The only one among them who knew the path out was Silken, so she took the front of the group, leading the ponies onward and lighting the way with the glow from within her own body. Twilight, meanwhile, remained at the far end of the group, trailing behind the other ponies. She did not want to walk beside them, and although they tried to slow to match her pace none of them were willing to stray too far from Silken’s light and into the shadows where Twilight walked.
From this vantage, Twilight was able to watch her surrounding change. The machinery that lined the walls of the deepest caves faded into narrow tendrils and eventually vanished entirely, leaving nothing but cold stone corridors. To Twilight, this meant that the machine-growth was not digging its own environment but rather infesting preexisting caves. The caves themselves, though, were more of a mystery; they could very well have been natural phenomena, carved by the flow of water to caverns even deeper than where they currently stood, or perhaps they were the remnants of some ancient mine built at an incredible depth.
Neither of those options made Twilight especially nervous. What did was the reappearance of the holes. The other ponies did not seem to notice them, although it was obvious that Silken did. They were perfectly round, intersecting the main cave at various angles and passing onward in every direction into darkness. Although they were perfectly round like those before, they showed signs of erosion at their edges. Water dripped from a few. They were incredibly old.
The others turned a corner, and Twilight found herself left alone in darkness. She did not mind; she had spent the majority of her life in an environment devoid of natural light. She lit the tip of her horn, pleased with how easy it was to do. Although her abilities were still limited, she was healing rapidly.
Then, suddenly, she paused. She slowly turned her head, her pink-violet light barely lighting the dark depths behind her. That was where she had come from, and where THEY had come from- -a place that had never seen natural light, and that had remained in darkness deep in the earth for Celestia knew how long. That alone was a disturbing idea. What made it worse was that Twilight could have sworn she heard a low, long moan from somewhere deep below in that very darkness.
She waited, and she did indeed hear it. It sounded almost impossibly distant and low, sometimes punctuated with the sound of falling rocks. They were not alone. They probably never had been.
In response to this, Twilight hurried forward. She turned the corner that her friends had passed quickly, and nearly screamed when she almost bumped into Fluttershy. Fluttershy, who was flying, turned around to reveal that she was not alone. In her front legs, she was holding one of the pointy-limbed bipedal invertebrates. It did not seem to be struggling, and as Twilight looked she saw more of them, all warbling ominously and retreating from her light.
“Fluttershy!” cried Twilight. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”
“I wasn’t sneaking.”
“And what in the name of ME is that thing? Put it down, you don’t know where it’s been!”
“But aren’t they just so adorable?” said Fluttershy, squeezing the creature. Its arms waved either in displeasure, excitement, or in some kind of extremely repugnant involuntary spasm. “And I know where he’s been, he lives in a cave south of here with his little family!”
“And how do you know that?”
“Well, he told me, of course.”
“It told you?”
Fluttershy gasped. “Twilight! He! He’s a boy…whatever he is. And he’s an animal, isn’t he? Of course I understand what he told me!” She set the creature down and produced one of the food-bricks that Silken had produced. She set it on the ground, and the bipeds immediately began to attack it, tearing it to pieces by stabbing it repeatedly with their pointed arms. Then, much to Twilight’s horror, their chests opened up to reveal holes with lethally sharp mandibles, which they proceeded to shovel the food into.
“Aww,” said Fluttershy. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?” She smiled at Twilight. “There’s not too much food down here, but they’re awefully frugal. This is a big feast for them.” The creature she had been holding looked up at her and let out a long, sad warble. Fluttershy laughed. “Oh, no!” she laughed, “Twilight is our friend, not food! And I bet she would taste terrible anyway!”
The biped shrugged, and then the group of them picked up what food they could carry and sprinted off into the darkness.
“Don’t forget to share it with your friends!” called Fluttershy. She then turned back to Twilight, and her smile had faded slightly. “It’s a hard life for them, I think,” she said. “There’s been nopony here to take care of the animals for a long, long time. They’ve had to learn to make do all on their own.”
