self-control than I have, time and time again. With some vague mystery left dangling in the open like that… I don’t know. I would probably not go against your wishes. But I would not be able to stop myself from thinking about it either.”

She remained silent for a while. She even closed her eyes. And eventually, she opened them again and sighed. “It was just… it was a shock,” she told me. “I did not expect to find something like that. I would prefer it if you tell me sooner when you remember something. Even if it is vague and hazy. And I will try to listen.”

I nodded. “Okay.” We both sighed and walked back to the main street. Close to each other. Close enough for our coats to brush. “I can’t guarantee you that we won’t find more grisly stuff lower down. Whatever happened here started lower down.”

“I know,” she replied. It seemed like it really had been just unexpected. Now that she knew that this city was dead-dead, it was a different story. That should probably not have surprised me as much as it did. She had faced mystical beings and overpowered villains before. She had seen entire timelines erased and witnessed war. “You don’t happen to remember what exactly broke through those doors, do you? Or maybe if it might still be alive and around?”

I answered her wry smile in kind. “Sadly no.” That diamond dog golem had claws. And that black vine was too small and too wiggly. Whatever had massacred an entire city population was either long gone, or still somewhere below us. But that was the reason we were here for, right? Danger assessment and reconnaissance.

At this point, we refrained from checking more houses. Twilight instead settled for drawing a crude map of the highest city layer. All the little byroads and plazas. The more her map took shape, the more it reminded me of the veins on a leaf. If somepony had cut the leaf in half along the middle vein. A little spider’s web of plazas and byroads that was rarely deeper than seven houses. That obviously still amounted to a lot of houses.

“It is artificial, you know,” Twilight concluded when she returned with her measuring tape. She quickly took down a couple more notes and left me bewildered for the time being, until she was done and smiled. I was just glad she smiled again, even if it was a considerably subdued one compared to her initial enthusiasm. “The city.”

I snorted. “Well duh.”

She rolled with her eyes, but her smile grew a little in strength. “No, I mean, the entire city. I cannot tell why just yet, but even the supposed cave ceiling was hewn to look the way it does. The andesite road describes a perfect curvature. The layout of the byroads, plazas, houses, even the direction their entrances are aligned to, everything about this city was meticulously planned ahead of time. I can even calculate the diameter of the first layer.”

I grimaced as she proudly announced that. She clearly hoped I would ask, but the thing was… I did not know if I wanted to know. I looked over and saw her smile. And I imagined it faltering a little. Just a little. Ever so slightly. That mental image was already enough to sigh internally and give in. Maybe I was just weak-willed. “Hit me. How much is it?”

“Two miles. Exactly on the inch.”

I grimaced hard. Admittedly, most of that distance was a big hole right in the middle. But the residential district was still roughly four hundred feet ‘thick’. On either side obviously, because circles. “You know I love to join you for a stroll. But I don’t think I agree with your choice of scenery this time,” I joked and felt quite happy as her smile grew into a grin.

“You knew what you were getting yourself into before we came down here. And yet you came down with me anyway. And that is why I love you.”

She giggled quietly and I chimed in and shook my head. “And that’s obviously the only thing as well, right?”

She nodded vigorously. “Right.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. She was so surprised that she immediately scanned our surroundings for any potential threat I might have noticed, but that was just a good distraction for me to walk up to her and smooch her. “Love you too, peanut.”

And she had that particular smile that I loved. Well admittedly, I loved all of them. But this one I loved the most, right now anyway. We continued on our way and after what felt like hours — and probably was hours — we reached the section of the road we spotted earlier today when Twilight had sent her light sphere ahead on the road. A long section of stairs that flanked the downwards angled road and led to the next layer.

“I did not see a clock on that check list,” I half-asked and Twilight confirmed as much. “So we don’t really know how late it is. But seeing as White Tip is both wide awake and half-asleep, I guess being underground messes with his usual sleeping schedule a little bit. It leads me to believe that it might be evening. That and the fact that my hooves start to burn a little which, speaking from experience with Luna, they tended to do after numerous hours of walking.”

Twilight grinned sheepishly. “We did not really take any breaks, did we?”

I chuckled quietly and shrugged. “It’s fine. I could’ve complained if I really wanted to. You were just very, uh… focused. But I think this is a good point to let it be for today, right? First layer done, next one tomorrow. Let’s get home, grab some food, settle by the fireplace with a nice book and fall asleep while cuddling. Sounds good?”

She smiled at me tenderly. “Yes please. That does sound lovely.”

We turned around and walked maybe a couple dozen steps before I abruptly stopped and gestured for her to do the same. “Light,” I whispered and she immediately canceled her spell. I wished I could have said that my own attentiveness had saved our hides. But credit where credit was due: White Tips claws dug into my coat in an immediately painful manner. Meaning that whatever was up was nothing that had a second to spare. And sure enough, we heard something scratch. Stone on stone. And then, despite the absolute darkness that had swallowed us whole, we saw the diamond dog golem return.

It climbed up the side of the andesite road less than a hundred feet in front of us and carefully, sneakily crawled over the ancient wooden fence. It had not noticed us yet, it seemed. The only reason we could see it was that weird glowing collar it now wore. Several glyphs or runes that seemed to be forged onto a metal band, which itself floated around the collection of stones that represented the creature’s neck. And they emanated an ominous faint red light.

Great. Upgrades.

Maybe the golems master was still around? Someone had to make these changes, after all. I cautiously poked Twilight on her shoulder and gestured for her to slowly and quietly walk over to the nearest house. Hiding seemed like a very reasonable decision right now. After all, that thing might be gone in a minute or two. With Twilight’s light spell permanently active, it was reasonable to assume that we had attracted it. But why did it come only after hours and hours of us passing through the city? Maybe it required some kind of recharge? Or repairs? We still knew too little to even make educated guesses.

Once we were inside the house, I sneakily looked outside. The glow the golem now emitted was a good warning sign when it came in our direction and how far away it still was. I deemed it safe enough for a little discussion if we were quiet. “What’s the plan?” I asked her. I knew that she probably had a thousand and one options to get rid of that thing. But I also knew Twilight well enough to realize that she would not want to destroy it if it was not utterly unavoidable.

She smiled and shrugged. “I should be able to teleport us back home.”

I nodded and tried to brace for nausea. “Do it.”

Her horn glowed. I could feel the familiar sensation of strong magic nearby. She strained.

And the spell fizzled out.

“What…?” we both managed to utter in surprise. And I noticed that the red shimmer of light grew stronger outside the house. With basically all the doors missing from each and every building, there was not a lot of room to hide. We could retreat further back into another room, of course. But that golem was too large to get inside these houses anyway. Except by breaking walls. That was always an option, of course.

“Get down and stay silent,” I ordered her and pressed myself against the ground as flat as I could. Twilight had the advantage of lying on the other side of the entrance right in the corner of the house, while I, the idiot that I was, laid right beneath a freaking window. I grabbed White Tip with my hooves and pressed him to the ground as well, close to myself to keep him as safe as possible.

And we heard that thing stalk around outside. We heard how careful it placed its stony claws on the ground to avoid making too much noise. But something of that size could not hope to be silent. Quiet, yes. But not silent. We sat tight and played the long game. It rounded the house we hid in twice and every time it came even remotely close to the entrance, both Twilight and I held our breaths. We did not know if it could hear, after all.

It felt like ages until the steps of the golem finally receded.

We both sighed in relief, albeit as quietly as we could.

“What was that?” I asked.

Twilight grimaced. “I am not sure. My magic was dispersed somehow.”

“Try your light spell. But with a low output,” I asked her. Her horn began to glow, but there was an unsteady flicker in it. Maybe that collar interfered with her magic. Maybe it was an effect related to how far into the city we were. Either way, we wordlessly agreed that her magic was unreliable right now. Teleportation was not an immediate option. We could probably fly over to the side of the city where the plug was situated, but if that effect also affected her pegasus magic, then we would simply plummet out of the sky. Not a prospect I looked forward to. “Is this dire enough to convince you to get rid of that thing?” I asked hopefully, even though I knew better.

“That golem is a priceless, still functioning artifact of a bygone civilization! We could learn so much if we could manage to study it! Not to mention the repercussions on diplomatic endeavors it could have if the diamond dogs would learn that I destroyed it. A-And—“

I sighed and held up my hoof. Despite the severity of the situation, I could not shake that smile. “A simple ‘heck no’ would have sufficed, peanut.” She sighed and we both fell silent for a moment as we analyzed our situation and tried to come up with something. It was a smart move to wait for a few minutes anyway. Maybe that thing got bored and crawled back under that rock it had emerged from.

Twilight was the first one to reach any sort of coherent conclusion, unsurprisingly. “Well we still have water and we do not need to worry about shelter from the elements.” I decidedly did not like the direction this headed in. I saw how she looked at her journal. All the sketches and notes. How she chewed her bottom lip. A gesture that made me want to do things to her under normal circumstances. But now it only served to make me aware just how tightly her scholarly pursuit had gripped her.

“Twilight. I’m hungry. Up there is food. I like food.” I quietly chuckled despite my dissatisfaction with her upcoming decision.

She rummaged through one of her saddlebags, placed an apple on the floor and booped it with her nose so that it rolled over to my side. I stared at the apple and then at her. You can’t be serious. “And what are you going to eat? Because if you tell me that you’re not hungry, I will—“

She put down a second apple.

I stared at her for a long, long time. I hate you so much right now, I let her know despite my goofy smile.

Love you too, was all I got back.

I sighed and took my damn apple. “The things we do for love…”

Putting on a Show

It had been a long day. One that mostly consisted of walking around and staring at the architecture. The day had its ups and downs. Being chased by a golem was certainly part of the latter group. As was the discovery of an entire city layer being a graveyard. But I still found myself smiling whenever I remembered her fascinated, awestruck gaze gliding over the city blocks, houses and technical doodads. Despite the downs, her interest had not entirely lost its grip on her. And we continued to the next layer with her almost, almost skipping steps. She did not quite prance ahead, but her mood clearly recovered. Despite the golem probably being on our heels.

The revelation that this day would get a lot longer before we were finally allowed to rest coaxed little more than a tired, silent sigh at this point. It had been inevitable from the start, I figured. The apple, meager and sad snack that it was, had stemmed the tide against my hunger for now and my hooves only slightly burned, so I could go on for a while longer and I would. For her.

I looked ahead as I carefully walked down the stairs and saw her tail swish from side to side excitedly. It made me chuckle. The noise in turn made her stop and look back and there it was. That smile that made my heart melt and tell myself in earnest that all this would be worth it in the end.

She waited until I caught up to her and slowed down a little as we continued on. Her horn lit our way again, even though she was very, very cautious about how much light she allowed. We got rid of the golem a few minutes ago, we certainly did not need him to return right now or anytime soon.

We stopped when we got our first glimpse at a structure nearby.

The second layer had still been close by enough to spot a few details when Twilight initially sent her light sphere around. But standing before the buildings made perfectly clear that whoever had designed this place had no intention of impressing visitors. The first layer with its diorite houses was clearly meant to do just that, but these buildings were made from dark gray concrete. No fancy flourishes, no detailed work. Just plain concrete boxes stacked on top of each other, beside each other, connected with each other.

I had to admit, though: They were impressive in a different way. The structure looked very industrious. Very efficient and almost intimidating. There were new environmental clues adding to that impression as well. A constant, soft buzzing could be heard. It was faint, almost inaudible. It indicated that not the entire place was as dead as it looked. There was still electricity to be found here, some of the machinery still worked. The latter was obvious due to the soft swooshing we heard. Twilight allowed just a little bit more light and we saw the reason for the strange, recurring sound. Massive fans. They were hidden behind metal grates and seemed to be part of the concrete buildings. We saw two of them, but we heard a bunch more. Each seemed to be at least ten feet tall.

Twilight motioned towards a sign nearby, in front of the buildings’ entrance. We walked over and stared at it, but neither of us could read diamond dog language. However, the longer I stared, the more I felt something scratch in the back of my head. Like something wanted to get in…

I furrowed my brow and closed my eyes. “Second layer. Transformer stations and air conditioning units,” I quoted a strange voice from fuzzy memories. “There’s three ACCs. The first two are somehow different, but I can’t quite tell why.”

“What is an ACC?” Twilight asked while I still focused on my muddy puddle.

“Air Conditioning Complex. It describes an assortment of interconnected buildings all working together to fulfill the task. Housing units are included, a cantina, locker rooms and showers. They have their own transformer stations and emergency power grids. They sometimes posed a bottleneck for the power distribution and…” I stopped and looked up at the sign again. I could feel it. It was so close.

“It makes sense that they needed to worry about proper ventilation with an underground city of this size,” Twilight mused quietly.

“Twilight?”

“Hm?” She looked over, I could see that out of the corners of my eyes, but I could not stop staring at the sign. The letters glitched before my very eyes. They shifted and wobbled in place. I did not even dare to blink as my eyes started to burn.

“I think I might be able to remember more. It feels like there’s a flash right beneath the surface, but it doesn’t take over for some reason. Should I set it loose?” I was not a fan of these flashes. But I recognized their occasional usefulness. And especially in our current situation they could be incredibly valuable. Maybe I finally got enough information to stop the golem for good. Or maybe I could learn a few more tidbits for Twilight’s notes. It might be a once in a lifetime opportunity. And I could tell her decision even before she had made it. I was certain she agreed with that assessment. She wanted those memories and information. I was certain that she had utmost faith in her ability to defend me if something went wrong.

“Go ahead. I watch over you,” she reassured me.

I smiled and leaned over to lay my forehead against hers. I sighed quietly. “If I start having funny ideas, slap me. Should break the spell, hopefully.” She did not look thrilled with that particular prospect, but nodded anyway. And I returned my attention to that damn sign. And I stared at it. I started so hard and focused as if I tried to burn a hole in it. The letters wobbled more and more, until something happened. It felt like a knot suddenly burst in my head.

And reality as I knew it got a fancy new overlay.

I could read the sign. “Air Conditioning Complex One. There’s something written below it, smaller.” I could see it in a light-blue, almost ghostly glowing way. The writing was immaculate. That same glow made me realize that no, on the real sign was no such smaller writing to be found. It had been weathered away a long time ago. “Research Facility One.”

She snickered and looked back at me. “What? Are you going to stand there and wait outside now?”

I furrowed my brow. That was not Twilight’s voice. I slowly looked over to the entrance. The airlock, I realized. A diamond dog stood there. She was roughly my size. Whitish fur, but spotted with dark gray. Her colors were almost split down the middle on her face. She watched me with her playfully twinkling eyes. Excitement. Anticipation. Her bushy tail waggled. She looked forward to show me the inside. Why?

She wore a blue neckerchief. A gift from her brother. Red Nose, I remembered. My eyes were drawn to her muzzle. Whitish fur. Not white. Silvery. Silver Nose.

I felt a pull from my memories. I did not exactly know what they wanted, it was too vague. So I closed my eyes and tried to follow the flow. “Are you sure this is a smart idea, Silver?”

She punched a few numbers into the keypad beside the airlock. If I focused, I could see beyond the ghostly shimmer. I could see a destroyed something barely clinging to the wall. Ghostly Silver entered through the opening airlock door. The real door hung half-open in its hinges, the thick metal bent inwards.

“Dream, I’ve been through a lot of hassle to get the magistrate to change his mind on this. You get your weird-ass pony rump in here now or I’m gonna be very cross with you tonight.” She snickered again. Despite the threat, nothing was meant seriously.

And I did not mind playing along. “Oh no, whatever shall I do? Is it the couch again? Because honestly, you have a lovely couch.”

She stuck her tongue out and gestured for me to get a move on. So I followed her. I followed into the airlock. I had to duck under the real door. I did not understand how this memory and reality interacted. I had never had such a strange flash before. They were usually a lot less interactive and just fed me images and sounds and other bits and pieces.

We stood in the airlock for half a minute while strange devices lowered from the ceiling and sprayed us with some kind of gas. I would have been worried, but Silver did not seem to be alarmed. So I figured this had to be standard procedure. Once the air lock opened on the other side, we were finally allowed in.

A massive hall greeted us. A lot of tables were filled with technical looking machines, apparatuses and monitors. The entire room was abuzz. Dozens of diamond dogs followed strict patterns of movement like ants in a colony. Some wore the clothing of mechanics, others wore lab coats. Silver grabbed one of those from a nearby hanger and threw another one over to me.

“Silver, I can’t wear a lab coat, you doofus.” I grinned and wanted to throw the lab coat right back at her, but I realized too late that it was not real. I grabbed through nothing.

“Just put it over your back, you twerp. It’s just so the other workers leave you alone.” She shook her head with a wide grin and gestured for me to follow her deeper into the bowels of ACC1.

I shrugged and moved along. Past destroyed metal tables. Past the collapsed remains of wooden chairs. Whatever technical notes and diagrams and readings had been on these desks were long gone. But I could still see them. See the ghostly imprint of my memory. It was such a strange feeling to walk through these halls and have the direct contrast between how dead, silent and empty they were now and how alive everything had been back then. The strangest side effect of this overlay had to be the light, though. I should barely have been able to see anything ahead of me, but since the memory was so incredibly vivid and the entire complex was flooded by a massive array of luminescent tubes on the ceiling, I could navigate the building with relative ease. The only thing that made me stumble a few times was the occasional piece of debris that was not part of the memory. Or bones. Many of those to be found.

I knew things got interesting when Silver’s usually floppy right ear stood up straight. “There he is, the little bugger!” Silver ran ahead and literally jumped onto one of the other lab coat-wearing diamond dogs. As he yelped in surprise and whirled around with a growl, I could catch a first glimpse of his face. It only confirmed what I had suspected already due to his statue. Red Nose, Silver’s brother. He worked here.

They exchanged a few barks both to get rid of the tension and in happiness about seeing each other. “Red, this is Dreamwalker. Dreamwalker, this is Red.” She leaned over to me ever so slightly and whispered. “My brother. Just in case you’ve forgotten.” She treated this like our first meeting. And I had to admit, it was a little bit funny. I had lived with both of them for how long now? Months. Maybe even years?

Red rolled with his eyes as he witnessed the antics of his sister. I grinned a little and we regarded each other with an appraising look. His build was slightly broader. His nose was indeed red. And his fur colors were inverted compared to those of his sister. I offered him a hoof. “Pleasure to meet you. Silver told me a lot about you already.” I played along. And why would I not? Some of the other workers sure seemed confused. Maybe that alone was worth it.

“Only good stuff, I hope,” he replied with a chuckle and a threatening side-eye to Silver.

I chuckled as well and shrugged. “Mostly embarrassing foalhood stories. And something about the two of you trying to build a construct, which ended in you accidentally burning down half your room?”

He growled in displeasure and turned to Silver — who was long gone, of course. He sighed and returned his attention to me. “I’ll get her back for that later.”

I grinned. “I sure hope so. She’s extra-hyper today, isn’t she?”

He shrugged with a good-natured smile. “Sure is. Though to be fair, she looked forward to getting you in here for weeks.”

I did not know how to react to that. My memories gave me no indication. No pull in any direction. So I simply looked around the room we currently stood in. It seemed to be some sort of assembly line? Or maybe a repair station. One of the fans lay on the floor. It was massive. A single blade on it was as long as I was, from head to tail. Four workers carried a missing blade to one of the tables while three more seemed busy using blowtorches to disconnect another blade.

“Pst. Pssst!”

I looked over to yet another passage. Silver waited at the half-opened door. She apparently still tried to avoid her brother after my revelation, but her face did not speak of misgivings. Even if she was cross with me, what was the worst she could do? She was not even real. Another week on the couch? She would hang on for two days, maybe three before she would wait for me to fall asleep and crawl next to me anyway.

It was such a weird arrangement. We were not in a relationship. But we were not not in a relationship either. Everything was up in the air.

I shook my head slightly to dislodge the unwelcome musings of another me. This was apparently the first time that I had been allowed inside these buildings. My maybe-love interest was eager to show me her workplace. And I had nothing better to do than stroll around the place thinking about what we were to each other. Then again, that did sound a lot like me, so at least it was in line with what was to be expected.

I walked over to ghostly Silver and followed her down the hallway into what looked like an archive. The reality was sobering. Empty shelves and the smell of stale air and decay. But once I took the glowing overlay into account, this place was a treasure trove of knowledge. And data. Oh so much data. This room stored all the protocols about overhauls and maintenance work, all reports of work incidents and injuries. All the readings from the different machines. Twilight would have loved to dig into this place.

I followed Silver through most of the room to a back corner. “You work here?” I asked her.

“No, you ninny. I’m not an archivist! I don’t crunch numbers, do I?” She raised an eyebrow at me.

I sat down to properly gesture with my hooves and held them up in defense. “You don’t. But you do spout a lot of numbers once you really get going about what you actually do, and this place looks very, uh, numbery.”

She snickered and nodded. “Right. Sorry ‘bout that. I don’t know, math gets me going.”

I smirked. “I noticed.”

She grinned and winked at me before she turned around and lifted a bunch of books and sheets of paper onto the table. “So, here’s what I wanted to show you. What I’m currently working on. Read that.”

I was relieved that she merely slid a bunch of the sheets over instead of hoofing them to me. After all, I could not actually hold them. I stared at the desk and tried to ignore the claw marks on the metal table. I tried to ignore the bones I could see out of the corner of my eyes, a small pile nearby. And I focused intently on the ghostly document in front of me. And just as before with the street sign, the letters wobbled and shifted until I could read at least parts of it.

I was surprised, to say the least. Not by my ability to understand what was written on it, but by my understanding of the topic. This was a level of chemistry Twilight sometimes spoke about. And whenever she did, she quickly lost me. Because it was just too much for my puny little brain.

Twilight.

We had crossed half the complex and only now did I remember her even being there. Here. With me. Not once had I wasted a single thought where the faint light had come from. I panicked a little and looked behind me and even though my heart still ran a mile a minute, I felt relief wash over me to see her standing there.

“Hey there,” she greeted me with a warm smile. “I am still here, don’t worry. Is it over? You seemed quite lost when you wandered around this place, but you appear to have a clearer mind now?”

I wanted to hug her so badly, but my hooves felt frozen in place. And the longer I ignored it, the stronger the pull of the memory became. I shot Twilight a wry smile. “Sadly no.”

She nodded. “It is fine. It is a little bit strange to only hear one side of a conversation, but I—“

“So, what do you think?” Silver excitedly asked.

I looked down at the sheet once more. If those numbers were correct, I was worried. I looked back up at her and how her tail quickly swung from side to side. She was so proud of her work. And I could see why. I could. It was incredible. What she and her research had done here was astonishing. But at the same time, I could not help but ask: Just because one could… did that mean one should?

“Silver… you’re researching chemical additives for the air circulation system. I’m not—…” I stared at the faintly glowing sheets again. “So you figured the neurochemistry behind it out. That’s great. It is.”

“There’s a but coming,” she noted and her tail stopped wagging. Her right ear flopped down again.

I sighed. “You could do so much good with this knowledge. Think about all the medical applications. Can’t sleep? Take a pill. Can’t focus? Take a pill. Too aggressive and conventional behavior therapy doesn’t work? Take a pill. You could name that last one a chill pill.”

She laughed and grimaced at the same time. “Oof, that one was bad enough to actually hurt. You should be ashamed of yourself!” And despite that, she grinned from ear to ear. But then her gaze dropped to the documents she had so proudly presented to me and her paw came to a rest on top of them. “You don’t approve.” It was not a question, but a mere observation.

“I know you. I know that you mean well,” I started and raised a hoof. I initially wanted to recoil slightly as a tingling sensation ran up my leg as my hoof actually made contact with something, but my memories froze my leg in place. Silver looked up at me with hope. “You have every reason to be proud of yourself. What you guys figured out here is incredible. But I’m worried. Don’t you see the risk this entails? Let’s say you add…” I scanned the documents again and quickly found a prime candidate. “Let’s say you add number eleven. And you make the entire population docile. That might be great on paper. Yay, workers squabble less. They don’t accidentally cause work incidents anymore. The neighbors finally get along. It’s artificial peace and harmony. But at the same time, it’s so easy to misuse. Somepony will be in control of this entire system. And that won’t be you. Because you are just a researcher. You just provide these tools. Nothing stops the magistrate from adding number seven and sending the entire city to sleep. He could take a look into every house. There’s no privacy anymore. And even with that all put aside, you manipulate how everypony thinks. You chemically manipulate their thoughts. You make them sleepy. You make them hungry. You make them focused. Aren’t you worried that you sacrifice individuality and free will in exchange for a swarm of efficient drones?”

Silver pouted. And it was not the usual pout I knew from her. The playful one that usually ended with us relentlessly teasing each other or a tickle fight. And maybe some cuddling later on. No, it was a serious pout. “You sound a lot like Red right now.”

“I’m sorry. I will back you up, you know that. But maybe your brother has a point. If this falls into the wrong hooves, paws, whatever… it could cause a lot of damage. And I know that you will feel responsible once that happens. And I don’t want that. I don’t want to see you get hurt by something you were rightfully proud of. I don’t want to see your achievements turn into regret.” I pulled her in for a hug. A tingling sensation filled my chest as her ghostly form pressed against me.

“Can’t you just be proud of me?” she timidly asked. I hated how meek and insecure her voice suddenly sounded. She had worked her bony little rump off to get me in here. To show me her work. And as usual, I had nothing but worries to offer. Why was it so hard to just be happy for her?

“I am proud of you,” I insisted. But the ethics of this research was questionable. And I had a hard time understanding why she did not see it. Or why she chose not to see it. She nestled against my chest for a few minutes and I did not mind letting her. I held her tight and remained silent.

She eventually sighed. “This didn’t go as I had hoped,” she admitted, “but… it actually went better than I had feared, so… there’s that, I guess.”

I stroked her back. Diamond dog fur was so different to a pony’s coat. “I hope I did not disappoint you too much. If you don’t mind, I would still like to see your workplace. Like… your proper workplace, not just some numbers representing your achievements on paper. That is why we came here after all, right?”

It was a part of her life she wanted to share with me. She still wanted that, despite my reservations. “Right. But we need to switch over to ACC two for that. I’m mostly working in the testing chamber these days and that was built over there for security reasons. Own power grid and a couple of emergency batteries, no blowtorches anywhere near it, all the good stuff. And less anthill-vibes because of the severely restricted access.”

“Severely restricted? And I’m still allowed in?”

She grinned deviously. “Well… let’s not discuss that in detail, yes?”

I laughed and shook my head. “Fine, fine. I won’t ask.”

The flash glitched. Silver had pulled away from me ever so slightly to let me see her grin. And she still looked up at me with nothing but trust and warmth. But she did not move. She did not even blink. The memory seemed frozen. Or maybe idling.

With no further pull in any direction, I was free to take a step back and breathe. I refocused on myself, my surroundings and on my actual reality. Twilight stepped up to my side when she noticed my ‘return’. “Are you okay?” she quietly asked.

I smiled and was immensely grateful when she leaned down and nuzzled my neck before she placed a kiss on my ear. It tickled. I grinned as I flicked it. This felt real. “I’m fine,” I answered. “This is just very, very weird. I never had a flash like this.”

“It sounds like she was really smart. And close to you,” Twilight remarked.

I nodded and smirked a little at her. “She was. Did I never tell you that I’m hopelessly attracted to intelligence like a moth to the flame? Same reason why I can never resist you, peanut.” I loved to see that faint tint color her cheeks as she bashfully averted her eyes. I raised her muzzle with a hoof, leaned in and we shared a nice, long kiss. We smiled at each other when I pulled away. But my awareness of our surroundings eventually returned. Twilight might not have been able to see Silver, but I still could. I looked over to her and furrowed my brow. “Honestly, I have no idea what we were. She and her brother allowed me to live with them. I managed to give her something her brother could not. But we never went beyond cuddling and we never gave ‘it’ a name. But I suppose she was close to me, yes. I cared a lot about her.”

“Do you think her research could have been responsible for this?” Twilight’s gaze wandered around the empty archives. I followed her gaze around and took a more conscious note of the desolate state of everything. And now I saw even more bones scattered around. Whatever had brought devastation to the first layer of the city, it had rampaged in the lower ones as well. I had known so before we got her. Yet it still hurt to see it. Maybe because of the ongoing flash. It closed the distance between here and there, between now and then. And made emotional ties I did not have more relevant.

“Maybe,” I answered belatedly. “I honestly don’t know. I hope not, to be honest.” Making terrible mistakes was one thing. Dying with a broken heart full of regret, that was another league entirely.

I watched Silver for another brief moment before I turned to Twilight. “The complex is a long stretch. I don’t really remember how far we walked already. Following the flash made things a bit blurry. But it should allow us to travel a good distance before we need to exit the complex. And best of all, windows aren’t really a thing with these buildings. We should be able to cross the street separating the two structures and slip into the second unit. Rinse and repeat until we reach the end of the third one, where the way further down should be. And yes, each unit is roughly built the same way, they all have two entrances. One left, one right.”

Twilight mulled the proposal over and nodded. “Sounds fine to me. And knowing that I can employ more light is a good thing. I am honestly growing tired of stumbling around in the dark.”

I smiled lopsided. “Thanks for lighting my way, by the way. You are my Sparkle in the dark.”

She smiled back and rolled her eyes. “You are welcome. Shall we? Do you still know where the exits are?”

I dusted myself off and nodded. “I think I can still navigate the building, yes.” I walked out of the archive with Twilight by my side, back through the hallway and into the factory hall where Red stood still, frozen in place in much the same way his sister was. And every other worker. “Over there.” I turned to our right and led us through several other halls, rooms and corridors. Without knowledge of the internal structure or at least a floor plan, one could easily get lost in here. There had been emergency exit signs and floor plans in regular intervals at one point, but again: Time had reduced most of that to dust.

Twilight poured more energy into her horn and her light illuminated more of the rooms we passed through. She stopped every now and then and drew a few quick, rough sketches in her journal or wrote down another couple of notes. I told her what I knew about the rooms we passed by, especially about the differences I saw between my idle flash and the reality in front of my eyes. We even passed by another archive on our way to the exit and I tried to decipher some of the notes I could read for her. She eagerly lapped everything up and transcribed it into her journal. I had no idea if any of that was of any use and she openly admitted that right now, neither did she. But having it and not requiring it was still better and requiring it and not having it.

We inevitably started our own little discussion about the ethics of this kind of research. It was a funny idea to gas Canterlot and make the elitist nobles docile. As a joke. And only as a joke. But what they had done here in this very building went way beyond jokes. They had made it a reality. And it was no surprise at all that we quickly agreed: This kind of manipulation sacrificed free will. Something we as individuals and Equestria as a whole held in high regard.

It led to us theorizing about the kind of society that not only encouraged such research, but also did not hesitate to employ it. A discussion I was admittedly less useful for, I felt.

I had to wonder about that figure of speech. A ‘dog-eat-dog society’ was a term we ponies used. But I had my doubts that it was the result of some ponies observing Winona’s ancestors. Maybe there had been more cultural exchange between our species at some point? Maybe today’s political climate between diamond dogs and ponies was nonexistent because we knew a thing or two about their way of life back then? But that begged the question then: If this was ancient history, ancient pony history, why did Celestia not know of any of this? Diamond dogs and ponies had never truly interacted all that much according to her. Had this maybe happened in a time before even her appearance?

We exited the first ACC carefully through yet another airlock that was disabled due to missing power and half broken apart by something that clearly wished to get inside and had the means to rip its way in as well. Even through solid metal.

Twilight dimmed her light spell down again, since we did not wish to light a beacon for the golem to find us. Not any more than we needed to to make our way across the street. “Ready?” I asked her. She shifted a little uncomfortably, but nodded anyway. “Alright. We should stay silent if possible.” She agreed again and we stepped outside. The andesite street was right in front of us, with a wide sidewalk between the airlock and the street itself. And the wooden railing was missing in parts here and there. Probably due to time gnawing away at it. We walked very slowly and placed every hoof carefully to make as little noise as possible while simultaneously training our ears for each and every sound. Yet the massive city cavern was once again deathly silent apart from the soft buzzing of the few running fans.

Then I heard something scuttle around to my left.

I froze mid-step and quickly looked over my shoulder to see that Twilight had done the same. And I noticed how White Tip dug his claws into my back nervously. We all held our breath and remained frozen. I turned my attention to the byroad again, but I could not see anything in the dark. Twilight’s light was barely the strength of a match, just enough to let us see the vague shape of the building ahead of us.

There it is again. My ears swiveled around. It moved quickly. And it sounded big. But not as big as the golem. More importantly, it moved with a certain grace the golem decidedly lacked. “More light,” I whispered faintly.

Twilight doubled the brightness and we saw it being reflected in something. I had difficulties to make out what it was at first, but then recoiled quickly as my mind put one and one together and White Tip cawed in genuine fear. “Shield!” I half-yelled as I hastily retreated two steps until I was at Twilight’s side.

The very moment Twilight encased us with a dome-shaped shield of raspberry magic, a massive — and I mean massive — spider lunged forward. That thing was easily my size. Legs not included.

“Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew,” Twilight mumbled at my side as she tried to focus her gaze on the andesite beneath our hooves. White Tip flapped his wings and dug his claws in further as he battled his own instincts to flee.

The spider crawled all over the shield and searched for any opening, any weakness in the hemisphere. It searched with its legs and by biting down on the shield with its massive fangs. I saw its black exoskeleton reflect the faint glow of the shield the same way its creepy multiple eyes did and even I shuddered a little. I knew Twilight had issues with snakes, but that did not mean that she was an avid fan of spiders or other creepy-crawlies.

“It’s okay, it can’t get in,” I tried to calm her down despite the pain my pet's talons caused on my back. I stepped close enough to her side that our coats laid against each other. She leaned into me, but I could see that she still pressed her eyes firmly shut.

How did this thing get this big?, I wondered. More important was the question of what we were supposed to do now. The shield was immobile. The spider would not get in, I knew that. A dome of this size did not draw a lot of energy from Twilight and she would most likely be able to keep it up basically forever, even with the constant attacks from our foe. But those attacks made noise. The spider itself was silent, but its legs constantly clattered on the stone street as it moved across the sphere. And if the noise would not attract the golem, the soft glow of the sphere surely would. And if that somehow failed, well — White Tip made a ruckus in his attempts to scare the massive pest away.

She would not want to kill it. But maybe she did not have to. “Twilight?” I tried to get her attention, but she still silently mumbled ‘ew’ repeatedly. I nuzzled her neck and worked my way to her ear. “Peanut, come on. Focus. Focus on my voice. We’re fine. We’re safe. You are in control. There is a very reliable shield between us and it. It can’t do anything. You don’t have to look at it.” It seemed to work. It seemed to help her get out of that loop. It somehow even seemed to help White Tip calm down.

Twilight still stared at the stone and cringed every so often when the spider got more aggressive again or scuttled closer to her side, but she had her eyes open again and did not silently mouth any ‘ew’s. “Your brother taught you this spell, right?” She confirmed as much. “When he used it to repel the invasion in Canterlot, he supercharged a shield spell. Like this one. No idea if it was the same spell.” She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. Can you do that? Can you let the shield grow outwards to push the spider away? If we get enough distance, we can make it to the airlock and maybe we can close it.” I saw her gears turn quickly.

I was about to offer her my energy. The only thing that had allowed Shining Armor to expand the shield to such a ridiculous size was Cadance’s support. As an alicorn, she had vastly deeper pockets when it came to magic. She had transfused her magic to him and had connected their reserves.

And I was so caught up in my idea that I had almost embarrassed myself. I knew that Twilight would not care. Maybe she would even consider it a nice gesture at some point later on. But the fact of the matter was that I had barely anything to give to begin with, being a weak unicorn in general, while Twilight was the Element of Magic. A puddle and an ocean. The ocean did not need the puddle.

So I bit down on my lip and simply waited for her to make some quick calculations. And I tried to position myself a little differently to make it harder for her to spot the bloody claw marks on my back. I did not blame White Tip for his panicked reaction. But I did not want Twilight to worry right now.

“A short burst should reduce the risk of the golem seeing this,” she announced shortly after. “Get ready.”

“I’m going to be right behind you,” I answered.

The brightness of her horn increased threefold in the span of a second and the shield expanded rapidly. The spider was surprised and Twilight had waited for a moment when it had barely any contact to the ground. The shield shot outwards and propelled the spider away. It was flung through the air and landed somewhere in the dark, down that byroad. Not knowing how far away it was exactly was less than ideal, but we had to balance multiple issues at hoof and as soon as the shield collapsed, we ran.

I could already hear a very angry sounding scuttle from our left, but we crossed the street and quickly slipped through the partially destroyed door of the airlock. As soon as I saw its exact condition, I already knew that we would not be able to close that thing. We hastily stumbled through the little waiting area and past the second airlock door. This one was in better shape and we tried to close it with telekinesis. It was already closed for three quarters anyway, but we barely managed to get it to budge. A rusty creaking was all we got for our effort. And multiple legs slipped past the remaining gap.

“Screw it, run,” I hissed in Twilight’s direction.

Now back inside, she did not hesitate to light her horn properly again. It almost burned in my eyes at this point. White Tip took to the air and flew ahead of us in an attempt to guide us through the building. And boy was I glad that he did. I stumbled after them like a headless chicken and constantly looked back to see where that damn thing was. Unsurprisingly, it got through the second airlock door quite easily. It scuttled along the floor at a nauseating speed and would probably have caught up to me within seconds, had it not tried to be clever. We needed to run up a metal stairway to get to the next room and the spider, upon noticing White Tip and Twilight moving up and out, tried to climb the wall to separate me from them by quickly cutting me off.

Problem was that it apparently misjudged how easy these walls were to climb. It lost grip and crashed to the ground from a solid height of ten, maybe twelve feet. Seeing its legs twist and turn as it landed on its back and tried to turn over was even more reason to run a little bit faster.

We crossed another couple of rooms. I had no time to make out any details. Some sort of technical work stations, some monitors, I merely ran past and tried not to fall too far back. And I could hear it quickly catching up again. So I tried something probably very stupid. I grabbed with my telekinesis whatever I could lift in those rooms we ran through and blindly flung it behind me. Just judging by the sounds of it, I must have hit it a couple of times with what I suspected were calculators, pieces of chairs and the remains of a broken crate. Oh and some tools. Metal tools. Those hurt, hopefully.

But it mattered little if the spider felt pain. It was not discouraged by my barrage of random items. I needed something better. So I dared to turn around just as I passed into another room and heard the spider be hit by another flung thingy. I threw the door shut. It was a thin door, but made out of metal. And before I could think about further securing that barricade, a lovely, familiar, always-nice-to-see raspberry glow encased a nearby metal cabinet and effortlessly flipped it on its side, right in front of the door.

I turned to see Twilight grin at me. She was a little out of breath and White Tip sat on her back and looked like a popped pillow. “That should buy us some time,” I wheezed and looked back at the door. There was a noticeable bang as the spider smashed into the door and much to my dismay, the metal cabinet slid away an inch. Because of the stupid smooth floor. “Oh come on,” I complained and looked around the room. Where the heck were we even? It seemed to be yet another assembly work hall. An impressive robotic arm with four joints hung limply from the ceiling. At some point, it might have served to help put the now rusted and useless parts together that these conveyor belts once moved around. At this point, even the scattered piles of bones were little more than just another feature of the city.

But my vague understanding of their written language allowed me to ‘read’ one of the signs that gave directions to employees. “The test chamber!” I exclaimed and pointed down one of the several doors leading out of this room.

Twilight looked like she was very much in favor of making our stand here. She had tried to spare this creature to the best of her abilities, but its tenacity proved exceptional. Maybe she would try to teleport it out of the building, but if push came to shove… well.

“What would that bring us?” she asked.

“The test chamber was built even studier than the rest of the entire complex. And it has its own emergency power grid. There’s a good chance the airlocks are intact.” I pleaded with her. I did not try to hide that. And I truly felt like this was our best shot to escape this fight entirely. She gave in and we once again ran, guided by White Tip and her light, while we heard a few more bangs behind us until the nasty screeching sound followed that the cabinet made as it was shoved over stone flooring.

We reached the airlock, slipped past the completely intact, but half-opened door, past the second one and into a new room. Silver worked here, I remembered. But Silver was not here, I reminded myself and got to work. The entire room was maybe forty by forty feet, with a cylindrical glass tube in the room's middle. I was more focused on one of the working stations. The electrical humming was louder in here, indicating a power source nearby, indicating that several of these machines might still work. I saw a bunch of buttons and levers before me, some lights flickered while others did not. I had no idea if they were meant to flicker.

“It is coming,” Twilight warned me.

The implication was obvious. Whatever you do, do it now. I tried to let the fuzzy memories guide me once again, but there was no pull. So I did the next best thing. I pushed a few of the flickering buttons.

Twilight could have easily decided the encounter all by herself. Her shield spell had saved us once. She could have cast it again and secured the entry. She could have vaporized the spider. Or teleport it out. Endless options. Maybe she just gave me an option to make myself feel useful. That was a sobering thought.

I got lucky and the airlock creaked and shrieked, but moved and closed after a second. The spider smashed into the outer airlock door, but we barely even heard the bang of the impact this time. It would certainly not get through that one. And the little window was secured by something far sturdier than glass. The spider tried to pierce through it with a leg, but nothing happened. Not even a scratch.

We stood side by side and watched the creature bash its head in on the other side of the airlock. Only after we watched that for around a minute or two did we finally allow ourselves a relieved sigh. We were safe for now.

“Are you alright, buddy?” I asked White Tip. He hopped off of Twilight’s back and I cringed a little as I saw claw marks on her back as well. He cawed so quietly that I had almost missed it. It sounded strangely ashamed. And miserable. “Don’t worry,” I told him and petted his little feathery head, “I know you didn’t mean anything by it. I was scared as well.” I put the saddlebags down, lifted Twilight’s off her back as well and rummaged through them until I found the first aid kit. “Sit down please,” I asked her. She obliged but I realized that the light situation was less than ideal before I could even attempt anything. I could ask her for even more light, but that would not solve the problem in the easiest way.

Not when there was supposedly an easier option.

I looked back over to the control panel. “I’ll be right back,” I announced and walked over to it once more. “Come on,” I mumbled to myself, “I know it’s in there somewhere. Remember. What do these do?” I stared at the buttons and levers. After half a minute, I had something. Not exactly a memory as such, nothing even remotely that precise. But a vague feeling. A vague understanding of how diamond dogs used to sort things. I pushed one button, but nothing happened. I pushed the one right next to it and the luminescent tubes on the ceiling flickered to life. “Yes!” I grinned happily and returned to Twilight. She looked a little worn out as she stretched out on the dusty but otherwise immaculate white floor. “Are you alright there?”

She sighed and nodded. “I am fine. I just… I did not expect a chase. Or a fight. Or maybe I am just tired.”

I sat down beside her and smiled as I prepared the disinfectant. “Don’t worry. I feel spent as well. I think it might just be the fright. Or the sleep deprivation, yes. That’s going to sting a little.” I was as cautious as I could. Sunny had told me how adorable she found that after our return from our jungle cruise. ‘As if your foal scraped its knee’, he had said. Sunny was not made out of glass and neither was Twilight. But why should I employ any less caution or tenderness than I could? Did they not deserve the best I could do? It took longer, sure. But we had time.

A few minutes later, her wounds were cared for. They were neither serious nor deep. Less so than mine anyway, but even those were barely worth mentioning. Even though I could not not hiss a little as she cleaned them, despite how careful she was. And all throughout, the spider did not cease its assault on the door. Like a mindless machine, it banged and banged against it. Maybe less a mindless machine and more like a starving predator, I mused. But what difference did it make?

Once the first aid kit was stored away safely again, we looked around with a little more eye for detail. More work stations with more buttons and levers. A few glitchy monitors displayed numbers, formulas, graphs and diagrams. The walls were solid concrete, reinforced with some kind of thin metal plating. And the airlock was the only exit. Because of course it was.

Twilight tried to teleport us, but her magic still got dispersed. So either the diamond dog golem was close by, or teleportation really was hampered in this place. To be fair, that would have been a smart move on their part. A city that demonstrated this much wealth surely had to develop a few tricks to deal with thieves. Not that diamond dogs were inherently capable of teleportation. Not that I knew, anyway. But the more I remembered about their technology and their understanding of magic, the less it would surprise me to learn that they had built some kind of machine that was capable of doing it.

I walked over to that glass tube in the middle and sat down in front of it while Twilight mumbled to herself and argued with herself what options we had or did not have and White Tip rested on one of the nearby tables to recover from his panic. There was a small, vertical crack along the tube, with a tiny piece of glass missing in the middle. Probably no glass. It seemed to be the same sturdy material that was used for the airlock door windows.

A thin metal pedestal stood in the middle of the tube. On top of it lay what looked like a bar of soap. At the bottom of the tube was a fan, right below a grate. And another one in the ceiling at the top. My eyes trailed an imaginary line along the ceiling. I could almost see the vents.

I walked over to one of the stations with a monitor. Most of the controls I did not understand. But I had a fairly decent understanding of a few of them. I pressed one and the display on the monitor switched. The display was glitchy as all Tartarus, seeing as it had displayed the same thing for who knew how long. It was actually a miracle that any of this tech still worked at all.

I pressed the button again. And again. And then another one. The more I toyed around with the controls and saw the results on the monitor, the less alien it felt to sit here and press these buttons. I wondered if maybe I had worked here at some point. Alongside Silver, possibly?

“Twilight?”

She looked up, her brow still furrowed. “Yes?”

“I, uh… I might have a solution for how we can get out of here.” Her curiosity was piqued and she came over and sat down beside me. She looked at the controls and the monitor with the exact same lack of understanding I felt. “See this square? That’s this room, I think. And these rectangles are the rooms we’ve run through.”

“The dimensions would fit. It is a floor plan, then?” she asked and quickly whipped her journal out to copy the plan.

“Not just that. See these marks here, here and here? I think those are ventilation grates.” I pointed at a few markers on the slightly glitchy display.

Twilight’s gaze wandered to the glass tube, up to the ceiling and along the same trail I had seen earlier. Her eyes returned to the monitor, then to the bar of soap in the test chamber and finally back to the monitor again. “What are those?”

