//------------------------------//
// Crossroads 
// Story: The Immortal Dream 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

I stared at Ansel, at a loss for how to begin.

When he realized I wasn't answering, his apologies eventually trailed off, until he finally broke eye contact. "I know that look," he sighed, looking at the wall. "It's the same one you wear when you realize you've lost track of time in the lab. You forgot all about our time in Blueleaf, didn't you?"

My ears folded back.

"How did you manage that?" Ansel veiled his incredulity, but it was still there. "I've just had the most eventful week or two of my life, and it was still all I could think about. We got thrown in jail, for goodness' sake. On false charges. I know you can get a bit absent-minded at times, but that's not the kind of thing..."

"I've had an eventful time too, alright?" I looked away as well. "I'm not absent-minded. I've just had bigger things to deal with than a little jail time. If it gives you an idea, I went back to Icereach. And, I met Ludwig again."

Ansel's jaw dropped. "You're kidding."

"Wish I was." I turned back down the hallway, motioning for him to follow. "I also learned more than I'd like about who I am, and figured out what I'm gonna be doing with my life, at least in the short term. We might wanna sit down."

"So it's like that, is it?" Ansel followed me with a raised eyebrow. "And here I thought I was special. Dare I guess what the master plan is this time?"

I eased myself onto a couch, my body still pretty sore from everything I had been through. "I've got an airship."

"Of course you do..."

"A big one." I nodded. "And multiple Writs of Harmonic Sanction. I'm going to Equestria."

Ansel watched me levelly, looking for any sign that I was pulling his tail. I had none to give.

"You realize," he began, "how phenomenally valuable those things are. I don't know how you got them, and I don't want to know, but you could sell them. Even if the buyer stiffed you and you walked out with a fraction of their real value, you'd still have enough to found an entire organization dedicated to whatever goal it is you want to achieve."

I shrugged. "Already used one on myself. Besides, I couldn't settle for living out my days in comfort and obscurity when we were in Icereach, and neither could you. And now that option's gotten a whole lot less unappealing."

Ansel shook his head. "I wasn't suggesting it hadn't. I can't go back either. And I'm not questioning what you're doing with something that should by all rights be unobtainable, or your commitment to this goal you're wanting to chase, or any of that. I'm just asking: have you done the math, and are you certain that the best way to go about whatever you're trying to do isn't to pawn off a useless slip of paper in exchange for functionally unlimited amounts of every other resource imaginable?"

I thought of the flame, begging me to take it to Fluttershy, its champion. I thought of Valey, assuring me that was an Equestrian name. I thought of Starlight, and her adventures with her friends, ones that ended in a way I still wasn't sure I fully understood but knew needed to be set right. And of how she could allegedly kill windigoes, and the filly I was responsible for who desperately needed someone who could do just that.

"I have to go," I told him. "And I've already got the resources I need. I think having some friends along for the ride would be a whole lot more helpful than an extra pile of money."

With a wing, I reached into a pocket, pulled out a rolled-up writ, and offered it to him.

Ansel just winced.

I retracted my wing slightly, forcing myself not to process this until he elaborated.

"Whatever you're looking for, you're not going to find it in Equestria," he said, eyes held firmly closed.

"How do you know?" I pressed.

"Because..." He hesitated. "It's where I'm from. Before I... became... your brother. This isn't something I ever wanted to talk with you about, but if you've seriously secured a means to go there, you need to know."

My ears somehow managed to stand straight up. "You..."

"I am," he said, folding his forelegs and still not looking at me. "And I'm only telling you this so you can take me seriously when I say it isn't worth it. Don't try to pry; I won't talk about it. Just know that there's nothing there for us."

What did I even ask first? "Do you already have a writ, then?"

Ansel just waved me off with a hoof.

"What's wrong with it?" I pressed. "You're not changing my mind, but if there's anything I can know about, to be prepared for..."

