16: The Sins of Our Mothers
The air was heavy with the sound of buzzing wings as a hundred changelings quickly descended through the choppy downdraft of the Deception towards the sandy city below. Rainbow Dash was the first to set hoof on the sandy cobblestone road on the far southwestern edge of Rookhaven. The mists roiled and shifted scant meters behind her from the turbulence caused by two hundred wings as each drone landed in a forward semicircle centered around her.
Movement from behind drew Rainbow’s attention towards the swamps. Within the thick mists stood a two stories high monstrous shape full of spines moving just deep enough within the mist to obscure its features. Even for such a novice empath such as herself, Rainbow Dash could feel the beast’s instinctual hunger and how it saw the gathered changelings as a potential meal. She was moments from sounding an alarm, when the whiff of unmasked fear skirted the edge of her awareness. The beast regarded Rainbow Dash for a few seconds before its hunger and fear of the haunted city drove it deeper into the swamps.
She tsked and dug her hoof into the road as the drones started forming a perimeter. What was it that Soarin said during wilderness training? “Pay attention to animal behavior, they know danger even your observant eyes will miss.” Rainbow pivoted her ears backwards at the sound of her sister landing nearby.
Twilight took a brief moment to give some orders to her retinue before looking to her sister. Everything looks clear so far. <Sis, is there something at our backs?>
Rainbow finally turned away from the mists and jumped into a low hover. <No. We should keep an eye on the mists, but I don’t think we’ll have any trouble from the swamps.>
Being up close and personal with the frozen inhabitants was unsettling to everyone. Both queens tried to keep their ill-at-ease from leaking across the local hive mind, but it wasn’t a complete success. Twilight tried to shake it off as she looked up to her flying sister. “We should progress slowly. We need to study the time phenomenon closely and keep in constant contact with the ship. It’s still possible a prolonged stay could trap us here.”
“Maybe…” Rainbow Dash forced her ill at ease to the corner of her mind as she regarded the scattered thestrals around them. “Do you think they’re still alive, even after all this time?”
Twilight cantered over to the thestral mare Rainbow was inspecting. She was looking back towards a stallion directly behind her who had a badly wounded wing, keeping him grounded. Both ponies wore horrified expressions that were mirrored by most of their kin. Twilight had to choke down her emotions to inspect them impartially.
“Horology has only theorized at prolonged time-locking. Every theory states that nothing can be completely pushed out of the timestream. After a year or so, unless the environment is perfectly controlled, the subject would expire. That’s why many of Equestria’s worst criminals are set in stone.” She stepped away from the ponies and gave a forlorn sigh to her sister. “I doubt anypony here is alive anymore.”
“Great, then it’s like we’re digging around one of those freaky wax museums.” Rainbow shuddered at the memory of a few before flying a little higher, enough for a few drones to join her as escorts. <I’ll watch the skies and ground all the same. I’m not taking any chances here.>
As with the extraction operations of the Fu’tia trees, Aegis and her Queens’ Guard quickly took up a perimeter enclosing close to thirty sandstone houses. With Rainbow’s order to largely ignore the swamp, more soldiers were being freed up to expand the zone of control. <Aegis, keep at least one guard on each lost one you find. I don’t want any surprises.>
Aegis petted the nozzle of her flamethrower lovingly. She had perched herself on a roof next to a particularly nasty wolf-ish lost one that was covered in blood from ear to paw. The crazed eyes spoke of a madness that sent chills down the captain’s spine. <Already on it, my queen. That’s why I’m keeping the cordoned area small.>
She’s not calling me Aunty right now, Rainbow mused dismally. Good. That means she’s taking this too seriously for pleasantries. <Alright, keep it up. Be ready to move at Twilight’s orders. She’ll be directing our movement until contact is made.>
<Don’t you mean “if”?> Aegis replied hopefully. She saw her siblings nearby start to hang on Rainbow’s reply.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes saw what she didn’t want to. No footprints, sloshed water, or even small insects around. Something’s not right here. <No.>
Aegis didn’t reply. She was too busy trying to swallow the lump in her throat without the others seeing.
Twilight pinged her warriors to find them moving into in place. Once they were, she addressed the thirty scientists assembled around her. “Alright listen up.” She turned to a group of ten drones weighted down by saddlebags full of testing equipment and pointed at the trio on the left. “You three will start scanning the area for any concentrated points of temporal anomalies. We don’t exactly have the best equipment for that, but try to make do. Even if everything looks stable around here, that doesn’t mean it’s uniform throughout the entire city. You’re to make sure no pony gets phased out of time.”
“At once, my queen!” With a nod from her, they stepped away from the group to start calibrating their equipment.
“Group B,” she said to the center four, “your job is to find any books or script in the area.” She jabbed a hoof at Arya. “And take her with you.” Arya jumped at the attention. “Now that we have a native speaker, she might be able to help us add pronunciation rules to the translation spell.” Twilight gave the Tea’la a warm and friendly smile. “If that’s okay with you, that is.”
