The next few hours were a blur to Hayden. A blur of panicked nobles, of shouting voices and rushing guards. Though the meeting that followed between them and the city lord was private, somehow the news seemed to be spreading through Icefalls. There was already a mob of terrified citizens at the fortress gate by the time the meeting had been dismissed.
Hayden now wore a loose military jacket that had belonged to the last general in the north. A tailor would make her a proper uniform, but for now it would have to do as the symbol of her authority.
She walked with Star Swirl down an empty hall, steps quiet and solemn. No one spoke—Hayden wondered if the unicorn was also straining his ears, trying to hear Snow Storm’s reassurances for the people of the city. He had sounded calm enough in the meeting, but Hayden knew better. There was no mistaking his constantly darting eyes, and his repeated insistence that Celestia’s mind would change. If only they waited a little longer. She would have the army returned before spring thaw.
“Your decision is only noble if you succeed,” Star Swirl said, as though their earlier private conversation had not been interrupted. They made their way to a balcony, overlooking the city. There was already a line of carriages and ponies making its way south through the city. How many would they lose?
“You already admitted these ponies had no conventional hope, wizard. Will they be any more dead if I fail?”
“No,” he admitted, though his voice was tense. “Before I return to Harmony, I need to take down your message of acceptance to Celestia. It’s customary for new generals to address the court—yours will have to be read in absentia.” He levitated a quill and a scroll into the air beside him. Where he had gotten them, she couldn’t see. He didn’t look to be carrying anything besides his oversized hat with its dangling bells.
“What do ponies usually say in these?” she asked. “And how long are they?”
“Just a few lines, usually,” Star Swirl said. “Generally, they express their love for Equestria, their determination to serve… that kind of thing.”
“Alright,” she cleared her throat. “Princess Celestia, and ponies of the court. I wish that those who listen might reconsider their attentions for the north. If Princess Celestia wishes for me to defend the north, then I will succeed. I worry that the court does not understand what kind of world it asks me to create. I am afraid that nopony will be pleased to live there.”
Star Swirl stopped, looking her over for a long time. “Are you certain you aren’t Luna in disguise?”
No, honestly. Any minute now these ponies are going to figure out I don’t have a clue what I’m doing. She only shook her head. “I wonder if you could send that message with one of the ponies flying south instead of delivering it yourself.”
Star Swirl shook his head. “My orders from Princess Celestia were to return to Canterlot once I was done in Icefalls.”
“Well… I don’t know what you see, Star Swirl, but you don’t look done to me.” She gestured out at the city, over the balcony. “I haven’t studied much high strategy, but I know our odds get much better with the most skilled unicorn in the world helping us.”
Star Swirl opened his mouth to argue, but this time she didn’t let him. Hayden advanced, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Forget what Celestia wants. A ruler who’s willing to throw away lives like this has lost her moral authority.”
“Don’t judge her so harshly,” Star Swirl whispered back. Yet he wasn’t looking into her eyes, only staring at her wings. “Celestia survived an Outsider’s reign. Magic like yours could be the beginning of some new Outsider’s reign. The sacrifice of every life in the north is nothing to the blood lost when she was young.”
Hayden had nothing to say to that. She couldn’t really imagine anything worse than leaving her own people to be slaughtered and enslaved, but this world was beyond her understanding in many ways. There were ancient secrets, there was real magic, and strange creatures she had no names for.
Instead, she said, “Maybe. But that isn’t what this is. I am not a demon, and neither are the ponies who decided to make fools of themselves and copy my wings. Half this city converted, and look at it. Aside from being ransacked, it looks just like anywhere else in Equestria. If there was some secret evil, surely being somewhere it was completely in control would’ve made it manifest by now.”
Star Swirl looked her over. He was silent for a long time, leaving them with the distant voice of a nervous Snow Storm explaining how safe the city would be in her hooves and how it was by no means an abandonment by the crown. That he expected reinforcements by spring, and that life would continue as normal. From the sound of it, the crowd didn’t believe him.
“I think she’s wrong about you,” Star Swirl eventually said. “One can judge the quality of a tree from the fruit that falls from its branches. I have heard of the fruit you grew in Defiance. An end to its persistent epidemic, and to soldiers starving. I will stay.”
Hayden heard hoofsteps approaching from behind them, but she didn’t look around just yet. She couldn’t help but smile, extending a hoof to him. “Welcome aboard.”
He stared down at it, unmoving. “I am not committing to stay forever. Only until you have presented your plan. When I hear how you intend to save the north from enslavement. You claim to bring the wisdom of another world? Let’s see it.”
She lowered her leg. “The first thing I have to do is—” but she didn’t get to say anything, because at that moment another voice spoke from behind them. The pony who had followed them here.
It was Lodestone. “Lady Even—I mean, General Evening Star. I wonder if you might have a moment.”
“Wanted to say goodbye before you set off for Canterlot?” Hayden said, turning around. “I—” She stopped, frozen by what she saw.
It had been less than twenty minutes since their meeting. In that time, Captain Lodestone had been transformed. His fur was a few shades darker, his eyes slitted, and his wings no longer had a single feather.
“My God…” Hayden squeaked. “Y-you…” she stammered, approaching him. “Captain, what were you thinking?”
