Chapter 65: Investigation
Iris Vale paced nervously back and forth in the fine glass elevator, as it ascended above the streets of Willowbrook. Of course she could have afforded to remain there herself—House Vale was not instantly impoverished by the destruction of a building.
The Lightless Star would never allow her to remain away from them for that long. Iris had been on an increasingly short leash since the moment she defied his will, and insisted the imperfectly-resurrected gods be preserved.
With the death of her husband, that strictness only intensified. It didn’t matter if she was a full Witness of the Order, it didn’t matter her sham marriage had protected Willowbrook from true investigation for two decades. Her latest failure was so monumental, that Watcher would never really trust her again.
If he could somehow concoct a reason for somepony else to attend the investigator’s demand, he would have. But how could she not meet with the princess’s representative after the death of her own husband? Those events were already dark enough, and hiding from them would only make her more suspicious.
They would get rid of me if they could. But the Lightless Star would never get my family’s wealth if that happens. The Crown will take it.
The doors opened, revealing a top floor crawling with soldiers. There were at least a dozen royal guards scattered through the hall. Two stood by the elevator, weapons at the ready. At least they didn’t threaten her.
“Twilight Sparkle is waiting for you,” one said, waving her forward. “First suite on the left.”
Iris Vale dressed appropriately for the occasion. She wore nothing, and hadn’t even had a chance to bathe since the fire. If she tracked ash all over this loyalist carpet, she would count it as a personal victory.
She felt the unicorn before she saw her—a subtle glow of hostile magic in the room beyond, one that pushed against all other effects.
The suite beyond had been entirely rearranged—the usual furniture was replaced with several boards—maps of the town, none of which could be found inside Willowbrook itself. Somepony with greater knowledge had helped her make those.
In the center of the room was a desk, where Twilight sat. She was much smaller than Celestia, but there was no less intensity in her eyes. “Iris Vale,” she said, rising from her chair as she entered. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Two tragedies in one night, it’s—incredible, almost. How far can fate turn against one family in such a short time?”
Iris nodded. She had a lifetime of practice simulating emotions, and she used that now, projecting a balance of pain, anger, and confusion. How would a pony feel who actually suffered a tragedy, instead of one who took a life to defend her daughter?
“I don’t know. It strains my faith in Harmony. I don’t know what we could’ve done to deserve this.”
The unicorn’s horn glowed, and a chair levitated over to her from the wall, settling in front of the desk. Twilight sat, and so Iris did too. Most importantly, she kept up her mask.
“That is what I am here to determine,” she said. “A murder on the road, the destruction of your household. And... other disturbing events. A single structure destroyed in the very center of town, by a storm that spared every building around it. An Equestrian tutor confined in your hospital with sudden, inexplicable insanity. Willowbrook is under attack from every side.”
Iris nodded sharply. She had seen newspapers with the cyclone that tore a hole in downtown. That would seem strange enough, if it wasn’t directly over the home of the stillborn goddess Firefly. Unfortunately she didn’t have access to any of her contacts at the Lightless Star right now. She had specific instructions not to return to them until summoned.
“It feels like an attack. If there’s anything I can do to help you catch the ones responsible, please tell me. I want justice for my husband.”
Twilight settled her hooves on the table in front of her. She watched Iris in silence for several seconds. “House Vale is the oldest, most powerful family in Willowbrook. Would you agree?”
She kept her face impassive. “Oldest, yes. But I don’t feel powerful right now. Somepony is trying to destroy us.”
“You’re the first of your family to marry outside the city in five generations,” she said, levitating an old book onto the table between them. A genealogy. The unicorn had really done her research—all that in less than two days? “Not just any stallion either, but a stallion of the Celestial court. I have a theory, Misses Vale—have you heard of the Lightless Star?”
She looked nervously to either side in mock fear. “Everypony’s heard of them. But we’re not supposed to talk about them.”
Twilight nodded again. “Exactly my point, and my fear. The way I see it, there are only two explanations for what has just happened to this city. I’m trying to determine which of them is the truth.”
She settled back into her chair, watching Iris. It was a tactic Iris had seen used a dozen times before. Let the silence make a pony uncomfortable, until they were so nervous they started talking to fill the gap.
Unfortunately for the unicorn, Iris had been in politics her whole life. She started crying, sniffing and wiping away tears. It was easy enough to fake, when she had so many genuine worries to be upset about. All surrounded her daughter.
Equestria wanted her dead. Her own experiments had twisted her mind with void corruption. Her friend’s house exploded. And she had a contract with the mountain fae, maybe for years. How could one little filly get herself into so much trouble?
