"That's it. You're doing great, Miss Dash. See? Nothing to it. Just like regular walking."
Rainbow Dash shot the nurse a dirty look while she tried to hobble around on the prosthetic leg that had been made for her. She put pressure on it and must not have liked what she felt, as she sat down and began fiddling with the thin strap around her barrel. "Stupid bucking thing gets loose..."
"Oh, here," the nurse began, lighting up her horn. "Let me help you with--"
"I'll do it, I'll do it!" Dash snapped. "Jeez, lady, I lost a leg, not my brains!"
"Of course, Miss Dash," the nurse replied, backing away. Her smile never faltered.
"How's AJ, TD?" Rainbow asked as she tried tightening the strap. "She awake yet?"
I nodded. "She's tired. Sleeps a lot. We got her fake eye in yesterday. There doesn't seem to be any real damage to her brain, so that's a positive. She should be out of here in a few days."
"Good. Maybe by then I'll have figured this..." She growled and tried to get the strap tighter. "Feathering..." The strap slipped in her grasp, and the whole thing came off. Before the nurse or I could say or do anything, Rainbow let loose a scream of pure fury, picking up the fake leg and throwing it against the wall as hard as she could. It hit the wall and bounced back towards her, allowing her to grab it in her foreleg and begin slamming it on the ground, screaming profanities. She threw the leg across the room again, but before either of us could get it for her, she got to her hooves to get it herself. She tried to walk over to it, but the instant she put any weight where her leg used to be, she fell to the ground. I caught her with my magic.
"Just let me do it, TD!" she snapped. "I'll get the feathering leg, okay?"
I released her from my magic hold, and she crawled over to the leg. The nurse ignited her horn to help again, but Rainbow wasn't having any of it.
"I said I'll do it!" Rainbow shrieked. She snatched the leg off of the ground and began trying to put it back on. "Sheesh, it's not like I can bring you over every morning when I have to get this feathering thing on."
"Come on, Rainbow, she's just trying to help," I said.
"It's alright, Prince Antares," the nurse responded. "If she wants to do it on her own, I think that's a good thing."
"Blah, blah, blah, whatever," Rainbow grumbled as she worked on the strap.
The two of us watched Rainbow struggle with the leg for a few more minutes. She didn't seem to be doing any better with it, but she'd just get mad at us if we tried to interfere again. If she wanted to do it by herself, then we'd let her. Besides, she was right: we couldn't just do it for her every day. She had to figure it out on her own at some point.
At this time she needed some help, and she was too stubborn to let us do it.
A quiet knock on the door brought our attention away from Rainbow Dash. The nurse silently walked over to the door and opened it to poke her head through. She talked with the pony on the other side for a few moments before opening the door completely.
"Miss Dash, you have a visitor."
"Tell them to go away," Rainbow growled. "I'm not gonna talk to anypony until I've figured this out!"
"Aw come on, RD, ya won't even talk ta me?"
Rainbow's breath died in her throat as she slowly turned her head to see none other than Applejack standing behind her. She wore her trademark stetson and a welcoming smile. Despite that, if one looked at her left eye, they could tell that it didn't quite look as real as the right. Rainbow stared at Applejack for a few seconds before turning back to her leg.
"Go away. I'll talk to you when I've figured this stupid thing out."
"Rainbow..." Applejack moved closer to her friend as the nurse and I went to the end of the room closest to the door, where Apple Bloom stood waiting for her sister. "Ah don't care about that." She sat down next to Rainbow and reached a foreleg out to the strap. "Come on, sugarcube. Let me help you with--"
"I'll do it, I'll do it!" Rainbow snapped, jerking away from Applejack. "For Celestia's sake, won't you ponies just give me two freaking seconds to figure this out?!"
"Rainbow--"
"I don't wanna hear it, AJ!" Rainbow Dash retorted. "I'm the one who was dumb enough to get my leg chopped off, so I'm the one who's gotta figure this all out!"
"Rainbow, you weren't dumb, you were--"
"Stupid! Too slow! Not smart enough to get away fast enough!" Rainbow jerked the strap around her barrel a little tighter. "I should have rolled to the right! I should have known it wasn't Thunderlane!" She rotated until her back was to Applejack. "It's my fault, so I'm the one who has to get it right!"
