The Best and The Worst

by Firesight

4: Closing In

To Twilight’s relief and consternation, they teleported again instead of walking the distance, which Twilight had conservatively estimated as around ten miles from atop the building roof.

She was, however, less than pleased when Celestia insisted on taking them again instead of letting her go the distance as she was capable of, explaining that she did not want to drain any of her student’s power in case they were separated and she had to retreat to the portal quickly.

Twilight relented after that, not at all relishing the idea of being inadvertently marooned there and worse, having to spend a night or two in the woods eating contaminated flowers and grasses while waiting for her magic to recharge enough from Earth’s feeble field to open the portal.

Disappearing in yet another golden flash, they rematerialized instantly just outside of a building complex Twilight had noted earlier from the distance; to her further relief, she discovered to her great and happy surprise that despite the larger concentration of the corruptive energy she’d sensed coming from it, the overall level of it where they stood was only a little higher than where they were.

But the princess said there were ‘hotspots’ of this stuff… well, it’s not like she’d deliberately take us to one of them, right? she reasoned, guessing that the Princess had worked out their tour route, for lack of a better term, long before.

After Celestia magically scanned the area to ensure no humans were present, she invited Twilight forward, inside the rusting fence line. It was a token barrier only at that point, given its crumbling state and the vegetation overgrowing it, but had once been insurmountable for humans and the removed gates had what appeared to be unused guard shacks.

Both mares also sensed the presence of some electronic surveillance equipment, but their magical shrouds guarded against those… though a careful observer might have noticed the sudden presence of sourceless hoofprints in their wake.

As they walked forward into the area around the structure, Twilight was also surprised to see there were signs of fresh activity in the area—tire tracks were present and there were imprints where some temporary shelters had been set up; she also recognized a large and recent construction site was also present near the building.

“That’s weird…” she noted at her own observations, despite her discomfort.

“What is, my student?”

“The town behind us was abandoned, but this area hasn’t been despite greater contamination. Humans have been here very recently. In fact…” her purple eyes played over the near end of the building with the smokestack, which was covered on one side by a very large and new-looking half-cylinder, in marked contrast to the crumbling, rusting facilities that existed elsewhere.

“That odd dome structure… was emplaced just recently. I can tell because its steel is pristine—unlike everything else here—and there are what look like miniature railroads leading to it.” She pointed to one, then the other. “It must have been built further away on that construction site, and then moved into position by rail—quite an accomplishment for something that big.”

“Well-spotted again.” Celestia smiled, only to turn solemn once more. “But what does it all mean?”

Though initially pleased with herself, Twilight bit her lip as she considered the question, studying the structure anew. “It has no windows; no exhaust and only one or two well-sealed doors,” she cataloged.

“It has no ventilation or utility service that I can see. It’s also completely opaque, even to my aura. I can’t probe inside it with my magic, which means that it’s quite thick. So its only possible purpose would be… to contain something. To keep it from escaping. And that, in turn, means...” she paused again to swallow as she reached a single, inescapable conclusion. “That whatever caused this contamination… is in there.” She pointed with a shaking hoof.

Twilight sensed her mentor’s next words even before she said them, but her heart still all but stopped to hear them. “Then it would seem that we are closing in on our answer, my student. And that is where we need to go next.” Celestia began to walk towards the apparent middle of the structure, where the smokestack lay, but this time, Twilight did not immediately follow, finding her hooves frozen in place. “Twilight?”

“Princess, I—” she didn’t know how to voice her fears.

Celestia’s face softened as she turned back to see her student’s consternation. “Come, my student. It will be fine. I promise.” She was now facing Twilight fully as she continued, “I would not lead you to a place I could not protect you in.”

“It’s not that, Princess.” Twilight began to tremble and for the first time, she felt on the verge of tears. “It’s that whatever is in there… I’m now sure I don’t want to know what it is. For the first time in my life, I’m afraid of the answers. I’m afraid that what I’ll find… will change everything.”

“That remains to be seen, my student,” Celestia said sympathetically. “And I’m sorry to be so coy. I know it’s frustrating, but this is one instance where simply telling you the answers will not suffice. You must discover them for yourself to fully understand their import. They may not be pleasant, but nor are they without redeem. I assure you again that there are reasons I have brought you here that go far beyond a simple test. Reasons that will become clear in due course.”

Twilight considered her words, then nodded, if jerkily. “I’ve always trusted you, Princess. And I will here as well. But I don’t know what could possibly be redeeming about this place or whatever happened here!”

“Then we have but one more mystery to solve, my brave and intelligent student,” Celestia offered with a reassuring smile, the pastel hues of her mane seeming to Twilight even more pronounced than they usually were. “And I believe you know as well as I that the answers to it lie within that dome.”

“Yes,” Twilight agreed, blinking away her tears, sensing again the odd prickling sensation on her horn and wondering how long she would have to stay out in it for it to affect her. Or even how it WOULD affect me! She still didn’t know, but the fact that the surrounding area had to be permanently evacuated to a distance of at least twelve miles was hardly encouraging on that score.

“Come, my student,” Celestia offered a hoof. “We must teleport once more. We have but two more sites left to visit, and then all will become clear.”

“If you say so…” was all Twilight could offer as she gathered her remaining nerve, taking a deep breath as she placed her hoof over her mentor’s. She closed her eyes as the teleport took her, not knowing what she would see upon opening them again.

Comments

[Silverblade5]

though a careful observer might have noticed the sudden presence of sourceless hoofprints in their wake.

By Murphy's law, this will definitely come back to bite them.

[Firesight]

9761947

By Murphy's law, this will definitely come back to bite them.

If it does, it will be in a future Phoenixverse story.

[ShadowLDrago]

So the closer they are to the Elephant's Foot, the glowier Celestia's mane is. Interesting.

[Firesight]

11382493

So the closer they are to the Elephant's Foot, the glowier Celestia's mane is. Interesting.

For reasons that will become clear shortly, yes. For the record, I can’t take credit for coming up with that reason first, as other authors did it long before I came along with this story.