Another terrible crash shook the ground all around Mira. She hovered high enough that she wasn't jostled, but the shelves weren't so lucky. One of the nearby sections rocked backward, then toppled over with a crash. Wood splintered, and dense map-scrolls went flying.
The impact was enough to dislodge the next shelf in line, which crashed as it toppled too, perpetuating a chain-reaction of book destruction.
The little kitten had clearly seen enough—she wedged into the saddlebags, and barely even poked her head out to watch. "That's enough, pony! How about we fly out of here, yeah?"
Without a map?
There was no more time for delay. Outside the window, the cloud of distant smoke grew larger and closer as more buildings fell. What was even doing that? They weren't toppling over like the shelves. Something was tearing them straight down, one after another. Something she couldn't possibly resist if it caught her.
Mira took one last look around the room. She found the biggest, fanciest-looking roll with its own protective case, and scooped it on over her shoulder. Then she flew, back out the hall and the way she'd come.
The terrible roar only grew louder as the seconds passed, so loud that she couldn't think. If her cat was even trying to say anything anymore, Mira wouldn't hear it.
Another sound joined the steady collapse as she made it outside, one too subtle to hear through the walls. Something was grinding through the city, like teeth rubbing together.
Something is coming up from underground, eating the whole thing one bite at a time. Not even in the worst stories of the Lunar Rebellion had horrors like this been manifested. This was something out of a nightmare.
I am in the Dreamlands. What can happen to ponies here?
The magical door felt quite a bit less magical as she approached, making it only a few inches before it came grinding to a halt. She shoved up against it with one shoulder, pushing it far enough that she could make it out into the street.
What had once looked like a piece of beautifully-preserved art was coming apart from all sides. Little food-carts had toppled over, wagons and carriages were crushed under collapsing buildings, and the ground continued to shake. The very stone under her hooves was rebelling.
Kallisto wouldn't do this. No matter how much she wants to send me home, she wouldn't destroy this place. What if the bats came back?
"Higher!" yelled the cat in her pocket. "Higher, pony! We need to get away!"
She galloped forward a few steps, then took off in a wide arc, flying straight up as fast as she could. Every beat of her wings was a struggle, desperate and terrified. She accelerated, turning her back on the encroaching collapse. Flying straight up was the hardest possible kind of flying, and not easy even for fit bats like herself. So she flew forward, angling up as much as she dared.
Numberless years of history crumbled to dust and torn metal beneath her, collapsing into a growing cloud of destruction.
Mira felt it might catch her any second, dragging her down to be crushed into nothing. She would wake in the real world, and bats everywhere would lose their last chance at liberation.
It might've been seconds away, reaching for her with every flap. But the attack didn't come.
Soon enough she had passed the last of the structures, flying higher and further than the extreme edge of the unusually perfect streets.
Only then did Mira dare to stop, turning to stare back through the gloom at the city she had just left behind.
Well, there had been a city there. A growing cloud stretched upward, concealing the edges of what had once been Erebus. I hope Kallisto wasn't still there. What happens if you don't have a real body to go back to when you die?
That probably meant the real, final end, just like other ponies. She wouldn't stay. She wasn't still looking for me.
"I understand not wanting to move before you had to," said a tiny voice. The cat didn't perch on her back, not with her wings still working to keep them airborne. It wasn't much effort to hover, particularly when she had a current to exploit. But the winds here were harsh enough that they could probably pick up a little fluff ball and fling her back to the ground.
"It shows your skill. Land the perfect jump, fit through the right opening. Pounce exactly right on the perfect prey. But that was too close for me. Dreamer, we need to make a decision for you and I. Do you want to wake up, or not?"
Earlier today, she might've played along. Out in the real world, a talking cat would've delighted her. But Mira had just watched one of her few friends in the whole world die. She'd fled for her life, then barely survived the collapse of a city that was supposed to be eternal.
Now she was alone, in a world as unknown as it was unfriendly. She didn't have the patience. "You don't have to stick with me, cat. You followed me. You can leave."
"I know that. I'm trying to be helpful—that's what psychopomps do, right? So listen to my help, dreamer. Don't take risks like that. Why do you think the city was empty? You don't leave somewhere you worked hard to build if it's safe. You leave because it's dangerous."
Beneath them, the clouds began to part. Mira was over a kilometer up by now, higher than the tallest buildings. But seeing through it made her want to ascend a little higher.
Through the smoke, she could see torn buildings, crushed and half-submerged in a sea of molten red. Flashes of energy lanced outward from within, lightning that went the wrong way. Each flash brought a terrible crash only seconds later. Some even seemed aimed at her.
"So what would you do?" Mira asked. "We just escaped the end of the world, it seems like. The only pony I thought would help me tried to kill me. The city full of safety and supplies is gone, and... getting gone-er.
