Part 13: We're dealing with honest-to-gosh, dyed-in-the-wool psychopaths here.
The west-facing walls of the lost city glittered like rose-gold in the light of the setting sun. The other surfaces were a midnight-blue labyrinth of steep shadows. It was like a scene from a pop-up book: as long as one viewed it from the west, it seemed real and solid... but seen from any other angle, it was a paper-thin facade painted over a shadowy emptiness.
Rainbow Dash's eyes darted about as she followed Derring-Do through the ancient causeway. The city was built like a sponge, with windows and archways built into every surface. It was impossible to tell if any of the buildings or corridors were occupied.
Derring-Do paused to look in her journal, stroking her chin.
"We're lost, aren't we?" said Rainbow Dash.
"Not even that," Derring said. " 'Lost' implies we know where we want to end up."
"We're looking for a machine, right?"
Derring frowned at her journal. "The 'engine' was the center of their entire civilization, but I'm not sure which building it's in. The translation is tricky... it's either a temple, a palace, or a laboratory." She looked up and pointed at several of the larger buildings in the distance. "I can see at least seven buildings that might qualify."
"We don't have time to search the whole city," said Dash. "At this rate, we'll barely have enough time to find a place to camp."
Derring shut her journal and tossed it in her saddlebag. "We may as well call it a night, then. Do you think we could reach one of those tall towers? I'd like to have a good, all-around view while we camp out."
Dash nodded. They made their way through the twisting roads and stairways and finally came to the foot of a tall hexagonal tower. They went to the attached building and climbed through a collapsed section of wall, and Dash stared at the wide interior. Shafts of light shone in through a row of windows, and dust glittered in the air
"Looks like the wall was blown apart," she said. "Do you think this place was a barracks or something?"
"Either a nursery school or an orphanage," Derring said as she climbed over the wreckage. "Looks like it was turned into a military blockade during the early stages of the war, before the 'war' turned into one big riot. Looks like it was refurbished three or four times, probably whenever a new faction took control of it."
Dash watched Derring-Do as she climbed up the stairs inside the tower. She flew over and hovered alongside her. The dust in the air whorled around her. "I guess this must be pretty exciting for you. As an archeologist, I mean."
"It's maddeningly frustrating," she said. "There's no detritus here: No tools or engravings or clothes or artistic sculptures... nothing to give us a clue about how they lived or what they were like." Derring scraped her hoof gently against the stone floor. "You learn to keep an eye out for the little things—the everyday things—but no matter how hard I look, there's nothing here. It's jarring." Derring climbed up the last of the stairs and went into the tower's turret: a small, hexagonal room with a huge windows on all sides. "The wars and riots did this: Ponies salvaged everything that wasn't nailed down. They refurbished homes and shops into fortifications. They destroyed everything that wasn't immediately useful... everything that makes a city a home."
Rainbow Dash walked to one of windows and stared at the city below. There were only a few slivers of light now, all of them shrinking rapidly. "That curse wasn't fooling around, was it?"
Derring rolled her eyes. "Again with the hokum?"
"But what if it's really true? The elder said—"
"Blaming this sort of catastrophe on a mystical curse cheapens us all," Derring said. "There were reasons, Dash: famine, social unrest, extreme distribution of wealth and power, religious persecution... there are always reasons. These ponies were obliterated because they failed to learn an important lesson, and blaming it all on mystical mumbo-jumbo cheapens that lesson."
Rainbow Dash sat with her back against a wall. "I spoke with the princess once, and asked her about destiny and prophecy and stuff. You wanna know what she said?"
"Not in the least."
"She said that prophecies—the true ones, anyways—are like a weigh scale. They don't say 'this will happen no matter what'. It's a warning: touch the stove, and you're gonna get burned." Dash leaned her head back against the wall. "Sounds like what you said just now... that there's always a lesson to learn."
"What's the lesson here, then? It's a city that tore itself apart from the inside out. What kind of message is that?"
"You're the archeologist. You tell me."
Derring-Do stared out the window, at the city below. She shook her head. "We'll never know. Ponies lived here for hundreds of years... they were born, they lived, they fell in love, had families, retired, and they died here... and now there's nothing left to study. Nothing for us to learn."
They sat in silence for awhile, watching as the last traces of light-blue sky faded away.
Rainbow Dash turned to look at the city below, frowning intently. "...Maybe one thing."
Derring-Do sat up and looked out the window, following her gaze. Now that the city was pitch dark, she could see faint white sparkles: there were over a dozen trails of light weaving their way through the streets.
