Chapter 46: Fate of Nations
Silver’s little band did not attack the heavily fortified doors of the skytower. They did not fight their way up through its levels to the heat-core. He didn’t even go between the shelters gathering help, as he had initially thought.
Instead he returned to the first shelter, gathered every willing pony, and marched for the Gatecrashers’ guild. There were plenty of old suits of air-armor inside, abandoned from the days of exploration. More importantly, their enemy had left them ample supplies to defend a position. Rotary guns, a dozen rifles—it was everything he could’ve hoped for.
“This is madness,” Nidus said. The little crystal heater glowed. It wouldn’t last as long without recharging, not with the helmet open and heat leaking out the collar. Like most of the fighters, Nidus had wrapped his face tightly with cloth, insulating as best he could against the terrible cold. “Why would they take this threat seriously? We would only be killing ourselves first.”
Silver smiled confidently. “It wouldn’t be believable, but they’re actually trying to kill all of us. Of course we’d never do something that would doom us. But we’re dead anyway thanks to them. What do we have to lose?”
“That… makes some sense,” he admitted. “Couldn’t they just march out and take the airlock back? Even with all this, we can’t hold off the whole army on our own.”
“That’s plenty of time to get the airlock open,” he said grimly. “With all the air rushing past us, we’ll be the last to suffocate. We only have to hold the door long enough to kill the bastards. And the best part: the skytowers don’t need airlocks, they’re drowning in heat. But the street shelters do.”
Rictus flung one leg around his shoulder, squeezing him. “Damn, unicorn. That’s brilliant. We can empty the city, and take it for ourselves. It’s exactly what those ponies up above deserve. Greens and purples and blues, all thinkin’ they’re better than us. See how they feel when they’re dead and we’re living in their fancy towers.”
Silver shivered. If we really empty all the air, we’re dead too. We’ll just be the last. “Hopefully it doesn’t come to that. For all we know, we’ll get the princess’s attention first. She’ll come down here, and I can show her what her generals have been doing to us. Then we won’t need to fight.”
“Not likely.” Magpie wasn’t confrontational, only grim. “Her palace is on the surface, isn’t it? The whole city could run out of air and she wouldn’t notice.”
Oh yeah. “It’s still our best play. We take the airlock, deliver our demands, and force Flint out to fight me. Once I replace her, this siege ends. Heat turns back on, everything is fixed.”
“If you beat her,” Nidus said flatly. “You could lose, then we’re all bucked.”
Silver had no response to that. Awkward silence settled around them, with his little army shifting nervously in their boots. Until Magpie finally broke the silence. “Silver’s not going to lose. He fought the god of Vanaheimr and won; he can take out a petty general. I’ve seen ponies like Flint before. Only thing that keeps her strong is her army all around her. Take that away, and she’ll crumple.”
They loaded up one of the old carts with all the supplies they thought they might need, then crossed the city again.
Silver and Magpie led them, along with any other pony who could use a gun. Of their two dozen soldiers, there were plenty who claimed they knew how to use one. Silver was less convinced by those claims, but if it meant they would fight…
The airlock building had no guards outside, and no lights on inside. It had at least one heat-vent, one that had to stay on all the time given the constant cold fighting its way in through the most direct route to the surface. Several gigantic warehouses were crammed up against the cavern wall here. Maybe they’d once been filled with raw materials—white sand for glass, rough ore to smelt into Lunarium, and the coveted chunks of fallen sky-metal that would be made into True Lunarium jewelry and tools.
The heavy shipping doors were closed, along with the little door ponies used. Silver resisted the temptation to tear it off with his magic, and instead melted through the lock over a few minutes of effort.
“I’m going to take their weapons and let them surrender,” Silver explained. “I want them to carry our message back for us. You ponies wait out here, and don’t let them escape. Magpie and I will handle this.”
“You sure about that?” Nidus asked, one eyebrow raised. “There could be a dozen ponies in there.”
He shrugged. “We can teleport out if it’s too intense. Just don’t let anypony out. Capture anypony that tries to flee. If you can’t do that, shoot.” Silver lifted his stolen rifle, checking to be sure a round was in the chamber. “Ready, Magpie?”
