//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Within and Without 
// by Cloudy Skies 
//------------------------------//

	Finding the Oats' farm was easy considering their rather descriptive family name. Arriving at the main farmyard, Twilight briefly worried that as farmers, they would already be abed and that she would be waking somepony up. Before she could knock on the door of biggest building, though, she spotted light coming from a smaller house by a barn nearby. A guest house of sorts? The unicorn carefully approached, emboldened when she heard a familiar giggle. Nopony else had a voice of that pitch – Pinkie Pie.

        Twilight had no idea what, if anything, she'd tell her friends. It didn't matter. It would have to wait until morning; right now, she only wanted to sleep. She pushed opened the door with her magic and stepped inside, hoping her friends wouldn't see she was upset.

        As it turned out, that wasn't an issue at all. Entering, she found Rainbow Dash flat on the floor, Pinkie Pie clinging to her back with Dash's ear in her mouth. The two ponies froze, Dash with her eyes wide, Pinkie Pie smiling widely around her mouthful of ear. "Hi Fwilightf!" Pinkie said, hopping off the pegasus to give Twilight a hug heedless of her discomfort and the fact that Rainbow Dash's cheeks were burning. "Where've you been? Have you been exploring and sneaking around like a sneaky explorer who explores sneakily?"

        "No, I just, uh. Had a chat," Twilight muttered as she took in the room. It seemed to be a a guest house indeed, with the beds, kitchen area and a few sofas all in one large room. The two big beds stood near the entrance in defiance of conventional interior decoration. Gently disengaging herself from the hug, Twilight plopped down on the closest one, the weariness of today's march suddenly making itself known. She couldn't have moved if she wanted to, and she certainly didn’t want to.

        "O-kaay?" Rainbow Dash said somewhere behind her.

        "I think Twilight's just tired. My legs are tired too. Oh, and my pink little hoofsies are sore! Look, Dashie, look! Sore and icky!" Pinkie said, quickly followed by the tell-tale sounds of a scuffle.

        "Augh, get those out of my face, Pinkie! Come on!" Dash groaned.

        Twilight fell asleep soon after, despite the two other ponies' best efforts.

        Twilight awoke the next day with a start, up on all fours and looking around in a panic. She was still in the same little guest house. The sun was spilling in through the numerous windows that lined the walls and created shafts of light in which dust floated serenely. The room was warm, almost stuffy, and on the bed next to her lay Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, breathing softly. All was safe, but she was possessed of a fear she couldn't shake off. Trying to grasp the tatters of what she had dreamt even as it unravelled, all she was left with was an image of the night sky and a waxing moon.

        After rousing Pinkie and Dash, they all grabbed a quick breakfast at the Oat family's home before they set course for the centre of the village. Luna, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy were already there and had become the centre of attention, trapped in the middle of a couple dozen ponies. As they drew closer, it became apparent that the village ponies were eager to simply meet with the princess, and some of them even brought small gifts of food and such. Rarity looked positively delighted at the attention as she, Applejack and Fluttershy graciously accepted the gifts and thanked the village ponies, the majority of which were shades of pale yellows and greens. More of the Oat family, no doubt.

        Luna, however, looked less thrilled. The royal pony looked and played the part of a princess, for sure. She was saying the correct words and nodding politely, but Twilight had already seen that the princess could be, for lack of a better word, warmer than this. There was a stiffness to her, now. When Twilight, Pinkie and Dash drew near, Luna said a few quiet words to the mayor at her side and shook hooves with her. Silver Links nodded and raised her voice over the din of the assembled ponies. "The princess appreciates having met you, but she has to depart now," she declared to a chorus of disappointed noises.

        "Thank you," Luna herself added as the ponies parted to let her and her entourage through. Fluttershy was the first to offer comment on the whole ordeal as they were out of earshot. The ponies still stood near the village square, some of them waving.

        "They were very nice. Everypony in the village was, I mean. And Summer Glare was ever so nice, too. He told us about Braidford and his family and everything." The pegasus was smiling brightly, and Applejack gave a nod in agreement.

        "Equestria needs more ponies like him. Good fellow," the apple farmer said, and Rarity nodded as well, making it fairly evident that he'd been a good host. Before any of the others could say anything about their own stay, however, Twilight addressed the princess.

        "You don't seem very happy. Are you disappointed we didn't find any leads?" she asked with earnest concern. The princess was trotting slightly ahead of the group and didn't even appear to be listening to the conversation. She did perk up at Twilight's words, however.

        "I am not worried about a minor setback like this. We will ask in Grey Hollows and change our approach if they have not heard anything, either. No, I am just a little uncomfortable with attention of that kind."

        Rainbow Dash frowned, seeming downright insulted. "What? Are you kidding me? They were all over you!"

        "Precisely," Luna said, voice flat and wearing a smile that was everything but content.

