Chapters Twilight awoke in her room. At least, she thinks it is. Her memories were all fuzzy and disorganized. She sat up on the edge of the bed, rubbing her forehead. She had a skull-splitting headache, and it wasn't getting any better. She figured she'd hit her head. Or maybe she'd stayed up and studied until two in the morning again. Either way, it still hurt. But nevertheless, she got out of bed, ready to face the day even if it would be a bit cumbersome.
As she walked down the stairs, something felt off. The usual morning sun wasn't shining through her windows. Maybe she'd overslept and the sun was right above? Or had it not risen yet? She looked towards the clock, only to realise it wasn't there. It's disappearance was odd, considering she'd hung it there just the other day. Could it have fallen down? But, then it would be on the floor... Maybe it was just a false memory. It's just a clock, anyways. Her memory wasn't that bad. In fact, her memory was great. Whether it was memorizing quotes, reciting poems or even accounting, she never missed a mark.
Twilight walked towards the door. She was sure that pesky headache would disappear once she got started with the day. But, as she shoved the front door open, she was in shock when she realise that the world she knew had disappeared entirely. No houses, no ponies, no wind, nothing was as it used to be. Instead, it had all been replaced with massive concrete walls on either side stretching into eternity, overgrown with thick foliage and vines. In a panic, she spun around to run back inside, but as she turned she noticed that her tree-like home had rotted and crumbled into rubble in a matter of seconds.
This wasn't how things were supposed to be. And when things went south, so did the tears. So with running eyes, she cautiously started wandering aimlessly into the distance. She didn't have a goal in mind - She had no idea where she was, after all. If she were a pegasus she'd just have risen above the walls and flown her way home. Or, flown her way back at least. Her home was now here, after all. But alas, life doesn't come easy for all. She didn't have any wings. At least she had a horn, not everypony could say that much.
As she walked, she considered what could've led her here. Maybe she'd messed up a teleportation spell? Or, she must simply be dreaming, she thought. She didn't exactly have a way to test if the latter was true or not, everypony knows hurting yourself doesn't prove you're dreaming. Regardless of what'd happened to lead her here, her top priority was just to get out. She wiped her eyes and focused up. Crying wouldn't get her out of here, and neither would stalling. Constantly, she looked to the aged walls and onto the greenage hanging from it, for a spot she could potentially climb up the surely 15-meter high walls. Opportunities looked bleak however, as most vines were too fragile to ascend.
After what felt like an hour of walking, just as she looked onto the wall to her left, she noticed something a bit further forward - a dark hole in the wall, covered with old barrier tape. As she stepped forward and peered into the tunnel, she noticed that it was indeed lit inside, but no actual light sources were to be found. The tape obstructing the way inside was so old that it practically tore as soon as she touched it, causing it too fall limply to the grass beneath. If the tape had been here for that long, surely what they were trying to keep people away from must be obsolete by now, right?
...Right?
She took a final look in both directions, still endlessly stretching on into nothingness, before walking inside. But, as soon as she stepped in, the opening behind her disappeared. It didn't close, it just... Vanished. Like there'd always been a wall there. It must be a dream. Things like this don't just happen. But, her dreams didn't usually last this long, and something just felt off. Regardless, she shrugged off the thought. It has to be a dream. There was no other reasonable explanation. Occam's razor - The simplest answer is most often correct.
Unlike the path outside, there were multiple branching directions here. Two to the left, and one to the right. The corridor forward ended at an industrial steel door glued shut with some thick liquid. The first path to the left led into pitch darkness, obscuring what might lie within. The rightmost way was a dead end, ending in a black slate concrete wall, just like the rest of the complex. The second door to the right led to another closed door, made of simple wood. She figured this was her best option - Most things are preferable to what you can't see. But, as she tried to get closer to the door, it got further away. The faster she walked, the more the corridor stretched. As she gave up and turned around, she hadn't moved a single step. She nervously made her way back to the first door. Stoically, she stood tall against the endless void the corridor led to. She thought about lighting it up with her horn, but the abyss swallowed all light that deigned approach. Nevertheless, she swallowed her fear, and marched straight into the dark, only to immediately plummet as the path suddenly ended.
As she fell, she tried to scream, but it felt as if she were underwater, her voice suppressed by the crushing darkness surrounding her. She could no longer see the building above her. She couldn't see anything. Only herself, amidst an ocean of black. But, just as she closed her eyes and accepted her fate, voices started echoing from around her.
"Here she is, princess."
"Can she hear me, doctor?"
"I'm afraid not. Coma patients have no contact with the outside world."
...One of the voices sounded... Familiar. A caring mares voice. But, if the other voice's statement was true, that voice belonged to a princess... She didn't know any royalty. Not that she could recall, at least. She was just a mare, what would she do to make her important enough to know a princess? And a coma? That's absurd, she wasn't in a coma, she was right here. If she were in a coma, she'd be dreaming...
...
...Oh no.
As she opened her eyes again, she was stood on a small platform of stone in a room of dark oak. The constant sound of ticking echoed around the chamber. Almost like a clock.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
She quickly peered over the candlelit room, but as far as she could see, it was mostly empty. Except for one thing - a fancy wooden door in the same shade as the rest of the room, decorated in brass. The handle was old and dusty, to the point where it looked like it was days away from falling off. Nopony had been here in a long time, it seemed. The voices were still talking, but now muffled and distant. It was hard to make out what they were saying.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" She cried out.
...
No response. Despite her disappointment, she remained vigilant as she pushed down on the door handle. However, the door seemed to be blocked by something. Just pushing wasn't going to do. Trying to force it open with her magic didn't work either, so she eventually resorted to throwing herself with her entire body weight against the door repeatedly, until the objects behind moved and she fell flat on her stomach. She coughed as she stood up from the dust cloud the books she'd knocked over had kicked up, and looked up in awe as she saw what was behind the door.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
It was a massive clocktower, filled with gears and pistons, and other clockwork machines she didn't know the purpose of. The floor she was now standing on didn't reach more than a few meters out before turning into a dead drop down, the brass machinery stretching down until it was out of sight. The segments all creaked and clanked together as they moved, seemingly unmaintained for a long time. But nonetheless, they kept the massive pendulum above her swinging. It was truly a sight to see, too bad it was apparently all just in her head. Though, the more she looked at it, she noticed that something had gone wrong - The remains of a bridge were standing on both sides of the pendulum, as if the pendant had torn straight through it. The gap looked too wide too jump, anyways. And even if she could jump across, she had no way of getting up on the bridge in the first place. It was several meters above her with no clear path there.
Twilight had grown tired of walking, but at this point there wasn't much else she could do. Various pipes reached into yet another corridor on the opposite side of the room, which was also the only way out of the clock room which wasn't locked, save for where she came from. The floorboards bent slightly as she stepped on them, just enough to scare her each time she took a step but not enough to give way. She tiptoed the rest of the way to the opposing corridor, where multiple pipes connected and stretched into different rooms. The corridor was relatively short, however, as it led into another major hall.
The room was large, but not as big as the previous one. All the pipes stretching from the other room stuck to the wall and crawled up to the ceiling, where they ended in hoses which hung down from the ceiling and connecting into something standing in the middle of the room - A pony. This was the first sign of sentient life Twilight had seen since she'd woken up, or rather fallen asleep. Twilight rushed forward to see if they could help her in any way, only to notice that it wasn't alive. But it wasn't dead. Not a statue, either. It was made of a complicated set of brass plates, connecting into movable limbs, creating a beautiful piece of art. It even had a mane of what seemed to be extremely thin gold wires. Only one piece was missing - There was a small hole for where the tail should be. But, there was no such part anywhere to be seen.
