"This is silly," Sunset mumbled.

"This is highly impractical," Maëva added.

"We don't really have any other choice," Twilight argued. "We don't know how a hydra's body might react to a teleportation, so we can't use that. And it's too far anyway. Now, don't move too much please."

The alicorn pulled on the thick belts she was strapping around the hydra's belly and necks. Maëva and the others were indeed just laying on an empty flat-car at the Crystal Empire's train station. The massive trunk from which the heads were coming from was so large it didn't fully fit on the car. But, they hadn't found any other mode of transportation for them.

"What happens if there's a tunnel?" Maëva asked, seeing that they were much larger than the train, even if they were to lay on the side.

"It should be wide enough," Twilight reassured. "Just, don't lift your head too much, okay? All three of you."

"Okay," Twydra nodded.

Sunset sighed, complaining:

"It's gonna be a looong ride..."

"How long?" Maëva asked.

"About fifteen hours," Twilight explained, finalizing her work, making sure everything was correctly held together. "The Ghastly Gorge is located a bit south of Ponyville. There's no station there, but the tracks pass right next to it. We'll stop the train at it so we don't have to walk."

Maëva was more concerned about the fifteen hour thing. That would be a long time to just lay and do nothing. Sure, Twydra and Sunset were easy enough to talk to, but still.

"You're leaving?" suddenly said a voice.

Maëva and the others looked up, seeing Flurry Heart flying down towards them.

"We're going to further our investigation," Twilight explained.

"Oooh, can I come?" the young princess asked, landing on the car, next to the hydra.

"I'm not your parents, Flurry," the purple alicorn pointed out. "Why don't you ask them?"

"Heeeeh..." Flurry said with a bored face, looking away.

Twilight rolled her eyes, before saying:

"At least leave a note for them or something."

"That doesn't sound like you..." Sunset said to Twilight, arching an eyebrow, thinking she was too compliant.

"Trust me," she replied with a resigned look on her face. "I've been her aunt for long enough to know she won't take no for an answer."

Flurry giggled, covering her mouth with one hoof, defending herself:

"You make it sound like I'm a bad niece!"

"Well, maybe you aren't all the time," Twilight playfully replied. "But I remember a few occasions where someone had to be saved from her parent's wrath after doing some shenanigans."

"That was a long time ago."

"Sure," Twilight said with a little smile on her face. "Six months was a long time ago. Now come on, take a seat inside, we're about to depart."

"I think I'll stay with them."

Flurry nodded towards the tied hydra.

"As you wish," Twilight said. "Don't do anything dangerous."

"You know me," the young princess replied.

"That's exactly why I'm saying this!"

Twilight went to the head of the train, still laughing a bit. Flurry took place on the flat-car, right next to the three heads.

It didn't take long for the train to start moving. They all heard the locomotive whistle, the engines picking up momentum, as they passed by the station. Maëva looked at the princess, asking naively:

"Why are you coming?"

"I'm bored," she plainly answered, watching the city getting further away, before she put her eyes back on the middle head, smiling. "And I like you."

"Huuu, thanks?" Maëva said, caught off guard. "Shouldn't you warn your parents, like Twilight said?"

"I've already done it, don't worry," Flurry reassured with a smile. "My mom knew I would follow you and this whole story anyway."

"And Cozy Glow?" Maëva asked. "She is doing research on the portals for us."

"She'll find me, if she wants to."

There was a good amount of confidence in her words. Which Maëva found both admirable and a bit harsh, purposefully leaving her friend without telling her, all while being certain she would be able to find her anyway.

"Anyway," Flurry said. "Where are we going?"

The journey was long, but at least Maëva was able to learn more about this world, and Twydra too. Things are easier to picture when you have an alicorn that can magically project you a map of the land and reenact important historical events.

Yet, after a while, things inevitably got boring. Sunset had begun her nap about one hour in, and Twydra soon followed. Maëva and the princess discussed for a bit, but they too fell in Luna's arms. The night falling halfway through their travel didn't help.

They were all woken up by Twilight, coming to see them.

"We're here!"

"About time..." Flurry grumbled while stretching her wings. "It's night..."

Maëva opened her eyes, about to answer, but suddenly froze. Twydra yawned, while Sunset's head went slightly up, looking around her. Twilight was busy undoing their belts and Flurry caught Maëva looking at the sky with a mute surprise.

