//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - The Expedition // Story: Ruins of a Forgotten Time // by Tekket //------------------------------// Clean Slate ran for his life. His coat matted in sweat, the light from his lantern bouncing over the cavern walls, his breathing loud in his ears, his galloping echoing off the rocky corridor, he ran. He dared not look back, if only to prevent himself from seeing just how close his pursuers were. If he looked back once more, his fear would surely petrify him and he’d be taken in a heartbeat. He was chased by an army of nightmares. Although they were much quieter than he, they were getting close now. He could hear their ragged breathing, feel the way they scratched the walls and ground as they ran. Every now and then a sound halfway between a hiss and a scream would make its way to his ears, spurring him along further. Reaching a fork in the tunnel, Clean Slate barely glanced at the direction with the faint red markings scratched onto the wall before bolting down in that direction. If there hadn’t been a lantern hanging from his mouth and he weren’t breathing so hard, he might’ve laughed at how similar the chalk looked to blood. As it was, he barely had time to form the thought before it was snatched away… as were a few hairs from his tail. Eyes widening even farther than he had thought possible, Clean Slate suddenly felt a renewed surge of energy and plowed forward, just out of reach of the long, snatching claws that were almost upon him. A sudden tremor could be felt through the tunnel, and the earth pony stallion tripped, his lantern flying from his mouth to shatter on the cold stone floor. This is it. They caught me. I’m dead. I’m going to die. Any second they’re going to catch up to me and tear me to pieces. Clean Slate stayed where he was for several seconds more, before he was overcome with curiosity at not being dead yet. Slowly, he uncurled himself from where he had fallen and looked around. Without his lantern it was nearly pitch black, but not as cold as it had been only moments before. In fact, it almost felt… pleasantly warm. Getting to his hooves, he turned around and stared off into the darkness from where he had just come, trying to discern any shapes. Slowly, slowly, the stallion’s eyes adjusted to the gloom and began to pick up the forms of his pursuers, standing just a few hoof-lengths from him. As soon as he noticed them, he recoiled visibly in shock and horror, seeing the creatures that could only be described as living nightmares close-up. He could see only three or four in the narrow tunnel, but heard several more as they shifted around behind the ones in front. A low hiss escaped the one closest to him and he took a couple of steps backwards. His eyes had adjusted quite well by now, which perturbed him, as there should be no source of light down in the tunnels now that his lamp had smashed, and yet, the whole corridor that was hosting the strange stand-off was now noticeably getting brighter. Another hiss escaped the lead creature and it took a tentative step backward, and only then did Clean Slate realize the tunnel was slowly brightening with a pale orange light coming from the next intersection. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that one side of the fork in the road up ahead had red light spilling out of it and heard a great scuffle come from the nightmares. Turning back to look at his would-be killers, he barely made out the shape of the last monster as it ran back into the gloom. His face blanched and his knees felt weak. He had been so close to escaping, and now… Now he was just as dead as if he had been caught by the horde of monsters. The red glow was quite bright now, and as he watched and waited with bated breath, he couldn’t help but feel slightly cheated. For a few glorious seconds he had thought he was going to make it, that the monsters had decided to stop chasing him and he could leave this place and never return. But it was not to be. His hope had been torn away as soon as he had noticed the red glow. He stared as the red glow slid into the tunnel and it got noticeably hotter. He had simply traded one fate for another. Then the world was consumed with the brightest light he had ever seen, and a tremendous blast of heat, and Clean Slate was no more. *** “Are we there yet?” an impatient Scootaloo asked, hanging her head over the ship’s railing. “For the fifteenth time, not yet, so please stop asking,” came the stern reply. Scootaloo glanced over to the speaker, a sea foam-green unicorn with a harp cutie mark on her flank. “But Lyra, I’m bored!” the orange pegasus replied, crossing her forehooves over the rail and ‘harrumph’-ing very loudly, “Apple Bloom’s still sleeping and Sweetie Belle’s working on her project. There’s nothing to do!” “You know squirt, some ponies say ‘It’s not the destination that matters, but the