//------------------------------// // 16 - Resolution // Story: Poniocracy // by sunnypack //------------------------------// Chapter 16: Resolution Also Refers To Your Display Nocturne is a planet named by the local inhabitants due to its dark nature. When one thinks of the dark, they may think of dark things, and most of us would agree that the dark sometimes houses fearful things. The dark is not always a bad thing, as the inhabitants of Nocturne would argue. The dark is part of their culture, for the residents of Nocturne are blind and do not know anything of light or dark. What they do feel is day and night. In the day, hungry predators snatch at them, spotting the residents of Nocturne easily when the sun shines bright above them. The people of Nocturne know that the cool darkness of the night protects them, so they worship a nightly deity called Noctura. Gaining this newfound appreciation of the night was a central part of the Nocturne culture. It was so deeply ingrained in them that it came as a surprise when travelling into space, that most cultures had it all backwards! How could the Nocturne people be wrong? How could light and bright be ‘good’? Instinctively there was much to fear in it. Instinctively, it felt wrong. Rationally, what justification could there be wrought from the light of day? In order to figure this out, the people of Nocturne devoted vast philosophical discussion to this topic, to debate why the presence of such a thought was so prevalent in the galaxy, but unique to Nocturne. They came to a unanimous decision. Nothing about their circumstances could be special. Nothing ubiquitous in their environment. The rest of the galaxy, they stated, were simply wrong. ————— “Hang on, I’m getting something.” Martin nodded a few times, then suddenly winced, slamming his hand on a button protruding from the side of his helmet. “What’s happening?” Twilight asked. Martin shook his head. “The Commandant is working himself up into a fit of rage. He starting to spit out some nonsensical stuff.” Twilight suddenly had a horrifying thought. “Is… is he going to give the order to wipe us out?” she ventured nervously. Martin’s facial features scrunched together. He looked like he was ready to chew through steel. “I should hope not. Definitely not while we’re on the ground,” he replied testily. Twilight glanced back at the envoy ship in consternation. “Not that I have anything against it, but do you want to see us destroyed?” The pilot hummed and tapped his holster. “No,” he answered. “If anything you’re more valuable alive than dead.” The statement caught Twilight off guard. When the meaning became clear she felt a sinking feeling. It felt familiar to the time when she had to present David to the Princess. “Why are we so valuable?” Twilight ventured. Martin smirked. “Don’t worry. Let’s just say you have more human friends than you think.” Confused, Twilight leaned back and frowned in thought. Martin tapped a few buttons on the side of his helmet. The voice on the other side was so loud, Twilight could just make out what they were saying. “I’m sick of this barbaric planet! Martin get back here, we’re blowing everything to smithereens! Fire up the main cannons!” Martin’s eyes widened. His hand shot to his arm scrabbling at it to reveal what looked like a watch. Martin glanced at it and swore explosively. “No, no, no,” he growled. “Too soon, too soon.” He whipped around, barking orders to the personnel inside the shuttle. Twilight stepped forward. “What’s happening?!” she called out. “Where are you going?!” Martin turned back, glanced at his watch again, before replying. “We’re going back onto the main ship. The Commandant just gave the order to fire the main cannons. Warming up will take at least a few hours, so hopefully, we’ll be able disable them by then.” Twilight hesitated, looking back at the castle. She made a split-second decision. “Take me with you!” she cried. Martin glanced back only briefly. “No,” he said. Then he shut the door of the shuttle as the engines fired up. ————— Celestia was in the eye of a bureaucratic storm. To her left, ponies were jabbering progress reports of the unicorns stationed at various cities that were preparing to erect shields around the cities. To her right, pegasi were flying in giving constant information about the ship and the outlying regions of Equestria. In front of her, Celestia saw an assortment of ponies, griffons, dragons, and various other races, all competing for her attention. Behind her, the Cry-pod lay dormant, awaiting for an input. Ignoring the rest, she bent her head close to the Cry-pod and asked it a question. “Can you give me everything you know about humans?” The Cry-pod replied almost instantly. “Requires authentication from nearest human. Currently, Last Name: Collins, First Name: David.” Celestia straightened and signalled a guard, which swiftly brought himself up