//------------------------------// // The Great Flag Battle // Story: The EK // by Magi Tail Welkin //------------------------------// With Hearth’s Warming coming up the ponies of Everfree started making plans. However, a kink in the armour appeared in the form of the Huntersfield Town Council wanting a say in the “National Celebration.” So, Ponyville Town Clerk, Written Script decided to set up a Planning Committee with some of the most important figures of the tiny nation. Mayor Mare and Twilight, decided not to join the Committee but put into consideration whatever came about, although in the Princess’s case more to do with Flash as a perhaps, slightly over protective father-to-be. Pinkie Pie and Maud were still on their quests to locate their Chosen Loves but Rarity and Applejack joined the Committee, and Applejack brought Sutch along believing him use to this, having presumably hosted Party Conferences for his Official Monster Raving Looney Party. Sutch drew his hoof down his muzzle. Every-pony shouted and muttered. Applejack turned to him “What’s got you Sutch? I thought you’d be used to this stuff?” “Monster Raving Looney Party Conferences aren’t so, well boring, we shout about joke ideas for policies, like, instituting a “Bill of Lefts” as the current Bill of Right appears one-sided, or puddles deeper than three inches will be marked by a rubber duck, and introduce passports for pets. Then we all dance about to music.” Finally, Written Script, as Chair-stallion of the Committee, banged his gavel “Ladies and Gentle-colt, order please.” Rarity spoke up “Can we please go on with it?” “I agree,” Sutch called nodded “We’ve been here two hours already!” Written Script nodded and with his magic unveiled a poster and acting as cheerfully as he could be, said “Well, I think we’re all agreed on the poster. Which I think is very nice, tasteful and artistic, and I’m sure Parcel Post will have it printed in time.” He put the poster down and pulled out a clipboard “Now the grand finale will be the Hearth’s Warming Day Celebrations. We’ll be having a March Pass Parade in the morning done by the Everfree Guard and its Reserves, as well as a Fly Pass by Wonderbolts Soarin and our own Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane and I’m sure the preparations for it as in full swing,” he glanced at Major Fields sitting a little way off from him “Is that so Major?” “Yes.” The Major uttered, bored by the meeting, waved the Town Clerk off. Written Script, frowned nodded and looked at the clipboard “Now Princess Twilight, and Mayor Mare and the Mayor of Huntersfield will be on the podium, as will myself and other member of the Town Councils and of course the Council of Friendship and their chosen guests.” Written Script then started to list off the different events to be included and turned to Sutch “…And I think it would be fun to have Screaming Lord Sutch do one of his more, pony oriented stand-up routines.” Sutch sat up “Oi, Mr Town Clerk, but I’ll have you know I came here to get away from being Screaming Lord Sutch, I just want a break thank you very much.” Written Script looked around the table “All those in favour?”, seven of the Committee raised their hooves, “All those against?”, Sutch, Applejack and a few of the Huntersfield pony raised their hooves. Applejack looked to Major Field “Ain’t you going to raise your hoof Major?” “I can’t be bothered this is a waste of time.”, Porter used his magic and raised the Major’s hoof for him. Written Script counted the number “Seven, well, it seems as Chair I have the casting vote, it’s settled then, Mr Sutch will perform at the Festival.” Sutch groaned and slumped down “I expect some money to go to the Pearlies for this.”, Applejack nodded. Written Script took his seat and continued “Well, then let us move on…” The next parade night went on as Sergeant Porter sat in the office. The Major went down to the train station. A knock came from the door. Porter put his files down “Come in.” Cold Steel opened the door and announced, “Sir Lionheart, Royal Knight of Equestria.” Porter quickly stood up and saluted “Good evening sir.” “Good evening Porter, where’s the Major?” “He’s preoccupied now, is there something important?” “I suppose so. You see Flash invited me down for the holidays and we’ve been discussing about the up-coming parade and we both agree it would be good if all decorations and medal be worn. Now,” he leaned in and whispered, “Do you and Major have any Medals?” “Yes.” An eyebrow rose “Then why don’t you wear them?” The outside door opened and the Major, and Miss Grey behind him stopped, he saluted “Sir! I didn’t except you?” “Just came down to give you orders for the parade.” Lionheart explained before glancing back to Porter “The Sergeant had just told me you had medals yourself. Why don’t you acknowledge them?” “Well sir,” the Major said opening a draw in his desk and pulling out three medals “They were awarded to me during my time in the Fifth Hoof. I decided since I retired I didn’t need to show off, and since I formed the Home Guard I decided not to rely on my past achievements to earn respect.” The highest-ranking officer blinked. The Major seemed to have reached a level of pomposity very few reach, the type of self-importance where one doesn’t show their successes, usually this is only something seen in the very high up wealthy, not by a low-ranking military officer. It almost impressed him. He looked down at the medal to identify them. First a small cross with a side profile image of Princess Celestia with a ribbon of a reddish pink and grey lines. He spoke without looking up “Member of the Order of Canterlot?” “With all the stuff, I did in my youth in the barracks and ballooning my friend nominated me.” The next medal, another cross, this one simpler on a dark blue ribbon with a large white stripe in the middle, “The Distinguished Service Cross? The third highest medal for gallantry, how did you get that?” “A number of the Regiments of Hoof were sent to defend the Duchy of Hiss from a rival Griffon State, Equestria had treaties with Hiss.” The last medal, a coin medallion with a reddish violet medal with two small white stripes of the boarders and a thin metal bar across, “The Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct with a fifteen-year additional service clasp?” “Yes, both myself and Porter have them. For me it was forty years of service.” He turned to Porter “And do you have any other medals?” “Just one.” And Porter took out from a lower draw his pair, one exactly like the MLS&GC, the other another coin medallion with a ribbon of a wide and dark crimson stripe flanked by a trio of stripes going black, white and