Episode 4.1: Election
"Alex!" Her mother greeted her with a hug, though she had seen her only hours earlier. "Shouldn't you be preparing for the debate?"
Alex turned to one side, where Nancy was keeping pace with her. In the months since the Association had stabilized, Nancy had become her assistant. She proudly wore the saddlebags filled with gear, and offered Alex the clipboard with a smile. Alex took it with one of her hooves—a feat few of the ponies here could imitate.
"Some things are more important. Like checking on the stockpile." The door to the settlement's root cellar was the sturdiest thing they had ever built, its entrance an excavated basement reinforced with new cement and a solid steel door. It also had a full dozen guards watching it at any time, including a precious few of their trained unicorns.
In a world where the social contract was still a precarious thing, there was no greater wealth than what they had stored away inside. Mary glanced sidelong at her. "You don't trust my team?"
"Implicitly," she responded, smiling. "But we're trying to build a government. It has to be structurally sound enough that it keeps working, even if someone slimey gets the job."
"I know." The mare patted her on her shoulders. "You're just so easy to tease." The guards saluted as they passed down the stairs. Just inside was a wooden shelf, with a few helmets attached. Each one had a light of some kind, though they were each unique. The flashlights and their batteries had all come back with different refugees. When they went out, that was it. "Headlamp?"
"One for Nancy," Alex answered. "Yours will be enough for me."
"Right, right." Mary put her own helmet on. It was closer to a woven basket with holes for ears and a flashlight stuck onto the forehead. "I forget you're a bat. How is that, anyway?"
Alex flexed her wings a little nervously, even as she helped Nancy with her own helmet.
"It makes her weird," the little pegasus answered before she could, grinning. "Sitting in her office with the lights off all the time."
Even after these many months, Nancy usually kept her words to herself. Mary was one of the few exceptions. If Alex was her adopted sister, then Mary was her mother too.
"We have to save our fuel!" Alex insisted, hoisting the clipboard a little closer so she could get a better look at the manifest. "Ponies who don't need light shouldn't waste it."
"The ponies around you need it."
In answer, Alex shoved her gently to one side. "Yeah, alright. Let's see about this inspection." She looked at the first item on the list. "Fifty barrels of wheatberries?"
Mary nodded, gesturing through the single open door. There were metal shelves, one of the few pieces of furniture they had scavenged and repaired instead of making from scratch. The wooden barrels, on the other hand, were all brand new. As were the ceramic pots on higher shelves. "It's amazing how much the farmers bring in. Frost is already setting in, but they keep harvesting."
"Magic," Alex said simply, selecting a barrel at random. "Where's the crowbar? Let's look in this one." A few seconds later it was open, and sure enough it was filled to the brim with wheatberries. The nutritional wealth of a king. She replaced the lid, though lacked the strength to hammer it back into place.
Mary did that with her earth pony strength. "Do you want to see the other forty-nine?"
"No." Alex counted the barrels, made a few marks, then moved on. "Oats. Thirty barrels?"
They repeated a similar process for everything on the inventory. The basement was enormous, and with only the magic of a single year they had managed to fill it with food. According to Alex's calculations, it should be more than enough to survive winter and have enough to plant next year's fields.
So long as they didn't get too many refugees, and ponies only ate according to the system they had developed. Hence the guards, the inventory, and the centralized storage area. There were no discrepancies in the inventory that she could see, and soon enough the rough paper was covered with marks of approval.
"Great work," she said, as they were making their way out. "Keep packing things in as densely as you can. We can't really predict how many new refugees we'll get when it gets cold. There might be none, or… the rest of the city's huddled masses might realize we have food and come begging for it. I don't know what they ever did to survive previous winters."
"Probably didn't," Mary said, matter of factly. "I like the change, Alex. This way is much better."
"It's… transitional," she admitted, as they made their way back into the light. Her eyes strained for several seconds, adjusting slowly. She had to stand still, blinking in the sun, until the pain finally faded. "This whole 'commune' thing never works at scale. History is… well, the sooner we can transition to a real currency and a real economy, the happier I'll be. Maybe as early as next year."
Mary shrugged. "If you say so. You were always good about the big questions."
Alex passed the clipboard back to Nancy, checking the sun. It was still well up in the sky, indicating at least a few more hours of daylight. "What's our next appointment?"
Nancy fished around in the saddlebags a moment, before coming out with a tiny book. It had been a novel of some kind, written on thin paper. Now it was Alex's calendar. "Clothiers," she said. "We have to check on the coats."
Alex already knew that, of course. A perfect memory meant she could hold all of human knowledge—a to-do list was hardly much trouble. Still, it gave Nancy something to do. "Right." She waved. "See you at dinner, Mom."
They didn't make it to the clothier. Before they could reach the building, Alex heard shouting in a familiar voice. Stride's. So she turned, waiting as the deer bounded her way along the path. She dodged between ponies with ease, her mobility long since restored. Only a few faint scars along her coat showed any sign that her right foreleg had once been broken.
