Book One: Chapter Fourteen: The Lost City
Myths and Birthrights
By Tundara
Chapter 14: The Lost City
Four hours. It had been four hours since Leviathan vanished with her captives.
Bellerophon raced across the open sea, guided by Twilight towards some point in the distant east. There was an undercurrent of apprehension among the crew as they hurried to shift the sails for what seemed the hundredth time while the officers continually shot glances to either the princess as she stood near the capstan, eyes fixed on the miasma of the horizon, or to Hardy. The captain kept vigil at his appointed place along the leeward rail, ears attuned to the sound of the water speeding beneath the hull, the creaking of the double-backed stays, and the warmth of Sol as the sun approached high noon and the ship’s position would be fixed.
Hardy knew that they had run over forty nautical miles in the time since the ship had made her way out from the channels and spread her full, towering spread of canvas. The winds and sea seemed to want the ship to hurry, both complying to create the sweetest sailing he’d known in many years.
The Bellerophon loved the conditions, her roll for once smooth with a pleasant stiffness.
“Coffee, Sir, and toasted cheese sandwiches. Best be eating it while hot, sir,” commented Barrel Scraper as the steward came with the ritualised meal. She stopped only long enough for the captain to take his cup and give a stiff, “Thank you,” before heading towards the princess.
Twilight accepted her tea with a mute nod that spoke her gratitude far more than any word could and bit into the warm and gooey lunch. Barrel Scraper gave her wide, broken toothed smile in response, delight dancing across her typically miserly face.
“Don’cha be worrying, ma’am, you’ll get your stars and lady Pie back.” There was such firm belief in the old steward that it made Twilight feel a little more at ease. “That overgrown snake don’t know the trouble she’s brought on her head, no she don’t.”
“I should have stopped her then.” Twilight’s hoof trembled against the deck and her wings shot out, almost knocking down Barrel Scraper. “Everyone is in danger because of me.”
“If’n you pard’n my saying so, but that’s fucking nonsense, ma’am.”
Twilight’s head shot up at the vehemence in the steward’s rebuttal, as well as the vulgarity. It had long become apparent to her that the old saying of ‘swears like a sailor’ was very apt, but the crew made such an effort to curb their natural predilection towards profanities that none had ever sworn in her presence.
Working her mouth soundlessly, Twilight gaped at the steward.
“Ain’t going to be gentle with you, ma’am, not when you be needing a good fire in your belly.” Barrel Scraper began to leave, a fatalistic glint in the corner of her old eyes. “We be sailing towards a battle only you know how to fight. Won’t do for you to be beating yourself up none.”
Staring after Barrel Scraper until the steward vanished below deck, Twilight wondered if what she’d been told was correct.
Yes, Twilight had fought mad gods in the past, but she wasn’t alone in that distinction, even aboard the ship.
Her eyes flickered to Fleur, the ambassador standing in the crook next to the cabin door and stairs to the poop deck. While Fleur had no experience in such matters, Athena had arguably more than perhaps any other pony on all Ioka. Twilight had read the dream journal, and while there were no direct descriptions or dreams of battles, many were mentioned.
With Athena gaining the ability to directly speak through Fleur, it was certainly possible to ask her advice. Though the advice would probably be along the lines of ‘chop off Leviathan’s head’, or ‘abandon the pink pony and stars.’
Perhaps sensing Twilight’s eyes on her, Fleur shivered then glanced up at the sky before vanishing into the cabins.
“Ah, princess, I’m glad to find you about.” Timely’s voice carried to Twilight as he approached, saddlebags clinking with his steps, a slight a lurch in the ship’s motion sending him against the rail.
“What is it?” Twilight asked with a bit more annoyance than she intended.
Either not caring or failing to note Twilight’s disposition, Timely gave a little laugh, the unpleasant wheezing sound setting Twilight’s teeth even more on edge.
“I came to give you your daily tincture, of course.”
“My… Oh. That.” Twilight flicked her head away so the doctor wouldn’t be able to see the very slight blush creeping along her cheeks. Many an eye on the deck watched the doctor, lurid fantasies no doubt dancing through the mares. Not that Twilight was in the least affected by the season.
She’d never been that prone to the season even when a unicorn. Her first couple she’d been only vaguely aware of a slight itch along the back of her mane and in her hooves. True, she’d been caught up in her studies so that the season was at best an irritant. Looking back on her pre-awakened life, Twilight had been very cloistered. Ponyville had broken her out of her shell, but she’d still submerged herself in her scholarly pursuits much of the time.
An irate flick of her tail set her to pacing, criss-crossing the deck in front of Timely as he watched with his amused, watery grin.
There were so many questions she had about herself that still needed to be answered. Questions about basic things like her earth pony magics, which she still hadn’t even begun to explore, to the more complex, like what, precisely, was her relationship to the stars.
She’d claimed that they were a part of her, and Twilight knew this to be true, but also wrong. The stars had existed long before her. They’d even been bound to Luna at one time. Had Luna also been the stars? And if she had, did that mean Twilight could stop being the stars? Leviathan had even managed to steal three of them, something Luna had claimed was entirely impossible.
A low growl lodged itself in Twilight’s throat as she glanced for the hundredth time towards the miasma that clung to the horizon.
“Princess, you need to relax,” Timely said as he pulled out one of his cigars. “The captain and crew are doing everything they can. Why, they’ve run out the… the… um, skyscrapers I do believe. Those extended sails on either side giving us such prodigious width and speed.”
“I know that,” Twilight snapped, coming to a sharp halt. She fixed Timely with a withering glare, burning with the pent-up frustrations and fears that swirled through her like a knotted storm. “But I could go so much faster alone. They are very, very far away and it’s like we’re newborn foals crawling towards our destination.”
Her temper only brought a long chuckle from the doctor. Flicking a flame cantrip, he lit his cigar and gave it a few puffs, all the while giving his head a slow shake.
“And so, you would take wing and fly out after the Great Devourer? Across the empty ocean? Alone?”
“Yes!” A thump of her hoof accompanied her declaration, Bellerophon groaning under the force of the blow. Blushing a little, Twilight said in a quieter, though no less forceful, voice, “Of course I could go faster alone. The only pony aboard who could keep up is Dash.”
“Indeed. And where will you bed when your search is not initially fruitful? Or eat? Will you pop back to Canterlot? Explain to the princesses and the queen how Leviathan is back? Or dance around the issue? May I remind you of her threats should any of your relatives become involved.”
“So, I should just sit here? Do nothing? Or, do you think I should ignore her and get Celestia?”
“On the contrary, what I know of your earlier exploits and from this month at sea, I would say you are more than able to confront these challenges without the aid of your cousins. Indeed, when have they ever been directly involved when not your antagonist?”
Twilight frowned at the doctor’s statement. She didn’t like thinking of Luna as an enemy. That had been the Nightmare, a pony who’d stolen Luna.
“And besides, you possess the Book of Spring. Penned by the Marelantians themselves, if rumour is true. That quote you gave the other day was from it, I do believe. What does it have to say on these matters? Surely, it must bear some insight into the nature of the enemy.”
“Well…” Twilight gave the doctor an appraising look. What he was trying to accomplish was obvious. Yet, there was a genuine look of curiosity on Timely’s face, a glimmer of excitement present in the corner of his eye at the prospect of sharing knowledge. “With all that’s happened, I’ve not translated anything new.”
“Surely, there is something that might be pertinent. Some clue as to how the ancients contained the beast, for she has not been out and about snatching ships since the mythical era.”
Twilight gave a resigned sigh, and allowed herself to be distracted by the questions. It was better than wallowing in impotent rage.
“I… don’t know if she was contained or not. That passage was the last mention of her. Mostly, it seems concerned about either history or the functions of certain spirits as filtered through parables. I’m not sure what I was expecting. The Book of Names has all the stuff about the Great Sins and Harmony, and the Book of Sol has that part that makes a big deal of Celestia’s stand against Amon.”
Timely nodded slowly, “The Marquis of Fate. The Books of Sol and Selene claim the sisters cast him down shortly before the Long Winter. One of their first and most substantial victories.”
With a shrug of her wings, Twilight rested her forehooves over the rail. “I’m not sure I put much stock in the Books of Sol or Selene. Celestia’s never bothered to keep either around and always rolled her eyes when I mentioned them.” Twilight paused, frowning as she recalled her final visit to Canterlot before all the madness of her Awakening had begun.
She’d been so excited to discuss many of the revelations within the Book of Selene, and how they corresponded to passages within the Book of Sol. Twilight had asked about the differences in the descriptions of Celestia and Luna’s battle with Discord. The Book of Sol painted it more as a grand, glorious affair. Celestia’s greatest victory! Where in she cast down the mad god with fiery rain and blazing power. In the Book of Selene, the battle had been won with wits, Luna and Celestia tricking the beast before imprisoning him using the Elements.
Celestia, however, had just laughed at both versions and told Twilight not to trust the Holy Books. ‘Propaganda’, she’d labelled each.
The ease of Celestia’s dismissal of the books put a crack of uncertainty in Twilight. If Celestia, who prized knowledge and history so much, held such disdain for the books that supposedly detailed her and her sister’s early lives, than maybe they couldn’t be trusted.
She wondered if the original Books of Sol and Selene were as biased as the modern translations.
Realising she’d been staring too long out over the ship’s bow-wave, Twilight gave her head a sharp shake and turned back to Timely.