"Something's wrong?" the young princess asked.

The middle head slowly got out of her day-dreaming, but still wondered with a distant voice:

"Is this how your night sky usually looks...?"

Flurry looked up, seeing the usual darkness and the stars around, with the moon, present as ever.

"Yeah, I know, pretty boring, isn't it?" she said with a sigh.

"Boring?" Maëva repeated, astonished. "You call that boring?"

"What is it then?" Flurry asked with an arched eyebrow.

"You have stars!" Maëva replied, shocked and almost outraged by Flurry's reaction. "So many of them, the sky isn't just an empty void! There's light, your sky is purple! Your moon is so big and bright!"

"I... guess you could say that?" Flurry said, looking at the others, seeking a little help.

"I understand her reaction," Twydra nodded with empathy. "Since the Collapse in our world, the sky has been gone as well."

"It doesn't even look close to what it was in mine before," Maëva said. "I've seen pictures, but from what I've been told, most people couldn't even see the night sky properly because of cities."

"If you go in Canterlot, it's about the same effect," Sunset reassured. "You won't see many stars in the streets."

"Girls?" Twilight suddenly cut, gathering their attention. "We have a mystery to solve and worlds to save."

"Right," Maëva said, getting up and off of the car.

She looked around. They were in a grassy plain, with what she supposed to be a forest in the distance. She looked at the other side of the train and saw that they were near a cliff. The Ghastly Gorge was right next to them, barely a couple of meters away.

"How do we head down?" Sunset asked, coming to the same observation.

"We stopped next to a path," said Twilight. "Everyone is ready?"

Maëva stretched her legs, numbed by the journey, before she nodded. Sunset and Twydra were also ready, while Flurry was already hovering over the gorge.

"Then let's go."

They went down a narrow slope carved into the side of the cliff, Twilight ahead with her horn casting a purple light all around them, Flurry flying around.

"I've been doing research while we were on the train," the princess of friendship explained. "It turns out the Ghastly Gorge was formed by a river a few thousand years ago, unlike the Galloping Gorge, which is still an unexplained feature. But what puzzles most geological experts is that it's way too deep for such a small river."

"Sooo, magic was involved?" Sunset guessed, being used to that kind of explanation.

"It isn't a seriously studied hypothesis," Twilight confessed. "But we might find something that proves the opposite."

As they went down, Maëva looked at the bottom of the gorge. A thin stream of water was running at its lowest part, glittering under the moonlight. Night felt so different here, wondrous, almost like a dream of its own.

"What's that hole for?" Flurry suddenly asked, casting light into a huge cave on the side of the cliff.

"Careful!" Twilight yelled, scared. "Those are-"

Flurry got her answer when a yellow eye the size of a foal opened in the cave, less than a meter away. The young alicorn yelled, only for a quarray eel to jump out of its hiding spot, jaws opened and ready to swallow Flurry Heart. She quickly flew away, hardly dodging it.

"... quarray eels' nests," Twilight finished in a sigh.

"T-Thanks," Flurry said, panting, a hoof against her chest. "Do those things not sleep!?"

"You have eels on earth?" Maëva rhetorically asked.

"We have hydras," Sunset pointed out.

"Right..."

It's true that this wasn't the most surprising thing here. Following Twilight, and cautiously avoiding the holes in the walls, Maëva and the two heads accompanying her arrived at the bottom of the gorge.

"So, what now?" she asked. "We randomly search through the canyon? At night?"

"Pretty much," Twilight confirmed. "I'm really worried about that number we were given, I feel like we don't have much time."

"There's a problem, though," Sunset said.

"Yes, I know..." Twilight hopelessly sighed, looking away.

"That is?" Flurry asked, a question shared by Maëva.

"This place isn't the great north," Sunset explained. "Ponies do come here every once in a while. If there were ruins, they would have been found a long time ago."

"So... We came here for nothing?" Twydra asked, not that she was believing it.

"Maybe we'll find some clues," Twilight tried to convince herself of. "We know that we are searching for something, unlike everycreature who's been here before."

"What about the eels nest?" Maëva suggested.

All turned their heads to her, not really getting the point she was trying to make.

"We'll try to avoid it?" Sunset guessed.

"No, I mean..." Maëva stopped for a second, searching for a way to explain it the best she could. "The eels have been living here for a while, right? And no one would get close to them, nor their nest, in those holes. What if what we're searching for was behind?"