"Alex!" The deer stopped in front of her, not even breathing heavily. She towered over the ponies, and attracted many stares. Even more than Alex normally got.
"What is it?" The deer had picked up quite a bit of English over the months, but Alex still tried to speak in her language when she could. She was the only one who could.
"Something moves across the bay," she said. "An army marches. I cannot tell, but they seem to be coming this way."
"Which direction?"
The deer pointed, in a direction Alex knew would eventually take her to the landward edge of Manhattan Island. There were no more bridges to cross anymore, which now was more of an advantage than it was a weakness.
"Alright." Alex checked to make sure the pistol was secure, before spreading her wings and preparing to take off.
"Wait!" Nancy watched, concerned. "Wherever you're going… the debates start after sundown! You can't be late!"
"I won't." Alex grinned at her. "Come on, you can make sure!"
Alex galloped. It took her about ten steps to get enough speed to take off, wings beating behind her as she did so. She felt the weight of the air beneath her, then the magic as it stole her weight.
She climbed rapidly, soaring over the heads of more staring ponies. There were more who could fly—dozens of them now, and more every day. Few had her confidence.
Nancy fell into formation behind her, beaming as they crested over the edge of the compound and were passing over fields. A winter wheat was growing now, well on its way to maturity. A few farmers waved at them as they passed overhead.
"Where are we going?"
Even after making it a regular part of her life, Lonely Day was still often overcome with the sensation of flight. It was the same joy she had felt running as an earth pony—but instead of running, she was swimming. The sky was an ocean of air, every part of it open to her. There was nowhere in the city she couldn't go. Nowhere in the whole world.
She could not visit them now.
"Stride saw an army coming!" she yelled, when she was sure they were far enough that nopony would overhear. There were no other ponies in the air anywhere near them—not terribly surprising. "I want to see how big it is. I knew we'd be seeing one eventually… I just thought it would take longer. Someone must have got word off the island somehow."
Nancy flew much closer to her then, as they neared the edge of the city and its tallest buildings. Alex found a banking building, the tallest structure still standing with a clear view across the bay, and settled down onto the roof beside blowing dust and windblown refuse.
Nancy touched down beside her even more gracefully, wings still flared. "An army?"
"Yeah." Lonely Day stared out over the edge of the roof. "Right there."
They were very far away, outlines obscured by the distance and the dust they kicked up as they moved. Her eyes scanned the formation in its march, drawing a quick estimate of their numbers.
They moved very slowly, at the speed of the catapults they dragged along behind them. Several palanquins were set at the front of the formation, each one bearing brightly colored banners. "Woah."
Alex remained motionless, taking in every detail she could see. Pegasi flew in formation above the marching army, so thick in places they filled the air like a large flock of birds. There was no telling how they might be equipped, not from this distance.
"That looks like more people than the whole settlement."
“Ten to one," Alex muttered. "At least. More ponies than every refugee living in the city several times over." The formations were not very orderly—more dense globs of men than marching order. Even so, with numbers like this…
"I'm scared." Nancy clung to her side, resting her head against Alex's wing. "They won't come, right?"
"They will." Alex would not lie, not even to a child. "I will keep you safe. Nopony is going to take you away from me. I promise."
The filly clung tighter, shivering against the growing evening chill. "Okay."
"They don't have boats, and there is no bridge. It's too far for an army like that to swim. They'll have to build one, or hope winter gets cold enough to freeze the Hudson." She patted the filly on the head one last time, before hopping back to the rest of the roof. "We have to get back. I'm not supposed to miss the debate, remember?"
"Oh, right!" Nancy relaxed a little at the mention of something familiar. "Let's get flying! You'll… probably want to share this news with ponies, huh?"
"I will have Tom do it. Stride is technically one of his scouts… if I report it, it might look like I'm trying to take advantage of the situation for political gain."
Nancy walked carefully across the roof, though Alex saw her roll her eyes. "I don't see the point of an election, anyway. You literally know everything—who else thinks they could be a better president than that?"
"Lockwood obviously thinks he can, or he wouldn't be running against me."
Nancy muttered some words no child her age had any right knowing, then added, "Then Lockwood is stupid."
Alex rested one leg gently on her shoulder. "When we started the Association, we did so as a democracy. We wrote a constitution, and we rule by common consent. We have individual rights—if ponies don't have the right to choose who they want, then we aren't a democracy. Having a debate means we can let ponies judge our ideas for themselves. If ponies really think that Lockwood will be a better president, than… he should be president.
Nancy didn't look convinced. "An army of bad guys is coming, and you'd give up control just like that? Don't you think you should stay in charge… until we're safe? For their own good?"
"Never." She gritted her teeth. It was an unpleasant flight back.
* * *
Alex arrived almost perfectly on time—late enough that a massive crowd was already packed into the amphitheater. Many fires burned along the edge, keeping ponies warm and lighting the whole thing with a flickering glow.
Only the stage at the bottom had an even light, unicorn magic lighting them like spotlights. There were a pair of podiums on either end of the stage, along with a chair between them. A handful of ponies crowded the stage, mostly on her opposition’s side.