"Let's put it this way," Ansel signed. "You know what I was like back in Icereach. Particularly before the Aldebaran incident. I wanted to cling to the status quo and never let it go, because it was far and away the best I had ever had. A couch to sleep on. Occasionally running water. All I had to do to earn my keep was take care of a cranky invalid, and I had a sunny optimist like you around to brighten the days when that didn't feel good enough. It might have turned out not to be as stable as I hoped, and the last few days in particular have taught me that my situation isn't as unchangeable as I once feared, but have you ever stopped to think about how I got that way in the first place?"

"I never questioned it." I looked down. "It was way better than what I used to have, too. Why poke the illusion and risk it falling to pieces?"

Ansel nodded. "I always knew you felt the same. Listen, I've never poked or prodded too hard into why you felt that way, but for me... Do the math yourself." He slumped. "This wasn't what I was imagining we would talk about the next time I saw you."

Press him, part of me insisted. I felt defensive when he badmouthed the south, and I didn't know why. It couldn't be that bad, though, right? The Aldenfold spanned the entire world, so there had to be at least as wide a land below them as there was above. The conditions in one little part of it couldn't speak for the whole thing, could they? I wanted him to be wrong, but...

"Alright." I let it drop. For now. "What did you want to talk about? Aside from apologizing for getting arrested. Seriously, it's... not something I'm thinking about anymore."

"Well, I was mildly hoping you had nothing to do with yourself, or at least some free time," Ansel began, eagerly accepting the out. "Or barring that, that I could talk you into making some. I was building up to this last time, in Blueleaf, but I've been spending a lot of time in the Earth District. I've got some pretty good friends there, believe it or not, and was sort of hoping I could make introductions." His ears fell. "Of course, the odds that you'd hit it off and get attached to our cause are somewhat contingent on you remaining in the city where we're located."

"Oh."

He nodded. "It's a shame. I think you'd really like them. And, honestly, you were right that neither of us were going anywhere in Icereach. It was stunting our potential by not offering ideas for what we could be when we grew up, or causes for us to commit ourselves to. Maybe I was too aggressive just now, trying to convince you not to do something you really believe in. I know I wouldn't sway easily if you tried to take mine from me. I guess I was just hoping wherever we went from here, we could do it together."

Everything clicked in my head. "So you're... probably not coming with me, then."

Ansel sadly shook his head. "I've spent my whole life clinging to meager offerings, and before that searching for something even that good. Now, I've got something I'm legitimately excited about. You're my best friend, Hallie. And for a while, I got in your way and tried to stop you from leaving because you were the only thing I had. But now, well... I've got more than just you. And that means my decision is no longer so one-dimensional."

I didn't answer.

The way Ansel was talking, it sounded like he expected our conversation to go this way. Like he already knew exactly what we were going to talk about, and his answer was a foregone conclusion that didn't need to be debated, only presented. And he kind of acted like he expected me to feel the same.

Maybe I did. Everything important I had done in Ironridge, I had done without him. Even Corsica had been less of a true partner and more someone I just invited along. All the things I had to do, the reasons I wanted to go to Equestria? They were my reasons, and not anyone else's. Maybe finding my own way, independent from my friends, was just something that naturally happened to everyone as they grew up, and both me and Ansel subconsciously understood what was happening before we could articulate it.

That left just one, unasked question hanging in the air, and I knew both of us were thinking it: what was more important to us? Our goals for the future? Or our friendship in the present?

I needed to go to Equestria. Ansel wanted to stay here. One of us would have to make a sacrifice.

...Actually, maybe the reason we weren't being dramatic about this was because this was exactly the same conflict we had been rehearsing since before the Aldebaran incident. Ansel had a better reason for staying in place, now, but we just had done this so many times we knew how it would go.

"...I've gotta go," I apologized. "But, once I've found what I'm looking for, my road leads right back here, to Ironridge. So take care of yourself, yeah?"

Ansel gave me a shoulder hug. The physical contact still felt weird, but I appreciated the sentiment.

"Wait right here," he said, getting up and walking for the hall. "I've got a gift for you. And after that, you'll probably need a hoof with getting all your stuff to this airship of yours."





