Scorched Equestria
Chapter 30:
Scorched Equestria
Trixie knocked on the door to Fulcrum’s quarters. The windigo had apparently been away somewhere yesterday. This was the second time within a week. Fulcrum was perfectly entitled to coming and going as she pleased, of course, but it did make it difficult for Trixie to know when she should be attending the windigo. Now, however, there was a familiar voice from the other side of the door.
“Come in.”
Trixie pulled the door open and entered. Fulcrum’s quarters used to be the mayor’s offices of the city hall. High-ranking clergy had claimed the rest of the offices as living quarters. Trixie didn’t know who had occupied the rooms before Fulcrum, but they had expensive taste. Lacquered wood and brass fittings dominated. Fulcrum had added her own touch, in the form of books.
Books everywhere.
Trixie looked at the sea of literature in front of her. Fulcrum wasn’t immediately visible, so she raised her voice.
“Honoured Fulcrum, would you like me to sort these books for you?”
Every book in the room suddenly glowed and rose into the air. Then they collected into stacks and settled down neatly in the bookshelves and on the tables of the room. Trixie watched awestruck.
“I’ve studied intelligent spells with self-organizing tasks lately. This is an unanticipated but most welcome added benefit.”
The voice sounded close, but Fulcrum was still nowhere to be found. Trixie advanced cautiously, trying to peer through the doorways into the other rooms.
“Have I come at a bad time, Honoured?”
“No, not at all – wait. What are you doing on the ceiling?”
“The...?”
Trixie’s eyes swivelled upwards. Fulcrum was calmly reading a book. Upside down. On the fl— on the ceiling. Trixie gulped.
“Um, I am sorry to say that it is you who are on the ceiling, Honoured Fulcrum.”
“Oh. So I am. No wonder it seemed so tidy.”
Fulcrum stood, upside down, and casually floated away from the ceiling. She rotated around without fanfare in the middle of the room and landed lightly on the floor a moment later. Trixie grinned, trying to collect her thoughts and remember what brought her here.
“A parade is going to be held in your honour tomorrow. I am to ask if you’d like to participate on the main spectator stage, together with the Queen and the high priests.”
“Would it be improper to decline? I feel uncomfortable being the center of attention.”
“It is entirely proper to decline, Honoured. Personally I think the Queen admires your humility. She’s sparing you from almost all of the official gatherings, except for the public giftings of course. You’re kind of integral to those.”
Fulcrum shuddered. Trixie felt she knew the windigo well enough by now to be able to guess why.
“The priests understand your reluctance to cause pain better than you think, Honoured. In fact...”
She made sure to close the door to Fulcrum’s quarters. Then she leaned in close and whispered to the windigo.
“They agree with you. The queen’s doctrine of suffering is insanity. It makes no sense and clashes with earlier scripture. They’ve been secretly drugging the ponies selected for the public conversions and instructing them to scream and shout a lot.”
“The priests... disobey Queen Diamond Dust?”
“She might be the one who’s started all of this. The first prophet. But we have a new prophet now.”
“Who? Oh, wait. Silly question.”
Trixie giggled, but stopped when she heard Fulcrum sigh.
“I didn’t come here to replace or depose anypony.”
“If I may pry a bit... what did you come here for?”
Fulcrum was silent for a moment.
“I came here to save Equestria and protect its inhabitants from harm.”
Trixie appeared thoughtful. Then she tilted her head and peered searchingly at Fulcrum.
“There’s something about the ash and the rebirth that bothers you, isn’t there?”
Three sharp raps issued from the door before Fulcrum could answer. The windigo pushed it open with her magic. A stallion in priest robes stood outside and bowed low.
“Honoured, the ash sisters in the infirmary ask for your help treating a group of the faithful.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Fulcrum walked towards the door and Trixie fell in behind her. The walk to the infirmary was short, which was a blessing considering the heavy rain. For once the ground seemed to have sucked up all the moisture it could take, but what that meant was that instead of dust flying into the air and invading eyes and throats there was mud that sucked at your hooves and clung to your coat like tar.
A fork of lightning struck just outside of town, the boom nearly simultaneous, but when the light disappeared there were blue-black sparks in the air around the lightning’s path. They crackled audibly even at this distance, polluting the air with black smoke. Fulcrum looked up at the display and shook her head.
