Twilight Over Thanalan

by tom117z

25 - Black Steel

Following the end of her battle with Y’shtola, Y’sanna did not have a good time. There was the burning pain of her injuries, yes, but it was made so, so much worse when combined with the infinitely more painful sting of another defeat at the harpy’s hands. She had been forced to carry both pains with her as she sought out the rally point, secluded and far removed from the sightlines of the Eorzeans so she could await extraction. The imperial medicus’ who had met her had done his level best to tend her wounds, but the pain lingered.

The airship ride had felt longer than it was. With no portholes in the dark steel of an imperial transport, she had no reliable means of tracking the passage of the world outside. All she had to go off of was the occasional rattling of the hull and the incessant ticking of her own thoughts, neither of which were particularly useful measurements of time. She could have been sitting back there for hours or days and she’d be none the wiser.

A small, paranoid voice in the back of her head jeered at her that she would be back here for days, left to starve and rot in metallic isolation for her failure. Or that her superiors would see fit to have her ejected out of the back of the airship over the waters of Lake Silvertear. Sure, they got the alicorn. But the Ascian had made off with that particular target. She was quick to dismiss any notions of her dismissal, however. Gaius would never stand for such a thing, she told herself. I’m too useful.

Then again, it wasn’t Lord van Baelsar’s approval she had to worry about…

Thankfully, it appeared the pilot had no intentions of covert ‘disposal.’ After what felt like an eternity, the man’s voice echoed, tinny and laced with static, over the airship’s speaker system. “We’re coming up on the Castrum now, ma’am,” he said.

Y’sanna nodded. “Good.” She lowered her hand to her carbuncle, the creature having refused to be dismissed ever since she made it onto the airship. Its chin rested comfortably in her lap, its eyes closed. She gave the resting familiar a few idle pets between its ears, and she heard a content chittering in response.

The engines of the airship thrummed louder, and the hull creaked and groaned. Y’sanna sighed before nudging her carbuncle off her lap and standing up. She braced herself, one hand taking hold of a support handle as the airship landed. The floor lurched beneath her with an echoing clang, and a lance of fiery pain shot up her leg, a reminder that she was still far from her best. She clenched her teeth, taking advantage of her isolation to freely release a hiss of pain.

A clank and a grind later, and Y’sanna descended the ramp of the airship. Blackened skies tinted with blue smog over the dark steel of Castrum Meridianum. The stench of ceruleum and machine oil hung thick in the air, joined by the ever-present clanking of armoured footsteps sprinting this way and that. Even at this late hour, the empire’s soldiers were hard at work.

A tall man in the garb of an imperial officer awaited her farther down the landing platform. He approached, his head held high. By his posture and the self-assured swagger of his stride, she knew he was a pureblooded garlean. He came to a stop not far from her, his hands folding behind his back. “Y’sanna rem Extorris. Nero tol Scaeva awaits your report at the central keep’s landing platform. Do not keep him waiting.”

His tone was all contempt and condemnation. But Y’sanna did not say a word. She knew if she opened her mouth, even with the intent to recognize the instruction, she’d likely only let slip a scathing remark that would cause more drama than it would be worth. She merely took a deep breath, threw a swift salute, and went on her way.

The walk through the metal highways of the castrum was long and uneventful, but far from peaceful. The soldiers were doing more than routine maintenance, she soon realized. The magitek armaments were being prepared and tuned up for battle. The soldiers were performing last-minute drills or having stations assigned to them. The skies were alight with far more warships than usual. Are the tribunes preparing for the final push? Y’sanna wondered. The Ultima Weapon had been close to ready when she had been deployed with Scarmiglione…

Such questions were pushed from her mind when she stepped into the Castrum’s central keep. Several checkpoints of laser security and keycodes later, she passed through sliding metal doors and out onto another landing pad, this one far larger, and host to another string of airships. Up ahead, sure enough, was Nero. He stood on an elevated platform, overseeing the transport of a string of cargo crates being wheeled out of airships she did not recognize. Y’sanna frowned. The markings on those crates mark them as from the Ala Mhigan province… she realized. What was Nero doing with a shipment from that sandy backwater?