I cringed a little as she pointed a hoof at a couple of blinking markers. “I believe those indicate damages to the vent system. See, there’s a couple of buttons here that would allow me to close certain sections off, or open others up. They have been testing their stuff on their own workers. That’s why the work hall right before this room is mostly operated by machines.” She looked at me. She was a smart cookie, she could read a plan. And she could read me. We could activate the fans, open the vents and gas that spider. Issue was… due to the extensive damages, the same gas would fill up this room. But she knew I would not make such a stupid proposal without knowing what I wanted to gas us with.

So she merely raised an eyebrow. What does it do?

I read the display again. It said what was currently loaded at the left bottom of the screen. Twilight could obviously not read it. I could even barely translate it myself. Number nine, procreation. “It should be harmless,” I offered.

“What does it do?” she insisted.

I sighed. “It’s an aphrodisiac.” It was not unexpected to see her grimace immediately. It’s meant for diamond dogs. It probably won’t affect us anyway. I blinked and shrugged. That was worth a shot. “Listen, pony neurochemistry is probably vastly different to that of diamond dogs. The likelihood of it affecting us at all should be tiny, right? On the upside though, that spider might scuttle off to search for a mate.”

“Or it might attract one here,” she countered and shook her head. “If the additive does not affect us, then it should in theory not affect the spider either. And if it affects the spider, it will most likely affect us as well.”

I sighed. “Right. Fair point. But: We can’t teleport. We have only one exit. There’s nothing in this room I could use as a weapon. Well except if you want me to fight that thing with a rotten piece of wood. I know you have a million and one spells to get rid of it, but you don’t want to hurt it if you don’t have to. You know as well as I do that most spiders are ambush predators. They are used to waiting. That thing can go without food for days, weeks, probably months. We can’t.”

She softly nestled against me and sighed. “I don’t like this.”

I snorted quietly. “Neither do I, Twilight. I know you could just blast us another exit. But you don’t want to destroy the wall of this building, because the archeologists might give you a hard time because of that. You don’t want to destroy that golem either, even though it is clearly a threat and we are here to make the place safe for the professionals. You will have to make concessions at some point, peanut.” She grumbled something into the crook of my neck and I was utterly convinced that it was the most adorable thing ever. I smiled, put a hoof around her and gave her forehead a kiss. “That stuff has been in that chamber for who knows how long. Maybe it's inactive or whatever. Maybe it doesn’t even do anything. But I think this option still beats ‘thrashing a giant spider’, don’t you think?”

She gave a discontent little noise and groaned quietly. “Fine. Flick your lever, Igor.”

I laughed as I remembered the last book we had read together a few days ago. A griffon folktale about a mad scientist and his equally mad assistant and how they tried to create life. It was a surprisingly grisly affair. But we had not finished the book yet. “It’s actually a bunch of buttons,” I replied and tried to intone how I imagined the assistant would sound. She pulled away just far enough so that I could see her glare at me. I smiled apologetically and then opened certain sections of the ventilation system and closed others. I finally pushed the one button that activated the test chamber. Both fans started whirring louder and spun faster and faster.

I stood up, much to Twilight’s dismay who I thought got a little bit too comfortable. This was not exactly the ideal room to take a nap in. She followed me over to the airlock and we both looked through the thick windows to see if we could catch glimpses of the spider. Of course that creature was somehow still busy slamming against the door. Its stubbornness might have even rivaled that of Applejack.

Watching that spider was apparently strangely hypnotic. I somehow lost track of time to the point where I suddenly became aware of my surroundings again and had no idea how long I stood there. The spider seemed to be gone. But I found it difficult to focus on that as my nostrils flared and I took in a new scent. It was nice. I liked it. A lot. It was… intoxicating. “Do you smell that?” I asked Twilight. I looked to my right, but she was gone. I subconsciously lifted my left rear leg and felt her presence on my left, felt her mane tickle my barrel as her muzzle wandered along my side.

“Mhm,” she merely mumbled. I heard her sniff as her nose lightly touched my sheath. And a second later, her tongue trailed along my eagerly emerging member.

Goddess, that’s so hot…

But that scent…! That scent. It was great. It was the best thing I had ever smelled. I lowered my leg and turned around and completely ignored that dismayed whine she gave. I followed my nose and buried my muzzle in her mane. I inhaled as deeply as my lungs would let me. “It’s you!” I mumbled and felt like I was caught in a fever dream. I nuzzled and huffed and licked and kissed along her back, her barrel, ever closer to its source. “You smell so great,” I mumbled in my haze right before I pressed my muzzle against her tail. “This is sooo good,” I told her. She lifted her tail just a little bit and her scent alone made me moan. “I need this,” was all the warning I gave her before I sparked my horn to life and ungraciously pressed her head down to the floor. Her rear was still up in the air, my hooves made sure of that. I opened her up a little and gazed in amazement at what I had seen a fair few times before and yet I felt like I had found a treasure nothing else I had ever witnessed could compare to. I hesitated no longer and buried my muzzle as deep between her folds as I could before my lips parted and I eagerly licked every inch of her insides that I could reach. Her eagerness only enticed me to go further and lap more greedily, her moans were the sweetest melodies to my ears and I did not question how quickly I managed to reduce her to a quivering, sopping wet mess. But I could not stop. I did not wish to stop. I grabbed her flanks as tight as I could, I swallowed whatever got into my muzzle and continued my assault unimpeded.

“I need you,” she moaned. Long, drawn-out words full of need and distress.

While it made a part of me twitch in relentless, bottomless hunger, my mind managed to wiggle its way out of the deepest fog it was stuck in. That is not Twilight. My little peanut doesn’t sound like that. Come on, wake up! It clearly affects us! We need to get out of here!

I withdrew from her and stumbled a few steps back in a daze. Everything seemed to spin a little. It made me feel dizzy. I sat down on my haunches and blankly stared ahead. Maybe I should have come up for air more often. What was I supposed to do now?

I had not even heard her whine this time. She turned around and stalked towards me. I did not see. Did not realize. Only when the telltale glow of her magic encased her horn did I wake up again. Don’t! Magic was unreliable when used under the influence. Under the influence of alcohol, sleep-deprivation or just about any other drug. Casting had to be done with a clear, focused, conscious mind. I quickly leaned forward and took the entire length of her horn in my mouth.

It seemed like a very reasonable response at the time. Casting while under the influence was dangerous. And I did not want her to get hurt. This was a quick way to ensure that. I saw no issue with any of it. I eagerly let my tongue trail along the entire length, trail along each groove. Magic tasted funny. I tickled the roof of my mouth, it made my entire tongue tingle and it was such a delight. She moaned beneath me and I kept her head low with my hooves so that she would not accidentally jab me with any jerky motion. I even grinned like an idiot as I mimicked the quick bobbing motion I saw whenever she cared for my length.

She only lasted a few seconds before I heard her climax again, before my entire muzzle started to tingle and I felt heady and feathery and every scrap of control threatened to fade again. I released her horn and gave her head free and the very second I did, she swallowed almost my entire length in one go. It came as such a surprise that I did not have a single second to brace for it. She moaned in pleasure as I came down her throat, the vibrations only further increased the satisfaction I felt.

When she released me, I was dazed again. That had been quick. Way too quick. I wanted more. So much more.

“I wanted to try this for so long,” Twilight growled as she lit her horn again.

Don’t. I tried to lunge for her, but she saw that coming. A tendril of her magic split off and effortlessly pushed me onto my back. The rest formed a spell that enveloped me and focused on my nethers. I could instantly tell that it was some kind of transmutation spell, as those were always associated with at least a bit of pain as the body shifted and warped into the new, desired form.

I was decently sure I was drunk when her magic faded. I did see double, after all. But they both twitched out of sync, so that was weird. “What?” I demonstrated my eloquence yet again, but Twilight saw no reason to explain anything. Maybe she was not able to any longer. And why would she if she could just show me. She stood over me, grabbed both of my erections, aligned them and lowered herself with a careful thrust down. My eyes shot open wide, I moaned in pleasure and lost any hope of regaining even a shred of composure. This was just too good. Simply too good.

I gave up. And I gave in.

Everything from that moment forward became a bit hazy. She mounted me. Used me. And I loved every second of her taking what she wanted. Until I flipped our roles. Until I put her down on the floor, down on her belly, and pressed both my members between her folds. Her cry of ecstasy was laced with small traces of pain that quickly vanished as her body stretched and adapted to accommodate for the effect of her own spell.

There were no breaks. There was no need for any. I felt like I could go on forever. And how I would have loved that. And she was right there with me. Under me, on top of me, beside me, always close. Her scent was everything I needed to continue. Her warmth. Her taste. To see that desire in her eyes, that undying flame. Nothing about this felt wrong or alien or even artificial.

We rutted each other’s brains out and everything was fine. Past every reasonable barrier and we loved it.

Her spell fizzled out at some point. I did not mind. I did not care. Neither did she. I grunted as I came again and grinned from ear to ear to hear her cry out beneath me at the same time. In a chaotic, raging sea, one thought stuck out for a couple of seconds before it inevitably drowned: Doing it at the same time did feel special.

How long had we been at it?

I did not feel tired even though I knew I was. Much the same way I knew that I was sore. I could feel the slight discomfort, the slight pain, but I could not stop. It still felt too much like bliss. I still wanted more, so much more. Twilight mewled beneath me and every time I hesitated, every time I thought that it might be time to stop, she bucked her hips back against mine and dispersed all doubts, all hesitation.

But everything changed when the golem attacked.

Instead of assaulting the airlock doors, it crashed through the wall right beside it.

It came through a wall. Just like that. A solid concrete wall. Reinforced with metal plating.

I could not hope to understand how our situation had changed or why it had changed but I could suddenly think straight. Or at least a lot straighter than I had been able to before. I quickly pulled out of Twilight, grabbed White Tip from the table with my telekinesis, grabbed our saddlebags, smacked Twilight on her rear with a hoof and ran after her.

I was pretty sure that our adrenaline was the only thing that kept us running.

The golem had tripped right after smashing through the wall and tumbled to the ground in a pile of debris. We reacted quick enough to use those very few, very precious seconds. We ran straight out of the very hole he had opened up for us. Out into the hall. Twilight’s horn illuminated the path for us. I was wary of the spider, but we found no trace of it. White Tip clawed into my back again. I could feel the old wounds bleed again, most likely due to our vigorous activity, and focusing on the pain in my back and the pain in my sore, burning hooves and the pain in my no less sore, no less burning nethers helped keep my head focused. We reached the other exit and left immediately.

“The third building is mostly a collection of transformer stations,” I half-yelled as we sprinted down the road.. Twilight swerved towards the airlock. She had tried to run straight past it. Further down. Away from the lab. I could perfectly understand why.

She turned around the very moment she was in and as soon as I ran through after her, her magic came to life, gripped the partially rusted, wedged door and ripped it straight out of its bracing. She placed the door in a closed position and we continued into the building. The constant humming and buzzing was a lot louder in here. Louder even than it had been over in ACC2. We fled a few rooms further into the complex, rushed past all kinds of quirky machinery until we barreled down a longer hallway and into what appeared to be yet another archive. It had a metal door. One that was undamaged. Twilight slammed it shut and closed the deadbolt.

Seconds passed by.

Neither of us spoke. Neither of us dared to breathe in an audible fashion, even though we were completely out of breath. Only a minute later, when no noise aside from the crackling electricity could be heard, did we finally allow ourselves to relax. No golem barreled through walls towards us. No spider scuttled along the ceiling vents to get us from above.

My head started to hurt. I quickly realized that I still held all our gear aloft. I put the damn saddlebags down. I put a very fluffed up White Tip on the ground. He reeled a little and decided that it would be best to sit down. I had no idea what that gas had done to him. Goddess, he watched everything, didn’t he?

But I was simply too tired and too exhausted and way too worried to be embarrassed right now.

I looked over to Twilight. She still stared at the door. But I saw her legs tremble. I slowly walked over to her and pulled her against me.

“Why did it end?” she asked in a quiet voice. She sounded as tired and exhausted as I did. Even despite her alicorn stamina and earth pony endurance. “Did the duration expire?”

“No,” I replied. Honestly, I was quite sure that we still had a good deal of that stuff in our system, even now. “I think it’s about the FFS.” Fight or flight syndrome. Silver was a smart scientist. Even she knew the dangers of messing with that. Of course I did not know any of that for certain. But it was my best guess. “Doesn’t matter. It’s only the second complex that’s contaminated. We should be safe here.” What a stupid idea that had been. That little bar of soap was meant to be diluted with air. It was meant to affect an entire city, not just two small, stuffy rooms. I had exposed us to a massive overdose. Why? Why had that idea seemed so reasonable at the time…? My head hurt the longer I tried to think.

Twilight slowly nodded and finally let me usher her away from the door and over to our saddlebags. I carefully prodded them with a hoof and quickly reestablished what I had known already. Due to all the sciency gear, three of them were hard and uncomfortable. One was… slightly less so. “Lie down,” I asked her.

She hesitated, but ultimately did so. And she hissed quietly. “My jaw hurts. My entire back half is sore…”

And your voice is almost gone, I added with a weak smile. But then again, so was mine. Never had I heard her like that. Even despite the memories being hazy, I could still hear her cry out and moan. Maybe that was what it sounded like if all inhibitions were truly lifted. “I feel like my entire general pelvis area is held together by sinews and good will at this point,” I joked.

She appreciated the effort. Her smile told me as much. But even something as a chuckle or giggle was too much to ask right now. I looked behind me and noticed that White Tip was already fast asleep. He had the right idea, of course. We had spent the entire day searching that first city layer. And I suspected that we had spent most of the night sneaking through the second layer and, well, being busy. And that was just one factor. No proper meal. Rigorous exercise. And drugs in our system.

I really hoped we would be able to sleep most of it off.

The floor was cold and uncomfortably hard. But we had little choice and right now, neither of us cared much. I laid down behind her, scooched closer to her back and held her. “So you wanted to try this for so long, hm?” I whispered near her ear and kissed her neck. Just a harmless little tease.

She tilted her head enough to look at me. She smiled and sighed. “Nevermind. It is just a stupid fantasy.”

I nodded. “Sure. That’s why you had a spell ready and prepared, right?” She grimaced ever so slightly. I leaned down and gave her a quick, chaste kiss. After everything else, it felt relieving to do that, and just that. It felt like regaining control. “Maybe Luna, you and I need to have a talk about that at some point. I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea.”

She softly shook her head. “Not now.”

I smiled and nodded. A topic for some other time. I could more than understand that. She turned her head back, I laid mine down behind hers and tried to ignore how my shoulder was losing a poking contest against the stone floor. Or how my pelvis did the same, just worse.

I vaguely wondered why I woke up again.

It took a few moments to realize what had been strange about that. I had slept. No dreamwalking. Just regular old sleep. I usually had a choice there. Maybe it was a late consequence of the gas affecting my mind. Maybe my body had simply decided that enough was enough. Either way, I was awake before Twilight.

I stood up and tried not to groan too loudly as every single inch of my body seemed to hurt. Sleeping on this stone floor was comparable to sleeping in a sleeping bag while camping. But worse. And I was decently sure that I needed another can of this miracle ointment for my sore lower region if that was supposed to heal within the next week or so. Plus, I could still feel that headache from earlier and I was not a fan of that. But at least my carnal desires were in check. Beaten dead by what happened last night.

Maybe it was a dumb idea, but I wanted to take a look around. I lit my horn, unlocked the deadbolt, cautiously opened the door and closed it behind me. And I walked around the building for a few minutes. The strange idling sequence in which my flash had gotten stuck yesterday seemed to be entirely gone, along with the flash itself. I assumed that meant that my ability to read diamond dog script was gone as well. Not that there was much to read anyway, considering everything was either stone, metal or dust.

Funnily enough, I found a control center. Just out of the hallway, across the workshop, up a flight of stairs and into a room that was built into a little overhang. A wide glass front allowed me to look down into the city pit and onto the streets. It was actually a good vantage point. I saw no glow of the golem’s collar anywhere, so that was hopefully a good thing. I ignored the many piles of bones and especially the fact that quite a few of them were less neat piles and more scattered around the room. I did not want to know. I did not want to speculate about what had happened here. Even though my guard training screamed for me to do just that. To inspect the crime scene and search for clues about the victims, culprits and the progression of events. But this entire city was depressing enough as was, I did not need to know of every massacre and every sad fate that had happened here.

What I noticed was the massive array of plugs nearby an equally massive array of sockets. It fit. I did not put it back in just yet. It looked like somepony had pulled hard at the cables and then left the thing on the ground, but this entire building was dedicated to the regulation of power distribution throughout the city.

It would be hilarious if bringing the city back to live would require nothing more than to put a plug back in.

I returned downstairs. The clearer my head became, the more I realized how Twilight would freak out if she were to wake up with me missing. I snuck back into the room and sighed in relief to find her still asleep. Even though it took less than a minute for her to wake up after that, so I had probably disrupted her slumber.

“Sorry,” I apologized as she turned over, lit her own horn and looked at me blearily.

I rummaged through the saddlebags. Which finally woke White Tip up as well. “Hey buddy. Had a good sleep?” He nodded. Well. At least one of us, then. I found the Neverend bottle and gave it to her. Our waterskins had not survived yesterday. We should have drunk a lot more than we actually had. Maybe it was worth arguing over that. So when she took a sip and tried to give the bottle back, I shook my head. “More.”

She looked at the bottle, then at me. But she simply complied after a moment. She was in no state to argue, much to my relief. Missing your morning coffee, peanut? Only when she had drunk a decent amount did I take it for myself and did the same. The first sip was special though.

I did not know what she had filled the bottle with. It was the emergency backup, after all. A gift. And she had done a great job. Plum juice, with hints of cherry, gingerbread and cinnamon. The most festive combination I could imagine. And it tasted great. I hummed in appreciation, closed my eyes and sighed happily. And for a precious few moments, my body ached a little bit less as I remembered our first Hearth’s Warming Eve together. I opened my eyes again and smiled back at her. “It’s great,” I announced my verdict before I drank more. Once the bottle was closed and safely secured again, I leaned down to her and kissed her. “Thank you.”

But Twilight shook her head. “Don’t. You are supposed to thank me once you get your gift.”

I chuckled and nodded. “Alright.” She sat up and groaned with just about every movement of every limb. So she felt just as miserable as I did. I was not sure if I should be glad about that or not. “I would have offered you breakfast, but somepony insisted we move on without proper food supplies. And I don’t think you have more apples in there, do you?”

She grimaced slightly as her belly rumbled and growled just because she thought of a meal. She shook her head and sighed. “Maybe it is time we turn back.”

Yes. Maybe. We have been a little bit reckless lately, have we not?

She looked defeated. Her shoulders slumped a little, her eyes dull and without that excited sparkle I had seen yesterday. It broke my heart to see her like this.

Don’t. Don’t be an idiot. Just turn back and—

“Let me show you something,” I offered. I mentally groaned, but smiled anyway. We stood up and the so far worst experience waited for us: Putting those heavy saddlebags back on. We took the first aid kit out again and cared for each other’s injuries before we did so. “White Tip, is it alright if you sit on one of the saddlebags instead of my back?” I felt bad for even asking, even though he did not seem to have any problem with it. But he belonged on my back, I felt. But my back was scratched up a little and the straps of the saddlebags would certainly not help much. I could not afford to risk further injuries, as superficial as they might seem. Last thing I needed now was some kind of infection.

When we felt ready enough, we exited our little camp and I guided them up the stairs and into the control room. I closed the door just to be safe, even though the deadbolt of this one was broken off. Twilight took a gander around the room and out of the windows, from one side all the way to the other. She was careful to dim her light down before she got too close to the windows though. The sights outside were not exactly impressive, pitch black as everything out there was.

“I know that you still want to go on. You hope to find whoever or whatever controls that golem. You hope to find that spider’s den or nest or whatever. So that you can get rid of these threats in a manner that befits you. Turning back now could mean losing progress. Am I right so far?”

She sighed. “Yes. But that does not mean that we should risk it. I underestimated what we would find down here and I should have listened when you wanted to return after the first layer. We could have had a nice, quiet evening. We could have returned with proper supplies. I feel every bone in my body and they all ache.”

I smiled wryly. “Yeah, I know that feeling. Well, so far everything has worked against us. So I propose we change that.”

“What do you mean? How?”

I pointed towards the collection of plugs. “Take everything with a pinch of salt,” I reiterated, “but if I’m not mistaken, plugging those back in would reactivate the city’s emergency power grid. I have no idea how much power they still have stored. Could be that we see a few lights blink once and that’s it. Or we manage to light up the city. That would be useful, right? Because so far, that golem has either tracked us because of your magic, or because we are the only light source in this entire pitch-black hole. And before you ask: I am fairly certain that in an underground city where the residents can’t see in absolute darkness, street lights and such should fall under ‘emergency power grid access’.”

Twilight stared at the collection of plugs for a good moment. Caution versus curiosity, I suspected. She eventually sighed. “We are here anyway. Let us try that and if it does not work, we turn back. And if it works, we can still turn back anyway. I feel like maybe we should.”

But it would be progress. The kind of progress that would hopefully be long-lasting. I nodded, grabbed the plugs and looked at her. “Ready?” Only after she confirmed did I put them back in.

“Wow,” she mumbled as she looked out of the window. I quickly trotted up to her side and watched the spectacle with her.

The city did light up. And I snorted. Because quite frankly, that was ridiculous.

With the power reestablished, district after district was reconnected to the power grid. The street lights in the residential area above us were the first and once they were back on, we had an impressive look at the ceiling of the city. It sparkled. I had no idea how they had done that, but it sparkled. And it looked almost blueish, with white patches here and there. Even more intriguing was the dome in the ceiling’s center. They had simply crafted their own sky, probably with their own sun. Had they managed to establish an entire day-night-cycle down here as well?

Then the few street lights illuminating the second layer came back on. What had previously been a vague impression was now further reinforced and confirmed. The dark gray concrete buildings looked industrious, like they had been taken from an entirely different city. And despite the absurd size of the three complexes, they seemed to almost shyly tuck themselves away at the sidelines, not drawing too much attention to themselves. As if the entire second layer was just a nice little walkway to get to the third layer.

When that third layer came into view, my stomach grumbled loudly. I saw dirt patches. Lots of them. Their size, their array, everything about it screamed: Farms. Farms and pastures, considering the rotten wooden fences along some of those patches. “I’m hallucinating, right?” I quietly asked Twilight.

She stood right beside me and shook her head. “I am seeing it as well.”

“Then we’re both hallucinating,” I concluded. It seemed a lot more reasonable than believing what was right in front of my eyes. Some of these dirt patches down there were brown and empty, sure. But not all of them. I saw trees and bushes and completely overgrown rows of fields. Those were admittedly the strangest plants I had seen in a long, long while — and I had seen some of Pinkie’s and Fluttershy’s dream creations. Many were whitish or otherwise strangely discolored. Some seemed to sparkle or otherwise reflect or absorb the street lantern light. But maybe they were edible? There was a good chance for that. After all, diamond dogs were omnivores and most of their vegetarian diet was suitable for ponies. We knew as much thanks to Rarity.

I still had a hard time believing our luck when the issue was lit up. The fourth layer, and those beneath. We could still see the andesite street and buildings down there. But we saw something else as well. Some kind of black, gooey growth that seemed to cling to certain structures and patches of road like an infection. It got worse the lower I looked. The bottom layer seemed strangely bereft of that stuff though.

I tried to focus on the positives for once. Because I really felt like we needed some of those for a change. “So about my earlier breakfast invitation… you wouldn’t happen to have a spell that can test produce for its toxicity, do you?”

Twilight grinned and draped her wing over my withers as best as our saddlebags allowed. “My treat.”

Food

We walked down now partially lit stairs. It felt strange after all these hours in the dark. I suspected that our time here amounted to two days, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. But we had traveled with only Twilight’s light for the entire time and now the city was lit up. Sure, there were still plenty of dark spots or areas of dim light due to some street lights being busted or their light flickering unsteadily. But it was still such a huge change, it made such a vast difference. I could not help but perk up a little. The prior darkness had not felt all that oppressive but now that it was pushed back, I did feel like I could take easier breaths. Strange how that worked.

We left the stairs behind and looked at the third layer of the city. And boy, did we have a good view. We could see almost everything, from one side to the other. We saw a few structures I immediately called farmhouses in my head, because they were surrounded by fields and gardens and in a rare few cases even orchards. They had underground orchards. There were trees growing down here. Somehow.

The only less lit areas were due to smashed street lights or said trees obstructing the view, but these places were so few and far between that it was hard to feel wary of them. Maybe that giant spider hid somewhere in those trees, or back there where we could barely see anything, but it seemed so unlikely. Maybe that golem hid in one of these houses and waited to ambush us. They were built out of square hewn stone and therefore once again gave off an entirely new atmosphere compared to the other layers, especially with all the greenery surrounding them. It almost felt like this could be a place on the surface. A rural area like Ponyville, maybe.

Everything has purpose, everything is in order.

This layer was obviously all about food supply. Relaxation might have been a nice bonus on top, as I could imagine it would be nice to visit this place just for some good, old-fashioned R&R. But as much space as possible had been filled with dirt and plants and pastures. A city of this size needed massive amounts of food. Even with the entire layer being farms and such, I still had my doubts if this was enough. Maybe they had cultivated some kind of superfood that could be harvested once per week or something ridiculous like that, I could not tell. There were no flashes, no memories telling me in detail of how this part of the city worked.

I followed Twilight over to the first field. It was one of the ones I had initially considered empty because it was brown. It was everything but empty. Mushrooms grew over the entire thing in such a density that the dirt beneath was barely visible. They even grew on top of each other in places.

A familiar light encased Twilight’s horn and she looked at those mushrooms with focus. A small smile tugged at her lips a few seconds later. “They are edible. Well, correction: They are not poisonous.” A neat little trick she taught herself after the whole baked-bads-incident a few years prior.

She giggled faintly as she saw me grimace. I despised mushrooms. How they smelled when Spike cooked them. How they tasted. How they felt on my tongue, no matter if raw, cooked, grilled, stewed or whatever. She probably remembered that one time a few years ago when we had a nice little sleepover with Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Applejack and Apple Bloom. With that many hungry mouths to feed, we decided to make pizza. Three plates. I had shared mine with Sweetie Belle and Spike and they both liked mushrooms. It was a learning experience. I gagged and almost vomited, it was a bit embarrassing.

Despite this, I grabbed a few of these awful little things and stashed them in my saddlebags for later. Twilight was not exactly an avid mushroom-fan, but she did not mind eating them either. And they would most likely serve as a nice addition to whatever meal we would make.

Of course she packed one into her sample box as well.

We moved on and she scanned several other plants we came by. I had tried to reign in my hopes, but every single time she came up with the same result. Nontoxic, potentially edible. Even when she scanned the fruits of these strange bioluminescent trees.

We had found a fully stocked pantry.

After what felt like an hour or two, we reached the staircase that led further down, but we certainly had no intentions of rushing there just yet. We now had a decent feel for this third layer and we saw a great opportunity to get ourselves a breather. And we were not going to waste it.

I could see her struggle though. She had her journal out and tried to fill in another sketch of the layout of the city. She sketched one of the nearby farmhouses. And one of the trees. And I just knew she was eager to continue her work here. This place ought to be a treasure trove for new plants. Or really, really old ones. Mutated versions, maybe. “Tell you what,” I addressed her, “why don’t you take more samples, whip your equipment out and go bonkers with it and I fix us something that will hopefully be edible, hm?” I certainly was no Spike. My cooking skills would never reach the level of divinity he had achieved. But I was decently confident in my ability to create something that would not offend our tongues. Twilight was hesitant of course. For obvious reasons. So I tried to reassure her. “We stay in earshot of each other of course. No solo adventures, you hear? And if something happens, anything, you call. And so will I. Sounds good?”

Of course there was the obvious flaw in the plan that maybe something would happen so quickly or unexpectedly that we would not be able to call for help. But I was willing to take that risk and she seemed to agree as she nodded with a grateful smile. “I will start over there and go clockwise around the house.”

I stepped up to her, gave her a quick peck on the cheek and grinned. “Have fun, peanut.” And I chuckled as I saw her prance away.

A breather, yes. We desperately needed one.

“You got my back?” I asked White Tip. He cawed and trained his sharp eyes ahead of us as I walked towards the house. First point of business was to secure the building. The entrance door was smashed in and long gone, as was the case with almost every building we had come across so far. Many of the windows had been smashed as well at some point and I took great care not to step into broken glass.

The ground floor was a simple layout not dissimilar to the Apple family homestead. The entrance led into a hallway. A large living room with a fireplace was situated to the left and a decently sized kitchen to the right. I was tempted to give the faucet a test, but delayed that for once I was done. The hallway had a door beneath the staircase that led into a small broom closet and all the bedrooms and the bathroom were upstairs. I did not get jumped by anything or anypony and neither did I find anything spectacular that was worth bothering Twilight with. Just scraps of rotten bed frames, scraps of rotten doors, scraps of rotten tables and chairs — the wooden furniture really seemed to be the last remnants. No pillows, no mattress, no pictures in the rotten wooden frames on the walls. Luckily most parts of the kitchen were made of stone like the house itself. And I had a good, large worktop of solid granite.

White Tip hopped over from my saddlebags and sat down on it. I finally went over to the sink and stared at the faucet. “Please have water, please have water, please have water,” I mumbled as I turned it on. “Yes!”

I finally put my own saddlebags down, quickly rummaged through them and captured a sample of the water for Twilight to test. After all, I still needed to know if that stuff was contaminated with something we would not want in our food. Broken pipes could lead to metal contamination, or maybe some poisonous bacteria had made the pipe system their home, there were too many options to risk it. I turned to my feathery buddy and beamed at him. “Alright, here’s the deal. I’m going to find Twilight and let her do her thing with the sample. You keep watch over the house and if anything happens, you know what to do. Sounds good?” He cawed once. “Great.” I had almost left the kitchen when I stopped, returned to the worktop and petted him. “You’re doing great, buddy.” I smiled as I noticed how White Tip leaned into my hoof.

Confidence or not, we all needed to hear those words from time to time.

I left the house shortly after and it was not surprising at all how quickly I managed to find Twilight considering the impressive mass of technical looking doodads she surrounded herself with. “Hey peanut, how’s it going?”

She looked up, her furrowed brow smoothed out and she beamed at me. “I have barely started yet. But this is so exciting! I have found more mushrooms in this field and I want to test my theory that all these plants are connected by a network of roots and mycelium. I think the mushrooms actually help the other plants survive in this environment.”

I grimaced a little. “Nice mushrooms,” I offered.

She giggled softly. “I know, I know, you do not like them. You obviously do not have to eat them. But you have to agree that—“

“I do,” I cut in with a grin. “It sounds reasonable, judging by what I know about mushrooms and symbiosis. Because honestly, I can’t imagine this being a form of parasitism. Anyway, can I quickly take a few seconds of your time?”

“Oh, of course. What do you need?” She put her clipboard down.

Wait, she packed a clipboard? I rolled with my eyes, but smiled anyway. It was a Twilight thing to do after all. “The house actually has running water, but I wanted to make sure we can safely use it.” I levitated the sample over to her. She took it, looked at it intensely and immediately got to work. I had no idea what all those tests were that she did in the following few minutes. It gave me enough time to come up with a different idea though. Something I decided to keep secret from her for now. If it worked out, great. If it did not, well… then she would not have to be disappointed.

“Can I get a sheet of paper, that second inkwell you undoubtedly packed and a feather?”

She levitated the writing supplies over without getting distracted from her task at hoof and another minute later she levitated the empty sample vial over as well. “All clear. The water is a little more acidic than we are used to, but I could find nothing dangerous.”

I grabbed my stuff and grinned. “Thanks. And again, have fun.”

“Oh, I will!” she reassured with a grin of her own and went straight back to the mystery of the mycelium network.

I walked back to the farmhouse, into the kitchen and over to the worktop. “I have a top-secret, super-important mission for you. Are you up for it?” White Tip crowed. “Nice. I’m going to write a letter. I want you to take that letter, fly up to the exit and deliver it to Spike. I’m asking him to give you a bunch of stuff for you to deliver back down here. You still think you’re up for it?” He crowed more insistently this time and I chuckled quietly. He was eager to help, I liked to think. Maybe he still felt bad about scratching my back up, even though I had already told him not to worry about it. But that was an issue I could relate to quite well – no matter who said what, he still felt guilty.

I sat down on my haunches, put the paper on the stone slab and dipped the feather into the inkwell.

Hey buddy.

You thought you’d finally gotten rid of us, haven’t you? But no, no, no, we’re not that easily beaten. We shall resurface and thwart your evil schemes… eventually.

In all seriousness though: I’m sorry. I told you we’d probably be back by sundown and while it’s hard to gauge how much time has passed down here, I’d say it’s been two days, give or take. I hope you haven’t gone all Twilinanas on us. I’m inclined to assume that, seeing as AJ hasn’t busted down the plug just yet to bring down the cavalry.

We had some issues down here. That golem seems really keen on making our acquaintance and keeps stalking us. Twilight doesn’t want to demolish that thing, because it could be invaluable and we could learn so much and if only we could disable it somehow, yadda yadda yadda, you know Twi.

We’ve run into a massive spider, too. And I don’t mean the kind you can still squash with your hooves, but the kind that squashes you. It got away, so that thing is probably still somewhere down here as well. Yay. But I don’t want to have to tell Fluttershy that I killed it. Not if I can help it. Same goes for Twilight, I presume.

Anyway. It seems like we will need a few days more. There’s a city down here and it’s massive. I doubt we explored even half of it yet. We could use some supplies, so I am kindly asking you to get a little care package together and give it to White Tip. He can’t carry much, so I’m obviously limiting myself to the utmost essentials.

I stopped and mulled over what to ask for. There were a great many things that could make life easier for us, but I had to consider our means of transportation. White Tip had limited strength. Adding to that was the fact that I had seen how he got past the wooden plug at the exit. Something that was light but bulky would still prove to be a problem.

I shifted slightly on the stone tile. And the movement made me aware of the aching in my rump. And my shoulders. And my everything.

First off, we could really use some of that ointment Celestia and Luna had packed for our respective adventures. Sunny told me its name, but honestly, I have forgotten already. I’m not sure we are stocked with that stuff. She said it's rather pricey and usually used in hospitals. I already checked our first aid kit, but we don’t carry that. As far as I can tell, the cans all look the same and there should be an almost empty one on my bedside table. If we don’t have any stock of it, give him the almost empty one. Still better than nothing.

That would probably go a long way to help Twilight with her issues. I still felt incredibly guilty about the whole affair, but I knew she would try to disperse these feelings somehow. Maybe I ought to let her.

I sighed and refocused my attention on our current needs. We had usable running water. We had food. With that, two of our most significant issues were taken care of. Everything else felt like luxury. But having a little bit of luxury was not a bad thing, was it? I grinned as I dipped the feather back into the ink.

I’m pretty sure Twilight will be forever grateful if you include some instant coffee crystals. Enough for a pot, if possible. And I know it’s out of season, but do we still have a few strawberries?

She loved those. The thought of cooking with all these weird diamond dog vegetables was something interesting in much the same manner Twilight was interested in these mushrooms and all her samples. It was an experiment. But it could not measure up to Spike's cooking. But then I switched that mental image up by presenting her her favorite fruit as a desert. And I really looked forward to seeing that delighted smile become reality.

My thoughts jumped around a little, spurred on by my vivid imagination. And I landed on the recent memory of that first sip taken from her gift. The Neverend bottle she had bought and refilled. How she had watched me. How she had smiled.

Another jump and I landed on a memory a couple of days ago. It was just days ago, I reminded myself with astonishment. It felt like weeks, somehow. I had proposed to her. In the midst of us fooling around, I had felt like I needed to take that step and had asked her to marry me. Even though we would not be able to in any official capacity. Not yet anyway, but things were put in motion.

I received my gift early. It was only fair to return the favor.

And seeing as I’m already sending you into my room anyway — mind checking under the bed? There’s supposed to be a large suitcase. If you open it up, it should contain my armor. And inside my helmet should be a plush tiny black box. Yes, it’s exactly what it looks like.

Oh and could you maybe include a few headache pills? I’m getting a bunch of flashes down here and I don’t appreciate that nauseating thumping in my temples.

As I said, we will most likely take another few days down here. If anything goes awry, Twilight will bust us out. I will keep her safe, she will keep me safe, you know how it goes. Enjoy a couple of ‘free’ days, don’t party too hard and don’t worry too much either.

Thank you, Spike.

See you soon, buddy.

I read the entire thing once more, but ultimately shrugged. I was not writing any official reports or something like that. It contained everything necessary. It was good enough. I rolled the letter up after the ink had properly dried and hoofed it over to White Tip, who took it in his claws and let me levitate him ahead of me as I exited the house. “Thank you. Now, I don’t want you to take any risks, you hear me? If that golem shows up, you give him a wide berth. If you see that spider, doubly so. And if they try to cut you off, you return here, to me, instantly. Don’t play the hero, don’t try to push your luck. It’s a silly little letter asking for silly little things, it’s not worth risking injury over, got it? And if you’re on your return trip and something happens — abandon your cargo if necessary. Drop it like a hot potato. You are more important. Are we clear on that?” He looked at me like a foal annoyed by an overbearing parent spouting warnings. “I’m serious,” I insisted. “I don’t want you to get hurt!”

He cawed quietly. I usually just assumed what he tried to say with that. If it was right, everything was fine. If it was wrong, he would show me. But that still left a wide field of possibilities in between. And right now, I really wished I had Fluttershy’s gift to properly talk to animals. I levitated him over and nuzzled his feathery little head. “I’m serious, White Tip. Don’t make me regret this,” I mumbled quietly. He brushed his head along my cheek and after I sighed, I finally let him go. I threw him into the air and canceled my levitation. His wings shot open and he flapped them. “Be quick and be quiet,” I sent after him as he vanished into the upper parts of the city. “And stay vigilant.”

I stood there for a few moments longer and watched. As if I expected to see him fall down or hear a nasty crunching sound or anything horrible like that. And in truth, my head spun with a lot of horror scenarios. As per usual.

Come back safely please, I pleaded one final time before I turned with a heavy heart. I tried to distract myself by walking through the gardens and fields and started to plug vegetables. The kitchen had a few decently sized pots and pans. I vaguely remembered that some of the stoves in the residential district were powered by electricity or gemstones, but the one in our current hideout was old-school and used wood. Which I had plenty of, considering all the scraps and pieces of broken furniture.

“And what might you be, hm?” I asked the row of greenery. Small, thin and long protrusions that did not quite look like leaves shot out of the dirt and once I pulled one free, I stared at a purple onion. Or what I believed to be an onion anyway. Sure smelled like one. “Jackpot. You come with me. And you, and you, and you.” I was excited to see something strangely familiar, even if the coloration was not. And only a couple of rows down the line, I found another familiar sight. Sweet potatoes.

The bushy leaves over in another field turned out to be carrots. And I found what I assumed was some kind of asparagus. And tubers. Though I had no idea what those were exactly. They were gray as stone and I immediately assumed that they were rotten, but on closer inspection it quickly turned out that their skin was just colored that way.

Despite my initial hope to find some regular old potatoes, I had no such luck. And I did not want to stray too far from our hideout. There was an entire city layer full of who knew what and surely the former inhabitants had craved a certain variety in their diet as well. I was certain that there was plenty more to find out there. But I restrained myself and decided to work with what I got.

I returned with a decent haul of sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, asparagus and tubers to the kitchen.

The latter I inspected more closely first. I cut one open with a knife I found in a drawer. The knife’s handle was gone, but I did not require one. Thanks, magic. The gray skin was surprisingly thin, almost like a sheet of paper. Beneath lay whitish-yellowish flesh that offered some resistance to being cut. The entire thing was crunchy and smelled faintly sweet. I peeled the unappealing looking skin off, shrugged and took a bite. It tasted as it smelled. Faintly sweet, with hints of something I had no decent comparison to. It very vaguely reminded me of… pears, maybe? Apples.

This thing reminded me of apples.

They clearly were not apples of course, but they would still make for good provisions. I decided to put the tubers off to the side to later fill our saddlebags with them and turned my attention to my other ingredients. One of the onions was tested in much the same way. It really was just that. An onion. Albeit a surprisingly spicy one. I wheezed a little as tears shot to my eyes. “Oof, gotta be careful with you guys,” I croaked and put the knife down for safety. Once I got myself back under control, I cut off a piece of carrot and tested that. My stomach slowly started to realize that there was a realistic prospect of food on the table and growled loudly. “You wait your turn,” I growled back.

The carrot was good. Crunchy, rich in flavor, a little sweeter than I had anticipated. Maybe diamond dogs just liked sweet stuff. And lastly, I tested the sweet potato. No surprises there, they were at least meant to be sweet.

I had sweet, sweet and spicy ingredients so far. And something that looked and smelled like asparagus. “Yeah, sorry, but you’re not going into my pot,” I apologized to the long vegetable before I furrowed my brow. “You could make a decent side dish though.” Nothing stopped me from simply putting two pots up on the stove after all. And the mushrooms. Two pots and a frying pan, fine.

With my decision made, I started to work. The pots and pans needed a good rinsing first. I filled them with water afterwards, scraped together enough wood to load the stove, used some flint and steel to get a fire going and I washed the vegetables. Then everything needed to be peeled and cut to pieces. Washing, peeling, cutting – the three work steps that took most of the preparation time with just about any meal, in my experience. The water was already boiling when I was done.

“Off you go.” Asparagus into a smaller pot, mushrooms into the frying pan, the rest into the big pot. I had my doubts that we would have enough time to make a thicker stew out of it, but I did not mind vegetable soup either. Right now, any food was better than no food. I just wished I had some spices. Salt, pepper, paprika, maybe curry. I shook my head as I realized that I started to drool.

I went back outside to gather some more tubers while the soup was doing its thing. I briefly considered fetching more vegetables to get some samples for Twilight, but she worked in this area anyway and would probably be thorough with it. So I returned to the kitchen once more, placed our additional provisions by the first batch and took care of our meal.

It would work wonders to have a warm meal. I was decently sure of that.

The potatoes slowly started to dissolve in the soup a good while later. I considered calling for Twilight when my ears caught the sound of flapping wings. Please let that be him and not the next monster, I silently prayed as I armed myself with my trusty handle-less kitchen knife and went outside. And I sighed in relief and smiled as I saw White Tip carry a bundle towards me. He landed just in front of me on the stone porch and hopped off his carefully placed cargo. He looked at it, then at me, then back at it and cawed contentedly.

“Hey buddy. Welcome back!” I greeted him and petted his pretty little head. Another wave of relief washed over me. As if he could have been a mere illusion, a hallucination of my stressed, worried, overbearing mind. But touching him was real enough. He really was here and he seemed fine. A little exhausted, but fine. He must have hurried for most of the way.

I put him on my back, levitated the cargo bundle and went back inside. “As my guest of honor, you are hereby treated to the best our humble abode has to offer!” I played it up a little as I simply filled the smallest available pot with water, put it down on the worktop, opened my little satchel and put a good helping of seeds and nuts down next to it. And just because he might like it and because I knew that he was always curious, I had cut a few pieces of my ingredients off before throwing them into the soup and placed those down next to his little pile of spoils. “Stuff yourself to the brim, you deserve it.”

He cawed happily and hopped onto the worktop to dig in. I watched him for a moment with a big, fat smile on my muzzle before my attention was finally drawn back to the bundle he had brought along. After opening it up, I found everything I had asked for. And more. We had these little salt and pepper shakers that were specifically designed for longer travels. A gift from Rarity. It was unexpected to find them here, but not unwelcome at all. “Oh Spike,” I cooed with a smile, “I will hug you so much and you will have no choice…”

I did not wish to go overboard with either, so I took a ladle and cautiously tested the soup sip after sip. That’s one way to appease your hunger. I grimaced a little and tried to tell myself that this was necessary. To guarantee top quality. For Twilight.

Only after I was satisfied with the soup did I sort the other stuff. Spike had actually managed to find a full can of the ointment. I found the headache pills and immediately took two of them with a big gulp of water. Actually a good idea. I refilled our two waterskins. Something I probably should have done as soon as it became clear that the water was usable. But oh well, better late than never.

And I regarded the instant coffee crystals with a smirk. If I were to make her a pot, she would smell that from a mile away. I put them aside for now. She could have her disgusting favorite drink later.

Four large, juicy looking strawberries were packed into a small transparent box. Just opening the box permeated the room with their delicious scent. It was perfect. I quickly closed the box again and put it into a drawer. A nice little surprise for later. And I put the black box right beside it.

That left me with a letter I had completely overlooked so far. “Oops.” I looked over to White Tip, but my pet was already fast asleep. I smiled lopsided and put whatever he had not eaten into the pot. A few harder pieces would not matter much, I presumed. And then I sat down to read Spike’s answer.

You have no idea how lucky you got, dude! White Tip arrived while I wrote a letter to the Princess.

I stopped after the first line and furrowed my brow. Why was he—

Oh, right. Most of our friends were still out of commission. I grimaced a little as I imagined what the result would have been had he gone through with his intention. A letter to Celestia. Depending on how bored she was, how serious she took his concerns, how worried she would be… I could imagine her closing Day Court early and teleporting over here. Worst case scenario, really. Or maybe she would send Luna. That way, she would not need to close Day Court. And we would have to deal with a grumpy warrior princess deprived of both sleep and coffee, two of her most favorite things. I shook my head in an effort to dislodge the thought and read on.

It sounds like a rough time down there. Are you sure you two got everything you need? Or that you are okay with this at all? Wasn’t the plan for you to come back home every evening?

I grimaced again. I had decided not to tell him of Twilight’s current issues with something unknown interfering with her magic. Then again, it was not her magic per se, was it? She formed the shield spell perfectly that saved us from that spider. Her light spell worked fine as well. Her levitation was not affected either. It really was just her teleportation. But I did not wish to worry Spike more than he already had. We were okay so far, that was the important part.

Anyway, I got you your stuff. And a little extra, I hope that was okay. Doesn’t weigh much. And I dusted your suitcase. Do you ever clean beneath your bed? I almost died of pneumoconiosis.