"It wasn't yer fault, sugarcube," Applejack said, giving me a helpless look before scooting back to Rainbow's side again. "You didn't ask for it any more than Ah asked to lose mah eye."
"Whatever! You weren't there so you can't..." Rainbow lost her grip on the strap again, causing it to loosen enough for it to start coming off. Once again she let out a scream of frustration and tore the whole thing off before throwing it against the wall. This time I caught it in my magic before it hit. Rainbow didn't seem to notice. She began violently rubbing the stump where her left leg used to be before letting out an angry sob and slamming her hoof on the floor. Applejack sighed and wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow's shoulders.
"It's gonna be okay, Rainbow. It's all gonna be fine."
"No it won't!" Rainbow cried. "Everything is just... it's..." Rainbow's body began convulsing in silent sobs. She only tried to hold it in for a few more seconds before she gave up and leaned her head on Applejack's chest.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," she moaned. "I was gonna be a Wonderbolt."
"You still can be, Rainbow," Applejack said, stroking Rainbow's mane. "Once ya figure the leg out you can get back on yer hooves and into the air in no time at all."
"It w-wasn't supposed to be like this!" Rainbow began sobbing harder, and I saw tears pouring from her eyes. Single tears began streaming out of Applejack's eye as she tried to comfort her friend. "I w-wasn't s-supposed t-t-to get hurt!"
"It'll all be okay, RD," Applejack soothed. "Yer alive, and that's what matters. Ain't nopony gonna hurt you now."
Rainbow began crying too hard to respond. She simply rested in Applejack's grasp and wept. I noticed both Apple Bloom and the nurse began crying a little themselves. I couldn't, though. I needed to be strong so that they could see that somepony was going to be.
I hated it. I wanted to cry with them like I had cried the night after it all happened.
Feeling that the two needed a moment alone, I walked out of the room and into the hospital's hallway. I needed a few moments, too.
"Prince Antares, news from the front!" a guard shouted as he ran up to me.
Sigh.
"Yes, what is it?" I asked, turning to meet the guard. "Did the minotaurs attack again?"
"Yes, Prince Antares!" the guard said, sinking into a bow when he reached me. "The combined forces of the minotaurs and changelings overwhelmed our army! Both sides suffered massive casualties, but ours were more severe. They beat us back!"
I cursed and rubbed my temples. "Any good news?"
"Yes, Princess Luna captured another Nightmare Weapon and used that to kill Queen Chrysalis. It is unknown how long she will be out of the action, but the changelings were slaughtered once she was killed. I suppose the black magic in the weapon severely disrupted their hive mind."
"Well, that's good. One less thing to worry about."
"Yes, but there's a bit more." The guard grimaced and flattened his ears. "When our army retreated, the zebra berserkers stayed behind to hold the line. None of them survived."
My heart sank at that news. That was a massive blow to our forces, one we couldn't really afford. They were our best asset, and with them gone completely...
"We'll deal with that when the time comes," I replied. "I have a few ideas of how to spin that. Until then, what other news? Any casualties I know?"
The guard's head bowed low. "Yes, there was one major casualty among your ponies. According to the report from Princess Luna, Queen Chrysalis hit Valiant Shield with some of her magic. He was killed instantly."
Oh no.
Oh no oh no oh no.
Tulip. I had to tell Tulip that her husband was dead. I began walking down the hall of the hospital, my guard struggling to keep up with me.
"I'm going to the front."
* * * *
I flattened my ears as River let out another piercing scream, but I didn't let her go. I held her down for the medic as per his instructions.
"Shh, River, it's gonna be okay," I soothed. "You're going to be fine."
"He bit my ear off!" Rapids screamed. "He bit my feathering ear off!"
"I know, I know," I said softly, dabbing at the deep cuts on her face with a clean washcloth. "You're going to be okay, River. You fought bravely. You got the changeling that did it, so there's that."
"I w-wanna go home, Blaze!" Rapids moaned while the medic cauterized the inch or so of ear that remained. "D-don't wanna fight anymore!"