“There’s also a lot that is just odd or doesn’t make sense in the Book of Spring. I’ve found dozens of references to something called an ‘eclipse’, for instance, but the context just doesn’t fit.”
Twilight scratched at the side of her head with a hoof. She knew who to ask for an answer, but she wanted to figure the puzzle out for herself. To that end, she continued, talking more to herself than Timely.
Every little detail Twilight had uncovered, theorised, or tossed out was gone over; again, and twice more after just to be thorough. The passage in the Book of Spring she’d partially translated going; ‘Beneath the total eclipse their magic did grow wild. Fire took to the rivers as it would a branch. Mice hid between the cat’s paws, and birds refused to enter the sky.’
Naturally, Twilight then had to detail every little theory pertaining to the creation of wild aether fields.
It was during her second revisiting on the potential implications of such a field that Timely had to leave to tend to his duties in the sick-berth. Twilight hardly noticed his hours long absence, so intent was she on puzzling out the meaning of the word. She was like a cat plucking at a ball of twine, pulling the threads apart.
“Maybe this is in part how the Everfree was created,” Twilight continued breathlessly some time after Sol had set and she’d awoken her stars. Timely had returned a little bit before carrying a plate of fried vegetables, and listened with a polite ear. “When Celestia used the Elements to ‘eclipse’ Nightmare Moon, it created a wild field of anti-entropic magic!”
She was still covering every possible nuance when she was lead aft to her cabin, a wide yawn spreading across the deck and her eyes heavy with the anticipation of sleep.
It took her a short while to find sleep. Her mind was too active, too taken up with thoughts that darted this way and that, never settling enough to be properly analyzed. One moment she was reproaching herself again, the next she was turning over the problem of the eclipse once more.
In the end, Twilight was lulled into the comfort of dreams by the music floating through the thin walls dividing her from the great cabin. The captain and doctor were in fine form as they tuned their instruments and then went straight into an aggressive piece, the doctor’s cello’s deep tones leading the sharp notes from the captain’s violin. Rising up, the improvised music lacked only drums for a truly martial air, one eager for the coming dawn and reclaiming what was stolen. Twilight smiled at the sentiment behind the music.
All through the night the Bellerophon ran. Not a stitch of canvas was touched until the early hours of the first watch when a sudden drop in the barometer and a backing of the wind heralded a series of tightly packed squalls. One by one they rolled over the ship in a marching procession, bringing heavy rains and winds that rolled around from every edge of the disc.
Water gushing from her scuppers, the Bellerophon forged through the squalls, and by dawn she found herself in a barren stretch of water, the surface only a little perturbed by the bad weather. Not a sail was to be seen in any direction, and even the miasma of the horizon drew closer. The last of the squalls was only a dark line to aft, and ahead there was a bank of equally dark cloud.
Twilight and her friends slept through the night’s activities. Even Fleur managed to avoid jerking awake, the deep groans of the ship more comfort than concern.
Rolling Holler had the deck when Twilight emerged, pulled from her daze by the pressure of her stars and something else. Blinking away the crusty remains of her dreams, Twilight peered up at the wonderfully mulberry sky, put the stars to bed, and then lowered her gaze to a wine-dark sea.
She blinked again, and squinted at the cloudbank ahead.
Beneath the cloud she could sense… something. Her stars, yes, but there was a different undercurrent to the feeling, one that nagged at her like a filly pulling on her wings.
As if she were a fish on a line, Twilight was jerked forward and stumbled against the rail with a frustrated nicker. Grinding her teeth together, she peered at the fog of the horizon, that region where the unusual red ocean melded into a grey band before giving way to the golden hues of Sol’s ascent.
“Ah, P-Princess, ma’am.” Rolling Holler tapped a hoof to her hat as he approached. “Good morning. Is there anything you, uh, need?”
Twilight glanced at the stallion for a moment, frowning at his slightly unkempt appearance. His mane stuck out from the normally tight plaits in tufts or hung from the edge of his cap in a scraggly shroud. Bags hung beneath his eyes, and it was clear that he was in need of sleep.
Yawning, Twilight said there was nothing she required before returning to her perch near the starboard anchor.
Around nine, as Twilight reckoned time, or just after two bells in the forenoon watch, Rainbow came up with some breakfast.
Closer and closer the ship drew towards the cloud, now recognisable as a fogbank, one that stretched from the ocean to the belly of the sky, covering a wide swath of water in a blanket.
A niggling sensation crawled along the base of Twilight’s neck, settling between her wings, like she was being watched. Not by the crew—Twilight was used to having their eyes constantly on her, even when no-pony was looking in her direction—but by something else far older and more powerful.
“There is an alicorn ahead,” Twilight whispered to herself, her sudden words making Rainbow give a little start.
“What? The princesses? Here?” Rainbow snorted, casting a suspicious glance at the cloudbank. “You think that serpent got ‘em too?”
Twilight shook her head. “No… I don’t recognise this one. It could be one of the others who fell with Tyr… Maybe Leviathan captured them?”
Rainbow shrugged in return.
“You don’t think they’re working with her, do you?”
There was no answer Twilight could give. All she had were guesses formed around the certainty that somewhere near, within the approaching cloud, was another of her kind.
Around Twilight the watches shifted, Fighting Spirit by the wheel while Hardy took to his habitual pacing. Fleur joined Twilight and Rainbow, though she said nothing. Her mouth pressed into a slight frown, she watched the horizon with the same intensity as Twilight.
Closer and closer the Bellerophon drew to the unknown alicorn.
Nearing the fog, the sails were reefed one by one until the ship drifted forward more on inertia. There was a heavy stillness in the air, the crew and officers collectively holding their breaths.
Slowly the fog parted, clumps of white drifting like specters across the unnaturally still water. The seamares grew tense, eyes straining to see what lay ahead. A black smudge within the fog gradually appeared, spreading infectious tendrils through the nearby grey-white. With each moment the shadows behind the fog grew more distinct as the Bellerophon drifted further and further into the grey.
Death was heavy in the air, saturated within the drifting mist. A rank mix of rotting fish, seaweed, and foul mud clung to the senses, and many of the officers held cloths dipped in incense to the noses to avoid the smell while the crew made do with their neckcloths or bandanas
“Celestia, bring us mercy,” Fighting prayed from her spot beside Hardy.
Hers was not the only prayer being uttered.
Bit by bit, shadows resolved growing tall and proud, a pair of towering, draconian figures. Twilight held her breath, and readied a defensive spell in the middle-reaches of her mind. Close enough to be called upon within a moment, but not enough to give a hint of her intention.
Such a spell proved unneeded as the fog parted and the figures were revealed to be nothing more than skeletons clinging to worn, bare stone, blackened by fire and held fast by a layer of briney sediment and slime-mold. Each of the skeletons were massive, belonging to dragons that had been at the height of their power and prestige when they died. They would have rivaled the Bellerophon in length and breadth. Here and there a few scales, bright red or burnished bronze poked out through the stinking prison of sludge pooling at the base of the skeleton’s perches where stone met the water.
“Thesimerika and Tritaniketh,” Twilight whispered the ancient names, forgotten except for within the Book of Spring.
They’d been Marelantis’ guardians, forced into servitude through powerful magic by the sorceress-queens. It had been Thesimerika that had first spoken to Iridia and Faust when the pair—still just fillies—had arrived on the island’s shore, half-dead and clinging to a piece of driftwood following their escape from a band of pirates that sank the ship carrying them across the sea. She’d also been the first struck down by Leviathan as the fell queen was summoned from Tartarus.
Bellerophon drifted between the guardians’ remains, the ship silent save the slight groan of her timbers. Loose rocks skittered down the perches to land with a plonk. A few of the crew nickered and backed away from the rail, casting the skeletons wary glances before returning to their posts.
Then the fog parted in its entirety revealing the lost city of Marelantis.
Once, Marelantis had been among the greatest creations of ponykind on Ioka or any of the myriad worlds beyond. A shattered shadow was all that remained of its former glory. A memorial to the pride and folly of the ancient ponies. In her prime, she’d been a city of proud spires that reached like a forest of alabaster, crystal, and gold for the very stars Twilight guided. Bridges soared like jeweled branches between the towers topped with open galleries that seemed to float among the clouds for a canopy. Few of the city’s towers remained standing, destroyed either when Leviathan had originally sunk the island, or when she’d forced it back to the surface. Their broken remains were strewn across the once wide avenues and the tops of neighboring buildings. Entire districts had been flattened, or drowned in thick, pale grey mud.
The ruins sat on a flat plain beneath the gaze of a twin peaked volcano. One peak sat dormant, while a reddish glow emanated from within a thick, black plume of ash rising from the other. Lurid lightning crackled along the plume’s edges like vibrant snakes darting through embers. A river of glowing magma trickled over the caldera like blood oozing from a wound that refused to heal. The fiery river cut through the bones of a long dead jungle that covered the island before emptying in the large bay Bellerophon had entered. Drying seaweed hung in drapes from the petrified branches in a mockery of the life the jungles had once possessed.
Twilight shivered her own gaze dropping from the gehennan glow above the island to those forlorn ruins.
Again came the sensation of being watched, and the familiar tingle of a nearby alicorn.
Turning to Fleur and Rainbow, Twilight gave a determined grin that hid the flutter of doubt beating deep within her breast. “Wait here, I won’t be long,” she said at the same moment the call to drop anchor washed across the deck.
