Episode 4.8: Putting out the Fires
By the time Archive had finished treating the wounds of every injured pony still breathing, her mane had settled back into its regular hair and the glow had gone from her eyes.
This proved to be a subject of great relief to the ponies of Estel, who had generally kept as much distance from her as they possibly could, as though afraid she might do to them what she’d done to the ponies outside.
Even with all her medical magic, over a hundred of her city’s ponies had been killed. Many more would need weeks to heal, even if she’d prevented permanent damage.
In some ways, it wasn’t different than any of the other battles Archive had fought for Estel—it had just been much worse. 5% of their entire population killed—a fifth of all they had armed to defend the city.
To say nothing of the two hundred more who were injured in some capacity. Even with her victory, the casualties were devastating.
“Hey,” a familiar voice called to her from outside the medical tent. Archive looked up, to find Jackie standing there. She was still in her armor, though now that meant they were the same height.
“Hey.” Alex waved with one of her wings. The motion was half-hearted and drooping, as though she could barely keep herself awake. That wasn’t far from the truth.
“You’re still up? How many ponies have you treated?”
“All of them.” She dropped onto her haunches, staring out past Jackie to the field of dead. Wreckage surrounded the fortress gates in a series of concentric rings, sorted by her spell into groups by density.
“We have doctors.”
“Yeah.” She nodded. “They’re doing what they can. But…” She looked up. “I’ve been longing to use some honest-to-God healing spells of my own. All these years and all I can do is scribble them down for others… Not today.”
“Not today.” Jackie sat down beside her. Within reach, though not actually touching. “Mary is worried sick about you. She was watching, when…”
Alex nodded. “We lost all of the Hammer out there, except for the ones in recovery. Forty-seven of our best.”
Jackie hit her in the shoulder, hard enough that she nearly fell over. “That’s for throwing yourself into death again. We came all the way out here to make sure shit like that wasn’t going to happen, Alex. I know this might be hard for you to see, but you’re actually more important than the rest of us. What if you’d been gone for another thousand years? How much worse would things be getting right now without you?”
“I don’t know,” she sighed. “I just knew it was the right thing to do. A princess protects her ponies—that’s how it works.”
“You weren’t a princess,” Jackie grunted, tossing something onto the ground at her hooves. Kerberos, its handle charred but otherwise intact. The crystal inside was still spinning, exactly as it ever had. “Dropped this. By the way, did they have a wing exchange wherever you were? Pegasi aren’t nearly as hot as bats, you shouldn’t have traded.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works.” She smiled, lifting the pistol in her magic and turning it over in the air in front of her.
Alex had long imagined what it might be like to be able to manipulate objects as unicorns did. Long ago, she had longed for the power, resented Joseph and others who had it when she didn’t. Now, though, it seemed almost superfluous.
It was still a wonderful feeling, as she’d known it would be. The essence of the object being moved became briefly one with herself, patterns overlapping in a way that gave her complete control of its position in space. It wasn’t the dexterity of hands, it was better.
“The horn looks nice, though,” Jackie went on, ignoring her. “Did Sunset explain what happens when…” She reached out, running a hoof briefly along its length.
Archive tensed at the strange sensation, which was so foreign to her that a shiver passed through her whole body. She dropped the gun, which thumped to the dirt at her hooves.
She batted Jackie’s hoof away with one of her own. “W-whatever you did, don’t.”
Jackie got to her hooves, rolling her eyes. “Hopefully that ‘scaring the shit out of them’ plan works for you, because you need a break from being president. You need to go out and get some, Alex. Being pent up like that all the time isn’t healthy.”
Alex glared after her retreating back. “You’re a very strange pony.”
Jackie only grinned back at her. “Live as long as I have, and maybe you’ll understand, eh princess?” She trotted away, back up into the house.
For some time more, Lonely Day was alone with the dark. Soldiers remained at their posts—scouts watching every side for a return of the enemy. At least from what she’d heard, no return had been attempted. It was hard to fight an enemy who could throw a thousand ponies through the air like toys.
Somepony cleared her throat from behind her. Alex turned to see Mary standing there, with Nancy just behind her. They looked weak, weary from helping to maintain the Hallow through the battle. It would have cost them all the natural magic they could give.
Alex didn’t get up to greet them as she had done so many times before—she was too weary for that. She did anticipate Nancy’s jump, which brought a little energy back to her.