“And you weren’t afraid of those things?”
Fluttershy looked confused. “No. Of course not. Why would I be?”
“Because…nevermind.”
The pair of them began walking toward where the group had gone. They quickly came to a long uphill hallway, and the rest of their friends and Silken could be seen far ahead. Rarity stood near the front with Silken, bombarding her with every sort of question possible about what life was like in the Tribunal Empire: the types of foods ponies ate, where the fanciest restaurants were, whether there were still Galas and what ponies did there, who was who in society, and many, many more. Silken, being a machine, answered dutifully. The others followed behind her, with Applejack trying- -and failing- -to engage Pinkie Pie in conversation, and Rainbow Dash breathing uncharacteristically hard and falling behind slightly.
“Rarity seems to be taking this all very well,” said Twilight after a moment.
Fluttershy looked toward the front of the group and considered it for a moment. “No,” she said, after a long time. “She’s not.”
“Of course she is,” said Twilight, slightly annoyed by Fluttershy’s tone. “Look how excited she is!”
“She is excited,” said Fluttershy. “But that doesn’t mean she’s taking this well at all. She’s focusing on the future so she doesn’t have to think about the past. But she’ll remember eventually. And it will be so very sad.” She pointed. “It’s the opposite for poor Pinkie. I’m really worried about her.”
“So am I,” said Twilight. “But I have no idea what to do.”
“Talk to her.”
“About what?”
“I think you already know. You’re not that much different from her. And I’m worried about you too.”
“There is nothing to worry about. Not with me, anyway.”
“If you say so.”
Twilight was growing increasingly irate. “And what do you know? You don’t seem to care much at all!”
Fluttershy glared at Twilight with such force that her gaze immediately silenced Twilight’s protest. This only lasted for a moment, though, and softened.
“That’s not true,” she said. “I feel the same things they do. I had parents. And a brother. And lots of animals I loved, and pony friends. And I’ll never see any of them again. But I can deal with it a little better. I think it’s because I’m a little bit like you.”
“You have no idea what it feels like to be me.”
“No. I don’t know if anypony does. You’ve been alive so long…but I know what that feels like. Do you remember Gerald?”
“I barely remember you.”
“He was a mouse. I took him and his family in when he broke his leg and couldn’t feed his wife and mouslets. Do you know how long Gerald lived after that?”
“Forgive me if I’m not very knowledgeable about mouse biology. We don’t have them anymore.”
“Seven months. That’s it. Mice live at most two years. I was there with him as an old mouse when it happened, and when it happened to his children, and his children’s children. Turtles, parrots and phoenixes are exceptions, but very few animals live longer than a pony.”
Twilight stopped walking. “So…all those animals…”
Fluttershy nodded. “Each and every one was my friend. And I outlived them all, even when I was still living in Ponyville.”
“But…” Twilight understood what she meant. It was not the same, not even close- -but it was close enough. “But how did you deal with it?”
“Because I remembered their lives, and all the good memories we shared together. Death is a sad thing, but it’s part of life too. Applejack knows that. But I don’t think Pinkie Pie does.”
“I’d rather not remember,” said Twilight. “It’s easier just to forget.”
Fluttershy started walking forward again. “Don’t say that, Twilight. Remember, you got to make more memories than we ever did. You said I lived a long time?”
“You went well into your eighties, I think.”
“Then I don’t remember most of my own life. And that’s the saddest part. Did I have lots of friends? Did the animals- -”
“They loved you,” said Twilight. Her eyes were watering beneath her mask. “The animals and your friends.”
“Good,” said Fluttershy, smiling weakly. “I’m glad. But I really wish I could remember. And I wish that you could remember, too.”
The pair of them fell silent, and Twilight found herself wondering if that was really what she wished for as well.
They walked in silence and quickly came up to Rainbow Dash, who was lagging behind the others. Up close, she appeared even more pale and sickly than she had at a distance.