Alex touched down on the empty side, letting her wings flare dramatically as she did so. A few gasps echoed from the crowd at such a blatant display, though of course Nancy proved even a filly could do it with the proper training.
The proctor was the first to approach her, walking slowly over from the middle. She was a unicorn, with the better part of the pantsuit she had arrived in re-tailored to fit her pony body. Jenny Summers, the only former news reporter in the settlement. "Pushing things a little, aren’t we?"
Alex's expression was dark, and she lowered her voice to a whisper. "I have just learned very serious military news. Serious enough that everyone here needs to be warned immediately."
Summers's eyes widened a little. "Are we going to be attacked?"
"Yes. But not tonight. If you could delay the event a few minutes so I can call our lead strategist, he can deliver the news instead of me."
Summers's expression hardened. "I'm afraid not, Madam President. The rules you specified about tonight's event were very clear. Any alteration at this point would seem like partisanship. Unless you think we should cancel…"
"No," Alex sighed. "They won't be here for days, at least. Maybe even weeks, or months. We are in no danger."
"Then the event must proceed as planned. Are you ready?"
"Yes."
Summers nodded, walking over to the center of the stage. A simple spell had been worked around a large stick, which would greatly amplify the voice of anyone who held it. She took it in her magic. The crowd quieted as she started to speak.
Summers went through introductions, explained the role of the president, and reminded everypony that they would be able to vote the next morning. Eventually they reached the questions. "Since Mrs. Haggard is the incumbent, we're giving Mr. Lockwood here the first opportunity to answer. Tell us, Mr. Lockwood, what makes you a better choice than your opponent? You have five minutes." She levitated the stick over to him.
Lockwood was a pegasus, so had to catch it with his hooves. The spell would still work for him, and indeed it did, as he stepped out from behind the podium, approaching the edge of the stage.
"People of New York," he began. "I know many of you feel personal gratitude to my opponent. All of us owe her our gratitude for her contributions as we grew from a group of strangers into a city of our own.
"I question, however, how many of us would feel comfortable with her as our president, if they knew the more unpleasant details about her. I suggest that, now that we have become stable as a society—we have enough food, our borders are secure and our future is stable—we are ready for more civilized leadership."
He gestured. "If you would step out for a moment, Mrs. Haggard. I'd like them to see you."
She did, standing calmly and looking out on the crowd with a flat expression.
"As you all can see, Mrs. Haggard is wearing a gun. This isn't the only one of her weapons she's turned on her enemies. She has two close 'friends' you can see there, on the side of the stage. Friends with advanced armor and weapons she has not shared with anyone else. Now, I may not know history as well as she does, but that looks a wee bit like someone trying to secure their power by force."
Murmurs passed through the crowd—murmurs of agreement. Jackie and Ezri were not wearing their armor tonight, but they often did. Technology that not even humanity before the collapse could have replicated, let alone their primitive reboot civilization.
"As I considered this campaign, I spoke with many who had known Mrs. Haggard intimately during these last few months. What I found disturbed me—I heard numerous bloody, frightening stories. As near as I can tell, she's killed at least a hundred people since coming to New York. Not prisoners, taken for responsible trial for their crimes. She killed them outright.
"Now maybe 'justice' means something else to her, but the way I see it, that isn't right. Vote for me tomorrow, and I pledge to end vigilante justice in our city. I'll invite everyone—no more waiting for them to come to us. Many of you have friends on the outside, friends that our current president will not allow to come in without pledges of work and loyalty. I will lift these restrictions for all, effective immediately.
"A vote for Barry Lockwood is a vote to end tyranny. A vote for freedom and justice for all citizens."
He stepped back behind his podium to roaring applause from the crowd. Alex scanned them, and found the most downtrodden, weary-looking ponies were those likely to be applauding him. These were the ponies who had come in off the streets, not those who had been rescued without ever seeing them. Those who had never been exposed to the absence of society were unmoved by the speech.
Curious. I would've thought it would be the other way.
"Madam President, you have two minutes to respond."
Alex imitated her opponent, walking to the edge of the stage, taking the enchanted stick in one of her hooves as she did so. The spell made her coat stand on end where she touched it, yet otherwise it did not interfere.
"The facts Mr. Lockwood has told you are accurate, but they are not complete. He did not include, for instance, the fact that the majority of those deaths were an invading army, who would have murdered every citizen had I not stopped them.
"Those of you who know me know I do not hurt anypony without offering surrender first. Some of you in this audience are here today because you raised your hooves against this city, but put them down when we offered you another way.
"Mr. Lockwood fails to mention that many of those ponies I killed were in the very act of attacking or killing our citizens.
"I believe the informed citizens of New York will be able to see my actions for what they were: the desperation of war. Mr. Lockwood is mistaken when he indicates we move into a more civilized time. We will not be safe until all of New York has joined with us. At this moment, the majority of its ponies still live outside the walls. The safety we enjoy is precarious and might shatter at any moment."
