//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Equines of War: Friends to the End // by stotans //------------------------------// Shining Armor stood in the compound of his personal quarters reviewing the map of his great country. His eyes rested on the small town of Ponyille where his little sister resided. He tried to convince her to move to the capitol, but she stubbornly refused as she always does. The problem was the geographic setting left it vulnerable for any attack. And it being the last front before Canterlot, this presented a major problem. The town lacked any sort of home advantage that would leave it favorable to defend. Not like the far and vast dry desert land of Appleloosa and Las Pegasus, that would surely exhaust even the hardiest regiment and deplete them of food and, more crucially, water. Neither like the industrial powerhouse of Manehattan, which would leave the populous very well supplied and armed and would stand fast against any pillage. Neither like the military stronghold of Stalliongrad, where all ponies go to receive their training before being allowed to where the armor of the Royal Guard. The harsh environment was perfect for toughening up the ponies and giving them the discipline they needed before swearing their oath to Equestria. Upon that said oath, they would fight to their very last breath to defend their country. No, Ponyville lacked all of these things and was vulnerable against any attack. This would leave it as the easiest to lose to the Griffins. That's why it was crucial he found some way of reinforcing its defenses, so it would be able to act as the last stronghold before the capitol. Celestia forbid it would ever come to that. The door of his quarters opens and he sees Princess Luna entering with her dark Pegasus Guards. She tells them both to wait outside. "Captain Armor," she greeted. "Princess Luna," he returned. "Has the preparations been made?" "Of course Princess, everything has been prepared for their arrival." "Very good, I knew everything would be well under your watchful eye, Shining Armor." "As I have served under Princess Celestia, I would proudly serve you Princess Luna." "I know you will Captain." "Our most prestige scholars are doing everything in their power to break the spell, I assure you. It is only a matter of time." "I do hope you are right Captain. But until then, the fate of our country rests solely on my shoulders." Princess Luna looked over to Shining Armor who's eyes were looking down to the ground. "Is there something on your mind Captain?" "Princess you know I will never question your authority, but are you sure we are able to trust Discord?" "In truth Captain Armor, I'm not very sure what to think of him right now. I don't know if he has something to gain from all this or maybe he finds all of this to be some sort of sick game, but I'm afraid we all running out of choices Captain." "Princess?" "Something dark is coming this way Captain. Something cold, dark, and sinister, that we won't be able to avoid. Solomon has turned down any chance for peace to form between our two countries. And I fear the worst." "He's brainwashed his own people! He knows that his claws were blood red when he took the crown! And now the only people that can influence Griffinland are either too cowardly or too greedy to stand up to him!" "And now the Griffins cry for blood and war, all founded on a lie." Luna looked upwards to the map of her beloved country, and then to the very outskirts where Griffinland bordered. She knew it was only a matter of time, before all of she knew would change forever. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Ditzy finally saw the equestrian border. The great wall was built between two mountain valleys that stretched on for miles, with no other entrance into Equestria, and to attempt to fly over the peaks would mean freezing to death over the great altitude. So the only entrance into Equestria was through the wall. Upon landing at the landing site at the bottom of the wall, Ditzy was greeted by a small number of Royal Guards and their spears. After placing his spear directly in front of Ditzy's muzzle, one of the Pegasus guards demanded her to explain her presence at the wall. "I-I have a message from Captain Rainbow Dash of Ponyville that needs to be delivered to you captain immediately," explained Ditzy still having both eyes on the tip of the spear. After being assured that she was a friendly, the guards pulled back their weapons and one of the guards approached her. "The captain is busy doing his inspections of the sentinel towers. You'll have to wait inside until you are summoned." "I-I can't stay here. Here, I'll just give it to you and you can deliver it to him. " The guard recoiled from the message. "No! I can't! I'm not allowed to!" Taken aback from the guard's reaction to the small parchment, Ditzy pulled the message away from him. "The captain suspects there is a traitor amongst the border guards," explained the guard. "Any guard leaving their post or handling vital information can be charged with treason. You are going to have to deliver it yourself." "B-but I can't stay here. I have a family to look after back home." "I'm sorry miss; those are the regulations we have to follow." Despite her reluctance, Ditzy obliged having to being housed inside one of the towers until she would be able to finally meet with the captain. The guards