//------------------------------// // The Response // Story: The Guardian // by NYChris824 //------------------------------// Canterlot. Dan POV I arrived in town, three days after the attack for a meeting of all the division commanders for a response to it. I wondered if I would be chosen to have some sort of a role in it, while we did see a fair amount of combat, I was missing men and we were still quite green. An increase in armed soldiers meant I was getting closer to the castle. I entered the castle and through the throngs of people towards the heart of the castle. Every guard I passed saluted me as I passed them. I walked into the War Room and realized I knew absolutely no one else in the room. Before I could stand there awkwardly, someone walked over to greet me. "General Kroger, your reputation precedes you. I'm General Golden Victory." He said "Good to meet you, Golden. You're the other new general, right?" "I am, commander of the Twenty Second." "First Motorized." I said, shaking his hand. "But I'm sure you already knew that." That got a laugh out of him. "Of course! Those of our rank are quite tight and a rather young individual, who is in charge of a new way to fight and has extensive combat experience already. You made some big waves. Please come join us. I'll introduce you to a few here." I molded my thanks. "This here is Blueblood. Commander of First Infantry." He said, clapping the white unicorn on the arm. "Spent a few months with him as a lieutenant." "General Blueblood." "General Kroger." Golden kept going. "These two here are Arc Light and Urgent Fury. Commander of the Twentieth and Eighteenth, respectively." I ignored that their names were military operations performed by the U.S. We all shook hands before eight other generals and the Princesses walked in. We all saluted. "At ease, gentlecolts." Princess Luna said. "Obviously, you all know why we're here so let to it. We have three options, but in the real world ony two would work. The first is send two or three divisions to the Badlands and deal with the channelings." Princess Celestia jumped in. "The second plan is using changeling on the inside of the hive and overthrow Chrysalis. The last option is to demand her surrender." One of the other generals spoke up. "The last one won't work. She didn't surrender after they attacked Canterlot." "I agree. It didn't work with Iraq in oh-three." I stated. "Saddam Hussein wouldn't surrender, even after months have gone by of international pressure and sanctions. A large military build up on his borders didn't concern him either. Only after Bush gave the go ahead to attack, which he even waited another two days, did he fall. You could still take her alive, but it will have to be at the hands of conflict." Celestial nodded "Very well. I knew it was a long shot to have a peaceful resolution to this." "Still doesn't mean you shouldn't try." Another general offered. "With what resources, General Bolt? They have no embassies with any other nation, much less us. Any attempt to make contact is met with force. I do not want war, but when the other side does not want to talk peace, we have one option. As such, we will have help from those inside the hive." "And we should just trust these Changelings?" "Princess Sparkle met one in the Crystal Empire. I met with him and I trust him." "I say we should trust him." I said. General Bolt turned to speak to me. "What makes you say that?" "Simple. They want change and we can bring change. The Afghans helped us when we liberated their country and we've stuck with them through it all. We'd get tips on terrorists plans and we would build schools. This is actually quite easier than Afghanistan, actually." "Getting back on track." Princess Celestia said. "It's obvious that the military is required for the answer. It's a matter of how strong." The General next to her, who was wearing five stars spoke, "Current plans are for three divisions. I have chosen the Tenth, the Fourth and the First Motor." I looked up from the map. "Sir, I don't think my men are ready for this. We're still missing four thousand men and are still rather green." "Green?" He asked, "Your troops held out against some of the fiercest attacks. Not to mention, you have your own experience." "My own experience was in the field, not in some headquarters a hundred miles away. But seeing combat would have to happen at some point, no point in trying to fight it." I still wasn't sure how well my men will do, or myself for that matter. "The divisions will all leave at six in the morning in three days time and meet in front of Appleloosa. Obviously, the Tenth and Fourth will use train and the First Motor will walk." A laugh went though the room. "Jokes on you. I sold the trucks for some booze. It's in a bottle covered in rare gems and whatnot. Dropped it within ten steps." Another laugh went through the room. "Are there any other questions?" Princess Luna asked. "What should we do with prisoners?" Someone asked. "All they tell us are things we already know or information that we know are false." "We've been trying to figure out a way to coax the information out of them, but so far nothing has worked." I was told the same by my own intelligence company. I planned a way to get the information, but my way would be denied. Water boarding at Guantanamo Bay sounds fun if you don't know what either are. "If there is nothing else, then this meeting is over. Best of luck to you all." We all went out the same way. "Remember, the plans are