She offered the stick back to Summers, returning to her podium.
"Mr. Lockwood, you have sixty seconds."
He took the “microphone,” rising briefly up onto his hind legs as he looked around at the audience. "Hear her? Even now she fills your ears with fear mongering. The 'ponies' outside the walls aren't our enemy, they're struggling refugees in need, just like we are.
"I for one find myself skeptical of any claims a government makes that require us to give them more power—no matter what they are."
He waited for applause—there weren't as many this time, though there was a light smattering, before he returned to his podium.
"And now, our incumbent, Interim President Alex Haggard. I have the same question for you: Why are you a superior candidate to your opponent? You have five minutes."
She took the stick again, though this time she remained at the podium, looking out on the crowd. "I know I have asked difficult things of all of you," she began. "Every one of you has worked hard, and exceeded all my expectations. Because of you, we will have enough food to last through the winter. Because of you, we no longer have to fear an attack in the night. Lockwood is correct to suggest that life has improved tremendously since this settlement was founded.
"He is wrong in every other respect, however. Mr. Lockwood is ignorant of the realities that surround us." Again, she remembered the army she had seen, and her promise to Nancy. "When I protected the settlement from invasion, I learned that this entire city was meant to be a prison for us, that we were meant to live in pain in order to make soldiers.
"Killing Damocles was the only way to protect our settlement, as many in this audience will know what he has always done to anyone who tried to build civilization here. I am not fearmongering—ask anyone who has spent time on the streets, and they will tell you I am being honest.
"Before he died, Damocles gave me a warning I believe is accurate. Whatever foreign power he served will not permit us to turn his torture chamber into a city. Sooner or later, the king will come to destroy us.
"My policies—as rigorous as they are, and as difficult as they have been for some of you—are also the method I believe guarantees us the best chance of surviving that day. When that enemy comes, we will be a strong enough nation to resist it.
"My opponent might very well give you more enjoyable lives. For a few months, life might get easier. But eventually that army will get here, and I won't be able to stop them alone this time. We will all die."
She tossed the stick to Summers, rather than walking it. The movement was precise and quick, and she caught it in her magic without trouble.
"Two minutes for response, Mr. Lockwood."
Lockwood ambled out from behind his podium. "Isn't it convenient that the danger never goes away, no matter how safe we make ourselves? Isn't it convenient that the only way to deal with it is to keep her in power. Mrs. Haggard, I noticed you said this mythical army was coming to kill all of us—yet, isn't it your official stance that you are, in fact, some kind of immortal?"
Lonely Day did not need the microphone spell. "That is correct. I can be killed, but not permanently. I'll return, usually quite quickly."
She made out a muffled laugh from somewhere behind the platform—too quiet for the crowd to hear. Jackie was glaring up at her, intense. That was one time!
There was no laughter from the crowd as she said this. Only Lockwood laughed, the sound seeming forced from his lips. "That is a patently ludicrous claim. Not to mention, unless you volunteer to be killed in some way… which I'm guessing she won't do, everyone… is completely untestable. It's the same as all your other claims—frightening, dangerous sounding futures that will never happen. As it is, you only hold your current position because you've lied to these people, and you lie to them every day."
"Mr. Lockwood, that's time."
"I for one won't stand for it another moment! Voting for me is the only—"
Summers levitated the stick out of his grasp, glaring him down for a moment. "Mr. Lockwood would please remember the terms." She offered the stick back to Alex. "You have one minute."
Archive stepped again into the middle of the stage, glowering across at her opponent. "Mr. Lockwood has again carefully chosen his facts," she began. "It is true, I am in some ways different from you. It is not true, however, that my claims cannot be tested." Archive spread her wings a little, relaxing as she met his eyes. "If you question my honesty, test what claims of mine you can. I claim to know simultaneously everything humanity ever learned, across all fields of study. There are many experts in this crowd tonight. Doctors, technicians, scientists. If my opponent would consent to the diversion from our rules, I would be happy to permit any experts to examine me on any subject whatsoever."
There was a pause, as the whole of the amphitheater seemed to turn towards Lockwood. The pony sneered down at her, shaking his head curtly.
She turned away from him, looking down into the faces of the ponies below. "Lockwood refuses because he knows what we would discover." She raised her voice a little. "Look out at the city around you. Think about your full bellies, and how safe you sleep at night. All of this is evidence that I know enough to be your leader. I beg each of you for the chance at a full term. When those years are over, I commit to step down from my office and never run again."
She passed the microphone back to Summers. Several more questions were asked of each party, though they continued more or less along the same lines. In the end, Alex did not walk back to her friends and family on the edge of the stage feeling very confident.
"I can't believe this place is so eager to self-destruct," Jackie said, tapping her briefly on the shoulder. "Don't they know how much danger they're in? This isn't some pre-Event town you're running for mayor of here."
"No, it isn't," she sighed, dropping onto her haunches. "I wish we'd worked it into the constitution that the interim president had a whole year or something. If I had that much time, I might be finished making everything stable. I trust these ponies. Lockwood promises to make things easier for them… but they're not blind. They don't have to believe his claims, because the evidence is right in front of them. They know he can't do it."