Alex rolled as the filly jumped, catching her in an embrace that brought them both to the floor, wrapping her wings around her. “Hey, sweetie. How’re you doing?”
“They wouldn’t let us see you!” Nancy wailed. “Said you were too busy! What could you possibly be busy with, after you blew up the whole army!”
Alex got her hooves beneath her again, setting the filly down. “Lots of ponies got hurt in ways that would’ve been permanent. But I know magic that can help them.” She lit up her horn to demonstrate, a soft red-brown light that illuminated the space outside the barricade despite the setting sun. Unlike the light of other unicorns, her own spell was gentle, and Nancy could look directly at her without blinking. “Sorry you had to wait.”
“What happened out there?” Mary whispered, from very close. “You left the army. You were supposed to stay behind the line, like you promised…”
Archive avoided her eyes. “I didn’t have a choice. Their blood-priests were preparing a spell to take the shield down. If we didn’t stop them, everypony would’ve died.” She winced, remembering the arrows, the magic. It had been the most painful death in her memory.
“You came back,” Mary muttered, scuffing at the ground a few feet away from her. “You were dead, but you came back. I never…”
Alex hurried to her side, and hugged Mary as she had hugged Nancy. The mare was about her height, though still built far more sturdily than Alex herself. She was an earth pony, after all.
“I’m sorry.”
“What happened?” Nancy pulled on one of her wings, so suddenly that one of her green feathers came loose with a painful yank. “Oops.”
“Told you I used to have feathers.” Alex pulled the wing close to her body, nursing the new wound.
“Well yeah, but… now you’re like that other pony who visited, on Christmas.”
“Sunset Shimmer,” Alex supplied. “Yeah, I am. It’s called an Alicorn. All the different pony races all rolled up into one.” She let the glow in her horn fade. “Still getting used to it.”
Mary still looked pained, though there were no more tears. She seemed just to be happy that Alex was okay. “You’ve been trying to do this for a long time,” she said. “The other one told me, when she was here. Before she left.”
“Yes,” Alex said. “A very long time. It’s not something very many ponies ever do, but… it lets me protect the ones I care about.”
“I’ll say.” Mary looked up briefly, at the scene of battle. The retreating army had taken the dead they could find, but there was still terrible wreckage left behind. Whole buildings shattered, red smears on some distant structures. The nightfall had taken away some painful sights. “I saw. If that’s what Alicorns can do, then the fewer there are the better.”
“I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything like that very often,” she admitted. “Coming here from… from above… I brought power back with me. If I want that much magic again, I’ll have to save it up. Or go up and get it.”
“Up?” Mary lowered her voice. “Alex, was… was God up there? Did you ask Him why He let this happen to us?”
“No,” she looked away. “I mean, I didn’t find any gods up there. But I wasn’t looking. I had to get back and help, or else more people might’ve died.”
Mary nodded reluctantly. “I… I guess I understand. Next time, you remember that for me. Someone should do it. If my son is the one, then great.”
Nancy looked up, blinking at Mary. “Why do you call Alex that?”
“Because she’s a troublemaker who should learn to keep her promises,” Mary muttered, reaching out and mussing Day’s mane. It was as familiar as she remembered, as affectionate as ever.
After a day like today, it felt good. “I guess I forgot to tell you that part.” Alex turned back to face the barricade, inspecting the damage. Whole sections of concrete had been blown away, either by the physical force of the trebuchet rounds or by unicorn magic. While there were no more bodies piled here, the structure had suffered seriously under the strain. Somepony would have to investigate, see if it was structurally sound.
“When I grow up, will I be an Alicorn too?” Nancy asked, following her gaze but not seeming to notice any of the details that Alex was seeing. She was just watching her.
“Probably not,” Archive admitted. “But if it’s really something you want to devote your life to, it’s possible.”
“If my mom can do it, than it must be simple,” another voice spoke from the doorway—Ezri. The changeling emerged from inside, no longer wearing her powered armor. Instead she had a large basket levitating beside her, filled with food.
She set it down in front of Alex, then sat down. “Brought you this, from the kitchen. Enough for ten ponies ought to do it.”
Archive remembered then that she had a stomach. That knowledge brought the sensation of near-starvation to her mind, a gnawing hunger she’d never personally felt.
Ezri’s estimate turned out to be about right as she descended on the plain bread and large pot of vegetable stew, devouring both.
