4 - Divine Conference
Once aware of her presence and recovered from her surprise, Twilight perked right up. "That may be our ticket home." She nudged Sunset to follow with her and they pushed through the crowd towards the pink mare that had appeared.
As they came into dancing range of the mare, other ponies began to move to block them. Not with malice, but offering dances of their own with eagerly moving hooves and big smiles.
Sunset gently nudged a mare out of the way. "Sorry, just passing through."
Twilight pushed a stallion out of the way, even if she felt mildly guilty for doing so. "Sorry..."
The pink mare noticed them. She looked towards them and took a step. "Who is this, that doesn't dance? You are not my children, but..." Her eyes went unfocused, as if looking far beyond Twilight and Sunset. "You are no children of mine or anyone I know..."
A brave stallion attempted to climb on the pink mare even as she spoke. The move only made her giggle as she pulled him down, kissed him, and sent him off into the crowd. "I cannot dance while you are here."
Her words caught the attention of many of the ponies nearby and they rose as if to defend Lashtada from the intruder.
She raised a hoof. "Let there be no harm done, least not on this night. Please, follow me." She turned and trotted towards a quieter portion of the festival.
Twilight and Sunset followed, both hoping they would go home soon. As they went, Sunset leaned towards Twilight. "You have a plan, right?"
"She's a goddess. Assuming we accept the rules of this world, she has the power to send us home or do almost anything she wants. Who else is better to ask?"
Lashtada turned to them in the dark. "Others will assume we are doing the dance of life, away from the light of the fire."
Sunset blinked softly. "But we're both, you know, female?"
Lashatada tilted her head, looking confused that the very notion would be an impediment to her. "Do you wish a blessing?"
Sunset almost answered, but Twilight clapped a hoof over Sunset's muzzle. "Oh, thank you. That's very generous but we'll pass for now."
"That's a shame... You would both make wonderful mothers. Now, what brings a being from another plane among my people, if not to dance, if not to ask for blessings?" She spoke with such a friendly and kind tone. She was a kind mother personified, willing to give anything if it would make her children happy. "Come now, tell me." Her face suddenly lit up. "Do you seek the hoof of one that ignores you? I can give some advice..."
Sunset narrowed her eyes at the goddess as it became clear to her. "You are a literal sex god."
Lashtada looked her as if she had just declared the sun was bright or that ice was cold. "Yes."
Twilight hurried forward, which made Lashtada grin. "Shall we dance?"
"N-no, we're lost. We want to get back to that, uh, plane, right. Our home plane." Twilight nodded quickly. "You can do that, right?"
She tilted her head to the left. "You would do better to ask Luminace such a question. I rule over life, the start of it at least, and how that start happens. The ties that bind us together in communities where life can occur peacefully. Love, that is my domain." She suddenly reached a hoof and drew Twilight closer. "Let me speak to you of that instead."
Twilight went rigid, panicking as the goddess easily snatched her up and began to rub her chest. "N-no! Really, I'm f-fine!"
"You are a bit young, but your field is fertile. It needs only gentle tilling and sowing." Lashtada breathed over Twilight's snout, bringing with it a strange scent of vanilla and cinnamon. She felt a new heat sear through her as she was made ready. This was all going exactly as she had hoped it wouldn't.
Sunset didn't stand-by idly as her friend was seized by the goddess. "Woah, hold on there!" She put a hoof on the pink pony's back. "We're not ready to be mothers. We just want to go home."
"But this can be your home." Lashtada smiled. "Carrying a blessed foal will see you well cared for and loved. Lay back and accept this blessing. You will know life."
Sunset couldn't take it! If she didn't act quickly, her friend would be... She let out a bright flash of flame from her horn.
Lashtada seemed surprised at the attack, as ineffective as it was against her. She raised a hoof and brushed the singed fur a moment. "You attacked me..."
Sunset shrank back. Was she about to face divine judgment?
Lashtada released the dazed Twilight to the ground and stepped towards Sunset. "I thought I was being kind. Do creatures not love in your plane? Do they not make families? Perhaps that would..." She stopped suddenly, her jaw hanging. "N-No! My children!" She ran for the light, but vanished before she could reach it.
Sunset looked around slowly, as if the goddess may reappear at any moment. "Are you alright, Twilight?"
Twilight slowly sat up on her haunches, still warm in places she didn't normally consider. "I think I'm fine... Where'd she go? I mean, not that I'm objecting, but that was odd, even for her."
New noises began to reach them. Angry shouts, growls, and the thundering hooves of horses, real horses mixed in with the soft cries of the little ponies.