Even as she said it, Lockwood himself walked across the stage towards her. He leered down at her, hopping down from the edge of the stage. "When this is all over, Alex… I'm going to have you gone. We don't need you anymore."
Alex felt her body tense. "Mr. Lockwood. What I didn't say on that stage was that, as of this moment, there is an army marching on the city. The threats I warn about aren't fictional, no matter what you claim. The destruction I warned about isn't some vague, distant thing. The invaders are already here. They arrived minutes before our debate started. By the time ponies vote tomorrow, they will all know it."
If Lockwood was surprised by what she said, he hid it very well. He only shrugged. "But will they believe it? Even if they accept the truth in time, their votes will already be cast. Come January, I will be sitting in your office."
"You're lucky I'm not the person you just described for everyone, Gabriel Keen."
That made him stop, eyes widening in shock. It drew more of a reaction by far than her remark about the army. "It shouldn't be any surprise for you to learn that magic is real. You think I won my battles to protect this settlement because of dumb luck? Because I treated the lives of my ponies casually?" Her eyes narrowed. "I am a creature you cannot understand, Gabriel. Wherever you see me, ten thousand years of history are looking back at you."
* * *
Bells screamed alarm as Alex cut through the city. Jackie had been out like a log—too difficult to rouse in so short a time. The constant alarm meant only one thing: the Bloodgate outpost was under attack.
Not from without, as she could plainly see as she zipped in closer. There were no ponies manning the walls, no mob washing over the barricades or scrambling through buildings.
Nancy hadn't come. Ezri would be rousing the army even now, perhaps already galloping here with Tom and as many minutemen as they could scrape up.
A dozen armored ponies fought in the courtyard with a similar number of her own guards. They were not doing well—the pony ringing the alarm had taken several arrows. Even as she watched, he took another to the head, dropping limply to the courtyard below.
Alex reached sideways across her torso, drawing her pistol. She was already close enough that they would see her descending.
Alex aimed at each of the four unicorns in turn, firing a single shot for each. By the time she was gliding in for a landing, all four of them were dead.
Archive stood in front of the Bloodgate, the ground still dark with red. She took in the invaders—seven armored figures, and one with deep, red robes. A commander, maybe? "Ponies, retreat! The army is coming—retreat to the city!"
The red-robed figure pointed angrily at her, and at once all seven of the remaining soldiers abandoned their battles and turned on her instead. Her own ponies—inexperienced, and poorly trained—took advantage of the chance to flee as she had instructed. They had not fared well in this battle, that was for sure.
Alex raised her pistol again, spinning the cylinder with a flick. She had learned since first obtaining it the weapon had a name—Kerberos. "Surrender," she said quietly, though she knew they wouldn't understand. Pity she hadn't learned that word.
The ponies charged her down, pikes and spears mounted to their armor and furious screams on their lips. Archive fired seven times, and one by one each of the soldiers dropped dead. It didn't matter how thick their armor was, or whether they were earth ponies or not. In a handful of seconds, Alex had doubled the number of corpses in the courtyard.
"Now, you." Alex leveled the gun at the red-robed pony, the only one who hadn't attacked her. Primitive as these ponies might be, it didn't take much demonstration to teach just what a gun could do. Every one of his ponies was dead on the ground around him, steaming holes rising from their heads.
"Demon." His eyes fixed immediately on her gun, though he managed to speak flatly. It was also English, though the accent was so thick it was difficult to isolate. "You cannot touch a priest, even in this place."
He removed his hood, revealing one of the oldest ponies she had ever seen. His mane had mostly fallen out, and liver spots were somehow visible through the fur on his head. His body had a sunken, withered appearance. More than that, she could feel magic from him, even though he was very clearly an earth pony.
She wanted to shoot. Unfortunately, he wasn't coming at her with anything. She wouldn't kill an unarmed enemy. "I could." She advanced towards him, letting the cylinder spin again. A little water vapor rose from each of the exposed chambers as she did. Alex still didn't know how the weapon worked—some strange combination of a spell and advanced technology—but it kept shooting, no matter how many times she needed it to. "But I won't. Where did you come from?"
"The king's army sent us to purify the city, and to find his servant."
"Damocles is dead." In the distance, Alex could make out the sound of galloping hooves, and many shouts. The priest heard it too, and his eyes jerked to the portal. Unfortunately, Alex was in his way. "I killed him."
"You can't lie to me." The priest shifted uncomfortably on his hooves, edging slightly to one side. Alex stepped sideways to match, between him and the gate again. "The king's servant wore sacred armor. The evil magic of this place couldn't pierce it. Like my sacred icons."
The gate flew open, and her own ponies flooded inside. Many were armed, but many more were still in their sleeping clothes, dragging weapons behind them.
The red-robed figure bolted towards the Bloodgate. Alex didn't even move to stop him—just aimed Kerberos, and shot him in the knee.
