Daring Do and the Hand of Doom

by Unwhole Hole


Chapter 45: Ancient City

Deep below the frozen earth- -earth whose permafrost had not been warmed since the chaotic, fiery formation of Equestria in the time that only the Blue-Lit Flowers might remember, had they still existed- -lay a cavern. It was one of a surprising few that had never known light. In its entire history, throughout the countless eons it had sat cold and frozen beneath endless mountains and glaciers, it had never once known the touch of Celestia’s sun, or Luna’s moon, nor had any glowing crystal brought light to the darkness. The darkness was pure, absolute, and terrible.
It was within this never-lit darkness that a machine suddenly began to hum to life, its gears grinding for a moment before spinning effortlessly, lubricated by gemstones cut in a way that no pony or creature still remembered. The gears swirled, shifting and repositioning, and exposing the crystal within. A crystal that did not emit light, yet reached out, feeling its way forward. And it found a link.
A door was forced open as another set of gears matched it. A smaller set, but one far more intricate and infinitely more well-wrought. Two crystals reached each other, linking across the gulf of space and time and a dimensional parameter that had no name apart from “phase”.
Four ponies and Flock stepped through, with Flock leading, his dial sending a stream of invisible energy across to the now rapidly spinning and whirring circle of gears and cogs before them. Then, all at once, his system gave the signal. The connection dropped, and while the gears of the latter machine continued to spin, the door no longer had any means to keep itself open.
Flock stared at the machine. In absolute darkness, he could not see. But he did not need to see. The only one amongst them who saw the world perfectly was White, cursed once more with unblinking mechanical eyes.
“I can’t believe this machine still works,” he said, in awe. “A thousand years. A thousand years since they’ve been gone, and it still works…”
“What works?” muttered Sweetie Drops. “You really are a dark wizard, aren’t you? Well, news flash: we’re not. So make with the light, I can’t see my own butt in front of my face. And for the record, I had BETTER see my butt when the lights come on.”
Flock sighed and raised his hoof. A yellow sphere appeared before him, and for the first time since the dawn of Equestria, the cavern was lit.
The ponies- -save for White- -blinked from the sudden light, having been momentarily dazzled. When Daring Do adapted, she gasped in awe at the realization that, although this was a cavern, it was anything but natural.
Before them stood a machine, a giant face of something that was not quite a clock that stood twice as high as a pony, a single needle-like gem fixed in its center. It was linked to machines- -and in the distance of the light, Daring Do could see that the room had been carved into an immense hall. At every juncture stood perfect, straight lines, carved flawlessly from stone. There were no curves, but in the perfect symmetry that hardly mattered; the linear patterns and angles meshed in mathematically perfect ways to give the impression of incredibly complexity combined with almost brutish industrial force.
Daring Do leaned out and touched part of the stone. It was perfectly smooth, and showed no signs of tool marks.
“By Celestia,” she whispered.
“Celestia had nothing to do with this place,” replied Flock, Darkly.
Daring Do looked upward at the extensive room. “I’ve seen a LOT of carved stone temples in my day. But this…this wasn’t made by chiseling. And it wasn’t made by any sort of drill, it’s too complicated.”
“No drill you could conceive of, no,” said Flock. He lifted his nose to the air, sniffing. The air itself was thin and barely breathable, but warm. Far warmer than Daring Do had hoped for.
“How deep are we?”
“Not very. Transport coils were usually built no greater than fifty miles in depth due to high-mantle flux vibrations.”
“Fifty miles?” cried Rainbow Dash. “I mean- -I can definitely fly that. And totally run it- -probably in like an hour and half tops- -but how can we be that deep?!”
Flock stared at her as if she were an idiot. “We’re not. At that depth you would have been cooked to a pleasant golden-brown and I would be in the process of basting you right now. Modeling temperature, rock type, and structure, we are probably no more than one or two miles down. And this is the way out.” He pointed and began walking down one of the perfectly square but strangely twisting sides hallways. One that clearly appeared to be designed for creatures that either could fly or cling to walls.
“Oh, it’s good to have my lower body back,” said Sweetie Drops, kissing her own rump, an act that required impressive flexibility. She turned to White, and she frowned. “Oh. Sorry about your eyes. And voice. You can’t talk here, can you?”
White waved her hoof, dismissing it. She was at least pretending not to care.
“When we get back to Equestria, I’ll try to find you a doctor,” assured Daring Do. “One who can fix what they did to you.” She paused, staring ahead at Flock. “If you want me to. I just think you should have a choice.”
White did not respond, because she had no means to. Not because she could not talk, but because she had no way to express the emotions that Daring Do’s offer caused to well within her. She did not understand what they were, so she dismissed them in turn.
Daring Do might have noticed had she not begun to focus on the dizzying turns of the hallways around her. Although they looped and shifted, there was no wasted space; strangely shaped but perfectly geometric rooms were formed on each side. Many of them seemed to have been occupied by something or other at one time, although in the weak light Daring Do could not see much apart from the remains of vast machines.
“Why is this here?” she heard herself asking. “Who built this? Was it the Exmoori?”
“No,” said Flock, as though that were obvious. “Contrary to what you may have heard and what I might have implied, the Exmoor ponies were not as highly advanced as you may expect. Their weapons and armor were peerless, yes, but the scientist who sought to use the Hand of Doom was an exception. Others built this. As a support system for her operations.”
“But they were more technologically advanced than ponies now.”
Flock snorted. “Of course. Even the Exmoori could produce machines that modern ponies would not be able to comprehend. But the same could be said for any race of pony at the time.”
