Unspoken Lands

by Nanrite

Chapter 2: Lily Spring

Velvet stared down at the waiting room floor in a mix of confusion and dread—that wounded pegasus was Lily Spring, a pony who she hadn't seen for years. The last time they had spoken was when Velvet retired from the Explorer's Guild of Canterlot—Velvet had promoted her to Guildmaster—with Shining Armor growing up so quickly and Twilight on the way she realized her adventuring days were over. A ping of regret burned through her mind like wildfire—what if Lily wasn't ready to be Guildmaster? What if she was the reason Lily got hurt? Lost in her thoughts and fears, she didn't hear nurse Red Heart return to give them the verdict.
"How is she?" Velvet asked in a distant tone.

"Her injuries were very dire; she'll... she'll recover but... she lost the injured wing," Red Heart said faintly, her head lowering in defeat. The group of ponies exchanged glances but nothing was said. "Does anypony know her name? Her cutie mark is a lily-pad and a pegasus wi-"

"Her name is Lily Spring," Velvet interjected. Everypony suddenly turned to her with a collective look of confusion. Velvet turned only to Twilight to reply: "She is one of your mom's old co-workers."

"Wait... the Explorer’s Guild?" Night Light asked abruptly. Twilight looked at them both, clearly lost.

Velvet nodded. "Nurse Red Heart, may I speak with her alone when she recovers?" Red Heart took a step back in shock.

"I'm afraid she might be out for some time, Mrs. Velvet," Red Heart answered. Velvet just looked away and went back to her thoughts.
Twilight gave her mother a look of confusion, as if she was seeing another pony entirely—never before had her mother acted in such a way. The princess got up and trotted slowly over to Velvet. "Mom?" she asked.

"Yes dear?" Velvet replied in a distant tone.

"Is... Is everything alright?" Twilight asked directly. Velvet turned away, wanting so badly not to lie.

A week had passed since since Lily Spring had been taken into Ponyville Hospital. Word had spread quickly about a badly-wounded pegasus spotted at Princess Twilight's castle, but only rumors of what had happened were known. Some ponies said it was a rabid animal in the forest that caused her injuries, others said she had simply been flying too fast. Only Lily knew the truth.

"Hey Lily," Velvet said, trying to be as comforting as possible.

"Hey Twi," Lily replied with a half smile. Velvet was taken aback by the name. She hadn't been called that since she had given the name to her daughter. "Long time no see... how's the baby?"

"She's fully grown. Her name is Twilight Sparkle. When you recover I can take you to meet her," Velvet said with a chuckle.
Lily gave a half-hearted laugh. "Have I really been gone that long?" she asked.
Velvet was silent. After she and Night had left the hospital that first night and returned to Canterlot, Velvet paid the Guild a visit. She had found out that Lily had taken a team of four, including herself, out to investigate a site in the Everfree Forest almost a year ago and were never seen again, until now.

"The doctor's told me I lost my right wing," Lily began. Velvet could see tears begin to form in her eyes. "I can still... I can still feel it."

"I'm so sorry Lily," Velvet replied, but her words weren't enough. She knew that.

"I guess I was lucky," Lily stated, turning over, away from Velvet.
Velvet didn't reply, and her feeling of helplessness began to grow. After a long moment of silence, she finally spoke: "What happened, Lily?"
Lily Spring slowly turned back over and looked her old friend dead in the eyes. "There is a land in the Everfree, one ponies like us were never meant to go. We searched the Everfree until we found a cave. It wasn't marked on our maps so we went in. It went down so deep until..."

"Until what?" Velvet asked.

"Until we saw a light... I can't explain it, but when we exited the cave, we were on this cliff-side above some open plains. We saw this small temple off in the distance and decided to set up camp there and begin our exploration at dawn the following day." Lily took a deep breath and waited for a moment before continuing. "When night fell, we started hearing noises out in the distance but when we looked outside we saw nothing. Still, our unicorn translator decided it best for us to put up a magic barrier while we slept. The next morning she was gone."

A chill went up Velvet's spine.

"We thought she had just wandered off to get a head start on exploring this new area, but something told me that wasn't it—she wasn't a rash pony. We set out to look for her, but...it didn't take long. We found her atop the temple we were sleeping in. We had managed to get her down but... she was gone. Her horn had been sawed off and... and somepony had made a brand over her cutie mark... they tortured her, Velvet."

Velvet began to feel a bit sick as her mind flooded with images of this poor unicorn.

"I wanted to turn around and go back, but my team wanted to find the ponies responsible for her death—not to mention the bits involved for mapping a new section of Equestria—so we stayed. We were exploring a canyon when the stallion carrying our equipment dropped. I heard a scream... and then... nothing. I woke up in chains in a dark room. My team was nowhere to be seen."

Velvet looked at her and put a hoof on her shoulder. "You don't have t-"

"I need to tell somepony!" Lily interrupted. "I tried to stay up to catch a look at our attackers but I never saw them. I'd pass out, and when I would wake up a tray of food would be there waiting for me... This is how it happened for... for so long... I learned to ration out the food to last me the day. That was until about a week or so ago." Lily looked away, memories of what happened returning to her. "These tall, masked ponies in cloaks came as I awoke one day. After such a long time of waking up to nothing but food, I wasn't ready to defend myself from them. One kicked me in the side, knocking the wind clean out of me. Then they unlocked my chains and dragged me into a room where... where they..." Lily reached around to the many bandages covering where her right wing should be.

"How did you escape?" Velvet asked, understanding her friend’s hesitance
Lily looked back to her. "I don't know," she stated coldly. "I passed out during their torture... and when I woke back up I... I was in the Everfree."

Velvet was silent, trying to find any words to help her friend, but after hearing such a tale, there were no words to be found.
The door to Lily's room suddenly opened and nurse Red Heart trotted in. "I'm sorry Mrs. Velvet, but visiting hours are over."

Velvet turned to Lily once more. She was staring out the window blankly. Velvet knew she couldn't ask anything more; Lily had been through enough.

That night Velvet lay staring up at the ceiling of her bedroom in Canterlot. Lily's story kept replaying in her head. She imagined the cold body of that poor unicorn on display atop their temple. She imagined Lily being held prisoner for a year in some dark room with nopony to talk or keep her company. Then images of her friend being tortured began to fill her thoughts. Velvet turned in her bed and adjusted her pillow trying so desperately to just fall asleep, but as the images faded, they were replaced by endless questions. What was that place? Why had those ponies killed one of Lily's team? Why did they do those horrible things to her? Who were they? Velvet didn't have the answers.