Before she could leap over the side, Rainbow’s teeth clamped down on Twilight’s tail. Coming to a sharp stop, Twilight fell forward, her chin striking the rail with a loud thud in the same moment the anchor splashed down and sent up a spray of brine. Twilight blinked, surprised that the blow, which should have jarred her teeth and sent pain down her neck, hadn’t hurt at all.
Twilight cast a sharp glare back, only mildly surprised to see Rainbow’s teeth still clamped on her tail.
“What was that for?” Twilight demanded as she yanked her tail free.
“To stop you from being stupid. I’m the one who rushes off without thinking, Twilight!” Rainbow snapped, pressing her face up into Twilight’s. “I know that’s what you were going to do! And when has it ever worked out for you?”
“Well…” Twilight’s ears drooped a little and she shifted on the spot, scratching one forelock absently.
Rainbow had a point. On all her adventures she’d always had her friends. Though half their group was thousands of miles away, and Pinkie captured, there was no reason for Twilight to go it alone.
Except…
“This is Leviathan,” Twilight protested, thrusting a hoof towards the ruins.
Rainbow lifted a brow.
“So?” Rainbow put on a big grin, the one she used before a race or fight. “Nightmare Moon, Discord, a changeling army; that snake’s going to be no different. Or, is this because you’re an alicorn you think you don’t need us anymore?”
Twilight took a step back like Rainbow had revealed a branding iron.
“Of course not!” She sputtered trying to come up with a reply, before saying, “But… There is just the two of us!”
Rainbow snorted, rolled her eyes, and then gestured towards the crewmares, trying very hard not to appear to be listening, with a sharp jerk of her head. One poor mare, doing a worse job of containing her curiosity than her mates, was startled by the bo'sun.
Shaking his head slowly, Hardy loosed a long snort as he came up to Twilight and Rainbow. “I would prefer if you remained on the ship, your Highness. Since that is no more likely than me sprouting wings in the next five minutes, all I ask is you stay with the landing party.”
Before Twilight could protest, Hardy shouted for the Polished Armour to put together a contingent of his best and for Poetic Verse the third watch.
“You will at least have good company,” Hardy smiled before returning to the starboard rail of the quarterdeck. From there he watched the boats readied and filled with a sage eye.
Hanging her wings in defeat Twilight was further surprised when Fleur was the first pony down into the boats. The ambassador had to be helped to settle near the aft of the cutter next to the tiller, and she wore a terse expression, one ear flicking at the slightest noise.
All in all, between the sailors, marines, officers, and supposed supernumeraries, almost a hundred ponies crammed themselves into the boats. There were plenty of noise during the short trip to shore, the mares at the oars urged to ‘stretch out’ and ‘mind their stroke’ before they skidded up the beach.
It was not sand that greeted Twilight as she jumped over the side and splashed down into the shallow water, but mud. The entire beach was a soapy morass of mud mixed with bits of stone varying in size from pebbles to some as big as a pony’s head. Her fetlocks were hopelessly soiled before she’d gone more than a few steps, and Twilight had to stop to remove her shoes lest they be sucked off and lost.
“Find us a place to set up a camp,” Poetic Verse called to Sheltered Bank, the midshipmare setting off with a few burly sailors towards the nearest ruins.
The air was thick and heavy with the stench of drying seaweed and dead fish mingling with the mud’s own, particular smells. Conjuring a scented cloth to cover her nose proved futile.
“Are all your adventures like this?” Fleur asked as she came up to Twilight. She cringed at the mud clinging to her legs.
“Can’t handle a little mud there, ambassador?” Rainbow smirked, flying along backwards.
Shaking off a large glob in Rainbow’s direction, one that was easily avoided to the accompaniment of a cackling laugh, Fleur said, “Au contraire, this is like visiting the spa.” She then gave a little start, and glanced around the landing. “Athena is… concerned, your Highness. She claims Leviathan will attempt to draw you away before springing whatever traps she has laid.”
“Well, duh,” Rainbow snorted as she flipped around to peer at the empty roads. “They always try that divide and conquer nonsense. Won’t stop us from kicking her flank for taking Pinkie and Twi’s stars. Right, Twi?”
Twilight shrugged in response, her attention pulled towards the distant palace from which the presence of the other alicorn emanated. There was something vaguely familiar to the sensations crawling over her wings.
Leaving a smaller group to tend to the boats and mount a trio of swivel guns on the roof of what once might have been the dockmaster or a cafe, the rest of the shore party made their way inland. The going was tough with the slurry-like mud growing deep enough to reach their knees. By the time they reached the first of many plazas everypony was absolutely covered so they were an almost uniform grey.
There was no indication of any other pony or being on the island, but all could feel eyes watching their progress. Several times Twilight thought she saw movement in the corner of her eyes. Each time it proved to be nothing more than a reflection or trick of a shadow in the large, open upper windows of the homes. The complete lack of birds or even insects lent the island an entirely unnatural air that further spread a creeping dread along the ponies’ necks.
“Ain’t right, no it ain’t. Islands shouldn’t pop up like gophers in the middle o’ the sea,” muttered one seamare to her mate, checking the strap holding her arbalest and spare bolts.
Only a few of the seamares carried such weapons, most preferring the heavy war-shoes earth ponies had used in all their martial professions since time immemorial. Made of heavy steel or iron shaped into greaves, straps kept them from sliding, while the bottoms slid into grooves in the mares’ standard, working shoes, the ones nailed into their hooves by the ship’s farrier. At that moment, their boarding shoes hung over their backs by bits of string or rope, lest they be lost in the mud.
How they would get them on in time if there was a fight, Twilight did not know. But she admitted to not knowing a fair bit about earth pony customs. She supposed that they were used to putting the shoes on in a hurry and tightening the straps that went around the canons.
She took a deep breath as they began to mount a pile of shattered masonry from one of the collapsed towers. The afternoon grew thick and hot, pressing against Twilight like a pungent blanket. A lather worked up along their backs, with a few of the older seamares wobbling on their hooves so that the company had to take a rest in the shade provided by an intact tower. There they passed along cantines of fresh water. Only once Sol had settled a little further to the east did they resumed the trek towards the palace.
Through it all, the presence of the other alicorn grew and grew.
It was like a claw running down the base of Twilight’s spine. A not entirely unpleasant sensation, it, nevertheless, made concentrating on her surroundings difficult.
Her gaze kept being pulled away.
Distracted by her thoughts, Twilight didn’t realise when they crossed into the temple district where the seven temples to the Marelantian’s gods stood. Their names were unrecorded, decried as false by the Book of Names, only the broad generalities of their domains recorded; Cunning, Time, the Hearth, the Forge, Vengeance, Light, and finally Magic. Together, the temples formed a septagon around the palace, with the only road to the palace leading from the Temple of Magic.
The ground was far clearer there, the mud barely an inch thick and drying fast into a hard shell. Here and there statues watched them pass, hundreds of them lining the streets, placed on every corner of an intersection, and looming over from the temples’ vestibules.
Other than size, each statue was the same; that of a unicorn with two faces on their head; one forward, the other backwards.
"It's a statue of a Janus," Twilight said, using her hoof to wipe some of the mud from the face of one statue. "I read about them in The Massive Manual of Mythical Monsters. The Janus were believed to guard the Temple of Fate. It is said they were able to see both the future and past with equal and absolute clarity."
Twilight gazed up at the statue for a few more moments before she turned away and continued deeper into the ruins.
"Come on everypony, the stars should be just up ahead."
A deathly pall hung over the ponies as they followed the princess and her friends. A few of the crew looked anxiously back towards the Bellerophon, the tops of her masts just visible like a trio of bare trees, before they continued.
Twilight lead the way up the hundred steps of the palace, as she was in turn pulled by a faint glimmer of her missing stars. Along the connection Twilight received a warm glow of confidence, and she was certain Antares was gloating. The pull brought her to a set of doors five times her height and encrusted with grime.
“Stand back, everypony,” Twilight called out to the seamares as she charged magic along her horn.
A blast of magic, intended to shove the doors open, instead rebounded across their surface in a deep, booming clang that filled the whole courtyard for what seemed like minutes. The drying crust of dirt cracked and fell in a cascade of grey to reveal the most beautifully complex set of wards Twilight had ever laid eyes upon.
Comprised of a thousand unique runes etched into solid aurichalcum, with pictographs incorporated into the lines of the runes themselves, creating eight broad regions bursting outwards from an overlaid image of Sol and Selene.
At the top was imagery that could only be associated with magic, lines of unicorns dashing this way and that around areas depicting spells raising or lowering mountains. One of the larger images contained what seemed to be a floating, inverted mountain.
Sandwiching the topmost panel were images that had to belong to the Marelantians beliefs of Life and Time, depicting what appeared to be the same pony being born, going through life, and then eventually dying before flowing through a river to begin it all again. While energetic in her youth, the unicorn grew slow and slothful near the end of her journey before a cloaked pegasus came to claim her and escort her to the river.
To the far left were images of kings and queens with nobles beneath, followed by an army, and lastly, peasants working in fields and mines. All were connected by snaking waves, with ponies pulling down those above to take their places, or forcefully repressed with spears, magic, or scrolls.
On the opposite side were unicorns beautiful, strong, or wise in depiction. Some held aloft items wreathed in lightning or shining with sunbeams. Underneath was a scene from a game of some-sort, or perhaps a battle, with two sides charging one another framed by goals, or iconographs for cities.
The left and right bottom quadrants were given to Vengeance and Metalworking respectively. While one showed a multitude of punishments, from the barbaric to the plain, the other offered a scene showing the mining of the island’s prized aurichalcum, to smelting, casting, and the forging of what appeared to be a staff.
