Chapter 73: New Queen
Lilac woke in darkness. She wasn’t sure exactly how long she had been there, only that her body ached, and she couldn’t see anything. She barely understood how she’d gotten there—an attack in the dark, Risk screaming, then something grabbing her. She had been awake enough to struggle for a few minutes, squirming in the bag.
Until the pony carrying her explained that they were thousands of feet up, and they would drop her if she kept fighting. Lilac abandoned her design in that moment, conserving her strength. The bag was made of something strange, tough enough to resist her first few seconds of fighting.
But Lilac was already high up inside the castle. Once they were in the air, her magic was almost entirely strangled.
She cried for a while, but didn’t move much from that part on. Breaking free of her confinement wouldn’t do her any good if she fell to her death soon after. What would Saffron think about this? she wondered. The Fair Folk would consider this attack another obvious example of how uncivilized and cruel large creatures could be to each other.
She must’ve fallen asleep at some point. More likely, there were drugs or magic involved, because her head still felt foggy.
Is anypony coming to help me? Iris was a powerful unicorn in her own right, with substantial knowledge of the Lightless Star. But she’d already made herself into an enemy of their leader once. If they realized Septum was responsible for Firefly’s survival, they would probably know to keep her far away from whatever they were planning for Lilac.
She didn’t even consider that anypony else might be her kidnappers. Nopony else in the world could possibly have the reason to try such a bold attack, in the center of Equestrian power.
The Lightless Star was desperate, desperate enough to move against the princesses in their own palace. How many cultists had that taken?
More importantly, what could have them pushing so hard? Was it Amaranth's death?
She could've kept spinning on hypotheticals for hours, maybe days. The place she'd been given for a prison was so dark and featureless it offered her no distractions. Four stone walls, one metal door covered in markings. She couldn't see well enough to read them, but she could guess what they would be. A channeling spell, meant to contain any power used to break out of the cell so that it was stuck inside.
They had to know how dangerous she was otherwise.
With a little more time, maybe she would try to craft her own spells, maybe trick somepony to stumble into them and make her escape. But that was when she heard hoofsteps coming down the hall.
Someone reached her. There was whispering, and a gentle shifting of metal. Then the door ground open, painfully slowly. It rotated just far enough for a pony to squeeze inside. Light radiated in along the floor, illuminating an unfamiliar face.
They wore a mask, like high-ranking Witnesses usually did. They were joined by two Inquisitors in sturdy leather and metal armor, with their distinctive frowning masks. She didn't recognize the voice.
“Lilac Empathy. The Watcher wishes to apologize for holding you this way. But we do not yet understand whether you were a prisoner in Canterlot, or somehow deserted from the cause.”
All three of these ponies were unicorns. Their horns all glowed, not just the light spell that the speaker was using. They had magic ready, maybe even expected her to fight.
So Lilac stepped slowly into the opening, without trying to run, or making any other sudden movements. I don't need to fight them all on my own, just survive long enough for rescue.
“I thought we were your gods,” Lilac said, defeated. “You summoned me across the Iridescent Veil, from where the True Gods were banished. Don't you care what I have to say?”
She squinted, but couldn't even see their ears behind the robes. There was no way to know how her words were affecting them.
“You are god-to-be,” said the center. “Alicorns ruled us. Until you inherit your throne, your view is as fallible as ours. And besides, we know Alicorns can betray each other. History is filled with sorry examples. So our loyalty is not to you directly, but your kind.”
Lilac nodded absently. Of course they would say something like that. But how confrontational was she willing to be? Would they stop and argue with her, wasting precious time?
“I want to know what you've done with Firefly and Little Risk,” she demanded. “Are they in other cells?”
Hesitation. They shared a nervous look, with eyes that darted even behind imposing masks. It didn't matter what they said after that, she knew. Somepony wasn't here.
Risk might not be important enough to capture. Or they didn't send anyone fast enough to catch Firefly, and she got into the air.
It all happened so fast; Lilac knew she couldn't trust her own memory.
“They will not be attending tonight,” said the leader. “I'm sorry, Lilac Empathy. Whatever you understand in your incomplete state, I must share foul news: the Lightless Star has run out of time. The tyrants and betrayers know of us now, and mobilize to move against your worshipers. If we do not act quickly, we will be destroyed, and there will be nopony to restore you to your thrones.”
