//------------------------------//
// Beneath Dark Waters 
// Story: The Immortal Dream 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

The upper streets of the underground city were confusing and mazelike, connecting arbitrary buildings instead of helping pedestrians travel in a desired direction. The lower streets, by comparison, almost made Faye want to dawdle in order to experience more of the place before she got where she was going: the central structure was always cleanly visible in the distance, the roads around it arranged in a radial, snowflake pattern.

And dawdling, Twilight was happy to do.

"Uh, Twilight? You know the flame is supposedly that way, right?" Rainbow asked, pointing toward the central complex as Twilight steered the group down yet another side street, steeply angled and invariably connecting to yet another main thoroughfare.

"Hold on," Twilight chided. "Aren't you interested in the shape of this place?"

"I think you could leave out the last bit and just go with 'aren't you interested,' Twilight," Rarity pointed out.

"Yes, but this road layout," Twilight insisted, stopping the group and turning to face everyone. "It's exactly the same as the Crystal Empire, just blown up to about four times the scale."

Applejack blinked. "Now that you mention it, I suppose I can see the similarities..."

As they talked, another faceless crystal golem walked by. "Nothing but bad news all day long," it lamented. "I wonder if the old days were actually happier, or if it's just nostalgia speaking like everyone says?"

"On your hooves, soldier," another said, radiating shallow encouragement. "You're not going to get anywhere with that kind of defeatist attitude!"

The first one hunched its shoulders, but didn't even turn to look at the second, still walking on its way. "Case in point. See that guy? He thinks everything that happens is a problem for someone to solve. If only these 'problems' could actually be solved by low-effort truisms, maybe that would be a useful philosophy."

The second one tensed up as well. "No need for that, dude. I was just trying to help."

"I'd be happier if I didn't have this argument today," the first said, walking away.

The second one actually stopped and sagged, if only for a moment. "That's what you get for showing kindness to strangers," it lamented, moving on its way as well. "I hate this world."

Once again, it was obvious from everyone's reactions that only Starlight and Twilight had heard the exchange. Starlight looked pensive. Twilight looked disturbed.

"...Twilight?" Applejack asked, noting her friend's expression.

Twilight shook her head. "Something is wrong with this place, but it feels too vague to put my hoof on what. And it's not the faceless thing, it's what ponies choose to talk about. You would never have heard an exchange like that in the streets of Canterlot."

Starlight gave her a look. "Wouldn't you? Not ever?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, you wouldn't. Well, maybe not absolutely never, but when ponies complain, it's usually because something is wrong in their lives. Things like 'my job just cut my hours,' or 'I stayed up all night finishing that assignment and the professor only gave me a C'. Tell me I'm wrong, but those two sounded like they were just sick and tired of everything."

"Mmmmmm..." Pinkie Pie raised a skeptical eyebrow. "I didn't hear the whole shebang between them, but have you really never met someone who's tired of everything before? What about Cranky Doodle Donkey?"

"Or me?" Starlight muttered.

Twilight looked peeved. "Alright, so my point doesn't hold up under pressure, that's not so unusual, blah blah blah. Still, anyone else who heard that, tell me your first reaction was 'this place is normal and healthy and fine'."

Faye looked back to the central building, a twisting flow of emotion pumping sluggishly up from it and through the crystals around her. "I'm not sure those are the words I would use to describe it. But remember that everything out here is coming from in there."

"Right," Twilight said, looking queasy. "But why would my flame be surrounding itself with this?"

Rainbow shrugged. "Well, I'm not the one telling us to slow down the pace."

"Right," Twilight sighed, regaining her composure. "No more dawdling. Let's go."





As the central building grew close and took up more and more of the skyline, the population of golems grew thicker, to the point where all of them were talking past each other and their words became a meaningless storm in Faye's ears. She could, with effort, pick out individual ones to listen to, but their words lacked permanence somehow, and even seconds after she let go of one train of thought, she couldn't remember if it had been meaningfully different than all the others she had heard so far. And it didn't even feel like she had forgotten anything worth remembering.