She nodded grimly, and the two of them crept into the building. Silver let her lead—Magpie might claim she wasn’t a warrior, but she was a Voidseeker, and one of the best thieves who had ever lived. She could move without making a sound, even with a bulky suit against a stone floor.
Just through the door was an empty desk, probably where shipping clerks and security had sat once. A sign hung from the back wall: “Shipping resumes with day.”
Magpie stopped at another locked door just behind it. Silver made to open it with his horn, but this time Magpie stopped him. “Don’t use magic so close. I got it.”
She fiddled around, removing a few bits of metal from her suit. She stuck them into the opening, twisting one around in her lip and holding the others with her hooves. Then the lock clicked. “You sure anypony’s in here?”
“They’ve got to leave somepony,” he whispered back. “Probably not expecting a fight. They’re here to stop anypony from getting hurt. Overzealous miners, stupid Dustwalkers. Not us.”
There were several supply rooms here, then an opening to a space large enough for the mining carts. Twice as large as the one his troops had pulled, with oversized wheels made to get over large lunar debris. Several were parked here, looking dirty and broken even to him. It shouldn’t look like this in here. The supplies flowing into Moonrise were the only thing keeping the moon at bay. If they stopped, the city was doomed.
It isn’t just the buildings running down, or the farms, or our organizational system. The entire city is dying in different ways. Polestar was right.
He didn’t bumble directly around the corner, but levitated a little piece of metal right above the ground, reflecting the view from the other side. There were four of them, each one with a rifle and a baton. Only one stood ready—the other three gathered around a heat-vent in the corner.
“In the old days I could’ve had a knife to the armed one and used him for leverage,” she whispered, annoyed. “Too bad I don’t have my powers anymore.”
“You’re never going to let me live that down,” he hissed back. “But you don’t need to. One on duty isn’t a unicorn, watch.”
Silver took a deep breath, focusing. The pegasus didn’t really seem that attentive. Probably they’d be the only soldier here, if it wasn’t for the mass murder taking place outside. But the four of them wouldn’t be enough.
Silver yanked hard, snapping delicate wing-bones and twisting the gun around to point directly at the soldier’s head. Then he stepped out, holding his own gun in his magic and pointing it squarely at the table.
The soldier screamed, loud enough that his agony was easily audible through his helmet. Silver ignored him. “I wouldn’t get up, ponies. Stay where you are.”
Two obeyed, the unicorn mare didn’t, twisting her gun around towards them. Magpie fired, and she slumped to the table, bleeding. Has she missed once? How is this so easy for her and so impossible for me?
“We killed all of you,” said an earth pony, slowly setting down the cards in front of him and meeting their eyes. Silver closed the distance, pulling the new gun further away from the injured pegasus. He still had a knife, but from the agonized cries it didn’t seem like he’d be putting up a fight. “There’s no rebellion left.”
“You made a new one when your boss decided to turn off the heat,” Silver said gruffly. “Get up, move slowly. Go stand by your injured friend.”
“You killed Gloom,” the other pony whispered, disbelief dominating his voice. “You actually killed her.”
“Silver told her not to move,” Magpie said flatly. “She tried to fight. You want to die too, attack me. See if I miss.”
They didn’t. The two rose from their seats, leaving helmets and hoof covers behind as they crossed to the injured pegasus.
“Don’t waste your time using us as hostages,” the earth pony stallion said. “Flint won’t be willing to trade for us, not after we were captured. Might as well kill us now if you’ve got the guts.”
“No.” He gestured at the fallen pony with his rifle. “I’m giving you back. All I want you to do is deliver a message for us. Your friend forced our hooves, there was no reason for her to die. Will you cooperate?”
“Sure.” The stallion sauntered closer. “Whatever you say, lunatic. Don’t see what this will change. You’re dead after this. Slowly and painfully. They won’t just shoot you now, or even leave you out on the surface. They’ll make it count.”
Silver aimed one of the guns in his direction. Levitating both of them would’ve been a challenge for most unicorns, though a little less for him. Now actually hitting anything he was aiming at, that would be tough. “Listen carefully. I’m going to give you my message. I want Flint to hear it.”
