Some days, being manager just isn't worth it, Sunny Skies thought as she winged her way towards Sunrise Apartments. Being responsible for Cloudsdale's weather was an envious position, rivaled only by controlling the Weatherworks itself. She had fifty ponies reporting to her directly, and two hundred managing the complicated task of getting the right weather to the right location at the right time and with nothing going wrong. Coordinating things with Earth ponies might have been tedious, but that constant work prevented flash floods and famine. No pegasus, no matter how good a flier, had managed to get apple trees to grow on clouds. They'd tried... oh how they'd tried.
Stormy had come by to check on Rainy before leaving for the ground. Hadn't that been awkward... No, wait. When mom had shown up! THAT was the awkward point in the afternoon. Sunny had been ready to head off the old accusations and arguments, but then she'd gotten the letter from old Wrinklefeathers Cirrus, production manager of the Weatherworks, to head over to Sun Glare and make a list of what they'd need to get operations going again. She'd left just before the shouting started. Uuuuugh...
Mom might have been the matriarch of the family, but Sunny'd kept things going. When her sisters were angry with mom, Sunny dealt with it. When mom wanted things done, Sunny played both informer and manager. Sunny might not get in trouble if one of her sisters did wrong by mom, but there'd always be that sigh and look of 'why didn't you tell me sooner / tell your sister not to / fix this yourself?' And then mom took care of it, whether it was shouting at a bully's parents, tending to a broken wing, or patching a hole in the wall. That was half the reason she'd worked so hard to get out of that place and get a good job; so she'd never have to go back.
Of course, she never really left. Worry kept her constantly in touch with her siblings to make sure things were getting done. Calm Skies hadn't tried to do the same job when she became oldest. She moved in with whatever stallion or marefriend and made it clear that whatever problem it was, it wasn't her problem. That'd left Stormy and Rainy as oldest. Stormy tried to do Sunny's job, but where Sunny could manage mom, Stormy just got in epic shouting matches. She'd gotten better for a while though, and then she'd had her stupid accident. That left Rainy as 'oldest daughter'.
It'd almost killed her.
At least mom hadn't inflicted that degree pressure on any of her other kids, but it'd tainted their relationship. Rainy moved in with Sunny simply to spare her that constant feeling of worthlessness. Mom simply couldn't manage eight colts and fillies and her older children too. Some habits never changed. Windy was the 'responsible' child now, and hopefully she listened to Sunny's advice. 'You will never be good enough, but you will always be appreciated.'
She landed outside Sunglare's apartment and raised a hoof, rapping sharply on the door. "This isn't going to be pretty," she muttered, seeing as how Stormy was involved in this mess. She'd just have to keep pointing out that getting the Weatherworks working as soon as possible would be great for his career. That should suppress some of his standard snippiness.
Sunny Skies froze as her nostrils detected something amiss. An acrid smell that had no place in the clouds. She'd only smelled it once before, when there'd been a dragon filling Equestria with...
Smoke.
She rapped on his door rapidly with her hooves. Although fires were rare in Cloudsdale, they happened. Clouds might not burn, but there were plenty of things brought up from below, enchanted not to tumble through the clouds, which could burn. Pegasi were horribly sensitive to smoke, and while the fires might burn enough to threaten them, they could still suffocate! "Sun Glare! Sun Glare!" she shouted as she hammered her hooves on the door. A sour stallion stepped out, glowering at her, and she shouted at him, "Get the Royal Guard! Now!" she snapped as she would at any of her team, and the stallion blinked in shock and then flew down towards the exit in the floor.
Sunny stared at the cloud walls; formed and thickened just a year ago. It'd take her a week to batter through them. That didn't mean that was the only way in, though. She flew down stairs where a mare was poking her head out. Sunny barged right in past her. "Hey!" she protested, but Sunny paid neither her nor her tacky little apartment much attention as she started to poke at the ceiling. Just as she thought. The floors were firm, but not as dense as the walls. "Get out of here before I get the guard!" the puce mare snapped at Sunny.
"Get them! Quick! There's a fire upstairs!" she snapped as she dove for the floor, spreading her wings wide. Clouds were an amazing substance, and Sunny had made manipulating it a career. The cloud indented, then propelled her straight for the ceiling. Stormy tucked her wings in tight, hitting the ceiling with her hooves. A hole the size of her foot appeared, thick gray smoke swirling within, and she repeated the process again and again. On the fourth time, she smashed right through the ceiling and into Sun Glare's apartment.
This might be a mistake, she though as she immediately started to cough and retch. The smoke was thickest above, so she all but crawled across the debris strewn floor. Sun Glare's precious figurines lay flickering all over the floor, many of them smashed, but providing enough light for her to open the door. A great stream of smoke poured out. Fortunately, the lay out was the same as Sunny's own apartment, so she went to the kitchen and opened the windows. Black smoke poured from the stove, and Sunny quickly extracted a cremated apple pie. It wasn't on fire, yet, but clearly this was the source of the smoke. Sunny couldn't stand it, and tossed the smoldering dessert out the window.