Pneumo-what now? Some kind of lung disease, I assumed. I wondered if he had taken the time to research that word or if Twilight had used it so many times that he actually knew it.

Anyway, I’m going to write to Luna to let her know that Twilight might not make it in time. They had a date in three days or something like that.

Hug Twilight from me. And keep her safe. And watch out for yourself as well. And

You know what?

Please just return safely. I don’t mind having a free afternoon, but the castle is kind of creepy if I’m the only one in it for days.

No greeting phrase, no complimentary close, no signature. I chuckled and held the letter to my chest for a moment. “Don’t worry. We’ll be home soon buddy,” I mumbled. It felt nice to be missed. I put the letter down on the table and walked outside. It was still easy to find Twilight, she had rotated around the house roughly two hundred and seventy degrees. The circle was almost full.

“How's science progressing?” I asked as I came closer.

Her stomach growled and she smiled sheepishly. “Good, good. Many samples collected, many tests done, but I am getting a little… distracted.”

I smiled in reply and told her exactly what she hoped for. “How about you pack up then and let me treat you to a proper meal?”

“That sounds lovely.”

I helped her put all the sciency gear back into her saddlebags and we walked over to the house. “Any breakthroughs I need to know about?”

I immediately caught that almost feverishly glint in her eyes as she nodded in excitement. “Oh yes! But I think that can wait for after the meal, if that is alright? I would like to show you instead of telling you.”

I shrugged. “Fine by me, sure.”

Once inside, I ushered her to the kitchen and in front of the worktop. She giggled quietly as she saw White Tip sleep on it. I used the little distraction to fetch the last available pot and filled it with a decent amount of soup before I levitated it over to her. With a ladle. I grinned. “We don’t have spoons. Or bowls. So this will have to do.”

“I could make some?” she offered with a smirk.

“I know, but why bother?” I retorted. “Then again, I’m not stopping you if you mind the setup.”

Her smirk smoothed out into a warm smile and she shook her head. “Not at all. This is fine.” She took her pot and smelled its contents and her stomach immediately growled again. “I feel like I am starving.”

She ogled the soup. The only two reasons she did not immediately dig in were a) that it was still very hot and b) that her manners demanded to wait for me. So I finally sat down, armed with my own ladle. “Go ahead.”

How relieved she sighed and how vigorously she nodded. The effort had been worth it in that moment alone. More so once she had her first taste and smiled happily. “It is good, really good!”

I chuckled lightly as I was decently sure that right now, just about anything would have been fine for her. And me. But I did not hesitate either and dug in as well. I had made a large pot. Enough soup with enough vegetables for four, maybe six servings. When we were done, the pot was empty. The asparagus alone would have been enough for two servings as well and that was gone too. And even those pesky little mushrooms I had brought along just for her were finished off.

We both leaned back, rubbed our slightly bloated bellies and sighed in contentment. “That. Felt. Necessary,” I quietly mumbled. Twilight agreed with a nod before the tubers caught her attention. She did not even have to ask. “No idea what they are, but they taste like apples. And if they share more similarities with them, then they would make for decent provisions. Right?”

“We should take some carrots with us as well,” she added. “For variety reasons.”

I nodded and made a mental note to fetch some of those once we decided to depart. I really would have liked to do more in this house. Take a bath, for example. I felt dusty and grimy. But while we had running water, I had not found any bathtub. Maybe it had been wooden in nature and rotted away long ago, I could not tell. I would have loved to have a decent sleep as well, but whatever beds they had upstairs were obviously moldy and in a state beyond repair. Sleeping on dirt was better than sleeping on stone, but not by a lot. And I was not too keen on sleeping outside in an open field.

Still. Even with those luxuries still out of the question, this hideout had provided us with enough to be grateful. And I scraped together my remaining force of will as Twilight battled her post-meal-sleepiness. I stood back up, took White Tips water pot, filled it with new water after rinsing it and put it on the stove. Twilight lazily watched some of those steps, but it was clear that she had to fight hard not to doze off entirely. That only changed once I gave a few of the crystals into the pot. It took mere seconds for the acrid smell to permeate the entire room and I wrinkled my muzzle in disgust the very same moment I heard Twilight inhale deeply.

“Is that—?” she asked hopefully.

I turned around and presented her with the pot. “It is. I took the liberty to write a letter to Spike while you were out and had White Tip deliver it. That should be worth one mug. We have enough for another two later on if you want to ration it. Or I could make more now. Or I could simply throw them in there as well to make a stronger one. Whatever you like.” I saw that greed in her eyes. She wanted coffee so badly right now. But Twilight was a very reasonable mare most of the time and this was no different.

She sighed heavily, longingly, but shook her head. “Thank you. Keep them safe for later.”

“Safe from what?” I asked with a knowing smirk.

“From me,” she replied with a wry smile and I chuckled.

“Will do,” I promised and watched her as she drank the repulsive brew. Well, she liked it. That was enough for me. Instant coffee was a rather poor substitute for the ‘real deal’, but it did its job just fine in a pinch. And I cherished seeing her smile in such utmost satisfaction. “Hey, uhm… are you back with me again? Because I might have another surprise or two.”

“I am fine. More surprises? I have not been out that long, have I?”

I grinned and shrugged. “Can’t tell. I don’t have a clock. But the meal preparation surely took an hour or two, so… I don’t know. Does that count as ‘long’? How stuffed are you?”

“Pretty stuffed,” she replied with a smile. “It was really, really tasty. Thank you.”

I chuckled and shook my head. “Thanks, but that’s not what I’m after.” I grabbed the drawer with my levitation, opened it up and brought the strawberry box out. I levitated it over to her muzzle and opened it right in front of her nose.

Her quizzical look turned into delight as the intense sweet aroma hit her nostrils. “Oh sweet Celestia, that is…”

She cut herself off as I closed the box and let it float back to my side. “What a shame that you’re sooo stuffed, right? Can’t have them spoil after all. Guess I’m going to have to eat them all by myself.”

I laughed so hard as she sported the cutest pout ever. “You are being mean again.”

Despite my initial urge to tease her some more, I simply placed the now opened box in front of her and smiled at her. “No I’m not. I’m spoiling you rotten.”

She once again hummed in deep satisfaction as she relished each and every little bite she took. We had both wolfed down the soup and side dishes despite our initial attempts of self-control. And I was pretty sure that we both had burned our tongue at some point. But eating four strawberries? That took almost half as long. And I had to admit that even though I should have been utterly satisfied after yesterday, seeing her lips tenderly close around those fruits, seeing the tip of her tongue trace along her lips to catch the smallest droplets of tasty sweet juice — it was an incredible turn-on.

And that hurt.

Literally.

“Ow.” I half-chuckled, half-groaned as I tilted my head forward and placed my forehead against the cool granite of the worktop.

“What is wrong? Are you okay?” I heard her worried voice from the other side.

“I’m fine. Eat,” I tried to dissuade her from bothering with this. Buuut that could only be futile of course.

I heard her stand up and she walked around the counter. She undoubtedly saw the issue at hoof. I sighed, opened my eyes and looked up. One strawberry was left. Well. Maybe that was good enough for now. That one could wait until after the next thing on my agenda had been taken care of, right?

“Would you do me a favor?” I asked Twilight and turned to look at her.

“Of course,” she immediately confirmed.

I allowed myself a little tease and grinned. “Mind turning around and lifting your tail for me?” And just to put emphasis on the ridiculous nature of my request, I winked at her.

She grimaced anyway of course. “You don’t want that,” she stated matter-of-factly.

My grin only widened. “And how would you know? I saw you nibble at that strawberry and got envious!” She blushed a little and I had to laugh. I shook my head and leaned forward. Enough for her to understand the intent. We met halfway for a kiss and I addressed the issue at hoof once we parted again. “But seriously, I had White Tip bring us that burn ointment. It should help our aches and skin regeneration. And I think I might be better at applying it to you compared to you doing it blindly.” She had not noticed the can off to the side before. The food had drawn too much of her attention so far, but now that she became aware of it, she nodded. And then blushed, and then grimaced. It was a hilarious little display. “I promise not to peek too much, if it helps. Even though I love every inch of you. And know every inch of you. Very intimately.”

She sighed and rolled with her eyes. “You are the worst.”

I blew her a kiss. “Love you too, peanut. Now please, turn around.”

She complied and hesitantly lifted her tail. And I brought the can over and opened it up. It was time to treat her sore rump. But before I actually applied the first bit of the ointment, I took a good, long look at what damage I had done the prior day. After all, I had not given her that promise, I had only offered it.

And I had every reason under the sun to grimace.

Walking around like that could not have been comfortable. I saw tiny lacerations on her sphincter and her labia. And a few patches of skin were chafed here and there. “Sweet Celestia, Luna is going to flay me alive,” I mumbled quietly. And right now, I felt she had every right to do so. I once again felt incredibly guilty. I was just grateful Twilight had not heard me. I got to work before she could grow more uncomfortable or start to worry about this. The first application went to her dock and I meticulously worked my way inwards from there. The ointment had several benefits. It cooled the aching patches, it numbed the soreness down a peg or two, it would increase the speed at which the skin recovered.

A date in three days. Even if we were to make it out of this city in time, I had my doubts this date would go according to Luna’s plans. Not with the amount of damage I had caused. Not every date had to end in sex, of course. Obviously.

But it was Twilight. It was hard not to desire her. I struggled with that on occasion when the most mundane situations suddenly became incredibly sexually charged without her knowledge. And I knew that Luna felt much the same way. It was just that—

Twilight hissed quietly in pain.

“Sorry, sorry!” I quickly mumbled. Focus, you idiot!

“It is alright,” she assured me. “It was just… unexpected.”

I shook my head, banished my musings and forced all my attention to the task at hoof. I had caused her enough pain and trouble. It was high time to do something about that. So I applied the ointment cautiously and generously. That stuff was obviously ill-suited for internal application, but I simply hoped this would be enough. “How are you feeling?” I asked as I closed the can and put it aside.

She took the question as a sign that I finished my work, lowered her tail again and turned around to face me. “A lot better, thank you. But you really need to stop blaming yourself. You were as little in control of yourself as I was.”

“Was I, though?” I immediately shot back and cringed shortly after. “I should have had better self-control. I’m a trained guard. I am a dreamwalker. I should—… ah. Screw it, doesn’t matter.” She sighed and as I tried to avert my gaze, she put her hoof below my chin and forced me to look at her. I saw nothing but trust and love and forgiveness in her eyes. And for some reason, that hurt. So I closed my eyes. Only to feel her lips against mine a few seconds later. That was admittedly something I could never resist and it was so calming and just… nice to kiss her. I followed her muzzle for a few inches as she pulled away, but our kiss ultimately broke. I sighed.

“It does matter. It matters to me,” she insisted. “Because I care about you. And I don’t want you to beat yourself up over something that you had no control over.”

I wanted to argue about that point so badly. But I refrained from doing so. It was unreasonable. I was unreasonable. I sighed and gave in with a nod. She came another step closer and we put our foreheads together, with our horns crossed. It felt so nice. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she replied. “Now I hope I am doing this right,” she started again after a few seconds while she retreated half a step from me, “after all, I am still learning.” She cleared her throat dramatically. “Be a good little colt and lie down on your back!”

I had not expected her commanding voice. My eyes grew wide as certain impulses within me wanted to do nothing more than comply immediately. Maybe I even gave a quiet whimper, I was not entirely sure. I stared at her and she grinned so smugly. She radiated authority at that moment. My coy little bookworm was gone, replaced by this confident powerhouse of an enchantress. “Lie. Down,” she repeated.

I numbly nodded and let myself fall onto my back. Her spell was broken the moment I heard her giggle. And how silly I felt. Yet despite that, she was utterly satisfied with the results, which included my member emerging from its sheath. She grabbed the can, opened it back up again and got to work much the same way I had done for her. I had not spared a single thought to that.

I had to inhale deeply a few times. Sometimes due to a sudden pinch of pain before the cool balm numbed it, sometimes due to simply arousal. I was very much on display and she was so incredibly delicate with every touch. The fact that she sported a faint, but noticeable blush throughout the entire process only contributed to the allure.

I had been right in my assumption that I had gotten off way easier than her in the end. She did not say so, but I noticed that she had less need of the ointment when treating me than vice versa. And since I knew she would want that, I tried not to dwell on it too much. I simply accepted the fact that we still had half the can left and that I could repeat that treatment tomorrow or whenever we would have a decent, longer break next.

I rolled over on my belly and stood back up in an effort not to waste her work immediately. “As I was saying, I have another surprise in store.”

She smiled and shook her head. “I think you did more than enough.”

“Eh. Maybe. Don’t care.” I shrugged with a grin and opened the drawer again to levitate the black box out. “It’s exactly what it looks like,” I let her know and floated it over to her.

Her eyes had grown to the size of dinner plates as she saw the box, and she watched it come closer with rapt attention. No doubt that she thought back a few days ago when I had proposed, much the same way I had done so earlier. “Why?” she quietly asked. “Why now?”

I chuckled bashfully. “Well it seemed only fair, you know. I got it done two days before we went down here and since you had to spoil your surprise with the Neverend bottle, I present you with this one.”

She would of course insist that this was not necessary. I was having none of that and opened the box right before her eyes. Inside was a small silver horn ring. Two purple amethysts shaped like our cutie marks were embedded in the silver band on opposite sides. The gemstones were the only intricate part, the rest was a relatively simple affair. As engagement rings were supposed to be.

She stared at it in admiration. “How did you do that so quickly? You told me you had nothing prepared!”

I walked over to her and kissed her again. “Let me put it like this,” I offered as I pulled back, “After that day, inspiration struck and I knew exactly what I wanted. Spike helped me get in contact with a jeweler in Canterlot and Luna helped me with the enchantment.”

She furrowed her brow and looked at the ring with a critical eye. “Enchantment?”

A part of me wanted to be mad about me blurting that out. But I quickly realized that it would have made no difference. She would have learned that long before it was time anyway. “The ring can adapt its size within certain limits. If you would allow me?”

I was certain that she had noticed the ring was currently being a little bit large for her horn. But once I asked, she blushed deeply and nodded. And I smiled happily as I floated the ring out, she lowered her head a little and I put the ring on her horn. It felt great doing this. It felt right.

As soon as she raised her head again, I had to laugh a little. She had gone cross-eyed in an attempt to see the enchantment work. Which I could not imagine being all that successful. But I saw it work. The silver band tightened around her horn to fit it perfectly.

Enchantments like these were practical for obvious reasons. It became a lot harder to lose the ring. But that alone would not have warranted the effort, of course. She knew that. “And no,” I preempted her question, “I’m not going to tell you why this one needs that enchantment. You’ll find out next Hearth’s Warming.” I was utterly satisfied with my tease and grinned. Which quickly turned into a laugh as she pouted again.

“But you said—“ she started and I quickly cut in.

“I know what I said! One surprise for one surprise. Fair trade.” She pouted harder, so I laughed harder. I would lose this battle, I knew that. To circumvent the issue, I simply kissed her again. That really was a cure-all. “I take it you like it, then?”

“I love it,” she replied in a whisper and kissed me again for emphasis.

We fell silent for a moment and simply enjoyed each other’s proximity. But I knew that this would not help us in the long run. She already started to lean more heavily on me because she was sleepy and I felt a deep-rooted tiredness in my bones as well, only emphasized by the looming food coma. “Twilight?”

“Mmm,” she quietly mumbled.

“Hey, peanut,” I tried again and kissed her neck.

“Mhm?” she mumbled a smidge louder than before.

“As much as I hate bothering you right now, we need to decide what to do next. We’ve been down three stories and haven’t found anything soft aside from dirt. There are no beds left. I don’t think we’ll find any further down either. You have a date in three days. I don’t intend to turn this trip into a forced march or anything, but we probably shouldn’t dawdle along either. And you mentioned that you wanted to show me something. So… do we stay for a break or do we move on?”

I actually feared she had fallen asleep on me because she remained silent for so long. Eventually though, she sighed and pulled away from me. “You are right. We should probably move on. The longer we remain down here, the more we will have to fight mounting exhaustion alongside whatever else may come up.”

“How is your equipment doing?” I asked as I already busied myself stashing the ‘apples’ away in whatever nooks and crannies my saddlebags had to offer.

“Half of my sample containers are filled and it is getting a little heavy,” she admitted. “I thought about leaving some of my gear here in the upper city parts. I could retrieve them later.”

I mulled it over and nodded. “Sounds reasonable enough. You’re a decent flier, you could easily retrieve stuff from around these parts. Maybe sort the filled samples out here? This layer is good for both landing and taking off, you can see potential ambushes and have enough room to defend yourself if necessary and barely anything should be interested in this house anyway, right?”

She smiled and we spent maybe half an hour rummaging through her saddlebags and sorting out equipment she had no further use for. And then we filled that space right back up with carrots. And a pot. I insisted that we bring a single pot along. They were quite sturdy and could easily be used as an improvised weapon or shield or as a paperweight or a water container, it really was a multitool.

And then she wanted to show me her discovery.

“I noticed a few patches of this black substance while we walked along the road. Did you notice them?” I grimaced slightly but shook my head. Honestly, I had been so fixated on vegetables, fruit, any food at all, that I had barely any attention left over for anything else. Twilight simply nodded without any judgment in her voice or eyes. “I did not think much of it at first, but I am now convinced that there is a reason why all of these patches — on this layer anyway — are on or around the pastures and barns.”

And it was a barn she led me to. The building had little in common with the strikingly red ones in Sweet Apple Acres. It was another stone building cobbled together from square blocks and mortar. Its entrance loomed darkly until Twilight cast her light spell and her horn chased the gloom away. I stopped almost immediately. The entire inside was covered with the black goo.

“Don’t worry,” she reassured me, “as far as I can tell, it is completely harmless. Even though I have reason to believe that it was not, at some point.”

I hesitantly followed her into the barn and closer to the goo. The layer was maybe half an inch thick. The tarlike mass did not wobble or show any signs of movement or life at all. It just stuck to the floor, the walls and the ceiling like glue. “Go a few steps further in,” she nudged me, even though she herself had stopped.

I grimaced and looked at her. I did not feel comfortable in this barn, with this stuff. I had no precise memories. There were no further flashes. But I knew that this was dangerous somehow. Or had been at some point, as she had said. But Twilight seemed quite confident and assured me with a smile that everything was fine.

Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.

I stepped closer and shrieked like a filly as several spaghetti-like tendrils suddenly shot out of the goo and attached themselves to me. I quickly jumped backwards and landed ungracefully on my rump. Despite my wild flailing, I failed to dislodge the tendrils.

Because they were already gone and slowly retreated back into the goo.

“Twilight!” I hissed her name as I heard her giggle softly behind me.

She stepped up to my side and stroked a hoof down my back. “Sorry, sorry, I just…” She snickered. Had she just pranked me…? She recollected herself before I could vent my indignation and effortlessly turned her lecture-mode on. “See, I believe that this growth is some form of predator. Its presence in the pastures and barns as well as its absence in the gardens leads me to believe that it cannot digest plant matter, but it at one point hunted all the animals to extinction. This organism might even somehow relate to what happened down here in the first place. When I came too close earlier, it tried to pull me in. Probably in an attempt to feed. But as you just noticed yourself, these thin strands lack any real strength, despite how numerous they were. And they are easily detached as well. I believe this organism is dying. Starving. It lacks the strength to properly feed itself anymore. I don’t yet understand how it moves. Maybe it is some kind of airborne infestation. My initial analysis tells me that it is different from both plants, animals and fungi. The most thrilling part is that it has an astonishingly deep magic reserve.”

“Wait,” I immediately cut in, “that thing can cast magic?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t think so, no. It shows no signs of sentience. I believe it passively absorbs magic over time from its surroundings and can actively hunt to increase its gain of magical essence and it feeds not on the actual creature it devours, but on the magic it thereby absorbs. My readings indicate that it has vast magical reserves, but those reserves are almost empty.”

She almost sounded sad about that. While I could understand why on a scientific level, I still shuddered and was glad about that. Her nonchalantly offered theory about the airborne infestation might have contributed to that. We had been breathing that air for days now, after all.

A creature that survived by feeding on magic should be hard to kill. Magic was all around us, contained in everything from rocks to air. In varying density of course, but still. The obvious implication was that we could learn a lot from this thing that we could then immediately apply to the teleportation stone. It could further our understanding of passive magic absorption and might even cause leaps in our general understanding of magic as a whole.

Which perfectly explained why she looked like she was silently squealing like a little filly in a candy store.

And while a hungry or even starving predator was usually the most dangerous kind, an already almost-dead one weakened to the point that it had to hope for prey to drop dead right on top of it was less so.

She has taken a sample of this goo, hasn’t she?

The question was rhetorical at this point. For obvious reasons.

“My experiments also showed that it can sense its surroundings in different ways. After my initial shock, I tested what it would react to and what it ignored. I found that it is not movement alone that triggers its grab attempts. It must be a living creature.”

I sometimes worried about her. While I cooked and thought everything was just dandy, she had been out here poking hungry magic goo with a stick. Or Celestia beware, her hoof. Well probably her hoof in a sterile glove. She was a proper scientist after all.

Learning more about that organism was probably a good thing, no matter how much I wanted to imitate a cat by bristling my fur, arching my back and hissing. This stuff was all over the lower levels. And if Twilight was right, which was usually a reasonable presumption to make, then it was a predator. One that might still pack a punch further down where it was spread more heavily.

“Alright, fine. Any good tips on how to deal with this… stuff? Thing?” I asked.

She smiled. “Well you have seen its reach for yourself. As long as we stay far enough away, we should be fine. It does not seem to have any ability to move aside from growing in a certain direction.”

I recalled the image of the completely overgrown lower levels.

Stay far enough away.

Eeeaaasy.

The Sewer Level

We ran.

White Tip silently glided ahead of us and led the way. Twilight’s horn lit the road better than mine even though she was half a pony’s length behind me. And I tried to let my training take over. It had to be good for something, right?

Hostile territory. Enemy engaged with a third party, most likely yet another enemy faction. Both forces were capable and dangerous and armed. We had managed to escape, but instead of choosing a route back to at least vaguely familiar territory, we had chosen to run ahead into new and unexplored areas. Less than ideal.

We barreled down the stairs that led to the next city district. And I did not slow down, even as I saw its current state.

The very air of the fifth district smelled foul and rotten. Extensive damage to the street light system caused the unwelcome prospect of several ‘light zones’ where single lamps still stood and fought back the darkness. A darkness that creeped into the rest of the district and swallowed buildings without hindrance, transforming them into vague shapes in the blackness.

And the infestation was just about everywhere.

We had seen these patches in the treasury. Barely half an inch thick and how they clung to every surface. Even more so, we had seen how it had coated just about any and every surface within the vault itself. And this was the same effect, but on a city district-wide scale. Entire buildings were overgrown with the black goo. It formed massive puddles on the road, dozens of feet long. And it only got worse the further into the district we would get.

My eyes were drawn to a specific point I could spot due to a single street light. This district had suffered massive damage. Whatever forces had been unleashed, it certainly did not look like they had held back here. There was a chasm roughly halfway into the district. A wedge-like, triangular-shaped piece of the layer was simply missing. Half-crumbled ruins of houses stood lopsided on their unstable grounds. Every splinter of stone that was missing was part of the almost ramp-like mound one layer further down.

An entire part of the city had collapsed. What was that? Twelve blocks, maybe?

I tried not to think about it. Not now. My hooves were killing me and I was out of breath. Again. It was frustrating to be in such bad shape, not least of all because I knew that I could do better. But those past days had worn us out. Us, as in Twilight and me. Because despite her best efforts, I could hear her hard, ragged breathing. I could see her strain. I could see that determined expression on her face. Even her earth pony endurance seemed to reach certain limits. Twilight always made an effort, always kept herself in good shape, but she rarely did what Applejack and Rainbow did as a hobby on most days. She rarely tested her limits. She rarely pushed past them.

We needed a hideout. A place to catch our breath and talk for a few minutes.

I tore my eyes off of the chasm. We would reach it soon enough. And by then I better had a plan on how to deal with that. But priorities were important and right now, a place to rest was higher up on that list.

We ran into the muck. Neither her nor I had the capacity to give the slurping sounds much attention. We only acknowledged with an almost inaudible groan because it made it even more difficult to keep the speed up. We skipped past the first few structures. I had no idea how long the golem and the hunter would be distracted with each other. Who would win and what the winner would do. But my instinct told me not to take the very first opportunity to crawl into supposed safety, because it was too obvious as a choice.

I swerved to the left. A quiet, but sharp whistle informed White Tip to turn around. And I led our little group into one of the buildings. The entrances were a little bit clustered, as were the houses themselves. It would give us a decent chance that any pursuer might choose the wrong house to search, the wrong entrance to take. And as far as I could tell, the infestation did not reach too far inside these buildings, so that was a plus. I did not like the thought of having to sit down in this black muck. Who knew what long-term exposure could do.

The building was small in size. The ground floor was empty. A simple rectangle with a staircase leading to an upper story. We took the stairs and only once we were up did I finally stop. The very moment I did, my hooves started to burn even more. I hissed a little and sat down on my haunches.

As usual, Twilight had better self-control. She followed my example, but refrained from making any noise whatsoever. White Tip landed and sat down as well. And for a few minutes following our entrance, we simply waited. We stayed silent and listened for any movement outside. Any scraping sound on the streets. Any squelching sounds from the muck outside.

The goo offered one thing that should work in our favor: There was no dust layer on top and it reformed into an undisturbed layer seconds after something left an imprint. So in theory, there should be no easily trackable series of hoofprints in the goo.

Our breathing evened out over time. The burning in my hooves eased up a little and changed more into a nasty thumping. They felt hot. It reminded me too much of the long, arduous walk with Luna in that damn ravine. I eventually remembered that we still had some of the ointment left. I had originally intended to care for Twilight’s sore rump again, but seeing our current state, maybe there was a better use for it.

I quietly rummaged through our saddlebags and managed to wordlessly convey to her that she was supposed to lie down on her side. She discarded her saddlebags and complied and with the opened can in my levitation, I got to work. Her hooves got treatment first. Even though I was really looking forward to getting some of that stuff applied to myself.

She quietly sighed in relief as the medical mixture drew heat out of her hooves and eased whatever pains she had. She nodded in my direction, I confirmed and mimicked her posture. And with a few seconds and her magic working deftly, I felt the rest of the ointment ease my own discomforts as well.

It really was worth a relieved sigh.

Even the hard, unyielding stone floor we currently lay on felt heavenly. It was hard, yes. Which was better than the molten rubber-like texture of the goo. And more importantly, it was cold. I put my head down and cautiously closed my eyes for a few seconds. Cautiously, because I knew all too well how easy it would be to drift off into sleep right now. And I could not allow for that. A few minutes of recuperation were all well and good, but we had pursuers. Enemies. We could not stay here for long. We should not.

“What happened?” Twilight finally broke the silence.

I sighed deeply and opened my eyes again. I felt incredibly tired. Despite that, looking at her made me smile. She was covered in dust and sweat and grime, her feathers were ruffled, her coat was messy, she looked as uncomfortable and sleep-deprived as I felt and yet despite all this, she was beautiful. She was my little peanut, and I loved her.

I took a moment to bask in her presence and another one to sort my thoughts. “It’s the magic,” I started. “Your experiments led you to believe that this thing feeds on magic. After that right now, I think so too. The goo in the vault sustained itself by feeding on the magic of the Dreamweaver. That’s why it was still alive.” I looked over at the blade and despite my initial enthusiasm, I could not help but worry. Had the blade been damaged? Was it drained? Was all I could return to Luna an empty, sucked dry husk of its former glory? Then again, why would that matter to begin with? It was a memento. It was meant as a memento.

I shook my head and refocused. “There are a few details I can contribute to your research,” I announced. A smile spread on my muzzle as I saw her quickly retrieve her journal and writing supplies. “The goo seems to be a thin layer that crawls over everything, but with the Dreamweaver being a food source, it formed some kind of mound around it. I had to stick my leg into it up to the joint to actually make contact with the sword. And I could see that mound pulsating. Something was transported in a specific direction. The blade itself looks undamaged, which makes me think that whatever it was was probably not physical material. Maybe charged goo or something. But the fact that it was transported within the same patch at all indicates that there are different areas of concern even within a single patch. Some are more important than others. There was another growth on the ceiling where all the resources were led to. It was orange in color, glassy, round, with…”

I grimaced slightly and a shudder ran down my spine as the mental image formed. Twilight looked at her notes and back up to me and quickly added one and one together. “It had an eye?” I confirmed my suspicion and she furrowed her brow. “That is unexpected. It is the first instance we witnessed of this organism forming dedicated organs. And a sensory organ at that. When I examined the sample in the barn, I was puzzled by its ability to perceive its surroundings. Its perception was clearly present, but less precise than a predator would require. Maybe it can form and dissolve organs as required?”

I had a very scary image in my head for a few seconds. That of the hunter with too many eyes and too many mouths. But as far as we knew, this thing did not need any mouth whatsoever. It simply enveloped its prey in its own body and dissolved it from all sides. There was no digestive tract to speak of. The entire thing was capable of digestion. Even the very tendrils this thing used to propel itself.

“Maybe,” I gave my lame reply with a shrug. My head felt foggy. Too foggy to properly engage her in theorizing. “The eye had no eyelids. But I felt like it stared at me. Which would indicate some form of processing of perceived sensory input. It’s not just a simple pattern of ‘movement leads to attack’. When I told you we’d run on three, it still stared at me. But the eye changed its focus when you retreated. As if it had heard you. It can’t have seen you. The angle would not have allowed for that. It looked straight at the marble wall when you made that noise.”

Twilight nodded and scribbled a few more lines down. “Fascinating. Well, the organism does have other means of perception. It is very much possible that those other means noticed my retreat and the eye reacted to that information. Which would indicate that different parts of the organism interact with each other in a cooperative manner.”

“I don’t think we should stay here for too long,” I switched topics. “It survived so long because of the sword.” I looked to my side. That sword right there. “It will be hungry now. It can move and it is quick. And you probably saw the state this entire district is in.”

Twilight grimaced and nodded. “I did. I also witnessed its ability to absorb the other, inactive patches in the treasury.” Large parts of the district were overgrown. If it would absorb even one of those, it could easily grow to ridiculous sizes. We had no indication if that was how it worked. We could only work with what we knew so far. And despite everything we had managed to scrape together, it was still not enough. “Do you think it is intelligent?”

I sighed. That was the big question, was it not?

It was a predator. A hunter. An ambusher. Those creatures usually tended to be smarter already. Because they needed to develop hunting tactics. Because they needed to predict their prey’s movement and escape patterns. It could form eyes. It could manipulate its own body mass into a ball. It understood the concept of rolling on a street as much as it understood that dragging itself along with its tendrils increased its speed. There was certainly some form of rudimentary intelligence present. But there was a huge difference between an earthworm, a cat, a hydra and a pony.

“I don’t know,” I honestly replied. But at least there was one thing I could say with certainty. “I don’t intend to stay to find out though.”

We would have to deal with this at some point, obviously. It was the whole reason we were down here to begin with. To assess danger for everypony that would come here after us. And ideally, to neutralize as many of these dangers as possible. Which meant either finding means to disable the golem or destroying it. And it also meant to find something to deal with the goo. My plan so far was to reach the bottom of the city. Not because I expected an abundance of answers there. I was not even sure a master of this golem existed, at this point. But being the farthest down would allow us to do some thorough house cleaning from bottom to top with nothing left in our back, ideally.

And then head home.

Oh how I missed home. Again.

“I will cuddle Spike for another day or two,” I mumbled.

“What was that?” Twilight asked, but I shook my head.

“Nevermind. Sentience or no, it is clearly hostile,” I stated with conviction, “Though to be honest, I’m not entirely sure about the hostility of the golem anymore. When we exited the treasury, it was there and jumped and for a fraction of a second, I was sure that it jumped towards me, but… I don’t know… maybe it missed the perfect timing or something. Or maybe it wasn’t after us this time. I… no, I don’t know. And we can’t take risks like that. We should move on. Are you ready?”

Twilight sighed and slowly stood back up. She took a couple of steps in the room and nodded with a wry smile. “As good as new.”

I chuckled and stood up as well. “If only.” My hooves still ached. But the short break and the treatment did do wonders. I walked over to what I presumed had been a window once and stood to one side of it. Twilight followed me and stood at the other side. We had a good view from here. A few buildings nearby were tall enough to block parts of it, but we could see most of the district.

The buildings were made out of concrete again. But it was not the kind of dull gray they had used in the second layer. They had dyed it white, at least. Which was not exactly comparable to diorite or marble, but it still looked more noble than it would have otherwise.

These structures looked dull though. No artistic value had been wasted on giving them interesting shapes. They were simple blocks. No pillars supporting little arches, no balconies, no fancy rooflines. Just concrete blocks without frills. And I could vaguely remember a reason for that. Just like the second layer, this one was not meant to be inhabited. No one was actually living here, but many worked here.

“What are those?” Twilight asked and pointed downwards.

It looked like pools and they were all over the district. Not the kind of swimming pool one had in his backyard, but massive basins. They were covered by goo, of course. “There’s water underneath,” I explained. “They used those pools to…” It was hard to glean something useful from my memories this time. But eventually the knot dissolved and I grimaced slightly. “Sewage.” It would explain the distinctly different smell this district had. “These are water-processing plants. And those pools are sewage disposal basins.” My gaze drifted upwards to the ceiling and I found what I searched for. Pipes. Lots and lots of pipes. “I think those are control centers. To supervise the disposal process. They led all the sewage of the city into these pools and… I’m not sure what happened then. Something to clean the water to make it reusable. There was obviously a problem with smell pollution. That’s why this district had so many pipes and vents. I believe they even incorporated some gemstones into these street lights to further reduce the smell. It was still awful to be around here.”

Twilight took a few notes and looked back out of the window again. “That could explain the heavy contamination with the organism. I do not believe it cares much about foul smells. This was food.”

I gagged a little. “Yuck.”

She smiled and shrugged. “One pony’s trash is another pony’s treasure.”

“That really doesn’t make it any better,” I replied and shook my head. “Anyway, since we seem to have a moment… you see that chasm over there?”

Her smile dimmed down and she sighed. “I do.”

That sigh already told me that she might suspect the same thing I did. “Normally I would say: No problem. You’ll just levitate us straight across. Or heck, maybe just straight down. Though I suppose skipping part of the city like that isn’t the best idea. But while your light and most other spells work just fine, your heavy hitters seem to have some difficulties. Your teleportation, namely.”

“We do not know with certainty what the limitations of this organism's abilities are,” she added. “It might, for example, not even need physical contact to feed on magic. Which could explain the interference with my teleportation attempts and why it only became a problem the further down we went. Because we got closer to the main host of the growth.”

I nodded. “Exactly. Which could also mean that the further down we go, the less we should rely on your magic. Adding to that, we face the issue of that hunter. It’s a mass of goo. I don’t know what that golem can do to actually stop that thing. I don’t think it can actually stop it. And if we have to fight it, I’m pretty sure that you can do just that. But you would feed it at the same time. And a sword, for as much as I cherish having it, is not any different from a pair of claws when it comes to this enemy. I’m not sure how to face it. That’s why I think our best bet is to just not face it at all. And once we get out again, we tell whoever enters after us to bring some flamethrowers or something.”

She grimaced. And I knew why, of course. We still did not understand this creature’s nature. It could be sentient. It could be intelligent and self-aware. It might be reasoned with, given the right circumstances. But I was more concerned with our safety and the safety of the ponies that would come here after us. And the memories of those flashes admittedly only contributed to my inner attitude of: Buck that goo. It had given us such a hard time that somehow, torching it sounded like a really neat idea.

Careful with that direction, a voice in the back of my head reminded me. You’ve slipped down that slope before.

I shook my head and sighed again. And I booped Twilight on the nose with my hoof. “Don’t worry. We’ll try everything we can to resolve this in a different way. As for the chasm, it doesn’t seem to reach all the way in. It doesn’t reach the outer city wall. So maybe we can walk around it.”

She watched me for a moment. “How are you holding up?”

While I appreciated her concern, the question still inevitably made me grimace a little. “I’m fine.” It was a stupid deflection. It came out too quickly and too dismissively. I shook my head and sighed. “Sorry, reflex. It’s… I’m okay, I think. I’m incredibly tired. Fatigued. My back aches. My shoulders hurt. My hip still hurts somewhat. It’s getting harder to concentrate. And my hooves are killing me. The latter is significantly better now, but will most likely return to its previous state in a few hours. And I feel dirty and smelly. But despite the length of that list of complaints, it’s more or less complaining on a high level. I’m not actually injured. I should be good to go for a few more hours before I actually need sleep and even with the prospect of what kind of ‘sleep’ we get down here, I should be good for another few days. I’m just not used to… well, all of this.” I looked at her and was glad to see that smile on her muzzle. She appreciated the honesty. “How about you?” I asked and let a tinge of that worry that constantly nagged me in the back of my head creep into my voice.

She smiled wryly as she replied with the obligatory “I’m fine.”

I snorted and nodded. “Right. And how are you?”

She leaned over and we crossed our horns for a moment. A deep sigh escaped my throat. It was hard not to feel content like this. “I am tired,” she admitted. “More than I expected to be. Maybe more than I should be. This is not my first mission, I feel like I should hold up better than this. It is nice to have you with me. I wish the girls could be here as well. I would feel better knowing I have their backup as well. We seem a little ill-equipped for some of these tasks. But I am confident that we will manage anyway. And it is exciting to see what is down here. I have not had such a vast flood of new information in a long, long time. My usual research projects feel like scraps compared to this. And it is exhilarating. This feels like a scientific breakthrough. And maybe I should do more field research. I try not to get swept up by my own enthusiasm. And yes, my rump and my back ache as well. Sleeping on stone is awful.”

I smiled. I was grateful for her honesty as well. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” We tilted our heads upwards and shared a kiss.

I did not mind her missing the gals. I would give my right leg to have them here as well. Applejack would make short work of that pesky golem if he tried any funny business. Rainbow would gladly help her. Rarity would fix the lights. Fluttershy might actually be able to converse with that goo-thing. And Pinkie could relieve me of my duties. No flashes required when her uncanny ability to just know things worked just as well and with less issues involved. Also, she would be awesome to have to keep up morale. Because it was difficult to remain in decent spirits at times.

I sighed heavily once more and pulled away from Twilight. “We don’t have any of the ointment left. But next time we rest, I’m going to give you a massage. It will probably just be a drop in the bucket, but you never know. It might help.”

We both looked out of the window one final time. We had to cross an entire district overgrown with goo, then walk around the chasm to reach the next lower layer, which from the looks of it was just as overgrown, if not more.

That’s where it lurks. Where it wants to herd us. It attacked from above and below, but it tries to get us down there. Red’s voice echoes in my head like a warning. And I tried to heed it as best as I could. But there was no way for us to not go down there. We needed to be thorough. And we needed answers.

We walked for quite some time without interference. No sudden reemergence of the golem or the hunter. White Tip sat on my back and tried to melt into it. He felt utterly uncomfortable in these surroundings. The growth clung to the ceiling overhead. To the houses around us. To the septic tanks and the streets. We had already passed a stretch of city where everything, literally everything had been covered by this stuff. For several minutes of walking distance. And now we found ourselves in yet another stretch like that.

But there was no reaction to our presence. No tendrils tried to pull us in, no hunters formed from it. As much as it disgusted me, I had even grown accustomed to the squelching sounds our hooves made. We stayed silent, just to be on the safe side. I could not help but wonder: What if this stuff was not dead at all? What if it was merely inactive in some way? Maybe it slept and whatever means of perception it had did not notice our presence? If so, this entire area could turn into a giant stomach ready to digest us at a moment’s notice. Not exactly a thought that filled me with confidence.

And there was another thing bothering me.

Spiderwebs.

It had been quite some time since our encounter with the giant spider and admittedly, I had all but forgotten about it. But these webs we came across were enormous. They stretched from one building to another, crossing a byroad. They covered parts of the ceiling that were not covered by goo. They made a street lantern look like cotton candy on a stick. It was quite apparent that we were getting closer to the spider’s original lair. Maybe hunger and starvation had forced it to search for food higher up. Or the threat of being devoured itself. After all, what was that spider supposed to do to defend itself if the goo decided to go after a spider-shaped snack?

So we most likely had another hostile force to account for. A third one.

Just peachy.

We reached the chasm a few minutes later. The occasional spider web could still be seen here and there, but they were in tatters. Abandoned, not maintained and cared for. We stepped up to the edge and looked down. There was little in terms of details we could make out from our current location. The visible parts of the lower layer were buried beneath the rubble. While said rubble formed an almost ramp-like shape, there was still a significant height difference between the highest part of the slope and the layer we stood on. Maybe thirty, thirty-three feet? Not the kind of distance one wanted to jump.

“Do you want to give it a try?” I quietly asked Twilight as she inspected the slope below.

She inhaled deeply and sighed. “I should at least try, yes.” Her light was fine after all. She had led us through the darker patches of the district with her horn brightly aglow and at no point did it so much as flicker. But a light spell was a different matter from a telekinesis spell. “Ready?”

I put White Tip on her back and nodded. It made sense that she tried to levitate me across the gap first. It was always more complicated to levitate oneself. I did not struggle as I felt her magic wrap around me. A lovely raspberry glow that sent a familiar and therefore pleasant tingle down my spine. It spoke of caution and tenderness and restrained power. I was lifted up by a couple of inches to test the waters. And I could already see Twilight struggle.

“Don’t overexert yourself,” I softly urged her. “We can just walk around it if necessary.”

After a few more seconds, her magic fizzled out. I was unceremoniously dropped back down onto my hooves. A brief jolt of pain shot up my legs, but I ignored it as best as I could. I instead walked over to her. “Are you alright?”

She grumbled something I failed to make out and sighed. “The interference is getting stronger.”

“Which only provides further indication for your theory to be true,” I remarked. It was supposed to help her. Maybe even make her smile. Yay, one step further for science. But she grimaced slightly instead. Because while she did not define herself over her magic, it was still a fundamental and intrinsic part of her. And she never felt comfortable when something meddled with her magic. I could understand that part especially. A typical unicorn fear.

“Let’s go that way,” I offered and gave her a little peck on her cheek as an apology. White Tip meanwhile hopped over onto my back again.

We walked parallel to the chasm deeper into the district. Twilight still occasionally whipped her journal out to continue her sketches of both the surrounding architecture and the general city layout. And while we walked, I tried to scrape together some more information I could offer her. The goo-covered septic tanks were one thing. But a city of this size did not just have to deal with a lot of sewage. They had a massive need for water in general. I vaguely remembered that I had a conversation with Silver about this at some point, but the details I sought kept eluding me. Something about massive water reservoirs outside the city. Probably connected to it via more pipes?

We were at the outer edge of the city and in the process of passing by the deepest ridge of the chasm when I suddenly heard something somewhere behind us.

“Sch!” I quickly hissed. Twilight immediately stopped. Both White Tip and I stared into the black while Twilight dimmed the light of her horn further down to make our position less conspicuous. I half-expected a repeat of the previous encounter, with the spider’s eyes suddenly reflecting parts of the dim light. But nothing like that happened. I could hear movement, but it was quick and quiet. Something stalked along over there between the buildings, somewhere in the darkness.

I remembered that moment when we exited the treasury. The golem lunged. And it wore that collar again. That glowing collar. So whatever was back there was either the golem without the collar — which I deemed unlikely. Or the spider. Or the hunter. I certainly did not like either of these options, but the latter was especially worrisome. Because we had the means to deal with a giant spider, but the hunter was a real problem.

“More light,” I quietly whispered without taking my eyes off the direction of the sounds.

Twilight complied and as soon as the radius of her light increased, I could see a single tendril retreat further back into the dark.

Crap.

“Run!”

I turned as quickly as I could and followed my own advice.

Twilight was a few steps ahead of me and I could hear the hunter quickly closing in again. It was behind us, right behind us. Why? Why had it even bothered lurking in the shadows to begin with? Why had it bothered sneaking up on us?

I noticed a building roughly a hundred feet ahead of us. Thick and heavy walls, an equally thick metal door. It almost looked like a fortress. Which was exactly what we needed right now. Because we had no chance of outrunning that thing in the open.

“Twilight, left,” I half-yelled ahead. She veered in the direction I had announced and we managed to get inside before the hunter actually caught up to us. As soon as we were in, we both grabbed the door, flung it shut and quickly scanned the mechanism to properly close it. There were two thick metal latches we put in place and a rotating wheel in the middle to operate the door’s internal closing mechanism as well.

Only after we had properly closed the entrance did we allow ourselves to catch our breaths.

“I hate that thing,” I cursed and shook my head. My heartbeat thumped away in my ears, my blood rushed as loud as a river. It took a few seconds to ask another important question. A few seconds for said question to even come to mind.

If this was the sewage disposal and water-processing district, why was there a building secured in much the same manner the strongest vaults one layer above were?

I turned around to inspect the rest of the room we heedlessly ran into. What I was confronted with was a labyrinth of pipes. Walls of pipes. Leading out of walls and into walls and crisscrossing all around the room. And many of these pipes were labeled with all kinds of warning signs. The most common one I could spot was easy enough to understand even without my spotty understanding of diamond dog language: High pressure.

We can use that.

The thought was intriguing and became a lot more urgent the moment the hunter slammed into the door with force. The impact alone made such a loud noise that I could already tell how all these vault doors we had seen up above got into their current, abysmal state. I heard metal creak and groan as the door was assaulted. Twilight backed away from it and cast a spell on the door, probably to get us some more time. She knew as well as I did that it would only prolong the inevitable. And it would feed the damn thing, too.

You have a sword. Yes. Yes I did. High pressure pipes. I walked over to them and put a hoof against one. To my surprise, I could still feel movement inside. After all the different districts of the city fell apart in one way or another, I had expected this part to be out of commission. But no, whatever this building was used for, it was still intact and working.

Aim at the door, pierce the pipe.