Arya clapped her hooves excitedly. “Oooo! You wish to expand your understanding!?” Twilight’s nod confirmed it, making her prance on her hooves for a moment. “Such a high and noble goal that is, but that need to wait for another time!” Much to the gathered changelings’ bemusement, Arya pulled the Stone towards the two queens. “First we must appease Gethar, the Blind God of Justice with the rites of supplication and mercy. Lucky day that all druids learn these rites ever since the vision was seen.”
Rainbow cast a sardonic look at her sister. <How can a god be blind?>
Twilight suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at Rainbow so she could focus her attention on Arya. <Remember Celestia’s diplomatic training. Be polite and sound like you’re agreeing when you’re not.> While she directed the comment at her sister, she said it more to remind herself as well. “Arya, I truly appreciate the help, I really do.” Twilight kept a friendly tone all the while as Arya dug into her saddlebags with one eye on the queen. “And for that, why don’t you walk one of my personal guards through the ritual before we get started?”
Riposte found himself lifted bodily up by Twilight’s magic and presented to Arya. He faked a charming smile that was enough to win over the druid. “Ah yes, very good idea, imperial one. Such wisdom! Much intelligent. Gethar will not excuse a failed ritual, so is good that we can have trials with your kin, very acceptable!”
“Perfect.” Twilight nodded to her son who could see Rainbow stuffing her hooves in her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. “Riposte, I trust you’ll handle this with the respect and diligence this deserves.”
“It would be an… honor,” Riposte replied with as much tact as he could muster. Every changeling in the vicinity could hear the swordling’s frothing grumblings. It’d be my luck that it’s some kind of blood sacrifice.
As Arya set about preparing the ritual, complete with face paint, tattoos, something smeared on Riposte’s snout that smelled of sulfur and vomit, leaves stuck to his tail with mud, and topped off with Arya teaching him a chant that would last for half an hour.
The things I do for the hive…
With Arya left in contentment, Twilight sent out two groups of scientists to investigate the time-locked city with one of them accompanying her. Rainbow Dash busied herself with enforcing the security zone.
While the changelings set about their tasks, the ley lines started to converge on their position. The living bands of the world moved towards them but suddenly fell away before anyone could notice them.
Tainted guilty beings. Why do you possess the Stone of True Spirit and a faithful that stands among you? Why are you here if only one of your number heeds her words?
Twilight Sparkle surveyed the “safe” zone her children had created from the air. Each house was made of the same white painted sandstone to make the appearance of marble from a distance. Must be the lower class district. Marble must have been expensive even back then.
The voice of one of her team’s researchers snapped her out of her inspection. <My queen, I think we might have found a temple on the second northbound street.>
<On my way.> Twilight almost took off immediately, but her eyes were drawn to the Stone. It’ll slow me down, but leaving it behind would insult Arya. With a brief use of telekinesis, she strapped the harness on and took off to the temple.
Just out of sight, a thin ley line, no thicker than a bit, emerged part of its snaking mass out of a house where a ghostly eye followed the lavender queen and her rocky burden.
What lies in your heart, corrupted one?
The snaking ley line twisted itself upward so the eye could follow Twilight all the way to the small and modest temple.
Twilight found half of her team waiting just outside the only building with a sharp blue color. Standing above the whitewash were several blue patterns and diagrams. Each one had a stylized deer head, complete with antlers appearing as head high statues around the entrance.
The drones were standing away from the entrance which was surrounded by a ghastly frozen scene. No less than seven lost ones were engaged in bloody combat against three thestral temple guards armed with spears that were trying to keep them at bay. Some of the drones cringed at the bloody corpse of a fourth guard being dragged away to be eaten. The ghostly eye remained out of sight and narrowed at what Twilight said next.
“If any spirits or gods are still watching over this place, please forgive our trespass.” Trying to crush the seed of fear in her stomach, Twilight stepped through the fight and into the temple with her children close behind.
The words were lost to the eye, but the emotions behind them were not. You dare to enter his domain weighted down by such sins. One cannot pass judgment without understanding.
Within the temple were five rows of pews overcrowded with ten ponies on each bench. A single priest in simple white and blue garb stood near the marble altar at the back of the building holding a sapphire antler to the air, his mouth frozen mid-speech.
The room was completely crammed with thestrals bowing and praying, whether it be for deliverance, protection, or penance was unknown. The changelings typically tried to avoid walking through the frozen beings, but it was impossible to do so here. Even the air was filled with more pleading ponies.
“Alright team, fan out and try to find any religious texts, but put them back when you’re done. This place is unnaturally heavy with magic. I don’t want anypony setting something off.”
As each drone moved off to investigate the stained glass windows and holy murals painted onto the walls, Twilight headed over to the altar. She unhitched herself from the Stone and let it rest next to the priest. Upon closer inspection, she found the altar actually had two tiers. The smaller top part was actually shaped like the proud but caring face of a stag. His antlers were missing. She turned back to the priest and the antler in his hoof. So maybe this place is dedicated to that deity.