to be kept quiet, but everypony knows we're launching an attack. Even before we met and the fact we were all here confirms it." The five moon general said, before heading down another corridor. We exited the hallway and were bombarded by the press, shouting out questions about what we did. "What is the plan to deal with the changelings?" "Will it involve the whole army?" "Why does my filly look like my best friend?" One finally noticed me and got in front of me. I was quickly cut off and left behind, I figured since they didn't even look back it was because I was the newest. "What is the government's response to the attacks?" "I'm not at liberty to say, but the response will be in the near future." I answered. "How many soldiers will be involved?" "Classified."' "Will your division be involved?" "Can't say, but I hope so. I damn proud of how my men handled themselves fighting the first time. If you excuse me, I must go back." I began to push through the reporters. I had no other reason to be in the city so I made my way to the train station. One of the nice perks of being in the military is that most railroads offer free rides. "One ticket to Ponyville, please." I said to the teen behind the counter. "Make them pay, sir." He said as he handed me my ticket. Yet again, everyone knew what had happened today in the castle. They had communication technology similar to Earth. We all could've had one big call instead and keeping it all a secret. "We will." I wanted to call Twilight or another friend back in Ponyville. Only issue was I was in public, the topic was secret and Twilight probably would know the plan in an hour. I would have to sit on it for a few hours. I sat on a bench and waited. "Fancy meeting you here, partner." A voice said behind me, I turned around to find Applejack. "Hey, Applejack." I jumped up and we gave each other a hug. "What are you doing here?" "Had a delivery to make to a bakery. What about you?" "Business, as well. If you know what I mean." "Ah figured as much. 'Specially since you're in uniform." I couldn't help but let out a sigh. "Everyone knows why I'm here, but I can't talk about the details with anyone. I mean, even the kid who gave me my ticket knew." "Afraid you're going to say it?" "God no. The why I'm here is obvious, I can't say the what. You know?" "Ah understand." "The noon train to Ponyville has arrived and will be leaving in ten minutes." A voice said on the intercom. I watched everyone get off the train, when one passenger stuck out to me. Despite the warm weather, he was wearing a hoodie with the hood up. His head was down and kept looking around and his wings were constantly twitching. I couldn't help, but compare his body language to suicide bombers. While I figured he didn't have several pounds of explosive strapped to his chest, something was up. "Get on the train and grab a spot." I told Applejack. "Why? Where are you going?" "I have a bad feeling about someone." I started to follow him. I noticed some troops on the edge of the platform. "Sergeant!" I hollered and pointed at the suspicious stallion. He nodded and moved to grab him. They all started talking, putting the stallion on more edge. Before I could join them, he keeled over and landed on the ground. The soldiers immediately started to check him over. One opened his mouth and peered inside. I joined him in looking around. "Look right there." I said, "Left side in the back. There's something silver." One of the unicorns pulled it out with their magic. It was a silver capsule. "Poison." Almost as if in response to my answer, the body erupted in green fire, revealing a changeling. "I'm sorry to leave to mess, Sarge, but I have a train to catch." "Don't worry, sir. The best changeling is a dead one. Have a safe trip. Besides, he probably wouldn't have said a thing." "Thank you." I walked off and got on the train. I was waiting for someone to panic and ask what happened, but no one did. "What happened?" Applejack asked when I got to the seats she took. "Absolutely nothing." I said. "Hogwash. Everypony here saw you chase that stallion and him falling over." "Hey! Not so damn loud." I hissed. I looked around the car, no one was looking at they were listening for sure. I leaned closer to her and whispered, "He seemed weird to me so I went to talk to him, he fled so I had some help in stopping him. But he has a poison pill in his mouth, killed himself almost immediately." "What was he doing?" "No clue. Scouting maybe. A small attack or something. He's of no concern to me, his mission has failed. Won't matter unless they pull it off really quick." "So we're attacking soon? Will you be going?" "Can't say. National security." I answered. "Everyone will learn of it after it happens. Now if you don't mind, I need to catch up so sleep." "Can't sleep 'cuz all these stuff?" "Nope. I'm just tired, just one of those days." "Ah feel ya." She said, as I slowly fell asleep. Later on "Wake up, partner. We're almost back in Ponyville." Applejack said, shaking my arm. