Cartes-de-visite
"He will finish The Great Work, and when he does, you'll be the first to -- apologize!"
He never had.
Of course, it could be argued that there had been no need to. The Great Work remained incomplete, something which was her fault. But he'd come to her for the second time, a pony she'd made a memory of simply because she'd made a memory for all of them (and in that case, creating one for somepony she didn't want to remember), he'd given her a field booster which couldn't work on her (stomach still churning, dizziness yet to fully fade), and... from what had just been said...
He looked back at her as she stumbled out of the library. There was concern in his eyes: there often was, and she knew he was worried about how she might still react to the remnants of the potion in her system, a concoction no broken pony was ever supposed to take. But there was something else there as well. The warmth of the orange had been subdued by a lingering chill.
She had to voice at least part of it. She had to know.
"He tried. To kill. The Bearers?"
A soft sigh as he began to move again, nodding for her to follow. (The door was starting to close behind her, doing so more slowly than she would have wished. There was more than enough of a gap to let sound through. A rasping of sorts. Air turning into something serrated as it just barely moved into lungs which could no longer fully process it.) "I have no absolute proof, of course. But there was an attempt made -- one which somehow gave them a chance at escape. If anypony here tonight would have directed that failed murder, it would have been him. I suspect we will know more once somepony confronts those whom the Princess trapped in her former cell: I was rather quickly told that Chief Copper will --" and there was a faint smile "-- not be available for the remainder of the night. And that he had company. But when the answer comes to us, it will likely be in the form of a letter. And we will need to be in a place where we can safely receive it."
He's dying.
I can hear him dying.
He tried to kill them. But he's dying...
She had been told to stop, and so her words on that particular subject had ceased. But she couldn't seem to make her thoughts do the same. Her mind just kept moving in spirals. Carried along by the storm.
"You said. We need -- two things? Which can't be. Replaced." She had a single, rather natural guess. "You were packing..."
"The pearls," he confirmed. "So that is where we are heading. Sadly, there is no direct passage." Another little sigh. "The winding trails of this castle... There will be some time in the corridors, but that should allow us to spot a servant and have them relay a message to Quiet. Let him know where we will be." With a touch of open worry, "Presuming they can locate him, especially should the Bearers reach the upper levels. That would give him some reason for concern."
"I don't. Understand..."
"He has a certain way of escaping notice," he told her. "Among other things. However, he should also be looking for us, and he knows where I am mostly likely to go." Approaching a wall. "Now. We know from the Princess, through Quiet, that your necklace was found: the flow of the river brought it to the lake."
She'd been that close. Within a few dozen body lengths of her most constant companion.
"And when it comes to the fastening piece, another could be acquired," he continued. "But there are still twelve pearls within their cradles, and those are harder to replace. We could try to collect them -- but without some idea of where they might have been hidden..."
"Twelve?" A natural question (along with a worried one), and also a distraction from the rasping. Something which was becoming deeper. Slower.
He nodded -- then glanced back at her. Smiled, as his horn ignited. Opened the jacket he'd worn to the party, and silver brought the familiar centerpiece to sight.
"She's safe," he softly told her. "She's... still safe. If we could recover no others... then she is safe."
She wanted to smile. She couldn't seem to. The pain was still building, and her ears were half-rotated backwards. Listening to sounds she didn't want to hear. Outer noises, while words continued to whirl within.
"I tried --" and stopped, for it had just slipped out, things were more than bad enough already, every last bit of that was her fault and to have repeated her failure only made things worse for him...
But he'd been looking at her when she said it. He knew.
"When we are away from here," he stated, "when we are safe -- you will try again."
She nodded.
He trotted up to a wall. Poked at it, there and there. A portion swung open, revealing a narrow passageway. Almost too narrow. She would need to be so careful moving down it...
"I didn't get to ask you," he casually said (the tone of so many conversations, talks she'd had with him over the years when he was the only pony she could talk to at all) as he moved into the barely-lit darkness, flickering devices providing so little to see by. "Are you looking forward to meeting your new siblings?"
She pulled back. Instinctively, unstoppably: perhaps half a hoofstep, keratin skittering on stone.
He'd been looking down the passage. But the sound made him turn again.
"What's wrong?"
How much had been on her face? What had been on her face?
"I... don't have. Control. I don't want. To hurt..."
It was the truth. But it hadn't been all of it. She had almost always told him the truth, and the previous exceptions had been based in memory. Not telling him about things she knew would hurt him. Things she had done anyway, until the last had broken all.
Slowly, he nodded. "Understandable. But we have the trip in which to master discipline." His own ears perked, rotated. "The chaos still seems to be some distance away. But risking a search of the Bearers' rooms..." Visible thought, followed by a slow sigh. "I can ask the servants to do that as well. We need the bulk of the pearls. If we must abandon twelve until they can be sent to us, then that is part of doing the needful. We can make that sacrifice."
"This is about all those ponies"
It's about the children.
(It had always been about the children.)
There's going to be children.
(It was about sacrifice.)
He's dying...
Her father trotted into the passage. She followed him, trying to fight the spasms which wracked the muscles in her foreleg.
And at the moment before the stone closed behind them, placing her in something very close to that most familiar state, all the sound stopped.