"You are going home, River," I replied. "You can't fight like this. Prince Antares will know that, and he'll make sure you can go home with the other wounded, alright? You just keep being brave."
Rapids stopped screaming, choosing instead to begin sobbing. Her tears mixed with the blood on her face, which I kept dutifully wiping away with a clean cloth. The only sound for a few minutes was Rapids's crying while the two of us did everything we could for her. Eventually the tent flap opened up, and I heard somepony curse behind me.
"Hey, Commander Rapids, how is it?" Prince Antares asked, going to Rapids' side. She sniffled and her jaw wobbled as she turned her head to look at him.
"Lost an ear," she muttered thickly. "Wanna go home."
"Don't worry, you will," Prince Antares said with a comforting smile. "You're gonna go home and rest and you don't have a thing to worry about, alright? You did your duty to Equestria a thousand times over. More than I can ask of any pony."
"It hurts," Rapids whimpered. "It really hurts."
"I can help out with that," the medic said, preparing a syringe in his magic. "This will help you sleep. You need rest more than anything."
The medic injected the painkillers into Rapids's foreleg, and she was out like a light in only a few moments. Content that she was resting, I got to my hooves, which were stained with Rapids's blood. I grabbed another clean washcloth and began wiping the blood off.
"Are you okay, Private Blaze?" Prince Antares asked. "How was it out there yesterday?"
"Tartarus," I grumbled. "I still don't know how we survived. We should have all been slaughtered, the way we were over matched. Princess Luna though, she kept us all together, and when she killed that changeling queen, things started to turn our way a little bit. At the very least, it gave us a little breathing room. I didn't have to worry about being stabbed in the back by some changeling disguised as one of my buddies. We could focus on the minotaurs. That didn't last too long, though. It basically allowed us to get away." I sighed and looked back to Rapids. "Don't know what we're going to do without her. She was the backbone of the pegasus forces. Heck, she was the backbone for the entire army once you left. Everypony knew her and what kind of leader she is. She didn't believe she had it in her at first. I always knew it, though."
"So what do you think now?" Prince Antares asked. "Who should take her place as the backbone of the army?" Prince Antares took a step closer to me. "Who do you think she'd want to take her place?"
My response died in my throat. I knew what he was getting at. Heck, I knew he was probably even right. I just...
"I don't know if I can, Prince Antares," I muttered. "The last time I took control of a battle, you got shot."
Prince Antares sighed and shook his head. "Blaze, I promise that me getting shot had nothing to do with your prowess as a commander. Everypony who survived that battle praised you for taking charge. You can do it, I know you can. Besides, I'm not even on the field currently, and Princess Luna is immune to the Nightmare Weapons."
"But I might make a dumb mistake that gets a lot of good ponies killed."
"And if I was on the field, I could make a dumb mistake that gets a lot of good ponies killed," Prince Antares retorted. "Does that mean that I should just give up, or should I realize that there are still thousands of ponies who need a good leader?" Prince Antares put a hoof on my shoulder. "And you are that good leader. I've seen it a dozen times over. If you weren't you would never have made it to the captain's post in the first place. It's like I said before: we need you. I need you."
Behind us, Rapids stirred a little bit. She groaned and weakly pointed a hoof at me. "D'it ya bg idjut."
I stayed silent for a few moments, thinking it over. One one hoof, it was the right thing to do. On the other, I could get a lot of ponies killed. I could mess up and lose an entire battle because of my stupid orders. I could...
I could go through my life as a total coward, but I won’t be a coward for Prince Antares. I sighed and slowly nodded.
"Yes, Prince Antares. I will do my best."
Prince Antares smiled and nodded. "Excellent. I know you'll do well, Commander Blaze."
* * * *
I walked through camp, largely ignoring the ponies greeting me. After my meeting with Blaze, I kind of wanted to go back to my palace, but that would mean informing Tulip of her husband's death. I know it was kind of cowardly of me, but I didn't want to deal with that right then. Of course, that meant dealing with the devastation that our army had just gone through. Last I heard, there had been some deaths from Ponyville. Raindrops and Time Turner had both been killed in the battle, while Sea Swirl and Flitter had both been severely wounded. Flitter we were hopeful about, but Sea Swirl didn't seem like she'd last the night. There was always hope, though, but even if she did survive, she wasn't going to ever go back to one hundred percent health. Still, they weren't the ones I was completely focused on at the moment. I opened the flap of a nearby tent and walked in.
