> CSR Philadelphi
>  by shysage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Ch1, Terrabelle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes...  It's me, Summer...  Well, I knew where my Stallion wanted to go that morning; we took to the air and just headed there from my sister's cottage.  Flying over Ponyville(1) again made me sigh...  Twenty minutes later, we were nearing that big, huge ring of unbelievably tall trees that seemed to pop up out of nowhere from the surrounding meadow and occasional low scraggly trees.  Shysage called these huge trees redwoods once, but I don't know...  He and I landed, walked up to the edge of that circle of trees, then inside between two huge trunks.  It was a nice, warm summer day, and we walked slowly to the top of the gentle hill in the center of the circle.  We both laid on our bellies in the grass together, and were quickly crying...  After all we had been through...

For most of the day, we just relaxed there, together, alone and close.  Writing that made me cry.  Still, no looming catastrophes, no reeling crisis building, precious friendships restored (we hoped)...  I think we both were trying to get over feeling so... spent...

Later in the day, Shysage sighed, then suggested we head back soon.  "Just a few more minutes?" I asked calmly, then I smiled.  He always says yes.  A few minutes later, I sighed.  I knew I really needed to get up...

Shysage was looking calmly out across the clearing, the warm sunny grass.  Maybe we were both having trouble, not wanting to head back to town.  We just relaxed there together, next to each other, close to each other, resting at the top of that hill, just looking out across the grass...  Like I said, I think we were both, inside, still trying to recover...  Shysage started to slowly say "I think we should look forward--"

At that exact moment... our surroundings changed... immediately...

I didn't think we were in Equestria(1) any more.  But we were in the exact same position, still laying on our bellies next to each other, but not in grass now.  We were in the center of some sort of hard, brown floor, with a few concentric white circles around us, varying distances away.  After taking all this in, I sighed, and said "...not again..."

Shysage chuckled when I said that.  "At least we are together!" he said so lovingly, then he leaned up against me again.  "And I still remember my most beautiful, amazing Mare..."  Trying to not cry, I sighed again, and just relaxed next to my Stallion.  I didn't even care where we were this time.  I didn't want to move away from my Shysage.  And I slowly realized that, well, it wasn't the Portal that moved us this time.  Traversing the Portal is very much like moving through some sort of tunnel; it takes seconds usually.  But this was... very fast.  We were in the center of a very large room.  The walls were a shiny, smooth white, with a few odd panels of tiny lights, it looked like.  Well, there was nopony else in here with us.  Shysage saw no reason to even move.  We didn't.  Well, Shysage picked his head and neck up over mine, and pulled me close.  We both sighed together.

Before too long, we heard another pony walk up behind us.  The sound of hooves on a hard surface, I will never forget that!  "Are you two ok?" the pony asked, clearly with genuine concern.  I think the main problem was that we were still laying down; we had not even tried to get up after arriving here.  Well, I was next to my Stallion!  He was next to his Mare, and we just didn't feel the need to move.

Shysage chuckled again, then said quietly "Miss, we are fine.  We were relaxing together in the warm grass just a minute ago, and didn't feel too compelled to move after we arrived here."

I don't think either of us were too concerned.  And there was no sinister music blaring out in the background all of a sudden, either.  I got carefully up, then Shysage got up, and stood right next to me, of course.  While we were getting up, the mare walked around in front of us, so she could see us, so we could talk.  Sounding honestly apologetic...  "We are so sorry we didn't ask you first, before we brought you here...  But that would have been rather difficult..."  We all chuckled at this.  The mare seemed relieved that we weren't upset or anything.  "I'm e3736; my name is Terrabelle.  I am an E Type Mare, 9 years old (no stallion yet, sigh), with a tech spec."  She smiled after she said all this.  She was light brown with a slightly darker brown mane and tail, and dark brown eyes.

Shysage smiled.  "My name is Shysage, and this is Summer, my Mare.  I don't really know either of our ages, though.  We are both P Type."  I guess Shysage had quickly realized all this, well what he needed to say.

Terrabelle stood back, worked on her...  Well, Terrabelle had some sort of white hat thingie that sat on her head, with holes for her two ears, and maybe that was what held it in place.  That hat thingie had what looked like a small panel out on some sort of skinny stick thing, that she could look at, I guess.  Her hat also had a few other weird looking gizmoes on it.  None of it made any sense to me, but I suspected that Shysage was already figuring stuff out.  And her number, I guess, the number she said, was written carefully on the front of her cap thing.  But she backed up and took a picture of me or something.  And, after taking that picture, something surprised her maybe.  Still, she was clearly looking into her panel thing briefly.  Then she smiled.  She took a picture of Shysage next I think.  Shysage was still standing right next to me.  Terrabelle then spoke slowly, to me I think.  "Well, you are the Phantom Alicorn.  That makes you sort of a celebrity here..."  Then she bowed her head briefly.

I walked over and hugged her right away.  "I am just an ordinary pony."  After saying that... I looked quickly over.  "Wait...  I am Shysage's Mare, well until I need to be something else!"  Then I hugged my Stallion too, and we sighed together.

"So you are both life-status?" Terrabelle asked carefully.

Shysage understood, and just leaned up against me again and sighed, long and deep.  I did the same thing.  Then I said quietly "Oh my goodness, yes..."

Terrabelle worked at her panel thing again, and another pony soon walked in, pulling some sort of smaller box thing on wheels.  It had a large hole in the center.  Terrabelle explained "We need to put life-bands on you both.  Left front hoof, please.  One at a time, put your left hoof in the box, and it will take care of everything.  Oh, and it doesn't hurt, well from what I have been told."  We were quickly done with that.  Our bands were... matching, white with gold lettering.  It had some strange symbol, like a circle with a stick through it, then our names and some sort of number.

"Shysage what is this, the fourth time we have been married, or something?" I said with a smile, as he was getting his life-band.

Shysage smiled, such a cute smile.  "With you Summer, not enough.  Forever is not near long enough..."  When he was done, we faced each other, and hugged necks.  Terrabelle smiled then sighed.

"Well, lets start our trip to central" Terrabelle said next.  "This way, please."  Terrabelle seemed pleasant enough.  We just followed her.

We walked out of that clean white room with the circles on the hard, brown floor, and started walking down a very long, broad road, that was dead straight, totally flat, and headed far off into the hazy distance.  We had not walked very far when Terrabelle stopped us.  She had us turn around and she nodded towards a long, slightly curved row of large white half-ball shaped things that looked like they popped up out of the ground.  It curved away from us off into the distance.  Terrabelle explained.  "We all live in one of those dorms.  They are our houses, and up to 4 of us can live inside each one.  We do have bigger ones, but..."  Terrabelle stopped talking briefly, worked at her panel thing, then added this.  "Hmm...  Well, I guess I am still not sure how long we would like you to stay.  But if you will be spending the night here, that is your dorm right there, R-979.  Just come out sector road R, then look for your dorm, number 979.  It should be pretty easy to find.  And that will put you closer to the transjector for your return."  That transjector thing must have been how they got us up here.

Terrabelle then turned, and led us off, down sector road R again, away from that big white room that brought us here, the transjector, whatever that is.  Well, we definitely weren't in Equestria(1) any more, but it otherwise felt the same.  And the air smelled really nice here.  I thought about that as we walked.  The road we were walking on was very wide, with colorful bands on the surface.  In the direction we were heading, red to the right, orange in the middle, and (much wider) green to the left.  We were walking calmly in the red.  Shysage chuckled again, then said "Red is for walking, orange for trotting, green for galloping?"

Terrabelle smiled right away.  "Yup.  It is a lot faster to gallop in to central, plus it keeps muscle tone up.  The lanes prevent collisions, usually!"

Shysage was in thought a minute, then said "These roads are one way, right?"

"Wow, yes, sorry!" Terrabelle apologized immediately.  "Q is the road you want to take back out here, then follow the perimeter road around to R-979.  It still isn't far.  But yes, each road is one way.  There are arrows at regular intervals just to make sure.  We are heading towards central on R at the moment."

I stopped and hugged Terrabelle; I think she felt bad about that.  "My Stallion has an amazing mind.  Don't let him scare you though, he is such a sweetie!"  Then I hugged Shysage again, and we resumed our walk towards central, whatever that was.

On either side of the road, I realized, were tall, seemingly endless stands of oats!  That was the amazing smell...  Maybe Terrabelle read my mind.  "These oats are our food.  We can stop and eat if you are hungry.  We are all fed from these huge tracts of continuously grown oat plants.  You will find that, the closer we get to central, the shorter the plants are.  Well, closer to central, more grazing takes place, so..."  I was hungry, and so Shysage and I both stopped and ate.  And, there were small perfectly round, shallow pools of water along the sector road, regularly spaced, so I got a drink.  Terrabelle volunteered "I guess it goes without saying...  Everymini drinks from these pools, so please don't walk through them!"  We were soon on our way again, walking towards this place called central on sector road R.

As we walked I noticed...  The sky here looked very weird.  It was largely a consistent light blue with repeating thin strips of night time sky running clear out from, well, central.  "Shysage, stars?" I asked hesitantly.

"I think we are in space, Summer" Shysage answered right away.

Terrabelle jumped in.  "Yes, far enough to be out of the atmosphere, but not far enough...  Well, planet Equestria(1) below us still supplies our gravity.  Otherwise, things up here would be a real mess!"  Terrabelle thought briefly, laughed loudly, jumped up a little on her front legs.  "Yes!  We are geostationary!"  Then she jumped almost a complete circle, laughing, saying that word over and over.  And, she said it each time with such fanfare, then laughed some more.  When she stopped, she sighed.  "I don't know, I just like saying that word" she said, then laughed a little more.  That word made no sense to me, but Shysage explained it to me later.  I guess he knew.  We smiled.  Terrabelle seemed like such a treasure.

"And the blue?" Shysage asked as we started walking again.

"Chemicals in the canopy overhead turn most of the sunlight into visible spectrum, and the light blue wavelengths seem to generate the right amount of heat.  And the width of the blue strips are carefully controlled to regulate the amount of heat generated from the sunlight, which controls the temperature here.  And the visible spectrum is carefully configured to optimize the growth of the oats."  Terrabelle explained all this effortlessly, and without much thought.  "And at night-time, the blue segment goes away entirely so we can see all the stars."

Shysage was thinking, looking around.  "The sun...  This whole platform rotates?"  I guess he had already noticed that the sun was moving sideways in addition to its normal movement up, then down.  I didn't have a clue.

Terrabelle worked at her panel for a minute, frowned, then said slowly "Yes...  Well, I guess there are aspects of our home that we still don't fully understand...  The theory is that helps the oats grow straight up, but I don't know..."

Shysage said quietly.  "It is not important."

It was clear we were walking towards the center of this place; Terrabelle had called it central.  We could now see, far up ahead, a huge building or something, also with a large spire going up pretty high.  It reminded me of the Crystal Palace(1), but the place we were heading was clearly not made of crystal, and was much larger.  Even from this distance away, I could tell that.

"Well, I apologize, but where do we go to the bathroom up here?" Shysage asked timidly.  Well, this was an important question.

Terrabelle understood right away, but answered timidly herself.  "While in the oats, you can go... wherever you are.  The watering system for the oats requires a certain amount of, well, refuse, in order to be able to replenish what the soil needs to grow the oats.  In central, there are many clearly marked booths for that.  We all use them.  All you need to do is back in, and the equipment takes care of the rest.  That is just part of life, I guess.  Nomini up here thinks twice about it...  And the refuse is pumped back out here to the oats."

Well, we were clearly maybe half-way to that big central thing by now.  Remembering where the dorms were, along the outer edge of this huge expanse...  "So, do you walk to central then back, every day?" I asked.