"Care to take a closer look?"
Dash shook her head. "I could, but it's a clear night sky with a full moon. They might see my silhouette against the stars. Risky."
"Guess we have a good enough view as it is." Derring took out her journal and glanced at her crude little map. "It looks like they're all heading towards the same place: that big ziggurat covered in fountains. You think that's where the engine is?"
"There's gotta be something there," Dash said, "and that's good enough for me."
Derring-Do and Rainbow Dash rushed down the spiral staircase and ran through the city streets, following Derring's hastily sketched map. Derring's heavy rubber boots were muted against the stone, and Dash glided mere inches over the road. After a few twists and turns, they came to a half-crumbled wall. Dash flew up and peeked over the edge, then waved for Derring to follow. She climbed up the jumbled stone bricks like a ladder and came up beside her. They both peeked over the top and saw a long line of ponies, dressed in dark, heavy robes and glittering silver accessories: they had heavy silver chains looped around their necks, and wore silver masks that resembled smooth, serene faces with closed eyes. The ponies moved along quickly, with only the faint sound of rustling cloth and clinking metal.
The ponies filed past them and vanished around a nearby corner. Dash hopped up onto the road and helped Derring climb up.
"Who are these guys?" whispered Dash.
"No idea," said Derring. "The elder mentioned that a strange new cult had occupied the city—she called them the 'mad ones'—but I'd just assumed they were another group of natives."
"These guys obviously aren't from around here," said Dash.
"Quite. But they're not a part of any cult I'm familiar with. Maybe if I could get a closer look at their regalia, or watch one of their ceremonies..."
Dash frowned in thought. "I dunno why, but something about them seems familiar..."
"Familiar? How?"
She shook her head. "Let's just keep moving. Maybe we'll figure something out as we go."
"Right."
They peered around the corner, then followed after their quarry. The robed ponies were difficult to see, but the sounds of their robes and chains haunted them from every direction. Several times they ducked into corridors or behind walls, only to realize they'd hidden from a harmless echo. They finally reached the foot of the ziggurat itself and saw countless lines of robed ponies seeping into it's many entrances, like caterpillars burrowing into a rotten log.
Dash's eyes flicked over the ziggurat. "Think they can lock the front door after they're all inside?"
"Let's not wait to find out."
Derring bolted around the corner and sprinted across a long stretch of causeway with absolutely no cover. Dash clenched her teeth, but flew after her. By the time they were halfway across, a heavy stone door began sliding down over the entrance.
"No-no-no!" Derring hissed. She clenched her teeth and burst into a full-on sprint.
Rainbow Dash streaked ahead of her easily and slipped into the corridor. She saw a heavy stone switch to her left and pulled it with all her strength, but the mechanism refused to budge.
"Come on... come on!" She looked outside, watching as Derring-Do closed the distance. She waved for her to hurry up.
Derring closed the distance, dove under the door and slid across the floor. Dash grabbed her leg and pulled her all the way through.
Dash smiled at her "Cutting it a little close, aren't you?"
Derring touched her head and let out a gasp. "My hat!" She spun around and saw her pith helmet sitting under the heavy stone door with inches to spare. She scrambled towards it, but Dash hauled her back.
"It's just a hat, dummy! Forget about it!"
"No!"
Derring struggled to break free of Dash's grip, but it was too late. They both watched as the massive stone door slid down against her helmet, and stopped just as it touched the top. There was a dull chime, like a series of stone mugs being tapped in sequence, and the door began sliding back up into the ceiling. They stared at it together, slack jawed.
Derring strolled over to her hat with a sigh. "I guess we know one thing about the ancient Dzunturans... they had half-decent health and safety regulations."
Rainbow Dash watched the door as it slid shut again, this time plunging the corridor into total darkness. There was a quick snap, and an eerie green glow lit up the corridor: Derring passed the glow stick-necklace to Dash and cracked another for herself. "Let's hurry. I want to figure out what these freaks are up to, even if it's the very last thing I do."
Rainbow Dash bit her lower lip, but kept quiet.
Their journey through the depths of the stone pyramid was slow and uneventful. There were no other ponies wandering the corridors and only a few twists and turns to navigate. This particular building, unlike the entire rest of the city, wasn't laid out like a maze at all. It was designed to be used.
