• Published 20th Nov 2017
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The Last Migration - Starscribe



When disaster forces the fierce griffins to seek shelter in Equestrian land, can two very different societies coexist? Or will the ancient enemies tear each other apart?

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Chapter 39: Rendezvous

For the second time, Velar found himself under the ministrations of a pony doctor. He hadn’t even noticed at the time just how badly wounded he had been. The battle-trance had blocked all pain from his mind, but now that it was over he felt it in earnest.

As it turned out, Velar had been shot three separate times, though two had passed through his wings between the bones and only one bullet had to be removed from a leg. The enemy’s desire to preserve their own birds from friendly fire had probably saved his life.

By the time his wounds had been cleaned and stitched and wrapped in pony bandages, the sound of violence from outside had settled down. Aboard the Stalwart Stratus ponies still raced, making repairs to as much of the vessel as they could following the several bombardments they took.

Out a high window, Velar could see that Canterlot had escaped unscathed after all. Celestia and Luna had put their own lives on the line, but in doing so their capital was safe.

Starlight Glimmer paced back and forth beside his bed, constantly scurrying over to one of those strange talking machines to hear from ponies elsewhere on the ship.

Eventually one of those trips brought her back with a solemn expression instead of mere annoyance, and Velar realized that she had finally learned something.

“He’s dead,” she said, pulling over one of the waiting room chairs. Velar was conscious of several of the hospital staff moving over to listen as well. He hardly minded. “I don’t know the specifics, but… it must’ve been hard. Princess Celestia was injured in the battle and has returned to Canterlot for treatment.”

The bastard managed to hurt one of them. He could almost feel admiration there. Even if the rest of the plan seemed insane. After the way that Victory had treated him—what they’d said about honor, he didn’t think he would mourn much over Giovanni’s passing.

“What does that mean for us?” Velar asked. He shifted in his bed, made to rise, and found that there was a transparent tube running directly into one of his forelegs. He couldn’t escape without yanking the near-magic of their medicine from his leg, and there was no saying what that might do.

Starlight pushed down on him with a gentle flash of magic, preventing him from escaping. “It means we’ll wait for Luna’s instructions, whatever they are. I don’t know if she will want our involvement or not.”

“Do you think she understand what just happened?” He flicked one wing towards a window. “There’s something obviously wrong here. Great generals sacrifice ships and soldiers all the time. To draw your forces north, to distract, to influence your electorate… whatever the reason. But there’s less than a dozen suits of Voidsteel left. Putting one of those at risk like this… I don’t understand it. If I was trying to assassinate your queens, I wouldn’t try to do it myself. I’d bring every suit, every weapon, everything at the same time. Now you know what they want, and they don’t have anything to show for it.”

An earlier Starlight Glimmer might’ve reacted negatively to the casual mention of killing Equestria’s rulers. But this one only twitched once. “Not… queens…” she muttered, before rising from her chair and beginning to pace again. “So, what do you think they were trying to do?”

“I…” Velar hesitated. In the old days, revealing the weakness of his own kind to the enemy like this would’ve been unthinkable. But now he was on a pony ship, surrounded by pony doctors who had already saved his life once. The ones doing the conquering weren’t ponies.

“I think it was Santiago consolidating power, it’s the only explanation. Either there’s a wave of bombers behind those mountains waiting to turn your city to rubble… or this is consolidation.”

“I… what?” Starlight stomped one hoof against the deck, horn briefly flickering with her agitation. “I’m sorry, what? What kind of insanity are you thinking of? How did you even figure it out?”

“I know Santiago,” he answered, avoiding her eyes. “And there’s only two reasons for an attack like this. First—maybe he’s softening you up, but he would need to follow up fast. Your shield will be back if he waits, so if there’s no second fleet…”

“There isn’t,” Starlight cut him off. “Or if there is, it’s so fast that we can’t even see it. There’s no way you can build ships like that.”

“Right.” Velar nodded again. “Then he was consolidating. Victory’s heir is a hatchling, and an unmarried female at that. At a time of war, the clan lord of the closest ally would take things over.”

“And she never gets to take the house back,” Starlight supplied. “Something will happen to her, and she’ll disappear. Just like that, he’s ruling half of Accipio.”

“It’s… hard to believe that Giovanni would’ve fallen for it. But he was never much of a student of history. The Trueists… they always saw those stories as stories. Said that the only reason Equestria survived was that it had expert spies. You hadn’t ever won a war with us, you just managed to subtly change the past until it looked like you never lost. Your alicorns were supposed to be… freaks. Like a bird born with too many claws. That kind of thing.”

“But you weren’t one of them,” Starlight declared, eyeing him with an expression that made it quite clear how dark her view of him would be if he said yes.

But he didn’t lie, and he didn’t have to start now. “No, never. But you probably won’t like the reason why. It’s not one a pony could understand. Anyway, if Giovanni thought—”

“Stop,” Starlight cut him off. “You can’t just say that! Why did you believe? Why didn’t you want to ignore history like the others?”