with a salute. Though her voice was calm, it was loud and clear with authority, cutting through the kaleidoscope of noise and confusion like a hot knife through butter. “Fetch David,” she commanded. ———— With a frustrated huff, Twilight watched the craft starting to rise, feeling helpless in the mounting situation. She considered reporting back to the Princess as quick as possible, but Spike wasn’t with her… Maybe she could teleport— Wait. That’s it! With a smug grin, Twilight charged up the spell, her horn alight with power. Several seconds later she reappeared in the cramped crew space within the shuttle. Martin was there, his eyes wide almost as much as his mouth was. “Blimey,” he said. “How’d you get in?” ———— David crawled out of the recess adjoining the caverns he had previously wandered into. Tim had lead him back, but he didn’t talk much, being unusually subdued. David’s several attempts at conversation fell flat as Tim trudged along, so he shrugged and let it go. It was times like this that a bloke needed his privacy. Tim gave David one last solemn pat on the back before he opened the portal to the cavern. “Good luck, mate,” he said, pushing David through. David didn’t even get a chance to reply before the hatch slammed shut. Outside, he was greeted by spears levelled at his face. “Princess Celestia requires your presence,” one of them growled. “Come quietly.” David almost objected, but then remembered he was supposed to go to Celestia anyway. He shrugged and gestured for them to go first. “Lead on,” he said. ———— Martin looked like he was very close to opening the shuttle bay doors and throwing the recalcitrant unicorn out. Instead he took a deep breath and counted to ten. When he finished, he eyed Twilight and said three words. “Listen very carefully.” Then he said some more. “I’m only going to go through this once, and you’re going to be very, very confused about this.” Martin glanced back at his watch. He sighed. “Okay, it’ll be a few minutes to get back to the ship,” he said. “So I’m basically going to tell you our whole story. If you don’t get it, too bad. Just stick with us and try not to get killed.” “See this?” he said, rolling up his sleeve. On his arm was tattooed a gridded globe surrounded by three concentric rings. “This symbol represents a group I belong to. We are called the Consortium. On Earth—which is your planet—we originally designed an experiment of which your species is a part of.” He held up a hand to stem Twilight’s inevitable tide of questions. “Let me finish. The Consortium has existed originally to protect humanity’s interests. This included, among many things, to make Earth habitable again, and develop technologies that would put us on par or better to anything the universe could throw at us. Lately, our focus has changed since joining the intergalactic council. We were one of the last races to join. This is due, in part, to the presence of the many fickle governments and entities that exist among the whole race. “What the Consortium has decided was to remove those in power. We were planning to do this before any of the international entities had done anything, but the call from Earth came at the most inopportune time. We gathered only barely a handful of operatives on each ship. Given what’s going on, we should be able to wrestle control away from the Commandant and the British monarchy, but it’ll be much tougher than we originally anticipated. Got it so far?” Twilight took a few steps back, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information laid out before her. A lot of the details simply flew over her head, but from what she gathered, some of these humans apparently wanted to help, and her world was caught in the middle of an interplanetary political conflict. “So…” she began, glancing at the imposing envoy ship as it grew to fill the cockpit windows. “What’s your plan?” Martin drummed his fingers on his holster, his face pulling into a frown. “The original plan was to disable the main reactor and security systems simultaneously while in orbit. The ship would rise out to begin orbital bombardment. In the confusion, we would have locked out most of the ship’s crew and concentrated on taking control of the bridge. This plan would have worked a hell of a lot better if I was still on the bridge. I would have suspected the Commandant might have known my identity, but I think it’s more just bad luck and his incompetence that saved his ass.” Martin shrugged then added, “He’s a pompous prick.” There were smatterings of agreement all around. “What now?” Twilight asked. Martin’s lips compressed together in a grim slash. “Now,” he muttered. “We’re going to have to fight our way in.” ————— The Commandant screamed orders from the bridge. He was positively frothing at the mouth with the incompetence his subordinates displayed. “Get the weapons system online! Shoot them! Shoot them all!” “Sir, Ensign