Chapter 20: Amber
"Your delay will not bring rescue. The royal guard all perished."
"Against my wishes," he grumbled. "I ordered them to surrender to you. But they haven't listened to me since Equestria..." He sighed, straightening in bed. "I offer you an exchange. I will disable the defenses of this tower for twenty minutes. You will let the apprentices and slaves leave. I will remain in this bed, and employ none of my magic to defend myself. You may come and execute me, and nopony else needs to die."
There was a little debate in the crowd—but not much. The mob was already bloody, maybe near the end of its own endurance. After all, the wizard's tower was an afterthought. Eventually, they agreed. A handful of remaining apprentices and scribes were led away from the tower, and a dozen or so of the best-armed rebels made their way upstairs. They did a little damage, breaking a few things that Bit had later disposed of. But mostly, they kept to their purpose.
Bit watched as they marched into the wizard's room. His magic could've turned them to dust, but he just lay there, watching the bloody stallion line up his soldiers.
"You deserve this," he said. "But you knew when to surrender—that's more than we can say for your family."
The Wizard might not be infallible—but he was unmoving in the face of death. He only nodded. "I have a favor to ask," he said. "I cannot force you. But it would mean very much to me if you would shut the door to my lab when you're finished here. One day the revolution will finish destroying evil and need to rebuild. You will find my research waiting for you. For the sake of your children and their children, leave this tower alone. Wait until you have your own wizards and your own crystalsmiths to dismantle it."
"I promise nothing," their leader said. "Ponies, take aim!" They did. Then they fired, emptying whole magazines into the bed. Bit watched every shot, though it probably would've taken only one to kill the old wizard. His broken body slumped forward, seeping blood into the bed.
A bat pony near the far way started tearing down paintings—but their leader stopped him, resting one hoof on his shoulder. "No, son. Justice is served. We need to get downstairs before the defenses come back. Come on."
They left. Bit shut off the recording, and cried a little more. I could've known everything from the second I got the power back on. Why didn't I look?
She had to do something about his remains. Bit rose, returning to the stripped and cleaned bedroom. Her old self had seen the aftermath already, but not understood. Did his remains belong in the crypt, with the family who had rejected him? Or was there somewhere more fitting?
In the end, Bit could resolve only to return all the bones and old cloth to a single storage box, packed tightly now. She levitated them one piece at a time, as though she were rebuilding the dead with each piece. But Crimson wasn't made of crystal. Once broken, she couldn't put these pieces back together. Life was different from death, somehow. These parts were now incomplete.
Bit took the remains down to the vaults, down so low that the ground grew warm under her hooves. Down where the tunnels bent in strange directions, and ceilings were way too high. Old Zircon remained in bits and pieces down here. Even the Wizard hadn't understood the decisions their ancestors made.
But it didn't matter now. "I will find somewhere more fitting for you, Wizard," she told it, when she had found a crystal chamber without signs of mildew or rotting relics. "Would you have liked a garden? You never cared much for living things." In a way, the lab was probably the best place to keep him. That was what Crimson had cared about, not crypts and gardens. But the thought of that horrified her, for reasons she could not understand. "Others will not find you here, but I won't forget. I'll be back."
Was there some reason to be talking to a box full of bones? She reached, straining for what could possibly motivate such absurd behavior. She did not advance any goal. Pathfinder might emerge from the polishing machine early, and the automaton would not be able to reach her. Yet still she waited, staring at an old box in the ruins of a city long forgotten.
What do I do now? There would be no returning for the old Wizard. No service to his desires would ever entice him to return. She would never see his approving smile ever again.
I knew I would not survive to see this moment. I hope you can imagine the joy I feel to know that you've woken up at last, and achieved all our ambitions.
He hadn't been able to prevent his death, or the fall of Zircon. From the sadness in his voice, maybe he even agreed with the revolution. Crimson had certainly known his father's atrocities well enough to know why the ponies of Zircon might hate him. But through all that, he had left her a message, with one last instruction.
She didn't have to follow them anymore. She didn't have to do anything her master wanted. She could walk away into the twisting maze under Zircon and no living creature would ever find her.
But she didn't want to. Pathfinder was still upstairs, and winter was still coming. Did Crimson's death change anything?