The pony went down in a tumbling, sloshing heap. Red splashed from a container he had been wearing under the robe, running all over the ground. It sizzled and popped, even as he kept clawing for the gate.
Even with a serious injury, an earth pony could be resilient.
Alex stepped between him and the gate again, just out of reach. She aimed the gun at his head. "You will stop moving now," she said, voice flat.
He did.
"Mom!" Ezri buzzed over to her, even as the soldiers swarmed over the courtyard. "What happened?"
Alex ignored her, eyes snapping to Tom in the crowd. "Corporal!" She gestured at the ground in front of her. "Strip and bind this prisoner. I assume you already got our wounded to the medical detail."
"Yes, Ma'am!" He repeated her orders. Soon enough the wounded priest had been freed of his robes and was tied securely to a stretcher for transport.
Archive slipped Kerberos back into its holster, finally letting herself relax. "You bastards didn't have to attack us on election day," she muttered to the prisoner, before rising to her hooves and inspecting the courtyard.
"When my king discovers what you've done here, he will raze this city." The priest spat in her direction, a dark mixture of phlegm and blood.
Alex stepped easily out of the way. "Strip those soldiers before you burn them!" she called. "We could use the armor and weapons!" Only then did she turn sideways, facing the prisoner. "I doubt it," she said, matter-of-factly. "These buildings are a thousand years old. If time couldn't bring them down, primitives with torches sure won't."
* * *
The medical bay was no longer an empty room lit by a dirty window and only a bus's medkit worth of supplies. Metal plates had been attached to the walls—plates inscribed with runes that bathed the room in a constant, even light. Such spells were fairly intensive to maintain, but given the purpose of that chamber, a little wasted magic was an acceptable loss.
Of course anything disposable had long since been used up. When they could, medications were replaced with herbs, and distilled spirits served where once hydrogen peroxide had been used.
In addition to the four soldiers dead, another six had been wounded, which along with the city's existing wounded filled most of the beds. Alex was greatly relieved that she wasn't the only one to do medical work anymore—they had a real doctor and several nurses, with another in training. Too bad we can't have Oliver, though. I don't think I'll ever know another doctor as good as he was.
Alex waited beside her prisoner, out of reach and constantly alert. The sense of strange magic hadn't departed from him, even when he had been stripped of all his ceremonial robes and intricate tools. She wasn't about to have a monster running amuck in her hospital, even if that monster now had a shattered knee.
"Madam President." The doctor, Mercer, nudged her with the edge of an examining rod. "I can give you a report now, if you're ready."
She nodded weakly. "I'm ready, Doctor. How are the soldiers?"
"They'll live," he said. "Nothing medicine and magic can't fix. Forget about putting a spear in any of their hands anytime in the next few weeks. We'll need a spell from you for Crossbeck—slash went right through to the intestines. If we don't seal it magically, I give him twenty-four hours. I stitched him up as best I could, but with conditions as they are…"
"Infection, right." Alex didn't correct him on the “hand” point. Old habits were hard to break.
"The others will need to stay here for at least a week, longer if any of them start getting infected. We're almost out of alcohol."
"I'll get you more." She sighed, glancing once back at the bound priest. "What about our guest?"
"Compound fracture," Dr. Mercer answered. "I don't know what you did, but it completely pulverized the bone. I knew a surgeon back in St. Mary's who could've saved that leg—put in a titanium joint replacement, maybe. Under these conditions… I don't stand a chance in hell. It's got to go."
"You're absolutely certain of that?" she asked, speaking nice and slow so the prisoner could hear. "You can't save his leg?"
"Positive," Mercer repeated, sounding a little annoyed. "When have I ever told you anything I wasn't sure of, Madam President?"
"Never. Have you had the chance to vote yet, doctor?"
He shook his head. "That attack happened before the polls opened. Been here ever since."
She gestured to the door. "Go ahead and do that then, doctor. If our soldiers are stable…"
"Stable enough for the nurses to keep an eye on them," he agreed. "I wouldn't worry about your chances, Madam President. After this morning… you aren't the one who looks like a liar." He turned back to the prisoner, expression somber. "What about him? When I get back… we'll have to get that leg off. The longer it's attached, the greater the risk of a bone-splinter making its way to the heart."
"Have a nurse bring me two sheets of spelling paper on your way out," was all she said. "I will be ready for your return."
The unicorn doctor raised one hoof towards her in acknowledgement, then turned away. Alex heard him repeat her instructions to one of the nurses, and the doors banged open and closed several times.
"I hope you heard all that, friend," Alex said, as she pushed over a low wooden desk, to within five feet or so of the bound prisoner. "Things do not look good for you." The nurse deposited two large sheets of paper on the desk in front of Alex, along with a lump of charcoal. The paper was quite uneven—a mixture of many unbleached colors and lumpy from the production process—but a spell diagram wouldn't care. She waved the nurse away.