Martin is still on the surface.” “I don’t care, Martin will be a martyr! He’ll die for the good of the flag!” The weapons specialist hesitated at the controls. “Sir, we can’t fire until we’ve gained enough altitude from the surface. At this range, we’ll blow ourselves up with the local inhabitants.” “Unbelievable! What are we operating, a bloomin’ flying chicken? How long until we’re clear?” The navigations officer did not deign to mention that the ship was among one of the best among the fleet. He followed protocol. Just do your job, get your paycheck and retire on an outer-ring world. Louder, he said, “A few minutes at least, but I’m not sure how long it will take to prepare the main cannons.” “Starting cold, the reactors will need at least a few hours to warm up,” the weapons specialist added. The Commandant looked ready to spit fire. “Then launch our fighters or bombers or whatever we have! Destroy everything in the meantime! I want a freshly churned soil to colonise as soon as we reclaim Earth!” “Sir, if they launch, recalling them will delay the firing sequence,” the weapons specialist warned. “Shut up! I know that! Are you telling me how to do my job?!” “No, Sir!” the weapons specialist spoke quickly. He knew he was treading a fine line. He nodded to the communications officer. She nodded back. “They too, will become martyrs for our cause. Launch them now!” Reluctantly, the communications officer triggered the ship-wide intercom. “To all available personnel, scramble all available fighters, and prepare to engage ground targets.” She looked back at the Commandant and wondered what could be going on his mind. As he sat there gripping the armrests with white-knuckled intensity, the communications officer quickly concluded that such things were better left alone. ———— There are not many ponies that could say ‘I arrived on dragon-back’. Luna, however, was now one of them. With an ear-splitting roar, the loose mob of dragons descended into Canterlot. Ponies who had thought of taking a step outside, now bolted their doors and battened down their hatches. A few rolled their eyes and drank their coffee. Well, if the day was going to be ruined, they might as well finish the rest of their breakfast before life as they knew it ended. Turns out that such a response was probably the most sensible in this nonsensical situation. Meanwhile, the dragons were getting agitated. “The behemoth is leaving! What have you called us here for?” the Matriarch growled. Unfortunately for Luna, she didn’t have a response for that. Fortunately, not moments later, tiny ships disembarked from the main envoy and started firing highly concentrated thermal beams, setting buildings alight. “Destroy them!” The Matriarch roared as a thermal beam blasted a dragon out of the sky. It didn’t kill them, for dragons were particularly heat resistant, but the force was enough to stun momentarily. Luna spread her wings. “I will alert some of the unicorn soldiers. Pick them up as they wave our banner, they will provide some level of protection.” The Matriarch grinned savagely. “And what if we don’t need them?” she retorted. Luna rolled her eyes. “More fool ye, then.” The Matriarch’s mouth twisted in annoyance, but she nodded anyway. “Wave your flags, they may be useful.” Luna hopped off the back of her dragon, heading for Canterlot castle. ————— “Princess Celestia! Little flying things have emerged from the bigger flying thing and are now setting fire to many parts of the city!” Celestia responded instantly. “Dispatch firefighters, grab some unicorns and erect shields as fast as you can.” “Princess! We’ve returned with the human!” David stumbled forward, a guard having shoved him forward. He glared at him, but the guard merely stared at him back. Celestia decided to intervene. “I apologise for the rough treatment, we needed to get you here fast, there’s been trouble with the approaching humans, and frankly, some ponies here are on edge.” She gestured her hoof at the Cry-pod. “David, I need your help with this.” David’s list twisted into a grimace, but he shook his head.  “Princess Celestia, I have urgent information.” Celestia paused. “What is it, David?” He opened his mouth, then shut it. “I, uhh…” Celestia narrowed her eyes. “David, if you have something, anything at all that you could tell us that help us defeat this thing, we need to know. Lives are at stake.” As soon as Celestia spoke those words, it finally sunk in. Giving this information to Celestia would seal the fate of the British ships. If Celestia were to use the sun to destroy the ship, then he would be indirectly responsible for killing hundreds, if not thousands of humans on that ship. His hands shook. Could he take that responsibility? “David?” Celestia prompted. ———— The screech of metal was only matched in volume to the deafening roar a fully-grown dragon. The fighter whined, trying to pull up, but