Sounds echoed back to them... voices, chanting. Bonfires burning. Stone grinding against stone. They caught sight of a faint blue light up ahead, and discarded their glowsticks before going any further. The corridor led them to an ornate balcony set along the inside wall of a massive stone cathedral: there were three tiers of balconies all along the inside walls, all facing a long hall. There were robed ponies gathered about everywhere: crowded on the main floor and standing along the balconies. They were all standing perfectly still in neat rows and columns, watching something on the far end of the hall.
Dash and Derring crept into the balcony, standing less than a yard behind a row of robed ponies. They were too captivated by the reverberating chanting—a low, growling voice with an unnatural inflection, like regular speech played backwards—to notice anything behind them. They crept further along the balcony and finally saw the far end of the cathedral: there was a raised stage that supported a massive apparatus with circles and disks orbiting around a central point. It was like an astronomer's globe or a child's toy mobile. At the moment, it was stationary.
There was a stallion on the stage, standing in front of the apparatus and leading the chant. His robe was much more elaborate than the others, covered in silver patterns and low-hanging ribbons. He wore a crown of curved silver spikes instead of a mask and his face was covered with streaks of black and white makeup that curled around his eyes like the contours of a skull. he had a huge, ornate staff with him, tipped with a silver skull with bladed antlers. He marched back and forth in front of the machine, ranting at the crowd.
Derring-Do and Rainbow Dash crept along the balcony, behind the row of robed cultists. They reached a stairway at the far end and quietly climbed down to the next level: they emerged into a hidden room directly left of the stage. The cult leader's voice washed over them like a palpable force.
Dash stared at the leader's ominous staff, teeth clenched. "I know this reminds me of something. D'you think..." She turned and saw Derring was gone.
She glanced around and saw Derring searching or something near the back of the chamber: there were heavy bookshelves arranged by the wall, and several enormous clay urns arranged around an iron cauldron.
"Looks like they brought all this with 'em," whispered Dash.
Derring opened up a heavy trunk and rummaged through the contents. "Quickly. Help me look."
"What for?"
"Something. Anything." She closed the trunk and rushed to a nearby writing desk, ransacking each of the tiny little drawers. "Books, scrolls, journals... stuff like that."
Rainbow Dash flew up and searched the shelves. "I don't see any books on these bookshelves... it's all weird-looking tools and funny-shaped crystals."
"There's gotta be some kind of... aha!" Derring pulled aside a small banner on the wall and reached into a hidden space. "Almost... almost..."
Dash landed beside her. "Anything interesting?"
"There's a big book in there, but it's all the way in the back."
"Here, let me try. You keep an eye out for trouble."
Derring stepped back and let Dash reach into the hole. She turned to watch the stage, but froze as she heard a faint hiss nearby. She turned to her left and caught sight of a slender, slithering shape along the wall. She tensed up completely, eyes wide.
"Wow, that's really in there." Dash limbed up a bit and pushed her head into the hole. "Maybe I can—"
Derring stared at the slithering shape, paralyzed. "D-d-dash?"
"I know, I know. Don't rush me."Dash crawled a little further into the hole, kicking her hind legs in the air. "Can you give me a push?"
The serpent slithered along the wall, right over Derring's shoulder. She pressed herself back against the wall and tapped her hoof against Dash's hindquarters. Beads of sweat formed on her brow.
"Dash... could you... maybe...."
"Dang it, this isn't working." Dash pulled herself out of the hole and shook the dust and cobwebs out of her mane. When she saw the look on Derring's face, she followed her gaze and finally noticed the black, scaly serpent slithering out of the wall.
Rainbow Dash shrieked at the top of her lungs. "Aaaa snake! Snake-snake-snake-snake! Sah-naaaayke!!" She jumped up and down and ran back and forth, desperate to trample the viper under her hooves. She knocked over two of the large urns, spilling oily blue liquid across the floor. She snatched a bull-whip off the shelf and began whacking it against the floor completely at random.
She eventually dropped the whip and gasped for breath. She turned to Derring Do, and only then noticed a semi-circle of robed cultists surrounding them, wielding serrated, silver-tipped spears.
Dash stared at them for a moment. "Yeah. There was a... snake."
Dash and and the cultists stared at each other silently.
"...It's gone now," she said.
"Yes thank you," Derring-Do said through clenched teeth.
Moments later, Derring-Do and Rainbow Dash were on the stage, tied to a pair of large wooden stakes. The vast audience of robed ponies stared at them: a horde of blank, emotionless silver masks. Their leader was standing nearby, watching impassively as an underling emptied the contents o Derring-Do's saddlebags onto the floor.
Derring-Do sighed and rolled her eyes. "It's unreal how much I hate you right now. It's like... a physical sensation, almost."
