//------------------------------// // 5 - Marchelle en Memoria // Story: Daughters of Poseidon // by A Random Guy //------------------------------// The majority of the banquet turned into a blur in Daring Do’s mind. At some point, the servants switched out the fish with cabbage soup. The soup tasted bland, and hardly compared to what Equestrian chefs could make in a pinch. Granted, the chefs had to make it on short notice, but they could’ve added some spice to bring out the taste. In any case, the important thing about the soup was that it was edible. Daring Do survived on worse during some of her nastier adventures. Lyra didn’t complain about the impromptu meal. In fact, she almost swallowed the thing whole from how fast she was eating it. If Daring Do didn’t know better, she would’ve guessed this pony was starving to the point of becoming a cannibal. The pegasus ignored the slurping sounds to the best of her ability, though Lyra did her own best to grate her nerves to a fine pulp. It didn’t take long for the unicorn to finish dinner. Almost as soon as the servant placed the plate in front of her, Lyra cleaned out the bowl. She wiped the soup dripping from her face before getting up from the table and leaving. King Bakkos insisted that she’s stay for the festivities, but Lyra said she needed to make sure her lyre wasn’t broken and it would bug her to no end if she didn’t check it out at that moment. The king couldn’t say no, and she trotted out of the dining hall. This left Daring Do alone, stuck with a table full of curious humans. Across the span of the evening, she fell into a pattern of taking a bite of her soup, listening to a question, answering, take another bite, and repeat. The questions were as mundane as they came, but were to be expected as the humans knew nothing about ponies, let alone pegasi. Are there more ponies out there? Can you fly? What’s with the hat? Do ponies come in weird colors? Can I see the little princess pony again? How many giants have you beaten before you got here? What is your favorite color? She gave the simplest answers she thought of, keeping her eyes mostly on her food most of the time. Before she knew it, her soup was gone. Dinner was wrapping up in the dining hall, and human guests were beginning to leave. At first, those that left went unnoticed. But as they exited the banquet one by one, the dining hall felt emptier and emptier. Soon, only a handful of humans were left. Homer was next to say his goodbyes and depart with Anastasia. Daring Do took this opportunity to excuse herself from the table and go to her room. A servant led Daring Do through the palace halls. The palace was a far cry from the epicness of Cloudsdale’s largest buildings, and it certainly didn’t have the elegance of the regal Canterlot Castle, but it had its own grandeur flavor. The halls were wide enough for a few humans to walk comfortably next to each other. The ceilings were at least two stories high, with a row of windows lining the top of the walls. Everywhere she went, a hallway either had columns, statues, or both standing against the walls. Her own room the servant led her towards was also grandiose, but the average Canterlot lobby could beat it in any way conceivable. The ceiling was high, but not as high as the hallway. The room had a red theme going on, with red paint covering the walls, and red curtains hanging from a large window. Black pots with orange paintings of people doing various tasks were scattered about the room in different spots. A tan bed stood against the wall across from a couch of a similar color. There was also a desk sitting under the window. The last three objects were made out of a black with white, painted trimming. Daring Do thanked the servant for leading her here and dismissed him. The pegasus took off her backpack and placed it on the couch, then threw her pith helmet on top of the bag, letting her black mane fall out. Relief flowed through her body once the heavy backpack was off her shoulders. She bent down to stretch her back, flaring out her wings and rolling them in their sockets. In the back of her mind, she remembered Phoebe told her during the banquet, to meet her outside in the courtyard. Despite the size of the palace, navigating it was straight forward. When the servant showed her to her room, Daring Do saw several outlets that led into the courtyard. Getting there was easy. The hard part was deciding whether to go or not. Daring Do plopped down on the couch across from her bag. Something about the humans didn’t sit right in the pegasus’s stomach. Whenever one walked around, she couldn’t help but think they were preparing to attack. Sitting down wasn’t so bad, but then something about their faces made her hairs stand on end, even if they had friendly expressions. And one of these humans asked to meet after dinner. It seemed like an innocent gesture, saying to meet tonight to show something. But it was the innocent gestures that turn into devastating betrayals. This human, Phoebe, seemed innocent enough. For the few minutes they were together, the only thing Daring Do found out about her was that she seemed more innocent than the rest. Yet she was the first human Daring Do had found threatening. She looked out the window as she thought. The moon was dim tonight, due to it being in its crescent phase. The moon didn’t seem as vibrant as it usually was. Maybe that was because she was on a different world, a world full of humans. If humans replaced ponies in this world, then maybe Princess Celestia had a human counterpart here. Maybe the human princess wasn’t as powerful as the pony princess, and couldn’t make the night sky look as nice as it did in Equestria. “Wait a moment, Princess Luna’s back,” she reminded herself. “She controls the moon, not Celestia.” After a few more moments of internal debating, Daring Do made