//------------------------------// // Enlightenment // Story: Lure of the Flower // by Impossible Numbers //------------------------------// “Lily! Lily! Lily!” For a moment, Lily heard the echoing voice and knew she was going mad. Vague notions of puffed-up bravery fled her mind as Lily Valley, third of the Flower Trio, latecomer to a lifetime of friendship, momentarily the bravest and most invulnerable mare she’d ever known… realized she was lying on a pretty darn hard floor. “Lily, wake up! Wake up!” Her back felt numb in bad places. The air was suddenly chilly and distant, like an aunt who’d found out about her dream world antics and insisted she take up a proper job in accountancy. Her hooves rested on boards that were probably the stoic uncle. Also, her head felt suspiciously lighter. Like the top had been removed. “Get up, please!” She opened her eyes. Wood was a prominent theme. So… she was back in Daisy’s room. For a moment, there’d been nothing but a flash of white. She’d been preparing for the long tunnel and the feeling of bliss, just in case. Sadly, neither were popular at the moment. Instead, she had Roseluck leaning over her. She sat up and winced. “It’s in there with her! I had to get you out! Oh, if we’re too late… If I’m too late…” Lily glanced around. No Doc. Odd. “Please tell me we’re not too late!” As though peering through an interesting glass case, she saw the specimen of Daisy On The Bed With Nasogastric Tube. Half-groggy thoughts blundered about her head, trying to figure out where this fit into her mental picture right now. There was a vague memory of swamp, and darkness… “That’s why I had to get you out of there –” Roseluck’s voice was suddenly a mocking echo. Memory snapped to attention. Lily rounded on her. “You WHAT!?” “Huh?” Roseluck instantly shrank where she stood. She’d seen Lily’s face. Now it made sense! Lily grabbed whatever memory had staggered back and rose onto her hooves at once, making Roseluck scurry aside at once. “Are you mad!?” Lily hurled the words as they came. “I was this close to figuring it out! She would’ve been stuck in there forever if I hadn’t come along! I got her to get up and walk! I snapped her out of her funk! I was working my way through whatever problem she had! I swore I was gonna stand by her! And right when I said that, what do you do? Pull the plug! You utter, utter… moonflower!” Flames roared their assent inside her. Heroism was not something she got to savour, and to have it snatched away like that? She almost smoked where she stood. “But –” began Roseluck. “Would it kill you to trust me for a few minutes more, you dim-witted daffodil?” “I had to!” wailed Roseluck. “Doc and I, we found out what’s going on!” Old instincts seized the conversation from Lily. When in doubt, pass the problem on like a parcel. She blinked. “You did?” “Yes! So I had to take the helmet off. I really need to tell you what’s going on.” Something was off… Lily’s memory slipped her a memo. “Where’s Doc?” she said. Redness flashed across Roseluck’s face. “Not important. Lily: there’s a dream-invader here.” “I know that, you bellflower. I heard it. And I told Daisy I kept seeing something in the shadows, but she always missed it.” “You saw it?” “Well… not in so many words, no. I thought I saw something, but I wasn’t sure. It could’ve been that plant thing with green teeth.” “Huh?” Lily glanced at Daisy. “What the…?” This time, she focused. Daisy wasn’t sweating. “Sweating” suggested a mere few drops glinting like salt on a slab of meat. She was marinated in sweat. Whole flanks and legs and even the strands of her curly hair gleamed under the perspiration. The covers darkened beneath her. Her face was contorting. Her limbs twitched. And she was muttering very, very quietly. With the tube sticking out of her nose, it looked horribly like she was seconds away from turning suddenly still. Inner fires went out. The familiar rising waters of dread slowly threatened to drown her. She could not move her gaze away. “What,” she said, “is that?” “She just started like this!” Roseluck hurried through her words as though terrified of being accused. “As soon as I took the helmet off, she murmured your name a few times. Then this came out of nowhere. I swear! Oh no, oh no, oh no… It’s just like Mister Greenhooves!” Now that Lily concentrated, the contortions across the face jumped from shocked terror to wincing pains. “Wha?” she said. “When we started, we just thought she might be like Mister Greenhooves. Maybe it was just a medical matter. We talked to Nurse Redheart about it. Mister Greenhooves went like this just before he… Just before he…” They did not talk about Mister Greenhooves. Lily’s mind strained not to unravel. That rule had been as solid as the garden wall, and suddenly Roseluck wouldn’t talk about anything else. “And then she said he was talking about being hunted. They’re too similar! Mister Greenhooves did the exact same thing, sleeping longer and longer. It must’ve been the dream-invader! And I only know