//------------------------------// // Ero // Story: That Which was Lost // by LadyRFC //------------------------------// “Don't worry. Don't cry. I'm sure she's out playing. You know how she likes the outside. She loves the garden ponds and the birds, you know. She's always been like that, my dearest.” Lily stood very very still, aware of her new friends behind her, but refusing to look back at them. Her eyes were fixated on her father, who stood in the center of the throne room, his wide eyes fixed upward, pupils dilated and mane disheveled. She knew who he was raving to. The some pony he always raved to since Lily could remember. When she was alive it had been jokingly. In death it was violent and made her feel like an outcast even with her own family. She calmly waited until his mad gaze floated over towards her. “You're back!” He walked towards her slowly, a large grin on his face. “Serenity, do not worry me like that again. You know how worried I get.” Lily didn't move. She hated being mistaken for her mother. It hadn't happened much when she was younger, but after her last growth spurt, it had started. Off and on her father would mistake her for Empress Serenity, her own mother. She felt pity for a long while, but it was exhausting. And it was lonely. “I am Lily, father,” she corrected calmly. “Your daughter.” The emperor stopped. He gazed at her for an uncomfortable length of time and then began walking away, his eyes glazed over. “I have to find Solace. She's been gone so long,” he murmured. “Ah, but she'd be in the garden. Yes, she likes the ponds there, remember, dear?” Lily frowned. This was the first time he had ever mentioned Solace in one of his moods. She looked over at the servant at her side, the one they had met out by the gates. She raised an eyebrow in question. The servant bit her lip nervously. “Solace is in her room,” she answered in a whisper. “She was injured badly, your highness.” Her eyes darted between the emperor, who was wondering towards a side door leading towards the gardens, and her princess. “His highness.... he...” Lily squeezed her eyes shut for a second and took a deep breath. As her eyes opened she quickly made her way towards her father, coming between him and the door he was slowly headed towards. He smiled at her again. “You are coming with me? It is nice out now, my dear.” Lily did not smile back. Her horn glowed and a soft green haze covered him in a protective bubble. He tilted his head, not seeming to understand his situation in the least. But before he could even consider using his own magic to get out, his daughter then used a sleeping spell, putting her father into a deep snooze. Turning towards the servant, and trying to ignore the shocked expressions on her friends' faces, she requested simply, “Bring me to Solace.” –------ As the servant lead the way down a long hall towards the servants' dorms on the other side of the palace, Lily explained the situation as best she could to her new friends. “Ever since my mother, Empress Serenity, passed away when I was small, my father's senses have not always been with him. He often mistakes me for my mother. He can be violent in this state.” She bit her lip. “He's never actually physically harmed anypony with his magic, though. That's... new.” “So he just liked sending dragons to do his dirty work?” Rainbow asked bluntly. “Rainbow!” Twilight instantly scolded harshly. Lily shook her head sadly. “No,” she breathed, her voice a bit shaky, “it's fine Twilight. She's right.” She looked ahead with a grim look. “My father has started a war with a nation that wasn't hostile before. I've little doubt they are by now.” She shut her eyes again for a moment. “But actually inflicting physical pain himself is not something he's done before.” The servant stopped in front of a door and opened it for them to pass through, the room beyond holding countless beds for countless servants. “It means he's gotten worse...” The servant lead them down a line of beds until they reached one that was occupied. Solace lay there, her head tightly wrapped in bandages. She looked near sleep, but was too uncomfortable to actually succumb and rest. She glanced over at them when they came near. “I'm sorry,” Princess lily whispered, eyes downcast. For awhile Solace said nothing, then, as if having finally gained either the strength or the words, she spoke. “No. No, Lily. I.... I shouldn't have. I was angry. I wanted to hurt you. For abandoning us. For abandoning him. I...” Lily didn't look up at first. Then, taking a breath, she forced her eyes to meet her old friend's. “I did give up. I was tired. So I left. And I... I didn't even consider you.” She dropped her eyes again. “I didn't think of any of you. Of what it was like for you.” “And what it's like for him?” Solace asked, her voice dry and cracked. Lily couldn't answer that. She didn't want to. Sympathizing with her father seemed to only solidify the chains she felt already encased her legs, imprisoning her in her own home. She didn't want to. Solace looked away and closed her eyes. “I nearly killed you, Lily. I don't expect any forgiveness.” Princess Lily shook her head. “I don't agree with you. But I know why you did what you did. And I do forgive you for it.” There was an awkward silence, with Solace unable to speak, before the servant made a sign to the princess and she nodded. “I'll leave you to get some rest now.” She began to walk back the way she came with her friends when she looked over her shoulder at the injured unicorn. “He was wondering where you were earlier.” Solace didn't answer, but as her princess left she thought she caught the unicorn's shoulders shaking and a very soft, fragile sound drifting in the still air of the servants quarts. But whether the tears were from happiness or sorrow, she couldn't tell.