Chapter 22: Organized Chaos
There was silence in the war-room as Hayden finally finished presenting her plan. The space was no longer mostly vacant, but packed with ponies—many were soldiers, those of the highest ranks who had decided to stay. But plenty more were just prominent citizens of Icefalls.
Including its new city-lord. They didn’t have fancy robes for Nightbreeze, didn’t even have a crown for her yet. She sat on the raised chair at the center of the room looking like somepony who had just been struck in the face with something heavy. She hadn’t seemed like she was hearing much of anything. Rather, she looked as though she expected to be woken from a bad dream at any moment.
Star Swirl was the first brave enough to speak. “I can’t help but notice a chasm in your plan.” He gestured at the forth of the signs she’d made. “These new weapons you speak of sound like the perfect tools. I will assume you are correct regarding their design and function—I believe you have failed to consider how we could possibly make enough of them to have an impact with such little time.”
He rose from his chair, crossing the room to where she stood. Hayden could’ve shut him down, or told him to go back. But of course, she didn’t. He had noticed the one thing she hadn’t figured out yet, and now so would everypony else here.
“It says here you want to make a factory in Icefalls. I do not believe there is enough labor in all the city to make that possible. Your designs are the stuff of skilled craftsponies, who slave away for many days to make a single precision piece. Crossbows would be simpler, but as all assembled here know, we no longer have the gold to buy them. You cannot possibly expect the citizens here to have the time to build new fortifications, to open up new mines, to grow new crops, and to establish entirely new ways of making things in just six months. This is the undertaking of decades.”
There was a murmur of agreement from the crowd. Even Lodestone looked convinced—even her engineers, who had worked with her for the last month. If they could see what she’d done and still thought it couldn’t be done, then they were probably right.
“What about the cannons? Do those seem impossible too?”
Star Swirl shook his head. “Well, no. You seem to know what you’re about in casting metal, and those are really just hollow vessels of iron or steel. Much easier to repeat than that.” He pointed at her handgun where it still rested on the table in front of them. She had already wasted a precious bullet demonstrating its effectiveness for them all. Five left.
“So we don’t have the rifles. The rest of it is still intact. Being able to bring down their airships will have to be enough.”
“With respect…” Lodestone didn’t rise from his seat. “I don’t believe it will be, General. Griffons can fly, and every one of them who comes here will be ready to fight. The ballistas and catapults aboard their ships are not nearly as dangerous as the birds that will come streaming from them once we fall them. And without new weapons to arm this new army you are proposing…” He shook his head. “It seems every one of these four points is connected to the others. Our new army must be armed with new weapons. They must be defended behind new fortifications, and fed with new farming techniques. If one element fails, the entire construction collapses.”
More murmurs of agreement. Hayden’s ears flattened to her head, but she didn’t let herself get discouraged. “Well… alright then. You’re all smart ponies. This is your country, your city. You tell me how we’ll make enough guns.”
Silence. She searched every face in turn, searching for any sign that they were holding things back from her. She found nothing. Eventually she turned to the only unknown left in the room—Star Swirl. “Could your magic create them for us? Maybe I could build a single model, and you could duplicate it.”
He laughed, voice bitter. “I could make a few copies of something with the right spell, perhaps. Not fifty thousand. And no, don’t ask me to train the unicorns of the city. Most have already gone, and those that remain are largely below that caliber. Only the most gifted are capable of such advanced sorcery. Even they require years of training.”
She frowned. “What about… Avalon, you said? The one who will be sending us food. Could they make guns for us? Or will they not be willing without gold to bribe them?”
There was another murmur from the audience.
Star Swirl took a little longer to respond this time. “I am… uncertain of what Avalon can do, anymore. He seems to have come to the end of his inventing, and now devotes himself to digging deeper and deeper. Diamond dogs do not live long compared to ponies—I suspect the advancing years have driven him mad.”
But you didn’t say no, Hayden thought. Instead she said, “We cannot allow this one weakness to discourage us from beginning our preparations. If we wait out the winter for Princess Celestia to change her mind, we will find ourselves eaten and enslaved come spring.” She straightened again, making herself as big as she could. “You each have your assignments. I know I ask a high price of all of you. I know we have little gold to pay for your effort right now.
“But that doesn’t matter. Come next year, we won’t just survive this storm, we will thrive. Equestria will envy the wealth and power of Icefalls. We will be a beacon in the north, we’ll take back all that the Stonebeaks stole from us. And we’ll do it together.”
Ponies rose, taking their parts of her plan with them. Her engineers would become supervisors and intermediaries, watching every aspect and reporting to her any problem. Aside from them, everypony would be on their own.
The room emptied over the next hour. Many had questions for her, and she did her best to speak with each one. But as Star Swirl had pointed out, there were none really capable of making the weapons to arm their soldiers. There was no gold to buy them from other cities. They would be fighting with sticks and clubs if something didn’t change.