The pony settled onto his haunches, shrugging. “Go ahead. You’re a dead pony walking no matter what it is.”
His expression hardened. “My stallions will escort you to the tower. If they don’t come back, I’ll destroy the airlock and kill Moonrise. If an army marches here, I’ll destroy the airlock and kill Moonrise. If she doesn’t obey my commands, I’ll destroy the airlock and kill Moonrise. You should be sensing a pattern here.”
The stallion’s amusement vanished, replaced with horror. “Y-you wouldn’t. Nopony… you would kill everypony! Even your petty, doomed revolution!”
Magpie shrugged, resting one hoof on Silver’s shoulder. “You said it yourself, we’re dead ponies walking. Why shouldn’t we take you with us?”
Silence. The stallion glanced back at the table, and his fallen guns. Silver levitated one of the rifles a little closer, though still well out of reach. “Run and you’re dead, pony. I know what you’re thinking. This gun here is loaded with lead, not plastic. Do you think your earth pony magic will keep you alive with lead bullets? I don’t.”
He ground his teeth together, then looked back. “What are your demands? That she turn the heat back on, and… leave you to hold the city for ransom? The Lord Regent would never allow that. We won’t live with a knife held at our throats for the rest of time.”
“No,” he agreed. “She doesn’t have to turn the heat on. She has to march out here, with no more than four of her personal guards, and a priest to serve as a witness to our duel. I’m going to challenge her for her office, you see. If she wins, my ponies will surrender. If I win… well, that won’t matter to her anymore, will it?”
The stallion laughed. He wasn’t the only one—the other healthy soldier managed at least a chuckle. The one with a broken wing still just moaned and rolled on the floor.
“Wait, you’re serious?”
Silver didn’t laugh. His grip on the rifles didn’t falter either. He didn’t need their approval, or expect it for that matter. “One more thing. Our ponies are getting cold, so she has six hours. If she doesn’t arrive by then, I’m opening the airlock, and leaving it open until she gets here.”
“That’s all she has to do?” The earth pony rose to his full height. This was the sort of pony who had caused Silver so much trouble living in the street. Bigger, stronger, tougher. The kind who could take what he wanted and leave only scraps for a unicorn too weak to fight. “I could fight you now, if you want. A scrawny little thing like you. I’ll break you in half, and we can end this performance.”
“I don’t want your position, I want hers,” Silver said. “Flint has failed as a general of Moonrise. I intend to prove it. Will you deliver my message?”
“Sure.” The stallion grinned at him, despite one of his ponies injured and the other dead in the corner of the room. “Whatever you say. This isn’t going to happen the way you think. You’re just asking to be humiliated before you die.”
Silver Star shrugged. “Then Flint doesn’t have anything to worry about, does she? Bring the hurt one. You will walk ahead of us out the door. If you fight or resist, we’ll kill you.”
But they didn’t resist, unless more snide remarks counted. Silver listened to them promising death a dozen different ways. The stallion even promised to return with the general, so he could be in the audience when Flint killed him. Silver ignored the taunt, and every other taunt besides.
His soldiers were already fortifying the entrance—well, not soldiers. But at least day laborers knew how to set up a wall of sandbags.
“This is pathetic,” the earth pony said, a little louder now so they would all hear. “A few stolen guns and some ancient suits. This is your rebellion?”
“Don’t forget all the air in Moonrise,” Silver said flatly. “Flint doesn’t come, and I swear we’ll bring this whole city down. See if we don’t.”
“The princess… will… stop you…” the pegasus coughed. Blood trickled down his mouth, and his eyes were glazed. Barely focusing on him. “This is… Moon’s city. She’ll…”
“Oh yeah, I’m sure she will,” Magpie interrupted. She was entirely unaffected by the icy cold around them, and so was her energy. “I’d love to be there while Flint tells her she was murdering thousands of Nightmare’s ponies. If she does that, Silver won’t have to fight. Flint and half the soldiers will be freeze-dried corpses before the shelters even get breezy.”
Silver wasn’t entirely sure about Nightmare Moon’s motives, or the feelings she had for the rest of Moonrise. But Magpie sounded confident, and that was enough.
