Blessings and Curses
The wordless tune flowed through the darkened stone hall like a gentle breeze; serene, calming, and hinting of just a slight tinge of playfulness. It was as if it gently alighted upon the ponies currently examining the hall, peeking over their shoulder, and reminding them of pleasant things awaiting them after hard days work. Red Stone, despite his frustration with his task, stopped and lifted his head. A glance at his companions showed them doing the same.
"I swear, Red, your daughter's got more magic in her singing than some unicorns I know," Foresight said. He scratched his salt and pepper beard before going back to the etchings he was studying. The glow from his horn flickered briefly, a sign of both fatigue and his age, but he'd be damned before he was the first among the group to call it a day.
"Only some?" Red Stone replied. The others chuckled. It was no secret how fiercely proud he was of Rhapsody. She may be an earth pony like him, but she certainly had more of that unicorn etherealness that came from her mother.
"A mare with that talent shouldn't be holed up with crusty bastards digging around for History," Star Gleam said. She wiped some sweat from her brow and flapped her wings a bit for circulation. "She should be with a choir somewhere, honing her skill."
"Watch the feathers, Star," Gravel Paw muttered. He plucked a single, light blue feather from his snout while brushing the dust off what looked like an old piece of barding. Star Gleam replied with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Rhapsody's off to train with the Great Delve Choir this fall," Red Stone said. "She's here because it's the last time she'll get to come along on an expedition."
"One last trip with daddy," Star Gleam chuckled. "How cute."
"Better be worth it, eh?" Red Stone said. "Tell me you have something."
Gravel Paw held up the piece of barding. "This is from the Arcane Knights' uniform," he said with a smile. "You can tell from the engravings and insignias. They wouldn't have been around if this was just some Old Kingdom supply depot or outpost."
"Wall sign confirms it," Foresight said. "Arcane Development Research Center. Here's the curious part, though: Music Division."
"I found the switch for those doors," Star Gleam said, gesturing towards an innocuous looking bit of rock by the side of the hall. "Even the entrance is hidden. Whatever the Old Kingdom kept here must be important."
"Doublecheck for traps, Star," Red Stone said. The singing had stopped, replaced by the hoofbeats approaching the group.
"Father?" Rhapsody asked. The glow of Foresight's light spell and the lanterns they brought cast her snow white fur with an orange outline. Her long, curly white mane, normally like spilling milk, was tied into a more practical braid. She looked around, her light pink irises nearly invisible. "Have you found something?"
"Yes, dear," Red Stone said. "Stand back, we need to make sure it's safe first."
Red Stone had questioned several times why he would bring his daughter to these places. At its height, the Old Kingdom was a terrible place. As mere ruins of itself, it still held a sinister mien; a corpse in an angry grimace, still trying to spite the living by reminding them of the monsters they descended from. This was a center of research as opposed to a tomb, so traps would be rare. They would not trap places of high traffic after all. Still, the things done here were no sight for such a young mare.
"This will be quite a find," Rhapsody said. She smiled that assuring smile, just as her mother had done so many years ago. That's what reminded Red Stone why. Rhapsody brightened these benighted ruins he had made it his job to explore. Her empemeral voice silenced the dark whispers that plagued every corner, and her nearly luminescent white figure beat back the constantly encroaching darkness. He almost didn't want to send her to the Delve. He doubted that he could keep going without her. Then again, perhaps this was the time to retire.
"All clear," Star Gleam said. She pushed the switch and flourished a bit as the great stone doors slid back to reveal the entrance.
The warm, damp, and musty cloud that wafted from Old Kingdom ruins whenever they're unsealed never did get any more tolerable to Red Stone. Neither did the rush that came from realizing that he had more to explore and learn. Foresight's horn flickered again as he ran through his detection spells.
"Air inside is fine," Foresight said. "Not sensing any magical wards as well. We should be good to go."
Red Stone nodded and led the way. As soon as he stepped past the doorway, his lantern revealed yet one more typical feature of Old Kingdom architecture. The entrance chamber was always a circular with a domed ceiling. At the center of that ceiling, the carving of what their ancestors interpreted as their Deep Father's head glowered at all of them, dozens of tentacles extending from him in all directions, like perverted sun rays. These wormed their way down to the walls and floors, splitting, coiling, and getting everywhere. Concentrating on them sometimes caused them to appear alive. Whether this was some form of ancient magic or a natural trick to the eyes remained a mystery. They disappeared into the darkened halls extending from left and right of the chamber.
"To work then," Red Stone said.
The others nodded only to stop in their tracks when a faint plink sounded from a distance.