"Sun Glare!" she croaked, dropping low again and crawling along the floor. She heard the sound of hissing water, and Wingerian operas howling dramatically. "Sun Glare! Are you okay? Sun!" She shouted as stretched up a wing to turn the knob. Sun Glare had to be unconscious from the smoke. She shoved open the door, freezing.
Not again. Blood everywhere. Asprin on the counter. A pony laying in the shower as water sprayed.
Almost automatically, she rushed to the tub where the stallion lay in a bloody mess. His mouth moved feebly as he held his bloody forehooves over his head. He'd slit from fetlock up to his knee just like Rainy; worse, he'd gotten both legs. Sunny barely thought as she turned and rushed to the kitchen. Coughing, hr eyes watering from the lingering smoke, she checked the kitchen for what she needed, found it, and rushed back. Biting his mane she drug him out of the tub with barely a whimper of protest. Not good.
She yanked a perfectly folded towel off the rack and patted his bleeding forelegs as dry as she could. Then she opened the container and poured salt directly into the wounds. Now Sun Glare gave a groan of pain, stirring slightly. Good. The salt would dessicate the wound, spike his blood pressure, and hurt like the dickens, keeping him from falling unconcious. She wrapped another towel around each leg and twisted it, increasing the pressure. "Help!" She screamed as loud as she could. "I need help!"
As she drew a breath, Sun Glare whispered, "I have to do it. I have to do it."
Sunny stared at him as distant shouts became closer and clearer. "What do you mean you had to do it?"
"I have to do it," he whispered though pale lips, his eyes wide and desperate.
Then the wonderbolt was in the doorway. "She's in here!" the mare shouted. "We need one cloud transport to the hospital now!" The deminuative mare moved to her side. "We need you to move aside, ma'am. Go out in the hall and be checked out. You should probably go to the hospital too."
"I just came from there," Sunny murmured. Sun Glare's lips moved silently over and over again, in audible over the rucus. Two Wonderbolts at the door and rear windows fanned their wings furiously, blowing the smoke out and into the clear skies. Sunny half tumbled, half flew out the front door and into the atrium, coughing hard. She slumped to the floor, and watched as the Wonderbolt carried Sun Glare out on her outstretched wings, transfering him to a near by cloud. As he was carried past her, his eyes stared at her, pleading, his lips moving silently.
I have to do it.
Not had. Have. That was the only difference between Rainy and this. Sunny watched him being moved off towards the hospital. Royal guard pegasi in their golden armor kept gawkers at bay. Sunny just focused on breathing. Off to the side, she heard the sallow mare from the apartment bellow demanding her arrest for breaking a hole in her ceiling. No good deed...
"Sunny Skies?" A mare asked in a deep, authoritarian voice. Sunny turned and froze, then struggled to her hooves and gave the first salute she ever had. This pegasus just had that kind of effect. The helmet she wore encased her entire head, and the barding she wore covered from head to hoof. Her powerful wings were more than capable of carrying the weight. Yellow eyes stared down with a steady gaze that stiffened Sunny's shaky legs and weary wings. Oh her chest was Celestia's glorious sun.
Resplendent Sun, commander of the pegasi royal guard, was a mare that made an impression.
"Yes, ma'am!" Sunny said as forcefully as she could.
"I want to thank you for your quick thinking. You not only saved the life of my brother, but also potentially many other lives if that smoke had spread to apartments above this one. I'm going to suggest an accommodation be rewarded to you. The Silver Cloud," she said as she gazed down at her. Her brother? That explained why she was here. She lived in the same building, all the way at the top. "I have just one question. Did my brother say anything to you about why he did this?" she asked, her voice steady and soft.
Sunny opened her mouth and closed it again, frowning at she looked at the magnificent armored mare. "He said..." she balked again, not exactly sure why. "He said he had to do it."
"Ah, poor Glare," Resplendent said with a shake of her head. "Well, the stress of this disaster was simply too much for a pony like him to bear. I suppose it had to happen." She turned away from Sunny, and the mare relaxed, but then faced her again a moment later. "Oh. One other thing. Sunny Skies was it? Any relation to Stormy Skies?"
There were plenty of Stormy Skies in Cloudsdale, but Sunny knew precisely which of the half dozen she was referring to. "Yes, ma'am. She's my younger sister."
"You should do your best to rein her in. History has shown that bad things happen to pegasi who can't fly in formation. You don't want to risk losing your sister, after all. What could be more precious than family?" She maintained the stare for a few seconds longer, then turned and went to talk to two Wonderbolts who were staring at a piece of paper; a note from the apartment.