        "Rainbow Dash, please," Twilight tried, but she knew Rainbow Dash wouldn't listen, and she was proven right.

        "What's the point of being a princess if you don't love your fans?" The chromatic pony snorted, shaking her head at what seemed to her an impossibility.

        "Fans?" Luna repeated, looking back at Rainbow Dash.

        "That's what they are, aren't they? Ponies who admire you and look up to you 'cause they think you're awesome? I know fans when I see them," Dash said with a shrug.

        Luna shook her head sadly, her voice bordering on condescension. "I do not think you do. I have done nothing to deserve admiration from these ponies. They see the crown, and bow before it. In my sister's case, there might be something like what you describe, but not me."

        Twilight tried to get eye contact with Rainbow Dash and hint that she should just drop it, but the pegasus was intent upon Luna and Luna alone.

        "That's a load of crap," Dash finally said. "You have to take some pride in who you are. I wouldn't be half as awesome as I am if I didn't believe in myself. We all..." she glanced to her left where Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy walked, without turning her head. The pegasus looked resolved, her faced steeled as she finished. "We all get things we don't deserve. Doesn't mean you should throw it away. That’s just dumb."

        Nopony said anything, least of all Luna, who still trotted a little ahead of the group. Twilight couldn't believe the conversation had happened, but the oppressive air that surrounded them all was a potent reminder. She had read wizened philosophers' treatises on virtues and sins, always with pride solidly in the latter category. Was it really that simple, though?

        What little was left of flat ground was covered soon enough, and they begun their ascent out of the flower-filled valley well before noon. Cresting the top not long after, they could look back at the same wondrous sight they had found yesterday. Ponyville already felt very far away. This time, however, Luna did not pause, forging ahead under the canopy of a dense forest, the transition was so sudden that it reminded Twilight of plunging through the brush into the Everfree. Despite the fact that little light pierced the forest-dome that hid the sky, though, there was no menace in this forest's embrace.

        "My hooves hurt," Rarity muttered mostly to herself, but at least two sets of ears perked up at this.

        "It'll get better," Fluttershy promised with a little smile, though her gait seemed every bit as stiff as Rarity's.

        "Easy for you to say, you could simply fly. Speaking of which, why don't you?" Rarity asked. "Surely it's got to be better than this."

        "I'm sorry, it's just that flying is very tiresome, too. I guess I could hover a little, but I like feeling the ground under my hooves," Fluttershy said, and Rarity nodded at her words, needing no further explanation. Twilight, glad to have something to talk about, spoke up.

        "Actually, pegasi expend a lot of energy flying, generally, unless they can glide. And since we're stuck with the speed of the slowest common denominator," she shrugged, "it makes a lot of sense." Fluttershy nodded gratefully at Twilight.

        "Speaking of which," Luna said from the front, making Twilight start. She was unaware the princess had overheard them. "Rainbow Dash, I would ask that you stay with us here on the ground until we leave the Oakwall Forest."

        Rainbow Dash blinked. "Uh, why?"

        "Fly up through the trees and you'll see why," Luna answered, coming to a stop. Rainbow Dash, never one to back down from what was tantamount to a dare, did exactly that. Five seconds later she came down again, albeit off the road, a little ways off from where she had pierced the canopy. It took a moment before Dash spotted the rest of the party and flew over to rejoin them.

        "Right," Rainbow Dash said, swallowing. Luna just nodded and picked up the pace again, settling for a brisk canter. At the questioning glances, Rainbow Dash looked more than a little troubled. "The forest is huge and, um, samey. No way am I gonna find you again."

        "I could send up a magical flare or something," Twilight suggested. "To help you locate us?"

        "Really huge," Rainbow Dash sighed, apparently settling the matter as far as she was concerned.

        The entire day disappeared into small-talk and little complaints about the pace that always met with a good-natured jibe from Applejack or Rainbow Dash. While the canopy was dense, they could still tell the passage of time well enough. When Twilight and Rarity had lighted the way with their horns for over an hour, Luna signalled for their third break for the day and the final stop for the night.

        "If nothin' else, we're not likely to starve or resort to eatin' grass anytime soon. Ah got my saddlebags burstin' with food. Let's get a fire started so we can have some toast!" Applejack declared with a grin before she began gathering dry twigs around the camp area. Twilight knew what she was doing, having read a short primer on camping before they left, and she helpfully cleared the grass from a small area, scrubbing it down to dirt with her magic. The earth pony nodded her thanks. "If you can spark it too, that'd be great."

        Rarity stepped up, her horn glimmering with a sheath of energy for a few seconds before one of the sticks caught fire. "There you go," she said with smile. Truthfully, Twilight didn't mind that she'd seized the task from her, a little concerned that she might have overdone it herself. The smallest of spells had a tendency to go awry these days. She'd try to test a new spell for cleaning her bedsheets, and before she knew it, she'd teleported her friends to the other side of Equestria.

