After letting her take a minute to calm down her sudden onrush of excitement, Topaz and Sweet Breeze led Twilight the rest of the way to the water park. They passed briefly into that fancy restaurant Twilight had noticed earlier before taking a sliding glass door on the left-side of the room out to a balcony overlooking the part itself. To say it was even more impressive with this vantage point would be an understatement. There were four different sections with varied structures that allowed for all sorts of water-based fun. A large wave pool, a veritable jungle-gym with an enormous water-bucket hanging over it, constantly filling up with water at enough of an angle that it looked like it would routinely tip over, spilling it’s contents all over the playground-esque construct.
There was also what had to be the largest waterslide Twilight had ever seen. It was at least three stories high, with several different sets of stairs leading up to it. Last but not least was a far more mellow area, mostly housing a few floating pads made of buoyant foam, brightly colored with foal-friendly faces plastered on them. Twilight couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows in near-awe at what she was looking at.
“Daymist! Can you come over here, please?” Sweet Breeze called loudly, lifting into the air on her own wings as she did so. After a moment, Twilight spotted somepony flying at them curiously. As he drew closer, Twilight felt her ears droop.
“He’s just a foal…” she breathed, a hoof coming up to her chest. Indeed, Daymist was little more than a foal, though he did have a cutie mark, which took the shape of a sunrise casting rays of light through a thick cloud of mist, which itself was parting over a pond or lake.
Daymist himself had a bright yellow coat with a short purple mane and tail. His eyes were a very bright blue, and were boring into Twilight with an almost ecstatic shine to them. “OH MY GOSH!” he yelled in delight before giving his wings an extra surge of strength. He rocketed to the balcony and landed on the rails right in Twilight’s face, grinning widely. He wobbled a bit, but steadied his landing and then held out a hoof. “You’re new? A new pony? Wow! I haven’t seen somepony new in, erm…” he looked at Topaz. “Uh, Topaz? How long have you been here?”
“Thirty years.” Topaz replied with a slightly dry look entering his eyes.
“Thirty years!” Daymist continued before leaping from the railing and wrapping his forelegs around Twilight’s neck in an uncomfortably tight hug. “It’s so good to meet somepony new! I’m Daymist! What’s your name?”
Twilight wheezed.
“Daymist! Personal space!” Breeze chastised the excited foal before prying him off of Twilight.
“Oh! Sorry, miss!” Daymist continued, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly before setting down on the ground. Twilight took a deep breath before smiling warmly down at the little guy.
“It’s okay. You’ve got quite a strong set of hooves for such a little guy,” Twilight pointed out with a small giggle before lowering herself down to his eye level. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. It’s nice to meet you.”
Daymist walked in place with a big grin. “Nice to meet you, too, Twilight! Yeah, I know I’ve got strong hooves. I’ve kinda been working on them for, uh…” his face scrunched up in thought. He looked up to Sweet Breeze. “How long have I been here again? I kinda lost track…”
“Fifty four years now.” Breeze commented, a solemn note in her words. “Hard to say for sure the exact date you showed up, though. You hid in your room for a while when you first showed up.”
Daymist shrugged. “Eh. I woke up in not my room with strangers talking outside. I just did what mom always said and didn’t talk to the strangers.”
“And then you got hungry and asked us to feed you.” Breeze pointed out with a small smirk.
“From what I’ve been told, he begged more than asked.” Topaz added, his own smirk appearing.
Daymist blushed horribly. “Wha- GUYS! You’re supposed to make me look cool when new ponies show up!” he wined, sitting down, crossing his forelegs and looking away with a childish huff.
“We are making you look good, though,” Sweet Breeze continued before ruffling his mane with a hoof. “We’re showing Twilight just how adorable you are.”
Daymist snorted. “I’m not cute…”
Twilight couldn’t help the small giggle that bubbled it’s way up from observing the display. “Well, you all seem like good friends.” she commented with a smile.
