Chapter 10: Beyond Eden
That night, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders all stayed at Applejack's house. This, however, was no ordinary sleepover for fun and merriment; rather, it was an act of solidarity, an unspoken attempt to ward off the sinister vagaries of the night through the comfort of camaraderie and sheer numbers. As they gathered around the fireplace, Applebloom asked her sister what she thought had happened to Cheerilee.
"I don't know," replied Applejack softly. "Maybe she ran away, or somethin'."
"Or maybe they got her," suggested Scootaloo.
After a few seconds of silence, Sweetie Belle asked "Rarity? Do you think Ms. Cheerilee really meant to kill the princess?"
A lump formed in her throat. It was no use hiding the truth from her sister any longer. "Given what we've seen and heard, yes, that seems to be the case."
"But why would she do that?"
"I don't know, Sweetie Belle," she said softly. "Maybe one of us will find out sometime soon."
There came a knock at the door, which Applejack got up to answer. "Wonder who that could be at this hour?" she asked. She barely managed to conceal her shock when she opened it.
"Greetings," said a pegasus dressed in the royal guard uniform. "Sorry to bother you so late, but we're investigating the disappearance of a pony named Cheerilee, and I was wondering if you'd seen her recently."
Applejack stared at him in stunned silence for just a moment before saying "Nope, haven't seen her… she went missin', you said?"
"That's correct. Well, if you see her, please inform someone from the royal court at once, will you?"
"I'll do that. I'll do absolutely that."
"It's good to know we can count on you, citizen," he said, smiling. "Well, I'll leave you be. Good night."
As Applejack returned to the fireplace, Applebloom asked her "Applejack? Why did you lie?"
"It's… complicated, Applebloom. See, Cheerilee said a lot o'… strange things about Equestria's royal court, and we saw some pretty strange things in Sustria."
"You mean that town that was destroyed?" asked Scootaloo.
"Well… yeah. We ain't sure exactly who did it, but we saw ponies clearin' away the place's remains, and that by itself just don't add up. Once we sort out what's really goin' on, we'll decide what to do about Cheerilee."
Applebloom raised an eyebrow. "I wanna know—is there anythin' yer' still hidin' from us? 'Cause after all the awful things we've heard about, there ain't much point in keepin' anythin' else from us."
Applejack shook her head. Pinkie Pie said "We promise, the only secrets we're not telling you are the ones we don't know yet."
The room slowed its breathing as everypony grew too tired to say anything more. One by one, they all fell asleep together around the dying fire.
…
The corpse floated through the air, still dripping blood as it gradually descended into the hole they had dug for it. Both of them wept uncontrollably, and as the older began piling dirt into the grave, she whispered over and over again to the dead alicorn that she was sorry. Uncaring drops of rain fell in full force and mixed with the blood, dispersing it and carrying it away to be forgotten by the passage of time.
Inside the tomb, Twilight frantically scraped at the dirt and rock with her hooves, trying and failing to call upon her magic. He was right behind her, and she was sick with fear, and there was nothing she wanted more desperately than to get back to the surface where it was safe.
He spoke to her: "As you are now, so once were we. As we are now, so you will be." His voice was deep and hoarse, and echoed all around and hurt her ears. "That's from somewhere, right?"
"I think so, maybe."
"You've been working so very hard to forget, Twilight. Your mentor would be proud."
"Forget what?"
"Exactly my point. Frankly, I'm amazed that a pony as intelligent and organized as yourself could prove so skilled at the art of forgetfulness. Forget the fear, forget what will happen to you. You won't even remember this dream."
"What are you getting at?"
He let out a long sigh, and she heard accumulated filth rattling in his long-inert lungs. "Fluttershy's the oldest."
"Yes, she is," said Twilight, hoping he wouldn't speak again. She hadn't given up on getting away.
"But she takes good enough care of herself. Now, Pinkie Pie, she's the one to worry about. She really shouldn't be eating so many sweets—after all, a high metabolism doesn't negate the more subtle damages."
"Guess not." She looked up, wondering if it might be easier to climb up and out rather than tunnel away.
"You're lucky to know someone like my sister, Celestia. She's been around for thousands of years, and she will be for thousands more. Maybe you'll feel better if you spend some time with her."