        "Not a lot of ponies on these roads," Twilight remarked after they'd eaten their fill on roasted bread and fresh fruits. Eating the food that would spoil first and the things that weighed the most was done at Fluttershy's recommendation.

        "Braidford and the outlying hamlets there, as well as the villages to its west and east are almost considered a frontier by many," Princess Luna said, talking between delicate bites of a grilled apple. "We should reach Grey Hollows within five or six days, but those of the Hollows keep to themselves. Few people visit or leave that place, except for the lumber shipments they send every season."

        Appearing to briefly consider this, Rarity looked consternated. "What makes them Equestrians, then? How do they communicate with the rest of the nation? No dragonfire line to Canterlot? Nopony coming or going? How do they know the news? How do they keep up to date on fashion and other matters of grave import?"

        There were assorted chuckles and eyes rolled at the last bit, but Luna didn't share their mirth, speaking in a very precise and deliberate tone. "They are still very much citizens of Equestria, do not doubt that. They are just a little set in their ways. I may not agree isolationism is an admirable trait, but it is not for you or I to judge. Then again, I have not visited the place for myself, this is all based on reports I have read."

        "So you're saying they're a bunch of creepy ponies who don't have any friends," Rainbow Dash suggested, earning a very faint scowl from Luna.

        "I am not quite certain how a village with hundreds of ponies could manage to leave anyone friendless," Luna protested.

        "Ooh, you should ask Twilight!" Pinkie Pie suggested with a cheerfulness that clashed with every thing and thought in the camp other than her own coat and mane. "She was a total No-Friends McLonelypants until she came to Ponyville, and I'm sure Canterlot has a lot of ponies!"

        Twilight couldn't help but chuckle at Pinkie despite herself. She couldn't really harbor any painful memories of it when she hadn't perceived it as loneliness back then, and now she had the best friends anypony could ever ask for. Pinkie saw her smile and hopped over to nuzzle Twilight affectionately, which earned a series of laughs from the rest of ponies around the camp. Twilight shrank back though she was still grinning. "Pinkie!"

        Princess Luna just shook her head with a small smile, announcing that she had to attend some business. The mood around the camp dropped a little as Twilight finally extracted herself from under Pinkie Pie and stared off after Luna who had disappeared between the trees.

        "She confuses me," Applejack finally said with a huff. "Princessy and proper one moment, chummy the other, and then she's lookin' at other ponies like they're so much dirt. Not that there's nothin' wrong with dirt, but, eh. Got a bad feeling about this."

        Rarity hesitated. "She's well within her rights to act the part. She is a princess, and we're the entourage, yes? Companions, rather." The pristine unicorn looked unsure despite her words. It was obvious she, too, had noticed the little hitch during yesterday evening's conversation with Mayor Silver Links.

        "I-I'm sure she doesn't mean it. And it’s not that she doesn’t like anypony, she just doesn’t mean..." Fluttershy said, nervously pawing at the ground.

        "I don't think even she knows what she means," Pinkie Pie said, her head tilted. The pink pony looked oddly contemplative. Rainbow Dash snorted, but offered no comment.

        "No thoughts on the issue, darling?" Rarity asked, and it took a second for Twilight to realize it was she who was being addressed. She just shook her head mutely, earning a worried look from her unicorn friend. Fluttershy was the one to voice the concerns, though.

        "Twilight, are you okay? I mean, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to, but you look kind of, um, glum?"

        "I'm fine," Twilight said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile to the sensitive pegasus. "It's just not quite what I expected. For better and for worse," she said, thinking not for the first time back to how different the two royal sisters were. Celestia burned brightly, but was always beyond reach. Even though it only rarely frustrated Twilight, it was something she was aware of. Celestia was the sun, warm and distant.

        And as a contrast, Luna was the moon. She was at hoof right now, and had answered questions that she'd been dancing around with Celestia for years. Both metaphorically and literally, she was close, but also cold? That last bit didn't fit as well in Twilight's mental chart as she wanted it to. There was no flawless symmetry, reminding her that Luna was, indeed, a pony, and ponies weren't simple. All the same, much of the time, she seemed to try to fit the profile, stonewalling Twilight and her friends.

        "Twi'? Why don't Ah believe ya when you space out for a minute after you say you're fine?" Applejack asked. When had she snuck up on her? That'd probably be the spacing out bit, Twilight supposed. She hung her head, wondering why nopony asked her why she worried so much about the princess all of a sudden. She wondered, but more than that, she appreciated it, because she had no answers. Twilight lay down by the fire.

        "Sorry Applejack. I guess I'm just tired," she offered, but the farmpony shook her head.

        "There ain't nothin' to apologize for. Anyways, Ah reckon' it's time for all of us to tuck ourselves in." The suggestion was met with a murmur of assent, Rarity in particular eager to catch up on her beauty sleep despite her apprehension of sleeping without a bed. Fluttershy suggested they huddle up even though it was warm enough, and except for a token protest by Dash, they all lay near the fire soon enough, sleep claiming them one by one.