black. Eyes widened and blinked fast and shutting he said, “The Princess’s Medal for Champion Shot!” “I still practice my crossbow skills, I had to be a sniper encase a saboteur came across our communications station. Though I don’t like being violent.” “I see, well,” Lionheart turned back to the Major “From one old solider to another I can tell you that you can freely showcase your achievements. And you may be in for more medals.” The Major raised an eyebrow “How so?” “Well, Princess Twilight has discussed the idea of an Everfree Medal, to be awarded to all members of the Everfree Guard, to commemorate the establishment of the Everfree Kingdom.” The Major held a hoof up “I’m sorry but I can’t expect that, gallantry, commitment and skill is one thing…” “Those are three things sir.” Porter commented. “Yes, thank you Porter,” Major Fields returned to Sir Lionheart “but issuing bits of brass for any tin pot campaign simply because some ponies were there makes a mockery of the whole thing! Miss Cheerilee wouldn’t issue certificates or trophies out to her students for simply taking part in some sporting event. General Service Medals are the same thing.” “Major,” Sir Lionheart said sternly “Flash, Chrome Blade and Dauntless Doo have General Service in Saddle Arabian and Griffon Land operations and Flash for helping in the two years of The Troubles in the Gallop Islands of the Griffish Isles.” Porter blinked “Good grief.” The Major shook his head “You can tell Captain Sentry that I personally don’t approve, he has the right to issue them, but don’t put my name on the list.” Sir Lionheart sighed “Very well. But the order still stands. All,” he empathised “medals and decorations are to be worn in the Parade, am I clear Major.” “Transparently sir.”, the Royal Knight nodded, saluted and left. The Major turned to Porter “Let’s get the order out, will dismiss the parade tonight, let them find their medals and resemble tomorrow evening for an initial inspection before the Hearth’s Warming Parade on Sunday.” “Yes sir.” And the two, followed by Miss Grey left office to tell the Platoon. Next evening the Platoon stood ready, the left of their tunic reflecting light. Cold Steel, who sometimes acted as third in command stood at the front. The door to the office opened and the Major and Porter entered the hall. “Platoon!” Cold Steel called “Attention!”, they all stood to attention, Steel marched forward, halted and saluted “Parade ready for inspection sir.” “Thank you, Steel.” Major Fields said. Cold about turned and marched forward. The Major followed, he glanced back at Porter, and ran into Steel where he halted to take his usual palace in the ranks. The Major and Porter took their palaces at the front of the hall and began their inspection. The Major closely at looked Cold Steel up and down and nodded “Very smart Steel, as usual.”, he moved forward to Vigil and his eyes widened before he raised an eyebrow “I didn’t know you had a medal Vigil.” He put his stick to the single medal with a pure white ribbon “Is that an authentic Equestrian decoration?” Vigil narrowed her eyes “That sir is the Artic Medal for the attempted relief of Yakyakistan commanded by Lieutenant Earnest Settle in 971. My mentor took me and my apprentice peers on it to educate us on military funeral practice.” “Attempted relief?” “Yes, when we finally reached Yakyakistan they turned us away. To there and back to Equestria meant a long arduous journey, remember this was years before the Crystal Empire reappeared, so it was a wild and lowly place the frozen north beyond the Crystalline Mountains, with nothing for the eye to behold but ice and snow, so they made the ribbon white.” “Very appropriate.”, he walked passed a couple of the other older ponies before stopping at Mr Waddle, first the gleaming cross with trefoil clovers at the ends of the arm, hanging from a ribbon of light and dark blue, the Clover Cross, and the burnt brown and red ribbon holding a coin medal with a flight of dragons, the Firebreather Medal, given to any individual on a sanctioned expedition to the Dragon Lands. The Major waved his stick at the two medals “I thought you disproved of those Padre?” “Well it was you’re order sir and I didn’t want to disappoint you, nor Captain Sentry and Princess Twilight. They came out rather nice, didn’t they? Chelsea cleaned them with powered chalk and lemon juice.” “Really?” the Major turned back to Porter “Make a note of that Porter, powdered chalk and lemon juice.”, he stepped forward finding Caramel, smart enough not to do some stupid like wear his rodeo award ribbons, stood in the rank behind, he paused, Zecora? The Zebra wore a chain around her neck. The Major narrowed his eyes “Is that some form of Honours?” She nodded “Yes, from the place I was born, you see the insignia is of ivory horn.” Porter’s eye widened “You mean that’s carved from a rhino’s horn?”, Zecora shrugged “Rhino or elephant it does not matter truth be said, but please don’t think we Zebras cruel, the animals were already dead.” “So,” the Major asked “how did you get this order?” “With my potions, I cure the King of a tribe, he gave me this order and I wear it with pride.” “I see.” The Major cleared his throat “I don’t wish to be blunt but it’ll look a little tacky. Usually something like that is attached to the left side of the lower torso.”, Zecora smirked. She turned and left the rank. Went to the side and took the chain off. Then unattached the insignia hanging from the chain and pinned it to her left side. Porter chuckled as she returned to her place “I saw the way you pony-folk wear your honours. I predicted you would think it looked as a horror.” “Smart thinking. I like initiative, well done. What is this Zebra order called?” “To translate to Equestrian makes the name rough. To properly do between now and the parade, time is not enough.” “I see, I’ll get back to you on that one.” He continued inspecting the platoon making sure those without medals kept Rarity’s excellent ceremonial uniform in top condition. He returned to the front “Well done every-pony, you all you splendid. Now we shall be meeting in the town hall at the usual time tomorrow. If you can find anyway of improving your appearances in between now and then would be the cherry on top of a brilliant cake.” He turned to Porter and nodded. Porter called out “Platoon, dismissed!” The Platoon stood in one of the spare rooms of the Town Hall waiting. The Major talked with Waddle “The powdered clack and lemon juice worked like a charm Padre. I haven’t seen these medals look so bright since I got awarded them.” Waddle smiled “I’m happy to have been of assistance sir.” A knock came from the door and the