He backed away, gesturing with his horn. “Please, come forth, and follow us to the Watcher. We have been working tirelessly to excavate, gathered all the ponies of Equestria who still answer to the Old Ways. I don't know the details, but I know you will be restored to your throne in glory.”
Lilac remained firmly where she was, rooting her hooves to the spot. She was surrounded by stone here, and whatever sealed her into the room was broken with the door open. Magic poured through her, then out into the rocks again. Roots did not reach so deep; nothing grew down here. But she could feel other life—bats in distant caverns, thousands of insects continuing in the delicate balance they'd created for themselves in this artificial habitat.
Maybe they would come for her, if she asked urgently enough. She knew all their secret names, as only the Fair Folk could teach.
“Did you know there is a Low Place below Canterlot Castle?” Lilac asked instead. “Celestia keeps a secret library of the ancient days, written in a language I can read, but you can't. I know where the Alicorns came from, and where they went. I even know why, if I don't understand it. It's not the reason we thought. They weren't betrayed, they wanted to leave. They had good reasons.”
One of the guards hissed something under her breath. Her horn flashed, and something struck against Lilac. She felt the flash of magic against her mind—a stun, commanding her to sleep. Lilac would not sleep, not with the earth all around her. These rocks were older than any pony who lived, they resented the excavation, boring holes and ripping out their guts.
They lended Lilac their stubbornness, and she was not moved. “That's very rude,” she said, keeping all four hooves squarely on the ground. Each one was a conduit, filling her with power. “And kinda sad. Overwhelming an earth pony like that won't work. That's a second-order nervous-system suppressant. But I'm conscious, and surrounded with rock. Do you think this place likes having you here? It worked hard to bury the hole, but you tore it open anyway.”
Lilac could not feel the plants and growing things. She felt the stones instead. The rock was a little like a living thing, with bones of ancient metamorphic stone and veins of eroded limestone. Would it move for her if she asked, the way plants did? Would it grow for her?
Their leader was a little more composed than the Inquisitor. “I don't know what you found, Lilac. But I know you found it with the Sun Tyrant. For all you know, it was a carefully-constructed ruse, meant to deceive any of her own kind who returned and found their sisters and brothers missing. An Alicorn might be able to see through her ruse, but you lack most of your power.”
“Or their patience,” Lilac said flatly, glaring up at them. “You've made a mistake bringing me here. I know what you tried to do to Firefly—you won't be able to lie to me about your spells. If you attack me, I'll kill you. If you try to trick me into becoming a blood-sacrifice, I'll kill you.”
She glared coldly out of the cell. “You kidnapped me from a mountain while I slept. We are underground now, Lightless Star. I'm very much awake.”
They inquisitors shot each other another look. She could feel the fear in the way they moved, even if she couldn't see or smell them directly.
“Perhaps you would like to see your friend after all,” the masked cultist said. “The child Little Risk was rescued from the castle along with you. He is with his father even now, waiting for the coronation. Would you like to see him there?”
Lilac glowered at the Inquisitors, then stepped forward out of the cell. They retreated from her, blocking either entrance. Lilac took each step carefully, watching the ground under her hooves. For all she knew, there were backup measures in place, some plan to contain her if she got out of control. She had to stay alert.
“What about Firefly?” she demanded. “Didn't she earn her place? Or was she not as important? You did try to kill her.”
“Her body,” the leader snapped. “Your essence is eternal. With her power, you would already be on your throne, releasing your brothers and sisters to rule over Equestria forever. Her shortsightedness took the lives of her loyal servants, and revealed us to all Equestria.”
Lilac said nothing to that. She continued out of the cell, and found what she expected waiting outside. They were in a wide, narrow corridor, supported by ancient wooden supports. There were plenty of hooks for lanterns, though none were occupied.
Cyan Mines. They excavated the Low Place.
“Come with me,” the leader of the small group said. “Others you know will be waiting there. The pony responsible for this is here too. The one who couldn't keep her husband under control. Do you want her to spend her life in prison for her murder? Many other ponies you know will be punished, when Equestria brings down its hooves on our secret places.”
She followed the small group through the tunnels. They traveled downward, always down, along confusing, twisted corridors, looping and curving back on each other. She soon lost track of the path they'd taken to her cell.
At the same time, she wouldn't be trapped if she had to escape. The stones themselves knew the way to the surface. She could find it any time she wanted. Other things—that might take more magic to persuade the rocks to cooperate. Except for the Low Place.