"Father?" Rhapsody whispered. She drew closer to him and eyed the halls warily.
Star Gleam's ears perked and swiveled. "What's that?" she asked. Another plink. "Sounds like somepony plucking a metal string."
"Can't be anypony alive," Foresight said. "Maybe the result of their Arcane Development on Music?" He concentrated on his spells, his horn flickering and shifting in colors. "I don't sense much in terms of magical presence. Whatever it is, it's a very faint presence, maybe the lingering last traces of an old alarm."
The plucking took on a faster, steadier rhythm, making the hairs on the back of Red Stone's neck rise. It was also getting louder. A few moments ago, it was sounding in the hallways, now it was in the same chamber.
"It sounds like a guitar, father," Rhapsody said.
At that, the brief plucks transformed into a melodic flourish, followed by several more strums. Rhapsody let out a brief laugh and tapped a hoof in rhythm. Even Star Gleam bobbed her head a bit.
"Alert!" Gravel Paw groused. "These are still Old Kingdom spells, you fillies!"
Star Gleam stopped and scowled. "Could just be a spell to provide ambient music for their researchers," she said. "I know they concocted a lot of horrible things, but they must have had some time for recreation."
"Maybe they did, Star," Gravel Paw said, "but we don't. So, how about we get back to work?"
"Hmph!" was all Star Gleam responded with. The others fell in line while Red Stone took the lead. Even the strange music went with the mood, its briefly pleasant strumming taking on a more somber and slow tone. It also sounded just slightly more distant, as if the source had backed off.
This was far from the first Old Kingdom ruin that Red Stone had seen. Many of them dotted the Barrier Lands as small shrines, outposts, and hamlets. This was the most extensive one he had encountered, and likely the most important. All the old markers were there: the carved tentacles, the gray-green stone, and the murky darkness that seemed to defy any light, magical or mundane. These ruins always made him feel like he was underwater.
Not everything about the ruins were mysterious, though. They found the latrines for one thing. They found a large room with crumbling bed frames and scraps of cloth, and they found the mess hall with stacks of porcelain plates along with large clay pots.
"You think they cooked earth ponies in those?" Red Stone had asked when they inspected the place.
"Not the Arcane Knights," Gravel Paw said. "They had a very strict diet and believed meat upset their mana reserves. If they had Graywing Elite in here, maybe, but Hurricane's pegasi had no interest in the arts. I doubt they'd be caught dead in a research facility for music."
"Scrape the ovens if you like," Star Gleam said. "There might be some hardened pony fat stuck to the walls if they did."
"Maybe later," Red Stone said. "Focus on their music rooms and records. Find out what they were up to before what they were eating."
As they moved farther into one hall, the solemn music following at a distance took a noticeable dip in pitch, becoming very low, ominous notes.
"Maybe we should go back?" Rhapsody asked. She pressed closer to Red Stone and glanced about. "It's moving closer."
"Not quite ambient music," Gravel Paw muttered.
"Maybe not," Foresight said. "But I maintain that this presence is very weak. Don't let its posturing scare you."
The next room held what they had been hoping for: great stacks of aged books along with various scrolls. Star Gleam let out a whicker in excitement. Now they can get to the thick of things. Foresight muttered some incantations, preparing the spells needed to make sure the extremely old paper didn't fall apart on them.
"Father!"
Red Stone's eyes widened. Rhapsody's call came from a distance. Wasn't she just next to him a while ago? Cursing himself for his inattentiveness, he looked to her.
Rhapsody was standing just a few feet away, staring at a large window, the only window in this place. "So many instruments in there," she said. "And...and something else."
True enough, the room past the glass pane had a great deal of guitars arranged in a large circle. On the floor was a chalk circle of what was clearly a spell array. This would be his first time seeing this, but Red Stone had read up on these. Old Kingdom spell casters drew powerful diagrams with chalk made up of ground unicorn horns. At the center of the circle was the remarkably preserved skeleton of a pegasus. Foresight and the others had gone over to look as well. At this attention, the music around them picked up its tempo, like a great beast rousing itself.
"Binding Circle," Foresight said. "Now, here's some dangerous magic. I suggest we leave that alone until we learn more."
"Our seranader seems to agree," Star Gleam said. Indeed, as they moved away from that room, the music grew less frantic.
That aside, it was time to work.
Progress proved easy enough. Both Star Gleam and Foresight were highly proficient in the Old Kingdom's tongue. Gravel Paw had taken to inspecting the general structure of the place, looking for hidden passages and the like.