Star Swirl was one of those who lingered. Which was good, because Hayden had something important to ask. “I wonder about the range of your transport abilities,” she said. “I would like to speak to Avalon myself, in a few days. Once my ponies have finished making our prototype. Icefalls will be able to feed itself before too long—but we can’t arm ourselves.”
Star Swirl frowned. “It is unwise to make Avalon the fulcrum of your plan. Obtaining even a moment of his time to discuss the fate of Icefalls was… difficult. I do not imagine he will respond more favorably to you.”
“Maybe not,” she sighed, lowering her voice. “But right now he’s my only lead. It’s either him, or we start mass producing spears. That I know we can do… one of my books has detailed instructions for how it might be done with cooking pots. But firearms… they will give us a decisive advantage. I don’t just want to win this war—I want to win all of them. Once we’ve broken the Stonebeaks’ fleet to pieces, we’ll take back the north. We’ll leave Luna with the richest domain in Equestria to rule instead of the poorest.”
“A noble dream,” Star Swirl said. “But still just a dream, until you can manifest it. I will remain… a little longer. Giving my help as you have requested, until winter comes at least. At that point… we’ll see.” He left.
That meant there was only one pony still in the room with her. Nightbreeze had barely seemed to see her during the entire meeting until then. Yet now she rose from her chair, one that looked quite a bit too large for her. “I can’t believe you’re actually doing this,” she said, glancing up at the changes to the model she had made, the intricate notes on each of her signs. “A few months ago and the most you could think to plan was how to get water to move when you turned a valve. But now…” She gestured with a bat wing. “You made it sound almost possible.”
“It is,” Hayden said ruefully. “Almost possible. It’s putting together a machine out of gears I’ve never tested. Each of them has to fit together within six months, or else everypony will die. Because Luna made the mistake of summoning me.”
There was a brief silence. “Not just that mistake,” Nightbreeze said, though there was a little less bitterness in her tone than there had been in the temple a few nights ago. “Lord Snow Storm is the reason there was more than one bat. He’s the reason Equestria is tearing itself apart over a forth tribe. And Star Swirl is the reason the princess could summon you…” She trailed off. “There’s plenty of guilt to go around. Celestia could send the army in a moment, or Luna could arise tomorrow to challenge her sister’s authority.”
“I don’t think she will,” Hayden said quietly. “I can feel her despair. Whenever I close my eyes, I can almost see her there in the blackness. Sometimes I dream her nightmares.” She straightened, clearing her throat. “Well, Nightbreeze. I’m sorry the city you’re taking over is flat broke and about to be enslaved, but… if anyone could pull them out of it, it’s you.”
The other bat laughed bitterly. “I’m just glad to be out of the temple. Those stupid made-up rituals to a religion that doesn’t exist. Even looking at Icefalls’s accounting isn’t more horrifying than that.”
There was another awkward silence. Without a word, Nightbreeze turned and left, though at least she didn’t slam the door shut behind her this time.
Maybe that’s an improvement? Maybe by the end of this, we can be friends again. Even if the pain they had shared meant they would never be lovers again, a friendship would be something.
It took just over a week to complete the first prototype pony rifle, and that was with just over a dozen craftsponies working nearly full time. Whatever magic the bats had given up, they were apparently good with their hooves. Honed Edge’s assessment of the numbers they would keep was accurate. Hayden didn’t lose a single pony from her engineering team, despite the ordered retreat to Harmony.
After a quick test, Hayden packed up a few of her human possessions along with the new prototype for her trip to see Avalon. Star Swirl had not been resting or merely observing during that week, but giving his assistance to projects all over the city. A brief enchantment of his could often do the work of many unicorns. And more importantly, he’s a good man. He kept saying that he would probably be leaving in a few days. Yet instead of leaving, he had set up his own workshop in the basement of the fort and started recruiting his own apprentices from among the city’s unicorns. We’re not that different, old man. You just belong here, and I don’t.
It was from the new workshop that they departed, wheeling the wooden case behind her that was the prototype pony rifle. Aside from her engineers, none had seen its test, though she suspected many in the castle had heard the report of its one and only live-fire.
Star Swirl’s new workshop was a little like the one he had left behind in Canterlot—bare stone walls, little furniture, and a growing number of magical designs written with a grease-pencil. After only a week, this one had some important differences—there was a classroom set up on one side, and a number of young unicorns studying there. Star Swirl had apparently recruited Snow Storm’s former court wizard, Infinite Series, who led the lecture.
From the look of the students, Hayden doubted most of them would’ve had a shot at instruction like this in the lives they had come from. They were all young, most looked starved to one degree or another, and a few of them were dirty. With only limited exception, ponies of rank who were not bats had fled the city. They had only the dregs. We’ll make diamonds out of all of them, Celestia.
Star Swirl looked down at the box, his eyes skeptical. “If you’ve scrounged up gold for him, don’t bother. Avalon has no interest in bits. You will have to win him on the merits of our cause, or not at all.”
