Chapter 56: Rotten Pillar
If Magpie’s supply of compassion had been running low before, after crawling through the cramped service-passages of Vanaheimr for over an hour with Solar Wind’s voice yapping constantly in her ear, she’d now thoroughly reached the negative. With every step she took through the gloom, her desire that the hippogriff’s air armor would finally start to fail grew. Then the bird would have to fly back to the safety of an airlock, and Magpie could finally accomplish her mission in peace.
“It doesn’t prove anything,” Solar was saying, as confident as she’d been only minutes after leaving the Polestar’s presence. “It would’ve been willing to say anything you wanted. It could’ve just been a… magical construct, powerful enough to lift creatures around. Or maybe even silence the ones who explore too far, to keep the secret.”
She’d already explained how absurd those theories were, in detail. At this point, she could think of only one way to get Solar to finally open her eyes and see the absurdity of her theory. At the rate she was going, she very well might, if only because she’d overheard so much that might be truly dangerous to Tranquility if it escaped.
In the meantime, Magpie nudged the dial on her radio receiver, until it was fully in the off position. The bird’s shadow in her air-armor spotlight didn’t vanish from behind her, but at least the droning in her ears finally stopped.
All these tunnels looked the same, half-domed structures with strangely smooth rock floors and various conduits and cables along the roof. If Magpie had spent more time in the maintenance of Moonrise, she might’ve been able to guess what some of them did. But she hadn’t sold her soul to a demon so she could patch holes in pipes. But her current path was distinct from the one they’d been traveling, thanks to the increased concentration of copper bundles snaking towards a central point.
When they finally reached her target, Magpie recognized it at once. The Polestar had described a metal room that blocked off the corridor, joined by many cables from all directions. She stopped at a door cankered over with rust, and nudged it with a hoof. Maybe it had been locked before, maybe not. In any case, now it was covered over with powdery corrosion. But before she could start prying it open, a set of talons gripped her by the shoulder, ripping her away.
Solar Wind glowered at her, beak moving rapidly. She couldn’t hear the words, but she could guess. Magpie sighed, and turned the dial back up. “I saved your bucking life, moron,” she said, speaking over whatever Solar was trying to yell. “The least you could do to show your gratitude is to leave me alone.”
Solar dropped to her haunches, instantly satisfied that she was being heard. “It would be irresponsible of me to leave you now, Magpie. Either I overheard you plotting to fake an attack on Tranquility that might put thousands of creatures in danger or… we really are in danger. Either way, I should be here.”
“Then shut up,” Magpie said, shoving her away. “I’ve already gone above and beyond just keeping you from getting yourself killed. You can keep believing whatever you want, so long as you keep your mouth shut and let me work.” She reached into her satchel, removing the worn steel crowbar from within and wedging it into the doorway. She couldn’t slam into it the way her old self might’ve—being made of glass meant she had to be careful about sudden pressure. Just because nothing had broken her so far didn’t mean it wouldn’t.
She pressed harder and harder against the steel, until finally the ancient metal gave, then snapped in a spray of greenish corrosion. Inside the room were more cables, though these were unshielded and retained some of their color. All ran upward to a podium about twice her height, where a clear glass sphere with thin tendrils of wire reflected the light of her suit.
“What is that?” Solar poked her head in, reaching towards it.
Magpie shoved her aside, ducking easily under her limb and spinning to face her. “Listen carefully, Solar Wind. I’m tolerating you here, but I won’t entertain this if it puts the princess at risk. If you interfere, if you try to take that, I swear by the Unspeakable Darkness I will leave you to the void.” She leaned up closer, pressing her helmet up against the glass. “Yes, that’s a threat. Yes, you can tell anypony you want. Stay the buck back.”
Solar seemed so taken-aback that she obeyed, retreating a few steps. “Is that really how creatures used to talk? Threatening each other with violence all the time?”
Magpie shrugged, then turned back. She drew a set of clips from her bag and began severing connections one at a time. “Basically, yeah. I’m way more tolerant than most of them would’ve been, if I’m honest. They usually just…” She trailed off, focusing on her work.
Closer to the sphere, she could see inside in more detail. A ball of fluid was suspended in the exact center of the sphere, apparently unaffected by gravity. Within the clear liquid, something darker floated, a perfect sphere of liquid starlight. It resembled Nightmare Moon’s mane, deep purple with little stars and swirls of unseen nebulae visible in the reflection. She didn’t see it so much as see through it.
“What is that?” Solar asked again, more subdued. “It doesn’t look like a weapon to me.”
“It’s not a weapon, it’s a… Void seismometer. I have no idea how it works, or how it was made. But this one operated the defense for whole blocks of Vanaheimr. We’re bringing it back with us to Moonrise.”