Unlike most of the things in this clockwork mess, the pony was silent. It was hard to tell due to the various noises of steam vents and pistons, but no noise or movement was coming from inside. It was unpowered. Maybe broken. Obviously, a piece was missing, but where would she find that? And how would it even help? She figured she might as well look for it - None of this was real, anyways. Is there really a point to anything if you're trapped in your own mind, unable to change anything in the real world? Well, it wouldn't hurt to keep herself busy. It was rare that anyone woke up from comatose, but she didn't want to think about her potential death, so keeping herself busy was a good option to distract herself.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
The room also had a staircase in the corner. A staircase that spiralled all the way around the room and onto the next floor. As there was no other way but back, she ascended the stairs. However, the upper floor was not what she had imagined. It looked like it had been some kind of an archive in times past. But now, shelves had fallen over and papers covered nearly the entire floor. She picked one up and looked at it, it seemed like some kind of a report at first glance, but all the forms were completely empty. The room was a mess, and there were no other doors but the one she came from. Just as she was about to leave, something glinted in her eye. She turned back around, scanning the room closely, until she spotted it - A keyring, hanging from one of the few bookcases that was still standing straight. It was caught on a drawer, suspended high in the air. Higher than her or her magic could reach. Immediately, she looked around for a way to the keyring, but no clear path was available. Unless, if she made if on top of the bookcase, she could just climb down the shelves and get to the keys that way. She couldn't climb up the bookcase, however - she wasn't strong enough for that. But, in the mess of broken shelves and all, she could probably find some other path.
She begun by stepping onto a fallen bookcase, stretching from one side of the room to the other, ramping a few meters off the ground. From there, she leapt onto a semi-collapsed shelf mounted to the wall, barely able to hold her weight. Next, she jumped towards the top of a neighbouring bookshelf, which was as tall as the one holding the key. However, she slightly missed the jump, and got stuck hanging with her upper body holding onto the top of the shelf, and her lower awkwardly hanging off to the side. In a panic from the threat of falling, she started shaking and rocking in an attempt to reach the top of the bookcase, but her idea backfired as it started leaning forward.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
All Twilight could do was hold on for dear life as the bookcase toppled forward and started to fall over, plummeting towards the ground and immense speed. Just as Twilight braced for impact, the bookcase got caught on something - The bookcase on the other side of the room, holding the key. The bookcases were taller than the room was wide - They couldn't fall over completely, they'd get stuck on each other. As she looked down, she noticed she was hanging barely above the drawer the keyring was caught on. She reached her leg out, and kicked the drawer as hard as she could. It loosened slightly, but not enough to fall down. With another kick, the drawer plummeted to the floor. But, just as she let out a sigh of relief, her grip slipped and she too fell towards the hard ground underneath.
After her second near death experience in the last minute, she opened her eyes once more to realise she'd landed in a large pile of papers. They had mostly braced the fall, but not entirely. In some way or another, she felt something in her back had moved out of place. And it hurt. Hurt enough to lose conscience. But, just as she felt herself slipping away, she heard it again.
"We're here! I hope we're not intruding on anything."
"No, Mrs. Velvet, you're not. Twilight hasn't had a visitor in a few days."
Days? A few... Days? No, that wasn't possible. She'd heard them talking just a moment ago. It couldn't have been more than an hour, right?
Right?
III: Falling out of place
"We brought flowers. May I?"
"Sure, there's a vase on the nightstand."
"How's our daughter doing?"
And then... Silence. One of the voices she recognized, the one she guessed belonged to a doctor. The other ones were familiar, but once again, she couldn't put her hoof on why. From what she heard, one must be... Her mother. But that's impossible. How could she forget her own mother? Despite her denial, it was true that she just couldn't remember her mother's face. Or the way she talked. Or... Well, anything.
She opened her eyes once more, her head resting on the paper underneath. The clocks around beyond the walls were still ticking, just as loud as before. Despite how we perceive it, time keeps passing. With or without you. As soon as she stood up, she felt a sharp pain in her back - She'd fallen down. From where exactly or why, she couldn't remember, but she knew she needed that keyring that was lying slightly further down the hill of papers. Once more, she tried to stand up, and this time found relative success. Even though her back's complaints, she had managed to stand up.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
As she looked closer on the ring, she noticed that one was not like the others - A wind-up key. Like one you'd see in toys. Only, this one was relatively large. Roughly the size of her eye. The rest of the keys had gnarled, eccentric shapes. They didn't exactly look like they'd fit in any kind of lock. But, none of this was real anyways, so she lifted the keyring up with her magic as she moved back towards the main room with all the machinery.
On one side of the room was a door. She'd tried to open it before, but it was locked. Maybe one of these distorted keys would fit? It seemed ridiculous, but the sky's the limit in a dream. First, she tried a key shaped like a spiral staircase, which was too large to even fit in the lock. The next key she grabbed crumbled to dust before she could tell what it even was. The third one was just a blank slate. Nevertheless, she stuck it in the lock, and rotated.
Click.
Surprisingly enough, the door slid open, revealing the room behind. Somehow, it was even more dusty than the rest. It seemed to be some old classroom, or at least something of the sort. In the middle of the room, there was a table with a few blue papers laid out on it. There was also another staircase, leading to the floor above. First, she approached the table. It had multiple blueprints and sketches from the mechanical pony a few rooms over. Maybe she could find out what the missing piece was based on them. She knew how to read blueprints.
She moved around blueprint after blueprint, displaying how the interior works, the lights in its eyes, and other inner machinery, until she spotted one that displayed the pony's side. Attached to the spot where a pony's tail should be was a clockwork key. Just like the one hanging on her keyring. Was this it's use? Despite that she was eager to try it, she first checked what the staircase in the room led to.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.
She now had a frontal view of the swinging pendulum. She was standing atop one half of the broken bridge. From this perspective, it was easier to see that she had no chance of making it to the other side. Besides, the risk of getting hit by the pendant was not worth it. She turned back around and made her way towards the room with the clockwork pony.
The pony had not moved. It was just as still as last she'd seen it. She didn't expect it to move, but it was almost a bit disheartening that it had no idea of what was happening around it. Well, soon it would. Maybe. If they key works. And if it will even become alive. She circled around to the back of the pony, removing the wind-up key from the ring and sticking it in the empty slot. So far it had not responded.
Twilight grabbed ahold of the key with her magic, and wound the pony up a few times. At first, nothing happened. She waited a couple minutes, and just as she was about to leave, she heard a steam vent release within the room. One of the hoses had disconnected from the pipe which was now spewing thick steam into the room. The mechanical pony shook as it sprung to life, eyes lit up by yellowish headlights, and started marching straight forwards, tugging at the cables and hoses as it moved. The pipes creaked as they were pulled from their foundation, and the whole pipe structure started loosening from the ceiling.
"No! Stop! It's gonna break!" Twilight yelled out to the pony, which did not take note of her existence. Instead, it pulled the hoses harder and harder, until they fell off completely and smashed through the floor, leaving a massive hole. The pony itself, now detached from the hoses, kept walking towards the room with the pendulum. Twilight practically hugged the wall, shimmying over the narrow piece of floor that still remained. She made it across just in time to see the mechanical pony step out onto the weak flooring. It was barely strong enough to support Twilight, so when the pony stepped onto it, it gave way and it fell straight through. Twilight sprinted over to the newly formed hole and looked down, noticing how the fallen pony had gotten stuck in the gears, causing the pendulum to stop and reset.
Tick...
Twilight ran back up to the broken bridge. Even though it wasn't that thick, the pendulum could maybe be used as a makeshift platform to get to the other side. If the pony got crushed, the pendulum would begin to swing again. If she was going to do something, she'd have to do it now. Twilight reached back, sprinted, and jumped...
She narrowly landed on the pendulum. looking down onto the machinery below, she watched as exactly what she'd feared happened - gears and springs were being flung around from the lifeless pony still hanging in the clockwork. As parts fell off, the machinery started to move slightly, making the pendulum to start picking up momentum once more. It was now or never. Once more, she took a deep breath, balanced herself as well as she could, and leapt.
It wasn't exactly a smooth landing. She'd made it over, but she'd landed straight on her back and rolled a few meters. A loud crunch was heard from below as the automaton was crushed to bits, the steam inside of it erupting and causing it to detonate. With that, the entire machine started coming down, and Twilight watched as the pendulum fell into the abyss below. Despite all the hardship she'd faced, she'd made it over. The only thing left to do now was see if it was worth it.
