Chapter 59: Crowning Achievement
Firefly stood at the center of four cultists. Mercifully her father was the only one behind her. Though it was hard not to feel at least a little fear of him too, given the similar mask and robes.
“I have long yearned to make your honored acquaintance, great one,” said another cultist, stepping forward from their ranks. A unicorn with a dark-colored horn and yellow eyes. She couldn't see any more detail through the robes. “Call me Ether Lens. And you are Firefly, yes? The unborn god.”
She nodded weakly. Firefly spun in a slow circle, taking them all in. None of these cultists wore weapons. Aside from her father, she counted one member of each tribe. That pegasus with the black and gray wings was the leader of the junior weather ponies, Murus!
But Firefly needed no instruction in the religion to realize that breaking their anonymity was a bad idea. Otherwise, why would they all dress like this? “I'm Firefly,” she finally said. “I have been... told, that I am one of the True Gods of Equestria. But my memory is weak.”
“The time has come for your elevation, great one,” said Ether Lens. He dropped into a bow, joined by his companions. Even Dusty, though there was something sluggish and reluctant from him. “We have emptied this structure so that no unworthy eyes will behold this sacred moment. We alone witness the true birth of a God.”
“I don't understand.” She stepped cautiously down from the balcony and into her bedroom. She shuddered with discomfort at the thought of so many strangers in her private space—had they gone through her diaries, digging up all her embarrassing secrets? Why did that bother her so much more than the idea of Rainbow reading it?
The lights from the apartment beyond were out, but flickering orange candle-flames glowed through the open doorway. Her home was filled with strange smells, an otherworldly perfume of nameless herbs. “Isn't now... kinda a bad time? I think Vale Manor is burning down.”
“I'm the wrong one to explain these things to you, unborn god,” whispered Ether Lens. He stood, along with the other two cultists, and her father. “The Watcher will perform the ritual. I'm sure he would be honored to reveal whatever mysteries you require.”
“I am... honored to serve at your hooves,” her father said. “When the true gods return to Equestria. I hope I played some role worth remembering.”
His pronouncement of faith used the same language Firefly had heard her whole life. But he sounded as glum as a prisoner preparing for execution. From behind his mask, his eyes looked anywhere but at her. The sick feeling in her chest grew stronger, and she nearly turned to flee right out the window. There was only one pegasus among the witnesses in front of her, would they be able to keep up? Would her father chase her too?
Maybe she should've gone with Lilac after all, be damned what any Equestrian investigation thought. Instead, Firefly stepped forward, following Ether Lens. “Where are we going? Cyan Mines?”
“No,” Ether Lens said. “To call forth your brothers and sisters, your wisdom may lead you there. But your elevation doesn't require any specific location. We will do it here.”
Around the corner, she found her living room had been entirely cleared of Dusty's furniture collection, leaving only torn carpets and the occasional old stain. A great circle had been drawn into the carpet with thick oil paint, forming complex designs she only recognized thanks to her time with Lilac. It was a runic spell diagram, though she could make no sense of what it actually meant. Hundreds of candles surrounded the circle, and five crystal pillars were arranged at points along the outside. Each one had a chunk of... something resting on it.
Her eyes strained, glazing over and around while failing to settle on any. They weren't just black—they erased the light coming nearby, giving them no detail, no depth. A faint current of air trailed towards each one, lifting her feathers slightly in ways only an experienced pegasus would feel. There was a power here not even Lilac's scrying spell had let her glimpse. Her friend might be passionate and gifted, but whoever created this was a genius.
Other than the ritual objects, the room contained only a small cloth tent opposite the ritual area, with rich purple and gold fabric like the palisade of a king. A shape rested within, obscured by overlapping layers of thin lace.
Her guides took her around the ritual circle, and brought her directly before the pavilion, until she stood on a velvet carpet at the front. This close, the source of the strange smell was much clearer to her. Spices wafted out from inside, not the spell-diagram. They reminded her of a memory she'd almost forgotten.
It came to her in a rush—that was the chemical smell she remembered from inside a morgue, when she identified the body of a biker-friend after a crash.
“You stand before the Watcher,” Ether Lens said. “You need not bow before him, as he is the servant of your kind. Even so, you should show him respect. He is the greatest and oldest of your servants, honored greater than all. Without his intelligence and skill, you would never have returned to your homeland. Without him, you will never retake your throne. Do you understand?”
Firefly nodded. She shifted awkwardly on her hooves, almost a bow. Her wings opened to either side, and refused to close. The air felt electric, even more than the storm she sensed outside. Whatever hurricane was brewing in here would not take until tomorrow to arrive.