        "Um, who's ... chewing on my tail? Not that I mind, but, um," Fluttershy whispered.

        "Oh. Me. Sorry! Wrong tail!" Pinkie Pie chirped.

        "Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash groaned.

        "Aw fer Celestia's sake, simmer down and go to sleep you silly ponies!"

        "Sorry!"

        "Sorry."

        One by one, albeit slowly, sleep claimed them. Twilight woke briefly to a noise and cracked half an eye open in the dead of night when the fire was down to mere embers. Luna stood looking down upon them, though she didn't seem to notice Twilight was awake. After a few moments, the princess turned and lay down on the opposite side of the campfire, closing her eyes. Twilight went back to sleep, meeting the dark open sky in her dreams yet again, along with the waxing moon.





        The next five days passed in relative monotony. It was perhaps all too appropriate given that the dirt road, the name of which Luna did not know given that it was ‘new’, seemed to be utterly unchanged all the while. Aside from bending a little to go around hills, it never turned. For all Twilight knew, they could have been walking the same stretch of road in an impossible straight loop all the while, and they wouldn't know it. The forest itself was an almost entirely unbroken expanse of thick oaken trunks, and Rainbow Dash was complaining louder every day about not being able to fly.

        "You can fly just fine!" Applejack had finally burst, pointing at the pegasus who was indeed hovering at least five strides in the air above her.

        "It's not the same, AJ, and you know it! Augh! I need air!" Rainbow Dash had groaned, but when Twilight had tried making helpful suggestions about how she could locate them again, to try to facilitate a little flight, Rainbow Dash had adamantly refused to abandon her friends for even a second. Twilight had no idea how to interpret this. Exasperated and worn out by a million little fruitless debates like that, she had simply given up.

        The food they had gotten from Braidford ran out on the third night, but the grass was green and healthy even though none of them were pleased about resorting to grass and leaves for food. Fluttershy admitted she missed her vegetable garden, and nopony faulted her for that.

        It became a routine of sorts. Sleeping by a campfire in the deep of the forest and having to groom oneself in the morning to get rid of grass and leaves. Cantering onwards for hours on end leading to aching hooves and legs and making Twilight's thoughts drift longingly to the chariots that Canterlot fielded. What waited for her every time she closed her eyes was an ever-waxing moon and a dark sky that seemed clearer with every night. Twice, Twilight woke up due to the vivacity of her dreams, however formless they were.

        The princess answered any questions asked of her, and for each day that passed, seemed more at ease with Twilight and her friends. Rarity asked her about Blueblood twice more, once to no reply, and the other time the princess quickly gave a vague answer involving the word 'later'.

        At the dawn of the fifth day, Twilight thought Luna was back to being the companionable princess she had been shortly after the onset of their journey. Whether that was true or not, Twilight was afraid to try to repeat the stunt of that night in Braidford. As much as she wanted to ask more questions, she simply didn't know what would come of it.

        Luna's estimate had been close to the mark. On the afternoon of the sixth day after they had left Braidford, the ponies were rewarded with a change of scenery. Slowing down to a walk, they came into a large clearing where a small stretch of farmland preceded a myriad of tightly clustered wooden buildings. The houses were never less than two stories high, and often twice as tall as that. It reminded Twilight of a small, severe and unpretentious Canterlot, presumably built to utilize cleared land as efficiently as possible.

        Passing through the outlying farms, they were quickly spotted by a duo of young earth ponies who stood by a fence, their eyes slowly growing wide. After looking at each other for a second, the two grey colts bolted for the city as if chased by death itself. Luna tensed a little at this, but Twilight figured that a little superstition and fear wasn't out of place in a remote town like this. And it truly was a town, not a mere village, teeming with ponies even this late in the afternoon. The townsponies were a good mix of unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies all, but they were almost universally built stout and strong, a natural effect of being a community of woodsponies, Twilight assumed.

        "Where do we start?" Twilight asked aloud as they traded the forest canopy for a claustrophobic valley of buildings. The houses all looked similar, built in simple unpainted wood. Here was none of Ponyville's individually styled houses, and no exquisite masonry or loud signs and posters vying for attention like in Canterlot. Instead, every wall and door looked the same except for the occasional demure sign advertising a general store or a carpenter’s.

        "Grey Hollows is led by its eldest, but I see no reason to bother them," Luna replied quietly. Remarking upon her tone, the purple unicorn glanced to her sides and saw that the ponies around them were either hurrying away from them, or regarding them silently with suspicious glares.

        Pinkie Pie toned her bouncing down a little and looked skeptical. "Maybe they just need a party? They don't look very happy. Why aren't they happy? Luna! They’re not happy!" The last few words were said with no small amount of frustration. Seeing so many ponies with nary a smile in sight was anathema to her existence.