Ponies fled. Ponies arrived. Sometimes the ponies who were fleeing just about trampled those who were coming in, and the still-increasing scent of fear had made a few head for the exit before they reached the actual fray. Twilight got occasional glimpses of that through the chaos of battle, could see that they were all holding their own -- but they hadn't broken through. Some of Applejack's charges had come close to doing so, would have seen her on the other side if she'd just gone a little further -- but they had to escape together. To become fully separated was to create the chance to be picked off one by one.
The others might not have been thinking about that and Rainbow, who'd just managed to ram one of the combatants into a wall, was taking a few seconds to deal with something else entirely.
"Where's my hat? It came off when the net hit me, and I know somepony's got it! Somepony knows where it is!"
The impacted unicorn merely groaned.
"I know it was you! Own up!"
Soft blue shot past Twilight, carrying a hundred little stones at a dozen targets, none of whom could dodge all of it. They couldn't even counter, not with Twilight still on defense, and it seemed as if some of the newer arrivals weren't even trying: unicorns were attempting physical combat first, something she'd hardly ever seen. It had left Applejack dodging far too many attempts at horn spearings, some of which had come so close, and part of the newest pebble hailstorm went around the farmer before pelting into the eyes of the latest failure.
"An' that, Pinkie," Applejack crowed just before kicking another unicorn, "is why y'don't get into a pillow fight with Rarity!"
The baker giggled, then launched another kick: one where vision-blocking streamers were left behind on the impacted pony's face. Pinkie quickly turned, got into position to aim at another target --
-- only to find that somepony had already lined up on her. A pony who, in the face of what had to be some kind of magic, had just done the only thing they could think of.
"OW!" Blue eyes fiercely glared up, instantly focused on the pony whose hoof had just sharply landed on her forehead. "Rude!"
She reared up, dislodged the pegasus who had just completely failed to inflict any level of backlash, and then went straight for the wings.
...oh, Twilight distantly thought. Right. No horn, no automatic counter, but a really sore head...
But there were still more ponies arriving. Too many ponies.
We can't keep this up forever...
Which was when a familiar sound cut through the clamor of battle, recognized through repetition and the strangeness of hearing it here: claws scritching over paper.
She couldn't afford to fully glance back: she had to keep watching for coronas, for silver. All she got was a partial view at the absolute edge of her peripheral vision: Spike reaching into the shoulder sling he'd made from a remnant of Fluttershy's dress, the place where most of their limited resources were being stored. She could just barely see the weight at the back of the loop, the scroll emerging, a hint of a broken wax seal slipping back into the sling...
Wax?
"Pinkie!" Spike shouted into the fray. "Jump back!"
The baker, who'd been doing some rather direct damage to the other front line without managing to completely break it, didn't ask questions. She simply sprung backwards in a single huge pronk.
Spike raised the scroll up to his mouth, exhaled -- and a burst of flame exploded in the middle of Pinkie's just-vacated space. A miniature fireball, one which was just about all light with almost no heat -- but that aspect was something the opposition didn't think about. They simply saw fire appear from nowhere: no visible jet they could try to dodge, but flame which had just been teleported.
Three of them broke, right then and there. Turned, raced for the exit, and one of them did partially trample a freshly-arriving reinforcement on her way out. Rainbow was the only pony in the area who spotted the fallen scroll, risking a glance down from her position in the air. It was something which nearly got her kicked, and only a Rarity-boosted rat distracted the attacker enough to let Rainbow escape harm.
She didn't notice. "Radical, Spike!" she shouted. "More of that! You nearly shook the robes off that last one --"
The pegasus blinked. Just once. And then she yelled.
"Rarity! Go for the robes! Let's see who we're fighting! And Twilight, remember that camera spell you've been working on? Great time to try it out!"
Instinctively, I haven't been working on --
-- oh.
Rarity's eyes went wide. Soft blue lanced, split, targeted fabric --
-- and as a certain stallion had once predicted, those who desired secrets turned out to be the most concerned about whether their own would be exposed. Cockroaches were known to run from light, and Rarity's corona had just turned one on.
Certain portions of the cult were willing to fight. To take the risks involved in combat. But few of them wished to be recognized. They would fight in the security of anonymity, identified only by eye, wing, horn, and corona colors: things which could so easily be found in others among the population -- but to have their faces captured by sight and a camera-simulating spell which didn't actually exist...
Rainbow's words reached them, and the scent of fear swelled, peaked, became something Twilight had to consciously fight against, battling to retain her own focus. She could hear Fluttershy's little gasp as the caretaker struggled, saw Applejack's jaw go tight --
-- and then she saw the other line break.
Two of those ponies managed to fight it off. Everypony else, for those who could still move at all, turned. Ran, hooves mindlessly pounding across stone, wings beating at the damp air without conscious direction, their owners doing everything they could to escape the one threat they could not face, trying to get out...
A pair of ponies had resisted. And when they realized their wills had held, that they had retained sapience in the face of fear -- they also realized that there were only two of them left. A split-second after that, they realized Applejack was less than a body length away.
At which point sapience, along with most of their consciousness, went on holiday.
Twilight stared. At a corridor littering with fallen robed ponies, all of whom were still breathing (although judging by the shifts in the fabric, some were doing so rather erratically). At Applejack and Pinkie, both of whom had significant sweat in their coats. At Rainbow, hovering above it all, looking -- vaguely disappointed.