journey getting there’.” Scootaloo shot her a bored look. “Since when does that apply to you?” “Oh it doesn’t!” Lyra said, giving a small laugh, “I only said that some ponies say it. I for one am bored out of my mind too, but that’s why I’ve been finding things to do on the ship to pass the time. Why don’t you go ask Whitebeard if he could use any help?” “I already did. And he told me the same thing he tells me every time I ask.” Squinting one eye, Scootaloo stuck her bottom jaw out and curled her lips over her teeth, doing a rather accurate expression of the elderly ship captain. “’Why doncha wait till yer a bit more ‘sperienced before ya try going an’ getting’ yerself killed doin’ somethin’ meant fer full-grown ponies. An airship ain’t no place fer anypony that tries ter show off.’ I mean,” she dropped the act and spoke her words with an exasperated sigh, “how am I supposed to get experience in anything if he won’t let me do anything!?” The green unicorn mare threw her a sly look, “Why, Scootaloo! What about all the fun times you’ve had with Rusted Wrench? Or Chrome Clock? Or…” she scooted closer to the grumpy pegasus mare, “what about that Trickwing fellow? He’s kinda cute, isn’t he?” The effect on Scootaloo was immediate. Standing up straight, the orange mare went rigid and instantly started blushing, while turning her head every which way to make sure the young stallion in question was nowhere in sight before giving Lyra a terribly obvious confused expression. “Wh-what? Trickwing? Me? Think he’s cute? You-you’ve been reading too many of Bon Bon’s romance novels! I don’t think he’s cute. He’s, well, I mean, he’s a nice stallion, and he always has terrible jokes, and he always seems to be there to open doors for me, and he… has… a really nice mane…” Lyra gave the pegasus a playful nudge, who had become the victim of a glazed look as she forgot exactly what she was supposed to be denying. Jumping a bit at the sudden contact, Scootaloo gazed out past the railings of their expeditionary airship, and towards the sun that was just poking out over the cloud layer, like a sunrise on a white, fluffy ocean. “I-I-I-, how did you know? That I like him, I mean?” Scootaloo asked, scrunching up her face in embarrassment. “I didn’t. But now you just told me.” “What?! Ohhh…” Scootaloo groaned, slapping a hoof over her face before glaring at Lyra from over it. “I’m gonna get you for that.” “Oh, don’t get so grumpy, I bet this isn’t the first time you’ve liked a stallion before. What about when you and the others were kids? I remember you always staring after Button Mash whenever I saw you guys in the same place,” the unicorn said in all seriousness. “That was Sweetie. She was the one always staring after Button Mash, not me.” The orange pegasus mare suddenly caught sight of several ponies coming up from below deck and instantly tensed. “Maybe we should talk about something else? Hmm?” Lyra turned and saw a pair of ponies slowly pulling themselves out of a hatch and now it was her turn to slap her hoof to her forehead. “Oh great, I was hoping he would have slept in a bit longer…” she grumbled. “Don’t forget, Lyra,” Scootaloo said, a mischievous smile spreading across her face, “It’s not so much the destination that matters, but the journey getting there. Plus all the ponies you go on the journey with.” Turning away from the pegasus, Lyra forced a smile on her face and waited until the two stallions trotted up to them. “Golden Satchel! And Heavy Hoof! What a coincidence!” The older stallion, a dark blue unicorn with a silver mane and a bag of bits for a cutie mark, scoffed and returned the mare’s smile with an unsatisfied frown. “Hardly, seeing as we’ve been on this ship for the same amount of time as you.” “Well of course, I just meant that I wasn’t expecting to see you two up and about so early. Usually your nephew at least sleeps in a good deal longer. How did you sleep by the way?” This time it was Heavy Hoof who answered. “I barely slept at all, no thanks to our ‘captain’. I swear, that old goat can’t steer this thing worth a beaver dam.  If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought we were crashing down onto the ocean, rather than flying above it.” Turning to the older stallion, Heavy Hoof did his best to appear small and helpless. “Uncle, why couldn’t you have hired a good airship captain? You have enough money for it. We wouldn’t have had to put up with this buffoon’s excuse for flying.” Heavy Hoof was a large unicorn stallion, with a dark red coat and a brilliant yellow mane that was slicked back past his horn. His attempt would have been comical to Scootaloo, whining like a spoiled child to his rich uncle, but he was a full grown stallion for Celestia’s sake! He was larger than most of the ship’s crew members, not to mention his uncle. Scootaloo almost gagged at how pitiful the large unicorn was being, until a