Fortunately, she had had much of her life to practice tuning out the noise, ignoring other ponies and the rush of her void in her ears alike, and keeping her own thoughts clear and isolated proved to be a challenge she was prepared for. Starlight, too, looked fine, as did everyone who couldn't hear the golems. But Twilight was visibly in distress, her ears constantly flicking and an overwhelmed expression on her face, like she was trying to disengage from the crowd so hard that she might accidentally walk off the edge of the road.

"Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, circling her. "Are you alright?"

It took Twilight a moment to respond. "They're so loud, it's hard to hear myself think!"

"I could try clearing them out," Rainbow offered. "Want me to?"

"N-No," Twilight managed, shaking her head. "I'm fine. As long as there are fewer of them up ahead."

Throughout this, Seigetsu watched impassively, Nanzanaya was holding her tongue, and Corsica looked about the same as she always did. "Perhaps," Seigetsu suggested, "we ought to find someplace to rest?"

"I'm fine," Twilight insisted again, pushing on. "Keep moving."





As she navigated the crowded street, taking care not to bump into any golems, Corsica noticed that the golems were frequently failing to do the same.

Many of them failed to adjust their paths for each other, resulting in glancing collisions at a rate that would have started a brawl even in physically-disinclined Icereach. They weren't making way for her, either, leaving her to nimbly sidestep time and time again.

She couldn't hear their words, but made no effort to goad anyone into translating. Their body language, even without faces, was plain and easy enough for her to read: many of these golems, if not every last one, was like her. They had given everything they had to give in pursuit of some goal or other, worked themselves to the bone, and were deprived of suitable chances to recover, to the extent where tired had become their new normal.

It was just a hunch, of course, but having lived like this for so long, Corsica somehow knew she wasn't mistaken.

"Hey," she whispered to Seigetsu, falling back near the rear of the group.

"What is it?" Seigetsu murmured.

"This is a weird question," Corsica whispered. "But you know how you can counteract my special talent? You can tell when I have a use pending, right?"

Seigetsu nodded. "Yes, I can."

"Is there any other magic like mine going on down here?" Corsica muttered. "Can you see it anywhere else? Especially on those golems."

"...No," Seigetsu said after a while. "This place is steeped in a multitude of powers, but nothing with the same effects as your own. Have you reason to suspect otherwise?"

Corsica shook her head. "Just speculation. Trying to figure out what these are, and why they behave the way that they do."

By some mechanism she didn't understand, she actually had the energy to be curious about this. Maybe it was Twilight's earlier observation, about the golems sounding sick and tired of everything. If that feeling was pervasive here, then Corsica might finally, for once, be on even ground with most of the things around her.

The idea of normalcy was borderline intoxicating.

It was almost tempting to use a wish to get some clue as to how the golems worked, maybe to find a way for her to hear them too, but she didn't dare squander her ground when she was actually ahead. Instead, she matched Faye's step, waiting for her friend to notice her.

As the crowd started to thin with still no reaction, Corsica got tired of waiting. "Hey," she said, nudging Faye's shoulder. "Listening to them is that bad, huh?"

Faye jumped a little. "Not if you tune out everything," she said with a shake of her head. "It feels like the more of them there are, the less they have to say."

Corsica nodded. "Got any idea what determines who can hear them and who can't?"

"None," Faye apologized, still looking closed off. "Or maybe too many to narrow it down. I don't know enough about Starlight or Twilight to tell what's relevant to this that we might have in common."

"Seems like an important thing to figure out," Corsica said. "I know one thing Twilight and Starlight have in common is that they've both used the talent rings in this place. Have you ever done something like that? Maybe in the Ironridge palace?"

Faye shook her head. "No. And it's the kind of thing I'd remember if I did."

"Hmm..." Corsica put her head down and frowned.

The crowd thinned further as they reached the far side, but one more intersection and it returned with a vengeance. This street seemed to be ramping up, a final climb before the road itself entered the central complex, and golems here were more orderly in where they chose to walk, sticking to sides of the street so that the influx and outflow to the complex didn't collide with each other.