"Tartarus chain it," the pegasus muttered, mostly to herself, with all of the words just barely audible. "If I'd thought of that ten minutes ago... we just lost ten minutes..." A very brief pause. "Was that ten minutes? I lose track when we're fighting --"
Twilight just grinned.
"Rainbow?"
Distractedly, "What?"
"That was radical!"
The weather coordinator stared at her. Favored the librarian with the single, slightly exasperated head shake which informed the conscious portion of the audience that Twilight had chosen the wrong word again.
Oh, come on! I looked it up in the dictionary and everything! But the grin still needed an extra second to fade, lasting right up until the next concern came in. "Anypony hurt?" She hadn't seen any major injuries take place: the three who'd spent the most time in the front lines had some bruising, but it was the sort of pain which had to be saved for later. Still, if she'd missed something...
"Just sore," Applejack called back, and the others quickly checked in with no worse than similar reports. "And Ah'm thinking it's time we got out of here!"
"...I don't have many rats and voles left," Fluttershy told them. "All the hooves... some of them ran, there's some hurt tails, and the ones who are still here don't know me that well. A lot of them are going to have trouble just going to where the ponies usually are..."
Twilight nodded. "Tell them thank you, and the ones who don't want to come don't have to. Come on, everypony. I remember roughly where we came in, and I think I got a glimpse of that one when he was trying to find the right spot on the wall."
Maybe they still had time. A chance to find out which direction they had to chase in, at least: she didn't doubt that Quiet had relayed news of the attempting escape to Doctor Gentle, and that meant she would be fleeing with them. However, for the trio to still be in the castle...
Time slipped away during combat. It slowed down, sped up, became impossible to fully track. Every second could be your last one, and so those which didn't focus simply blurred. She didn't know how long the fight had taken. But if nopony in the group could escort, if all of those in the cult who could have potentially assisted with that (assuming there had been any at all) had already left...
Too many variables, with no definitions fixed. The only way to find out was to act.
"Remember what Spike said! We're looking for servants!" Twilight called out as she started to race down the passage, vaulting a fallen cultist along the way. "Anypony who might know the castle, all the exits! Somepony who could know how they would get out!"
"They might just use the front door!" Spike called to her as Rarity caught up, with the little dragon still on her back. "It's Quiet's castle! He can just trot outside!"
"Then that'll make it easier," Twilight grimly stated. "I know where the front door is." But once they were outside, there were so many more directions in which to move, and only two of them could reliably fly, try to locate and focus the pursuit from above. Doing so in the storm.
...if Quiet can't just make them impossible to find...
We have to try.
"Stay on guard, everypony," Twilight told them as they approached what she felt to be the right section of stone -- then had to pause, abashed, as Spike redirected her two body lengths to the left: he, not having been dragged, had gotten a somewhat clearer image of where the exit was -- if not the outer location of whatever triggered it. "That group fled. But there could still be some ponies on their way down. We could wind up in fights all over the castle. Spike, start writing that scroll for Baltimare: we'll need extra help to deal with the search radius. It might take a lot of ponies to cover the area --"
All those ponies at the burnout. All the ones who came to look for him. To rescue their first friend. Just some of the ones who heard the news in time, were old enough to travel on their own and close enough to reach Trotter's Falls. A fraction of those he's brought to Sun. Maybe a really small fraction.
How many of them were hybrids?
Doctor Gentle would know: he claimed to remember them all and for that, Twilight didn't doubt him. But he was likely the only one who knew. And if he escaped...
It's not just telling them: it's identifying them. How can anypony --
"Twi?"
"-- thinking about the search," Twilight made herself say, for it was the truth. "And some other things. Start pressing your hooves against the walls. Carefully. Traps wouldn't surprise me. I'll watch for magic: everypony listens for gears. If you hear anything strange, just get down the corridor --"
-- which was when six pairs of ears (and one set of spiny protrusions) perked.
"...I think," Fluttershy whispered, "there's something in the wall. The one on the other side. Something moving..."
They turned, bodies already dropping into combat-ready positions. Waited, until a section of stone on the other side of the corridor swung outwards.
The two who emerged could have been described as being in full servants' uniforms -- if the observer was inclined to be somewhat forgiving of their rumpled state, something which applied to both clothing and ponies. Each had ancient dirt clinging to portions of their form, and neither cared. They were both young, and rather attractive. One was softly speaking as they emerged, the other was gently giggling, and neither was actually looking forward. They initially only paid attention to each other, just as they had for all of their time hidden away in a place where nothing which had happened could have ever reached them.
Mare and stallion smiled, giggled, and finally turned to face forward, with the matching objects held in each corona swaying with their movement. Saw six very free, still irritated (or worse) Bearers, along with a Protector who had a clear line of fire.
The stallion swallowed.
"Er," the servant said, mostly for lack of nearly any other options, and the green corona offered up the encased bucket. "Toiletries?"
They're alive.
Most of what Quiet had been feeling about that discovery remained relief, and the continuing emotion wasn't good for his health. He wasn't completely focused on the immediate environment, with too much of his attention looking inwards. It meant that some of his dodges were a little on the slow side, as ponies who were fleeing from the lower levels (or just racing around the castle, looking for something they could do, anypony who could tell them what to do) nearly went through him. Just about none of them had noticed his presence, and more than a few were so panicked as to not be registering much of anything else.