Oh Cheerilee.
I sat down next to her bed and put a hoof on her back. She didn't even flinch. She looked catatonic. I picked her up in my magic and wrapped her in a comforting hug. Her gaze flicked up to me, but she didn't move more than that.
"I know you're not okay, so I won't even bother asking," I muttered. "We're going to do everything we can to help you." Cheerilee slowly leaned her head against my chest and managed to blink. "You're no good to anypony here like this. You've seen enough war, Cheers. I'm sending you home. We'll get you some help, then you can see your students again. Would you like that?"
Cheerilee slowly nodded, and I felt tears drip onto my forelegs. "Don't wanna anymore," she whimpered.
"I know, I know," I said gently. "You won't have to. I'm going to do everything that I can to make sure you get better, alright?"
"Don't make me kill anymore. Too many."
"I know, Cheers, I know. You're not gonna have to see another battlefield again. You've done your duty to Equestria. You can rest now."
Cheerilee sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hoof. I guess she decided that I wasn't lying, because she nuzzled up against my chest and closed her eyes. Within a few moments, I could hear the light breathing of her sleep. I didn't mind. She needed it after everything she had just gone through. She needed to feel like she was safe after fighting and killing.
As Cheerilee rested in my forelegs, I began planning. I needed to up my game if we were going to win this war fast. We needed more weapons. Better weapons. Mustard gas was illegal on my home world, but it wasn't here. Gatling guns would tear through their forces. I needed to get the tanks to the front soon.
Had to kill them all, no matter the cost.
* * * *
“Absolutely unacceptable!" King Purgle roared, slamming his fist down on the table in front of him. "First that changeling queen is lost, then you let the Equestrians get away?! How could you possibly be so stupid?!"
"I hardly think repaying the honor and mercy that the ponies showed us is stupidity," I calmly responded as more and more minotaurs walked up to us to see what the commotion was. "It is a courtesy that I will only extend once. The next victory we will pursue them, especially now that the berserkers have all been killed. We even captured a little of Antares's napalm."
"You should have pursued them in the first place, Grorim!" Purgle snapped. "We could have completely broken the back of their army that way!"
"With Princess Luna at the head of the army? And her immunity to the Nightmare Weapon she had just captured from us? We would have lost tens of thousands more minotaurs before we broke their army."
"And we would have made up for all of that if we had managed to capture Luna! She couldn't have fought forever, and she would be a valuable hostage that could help us win the war!"
"Unlikely," I responded. "It's extremely hard to keep ahold of an alpha alicorn unless you have powerful magic, or a Nightmare Weapon that can be used to cripple them. We have neither."
"You... you are insolent! Perhaps I should choose another commander to lead my forces!"
"If that is my king's wish, then I will not stop you." I drew my sword and offered it to him. "If I have displeased you in any way by my victory over the Equestrians and the complete destruction of their berserker allies, then you may do with me as you wish. Clearly my victory has shown that I am an unfit commander. I offer you my life in return for my incompetence on the battlefield."
King Purgle's eye twitched, but he made no effort to take my sword and behead me. I even thought I could see a vein bulge in his forehead. Silence reigned over the scene for a few moments before King Purgle let out a noise of frustration and stomped on the ground.
"Just don't do it again!" he replied lamely.
"Yes, King Purgle, of course." I sheathed my sword again and bowed my head in respect.
King Purgle made a noise of disgust and stomped back to his tent, leaving me alone with the troops that had come to watch. None of us did anything for a minute, but eventually one of my clan approached me, his head bowed in respect.
"Clan Leader Grorim, should we withdraw our clan from this mad scheme? Many others will follow if we do. He can't execute everyone from one of the largest clans he has supporting him. Many of us don't want to die for his crazy schemes anymore."
I tapped my chin thoughtfully. "Hmm. It is tempting, isn't it? Tell you what: I'll let you know what his next move is and plan accordingly. All in my clan are good, honorable minotaurs, and I would be a terrible clan leader if I led you to your deaths for no reason."
