Chapter seven- the fell winds of war
"Gatling! Get two stallions on that ridge! NOW!" Fancy Pants yelled, as boulders crashed all around him. "We need to take their position by nightfall!"
Captain Pants and his stallions were hunkered down in a trench, just below the san kettle hill. A strong defensive position held by the griffins, the captain was determined to get his battalion out of this trench, and capture that hilltop.
"Squawker! Where's that air support I asked for?" Fancy roared. "We need them here, ASAP!"
"Sorry captain!" The unicorn, who was sending and receiving telepathic reports through his horn, replied. "The Pegasus squadrons have their hands full! The ninth and fifteenth squadrons are having a hard time protecting Tambleon, and I can't even raise the tenth!"
"Blast it! We're on our own then!" Fancy roared, his mane bristling in anger. He and his ponies shouldn't even be here! Those stupid Griffins, starting this war over a ridiculous border dispute! Equestria rarely went to war with anypony, but those few times that diplomacy failed, Princess Celestia would call up small volunteer units to fight in the name of the crown. His unit here, the Rough Trotters, was one such group.
"Captain!" Squawker shrieked. "The griffin bombers are coming around for another pass!"
"Unicorn shields up!" Fancy yelled, as the griffins overhead unleashed a hail of the boulders they were carrying. The Unicorn energy shields deflected most of them, but one huge one smacked the earth pony Gatling on the head, knocking him out.
"Gatling NO!" The captain roared. Looking around in the trench, Fancy saw all the unconscious ponies in the trench. Those blasted griffons, they had wiped out half his force! Though he and his ponies had knocked out quite a few griffins, as well.
At least nopony had been killed in this conflict. To the Ponies of Equestria, killing unless under absolute dire necessity was a violation of the ideals of friendship they held so dear. And the absolute honor of the Griffins forbade them from escalating the combat to killing, if their opponents refused to kill... even at the risk of losing. So the 'war' had descended into a long game of shifting positions, knocking unconscious, and taking prisoners.
"Captain! We've got a ten-minute respite!" Squawker yelled. "The bombers have gone back to reload!"
"All right, stallions!" Fancy Pants roared. "Before the next volley, we’re going over the top!"
"Captain! I wanted to speak to you!" A young earth pony private, named Boltine, came galloping up. "Before we go over the top, the men and I got something for you!"
"What is it, Private?" Fancy asked. This young blue earth pony with the blonde mane was the newest recruit to Fancy's unit.
He held up a small black box with a lid. "The men and I all pitched in, and got these for your birthday!" The young stallion with the black ascot exclaimed. "Since you having trouble seeing at your age, and all."
The thirty-year-old fancy scowled at the crack about his age, then opened the box. Inside, there was a pair of spectacles on a string... ones that perfectly matched his tan hat and coat.
"Why, these are magnificent! Thank you, men!" He slipped the spectacles over his eyes. "Now I can see to give those bullies a good whopping!" He stamped his hooves in excitement. "Bullies! bullies, I say! Bully!"
The men cheered at his comment, and Fancy decided he'd have to remember that line.
Just as they were about to go over the top of the trench, however, a mare's voice could be heard coming up from behind the Ponies' lines.
"Boltine? Are you here?"
A Yellow earth pony with a blonde mane, looked down into the trench. Private Boltine looked up at her in shock.
"Valentine? What are you doing here?" The blue earth pony asked in shock.
"Private, do you know this mare?" Fancy Pants asked, annoyed.
"This is Valentine, Capitan." Boltine explained, "She's my girl, from back in Phillydelhpia."
"I was worried about you, Boltine." She replied. "I came to see if you were all right!"
"We don't have time for this!" Capitan Pants snorted. "Boltine, stay with her. The rest of you... charge the San Kettle hill! TO GLORY!"
Invigorated by their Capitan’s words, the Stallions poured out of the trenches and galloped towards the enemy lines. Stallions slammed into griffins, biting and stomping their enemies with all of their might. Fancy himself blasted six griffons into unconsciousness that day, and urged his men to beat his score.
A half hour had passed into the battle, when Fancy Pants and his still six standing stallions planted the flag on top of the hill. A sea of unconscious griffins and ponies surrounded them... proof of thier hard won victory.
"Well done, troops!" Captain Pants replied. "Your victory here shall be the stuff of legends!"
It was at that moment that the clouds began to gather on the horizon. Suddenly, a colossal funnel cloud descended from the heavens.
"What in the name of the horsemaster is THAT?" Fancy Pants asked in shock.
"Sir! Its a death funnel spell!" Squawker yelled in shock. "Some unicorn mages in the seventh unit made it, and lost control! It's rampaging all over the battlefield!"
"We need to get out of here!" One of the stallions whinnied in terror. "It'll kill us all!"
"We can't leave these unconscious ponies and griffins here on the battlefield!" Fancy replied. "Stand your ground, stallions!"
Back behind the lines, Boltine and Valentine watched the column of wind descend on the battlefield.
"Valentine, make a run for it!" Boltine told her. "I'll be right behind you."
Nodding, she nuzzled him. As Valentine galloped away into the sunset, a single tear rolled down Boltine's cheek. When she was out of sight, the brave lad jumped out of the trench, and galloped towards the maelstrom.
"Boltine... NO!" Fancy yelled, as soon as he saw the young stallion. He knew what the boy was going to do, as he remembered his magic lessons from his youth...
"Remember, class... a death funnel spell that goes out of control can be stopped by a pony's sacrifice... but this method is to NEVER be used....
Before Fancy could even make a move, Boltine had raced into the heart of the storm. The winds lifted the young stallion up into the air, and tore his fragile body into tiny idescrnible pieces.
"BOLTINE! NO!" Valentine Shrieked, as she looked back to see if he was following her... like he had promised. Before her tear-streaked eyes, flashed all of her dreams of a home, a family, and a life with the stallion she loved. Dreams that were torn to pieces, even as the whirlwind died down.
"BOLTIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEE!"
......
"The Griffins agreed to a peace agreement, in honor of the young stallion's sacrifice." Princess Celestia told them. "They feel he died with honor."
Less than a week later, Fancy and his Rough Trotters stood before Princess Celestia herself in Canterlot, having received medals for their bravery on the battlefield. He had long looked forward to his first meeting with the Princess, but right now, he didn't feel much like celebrating.
"In honor of Boltine's bravery, I am commissioning a new order of Royal knights... the Big Brother Ponies. They shall watch out for and protect all other equines, as if they were thier own younger siblings." Princess Celestia looked down at Boltine's ascot, lying on the desk before her. It was the only piece they had found of him. “They will all wear ascot neck scarves, to remember that brave pony... who gave his life for Equestria."
Fancy looked to his left, and saw the sobbing Valentine, who quietly walked out of the ceremony. "He was only a lad.." The unicorn thought to himself. Boltine had a girl, a future... he was an older unicorn, with no ties to anypony. It should have been him who had charged into that cloud... not a bright young soldier, barely out of colthood. He had had every reason to live, blast it! So why had Boltine had to die, while Fancy Pants the coward kept on living?
The ceremony ended, and Fancy Pants trotted away by himself. Putting his on his spectacles... the last thing that brave lad had given him.. and trotted away. When he had first volunteered to lead a unit two years ago, Fancy Pants had thought this would be a splendid little war. But after countless battles... and actually watching a brave pony die under his command... Fancy Pants wanted nothing more than to get far, far away.