He also wasn't moving all that quickly, certainly nowhere near as fast as he might have wished. He wasn't meant for extended sprints, and had already decided to save some of his strength for later: it seemed as if that might be needed. Additionally, it had turned out that adventuring ponies bled, where pages didn't. Not that the pages had failed to mention blood as a possibility, but when it was yours...
It was minor. But it still hurt.
They're alive.
They were also trying to move. He'd been in the secondary library when the designer had said that Twilight was saving up to take the six-pony version of the escort test, a fee which could require years to accumulate. It was possible for Twilight to have already discovered the lockdown -- but a Gifted School graduate on her level would know that the working didn't prevent teleportation within the castle. And yet they were still below.
So she can't take all of them with her in a single trip, and she won't leave them. They'll emerge as a group. And they're going to emerge. He was almost completely certain of that. There had been one strike, one ambush -- and now there was a group of mostly-inexperienced combatants up against six very alert Bearers (including one alicorn) and what he was guessing to be a very angry dragon. A dragon he was rather grateful towards, with full awareness that the emotion didn't serve as a shield against flame.
Even the police are going to have trouble. They don't have anypony on Twilight's level, and if she just keeps countering...
It might be possible to get a working through: Twilight had arguably been lucky in blocking the entire first volley. But... he'd heard a new kind of cry moving through the corridors, something where he hadn't been able to reach the speaking parties in time to intercept. An alert relayed from those who'd been below to the ones who were going down to keep trying.
There was a newborn legend running loose in the castle, and it was beyond his ability to stop.
Find them. Just find them. We have to get out of the castle before they're out, and if we don't leave together for the initial stages, we won't even have the chance to agree on a meeting place if we have to split up. We have to run together...
Searching for the doctor and his daughter, in the place he knew better than anypony. He knew where Gentle Arrival would initially have to go, once the news reached him: to the library, fetching that which was most precious to him. But enough time had passed for a servant to find the midwife, an extra sufficiency for getting to that area. There had seemed to be very little point in going directly there. And even knowing the most likely next destination for that pair, it had occurred to him that there was somepony else who had to be found and he had no idea where the bureaucrat had wound up, much less if anypony else had tried to look...
So he'd been pausing, here and there. Checking rooms. Trying to find somepony who'd retained enough of themselves to help him look and there were some of those, but there was so much fear in the castle, sinking into the minds of so many ponies who didn't know how to deal with it...
They're alive.
Not everypony was currently seeing that as a good thing.
Around a corner, down a hall. Check the birthing room: nothing. (It would not have surprised him to find an expectant mother there, one with no concept of what had been happening. Those who were in labor were generally concerned about that.) Next hallway. Open the passage, look inside --
-- and a mauve snout, greying around the muzzle, nearly went into him as shocked, thankful orange eyes sought his face.
"Moon smiles on us," Doctor Gentle declared. "I was hoping you'd find us before we reached our destination. We've been trying to stay out of the corridors as much as possible, but that means the most winding route, and..."
A quick glance backwards, to where a dark purple earth pony, face contorted in pain, was forcing herself forward. Both flanks scraped against stone, and more of the clumsy dress tore away.
"...she is not meant for the more narrow passages," the older stallion softly finished. "Something which, even knowing that at least two of the ascended are larger than they were before their change, I had not considered. It has slowed us down. So if you happen to know of something which would be more comfortable --"
-- which was when he saw the little wound.
Quickly, "-- what happened?"
"Rat bite. Or something which sort of looked like a rat. It's nothing -- "
-- which was when the midwife's mouth opened.
It wasn't a full-scale jaw drop. It was nowhere near a facehoof: he'd never seen Doctor Gentle facehoof, and could barely manage to picture the older stallion performing the act. It was simply a minor parting of upper jaw from lower and somehow, it was almost horrifying.
"...Fluttershy," Doctor Gentle whispered. "Sun and Moon, Fluttershy --"
Urgently, "-- we didn't know, Doctor." Admittedly, to have rats in the lower levels of an old castle was a fairly safe assumption, but nopony had made it. Nopony had been among the cells, not for longer than it took to load in furniture. "And we don't have time to regret it."
The older stallion's mouth closed. He nodded, just once, and Quiet looked past him, to where she was still trying to wriggle her way out. Gave what assistance he could, lightly pressing his field against her skin, hated every half-choked moan of pain his efforts produced -- but it helped.
"That's three," Quiet declared as she emerged into the corridor. What's that stain around her mouth? "Now we just have to find Coordinator --"
The next words emerged as a statement.
"-- he's dead."
The younger stallion briefly stared at the older.
I've thought about it. There were times, leaving his office, trying to get the sickness of the place off my tongue, when I had fantasies about it...
"How? I thought he might have sent the killers down. Maybe even gone with them, if only to watch." And gloat. It was so easy to picture him gloating. "But I didn't think the Bearers would try to kill --"
"His ending," the doctor calmly stated, "was of his own making. And other than in the Princess' rejection of his offer, the Bearers played no part. Beyond that, we do not have time to discuss the details. Which way to the widest passage?"
He's dead.