Corsica sat on a balcony in Fort Starlight, fashioned from half of a broken airship deck and a railing torn from a different ship. A long-empty soup bowl sat in front of her. She needed a shower. Halcyon had ducked out after acting weird, said she'd be right back... and it had been hours, and still no Halcyon.

Not that Corsica minded waiting. But at this point, she almost felt like doing something more productive with her time.

Her steps weren't springy, but were still lighter than usual as she made her way through the fort, searching for a way up to the Verdandi, the airship which supposedly contained a better shower than the ones in a military installation. Now that she was properly fed, it was a lot more obvious: she had pushed herself too hard, knocked herself unconscious from overuse of her special talent, and her mind had given itself more time to recover than just the bare minimum required to function again.

She felt... decent. Halcyon was okay - not that there had been any doubt, but now she had seen it with her own eyes. Today was a good day.

Corsica stopped on a high-up ramp between two smashed, upside-down hulls, far enough above the ground to get a good look at the sky and the crystal spire that dominated it. Even from this far back, the tower was so tall that the top was hard to make out. In the distance behind her, the Aldenfold loomed, a cliff face rising above the mountains with even more mountains on top, and she took a moment to eyeball which might be taller. The tower... It was hard to say, but her money was on the tower.

Most of the tower was an organic weave, various tendrils of crystals rising up from the city spiraling together before coming into a braid. But near the top, past the threshold where she couldn't see it clearly anymore due to the angle, it changed, growing slightly bigger but substantially more complex. Had anyone tried to scale it, yet? With an airship, it should be easy. What was up there? Was it functional? If not, what was the alternative, and why had it formed like that?

She stirred her brain for insight. If only she could get closer, maybe take some samples...

It was probably some cousin of ether crystals. That was a safe enough guess. Clearly, the tower had been conjured by some degree of magic, and the primary difference between conventional, mineral-based crystals and ether crystals was in how they reacted to magic: normal crystals were pass-through and inert, making excellent mana conductors or foci, while ether crystals reacted heavily to magic, such as in the formation of fault planes. In fact, Corsica suspected that if she could take a core sample from the tower, analysis would show it being made of one giant, singular, contiguous fault plane.

Just a hunch, based on how abruptly the tower appeared. The real experiment would be to go back to the chapel, take a new sample there, and see if a new, minor fault plane had appeared on the same day as the tower. Not that Icereach was very accessible right now...

Corsica batted an ear. There were probably more important things to be doing than speculating over the origins and purpose of the crystal tower. It wasn't like she could do anything with any epiphanies she had, after all.

Then again, it wasn't like she was looking to be productive, either. So maybe wasting time on idle curiosity was a perfect thing to do.





Corsica kept musing as she found a way into the Verdandi, determined conclusively that no one was home save for a lone guard from Fort Starlight keeping watch, and let herself inside. The bath initially didn't impress her, until she realized she had stumbled upon the one shared by all the normal cultists. Coda's personal bath, on the other hoof...

Giving flowery, over-the-top praise wasn't Corsica's style. When she found something she liked, she preferred to appreciate it by using it, instead. And so use it she did.

Hours later, warmed and dried and pampered, Corsica considered her options and decided she wasn't really feeling up to hiking back down to Fort Starlight. If Halcyon wanted to find her, she could come look in the place she told her to go. The ship's lobby was plenty cozy, with big lounge chairs and a wide, tall window that offered a decent view of the tower and Ice District together. So she lit her horn, repositioned a chair, and settled in to think.

"Yo," a voice eventually said from the entrance.

"Hey," Corsica greeted, not bothering to turn her head. It was Unless.

"Intel says Halcyon hasn't given you the lowdown yet," Unless said, walking up beside Corsica and staring out the window. "On her plans. That kid... I told her she owed you, and then she said like two words to you before wandering off to do her own thing."

Corsica shrugged. "I shooed her off. Still getting myself back together after being... ugh... for a week. Thanks for covering for me."