Like the sky, that point was an invisible tear in the mine, one with its own gravity. Now that she had felt it once, she would know it again even without a map. They were traveling directly towards it.
“I don't want that,” Lilac said. “But I don't know what we can do to stop it. We don't have the power to make another Alicorn here. You would need both of us—one to sacrifice, and one to use. Maybe the Lightless Star should run and hide, find somewhere else to live.”
And when you leave, Iris and I will find a way to stay behind.
“The Watcher considered that. He is certain the moment of our ascension has arrived. It is the new moon, and the princess's most powerful apprentice has exhausted herself saving the life of an insect. If we move at midnight, all our enemies will be at their weakest. But I cannot tell you what he intends—when you speak with him, he will explain. It is not given to me to understand the deep mysteries.
What will I do when he tries to kill me too? There was only one reason to bring her to any ritual they cast, and it wasn't for her well-being. Either she was an ingredient, or the subject of a spell. Either one they cast at a Low Place wasn't likely to be good for her health. There was already a set of eyes watching, waiting for her. The Derek Ashsen, hungering to take more of her.
“They weren't betrayed,” she said instead. “The True Gods—they say where they went. If you gave me some time, I could recreate some of their diagrams. I memorized the last ones... maybe we could use the directions to find where they went. You could ask them for yourself.”
“We already know where the True Gods reside,” the other Inquisitor said, another stallion. “We summoned you from there. Countless times you've demonstrated your strength. You speak the True Tongue; you work with power beyond any in Equestria. In the same moment Firefly betrayed us, she showed the truth of your divine right. You know of deep magic as a filly, and you shrug off attacks that could stun a yak. You stared in defiance into the Void, and won against one of the Unmade. Your authority is proven, even if your mind is clouded. We will restore your sight.”
Lilac whimpered. Some of that was true—but their conclusions were all wrong. “I'm from the same place as the True Gods came from... but it's not what you think. I'm an early ancestor at best. But they didn't go back the way they came. There's a map in Canterlot! If you want to follow them, at least go to the right place!”
“Speak these things to the Watcher,” said the cultist. “Few of us understand the deep knowledge. He is able to comprehend it. His long life gives him the context to understand, as we lack. He is waiting even now.”
He gestured down another flight of steps. The air here smelled of freshly broken stone and wet concrete. She didn't recognize this tunnel, though some of the speckled rocks were similar. This was along the path she ran when she fled from the Derek Ashsen. It looked considerably remodeled since her explosive solution to that problem.
Not much further, and they reached the new excavation.
It was much larger than anything she'd seen before. There was earth pony magic at work in digging this so fast, perhaps darker things as well. A thin spiderweb of metal covered the walls, holding up a huge dome. It had many entrances now, leading to numerous other tunnels that were now clogged with the metal grate, or debris from the excavation.
Purple crystals illuminated the huge space, each one suspended on a length of metal chain from above. They gave off an eerie, shadowy light. In that light, she could still see dozens of ponies, maybe hundreds.
They waited in a line, with a single clear pathway between them leading across the room. Lilac didn't need to see to know where it went—the entrance to the Low Place.
Her escort stepped forward into the room, his horn glowing brighter. “All bow before Lilac Empathy, the nameless god! When she wears her crown and sits upon her throne, let all know her and despair.”
The crowd bowed. All of them were wearing robes, obscuring their general outlines in the crowd of so many. But not all had masks—that was a special honor, granted only to the Witnesses and above.
They walked through the bowing ponies. Lilac felt their attention on her, a pressure of focus as she'd never felt it before. She'd never seen so many members of the Lightless Star before, not in one place. I thought there were a few dozen, not hundreds. All this time, she'd underestimated their scale.
In this cavern, she was looking at basically every prominent member of Willowbrook. Every shopkeeper, every estate holder, every judge and police pony and postal deliverymare.
But Lilac didn't want their bows, and she didn't care about their adulation. She just wanted to find her mother.
She found Risk first. He was gathered near the front, one of the few ponies here without either a robe or a mask. His father had the coat, but nothing over his face. But next to his son, Lilac recognized him. She stepped out of her royal procession, ignoring the strange looks. Would her “guards” attack her in the open, with so many eyes on her? They'd just announced her as a god.