“Take my gun,” Silver said, levitating it towards Nidus. “Escort them to the nearest skytower. Make sure they get in safely. If they fight, kill them. We can always send the hurt one in alone.”
“Got it.” Nidus took the gun, balancing it between wing and back. “Let’s go then, ponies. No sudden movements.”
Silver watched them go, until they’d rounded the first skytower into Moonrise and vanished from sight.
“You think they’ll just do what you want?” Rictus asked, shivering once in his suit. His core might be warmed, but his face was still exposed. “Flint will come out and fight you?”
“I… hope so. That stallion seemed to think that Flint would win easily. If she feels the same way, then… then we won’t have to work hard. But it’s possible they’ll actually fight us. Try to… seize the building before we can destroy the airlock. You think they’ll try it, Magpie?”
She shrugged. “Depends on how much of a coward Flint is. And… how much status she’d lose by fighting someone who isn’t even on her radar. If her soldiers think you’re an Alicorn, that might help… or it might make her even less likely to fight. Maybe she’ll wait it out, or try to get a message to the princess. No way to know.”
“Then I know what we have to do.” Silver turned, surveying their little barricade. “This will be for a few scouts. I want the mounted guns brought inside. We’ll defend the airlock room itself. I need to prepare a spell to tear the door off so badly they can’t fix it.”
“The princess still could. She could hold the air in long enough for a repair team to come along and fix the damage. That’s how the city started in the first place.” Magpie turned away, looking off into the city. “She held it for days, without any cave at all. I’m sure she could plug this.”
“Sure.” Silver Star lifted another gun in his magic, dusting the powdery snow from it. “But if the princess gets involved, we’ve already won.”
Magpie laughed. “You think so, but you will have just blown a hole in her city and tried to kill everyone. That’s… not going to go over well.”
“Let me take the blame for that,” he answered. “Me and nopony else. I did it because we needed a way to get her attention and save her population.” He straightened, gesturing again. “You three, scout the front. If you see an attack, you rush straight inside. In the meantime, let’s start opening every door and gate we can. We want it to be dramatic if we actually go through with it. Scare Flint enough that she backs down. The caverns are gigantic—it would probably take hours or maybe even days to empty the whole city. This is about scaring them, so let’s make sure they’re terrified.”
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Lmao that's hilarious. That would explain why there was a sudden time jump.
Huh, that's a new one on me.
This rebellion seems, poorly planned.
Silver seems to be putting an awful lot of faith in Nightmare Moon...
And everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Although I think the way most people jump to the conclusion that another timeskip had occurred, rather than it being a posting error, is rather indicative of how well the previous ones were executed.
Okay, now things make a lot more sense. I do still want to know where Luna is at this point. How did Moonrise get to this point?
10130635
Yes. I think they may be hidden while the chapter is unpublished, but they should return when the chapter gets re-posted in a few weeks time.
Finally read the chapter, and it's not bad. However, when will NMM finally get involved in all of this? Not that I don't like any of these characters, but not having NMM around makes the chapters feel somewhat empty. It was always an interesting read to see how she would react to things.
10130545
They don't have the option of time. It's rebel now or die now.
The previous rebellion was crushed before Silver left Moonrise, remember? They likely were organised and had been strategising and equipping themselves for a long period of time, yet it failed.
Sometimes the best strategy is a wild and rapid strike. Terrorism is effective for a reason.
I either see it going one of two ways. Either Silver somehow kills Flint while losing a limb or something because why not, or one of the Praetorian guards is caught in some sort of change and dies, notifying Nightmare Moon -- I'm guessing they're artificially made by her or something so she'd know -- and end up being on the end of a death threat from the polestar's weapon from allowing the air to run out of the city.
My procrastination pays off, I got to this late enough that I missed the incorrect chapter posting.
This seems like a risky plan.
Hopefully that's just from the military rule and not longstanding systematic problems finally coming due.
Not feeling a lot of sympathy for these guys.
I'm curious to see if Silver has a plan beyond the scary gun.
We'll see when the time comes.
Or already lost, depending on how she reacts.