"Maybe."
"The clock is ticking, Twilight. Maybe you should cut your losses and just lie down now."
The air was running out—she tried breathing slower, but it was difficult, and suddenly her lungs felt too weak and her face grew hot, and she struggled and twitched as she fell to her knees, but it was hopeless; her heart would stop beating no matter what she did. The last thing she heard was the alicorn speaking to her casually, hardly even looking at her.
"You don't really get out much, so there's a problem. I'd take a leaf from Rainbow Dash's book if I were you."
…
Twilight awoke slowly, groggily, out of breath, confused by the cold air and the scent of the dirt beneath her. After a moment, however, she managed to get her bearings: she, Fluttershy and Spike had gone into the Everfree Forest, and she had started some preliminary work on setting up a makeshift lab. Looking around at the campsite they'd set up, she saw that she was the only one awake, so she trudged off into the forest, absentmindedly savoring the crunch of dried leaves beneath her hooves.
She registered a sprinkle of light blue through the trees. As she drew closer, she recognized the plant as poison joke and, careful to avoid contact with it, she navigated around the small field, making her way down a familiar path. Satisfied that she knew exactly where she was, she turned around and retraced her steps.
Returning to the campsite, she was pleased to notice that Fluttershy had awoken and was stretching her wings. Twilight proceeded to nudge Spike awake, and the three returned to the path near the field of poison joke.
Just as Twilight remembered, it led them to Zecora's hut. After the zebra had answered the door and invited them inside, she asked them if there was anything she might be able to help them with.
"As it so happens," said Twilight, "my friends and I were planning to study some of the properties of the Everfree Forest that make it different from the rest of Equestria: the changing seasons, the animals, and so on. We were wondering if you've noticed anything along those lines during your time here in the forest."
"Natural laws," replied Zecora, "are a powerful force—their mechanics complex, and their results quite coarse. Stay in these woods and you will hear the roars of hungry, flesh-seeking carnivores."
"Oh, that's right," said Fluttershy. "That is something different about the forest—it has a lot more carnivores than most parts of Equestria."
Twilight was sure she'd heard that word before, but for the moment, its meaning escaped her. "What are carnivores?" she asked.
"They're animals that eat other animals," explained Fluttershy, and Twilight remembered at once: she'd read the word in a book about woodland creatures, and been revolted by it. After all, the idea of one creature eating another was tantamount to cannibalism.
"Oh, right," said Twilight, concealing her disgust, "I guess we have met a creature or two in here that tried to eat us… but that doesn't actually happen very often, right? I mean, most of them have the decency to just eat plants instead, right?"
"That's just it," explained Fluttershy. "Some of them can't eat plants. They have to eat meat in order to survive."
"So… they have to spend their whole lives killing and eating other animals, or else they starve?"
"Pretty much, yes." She spoke quietly, as if she were confessing an embarrassing secret.
Twilight wondered how she could ever have overlooked such a horrific detail during her studies. Surely her book would have made sure to mention something so important… wouldn't it?
"Eat or be eaten: that is the forest's way," added Zecora. "Wild animals fight for life each and every day."
"All right," said Twilight, trying to organize the gruesome new ideas being thrust upon her worldview, "so carnivores, for whatever reason, are a lot less common in Equestria than they are here, and the seasons change on their own… the question is why." The others watched her as she paced around Zecora's hut, deep in thought. "The carnivores were probably banished here at some point in Equestria's history… it'd be preferable to letting them starve, I guess… but what about the weather?" She looked at Zecora, who merely shrugged.
"Well," pronounced Twilight with just a hint of smugness, "that's what scientific observation through the collection of empirical data is for. We'll simply have to use the instruments I brought to measure the forest's atmospheric qualities, and then we can develop a working hypothesis from there."
"What do you mean, 'we'?" asked Fluttershy.
Twilight ignored her and added: "Zecora, you've provided me with some very… interesting insight. Spike, Fluttershy and I are going to head back to where I've set up my instruments. You're welcome to join us, if you'd like."
"The forest's mysteries have often confounded me, as well," she confessed, "so I will come and see what your instruments have to tell."