"Would you give me a break?" Rainbow Dash said. "Everypony's afraid of snakes. Because they're scary."
"You were a thousand times bigger than it! What exactly is it going to do to you?"
"It coulda been poisonous!"
"They eat mice. Mice and eggs. Neither of which we are."
Dash let out an exasperated sigh. "Anything else you'd like to complain about?"
"You scream like a girl," Derring said matter-of-factly. "I find this profoundly disturbing."
The cultist clacked the base of his staff against the floor. "Talbaj."
Derring glared at him. "Do you mind? We're in the middle of something."
The cultist marched in front of her stake and examined her face. "You are the cursed one. Where is the stone?"
Derring-Do quirked an eyebrow. "I'm the what?"
"You now suffer the curse of death. This means you have taken the sacred stone from it's most holy resting place. Where is it?"
"I don't believe in curses. They're all fake and made up, like astrology and cults."
"I can smell it on you. Your soul stinks of death."
Dash cleared her throat. "He, ah, might know what he's talking about. The elder mare told me... you were kinda... cursed to die."
Derring glared at her. "And you were going to tell me about this when, exactly?"
"You were kind of having a bad day. I figured it could wait until after you'd had a bath and a cup of coffee."
The cult leader frowned at her. "You will give me the stone."
"Sure," she said. "Right after you bite my monochromatic tail."
"Do not insult me again, mare."
Derring-Do cleared her throat, theatrically. "Your mother dresses you like an idiot. You look ridiculous in that getup. Are you expecting to go trick-or-treating later tonight? Is that it?"
"If you do not co-operate with us—"
"Or what, exactly?" Derring said, "I'm already cursed to die, and that's kind of a hard act to follow. What are you going to do, kill me twice?"
"Trick-or-treating," Rainbow Dash muttered. "Fill up her belly with a treat or two... so she won't return to come eat you."
Derring peered at her, quizzically.
"Nightmare Moon," Dash said. "That's where I've seen these guys before. See the silver pattern embroidered on the backs of their hoods? It's the exact same shape of Nightmare Moon's helmet and neck armor."
The cultist clacked the end of his staff against the floor again. "You are not even worthy enough to speak her name aloud."
"How do you even know that?" said Derring.
"I saw her face to face," Dash said, "right before me and my friends kicked her butt so hard she turned back into Princess Luna."
"Silence!" The cult leader roared. It was the first emotion he'd expressed.
"The cabal," Derring-Do whispered. "Cor blimey... we're dealing with the Lunatic Cabal."
"The what?"
"The Lunatic Cabal," Derring said, "is a thousand-year-old illuminati made up of Nightmare Moon's most loyal servants, soon after she was imprisoned in the moon. They laid low for centuries, allegedly manipulating world events from behind the scenes to achieve their one and only ultimate goal... to release Nightmare Moon from her astral prison, and bring eternal night to the world once again."
"No way! Seriously?"
"Of course, no pony ever really thought they existed. It was all a ridiculous conspiracy theory. Until now, anyways. Hard to tell if these creeps are the genuine article, or just copy-cats. Either way, they're actual lunatics."
Dash snickered.
"What? What's so funny?"
"You said 'cor blimey' before. You're like, British and stuff!"
"Try to stay focused. We're dealing with honest-to-gosh, dyed-in-the-wool psychopaths here. The elder was spot-on when she called them 'the mad ones'."
"Right, right." Dash turned to the audience. "So, did you know that me and my friends kicked Nightmare Moon's butt so hard she turned back into Princess Luna? She's doin' pretty good these days, so I guess you can all go home now. No need to thank me... it's just what I do."
The cult leader turned to her, emotionless as before. "We will not tolerate the rule of this idiot-child usurper. She is a pretender to the throne. We will not rest until she is returned to her proper glory."
Derring-Do rolled her eyes. "And how do you plan to do that?"
He pointed his staff at the enormous apparatus behind them.
She craned her head back to examine the machine. "And what do you need us for?"
The leader tilted his head. "Make it work," he said, casually.
"It won't work without the prism," she said, "and we don't have it. We don't even know where it is, in fact."
"We have the prism," he said. "You will make it work."
Derring clenched her jaw. "You're lying."
"Now I have your attention. Good." The leader nodded to one of his minions near the side o the stage, and the robed pony pulled a long loop of chain hanging from the ceiling. the sound of stone grinding against stone echoed up through the floor, and the apparatus slid back against the wall: as it moved, they saw a circular hole in the floor where it had been sitting.
