//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: The Stronger Tiara // by computerneek //------------------------------// Boom, boom, Boom, boom, Boom, boom, Boom boom! By the time her, um, thing gets anywhere near the hole, she’s already wall-jumped her way up to Sweetie’s side-tunnel, and sends herself soaring in.  Her muscles are hating her for it, of course, but she got here safely and that’s about all that counts right now. “Sweetie Belle?” she asks.  “You okay?” Sweetie lets out a long, pained moan, lying on the cold metal. “I’ll take that as a no,” she states, turning to trot around Sweetie- to get in front of her.  “How bad is it?” Sweetie moans again, though not as long.  “I… I think I broke something.” She completes her move, lighting her tiara.  “That might be my fault… Where does it hurt?”  She scans Sweetie’s form, searching for strange bends in her limbs- and finds nothing. Sweetie opens her eyes, not moving her head.  “Ow… Uh, right foreleg… and I think I broke a rib, too.” She winces; that would be harder to detect with a visual search, not to mention potentially more dangerous, depending on which rib is damaged- and how many.  “Okay,” she states, and sits down in front of the unicorn. Very carefully, she grips the specified foreleg and, as gently as possible, moves it. Sweetie winces, but doesn’t cry out; furthermore, she’s able to track the limb’s motion all the way back to the shoulder, and it’s not bending where it’s not supposed to.  “Well, there’s some good news,” she states. “Your leg’s not broken. Might be cracked, but it’s not broken.” Sweetie raises an eyebrow at her, still not moving her head.  “ ‘Ats nice,” she states. “What about the- Ow!- … the rib?” She winces and moves herself closer.  “I don’t know yet.” She reaches out and, just before she starts feeling for ribs, she glances up at Sweetie’s head again.  “I’m going to be feeling for it- yell when it hurts, okay?” “Aaah,” Sweetie fakes, then grins.  “Sure.” She nods.  “Okay, here goes.”  She starts feeling for the damaged rib. Before she gets past more than three ribs, though, her spiderlike thing arrives, running up behind Sweetie with the faint clicking of its metal legs against the metal floor.  It’s a little different; it doesn’t feel like it is part of her, but rather more like the kitchen knife does when she’s using it, or her quill when she’s writing.  Yet, she can still see through it, or act through it, when she wants to. So she looks for breaks with it.  It seems to understand her intent and automatically flashes a light that she can’t see except through it, watching for the reflection. She sees the reflection.  Whatever light it used went straight through Sweetie’s skin and fur, but not her bones- as much.  It takes her a moment of angle processing before she is able to fully understand the image. Probably helps that her thing skittered sideways, snapping more images from more angles. Then she sees it, and winces.  “Oh… Um… Well, you’re not wrong.  You’ve got three cracked ribs…” She touches them gently, each eliciting a wince.  “And one broken.” When she touches it, Sweetie lets out a pained cry. She flinches away, and lets out a sigh.  “The good news is that it’s not a floating rib, so as long as you don’t jostle it, it shouldn’t move too much.  We’re still going to want to go to the doctor quickly, or…”  She trails off, looking down the passage. “I wonder…?” Sweetie winces, and starts trying to stand up.  “Ow! Um, you wonder what…?” Very suddenly, her question is answered.  This fortress is not the same as hers; as a matter of fact, she gets the idea it’s not simply another one, but a different kind as well.  It also has those strange box things she’d used to heal her leg in hers so long ago- well, it has one, but it’s operational.  Then, of course… She raises her eyebrow, looking back at sweetie.  “Oh, and good news- not only is this fortress capable of healing your bones, but it wants to, er, how do I put it…?  Be part of you?” Sweetie blinks.  “So, it- Ow!- it wants to be to me what yours is to you?” She nods.  “Yep. It can’t, at the moment, for some reason…  But it wants to.” She smiles. “It’s not interested in me, because I’ve already got one.”  She glances up at the ceiling.  “Kinda weird. Feels like I’m talking to it, and it’s talking back, but neither are using words.” Sweetie manages upright, but she’s flinching at every move.  “Alright,” she states. “What do I need to do?” She looks at Sweetie.  “There’s a… box thing.  I don’t know what it’s called, and the name it’s using isn’t a word.  Oh- and before you’re scared by it, that, uh, spiderlike thing over there is part of mine.”  She blinks. “Maybe we can think of something to call it?” Sweetie looks at it, flinches, and almost shrugs, visibly catching it just in time.  “Uh… I don’t know. Some kind of- Ow!