her choice. She flipped off the couch and left her room. The pegasus might as well see what this human has to offer. Threatening feelings aside, she was curious as to what Phoebe wanted to show her. As an educated guess, she figured it would be something impressive the humans made that the pegasus hasn’t seen yet. Maybe it was a monument to the gods, a secret cave under the city, or a memorial for an angel. She made her way through the hall and out to the courtyard. Immediately she saw Phoebe standing next to Homer’s statue, pacing the length of its pedestal. The human looked up and smiled at the pegasus. “I’m glad you decided to come.” The human was shorter than others she met, and her arms didn’t have any obvious muscle tone. If worse came to worse, the pegasus would buck her in the teeth and fly away. Daring Do shrugged as she trotted over to Phoebe. “You made me curious.” “Is Lyra coming to?” she asked. “I know Diamond doesn’t want to go, but I didn’t know anything about your other friend.” Daring Do shook her head. “She went to check her lyre after dinner. As far as I know, that’s all she’s going to do tonight.” “That’s a shame. I know she’d love the surprise. You all will.” She turned around and walked away from the statue. “Follow me,” she said, beckoning to Daring Do. The pegasus trotted up to next to her and slowed down to match her pace. “So, what do you think of the human world so far?” Daring Do took a quick glance at Phoebe, who had a curios look in her eyes. “It’s… different,” she said. “Humans themselves are an odd bunch.” “I heard what Bakkos did before dinner started,” Phoebe said, letting out a light chuckle. “That man can be such a knob sometimes.” “Yeah, I didn’t expect that.” In the pegasus’s head, the image of a pink filly in a tiara swinging in the arms of a king popped up. “Do all kings do that here?” “No, Bakkos is just a special breed of human.” Phoebe added a little more emphasis on ‘special’ than the pegasus thought necessary. “I haven’t lived in Vathy as long as everyone else has, so I only know what’s up from rumors.” They walked through a doorway at the edge of the courtyard, entering another hallway. “What rumors?” Daring Do asked. “Oh, just rumors about his uncle, his mother’s brother, actually being his father. From what I hear, his mother banished the uncle after she found out she was pregnant. She convinced the king that her brother was planning an assassination attempt on his life. The uncle got booted out from Vathy, and a few months later a bouncing baby Bakkos came into the world.” “Great way to put humans up on a pedestal for a visitor,” Daring Do muttered. “It’s just one of the few rumors that are running around,” Pheobe said as they turned a corner. “It also happens to be my favorite. But in reality, I think he just has mommy issues and never bothered to grow up.” “He doesn’t sound that great of a king.” Phoebe shook her head. “He really isn’t. The only reason people like him is because he throws a ton of parties. I don’t think anyone remembers if he’s ever made a good political decision, like that war with Leucas a few years ago.” The human stopped at a large doorway. She pulled out a key and unlocked the doorknob, making a loud click as she turned it. “At least Homer keeps everything from falling apart.” “Then why keep Bakkos around?” “He’s a fun guy.” Pheobe pushed open the door, leading the pegasus into a large room. The room had the same red theme as her bedroom did, with red curtains and walls, tan furniture with black, wood frames, and painted pots scattered about. This room was three times as long as the bedroom, making space for rows upon rows of shelving. The selves were packed to the brim with scrolls, up to the point that scrolls were spilling out of several of the lower shelves. “Welcome to the library,” Phoebe said, closing the door as Daring Do walked in. “Don’t worry, there’s not much in here that’s educational. The palace uses this room mostly to store ledgers and other boring documents.” She locked the door behind her, and then stepped over a pile of scrolls with her short legs. “Sorry about the mess. Those accountant fruits have no sense of organization.” Daring Do rounded a pile of scrolls. Upon close examination, these scrolls seemed to be made out of a weaker material than the ones from Equestria. Some of them were rolled open, showing paragraphs of hand-written charcoal lettering. “Is there a reason we’re in this room?” The pegasus asked. “Yeah, no one ever comes in here.” She went over to a shelf on a wall and shuffled through the scrolls. “Well, except the accountants, but they went home a long time ago. It’s a great place to go if you want some private time.” Her arm jerked back, sending a pile of scrolls crashing to the floor. She looked over at Daring Do and flashed a grin. “Especially since I have the only key to that door.” “Alright, you want to show me a secret then.” Phoebe ignored the pegasus, sending several more scrolls flying across the room. Daring Do let out a sigh, looking at a random pot. This pot had the figure of some sort of scholar painted on it. He was reading a scroll to a young child, who looked at the scholar in amazement. “I’ve had a long day. I want to go to bed. Can you tell me this secret now?” Several more scrolls soared pass Phoebe’s head. “Sure, just give me a few more moments. Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask,” she glance behind her briefly, “Has anything interesting been happening in Equestria lately?” “Not much,” Daring Do shrugged. “We have a new princess who’s ruling over the night. I guess tha…” The pegasus’s mouth went limp, her gaze snapping towards Phoebe. For the first time that night, she could look this human in the eye. “You said Equestria.” The flying scrolls stopped coming off the shelf. Phoebe turned towards the pegasus with an excited smile stretching across her face. “I guess I did.” She pushed her arm to the back of the shelf, turning her hand in the cubby. A loud click filled the room, followed by a dull hum. Daring Do found it hard to move the muscles in her jaw. “But… never… said… Equestria…” Phoebe nodded. “Right, you never said where you came from.” The humming jumped several octaves, then ceased to silence. A bright light flashed in the center of the room, blinding Daring Do, forcing her to cover her eyes. Her ears fell flat when a screech ripped through the air. Then, when the room fell silent again, she peaked from behind her foreleg. The pegasus’s jaw dropped. Floating in the middle of the air, a rip in space opened up into a hole, leading into an endless expanse of darkness. It looked exactly the same to the hole that pulled her into the void, and the hole that sucked Ubara into where ever he went. But now, the hole wasn’t pulling her in with extreme force. It was a rip in space that peacefully floated above the ground. Phoebe walked around the hole, stopping to stand next to the dumbstruck pegasus. “You want to see something cool, or do you want to go to bed now?” Daring Do took a step towards the hole. Without the gale-force winds pulling her in, the pegasus felt secure getting close to the portal, but not too close. She walked around the perimeter, careful in keeping her distance. Its shape remained uniform no matter how she looked at it. The portal was an orb that hung in the air. She lifted a hoof up and gently prodded its surface. Her hoof disappeared into the orb, but she wasn’t sucked in. “How?” she finally asked, pulling her hoof out. Phoebe turned around and walked to the edge of the room. “Want to see what’s going on? “ She grinned at Daring Do when she reached the edge. “I know you want to” Daring Do nodded. The human sprinted forward, kicking up scrolls behind her. Her legs kicked up her dress as they charged forth. “To discovery!” she yelled as she ran into Daring Do. The human plowed into the pegasus, sending her flying through the air. The hole filled Daring Do’s vision as she was pushed straight into the darkness. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Daring Do crashed down onto a tile floor. Stars flew through her vision as she tumbled across the ground. When she skidded to a halt, she found the world spinning around her. Nothing felt broken, and the only pain she could feel was a spot that would no doubt develop into a bruise. She had to admit, that human packed more of a punch than expected. Phoebe ran up next to the pegasus and leaned down next to her. “Sorry, that was more brutal than I intended it to be.” She wrapped an arm around Daring Do’s torso, pulling up to lift the pegasus off the ground. The world stopped spinning in the pegasus’s eyes, and she gained a foothold on the floor. Phoebe let go of her, and Daring Do felt her legs supporting her weight. “I thought you needed a little nudge getting through.” Daring Do glared at the human, brushing off some dust from her own shoulder. “You call that tackle of yours a little nudge? Why the heck did you think it was necessary to do that? I could’ve cracked my skull on the floor with that kind of move!” Phoebe shrugged. “The portal was about to close.” Behind her, a low-pitched slurping filled her ears. Daring Do turned around to see the hole shrink and poof out of existence. The air rushed in to replace the void that the portal left, creating a crack that pierced through the room. Daring Do went back to glaring at Phoebe. “You could’ve opened it again if it closed.” “Yeah, I but that would be a waste of a perfectly good portal.” Phoebe glanced towards where the hole used to be. “Human-pony magic isn’t as reliable as I want it to be. We can’t do everything we want it to do.” With an annoyed grunt, Daring Do turned her attention to figuring out where the portal dropped them off. They stood on top of what the pegasus assumed to be a castle rampart. A wide path stretched from either side of them. A wall towered over the path on one side and a vast landscape spread out on the other. Shadows of small buildings lined the night horizon, forming the outline of a city. It wasn’t as impressive as the Sumerian city Daring Do encountered, but it was certainly larger than the one on Ithaca. At the bottom of the ramparts, the moonlight danced across a river that separated the city from the castle. “Don’t stand there all night,” Phoebe said, prodding Daring Do’s shoulder. “We got things to do.” “Not a bad view,” Daring Do noted. “Where are we?” “Nineveh,” Phoebe replied as she walked down the path. “Same world, different place. You see the city? This is the best time to look at it, when it’s too dark to see. Nineveh has been falling to pieces ever since I first laid eyes on it.” Daring Do used her wings to catch up with Phoebe. “Is there anything special about it?” Phoebe shook her head. “Not really. It’s just a good middle ground between all the lands of this world. My friends meet here all the time to trade information. Sometimes, we pretend to be dignitaries so we can get free food at the palace parties.” “And would these friends also know about Equestria,” Daring Do asked with a knowing look on her face. “Oh, we don’t just know about it.” Phoebe stood for a moment to flash the pegasus a smug grin. “We’re Equestrians ourselves.” Daring Do’s ear perked up. “You’re from Equestria?! But Equestria never had any humans.” “Of course it doesn’t.” Phoebe waved a dismissive hand as she continued to walk. “My friends and I transformed into humans when we left.” “So… you were a pony?” Phoebe nodded with a huge smile. “Yep, had a writing cutie mark and everything. I was a pegasus employed as a court scribe. Call me Gilded Feather.” Her smile flattened a tiny amount as she silently considered something. “Eh, don’t call me Gilded Feather. It’ll