She turned back to the altar’s second tier to find it was a simple slab with tiny marble statuettes arranged in a spiral pattern. She tilted her head as she inspected each one: a goat, snake, lion, eagle, lizard, bat, blue jay, dragon, a thestral stallion with gleaming armor, with the sun and moon being larger than all the others. The last three were the closest to the center of the spiral, with a stylized half-moon being dead center. Curiously, the two halves of the moon were given two different names: Lūn, and Sweva the Dreamer.
Their presence bewildered Twilight to the point where she kept scratching her head. I Don’t get it. Do the statues represent gods? Aspects of a moral code, perhaps? Constellations maybe? Why would some be animals while others are not? The journals from the Ebony Castle and under Canterlot never spoke of any gods except the Night Mother and Gethar. Could my foremothers have abandoned the old religion along with their homeland when all this happened?
She turned back to the frozen priest and the sapphire antler held aloft in his outstretched hoof. Out of sight from everyone in the room, the phantom eye focused on Twilight as she closed in on the priest. Religious objects would score some big points with the Summit. Even as she said it, the words rang hollow. She wrestled with herself and stared intently at the glowing antler for a solid minute.
Eventually, she released the holy symbol. No. This just doesn’t feel right. These ponies deserve to be laid to rest before we do anything further. But how are we supposed to go about that… She stopped herself dead cold. Arching an eyebrow, she waved her hoof through the priest’s outstretched leg, only to pass through as expected. After that she grabbed the blue antler and moved it around as a normal object. While holding it both in her hoof and then in her magic, she waved the antler through the priest as if he were an illusion. As a final test, she dropped the antler on the priest’s hoof and it fell right back where she had found it.
“This place makes no sense!” She growled before turned away from the priest, causing the disembodied eye to scrutinize her further.
Judged one, you bring forth the Stone of Pure Spirit, and have yet to beg forgiveness. My patience nears its end.
Twilight flicked her ear at the faint noise and turned towards the eye, barely missing it as the ley line pulled back into the wall. “Did anypony hear something just now?”
The scattered drones looked between themselves and her, with the closest of their number voicing the shared thought. “Nothing out of the ordinary, my queen.”
The queen stood still to try and hear the faint sound again, an easy feat since she could fully ignore the hive mind traffic. She didn’t get much to time investigate when a drone pinged her loudly enough to get her attention, and induce a mild headache to boot.
Oww. She brought the Link back to normal ambience in her mind and recognized the sender as the leader of one of the science teams. <Finished already, Particle?>
Even though she addressed the group leader, the transmission encompassed the whole team. <Our preliminary findings at least, my queen. We’ve discovered that while we can touch inanimate objects, if they remain undisturbed for too long, they will, oddly enough, slowly fly back to their original location. It’s really quite fascinating. In fact—>
Twilight tilted her head in preparation for the rambling of a lifetime. I think Fulcrum got the worst of my genes.
Yet before the chief scientist could gather any steam, his apprentice interrupted him. <M-my queen, I think we can save the ponies.>
Twilight’s eyes narrowed out of confused suspicion. <Save? How?>
Fulcrum slapped his unruly apprentice upside the head, and two others on the team for no doubt encouraging the apprentice. <You’ll have to forgive Particle, my queen.> He adjusted his glasses while looking down at the young bug. <She’s barely a month out of the shell, and still has that nymph impatience about her.>
Particle grumbled, but said nothing. Twilight however, jumped at the idea. <No, I want to hear this. What do you mean they can be saved?>
Fulcrum gave Particle a stink eye that could peel paint, but she used Twilight’s interest to push forward. <We tested short bursts of mana on a lost one’s leg to see if we could follow Stopwatch’s Theorem of reanimating—>
<Please, Particle, I would love to pour over your findings in detail back at the hive, but I need the short version now.>
<S-sorry, my queen. What I mean to say is everypony here could potentially still be alive and well. We tested on five different lost ones. Every last one of them reanimated… and tried to kill us before the-> She cleared her throat at the memory. <-soldiers stepped in. If it worked on them, it could work on the uncorrupted ponies as well.>
Twilight grinned massively and turned to the priest to charge him with mana, but stopped herself short. <How much power was needed? I’d rather not pump too much in and cause a temporal feedback.>
Fulcrum butted into Particle’s response. <That is the reason I didn’t want my fool of an apprentice to speak out of turn.> Particle pouted at her superior. <The problem is that the “cure” doesn’t last more than a few seconds, half a minute at most. It’s the damned ley lines. The mana around the city is too chaotic to keep any of the time victims free for long.>
As soon as he uttered those words, Fulcrum instantly regretted it as he knew what Twilight would do. <Good work, all of you. Rendezvous with the rest of the teams, we’ll be leaving for the center soon.>
<Yes, my queen,> the team replied eagerly.