- spider, but metal spider doesn’t sound right.” “Ahh…  Um, the box thing is this way.”  She gestures down the passage, away from the shaft.  “Are you good to walk, or would you rather ride?” She gestures at the spider. “I can walk,” Sweetie states, and takes a step.  “Ow! Owowowowowow… um, on second thought, I’ll ride.” She carefully lays Sweetie down in the box thing. “This is it?” the unicorn asks. She nods.  “Yep! Back when I first arrived in mine, a boulder crushed my hind leg.  I found one of these, climbed in… and when I woke up again, I was healed.  Um…” She glances at her spider thing, standing calmly on the lid of the box.  It does seem this fortress is almost perfectly sideways, rather than on a corner like her own.  “I’ll keep my spider down here, in case you need help getting back out. I think I can talk through it.” “Alright.  So…” Sweetie looks around the box. “Uh…  Don’t be scared, okay?”  She stands clear of the lid, allowing it to close. “Wait, what?” Sweetie asks, before it lands closed. She hears a yelp from inside, then…  then all goes silent. By ‘talking’ with this second fortress, she knows the box thing just engaged, and Sweetie is now unconscious. She sighs, and heads out.  She runs her spider up to help herself out- she’s tired of wall jumping- and sends it right back down to wait. “Diamond!” His daughter stops midstep, turning to look at him.  “Yes, Father?” “Where did you get that tiara?” She blinks, visibly taken aback.  “I made it,” she states simply. “Oh?  With what?” She averts her gaze.  “I don’t know what they’re called.” He sighs.  “What spells does it have on it?” “None.” He raises his eyebrow.  “Oh? How do you know?” “Sweetie Belle checked for me- and besides, they’re not real gems.” He blinks.  “So, Sweetie Belle, who can’t use magic, checked for enchantments.” She nods.  “Turns out she can sense just fine…  though she can’t see past our innate magic, and she did say she saw something strange, so I was going to have Princess Twilight tell me what it is.” He gives a slow nod.  “Alright… where did you find fakes that realistic?” “I made them,” she states. “How?” “I don’t know.  Did something happen?” He glances quickly up the street.  “Uh… I’ll tell you later. So long as you’re absolutely positive that tiara is not cursed and that it’s not the same one as went missing this morning.” She nods.  “I’m positive.” “Wait a minute.  You asked Sweetie Belle to look for magic?” She nods.  “Yes. She wasn’t sure what she was looking at, so I came here.” The purple alicorn takes a step back.  “Oh… uh… Anything in particular you want me to look for?” She shakes her head.  “No. I just… want to check.”  No matter how thoroughly she analyzes the situation, she can’t come up with any particular action pattern that would get Twilight to actually perform the scan without finding out more about her reasoning. Twilight raises an eyebrow.  “Just want to check?” she asks.  “Does this have anything to do with the time you went missing?” She nods slowly.  “Something… happened.  I don’t know what it was; I was…  I don’t think ‘asleep’ is the right word, the whole time.”  She gazes off to the side. “Whatever it was, it’s had lasting effects…  and I’d like to be sure they aren’t harmful.” “Does it have anything to do with your tiara?” “My tiara?”  She takes a step back.  “What about it?” “Well…  it was stolen last night, then found to be cursed this morning…  and, though I sealed the package myself less than an hour ago, it’s back on your head.” “Wha-?  No, it’s a different tiara.  Everypony was staring at me in class, so I made a replacement.” “So you made a replacement.  In six hours.” She shakes her head.  “Eighty-three and a half minutes.” “What?” “That’s how long it took to make.” “Uhh…  You sure it’s safe?” “That’s what I’m here to find out.” “Alright.  I’ll check you- and that tiara- for anything suspicious, but then you’re taking me straight to wherever it was you made that, okay?” She nods.  “There… there seems to have been a lot of sinkholes in the area, though.” An eyebrow raised.  “Around here, or around that place?” “Around that place.” “Then I’ll carry you, and you tell me where to land.  I’ll scan now- it might tickle a little.” Her horn glows. It does tickle.  And tingle. A lot. But she can handle it.  She’s not sure how- or, she is sure how, but she doesn’t understand any of it.  She stands still, save only her breathing, until the alicorn is done. “Did…  Did you find anything?” “Yeah…”  The alicorn mutters, slowly.  “That tiara’s clean, and the only harmful stuff I can find on you is spell fragments left over from that first tiara- but those will take care of themselves, with time.  Then, your innate magic is at least a dozen times stronger than Applejack’s… and still growing.” “Huh?  Was my tiara cursed or something?” Twilight closes her eyes.  “It’s being taken care of, and is no longer a danger to you.”  