sound weird if you say it in front of other humans.” Daring Do eyed Phoebe, or Gilded Feather, from head to toe. She still had that human face that looked like it would attack at any second, nothing like a pony’s face. “How’d a pony turn into a human?” “You’ve heard the Crystal Empire?” “Uh, the kingdom that disappeared a millennium ago?” Phoebe halfway nodded, then her eyes shot open midway through. “Wait… It disappeared?” “From what I hear.” “A millennium ago?!” Daring Do nodded slowly. “…Yes.” “Oh…” Phoebe’s eyes shifted down as she rubbed the back of her head. “That’s… oh. Wow.” “Is something wrong?” “Well, yes.” Phoebe leaned up against the wall, sliding down into a sitting position. “I… it used to be my home, before I, we came here.” “Oh, um…” Daring Do looked in either direction, keeping an eye out for anyone walking down the wall. The ramparts were empty tonight; it was only them. Shame, Daring Do saw where this conversation was going, and a guard yelling intruder would be a great way to get out of it. “I’m sorry to hear that?” “Thanks.” Phoebe pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them. “There was a unicorn, Sombra was his name. He enslaved the Crystal Empire and turned it into hell on earth. We were all forced to do what he said, or else we face his wrath. A small group that worked at the palace escaped through a portal, a magic mirror Sombra didn’t know about.” “And you ended up here, transformed into humans?” Phoebe nodded, her hand wiping away the moisture accumulating under her eyes. “I left my family there, my friends, everyone. I left them to suffer with Sombra. I promised I’d get help and save them.” She paused for a moment to take a deep breath, and then looked up at Daring Do with watery eyes. “The Crystal Empire is gone?” Daring Do looked down for a moment, and then nodded. “For a thousand years.” “Then I suppose they’re not suffering anymore. Is that a good thing to say?” “I don’t know.” Daring Do scratched the side of her leg. “I’m not the pony to ask.” “Well… don’t worry about it.” Phoebe stood up, wiping her eyes once again. “I’ve done my crying a long time ago. I brought you here to show you something cool, not to hear my sob story.” “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” “Of course.” Phoebe sniffed before taking off down the ramparts. “I didn’t come to Nineveh to cry. I came to Nineveh to show you magic.” <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Diamond Tiara laid on the bed, turned onto her side. Phoebe led her to this room earlier after dinner. It had the same layout as a few other rooms she passed by, red walls and curtains, tan bed and couch, a couple of black pots. From between the curtain, moonlight streamed in and bathed the entire room in a soft, blue glow. Underneath the window, there was a black-wood table with white carvings etched on the surface. Earlier, she had placed her picture frame in the center of the table, next to a stack of towels, and placed her tiara over it. Now the filly lay on her bed, staring at the picture frame. Somehow, she managed to carry it with her through all the action of the day, from walking over hills, to being chased by a giant, to having the living daylights shaken out of her by a portly human. The picture itself was in prime condition, having miraculously sustained no damage during those events. Even after the entire day, the filly and mare were still playing together, enjoying a sunny day in the middle of a park, captured by photographic ink, forever frozen in time. Diamond Tiara didn’t stir when someone knocked on the door. She didn’t take her eyes of the picture when that someone opened the door without being properly invited. “Hey, Dia,” a voice said from the doorway, one that the filly recognized as Lyra’s. “Is it alright if I come in?” “What do you want?” Diamond Tiara murmured, not bothering to look at the doorway. The filly heard the unicorn scrape her hoof against the floor. “I came to apologize,” Lyra said in a quiet voice, “About what I said earlier today.” Diamond Tiara turned over on her bed to face the wall. That moment, earlier today. The exact details were a blur though, but the moment came out quite clear. The snarl on the unicorn’s face, how she yelled at her for no reason, she remembered. Lyra said something cruel to her, about her and her mom. The filly couldn’t remember the exact words, only that they were full of spite and no reason. Lyra paused at the door, standing patiently for a response. The filly remained silent, neither inviting the unicorn in nor yelling at her to go away. Lyra took the silence as an invitation, and she walked up to the couch and sat down. She twiddled her hooves as she waited for Diamond Tiara to say something, but the filly never bothered to look her way. The unicorn leaned her chin on her hooves, letting out a sigh through her nose. “I’m sorry about what I said. It wasn’t called for, and I was an ass for saying… things like that.” She looked up at the filly, still staring at the wall. “Sometimes… sometimes I just do things without thinking, and I can get carried away. I know it’s a problem, and it’s gotten me into trouble before.” Lyra unconsciously rubbed her neck around the spot that a hoof collided with it several times that day. “I think Daring Do figured it out already.” Diamond Tiara shifted her legs across the bed covers. Lyra couldn’t tell if she was actually listening, but she continued on anyways. “We just met today, and for me to yell at you like that… You have every right to be angry at me. A total stranger, yelling at you about her problems, not knowing anything about what you’re dealing with, that’ll leave a bad impression.” She rolled her hooves across her ears, looking down at the floor. “I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose your mom, let alone what it’s like for someone