"Well?" Rainbow Dash was hovering around Starlight. "What are they talking about now?"

Starlight sighed. "They're all agreeing with each other. Loudly. Mostly about how unreasonable someone else is."

"It's a waste of words!" Twilight complained, exasperated. "Why say it so many times if everyone already knows it? Also, a lot of them already said what I just said, so I'm starting to sound just like them and it's freaking me out."

By now, however, the crowd was dense enough that they had little choice to go along with the flow, and soon they were swept through a massive open archway akin to the ones in the lobby where they had first seen the city. And then they were once again indoors.

This lobby mirrored the other one in opulence and style, as if both had been designed by students from the same school of architecture. Fortunately, it was big enough to dilute the crowd of golems, many of them streaming off to enormous elevators in the wings. A little further in, and the center of the room was filled with mostly-empty benches interspersed between fountains flowing with starry ether.

"Here," Twilight panted. "Here looks good. Maybe now I could use a break."

Corsica watched as all of Twilight's friends took her request for granted, settling in on the benches, and pushed back a small sting of jealousy. None of them had heard the golems. Neither had she, but that was beside the point: Twilight's friends had no baseline to gauge how hard that had been on her. For that matter, walking through an arguing crowd wasn't supposed to be hard or exhausting at all. And still, not one of them questioned her request.

Sure would be nice to have friends as thoughtful as that.

"Hey," Corsica announced, for once not feeling like sitting around and doing nothing. "I'm going to go take a look around this room. Might not be able to hear the golems, but if this is the city's most important building, stands to reason the lobby will have a map. Right?"

Rainbow jumped to her hooves. "Same! Uh, take it easy, Twilight. Anyone else?"

"The city's denizens have shown no signs of hostility," Seigetsu agreed. "But this atrium is quite large. Perhaps we would be best served by splitting up, and meeting here again in a short while."

"Knock yourselves out," Twilight encouraged, looking perfectly content to stay on her crystal bench, hard crystal cushions and all.





Corsica's wandering took her to the perimeter of the atrium, which was shaped like a massive plus. The walls of the entry wing were entirely covered in elevators, and most of the crowds converged around those, so she took her search to the side wings instead, which were much more sparsely populated.

A bank of kiosks lined one wall, reminding her of help desks, except they had no signage or indication of what they were for, and also no golems staffing them. Instead, they each had an empty talent ring.

Curious, Corsica approached them. What would happen if she used one? There didn't seem to be any obvious mechanisms nearby for it to control. For that matter... she cast her gaze out over the nearby golems. None of them had special talents.

That was odd. Why would this city be filled with technology none of its citizens could use? Unless they used it some other way...

Corsica decided to loiter, standing far enough from the kiosks that she wouldn't be conspicuous but close enough that she could easily observe the comings and goings at all of them. And, soon enough, a golem came along.

It stopped at a kiosk, and seemed to consider it for a moment. And then it grew a face.

Corsica barely had time to confirm that she wasn't seeing things before it stuck its head into the recessed ring alcove, touched the ring with its face, and the ring lit up with a nebulous, formless light. When it pulled its head back, it was once again faceless.

A dozen things clicked all at once in Corsica's brain.

That was why the rings were positioned so awkwardly for touching with one's flank: they weren't meant for it in the first place. All the golems were faceless because this technology was ubiquitous in their city, and every single one of them just happened to have their face in a ring somewhere at all times. As she continued to watch, the golem stood at the kiosk for several minutes, and then its face reformed, the light in the ring going out. Almost immediately, its face disappeared again, and it went on its way.

But it hadn't used a second ring... Maybe they could recall rings they had already used before? Send their faces back wherever they had been before they called on them to activate things like the kiosk, or the elevators in the entry tower? Or maybe they could simply hide their faces at will, and didn't like wearing them when they didn't need them to activate a ring. Either way, Corsica felt like she had just made a major breakthrough in how this city worked.

Time to test if it worked the same for her.

Strolling confidently forward, she stepped up to a kiosk, leaned in, and touched the ring with her face. It was much easier to reach than with her flank. But nothing happened.

