Beneath the streets of Zhalast-Zin, the remains of a long past war raged.
Princess Luna was quite sure that the creatures attacking her and Corona had been spiders at one time in their existence. But now, they resembled more of a warped parody of arachnids, rather than any creature that should have naturally walked upon the world.
Their bodies had been swelled to the size of an average pony, the chitin of their exoskeletons a lurid purple flowing into a deep red on the underbelly. Where the eight eyes would be on a normal spider, there were now three, set above a fanged maw, flanked by two sharp tusk like protrusions. Even the pedipalps had been altered, now tipped with slicing claws.
They scuttled from the darkness of the high vaulted ceiling, climbing down the walls, down the webs, throwing themselves at both alicorns. And for their part, the sisters responded with equal fury.
Corona’s fiery mane crackled and hissed, spreading wider and fuller as she tapped into her wellspring, her face a dismissive mask. Volley after volley of flaming spheres were thrown back into the ranks of the spider creatures, only for more to scuttle over the burning bodies of their fellows.
Luna was calmer, but no less focused. A collection of razor sharp crescents, forged from moonlight, buzzed around her like angry wasps. She flung them in wide arcs, spearing whole groups of spiders with each flick of her telekinesis.
On their own, the spider creatures would have been easy to deal with.
“You’re not dead yet?”
But they weren’t the only things they had to deal with. The programmed image of the ancient saurian hadn’t gone away with the activation of his glyph and, much to the annoyance of Corona and Luna, he had not stopped talking.
“Well, I still have plenty more spells in my sequencer. Let us see what we can scare up, yes?”
“I would pay a king's ransom for him to shut his cursed mouth.” Corona growled.
“Agreed.”
“Ah ha!” The illusion perked up. “I could use some new statues!”
Twin beams of green tinted magic lashed out, striking the sisters full on. The coldness of metal began to creep through the tips of their wings, the transmutation spells going to work; silver for Luna and gold for Corona. But with a roll of her eyes and a surge of magic, Luna fell apart into starry mist, the creeping enchantment falling apart with no target to act upon.
Reforming on the other side of the rectangular chamber, the spider creatures struck, spitting a veritable avalanche of webs over the lunar princess. Luna reeled back, the silky strands becoming caught up in her coat, a light sensation of numbness beginning to sink into her skin.
Poison! She realized with a start.
She quickly shifted her magic, coiling it through her body and dismissing the toxins with thought.
“AH HA!”
The green tinged light of the rune marked tile flared again. In the next breath, the searing pain of a lightning bolt forking its way through her body lit up every nerve. Swearing under her breath, Luna swung her magic back around, spreading a wide arcane shield before her body.
But then there was a sudden surge of weight upon her back, a group of the monsters tearing and slashing at her with their claws. Luna ignored their efforts, instead focusing on the illusion that seemed to be thinking about what to do next.
It was obvious to Luna, now that she had a moment to observe it, that the illusion was more akin to a projected image enchantment. Acting like the actual Lord Kerzog, it was capable of thinking and planning to a limited extent.
And its plan seemed to be to try and overwhelm the pair. To throw enough smaller spells and creatures their way to split their attention, and slip something more debilitating through. It seemed the other alicorn had reached the same conclusion, as Corona shouted a warning, “Sister! Prepare thyself!”
Luna blinked, the temperature in the room suddenly spiking. As the tongues of flame began to lick along the walls, she pulled her arcane shield fully around her body, shaping it into capsule to survive what she knew was coming next.
The room was suddenly the blazing inferno of the sun’s interior. Every inch of space was filled with flames, the shrieks of the spider creatures spiking and then falling silent. Even some of the stone and tiles in the room broke, the staccato cracks and explosions echoing through the room like cannon fire. But as quickly as the fire had been summoned, it faded away, leaving the room charred and blackened by the heat.
Not to mention the large piles of charcoal that had once been the spider monsters.
Casually glancing towards where the illusion had been, Luna smiled at the jagged crack down the middle of the tile. All in all, it had been an effective use of spell power by her sister.