to say stuff about her after…” Lyra rubbed her hooves in tiny circles around her ears as her thoughts trailed off. The bed sheets shuffled, and she looked up to see the filly looking up at the ceiling. Her eyes weren’t as puffy as they were earlier in the day, but they had a soft, red glow in the moonlight. Lyra cusped her hooves over her mouth, taking a deep breath before continuing. “I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry about what I said. You didn’t deserve what I said, none of it. I wasn’t thinking, and I lashed out at you. If I could… I’d wish it all away, like it never happened. But it did, and I’m sorry. You have every right to be angry at me, or think whatever you want to think about me. It was a stupid thing to do to someone I just met, and I’m sorry.” Lyra realized the filly wasn’t going to acknowledge anything she said. She leaned back on the couch and looked at the window. The moonlight looked different here than it did in Equestria. She couldn’t fully describe it, but the best way she could put it was that the moonlight lacked life. It lacked the magic that filled the light back at home. It just felt emptier. This empty moonlight fell onto the table, pouring over the picture frame and glinting in the silver of the tiara. With the way the light hit the frame, it cast a shadow over the picture itself, darkening the image in it. Lyra could make out the outlines of the figures in the picture, enough to make a guess of who was in it. “You both look happy in that photo,” the unicorn said, “You and your mom. When was it taken?” Diamond Tiara rolled over on the bed, her curly hair frizzing up from rubbing against the sheets. She looked up at the photo, careful not to glance at the unicorn. “Last summer,” she said, barely loud enough for Lyra to hear, “During the last month of school.” Her hoof rubbed the sheets in a circle. “She came for Family Appreciation Day, mostly to help set up everything for the families that came. Mom did all the decorations, and we played in the field when she finished with them.” As Lyra’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could make out more details in the photo. Diamond Tiara was in the forefront of the picture, with her mother running behind her with a short, white mane billowing out as the mare ran. Her mom had a pink coat, similar to the filly’s, the glowed in the sunlight within the photo. The filly looked behind her, towards the camera, checking to see how far her mom was. They both had large smiles on their faces, Diamond Tiara’s full of laughter, and her mom’s filled with playful determination as she chased her daughter. The lighting in the room wasn’t bright enough to show the details in the background, but Lyra could barely make out the outlines of a building she had seen during an orchestra tour a couple years ago. “That’s in Canterlot, isn’t it?” she asked. Diamond Tiara nodded, keeping her gaze on the photo. “Yeah, Canterlot. My school was there, along with my friends.” She paused for a moment to let out a breath. “I don’t live there, not anymore. Dad had me move in with him in Ponyville after…” The sentence died out. Lyra noticed a glimmer in the filly’s eyes. Lyra shifted her shoulders to get more comfortable on the couch. “Would you like to tell me about your mom? It seems she meant a lot to you.” The filly’s lip curled as she stared longingly at the photo. “She did,” Diamond Tiara muttered, letting out a breath. “She did a lot with me, said she didn’t want it any other way.” The filly’s voice stuttered. Lyra looked over and noticed her hoof running up and down her wrist. “It’s kinda funny, now that I think about it. For the longest time, she said she wasn’t into kid’s books. She didn’t not like them, they just didn’t click for her, or that’s what she said. But sometime around last summer, I got her into the Daring Do books.” Diamond Tiara turned her head towards the couch, looking over at Lyra for the first time that night. “And I mean she really got into them.” The unicorn sat up once she met eyes with the filly. “She was a big fan too?” “Not as big as me,” Diamond Tiara said, shrugging. “But she came with me to the fan club meetings. She’d read the books, then we’d talk about it while we ate dinner at Donut Joes. She even wore a Daring Do shirt to work a few times.” The filly pushed herself up from the sheets to sit up on the bed. “We went on a trip that summer, just for fun. All away around Equestria, we went in a big circle. Las Pegasus, Maressouri, Colterado, a good chunk of the west. We got on a train and enjoyed the time we had together, going on all kinds of adventures.” She took in a choppy breath and looked up at Lyra. “She read a couple of the books on the train, and we read them together at night in a few hotels. “Towards the end of the trip, we ended up in Manehatten for a Daring Do fan club meet up. It was this big event, and hundreds of other ponies came just to hang out and have fun talking about Daring Do.” Lyra twisted her hoof every time Diamond Tiara mentioned the adventurer’s name, but she did her hardest to contain her feelings about that mare and continued to listen. “Mom signed up to be a chaperone during the meet up, and she took me behind the scenes of a bunch of the events. I even got to meet some cool ponies, like this one artist named Fluffle Puff.” The filly’s lip curled up, letting out a faint chuckle. “She’s very well known in the Daring Do community, but she doesn’t like large crowds that much. Mom had to escort her to the staff area when a bunch of her fans swarmed her. Fluffle was a bit freaked out, though she was nice enough to give me an autograph. She’s a really sweet pony. “It was a fun time. I even got to read some fan-made stories. Daring Do has a lot of fan-made stories.” Diamond Tiara’s eyes lit up and looked up to the ceiling. “Wow,” Lyra gasped