        "That would be because of me," the princess said. She had been gazing straight ahead the entire time as they wandered down the main street of the town, as if she wasn't acknowledging the existence of the town at all. When she spoke, it was under her breath, and her bearing was stiff. Darkly regal, even. "If we did not need to check for any traces of Trixie, I would have preferred to avoid this place altogether. I should have mentioned this."

        Obviously disagreeing with the princess' approach of ignoring the strangers, Pinkie Pie was looking every which way, going so far as to wave at some of the ponies that looked at them. She got very little for her troubles except snorts and shakes of the head.

        "Oooor, they just really need a party!" Pinkie Pie suggested again. "I mean, if they're afraid of you, shouldn't you just show them there's nothing to be afraid of?" The question was almost child-like in its innocence, but six heads were turned waiting for the reply which never came. Pinkie hmpf'ed and frowned to no effect.

        Pausing at the narrow intersection in the centre of town, Luna glanced around quickly before turning to face her companions. "Rainbow Dash, would you be so kind as to fly up and see if you can find out where in this maze we might find someone to talk to?"

        "Would I!" Rainbow Dash replied, shooting up into the sky even as Twilight wondered if she would know what to look for. Obviously, the pegasus had just been aching for an excuse to take to the air after so long trapped under the forest's shroud. High above them, Dash pulled loops and corkscrews and a series of maneuvers Twilight was certain didn't even have names because they weren't so much maneuvers as they were a particularly liberal interpretation of what a drunken bumblebee might do on a Saturday evening.

        "So much for the low profile approach," Applejack muttered, noting the amount of skyward glares from ponies around them. When Rainbow Dash finally deigned to come down to ground level again, she came in low through a side street and took off more than one clothesline with her drag, earning a string of unsavory curses. The chromatic blur skidded to a halt in front of the party with a loud whoosh and a huge cloud of dust that finally settled to reveal a beaming Rainbow Dash.

        "Aw Celestia's privates, Dash, what'n the hay was that for?" Applejack growled, but Dash's reply was a snort and a subsequent giggle. Applejack opened her mouth to say something else, but paused as she contemplated the nature of her swear. Luna looked a little uncomfortable and scratched a fore-hoof with the other in the following moment of silence while Applejack blushed fiercely.

        Still snickering, Dash explained. "You want a favor from the Dash, you pay the toll, and I haven't gotten to use my wings for a week! Anyway, we probably want to head that way." She indicated a road like any other in the maze of buildings. "Lots of ponies gathering around a big building. Let's check what's up?"

        Now that they had been made aware of the fact, it was obvious that most of the local ponies were generally gravitating in the same direction, and the streets were quickly emptying around them.

        "If there is a public gathering, I suppose it makes sense for us to go see, yes," Luna said reluctantly, setting the course in the suggested direction. "Though I want to stress again that all I want is to do is ask our questions and be on our way."

        They hadn't taken many steps before Rarity spoke up against the princess, so to say, to everypony's surprise. "Princess Luna, you claim these ponies are citizens of Equestria and you defend them, but it's very plain and obvious that there's something you're not telling us. Something is wrong here. Are we expected to follow you blindly like this? Is this what you want?" There was both frustration and a passion to her voice that Twilight didn't quite know what to make of. Perhaps she wasn't the only one who had found in Luna a strange set of contradictions and dichotomies.

        "Not here," Luna sighed deeply. "But you are right, you deserve better. I promise you will have your answers tonight, after we have seen what we can learn here." Luna turned back and seemed earnest, almost apologetic, though an actual apology didn't fit with the part of being a princess. "Will that suffice for you, Rarity? And for the rest of you as well?"

        Twilight nodded without thinking. She couldn’t see the others' reactions, but Rarity managed to maintain her composure to answer. "That would be very welcome," she agreed. As soon as Luna turned to look ahead again, the unicorns shared a surprised look. Neither had expected a concession like that.

        As they turned a corner, Dash indicated the wall of pony flanks ahead. She had not lied when she said there were lots of ponies. It reminded Twilight of Ponyville's gatherings at the yearly Winter Wrap Up. The main difference was that the gathered ponies seemed apprehensive, not expectantly excited. That, and where Twilight had struggled to get close enough to hear Mayor Mare's announcements last year, the crowd here parted before them like clouds before pegasi when they saw Princess Luna.

        "Horseapples," Luna muttered. "I guess there is no way around it now. Follow me and do not make a fuss." The princess followed in pull exerted by the vacuum of ponies ahead of them, ever driving them forward through throngs of muttering, staring ponies. In moments they stood before a podium which rested in the shadow of a huge wooden building with multiple sets of doors. The place was labelled as the 'House of the Voices' by a sign over the central doors.

