"I-I-Its cold." Carrot chattered. Rubbing a foreleg against her front leg.
"What is this place?"
Derpy's eyes darted around the new found land as she took in the unfamiliar sights. Old buildings and relics laid collapsed and broken in on one another and old. Having been torn down from weather for years as cracks, moss and vines overtook them. Ripped and torn flags laid faded and marked by nature's touch with the rest of the infrastructure having already been consumed by full grown trees and matured bushes, some bearing thorns.
“It's...
"...quiet.” Derpy interjected.. Her voice seemed to echo in the silence. “No birds, no chirping, no cooing. It seems as though all life have died.”
Carrot and Derpy begun to walk around, their eyes turning to see the scenery before them. The sky was aloof with a string of gray clouds that covered nearly every inch of the atmospheric borders. Occasionally, as the clouds rolled passed, dim strays of light would break through allowing some sort of warmth through but the surroundings were bitter. Not unbearable enough to cause hypothermia but cold enough that one would desire a pair of warm gloves for the hooves.
"It seems like some desolate village..." Carrot spoke while grasping one of the torn flags in her hooves. "...or town. It seems that it was abandoned a long time ago."
"A very long time ago."
"The damage here couldn't have taken over night. How long has it been abandoned?"
Derpy shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. This place doesn't remind me of Equestria."
Carrot looked up at a pony statue. "It sure does to me." she muttered.
"Lets look around! Maybe we can find some cool things laying around!"
"We can but I'm not sure..."
"About what?" Derpy smiled.
"Is there anyone here at all? Where exactly are we?"
"Maybe Equestria?" Derpy stated as if it was obvious.
Carrot gave her an annoyed look. "Why a door in Equestria lead us right back to Equestria?"
Derpy shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno. Maybe it lead us to different place in Equestria."
"You got a point there."
"Come on! We should look around! Oh! Look over there!"
And before the poor pale mare could react, her friend had darted over to look at some statues.
"Carrot! Hey! Look at me!"
Carrot trotted over towards her friend and gave a small chuckle at the too big helmet that she had on her head.
"How you like it? Cool huh?"
"Yeah it's cool Derpy. A bit rusted...and aged but hey whatever floats your boat huh?"
"Now I look like this!"
Derpy pointed towards the statue in front of them. The statue was that of a pony reared up on it's hind legs with a helmet on top of its head. Vines was wrapped across it and seeped through cracks that had formed out of long neglect and erosion.
"Where you find the helmet?"
"Not to far from here. I found it..." Derpy looked around speedily. "...over there!" She pointed to a building not far from them but still some distance away.
"Did you go inside of it?"
"No. The entrance was blocked by rubble but the helmet laid in front of it!"
"Oh." Carrot looked the statue up and down. "Hey Derpy, come look at this."
"What?"
Carrot rubbed her hoof against the bottom of the pedestal and unveiled the plaque that peeked from underneath.
"'In dedication to the great warrior Alex-'. It doesn't say anything more. The plaque words are faded and rusted.
"Who's Alex?"
Carrot shrugged. "Like I know and that doesn't seem to be the whole name. The rest is faded and damaged by wear. I'm beginning to wonder...is this place some lost civilization?"
Derpy gasped loudly and shook Carrot violently. "Carrot! Carrot!"
"What, what, what!"
"Just think about it! It's just like the Daring Do books! Us the explorer trying to find an ancient and lost artifact only to awaken some great evil unto the world and we having to stop it! Just imagine!"
"Well I would like to imagine that won't happen and I've never read any of them Daring Do books so..."
Derpy gasped. This time in shock. "How could you?"
"It's not my taste."
Derpy felt as though a knife went through her chest. "Well I never..."
Carrot paid her no mind and looked down at the barren ground and looked over to a clearing. "Hey, its a path."
"A path?"
"Yeah. Wanna follow it? Might as well since were here."
"Sure, why not?"
"Alright then. Let's go."
The two mares followed the path which lead them shortly into a much more clear view than the dense foliage that seem to threaten to take over. The mares stopped and stood at the sight.
The path led them straight into what was in the small distance a large city. The path itself was lined with once beautiful statues of multiple different races and a few small buildings. Grass grew alongside it and though vines and roots had begun to make it's mark, it was going to surely be a long time til' it could completely elope the city in its foliage.
"Look at all these diffrent statues! I've never seen some of these creatures before! Carrot, you think you can name them all?" the pegasus flew up in front of one that had cloved hooves, large antlers and a small beard coming from underneath its muzzle. "How 'bout this one?"
"I believe that that's a kirin."
"A Kirin? Aren't those eastern like ponies?"
"No. Their more like deer but are said to be descended from dragons."
"Awesome! Oh, oh! How about this one? And this one?"
Carrot gave a sighed but answered all of her questions on the different type of races that were presented in stone form. From kirin to equines, to even dare she say, griffons. Before long, they made way into the city which had to be a spectacular sight into the unknown. The city was larger than they both had expected and seemed largely untouched by mother nature.
The plaza itself was of great space and the surrounding buildings reminded her of the architecture of the ancient Greecian Empire. Most of the buildings were of ornate detail, one building as such had upon it statues of multiple different races lined up together with an winged unicorn being in the middle.
The roads and paths laid cracked and with small holes, some larger than others and the splendor of the infrastructures were largely neglected. Having upon them the age of dust, moss, vines, and the wear of weather. Ever still however, did it leave the impression of a mighty city, if not a kingdom.
"Wow. Did not expect this."
"Look at this! This is so awesome!" Derpy squealed.
She sounds like Rainbow Dash. Carrot thought to herself.
"Oh my gosh Carrot! Who knows what we can find and bring back to the others! Especially Twilight! We'll be celebrities! Showing them all types of rare and old treasures we found! Oh lookie here!"