I've dreamed about his death. Every pony he's ever blackmailed lining up for a kicking party. Crushed under his own files. Finally noticing his lack of heart and just falling over.
But even with a single pony as his first, best suspect for what had been attempted, at least as far as Coordinator having started everything -- dreams had been all there were. He'd had fantasies. Now he was having a thought.
"And I promise you that anypony who tries to do so while the Bearers are under my protection will reconsider their final choice among the grasses of the shadowlands."
I told Twilight that Coodinator could try something else before the end of the night. At first, I thought calling for her death -- their deaths -- was it. A petty pony who never stopped finding new ways of being petty...
...past tense.
How did he...?
Her head was down. Her eyes covered by a light film of moisture. Ribs spasmed.
I could try the hoof tap. There and there. Maybe it would --
"We need," the older stallion evenly continued, "to move, Quiet. You know every passage. We have to reach the chaos pearls, then exit the castle by the most direct route possible from that room. We can only risk so much time in the corridors, so coming back up is not an option. Where do we go?"
He forced himself to think. "There's a route. But we'll have to stay in the hallways for a while to reach the entrance. And if we leave the storage room through its only path to the outside... we're going to wind up in the storm for a few hundred body lengths." (She trembled, shook.) "I know the exit is still good: the connection isn't." It had been centuries since the original routes had been established, and the majority of those tunnels were only meant to lead out: escape for oneself only. Enough time for some passages to be forgotten, unless somepony took the time to once again find them all. And some of the least-maintained ones, those which moved through dirt instead of stone, had simply collapsed.
"Neither of us had a reason to clear it," Doctor Gentle calmly said. "And in her current form, she cannot. We will risk the storm. Lead on, Quiet. We will gather whoever we can in protection along the way."
Instead, he looked at her.
"Can you risk a change?" (He didn't recognize his tones. He would not have, for he'd never really had the chance to use them.) "Become a unicorn, and give us the direct path? It's all right if you can't --"
"-- she cannot," her father answered. (She trembled again.) "To the passage, Quiet." And another statement. "Now."
There were several ways in which the toiletry specialists could have been described as innocent, although after their time together in the hidden passages, it was possible that there were now somewhat fewer. It didn't take long to discover that they were fairly new hires, ones who were not only just starting to learn about the castle's secrets, but had used the first they'd been told about for something other than its intended purpose. On Rarity's advice, Twilight left them in one of the cells which mostly held imprisoned furniture, and tried not to think about what would probably be done with the bed.
The group was working its way up the poorly-lit passage, working mostly by corona shine. Twilight was in the lead, checking for traps. Rainbow had been caught taking several long looks at the slanting floor.
"...almost out," Fluttershy softly assured her. (There were two voles riding in the coral mane, perhaps curious to see a little more of the world.) "...you're doing very well."
Open disbelief, most of which was being used to push back the fear. "This seriously doesn't bother you?"
"...no." A pause. "...well... the pit part does. I don't want to drop any more than you do. But the cottage has a basement, Rainbow. It's just -- an extra place to put things. I don't mind being underground, or in tight spaces... I never have..."
When you know what's going on...
Pinkie picking up on the resonance from her shockwave spell: not something which had come from simply being in the most direct line of fire, but a possible degree of feel for unicorn magic. Fluttershy, dealing with so many fears -- but earth pony essence wouldn't allow claustrophobia to be one of them.
What are the others like? What can they do?
If he escaped...
"We're clear so far," Twilight whispered back. "They shut everything down on the way in. Nothing was reactivated after they passed it."
"They were," Rarity softly stated, with just a hint of smugness, "somewhat distracted."
Twilight tried not to think about that, either. (They'd already passed the section where the dust had been considerably more disturbed.) "It's leveling out up ahead, and I think I see what I have to press for the exit. Just remember, everypony: as soon as we get out, the fight can start again. And we can't split up." It would be easier to search the castle that way, but an isolated pony was a pony who could quickly be facing a crowd.
She wanted to invoke the Princesses. Call on the sisters for help, one last time. But she knew they couldn't hear her.
"I thought -- it was just another name for Moon."
Rainbow, when we were making camp in the wild zone.
We're wanderers right now, aren't we?
'Moon watch over us, for we know not where we are. Moon guide us, for we know not where we travel. Moon protect us, for we know not who we will meet. Moon keep us under your wings under blessed night until waking day, when Sun will stand her watch. Moon watch over us -- and know we love...'
We didn't know where we were, or where we were going. We didn't know who we would meet...
Maybe Moon watches. But it doesn't answer.
She took a deep breath. Listened. There was definitely movement outside, but the stone made it hard to isolate. Ponies moving, but not exactly where they were.
"I'm opening the exit," she softly told them, glancing back at the line. "And there's ponies out there somewhere. So follow me out fast." They nodded, and her hoof pressed what turned out to be the right place.
Stone moved, and Twilight scrambled, her hooves nearly skidding as she went back into the fuller lighting of the castle's devices, her ears almost instantly hit by a burst of thunder from outside.
She blinked twice, adjusting to the new lumen level, and then saw the two shocked unicorns staring at her from the intersecting hallway, about ten body lengths ahead.
Her horn ignited. The dark blue's automatically did the same --
"-- no!" the red one shouted, the desperate tones somehow familiar. "She blocks magic! She blocks everything! Just run!"