Terrabelle laughed.  "Nah, I run!  Everymini has to at least walk the 20 stadia or so from their dorm to central, then back every day.  Most do run though, because it is faster."  Terrabelle stopped, looked over at me, then smiled.  "The Pegasus-es among us can fly so fast...  But they are supposed to fly one way to central, then run back out to their dorm, or the reverse.  Nomini keeps track, but still...  I think the goal is to keep up the use of all our muscles on a day to day basis.  That is just the way it has always been from what I know.  I just need to be real careful not to lose my cap when I run!"  Terrabelle laughed again.  I was pretty sure she meant the white thing on her head with the panel that she could read and the other gizmoes.

After a few minutes of silence, Shysage volunteered "We could walk fast if you want."

"Wow, sounds fun!" Terrabelle said immediately and moved us over into the orange lane, and we were walking a lot faster.  We did that for a few minutes, and nothing was said.  But that...  I guess Terrabelle...  Without warning, she turned sharply into the broad green lane and took off running, shouting "Woohoo!"  I followed her at a fast gallop, laughing.  Honestly, galloping felt very nice!  And we were covering distance a lot faster.  I didn't see Shysage, but realized he probably did the sensible thing, and took off and flew, so he could keep up with us from the air (which he did).  And I did notice that the oat plants around us were getting shorter as we galloped in towards central.  Soon, they were a lot shorter; the grass was just above the hoof.  Terrabelle began to laugh loudly, then turned quickly out into the oat grass.  "Woohoo!" she shouted a few more times, as she galloped quickly into and across the warm grass.  I just followed her.  With no warning, Terrabelle jumped then fell, really she dove into the soft grass, and I jumped over her and did the same thing.  Terrabelle and I just laid there on our backs, in the nice warm grass, laughing together.  As we worked on getting up, Shysage landed next to us, laughing himself.  Well, it was just a lot of fun.

We helped Terrabelle find her cap thing, too.  Shysage had seen where it fell as he flew, and Terrabelle quickly scooted her nose, her head under it just right, twisted her ears...  Then, Terrabelle led us slowly back to sector road R.  I was walking slow, because I was slowly dragging each hoof across the soft grass.  I really enjoy that.    Terrabelle said "Hmm..." then tried it herself.  It didn't take long.  "Wow, this feels so nice..." she said softly, almost dreamily.  That's why I was doing that!  Once we were back on the road, we resumed our trip into central.  It was a lot closer now, and my first look again made me gasp, and I stopped walking.  As close as we were, it didn't look like any building I had seen.  It looked like a huge Unicorn horn, very wide at the base, with a spiral climbing slowly from the base up to the top, which was very high up.

We had all stopped.  While I was working on taking all this in, Terrabelle said quietly, to herself, I think "Wow, I hope I didn't break any protocol..."  I glanced quickly over; she was looking down with just a little frown maybe.

The next thing we heard was "e3736..."  This wasn't shouted, but was clearly said with a certain amount of authority.  And this was Terrabelle's number.  Terrabelle ran quickly over to another, purple pony; Terrabelle bowed on her front legs right away, closed her eyes, then began to cry softly.  We followed her over.  We were facing an Alicorn mare, medium purple coat, slightly darker mane and tail.  Playing back this mare's call to Terrabelle, it wasn't harsh, but it didn't sound like the Alicorn was especially pleased.  The purple Alicorn spoke up again.  "E-Tech, doc 132, please... You were supposed to..."  The purple Alicorn trailed off there.  But this reference made Terrabelle cry a little more; Terrabelle knew immediately what that 'doc' said, I think.

Through her tears, Terrabelle pleaded "But...  I was just trying to be their friends..."

I sighed right away.  I knew what I probably needed to do, and I didn't want to break any "protocol" or something to do it.  I guess I realized I just needed a little more authority to pull this off.  I threw myself back on my hind legs, and went through the re-balancing to stand up on my hind legs, and also change into a people (human form) all in one swift, fluid motion.  I have had plenty of practice at that.  Within seconds, I had my mark spun up.  I knew I now had two huge arching, pearl white wings, along with a sizeable, pearl white Unicorn horn.  And the very low rumble that accompanies my Phantom Alicorn form...  Still, after having quickly made this transition, I gently took a few steps over to Terrabelle, and actually knelt down on my knees in front of her.  I cupped both hands under her head, and pulled it up so I could look into her eyes as she cried.  It was only then that she realized, that she saw who, what I was.  I smiled at her though, and said calmly "A point on which you thoroughly succeeded."  I smiled again, then gently kissed her forehead.  Terrabelle smiled back.

I was kneeling on sector road R as the Phantom Alicorn, and wanted to get up.  Shysage had already turned into a people himself, and was standing off to my side.  My Shysage took my right hand as soon as I began feeling for something.  He pulled me easily up.  I almost laughed; we still had our jeans and 'the Diner' t-shirts on.  With the hand he was holding, Shysage slowly guided me around until we were facing the purple Alicorn standing in front of us.  At the same time, Shysage and I both bowed deeply.

The purple Alicorn smiled and said calmly "My name is Fall Star.  Welcome to Philadelphi."







> Ch2, Fall Star
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I mentioned before that I heard no sinister music blaring in the background when we arrived here.  But as we walked up to Fall Star, I realized...  There was a nice, soothing tune weaving quietly through the background(2).  It seemed fitting, and I liked it.  And it certainly wasn't ominous by any means.

"That will be all, e3736, Thank you" Fall Star said with a slight bow.  Terrabelle had been kneeling this whole time, and only then did she get up and walk quickly off.  She probably had other things to do.  And as she left, I un-spun my mark, and my horn and wings disappeared, as did that low rumble.  But Shysage and I were both still people, and looked just like we did yesterday at the Diner...

Still, I felt bad...  "Fall Star, I apologize, I wasn't trying to..."  Well, I ran out of words at that point.  We had so quickly come to appreciate Terrabelle.

Fall Star probably used her magic to pull her own larger panel thing from somewhere on her back, around in front before her; she looked, worked briefly I guess, then she sighed.  "e3736, Terrabelle..."  Looking at her panel thing still, Fall Star smiled and said "Exuberance...  That is her amazing gift."  Yes... Shysage and I both smiled.  "Still, she needs to continue to work on staying on track..."  Fall Star read a little more I guess, then added "Well, it does look like she generally fulfills her tasks, even if her approach can be somewhat un-orthodox at times."  Fall Star used her magic to tuck her panel thing on her back again, then she looked at us.  "e3736 made you feel welcome?" Fall Star asked.  Shysage and I both laughed, then sighed.  "I'll take that as a yes" Fall Star said with contentment.

Shysage and I bowed again.  Then Shysage said quietly "This is Summer Rain and I guess you know who she is. And--"

Shysage got this far...  I know that this was supposed to be sort of an official introduction.  But I interrupted Shysage, turned and hugged him tightly, and said "Yes, I am Shysage's Mare."  We were still people; Shysage kissed his woman briefly, and we hugged some more.  Shysage sighed, and I had to work on not crying.  After all we had been though...

Shysage looked at me though, and we both turned, faced forward, threw ourselves forward, and changed back into our pony form on the way down.  Then as ponies, we both bowed again to Fall Star.

"Aww, stop...  You will make me want to bow to you...  You are a Princess too!" Fall Star said genuinely.

I sighed, then shrugged.  "Well, I don't know about that...  I know I am the Phantom Alicorn, but I don't know how that would fit me for..."  I didn't know what else to say.

Fall Star said quietly "Let's walk to central.  We can still talk."  She turned, and began walking towards this huge tower before us called central.  It was quiet briefly, then Fall Star continued.  "And I have seen your ERP plots; you could easily be a Princess, here anyway."  Fall Star thought a minute, then added.  "In Philadelphi, such an office is not taken.  ERP and other measures clearly indicate when somepony is gifted to lead, to care for those around her, for Philadelphi.  The Leading Star composite stats are well known."

Still, I knew where she was heading with this, and I wanted to quietly protest.  "But...  I already have a Princess, Fall Star..."

Fall Star smiled as she walked, and pulled her panel thing out again, worked briefly, then sighed.  "Princess Twilight(1)...  Yes, she is also clearly gifted for her role.  We have been able to watch her amazing growth with great interest."

I stopped walking at that point, so Shysage did too, and Fall Star realized, and turned to face us.  "Fall Star, you really remind me a lot of my Princess..."  I had to avoid crying, or hugging Fall Star.  I really love my Princess, and was only now realizing the separation the last few years had forced between Princess Twilight(1) and I.

Well, holding her panel thing away with her magic, Fall Star did hug me; we hugged tightly for a minute maybe.  Fall Star pulled away, looked at me then sighed, then said quietly "Well, we are aware of a lot of what has transpired."  She and I hugged again, and were brushing away some tears.  "And, I'll take that as an amazing compliment" Fall Star added quietly.  Then she turned, and we resumed our walk towards central.  As close as it was, it really looked like a huge Unicorn horn!  Still, Fall Star smiled, and mentioned "Well, I could show you both she and my ERP plots; we are very close..."  Fall Star's words trailed off; she was clearly in thought.  Then she said softly "It would be amazing to meet your Princess Twilight(1), at some point..."

Shysage spoke up right away.  "The transjector?"  This was clearly a question.  Shysage was asking why their ability to move ponies between here and Equestria(1) below, like they whisked us up here, why that couldn't be used to facilitate such a meeting.

I guess Fall Star understood, and answered right away.  "Well, we can't do that.  We try to track what is going on down below, but that is more out of necessity.  Equestria(1) is a huge place, and we just have this tiny meadow in space.  If magical threats from below have a chance of effecting us here, we need to know about that ahead of time.  We have a number of gifted Unicorn's here, but...  Well, knowing ahead of time is just as important."  In thought briefly, Fall Star added this.  "But we are not supposed to use the transjector to indescriminately transport ponies back and forth."  Fall Star was still in thought as she said this, and even afterwards.

Shysage smiled, I saw that.  "And us?"  he asked, almost with a chuckle.  This was also a question, and a very good one.  But, I think Shysage and I had already guessed...  Or else we weren't too concerned!

Fall Star stopped walking, so we stopped too.  She ever so slightly shook her head back and forth.  Then she answered quietly but firmly.  "That... was strategic.  You are the Phantom Alicorn and your magic is so vast...  And, watching what Equestria(1) has been facing of late..."  Fall Star's voice trailed off again, and she turned to face us, then put her head down, bowing deeply.  Still bowing like that, she said quietly "The official reason we brought you up here, and without even asking your permission...  We would like to be able to call on your amazing abilities should that need arise."

Fall Star stayed bowing, and I think she tensed up as she said this, was asking us this.  She really was at our mercy, and, well, transjecting us up from a calm afternoon in the warm grass...  But I just knew...  Well, I smiled, but Shysage spoke up first.  "Fall Star, do you know what true friendship is?"

Fall Star answered Shysage by bursting into tears as she was bowing.  And I quickly placed that cry...  She felt powerless, helpless... probably dwarfed by the task of protecting all these ponies up here on this small, spinning meadow of oats in space...  I gently nudged her back up and quickly hugged her tightly, then said softly "Princess, I, we will help you, help Philadelphi and her ponies any way we can."  She and I cried together for a few minutes, then she tried to calm down.

Shaking away some tears, she smiled, then apologized.  "I'm sorry...  That was not how or when I wanted that question to get answered.  But I guess...  Everything we have learned about you both, watching...  It is not just talk with you; it is the way you both try to live.  That... is an amazing treasure..."  I hugged Fall Star again, and we cried together again, too.  Still, I thought to myself that true friendship didn't seem very popular, either in Equestria(1) or in the Equestria Girls(1) world where the Diner was.  After a little while, Fall Star backed away, shook more tears off, then said quietly "Well, we really need true friends like you right now, I think."

I just had to say it again.  "Princess, we will help you, help Philadelphi and her ponies any way we can."  Then I stopped and thought briefly, then added, almost pleading "But you need to realize that my Shysage needs to come too; I just can't live without..."  I cried, and Shysage hugged me right away.  I worked at calming down quickly.