“Rainbow! Is something wrong?” asked Fluttershy.
“I’m fine,” lied Rainbow Dash. “Just feeling…off, I guess. That’s what happens when you spend a gazillion years out of practice. You get soft.”
“It probably doesn’t help that you ate so many of those crackers.”
“I can’t help it! I was hungry!”
“You know the saltpeter will make your wings limp, right?”
“L- -LIMP?!”
“It doesn’t actually do that,” said Twilight. “Besides. They look fine. But you look terrible.”
“Yeah, well, I’m old. Apparently. I probably just need some open sky. Pegasi don’t do well underground. I’ll feel fine when were outside.” She lifted her head and called hoarsely. “Hey! Silken! How much longer is it to the top?”
Silken’s eyes revolved so that she was looking backward at Rainbow Dash without turning her head. This did not seem to bother the ponies around her anymore, even though they had previously found it deeply unsettling. “That would depend on whether or not we encounter monsters.”
“M…monsters?” said Fluttershy, quivering.
“Yes. Monsters. If we find none, five hours.”
“Five hours! That’s all day!”
“Do you have anywhere else to be?” muttered Pinkie Pie sarcastically.
“Well, no, but…”
“It’s not that bad,” said Applejack. “We’ve walked farther, and we will walk farther someday. And I really need to see what it’s like up there.”
“You still don’t believe me,” said Silken.
“I do. But…I just have to see it.”
“Brace yourself,” said Twilight. “You may not like what you see.”
The ascent to the surface was arduous, but not impossible. None of it required flight, and the path, though often steep, was not especially treacherous and had only one or two narrow portions that required all the members of the group except Silken to struggle to squeeze through. It eventually terminated in a tall, vertical cylinder about eighty meters wide. It was quite clearly artificial, and Twilight could tell that it had at one time been a missile silo. The cladding on the walls had long-since fallen away, leaving only the tatters of concrete and the structum skeleton beneath. The missile was curiously absent, save for a dark residue at the bottom of the silo where parts of it had oxidized to dust thousands of centuries before.
Staircases coiled around the edge of the silo, and they were only broken in some spots. At those, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight helped ferry their friends across, along with Silken, who had no problem jumping across vast gaps without even the slightest fear of falling. As the rose through the structure, the light from above became more apparent, at least to Twilight. It was incredibly dim, and blue, a glow filtering through meters upon meters of clear, radioactive ice.
The ice had been the only thing that had saved the silo from complete decay, or from having filled in ages prior. It formed a cap, with the only links to the outside atmosphere being through several channels of icy water that ran slowly through the ice and into the silo itself.
They followed one of these channels out. When daylight finally struck them, Twilight was forced to shield her eyes. It was not even direct sunlight- -it never could be with Equestria’s turbid atmosphere- -and the sky was angry gray, lit more by high-altitude phosphorescence than the sun. It was gray, and dark, and horrible, and yet it was still too bright for Twilight’s eyes. She had become accustomed to the dark.
There was silence as Twilight’s eyes began to adjust. Then she heard Applejack swear softly.
“Holy Celestia’s butt…”
Twilight looked out. They had emerged from the base of an ice crag into a vast plane of snow. Beyond it, almost against the horizon, was the forest of vast trees. Beyond those stood the mountains, still showing signs of geological upheaval and from having their tops severed in ancient times as ponies reduced them to basic resources. Dark storms were gathering across the gray skies in every direction.
The temperature was cold. Twilight’s HUD indicated that it was well below freezing. As an alicorn, she was not as readily subject to cold as other ponies; in addition, she had spent a great deal of time on ships that had progressively grown colder and colder as time had worn on. What was strange, though, was that her friends seemed not to notice the cold at all. Rarity’s stolen morphiplasm exterior had formed itself into a tight and fashionable parka, but none of the others showed any signs of discomfort. None of them complained, and none of them shivered apart from Rainbow Dash, who had been doing it since they were still far below the surface.
