The town looked like a empty husk. The buildings looked worn out and ruined. As Airel wandered, he couldn't help but notice some of sick ponies laying on the ground, suffering from their own injuries. Some of them noticed him, but didn't seemed scared by Airel's humanoid like appearance and the mask he was wearing.
"Why I have the impression that those ponies seemed encouraged with my presence?" Airel thought.
Proceeding in his path, he found a very unusual building that looked like refuge. Moans of pain echoed from inside. Wanting to know what was going on, Airel stepped inside and found a very grotesque spectacle.
There are wounded ponies being scattered to the floor, with other ones squeezing a wet cloth to pour a strange liquid on the said wounds, causing the former to wail in pain. And in the middle of all of this, there was a white cloaked pony kneeling on his legs as he was praying for some miracle that wasn't that one.
Airel didn't know what was going on, but decided to approach the white cloaked figure. His curiosity looked inappropriate and yet legit. Ignoring the sight of the sick ponies and their moans, he decided to confront her despite him not having a voice.
"Seriously, how I supposed to do without my voice?"
"Ah heard your thought, Penitent One," The cloaked pony said with a female voice.
"What!?"
"Forgave mah rudeness but ah can read in yer mind," She said. "Also, welcome to Ponybero, the humble sanctuary of the Blessers of Wounds. Ah am their own matriarch."
"Matriarch of a cult, huh?"
"Don't be disrespectful," She said with a almost harsh tone. "Those ponies that ya saw dropping their liquid on the sick and ailing ones are the few healers who still care for them. As for me, ah'm used to be Applejack, the Element of Honesty and a farm pony who should have died centuries ago."
"Centuries ago!?"
"Yes," Applejack said. "I should have, but after that Unworthy Miracle happened, I have been immortalized in a very painful way."
She removed her cloak, revealing her whole body being covered in lethal looking wounds exposing his muscles and arteries, which made Airel flinch. Her blond mane was mostly blood soaked and her cutey mark being consumed.
"That's not the only thing that the Miracle did to me. Reading in the minds of every creature was my punishment for being the Element of Honesty, apparently." Applejack putted back her cloak. "And my family had been turned into a bunch of monsters. Ah had escaped them, refusing to kill them because ah couldn't bring myself to kill them... Not even mah sister Applebloom."
"Are you serious?"
"And now here I am, being a matriarch like figure to those ponies who needed help and protection, and were at the mercy of the Unworthy Miracle."
"I understand."
"Keep in mind," Applejack said. "I also know who you really are and what your mission is. I know your past life and why you are here. Oh, ah forgot. The time here is completely different to that one outside those walls."
"Wait, the time flows differently here?"
"Exactly. And let me tell you that we don't care about the sun setting outside since it's not Princess Twilight's sun anymore."
"Who?"
"Twilight was the ruler of Equestria, until the day a mysterious force killed her, triggering this curse of a Miracle..... She was mah friend... Now if you excuse me, I need to pray. That your benefactor while guide you."
"Can I at least-"
"Please, at least for now... Leave us alone." Applejack said as she turned toward her healers and returned to pray.
Under his suggestion, Airel leaved the Applejack and her group to their problems and proceed to explore the rest of the refuge. Traversing the empty halls, he found a bronze door. Airel opened it and stepped inside a room illuminated by the torches. What he found shook his calm.
"What is this?"
It was something that nobody in Equestria, not even him expected to find: A shrine with a altar and a wall sculpture depicting human saint like figures, including a angel, a hooded woman and a child. Their eyes were pointed toward him. Airel felt uneasy but for strange reason he wasn't afraid. He was rather calm and eager to know what that means. As he approached it, multiple voices coming from their mouths began to speak.
"Penitent One, who carry the painful guilt in your cracked hands and your soul. Lend your blade, the one known as Mea Culpa to us and alleviate our burden."
"If that is what you wish." Airel thought as he leaned his sword to the sculpture's arms.
"Lend it to us and wipe our tears."
The arms suddenly moved and gripped the weapon, and used to wipe their tear in pain. At that point, a light blue light illuminated the sword for a moment. The weapon then slipped away from the sculpture's arms and returned to Airel's hand.
Airel was suddenly engulfed by a new wave of power flowing inside him. That act seemed to have invigorated his powers and determination. He didn't know the nature of the shrine itself but could tell it's linked to him.
"Because that is an act of penance." The voices said.
"Whoever they are, I should thank them for this boost. Although I don't know their names but who cares.... Wait, was Mea Culpa the name of my sword?"
After that, Airel leaved the room and went out the refuge to explore the rest of the town. The ski was still orange, being stuck in a frozen dusk.
"The time is indeed different, like Applejack said before."
He stopped in front at what seemed to be a church with bronze doors. There was a message being carved in a stone nearby it: Formerly known as Ponyville. He tried to open the door but it was closed by some kind of mechanism. Before he could try knocking at it, a female voice spoke from behind him.
"Excuse me, Penitent One." She said, inducing Airel to turn around to face the source.
It was a bronze maned white unicorn mare with green eyes. She looked at him with a calm and yet worried expression. To Airel prospective, her appearance was very normal compared to the rest of the ponies he had encountered, which surprised him.
"This mare didn't seemed afflicted by the Unworthy Miracle. That it had intentionally spared a few of the entire population of Equestria?"
"I am Gliding Light and I need your help to find my brother."