Fulcrum scowled deeply at his youngest apprentice, but Particle was already flying away with her gear. Now we’re going to end up dead for sure.
Twilight told her own team to pack it up and leave for the Deception before contacting Rainbow Dash. <Change in plans, Sis.>
Rainbow Dash was roosted on a cloud overlooking the security zone. <Something exciting, I hope. The whole area’s been super quiet.>
<We’re heading for the center of town to try and correct whatever’s disrupted the balance of mana. If we fix the ley lines, we can push the thestrals back into the timestream.> Twilight sent out a dozen orders and the drones moved as one to form a moving chevron formation with the scientists near the front.
<Any idea how we’re going to move a whole city’s worth of ponies out of here, let alone explain ourselves so we’re not attacked by them?> Rainbow wasn’t disagreeing. In fact, Twilight could tell in her sister’s tone that the idea appealed to her greatly. Rainbow barked off a few dozen orders of her own to improve the formation before they moved out.
<I’ll think of something. For now, we need to reorganize and move in on the imperial district.>
Rainbow scoffed and waved a hoof at the drones. <You worry about fixing whatever we need to fix, and let me worry about getting you there safely.>
Within a half an hour, the whole expedition had gathered on one of the larger streets that ran straight towards the central imperial district. Rainbow’s observations revealed there were five other streets patterned out like the spokes of a wheel. Good, we’ll have a straight shot towards the castle.
As the mass of changelings marshaled into a chevron formation with the scientists and queens in the center, Arya ran over to Twilight and Rainbow with the Stone of True Spirit rocking in its hovercart. “Imperial ones! I have finished preparing the rituals of supplication. We should begin at once to appease The Justicar.”
Twilight saw Riposte was doing everything in his power to keep from gagging on the reeking paint Arya had decorated him with. <You doing okay there, Riposte?>
<Never…> Tears from the bile rising stench reddened the suffering drone’s eyes. <Better, my queen.> I think I’m going to hurl if I have to speak aloud.
The royals took an instinctive step away from Riposte with Aegis and the rest of their squad giving him both a verbal ribbing and sympathy at the same time. Rainbow addressing Arya to keep from joining in. “I guess some sort of hocus pocus protection is fine, so long as we can bathe right after.”
Arya nodded in agreement, but did not avert her nose from Riposte as others were doing. “That is acceptable. The smell is to add to ones suffering, to let to Him know the penance is sincere. Gethar outlawed self-flagellation before the Huge Doom, but found this acceptable.”
Twilight cringed inwardly, but steeled herself. “How long would it take exactly?”
“The farseers knew, yes they did. With the blame of the Big Bad on your wings, and the corruption of the land into what now stands, Gethar would only be appeased by at least a decade long ritual.” The collective jaws of the local hive mind dropped at the idea, not that Arya noticed. “I’m sure Gethar would allow biweekly interruptions for refreshment, but he would demand that time to be recompensed.”
Rainbow Dash dragged her sister away from Arya. “Give us a moment, would ya, Stick Wings?” She gave Twilight a desperate frown. <Look, sis, I get that I have to be all diplomatic and whatnot because I’m a queen, but there is no bucking way I am chanting or dancing or whatever for a damn decade straight with manure all over me. I wouldn’t even make Chrysalis do that.>
<You know I’m normally one for respecting local customs,> Twilight began with a shuddering sigh at the time frame. <But I have to agree. We can’t do that. Finish preparing the expedition, I’ll talk Arya out of it.>
<Fine by me.> Rainbow separated from her sister and fired off a bright blue horn light high into the sky to summon the clockwerks, leaving Twilight to talk to Arya.
She approached the pensive Tea’la with respect and dignity. “I’m sorry, Arya, but that’s simply not possible. I’m more than willing to help tame the Chaos Lands, but performing that ritual for so long is impossible.”
Arya’s ears wilted and her branches started to tremble out of fear. “He will know of your refusal and punish us all for it. Please think twice on this you must. Lest we all die here in this lost city in time.”
“I’m sorry Arya, but we can’t do that. Maybe for a day or so, half a week at most, but ten years is far too long.”
Arya sat on her haunches and wrapped her wings around her to hide her face. “He will not relent. If you cannot or will not serve your sentence wholly, then his wrath will know no bounds.” She peered out from between her branches at the worried queen. “But my role is clear. I was chosen to be the one to aid you in the prophecy. Without your taming hoof upon the lands, we Tea’la will die, god or not.”
The entity that had been watching all along felt its patience run dry. They are so bold as to come here with one of my disciples and bear the Stone of True Spirit, but then deny proper penance?! I will suffer their sinful presence no longer.
A single ley line was pulled out of the ground and expanded rapidly to encompass the entire group of changelings and the Deception above them. It happened so fast that most were only noticing the slight blueshift in their vision a few seconds after the fact. Yet what really got their attention were the dense black stormclouds that started to materialize above their heads.