“Well, I guess we don’t have to worry about global warming,” said Pinkie, darkly.
Applejack looked at her, and then back at Twilight. “It…it’s true,” she said.
“Yeah,” said Twilight. “It is.” She pointed. “Ponyville would be that way about ten miles.” She pointed a different direction, at a mountain that even after so much time was still flat and low. “And that was the mountain that Canterlot was on.”
“Where did it go?” asked Rarity. “Where is Canterlot?”
“Deposits of rutile were found in the mountain. It was leveled for them. As for Canterlot, I have no idea. It was of very little consequence.”
“Little consequence! Darling, it was the most beautiful city in all of Equestria! You were born there! You used to love Canterlot!”
Twilight paused. She had forgotten that. It had been so long. “I…I did, didn’t I.”
“It probably still is the greatest city in Equestria,” said Pinkie. She pointed angrily out at the wastes. “As compared to, you know, Iceland out here. I mean, even YakYakistan wasn’t this depressing! And that’s saying A LOT!”
“Pinkie, you love YakYakistan!”
“Not to the point where I want to live there! Or live here, which is the same place, minus the yaks!” She turned to Twilight. “Look at this place! This isn’t fun at all! It’s the opposite of fun! It’s UNfun!”
Rainbow Dash chuckled. “You rhymed- -”
“You shut your blue mouth!” snapped Pinkie Pie. “I’m not done!” She glared at Twilight. “What did you do?! You maniac! You blew it up! Ah, darn you! Celestia darn you to HECK!”
“Pinkie!” gasped Rarity, nearly fainting from hearing such strong language.
“Twilight didn’t do this,” said Fluttershy. “Pinkie, please don’t be unreasonable- -”
“I didn’t do it personally,” said Twilight. “But I presided over it. Yes. The world you see is a direct result of my actions.”
“Twilight,” said Rarity, “Fluttershy is right, you can’t blame yourself- -”
“War. Famine. Disease. Conquest until there wasn’t a space of green left on this world. We peeled the surface away, took every resource we could until there were none left. We froze the core for its energy, and burned the oceans in the fusion engines. What was left was blown off the planet in wars of annihilation. Fallout mixed with the pollution of our own endless industry. And I sat on the throne the entire time. This is my fault.”
“That was in the past,” said Silken. “The distant past. Impossibly far.”
“To you,” said Twilight. “But it’s something I have to live with every day.” She turned out toward the distance. “The planet has healed since then, but badly. It’s not habitable, and it never will be. Sentient life cannot exist here. That’s why we abandoned it.”
“You killed Equestria,” said Pinkie Pie. “Some Princess you are.”
“Pinkie!”
“I’m not going to sugar coat it, Rarity! Even though that is literally one of the things I am the best at!” She pointed at Twilight. “You messed up BIG! Like your BUTT! Because- -because you’re FAT!”
“Hey!” cried Rainbow Dash, angrily. “Pinkie, now you’re just being mean! And that’s not even a good joke! What is wrong with you?!”
Pinkie Pie turned her head slowly, and Rainbow Dash gasped when she saw that Pinkie Pie’s eyes were flooded with tears and that she was suppressing a fit of weeping. “I just- -I just- -I can’t do this!” She lost control of the fit, and ran away through the snow, crying.
“Pinkie!” cried Rarity. She moved to follow her, but Applejack put her hoof on her shoulder, stopping her.
“Not now, sugarcube,” she said. “I reckon there isn’t a thing you can do for her right now.”
“But there is somepony who can,” whispered Fluttershy.
Twilight watched Pinkie Pie running, and then let out a long sigh. “Silken,” she said.
“Yes, Goddess?”
“Take the others toward the forest. Stop at the edge until I get back. I’ll meet you there.”
“It shall be done, Holy Aunt.”
“Don’t call me that.” Twilight spread her wings. “Don’t worry,” she said to her friends. “I’ll bring her back.”
She then spread her wings and took flight. i