Next, she used her flank, shifting awkwardly to reach the ring. With a flash of light, a copy of her special talent materialized in the ring, just like it had done for Starlight and Twilight before. But unlike the golems, when she checked herself over, nothing was missing. Her talent was still there.

"Welcome," said a cool voice she couldn't tell if she heard with her ears or her mind. "You have reached Macrothesis automated support. Language translation is now automatic. Please ask your questions."

What were her questions?

"Well..." Corsica tried to get her thoughts together. "I'm a visitor. I haven't been here before. And I don't know much about how to use this thing."

"Acknowledged," the support desk said. "Previous-generation manual input is also supported. For assistance locating friends or relatives in a refugee camp, please hold up. For details concerning today's trial of Inquirarch Vulpecula, please hold forward. To apply for a position with the Hypothetorium, please hold left. For technical support in using one of our products, please hold right. To file a complaint with our equity department, please hold back. For more options, or to quit, please hold down."

Corsica blinked. "I have never used this before, and have no clue what any of that means. Can I talk to someone in person? Using sound? And not whatever this technology is?"

"All in-person customer service representatives are currently busy," the support desk politely told her. "Please rest assured that Macrothesis automated support is made with the latest advancements in equine interaction technology and is more than capable of handling your requests. Please explain what you would like to do."

"What's in the physical center of this building?" Corsica asked. "Down at the bottom? And how do I get there?"

"The Hypothetorium has many facilities that are free and accessible to the public," the support desk said. "All of our important public-facing functions can be learned about through this support terminal. Unfortunately, the location you have specified is not publicly available. Perhaps you are here instead for assistance locating friends or relatives in a refugee camp, or for details concerning today's trial of Inquirarch Vulpecula?"

Corsica frowned at the ring, getting a feeling this wasn't going anywhere. "How do I disconnect from this thing?"

"The Macrothesis third-generation soul interface can be disconnected using the standard mental command," the support desk said. "For backwards-compatibility, manual disconnection is also supported. Gently strike the outside of the ring with a hoof to regain your face and sever the connection."

Corsica reached out a hoof to tap the ring.

"Before you go," the terminal asked, "would you be willing to leave a review about your experience with this Macrothesis automated support terminal?"

Corsica tapped the ring.

With a twinkle, her special talent vanished, and the kiosk's voice vanished. A powerful sense that she had just wasted her time washed over her, even though she had objectively learned a great deal of importance. But this thing, and the way it talked... it reminded her of something an Icereach scientist might make, and she hated it.

"You don't like those either, eh?" said a voice from behind her.

Corsica jumped a little. It was a golem with a face.

"You can actually talk?" Corsica asked it, surprised.

The golem chuckled dryly. "If you need to ask, you must be having a rough time of it. Are you fresh in from one of the highland towns?"

"Something like that," Corsica said. "Let's just say I'm not from around here. How come you can hear me? And I can hear you? Is it because you still have a face?"

The golem nodded. Even though it had a face, the detailing on the crystal was rough enough that it was hard to tell if it was supposed to be a mare, or a stallion with a slight build.

"I've never been a fan of this stuff," the golem said. "No one truly knows what those rings are doing. They give you convenience, sure, but you know the Hypothetorium wouldn't make this stuff as cheap as it is unless they're getting something out of the deal. But you don't need me telling you stuff you already know. I just use it when I have to, since there's no truly avoiding it."

"Or," Corsica suggested, "you could pretend I'm really, really new, and explain the stuff nobody in their right mind wouldn't know about what these rings are?"

The golem laughed and shook its head. "I'm not interested in poking fun at needless complexity. Not today, at least. Most of us highlanders are celebrating the Inquirarch's downfall, but I just... I'd rather have the other guys win than nobody win, you know? Feels like if things keep going along the track they're on, civilization as we know it is toast. We need someone to be a hero, even if it's not the someone we were hoping for. Anyway, I need to get a seat in the gallery before all the good ones fill up. Maybe I'll see you around."