Fall Star sighed again.  "That... is also an amazing treasure.  And yes, we realize that you both need to stay together, and that will be taken into account.  Our first use of the transjector to bring you here attuned the transport properties for both of you."  Fall Star pulled her panel thing back out, looked briefly, then sighed.  "We need to get going though."  She turned, put her panel thing away on her back, and we resumed our walk down sector road R.  Well, we were very close to that huge Unicorn horn like building called central.  And there were also now a lot of other smaller buildings along the road, and we were passing a lot more ponies.  Those that were close bowed out of respect until we were past them.  I guess everypony knew Fall Star was their Princess!

We walked in silence for minutes maybe.  Thinking slowly out loud, I said quietly "Fall Star, Princess Twilight(1) isn't aging now, so you may yet get to meet..."  As I got this much out, I was talking slower towards the end.  And I looked over at Shysage because I wasn't sure if I should have even said anything about that.  He just smiled at me.  But I slowly put my head down.  He understood; I would let him explain.  He would better understand the potential hazards...

When Fall Star heard my words, she stopped in her tracks, and looked down, quickly deep in thought.  "How can this be" she asked quietly.

Shysage explained, slowly and carefully.  "Equestria(1), where Summer is from contains a magical bridge between itself and a different world, where I am from.  This magical bridge allows traversal between the worlds, but only if the traversal is done by somepony who has a mirror entity at the other end of the magical bridge.  These details are secondary however.  The use of that magical bridge halts the aging process.  It doesn't prevent death, it just stops the normal aging process."  Shysage stopped in thought here briefly, then added "I don't know how or how long you have been watching Equestria(1), but Equestria's(1) Princess Celestia(1) has ruled Equestria(1) for over 1,300 years.  Traversing that magical bridge is the reason Princess Celestia(1) hasn't aged during that time(3)."

Fall Star was clearly deep in thought a minute maybe, then correctly understood...  "Well...  Unless there is a Philadelphi on the other side of that bridge, with a mirror entity just like me there, this bridge won't work for me, correct?"

Shysage said calmly "Your understanding is correct."

It was quiet briefly, but I felt I should hold out this ray of hope.  I said softly "Fall Star, Shysage and I have both traversed that bridge.  So, as long as we don't get killed..."  I looked over at Shysage and smiled.  Forever together...  He and I, we will relish that!

Fall Star was quickly crying again.  I hugged her, and she said quietly, just once "I think we need... that..."  But after a few minutes, she tried to calm down, and we resumed our walk.  Fall Star also explained her thoughts.  "This is all clearly new information, and I will need to make a careful record of it.  As difficult as being a Leading Star is to me, there is always a period of transition as one Leading Star dies, and another is selected, put in place...  Stopping the aging process is very attractive for that reason alone, and would bring amazing continuity to our management of Philadelphi.  Still..."  Fall Star sighed deeply, then finished that thought.  "...Knowing that we may have access to your amazing power for many years, that is a real comfort to me."  Fall Star thought some more, then added "Our magic pool just seems so small to me.  Looking out across the night sky...  I fear at times that our first magical encounter would be our last, and Equestria's(1) atmosphere would devour us if we lasted that long.  I think you could..."  Fall Star stopped there, probably trying to avoid crying again.  I didn't think she felt used to crying as much as she had since we met earlier.  But maybe there was just a lot at stake, and Fall Star, Philadelphi really needed us.  I don't think Shysage and I minded that at all.  We were happy to help.

Fall Star started using her magic to reach for her panel, I just knew that.  But she stopped, then smiled.  "I like to carefully plan my days ahead of time, and try to keep that schedule, for efficiencies' sake.  But honestly...  I think I just need to relax and enjoy our time together.  This is really very important to me, to us, and to Philadelphi."

I smiled, looked at Shysage, and he smiled too.  "Fall Star, we are really not in a hurry" I said quietly.  I think we both honestly felt that way.  Earlier today, we were resting in the grass, trying to recover from our past.  But there were clearly needs up here, and Shysage and I were together.  Helping others together...  Shysage and I live for that!

Fall Star said "Well, I have been a Leading Star for over 7 years.  I still feel there is so much I need to learn--"

I interrupted her right then long enough to hug her.  "I think you are doing fine, Princess!"

Fall Star blushed, shook away a tear or two, then she said quietly "Thank you, thank you both.  It really does seem so lonely here up at the top, and few can approach me as friend.  But, I don't think either of you are capable of lying.  Your words mean a lot to me."

I hugged her again.  Then Fall Star turned, and we followed her towards Central.  It wasn't very far away any more.







> Ch3, Philadelphi
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soon enough, I had to stop looking up at this tall building called central; I couldn't any more.  We were too close!  At what was probably the base, Fall Star turned us to the right onto a broad pathway (red, walking) that went in a circle around the base of this central thing.  But we were going up!  This path...  I realized that this broad pathway was the slow spiral heading up to the top of central, to the top of this tall building.  This ramp was what we could see from miles away, it seemed, as it wound around central, and climbed magestically towards the top.  Well, there were ponies coming down the same ramp, well, on the other side of the same path.  There was a thin yellow line marking the middle of the ramp.  And ponies all stopped and bowed as Fall Star led us up.  Remembering how tall this huge Unicorn horn shaped building was, I thought we would be walking up this spiral path for a while.  During that time, I think Fall Star tried to explain a little more about Philadelphi to us.  Talking calmly...

"There are approximately 25,000 of us here in Philadelphi.  Our bloodlines, our structure; we are diminuitive, miniature horses just like you.  I know that, in Equestria(1) the word pony is used often, but technically, that is incorrect.  As a breed, a pony has a much more stocky body.  We are small, miniature horses, 'minis', just like you(2). I think mini is used most often up here, but I have been watching enough evis that, well, I use pony now just like they do down below." Fall Star smiled after saying this! Then she continued. "Still, mini and pony, both work for us, although mini is used most often here.  And we share the same three main differentiations as Equestria(1).  We have E-type, P-type and U-type ponies up here as well.  The three types, as well as stallion and mare, are all approximately evenly divided among us.  We would expect that however.  Beyond these basic types, we all share further classifications according to--"

Fall Star stopped talking abruptly right here because the ramp we were walking on, and it sounded like the whole building that was central, shuddered quite a bit and without warning.  Fall Star gasped when it started, and remained tense and didn't move until after it stopped, maybe a minute later.  When the shaking was done, Fall Star tried to explain, and was clearly working hard to avoid crying.  "Sometimes once a month... sometimes a few times a day... we are just not sure why..."  Well, I recognized fear when I saw it.  I hugged Fall Star right away, and that seemed to help her calm down.  When she could she backed away and tried to explain...

"Philadelphi is a vast, circular oat meadow floating in space above Equestria(1).  Many aspects of this place are, well, technical in nature, and we have documents that explain the function and repair of such systems.  There are also aspects of our home that are both magical and beyond our control or influence.  The canopy above us is a good example.  We have documents that explain the careful control processes that allow the canopy to regulate the temperature here.  But what exactly that canopy is, and how it succeeds in holding...  Well, we do have some idea what the working pressures are on both sides of that canopy.  But what holds it there, how that works...  Well, we have no idea.  That is just scary...  We have no knowledge of the magic used for some aspects of Philadelphi, other than that they just are...  They work, and all we can do is hope they continue to work.  Those ponies among us gifted for technical specializations, well we lean heavily on them.  Keeping Philadelphi alive requires them, requires their special abilities.  But those aspects that are magical in nature, when and if our magic will ever be necessary for that... and even how we could even...  We just don't know.  We can't assume anything..."  After she stopped, I hugged her again, and for a few minutes.

Fall Star sighed, and I backed away.  Fall Star shivered slightly again, then said quietly "We still don't know why all of Philadelphi shakes like that.  I think it is something we need to fix, to stop...  We just can't find... haven't found...  All of our analysis has turned up no identifiable cause.  We just don't know..."

Shysage spoke up right away.  "Maybe I can help.  Is there somepony I could talk to about this?"

I think Fall Star was jumping at that opportunity, Shysage's offer.  I didn't know if she realized how smart my Shysage was, but she quickly pulled her panel out and worked at it as we resumed our walk up the ramp.  I am not sure how, but Terrabelle was waiting on the ramp up ahead a few minutes later, and bowed to Fall Star right away.  "e3736, please accompany Shysage to U392 in tech.  Shysage wants to overview the shaking issue with Philadelphi."  Terrabelle led my Shysage off the ramp, through a door, and into a room in the building that was central.  I wasn't worried.  If anything, maybe he could help them track that shaking down.  He is really good at that kind of thing!

Fall Star and I continued our walk up, really up and around the tower that was central.  It was a few more minutes as we walked before Fall Star continued talking about Philadelphi.  I think that shuddering really scared her.

"The 25,000 or so ponies that live here...  Well I know that Equestria(1) below is usually referred to as a kingdom.  Well, our...  We are really best understood as a, Republic is the proper term I think; a group who agree to live together, yet each rule themselves for the benefit of the whole.  This is very practical here in Philadelphi.  Given the magical/technical mix of our surroundings...  Well, it would be very easy for just one of us to kill the rest of us.  And, we all realize that, and so we all absolutely must work together to even stay alive.  We all like our home, but there are tenuous aspects to Philadelphi.  We all absolutely need to be mindful that the rest of us are depending on each other to even be able to take our next breath."  Fall Star stopped in thought, then added "Well, we simply have noplace else, and we know enough about the environment beyond the canopy; we would quickly and horribly die..."  Fall Star stopped here, thinking for a minute or two.  "We currently have three Leading Star Alicorns, and the three of us work together to oversee Philadelphi.  I avoided using the term rule; our Leading Star classification does not give us that right.  But the process used for arriving at the Star classification; everypony knows that, and generally respects the results of that process..."

We kept walking, and it was silent.  After minutes, I asked quietly "How long has Philadelphi been here?  Do you know?"

"That is a good question, and the answer is as enigmatic as this place" Fall Star began.  "We have records, data, continuation targets, all going back maybe 7 generations.  We have absolutely no record about our past, Philadelphi's past, the construction of our home, or anything else, beyond that point in time.  We can theorize to some degree, but we have no evidence.  Before the record docs our data stores hold, we don't know anything."  Fall Star stopped talking, thought briefly, then continued.  "Some of our techs have even investigated the technical side of Philadelphi, in order to look for startup codes, initialization evidence, first parameters, or anything like that.  We have found none...  From our docs, it is like Philadelphi, all of a sudden was, and continued from that point in time with no evidence about anything previous, except that Philadelphi... is...  We... are...  Sometimes, not knowing...  That can be very unsettling..."

I smiled.  "Princess, I don't have any idea how old I am either."

Fall Star looked over at me, and smiled as she walked, then she said quietly "Well, you look young.  And... so does Philadelphi, from what we can tell.  But we do, should feel a certain amount of urgency in taking care of our home, each other.  I just hope we are doing everything we can."

Well, this aspect was nagging at me.  "Fall Star, you mentioned being able to watch what is going on in Equestria(1).  Are you allowed to tell me about that?"

"Of course" Fall Star said, then smiled.  "Well, we have been watching a number of what we can tell are the most important ponies down below; the Princesses, you...  Princess Twilight's(1) amazing friends, too.  You have a right to know that.  But I can't explain how the evis gear works.  I am pretty sure that it is likewise a mix of both magic and technical.  It is almost like the evis deck decides for us what we need to view.  Pretty clear images are the result, and sometimes an audio stream.  And everything is somehow archived in our doc stores, too.  But we seem to be able to keep track of a lot of what is going on in Equestria(1), and more importantly, why.  The evis deck takes care of the rest.  And, I guess the tech side of the evis is pretty simple, almost unbreakable..."  Fall Star was clearly in thought again, then added this.  "And, watching the use of Equestria's(1) magic...  Well, it just makes our magical ability seem so minimal.  I agree with Princess Twilight(1) that magic needs to be constantly honed, strengthened, exercised.  And a number of our U-types, we are working on that.  But our magic still seems rather weak compared to what we see wielded down below.  That is very sobering.  That was also one of the reasons we tried to work through bringing you here.  That task completed, so we are pretty sure having you available to help us is..."

