Dreamwalker's Tale: The Descent

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.”