“Really?” Nancy looked between Ezri and Alex, eyes suspicious. “Magic sounds like a lot of math, and math is hard. It can’t be that easy!”
“It isn’t.” Ezri grinned at her. “But we’ve been waiting four centuries for her to figure it out. Fourteen, if you count when she was dead.”
Mary visibly deflated at that, taking a subconscious step towards Alex.
“Right, sorry.” Ezri blushed. “Today probably isn’t the time. I did want to congratulate my mom, though! She’s been trying so hard…”
“Thank you, Ezri.” She licked her lips clean, pushing the empty basket back. “That was just what I needed.”
“I figured. What are you even doing out here?” She turned around, looking up the barricade as Alex had done. “Oh. Guess the army wrecked things pretty good.”
“We’ll fix it.” Alex burped loudly, so loud it echoed off one of the nearby buildings.
“That’s not very ladylike, Alex,” Mary said matter-of-factly. “I know you’re new at this, but you’re going to have to learn to be a little more refined if you want any men taking interest in you.”
Alex only glared, ignoring her. Instead, she focused on Ezri. “Rebuilding won’t be easy. We should have a few months to work on that while the army marches back to their capital. We can pop over a day or two after they do.”
“We?” Ezri raised an eyebrow. “Get your horn and the first thing you want to do is fight another army?”
“Nah. Bully a king. I haven’t told Jackie yet… but I can’t think of anypony else I’d rather have backing me up. The most intimidating ponies I know.”
Ezri rolled her eyes, posing with her transparent, crystalline wings. “Yes, intimidating. Multicolored, neon, garish. That’s exactly what I think of when I think of intimidating.”
“Well, if you don’t want to come…”
Ezri glared at her. Alex was finally taller than somepony remotely close to her age! “Disobey a princess? Of course I’ll come.”
“Good.” Alex spared one last glance to the ruined fortress, then led the way back inside. “We’re coming for you, Obrican. I hope you’re ready.”
* * *
Alex stood vigil over the departing army as they left her island. She had only Ezri and Jackie for escorts, dark silhouettes in the gloom. Alex herself wore no armor—she needed only to flare her wings and let her horn catch on the moonlight for the shadow it would cast on the battlefield.
It had taken the king's army two days to treat their wounded and collect their dead. She could still see the terror in their faces whenever they saw her. That was good; let them remember the terrible power of the Supernal. Hopefully they would carry that fear back with them to Yileron.
Alex wasn't about to let them retract their offer, so she made sure to stay close. Whenever their pace started to slow, she would destroy another siege engine, or teleport several hundred ponies across the river.
It had worked. The surrender she'd negotiated had been honored, and now at last the invaders of Yileron were leaving the land of the New American Equine Association.
"You don't mind being out here?" Jackie asked, as they watched ponies slip and slide their way across the frozen river.
Ezri hissed loudly, glaring at her, but didn't actually say anything.
"Uhh…" Alex shook her head. "Where else would I be? Someone has to remind these ponies what will happen if they decide to attack. No one else could do that. Why? I'm not missing anything…" She trailed off. "Wait, you mean the congressional meeting? They'll just be discussing burial arrangements for the dead and what to do with the army. Important stuff, but I don't think they need me for that as much as they need me here. It will be good practice for them."
"Not quite," Jackie said. "There's, uh… they organized a referendum." She pulled out a slip of paper, holding it up for Alex to see.
Alex was no longer a bat pony, and so she had given up her remarkable night vision. She put a little magic into her horn, letting it glow. The dull red glow would only make them look more intimidating to the troops below.
"Tom's been planning this for a long time," Ezri said. "Made us promise not to tell you. Said you'd 'try to weasel out somehow' if we did. But I thought you'd figure it out on your own…"
Alex read the text. It was printed in plain block letters, from their Gutenberg-style printing press. She could see the smears from where the paper had moved a little in printing. Even so, the words were clear.
General Resolution 03
Movement to appoint Alex Haggard as Princess of New American Equine Association, subject to the terms of GR03 (May be read in full at any polling place).
(X)Yes ( )No
Note: Subject to the terms of the New American Equine Association constitution, this resolution will be passed immediately following a 2/3rds majority vote.
"Uh…" Alex pushed the slip of paper away from her, eyes widening. "How the hell can there be a princess of a democratic republic?"