Within the final segment were words in a script Twilight had never before seen, formed into blocks and pyramids, swooping swirls and falling lines to create the image of a tall unicorn crowned in fire sitting upon a throne when taken as a whole. A story, for certain, but what the story entailed Twilight couldn’t even hazard a guess.
Twilight could have studied the combined wards and pictograms for years and years without ever feeling satisfied that she’d uncovered all there was to learn.
She only wished she had the time.
Lifting a hoof, she tried the simple approach to opening the door.
The reddish metal glowed almost as if it were scalding hot, but all Twilight could feel coming from the door was a chilly, fresh air, as if the door itself was repulsing the fetid nature of the island.
Still, it refused to so much as budge, even when she gave it a considerable push.
Shaking her head she retracted her hoof. Glancing over her shoulder to the curious onlookers, she said, “This could take me some time to figure out. There has to be some mechanism or other to get these to open.”
Poetic and Polished conferenced for a few seconds, each seeming to read the other’s mind, nodded and began to give orders to set up a perimeter while Twilight sat down to examine the doors more thoroughly.
“Are you sure about this, Applejack?”
The question, coming as it did from Fluttershy as they stood before Carousel Boutique’s painted door, did not take Applejack by surprise.
Pushing back her hat to give her friend a quizzical look. Fluttershy had been especially forceful, for her at least, when she’d come to the orchard claiming Rarity was unwell and needed help. Naturally, once Applejack had decided to head straight to the boutique, Fluttershy had grown more and more reticent about bothering their friend.
A worried grunt forced itself from Applejack as she considered their friend’s home. Something wasn’t right, that was for sure. Weeds were growing next to the door and there was a general air of malaise about the premises, like stray clouds were hovering just right to make the boutique darker and chillier than the rest of Ponyville.
“I trust you, ‘Shy. If Rarity ain’t doing well, then we should at least offer her help.”
“Of course, I’m sorry. I just…” Fluttershy’s voice trailed off as she mumbled something to herself.
Applejack gave Fluttershy a smile and nod for encouragement, then reached up to knock on the door. When there was no reply, she knocked again, and a third time.
“Maybe she’s out?” Fluttershy suggested, looking up and down the street as if expecting Rarity to come along with her slight self-superior swagger.
“Nah, she’s in.” Applejack indicated a window with a curtain pulled just a little to the side, a tell-tale glow of magic along one corner, so whoever was inside could peek out to see who was knocking. A slight pinch in Applejack’s back added to her annoyance at Rarity not answering the door. “I know you’re in there, Rarity!”
No response.
Irritation prickled along Applejack’s neck.
Something was very wrong, but the nature eluded her. Applejack prided herself on having little escape her; whether it was a little filly swearing she hadn’t been using Ma’s pots to boil foul smelling brews, or the earliest stages of Apple Crown Rot in the orchards. Carousel Boutique should not have been so grim faced, but it was Rarity’s silence that was particularly troubling.
Lifting an ear, Applejack was certain she could make out the faintest hint of crying.
“M-Maybe we should come back tomorrow or—”
The rest of Fluttershy’s suggestion was silenced by a particularly stern glare from Applejack. That was all the warning she got as Applejack turned and, with a swift strike from a single hoof, sent Rarity’s front door crashing open. There’d be Tartarus to pay for that, Applejack was aware, but at that precise moment she didn’t care. Rarity needed help, and was going to get it whether she wanted it or not.
Determination driving her, Applejack marched into the boutique.
Rarity stood in the archway between the showroom and stairs leading to the second floor. Her eyes were wide and mouth hanging open. Tears stained her face, giving her an unusual matted look.
“Applejack, whatever is the matter?”
“What’s the matter is why are you hiding in your hole like a rabbit with a pack of wolves just outside?” Applejack snorted as she tromped deeper into the boutique. A whiff of stale wine touched her nose, as well as rotted food left on the counter, drifting in from the kitchen. “You’re a mess, Rares, and you ain’t ever a mess. What’s going on?”
“On? Nothing.”
It was, perhaps, the most unconvincing lie Applejack had ever heard Rarity give, and she’d heard some whoppers from her friend over the years. If Applejack was the worst at telling a lie, Rarity wasn’t all that far behind, at least when it came to something important. Minor, day-to-day fibs, Rarity was rather skilled, much to Applejack’s annoyance.
Whatever was going on was far from minor.
Rarity trembled like a gopher who’d built her burrow beneath a rail track, ears pressed flat and tangles in her mane. Every few moments her eyes darted to one of the room’s doors or up the stairs, and her tail actually dragged across the floor.
Applejack couldn’t recall ever seeing Rarity in such disarray. The closest had to be during the run-up to their first Grand Galloping Gala. There was something else to Rarity this time, an unusual squalid malaise as she edged away from her friends.
“Really, girls, I am fine, I swear. Cross my heart, hope—”
Rarity was half way through the motions, hoof hovering over her heart, when the boutique’s door flew open with a bang. Every eye snapped towards Sweetie Belle standing in the doorway.
“Heya, Applejack, Fluttershy,” Sweetie nodded to the two in turn as she bounded across the room towards her sister, oblivious to her frozen shock. “Afternoon, Rarity. Dad was hoping you’d come over for dinner tonight. He’s making his special oat surprise.”
Face pasty beneath her coat, Rarity scampered back a couple steps. “I-I don’t think that is a good idea, Sweetie.”
“Why?” Brow furrowed, Sweetie glanced between the adults. “If Fluttershy and Applejack want to come over too, I’m sure that dad wouldn’t mind.”
“Perhaps next week,” Fluttershy said as she reached out with a wing to guide Sweetie away from the visibly trembling Rarity.
“Are you okay, Rarity?” Her face morphing from youthful excitement to concern, Sweetie twisted around Fluttershy’s wing to jump back towards her sister.
All at once, a howl broke from Rarity as light pure and golden burst through the boutique. Ponykins and mirrors rattled, a few dresses tumbling from their hangers as the light physically pushed Applejack away. She had to snap her eyes shut to avoid being completely blinded, hoof coming up to cover her face. The last thing she saw was Fluttershy twisting around Sweetie, using her body and wings to create a barrier against the light as the filly let out a surprised yelp.
“Rarity! What’s going on?” Sweetie yelled from between Fluttershy’s wings.
“Silence Aoide!” Rarity roared in a voice far older than her own and lyrical in spite of the reverberating boom it possessed. “I will not allow you thieves to steal my daughter as you have my sister’s divinity.”
Lowering a shoulder, Applejack cracked one eye open in a futile attempt to see anything. Tears stung her face and after a moment she had to clamp her eye shut again.
“Applejack, I don’t think that is Rarity!” Fluttershy had to shout at the top of her voice to be heard above the sizzling rush of energy and clattering as the boutique rumbled more and more.
The light grew brighter, gaining such intensity it began to burn.
“You are pretenders, thieves, and whores for power not meant for mortal minds.” Rarity’s voice grew greater in cadence, becoming as loud as a great dragon’s roar. “I am the spark behind the glorious dawn that fills hearts with yearning for what lays beyond the heavens. I will not allow you to retain my sister’s grace!”
With her hoof to shield her eyes against the brilliant light flowing from Rarity, Applejack tried to push her way to her friend. A force held her back. It was like Applejack was trying to walk through a wall. Whatever kept her from reaching her friend was not magic, at least not like she’d felt before. The sensation crawling across her skin was nothing like the times she’d been affected by one of her friend’s magical auras.
“Snap out of it, Rarity!” Applejack and Fluttershy shouted together, but even combined their voices were little more than the whistle of a breeze through grass compared to the maelstrom filling the boutique.
All at once the light was gone, the room seeming to plunge into night with its sudden absence.
A few blinks cleared some of the spots from Applejack’s eyes, just enough for her to see Rarity drawing away, a hoof to her mouth and tears matting the fur of her muzzle.
“I am so sorry,” Rarity said as she forced open the door to the kitchen. “Warn Celestia,” she added before darting from the room.
Neither Applejack nor Fluttershy’s calls for her to stop and come back proved fruitful. A bang from the back door being slammed open heralded Rarity’s flight from her home and Ponyville.
“Faust’s mane!” Applejack snarled as she made to give chase, only for the pain in her back to flare. Stumbling out the back door, she looked up and down the street for any sign of Rarity. She caught only a glimpse of her friend running towards the Everfree, a few ponies knocked aside pulling themselves back to their hooves and wondering aloud what was going on with the Elements this week.
Shouting back into the boutique, Applejack told Fluttershy to fly to the post office and send a curulícum to Celestia and to take Sweetie home. The filly was in hysterics, crying and demanding to know what had happened to her sister. Applejack wished she had time to make sure Sweetie was alright. She could trust Fluttershy with that, however, freeing her to focus on following Rarity..
After hearing Fluttershy give a little squeak of understanding, Applejack bolted down the street as fast as her legs could carry her.
She’d hardly gone a dozen yards before, rounding a bend, she plowed straight into Paumuut and Leila, sending them all sprawling across the dirt. Applejack grunted as her shoulder struck a post in the tumble. On her side she grit her teeth against the jarring sting that made the entire limb numb for a few precious seconds.
“Friend Eden, a thousand heartfelt apologies.” Paumuut helped Applejack to her hooves, apologizing for a second time.
Brushing off both the help and the use of her given name, Applejack looked for Rarity, but she was gone.