Sunny could barely stand after that exchange, let alone walk. Her heart was going a mile a minute, and when some ponies offered to carry her to the hospital as well, she shook her head. "I've got work to do," she said faintly. As she staggered to the door, she spotted the Guard Commander watching her with that piercing yellow gaze.
"So, have either of you two fillies been to Lithopolis before?" Razorback asked as the train tootled away from Rainbow Swamp. Stormy folded her hooves under her, staring out the window and seeing the past. Mom and she hadn't screamed anything new at each other. 'You nearly killed your sister,' was novel, but too similar to 'you could have killed a dozen ponies'. Stormy had taken it as long as she cloud before she'd run, like she always did.
"I've never even been on a train before, Razor," Stormy admitted, the strange earth pony's talk drawing her away from the past. It wasn't like the cell; even though she was enclosed, there were windows she could open. So she wasn't supposed to leave while the train was in motion. She could trot out the door if she wanted too. So why did it seem like the far end of the car was shrinking before her eyes? She sat next to an open window, watching the trees flash by.
"It's an earth pony town, isn't it?" Misty asked.
"Ehhhh..." he twisted an upraised hoof back and forth. "Comme ce, comme ca. It is home to earth ponies, vrai, but they are not like most earth ponies you know."
"I don't know any earth ponies," Stormy admitted, getting a surprised look on Razor's face.
"How did you manage that, ma canarie? The earth pony is not exactly rare in Equestria," he asked as he tilted his head.
"I know of earth ponies, but I don't know any earth ponies like friends. Most ponies I knew were other pegasi on the weather team," she fidgeted a little at the blank look of bafflement on his face. "I knew the Cakes. They're earth pony bakers. Like Applejack... she bakes pies... and stuff. That seems to be an earth pony... thing." Razorback probably cooked mud pies.
"Ah. Oui. And they are skilled at it, certainment. Still, not all earth ponies are the same," Razor said as he leaned back. "Not like pegasi and unicorns."
"What?" Misty asked simultaneously with Stormy. They shared a look and Misty went on, "We're not all the same."
"Pegasi fly. Unicorns do magic. What's more to know?" Razorback gave a dismissive shrug.
"Right. The Rainbows are just like the Skies and the Clouds are the same as the Suns. That'd get you in a fight in Cloudsdale!" Stormy snorted with a toss of her mane.
"And unicorns vary widely in their application of magic, as defined by their lineage and ancest-," Misty began just as hottly before she relaxed. "And that's your point. Earth ponies aren't just bakers."
"Voila," he said with a grin to her, clapping his hooves together. "Certainment, many earth ponies bake, but many more do not. When you talk about le poney de terre, you must keep that in mind." He scratched his nose and regarded the almost empty train car, then back to the pair. "Some earth ponies are farmers. Some work the wood, others the stone. Some work in cities. Some in villages. When you think about earth ponies, you must ask what they do, and where they live. Then you can start to understand us."
It didn't sound much different from Cloudsdale, Stormy admitted. "Okay, so what about you? Your from Neigh Horleans, right?"
"C'est vrai. The great port on the Equestrian river, settled by earth ponies and unicorns from Prance. I grew up in the bayous, working the river barges and living in the swamp. C'est beaucoup amusaunt," he said with a grin.
"Right, living in a swamp is fun," Stormy snorted.
He spread his forelegs wide. "Certainment! Swimming. Fishing. Climbing trees and escaping monsieur alligator. Exploring. And when older we gathered moss and grass and rare herbs used in fancy unicorn cooking. Working the barges and rafts, poling up and down the river," he gave a lusty sigh. "Les étalons et juments..."
"Wait. How do you climb trees with hooves?" Misty asked with a baffled expression.
"Prudemment! Very carefully," he answered with a laugh, then waved a hoof. "But if you put me on a farm... zut alors... I would be one sad poney. All that work, and no river to fish in or swim. I do not know how they stand it!"
Stormy started getting the picture. It was easy to just pretend that earth ponies were all the same: boring. "So what are the earth ponies in Lithopolis like?" Stormy asked, now a bit curious. Back in Ponyville they'd just been... there. Like clouds in the sky. You didn't pay them much attention beyond buying lunch from them.
His smile faded. "Lithopolis is a old city. Old as Equestria. Older than the princesses. And very serious. When ponies built Manehattan and Canterlot, the stone came from Lithopolis, and the ponies who live there. They are not earth ponies, but les ponies des roche. Rock." Now he didn't smile at all. "They cut the stone that Equestria is built from. It's in their blood. In their bones."
Stormy rubbed her temples with her wing tips. "You'd think I'd remember a place like that," she muttered as the train wound through the steep slopes of a canyon. Then she glanced at Misty, "Is there some way you can check to see if someone did magic on me?"