head of the platoon turned. Applejack, in her gala dress looked slightly sheepish “Sorry for interrupting Major Fields, I was just showing Sutch around and I thought to introduce him to the Platoon. Do you mind?” “Oh no Applejack, not at all. Honour to have a Council Member see us today before the parade.” Applejack smiled and walked in followed by Sutch, in his Pearly Suit walked in. They stopped at Cold Steel and Sutch raised an eyebrow and looked to the Major “He allowed to all that ironmongery?” Cold Steel turned offended “This isn’t iron Mr Sutch.” He pointed to the medal second to the end “This is the Sultan Star, given to me personally by Sultan Waqar in Buckdad in 961.”, Steel then went into a small lecture about the Saddle Arabian Campaign. Sutch held up his hoof “Sorry, but I got to go and prepare for me act.”, and he and Applejack quickly left. Steel frowned and turned to Lucky Clover “I was about to get to the best part.” Lucky chuckled “There’s always next time.” “Platoon,” the Major called “form up, we should be going.” The thirty ponies assembled into ranks and they left the Town Hall for the march pass. They met Flash and the other members of the Full Time Everfree Guard, but the Prince looked put off. The Major asked why. The Huntersfield Town Council, mostly thanks to Foggy Dew requested another guard for the parade, and a platoon of Lady Belvoir’s (pronounced Beaver’s) Regiment were drafted in to do it. Both Princess Twilight and Mayor Mare voiced their opinions of this baffling decision, but the Mayor of Huntersfield kept them in. Lady Belvoir’s Regiment started out as a progressive section for allowing mares into the ranks, generally however stallions joined the Royal Guard. As time went on only Unicorns joined this regiment, the only non-specialist Unicorn division as Unicorns generally entered the Logistic Corps, like the Royal Magisters and Signals. In fact, recently number of the Belvoir began decreasing as the Regiments of Hoof opened their ranks to Pegasi and Unicorns. But the Belvoir, or Beavers, carried on. In the pub of Huntersfield the groups of soldiers sat around the bar. If you stood behind the bar you would see the Everfree Guard in their Purple, with Flash in his Royal Knight regalia, and Miss Grey sitting beside the Major on the right and the Beavers on your left. The captain of the Beavers, Hussar, a cousin to the Marquess of Cavalry, an old military family of Unicorn nobles, who in fact owned the land which the Equestrian side of the Royal Boarders Bridge rests upon. Hussar himself an old solider talked with Sir Lionheart who sat in between the two guard companies. Rarity and Moonlight Spectre entered the establishment. Followed by Foggy Dew and North Sentry, the pair of them appeared be arguing. The Major turned to Rarity and Moonlight “Care for a drink Miss Rarity, Lord Spectre, it’s my round.” Rarity smiled “How very civil of you Major Fields, I’ll have a lemonade.”, the Major nodded and glanced towards Moonlight “And you Lord Spectre.” “Very kind of you Major, I’ll have a Double Scotch.”, the Major frowned, and mumbled to the bar tender to get those drinks. Foggy Dew leaned in “If you’re offering I’ll have a Double Scotch as well.” The Major glared “I didn’t extend the invitation to you.”, he didn’t want to talk to the pony who requested the Beavers, he looked back to North Sentry “Mr Sentry?”, North smiled but shook his head “I don’t think so Major, it is the Lord’s day remember.”, the Major looked to Flash and shook his head too. “Of course.” The Major leaned over the bar “Sir Lionheart?” The elder Royal Knight turned around and smiled “I’ll have a drink with you lot later, I need to finish the ones Captain Hussar offered.” The Major frowned but nodded, he felt a tap on his shoulder and glanced around to see Rarity “Major, make it a single for Moonlight, he does get carried away sometimes.” “Really?” he looked to the bar tender and whispered over “Make that a single, will you?” He mimed taking a drink and nodded to Moonlight, who currently talked with Foggy and North. From the other side of the bar Captain Hussar called over “Well Fields, did you enjoy the parade?” “Yes, I thought it was a very smart turn out.” He looked to Flash, Dauntless, Chrome and Sir Lionheart “Don’t you?”, they all nodded. “Yes,” Hussar replied, “Sorry you chaps were behind us, we couldn’t see your drill.”, his sergeant leaned in and said, “But we heard them, didn’t we?” “Oh yes,” Hussar laughed “late, eh?” the rest of the Beavers laughed. Sir Lionheart nudged away from them slightly. Cold Steel glared at them. The Major spoke up “Yes, well, unfortunately the wind was blowing away from us.”, and Steel leaned forward and said, “Some of us had difficulty hearing the words of command.” Hussar chuckled “I think some of you had difficulty in marching!”, the Beavers laughed loudly. The Major glanced to Flash “Just ignore him sir.” “Yes, thank you Major, I already was. I’ll be reporting his comments to Twilight later, and presumably Lionheart will do the same to Princess Celestia.” Hussar continued chuckled “I tell you what Fields, next time we have a parade like this you must ask Sir Lionheart here if your chaps can do it in wheelchairs.”, another round of laughter. North Sentry leaned in “That’s not fair Captain, the Major was striding out like a yearling colt.” Porter spoke up “Yes he was. I thought you looked awfully smart sir.” Foggy leaned in next to North “Of course, the Major didn’t have as much weight to carry then you sir, what with him having few medals.” The Major taped a hoof on the bar “When there’s an attack here in the Everfree Kingdom, it’ll be fighting efficiency that counts, it’s no use just waving medals in the enemies’ face.” Hussar chuckled again “Well, it’ll be a darn sight better then waving your pension books!”, the loudest round of laughs sounded. The Major trudged up and yelled in the Captain’s face “My fellows in the Home Guard can wipe the floor with you any day. Their most experienced, better trained, and better lead.” “Here, here!” Lucky Clover called out. Hussar chuckled “That’s fighting talk. Isn’t it sirs.” He said looking to both Sir Lionheart and Flash. The Major continued “Thanks to his Highness Sir Flash here we’re not stifled by old fashioned ideas and Coronal Blimp mentality.” Now Hussar fumed “By Celestia Fields, you will prove that or apologise! How can you call us old fashioned when the fashion of your uniforms are several centuries out of date!” Rarity gasped and then growled, Moonlight wrapped a hoof around her. The Major replied “I certainly won’t apologise. And we can’t prove it until we suffer an attack.” Sir Lionheart and Flash glanced