"You should be king," another minotaur muttered, drawing murmurs of agreement from the crowd. I scoffed at that.
"King Purgle is our king."
"But you would end the war," another minotaur pointed out. "You wouldn't send us out to die for no reason!"
"That is true." I smirked at the gathered minotaurs. "I don't know if we should be thinking about this right now. Yes, I would end the war. Yes, I wouldn't send you out to die. Still, King Purgle is our king for right now. An open rebellion would divide our forces, even if it would lead to him being overthrown and the war ending. We should be loyal to him."
The gathered minotaurs began murmuring among themselves as they dispersed. I did wonder what would come of my words. I wondered indeed. For the moment, I needed to take a look at the napalm we had captured. It could help us considerably if we did get into another battle with them. As I walked back to my tent I locked eyes with Marller, who had been watching the whole scene.
... On one hand, Yay! It's a cow rebellion!
On the other hand. They've got hold of Napalm?! Boo!
Yeah, sure, take a look.
You won't be able to reproduce them unless you have a university grade acedemic knowledge in chemistry and the facilities required to do it and the minotaur doesn't have them.
Really Antares...You have a bunch of soldiers waiting to be used. Use them to replenish your force. ASAP.
And up your game. Learn from your mistakes. Apply the lessons you learnt both in and out of battle. Put that well educated past of yours into good use.
7277536 I haven't mentioned it yet, but I think he's already sent the southern zealots to the front. Besides, there are only about a hundred of them or so.
As for tanks...Will they be something like...
This?
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/British_Mark_IV_Tadpole_tank.jpg
Or This?
only-carz.com/data_images/gallery/02/renault-ft-17-light-tank/renault-ft-17-light-tank-10.jpg
Or This?
flamesofwar.com/Portals/0/all_images/Soviet/Boxes/SBX23b.jpg
Or This?
worldoftanks.com/dcont/fb/media/media/art_renders/t_34_85/wot_1680_1050_t_34_85.jpg
Or This?
worldoftanks.eu/dcont/fb/media/renders/t-44/t-44_1280_1024.jpg
Or This? (T-55 M3 incase you're wondering)
vuthat.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/timhieu_vn31.jpg
Any more advanced and I think it will be outside of Equestria's capabilities.
7277570 I think we'll be closer to
This
The Equestrians barely have a working blunderbuss. Don't expect proper tanks.
7277537 Uhm...I thought there were about a few thousand of them?
Should you? Just because someone is king doesn't make them the best choice. At this point there are only two options: continue to follow Purgle into this descent of death or overthrow him and end this war. To make the choice easier, consider which of the two will end with the least amount of death.
7277576 BURN IT! BURN IT WITH HELL FIRE!
THAT IS THE MOST IMPRACTICAL ARMORED FIGHTING VEHICLE TO EVER EXIST!
Stupid Firepower, Stupid Mobility, Stupid Armor, Stupid Cost, Stupid Design! Da Vinci is great and all, but, he is NOT a Military Engineer!
7277576 They also have this.
img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140203121057/mlp/images/7/7b/Cheese_on_top_of_cannon_S4E12.png
I hope we get to see those Gatling guns Antares wants to build And i really want to see what everyones reactions would be if Antares did make and use mustard gas.
7277587 Oh, it's very true. But we have to think about the (lack of?) industrialization in Equestria.
Building a modern tank is a massive undertaking and to make one that is to be operated by hooves and horsepower just isn't practical with their level of science while still keeping it under wraps.
7277612 Actually...Canonically...It seems their understanding of science is on par with us. They're just isn't that focused on Military or things that can be replaced with magic. And yes, they should have the industry to build tanks and cannons. They have freaking skyscrapers. They have what looks like steam trains. The country seems very very very prosperous. They can support military techs of at least WWII.
Edit: Who said anything about modern main battle tank? t-55 M3 is an upgrade package for Vietnam old T-55s. Heard something about they are not bothering with modern battle tank is because anti-tank tech advance faster than the tanks and cost reasons.
7277625 Oh, when I said modern, I thought of 1940's and onward.
Hm. My military history is godawful. But yes. perhaps I should just say 1900 and onwards.