“Shouldn’t be that hard,” Hayden responded. She was naked aside from her saddlebags and the case—much like Defiance, Icefalls was kept far warmer than the world around it. Plenty warm enough for a mature pegasus, or apparently a mature bat as well. “You already convinced him once, to send supplies. Assuming he hasn’t changed his mind…”
“He won’t,” the unicorn said. “The first shipment wasn’t scheduled until first snowfall. That’s still weeks away.”
“Well then.” Hayden grinned. “Let’s see if we can convince him to make something else. I’ve been hearing about how skilled this inventor was since I got to Equestria… it’s about time I see if he lives up to the rumors.”
Star Swirl nodded, stepping close to her. “I warn you, Hayden—Avalon is not like the other ponies you have met. He is a strange creature even among his kind, and all diamond dogs are strange. Do not react badly to his appearance, or our case is doomed. No matter how freakish he appears to you, you must treat him as though you do not notice. Do not ask him to repeat himself, or to explain the strange servants who do his bidding. He reacts badly to all of these.”
“A-alright.” Hayden shivered once, remembering all the times ponies had compared her to Avalon. He can’t be that bad. “I’m ready.”
They vanished.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
1,147 users online
2,421,928 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I concur. Friends, at the very least, would be nice. They were cute together, you know?
Five bucks says Avalon is a human. Or possibly a posthuman. Whether he is or not, hopefully he can bridge the logistical gap that Icefalls has to cross if it is to survive.
8620739 Starswirl's last warning very strongly suggests that either this is the case or Starscribe is intentionally trolling, which I do not believe.
Not content with creating just one race of ponies, Hayden?
8620739
Avalon is a character from My Little Apprentice, another story of Starscribe's. He's definitely a human.
Avalon? Wasn’t that the “diamond dog” from Starscribe’s My Little Apprentice? If he is, then equipping Icefalls with 50,000 guns won’t be a problem in the least.
I love this story and how things are shaping up, but I think things are heading in a direction where I'm gonna want to binge a whole lot of chapters at once. This one-chapter-at-a-time nonsense is killing me.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
I still won't give up hope!!
Interesting point, the industry needed for modern firearms is really something beyond what he can achieve in six months. Give it a couple decades, though, and he'd be golden. The help of an inventor with resources, though, might just be what gives them flintlocks. Or even breech loading single-shots.
8620873
Claymores, grenades, mined approaches, maybe a crude poison gas would all be more practical emergency projects to leverage modern knowledge.
Of course the fact that the enemy are fliers makes for a real headache. Hard to fortify against an enemy who moves in three dimensions.
If Avalon is really Avalon than this is a sort of prequel to MLA.
Which means that Hayden wasn't from our time... But probably from between the Avalon Incident and The War.
Or shit is real messed up time wise.
I thought that the ending was referencing Why We Dig, but from the comments it sounds like it's a My Little Apprentice reference instead. I still haven't gotten around to reading that story, but this is a good excuse to bump it up a few spots on my Read Later.
8620895
Mines won't do a whole lot of good against flying opponents. The best bet would be canister shot cannons and some form of shotgun, along with pistols or pistol shotguns for thestrals in the air.
The situation is such that the ponies will have to attack the gryphons, too, else the gryphons could just fly around and raid farms and weak points unless they bring everybody in to the city and ignore planting in the spring.
8621102
Yeah, that comment ended up in a different place than where it started. But claymores are basically very, very short-range single-use grapeshot cannons, and you could probably line your aerial approaches with them.
Luckily, there's a lot of bat flyers in your defensive force. The relative flight characteristics of thestral/bat ponies vs. griffons is something that's subject to headcanon slapfights, I guess.
8621105
I'm surprised she didn't go with catapults armed with flack bombs, or Rockets, or just cannon if she had the supplies. While fire arms are very good, It would be simpler in the short run to improve what existing arms there are. Heck the mounted bows that Ponies use could be mad with explosive tipped arrows, making them crude RPGs. Cause even if she gets the guns, she still has to train the troops in their use.
8621140
Barbed wire, even simple wired approaches appeared remarkably late in the real world. They were just starting to use tripwires in the fall of 1864, for instance, and barbed wire didn't make an appearance until, hrm, 1870s, 1880s?
I'm not sure how fast you could set up a simple wire factory. Even long-bladed caltrops arranged on twine entanglements might make sense in terms of channeling aerial approaches.
Hayden, you don't need rifles against flying opponents, you need punt guns.
Also, I'm not sure that revealing the secrets of firearms to an eccentric inventor of dubious loyalty is the smartest thing in the world...
I was really expecting an introduction to mass production this chapter after how it started.
Is Avalon a Human?
~Human~
Avalon + odd appearance for a DD (Bipeds) + inventor + the use of "Humanitarian efforts" by Starswirl = Human
Was pretty sure it was so when we heard his name in connection with odd inventions, etc. at the party.
fell
fourth
Hes going to look like a cute puppy dog maby like scrappy
8971970
you mean scrappy from Dadonequus Discord?
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/389367/dadonequus-discord-book-1