A horn began to glow from inside the pavilion, and a figure lifted into the air. Firefly saw it, and at first she couldn't even tell what she was looking at. A smaller stallion, without a single part of their coat visible through white robes. A black mask covered his face. She saw the glitter of eyes through the slits, as reflective as glass. Or maybe they were glass, with strange shapes and facets that warped the light within.
Only the bony horn was visible above the mask, stark white and unnaturally thin. “One who is Charlie,” he said. His voice was thin and reedy, barely more than a whisper. “Concealed with the name that is Firefly. Long have I waited for this meeting.”
He stopped just behind the lacy veil, close enough that she could see his mask in more detail. It wasn't a simple face suggestion, but covered in hundreds of intricate lines, connecting tiny gemstones set into the mask. Each one glowed, like a field of angry stars.
“I am, uh... I'm honored,” she said, without looking at him. The smell was so much stronger when he got close. Did he swim in a spice-cabinet?
He inclined his head in a slight nod, but nothing more. He didn't move his body when doing it, but levitated himself at a slightly lower angle. Why haven't unicorns thought of flying like this before? If Risk is so much better for Lilac than I am, maybe he should fly too.
“I do not expect you to understand the significance of present events, banished and unthroned. Yet soon you will. As you see before you, we have prepared a powerful ritual, one we believe will unlock the magic locked away. No longer will you be confined as a single tribe, stripped of your other magics. Though I understand your grasp of pegasus knowledge is exceptional, just as Lilac's earth pony magic is without peer.”
He spoke so unnaturally too, never pausing, just rambling on and on so much she almost missed what he was really saying. This was the day of her ascension, giving her the magic of the other tribes? It felt like there was something missing here, though she couldn't put her hoof on why.
Lilac wasn't just good with plants, she would be able to look at that diagram and actually know what it said. Maybe if I had a unicorn horn, she'd give me a chance instead of him.
“If I'm allowed to ask—why are we doing this now?” She didn't actually wait for permission—if she was really one of their gods, they couldn't refuse her, could they? “I saw Amaranth Vale die, I know there's... gonna be trouble. Equestria will discover. If you're doing powerful magic here, won't they find out?”
The Watcher remained utterly still beyond the veil. He didn't twitch, or bob up and down, or even seem to breathe. For that matter, his scent didn't change either. She couldn't read his feelings that way, as she might have with another pony. It was just those awful spices.
“That is why this ritual must happen now. The servants of Vale are loyal to the True Gods—but when the fire crew arrives, they will search the property. They will discover their royal constable dead in a terrible accident. They will send telegrams—which we will intercept. Even so, Equestria will discover. Ponies arrive by train and airship, carrying word. When Canterlot discovers, it may be the moment of crisis for all worshipers of Equestria's True Gods.”
It was so hard to tell when the pony talking to her used a grave whisper for every word, but Firefly didn't think he sounded dishonest. That future seemed so plausible. Celestia found out about her dead representative, and she might even come down to investigate it herself.
If there was any truth to what the Lightless Star said about ponies who wanted Lilac and Firefly dead, it had to be in Celestia. The immortal ruler, who had once banished the Alicorns from her world. The one who turned her enemies to stone and sent her own sister to the moon.
“What are we doing here, exactly?” Firefly asked. “What's supposed to happen?”
Ether Lens stepped forward, nudging her eyes away from the Watcher. “That is easy, Firefly. We will restore you to your status as an Alicorn, unlocking all the magic that has been repressed. With your new power, we won't need elaborate rituals and subterfuge—you can open a portal yourself, and return all your banished brothers and sisters. The greatest power you've seen from mortal ponies will seem like the fumblings of a foal compared to your potential.”
Firefly's wings twitched, her ears folding back. “Why me? Lilac is much better with magic. She could probably tell you what this circle is, and how it works. All the power in Equestria and I'll still just know flying stuff.”
“The knowledge is there,” the Watcher whispered. “Even the lowliest among the ancient gods were scholars of immortal lifetimes. When we succeed, your first act might be to elevate your companion Lilac Empathy as well, and do this work together. Once you are upon your throne, it will no longer be the domain of any mortal to give you instruction. We will do as we are commanded. And, we hope, you will return our service with kindness and mercy. You will need ponies to assist you in ruling over Equestria, once the tyrants are dead.”
Dead. Firefly glanced nervously to the front door—and found one of the cultists standing there. There was another blocking the hallway leading to the bedrooms. Her father and Ether Lens both stood aside, closer to the ritual circle than anywhere else. There were endless problems with the plan the Lightless Star had constructed, but one stood taller than all the others. Firefly wasn't a god.
Firefly eyed the Watcher one last time, then spread her wings as wide as they would go and took off with a blast of wind and crackling lightning.
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im kinda hoping that they get captured and it turns out the ritual workes and makes them alicorns
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Sure, it'd be interesting to see how successful such a ritual would be, but I'm getting the feeling the ritual is going to involve the death of their current bodies.