The leader walked to the edge of the hole and nodded down. "The machine does not work. Many have gone in. None have come out. But you are different... I think you will make it work."
"You think we're going to help you destroy the world?" Rainbow Dash said. "You're crazy!"
The leader offered her a tiny shrug. "You are only figuring this out now?"
He set the tip of his spear against the top of the log Derring was tied to, and gently pushed against it. Derring's eyes widened, and she let out a panicked yelp as the log tumbled towards the pit.
"No, don't!" Dash shouted.
The top of the log slammed against the far side of the pit, and the whole thing rolled sideways until Derring was facing straight down. The leader walked along the top of the log, balanced perfectly. One of his minions passed him a torch and he dropped it into the pit: it fell into the darkness and cast a ring of light against the inside of the well, and finally vanished from sight.
Derring swallowed. "Okay... you have my attention."
"Good," the leader said. He turned his spear upside down. "Explore the engine. Make it work. Then you may leave this place alive."
"Really, now?" said Derring. A single droplet of sweat trickled down her nose and fell into the pit below. "And what if we choose not to?"
The cult leader whirled his staff with a flourish and cut through the ropes. Derring-Do plummeted into the depths with terrified scream. Rainbow Dash burst free of her ropes and streaked into the pit, diving like a falcon.
The apparatus began sliding back into place over the hole, and the cultist's voice echoed after them. "...Choose quickly."
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It's downright criminal how few views this story has. I'm loving the dynamic here between Derring and Dashie, and the pacing is excellent. Looking forward to more!
2433275
I'm glad you like it! I'm posting the chapters as I write them, but I had almost everything planned out pretty thoroughly from the start. I'm always sure to leave some wiggle room, so a few things changed... originally, they were going to find the prism much later.
I have to admit I'm not getting many likes and favorites... it makes me wonder if readers are waiting for the story to finished before they make their decision. If anyone has any tips or advice about how to promote my stories or attract more readers, I'd certainly love to hear it.
Kalima kalima KALIMA!!
[youtube=owZPspxJ4jw]
Bwahahaha... you made my day. Best ancient elevator door ever! Such a unique conception.
2433515
There IS one good way to promote a story. Add it to any groups which will take it (you'll have to join the groups). Of course, I'd suggest doing it before or as you post the final chapter dump, so that it will be on the main page as well.
As for which groups... try these (I've check their rules and you're good posting them in the folders specified)
)
The Writer's Group (in both the main folder and the adventure one)
World-Building Alliance (In the main and in Other Species)
Struggling Authors (I know you aren't one, but you're not getting the attention you deserve.)(Main and Adventure folders)
Writing Gold (Main, Adventure, and apparently directly into the Writing Gold folder)
Adventure (Be sure to read their rules. They have this nasty clause which might or might not invalidate your stories eligibility. Otherwise, "a bit of everything!" and "Legnthy adventures (no less than 30,000 words)" *oh jeez the speeling error.)
Twilight's Library (Just the Incoming folder. They are attempting to approve everything coming in.)
High Quality Fictions(I would totally tell you to submit the story to these guys, but they have this huge backlog thing.)Daring Do (Just stick it in.)
Rainbow Dash Fan Club (Stick it in Rainbow Dash. No, the folder.
...OR you could submit it to EQD. That always boosts views.
This has been your helpful broadcast by...
THE BEAUZOE
Also, BULL-WHIP AT TWELVE-O-CLOCK
I wish mightily that I could like and fav this more.
You write awesome stories. 
If I recall correctly, in B&I you created a ponified version of France. Saying British without the slightest alteration to fit an Equestrian setting pulls me out of the story more than making me smile or giggle, etc.
Maybe you read it in a book somewhere?
Of course! While in the middle of a metropolis-wide riot and murdering spree, it's just pathetic if you take out your opponents with a door.
Venomous. Poisonous is if you get poisoned by eating it, venomous is if you get poisoned when it bites you. But Dash probably doesn't see the difference.
Well, she is a girl.
I'm not sure Luna would describe it the same way. (And what about Nightmare Rarity? Nightmarity?)
Who's to say it can't be all three? She might not be a sociologist, but surely a professional would acknowledge that it is a fundamentally different cultural paradigm.
"I am a pony of science! How dare your princess contradict it!"
Granted, she's having a pretty sucky day and probably doesn't want to listen to Rainbow right now, but, considering the world they live in, would it really be wise to dismiss someone of Princess Celestia's knowledge and skill?