        Atop the podium stood a quintet of aging ponies of which there were three mares and two colts, all wearing severe expressions as well as worn and aging formal attire. Judging by Rarity's subtle twitches and other tells, their clothing did not conform to current trends at all. As Luna stopped just short of the wooden steps that led up to their perch, the mare in the center addressed them. She was a dark grey unicorn with a golden bell cutie mark, and her expression reminded Twilight of Opalescence when she dug her claws into somepony.

        "Greeted be, Princess of the Night,” she sneered. The title sounded more like a curse than anything else when she spoke the words. “What demands does the crown have of Grey Hollows?" the mare asked. Perhaps it was just the height difference due to the pony quintet's elevation, but it seemed to Twilight that they looked down upon Luna on more than just the literal plane of things.

        "I require only lodging for the night for me and my companions," Luna answered with practiced, affected boredom. "The crown has no business here in Grey Hollows today. We are passing through."

        The five elders, to the last pony, scowled at that. A ripple of murmurs went through the crowd before another of the elders spoke up. He was a brown pegasus colt of immense build at the first speaker’s left. "Anything you have to say to the ponies of Grey Hollows, you can say before all of its citizens. We, the elders of the Voice of the Hollows, will not brook discussions behind closed doors!" There were scattered agreements across the crowd. There must have been over five hundred ponies, Twilight guessed, and while she'd never been particularly claustrophobic, this seemed a great way to acquire such a phobia. She felt trapped, and the ponies around them radiated malice. Even the foals peeked out from behind their parents to sneer.

        "Very well," Luna said, entirely unmoved. "I require lodgings for the night for me and my companions," the princess repeated. It was a deliberately unimpressive display. Twilight knew Luna had to be able to be as intimidating or inspiring as Celestia if she so desired, but here was none of that. Just a tall and dark lanky pony mare who happened to have a horn and wings both.

        Another surge of angry mutters spread throughout the crowd. "Um, Princess Luna, what is going on?" Fluttershy asked, shrinking back, but she was ignored. The pegasus mare turned to Twilight instead. "Twilight, what is she doing?"

        "I don't know," Twilight whispered back. "Just stay close."

Rainbow Dash looked like she was seconds away from getting up on her hind legs and starting a fight just to relieve the tension. Applejack stood protectively behind the group, opposite of Luna.

        "Very well. Have it your way, Princess Luna," the mare who had first spoken spat. "I am sure you will understand, your Majesty, that we are a self-sufficient community, and as such, we cannot spare anything but a room or two at the pub. Winter Sun will see to it. We of the Voice must discuss this, but we would greatly appreciate it if you would meet with us in the morning. This townsmeet is over!"

        With those final four words, the ponies began scattering, going back to their jobs, homes, families and what-not as surely as if it had started raining. A few ponies lingered and stared, but the only one who approached then was a lithe white pegasus mare who looked to be about Twilight's age. Her mane was a pale yellow, and her flank was adorned with a sun that had a blue tint to it.

        "I am Winter Sun, your majesty,” the mare said to Luna, gracing them with what was the first smile the travellers had seen since they entered Grey Hollows. “Let's get you inside, it'll be dark soon."

Without waiting for a reply beyond Luna’s nod, she turned and confidently led them through the narrow streets. Within minutes, they arrived at a flimsy door flanked by a sign nailed to the wall proclaiming it to be “Winter's Inn, Pub and Brewery”. The buildings were but a mass of carpentry here, to the point where it was impossible to say where one building ended and the next one began. Not a single drop of paint had been used except for the signs.

        As they stepped inside, it became clear that Winter's establishment was a humble one. The proprietress’ eyes seemed to pick up on their assorted reactions that covered various states of polite dismay. She flashed another wide smile in return that seemed genuine and warm, reminding Twilight more than anything of Fluttershy when she had a moment to sit in her meadow and just enjoy the company of her animal friends.

         Twilight realized that Winter Sun must have been working very hard to suppress her own demeanor while outside. Indeed, once the white pegasus began talking, it was as if a dam had burst. 

"It's not much, but you take what you can get, yeah? Not that I've any idea why the Voice decided to toss you in here, but hey, here we are, huh? Not a lot of inns to choose from here. It's a little messy, I guess, I was just about to start cleaning up before the regulars arrived for the evening, and then word went out that there was a townsmeet , and you know how that goes. Ah, well, you don't. Well, and I don't, either. That was my first. Oh, um, your majesty." She quickly bowed to the still-stone-faced Princess Luna. The princess’ passivity was made a little comical by the fact that the ceiling was so low she had to bow slightly to avoid getting her horn stuck.

        "It's very nice here," Fluttershy said, and Winter Sun beamed, turning around as if she was watching her own pub for the first time, too. It had a small counter in the back, and what little room there was on the first floor was largely dominated by six small tables. A narrow stair down to a cellar, a narrower stair up to a floor above, and a door-less portal in the back suggested there was more to the place than what they saw. The present area was scattered with empty wooden mugs, the occasional glass, and it all smelled faintly of cider.