“Luna...I seem to have found something else.”
At the far end of the room, part of the wall had crumbled away, the secret door having been destroyed by Corona’s explosive power. The dark corridor beyond sloped downwards, heading even deeper into the earth.
“Just how large is this complex?” Luna blinked, walking to the edge of the doorway.
“Who knows.” Corona shrugged. “The Watcher admitted to us that he had no idea half of what was going on in this city by the end.”
They exchanged a weary look, before trotting deeper into the depths of the catacombs.
- - - -
“Where is she!” Lyra shouted in frustration.
It seemed that by the time she had gotten across the city, that Bon Bon and that zebra had moved on. She briefly considered turning about and going back to The Watcher to have him pinpoint their location again, but there would be no guarantee that they wouldn’t have moved on again when she got back here.
“Alright, think.” She muttered, logically working through the steps. “She looked like a scholar. Bons and I obviously look out of place here, and we’re with Princess Luna. That probably grabbed her attention and she’d want to know more about what’s going on. Which would mean finding a convenient place to talk.”
A few of the passing uintatherium gave her odd looks over her conversation with herself, which Lyra promptly ignored.
“Discussion over food.”
It made sense to her.
Turning her attention back to her surroundings, Lyra scanned each of the nearby buildings, looking for hints of what they were. Most of them appeared to be homes, save for one towards the end of the block. The collection of large stone tables and chairs sitting outside the door said “cafe” to her.
Not hesitating, she tore off again, closing the distance of the street in a few minutes. Thankfully, spying a pony and a zebra among the forest of gray was pretty easy, but what she saw made her eyes bug out.
Bon Bon was leaning forward, holding one of the zebra’s hooves in both of her own, her eyes half closed as she muttered sweet nothings to the striped mare. A happy laugh escaped said mare’s muzzle, an embarrassed flush peeking through her coat.
Lyra rushed to the side of the table, her nostrils flaring, a surge of anger temporarily overwhelming her common sense.
“Bons! What are you doing?”
The earth pony flashed a nervous grin, sinking into her seat. “I...well. It really, really isn’t what it looks like.”
“What is it then?” She glared, her coat bristling. “Cause it looks like you were proposing to her or something!”
“Umm...actually.” The zebra spoke up. “She was telling me the story of your first date.” She nervously waved at Lyra. “Hi, by the way, I’m Asyana.”
Lyra blinked, the memories coming back to her. She had knelt down, taken Bon Bon’s hoof in hers and proposed that they go get some hayfries in the same manner she might ask for a pony’s hoof in marriage.
“Oh.” She sunk to her haunches, the burning sting of embarrassment coursing through her body. “So..uhh...the floor can swallow me up anytime now.”
Asyana chuckled, extending her hoof.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Lyra. Bon Bon’s been saying good things about you.”
“Really?”
“Don’t get me wrong.” Bon Bon frowned. “I still think we shouldn’t be sticking around, considering Corona.”
“Bons….”
“But I don’t hate you or anything.” She sighed. “You’re just not thinking straight.”
Lyra bristled at the accusation. “That’s not fair Bon Bon! You keep expecting me to just...walk away from all of this! Do you really think that Trixie and the rest of us weren’t going to clash with Corona at some point?”
Bon Bon flinched, her ears flicking back, but she pushed on all the same. “But the rest of them aren’t here. It’s just the two of us.”
“And Luna.”
“Who is so much more powerful than you! If she can’t stop Corona, what chance do you have?”
“And pointing out that she isn’t the same mare who kidnapped you?”
Bon Bon snorted, picking up a mug of some drink in her hooves. “Oh, well, if that’s the case.”
Asyana nervously shuffled in her seat. “Look...this might not be my place, to speak up. I’m not Equestrian. The sun...well, it isn’t something we zebra really fear. But isn’t this kind of thing what the Element Bearers do?”