gruff voice behind hem drew the group’s attention. “An’ exactly who are ye callin’ a buffoon, ya great blubberin’ baby?” Captain Whitebeard had come down from the helm and was now eyeing the red stallion closely with his one good eye, the other hidden under a black eyepatch. To Scootaloo, the old, grizzled captain looked worse every time she saw him, it seemed, and this time was no exception. His tan coat was fading and turning grey with age, and several long, pink scars adorned his flanks. His long white beard was wild and unkempt, his sailor’s uniform was scuffed and torn, and Scootaloo could have sworn there was a new patch of fur missing from his back. The old earth pony stallion once again opened his mouth to speak, showing off a mouth with only half as many teeth as it should have had. “Now you listen ‘ere, ye young whippersnapper! If’n I hear ya complainin’ about me steerin’ one more time, then Celestia as mah witness, I’ll throw ye off this ship meself. An’ if’n you’re thinkin’ o’ usin’ yore uncle’s money ta get me off mah own ship, then ye’ll be cleanin’ the chamberpots wit’ nothin’ but yer fancy-shmancy mane all on the way back, ye hear? I’ll keep my eye on you to make shure yore on yore best be’aviour till we’re all done, cuz I am sick o’yer moanin’ an’ complainin’, and so’re the rest o’ the crew.” Whitebeard was not a large stallion by anyone’s standards, but his presence seemed to completely surround them and tower over them, even though he barely came eye-to-eye with Heavy Hoof when the other shrunk down to try and avoid that one-eyed gaze. “Un-uncle! Do something!” “Now, now, Heavy. I brought you on this trip to get out of Canterlot for a bit and so you could enjoy yourself out here. You’ve done nothing but complain about this trip, and honestly, it’s starting to drag me down. I would have thought my favorite nephew would have liked spending some time adventuring around the globe, but perhaps a bit of hard, honest work is just what you need to build some character.” The blue unicorn looked over his nephew with that ever-present frown, then shook his head and sighed. “Perhaps you and young miss Scootaloo here should go check on the others. I’m sure they’d welcome…” Golden Satchel looked around, surprise flitting onto his face for a moment. “Wait, she was right here! Where did she go?” *** Scootaloo was, at that moment, banging on Sweetie Belle’s cabin door, having escaped the arguing ponies above while they were too busy going at each other to notice her leave. She grimaced for a second at what Lyra was going to think of her for leaving her behind with the stallions, before continuing to pound on Sweetie’s door. “Sweetie…” she hissed, before the door opened a crack and Sweetie Belle glared through at her. “What is it Scootaloo? I’m busy! And keep your voice down, do you want to wake everypony?” Not giving an immediate answer, Scootaloo burst through the door and tripped over Sweetie Belle, sending both mares sprawling onto the floor of the cramped cabin. Scootaloo looked up at the familiar shapes of her friend’s contraptions and inventions that littered what little floor space there was. Several more machines and devices of unusual design sat on crates or poked out of boxes. The floor was littered with small bits and bobs of everything imaginable, and a small porthole window on the far wall looked out over the blanket of clouds as the sun made its ascent over them. “Ugh… Scootaloo, do you always have to do that? What if I had left something sharp near the door? We’d both be impaled!” Getting to her hooves and brushing herself off, Scootaloo offered a hoof to the young unicorn mare, which was promptly accepted. “I know you won’t do that, I come in here too often. You’d be devastated if something happened to me because of your negligence.” “Yeah, woo. Go me,” Sweetie said, rolling her eyes and moving to a single small workbench in the corner, where a small lamp shined a light on some sort of light green crystal lattice, intertwined with countless tiny metal strands. Snapping a pair of red goggles onto her face, she cast a quick spell and the goggles glowed a sudden brilliant red-orange as she turned back to her work. “So what is it you wanted?” Sweetie asked absentmindedly, as she levitated a small screwdriver over to the intricate device and began poking at points within the framework. “Oh, I just needed to get away from, uh… well, Heavy Hoof and Whitebeard were arguing again, so I thought I’d make myself scarce,” she explained, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. “And you thought banging on my door and yelling to the sky would be the best way to not attract attention?” Sweetie smirked at the orange pegasus, which was rendered somewhat creepy by the large, glowing red goggles on her face. “Hey! I wasn’t yelling!” “Could have fooled me,” the unicorn replied, turning to a large and very