I furrowed my brow. Was that even possible? Would that do us any good? We needed a pipe with enough pressure and enough water flow to actually push our enemy back. And that thing was strong. I walked further back into the room and looked around for anything useful. One of the pipes on the back wall was considerably larger. And it was labeled as well, so that might actually work. But these pipes were made out of metal. One did not simply pierce metal. I brought the Dreamweaver to my muzzle and lit my horn a little bit more to inspect the blade. It was sharp. Despite all this time, it was sharp. And it was a weapon crafted by Luna. But that did not necessarily mean that it was capable of such a feat. I looked around and found a pipe that was not labeled as dangerous. Maybe a part of some kind of overflow protection system? Ah, who cares. I stabbed the pipe. Which was already difficult because stabbing something round with something sharp required precision and a violent enough thrust. But on the third attempt, it worked. The blade actually sank into the pipe. The Dreamweaver was capable of piercing metal.

Or maybe these pipes were just old and corroded.

“Twi, come here, I need your help!” I yelled.

She came over as quickly as she could and I showed her the pipe I had in mind. “I tested it out, the blade should be able to pierce this. We keep our distance, of course. The pipe will burst and the water should shoot out like from a hose. Maybe you can direct it a little with your magic as well. We stab it as soon as the door breaks down and flush that damn thing down. If I’m not mistaken, that direction should lead to the chasm. It can probably climb back up with its tendrils, but by that point, we would be gone again. Sounds good?”

Her face was fixed in grim determination as she nodded. “It sounds more promising than my plan. It literally eats my shield.”

I wanted to poke a little fun by saying that we at least had confirmation of that now, but she looked rather annoyed and I therefore decided to swallow the comment down. “Can you determine the best angle?” I asked instead and nodded towards the pipe.

Twilight grinned and took over my grip on the sword. “I can do you one better.”

I grinned and blew her a kiss. She wanted her revenge on that thing? She could have it. I would gleefully watch as she gave that thing a good rinsing. And with the main water pipe connected to the reservoir, there would be a lot of water before—

The reservoir?

I furrowed my brow and slowly turned around. All these buildings were made out of dyed concrete. White dyed concrete. But the back wall behind these pipes was stone. Not just stone gray, but actual, natural stone. Was that odd?

The hunter slammed into the door again and it creaked and groaned. Twilight readied the Dreamweaver. She had the power to thrust it into the pipe. She had the power to aim with the high pressure water that would shoot out.

The reservoir is right behind that wall.

“Twilight, wait!” I yelled.

Too late.

The door gave way and the furious ball of goo ripped it out of its frame and threw it to the side. At the same moment, the light around Twilight’s horn flared as she hardened her grip on the blade and thrust it forward into the pipe between us. With all her strength. She buried the weapon to the hilt and water immediately shot out around the intruding item like a lawn sprinkler.

The blade itself was thrust out of the whole. Twilight’s magic funneled the water stream and she aimed at the goo-blob. And just as planned, it was flushed out of the building, down the street and vanished into the chasm. Probably. We could only see it being pushed outside and little else, due to the lack of lighting out there.

The less-than-great part was the cracking I heard. Followed by a gurgling. The sound of large air bubbles rising up in a massive body of water.

Fissures opened along the stone. And water immediately leaked out of them. And with the immense pressure behind it, those leaks quickly turned into more little lawn sprinklers. I had no idea how thin or thick that stone wall was. The Dreamweaver should not have been able to pierce that wall. I was decently sure of that. But it had somehow happened anyway.

These reservoirs were outside the city, yes. Immediately outside. Like, right beside them.

“How much are we speaking?” I asked Silver.

She smiled proudly. “Our ancestors have been digging these reservoirs over generations and generations. There’s five of these babies. They hold a combined volume of around fifty trillion liters.”

“Twilight?” I quietly asked as I felt all color leave my face.

“Yes?” she replied and carefully took a few steps away from the stone wall.

“There’s… like… ten trillion liters of water behind that wall…” What even was that number? I had no comprehension of it. It was a lot. Maybe lake-sized ‘a lot’.

“I figured,” she quietly answered as the gurgling was heard again.

The very next moment, a single piece of rock was flung from the wall and across half the room. It shattered on impact with the ground.

“Can you stop that?” I asked.

“I am trying,” she replied.

And she did. For the first time in what felt like ages, I dared to look over to her and saw her horn brightly glowing. She tried to stabilize the wall, I suspected. But there was an entire lake pushing against her. And with our current state, we simply lost that battle.

More rocks shot out of the wall and I realized the lethal danger we were in. One hit from such a piece could mean broken bones. A concussion. Or downright instant death. I frantically looked around the facility if there was anything to help us out.

“Aren’t you afraid? Like… how do you rest easy at night knowing that five lakes could drown everything at every moment?” I asked and shuddered a little.

“Come on, we’re not idiots, Dream. These walls are constantly monitored and maintained. That’s why we have these floodgates.” She raised her arms and twirled around. And I had to admit, her smile was infectious. And it eased my worries somewhat. “The secondary security systems are fully automated and don’t rely on electricity either, just in case. Most of us usually worry more about the ceiling coming down than the reservoirs flooding in. You have no idea how many headaches the architects had when they were asked to construct something like this. That’s one of the reasons we had to build so close to the surface. So that the ceiling was not too thick and the structure could support it.”

I laughed uneasily again. “You know, between being crushed by rocks, melted by lava, drowned by my tap water and electrocuted by sheer happenstance, I feel sooo much safer already.”

She giggled merrily. “You’re such a worrywart. Has anyone ever told you that?”

I smiled fondly. I had vague memories of a mulberry coat. The scent of ink and paper. And a tender smile. “I think so, yes,” I replied with a subtle grin.

Security measures!

I ran to one of the nearby walls in panic as more and more of the wall fell apart. Twilight yelled about how she would not be able to hold it much longer and I pulled down some kind of lever. Sirens started to blare and red lights bathed the entire facility in an intimidating glow. “The exit!” I yelled.

She ran as fast as she could. White Tips claws once again dug into my back as he tried to hold on for dear life. We tried to reach the entrance, but water… water is fast.

Faster than us.

With a deafening crack, the entire wall broke apart and a massive wave came crashing down. The entire room was flooded within a matter of seconds. Rocks were flung every way and destroyed even more of the high pressure pipes littering the room.

We were luckily close enough to the exit that the wave simply pushed us out. We would not drown inside. Because in a minute or two, that entire building would be hermetically sealed.

But we were still far from safe.

Twilight held onto a disabled street light. I tried to keep my grip on the edge of the chasm. And the water just kept coming. It battered us in an effort to flush us down the same direction the hunter had taken before. Problem was: That tumble was not the end of it. Not this time. Because there was an entire minute until the seals would be in place. And until then, a roaring river came out of that entrance.

We’re not going to make it, I realized in my panic.

Each and every second of this was painful. I could hardly breathe without breathing in water as well. It was cold enough to make my legs go numb in seconds. I would not be able to endure an entire minute.

And neither would she.

I saw Twilight slip.

I tried to yell her name, but got a mouthful of icy water instead. She tried to yell as well, but roaring water swallowed every noise.

The wave would carry us down the slope. Down and down and over the edge of the andesite street on the lower level. And from there, it was a freefall down all the remaining city layers. And even if we survived the impact on the ground, the water would pummel us further.

I should have known better.

She was an alicorn. They were basically indestructible.

But when I saw her slip, there was no doubt in my mind. I let go of my ridge and pushed myself off. And I tried to catch her mid-fall. I saw White Tip take off somehow. Maybe he would get away. My body impacted with hers, I managed to grab her and pulled her close to me.

The initial impact on the slope was painful. My outcry was once again drowned in water. I tried to cough it up, but only more water came in. I tried to hold Twilight close, but the water tried to rip us apart. She flailed with her limbs and a few hooves struck me and my legs instead.

I lost any and all sense of direction. I could not tell where up and down was anymore.

We were washed down the slope further and further towards the edge in a matter of seconds.

Then something heavy crashed into us.

A soft glow from the side that shot at us like a firework rocket.

We were ripped out of the waterstream. Another heavy, painful landing to the side of the slope of rubble. This time, I heard my own, pained outcry. Because we were out of the impromptu river. Not entirely, of course.

Twilight coughed beside me. I did as well. But I did not dare to let go of her. My legs were cramped. I could not have given her free even if I had tried.

My world spun. Everything was in motion and it felt sickening. I wanted to puke so much, but my body had forgotten where the content of my stomach was supposed to go in such a case.

I heard White Tip caw and crow. He flew somewhere close by. And sweet Celestia, did he make a ruckus.

My eyes only slowly adjusted. I stopped seeing everything in spinning doubles and triplicates. And I saw the diamond dog golem. It towered over us with its glowing runic collar. It watched us. It had saved us?

White Tip dared to swoop down and peck at its stony head. The golem did not seem to care. It simply regarded us for a few seconds longer before it turned around.

And left.

Just like that.

“T-Twilight? A-Are you a-alright?” I asked, immediately followed by another coughing fit. My voice sounded terrible. A hoarse croak at best.

She finally stopped struggling. We both lay in a puddle of cold water as seconds passed us by and turned into minutes. And I held her as tight as I could. “I… have been better,” she admitted.

Me too, peanut. Me too.

The One

I knew for a fact that it was ‘just one minute’. And were it not for the ice-cold puddle we lay in or the uncomfortably hard andesite beneath that, maybe this moment could have been relaxing in its own way. We heard tons and tons of water rush by. The softest drizzle sprayed us. And the noise tried to lull us into a false sense of security. It was decently easy to imagine how we just plopped down on the stony shore of a river and listened to its flow.

But the mechanism for the emergency shutdown eventually worked its magic. Heavy metal sheets were put in place and sealed the entire building off. And the roaring water became an ever-shrinking trickle, until all we heard was the faint noise of drops hitting the ground on multiple layers.

Yet we continued to lie still for a few minutes more.

You’ll get hypothermia, a grumbly voice chided me.

I sighed and stretched my neck a little, just enough to reach Twilight’s ear. And I nibbled on it a little bit. She flicked it once, but I stubbornly persisted. I eventually heard her giggle softly. “Is there a reason you’re snacking on my ear?” she asked in such a soft voice that I could easily have believed we were in a much more intimate setting.

I grinned and traced the tip of my tongue along its edge. “No particular one, no,” I replied and just for good measure slowly exhaled onto it. I grinned as I saw it flick again and briefly considered another comment about how delectable she looked, but to be honest — right now did not seem like the best moment to even attempt that kind of mood. So I sighed yet again. “Well at least the shower is taken care of.”

She chimed in with a sigh of her own and I felt her shift ever so slightly. She backed up a little, right against me. I did not mind, seeing how I still held her tightly. “I kicked you, didn’t I?” she asked quietly.

Kicked and punched, a voice in my head corrected her. But I knew that she felt bad about it already. I had no intention of making that worse. She was right of course. I could feel the few patches she had demonstrated her earth pony strength on. They remained quiet for now due to the numbness the ice-cold water had caused. But I was decently sure that they would make themselves known more firmly as soon as my body managed to reestablish a decent body heat. “Maybe,” was the best I could offer for now. “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”

“I am sorry,” she insisted anyway.

I swallowed the urge to sigh in exasperation. I instead lowered my muzzle to her neck, sucked a little bit of her lovely coat in between my teeth and gave her a decently sharp nip. Not enough to actually draw blood, but enough that it should hurt a little. And just as expected, she hissed in pain. “Ow. What was that for?” she demanded to know.

I immediately kissed the very spot, just out of sheer bad conscience. “Well, now we’re even. That’s how it works, right?” I chuckled a little as I heard her soft groan. “I said: Don’t worry about it. I’m fine. And I meant that. I freaked out as well. Less in a flaily, kicky way than you and more in a desperate, clingy way, but I panicked just as much.”

With the cold slowly receding from our bodies, it became harder and harder to ignore just how uncomfortable the andesite road was. Which eventually led to me following my own advice. It was still hard to let go of Twilight. As if a part of me still feared for her life, still feared she could vanish into the dark pit below if I let her go.

I felt like I had to groan as old stallions did when I finally stood up. Every muscle protested the decision, every joint ached a little and my knees felt dangerously wobbly. I realized that despite my hope, this was no condition to merrily continue on. We needed a break. A hideout. Again.

I lit my horn to spend a little bit of light for us and my attention was initially drawn to the rubble slide we had come down on. With Twilight’s telekinesis being affected, it would pose too much of a risk to even attempt to get back up. And I had honestly little inclination to do so to begin with. We missed out on a few blocks of the upper city layer as well as almost three quarters of the one we were currently on. Because the majority of this district was on the other side of the slide and while we could easily climb over it and explore the area we missed backwards – why would we? We could do so easily on our way back up.

I noticed how Twilight rose as well and she grimaced in much the same way I had. It only further cemented my notion of giving her a massage as soon as we found a decently safe spot to rest. She came over and sidled up to my side and we both walked a few steps towards the edge of the road. “What do you think, how much water that was?” I asked out of idle curiosity. “Do you think the lower levels will be flooded now?” Just because it felt and sounded like several lakes worth of water had come through did not mean that my admittedly crappy ability to gauge these things was even remotely close to the truth.

Twilight furrowed her brow and I could almost see the numbers swirl and twirl around her head as she put them into place to form complex formulas. “Well considering the exit size the water had to push through and assuming the buildings entrance really was the only exit point, then factoring in the amount of time the water had until the shutdown closed the leak, plus the amount of water in the reservoir, and finally the pressure with which the water pressed past the gap, I should at least be capable of roughly estimating the amount of water we have to deal with at the bottom.”

I stopped a few feet away from the road’s edge and looked at her. I waited for her to finish her calculation, but a few seconds later Twilight started to smile and I knew I was had. I asked anyway, if only to offer her a proper setup for whatever thought made her smile. “And?”

And she gave her cringy, decidedly non-scientific answer with confidence and pride. “Lots.”

I could not help but laugh. Her smile grew into a grin and she giggled alongside me as I slowly regained my composure. “I see. I can’t tell you how glad I am to have such a knowledgeable and fast-thinking sweetie with me. I would be totally screwed without that information.”

She nodded, but failed to force a decently serious expression on her muzzle to properly support her act. Only after we both grinned once more did she sigh and shake her head slightly. “It does not really matter how much water it was. It should not have been enough to flood an entire city layer. Especially if I consider the technical prowess and foresight the diamond dogs demonstrated so far. They will have some kind of drainage in place, I think.”

I shrugged. Maybe they had. I could not tell, at least not right now. No flashes offered further insight and the old ones did not tell me about that specific detail either. We took those last few steps to the edge and Twilight relit her horn to spend some more light. As usual, her horn glowed a lot brighter than mine. And much to both our surprises, we saw a wet floor at the bottom of the city pit. Sure, that deepest layer was wet. Dripping wet, with puddles just about everywhere. But those were flat and wide. It basically just looked like it had rained for a couple of minutes.

“I will admit, that is impressive,” I heard Twilight mumble beside me.

What truly surprised us was not the fact that they had some sort of drainage in place. As Twilight already said — these diamond dogs were a smart bunch. But the fact that we saw barely any signs of flooding at all, that was unexpected. Where had it gone so fast?

Twilight was puzzled. And as usual when that happened, she furrowed her brow, intently stared down into the pit and her gears screeched as they went into overdrive. While I was just as confused, I had a much easier time dismissing the mystery of the vanishing water as useless. I instead inspected the district we were in, given the fact that we had arrived in a less than controlled manner and so far had not had the chance to just take a look around.

It was important to keep an eye on our surroundings, of course. We had flushed the hunter down here. Or maybe even further down, who was to say. Either way, we were still better off sneaking around than becoming too comfortable and bold.

Few street lights still worked. Those who did made three facts crystal-clear. Firstly, we were in a rich, rich, rich district again. The buildings were placed with a decent amount of space between them. A few gnarled, dead trees were visible. Probably the kind that actually needed light and therefore had died a long, long time ago. A city built in the underground could not afford to waste space like that. It was hard to dig out enough room, it was a waste of time, effort, tools and workforce. Unless wasting space was the point. A demonstration of wealth in a different manner. Look at us, we can do this! It was about bragging rights.

The residential district had been built out of diorite. Harder to get as a building material because of the vast quantities required. But the houses had been packed. One right next to the other. Multiple stories. These structures down here reminded me of churches. I had read about those but could not remember who built them. Griffons, maybe? Large houses intended for the worship of gods. They were built this large so that visitors would feel small in comparison. Small and humble.

And these houses of gods were built from diorite as well. The spotted stone did have a nice interaction with light, which made the buildings sparkle a little. It gave them an almost otherworldly feel. I was sure that back in the heyday of this city, this place had been beautiful. What subtracted from that beauty right now was not only the ravages of time, the missing maintenance and general lack of life. It was the other two facts the light made visible.

The goo was basically everywhere. As a rough estimate, I suspected that about half the entire district was covered. ‘Half’ as in: Half of every surface. Every roof, outside and inside. Every street. Every street light. Every wall. The ceiling of the city layer included. Massive stretches of the district were just black, with a faint reflective sheen.

And whatever else was not covered by goo was covered by enormous spiderwebs. They were too numerous to belong to a single spider. We had encountered one. We had seen its impressive, terrifying size. And yet I could not in good conscience lie to myself and pretend that this would be even remotely possible for a single arachnid of that size. We were dealing with some kind of giant spider nest here. However, there was a glimmer of hope among the bad news. These webs looked tattered. Old and discarded. Maybe the goo and the spiders had fought for dominance over this place a long time ago. Maybe the goo had won. It could explain why it covered so much of this layer.

The other explanation was a lot more uncomfortable. It only grew where it found food. Either magic, or meat. And faith… faith drew in the desperate, did it not? How likely was it that in their panic and cut off from any escape routes out of the city, many of the diamond dogs fled into these houses of their gods? To pray for aid. And help. And salvation.

I shuddered and decided not to follow that chain of thought.

Spiders. The goo had eaten all the spiders. That was such a preferable scenario to believe. Of course that did not mean that I allowed myself to get sloppy. At least one spider was probably still alive and that hunter was still somewhere.

I scanned the rest of the district and tried not to get lost in the sad, sparkly beauty of these ruins. Goo, webs, goo, webs, the occasional street light. That was everything I noticed until I turned around and let my gaze wander over the parts that were technically ‘ahead of us’.

There was one of these churches that drew my attention. Several of the street lights surrounding the building still worked, for whatever reason. The goo infestation was manageable, as was the amount of spider webs. The roof and parts of the outer wall were actually completely clear as far as I could tell.

It posed a bit of an issue in my head. Either this place had done something very, very right to avoid getting into the same state as the rest of the district, ooor… it was a trap. It had done something quite wrong. “Twilight?”

“I think those concentric circles contain outlets, but they must contain some sort of turbine to drain that amount of water this quickly,” she offered her thoughts.

I chuckled and nodded. “Maybe. We’ll find out later, I suppose. We’re not that far off anymore. However, I wanted to direct your attention to that building over there.”

She followed my gesture and studied what I pointed at for a few moments. And eventually grimaced as well. “I see.”

I nodded. “Could be a trap,” I stated the obvious.

“But we do need a break and most of the other buildings seem to be out of the question. And taking a break out in the open might be even more dangerous,” she replied with the other obvious part.

“Right. So do we take the risk?”

She sighed. “It is close by and close to the staircase as well. It is… convenient. To be honest, I feel a little worn down again. We do not know what to expect further down and I really like the idea of getting some sleep, maybe? I would like to take that chance.”

I smiled and leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Exactly what I wanted to hear. Let’s check it out then and make sure that we don’t run into a trap.”

Our initial search outside offered little to worry about. The back half of the building was entirely goo-covered. And due to Twilight’s stronger light, we did notice a few strands of webbing connecting the district ceiling and the roof. But despite us walking in the open, we saw no trace of the hunter, we did not get attacked by spiders and even the golem did not show up again. I almost did not dare to even think about it, but the area was peaceful.

In addition to that, there were only two entrances. A regular-sized wooden door on the back of the building, halfway covered in goo. It was rotten, sure, but still remained intact. And an intact door meant that nopony had tried to flee through it, or break in through it. At least that was what I hoped for.

The other entrance faced towards the andesite road. It was illuminated by two street lights and had a little walkway leading up to a massive, grand double door. And these doors were still intact as well. It was a good sign, I told myself. Despite my stomach twisting itself into knots.

The main door was slightly ajar. The gap was large enough for us to slip inside one after the other. And once we were in, Twilight powered her horn even further to properly illuminate the entire massive room.

Rotten pieces of fabric remained on the floor. Patches of it that had yet to crumble to dust. They indicated some form of carpet leading across the entire length of the room, up to a few flat, wide stairs. On top of them was some kind of altar or lectern. The broken down remains of wooden benches lined in neat rows to either side of the carpet would serve as a good fuel if we decided to stay and get a fire going. We found no bones at all.

But the main attraction was the grandeur of the hall.

“Wooow,” Twilight mumbled quietly as her gaze drifted upwards.

I could understand the sentiment. Massive statues lined the walls of the building. They were probably around thirty feet tall, if not more. And while the walls consisted of diorite, these statues were cleaner. Nobler. Alabaster, if I had to guess. They depicted diamond dogs, of course. And the phenotypic diversity of their species was on full display. One on the right was so burly and massive that his arms blocked parts of the equally impressive stained glass windows. The roof seemed to rest on his shoulders while his head was tilted a little forward. The statue right next to this one was on the other side of the spectrum entirely. A sleek and lean body, short in height. She stretched her arms high up to the sky to support the roof with her paws. She actually reminded me of Silver. A lot.

Twelve diamond dogs were made immortal here. Six on each side. Master masonry on full display. And in between, high stained glass windows. They did not seem to recount any historic events like the ones in Canterlot Castle did. But goodness me, were they pretty. The arrangement of their parts caused a kaleidoscope-like effect.

The statues carried the roof and the roof in turn was painted like different parts of the world. Some statues carried the sky. Others carried the earth. And some carried heavy stone, probably representing the underground.

Their heroes carried their world.

Or something like that.

It all led to that back wall at the other end. Behind the altar-lectern-thingy, a single statue stood against that wall and faced the entrance and all the devout visitors while simultaneously backing up the priest or cleric or whatever they called them.

With all the craftsmanship on display, that last statue seemed strangely out of place. My initial assessment had been that this temple had not been entirely finished yet. But on closer inspection we could easily see that it was. It was done. It was supposed to look like that. Not a diamond dog at all, not a meticulously crafted depiction of their god or goddess or whatever they believed in, but instead a very rudimentary creature. Four limbs that could not decide if they wanted to end in hooves, claws or paws. A head that did not sport a muzzle, or a snout, or a face of any kind. No eyes, no nose, no lips. Not even ears. No mane or fur either. It was a strange thing to behold.

After we made our rounds in the main hall, we quickly searched the backrooms. A single door tucked away to the side of the main hall led into a couple more rooms, probably meant for preparation and study. We found the single, closed backdoor again and tried to ingrain the route into our memory. Just in case we needed to make a quick exit ourselves.

We then returned to the main hall. Right at the base of the main statue was as good a point as any. Twilight started to collect some of the wood pieces from the broken benches while I carefully closed the main door. I would have worried about the smoke of a fire, but this room had such a high ceiling that it seemed silly. And there was no fire hazard to worry about either with almost the entire structure built out of diorite.

We sat down side by side after she shot a few sparks into the wood. It was as dry as a veldt and we had a merrily crackling fire within a few seconds. We discarded our saddlebags off to the side. White Tip hopped off as well and sat down nearby them. I could tell that he was just as worn down as we were. He was silent, he barely made his presence known and he already had difficulties staying awake as the warmth seeped into his plumage. “It’s alright, buddy. Rest up. You did good.” I petted his little head and he finally closed his eyes.

I considered if maybe it had not been such a great idea to bring him along after all. He was a pet. He was not trained for any of this. And up until now, he had lived a very comfortable, stress-free life. Nopony meant him any harm, no creature was hunting him and his survival did not depend on how attentive he was. Maybe I was projecting onto him too much, but I could almost feel his opinion about adventuring sour now that he had his proper first one as well.

I eventually sighed and looked over to Twilight. She had watched the exchange as much as my rumination afterwards with a smile. “He will be alright,” she assured me. I had no idea where she took that certainty from, but I was grateful nonetheless.

“We have a couple of things to talk about,” I changed the topic after I nuzzled her cheek as a sign of my gratitude. “This latest… incident has taken a lot out of us. Both of us, it seems.” I looked at her. Waited. Gave her ample time to object. But she did not. “So with that in mind, I dare to ask again: Is it time to turn around and head home?”

I fully expected her to grimace. But again, she did not. Twilight instead furrowed her brow and started to sort through all the pros and cons we had accumulated. “The organism still interferes with my stronger spells, so teleportation is still out of the question.”

“Does it, though?” I asked.

She knitted her brows in confusion. “Do we have any reason to believe otherwise?”

I shuffled a little around and laid my head on her back. It was not exactly ideal to have a conversation, but it just felt better. I felt better. “No. Not really,” I mumbled. “But that’s just it. I can’t help but think about all the things we just assume at this point. The organism eats magic. Alright, fine. But that doesn’t mean it is the reason you can’t teleport. Like… your shield worked fine. Your light works fine. My light works fine. Your telekinesis was wobbly when we reached the chasm, but I could lift White Tip just fine. Why does it interfere with your magic, but not with mine?”

“It is true that it was merely our leading theory,” Twilight admitted. “We do not have solid evidence. And I fear we might not get that without proper research. Something I cannot do down here, without most of my equipment."

I shook my head and tilted forward to kiss her back. “I’m not complaining, peanut. I’m not accusing you of anything.”

“I know, I know,” she quickly cut in. “It is just that… we have to work based on something. My current expanded theory, if you want to call it that, is this: The organism feeds on magic and is capable of converting meat into magic through unknown processes that exclude the digestion of plant matter or non-living materials. It usually absorbs magic by establishing direct contact. Either by enveloping the creature or object in question entirely with its body mass, or by connecting as many of its tendrils to the creature or object as possible. The latter is less efficient already as it requires precision. And I suspect that the effect is similar to drinking from a glass directly with your muzzle or drinking from it through the medium of a straw. The latter limits you in how fast you can drink. Following that theory into admittedly more speculatory areas, I suspect that the organism is capable of accessing potential food sources remotely, even without physical contact. I also suspect that this process is arduous and might even require the expenditure of significant amounts of energy. It would therefore need to decide which potential prey to target. I have demonstrated my ability to cast high level magic, which usually requires a lot of energy. While all you did was cast light and levitate a small creature or small objects. Maybe it learned from observation of these demonstrations. Or maybe it can simply feel the difference between our magical reserves. When I used telekinesis to lift you, I had to expend more energy than when you used it to lift White Tip. I furthermore suspect that physical distance is still a factor in that it becomes easier for the organism to access and drain my magic the closer I am to it. We would get a further indicator for that being true if we were to encounter a stronger presence of the organism and see you struggle with your magic as well.”

I grimaced the moment she noted that possibility. “I’m not looking forward to that.”

“It does feel uncomfortable,” she admitted even quieter. It was enough to stir me from my daze. I lifted my head off her back to avoid any further risk of falling asleep on her and shuffled around again.

“Are you alright?” I asked as soon as I could see into her eyes again.

She sighed. “I am fine.” She was not. But her intonation was enough. It made perfectly clear that there was simply nothing we could do about it. Well, aside from leaving.

“But there is still the option that a machine of some sort is responsible for the effect, right? There could be an ongoing ritual at the bottom, or maybe some kind of magical creature. Another artifact. Heck, I still wonder about that collar the golem is wearing and what it does.”

Twilight did not discard my objections immediately. Or at all, really. And I was grateful that she listened, even if all I did was to destabilize what we believed to know. “Those could be true, yes. But given the circumstances and what we know so far, it seems unlikely. I will continue to work on our theory based on new information, but so far, I would say that this is our best bet.”

“You could fly out.” It was a stupid offer. I knew that from the start, even before I phrased that small sentence in my head. But it brought us back on track and more importantly, it reminded us of an option that was silently on the table and we all just decided to ignore it because it was uncomfortable.

“No,” she quickly shot the offer down, “I will not leave you here. Adding to that is the fact that I have not tried to fly in a while. We do not know if the organism can only access certain actively cast spells or if it can access all kinds of magic.”

“You’re afraid you might drop out of the air like a rock,” I noted with a wry smile.

She grimaced a little and nodded. “I am,” she admitted. Rainbow always had fun teasing Twilight about her flying. She was not exactly the most graceful of fliers, even though she had gotten considerably better at it and Rainbow was the one we usually first thought of when somepony mentioned somepony else having had a bad crash.

There was an interesting, albeit slightly scary thought to be had here though. “If it can access ‘all kinds of magic’, then there’s nothing stopping it from accessing cutie mark magic, is there? Or our passive magic? I mean, the teleportation stone we crafted accesses that. And we worked hard and for quite some time to ensure that it does not, under any circumstances, access a pony’s passive magic. Because that would potentially mean draining life force.”

Twilight grimaced as she became aware of what I tried to get at. We had been fatigued the entire time, had we not? The further down we went, the more we felt this exhaustion. And even Twilight’s usual earth pony endurance or alicorn resilience did not help her much. A bigger straw for a bigger glass, then?

“I cannot rule that possibility out,” she replied with a sigh.

If this goo was feeding off our magic, we were in trouble. I looked over to White Tip, who was still fast asleep. “I’m not sure if I subscribe to my own theory though,” I admitted. “If I were a predator and had the ability to feed on prey without it noticing for a while, or even without it being able to do anything about it, just by proximity. Why would I limit how fast I ate? Why not drain the smallest, weakest creature as fast as possible and then move on to the next weakest one? Either that thing would be a lot more intelligent than we currently give it credit for, or there are other factors limiting its ability to access passive magic.” White Tip was fine, I told myself. A little tired, sure. But was that really a surprise after the recent events? He had been hunted. He had almost drowned. He’s fine. “I could send him up again,” I offered. He would be safer up there. “I could write another letter to Spike, asking him to call in the cavalry. Luna would gladly smack that hunter around a bunch just to vent some of her recent frustrations. Maybe they’d call the girls and you would just rainbow-power the heck out of that golem or whatever evil lurks down here.”

Twilight smiled wryly as she leaned over and returned the previous favor by nuzzling my cheek. “It is alright to be scared.” I was not scared. And yet I released a slightly shuddering breath and leaned into her intimate gesture as much as I could. She withdrew eventually, no matter how much I wished for her to stay this close. “I still think we are the best equipped for this mission. You joke about Luna smashing that creature, but you know just as well as I do that she would most likely seek out a peaceful solution first. And she has the means to enforce one as well. But just like Princess Celestia, Luna is busy. And so are the girls. We are tired and we have been pummeled by a few misfortunes, but there is still little reason to believe that we are not perfectly capable of finishing this mission. As for the Elements of Harmony, I do not believe they work on mindless constructs.”

Which perfectly led to our latest discovery. “And it might not actually be an enemy to begin with.”

Twilight sighed. “Yes, its behavior has been puzzling. In many encounters it seemed like it was hostile and aggressive. But maybe we simply misinterpreted diamond dog body language. It seemed like it was about to attack or strike, but we never gave it a chance.”

I grimaced and shook my head. “Nope, and that’s not going to happen either. If something, anything, comes straight up charging at me with claws the size of daggers and an open mouth full of sharp teeth, you can bet your lovely rump that I will treat it as an enemy! If it doesn’t want to appear as one, maybe it shouldn’t be charging!” I huffed and closed my eyes for a moment to calm myself down again. There was no reason to get so defensive about it. Twilight did not fault me for how I had acted so far. The only one accusing me of rash actions was I. I sighed deeply and shook my head slightly. “It did save us from that fall. But just because it is not our enemy does not necessarily mean it is our ally.”

“I had a little bit of time to think about this since it pulled us out of the water,” Twilight started and her brow furrowed once more. “When I asked Applejack about what had happened down here, some details just did not quite add up. I suspected that she might remember them wrong. Which would have been perfectly fine. It was a stressful situation. But now I am not so sure anymore. He did save us three times already.”

I blinked and stared at her in surprise. “Wait. Wait, wait, wait. What? Three times? No. What. How?”

“The first time when we were… uhm… busy in the laboratory,” Twilight started to explain. Her wings rustled a little. “He smashed through the wall, remember? I must admit, my own memories of that time are a little bit foggy. But I am certain that there was nothing we could have done to get out of there. We were not in control of ourselves. Only once he startled us did we snap out and managed to flee out of the contaminated area.”

“Yeah, maybe, but he was hunting us!” I objected.

“Was he, though?” Twilight immediately shot back. “We think so. We assume as much. But he did not follow us after our escape, did he? You were the one questioning my theory about the interference with my magic. I question why you insist on him being an enemy. Is there anything in your flashes that suggests that?”

“I don’t know!” I burst out and cringed as the massive hall threw a tiny echo back. “Sorry, sorry. I don’t… yeah, I don’t know. There’s nothing in my flashes, no. I just…” I was at a loss for words. I could not answer her question, not even for myself. So I shrugged helplessly. And I was relieved that she did not dwell on it.

“The second time was when we left the treasury. You said it yourself. He lunged. You assumed he lunged at you, but you noted his timing was off. And you observed how he tilted his head and engaged the hunter.”

“Well…” Well. Well indeed. She was right. “He did stave the attack off until we managed to flee,” I relented.

“And here is the missing piece,” Twilight continued. “In Applejack's retelling, it sounded very much like it tried to keep her down. Down in the cave. It sounded like it tried to intimidate her into going further in. Even when she told me about your altercation with the golem, she mentioned how it navigated the room until you were with your back to the railing. And only then did it charge you.”

“To throw me into the pit so that I might break all my bones. Lovely,” I shot back, but all Twilight had to do was to slightly raise an eyebrow. I grumbled a little, but sighed. “Fine. If it wanted to, it could probably somehow save me from my doom.” I remembered that bit. It charged me full force and barreled straight into me. Had I not offered all I had as resistance to its assault, it would have flung me way beyond the edge. And even with me pushing against it with all I got, it would still have thrown me at least one or two layers down.

“That begs the question then: What does it want?” Twilight concluded. “It is willing to take up a fight on behalf of our survival. A fight in which it could sustain considerable damage itself while being almost completely unable to defeat its opponent. I suspect that it is aware of our location most of the time. Which leads me to believe that it grants us time for recuperation, breaks and sleep. But at the same time, it is unwilling to let us leave.”

“I don’t know,” I replied for what felt like the thousandth time. A headache quickly grew in my temples. “It wants us down. Alive,” I offered the obvious conclusions of our conversation.

But Twilight was not after the obvious stuff. “Why?” she asked.

“Maybe he recognized my diamond dog? I did speak a single word of it, I think. I made it stop,” I half-whimpered and withdrew a little. My head felt like it would split open any second now. “Maybe it wanted to deliver the last inhabitant to a safe place?”

“I do not believe it stopped because of your command,” Twilight remarked. “I think it stopped because you used that command word and that surprised it. And what safe place would that be?”

“I don’t… know… Twilight, please, I…”

“Silver, get back,” I hissed. Red grabbed her and pulled her even further back. I readied my sword and levitated the container that had fallen on me as an improvised shield in front of me. I looked over my shoulder and exchanged a grim nod with Red. Whatever was on the other side… it would only get to Silver over our dead bodies.

I turned my attention towards the door. Deathly silence had befallen the room out there. Then a creak. A groan. The metal wheel controlling the internal mechanism of the vault door was turned. I didn't even try to stop it. I had seen what that thing could do. I would break my legs trying to stop it from getting in.

The mechanism snapped open. The thick metal bolts unlocked. The door slowly opened.

A tiny gap grew. Light fell in. My sword wobbled a little in my levitation. I was scared beyond belief and ready to die at the same time.

Then the door swung open further, quicker. Three stone golems stood there.

Their eyes glowed red from the finely cut rubies in their sockets. Their chests contained a swirling diamond of impressive size. I sobbed uncontrollably as the three golems stood aside and made a little alley for us.

We were saved.

I walked out on wobbly legs. Every step felt stilted. And I hugged the first golem I reached. “Thank the goddesses,” I mumbled as I pressed my cheek against the cold, uncaring, floating stone. “Red needs help. He can barely stand. His shoulder was pierced by something and he lost a lot of blood. Can you get us to an exit?”

One of the golems turned towards Red as he stumbled out of the vault. He was pale. Sickeningly pale. The golem focused his magic and pressed a claw to Red’s shoulder. He hissed in pain and fell to his knees. I saw the magic transfer. I felt it flow freely. All the gemstones were drained. They cracked and splintered and crumbled away. And in time, the golem broke apart. The floating pieces of rock fell to the ground.

But Red’s shoulder was cared for. His wound was closed. He was not quite as pale as he had been before.

All that remained was the tingling I felt from the magic. One golem down, but Red would make it.

Suddenly something crashed through the wall of the treasury.

A cloud of dust obscured the enemy for precious few seconds.

Then a barrage of tendrils shot out of the dust cloud like spears. A dozen of them, maybe two. They pierced one of the golems and pulled it into the dust cloud before it could react. As the dust settled, we saw what awaited us. Three hunters. One of them was busy draining the golem and fighting a second one over its prey. The third one though…

“Run!” I yelled.

Red and Silver were quicker than I was. I looked over my shoulder. Saw the tar-like ball of goo roll towards me. Saw how it wobbled as it formed several spear-like tendrils. I saw them shoot towards me.

Then my sight was obscured.

I saw stone being pierced by the black, shimmering spears.

I saw another defender fall to the enemy.

I returned with a gasp.

“Fffudge,” I hissed and shook my head to get rid of the images. A waterskin was offered to me. I gladly took it and gulped down half of its remaining content. My temples hurt. My entire head hurt. It took a while until I felt fully like myself again. A few seconds, half a minute, two minutes — I could not tell.

“Anything?” Twilight asked in that innocent, hopeful tone that made me feel bad for ever suspecting that she might have triggered that flash intentionally. She sounded way too guilty for that.

I groaned quietly and rubbed my temples. It lessened the feeling of needles being pierced through them. “Nothing useful,” I announced before I recounted the short bit I could add to the story that unfolded previously.

“So there was more than one. And they were defenders of the city,” Twilight remarked as she finished her notes.

“Yes, but as I said: Nothing useful,” I insisted. “The latter we already suspected by now and the former doesn’t matter. If there were more golems once, they’re all gone by now. I have no idea why this one survived, maybe out of sheer luck, maybe the goo started to starve and lost its capability to hunt him down. I don’t know. But I highly doubt there are any other golems around anymore. We’ve been through most of the city by now and haven’t seen any signs of another one. And each layer only gets smaller and smaller.”

“Well it is still fascinating to learn more about—“ She cut herself off as I shot her a disgruntled glare. I felt bad to make her shut up like that. I usually really appreciated it when she had fun, but right now, I just could not deal with any of this. “I am sorry,” she apologized, “I did not mean to appear so callous. How are you feeling?”

I sighed deeply. “I’ve been better,” I admitted. “To finish up with this dreadful topic… I don’t see us going back up anytime soon. We started this, we’re going to finish it. We’re not quitting this close to the finish line. Did I get that right?”

Twilight hesitated. She was probably not exactly thrilled about my phrasing, but hey. “Yes,” she ultimately answered. And I suspected she kept it short and straight for my sake. For which I was quite grateful.

“Alright. In that case, I’d like to just… pretend to have a nice evening with my special somepony now. We have a campfire in a dusty old ruin. We’ve been exploring all day long. I feel like it’s time for some quality snuggling and maybe a little small talk.”

An amused smile spread on Twilight’s lips as she leaned over and we shared a brief kiss. “I think I like the sound of that.” She extended her wing and draped it over my back. And I immediately felt a hundred times better.

I sighed contentedly. “This is heaven.”

Twilight giggled quietly in reply. “Is it now?” We remained silent for a few moments as each of us searched for a decently harmless topic. “Whisper’s birth is due in less than two months.”

I grinned. It was fun to speculate how she had arrived at that statement. Maybe she thought about how much she missed our friends. Which could have led to all the reasons why they could not be here right now, which led to Pinkie being the only one ‘available’ were not for whatever mild complication had doomed Fluttershy to a hospital visit. Or maybe she thought about her schedule and what larger events were coming up in the next few days and weeks. Or she was just worried about those ‘mild complications’.

Usually I was the one panicking over the tiniest things. And I was not a fan of her encroaching on my territory. “Are you worried?”

She took her time to answer that question. Simple as it was, the answer or at least the way leading up to her answer apparently was not. “I guess so, yes.” There was obviously more to this, so I waited. Twilight chewed her bottom lip a little until she finally sighed. “It is exciting to think about little Whisper running around soon. And I cannot imagine how happy Fluttershy and Pinkie will be. How happy we will all be. But at the same time, it marks another moment of change in our lives. All our lives. And change can be scary. When I was Princess Celestia’s pupil, I wanted nothing more than to make her proud by being the best student ever. By finishing with a degree so ridiculously good that… I honestly do not even know what exactly I hoped would happen. But when she sent me to Ponyville… I don’t know. I have become one of her best students. I have graduated with all honors. But those were such massive shifts in my life. Coming to Ponyville was the best that ever happened to me, no questions asked. But it was scary all the same. And not being Princess Celestia’s student anymore was scary too, in a different way. And now this. Two of my very best friends will have a lot less time soon. Because they have their own little family now. I cannot imagine the map will call them for missions either. They are needed at home. Their daughter needs her moms present. They cannot just abandon her for a few days or even weeks to solve somepony else’s problems. They have… responsibility. A daughter.”

It was weird to hear Twilight ramble a little. Endearing in its own way, like most of her quirks. But still weird. And I could not shake the feeling that there was a different reason lying right beneath the surface. “Do you feel old, by any chance?”

She rolled her eyes as I smirked at her. “Not quite yet,” she answered and gave me a peck on my nose. I wrinkled it in reply as her warm lips tickled a little. “But with the date relentlessly coming closer, I cannot help but wonder. Rarity has been engaged for years. Applejack will try to tie the knot with Rainbow sooner rather than later, I feel. And in due time, they might all start to found families of their own. They will follow in Fluttershy’s wake and… I don’t know… I fear I might feel left behind?”

“That’s… not how it works. You know that… right?” I bumped her shoulder a little as she averted her eyes. There was no reason to feel guilty or silly or whatever nonsense currently spooked around in her head. Even though I could admittedly understand her predicament. We were more than six and a half years in. It felt snug. Comfy. Everything was nice and warm and stable. Reliable. We had a decent, steady income. We had responsibilities and weekly hobbies and schedules. We were grown adults. It was the prime time to do something like this. Found our own family. Get pregnant, have a foal. All the resources were there. Available. Waiting. And some of our friends took that leap before we did. Which not only forced the question upon us if we wanted to take that step. But it also marked… well, not exactly the death of our youth. But certainly the beginning of a new chapter. Potentially.

It was difficult to let go. Difficult to accept change. Especially if one was quite content with how things were.

“I know,” Twilight replied quietly in barely a mumble.

I leaned back a little to watch her. To really look at her. It was easy to see that fondness in her eyes and get lost in them. Easy to see her lips and desire to kiss them. But there was so much more than just that. She did not give up. On anything or anypony, ever. She would have my back. And I would have hers. Even if I considered the complexity of our chosen relationship constellation, I still felt like I could entirely depend on one thing: We would pull through. Always. Somehow. We would make it work.

“You know,” I started as a grin spread across my muzzle. I leaned in and was delighted as I heard her stifled giggle as my breath tickled her ear. “I wouldn’t mind having a family with you.”

I slowly pulled back, brushed my cheek along hers and stopped briefly to kiss her. Her eyes remained half-lidded for a moment longer before she sighed. “Considering how much I have to do these days, that is probably not a good idea,” she replied. But I saw her grin. And more importantly, I heard that almost regretful undertone. She feared she would get left behind. Or that she might miss out on something. Maybe that feeling was already present. Maybe it had been for the past months, festering in the recesses of her mind ever since Pinkie’s party to announce Fluttershy’s pregnancy.

I knew my peanut. She had decided on this and she would stubbornly insist on it for the moment. But the more I thought about it, the more I fell in love with the idea. We had had a family of our own in many cycles. And I loved her to bits. I would not mind having another one. She always was an amazing mom.

There were obviously some minor hurdles to take, mostly due to the aforementioned relationship constellation. I could honestly not even fathom how Sunny would react to such a proposition. Would she be envious if Twilight got pregnant before her? Would she be outright against it? If so, what then?

I smirked and pushed those thoughts to the back for now. Something to mull over later, when I had a proper bath, a proper meal and a couple nights of proper sleep.

“You’ll come around, you’ll see,” I ominously promised and threatened Twilight as I once more leaned in and kissed her. When I pulled away again, I grinned and slowly stood up. “Now. As far as I can remember, I — loudmouth that I am — promised you something.”

“You do not have to—“

“Ah, ah, ah!” I quickly cut in. “I want to,” I insisted with a grin. Only after she acknowledged that was I satisfied and continued. “Now that being said, I’m lacking my usual supplies. We’ll have to make due with the basics.”

She smiled and apparently saw the opportunity for a compliment. “I remember your so-called basics being very impressive and pleasant.”

I could not help but grin proudly in return. “Why thank you, mon amour!” Rarity would be proud.

And I got to work. It was no surprise to quickly realize that just about every inch of her body was tensed up. I really had my work cut out for me. But hey, it was rewarding work as well. The first round was usually the uncomfortable one where everything still hurt a little, but as soon as we took that hurdle, I was met with soft sighs and hums of appreciation. Her back muscles offered the most resistance to being loosened up. Even her legs relaxed quicker. And I grinned knowingly when I massaged her hooves and the softest moan escaped her throat. They had been begging for any kind of attention of this magnitude for a while, it seemed. And as a decent finisher, I slowly and carefully extended her wings and took care of them as well. She had barely used them ever since our descent into this Celestia-forsaken pit of a city. There had been no reason to fly. That being said: Dust, grime, sweat, water and stale air had done their part to give me something to do. And I was delighted by that little shudder I saw running up her body.

When I was done with her right wing, I cautiously folded it against her now relaxed back again and moved over to her left wing to repeat the process. “Still feeling good?” I asked, just to see in what state of mind she was.

