Chapter 8: Ash
Velar sat alone as near the prow of the pony ship as he could, staring off into the ocean. They were up too high to see much down there but black water, and anyway his amazing vision turned to washed out confusion as soon as the sun went down. But just now, that was an advantage.
Unfortunately for him, the one thing he wanted to see least was still plainly before his eyes at every moment. The strange pony vessel with its impressive magic shield could not keep out the ash.
It showered on everything, a fine mist that smelled of sulfur and fire from the bowels of the planet. It rained down in all directions, as far as the ship could go. The pony captain had tried outrunning it, tried flying above it, but both were apparently impossible. This rain would make it most of the way across the ocean, or so his mother’s engineers speculated. And once into the upper atmosphere, it would reflect enough sunlight to drop temperatures everywhere.
It was hard for Velar to think of the abstract effects the eruption might already be having on global ecology when the physical effects were so obvious. How many millions of his kind would die in the next few days? Velar was one of the lucky birds—his friends had largely been from house Virtue, and so they were among the first to flee. They would have the best chance of having a good life in Equestria, they would have packed away most of their wealth.
Those who had waited until the end—either because of disbelief, or poverty, or because their clan lord was blind and stupid—they would have the worst chance. The ponies had already made it quite clear they would be stretched to breaking just to provide for their own. And if we start starving, how long until birds decide to take from their pony neighbors? How long until there’s a war?
Velar was not the high priest of Union, he did not have the weight of Accipio on his shoulders. Yet for a few moments, it felt as though he had been granted a terrible vision. Griffons provoking the ponies to war, who would descend on his unarmed, hungry colleagues with thousands of magical ships like the Daughter of Wintergreen, impervious to cannons and faster than the wind. They would drive his birds into the sea for no greater crime than wanting to survive. If any birds lived, they would be the vultures back in his homeland, picking the bones of Accipio clean.
There was a faint flicker of light in the air behind him, and then someone landed on the deck. Velar’s claw went instantly for the dagger on his belt, though he didn’t draw it. It was best to be prepared, even though he expected only one of his family’s own guards to be that quiet. Anthony, perhaps.
He turned, and his eyes widened slightly at the one standing behind him. Not Anthony at all, but the Equestrian ambassador. How in Union’s name had she been so quiet?
Velar lowered his claw—daggers were not useful weapons against unicorns, anyway. “You’re up late,” the ambassador said. “Captain Sails gave up his stateroom for your family, and you’re not using it?”
Velar shook his head. “I can’t imagine my father can sleep much either. He just doesn’t want you ponies to see his weakness.”
Starlight Glimmer laughed. Like all the laughter Velar had heard in a long time, it was somewhat tainted with bitterness. “But you just told me.”
Velar didn’t laugh, didn’t say anything. He didn’t have the energy for a verbal joust with the pony. He couldn’t even smell her perfume over the stink of fire and sulfur. A shame, really. Those flowery smells had grown on him over the last few months.
To his surprise, the pony didn’t press this time. Just sat down on the deck beside him, looking out over the ocean as he was doing. Yet she was still a pony—just because she didn’t say something sharp didn’t mean she could stay quiet completely. “I came up here for some fresh air,” she said. “Thought maybe since it was at the front, we would have fresh air coming from Equestria. Thought maybe I’d be able to see the stars, too.”
Velar looked up. The sky was an uneven haze, with the moon cast to an angry brown. It was like the whole planet had been infected, and now the wound was going pestilent. “Do you think it will be much better once we get to your homeland?”
“A little,” Starlight said. “At least we’ll be out past the ash. Or… most of it. I’ve been staying in touch with a geologist friend of mine, back home. She thinks we’ll be laying down tuft in soil all over the globe. That’s a kind of rock, uh… nevermind.” She looked away. “I don’t know exactly what they’re doing, since I’ve been so involved with your people. If I were in charge, I would have weather teams all over the country moving as much wind as they could out towards Accipio. Try and stop as much of the ash as we can. I’ve heard rumors that some parts of the country might skip winter to get in a few more harvests, but I don’t know if that’s true.”