Yes, we stopped and hugged briefly.  The more I found out about this place, the more I just felt...  Fall Star, Philadelphi...  These 25,000 ponies really needed our help.  That was fine.  We walked in silence for a while.  I think Fall Star, between the shuddering, and this careful discussion, ran out of words, and it was quiet.  As we continued walking up the ramp, I increasingly felt that Fall Star felt bad about not having anything more to say.  "Fall Star, I can't imagine...  I would be so dwarfed by your responsibilities..."  After I said that, Fall Star stopped and cried.  I hugged her for a few minutes, and cried with her.  And this was good, because while we hugged, central, Philadelphi started shuddering again.  It wasn't as long as the last time, but I hugged Fall Star tightly until the shuddering had stopped.  Then she sighed, pulled away, shook off some tears, and we kept walking.

"Well, like I said before...  I think Philadelphi needs friends like you right now."  After Fall Star said this, I wanted to hug her again, but I think we needed to keep going.  We kept walking up this ramp around central.  A little while later, Fall Star pulled her panel thing around, looked at it briefly, then she did cry.  She stopped right where we were on that ramp, and cried buckets while I hugged her.  Fall Star said just once "They fixed it..."  That would be Shysage's chapter though.







> Ch4, Two Techs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terrabelle smiled, and said "this way, please."  I didn't even have time to hug Summer before Terrabelle led me off.  But I didn't think I would be gone a long time.  Terrabelle led us through a busy, large circular room towards the center of this strange tower called central, and we were soon stepping into what Terrabelle called the "v-tran", short for vertical transport.  Elevator is what I thought, but I guess I wanted to avoid injecting some Equestria Girls(1) world terminology into their perspective.  The v-tran took us slowly down the tower.  Even beyond where I was sure the ground floor was, we kept going.  This v-tran seemed like it was moving pretty slow, however.  I suspected that it was magic that was operating this device.  I didn't say anything though.  In fact, I had to work hard to avoid saying anything that wasn't about Philadelphi, from Philadelphi.  I realized I would try and help of course.  But any sort of technology transfer could, would probably be very dangerous in a place where magic and technology must carefully and continuously balance.

So, in search of a safer topic, I asked Terrabelle about what she called her cap, the white thing with gizmoes on her head, with holes for her ears.  "So, I don't notice many other minis up here wearing a cap like yours."

Terrabelle laughed.  "That is probably because..."  She stopped and thought briefly, then asked timidly "Shysage, does it look like I made it?"  I smiled, but didn't answer.  Terrabelle laughed, then jumped into a long explanation.  "Well, I did make it!  Of course I needed a few other U-type techs to help with the actual building of it.  Hooves don't work so well for that!"  We both laughed.  "And, building my cap did take a while, take them a while...  I even had a U-Type add my number to it.  Wow, I can't write!"  Terrabelle paused again, looked down, and sounded just a little disappointed.  "I don't know why she made the letter 'e' so small though.  I clearly explained that I wanted it full size, just like the numbers...  But she..."

The v-tran door opened, and Terabelle led us down a long, very long hall.  We kept talking.  Well, I was beginning to realize...  "So you are the only one with a cap like that because you designed and built it, just like you wanted it?"

Terabelle explained a little more.  "Well, yes.  I found I was spending so much time looking at docs, tech specs, troubleshooting guides and such...  But when I walked away from the viewer, I...  Well, I couldn't take it with me.  I found I really needed that ability, to be able to view docs while I worked on the machinery.  Well, all our U-type techs have their small panels, and they can use their magic to hold them, carry them, view them, press buttons and such..."  What followed next sounded like Terrabelle sinking slowly into a bad dream...  "In tech school...  I would ask a U-type if I could see their viewer panel, to refresh my memory.  At first they helped me, but then...  Smile, then turn away...  I graduated tech easy; I caught onto that stuff so fast.  But surrounded by other U-types... that could..."  Terrabelle shook her head, shaking that nightmare away, I think.  "But I got to thinking..."  Terrabelle stopped in thought here again, then went on.  "At the bottom of the v-tran travel is a huge storage area.  Broken or non-functional tech modules are neatly stored there.  We have a repair process, docs help us fix them.  But after a certain point, we store them down there, since repairing them would take a while, and we usually have plenty of spare modules.  And, for the record, it is really cold down there!  ...Well, I..."  Terrabelle stopped and smiled with contentment...  "Well, I pulled pieces and parts from those relegated modules...  The repair docs, as they explain test signals and such, paint a pretty clear picture about interface details, and sub-module functionals.  I...  It was pretty easy to pull out the visual channel, in-coming especially, but image capture too, and the audio channel, the local sun power sub-system, even the RF interface to the tech doc repository.  Well, all I had to do was pull the modules carefully out of relegates, connect the modules all together, and...  Well, like I said, a few U-type techs helped me, pulling the sub modules from freezing cold stuff, then they built it for me.  They laughed and said it would never work.  But they said it gave them something to do, anyway.  Still, they built it according to the docs they helped me write.  I think it was just a big joke for them.  Don't tell anyone, but I checked their work!  When they were done, I thanked them of course.  There is a switch on the back.  When I turned it on, everything worked just like it should."  Terrabelle was smiling when she was done with this explanation.  "I don't even need their panels now!"

Well, I was amazed.  It sounded like the other U techs up here just worked on and fixed the tech side of the devices they wanted to repair, and that was it.  Terrabelle had used troubleshooting scripts and other stuff to climb deep inside enough different tech modules to find the sub-modules she needed, characterize how they needed to interact, in order to design and build a completely new module.  I was pretty sure that, up here in Philadelphi...  I said slowly, what I felt.  "Wow...  That is amazing!"

Terrabelle blushed, then explained some more.  "Well, I did have to add a completely different module once everything came up.  I forgot that I needed some means to interact with my cap...  Wow...  I didn't have any sort of control, and again, my hoof wouldn't work well for that..."

I only had to think briefly.  "Small head movements..." I said quietly.

"Yup, I had to add--"  Terrabelle stopped abruptly, looked at me... "Hey, how did you know?"  She asked quickly.

I smiled.  "Lucky guess..."

Terrabelle finished.  "Well, ya the micro-movement module was the last sub-module I had to add.  It took some getting used to, but I can sift through docs pretty fast now.  That was the main reason I built my cap anyway, so I could view docs while I worked.  It works amazing for that.  And I added video capture so I can even take pictures too.  I don't think the panels can even...  But that has come in very handy.  While I am working, I can send image details to my supervisor, and..."  Terrabelle stopped and sighed...  "I get coms, tasks from central now too, and...  Well, my cap works very well."

I didn't say anything.  But Fall Star sent a very talented E tech out to walk Summer and I in from the transjector, and now walking me to U392...  The transjector maybe I could understand, maybe Terrabelle operated it, but still...  This wasn't my battle.  I just sighed...

Terrabelle stopped us in front of a door.  I said quietly "Terrabelle, I doubt anypony up here even cares, but that process...  You building that cap...  Not just repairing, but analyzing, then designing...  That really is an amazing accomplishment!"

Terrabelle blushed, sighed, then shook her head side to side briefly.  "You are right...  You are right about all of that..."  I shook my head side to side too...  What a pity...  Terrabelle was one talented tech!

Still, I added quietly "Terrabelle, before we leave, take me to where the paint is, and I will fix that "e".

Terrabelle smiled, then motioned me through the door, and she trotted quickly back down that long hall.

I pushed the door open, and walked through.  The door wasn't thick or well sealed; I was sure the lone Unicorn stallion in the big room, probably U392, he must have heard us.  He was still facing away, I don't know.  I walked in, and was most of the way to him, and only then did he turn.  "Ah yes, Shysage, it is?  Glad you could come down here for a few minutes.  We don't get many visitors."  He was clearly an older Unicorn, and just a little gruff as he spoke.  Well, I wasn't a Unicorn, so...

"I know it is a little dark and dusty down here, but somemini needs to do this" he said, then he laughed.  It was awkwardly quiet briefly, then he said "Well, I need to get back to work.  Follow the long hall..."  He got this far, and his voice trailed off as he turned and was back to looking into the 2 large panels in front of him up on a table.

But I didn't come to visit.  If something was shaking the whole of Philadelphi, that needed to be fixed.  I wanted to try and see what I could do to help, anyway.  I wasted no time.  "So have you come up with any theories as to why all of Philadelphi shakes so violently?"

Well, he puffed, or something like that.  And he didn't even turn away from his panels.  "Well, I wouldn't call it violent, but it does shake a bit.  We have worked through a careful analysis, reviewing all the relevent docs, and have not yet isolated the cause.  We will some day, I think."  He offered nothing more than that, and it was quiet.  I think he really wanted me to leave so he could get back to whatever he was doing.

"So, when did this minor shaking issue begin?"  I asked carefully and calmly.

He used his magic, and slowly pulled out a smaller panel from his back, and read, looked, slowly.  After minutes...  "It looks like approximately 200 days ago, this issue surfaced.  Whether or not it started smaller, and slowly grew...  We don't have any data on that."  That was all he said, and his magic returned his smaller panel to a spot on his back and he returned his attention to the two panels on the table in front of him.  He had some sort of holder that held both up, and at an angle.

Well, it seemed clear to me that he didn't feel very cooperative at the moment.  Still, I tried.  "Can you trace any other substantial changes in some operational aspect of Philadelphi that might coincide with the point in time the shaking started?"

"Of course...  We carefully checked all of that as a part of our analysis."  U392 said this slowly, rolling his eyes just a little too, I think.  Then he turned and stared at me for, maybe half a minute.  I am not sure why he did that, but...  Well, condescending was the word that came to mind.  Saying anything about that would not be helpful.

I tried a different tack.  "Has your analysis turned up any areas of Philadelphi that seem to shake more violently?  I guess it would be interesting to see if the intensity of the shaking varied from location to location.  This might enable you to map--"

U392 interrupted me right then.  "Shysage, come with me.  We will go to the lower core of Philadelphi and see if any shaking happens."  He wasn't angry, but he sounded preturbed.  I think he resented a P-type pony asking so many questions...  He led, I followed.  Leaving his big room, our path down another long hall took us further away from central, or where central was up top.  Then we walked up to a door to another hall.  U392 said matter of factly "It is either very cold, or very hot past this door.  Follow me please."  The hall was very cold.  I guessed our direction was radially, around a perimeter of Philadelphi.  We were both quickly shivering.  He said nothing, I said nothing and followed.  The hall curved slowly both downward, and around to lead us back towards the center of Philadelphi.  I was pretty sure we were pretty far below the oat meadows above.  It got even colder as we went.  We turned through another door, and walked into and through a cavernous room with large machinery on either side, fairly far apart.  We headed towards a door at the far end of this huge room.  It was absolutely freezing where we were...  That smaller room was probably the lower core that U392 had mentioned.  He wanted us to wait there, well maybe until we felt some shaking...  From Fall Star's comments, that could be a day, at least, maybe days...  I think his real goal was to put me off, make me want to give up and go back up top.

Well, we never made it to the lower core room.  One of the huge pieces of equipment nearby burst out into the most horrendous banging sound.  Whatever it was trying to do, well, the metal floor below us was buckling so bad, inches really, we couldn't walk.  U392 fell to the floor and was as white as a ghost.  I guess he had never seen...  Well, I recognized some sort of large contactor, control or something on the side of this shaking machine; recognized the big lever anyway.  It was hard to get over to it with the floor heaving, but even as a pony, it was easy for me to pull the lever down.  The huge machine stopped...  The shaking stopped...  I didn't wait for U392 to recover.  "What are these things?"

Still trying to get a hold of himself, he answered without thinking "refuse pumps..."