Sunset crept quickly to the entrance of the tent they were in and peeked out to see the people of the village were being attacked by bipedal furry creatures. They were killing many, and capturing others. "What th--"
The tent suddenly came down on both of them as a small force of the attackers sliced its supports.
Sunset and Twilight fought their way to freedom, only to have spears shoved in their faces.
Wielding those spears were two of the bipedal creatures. One of them sneered. "Clothes? Civilized? Fine, you get a choice. Come work in the mines, or die here. Either is fine."
The screams of dying ponies around them implied that others weren't being given the choice. Sunset considering trying to escape a moment, but she could, at best, hope to get herself away. Twilight... "We surrender."
"We do?" Twilight's eyes went wider as she took a step back.
The creature wasn't having any of it and advanced on Twilight. "Your friend made right decision. Give up."
Twilight rose up to two legs, which made the warriors ready to skewer her, but she thrust her hooves in the air and gave up.
"Huh, strange way for pony to surrender, but fine. Come." He hopped off his horse and tied a rope, coarse and thick, around each of their necks. "This way." She led them to a collection of small ponies, and Sunset's metal friend.
The metal pony had a few dings from the event, but seemed alright overall. On seeing them she let out a little sigh. "I had hoped you had escaped, but better captured than dead, I suppose."
"Roll!" Sunset smiled. "You're alright." She settled with the others, trying to ignore their angry jailers.
Roll nodded. "I am as well as anyone who has been made a prisoner can be. The damage inflicted on me is far from terminal. I will repair. You two look untouched." She looked between Twilight and Sunset. "Is she who you wanted to dance with?"
Sunset blushed savagely. "N-no! She's the one that came with me, to here, on accident..."
Twilight nodded at the curious metal pony. "Um, hi? I'm Twi--"
"Be quiet!" One of the guards raised his flail over his head, looking ready to bash a head in. "You be quiet or I'll make you be quiet!"
The sounds of violence died down as the crackle of fire grew. Straw huts, as it turned out, burned quite easily, and soon the entire village was put to the torch. The prisoners were encouraged with harsh words and bodily violence to rise and follow. "Soon you find better home, heh, good work ahead."
Roll stayed close to the other two ponies of her stature. "You seem unaware," she whispered faintly. "Our captors are gem gnolls. They aren't usually this coordinated... This is troubling for a number of reasons."
Twilight glanced around fearfully. "We're being taken to who-knows-where and you're worried about their battle tactics?"
"A number of reasons."
Sunset nodded faintly. "Don't get angry at her. We're in this together, alright?" She offered a nervous smile at her new friend. "We'll get out of it..."
They were marched out of the forest and to a waiting hole in the earth that they descended into in a large procession. As they walked, one of the small ponies moved beside Twilight. "You're larger."
"Yeah?" She wasn't used to the idea of being the big person in any room.
"Protect me?" The small pony, a mare, smiled up at her hopefully.
Twilight felt her heart breaking. She couldn't protect herself, let alone the little pony that looked so lost and confused. "Try to stay close..."
That was a bit of advice that would be hard to follow. They separated out the ponies as they went, with the little ponies being herded down one tunnel and the three larger being sent to another place. They could hear the sounds of picks striking walls echoing out from the darkness and gloom. While there were torches, they were spread out far apart, with patches of terrible darkness that they could barely see their hooves through.
The creature leading them looked over his shoulder. "If you're thinking of escaping, stop that. There is no escape, and we'll do all the thinking for you. We'll even feed you and give you water." He said it as if they were being quite kind. "All you have to do is dig. Dig and find lots of gems and we will keep feeding you."
"I do not require sustenance."
The gnoll peered at Roll curiously. "Good, then we don't have to feed. You're already a great worker." He pointed to a pile of picks as they walked past. "Grab one."
Sunset hefted one with her magic, while Twilight and Roll had to use their mouths, but soon all were equipped with mining picks.
"Great, since first day, we start easy." He pointed down a tunnel. "Just make wider. Not even have to hunt gems, but if you see a gem, you give it. You give enough, maybe prize? See, we not so bad." He flashed a grin full of teeth and wandered off towards the dark. "Now is your chance to show you work without gnoll around to watch. You mess up, then you get whipped every day. For own good, promise."
Roll watched him go before she turned back to her wall and began chipping away at it with her pick. "This is... less than optimal."
Sunset let out a slow sigh. "Understatement of the evening." Soon all three were working to avoid being whipped in coming 'days'.
There had to be some way to escape...
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Twilight is probably still primed, though.
I wonder how much xp one would get for killing a god?
divine judgement - divine judgment
exactly as she hoped - exactly as she had hoped
hooves of horse - hooves of horses
dings for the event - dings from the event
Roll noded - Roll nodded
*****
Meeting with Lashtada went about as I would have expected. Fertility goddesses certainly have one track minds.