“But that’s the thing.” Bon Bon sighed. “Ever since Lyra became one, I can’t shake the fear that one day, she’s going to go off on one of these adventures and never come back.” She squeezed her eyes closed and sighed even deeper. “That it’ll be Princess Luna standing at my door with a hung head and the news that you’re...gone. And this...this feels like such an extra, unnecessary risk.”
Smiling sadly, Lyra took her marefriend’s hoof in her own. “Bons. I have this element because I couldn’t let Corona just take you. And I can’t just let Equestria down or Luna down. But I can promise you this.” She slowly, carefully lifted Bon Bon’s foreleg, planting a soft kiss upon her cannon. “I would align the stars to always come back to you.”
Bon Bon bit her lip. “But, what about Corona? I mean, you can’t expect me to just go with this.”
“Miss Bon Bon.” Asyana spoke up. “No offense, but...well….” She took a deep breath. “WhatifitwasLyra!” The words came tumbling out, Asyana trying to get it all out before she lost her nerve.
Bon Bon blinked. “What?”
“Well...think about it. What if Lyra had gone all evil or something. Would you be so quick to write her off?”
“It’s not the same though!”
“Why?” Asyana pressed.
“Because! She’s my Lyra!”
“And Corona...Celestia is Luna’s sister.” Lyra frowned.
Bon Bon squeezed her eyes closed. “I can’t forgive her. Not now. But….” She slowly nodded. “I trust you. Just please...be careful.”
“Hey, it’s me.” Lyra grinned.
“Naked bear.” Bon Bon smirked, taking another sip of her drink.
Asyana looked from Bon Bon to Lyra and back again, an eyebrow arched in disbelief.
“Okay. I’m not letting that comment pass without question. Can I get an explanation?”
“Right…” Lyra smirked bemusedly. “The whole thing began when I our friend Trixie asked for help with testing some zebra magic….”
- - - -
The light from Celestia’s horn filled the dusty stone corridor, the sisters continuing their their trek deeper into the catacombs. Celestia frowned, continuing her own mental count of how long they had been walking. The corridor was long and almost annoyingly straight, seemingly going onwards and onwards like an unending tunnel of boredom. They walked in silence, each locked in their own thoughts.
Celestia just wanted her sister to step aside. To allow her to do what was necessary to protect Equestria from threats like, well, the saurians for example. Since it seemed that the damned beings had left a whole army of monstrosities behind. What if some were, even now, slumbering beneath the cities and hamlets of Equestria? Ready to threaten ponies. Her ponies! And Luna wanted her to just...put trust in going back to the way things were.
As she pondered how she could go about dissuading her sister from continuing opposing her, a stab of irony struck her that no doubt Luna would likely be thinking the same. She would laugh at the absurdity of it all, were it not such a tragic irony.
Sparing a glance towards her sibling, Celestia could almost see Luna’s thoughts playing out in her head. Most likely, she was trying to work out some way to talk her down, to use the fact she had given Celestia the control of the sun back as leverage.
There was a stab of frustration that cut through her at that but at the same time her logical mind couldn’t fault her if she tried that angle. After a thousand years of anger and conflict, that gesture had become their sole recent connection.
No! She will understand. They’ll all understand and soon.
So lost in their thoughts that they were, they didn’t notice only snapped out of it as Celestia’s light spilled into a new spell laboratory.
- - - -
Asyana was locked in a giggle fit that didn’t seem like it would be ending anytime soon.
“They really-” She managed to get out between giggles.
“Yup.” Lyra nodded.
“Unbelievable.” Asyana chuckled. “I can’t believe that you were actually turned into a hominin! They’re nothing but legends anymore.” She smirked, looking wistfully out the doors. “I was actually hoping to find them here. Ritter was pretty tight lipped on what we’d actually find once we hit the valley.”
“I do have to ask, why are you working with Doctor Ritter?” Lyra inquired with a wave of her hoof. “You seem so nice, and he seems so…insane?”
Asyana frowned, tapping her hooves together. “Well...he’s been under a lot of stress as of late. So many of his colleagues called him mad for saying this place existed.”
