Sisters of Willowbrook

by Starscribe


Chapter 42: Mirrored Over

Lilac Empathy had the finest quarters a pony could have, the kind of luxury usually reserved for the captain and their senior staff. It meant her own bedroom, with a private bathroom, and access to the ship's “smoking room.” Not that she had ever seen anypony in there actually smoking. Or anywhere else in Equestria, for that matter.

They were good quarters, in the kind of place that she might've dreamed about exploring under other circumstances. She didn't just get to see one town in another universe, now she would get to fly over a whole continent. 

Lilac had a hard time feeling any joy as she stared out the window, watching Willowbrook fade into the distance. She touched one hoof up to the glass, wishing there was something, anything she could do. But there was no arguing with Iris's logic, even if she hated the conclusion she came to. 

Equestria had sent someone to hunt for Willowbrook's anomalous magic. Lilac had been so stained by that magic that it ripped out a piece of her soul. If souls could bleed, her sheets would be damp when she slept each night. 

Iris had made it clear this was no vacation for her. Captain Aurum had been explicitly instructed to refuse her access to any book of thaumaturgic theory or spellcasting. The unicorn looked baffled by the command, but swore to it, nevertheless.

If only she knew she had been about to be banished for a month, she could've given herself a nice reading list to make the time productive.

She circled around the empty room, turning out the drawers in the fine desk, even the bathroom. They couldn't leave her in a prison cell, could they? They needed to give her something.

She found a stack of fine parchment along with a quill and ink. That was all too much trouble for a regular pony to be bothered. But these quarters were meant for a far finer creature than herself.

She had to carry them all to the desk in her mouth, then move over a few cushions to fit. Finally she found a perch, and started scribbling. The letter was not in an Equestrian language, which meant it would take far more time and deliberation to write. As far as she knew, that would also make it entirely impervious to deciphering. 

Even Iris got extremely uncomfortable at any mention of Lilac's past life these days. That initial curiosity had long since died, as soon as the cultists realized the place they came from didn't worship the “True Gods” in an endless ecstasy of blind adulation. So her first language was safe. 

It wasn't just harder to write, it was also easier to cause pain for herself while she wrote. There were far more “trigger words” that provoked the geas upon her mind. 

"Dear Charlie,

“I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye. I wanted to tell you when I left, but Iris wouldn't—"

She stopped dead, staring down at the page. She mouthed the word, expecting the knife in the back of her brain. With each second, she tensed up a little more. Nothing happened. No migraine, not even a sympathetic throb of strained blood-vessels. "Charlie," she said out loud.

The room reacted. Wood creaked and groaned, and for a second it felt to Lilac as though the walls themselves were curving in on her. They pressed down close, like they would swallow her—but they didn't.

She settled back against the cushion, baffled. There was another word she wanted to say, the one she had longed to take back for years now. She could not remember it. But the rest was still there.

Lilac considered what to do next, before scratching out the word “Charlie” on the page, and covering it with a scribbled replacement. It would look silly to her friend, but they also didn't communicate with notes much. Maybe she wouldn't realize.

"I'm on an airship now. Captain Aurum seems like a nice pony. He's loyal to my family, and so he gave me some of the nicest quarters to live in. He says he'll give me stamps at any port we visit where I can send letters back to you. I won't make them long, that would just waste your time. But this is the furthest any of us have gone into Equestria, so we might learn something cool.

"We don't even know how big it is compared to Earth. I've thought for a long time that there are fewer settlements here, with far fewer people. Some of that could be interesting, and maybe explain the difference in technology." She hesitated at the word “semiconductor,” and thought it was probably not one she should try to get away with. "It takes a lot of ponies working together to create advanced stuff. If there are fewer of them here, they would need a substitute. Maybe even a magical one?

"I don't know if anypony will tell you, or if it will matter by the time you receive this. In case they don't, Equestria is sending a team to hunt for us. Iris tells me that if they discover what we are, they will kill us. The princess is terrified of what we are, and the ways we could change Equestria. I believe my mom.

"Burn after reading. I will write again as soon as I know more. I don't know how long I will be gone. Maybe a month, maybe a year. Captain Aurum says that a lot of that depends on weather conditions over the ocean. We have a long route leaving Equestria, can you imagine that? There's a whole country with no one living there but dragons. There are some even stranger things out there too, if you go far enough. But I'm sure the Magna Vale won't be going anywhere dangerous. We're just a merchant ship, and Iris said it's the safest one.

"You stay safe too, and don't give up. I know how scary that was, but it will be better next time. I won't try again until I know what happened and I'm sure we can stop it.