This time it was Velar’s turn to laugh. “I thought the temperature was going down because of the ash. Won’t that make winter longer and harsher? It won’t skip it.”
“Oh, right. You don’t control your seasons in Accipio, do you?” Starlight shrugged. “Probably not worth explaining right now. Just that ponies have been thinking about this for a long time. I’m sure they got the smartest ponies in Equestria planning it all. I know they were organizing teams all over the country a long time before I came to Accipio. Mostly training new farmers, clearing more land for fields… it was mostly earth ponies and pegasi they were recruiting, but I live in a town of mostly earth ponies, and everyone there is talking about it. Friendship gardens, they were calling them.”
Her voice changed a little, and Velar realized she was actually singing. “Plant a tree, or some beans, invite a friend to…” She trailed off. “Sorry.”
Velar laughed again, though there wasn’t even a trace of humor left in his voice. “And that’s why Accipio barely survives the same threats that Equestria weathers without trouble. We knew the gates of Tartarus were opening up beneath us, and what did we do? Killed each other. A fifth of the great clans didn’t even believe their females because they didn’t like what they were being told. Plenty more birds loaded their ships down with useless trinkets instead of seeds and food.” He shook his head. “Yet there you are on the other end of the world, safe from the worst of the eruption, and you’re more unified than we ever were.”
He glared sidelong at the pony, daring her to object. To say anything, really. But Starlight didn’t say anything. The awkward silence stretched longer and longer between them, broken only with the steady rumble of the engine under their claws.
“My father always says that the best way to bring birds together is with an enemy. Hopefully the planet trying to kill us is enough. Otherwise, I’m afraid for both our nations.”
“Me too,” the pony whispered. “For what it’s worth, I think you did a pretty good job. Your father, Gaius… he seems like the best emperor Accipio could’ve had. The ones who came before him probably would’ve invaded us. Even if you won, without all the weather and earth magic to keep the nation running, you still would’ve starved.”
“Yeah,” Velar said. “Thanks.” He felt the pony touch against him, for only a second. But by the time he’d turned to look, she was gone.
They rendezvoused with Valor’s flagship, Impervious Triumph, early the next morning. Velar had hardly moved from his spot on the deck, so that his uniform jacket was stained with ash and his throat was practically rubbed raw from breathing it all. He found it hard to care—about anything, really.
He watched the awe on the ponies’ faces as they approached the airship to dock—a rigid-framed zeppelin design so large it could’ve fit several capital palaces inside it and still had plenty of room to spare. So large there wasn’t a dock in the world large enough to park it, and its insides had its own clouds. So large it had its own docks, which the Daughter of Wintergreen moored to unload them. His later self might curse the missed opportunity to gloat over Starlight Glimmer, but at the moment he just shambled across the deck and climbed aboard.
He didn’t even resent his honor-guard, which flocked around him the instant he was back aboard the Triumph and surrounded him as though they expected an assault within minutes.
His father went through another ceremony, thanking the ponies for their hospitality and formally requesting the escort of the Daughter of Wintergreen all the way to the griffon refugee territories. The pony captain promised it, and their miniscule little ship cast off from the deck. As Velar watched it go, he found it hard to believe something so fragile and primitive-looking could have survived the wrath of the volcano.
“We survived the first engagement,” his father said, once they had made their way to the bridge. The interior section was located at the front of the zeppelin, outside a massive glass dome that allowed them to see everything before them. Yet on the inside, it was mostly bare struts and simple walkways, even in here. Every pound was precious on a craft like this, there was no room for ornamentation.
The bridge had a single projection surface, onto which some bird or another had created an accurate model of the new griffon territory. It was less than a tenth the size of Accipo’s Central Province, yet somehow it would have to be their whole world for a decade. I guess it’s a good thing so many of us are dead. Or else we’d never fit.