Corsica watched it go, a sense of lingering melancholy in the air. Had she mishandled that? Maybe. Not badly enough to make an enemy, at least. But it felt almost less like she had missed an opportunity, and more like there hadn't been one in the first place.

Except she had still learned a lot. What did the golem mean by highlands? The surface? Somewhere outside the city, definitely. Now that she thought on it, though, it was probably talking about the same Inquirarch as the support kiosk...

Feeling a little like she was walking into a trap she herself had set, Corsica walked back to the kiosks, chose another ring, and tapped it with her flank.

"Welcome," the kiosk said as her special talent once again flashed into existence in the ring. "You have reached Macrothesis automated support. Language translation is now automatic. Please ask your questions."

"Can you tell me about the Inquirarch?" Corsica asked. "Some sort of trial going on today? Who are they, and what did they do?"

"Inquirarch Vulpecula, a high-ranking member of the Hypothetorium and inventor of the soul interface ring, stands accused of embezzling funds from government agencies, as well as disregarding safety regulations regarding live test subjects and data protection regulations governing the retention of unauthorized Macrothesis customer data for use in research. The trial is being conducted in the Oculatorium on the seventeenth floor, and is scheduled to commence in thirty-eight minutes. Public seating is available on a first-come, first-serve basis, and viewing will be broadcast throughout the Daydream Network on public channels across the city. As emotions around the trial may be running high, civility is encouraged and requested of all observers. Would you like to hear this information again?"

"Sounds like fun," Corsica said. "Is he-"

"Acknowledged," the kiosk said. "Inquirarch Vulpecula, a high-ranking member of the Hypothetorium and inventor of the soul-"

Corsica groaned and closed off the connection. "That is not what I meant and you know it. Dumb machine..."

Maybe she should have listened to it again, though. In between all the tech jargon, she felt like it had said some phrase she knew, or had heard before... What was it, though? Something stuck in her memory, but she couldn't place what...

With a sigh, Corsica gave into her curiosity, activated the ring once more, and prepared to listen over and over again until she could figure out what connection she was trying to make.





After innumerable tries, Corsica got it. Somewhere, probably back in Ironridge, Leif had mentioned the Daydream network. A wireless form of mental magic that had something to do with changelings, though she couldn't recall the specifics. But that was enough information to probe deeper.

She made her way back to the benches where Twilight and the others were hanging out, most of the other explorers already back. "Did you find anything?" Rainbow immediately asked. "Because I searched this entire room like three times looking for a map, along with every single room adjacent to it, and got nothing."

"Maybe a little." Corsica looked at the group, but mostly Faye. "Does the phrase 'Daydream Network' mean anything to you?"

Starlight looked confused. "Yes, why...?"

Faye's eyes lit up in recognition, but she didn't speak.

Corsica raised an eyebrow at Starlight. "Any chance it's a form of wireless mental magic that all these golems are using to speak with each other?"

Twilight frowned. "Well, I considered the possibility, but-"

"It shouldn't be," Starlight said. "The Daydream Network was invented by Princess Luna a thousand years ago, around the same time the castle on top of this Crystal Palace was destroyed. The castle must have been built much earlier, and the Princesses likely built it to claim this land because they had figured out what was down here, and wanted to claim this city, too. Which would mean the city predates the Daydream Network by a substantial amount of time."

Twilight gave her a look. "Unless Princess Luna 'invented' it by copying it from down here."

"Yeah," Starlight said. "If she copied it from anywhere, I would have expected it to be Indus. But maybe it was here, all along."

"Still think this place isn't actually Indus itself?" Rainbow asked.

"Fairly positive, and my reasoning hasn't changed," Starlight said. "Anyway, if it is the Daydream Network, that goes a long way to explaining why those of us who can use it are who we are."

Twilight gave her a look. "Well, Halcyon I understand, since she's a batpony, and you I get too, but why me?"

"Presumably because you're an alicorn," Starlight said. "Luna wouldn't have taken over a system she couldn't intrinsically interact with, herself."

