Starlight trotted once again through the ruby halls of Garsheeva's crystal palace, her friends at her sides. Valey held the cobbled-together system that was Nyala, and Shinespark and Maple stepped along behind them, the only others Garsheeva had invited to return.
"There haven't been power issues since we were here last?" Shinespark asked, using her telekinesis to lift some of her mane out of her eyes.
Starlight idly noted that Shinespark's horn worked down here. When she had first explored the Ironridge palace, there had been an aura about the place that prevented any magic from being cast, like a breeze snuffing a candle. Then magic had worked for just her, and soon after, for everyone that went down with her. Maybe whatever had been done to allow magic in Ironridge had been already done here long ago.
"The generator's worsening has ceased," Garsheeva replied, leading the way through a room that had to be near the tree, yet wasn't quite at it. Metal frames braced into the crystal held rack upon rack of humming technology, Shinespark's eyes following them with intense curiosity. "The Empire's power is stable, for now. It is no longer being taxed at one hundred percent. Time will tell how the technology repairs itself, but it is stable enough I can attempt to save all of your sister's memories."
"So, the stuff you said you needed to do that..." Valey's eyes flicked around the room as well. "It's in here?"
"Yes," Garsheeva said. "Be prepared."
Nyala's camera swiveled, her wings and all other peripherals detached and left behind, turning to regard the lethargic, insectoid body that Maple carried on her back. "Hard to believe that's me," she murmured. "Hard to believe I'll be able to feel sensations again soon."
Valey glanced at the body as well, carrying Nyala carefully. "What did you guys wind up doing with old Navarre, anyway? Meltdown kinda just showed up and offered to take him off our hooves."
"He has passed on," Garsheeva replied. "His soul is anchored only to his brand, as is true of all sarosians and a select few others as well, and his brand is adrift in the sea of energy that sustains me. I could call him back, if you wished it, but why? His original body perished years ago. While his soul endured, the method by which it was separated was extremely violent. Emotional injuries and wounds to the soul are one and the same, and he did himself a grievous harm. Release is, for him as for all heretics I consume, a mercy I see fit to give."
Nyala's camera moved again, focusing on Garsheeva. "As long as it wasn't too painful. I spent a while getting to know him, since I don't need to sleep and make a good guard."
"Soon enough you will be able to feel and judge that for yourself," Garsheeva answered, rounding a final corner. "We are here."
A black stone dais sat in the corner of the curved room, a dusk statue presiding over it. But this statue was different from the others: it stood, wings stretched, and was smaller than all the alicorns that sat and looked down on their subjects. Only a head taller than Maple and Shinespark, its hooves were level with the ground, its usual pedestal built into the side of the dais. This close, Starlight could see a greater level of detail carved into its face, which looked to be incredibly sad.
Garsheeva moved to the side, revealing the ruby crescent set into the statue's choker. Starlight suddenly realized it was the same kind of ruby that made up the crystal palace's walls. "Where is this?"
"One of the first dusk statues," Garsheeva rumbled. "Constructed differently to the others. We need it for the memory transference. Now... are you ready?"
Valey gulped, holding out Nyala's board. "How's this going to work, again?"
Garsheeva snapped her claws, and Nyala floated into her grasp. "Put the body at the center of the dais," she instructed, turning to Valey. "Ponies are receptive to thoughts and emotions on a magical, metaphysical level. It is through this affinity that you manifest brands, experience dreams, and exist as harmonic life forms. Princess Luna studied this affinity and used it as a blueprint for creating the daydream network and sarosiankind, which exist as two sides of the same coin. The statues merely act as range boosters to extend the network over a wide area. Because they are made of emotional energy, brands can be moved along the network, taken from or given to anyone connected with sufficient force... while carrying their attached souls with them. Though I am considerably weakened by that fool in Izvaldi..." Her face briefly stretched in a snarl. "I still possess more than enough strength to devour obsidian and add the brands contained within to those that I control."
Valey eyed the black stone set into the magical socket on Nyala's circuit board.
"As for her memories, those are more complicated to explain, and I feel like getting this done with." Garsheeva nodded as Maple left Nyala's body in the center, the insectoid pony sinking to the ground. "Now..."
Garsheeva's cutie mark blazed with sapphire light, the gem in the statue's choker answering with a ruby surge of its own. She held Nyala up in two paws, the board seeming to vibrate and turn red as well in her grasp. Shinespark made to start forward as Nyala was engulfed in a magmatic glow, but Valey snapped out a wing, holding her ground with a tight grimace.
Crackling static and then a snap echoed from Nyala's speakers, all that remained of her voice. Then, with a seamless motion, the glow of red disappeared from her board, floating into the choker as whatever mechanism held the moon glass in place gave out. The board fell to the ground, lifeless and looking faintly melted, and the moon glass core hovered above Nyala's body, Garsheeva standing over both. The sphinx's jaws spread wide, two lines of sawblade teeth...
Crunch.
With a black tinkling of tiny shards against the floor, the moon glass was gone.
For a few seconds, Garsheeva looked contemplative... and then Nyala's body ignited in a wreath of emerald flame. The fire barely lasted for a heartbeat. When it was gone, a batpony lay where the body had been, her short-cut mane a gentle crimson pink and her coat a much lighter gray than Valey's. She opened two ice-blue eyes. "Unnnh..."
Before she could move any further, the statue flared again with a red glow. Nyala's cutie mark almost seemed to hover above her flank, and her body froze and spasmed as a cloud of red, sparkling mist congealed between her marks and her flanks. Slowly, the lights died down and her cutie mark settled back into place on either side of her, letting her body slump back to the ground.
"Nyala!" Valey called out, voice almost cracking.
"O-Ohhh..." Nyala stirred again, flicking an ear. "I feel... Valey...?"
Garsheeva stepped back, motioning that others could approach.
"Yo! Nyala!" Valey cleared the distance with a single leap. "It's... Bananas, it's you..." She lifted the other mare's head with a wing. "You're fully back?"
"It's funny to see you all grown up," Nyala managed, putting on a shaky smile. "You're the older one now, aren't you?"
"Bananas...!" Valey buried her face in Nyala's shoulder. "Are you okay?"
Nyala swallowed. "No. I have a splitting headache, my stomach hurts, I'm too hot and I can't feel my legs or wings. But until just now, I didn't remember experiencing any of this..."
"You're hungry," Garsheeva interrupted. "And dehydrated, and possibly atrophied if that body has been shackled for some time. And your mind will take time to integrate the memories I forcibly added."
"Doesn't matter," Nyala murmured. "Can we go home so I can eat and lie down?"
"Yeah we can." Valey grinned. "Bananas, let's get out of this place and get on with living."
Garsheeva flicked her claws. "You're happy with your wish, then?"
"Yep. Consider it fulfilled." In one smooth motion, Valey hoisted her sister on her back, wrapping her wings around her to steady her. "See ya, top cat."