“Come with me,” she said, loud enough for many of the surrounding ponies to hear. “Risk, you've, uh—been by my side from the beginning. Now I want to... reward your loyalty, or whatever.”
She did her best. But if the act wasn't convincing, nopony said so. They remained frozen and bowing—all except Risk. He stepped forward, looking nervously to either side. He met her eyes, flashing her a confused grin. She smiled back, but said nothing more. It was enough to see that he was still thinking straight, and not some zombie trapped by an inescapable Geas.
She found the other pony she was looking for near the end of the room. There was a raised platform here, above the crowd of ordinary ponies without masks. Her mother had both mask and robe, but Lilac could identify her easily. Her robe had a little rip near one of the hems, and Lilac knew the distinctive way she kept her tail brushed.
She was also waiting as far forward as she could. There were tables here, filled with fine foods and wine. Nopony sat beside her, and there was no food at hers. Was she really an honored guest, or another prisoner like Lilac?
“I want—”
“No,” the pony leading her said, his voice harsh and authoritative. “Your desire to exalt the one who cared for you is noble, unknown god. But she is responsible for the trial we find ourselves in. It would not be proper for her to attend your elevation.”
He nudged her forward—not an attack this time, just a gentle spell, pushing her along.
“Remember what I taught you,” Iris whispered. She remained on the edge of the platform, obedient to the command. “You deserve to be an Alicorn again. Thank you for the time we shared.”
She lowered her head then, defeated. Like a pony who didn't think she would ever see Lilac again.
Lilac strained, reaching up onto the platform and touching Iris's leg with one of hers. She wanted to hug her, to close her eyes and let her mom make everything better, the way she always did.
“It would be better to keep moving,” said the one directing her. “Better for Iris's health as well as yours, nameless god. It would be tragic if something happened to her, don't you think? Or your little friend there. They've served the Lightless Star faithfully. Protect them with your obedience now.”
There would be nopony to banish the nightmares tonight. Lilac let go, and returned to the aisle. Risk followed her, and the Inquisitors didn't move to stop him. He walked close enough for her to feel him nearby. At the same time, he never got too close. Not while there were so many ponies watching them from every angle.
I hope you're far away from here, Firefly, she thought. They reached the far wall, and a metal archway. It led into a much smaller room, also newly excavated. She could see a familiar metal doorway beyond, one she remembered opening once. The Low Place was waiting for her.
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Yeesh. I hope her requesting Risk's presence doesn't cause him any harm. It would suck if he becomes a sacrifice…
I have to ask:
…Huh? How can it be wide and narrow?
The title and first few paragraphs made me think this was going to be some kind of switcheroo, that the kidnappers weren't from the Lightless Star at all. Changelings, perhaps. Wouldn't that have been wacky.
Seems the Lightless Star is really desperate to get their plans moving before things start moving against their plans.
Lilac must do what she can to escape from the mad cultists. I hope that Luna will be able to act soon and that Lightless Star will be gone.
And that's how Lilac discovered rock farming.
And then Cadence makes the Watcher's heart start beating again, and when he dies this time, he has the decency to stay still.
What? I can dream.
This could end very, very poorly indeed. We'll see what happens soon enough.
We're approaching the do-or-die moment. Let's hope Lilac can hold her own until Firefly can bust in.
Makes it so much easier for the cult to follow the words of their leader than the actual god in front of them.
If there's something to learn in a setting like this, it's that you never anger the living magical land around you.
The cult made the extra mistake of angering a creature capable of calling that land for aid.
If they are humanity in the future, they would be as inscrutable to the sisters as they are to the rest of Equestria. They might as well be aliens.
If Lilac attempts an escape, we'll know Iris is sure to help.
She coming with the whole cavalry.
I do wonder if she could have bought more time by knocking out the two guards and then trying to either slip out or into a hiding place... Then again, the Watcher has had a lot of time to prepare sympathetic magic, I suppose.
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She's probably called on him to follow her so she can protect him, preventing a future hostage situation. As for Iris... We'll see. She's a competent mage in her own right...
Since when do you need to be centuries old to understand basic facts? These cultists aren't the brightest.
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Through some non-euclidean fuckery, I suppose?
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one of my favorite authors, Estee, came up with the amusing idea that "rock farming" actually means turning common rocks into jewels!
BUT the Earth ponies insist on keeping that a secret, JUST because it's TRADITIONAL to keep it secret!
Begin boss battle music!