When they had cantered over to the clearing that held Twilight's makeshift atmospheric lab, she promptly checked the readings on her barometer, thermometer, and other instruments, making notes in a small notebook as she did so. She then turned her gaze upwards, studying the clouds. As she did so, she made a couple of double-takes, and grew visibly confused.
"What's wrong, Twilight?" asked Spike.
"It's the clouds… they've all moved since the last time I looked at them," she explained.
"It wasn't me," said Fluttershy meekly.
"Of course it wasn't," said Twilight. "If the weather here doesn't require management by pegasus ponies, then there must be something else that causes the clouds to move… and I intend to find out what."
She stared at the clouds a while longer. Then, she turned to Fluttershy. "How exactly do you pegasus ponies move clouds around, anyway?" she asked.
"We fly up and push them," she said simply. "If they're moving on their own…"
"…then something invisible must be pushing them," finished Twilight. Then, "Wind! Of course… it was so obvious!"
Fluttershy immediately saw a problem with this theory. "But, Twilight… why is the wind blowing by itself?"
"This quest you've undertaken sounds most bizarre, said Zecora, "The winds and the clouds simply are what they are."
"Right," said Twilight, "but I want to know why. For whatever reason, something vital was left out of my education."
"The secrets you seek are beyond my ken," said Zecora, "and if you don't mind, I've work to do, friend." With that, she was off. Fluttershy lay down on a patch of grass, watching Twilight resume her work.
As she was examining her instruments and recording new data, she was startled by a rustle from up in a nearby tree. With a glance, however, she discovered it was just a squirrel. As she observed its tensed, skittish movements across the branches, it occurred to her that the creature was putting itself in terrible danger from carnivores by coming so far into the forest. A thought rushed into her head, unbidden, with a weight like a stone dropped into her stomach:
That squirrel is better off than I am. It doesn't know what I know. It can't be sad the way I can, or feel afraid the way I do. It doesn't know what's going to happen to it.
Just as quickly as she had let them enter, she shook the bad feelings away. There was work to do.
…
Back in Ponyville, Applejack and Rarity were escorting their respective sisters to school, both to ensure the fillies' safety and to check and see if Cheerilee had come back to teach yet. (She hadn't.) Without a clear direction, they walked away from the school more slowly then they'd come.
"What now?" asked Applejack.
"Well," said Rarity, "we won't know what Cheerilee wanted us to look for until Twilight decodes that letter… so, I suppose we might as well return to business as usual. Goodness knows I've been away from my boutique for long enough."
"Yeah," agreed Applejack, scratching her head, "I reckon I got some apples that need buckin', too." With that, they parted ways.
…
As Rarity cut, trimmed and stitched as quickly as she dared, she periodically glanced at her clock. She was waiting for something, but she didn't know what. Just as she was beginning to relax, Pinkie Pie burst in, her mane straight and disheveled.
"Rarity!" she exclaimed as she rushed in, nearly startling the unicorn into sewing her hoof into a sheet of fabric. "Some ponies are going around asking questions!"
"Pardon?" asked Rarity. "Would you mind being more… specific?"
"I think they're from the royal court," Pinkie Pie explained hurriedly. "Look, you can probably see them from your window."
Sure enough, down by a lamppost on the side of the road, there stood two armored pegasi carefully watching passersby. Every few seconds, one would turn and say something inaudible to the other. Then, after a minute or so, they both walked straight for the door of Carousel Boutique.
Rarity looked at Pinkie Pie in horror and whimpered "They know."
"What do they know?" asked Pinkie Pie. "What could they know?"
They both stiffened as they heard the two pegasi walking through the front door.
"Hide," whispered Rarity sharply, and in an instant the two of them had secreted themselves behind framed, taut sheets of fabric leaning against the wall.
Rarity could hear her own pulse hammering through her ears as the unicorns walked up the stairs and entered the room.
They stood still somewhere near the middle of the room, and were silent for a moment. Then, one said "Nobody home."
"But it doesn't look like they'll be gone long," said the other. "Everything's lying out, you see? Either she left in a hurry, or she plans to come back."
"Do we wait?"
"I say we search." Rarity whimpered silently.