escorted her into the small magically powered elevator that allowed non-Pegasus ponies to reach the top of the wall. Two unicorns at the ridge powered the elevator by levitating the boxed platform up the cables, which are able to be used manually if there were to be no magic available. Once reaching the top, Ditzy was able to see the valley of mountain peaks that marked the beginning of Griffin territory and the sentinel towers that spanned across the Equestrian wall. While being escorted she noticed the other guards standing at their posts with their stern posture and unwavering façade that could win a staring contest with a statue. Their entire being spoke calmly except when she looked into their eyes. Their whites of their seemed to be all that Ditzy could see, and when two guards were found walking in opposite directions, you could see them darting their heads behind them as they crossed each other; holding each other's gaze while walking away. The captain's suspicions had been adopted among the Guards so it seemed. But how great must an event take place that a captain would suspect his own soldiers of treason? When Ditzy asked her escort this question, she could see his face grow dark. The closer to the tower she got, the more she began to notice a faint smell invade her nostrils. It was first a dull metallic smell, but as she drew closer to the source, she saw three black pony sized bags at the entrance of the tower. Soon the dull smell became a grotesque wave of revulsion that forced the mail pony to gag. As she entered the tower, she could still feel the irony smell of blood permeating from her coat. Once she entered one of the rooms in the tower where they housed her, she had just realized how tired she was. She had been traveling in the midst of the storm for hours, and her wings were nearly broken down. She found a small bunk where she was able to lie down to try to get some sleep. She failed however when she couldn't shake of this feeling that she was being watched. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Tai and Carmine sat on the Town Hall entrance steps absorbing the scenery before them. Which consisted mostly of deserted snow paved streets and the occasional wandering ponies who stop to stare at the newcomers before retreating to whatever it was they were doing. It seemed that the locals were quite intimidated by the humans and chose to stay indoors. Even the guards exchanged words of the event that took place in the dungeons. Captain Rainbow Dash's ears burned at the whispers of her humiliation. She had worked so hard to gain the respect of her peers and under one fell swoop, she was dishonored in front of her own fellow guards . . . and her friend. That's what really made her sick to her stomach. The brief moment where her friend had to bargain for her life was really burned her up inside. She had put her friends and her fellow soldiers at risk due to her clumsy mistake. She was nopony's burden. Nopony. Tai caught her gazing from a distance hovering over one of the buildings. She held this stare until Tai gave off a smile towards the cyan guard. She cursed under her breath and dashed off to continue her patrol. "Looks like you made yourself a new friend Tai," Carmine said sarcastically. He laid back against the steps while picking at the teeth of his Lancer. They saw an old brittle green pony walking towards their way, carrying a sack across her back. As she stood in front of the two armored men, she held her calm gaze and faint smile towards the two strangers. It wasn't until she stopped in front of the two Gears that they saw the little filly from the forest hiding behind her. The little filly whispered something in the old mare's ears, who then turned back to the Gears. "You teh ones that saved my little youngen," she asked? "Uh yes mame," answered Carmine. The old mare reached over her shoulder and heaved the small sack into the ground in front of the Gears. Anthony slowly lifted the sack and saw that there were a small number of bright red apples inside. Carmine lifted his helmet halfway across his face and took a bite out of one of the apples. The small burst of flavor shocked his taste buds and the smooth delicious nectar of the fruit soothed his parched throat. Such a luxury was very rare back home, and after days of eating C-rations, this was a rather large change of pace. "Yah two consider these a thanks frum the Apple family and Applebloom here. If you ever need anything else, just ask for Granny Smith and I'll see what I can do fur yur." The little filly looked up towards Carmine's broken visor and her lip started to tremble. "You're hurt," she exclaimed. Anthony saw the tears begin to form in her eyes and quickly acted. "Aww, don't worry about me! It's going to take something more than an overgrown chicken to take me down!" Carmine then folded his arms to his side jerking his head clucking like a chicken, trying to cheer up the little filly. He hated to see her upset, and making a fool of himself was a small price to pay for cheering a little kid up. Even if it just was a pony. It works and Applebloom immediately starts giggling at the Gears comical act while rubbing her tears away with her hoof. With all the commotion going on, pretty soon the rest of the ponies sees started coming out their homes to see Anthony's comedy act. Slowly the hostile atmosphere fades away from the streets of Ponyville, as