-- and he was gone. The mare desperately glanced after him, returned her now-frantic gaze to Twilight, saw the others emerging into the main castle...
"Well," Applejack decided as she briefly raised her right foreleg, dipped her head to shade sensitive eyes as best she could, just barely able to watch the second retreat until her vision adjusted, "that makes things a little easier. Where are we tryin' first?"
...I can't block everything. I got lucky on the first volley, and then they were sending out less and less...
"We start from here and work our way down," Twilight decided. "None of them are pegasi --" or at least, none of them should be pegasi at this exact second, not unless she tried another accelerated change "-- so they have to leave from close to ground level." One had an injured leg, another was physically weak: in both cases, even a jump from a second-story window might be too much. "We try to find passageways. We question ponies, and we do it on the run if we have to."
There were words echoing in the hallways now. Twilight couldn't make out all of them, but managed to distinguish 'Bearers' in the grouping. Probably the newest of alerts.
"Gotcha," the farmer confirmed. "An' if we get outside?"
"I don't know," Twilight admitted as the group started to move, Rainbow's wings flaring to take advantage of the wider space. "They could gallop anywhere. We could lose them --"
They went around the corner, following Twilight's lead: she'd chosen to go left. It found them facing a group of four. And a heartbeat later, it was a group of two.
"They're out!" one of the remaining mares screamed. "Protect the triad!"
And then it was zero.
"Protect the --" Pinkie tried, and Twilight could tell it wasn't a question of looking for comprehension. Pinkie knew what the final word had meant. She just didn't want to believe it any more than Twilight did.
"It's what that one's decided to call her!" Twilight confirmed, trying to accelerate again. "Maybe they're still in the castle!"
Please, please, please...
Prayer without focus. Invocation without names.
Please, after everything that's happened, everything we learned, everything we've been through, everything she went through -- please, let us be lucky, please...
She charged. They all charged. She spotted a pegasus, and her field encased the fleeing stallion in a bubble. Something was shouted at him, he didn't give her the answer they needed, and she pushed him into a guest bedroom and just kept right on going. Applejack pinned one of the few who was still in robes, yelled words directly at the covered snout. Fluttershy's request for information, at least in terms of decibels, was considerably more gentle: the sudden pin from above had a little more force behind it. Rainbow was looking for the lead conspirators, and also for her hat. Pinkie's tail twitched just in time for her to alert them to the one pegasus who was trying a move from overhead: Spike's flame jet made him veer into a wall.
They were moving. They were fighting. They were winning. And if they were too late, none of it would matter.
Please, for her if nothing else, for everything he did to her, just give us one more chance to reach her --
Did anything hear, ever? In all the centuries of ponies calling out from the core of their souls, had ever there been so much as a single answer?
Yes.
Applejack doesn't just sing to the earth. She listens. If you're listening, then something is communicating. There's something to speak with.
Just about every earth pony can have that answer, every day of their lives.
And, just a little more bitterly, Too bad we're indoors.
There were more screams up ahead, and now they were starting to form a chorus as others, those ponies whose will had been too strong to initially break, took up the call. "Protect the triad!" It was becoming a trend. Worse, it was turning into a title.
Will they invoke her now?
We call on Celestia for illumination. Luna for protection. Cadance for love.
They call on her for...
And then they all heard the newest cry.
"Protect the doctor!"
Seven pairs of eyes went wide.
He's here!
"That way!" Twilight yelled. "Come on!" And they went down the hallway, around a corner, through an arch and past the library and Pinkie knocked over a piece of furniture because now there were a few exceptionally bold ponies chasing them and everything helped, they followed the calls and there was one last turn and then --
-- it was a glimpse. Nothing more, and it was still enough to send spikes surging through her corona. She could just barely see Gentle Arrival, the pony whom she could barely think of as being one. It was easier to pick her out, as tall as she was, being hurried along behind him. Her head was low, eyes mostly regarding the floor, and she never saw Twilight. Quiet was likely the one doing the hurrying, but Twilight couldn't see him at all.
It wasn't his talent. There was just too much in the way.
They'd tracked the three down: luck and listening. They hadn't been the only ones.
There had been ponies who had run from the fight, others who might have even fled the castle. Some guests had simply gone home. But for those who had remained -- some had decided to make their last stand here. To place their bodies between Bearers and the ones who had to be stopped.
The world narrowed. Became the width of a single corridor, where the only color which mattered was sparkleless silver. She had to see it. She had to stop it.
But he didn't attack. He had ponies to do that for him.
Coronas ignited: even after taking him out of it, the total was far less than it could have been. Enough that she could manage to stop it.
Twelve, about twelve this time, twelve and then three
More unicorns attacking physically. Pegasi trying to control what little air space was available. And behind them, a stallion and a mare, moving away. Getting away.
They were fighting again. They were all fighting, and there was more desperation to it than ever. At one point, she heard a rib crack: Applejack had neither time nor inclination to try for something less injurious. Wind blasts tore down the corridor. Part of Twilight was desperately wishing for a party cannon, and she wanted Pinkie to have one which shot around corners. But she couldn't go after the escaping ponies, not directly. She had to keep countering, she had to protect her friends, she had to watch for that one lance of silver which could squeeze a heart until it broke. She was within a few body lengths, the distance was increasing, and she couldn't reach...