"Our orders were to handle this delicately. If they come back and see us searching without a warrant, there could be a scene."
"Good thinking. We can move onto the other houses and come back here later."
With that, they left. Only a full minute after hearing the front door close did Rarity stumble out from her hiding place, bumping past Pinkie.
"What could this mean?" asked Rarity. "Were they spying on us at Cheerilee's house?"
"Maybe," said Pinkie, "or… maybe it was because they knew we were in Sustria?"
"Whatever it was, we need to warn Applejack. You heard what they said."
Rarity nodded. They crept downstairs slowly, doing their best to minimize their visibility as they slunk over to a space under the windows. From there, they peered outside, scanning for any signs of the guards.
"Does this place have some kind of secret back exit?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"No," said Rarity. After she'd gone a few seconds without breathing, she opened the door and slipped out, with Pinkie following close behind her.
"I know we need to move sneakily," whispered Pinkie, "but I think it would be sneakier if we moved casually."
"Yes, of course." They sweated profusely as they made their way to Sweet Apple Acres, glancing around while trying not to look like they were doing so. They ingratiated themselves into the most crowded flow of ponies passing through town square, lowering their heads to make themselves shorter. From there they approached the road up towards the barn from an odd angle, obscuring their view with a house. Pinkie Pie took the lead, but jumped backwards a second later, pressing her back up against the edge of the building.
"Pinkie!" hissed Rarity. "What do you think you're doing?"
Pinkie's eyes were wide as she clenched her teeth. "They're right—over—there," she managed.
Rather than look for herself, Rarity decided to take Pinkie's word for it. In spite of confused stares from passersby, the two ponies inched around the house while pressed up against it, even as they passed the door. "They were heading towards Applejack's house," whispered Pinkie. "We have to do something."
They ran up the hillside towards Sweet Apple Acres, staying as far from the road as they could. Rarity chanced a glance towards the guards, who hadn't yet noticed them. They veered away further still, galloping past apple trees and jumping over the fence into the orchard.
…
"So let me get this straight," said Applebloom as Applejack bucked her hundredth tree for the day. "You're tellin' me there ain't no tooth fairy?"
"Nope," said Applejack. "I'm the one who puts a bit under yer pillow every time you lose a tooth."
"So, she doesn't float in through the window on shiny, rainbow-colored wings?"
"Nope."
"She doesn't land on silent tiptoes, walk to my bed, and swap the coin for the tooth without me ever wakin'?"
"Nope." Applejack finished a set of barrels and moved on the next tree, with her sister in hot pursuit.
"She doesn't take her bottomless sack of teeth to the magical fairy kingdom to make tooth necklaces and tooth tiaras for the fairy queen to wear as she sits on her tooth throne?"
Applejack groaned. "What's with all these questions? That stuff is just make-believe, Applebloom. None of it is real."
Applebloom frowned. "You could have at least tried to lie," she said under her breath.
The two sisters gave a start as Pinkie Pie and Rarity burst out from behind a thicket of trees, panting.
"Guards—coming," said Pinkie Pie. "Have to—get out—now." Rarity was in no better state to communicate, so she pointed up towards the barn.
Applejack's ears flicked up as she turned to look at the guards approaching her front door. "Alright. Come on, Applebloom." They moved further out into the trees, with Applejack leading the way. After a few silent minutes, they cautiously ventured back towards the house. There was no sign of the guards, so they went inside.
"Looks like it won't be safe for us to stay in Ponyville much longer," said Applejack, taking off her hat. "I supposed we better"—
There was a knock at the door. Everypony whipped around, completely tensed, ready to fight for their lives if necessary.
"Hello?" said a familiar voice from outside. "Anypony there?"
"Spike!" cried Pinkie as she flung the door open.
Twilight wanted me to bring you this," he said, handing them a rolled-up scroll.
They stared at it for a while before Applejack noticed that Spike was turning to leave. "Wait!" she said. "You should really stay inside with us, there's guards goin' round"—
"Thanks for the offer," he said, "but Twilight wanted me to go back to the forest."
"The forest is probably safer than Ponyville," Pinkie Pie pointed out. "It's probably best if you back." With that, Spike was on his way, and the ponies were left to examine the letter.