She pushed open the door on the side of the bridge connecting to the wall. Inside was a poorly lit corridor. The only light coming in was through a large crack in the wall. With no other choice, Twilight stepped inside and peered through the crack. There was nothing outside. Just pure white, streaming into the room. Even though she couldn't see anything outside the crack, she could hear - again, voices. Talking about her.
"Doctor, why is she looking so, umm... Pale?"
"Yes, I must say she's looking, err... Rather unwell."
"We haven't yet been able to diagnose her sudden loss of colour.
"Well, you better hurry up or I'll diagnose you with my hoof in your face!"
"Cool it, Dash. They're doin' the best they can, y'hear? An' what's up with you, Pinkie? You ain't usually this quiet."
Twilight stepped back as the light from the crack faded, and the voices grew distant. The imposing silence made her realise
...Flames? Those hadn't always been there, had they? She turned around from whence she came, only to see embers crawling in from under the door. The explosion from that pony must've lit the wooden walls on fire. The rising heat led to pipes in rooms around her whilstling aggressively, some causing the entire building to shake as they burst. The previously dark corridor had begun to light up from the dancing fire beneath, as it crawled through cracks in the floor. When shreds of the door behind her came flying as the temperature rose, Twilight felt that was her cue to run.
She sprinted down the corridor, narrowly evading collapsing walls and remains of destroyed pipes falling down. Around twists and turns, trying to outrun the raging flames behind her. They spared nothing that dared get in their way, so much so that the entire tower had begun to tilt, the creaking walls giving way to fire's unbearable fury. Wooden grains and pieces of metal were hailing from the ceiling like fiery raindrops from the sky. As she made one final turn, she saw it - A windowed door, displaying a field of grass outside. She amped up the pace in the final stretch, but fate had other plans.
Just as she was about to reach the door, a massive gear fell from above, crushing the ground and causing it to give way. The ground crumbling and falling before Twilight had her between a rock and a hard place - A devastating fall and scorching blaze. She turned around, to see the flames crawling ever closer. She attempted to back away, but as she approached the very edge of the remaining ground, she stepped on an outlying board, sticking out over the pit, causing it to break and for her to fall into the abyss below.
"Luna, can you visit to her? Inside her dream, I mean."
"I'm afraid not, sister. She is too far gone, even for me."
"Maybe she wasn't ready to bear wings, after all..."
Twilight opened her eyes. If it wasn't already clear before, the fact that she was dreaming was obvious now, as she was completely unscathed from the long fall. It was dark, and she couldn't see much except silhouettes washed in bluish tones, like under the night sky. The bedlam had stopped far up above, faint ashes sailing down from the tower's remnants. She lit up her horn to see through the thick shadows, to reveal what seemed to be an old, abandoned underground part of the tower. The room she was in looked like a cellar, it's planked walls collapsed and bent from the dirt behind. Webs of dust littered the room, clear signs of ages of unuse. The large piece of machinery that fell before her was nowhere to be seen. It must've landed in an adjacent room.
The room seemed to be in some kind of a cave, built far below the tower. It was also notably warm inside. Not burning like fire, but like stale air on a hot summer day. It was dead silent when she pushed open the door, as it immediately fell of it's hinges, the thump suppressed by the dust. The corridor behind was empty and looked to have been cleared out. If it ever served any purpose, it was gone now. The only things within were doors that lined the walls, each with a number like you'd see in a hotel. Silently, she pushed one of the doors open, revealing somewhat of an old bedroom. Only, the bed had snapped in half, and most other furniture was gone or broken. It was almost eerie seeing something that used to carry life be this empty.
All of the rooms looked the same, with differing durability of the furniture. All except one. It's walls had been scratched to Tartarus and the walls had been painted with symbols and spirals, none of which were familiar to her. All things carried a story, and they all form together to create history. Watching it from the future, knowing you weren't apart of it, is disheartening sometimes. It only further reinforced the feeling of solitude. The intense lonelyness. She didn't belong here, and she didn't intend to stay.
One of the walls in the room stood out to her. It looked more frail than the rest. As she approached, she could feel heat pulsing through the wood. There was empty space behind the wall. It must've been some kind of mining vent at some point. Neither she nor her magic were strong enough to tear the planks down, not even bucking it had any noticable effect. It did, however, bend slightly on impact. They could move, they could be broken. Especially with how old they were. All she needed was an axe or a crowbar or something of the sort. If dirt could tear down the walls of this place, so could she. She just needed a tool of some sort. Too bad most of the place seemed to be cleared out.
The only other way to go was at the end of the corridor. A rather large, plain door was stood there. She pushed it open, and inside she saw another one of those robots, except this one was a unicorn. It was standing on it's hind legs, clutching to a cross for support. Seemingly it had been used as a makeshift walking cane, even though it was a bit taller than an average pony, as well as the automaton. Unlike the other, this one appeared to only be a husk, mostly empty on the inside. A shell with all the important parts removed. Rather heavy, too. At first glance, it looked like this one too was missing it's key, but upon closer inspection, it had just snapped but was still lodged in the hole. The only other thing in the room was a door, blocked by rubble and broken planks. She guessed they must've landed there during the commotion.
The idea of finding a tool seemed like a lost cause. There weren't anymore places to look, and the places she'd passed through had all been empty. Bashing the wall with a rock from where she fell didn't work, either. Twilight sat down on the bed in the odd room. Is this where it ended? Would she just be stuck in this here forever? No, she was smart. Surely there must be something she can do... Think logically.
Rocks aren't optimal to swing as they don't have a handle for leverage. Even if she had one, she had no way to attach it to the rock. She could probably get a makeshift handle from one of the broken pieces of furniture in here. But she'd still need something she could attach to it. Like something she could slot into position. But where would she find that, here? This place was just full of garbage and a broken robot. Or, well, it wasn't broken, but the key was.
That's when she got an idea. She didn't actually need to crank the key manually, she could just rotate the piece still inside the robot with telekinesis. She hurried back over to the room, immediately beginning to turn the key around. Despite how hollow it was, it still seemed to contain enough parts to start. Well, kind of at least. One of it's eyes flickered to life, shining in pale blue. However, just as it raised the cross to start moving, it fell over from it's own weight, causing it's head to loosen. Disappointed, Twilight stared at the collapsed robot in front of her. She didn't exactly know what she expected it to do, but it wasn't this.
That's when she noticed it. The head was slotted onto a mechanical skeleton inside. That meant you could attach a handle to it. Twilight walked around the metal corpse and picked it's head up, it's blue eye still active, staring straight forward. It's horn sparked a bit when she removed it from the skeleton, presumably some kind of artificial magic now disconnected. She carried the notably heavy head back to the scratched room, placing it beside the bed. Now she just needed a handle. She left the room and once more began to walk through the other doors, looking at the broken furniture for a suitable handle. The boards beneath the bed were too long and the legs were too round. She even attemped to tear off the mechnical unicorns skeletal neck the head had been attached to, but to no avail. That's when she remembered - The very first room. The bed in there had been snapped in half. They'd be a suitable length to use as the handle.
She retrieved the head and rushed back to the first room, tearing off one of the boards from under the bed. It didn't take much effort, as they weren't very thick. She took the board, and stuck it into the head, which no longer glowed. The board fit almost perfectly, at least when it came to width and length. However, it wasnt tall enough to fill the entire hole. But it was too broad to fit another board in there. Twilight tried regardless, shoving another board into the hole with all her might. And to her surprise, it mostly worked. It damaged the boards, but the head was now snugly attached to the makeshift handle.
Brimming with hope, twilight returned to the room with the fake wall. Looking at the makeshift sledge, it seemed rather brutal, but it'd do. She raised the "hammer" aloft with her magic, and brought it down on the wall as hard as she could. The planks snapped in half, but were still in the way. The mechanical horn had also been lodged into the wall. She tore it back out, and continued wreaking havoc on the wall. And eventually, it fell.
"As you can see by the patches of rough skin and bumps on her neck, back, right arm, and horn, the patient has begun developing tumors. We do not expect her to live much longer."