7277633 Already mentioned that they could support WWII era military techs and war machines. Well, the more economic and simple ones the Soviet made anyway.
The chaoter started a little tragic. RD is dealing with anger and impotence over losing her leg, Cheerilee is traumatized by her second round with the Minotaur armies, Antares just learned that he has to tell Tulip that her husband died and that the berserkers have died. On the other hand, it's cathartic to see Purgle lose his shit and humiliate himself in front of his subjects when he realizes that he can't kill Grorim for letting the Equestrians go because he's the only CO that gave him a decisive victory and doing so would cost him the support of his subjects. Grorim is also quite the magnificent bastard as he used his victory and the spectacle that Purgle made to make the soldiers lose faith in Purgle and rally behind him. Still, I do wonder why Grorim insists that Purgle remains king for the moment and what does Maller thinks about it. Hope the next chapter comes soon as I want to see how Tulip reacts to learning she has become a widow and if mustard gas will make an appearance.
i fucking called it.
7277570 honestly, i think they might be t34 variants. im personally hoping for something that looks like a T34/57 mod. 1941
7277692
They were simple to build. That's why the Russians made so many of them.
Still, the design might be even simpler, like the tanks that slowly rolled out on the battlefield in WWI.
7277692 T-34/57 was supposely a tank killer. The 57 gun has a much better penetration power than any of the 76.2 guns...Some might say, it overpenetrated. Especially to Tiger tanks, so they were scrapped. It is also a strictly anti-armored. And unless the minotaur somehow managed to build a Tiger despite them having pretty much zero industrial power and a mainly nomandic life style, T-34/57 will not be very useful. I can see T-34/76 and T-34/85 works because their HE shells will be much more effective. Or even a T-44/100. A great tank born in the wrong time. Although, T-44 is the ground work for later tank generations.
7277713 I would think a little bit of modern influence on the part of Antares will make the tanks more in line with WWII tanks.
Pretty far down the slippery slope already, it seems. I have a feeling that we may soon have to stop cheering for Antares.
7277782 You going turncoat?
You know, it's funny. No matter what reality she's in, she's always killed off in a disappointing way as little more than a one-dimensional villain. Well, I suppose for every Tales of the Oppressed, there's a Wanderings of a Non-Brony to counterbalance it.
Hmm, let's see. A person sees her friend as a god, and that god knows that her husband's dead, but hasn't told her yet... and she's got connections to a portion of TD's army... yeah, there's no way this could backfire horribly.
See, even this OC I've gotten to know for all of two chapters is more complex than Chrysalis. I'm legitimately invested in this character, and I'd like to see more of him.
And now that guy knows his thoughts. INTRIGUE!!! Well, see you later.
Mustard gas used on enemys attacking en masse without any chemical defence? Oh, this terror, this suffering. Thousends deads, even more horribly wounded (destroyed eyes, lungs). It's best weapon for winning this war, but such things remain in memorys very long, basicly it will raise a storys about "inhuman" ponys mercilessly masacring enemys. Whole years of good image buildings to trash, replaced by fear.
7277718
7277692
What canon? You need canon just in case of heavyly armored enemys of fortifications. Multiple machineguns are better choise here, because minotaurs don't use covers, don't have strong armors and they attack in waves. In one colonial battle in Africa 50 British soldiers with 4 gatling guns winned against 5000 autochtons figthing such way. British casualities - 0 their oponents - circa 3000.
Pugle lost this war the second it was shown that princess Luna is immune to nightmare weapons. Now they have nothing that can stand against her so it’s just a matter of how many minotaurs will have to die before pugle does, and from the last part it seems that it will only take one more little push for them to decide a cue is in order. Too bad for them that TD has decided to take the kid gloves off so that 'little push' will likely be like getting hit by a truck.
7278004 Yeah he seems to be a massive idiot she's literally invincible pretty much.
7277718 oh, i know the 57 was a tank killer. i know it wont be appearing. its just that the 57 is my favorite tank.
The minotaurs are going to have a couple of surprises in the next battle when they see the new toys of Antares.
Loyalty and honor even when the king is clearly an idiot. You've got to admire that.