"Red, we may have to bring in supplies and ponies for this," Foresight said. "This is quite the haul."
"Let's not be so hasty!" Star Gleam said. "As soon as we get word out, the Legion will get their hooves in here. We'll lose control of the place and most of its best artifacts."
"Sure," Gravel Paw groused. "Let's not. I love explaining to the Legion why we delayed relaying information about Old Kingdom ruins. Let's risk having bandits show up here to make a hideout while we're at it."
"I'm not saying we should never call them in," Star Gleam replied. "Just hold off for a while so we can research more freely a bit longer." She looked pleadingly at Red Stone. "Remember those artifacts they took for themselves the last time, Red? There's a lot more to lose this time."
"We'll hold off for now," Red Stone said.
"This is madness," Gravel Paw said as he went back to work.
A few hours passed in mostly silence. During that time, Red Stone had gone through some of what he determined to be the center head's papers.
As it turned out, this whole center was ordered by Princess Platinum. Made sense. She was the one concerned most with image: songs, stories, and poems to commemorate the glory of their rule. The center's goal was to combine these arts with more practical purposes such as spell casting, fighting, and the creation of entities to serve their Deep Father, reasoning that more ponies would take these songs and tales to heart if they served more practical purposes.
As was typical of beginnings, there were a lot of suggestions, but subsequent notes revealed that most failed and those involved with the particularly costly ones were sent to the sacrificial pools. The ones that showed promise, though, were only mentioned here.
"Red!" Star Gleam called out.
That might be the connecting bit. Red Stone headed over. It was a bit disconcerting how easily the disembodied guitar was able to slip into the background, but nothing harmful has come of it. It seemed to linger around Rhapsody, who stayed by the entrance. She seemed aware of this and had distanced herself from their work to minimize any disturbance.
"I think I just found out what our seranader is," Star Gleam said. Several books lay open before her along with her steadily increasing notes. The others paused to listen. Most anyway. Rhapsody remained by the entrance, now softly humming along with the music.
"Let me guess," Gravel Paw said. "Not just ambient music after all."
"More like the Old Kingdom's imperfect recreation of something they discovered," Star Gleam said. "What you're hearing is a controlling spirit of sorts, bound by Old Kingdom magic to play the songs of his time throughout the ages."
"That's not so bad," Foresight said. "We all want our culture to survive the ages."
"So what did they kill to get results?" Gravel Paw asked.
"Here," Star Gleam said, passing a hoof over another book. "They picked a guitar-player who had 'committed an incredibly stupid and blasphemous choice'. They bound him with magic, then strangled him with his guitar's strings. The array forces him to remain here, playing songs forever."
"Lovely," Gravel Paw said. "That must be the binding circle we saw earlier. I didn't realize how obssessed the Old Kingdom was with guitars. Figured that they'd have more variety."
"He was the first," Star Gleam said. "These notes had plans for others. A complete ensemble in fact. Things never pushed through."
"Does this poor bastard have a name?" Foresight asked.
"None mentioned here," Star Gleam said. "They did give him a nickname. Surprisingly punny. Maybe these Old Kingdom monsters did have a sense of humor after all."
"What is it?" Red Stone asked.
"Well, it doesn't quite work if I translate it," Star Gleam said. "Let's see...resounding...vibrating...specter...I'd say something like Reverbwraith."
"I have some notes about him here too," Foresight said, waving a shuffle of his own notes. "More along the lines of Arcane Knight reports. He had pleased Princess Platinum during a performance and was slated to be her next consort. He refused and tried to flee with his fiancee, but the knights were ahead of them."
"You said he was a copy," Red Stone said. "What did they try to copy it from?"
"Yes, here," Star Gleam said. "They found it close to the sacred site where their Deep Father supposedly landed. Some kind of entity that absorbs and reflects music. It supposedly attaches itself to ponies with great talent and gives them incredible powers in exchange for 'adding' them to its knowledge."
"Where is it now?" Red Stone asked.
Before he could get a reply, Red Stone heard his daughter's voice launch into a song with the strumming seemingly matching it. The prickling sensation he had from before worsened as the first words left Rhapsody's lips.
The strumming stopped, much to Rhapsody's confusion. Their was a great rush of wind, blowing musty air all around them. Red Stone shielded his eyes when a burst of red light erupted from the hallway, engulfing Rhapsody, who could only let out a surprised yelp.
"Rhapsody!" Red Stone cried out.
"Star, what was that?" Gravel Paw yelled.
"That was a massive burst of magic, for one thing!" Foresight said.
"It...it might be that thing!" Star Gleam replied. "Maybe it responded to the singing!"