complicated-looking diagram of the device she was working on that was displayed on the wall, “…cell thirty six connects to nodes four hundred-twelve and ninety-three…” “So uh, whatcha workin’ on?” Scootaloo asked, stepping up to look over the white mare’s shoulder and see what she was doing, before being shooed away by Sweetie’s frown. “Don’t get so close when I’m working! You don’t have any goggles, and it can be dangerous. I don’t want you to go blind, otherwise how would you prove to Rainbow Dash that you’re just as fast as her? I'm sure you'd be a great flyer, what with constantly smacking into trees and all.” Scootaloo quickly stepped back and shielded her eyes, while Sweetie Belle fidgeted with the device for a few moments, before putting down the screwdriver and sighing. “Oh, why won’t this darn thing just work?” Turning to her friend she cast another spell to end the glow coming from her goggles and lifted them, rubbing her eyes. “You know what? Maybe it’s a good thing you showed up, Scoots. I’ve been working on this for a few hours now, and I think I need a break. Did you want to talk about something?” Settling herself into the tiny bunk that served as her bed in the chaos that was her cabin, Sweetie Belle threw the goggles onto her desk and rubbed her eyes quickly, then patted the space beside her for the other mare to sit down. “Actually, I just wanted to get away from Golden Satchel and his nephew. I came to you because Apple Bloom’s probably still sleeping, and I didn’t want to intrude on anypony else,” Scootaloo said, trotting over and hopping onto the bed, practically pushing Sweetie off in the process. The unicorn, for her part, gasped dramatically in a highly credible representation of her sister and put a hoof to her forehead. “Oh Scootaloo, I’m hurt, truly, I am! You only came to me because you wanted to hide in my room?” settling back down, the pale unicorn’s face broke into a smile and she playfully pushed her friend’s shoulder, before she realized something and frowned a bit. “Hey, how come you thought Apple Bloom was sleeping but not me? It’s still really early! And I guess you feel comfortable intruding on me then, do you?” “Hey, Apple Bloom snores, and we both know it, plus when I woke up, I heard you shuffling around in here when I passed on my way up to the top deck earlier.” “Scootaloo, Apple Bloom would kill you if she heard you say she snores,” Sweetie said seriously, before giggling, “but I won’t deny she sounds super cute when she does it. It reminds me of when we were just little fillies!” “Yeah,” the pegasus replied, quickly becoming lost in the mass of memories that had just surfaced, “Can you believe we’re only eighteen? Or, well, I mean can you believe we’re on this trip when we’re only eighteen? Most ponies don’t get to actually go along with an archaeological expedition until they’re at least thirty!” “Maybe Princess Twilight had something to do with it. Remember, she did have a talk with Golden Satchel when Lyra and Bon Bon told him we wanted to come.” “You really think Twilight would do that for us? Rainbow Dash seemed okay with it, but I can’t imagine that Rarity or Applejack took the news well.” Scootaloo said, pondering the idea for what was certainly not the first time. Sweetie Belle, oblivious to her friend’s thoughts, continued on, “Well, it’s not like they have too much say in what we do now, we are adults… technically. We have just as much right to go adventuring off on short notice as they do now. Besides, we have Lyra and Bon Bon. What could possibly go wrong?” she leaned closer to the orange pegasus and whispered dramatically, “I hear they’re secret agents!” Scootaloo scoffed. “You watch too much T.V.” Suddenly a quiet knock could be heard on the door. It repeated once before Sweetie opened it, to reveal a yawning Apple Bloom. “Hey ya’ll. What’re ya’ll talkin’ about?” she said, perking up immediately at the sight of her friends. “You woke me up by the way.” “Us!?” Sweetie Belle cried, a look of mock innocence plastered on her face, “How could that possibly be?” The yellow earth pony giggled and poked the unicorn in the chest. “By doin’ that, silly. So what’re you girls up to?” she asked, stepping into the already cramped room and closing the door behind her. “Oh, we were just reminiscing about when we were fillies. We had a lot of good times.” Scootaloo replied. “Yeah, and we’re about to have some more!” Apple Bloom pointed out the tiny, round window, “Ah think we’re landin’!” All three ponies turned to look out the porthole. Where before there had been the top of the cloud layer, tinted a brilliant pink-orange hue by the rising sun, now only a solid grey could be seen as they descended through the clouds. The three mares looked at each other for a moment, before they all pushed their way out into the hall and ran, rushing to the top deck and yelling like fillies in excitement. “We’re