at each other, and Flash spoke up “We don’t have to wait for that Major, I’ve been making a Battle Course with a field crossbow firing range, and we can always think up some initiative tests.” Hussar banged a hoof on the table “Darn good idea. I accept. How about you Fields? Are you going to accept or are you backing down?” Cold Steel spoke up “We’re not backing down!”, and all the Everfree Guard Reservists agreed. Foggy tapped Sir Lionheart shoulder “I’d like to see this Sir; may I be an umpire? I’ve had years of experience as a solider so I’ll be nonbiased.” Moonlight called over “I’ll be an umpire as well,” he glanced at the Major “and the fact you’ve only bought me a Single Scotch will have no effect on my judgement what so ever.”, Rarity whispered something into his ear. Sir Lionheart looked around “We’re going to need a third umpire.” “I’ll do it.” Called a voice from the corner of the pub. Every-pony turned to see a slightly annoyed Soarin at a table with a partly surprised Rainbow Dash, the Second-in-command of the Wonderbolts crossed his hooves “Me and Rainbow have just about had enough of your arguing, the sooner we get it over with the better.” Rainbow nodded “Yeah, and I’ll help.” Flash turned to Dauntless and Chrome “We can’t take part because of our normal duties, but I’m sure Reverend Farthing will assist.” Cold Steel banged his hoof on the table “That settles it, we accept, don’t we sir?” “Of course, we accept.” “Alright,” Hussar said, “I have only one condition to make, and that is every-pony of the respective companies who took part in the parade today takes part in the test.” Sir Lionheart nodded “Sounds fair to me Fields.” The Major nodded “I agree, very fair, don’t you Porter?” “Yes, I do sir.” Then he muttered “Just means we’ll loses that’s all.” As before with the Windmill Test, the members of the platoon all sat in front of the chalkboard, behind Sergeant Porter sat a wrapped-up flag. They all talked among themselves about the usual day trouble. The Major walked in and ordered “Pay attention every-pony.” As every-pony finished their conversations and turned around to look at the chalkboard Cold Steel stood up and turned around to order “Pay attention, pay attention!”, after a few seconds of silence he turned to the Major and said, “They are now paying attention sir.” The Major resisted rolling his eyes and shallowly nodded “Thank you Steel.” After Steel sat down the Major began “Well, the details of the test against Captain Hussar’s Platoon of Lady Beaver’s Regiment are at hoof, and so we can now put you all in the picture. Now, I’m sure you all agree that you’ve heard enough of my voice.” “Here, here.” Lucky muttered. The Major glared at him before clearing his throat and glanced to Porter “So I’m going to ask Sergeant Porter to brief you. Carry on Sergeant.” “Thank you, sir, do you think I could borrow your stick?” “Certainly not, it’s only for offices.”, Porter gave out a small breath and went to the board as the Major sat down. “Right,” Porter began “now,” he cleared his throat and pointed to a circle point on a road on the far left of the board “Both platoons will start here, in their transports. Hussar, I believe his using an Auto-Magic Armoured truck, now before the start, both platoon commanders will be given a map reference and we have to get there as quickly as we can, alright?” The Major added “Using maps, of course.”, Porter turned to him “Well I thought that was rather obvious sir.” “Oh, nothing is obvious Sergeant. Carry on.” Porter face-hoof ‘This is becoming a carry on.’, he took a deep breath and turned back to the board, and pointed up to a point on the right of the drawing with a letter B “Now after we reach the map reference we get escorted to point B, where we shall be all give the initiative tests, right?” Caramel held his hoof up “Excuse me Sergeant, in what type will these tests be?” “Yes,” Porter said “well, the simple fact is we don’t know, they’ll be given to us on the moment so we must think on our hooves, is that alright.” “Yes Sergeant.” Porter then moved his hoof down the drawing over a blue line “We then cross the river here,” then down the gap between the wooded area. Then we make are way across the battle course itself,” then finally to a drawing of a building “Finally, we reach the tower here, where outside we must fire five crossbow bolts each at a target. Then we rush into the tower, climb up onto the roof and we run the Regulation Colours, the flag, whichever is run signifies the winning platoon.” Using his horn Porter unfurled the flag. An almost square flag, divided diagonally from the lower hoist-side corner to the upper fly-side corner. The upper triangle is white and the lower triangle is dark blue. In the centre, a purple tree. On the top left corner, the insignia of the Everfree Guard, Princess Twilight’s crown with the motto of ‘Everfree Forever’ in scrollwork. Porter smiled “I must say Miss Rarity did an awfully good piece of work.” The Major nodded “Yes, she also supplied the Beavers with their flag. And since our flag is a variant of the yet to be unveiled EK National Flag, if we win it’ll be the first time any flag of the Everfree Kingdom will be seen, as such if we do win Princess Twilight and Captain Sentry agree to make the day of the test the official Flag Day, it will tie the Home Guard to the direct history of the nation, so further motivation for us all.” Vigil leaned back to Lucky and whispered, “The Major wants another excuse to go into the history books.” The Major finished “Is that all clear?” Most of the platoon responded positively, but Vigil stood up “Major? I foresee one small snag.” “And what’s that?” “While we’re rushing here and there and running the flag up the pole, Waddle will still be trying to get out of the Truck.” Major Field smirked and sniffed “Come, come now Vigil, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, isn’t it?” “It’s no exaggeration, it’s plain for all to see the old Reverend’s decrypted.” She quickly turned to Waddle “No offence meant Padre, you understand.”, Waddle nodded and said, “I admit I’m not as agile as I was and my back hooves are rather bad,” he held his head up “But I’m very determined.” Lucky slapped Waddle on his back “Don’t you worry Padre we’ll help you.”, the rest of the platoon agreed. The rest, expect for Vigil “He’s a milestone around our necks and you all know it, it’s folly to take him with us.” “Yes,” the Major said quickly to stop her “But I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do about it now Vigil, Padre was on the parade, therefore he must be on the tactical test.” “Must he? It’s my opinion if he’d one small spark of loyalty to the