Red Stone rushed towards his daughter. The red light surrounded her like an aura, the tinge made it as if he saw her through a bloody lens. She was cowering, her hooves raised to protect her face, but there didn't seem to be any injury on her. "Are you hurt, Rhapsody?" he asked. In an instant, all the reasons he had been giving himself earlier turned into the idiocies of the stupidest and most selfish stallion in Equestria. As if agreeing, the disembodied music had fallen silent.
"I...I'm fine," Rhapsody whispered. "My throat feels strange though...itchy and sort of warm."
"Foresight, how is she?" Red Stone barked. Foresight was ahead of him, already casting detection spells at Rhapsody.
"Hmm...lingering traces of magic on her," Foresight said.
"Is it dangerous?" Red Stone asked. "Some kind of Old Kingdom curse?"
"W-well, I'm not sure," Foresight replied. "More complicated divinations would be needed and--"
"We'll get them." Red Stone's eyes hardened. "Pack it up, everypony, time to get back to the Delve."
"What?" Star Gleam exclaimed. "We just got here! And you can't possibly expect us to move all these things!"
"I'm not risking anything with Rhapsody anymore," Red Stone said. "I'll have a team of unicorns looking after her as soon as we get there."
Clearly, nopony was pleased with this. Not even Gravel Paw. Star Gleam ground her teeth and shot a look at Rhapsody that Red Stone noted down. He didn't consider himself a violent pony, but he knew when something was deserving of a hard smack and a bloody muzzle.
Rhapsody must have noticed this as well. "Really, I'm fine, father," she said. "See?" She stood back from him a little bit and sang out a few notes.
Something flew past Red Stone's face, parting fur and trailing a quick draft like an errant sword strike or a bolt. Glass shattered behind him followed by gasps from the others. He looked at Rhapsody, who was staring at him in utter shock, only to realize in the next moment that his entire left side was in excrutiating pain. A glance to the floor showed several drops and spatters of blood all falling from his side.
"Father!" Rhapsody cried out. She rushed to him, holding out her front hooves as he staggered a bit. The pain was quickly a minor niggling in his mind, however, when he noticed the thick gob of crimson slowing making its way down the side of his daughter's face.
"Rhapsody, you're--" A horrid, metallic snap, like several metal wires breaking, stopped Red Stone. He remembered the breaking glass earlier. "Gravel--!"
Gravel Paw was already looking through the broken window. "Celestia's Fleas, the circle's broken!" he cried out. "That blast sent shards into the chalk!"
More metallic snapping, like a dozen guitars being broken apart.
"If the seal's broken then the spirit's free, right?" Star Gleam asked, her voice quivering. "That dead guitarist should be happily leaving this world, right?"
"Maybe..." Gravel Paw said as he backed away from the window. "Or he has a bone to pick with his tormentors and he'll settle for anypony nearby."
"The presence is increasing," Foresight said. "It may have been weak earlier, but it's gaining strength now."
A wave of dissonant strums blared from the room with the binding circle. Red Stone covered his ears along with the others, but his head was already ringing. Dozens of guitar strings had flown from the room and snagged on...something that was apparently floating before them. The strings dug deep, it seemed, as blood started oozing from where they clung. More strings whipped up from the room, coiling rapidly around this invisible shape. They could only watch out of morbid curiosity as a definite shape started to form through all the bindings: a torso, a pair of struggling wings, a neck, the vestiges of four legs, part of a muzzle. More blood oozed out of the forming shape, though none seemed to actually reach the floor.
"Father..."
Rhapsody's whimper jolted Red Stone out of his staring. They had to leave. Now. He clutched Rhapsody tightly and got to his hooves. "Everypony, run!" he called out.
His voice brought them out of their staring it seemed. They turned and started to flee.
Yet another blaring snap, the strings of a tightly- wound guitar being ripped off. The ghost...the Reverbwraith as Star Gleam called it, whipped out a bleeding foreleg along with the dozen ends of the guitar strings wrapping it. The strings struck Star Gleam across the the face, leaving more than a dozen red streaks across it which promptly started bleeding.
Star Gleam let out a scream and collapsed, her front hooves clutching her face.
"Star!" Gravel Paw shouted.
The Reverbwraith followed with a frenzied whirlwind of whips, flailing all of its limbs at Star Gleam as she curled into a ball. Her hide quickly started to rip and peel at the onslaught and her blood sprayed across the walls.
"Stop!" Gravel Paw yelled. "She has nothing to do with your captors! The Old-- hggk!"