with wide eyes. “That sounds like an adventure.” “Yeah, it was.” The filly’s head and ears drooped down, eyes falling to the floor. “Something was wrong with Mom. She had some sort of sickness. She stayed home from work a lot and she kept saying she didn’t feel well. On some days, she wouldn’t get out of bed, not to eat or do anything.” “What did she have?” Lyra asked, leaning forward on the couch. “Polio? Cancer? Anorexia?” “I don’t know,” Diamond Tiara said, shaking her head. “Her doctor said nothing was wrong with her. Dad said Mom was just lazy. They were both wrong. I know she was sick. Mom knew too, but no one would help her.” A shiver swept through the filly’s body. A small tear ran down her cheek, glistening in the moonlight. “I wanted to help so badly. She’d wake up a night crying sometimes. I’d go in and hug her, ask what’s wrong, but she never said anything. I tried to help her as much as I could, but I didn’t know what to do. There had to be some way to cure the sickness, but we never found a way.” The face looked all too familiar for Lyra. The watering eyes, the quivering lip, the choked-back breaths, it was the same face she saw when she lashed out earlier that day. The unicorn got up from the couch and picked up the a from the table. “I’m probably the last pony that should be saying this, but sometimes we can’t do anything about life. As much we want to be, not all ponies are immortal alicorn princesses. Ponies get sick and the worst may happen, whether we like it or not.” Lyra gave the towel to Diamond Tiara. The filly dabbed her eyes with it, blowing her nose afterwards. “But the way it happened, I could have stopped it. I could have helped her, and she’d still be alive. It was just all… stupid.” The unicorn slid up onto the bed and sat next to the filly. Lyra waited to be pushed away, but Diamond Tiara didn’t say anything about it. “It is stupid just how short ponies actually live,” Lyra said, looking at the damp towel. “We barely have enough time to do anything with our lives. And we live knowing that there’s stuff out there that can end it all without warning or meaning. It’s scary when you think about it, but it’s just the way of life.” “Mom could’ve lived longer.” Diamond Tiara ran the towel down her face. She stopped under her chin, resting her head on top of it. “I know I could’ve found a way to help her. She was sick. There was a cure. We just didn’t find it in time. She had so much of her life left.” “I know. It sucks.” Lyra wrapped her foreleg around the filly’s shoulder’s, giving her a light hug. “But look at it this way. Your mom’s sickness may have put her in some pain. If the doctors said she was fine physically, then maybe she was suffering in her head.” The unicorn lightly rubbed the filly’s back in an attempt to comfort her. “Just think, she’s not suffering anymore. She doesn’t have to live with the pain.” “But she…” Diamond Tiara paused as she stammered on her words. She jumped away from Lyra onto the floor, throwing the towel at the couch. “No, just no,” she snapped, shaking her head. “Not living with the pain, she’s not living at all! Out of all the stupid things you said today, that’s the most stupid I’ve heard yet!” Lyra jolted back from the filly’s sudden outburst. “I’m trying to help,” the unicorn said softly. “Isn’t that what ponies say to help with this kind of thing?” “Yeah, ponies do say those things.” Diamond Tiara’s head violently swiveled towards Lyra, throwing her a glare. “Ponies have been saying stuff like that to me ever since Mom died, and I’ve been saying the same thing back to them over and over again! She was sick, but I know there was a cure. But they don’t listen. They just keep saying stupid things like it’s going to help.” Her previously choppy breathing shifted towards a deep, yet rapid, rhythm. “So what if she’s not in pain? She’s dead. Before that, I knew it was only a matter of time before I could help her. If she lived for a little longer, I knew I would find the cure. But now I can’t, because no one else tried to help her.” Broken words came out of Lyra’s mouth in a quiet mutter as she tried to say something tangible. “Dia, sorry, I”- Diamond Tiara cut her off before the unicorn could say anything. “Just please don’t. You came to say sorry. Great, apology accepted.” The filly walked over to the table, where she looked up at the photo frame. “But right now… please just leave.” <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Phoebe led Daring Do down a winding route through the palace. She regained her composure soon after they left the ramparts, and went the entire way talking about her life before the Crystal Empire disappeared. She was the court scribe, not a long shot from her current job in Greece. She kept the records of the royal family during the day, and spent her nights out in the town center drinking and partying the evening away. Despite the loud retelling of her drunk adventures, no guards came around to check on Phoebe’s ramblings. In fact, they encountered no one in their entire walk, to Daring Do’s dismay. She expected a maid or someone else to come around to tell Phoebe to keep it down, the royal family is sleeping. As far as she could tell, the castle was abandoned. After passing through a central chamber, Phoebe led her to a door, where they were right now. It was an uninteresting door; nothing about it differentiated it from other doors they passed. Of course the secrets of the world were behind it. Phoebe threw open the door and held it open for her pegasus companion. “We’ve arrived.” Daring Do stood outside the door, not making a move forward. She glanced at Phoebe’s welcoming smile, which didn’t feel so welcoming on her human face. “You’re not going to shove me in this time, are you?” “Pff, no,” Phoebe said, waving a dismissive hand. “I only did that because the portal was going to close