She shook the musings from her mind. She had far more pressing concerns to focus on. Namely, Nero, who at present seemed far more interested in his cargo manifest than acknowledging her presence.

“Yes yes, very good…” Nero drolled to a group of conscripts dragging a heavy load from the supply vessel. “Do give my thanks to the Crown Prince, won’t you? If the little monster even cares to hear it.”

“O-of course, sir!”

Nero gave an impatient huff. “Did I say you could speak? These marvels of science await no one and I won’t be wasting time on further pleasantries. Chop chop! Discoveries need to be made and our new guest is languishing when she could be contributing to my- the Empire’s glory!”

The conscripts doubled their pace at that, even seemingly near to collapse as they were. All knew the man’s fickle impatience all too well. Y’sanna would be more inclined to scoff at them if she wasn’t already on dreadfully thin ice. Something that was all the more apparent when she finally saw Scaeva afford her the briefest of side glances.

“Ah, and speaking of languishing… You return, and the pony has arrived ahead of you. In that respect, I have to admit that I am pleasantly surprised and impressed. You achieved your primary objective. So well done for that, I suppose.”

Y’sanna felt a weight immediately fall away from her chest, letting out a breath she’d kept bottled within for hours. Praise was the least she had expected…

“Of course, it was the ascian that made the delivery.”

And there was that weight again.

“It was the quickest method of extraction,” she explained. “The teleportation magicks of a paragon are typically superior to aetheryte travel. Besides that, the alicorn was wounded. She needed treatment, and there was still a battle to be fought.”

“Oh, I quite agree,” Nero conceded. “That you managed to get one of their ilk into, how do they say, ‘playing ball’ was quite a feat in of itself. Even with his unique interests in the matter. Besides, I have glanced at the report you transmitted ahead of your arrival. A plan well executed in all respects…”

He finally looked directly at her, and his expression almost seemed… amused.

“...Almost all respects. After such a solid showing it is a shame that you then had to get yourself trounced by a stick-wielding savage. Again.”

“Bollocks!” Y’sanna blurted out suddenly, something about that smirk acting as a knife in a boil. “Savage, perhaps, but the Scion is far more powerful than any of us expected, wielding magic that one of her persuasion would ordinarily have no business wielding!”

“All I hear are excuses,” Nero retorted in an almost playful manner, unphased by the sudden fire in her posture. “Now, I realize cats do like to play with their prey, but perhaps you should heed the example of your garlean betters and apply the more practical approach of being done with it.”

“I do no play! She was mine! In my grasp, if that intruder hadn’t… Bah! I still got you your pretty little pony, so what do you have to complain about!?”

“Careful, do remember your position compared to mine, Pilus,” Nero chided, his amusement not fading. “But yes, there is truth to that. One magic crystal, and now its former owner, both at my beck and call and ready for all I have planned. Yes, we are finally underway. And with the Ultima Weapon primed and ready, why, I expect at least two holidays named in my honour!”

Y’sanna clenched her fist, before feeling a gentle presence between her feet as her carbuncle nuzzled the side of her ankles. She felt some of the tension in her body bleed away at its pleading, letting out a breath as a semblance of calm returned.

“...And what does Lord Gaius have to say?” she asked him.

“About Ultima? Enough praise to suffice, but he is ever a hard man to please. About the pony? Very little, as we have yet to produce the results required to bring it to his attention. Speaking of which…”

Nero took a step forward, descending from his platform and approaching Y’sanna with an expectant and almost anticipating look in his eyes.

“If the savage truly is too much for you, then I see this as an opportunity.”

“Excuse me?”

“You are too weak to stand against the Scion, that much is plain. And yet here I am, now with the resources necessary to rectify that little inconvenience.”

