//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18: Jade 
// Story: Anemoia 
// by Starscribe 
//------------------------------//

Bit went with Keen up into "Revolution Square." But of all the old parts of the city, she'd never been inside the subway station, so she didn't know what had changed. The crystal dome ceiling looked intact, though she doubted the old one had so many red banners. Zircon's city colors had been silver and blue before, and she couldn't see those anywhere.

Just through the doors waited soldiers in black armor, the kind made of complex interlocking metal rings. All painted black, though the cloth underneath was deep red, with a single prominent black star. Keen stopped them at a low doorway near the front of the room, holding up a little pad of paper to the soldiers as they passed through.

They gave him only a nod of respect, but blocked the way for Bit. "Weapons?" a stallion barked, his voice flat. "Any blade longer than an inch, any contraband. You will be searched, so turn it over now."

"I have no weapons," she said, annoyed. "I brought nothing beside my reference tablet." She lifted it out from her robe, holding the shard of flattened crystal up in the air. "In case I got questions I couldn't answer." Or in case the Secretary of Labor wanted to see what happened to Pathfinder.

The soldier took it from her, turning the crystal slab over in a faint magical glow. After a few seconds he turned towards Keen. "Do we let her keep it?"

"Yes," he said. "This isn't a pony like any you've met before. From what I've studied about her, I don't think she's even capable of lying to us."

Could I? Bit considered the question, remaining frozen and still as they poked and prodded at her, running a wooden rod along the length of her body, then up under her belly. But their search discovered no hidden weapons. She wouldn't know how to use them even if she'd brought them.

Eventually the search concluded, and Keen levitated her tablet back to her. "You should be careful where you bring a device like this. Old tech like this is the property of the Revolutionary Guard. We'll get this certified for you before we leave."

Then we'll have to make sure the Revolutionary Guard never looks into my tower. Bit might not know what her purpose was anymore, beyond that little message the Wizard had left for her. But she wasn't going to let his tower get dismantled by these ponies.

They walked through an office building of sorts, with wooden dividers that didn't even go halfway to the oversized dome ceiling. But here in the center of the city, the Zircon filled the sky, keeping the building toasty warm. It would probably even be comfortable in the coldest depths of winter.

"What happens here?" she whispered, as they passed endless rows of clerks, secretaries, and vaguely-scholarly-looking ponies. Most wore the same red uniforms, though the markings on their collars were different. A few wore black, and those watched her most suspiciously. "There're so many ponies working..."

"Running the city," Keen answered. "Managing every industry, setting prices, seeing to the needs of every pony great and small. Monitoring our hostile neighbors to the south. Other things you can't be told for the safety of Zircon. Yet, anyway. A personal interview like this is exceptionally rare, Wizard. From what I know of the Secretary of Labor, he's very interested in the applications of old magic to rebuilding Zircon. Apply those skills effectively, and there may be a place for you in the party."

They came to the end of the expansive office space, where a short hallway led to a fine-grained wooden door. Unlike the rest of the building, this all looked original, though she doubted the old subway station had so many military posters and bright red propaganda.

A little desk rested in front of the door, with an elderly mare wearing the less common black uniform. She glanced at them through a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, squinting at Bit. "Secretary Ardor," she said, clicking her tongue disapprovingly as they approached. "I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

He shook his head. "The responsibility is my own. I did not adequately communicate the urgency of this meeting to our guest."

"Hmm." She scribbled something, then pressed the intercom button in front of her. There was no screen there, just a single glowing light and a simple microphone. "The wizard is here."

"Send her in," said the voice. A little higher than Bit expected, though still a stallion. There was little emotion in it, at least nothing she could read. "Alone. Keen can wait until we're finished."

"You heard him." The mare gestured at the door. It swung open, with another pair of blackclad soldiers stepping out from inside. These were the strangest ponies she'd seen yet, with helmets that covered their entire faces. How could they even see in those things? There was only a sliver of purple crystal, vertical between where the eyes should be. Mirrors, maybe? There was no time for questions. 

She was scarcely through the doors before they banged shut behind her—this time with the strange guards outside.

The office itself was massive, as big as the wizard's lab. The wall was covered with portraits, medals, even a few old photos. Bit walked as slowly as she dared, taking in as much of it as she could. Most photos came from battles within Zircon, fought long before these ponies had been born. Would Crimson be in any of them, one of the king's defenders slain? None she could see.

An oversized fireplace was built into the wall behind the desk. The flames of real burning wood flickered out from within, illuminating the space in shadowy light. 

A pony sat behind the desk, a unicorn with the powerful build of an earth pony. He wore a black uniform, with gold stitching instead of red. There were so many medals and patches that it didn't sit quite right on his shoulders. But if the stallion even noticed, he didn't seem to care. 

"You're the wizard I keep hearing about," he said, settling back in an oversized crystal chair. Not quite a throne, though the resemblance was almost there. But where the old king's throne was covered in gemstones, this was plain blue crystal, straight backed and uncomfortable. "Do you know who I am?"