Twilight's face illuminated, understanding the implication. She thought out loud:

"No one would have found it, it would have been avoided! That could make sense."

"So, we're just going to remove some creatures from their nest?" Sunset said, arching an eyebrow.

"I could ask Fluttershy to help us," Twilight supposed. "But it's the middle of the night."

"I'm pretty sure we could deal with them easily," Twydra said, as if it was obvious.

"I agree with that," Flurry added.

"What do you suggest?" the other alicorn asked, curious.

The young princess simply nodded towards the hydra, as Twydra replied:

"Look at us. I don't think they'll try to eat something twice their size."

"Don't count on that too much," Twilight warned. "They can be dangerous creatures and you'll have to move head first since the tunnels are small."

"I'll just add a shield," Flurry said, before being struck by a new idea. "Oooor I could finally put my battleaxe to use!"

"Shield will do," Twilight sighed. "Lead the way, Flurry. But I won't be responsible if you get eaten, you'll have to explain that to your parents yourself."

"How would she-" Maëva started, not sure to understand.

"Works for me!" the young alicorn said, happily trotting towards one of the holes in the cliff, horn ready.

As soon as she stood in front of it, a quarray eel jumped out of it, maws wide opened and teeth out, only to close them on a yellowy transparent rock-solid shield.

"Hi," the princess said with a smile, facing the confused creature trying to chew on her shield. "We would like to visit your nest, but don't worry, we won't take anything belonging to you. Careful, you'll break your teeth if you keep on doing that."

The creature didn't seem to really comprehend what Flurry was saying, too busy biting the magical sphere.

"Don't harm them," Twilight warned.

"I know, I know," Flurry said, waving a nonchalant wing. "I have a spell for that."

A beam of light was cast towards the eel, making it freeze for a second. It released the shield, looking even more confused, though unharmed, then suddenly, its eyes were filled with little hearts and the creature immediately rushed back into its cave.

"There, we're good for a few minutes at least," Flurry proudly said, climbing into the hole.

"What was that spell?" Maëva whispered to Sunset.

"Probably a love spell. She's the daughter of the princess of love, after all."

"So that eel is going to...?" the middle head asked with a bit of disgust.

"Don't think about it too hard," Sunset recommended. "It's nature."

"You're following or what!?" Flurry suddenly called from inside the tunnel.

"We're coming!" Maëva answered, moving her large body through the barely wide enough entrance, Twilight following in her steps.

Flurry's horn was glowing better than a flashlight, and in all directions. But this reminded Maëva of the last time she had been in a narrow cave, with someone lighting the path for her.

As she lost herself in her own memories, she didn't pay any attention to the walls of the cave, first roughly dug in the rock by the eels, draining water and alike, with numerous branching paths left and right, a whole gallery unveiled itself. But Flurry Heart proceeded straight ahead. Behind, Twilight was engraving arrows with her magic on the floor, indicating their path of arrival as well as to which way they went with a smaller arrow.

But then, the tunnels opened up. The walls along their way became carved with runes, symbols, abstract landscapes worn out by time.

Sunset and Twydra both looked at it with a mute fascination, but Twilight was straight out excited. She felt the breeze of the past passing on her coat, a floor that no hooves had tread on for millennia, a truth waiting to be discovered. And, in front, Flurry was just glancing left and right, seeking for the next source of danger and unknown.

As they made their way deeper, Twilight felt her hooves become wet, and she began to understand what might have transpired here. As she realized that, Flurry in front suddenly exclaimed:

"Oh wow!"

Maëva got out of her drifting memories, coming back to a vision straight up from an adventure movie. The tunnel led to a gigantic place, carved in the rock, that Flurry quickly enlightened with her magic.

It was a gigantic circular city, or at least what was left of it. Twenty meters high, from the ground to the roof, which was curved like inside a cathedral. The walls spotted numerous small openings, windows and doors, seemingly leading in the empty air, just like the enormous towers supporting the structure. They too were hosting dwellings and probably old amenities, surrounded by streets and squares. Everything was overgrown with moss, mushrooms and cave plants, whose roots spread over the buildings and onto the small streams of water flowing down the avenues.

But what prevented the group from judging just how big this place must have been was that most of it had collapsed. Only one pillar was left standing, right next to another crumbled one. The roof of the cave had fallen down onto the pavement below, and most of the city was trapped under rocks, inaccessible.