rest of us he’d break a leg!” she quickly turned again to Waddle “Nothing personal mind you, I’m speaking for the good of the platoon.” Lucky spoke up offended “He can’t go around breaking his legs at his age!”, Zecora nodded glaring at Vigil. The Major barked an order “Sit down Vigil and don’t be ridiculous.” Zecora then stood up “Major?” “Yes, Miss Zecora?” Field asked, wondering what the zebra would say and how the rhyme would go. “In my tribe, when the oldest had trouble getting anywhere, the strongest of us would carry them on a chair.” “How so?” Porter spoke “You mean like the old sedan chairs?”, Zecora nodded, the Major tapped his hoof “That could work,” he looked to Time Turner “I don’t suppose you could make something in time Doctor Turner.” The Doctor nodded “It should be easy enough, although I don’t want to be a carrier, I had a bad experience with one.” “We’ll sort out who carries the Padre nearer the time, you don’t mind do you Padre?” “Oh no, not at all.”, the Major smiled “This is what I like about the Platoon, we have very agile minds, making us able to surmount all our difficulties. We’re going to run rings around the Beaver mob and send them home with their tail between their legs. Are you all with me?” Every-pony agreed wholeheartedly. The Major nodded “Right, that’s all dismissed.”, every-pony got up and left the hall. On the road, out in the countryside of the Kingdom the two vehicles stood. The Three T and the Beaver’s Auto-magic Truck. Over on the roadside stood the Mail Coach with Cipher at the reigns and Riolu and Fluttershy sitting on the roof with him. Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash represented the Council of Friendship, to bear witness to the results, just encase the Everfree Guard Flag, thus the first unveiling of the National Flag, did occur. Captain Hussar and Major Fields stood with their seconds-in-command. Before them Foggy Dew and Moonlight. Rarity walked up behind them having finished, secretly, double checking the flag before giving them back to the commanders. Once down Foggy Dew addressed the leaders “Alright gentle-colts, Lord Spectre here will read out the map reference once. You will them write it down and run back to your vehicles. Flight Lieutenant Soarin,” he said nodding to the Wonderbolt, holding a flag, Rainbow Dash next to him, “will give you the signal to start.” The Major rolled his eyes at being talked to like a child, he thought a lot of this seemed obvious. Moonlight took out the piece of paper from the envelope and read aloud “Six-hundred and Twenty-Nine. Five-hundred and seventy-one.”, quickly Hussar and the Major wrote the numbers down and rushed into the cabs of their transport. Porter helped the Major aboard with Time Turner ready with the clutch at biting point. Porter climbed in and shut the door. Soarin waved the flag. The trucks raced off the start. Soarin lifted the flag, only to find it snapped in half. Rainbow Dash blinked and shouted “Hey! You nearly ran him over!” “No matter Dashy,” Soarin said unfurling his wings “let’s get going.”, quickly Foggy and Rarity jumped into the Mail Coach. Fluttershy held onto Cipher as he slammed the reigns down and followed the troop transports flanked by the flying trio of Moonlight, Soarin and Rainbow. Foggy leaned out the window. Up the road, the two trucks went neck and neck. A junction came up, the Three T turned left and the Auto-magic Truck turned right. Foggy looked at the other two umpires “Me and Lord Spectre with go with Captain Hussar, Flight Lieutenant, you and Miss Dash follow the Major.” “Wilco!” Soarin called and the umpires split up. Meanwhile Major Fields looked in the side mirror “Hussar turned to the right.” He leaned back to Vigil, who stuck her head out of the back door into the truck, holding the map and asked, “Are you sure we’re going the right way?” “Of course, I am! If you think you can do any better sir you’re welcome the try. Just remember his Highness Field Marshal Armour was impressed by my map reading skills.” The Major rolled his eyes and looked to Time Turner “Can’t we go any faster Doctor Turner?” “I’ve got my hoof to the floor sir.” Waddle appeared over Vigil’s shoulder “Beg pardon sir.” “What is it Padre?” “Do you think I might be excused?” “Certainly not! We can’t stop, this is a race.” Suddenly from behind them a moaning and shaking sounded, the Major looked back “What going on back there?” Caramel appeared next to Waddle “It’s Cold Steel, he’s shaking like a leaf.” “Stop him then!”, Caramel and Waddle went back inside, but the groaning and mumbling still went on. Zecora appeared over Vigil’s shoulder, Major Fields look up at here “What’s the matter with Steel.” “Steel did not tell you? Then he is a fool.” “What didn’t he tell me about?” “Malaria is what he suffers.”, the Major’s eyes widened as the medical zebra continued “We need a way of making him stiffer.” “Malaria?” Lucky Clover called out, however his voice seemed shaky “He-e-e-e, say-y-y-y-s he-e-e-e’s been g-g-get-t-t-ting them-m-m-m f-f-f-f-or-r-r f-o-o-or-r-r-ty-y-y-y y-y-year-r-r, years!” “Forty years!” Vigil spoke up “I’ve seen it before, common occurrence. He needs quinine, tonic water, and plenty of blankets.” Zecora looked inside her bag of medical supplies “I have a homemade brew of tonic wine. However, I don’t know its effects on an equine.” “It doesn’t matter, give it to him, we need him to complete the tests.”, the zebra nodded unsurely and went back inside. Vigil looked at the map “Another half mile and then we turn left.” “Thank you, Vigil.” Major Fields said. Then Porter spoke up as he looked out the window “Oh how sweet!” “What was that?” “We just passed a dear little cottage with roses growing around the door.” “Never mind sightseeing, just keep your eyes on the road.” “Turn left here!” Time Turner swung the wheel around. He then looked at the mirror and wiped the condensation off “Where’s all this steam coming from?” Porter asked, “You don’t think the engine’s overheating?” “She can’t overheat Sergeant, I made sure the cooling system works as best as she could, I mean, we went a full throttle with the Wheel and she didn’t overheat.” “That true.” Waddle appeared at the door “Cold Steel is steaming sir.” “Best thing for him.” Vigil said, “Let him sweat it out and give him plenty to drink.” “There’s only Zecora’s tonic wine and he’s had half already.” The Major spoke up “Then give him the other half, this is an emergency!” “Next turning on the left coming up.”, Time Turner glanced back at her before turning left again. After a while Porter spoke aloud again “How enchanting!”, Major Fields looked at him “What did you say?” “Well, we just passed that dear little