In the end I wasn't sure where to start so figured Gaia should just ask me questions and I would answer best I could. I was trying to put the crying incident out of my mind but it wouldn’t quite leave. Thankfully we'd reached Cavernus, and the disaster that was looming ahead of me was very distracting. We had not only been given clearance to enter the great arch directly, but dock at a royal mooring. I walked off the ship.
"Sweetsong, I thought you had to be exaggerating." Said Blossom
"Amazing, ain't it?"
I nodded along with Blossomforth. I'd seen pictures so I was less surprised, but in pony it was still something else entirely. Shadowgate was named after a huge arch on the side of the mountain that was filled with a wall of darkness that kept sunlight out entirely. But that doesn't mean the bat ponies hated all light, just truly bright light, being creatures of the dark. So Shadow's Arch was a city carved into the walls of the massive cavern, all the way from the ground to the ceiling, every last one lit from within. Most impressive being the obsidian pillar and it's well ordered lights, the royal palace of all Cavernus. The nation had begun with this single cavern but now countless caves stretched through this whole massive mountain range.
"Uh, it looks like they carved up all the pillars in here." Said Spike "As in there isn't much support left."
"Nah." Said Sweetsong. "It's cool. Some of these are way thicker than they look and since we don't need stairs or whatever they're solid in the center."
"So we will be flying our landbound friends everywhere?" said Sweetsong "Wonderful."
"It is really that great a burden for you?" asked Gaia
"It's not that it's just…"
"Nah, we won't." said Song. "The palace has stairs and such, and there some other places with them, or elevators or whatnot. Lots of shops need freight and stuff. Houses though usually don't. Twilight you're okay not meeting my family here right?"
"Uh, yea."
"Girl. I know barely know you, and I believe Miss Sparkle is much the same."
"I don't really know you either." Added Spike
Song laughed. "Oh yea, sorta forgot. Whatever. Still, that's later anyway."
"Yes, since docking went easier than expected we can meet up with Dream Volt and Bumblesweet immediately, and determine Luna's current orders." Said Blossom
"Or just ask Luna herself, right?" I asked
"Well, yes, most likely. Though it's very possible she might be in a closed door meeting, or otherwise unavailable. That is likely to make one or the other unavailable as well but we should still be able to determine…"
Sweetsong groaned. "Oh come on, this isn't complicated. Lets just get going. We can just ask the guards. I mean the air traffic control messenger said they were expecting and eagerly awaiting Twilight."
"And thus something has obviously gone wrong that requires her attention." Said Gaia
I sighed. It did seem likely actually. I then shook my head and walked forward confidently. I might as well wait until I actually know what's wrong before I panic.