Unlike what Twilight had expected, what lied behind the wall was not a vent. It was more cave, a single stone tunnel leading further down. The heat pulses she'd felt through the wall were nothing compared to the infernal heat now radiating onto her face. It smelled absolutely putrid, too. Presumably whoever lived here had tried to close it off. Perhaps that's why it was empty now. Why was she even thinking about this? It's just a dream, none of this is real. Trying to make sense of things was the only thing keeping her going, she supposed. Despite the horrible conditions, Twilight begun moving down the dark tunnel, horn lit and sledge at the ready.
As she descended, she felt the air pressure rise and the sound of her own footsteps dampen as the barotrauma kicked in. The stench hadn't gotten better, either. Nor had she gotten used to it. The fetid smell of rotten flesh, stale air, and sweat was unbearable. The pitch blackness around her wasn't exactly much for comfort. Nothing was. The only thing down here was ages of pain and misery, judging off of the horrible... Well, everything.
As she continued downward, she thought about what she'd heard as she entered. Comas don't cause tumors. Was she really in a coma? Or, well, clearly she was, but something was off. Dreams weren't this coherent, not ever, but all other conclusions were illogical. This couldn't be another world or something, that'd be absurd. She'd wake up eventually and everything would be back to normal. Well, except for her recently diagnosed disease, but that's a bridge she'd cross later. For now, waking up seemed like a good objective.
The deeper she got, the afflictions got worse. Not only had the pressure given her a headache, but the stench was at the point where it'd empty her stomach if she breathed through her nose. And still, she saw nothing around her. Just more stone. Still just one tunnel, spiralling down, somehow getting darker. Yet still, she persevered. There was nothing for her behind.
Finally, she reached a cave chamber. More open than the tunnel, but still not very spacious. A few pathes brached from here, and to right was an old mining elevator with flickering lights. However, there was a keyhole obstructing the button that'd move the door blocking the way into the small elevator. Considering the stench, she had no doubt that multiple had died down here. Presumably miners. Maybe one of them had the key. She'd have to hurry up, she didn't want to stay here for too long. So, she picket a direction and walked - Another tunnel, opposite of the elevator.
As soon as she entered the tunnel, she felt a light draft. A breath of ever so slightly more fresh air, but still sickening. But alas, as she got closer, she saw another one of those metal doors that had been glued shut. The seal was no match for her sledge, however, breaking open in only two strikes. Brute force can be useful, occasionally. But, as soon as the door loosened, it was flung open in her direction, blown open by strong wind and snowflakes melting as soon as they were exposed to the caves noxious heat. On the bright side, bright, white light was streaming through the door. The freezing chill stung against every part of her body, but nevertheless, she valiantly pushed forward - At least she tried to, but the temperature weakened her enough for the wind to throw her straight back where she came from. This direction wasn't an option. At least not now. Maybe that door was sealed for a reason. At least the wind had slightly remedied the odor.
To the right of the tunnel was another one, this one pointing steeply down. Not so steep that she couldn't get back up, but she'd have to be careful not to fall. Except, that's exactly what happened. Immediately after her first step, the fragile rock beneath her hoof crumbled and she rolled all the way down. Fortunately, it wasn't that deep - only two meters or so, yet it was significantly warmer. Sweat started pearling practically as soon as she hit the ground.
This tunnel was seemed to be more worked on than the rest, as it had supporting wooden beams and clear missing chunks where ore had been mined out. Unlike the rest, this was an actual mineshaft. Continuing on, the cave somehow got hotter and she almost couldn't hear anything anymore due to the rising pressure. The persistent headache growing worse wasn't helping either. The worse it got, the fainter her magic became. Her horns glow had been reduced to a shine, allowing her to see about a yard in front of her.
The air had become difficult to breathe when she reached an intersection. A branching path to the left, or straight forward. Twilight felt the sweat running down her face as she continued forward, only to realise the shaft seemed to have been left behind in a hurry, with tools and helmets scattered about as the tunnel suddenly ended. Twilight turned back around, headed for the other tunnel. As she entered, she saw something she'd become used to at this point. More robots. About ten of them, all seemingly having stopped mid-step while walking or crawling away from something, all heavily damaged.
Twilight walked past robots, in the direction they'd been running from, not giving them a second thought. The mental fog developing from the headache didn't leave much room to think about things like that. Considering how old this place was, whatever was a threat then, was probably dead by now. Behind the herd, was a boarded up passageway. Despite her extreme exhaustion, she raised the sledge aloft once more, bringing it down upon the planks. One after one they broke off, and just as the last one was destroyed she stepped inside, and came to realise what they'd been running from.
The cave behind was shaking, in a breathing like pattern, every "breath" expelling more of that horrible smell. It was alive. The porous rock the chamber consisted of was drenched in brownish black liquid, slowly seeping down the walls and staining her hooves. Hanging from an outcropping in the wall was what seemed to be a leather pilot jacket lined with fur. Cautiously, she made her way closer, rummaging through the pockets of the jacket. She didn't have enough time.
As she touched the jacket, the pace of the rooms breathing increased. Faster, and faster. Frantcially, Twilight grabbed ahold of the jacket as she bolted out of the room. The entire shaft was shaking at this point. Her magic wasn't strong enough anymore to carry both the sledge and the jacket, so much to her dismay, she had to put on the heavy clothing despite the unbearable heat. Dragging the sledge behind her, she continued to sprint as she heard the wooden beams giving way to a cave-in behind her. She threw the sledge up the slope she'd fallen down from, causing the horn to get stuck in the ground. She then leapt into the air, grabbing ahold of the handle, and used it to hoist herself up. Just as she made it back up to the chamber with the elevator, the last part of the tunnel gave way to the collapsing stone. Whatever that thing in there was, it would be trapped for a long time.
Now that she was safe, she started rummaging through the pockets. She did find a key in one of them, but it didn't fit in the elevator. That meant she only had one way left to go - Into the snow.
"Princess, I suggest you visit less often. This room is losing colour faster every day, and I'm willing to bet you'll do the same."
"I'm fine. I will be here when she wakes up, whether you like it or not."
"...Are you feeling alright, princess? You se-"
"I said, I'm fine."
The immense wind whistled through the door, breaking the air pressure that'd shut her ears. The noise of the wind was almost deafening, now that she was used to the cave's barotrauma. The thick jacket helped mitigate a bit of the stinging pain from the searingly cold storm. Though barely, she could now keep her balance in the raging mists. It wasn't a fast stride, but she was moving forward nonetheless. For the first time in quite a while, she could see actual sunlight, as she found herself atop frail scaffolding trailing the side of a massive sinkhole. It was deep to the point where you couldn't see the bottom. She couldn't tell how wide it was either - Despite it being brighter outside, there wasn't this much blowing snow in the cave. Despite that, Twilight pushed on, holding her sledge in front of her to block a little bit of the oncoming wind. Though, despite her best efforts, it was still extremely painful. It was difficult to even look straight ahead without squinting.
That's when Twilight had an idea. The horn on the mechanical head on her sledge had flickered with electricity when she took it from the body. The eyes glowed even afterwards. Maybe, just maybe, it could be powered up again with magic. As quickly as she could, Twilight moved over behind a rock outcropping, she slumped over on the ground with the sledge in her hooves. It was extremely heavy to carry with only your hooves, but it'd have to do. Twilight tightened her grip around the handle as her and the mechanical horns both lit up, one in purple and the other in sparks. She focused, setting aside the biting chill for but a moment to achieve perfect concentration as the robot head's eyes lit up like blue spotlights. Well, the right one did, the left was flickering and jittering, but it'd have to do.
Twilight stood back up, with her makeshift flashlight-sledge-thing raised high in the air, basking the ground behind the white fog in blue light. It worked surprisingly well. She used it to scour across the area, looking for a potential goal or safe spot, when she noticed it - A small house. The paint was peeling off and it wasn't in perfect condition, but it looked mostly airtight. She lowered the staff to her height again, but kept if pointed towards the house to keep track of it.
It didn't take long until she was at the front door. It was locked. She could probably have beaten it to shreds with the sledge, but it wouldn't exactly be a very good shelter then. That's when she remembered the key she'd found in the jacket's pocket, and lo and behold, it worked. It must've belonged to someone who worked here. Without giving it much thought, she hurried inside, slamming the door behind her. Immediately, she was hit by the familiar scent of dust and stale air, but surprisingly enough it wasn't freezing in here. She'd simply wait for the storm to pass before heading outside again.