I just sighed...  "U392 how cold is it down here?"  U392 slowly pulled out the panel on his back, stared...  I didn't wait for him to answer, because I had no idea how their thermal scale worked.  I sighed again, then said quietly "You can't start these pumps when they are full of frozen refuse..."

U392 got slowly up, then just stared off into the distance for minutes.  I just stood there and said nothing.  Then, well, maybe U392 was back to normal.  He said "This way, please" and he led me forward to the lower core room, which evidently had some means to stay tolerably warm.  The room wasn't huge.  In fact it was quite small.  U392 quickly had his small panel out again, and was barking orders...  He wanted half a dozen U techs down here immediately, and then he added Terrabelle's number at the end of the list.  U392 didn't say anything more to me, and was busy with his panel, talking non-stop...  I didn't mind.  I think that observation would resolve the shaking issue, and that was my goal.  I doubt there would be much mention of a P-type in the report of this incedent, but that didn't bother me either; that's not why I wanted to help.  After a little while, a bunch of other U techs squeezed into this lower core room, and Terrabelle poked her head through the door, last of course.  "Terrabelle, please escort Shysage back to Fall Star and thanks" U392 said curtly, then jumped immediately into talking about something else with the rest of the techs...

Well, I didn't know who was getting thanked, but that didn't matter to me either.  I squeezed past other Unicorns, sensed just a little of their aloof, then headed out the door with Terrabelle.  We were walking quickly to the other end of the huge, freezing equipment room.  Terrabelle smiled, then said quietly "Refuse Pump power control down...  Freezing room..."  Terrabelle sighed.  Then she said slowly "Nomini listens to me..."

"You are not a Unicorn..."  I didn't say this, but I thought it, trying to control my disgust.  Well, I was pretty sure Terrabelle would know...  This was a question, and Terrabelle understood right away.  "200 days ago?"

Terrabelle sighed, then answered without even thinking as we trotted to the door at the other end of the freezing equipment room.  "Refuse pump timer reprog at that point to keep the refuse reservoirs in central closer to empty..."

As we went through the door at the far end of the pump room, I smiled at Terrabelle, and said quietly "You are amazing..."

Terabelle laughed, then added "Well, this is the first time they ever let me down here, in case that matters.  And I wrote the frozen pump scenario up at the time too, pointing out that only pumps in the direct sunlight side of Philadelphi should be operated, but...  U392 said flatly I was wrong, and that was that."

"Well, hopefully, they will go back to the old timer schedule" I said quietly.  "And also hopefully, one of those pumps won't break loose..."  I...  That was my biggest concern.  I didn't think Philadelphi had the ability to deal with something like that.

Terrabelle...  "Nah, they will tinker with it 200 more days, just so a few more shakings occur, then they will do that..."  Terrabelle smiled, chuckled, then frowned.  "Shysage, please don't tell anymini I said that..."

I just had to say it again.  "I still want to fix your 'E', Terrabelle..."

Terrabelle smiled, then lead us back up to the circular hall, then back to the v-tran.  "This way to the paint shop!" she said, then she laughed.  The paint shop was a part of another large room under the oat meadows above.  There were a number of other U-techs down here, in this big room, but everypony absolutely ignored Terrabelle.  Well, they ignored me too, for that matter, but I wasn't bothered.  I was just some random P-type, probably lost...  Still, Terrabelle was a tech, with their training, and far more in touch with the tech side of Philadelphi.  I was absolutely amazed that she was able to survive in such an environment.

The paint shop was a corner of a large lab or something.  "I would like some white paint first to cover up that tiny 'e' " I said quietly.  Then I added "Well, and I need a brush or something to put the paint on."  Terrabelle led me to a nearby shelf with containers of paint.  Opening the containers as a people would be easy.

Then Terrabelle frowned.  "They cut hairs from my tail for the brushes last time..."

"Well, forget that" I thought to myself.  I would use my fingers for the white, then maybe part of my own tail for adding the correctly sized 'E'."  Then I smiled.  I doubted anypony else in this lab had ever seen...  I threw myself back on my hind legs, turned into a people, then stood up.  Terrabelle smiled right away.  She had seen this before.  The rest of the U techs in the lab stopped whatever they were doing, didn't move, and just stared.  I was fine with that; they could watch me fix Terrabelle's number on her cap.  Terrabelle nodded her head slightly forward, and I carefully removed her cap and set it down on a nearby table.  Their tables were a little low for me, but that didn't matter either. And, covering the rediculously small 'e' with white paint was easy.  I used one of my fingers to do the paint, then wiped my finger on my jeans when I was done.  Terrabelle said it was the same jar they used for painting the outside of her cap anyway, so it matched fine.  Then we waited a little while so the paint could dry.  Philadelphi had good paint; it dried pretty fast.  And while the paint dried, Terrabelle showed me which jar to use for the new 'E', and I pulled that one down, and put it on the table.

I decided to use some of my hair for the brush for the new 'E', so I asked Terrabelle "I need something really sharp that I can use to cut some of my hair off to use as a brush.  Do you have anything like that here?"  Terrabelle grinned, then trotted off around the lab.  And as she did, the U techs just ignored her, and kept staring at me.  She did find a sharp metal blade, but I had to go get it, pick it up.  One of the U techs had to move so I could reach it.  I said quietly "I won't hurt you."  Maybe they were all scared, I don't know.  Well, maybe they would have a little more respect for Terrabelle, anyway, after we were done.  I could hope...  Carefully pulling together some of my hair (after I cut a chunk off) made for a nice, small brush.  Adding the bright red 'E' didn't take long, and I tried to match the style of the numbers already there, Terrabelle's number.  But I intentionally made the 'E' even bigger than the numbers.  In my mind, Terrabelle deserved that.  Then I walked calmly over, said "excuse me" and put the metal blade exactly where I had found it, then put the two paint jars away too.  We waited for the red 'E' to dry, too.  That took a little longer.  When the paint was tacky, I picked Terrabelle's cap up and gently guided it down over her ears, back down on her head.  Then I had her hold still while I straightened the antenna thing.  It was bent.  I backed away to look at our work, and noticed that Terrabelle had tears in her eyes.  Still a people, I kneeled in front of her and hugged her neck with my arms briefly.  "You are amazing, Terrabelle..." I said with a smile.  Then I got up, backed up, threw myself forward, and turned back into that useless P-type mini, lost in the tech lab...  Then I chuckled.

Terrabelle said "This way please", and we headed back to the v-tran, hopefully back to Summer...







> Ch5, Spring Star
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fall Star cried for a while.  That shaking had deeply scared her, not just because of what it was, but more for what it meant.  Fall Star felt Philadelphi needed help with that, was calling out for help.  Still, when she calmed down, she walked us slowly up that ramp again.  "Well, I hope that fixes it, fixes Philadelphi...  As I mentioned, I feel some urgency to take care of our home since so many ponies depend on this tiny oat meadow in space...  Still, we really appreciate..."

I just added quietly "Princess, we are here to help.  And my Stallion is just very good at tasks like that."

In front of some sort of large doorway, Fall Star and I hugged a while more.  Then Fall Star pulled away and said quietly "Well, I just hope there is nothing else to fix on Philadelphi.  We kind of need our home...."

We weren't anywhere near the top of this strange building, but Fall Star turned, and led us through that doorway into a very large, circular room, with large windows all the way around the perimeter.  The view was amazing, I quickly saw that.  But Fall Star led us slowly over to another Leading Star, I think, and calmly introduced us.  "Spring Star, this is Summer from Equestria(1).  I think you got the docs..."  Fall Star stopped talking right then, because Spring Star and I were already quickly hugging... tightly...  Fall Star said quietly "Of course..." then "I'll be back, gonna' check my status", then Fall Star walked off.

Spring Star...  Light yellow coat, pinkish blond mane and tail...  Spring Star felt every bit like my sister Fluttershy(1); I didn't even need to ask anything.  Spring Star felt the same in me though, so we just hugged right away, and tightly.  No words really needed to be said, not yet.  I didn't want to stop; I guess I still missed my sister fiercely.  Well, as we hugged, Spring Star whispered quietly in my ear "I don't know if anything has been said, but bringing you here was my suggestion.  I think it was a good one, but..." then after a brief delay "Oh, my goodness, it's so good to have you here..."

Spring Star and I hugged a while longer, then we backed away.  "Well, you feel just like my sister, in case that means anything" I said quietly as I grinned.

Spring Star blushed.  "I...  Wow, that is such a compliment...  Thanks..."  And Spring Star had the same quiet, feathery voice that my sister has.  Still, to see her with that Unicorn horn...  Spring Star was an Alicorn, just like Fall Star.  I was pretty sure Spring Star was one of the three Leading Stars.  And I got the hugest grin as Spring Star used her magic to pull her own panel thing from her back...  She looked intently at it, worked at it with her magic briefly...  Maybe Spring Star read my mind... or felt it...  Then she laughed.  "Well, magic and I aren't friends...  Learning magic is just very hard for me.  Of course, I got a late start, but still...  I can use this, but...  I don't think my magic is very useful beyond that...  Well, I can brush my mane and tail with it, so I don't know..."  Spring Star was in thought a minute, then said "Hmm, follow me please."  Spring Star led us over to a part of this large, circular room...  It looked like some sort of control area, or something.  I think each of the Leading Stars had their own part of this room.  Shysage could probably describe it better.  But five other ponies were standing in front of their own larger fixed panels, looking, watching...  Three were P-type, one was E-type, one U-type.  They just used their front knees to push a few large buttons, to interact with the panels, I guess...

The E-type looked up at Spring Star and spoke quietly "Spring Star, I don't know what to do about..."  I think this was the reason Spring Star had walked us over here.  Spring Star watched the large panel thing intently next to E4300.  I was right next to Spring Star, and even I could tell...  Well the view was, two ponies were having a discussion, and it didn't seem very peaceful or kind.

Spring Star watched briefly, then said quietly to the E-type, using her number, I guess.  "E4300, this kind of thing, other ponies arguing, getting upset, well that makes me feel uncomfortable too.  That can't be helped."  Spring Star hugged E4300 tightly; I think she felt E4300 was not comfortable.  Then Spring Star continued.  "But this sort of thing absolutely needs to be addressed.  We need to watch over them carefully.  That can't be helped either.  Just give them a little while more, then jump in and remind them that the rest of us are counting on them resolving their disagreement calmly.  Let me know if things escalate, or if that doesn't help."  Spring Star thought briefly, then added "And engage mtrac if they leave without resolution."  Spring Star again turned around to face me.  "I apologize about that.  Sometimes, some ponies need to be reminded that getting along here in Philadelphi is not an option."

I had the hugest smile...  "You watch over how everypony gets along up here!"

Spring Star blushed...  "I...  Well, it's..."  Then she sighed.  "Yes..."  She was in thought briefly, then added "I do have help...  There are other ponies among us who are especially gifted in conflict resolution.  I watch over them, and teach them how to play that role.  E4300, P2993, P1783, U2761 and P4204 are my latest treasures.  They are learning fast!"  Spring Star stopped and hugged each one.

Spring Star then backed us away so they could do their tasks.  Then she moved right next to me and quietly explained.  "We really don't know how these pvis monitors work."  (She was looking at the 5 large panels in front of her treasures!)  "It is sort of a mix between magic and tech as far as we can tell.  We always have pictures and sound, and we can speak to the ponies in the picture, too."  Spring Star was watching one pvis intently for a brief time, then she continued.  "We don't have any control over the pvis panels other than that.  It is like...  Well, the pvis scans, selects problem issues it finds... all by itself, I guess.  We just wait for the pvis to pick up a situation, and deal with it if we need to.  And, often, no interaction will be necessary, and we can just watch, and make sure.  Or, with me, I can select a random and just try to see how everypony up here is doing.  I can watch for hours, just doing that!"  Spring Star was in thought a minute, then added "I can use my smaller panel for that, too."