Twilight was busy trying to find out what the cause was when lightning cracked in the sky, striking the warship with enough force to fry an army. However, the vessel took the hit with only a little carbon scoring. What it did do, was grab everyone’s attention. Let them tremble at Justice’s might.
Rainbow Dash started hovering next to her sister. Her muscles were coiling for a fight. “Sis, what in Tartarus is going on?” As she spoke, rain started trickling down before quickly ramping up to a heavy downpour. “Where’d this storm come from?”
Twilight’s horn ached from the primal forces at work, and noticed some of the cartographer clockwerks were returning. The ley line must be too diluted to damage them. Twilight saw that the rain wasn’t pooling anywhere. “The water’s evaporating almost as fast as it’s falling. There’s an intelligence behind this, I bet my crown on that.”
The fur on the back of Rainbow’s neck stood up as she scanned the blue tinted sky. “Well I wish he’d stop showing off and show himself.”
As if it was waiting for the invitation, a bitter ghostly voice breathed through the air, cutting perfectly through the noise of the storm. “Children of the imperial family, your bodies have changed much since your ancestors fled these tainted lands, but you cannot hide what you are with my mark of judgment branded upon your cursed forms.” Everyone was stunned to silence by the righteous malice that dripped from every word. “You stand in the domain of the incarnation of justice itself. I am Gethar the Justicar, the ever vigilant. By my divine right, I demand to speak with both you before I mete out your sentence anew.”
The cordon of drones tightened around their queens. Rainbow bristled while Twilight looked across the various one story houses to try and find a singular point to speak towards. I don’t think pleasantries are in order here. “You say you are the spirit of Justice, I would like to know what exactly we’re being accused of!” she challenged back nearly at the top of her lungs to make sure she was heard.
Gethar did not speak for several seconds. “...A fair request.” Three large vibrant red ley lines barred the way by slowly weaving in front of the changelings. “You stand accused, bearing the sins of your ancestors, of dooming the Empire with profound hubris. Since you stand before me, it is obvious my judgement did not enact out the prolonged death I had intended.”
Rainbow scowled at the disembodied voice. “Prolonged death? What, you mean cast them out in the wild and hope the pampered nobles could survive out there?”
Gethar ignored Rainbow’s tone. Such insolence. ”No. As the royal families fled the city, leaving their people to die at the hooves of their abominable creations, I judged them with a holy curse. I would have just killed them then and there, but Sweva thought of a more fitting punishment that I was proud of until your existence proved its failure. Since they were wholly incapable of feeling love for their supposed “lessers,” I branded them so that those who were without love for others, could not survive without the love of others. Sweva and I were in agreement that it should be a slow end.” Malignant bitterness choked many of the drones into whimpering. ”Obviously it was too slow.”
“So sorry to disappoint,” Rainbow spat venomously.
<Try not to piss him off just yet, Rainbow.> “You keep saying all of this was our fault.” Twilight stared placatingly. “We know next to nothing of what happened here, only that we’re allegedly to blame.”
The very air in the whole sector of the city rumbled in unbridled rage. “I should have expected no less. You of the royal family were always quick to forget your crimes against nature and land. Your ancestors discovered a form of magic. Judging by your forms, I’m sure you know it all too well. Arcanum.” The hatred for the word alone tinted the ley lines a few shades redder. “No doubt you used that demonic art to save yourselves from my judgement.”
Rainbow’s anger was starting to eclipse her fear. I remember Sis saying that was the old word for alchemy. “And what’s wrong with wanting to improve yourself and others, huh? You keep saying our foremothers were cruel, but I think you’re twisting the real truth!”
“I am justice INCARNATE!” Gethar boomed back, rocking some drones out of the air. “I do. Not. Lie!”
Damn it, Rainbow, we need answers out of him for as long as we can. “If the practice was so evil, why didn’t anyone stop it or revolt?”
The ley lines shifted a little back towards blue. “The lies your family spread throughout the lands made them ignorant of the danger. Even the other avatars either encouraged or were indifferent towards the practice. What I saw as a cruel twist of nature was seen as just another piece of technology to the others. Lūn and Sweva approved of it especially, and look what became of her.” The changelings could almost feel a thousand condescending eyes upon them. “Or have you forgotten that too?”
Twilight ground her teeth while passing quick words of warning to her drones. “The first generation of changelings made us genetically uncaring about the past, and as such, we’ve forgotten nearly everything.”
“I still don’t get why you have to lash out on us, just because we’re of the same bloodline.” Rainbow snarled.
“How very typically of the imperial family to try and escape my justice. You haven’t changed at all.” Gethar’s voice rattled the walls and quaked the sand with its intense baritone. “It was to be the empire’s crowning achievement. The day you would alter the land and bend it to your will. But I knew the real truth. The imperial family wanted absolute control, as all rulers end up craving. They tricked my fellow avatars into helping construct a vast array to make the desert lands fertile, but I knew they were also using it to change the population as well. You need only look upon the abominations around you to see what they wrought.”
