Flying over the deepest parts of the overturned Everfree Forest, Sunset hoped for an easier journey than that of the trip to the Not-So-Bad-Badlands. Las Discord was not nearly as far, though she’d never been to Las Pegasus during any of the alternate worlds. Of course, she hadn’t flown in any of the previous worlds either. Feeling the coolness of the wind brushing her face as she glided weightlessly above the clouds kept her silent. Speaking was taboo, it would ruin the moment, the sensation. She wanted it to last forever. Free the land from this world, make it nothing but sky so that even while I sleep I may fly.
Sunset did not think of the Crystal War timeline, nor of the Community timeline that was no longer appropriately named. She pushed Discord’s words deep down inside of her, locking them away as she focused on her goal. But even her goal, finding Rainbow Dash, was overshadowed by the quaking feeling in her body. It made her shiver, quiver, and flow like a twisting river. She assumed once, when she was a filly, that she’d make a great flyer. But she couldn't expect flying to take to her like she took to it. A flap of her left wing, curling just right, could make her twist and turn in the opposite direction. She wondered how long it had taken Princess Twilight to get used to flying. A day? A month? Perhaps she was still not used to it.
As the clouds parted beneath her, she could see Las Discord at the end of the world, covered in a deep fog. The sea was the only thing past it. Mountains sat on both sides before the start of the city, and in the middle were vines of large, dark bramble. She was right to choose not to land until she came to the city—Appleloosa remained a valuable lesson. I’m sure I’ll find beads hidden in my backpack till the day I have to throw it away, she remarked. Crossing lower into the atmosphere, Sunset noticed how cold it became. Above the clouds made sense, but now she could see her breath.
The lower she went, the colder she got. That’s when she saw the bramble vines a bit better—they weren’t plants at all, they weren’t even the right color! Dark blue, the thorns that sprouted were icicles, sharper than any needle. The frozen vines covered the road to Las Discord, and they sprouted directly from the city. She thought nothing of the thickened fog until now. It’s just fog caused by the ocean, that’s all, she had reasoned, but now the concern grew. There were no brambles sticking up out from the fog, nor were they splayed across the mountainsides. The land was split into sections, much like how the cutoff between food and beads had occurred. It’s as chaotic as possible, but logical too.
She was afraid of what else remained for her within the northern sections of the world. There was no time to ruminate on the what ifs. Dashing down from the air, she fell into a trot at the expiry of vines. The fog sat only a meter away, yet its chill froze her fur stiff. A glance over her shoulder was all she gave the vined path before pressing forward into the haze.
Her breath wasn’t visible here, though it had every right to be. Trying to clear the shadow fog was impossible. Flapping her wings proved useless. Casting a light spell only seemed to brighten the haze, blinding Sunset in the process. Even a bubble shield proved useless, it fogged up like condensation on a hot window during a mild storm.
Sunset continued forward into this murky mist. Was it a miasma? Was something causing such an impenetrable brume? She had heard that Las Pegasus was a playground of attractions, much like mirror world’s theme parks. In Discord’s world, she assumed it would have been that to the nth degree. Instead, she got a chilling city in the fog. The further she went, the colder it seemed. Her eyes were starting to water just to stay hydrated, ice coated her lids.
The cold wasn’t the only defense Las Discord had from outsiders. Much like the atmosphere above the clouds, air here was scarce. Seeing her breath wasn’t just impossible due to the fog, each exhale was growing further and further apart. Lightheaded and freezing, Sunset had traveled for what felt like miles into the mist, yet she never bumped into anything. “What is this place?” she huffed. Panting and weeping, she felt like she could take no more. With a sense of overwhelming dread crawling up her spine, she tried casting a spell once more. This time it was supposed to be a breath of flames spouting from her horn, a dangerous spell for initiates. Yet no spark emitted. Was it too cold? Sunset knew that was not the cause—the lack of air was the problem. No oxygen, no fire, she grimaced.
With no other option and no refuge in sight, Sunset was forced to turn around. It would be a long walk back to the bramble, and passing out from the lack of oxygen was not a preference she held. Trotting swiftly turned to galloping, but as soon as she began to rush, the fog cleared. The icicle vines sat right in front of her. “How?” she whispered to herself, looking back at the fog. “I traveled at least a mile, maybe two. How am I already back at the front?” A tear trickled down the side of her muzzle and she wiped away the trail.