“But you look like the only one who’s taking this seriously.” Bon Bon frowned. “Your boss walked up to the Tyrant Sun herself and presented her with a legal document. That’s not something a sane pony does.”
“Look...this is going to work.” Asyana insisted. “The existence of this place is nothing short of amazing! It’s going to prove that Doctor Ritter and I are right about a lost, ancient civilization and the world will get a little bit smaller.”
Lyra and Bon Bon blinked.
“Not literally.” Asyana quickly amended. “It’s more…”
She paused, biting her lip as she contemplated what to say.
“In my life.” She eventually answered. “I’ve always wondered what was over the horizon. The fact that our countries might as well be the moon to each other has never sat well with me. That’s why I travel, that’s why I explore. I just want to...close those distances.”
“Seems like you’re a hopeless romantic in your own way.” Lyra smirked back.
“I suppose I am. But I trust Ritter.”
“How did he find this place anyway?” Lyra asked. She waved a hoof at their surroundings to emphasise her question. “We only wound up here by accident.”
“Oh, well, it all started with this green stone orb he bought from a noble of your land. A…” She paused, face scrunched up in thought for a moment, “Vicereine Puissance, I believe. And- what?”
Lyra and Bon Bon’s jaws had dropped open, the two ponies staring at her in a blind shock.
“What’s wrong? What did I say?” Asyana blinked. “Did I say her name wrong?”
“Vicereine Puissance...you’re sure that’s the exact name he used.” Lyra asked.
“Yes! That’s the exact name he used! What’s wrong?”
“Puissance is a collector and a control freak.” Lyra frowned. “The only way I can possibly see her giving something up something from her collection would be if Ritter could give her something of greater rarity, value and age in return.”
“And if he had something like that to give, why would he need to get the orb and go on this expedition in the first place.” Bon Bon pointed out. “That would be enough to make his academic career, I’d think.”
Asyana was suddenly looking very nervous. “But why would he lie about having acquired it from Puissance?”
“Maybe he stole it?” Lyra proposed, rubbing her chin.
“Or he got it from someplace else entirely and Puissance was a story that would hang together enough for somepony not really familiar with Equestrian politics.” Bon Bon proposed.
“Maybe we need to talk to The Watcher.” Lyra suggested, already pushing herself to her hooves. “He’s already suspicious. Maybe if you describe the orb to him, he might be able to tell us what it is or where it came from.”
“Wait…” Asyana blinked. “Who’s The Watcher?”
“Seriously?” Lyra blinked. “Ritter really hasn’t told you much, has he?”
Asyana’s cheeks turned red through her fur. “That’s not…. Just who is he!”
“The de-facto ruler of this city.” Lyra smiled. “And a creature that you’ve never seen before.”
Despite the uncertainty still evident in the young zebra, that line got a reaction, her ears perking up. “Alright.” She nodded. “Let’s go see your mysterious Watcher.”
- - - -
While the other lab had been large, or at the very least tall, Luna couldn’t help but be impressed with the size of the one they now found themselves in. In truth, it reminded her of one of Duke Fisher’s Stalliongrad factories, done via magic and much, much older.
The remains of rusty scaffolding dominated the center of the room, strung up around the half crumbled remains of a construct. Stepping closer, the nature of the damage became more apparent to the alicorn sisters. The center of the golem had ruptured outwards, as if some manner of explosion had started within its core. Corona tilted her head forward, sweeping her light towards the left side of the room.
The retreating shadows swept away from even more shattered creations, each one progressively more damaged than the last, till the remains that were at the end of the line were just a pile of shattered stone.
“They were refining the process.” Luna blinked. “Just how many of these did they build?”
“Enough, obviously.” Corona frowned, swinging her light to the right side of the room.
The darkness parted, revealing a large and intricate...contraption, for the lack of a better term. Two large stone platforms stood side by side, each wide enough for Luna and Corona to stand on, and standing four inches tall. Their sides were shod in gold and silver bands, etched with saurian writing. The bands of metal were carried over into the wall, forming a connection between the two stone slabs.