The interior was scarcely decorated. It didn't seem like someone lived here. It might've served as some sort of a large break room for the staff. There were a few framed pictures of ponies in high-vision vests, miner's outfits, and... A pilot's jacket. Twilight took the picture down and inspected it more closely. It was the very same jacket she was currently wearing, albeit with a nametag. The name had been scratched out. The mare on the picture had both an orange coat and mane, along with what seemed to be a glass eye looking slightly in the wrong direction. She was offering the camera a slight smile, but her tiredness displayed as bags under her eyes.
The thought of prior life becomes so much more daunting when you see it laid out before you - These ponies had lives, stories, and emotions. When things are told as history you don't think much of it, but that faint smile on the picture almost made Twilight tear up. She hung the picture back on the wall, and just as she was about to turn around and walk away, she noticed something - One of the pictures did not fit in with the others. She took down the picture to inspect it more closely. It was the only picture without colour, and it was also the only one that wasn't either of scenery or a pony. It was taken sideways, displaying what seemed to be a room. But, not any room. There was a vase with fresh flowers on the table and an IV stand on the floor. It was a hospital room.
"...This room is losing colour faster every day..." Twilight mumbled to herself, repeating what she'd heard the doctor say.
Could this be... Her room? She doubted there would be a black and white picture of a hospital room inside a break room. Besides, cameras old enough to take colourless photos didn't photograph in this quality. It was crystal clear, like you were seeing it with your own two eyes, unlike the rest of the photos, which were ever so slightly blurry and murky. Looking at the photo instilled some kind of unease within Twilight, so she put it away just like the last and moved on. The rest of the first floor was mostly empty and uninteresting. A generic carpet, a table with some chairs, and some simple kitchen appliances. the only thing left to check out was the upper floor.
Up the stairs was something that confused Twilight - It looked like a child's bedroom. A small bed, curtains with patterns of ducks on them, and walls painted in blue. Toys were strewn out on the floor, but due to a child's nature, it was hard to tell if they'd been left in a hurry like the rest of the things here or were just left by an untidy kid. Among the puzzle cubes, stuffed animals, and various other playthings, there was a small wooden doll of what looked to be a guard with a spear. Or, well, spear was giving it a little too much credit. It was a key. It looked like it's owner had taped it to the side to serve as one.
As she reached for the toy, she accidentally stepped on something and almost tripped. She turned back around, and picked up the small thing. A small, plastic animal. It's eyes were as soulless as she felt, trapped in here. In a way, she could relate to the thing. A lack of control. Helpless, forced to entrust someone else with their safety. It couldn't move or talk, couldn't protest. And neither could she. Her real self was still lying like a blank slate on a bed. Like a plastic animal. She pocketed the toy before reaching for the toy with the key. As she picked it up, the key practically fell off by itself. The glue had aged and weakened. She put it back where she'd found it, but took the key.
Looking out the window, the storm was still raging. Due to a lack of better things to do, she left her weapon at the door and hung up her jacket on a coat hanger, before getting to work on organizing the room upstairs. She hated when things were untidy, and its not like she had anything better to do. She moved the curtains back on their hooks, made the bed properly, and stashed the toys in drawers and boxes. After it was all said and done, the room was looking a lot better with many less tripping hazards strewn about. However, the storm hadn't passed. Twilight walked back down the stairs, as it struck her that she hadn't ate nor slept since she'd arrived her. Not metaphysically, at least. Her physical body was very much asleep. Nevertheless, she opened the old fridge despite not feeling hungry, and too her surprise, there was no rotten food inside. There was one pierogi, packaged in a packet that clearly said "VACUUM CONTAINED." Even though she didn't feel the need to eat, she figured holding on to some kind of normality would keep her decently sane.
To no one's surprise, the power wasn't on. The microwave didn't work. But maybe, just maybe, it could. It just needed a power supply, and that she could provide - Her sledge's horn had sparked to life when she lit it's eyes earlier. She turned the microwave around slightly, and pulled out the plug, instead holding the horn to the microwave's socket. All that was left was to power it. Without the freezing cold, it was a lot easier to do such. The eyes and horn sparked to life once more, causing the light inside the microwave to light up and the disc inside to spin, heating the pierogi.
It only took about a minute from start to finish. There didn't seem to be any plates or utensils, so the packet would have to suffice. She took the food and pulled out a chair, reflecting upon her recent experiences as she ate.
She'd probably been sitting zoned out for an hour when she realized the storm had stopped. She couldn't be sure, as the clock didn't work. Fearing the accelerated passing of time outside the dream, she hurried up, grabbed her things and was out the door, locking it behind her as some kind of a sign of respect. It was still very cold and the ground covered by snow, but she could see clearly. It seemed like the area around the sinkhole were mostly steppes, with the ruins of a massive building lying in the distance, fallen to her hoof. It was thoroughly charred, but no longer aflame. She turned back around, facing the flimsy scaffolding leading to the cave. If the key she'd found in the house didn't lead to the elevator, she didn't know what she'd do. Maybe just pick a direction and start walking. But for now, trying to get the elevator wouldn't harm.
It didn't seem like it would, anyways, was what she thought until she felt the ground quake as she saw the ground around her shattering, and the piece of the scaffolding cracking under her hooves. The aged wood didn't seem like it'd hold much longer. Just as she was about to book it towards the cave, the piece of floor she was standing on started to lean, slowly collapsing into the hole. In an act of quick thinking, Twilight leapt toward the still intact majority of the bridge, however, the impact caused it to shatter and break into platforms. Clearly, hopes and dreams weren't enough to hold together a bridge. With each of the segments suspended on beams mid-air, she'd have no choice but to jump between them. And with the platforms starting to break apart and sway under her weight, it wouldn't be easy.
She readied herself, before leaping from platform to platform, her hooves ripping the wood as she jumped. Some platforms fell straight into the hole, others just barely held her up. It seemed to be a working strategy, until she hit a roadblock - The next platform was too far away, and the one under her was falling. In a frenzy, she looked around for anything she could grab onto, but there was nothing. And with the falling platforms trajectory, it looked like she was going to crash straight into the next one...
That's it! She'd just have to let it fall close enough for her to hook her weapon's horn into the wooden frame and pull herself up. Swallowing her adrenaline and trying her best not to jump instinctively. Despite her slipping grip and increasing blood pressure, she focused only on the platform ahead. Just as she was about to slip off, she once more leapt into the air, swinging the sledge and causing it to get stuck in the platform, grabbing onto it and hoisting herself onto the platform. But, the struggle wasn't over yet. The platform she was now standing on had begun to ever so slightly tilt from the sledge's weight. Quickly, she tore it out of the ground before slamming it into the other side, causing it's weight to now tilt the platform towards the still intact entrance to the mineshaft.
Once more, she ripped out the hammer before desperately jumping to safety, landing on her side. Panting, she looked up, watching as whatever pieces of sollar left slowly break and fall down into the abyss. The sinkhole had expanded. It seemed to have been an earthquake that caused it, but by some miracle, the cave was still mostly intact. Some pieces of the ceiling had fallen, but it was still passable. Twilight stood back up, brushing off her jacket, dragging herself and her sledge into the cave.
All tunnels from the room with the elevator had collapsed completely, save for the one she'd just come from. Lucky break. Filled with suspense, she inserted the key into the keyhole, and twisted it. It worked. The lock fell down and hit the floor, revealing a call button behind. Twilight pressed it, and immediately the door slid away to the side. She could enter the elevator, and so she did. She quickly scanned the room for anything she'd left behind, before pressing the only button the elevator had. The door closed, shrouding her in darkness, as it shook to life and began moving. Due to the lack of windows, Twilight had no idea which direction she was actually moving in. But she could feel it turning and moving. The elevator was not going straight down. But that didn't make sense, why would someone make an elevator that goes horizontally? Considering what she'd just been through, she didn't really care enough to complain. She was relatively safe, and by the looks of it, settle down for a long ride.