"A fair point, darling," Rarity cut in. "Although, a question from the peanut gallery... You're saying Princess Luna found rather than created this magic, and yet it was magic uniquely suited for her as an alicorn to use all along? Judging by our own experiences, there are eleven of us in this party and three of us randomly happen to be able to use it. I suppose it could be a coincidence that it was a match for her, but the odds wouldn't have been in her favor."

Twilight considered this, too. "Coincidences do happen, but you're right that her stumbling upon a magic system that was perfectly set up for her to use would be unlikely. I think we need to ask her ourselves before we can draw too many conclusions, though. We're operating almost entirely on assumptions, here." She turned to Corsica. "How did your investigation fare, anyway? You must have come up with something to float that idea."

"And for that matter," Applejack cut in, "anything the rest of us should know about what a Daydream Network is?"

"Like Corsica said," Starlight explained. "It's a form of wireless mental magic. Originally, batponies in the north used it to communicate with their goddess, the Night Mother. And, it's also what Chrysalis uses to control her changeling drones."

"So I can hear them because I'm a batpony," Faye said. "But I haven't seen them act like they can hear me."

"Talking along it and listening to it are different," Starlight said. "The latter seems mostly automatic. The former, I haven't done enough to know for sure how it works."

"I might be missing something," Fluttershy said. "But Starlight, you're not a changeling, right? Or a batpony, or an alicorn. So why can you use it?"

"That's..." Starlight hesitated. "A long story."

Twilight nodded sagely.

"Yeah..." Rainbow rubbed the back of her neck. "One that might be a little touchy to tell around strangers? Starlight's call, of course."

"I wouldn't want to put you out of your comfort zone," Seigetsu said, speaking up. "But if you have knowledge or abilities that might avail us in this place, I hope I can trust you to use them where needed."

Starlight shook her head. "We'll cross those bridges when we come to them. Anyway, what Twilight said. How did you learn this?" She looked straight at Corsica.

Corsica pointed over her shoulder. "Information kiosk. Not very intelligent, but I could actually hear it once I put my butt in the ring."

"There's a help desk we can actually interact with?" Twilight instantly brightened. "Well, why didn't you say so? I know all about navigating bureaucracy. Where is it!?"

"Before we waste any more time with it," Corsica interrupted, "it mentioned something about an important official being put on trial for corruption today. It sounded like they were the researcher who created those rings in the first place. Dunno if everyone will be able to listen, or if legalese will be easier for you to parse than whatever the crowds are saying, but we could learn something interesting."

"A public figure on trial for corruption, huh?" Applejack stood up. "Wonder if that's got anything to do with the funk these golems are supposedly in. Can't be much fun having someone you look up to turning out to be a cad."

"Also," Corsica added, "it made it sound like parts of this building, including where the harmonic flame might be are off-limits to the public. If a high-ranking official is on trial, there might be other important golems there too. This might be a good place to scope out who has the knowledge and authority to get us where we're going."

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah! Like, suppose this guy was innocent and getting framed by someone, and we bail him out, and then he owes us one..."

Starlight hesitated. "...I wouldn't count on that. If this place is a projection controlled by the flame, it likely exists in a static state without changes to the status quo. Harmonic flames aren't known for frequently changing the emotions they're made of, after all. If someone important is on trial, I wouldn't be surprised if they've been on trial since this place was created, and will stay there as long as it exists."

"Ugh." Rarity shivered. "Imagine reliving a day like that over and over again for the rest of your life."

Twilight, however, looked deep in thought. "Starlight? Didn't you tell us about once visiting a place where ponies were locked inside memories of the most important days of their lives, reliving them over and over?"

Starlight shook her head. "That has hopefully nothing to do with what's going on here. But if it does, I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do, here."

"Good," Applejack said. "Because I'm getting tired of having no clue what the rest of y'all are talking about."

Rainbow smirked at her. "Should have spent a week without sleep listening to Starlight's story with me and Twilight, then."

Pinkie Pie bounced between them. "So, where is this trial thingamabob?"

"Seventeenth floor," Corsica said. "Someplace called the Oculatorium. Probably got ten to fifteen minutes to get there. Ready to go fast?"

Twilight nodded firmly. "Let's go see what this is all about."