It was hard to tell if the Badlands had suffered in the time without magic. It was hard to tell if they had changed at all. Billowing sand, blistering heat, and arid mesas didn’t seem to care whether the world had magic or not.
And that was before considering the structures still standing.
Hitch did just that, taking in the massive, spiky pylons, like caltrops left by unfathomable giants, stabbing into the sky at every angle imaginable. Then he turned back to the leader of their expedition. “Sunny, don’t you think this is far enough?”
“In the Twilit Era, ponies had explored the whole world! Maybe even beyond!" Sunny spread solid, feathery wings as wide as she could to emphasize her point, her latest notebook still in the aura of her equally tangible horn. "But when we brought the magic back, all we had were three cities on one coastline.”
“Sure, and we’ve done a lot since then. Airship lines, rail, oceanic exploration, you got the ball rolling on all of them." Hitch took a look around the wasteland. "But this is getting too big for one little pony.”
Sunny scowled and moved next to him. She didn't have to look down far to meet him eye to eye, but she still looked down. “Little?”
Hitch rolled his eyes. Who would have thought becoming an alicorn gave a pony a second growth spurt? “You know what I mean. You don’t have to personally reclaim every square inch of Old Equestria. Especially not these square inches.” He pointed at the spikes. Some of them had screaming heads of various creatures impaled through them, thankfully made of the same black metal.
“I’m not saying we build a resort here, but it’s clear there was something important here.” Sunny returned to the towering obelisk she'd been studying before Hitch had spoken up. “I’ve translated enough of the inscription to get that far." She flipped back a few pages and read off her notes: “’This place is a message and a warning. Pay attention to it!’”
"I swear, this will be the senior prom all over again..." Hitch looked to the third member of their expedition. “Zipp, back me up here.”
Zipp shrugged her wings. “I mean, I am curious to see what all the fuss is about.”
That got a groan. “Sunny, even your dad said there are some secrets that should stay buried.”
“It’s not like we’re dealing with the Bewitching Bell here, Hitch." All three shuddered at the memory. The chill was almost refreshing. "We’ll be fine as long as we’re careful. And not knowing the nature of the danger could just make it worse.”
Not knowing…
Zipp's ear twitched. “Did you two hear that?”
“Hear what?” said Sunny, not even looking away from the obelisk. Hitch took another look around, but reluctantly shook his head a few moments later.
Zipp frowned, wings pressing in on her sides. “Never mind.”
“Why is it even taking you this long to translate that?" said Hitch. "I thought you knew Old Ponish like the frog of your hoof.”
“I do, but this is Old Yakyakistani.” Sunny pointed up to the ragged top of the obelisk. “This thing is covered in different Twilit Era languages. The Ponish section probably snapped off and got buried centuries ago. I’m just grateful I don’t have to try to translate the Kirinese above this part. I know maybe four kanji." She jabbed her pencil at him. "Now if you want to get out of here, let me work. This will take forever otherwise.”
Forever…
“Okay, I definitely heard something that time.” Zipp took to the air, head darting in every direction.
Hitch still hadn't, but he wasn't willing to take any chances. “Sunny, we should go.”
“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of ghosts,” Sunny said with a smirk.
“After all we’ve done, all we’ve seen?" Hitch let that hang for a moment, until Sunny's memories came back with enough for a little doubt to creep into her expression. "Yeah. I can absolutely believe there are ghosts out here.”
“Look, I’m almost done with this next line. Yakyakistani has this weird way of conveying negatives, so I had to go back through the sentence." Sunny scowled at him. "Somepony kept making me lose track.”
“Alright. Fine. One last line." Hitch sighed and shook his head. "Some ponies.”
Some ponies…
Zipp came back down, but she didn't need to say anything. Hitch had heard that one as well. “We need to leave," he said. "Just make a charcoal rubbing or something.”
Sunny held up her notebook in her magic and moved a hoof from it to the obelisk, where each deeply inscribed character was the size of the book’s pages. She quirked an eyebrow.
“You know what I mean.”
“Look, I’ve got it figured out: ‘This place is not a place of honor. No highly esteemed deed is commemorated here. Nothing valued is here.'" Sunny's triumphant smile lasted until she actually processed the message. Then her face to fell to a far more appropriate state of dread. "Oh.”
“Yes. Oh." Hitch gladly started heading back to the airship, followed by the others. "I'm glad we're friends, but some days...”
“Friends…”
Everypony turned at that, letting them see an emaciated figure stumble past the immense spikes. It appeared equine, but skeletally thin and barely moving.
“Somepony’s out here?” said Hitch.
Sunny stowed her notebook and cantered as best she could through the loose sand. “We have to help them!”
Zipp darted ahead of her, blocking her path. “We have to go.”
The figure drew closer. More details became clear through the heat haze. The white, wispy mane and tail. The blank eyes. The coat that blended into the sand, that was so easy to imagine as a richer shade of orange, just like…
Sunny’s jaw dropped. Her magic moved Zipp aside while she took a hesitant step forward. “Mom?”
The pony’s cracked lips peeled back, revealing a gap-filled smile. The mouth moved with constant, inaudible mumbling, but one word carried over on the desert wind. “Yes…”
Hitch snarled. “If that’s not an illusion, I’ll eat my badge. Zipp!”
“Way ahead of you." Sunny was big, but not so big that Zipp couldn't lift her. "Come on, Sunny.”
“No! Mom!" Sunny frantically flapped her own wings, send both of them plummeting back down. Zipp shifted her hold, but Sunny still tried to squirm out of it. "I have to save her!”
“It’s a trap, Sunny!" Zipp grunted as one flailing hoof smacked her in the muzzle. "Agh! Come on!”
“Mom! Mommy!”
Hitch walked up to them, head low. “I’m sorry, Sunny.” And, not for the first time, he delivered a precise blow to the back of her head.
Sunny went limp and would stay that way for the next ten minutes, just like Sheriff Coast Guard had shown Hitch back when he was a deputy. He sighed and knelt down trying to get her on his back.
Going by how the weight suddenly shifted, Zipp had helped reposition her. “She’ll forgive you.”
“Doesn’t make it any easier to forgive myself.” Hitch gave one last look at the apparition, almost close enough to hear its muttering. He shook his head and left the place behind. Maybe this would be enough to get Sunny to relax and delegate more. Maybe it would just give her a new crusade. At least they'd be able to talk it out somewhere cooler.
The Song watched the hosts run. It moved its current host closer to the edge, as close as it could before it could go no further. The signpost was broken, but the barrier proved as strong as ever. Perhaps it hadn’t been during magic’s ebb, but the Song had been weak as well. It had only been able to live on in pony minds, pony hearts, pony throats.
And it could sustain all of those. With infinite patience, the Song kept sustaining its host and turned it back to the center of its power, ready for more hosts to spread it.
For it was The Song That Doesn't End.
Yes, it went on and on. With friends.