She started flying again—backwards, since she couldn't quite bring herself to look away from the disaster far below. "I'm not even sure I have a map to the place we're actually trying to go."
"If I were me? Which I am, so... I think I'll take a nap in here, see where things end up. If I were you? Think about waking up. You don't really seem to know what you're doing. Maybe you should go back and ask... whoever sent you here, for more practice? You have lots of passion, that's good. But you're so clueless. Just land before you wake up, please. I don't wanna fall."
Wake up? Like she could just... do it, if she wanted? Kallisto probably could, before. She'd spoken of travel to this place, and its rules. Mira could probably think over some of those, maybe even use those stories to figure out more about this world. But not right now.
"Maybe I should take a nap," she said, wistful. "Things usually feel better after a good day’s sleep."
The little voice no longer sounded amused. Now she was exasperated, running out of patience. "Oh, sure. Take a nap while you're already asleep. That makes perfect sense."
Mira opened her mouth to argue, explaining how hungry she'd felt earlier. She'd been willing to eat anything, even weird nut combinations from strange boxes. Yet despite all her hard work, despite who knew how many hours awake... she didn't feel tired.
Not physically, anyway. Mentally, she was exhausted.
"Where do ponies go when they need somewhere safe?" she asked. "Somewhere I can... collect myself? Try and plan my route."
The cat made an exaggerated yawning sound from within the saddlebags. "I never lived anywhere else... but the tall ones who lived here talked about Hope. Maybe you should go there?"
"You want me to go to hope? Why don't I just make a day trip to confidence while I'm at it? Better stay away from the peaks of soul-crushing terror, or I'll crash and the flight will be ruined!"
"Yeah, that sounds like a plan." The cat yawned again, a little louder this time. "Good luck, dreamer. Just don't crash."
Soon enough, she was snoozing again.
No fair. She can sleep, and I can't. Instead of sleeping, Mira flew away from heaven as it sunk gradually into the fire and flames. The weight of her saddlebags meant the flight wasn't particularly fast.
If she didn't need to sleep, could she just keep exerting herself forever? How long would it be before she had to land? Even on her best days, Mira could rarely fly more than ten kilometers. She must've gone further than that by now.
Finally, she turned her back completely on Erebus, and flew into the misty clouds. Whatever future waited for her in the Dreamlands, she wouldn't find it there anymore. Nopony would.
Yet for some distance, there was very little to see. A thick mist rolled over the ground, so thick that she couldn't even see through it in most places. When the occasional gust of wind parted it from beneath her, she saw only the reflection of water. Was that a lake, a river, the ocean? She couldn't tell.
So she put her back to the city and flew, searching for anything stable. Even a rocky butte would be enough to land on and catch her breath. The Dreamlands did have lands in them somewhere, right?
Time was strange on that flight—without sleep, without food, without rest, Mira felt as though she might've been flying for days. Yet the sun never rose, and the moon never moved in the sky. All of creation was a single, gloomy blob.
Until she saw something, a single ray of light piercing the fog from far away. It cut through the smoke and the mist, illuminating a path all the way to plains of green, filled with flowers.
Land!
Mira sped up, turning her gentle glide into a dive. She tucked her wings, folding her legs under her body, and focused unblinkingly on the ground.
Mira barely managed to catch herself as she approached ground level, and stumbled like a foal as she came down for a landing. Dirt and grass sprayed out from around her, but she managed not to fall over.
Normally, the transition from moonlight to full sun wasn't an enjoyable one for a bat. The daylight meant more to fear from the ponies of Equestria.
But just now, it meant warmth on her coat and wings. It meant the shadowy ghosts that flew through the dead city of Erebus would have no darkness to hide in anymore. It meant that Mira could catch her breath.
Something stirred on her back, and the kitten emerged from her satchel. She hopped up onto her back, scanning the world around them with a glance. "Hope. See, that's what I told you. I hope for some warm milk this time, instead of that cold stuff you poured for me."
"I... what?"
"Don't tell me I'm not supposed to have milk," the kitten went on, barely even listening. "I'm still growing, I'll have milk when I feel like it."
So she didn't correct the cat. Instead, she took in her surroundings. The way she'd come remained a bank of thick clouds on the horizon, a swirling, almost-solid wall in the air.
But in the other direction, she could see a path cutting through the grass. Cobblestone and gravel, not the strangely flat roads of Erebus.
I couldn't die in the landing, right? I have the cat with me. She was still in the Dreamlands.
"Do you think this road goes to the moon?" Mira asked, breaking into a gentle trot.
The cat made a dissatisfied meow. "Not a chance."
"Great." Mira started walking. "Maybe it goes to somepony who knows the way."
And who won't try to wake me up. That would be good too.