Her eyes glanced in an arching motion from right to left, then left to right. The motions of the haze were little swirls that repeated, she noticed. She also found that the swirls moved incredibly slowly, like sand in a very tight hourglass, bit by bit.
Tapping into her magical strength, she tried to part the haze, but more fog immediately rolled into the gap.
A hefty sigh left her lips as she wiped her brow, only to find the sweat froze her fur. North is mountains, I’m not sure how far this fog extends in that direction, she contemplated. South will lead me around to the sea. If I remember the map correctly, though, the train tracks come from the north. She debated for a moment before choosing south, trotting past a vine that sat frozen in the air, an icicle pointed down at her. She wondered if there were more of the tendrils inside.
Following the fog revealed nothing of the contents on the inner recesses. Even when she reached the beach, she found nothing of interest, only the mist remained. It was not coming from the ocean, she gathered. The cold air brushed the gaps of her underside feathers, numbing them, a sensation that Sunset did not care for. At this rate, I won’t know when my wings stop till I start to fall. Even the muscles that connected her wings to her back had started to deaden, whereas they’d only been hot from overuse. She dared not stop to rest, not that she could. The fog overlapped with the beach, meeting the sea like a hurricane going in the wrong direction.
The more she flew, the more she realized her mistake. The length of Las Discord was just as bad as the width. Meters turned into miles very quickly. Sunset began to run out of steam only for sanctuary to miraculously appear as if the chaos itself was extending a gracious hand. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief as she floated down to the extended boardwalk.
From the air, she could tell it was a place of rides and amusement. A ferris wheel sat on the furthest edge of the dock with a carousel next to it, both unlit and unused. Mini shops of carny foods lined one side, to which she could see things such as carrot dogs on sticks and deep fried cotton candy.
Reaching the wooden boards that made up the strange pier, she found the place emptied of life. Only dust and sand remained, soaking the shops in the filth. When she reached the carousel, however, she noticed the lack of both. It was not spotless, the sun had bleached the coloring in many places and time had rusted the metal bolts that plugged the poles into the ride. The carousel was on the furthest edge of the pier, the only thing after it was some benches and the railing with deep blue sea below. Sniffing the air, she noticed how it lacked the cold she’d felt, a warm humidity that accompanied beach life, melting her frozen fur.
A quick trot back to the ferris wheel proved the cold had a stopping point—about halfway into the towering roundabout. Half of the wheel remained covered in the dust and sand she’d seen before, the other half was barren. Investigating the grime, she found that it was coarse ice. It wasn’t slick, it moved like sand, and it was not saturated. It was, however, cold to the touch. Pressing the bottom of her hoof into her fur, it took it a bit before the cold receded, and she knew then that it was no ordinary frost.
Her curiosity grew with every cold step past the food stands. The pier had a long stretch before it reached the fog where it was nothing but open benches. The spruce wood had the look of birch, a feint of grey coloring that matched the fog. The world was colorless in this direction, only behind her did the color remain. Even the sea was a lackluster blue, more monochrome in hue.
As she came closer to the mist, Sunset tried to stare into the sluggishly moving twirls of grey air. Any opening, any movement, anything she thought she could seize was immediately met with a reluctance. Even if I get inside, who’s to say I’ll find anything? For all I know, the entire city is gone. It could be a cruel joke from Discord, a city replaced with mist. But how could Dash be living in such a place? Is she even conscious in there? She could be frozen solid. No answers came to Sunset, however. She wasn’t sure how much time passed when she finally gave up cataloging her questions. Trotting in front of the mist from one side of the railing to other, a squeak of the boards startled her.
It was nothing more than the board below her, but the sudden noise broke a silence that she hadn't even noticed. When she stood frozen, sure that it was her making the creak, she realized how deafening the silence truly was. Trotting to the edge and looking over, she watched the water. For the first time since reaching the pier, she looked down at the sea of waves. As if it were a computer uploading data to the internet, the ocean wave slothfully reached the height of its splash, eventually receding back into the sea. Sunset watched the whole process. She watched it twice, then thrice. Each time finding it harder to believe. It’s moving in slow motion!