7277782 THIS IS WAR!
At the end of the day. You will wonder what have you became.
7278556 Not really. Who's the bigger fool? The fool himself, or the one who knows he's a fool and still follows him?
Even the Romans were smarted than that. When an Emperor went too far, he usually ended up assassinated.
7278556
7278848 Personally I think he was just giving plausible deniability. "A revolution? Why, I never said I supported that! I said I was loyal to the king!" while at the same time saying things that would incite a rebellion.
I just don't know what to say and or how to say it.
so many broken sols that never come home even if the body does.
I watch a friend keep fighting for years till he finely just gave up and died one day.
7278862 Indeed, I was responding to the comment about following a fool being admirable.
It is not, but in the minotaur's case it was a necessity at the time.
Something's about to shake loose. The question is, what first? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
7277925
If that fear prevents further invasions by fascist hordes then that is the price Equestria will have to pay.
The only problem I see with what TD is doing, is that like shown in this chapter, the weapons he develops can be taken by the enemies, and as a result the enemy gains an advantage. However, that's only if they don't die straight away...
7277570
Hmm... I think you might be closest with the Renault FT, but replace the machine gun with a Gatling gun.
Maybe when/if the gryphons show up, there'll be a Flakpanzer.
Keep in mind, there's no reason to build anything with heavy armour penetration.
7279280 one problem my friend, reverse engineering requires the resources and knowledge of facilities to make what has been stolen. one of the ingredients in napalm is a petroleum product and I highly doubt purgle has the recipe for gasoline. infact it's highly more likely purgle well end up damaging his army trying to remake it.
7279407 Very true, very true indeed. Well then make more!!
Hey, TD, ever played Fallout? Power Armor and miniguns for days. Maybe even grenade machineguns. Perhaps mustard gas shells would be a nice alternate ammunition type.
I do so love being insanely evil. Evily insane? Eh, who cares.
Second time I commented on this spin off. I like the original and its (now disregarded) sequel. I like where the spin off started with its humor, then logical mourning when s/he came to the obvious realization s/he would lose all his friends. Then it got silly with the warfare because:
You already had many primitives trying to bring down an industrial and technological giant with genetically and skill wise diverse people backed by a trio of invulnerable beings (who can only be stopped with one thing) who have the rest of all time to see it through. The not-so-secret weapon is a finite and ever depleting supply of WMDs which is much like crude oil. You can improve fuel mileage all you want, but you won't make gasoline any more abundant, nor will you sustain the existing petrol supply. Now the whole reason this was a suicide mission from square one is revealed: While Celestia and Antares could theoretically die, they aren't suicidal. And she simply cannot perish even if she wanted to. Purgle is an immature suicidal brat who picked an unwinnable fight with an omnipotent being, and an idiot to keep going. Not at all unlike a religious person who thinks they can pray and wish their every problem away. It's a war between men and cockroaches. And yes, she is omnipotent as she can intrude your every nightmare. Purgle just made Emperor What's-His-Name look like a James Bond villain.
please dont use the bullshit ITS MAGIC reason for the minotaurs to be able to replicate Napalm
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It's completly true. You attack these who you hate or disdain, especially not these who you feel fear.
I do believe that a more 'hardass' nurse/aid would be better for Rainbow, the one she has now is kind, but probably seems condescending to her and she can't do much to relieve stress beyond blow up at the nurse that RD knows is just doing her job.
7280258 I would never.
7280072 now disregarded sequel? You mean Life? I'm still working on it. I have a few thousand words of the new chapter done.
Antares ( I still see him as TD) better be VERY careful about employing chemical weapons. I think he's getting his emotions and personal stock influence his decisions too much. TD has to be aware that chemical weapons were banned for a reason and they aren't even majorly effective when employed. They are a threat to the environment as well. It's only going to make the enemy hate him even more and give credibility to Purgle's reasoning that Equestria is too powerful, which they are.
7283099 So...Purgle's reasoning of "It's too powerful, we must poke it" is in anyway right?
Yeah, no.
You poke a sleeping dragon. You receive the consequences.
7283403 I never said Purgle was a reasonable individual or rational one, but merely he took a valid concern and ran with it for his own personal and sadistic ends.