The three headed hydra was finally able to stop leaning, and they all marveled at this ancient construction. But Twilight, after having trouble going around them since they were blocking the tunnel, was the most shocked of all.

"I... can't believe it..." she muttered.

Flurry, on the other hand, wasn't looking that impressed at all, as she noted with detachment:

"Well, I hope our target isn't under the rocks."

"This is a massive discovery!" Twilight said, jumping with excitement, little sparkles in her eyes.

"Aaaaand, we lost her," Sunset and Flurry sighed at the same time.

Maëva was about to ask what they meant by that, but she was cut short by Twilight suddenly flying off into the city, looking at the windows and the dwellings, as well as the crumbled ruins.

"Welp, we might as well look around too," Flurry concluded. "Even though I'm not sure what we're looking for."

"Let's try and find the same runes as the one we found in the north," Sunset advised. "Maybe our mysterious stallion left a clue to find his hiding spot."

"But he did say south of the Ghastly City," Twydra pointed out. "We found the city, but not what's south of it."

"True, we should search for something in the south," Maëva approved. "Though... Where is south here?"

"Auntie probably has a spell for that," Flurry said, looking at Twilight flying through the ruins.

The young princess saw her haunt squint, as if she was bothered by something the others couldn't see. Aside from Twydra, who muttered:

"Something is off here..."

"What is it?" Sunset asked.

"Look at the habitations," the head on the right said, nodding towards the walls. "There are doors standing in mid-air, there's no stairs, no threshold to land on. Were the creatures living here all pegasus? Alicorns? Why live underground, then? And even then, we'd expect something for them to land on, at their doorstep. But none of that here."

"Maybe they didn't lock the doors, so they entered their houses flying?" Sunset guessed.

"But the entrances aren't really wide enough for winged creatures," Maëva noted, also finding this very curious.

As they were asking themselves those questions, Flurry was still observing her aunt. Twilight had landed in one of the streets, looking at the pavement with an unreasonable interest, more precisely the slightly over-elevated thin middle-lane that cut the street in half. She then looked up at the wall in front of her, thinking as if she was on the brink of figuring out something. Which didn't take long, as she briefly tapped one of the bricks in the middle lane, and it began to glow.

Flurry took off, going towards her with a burst of interest, while a white magical line shot out of the brick, and straight to the foot of one door, high in the wall, linking the two. The line suddenly spread into a translucent ramp, leading from the street to the house. Flurry stayed in mid-air, near her aunt.

Twilight took a step on it, and began to climb the ramp. It was, for all intents and purposes, fully solid. She jumped on it, to make sure, while her niece commented:

"Only a magically advanced civilization could do that."

"It's better than Equestrian magic," Twilight agreed in a whisper, still standing on the ramp. "But to base a whole city around it and have it last so long... Either, they were geniuses of magic and that kind of thing was easy for them, or they were very specialized."

"But they made the portal," Flurry added. "So, they were advanced. Which only begs the question: Where did they go?"

"And why was the threat of worlds collapsing something they couldn't accept, or couldn't fix?" Twilight wondered, in a contained excitement.

While they were discussing, the three-headed creature left behind went on a bit of a walk in the large street-ring circling the city.

"No offense, but I can't wait until I'm independent again," Sunset sighed, looking at her body taking steps she didn't mean.

"I mostly miss my arms," Maëva said, heading for the south of the ruins.

Other tunnels led to this place, or departed from it, depending on how one might view it. Maëva was heading for the farthest one, thinking south might be that way.

"Magic seems so useful as well," Twydra added. "I don't get how you abandoned your horn, Sunset."

"Hands are pretty, well, handy too," the leftmost head replied, arching an eyebrow, finding that a bit odd coming from Twydra, with her history with magic. "And I had most of my friends at Canterlot High anyway."

"Sure," Twydra agreed with a distant voice. "Friendship is a form of magic on its own, I guess..."

Sunset giggled, thinking she sounded exactly like Twilight from this world.

"Hey, hum..." Maëva suddenly interrupted, stopping her stroll. "Is this normal?"

She was staring at the wall, and both heads followed her gaze.

In place of the usual dwellings, there was a gap in the wall. A long slit, as if the rock had been cut open by a giant blade, in a part of the wall with no windows or doors nearby. And, behind the ten meters high slice, Maëva could see something. A small, red glow, slowly pulsating.