Racing back to the carousel, her heart pounded as she heard the waves hitting the pier’s posts. Throwing herself to the railing, the humidity striking her muzzle, she saw the waves moving at a normal speed. The sound of the crashing water filled her with relief, along with a set of unanswerable questions. She turned her head back to the fog, the carousel, shops, and ferris wheel all within her peripheral. “I don’t understand,” she said aloud. “Discord? Discord!”
She knew the draconequus was always near, watching somehow and listening to everything—perhaps even her own thoughts.
“Yes, Sunset Shimmer?” the draconequus greeted, causing Sunset to stir in every direction. It wasn’t until she looked back down at the waves that she saw the chaotic creature drifting happily in an inner tube. “You rang?”
“I can’t figure out this city. It’s surrounded by fog, and time is slowed.”
His body snaked out of the inner tube like a dolphin jumping into the air. Floating, he stared down at her. “Ah, Las Discord. My favorite city, if you do not mind my taste. It has been quite the while since I was able to enter, however. Did you see my icy thorns? I created those last time I was here just before I sent one of my playthings into the fog.” He then hung on the railing as he asked, “Would you like to use one of your lifelines?”
She didn’t like the idea of having to resort to trivializing her situation, she preferred to work on it herself. I don’t even use the hints given in those little puzzle game apps I downloaded, she begrudged. “Yes. I would. Hopefully the rest of these cities aren’t as troublesome to just get inside. But I want to ask what lifeline you would suggest I use.”
“Me? Well, that is quite obvious! You should use the one to skip this bearer! Get it out of the way now and you can rack your brain elsewhere!” he answered with a chuckle.
“Thanks for the advice.” She rolled her eyes. “That means I should use one of the other two. Since I don’t have a question—well, I do. I have a million. I just don’t know what the right one would be. Getting the princesses help might be the most beneficial right now.”
He shrugged. “I will offer up this. Utilizing the lifeline for the princesses means that they will be with you until you get this bearer. However, if you should still be stumped and decide to leave, you will lose them. They will not return if you come back, either.”
Sunset leaned from side to side in contemplation. Skipping this seems like the smartest move, but I may need to save the lifeline for something more important later, like Fluttershy. “Alright, Discord. I’ll take that princess lifeline. Maybe utilizing their magic, we can solve this together.”
But the draconequus abruptly exploded in laughter. “Lifeline used! No takesy-backsies!” With a snap of his finger, it was done. “Tootaloo!” Before her very eyes, he was gone.
“Discord?” she called out as she looked around for the princesses. “Don’t jip me, Discord. Where are they?”
“Sunset Shimmer?” Celestia called to the newest alicorn. “What is going on?”
“Oh come on, Discord! You put them in my head? That’s like, the worst place for them.”
“No, young one,” Luna replied, “We are behind you.” Sunset turned to greet the sisters, but she found no one there. “On your back.”
Tucking her chin to her shoulder strap, Sunset looked back at her backpack only to find two strings now tied to the nylon bag. At the end of the strings were two balloons, one white and one dark blue. “Well. At least you aren’t in my head, though this completely negates my hope in using your combined magic to clear the way.”
“Sunset, what exactly is happening? Where are we?” Celestia asked. One side of the balloon held the face of the eldest princess, while the back held her cutie mark.
“Sorry, Celestia. It seems Discord has turned you into balloons. Utilizing your help was one of the lifelines for Discord’s pretentious game. I’m trying to get all the bearers of the Elements of Harmony—this one is Rainbow Dash.” She then went on to explain all the events up to calling Discord on the pier.
“It would seem as though Discord has coerced another into an unwinnable battle,” Luna described, unenthused. “We shall do our best to solve your conundrum. Just try not to run into anything sharp. I fear what might become of us.”
Celestia looked as if she nodded in agreement, but the balloon only twirled on its axis. “Yes. It would be quite the popping surprise, to be sure,” she snickered, causing her sister to glare. “Sorry. Not clowns anymore.”
“Any chance I could use my alicorn magic to transform you two?” Sunset asked.
“Unlikely. That process would take years to learn and eons to master,” answered Celestia. “By then, we would surely have deflated.”
“Then the only option we have is for me to win this game of Discord’s. Any idea on how to get into the fog wall?”