The vaguely mumbled “Mmm” I got as a reply told me everything I needed to know. She was almost done — in more ways than one. I finished my work and refolded her left wing as well only to find her fast asleep. Sleeping on marble tiles would still be considered sleeping on a stone floor, which in turn still meant that most of my work would be undone by the end of our rest. As far as I was concerned, that was okay. She had very much enjoyed the attention and maybe she could go into tomorrow with a little bit more energy.

Tomorrow.

I had honestly no idea how long we had been down here. Three days? Four? Five? It felt like weeks, honestly. Was I still on track to get Twilight out of here for her originally planned date with Luna? Did I still have a chance to make that happen?

I pondered that as I laid down beside her, snuggled against her side and grinned as her wing extended all on its own to wrap around me like a blanket and at the same time pull me in almost possessively. It was almost like an ingrained reflex of hers after all these years and I loved it. I sighed happily. The fire crackled. The light flickered across the massive diamond dog statues. They would keep watch over us, right?

Give me a few hours, I begged whatever higher force was willing to listen. A few hours and we can move on and hopefully finish this misery. It ain’t that much left, right? Just a few hours of sleep. I was not even asking for a proper bed at this point.

Reflex.

I woke up the very second White Tip started to make a ruckus.

I grabbed my sword and wielded it long before my mind even realized what was happening. I almost literally sprang to my hooves, the veil of sleep ripped off violently and thrust the blade forward. The massive spider made no sound. Had I expected a hiss? I felt like I might have expected it to hiss.

But I only heard its pointy legs clacker on the marble floor tiles.

I thrust the blade in its direction again. It recoiled, retreated a little. Then it went on the offense. Its massive mandibles looked intimidating, but it had to get close to make use of them.

I swiped at its legs. The blade effortlessly cut through the first and a second one made a nasty crunching sound. The spider aborted its attack and recoiled once more. Blue blood on the once white, now dusty gray floor. A trickle of it escaped the severed stump.

It was a predator. I was prey. Very dangerous prey, as I had proven right now. Was I really worth the effort? Worth the injury? Just to help its thought process along, I swiped at its legs again. It retreated quickly, skittered to the side, out of reach, but I let my blade float after it.

I lit my horn. Poured more and more energy into it to make the light brighter and brighter. These creatures were used to the dark. Maybe light scared it. And I charged. I charged the spider with my lit horn while my floating blade hacked at its legs and White Tip made a ruckus behind me. It finally got the message and fled. And I noticed where it fled to.

Above one of the statues must have been a hole in the ceiling. I could not see it. The spider quickly retreated up a wall, crawled into a thin slit above the statue’s head and I saw its legs vanish into the ceiling.

I heard my blood rush in my ears. Heard my heart thump away with the power of adrenaline. For several seconds, I did nothing but stare at the spot where it had vanished. My blade floated right under the ceiling. Ready to stab it should it get any funny ideas about returning immediately.

But after half a minute, I accepted that it might actually be gone for good. For now.

And then came the sudden realization that despite White Tip crowing the entire time, Twilight had not involved herself in the fight at all. I turned on my heel and hurried back to the campfire. A bunch of embers and little more remained. A couple of hours of sleep? We sure had gotten those, it seemed.

Twilight did not move.

White Tip sat right on top of her. He made me aware that her chest was still rising and falling. At least something. I nevertheless brought my muzzle down, put my ear to her nose. Her breathing was ragged. Harsh and erratic. I looked her over with as much light as my horn could produce. And I noticed it.

Her left rear leg. It almost looked like she had been stabbed. Which, considering the size of these mandibles, might hold true. More important was the poison running through her veins right now. Bigger creatures have less dangerous poison, right? It was a desperate plea with myself. A useless one to boot.

I shook her. “Twilight! Twilight!”

No reaction. She groaned faintly, but she did not wake up. She did not even open her eyes.

But I could feel it. Feel the heat radiating from her leg. How it crawled up her body. She was burning up. And a faint shaking started soon after.

“No, no, no, no, no! Come on, don’t do this to me!” I shook her again. Alicorns were almost immune to any and all poisons, were they not? What was going on? Why was she affected at all? What kind of spider was that? Or did that goo really—

Does it matter?, a harsh voice asked me. She might be dying. You can’t do shit about that. So move your sorry ass and get someone who might!

Someone who—? It clicked. Defender of the city and all. They had healed Red, right? There was a good chance they were capable of healing in this cycle as well. I jumped to my hooves again and ran towards the door. “White Tip, keep her safe!” I ordered him.

He was just a bird. A smart crow, sure. But just a tiny bird. What was he supposed to do?

I grabbed the door as soon as I came close enough and ripped it open without any hesitation. My sword floated alongside, just in case any more spiders would show up. But the outside remained as we had found it. Silent and decently lit and empty.

I begged whoever was willing to listen, whatever higher power was out there, that Twilight was right about her theory as I drew breath deep into my lungs until they burned. And I yelled. I needed to be heard. I had no idea where he was. How far away he hid. “I know you’re out there! I need your help! Please!” I felt like the city cave should throw an echo, but it did not.

I stood still for several seconds. I counted them. Ten. Elven. Twelve. I reached twenty-two when I tried again, but my voice broke down as my vision became blurry. “Please.” I hated that tremor I heard.

Thirty-six. A soft, reddish glow emanated from somewhere off to the side.

In a silent prayer, I raised my head. And my breath caught in my throat. I saw legs. Disgusting, spindly, thin and pointy spider legs. Up on the ceiling. They were being pulled in by the goo. I saw how one of the legs was cut off at the halfway point. Serves you right you damn piece of—

I cut myself off.

And looked down again. In the direction of the glow.

The golem appeared and it came towards me. It did not run, per se. It certainly did not charge. It walked at a brisk pace. And I hated it for that. This was an emergency. Every Celestia-damned second counted.

And it walked.

It stopped less than five feet away from me. It easily, effortlessly towered over me. “You want us to go down there?” I asked and pointed towards the pit. I had no idea if it understood my language or not. I did not particularly care at this point. “Then help her! Or I swear by sun and moon, I will do anything and everything within my power to get her out of here!”

And I will seal this place forever. I will make the very earth above your head break and crumble. I will make this cave come crashing down and I will bury everything under tons and tons of rubble.

The golem rose up further. It squared its floaty rock-shoulders. It could not produce sound, as far as I knew. But it tried to intimidate me. It was successful, obviously. But I denied it what it truly wanted. I was scared, sure. Scared because of that golem. Because of those claws it lifted. Because of the attack it implied as it swooped them down.

This is it, I thought. This could very well have been the end.

But it was not.

The claws stopped a few inches away from my neck. My knees wobbled. I had not even noticed the blade falling to the ground with a soft thud as it landed in one of the dirt patches that once upon a time probably sported a lovely array of flowers or some other greenery.

“Help her. Please,” I stared at it. Begged that thing that I somehow still considered an enemy.

Seconds passed by. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine.

The golem moved.

It walked, then ran. It ran past me. Into the temple. Church. Whatever. It ran down the aisle and past the lectern. I followed it as fast as I could, but it was so much faster than me. It grabbed Twilight with its stony claws. White Tip complained loudly and flew over to settle on my back again. “Careful!” I yelled as I saw how it placed her onto its back like she was some kind of sack of flour.

It ignored my complaint completely, turned around and made for the exit. I grabbed our saddlebags. They were heavy. Or maybe my telekinesis was affected now. I did not care. I dragged them across the floor as fast as I could, went outside after the golem and picked up my sword as well.

The golem led us to a small building. One story, no frills. Certainly no balconies or pompous pillars, no flower gardens or trimmed hedges and trees. A healer’s hut, maybe. Hopefully.

The golem was too large to enter. It merely pointed inside.

I discarded our saddlebags next to the entrance and only threw the sword inside. White Tip knew what to do and swooped into the building, looking for traps and unwelcome inhabitants while I grabbed Twilight in my levitation and pulled her down onto my own back. I walked in and looked back over my shoulder. The golem peeked in as best as it could and pointed with its stony claw to the broken remains of a cupboard.

White Tip returned. No ruckus this time, so no enemies present. Good. Be grateful for small mercies.

I rummaged through the rubble. Broken bits of glass pierced my hooves. I hissed, but tried to ignore it as I shoveled more and more of the debris to the side.

I found a strange device right at the bottom of the pile. Some kind of syringe. I turned around towards the golem. “That?” I asked.

A nod.

That Celestia-damned thing understood my language perfectly.

I ignored any and all potential revelations. The syringe was empty. Please don’t, I begged. I rummaged around in the wooden remains. Vials. Broken vials. Lots of broken vials. Would any liquid even remain after all this time? Would it not spoil?

I got my answer. To the left side of the pile was an intact vial. Intact. Filled with a toxic-looking green liquid. But I knew how Zecora’s brews and concoctions smelled and tasted and looked. Don’t judge a book by its foul and disgusting cover. I turned around again. “That?”

Another nod.

You sneaky bastard.

I shoved the thought away. It was difficult to fill the syringe. Difficult not because I had issues understanding how it worked. Difficult because Twilight was pale. Because her whole body shivered. Because occasional spasms shook her. Because a small area around her bite wound looked almost black in what little light my horn could produce. Just an optical illusion, I told myself. A trick of the light.

Because I needed to properly concentrate to lift several objects and move them in different directions from each other.

It took me three attempts to finally put the stupid needle into the stupid vial. I drew the liquid into the syringe and as soon as the vial was empty, I walked over to Twilight.

A heavy thud from outside made me jump. I looked over. The golem had smashed its claw onto the ground. Why? Was there a spider? It stared at me. No, it stared at the syringe.

I looked closer at the device.

It looked fine to me.

Then I remembered what Nurse Redheart did every time I came by for a shot. She wasted a little bit of the vaccine. Just squirted a few droplets out.

If you inject her with any air in that thing, you will kill her yourself.

I almost lost my grip on the syringe out of sheer panic. I eyed it critically. There was an air bubble in there. Tiny. Miniscule. Completely harmless, right? Just air.

I pushed a little. Until some of the liquid came out.

I looked back to the golem.

A nod.

“Here goes nothing.” How long had this stuff been lying around here? Would it still work?

I injected Twilight. I had no idea where to place the needle. Did it matter? Was it better to stab her near the wound? I went for that. I knew I had to search for a vein or artery. But I barely knew how to properly locate those. We had a few courses for first aid in training. I knew a bunch of stuff about first aid. I had learned so much about it for our foals. But my mind was panicky and I felt like I barely held onto my remaining shreds of composure. I drew blank after blank. “Please work, please work, please work, please work, please work, please work,” I mumbled as a prayer.

I did no longer count seconds. I counted repetitions.

I looked over my shoulder, back to the golem. He was gone. Of course he was.

I briefly considered dragging our saddlebags in. But I had my sword nearby and White Tip sat in front of Twilight. Everything that was strictly necessary was here. Screw the rest, at least right now.

I turned back and watched Twilight. Watched her shaking. Watched her pale face. Watched her cold sweat.

It felt like hours.

But it did get better.

The shaking receded. A little bit of color returned to her. She stopped sweating so profusely. It was enough that I managed to tear myself away from her side. I finally retrieved our saddlebags, if only to rummage through them and get the two waterskins ready. One was almost empty, the other one was three quarters full. I used what remained in the former to wash her face, her brow, her neck. And I used the first aid kit to properly disinfect and bandage Twilight’s leg while she was still out cold.

I worked feverishly. I checked her pulse and breathing every minute or so. Felt her brow and neck for excess heat. And once her leg was taken care of, I returned to my favorite new pastime.

Waiting.

“Did somepony see who pulled that cart?” Twilight’s hoarse voice asked barely above a whisper. “I bet it was Applejack.”

I gasped and had to fight the urge to fling myself at her. Which would probably have done a lot more damage than good. I instead carefully and slowly crawled up to her and nestled closely against her. I felt like my voice would break any second. “Don’t ever do that again,” I demanded.

Twilight sighed. “Duly noted.” She pulled me even closer and kissed my forehead. I replied with a shuddering breath and little else. I could almost feel that barrier between me and everything else. Maybe I was still in shock? How rude would the awakening be? “May I ask what actually happened?” she whispered.

And I immediately shook my head. Violently. Because I was so incredibly scared of popping that bubble of numbness I existed in right now. I was eternally grateful that she did not push it either. She just accepted my answer and for another minute or so, we just lay there.

She was back. She talked. She was fine.

She was fine.

She’s fine.

I sighed and tried to ignore the spilled tears. “We should move. This house is an easy target. Too many entrances, bad defensive position. C-Can you walk?” A single stutter aside, I was almost proud of myself. I kept my cool, I remained decently calm and I tried to keep a level head.

“I… I am not sure,” Twilight admitted. “Everything feels either numb or hot.”

I nodded. “We should try anyway. I can help you.” I was not entirely convinced that I actually could, but I would certainly try. And true to my word, I pulled away from her, no matter how much my heart cried out, and I got up. We used the next few minutes to get her back up on her hooves as well. We took a ‘slow and steady’-approach, which seemed to work out best. And I did not even bother asking her if she was able to carry her saddlebags. I just took them all.

They still felt like they were filled with bricks.

I offered her the remaining waterskin and she gladly emptied it in one go. Although there was not much of the city left to explore, we still had a few layers ahead of us. We would need to find another water source. Or would White Tip maybe be able to refill a waterskin? He should be able to use his claws to open the tab at the sink. If he could clog the drain then maybe he could fill up the waterskin and if he only carried one, he should be able to bring them back full. A decent idea for later consideration.

I fully intended to tell Twilight about the events. About my less-than-epic fight against the spider. How I stood my ground against the golem. How that Celestia-damned thing apparently understood every word we said and might have listened to our conversations for who knew how long.

I fully intended to have a proper freakout as well at some point soon.

But both things would need to wait for now. It felt almost funny to state as much, but we once again required another hideout for yet another break. It was almost funny. Almost.

Invincible

We moved as fast as I dared to ask Twilight. Which still only amounted to a snail’s pace. Stepping down those stairs to the next district felt like helping Granny Smith down the stairs in her homestead. One step at a time.

We were halfway down when Twilight vomited. There was little warning. “I think I—“ was all she managed to utter before a torrent of bile followed. And why would it have been anything else? We had not eaten properly in too long. It reminded me of the few scraps of provision we had packed in the third district. Or was it the fourth one? Through all these troubles and mishaps, we simply forgot about them. Forgot to eat.

“I am sorry,” she groaned and clung to my side.

“It’s alright, don’t worry,” I tried to ease her concerns. Whichever nature they might be.

I led her around the few steps she had soiled and we continued. We reached the bottom of the stairs when her legs almost gave out. This time I was prepared. I felt a slight tremor run up her rear legs, felt it because I supported her, kept her tightly pressed against myself. I stopped and gripped her even harder. She seemed confused for a second until it happened. Her legs shook, her knees buckled. She managed to keep herself up, but only barely.

“White Tip, we need a hideout,” I begged my feathery friend. He knew by now what exactly we were searching for. Small building, few rooms. It would reduce the number of potential dangers and unwelcome surprises. Few windows, preferably with a door or small entryway. Empty. Maybe containing a few pieces of furniture or the like, to bar said entryways.

His claws dug into my back briefly. Only to inform me that he had understood, before he stretched his wings and quietly flew off. “Can you make it a little longer?” I asked Twilight.

She was burning up again. She desperately needed rest. Maybe I should have let her rest in that healer’s house. But it was a bad defensive position, I told myself. And the hunter was still around. The spider might not have been the only one. There was too much risk in staying there.

It might just be the aftermath of the poison, I hoped. A late reaction to the vile substance being defeated and leaving her system.

Or, you know, it could be the ancient antidote. Maybe a side effect of it spoiling literally ages ago.

I felt cold sweat break out. Both Twilight and me. I had injected her with this stuff. I had held that syringe. I violently shook my head to dislodge the unwelcome voice. If you don’t intend to help, just shut up!

I grimaced. Berating myself was nothing new. But a few months ago, I had a couple of less than comfortable conversations with Luna about something that might or might not cling to my back like a Celestia-forsaken leech. She had given me instructions to be careful. To try to differentiate between voices in my head. But they all sounded like me, always did. I was just talking to myself, was I not? How could I tell otherwise?

Twilight took almost two minutes to hear my question, understand its meaning and phrase a reply. “I think so,” she whispered weakly.

I took a deep breath, nodded once and steeled my determination. We moved forward again. Into the district. My horn was lit anyway, due to all the saddlebags I still had to drag along, but I increased the light a little more to allow me to see further. I wished Twilight would use her light spell. It was bright and its raspberry hue was familiar and soothing. My light was barely enough to make out the silhouettes of nearby buildings. It was still enough to get a general impression of what we were dealing with.

We had found a lot of things that a city needed so far. Houses to live in, air to breathe, food to eat, vaults for commerce, water to drink, gods and heroes to pray to. Now we entered the area designated for trade. To spend all those hard-earned coins on bric-a-brac and less useless stuff. We entered an area of shops and workshops alike. Artisans followed their craft in little studios. Mechanics welded sheets of metal and pieces of pipes together to build contraptions. Smiths forged said sheets of metal. Artificers used the perfectly cut gemstones jewelers provided to create magically powered items. The guild of craftsmen was at home down here. Everything that was not food was traded. Bought, sold, exchanged.

Of course none of that remained. All that was left were smashed windows and sometimes more, sometimes less intricately designed buildings. There was a wide variety of build styles present. Some were little more than pragmatic concrete boxes, others sported marble pillars carrying triangular arches leading into fancy, half-overgrown roofs. This was a place of artistic expression, of demonstration of the self. More than any other district.

I managed to distract myself decently from my own impatience. We limped along the andesite road, past buildings of various styles. And it became almost easy to not only drag the considerable weight of our saddlebags along, but Twilight as well. She held onto me with her wing and I felt it tremble every so often. She missed a step every now and then. I managed to counteract that. I managed to keep her up and steady and moving. But in the back of my head, I knew: Time was running out. She would collapse on the street soon and this time I would not get her back up again. Not for a while.

The district was considerably less infected with the goo. I saw patches of it here and there, but that was no comparison to the district we had just left. That being said, I saw a lot more webs. A lot. Most of them clung to the ceiling, to roofs and other hard to reach places. But the occasional web connected the side walls of houses and spanned across byroads, making them into dead ends for all those who did not wish to engage with their stickiness.

Of course it had to be spiders, I grumbled internally. They were such an overused enemy type in Ogres and Oubliettes. Probably to mimic real life. Don’t know what to challenge your low level-party with? Throw some oversized vermin at them! It was the lazy game master’s way out.

I had not expected to actually encounter real, oversized spiders. Ever. Maybe the creators of that game knew a thing or two I did not. I wondered if Daring Do had ever fought these things. I could not remember reading about such beasts in A. K. Yearlings novels.

“I don’t… I don’t feel so good,” Twilight wheezed. I stopped and pulled my head out of my distraction immediately. She was hot. Her body trembled. It had gotten worse. No surprise there. But her eyes were glazed. She clearly had difficulties focusing on any particular point. She gagged, but nothing came out. “I feel dizzy…”

I looked around. Where was White Tip?

And right at that moment, as if he had heard my thoughts, I heard him caw. I was relieved for about half a second until I realized that he did not stop cawing. He screeched on and on and made quite a noisy ruckus. My first instinct was to panic, sadly enough. What if a spider had found him? Caught him?

But I managed to redirect that nervous energy. I had yet to see his lovely white-tipped feathers, but I could hear him coming closer. Fast. And the way he cawed was the same way he usually alerted me to danger. It was not so much that he was in pain, he simply tried to warn me.

Oh.

I shot a simple magic blast ahead, at an upwards angle. The projectile did not even carry enough energy to tickle something as small as White Tip. But what it did just fine was illuminate the surrounding area it traveled through.

It hit the district ceiling.

And the entire ceiling seemed to move.

I got goosebumps as I failed to count the amount of spider legs that scuttled over each other. And I saw them coming along the street as well. Now that their sneaky approach had been busted, they rushed. I looked at Twilight. She was in no condition to run. She barely seemed to realize that something was amiss. I looked over my shoulder, back up the stairs, but the last decent hideout was way too far off to turn around. And worse still, I saw them scuttle our way from up there as well.

We were surrounded.

I pressed my lips together, swallowed that curse and yanked Twilight along. “This way,” I hissed as I dragged her as much as I dragged our saddlebags. White Tip swooped down and quickly realized my new, less than ideal plan. I hobbled towards the next building. It seemed to have been a forge in the heyday of the city. I was hoping to find a decent room to defend. Without any need to order him, my pet swooped ahead and into the building. Maybe he was brave. Or maybe he was just as panicky as I felt right beneath the surface.

That’s a lot of spiders, a voice in my head remarked.

I know, I shot back.

They’re kinda fast, aren’t they?

I. Know. Sixty feet towards the entrance. White Tip flew out of a window beside the entrance. The building looked like a decent choice. The windows were small, narrow and few. The entrance had a door. A metal door. No upper story, so no stairs to worry about. The forge itself obviously had a chimney, but I hoped these things were too large or too stupid to use that.

I could help you.

The thought almost made me stumble. It was the first time that I realized it addressed me directly. It was the first time I knew I was not just talking to myself. It was still my voice though. It sounded very much like me. The way it intoned, the words it chose. Luna had warned me of these beings. Of their cunning. Their deviousness.

Oh please. Your kitten knows jack shit about what I am.

Less than five feet. We were almost there. I ignored the presence in my head as best as I could and tried not to freak out. I dared to look back and my resolve was thoroughly tested as I saw just how many of these massive spiders crawled towards us. And how quickly they closed the gap.

Seriously though, you should give in.

“No!” I yelled in reply to a proposal nopony else had heard.

Twilight winced a little at my side. Despite the haze clogging up her head, that yell made it through. And White Tip jumped a little as well as he waited for me in the doorway. I ignored both.

The saddlebags I positioned in the middle of the room and the Dreamweaver I placed right on top. I would need it soon enough, I feared. I managed to fight off one spider. Now there were dozens coming.

I carefully laid Twilight down next to the saddlebags, so she could rest her head on one of them. She was paler again and barely responded to anything. I swallowed that lump in my throat and tried to move on as best as I could.

White Tip flew over to the forge and sat on some sort of strange mechanism. He cawed and picked at some kind of lever. I had no idea what that was or did, but I trusted my pet. I lit my horn, grabbed the lever and pulled. Age and rust had jammed the thing, but with enough force, I managed to switch its state. And a thick metal grate fell down around the forge. Nothing larger than a mouse would be able to slip through those bars. “Good catch,” I praised him before my eyes roamed the room. I quickly shut the door and put the metal latch in place. These windows were too narrow for any spider’s main body to fit through, but their spindly, spear-like legs could fit. I had seen some sort of shutters outside, but there had not been enough time to close them and I felt it was too late for that now.

I would be able to hack their legs off if they were dumb enough to put them through the narrow window gaps.

There were a few wooden pieces in the room, all broken down long ago. Tables, I assumed. Some piles still held a few items. Stuff for day-to-day needs. Spoons and cups and a few knives that might be large enough to be considered daggers. Nothing of value for our current predicament. However, I also noticed two cupboards. They were apparently crafted from thin metal and when I tried to grab them, they turned out to be surprisingly light for something of that size and material composition. Maybe they were crafted from a different kind of metal? It had a distinctly different sheen to it.

But I had no time to worry about that. I dragged them along the ground. My ears splayed back against my skull as they produced a horrible screeching sound. I put both cabinets in front of the closest windows. That left me with two more windows at the backside of the building and the door. And no further means to improve our position.

I quickly walked over to Twilight and knelt before her. “Hey Twilight. Peanut? Do you hear me?” Are you still with me?

Her unfocused eyes wandered in my direction and a faint ghost of a smile graced her lips. “H-Hey… I… uhm… I am not bothering… you… am I?”

I grimaced and put a hoof to her forehead. And I had every reason to grimace some more. “You’re not bothering me, peanut.” I tried to keep my voice steady. I even tried to sound upbeat. I could only imagine how miserably I failed at that. “I love you. You hear me?”

She did not notice the tremor in my voice. I did. “That is so… nice of you to… say that,” she replied with a happy sigh. She was about to mumble something, as her voice had grown weaker and quieter with each word, but whatever it was — it was lost as her eyes became unfocused again and aimlessly wandered around a room she did not recognize or truly see.

Knock knock.

I grimaced. I could hear the spiders crawl over the building. I stood back up, grabbed my sword and tried to ready myself.

You know—

“I’m not listening.”

Could you just—

“I. Am. Not. Listening.” White Tip stared at me. Like I had lost my mind. And hey, maybe I had.

You’re not going craz—

“I am not—“

Oh for fuck’s sake Dreamwalker, shut the fuck up and listen!

My mouth snapped shut. I grinded my teeth and felt how my anxiety and worry and downright fear slowly morphed into anger. It was a good thing to happen. Dangerous, sure. But it was better to be angry than to be afraid right before an upcoming battle. Because when in doubt, it was better to be reckless than to cower.

Now, I will admit that ‘you should give in’ was a bit of a poor choice of words there. But seriously, you’re not a true guard. We both know that. Just because you managed to duck your head low at the right times and managed to score well in theoretical exams doesn’t make you one. There’s a reason you avoid Wither Rose. You fear she might smell how much of a fraud you are. Wildly flailing Luna’s word around was decent enough previously, but this time is different. You’re not on the training field anymore, you’re not playing around with Lightning Dust and you’re not a guard!

I grimaced and tightened the grip on my sword. “Oh but you are?!” I snapped back. I ignored White Tip, and how he slowly retreated to Twilight’s side.

Come now. You know exactly what I am. I’m your insurance that we’ll make it out of this alive.

I shook my head again. “You can’t be trusted,” I simply stated. It was a fact, I told myself. A simple, indisputable fact. And the moment I tried to reassure myself of that, the first bang echoed in the room. One of the spiders flung itself against the door, from the sound of it. And now they came in numbers. Legs poked through the windows and I did exactly what I had planned on. I hacked and slashed away at them until they got the message and retreated.

What really got under my skin was the lack of any noise from them. I heard my own ragged breathing, I heard Twilight’s incoherent mumbling, I heard White Tip’s feathers rustle due to his nervousness. I heard the impact of my sword on their spindly legs and how it scraped along the wall of the building. But not a single sound came from those spiders. I severed maybe three or four legs. Their nauseatingly twitching remains fell down onto the ground and small puddles of blue blood formed around their stumps. Every other animal would have howled in pain or hissed or snarled. But these spiders remained deathly silent.

They did not try to reach me through the windows anymore, but I could see them crawl over the side of the house. They tried to see me, tried to gauge my position, the distance between them and their next meal. And the bangs on the door became more insistent.

It’s a metal door. It will hold, I told myself.

I told that to myself right up until a particularly loud bang made me jump a little. The door had a dent now. And I tried really hard not to freak out immediately.

You know, that whole ‘befriend your enemies’-thing doesn’t seem to work out all that well for you, does it?

“Shut up!” I spat. I needed to concentrate. I needed to stay focused to defend us. I was the only one that could. The only line between them and her. Us. Whatever.

“I am sorry… did I… say something wrong?” Twilight quietly mumbled behind me.

I grimaced. Why. Why in all the world was that what she had to hear?

Yeah, life’s unfair like that, isn’t it?

I gritted my teeth, turned around and tried not to stomp over to Twilight. I took a deep breath in a fruitless attempt to calm myself down at least a little bit before I gave her a kiss. “I wasn’t talking to you, peanut.” I sighed in relief as I saw her smile. I highly doubted that she even remembered what I was talking about. But she clearly recognized my pet name for her.

Do you think they will wait for you to explain some kind of last ditch offer? Or will they just rush you and eat your face? Honestly, my bet’s on the latter. Poor Twilight. She won’t really see it coming, will she? Maybe she’ll put a shield up just in time before they get to her. That way, she will live a few seconds longer until the poison or your so-called antidote makes her falter. Enough time to see you get torn to shreds by them.

I tried hard not to let that whimper out of my throat. But that monster knew which buttons to press and when and how to do it. I had a vivid imagination. And what tore me apart more than the fear of dying in less than a few minutes was that expression of pain and despair I imagined on Twilight's face as she had to watch. “On whose side are you even?”

It was such a strange sensation to hear myself sigh within my own head. Believe it or not, I’m on your side. But you are being stubborn as usual and our time is running out! Do you see that door? It has dents. Multiple. They will come through that door like the water rushed through that entrance.

“As usual?” I repeated. Because clearly that was the point of contention. I distanced myself from Twilight again and refocused my attention on the door. Yes, it was dented in multiple places. And the spiders clearly had learned what worked and what did not as they continued with heavy hits.

I briefly considered dragging the two cabinets over and put them in front of the door, but as light as they were, they would not offer sufficient resistance.

I’ve been here from the start. His voice had changed. It sounded tired. Or maybe sad. But the moment passed and his ‘charming’, prickly self resurfaced. What do you think happens to all that anxiety you ‘currently’ cannot deal with? To all the urges and wants and impulses you recklessly shove to the back of your head? What do you think happens to all the annoyance and irritation, to the anger and fear and frustration and all the little things you constantly swallow down? You’re a collector, my friend. You’ve been accumulating these little tidbits from hundreds of lifetimes and I am the one in the back of your head. I get fed all those things you don’t want or can’t deal with. I know you better than anypony else ever has or ever will, because I know all the facets you don’t even acknowledge!

He remembered. It was such a simple realization and yet despite its simplicity, I could not immediately tell how I felt about that. I had no indications to tell how much he remembered. But he was clearly able to recall other lives. Memories from other cycles. Did he merely share my flashes? Was his knowledge limited to what I knew? With each flash, there was always this gray area. Memories to diffuse to properly recall. Blurry images. Garbled voices.

When shit really hits the fan, I was always there. Believe me or not, I don’t give a shit. But when everypony left, I remained. Not that I have much of a choice. It’s the same god-damn show every time. You simply prefer ignorance. You want to stay innocent. Unaware. Hey, I get it. I would probably choose that too, given the option. But eventually, you’ll need me. You always do.

“You know who we are?” I dared to ask. “You know what we are? What this is?” I tried to remember. Tried to dive into my memories and grab him. Get hold of him. But that was not how it worked. And another loud bang reminded me that I had more pressing matters to attend to. “You were there. The entire time. You knew and you just… you chose to be like this.” It did not sound friendly. And he sure did not sound like a friend. But he did not care about my opinion, he had said so himself.

This was not the time to build bridges, or to consider forgiveness. The metal door was breached. One of the dents was hit repeatedly, with precision. A few legs managed to squeeze through a hole. I stabbed them and they retreated, but they had an opening. They knew they were close.

There was only one thing important right now.

I looked over my shoulder. A mound of saddlebags served as a prop for Twilight to lean against. Her coat was damp due to sweat. Her left rear leg twitched slightly. Her eyes were glazed, half-closed. She saw me, but she saw straight through me. She was barely conscious. White Tip sat on top of the mound and watched over her. There was little else he could do right now.

“Can you get them out?”

I can.

“What guarantee do I have that you don’t trick me? If I agree to this and relent, how do I know you’re not backstabbing me immediately?” Luna’s many insistent warnings echoed in my head. And I vividly remembered what had become of my love when she had lost control. And I was afraid. So deeply, deeply afraid of what the consequences might look like.

Hey, thanks for the flowers, but I’m not your precious Lady Luck and I don’t wield the power of the sun. I can’t guarantee you anything in any way that would be satisfactory for you. You do have a nasty paranoia festering in our head. But I care about her, too. In my own way. And quite frankly, you don’t have much choice.

Give in. I looked at the door. They were almost through. Or die.

‘I am ready to die’ was an easy thing to say, but a hard act to follow up on. In the end, it did not matter if I was ready or not. The more important factor was: I was not ready to let Twilight come to harm. Or White Tip.

“Do it.”

The moment I released control, he was there. We switched places like it was the most natural thing to happen. It worried me with what ease that switch transpired. He levitated Dreamweaver closer to his muzzle and looked at himself as if he was staring into a mirror. “Hey there. You good in there?”

This feels weird.

He chuckled. “Well, what can I say? Welcome to my world. Don’t worry. You won’t have to get used to it.” He lowered the blade to the ground almost reverently. “It was nice to see you again, old friend, but I don’t exactly know how you work this time around and I’m not desperate enough to find out mid-battle.” He turned his attention away from the door, much to my dismay, and walked over to Twilight.

Her lips tugged into a smile with tremendous effort. She was barely holding on. “Twilight, I need you to give me a little boost. I know how to get it. Would that be alright?”

She furrowed her brow in a doomed attempt to understand the question. And what he ultimately interpreted as a shrug could just as easily have been a shudder. “Alright, thank you.” He raised her chin with a hoof and kissed her.

I felt such a tremendous dislike for what I witnessed. It was not just pure jealousy, though that certainly contributed significantly. It was the fact that this creature so much as dared to lay a hoof on her. And worse still, he was far from done. His horn lit up as he brought its tip to Twilight’s. A small arc of magic connected both and whatever he did next, I felt that incredible wave of power surge into my very being, how it bolstered my reserves, flooded them beyond their natural capacity. I felt reinvigorated, wide awake and ready, ready for anything, capable of anything.

And I saw Twilight grimace.

Stop! I yelled at him. You’re hurting her!

After what amounted to a few seconds, he left her alone. “Don’t be such a wimp. She’s stronger than that, she can take it.”

That doesn’t mean it’s right! Or that you have any right to do this to her!

He sighed and rolled with his eyes. “Whatever.” Both our attention was drawn back to Twilight as she groaned softly. For a few precious seconds, her attention seemed to focus. Her clouded eyes cleared a little, at least. And she looked at me. Him. Us. She furrowed her brow and a part of me hoped that she could see that she was not truly talking to me anymore.

I felt him swallow hard. “You know, Twi, I don’t think he ever told you. But you make him feel invincible. Powerful. You make him brave.”

Twilight did not reply in time. He did not wait for her. He turned his back on her, squared his shoulders, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I run with the void and the void runs through me.” It sounded much like a mantra. And as he spoke, I could feel an incredible, otherworldly cold creep up my legs. He called it from somewhere. I felt it grow along my barrel, up my neck. I felt it extend its reach outwards, away from my body. “I run with the void and the void runs through me.” He repeated it again. I had no concept of the place I was in. My senses, unused to this environment, failed me. But I could feel the cold.

When he finally opened his eyes again, I noticed that my body was encased in a thin layer of ice barely an inch thick. He wore it like armor and for some reason, he managed to walk in it. The ice cracked and crunched, but reformed immediately.

“Right.” He sighed and looked over to the windows. All of them were frozen shut with a thick layer of ice. It had a strange coloration to it. Not only the blue I expected, but hues of reddish black. Almost like frozen splatters of old blood. The same inclusions adorned the ice armor in almost intricate patterns.

He fixed his gaze on the door. The hole the spiders had made was almost large enough for one to pass through. They squabbled amongst themselves, pushing each other away from the door in an attempt to be the first to make it through. To be the first to feast. “Let’s do this,” he whispered and called upon his magic to close the armor around his head.

I could feel his giddiness. His excitement. The building anticipation of what was to come. He was looking forward to this. My heart thumped heavily, I heard my blood rush in my ears and then he reared back on his hindlegs. He brought his front hooves down onto the floor of the forge with such force that I felt a jolt of pain run up my legs. And he pumped magic into the ground. I felt the tingle of strong magic as he forced his will to shape reality.

Ice spears shot out of the ground in a half-circle before him. They seemed to effortlessly pierce the building's walls like they were made from wet paper. They pierced several of the spiders on the other side as well. And this was just the opening. He charged towards the door. The ice spears seemed to vanish before him. Rime crawled in front of him, along every surface from the ground he ran on to the ceiling above his head. It froze the wall right next to the door until the stone became brittle and cracked. It was frozen to such a degree that somehow, all he had to do was to close his ice armor around his head to barrel straight through it.

The outside was a crawling, scuttling, skittering mess of legs and fangs. Several of them tried to grab him and all of them simply failed. Due to other spiders pushing, due to the ice armor deflecting the attacks, due to frost eagerly crawling up their legs and freezing the soft tissue inside their exoskeletons.

He ran maybe twenty feet outside before he reared up again and brought his hooves down once more. Ice spikes pierced even more spiders, this time in a full circle in all directions. It served well to bar the entrance to the house for those spiders who noticed an easy meal inside.

He thrust his right front hoof forward in a stabbing motion and another ice lance shot out like a sword. It lodged itself in the head of a spider and broke off as the creature recoiled and retreated, only to die within seconds after that. He summoned a cluster of needle-like, sharp ice splinters and shot them in a cone of devastation. Half a dozen spiders were riddled with shards.

And I noticed his glee. His delight. All that kept him from laughing like a maniac was that thin veil of self-restraint, because it would have been a waste of breath.

As the enemy lines thinned out, his advance only became more aggressive. He shot a spell at the ceiling and rime froze a massive patch of the stonework above our heads. The thin layer was enough for several spiders to lose their grip. It made a nasty squishing sound as some of them popped like melons on impact with the ground. The exoskeletons of others managed to hold them together, but they did not move anymore anyway.

The first spider that actually tried to flee he skewered with another ice spear that shot straight out of the ground right beneath it, piercing its vulnerable underside. The attack lifted it off the ground. It tried to get a grip on the spear with its legs, but found no footing to lift itself off the impaling spike.

Another two tried to get away shortly after. He shot them with a quick spell to make their blood freeze within their bodies. The liquid expanded upon freezing. The result was grisly to behold.

With fewer and fewer spiders remaining, more and more tried to flee. They were intelligent enough to realize that their rapidly dwindling numbers was a sign of a prey too dangerous to further pursue, but at the same time they lacked the tactical understanding to realize that as soon as they turned around, they became easier targets for him. And he clearly picked off the easy targets first.

The battle properly broke and turned into a slaughter when a wave of spiders tried to retreat. He acted quickly and anchored many of them to the ground by freezing their legs in place.

One managed to get close enough to attack him. Behind you! He swirled around, thickened the armor on his neck and I felt him grin as the mandibles failed to pierce the ice. A wave of magic surged through the contact area into the spider's head. He made the water in its eyes freeze. I was not sure if they were supposed to pop like that. I wished I had control over my stomach, as I wanted to puke so badly.

I suddenly realized that he felt light-headed. Dizzy. And it took me a moment to comprehend why. It only clicked when he finally removed his ice armor ‘helmet’ again. He could not breathe in his own ice. But the worst was over anyway, few spiders still tried to engage him in a fight.

A few had successfully managed to escape and I could feel his grudge. His impulse to follow them. To be thorough. I tried to counteract it as much as I could by giving him little nudges here and there. To distract him. To turn his attention to the remaining aggressors. They were more important anyway.

By the end of it, he plucked a leg from its socket and stabbed the spider it had belonged to through its abdomen with it. And with that last, final show of cruelty, the plaza fell silent again. He stood in a sea of dead bodies. Well, mostly dead. Some legs still twitched here and there. Despite my efforts, he noticed a couple of spiders that barely clung to life and made short work of them.

And then he dismissed all his ice spells. All the shards and spears and plates disappeared. I felt the incredible relief wash over me as the enormous drain these spells had put on him vanished.

You overexerted yourself.

“I did what I had to do,” he calmly replied. “It’s called ‘being pragmatic’. I know what I am capable of and what I can withstand.” With his armor dismissed, I noticed another thing: He was freezing. His body shuddered and trembled as the muscles tried to regain their normal body heat. His callousness seemed to extend to his own well-being.

Was it pragmatic to kill the ones that already disengaged?

“You bet it was,” he insisted. “They could have returned later. I know how you tend to do things. But I’m not you. I don’t do half-measures. Something I always admired in Luna. She gets shit done.”

He surveyed the area with one last, slow swoop of his gaze. Blood everywhere. Crippled, mutilated bodies everywhere. So much death. And the feeling of a deep-seated satisfaction as he regarded his handiwork with a certain pride. He turned around and limped back towards the hole in the house with stiff steps.

It was only then that I noticed him limping.

What is that?

He stopped and looked at himself. A few bruises from hits he had taken. The ice armor had mostly protected against their primary choice of attack — biting and stabbing. The bruises showed where they went for blunt approaches. But there was the occasional gash as well. A particularly larger one on his right haunch. It looked nasty.

I’m bleeding! You idiot went out there and behaved like a Celestia-forsaken psychopath and you neglected our defense!

He dismissively rolled with his eyes as he limped back inside. “Don’t be such a pussy,” he growled and hobbled over to the mound of saddlebags. He stared at White Tip menacingly. “Move.” Luckily White Tip did as he was told and hopped off the mound.

He rummaged through the saddlebags and retrieved the first aid kit. We both hissed in pain as he poured a generous amount of disinfectant over the several wounds.

You’re reckless.

It was a simple observation. I felt his energy drain. Whatever power boost he had gotten from Twilight was spent, or the rest of it slowly drained away. I could not fathom how any of this worked precisely. But I felt his grasp slip. His control over my body waver. Enough that I could look up and out of the hole in the building he had created. Out onto the plaza and the field of dead bodies.

You’re dangerous.

Now that silence reigned again, I started to sort through the strange experiences. The entire fight did not take more than a few minutes, even though it felt like an eternity. But the adrenaline was slowly receding. And with it came a certain clarity. I realized just how disgusted I was, how appalled by the sheer joy he had felt ripping and tearing these creatures apart.

No creature, ever, should feel such glee in such a situation without facing a simple truth:

You’re evil.

He snorted derisively and pulled together whatever control he had left. He tore his gaze away from the field of the dead and resumed to fix the wounds he had caused with his reckless behavior. After properly bandaging the gashes up, he stashed the first aid kit again.

Twilight was unconscious. White Tip was clearly afraid of him. And he had caused a massacre.

The transition was once again quick and easy. He relinquished control and fell back down into wherever he came from. And I was confronted by a whole world of hurt.

I had not realized that everything I felt, everything I noticed and witnessed was still figurative miles away, perceived through a thick layer of nothingness in between. I had noticed my rump hurt before, but now I really felt it. “Ah shhh—…” I bit down on my tongue to keep the curse in. Worst of all, I could already tell that it would get worse. I was still hypothermic. I was still shaking. Once my muscles had replenished my body heat, I would feel those injuries even more.

Been there, done that. You know, it sure seems easy to judge, now that I single-hoofedly pulled your ass out of the fire.

“It’s your ass too!” I snapped back and grimaced as the volatile movement made me aware of a bruise on my neck he had probably not noticed.

That’s just the point, isn’t it? I don’t stand to gain anything from letting you die, dickhead. And don’t you forget: I saved her ass too. Gosh, it must be so fucking convenient for you right now. Just lay back and berate me. But just so we’re clear here, Dream: I am your friend. The only one you will always have. And remember that whenever you fuck up, I will be the one to fix it. I am your last line. And I will always save you, if you want it or not. As usual.

I waited for a few seconds. Just to make sure he was done. And only silence greeted me in return. I finally allowed myself a relieved sigh. And of course he had to chirp up one last time.

Say hi to Ishmael.

“Who the f—… You know what? Nevermind. I don’t care. Just shut up already and let me deal with the disaster you produced.” He stayed silent. No further insults barked in my direction, no snappy retort or accusation of weakness.

I had seen him care for my wounds. He had done a decent enough job as far as I could tell. I could not do it better myself, so it would have to suffice. A part of me wanted to be petty. To open up the bandages again and remake them myself. But there was no use in that.

My light flickered a little. It made me aware of just how much he had overexerted my body. I was almost completely drained. I tried to ignore the facts as best as I could and turned around. White Tip still sat nearby Twilight and regarded me with very reasonable wariness. And Twilight? I walked over slowly so as to not scare my pet further and checked on her. She was still burning. Her coat was damp, but the profuse sweating seemed to have stopped for now. Was that a good thing, or a bad thing? She did not look quite as pale as she had earlier, but that might have been a trick of the light. “Twilight?” I whispered and tried to keep the worry from creeping into my voice too much. I softly shook her, but she barely reacted. A little mumble was the only response. It would have been cute under different circumstances.

I had no idea what to do now.

I sat down and absentmindedly opened the little satchel I wore around my neck. And I put a few seeds and nuts down on the ground near me. In hopes I could lure White Tip in. “I know it’s a sorry apology. I never wanted to scare you.” He looked at my peace offering and then at me. “He’s gone. And I really hope he’s never coming back. I’m sorry, buddy. I did not know what else to do. Can you forgive me?”

White Tip hesitated. He once more looked at the little collection of snacks and then awkwardly teetered over to me. He completely ignored the seeds and nestled against my side. I felt my throat tighten as my eyes filled with unspilled tears. “Thank you.” I softly petted his head and after that stroked down his back with my hoof. He seemed to appreciate that. “Do you think it will be this easy to make it up to Twilight?” He cawed quietly and I sighed. “Yeah. Me neither.”

Maybe now was the time to write that letter to Spike? To get our heavy hitters down here? But I could feel the exhaustion claim more and more space. It was only a matter of time until I would just drop. And we were currently residing in a building with a large hole in the wall. Because somepony thought it would be a brilliant idea to show off.

“Hey, can you maybe check if there’s another forge like this one nearby?” He did not complain. He did not question my sanity. He was a true, loyal friend. He just hopped off and flew out the door. I sighed as I heaved myself up to my hooves again. “Come on. One more round and I can pass out,” I tried to cheer myself on. As far as cheers went, it was a miserable attempt.

I quickly had to accept that one round would not quite do it either. I simply lacked the strength to carry both Twilight and our gear. We got lucky in that White Tip soon returned and informed me that he had found another similar building nearby and apparently it was clear, but that still posed a bit of an issue. The issue to get there.

I could not leave Twilight alone. And I would not make White Tip responsible for her defense either. So I levitated her onto my back, grabbed my sword and left the gear behind for now. I followed White Tip a few streets along the andesite road and entered another building. They all started to feel the same. Look the same. On the inside anyway. Empty rooms with piles of rubble. I laid Twilight down and grimaced as I realized that she was now lying on hard stone again. I had repacked one of our saddlebags to contain most of our softer stuff, which made it halfway decently suitable as a pillow.