And a long ride it was. It felt like she'd been sitting there forever as the elevator twisted and turned. It wasn't much of a smooth or relatively comfy ride, but at least the seat she was sitting on was comfy. It had a red pillow and was in good condition, which Twilight found odd considering it was connected to a mine. She wasn't complaining, though. She hadn't felt comfortable since she arrived in this mental jail, in her bed.
Come to think of it, she'd made good progress. She'd come a long way since then. Mentally and literally. She'd gotten used to whatever this place was, and she was well on her way to... Well, she didn't know what exactly, but if she stopped moving she'd probably go insane. Setting an arbitrary goal certainly helped keep her mind on track. After all, coma patients usually suffer brain damage when they wake up. Keeping herself busy was maybe an even better thing than she thought.
In the middle of her thinking, the elevator suddenly stopped and went straight down. The remained of the ride didn't last long, only moving vertically for a few seconds - The doors slid open, and Twilight stepped out of the elevator.
"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.'
As soon as she made it onto the streets, she looked for the monumental greats she'd seen earlier. Being very difficult to miss, she saw them nearly instantly. She guessed that direction was also south. Quickly, she began moving towards it. Or, at least she tried to. The streets all followed the cardinal directions, but nonetheless were hard to navigate. Random dead ends, many alleyways not leading anywhere or back where she'd already been, and in some places the street just... ended. No walls, no blockades, no nothing. The buildings continued all the same, but the ground just wasn't there. She looked back up to the sun to recover some kind of sense of direction, only to be distracted by something she hadn't noticed before - it looked like it was melting, painting the sky in fiery tones of orange and yellow.
Nevertheless, it gave her a slight advantage as the buildings were too tall to see the crest at all sometimes. But mostly, it got her thinking even more - why was it like that? Was this just what this realm was like? Well, that didn't matter. The voice led her to believe she was beginning to approach the end of this living nightmare. She couldn't wait to get back to the real world. Even though... Even though she couldn't remember it. She didn't remember her name, her friends, or even where she lived anymore, but anything was better than this place.
As she reached the massive gates, she noticed just how large they actually were - enormous. There was no way even a fully-grown dragon could open it, let alone her magic. Her sledge wouldn't, either. Just as she was about to give up hope, the voice spoke again.
"You won't get past here without the seals of the sun and moon."
"The seals? What seals?"
"Long ago, our world was linked to yours. We traded knowledge for resources, and generally had an alright relation. However, when your solar goddess came to power, it conflicted with our beliefs, and we were afraid it would defile our culture. In turn, we stole what connected our worlds before she found out about us and we cut the pathways forever. Everyone who knew about us is dead. The path to La Ruga lies inactive at the south pole of your realm. We still hold the talismans used to re-open the gateway."
"Well, where are they? I'd love to hear more of this story, but I really have to get going."
"To the west, lies the elder district. There is an old airport there. It used to lead to our grand clocktower. The symbol of the moon lies in its underground section. The solar icon is within the palace, by the mechanical dancers."
"Can you help me get them? Surely, if you want me gone, you'd want me gone ASAP."
"I'm opening the gate for you when you have them. Is that not enough?"
With a sigh, Twilight began to move back to the palace from whence she came. Even though she'd just gotten used to not having her eyes bleed from light, she was forced to return. On her way back, she quickly realised she hadn't gone the same way as she got here. This was because there were two large statues doused in the same light as the palace, surrounded by shimmering particles suspended in mid air in the beam of radiant light falling onto it from the heavens above. The first statue was of her. Or, rather, the reflection she'd seen for only a split second. The only major difference was that this one wasn't wearing clothes, revealing the mare underneath. The same stripes present on her cheeks littered her body, but much unlike a zebra's. Instead of stretching the body evenly, these looked more like jutting spikes that stretched across her cheeks, legs, and back. The statue was stood in a rearing pose, one hoof raised aloft, pointing towards the bleeding sun. Notably, the statue also did not have a cutie mark. But, based on their mane and facial features, it was undoubtedly her. Just not "her" her.
Twilight's admiration of the statue was abruptly interrupted by loud and frantic knocking and sounds of a door handle, like someone was trying to beat down a door. She hurriedly looked around, but there was no source to the noise to be seen. Could this be what her real body was hearing? That would soon be answered, as she heard the voices from outside once more.
"Who in the name of Celestia are you supposed to be? How did you get here? Out, immediately!"
"Let me in. Let me in. I need to see Twilight. I said LET ME IN!"
"No, only authorized personnel can go in there. Leave before I call the guar- Ow! Guards! Restrain her!"
"Let go of me! I demand you to! I need to see Twilight! Let go!"
"Are you alright, doctor? You're bleeding."
"That lunatic BIT me, but I'll be fine."
The flailing and manic screams of the madmare grew distant, as did the other voices. What chaos was going on out there? Why did someone want to see her? She was sure all these questions would be answered when she woke up again, but still it gnawed on her.
Twilight turned to the other statue. It was vaguely familiar, but she couldn't put her hoof on who it was. It was a stallion, considerably larger and more muscular than Twilight, standing solely on his front legs. His hinds were just kind of laying limply on the ground, as if they didn't work. His mane was a bit similar to hers, but shorter and a bit rougher. Similarly, he was covered in the same stripes, only, his hooves and lower legs were covered entirely by the dark. Unlike the statue of her, this one did have a cutie mark - A towershield. Carved out of stone was also a large crown, lying on his head and covering his eyes. Behind the stallion was a big, mostly undetailed and generic sword. Twilight's only guess was that this was some old lord or perhaps some other kind of royalty. She wondered why a statue of her would be placed so close to someone of importance.
Soon she realised that she had gone completely off track, and tore her eyes from the statues and continued to the palace. This path was slightly more open and a lot more straight than the one she'd taken to get to the gate, thankfully.
XII: Out of Sight, In my Mind
As she was walking back to the gate, something caught Twilight's eye - A small, white filly with a pinkish mane was just rounding a corner near the crest. Twilight ran as fast as she could towards the little pony, but as soon as she rounded the same alleyway, it was gone. Like it'd vanished into thin air. With a disappointed sigh, she walked back to the crest as the voice in her head spoke again.
"What was that about, Twilight?"
"Nothing."
"By the by, where did you get that jacket? You didn't meet the foremare, did you?"
The jacket. So much had happened since she put it on that she'd completely forgotten it was even there. Come to think of it, now that she remembered it, she also noticed it was unbearably warm outside, with or without the jacket. Despite that she wasn't in one of the bright areas, the sun's heat was relentless.
"No, I did not."
"Yes, yes, of course not. Anyways. Make a left at the seal and you'll get to the elder district. I should warn you, though, the automatons have remained hostile for years. I advice caution."
"Uh huh. Sure." Twilight responded, annoyed at the fact that the voice knew exactly where she was but that she had no idea who she was talking to. Nevertheless, she began to move in the direction as told, though cautiously as the voice had said. It didn't take her long to understand why she'd phrased herself like that. At first, it was a pleasant stroll, watching the yellow stone tiles fade into streets and buildings of red brickwork. But, the further she got, it got increasingly more uncomfortable - shells of old robots and weapons stained in crimson littered the streets, as well as stained the walls. Whatever happened here, it wasn't pretty.
Twilight considered turning back by the time she reached what she could only assume was the airport. It seemed to have a dock for an airship, but nothing was actually parked there. This was an airport if ever she saw one. Only, the sight underneath was tremendously disturbing - Large crosses, ones used for crucifixion, were stood around the airport. Fortunately, no one was actually attached to them, but they showed signs of use. Weathered and old, it looked like they would fall over from the slightest gust of wind, but fortunately for them the air was unnaturally still. Maybe the high walls surrounding the city blocked it out. The doors leading inside were not locked, as it seemed the entire mechanism had been torn to shreds. With a hard shove, they slid open.
Much to both Twilight's surprise and dismay, it was pitch black inside, unlike the rest of the place. Even the darker spots in the city were lit up to the point where you could easily see. The same didn't go for this place. She couldn't even see her own silhouette in the ocean of black. The light of her magic was strong enough to light the way, thankfully. But she wasn't thankful. She was terrified. It was a given that her magic should be strong enough, she was a unicorn, and her magic was strong. The fact that it only lit up maybe a meter ahead of her was a sign it had grown weaker. That tumor really had taken a toll on her magic.