Luna replied, “Bring us closer if you would.”
Sunset did as she was asked. The fog wall remained an unhurried mass of swirls. Pushing to the railing near the mist, she pointed down at the waves, noting how they defied physics by the motion slowing to a grinding pace. Water droplets could be seen springing from the wave that normally would have been unnoticeable by the naked eye. “A particularly unusual sight, sister,” Luna gawked.
“I recognize this fog, too, sister,” Celestia noted. “It’s from Cloudsdale, a mixture meant to make clouds. What is it doing here, where time has been reduced to a crawl?”
“I was hoping one of you might have the answer to that, actually. I’ve wracked my brain trying to find a solution, now our fate is in your hooves.” She glanced back at them, then corrected herself, “Strings. Our fate is in your strings.”
“The answer is obvious, Sunset Shimmer,” said the eldest princess. “After all the magical prowess you showed during your tenure as my student, it seems you’ve forgotten the basics. Simply return to the edge of the constraint and ward yourself against time magic. I should hope you have not forgotten the incantations, at the very least.”
Sunset knew the scolding teacher was right in doing so. “Wards! Of course.” The young alicorn trotted back to the edge of the pier. As she walked, she asked the sisters, “How come you two haven’t attempted any sort of warding against chaos magic? Why not use the Elements of Harmony to turn Discord into stone again?”
“Discord knows of the Elements of Harmony, he has sealed their power from us,” explained Luna. “Though should there be another way to obtain them—your way—then perhaps we still have a chance to correct our mistake of just turning him into stone.”
“Harsh,” Sunset replied under her breath. I might feel the same way, though, had I been trapped for years under Discord’s rule.
“What was the name of the bearer you’ve located?” Luna asked as they reached the end of the pier.
“Pinkie Pie,” answered Sunset. “Discord locked her up as soon as I had her in—” Custody? “—my vicinity. She was quite the hassle to wrangle. Rainbow Dash is proving to be worse. Far worse. Having to use a lifeline this early, let alone at all, makes me feel like I’m already failing.”
Celestia let out a jarring, happy laugh. “Failing? You’ve already got one bearer, one piece of the game. That’s far from failure.”
Sunset had started the process to cast a warding spell but stopped. She nuzzled her head into her shoulder, looking up at the white balloon. “Celestia. Did you ever feel, after I lost your apprenticeship, that I gave up on you?”
The elder alicorn was silent for a moment. “Yes,” she replied eventually. “I did. It was a… stinging revelation.”
“I felt the same way. I felt you gave up on me, casting me out like I was nothing to you,” Sunset said, staring up into the flat, sad eyes of the balloon, only for the moment to be ruined by the balloon twisting around helplessly.
“I cannot begin to understand how you could feel that way, Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia said, her voice was remorseful in tone. “But I do apologize for making you feel that way. I tried to have patience with you, to give you the time you needed to work out whatever problems you had. I hoped that a lack of coddling would allow you to humble yourself. Unfortunately, I was too late to see your lust for power turn you mad. Had I known you felt I was turning against you, perhaps I could have done something to cease that feeling.”
Sunset nodded. “Hey. Hindsight is twenty-twenty. Had I seen how corrupt I was becoming, it might have straightened me out. Maybe it wouldn’t have. I don’t know, honestly.”
“It’s not just hindsight, Sunset,” Celestia’s tone shifted, a pathetic crack to her voice as she spoke. “You betrayed and abandoned me. I’ve had several pupils over time, but you were the one I put so much faith in. I saw so much in you, only to see so much of my sister in you, too.”
Luna intervened, “Jealousy. Hunger for power and pride. Those types of things?” Celestia gave a short nod, her face moving up and down the balloon. Luna smiled. “Had you been around a thousand years prior, you would have made an excellent apprentice to me, Sunset Shimmer.”
“I… guess I never saw it that way. The last Celestia’s never explained it too much like that.” Sunset used her magic to undo the backpack’s zipper, pulling out the memory journal. “The last world’s Celestia, she wrote something down to that effect, though I must admit, I didn’t really get it at the time. She didn’t like me for the longest while, but near the end, she and I came to an understanding. In fact, most of the Celestia’s I’ve met have ended that way.” She flipped through the pages, finding the sentences written down by her friends. She grimaced at Sombra and Tirek’s before turning to Celestia’s. “She said: To the student who made many mistakes, reflection has always been key. But no amount of reflection can compare to the compassion I have for thee.” It was odd seeing those words—she hadn’t shown an ounce of compassion the entire time I was there.