All eyes fell upon the scattered lost ones. Twilight recoiled at the idea. “No, no, that’s not possible! Alchemy is meant to strengthen and improve! Even if somepony was deranged enough to abuse it, alchemy is strictly controlled by what it can do based on the array and reagents. There’s no way it could produce so many different mutations in a whole city’s worth of ponies!”
“A child’s naivety. You know nothing of the power the Empire once possessed. Not only did your ancestors mutilate their subjects, but their true intent was made clear by what happened to the other avatars. All save for myself, Celesti, and the twins of the moon were ripped asunder by the array’s activation. Most of their life-force was used as fuel. Had I not taken what tattered remains of the other spirits and fused them together…”
Every changeling had experienced pain before, but the ageless torment Gethar was suffering was akin to an avalanche of frigid bone numbing agony to the empaths. “I know not what happened to Celesti or the twins, save that they would never recover from their wounds.”
Rainbow wanted to verbally tear into Gethar, but Twilight jumped in first. “Fused the spirits together? What do you mean?”
“Exactly that,” he replied as if it was a stupid question. “Their minds were as shattered as their forms. I only had time to save their lives, but not their sanity.”
Rainbow pushed past her sister, only to find there still wasn’t a central point to yell at. <I’m done with the history lecture, he doesn’t really care what we say.> “Look, pal, we’re here to fix the damage that was done. Shouldn’t that be enough penance?”
“There is no salve that will mend the scars of this land. However, justice can still be satisfied… With your lives. How fortuitous that you have come here on your own. Now, I have finished extolling your sins, and by ancient laws, you still bear the weight of your foremothers’ actions. Accept your sentence with dignity and there may yet be a place for you in the Silver City.”
Several additional ley lines twisted and turn through the city streets and buildings, spearing many lost ones, pulling them back into phase. The changelings were dumbstruck by the dozens of lost ones all around them suddenly coming to life. Their howls and cries for blood filled the air as Gethar’s voice echoed across the city.
“The sinner will always be consumed by her sins.”
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Aegis is best pyro.
YES KILL THEM ALL MAKE THEM PAY FOR THERE CRIMES
On a limb, I'm guessing Celesti = Celestia, and the twins of the moon = Luna and Nightmare Moon?
Cue mental image of Aegis with a blast mask on screaming incoherantly as things start to burn....
Discord, huh?
Sounds like there's a missing moon avatar somewhere out there.
Doge planty?
4.bp.blogspot.com/-GNUgyJ_dFpU/UqtC7QerhAI/AAAAAAAAKuM/PJCH7EmFcjc/s1600/doge-wow.jpg
Wish we had a pony version of this pic.
Also, Blind God of Justice, indeed! The worst possible kind: "Your ancestors, so old that you didn't even know existed, committed a horrible crime and you are to take the blame. Sucks to be you!"
Aegis is soooooo pyro!
I love her!
!
<Mmph mmph mm mmph mmph!>
- Aegis.
I'm going to take a stab and say Nightmare Moon and Luna are actually twins.
4525359
Plus, the sins of the past can not be passed to the descendant. Each sins that committed are only belongs to those who committed like the imperial family. These changelings descendant are nothing more than victim of these sins. You can't pass your sins to your son and daughter. Its like 'Hey son, I just killed a person and they demand justice for it and because I am already dead so you get the blame' 
Gethar is indeed a Blind God of Justice, he was too blind with Vengeance. He don't even look what they really are. Sure they are changelings but technically ancient thestral isn't their ancestor.
4525502
That is a western view point that falls flat on its metaphoracle face. In a lot of eastern cultures the sins of a family member are shared by the whole of the family.
So we now have the origins of Discord and the Royal Pony Sisters? Or am I jumping the gun a bit?
Celesti? Twins of the moon? Mending? Piecing spirits back together?
Boys, I think we've discovered the origin of Celestia and Luna (and Nightmare Moon)
4525331
Luna and Nightmare Moon?
4525542
Interesting..... Though my viewpoint were from 2 points. Religious and south-eastern cultures. Sins can't be passed to the descendant as they didn't commit such act. From religious viewpoint, when the descendant of the sinners are born, they will never inherited the sins of their forefather as the souls of the newborn are purer than and only their experience in life will corrupt it. From south-eastern cultures, what you did you can't pass it up to your child.
Oh no, alchemy is so evil. Oh no, natural order is the ultimate good. How dare they try anything else. I hope Gethar gets fed to this array.
Celesti and the moon twins eh?
Celestia and Luna+NMM huh kinda OP they were if they could do something like that, or maybe its not them ?
"pore"
My, my... A old-school god of justice, and one that believes in such a out-dated concept as original sin? And that employs blood-line curses just to make the suffering last even longer?
Oh, and doesn't apparently care one iota about the untold legions of innocents his making of a cursed race that needs to feed on others have hurt?