Misty swallowed hard and shook her head slowly. "I couldn't, but a magical specialist might. You'd need a unicorn doctor at least. Maybe a psychologist. It's not as simple as just casting a spell and looking for holes in your memory. It takes an expert."
"Right," she muttered as a train passed them on a parallel track; a freight train pulled by a team of earth ponies and engine, hauling huge blocks of stone. "Well, I guess we'll be there soon enough."
The last few miles of track stopped following the contours of the canyon and simply started punching straight through every curve. At every tunnel, Stormy barely suppressed the dread welling up inside her that that moment was going to be the one in which the tunnels decided they were going to give up and come crashing down. Each one heightened her anxiety, and she found herself cursing the entire earth pony race for being stupid dirt hooves, mucking about in the soil with their rocks and wanting nothing more than to go home. Whatever Lithopolis was, it wasn't worth her time. Nothing was worth these crushing moments of dread that made her fear soiling herself.
Then the last tunnel opened wide.
Lithopolis...
Cloudsdale had once been a military base in the skies for pegasi, and she and most Pegasi were proud of that fact. Stormy knew no lack of ponies who snickered behind their wings that Canterlot was compensating for something, or condemned Manehattan as that over crowded hive of earth ponies. Even smaller towns like Ponyville were often dismissed as 'boxes of dead wood', though at least some Pegasi lived in proper cloud homes. Lithopolis was a hole in the ground.
The most beautiful hole she'd ever seen.
The city cut down into the earth in tiers, following the different strata of the earth and creating thick, sculpted layers. The city was about a mile in diameter, and she didn't want to think how far down it went! Overhangs were reinforced by round ionic pillars. Water pouring in from above channeled into cascades tumbling into pools that flowed like aqueducts through the city. The homes were dug into the cliff face itself, many with large windows cut into the front. Every surface gleamed with polish, reflecting the light that did make it into the vast hole.
The train wasn't even pulled into the bottom. Instead, the station lay on a wide ledge about halfway down. Here, freight cars like the one that had passed them were being loaded up with slabs of stone, bags of gravel, and boxes of gems. They didn't even bother with engines in the yard. The Earth ponies simply shoved the cars around as if they were absolute nothing. When the trio disembarked, Stormy was cut off by a mare smaller than her hauling a slab of stone bigger than stormy's body. "Coming through," she said lackadaisically, as if carrying nothing at all.
I do not want these ponies mad at me. Not for any reason, she thought.
"Got to watch your step, fillies," Razorback warned amiably as they trotted along the edge of the flat. Down below, the digging continued. Hundreds of earth ponies quarrying, digging, and hauling minerals out of tunnels bored into the earth. They tied the slabs to ropes, and earth ponies inside wheels trotted forward, pulling them to the ledge the trio occupied. It was then that Stormy realized how few non-earth ponies there were. No pegasi weather control. No unicorn levitation or magic tricks. Ponies that built this wouldn't care about incidentals like weather.
"Where are we going?" Misty asked, equally gawking at the sights in all directions.
"Hôtel, bien entendu," Razorback replied. "Earth ponies from out of town stay here. You'll be most comfortable there." As they walked, Stormy noticed few, if any, paid them attention. She took to the air, but it was a struggle to stay aloft. That got a few looks, and little else.
She landed again, "Are they all... why are they all so?" Weird, she wanted to say. Quite a few had bright pebbles they kicked ahead of them like tiny balls, or drug them along on leashes. Then she saw a pair having lunch... of rocks. The sight of them chewing pebbles made her mane stand on end. If they could chew and digest stone, what were these ponies?
"Not everypony wears their heart on their hoof, fillies. I promise you, they're noticing," Razorback explained. The hotel was easy enough to find. "Hotel." was carved in the stone above the door ten feet tall. Most of the homes she could see were similarly labelled. 'Doctor. Store. School.' Since every building was carved into solid rock, it made sense they'd have to label the buildings within to know who was inside without going in to each.
Stormy made it as far as the foyer. To be fair, that was pretty spacious. More spacious than she expected. The pillars were polished till they gleamed, and there were dozens of potted plants growing around the windows. Magical gems illuminated deeper within, a small concession to magical convenience. It didn't change the fact that if she tried to stay here, she'd die. Her butt magically adhered to the ground and refused to go any further.
Misty turned back to her. "It's okay, Stormy," she said in as soothing a voice as she could. "This place has probably been here for centuries. It's not going to collapse now."
Stormy jabbed a hoof at her. "Now that you said that, it will!" she blurted irrationally, then pressed her face to the rock. "I can't stay here. I can't even go in here!"