“Trixie, the alien matter is getting unstable. In the coming days it will take less and less magic to make it decay. Soon it will start to decay spontaneously. That’s when your prophesied rebirth takes place. The ash is everywhere now, and the combined outburst of chaos magic will seriously hobble the enchantments that make up the False Harmony. Normally trying to dispel them would be suicidal as they are extremely well defended, but for a period of time after the rebirth its shields will be down. The air will be poisoned by the corruptive magic, sickening everypony. Since the False Harmony draws power from ponies’ magic it will starve as they use their magic to heal their bodies and fight off the poison instead. Queen Diamond Dust will be able to topple the enchantments, ridding Equestria of the False Harmony forever.”
“Praise the ash...?”
“The False Harmony has indeed suppressed the magic of ponykind. Partly to sustain itself but mostly to prevent the extinction of our species. Chaos and war will likely erupt if the False Harmony collapses. Ponies will awake to find that they’ve become demigods overnight. At the same time, the enchantments that nudged them towards cooperation and peaceful coexistence will be gone. Squabbles between neighbours will escalate quickly. Ponies will be unfamiliar with the level of animosity they feel. Bloodshed seems certain.”
A silence followed as Trixie repeatedly opened and shut her mouth, horrified by what she’d been told. The door to the infirmary stood before them, but neither made a move to open it.
“Does – does the queen know about this?”
“She does. She knows all about the False Harmony. When she looked at me during the first demonstration I looked back into her eyes and cast a spell allowing me to see into her spirit. She knows exactly what she’s doing. That’s why she’s lying about ending the False Harmony. It would be foolish of her; she’s using it to rule over you after all. Haven’t you wondered why the converted so easily switch allegiances? Loyalty to Equestria should be difficult to erase. But loyalty is enforced by the False Harmony. Conversion merely throws a switch in ponies, flipping them from normal Equestrians to rebels. The False Harmony reigns over both factions, and if Diamond Dust manages to conquer the standard government – the Princesses – then she’ll become the undisputed ruler of all of Equestria, and her title of Queen will give her access to and control over the False Harmony. She plans to change it, not destroy it. It will be King Sombra all over again, right here in the heart of Equestria.”
Trixie had tears streaming down her cheeks and mingling with the rain. Fulcrum was looking at her all the time but never ceased speaking.
“The rebirth is a lie, Trixie. Something like that would happen if the False Harmony would fall, but instead of a paradise there would be war. But what the queen wants above all is power over ponies. She’ll not topple the very thing that allows her to rule. Instead, she’ll let the ash poison the air and the lands, sickening everypony and making them too weak to stand up to her. Then she’ll set about changing the False Harmony, likely introducing tendencies for blind subservience and unquestioning loyalty among the dictates of the enchantments.”
“She – she must be stopped.”
“I know. I didn’t come here with the intention to depose anypony... but intentions change. If the clergy is bold enough to disobey her then there is more hope than I dared wish for. The devotion of her followers is her greatest strength. If they stop seeing her as their rightful queen then she’ll be shut out from the False Harmony, unable to modify it to suit her tastes. But as an alicorn she’d still be able to destroy the weakened False Harmony when the ash finally decays. I have no doubts she’d do it too, out of sheer spite. So I have to find a way to preserve the False Harmony, most likely by preventing the event you call the rebirth. As long as Canterlot still stands in opposition Diamond Dust will be unable to change Harmony. The princesses don’t have knowledge of or access to Harmony – only full kings and queens do – but they are recognized royalty and thus they must give consent to any changes to be made. As long as they remain alive and in power, that is.”
“She... plans to attack Canterlot. You are telling me she’s going to capture or kill the princesses.”
“Yes. From what I’ve been able to tell her preparations are well underway. My arrival accelerated them immensely.”
“The conversions! The healing of the scars! Fulcrum, you must stop them!”
Fulcrum looked at the door ahead of her.
“If I do so she’ll twist it to her followers so it appears I am withholding a painless and unscarred existence out of cruelty and spite. They’ll come to resent me and they’ll gather to her, strengthening her further. I know she sees me as a threat. The stupid doctrine of pain makes it pretty obvious she’s afraid of what will happen if I gain support among the ashen. So...”