Celestia made no move to speak and Luna remained quiet as well. “You expelled me from Canterlot Castle. You suspended my apprenticeship. I guess, even though you did those things, you could have done worse. If you saw the same sort of thing happening in me that occurred in Luna, then I got lucky. I banished myself beyond the mirror when I could have been banished to the moon.”
“Elegantly worded, Sunset Shimmer,” congratulated Luna. “But I would not say banishment to the moon was worse. I have reconciled. Have you?”
Sunset frowned, hiding it from the two balloons.
“You are not my Sunset Shimmer,” Celestia said, “And mine has not returned from beyond the mirror—wherever that mirror may be at the moment. However, if you were my Sunset, I would be very proud of your change of heart, and would welcome you back with open wings—so long as you admitted to your change.”
“Thank you, Celestia. But every Celestia I’ve met has said the same thing. I hope my own sees the same.” With the words said and the emotions filling her with confidence, Sunset gave one final nod to the two balloons. Employing all her alicorn magic, she whispered the incantation for a warding spell and combined it with the words for time. Her body shivered, feeling the constricting nature of the spell wrap around her. Another spell had to be cast for the two balloons, preventing the time dilation from affecting the sisters. When finished, Sunset trotted forward along the pier with confidence.
As she came to the fog wall she saw the swirling nature of the haze had become invisible. “It looks like you’ve done it, Sunset Shimmer,” Luna said with glee.
“Let’s not throw a party yet. Walking inside, I traveled for what felt like an hour only to return to the front of the fog after a few seconds.” She placed a foreleg through the haze, noticing her first steps lacked the cold that previously manifested. “The lack of air also concerns me. Though, logically speaking, if time were to grind to a halt then the air molecules would be unable to move into my body and vice versa.”
“Astute,” Celestia praised. “This cloud is supposed to be far in the sky, where the lack of oxygen is already disorienting. Even with slow of time unhindered, you should be careful how much you breathe, and where.”
Luna disagreed. “I am more worried about the unknown creatures that might have survived in this nightmare. Surely no ponies are here, aside from your Rainbow Dash friend.”
Sunset wanted to be worried about Rainbow Dash, but after finding Pinkie Pie, she worried more about how changed Rainbow Dash was by Discord’s chaotic magic. Pinkie’s hunger, her gluttony, it transformed her. She was still able to make friends, though, even if they were calling her mum and queen. I wish she could have come with me. Not that I’d enjoy having to constantly watch my back.
As she trotted through the fog, she encountered something not in her previous entry. Grass! Little blades of turf struck the frog of her hoof, causing her to stumble backward. Lowering her head to focus in on the lawn, she noted how an indentation had been set in. Continuing on, following the curb that lined the outside of the grass, she found an orange building that connected itself to the verdure decoration. Trailing along the carroty brick, up to the light blue sign, she eyed the name in big red lettering. Tourist Information.
“A wonderful place to start,” Celestia said, and Luna agreed.
Grimacing as she walked to the glass double doors, Sunset wondered why exactly the tourist information was near the pier. Shouldn’t this be at the entrance? Or by the train station? Are we close to the train station? As the questions raced by, she almost missed the pink pony with swirling eyes within the reflection. Stunned, Sunset contorted her body to look behind her, but the pony was gone. “Did either of you see her?” she asked the two balloons.
“See who?” they both wondered.
There was nothing in the reflection of the glass doors when Sunset looked back at them.
“Never mind. Thought I saw something,” she replied, pushing on the handle. Entering the information center was a change that Sunset immediately noticed. The smog remained outside, very little got in, drifting up to the ceiling and misting the ceiling fans. A curved desk sat on the opposite side of the entrance with a set of shelves behind it and a door-less doorway to the left. Cushy benches sat in a square near the entrance where ponies could read brochures and parchments.