Yeah, this isn't going to end well. The ritual likely involves the death of the current 'weak' body.
Fly like the wind!
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I more have the feeling the spell would turn her into a human. That, or just outright fail.
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Same
This story is 124k words, yet I feel that all of the story beats could have been easily fit into 40-50k words. Even though things have picked up in the last few chapters, I really think that the story could do with the spice the elevating the two of them to alicorns would provide.
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Also what if the cultists were right, and they actually were ancient Equestrian gods that were banished to High School Earth.
Sure the act of bringing them back to Equestia turned them into tiny baby girl horses; but once back to normal, their original memories will merge with their human ones and cause them to become something much better than they were.
Firefly is either about to be killed...or turned into an Alicorn or human, and yet Lilac's the one on their mind. Heh. Interesting.
But yeah, this isn't gonna end well. Well, good news is Firefly does have a place they might be able to hide, up in the cloud maze...
11309472
Since we already have one of the former humans without their original name maby the ritual could fail on her and take the name of the other in exchange for accending firefly
Charlie was born among billions. Nearly powerless in his apathetic universe but is nonetheless fine living this life. Kidnapped into this world, he is expected to become a godly being. All the doubts in the world will fuel Firefly's flight. Nothing good will ever come from this "ascension" spell.
Can't imagine the ritual doing anything but summoning an even worse demon from the void.
Even if they are completely right, there is horror in forcing billions of people to suffer the same fate as the sisters.
The only thing to do now is warn Lilac and flee. Maybe with the fae. Maybe into Equestria. Even Celestia's views on them are irrelevant now. Worse case scenario, Celestia will only give them death. The cult's ritual (especially if they're really ignorant of reality) is likely to do worse than that.
And that's it. Ties are severed. She needs to get to RD ASAP.
Given what Saffron said about the cult's plans this ritual might simply summon another Umbrum. I think that the Firefly made the right decision in running away and the confusion of the cult members will allow her to escape.
I kinda hope she does kinda become a god.
Yeah, I'd say it's about time to nope the hell out of there.
Yeah, noping out is the right call. This spell is gonna do much more than just turn her into an alicorn, i'm sure...
I do think the Cult is right in seeing her as a true alicorn, but there is more hidden beneath it that we are unaware of. For one, we're pretty sure that those ancient alicorns were evil - as a reincarnation, she doesn't have that baggage, but if they restore her OG mind's memories? There's gonna be some conflict there.
So, five pillars holding unfamiliar objects are involved in this ascension? That's one off from the old six element setup, If the Watcher carries one artifact on his person (because of course he would), that becomes 6. Maybe it's a stretch, but it could still work...
And considering that the five pillars erase light? Yeah, that's got parallels with the 'low place'. It'll be rich in dark magic, which means - best case scenario - this ascension would turn Firefly into something like Nightmare Moon.
IF this does as described, it would solve most of the problems they've faced (creating your own portals should mean you get to travel freely between worlds)... but that's the least likely outcome.
The other three are "does nothing", "blows up", or "gets possessed", none of which ends pretty. Best to have unbiased eyes look over the spell first (Twilight or the other human), lest the cult's idea of Celestia's tyranny becomes a pleasant dream compared to reality.
I've thought for a good while, and this bit kind of confirms it in my mind that the Watcher is a Lich, some kind of undead, or using dark magic to prolong their unnatural life at the very least. The chemicals to preserve the body as best as possible, and spices and other scents to hide the scent of decay.
Fly Firefly, fly! Like the fires of hell are nipping at your tail.
Me emociona mucho lo que pasara en el siguiente capítulo 😁👍🇦🇹
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not a bad idea but thats assuming that their memorys of that life havent been destroyed or are hidden deep enough even accesing them takes effort. If it was indeed them that was the old gods i dont think it would be a case of them being banished full stop.
I do hope they either accend into new alicorns or are the actual old gods, also an interesting twist could be if they were the old gods and those were alicorns then it could be that those alicorns had something similer to what luna had happen happen to them. So those old gods could have been celestia and lunas old freinds and if that turns out to be the case the story could proceed to reunite them and allow the two humans to get their help
Never mind more recent developments in those regards…
To paraphrase a wise man, when someone tells you you’re a god, you say no. Especially when that person smells like a combination morgue and spice cabinet and talks about slaying the tyrants. Still, the Lightless Star will not be happy with this. Does it count as heresy when a god does it?
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It sounds like a ritual sacrifice, to me it seemed from the moment Firefly walked in that the entire thing was to kill her over an 'altar' in this case a magic seal/spell.
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Winston: "Ray, when someone asks you if are a God you say yes."
LMAO they're not allowed to catch a break, huh? Frickin longest day of the decade...