Misty turned to Razorback, who watched with concern. "Is there anywhere else she can stay? Maybe up top?" The question seemed to shock and even insult the ponies behind the counter.
"Up top?" the mare behind the counter snorted indignantely. "If you'd rather stay in a slum rather than a nice hotel, by all means, go up top!"
"She's claustrophobic," Misty said sharply, to the bafflement of the mare. "She's afraid of enclosed spaces." If anything, that made her look even more baffled.
"I'm not afraid of nothing," Stormy growled into the rock, "I just know for a scientific fact I'm about to be squished like a bug under a bajillion tons of stone."
Another mare in the hotel uniform approached. "Miss, we might have a room you'll be comfortable in. If you'll come with me?"
Shamed at the concern in the gray mare's voice, Stormy forced herself to her hooves. She led her into a tunnel, and took the first right. She had till Stormy passed out, because she couldn't breathe in here.
Then the door opened out into the sky. Stormy gasped, getting a needed breath, and stepped in on to the clouds covering the ground. The sun was high in the pristine blue sky. So relieved was she that she didn't question. She just let out a whoop of delight and soared into the room. "Wait!" the gray mare warned, but she didn't care! Free! Free! Fr-
She smacked right into a wall, landing back on the 'clouds' which felt flimsier than any mist the weatherworks would ever produce. With her wits rattled, Stormy reached out and touched the sky. The smooth blue stone was polished to almost perfectly match the sky. "Hemimorphite," the gray mare explained. In the corner, a old brass humidifier put out the 'cloud', the water vapor condensing against the cool stone.
"It looks so real," Stormy murmured. Real enough that her mind wasn't screaming at her that she was about to be crushed. After all, you couldn't get crushed by sky. That was just silly.
"We don't get many pegasus guests, but when we do, we put them in here. Just don't try and fly too far. It's a dome, so you can get a little altitude, but be careful." She stomped her hoof twice, and the radiant gemstone in the ceiling changed color and dimmed to soft moon light. Tiny gems in the ceiling sparkled like constellations. "Would this be acceptable?"
Stormy took in a deep breath. It wasn't perfect, but she could breathe in here. There was even a breeze coming from some cleverly hidden vents. "I guess. Sure." She gave the gray mare a smile and nod. "Thank you."
That taken care of, with Razorback paying for the room since they were officially investigating, they went out into the city once more. "So now what?" Stormy wondered, still a bit shaken by the enclosure.
"Now we find Maud and find the cave that you took that picture in," Misty replied, looking to Razorback. "Right?"
""Oui. I wrote ahead. She'll be meeting us for lunch," Razorback said as they trotted through the crowd. Stormy was used to cities, so the sight of so many ponies just causally walking around felt off to her. Some seemed to just walk along in no hurry. Others seemed trapped in some sort of slowness field. In Cloudsdale, ponies had things to do. Stormy stayed aloft, and Misty grew wings to join her, leaving Razorback to maneuver through the crowd. These ponies didn't jostle or shove; they crushed if you happened to get caught between them.
They entered into a market of sorts, where the crowd spread out enough that Razorback could catch a breath. Stalls were set up in neat rows, and Misty immediately landed. "Oooh, what are they selling?" she asked as Razorback caught up with them.
As if it wasn't obvious.
Rocks. All kinds of rocks. Each vendor seemed to have their own particular minerals for sell, and they stood at the front of their stalls boredly croaking things like "Marble. Get your marble here. Fine marble." Or "Granite. Nothing beats granite. You can take granite for granted." Stormy stared in bafflement, as if witnessing some kind of horrible accident that she couldn't look away from. "Mud here. Fine, premium mud. You won't find better mud anywhere." Offered one vendor as she pointed her hoof at jars of gray... mud.
"Uh, pass," Stormy said flatly, flying past--
Or she would, if the vendor hadn't stepped on Stormy's tail, stopping her dead in her tracks. The brown mare leaned in, her face passive, eyes half closed, and yet she gave the impression of an imminent mountain slide. "Are you saying my mud is no good? It's the finest mud in all of Equestria, and I won't stand for you disparaging my mud."
"It's... mud," Stormy said weakly.
"Beautiful mud! Wonderful!" Misty said in a rush as she picked up a jar, then blinked in surprise. "This is good mud! This would cost you thirty bits at a salon in Canterlot!" She gushed leaning towards the vendor. "How much?"
"Five bits a jar," the vendor replied passively to Misty, pointing at a piece of slate with prices scribbled upon it.
"I'll take three!" she said eagerly, getting the jars and putting them in her saddlebags. The vendor was now mollified enough to let Stormy go. Misty nearly danced on her hooves. "Eeee, these will make such wonderful presents back home."
"You spent money, on mud, to give mud as a gift?" Stormy asked, having a better understanding of her relatives who thought contact with the ground robbed you of all your good senses. "It's mud!"