Y’sanna frowned, taking a suspicious step away from the garlean. An uncomfortable feeling began to creep into the base of her skull. “What do you mean? What are you asking of me?”

“You mean, what am I asking to do for you?” he responded, and Y’sanna watched his hand vanish into a pouch in search of something.

What was brought forth was the now familiar visage of a six-pointed lavender star, the crystal shimmering defiantly in his grasp.

“The crystal…?”

“Quite,” Nero confirmed. “The raw aether imbued within this ‘Element’ is nothing short of miraculous. It far exceeds the trinkets the beasts take to using. And its properties are… Well, suffice it to say we’ve gone through more than a few devices analyzing it. Bloody expensive ones at that, but it was worth the results! It is quite unlike the magicks of our star in many respects, yet so similar at the same time.”

Y’sanna frowned deeper. “That was the hope behind it. It is an artefact from another world, as I understand it. But what does any of this have to do with me? Or the harpy?”

Nero almost looked disappointed at her matter-of-fact approach. “Well, you may have noticed our newest shipment from Ala Mhigo, courtesy of one Aulus mal Asina. It’s heavily in the prototype stages, some theory about transplanting souls or taking the echo from an unwitting savage or two. But then I had a thought… if this ‘Element of Magic’ can lend its strength to our resident princess, as Scarmiglione tells it, then surely we Garleans would be more than worthy of the same treatment?”

Y’sanna eyed the Element. Her ears flattened back. The crystal’s defiance was all but tangible to her arcane senses. She flicked her eyes sceptically back to Nero. “I’m not sure that thing agrees.”

“Alas, not. However…”

“However…” Y’sanna continued. “You think Asina’s theory regarding transplantation might be applied to the Element.”

Nero grinned. “The good doctor’s theory is all but useless when applied to your typical matters of aether, of which we garleans are tragically lacking. But with the crystal here? Imagine it, Pilus… A new generation of garleans with the ability to utilize aether at last, an ability born of my genius, magics from a world afar from our own, and with the potency of a practical goddess! A match for Ms. Sparkle and more… The power to move the heavens themselves! Think of the possibilities! And combine that with further magitek innovations in the mix…”

Y’sanna nodded along, getting the idea. “In short, goodbye to all primals everywhere. Garlemald reigns supreme and the Emperor's mission is complete.”

“Yes, that too. But mostly, I’ll be remembered as the hero to herald it all in,” Nero cheerfully replied. “And Garland will be a footnote forevermore, as it should be.”

“And the alicorn? Where does my latest acquisition fit into this?”

“Her expertise for one, if she can be convinced to share,” the man noted. “And beyond that, well, a live specimen to study will certainly help with understanding the exact nature of this new magic. As will you…”

Y’sanna crossed her arms, her eyes closing in deep thought. She knew exactly where this was going, and she had to admit to the temptation, and yet…

“...As will I when you use me as the lab rat. To make sure it works before you try it on any garlean of pure birth.”

“Naturally.”

Y’sanna grit her teeth behind her lips. The number of risks involved in such a procedure was more than she could count, doubly so since they were dealing with something so far removed from their sphere of experience. If something went wrong, it would almost certainly end in her death, or some other disability that she would never be rid of. If that happened, then everything she had worked for, all of her years of labour and grovelling at the feet of those who were not objectively any better than her would have been for nothing. A corpse cannot rule a province, after all.

But at the same time… What progress had she made thus far, really? Nero hadn’t been far off from the mark, earlier. Y’sanna was weak. Or at least, she was not strong enough. Not on her own, at least. And in this army of supremacists and self-interested conscripts, she had struggled and bled just for the tiny scraps of respect and recognition she had now. And even then, she could mostly attribute that to Lord Gaius’ benevolence over anything else.

She was coming up against her limit, and she knew it. If this treatment could help her break it, would it not be worth the risks…?

“I have to be stronger,” she thought, her brow furrowing. “I have to be strong enough to see this through… This land won’t survive Garlean rule without me to steer it right.”