She opens her eyes again. “You’re sure you’re all earth pony?” “Uh, yes?” Scowl.  “Because the thaumic buildup I’m seeing is impossible for an earth pony.  Earth pony magic grounds itself out every time you touch the ground. You’re absolutely certain you don’t have wings or a horn?” She nods emphatically, backing slowly away from the alicorn.  “You know my lineage is all earth pony for at least a dozen generations.” “Not even a hint of a midshoulder or button horn?” “Not that I’m aware of…?”  She never was very good at biology; she’s not sure exactly what her skull and spine should look like, as an earth pony.  On the other hoof, she knows exactly what her skeleton does look like, somehow- and she doesn’t recognize anything like a horn or wings. Twilight taps a hoof on her chin, scowling for a second, then pauses.  “Wait a minute. How long have you had your cutie mark again?” “Huh?  That’d be…  six and a half months.” The Alicorn’s scowl intensifies briefly.  “That makes no sense,” she states, and starts pacing.  “It’s not unheardof for a Unicorn or Pegasus to be born to otherwise exclusively earth pony lines, particularly if there is a lot of the other two breeds in the area.  It’s also not unheardof for wings or horn not to form until after the cutie mark- a birth defect, it’s believed to be.  Both at once has never happened before, in recorded history.” Then she glances up. “Then, at six months, if you fell into the latter category, you’d have at least a button horn or a mid-shoulder and the beginnings of wing bones.  So…” She watches Twilight continue pacing wordlessly for a few seconds before she speaks up.  “Sooo, is there a way to test if it’s earth pony magic or…?” She shakes her head.  “No, unfortunately; magic is magic.  The three tribes’ magics are separated only by the focus:  Hooves for earth ponies, wings for pegasi, and horn for unicorns.  The issue being, magic will only anchor itself in our bodies in the focal organ- and any excess always grounds right out.”  She looks up at her. “And every hoof is identical in how much it’ll anchor.  Yet, you’ve managed to stow a dozen times that much, without any other anchor point!”  A sigh, and her ears flop down.  “I think. There is no spell to actually detect anchor points, only the magic itself…  which, no matter where it’s anchored, distributes itself throughout your body. “We could probably get an X-ray or something at the hospital, but I’m not certain that horn or wing precursors would show up on that just a few days after anchoring became possible.” “Huh?” “Remember that birth defect?  Magically, they’re effectively earth ponies until they get their cutie mark.  Then- and immediately- their wings and/or horns ‘exist’ as an anchor point for their magic, and they begin accumulating- even before the biological changes start taking place.  I look at you, and your continuing accumulation, and it can’t have started more than a week ago. Which means, if it is some strange case of late-emerging pegasus or unicorn genes, we likely won’t see anything definitive on an X-ray for another couple weeks…  WAIT!” She lets out a yelp, jumping backwards, right into the closed door.  “Gah! What?” “Your tiara!  You lost it this morning, and if I allow for a surge caused by the removal of an inhibitive spell, it matches almost perfectly!  Though…” She looks up towards a window. “I sent it to Celestia half an hour ago… and with a dark magic curse, it’d be really dangerous to try checking for something inhibitive.” “A what?”  She’d suspected, from her father’s comment earlier, that it had been cursed- but she’s pretty sure dark magic is on a whole ‘nother level. “Oh, oops,” she states.  “I promised Filthy I’d let him explain that to you…?” “Ahh…  as long as it’s not dangerous now?” “No, it’s not.  With the wardings I put on that box, even long-range effects would be cancelled.  And, I’ve confirmed- just now, when you asked me to scan you- that all of its effects have been cancelled out…  or broken.” “So, it’s not going to hurt anypony.” “Not any more, I made sure of that.  Oh, and speaking of the tiara, you were going to show me where you made your new one?” “Yes.” “And…  Right, I was going to carry you, to avoid the sinkholes.” “Yes.” She heaves a sigh.  “You ready?” “Yes.” “Are you sure your…  place isn’t going to fall into a sinkhole?” She tilts her head slightly.  “Fairly sure.” “Fairly sure?” She nods.  “Any sinkhole big enough to sink it is also going to chew at least half of Ponyville.” “Wait.  That mean it’s near Ponyville?” “Yes.  Fairly sure none of the sinkholes are a danger to the town, but it probably won’t hurt to verify while you’re out there.” “...  Ahh. We’d better get going, then.” “It’s here?” “Yes.  That hole.” “You sure about that?” “Absolutely certain.” “Alright, but if another sinkhole forms, I don’t know if I can pull you out in time.” She shakes her head.  “We should be safe, in the immediate vicinity of this one.” “Okay, here goes.” Twilight then puts her down, before landing herself.  “Some of those sinkholes looked mighty dangerous. Are you sure we’re safe here?” She nods.  “Yes. There’s not much that can get through three quarters of a meter of…  uh, I don’t know what it’s called, but it’s metal and it’s very strong.”  She trots up to the hole, looking down in.  “Anyways, you wanted to know where I made my tiara.  This is also…” She takes a deep breath. “This is also where I was when I went missing for a few days.” Twilight shudders visibly.  “Underground?” She nods.  “I don’t think it’s supposed to be underground, but it is, yes.  Did you want to see?” Blink.  “Uhh, yes.” “Alright then, follow me.  Be careful, though- it’s very easy to slip and fall on the slope if you’re not careful- and very painful to slide all the way to the bottom.”  She shudders. “I know by experience, when this hole originally caved in.” She hops down in, landing firmly on the slope, before looking back up.  “Coming?” Twilight wings her way in.  “... Or, I can just use my pegasus magic to not have to worry about that.  Pegasi can walk on any surface they like, regardless of orientation, after all.  And- how did you land so smoothly? Even an Earth filly should have had trouble with that!” She shrugs.  “That’s one of the lasting effects.  It seems to have made me crazy strong.”  She lights her tiara and starts walking down the slope. Twilight trots after her, before reducing to a walk as well.  “Why this way?” she asks. She smiles.  “Because this is the direction it’s in.  When I first got here, when I went missing…  I rode a landslide all the way to the bottom.  Got crushed by a boulder, but survived, and found some kind of box that healed me, apparently over a couple days.” “Then- then how did you get out?” “I jumped.” “And where is this box?” “That’s where we’re headed first.  I wasn’t actually present for the tiara production, but that was close by as well.” “What.” She sighs.  “I’ll explain when we get to the bottom.  But… it’s all part of a single, giant machine, that we’ve already entered, so…” “Ahh.  I’ll start my scanning now, then.” …  She didn’t know walls could be tickled. The rest of the walk passes silently. Right up to the pile of dirt at the bottom, and the nearly-blocked passage to the side, light flooding out of it. “This is…”  Twilight begins. She nods.  “The landslide.”  She points a hoof at the boulder.  “And that’s the boulder. There’s more dirt here than there was then- the stallion that stole my tiara caused a few more landslides- from the same hole- in the course of his escape.” “What.” She nods, eyes closed, and slips through the hole.  “Yes, that theft happened down here. Think you can teleport through?” She blinks, and teleports past the opening, into the passage.  “It happened down here?” She nods.  “He chased me in.  That pile slowed him down- he had to dig his way through it- so I had time to escape.  He seemed to be tracing the tiara, somehow, so I abandoned it and fled without.” She shudders.  “That’s actually when a lot of the lasting effects started.” She trots over to an upwards passage, leading Twilight up it.  “The healing box… is in here.” The door to that room slides open in front of her, and she peers down in. “The furthest one down, by all those stretchers- warning, those things make a painful landing.  The box gave me the extra strength to get out, but that faded away, back to what I’m more used to. When he chased me in, though… “Enough of the strange extra strength had faded away that I couldn’t fight him, and only escaped his initial grapple because he didn’t expect me to try.  I also couldn’t outrun him, necessitating the small entryway- and hiding… which I did. “Then, I…  knew where he was.  I began to sense through this thing, sight, hearing, and so on.  I gained control over this place. He was looking directly at me, straight through a solid wall…  When I moved the tiara, his gaze followed it. When I moved without it, his gaze stayed on the tiara.  So I dumped it and fled.” She looks up at Twilight. “I didn’t even need light on my way out until I reached the exit, because I knew where I was- and where the walls were.  I found my own path out, because I knew where all the passages were. “None of that has faded.  The extra strength returned after that, and…  I still have complete control over this thing, almost like an extension of myself, even though it continues to do things on its own.” “It’s doing things on its own?” Twilight asks, alarmed. She nods.  “Yeah. Fixing itself, mostly- like how your body will heal a papercut on its own, if you don’t apply a spell to it.  Except I can make it stop, make it do something else instead.” Sigh. “That’s how I made this tiara, and had it delivered to me.  