13 -- Destination Canterlot
Libi groaned and opened one eye, the other having swollen to the point where she couldn't see out of it even if she tried. She lay in a heap against one corner of a companionway, half buried in books and magazines from the collapsed shelves she'd been thrown into. A shift of her shoulders and the pile cascaded down from her withers, freedom bringing with it a series of sharp, stabbing pains all down one flank. Cautiously she lifted her head, ears cocked and scanning the corridor for any danger.
The fighting has moved on, she thought, we must have them on the gallop, but if that stupid mudpony had better aim... The hoof had caught her square over her left eye; a little to the right and it would have shattered the delicate bones of her muzzle. For a moment she flashed back to an image of that hoof, seen up close and from an unexpected angle, and she shivered.
It's everypony for themselves. I can't trust any of them, she thought.
She staggered away, reaching around to dig her teeth through the matted fur of her flank, freezing as she caught sight of the mating band, its orange weave grubby amid the tangled hair at the base of her tail. Why are we acting like this... but the thought died before it could be completed, washed away with the satisfaction of the chaos she'd started. For a moment, Libi reached for it, then smiled viciously. A reminder of how much you betrayed me. I'm not ever going to forget what you've done.
She closed her eyes and resumed her search, flinching as she found the splinter that had been the shelving's parting gift. Spitting out the bloody fragment, Libi tried to work out a way to get back to the unicorn-controlled section. They barely accepted her, but to go anywhere else would invite an immediate beating, especially after what she'd just done.
Libi grinned a slightly unhinged smile. That will teach those mudponies that we mean business. The rest of the unicorns had let her join because she looked like a mudpony; the perfect decoy to break their hold over the central supply block. That, and certain considerations, Libi thought, smile broadening at the memory. He'd been a little rougher than she was used to, but it had been fun and certainly more exciting than with Neighmann.
From what little she'd seen, the plan had worked flawlessly. She'd led the unsuspecting group of mudponies straight into the ambush; in the ensuing fight unicorn magic had routed the enemy before they could bring up reinforcements and they'd pushed deep into their territory, taking possession of valuable food stores. Nopony seemed to have the concentration for complex magic anymore, but something heavy swung in your telekinesis still worked wonders.
A few uncertain steps later and her muscles started to respond reliably enough that she could break into a trot, moving through the no-pony land of the B deck passenger lounge towards the barricades walling off unicorn territory. Feeling very exposed and glancing over one shoulder to check for mudpony skirmishers that had slipped around the attack, Libi banged a hoof against one of the upended tables blocking the main exit.
There was a shuffling of hooves, then a face appeared at an irregular opening between the light and unreasonably strong dining furniture. "What do you want, mudpony? Get out of here."
Libi gaped for a moment, then flicked her head to expose the stump of her horn. "It's me, Copper, you idiot. Let me in!" Her voice rose to a shout, punctuated by more kicks to the barricade. Amid her fury was a kernel of fear, a seed of uncertainty that threatened to bloom into a full blown panic.
"You mares are all the same; you think that just because you let a stallion ride you that you now have some hold over him." Copper leered back at Libi, his voice filled with contempt. "As much as I appreciated our little liaison, it was a one time deal. You're no use to us now the mudponies know that pretty little flank of yours."
"You treacherous, foal of a changeling, tick-bitten nag! Let me in or--"
"Or you'll what, mudpony?" A pale green hornlight flared, and an empty bottle floated up to the narrow opening. Libi took a nervous step backwards and stared at the bottle, trying to decide if it was plastic or glass. "Yes, that's right, go back to all your useless friends." The half-seen face was given a sinister cast by the glow, which abruptly brightened as the bottle was hurled in her direction.
Libi started, wheeling to run, but the bottle struck her a stinging blow on the back of her head. Plastic, she thought fleetingly, if Copper has any glass ones left... The idea made her shiver and she fled the room, chased by jeers and whatever the other unicorn could find to throw at her.
I'll make them pay, she thought, tears of fury running down her muzzle and stinging the abraded flesh around her bruised eye. Without looking back, Libi vanished into the rat's nest of service passageways that threaded the belly of the airship.
===
There were other ponies in the warren of crooked paths that ran between the alveoli that made up the Dreaming's distributed gas bags, but Libi never saw more than fleeting glances. This suited her fine; after being betrayed by the rest of the unicorns, she was in no mood to talk to anypony. There was also no food or water in this part of the airship, and for a while her fear of encountering either remaining clade of ponies warred with the horror of getting lost in this maze.
