I don't typically mind car rides. They let me sit and talk to whoever I'm with, without me having to worry about keeping myself on course while flying. I also get to get a good look at all the scenery out the window. However, the hour long car ride from Columbia to Skytree came right after being in a plane for several hours, and this little pegasus was going stir crazy over not getting to move about.
"Are we there yet?" Yeah, it was cliche for me to be asking that, but I had been sitting for hours at that point. Well, not really hours. I had gotten to walk about when David and I got off the plane, and I'd also gotten up to use the potty when we were on the plane (I wished I hadn't, airplane restrooms were disgusting), but those had both been brief. When we had gotten off the plane I had gotten to finally see my mom, and give her a big hug, but it had only been about ten minutes of freedom before she had us in the car. Ponies weren't meant to be caged in metal boxes… or plastic ones… or whatever cars and planes were made out of. This little filly needed liberation!
"We're almost there, Becky. Just hold your horses," Mom said calmly. Horse puns! Not funny! I wasn't sure if that was an actual horse pun, but I was in the mood to be offended. I was a moody teenaged filly and it was my unalienable right to find offense in everything, especially if I was bored and cooped up.
"How much longer?" I asked with my best whine, while I flopped down in my seat with an exaggerated amount of flop. I glanced at the window and the endless woods we were driving through. All I could see were tree branches. It was raining, but I couldn't even see the pretty rain clouds (pegasi have a special appreciation for a good downpour and group of rain clouds that other ponies don't share). "I'm wasting away. I don't remember what the sky looks like."
"Don't be so dramatic," Mom replied. "It will be about another ten or fifteen minutes, and then you'll get to see Skytree. Ten minutes after that you'll get to see our new house. We'll be driving by some of the big sights in town on the way. I'm sure seeing the Remembrance Monument will take your breath away. The trees that make up that thing are huge. If it weren't for all the trees around us right now you could probably see them from here."
Big trees, that didn't raise a lot of excitement when I was surrounded by them. I needed to get out and move about. I only had one option for that. "Do you mind if I project? I promise to stay unseen and unheard."
Mom sighed. "If you want to; just stay out of trouble."
"Thanks, Mom." I turned myself around so I could just stare out the window. I didn't have my music or headphones, but watching the trees pass by had an almost hypnotic effect that I could utilize to reach the same state of mind.
It only took a minute or so, and I was out and about. I really was out too, because my projection was stationary and the car was moving. I passed straight out of the car and floated in place in the middle of the road while it continued its course towards Skytree. It didn't matter, although I would need to hurry in that direction quickly before my range wore off. I could only project so far from my body, and if my body got too far away it would start to be a strain to do this, until I was forced to stop altogether.
Luckily, I was far faster while in my projection. I was even able to sort of teleport over distances, as long as I stayed within range of my body. That was how Josie had been able to get to me so quickly while training me, rather than having to fly her projection well over a hundred miles to reach me. I didn't have the same range that she had, but I had enough that I could get myself somewhere closer to my body in an instant if my body started getting too far away. My pseudo-teleports were taken kind of blindly, if I didn't have a particular person or place to focus in, so I could teleport right into a solid object, but since I wasn't solid that wasn't a big deal, other than a moment of disorientation before getting myself out of whatever it was. I'd accidentally teleported myself into hills, brick walls, trees, and even people in the past. It was a freaky experience the first few times, but it was easy enough to get used to. I just needed to float up if that happened, and sooner or later I'd exit whatever I mistakenly projected into.
I had no real goal in mind when I projected out of the car. While floating in the middle of the road a car and it's passengers passed right through me. To both sides of the road were just trees, lots of trees. They weren't even particularly interesting trees. They were those thin pine trees that just grew branches and leaves haphazardly all over the place, rather than filling out nicely like a Christmas tree (loblolly pines). I could go off into the woods to explore, but I didn't figure that there was much else to look at there. I instead made up my mind to just get higher and get the lay of the land. Maybe then I could spot something interesting to go investigate.
I floated up, and up, over the treetops, and then I stopped dead still as I saw what my mom had been talking about.
In the distance I could see the city of Skytree, and even at the distance I was from it the four trees of the Remembrance Monument could be seen rising up high above everything else in the city. This was an impressive feat, considering I spotted a fair number of skyscrapers within the city, but none of them equaled half the height of those trees. It was like they all formed one interconnected canopy over the center of the city. A separate skytree, only slightly smaller, stood a short distance away from the others. I was blown away, it was like something out of a fantasy story, or Equestria, not something anyone would expect to be found anywhere on Earth. How could anything living be so big? I had to get a closer look.
A quick blip and I was right up next to the trees. Their height was staggering up close, but the rest of the complex was just as much. The size of the tree trunks surrounding the enclosed inner area were huge, and a few of them had gift shops and food stands hollowed out within, as well as museum displays. Tourists were walking about everywhere, and most of them seemed just as taken away by the monument as me.
I floated over to one of the museum displays. It had lots of photos from the Cataclysm of Riverview with captions underneath. I saw pictures of what the monument site looked like immediately after the Cataclysm. There were so many of these trees pushed so closely together it looked like one massive tree the size of a mountain had just sprung up in the middle of town. I saw pictures of the devastation as well; pictures of people fighting fires, streets so clogged with smoke you couldn't make out anything beyond a few feet of where the picture was taken, refugees huddled together in tents and halls of hospitals, and one picture was of a massive root that ran straight through several shops. Also included were many pictures of people who were involved with the Cataclysm and the cleanup afterward. The story of the Cataclysm was written out in a massive marble plaque labeled The Cataclysm of Riverview, The Day of Fire, Magic, and Wood.