two, and they both eat their victims from the inside-out!” Get to the point, get to the point, get to the point! Yet Lily could barely open her mouth, possibly to scream. She’d known something was eating Daisy, but not that way. “And we used some detectoring devices, and they showed it was in there with you! It’s literally eating Daisy’s mind. And it tried to get mine! I dropped off for a few seconds, and there it was!” Lily found her voice huddling deep at the bottom of her hooves. “What was?” “The Tantabus! It can’t be anything else! You know what Princess Luna said about the Tantabus!” Giving up on the rest of her, Lily’s mind churned up a few errant memories of Twilight going on about it at some party or other. It could hop from dream to dream, if it saw anyone else in yours and thought they’d make a nice target. Lily frowned briefly. “You dropped off?” “Only for a bit! I saw it there! In the meadow I was dreaming about!” Meadow? And for a moment, the same meadow came back to her, amid the foalish laughter that now sounded nowhere near as pleasant as it had done. “It hopped over?” she said. “I don’t know,” said Roseluck. “Did you dream of me at any point? Or maybe it was my own –” “What do you mean, ‘your own’?” Lily’s mouth followed the conversation, hoping her mind and her gaze on Daisy would come back soon. “I don’t know! But if there’s one inside Daisy, then we have to do something!” The spell broke. Lily opened her mouth. She got as far as “The horr–” When the bedroom door creaked, almost apologetically, and Goldengrape stood on the threshold. Stance: stiff. Face: pale. Gaze: blank. Lily and Roseluck watched, braced to bolt, as he forced himself to walk over to the bedside – Lily backed out of his way – and looked over his sleeping beauty. The two of them glanced at each other. “He needed a moment,” Roseluck whispered. “After the initial shock.” Judging from his heavy breathing, he desperately needed another one. His hoof reached across to hers. The next breath he took could have been a sniff. Sheer intrigued embarrassment kept Lily staring. Then he wheeled round on them; they flinched, ready to flee. Trying to keep his voice firm, he frowned and said, “What do we do?” Lily glanced at Roseluck, whose eyes were shimmering. “Ask her, I guess.” “I can’t give up just yet. I haven’t said my best last words to her. I had the ‘told you I was ill’ gag down to a tee, just in case.” He added, wincing slightly, “Well, I always thought I’d go first, you know?” “Your last words were going to be a joke?” “Daisy liked my jokes. It would’ve given her a smile.” An unaccountable surge of envy knocked Lily senseless for a few seconds. To think: between the secret food stocks and the “End of the World” survival guides, she’d never once considered any emergency last words for herself. It struck her as a major oversight. Certainly she hadn’t considered sharing her last moments, except in the vague sense that Daisy and Roseluck would’ve been welcome in her bunker, or at least the basement. “What?” she said. Roseluck choked and wiped her face hastily. “I know… We have to focus.” “You’re sure this is the Tantabus?” said Lily. Roseluck nodded firmly. “But we saw Princess Luna –” “I don’t know what we saw, but back then we were all in that shared dream, and today I saw the thing skulking around in my dream. If it hadn’t been for that nice rose, it would have eaten me.” Oh goodness, and I was so close to getting all this too. “You what? What rose? What are you talking about?” “The rose in my dream! It protected me! It must have sensed the thing and tried to save me. You know how I am with roses.” “You’ve lost me again.” “Not important.” Roseluck coughed. “This thing could be something Tantabus-like. Or maybe, maybe you can make your own Tantabus. Like a… Like a Tantaballus, Doc would’ve said. A little Tantabus.” Defiantly, she glared. “No one said you couldn’t.” “Yes, but Daisy? Make one?” “Maybe.” “From scratch?” “No! Maybe from some… some leftover magic when Luna cast that spell. After all, we were in her nightmare as much as she was in our dreams.” Lily waved her forelimbs; she could hear Daisy’s mutterings grow louder and more urgent. “We’re running out of time. Twilight can sort it out! Look,” continued Lily in a bid to stop the stares coming her way, “why don’t we get… I dunno, Princess Twilight to come down here? Tell her it’s life-or-death now. She can’t say no to that.” Disturbingly, Roseluck looked at her as though she’d uttered some profanity, like “why don’t we just let Daisy pop her clogs and call her stuff”. “Um,” Lily said. “I only meant –” “I’ll do it,” said Goldengrape firmly. “You will?” Roseluck’s voice shot to the roof. “I’ll get the whole of Canterlot, if I have to! Not a moment to lose for my lady-in-waiting!” Roseluck sagged at the knees; instantly, Lily rushed forwards to stop the faint, and was surprised to find her hooves meeting nothing. To her shock, her friend was just as instantly in tears. “You’re so romantic!” Roseluck wailed. “How