Gravel Paw scratched at his neck, where several strings had coiled around tightly. So tightly that he started to bleed as well. His eyes bulged as he failed at a gasp. His hind legs kicked in vain as the Reverbwraith raised him off the floor. A series of deep, malevolent guitar plucks punctuated his gurgling chokes.
"No!" Foresight yelled. His horn glowed for an attack spell, but the Reverbwraith whipped around faster. The strings lashed across Foresight's face. With a pained cry, he fell to his knees and clutched at his bleeding eyes. That didn't last long as dozen more blows followed.
"We have to run," Red Stone groaned. "By the Prince, Rhapsody, we have to run!" He staggered on, leaning heavily on his daughter. After another step, it occured to him that there was no way they'd escape the Reverbwraith. "Rhapsody," he said. "You have to go on ahead."
Rhapsody stared at him for a moment, her pink eyes wild and brimming with tears. "What?" she sobbed. "No! No!"
The grating, dissonant chorus of badly-tuned guitars drowned out Rhapsody's sobbing. She tried to drape Red Stone across her back, then half-drag, half-carry him away, but his weight proved too much. He put as much weight as he could on his injured side, but the damage he took was more than just external. Some force had ripped through his muscles and even his bones, shredding them thoroughly. The pain shot up and down his legs and brought unwanted tears to his eyes. His head was swimming and he was in the verge of fainting. "Listen..." he gasped.
Rhapsody had to lean closer to hear. The strumming noise behind them was getting closer, accompanied by the dull shuffling of heavy objects being dragged across the floor. They both glanced towards the noise. The Reverbwraith's floating form, glinting from the lone lantern still hanging from Red Stone's harness, jerked forward unnaturally, like a poorly controlled marionette. Behind it, tangled up by guitar strings, were three bodies that trailed crimson across the floor. Rhapsody let out a low moan at the sight and redoubled her efforts with little success.
"Listen!" Red Stone said as loudly as he could the pain turned what should have been a stern tone to a desperate grunt. "Your stay with the Delve Choir is paid for. There's money to...ugh...to your name in the Great Delve Bank as well. If...if...you need help...look for Ice Carver. He has a place in the Underbelly. You can...can trust him."
"We'll meet him together!" Rhapsody wailed. She gave one mighty tug, only to lose her balance. Red Stone shoved her back.
"Go!" Red Stone yelled. Several guitar strings whipped up and tangled themselves around his hindlegs. The cold metal sliced through his hide as it dug deep. He didn't have the strength to fight back. More snaked around his torso, winding so tight that they squeezed the air out of his lungs. The Reverbwraith lifted him muck, its muzzle tilting as it examined him with its eyeless face. "Do your worst, ghost," he muttered with the last breath he could draw.
"SKRRRRRBRRRR..."
Red Stone couldn't tell if the thing was talking or that was just the sound of somepony dragging a hoof over a guitar. He strained his neck to look back, hoping to catch the fleeting sight of his daughter's back as she galloped to safety.
Instead he saw Rhapsody, her eyes glaring, puffy, and red, her jaw set defiantly as she planted her hooves on the floor. She opened her mouth and let out a sonorous, melodious wail.
The sound, so wrathful and sorrowful, tore through Red Stone's chest. He had heard his daughter sing so many times: before his friends, in small impromptu concerts during parties. She had always been reserved, and that always held some of her singing in check. He hoped the Delve Choir could truly bring out her voice. This unrestrained burst of song though...he was so glad to hear it just once.
The Reverbwraith jerked and twisted, letting loose peals of its horrendous noise. The strings around it snapped and bent, falling to the floor like shredded webbing. Red Stone followed suit. The fall was surprisingly not as painful as he had expected.
"Father!" Rhapsody's sobs mixed with elation as she ran towards him. Red Stone tried to raise his head and failed. He tried a smile, but a stream of blood poured out of his mouth as soon as he feebly parted his lips. Rhapsody's initially relieved cry turned to sheer horror as soon as she was close enough.
"That was lovely, dear, a beautiful melody. I'd love to hear the whole thing once you complete it."
That was what Red Stone wanted to say. The tender words merely gurgled in his ruined lungs. Rhapsody was saying something but all the sounds faded to dullness. The lantern was dimming as well. Or that was his vision. Several tears dropped from her eyes across his face and trickled down his cheeks.
"Father!"
That sweet voice, so sad and melodious sounded like a tender whisper, and was the last sound Red Stone heard as he drifted off.
Author's Note
If you're reading this, you know who you are. I told you I'd put you in my story so I can kill you for your heresy. Now, it's done.