"Your right, I half wasn't expecting all of this. Anyway, if where going to look around we better do so together. So why don't we...Derpy? Derpy!"
She was gone.
Carrot saw her fly off in the far distance and gave a sigh.
That mare has the attention span of a gnat I tell ya.
Carrot, now lying abandoned by her friend, sought to look around the city by herself. She took in the sights, seeing as most was filled with an eerie air of tranquility. It was silent and little to nothing disturbed the atmosphere. No wind, no bird...it was desolate. Not a sign of life was to be seen nor heard.
She decided to enter some buildings as the mere traveling of streets bored her. As she walked, she waltzed into what seemed to be a small neighborhood containing many residences. The houses were large and reminded her of the large abodes of the wealthy unicorns who trotted around Canterlot and it's near towns and cities but one thing that she noted was how the buildings resided on top of one another with staircases connecting them.
Some of them laid crumbled and broken due to the heavy weight that trees, having rooted themselves on top of the structures, were putting down on them.
She heard a crow and she looked up upon one of the barren trees to see a bird.
It was a completely black saved for its...red eyes to which it had multiple of.
"Oh my..."
It looked at her and Carrot recoiled.
I wish it would stop looking at me.
"Shoo, shoo!" She said. Trying to scare the black thing away but to avail. It merely cocked it's head at her and squawked again.
"Ugh." she grunted in defeat. She continued, ignoring the bird and made her way into one of the large homes whose door was off it's hinges. She was cautious as a large tree had created numerous cracks through the building. She watched as rubble came falling down from the ceiling from her place in the door way.
"Hello?"
Nothing responded as she entered. Their lied before her was a seating area consisting of three elegant sofas encircling a round table with a grand staircase in the back. She went further in and looked at the walls that had pictures depicting a family. They were dusted but remained in surprising good condition.
She gazed at the portrait which had that of a pale blue male stallion with a white mane and beard stand alongside that of a pale pink mare. In front of the mare was a small colt, smiling cheesy.
Carrot made her way upstairs carefully as the wood squeaked beneath her feet. She entered one of the rooms and looked up curiously to see numerous cracks that stretched all the way from the middle to the ends of the ceiling. the room was of the utmost elegance and was very large. A bed lied encompass by a long and elegant blue royal canopy and a large painted portrait of the same stallion that graced the family picture that Carrot saw downstairs, hanged upon the wall.
The walls were aligned with bookcases and books and Carrot's eyes were caught by them.
Just how old are these books? she thought to herself. She picked one up, blew dust off of the cover and read out loud the title.
The Benefits and Downfalls of Oral Magic.
"Oral? I've never encountered that type of magic before. I wonder if Twilight knows about it. How old is this book anyway? Lets see..."
She flipped the first three pages to see if there was a publication date.
She strained her eyes to read some of the faded words.
"April....30...100 BC?"
Carrot scratched her head trying to remember what those letters meant.
"AC means After Coronation, the coronation of Celestia so BC would mean before the coronation of Celestia. Ugh!" she hit her head with her hoof. "Celestia has been in power for a thousand years so that would mean that this book is..." she gasped. "Eleven hundred years old?"
Suddenly rubble begun to fall from the ceiling in great amounts and she looked up to see the the cracks in the ceiling slowly allowing light to peek through. Realizing what was happening she immediately dropped the book and ran out of the building as the home slowly caught into avalanche before her.
Within just a few short minutes, she had found herself outside and panting. She watched as nearly the entire structure collapsed. Bringing with it the tree that had caused it and burying the ancient texts.
"That...was close." she heaved. But she couldn't help but bemoan the fact that the books that she had thought to give to Twilight was now lost in destruction.
Carrot made her way silently. The black bird that had saw her off before, with its multiple eyes had once again returned. This time following her. She tried to ignore it as she looked around the surrounding buildings and infrastructures. She couldn't help but notice the neatness and completeness of everything. Nothing seemed unmoved, touched but left traces that the residents, whomever or whatever they must have been, had seemingly paused in the middle of whatever they were going to do.
She took note as how one home had foul food left in a bowel or how toys laid strewn across humble homes or how markets, some laying on the flatbeds that laid on top of buildings, had now spoiled food that had long turned either to dirt or mush. Their were bags of money left behind and various things that laid scattered about. It was as though there was a sudden rapture of the townsfolk or an urgent emergency had been called to evacuate.
Carrot wondered all over the place with little to no contact with that of her pegasus friend. As she traveled continually though the area where the residences resided, the place slowly progressed into more dense foliage and crumbled ruins with the bitter cold becoming even more evident.
Eventually, the lone earth pony mare had managed to find herself lying in the middle of what seemed to be a grand memorial. The place stood on that of a risen land that stood just a little higher than the land below it with steps leading down into the small valley. Carrot stood on the edge and looked over to see what little she could.
Everything was cold and without life, covered in snow and ice. The clouds up above made it even more barren. Not even trees could be seen with the exception of the lifeless, black sticks that now stood far off in the distance saved the ones here in the now jungle like filled ruins.
The place was beautiful and offered a deep contrast to the rest of what depicted a great catastrophe.
Carrot wondered around the seemingly ruined memorial garden and looked at the many statues depicting different types of animals.
Carrot walked up to one depicting a caped stallion in armor and on the base of pedestal was a faded plate:
In memory of Morion
Great Battle Mage and Wizard
"Morion..." Carrot mumbled. "Are these warriors who died?"
Carrot continued to go to each statue and the next, reading the many plates located at the bottom of the pedestal: Alexander the Great Battler, Rosaline the Gentle Aid, Agriope the Gracious Giver, the list goes on.
But as Carrot laid consumed in her wonder, little did she notice the eyes watching her in the distance.