Glad to see that Roll is ok. Perhaps with her help they can identify patterns in their captors' behavior that will allow them a chance to escape sooner rather than later, before poor food and treatment render them too weak to resist.
Sadly, we know how things will end for Lashtada's children, but perhaps if the opportunity presents to save a few...
7297293 I hadn't thought about this being BEFORE all the others... it certainly opens possibilities...
Or maybe this was only one village? I hope so. It would be a shame for they to disappear after so long being under chains...
7297293 Typos fixed, but the biggest typo of them all remains.
The past refused to change...
Yeah, I'm with Roll. "Suboptimal" is definitely a way to describe this situation. Still, it wouldn't be much of a story if our heroines were consigned to manual labor for the rest of their lives. Here's hoping they can rescue some of the short ponies during their escape.
7297467 And the story was quietly marked completed.
Wait, no. I wouldn't do that...
Diamond Dogs attacking the Luv Kats? Crysalis will be missing out.
But who is Top Dog in the New Order, and just how much draw does Shimmer have here.
With Lashtada removed, will Sunlight Shimmer or Midnight Sparkle be promoted, even against their wishes, to the position?
I seem to remember the old crew were Level 6 or so, so for power rating at least, Sunset and Twilight would be Level 8, heading rapidly to 10, as in world altering on local level?
Would be intresting if Spike got Familiar rating, Draconic Heritage, and a level high enough to get his wings, finally.
7297467 Five years later...
7297469
And yet, I've seen evidence of that happening at least 'once' before to another story before you decided to continue.
7298041 I declared it finished in a much more public way, and at the end of a story arc at least. This? This would just be a crime against literature. There must be more!
Nah, you see, now David changes the story to have the Dark, Sad, Slice of Life tags, and this becomes a depressing story of the loss of self and freedom as the two get used to being slaves. Then they die in a meaningless way. The end.
Wow, I think I need to listen to Smile Smile Smile a few times to cheer up...
while
Considering that a bunch of people just got brutally murdered in front of them, I think Twilight and Sunset should be more upset, and the short legs should be A LOT more upset.
Also, I thought you originally said that Lashtada was killed in that attack as well.
7298860 Typo fixed. Lashtada lost connection to the world as all her worshippers died miserably in the dark. She was never killed.
While I'm not sure of the timeline of Everglow (and gods are somewhat non-linear, anyway), I thought that Luminace ascended after Lashtada's decline, as she didn't seem to know about her in some of the rulebooks.... or maybe I'm misremembering.
I'm coming to this chapter a bit late, but I wanted to take a moment to go over how much I liked what was here. It's not just that this is a moment of major importance for Everglow, but also because I quite enjoyed the exposition about the short-legs, and Lashtada herself, that we can draw from this chapter.
I think what's most notable here is just how small-scale the short-legs civilization is (no pun intended). From what this chapter seems to indicate, this one town/village - maybe it's a small city? - is the sum total of the short-legs' civilization. While there could very well be some of them that are living in small hamlets or thorps elsewhere, the implication is that this particular settlement is the home of virtually all of them (particularly if we assume that, for their holiest/sexiest celebration they've all gathered in one spot).
This, in turn, indicates just how minor of a deity Lashtada really is. She's always been a racial god - being not so much "goddess of love," as she is "the short-leg's goddess of love," with Kara apparently being the goddess of love for the rest of Everglow (or at least the rest of the pony races). That makes sense, considering what we learned in Princess Luminace's Guide to the Pony Pantheon about how old Kara is. In this regard, it's not surprising that Lashtada vanished before she could even get back to her people - her worshippers are so few in number that she's likely never been anything more than a demigoddess, and with so many slain then her power took an immediate hit (that and Everglow seems to be unusually strict about gods making personal appearances).
That's a glimpse into the demographic and religious background of the setting that I quite enjoyed.
Well that happened...
Well I didnt think this night would ve when the gem knolls would come, but dam makes you want to be there to help. Well Everglow isn't all about happy endings.
7365623 It was happy for someone.
7365684 Ya roll was right they where too well organised, I guess Kara may have a hoof in this. As it happening on the one day their godness would be there sounds like planning then just bad timing
7297184
Considering gods in d&d are Epic level, and Twilight and Sunset are probably first level at this point...
How about an instantaneous leap to twentieth level? Sound good? Yeah, sounds good.
Assuming you can hit them, do any damage at all, don't get hit and/or don't take more damage than you have hitpoints plus half your con.
I was expecting that they would fight to protect the little ponies.