This task sounded so perfect for a pony just like my sister Fluttershy!(1).  Still, I was just a little concerned, in the back of my head anyway.  If Shysage and I spent the night here in a dorm here, we might...  And I blushed before I even tried to ask what I wanted to ask.  But I guess Spring Star felt...  "We don't need to worry about that.  The pvis will keep the situation appropriate, and safeguard everyponies' right to privacy.  It does that all by itself.  And the operational docs for pvis clarify that will always be the case."  Spring Star frowned just then.  "Well, if their is a problem, if somepony is doing something wrong, privately...  We just recently sent a pony to a pen for that..."  Spring Star sighed after saying this.  I don't think that was a happy memory for her.

"A pen?" I asked quietly.

Spring Star smiled.  "Like I said, getting along is not an option here in Philadelphi.  Everypony knows, everypony is constantly reminded...  'Get along, or go to the pen'.  I came up with that!"  Spring Star was still smiling.  But she just felt...  "The pens are above ground, so they get sun, and we feed them, but they are locked in, inside a cage made of bars, away from other ponies.  We call the cages pens, well, just because that is the term used in operationals."  Spring Star felt like she should explain, so she backed us both up more, away from her treasures, and thought a bit.  Spring Star smiled, then explained.  "When I first took over pony care, the pens seemed harsh to me.  But I quickly realized...  Putting a pony who doesn't want to be considerate, kind to others, putting them in a pen...  It is not about them anymore, they have made some choices already.  It is for the protection of the rest of us, those of us that do try, and are trying to be considerate, kind, getting along with each other.  Ponies who refuse to do that, well that is their choice.  The pen is where they will end up, for the sake of the rest of us.  We really have no other choice."  Spring Star stopped here, then added, a little more quietly "We know that some Unicorns can get out of our pens.  But they clearly know...  We have a portable machine that... trims... their horn.  It keeps the pain involved to a minimum, but their magic will suffer...  So, they know they should not use their magic.  And if anypony escapes their pen...  Well, the pvis can and will find them no matter where in Philadelphi they try to hide.  We sleep them, then put them back in the pen.  And again, they have already made some choices at that point.  Our actions are to protect the rest of us that do want to get along here in Philadelphi.  We really have noplace else to send them."  Spring Star sighed.  "Yes, the use of the pens doesn't bother me any more.  It just doesn't make sense to let somepony trample the rest of us, or even kill us, just because they refuse to get along.  They can live in the pen until they decide otherwise."  Fall Star was in thought briefly, then she added "And we even have 50+ bully pens down below.  Well, operationals call them 'Isolation', but I know what they are for.  Anypony who refuses to control their anger...  It is their choice.  They are not more important than the rest of us.  And I won't hesitate..."

"Spring Star, you are perfect for this..." I said quietly.

Spring Star gave me a hug.  "Well, you would know better than anypony..." she said quietly, then added "And, thanks..."

Spring Star watched her treasures, their panels for a little while, but was soon quickly in thought again.  She timidly explained.  "I don't...  Your sister is such a sweetie, and I could show you both our ERP plots and such.  Still, I really can't explain why she and I are so similar--"

I smiled immediately, interrupted her, then said "alike!" than laughed like a sister, and hugged Spring Star again.

She laughed too.  After our hug, she finished her thoughts.  "On the one hand, the Leading Star spec package marks us out as good leaders, just as we see from Princess Twilight's(1) friends down below.  A careful understanding of the ERP mechanics makes that clear.  And, to be honest, the last two Leading Stars died less than a month apart.  Fall Star, Winter Star and I were set forward, and took over our responsibilities.  Well, one day we were watching some archived evis content together, about Princess Twilight(1) and her friends down below.  Fall Star stopped the content...  Well, we just looked at each other, amazed...  Why each of us have so many similarities to three in that circle...  I don't think we have any idea about that..."  And I just know Spring Star fought with herself before she added this.  "...And I don't have a sister, for the record."

With a mischevious smirk on my face, I said quietly "You feel like mine!" and we hugged again.  It wasn't short.

After that hug...  "Your sister Fluttershy(1)..." Spring Star started, "she has all those animal friends.  That made me sad, at first.  That would be such amazing fun for me, too... a cute little bunny like hers..."  Spring Star thought briefly, then smiled.  "But, well, everypony in Philadelphi is my friend, and I really care about each pony up here, so it all works out."  Then Spring Star walked slowly away, and I followed her over to the window next to her area, I think.  Looking out across Philadelphi, Spring Star sighed, then said slowly, quietly...  "24,376 packed packed together here...  968 more on the way, and maybe 1,000 who have lived a good life and will soon..."  I saw the few tears that began to drop, and hugged Spring Star right away.  "It... feels like a lot of responsibility...  And... I always wonder if I am doing enough... to help them enjoy it here..."

As we hugged, I said honestly.  "Pony care...  I can't think of anypony better for this than you, Spring Star..."  That made her cry, which made me cry.  We hugged tightly, and cried quietly there together for a little while.

In the middle of that Spring Star said quietly "Oh, it feels so good to have you here..."  That made me cry more...







> Ch6, Winter Star
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Whoooeeee...  What a day..."  Even across the large circular room, I heard that, placed who...  "Mercy...  Tech playin' with the refuse pumps again, wow they made a mess...  Wouldna' taken' long to clean it up, but the safety boys made us shower like every 5 minutes I think.  It's just grass an water..."

Spring Star said quietly what she had felt...  "Yes, that is Winter Star, and yes, she is just like..."

I couldn't wait, and said the name out loud "Applejack!(1)"  Winter Star turned to look, then walked quickly over from her area right away, laughing.  "Hold your horses girl, I'm just Winter Star.  And I have no idea why they gave me this huge log on my head, either."  Winter Star tried to use both eyes to look at her Alicorn Horn.  That made us all laugh.

Winter Star looked at me briefly.  "And you must be our new Summer Star, freshly imported from E-questria(1) down below" she said confidently.

I blushed.  Spring Star said quietly "Well, not quite yet, Winter Star...  She still has to..."

Winter Star answered right away.  "Just callin' it like I see it."  Her whole tone softened.  "We're really glad you made it here.  I think we need someone like you, like your magic..."  Winter Star slowly used her magic and pulled her panel carefully out from her back...  "I think this is the best my magic can do... I think we need... more...  I think we need... you..."  Then Winter Star bowed.  I nudged her up and hugged her.  After we were done hugging, Winter Star asked "An' what in tarnation is a tarnation?  I hear Applejack(1) say that a lot.  Now I do too, but what in Philadelphi does that even mean?  Anypony know?"

I got that playful smirk again.  "You should ask her!"

Winter Star was speechless, and shed a few tears.  "That would be..."

Well, I hugged her again.  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

After hugging only briefly, Winter Star pulled away.  "Yea, I know ERP's and such...  And wings and this horn, what are they for...  But every time I see her, it is like I have known her for... forever..."

Fall Star had joined us.  "Yes...  That is just strange how the three of us Leading Stars so closely match..."  After thinking briefly, Fall Star said quietly "Let's move to the circle, girls."

In the very center of this circular room was a lower area, and that was the "circle", I guess.  The floor was white and padded nicely, but walking on it...  I had to be careful.  Still, Fall Star, Winter Star, and Spring Star laid quickly on their bellies facing the center, facing each other.  To their backs was their area of this room.  I waited for them to lay down, then I took the fourth spot.  It was very comfortable.

"At least once a day, we usually relax here and talk about our areas, about Philadelphi, and such." Fall Star began.  "If there is not much to talk about, we might go to the viewer and watch some archived evis content.  Our goal is just to spend some time together at some point during each day.  And if something comes up during the day, and we need to talk, this is where we come."

Well, I just sighed.  Right now, the three Leading Stars were right here, probably in the most important spot in Philadelphi, as much a place of true friendship as there ever was...  Shysage wasn't back yet, but I guess I just needed...  Head slightly down...  "Fall Star, amazing friends...  It is clear to me that we can help Philadelphi, and Shysage and I both absolutely want to do whatever we can for you, for Philadelphi and her ponies.  But do I need to be a Leading Star to be able to make that happen?"

Well, I could tell Spring Star was a mess inside, just like my sister Fluttershy(1) would be in the same situation.  Fall Star answered calmly "Well, technically, you have already fulfilled all the various parameters of the Leading Star specification package, ERP's and such."  She had already mentioned this to me.

Winter Star explained quietly "The boys in Tech say there is a severe limitation in transjector range except for Leading Stars.  The magical oversight enforces that; I guess the docs spell that out.  Terrabelle told me we barely got you both up here from right below Philadelphi even...  And, since you and your Stallion need to stay together...  Giving you Leading Star classification is the best way, gives you the best chance at arriving here when we need you."

Well, after hearing that, I didn't even need to think.  This was all about helping Philadelphi after all.  I just smiled.  "Ok" I said quietly.  "If that is how we can best help Philadelphi and our new friends..."  We all stood up and took turns hugging.  I think this meant a lot to these Leading Stars, to Philadelphi.

Then Winter Star laughed.  "I think Summer Star is the only spot that hasn't been taken yet, is that ok with you?"  That made us all laugh.  I guess the fact that my name was Summer was not that important for this.  It didn't matter.  True friendship...  Shysage and I live for that, and will, forever...

We were already standing on this padded floor, as we hugged, then Fall Star led us out then over to what would become my area maybe.  I was not sure how that would work, since I would be "on call" generally from somewhere else.  I don't think any of the other Leading Stars had any clue either.  The area was mostly vacant, except for, let me see, 8 panels on stands, arranged neatly as a part of a circle in this area.  Fall Star was thinking out loud, I think.  "Winter Star basically takes care of our facilities, the Tech crew, the physical side of Philadelphi..."

Winter Star chuckled, then said "Mostly cleanin' up after Tech" and we all laughed.

Fall Star continued.  "Spring Star takes care of the ponies of Philadelphi, a huge job if you ask me, but she does so well!"  I was right next to her, and hugged her briefly.  Of course she was perfect for that...

Fall Star, still thinking... "I watch over the magical side of Philadelphi, and how that intersects with Winter Star and Spring Star's areas..."  It was quiet briefly, then Fall Star said "I don't know Summer..."

After a few minutes silence, Spring Star mentioned quietly "The task areas of the Leading Stars varies depending on how many Leading Stars there are.  I think Philadelphi will adjust this fourth console area according to what it senses is needed... after the induction maybe..."

Fall Star nodded yes, slowly.  Winter Star laughed and said "Wow, I have no clue, don't ask me!"

I didn't have any clue either.  "I will do whatever I need to do, I guess.  And I am sure I can count on three of the most amazing friends in Philadelphi, in Equestria(1) for help!"  We all hugged again after that.

It was quiet briefly, then Fall Star said quietly "Well, we do need to complete the Leading Star induction with you, but we can wait until your Stallion is back for that."  It was quiet a little more, then Fall Star added "Girls, let's take Summer up to the Magic Review deck, and we can talk some more.  It isn't far."







> Ch7, Shila
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fall Star led us around, then back out the door, and we were walking back up the ramp that was the Unicorn horn shape around the outer side of this strange tower called central, that could be seen from miles away.  There may be a better way to say that, but this huge building, called central, it looked like a Unicorn horn!  We were going up still, but Fall Star explained.  "The magic review deck is the highest level of central that we have access to.  Docs that we have cryptically explain that the magical stores are in the floors above, and we have no access to them, no doors or anything.  We don't have any idea what the magical stores even are.  The magic review deck right below is the closest we can get.  Well, the ramp continues most of the way up to the top, but is probably more for observation only.  And the view closer to the top is not very good."  Fall Star stopped here because we turned and walked through a large doorway with no door, and were soon in the room she referred to as the magic review deck.  "I try to check in here at the start and the end of every day.  I don't know if there is anything I can even do, but...  Well, this is the closest thing to a magical status deck...  And that is my department..."  Fall Star sighed.  

I think the magical energy keeping Philadelphi... alive...  That probably dwarfed the magical ability of even the strongest Unicorn.  I felt... Fall Star felt dwarfed by that too.  I hugged her, and I knew she was working hard to avoid crying.