“Defenses? It can attack many ponies at once with spells?”
“No.” She glowered back. “Polestar can do that, but it won’t bucking help. This is a sensor. If we had all this—” She gestured vaguely at the wires all around the machine, which thinned until they were as fine as the hairs in a pony’s mane. As they got closer, their insulation unraveled until each one was clear, flashing with little bursts of light. They didn’t hurt to touch, and the light coming from within wasn’t damaging her armor, so that would have to be good enough. “If we were as smart as the Alicorns, we could probably know exactly where the Voidseekers were lurking in Moonrise any time we wanted. But we’re not, so instead we’ll have to let this thing lead us like a compass.”
Solar Wind was silent as she cut away the rest of the cables, and finally pulled the sphere free. A thin metal shell closed protectively around the sphere, with a handle near the top. She lowered it carefully into her satchel, not tinkering with it. This was more Silver’s department anyway.
The hippogriff remained silent as she clambered out from inside the system, scanning the junction again. She could always reverse the directions of the map that got them here, but that would take hours. Solar might not have that much air left, and exchanging reserves would be a pain.
There, down another passage, the tight spiral of an exit ramp. She could use that, then cross the exposed sections of the city without having to fight through tunnels too small for her.
“I don’t understand why you keep inventing other kinds of immortals when you have real ones already,” Solar said, following from just out of reach. Had Magpie’s threat intimidated her? “I could find pictures and sketches of you—obviously you’re immortal. Why invent Voidseekers and Alicorns with incredible powers when the ones you have are already impressive?”
Am I getting through to her? She didn’t slow down, didn’t even glance behind her. She didn’t want to get too hopeful. “That’s a question for you, not us,” she answered. “Why tell a complex lie when we could use a simple one? On the other hoof, if we were just telling creatures the truth, then it might be complex. Alicorns are a race that exist, and Voidseekers are a…” She hesitated. “I dunno what we are. I guess a necromancy spell to cast on bats? Ask Penumbra, she’ll explain. She’s been stuck with the princess for the better part of a thousand years with nothing to do but feel sad about her dead family and read books.”
More merciful silence as they climbed. After a few minutes they reached a service shaft, and together they could push it open. It dumped them up in Vanaheimr’s deserted streets. She didn’t recognize the area, though the lack of tags and presence of broken glass and debris suggested it wasn’t one that was frequently visited.
Of course the Polestar made us cross half the world to get this thing. There are probably a dozen of them, and it gave away the one out where the buildings have all collapsed. What was the point of conserving ancient relics of a civilization that was all buried and dead anyway?
“You were really there when Moonrise was founded?” Solar asked, tone measured and cautious. “A dozen lifetimes ago, when we were still huddling in a cave breathing poison air?”
She nodded. “Solar Wind, when I was a filly, I looked up and saw the moon in the sky. My family thought it was the spirit of dreams.”
Dome 3 might be a tremendous accomplishment for Tranquility, but it was hard to compare to standing on the streets of Vanaheimr, and look up at the stars. Somewhere far above Equus must be overhead, a blue-green sphere unimaginably far away. Did their artificers really think ponies could fly back to it one day? Even when she’d been immortal, the scale of that task boggled her. “Down there, nopony wears air-armor. They build their houses on the soil, and they walk as far as they want in any direction. We don’t have to make the air, or clean the water.”
Even through her helmet, Magpie could see the indignance on Solar’s face. “Is that story supposed to convince me? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Don’t have to make the air… even your mythical Alicorns had to do that!”
She shrugged and walked on. “Maybe your children will see us walk on Equus again. I don’t… I hope we don’t invade. I just want to go back to Trottingham, find my old village. Maybe I can find where my family is buried. I’ll clean up the grave, then take the flowers back with me to plant in my garden.” Her eyes glazed over for a moment and she slowed, voice growing distant. “You don’t even know what that is, do you? I haven’t seen any in this city since my first exile. Guess… one of your military dictators didn’t like them enough to keep some seeds handy.”
“I’ve seen flowers,” Solar argued stubbornly. “Some of the trees have them before harvest. I don’t see what the big deal is.”Solar marched past her, fuming over the radio. It was a different anger than before—not the raving paranoia that had made Magpie so frustrated. “You’re not making sense, Magpie. Can immortal ponies go senile like mortal ones?”
“I don’t know if you’d even like flowers, honestly. Hippogriffs like… mostly fish? You won’t know what that is either. If you live long enough to go down with everypony, try some fish.”
