"Celestia, I'm afraid I must ask you to leave the room. We've linked Twilight to the natural disasters occurring lately, and we estimate this room will begin deteriorating as well in about an hour. If we don't cut her life support soon, Equestria may be in more peril than it already is."

"I... I understand. But I won't let her die. If she does, I swear on my name that you won't see the end of it."

Twilight now found herself in what seemed to be a fancy train station, made of stone bricks drenched in golden light. Unlike the prior location, it looked relatively nice. It even looked new to an extend. The benches were shiny, the floors were swept, and the windows cleaned. But still it was empty, no life to be seen anywhere. Unlike the varying, horrible temperatures of the other places, it was nice here, the sun warming her face. In front of her on the opposite end of the station were stairs leading upward. There didn't seem to be any other place to go, save for the train tunnels and an empty elevator shaft, so she began heading towards them.

The view from balcony walkway was stunning. She appeared to be about halfway up an absolutely gigantic building, peering down over a sea of houses, statues, and plazas way below. The city was way, way larger than anything she'd ever seen, yet empty nonetheless. But, one thing stood out to her - The sun high up above shone most bright over the massive building, leaving it with a radiant, golden shine, while the rest was bathed in darker yellow tones, with a few similarly bright spots here and there. On the horizon, there was no blue or bright sky to see, either. The sun was bathing in a dark brownish-grey sky, yet there were no clouds, only an unnaturally sun-tainted sky. She could just admire the view for hours, but she had wasted enough time already. She turned continued forward, into the room opposite of where she came.

The room was massive, the size of a concert hall. Oddly, just like the outside, it was oddly radiant in the same golden tone. In the middle of the room against the back wall was a huge statue of a diamond dog clad in armour. It was leaning against and equally gigantic mirror, in the shape of a towershield. She approached it, realizing it'd be her first chance in a long time to take a look at herself. Immediately, she could hardly believe it was herself she was looking at. She was completely grey, with a distinctive rough patch of fur next to her horn, which had deformed slightly. Could this be the tumor the doctor had been talking about? On top of that, her irises and pupils had also lost their colour and faded to a bright grey. She looked blind, but she could still see. To top it all off, she looked dirty. That's what rummaging around mines and dust does to you when there are no available showers.

Just as she was about to leave, her vision flashed, and her reflection changed for just a second. It resembled her back in full colour, with two black stripes on both cheeks. She was standing in an elaborate brown dress, wearing citrine earrings, a brass monocle, and a brown bow with two stripes in the same shade as the ones in her hair. The reflection didn't look particularly pleased with Twilight's presence, and before she had the time to realise what was going on, a voice echoed through the halls. This one wasn't like the other's she'd heard before - Those had echoed from around her, this one was coming from inside her head. And the weirdest part - It sounded just like her.

"This world isn't for you, Twilight. Wake up. Leave this place."

"Where am I? Who are you?"

"Seek the Moonstone Desert, beyond the great crest, at the southernmost point of La Ruga."

"Moonstone Desert? La Ruga? What are you talking about?"

...No answer. The voice didn't seem all that enthusiastic about talking to her. But, the words it'd said, it felt like something was coming together. Was this... Another world? No, no, it can't be. She was in a coma and dreaming and that was that. But, the thought kept gnawing on her. Surely, if there was another world, she would have heard about it... Right?

But it all just fit together so well. Somehow, it just clicked. The places she'd visited hadn't just been happenstance, they'd been real places with real people, not just manifestations of her mind. She'd cleaned up the toys of a real child. Potentially a dead one. Despite all these dark thoughts, she figured they all wouldn't matter unless she made it out of here. She'd just comply with the voice - It's not like she had any other choice. She could guess either of the two directions that could be south based on the sun. She couldn't know exactly, because she didn't know if it was before or after noon, but a 50% chance was better than nothing.

But first - She had to find her way down this building. Given it's massive size, it would likely take a long time, but no time spent on something necessary is time wasted. On the left corner of the room, there was a small door. It was actually pretty big, but it looked small compared to the scale of everything else in the room. Beyond the hall, was a corridor lined with pillars, with yellowish light streaming in through stained glass windows. Twilight was beginning to take notice of the holy atmosphere this place had. Maybe this place served as a cathedral for some kind of a god. Due to the place's unorthodox light, she was led to believe that perhaps their god was real, too.

Twilight continued walking, marvelling at the fine construction of the halls. Perfectly linear corridors made of warm stone bricks, albeit they were a bit rough, the perfect condition of them more than made up for their mildly crude appearance. They seemed to have roughened with age, but were still swept from dust and looked like they'd been through some touch-ups. On top of that, the corridors were also decorated with statues of gold, further adding to the place's warm monotonicity. They resembled all kinds of species - dragons, ponies, diamond dogs, gryphons, and even changelings.

Should this place really be another realm, how come they had the exact same species as hers? And why would there be another Twilight? Was this an alternate universe? Or was it really just a figment of her imagination? Was the entire world real but Twilight was just a hallucination from her declining mental health? Or was everything something else entirely? At this point, it was hard to know, and she had a lurking feeling that overthinking it wouldn't make it any better.

She was getting a bit of eyestrain from the incandescent corridors, and she had begun developing a headache from the light. Even though it wasn't that bright, it was quite frankly everywhere one looked, save for straight ahead - a set of large double doors of the same dark wood as the clocktower she'd been at what felt like ages ago. Behind the heavy set of doors she could hardly push open, was a large theater-like room with a few rails stretching across the floor and a large scene with thick curtains on the opposite side. Upon the rails were three mechanical ponies, thinner and taller than the others she'd seen. They were all attached with one hoof to the singular rails running along the floor. Two were laid idly on the floor, deactivated. The third was standing like a ballerina, with one hoof into the air. Upon said hoof lay a brooch in the shape of a sun. For now, they didn't interest her, as there was a door leading onward to the outside.

Outside were stairs. A lot of stairs. Leading down to the city below. Now, she could see the city from another angle - To one direction, opposite of where the stairs were leading, was a massive wall with gates of ridiculous size. It had a large, seemingly decorative shield over the gates. Twilight guessed this was the great crest the voice had been talking about. But to get there, she first had to find her way down. The stairs were a good indicator of how to get down to the ground. The steps were small and hard to walk down, but she got down them mostly without a hitch. As she walked, she noted the odd architecture of the houses of the city. Most of them were perfectly square, in various heights. The roofs were flat and some were decorated with finials and ornaments, with decorated supports running along the sides of the buildings.

Once she reached the bottom of the staircase, she'd gotten to a section with many peristyles and balconies. There were more doors as well, but they seemed like they'd just lead her back inside. There was also grass here. Come to think of it, this was the first time she'd seen any since the beginning of her journey. The small patches had been finely placed on the balconies, growing with daisies and buttercups. They seemed well maintained. Surprisingly, considering the lack of people to take care of them. Twilight sat down for a bit, resting on the green patches, contemplating where all the people could've gone. Maybe they were all just inside their houses. Or maybe they were simply all dead. Cities don't just disappear.

As she stood back up, she continued down another flight of stairs, rounding the corner of the building. She was almost at the ground now. The last thing standing between her and the streets was a small room with double doors. They were hinged with a board Twilight wasn't strong enough to break. So once again, her hammer was of use, but this time it was a slightly bigger problem. This board wasn't as aged as the rest she'd seen, but nevertheless a couple sturdy swings took it down.

Finally, she left the building, and entered the significantly less vibrant streets.

Author's Note

Siwmae is a Welsh expression meaning 'hello.'