I looked around the room briefly; there wasn't much here, mostly open space.  And windows lined almost the entire outside wall of this room too, just like the floor below.  There was a large, round support pillar or something in the center of this clearly circular room.  It had some sort of decoration on the surface, a moth or something, but I couldn't make heads or tails of it.  The only other object in this room was a large glass orb, or something, easily feet in diameter, resting in the air a short distance above the floor, glowing.  It looked green to me.

Just as I thought that, Fall Star looked at that orb too, and a look of concern quickly swept across her face.  Fall Star walked over to it right away.  "This shouldn't be..."  Almost as quickly, Fall Star pulled her panel out from her back... worked...  "Magical reserves, 6%...  That can't be...  How..."  After saying this slowly, Fall Star looked stunned as she just stared at the large orb.

Just then, Terrabelle and Shysage walked in the door behind us.  Shysage froze in his tracks, and Terrabelle started talking right away.  "Wow, something is wrong...  The v-tran took forever to get us up--"  Terrabelle was close enough to see the large orb by then, and she gasped.  Terrabelle was immediately staring intently into the small screen thing connected to her cap, clearly concentrating, scanning...  Terrabelle stopped abruptly, and said quietly "Princess, please touch the orb."  Fall Star...  Well, she was afraid, I think, maybe terrified.  Terrabelle said again, a little louder "Princess...  You need to touch the orb to bring up the magical system monitor orbs..."

Fall Star didn't move, so I walked over to her and hugged her.  She only slowly raised her hoof and touched the orb.  "I can't... do... anything..." Fall Star said, slowly louder...

But her touching the big orb brought 8 other smaller orbs up, also floating feet above the floor, in a line, beyond the large orb.  Terrabelle was quickly...  "Princess, magic reserves at 4% and dropping rapidly...  Terrabelle was still scanning, studying docs quickly, I think...  "Right hand orb is v-tran..."  Well, it was mostly red.  Terrabelle looked up briefly, then said quietly "Well, no wonder..."  But most of the orbs were slowly getting more and more red.  Terabelle... "Left hand orb is... the canopy..."  I think we all felt a distinct pain in our ears, which I could only clear by popping...  "Princess, the canopy... is... failing..."

Just then, the floor swayed, forcing us to all re-balance...  Shysage said quietly...  "Spin is slowing down.  I think we are slowly falling... tilting..."

Terrabelle, still trying to stay standing up, sighed... "Yes..."

Fall Star screamed what she felt... "I... can't... do... anything..."

What Spring Star did next...  Growing up with my sister Fluttershy(1)...  Loud noises scared her, even if she made them herself...  She never screamed...  But I always knew...  When my Sis let out a quiet "eeeppp" I knew she was scared to death(2).  Spring Star did that twice.  I was quickly crying, loudly.  And we could hear many more screams now... in central...  from ponies below...  The floor under us... Philadelphi... continued to tilt... slowly...

Chaos...  More screaming... Crying...  ...Panic...

Shysage said quickly "Summer, the Prowtase(3)..."

That meant nothing to me...  I didn't move, and kept crying...  Soon, none of us would even be able to stand up... none of us would even be alive...  Time stood still...  I was pretty sure we would all die quickly...  My ears hurt more...

The next thing I knew, my Shysage was standing right in front of me, as the handsome man he is...  Our eyes met, and, in the din of the surrounding chaos, I just couldn't look away from my man.  Like a night buried far in the past, Shysage was the only one(4) I could sense...  Shysage slowly bent over, took one of my front hooves in his hand, changed me into a people, and helped me stand up.  Holding on to the hand he had picked me up with, Shysage led me over to that central piller with the funny inverted sculpture.  I looked over at Shysage.  He said quietly "I think Philadelphi needs the Shila..."  Even before he was done saying that, I had spun up my mark, and had huge wings, a Unicorn horn, that low rumbling...  Around us chaos... louder...  Still, I was looking only at Shysage.  I couldn't do anything else.  Everything was a nightmare around us...  He walked me carefully right up to that wierd inverted sculpture, and said gently "arms forward..." then he eased me up against that sculpture.  It wasn't a moth...  It was...

me...

Philadelphi began pulling Phantom Alicorn magic from my hands even before I touched anything.  Slowly, gently, Shysage put his hand on my back, and eased me up against the transfer plate, he called it later.  Philadelphi took over, I think.  Nothing hurt, but I felt...  And, just like the Portal(5), Philadelphi sped my mark up even more...  With Shysage slowly rubbing my back, I just stood there... helping... recharging... Philadelphi...

I didn't have any trouble standing up straight, but Shysage explained later that, soon after I began the recharge, Philadelphi re-acquired geostationary, leveled out, and the rotation returned.  He said the canopy orb was the first one to return to green, then, one at a time, Philadelphi resumed operation of the magical subsystems that made Philadelphi work, that allowed Philadelphi's ponies to live...

There was still noise around me, but I could tell...  Everypony was crying... slowly quieter...

Terrabelle... "Magical stores;  180%... 250%... 330%..."  She slowly marked off the replenishment of the magical stores of Philadelphi, far beyond 100%.  And, I could not see anything, just the dull gray surface of the transfer plate, just beyond my face.  But I felt, I sensed a huge glowing orb taking up most of the space above us, inside this strange structure that was central.  There were no windows, but I could clearly see...  Electric blue-white streamers running up from me, well from the transfer plate, then scattering, spreading amazingly all over the surface of that orb...  The whole orb was... red, to orange... blue, white... slowly glowing brighter... brighter...  Time passed so slow for me...  Nothing hurt; I was merely a channel anyway...

The next thing I knew, Shysage had put both of his hands around my waist, and pulled me slowly away.  He asked quietly for me to un-spin my mark, which I did.  Then he sat down on the floor, holding me up, and I sat down, then I curled up in his lap, and cried quietly as he hugged me tightly.  Eyes shut tight, I only slowly realized that I was not the only one crying...

Spring Star, Winter Star, Fall Star and Terrabelle were laying on their bellies facing Shysage and I.  We cried quietly together for a while.

Winter Star got up as soon as she could, I think.  "Better get to work..." she said quietly, then she headed out.  I was sure she probably had a huge mess to clean up.

Next, I heard Terrabelle...  "Princess, can I do a doc about this?  I got a bunch of pictures..."

Fall Star smiled, then nodded, but was then quickly in thought.  Then she spoke softly "Well, I hope we don't need to do that again for a long time.  That was just scary...  And having you right here at the time..."

Terrabelle...  "That charge should last 250 generations by my estimate..." she said thoughtfully.

Fall Star smiled.  "Part of me wants to still be freaked out that we almost fell on Equestria, onto your Ponyville(1)...  But really, we brought you here at the perfect time, I guess."

Terrabelle was still thinking.  "Princess, I think we should add a note to operationals that the magical reserves gauge is clearly non-linear below 20%..."

Fall Star smiled.  "Terrabelle, I don't know what we would do without you..."

Terrabelle blushed, then put her head down.  "Just trying to help out, Princess..."

Waiting for a lull in talking, Spring Star said quietly "Summer, I think I want to adopt you as my sister..."  That made us both cry again.

As it began to get dark outside, lights came on in this room.  I think we were mostly done crying, and Shysage had me get up, then he got up, and we hugged again right away.  Still a people, Shysage led me and Terrabelle over to my imprint thing on the center column.  Fall Star and Spring Star followed.  Shysage asked quietly "Terrabelle, can you take a picture of that?"  He meant the letters above that imprint thing.  Shysage knew it meant Prowtase; I guess he recognized the letters.  They didn't look like modern Equestrian letters at all.

With Terrabelle's cap thing, that picture was quickly taken.  Terrabelle then mentioned "I should add that to the doc, too."

Shysage wasn't done.  "Terrabelle, can you do some sort of query, to find out if Philadelphi has any information on that word?"

Terrabelle was deep in thought, before doing anything else.  "Well, I can try..."  Terrabelle worked at her cap thing a little while.  "I don't know..."  After a brief delay, Terrabelle said "Oh, wait...  This..."  Then, after another brief delay, Terrabelle sighed.  "Access denied, doc restricted to LS status."

Fall Star smiled.  "Terrabelle, forward it to my panel.  It should be LS1-P1."

Terrabelle worked quickly, then said "Done, Princess."

Fall Star said "Thank you Terrabelle...  Ok, there it is." then "What query did you use?"

Terrabelle answered without even thinking.  "Language parse should bring it up."

It was a little while before Fall Star said anything.  She was looking, studying, reading...  Then with an air of almost disbelief...  "Summer...  How did...  The Shila?  It cross-referenced to that, and... brought up a long time-line, dates when you...  Wait...  Y.O.E. 0?  Summer, how did you..."

Wow, that last reference hurt... just like it was yesterday(6)...  I was still a people, and I just sat down where I was and cried quietly.  Shysage quickly sat behind me and pulled me into his people lap again, hugged me tightly, and we cried together...  That was an amazing day for Equestria(1), but hurt so bad for Shysage and I...  Wow, I suddenly felt so tired, so emptied...  I was sure Spring Star could feel how I felt; she was crying softly, too. 

Fall Star said quietly "Summer, I'm sorry...  I don't have any idea what happened then...  But evidently, looking at the timeline, Equestria(1) has leaned heavily on your powers a number of times...  That... is amazing..."

I couldn't talk, but Shysage said quietly "There have been steep costs at times, Princess..."

Fall Star sighed...  "I guess I can only imagine..."







> Ch8, Everypony Else
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Shysage and I turned back into ponies, Spring Star mentioned quietly that she should head below, probably to her station, to her treasures.  Spring Star was responsible for the ponies of Philadelphi, and there was probably a lot of confusion and fear in Philadelphi right now; she would feel all of that.  Fall Star led us all back to the doorway for the magical review deck, out then down...  Still, when Spring Star mentioned that, Fall Star was immediately deep in thought.  Then Terrabelle sighed...  "I just got a...  I need to go clean up the lab..."

Shysage barely choked down a caustic laugh at that.  He explained later.  It was pure mockery to task a pony with no magic to clean up any tech lab...

Fall Star shook her head ever so slightly.  "No...  Terrabelle, I am adding you as LS support.  Fall Star and Spring Star have support positions, and for good--"

Terrabelle had fallen to the ramp right then, crying.  "Princess...  I'm just an ordinary... nopony..."  I don't think any of us were going to let her get away with that!  Spring Star and I both nudged Terrabelle up, took turns hugging her...  Like I said, she is such a treasure!

Shysage spoke quietly up.  "Fall Star, I think that is an excellent idea.  I think Terrabelle knows, feels far more about the tech side of Philadelphi than any of the other Uni... uhm other ponies down in tech."

Fall Star smiled.  "Terrabelle, send that message to me.  I will take care of that!"  After a little more thought, Fall Star added "Terrabelle, Philadelphi has just been through a terrifying incedent.  Your first task as LS support is to quickly put together a short description of exactly what happened just now, so we can get it out, posted so everypony else in Philadelphi knows what happened."

Spring Star added "I think that will be a huge help, helping the ponies of Philadelphi settle down, relax...  And, knowing that it won't happen again for... a long time..."

We resumed our walk down the ramp, but it was clear Terrabelle was already at work.  Well, with her cap thing, I guess she could do such tasks anywhere.  Terrabelle was quickly busy.  She stopped at the doorway, working...