“It’s definitely a ghost town,” Sunset mumbled as she walked to the desk. Paperwork scattered the oak wood. “But the weirdest thing is that it’s still normal. Chaos turned the Badlands into a foodie’s dream. Las Pegasus—or Las Discord—isn’t altered at all. Maybe that’s true chaos? To keep something normal in a dysfunctional world?”
“The immense miasma outside suggests otherwise,” Luna begged to differ.
The open doorway behind the desk led to a break room where staff could enjoy lunch. Sunset noticed a few magnets on the refrigerator, a small two burner stove sat next to it. When she flipped the switch to turn on the overhead light, nothing happened. She flipped it a few times before Celestia interjected, “Just because we move freely does not mean everything else does.”
“Right. I wonder exactly how fast we’re moving. If someone was trapped in this, would we just be a blur?” she asked as she trotted to the fridge, opening to a lightless box. Even in the dim light, she could make out an unopened bottle of water. Lifting it out, she popped the cap off and threw her head back to take a swig. Unfortunately, the water inside made no movement. “What in Equestria? How exactly does this work?”
“Same way that does,” Luna answered, motioning her face toward the floating cap that Sunset had tossed to the counter. It never made it. Once it left her hooves, time returned to its normal abnormality for the plastic lid.
Sunset could feel the little sharp pains in her temples growing. This is giving me a headache. She rotated the open bottle upside-down and left it suspended in air. It did not fall, nor did the water drain from the tap. “If it’s not affected by me, it remains stationary. No—it’s more like if I’m not touching it.”
“A chilling effect, to be sure,” commented Celestia. “Attempt to use your telekinesis. See if you’re able to drag the water out.”
Sure enough, Sunset was able to pull the water from the bottle, quenching her thirst. “Scooping out water like ice cream. For some reason that makes me feel gross. I don’t like any of this. I’ve never seen a time-altering spell this powerful.” She realized her own irony, a mare from another time and place, but did not say anything more to the two balloons. Trotting her way to the front of the center, Luna was the first to point out the words written on the condensation of the glass doors. “Burn the living room, burn the kitchen, burn the bedroom and the bathroom. What is left? I’ve seen this riddle before,” Sunset read aloud to the sisters. “It was scribbled on a wall of ice cream.”
“How ominous,” Luna mocked. “Clearly it would be the basement.”
“What if it’s an apartment where it doesn’t have a basement? What if it’s a castle with more than just those rooms?” countered Celestia.
“Maybe the floor?” Luna suddenly sounded flustered. “Why are we even bothering with a riddle? Shouldn’t we be finding the pony who wrote it? Clearly, it was not here when we entered or we would have seen it—not to mention I spot a drop of water still falling to the ground.”
Sunset saw the time frozen drop of water too. It was on the inside, right where she stood. Glancing around the information center, she could see no one hiding. “We were in the only room, so does that mean they left? How are they traveling around?”
“Enough questions. We won’t know unless we move. I am sensing something unnatural, we should not stay,” said Luna, and Celestia agreed, their non-existent stomachs quivering in Sunset’s ears.
The misty world outside hadn’t changed in the slightest, but Sunset’s eyes were growing accustomed to seeing the buildings within the haze. A red stone pathway led down the avenues where restaurants and galleries formed a shopping center of Las Pegasus culture. Vapor covered the windows, forcing Sunset to wipe it away just to see the inside. She was hoping to see a pony, any pony. Even a monster or two would do, but this dreaded waiting is hitting all those little nerves in my brain that tell my heart to pick up the pace and run.
The shopping centers eventually cornered and Sunset found herself in the center of a group of buildings. She could not see exactly what the tall structures looked exactly like, but she knew they were gaming houses. That’s mostly what Las Pegasus was, after all. Arcades, card games, and live performances, all mixed in around the rides and events that obtruded everywhere. “Hello? Is anyone here? Anyone at all?” Sunset called out, knowing she wouldn’t get a response.
“I don’t think anyone can answer you, even if they could hear you, Sunset,” Celestia replied.
“This doesn’t make any sense. If only I could see more…” she complained, her eyes focusing on the fountain that stopped midstream. Water held still in the air, waiting to strike the fountain’s surface and return to the drain where it would be drawn back up to the spigots. “I didn’t even know this was here until I got right up close to it. I could’ve injured myself really badly.”
“Now that you are unaffected by the slow of unnatural time, perhaps you should actually try clearing this fog,” suggested Luna.