…
A couple hours earlier, Twilight took a break for her atmospheric experiments in order to examine the letter for the twentieth time. She had examined every one of the symbols carefully, and racked her brain trying to remember any instance of seeing one in a book, but to no avail. "Ugh," she sighed as she collapsed backwards onto the moss behind her, holding the letter above her…
…and up to the light…
…and exposing hidden writing in the blank space at the bottom. Her eyes shot wide open as she read:
"Look for the mirrors."
She blinked several times. The mirrors? Was this supposed to be some sort of metaphor, an attempt to tell her that the thing she was looking for was herself?
"Well, that makes absolutely no sense," she mumbled in irritation. Then, something clicked, and she immediately began to look at the symbols in a new way, and realized in less than a second that they were all symmetrical.
Her hoof shook as she tried covering half of the first symbol. Just as she'd expected, she was left with a letter from the pony alphabet.
"What?" she said aloud. "I can't believe that took me so long! How is this stupid code supposed to protect them from outsiders?" But there was no time to curse herself for taking so long to solve the code, or to question the motives of the letter's mysterious author, and she continued to read the entire thing—slowly at first, then more quickly as her eyes grew accustomed to the mirrored letters.
"Twilight! Is something wrong?" asked Fluttershy, rushing into the clearing. Twilight was mildly annoyed to see Spike riding on her back.
"It's the letter," she explained, speaking quickly in her excitement. "I've solved the code!"
"Really? That's wonderful!"
The three of them gathered around and stared at the letter, hardly blinking as Twilight read it aloud:
"It is our sincerest hope that this letter reach the hooves of somepony willing to fight for freedom, and not our one of our fiendish oppressors in Canterlot. If this is the case, you should know that our Princess Celestia rules this land through an insidious combination of deception and brute force, for nopony in Equestria can equal her cunning or her raw magical power. We are well aware that many among the uninitiated will find this statement objectionable, but when you have seen what we have seen, you will surely agree."
"If you are prepared to face the truth, and feel you can stomach the responsibility that will come with your new knowledge, then you must seek out the resistance group in your town. In Fillydelphia, be at the top of the tallest building at midnight on a…" She skipped ahead: "…in Ponyville, simply follow the blank flank."
Twilight's mind immediately went to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but of course that was ridiculous. She tried to think—were there any adult ponies in Ponyville with blank flanks? Was it some kind of metaphor? In any case, it was imperative that she contact Pinkie Pie and the others in Ponyville with this new information. "Spike, take a letter," she ordered.
"But, Twilight, I can only send letters to Princess Celestia, remember?"
"I know. That's why you'll be delivering this one on foot." Spike let out a sigh, but nodded. When he had retrieved pen, ink and paper from her saddlebags, she began: "Dear Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie: I am very excited to report that I have finished decoding the letter Cheerilee gave us. Here is what it said…" she then proceeded to repeat the letter's contents word for word, in order to make sure Spike didn't leave out anything important, and when she had finished, she sent him on his way. "When you're done, come back here, alright?" she called. He groaned in response.
While he was away, Twilight and Fluttershy resumed their work studying the air, but they had hit a bit of roadblock due to running out instruments to measure its qualities with. Instead, Twilight was now furiously scribbling equations on a notepad, only to cross them out again or crumple up sheets of paper.
"It's strange," she said, "but I can't remember ever finding a book that satisfactorily explained how weather works outside Equestria. It's always just 'the seasons change on their own' or 'storms happen on their own'—there's never any real explanation."
"Maybe the book you need is in your library somewhere," suggested Fluttershy.
"Maybe," admitted Twilight, "but I'm starting to suspect the information just isn't there… like it was, you know, covered up."
After a few more minutes at her notepad, Twilight exclaimed "Aha!" causing Fluttershy to jump. "Sorry," she added, "but I think I just figured it out. Basically, air has weight, so under normal circumstances, air currents push each other around, creating natural wind. Otherwise, there'd be no way for it to move the clouds around."