"It's hydrated clay, useful in removing toxins and excess oil from ones coat," Misty replied primly.
"I'm with you," Razorback told Stormy. "If I want mud I can just go roll in it. Why buy when all it takes is a garden hose to make your own, am I right?" Stormy stared flatly at him. "Que?" he asked in bafflement, and Stormy chocked up an little more evidence that Uncle Murky was right.
She turned away just in time to have a green stallion thrust some green rocks at her. "You want to buy some alexandrite," he declared flatly.
"I do?" Stormy blinked, and then shook her head. "No I don't! I don't even know what that is!"
"It's what's missing in your life," the stallion murmured, holding out the green gems at her. "I look at you and I see on your face this need for alexanderite." The stallion waved his hoof at her, droning, "You want it. You need it. Buy Alexanderite."
"I don't! I really don't!" Stormy blurted, backing away... or trying to. Instead, she backed right into another stallion holding an immense crystal on his back. Stormy gaped at the massive white crystal seemed poised to tumble down upon her. Where was Razor and Misty? She twisted to and fro, but only saw earth ponies and their rocks. I have to get in the air! I need air! She thought desperately, launching herself into the skies.
Or rather, straight into the side of a red hunk of rock. She collapsed beneath the mare holding it, who turned and muttered, "Hey. Don't touch my sandstone." A pause and a blink. "Are you okay?"
No. Not okay. Definitely not okay. Her head spun as she staggered through the crowd, banging into one pony after the next. She crashed into stalls, sending carefully stacked piles of rocks clattering to the ground. She smashed into ponies bearing boulders that would smash her to the ground. Half the vendors thrust more rocks at her, stating their high quality, low prices, and desirability. "You want my beds. Fine matresses. Softest talc you'll ever sleep on."
"Talc? That's at least fifty percent gypsum. Might as well sleep on the ground," a passing mare replied.
Then Stormy collapsed. The town, the vendors, and the stones all came crashing down upon her, and everything went black.
When she awoke, she found herself in a nice, quiet, wide open chamber alcove. The air felt lighter up here, and she took in several breaths before sitting up and peering around. This looked like some kind of amphitheater with a large pink stone monolith prominently on display. Two lines of earth walked up and tapped their hooves against the enormous stone in pairs. She watched in silent bafflement at the display, laying on her side. She could hear Misty and Razorback talking with a third mare. She'd passed out again, hadn't she? Shame welled up in her, strangling her throat. She'd been so proud to make it in and out of that stupid hotel, only to pass out in a dumb market. Dumb market. Dumb earth ponies. Dumb everything.
Then a pair tapped it, and the slab let out a warm musical note as it resonated like a chime. Immediately the crowd began to stomp their hooves as the pair embraced, kissed, and moved on. Then the ritual tapping resumed. "How nice," the strange mare said, and Stormy signed and rolled over.
It was the first mare she'd met almost as gray as stormy herself. Straight mane cut, straight tail cut, and a flat expression half the ponies in this place wore. Eager to head off talking about what happened to her in the market, Stormy asked, "What was that?"
"The Choosing Stone," the gray stranger replied, was silent for a second, then went on, "When two ponies touch it who are a good match for each other, it lets out a note of approval."
"Are you oka-" Misty began to ask.
"Even if they're complete strangers?" Stormy asked over her.
"The Choosing Stone only knows the ponies who touch it," the stranger said in her strange monotone.
"Stormy, you-"
"What if there's two stallions? Or mares?" Stormy talked over Misty again.
The strange pony stared at her for three seconds this time, blinked, and repeated, "The Choosing Stone only knows the ponies who touch it."
"Stormy-"
"The stone knows?" Stormy asked, fighting the scorn in her voice. "How does a stone know anything?"
The mare's face and tone didn't change in the slightest. She just leaned towards Stormy, and a sense of dread washed over her as she said, "The stone knows."
With this conversational avenue shut down, Misty blurted, "Are you okay, Stormy?"
"I'm fine. Who is she?" she asked as Misty's ears drooped and she looked away.
"Ma cousine, Maud Pie. She's working on her rocktorate degree, oui?" Razorback answered.
"My thesis is on the effect of natural magical fields and the formation of geological phenomena, predominately in crystal formations such as quartz, fluorite, malachite, and rhodonite," she said in one breath, as relentless as a boulder.
"You're studying magic's effects on rocks?" Misty asked with a smile.
Maud didn't answer for several seconds, then simply stated, "Yes."
"But you're not a unicorn," Misty pointed out. "How do you study magic without, you know?" she pointed at her horn.
Again, that lean towards Misty gave the sensation of a rock face about to collapse. "Not all magic comes from horns. The land is magic."
"Oh, I just assumed-" Misty said as she averted her eyes.