on us. You can take forever to walk on in. Well, don’t take forever, not literally anyways. Or figuratively.” The darkness beyond the door loomed over Daring Do. It wasn’t the same darkness that she encountered in the void, but the kind that hid away many treasures deep in unexplored tombs. That darkness was familiar to her, and more welcoming than Phoebe’s smile. She walked through the doorway, glancing at the human to watch if she tried anything wacky. Phoebe rapped her fingers on the doorknob, nodding for the pegasus to venture further. When Daring Do entered the room, one word filled her head. Sumerian. She entered a circular chamber, one with a type of space displacement spell as the chamber’s ceiling reach far beyond the height of the palace. The chamber displayed triangle designs etched over every surface, the lines bathing the room in a warm glow, the same glow to the rocks in the sunken city. A pedestal sprouted up in the center of the room. Daring Do’s eyes widened as she recognized the figuring sitting on top of it: a marble snake with thorns all over its body, poised to attack and coiled around a flower. “Behold,” Phoebe exclaimed, beckoning towards the artifact, “The all great and powerful Snake with a Flower Thing!” “You don’t know what it’s called?” “The Thorny Snake God,” Phoebe shrugged. “If you’re looking for an actual name, I have no clue. But I do know it’s got some powerful human magic attached to it.” Daring Do walked up to the pedestal to give the snake a closer look. It was an exact replica of the giant statue she found in the sunken city, except significantly smaller. Daring Do jumped up and hovered in the air. At this scale, she had a higher viewing angle than in the city. It was made of the same marble, with the same amethyst material for the flower. The head was poised to strike an imaginary foe. The snake appeared to be protecting the flower. Phoebe leaned up against the wall, crossing her legs and arms. “When we first came here, we fell from the ceiling.” Daring Do looked up at the roof, or the direction of the roof. The chamber went so high that she couldn’t see the pinprick that made up the roof. “It was a long fall,” Phoebe continued. “In the last second, we all stopped a foot above the ground. I believe the snake thingy there saved us. I assume so at least, because we soon found out how powerful its magic is.” Daring Do cocked a brow. “You learnt how to use this?” “Yep,” Phoebe nodded. “Some blue floaty letters told us how. It made teleporting around the world pretty easy. So, do you want to see how humans can use magic?” “Blue floaty letters,” Daring Do repeated to herself. She looked back at the snake, its marble body reflecting the glow of the walls. “This is definitely Sumerian.” “Uh, summer-what-now?” “The Sumer, an ancient race that lived in Equestria ten thousand years ago, or nine thousand in your case. I found a statue just like this one back home, although it was the size of a mountain and buried inside a cave.” “So you know about this guy?” Phoebe asked pointing to the snake. “Eh, no. I don’t know much about them.” Daring Do landed next to the pedestal, looking over the backside. “Other than a few poems from a stone tablet, no one knows much more either. They had four high gods, only two of that we know the names of. Enki, the wise and crafty god, and Inanna, the fertile and warmongering god.” “And our sn”— “Neither of them aren’t represented by snakes, though,” Daring Do interrupted. “Inanna has lions accompanying her, and Enki has a river for arms. If this is a water serpent, maybe it’s related to Enki.” “Or the Summer guys just liked snakes.” Daring Do ignored Phoebe’s comment, or at the least it didn’t register in her mind. “But the snake is coiled up ready to attack, so it could represent the aggressiveness of Inanna. But it’s protecting a flower, more defensive than aggressive. The flower could be a water flower, so that leans towards Enki, but the thorns could be for Inanna. Then again, no one knows the specifics of the other gods.” “Yes, very interesting. Hey, do you wanna play with magic?” “Maybe one of others serves as a protector. But a protector wouldn’t make much sense, since ancient cultures put emphasis on offense with snakes, and fertility with flowers. If those two are the case, then it could be related to Inanna.” “Magic, the snake lets you do magic.” “Oh, what about human symbolism? This artifact is in the human world, and given how we’ve been displaced from our world, that implies the Sumerians could travel between worlds. This snake could be a symbol for a human culture, and the Sumerians adopted it through either tribute or assimilation. Now would that place the stone tablet before or after the assimilation?” Phoebe walked up to the opposite side of the pedestal from Daring Do. “Do. You. Want. To. Play. With. Magic?” she asked, emphasizing each word. “It’s the reason I brought you here in the first place.” Daring Do made no attempt in hiding her groan. “Yes, I know this is magic. I play around with magic relics all the time. Some glow, others sparkle, the rest end the world if not destroyed.” Her head perked up as she circled the snake. “But if you look deeper all the mysticism and doomsday abilities, you can find the reasons why these ancient civilizations made these artifacts in the first place. This snake, for instance, seems to grant transportation capabilities between worlds.” “It does other cool stuff too. Wanna see?” “Which suggests the Sumerians might have had an empire spanning across worlds! Who knows how many early cultures they influenced”— “Yawn, stop talking let’s play with magic.” The chamber echoed with the sound of grinding teeth coming from Daring Do’s mouth. “This is an ancient artifact of a long dead civilization. How do you not comprehend how big of a discovery this is?” “I left my family