Twisting her head to peer in the same direction as Applejack, Paumuut began to ask about what Applejack was doing, only getting so far as ‘What is’ before Applejack was trotting away, slowed by uncertainty on which way to go. Her rudeness rankled, but Rarity needed her more. Later, Applejack would apologize to the foreigners.
The quick beat of the zebras’ hooves told Applejack that they were following her, and after a few more strides she was flanked by the pair.
Focusing on catching up to Rarity, Applejack kept her eyes trained on the ground in search of her friend’s tracks as she said, “I’m really sorry, but this is kind of a private matter.”
After speaking to each other briefly in their own tongue, Paumuut gave a weary shrug and said, “We have been told to help. Great events rise in this town that could impact the empire. It is our duty to see that no threat spreads so far.”
Applejack frowned at the implications in the zebra’s declaration. “Fine. I ain’t going to stop you, but I ain’t going to wait for you neither. You’re welcome to tag along.”
She made certain to put extra force behind her words, and was gladdened when Paumuut did not press the issue further and merely nodded her understanding as she hurried to keep pace. Every moment wasted with the zebras meant Rarity was that little bit further away. Applejack’s insides twisted thinking about what her friend had to be going through.
At a fast canter, she headed towards the nearest of the Everfree’s paths, not willing to waste any more time on the pair. Applejack just hoped she’d be able to catch Rarity before her friend vanished entirely into the forests shadowed depths.
By the time Trixie found her coin purse within the mess of her salvaged belongings, the afternoon had grown long and there was no point in going to the nearby town. All the stalls would be closed before she arrived.
Putting her coins aside for the time being, Trixie decided to observe the halla a little more, since she’d be with them a day or two longer while she prepared her escape with Shyara.
Unlike ponies, most of the adults were without cutie marks, or whatever the equivalent was called by the savages. Among those that did, the marks were all animal motifs, made of sharp, angular lines colored red, white, and black. The most common belonged to those of cats in various poses or profiles. Almost a quarter of the halla with marks belonged to this group. Other common animals seemed to be bears, wolves, and foxes. Trixie also spotted a pair of halla with a bird of some sort, and from their apparel—heavy robes with pouches for potions and trinkets—Trixie suspected them to be more practiced with magic or alchemists.
The wolf marked halla seemed to be the authority among the large herd. More than a few times over the afternoon and into the evening Trixie spotted one breaking up a fight or lecturing a fawn. Arguments that grew too heated inevitably drew the attention of a particular hind, larger than most of the others and with a sage air about her from the greying streak in her mane.
This puzzled Trixie, as she had assumed River was the matron of the herd.
She brought this up with Mountain the next morning as the pair trotted towards the village. He’d insisted on joining her, stating his reason was to see more of Equestrian society, and Trixie hadn’t put up much of a fight.
“She’s what you’d call the matron, I believe,” Mountain explained as they topped a hill and the village came into clear view.
It was a lovely little village. Cottages dotted around a meandering little stream, with the striped, bright awnings of market stalls filling the town square and a stubby wall attesting to the place having once been on Equestria’s frontier. While it had been a long time since Equestria grew beyond the village, the community itself had stayed relatively the same. There were a few homes built outside the wall, and a long section had been torn down or fallen at some point with a sprawling field dotted with gold and white flowers stretching out until they turned into rolling hills and met a distant forest of tall pines. Otherwise it was like looking through a window onto the distant past when ponies first arrived in these lands.
Even the old ruined castle sitting on the most dominant hill had an aged, purposeful air about it. There was little pretty about the construction, even in its prime, unlike the sprawling manor homes built since the dawn of Celestia’s solitary dominion over the nation.
Noting a building that looked to be a farrier or smith, Trixie smiled up at Mountain. “I thought that was River.”
He let out a long chuckle, his eyes pressing into happy lines.
“Nay, she is our… I do not know the proper word. She is the bridge between our queen and the disc, but not our leader. It is complicated, and we’ve had a long time to make it more so while our queen was absent.”
“Your Equestrian is pretty good,” Trixie commented, adding an extra sway to her hips when he glanced down at her. “Where did you learn it?”
“The queen taught it to any of us who cared to learn.”
The answer was as matter of fact as if he’d just said the sun rises in the morning or that summer followed spring. He did smile, however, and Trixie swished her tail in response.
Trixie had to clamp her mouth shut when a purred non-question began to travel up her throat. Her ears burned with embarrassment at the shameful way she acting. It took all her effort to correct her trot.
It was unheard of for a mare to travel alone with a stallion during the season. The way the hinds acted when Mountain had said he was going to escort Trixie to the village bubbled up, as it had done several times already during the walk from the camp. There’d been no animosity or envy when they’d looked over, unlike whenever Trixie had gotten too close to any of the other bucks.
The matron in particular had been dismissive, waving a hoof for the pair to go while she watched over the jousting.
“Trixie is surprised they let you come with her.” Trixie found the words tumbling from her before she’d realised they’d formed. She followed them with a nervous giggle and an internal admonishment to stop acting like a filly with her first crush.
“Ha-ha! Is that so?” His laugh was loud and booming, head tossed back to throw his mirth farther. “It is because they know that not even the prettiest among their number could catch my eye, so they dismiss you entirely.”
Trixie came to a sharp halt, a mixture of dread at the prospect of further embarrassing herself and the need to know more lodging in her chest.
“Are you…” She made an odd motion with her hoof along with a twitch of her left ear.
Among Equestrians the sign was well known, and only slightly less frowned upon than verbally saying what was on her mind.
Mountain just gave her a puzzled expression before the meaning dawned on him. Again he laughed, this time for almost a minute before he could speak again.
“Is that common among you ponies?” Mountain asked as he wiped a tear away from his eye and the last of his guffaws faded.
Ears burning brighter still, Trixie mumbled her reply. “N-Not among stallions. It’s not uncommon among mares in areas with few eligible stallions.”
“I see.” Mountain nodded slowly, a hoof placed under his chin and eyes closed as he thought. “To answer your question, no, I do not desire the company of other stags. No, it is because my heart belongs to a single mare, and none could hope to take her place or stand at her side.”
Trixie gave a stiff nod as they resumed their way. Nothing more was said until they approached the village gate. Painted bright green to match the vines and creepers clinging to the walls, the gate had been forced permanently open years earlier. It didn’t even sit on hinges anymore, and instead leaned up against the side of the boxy tower serving as the post for the town’s sole guard.
He was an aging stallion with watery grey eyes rimmed with red from too much time spent at the bottom of a bottle. Hardly glancing up from the bench he rested upon, he took a swig of something strong smelling as the pony and halla approached.
“So, what we got here?” He barked the question like an asthmatic dog, pulling his upper lip back to reveal cracked yellow teeth. “A right pair you are. Have business in Diamonds Down, do yah?”
Heart falling at the stench of stale whisky that hung about the guard like a cloud, Trixie hopes for finding a wagon in the town began to wane. If the guard was any indication, there wouldn’t be anything of interest in the entire area, let alone the village.
“My friend seeks a wagon and supplies so that she may attempt to sneak off in the night with the goddess Shyara.” Mountain indicated Trixie with a wave of his hoof while she snapped sharply to attention like a dragon had just landed behind her. “Do you have a master… uh… crafter? Wait, smith. Yes, do you have a master smith in this town?”
The guard’s eye drifted from Mountain to Trixie and then back again, a frown pulling at his lips.
“There’s Iron Shod, he’s a farrier. Keeps a wagon for his trips to Mackrelmore. Don’t think he’ll part with it though.” He nodded in the direction of the building Trixie had noted from the hill and then waved them through. As they left, Trixie heard him mutter, “Seem to get odder every year. Never heard of a Shyara, neither. Thought the new one was called Midnight Spackle, or some-such.”
Once into the village proper, Trixie got her first good look at the market. In stark contrast to the drunkard at the gate, the square was well maintained, with stalls all in good repair and a humble stock of, nevertheless, fine looking goods. Most of the area was taken up by vegetable stands, a couple flower stalls, and an apothecary shop leaning up against Diamonds Down’s combination school and town-hall.
In sharp contrast, the ponies were anything but in fine spirits. A tense, almost choking undercurrent of anxiety suffused the sunny market. Vendors tried to chat amiably with customers only making hurried purchases before skulking off, their heads held low and eyes narrowed. Only a single couple moved about with tails swishing in unison, their sides pressed tight together, when their should have been dozens or more this time of year. More than a few ponies shot wary glares at Trixie and Mountain as they hurried past, and Trixie caught the sounds of a few mares calling to their foals to come inside.
All activity stopped the moment Mountain’s presence was fully realised. Some of the mares whinnied and began to back away while the vendors stalls all seemed to fold into themselves and vanish. One mare darted by, and another ducked into a home, but most just stared with ears pressed flat and a tenseness to their shoulders as if they hovered between charging or running away. Trixie had seen ponies respond worse to something strange wandering into their midst.
Sighing, Trixie lead the way towards the farrier. She could feel the town’s eyes on her back as they left the market. “Come on, maybe Trixie will be surprised and a suitable wagon is for sale.”
“So, you intend to continue even though your plan has already been uncovered?”
“Trixie never intended to sneak off with her foal. Trixie will do it openly and with her head held high.” A rough snort followed her statement, along with a roll of the eyes for added effect. “Trixie is Shyara’s mother.”
It was Mountain’s turn to snort, but instead he just chuckled. “You would make a fine Wolf. Though there is something of the Bear about you as well, with how you fought to protect the little goddess.”