the bulk of the dragon’s mass was taking its toll. A frightened pilot looked up to see an open maw ringed with razor sharp teeth. The dragon took a deep breath… then flamed directly at the cockpit window. Though the fighter was rated to suborbital temperatures, this heat was enough to melt rock. With an oath, the fighter pilot scrambled and ejected the cockpit, stunning the dragon with the force of the punch. He watched in glee as the dragon shook its head in a daze whilst clinging onto the failing spacecraft that was falling at increasing velocity to the hard ground. His momentary celebration was cut short when he saw the dragon disengage itself from the craft at the last moment, gaining altitude. He watched it explode while he rocked in his parachute. He looked to the left. His breath caught. One of the dragons flew alongside him, eyes now locked with his. “We come in peace?” He whined pathetically. The dragoness rolled her eyes, and reached out with her claw. ————— Martin held up a finger as the shuttle’s doors hissed open. “Don’t come out, stay in here—” “What?!” Martin crossed his arms and stared at Twilight in a way that made her suddenly feel a foal that disrupted the class. He waited a moment more before continuing. “Stay in the shuttle until I radio back telling you it’s okay. Sandra?” “Yes?” “Stay with Twilight here and make sure she follows this order. We’re running a tight operation and she could screw with our plans.” Martin turned to Twilight. “Sandra’s our field medic, but she’s trained with the rest of the surface team in basic combat. You’re in good hands.” He lifted his gaze to address the rest of the crew. “We’re going to split into two teams and infiltrate the ship. Most of your orders will be exactly as planned, but you’re going to have to improvise if something comes up. My team will go to the security room and take control there. Alexis’ team will head to power. Once we secure these two systems we’ll double back to the bridge and try to take it. If we can’t take it within half an hour, it’ll be next to impossible. Any questions?” A voice filtered back through the assembled team. “What if we run into resistance?” Martin hesitated. “Try to incapacitate them if possible, and if they go too far…” He held the gazes of his team. “Eliminate them.” ———— When the two extraction teams left, Twilight sat alone in the shuttle with the field medic, who was busy categorising her kit. “Is it always like this?” Twilight asked. The question just slipped out of her mouth without conscious intent. Sandra glanced up from her kit, at first not answering Twilight’s question. She pressed a button on the side of the bag. The kit collapsed back together into a compact satchel about the size of her arm. After orienting it in various directions, she strapped it onto her leg. “Always like what?” Sandra replied, leaning against the shuttle wall. “Like… you seem very well disciplined,” Twilight remarked. “You just seemed so cohesive and full of… purpose.” Sandra ran a finger down the side of her jaw, her mouth pursed as she considered Twilight’s comments. Eventually the medic shrugged. “I guess the purpose comes from our personal beliefs. We believe in the Consortium. We believe that what we’re doing is right.” Twilight fell silent. “I know I don’t have the right to judge your actions, it’s your culture, it’s your species… but what Martin said back there about… about ‘eliminating’ the opposition?” Sandra sighed. “What, so your species doesn’t fight?” Twilight swallowed. “Well it’s not that, we just haven’t seen that many… killed.” She felt the word slip out. It felt repulsive. Sandra studied Twilight in a way that reminded her of a parent that was deciding whether or not to tell her that the Hearth’s Warming Gift Giver wasn’t real. For some reason the action irked her, it made her feel like she was somehow naïve. “You’re not wrong,” she said. “That’s how it’s always been. When two people disagree with each other and it becomes important to both of them, usually they fight it out. There’s no avoiding it, really.” “Can’t you talk it out? Can’t you just show a little understanding or compassion?” Sandra smiled. “I wish it could be like that. I’m… I’m getting tired of seeing people getting hurt.” She wiped a hand across her face. Then her voice hardened. “That’s why experiment alpha is so important. That’s why we need to win.” Twilight listened to the humming of the ship, it was a constant noise, now all around her. She couldn’t imagine living in here for a few days, let alone years. She thought of all the wonderful things that these creatures had achieved, but they still bickered and fought. “No matter the cost?” Sandra shook her head. “No matter the cost.” ————— Luna landed in the courtyard, her wings fully flared to dissipate the waves of heat borne from the strain of keeping up her blistering speed of flight. The guards saluted her as she