That being said, I do think there is/was a valid concern for considering the Equestrians a global threat. You have two rulers who are essentially immortal beings that can't be killed (minus magical weapons created for that specific purpose) who have a history of rather questionable acts. It's mentioned by BronyWriter that they have been in many wars but we don't know why that happened or what the causes of said wars were, other than, (as far as we can tell) they have won them all. The two main alpha alicorns have engaged in having harems (an action that hardly, if at all brings respect to rulers engaging in such debauchery), engaged with allowing subjects to create their own religion which just "happens" to involve worshiping them, and a history of fighting each other for power (Luna trying to remove Celly) of which if Luna won, would have affected EVERYONE by bringing in Nighttime permanently.
They wield the power of the sun and moon, and also messed with the fabric of reality (I'm looking at you Celly), creating a view/opening into another dimension. Now that said Princess (Celestia) brought that individual from another reality, has transformed that person, had a child, which will add yet another possible Alpha alicorn (out of wedlock at the moment), whose personality could wind up into anything. There's also the fact that, despite her actions of the past, Luna is still in a position of power. Even though it's been a thousand years, she's immortal which means she's got all the time in world.
And yet I'm supposed to have complete sympathy for the ponies when their leadership has committed some of the most questionable, if not immoral acts of their time. With all the power they have and what they've done, they can't expect species outside of Equestria to not have any concerns or respond in some fashion. Aside from Nightmare Weapons ( which are few and far between and only work on those who aren't Luna), what's to stop them from demanding the rest of the world worship them? Or want their land? It's not like there's a precedent for family members fighting each other.....oh. All of this has a parallels to dynasty/cult worship similar to that of North Korea, and that's scary as hell.
Now that this war has occurred, Antares/TD is considering employing Mustard Gas and other chemical weapons without realizing the possible fallout from using them. He's also should have stopped his own church from forming, as the rational side of Antares is/will see more damaging effects of allowing that practice in the first place. If anything, this will reinforce Purgle's view they are a threat as it's illegal to have these weapons on earth for a reason and Antares should known better about using this stuff (see the video).
Now with all that has been discussed, is this the sort of stability you'd want your neighbor (who has ALL of this at their disposal) to have? If I was a ruler in this world, I'd be panicking about the long term concerns for the safety of my country, especially due to the fact another being has been brought in and has all this knowledge of newer and deadlier weapons. I'd would have requested a meeting for bringing all these concerns to the table and would have negotiated an agreement for these things not to be used. I'd also address concerns of stability within Equestria (the leadership). This would be very similar in terms of a universal nuclear weapons agreement. But again, Purgle in charge, enough said.
My main point to all this is, considering their actions, they should have known something like this (new princes/species of foals) would have a major fallout among the other species. Even though Purgle is a sadistic dipshit, he did have a valid point. And Antares possible creation of a new chemical weapon only makes that point even sharper than it already is.
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First. About getting rid of a religion........Do you know the sort of fallout that could cause? It riddled our history.
Second. Yes, you can have sympathy for the ponies because they are the ones who suffered the most. The minotaur follow a mentally questionable indivitual with questionable moral even by minotaur standard, so it is their fault. Changeling doesn't seem very bright when they decide to attack Equestria. Very counter productive. Diamond dogs receive zero sympathy from me because they will follow anything shiny...only pity. The griffon is in a state of unrest because of nobles...some sympathy.
Third. As for immoral acts...By which standard? ours or theirs or something else? Celestia's act is no where near the shits human ourselves pulled - I'm looking at you USA. Or to be more accuracte, the entire fucking world - so we really can't properly talk shit about her.
Fourth. Engaging in a harem? Uh...This isn't our world. Hareming in our world usually means hoarding with no LOVE and tolerance at all. Greed, selfishness, favoritism are also big factors that create a bad name for stuff like that. But, this is a personal view point. So, that is that. And since when did they engage in a harem activity, and how?
Finally, I still don't see how his points are valid. They are born by greed, sadism, perverse pleasure in bringing pain to others and a racism/specism attitude. They sure sound valid, but when you look deeper into it, they are bullshits.