Bit ascended from the vaults to the sound of a security alarm. Somepony was at the door, asking for her. She hurried through the basement to a console, and found several engineers waiting for her, along with Keen. "I was beginning to worry," Keen said, as soon as she switched on the camera. "Is something wrong, Wizard? You appear distraught."
More than you can imagine. "I no longer require your help finding me a historian to tell me about Prince Crimson," she said flatly. "I found what happened to him."
"Oh." Keen barely reacted to the news. For him it was just another fact. But she couldn't blame him for that—he hadn't even been alive back then. And even if Crimson hadn't been executed, he wouldn't still be around. Ponies didn't live long enough.
That's why he gave me this mission. I'm supposed to change that. "You're ready for the tour?" she asked. "I do need to be back here by afternoon, to see to my patient. But I can go with you now."
"We're ready," he said. "Thank you, Wizard. I'm sorry for your loss—I have no idea what you discovered, but given the years I know your friend must be dead. Your continued service will save lives."
She spent the next several hours doing exactly what he said she would, inspecting one of the other relay stations. Compared to the station she'd repaired, this one was in far better shape—but she already knew that, from the consultations she'd had with some of these same engineers over the last week.
But not everything about being closer to working was a good thing. Enough of the station was still connected that past engineers could get into trouble, sorting things out and damaging systems that were dormant in a fully defunct station.
Bit couldn't forget what she had learned, but she tried to put it out of her mind anyway. So long as she was focusing on her work, that came very easily. The present was what mattered. She made her new list as she went, and this time it took only two pages. She couldn't spend days straight breaking down how to solve each one, as she had the last time.
She no longer had “forever” to get things done. Winter would be here in two months. Every one of the engineers she met was some level of "frantic" for what would happen when it arrived. The Union reserve of fuel was empty.
She memorized the list, then gave it to Keen before she left him at the tower steps. "I suggest focusing on obtaining the spare parts we need from this list. I have technical manuals in the vaults beneath the tower that may be useful. I can say with some confidence that I will not be able to get the station running on my own."
"You won't have to do it alone," Keen said. "I don't know how much the labor secretary needs you, but my entire department is devoted to this task. Every other avenue we have explored has either failed or relies on its success. If the secretary allows it, I could bring you on full time, to direct the engineers. My department has resources—only the union of farmers and union of soldiers have more. For... obvious reasons."
He looked away, staring down intently at her list. "Having a pony who knows how the station is supposed to work is already far more than we have had before. With your help, the stations might not have failed in the first place."
Keen gestured to his usual soldier escort. They retreated to the gate, giving the two of them a little privacy. "I have been nothing but forthright with you, Wizard. Please tell me—why have you been hiding all this time? Why help now, but not before? Did you fear how ponies would respond to your... nature?"
I was cleaning windows for a long-dead wizard. But he wouldn't understand that. Maybe Pathfinder could—she would soon find out. But Keen never could. "I barely even knew ponies were alive outside the tower," she eventually said. "I didn't know how hard things were, or how to help."
The unicorn stared back at her, expression unreadable. "You sound sincere, Wizard. Yet your answer seems impossible. I do not know how to reconcile the two."
She closed the distance between them in a blink, glaring up into those glasses. "When I started, Keen, I didn't understand ponies could be dead. I put the corpse of a pony I loved into a box in the closet because I thought his bones were a new kind of automaton."
She turned her back on him, levitating the doors open in a bang of magic. "My help would have been no use to you, or anypony else." She marched through without looking back, slamming them closed behind her.
Only then did she realize what she'd just done. Bit stopped in the hallway. She reached up, touching one hoof against her horn. She could still feel the magic radiating from it, even though her brief use of levitation was over.
"I just..." She touched it carefully, half expecting to find the crystal there cracking from magical feedback. But there was no damage. I did it upstairs too. That wasn't the first time.
King Zircon stormed past her down the stairs, trailed by the royal retenue. His motorcar waited on the steps just outside, surrounded by more servants. "You're insane, child! This entire venture is a waste of your time! You cannot bring life to a machine! Every day you squander yourself is a loss for all of Zircon!"
The Wizard stumbled into the open doorway, reaching vainly after him. Bit was frozen, watching helplessly. She hadn't understood what she was seeing, like so much her master did. "How can you ignore my research, father? Look at her! Bit is the future! Zircon will have magic greater than anything Equestria could imagine! Let them keep their alicorns, we will find our own immortality!"