did Daisy deserve you?” “Eh?” he said. Daisy yelped. They all found her thrashing and kicking. Within seconds, she’d knocked the nasogastric tube out of her nose and kicked it off her bed with a clatter. Over her scalp, the helmet gaped and threatened to come off. Her face was losing its fight against the pain. “No,” she kept moaning. “No… Leave me alone… Stay away… Help. Help me… Please… No… Leave me alone… Go away…” “Just like Mister Greenhooves!” After that, Roseluck bit her hoof and garbled around the obstruction. Lily tried not to squeak. Merely remembering Luna's Tantabus had been a bad night. To think: all the time she'd blundered along with Daisy, cursing the swamp and snapping at each other, and all that time this thing had been stalking them. Actually stalking them! And the Tantabus was feeding on Luna’s guilt. Everyone had to talk the guilt out of her, so she could put the Tantabus back inside herself. If she hadn’t gotten over it in time, who knows what would have happened? Guilt. That’s what it wants. Daisy had reeked of guilt… “My gosh,” Lily breathed. “I’m sorry…” groaned Daisy as she started to curl her spine, tense, and then curl it another way. “Lily… I’m sorry… Please… Come back…” “Daisy!” Goldengrape was on her side at once. Roseluck shot for the helmet lying on the floor – Before, thinking fast, Lily’s hooves beat her to it. “What do you think you’re doing, Rose?” “I gotta get in there!” Stubbornly, Roseluck tugged; Lily tugged back. “You? No, I gotta get in there!” “I’ve known her longest! I can talk her down!” “You can't! I’ve been with her ages softening her up! She needs a familiar face! I can talk her down!” Fury bared Roseluck’s teeth. “You’re not the leader, Lily! Let go! I have to help her!” “We don’t have leaders, Rose! Daisy needs someone who’s spent time with her! She’ll need all the emotional help she can get!” “And you’re qualified to give her that? You're too much of a coward! You can't help your own emotions, never mind Daisy's!” Lily growled and tugged it out of her grip; at once, she had to fend Rose off with the other hoof. “I’m not a coward, and you're no better than me, actually! I'm the oldest and I'm the most responsible! And I'm not a yes-mare or a suck-up! I’ll do it!” “I’m the bravest and the smartest of all of us! I know how the Tantaballus works! I know what I'm doing! I have to see this through! So I’ll do it!” “Let go!” A snatch, and they were both in a tug-of-war again. “No! You let go!” “What's got into you, Rose?” “What's gotten into you!?” “We're wasting time!” “Daisy needs my help!” Goldengrape’s hoof batted the helmet down and held it down. Both of them made the mistake of meeting his glower. They had about as much chance as a crocus under a rolling wine barrel. “There’s no time for this!” he said, turning to Roseluck. “It doesn’t matter who does it, so long as it’s done!” “But I’ve been doing all the work –” Roseluck cut herself off under his sudden attention. “I mean, I can do it… I can…” “And I think Lily should do it,” he said. “Maybe she’s not the most qualified pony, but Daisy told me once: if she ever got into a funk, she’d trust you to make her feel better but she’d trust Lily to snap her out of it. Lily says what you won't. I don’t know what she told you, but I think I’d trust her judgement. Especially right now. Wouldn’t you?” To her own surprise, Lily said, “Well, I wouldn’t say I’m the most qualified.” Wait. Daisy said that? To him? She checked his face in case this was a hidden prank. His glare said otherwise, rather emphatically, and to such an extent that she stopped checking quite quickly. “But…” said Roseluck. “But I’ve got this under control…” Goldengrape’s glare melted. “It’s OK. Daisy would say –” “Oh, please don’t tell me.” Roseluck straightened up. “Sometimes, I need to stop trying to prove myself just because I want to show off what I can do, right? Whether it’s a talk or a disaster or my emotions or what other ponies do. It's OK if I let it go. I get it. I don't like it, but I get it.” “Er…” he said. “They don’t teach you that in science, but –” “Actually, I was gonna say she’d say to find something else to do while you wait. But, uh, that stuff’s pretty good too.” Roseluck was shaking. Feeling a bit left-out, Lily reached across and patted her on the shoulder. “We’ve got this,” she said. “Rose, you've found stuff out. Good work. It's helped. But I'm getting Daisy out. She's not thinking straight. She needs someone to give her a push, and who better than me? Look, it’s not like we’re pushing you away. And Daisy’s gonna need you when we come back. She'll need her friends.” “When? You mean if you come back.” Roseluck gulped. “When. I mean when.” If. If. If. Lily glowered at the writhing Daisy on the bed. True, several hours with someone so determined to drive her up the wall had kicked her brain up to a kind of carefree realm, where volunteering for suicide missions sounded like business as usual. But she also felt the heat rising. Hundreds of insults and chants and