Jackie shrugged, tucking the slip of paper away. "Remember Great Britain? From what Tom said, it'll be kinda like that. You'll advise congress, have some ceremonial duties… things like that.
Alex dropped onto her haunches, letting the glow in her horn fade. "That sly bastard. Putting this to a vote just two days after…"
"After you beat a whole army with your own hooves?" Ezri supplied. "Why shouldn't the ponies here want their children to have the same protection they had?"
Archive opened her mouth to object, then shut it again. She did remember the way Great Britain had been, and how its queen had been an important public figure whose opinion was greatly valued, but who also didn't often get specifically involved in politics. "That's an elegant solution. Letting ponies still choose for themselves, but staying close enough to power to intervene if I need to."
"They obviously need it," Jackie said. "Fucking blood magic. HPI selling its soul to Charybdis. What assbackwardness will people come up with next?"
Alex remained silent, watching the army below. Most units had already passed over the ice by now—only the rear guard remained. It would still take at least an hour for the rest of them to make it across. "They're voting on this right now?"
"Yeah," Ezri said. "Congress didn't need your approval, but they didn't want you to be around anyway."
She sighed. Passing a general resolution was one of the checks they'd put into the constitution against the president's power. If it passed with a 2/3rds majority, she wouldn't be able to veto. Only another general resolution passed with a similar margin could annul the first. She could always fly away.
Archive was crowned the next day, in the central amphitheater. Everypony was there—from the smugly satisfied Colonel Rhodes to a grumpy-looking Lockwood.
The cheers of ponies filled her ears. All five members of congress stood on the stage. The president was ordinarily responsible for acting as the official representative of congress with the population.
Instead, Tom Rhodes stepped up to the edge of the stage, levitating the speaking stick along with him. His voice shook the amphitheater.
Alex abruptly realized she was not alone behind the curtains. She stopped listening to Tom's speech, and turned to look at the pony who had just teleported into the room with her.
Sunset Shimmer hadn't changed since Christmas, save in what she was wearing. Alex assumed it was royal regalia, gold shoes for her hooves and a jagged crown for her head, with seven pointed rubies. Her coat had been brushed, her mane styled, and she levitated a wooden box onto the ground in front of her.
"Good to see you, Sunset," Alex said. She didn't even have to whisper, with as loud as the magical PA system made Tom's voice. Nobody would hear them. She might've run over to give her a hug if she weren't already so nervous. "Didn't expect to see you again so soon."
Sunset grinned. "All the rules about not interfering with you are gone now that you're a princess."
"I'm not a princess yet," Alex responded, glancing back to the curtains. She was still listening for her cue. "Give it another few minutes."
Sunset rolled her eyes. "Humans have bizarre ideas about where sovereignty comes from." Sunset crossed the distance between them, then poked Alex right in her horn. "What do you think that is?"
"I'm an Alicorn," Alex responded, though she couldn't repress a giggle. "That's not the same thing as a princess."
"Translation," Sunset grunted. "English never had the right word. Latin does, though: Imperium Maius."
"Those ponies are the ones who give me the power to command," she argued. "That's the whole point of a democracy. Common consent."
Sunset Shimmer shrugged. "Democracy is a great government for beginners, but that's not what I meant." She leaned closer, whispering into Alex's ear. "It's not the ponies you command."
"…Earth's first and oldest Alicorn, Princess Sunset Shimmer!"
Alex blinked, staring at the princess as she walked away, taking the box with her onto the stage. Alex followed her, though she didn't pass the curtain. She had to make do with squinting as Sunset stepped up into the center. This time, she actually listened.
I'm going to kill that bat.
"Citizens and friends, it is good to be with you," Sunset began. "I understand that with your victory you have taken a new name. This is good, as your old one was so long I had trouble remembering it."
There were a few polite chuckles. From what Alex could see of the crowd, most of the ponies were as confused by her appearance as Alex had been. A few had seen her on Christmas, but to her knowledge only Alex's own family and friends had spoken to her.
"The New American Union will be the first human society to reach the level of development required by Equestrian law to be formally recognized." She lifted the box up to show the crowd, then set it back down at her hooves. "On behalf of Arcadia and all its ponies, I hope the relationship between our two nations will be beneficial to us both.
"As the first gift of that relationship, I have brought regalia for your new princess in the traditional Equestrian style."