"All right!" cheered Fluttershy. Then, "Wait, so, um, why don't the clouds in Equestria move by themselves?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say that they're held in place by magic," replied Twilight, "but I'd have to run some tests to make sure, which would mean leaving the forest. For now, however, I think it's best if I simply put that on our to-do list and shift our focus to the animals that live here."
However, it wouldn't do to abandon the campsite until Spike came back, so they lay on their backs and gazed up at the clouds while they waited for him.
"Fluttershy?"
"Yes, Twilight?"
"When did you find out about carnivores?"
She was silent for a while, and for a moment, Twilight thought she wasn't going to answer the question. Then she replied:
"It happened about a year after I learned that my special talent was taking care of animals. Back then, I kept all my animals in one pen, and made sure they got enough to eat by hoof-feeding them."
"I started to worry when I noticed that my snakes wouldn't eat any of the food I gave them: not carrots, or mushrooms, or apples, or anything. I tried feeding them everything I could think of for days on end before I realized that they didn't seem to be getting any thinner. Then, one day, I learned why."
"As I was watching the animals play, one of the mice scurried past one of the snakes. Suddenly, he grabbed the mouse in his mouth and started swallowing him. I tried to make him spit it out, but I was too slow—soon, the poor thing was inside his stomach, getting digested, and there was nothing I could do without risking the snake's life—and in spite of the horrible thing he'd just done, I simply couldn't bring myself to do that." Fluttershy's voice grew even softer than usual, and somewhat shaky. Twilight touched her hoof sympathetically.
"I'm sorry," said Fluttershy, "it's just… this is difficult for me. Anyway, I started keeping the snakes in a cage, away from the other animals, and I searched harder than ever for something for them to eat—an actual food, that is. Unfortunately, I never found one, and they starved to death. I didn't raise any more snakes after that."
"Fluttershy, I'm… so sorry," said Twilight.
"It was a long time ago," she said, shrugging.
Twilight now felt like a knot had formed in the pit of her stomach. Was that really what life was like for animals in the Everfree Forest? She couldn't decide which would be worse: eating another living creature, or being eaten by one.
"Has something been bothering you lately?" asked Fluttershy.
"Huh?"
"Maybe it's none of my business, but you seem like you've been thinking about something a lot—something upsetting."
"Well…" she hesitated. "Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"You know how you're always taking care of a lot of animals, and you care about them a lot…"
"Yes…"
"As in, very very much?"
"Right…" Fluttershy looked confused.
Twilight paused again, and for a few seconds both of them heard the distinctive silence of the forest.
"…And by now," continued Twilight, "you must have gotten used to the fact that they all die eventually, and that a lot of them don't live nearly as long as ponies."
Fluttershy looked at the ground. "I have, yes."
"I don't mean to upset you," Twilight said quickly.
"It's alright. I'm not upset."
"Alright, well… isn't it, you know, painful to raise these animals from birth, knowing that one day, no matter what, you're going to have to see them die?"
Fluttershy was silent for a moment, and Twilight feared she'd said something wrong.
"…I think about that, sometimes," she replied in a voice that was even softer than usual, "but they would die even if I wasn't taking care of them—and much sooner, too. I feel like it's better to show them love while they're alive and miss them when they're gone than to never let myself grow close to them in first place."
"Right, that makes sense."
"Why are you asking?"
Twilight struggled for an answer, so Fluttershy guessed: "You're worried about Spike?"
"Not really… I mean, Spike's a dragon, so he'll live longer than me."
"Oh… is it Owloysius, then? I'm sorry if it's personal, but"—
"No, it's alright… and yeah, I guess I have been kind of worried about Owloysius. That's it. Why did I lie? she wondered. Fluttershy's my friend. So why can't I tell her?
Twilight was relieved when Spike returned.
"Spike!" she cried, jumping to her hooves. "I trust your delivery was successful?"
Something was wrong. His eyes were wide, and his skin was pale. "Well, it was… but…"
"…but what?" asked Twilight with concern.
"…but while I was on my way back, I coughed this up." He gave her a scroll.
"Oh dear…" said Twilight as she read it. "Oh, this is not good at all!"
"What is it?" asked Fluttershy. "What's wrong?"
Twilight looked up, swallowing the knot in her throat, and said "It's a letter from Princess Celestia."