“Well? What say you, Y’sanna?” Nero pressed after her lengthy silence. “If you’re not interested, I can always make the offer to some other conscript-”

“I’ll do it,” Y’sanna cut him off, snapping open her eyes and meeting his. “I’ll not be looked down on. Not by anyone. Not anymore.”

Nero’s face lit up with a sickening grin. “Aaah, that’s the spirit!” he said, stuffing the Element back into his pocket. He clapped his hands together. “Come, then! Let’s see our shipment back up to the Praetorium. We have much to prepare and precious little time to make it work!”

Y’sanna fell into step beside Nero. Her eyes wandered up to the Praetorium looming high overhead.

Beside her, her carbuncle chirruped in a rare display of uncertainty.

---

The cell was anything but glamorous.

The floor was cold and hard, as was the sorry excuse for a ‘bed’ Twilight had been provided. The single light over the thick steel door shone cold and blue, like the depths of a frozen lake. The hum of electricity reverberated in her ears as it passed through the wires, incessant and maddening. The occasional mutterings of voices speaking over the facility's intercom reached her from time to time, muffled into illegibility by the layers of walls and levels between them. A camera lens glared down at her from the back corner of the room, ever watching, never blinking.

Twilight did not know for certain how long she had been trapped in this cell. She had passed out again as she’d been carried off, her injuries taking their toll no matter how hard she fought to keep her eyes open. When she had come to, she had mercifully found the worst of her injuries were gone. The damage to her horn had been repaired, and her other injuries had been soothed to something manageable.

That would be where her good fortune would end, however. A metallic ring had been painfully affixed over her horn, barbed tips digging into the grooves and barring her from channelling her magic. She could imagine it fitting on the finger of a roegadyn and simply being repurposed to keep her magic in check. Her hooves were similarly bound with advanced mechanical bracers and no clearly visible release mechanism. They were ill-fitting, clearly intended for the wrists of Eorzea’s inhabitants. As such, her hooves were held close and tight together, leaving her all but hog-tied.

Hours passed by in the cramped space. At least, she assumed it was hours. She had no way to tell. And there was nothing to do to pass the time. She made no effort to break out. The camera in the corner left her with no viable options. So instead, she got as comfortable as she could lying on her side and allowed her thoughts to drift. She thought of Y’shtola, and how she’d been downed and engaged in battle with Y’sanna when Scarmiglione took her. She thought of Yda, who would no doubt take the word of Twilight’s capture exceptionally poorly. She thought of the other Scions, imprisoned somewhere she could not reach.

She thought of her friends back in Equestria. Oh, what she wouldn’t give to see them right now. If she were back in Equestria, they would have launched some daring, foolhardy but inexplicably successful rescue mission by now. They’d sneak past the guards, distract them with something silly from Pinkie, Applejack and Rainbow would easily dispatch anyone who tried to stop them, and they’d haul her back out into the sun with hugs, laughs, and a promise of a party.

But they weren’t coming. Not this time.

After what felt like an age, however, someone did come. Twilight felt it before she heard it. Vibrations in the floor, short and rhythmic, and getting stronger. Then the sound reached her ears. Footsteps. She lifted her head from the floor, her eyes half-open with exhaustion as someone came to a stop outside her door. She heard a series of beeps, followed by a deafening mechanical buzzing as the pins holding the door shut slid away. It opened, and a trio of imperial soldiers entered.

The one in the centre, his face hidden behind the mask of an officer, crossed his arms. “Get up. Scaeva wants to see you.”

Twilight gulped as she suddenly got the feeling that the worst of her hardships were yet to come.

Comments

[asaeampan]

Man twilight is having a REAL hard time, I hope things don't go too poorly for her overall.

[The Voice in the Water]

I wonder if Friendship is going to have an "adverse" effect on Y'sanna.

[zimmerwald1915]

But they weren’t coming. Not this time.

Are you quite sure of that?