“We’ve been stuck together for a long time, Twilight,” Topaz nodded along while sharing a smile with Sweet Breeze. “We’ve had to learn how to get along and make the most of all of this.”
“Sweet Breeze is like my stand-in mom!” Daymist pointed up at Sweet Breeze with a big grin. He then pointed at Topaz. “And you’re like stand-in dad!”
Topaz frowned. “I still don’t like that nickname, Daymist.” he deadpanned with a roll of his eyes.
“I do! So there!” Daymist countered before fluttering into the air and landing on top of Topaz’s head, snuggling into his mane.
Topaz’s whole demeanor became disgruntled. “...Are you ever going to stop doing that?”
“Not while you’re still so much bigger than I am!” Daymist sing-songed before nibbling on his mane. Sweet Breeze outright laughed at seeing that before coming over to pry the odd foal off of Topaz’s head.
“Why do you bit his mane like that?” she asked once Daymist was back on the ground.
Daymist lifted a hoof and poked Sweet Breeze on the tip of her nose. “‘Cause it makes you poonies laugh. I gotta make my own entertainment somehow, you know.”
Twilight felt herself relax a little bit, watching them banter back and forth. If I’m as trapped here as they keep saying, at least the company isn’t so bad. She thought. As that thought crossed her mind, however, her smile disappeared. But I’m not going to stay here. I have to find a way out.
“Topaz?” she eventually asked, causing the other three ponies to go silent. Topaz looked up to her and nodded.
“Yes, Twilight?”
“I want to see that library you mentioned. You said you’d take me there, so…” Twilight gestured vaguely as she spoke.
“Ah, right,” Topaz nodded, his tone growing serious again. He looked down at Daymist, then up at Breeze. “I guess it can’t be helped. I’ll see you two later, okay?”
“Go ahead, Topaz,” Breeze assured him gently before smiling at Twilight. “I know this is all a lot to take in, Twilight. But you're not alone here. Remember that.”
Twilight wilted slightly, then nodded. “I will. Lead the way, Topaz.” she finally sighed. Topaz nodded silently and led her out of the room through the sliding glass door.
“Bye, miss Twilight!” Daymist called after hey, waving happily before striking up discussion with Breeze as the door slid closed.
Twilight and Topaz walked out of the restaurant and back out into the hallway in silence. They took a right and began down the same hall Twilight had leaped off of a balcony from a little while ago. As said balcony came into view, Twilight couldn’t help but look over at the front door of the building. Her ears fell against her head. Topaz noted her solemn composure and slowed down until they were side-by-side.
“You feeling okay?” he asked gently.
Twilight shot him a dry look before looking directly ahead again.
“Stupid question, I know,” Topaz nodded. “Still, it’s just common courtesy to ask, right?”
“I guess…”
“You miss your friends, I take it?”
Twilight stopped and looked at Topaz with a quizzical look. She mouthed like a fish for a few seconds, trying to form words before looking down and sagging. “Yeah… the last time I saw them, they were looking back in fear and surprise. Something was happening and… I don’t know if they know what’s happened to me or if I’m okay…”
“Well, for what it’s worth, Iwoke up here after getting absolutely hammered at a party my roommate was throwing in our university dorm room.” Topaz replied with a slightly amused smile. “When I first woke up, I asked the traditional question: What the hay did I do last night?”
Twilight’s lips twitched with a small ghost of a smile.
Topaz kept going. “I spent the next week or so thinking it was all a hangover dream or something. Took me almost breaking a leg coming out of the waterslide to figure out that this wasn’t a dream, but real. Or real enough that breaking a leg in a waterslide wouldn’t be enough to snap me back to that soggy couch in my dorm room.”
Twilight snorted in amusement as the two continued walking for the door on the other side of the hall. “Heh. Sounds like you’re arrival was funnier than mine.”
“We all have our ‘arrival stories,’ actually. It’s kinda become a tradition with the others to share those stories with the newcomers on a night after they show up. A way of breaking the ice, getting the newcomer to feel more comfortable around us. I mean, we’re stuck together now, so it only makes sense.” Topaz explained with a little grin appearing on his face.