I was still fighting back tears as Fall Star led us into the room below, with that nicely padded circle, and the four areas, consoles...  I think Fall Star must have had some inkling how I felt (Spring Star certainly knew), and we were quickly laying on our bellies in what Fall Star had called the circle,  the padded circular area in the center of the room.  Shysage was right next to me; I think I needed that. Fall Star smiled.  "Well, like I said, I hope we don't need to go through that again for a long time.  That was just scary..."  As she said this, Fall Star used her magic to pull her panel thing around, looked, worked...  "Well, I don't think I can stop myself from checking magical reserves often now..."  I don't think anyone felt like laughing at that, but we did smile.  Then, still studying her panel...  "Wait... What?  Oh my goodness... Summer, the...  Philadelphi has already completed the Leading Star induction... How..."  Shysage nudged it right away.  That strange symbol for Philadelphi, a circle with a stick through it at an angle, followed by "LS4", these four characters were on my lower right front leg, a few inches above the hoof.  The other Leading Stars had the same thing, matching their numbers.  We all had to get up and hug after that.  Well, I guess I was a Leading Star now; Philadelphi had seen to that!  But that meant we could more easily help Philadelphi and her ponies.  Helping others; Shysage and I, we live for that...

Winter Star ran into the room right then, and joined us.  "Aww...  I missed the Induction..."

As I hugged Winter Star, Fall Star explained.  "Winter Star its fine.  Philadelphi didn't wait for any of us, and just did it, I guess.  We all missed it... but we officially have a Summer Star now too!"

As I hugged Winter Star, she said again, quietly.  "Like I said, I think we, Philadelphi really needs you...  Thank you for coming..."

A little while later, I was hugging Spring Star...  Wow hugging her felt so good, and usually wasn't short.  But I guess Fall Star was standing where she could see my console area, and glanced over...  "Oh my goodness Summer...  Your consoles!"  We all looked...  The panel on the left end was still blank, but the next one over had "LS3" (for Spring Star) marked under the panel.  The next panel over was marked underneath with "LS1" (for Fall Star).  Two more blank panels, then the sixth panel had LS2 (Winter Star) marked under the panel...  Fall Star walked a little closer, clearly puzzled.  "Thats strange...  We Leading Stars already have our areas, our consoles...  Why..."  Her voice trailed off at this point.  

Winter Star laughed.  "Just one panel is enough for me, thanks!"

Well, I think we were all wondering what Philadelphi was doing here...  These 8 panels, in my area, I guess...  Fall Star had gotten out "I wonder what--"

Just then, a very pink pony bolted through the door, laughing loudly. "I'm the one, I'm the one!  Pick me!  Pick me!"  She said as she ran up to us, still laughing, then she stopped abruptly.  It didn't take her long to realize she was facing Leading Stars, and she quickly fell to the ground, her hair and her countenance fell too...  Almost whispering, she said quietly "Princesses...  I am so sorry...  I should not have...  It is just that...  I knew...  Please forgive me...  I have failed...  I was... wrong..."  Still on the ground, she began turning, then crawling away...

I could not stop...  "Pinkie!(1)" I said loudly...

Still crawling, this very pink pony stopped, and her curls and her smiles returned.  She turned her head...  Quietly, she said "Yeah... the mane and tail, and my coat... might be a give-away..."  Then Philadelphi's Pinkie chuckled.  "Just make sure you spell it with a 'ie'... not a 'y' like everymini else up here..."  Still, I nudged her up and hugged her.

Shysage saw it first...  "Princess, her panel..."  The fifth panel in from the left end, now had marked clearly below the panel "E3777", surely this ponies' Philadelphi number.

E3777 bowed to Fall Star right away.  "Princess...  I'm so sorry...  I hope..."  Fall Star must have realized...  Fall Star nudged this pink mare up and hugged her.  Then Pinkie(1) kept trying to explain "Princess, I have no... wait..." then yelling loudly "Rarity(1), get in here!"

A white mare with nicely kept purple mane and tail walked sheepishly in...  "E3777, these are... Leading... Stars..."  The white mare fell over as if having fainted, or something, but then just as quickly rolled back over onto her belly...  Sounding almost scolding...  "E3777... what have you gotten us in to..."

E3777 laughed loudly.  "It's fine, we are supposed to be here" then laughed some more.  "I'm Pinkie(1), you are Rarity(1), and..."

After getting up...  "Oh dear...  Princesses I am sorry for my friend here...  She said...  I am U4567, and all I do is sew saddlebags all day...  And I don't even know what a saddle is!"  Then U4567 bowed, cried quietly.  Fall Star nudged her up too, then hugged her. Spring Star and Winter Star both had amazement written all over their faces!

Shysage again said quietly "U4567" and looked towards the panels in "my area"...  I think I was realizing that it wasn't really my area...  That didn't bother me for some reason...  Still, U4567 was added under the panel all the way to the left now.  I wasn't exactly sure what Philadelphi was up to, but I did have an idea who would come through the door next!

U3777 said...  "Where is she..."

U4567 rolled her eyes just a little.  "Probably something about landing gear..."

Clearly out of breath... another mare walked in, towards us.  "Sorry I'm late...  I landed too far up, and had to run down.  What did I mi--"  Just then, this Pegasus mare realized she was facing a bunch of Leading Stars... bowed immediately...  "Princess, I am so sorry...  I know this is off limits...  I told her..."  Then, sort of under her breath, she said quietly "E3777... what are you doing?  We shouldn't--"  This blue pony with a clearly rainbow mane and tail, she stopped right there...  Fall Star had nudged her up and was hugging her too...  We all looked over at the 8 consoles in, well, their area right away...  Fourth panel in from the left...  P4321...  P4321 said right away "Wait...  Why is my number on that panel?  I don't even have a panel...  can't even hold one up...  I don't even need a panel...  All I do is fly all... day... air mail..."  P4321 looked around the rest of the room...  "And why am I here in the middle of... all these Leading Stars?  I should be..."

E3777 might have sounded just a little impatient.  "Hey, like I told you, your other name is Rainbow(1)..."  P4321 smiled...  E3777 continued.  "And U4567, you are Rarity(1).  Don't ask me how, I just know..."

By then, both P4321 and U4567 were both ever so slightly shaking their heads sideways.  U4567 put her head down.  "Princesses, we apologize for the instrusion.  I think we had best get going...  Philadelphi is sort of a mess at the moment"  And U4567 said "going" just a little forcefully, and looked directly at E3777 as she said that.

Fall Star sighed, then smiled.  "As usual, E3777 is right, and you three belong here right now, and should really stay, at least for a while so we can talk."  Fall Star was in thought briefly, then added "I don't understand what Philadelphi is up to, but..."

I said out loud what Fall Star was thinking.  "I think you 6 girls are in for some amazing times together!"

U4567 said cautiously "So I really am,  my name really is... Rarity(1)?"

Fall Star smiled.  "After we do some explaining, a lot of this will make more sense."

P4321 smiled, said quietly to herself "Rainbow(1)...  I like my new name..."  Of course...

Winter Star was hugging everypony.  My new sis, er Spring Star was on the verge of tears, and she also worked her way around, and hugged... everypony... then me!  I hugged everypony too.  Princess Twilight(1) down below...  She and her girls...  I love each one so much...  That made me want to cry... a lot...

After we all hugged, well, each other, Fall Star led us all back to the circle.  We expanded the circle some, and we all relaxed there together on our bellies, facing each other.  (Shysage said quietly this was girl time, and stood calmly near the 8 new panels, looking out the window.)

E3777 didn't wait very long, looked at me, then said "And you are the Phantom Alicorn!"  Then she got this quizzical look on her face.  "I don't know what that is though..."  Well, I was sure she would find out, probably soon.

It was quiet briefly, then "Summer, I don't know..." Fall Star started, talking as she thought maybe.  "Maybe one of the two remaining panels might get your number..."

Well, I already had a good hunch whose panels those two would be for.  Still, I put my head down, and said quietly.  "Princess, I am just here to help.  Just like when I am in Equestria(1) down below.  I help when I need too, but...  You and your girls are really the ones that Equestria(1)..."  Yes I did stop there.  I felt like crying.  Like Shysage said...  The cost of just being available to help... has been pretty steep at times...

Still standing off to the side, Terrabelle waited for a lull in the conversation.  Bowing a bit, she smiled, then said "Princess, Philadelphi Magical Stores Recharge Overview is sent to your panel for your review.  Then Terrabelle frowned.  "But its time for Summer and Shysage to return.  The transjector syncronization process will be complete after their trial passage back, and things will be a lot easier getting them up here next time.  But for now...  I think we need to head back to the transjector."  What followed next was a lot of hugging, tears...  And pulling myself away from my new sis Spring Star was especially hard.  We soon headed out the door leaving 6 amazing ponies to find their... destiny... together...

At least we could take the v-lev down to the base of central.  I cried the whole time as Shysage hugged me.  And Terrabelle timed everything so we could walk calmly back out sector road Q back to the transjector, even stopping to eat on the way.  We appreciated all of that.  Still, stepping out of the v-lev, it was clear that Philadelphi, especially around central, well just about everypony was busy cleaning up after almost...  I was a Leading Star now, and my right leg proved that, but I think most ponies had their hands full.  Nopony bowed, but I was ok with that.  Like I have said in the past, I already have a princess...

But we did stop maybe half way out, in order to eat some.  I was starved; this had been a very draining day for Shysage and I.  I really did wish we could spend some time together and alone in one of their dorms... just some sleep even...  Well we could do that down below, once we were back...  I almost wrote "home", but I am not even sure where that is any more...  But after we were done eating, drinking, and were heading out to the sector road to resume our trip to the transjector...

"Good evening.  I am U7999 and this is my sister U6000.  We are exhausted from our cleaning...  We start our days early, and so...  Well, it has been a long day for us, for all of us, I guess.  Today was scary..."  Large starkly white pony with shimmering, almost irradescent, vibrantly colored mane and tail...  Her sister was smaller, and had a deep blue coat, and very dark violet mane and tail with occasional sparkles...  Oh my goodness...  I knew this would be hard...

Terrabelle introduced herself, then Shysage started to introduce me...  U6000 must have seen my leg, then said quietly to her sister "Sister, LS4."  At this, both bowed.  I motioned both up, then hugged each of them... way too short for me, and it left me a mess inside.

U7999...  "Curious, no Unicorn horn..." she said this calmly.  

I was only briefly tempted to...  "I get that when I need it" I answered quietly.

U7900 smiled.  "Philadelphi knows what is best.  I am not questioning your status.  LS1 was actually my student in magic school for quite a while.  She is very gifted, such a treasure."  Why was everything making me want to cry buckets...

Still, Terrabelle...  "Ladies...  LS4... rescued... Philadelphi... today..."  That made me want to cry too.

Still, for me a far more important task loomed largely...  "Terrabelle, can you take a picture of both of these Unicorns together, and send it to LS1?  And make sure their numbers are included..."

Terrabelle smiled.  "The image repository will correctly attach the number to any picture taken of one of Philadelphi's ponies" then she had the sisters scoot next to each other.  Both smiled as they did that.  "Hold still"  Then, after only a few seconds "As requested, picture routed to LS1-P1.

I said quietly "Nice meeting you both", then we turned and resumed our trip out to the transjector.  Terabelle felt some urgency, so we walked pretty fast.  I didn't mind.  Everywhere I looked, it seemed...  Without being asked, Shysage and I walked into the transjector room, into the very center, then turned to face the large open side.  Terrabelle then bowed, and I quickly got her up, and we hugged.  "You are such a treasure" I said quietly.  That made Terrabelle cry.  "I hope we get to see you again soon" I added as I walked back next to Shysage and turned around.  Still shaking off tears, Terrabelle disappeared outside then around, somewhere.  A few seconds later, Philadelphi disappeared too...

Shysage and I were standing in the grass at the top of that slight hill in the center of that ring of huge trees.  I fell to the grass and just cried right away.  Shysage laid on his belly, sort of curling himself around me... cried with me some...  Wow, I needed him... It was dark and we were soon asleep.

I slept in the next morning, I think.  The sun was high, but Shysage was already awake, still curled around me...  He was just looking calmly out across the grass.  I raised my head so it was right next to his.  "Shysage, what was that..." I asked quietly.

He smiled; I saw that right away.  "Looks like a lot of true friendship and fun awaits some pretty amazing ponies up there."

Shysage and I both heard, somehow...  It was Terrabelle...  "LS4 transjector synchronization complete...  Hope to see you both again soon!"