Soon enough, I had to stop looking up at this tall building called central; I couldn't any more. We were too close! At what was probably the base, Fall Star turned us to the right onto a broad pathway (red, walking) that went in a circle around the base of this central thing. But we were going up! This path... I realized that this broad pathway was the slow spiral heading up to the top of central, to the top of this tall building. This ramp was what we could see from miles away, it seemed, as it wound around central, and climbed magestically towards the top. Well, there were ponies coming down the same ramp, well, on the other side of the same path. There was a thin yellow line marking the middle of the ramp. And ponies all stopped and bowed as Fall Star led us up. Remembering how tall this huge Unicorn horn shaped building was, I thought we would be walking up this spiral path for a while. During that time, I think Fall Star tried to explain a little more about Philadelphi to us. Talking calmly...
"There are approximately 25,000 of us here in Philadelphi. Our bloodlines, our structure; we are diminuitive, miniature horses just like you. I know that, in Equestria(1) the word pony is used often, but technically, that is incorrect. As a breed, a pony has a much more stocky body. We are small, miniature horses, 'minis', just like you(2). I think mini is used most often up here, but I have been watching enough evis that, well, I use pony now just like they do down below." Fall Star smiled after saying this! Then she continued. "Still, mini and pony, both work for us, although mini is used most often here. And we share the same three main differentiations as Equestria(1). We have E-type, P-type and U-type ponies up here as well. The three types, as well as stallion and mare, are all approximately evenly divided among us. We would expect that however. Beyond these basic types, we all share further classifications according to--"
Fall Star stopped talking abruptly right here because the ramp we were walking on, and it sounded like the whole building that was central, shuddered quite a bit and without warning. Fall Star gasped when it started, and remained tense and didn't move until after it stopped, maybe a minute later. When the shaking was done, Fall Star tried to explain, and was clearly working hard to avoid crying. "Sometimes once a month... sometimes a few times a day... we are just not sure why..." Well, I recognized fear when I saw it. I hugged Fall Star right away, and that seemed to help her calm down. When she could she backed away and tried to explain...
"Philadelphi is a vast, circular oat meadow floating in space above Equestria(1). Many aspects of this place are, well, technical in nature, and we have documents that explain the function and repair of such systems. There are also aspects of our home that are both magical and beyond our control or influence. The canopy above us is a good example. We have documents that explain the careful control processes that allow the canopy to regulate the temperature here. But what exactly that canopy is, and how it succeeds in holding... Well, we do have some idea what the working pressures are on both sides of that canopy. But what holds it there, how that works... Well, we have no idea. That is just scary... We have no knowledge of the magic used for some aspects of Philadelphi, other than that they just are... They work, and all we can do is hope they continue to work. Those ponies among us gifted for technical specializations, well we lean heavily on them. Keeping Philadelphi alive requires them, requires their special abilities. But those aspects that are magical in nature, when and if our magic will ever be necessary for that... and even how we could even... We just don't know. We can't assume anything..." After she stopped, I hugged her again, and for a few minutes.
Fall Star sighed, and I backed away. Fall Star shivered slightly again, then said quietly "We still don't know why all of Philadelphi shakes like that. I think it is something we need to fix, to stop... We just can't find... haven't found... All of our analysis has turned up no identifiable cause. We just don't know..."
Shysage spoke up right away. "Maybe I can help. Is there somepony I could talk to about this?"
I think Fall Star was jumping at that opportunity, Shysage's offer. I didn't know if she realized how smart my Shysage was, but she quickly pulled her panel out and worked at it as we resumed our walk up the ramp. I am not sure how, but Terrabelle was waiting on the ramp up ahead a few minutes later, and bowed to Fall Star right away. "e3736, please accompany Shysage to U392 in tech. Shysage wants to overview the shaking issue with Philadelphi." Terrabelle led my Shysage off the ramp, through a door, and into a room in the building that was central. I wasn't worried. If anything, maybe he could help them track that shaking down. He is really good at that kind of thing!
Fall Star and I continued our walk up, really up and around the tower that was central. It was a few more minutes as we walked before Fall Star continued talking about Philadelphi. I think that shuddering really scared her.