Her prisoner blinked weakly up at her, through eyes glazed over with pain. "When he comes… my king…"
"Will surrender to me or die," Alex finished for him. "Now you're going to listen to my offer." She started drawing on the sheet, sweeping, elegant lines with charcoal that rapidly shaped into runes. "How badly do you want to keep your leg?"
The prisoner laughed, though the gesture dissolved into pain after only a few seconds. "Doesn't matter what I want. Your doctor is as wise as any surgeon. If he believes the leg can't be saved—"
"Does your king know you're a refugee, Lloyd Meyer? Do the others in your priestly order know?"
"I understand… how a pony might guess my history," he said, hissing with pain. "But not my name. What magic are you casting on me?"
"None, yet." She continued to draw. "I'm a bat, can't you tell? We'll have to bring unicorns in to cast this spell. Assuming you cooperate."
"D-don't… try to lie…" he croaked. "You killed my escort without taking a wound. You… struck me down… now you know my name. You really are a demon."
"I am the blood of the ones you betrayed," she whispered. "It cried for vengeance from the dust." She finished with her drawing. The whole surface of the sheet was now covered with runes, each written with precision in dense calligraphy.
She held it up. "Can you read runes, Lloyd?"
He nodded, though his eyes jerked unevenly over the surface, not following the structure of the spell as an experienced mage would. "Never… seen them like that."
She set the diagram down. "This spell will give you back your leg, friend. Not today—it will take weeks to heal, once cast. But the pain will stop… the broken pieces will all mend. You'll walk again. You don't deserve it."
There was a long silence.
"No," he croaked, wiping moisture from one eye. "I don't. I've done… so many terrible things, spirit. So many dead… it was the only way. The only way to survive! You have to understand."
"My ponies depend on what you know," she said. "So this is my offer. You tell me what you know of the enemy—what the army plans to do, their strategies and equipment. The magic they command—answer all this for me, and in exchange I will instruct my doctors to repair your leg."
She put the blank sheet over the spell and started drafting the one her soldier needed. "Refuse, and I'll toss my spell into the fire."
"You couldn't!" There was genuine horror on his face now. "If it does what you say… it's a precious relic! Being able to repair broken bones by magic… a miracle…"
Archive felt her eyebrows go up. "You did see me draw it from memory…"
He groaned again, rolling over. Alex was a little surprised he was still conscious—earth pony magic was a powerful thing. "As you say. I will answer all your questions, except the secrets of my order. I took an oath—an oath I wouldn't break, even if it kills me. I will answer every other question you have."
Alex offered her hoof. "Shake on it. I want to see your eyes."
He rolled the other way, reluctantly taking her hoof. "I promise."
Archive looked into his eyes, searching for the truth they might be hiding. She found it. "Very well. We will resume this conversation once you have been treated. Tomorrow, perhaps. If you do anything to harm anypony, I'll have you carried a mile outside the settlement and left to the wolves."
Archive didn't really mean it, of course. She had probably sounded like she had.
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7800540
Try now!
Gabriel seems really greasy to me. I wonder if he's working with Charybdis to try and weaken the city, or if he's just a sleaze trying to take advantage of the situation to gain power?
it would be funny if Athena has a working sattelite that can fire lasers of death at Archive's command...
Well, that was rather on the snout.
7800829 Is it really so hard to believe someone would want to become a ruler for personal gain?
7800892
"THE DIVINE MIGHT OF THE KING IS WITH US!"
*Orbital laser destroys pretty much almost the whole army*
"THE SPEED OF THE KING IS WITH US!"
Ah, the best part of the week - getting to read another chapter of this glorious story.
So, the army outnumbers them ten-to-one if they organise every refugee, including the still-savage ones, and the thing about the recruited refugees joining the "immortals" might be meant literally if the old pony is anything to go by. They're better armed and trained than everyone but Alex, Ezri and Jackie, and there's probably enough pegasi there to fly across in sufficient numbers to attack. Oh, and if the army is as disciplined as Damocles' group, they won't even break when they take the kind of casualties that break a normal army.
Did Jackie and Ezri previously try a break-out that ended in a massacre? It really looks like Alex is going to need to pull off something special to protect her city, and that's without even getting into whatever deal with Charybdis the king has likely made.
some how it is feeling like Archive has finally started playing the game of war the way it should be played.
the is defiantly a time for the gloves to come off.
7801065 doubt the whole force is as organized and disciplined as the vanguard
I cant see a bunch of new ponies winning against a seasoned army. Miracle pending, things will turn bad soon and i still hope for one.
10-to-1
Half of the kind of number the 14th Legion faced and won. (somewhere around 20-23 to 1)
Unfortunately, Alex doesn't have 10,000 Legionaries and Auxiliaries.
She will probably have to pull another Archive move, or somehow miraculously trained and equip a large portion of the ponies in modern military doctrine and weapons in a month.
And that Lockwood is either a sleeze bag or a spy, a traitor that the blood of those who had fallen cry out for vengeance against.
Terra Invicta!
Ave, Terra!