cottage with the roses again.” The Major rolled his eyes “Oh for Celestia’s sake,” then he flinched “What?” he turned to Vigil “That means we’ve gone around in a circle!” “Don’t shout at me sir, we all make mistakes.” Lucky appeared above Vigil “Sir, the Beaver’s cart is coming up behind us!”, the Major looked at the mirror “There trying to get passed us!” he turned to Time Turner “Turner, I want you to weave the Truck about and bloke their path.” “I’m sorry sir.” Time Turner said, “I cannot comply.” “What?” “A, it would be cheating. B, it would make every-pony sick, and given Cold Steel’s condition we can’t have that. And C, it could damage the Three T.” Just as he finished the Auto-magic cart speed passed. The Major glared at the Doctor “You might have cost us the battle Turner!” “I wouldn’t worry Major,” called a voice from outside, they turned to look out the window. Cipher called over from the slower moving Mail Coach “Auto-magic vehicles aren’t supposed to go that fast for that long, especially something that heavy.” Indeed, after a few more miles the Three T passed the stalled and smoking Auto-magic truck. The Wonderbolts continued with the Everfree Guard Reserves while Cipher stopped the coach. Foggy ran out the door almost as soon as it stopped and yelled at Captain Hussar “Throw a bucket of water on it!” “We haven’t got a bucket of water you idiot.” “And,” the sergeant added “It could pay havoc on the fire spell.” “Spell,” Hussar said “Of course! A quick freeze spell!” Foggy looked down the road “It better be quick Captain, Major Fields is getting away.” On top of the Mail Coach, Moonlight narrowed his eyes and glanced to Cipher and Fluttershy “I must say, Mr Dew seems to be playing favourites.” Rarity who watched from the window slyly smiled. When the two military trucks meet next they passed each other at a cross junction, the Reservists went one way, the Beavers went the other. The Major looked back “They’re going the other way, Doctor Turner, turn the truck around. Hussar looked at his mirror “They’re going the other way, we’ll turn around.” The two transports reversed and went in the other directions. The Major saw this “Now they’re going the other way? Turn around again.” Hussar saw it also “Now they’re going the other way.” He pulled on the reins “We’ll turn around.” Instead on going on the road they turned onto the green of the field. “They’re up to something.” The Major muttered, then ordered “Follow them Turner.” Hussar raised an eyebrow “They’re up to something. We’ll follow them.” Naturally this resulted in the two transports literally going around in a circle. The Mail Coach stopped and the umpires and their associates watched in bewilderment. Soarin blinked “It’s Ring Around the Rosie!” Cipher nodded “I was going to say Here We Go Around the Mulberry Bush.” Moonlight tapped his hoof “Let’s get this nonsense sorted out.” At the finish line of the road race, Sir Lionheart checked his pocket watch and frowned. He looked to the Reverend Farthing “Where in Equestria are they? They should have been here ages ago!” The Auto-magic cart speed down the road. The Three T raced up the road. In the distance came a bridge over a river. Which both vehicles approached, from opposite directions. They braked hard. Hussar leaned out the driver window “Back up at once! You hear? Back up at once!” The Major shouted back “Don’t tell me to back up! You back up!” Hussar laughed “We’ll soon see about that!” He charged his horn and the Armoured Cart charged forward into the Three T. Time Turner put the throat down. The Major turn back to the lorry “Every-pony in the back get out and push!” Hussar banged the side of the truck and barked “Every-pony in the back, get out and push!” The Mail Coach and the Wonderbolts arrived to survey the scene. Foggy got out, climbed onto the bridge sides and scuttled across to the Reservists side, he leaned onto the cab of the Three T and shouted, “What’s going on here!” Porter snapped at him “Will you please clear off?” and push him. Foggy wailed and flew into the river. Time Turner changed down and put his hoof petal to the metal. The V8 roared like a monster and the Armoured Cart got pushed back. Hussar backed off and let them pass, but grumbling shouted “You might win the race battle Fields, but this war isn’t over!” Moonlight sighed “And now it’s the initiative tests.” He supervised the Beavers but turned to where Foggy Dew supervised the Reservists, “Carry on Mr Dew.” He called. Foggy nodded and looked at his note. The Major looked back “Where’s Steel?” Porter said, “There bringing him as fast as they can.” Indeed, the stronger of the platoon carried Steel on the sedan chair meant for Waddle, the elderly Padre trotted beside them. Steel stood up and slurred said, “Wait here.” And unsteadily he lumbered to the Major “I’m alright Major, my Malaria’s complete subsidised. One bottle of Miss Zecora’s wine, and I’m a new stallion!” He started to lean on the Major. Foggy blew his whistle “Now pay attention, this is first initiative test.” Steel started to mumble loudly. Foggy blew his whistle again “Pay attention!”, the other shushed Steel as Foggy continued “Now, over there,” he pointed with his hoof “Mr Cipher has hold of twenty-four balloons.” The Changeling looked rather silly holding the air-filled balloon, which flew about in the small breeze, with his magic. Foggy continued “Now when I say go, he will release all twenty-four balloons, you will ready your spears and burst every one of those balloons before moving on to your next objective.” They all nodded “Right. Go!” Cipher stood his magic and quickly flew out of the way. The platoon rushed to the colour balls of rubber with their spears while Steel stumbled about. However, when they thrust their spears at them the balloons didn’t burst, they squashed and stretched before flying away. Vigil jumped on the one nearest her. Lucky, who party on Lilac’s persuasion started smoking pipes, with special magical filters of course, felt the blow end of the one he’d been smoking in the Three T “Hang on Major, I got it.” He pressed the hot pipe into a balloon and burst it, then another, and another. Zecora used a safety pin from her bag and popped one, then gave another to Waddle who popped another and called over about the idea “You have to open it of course.” “There’s a couple!” Steel called as he charged at one balloon sitting on a broken off branch, he thrusted his spear, into the branch, pulled back and fell over. Recovering he pulled the spear out and jammed it into the stuck balloon, which did indeed burst. Porter looked about the field “I can’t see any more sir.” “Right,” the Major called as he turned to the