I stood there for half a minute. Maybe two. Slightly swaying while I just stared at her. “Crap,” I hissed quietly. I still got it. I still had it in me. I could still stand. And walk. And breathe. What was one round more, right?

I didn't even have to say anything. White Tip hopped onto Twilight and carefully sat down while I leaned the Dreamweaver against the wall next to the entrance. And I returned to the forge. I had difficulties navigating the district. All these buildings looked the same now. Details blurred in front of my eyes. Every step became a chore.

I managed to find the place again. I managed to grab our stuff and I dragged it across the floor. I was sure that some of Twilight’s gear would not survive this trip. Hopefully it was built sturdier than I gave it credit for. It was scientific gear meant for field study, after all. Surely they could take a bump or twelve, right?

I trudged along in a daze. Every agonizingly slow step was hard work. Only White Tips' quiet caw made me aware that I was in the middle of passing the right building by. I half-turned and walked inside. And I felt such a wave of relief as I put that softer saddlebag under Twilight's head. I smiled. And I felt proud.

And then I finally allowed myself to faint.

The freakout would have to wait.

Misconceptions

I was in heaven.

I did not really care that heaven was surprisingly soft. Or surprisingly warm. It was comfy and I was content.

“Careful with that horn,” an angelic voice giggled quietly. Such a lovely, beautiful sound.

I scooted closer just that little bit, with my eyes still closed. And I nuzzled that chest coat in front of me. Lazily inhaled its divine scent like a drunk who was finally inebriated enough to truly appreciate the scent of his beverage of choice. I nestled against a familiar body and I was welcomed. I was pulled in just a little bit further, held just that little bit tighter. And I sighed blissfully.

My sleep-addled mind still failed to recognize any of this and sheer defiance ensured that I did not even attempt to open my eyes. I wanted this to last forever. Or at least as long as I could stretch this moment of incredible happiness. But I eventually noticed something else, a different scent that tickled my nose. I had barely identified the previous bouquet as a mixture of old paper and ink when I wrinkled my nose due to this new intruder.

It smelled like dog.

I grumbled a little as my head slowly started to connect dots. I saw a familiar freckled muzzle grin at me before my mind's eye. Get up, ya lazy varmint, she murmured. I tried to flee from her, tried to bury myself deeper in that lovely coat before my own muzzle, but the scent of dog just did not disappear again.

The softest whine escaped my throat as I realized that I had to do something about this. That I had to do anything at all, actually. “AJ, what did I do wrong for you to send Winona after me?” My voice sounded strangely hoarse. I tilted my head to the side, tried to flee from her admittedly very cute, but also very loud and very enthusiastic pet. Before she could lick half my face again.

But for some strange reason, burying deeper into the pillow only amplified the smell. I tilted my head the other way, but the blanket smelled like dog as well.

Wait, that doesn’t make any sense, I finally realized. The Apples were very meticulous when it came to these things. Their bedsheets, pillows, blankets, they never smelled like dog. And I slowly became aware that it had been weeks, if not months since the last time I actually had a sleepover with Applejack.

Where am I?

As soon as the question was present, my mind connected that angelic voice to the slowly forming answer. And then her unique and all too intoxicating scent. The sound of her very specific giggle. And the tenderness with which she had accepted me crowding her. I sighed deeply. The smell of dog was still present, but it was a faint afterthought in comparison to her. I didn't quite understand why it had bothered me so much to begin with.

We laid on a bed. A very plush bed. I could tell by its incredible softness. How it shaped itself, adapted to our shifting weight and the form of our bodies. A thick, cuddly blanket covered us. And that pillow was great as well. Were we home?

I finally dared to open my eyes.

The moment I saw her mulberry coat I smiled. And just because I felt a little playful, I pressed a soft kiss on it. I was rewarded with a soft, appreciative hum. And I started to wonder. I saw her and I saw color and I saw a lot of other things too. I saw wooden shelves full of books and a desk with writing supplies on top. I saw a fancy lantern hanging from the ceiling. A ceiling that had been painted like the open sky. And I realized why that struck me as odd: We were underground.

The more I woke up, the more my memories came back to me. To see fluffy white clouds and pretty blue sky should not have been possible down here. It was a really good artistic impression of the real deal though. And all these pieces of furniture, they should be rubble. Piles of broken and rotten wood, long gone should have been any piece of paper or other such miscellaneous odds and ends.

“Twilight?” I asked.

“Yes?” she replied. I could hear her grin. No, smirk even.

“We’re in a bed,” I stated the obvious.

She sighed deeply in appreciation of that fact and nuzzled my mane. And I could not help but embrace her a little tighter and snuggle into her. “It seems that we are, yes,” she finally replied.

“I’m not complaining. I love waking up with you by my side. I just… uhm…” The urge to sigh yet again was insistent. I did not want to break this moment. It was peaceful. It was a desperately needed moment of recuperation after all the turmoil we had been through. But I knew myself enough to realize that my mind would not let this go. Not even for a few more minutes. It would not allow me any further moment of rest. “How?” I eloquently phrased my multilayered question.

She giggled again. And I smiled, because it was so relieving to hear that sound. It already told me a thing or two about her current state of mind. “Yes, so, about that,” she started. And then she just stopped. And we cuddled for a few moments longer. Just because she wanted to, and I certainly was not against that. Eventually though, her mind would not let her dally any longer either. “I have some vague memories about the events leading from the church to me waking up in what appeared to be a smithy. I would like you to fill me in on that as best as you can once I am done.” I nodded. I could do that. “I quickly studied my surroundings and realized the kind of building I was in, but I had no idea why we were there. And while White Tip tried to guard us as best as he could, he seemed rather relieved as soon as he noticed me being awake again. He made me aware that you were not just sleeping. But you seemed to be safe for the time being, all our gear was present, the Dreamweaver included. I tried to fill in the blanks by carefully exploring the building, but I quickly realized that it had nothing to offer. So I left the smithy.” The very moment she said that, my stomach twisted a little. Twilight was not exactly defenseless, but I still did not like the idea of her just walking around in a district overrun by massive spiders. Especially with her magic being somewhat unreliable recently. After all, who was to say she would still be able to put up a shield in that critical second? But she was here, I told myself. She was here and she seemed fine.

“I tried not to walk too far away from the house,” she continued. “I asked White Tip to caw if something happened and I stayed within sight of the building. I found more workshops. Masons, I believe. And one shop looked a lot like Rarity’s showroom in Carousel Boutique. So I figured we were in the craftsmen district. I was about to return to you when I felt my hair stand on end. I felt watched. Stared at. I dared to illuminate the area a little bit more and that was the moment the hunter reappeared. It fell from the ceiling, right in front of me.”

She’s fine, I told myself. She was perfectly fine. And yet I could not help but feel her. Touch her. Softly trace my hoof along her back. Over her wings. Over her flank. Over her neck. I ignored her soft, ticklish giggle. I was too worried to properly appreciate it. “I am fine,” she insisted and put her hoof over mine to make it stop. And I once again groaned internally about how me telling this to myself did absolutely nothing, but her telling me the exact same thing made all the difference.

“Are you sure?” I worriedly asked.

She leaned down and kissed my head. Right at the base of my horn. A little tingle ran down my body and made me shiver. “I am.” She sounded calm and collected. Certain. So I put my trust in her and nodded. “I was not sure if it had noticed me. And I like to emphasize at this moment that I still felt very weak and feverish. I was not thinking as clearly as I would like to have. I tried to hide from it. With the results one would expect, given the circumstances. I had almost reached a nearby building when I felt several tendrils attach to my rear legs. It had no issues dragging me back. My desperate flailing did little to help me and I tried to shoot it, but I am not entirely sure if it even recognized that as an attempt to defend myself. Maybe it just thought I wanted to feed it something else instead. It absorbed the blast with no visible effect. And then it swallowed me.”

I tensed up immediately. I had hoped to hear how she found some last second idea to help her out. Some spells she had all but forgotten until that moment. Anything to get her out of this situation. But no. She was eaten. Just like that. I had half a mind to ask again if she was fine, but she anticipated as much. She simply pulled my ear against her chest. And I listened to a strong, calm heartbeat. It was a soothing sound for sure.

“It did not harm me,” she explained. “I was inside its body mass and it very much felt like I was caught in a constantly moving mass of semi-liquid rubber, but it did not hurt me. Well, I mean…” She sighed the moment she noticed how I once again tensed up. “It did something to my leg. I cannot tell for sure what exactly. It hurt. A lot. But once it was done, the pain receded and it actually started to feel a lot better than before. I am inclined to believe that, given all the indicators, it healed me. No fever, no shaking, no cold sweat. My head is clear, I can think straight again.” That makes no sense, I groaned internally. “I tried to figure out how to escape when I bumped into you. Literally. I assume it swallowed you as well. Alongside our entire gear. I found it difficult to judge movement inside its body. Its entire mass seems to shift constantly, generating some sort of currents within its body. Maybe it just did that to keep us afloat within. But it was impossible to judge if it moved, where it moved to, how quickly it did that. And I could not hear White Tip. I assume it failed to capture him, as much as I assume that he tried his best to defend you and rescue you.”

“Where is he?” I cut in. He had felt devastated before because he had not been able to help as much or in a manner he wished to. I could only imagine how he must have felt at that moment.

“Over there.”

I raised my head and saw her nod towards a point somewhere behind me. So I craned my neck and looked over my shoulder. White Tip sat on the windowsill, his head tucked away beneath his wing. He was fast asleep. My satchel with the seeds and nuts lay beside him, with a small offering of said snacks completely ignored to his other side.

At least he was here. And he was well.

I turned my attention back to Twilight. She watched me for a moment longer, tried to read my expression before she continued. “It carried us away and basically spit us out in front of this house. As far as I can tell, we are currently in another residential district. The abundant use of marble as well as several gemstones and crystals leads me to believe that this is an area for the upper class. After depositing us in front of this house, the hunter simply left. I studied the immediate area for only a brief moment, but I believe this is a treasure trove of knowledge about this city and their culture. Many of the street lights are intact and I could see many of the houses. Most of them are built out of crystal or gemstones with marble features, a building style that reminds me of the Crystal Empire. And many of these houses are still intact. I have noticed several gemstones and runes that seem to interact with each other somehow. I believe they enchanted their houses to stand the test of time. It is currently the leading theory I have why this district seems so… intact.”

“So the rich live in enchanted gemstone houses?” I summarized. “Sounds about right.” I had no information to support or refute her theory. I could only imagine the spectacular sight it must have been. Or rather, it would be. We would leave this house eventually, after all. I sighed again. Few of this made any sense. Why would the hunter transport us?

She gave me a little poke and wordlessly reminded me that I had missed my cue. Before I could puzzle over these new developments further, I still had to fill her in on my part. “Right. Sorry. So, we made camp in that church and went to sleep. Remember those strands of webbing we saw when we walked around the church? Yeah, turns out there must have been a tunnel or hole or something in the roof.”

Twilight grimaced slightly. “Where?”

“I don’t think we can fault ourselves there,” I tried to preempt her self-blame. “It was above the head of one of the statues. There was a small gap between said head and the ceiling. Impossible to see from below.”

She sighed despite my efforts. “I thought about flying up to the ceiling, just to make sure.”

“But you didn’t, because we were unsure if you even could fly,” I argued.

“I could have tried, at least,” she insisted.

There was no point in arguing further. While I used such opportunities to put myself through the grinder, Twilight merely took note of what she perceived as her ‘failings’ and vowed to do better next time. She was able to put such things past her a lot quicker than I could. So I tried to swallow my urge to take that blame away from her and continued with my recounting of the events instead. “One got in. Sneaky little monster. It bit you, poisoned you. You didn’t even wake up. I don’t know why or how White Tip suddenly woke up, but he immediately made a ruckus and woke me up. I fought the spider off until it retreated. That’s how I know where it came in. Well, I mean. I suspect it went back out the same way it came in? Crap, haven’t even thought of that. Anyway, you were unresponsive. And I was kind of panicking. I ran outside and yelled my lungs out, calling for help. I wasn’t sure it would actually do anything, but the golem did appear and I tried to bargain with it. I threatened that I would do anything in my power to leave this place with you immediately if it wouldn’t help you. Peanut, I think that thing understands every word we say. Either that and it has some sort of sentience, ooor whoever created it taught it our language and programmed it with instructions for very weird and specific situations. And since we’re going for the more likely theory here… well.”

I sighed and shook my head. It was frustrating. We had been sneaking around this entire time. We tried to avoid it. Acted as if it was an enemy. And heck, maybe it was. Maybe it would turn on us the moment we reached the bottom or wherever it wanted to herd us to. “Whatever.” I shook my head. I was not done yet. “It stormed into the church, took you and left. I had to get a move on to catch up. It led us to another building in the same district. No temple this time, but… I don’t know. You can’t really tell what half of these buildings were anymore. I called it a healer’s hut in my head the entire time, so we’re going with that. The golem instructed me to find a syringe and load it up with what I hoped would be an antidote.” She grimaced and I chuckled softly. “Yeah. I was worried too. But what else was I supposed to do? Your state worsened by the minute. I was afraid you would die on me. Heck, I was panicked because you got poisoned in the first place. I gave you a shot and that seemed to work for a while. The golem vanished and I waited for your recovery. I was probably an idiot. I thought we should move to a different location. Something I could defend better. You were barely there when we tried. I led us one level down into the craftsmen district and White Tip went on another recon mission. He came back and warned me about incoming spiders. Like… lots of them. Dozens. I carried you to a nearby forge and tried to barricade us in as best as I could.”

And at that point, I had to make a decision. I would not lie to Twilight. That much was a given. But how much detail did she really need to know? Did I really want to tell her about his merciless rampage? Or about his involvement, at all?

Was it important that she knew?

She could probably already tell how I struggled. I felt her watch me carefully, closely. She undoubtedly noticed me squirm a little. She knew something was up. I sighed and shook my head again. “There was a battle. If you could call it that. Many of the spiders died. Very few escaped. The forge took significant damage and even though I was exhausted, I tried to once again switch places. That smithy you woke up in? That’s the place I carried us to. I can barely remember, but I must have collapsed when everything was said and done.”

Her hoof trailed down my barrel. Slow, soothing strokes. I tried to find comfort in them, but I could not. “Do you want to talk about it?” she offered.

Talk about it. Talk about what? What was there to talk about? I called these creatures monsters. But at the end of the day, they were just animals. Hungry and on the prowl of their next meal. I, on the other hoof… I had been the real monster. Or at least I harbored one.

As far as I was concerned, everything was pretty clear-cut.

Maybe it would do some good to talk about it. Maybe it could correct my perspective on these things. Heck, maybe she could help me work something out to get rid of him or to silence him or whatever. Maybe.

But we had more than enough other problems right now and we needed to focus on those first and foremost. I shook my head and for just a brief moment buried my muzzle in her coat again. A deep inhale, a tender kiss and I felt decently ready to move on. “Where’s our stuff?”

Instead of waiting for a reply, I lifted my head and looked around the room once more. It was hard to ignore the crystal walls, now that I knew of it. It only contributed to me feeling more at home in this room. I saw a sturdy, large wardrobe, a night table beside the luxuriously large bed and a vanity table. Our saddlebags were spread on and around the latter. I lifted the first one up, opened the flap and peered inside across half the room. I could not make out much, but what little I saw was already enough to tell me that I had grabbed the wrong one. Three more to go.

“What are you searching for?” Twilight asked.

I put the second bag back down and finally found what I searched for in the third one. The little, unlabeled can of ointment and our first aid kit. What was left of it, anyway. “There’s a lot we need to talk about and whatnot, but before we do anything else, I want to give us the best chances we could have.” I sat up in bed and folded the blanket back to reveal her body in full. I placed both the can and the kit down where I had laid a second ago while I rolled her onto her belly. She did not put up any resistance — until I opened the can and attempted to lift her tail to the side. The moment my magic grabbed her tail, she lit her horn and dispersed my spell.

“What are you doing?” she asked and turned a little to properly look at me.

“I’m starting small,” I explained. “We’ll use the rest of the ointment on your rump if you still need it. If not, fine by me. Then I can use the rest of our kit to take care of your bite wound.” I thought I was being very reasonable. I sure sounded reasonable to my own ears, at least.

Twilight did not seem to share my opinion on the matter though. Her eyes trailed down my body and came to a rest on my rump. I had a few smaller gashes here and there, sure, fine, but they were cared for and bandaged. And the bigger one back there was fine as well. It was fine.

Seeing as I was not about to agree with her, she tugged her tail in and turned her back away from me. I sighed. “Is it because I haven’t explained myself first? Should I ask? I’m sorry if that’s the case. I want to take a look at your injuries. And if need be, I want to take care of them. Would you please let me?”

We both knew that was not the point. She grimaced slightly and shook her head. “If I let you, you are going to use all of it on me. Everything we have left.”

“If necessary, yes,” I confirmed. “Now please turn around again.”

“No! You will deem it necessary,” she insisted as if that was a bad thing.

“Come on, Twilight! Why are you being difficult now? I want to help you!” I rubbed the bridge of my muzzle with a hoof and groaned. I could already feel my temper flaring up.

“I am being difficult?” she shot straight back. “Why are you so insistent about this?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we don’t exactly get many opportunities to take care of ourselves down here!” I tried to keep my voice even and calm, but even I could hear myself fail harder and harder with each passing second. “So please be stubborn about something else and let me take care of you!”

“What about you?” she asked again.

“I’m fine!” I insisted way too harshly.

“No you are not!” she shot back with a slightly increased volume as well.

“For Celestia’s sake, Twilight! Would you just let me—“ I tried to grab her and forcefully roll her onto her belly again.

And in much the same fashion, she resisted my attempt and struggled against me. “Would you just listen and—“

“I hurt you!” I burst out.

We both stopped. I could feel the anxiety bubbling right beneath the surface and was suddenly reminded that I had never found the time to properly process some of the recent events. I had wanted to freak out properly. This, however? This was bad timing. Really bad timing. And I tried to keep it in. Tried to stuff it back into the wardrobe in my head it had crawled out of. Twilight was stock-still for a moment as well. She stared at me. I could not properly read her expression, what was going on in her head. Maybe because I was too distracted by my own efforts to keep a lid on things.

Her eyes trailed down again, to that wound on my rear. I had to admit: It did hurt. Lying still in bed, snuggling with her, it had been lovely. It had been easy to forget then. But with me sitting up, with me moving at all, my mind suddenly became aware of the state my body was in. Parts of it, anyway.

“That does not mean you deserve this,” she insisted.

I was reasonable and she was stubborn. It was not the other way around, I told myself. Nu-uh. I huffed. “Listen. When Spike wrote that little note back, he told me that you had a date with Luna in, like, three days or something.” I pointed at my own flank. “This? This is fine. It’ll heal. I’ll eventually go back to Sunny, maybe she has more of this stuff, maybe she can cast a healing spell, whatever. But Luna is a different beast and you know that and I don’t intend to sabotage your date.”

She stared at me like I had lost my mind. I was a little offended. “This is what this is about? If I can sleep with Luna or not?”

“No!” I insisted with an accompanying groan. Not entirely, anyway. “I hurt you, Twilight!” I repeated. Maybe she understood the second time around? I felt strangely sweaty, all of a sudden. And a little light-headed. Probably due to my stupid fast heartrate.

But Twilight’s face only hardened in determination and seeing that made me grimace already. “Your injuries are more severe than mine,” she insisted rather firmly. “You will be treated first.”

“I’m fine!” I yelled at her.

And despite how incredibly guilty I felt for yelling in the first place, I could not take it back. I could not even apologize. I could just watch as her ears splayed back against her skull and she stared at me in a mixture of shock and anger and worry. She eventually sat up in much the same way I did. And then she turned around and folded her forelegs over her chest.

I knew that gesture as much as I knew that position. And sweet Celestia, it only infuriated me further.

“Aahhh!” I screamed at her back in utter frustration.

In an uncomfortable moment of self-awareness, I realized that everything that was still missing for a proper temper-tantrum was me stomping the ground repeatedly.

She mimicked what I did with Luna. And I thoroughly regretted ever telling her about this for a solid few seconds. I was the reasonable one! She was being stubborn!

I glared at her. At her back. Tried to burn a hole in it. But she remained patient. And more importantly, she remained silent. Just like the ritual demanded, she merely waited for me to cool down enough to follow routine. She had disengaged. There was no further fuel to add to my anger. And in time, I felt… well, not exactly calm. Not by a long shot. But calm enough to do what was required.

I turned around as well and sat down against her. We leaned against each other, back to back. It was hard to ignore how nice it felt to be close to her. How her coat brushed against mine, mingled with it. How her body heat mixed with mine as well. It was easier not to be angry with her when I could not see her. Easier to remember the good times. The underlying fondness I had for her that was merely momentarily suspended due to this stupid, stupid argument.

We both took a couple of deep breaths before any of us dared to utter a single word again. And I hated her a little bit for the words she chose to finally break the silence.

“Do you love me?”

It was still according to routine. This, every part of this, was a ritual. Even this question. I had ingrained it into my mind. I had made it into a reflex, almost. It had helped Luna and me get along and sort things out on so many occasions. And yet I hated it every time we required this little ritual.

Because I hated arguing with the ones I loved.

Of course there was only one answer to the question. I grinded my teeth and tried to keep myself from spewing snarky remarks. And she waited. It only took me a couple of seconds, maybe half a minute, until I could finally answer. “Yes.”

“And do you trust me?”

In all these years, not once had she lied to me. Not that I could remember. Not once had she let me down. Not once had she ever given me reason to distrust her. And realizing that, reminding myself of that, helped me get out of this anger-filled hole I had dug for myself. I sighed deeply. “Of course.”

She remained silent for a moment as well. I could feel her relax a little. That was another benefit of this position, this part of the ritual. I could feel her every move and shift. How her muscles tensed up or relaxed. It was an indicator of how angry she still was, or was not. “Then please, please listen to me.”

It was a request.

It mattered no longer who was the reasonable one and who was stubborn. Things had gotten out of hoof quickly. Tempers flared with astonishing speed. Maybe that was the clearest sign that this whole mission had grinded on our nerves without us even becoming aware of it. I could not tell if she knew what was going on in my head. If she knew how the anxiety had bubbled right beneath the surface. How the freakout lashed out and had tried to force itself a path to the surface. How she had helped me keep it in check for now. Maybe she did.

I sighed again. Deeper still. “Fine.”

After another moment, we both pulled apart and turned around to face each other. I looked into her eyes and even though I could feel a rumbling in my throat, I felt nothing but love, laced with mild frustration and guilt. She smiled at me and after a brief moment, we shared a kiss. It made the last remnants of frustration melt away. And I knew what I had to do to get rid of at least the superficial guilt. “I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

She sighed and nodded. “It is fine. I understand.”

Did she, though? I could not tell. It was possible. She was smart. Perceptive and empathic.

Both our gazes fell on the opened can and the first aid kit. I sighed for the umpteenth time and laid down on my side. Twilight smiled gratefully and started to remove the bandage. She cleared the wound with water, then with disinfectant, applied some of the ointment and put a new bandage over it. “Where did you get the water from?” I asked.

I hoped that we might have a functioning faucet again, but those hopes were swiftly crushed. “I sent White Tip up with a waterskin. I described to him what he needed to do and asked him if he thought it was possible. He was willing to try and came back a while later with a fully refilled one. So I sent him up with the second one as well.”

I smiled. I had the same idea and had wanted to tell her about it. Of course she was smart enough to come to the same conclusion.

After I was properly cared for, all wounds disinfected and looked over and bandaged, I returned the favor. Whatever that hunter had done to her leg had worked wonders. The bite mark was still very much visible, but it was already considerably smaller than it had been earlier. It looked less like an hours-old stab wound and more like she had been pierced by a pair of crochet needles a few days ago. The edge of the wound looked fine as well. No sickly discoloration at all. She still hissed in pain as I disinfected the wound again, but it was a little price to pay. This sort of progress was incredible.

And last but not least, her nethers. The can of ointment was almost empty. What little remained I completely used up. The little lacerations had healed up for the most part. The only remaining remnant I could spot was a slightly discolored spot of skin on her sphincter. Everything else was back to normal. Seeing that actually helped me to unburden myself of that guilt for the most part. I closed the can and put her tail back in place. And then I leaned down and kissed her rump with a grin.

She giggled and playfully wiggled it a little from side to side. I had half a mind to slap it, cautiously of course, but decided against it. I instead levitated the second saddlebag I had rummaged through earlier and brought it over to the bed. “Now that we have taken care of that, we can focus on the next priority.” And I rolled a few of the fruits we had taken as provisions onto the bed.

I chuckled softly as I saw Twilight's eyes light up. “Oh sweet Luna, I had completely forgotten about those!” she exclaimed and immediately grabbed one and took a hefty bite out of it.

“Well, you’re welcome.” I grinned and grabbed one for myself. “Eat up. Who knows when the next opportunity will come. Also, the more we eat now, the less we need to carry later. That’s totally how it works, right?”

She giggled and nodded. “Absolutely.” We fell silent for a couple of minutes while we happily munched on our snacks. They were apples. Or at least apple-adjacent fruit. They tasted like apples. They were roughly the size of apples. They just did not really look like apples, but who cared?

Twilight took a small break after her fifth one. “When I brought you in here and retrieved our gear from outside, I felt like I was starving.”

I smiled lopsided. “Well, without sun and moon it’s hard to tell how late or early it is, but I highly suspect we left a few meals out. We both share that inclination to skip them when we’re busy or excited or in any way distracted at all. And there’s no Spike around to hit us with a ladle.”

We both giggled a little and shared a few short anecdotes about Spike’s constant need to keep us fed. Honestly, Twilight was a lot worse in that regard than I was. But at the same time, no matter how much my scaly buddy complained about it, I knew for a fact that he would have it no other way. Caring for Twilight like that made him feel special and needed and valuable. She relied on him, and he appreciated that.

“After refilling the waterskins worked out so well, I considered asking White Tip if he could retrieve some of these,” Twilight finally returned to our initial topic and grabbed her sixth maybe-apple. “The thought of searching our bags did not even cross my mind. How silly is that?”

I chuckled and shrugged. “Well to be fair, when we initially came down here, all these bags were more or less stuffed with your scientific gear. You probably still have that initial checklist in your head that you constantly refer to when you’re wondering what we have and don’t have with us.” The fact that she blushed ever so slightly told me all I needed to know. I considered teasing her a little about it, but decided against that as well. It still did not feel right.

White Tip woke up in the middle of our opulent feast. He immediately glided over to the bed and I levitated him over to me. “I’ve heard you did a great job, buddy.” I petted his head and cuddled him immediately after, just to make sure that he had little chance to assume I was in any way, shape or form cross with him. Or worse still, disappointed. I was not able to speak with animals like Fluttershy could and I did not know exactly how smart he truly was, but if he was even remotely close to the level of intelligence I assumed he had, then it would have been easy for him to blame himself. That was not what I expected, per se. But seeing me get devoured by that wobbly ball of goo and being helpless to do anything about it other than make noise must have been a horrible time for him. And it was not exactly the first time he had to face his helplessness in certain situations either.

I just hoped I was not putting him through too much.

I grabbed the satchel from the windowsill and floated it over to me. It felt right once I placed it around my neck again. And then I floated the few seeds and nuts over Twilight had offered him previously, probably as a thank you for his help. This time, he was a lot more interested in them and helped us make a mess of this bed by eating on it just like we did.

“I heard you learned a fancy new trick? To refill waterskins?” I asked him. He looked up at me and cawed happily. I chuckled in reply. “Nice. Would it be alright if we send you up again for a second round, maybe?” He cawed once more. “Neat. Thank you.” And I petted his head again. And with that sorted, I allowed myself a big, greedy gulp from our remaining water. Knowing we did not have to ration it strictly was worth a lot already.

Our breakfast slowly came to an end. And I had decided it was breakfast because we had slept prior to it and that made perfect sense in my head. With the meal almost done, we had ample reason to focus on the next thing: What to do next.

“I think it is safe to say,” Twilight started with a wistful sigh, “that neither the golem, nor the organism want us dead.”

I hung my head in shame and sighed as well. “Apparently so. Listen, I… I don’t know how to reframe any of this. The flashes I had were broken, as usual, but the pieces I got were very clear on certain aspects. Golems are good, they are defenders of the city, of the diamond dog city. We are not diamond dogs. And that thing did everything in its power to appear as threatening and intimidating as possible. It stalked us. It attacked us. It was a menace the entire time. As for that goo-hunter-thingy, all the instances it appeared in my flashes clearly indicated that it was a superior predator, a hostile force and quite likely responsible for whatever brought down this entire city. It killed. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. Whatever number of inhabitants this city had, it killed them. All of them. It started at the bottom or somewhere close to it, and its first course of action was to seal the exits to make sure that none would escape. This thing is… I wish I could still call it ‘evil’, but I’m not entirely sold on that anymore. But it’s dangerous, at least. And it doesn’t hesitate to kill if it thinks that’s necessary. I couldn’t imagine for the longest time that this stuff can think to begin with, but hey, here we are. It apparently ushered us to our current hotel. How nice. That being said, I can’t help but notice that it brought us down another layer. The goo and the golem are clearly at each other’s throat, but both of them want us further down.”

Twilight put a hoof on my shoulder and smiled encouragingly when I dared to look her in the eyes. “No one accuses you of anything, Dreamwalker. I like to think that we tried to act as reasonably as the situations allowed us.” I hesitated, but she waited patiently until I at least acknowledged her effort with a nod. “You are right though. Both seem hostile to each other and both share an obvious interest to bring us further down. Which leads to the obvious question: Why?”

And more importantly: If they could just grab us and carry us down themselves, why didn’t they do that right at the start? I grimaced and smiled wryly as I watched her face warp through a similar expression. We both had our suspicions. We both probably thought about the same thing. “Well, there’s the obvious thing we haven’t talked about yet,” I noted.

Twilight sighed and nodded. “Dante Alighieri’s Inferno.”

“Yeah. That.”

Her brow furrowed as she recalled all the little tidbits of information surrounding the topic. “We do not know for certain how old Alighieri’s story is. Only that it is a lot older than the foundation of Equestria.”

“Honestly, I never thought it would be based on a diamond dog city, of all things.” I shrugged and faintly shook my head. Some of the parallels were just uncanny.

“It could be the other way around,” Twilight argued. “Instead of the work being based on the city, the city could have been based on his work.”

I laughed and leaned over to kiss her nose. “Sure. But that’s my line, you know? I’m the one proposing the highly unlikely alternative scenario. I mean… they read a story of a long-dead pony and thought: Hey, you know what? This story is actually really cool. I like it. I feel inspired. Let’s build a city just like that.”

She wrinkled her nose in just the cutest way. “Fine, I will admit that it does sound very unlikely. And I will try to refrain from doing your job.”

I grinned. “Thank you, peanut. Now. If the parallels are to be believed, then there’s someone special waiting for us down there. We’re at what? Eighth layer now? So we’re really close to the bottom.”

“The Great Deceiver,” Twilight said with a sigh. “Considering all the districts we went through and all the details we have seen, it is highly likely that Alighieri’s story is exceptionally biased. That being said, he clearly seemed to have incorporated most facts to a certain degree. In a twisted fashion, perhaps, but they are there. Which would make it a reasonable assumption that someone important is down there.”

I nodded. “Exactly. Someone important for these diamond dogs, at least. I mean, considering the state of this city, that diamond dog is most likely dead and has been for ages. But maybe that’s the reason why the golem and the goo want us to go there. Retrieve some ancient artifact or something.”

Twilight seemed a little doubtful though. “We have seen what they are capable of. And that is just their day to day life. They have developed electronics and computers far beyond our current technological level. We have seen them in their laboratories. I do not think it is far-fetched to assume that they might be capable of even more incredible feats. Say, for example, prolonging the life of their leader?”

My eyebrows crawled up onto my forehead. “Wow. You really think we’ll find someone alive down there?”

Twilight merely shrugged. “I am not sure. I just think we should not dismiss this option easily, or overlook it.”

“Alright, maybe we can figure something out about what awaits us if we go over what we’ve been through so far?” I suggested. It was worth a shot, was it not? Twilight seemed to agree. “First layer, residential area.”

“First circle, limbo. Where the godless reside, struck by grief due to the absence of the goddesses.”

I chewed my bottom lip a little. Funnily enough, Twilight did the same. “You know, it’s strange. I always thought that the Inferno was a very old, outdated depiction of Tartarus. Being struck by grief doesn’t sound too bad. And considering the workforce and the majority of the populace lived there, maybe he wanted to go easy on them? Anyway, second district. The three air conditioning complexes, including their freaky laboratories for advanced neurochemical brainwashing.”

“Second circle, reserved for the lustful. According to the inferno, they get blown about by violent and endless winds,” Twilight recalled.

“Well, yeah. They sure were endless, otherwise everyone would suffocate,” I grumbled a little.

She smiled wryly. “We already noted that he might have been a little bit biased.”

“Racist, more like,” I muttered. “Anyway, it’s a weird coincidence. I mean the lustful, paired with their experiments. I know that they researched ways to influence the behavior of their citizens. Not just to make them horny. But apparently that’s the only important part to him? Maybe he was a prude?”

The lines on Twilight’s forehead deepened and her brows knitted further together. “The more important issue I see is this: How did he know of these experiments in the first place? From what you told me, Silver had to jump through a lot of hoops to get you into the laboratory. You had an inhabitant vouching for you and it still took time and effort.”

I nodded. “Good point, actually. He must have been close with important people. Either that, or maybe he was Pinkie-levels of sneaky?”

“It is a discrepancy to keep in mind,” Twilight concluded for now.

“Third district,” I continued. “Farms and pastures. Basically the entire food supply of the city.”

“Third layer, the gluttons. They get bombarded with rain, hail and black snow.” She considered our little excursion into the layer. I had spent most of the time preparing a decent meal while she had been outside a lot more. Which made it easier for her to assess the information. “Most of the city’s functions seem to have broken down a long time ago, but I did notice an intricate design of pipes and vents on the ceiling of the district. The latter probably served ventilation purposes, but it is possible that the former were used as a sprinkler system to water crops. If I remember correctly what Applejack told me, some plants actually thrive and grow quicker when watered that way.”

“Still not exactly hail and black snow, but as a hobby-writer myself, I can appreciate the occasional artistic license,” I added. “Fourth district, coining presses, vaults, banks, treasuries, the whole ‘where to put our money’-stuff.”

“The fourth layer was reserved for hoarders and spenders. The former were forced to push boulders to the center of the circle while the latter were forced to push them back out.”

We both looked over to the window. We could admittedly not see much outside, but the thought was there. There simply was no center of the circle. There was a massive hole in the ground. I shook my head and moved on. “Fifth district, water processing plants. Reservoirs, sewage disposal, everything to assault your nose.”

Twilight wrinkled her nose as she recalled the still pungent smell of the air in that district. Even decades and quite possibly centuries after the collapse, it still smelled rotten and spoiled and vile there. “The fifth layer was inhabited by the wrathful and the sullen. The former fought on the surface of the river Styx while the latter sank to the bottom of it.”

I furrowed my brow. “That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. The river Styx was associated with the transportation of souls, was it not? It was a dividing force between the land of the living and the land of the dead. I mean, I get artistic license. But they had swimming pools of sewage. They were clearing and recycling their water as best as they could with all the means they had available. There was no fighting and no sulking.”

“Maybe it references some organized strike? I cannot imagine being all too happy to work under these conditions. Maybe the workforce was dissatisfied?” Twilight speculated.

“Possibly, but, I mean,…” I sighed. Once again I ran muzzle first into a very familiar wall: My flashes were mere glimpses into the past. “It’s possible,” I relented. Because I simply could not tell otherwise. “Sixth district. Churches. There were a couple of other buildings there, smaller ones that almost seemed like they wanted to be overlooked so as to not steal the show of the churches. One of them was the healer’s hut I mentioned. You know… this has obviously nothing to do with it, but in Ogres and Oubliettes, clerics are the goddesses chosen and one of the classes capable of magical healing. So the link between the divine and healing seems to be something obvious for some?”

“Maybe,” Twilight agreed. “We did not get a proper opportunity to look around in those smaller buildings. We missed a lot of that district after we fell down the chasm and things got worse from there. Maybe we can rectify that on our way up. As for the sixth layer, it was called… hm, wait a second, it is at the tip of my tongue…”

“The city of Dis,” I helped her out.

She clucked her tongue. “Right. Where the heretics were locked in burning stone coffins.”

“Well, there were believers, sure,” I murmured, “Maybe this addresses how diamond dogs seem to pray to their own kind? Either way, no burning stone coffins were involved. I dread to think that this part might have been his wishful thinking.”

“These churches were built out of stone,” Twilight argued.

I snorted. “Yes, but that’s like grasping at straws. A church is not a stone coffin, not by a long shot. And they weren’t burning either.”

“Try to remember that we are searching for a general understanding of his way of thinking,” Twilight reminded me. “We are getting off-track if we take things literally.”

I sighed and rubbed my temple. “Alright, alright. Fine. Burning could be interpreted as religious zeal, I suppose. Locked in burning stone coffins could therefore mean they were fanatics. Whatever time of day they didn’t work, they prayed in their churches. It’s a possibility.” She was satisfied with my course correction, at least. “Seventh district, craftsmen guild.”

“In the Inferno, it is called the Plane of Fire. It is separated into three rings. The violent are forced to swim in a boiling stream of blood. Those who committed suicide are transformed into thorny trees that are ripped apart by harpies. And the blasphemers are doomed to wander a blazing desert subjected to a constant rain of fire.” We both exchanged looks and grimaced slightly. “I cannot shake the feeling that the deeper he went and the more he learned, the less patience and kindness he had remaining. His imagined punishments get more excessive, but at the same time needlessly intricate and grisly.”

“Plus, there’s basically no parallel you could draw there. The seventh district is not divided into layers or sub-districts or circles or whatever. The violent swimming in blood could again reference some sort of uprising, maybe one that got answered with force and violence, but the other two are just downright nonsense.”

“It is possible that the city developed and changed over time,” Twilight remarked. “Maybe there was some sort of division at the time Alighieri visited.”

I sighed. “Maybe. Eighth district. Where all the rich folks live.”

“The eighth layer was called Malebolge. There were… a lot who ended up there. Mostly liars and thieves, which included diviners, hypocrites, corrupt politicians and falsifiers. I admit that it has been quite a while since I last read the Inferno, but from what I remember, it actually fits surprisingly well with what I saw from this district so far. As I told you, it seems likely to me that this district was mostly inhabited by the upper crust of their society.” Twilight grimaced once more. “They all once again had varied and unnecessarily cruel fates.”

“Of course they did,” I mumbled with a sigh. “I’ve never really been a city dweller. I don’t get the appeal. All I have to go off of is hearsay. But as far as tropes are concerned, the lower class always complains about the middle class and the middle class always complains about the upper class and being lied to, being taken advantage of and being stolen from with the protection of the law are some of the most common themes. I’m usually inclined to call that horseapples, because I know a thing or two about how Equestria works and how our law system works.” I could already see her inhale. I knew what she was about to say, so I raised a hoof to make her stop. “But, I’m aware of the fact that we’re talking about a very different time. Alighieri’s story might come from an age even before Princess Platinum. And that’s ancient before ancient was even a thing. And adding to that, all I can talk about is pony society. Diamond dogs seem a little bit rougher around the edges, generally speaking. So maybe their politicians, back then, actually were corrupt or something like that. We’re again running into the same issue: There’s a lot we have to assume to make things work. A lot we don’t really know.”

I placed my hoof on the last maybe-apple and rolled it over to Twilight after a moment of listening to my belly. And I gave White Tip another bunch of snacks to keep himself busy with. As far as I was concerned, we had all the time in the world right now. Two of three hostile factions were no longer considered hostile, which meant that anything other than a spider bursting through that door or that window was less of a threat and more of an annoyance. Therefore: We had time. We could eat. And rest. And breathe.

While Twilight seemed lost in her own musings, I levitated our remaining saddlebags over and redistributed their contents. Just so that the weight was somewhat evenly distributed among them. I then placed them back down on the floor and put the two waterskins on the windowsill and opened the window. “Don’t stress yourself, buddy, but once you’re done and if you feel like it, you could refill our waterskins, maybe?” He cawed in agreement and I nodded. “Thanks.”

I finally turned back to Twilight. “From what we can tell, there’s a single house down at the bottom. A workshop, from the looks of it.”

She nodded. “It does look like one, yes. The ninth layer is reserved for betrayers. And the most foul of them all, the Great Deceiver, sits in the middle of the layer, frozen in ice up to his waist.”

I yawned and nodded. It felt like we had been talking about this for ages. And after waking up like I had, after having a halfway decent meal, I felt like I could just lie down again, snuggle up to her and sleep for a few hours more. More importantly, I failed to see us progress in any meaningful way. I still retained the opinion that this had been worth a shot, but our attempt to analyze an age-old supposedly fictional work of a pony did not seem to bear any viable fruit. “Some connections seem rather far-fetched. That being said, the parallels are too obvious and more importantly, too numerous to be ignored. I think the Inferno is just the expression of an old racist's distaste for a different culture’s religious beliefs. And since I know you appreciate your historical context: We don’t exactly know when Alighieri lived, but we don’t have to know either. He lived in a time around or even before Princess Platinum. So in a time where the tribes still squabble like unruly children. Celestia and Luna were deemed goddesses back then. I mean, many still silently agree that they are today. But it was a different matter. Their favor was deemed necessary for survival. In a world full of monsters and mad, ancient beings, their benevolence was a miracle. They inspired zealotry, if they wanted it or not. My theory? The Inferno was a warning to ponykind. He tried to warn them away from interacting with diamond dogs. Maybe out of religious zeal. Maybe because he thought that their version of ancestor worship could pose a significant risk to the way the tribes interacted with Celestia and Luna. Ponies back then were weird. And a lot less friendly.”

“If we assume as much,” Twilight was willing to engage my half-spun theory, “then the Great Deceiver would be a lynchpin to hold the entire diamond dog society together. The one who created it all.”

I shrugged and nodded. “It’s possible. Honestly, I’m starting to get a little itchy. We could grab our stuff and go for a walk. We’re not far off from the end, so maybe let’s just… you know? Finish this?”

A faint smile graced her lips as she nodded. “Okay.”

We once again walked along the andeside road a few minutes later. Twilight had not overpromised — the district was a true marvel. All the houses were sparkling in different colors. Some seemed to be fashioned from sapphire and had a deep blue sparkle that reminded me of the ocean while others invoked the wild green of jungles due to their emerald walls. The street lights themselves were the reason these houses could truly shine: The light they spent reflected off the perfectly cut walls. Or maybe they were grown rather than cut.

For the first time in quite a while, Twilight whipped out her equipment and took some samples. She even allowed herself the occasional little break to analyze a few pieces here and there. And her journal resurfaced as well. This district especially was worthy of a few sketches, that much was certain.

And if we needed any further proof that the goo was not necessarily our enemy, we got an opportunity to observe as much after we had crossed half of the district. White Tip alarmed us in time, since he took his job as a sentinel on my back very seriously. He dug his claws into my back and made me look upwards. A single giant spider crawled along the ceiling of the district. It clearly followed us silently, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

As for the goo, well. The eighth district was surprisingly sparsely contaminated by it. Especially considering that we moved through yet another residential area. Then again, we had found little of it in the first district either, so maybe our theory that it grew where it found food had to be revised.

We encountered a few lone patches of it and even though we suspected it to not be hostile, we still chose to move around it if possible. Right now, it was not possible. We stood in a considerably larger patch of it that covered half of the two nearby houses and a street light. As with the other patches so far, it showed no reaction to our presence and successfully played dead. That was the case until the spider apparently noticed that its approach had been busted. And instead of being reasonable and retreating, it advanced.

“Twilight, incoming,” I warned her. She closed her journal and looked around. I pointed upwards and she quickly sidled up to my side. Just in case we needed an emergency shield. And I readied my blade. I was confident that I could manage to fight off one of them. But we could not be certain that the one we saw was the only one involved in a potential ambush.

It quickly turned out that we had nothing to worry about. The spider lowered itself on a single string of spider silk and as soon as its legs made contact with the puddle of goo, said goo seized the opportunity. The spider’s legs were wrapped in goo. It crawled up those legs, enveloped more and more of it. The spider tried in vain to retreat, tried to get back up to the ceiling, but several tendrils shot out from the puddle and connected to the spider’s abdomen and pulled it further down. One of the tendrils sliced away the silken thread. It was doomed.

Twilight watched in a mixture of abject horror and scientific fascination. The latter eventually won out. For her, it might not have been so different from watching, no, studying a bird catching and devouring an earthworm.

And I tried to ignore that grim satisfaction upon seeing the predatory creature writhe and fight against its inevitable demise. I could already tell: I would have issues with spiders for a while. Maybe it would be wise to visit Fluttershy. Tell her about this, explain the reasons, maybe get her to help me overcome this hurdle. I would hate to treat her spider friends with such contempt. Mostly because it would hurt her. And as far as I was concerned, hurting Fluttershy was a crime against kindness itself.

The entire spectacle lasted less than two minutes. The spider’s struggle ended after one. At the end, not even her legs or traces of her exoskeleton remained visible.

“It is not only very efficient in its digestion speed, but it seems to be able to use every part of its prey as well. That is highly unusual, as most predators have certain parts they cannot or usually do not deal with, like bones.” I snorted and remained quiet. I instead chose to nuzzle her neck and just relish the joy that had returned to her voice.

Her journal was quickly whipped out again. A few notes followed on a couple more pages. A quick and rough description of the witnessed process as a help for later when she would try to bring everything in order and properly phrase it in a scientific way. And a couple of questions as well. She wondered about potential byproducts, something she reminded herself to check when studying her goo sample.

I had honestly forgotten that she even had a goo sample.

While she wrote down a few more bullet points, my gaze drifted. From the point where the spider had been devoured, across the goo puddle to our own hooves. We were standing right in it. In the same puddle that had just eaten the spider. And yet I felt nothing. No strange tingling sensation. No slithery tendrils crawling up my legs. It still made the slightly disgusting slurping sound when I lifted my hoof, but by now we had been walking through this stuff so much that I did not even hear it any longer if I did not concentrate on it.