She lifted the lid, levitating a crown from the inside and holding it up for all to see. Instead of gold, the crown was made from a dark silver metal. It had a slightly dull cast, as though the shine had been intentionally removed from much of it.
Instead of the spiky crown covered with little gemstones, the one Sunset held was a simple band, cast to look like laurel. At the intersection of each leaf with the center was a thumb-sized gemstone, either yellow or absolutely black.
"I commissioned the work of the finest human craftsman in all Arcadia, many years ago. Some of you might recognize this metal as tungsten. May it symbolize the ingenuity and resourcefulness of your race in the face of all hardship."
She levitated a set of horseshoes like her own from the box, each one set with intricately cut yellow gemstones like the ones in the crown. She set down the crown in front of Tom, and each of the shoes in front of one of the remaining members of congress.
"I applaud your wisdom in choosing a princess and not a queen. This lesson was only learned by Equestria after many years and the loss of much blood. May your princess command well and live long."
She stepped out of the way, walking to the side of the stage. There were a few awkward claps, though most ponies just stared.
Archive made her way onto the stage. She could hardly look at Tom for how smug he looked.
Unlike Sunset, Tom took the PA in his magic as he spoke. "By the authority of the 1st Congress of the North American Union, I crown you Princess Alex Haggard."
He levitated the crown onto her head. It settled with remarkable weight, forcing her to focus a little on holding her neck up. The other congressmen offered her the shoes one at a time, and she stepped into them.
"May you rule with justice and compassion until you or this nation is destroyed."
"I will."
That was easy enough for the citizens of Estel to understand, and this time the applause and stamping were loud enough to shake the buildings all around. It was easy to be popular when you were a war hero.
Alex walked to the edge of the stage, searching the crowd for familiar faces. Jackie and Ezri were right there in the front row, sitting beside Nancy and Mary. Ezri in particular was one of the loudest in the group, her wings buzzing excitedly on her back.
Eventually the noise died down, and all eyes fell on her again, standing in the center of the stage.
"Ponies of Estel!" She waited for the clapping to die down again, along with a little extra staring into the crowd to discourage further interruptions. "I don't expect this to change a whole lot, at least for the next four years. When it's over, and I'm no longer your president… I hope to be able to continue to foster the growth of the Union into a thriving civilization.
"We look across the river, and we see barbarians. I have heard stories told of their armies, or the sad state of their cities. Many of you compare the world around us unfavorably to history, and rightly so. But there is something I hope everypony here will understand: these are not alien invaders occupying our planet. See them as what they are—the children of your friends and families who came before. We fight them now because we must, but we look forward to a better day.
"There are many more living refugees who will wish to join us in the coming years, either hiding successfully in the Yileron or living elsewhere. We must welcome these and their families when they come. We must develop a reputation as the friendliest, most hospitable city in the world.
"Not just them. We will eventually have to accept other immigrants into our city. Together, our talents can rebuild the world we knew. I imagine a day when more distant cities are begging to be admitted to our Union, when we expand to the north, establishing colonies and founding farms, factories, and mines. I imagine a day, perhaps far distant, when refugees who arrive in our city will be grateful for the Event, instead of resenting it. We don't have to limit ourselves to recreating the world of the past—together we can build a better one."
* * *
There were no more surprises in Estel after that, at least not that year. The invaders departed just as Archive had ordered, marching home with terrifying stories of Estel's impenetrable fortress and the princess who ruled there.
They began to rebuild. Archive used her powers in earnest now, helping to demolish the unstable structures and shore up the ones that were still intact. An Alicorn could do the work of hundreds of coordinated unicorns, particularly when that Alicorn had an encyclopedic knowledge of magic. New fields sprung up in much of the cleared land, while old rubble was used to build new watchtowers and a growing city wall.
Three months after watching the defeated army go, Archive followed them to Obrican’s palace in the capital city of New Alexandria, and spoke in what had once been a basketball court in Alexandria's ancient university.
The first meeting didn't go well, so she teleported him to Estel for his second. For a few weeks Ezri was king of Yileron, and Obrican was Alex's guest, forced to see the combination of magic and technology that was rebuilding in Estel.
Magic his own people could have, too, if they were willing to make peace. Obrican proved agreeable in the end, and granted Estel's sovereignty over Manhattan Island and all the land northward, which Yileron considered far too cold and inhospitable to be worth living in. He didn't even seem to see the humor in signing away "ownership" over territory already lived in by sapient species that his own nation had neither the ability nor the inclination to use.