here!” They screamed, bursting out onto the deck, huge smiles on each of their faces. As the ship moved down through the thick clouds, moisture began to accumulate on the deck, engines, and maneuvering sails, and it got darker and windier. None of that mattered to the three mares as they weaved their way in between crew members and scientists, rushing to get to the railing to get their first glimpse of their destination. Poking their heads over the edge of the ship and looking down, the girls couldn’t make out anything for several minutes, and as the ship descended, the rain only lashed them harder and the wind buffeted them more strongly. Starting to shiver, they grouped together on the safety rail but otherwise stayed just where they were. After a few moments however, the last of the clouds, which were now a very dark and angry grey, lifted from the ship and the crew were allowed their first good look at the legendary archeological site. Although rain and wind and the darkness from the clouds obscured much of the land, the Cutie Mark Crusaders could make out massive spires and buttresses rising up out of the gloom. Huge, dark, hoop-like structures littered the ground, and stretched up to the clouds, perfectly circular, and large enough that five airships like the one they were riding on could fit through them side by side, with room to spare. Lightning crackled in the darkness, illuminating huge towers connected by impossibly large bridges, and large, disk-shaped platforms jutted out from the sides of each. As they passed by a hoop-building, they saw that it was nearly twice as thick as their entire ship was long, and a huge section of it was missing, making it appear as if it was a giant horseshoe, reaching up into the sky. Lyra appeared, trotting across the deck towards them, a cloak wrapped around her barrel and her head bowed against the wind. “Landing zone is just past those two towers!” she yelled, trying to be heard over the howling wind, as she pointed out two exceptionally tall, needle-thin spires that stretched up parallel to each other about halfway across the ancient and abandoned city. “Ah can’t believe it!” Apple Bloom screamed to the heavens, “We’re finally here! The lost city of Seskantor!” *** Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo helped the airship crew tie down the vessel to the surrounding buildings as the rain continued to hammer down on them, their recently-acquired cloaks offering little protection. They grabbed ropes and chains with hooks, and were among the first to be lowered down to the ground below once the ship had gotten as low to the mist-covered ground as Whitebeard dared get it. Unlike Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, Scootaloo didn’t need to be lowered down in a sling, and so simply jumped out over the edge of the rail with a rope in her mouth and glided down to the rocky ground. Or she would have, if not for the fact that the storm was buffeting her about as soon as she stepped off the deck. Forced to flap much harder than she had anticipated, and barely controlling her movement, the pegasus dropped and rolled and was thrown about, barely managing to right herself before the ground rushed up to meet her. Throwing her hooves out in front of her, she barely managed to slow down before she crashed to the ground, stumbling over herself and falling on her face. “Ohhh…” she groaned, before she realized that in doing so, she had dropped her rope. Quickly snatching up the rope once more, she got to her hooves and rubbed at her muzzle, trying to massage some of the pain away. Rain slicked her eyes as she opened them, making everything appear blurry, so she flipped the hood of her cloak back on and shook the water out of her face. By now the other members of the crew assigned to help anchor the ship were arriving, their slings being lowered by no less than two other ponies each, up from the top deck of the airship. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle arrived just as Scootaloo finished trying her rope around a pillar of a broken building. Trotting up to them, she watched as they too secured their links, before noticing that the rain seemed to be letting up a bit. Instead or a torrential downpour, there seemed to be only major downpour. The wind had slowed down a bit, too. Looking around, she spotted Trickwing, a yellow pegasus with an orange mane, just as he finished securing a chain around some sort of statue. Waving him over, she and the other girls took shelter under a half-collapsed roof, where he quickly joined them. “So this is Seskantor, huh?” he gave a long whistle and shook out his mane, before looking up at the buildings that towered around them. Whitebeard had somehow miraculously nestled the airship between some sort of long, low, rectangular building, and a cluster of sharp spires, which was incredibly impressive, considering