Chapter 31: Probe
Hayden was in a daze. She listened to the drums—that beat meant a sighting from two stations down along the wall. That particular beat signaled at least one airship. She could tell no more from merely listening.
“Sargent, get East Wind back to the keep!” she ordered, turning to take off. She didn’t even wait for a response from the pony, just beat her wings and leapt off the side of the wall. She caught herself in a smooth parabola that took her up above the edge, where she could get a good look past the city. This was too early—it was all too early. There was still nothing but white in the mountains out there, except for the occasional canopy of a tree.
Had Lodestone been wrong? Her entire gamble had been based on his estimates—if his guess had been off by so much, then they were doomed. Very few of her recruits would be ready—not to mention there just wasn’t that much powder for the cannons.
But as she looked up, she didn’t see a sky darkened with airships—she saw three. Three rough looking ships, a little like Viking longships. They had rigid, square sails, and weren’t flying in a straight line. Maybe they didn’t know how to tack?
All three ships looked to be bristling with enemy troops. She could see them packed in tight on the deck, feathers all jammed up close together. The only free space on the deck appeared to be near the sides, where large barrels waited. They would be filled with oil and lit just before birds shoved them over. Some of their ships supposedly had catapults, though none of these did.
There was a procedure for this, all the same. Hayden hadn’t organized much on that level—she had just told Lodestone what to do, and trusted him to get it done. Guess it’s better to see the men tested before we have real action. See if all that practicing with ranges and tables makes a differences.
Hayden resisted the temptation to fly straight for the wall station that had first set up the alarm, even as every other part of the wall that could see the enemy added their beat as well. They would continue it, until the command tower sent out its instructions. Hayden was most of the way to the tower when she heard the answering calls—several sharp blasts on the horn.
They meant the order to hold ground—and instruction for the crews to begin sighting targets. Time to see how good my trigonometry really was. Fortunately for Hayden (and Icefalls) her own memory wasn’t the only tool that had made those tables. A handful of Star Swirl’s new unicorns had been capable of helping, along with the wizard himself. And there had been a fair bit of trial and error.
Hayden landed on the balcony of the tower, and was immediately greeted with half a dozen soldiers in black uniforms. Her elites—none of them fired on her, thankfully. Somepony shouted, and the hatch opened from below. Hayden leapt down to join Lodestone and several other high officers, surrounding the old general’s map of the city. Heavily modified with all their changes, along with troop positions and showing much of the area all around the city.
“Signal to the crews to use full powder charge and ball. Wait for a thousand yards—at this speed, we’ll only get two shots from each gun.” They weren’t done making cannons yet—only a third of the emplacements would have them.
“Don’t fire if they’re over the city,” Hayden said, her voice carrying over the murmur of activity in the command post. “If we don’t bring them down before, wait until they’ve passed overhead to fire again. If one of those ships lands on the city from above, it will bring down buildings.”
“Those ships are lighter than they look,” Lodestone said, saluting her as she entered. Once he did, the rest of the room imitated the gesture, as though waiting for his permission. “Cedar, not hardwood like ours. They don’t know crystal magic, so they just make their ships as light as possible.”
As much as Hayden had told East Wind she had reorganized the army, she had done very little to the actual command structure. It was clear to her who these ponies still followed. She nodded. “Still, best have our cannons on the south keep facing away from the city. Don’t bring down the enemy army on our heads.”
Even though the glass, Hayden felt her whole body shake as the first cannon fired. It would not be a total shock to the ponies below—they had done many test firings now, hopefully letting them accustom themselves to what that would mean. A sign Icefalls was being protected, not that it was in danger.
A few seconds later, another cannon fired, then another. Hayden made her way to the window, squeezing in beside several of her elites, getting the best view she could. The griffon ships kept coming, speeding up now, faster and faster.
Then the first cannonball hit. The first of the three ships exploded into a fireball of boiling oil, a huge chunk of the deck ripped right out from under it. Bodies and cargo tumbled, with many streaks of flame as they went down. Of course, plenty more did not go down, and dodged out from the ship as it ripped itself in two pieces, both flaming as they fell.
Ponies around her swore under their breath, staring and pointing at the ship as it burned. One of the enemy vessels would not be returning, though it looked like some number of the soldiers aboard were flying for the wall.
Another of the ships shook as something struck the mast, then it tumbled free, tearing the sails on its way down and breaking a huge gash into the deck. Yet there was no explosion here, no ship torn in half. The airship slowed in the air, and began to list slightly to one side. The other airship continued undamaged, bearing down on the city.