As she walked inside, she felt something in the atmosphere change. There was movement. She didn't know how she knew or where it was coming from, but she knew it was here somewhere. Trusting her gut wasn't something she'd usually do, but in a place like this, it may be necessary. She wasn't willing to take any risks. She began traversing the room as silently as hooves could, which admittedly, wasn't very stealthy. Her magic wasn't strong enough to silence her hooves anymore, either. As she moved throughout what appeared to be a library, just as she turned a corner, she saw something. Two floodlight-like eyes, scanning over the area. If she wasn't cautious, whatever was looking would most definitely find her. Twilight immediately darkened her horn and took cover behind a bookcase or shelf of some sort. It was difficult to tell in the near-pitch darkness. All she could see was the faint, excess light spilling out from the bright beams from the prying eyes on the other side.
After a few minutes of hushed breathing and stillness, the metal rattling of the machine was heard. Daring a peek from around the corner, Twilight realized the robot had wandered away. Once more, she began to scurry across the halls, staying low to the ground. She was loosely following the automaton, as it seemed to have some knowledge of where it was going. Without using it as guidance, Twilight would have to trace the walls to find places to go, and then she'd also need her magic to see. Sticking relatively close was her only option. Through her stalking, she'd also managed to see what it was - and to her surprise, unlike the rest, it was not a pony.
It was a dragon, seemingly built to resemble a juvenile one, maybe in its teenage years. It wasn't that big, but taller than her. It was made of bronze and iron and was carrying a sharp halberd of the same materials. Its mechanical eyelids showed much dismay and disinterest to the ongoing patrol. Despite all that, it was surprisingly nimble and quiet, more so than Twilight. However, it was at the disadvantage that actually utilizing those skills was difficult when you practically have two spotlights taped to your face. This benefited Twilight on the other hoof, as it was quite clear exactly what it did and didn't see.
Her plan seemed to be going smoothly, just following and watching the robot, until she spotted something else. For but a second, as the beams of light swept over the room she saw exactly what she'd feared - another robot. This one didn't have glowing eyes - or eyes in the first place. She couldn't tell what it was in the split second it was doused in light, all she could tell was that it was short and close to the floor. She stuck to the wall and slowly began shimmying across the room. The mechanical dragon had already left the room and continued elsewhere, so she was stuck in here with whatever the other thing was.
"Twilight. Don't respond, just listen. If you want to live, listen to me and don't deviate for a second. Go straight and left."
Twilight, initially startled, for once swallowed her pride and did as told. Slowly, she started making it across the black void, hearing metal parts dragging around her. And just as it seemed like it might work, the worst possible thing happened - a creaky floorboard. As soon as she stepped on it she heard the rustling parts get closer, and closer.
"Strafe right."
She silently slid in the indicated direction, hearing as the seemingly broken robot crashed straight into the wall beside her, just narrowly avoiding her. "Continue right." The voice said afterwards, and she followed suit. It seemed she was in a corridor. She could tell by the light spilling out from the room ahead of her as she approached, it became more clear that the dragon had stopped there in an attempt to force her out of the building. She couldn't get past without the robot seeing her, and making a run for it didn't seem that intelligent when you're stuck between a rock and a sharp axe. But alas, the robot behind her was inching closer and the one ahead still wasn't moving, so she had to do something.
"Stop." The voice said, and in that very same moment she heard something slowly start crawling behind her. "Stop as hard as you can, then hug the wall."
Twilight hesitated for a few seconds, but the scratching behind her was approaching faster than she could think. She closed her eyes, drove her hooves straight into the ground, and then stuck to the wall. Even though she couldn't see it, she knew the dragon didn't even flinch. She could clearly see the two beams staring straight into nothing in the room ahead. The shuffling noise, however, was sprinting as fast as something dragging itself over a floor can. Closer, and closer...
...And straight past her. It couldn't see her. It had no eyes. It only followed the direction of the noise, which happened to be in the same direction as the dragon. It crawled closer towards it, and once it got close enough to bathe in the spilling light from outside the beams, she could tell what it was. Another one of those mechanical ponies, except this one was missing all but the front limbs. Its head had mostly everything removed, too. It looked a lot more industrial than the rest, with various tanks and tubes stretching across its back.
Twilight watched as it drew closer to the light. Just as it got in the dragon's line of sight, the beams shifted straight to red and it went all out flailing with the halberd. The sounds of breaking wood and clattering metal was heard clearly, along with the sights of hectic friendly fire. It only lasted for a few seconds until it was quiet again. Twilight looked into the room, seeing the dragon's light had shifted back to yellow. She watched as it grabbed the malformed pony, dragging it and the halberd after itself into the room beyond. The smaller robot was no longer responding.
Carefully, Twilight snuck after the machines, following them once more through the vast halls. However, stealth wasn't needed for much longer, as the dragon shoved open a door, from which light was streaming in. Twilight remained in the darkness a while more, until she could no longer hear the noise of metal scraping against wood and stone. When the noise finally grew too distant to hear, Twilight stepped into the room beyond.
It was the interior of the airport, and it was ridiculously large. She'd never seen a hall of this size before. There were lots of balconies and walkways, on tens of layers. Doors everywhere. Opposite of Twilight, on a walkway three stairways up, was the dragon from before still dragging the glorified lump of metal and their armament with them. But, in between them was something she'd never seen before - An airship of ridiculous size. Way larger than any she'd ever seen. Not that she could recall ever actually seeing one, but that was beside the point. It was massive. Multiple houses would fit in the large gondola, not to mention the towering balloon holding it suspended mid air. But, her awe came to a quick stop when she remembered why she was here. The moon icon.
If she recalled correctly, it was supposedly in the basement. She looked to be on at least the seventh floor, in the dead center between the ceiling and bottom, so it was quite a way down. That's what confused her the most - if she'd entered on the ground floor, why was she this high up? Was everything beneath her underground? It didn't actually matter all that much, but it perplexed her nonetheless. Immediately, she began looking for a stairwell leading down. It wasn't that hard to find, only a few meters away from her. They were faded and old, but they were more than enough to support her weight. Brass wasn't a weak material, per se, but there were better options. Come to think of it, nearly all she'd seen was brass, despite that this place had quite good technology, capable of making robots - albeit simple - she was surprised they weren't using iron. Maybe said material wasn't common in their realm? She shook her head, realizing she'd gone on a pointless thought train again. She'd been doing that a lot lately.
It was considerably darker at the bottom floor - there were streetlights here, but none of them were powered. How come the automatons were able to be powered with no one to produce power? Maybe they were self-sustaining. They are dangerous either way. Despite the shadowy presence, she could clearly see a door. She approached it, and pulled on the handle. But it didn't open. The solid steel door didn't budge a bit.
"This is the right door, but it's locked."
"Do you know where the key is, captain obvious?"
"I do not, but I assume it would be near the top."
"That sounds an awful lot like you know where it is."
"That's just how hierarchies work. The important ones reside the higher floors, and usually have a skeleton key."
With a sigh, Twilight began to move up the stairs again. Only this time, twice as many sets, and upward. Suddenly, this place's size was more annoying than astonishing. Some of the steps creaked threateningly ominously under her hooves, but she figured that if many had walked on them before, they'd hold for her too. That theory proved to be correct as she reached the top without a hitch. Mostly. The stairway didn't reach all the way up. Only one floor up from where she started. Peering out over the hall, she remembered where she'd seen the faulty concierge cross over. Maybe there were stairs there. Twilight began walking down the walkway which trailed the edges to the room, most likely to accomodate for the massive airship she could now see from a different angle.