Upon the left platform, a jumbled skeleton rested, a crest of gold and jewels standing out from the pale bone. A collection of green stone spheres were scattered about the floor, their surfaces marked with a criss cross pattern of silver engraving, most of them damaged like the constructs.
“Lord Kerzog.” Luna blinked. “I suppose this was where he spent his final moments….”
Corona plucked one of the orbs from the floor, closely examining it. “I wonder what these are.”
“Power sources? Magical storage? Those would be the most logical things.” Luna pointed out, picking one up herself. “Though I doubt that we’ll find anymore details.”
Corona snorted, but didn’t argue the point. Detecting fleeting traces of magic as they escaped broken magic items was tricky enough in the immediate aftermath. After over a thousand years of time, any traces would be long, long gone.
“I would think a storage device of some kind.” She ventured, trotting over to the right pad and gently setting the sphere within the divot. “With this apparatus one could conceivably quickly store spellpower.”
“Except that the golem itself seemed to be able to store magic. Why create something that can store spells, and stick it into something else that can store spells?”
Corona traced a circle on the floor with a hoof, considering that. “It stores something else then?”
“But what?”
- - - -
Lyra, Bon Bon and Asyana strolled into The Watcher’s throne room, Asyana looking around with a wide eyed energy. She was almost bouncing on her hooves as they approached the pillar in which The Watcher slept.
Before they could progress much further into the room however, The Watcher burst forth from the carved obsidian. With three great bounds, he closed the distance, landing before Asyana and standing to his full height.
Asyana recoiled, her ears pulling flat, and Lyra couldn’t blame her. The Watcher’s eyes were hard, the light heartedness gone.
“What did it look like?”
Asyana yelped, scuttling backwards as he loomed over her. “W-what?”
“The orb!” The Watcher snapped. “The orb that Ritter has, what does it look like?!”
“H-how do you?”
“Oh, for crying out loud.” He groaned. “What about the name ‘The Watcher’ do you creatures not get? I see all! Except for things around your boss and the underground chambers of this city! Which probably means they’re connected somehow and that’s a very bad thing miss Asyana! So! If you please, can you tell me what the orb looked like!”
“U-umm...green stone...about the size of a hoofball.” She stammered. “Covered with silvery etchings, in kind of a twisting, criss-cross pattern.”
“We need to find Ritter. Now.”
“Watcher.” Lyra frowned. “You know what that thing is?”
“Kerzog showed me the designs.” He grit his teeth. “I didn’t think he ever got them out of the prototype stage.”
“But what is it?”
“He called it, the mind trap.”
- - - -
“Faster! Work faster you ignorant louts! Schnell!” Ritter bellowed. “We’re running out of time! The labs won’t hold the alicorns for long!”
The chorus of picks picked up the pace, hammering out a discordant cacophony. All of Grima’s stallions were at work now, tearing into ancient stone and masonry like their lives depended on it which, with the presence of Corona, just might be the truth.
My wards are still in place. The carved sphere whispered in Ritter’s ear. But the average gallop speed of an alicorn can approach supersonic speeds! We need to get through that wall, now!
“Grima! Bring up the powder.”
The zebra gave him a wary glance.
“Are you sure...the noise….”
“Just do it!”
Three small casks of powder, acquired at great expense were rolled forward. Stuffed with volatile black powder, they brimmed with explosive potential. Unfortunately, as much as he wanted one, Ritter had been unable to get his hooves on an Equestrian naval cannon. The powder itself would have to do.
The receptacles were wedged into the hole that had been gouged into the wall, Grima himself quickly running a wick from each one to the far side of the room. Smirking to himself, Ritter carefully removed a match from his shirt pocket.
“Gentlestallions. Beyond this wall lies our future.”
He let the match drop.
The fuses snapped and crackled, the flame whipping across the room while the expedition scrambled for cover. The sparks hit the barrels, and they detonated with an ear ringing crack.