They fought. They fought harder than they ever had in their lives, until there were ponies in the cult who couldn't fight them any more. Some ran, others flew. A number kept going until they were dropped. Twilight guarded, and her friends and sibling fought until there was nopony left to fight at all. Until they won.
Until they lost.
They broke through the living barricade. They left it moaning and twitching in their wake. And when they could finally follow, found the short dead-end hallway at the other end of the turn...
An oversized closet on the left. A music conservatory on the right. And nopony at all.
"NO!" It had been a scream. Twilight felt entitled to a scream. "We're still in the castle! The lockdown's still up!" She could feel it when she tried, like a toothache at the very back of her jaw, one which throbbed whenever her tongue touched it. "There has to be a passage! Look everywhere! Tear the closet apart! Move that cabinet! I don't care what you do to the piano -- !"
"-- Twilight?"
She hadn't expected Rainbow's voice to be that calm. The absolute confidence was normal: the post-battle steadiness in the face of having just lost their quarry was rather unexpected.
It was the calm which made them all look up, to where Rainbow was hovering. See the oddly small smile, one which was bordering on a smirk.
"You said they'd have to leave from close to ground level, right?" she asked. "Or maybe even go out underground, if somepony dug out more than cells. So any escape passage has to head down."
"Rainbow, we have to search --"
"And it's damp down there tonight. Damp, when it's nearly autumn, during a heavy storm..."
Her right forehoof gestured outwards, at the same moment her expression turned into a full-fledged grin.
"That part of the wall," Rainbow announced, "is about twenty percent cooler."
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Nice chapter! I like that Twilight keeps focusing on the silver, that she's taking the Doctor's threat seriously. And it's funny to watch a new legend being born.
Did you just...
Well played, Estee. Well played.
"Rainbow was looking for the lead conspirators, and also for her hat..." Eets always goot to haff a hat in deeze ruff and tumble timez.
"Move that cabinet! I don't care what you do to the piano -- !" (sniff) You terrible, terrible person you. That poor piano.
Oh god, that last line
Now that is just hilarious too :)
Awesome chapter! That last line was radical!
Heat Vision ftw
9136975
No, it was a radical chapter and an awesome line. Eggheads...
9136921
Estee has a history of antipiano violence.
Probably a harpsichord supremacist.
Getting a new chapter of Triptych always makes a day better!
Thank you for sharing with us.
Okay, they just have to catch up with them before they get out of the lockdown, and subdue them without hurting her or getting hurt by Gentle's telekillnisis or losing the pony who can give The Silence a run for their money. Oh, and if at all possible, keep her from shouting and either killing them all or at least give away the Secret, since now is not the time or place. No pressure.
Well, that couple provided some much needed good luck. The lines about the piano and the wall temperature were pretty awesome as well.
OH MY GOD
9137028
Those Pianos get what's coming to them!
She said "dying" not "dead" which gives me hope that Coordinator will be denied a poetically ironic death and get to spend the next two decades tied up in the hellhole of legal proceedings.
Also, dammit Rainbow
"Listening to sounds she didn't to hear."
Missing word?
...Oh, that's a fantastic chapter ending. :D
In the heat of battle, the fastest pony also manages to be the quickest thinker. Nobody ever gets to call Rainbow dumb ever again.
9136918
I now wonder if Estee did all the worldbuilding with pegasus senses, heat transfer etc. just for that one joke.
Usually when there's time between chapters I wonder if you're running out of terms for chapter titles.
About how many more chapters are we in for? I stopped at Litography because the tension was killing me and I wanted to read the rest in one go. Now I'm toying with the idea of reading the ~100k chunk you've written since then. I *know* it's a horrible idea and I'm gonna regret it, but I might not be able to resist.
Geez, Estee, did a piano do something horrible to you in your past?
Knowing your luck, that's probably not as unlikely as it should be.
Piano based violence is never the answer, Twi!
Well, that last line broke the tension a bit........
9137419
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/5/5e/A_piano_falls_on_Twilight_S1E15.png/revision/latest?cb=20110903181407
Is it bad I was hoping for another piano murder?
Pahahahahahaha!
Nice, Rainbow, Nice.
Point for you, Rainbow Dash. You just made that line ANOTHER twenty percent more badass.
9137227
Testing, ….1,2,3 Dash is NOT stupid, just not academically inclined (probably has ADD). Especially when flying, she is VERY good at picking out details
Is Scootloo one of the Drs.? Possibly an Earth Pony cross? It would explain why she cant fly but can pull the other Crusaders so fast.
It occurs to me that even if the DR. has to mix essences to save them, a Unicorn/Unicorn cross (for example) shouldn't do too much harm
9137602
It also might not work. It's the hybrid vigor that saves the lives, a Unicorn/Unicorn fusion might not have that.
Moon's tears, Gentle. If only you knew...
Great chapter again. Rainbow dash was quite smart here.
Tactical idea, if they catch the escaping three:
Twilight negates the magic of the opposing unicorns, Rarity does ranged telekinetic attacks against them. Fluttershy and Pinkie are close by to protect Twilight and Rarity from sneak attacks, ranged attacks and charges. Spike is in front of them and uses fire as barrier. Applejack and Rainbow Dash are at the front and do hit and run attacks to disable Gentle and Quiet while dodging Triptych.