It's been far too long since I read a fic with well-deserved deicide!
RIP AND TEAR, GIRLS! FEED THE UTTER BASTARD HIS OWN ENTRAILS!
*groan*
He claims to be a god of justice, but all he is is a god of vengeance. He's called a Blind God, right? People say that justice is blind, but I would disagree. Justice metes out justice to those who deserve it. Have you sinned? You get punished. This guy wants vengeance, and he doesn't care who the victim is, so doesn't that make him a god of vengeance? What he wants is to see someone punished for some crime, and he sees the innocents that look like the sinners as the sinners themselves because they are similar.
Justice isn't blind, vengeance is... and this kind of logic and these kind of characters pisses me off
Go and fry him, Aegis. Or better yet, have Twilight rip him out of the Ley line so they can see just what sort of coward hides behind those magic-vines 
Celestia and Luna & NMM?
Discord?
EPIC CLIFFHANGER IS EPIC!
Someone thinks he is sooooo powerful with his silly heritability of sin.
I think that some 'god' is about to be smacked with modern technology. I mean the Lost Ones look dangerous but the changelings have mechs, guns and a flying battleship.
That was fun. The music definitely helped set the tone. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
troll.me/images/american-psycho/ive-had-enough-of-these-fucking-cliffhangers.jpg
I suspect the 'Avatars' were primal beings, not even alicorns, but something more mystical.
Celestia, Luna and NMM, and the composite spirit Discord all seemingly have the same origin. Though how Celestia, Luna and NMM don't remember is a bit odd, unless they are some sort of successor to the avatar's power.
Still, this Gethar has been corrupted himself. He's no longer justice, he's simply retribution. I hope Twilight manages to smack him down with logic, or barring that, they smack down the forsaken with guns... that works too. Seriously... providing the storm can't kill the ship, I imagine the lings could hold off the entire army that Gethar can bring down.
This would actually be partially repairing the damage the changeling ancestors did.
Edit: I wonder when Twilight will drop the bomb that she knows Gethar's other kin at least in some incarnation, and helped Discord find peace.
4525325
Not sure about that, but the result of the spirits is almost certainly Discord.
My theory
celisti -celsetia
the twins- Luna and Nightmare Moon
the rest were made into discord
the don't remember this cause they were severely traumatized
4525325 and the shredded remains were made into discord
I'm sorry, but right then and there I would have killed Rainbow Dash just to get her to shut the fuck up. her commentary is making the situation worse than it has to be.
By the gods, you sure love your cliffhangers...
But still a good story building chapter, can't wait for the next one.
It's really a shame that a lot of people can't appreciate story-building chapters, as they are just as important as the actiony bits.
i.imgur.com/bqvE3At.gif
4526227
I agree with this theory and came close to it myself
This would Discord make as strong as many spirits though, so what are the elements of harmony?
4526296 that actually makes a lot of sense
Well, this is awkward: the being responsible for creating the changeling race now wants to kill them.
Looks like the heavy weaponry is going to be really getting a test here if Twilight can't convince Gethar to chill out.
lh6.googleusercontent.com/-jIzIMcPOyRU/U5cswEIZj3I/AAAAAAAAAcU/ALEa-Tmchts/s265-no/such-wisdom-much-intelligent-DOGE.jpg
.
Should be "protection".
This isn't right, there are some missing words here.
Deranred, with a D.
This Gethar fellow, who claims to be the embodiment of justice, has a few things to learn about justice. A child is not culpable for their parents' mistakes - what he's doing is judging/punishing innocent beings for the sins of others. That's not justice.
I have a feeling that Twilight and Rainbow being originally ponies will be an important point to bring up to Gethar.
4526440
That's a good point. So an argument can be made that they're technically not originally of the imperial bloodline, thus not guilty of the old transgressions (even if you accept that the sins are carried via the bloodline). Makes me wonder if Gethar would still consider them guilty even though Twilight and Rainbow are effectively "just" adopted.
So celesti is celestia, the 2 moon goddesses got smooshed into Luna, and the rest all got smooshed together to make discord. Interesting
Interesting and hope that the Cliffhanger 9001 brought to us by Acme Co will not be here for long.
4526440 4526459 I sincerely doubt their being ponies would make any difference whatsoever. Once they became changeling queens, they inherited the "sins" regardless of blood lineage. They are related semantically, and that is enough. Also, don't forget that alchemy, a major part of the "sin" he accuses them of, is what turned them into changelings in the first place. Not to mention they themselves have been messing with alchemy to make their hives. Thus, they are guilty even without the sins of the past added on. No matter what they can say or do in their defense, they can't change the fact that they are, in fact, guilty as charged. Ignorance of one's own wrongdoing has never been a suitable excuse for anything. The sentence, though excessive according to our standards, is, unfortunately, a completely just one in that context.
The title "blind god of justice" doesn't really suit him; he's more of a "god of blind justice".