Hayden began counting in her head. Though her cannon crews were aiming to fire every ninety seconds, most of them couldn’t beat two minutes yet. Most of them weren’t soldiers—they were craftsponies, inhabitants of Icefalls or round about who had done a skilled trade she didn’t need but wanted to serve in the army anyway. Those who knew how to fight were too valuable to have aiming and reloading a gun.
“Celestia’s beard!” Lodestone swore. “I was hoping we would have brought down all three of them. Our crews… they missed. I see only two hits in five.”
“That’s… better than I would have expected,” Hayden said. “As long as all five get another shot before those two ships arrive, they should be commended. Look how effective they were. You didn’t mention Stonebeaks didn’t use hardwood… I might have suggested lighter guns.” Lighter guns meant smaller crews, and their powder would go further. But it was too late now.
“Not all of them,” Lodestone said, darkly. “They steal our ships, sometimes. Polestar had three warships twice that size. I wonder who these birds are… testing our defenses? It might have been better not to use the cannons.”
Lodestone had wanted a different plan if they attacked early. He’d wanted to let them come, ravage the city a bit, then fight them off with conventional methods. Even if it cost morale, it would have preserved ignorance. Now the enemy would know.
“No,” Hayden said, her voice very low. “Because I didn’t tell you the second half of that plan.” She raised her voice a little, turning her head to the captain of the elites. He was a bat—like most of the flying ones, with orange along the edges of his wings and bright orange eyes to match. “Captain Slipstream, mobilize the company for sweep and burn. No prisoners.”
The other captains and officers stared as Slipstream saluted, and vanished up the hatch without a word. A few seconds later, every elite on the roof took off.
Yes, Hayden had left the command structure intact. But she’d picked out some of the best for herself. Many of those ponies were heroes now, from the escape from Polestar. And all of them had killed.
“That isn’t wise,” Lodestone said, once Slipstream was gone. He hadn’t questioned her orders while she was giving them, at least. “Stonebeak ships typically carry two hundred and fifty when they go on assault—many of those birds will be too poor to be on crews of their own, so they’ll be packed in for the assault, hoping to earn a place. They’ll have relatives we can trade them to.”
Hayden stiffened. She could feel many eyes on her. None of her own elites were still here—if it came to any sort of conflict, she would be completely surrounded.
But of course, it wouldn’t. Evening Star jerked a little as the cannons fired again. She didn’t count how many this time, they went off in such quick succession. The ship already listing took the worst of it, exploding as the first had done—though most of the birds had already jumped. Its cracked hull went plummeting down to the valley floor. The last ship kept coming, though, past every volley, over the walls. And behind it, two disordered waves of birds.
“The griffons respect strength,” Hayden said. “For many years, you have fought them well. But you spoke to them as ponies communicate—you offered peace, trade, exchange of prisoners. I’m going to speak to them in a different language. I think they will understand it better. I will give them the language of warlords. I don’t expect we’ll actually find them all. Some bird out there has probably already flown home, or will soon. He’ll tell terrified stories of how we blasted their ships out of the sky with magic from afar. Maybe he saw his burning comrades tumble to their deaths. I want him to tell them that, and for the Stonebeaks to wait for the ships to return, proving that bird a coward.
“But they’ll wait, and they’ll wait, and nopony will come. Then they’ll send a scout. Somepony we don’t notice. They’ll fly to that mountain there, and that’s where they’ll find the bodies of their dead, and a sea of crows covering them in black wings.”
Silence continued in the command center, even as the first cracks of arquebuses broke the city air. They were pitiful compared to the 24-pound long guns, though still loud enough to reverberate over the whole city. They weren’t made to fire accurately, not really. Instead, they sprayed birdshot into the air above a fortified pony line, into the griffons attacking from above.
Hayden watched Lodestone’s expression.
It seemed like emotions were battling in him—horror was one, though there was something else too. Resolve. She could see something moving behind those eyes, something the color of a bat’s wings. He nodded, squaring his jaw. “If your elites need help, I have airborne archers. Their bows might not be equal to what Avalon gave you for your elites, but…”
The whole room relaxed—ponies returned to their posts, ponies went back to huddling over the walls, watching the flags that passed signals between wall towers. Hayden longed to join them out there—but she resisted the urge.