Sunset then interjected, “That may be a waste of time. There’s a terrible blizzard of the Crystal Empire, one that was impossible to deal with without the Crystal Heart.”
“Perhaps for a unicorn,” countered Celestia with a gleeful smile.
It’s worth a shot. At most, I expend a little bit of magic, Sunset gave in. Leaning back, she inhaled then exhaled. Her horn lit up as she attempted to focus on the fog. It was not like any spell she had ever tried. It was neither an expulsion nor suppression, but something entirely new. A little tickle in the back of Sunset’s throat grew the more power she exerted, sweat poured from her brow down the bridge of her muzzle. The air around her suddenly turned hot. “Sunset? Sunset!” Celestia yelled, the two sisters started to shout their worries. Sunset paid them no mind, her spell was going to work. A time ward, some heat, whip it up together and you get…
The hotter it got, the brighter her horn. Heat slapped her focused, pinched face. Once it was finally ready, she unleashed a dome of magic that spread in all directions, reaching the tiptop of the sky. Warm rain began to pelt her fur and the balloons, washing away the cold along with dissipating the relentless fog. A beam of sunlight followed, though it did not affect the city known as Las Discord.
The dome reached heights Sunset did not expect, but the fog hadn't been completely wiped out either. She could still see the wall of grey far off in the distant east, the section that she tried to enter originally. Eyeing it for a moment, it was clear, the fog was moving. It would eventually return to the rest of the city.
“Sunset, you did it!” Celestia sounded surprised. “It was getting hot there for a moment, but that was quite the clever idea. Now we can see if anyone is—”
“Sister! Look!” Luna had been the first to see the paralyzed ponies that sat like gargoyles atop the roofs of buildings. Many were dressed up in the apparel that Las Pegasus was known for. Their facial expressions were all different, however. A wide variety of happiness, sadness, and shock. One even had their forelegs raised as if they were on a rollercoaster.
“That’s terrifying,” Sunset commented, knowing all too well that Rainbow Dash might be one of the many living statues.
Celestia’s eyes widened. “They are all over the place, from roof to roof. They’ve been designed and placed by someone with a sickening sense of humor. Surely this is Discord’s own design, no? A horrifying sign to stop us in our tracks?”
“Discord isn’t trying to stop us. He’s passive in stopping or helping me. No. There is someone here doing this,” Sunset replied.
“Or something,” Luna noted.
Glancing around at the buildings that held the time stopped ponies, Sunset noticed they all led in one direction—the outsized silver ball in front of them. Made completely of mirrors and roughly five stories tall, there was only one way in or out. Though the sun made an appearance, time had not reset itself for the environment, and so the mirrors of the ball building did not reflect the sunlight. Instead, they reflected the fog. Each panel of mirror was the length of Sunset from hoof to horn, and they all were silvery grey blobs of nothing. They’re like my mirror when I take too long of a shower, except I can’t wipe these off.
“Should we go inside?” asked Celestia.
A grimace involuntarily made it to Sunset’s face as she stared at the steel double doors. Sucking down her growing anxiety, she pushed one side with her magic, leaving it open behind her as she walked into the lobby.
Normally, the entrance to the extravagant performance stage and restaurant would be met with guards and staff who would greet any tourists attempting to game, feast, or watch. This was Discord’s world, however.
The lobby’s staff were replaced with ponnequins dressed up in staff attire with eyes and mouths drawn on with crude coloring crayons. “Perhaps the staff was taken and set up outside on a roof?” Luna suggested, both princesses warily staring at the eerie, soulless models. The furniture was also replaced, or more accurately, had been thrown about. As if some sort of tornado had blown through, the lobby had paper, trash, and furniture scattered about. Yet the dressed up models showed no signs of wear and tear.
As Sunset continued into the restaurant where the stage sat for diners to watch as well as eat, one of the sisters shrieked. Due to it being so high-pitched, Sunset was unsure of which it had been, but she would not get to ask. “They moved!?” Celestia gawked, forcing Sunset to turn back around.
The eldest sister had been right, the ponnequins had moved from their positions behind the lobby’s counter. It was not just their bodies that were moved—but their happy smiles now showed a fine line of drawn on teeth—something not previously there when Sunset first looked.