It didn’t take them long to see that their plan was working: they were being followed. Princess Luna took command, leaving Hayden little to do. Mostly she lingered on the bridge to operate the ship’s systems, which Luna understood but didn’t know how to control. Hayden occupied herself at one of the consoles, watching the Grand Fleet follow them through the rear cams.
“I don’t understand how they can be so stupid,” she confided to Luna, after six hours had gone by. Traveling so slowly, it would take them an entire day to reach Icefalls. So there was plenty of opportunity to find a chance to speak. “Don’t they want Seaddle? They were on their way to winning it—are the birds really so proud that they have to risk everything because we blew up their ships?”
They’d gone into the tiny office off the bridge for this conversation—a room probably designed for just such an occasion. There was nopony around to overhear, if Hayden grew particularly bold. Even so, she wasn’t quite bold enough to say what she was really thinking. Your sister promised them she wouldn’t interfere. They can have Icefalls if they can take it. Of course, her paranoia had no basis in reality, not yet. If it ever did, she would already be dead.
“It’s a sensible tactical move,” Princess Luna argued. “I know you’re new to this, Hayden, so let me explain. They already firmly hold Vanhoover. If they took Icefalls as well, that would effectively sever northern Equestria and the last of the old Crystal territories. I believe they are looking for just such a victory—they can claim to their inferiors that this was all they wanted, several thousand square miles more land. They have done this several times now, stealing bits and pieces of our territory—knowing we will never effectively retaliate. Never attempt to retake what belongs to us. If they continue this way indefinitely, they will eventually own all of Equestria.”
Hayden frowned out the window. Or… probably a screen. They were well into the interior of the Excellus, so there probably couldn’t be a true window here. But it was pointed off ahead of them, so she could see only icy wilderness in that direction. “Maybe. I know you understand this better than I do, Princess. I just…” Her ears went flat. “Your sister has an angle in this, somehow. I don’t know what. But she’s determined to destroy us.”
“Destroy the bats,” Luna corrected. Her voice went suddenly terse. “About which, you informed me, she was correct. You really do represent an existential threat to Equestria.”
It was Hayden’s time to grow tense. If Princess Luna was going to betray them, Hayden was doomed. This was the one agent she couldn’t possibly defeat. But I won’t just roll over. I’ll make her kill me if it comes to that. I won’t let her use me to betray Icefalls. “Are you not supporting our cure anymore?”
Luna seemed to sense what she was feeling. Obviously. You can sense her emotions too, stupid. Hayden had never learned just how closely those feelings could be traded—she had spent most of her time as Luna’s daemon trying very hard not to feel her emotions. Maybe Luna could see the intensity of her anger, or the growing sense of betrayal. “If I thought that my sister was right to kill all the bats in Equestria, why would I have spent the last few months gathering them all? I could’ve killed them instead.”
The words were blunt, yet Hayden could see a harsh truth buried underneath. Princess Luna could have gone along with her sister. The two Alicorns fighting together against Icefalls would certainly be more than her defenses could stop. She had seen what Luna’s magic could do. Celestia too, for that matter. If she attacks us, we’re all doomed. “Maybe…” she argued anyway, stubborn. “Maybe you want the griffons to do it, like she does. Maybe you don’t want the blood.”
“I don’t want any blood.” Princess Luna flashed across the room, vanishing from behind the desk and appearing inches from Hayden’s face. “I will die for Icefalls, Hayden. You cannot imagine the responsibility I feel towards the ponies I have been given to protect. It might be a lesser burden than the one my sister carries, but that does not make it less important. I would fight to the death for Icefalls. If the bats are mine… then I would fight for them too. I would wield Achelois against my own sister if it came to that.”
Hayden wilted. She could feel the terrible power of an Alicorn radiating all around her, yet Luna didn’t intimidate her the same way Celestia did. Being afraid of her would be like being afraid of a gun in her own hands. Even so, she was silenced by Princess Luna’s words.
“You haven’t lied about your determination, you haven’t lied about your courage. But even given all that, I don’t think you ever understood where those feelings came from. Whose determination to preserve my kingdom did you think you were feeling? Unless you claim your strange species is made entirely of beings who would gladly commit their souls to oblivion for any cause. These ponies were mine before they were yours. They were strangers to you. If your memories are true, they aren’t even the same species.”
Hayden was still for a long moment, hearing only the slight groan of the engines under her hooves. Engines built by humans, far in her own future. Humans who were all dead, who had made weapons for some family of ancient ponies. Presumably they had all died fighting for them, save one. “Yes, Princess,” she said. “I do come from a race like that. My kind have committed themselves to die by the millions. Not just for their families… but for strangers. For people they never even met, who spoke a language they didn’t know and believed in different gods. Not all of us… but enough.” Enough to fill both sides of any war. Enough to be manipulated into dying for monstrous causes too.
“I stayed, Princess. Star Swirl wanted to follow your orders and send me home, but I stayed. Stayed even when I thought it meant certain death. Maybe the ponies of Icefalls were strangers to me once, but I know them now. I will die for them.” Her expression hardened. “I will kill for them. I already have.” Even your sister, if that’s what it takes.