"I think we found something," Sunset muttered, looking above Maëva's head, before turning away, shouting. "Twilight!"

The alicorn came in flying, still a bit too excited and smiling, as the heads moved back.

"What is i-Oh!"

Twilight looked at the slit too thin to let anyone pass through and saw the light behind. After examining the opening up and down, she cast a little ball of light into it, and while it did reveal a bit of a room behind, the light was immediately stopped and thrown right back at Twilight's face, hitting it and throwing her flight off for a few seconds.

"What was that!?" she shouted out of surprise.

"Repealing barrier would be my guess," Sunset said with a little giggle.

"Someone protected this place against magic, but not against the trials of time," Twydra concluded.

Twilight frowned, looking around, feeling the wall with her hooves. Flurry, who had just arrived by Maëva's head's side, looked at her aunt inspecting the structure, before she rolled her eyes and turned on her own horn.

A bolt of yellow light went straight for the wall, coating a huge square portion of it in the princess' magical aura.

"There, we know where it reaches," Flurry stated with a slightly smug tone, feeling pride in outdoing her aunt. "Now we-"

She was cut short by the whole net of magic going straight back on her horn and face, covering them like a used towel. She quickly got rid of it, looking pissed, which was only made worse by Twilight's little stare, with a smile that said "See? That's why you take precautions". The princess of friendship then said with a self-righteous voice:

"So, after elaborately studying the structure, I've deduced that the place is engulfed in a protective enchantment meant to repel magic spells and preserve the whole structure, including the rocks. It is a very advanced magic, which explains why it lasted for so long, though I don't really know why the wall was shattered like this. It does seem to be the result of a strong and sudden movement in the rock, as if the enchantment had failed for a moment. Maybe a brute force attempt at breaking the spell."

Twydra frowned at the last two sentences, asking:

"Is it the place we're looking for?"

"Well," Twilight said, spawning a magical compass right next to her. "We are at the southernmost point of the city, so this could be it."

"So, how do we go in?" Maëva asked. "If it's protected?"

"It is protected against magic and natural movements in the rocks," Twilight answered. "But it is not protected against physical force. The enchantment doesn't cover that."

"Oh, great!" Flurry said, looking at the hydra. "Go on, bulldoze your way through!"

"Bulldozers exist in this world...?" Maëva thought to herself, before saying out-loud. "I don't have claws, remember?"

"You have a tail," the young alicorn argued.

Maëva looked at her long appendage. It was indeed quite massive, but still, would that break a wall?

"I'm not sure about that," Sunset winced.

"Me neither!" Twilight shouted from far away, as she had gone without anyone noticing. "Now, duck!"

All four of them turned, barely in time to see a gigantic rock flying their way. Flurry teleported herself away, while the hydra just about had time to dodge the projectile. It flew right above its heads, crashing into the wall and creating a larger opening.

"Are you crazy!?" Flurry shouted to her aunt, half angry, half amazed.

Twilight landed right net to the hydra, adjusting her mane with style and confidence, declaring, looking at her hoof with false modesty:

"I've also calculated the exact amount of force required to make the wall crumble. Couldn't risk breaking something important in the process."

Maëva straightened up her head, while Twydra and Sunset were still scared panting.

"I should feel my heart racing!" Twydra yelled in shock. "I am scared but my body doesn't react!"

"Oh. Guess the heart depends on me?" Maëva realized with nonchalance.

"How are you acting so calm!?" Twydra said. "We almost died!"

"Force of habit...?" Maëva replied, shrugging as best as her non-existent shoulders could.

"I would have stopped the rock if you hadn't ducked away," Twilight reassured. "I'm not that careless."

"Right..." Sunset said with no belief towards that fact.

"Now, onto exploring!" Twilight happily declared.

Maëva looked at the now large hole in the rocks. A dark place awaited them and, in the middle, she could see it, that thing with a red pulsating glow. It was a map.

Author's Note

It feels a bit weird to have a story where it's mostly dialogues. It's a real change from what I usually do.
Also I can add "Clubbed to Death" to the playlist I use for this fic lol.
See you I-don't-know-when for the next chapter.
And yeah, the "6-8 chapters" concept I had in mind at first escaped my hands once more. Probably gonna be 15.