"Yes. Many unicorns do. There are other forms of magic though, and some are much deeper and older than ponies themselves," she said, her voice not changing a bit, but Stormy found herself captivated.
"It's like the spirit of the sky story," Stormy replied, and got three blank stares back. "It's an old pony tale about an earth pony who loved the sky so much she begged the spirit of the sky to give her wings. It did, and she left the earth behind forever. When other earth ponies saw how happy she was playing in the clouds, they also begged the sky to give them wings as well. That's where pegasi come from."
Maud replied, "Facinating." All the eyes turned to Misty.
"Oh. Ah. Well. There's many stories. Like where we were created by the stars, but some were born without horns and became earth ponies, and others experimented with magic and became pegasi. Things like that," she said with an awkward laugh. "Most do have unicorns coming first, though."
"I hate to interrupt l'heure du conte, but we're here for a reason, oui?" Razorback asked. "Maud's agreed to help us find that cave in your picture."
"How?" Stormy asked.
"Yes, how? Are you going to use your earth pony magic on Stormy? Find a single fleck of dust in her ear and trace it back to the origin?" Misty asked in a rush.
Maud stared at her for a long moment. "No," she answered, then rose. "Agate?" she called out across the plaza.
A pretty blue mare with a blue and white striped mane looked over from the crowd of ponies around the choosing stone. She approached with a smile, but was there something wrong with her? She appeared... shiny. "Oh, hiyas Maud!" she asked brightly, gesturing to the stone with a glittering hoof. "Going to give it a try?"
To Stormy's shock, for one moment Maud's eyes popped wide, before reverting back to their flat stare. "No," she stated in a note of utter finality. "This is the pony."
"Oh, I remember you!" Agate said brightly as she regarded Stormy. "The pegasi spelunker!"
"You remember me?" Stormy asked, warily.
"Sure! You were with all those pegasi a year or two ago? Looking for a special mountain on a map? A regular treasure hunt!" Agate said happily, dancing on her sparkling hooves, as the light made odd hexagonal patches on her eyes. "Did you find it? Did you?"
"I don't remember," Stormy muttered. "There was a map?"
"Sure! An old map straight out of a Derring Do novel! You were so excited to find out where it lead. The store I worked at outfit you with caving gear and three days worth of supplies. I hoped I'd see you coming back, but I guess you went straight home," Agate said, then her brows knit together. "You really don't remember? You said I was the prettiest earth pony you'd ever seen." She admired her own hoof, at the light that passed through it like dark bottle glass.
Of course the question made Stormy go bright red. "No. I mean you're pretty! Er, sparkly! I mean-"
Razorback laughed. "Un tel poney rouge! But did you see the map?"
"I got a glimpse of it. That old professor you were with was pretty protective of it, but I was curious. I'm pretty sure it was south west, into the Stone Spine mountains. I recognized the Hardhoof and the Mareterhorn; hard to miss those. I think it was due south of both of them. Maybe near the Dromedary or Unicorn Pride?"
"I know that area," Maud said.
"Great. You can point them in the right direction then," Agate regarded Stormy, "Oh, you're so lucky! You get to have a grand adventure twice!"
"Yeah. Lucky," Stormy murmured.
"Going back to try again for love?" he asked with a nod if his head towards the Choosing Stone.
"You know what the say: seven thousand, four hundred and ninety sixth time's the charm!" Agate said with strained merriment as she gave a wave of her hoof, back away, then leaned in towards Maud. "Are you sure--"
It was astonishing how Maud seemed to loom over Agate without moving a muscle, so that the crystal pony waved her sparkly hooves in panic as Maud said in a voice to universal finality, "No."
"Okay! Okay! You don't have to! Just thought it'd be fun, you know, to touch the choosing stone with you! I should go! Oh, look at the time. Hah, hah, hah!" she said before trotting away with a smile frozen on her face. Most of the crowd around the Choosing Stone seemed to be thinning out as well.
"She wanted to touch the Stone with you?" Misty asked, and then blushed bright red. "Oh my."
"I've very popular," Maud stated.
"I can't imagine why," Stormy muttered under her breath, getting a gasp from Misty and a frown from Razorback.
Maud, however, smiled. A tiny curling of her lip, but there it was. "Me either." And then it disappeared as if it had never been as she said to Razorback, "Come with me to the college. I have survey maps of that area."
"Oui," Razor nodded, the said to the pair, "Meet back at the hotel?"
Misty nodded, while Stormy just stared at her hooves. The pair walked off and Stormy approached the now abandoned Choosing Stone. "What's wrong? And don't tell me nothing, please."
"Nothing," Stormy began, and got a glare from the white unicorn. "It's just, the pony that Agate described. Me happy? With a map? Spelunking? It sounds like she's describing another mare, but she seemed sure it was me."
