//------------------------------// // Chapter 26: Barbastella // Story: Meliora // by Starscribe //------------------------------// Jackie was conscious with every step just how much danger she was in. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d formed diplomatic contact based on a lie—that was practically the reason Alex had kept her around—but this time she was the one doing it. What was the alternative, send the mayor, or one of the ponies on her city council instead? Except that none of them were really suited to this. Any bats with diplomatic skill had already risen in Mundi. They weren’t her exiles. Along the walls were… hunting trophies. There was no mistaking them for anything else. Gigantic pelts, skulls, and an entire jaw from a species of shark she’d thought extinct. The deer were herbivores, but anyone who thought that made them vulnerable was a fool. A carving had been stood beside each of the trophies, depicting an incredible stag accomplishing the feats before them. This isn’t just a meeting hall, then. It’s the place you take newcomers to impress us. Well, she could let herself be impressed. This king was even taller than she was sitting down, with antlers that remained unseasonably upon his head. Strange how often that seemed to happen to the deer kings… and she couldn’t have said how exactly they did it. They did have strange magic. The longhouse had much of its space dedicated to the trophies, with a sweeping approach of brightly woven carpets that led directly to the throne. More like a hunting chair really, carved of rough wood with racks to hold spears, swords, and bows. Mighty weapons that only an earth pony would’ve had a hope of lifting. But deer were huge creatures, and stronger than most ponies. The king himself was the mightiest specimen of deer she’d ever seen, so sturdy that for a moment she wondered if she’d been outmatched. Maybe he was a genetic abomination Athena had created, or an utter slave to unseen forces. But no—she could sense no sympathetic connections that led outside this society. This king was important, but he was locally important only. Liz’s confident steps had subsided somewhat, and she stood very close to the pretend Jackie. She spared herself a sympathetic touch on the little seapony, who was nearly a foot shorter than she normally was from her own perspective. You’re very brave, kid. Like your sister. But she wouldn’t tell her that. She wouldn’t like the comparison. The sultan wore no turban, but a spun-gold cloth that had been layered and wrapped around his mighty antlers. It wasn’t much gold—certainly not enough to weigh him down if he had to fight. And from the many scars and imperfections she could see in his coat, she guessed he had fought a lot. Those trophies weren’t empty boasting. “The mageblood is an intruder,” said the sultan, looking her over with a mixture of disdain and amusement. Of course, to his eyes she would seem like a mighty bat, almost an alicorn in her height. Not so mighty as a deer like himself, but still powerful and frightening. “Along with all his kind. Don’t think my eyes haven’t seen beyond the forbidden borders to what you build on sacred ground. I have watched you all this time.” “Then perhaps you watched us making the land safer,” she said. She didn’t sit down, didn’t look away. Didn’t show any sign of physical submission to this deer. It was a good thing Liz was female just now. All her weakness would’ve doomed them if she wasn’t, but from a mare it was expected. “You watched us make improvements there. Soon it will be safe for any deer to pass or be welcomed as honored guests into our city.” Ankaa laughed, but there was plenty of good humor in it. His voice wasn’t judgmental, only confident. He could afford to be, since he was on top. “Is that why you’ve come at last to the domain of its rightful ruler? To beg my indulgence so that my army will not sweep over you? Don’t think too much of your magic… we know of it, and have triumphed before. There are no other mageblood cities in all the land before you. That is no accident. We have sent them all tumbling into the sea.” “I am not here to beg.” She tried not to sound argumentative, but not less confident either. “The land upon which we have built is not safe for you, you have already admitted as much. If we leave, it will become dangerous for you again. Only my technicians clearing away the Arcane Network have made it possible.” She allowed herself a faint smile. “I know that is not the only territory like it. The Network crossed the continent, and it will now bring danger anywhere it still stands. My ponies could repair or remove all of it. Open up land you thought forbidden to you.” Now she had his attention. And not just him—there were other deer here too. Males who lingered near the entrance, old and mature. She could hear their quiet whispers—they had finally been intrigued. “I know your kind.” Ankaa turned his head away from her, staring disdainfully off at one of the trophies. She followed his eyes to a rack of broken unicorn horns, and a case containing what looked like pegasus wing-bones. “You have fought us before, and lost. And when you don’t fight, you come because you want something from us. Speak, then. Share what you have come to take from us this time.” He wasn’t wrong. “I take nothing,” she said anyway. “But I had hoped we could work together. This continent upon which we live… it is large, large enough for both of us. And I think you would find Meliora gentler on the world than the pony cities of the past. We do not cut down the trees, but we build them up and live in their branches. This leaves the ground largely empty—free to whatever purpose you desired. Two of our cities could sit atop each other and we would hardly notice the other’s presence. So long as you didn’t mind the earth ponies practicing their talents on the ground, and the wingless crossing there from tree to tree.” “A second time you offer us,” Ankaa said. “This is good. You are not ignorant of our customs. But why are you here? I am no female… I do not want to listen to your