Platoon “Onto the next test.” “No wait!” Foggy called and pointed with his hoof “What about that one!” A blue balloon carried by the breeze flew away. Moonlight called over “Hurry up Major, Hussar’s lot have finished.” Foggy smiled “He’s going to win! I knew he would.” He laughed and tapped the Major’s arm “And you’re leaving until you got that one.” Porter’s horn spark “Wind speed, five miles an hour.” Steel shouted, “I’ll get it sir.” “I’ll handle this sir.” Porter said charging his horn, from his tunic he pulled out a crossbow pistol. Closed one eye and pointed the crossbow a little off the balloon, the trigger snapped back, the bow slacked, the arrowed sailed, the balloon burst. The Major smiled “Well done Porter, you more than deserved that Champion Shot Medal.” “Thank you, sir.” And the platoon marched onward. Foggy blinked and then follow protesting “Wait a minute, you were meant to do that with your spears.” Vigil walked up beside him “Another word out of you and I’ll do you with my spear.” She then trudged along. Foggy grumbled as he ran to catch up. Steel stumbled about happily at the back saying, “I’m enjoying this.” Meanwhile Waddle sat in the sedan chair. The four ponies put the arms at their shoulder and “Three, two, one, lift.”, and the arms of the chair broke away, leaving Waddle going nowhere. The platoon reconvened at the next test. A tank full of feathers next to a hillock. Foggy blew his whistle “Now pay attention. As you can see, this tank is full of feathers, now you’ve got to take these feathers and put them in those barrels over there.” He said pointed to three barrels sitting halfway up the mound. “Get ready.” Whistle blew. Every-pony quickly took as many feathers as they could carry, easier for some of the Unicorns with their magic but still feather flew everywhere. Ponies started sneezing. The Major reached the barrel as Caramel dumped his first load into it, “This is no good.” He said “It’ll take us forever. I’ve got it.” He looked back to the Platoon “Fill your caps and stuff feather down your tunics!” “Major?” Caramel asked. “No right now Caramel.” And he walked down as Waddle came up “Major? Do you think you can spare me for a moment?” “Certainly not.” He walked away and reached the tank as Vigil stuffed her tunic “You’ve had the darn silly ideas in your time sir, but by Luna this the darn silliest!” “Let’s have none of that Vigil. That’s no way to talk to an officer.” Time Turner appeared beside him “Major?” “What is it Doctor?”, Time Turner sneezed, the Major decided to ignore him. After a few more runs, both Caramel and Time Turner stopped the Major midway while no of them carried feather, “Major?” Caramel asked, “The Doc and I had the same idea, why don’t we take the barrels over to the tank, fill them up with feathers and then moved them back into place.” The Major blinked “Excellent thing you two.” He turned to the Platoon “Bring the barrels over the tank!” Foggy seeing this gulped and ran to Moonlight and Soarin “How’s Hussar doing?” Moonlight shook his head “There still carrying the feathers by hoof.”, Soarin failed to contain his smirk “The Major’s lot will win by miles at this rate.” Foggy fumed “I’m not going back to Huntersfield to say the Beavers lost, Helmet Listener will never let me here the end of it!”, he ran off. The two other umpires looked at each other and Moonlight muttered “I think we’ll have a word with Sir Lionheart after this is over.”, Soarin nodded. Down at the river two large boats and one small row boat sat waiting, another boat sat on the opposite bank. Foggy ran up to one boat and chuckled as he pulled the plug from it and threw it into the water. Major Fields and the Reservist came marching up, and started to fill the other boat. Foggy’s eye widened “You can’t get in that boat!” “Why not?” “It’s the wrong one.” He pointed to the one without the plug “That’s your boat there.” “I can go into any boat I like.” “I insist you get in the other boat.” Porter spoke up “You really are being the most terrible bore this morning.” “Please Major, please get in the other boat.” The Major glanced to Porter “I think he’s gone off his head.”, Porter nodded as they helped Waddle into the boat. Moonlight and Soarin came flying in as the Platoon readied to row. The Major addressed them “Now I want his boat to skim across the water.” “That’s going to be a difficult Major,” Vigil said, “You haven’t untied it yet.” “That’s enough Vigil. Cast off!” and the bow reversed and they slowly turned. Captain Hussar and the Beavers came running up “Come along then into the boat.” “No wait sir!” Foggy called running up to him “I pulled the plug out.” “You did what?” Hussar exclaimed “Why in Equestria would you do that?” “I did it for you sir.” He explained about his plan. Hussar grumbled “Mr Dew, not only have you failed as an umpire, but you’ve further Field’s advantage.” “I’ll do anything to fix it sir.” “Good,” Hussar turned and pointed to the other boat and then to the dinghy row boat. Foggy nodded and ran to it. Moonlight and Soarin glanced at each other again and the Wonderbolt whispered “I think we can add Princess Twilight and General Sentry to the list.”, Moonlight nodded. Hussar looked about “Sergeant?” “Yes sir?” the NCO said appearing. “Where have you been?” “I took the plug out of that rowboat to see if it would fit.” He reached down and frowned “I’m afraid it doesn’t sir.” Foggy wailed “Celestia! I’m sinking!” After the mess of the boats got sorted out and Foggy dried off again, he joined the soldiers on the Battle Course. In this part of the challenge the teams needed to, as quickly as they dared, march across an open field as the soldiers, in the case the pioneers building the course, threw flash grenades to create mock explosions. The Major glanced back “Get rid of that pipe Clover.” Lucky stopped and rolled his eyes “Luna, a half an hour ago you were glad I had it.” He took the pipe from his mouth and threw it away, Caramel glanced at him and Lucky shook his head “It’s alright, that was a pretty old pipe when I bought it.” The pipe meanwhile landed in the box of flash grenades next to Foggy Dew and the embers split. BOOM! Foggy stumbled out disorientated and blackened, then fainted. Outside the tower the Reservists laid down and fired their crossbows, reloading used a crank called a cranequin. Steel cranked his back. Porter looked about “No sign of Hussar sir.” Major Fields smiled “Looks as if we’ve one.” He glanced at Steel fumbling his crossbow bolt, then pointed his crossbow at the target and shook violently. The Major blinked “Why are you shaking Steel? Not got another attack of Malaria, have you?” “No sir, I always fire like this, that’s