“Love,

“Lilac Empathy"

She turned over a few other ideas for extra notes to include, but ultimately rejected them. The first port, Canterlot, was coming up soon. Better to include less detail in the first message, in case the investigation was still going on when Firefly got her letter.

She tucked the coded message away into the drawer, capped the little vial of ink, then hopped down out of the chair. Guess I live here now. Where should I start? 

She turned back to the bed, where a single heavy bag rested. It was weighed down heavily with books, though sadly none of them would be terribly interesting to her. She flipped open the flap with one hoof, just in case Iris had given her something useful.

It was just her schoolbooks. Her unusual position at Whispering Willow did mean she had a few magical history texts. But as far as ponies knew, she couldn't cast any spells of her own, so there was nothing practical here.

There was also nothing to wear. None of her journals or the scientific instruments she had collected over the years. Nothing at all in fact, but a single acorn she had smuggled out with her. She lifted it up, tucking it reverently away behind her ear. If she wanted to get any magic done over the next few weeks and months, Lilac needed to get it sprouted.

She drew the curtains open, letting sunlight stream onto the desk. That was plenty of light for something to grow, particularly with an earth pony tending it. She just needed some soil.

Lilac emerged from her quarters a few seconds later, hurrying down the hall. It was quite narrow, with rooms on either side and airlock-style doors. Despite the limited space, ponies never used ladders, but tight spiral staircases instead. The perils of not having hands. She kept her head down, making her way towards one of these. She needed to find the quartermaster, then maybe.

"Young miss," said a sharp voice, sharp enough to stop her in her tracks. Firefly looked up, and found a lean pony facing her down. 

She wore a simple white bow, along with a pair of horned spectacles and a bookbag of her own. Her expression could cut flesh. "I wondered when you might finish faffing about within your quarters. If you're ready, there is much for us to do."

Lilac turned slowly to face the stranger, ears and tail tucking. The pony wasn't wearing the family colors or a uniform, which meant she wasn't crew. "Are you one of the passengers?" Lilac asked politely. "I think you must be lost. This deck is for the crew."

The unicorn only grew sharper. Her horn pulsed briefly to life, then dark again. Whether that was a deliberate threat, or just the way she managed her emotions, Lilac didn't know. 

"Nothing of the sort, young Miss Vale." She extended one polite hoof towards her, shaking Lilac's so briefly that she hardly even felt it. "My name is Keen Focus. I have been hired as your governess and supervisor for the duration of this voyage. Your father could not abide the thought of the progress you might lose during this trip."

My father? Amaranth, the harsh unicorn pony who wanted nothing to do with Lilac. She still understood the unicorn little, and did her best to avoid him whenever she could. Most of the time he was detached from affairs in Vale Manor, leaving Iris to run everything. But then he'd go and do something like this.

"I don't think I need..."

She felt a sharp, painful smack along her flank. It stung only for an instant before fading again—the strength of earth gave her resistance to insignificant injuries. It wasn't painless, even if there was no lasting harm. "This is not a question of what you think, filly. Your father's instructions were quite explicit, and included no room for you to decide otherwise." 

She glanced past her, at the open doorway Lilac had left. "I see you left woefully unprepared, as well. This is the fearful attitude he impressed on me before I boarded this vessel." She strode right past Lilac, through the open doorway. Several suitcases floated through the air behind her, each in a perfect row.

Controlling so many objects at once marked her as a unicorn beyond the average in capacity and discipline. From what Lilac saw at school, most never had that much willpower. It meant she couldn't underestimate this mare.

She levitated two cases onto her bed, then they unzipped.

There were dresses inside. Skirts, bathing suits, bows and jewelry. She recognized all of it—all this hung in her closet, the clothing Iris had once pressured her to wear. But the mare had long since seen Lilac's potential, and gave up trying to force her.

There were no trousers or jackets. Nothing without lace and hearts and bright colors. "There we are. With Amaranth's permission, I've included a particular item in all this, the same I use for each of the young mares I train." 

She levitated a single dress out from within, one of slightly off white with a simple cut and plain pattern of black lines. Like all Equestrian clothes, it did nothing for modesty. Wearing clothes like this was playing dress up, submitting to the world she had been trapped in. 

"You will put this on, Lilac Empathy. Then we will begin your lessons."

Lilac faced her in the room, ears pivoting backward. She wanted to smack this horse right in the face, shove her out the door, and lock it again. But this was exactly the kind of thing Amaranth would do. That stallion wanted her to give him an excuse. Question his authority enough, and he could disown her. Where would she be without House Vale's protection?

She whimpered, then finally dragged her way over to the dress, and put it on.

Lilac's trip just got a lot longer.