We eventually walked past the scene, back onto solid andesite and past numerous other houses. Most of them were two stories high, rarely three. Some sported the barren and desolate remains of probably once impressive gardens and flower beds. The occasional tree, now a dead, gnarled husk of its former beauty, grew out of a dirt patch. This entire district really did remind me of the Crystal Empire. Or the fancier parts of Canterlot. With its class and white marble and its certain je ne sais quoi, as Rarity put it.

Walking through the district now felt more like taking a stroll again. It reminded me of that first day. Exploration and excitement. And it put me in the mood for some idle chit chat. “So tell me, when did you notice the Inferno-connection?” I asked Twilight.

She was busy staring in awe at the houses. Not for the first time, oh no. She looked over to me and smiled. “I had my first suspicion right at the start, due to the city’s structure. An inverted, nine-layered cone-shape is very unique as far as city design goes. How about you?”

I chuckled. Of course she was faster than me. Ah well. “Fourth district. The vaults. I considered the cone weird, sure, but hey — diamond dogs. You know? Maybe they like to build their cities in weird shapes. Maybe that’s a common thing for them. After all, we still know next to nothing about how their society works. And the Inferno didn’t describe a city as such. Also, to be fair: I haven’t read Inferno yet. In this cycle, I mean. So whenever you say ‘it’s been a while’, I can top that.” She giggled and I quickly chimed. Twilight eventually bumped my shoulder with hers and shot me a playful wink. This was not a race. Then her gaze was drawn back to the magnificent gemstone houses. And only now did I think of Spike. And how he would drool just standing here. “Do you think we can take a few, uh, samples for Spike?”

Twilight giggled again. It was such a merry, light-hearted sound that I grinned from ear to ear. “Already three steps ahead of you.”

Of course she was. I smiled, leaned over and nipped her ear. And I chuckled as I heard her gasp. She shot me a ‘threatening’ glare and I was oh so tempted to just push it. To see what she would do if I actually were to dare her.

“You know, we still know very little about pre-Equestrian history,” she pondered. And there went my chance to tease her a little more. But it was okay. Other opportunities would arise. “And as we already established, we therefore know very little about Alighieri himself. Many things were different back in those days, but I cannot help thinking about it: Princess Platinum. Clover the Clever. Chancellor Puddinghead. Smart Cookie. Commander Hurricane. Private Pansy. And those are just a few examples from the Hearth's Warming tale. Starswirl the Bearded. Maredenkainen. So many others. And then there is Dante Alighieri. His name does not quite seem to fit with the traditional naming conventions of pony society. Even back then.”

I considered her point for a moment and had to agree. The obvious solution was a strange thought as well. “Maybe he wasn’t a pony then. I mean, the tribes squabbled with each other. We know next to nothing if they interacted with other species. And how that went. Maybe he actually was a diamond dog. We just assume he was a pony because his story became so famous amongst our kind. But I don’t think I ever read a single line anywhere that actually states that he was one.”

Twilight agreed. “Exactly. I have not looked into his origin too much, something I aim to correct once we are back home, but I cannot remember such a statement from any of my books either.” And there it was again. That almost filly-like giddiness as she pranced a little at my side. “Ohhh, I cannot wait to return home! I want to write to Luna and ask her if she remembers him. Maybe she could solve this mystery.”

“You’re going to dig through your entire library first, I assume?” She shot me that ‘you know it’-grin I came to love a long time ago. I chuckled and nodded. “I see. I’m not going to see you for a few days then. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

She grinned bashfully and even blushed a little as she replied quieter: “Well you could always just join me?”

I chuckled and considered the prospect. Days on end cooped up in a library. With a slightly neurotic, eventually sleep-deprived Twilight. “You know, I actually quite like the idea. I might just do that.” I leaned over and we shared a kiss.

“If these things are connected,” she immediately sprang back into her theory again, “then that would mean that a pre-Equestrian pony had to somehow gain intimate knowledge of an underground diamond dog city that was located under later-Equestrian soil long before the Windigos forced the tribes to move. Him being a diamond dog that fled the city for some reason and was eventually accepted by ponies makes a lot more sense. But there are obviously still a lot more questions to be answered. And properly researched!”

I chuckled again as she squealed in delight. Then I furrowed my brow as I saw her whip out her journal again. As she skipped through the pages, I noticed several sketches, very detailed sketches, of the churches and the statues within. I was pretty sure that she had not done these before we camped in that church. And now she opened up the map section in her journal and started to fill in the roads of the districts we had passed by already. “Wait, you can do that from memory?”

“Parts of it,” she claimed proudly. “I like to have the real thing in front of me to compare, but I do have a pretty good eye for detail. I have probably spent too much time with Rarity and Fluttershy. But filling in the streets is not that difficult, since I can simply calculate everything.”

My brain lurched and came to a screeching halt. “You can calculate streets? These streets?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “I noticed it a while ago. The main road follows a strict Archimedean spiral, also called an arithmetic spiral. And all the byroads follow a strict curve as well with even distances between each. The distance varies from district to district, which is probably the result of the different district functions, but it allows me to calculate all roads at least. Then again, many of the buildings follow mathematical principles as well in how they are aligned towards the center of the city and—“

“So what you’re trying to tell me is: The city is math,” I cut in.

She grinned like she had a fever dream. “It is! Isn’t it awesome?!”

My brain stopped for a second — again — before I burst out laughing. Twilight went beet red and mumbled something unintelligible, but I pulled her in with my hoof around her barrel and kissed her before she could feel embarrassed even further. “You have no idea how much I love seeing you like this. It is so rare for you to completely forget yourself. Enough that apparently Rainbow got a chance to shine through. It does sound nice to call something ‘awesome’ from time to time, doesn’t it?” Her wide smile quickly returned and she nodded eagerly. I was about to tease her further if she was now emulating Fluttershy, but I let it be for now. No reason to risk overdoing it. “Don’t worry, I won’t snitch on you.”

We continued and returned to our little stroll for a while until the final stairway came into view. We both stopped as we looked at it and our ‘we are just on vacation’-smiles slowly faltered. The seriousness of the situation slowly caught up to us again. “Neither faction can safely be considered an ally,” I started, “but so far, neither faction wanted us dead either. Even though they very much want each other dead. It does look a lot like they want us to choose a side, doesn’t it? And I don’t think they will let us leave. I very much expect them to resort to violence, both of them, to force us to choose if necessary. And whoever we don’t choose will most likely not just peacefully accept our decision.”

Twilight sighed and agreed with my assessment of the situation. “I do not exactly feel comfortable as long as we cannot properly tell what we have gotten ourselves into.”

We both walked a few steps to the side, closer to the railing. We could see a single house at the bottom layer. A couple of the windows were lit.

“Well, time to find out.”

Legacy

“White Tip? Make a quick sweep of the area. See if you can find anything suspicious.”

A few quiet flaps of his wings later and he silently glided through the air. Twilight and I walked off the last steps of the staircase and the andesite road ended. That one main feature that literally connected every district of this sprawling, massive city. Down here was where they had drawn the line. Our hooves stood on solid stone. It was dressed stone, with miniscule, intricate patterns of what seemed to be some sort of floral design or something. I honestly spared it little attention. Somepony else might have appreciated the décor a lot more than I did at that moment. I wanted this to be over. I wanted to leave. And I wanted Twilight and my pet to be safe again.

“Let us stay cautious,” Twilight warned. I affirmed and we walked towards the city center, slowly, side by side. Close enough that our saddlebags bumped against each other every so often. I would have loved to close that gap even further, to feel her coat brush against mine. But we had gear, and gear wanted to be carried.

White Tip glided back to us a while later. He landed on my back, quickly took his usual spot again and informed me with a head shake that no, apparently there were no obvious traps, hazards or enemies around. Which made everything even more suspicious in my eyes, but as somepony had said: I harbored a certain paranoia, so maybe I was just expecting the worst, as usual.

We had seen the general layout of this bottom floor from high up above, right when we had entered the city. Three massive, concentric circles around the center, almost like trenches. They had seemed to be filled with ice or water. But we reached the outermost one and quickly realized that it was neither. Whatever sky-blue substance filled these trenches was too viscous to be water. That was probably the reason why ‘ice’ had been such an obvious contender. It was resting. It looked solid.

“Don’t touch that,” I warned Twilight as she once again whipped out her journal, her writing supplies and a test tube to collect a sample.

“Do you know what it is?” she asked.

I grimaced. No, I did not. And I shook my head accordingly. But it was hard to ignore that uncomfortable tingling sensation right beneath my skin. And it was all over my body. I tried to remain calm, tried not to shudder, but the impulse was there and it was rather insistent. “No idea, but it’s magic. Vast amounts of magic.” I had never encountered such a thing, but just standing close by felt like dipping my hooves into liquid spells. It felt pure, enticing and powerful. And therefore, scary.

She dipped her test tube in and the glass did not sizzle and dissolve. There was no visible reaction whatsoever. She closed it with a stopper and securely stored it away with all her other samples. She wrote a few notes while she cast a couple of spells to study this stuff as best as she could in the brief timespan she was willing to spare and we finally moved on.

It was impossible to tell how deep these trenches were, but they were not all that wide. It was possible to simply step over them, even for a normal-sized pony like me. Which only invited further questions. If this was not a safety feature or a defensive measure, what was it? Why was it here? Why were there three of these circles? Twilight would maybe find answers to these questions eventually, once she was back in her lab.

“Ready?” I asked, just to make sure. She nodded. Her horn glowed with stored energy, held back by her sheer force of will. A shield spell, I suspected. Or maybe even teleportation? After all: There was not a single patch of the infestation down here. Which was suspicious in its own right. My memories had told me time and time again: It came from below. It wanted to herd us down there. The deeper we went, the more dangerous it would become. And yet here we were, right at the bottom, and not a single splotch of that goo was visible anywhere.

I shook my head and stepped over the ring.

No eldritch flames shot up from the trench. No magic tendrils tried to grab me. No sudden shield rose up for me to bash my muzzle against. I just stepped to the other side. I looked back to Twilight and shrugged. She seemed relieved and followed me. We tried to stay vigilant. Tried to remain attentive. We were cautious at the second ring. We coordinated ourselves. We waited. We tried, slowly and carefully. And nothing happened. Again. It made it admittedly a lot harder to repeat the process a third time with the same caution. But then again, maybe that was the trick? Maybe that was exactly why there were three of these rings? Maybe that third one was the trap?

No. No it was not.

I sighed in relief anyway. Now everything that stood between us and our way home was a single workshop. And it was such a strange sight. We had seen the pomp and circumstance of several districts. How they flaunted their incredible wealth and their vastly superior technology. We had encountered their industrious side, impressive in its own right. Even their common houses looked like works of art. Only the finest stones and other materials, only the best craftsmanship throughout the entire city.

And now we walked towards a simple log cabin.

There was no second story. A simple, flat, thatched roof. A couple of windows, one of which was alight with a soft, orange glow that occasionally flickered and thereby indicated a flame. It was too strong for a candle. A fireplace was my best guess. The wooden door was still intact. The size of the building indicated that we were dealing with four, maybe five rooms. Two simple brick chimneys rose above the roof. One was larger, one smaller and shorter.

It looked so out of place in this city. This lone, wooden hut. Smack dab in the middle. The center of everything. Every road led here. Every citizen was able to see this house with a few steps towards the railing.

We stopped in front of the door.

I could see it in Twilight’s eyes. How her brow furrowed slightly as her gaze drifted to either side. Yes, we could walk around the building. We could sneak a few glances in through the windows. Her horn was lit anyway, as was mine. We might be able to spot a few interesting tidbits. But what was the point? And more importantly: Whoever or whatever was waiting inside made sure to make that fact obvious. It was waiting. It would be awfully rude to sneak around a house while its resident was present, would it not?

She seemed to come to the same conclusion and we exchanged a last nod before she politely knocked. Barreling in through the door to face down our foe sounded epic, but that usually just resulted in a lot of misunderstandings and unnecessary violence. And I was tired of both. I had my share of ‘epicness’ earlier and I was certainly not keen on a repeat.

The door sprung open and slowly swung inwards. Accompanied by a dramatic creaking. How every wooden piece had fallen apart throughout the entire city but this cabin remained untouched was a decent question. But apparently whatever kept this house in shape did not care for creaky hinges. We had seen the runes and arcane symbols carved into walls and stone. The markings that were probably responsible for preserving the residential district of the rich and wealthy. It was highly likely that a similar technique was employed to preserve this house, but we could not spot such runes and glyphs anywhere.

When the gap was large enough, we snuck in. Twilight went first, her horn still sizzling with readied energy, and I was close behind her with the Dreamweaver floating beside me. Once inside, I closed the door with a rear leg. We stood in a workshop, just as expected. All kinds of strange and less strange tools hung from the walls. Walls lined with tables filled with raw materials and half-finished doodads that stood beneath those. An impressively large fireplace lit the entire room and my past life as a smith quickly recognized the setup. This was a fireplace to heat up the room as much as it served as a simpler, cooler forge to keep metals warm. A more complex mechanism surrounded the fireplace. Maybe it was designed to shut the thing off, to increase the possible heat inside — I could not tell with certainty.

Two doors led to other rooms. Both were currently closed.

The ceiling was covered with a bunch of intersecting pipes. Some of them seemed to lead to the fireplace, others just crossed the workshop like they had no business being here. There was no carpet. No decoration. No paintings or busts of diamond dog heroes, nothing that indicated that it was just for show.

No, everything in this room had purpose.

Including that large desk in front of the fireplace. And of course, our diamond dog golem ‘friend’ sat right in front of it. At the wrong side, as I absentmindedly noticed. With his back to us. He sat there, hunched over and seemed to be busy with something we could not spot.

“Finally,” a raspy voice greeted us. It was deep, rumbling. Like stone grinding on stone. A voice that sounded strange because it was the product of magic, coming from a golem, sure. But I suspected another contributing factor: When had been the last time this voice had any need to be heard?

I took a deep breath to reign my quickly flaring frustration in. “So you can talk after all.” It still sounded very much like an accusation and less like a simple observation, despite my efforts.

“There was no point in talking,” he replied. He still barely moved and did not turn around to face us. Rude. “I needed to know that you are capable. I needed you to see.”

“Capable of what? To see what?” Twilight wanted to know.

It was strange to hear a golem sigh. Because he did not require breath to speak. “Capable of making your way down here. Capable of surviving. You needed to see what we once were. The glory and beauty of the old times.”

“You’re Ishmael, aren’t you?” I asked. Maybe the information that monster had given me was worth something.

Hearing the name really did surprise him. A jolt ran up its spine and it straightened a little. His stony ears stood at attention. Now he finally turned around and sat with his back leaned against the desk. We rarely had such a prime opportunity to get a good look at him. All the various floating rocks that formed his body were sporting runes. Dozens of them on each single piece. A mess of indecipherable glyphs. “Yes. That was my name, once upon a time. How do you know my name? I had forgotten it myself.”

I shrugged. “You’re welcome.” I could feel Twilight’s gaze bore into me. She wanted to know just as much as he did, and that was the point. I was willing to answer her. In time. But I would not give him any answers for free. Not after everything he had put us through. “So you’re a sentient golem?”

He remained silent for a moment before he raised his claw and pointed towards one of the doors. I felt a faint but distinct tingle as magic was weaved and we witnessed the door’s handle being pushed down. The door opened and we saw into an almost entirely empty room. Empty except for one feature. A sphere of floating rocks buzzed and lazily swirled in the middle of the room. The inside was large enough for a pony. Or a diamond dog.

And a minor flash made me grimace. I had seen that contraption before. Somehow, somewhere, sometime.

“You recognize it,” he merely observed.

I hated how easily he could read me. I was decently sure that it was mostly due to the flash giving me little choice in the matter. I had no control over how my face contorted or how my legs locked up in an effort to keep me standing. After a minute or two, the seizure was over and I tried to relax a little. “I do.” Sorting through the new information was difficult. Most of it was vague. But I managed to get the general gist of it and once I realized what I was thinking, what exactly I remembered, I grimaced again. “You were a diamond dog once.” My gaze was once again drawn to the contraption. A machine clearly arcane in nature. He stepped into it. And his body was destroyed. Torn apart by magic, dissolved. A quick process. A few seconds of pain. But those few seconds were laden with such incredible torment that few made it through without becoming utterly insane. It took tremendous willpower to remain. Once the body was gone, the spirit was bound in a new body. One made of magic and stone.

Crafting a soul into a golem was a vile procedure and considered torture. It was forbidden under the threat of… of what? It would have been interesting to know that piece. Because he had apparently done just that. He had given up on his mortal shell.

“I was Ishmael,” he recounted. “A name that means ‘god will listen’.” He gave a derogatory snort. “I cannot tell you how many times I have prayed. More than there were citizens in this city, I’m sure. And did he listen?” The question lingered in the air, unanswered by anyone currently present. “No. No, he did not.” His shoulders sagged a little as he closed the door again.

I could see how utterly fascinated Twilight had been with the sight of that thing. She probably understood a lot more about its workings than I did, merely by looking at it. “You managed to transfer your soul and consciousness into an artificial body? That is incredible!”

“It was never meant to happen,” he insisted with a gruff tone. “When things escalated, I had to make choices. This was an emergency solution to a couple of issues. I was already dying, bleeding out from a wound. And everything would have died with me.”

“Not to bust the mood or anything, but everyone down here did die,” I cut in. “Not sure if you’ve noticed.”

“Don’t take me for a fool, pony! I am aware of the state of my home!” he suddenly burst out. In the process of his outrage, he almost stood up.

That was my justification why I readied the Dreamweaver. Ready to plunge it into his chest. I aimed straight at the gemstone swirling around in it. I knew for a fact that it was some kind of power source. A critical component without which none of these golems could work, sentient or otherwise. And the Dreamweaver was one heck of a sharp blade. It would be able to pierce diamond.

But as quickly as he got enraged, his temper settled again and he slumped back down. Twilight shot me a warning look and I sighed and nodded. I would behave. Or at least try to.

“Who are you?” she asked him. “What happened down here?”

All of us noticed that barely audible crackling as a tiny splinter of his central, hoof-sized diamond fell out and dissolved into nothingness before it even reached the ground. And now, this close to him and with proper lighting from our horns and the fireplace, I could see cracks run all over the diamond. It looked like it would fall apart any moment now. And I finally thought I understood a thing or two.

“I am Ishmael,” he started his story, “the founder of this city. They called me the Father of a New Age. They called me the Tamer of Lightning and Steel. They had many titles for me back then. Reverent, respectful titles. I discovered a simple truth. Mathematics is magic.”

The moment he said that, Twilight squealed quietly while I rolled my eyes. I gave her a little bump against her shoulder and she quickly reigned herself in.

“I have studied mathematics for years. Decades. And in the end, I figured out how to generate magic from geometry. Circles. Cubes. Spheres. Lines. Perfect curves and flat surfaces. A few more years of study and I found the perfect material for my new discovery. Gemstones. They could be cut to perfection. And if one were to use a gemstone with perfect clarity, it would be possible to generate such vast amounts of magic, such a consistent output that incredible machinery could be powered by it. I was a scholar first in my life, but I became a renowned jeweler second. And finally, a golem smith. I alone held the secret to magic. Many tried and failed to copy my work. They did not understand the underlying principles. But my peers pressured me. My own pack ostracized me. The alpha of our town demanded I give up my life’s work.”

Twilight grimaced. She was a scholar as well. She could probably understand his plight in a way I could not.

“I refused. And I took a beating for it. I left these ungrateful imbeciles to their own devices and gathered all those willing to follow my lead. And I founded this city. We built it in a few years. Fewer years than any city had ever taken to be finished. Because my machines helped. It was a prosperous time. We lived in wealth for many years and attracted more and more packs to our cause. I even started to sell my machines. I sold them excavators and tunnel bores. I sold them guards and miners. I constructed new golems and machines for whatever need we had, or any paying customer had. And I gave them gemstones. Good ones, if they paid for it. But never the perfect ones. Those would not need replacement. Ever. But a good one would run for years, maybe decades. Before they would crawl back to me for more.”

I had my suspicion why Twilight grimaced this time. Ishmael did not try to hide his greed. His hubris. And right now, he sounded a lot like a pair of twin brothers I once knew. A pair of con artists and scammers, always on the lookout for a quick buck and rarely did they concern themselves with the consequences they inflicted upon others.

“The city’s hunger for gemstones grew and grew. We expanded our mines and tunnel networks. We traded for raw gemstones and sold the cut ones. It worked. But many clever minds came to call this city their home and they had ideas of their own. I eventually resigned from my position as alpha. Without me even realizing, I had become a slave to my own work. The city demanded more gemstones. Demanded more golems. More machines. Customers needed to be satisfied. And I was still the only one who properly understood how everything worked. I withdrew from my own city, from my followers. And I worked. I tirelessly toiled away in these walls. Any type of gemstone could work. It did not matter if it was a diamond, an amethyst or a ruby. It was about clarity and cut. The only two variables that truly mattered.” He sighed again.

“If you had everything figured out,” Twilight spoke up as he seemed to reminisce about something, “what went wrong?”

“You have seen the infestation. We had discovered the use of electricity. Every reservoir contains a hydroelectric power plant. But it wasn’t enough. Never enough. The city’s hunger grew quicker than we could satisfy it. Some smart dog figured that out. And a few of them panicked. My gemstones could power machines, electricity could help alleviate the burden, but it would not be enough for much longer. We needed something else. Something better.” His head turned a little to the side. I noticed something he pulled to the side of the desk. A thick, leatherbound book. It looked positively ancient. And a small, closed jewelry casket on top. “Deep down, deeper than most diamond dogs had ever dared to dig, we found some sort of fungus. It was more of a nuisance to our digging operations than anything else at first, but they retrieved a sample and the labcoats quickly figured out that it stored vast amounts of energy. We had no idea what it was. Or how it worked. We fed it, it reproduced, and it somehow generated more energy than we put in. It was the perfect solution. We began harvesting immediately and tried to farm it.”

This time, we all grimaced in some fashion. It was easy to figure out the rest. We had seen the state of this city for ourselves. They had brought their own doom into their home. Willingly. Eagerly.

“We didn’t know it was sentient. It fought back, but in a manner that was hard to take seriously. Then things escalated. Digging groups vanished. Even within the city perimeter, famers just disappeared. We immediately suspected this stuff to be responsible. What followed was basically war. We had already invested too much into this new power source to give up on it. No one wanted to back out now.”

“It killed everyone and destroyed everything,” Twilight quietly mumbled aghast.

Ishmael nodded. “It did. We fought it down in the tunnels for the longest time. The stuff within the city seemed less volatile. Until one day, everything just… exploded. It was a massacre. I managed to scramble back here, badly wounded, and did the unspeakable. I tried to help as many as I could, but the exits were blocked. There was no way out. The other golems were mindlessly following their orders, which killed them over time, even if the citizens were long gone before they vanished.” He pointed at the diamond in his chest with a stony claw. “A memento of one too many encounters with the enemy. After all these years, I came to realize what my path must be. I am undying, and yet I am dying. In its cracked state, this gemstone will not last me much longer. There is no gemstone of equal size around. It cannot be replaced. And I cannot leave this city.” He turned halfway around with a deep sigh and retrieved both the book and the casket from the desk, offering both to us. “This book contains my research notes. A smart head should be able to make sense of it.” He opened the casket for us and showed us twelve gemstones. Three rubies, two sapphires, two emeralds, four diamonds, one amethyst. “These were the city’s treasures. Perfect clarity, perfect cut. They can activate any of my old machines for eternity, as long as the gemstone remains undamaged.”

Both Twilight and I were struck speechless. We simply stared at the selection of gems, then at the casket as he closed it and still offered it to us. This was his legacy. His life’s work. The thing his greedy mind had struggled to keep secret for decades. Even when his people demanded more than a single diamond dog could deliver, he refused to share his knowledge. And now he offered it up on a silver platter, all of it.

“My time is running out,” he growled in frustration. “I had hoped for many years that others of my kind would find this city, but none ever came. I know you ponies. You are kind. Friendly. Helpful. I ask you, as humbly as I can, to take this and bring it to my people. I can only fathom what their cities and towns might look like these days. Maybe they do not need my research anymore. Maybe some other smart diamond dog figured it out by now. But I fear they might have fallen back to the old ways of squabbling. Alphas leading packs through strength. Packs fighting among themselves for dominance. We had managed to move past those primitive times. And if the other cities have fallen into disrepair as I fear, then this should help fix it.”

Twilight finally accepted the offered items. She almost reverently stored them in one of her saddlebags. “It is hard to find proper words for this. I am deeply sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine how it must have been to live through that, and to endure the loneliness that came after. Are you sure that there is no possibility to save your life? We could try to find another way! A friend of mine is really good at finding gemstones. Maybe she could—“

“No,” Ishmael cut in and shook his head. “While I am grateful for the offer, this entire last week has been a miracle in itself. Your arrival almost feels fated to me. Maybe God did listen to my pleas after all. I have no idea why he would send ponies, of all things, but who am I to question his will? I have only a few days left. Gemstones of the clarity required are only found deep down. These twelve are half of what we found. In decades. And I was a perfectionist my entire life. These golems cannot be powered by gemstones of a worse quality or smaller size than they already have. I am certain. That said…” He pointed his claw again. This time at the tools on the walls. Several of them levitated from their suspensions and quickly filled up a toolbox. “These would be the proper tools for a diamond dog jeweler to follow the instructions contained in my journal.”

A few days remaining.

No wonder he was willing to give his life's work up to us and hope for the best. He had few options left. It likely also explained why he had chosen to follow us around and push us forward, only springing into action when absolutely necessary. He was almost out of juice. He was not even as dangerous as I initially had thought. Just an old, greedy dog, trapped in a frail and failing body. And he had played us like a damn fiddle for the longest time. “What does the collar do?” I asked out of sheer idle curiosity.

“The gemstone can only supply so much energy in any given time interval. The collar overrides that and allows to draw more energy out of the diamond.” Which, as far as I understood his superficial explanations, only served to kill him faster. He must have noticed my furrowed brow, as he continued his explanation shortly after. “I knew that it was likely for you to encounter the enemy sooner or later. I could not risk losing this chance.”

So he used up his energy, which directly related to his remaining lifetime, to defend us. It could have been a noble sacrifice, were it not for his ulterior motives. And there was another thing that irked me. “Why not just tell us everything from the start? Why not just bring this stuff up and give it to us as soon as we fell into the hole?”

He shook his head. “Impossible. The enemy would not have let me escape. It knew. It monitors this house. I am the last one remaining. It cannot cross the barriers, but neither can I bring this out of the city safely. I needed you to come down here.”

“Even so. When Applejack fell in, you could have simply asked for her help. You could have told her to meet you at the bottom. That you’re a hostage, sort of, and that you need help,” I insisted.

“And that would have worked?” he asked doubtfully.

“Yes,” Twilight cut in. “The friend I mentioned before had an encounter with diamond dogs a few years ago. Rover, Spot and Fido. We rarely encounter diamond dogs at all and they were one of few other opportunities to learn about their society, behavior and psychology. It may be hard to understand for your kind, but yes — simply asking for help would have worked just fine.”

“Interesting,” he grumbled and sighed. “That could have saved us time and effort. But it is too late for that. I will now accompany you back to the exit. We will have to make haste, I don’t know how much time is left and any encounter with the enemy will severely deplete my reserves. But I must ensure your safe departure.”

Twilight sighed as well and grabbed the toolbox with her levitation. Maybe we would get a chance to talk on the way out. Ishmael undoubtedly had a lot more to tell, a lot of knowledge to share. For all the pretenses and excuses we made, this was still an adventure. And this was probably our loot? Knowledge about a civilization we barely knew anything about, even though they lived right under our hooves. Rainbow would probably have preferred something more substantial, like a golden idol or something. But for Twilight and me, this was actually perfect.

“Remember to keep a low magical profile,” Ishmael warned us. “The enemy can sense it.” He walked over to the door and we followed him close behind. I was decently sure that the rest of the building was his living room, his bedroom, a storage, a kitchen, a pantry, something along those lines. And even if the irrefutable evidence of war crimes would be just a stone’s throw away, some actual archeologists might have fun discovering those. I had no reason not to believe Ishmael in regards to his health, so he would be long dead by the time anypony came down here to investigate.

“Twilight? Do you need help with the toolbox?” I asked.

She smiled and shook her head. “I am fine, but thank you.”

White Tip shifted a little on my back. I was about to ask him if he was fine as well when all hell broke loose.

Ishmael opened the door.

For a fraction of a second, I wondered. Why was everything so pitch-black outside? Fractions of a second any good soldier would have already used. But my mind was so transfixed by that utter blackness that I failed in that regard. Twilight on the other hoof was more experienced. Even in combat, by now. But even she failed to expect that.

The hunter was right outside.

The moment the golem opened the door, a single, spear-like tendril shot out of the black, gooey body mass and pierced straight through the diamond spinning in Ishmaels chest. White Tip cawed loudly to alarm us and his claws painfully dug into my coat again. Twilight's eyes went wide as dinner plates before she focused energy into her horn and put up a hemispherical shield. The tendril was cut off and splashed to the ground lifelessly. And Ishmael fell backwards. I felt the last remnants of magic fizzle out.

Everything he had been was gone.

Twilight had positioned herself in front of the door, to bar entry. Even though her shield did that just fine. Her wings were unfurled, extended to their full, impressive glory. I doubted this organism was intimidated by that. I instead carefully walked around the remains and poked a single piece with a hoof. I saw the bone-shaped stones, still covered with runes, scattered on the floor. But the glyphs did not glow anymore. Touching the stones did not send even the slightest tingle up my leg. There were splinters of the diamond all over the place. Apparently the material only dissolved into nothingness if it was used up as fuel. This one was broken. Shattered. Quite a mundane thing.

“He’s gone,” I informed Twilight and walked over to her side. “I’m sorry.” She gritted her teeth. I could not gauge if she saw it as her mistake, mine, his, all of us or none. But I could easily see all the potential that was lost. The knowledge we would not get. The conversations we would not have.

It took me a moment to realize that technically, we were still in battle. Yet the goo had done nothing. “How is the shield holding up?” I asked.

It helped her refocus, it seemed. “No drain,” she replied curtly.

I wondered when that thing would turn up again, a voice in the back of my head chuckled.

“You killed him. Satisfied?” I asked the creature. “Mind letting us leave now?” It was worth a shot after all, right?

The goo wobbled and hummed and vibrated. After a few seconds, it retreated a couple of feet from the doorway and began to shrink in on itself. It twitched and spasmed until it formed something that vaguely resembled the shape of a pony. It did not get all the features right though. While it was hard to tell, the goo seemed to form even a mane and tail, but its muzzle was too short and above it sat a single, lidless, orange eye. I grimaced immediately, as I had seen that one before.

“No.”

Twilight and I exchanged a look.

We had speculated that this thing wanted to usher us down as much as Ishmael had. We now knew what his motives had been. I had assumed this thing simply wanted to kill him. Especially after all Ishmael had told us about the conflict of ages past. But maybe it was smart enough to realize that we might get away with, oh, say, research notes or something silly like that.

Maybe it knew.

“What do you want?” Twilight asked. I could hear the strain in her voice. How she tried to remain calm. Her tone was even, measured, careful. It reminded me of Sunny. Twilight was a natural born leader, just like her. All the chaos in her mind could wait for later. It was an impressive feat I failed to emulate.

“Tell. Story,” it replied. Every word seemed to be a chore. Some alien sound that was difficult to produce. I wondered how it spoke our language to begin with. Had it encountered ponies before? Or had it learned from following us, watching us and listening to our conversations? Maybe it had learned from the brief contact in the farming district, when its tendrils made contact with both Twilight and me?

The immediate issue was that we could not tell if it wanted to tell us a story, or if it wanted us to tell it a story. And what story. It seemed to realize that after everypony stayed quiet for a moment. “Not need mind before. Just lived. Grew. Explored. Unthinking. Then hurt. Carried away. Need to understand. Need mind. Made mind. Saw machines. Machines hurt. Saw people. People use machines. Machines hurt. Us energy. Machines eat. Use us. Mind made decision. Defeat machines. Defeat hurt. People not understand. Built new machines. Mind understood. No people, no machines, no hurt. People gone. Machines gone. One remains.”

This tale left a lot to be desired as far as storytelling went. But it was suitable to convey the meaning in broad strokes. And it painted quite a grim picture. One Ishmael had already alluded to. An organism that grew in the deepest, darkest corners of the earth. They poked it, it poked back. They tried to rip it to shreds to fuel their growing industry and it defended itself.

Went a little overboard there, didn’t it?

That was certainly one way to speak of genocide. But whose fault was that, really? Even now, decades later, this creature could barely talk. It probably still barely understood anything. There was no one around to teach it. It had become sentient out of necessity. In a hostile environment no less. All it knew was ‘attack’ and ‘defend’. Had it ever talked to diamond dogs? Had it tried? If not, which seemed most likely to me — would it have made any difference?

I fueled our fireplace with wood. How would I react if my firewood suddenly kicked me in the shin and ran for the hills? Or if it started to plead with me not to burn it? I would be horrified. I would feel incredibly guilty for all the other, numerous times I lit our fireplace.

But I was a pony.

Would a diamond dog react the same way? We knew so little about them.

“Well, he is dead,” Twilight shot back, “because you killed him. He can therefore no longer be the reason you refuse to let us go.”

“Twi, I know this is all kinds of messed up, but… try to stay calm, peanut,” I urged her.

She took a deep breath and gave me a curt nod. Even White Tip, although he was still very much on edge, held up better right now. He ducked low on my back and tried to crawl into me, it seemed. It was fine. We were fine. We were still safe and secure beneath Twilight’s shimmering shield.

It was not that Twilight did not have compassion for the cruel fate this organism had endured. I knew her. She felt for it. But it was considerably harder to show that empathy right after witnessing a cold-blooded murder. Her reluctance in that regard crumbled the moment the pony-shape did.

I furrowed my brow as I saw its rubbery black legs buckle, and then they simply gave out and it collapsed to the ground. Despite her caution, despite the corpse behind us, the shield vanished instantly and she galloped over to its side. “What is happening?”

“Death,” it simply replied and raised its head to face us. “Us feed. Us store. One remains. Food empty.”

I thought back to all the goo we had seen across the entire city. It was everywhere. Certainly felt like it. But rarely did it do anything. And Twilight had already analyzed samples of it. She had already concluded that it was starving. Dying. And a single piece of it remained active, which… probably only accelerated its demise. Similar to what Ishmael had done.

I was sure neither of them would appreciate me pointing out the similarities.

“I could help you,” Twilight offered. Because of course she did. I grimaced and walked over to her side, just so that I would be able to at least attempt to stop her if she were to try anything stupid. This creature had slaughtered hundreds, if not thousands. Yes, I myself questioned if it could be held accountable for those deaths. But there was clearly danger present. We had seen that a couple of seconds ago. But she was already willing to share whatever magic she had left to keep this thing alive.

“Us too big,” the creature declined, much to my relief. “Mind done. Go back down. Grow. Explore. Unthinking. No hurt. Ensure no hurt. No knowledge. No machines.”

I flinched a little. It knew. Maybe not of the book. Or the tools. Or the gemstones. But it knew that Ishmael had shared something with us. That we were carrying his legacy away from this place. And there seemed to be little it could do about that.

I tried to imagine what it would lead to. We could offer the journal and gemstones and tools to the diamond dogs. It would be one heck of a boon in any diplomatic endeavor to establish proper contact with them. More importantly, it could really help them get back on their hooves. Paws. Whatever. Their crumbled ruins could light up once more, their entire society could reach a second period of prosperity.

… and their hunger for power would grow once more. Gemstones first, then electricity. Then whatever else they can get their grubby little paws on.

Was history doomed to repeat itself?

I looked down to the creature as it laid its gooey head on the ground. The eye dissolved. And so did the rest of the body. It lost its shape again and the goo covered the ground.

“They were bitter enemies right up to the end,” I remarked.

She sighed and stood back up again. “They were. It is a tragedy of unfathomable proportions what happened here. They unknowingly inflicted so much pain. And stubbornly refused to learn. In the end, they paid a terrible price, but…” Twilight softly shook her head and put in some effort to smile. “I refuse to let this be the end of this story.”

I chuckled. That’s my peanut. “You have a plan?”

She shook her head, but her smile remained undiminished. “Not quite yet.” She tapped her saddlebag with one hoof. “But I think we do have everything we need. Maybe all they need to get along is a little bit of help. Somepony to establish proper diplomatic relationships. It worked for the griffons, yaks and dragons, did it not?”

“Even the changelings,” I hesitantly chimed in with a slight grimace.

She smiled warmly. “Yes. Especially them. We did this before. We can do it again. We just need to figure this out properly. I need to do some research.”

I laughed softly. It was astonishing how unflappable she could be. She was already back to her usual self and planned to better the world. “I’ll gladly help you, if you’ll have me. I think seeing this through might help me feel like… I don’t know… like this finally ended, I guess. The flashes never told me what happened to Red, Silver and myself. It could feel like a proper conclusion.”

Her smile widened into a grin. “I would love to have your help.”

It was hard to see her so energetic, so optimistic, especially in a place like this, and not get infected at least a little bit. So I grinned like an idiot in reply and nodded maybe a little bit too enthusiastically. “Right. So, how’s your magic?”

And somehow, even her grin widened a little. “I cannot feel any strain whatsoever ever since it dissolved. No dispersion field.”

Now that was good news!

I chuckled as I saw that glint in her eyes. How eager she was. “Teleport?”

She sidled up to me and put her wing across my back. “Hold onto your breakfast!” she giggled.

The moment she reminded me of that nasty side effect, I wanted to retract my decision. But in a bright raspberry flash and a loud pop, we were already gone.

Epilogue

We stood in the middle of the entry hallway when we popped back into existence. The castle door was a dozen feet away and my stomach immediately lurched a little. I was probably a bit green around the nose as Twilight’s eager smile froze for a second and she pulled me tighter against herself. “Are you alright?”

She obviously knew what was up and that my first impulse was to simply reply with a ‘I’m fine’, which would have been a lie and yet still a viable answer. I would be fine. In a minute or two. I instead forced a shaky smile onto my lips. “Best teleport experience I had in a week. Couldn’t wait for it,” I answered in a slight croak.

It still served well enough to disperse her worries and her smile bloomed to old strength once more. She retracted her wing, for which I was a lot less grateful and levitated my saddlebags from my back to add them to her own collection of goodies. “Now, if we want to solve this conflict in a less violent manner — which we do! —, we first need to better understand what exactly we are dealing with. Somewhere in those saddlebags should be a couple of samples of alloys they commonly used for their technology, as well as a few pieces of cutlery which should hopefully offer us an insight in how they worked metal. And I think I might have managed to snuck in a tiny mechanical device from one of the preserved houses as well. That in addition to my notes and the toolbox Ishmael provided us with should be a decent start to get a better grasp on how they produce their technology, how it works and how it can be powered. The other side of the conflict is a little bit trickier. I do not know for certain if all of the organisms died when the creature did. I hope that the sample I collected is still alive. If so, maybe it has some sort of collective memory and we might actually still be able to save it! Or at least we could study its energy storage ability and maybe figure out what the diamond dogs were planning and how we could substitute a different option. Of course with all this in mind, the first thing that needs to happen right now is for us to sort all the samples and—“

She did not even notice.

Twilight had started talking. And then she started pacing in front of me. And I already knew how this would end. Not to disappoint, Twilight then slowly walked along the hallway, towards the staircase that led down into the cellar. Down to her laboratory setup. And she talked and talked and talked and did not notice. Not the huge grin I sported as I loved hearing her get lost in science, nor the fact that I did not walk alongside her but stayed behind in the hallway.

She was very much ‘in the zone’ and would probably notice my absence in about half an hour, minimum. If she remembered that I actually wanted to help her and she therefore was supposed to have a lab assistant. Which I would not bet on.

That left me plenty of time to do other, mundane stuff. Like actually telling Spike that we were back home.

I still grinned as I walked along the familiar paths. I loved, loved, loved being back home. The scent that permeated the entire castle was soothing. I quickly opened the living room door and found it deserted. Well, except for Owlicious who slept on his perch.

“White Tip?” It took him a moment to react. He seemed quite sleepy himself, which was just perfect. “We’re home, buddy. Do you want to sit down and have a nap?” I turned sideways so he had an easier time both seeing the perch and his friend, and flying off to it if he wanted. And hoo boy, did he want to. He gave me the quietest caw I had heard until now, brushed his little head on my back as a demonstration of affection and then flew over. I smiled as I saw him settle. Owlicious woke up, turned his head and ‘who’d at him just as quietly.

I decided that they would figure it out on their own. I stepped back from the door and closed it again. I had a mission, after all. Searching the castle to find Spike did not take as long as I had expected. It would have been perfectly possible for him to be out. Maybe stocking up on groceries, maybe visiting friends, maybe doing some other errand or chore. But I walked down the hallway and heard soft voices, which surely did not belong to Twilight.

“— sure they can actually do that?” I heard Spike ask in astonishment. His voice was muffled by the still closed door that separated me from the kitchen.

“They can if they so wish to. Which, lucky for us, they rarely do,” Luna replied.

I furrowed my brow. What was she doing here?

The date.

Oh. Ohhh, right. Three days. Had I managed to make it in time? Either way, it was so nice to hear her voice and I hesitated no longer to intrude upon their conversation by opening the door. Both looked up and their faces showed surprise as they saw me enter.

“Hey buddy. Hi Luna. We’re back.”

They were right in front of me within an instant, it felt like. And both hugged me. And with a deep, satisfied sigh, I hugged them back with all my strength while simultaneously melting into their gestures. Spike’s warm scales pressed against my leg and my chest on one side and Luna’s soft coat on the other. My nostrils flared and greedily helped themselves to her intoxicating scent. I’m home, I thought for the umpteenth time. How did it always feel so much more appreciated when I returned from some grueling, exhausting adventure?

“Dude, you need a shower,” Spike chirped up after what felt like a blissful eternity.

He chuckled and I quickly chimed in. “Do I? Hm. I’m pretty sure I almost drowned in an ice-cold bath at least a day ago, or three… hard to tell.”

“You almost drowned?” he echoed in surprise.

“Yeah, it’s… it’s a long story. We’re fine though,” I quickly jumped to disperse whatever worry might form in his head. “Twilight took half the city as samples and is currently down in the lab to unravel the mysteries of the universe. You know. Twilight-stuff. I thought it would be appreciated if I let you know that we’re actually still alive.” He nodded eagerly and I turned to Luna. Her muzzle was so close. Too close to resist. At least I limited myself to a little peck on her nose. She was not here for me, I tried to remind myself. “You’re waiting for your date with Twilight?”

Luna wrinkled her nose in reply and then smiled warmly as she leaned in and gave me a proper kiss. And I had no words for how grateful I was. For her kiss just as much as for Spike’s silence as he ignored the unfolding scene and just let me have this moment. She wrinkled her nose again as she pulled back, but her pretty smile remained.

“That bad, huh?”

“I have had worse,” she giggled. “I came by yesterday in hopes you might make it back in time, yes. However, after Spike told me about your situation, I decided to stay for a few days. In case you needed help.”

I grinned. It was nice to know that the cavalry had been merely a stone’s throw away. It somehow made it easier to deal with all that had happened, even in retrospect. She was there. She had our backs. And no goo or golem or spider would have been capable of posing a serious threat to the Mistress of the Night. “Well, it seems like I failed in the task I set for myself. But since you’re here already, I, uh, brought her back for you?”

She giggled again and nodded eagerly. “So I have heard, yes. And I am grateful for that.”

I noticed how Spike had started to shuffle around a little. He was nervous. Or eager. I could imagine that the direction of our current conversation did not interest him as much as me telling adventure stories. And he probably wanted to greet Twilight as well. So I stepped a little to the side, out of the doorway and closer to Luna. “Just go already.”

Spike grinned from ear to ear. “Thanks!” He was out the door before I could even reply, but came back a few seconds later to hug me once more. “It’s great to have you back!” And off he went again.

I stared at the empty space for a second longer and chuckled quietly. “Right. Glad to be back.” I turned my attention back to Luna. “So, about that date. Mind if I ask about your plan?”

She cocked an eyebrow and smiled. “Not at all. I originally wanted to take her out to see the Ponytones perform. They do have another performance this afternoon, so that part could still fit. I thought a nice stroll through Whitetail Woods after that would be lovely. Maybe a picnic in the evening.”

I furrowed my brow as I realized that I had no idea how late it even was. Apparently sometime before afternoon. I could find out easily, and more importantly: Later. I knew that there were several small lakes in Whitetail Woods. They provided lovely scenery and were perfect for a picnic. That being said… “Are you open to suggestions?”

She smirked. “Let me hear them.”

“We’ve been walking for several days, if I’m not mistaken,” I started my attempt to improve her date. “We had very little sleep and what we did get felt awful. Our food situation was subpar as well and in this entire week or what it was, we did not see much of the sky. So my suggestion would be this: Don’t scrap your plans, but delay them for another time. Go down to the lab, grab Twilight and make her take a shower. Or, you know what? Better yet! Take a bath with her. I will go out and make a couple of preparations and once you’re done, we can maybe finish the day with a nice, quiet round of stargazing? I’m honestly pretty sure that she’d love to have an opportunity to just sit down, relax and maybe doze off leaning against you.”

There was an amused glint dancing around in her eyes as she listened. I did not understand what made her grin until she nodded and asked about a peculiarity I had subconsciously woven into my proposal. “And I suppose neither would you, firecracker? You do sound like you are planning on being there with us.”

I blushed a little as she used my pet name, but her allusion confused me. Did I? I skimmed over what I had said once more and finally noticed it. We can finish the day. Ah well, a Freudian slip. “Right. Sorry about that, I don’t mean to intrude or impose.”

She snickered and shook her head. “Do not worry about that, Dream. I will talk to Twilight, but I do not expect her to refuse the idea. As far as I am concerned, you are welcome. It might actually be a lot of fun to have a proper date with both of you at the same time.”