muttered comments about her cowardice rose like steam off Daisy’s body – and from a hundred other voices – and what did it matter that most of them were clearly the voices of foals? That sort of thing stuck. If they came back? If!? Well, she didn’t need no Explorer Flora Plant Pot of Power. Not at her age. She’d silence those taunting voices. She’d make Daisy shut up and stare, all right. So Lily really, really needed to get going, then. Already, the unnatural bravery was fading away like a sugar rush, promising pain once the fun was over. Anyway, she'd told Daisy about the nightmares. She'd actually told Daisy about the nightmares. There was no going back from that. She was mad. Officially, certifiably, unquestionably, pathetically, crashingly, wearily, hopelessly mad. Nothing mattered now. Oddly, she felt the better for knowing that. Up till now, she'd secretly and not-so-secretly assumed she was the only one with her head screwed on right. Hardly anyone had believed her doom and gloom, had taken her suggestions on how to find food in the wild post-civilization, or had even let her send her draft policies to the mayor in case the next magically evil terror tried to take over the town. Well, that settled it. She was ruined. Malformed. Non compost mental. There wasn't enough anger boiling through her veins right now. And she wasn't going to take it lying down. While Goldengrape crashed into the door and then thundered downstairs, while Daisy moaned the same name over and over, and while Roseluck stared with hoof over mouth, Lily laid herself back down. The helmet she rammed over her head. “I feel so helpless…” mumbled Roseluck. A bit of the more familiar Lily broke through. “How do you think I feel?” “You wanna swap?” “I want Daisy back.” Lily clenched her teeth. Well, the truth would be misleading enough for now. She had to prove something. She could solve this. She knew it. Being mad wasn't going to stop her now. As though this were utterly natural and right, Roseluck nodded. “Still, I hope Goldengrape gets Twilight here.” “What’s Doc doing, then?” Coldness bit into Lily’s face at Roseluck’s glare. “He doesn’t matter anymore.” “Um. OK…?” Roseluck’s glare slopped down to sadness. “Hopefully, one of us will get there in time. Magic or science or whatever it takes.” “I didn’t ask.” Chewing her cheek, Lily forced her mind not to pick apart Roseluck’s last sentence. Wasn’t important right now. “Good luck.” Roseluck raised a hoof. Lily raised her own forelimb in turn. They wrapped and gripped each other, a little tighter than was comfortable to Lily’s soft skin. “Luck isn’t my friend right now,” said Lily. “I know what you mean.” “I wish I wasn't doing this.” “Me neither. But we want Daisy back.” Lily nodded grimly. “OK… Here goes…” Their hooves separated much too soon. Roseluck went over to the suitcase where Doc had abandoned it. Lily closed her eyes and ignored the sounds of clicking and tapping. Try to sleep, Lily… Sleep… Slee – How exactly did I do this last time? A final click. Lily's eyes tightened. Her mind became a confused blur. This time, it felt like mere seconds. The hard floor against her back faded away. Not like she was being lifted off it: more like the thing was thinning and becoming less there until, without any obvious change, it wasn’t. Moisture gripped her limbs. Heavy air stuffed her lungs as she breathed. Lily’s sense of gravity pulled the other way. Carefully, clenching them in readiness from time to time, she eased her eyelids back. The first thing she noticed: darkness closed in, tighter than it had done. Barely a few feet ahead now, instead of the copious yards of before. Cobra lilies and pitcher plants crowded around her. Something with green teeth hung in the air overhead. All looking at her. It didn’t matter that they had not an eye among them. The intensity of their planty stares was bad enough. Lily cowered slightly before she remembered herself. Whatever bravery flowed through her was already ebbing. “Daisy?” she said to the green teeth. They stared at her for a while longer. Then someone screamed. “LLLLLIIIIIILLLLLLYYYYY!” As one, the plants… were suddenly all facing one way to her left. Or rather, had always been facing that way, and now Lily’s mind was trying to convince her that she’d merely misremembered. Well, they weren’t trying to eat her or hem her in. And didn’t she suspect Daisy had some influence over them? Lily galloped. She’d long since learned how to go full pelt at a moment’s notice. Cowardice had taught her well, and even if it hadn’t, sheer burning rage flooded her again. It set her limbs on fire. Without words, without slowing, and with the full and horrifying knowledge that she was running towards danger, Lily gave a battle cry. Being Lily, she gave it in the safe and quiet confines of her head. But she meant it. She splashed her way as fast as she could. Not a plant stood in her way. Who dares to say I can’t be an adventurer!? Who doubts me now, huh!? Who doubts me!? WHO!? APART from me, of course!?