“Is that supposed to mean something to Trixie?”
Mountain shook his head. “No, I suppose not.”
Trixie glanced again to the mark on Mountains flank and pondered the actions of the halla over the past few days. There was almost an audible click as she came to the realization their markings indicated their caste as much as their talents. Trixie grinned at having figured out one little piece of the halla puzzle.
Silence settled on them as they made their way down a well worn street. Trixie’s ears twitched a few times, unease bubbling up in the absence of conversation. It was nothing, of course. Such small towns were always too quiet for her tastes, no where near enough ponies to make them worth her time. Worse was the way it made the feeling of being watched so much more prevalent. In cities there were eyes everywhere and it was easy to ignore them. Small towns always left Trixie feeling like there was somepony—
“You remind me of her, actually.” Trixie’s ears snapped toward Mountain, his words carrying an almost frighteningly hard edge. “The Sorceress,” he added when Trixie began to ask for clarification. “I met her, when she was making her way north. She was full of pride and had a heart sharp like flint, and just as brittle. What I remember most is how she didn’t seem to know how to smile, even when talking about the daughter she was trying to save.”
Tixie stopped at once, began to protest, and instead shrugged before continuing on. “Think what you will, Trixie is Trixie.”
“That is how she would have responded.”
Even the most tone-deaf pony would have noted the disapproval flowing from the giant like a pungent cloud.
Lifting her head up a little higher, Trixie let out a small huff and ignored her escort. Not that he had time to continue the conversation as they arrived at the farrier's shop. Disappointment struck Trixie at once as she noticed a large sign in the corner of a window reading ‘Closed for the Season’. Deciding to have a quick look around to at least see if there were any suitable wagons, Trixie poked her head around a corner and groaned.
There was a wagon, but it was unserviceable if the way it leaned was any indication. Likewise, the leads were all old and rotted through, with a large crack running through the heavy working yoke sitting on the seat. If that wasn’t bad enough, it was an open topped wagon, with long wooden benches. At best, it could have been used to transport her possessions until Trixie could find a better wagon. As it was, the thing was useless.
She went to gather Mountain, who’d been standing in front of the shop frowning at his reflection in the window. As she opened her mouth to tell Mountain they were leaving, Trixie noticed a raven watching her. The bird sat on the edge of an empty planter beneath the window Mountain was staring into with rare intensity.
The bird took flight, its harsh caws washing over the village as it flew to the north-west. As it swept past, Trixie caught a flash of a second head on the raven. It was only for a moment, and if Trixie hadn’t known better she’d have dismissed it as a trick of the light.
Hoof pressed to her chest to still a sudden surge in her heart. Trixie breathed, “That was a hemmravn.”
Trixie stared in disbelief after the bird until it vanished behind some trees. Mountain merely nodded, his eyes having tracked the bird as well.
“Where are the foals?”
Trixie started at the question, knitting her brow in confusion. She hardly knew what the village’s foals mattered at that moment. Then it struck her.
She hadn’t seen a single foal since they’d first laid eyes on the village.
This time of year, and with a village like Diamonds Down, there should have been several groups of foals playing. But the area was oddly still and silent. There weren’t even the songs of birds nor the buzzing of bees.
“We need to head back,” Trixie growled through her teeth as she began to scan every shadow for a pair of ferocious, blue eyes glowing like lamps. “Now.”
Flexing his shoulders and rolling his neck to loosen himself, Mountain agreed, adding, “We must act natural. It could be anywhere, or anyone. Let it think us unawares.”
Trixie nodded in mute agreement, too mesmerised by the rippling of his muscles to form a response. She swore that they creaked as Mountain flexed. It was like watching the ocean on a sunny,
They made it as far as the gate.
There they were met by a growing crowd of concerned parents yelling at the gate guard. Trixie had been on the receiving end of enough angry mobs to recognise when one was on the cusp of forming. The little glances and angry words muttered under the ponies’ breaths, the way their tail snapped every few seconds, and the sharp punctuations of a stamped hoof all told her it was best not to draw attention.
Traveling with a hulking giant from the north, however, prevented slipping past the crowd from ever being a realistic outcome.
“It’s one of the barbarians!” yelled a voice hidden somewhere within the crowd.
At an almost languid pace, the crowd shifted its focus from the poor guard to Trixie and Mountain. Suppressing a curse by biting the edge of her tongue, Trixie put on her innocent grin and turned to face the crowd.
Affecting her stage voice, she said, “Greetings, fair folk of—”
“You! You took my April Showers, didn’t you?”
One of the mares, a well built lime-green earth pony that looked like she could crack rocks between her hooves, stomped up to Mountain.
“Ha-ha! You have courage, little pony, but I tell you with all honesty, I do not know where your little ones have gone. Offer a prayer to Iridia and add my name as your sponsor. She will give you the guidance you seek if you do.”
He tossed back his head as he’d done with Trixie, his barrel shaking from laughter. If his good humour was meant to diffuse the anger seeping like a poisonous vapour from the crowd, it was worse than ineffective. Those ponies closest hardened their jaws and snorted, only a few on the fringes looking as if about to dart towards their homes.
“Iridia?” The mare sneered the name like it tasted of sour milk. “We don’t need any of your false, northern spirits. Just tell us what you’ve done with the foals.”
Many among the crowd nodded or shouted encouragement.
Mountain’s humour darkened at once, his eyes taking a stern cast as he towered over the ponies.
“‘Spirit’?” He huffed and flared his nostrils. “Iridia is the Sprinbringer. Foalgiver. The Mother of All. She is a goddess, and you would do well not to speak poorly of her in my presence.”
He snorted and set his hooves as if to charge.
Gulping, Trixie tried to think of a way to get out of the town. Trying to run would only show guilt, and likely lead to a torch wielding mob. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips.
“Dear, that is enough. Let Trixie deal with this.” Trixie reached up with a hoof to touch Mountain’s shoulder. It was like touching a corded bundle of taught steel ready to snap. His eye flickered briefly to Trixie, then back to the mare in front of him. Almost imperceptibly he nodded. A few, quick steps took Trixie past Mountain and up to the lime-green mare. “If you think Trixie has—”
“Listen up, glow-knob, I don’t know you from any other big-city pony.” Trixie staggered back as the mare jabbed her in the chest. “All we know is that the other day they,” the mare nodded to Mountain, “showed up just out of town, and now our foals have gone missing. It ain’t train engineering to see there is a connection.”
A chorus of agreement broke out from the crowd. Trixie was certain she heard somepony yell out, ‘String ‘em up.’
“What reason could we want with your foals?” Trixie asked the crowd at large. She cast her gaze across the gathered ponies, looking at each, and none of them. To her satisfaction, a few flattened their ears in doubt. “We have foals of our own among our number. We do not need to steal yours. What right pony would think to do that?”
More doubt began to spread, shame making its way into the crowd’s heart.
“Wait, didn’t you say you was going to sneak off, like, with some foal?” Called the old guard, a hoof raised to scratch his head.
Any doubt among the villagers vanished, twisted into a violent fury as they began shouting and advancing. Stamping his own hoof, Mountain lowered his head, and it was only then Trixie noticed just how sharp the metal caps on his antlers appeared.
He would kill a few, maybe even all of them, but it wasn’t right. By the same token, Trixie had seen few mobs as angry as the one spreading out to surround her.
She had to act fast before somepony got hurt.
“You wish to fight the Great and Powerful Trixie? Are all villages so foolish?” Trixie gave her mane a dramatic toss followed by putting on her most confident, winning smile. “Trixie has battled the dreaded Ursa Major. Locked wits and spells with a changeling princess. But, they both paled compared to the demon Trixie has destroyed. And you, a group of country ponies, think to present a challenge? Ha!”
The ponies were not buying her act. Ears pressed back, eyes narrowed, and hooves scuffing at the dirt, they were moments away from turning into a stampede.
“Be ready to run,” Trixie hissed up to Mountain out of the side of her mouth while she sheathed her horn in magic.
Trixie was thankful the town seemed to possess almost no unicorns. At least, none seemed to be in the crowd. Any of them could have recognised her spell from basic casting lessons. It was a very simple spell, one that conjured a brilliant flash of light accompanied by a tremendous bang.
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Looking good!
Well this is just getting more and more intense with every chapter isn't it? How many cliffhangers did you leave this time? Three? Maybe four? I love stories like this!
Thank you for the new chapter. :)
Great chapter.
I like what you've done with the "Twilight's kidnapped three stars" part so far, feels a lot clearer and connected to everything else. I can't say i like Leviathan, but i don't think she's supposed to be likable, so far, either - telling Twi she needs to be humbled when she herself acts like that, talk about hypocritical. Very concerned about Twi's chances though, i suspect that the other alicorn on the island is Faust again, so how things are set up and play out will be very interesting to see this time around.
Celestia, this is why your sister and Niece were against the fostering. Not only have you endangered Tyr's life but now Rarity is in trouble and we still have yet to meet Zeus and Hades. You don't get to decide the next time because clearly your judgement is off. AGAIN!
Farrier.
6054174
Thanks! Corrections made. I hate making errors like that.
6053535
But, Celestia nor fostering have anything to do with Rarity's troubles....