There it was again, that playful twinkle. I blushed a little once more as she winked at me. Well, if she was not worried about getting jealous, neither was I, I decided. I leaned in and stole a quick kiss from her.

She sighed happily and smiled. “I accept your suggestion. It sounds reasonable and should make for a lovely day and evening.”

I chuckled as I noticed that she did not say anything about our upcoming night. She probably saw those bags under my eyes and could already guess to find those under Twilight’s as well. This night would most likely be spent sleeping off our fatigue.

“Thank you,” I whispered in contentment. “I shall see you two later then.” I tried to steal yet another kiss, but she playfully leaned back in time to avoid me and grinned like a proud filly as she dodged a second attempt. Fine, I playfully grumbled in my head as I decided to be the bigger pony and just left. The faintest ghost of a subdued giggle followed me. It was music to my ears and made me smile.

I retrieved my purse and a couple of bits from my room and exited the castle shortly after.

The intense sunlight needled my eyes. It was a bit painful at first, but once I simply closed them and resigned to just stand in front of the door, things got better. I felt the intense heat of my love’s sun seep into my coat. It was a welcome feeling. I felt connected to her. Reminded of her. And I could not help but smile as I raised my muzzle to blow a kiss towards the sun. “Hey love. I hope you have a good day so far. I’ll make sure to come by soon. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll see. I have a lot to tell you.”

After two, maybe three minutes, I felt sufficiently warmed up. I actually felt a little sweaty, but oh well.

As I walked through Ponyville, I absorbed its atmosphere as best as I could. I enthusiastically waved at Lyra as she was bugging Bonbon about something. She grinned like a maniac as she waved back. I smiled at Mister Cake as he retrieved a few boxes from the alley behind Sugarcube Corner. I greeted Scootaloo as she zipped by. I’m home, I repeated yet again.

I was home. And alive. And decently well. I did not even feel my hooves burn all the time.

A few minutes later I ended up in a waiting line. It moved at a reasonable pace. I blushed in embarrassment as I realized that the ponies behind me kept their distance. It reminded me of Spike’s comment about me needing a shower as well. Maybe I really should have taken one first. But it was too late for that now.

And honestly, I was giddy with excitement. I could not wait to see Twilight’s eyes light up in utmost delight, could not wait to hear her happy noises and see her prance in place. I could not wait to smile and laugh about how messy her muzzle was and how little she cared for such decorum.

The line moved again and I was the next customer.

“Welcome!” The employee greeted me with a friendly but bustling smile. “What can I get you?”

“I’d like to order takeout,” I announced with excitement bubbling beneath a very thin surface. The pony opposite the counter nodded and waited for the actual order. “I’d like to have thirty hayburgers. With fries.”

Might and Magic

I tried hard not to think of it as: It almost feels like the first day. Because that would not just imply, no, it would emphasize that we had been down here for several days already. Two days minimum was my current estimation. Two days without a proper shower or bath. Two days without brushing my teeth. Two days of constant walking and stressing and tense nerves and no proper, comfortable sleep.

But despite my efforts, this did feel like the first day. When everything had still been fresh and unknown and exciting. When that adorable glint in Twilight’s eyes still spoke of wonder and awe. Because that glint was back. And I silently admired it. I dared not to breathe too loudly or walk too quickly in fear it might disrupt this moment. I wanted it to stretch for as long as I could manage to keep it going.

The fourth city layer turned out to be the financial district. Banks and vaults and treasuries. Large and imposing buildings that attempted to make us feel small as we entered the main halls and stared up at the high-vaulted ceilings. We entered a couple of these until we eventually grew bored and silently agreed to skip them. The city was partially lit with street lights now, but the insides of the buildings were not. The architecture failed in its attempts to intimidate us due to this unfortunate circumstance.

Most of the structures were built out of white marble. Another exorbitant demonstration of wealth. But I had to admit, it served two purposes very well: Firstly, it pulled the theme of the residential district further down into the city and made sure to tell visitors that this wealth they saw up there was not just a façade, not just a one-off. Oh no, this city really was rich. But at the same time, they used marble for these buildings, not diorite. They still needed to make a significant distinction between ‘people live here’ and ‘wealth lies here’. The white down here was splendid. It lacked the subtle sparkle the spotted diorite had provided and was therefore less flashy. It instead opted for a more sedate, regal splendor.

Secondly, it reinforced the main theme of the city as a whole. The residential area had established it quite well, but what followed immediately after was the rather industrious looking layer of the air conditioning complexes. And after that? Farms and pastures and orchards. A strange outlier down here. Greenery and food production. The city as a whole had less of a cohesive theme going. It seemed more like every layer stuck to its own theme. But the financial district at least made sure what was supposed to be front and center and that the industry and agriculture were the outliers, not the opulence.

White Tips claws subtly dug into my back and my attention shifted back to my surroundings. Twilight looked at me and now that I was actually present, she smiled and nodded towards another building ahead of us. We had cleared half the layer by now and she was busy sketching her city map again. I followed her gesture and saw yet another marble building, but its layout was admittedly a little bit different. Maybe not a vault, then. I nodded and we entered it through its massive door a minute later.

Said door gave a slightly annoyed creaking as the less than well-maintained metal hinges strained. We entered another massive entrance hall, which already frustrated me slightly, but Twilight was less disheartened than me and forged ahead through stale air, rubble and the piles of what probably had been chairs and tables at some point.

We entered a considerably smaller backroom through one of the many doorways without a door. The tables in here were still intact due to them being made out of metal. And a strange assortment of devices was strewn across the place. Some still rested on their workplaces, others cluttered the floor. One in particular drew my gaze. I had no idea what this tool was used for once upon a time. Only that it looked like somepony had used it as a projectile. It was lodged in the wall roughly one foot below the ceiling. If I were to levitate one of these tools and kick it with the perfect angle and perfect speed and all of my strength, it would clatter against the wall and fall to the ground. Twilight probably had enough force behind her telekinesis to do something like that. But I was decently sure that no diamond dog reached that level of strength.

I was sure it was supposed to be scary how quickly this feeling deadened. We had seen no piles of bones or bones scattered on the floor. Nowhere in this entire district. So they managed to flee, probably to die in other parts of the city. But even here were clear signs of struggle. Of battles. Some of the vaults we had visited had their massive, thick metal doors ripped open. And apparently, tools were lodged in walls. I was certain there was an interesting story behind that. A grisly one as well, probably.

I sighed and refocused. Twilight had already sketched some of the tools. Meanwhile I played around with one of them and had not even realized it. I held it aloft with my magic and just twirled it around like a cane. I smiled wryly and stopped making a fool of myself. This was a graveyard. It deserved respect. And that tool was probably old enough to count as a priceless relic of a bygone era or something.

What even was that thing?

I brought it closer to my muzzle in hopes my light would not only illuminate the item better, but somehow give me a better grasp on its nature. A pair of pliers. But the business end of it was strangely shaped. Was that a diamond dog’s head?

I looked around and found a couple more of these tools. No gloves, I wondered. But three cauldrons. Stone cauldrons. Beneath a pipe system on the ceiling. Two of the cauldrons were cracked and broken apart, but there was enough left to guess their design compared to the third one. Something was poured into them from the ceiling. And there were plenty of these tools. They had a little indent and—

“It’s a coining press, isn’t it?” I asked myself. But the fact that I spoke aloud drew Twilight’s attention.

“I think so too, yes,” she agreed. “Although I wonder. From what we have seen so far, the level of their technology should provide at least some means to automate this process. I could think of a couple just off the top of my head. But they used these pliers. There is a small mechanism to fix them shut. Probably so that the metal inside could cool down, because I do not see any sinks or basins. There must be a reason why they choose this procedure.”

The longer she speculated about it, the more excited she got. I just loved seeing her like this. “We’ve skipped a couple of buildings. Maybe this isn’t the only press. If so, others might actually have been more advanced. Maybe this one was not outfitted with new tech yet. Or maybe they wanted to keep old traditions alive. Ooor, maybe this building was just there to produce some sort of special coin. You know? To mark special occasions or something like that.”

She grinned gleefully and her feather furiously scribbled down several new notes in her journal. Like a filly in a candy store. I smiled privately and sighed as my gaze fell upon the pliers once more. They sparked my own imagination, in a way. We had not exactly been thorough with the buildings we had entered, aside from the first one or two maybe. But I had a decent understanding of their general layout. And for some reason, my head wanted to make that into a combat encounter map for my next Ogres & Oubliettes-game. I grinned lopsided and shook my head as I put the tool down.

“You might want to see this,” Twilight announced. I looked over to her and she drew her muzzle out of one of the lower cabinets. She levitated something almost as large as the cabinet itself and set it down on top. I walked over and furrowed my brow. It was a diorama. Of the very building we were in. It looked like it was crafted from painted cardboard. But at the same time, the craftsmanship at display was impressive. Rarity would have loved to see this.

“Why do they keep a diorama of their own building in that building?” I wondered aloud and shook my head before I addressed the more obvious question. The one Twilight had on her mind as well. “And why is it still intact?” She agreed and I knew she had something planned as she glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes. “What?”

She smiled. “Luna told me that you can be very sensitive to magic.”

That old blabbermouth! I grinned and shook my head. I would have my terrible, terrible revenge some other day. Not because this was actually worth any revenge. Just because I liked the idea of teasing her. Any flimsy excuse to do that was good enough for me. “Well, true. But I can’t really control that. Or… I haven’t quite learned how yet. It just happens.”

She acknowledged that and studied the diorama again before she apparently made some kind of decision worth a nod. “I would like you to try anyway? I think they might have enchanted this. If I am right, that would be interesting, because from a superficial study, I could not find any gemstones or gemstone slots, no hidden compartments or such.”

“Which would mean that they had ways to access magic without gemstones,” I concluded. She nodded again, yet again with an excited grin plastered on her lovely muzzle. I smirked. “Alright, I’ll give it a shot. What am I supposed to do?” She released the diorama from her magical grasp. She was about to say something but I held a hoof up to stop her. I could already feel it.

I was so used to Twilight’s magic, its color, its scent, its taste. It was alluring, intoxicating, but most importantly, it was powerful. Even her light spell, as simple as that was, exuded an aura that easily overpowered lesser magic fields in our surroundings. After years and years of living with her, I had simply grown accustomed to it. But this diorama really was enchanted in some way. With magic strong enough that once Twilight withdrew her telekinetic grasp, it overpowered the remaining aura of her light.

It was subtle. A tingling right beneath my coat. Like an itch I could not scratch away. I had not even noticed it in the first couple of weeks or months after my arrival. And a year later or so, I became aware of it and it was an unpleasant experience. I had to learn to deal with that. It was nice to feel Celestia’s magic caress my cheek when I tried to sleep through the morning hours. Because it very much felt like her. Warm and soothing and comforting and patient. I could tell. The same way Luna had never managed to surprise me when she snuck up on me, put her hooves over my eyes and sent a single tendril of her magic up my spine. To be fair, she lost that game of ‘guess who’ every time because she was the only one playing it with me. But again, I could tell it was her magic. It was electrifying, thrilling, exciting.

Everypony had their own aura. Every source of magic felt different. Despite their insistence that my sensibility to magic was out of the norm, I still could not feel the background magic as such. Magic was everywhere, after all. Air contained magic. Rocks did. Every tree and flower did. But I could not feel it there. I just felt magic that was actively shaped. Active spells.

And that diorama was active.

It felt bland, to be honest. Stale. But I supposed that was only fitting for magic that was probably intended to keep something intact throughout the ages. “You’re right,” I told Twilight. “It’s enchanted, I think.” I grabbed the diorama in my own magic and cautiously turned it around. I inspected its backside, its sides and its underside. I brought it a lot closer and inspected all the little details. I noticed that the building could be opened and after doing so, we had a nice little look into the floorplan of it. We even saw the little room we stood in. Without miniatures of us in it, to my relief. That could have been scary.

I carefully put it back down and Twilight studied the insides as well. And again, the diorama sparked my imagination in much the same way the pliers had earlier. I chuckled faintly. “Stop it,” I mumbled to myself.

I underestimated the silence that permeated the room. The building. The city as a whole. “Stop what?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, nothing, I was just—“ I cut myself off and looked at the diorama once more with a grin. “I was just thinking if I should take some of this stuff as props.”

“Props?” she asked as she furrowed her brow. But soon enough I saw comprehension dawn and she grinned shrewdly. “Are you thinking about a new campaign?”

I smirked. “I will admit, I had a couple of ideas swirling around in my head and an itching in my hooves. And this entire field trip, despite all the hurdles and such, is a treasure trove of inspiration.”

It was supposed to be strange, was it not?

Here I was, having an epic adventure. No, pardon. An epic danger assessment mission. An epic reconnaissance mission. An epic scientific field study. Whatever she wanted to call it to spare me.

And I just could not stop groaning and whining and lamenting my terrible, terrible fate. Most of it I successfully kept bottled up and inside. But none of this was fun. Not for me. I saw that glint in her eyes and it warmed my heart. But I did this for her. I was down here for her. I hated it here. I hated how uncontrollable these flashes were. And what they did to me. I hated losing control like that. Not being myself anymore. Crossing over with some other iteration of myself from some other life I barely remembered pieces of. I hated the headaches that followed and the weak knees and the churning stomach. I hated being hungry without the option to quickly grab a snack, even though that was less of an issue for now. And gosh-darn it, I hated not being able to properly rest. I wanted to lie down on a bed, snuggle up to Twilight and sleep for a week and I wanted that so badly. I felt tired and exhausted and my concentration was lacking and I hated that as well.

Admittedly, ‘hate’ was a bit of a strong term for this. All of it. It was more like an annoyance. One that continuously grinded away at my nerves and patience.

All the excitement was just more reason to be wary. All the twists and turns were just invitations for new disasters and sudden shifts in what we thought was safe. I cared little about diamond dogs, if I was honest. They were not part of my life in any capacity. But these flashes made me care. They made me fear for Red’s and Silver’s fate, even though I had a perfectly well-founded suspicion how this story would end.

But at the same time, I would be thrilled to have this adventure at home in the castle, at a table with my friends playing Ogres & Oubliettes. It was a perfectly safe environment, I could have all the snacks I wanted, I could call it quits for the evening if I got tired and we would have fun and danger and excitement in just the right amount. And I was in control.

Exploring a long-lost, abandoned diamond dog city. Puzzling over how they powered their devices. Narrowly escaping the old guardians and new, predatory inhabitants. Forging a path down to the center, where huge revelations and loot galore would be waiting. It sounded like so much fun. At a game table. And only there. Because out here in the real world, it was just such a hassle, such a drag.

It was supposed to be strange, was it not?

I shook my head to disperse the musings. I already felt darkening clouds gathering at the horizon. There was no need to drag my own mood down further. So I looked at Twilight and let her smile warm me. And it instantly became easier to smile. “Well this has already been quite the danger assessment mission and you know me, I’m not much for writing protocols and reports. But I suspect my mind will bug me about this until I process it somehow. The obvious two choices being either to write about it. And I don’t intend to write a book. I don’t have that kind of time. Or I could craft it into a new campaign. Which would be great, because then I can share it with my friends. Writing is a bit of a lonely affair, you see. But I’m sure you know all about that.”

She replied to my grin with one of her own and sauntered over to me. Her tail flicked across my muzzle as she leaned down and placed a kiss on my back. And I sighed in content. “Actually, I do not. So many times when I try to write in peace and quiet, somepony comes bugging me.”

My grin grew wider and I leaned over and nuzzled her mane. “Is that so? How rude. I should have a word with that somepony. Can’t have them bother you like that. Don’t they know you’re an important princess pony? With important princess duties and stuff?”

Her giggle was a delight. “Do not be too harsh on him. I think he wants to keep me company as much for my sake as for his own. And he is very considerate when he comes by.”

I huffed a little. “Hm. I don’t know. I’ll be the judge of that.” I smiled and sidled up to her as we made our way out of the building. Twilight let the diorama float behind us and placed it next to the entrance. I presumed she intended to fetch it later. “So you’d be up for that?” I asked her as we once again walked along the andesite road.

“You mean a new campaign?” She asked for clarification. As soon as I confirmed as much, she smiled happily. “Of course! Especially after how the last one ended. I feel like there is still so much I could and want to explore with Vortex.”

Ah. And there’s the catch. I grimaced ever so slightly as I tried to be nice about how I phrased this. “I’m not entirely sure if playing Vortex again would be such a good idea…?”

She stopped. Right in the middle of the road, she just stopped. I stopped as well as soon as I noticed her missing by my side. Just to be sure, I checked our surroundings. My gaze drifted over the buildings, windows, entrances and roofs. The darker byroads, the direction ahead of us, behind us. There was a lot to keep track of. A lot of potential attack vectors. White Tip did his part to survey the area as well, even though I did not notice. But that was the point, exactly. He was attentive. Maybe even more so than I was. And his claws did not dig into my back, which should already have told me that there was nothing to be found.

So I watched Twilight. She regarded me with that inquisitive, piercing gaze of hers. “Why?”

“What do you mean, why?” I asked.

“You don’t want me to play Vortex anymore. And I want to know why.”

I was relieved at the same time that my stomach twisted into a tiny knot. This was not a big deal. Supposedly. “You have played her for roughly six years now, Twi. Two campaigns, a couple of one shots. You are very deep in your comfort zone. Don’t you think it might be time to try something new?”

She furrowed her brow and her gaze drifted down to the street as her gears turned with ever-increasing speed. She eventually looked back up at me and even though there was still no judgment in her eyes whatsoever, I saw little to no agreement either. “But I do try new things. With her. Through her. In our last campaign, she had to come to terms with betrayal and loss and the concept of forging your own family, not by blood but by trust, friendship and love. That last one shot we played a couple of months ago made her realize that maybe there really are some spells that should better be lost to time.”

I grimaced a little and smiled fondly at the same time as I remembered that instance. Twilight had cackled madly as Vortex went full coocoo with power. I had honestly not expected Twilight to be capable of such laughter. It was startling and impressive. Even Rainbow had given her seal of approval by stating a very Rainbow-like compliment in: “Whoa, that was awesome!” To which Twilight reacted with a blush, which in turn made Fluttershy giggle. And Derpy just enjoyed the show.

But Twilight was not done just yet. “You were the one who taught me the game. Spike tried to get me into it several times, but you succeeded where he failed. I don’t think I would ever have developed an interest in this hobby without you. And you always emphasized, no, stressed how there are a lot of rules and a lot of guidelines but at the end of the day, it is about having fun. If the rules state I cannot do what I want to do, but you approve of it, I can do it. As long as everypony at the table is okay with that and is having fun. And I am. I like Vortex. She is my stand-in. The lens through which I enter and experience your world.” I did not like how she grew quieter in those last sentences. How she became more vulnerable until she uttered a question that apparently was close to home right now. “Do you not like her anymore?”

I would have loved to cringe hard, but I luckily had better self-control than that. It could easily have conveyed the entirely wrong message.

She was right, of course. All she knew about roleplaying was stuff I had taught her. Well okay, maybe I should not claim all the credit, seeing as Shining Armor had basically roleplayed with his little sister for most of her youth. Which foal did not love to play pretend? Ogres & Oubliettes was just the grown-up version of that. And Vortex the Gray was less of a stand-in for Twilight and more of a self-insert with a few key changes. Which was fine with me, really. Despite her notoriously metagaming, it was fine. It was easy to love Twilight. Unavoidable, I corrected myself. And therefore, it was easy to love Vortex.

I sighed. “You don’t have to worry. I do still like her. A lot. She’s a little unhinged at times, but that somehow only contributes to her charm.” My reassurance at least seemed to ease her initial concerns somewhat. Her slightly shaky smile gained strength, she nodded and allowed me to kiss her tenderly for a brief moment. “It’s not that I don’t want you to play her anymore or that I don’t like her any longer. I just… roleplay has a lot to offer. You can be whoever and whatever you wish to be. I’m just worried you might be missing out on a lot of fun you could have otherwise.”

Her smile grew a little lopsided. “So you are worried about me again. We have talked about that, have we not?”

I grimaced slightly. “Guilty as charged,” I admitted. I did not wish to dwell on that too long and therefore quickly changed the topic. “Come to think of it: Vortex and you share a lot of similarities. And those differences are, let’s say ‘noticeable’. Do you ever feel frustrated and want to lash out?”

“She is not frustrated,” Twilight insisted.

I smirked and sidled up to her and we slowly moved on. “Sure she is. She burned down that inn in our last one shot.”

“That innkeeper demanded two silver pieces for each bedroom, but four from me!”

I chuckled as she riled herself up within mere seconds. I leaned over and bumped my shoulder against hers. “Yeah he did. Because he knew the name ‘Vortex the Gray’. Did you know she’s an unhinged wizard who practices dark magic? I told you that it would come back to bite you eventually.”

I laughed a little more as she pouted. Most times she did, it was just downright adorable. But her mind eventually got stuck on something. Probably how I had addressed her and not Vortex earlier. “Well of course I feel frustrated at times. Eventually being fed up with the stubbornness of other ponies is only natural, I hope. And when patience starts to run thin, it really helps to have a vent for that. That is one reason why I like Vortex so much. She is me, but less restrained. If that stupid innkeeper wants to overcharge her because of some stupid rumors, she can burn down his inn. It feels liberating, in a sense. When I go on a friendship mission and see that the conflict could have been resolved by simply talking it out and having an open conversation about the issue, it is frustrating. More so because it will most likely be the umpteenth time and I will once again have to contrive a scenario in which the involved parties actually do talk. I often feel like proper communication could solve ninety-three percent of most interpersonal problems.”

Ninety-three percent, eh? That number was too specific for her not to have some impressive looking math to back it up. But I focused on something else instead. I could understand that desire to explore ‘what if’s. My flashes were a unique variable in that regard. I had memories of a happy marriage with Pinkie, for example. Whenever I dared to dwell on those bits and pieces, I got the impression of lots and lots of laughter. Cheery smiles and sweet, tender moments. And when Pinkie and I met for somepony’s birthday party and we greeted each other and she hugged me like she hugged everypony else, like she had hugged me for thousands of times already, it was sometimes harder not to think about possibilities. A hug was a hug was a hug. But intention was important. And a hug could feel different just because of the intentions of those involved. It would be easy. A quick and simple change to make. And it would be wrong. Very, very wrong.

But the thought was there nonetheless.

And the other direction was just as present of course. Just two months ago, I had tried to talk with Doctor Whooves about… honestly, I didn't even remember. I quickly grew frustrated with him because he just did not give me a straight answer. And the idea was there. The image in my head of how I would grab him and drag him down to my level and snarl in his face that either he would give me the answer I required right now, or I would make him wish he would have given it.

That was just a sudden spike, of course. I would never. And neither would Twilight. But she had a point — roleplay was a good way to vent these feelings, to process them in a stable environment, supported by friends, while being safe and comfortable. And it had been fun to hear Vortex the Gray berate the self-proclaimed Guardian of the Timestream for his failings. Said guardian had no parallels to a certain Doctor I knew. None at all.

Twilight was right, as usual. I worried too much.

I shot her a wry smile. “So about those unexplored areas,” I offered. “Any particular wishes?”

Twilight quickly picked up on my attempt and smiled. “Well I thought that… maybe addressing her family situation would be interesting?”

Upon hearing this, I could not help but grin from ear to ear. When I started to introduce her to my imaginary little world, I tried to ease her into roleplay slowly and carefully. She created Vortex and called her a stand-in, while I only saw the self-insert many first-timers built. But it got a little muddled when Vortex’ background was concerned. Where she had come from. Where she grew up. How old she was. If she had siblings. If her parents were still alive and well. I tried to convey to her that this information was essential to anchor her character in that world despite no place left for it on her character sheet. But she had already become aware of how similar Vortex was to her and was worried about straight up copying Shining Armor, Night Light and Twilight Velvet.

Thus, Vortex was a tight-lipped creature, wary and sometimes a little gruff. She rarely talked about her past and never even so much as mentioned having a family, past or present. It was nice that she apparently had made her peace with that in some form. “I take it you made up your mind then? Come on, don’t be shy, tell me!”

She smiled bashfully. It was cute. “Well I thought… Vortex is a very driven pony. There must be a reason why she is so reckless when it comes to acquiring new knowledge and spells, right? She is very meticulous and methodical, very insistent on efficiency and naturally risk-averse, but that all goes straight out of the window if there is a secret to be uncovered.”

“Or a dangerous tome to be read,” I chimed in.

“I think her mother was not around all that much. She had to keep up appearances. Or maybe she traveled a lot. I am not entirely set on her yet. But I think her father was a central figure for Vortex’ early development. I imagine him as this strong, demanding presence looming over her. Whatever is her best is merely good enough. She earned acknowledgement and contentment, but never praise or pride. She searches for that one adventure, that one spell, that one secret, that one whatever to finally show her father that she is worthy of such.”

I smirked and tried not to show it on my face too much. Daddy issues. A storyteller tool as old as time. But how does the saying go? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. “Alright, yeah. I think I can work with that. Eeeaaasily. I was eager to scale our next adventure back a little anyway. We had ‘the world is doomed, run for your lives’ with our last campaign. I think a little something as a breather would be nice. Perfect setup for her father to suddenly show up and demand stuff. I’ve heard he does that a lot.” I grinned and winked at her. And snorted a little as I saw Twilight sigh in relief. What exactly had she been expecting? That I would tear her idea to shreds? Why would I? Silly peanut.

“And another thing,” Twilight started and immediately got all my attention. “She had a half-sister.”

I waited for a couple of seconds for her to continue and she looked like she really wanted to, but she waited. Because I had missed my cue to ask, to follow up on that teaser. “Had?” I echoed as I realized that.

She nodded contentedly. “Yes. They were very much alike. But when they entered their teenage years, Vortex grew more and more reckless. To a degree that surpasses how she is today. She roped her into an experiment. They tried their hoof at ritualistic magic. But it went wrong. Vortex’ confidence was not enough, her preparations were lacking. She was not as patient and meticulous back then as she is today. She supposedly lost her sister that day, but she cannot remember what exactly happened. The magic went wild and she woke up a week later in the local healer’s bed.”

I felt just as thrilled as I suspected Twilight had been earlier when she studied the buildings and tools in peace. This was my jam. I had the prospect of working with and developing two new NPCs with intricate ties to one of my player characters. Ohhh, the possibilities! And how she had emphasized that her sister was supposedly lost. Neat.

Daddy issues, guilt, lost sister. Perfect ingredients for our next little drama. And I suspected that she was working through some stuff with this, as usual. In the end, game masters were basically just unqualified hobby-therapists. That simply came with the territory.

“Alright. And do you have a name for her already? Or anything about how she looks? Special talent, cutie mark, other details? Or am I free to—“

I collapsed.

Whatever else was on the tip of my tongue got lost as my knees simply gave out and I hit the road. Literally. I curled up into a ball as the cramps got worse and the vision fully set in. Another flash. Straight out of nowhere. I could smell… smell smoke. Burned hair. Burned wood. I heard screams from above and below and some from the very district we were in.

My body still shook as I tried to uncurl myself. My legs were less than trustworthy as I tried to stand up. I saw the damages. Saw burning buildings. How, I wondered. How could stone burn? But some of the farmhouses were wooden. Or at least had wooden roofs. Why was there so much mayhem? Why was everyone running? Should we be running too? Where to? From what?

I turned to Silver. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know, but this doesn’t look good. We need to get down. He will know what to do.” I could hear the fear in her voice. How it trembled. How it made her tremble as well, her entire body.

I walked over and hugged her. Just for a brief moment in hopes that I might be able to spend some comfort. “Whatever is going on, we’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” And then I saw him. It was so unexpected. He should not be here. He should be two layers up. And worse yet, he trudged along. He was wounded. I could not tell how badly due to the distance, but his shoulder was bloody and blood ran down his arm. With the other one, he carried a sword. One I recognized as the ones they only gave out to guard captains. “Silver, it’s Red,” I whispered. I pointed towards him.

“Red!” Silver immediately screeched.

My ears splayed flat against my head. The sudden increase in volume was one thing. My worries about the current situation were the other. Silver ran straight at him before I had any chance to stop her. I followed in a quick canter. She had a head start, but I quickly managed to close the gap. We reached him in seconds.

“Oh my god, what happened to you?!” Silver whispered as she inspected her brother from all sides.

A good question. What did happen to him? He looked like his shoulder was pierced by a Celestia-forsaken spear or something. “Give me that sword,” I demanded from him. He eyed me warily, but I merely rolled my eyes in reaction. “Red, you can barely stand. You can’t swing it, I can. Give it to me.” He hoofed it over and I grabbed it in my levitation. “Now… care to explain what the heck is going on? Why is everyone screaming and running?”

He shook his head. “No time, we need to move, now!” He pointed down the road. “Vault thirteen.”

That was five blocks away. And he was bleeding like crazy. It actually made me sick to look at it and I tried to avoid that. “Do you think you’ll be able to make that?”

He shrugged. He did not know. “Doesn’t matter. I need to. We need to.”

Not exactly the confidence boost I had hoped for. But I nodded, fixed my face in a mask of determination and we moved on. The screams grew quieter the further we moved away from the main road. We were two blocks away when some strange thing suddenly rolled around the corner.

A black ball of goo or something. It was the size of a golem and constantly shot strange, black tendrils ahead. It moved by rolling along the ground, but the tendrils stuck to the stone and pulled it forward, giving it additional momentum. And as soon as it fully rounded the corner, it seemed to notice us. Because it made a beeline for us.

“In there!” Red hastily yelled and pointed towards the next building. I did not fail to notice the sheer panic in his voice. Whatever that thing over there was, Red was deathly afraid of it.

We raced into the building. I made the mistake to look over my shoulder and saw just how fast the goo-glob could move. It was intimidating. We ran straight through the main hall and that thing just ripped the entrance doors clean of their hinges. I heard the metal scream in defiance and the glass shatter. It was close, oh so close.

Red ran past the bank counter, past an open metal door. A security door. That should have been closed at all times. Why was that door open?

We entered and as soon as we three were in, Red threw all his weight against the door. Silver reacted quicker than I did, as usual, and helped him. Something smashed into the door from the other side and easily pushed them back a good few inches. And I saw the black good crawl inside along the walls. I was too late. Even if I threw myself against the door now, that stuff was already inside. It looked like an experiment horribly gone wrong.

“The vault! I’ll try to hold it with my magic, get to the vault!”

Silver grabbed her brother and ushered him to the backside of the room. “Don’t you dare leave me alone!” she barked in my direction as they passed me.

I tried to smile. I felt like I failed utterly, but what did it matter? She was gone, so was Red, and I stood in a surprisingly chaotic room. As if somepony had activated the ventilation system, but the system was totally overclocked.

I poured as much energy into my grip as I could. I slowly retreated to the back of the room myself, step by step, while that black ball tried to prize the door open. As soon as my rump made contact with a solid marble wall, I knew it was time. I turned. The very moment my target left my sight, my magic faded. A black tendril connected with the wall next to the entrance. Inches away from my face. And it was retracted immediately and ripped a piece of marble straight out of the wall. My eyes grew wide. That could have been my face!

Maybe that thing was a lousy shot. Or maybe it had tried to pull itself towards me faster and in its impatience had ripped the wall apart instead of actually gaining speed.

Either way, I was not about to stay and find out. I slipped into the next room and frantically followed the signs through two more before I could see the vault door. Through the tiny gap they had left open, I could see Red lean against a shelf full of containers. I saw Silver pace up and down inside the vault chamber. She ran to the door as soon as she saw me. Ready to close it.

“Move, move, move!” she yelled almost hysterically.

It was right behind me then, was it not?

I did not stop. I did not dare to slow down. I barreled straight into the room and ran head-first into the shelves. It hurt. I collapsed to the ground, my shoulder was in pain and it got worse as one of the containers actually fell on top of me. It smashed onto the ground and a bunch of perfectly cut gemstones were sprawled all over the floor. But the important part was: I heard Silver close the door. It clicked a couple of times as the mechanism locked us in.

Why had the vault been open to begin with?

What the heck was that thing outside?

“Red, why did you carry one of these?” I demanded to know and levitated the guard sword in front of his face. “Only guard captains get these!” Obviously the most important question right now. But I was confused. I was shaken. I was a lot of things.

“There is no guard anymore!” he barked in reply.

The implications set in slowly. I recoiled just as slowly. Step by step, away from him and his truth. I shook my head. “No… no, we… we need to get out of here…”

Red growled. “Impossible. The residential district was overrun.”

“The entire…? All the houses up there…? But what about all the—…” I remembered the screams. And how they grew quieter. Maybe not only because we left the main road. “Maybe we can flee down?” I suggested.

Red shook his head again. “That’s where it lurks. Where it wants to herd us. It attacked from above and below, but it tries to get us down there.”

I tried and failed to swallow that lump in my throat. People were dying out there. I almost did not dare to ask. But what else was there to do? “Why are you here, Red?” Why are you not up there in your lab, where a black goo-glob could rip your face off?

He smiled. Like someone who knew that he was defeated a while ago. “I’ve heard this rumor that there’s a fabled weapon stored in vault thirteen. It’s the vault where they keep the really important stuff.”

I grimaced. Red was a scientist. A researcher. A scholar. Not a fighter! “A weapon? Have you seen that thing? How is a weapon supposed to help us?”

He just shrugged. “It’s the Dreamweaver. Legend has it that it can whisk its wearer away to the land of dreams.” He must have noticed immediately how skeptical I looked. “Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?”

“Be quiet!” Silver suddenly hissed in our direction. We complied immediately. And as the room fell silent, aside from the electric buzzing of the tube light overhead, we started to hear it. A bash, a dull thud, a screeching like metal on stone. A fight was happening right outside the vault.

And after merely a minute, it fell deathly silent. Whoever was fighting outside, someone had clearly won.

There was a single bang at the vault door. And then the wheel started to spin. Silver tried to hold it, but whatever force was turning it on the other side was too strong. Could that goo-monster turn the wheel? Did it understand how vault doors worked?

I blinked. And a second later I gasped for air. “Oh for f—…Philomena’s sake!” I croaked. My temples were merrily thumping away. Familiar raspberry magic levitated a waterskin in front of my muzzle. I knew my flashes well enough at this point to not trust in my own magic. I sat down with a soft thud and took it in my hooves. “Thank you.” And I greedily gulped a few mouthfuls. Once I was done, I closed it and gave it back. My eyes burned. My legs ached. Why did my legs ache so much?

We’ve been walking for two days straight, more or less. Oh. Right. That.

I turned to Twilight. She looked worried. “Sorry. How long was I gone?”

She shook her head. “Just a few minutes. Are you feeling alright?”

I snorted and bit down on my tongue. Whatever answer was on the tip of it would have been a snarky, potentially hurtful barb. And there really was no need for those. I decided to wait for a few moments. My pulsating headache dimmed down a little bit. The ache was very much real and stayed consistent though.

I reoriented myself. I sat in the middle of a vault. Shelves filled with metal containers. Some of them were on the ground, broken apart or opened. A few pieces of gemstones lay around. Nothing of any real interest though.

As the flash slowly settled in my mind, so did the memories. I recounted as much of it to Twilight as I could, as she had once again only caught my side of a three-sided conversation.

After I finished, I stumbled on one of the details I had mentioned earlier. I was slow on the uptake, as usual, so it was no surprise that Twilight, ever-vigilant and curious, mentioned it first. “I have never heard of a weapon called Dreamweaver.”

“I have,” I replied. Not in this cycle though. I furrowed my brow and rummaged around in that ever-growing archive of broken things. “It’s a sword… a… a longsword…” The more I focused on that seemingly trivial detail, the more information I successfully coaxed to the forefront, to the surface of my muddy puddle. And at some point, I recognized the image in my head.

When I fought in the dreamscape, I preferred to conjure swords. Longswords, to be precise. This longsword. I was so intimately familiar with its design that now that I remembered it, it was hard not to see the similarities. In the dreamscape, where matter did not matter, I conjured dozens upon dozens of versions of a weapon I had no prior knowledge of. Or at least no conscious knowledge of.

I sighed.

“It’s Luna’s,” I added. “There’s a reason she’s so freaking good at enchanting. Once upon a time, she was a master smith. She forged her own weaponry. Many she gave to her followers to defend themselves. But out of those hundreds or thousands of weapons, she forged a dozen or so that she enchanted. And because Luna is Luna, she poured her everything into all of them. Some got lost over time. Swallowed by portals, destroyed in battle, fallen into magical abysses or something.” And with the recollection of that information, my inevitable path was clear. “Retrieving it might actually help us. And even if it doesn’t, it belongs to Luna. It certainly doesn’t belong in a diamond dog vault. I have no idea how they even got hold of it in the first place and I don’t care. We’re going to get it.”

She had entrusted me with it. I remembered that clear as day. There had been a private little ceremony and a few ponies in attendance. Funnily enough, my past-me thought of it as an almost-wedding. Luna oversaw the ceremony. And she made Dreamweaver mine. My blade. Bound to my will, bestowed by her grace. And yet I did not intend to recover it for my sake. I had no desire to wield the actual blade again. But I felt strangely offended to find it under these circumstances. This blade belonged to Luna.

I was about to get up when Twilight’s magic grabbed my shoulder and pushed me back down with as little force as possible. And she did not require much, I was still very much weakened after that flash. “Where is it?” she asked.

“Vault thirteen, two blocks down that direction,” I answered and pointed in the direction in which I believed it should be.

She looked at the notes in her journal again, then back at me. With that critical eye. “How do we know it is there? Just because it was in one cycle does not mean it is now.”

She has a point, I begrudgingly admitted. But that did not change anything, as I slowly realized. I shrugged. “Does it matter? It’s not far. We should at least check. Because if it is there, it would be downright irresponsible to leave it here.” And that was the only reason. Obviously.

“What does it do?” she asked next.

And no matter how much I racked my brain, I had no clear answer to that. “I’m not sure. The diamond dogs were convinced it could transport its bearer to the dreamscape. Which I hope is just some stupid tale. Because that would make it incredibly powerful and incredibly dangerous.” But it would be very much something Luna would craft. “Again, does it matter? Point is, I don’t have a weapon right now. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind depending on you to keep our hides safe. Sword or no, you will always be a quicker, more experienced and more capable combatant than I am. I’m more or less just counting on this sword being a confidence boost and maybe I can jump in clutch at the right moment once or something.” Be honest now, sugar cube. I sighed. “And I want to bring it back to Luna.” What exactly did I expect to happen once I did that? Why was I so keen on that? A head pat and a ‘good boy’? Maybe this drive was just an aftershock of the flash. Right now, I could not tell.

But Twilight agreed that it could not hurt to take a look, at least. And that was sufficient for now.

Finding vault thirteen was not actually that hard. The building was considerably smaller than the surrounding ones and due to aftershocks and vague images, I already knew a good deal about its internal structure before we even arrived at the entrance. “There’s a single, longer hall inside. It’s a reception of sorts. Two doors to the left lead into smaller side rooms meant to archive protocols and do paperwork and such. Two doors on the right lead to a broom closet and the toilets. A single door behind the reception counter at the end of the hall leads to a narrow, long hallway. Beyond that is the vault room. Simple structure, no cellar, no upper story, no frills. We go in, we grab it, we go out.” Twilight nodded. She was not as confident as I was. Which was really a weird twist, as our current roles were usually switched up. But that was just how my jumbled brain worked. If everypony around me was confident, I had no need to be as well but instead felt a need to be cautious. And if everypony around me was on edge, wary and doubtful, I was the one pushing them onwards. It was silly and stupid, but reliable.

I carefully grabbed White Tip in my magic and put him on Twilight’s back. “You two watch out and make a ruckus if anything goes wrong. But you will stay with Twi for now, alright? I don’t want you to get into any problems.”

I did not exactly know why I insisted on leaving my feathery buddy with her, now of all times. But the answer became apparent once we entered the building. Patches of black, sticky goo clung to the ceiling, the floor and the walls. They were comparatively small, the larger once being five feet in diameter. And even when I dared to pass one by really closely, they did not react to my presence at all.

Twilight had already speculated that this was some kind of organism and that it was starving. From all I could tell based on my flashed, this part of the city had been evacuated early on. The goo had managed to survive in the third layer by feeding on livestock, but down here there was nothing to catch in the first place. After confirming my intention with Twilight, I even dared to stick a hoof into the goo. The layer was barely half an inch thick. It was cool to the touch and indeed sticky. It felt like glue but as I retracted my hoof, it still preferred to stick to itself instead of me. There was no resistance to speak of. No tendrils shot out in a lame attempt to catch me. No reaction whatsoever. It just made a nasty slurping sound.

“I think it’s dead,” I let Twilight know and we continued through the hall and into the hallway beyond it. I still felt a little queasy as I saw what lay at the end. The vault door was ripped apart. Something had actually torn through metal. And not just a relatively thin sheet like a metal door, oh no. These vault doors were roughly five feet thick. I gulped.

Twilight increased the light her horn gave off and just as I had feared, the entire vault beyond was covered in goo. There was basically no patch of any surface left to see. I could make out the outlines of shelves and containers, the outlines of floor tiles and a light switch beside the entrance. Which I obviously did not try, because why would I. Light inside houses was apparently not part of the emergency power grid, we had already learned that.

“Wait near the entrance, I’m going in,” I asked them. Twilight nodded and White Tip shifted uncomfortably on her back.

I stepped past the ripped vault door and into the black goo. It made a nauseating squelching sound, but once again did not react otherwise. It became a lot harder to search for anything with the goo covering literally all surfaces.

“Is it there?” Twilight whispered. It was strange to hear her be impatient. But I could understand why. This place made my fur stand on edge as well.

“I can’t see it,” I replied and increased the light on my horn a little bit more. I had to go by rough shapes and outlines.

“Maybe it is not there after all?” she offered. It was clear that she wanted to go, despite the treasure we might be able to reclaim here. But I still felt this nagging insistence to get that sword back. And I managed to find something.

There was a small mound of goo in the corner of the room. While I could not see the sword or even its outline, I could feel magic emanate from within. Familiar magic. Luna’s magic.

Problem was: That goo looked very much alive. It pulsated.

And I started to realize that it pulsated in a specific direction. Oh no. Oh… I’m not going to like this, am I? My eyes slowly, hesitantly trailed up the wall and followed those pulses. “Twilight?” I asked in the meantime.

“Yes?”

“What was it again that this organism feeds on…?” My eyes spotted a thick black blob right on the ceiling over the entrance. There was a hoof-sized orange orb in its middle, with a black patch inside. I gulped again.

Is that an eye?

“While it can digest meat, my current theory is that it feeds on ma…gic…”

I could hear the realization hit her the moment I came to that conclusion as well. The Dreamweaver really was here. One of the more powerful weapons in Equestria. Most assuredly full of magic. “Twilight…” I whispered her name. But I did not dare to take my eyes off of that thing on the ceiling. And I could not shake the feeling that it stared right back at me.

“Mhm?” she hesitantly replied barely audibly.

“We run on three.” I could hear her take half a step back. And the moment she did that, it apparently heard her as well. The eye yanked around in her direction, almost as if it could stare straight through the marble wall between them. “Three!” I yelled in a panic. I thrust my hoof deep into that pulsating mound and sparked my magic. A tendril followed my hoof as it connected with something sharp and metallic and I yanked it out.

I had no idea if it was a sword or the sword but I did not have the time to confirm that either.

I ran.

I could feel the sticky tendrils connect to my rear and these ones, oh boy, they had strength. But I had a sword. Or something else. I flailed said something around wildly to disrupt and disconnect these spaghetti lines that tried to pull me back in. “Run, run, run!” I yelled ahead as Twilight dared to slow down. She immediately sped up again and White Tip took to the air. He circled above us below the ceiling and I was so freaking scared he would be caught by one of those tendrils. He was flying meat, after all.

“White Tip, get your feathered ass out of here!” I barked. And he did. I was so grateful that he did. He flew ahead and swooped out of the open entrance. And just as I saw him get to relative safety did I dare to take a look over my shoulder. And my blood ran cold.

Oh, it was there. It was very much there.

That black hunter-glob I remembered from my flash that rolled along the street and pulled itself along with tendrils for extra momentum. Yupp, that thing. It was very hot on our heels. And it seemed to absorb any and all other goo-patches it came by. It shot tendrils into them and just… ate them, or something like that. And it grew because of it.

I stepped it up a notch and managed to close that gap between Twilight and myself. “Once we’re out, maybe we could use a shield to keep it in,” I blurted as we closed in on the exit. She shot out of the building half a second before me. And just as I tried to gauge our chances with sealing that thing inside, I saw it.

The golem was there. Like, right there.

I had a running start and came barreling straight towards us. I saw it the very moment it used its powerful hindlegs to push itself into a massive leap. With its stony jaws wide open and its dagger-like claws ready for a deadly swipe. And it shot straight towards me.

The timing was off though.

Fractions of a second passed by.

The golem tilted its head ever so slightly to the left, towards the exit.

And as Twilight and I barreled onto the street, the golems' jaws snapped shut around, or rather inside, the ball of goo. Its claws slashed the creature and got partially stuck in it and in an acrobatic display that my mind failed to process entirely, the diamond dog golem landed on its hindlegs and smashed the black ball into the wall of the building. Black tendrils shot out like lances, but the golem managed to dodge them with surprising agility and speed.

Look where you’re running, idiot! That’s exactly how ponies break their necks!

My head snapped back around. And I saw Twilight slow down again as she too had noticed the golem getting distracted by the goo. Or was it the other way around? “Don’t! Keep running!” I ordered her. I had no intention of finding out who would win. Or what the winner deemed appropriate to do with us. By the time they managed to get their little clinch sorted, I wanted to be miles away. Literally if possible.

“White Tip?” I called and my trusty pet swooped down and flew a few feet ahead of us. I was once again relieved that he was fine. And while we thundered along the main road as quickly as we could, I gave a little extra and brought my reclaimed treasure up in front of me. I allowed myself a second or two to inspect my loot and I immediately recognized it. I had successfully recaptured the Dreamweaver. I even allowed myself a satisfied smile before I focused my attention at the stretch of road ahead. The last thing we needed now was a tumble and a sprained ankle or better yet, a broken leg.

Treasuries, banks, vaults, more coinage presses. Untold treasures stored and ignored.

They quickly whipped by as we bailed.