Some part of Magpie feared the Voidseekers would be lurking in the dark somewhere during her trip back to Moonrise, ready to murder her and prevent her critical help from reaching the city when it was most needed.
The greatest danger that beset them was the annoyance of swapping air canisters. But after all the inconvenience Solar Wind had caused her, she was going to get her back to Moonrise alive.
She could at least take some satisfaction at the shouting she overheard one room over, as the Gatecrasher supervisor scolded her for the terrible condition of her armor.
“I went out on a limb for you, Solar,” she heard. “I trusted you. This is how you repay my trust.”
Maybe she would end up in isolation somewhere for questioning, long enough that Magpie wouldn’t have to deal with her again. But when the next morning came and she was in line for her return trip to Moonrise, Solar Wind was right there in the crowd.
Of course she ended up packed into the transport circle only a few steps away. She was right behind her as Magpie finally left the tunnel behind. With her oversized boots, Magpie could almost pass for an ordinary pony. But her lineage was impossible to conceal, and so her heritage to the ‘hero of the revolution’ marked her as a wealthy aristocrat wherever she went.
Instead of dealing with all that, Magpie pulled up the hood of her light jacket. They were too modern for Silver to get near them—he was so slow to change. But she liked them—they even had pockets!
“So now you take your spoils to the princess?” Solar asked, catching up with her halfway to the trolley station. Magpie sped up, moving away from an amber streetlight that lit up her tail. “To save Tranquility from threats it doesn’t understand?”
She nodded, though the gesture was slight. “Hopefully save it. But we’ve done a lot of impossible odds, and Tranquility is still here. I like our chances.”
The trolley stop was completely deserted, its plastic benches painted over with graffiti and one light blown out. Magpie settled down anyway, tucking the satchel between her legs. She’d really prefer not to kill anypony today.
“I was wrong about you,” Solar finally said. “I thought you were one of them, you know? Like Coattail. He doesn’t care about places like this once you’ve finished voting. So long as you’re with the right party, that’s all that matters.”
Magpie only shrugged, glancing up at the schedule. They needed a service crew down here. The lower sections of Moonrise were really suffering while they diverted all the resources they had towards a second dome. “Honestly I don’t know Coattail that well. The princess works with him, but after Silver retired we’ve mostly been working in the background. He didn’t want to turn into another princess, and…” She held up one leg, so the jacket slid back and blue crystal caught the light. “Immortal hero of the revolution, he’d probably still be in charge. Change is good for Moonrise. Old creatures like us can’t keep up.”
“Silver… Star?” Solar repeated, mouth hanging open. “He’s… still alive?”
Magpie winced. “Buck, I shouldn’t be talking to ponies. Just pretend I didn’t say that. Creatures knowing kinda defeats the whole purpose of a retirement.”
The ground shook and rumbled as something came sliding up the tracks, sparking where its wires touched the ceiling. Its lights grew faintly brighter and dimmer as the connection faltered with motion, but never enough that it stopped.
Magpie’s stomach twitched, and one leg jerked towards her satchel. Was something wrong with the car?
It slid uneasily into place a few moments later, its airlock door sliding open. These were the same vehicles that traveled out into the tunnels, and ferried workers to the outer dome. The inside of this one seemed mostly deserted, except for the driver and a single passenger near the back. Magpie smiled to the driver, then selected a seat near the front. The further away she stayed from other creatures, the more likely she could maintain a bit of simple privacy.
“Where you headed?”
“Central Junction,” Magpie answered. “Transferring.”
“Same,” Solar called, taking the seat beside her. Because of course she would.
The door hissed closed, then all the lights turned deep red. Magpie had completely lost track of time, she didn’t realize it was already night rotation.
Then the little electric engine kicked in and they began to move.
“Late night to be traveling alone,” somepony said from the seat behind them.
Magpie twitched, spilling the bag sideways and sliding her foreleg inside. Then the smell reached her. Not some unwashed pony at the bottom of the society, poor and desperate. It was the smell of too much perfume covering a grave.
“Not too late for a hippogriff,” Solar answered, holding up one claw. “You should sit somewhere else.”
Why isn’t the driver reacting?
“There’s a change coming to Moonrise,” said the pony. Magpie turned slightly, far enough to see it was the same pony who had been sitting in the back. A gun emerged from inside his clothes, though Magpie doubted he could shoot it very accurately with his wings obviously trapped by his jacket. “Creatures need to decide where they stand. If you want to live through it, you’ll be on the right side.”
Calamity, she thought. We didn’t need to ask Polestar for help finding you. You came to us.
She could see no recognition in those pale red eyes, almost glowing in the gloom. She was mostly covered, and besides her body was almost completely transformed. But if she spoke, that would be enough. Eight ponies could not spend an eternity together without getting to know each other completely. So she kept her mouth stubbornly shut, hoof finally settling on the handle of her knife.
