I approached the town's gates. From there, I spotted two ponies up in the sniper towers. They must have switched places with the dead. Not like the dead are going to say anything about that.
"Halt! State your name" One of the sniper ponies said.
"I am Lieutenant Shell Shot. My squad was traversing the cliffs to reinforce your position but ended up being ambushed. I was the only one alive. Even after all that, I went up a high cliff to provide sniper support on your location" I thought about this one carefully. One slip and I will be shot.
One of snipers retreated from his spot while the other was talking into a telephone. Finally, the gate opened and three ponies were by the gate. One was the same sniper pony before but he was flanked by two others. I couldn't see their colors as they were obscured by the clothing. The trio was armed and would certainly shoot me if I did something suspicious.
"Alright Shell, tell me this. I'm sorry but this is the only way to know if your a friend or a foe. What happened to the Battle of Ghastly Gorge?" The lead stallion asked.
Ghastly Gorge? I racked my brain for any massive war reports for this location but I ended up having none. I saw one of the sniper ponies aim his rifle to my head. I thought harder but I couldn't think of anything. Was there a town named Ghastly Gorge? No, I remember that it was a ravine nearby the Everfree forest. However, I do remember seeing a report about this particular place. I brought up the courage to answer the question.
"There's no such thing as the Battle for Ghastly Gorge. You're just making that up"
"Really? How so?"
"There was no battle as both armies were forced to a stalemate as they couldn't fight each other. The changeling army bombed the only bridge so supplies couldn't reach the armies that were in Appleloosa. Pegasi and Changelings alike couldn't cross the gorge as they would be shot. Soon, everyone left to not waste military resources"
An uncomfortable silence followed. I did not reach out my magic to grab my CSR in fear that they will see it as an attack. The lead stallion held his expressionless face until it turned into a smile.
"He's clear" The stallion said to his companions. "Welcome to Clementine Valley, Lieutenant. While our guns are not in the best condition, our fruits are"
"Aren't you going to do that changeling scanner thing?" I nervously asked. The changeling scanner was one of the best detectors in the Equestrian army. A hoof held device shaped like a gun that beeps red if the pony was a changeling in disguise and green if not.
"No. It has been proven useless against changelings now. Something about their magic adapting to it"
"Damn" While I was relieved, I couldn't help but think about the ponies in towns and cities that were lost to changelings. Maybe that's what helped us capture Baltimare. When we found that the spies we sent at a heavily guarded train station were a-okay, we thought that was because the guards didn't have those scanners. It was a smooth victory for us.
Well, not us anymore. It's them now. I'm a one changeling army at the moment. The thought alone made me want to cower in a corner. It's not usual to have changelings live on their own. Most would die from the lack of seeing any friendlies around them and any defectors would be killed either gun point or by suicide. I'm afraid I will one day end up dead by any of the two.
"Follow me into camp. The militia here needs all the help we can get"
"Wait, militia?" I was taken aback. They weren't regular soldiers? "How long has this been like this?"
"About two weeks earlier, the army needed to take their soldiers for a small while to defend Ponyville. They haven't come back since"
"I heard that Ponyville got attacked and nearly everypony there died" I added. The pony visibly wilted beside me but tried to keep a brave face. "No doubt the Princess will send in reinforcements to the town"
"Yeah, but what about us? The town will not last long. Our medical supplies are almost exhausted, we're running low on ammunition, and all our food has been nothing but oranges" The pony furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth. "Well the last part is not that bad but my point still stands"
We walked together in silence. We passed by ponies tending to the wounded. I recognized most of the wounds the ponies had. Some of them were bitten, a few had their skin ripped off revealing a big spot of red and the rest were shot.
Despite having the advantage in the war, we have recently adapted primitive attacks to the front lines. From biting and gnashing to cutting and poisoning. The pony race have already found an antidote to the poison many years ago from when the first Canterlot raid began but there wasn't enough to supply multiple squads of ponies.
The reason? One of the main ingredients is changeling poison. Why won't the ponies harvest the ingredient from a corpse? Because dead bodies can't reproduce poison. Why don't they take it from prisoners? Changelings do get taken to POW camps but they are more likely to off themselves before they reach the camp.
Which reminds me, I've never seen any of our POW camps. It's still a mystery as to where they are. The queen never gave us the information and ordered us to focus on the front lines rather than the prisoners. What do they do? I assume they feed on them.
I got nudged at the side by the pony and snapped out of my thoughts. In front of us was an old worn out shack. A sign hung above the door that was painted in large bold letters "HQ". The pony gestured me to enter yet I hesitated.
"You're just going to let a complete stranger into your headquarters?"
"There is not much intelligence to steal from here so if you are a changeling in disguise all you are gonna see are orange and water rations"
I entered the shack and was met with a wooden desk in one side of the room. A small lit lamp was on one corner of the desk with a couple of papers laying beside it. On one corner of the room were oranges in baskets and bottles of water. The pony sat on the chair behind the desk and I positioned myself in front of him.
"Let's start over. Welcome to Clementine Valley, of course you already knew that. My name is Fruit Slice and this is my town. We are... not in a good situation. As you know, our supplies are running dangerously low and in need of a refill but given the circumstances we are as good as dead"
"...And you brought me here to do what?"
"Seeing as you are the only qualified soldier here and not just a pony trusted to shoot changelings. How would you like to take my place"
"Whu- but... but this is all so sudden. Why do you want me to command a hoofful of ponies? Can't you do it yourself?"
"Well..." Slice gulped and tried to come up with words. While he was trying to squeak out a reason, I sensed his fear. The fear of losing his loved ones and his friends without being able to help them in the time of need. He doesn't think he can be a good leader. "I can't"
"Fruit Slice. I know what you're feeling" Obviously I knew but I got to act more like a sympathetic pony rather than an emotionless bug. "But I'm just one pony. I couldn't possibly run an entire town"
Slice's ears drooped and he frowned. I couldn't lead a whole town. I'm used to follow orders strictly and without hesitation. That's what officers are known for. Does this still count even if I did desert my entire race? I racked my brain for anything that could help him in the least.
They need supplies and extra troops to defend this point. If they are not met with any of them they would surely perish. I thought about it for a moment then had an idea. I asked Slice for a map then for the nearest allies. Turns out, Ponyville is the nearest town and recent attacks had left the town in the brink of destruction. However, with reinforcements on the way maybe some of them would transfer extra troops to defend this point.
Unfortunately, that would spread the military thin. So the only choice is to pack up and move to Ponyville. The chances of defending this town and waiting for help is slim. I tapped Fruit Slice who is staring at the light coming from the lamp. He looked at me with tired eyes.
"Fruit Slice, I've got a plan"