the vessel’s size. Even now, with most of the anchors in place, the ship occasionally groaned and listed in the wind. Scootaloo smiled before moving out from under the cover of the roof. “Hey Trickwing! Betcha can’t beat me to the ship!” Without waiting for a reply, she shot off, the pegasus stallion racing after her, calling out that she wasn’t playing fair. “Lookit them go,” Apple Bloom remarked, mainly to herself, but Sweetie Belle heard, standing as close as she was, and replied, “Yeah… You think she has a crush on him?” Apple Bloom blinked. “Ah thought she liked Chrome Clock, didn’t she?” “Doesn’t really matter I guess, she’s not going to be thinking about boys for the next while, now that we’ve arrived.” Sweetie swept hoof in a grand gesture around her, motioning to their surroundings, “I mean, look at this place! It’s huge! I know Lyra and Bon Bon said it was going to be big, but it’s way bigger than I ever imagined! Besides, do you really think any of us are going to be more interested in stallions than exploring this place?” “Ah know ah won’t,” Apple Bloom replied, already inspecting the slick flagstones that made up the clearing the airship had landed in. “Won’t what?” Scootaloo said in a flurry of feathers and rain as she landed next to her friends once more, Trickwing doing the same moments later. “Oh uh, nothin’ Scoots! We were just talkin’ about whether anypony’s gonna be bored, now that we’re here.” “Pshh, of course not. It’s Seskantor for Celestia’s sake! The find of a lifetime! Now come on you slowpokes, you gonna help unpack, or what?” Scootaloo pointed to the saddlebags she and Trickwing had just deposited. “Come on Sweetie! No one else is going to bring down all your experiments! If you don’t bring them, you won’t get to use them during our stay!” “Alright, alright!” the two mares shouted as the pegasus pair lifted off again, “We’re coming. No need to wait up for us!” Sweetie yelled after them. *** A half hour later (and with much care taken with Sweetie Belle’s inventions) the voyage was completely unpacked and Whitebeard’s crew had started raising the anchors again, in preparation of the airship’s departure. It would return once again in two weeks with provisions and supplies to keep the expedition teams well stocked while they unlocked the mysteries of the forgotten city. The amount of explorers staying behind numbered seventeen; Lyra, Bon Bon, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Trickwing, Golden Satchel, Heavy Hoof, and nine others. The adventurers gathered up the various saddlebags, sacks, crates, and carts containing all their equipment and supplies and headed off, the hard, grey-blue of the city’s stonework their only companion in the silence. The rain had since stopped, and although there was still water dripping from every overhang, the sound of the droplets hitting the surfaces beneath them was oddly muffled, and impossible to make out as the group tromped through the empty streets. Sweetie Belle trotted over to Lyra, who was helping one of the group whose wagon had gotten stuck in a crack in the blue concrete. Tapping into her own magic, she combined her aura with Lyra’s as both unicorns focused on the wheel and lifted it free of the crack. “Hey, Lyra,” she asked after they placed the wagon back on the ground and its owner was on their way, “So where is the base camp? Not too much farther I hope?” Sweetie, on account of all her gadgets she had decided to bring along, was similarly weighed down by a cart, and the strain was starting to show. “Ah, s’not too far, kid. Wouldn’t make sense to set up camp on the opposite side of the city as the landing zone. We just needed to make it a short distance so that once we have a constant stream of ships going in and out of this place, we won’t have any of that distracting the scientists while they work. I’m sure you noticed back in Canterlot, but airship docks are noisy places.” “Yeah… not like this place. I was super excited all the way here, but now that I’m here this place is so quiet and still you’d think that time had stopped or something.” “Well, that’s another mystery about this place ponies are going to be trying to figure out. Not gonna lie it’s a damn creepy sight, but maybe you’ll be the one to solve that particular mystery, hm?” “You know what? You’re right! We’re explorers, for Celestia’s sake. We’re gonna make discoveries like nopony before!” The white unicorn cheered up considerably at that, and didn’t notice the glimmering blue lights that shined from dark pits in the surrounding buildings, camouflaged as they were against the grey-blue backdrop of the stones that made up the buildings. After just a few more minutes of walking, taking eerily quiet side-streets and admiring the size of the buildings all around, Bon Bon called out from the front of the group. “Alright everypony! We’re here! Welcome to Base Camp Everfree!”