- - - -
The Watcher, Lyra, Bon Bon and Asyana’s heads snapped towards the sound of the explosion that rose from the depths of the pyramid.
“That can’t be good.” Bon Bon frowned.
- - - -
Corona and Luna’s ears twitched at the distant rumble, the pair exchanging a glance before tearing off back through the catacombs.
- - - -
Ritter bolted through the hole, his hired muscle swarming in behind him. A chorus of gasps escaped the lips of some of the workers at the massive golem that rose before them. Their tunnel had lead them right under The Watcher’s snout. Ritter ignored the shocked zebra, clambering up onto the massive square snout of the stone beast.
“Grima! The orb!”
Nodding, the zebra boss picked it up from its resting place pitching it underhoofed across the room. Catching it, Ritter looked to the appropriately shaped divot that was carved into the center of the head.
Gently lowering it into place, green sparks of magic began to flick back and forth from the sphere to the golem, growing in intensity as the two surfaces drew close to each other. And then, they touched, a flash of light rippling from snout to tail of the construct.
Ritter quickly scrambled down from the golem, its whole form shaking and shuddering. It rumbled to life, shaking its whole body like a dog awakening from a deep sleep. Stone ground on stone, the monster pushing itself to full standing size, towering over the surrounding zebra. It swung its blocky head about, sweeping its gaze across the assembled expedition, a baleful green light flickering into existence around its carved eyes.
“Well done Ritter.” A voice, ancient with age, echoed from the carved rictus grin. “For a mammal, you are quite competent.”
“What’s going on here?” Grima demanded, whirling about on the doctor. “You told us that there would be riches for the taking in this city! You had us digging to a golem?”
The construct turned its head to Grima for a moment, in a gesture of near contemplation, before swinging back around to regard the four creatures that had just come rushing into the room.
“Ahh, Emperor!” The construct addressed the shocked looking saurian, bowing its head so low that it scraped against the floor for a moment. “It has been a long time. But you seem to be in as good of health as possible, considering the circumstances.”
The Watcher glared back at the construct. He stepped forward, placing himself resolutely between Lyra, Bon Bon, Asyana and the gigantic golem.
“Kerzog.” He frowned, nodding curtly. “I’ll confess, I’m surprised you survived Cometfall.” The frown turned into sneer as he took in every inch of the stony form before him. “...In a manner of speaking.”
Corona and Luna came barreling into the chamber via the hole smashed into the wall, knocking a few zebra aside (and eliciting some shocked curses) in their rush. Kerzog immediately turned to face them, his footfalls echoing against the room’s high walls.
“Ahh. The alicorns.” He cocked his head, voice taking on a mirth like tone. “How so very good to see you again.”
Corona growled back. “You are the one behind all of this?”
“Guilty. I-”
“My riches.”
Everypony turned to stare at Ritter, who was also glaring up at the giant construct. “You promised me riches. Silver, gold, platinum.” He continued, placing a hoof upon the heavy stone chest he had collected before. “And this doesn’t leave my side until I get my money. I do not care about whatever quarrel you have with the alicorns.”
“You thundering moron!” The Watcher shouted. “Do you have any idea-”
“Now, now Emperor.” Kerzog admonished, mockingly waggling one of his undersized arms. “I did promise the stallion money. The weight of his followers in silver, gold and platinum, I believe.”
They felt the surge of magic ruffling their coats the moment before the spell kicked in. The web of the spell tore through the the zebra, leaping from one to the other in a chain, panicked screams following suit. But as quickly as they rose, they grew silent, their bodies stiffening, their coats taking on a metallic gleam.
It was over as quickly as it began, the small army of zebra reduced to a shining forest of precious metals. Lyra and Bon Bon gaped in shock, flinching a few steps back from the now platinum form of Asyana, who had not been lucky enough to escape the effect of the spell.
“Your reward.” Kerzog chuckled. His off green telekinetic aura sprung up around the stone chest, yanking it boldly into the air. “I hope that you find it acceptable.”