"Do you have any memories of a map?" she asked.
"No, I..." she paused, then closed her eyes, trying to remember anything that might involve a map. "I remember talking with my Granny." Yet, the memory was muted. Granny's lips moved, but no words came out. And then Granny reached for... she reached for... A spear of pain stabbed through her head and she cried out at the migraine. Purple light seemed to be pushing in the corners of her vision, but though her eyes watered, she tried to keep on the memory. Granny was talking, and reaching for... reaching for a picture of a mountain. And then she opened the back... and... a secret between Granny and her. A folded piece of paper! And it unfolded... unfolded into... into...
A second spear of pain sliced into her head, and she staggered sideways. Misty was crying out. Grabbing her as the pain grew and grew, her head spinning as she tried to see what was on that paper. It unfolded... it opened... a picture of a mountain... Granny telling her a story... it opened...
"Stormy!" Misty cried out, and she opened her eyes just as she tumbled over the edge, Her wings were worse than useless as they flailed. Then a pale green aura gripped her and Misty leaned over the edge, gripping her hoof. The deep pit of Lithiopolis loomed like a mouth beneath her, threatening to swallow her up. Stormy hooked her hooves around Misty's, and the unicorn pulled her back on to the ledge. Her head continued to throb, but the stabbing pain abated. "What happened?"
"I was trying to remember the map. It was hidden in a picture of a mountain." But there was a map! Agate hadn't been mistaken! Then she looked next to her over the edge, and experienced the disturbingly alien sense of vertigo. How could a pegasus be afraid of heights too? She rose and staggered away from the lip. "I really don't like it here. I don't know how I ever made it into a cave."
"I'm just glad my magic worked at all," Misty replied, flushing. "When you went over the edge, I was afraid I was going to drop you."
"Something's wrong with your magic?" Stormy asked, brows knitted.
"It's just not working like its supposed to. I haven't been able to hold another form for longer than a few minutes. It's like..." She focused at a pebble. "Like this city doesn't like unicorn magic."
Stormy blinked at her and then gave a sheepish smile. "I haven't really felt like I could fly since we got here. This place really is... well... earthy." She thought about what Maud had said about the land itself being magic. Razorback hadn't been comfortable in Cloudsdale. How would either of them feel in Canterlot? Still, the fact that it wasn't just Stormy having problems here helped a little. It wasn't her. It was here.
When she could stand on her hooves and the pain faded to a dull throb, they moved over in front of the Choosing Stone. It didn't seem special, just a rock with a heart chiseled in the front of it. "You really resented her, didn't you?" Misty asked, then when Stormy boggled at that, she elaborated, "Maud. When she said she was popular."
Stormy sighed. "Yeah. I mean, it would be nice to be the pony that other people liked, you know?" She sighed rubbing the back of her head. "I guess that's why I always clash with Rainbow Dash. Not that she's a good flier, but because so many people look up to her. She even had a fan club for a while, if you can believe it."
"Well, I like you," Misty said with a small smile. "You saved my life twice, and you interrupted the lightning theft. That's important and pretty admirable. All I've done is follow you around and hope to make myself useful," Misty said as her eyes fell to the ground. "Not that I've been all that useful."
"You've been plenty useful! You got me through the Weatherworks, and into Cloudsdale, and you make more sense than Razorback!" she said with a smile, one that Misty barely returned. "Look, I'm glad you're here. You're the first friend I've made in a long time."
"Mmm," she said, now with a more sure smile. "It's not as good as you think it is. Being popular, I mean. I was popular too. I was supposed to me the pony everyone wanted, whatever they wanted me to be." She then looked at Stormy and beamed, "It was fun doing cloud stuff with you."
Stormy wasn't sure why, but she flushed and looked at the Choosing Stone. She grinned through her embarrassment, "Hey, Misty? Wanna touch it with me?"
Now it was Misty's turn to blush! "What? How could- I mean you- What if it does something? What does that mean?" She asked.
"Do you think it's going to?" Stormy teased and then pressed her hoof to the warm, pinkish stone. "Come on, what have you go to lose?"
Misty chewed her lip, stretched out a hoof tenatively, closed her eyes and withdrew it, and finally pressed her hoof to the stone. Stormy flinched as well. The pair stood there with their hooves to the rock, looking up at the Choosing Stone, then at each other. Both of them gave a nervous laugh. "Heh, dumb rock!" Stormy scoffed dismissively.
"Whatever were we thinking?" Misty asked with an embarassed grin.
"Come on. Let's see if we can find anything decent to eat in this place that won't break our teeth." Stormy said, and together they trotted from the plaza, leaving the Choosing Stone behind them.
Then, a minute later, a long, sharp chime sounded in the empty air, dwindling away into nothing.