"You've signed away our future," Tom had said to her in private, when he read the words of the finished treaty. "This says here you're agreeing to teach them the magic we use. Weather control, artificial light, communication stones… shields."
"Diplomacy is a give and take," Archive had said, pointing out a few clauses further down into the treaty. Guaranteeing the "right" of any newly discovered refugee to be brought safely to Estel, and requiring that Bloodgates not be used. Indeed, the treaty allowed Archive to refuse to teach anyone who had studied blood magic, and even to refuse its casters into her territory.
"You don't think they'll wait patiently while we give them all our advantages, then invade again?"
She shook her head vigorously. "I don't think they'll be competing with us, Colonel. This clause here gets us the emancipation of every refugee in the kingdom. All of them will be coming here, along with their children. When they hear about this place, I suspect many who have managed to hide their true nature will want to live somewhere more modern. Somewhere with a constitution, where there are electric lights and running water. Where there are department stores and mass production and antibiotics."
"We don't have any of those things, Alex."
"We will." She grinned at him. "We did amazing things with a few thousand. Imagine what we could do with a hundred thousand? Or a million? In a few generations, when Yileronhas learned magic as well as our ponies know it, I don't think they'll want to invade. I think they'll be buying our blue jeans and listening to our pop music. Plus…" She rolled up the treaty. "If things go badly, I can always throw another army into the Hudson. Worked pretty well for us last time.”
There were no invaders that year, except for massive waves of refugees. So many refugees that the portal spell was too expensive, and they ended up building barges to ferry them across. New citizens were first a strain to their resources, but every new wave brought more skills, more hooves, and more determination to see something like the old world live again.
Archive never heard from the spirit of the city again, except as occasional, vague flashes of satisfaction whenever Estel built something significant, such as their first power plant.
Stride didn't like it when Alex reassigned her to apprentice for a blacksmith. She liked it less when she'd made it to journeyman, and was moved to apprentice to a glassblower. By the time she'd been moved five or six times, she stopped complaining.
Years passed in peace, and Estel began to build structures of its own, instead of merely appropriating relics. Gold liberated from the Federal Reserve Bank (there hadn't been much left, but looters had missed some of the more cleverly-hidden private vaults) formed the backing for their currency.
True to her promise, Archive took on a young unicorn apprentice, the young son of Noble Calling named Dividend. He would probably have brought back a remarkable skill with magic when Archive was done teaching him, had he not developed such a powerful friendship with Nancy that he ended up not wanting to leave.
In short, they lived. Refugees had children, rebuilt their lives, and welcomed new ponies who saw the way they lived and wanted to be a part of it. Estel became something that was neither Equestria nor Old Earth—relying on magic for the small, difficult jobs, and technology when it came to serving the masses.
Life was good, so good that ponies begged Archive to run again for president when her term was finally up. Lockwood's faction might throw a fit, but what was that compared to the prosperity they had enjoyed?
Archive did not run again. The remainder of her term was marked only with peace, despite one prominent interruption…
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Don't think I didn't miss that.
7921289
Civ V reference HYPE!!!
Should be "then".
7921289 Aww, I was just about to point that out :(
Wow, things went better than expected with Obrican! I wonder if there'll still be a last-gasp attack from those blood priests though? There's surely a bit of a sold-their-souls-to-Charybdis connection there somewhere, and they'll pretty much have to see Estel as a threat to them...
Cultural victory!
I'll say I'm rather curious to see her journey to the deer. She did promise, and we know Alex would never leave humanity's younger sibling hanging.
Yeah, they're the ponies brothers and sisters, children of the earth, a new sapient species evolved from and in our world in the wake of the event. If anything, they mark the true "we are not alone"
Equestria doesn't count, it's in another universe
7912753 Look up Calibre and the plugin fanficfare. It saves the images in .epub
Although if you're using e-ink like I am there is a distinctive lack of colour... Although I think Zut's work almost looks better in grey.
So politics stopped Shimmer from actually helping humans? Such friendship, much wow.
Then again, in the end, everything seems to have come to a good end. I knew Alex would have to be entangled in ruling to some degree, despite her objections :P
Yes, it looks like It's Day vs Charybdis time!
Now there's someone worthy of the title "Princess."
Amen to that, sister.
Don't recall hearing of this effect before? Surely it would've been weaponised if so.