        "It is nice, isn't it?" Winter Sun agreed. "I only set it up half a year ago, but I'm already turning a profit. 'Logging puts a thirst in ya', they say, and I'm thinking, hey, that's swell!” She grinned at this as she went on. “That means they all come to drink here, and then I get bits in my pockets! Just wish I had space for more rooms. And more travellers to put in those rooms, too."

        "You don't have any pockets, though," Pinkie Pie pointed out with a gasp. "You should get some! Rarity here makes the prettiest pockets, even though they're usually attached to dresses that aren't always as pink as they could be." She said this last bit as if it were a grave issue. If Rarity had anything to say on this, she gave no indication. The white unicorn was busy telekinetically cleaning up the place, dirty mugs levitated in a line after her as she walked off through the portal in the back.

        "I don't have anything like that, but I do have a- hey! Where are you going?" Winter Sun yelled after Rarity, turning to follow.

        "This is the kitchen, yes?" Rarity replied as she disappeared out of sight.

        "Well, yeah," their host agreed, peering in after her.

        "Then it wouldn't be so hard to guess what I'm going to do. Where do you keep the soap? Ah, to the moon with this, can somepony lend me a hoof?" Rarity called, and Pinkie Pie bounced into the kitchen past the increasingly-flustered Winter Sun.

        "But that's my job!" Winter Sun whined.

        "I learned long ago," Twilight said with a smile, glad that not everypony in this town was hostile to them, "that sometimes, it's just best to accept gifts without making too much a fuss about it. Let Rarity and Pinkie help, it's the least we can do to repay you."

        "We're still paying, Twilight!" came the fashionista's voice from the kitchen. "But I haven't seen soap and a washbasin for a week, and I’m not leaving this kitchen until I’m clean!"

        Twilight and the others shared a little chuckle, and Winter Sun herself seemed to relax a bit. "Anyway, isn't your 'job' to play host to royalty for the evening?" Twilight asked. It felt odd speaking as if Luna wasn't here, but the princess hadn't said a word since they entered. She was about as lively as any of the tables that surrounded them. The princess herself seemed perhaps to pick up on this now, and looked at Twilight, ever unreadable. She blinked as if clearing a film from her eyes.

        "Oh, I suppose!” Winter Sun said. “Good point. Um, it's just, I've never met royalty before. I have two rooms upstairs, but they're kind of small. When I got permission to set up my inn-brewery-pub, they suggested, or, well, demanded I fit in the pub part. I think they disliked the inn idea altogether, but I convinced them that a town's gotta have an inn! You can have both rooms. Nopony's used them for weeks." Twilight had to concentrate to follow the pegasus' meandering manner of speech, though it wasn't quite up to the level of Pinkie Pie's trainwrecks-of-thoughts.

        "You're not local," Luna said, making everypony look up. Twilight had to suppress a snarky comment along the lines of 'Good morning, moonshine!', not quite certain how the princess would react to a joke considering her mood.

        "Oh, no, not at all, your majesty. I come from Grazeland far up north!" The pegasus was smiling broadly and bowed yet again.

        "You don't have to bow every time you say something, you know," Rainbow Dash suggested with a smirk.

        "Told you I've not met royalty before! Celestia visited Grazeland once when I was a little filly but I don't remember anything about that, and, you know, I didn't actually meet her." Winter Sun huffed before turning to Luna again. "How am I doing, you majesty? I guess it's not quite ten out of ten, but is it at least like a seven? A six?"

        "What," Luna said. It was not a question. "No, wait, never mind. You're not from here, that is what I wanted to know. I will return tonight." Luna turned carefully, barely avoiding impaling a low-hanging brass chandelier with her horn.

        "Oh. I thought you were going to, um. You said you were going to tell us-, and, um, Rarity," Fluttershy muttered. Twilight had been about to protest as well. Rarity and Pinkie Pie came back into the common room again at this point, the former smelling faintly of soap.

        The princess hesitated visibly, and finally let out a sigh that seemed to begin at her snout and carry on through to her tail, eventually seating herself on the floor next to a table. A little bit of the Luna beneath the princess shone through, and she nodded. "You are right, Fluttershy. I promised, and I do not intend to go back on that. Thank you for the reminder."

        Fluttershy did not meet the princess' gaze, nodding meekly. Pinkie Pie trotted up to Fluttershy's side and sat next to her in a show of support that seemed to calm her.

        "Ah hate bein' a stick in the mud, but don't you have to raise the moon? And is it okay for Winter Sun here to be here when we discuss business?" Applejack asked, giving the pub owner a glance. Winter Sun seemed to take no offense.