Star Swirl was the one who spoke, however. “He was thinking the same thing as you, Evening Star. Celestia’s letter ordered him to the south, but it also ordered that any pony who had been touched by your magic needed to stay.”
Lodestone nodded. He kept his voice low. “Under the circumstances, there wasn’t much of a wait at the temple. Well… there was quite a crowd, but mostly it was ponies wanting to be changed the other way. But I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Why?” Hayden asked, still breathless. “You didn’t have to stay, Lodestone. Don’t you have family in the south?” Almost all the high officers had been born into their ranks—the children of important nobles in the mainland.
He shrugged. “They will have to make due. When I took this armor, I swore I would do anything to protect Equestria.” He pointed off the balcony with one of his new bat wings. “That is Equestria too, Evening Star. I intend to protect it.” A slight smile cracked through the imposing visage. “Besides, I… I’ve served around you long enough to know that you aren’t a general.”
He didn’t give her a chance to object. “I don’t mean to insult you, it’s just… you don’t have the skills for that. You’re a builder, a planner. But leading ponies into battle? You’d be helpless. You need an officer beneath you who can overcome those weaknesses. A pony to do the leading for you while you use that ancient wisdom of yours to give us a miracle. I’m… guessing you have a miracle planned, right?”
“Yes,” she said. “I plan to give Icefalls a miracle. Still a little hazy on the steps between here and there.” But she couldn’t hold still, not for another moment. She rushed forward, embracing the stallion. It was probably improper, but she didn’t really care just now. If the princess was going to do improper things like leave a city to die, then why should she be any better?
Lodestone stiffened as she hugged him, as though she were something delicate that had landed on his shoulder. But he didn’t pull away.
Even so, she kept it chaste—this wasn’t the time to indulge her crush. “Thanks for staying, Lodestone.” She broke away from him, brushing out her mane. “You’re right, you’re exactly the sort of pony I need.” She turned to Star Swirl. “Princess Luna can teleport. I’m guessing you can too, right?”
He nodded, raising an eyebrow. “I taught her myself.”
“And you wanted to see my plan.” She turned slightly, so she was looking at both of them. “Bring Lodestone back to Defiance, and retrieve the contents of my workshop. No… not just that. Bring me my engineers. All of my engineers. Give the order to evacuate, then return to me here.”
“If we evacuate Defiance…” Lodestone said. Not with a tone of disobedience, more of someone who was pointing something out that she might not have realized. “It will open at least one route through to Equestria itself.”
Hayden shrugged her wings. “Princess Celestia is taking most of the army from us. That’s her problem now, not ours. Ours is the ponies of the north. Make sure they bring all the supplies they can. I don’t know how long the city will last without provisions.”
“I have taken steps to ensure that the flow of provisions does not stop,” Star Swirl reminded. “I found a supplier outside the court—many of those ponies think it is kinder to let you all starve. But I don’t think many of them know what it is like to be hungry.”
“Who?” Lodestone asked, surprised. “It’s not Trottingham, is it? They were supposed to be sending three times as much as they were. They always agreed to anything we asked for, but never—”
“No.” Star Swirl shook his head. “Avalon. The only creature I know of outside the reach of politics. Old age has made him… strange, but he was still willing to give humanitarian aid. I don’t know that it will be anywhere near the demands of the city once the refugees from Equestria proper begin to flow north, however.” He looked up, meeting Hayden’s eyes. “If I were you, I would account for at least four times the city’s current population in whatever you’re planning. Not to mention all the little villages spread out across the north. There were always twice as many living distributed as there were in Icefalls proper.”
“I will be expected to protect them as well?”
He nodded.
Hayden wanted to scream. But she didn’t—not with a pair of powerful ponies watching her. I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m going to get everyone killed. They’ll be enslaved and eaten and it’s all my fault. She could still remember the terrified faces she had seen throughout the city—its women and children. All those lives would be depending on her. And many more refugees from the south.
“Well, you have my orders. I will… draw up a plan in the meantime. It should be ready to present to the two of you and Lord Storm by the time you return with my engineers. Be as quick as you can.”
“We can do quick.” They both vanished in a crack of light and sound.
Hayden walked through the empty space where they had stood, down the stairs. She couldn’t hear Lord Storm anymore—his speech was over, and the mob was gone. Evidently he was at least a competent civilian ruler. So I won’t have to do all the city’s jobs at once. It was a good thing she could delegate, otherwise all these ponies would’ve been doomed.
Hayden walked into the old general’s office—only two doors down from the armory, with a pair of guards outside. They saluted as she passed, then shut the door behind her. The room was much larger than her own bedroom, and better furnished. Even so, Hayden couldn’t help but feel like it was a prison. She walked up to the center of the room, inspecting the map table. It was fine work—intricately carved wood depicting Icefalls and all the towns and forts for many miles.
And I have to save them all. Without soldiers, without supplies, without hope.
There had to be a way. Hayden pulled over a padded stool, sitting down in front of the table. What we really need is Princess Luna. This is the kind of thing she could do. Maybe the spell that connected them would be enough to draw her here to help.
If we survive this, Celestia… I’m coming for you next.