“Now the real war begins,” Guinevere added, hunching down over the projector. There were a few black marks on it, the locations of new settlements. All of them were along the single river running through the territory. The rest was arid wilderness, unsuitable for anything but hunting. Most males Velar knew could survive on hunting alone, though the practice seemed enormously backwards to him. Hunting was something a bird did for sport, not for survival.
“There will be three cities along the river,” Gaius continued. “One for each of the clans. Their plantations and farms will have to expand from there. These mountains here would make for a better capital if we had to stay, but… until we could construct an aqueduct, we could never live there in any numbers. Our own territory is the largest, but the least productive as you can see. I had to give the other clan lords the right to choose their territory first in order to get them to agree to sign the treaty.”
“Even Valor?” Velar asked.
Gaius nodded. “Unfortunately. It may be hard to grow even a fraction of what we need, and that would’ve been before the climate changed.”
Velar glanced down at the map again. His own family’s city was the furthest south of all, far enough that the bottom half of their land was cut off with more water. A strange place to try and build a permanent home. “Maybe the cooling planet will make the desert livable.”
Guinevere laughed. “By the time it does, I don’t think there will be any birds left behind to care. We’ll either be back in Accipio, or… we will have taken Equestria for ourselves. Have you decided which, noble husband? I know Vengeance and Victory have been whispering that was your plan all along… that you planned on arming us after we arrived in Equestria. While the ponies are content that we have put their collars around our necks.”
Gaius didn’t answer for a long time. Eventually he looked to Velar, then back down at the map. “Well, son? What do you think? You have spent more time with their ambassador than anyone. You’ve seen the way they think. Is an uprising the way to prosperity?”
He could still see Starlight’s face under the moonlight and falling ash. It had only been hours, really. “Even if we won… we need Equestrian magic to keep the food growing. If we force them to fight a war, we both starve.”
Gaius nodded, satisfaction on his face. “And you said his education counted for nothing, Guinevere.” He didn’t wait for an answer from her. “We must make some kind of home for ourselves there. War has always been our way.”
Guinevere frowned slightly down at the map. “Let’s see if we can make ourselves a new way.”
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I'm reminded of something a movie reviewer I frequent once said: "If you're on the edge of your seat and what's happening on screen is an explosion, that's a movie doing its job. If you're on the edge of your seat and what's happening on screen is two people sitting and talking, that's a damn good movie." That's how I feel here. This political maneuvering, planning, and fear of the unknown has my heart racing, even now when the worst has yet to really start.
>>Starscribe
I have always enjoyed how you write your characters, but I especially like the way you portray Velar's encounters with Starlight in this chapter. I like that you can see the internal struggle he's going through between the world he knew and the new paradigm of Equestria.
I also find your worldbuilding for the griffons intriguing. The gender roles they follow in particular are fascinating to me.
At least they're being smart about it. Seeing a war is death for both.
...I mean that's assuming Celestia doesn't just drop the sun on them at the start.
Excellent chapter, as usual.
I kinda maybe ship it.
Yeah, let's try that.
Hmm. Union as opposed to Harmony. Very interesting indeed.
In any case, I have to agree with 8643593. There's so much tension here that I can barely bear to read the story. A twisted sort of compliment, I know, but I do mean it as one. As always, looking forward to more.
Interesting to finally jump over to Velar's POV, even if it doesn't tell us too much we didn't already know.
And Guinevere tried to get her husband to attack the country willing to help. That seems very foolish for someone so intelligent. I still say they should have been left to burn. Have Celestia and Luna erect a forcefield around the country and switch off when the other gets tired. Let the murder turkeys roast.
9784519
From what it sounds like she is intentionally acting as the Devil's Advocate and the current Royal Family is actively trying to change tradition to a more peaceful way of existence. After all it sounds like they broke tradition by training their son to secretly be literate.