ponies continued on with their day to day life as if their newcomers had added no change in their matters. Soon Dom and Twilight exited Town Hall to find Anthony in mid-cluck. Dom tried hard to hide his grin while Twilight just stared in question at the strange human. Very professional, Sergeant. Very professional. "Geez Carmine," Dom said shaking his head. "*Ahem* sorry Sarge." Dom looked over to the little filly they had rescued not too long ago and gave a friendly nod before turning back to his squad. "Time to move out boys, we're heading to the capitol." XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Within the mountain a great crowd of Griffins occupied the rows of hollowed caverns that acted as the chairs of the court. In the far left of the chairs sat a group of elderly Griffin, conversing with one another. "Can you believe this fool? He's turn the court into a war room." "What can be said? By technicality it is his court." "By coincidence you mean." "Silence you fool. Or else you'll end up with your head on a pike." "He has no such power! And believe me I'll have plenty to say to him." "I do not envy you my friend." "Silence, he stands, ready to speak." Solomon stood in front of entire of regiments on top of his pedestal. "My fellow countrymen, my fellow soldiers, my fellow Griffins, today is the day we start anew. We have all suffered our own burdens. All of us. We've suffered hunger. We've suffered humiliation. We've suffered lost. These Equestrians, these so called guardians of peace, love, and understanding. To them I ask, where was our peace, when we called for aid on the war against the Minotaurs? To them I ask, where was their understanding, when we claimed that the cause of said war was not ours and we were forced to pay for forgiveness? To them I ask, where was their love, when they oh so brutally slaughtered our beloved former King, and my own beloved brother." Many of the Griffins gasped in horror, many chattering amongst others on this. He raises his claw to silence them and continues. "On the day he would declare our country to be a republic was when this happened. As foolish I thought this was, I still obeyed him as my king. Then I saw Princess Celestia, with my very own eyes; use her cursed magic to murder my own flesh and blood before me." "And as I held my brother during his last seconds of life he told me "Solomon . . . bring our country back to its former glory. And make sure these Equestrians know that we are not weak." The crowd is filled with the cheers of the crowd. The group of elders sat still steaming in the midst. Solomon reaches over to his gem and holds it over his head, letting the dark blue tint shine in the light, causing the crowd to grow silent. "When my brother exhaled his last breath, I took the pony's cursed magic and turned it against them! I and I alone, entrapped their witch Princess Celestia, and fought my way out of their capitol single handedly. If I am able to do that alone, then together, we can make Equestria fall, and we will be reborn out of the rubble! Our children will look back to this day as the finest day in Griffin history." One of the elders stood. "Or the day of our true downfall!" Everyone stops and stares at the lone elder hovering up to Solomon. "Ahh Minister, so glad you could join us," said Solomon while smiling as if greeting a friend. "You have gone too far this time Solomon! Your declaration of war will tear this country down!" "No it will build this country up. The Griffin kind has suffered for too long." "If we have suffered it was because of our own foolishness. We were blinded by our own wants that all we saw was what we could take, when we should've been focusing on what we could grow." "What could we grow out of the barren lands we were left with Minister? Please tell me." "Peace! We could finally grow peace!" "I'm sorry to say Minister, but peace has already betrayed my brother." "I think we both know what really betrayed our king." The crowd begins to murmur and Solomon's eyes widen. "It is not so much as what as it is was whom I suppose. Isn't that right Solomon? And what of his son, did you betray him too?" Solomon pounces to the Minister, unveiling the dagger he had concealed in his cloak. He slits the blade across his throat and steps back to let the blood flow. No one rises to help the Minister as he collapses to the ground unable to utter words, but only gurgles on his own blood. He soon falls silent and his eyes grow dark. Solomon stands tall clinging on the blade to his side. His beak breaks into a smile as he addresses the court. "You see my brethren; I only spill blood only when it is necessary." The door to the court room opens and a small group of Locusts enter brandishing weapons with two Kantus priests, following General Ramm. "Now . . . let by gones be by gones." He opens to the crowd with open arms with one of them still waving the knife. "Will you, the soon to be leaders of tomorrow, follow me on the path to a new country?" One of the Locusts cocks his Hammerburst and small group of Griffins cheer. "Will you follow me into the path of a new life?" One of the Kantus Priest lets out a demonic hiss and half of the crowd cheers. "Will you follow me into the path of a new world?" General Ramm comes and crushes the Minister's skull under his foot and the whole chamber is filled with the continues chant of their new King. Solomon! Solomon! Solomon!