Daring Do was confused. “That doesn’t make sense. In general, primitive cultures may have greater rituals and magical capacity, but their technology of course isn’t anywhere near what we have today.”
“To a point. But not before. After all, time is decadence.”
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, confused. “You mean like, cake and stuff?”
“He means decay,” sighed Sweetie Drops. “He’s saying that technological capacity diminishes over time. Which is ridiculous.”
“And yet your leader cannot stop staring at empty hallways.” Flock looked back at them. “There was a time when this world was ruled by technology. That time passed. The world atrophied and began to move backward. What was had was lost, and those who could built it along with it. Technology was demonized and magic subsumed it, but did so poorly.”
“But why?” asked Rainbow Dash, clearly still confused.
“I’m not a philosopher,” muttered Flock. “Try asking your false gods the next time you pray to them.”
“Don’t tell me you actually believe any of this,” sneered Sweetie Drops. She had stopped at one of the rooms. Flock stopped as well and slowly turned to her. His eyes were hideous in the artificial light, but for the first time Daring Do saw something in them. He seemed immensely old.
“I do not ‘believe’. I do not have the capacity,” sighed Flock. “But I was already very old when I created the curse that renders me immortal. From your eyes, I can tell that despite having that sword you never completed your training. You will never live as long as I have, and you will never see the world as I have. You simply can’t.”
“I don’t have to live a long time to know how the world works. Getting old just makes you get nostalgic, and you forget what things mean. You think technology is so great? Then explain what this is.”
She pointed into the room. White turned sideways, and even in the low light was able to see. Her expression hardened. Rainbow Dash noticed and stepped to the gap. Daring Do did as well.
The room inside was wide, tall, and thin, and although its style was overall different it looked distinctly similar to the endless rows of shelves that Flock used to store the artifacts and relics he had collected. Except that rather than having individual cells filled with various items, the walls were filled with meshed octagons. Each one was filled with strange machines.
Daring Do focused on the lowest one, the one that Sweetie Drops was pointing at. Her breath hitched and she felt herself frown. The cell contained a number of large, cylindrical containers linked to the rusted remains of the machines that surrounded them. Some of them appeared to have what looked like glass, although Daring Do doubted the substance was anything so pedestrian.
A few had been broken or tipped over, revealing their contents. It was by far not the first time Daring Do had found skeletons in an ancient tomb, but it proved to be unfortunately memorable. The skeletons were linked and bolted into the chambers, their bones held in place by various clasps. The skeletons were often incomplete, but those that were showed unusual lumps and formations- -as well as thick black ropes of a dry, unidentifiable material growing over them.
Rainbow Dash looked up at the room, which apart from machines was filled with at least several hundred more tubes, all linked together. “Sweet Celestia…there’s so many!”
“Well, wizard?” asked Sweetie Drops. “What is this?”
Flock stared at it. “I don’t know,” he said. Daring Do could easily tell that he was lying. “But I don’t like the look of it. Don’t touch it. Don’t even get near it. Stay away. Leave it buried. Let them rest.”
He continued to stare at them and specifically at Rainbow Dash, who was approaching one of the skeletons. She did not seem to fear the bones, or the strange tendrils that covered them. Daring Do, however, had a bad feeling.
“Dash,” she said. “Let’s go.”
“But…”
“But nothing. We’re not here for this. What we want is on the surface. And we have to hurry. If Caballeron gets there before us…well, you know what will happen.”
Rainbow Dash stood up straight. “Right. I know. Don’t worry, Darning Do. I won’t let you down. I’d even Pinkie-Promise it!”
“Pinkie…what?”
Rainbow Dash blushed and pushed past Daring Do. “Sorry. It’s…a long story.”
Daring Do watched Rainbow Dash, and watched the light fade from the room of skeletons. Her eyes briefly met those of Sweetie Drops, who nodded in acknowledgement. They both knew the same thing.
“White,” she said. The younger pony looked at her. “We’re going to run this in pairs. You stay with Sweetie Drops. She’ll protects you. And you’ll protect her. I’ll do the same for Dash.”
White nodded, accepting her orders.
“I don’t like it,” said Sweetie Drops, clearly not referring to White. “I don’t like any of this. I’ve never trusted wizards, and I don’t intend to start now.”
“Which is why you and White need to stick together.”
“Which is why you need to watch your step. VERY carefully.”
Daring Do slowly and solemnly nodded. Then she turned back to the hall. Instead of going to Rainbow Dash, though, she quickly walked to the front, to Flock. Rainbow Dash hung back; she was a perceptive mare, and knew that Daring Do wanted to speak with the sorcerer alone.
“You lied,” she said. Quietly, so that the others could not hear her, even though she was sure Sweetie Drops still could. “You know what that was. What they did here.”
“I have an idea,” said Flock. “Yes. That is correct.”
“I can’t work if I don’t know what I need to know.”
The eye on the side of Flocks’ head that was facing Daring Do flicked downward toward her. It seemed to glare, but for just a moment looked almost like that of a pony. “You do not need to know this, Daring Do. Somethings are not meant to be known. Secrets that are best left with me.”
“For your own purposes?”
Flock continued to stare. “No. Had I still had access to an afterlife, to take with me.”
“This place. You know it, don’t you?”
Flock shook his head. “No. I only knew that it might exist. This place was abandoned long before I was born. Perhaps long before the Exmoori even came to the land above. But I can tell that this was a dark place. More than literally.”
“So you’re right at home.”
Flock paused. “Had anypony else lived here apart from who had, yes. Yes I would have. And you and I would have never had to have this conversation.” He turned forward. “This places knows me even if I do not know it. But it does not know you. Your peril is great. Be careful, and hurry. There are many miles to go before we can reach the surface. I hope you do not tire easily.”
“I may be old, but I’m not old enough to outright stop. Don’t think I am.”
“I don’t,” replied Flock, gravely. “But I believe that soon enough you will wish that you were.”