Just like she'd thought, the stairs leading upward were on the opposite side. They looked more worn than the last, showing clear prints of the robot's metallic claws in the dust. This place had been abandoned for quite a while, she reckoned. As she began ascending the flight of stairs, she could faintly hear the clicking of metal once more. Had the automaton turned around? Did it know she was here? She stood still for a few minutes, not daring to walk further up nor down on the loud metal. As the sound drew closer, she noticed how slow and irregular it was. As if it was stumbling. Twilight looked up above to where the sound was coming from, to see the same dragon from before - it looked like it at first glance, at least. It was carrying something different, though. There was something else off about it, but she couldn't tell from a distance. Eventually, it stumbled its way to the other side out of earshot. Twilight seized the opportunity to continue moving unnoticed.
It was all going according to plan until one of the steps gave way and crashed into the ones below, its crash echoing across the hall. Mechnical footsteps from multiple directions were heard, all approaching her. It was too late to hide. Twilight immediately began to rush up the remaining steps, right as a bolt from a crossbow whipped by her, narrowly missing only a few inches in front of her. That's what the dragon was carrying. A crossbow. As she got higher up, she got closer to the shooter, and could notice some details about it. The dragon was clearly more faded and damaged than the last, missing its lower jaw and standing unstably while sloppily reloading its weapon. Despite its shakiness, its face resembled pure apathy, staring into her soul with its only eye. Luckily for her, its impaired vision caused it to lack the proper perception to even get close with most shots. However, it didn't take long to notice that more problems would soon arrive.
When she reached the top of the staircase, she immediately heard something behind her. She whipped her head back, only to notice another mechanical pony with tesla coils on its back and lightning buzzing loudly around its horn. Suddenly, arcs of lightning bolted from it, though they didn't even get near her. That didn't exactly matter, as she still felt part of the shock through the metal grate floor. It wasn't enough to serve any actual threat, though. Looking down, various robots of all kinds had gathered near the lower floors. Some didn't fit up the stairs, and the rest weren't exactly moving that fast. Most of them seemed non threatening, especially since the griffons didn't even seem capable of flight, until a pegasus with wings of sailcloth bolted up from out of nowhere. As soon as it caught sight of Twilight, it dove down and crashed straight into the floor before her.
The sheer force of the impact caused the walkway to fall off its hinges, only held up by the supports from the floor beneath. It bent under the weight, making the entire path drift away from the wall and tilt slightly over the gap where the airship was. The mare behind her lost her grip, barreling straight through the walkway and landing on the airship in a burst of sparks, and then further slid off the rounded balloon and down into the crowd below, who yet showed complete indifference to the bedlam. As she was about to start running once more, she quickly realized that the mechanical mare in front of her had unfolded its wings as to block her path.
With the swarm slowly approaching from behind and the obstacle edging closer in front of her, it seemed this might just be the end for her. In a final act of quick thinking and desperacy, she lit her horn in hopes of performing a teleport spell. She'd hardly ever managed to do it in real life and with her weakened magic, the chances of it working seemed slim. She noticed as soon as her horn flared up with magic that it hurt. Really, really hurt. An etching pain, as if someone was carving straight through her bone. With her heart full of determination and closed eyes full of tears, she let out a screech of pain as she was enveloped by the purple light.
She opened her eyes again, praying for a miracle... There wasn't anyone in front of her. She heard it behind her. It'd worked. She'd teleported around the mare. Despite her conflicting emotions of agony, joy, and panic, this was no time for celebration. There was no time to stall. She straightened herself and began sprinting as fast as her legs could take her, running for a sturdy-looking bronze door. The pegasus behind hadn't had time to realize what happened until Twilight was already pushing the door open. Twilight could hear it rushing for her but she ignored it as she slammed the gate shut behind her and locked it.
Once Twilight reached the room with the rails and robots again, it wasn't hard to get the seal. She'd seen it when she passed through here the first time. That's what she thought, at least. She couldn't lift the brooch, no matter how hard she pulled. It was magnetised to the automaton. As she pulled one last time, to her surprise, it actually came loose and fell to the floor. But, just as she was about to pick it up, it started sliding back towards the mechanical pony. As she looked back up towards it, she noticed something - it's hoof had moved closer to the floor, and the two dormant ones had stood back up. Just as the seal connected with the metal hoof once more, the automaton began to move.
It lifted the seal up into the air, before it slid away on the rail as if it was on ice skates, with the other two beginning to do the same. Sparks flared from the rails as the three ponies gradually sped up and started zooming across the room, the emblem still firmly attached. At the pace they were going at, it'd be impossible to get ahold of it, even with her magic. She'd have to slow them down, somehow. Her first thought was to stick the sledge's horn into the rail - a tragic failure on her end, as it was smashed to pieces as it collided with one of the ponies.
Her second idea was to jump onto one of them. She stood for a few minutes, watching and memorizing their speed, to time it just right - when the time was nigh, she jumped into the air and latched on as hard as she could - but, as she held on, the dancer started spinning, faster and faster until she was inevitably thrown off. Dizzy from the short-lived flight, she tried her best to stand up and think straight, but it was hard to think when you could barely see.
Her third and final plan was to somehow make them crash into each other. They just barely avoided each other where the rails intersected, so even the slightest change of pace would cause them to hit and hopefully derail. But, considering they smashed straight through a lump of solid metal, that didn't seem like it would be very easy. That's when she noticed it - the massive brazen chandelier. If she could somehow get it to fall down, it'd fall straight onto the intersection. The problem was just how - It was held up by a chain, not a rope. She couldn't just throw things at it until it snapped. Her magic couldn't force it down, either - It was suspended by some sort of mechanism. She could tell, because the chain stretched through a small hole in the wall, and wasn't connected to the roof. It also had a bit of give when she pulled on it. She didn't know where said mechanism was, but she had an idea.
Twilight headed back outside to the small garden. As she'd noticed earlier, there were a few doors there. Fortunately, most were unlocked. However, the pleasingly simple part was soon over, as the unlocked rooms had little to note. Rooms with tools or basic furniture, they seemed to just be basic storage. A one had a blocked off door, too - it wasn't hard to get it open, as there was only a chair in the way. She was on the same side as the simple blockade, so all she had to do was move it out of the way. What she found in the next room, however, she did not expect.
A massive, dark hall, with thousands of chains stretching from the floor to the roof at random angles. The chains were all connected to the ground by spools with winches. Rolling on the levers seemed to bring chains up and down, but she couldn't tell where the chains led. But nevertheless, she came up with a plan, albeit a mediocre and time-consuming one - if the chandelier was indeed linked to one of these, she'd just have to roll levers until the light in the dancers' room moved. Only, it'd take ages as it was just guesswork. But, due to the lack of a better option, she began work on rolling the levers.
It felt like it'd been ages with no progress. She rolled a few levers, went back up, saw nothing had changed, and gone back down. Many times she'd done that, over the span of probably a few hours. But, diligence is key, as was evident by her eventual success - The chandelier had moved down a bit. Good. Now all she had to do was break the chain and cause it to fall down. However, as her sledge handle of her sledge had broken apart, it wouldn't serve as a very useful tool. But, she recalled something else. One of the storage rooms had a pickaxe. She could stick it under the screws connecting the chains to the ground and pry them away. However, that was more easily said than done.
Despite how hard she was pulling, the anchor didn't budge. Her magic, it was growing weaker... Twilight had reason to suspect it was because of the tumor. As a last resort, she once more brought the pickaxe's edge under the metal, and wrapped herself around the handle, hoping her bodyweight alone could be enough to bend the steel, and by miracle, it was. Twilight shook and fell to the floor alongside the tool as the winch loosened and was pulled out of the ground, getting caught on a small hole in the roof the chain extended through. The chandelier had loosened, pulling the spool with it. It had most definitely fallen down, not only signified by the obviously missing part, but also because of the loud crash heard from above. Twilight rushed back up to see what commotion she'd caused in the room.
She look out into the room, to see that only one of the dancers was unaffected. As she walked inside, it became obvious what'd happened - the chandelier had landed on one, the next had crashed straight into it, and the last one was the only that still moved. It'd adapted to jumping and doing pirouettes to cross over the broken lamp. But, fortunately for Twilight, the one carrying what she needed had been hit.
Taking a bit of pride in her idea, she moved forward to grab the brooch from the hoof stretching out from under the wreck. For what felt like the first time since she arrived here, there were no further complications. She just picked up the brooch, and went on her way, back down to the streets.