So she's an adult (probably)! After a millenium she finally doesn't look like gaolbait!
...wait. So Alicorns are more fragile than Earth Ponies...?
Non-Mongol/Wildling/Nord pony-men, anyhow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J6-3l3hCm0
Well, the latter's certainly a novel way to harry an orderly withdrawal.
Yet more nerfs. Beyond their PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER Starscribe's Alicorns seem to be jack-of-all-stats.
It never occurred to me that the ponies have a very different concept of rule to humans. Human rule is conducted by mortal dynasties, which are corrupted over time. Equestrian rule has, as far as we know, always been conducted by the same one/two individuals.
Or as Crusader Kings II players would say, HAXXXX!!!!!!!=_=
----------------
And so we have the Pax Alicornico.
It's a bit of a cop-out.
Actually, a lot of a cop-out. The long hoped-for confrontation with Obrican occurred entirely out-of-focus, and so emotionally it was highly unsatisfying. For a week I have been longing to hear of the look on his face when he sees a living force of nature appear before him and make demands of him... and it happens not.
What happened to that one mare at the beginning of the story? What was her name, Adventure Time I think? What happened to her?
Beside the disastisfaction in not seeing the King/Emperor and his lackeys faces.
I'm very interested in this...disruption mentioned at the end there.
That said. FINALLY!
And congratz Alex. Here's a song...
P.S. Alex, you really should heed the advices of your mum and friends...:D
So what happened to the ponies she sent into the Skien? Did she pull them back out again afterwards?
Archive, you missed a GREAT opportunity there to tell your mom off, considering you were ALREADY had a husband once before.
Which begs the question...do you have your eyes on a new Special Somepony?
7921653
Fifty years later, Archive is sitting around, sipping the finest wine.
"I'm glad you finally let us get you a date, Alex," Jackie said, smirking like a the bat she was, from her own pile of cushions and pillows. Her wife battered her shoulder.
"Don't mock her, Jackie," Erzi insisted. "Mom does things at her own pace, in her own time."
"Fourteen hundred years!" Jackie snapped, gesturing wildly with her wings. "If I had gone for a dry spell that long, I sure as hell wouldn't be able to think straight!"
"Only twelve hundred and forty three years, actually," Alex corrected. "And my ability to think straight has never been im...paired." Lonely Day's voice trailed off with a suddenly look of horror on her face. "OH BLOODY HELL! I forgot about the ponies in the Skien."
Jackie buried her face in her hooves, and tried to keep from laughing as her friend tried to quickly open a portal to the Skien and rescue them, some fifty years too late.
I can't wait to see the part about the deer!
7906055 I'd noticed the reprisal of the setting in the picture, but it didn't occur to me until seeing your comment again that it doesn't make sense. When Alex came back during the Event, she was in Los Angeles. This is in the ruins of New York.
7921793
Oh yeah, nothing funnier than placing people in a pocket dimension and forgetting about them, allowing them to slowly starve to death.
Oh, thats just cruel.
*respectful applause* Can't wait for the finish!
*admits to envy about writing quality, but I know I can improve*
7922097
I agree!!
Oh wow....
She's a princess now! Like a fully-recognized, fully-functioning ruler of a nation. I have to say, i like the whole "democratic monarchy" thing they have going on. It puts lonely day in a position of authority without opening her to (questions of) corruption or severely limiting her movements.
But wow... the imense scale of this treaty is beautiful... cultural victory indeed :)
you'll have every new and old refugee flocking to the growing city for thousands of years to come. The NEAA will become the greatest nation this world has ever seen, in every sense of the word.
After all this time, its great to see her interact with her family. Those little moments of love are so wonderful. If you're thinking about making more short stories, i wouldn't mind reading some about Alex's interactions with her family on some average day. Hear her tell them al about what she lived through and did, how she loved and lost, brought civilization from dust and grew a changeling from a drone...
And looks like nancy has an admirer :) or at the least, a dear friend who will be there through thick and thin.
Hehe, come to think of it, Alex's mom being named mary is kind of funny. Marry, the mother of "god"...
Aaanyway, great chaper, great book, great story. /ramble over
Stomps in applause.
I am enjoying this story very muchly. Thank you, Star Scribe!
"You need to go out and get some, Alex. Being pent up like that all the time isn’t healthy.”