“What change?” Solar demanded. “We don’t need another revolution. Lots of creatures died in the last one.”
At least he wasn’t attacking them. Magpie had lasted a good long while with her body made of glass, but she didn’t like her odds against a bullet.
“Not like anything before,” Calamity said confidently. “We lived here so long fighting our home. The moon wants us dead. That all can end. The creatures who refuse… the moon will take them.”
Solar Wind nodded slowly. Maybe it was the gun pointed at her, but her aggressiveness was suddenly subdued. Either that, or she was a better journalist than Magpie gave her credit for. “If we wanted to live, what would we do?”
Calamity reached into his jacket, removing a single black card. Deep purple letters were scrawled on it—an address, and a time.
That’s tomorrow.
“We’re preparing ponies for the transition,” Calamity said, passing Solar the card. “Be there, or be left naked before the storm. The choice is yours.”
The lights flickered once, then switched abruptly from red to bright white. Magpie’s proper vision would’ve seen through it easy, but eyes made of rock didn’t work quite as well. When the light returned, Calamity was gone, and the trolley was entirely deserted.
The side door hissed, then slid open. “Central Junction,” the driver announced, voice bored. “Safe journey.”
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Are more Voidseekers being created?
10248508
Either they've already started or they're about to... Either way, not good.
Interesting development. Also, I admire Magpie for not snapping when dealing with a very annoying Skeptic.
Well, that's f
ing ominous.
Hold on a fuckin' tick...
>Silver Star
>He has a ton of descendants.
>Silver Star
Tell me I'm not late to this.
So Vanaheimr did have to defend against creatures similar to the Voidseekers? Or does this just happen to detect Voidseekers too?
I sure hope the Polestar told them how to use it at least, even if Magpie wasn't told its method of operation.
So not a lamp
Fiber optics? If so, I'm curious whether they were just used for communication or whether they had light-based computers, too.
Hopefully no one is living in those lower sections? Or are the Voidseekers specifically targeting ponies living there because they're neglected?
If ponies are living and suffering there, I could easily imagine someone drawing a parallel to the way the ponies of Moonrise were treated under military rule. Building up the military, building another dome, doesn't matter where the resources are being diverted to when you're facing hunger/cold.
What a difference a missing "for" could make.
Looks like the Voidseekers might be converting ponies en masse to prepare to break the domes and/or Moonrise? Become a Voidseeker or face the music to the tune of a hard vacuum, or something like that. Curious if they intend to not break everything at once but make the loss of atmosphere impossible to fix to pressure those gathered to convert on the spot, or whether the conversion is being done piecemeal.
I wonder how secretive they're being with this and/or how wide of a net they're casting. "Be here to survive" without mentioning anything about keeping this secret sounds like a good way to have a lot more ponies show up than you'd expect. Additional converts, or perhaps the authorities if one of the ponies they talk to thinks the implied threat deserves to be reported. But perhaps that's what they're hoping for.
But of course they had to go expose themselves to the one pony who's up and about who's part of the right group to do something about it. Can't wait to see what Luna/Silver/Penumbra decide to do about it.
10248763
If he didn't intend that before, I wouldn't be surprised if he adopted that idea now that you've presented it.
10248763
Definitely late. I know I at least posted that connection when Silver Star's name first popped up.
10249648
True, with all the gear and air taken there's bound to be at least a couple bugs. But the question arises of, how did the bugs not die when they first arrived (Bugs are stupid, they'd see the open air, fly out thinking "WOO! FREEDOM!" and immediately fall to the ground, suffocate, and die) alongside the numerous other things they need to survive that weren't available (including but not limited to; food, garbage, air, heat, etc etc) that were killing ponies.
They also would've needed to discover the bugs and cultivate them because there'd be a limited supply. So on so forth, it's really still a question of "how" even if the focus of the question changes, "how did the bugs get there", "how did the bugs survive" so on so forth
10249716
Yep, it was Polestar, not NMM/Luna. Dunno why the original commenter thought it was.
He is just trying to be nice, right?
Okay, something is about to happen. Soon.
Good chapter!
I enjoyed reading it.
I'm starting to get Bioshock Infinite vibe from this
She already knows way too much. Not sure I see any options besides bringing her into the inner circle or silencing her more permanently.
I find it interesting that the ancients had dedicated hardware in place that acted as anti-void security.
She knows way, way too much.
Concerning.
There might not be a lot of time left to solve this. Silver's statement last chapter about not needing to save Moonrise in one day might not actually be correct.