Snow Sky covered his eyes from the wind. The young white Pegasus had grown used to this work for the Lower Villages; scouting out for food was one of the most important jobs. Spotting a berry bush in the dense forest, he dove and plucked some before tossing them into his basket. This day was unusually slow, without a single good find anywhere. Off in the distance, the Pillars of Eternity stood, massive spires of rock topped with iron. On the valley floor between them lay twisted metal of various shapes and sizes, succumbing to the cold. Seventeen miles out beyond that was the Sea. But nobody he knew had ever been that far and returned; various hostile pony tribes as well as the bandits that patrolled the entrance to the Valley made short work out of anyone adventurous enough to try. He was perfectly content to live, doing his little job for his little village in his little country. As he returned with an almost empty basket, he couldn't help but notice that the day seemed a bit warmer than ususal. He waved it off as another burst of wind from the village. As he flew over the river, he looked down at the river running through the farmland and forest and thought, "This is my home. This is where I've always been, and this is where I'll always be." He couldn't help but look up, though, at the massive ancient ruins that lined the valley. For some strange reason, they stopped all at the same level with what must have been massive airship docks jutting out over the gentle slope that gave way to the cliffs. It was still a beautiful sight, with the shining of the occasional pane of glass. He'd made the pilgrimage up there, of course. Everypony did at the age of five. The old ramp built by his forefathers still stood, carved into the mountains of history.
He remembered the old unicorn who'd said that the entire area was coastline. He didn't believe her, though. Nobody did. The crazy old witch had left town soon after, probably going to spread her craziness to the ponies further down the valley. As he landed in the marketplace, his friend Forestree called out to him. "Hey! Snow! Over Here!" Snow Sky sighed. Forstree was nice, but she was a bit eccentric. She was probably going to show him some crazy new invention that would never work practically. He turned and walked to her, and was surprised by the lack of mad science. The short green unicorn was instead pointing at the Pillars. "I think I know what those were! They weren't always there, they were built by the Ancients!"
At the mention of the Ancients, Snow Sky tensed up a little. He didn't want his friend getting kicked out of town for being crazy, but he also was somewhat interested with what she had to say. "Come into my house; we'll talk there." His house was a small building on the edge of town; while it wasn't much, it was better than the huts that the Poors lived in. As they walked down the somewhat crowded street, he had to ask. "What got you thinking about the Pillars and the Ancients, anyway?"
"Why, don't you ever think about what happened before?"
He couldn't say he hadn't. The images of the Ancients they found depicted them as all coming in a relatively light color, and being tall, slender, bipedal people with a strange appendage at the end of each arm. Nobody had taken them seriously; and everybody knew that no culture could have built something massive as the Pillars that stood at the entrance to the valley, or as the similar Pillars of Life that stood further back. He simply tapped her on the back and said, "Sometimes."
As they entered his house, she continued talking. "So anyway, I found out that the pillars were built by the Ancients! I even have scientific evidence to prove it; here's a chunk of one of the pillars, here's a bit of what was next to an Ancient road, and here's an average rock." He couldn't believe his eyes. Stealing pieces of any of the Pillars was considered treason; if anyone found out, she'd certainly be either hung or beheaded. He said the only thing that came to mind.
"Why would you do this?!" he shouted.
"Because," she said as she smiled, "I want to go up to the Ancient City."
"But you already did! In your pilgrimage!" he said in a desperate tone.
"You think they'd show you the City? They only take you down one row; there must be so much more!" she said.
He resigned. "You do what you want; I'm not risking my neck for this."
"You're actually doing it." said Snow as he entered Forestree's house.
"Of course I am!" she replied as she stuffed some clothing into her bag.
"You're crazy." he said.
"What made you think I wasn't?" she said as she put a shining iron dagger into a strap on her bag.
"You'll get yourself killed!"
"I'll be fine," she said as she did the strap on her bag and slung it onto her back.
"Well, it was nice knowing you," said Snow Sky as she walked out of the door.
The next morning, Snow Sky began to do his morning rounds. The biting cold made it obvious that today wasn't going to be a good day. As he and the other Gatherers waited for dawn, he couldn't help but look at the Pillars. As he stared, the sun slowly rose between them. "Sure is a beautiful sight, isn't it, youngie," said a gruff old stallion. The squad director then blew his whistle, and the pegasi took off, scanning the forest for food. As Snow Sky began to rise, he could see the glaciers where they met the sky. That must have been what his mother named him after; you could barely tell the distinction between the snow and the sky. It was a shame that she had died in a bandit attack on the village. She had valiantly tried to keep them away from the village center, and had almost succeeded until an arrow came flying out of a building at her.
It was best not to dwell on such thoughts, however, as Snow quickly saw the small creek he usually scouted out first. He flew up and down it looking for anything edible. He found a good bit of wild barley that could be made into bread, as well as a few berries and fruits. Without noticing it, he found himself slowly going up the side of one of the mountains. He didn't notice that the trees were getting thinner and thinner as he rose up until he looked out at the valley. "Holy..." he said as he looked out over the valley. It truly looked beautiful from up here. As he turned around, he noticed a strange sign. "W....m... t... A..me...." While he could only make out a few letters, he knew that his sign must have been important as a strange rock outcropping was on his right, and to his left were pieces of metal similar to what had fallen from the Pillars of Eternity. Very similar, in fact... He decided to stand on the edge of the metal and dark rock jut. To his surprise, he found that it went through the holes in the upper parts of the Pillars quite perfectly, and it seemed to meet up with the similar segments on the Pillars. Then the thought dawned upon him.
"What if... what if this was a bridge?"