At least I don't have to worry about pegasi... all those cowards flew off as soon as they had the chance.
The bulk of the Canterlot Dreaming was filled with squishy semi-spheres, each a half dozen meters across; the whole airship was a bit like a fat tube stuffed with grapes. If you picked the right path, you could worm your way between them, scrambling up the pleated sides in the dim half-light that filtered through the silkily thin balloon material. Libi thought it must be night; the quality of the light had changed and no longer came from above, but from a direction down and to one side. She thought about how far she'd come, trying to recall that documentary she'd once seen about the construction of the Dreaming.
That must be from the structural spine, she thought, getting to her hooves and peering in the direction of the light. The crew have barricaded themselves away from us, but I bet they've not been able to do anything about that lattice passageway. The more she thought about it the more sense it made; the spine was an open truss-work of alloy girders surrounded on all sides by pressure control systems and the alveoli themselves. There was nearly half a kilometre of space, with no way to block off the whole thing. And why would they bother? Who would ever come this far?
Libi eyed the squashed triangle shape delineated by the junction of three gas bags, then sank to her belly and wriggled through the opening. Once through, the space opened out a little and she kept moving, driven on by her intensifying thirst.
An hour or so later -- it was incredibly hard to tell the passage of time in this featureless environment -- and Libi was beginning to fear she'd missed the spinal truss completely. The light had become stronger, but the diffusing nature of the gas bag material made it very hard to gauge the direction with any accuracy. For a moment she imagined she was going in circles, forever orbiting the spine without actually finding it, eventually collapsing from dehydration and expiring in this lonely place. The light was much brighter when she stopped to catch her breath on top of the next bag; through the glow she could make out the regular triangular lattice of the spine.
The gaps here were much smaller; the shape of the bags was distorted around the rigid form of the spine of the Dreaming, and Libi thrust her muzzle between the adjacent bags, trying to get past the elastic fabric. Finally, after what seemed like an age, and with her head and neck damp from condensed breath in these tight confines, her nose broke through into clear air. More wriggling, fur slick with sweat and muscles weak from the struggle, Libi managed to get her forelegs through and lever herself into the hollow core of the truss-work.
She lay there, gasping for breath, staring down the long, straight corridor. It was little more than an expanded metal mesh platform inside the triangular lattice, with a line of lamps along the ceiling, but it was actually straight. No more of those stupid curving passageways, I can actually make some progress. Libi squinted in each direction, trying to decide which way to go; completely disorientated, she didn't even know where the nose of the airship was.
To the left the corridor disappeared into a vanishing point, to the right there seemed to be a little knot of light. Right it is, she thought, getting tiredly to her hooves and breaking into a reluctant trot.
The truss continued uninterrupted, but passed through a small chamber with the same expanded mesh walls as the floor. It looked like some kind of auxiliary control station -- there was a console with a large screen, currently showing a schematic of the Dreaming -- but what interested Libi was the comfort station. She headed straight for the little unit, pressing her chin on the trigger plate and drinking deeply.
While she sucked up the water, her eyes roved around the room, returning to the control station. The image of the screen looked like an anatomical drawing of some deep sea creature, an unwholesome mess of tubes and sacs in organic curves. Boxes full of constantly changing numbers and little spiky graphs surrounded the diagram, including one group intriguingly titled 'helium pressure'. Lifting her head from the trough, Libi stepped closer to the screen, water dripping unnoticed from the end of her muzzle. Placing one hoof tentatively on the input pad, she started to manipulate the controls.
The crew don't want us to land, so let's see how well this thing flies without any helium, she thought, lowering the gas pressure as far as it would go. Beneath her hooves there was a whirring noise: the sound of distant pumps starting up.
===
"You stupid pony, do you want to kill us all?" Night Stick snarled at the cream and tan mare, her last remaining unicorn officer holding the struggling pony still in a haze of violet magic. "Without control over the sink rate, the Dreaming will break its back." The security mare waggled her jaw to activate her radio. "Bridge, this is Night. We found the problem; somepony had reached the axis station and was messing with the controls. We have her in custody."
There was a moment of silence while the bandaged pegasus listened to the captain's mate, then she turned back to the mare. "Fortunately for you, you didn't figure out the emergency vent controls, otherwise there'd be nothing we could do." She gestured to the crewpony busy at the controls. "It is all okay, isn't it, Stillson?" The green earth pony was cursing under his breath in a distracted monotone and making quick, jerky motions over the input panel.