There were several paths back to her that the investigator might find. Keen Focus was the worst of these—nopony understood how void corruption really worked. Were her memories of Lilac still there, buried under pain? Or had she been completely wiped away?
“My first theory. Your family has been pushing against Willowbrook’s native religion for too long. Eventually you upset ponies a little too much, and they acted. You had many servants in your staff, and I know your husband trusted many of them to accompany him on trips to Canterlot. Any number of them could be working for the cult. A coordinated attack against you... the timing makes a coincidence impossible. What do you think?”
She leaned across the table, focusing on Iris. “Silence surrounds us now, Iris Vale. No word of this conversation will escape this room. Don’t fear the Lightless Star, tell me the truth. Have you been fighting them?”
Was she bold enough to lie to Twilight’s face? If the unicorn didn’t trust her now, she could create whatever trouble she wanted—she could get her thrown into a Canterlot dungeon without any evidence beyond her own word.
“My husband was,” she eventually said. “Amaranth wanted to hunt the Lightless Star wherever he found them. His investigations in the city weren’t... very successful. But he tried.”
Twilight nodded. “That may be all the answer we need. Magical experts from Canterlot Forensics are examining your home, and the carriage accident. They may be able to point us to the killer. But while they search, we’ll also be conducting interviews. Everypony who might’ve been there—your servants, family—everypony.”
Iris nodded. “We only have one daughter. My son passed early in his childhood. I fear you may not get much from my servants, even if I encourage them to speak. A shadow looms over Willowbrook, darker than any Alicorn’s wing.”
Twilight Sparkle remained silent and still for another minute, looking between something on her desk, then Iris herself. “You may be right. Getting justice for Amaranth may take more than finding who killed him. Equestria must finally take steps to unravel this cult, and free Willowbrook from captivity. Could you help me, for your husband’s sake?”
Could she? Few ponies in all Willowbrook knew more of the Lightless Star’s secret places, hidden words, and the identities of more of its members. They were her friends, colleagues, and enemies. They were behind every corner of town, inside every house.
Few of them knew her true identity. But the Watcher did. If she somehow revealed him to Equestria, her own life was forfeit just the same.
If the True Gods would hurry up and return in their glory, we could really use their help about now. But they didn’t, of course. They were trapped in realms beyond, and would only be taken back to their thrones with the help of loyal servants.
Shame they were stuck with ponies like Iris instead. “If I can. There are... places we’re warned not to go. There are words we have to say. Signs they make. Some things I picked up just living here. Everypony needs to know how to keep her head down, if she wants to keep it attached.”
Twilight nodded. She levitated something across the table to her. Her heart slowed in her chest; her breathing went shallow. She recognized it.
It was a True Tongue, one of ten-thousand dark languages that clawed up from the void. Thanks to Lilac and Firefly, this one was believed to be the language of the ancient Alicorns, returned at last. It was hard to argue with two ponies who could effortlessly read and write the same language without coordination.
“I see you recognize this. Can you tell me more about it?”
Iris took it in her own magic, holding it up. This was obviously a scribbled copy of something, because some of the letters weren’t quite right. The True Tongue of the Gods was a dense language, with letters so small and detailed that common ponies would have an incredibly difficult time writing with it.
Alicorns had no need to make accommodations to those without horns. “This is... a language.”
“Yes,” Twilight said. “An alphabet, instead of the Equestrian Syllabary. These symbols trace to no lineage on Equus. Not Yakyakistan, or the forgotten depths of Mount Aris’s hippogriffs. They belong to another realm.”
Iris could read more of it than most. She expected to find a spell description—the Lightless Star concealed their most powerful magics with this dead language. That wasn’t what it said.
In fact, much of the words weren’t decipherable to her at all, thanks to their strange context. These weren’t magical terms, but descriptions of a... dance? Something about a cute mare, outfits, flying maneuvers. It didn’t help that the author’s own thoughts were such a rambling mess.
“What is this? Magic?”
“Not this one,” Twilight said. “It came from a diary, belonging to a young mare I believe is my primary lead on this case. Unfortunately her home was the one destroyed by that inexplicable storm. Somepony is trying to keep the truth from me, Iris Vale. I am going to find it.”
She wasn’t sure what possessed her—maybe it was the recklessness that came from having her home destroyed and her daughter missing. Maybe it was some compulsion inflicted by the investigator herself. Maybe it was simple stupidity.
“Do you know what the Lightless Star believes, Twilight Sparkle?”
She shook her head. “Celestia shared a few details. Mostly she reinforced how untrue it was. A distortion of history much worse than any ever applied for her sister.”
“They believe in ancient Alicorns, the True Gods,” Iris said. “That Celestia and her sister belong to an entire race of Alicorns. For some reason, they turned against the others, banishing them to another realm.”