"Yeah, no worries." Unless kept looking straight ahead. "With what we know about your condition, I was half worried you'd wake up blind and with no ability to use magic. That, or completely freak out, start hallucinating and run away."

"Doesn't sound like a thing I'd do," Corsica grunted.

"You'd think." Unless shrugged. "From the readings we got on you, your coma was actually a lot more similar to the ones induced by that cursed sword I told you about. The symptoms, at least. Surprising, since the causes are basically polar opposites. But it's encouraging that your soul can heal from this state on its own."

Corsica let out a joyless cheer.

Unless frowned. "Yeah. I know. Anyway... Got something for ya."

She unfurled a wing, holding a scroll of faintly shimmering fabric inside.

Corsica regarded it. "What changed your mind?"

"Nothing." Unless shrugged. "Was just waiting for the right opportunity. What I didn't expect - and what you won't expect, either, unless you've really been holding out on me - is that Halcyon somehow has three of these. And she's got the same idea as you."

Corsica's eyes widened a little.

Unless glanced at her and nodded. "I just about fell out of my chair when she told me. Point is, you won't have to journey alone."

Letting her burdens weigh heavy on her shoulders wasn't something Corsica usually let happen, but a sigh of relief escaped her all the same. "Why two spares? You think we're going to drag Ansel into this a second time? You could save yourselves the resources, only let the two of us go. Even if he wants it, he doesn't have nearly as good a reason as me... if you can even call my reason good."

"Two spares?" Unless blinked. "Nah, this isn't one of Halcyon's. It's mine. Whoever she gives her other two to, that's up to her."

Corsica squinted at her. "You found four writs in your closet just for us. And you're giving them all away purely because you feel like it."

"Believe me or don't." Unless brushed her mane out of her eyes. "They're Halcyon's writs, not mine. Although I did vaguely hint to her that if she's going anywhere in Equestria, looking for Starlight might not be a bad goal, so you should be able to stick together the whole way."

"And this is really worth it to you?" Corsica asked. "You've been collecting these for longer than I've been alive. Helping me doesn't help you, and it's questionable how much I'll even be helped just by meeting someone else who uses the same kind of magic as me and had this special talent before."

Unless winked. "Starlight can give, take and move around cutie marks. If you want to be normal, she can absolutely put you back to the way you used to be. And if you decide you don't, maybe you two can share strategies for living like this. And don't get this wrong, I'm not doing it just for you. I think Halcyon stands to gain just as much from meeting her."

"And what about you?" Corsica held the writ tentatively, partially offering it back to Unless. "You don't want to see her again too?"

"Nah." Unless waved her off with a wing. "We've been over that. If she and I meet again, it's gonna be here, in Ironridge, with her coming back under her own power. I promised to keep the north's problems out of her fur, and this feels enough like breaking that promise as it is."

Corsica sighed, taking the writ again and studying it. "Suit yourself."

Unless nodded to herself for a moment. "By the way. Thanks for going on that adventure with me back to Icereach. These days, I've got too much riding on my name to go kicking face like I used to. Getting to be a faceless mook in an adventuring party for a day... Prolly wasn't a great day for you, but I had a ton of fun. Brought back some magic I'd forgotten about from the good old days."

"Thank Halcyon, not me," Corsica said. "She was the one who dragged us all along."

"Yeah, but she wouldn't get the significance." Unless scratched her rump. "Kinda surprised I haven't messed up yet and tipped her off to who I really am. You got me on day one. Being a changeling is hard... Think I should tell her?"

"Halcyon?" Corsica shrugged. "Your call."

"Eh. Probably won't, then." Unless saluted with a wing, strolling away and leaving Corsica with the writ. "Give myself something to look forward to if you somehow do return."





Ansel and I together pulled an industrial cart laden with the sum total of my and Corsica's belongings, since I couldn't imagine a world where I left without her, and we already discussed the possibility several times before everything exploded. The pockets in my coat weighed heavy, one with two spare Writs of Harmonic Sanction, and another with a book, containing Ansel's sloppy writing and as much information as he had been able to commit to paper regarding the section of Equestria he once knew.