"We'll stay up, if that's what you mean, but she's messed up the balance and it's going to take me hours to retrim."
"Like I care; if you idiots would just do your jobs and get this flying death-trap on the ground, I wouldn't have to take matters into my own hooves. I have no intention of being two kilometres up when the gryphons come back," Libi said, panting as she strained against the telekinetic field
"And what exactly do you think would happen if you succeeded? When we hit, this whole area would have crumpled like a cheap drinks container, and at the very least you'd have been suffocated by the venting helium. It's especially stupid because we're only half a day away from the Canterlot field!"
"Fine! Let me go and I'll keep out of your mane -- then I won't have to get the Guard involved with charging you for assault."
Night Stick frowned, but otherwise ignored the empty threat, then bent her neck and retrieved a roll of repair tape from one saddlebag. Hooking one hoof through the centre of the roll, she pulled out a strip and started winding it around the mare's fetlocks. "They tell me that short fur is in this season, I hope that's true, because you won't have much left by the time they get this stuff off." She smiled nastily, then started on the pony's hindlegs.
"I'll add foalnapping to the list, when they find out that you restrained a pregnant mare--"
"--and I'll tell them you were going to kill a few hundred ponies. How do you think that will sound?" Night snapped back, glancing down at the roll of tape and then up at the mare's muzzle. I could gag her, then with a little bit of tape in the wrong place... it would just be a tragic accident. The Night Stick's eyes widened as the thought sank home, and she shook her head. This place must be getting to me, the sooner we're out of here, the better.
Every hour away from the temporary security room she'd staked out on one corner of the bridge seemed to make her more stressed and prone to violent thoughts. And actions, she thought gloomily, how many passengers have you hurt in the last couple of days? Even injured as she was, Night Stick was more than a match for any of the rich tourists on the Dreaming. The urge to hit the bound mare grew very strong, and she swallowed and stepped away.
Night cleared her throat, then nodded to the unicorn. "Let's go." Then, to the crewpony: "You done here?"
"Yes, I've locked the console. No more problems from this station, I can finish the trim from the bridge." He prodded the mare with one forehoof, harder than was strictly necessary, then danced back as she tried to bite his leg.
"Get away from me, you filthy mudpony!"
Night Stick tried to suppress a grin, then something caught her eye. "Don't I know you?"
"I doubt it. I don't associate with the subnormally intelligent. Why are you still here, anyway? Why haven't you flown off like all the rest of the cowards?"
"I do know you -- you're that mare the gryphons dropped off." Night put a hoof on the mare's neck, staring at her head. Just a little pressure... she thought, feeling the muscles twitch as she bore down. The pony whimpered, her anger turning to terror. The little sound twisted something inside Night and an intense feeling of shame washed over her. She gently released the pressure, moving her leg so she straddled the mare's throat instead, then brushed her mane back, revealing the stump of a horn.
"Equilibrium," she breathed. "We'll take her with us." No dumping this one back with whatever side seemed best.
"Anything you say, but where in Tartarus are we going to put her? You know the rest of the bridge crew won't let us back in. The Captain's made a lot of questionable decisions lately, but that's one rule I agree with."
Night frowned at the unicorn, then started back down the spinal corridor. The thought was a troubling one. Why didn't we divert to one of the closer cities? Things got so bad so quickly. Orders were orders, but this wasn't the Guard; she should have spoken up, but it had just never occurred to her. This has gotten to us all, no matter what we think. "We'll use one of the crew cabins, up near the nose. I can lock it from the outside and keep her isolated."
"Fair enough. Even with the engines playing up it's only for an hour or so."
Stilson was already half way back, and the unicorn sighed and hefted Libi in a haze of magic. The mare wriggled and started to mutter curses, stopping when he swung her into one of the exposed beams. "A little silence would be nice," the unicorn rumbled, "there is a lot of exposed metal down this corridor."
===
Libi seethed inside, but said nothing. Her head still rang slightly from the impact with the metal truss, but she kept quiet while they dropped her on the sleeping pad.
"Try to stay calm, we'll be at Canterlot soon", the pegasus with a grubby bandage said, "I'm going to lock you in, but as soon as we're down I'll tell the rescue teams where you are." She nodded to the unicorn, who pulled out a knife and was waving it under her muzzle. The pegasus winced, nudging the unicorn. "Please, don't do that. Just cut the tape." The unicorn scowled, but did as he was told, then the pair backed out of the small room, locking the door with a click.