My investigation of the area continued. There was a huge marble cube in the exact center between the four trees, surrounded by a small reflection pool that was just large enough to keep people from touching the cube but free to read the inscription. I was not so restricted, and I went right up to the block to read it.
In honor of those that lost their lives in the
Cataclysm.
You shall never be forgotten.
A long list of names followed. Maybe thirty or forty, I didn't really count. Most of them were human names, with army ranks attached to them, but there were a few pony names mixed in. Down near the bottom, separated from the rest of the names, were two others: James Growth and Tonya Blessing, the Arbiter.
I spotted another three plaques, sitting on stands around the pond, and checked these out as well. One of them was explaining about the high number of deaths being attributed to military service members that had been serving in the Bastion when it exploded. The next explained the Tonya Blessing continued on as the Dreamwarden Arbiter, and it was she who unleashed the explosion so an even greater calamity could be averted. The last explained that James Growth was a name that Wild Growth had given to her foal, who died in her womb when she channeled the magic that grew the trees.
"Such a sad event."
I looked up from the plaque I was reading to see Miss Seapony. My friend looked at the things in my field of vision, and continued speaking. "So much death. We had just lost Ghadab's people just two days before. It was so much heartbreak in such a short period of time."
I had no clue how to respond to that. "Um, the monument is really pretty."
She nodded. "It is. I would rather there didn't need to be a monument. My fellow Dreamwardens and I played a part in what happened here, although very few know it, and none will speak of it. It was we who instructed our little sister how to destroy the Bastion. We had no choice. The price of not doing so would have meant thousands, if not millions of deaths. It doesn't make me any happier about what happened."
I looked around, even though I had just seen the pictures it was hard to imagine the devastation that had once happened here. "At least there's something good to remember it with. This place is amazing."
Miss Seapony smiled at me. "You don't know how amazing. Try to pass through one of those trees."
I gazed at the trees, and slipped over to one. It was wider around than a mansion. If I just floated through it might actually take a few minutes. It would be dark as well. I didn't like floating around in the pitch black. Miss Seapony had asked me to try though. I went forward, but was stopped as I came in contact with the bark. I actually bounced right off the thing!
My friend appeared next to me. "These trees are still just as full of magic as they were on the day they were grown. They sustain their magic, and it sustains them. They shall never know death unless cut down, nor rot or decay. They are perfect and immortal. There is so much magic within them that there is no room for yours."
I went wide-eyed. "How?"
She shook her head. "No one knows. They were made under such extreme pressures of magic and physics that are completely beyond what anyone can replicate. Call it a trick of nature and chance, but Wild Growth created magical life that day. No one has ever done the like, and perhaps no one ever shall again. It was a feat worthy of ascension, in addition to the fact she was willing to lay down her life to protect others. Yet another shame that she burnt herself out, and rejected ascension. Although it is perhaps better that she did reject becoming an alicorn."
I just stared at my magical surroundings, and knew they could come from any of my dreams. "I want to make places like this. Maybe not in the same way, or for the same reasons, but the world needs places like this."
Miss Seapony nodded. "May your ambitions be fruitful. I hope to see you one day make wonders of your own, happier ones."
And that was the day I decided to be an architect. I plan on building my own wonders for people to marvel at, be amazed by, and just as inspired to make something else as amazing as I was on that day. The world needs amazing places, so we can be inspired to do great things, just like Wild Growth once did.
An upside down face of a human greeted me. "Hey, are you alright?"
The fact that I was on my time of month with my exposed rump in the air made me a bit self conscious, even though that smell didn't affect humans. I flipped over, with just a little groan, and let my rump come down on the ground. "I'm fine. My fat cushioned me."
He didn't seem to believe me. "You sure? You hit that wall pretty hard."
A small crowd of ponies and humans had gathered around me to see if I was alright. I waved them off with a wing while getting back to my hooves. "I'm sure. It happens all the time. I could take a side job as a crash test dummy."
He watched me take a few steps, and looked like he was still debating calling for a doctor. "Mind if I walk with you to wherever you are going? I just want to be sure you don't have a concussion or something."
I looked him over. He was about six feet tall, dark skinned, had a small mustache and goatee, with his black hair in dreadlocks. "I suppose so. I'm going to the female dorms, but you can walk me as far as the elevator." I held a hoof out to him. "I'm Rebecca."
He made a fist and bumped it against my hoof. "I'm Russell. Just take it easy. If I see you getting dizzy I'm going to call for help."
I gave him a big smile in appreciation. "Nice to meet you, Russell! Let's get going. This little pony doesn't let a little crash slow her down."
He laughed as he saw me start walking. "I see that. I'm still coming to make sure. I'll give you my phone number too. Just in case you ever need some help after a crash."
There was something about him I liked, although I couldn't put a hoof on it. I'd already made a fair distance from him, and turned and beckened him with my tail. "Well, come on, slowpoke! I'm faster than I look."
He hurried over next to me. "You definitely are."