“Hmm… sounds like fun.” Twilight noted, though she wasn’t entirely sure if she meant it or not.
“Rust Bucket’s arrival story is hilarious, I’m telling you that right now,” Topaz said leadingly before winking at Twilight. “But that can wait until tonight. Uh, that is, if you want to hear our stories tonight. You can wait, if you want. It took me two weeks to decide to hear everypony out.”
Twilight shrugged. “Might as well. Though, that does remind me; how do you all know what time it is in here, anyway?” she asked with genuine curiosity.
“Ah. Well, aside from the clocks on the walls in the bedrooms, we can actually tell just by glancing out a window. That emptiness out there changes brightness along the time of day, so if it’s the middle of the night, the sky’s gonna be near pitch-black.”
“Convenient.” Twilight mused thoughtfully.
“Hey, so’s the literally endless supply of food and water in this place, the water park, the arcade. This place is freaking luxurious!” Topaz exclaimed while gesturing around. “We just can’t leave is the only real inconvenience about this place.”
“Endless food?” Twilight parroted, pausing by the library door with a raised eyebrow.
Topaz chuckled dryly. “The food in the restaurants is quite literally endless. Open up the fridge and the ingredients for what you want to make are all right there.”
Twilight blinked, then opened the door to the library with a light push of her hoof. Looking inside, she felt her heart swell with excitement and joy. “Oh… oh wow! Look at all these books!” she squeed before galloping into the room. There were rows upon rows of shelves, each one reaching up the rather high ceiling and positively crammed with books. “Wow! This is just as big as the Canterlot Library!”
“There’s a downstairs floor to it, too.” Topaz commented with an amused smirk. Twilight looked back at him with wide eyes and a hanging jaw.
“I… I can’t even… there are no words!”
Topaz laughed openly and closed the door behind him. “Nope, there are plenty of words. It’s a library. It’s full of em.”
Twilight pouted at him. “Oh, hardy har.”
Topaz shrugged innocently. “So, what do you want to look at first?”
“Anything and everything that might tell us about this place,” Twilight continued with an eager grin on her face. “With this many books there has to be something! A reference, maybe!”
Topaz wilted slightly. “Ah… uh, well, I can’t help you there. We’ve all searched this place top to bottom hundreds of times. The selection of books does change on occasion, but, ah… we’ve never found anything about this place, I’m afraid.”
Twilight’s elation gave away a little. “Oh…”
“I’m sorry.”
Twilight sighed and shook her head. “No, it’s fine. It was a silly thing to hope for, considering everything else I know about this place.”
Topaz winced before slowly trotting up to Twilight, who was now absently scouring the shelves. “Well… aside from getting out of here, is there anything you want to look at specifically?”
Twilight shrugged. “I dunno…”
“History, maybe?” Topaz offered with a slight spark entering his eye.
“What do you know about history?” Twilight asked, a little more sharply then intended. She flinched back, looking timid.
“More than you might expect,” Topaz commented before lifting up one of his hooves, letting Twilight once more see the sharper edges on his body and shinier surface of his coat.
Her eyes lit up with realization. “You’re a crystal pony… you were there!”
Topaz gave a rather enormous grin. “Yes, I was.”
Twilight’s eyes widened and she reached out with her magic. Topaz yelped in alarm as he was suddenly yanked towards her. “Tell me everything!” she demanded with a large grin. She then dropped him and looked over her shoulder. “Wait! I need a notepad! Does this place have notebooks?”
Topaz pointed down one of the aisles. “Third shelf, aisle twelve.” he mumbled, a little dizzy and stunned from the abrupt movement.
Twilight squealed happily while galloping down said aisle for a notebook. Topaz shook his head as he got up. “Heh. Excitable little thing, isn’t she?” he commented quietly to himself before following Twilight at a casual pace, curious to see what the coming days would be like.