"Bastards!" Libi screamed at the door, kicking her legs free of the last of the tape. "You'll all suffer when I get out of here, my family has a lawyer on retainer..." Her voice trailed off into a mumble as she focused on stretching each leg in turn, working the feeling back into the muscles. "Celestia-damned tape will take forever to get off," she said, tugging at a loose edge with her teeth, then wincing as it pulled at her fur.
Giving up, Libi climbed slowly to her hooves and stumbled over to the window. They had locked her in a small cabin, one obviously not ransacked as part of the four days of escalating vandalism that ended with a vicious series of riots that had washed through the Canterlot Dreaming. It wasn't a luxury berth by any stretch, but it did have a window.
Libi rested her hooves either side of the plastic pane, trying to work the catch with her teeth. "If a stupid mudpony can do this..." she mumbled, "...got it." The window swung open, but only a crack. "Figures." Pressing her head in close, she stared down at the ground. What do you know... they were telling the truth.
Off in the distance was the filigreed bulk of Canterlot Castle, surrounded by the complex maze of the city. Pegasi were rising from it, heading in their direction. Despite all she'd been through, the sight was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.
===
The landing field was a kilometre-wide circle in the middle of the parkland that surrounded the city. A central spire formed the docking hub, an elegant peak of prestressed concrete that looked like the antenna of a very flat radio dish. The Dreaming locked into the hub with a near undetectable thump, then slowly settled down to ground level, but all Libi cared about was how long it was all taking. The itch to get out into the world and start working on her revenge against those who'd hurt her was incredibly strong.
The field itself was swarming with ponies; many had the red collars and bulky panniers of medical staff, but the Guard were also out in force. Despite the hour -- the sun was only just past noon -- Libi could see more than a few of the Night Guard with their bat wings among the white and gold of their Day colleagues. The air was buzzing with pegasi and, even before the airship had finished its achingly slow landing process, Libi could see them flying into the upper level hatches. There were also a row of emergency vehicles, their bright yellow wedged-shaped prows all orientated towards the Dreaming.
The background noises of the airship -- the faint whisper of air over the hull, the thrum of the main engines and a wordless, almost understandable, muttering from the melding of a thousand conversations -- started to change. She had gotten used to them over the days, first in medical, then spare staterooms she'd either been given or stolen from more timid occupants, and finally as a fugitive and eventual prisoner, to the point where they existed below the level of her conscious mind.
With the engines finally off and the wind noise stilled, all those little conversations popped into sharp relief. The thin, rigid hull with its circular cross-section was the perfect conduit for sound; everything seemed to just go around and around, blurring and merging until it sounded like distant surf, rife with almost-meaning. With the clang of hatches being thrown open, that mass conversation stuttered and paused, only to swell to a frightening level and fill the airship with the metallic sound of storm waves on a pebble beach.
Thunder came with the storm, the blended rumble of hundreds of hooves in a stampede. Ponies retained some of their old instincts, as much as they would like to forget them, and Libi heard the distant drum-roll and fought the panic welling up inside her. She'd only experienced a stampede once, when an ageing spellcraft cargo truck had suffered a thaumic quench while landing near a busy shopping area. Safety systems had saved the driver from anything more than concussion, but panic had rippled through the once calm ponies in the street, stripping away millennia of civilization in an instant.
It had been the strangest feeling; a sudden loud noise coupled with movement in her peripheral vision, then the drumming of hooves that seemed to reach up her spine and shake her hard by the hindbrain. Pegasi exploded up out of the crowd like startled pigeons, and before Libi realised what was really happening, she was adding to the panic. A full gallop, her mind completely focused on the movement and flow of bodies around her, taking the temporary herd several kilometres away before they trotted to an embarrassed halt and started to wonder what they were all doing.
Somewhere in the flight she'd picked up a skinned knee where she'd failed to clear a railing, and there was a tender spot on her flank from striking a lamp post, but she'd gotten away lightly. The driver had been fine, but twenty three ponies in the crowd had to be hospitalised with broken bones and other major injuries.
Looking down on the panic below, Libi's hindquarters bunched and relaxed as she fought the flight reaction; she was obscurely glad she was locked up in this stateroom. With her eye swollen shut and body made less responsive by the extra bulk of her pregnancy, she was bound to suffer in the crush. The sounds of the stampede filtered up to her half-open window, the thunder of hooves on dirt mixed in with high-pitched shrieks of pain as individual ponies lost their balance and were bowled over.