Just how resilient is silicone rubber? I wonder if there's still a viable Chance or Bumble Hooves out there somewhere. That might be more Alex's style, at this juncture.
For those reading who do not know what is meant by 'Chance' or 'Bumble Hooves', my advice is to not worry about it.
7921653 maybe she brought them back off camera:
7921389
Well, Archive also promised to go help the deer, too, once her presidential term ended.
Alex has married, became president, ruled the world, achieved immortality (with a few slight gaps), gone to war, learned how to shoot mind lasers, had children, gone to space and hung out with aliens. Obviously, the next step in life is to become a sports superstar in a televised game between Estel, the HPI, Yileron and Charybdis' horde.
"Wary" should be "weary", somewhere early in the chapter.
Agree with folks about Obicran (spl); seems like a really lackluster scene given that the last several chapters have been struggling against him and all the senseless murder of her refugees and innocent sapients. Very disappointing...
Returned humans don't have a princess? Let them die by the millions! ... ... That's... I don't know. Forcing that kind of stress upon a people so it can finally produce an immortal to guide them is.. REALLY long game planning on Sunset's part.
I think that she needs to haul up or re-create the mother of exiles (also known as the statue of liberty)
princess Archive just sounds so good.
Princess Lonely Day, not so much.
Treading the danger zone with that colour combination, aren't we?
Awesome.
7921404
It was weaponized. One of the first "attack" spells developed after the event was a "flashbulb" light spell that Joseph used to scare off wild dogs.
Finally!
Everything is more fragile than Earth Ponies.
Also non-Oliver pony-men. The two of us used to have burping contests.
I'm ok with this. Some of us have to live through the story, ya know?
7921551
Thanks!
7921743
Um...I'm not really comfortable talking about...that
7922471
Yeah, I agree. As annoying as the deviousness involved in getting me there is, it's actually a really good compromise.
7923895
Keep in mind the alternative was basically to conquer us.
7923895
7921404
I get why you're disappointed by the dealing with Obicran being just a footnote, but fact is, he wasn't the real villain here. He was, at worst, just a symptom of the much larger problem. And now that Alex has ascended, the "negotiating" wasn't going to be much more than what we got here anyway, so there was no good reason to drag it out. This story has bigger fish to fry than that petty tyrant.
7929687
I'm a historian; we tend to have such perspective.
I'm a person; we instinctually like emotional resolution.
Unsatisfying ≠ bad.
7934059 If that's the case, then you chose the wrong words. You called it a "cop-out", which means it's bad and poorly written. If that's not what you intended, then fair enough, but that's what you wrote.
7936653 It's fascinating how language changes over time, isn't it? That the same words should mean such different things for our peoples.
The word choice was appropriate given given the definition I was raised with - more or less the dictionary one (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cop%20out).
I REALLY hope that does not imply the rest of the living HPI members are Charybdis worshipers. I hope to god that just refers to the losers who did during the HPI's civil war. Come on! We just got the Alexicorn of humanity; Don't let the Chair bee ruin it!
7936727 Sorry, but I have to ask, did you actually visit that link before posting it here? Because it takes a little while to find the definition, but when you finally do, it says that "cop out" means exactly what I think it means. Cut-n-paste:
So, going by your dictionary definition, you wrote that Starscribe had a commitment to give us a more detailed description of the negotiations, and neglected or avoided it. Or, in other words, bad writing. So yeah, if that's not what you meant, then you chose the wrong words.
7938853 Cultural differences, or perhaps just different personal interpretations, I'm afraid.
Around here, or at least to me, "did not fulfil my hopes" ≠
Which queen could magically bamf back into the ruins of London literally any day in the next nine millennia.
As a young, vigorous, very experienced monarch, ready to get her hooves dirty and kick some demon plot.
Could be tomorrow.
Could have been last Tuesday, but you don't get the newspaper distribution in NNYC yet.
Kind of boggles the mind, don'it, Princess?
8929325
(i know this is a bit of an older comment but i couldn't resist replying)
That would actually make for an interesting PaP story. Have a bunch of politicians and some royalty try and survive early post event
I vote for it to be the dutch government and royalty!
Have them meet the deer, it'll be glorious.
Maybe if i ever have time to learn how to write i'll do just that.
The first time I read this, I didn't realise what this was.
.
Now I came by to read this again, I have now played Civ 5 with the BNW DLC. So, yeah, I now get it