approached and she nodded in appreciation when they opened the doors to admit her. The castle was buzzing with activities with ponies passing her every few seconds carrying everything from weapons to documents to even priceless artefacts that no doubt were to be locked down in the underground safes. So it came as a surprise to her when the doors to the throne room opened and she was greeted with silence. “What is happening?” she demanded. Then she spotted Celestia. Immediately she froze, when she spotted Celestia’s downcast posture. “Sister, what’s wrong?” There was silence once more, then Celestia stirred. Inexplicably, the mantle of authority drew around herself and she straightened. “A solution,” Celestia replied. “And a problem.” Luna finally noticed David standing off to the side. “Will somepony explain to me what hath arisen here?!” David glanced at Celestia. She gestured at him. He shook his head. Celestia grimaced and returned her attention to Luna. “We will fill you in later, Luna. When David feels up to it.” Luna nodded, then dove right into her side of things. “The dragons are holding their own against the flying vehicles, but they are hardly making ground. We need unicorns to assist. With magic, we’ll be able to meet them as far as they have retreated.” Luna glanced around as if expecting to see a battalion of unicorn mages stepping forward. Celestia shook her head. “I’m sorry Luna, but the majority of the unicorns have been dispatched to protect the cities from bombardment. We’ve barely enough here assigned to keep the castle intact.” Luna frowned. “Without the unicorns, we cannot defend against them, sister. We need you to spare some.” When the words left her mouth, Luna was suddenly aware of the implications all too late. She wasn’t just asking for unicorns, she was asking her sister to sacrifice shielding in some zones to meet her demand. “Sister, I—” “It’s fine, Luna. I know what you meant.” Celestia circled around the Cry-pod and approached Luna with purposeful steps. “I think we’ll need everything at our disposal to bring these down. We’ll try and get everypony in the cities to help with the barrier. For every unicorn you convince to help bolster the shields, a free guard will be able to help you with the dragons.” Luna nodded, once again her sister had found a solution to their balancing problem. “Gather the pegasi,” she called out. “I need to send a message. I require the nimblest that can outpace a so-called bullet!” The stock-still audience suddenly burst into action. Luna was instantly thronged by ponies, all of whom were chattering reports and petitions. As she left the room, the chambers fell silent, leaving David and Celestia mostly alone. ———— “I feel like a storm blew through,” David commented wryly. Celestia nodded. “Luna has always been like that. She was always able to simply take control of the situation when action was demanded.” Celestia sighed. “When tough decisions involving the lives of her ponies were in question she always had an answer, and this made those around her both trust her and fear her.” “Fear her?” David asked, confusion written across his face. “Her answers though quick and decisive, may not always be the right ones,” Celestia murmured half to herself. “But lately, I feel I’m not one to judge. I fear that—” The Princess was interrupted by muffled exclamations echoing from the other side of the door. An ominous growl and the hurried clatter of hoof steps scattering did not inspire confidence in David. “I haven’t seen a dragon,” he spoke in the silence. Celestia only had time to nod once before the doors blew open. Sapphire-tinged scales on a grinning dragoness entered the room past the shattered remains of the door. Celestia eyed the dragoness as she approached the Princess, giving her a mocking salute before dumping something as her hooves. “A present, Pony Princess,” the dragoness remarked smugly. David tore his eyes away from the dragoness and turned his attention to the mass of singed clothes and flesh. He shouldered his way forward. Celestia raised her eyebrow at the dragoness. “I fail to see what this—” The dragoness grinned wider and lifted a claw, prodding the prone human on the ground. He groaned and rolled over. David slapped the claw away. “What are you doing?!” he cried. “He’s already injured!” The dragoness regarded David with something between disgust and contempt. “This is war, little creature, and this is the enemy. Don’t bargain his life, unless you wish to equate yours with this little one.” She bared her teeth in what David could only describe as a psychotic smile. “Enough,” Celestia warned. “Let’s hear what you have to say.” The dragoness regarded David a moment longer, than shrugged and addressed the Princess. “This little thing speaks of a weapon that will activate within three hours, or so it says. It refers to itself as a ‘pilot’.” The human laughed