and friends to die under a tyrant by escaping through an ancient artifact. I don’t care if some Summer king used it as a toilet brush, it does cool things and that’s all that matters.” “For Celestia’s sake, we’re looking at a priceless relic that can tell us a library worth of stories of a long dead race and all you care about is the magic sparkles that come out of it?” “Do you want to play with it or not?” “Considering every time I ‘played’ with an ancient relic, a rolling boulder chased me out of the temple.” Daring Do looked up the walls in attempt to find any holes that could potentially launch rocks at her. “Seriously, why is it always boulders?” “Then you’ve been playing with the wrong magical toys. Go ahead, touch it.” To demonstrate, Phoebe held out a finger and poked the snake, creating a tiny shower of sparks upon contact. “It makes magic.” “For Celestia’s sake, don’t touch it!” “What? I’m not dead, my finger is fine. See?” Phoebe wiggled her figure, showing off its full functionality. “Now it’s your turn.” “Is this all fun and games to you? Do you really consider this a toy?” Phoebe rubbed her chin in thought for a moment. “Hmm, right now, yes. We have serious business with the snake thing later, but now I just want to play with it. Sure, it does important stuff, but right now, it’s for ‘fun and games.’ Touch it.” “I feel the term, ‘tempted by a demon,’ applies here, and she’s doing a poor job at it.” “I’ll stop pestering you to touch it if you touch it. Don’t worry, there are no boulders here.” Daring Do rolled her eyes in a slightly defeated manner. “Fine, if it’ll zip your lips.” She stuck her hoof out, touching the statue on a body segment with few thorns. A spark ignited upon contact, just like when Phoebe touched it. “There, happy? I swear I’m the only sane pony on this forsaken wor—OW!” The snake sprung to life. Within the span of a second, its head swiveled around and struck Daring Do’s foreleg, sinking its teeth into the base of her hoof. It gave her no time to react, and gave her little room to move. On reflex, she tried to pull her hoof away from the snake, but it kept her foreleg in a tight position. Phoebe shrieked in surprise, jumping away from the scene as far as she could. “AHH! The thing moved! It bit you! It bit you!” “AH!” Daring Do yelled back in pain. “For the love of, ow, ow, ow, I know it bit me! Stop yelling it in my ear!” Her flesh burnt like Tuataras on earth. If bone had nerves, those nerves would be screaming in agony as well. She suspected the fangs went into her marrow. “I didn’t know it’d bite you! It never did that before! I’m sorry I brought you here!” Swinging on her hoof, Daring Do flew up into air, throwing her hindleg around to kick the statue in the jaw. She flared out her wings to stop herself from kicking when she remembered the snake was covered in razor sharp thorns. “Stop yelling and help me get it off!” Phoebe wrapped her hands around the snake’s jaws, trying to pull them apart. “At least you’re not yelling ‘ow’ anymore.” Daring Do’s face twisted in pain and anger. “Shut up! It stings like a bleeping bleep!” Phoebe looked up for a moment with a surprised look. “Did you censor yourself?” “Shut up! I write children’s books!” Between the two, the snake loosened up from its coil. Its body sprung out, wrapping itself around the rest of Daring Do’s foreleg in a flash. It’s thorns dug deep across her leg. The flower it kept save in its coil bloomed at the base of her hoof, replacing her horseshoe with stone petals. With nothing keeping her connected to the pedestal, Daring Do flew back and crashed against the wall, dragging Phoebe along with her, who still had her hands tucked into the snake’s mouth. At the moment of impact, Phoebe’s head smacked the bottom of Daring Do’s jaw, whiplashing her had into the wall. Phoebe rolled off and collapsed on the floor. “That hurt,” the human panted, rubbing the back of her head. “Uhg, just kill me already.” Daring Do didn’t notice the snake glowing on her arm. Her head rang from the impact from the wall, she was too distracted to note the snake’s magic numbing the stinging pain in her foreleg. The trumpets in her head didn’t help the situation. “So, uh, sorry about all that,” Phoebe said as she lumbered up to her feet, though her effort ended up with her slumped against the wall. “It never bit one of us before.” “Yeah… don’t say anything.” Daring Do tried to make out reality from her newfound kaleidoscope vision, though the warm glowing color of the room made the act a challenge. “I hit my head before, but I never get trumpets blaring in the distance.” “Trumpets?” Phoebe cupped her hand around her ear. After a few seconds, her eyes went wide. “Um, for the record, I didn’t come here just to get you bitten.” “Yeah, I know,” Daring Do groaned. “You also told me you’re a pony turned human and you wanted to play with magic. I get it.” “There was another… thing.” The trumpets blared out in Daring Do’s head once again. “Sorry, can’t hear you, I’m hearing trumpets.” Phoebe grabbed Daring Do’s foreleg that didn’t have a snake clinging to it, pulling her towards the door. “That’s what I’m talking about. It’s not just you. All of Nineveh can hear those trumpets.” Daring Do failed to gain her balance and stumbled behind Phoebe. “Er, what?” “Long story short, those are war trumpets. We need to leave.” Phoebe pulled the pegasus towards the exit, kicking the door open. “Nineveh is under siege tonight.” <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> In the darkness on the island of Ithaca, five serpentine heads poked over the forested hills. They stared down the town of Vathy, eyeing the largest building in the middle, the palace. At the edge of town, several guards scrambled around at the sight of the silhouette over the hills. The guards all yelled the same thing. Vathy is under attack, again.