The windigo pulled open the door.
“...We disobey her while the priests look the other way. When the time comes to face her I’ll need all the support I can muster.”
Trixie stood in shock for several seconds before duty nudged her inside the infirmary. Fulcrum had stopped just inside the doorway while surveying the hall. Trixie edged past her, thoughts racing. If Fulcrum needed support then Trixie knew how to help. She raised her voice and modulated it to be humble and kind, yet filled with conviction.
“Loyal followers of the ashen, you stand in the presence of the second prophet, the bringer of revelation and the angel of mercy. Show your love for Honoured Fulcrum!”
The halls of the infirmary were filled with Cloudsdale pegasi, and Cloudsdale pegasi knew how to cheer. The noise was painfully loud, causing several ash-sisters to clap their hooves over their ears. Trixie grinned at a visibly stunned Fulcrum; she still had her old bag of tricks. She continued once the noise had died down.
“Please obey the ash-sisters at all times and remain calm, so Honoured Fulcrum can give you all your due kindness and attention as efficiently and smoothly and possible.”
Then she nodded to the sisters on duty, signalling for them to take over. A queue was formed, and ten pegasi at a time were corralled in front of Fulcrum. Trixie engaged the pegasi in small-talk, subtly interrogating them about the goings-on of the ashen while Fulcrum cast her spells. These were veteran faithful, so they mostly needed removal of their revelation scars or healing of other injuries. Several had developed breathing disorders from flying in the ash-choked air. Fulcrum healed them all with no sign of tiring, and the relief coupled with Trixie’s words of encouragement worked a combined enchantment on the pegasi, making them regard Fulcrum with reverence and unbridled gratitude. Some raised cautious questions about a rumoured edict that the scars were holy and removing them was a sign of weakness, but Trixie or one of the other nurses scoffed at such babble – winking at each other all the time.
The officer pegasi were last in line, with their commander being very last. She was in a bad shape, limping up to Fulcrum with one wing in a sling. She explained casually that it was injuries suffered while defending Cloudsdale from the ashen. While Fulcrum’s golden sparks shot out and mended the commander’s injuries, Trixie took the opportunity to ask what was next for the grizzled pegasus.
“The queen wants me to oversee the conversions of Las Pegasus and Manehattan. Instead of bringing them here there’ll be local headquarters set up. Communication is by magic. It’s my understanding that all able-bodied ponies will converge on Canterlot a week from now, for the final conversion campaign. It’ll be... interesting... to go up against aerial defenses I helped to plan. The boost of our healed bodies will be welcome.”
Trixie bowed to the pegasus.
“Ash clear your path, Commander Spitfire.”
She and Fulcrum exchanged a worried glance before the other ash sisters surrounded them, thanking them and generally chattering. One week until doomsday.
Twilight returned to her quarters after praising Trixie for her deeds and telling her she had the rest of the day for herself. Going full windigo had been like the opening of a previously unknown eye: she could taste the love and the reverence the faithful projected towards her even now. As she entered the converted city hall she sensed the priests hidden behind walls and doors. Their emotions were like background noise. Mild and tame versions of boredom, fear, anger, joy and all the other feelings in various mixes. The new sense was both a wonder and a nuisance. It bothered her sleep and distracted her at inopportune times. It was like a noise that couldn’t be shut out.
She entered her living quarters. A silver tray with cups and a steaming bowl of soup stood on a table. Even in Canterlot Castle Twilight hadn’t received such service, but here she’d had her meals carried to her room without even having to ask. She sighed, but her stomach growled. Her hunger was lessened but not eliminated by her windigo heritage. She swung the door shut behind her and latched it. Then she teleported out of her armor and walked up to the food tray.
The soup was delightful. The earthen followers of the ash had had their natural magic strengthened greatly, but it was also made unpredictable. Crops could be made to grow from seed to harvest almost overnight, but with the majority of it spoiled by chaos magic. It still meant that the ashen had plenty of food.
Food really helped. Twilight could feel her muscles relaxing. In fact... she couldn’t even sense the emotions around her anymore. She sat down clumsily and stretched her neck, sighing with pleasure. She was so weary all of a sudden, but it was a very pleasant kind of weary. The world swam in and out of focus.