“Because if they were right, it would’ve meant that we’d already won. Accipio started as one little clan up in the mountains, surrounded by enemies. The zebras were so much older, they had writing, they had the old magic. Then we beat them, turned them to our side, and there were the minotaurs further out. Stronger, creatures that would fight until every drop of blood was drained from them… and we beat them. It went on and on. Since we began, we’ve been finding new challenges to overcome.

“The idea that there might be something out there that was greater than we are—it’s like believing in Unity, in a way. It helps to think there’s something out there bigger than you. When you lose a comrade after a battle, or maybe life doesn’t go your way… that’s why we tell so many stories that end with griffons losing. So that we could aspire to be better. So that, one day, we could overcome. I think if we ever did, it might be… a dark day for Accipio.”

“There’s been a lot of those lately,” Starlight said flatly. Velar tried to read her expression—was she angry with him again? But he couldn’t tell.

Hooves pounded down the hallway, and a second later a pair of uniformed ponies rushed in. They stopped in front of Starlight, saluting. “Starlight Glimmer?”

She nodded, not returning the gesture. She wasn’t military, after all. “We have orders from Luna. For you and the medical staff here. You’re to report to the bridge as soon as possible. Assuming it is possible to move him.”

A medical orderly emerged from the other end of the room. “He wasn’t seriously hurt,” the pony said, obviously not happy about what was being asked of him. “But the patient’s chances are better if he remains in our care. There’s always a chance with bullet wounds that some bit of shrapnel might find its way into the—”

“Our orders were explicit,” the officer said again. “Apologies. But we were told it was a matter of national survival.”

Velar didn’t need an apology, though. He would’ve cheered for the princess’s excuse to get him out of the medical bay, regardless of the risks.

A few minutes later, and they were back on the bridge. There was a repair crew gathered around one of the control consoles, and they’d removed it to expose what was underneath. Strange glass tubes that glowed, and lengths of string covered in plastic. Wire? How does any of this work?

Princess Luna sat near the magical map. Her armor had been dented and banged up, and a few sections looked like they were melted. That wasn’t the most frightening thing about it, though—there was something in the air next to her.

The ponies all around kept well back from it, as though the princess had trapped a hungry beast. Voidsteel armor with no one to wear it looked a little like a primordial animal, a mass of black energy that occasionally formed into metal spikes, or bits of glittering crystal. Every second it changed, with bits of armor and weapons momentarily appearing and disappearing in it as the seconds passed.

“It remembers every bird who ever wore it,” his father had explained, long ago. “If you listen, it will share its wisdom with you.”

Princess Luna waved them over with a wing, ignoring captain Blason’s protests. Starlight looked at the dark metal beside the princess with the same skepticism as the other ponies, though she was braver than they were.

“Princess, should you be on your hooves so soon?” she asked. “You look… unwell.”

Velar couldn’t really tell the difference between an Alicorn that could destroy ships and one that had been beaten near to death, but there did seem to be something missing. It took his mind a second to realize what it was—her mane wasn’t glowing anymore. It just looked like hair, like the time he’d seen her at the first treaty negotiation. “I should not,” Princess Luna agreed. “But there is no time for rest. My sister will not be continuing on with us.”

“Giovanni’s armor,” Velar muttered, nodding towards the mass of metal. “You won it from him.”

Luna nodded. “My sister and I both. She’s trusted it to me.” It moved through the air, trapped still in her magic. Towards Velar. “The Dark Refraction is keyed to your species. It cannot be given to a pony without many days of careful manipulation. In the interests of our success, consider it bequeathed to you.”

Velar stiffened at once, staring up at the armor. His voice shook, though he forced the words out somehow. “P-Princess Luna. You realize how… how much is involved with…”

Her eyebrows went up. Then she stood straighter, and met his eyes, and switched to Grypos. “Unity’s judgement has passed its most potent defenses to a worthier bearer. I would happily lay down my life in its protection, but I cannot. My child will wield this weapon in my name, until the last embers of life go out and chaos takes back what we have stolen.”

She hadn’t missed a single word. Velar still had a choice—Voidsteel could not be forced on a bird. Owning it would change the life of any who wielded it, except that Velar already had. His own father’s armor would be his one day, and he’d trained with it extensively.

But how could he refuse? “Unity accepts the sacrifice of even the unwilling. Our blood and the steel stolen from midnight will protect those who cannot protect themselves.” He extended a claw, taking Luna’s offered hoof.

The armor flashed, with faint sparkles of color appearing around the edges. A pony had won it, but it had accepted the ritual she performed. Somehow.

“Now, put it on. The battle has already begun.”

“What battle, Princess?” Starlight probably didn’t speak Grypos well enough to understand the gravity of an ancient religious ritual. “Are there more ships coming?”

Luna shook her head. “It isn’t here. The griffons are attacking New Scythia, and the battle has already begun. We have already set a course, along with as much of the western fleet as can be quickly mustered. I suggest you familiarize yourself with that armor before we arrive.”

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