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. "Good. I've got some work to do." "Like plan to fight the changelings?" "Still not discussing that, Rarity." I received a punch for the wrong name. "Wow, tough crowd. I got a prisoner who isn't talking, yet. I intend to change that." The train slowed down and slowly rolled into the station. Neither of us any luggage so we got off immediately. "How so? Ah imagine that just plan ol' asking him nicely ain't working." "It's not. I obviously never tried these methods, but back home they worked. I don't see why they wouldn't work here." I said as we made our way off the station and through town. I noticed the slight uptick of troops that I ordered, were stationed around town. "What are they?" "Can't say. Quite a few say the methods are torture." "Ya'll gonna beat 'em?" "What? No! I mean, if we have to. No, there's a more effective method that is less deadly. You really want to know?" "Course Ah do." "Okay. It's called waterboarding. You take a canvas bag or something like that and put it over their face. Then water is poured over it, sticks to their face and makes it impossible to breathe. Pull the hood off, let them catch their breath and demand they answer you." "Huh. Not what I expected, but I can see why it'd work. Is it safe?" "As long as you take the hood off every now and again. I'll have doctors on stand by. If this doesn't work, I can make up some other stuff the CIA uses. Sleep deprivation is a good choice as well." "And if he doesn't talk ever?" I rubbed my head. "No clue, I'm not exactly allowed to kill him, unless he tries to escape and fights back." "This is my turn. I guess, um, good luck. With everything." "Thanks. I'll see you around." I said as she made her way towards her home. I was still contemplating actually going through with borderline torture. Yet I knew intelligence gained through this way could save lives, possibly mine. That settled by mind almost instantly, not that it wasn't already set. I still had concerns that sending an understrength green division into combat was a horrible idea. Chances are whenever the griffons stopped fighting is when we'd see combat. I knew I couldn't do a damn thing about it, even the Princesses thought it was a good idea to do it. I couldn't help but let out a sigh, I knew I would lose easily a hundred men, if not twice as much. I walked through the gate and towards the jail, the final nice guy integration was under way. I walked into the watch room to, surprise, watch it. I nodded to everyone in the room. "We have maps on the main hive, we know there are more that Chrysalis conquered. Where are those?" The integrator asked. He sat in silence, before moving on. "Alright. One more chance, how many changelings are there? In total. Ten thousand? Twenty? Fifty? I already know my answer, but what's next? An assault on Canterlot again? Maybe another city? Laying low for a few years?" Silence was the answer. "Alright, I tried. I can't guarantee anything now." The integrator, a captain, left the room and I went to talk to him. "How goes?" I asked. "Just like the last three tries, sir. I'm going to try what you were talking about." He said, "I got it all laid out." "Good, you sure you can handle it? I have no issue with helping." "You sure you want in, General?" "Only if I have to. I also told everyone not to call me by rank or 'sir'." I observed as a corporal carried a bag, some rope and a bucket of water. "You got a empty gun?" "Still feels wrong. I got an empty one in the watch room, got a nice little anger rant to scream and leave. Thank you, Corporal." "Good. If these two don't work we won't have enough time to keep him awake for days." I said, "We have been chosen to be part of the attack on the changelings. We leave in three days." "Everypony going?" The captain asked. "Yep. It's us and two other divisions going." I slapped the captain on the back. "Get back in there. We need everything he knows. I'll be in the watch room." He, along with the corporal, went back into the room and I went into the watch room. "Tie him up Sky." The captain said. "Hands and feet." "Yes, sir." He tied the changeling up and covered his face. The changeling was placed on his back as the chair tipped over, not easily either. "I'm quite sorry my friend, but you have left me no choice." The captain stated, as he began to pour water over the changeling. "You want to bucking talk now?!" He shouted over the water and screaming. He stopped pouring and waited before ripping the hood off. He waited a moment for the changeling to recover before asking again. "Wanna talk? Where are the other hives?" "Spread out, her hive is on the middle." "How far?" "No clue, hives didn't interact." "How many are in your hive?" The changeling spat at the captain. "I will not tell you." "Your call." The mask went back on and water again flowed over him. "How many?" The changeling was too busy coughing to answer. "I'm not asking again, how many?" "Maybe two thousand, no all." He said before going unconscious. "Medic!" The captain called out. The door opened and one came in. She worked on the changeling for several minutes before shaking her head. She checked her watch, most likely for the time of death. "Shit." I said. At least we earned some information out of him, even if we already had a vague idea of what he told us. Now we'd bury him in a pine box and unmarked grave somewhere. I left the room and went to my office. I had to scrape up a few thousand men and then some to replace the injured. I knew I couldn't, but I needed to start planning for the attack. Unless one would arrive and tell me what to do. The other two divisions, the Fourth and the Tenth were further north, the Tenth near Vanhoover and the Fourth being near the western edge on the country. It was land where no one knew what was out there. A basic plan would be to sit in for the of Appleloosa and wait for them to come to us. Maybe the other generals would just that. Not I. Not this General.