voice alone. Get to the point.” Jackie almost let her disguise slip. But she was here for a whole nation, not just for herself. So she fought it back. “A terrible enemy is coming to this land. I don’t know if you know about them—perhaps you don’t. But there is a dangerous, despotic nation, one that has united almost the whole world together. It is coming here—coming to take this land for itself.” There was silence in the court. Jackie turned a little to see how the noble elders were reacting—some of them looked like they were barely restraining outrage. But others seemed merely disbelieving. Ankaa was more practical than either, however. “You claim there is some other force out there—worse than having magebloods colonizing the coast?” “Yes,” she said. “Much worse. Because the magebloods don’t want what you have, and you have no use for what we have. But the ones coming, they will take you as surely as they take us. Athena leads them—do you know who that is?” She probably should’ve done more research, checked up on their individual customs. But her attempts to slip in were always frustrated by how little she could accomplish while female. She hadn’t made a male disguise until then. “We have… rumors. Of a creature that dwells above the stars, a creature that… watches all, with all wisdom. Whose servants must be avoided instead of fought. But he has taken little interest in us.” “The vengeance that comes for magebloods,” called one of the elders from the back of the room. “It is not Voeskender, but one of his friends, or a servant. Who finally punishes you as you so deserve.” Jackie rolled her eyes, and didn’t try to address the elder. Instead she kept her attention only for Ankaa. “Athena has the largest armies in the world. A million ponies will march here. When they’re through with us, do you think they’ll leave the rest of your land alone?” She didn’t leave him time to supply the answer. “We have built a prosperous city on the coast—they will see this land and realize how rich it is. They will not be willing to live in peace with you, they will take it all. Take you for their farms, and their factories.” There were plenty of deer in Mundi, after all. But they didn’t live long enough to be worth teaching, and they lacked much magic, so nearly all of them worked in agriculture. “You dare to claim we would fall to such a creature? I don’t care how large his army is.” Ankaa gestured around the room with one hoof. “I have hunted many mighty creatures. Perhaps if we hunt this one, the magebloods will leave our land empty for good.” She grunted with annoyance, shaking her head. “You know what, yes. I do dare to claim that. You’re fighting with spears, Ankaa. Your warriors are brave and I’m sure your archers shoot straight. But that won’t be enough for this enemy. They have… metal birds, immune to your arrows, that can rain fire down on your houses. They have unblinking eyes that watch you always, and can follow your every movement no matter how far you go. They have machines that can fly a thousand miles, only to strike you and explode too fast for you to even see. It doesn’t matter how brave your warriors are: if you fight them alone, you will die alone, just as we would.” Outrage washed through the room again, and the shout of many elders rang through the longhouse. All that anger blended together so tightly that she couldn’t hear much of what they were saying. And maybe it didn’t matter. But finally the sultan’s voice silenced them, and his angry eyes fell on Jackie. “Your boldness escapes my tolerance, noble visitor. I have never been defeated. Alayl has never lost a battle. We have fought strange creatures, monsters from the final war. We fight them all and still we stand, while every mageblood nation falls. Yours will be no different.” Jackie’s expression darkened. She glanced back to the crowd of elders, and found no more sympathetic glances there. Her old self probably would’ve found a way to covertly assassinate this deer, plotting for as long as it took to assure that his replacement would see her more favorably. But these deer represented no formal monarchy, but a loose association of conquered tribes. They were loyal to the conqueror personally, and as soon as he died… “Perhaps I could… persuade you to send someone to watch the war that is to come, and our preparations for it,” Jackie eventually said. “Someone who could bear trusted witness to you of the dangers we face.” She lowered her voice, low enough that only Ankaa would hear her. “Even if you might triumph against Athena without us, there is no reason for more of your kind to suffer. If we fight together, there will be fewer casualties for both of us.” Ankaa met her eyes, and answered just as quietly. “If we do not help you, then Athena will break itself upon you. Either way, the survivor will be the weaker. Weak enough for us to have fewer casualties, or perhaps to take back the coast.” This is not going the way I imagined it. Jackie straightened, taking a step back. She could tell a dead end when she saw one—there would be no cooperation from this deer. “Will you send an envoy to return with me, at least? Who can report to you of affairs in Meliora? I want somepony you trust, so that you will believe their testimony when they tell you how serious this has become.” “Indeed.” He gestured behind him, and a robed doe emerged from the crowd of attendants. “My daughter will join you. She is my eldest child, but… useless in rule. Treat her well, or your head will join these others.” Jackie nodded her head in obedience, then turned. She didn’t care what customs here said about turning her back on the king—she didn’t care about much of anything just now. “Come on then,” she said, slicing right through the boundary into the Dreamlands a few feet from the throne. Let Ankaa ponder on that next time he thought he was safe in his own house. Through it was only the grassy forests of the sleeping spaces where deer dwelled—it probably looked like a teleport to them. “If you change your mind, you know where to find us.” They vanished through the gateway.