She tapped the page with a hoof, pushing it back across to her. “This realm, the one this language was taken from. I don’t know any secrets of Canterlot’s royalty. But whatever you know about Alicorns—it will help you against the cult. They worship the same creatures, just not the same individuals. If that... makes sense.”
Twilight was silent for a long time. Eventually she nodded, then rose into a standing position. “Thank you for your cooperation, Iris Vale. You’re free to go—just don’t leave Willowbrook.”
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Twilight seems to know more about Firefly's diary than she first let on. It's kinda worrying thinking about what conclusions she might make from this.
Could the Lightless Star be correct in their assumptions, that Celestia and Luna could have been humans at some point?
I KNEW IT
I was fooled, but I knew it!
I wonder what will happen with the sisters when they learn that Twilight is in Willowbrook or how Twilight will react to hearing they are in Ponyville.
Hmm. What will happen to Iris now that she's opened her mouth? Twilight's room may have been sound-proofed, but from what we know of the Watcher, he always has his ways of finding things out…
One little thing that wasn't affected by the geas happened to be the thread that Twilight managed to unravel. Things might've gotten messy for the cult from day 1 but the diary was enough for Twilight to truly start exposing the conspiracy.
Twilight will be actively prodding now. Don't know how much better Iris's lying game is compared to Firefly's.
That wasn't from lack of power either. If the sisters aren't the end goal of the cult, it's very troubling to think about the creature that is.
Pretty sure Twilight noticed Iris's response too.
Not sure if it was the destroyed home was what made Twilight focus on the journal or if she pegged Firefly very early on from the scan. Twilight does love solving puzzles but she could've been using that as a cover as well. Either way, the siblings are already persons of interest so any contact will complicate matters.
We know the cult is distorting the truth. It remains to be seen if Celestia's trying to bury her own secrets with the cult as well.
11344178
I wonder when Twilight really started investigating it, though. The storm that destroyed Firefly's house might've pointed Twilight to it but yes, it could've been much earlier. Firefly specifically told Twilight it was a constructed language so it's lack of clear ancestry shouldn't be suspect alone. I still think Twilight might've caught something with that magical scan way back. Twilight said she copied it as a puzzle to be solved but that maybe a cover story. I can't really see the mare violating the privacy of a filly for the sake of a puzzle.
Ten thousand languages is (very) roughly how many actually do exist on Earth, incidentally. Especially if you count dead languages like Sumerian, Latin, etc. It's very funny and kind of sad to see ponies regarding something as mundane as Spanish or Hindi as "dark languages" with some kind of weird arcane power.
11344307
Would you consider any language you do not know to be 'dark and cryptic' if all it is to you is a jumble of lines. For example, I don't read Japanese. I would not know 'May Fortune follow you' from 'curse thee to the lower bounds of Hell', if written in Japanese.
No way in hell Twi hasn't already figured Iris out. Princess of Friendship indeed
11344307
11344380
I think you two are missing some key details, it was found in the center of a highly unusual event, which took place in a town with with strong reputation of being tied to a cult that happened within a short time of other unusual events all taking place In world were magic is a thing. It's hard *not* to conclude that a unknown language discovered in those circumstances is of significance.
Oh damn! I thought Twi was fooled! This could end rather poorly for our friends headed out of town...
11344693
It won't end badly for Firefly at least. Twilight views Firefly as an innocent Little Filly who is her friend, who helped her in a time of need, and now she might be possibly dead as the result of a magically created storm.
Despite Twilight's Canon tendency to be naive she was trained by an immortal Royal leader of an entire nation. I think she's a match for Iris Vail
This investigation is now personal for Twilight.
Twilight is still too trusting. Or is she clever and playing an angle here?
Also, what kind of reception is Firefly going to get?
Huh Given Iris's perspective, it's very hard to tell just how sinister Twilight is, or how much she knows. Fascinating intrigue. Looking forward to seeing how this shakes out.
11344492
This would be relevant if it was just the one language being referred to, but "ten thousand dark languages that clawed up from the void" rather clearly implies that this is a general view of Earth languages that ponies hold. Moreover, it's significant that it's Iris Vale thinking this to herself in her internal monologue, not Twilight calling English a "dark language" or "True Tongue". She is part of the cult, it's not some mysterious weird thing that showed up part of "some mysterious event".
11345093
for clarification, who were the other ponies you were referring to?
I think... I called it! They worship the NMMs of the world, not the Lunas! Huzzah!
11345132
The way Iris was talking, it appeared that she was describing a general perception of Earthly languages, not merely her own views. That was all, there was no reference to any specific pony or group of ponies intended.
Iris can read English? That's interesting.