To her surprise, the princess wilted instead of arguing with her. She looked down, then away. “Forgive me,” she eventually said. “It’s easy to remember Star Swirl’s earlier explanation of you… and forget everything that happened since. Forget your bloodline.”
“I thought…” Hayden knew she was on thin ice now. She spoke more respectfully. “I thought Star Swirl said I was something you conjured from your memory.”
“You still might be,” Luna muttered, though her voice was more amused than confrontational now. “There was… a man. Long ago. Longer than the memory of anypony now living. I thought maybe I had drawn you out of memories of him. I think that if Leo were still alive, he would act a lot like you. Fearless, uncompromising… and suspicious.” She laughed, her voice small now. “You know, it was Celestia that had to persuade me to spare his life at the beginning. I was convinced he was a spy sent to destroy us. But he proved himself in the end. He said he would… and he was right.”
Hayden’s mouth hung open. She had suspected some of this, known that Luna had some connection to this strange facet of her past (future?) species’ actions. Yet she hadn’t imagined she would ever extract the truth from her.
She didn’t get to ask for further explanation, though. The screen next to Hayden’s own head lit up. “Incoming private message,” the text said. “Captain’s eyes only.”
She was the one who held all the automated permissions, even if Princess Luna was now the commander. She pointed. “Princess, we… there’s something here. A call. May I answer it?”
Luna’s eyes widened, though she seemed more relieved than anything to have a change of topic. “Who could it be? The precursors are all ashes.”
“Probably the one I told you about, Avalon,” Hayden said. That hadn’t been permission, exactly. But close enough. She tapped the display with her hoof.
Her suspicions about the window were confirmed as it was transformed into an image of somewhere far away. Avalon appeared there, wearing something silvery and looked exhausted. “Hayden,” he said, before his eyes wandered behind her and his voice melted into something tremulous and feeble. “O-oh. P-Princess Luna… You’re…”
“I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced,” Luna said, settling into a more comfortable sitting position. She briefly wiped at her eyes… were those tears? But Hayden didn’t get a clear look. By the time Luna looked up again, she was the picture of princessly confidence. “Hayden here has told me of you… Avalon, is that right?”
A considerable improvement over the mare Hayden had met on her first day in Equestria.
He bowed—at least as much as his old bones seemed able to support. “That’s correct, Princess. I’ve been searching for… perhaps she told you that too.”
Luna nodded. “Yes. Forgive me, but there is little time for friendly conversation now. A fleet of nearly a thousand ships is following us back to Icefalls. I presume you are calling about your progress.” Not at one moment did any of this conversation seem new to the princess. There was none of the fear and confusion she’d seen from her own soldiers. But Luna didn’t have experience with Avalon the way Star Swirl did, right? How did she know about any of this?
But Hayden could worry about that later too, just like she could ask about whoever “Leo” was. If they survived the Stonebeaks, she would have all the time for questions she liked.
“O-of course.” Avalon seemed to be looking at Hayden again. Maybe he preferred to talk to someone who wasn’t as intimidating as an Alicorn. “It’s good news. The mechanism here is fully operational. More powerful than I could’ve anticipated. There’s a kind of energy stored here… antimatter. An entire tank, barely used. We should be able to contain as much as we like for…” He shrugged. “I don’t know. A thousand years? Plenty of time to devise a more permanent solution.”
“Contain… the Outsiders?” Luna guessed. “Not destroy them?”
“No,” Hayden answered before Avalon could, mostly because of network delay. By the time he was opening his mouth to reply Hayden had already started. “If we kill the demon it will just find another way in. If we contain it somewhere, eventually we could trap all of its power. Stop it from infecting anyone else.”
Avalon nodded his agreement. “This containment vessel was built like a weapon. It can target… anywhere on the planet’s surface we desire. All we need do is deploy local emitters around the area, and we could extract the Outsider, draw it here.”
That was the best news Hayden had heard in months. It was better than Celestia not trying to arrest them, better than her promises of working together to stop the Stonebeaks.
There was a way to cure her ponies—all of them at once. Princess Luna had already said the bats were all in Icefalls, or on their way.
“Could we use it on a whole city at once?” Luna asked, voice rising in her excitement. “Say, a city as large as Icefalls?”
“I… believe so,” Avalon said. “I am returning to Equestria with every emitter I could find. The material they use… is impossible to reproduce. But that shouldn’t be a problem if we’re careful. I will land directly in Icefalls. If all goes well, we will purge Equestria of this intruder within the week.”
We arrive in Icefalls tomorrow. That meant they still had to survive for two days, if her ponies wanted to live long enough to enjoy their freedom.
“This is good news,” Luna exclaimed. “We look forward to meeting you in person. And awarding you as many medals for protecting Equestria as we can find.” She looked away, trailing off. “The instant we arrive, I will send the swiftest possible message to my sister. This news will surely be as interesting to her as it is to us!”
“Yes, well…” Avalon looked away. “I must prepare for launch. See you in three.” The call ended.