why I prefer the spear.” Lucky put his bow down “Hurry up Steel we’ve all finished.” As Steel readied his shot the Major looked to Porter “Give me the flag Porter.” “Flag? What flag sir?” “The Platoon Flag of course.” “You didn’t say anything about bringing the flag.” “I distinctly remember telling you to bring the flag.” In front of them, Vigil unfurled her wings “I have it sir.” She said and pulled it out from under said wing. The Major took it “Well done Vigil.” Steel fired his bow and saluted “I’ve finished sir.” The Major smiled and ran to Sir Lionheart, he saluted “Finished firing sir.”, Sir Lionheart saluted back “Off you go then Major.” “Yes sir,” he turned to the Platoon “Padre, you and Miss Zecora and Sections Two and Three stay put, Porter, Section One follow me.”, Section One, of Cold Steel, Lucky Clover, Caramel, Vigil and Time Turner ran to the tower and up the stair. At the top, the Major gave the flag to Caramel, the first one up after him “Right Caramel, you put the flag out.” “Yes sir.” The Yellow stallion knelt to the find the ends of the rope. But couldn’t find one end. After the others assembled at the top, the Major told Caramel to find the end and pulled hard on the rope, “Here’s the end.” He said showing it to him, Caramel nodded “Yes Major, but,” he pointed to the pully on the end of the pole “you’ve pulled the rope from the pully.” “Ah.” Vigil face-hoofed “Now how are we going to fly the flag?”, Lucky spoke up “We can’t unless we can pull the pole in.” Steel climbed up onto the balcony “Don’t worry I’ll fix it!”, the other tried to stop him, but Steel fell onto the pole and shimmed up it. Porter shouted, “The stallion’s a fool!”, the Major nodded “But a dashed brave one.” Steel reached the end and the pole “What should I do now?” The Major rolled his eyes “Thread the rope through the pully.” “Yes, but what rope?” “The rope the flag’s attached to.” “Where is it?” Caramel spoke up “It’s here.” He said showing it in his hoof. The Major flinched “What’s it doing here?” “You pulled it out the end sir, and Steel didn’t grab it when he started up the pole.” Steel called back “Major! Throw it to me!”, suddenly the pole started swaying about. The Major shouted down “Zecora! Get a blanket!” “I don’t need a blanket,” Steel called “I’m not cold.” “It’s for if you fall!” The Major shouted as he looped the rope. “I won’t be cold if I fall.” “No,” Lucky shouted, “but will be if you hit the ground.” Underneath them the rest of the platoon, Cipher and Fluttershy all moved the blanket about judging which way the pole went. Soarin and Rainbow watch them and the cyan mare tilted her head “They do know we could catch him?”, Soarin shrugged “Heat of the moment decision I guess.” “Right!” Major Fields called as he readied the rope “Here it comes!” He threw. Steel reached. And missed. The pole swung harder. Time Turner took the rope “Here sir, let me have a try.” He looped it and called over “Try this Steel!” he flung it hard. Steel caught it. The pole swayed. “Major! I think that wine’s going to my head, everything’s going sideways!” “Thread the rope through the pully and get back here as fast as you can!” “Right sir, right sir.” Steel inched to the pully, shut one eyes and stuck his tongue out “It’s like the camel of the eye of a needle!” “Get back here quickly!” Down below at the door Captain Hussar and a group of the Beavers reached it. The captain looked up “Come on hurry up, we can still win this!” “I’ve done it!” Steel called as he put the rope end in his teeth and started shuffling back. When he reached the balcony, and gave the rope end to Caramel “Nearly had my top set out then.” He laughed. He put his legs over the pole, tried to set hoof on the balcony, and almost slipped off. The others caught him and pulled him up. He breathed heavily with relief “You saved me, I glad I can count on you.” “Celestia’s sake Steel,” the Major said, “never do something like that again.” “Understood sir, I avoid that if I can.” Then he started shaking “Major! It’s started again!” “Another attack!” the Major barked, “Lay him down quickly.” As they did so. Hussar ran out the door “Come on boys get the flag out.” Vigil turned to them “Major! Look!”, Major Fields turned just as the Hussars pulled the flag up the pole, he jumped up into Hussar’s face “What in Celestia’s name is going on here?” “Bad luck Major.” Hussar chuckled “You’ve lost.” “We were here first!” “Yes, but you didn’t get your flag out, it’s the flag that counts.” On the ground Sir Lionheart looked through his binoculars “White and dark blue triangles, purple tree in the middle, Princess Twilight’s crown in insignia.” He turned to the umpires and associates as well as the remains of the teams “The Everfree flag, the Major’s won.” Behind Moonlight, Rarity smirked with her head held high, Fluttershy glanced at her, bit her lip and hid in her mane. Up at the top, the Major banged his hoof on the floor “I shall make a full protest about this! We were here first, and if not for Steel’s attack of Malaria our flag would be flying!” “Hold on sir!” Vigil said “Look! It is our flag that’s flying!” They all turned to look, Hussar blinked exclaimed his question of “What?” and turned to his sergeant “You are a blithering idiot. You’ve flown their flag!” “But sir,” the sergeant “it was the flag you gave me!” The Home Guard members laughed. Hussar gritted his teeth “Fields, what skulduggery is this?” “It means you’ve lost Captain, it’s the flag that counts.” “I’ll be speaking with Sir Lionheart about this. Something is darn fishy.” He turned to the other members of the Beavers and they went to the stairs. After the Reservists finished laughed the Major glanced down at Steel, who shook, but smiled, and noticed a flag beside him “Wait a minute.” He knelt and unfurled it, he blinked and turned to the other fuming “That’s our flag.” And then he pointed to the one flying “And that’s our flag! How’s that possible?” “Well,” Porter said looking down “It was Miss Rarity who supplied them.” Vigil nodded “You remember what Hussar said about our uniforms, the ones she made? ‘Several centuries out of date’, and her reaction?” The Major scowled “That’s cheating!” Time Turner shook his head “It can’t be since she didn’t take part in the challenge and no-pony knew about it.” The Major shook his head “I think you know me well enough to know I don’t approve of this sort of thing, I’m definitely going to tell Sir Lionheart, Captain Sentry and Princess Twilight, in private of course.” He sniffed “But all the same I’m dashed glad we won, and now we few have established the EK’s Flag Day.” They all cheered from the top, and met the cheers from the rest of the Platoon below.