King Zircon stopped near his carriage, horn cracking with magic. He was so clumsy and undisciplined he couldn't even control his anger. "Then tell her to lift a teacup. Prove me wrong."
He slammed the door shut, and rode off into an empty winter morning.
"Did I do something wrong?" Bit mouthed. "I didn't spill, did I?"
"No." He touched her once on the cheek with a hoof, then slunk back towards the stairs. "We're not getting the grant, Bit. It isn't you, it's me. I'm the one who failed."
Bit's horn glowed. Not bright enough for old King Zircon, maybe. But bright enough for her.
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Well I see Bit is becoming more alive bit by bit, pun intended. It helps me not bawl like a baby at just how much I want to give Bit hugs as being very empathetic is a double-edged sword.
i wonder how long sombra will tolerate her, he certainly needs her for repairs, but she already becoming a symbol other ponies could rally around, the wizard who can save the city, more so then the hero of the revolution
I certainly remember you saying that she couldn't use magic.
So, i was very confused when you said she levitated things.
I was going to comment on this, but thankfully, you explained it in the end.
Well, sort of.
Did wizard even made her capable of magic, but she couldn't use it?
Or she didn't have such ability in the first place?
I cannot understand last paragraphs.
10771122
Bit mixes up a flashback from the past - with the realisation, that she's doing more than 'just lifting a teacup' - She's doing unicorn magic, something she didn't use to be capable of.
And Bit doesn’t just progress, she becomes aware of that progress. A very big step indeed... and a necessary one given what she’ll have to face down the line. The coming winter, Sombra, Pathfinder, her own grief...
Suffice to say, her schedule is very full.
Bit continues to grow. 😘Her emotive capacity is rapidly expanding, but just as with any budding intelligence needs guidance. Let's hope Pathfinder is up to the task of surrogate fatherhood...
i was wondering when she realize it ^^
Bit and Trixy would make great friends.
I had to unlike and relike in order to be the 420th like. But also I enjoy the evolution of bit's sapience, and intrigued by the glimpses of history.
She's fully committed to restoring Zircon. There's still the matter of presenting Pathfinder to the people but it should be clear-sailing from there. Though, we still have the issue of Sombra.
New ability unlocked: Memento Mori
10771657
I mean, that's kind of the opposite of her purpose. With her they don't have to.
brave crimson maybe bit will make a crystal garden a first of it kind but I wonder if the students and assistances even made it once crimson paid the price for there safety did they live? did they die later thanks to "justice" mob?
another explanation for those important workers whom had the knowledge and experience those ponies being gone a vital key to keeping the city running smoothly either where stolen by Equastria or maybe there where some "avengers" like that bat pony doing more work even if "justice" had won.
Welp. Sensible, at least.
Well, all the fleshy bits are missing, for one thing. They're kind of important. I'd even say, 'vital'
Keen's a good guy. Pragmatic, but without losing his tact.
I dunno, making the power stations fail to disable the castle defenses seems to have been a very deliberate act during the revolution. They just had no idea of the further consequences.
Hol' up there
Neat
10771122
From Starscribe in the #spoilers channel of his Discord server, in response to a question about last week's chapter:
It's not that Bit couldn't use her horn. Bit knows that things that are not alive cannot use magic.
And she used to believe she was not alive.
So she believed she could not use magic.
And thus Bit toiled, for Zicron, for her old master. To prove to herself she's just much as alive as anypony else. Learn to grow, learn to love her 'father', her friends. And soon she'll learn to love the people around her to save them. And thus Bit will take the name Amore and spearhead Zicron into a frozen empire
After all, the wizard's tower was an afterthought.
That's hideous.
Nice to see Crimson again playing their own blood thirsty need for revenge on them.
He doesn't retort to 'you deserve this' when they're about to murder him for having to suffer under an a-hole father.
Justice is served.
0-0 You call that justice?!
A bat pony
What is a thestral doing here?
Keep Crimson's bones safe from these madmen.
Ponies didn't live long enough.
Granny Smith, "Says you."
An army that fights nothing except its own citizens.
bones were a new kind of automaton."
I thought she thought they were rocks.
levitating the doors open in a bang of magic.
She's alive now.
"I didn't spill, did I?"
???
Interesting. She had been an Earth pony, but her crystal body's horn is fully functional after all.
10846384
You underestimate how unreasonable people that are oppressed can be. In the past most royal families were killed. Even the children weren’t spared.