6052423
Thanks! As the villain, of course Leviathan shouldn't be liked. Though she's not just a herp-derp grr destroy the world type baddie either. There is more too her, and when it's revealed, well, I hope people continue coming to their own conclusions on whether they like her, hate her, sympathize, or think Twilight should drop a star on her heard at terminal velocity. Though, in that last case; poor star! Things will be playing out a little differently compared to the original version. Some stuff I want to keep close to what I had before, but there is a bunch of things I want to change.
6052379
Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment. I love all the comments people give. They are the fuel that helps me overcome my anxiety and work on the next instalment!
6052364
Four or Five, depending on what you count as a cliffhanger...
6052046
Thanks! I can't wait to finish off Book One.
6054273 well she did mention a sister. Who could she be talking about?
And doesn't validate my point. Come on, how are Zeus and Hades going to respond to that issue? Not well I think.
6054273 no need to use a star just use Tom.
6054286
Do you mean the line; “I will not allow you thieves to steal my daughter as you have my sister’s divinity.”?
In this case Serene is speaking to/about Fluttershy and Artemis. Serene sees it as Fluttershy trying to steal Artemis' power. Serene isn't exactly the most coherent or aware of events. Not the consequences of her own actions, nor who the ponies even are around her. I've been trying to slowly show and build up the tension with her insanity.
6054295 If Twilight uses Tom, dragging it all the way from Ponyville for maximum momentum, it would be a Troposphere-Originating Meteor. TOM-Tom.
Of course, if she uses her brain to just calculate the angles and set an initial force vector, that would make it a Long Tom.
6054282
Thanks! Rarity and Trixie's stories are developing so much better this time around.
As for Twilight, she and Leviathan have a few surprises in store for each other.
6054310
The Long Tom... Mmmm... Artillery...
And a tip of the hat for that acronym.
6054322 What can I say, I loved MechWarrior/Battletech. Long Toms are a pain to use though.
6054309 ah.
Still Celestia was REALLY STUPID with that move.
6054310 oh gods
6054346
She had her reasons, which is the point. Sometimes we make the wrong decision for the right reasons, and so on and so forth. For the longest time I tried to stay neutral on whether it was right or wrong of her. More and more I've been falling on the 'wrong' side of the coin. I'm not sure if it's my own volition, or if popular opinion has pulled me that way.
It should be noted that in the Anthologies Celestia's daughters aren't Fostered, something pre-Myths Celestia would have found inconceivable. It doesn't fix the epic mistake that fostering Tyr turned out to be, though. That, however, is a plot-line that's been pretty much removed from Myths after the party celebrating Twilight's ascension and dealt with in Velvet's side-story. Unfortunatly, this has also meant losing some of my favourite world-building. Ah, I'll find a way to bring up the cathedrals, naming potions, and what-not in Book Two. Maybe.... I hope... If I'm lucky...
If not, there is always the anthology... 
Your description of Marelantis matched pretty well with Orr from Guild Wars 2 only differences being it has a volcano and isn't home to hordes of shambling undead and a giant elder dragon of death and undeath. Given they were both nations that were the peak of culture in their worlds and both were sunken to the bottom of the sea before being forcefully resurfaced.
I love the feeling I get from reading this after having reading the other version long ago. I think "there comes that part", and then it happens differently. For example, the sunken and unsunken ruins of Maretlantis seem far more impressive than the jungle ruins from this part of the previous version.
There are some grammar mistakes, but nothing catastrophic.
6054500 There is no question. it was wrong. Here's the reasons.
1: While Cadance maybe taking care of her they honestly don't know if her family is looking for her. Again when Zeus and Hades show up I don't think they will be particallarly happy with Celestia on that. We have plenty of examples on our world where it is morally wrong to force a procedure that it's medically needed without permission of family.
2: The simple fact you have both Cadance and Luna taking the same stance on something when they normally don't get along should be THE BIGGEST RED FLAG IN THE WORLD! But she doesn't even pause in it.
3:So now Tyr is very sick, possibly dying and Cadance is out trying to find anything to cure her. All because of Celestia fear which she let rule her. So yeah she is very in the wrong.
If Trixie and Shyra end up with Celestia i doubt she will be allowed to try it again.
6055157 Celestia letting fear rule her seems to be a reuccuring theme in stories that feature her as a character. I find that strange, considering how little characterization she actually has in canon.
6055380 noticed that myself.
So you're saying Applejack's given name is "Eden" or "Apple Eden"?
Then why switch to Applejack/Apple-jaqueline?
6057901
I thought her full name was used in the garden party. Should have checked... Any ways, her 'real' name is Eden Jacqueline Apple, following the naming traditions established in the story. AJ simply prefers Applejack as that is what her mom called her growing up. It stuck and almost nopony other than her family know her name is Eden. The zebras use it as they are going off official records for their intelligence of the area, so to them she is Eden rather than Applejack. She's simply in too much of a hurry to correct them.
6057973
Okay. Coolio. Thanks for confirming my suspicions about that
A bit of irony, then? If not: Your
6060889
I hate making mistakes like that... Stupid irony...
Angry mob is angry
I really need to start at the beginning of this story again, a lot of it seems out of context.
Oooo, Marelantis and related backstory. Neat. Incidentally, I'm a bit curious about who screwed up so badly in deciding to summon Leviathan. That's just a mistake the entire disc gets to experience, and from all indications for thousands of years too.
Thank you, Rainbow.
Ahh, the Janus statues. Hopefully Polished will be able to avoid getting squished by one this time around.
I'm glad to see Rarity's storyline start to make tracks. AJ's and possibly Fluttershy's too since said tracks are heading straight into the Everfree.
Hah!
A village of missing foals? That's not good.
6055380 Simple: People hate Celestia and think Luna is perfect.
They hate the alicorn that has kept her nation at peace for a thousand years and brought it about as close to utopia as possible... while they love the crazy sister who was willing to murder her sibling and plunge the world into deadly eternal darkness forever...
People are stupid.
6090194
To be perfectly fair the exact things that happened in canon are unclear (aside from Luna->Nightmare Moon and her battle with Celestia that is responsible for at least partially wrecking their castle) and it is easy to be sympathetic with Luna since very few people haven't been envious of the attentions given, sometimes unfairly, to others instead of them. Particularly so for those who may have deserved attention by certain measures and not received it. On the other hand, Celestia has been in charge for a thousand years so there are a lot of things to lay blame on her for in fanfiction and in canon she's always slipping up and making Twilight do everything. Or at least that's a seemingly valid perspective for the viewer to have.
Also, ponies are often stupid too. Sometimes worse than people.
6054500
Always important to remember that never mention and didn't happen are two different things. Whether it be in writing stories or in "realities" both real (haha) and fictional. It's also important to decide whether you are telling people as much as possible of what happened between points A and B or if there is a particular story you are trying to tell.
6137302 Celestia HAS been in charge for a thousand years... a thousand years during which apparently nothing bad happened at all... In fact, things only started going wrong when Luna came back!
In fact, if you reaaaaaally wanted to, you could say that Luna coming back opened the friggin' floodgates and now ALL OF THE BAD THINGS are happened in rapid succession because Luna is an evil magnet!
Or, you could just say that it's because it's a cartoon series and needs conflict for the plot and stuff. Ya know, instead of getting carried away with fanon that often avoids common sense like that and often takes things to the most outrageous extremes imaginable.
But anyway, if Luna's justified for attempted murder just because she's jelly, then I know a lot of murderers we'd have to let out of prison right now. Being jealous does NOT justify being a psycho. Nuff said.
No-one breaks Rarity's door!
That poor door! That's the second time it's been crashed open with force.
God damn! Doors get no respect in Equestria.
I find that a little hard to believe. I've never heard the word curulícum before; what makes you think Applejack has?
Fahkdammit, Trixie. Ya dun goofed. Hope your mini flare gets you out of trouble.
I've been missing the part of the story where they rescue Faust. Will be nice to see it again sometime.
6148338
It's their handles... They make ponies angry because all they have are hooves... >.>
As for curulícum, AJ knows what they are. I just did a poor job of explaining them for readers. They are the previously mentioned candles used to send letters like Spike's breath. That's my fault. They were named in Honey Mead's Castle Canterlot and it slipped my mind that I hadn't explained the name.
I'm (slowly) plugging away at chapter 15. There is a fair amount of interconnectivity between stories and chapters over the remainder of Velvet, Myths, and a new side-story I meant to have out weeks ago but required additional drafts. Leads to a lot of moments where I go, "I need to finish the other characters side of this bit so I know how that is supposed to flow and to make sure both halves jell together."
I've been wondering about a few things.
First, since apparently Celestia looks identical to Hemera, and Cadance looks identical to Aphrodite, does Twilight look like Astraea (or at least a younger version of her)?
Second, it's stated that the fostering spell manipulates fate to protect the subject, and that no matter what, Tyr won't suffer grevious harm until she awakens. Does this mean that no matter what, this story's Twilight couldn't have been killed or badly injured in any of the show's events that happened in this continuity?
Finally, on the map in chapter one, what exactly qualifies as "Equestria"? Is it just the region that is shared with the continental USA, or does it include the Taiga/Canada region, too? I could never tell whether the Taiga was its own country run by the Halla, or if it's an unexplored part of Equestria that the Halla run because the few ponies that know of them leave them to their affairs.
6452650
Yay! Questions!
Twilight doesn't look like Astraea (it would have been mentioned, naturally). There is more to Twilight and Astraea that I don't want to get into right now as it could spoil some stuff... or my editor might inform me that it is a bad idea and to ditch it. It'll come up in chapter 15, which is currently being edited (I was taking a break from working on it when I noticed your comment.