I would think Triptych would not run into fire and would hesitate enough for Applejack and Rainbow Dash to survive until Quiet and Gentle are disabled. After that Twilight would be free to use her telekinesis.
Awesome
Also, this chapter reminds me of one of the issues I have with this universe in general. I get that a lot of ponies worship the alicorns, but it seems like practically all of Equestria does in one form or another, even if only as an "evil" god who won't give them what they want. We also know that other religions exist, at least the minotaurs have other beliefs, and the pony we heard about from there shared their beliefs. So if Celestia and Luna are so bothered by being worshiped, why haven't they simply encouraged other religions more strongly as a substitute? Even if they didn't want to convert themselves because they seem to be either agnostic or atheistic, such a course of action would make things so much easier for them.
A tiny photographic portrait. One little moment that shows you the whole picture, whether that's Twilight sticking to her friends or Gentle leaving Coordinator for dead and focusing on his next test subjects.
The thirteenth pearl... Her mother's essence? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.
It's funny how a story can warp your reaction to an innocuous seeming phrase. Satisfy values, would you kindly, et cetera. I don't think I'll ever be able to hear "doing the needful" without feeling a flash of loathing.
So, would Rainbow say her exposure gambit was more cool or awesome?
Interesting comment about alicorn growth. Apparently Gentle isn't sure whether Cadence has experienced it or not, which says a fair amount about the information he has on her.
Ah, sweet, karmic irony.
The sad thing is that "Triad" may end up becoming her unofficial name through memetic mutation. Much like Twilight's becoming the ultimate nullmage in the public consciousness.
And that last line... I don't know if I want to applaud or sigh. I'm leaning towards both. And I have to appreciate non-unicorn senses being an integral part of spotting the tunnel.
In any case, the chase is on. The cannon fodder has been exhausted. This next chapter should be one to remember.
9137663 I imagine it's because Luna doesn't have the time or the catch-up education to try, and Celestia religiously believes that she, Luna, and all alicorns are doomed to suffering no matter their efforts. Kinda reminds me of that... saying? Story? About the baby elephant tied to a stake.
You had to use THAT line, didn't you?
ironically, Twilight really does use a camera spell in the episode "the mane attraction".
but this story takes place before that.
9137685
karmic irony?
oh, right, Dr. Gentle doesn't know that Earth Ponies can manipulate rocks!
SHE probably could clear the path, if she knew how to use Earth magic properly.
edit: ok, spoiler cover added.
9136918
the first time I've ever seen that reference and had it make me smile, so yeah, pretty good job!
9137175
Sorry, but if you manage to look at the opening segment and keep everything in mind, it's obvious Coordinator is dead - the key is in these two sentences from the opening segment, the one with Gentle Arrival and Her:
"(The door was starting to close behind her, doing so more slowly than she would have wished. There was more than enough of a gap to let sound through. A rasping of sorts. Air turning into something serrated as it just barely moved into lungs which could no longer fully process it.)"
"And at the moment before the stone closed behind them, placing her in something very close to that most familiar state, all the sound stopped."
Besides, even if Coordinator was somehow still clinging to life when Twilight and the others arrived, there's nothing that could be done. Estee's worldbuilding has made it very clear that magical treatments and remedies are not especially advanced in the Continuum's Equestria - enough to place it roughly analogous to 1930s America. Even if, hypothetically, something existed which could preserve Coordinator's life, nopony in the Bearers knows it - a Estee blog has explained that most Unicorns cap out at about five or six spells (not counting their Talent), period, and the Bearers are not a D&D adventuring team. There's no magical healing coming from the Bearers.
Nope, Coordinator was dead meat the moment that toxin touched his tongue. All that remains is for his body to catch up with reality, and it sees evident that just happened.
9137891
Spoiler tags?
9137227
Rainbow Dash is always a quick thinker. That's just not always a good thing.
9137765
Oh, I'd never thought of Celestia despairing of being treated normally, but that almost fits.
It was quite funny that Twilight was lucky to completely negate the first spells from the opposing unicorns and that discouraged many others from using spells so twilight didn't need to be as lucky later. Of course it wasn't just luck but power and skill were also needed.
You get an upvote for that last line alone...
Looking forward to the next chapter.
9138206 Have you ever read Blessing? Or A Mark of Appeal? Or Twilight vs The Cutie Mark Constellation Registry? They provide a lot of insight to the emotional trauma and turmoil of this verse's Princesses.
9138719
Yeah, but I'm not sure she's really given up, seeing as she hasn't gone insane yet.
It's honestly amazing how noble a person she is. I'd at least have developed a drinking problem by this point.
Excellent chapter. Loved that ending line, too—and that piano line! Pianos deserve what they get in this 'verse!
Warning: Don't read the comments before reading the chapter. Too many people are spoiling the ending without using spoiler tags.
9138754
Two words: Cake!
The Bearers get outside only to find their targets tangled up with Vines and tree sap. After a simple greeting. Gentle sighs, "We we're almost away, And Then Scootaloo."
The CMC are stuck to Her, and She is very confused.
You fucker
9163907
Wow...this is a case of an epic pun, use of a catch phrase, and utterly infuriating all at once.
Good job Estee. Well played.