"Not well," she admitted. She stopped just before the desk, pawing weakly at the floor. She didn’t know this pony, but she'd seen that expression many times. He might not be the king, but he thought he was. "I've been in that tower for lifetimes."

"Then let me introduce myself. I am Sombra Bolero, Secretary of Labor. I am the pony who stands between Zircon and starvation. And freezing, and invasion, and corruption from within. I am the only hope for the ponies of this city. Do you care about Zircon, Wizard?"

She nodded. It might've been a lie a few days ago. But now that the Wizard had given her a purpose... "I was created to be the first of my kind, to share what I am with all the crystal cities."

"Crystal City, unfortunately," Sombra said flatly. "Apatite was invaded by Equestria fifty years ago. When Topaz froze three years ago, it left only us. Zircon is alone in the north, now. The last of an empire crumbling beneath the ice."

"Then with Zircon," she said. Keen was right, this pony radiated strange magic. He must be quite the sorcerer, for her to feel it even with her weakened senses. "I'm sure that was what my master meant, anyway."

The stallion was silent a moment, skimming over a few printed sheets. Finally he tossed them onto the desk before him, expression hardening. "There are those who are content to use your abilities to serve Zircon. Secretary Ardor outside those doors, he thinks you can be trusted to restore the heat in the city. But he doesn't know who or what you are. I do."

Bit flipped back the hood of her robe, meeting his eyes. "I have been entirely honest with Secretary Ardor, and every other pony I have met. Propriety requires honesty."

Sombra rose from his desk in a flurry of motion and swirling cloth. He circled around her, body cast into shadow by the fireplace. "What do you want, Wizard? The others have no vision—they see an automaton of the old empire, and rejoice because of what you have accomplished. They never stopped to question why, or what you might do next. I order you to tell me: why did you restore the power to the capital relay station? Were you trying to bring the strategic nuclear reserve back online?"

Her eyebrows went up about as high as they could go. "I have no idea what that is, Secretary Bolero. I never served a military purpose, and King Zircon believed I was too vulnerable to subversion to entrust with any useful information. Prince Crimson occasionally told me things I wasn't supposed to know, but he didn't care about the military very much. I believe he may have actively hated them.”

Sombra looked her over with a stern, hostile gaze. There was something strange about those red eyes, something about the magic behind them she didn't quite like. It was in the horn too, almost like an infection. But those questions were thoroughly outside her expertise.

"Then answer the question, Wizard. What is your purpose for Zircon? What goal have you been working towards?"

Of all the creatures she wanted to tell, this one had probably plummeted faster to the bottom of the list than any other. But he was also the one she could least afford to refuse. Besides, he might still decide to help!

"At first I was restoring the capacity of the tower, so that my master would return. But I am beginning to suspect he never intended to come back, or else knew he would be prevented for some reason." 

Bit looked up into those strange eyes, and knew there was something wrong. But who else could she tell? Who else had the power to help her? "I was created to be the first pony of a new race of creatures. A race that does not sicken, or freeze, or age. There is a treatment that can be used to... uplift other tribes of ponies, to become what I am. My master wished for this treatment to be available to all creatures in Zircon, so I have inherited his goal."

Sombra didn't react the way so many others had—objecting that her claims were obviously impossible, that she was crazy, or must have some motive that only made sense to other ponies.

Instead, he nodded. "I'm aware of the research. You're not direct evidence of its success, however. You were a branch towards necromancy, one that is not particularly useful with the population of an entire city."

He circled past her, to a hard crystal window. Like all such windows, it was actually two layers, with a void in-between to keep out the cold. It showed a view of the marketplace outside, thronging with shivering ponies. "I do not know how Prince Zircon managed to capture one soul. Even I could not do it with so many, even if I did wish to animate a city of remnants."

His words no longer entirely made sense to her. Sombra clearly knew magic well, though he had mixed the true science of it with the superstition practiced in Equestria. Where did he come from, anyway? But pointing that out was not going to get his help.

"The treatment is different for living ponies. I used it recently on a pony who was dying—one who had no other chance for survival."

She settled the tablet onto the table in front of him, then summoned a few photos. Of Pathfinder, dying. Then the crystal cocoon, and finally the finished result. "Those strange growths are not normal—they're the result of necrosis caused by the radiation poisoning. I'm removing them now. When the process is complete, Pathfinder will be the second crystal pony, the first created from a living subject."

Sombra took the tablet in his magic, and seemed to know exactly how it worked. He flipped through the photos for a few seconds, inspecting them carefully. "When will he be ready? I desire to meet this pony."

"Two days," she said. It was technically true, even if it erred on the side of caution. "I don't know what his mental state will be after two days of polishing, though. You may want to give him more time."

The unicorn set her tablet back down, then relaxed into his chair. "No, his mental state is precisely what I wish to investigate. You may go, Wizard. Not with my blessing, but my interest. We will speak again. Soon."