weakly. “You’re not long to live.” His chuckles dissolved into weak heaves. “Three hours,” he wheezed. “Then your time is up.” The dragoness growled, but David held up his hand. “Let me try,” he said. The dragoness glared at David, but subsided when Celestia gave a slow nod. “Mate, look at me,” David said, bending down to prop up the pilot’s head. “You know there are humans on the surface too?” Pilot coughed again, but David had caught his eyes widen fractionally. “H-Humans? *Cough* Blimey, d-does the C-Commandant know?” David briefly recalled the eccentric figure from the holographic broadcast. “No,” he lied. “We need to know what’s this thing he’s planning so we can… uh, tell him.” The pilot sighed. “Alright,” he croaked. “There are three main cannonades on the ship. The railguns require a power source that needs three hours to charge.” The pilot broke into a fit of coughing. He held a weak hand to his mouth. When it came away, he seemed horrified that it was covered in blood. “Good Lord… that’s never happened before.” Then the pilot’s eyes slowly lost their focus. David was suddenly aware of his hands. They were wet. “No,” he whispered. “Come on, man…” “David…” Celestia began. “No! Why is he dead?!” The dragoness growled. “He picked a fight with a dragon,” she grated. “That was his first and last mistake.” David smashed a fist into the floor. “Shut up!” he screamed. “A man just died!” “David,” Celestia repeated. She sighed. “I do not wish for anypony to die, but you must understand…” David gritted his teeth. “I know!” he snapped. “I know!” The dragoness twitched and cocked her head. A low growl filled the room. “I have been gone too long. They will need me back to turn back the rest of the scourge.” The dragoness eyed David briefly before addressing Celestia. “I think you can handle these weak creatures.” Without bothering to wait for a response, the dragoness left the room with a series of thuds. David blinked back a few tears. Things were so out of his depth. He didn’t want to breathe, but he did. He didn’t want to think about it, but he did. He didn’t want to see anything, but his blood-soaked hands filled his vision. Celestia gently tugged at David with her telekinetic grip. Her eyes reflected something deep. Was it… compassion? Understanding? Empathy? He felt really cold. Like when he first entered the cryogenic chamber. Meaningless thoughts cascaded around his mind. “Come now,” she urged him. “Let’s wash that off.” David stopped, freeing himself from her grip. Everything suddenly snapped into focus. Painful focus. The dying had to stop. One had to win. “You have to use the sun to destroy the ship,” he said quietly. Celestia stopped. “What was that?” David locked eyes with Celestia. “You have to use the sun to destroy the humans in that ship.” “And how do you propose we do that?” Her tone was mild, but something ran under it, making David’s skin crawl. David shifted uncomfortably. “You control the sun, right? Using…” He grimaced. “Magic.” Princess Celestia stayed silent. He took her reticence as permission to go on. “Princess, the sun you have is a satellite above us charged with a lot of energy. You could direct some of the energy to destroy the ship.” “Do you know what that would do, David?” “It would save your people.” “It would start a war!” she shot back, gaze molten. Celestia took a calming breath. “And no, I’m not talking about a war between your species and ours, I’m talking about a war between the species on this planet. Do you have any idea the sort of distrust and fear we get from neighbouring nations just for practicing magic? Do you have any idea what sort of dynamic would change in terms of our relationships if we started using our magic as a weapon?” David swallowed, but firmed his stance. “I don’t claim to know, Princess. What I do know is that when they attack, a lot of people are going to die unless something is done.” Celestia seemed to subside at that, the fires going out in her eyes. In the space of a few seconds she transitioned from someone who looked wise, passionate and authoritative, to someone who looked immeasurably tired. “That’s what I fear, David,” she replied sadly. “But I don’t want to do this until I have no choice.” Celestia’s gaze grew distant. “This is an absolute last resort.” The Princess brushed past David, resuming her post at the centre of the war room. Ponies around her suddenly found the energy to move. Many of them stepped carefully over the corpse of the dead pilot until Celestia quietly murmured something and gestured for it to be taken away. Guards jumped to do her bidding, dragging away the deceased human. As it passed David he studiously avoided looking at it, afraid he would lose the tenacious control on his emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. David had done his part, but he didn’t feel any sort of accomplishment from it. Instead, he felt sick to the stomach.