This was where the emergency vehicles came into their own. Long experience had taught ponies that once a stampede takes hold, the best solution is to let the participants run themselves out, while splitting the herd into smaller and more manageable sub groups. The brightly coloured wedges of the vehicles rolled forward, padding inflating on their prows. The emergency service ponies retreated into cover behind their vehicles, allowing the herd to stream past, unicorns occasionally pulling those they could from the confused mass.
Pegasi fluttered over the galloping crowd, following the streams of ponies as they dispersed out over the field, dropping down as the little clusters finally ran out of steam and cantered to a confused halt. With the flood over, the unicorns and earth ponies fanned out from their shelter behind the vehicles, tending the most injured and sorting the rest into those who would need minor aid and those who just needed a good meal and some water. The Day and Night Guard patrolled the perimeter and tried to prevent ponies from leaving before the medics had assessed them, but this was where the well rehearsed and practiced emergency plans came unstuck.
The sound of voices raised in complaint came up out of the crowd, then small fights started breaking out among the less injured ponies. Those forced to wait for attention were the worst, and soon the Guard were pulled in to break up the brawls. This disrupted things still further, and many ponies just left the field, trotting off past the perimeter and into Canterlot city.
Behind Libi the door rattled, then a hoof banged against the plastic. "Search and rescue, is anypony in there?" a voice called out.
"You took your Celestia-damned time!" Libi snarled. "Get me out of this place."
There was a moment's uncertain silence, then the voice came again, this time a little weary. "Yes, ma'm. Please stand away from the door."
Blue light flashed and the lock fell out of the door in little red glowing pieces. The door was pushed open and a pale blue unicorn stepped in, his eyes roving over her body. "Sorry it took so long, it's a madhouse out there. I can't believe that the Captain didn't--" He shook his head. "Not important. Do you have any immediate medical problems, or can you walk out?" His gaze went down her legs and stopped at the remains of the tape. "W-were you being held prisoner in here?"
Libi opened her mouth to deliver a scathing retort, then let her ears droop. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were one of them coming back for me." She tottered forwards, rearing up to wrap her forelegs over the unicorn's withers. "They tied me up, and-and threatened to do terrible things if I didn't do as they said. M-my foal--"
The outrage was clear in the stallion's voice. "Don't worry, you're safe now. I'll get you to a hospital and get you checked over. I'm sure everything will be okay."
Head resting on his shoulder, Libi carefully suppressed a sob, then twisted her muzzle into a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
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And there goes any chance of containment.
9785402
There never was one.
Oh my goodness, the princesses have no idea what's happening do they?
9786152
Not yet. But they will soon...
9786152
Hard not to figure out when a plague ship is unleashed on you... Even if that plague is just corrupted ponies. I mean, with how much worship Luna and Celestia have how much effort would it take to figure out when every pony from the ship is filled with loathing and pettiness... I think the 5'th pony to tell them to go buck themselves will be more than enough... or the ship logs.
9786159
What I'm meaning is if Celestia, and Luna had an idea what was happening prior to the plague ship arriving, possibly from reports of other communities having outbreaks of disharmony. The reception in Canterlot would have been vastly different.
PS I don't think in this universe, Celestia, and Luna receive any Supernatural indication, or boost from worship.
9787737
Oh yes. The Dreaming would have been held over the ocean, and an attempt would have been made to remove and isolate the passengers and crew. Likely they would have lost several of the boarding parties to infection during the process. Still, they would have to have known before the airship got within pegasus flight range of the coast, as deserters were leaving for some time. Tricky, either way, if you don't really know what you are dealing with.
No, no worship these days, apart from in a few distant places by culty types. They don't encourage it, and have been trying to gently hand over the reins of power for some time.
I can't wait until Celestia and Luna are finally able to see what's going on. I need someone to be working on a solution to this immense problem. I'm getting worn out just seeing it spiral further out of control without there being any attempts to fix it.
9791919
Hold on in there! Things start to turn a corner in a chapter or two.
Oh no! Before this, she might have been able to return to normal after she got cured, if that is possible, but now even if she gets back to normal she'll always have guilt of betraying her mate. Even if it wasn't her fault. Out of everything this almost feels the saddest.
Commenting here only because this really surprised me. Poor mare.
Man things are dragging out , I hate reading anything about Libi . I hope she gets cured or we get a Celestia or Luna scene soon.