Pretty interesting origin being hinted at for Celestia, Luna, and Discord, and potentially for the pony races as a whole (to take the possibilities a bit further).
4526903 Two things. First, because they were born ponies, and alchemy turned them into changelings, I think it's logical to equate them with the lost ones, whom Gethar doesn't seem to hold a grudge against. You might say they're another result of the "sin" of the imperial family, which should make them semantically free from the lack of justice.
Two: Justice is a balance of things, fairness, etc. It simply isn't possible to hold an innocent being responsible for another being's transgressions and still be just. That's not justice, it's evil. It's a "sin" unto itself.
4526945 The problem with that argument is that it uses mortals' logic. His standards rely on immortals' logic, which is not the same.
Well, it makes sense that there would be two moon deities in a more primitive culture provided they had a way of knowing of the shadowed side of the moon. Two deities, one light and one dark. One of the night in general and the other of dreams.
My guess is that Lūn is the one represented by the 'face' or light side of the moon while Sweva has claim to the dark side of the moon as her domain was dreams.
So Discord is a fusion deity made of at least 9 other deities, 10 if you count individual horns on Discord as different divine components.
Wow. I think if they told him that Celestia is fine and she is friends with her, he would be more forgiving. Maybe. He seems to care for her somewhat.
4527002
Sorry, buster, but you can't make that argument, being a mortal yourself. I'm with Webster on this one.
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This has got to be the worst chapter of this entire fic; all of the others were fine, but this one is some kind of crap. First of all, the temporal anomalies weren't well explained. They're trapped in time, but dead... wat? But then they can be revived for half-a-minute at times with enough energy input? WAT? Better that the author should have had them removed from the normal time flow such that their time was slowed down relative to the rest of the time-flow. And NONE of that would explain how the Lost Ones return to the normal flow of time almost at will.
So, I propose that the local area has had time slowed down to such an extent that only hundredths of a second have passed since the start of the incident, compared to the thousands of years that have occurred outside the affected area. At times, fluctuations return small pockets to normal time, allowing movement, before sealing up again. From the view of the past, these fluctuations would result in the Lost Ones blinking in and out of existence, while from the view of the present, they would go from statues to living monsters. Presumably, the ability to pass through the Lost Ones and thestrals is caused by them not actually being there in the present time, only existing as visuals until they are returned to the present. I don't think that the objects should return to their previous locations; but, it could just be some correction on the part of the temporal flow of the area.
Gethar the Justicar is.... God, that thing is just stupid. The logic it is using is heavily flawed, as previously pointed out by other commenters. That it views alchemy as something that isn't technology/knowledge/chemistry is ridiculous and paranoid, as well as dated. If it is a creature of justice, then it should understand that justice changes depending upon the society and time period. As an avatar of justice, it would thus change to suit this, wouldn't it? Otherwise, it would be replaced by a new avatar of justice, that actually does its duty and keeps in touch with modern law and definitions. You might as well have just had some Dark Entity From The Past appear out of nowhere and start slaughtering them, because that would have made more sense than the stupid Justicar creature.
Oh, WAIT. Gethar is capable of freeing the Lost Ones from the flow of time, not them. So, he's also capable of releasing the citizens from their entrapment. But he doesn't, because he's one of those dumb villains whose only point of existence is being evil and outdated. God. Please, Rewrite this whole chapter.
This chapter was almost as bad as the whole kilometer-long ship built in seven years fiasco. :P As before: PLEASE put more thought into this sort of thing.
...Well, aside from the Discord theory (the statues in the temple being of separate deities, but all components of Discord). That I must applaud you on. Very clever.
I think the reason the whole thing went wrong is that Gethar interfered with the array, and Gethar doesn't realize he's the cause of it all going wrong and destroying everything.
4527451
Did you really read the whole paragraph on Gethar and miss this? No, you couldn't have missed it, you quoted it....
As for the other stuff....I'll admit that I forgot much since I last read this fic, but that doesn't change the fact that the temporal phenomena make no sense whatsoever. Why is an Avatar of Justice controlling the Ley Lines? What the hell?
Also, go read Twilight's Inferno. Seems like it would be right up your alley.
How typical...
Pagan false god still holding the ORIGINAL CRIMINALS responsible and this gigantic asshole is holding Twilight, Dashie, and their hives responsible for whatever the Original Criminals have done. Yeah this guy truly is a BLIND god of "Justice". Hey Gethar the Justicar god of Blind Justice, DID YA KNOW YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE BLIND? Did ya know justice doesn't discriminate? Ohh but of course you do...
Twilight, Dashie, I hope you and your hives rip this guy a new asshole. Gethar should have stayed blind like justice but now that he has opened his eyes he is clearly angered and out for vengeance. Justice is blind for a reason Gethar though it seems you may have never known that. Oh well, your thirst for vengeance will be your downfall.
Kill off this trash already Twi. Buck this false god a thousand times in his balls for me Dashie.
SO LOVING THIS STORY!!