Overnight, it had made some kind of… spider thing, that could carry it away. I have the same control over the spider, but… well.  It feels more like a hammer might, or maybe a paintbrush, than like an extension of myself.” “Ahh…”  Twilight scans the box, then scans everything around. She smiles gently.  “Hey, that tickles.” “What?” She shrugs.  “Carry on. For some reason, I can feel these walls, too.  The scary part… I know exactly what makes it possible, but I haven’t a clue what any of it means.  Or how to put it into words.” “Huh?” “It seems to have a mind of its own- one that got merged with mine.  Thanks to it, I can solve even the toughest of math problems in but a moment.  And, it knows a lot of stuff, including about itself- but it doesn’t know Equestrian, and I don’t understand much of anything of what it knows, except in its own context.”  Sigh. “I’m sure you’d be able to understand a lot of it, maybe help me to understand it too… but I can’t figure out how to put any of it into words.” “Ahh…”  Twilight mutters.  “That all?” She nods. “Alright.  With all my scanning…  This, uh, structure, for lack of a better term-!” “Fortress.” “Fortress?” Nod.  “Yes. That’s the best word I’ve been able to use to describe it as a whole.  Though it’s supposed to be mobile…  it’s got a few different ways of moving around, none of them working- and only one of them even resembles anything I understand.”  She smiles. “Kinda like a cart, if it had several hundred wheels and brought its own road.” Twilight rubs her chin for a second.  “... Huh, doesn’t ring a bell. Anyways, I’ve noticed this fortress, while it doesn’t have any magic itself, it does have a magic signature.  You know what that means?” She shakes her head. “It means that, while it’s not producing magic itself, it’s capable of storing it.  So, some part of it is serving as a magic anchor, like pony hooves, horn, or wings, but it’s lacking anything to produce it, like the pony heart.” She nods slowly.  “Okay. Is that something I need to worry about?” Sigh.  “Normally, yes.  Only… that magic signature is a perfect match to yours.” Blink.  “Meaning?” “Meaning any magic in it is YOUR magic, because you’re already permanently fused with it, thaumically at least.”  She sighs. “That also means that, for better or worse, it’s here to stay. I don’t think I could separate you from it without killing you if I wanted to- and, with this strong of a bond, chances are better than even you’d just wake up again in here, if killed.” Her eyes open wide.  “What-?” “And don’t worry, that’s only a thaumic separation, to divorce the two sides.  As near as I can tell, physical separation should be completely harmless.”  She glances back down at the box thing. “Unfortunately, I am going to have to insist on tightening security around here.  Your fortress thing is still growing into its status as a second body- still drinking in magic from elsewhere to do that.  It doesn’t look to have started until after whats-his-face left, so it hasn’t absorbed any negative influences just yet, but I’d rather not risk it.”  She glances up. “If it does absorb too much bad magic right now, it could be destroyed- and you killed.” “What-?” She shakes her head.  “Don’t worry. It’s been drawing on the ambient fields so far- a neutral source.  Right now, I’m feeding it with the Element of Magic itself- perhaps one of the most positive sources there are.  Once we finish down here, I’ll be posting guards to protect it- then tracing out and marking a safe path for you to approach.  Finally, I plan to come into here regularly to feed it, until it finishes; the more positive power it consumes during this stage, the more I can guarantee a positive outcome.”  She smiles. “If it is going to hurt you, absorbing a lot of positive energy will cause the linkage to close down on its own.  If it’s beneficial, it’ll only make it stronger.” She blinks.  “Soo… You’re not sure if it’s good or bad, but by feeding it with the Element of Magic, you can make it judge itself?” Nod.  “Yes.” “What happens when it finishes absorbing energy?” “That’s when this vulnerability closes.  And when it gains the ability to create its own magic.” “Its own magic…  as in, that’ll be when I’m able to produce magic in it, in addition to in myself?” Blink.  “... Yeah, something like that.  I don’t know the specifics just yet, though- and we won’t, until it happens.” “The specifics?” “Yeah.  Such as, which part is producing it, if it’s passive production like ours or if you have to do something, and so on.  I figure it’ll probably be active production, but done on a subconscious level, making the appearance of passive production.  Just like our breathing… and that self-repair thing you mentioned.” She nods.  “Possibly. Though, it doesn’t seem to have a clue what magic is, so…” Blink.  “Huh. Strange.”