The ponies in the camp had to be reconvinced by Harold, as the other griffons weren't shrewd enough to convince them themselves. However, they were able to feed all the ponies, the protein helping with their recovery.
Harolds' message had become an instant hit for the ponies, as they continuously talked about it to kill the time. They discussed what other meat they could eat if fish could be eaten without consequence. The griffons simply hummed at this.
"We're near!" Copper announced, which caused Nina to jump up from her hatch.
Nina had been dozing off, ever since the effects of the joint wore off, and the high had disappeared, causing her to feel tired compared to her previous condition.
"Near where elder?" Nina asked, her head lowering back down.
"Our old village... Where the tyrannical Unicron and Pegasus lies..." Copper growled, bad memories resurfacing.
"Looks deserted..." Nina observed the village, seeing no viable movement.
"Wow! I wouldn't have known!" Albert chimed in, "It's not like they left or anything!" He chuckled but stopped when Harold bonked him.
"What have they done?" Jaco tore out, as their homes and fields were annihilated beyond recognition.
"Those bastards!" Forest shouted,
"Look at how they massacred my village..." Copper emotionally muttered, his face scrunched up.
As they arrived at the centre of the village, they saw several aged bodies of villagers that had decided to stay, murdered by their angry overlords for not stopping the majority of the villagers from leaving. The ponies all weekend recognising relatives, whilst the griffons removed their hats in respect.
"If only we had stayed..." Copper muttered through tears but was grabbed behind by Jaco.
"It is not our fault elder," Jaco assured, "The blood of our kins are on the Unicorns and Pegasus hooves." He growled.
"They had the guts to attack the innocents!" Forest angrily shouted,
"They always have attacked and stolen from the innocent!" A pony agreed,
"We can't let them slaughter us!" A pony announced,
"Aye! We will no longer stay quiet! Those who oppressed us will pay! We shall revolt!" Jaco rallied, causing cheers to ring out among the ponies.
"But the only pegasus are capable of revolts! How are we supposed to fight without wings?!" Fast opposed, barely audible through the cheering.
"We shall use our strength! No longer will the pegasus monopolise rebellions! The earth ponies also have four hooves!" Jaco rallied once more, the cheer growing louder.
"Rebel!" The ponies cheered,
"We shall clip their wings! We shall snap their horns! We shall free our fellow earth ponies!" Forest shouted,
"Free our brethren!" The ponies hurrahed.
"We..." Copper started, which caused the cheering ponies to fall silent to listen. "...Will not punish the innocents needlessly... Lest it will make us as bad as them..." The ponies nodded with each other, calming themselves down. "But." Copper began again, "The unicorns and pegasus have shown us nothing but brutal oppression."
The ponies kept on nodding. "They have shown that they will kill innocents." Copper gestured at the dead ponies, their rotting body reminding the ponies of the injustice. "They stole our food until we starved, their own ponies did nothing to stop us from dying..." Copper clenched his teeth madly. The ponies began to stump the ground loudly, their expressions screaming anger. "WE WILL SHOW THEM WHAT WE ARE CAPABLE OF!" Copper shouted through the stamps of his hoof. "WE SHALL PREVAIL!" Copper announced passionately, causing the ponies to jump in high morale.
"WE SHALL PREVAIL!" The ponies all cheered, the griffons meanwhile watching proudly, as the griffons had also gone through a similar event with their emperors.
"THE JACOBINS WILL REBEL!" Forest supplemented, using his friends' name to inspire the revolt. Jaco began to blush at the attention, not liking his full name being shouted.
"WE ARE THE JACOBINS! ALL HAIL JACO, FOREST AND COPPER!" The ponies cheered. They finally had made up their minds. They would be the first serf rebellion in Equestrian history.
"Commander Hurricane?" A general stood at the door in the leaders' office, doors absent ever since the construction of the new cloud headquarters, as Hurricane mandated that all military offices be 'transparent' both physically and strategically.
"Yes?" Hurricane groaned, rubbing his eyes with his hooves out of tiredness.
"Our garrisons in the northeast has a problem..." The general cautiously trotted further in, stopping in front of Hurricanes' desk.
"Oh? Do they request reinforcements?" Hurricane raised a brow, still not facing the general. "Or do they want extra pay?" He slid aside a pile of paper, "Perhaps they are whining about their hooves hurting?" Hurricane finally looked up at the general, noticing his distress.
"No... It's the lack of problems commander." The general corrected, removing his helmet.
"How could the lack of problems be the problem general?" Hurricane asked,
"They normally would have sent letters complaining... About the things, you just talked about, but so far, we have gotten nothing." The general said, fidgeting his helmet awkwardly.
"Maybe they finally figured out complaining would get them nowhere." Hurricane tried to dismiss, but the general pushed on.
"We haven't gotten anything for two months commander." The general concerned, "If this was easily solvable, this problem wouldn't have been brought to your desk." He finished.
Hurricane stared at his desk to think, caught off-guard that he had forgotten the military structures due to the normalisation of incompetent officers which had slowly degraded his professionalism. "I see..." Hurricane muttered, thinking what could've cut off all communications.
"Has our Northern or eastern garrisons reported any suspicious activity in the border?" Hurricane asked, fearing it might've been the yaks, crystal ponies or a unified tribal griffon Warband.
"They've spotted nothing commander." The general relayed, "Except for the normal constant migration and movement of the earth ponies, they have nothing new to report."
"What could've happened? Hurricane thought, unsure as to how an entire section of garrisons could be wiped out without noticing the other garrisons. "What was the last message from the northeast garrisons?" Hurricane asked,
The general pulled out a long scroll, which he began unspooling. "...Swift Wing is being a jerk again..." Hurricane face-hoofed.
"The one before?" Hurricane recovered,
"...Cloudy Pawn is accusing me of nonsense..." Hurricane face-hoofed again.
"The one's that aren't nonsense?" Hurricane signed in the soldiers' childishness.
"...The villagers who had left had returned..." The general raised a brow of why it was on the list, as villagers would constantly move in and out of Equestrian borders to farm new lands.
"That's not helpful..." Hurricane groaned and sank in his chair, covering his eyes in defeat.
"Why would they write this though?" The general checked the line again, to make sure it wasn't a mistake. "Not even the most clueless garrison keeps up with earth pony migration."
"They're new recruits, I highly doubt they are most competent than clueless idiots." Hurricane deadpanned, "Anyways general, I am entrusting you to scout the northeast and investigate." Hurricane went back to his work, "They probably drank their ink or something." He dismissed, gesturing the general off.
The general placed his helmet back on and walked out, still worried as to why the garrison had reported a useless detail. But he quickly shook it out of his mind, as he had a job to fulfil, levy some pegasus and collect some garrisons to begin moving northeast. He just hoped he didn't have to lead another group filled with grass-eating idiots.