        "She is not local. And I am sure Miss Winter Sun would hear what I am about to say anyway. Sooner or later, in some form, that is. If she stayed here in Grey Hollows." As if those words weren't cryptic enough, she smiled enigmatically and continued. "Plus, it will not matter in the end."

        "What?" Winter Sun asked.

        "Precisely," Luna said.

        "Well, if it's okay, it's okay, and that's okay," Winter Sun concluded, disappearing under the bar desk. After a series of sloshing noises and a few grunts, she returned with eight wooden mugs filled to the brim with cider, all balanced on her wings. Rainbow Dash was staring, jaw slack. Pinkie Pie was salivating.

        "Uh," Twilight blanched. "Is this, um. I don't think this is that kind of story."

        "On the house!" Winter Sun said by way of nothing, least of all as a reply as she spread the mugs out over two nearby tables. "Houth' fineth'!" She grinned around a stein-handle.

        Princess Luna gave a shrug and levitated up a mug, drinking deeply. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack didn't need any further invitation. Rarity gave it a cautious sip at first, but her frown was short-lived. Fluttershy stole sips from her drink only when she thought nopony was watching.

        Peer pressure being the best type of pressure, Twilight sighed and gave it a taste, finding the taste quite pleasant. It was sweeter than most cider she'd tasted, and left a distinct aftertaste in her mouth, followed by a delightful tingle. The princess, having finished her entire mug and put it aside, looked up at the ceiling. It was if she thought she could see something through the roof, beyond. She drew a sharp breath.

        "It goes back a thousand years," Princess Luna began, her eyes shining with ancient memories. "To the city of Crepuscin." She scanned the eyes of the listeners for any sign of recognition, and settled on Twilight’s. The purple unicorn was thinking hard, sure she had heard that name before, somewhere in some books, but she couldn't come up with anything tangible. With no answer forthcoming, Luna continued.

        "Crepuscin was situated in what is now the Everfree Forest, though the forest itself did not exist at the time. The city was built around the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters." This elicited gasps of surprise, but Twilight just nodded. She remembered, now. It had been mentioned in the books that referenced the castle, but only as a ghost of a memory. Searching the very library of the castle in Canterlot had yielded no results. One day, Celestia herself had approached her faithful student and told her, without explaining why, to stop looking for books on the city. It hadn't stopped Twilight, of course, but there truly was nothing to be found.

        "It was, at its height, almost the size of Manehattan, or even Canterlot. While that may be impressive in itself, you have to understand, there were fewer ponies back then. By today's standards, it would have no equal. Without the advances of architecture and engineering we have now, it was also more... spread out." The princess grew silent for a minute before picking up an untouched mug and taking a swig. It was Winter Sun's, but she hadn't moved since Luna had started talking and offered no protest.

        "Standing upon the tallest parapet of the castle, you would be hard pressed to find the horizon amidst the buildings. Ah. But a thousand years ago, the city of Crepuscin was already ancient, and something festered in its midst. Corruption and betrayal given form." The princess grimaced and mercilessly finished the second jug before setting it down on the table with exaggerated care.

        "There were those who saw it coming. The impending doom was in plain view half the time, and soon enough, the city began to wither and die as ponies moved. Fled. Have you ever watched a city die?" The question was sudden in its intensity and seven heads shook mutely. "I hope you are spared the sight. Watching somepony die is tragic, but watching the sum of everypony's labor and love, watching a community that is the heart of soul of an entire nation's efforts die?"

        Luna looked like she was about to choke, her lower jaw trembling. She took a deep breath. "Crepuscin was reduced to a shell of its former glory in a matter of years. Faith in the... ruling body wavered, and for better or for worse, the borders of Equestria expanded in the wake of the exodus. But not everyone left."

        "There were those who were blinded by loyalty and oaths. Those who would sooner die than abandon their promises. Those who were too stubborn to move." There was a small, almost derisive snort from the princess. "And those too brave to yield."

        "When betrayal struck. When the corruption bared its ugly face, those who had asked for death by remaining in Crepuscin got exactly that. In a matter of minutes, Crepuscin ceased to exist. The Everfree Forest is the fallout of the tragedy that occurred."

        "The relevance?" Luna collected herself with these words. "The ponies of Grey Hollows are the descendants of the survivors. Those who survived the cataclysmic disaster in Crepuscin took up refuge here in the Hollows, hidden within the Oakwall Forest. To them, everypony else betrayed them by abandoning them and the city of Crepuscin. If they could survive declaring themselves independent of Equestria, they would."

        Rainbow Dash shook her head and finished her cider in one gulp. Most other ponies hadn't touched their drinks in a while.

"But why are they angry with you, Princess? Why are they all so angry?" Winter Sun asked. The white pegasus looked confused, but the other ponies in the room knew the answer, and averted their gazes, wincing.

        "Because I betrayed them more than anyone. I am the disaster that happened," the princess said. “I am the betrayal.”