Hmmm. Because we know that the spell was worked on by all the sapient species in Equestria, and cows are a sapient species in Equestria; If there were any cows in that army, and they were shot during the battle... Would they be holy cows?
Wonder how they'd take a suggestion to make Alex a constitutional Monarch?
7800892
Or she could go toss an old satelite on their heads.
Might be more fun.
Or a space rock.
"oh, so you like flinging rocks? I can do that too!"
7801880
Nah, Lockwood, a traitor? if, then only by unwilling omission.
Just a (what do you call those vision inhibitors you give working horses to deal with crowds?) wearing ideoligist.
Why do I get the feeling that Alex's teasability is a trait that Starscribe has in real life?
...
...
*boops Starscribe experimentally*
7800829
Well, it's of course possible that there's some connection there. I just wouldn't get caught up seeing evil fish behind every corner. Someone who's got their own personal reasons to be unhappy is just as likely I think.
7800921
In my defense, I wrote this well before the election hysteria had reached its fevered pitch. I wasn't intending to make political commentary, I just wanted a particular type of character. Of course, they say the art imitates life... and the other way around.
7801056
I'm glad its still enjoyed! Writing it is still a constant source of joy for my weeks. As much as I've been doing it for ages. It's still a story I can enjoy telling.
7801065
It's does not appear that any previous rescue in this city has been attempted. The odds are not in their favor at this point though, that's for sure..
7801204
Mostly coincidence. I write my chapters way in advance of their publication. That particular public figure did have quite a bit of press at the time, but it was long enough ago that he wasn't dominating. Mostly I just wanted a specific type of adversary for Alex.
7801873
The odds are not in their favor.
7802061
That isn't actually how the spell worked. It did not include sapent species earth already had. Cows, donkeys, yaks, deer, that sort of thing already exist on earth. No human would become those things.
However, by now earth cows would be intelligent, so there could still be cows in the army. If they're anything like Equestria's cows, I doubt they're that ambitious, but that awful joke still works in any case.
7802139
At this point, I don't think being a constitutional monarch would not help Alex's cause against Lockwood. However, it's possible her promise not to run again meant she was planning something like that.
7802202
I think it's a little true of anyone who takes themselves too seriously.
10 to one odds are not that bad when you've got theological superiority. And Alex does have it, of she thinks a little. She has access to magic that is only in the realm of the most feverish dreams of the King's ponies. Hell, if she has a combination that drains so much environment energy it becomes a star, she can make quite potent bombs using psychics and ingenious magic. Then it's only a matter of a night bombing run. She's a bat, she's got to use that for her advantage.
But hey, that's already written if what Star said is any indication. So we only have to wait a week to know it!
Not the best way to end a speech, ecks dee.
7800946
7802279 I kind of figured. It was definitely what first popped into my mind, but I couldn't shake that niggling feeling that there might be something more sinister going on behind the scenes.
7802279
Is that a "Yes"?
7802139
Apparently "Blinkers" is the common term; I always knew them by the alternative term "Blinders", and prefer it.
Yet I'm still wondering when are we gonna get our Alicorn-Alex.
"I am the blood of the ones you betrayed. It cried for vengence from the dust"
Shooot.
Theres been a good amount of "archive being epic" in these last few chapters.
ah, and the good old domestic disputes with an army at your door, good times. I really wish the opposition would have allowed Alex to display her monumental memory, that would have won over a lot of supporters, im sure. There's nothing more satisfying than seeing the truth come out.
Well, at least the battle should help her side... unless he tries to twist it and say that she faked the attacks >:/ he'd better not
7803701
Thank you kindly.
And lo and behold, People can wear blinders in English too
Sounds like the current Umbra is keeping the land harsh and under its control. But it also seems like this makes Lonely Day's all the more important or at the very least, more valuable.
I wonder if this is going to eventually is going to devolve into a fight over nations trying to acquire her for her knowledge or at least making sure she can't share it with their rivals?
7804013
Probably not any time soon. Making Alex an alicorn risks making her into an overpowered Mary Sue. So far Starscribe has done a wonderful job of making Alex powerful but with weaknesses and faults. Things never go quite as she plans. She has to use her brains more than her magic. The magic is more of a tool rather than a plot device conveniently used to solve every problem.
Look out, here comes Tom!
HA HA HA HAHAHAHA!
... sorry.
I think I'm going... a bit batty!
A really weird observation: I've caught two quotes from The Book of Mormon so far in this series. First was a dream from the second book, I think, where Alex mentions he was in a dark and dreary waste. Here in this chapter, the talk of blood crying from the dust is a repeated phrase in The Book of Mormon.
Not sure if that was intentional or not. It wouldn't surprise me if those quotes are in the Bible too, I just don't know it as well. With all your attention to other mythology, you might have found another holy book to pull from too.
8051926 dark and dreary waste is a book of Mormon reference. Blood of the innocents is also in the bible.
In speaking of, in the first story we had a Hiram Young. While I cant say for certain, that is a very Mormon name. And now that I think about it, I see LDS culture defences in starsscribes work from time to time.
Fear is such an evil force.