Poor Ansel. The fact that he foresaw this day clearly enough to write a guide book, so that his knowledge could be of use to me even if he stayed behind... I was on a clock, I knew, with Yakyakistan likely flying their invasion force east even as we walked. But part of me wanted to drop the cart anyway, go down to the city floor and meet Ansel's friends and retrace his hoofsteps, learning what he had been doing over the days we had spent in Ironridge.

How different would things have gone if I had chosen to commit myself to the lower districts, rather than the upper ones? Would I be here, right now, in this exact same situation, except preparing to split our group in the other direction, me and Ansel on one side and Corsica left alone? What would I have dropped, what wouldn't I have been able to juggle? And what wouldn't I have dropped, that fell to the wayside on the path I did choose, like my nascent friendships with my co-workers at Jamjars' wedding agency?

I tried to go down there, I really did. My first days in Ironridge had involved so much exploration, but the heat proved impenetrable... Knowing what I knew now, though, I had a hunch surviving it would have been a simple matter of turning on my bracelet. The flames protected me from biting cold and poisonous fumes, brought me back from Whitewing shrapnel and a lethal fall, yet didn't actually burn me as flames were wont to do. Odds were a hundred to one they would protect me from overheating, too.

Ansel didn't speak about his friends, the cause he had adopted and made the purpose of his life. I didn't speak about mine. I had the sense that, if either of us tried to explain ourselves, it would be like judging our desires against each other, an unspoken contest of who had the worthiest reason for charting their course, laden with the implication that whoever had the weakest reason was a fool for not joining the victor. But I didn't want a contest. I didn't want to know if Ansel had discovered something of world-shattering import, didn't want to be tempted to abandon Coda and the pink flame. I didn't want to know if it was a mundane purpose, like he had found his calling working at a laundromat. I had struggled for too long to commit myself fully to something to dare try and tempt him away from his commitment.

And him... Maybe he felt the same. But, he was silent, so I couldn't really know.

"Hey," I said, as we finally approached Fort Starlight, my bracelet lit for a little extra power to help me through the end of the trek. "Promise me something, yeah?"

"What's up?" he puffed, sounding almost too winded to talk.

"Silverhorn's Plummet," I said. "You know. The lookout at Icereach, over the Trench of Greg."

"Right around where the avalanche happened," he agreed. "What of it?"

"That's where I waited," I explained. "On that day, the old Ansel and Corsica wanted to visit the tower alone, so they made me stay behind. I thought they were gonna prank me and find another way down, and leave me there all night, so I made him promise to meet me again there on his way home. He didn't really get to keep that promise. It was the last thing we ever said to each other."

Ansel raised an eyebrow. "And what's that got to do with me?"

"Just thinking," I said. "You've got something important to do in Ironridge. I've got something important to do in Equestria. When all's said and done, let's promise to meet again there, at Silverhorn's Plummet."

Ansel tilted his head at me. "How would we even coordinate that without meeting each other elsewhere first? And anyway, isn't that a pretty awful omen, given what happened last time?"

My ears fell. "I was thinking of it as a way to right past wrongs. I know you're not that Ansel, but... I dunno. Maybe it was silly and sentimental."

"You certainly are that." Ansel kept pulling. "But, fine. We can go there again, and this time not die of an avalanche, when both of us are old and gray and fulfilled in life. If that's your idea of coming full circle, who am I to say otherwise?"

I felt my cheeks redden just a little.

"Promise."





We got everything aboard the ship. Corsica was already there, prettied up to a degree that she had done nothing but groom herself since we last parted ways. I remembered too late that I had gotten distracted from offering her a writ, but it turned out not to matter, since Unless had given her one, courtesy of Valey.

Four whole writs. I really hadn't been planning to have this many. But, on second thought, I realized why Valey must have given the go-ahead: two of her old acquaintances back in Equestria already had writs. Starlight's adoptive mother, who went back to search for her alone, and a recipient I hadn't heard much about who was the reason the group only had one writ by the time Jamjars stole it. That meant we would have six total. The same number Valey and her friends were initially trying to get together all in one place.