A small, metallic sound made her look around, but her eyes wouldn’t obey her properly and it took some time before she located the source. There appeared to be a magic aura around the door latch. Twilight frowned at such impoliteness as she swayed. Invading her privacy like that was... it was important, wasn’t it? That it didn’t happen? She couldn’t remember why. The aura was a very pale pink, she noticed. Who had an unconverted aura in this place? Wow, she felt smart for having thought of that.
The door swung open just as the entire room tilted to the side. Twilight found her cheek pressed into the carpet on the floor. Somepony should check on gravity, she thought before closing her eyes.
Pale pink hooves, she thought. Please, Princess Celestia, let me sleep a little longer...
~~~~~
Trixie left her quarters. The novices’ and ash sisters’ quarters were pleasantly silent at this hour. She walked outside and noted with a smile that the air had cleared. Weak beams of sunlight pierced the clouds. The ground had firmed up again but was not yet reduced to its base state of fine dust. Judging by the hoof – and wheelmarks a large number of ponies had marched past some time last night, likely another army of the faithful out to bring word to the unconverted. She entered the old town hall and was soon knocking on Fulcrum’s door.
“Honoured?”
The door was gripped in a blue-black aura and swung open, revealing Elder Firebrand. The wizened pony looked at Trixie with eyebrows raised before recognising her.
“Ah, the hoofmaiden. Run along, my little pony. Fulcrum has released you from your service.”
Trixie shot a lightning glance past Firebrand and into the room. It was filled with packing crates and ponies. Some crates were being unpacked, containing mostly gold and silver artwork. Other crates were being packed... mostly with books.
“Wh – what?”
Firebrand smirked and leaned closer, looking deep into Trixie’s eyes.
“She’s so displeased with your, haha, sub-par conduct that she’s cast you away. A little sleeping potion in your evening tea made sure you wouldn’t bother her as she made her escape.”
Trixie knew she should pretend to be deeply hurt by Firebrand’s words, but she’d fixed the high priest of the ashen with a level stare before she could think about it, so she maintained it instead. Firebrand’s gleeful grin quickly escalated into wickedness.
“Don’t believe me? Well to tartarus with you then. You don’t matter in any case. Your precious second prophet has left as part of Queen Diamond Dust’s retinue, at the head of the army. If you run really fast on your little stubby legs you might catch them before they reach Canterlot. But I wouldn’t bother if I were you. Fulcrum has, hahaha, agreed to perform one last service for the ashen, and I’m afraid it will leave her rather... drained.”
Trixie paled and backed away. Firebrand was laughing with such joy that he was dancing in place. She ran. The ash-sisters and the priests had to be told. But as she searched, she found the stronghold of the ashen to be empty.
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Oh, shi-
Was that title an intentional Babylon 5 reference?
1876256
Scorched earth is an ancient military strategy. Basically it means that your army destroys the territory it controls, leaving nothing for the enemy to use. The Babylon 5 episode references this, as do I.
1876403 Huh............well you learn something new every day.
nuke it from orbit...Twice.
1876403
The Russians in WWII did a reverse of this and burned everything while retreating so that the Germans, who were advancing deep into Russia, would not be able to use any supplies left behind.
1879244
That's actually how scorched earth was typically done throughout history. Before logistics advanced enough to allow efficient feeding of armies with more distant resources, they basically ate everything in their path to sustain themselves, leaving local populations and chasing armies nothing. It was actually incorporated into strategy: if you could manoeuver such that your army ate all the food from around the enemy army then you could win without a battle: as the other army ran out of food it would collapse.
1877371 Oooooh! Creepy and ambient. I like it! Thanks random person!
When Trixie offered to help at the beginning of the chapter one thought entered my mind, where the hell has Spike been this entire time?
1935260
Spike has been whisked away on an epic adventure of his own, filled with explosions and romances, that unfortunately has absolutely no bearing on this story. Nah, he's holding the fort back in Ponyville with the help and care of some other ponies.
1875310 Indeed.
(what are these emotes used for?)
1880283 Or just destroy anything that the enemy could use for resources as you retreat.