Then she heard the rumble. The third airship was right above the city now, and it was dropping barrels from the deck. In a densely-packed city like Icefalls, most landed on structures. Ice-covered roofs were poor fuel for the flames, but most buildings were wood. God, if they hit the munitions plant… Hayden had put it in one of her few stone buildings, anticipating this kind of attack. But would that be enough?
She could hear shouts joining the irregular crack of rifle fire. The griffons hadn’t targeted the streets of the city, as Lodestone had predicted. They were focusing on the walls, and the strange weapons that had brought their ships down. Hayden hoped the crews and their training were enough.
Then she saw the figure—a single pony, cutting through the air above the city. She tensed, shivering all over as she saw who it was. East Wind, traveling cloak rippling behind her as she shot up towards the third airship like a comet.
“Oh God…” Hayden winced, staring with morbid fascination out the window. “Lodestone, get somepony in the air NOW! Our diplomat from Harmony is…” She trailed off, and she wasn’t the only one to be watching helplessly now.
Griffons from the third ship had leapt into the air to engage her. Most were armored, though they fought with no specific weapons at all, just their claws and beaks. They were birds of prey—adapted for this very sort of combat.
Hayden looked away, unable to force herself to watch. She could hear her soldiers dying on the wall, but this was different. This pony’s death was her fault. What had East Wind been thinking?”
“Stars above, it’s her,” Lodestone muttered, awed.
Hayden looked up, and found she didn’t need to wonder what he meant. East Wind was gone—Princess Luna was in her place. What had happened to the griffons who attacked her, Hayden couldn’t tell. Maybe they were the charred corpses raining down on Icefalls from above?
“Not… my… city!” The roar came so loudly that Hayden felt it in her core. Dust dislodged from some of the windows, and several of the little models went tumbling off the table.
The third airship vanished in a blast of burning blue light, bright enough that it illuminated all of Icefalls brighter than the sun. When it passed, and the glowing after-images faded from Hayden’s eyes, there was nothing left to rain down on Icefalls but ash.
“Belay that order,” Hayden said, seeming to come to herself long before anypony else in the room. Half of them were bowing at the window.
“Get crews into the city to put out the fires, Lodestone,” Hayden said, her voice startling them. “Let’s make sure our princess’s city doesn’t burn down.”
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And so it begins!
Oh.
...surprise?
I ... wait... Wow! Wasn't expecting that.
Why do i get the feeling Luna is going to take command and accidentally fuck shit up?
I think I know what Hayden is thinking... "I wasn't expecting this..."
8735259
I didn't have the balls to call it, but I suspected it.
Fun fact: an east wind in mythology is often associated with destruction.
8751328
Aw man, you better hope not.
8751328
Because there are good chances she is already in the pre-Nightmare stage.
And because this is a prequel to My Little Apprentice so we know how is gonna end.
Holy shit I did not expect that!!!
8751528
Wait, is it really or is that conjecture based on Avalon? Star can be just using elements from older stories anew.
Hot damn. I did not expect Luna, but I am glad she's here. The moral boost alone is going to be fantastic!
SHE'S BACK, BABY
EDIT: This also makes the last chapter read completely differently. A brilliant move, on your part!
Oh.
Hell.
Yes.
Well. Looks like Operation: Drag Luna Out of Depression paid off... to an extent. No telling what her mental state is at the moment beyond "capable of doing things." And as metal as Hayden's plan with the griffons is, I do worry about how that may affect the aberrations in the bats.
Still, in theory, this is a tremendously positive turn of events for Icefalls. Let's just hope that's the case in practice.
8751328
Hopefully she'll listen to the daemon who's turned a hopeless situation into a winnable one. And hopefully Hayden will be willing to contradict her, hopefully in a way that doesn't undermine Luna's authority in her last bastion of respect. This could really go either way.
well, this will certainly affect their "good" reputation but like...
reputation can you eat that? having a villeins reputation is useful as well since they're already forsaken and considered dead to others
Man, if all Hayden has to face is the equivalent of glorified aerial Viking raids, this will be a far easier war than anyone expected.
Hmn, interesting. Luna's presence changes the calculus of all of this, too.
Well now this should certainly add to the Horror of the Griffons when telling that tale. Also, it's great to see Princess Luna actually doing something again <3
Though this could still just as easily lead to Nightmare Moon, if she hasn't been tainted already.
Huh. I completely misread the situation with East Wind. Well played, author-creature!