Too late for their bargain with Princess Celestia, which supposedly expired several years ago. But the symbolism, if we could find those two ponies as well, was probably too important to pass up.

After all, this journey was being sponsored by just as many sentimental reasons as practical ones.

I talked to everyone I could find, thinking who I should give my remaining writs to. Nicov didn't want one. Unless turned them down. I didn't want to invite Papyrus. Nor Kitty. Jamjars both had a writ and wasn't coming. Probably not Howe, Nyala or any of the cultists. I sort of wanted to talk to Garsheeva again, but there didn't seem like much of a point. I had learned the lesson she approached me to teach. And it wasn't like I could just invite her along.

In the end, my decision proved much more straightforward than I feared: the writs were for Mother and Leitmotif.

I hardly had to do any convincing. Leitmotif wasn't the kind of pony to turn down a free offering of something this valuable, and while Mother and I hadn't spoken since Icereach - since I left Icereach a month ago, in fact, not counting when I was a windigo - no words were needed to know that she was coming with me.

Some would say I owed her a proper conversation. But, they probably weren't the kinds of people who knew her as well as I did. Mother said so little, did so little, that she could speak through the smallest of actions, and convey an understanding that couldn't be put into words. She had always known who and what I was. Now I, too, knew the answers to those questions. She gave everything she had and more to ensure I could grow up in a safe, secluded enough environment to make my own decisions about who to become, free from outside bias. She devoted her all to my future, for reasons I still couldn't quite understand but knew for certain to be sound. So as long as there was any life left in her body, that was what she would continue to do.

Leitmotif was a little more complex. I hadn't forgotten the oath we made that day atop the Sky District: she would help me with my research into ether crystals, and in return I would let her use my research to help track down Chrysalis. It had been an untested oath up until now, with me finding precious little time to study the underground up until the point I put everything on the line and discovered the pink flame. But going forward, it was going to be much more important. Chrysalis's fate and mine were inextricably linked, both by blood and the path I had chosen. And knowledge of the bottom of the world was intrinsically linked to the flame I had saved. In order to restore Ironridge, to fix the sky and rekindle the flame and do whatever needed to be done with the crystal tower, I would need to learn everything and more.

And... Leif and Mother were sisters. I knew little and less of their history, and most of what I had once learned, I had certainly forgotten, or conflated with other details. But from the way they treated each other, their parting had been an incident both of them regretted. Their reunion, in my old apartment during the Aldebaran incident, had been cut short.

Their problems... were theirs to work out, but it was within my power to give them the chance.

I pored over the airship's manual as everyone else made their preparations. Someone had to fly this thing, and my talent let me learn in a hurry. Goodbyes were probably said, not that any of us who were leaving had particularly strong ties to anyone staying behind save me and Ansel. We didn't need to be in this much of a hurry, but there were plenty of reasons not to go slow, either. Least of all, Coda...

She should have been here with us. I wanted to show her the world. I would be back to do it. This I swore, looking out the large windshield at the crystal tower and the Ice District where she lay entombed, surrounded by countless slumbering war machines.

It would be lonely, I decided, to be so strong and so wise and so certain of yourself that you had no one left to look up to. One reason among many why Coda and I must have gotten along so well. Under my breath, sitting at the controls, I whispered a vow that once I did save her, I would continue what I had started, and be not just her equal, but her hero.

The signal arrived. Everything was ready. Had I forgotten anything, left any ends untied? Probably. Certainly. But that was why I would be back. We had plenty of food, stacks of notes and a whole book detailing Valey and Ansel's knowledge about Equestria. Some of the griffon gold had been loaded back into the hull - valid tender in Equestria, I was told. I had one lead on Starlight's location: a note from long ago, found alongside the writs, mentioning she lived in a village on the Catantan Peninsula. And I had determination and friends aplenty to accompany me on my way.

I pulled a lever, and the ship began to rise.