"The 25,000 or so ponies that live here... Well I know that Equestria(1) below is usually referred to as a kingdom. Well, our... We are really best understood as a, Republic is the proper term I think; a group who agree to live together, yet each rule themselves for the benefit of the whole. This is very practical here in Philadelphi. Given the magical/technical mix of our surroundings... Well, it would be very easy for just one of us to kill the rest of us. And, we all realize that, and so we all absolutely must work together to even stay alive. We all like our home, but there are tenuous aspects to Philadelphi. We all absolutely need to be mindful that the rest of us are depending on each other to even be able to take our next breath." Fall Star stopped in thought, then added "Well, we simply have noplace else, and we know enough about the environment beyond the canopy; we would quickly and horribly die..." Fall Star stopped here, thinking for a minute or two. "We currently have three Leading Star Alicorns, and the three of us work together to oversee Philadelphi. I avoided using the term rule; our Leading Star classification does not give us that right. But the process used for arriving at the Star classification; everypony knows that, and generally respects the results of that process..."
We kept walking, and it was silent. After minutes, I asked quietly "How long has Philadelphi been here? Do you know?"
"That is a good question, and the answer is as enigmatic as this place" Fall Star began. "We have records, data, continuation targets, all going back maybe 7 generations. We have absolutely no record about our past, Philadelphi's past, the construction of our home, or anything else, beyond that point in time. We can theorize to some degree, but we have no evidence. Before the record docs our data stores hold, we don't know anything." Fall Star stopped talking, thought briefly, then continued. "Some of our techs have even investigated the technical side of Philadelphi, in order to look for startup codes, initialization evidence, first parameters, or anything like that. We have found none... From our docs, it is like Philadelphi, all of a sudden was, and continued from that point in time with no evidence about anything previous, except that Philadelphi... is... We... are... Sometimes, not knowing... That can be very unsettling..."
I smiled. "Princess, I don't have any idea how old I am either."
Fall Star looked over at me, and smiled as she walked, then she said quietly "Well, you look young. And... so does Philadelphi, from what we can tell. But we do, should feel a certain amount of urgency in taking care of our home, each other. I just hope we are doing everything we can."
Well, this aspect was nagging at me. "Fall Star, you mentioned being able to watch what is going on in Equestria(1). Are you allowed to tell me about that?"
"Of course" Fall Star said, then smiled. "Well, we have been watching a number of what we can tell are the most important ponies down below; the Princesses, you... Princess Twilight's(1) amazing friends, too. You have a right to know that. But I can't explain how the evis gear works. I am pretty sure that it is likewise a mix of both magic and technical. It is almost like the evis deck decides for us what we need to view. Pretty clear images are the result, and sometimes an audio stream. And everything is somehow archived in our doc stores, too. But we seem to be able to keep track of a lot of what is going on in Equestria(1), and more importantly, why. The evis deck takes care of the rest. And, I guess the tech side of the evis is pretty simple, almost unbreakable..." Fall Star was clearly in thought again, then added this. "And, watching the use of Equestria's(1) magic... Well, it just makes our magical ability seem so minimal. I agree with Princess Twilight(1) that magic needs to be constantly honed, strengthened, exercised. And a number of our U-types, we are working on that. But our magic still seems rather weak compared to what we see wielded down below. That is very sobering. That was also one of the reasons we tried to work through bringing you here. That task completed, so we are pretty sure having you available to help us is..."
Yes, we stopped and hugged briefly. The more I found out about this place, the more I just felt... Fall Star, Philadelphi... These 25,000 ponies really needed our help. That was fine. We walked in silence for a while. I think Fall Star, between the shuddering, and this careful discussion, ran out of words, and it was quiet. As we continued walking up the ramp, I increasingly felt that Fall Star felt bad about not having anything more to say. "Fall Star, I can't imagine... I would be so dwarfed by your responsibilities..." After I said that, Fall Star stopped and cried. I hugged her for a few minutes, and cried with her. And this was good, because while we hugged, central, Philadelphi started shuddering again. It wasn't as long as the last time, but I hugged Fall Star tightly until the shuddering had stopped. Then she sighed, pulled away, shook off some tears, and we kept walking.
"Well, like I said before... I think Philadelphi needs friends like you right now." After Fall Star said this, I wanted to hug her again, but I think we needed to keep going. We kept walking up this ramp around central. A little while later, Fall Star pulled her panel thing around, looked at it briefly, then she did cry. She stopped right where we were on that ramp, and cried buckets while I hugged her. Fall Star said just once "They fixed it..." That would be Shysage's chapter though.