)
It's more accurate to say that Twilight was fine in all the encounters during shared portions of continuity (first 2 seasons of the show, more or less, some individual aspects or episodes are ignored) because she was Fostered. That's the hand-wave reason for it, any ways. Of the three 'big' encounters (NMM, Discord, and Chrysalis), Discord was the only one that could have 'broken' the effects of the fostering spell due to his nature. Outside the shared continuity, there are other times various fostered fillies get into heaps of trouble that should have gotten them seriously harmed, but they came out with little more than scratches physically. Two such instances from as-yet unpublished in-work stories are when Luna escapes the destruction of her foster family's castle, and pretty much Cadence's entire upbringing under NMM.
Within Myths itself, Tyr fostering is not perfect. Chapter 15 will have a bit to do with that, with more in 17. Both tie into Velvet Sparkle and the Queen in Stone. The bulk of Tyr's development and her reaction to the fostering spell is contained in that story now. Within Myths there is the start of thing during the party, and the aforementioned stuff still to come. It's not as heavily dealt with as before the re-write.
As for the maps; Good news, everypony; I have snazzy, new hand-drawn maps that will be replacing the old ones when Myths 15 is put up! They'll be shown soon when I do the Big Fall Blog sometime in the first week of October. Maps include Equestria, The Old Queendoms (circa 200 Before Equestria), and Ioka's Disc. As for the relationship between Equestria and the Tiaga; they are seperate political entities. Ponies don't even venture into the Tiaga, owing in no small part to the fact almost everypony who does go there doesn't come back. Equestria is both the continent and the nation. The nation is broken up into 4 regions; (Old) Equestria, the Heartlands, the Plains, and West Equestria. There is also the West, which is not administratively under Equestrian control, though there are many settlers there (location of Appleloosa). At the southern tip of the continent are the Scorched Wastes, where Sol fell on the first night Celestia attempted to set the sun alone.
I'm also working on maps for Zebrica and Gryphonia (kind of needed for Myths once the current arcs are concluded and Twi at last reaches Zebrica), as well as the Tiaga for Velvet Sparkle and the Queen in Stone.
Phew, hope that answered everything, and didn't cause too many new questions!
6452861
I see, thank you for your time.
Celestia and co. having a spell that gives temporary near-immortality still seems awkward to me (the fact that it retroactively defuses much if the drama regarding Twilight's past adventures, the possibility existing of it turning into a gamebreaker if it could be modified just a tiny bit, and the feel that it's unneccessary, written to handwave things that don't need fo be handwaved), but oh well.
Oh, and two more questions.
If it's not a spoiler: if Twilight went to the Taiga right now, and if many of the Halla weren't marching/getting ready to march to Equestria, would the Halla recognize her authority, or would the fact that Iridia doesn't have any mean that Twilight doesn't right now either? The fact that Iridia was stripped of authority and is being kept under (attempted) house arrest, but was allowed to keep her title as queen makes it confusing.
Also, is the crystal city in Cadance's title similar to the show's Crystal Empire (I know the show's episodes of them aren't canon), or something completely new? I have not yet read all of the side stories of this story yet, if it's covered elsewhere.
Looking forward to the next chapter!
6453559
I don't think I conveyed myself properly with the Fostering and it's shielding effects. How it came about was, in part, once I settled on alicorns being Hellenistic style gods I wondered how Twilight and company survived their encounter with Nightmare Moon. The answer I came up with was that there was another god fudging the dice, so to speak. My thinking was IF the events of the first couple episodes are maintained as being identical, AND Nightmare Moon is prone to out-right killing those that displease her, in addition to her being able to flatten the entire forest should she so choose, WHY didn't she? Answer; Another goddess used their domain to act as a brace.
I also needed a reason why Twilight was a unicorn and then an alicorn. Recall, Myths started up before it was revealed that Twilight would canonically become an alicorn in the show.
The way I have the spell work on the back-end is that it constantly is tweaking events and things. It's possible for those under the effects to be gravely hurt, but should such happen a doctor with the abilities to heal them will be nearby, having had a thought that morning to just go for a stroll, said stroll taking him to where he needed to be at that moment. Likewise villains will be nudged towards 'toying with their food' type grandiosity. I dislike coincidence as a narrative choice. There is no coincidence, there is Fate. At least within Myths and the surrounding stories. The Maorai have even made appearances here and there nudging things themselves.
As for it being a Gamebreaker, it isn't without flaws. The requirements for the recipients are very stringent, which is something that will be brought up in time. Also, it would need my silent nod of approval, and as the Over-God 'Author' such blatant abuses of the spells I give out is a no-no. twirls mustache
Enough about that and my verbose justifications, and entirely non-canonical self-insertion as God (Note: totally not a thing, I am just in a silly mood and playing around.) onto the next questions!
There are two factions within the Tiaga, three if you can't those who basically flipped the council off and went with River; the Traditionalists and the Loyalists. One faction does recognise Iridia as their queen, the other keeps her under house-arrest and says that her leading them would be 'bad'. Without looking at my notes, I believe I have it set up that the Traditionalist call themselves such as they wish to return to the really old ways before the Long Winter and Iridia's imprisonment, while the Loyalists take their name from their loyalty to the oath their ancestors made to 'Protect the disc from Iridia, and Iridia from the disc.' So, it would depend which of the two factions the herd in questions identifies itself as on whether or not they'd listen to Twilight, or merely humour her.
Governmentally, it's not much difference from a Non-Sovereign Monarchy with the majority of power resting within the Elder Council rather than the Crown. Its hard to go into the how and why things are allowed to stand as they are beyond Iridia is happy to allow the council to govern as they have the past 1563 years of her absence. This allows her to just enjoy her freedom. Even before her imprisonment, she didn't govern as Celestia governs Equestria, and spent more time (sometimes years or decades) away from the Tiaga. At the same time, the Tiaga is Hers. If any pretenders arose that claimed to be king or queen, she would not broke such an insult and would visit all that an angry god can upon the foolish individual. It hasn't been implied, but this has happened before.
Phew, another answer where I ramble on...
The Crystal City is so named for the Crystal Valley in which it was built. It's like the Crystal Empire only in-so-far that both have the word 'crystal' in their names, are north of Equestria, and Cadence is the head-of-state. The Crystal City of Myths doesn't ever get visited, though I have a story that almost certainly will NOT ever be published that describes the architecture of one of the principality's port towns. It's solidly rooted in New England colonial period stylings, for the most part, with no crystal usage. This could change if something set within the Crystal City is does come about. At this point there aren't any story ideas even germinating in my head, so it's not much of a priority.
Hope that helped a little.
6453984
I don't have any problem with the part of the spell that seals away alicorns into more mundane forms, just the fate altering part.
I'm generally fine with the fate concept being used in stories; however, I feel it's not really fate anymore when actual characters have the ability to explicitly modify it. If it starts being modifiable by non-omniponent beings, then it veers into a different direction that generally has paradoxical implications. For example, would Celestia casting the fate modifying spell not be fated itself, meaning that on a broader level, that fate isn't being modified at all? It severely complicates the concept, and almost makes it seem like Celestia is modifying "luck" instead of "fate". Anyway, it's just a distaste of mine.
As for Nightmare Moon and Twilight, NMM didn't seem to be angry at Twilight at all, really. She seemed to be pretty amused at Twilight's attempts to thwart her, doing things like humoring her bull charge, all the way until Twilight manifested the Element of Magic. Even in the show NMM would have had no problem crushing Twilight, and I thought her having fun and toying with her prey was enough to maintain suspension of belief as to why she was using illusions on the mane six instead of just crushing them. Oh well.
Thank you for your time.
6454094
Sorry for the slow response this time.
There are a select few characters that can either see Fate or in some manner or other 'nudge it', as it were. The Moirai (Fates) are responsible for maintaining Fate, and they pop up here and there to set things back on course if they start to go wrong. Amon is another who can see Fate, and Faust is able to infer and figure out Fate through the Weave.
The way I look at Fate within the setting is that it is all that will be and how it shall be, regardless on whether one tries to alter it or not. I don't plan on having a moment like in the Illiad where Achilles was about to break Fate. In this regard you are right that it's more akin to a massive luck bonus. Or the GM fudging the rolls behind the screen so the PCs have more fun, to side-step into a Dungeons and Dragons metaphor.
It's like asking; was Twilight safe because of Fate being altered, or was it always her Fate to come through those years unscathed? That the Moirai do not intervene and 'correct' the alterations of the Fostering spell, if indeed any such alterations are even made from their point of view, does that mean what the spell is doing is really putting the subject of the spell onto the proper course of Fate?
I certainly don't mean to lessen or negate Nightmare Moon's agency. Looking back on it, I can certainly see what you mean. I'm not going to let it bother me, though, as it's so deeply woven into things now that to undue it is impossible without a wide-scale retcon. Better to just let it be, I think.
Anyways, I think we've both said enough. I understand that it troubles you a bit, and I am happy, in a way, that you're willing to put so much thought into things. Most people who have issues with the spell usually focus on the morality of forcing it on Tyr. It's been refreshing to discuss the issues and problems with it on the more metaphysical/mechanical level.
6457569
Bah. This is why I prefer the concept of Destiny from Mighty Max. In that show, Fate was only one third of the equation. The other two parts being Free Will and Chance. Under those rules, a spell that subverts Fate makes more sense.
Extra period
It worked against the hydra
Btw that means it has worked better for Twilight than for Rainbow