//------------------------------// // Red rain on Hill Hope. // Story: The Iron Chancellor // by Radical Centrist //------------------------------// "We have nothing left to give." The elder stated, causing Thunders' frown to deepen. This had been the 17th village that had claimed that they had nothing to give to his army, causing his unruly levies to fancy mutiny and desertion. "Please fair elder, don't you at least have something for my starving ponies?" Thunder pleaded, but he knew the elder would interpret it as a threat. "If you have nothing to give... My ponies will become 'uncontrollable'." Thunders' expression darkened, causing the elder to recoil slightly. "Then let them know they will be sacking dust and ash if they pillage this place." The elder darkly replied, leaning back closer to the general. "...Wait 'till your chancellor hears of this..." Thunder alluded and flew off, prompting his army to do as well, heading further northeast. "Puddinghead..." The elder whispered, "The devil..." The elder finished, both characters leaving a bad taste in his mouth. "What village are we encountering next?" Thunder asked, currently flying over a forest. "It's one located adjacent to a large, flat hill and has great farmlands, this might be our lucky break general." Lieutenant Lefty replied, gripping a fluttering map up to his face. "Hah! The chance! More likely they would claim a drought had hit them, and they have nothing to give us!" Thunder joked, causing Lefty to chuckle lightly and deposit his map into his pouch. "Perhaps they ate it all, based on how fat their chancellor is getting I bet they have it hidden in their bellies!" Lefty piped, causing Thunder to laugh loudly. "Or maybe Puddinghead has been eating their crops during their sleep?" Thunder offered, but Lefty dismissed it, "That would mean she had walked! That's preposterous!" Lefty proclaimed dramatically, feigning a faint in mid-air. "How many serfs do you think died carrying her during the windigos?" Thunder asked half-seriously, still giggling in their banter. "The same amount of folds on her chin!" Lefty laughed out, infecting Thunder with the laughies. "-Hey look a village!" A levy chimed in, breaking their laughter. "Look at their farm! Look how big it is!" Another levy called out, pointing at the massive ploughed fields adjacent to the village. "They've got to be overflowing with food!" A levy presumed, licking his lips in expectation. "First one dibs!" A levy announced, diving down towards the village to more quickly 'confiscate' the villagers' supplies. "Don't break off! Remain in formations! We will go down together shortly!" Thunder desperately tried to salvage the situation, but their undisciplined, hungry levies all began diving towards the village to be first in their meal. "Oh who cares general, there's nothing out here to get us," Lefty assured, placing a hoof on Thunders' shoulders. "But really, what is they going to do? Chuck stones at us?" Lefty chuckled, prompting Thunder to relax. "I suppose you're ri-" suddenly, all the doors from the village opened to reveal the tips of many crossbows, aimed directly at the diving pegasuses. They immediately stopped in response. "What!-" They had not seen it, but several catapults perched atop the hills nearby launched their projectiles at the frozen pegasuses, their fates already sealed. The rocks collided with their hollow bodies, shattering and breaking bones in contact, annihilating the organs and skin in their way. The lucky few immediately died when the rocks drilled directly into their brains, but an unlucky bunch had to wait for their fall to kill them, as their wings were decimated, and their barrel torn into pieces, causing excruciating pain until they embraced the mercy of death by splatting on the ground below. It began to rain blood. Lefty and Thunder were briefly frozen with shock and horror, however, they quickly realised that their positions were vulnerable against the crossbows which were being aimed at them. "F-fall back! Ascend into the clouds!" Thunder ordered. But it was too late. The twangs of crossbows rang across the village. Lefty acted quickly, pushing Thunder into the crossfire, saving himself but causing a bolt to pierce the generals' heart. "Y-you..." Thunder looked up to Lefty in disbelief, griping his chest whilst his eyes began to twitch with tears. "You-" Lefty removed Thunders' hoof which was holding his shoulder, and nudged him backwards, causing him to descend unceremoniously towards the ground. "I saw your list general." Lefty spat with venom and betrayal, "it was only a matter of time..." Lefty flew off to quickly run off the battlefield, ignoring the screams of the fallen pegasuses. The gigantic volley of bolts succeeded in clipping the pegasuses' wings, causing them to fall to their deaths. Those unlucky enough to fall on their dead comrades were quickly executed through a sword being plunged into their necks. Cries for help and loved ones were ignored by the Jacobins, their own cries being ignored fresh in their memories. They would show no mercy. Take no prisoners. Execute their enemies. And win their battles. Their small victory was celebrated by the village, despite blood having soaked their roofs and coated the dirt roads. "Some have escaped..." Forest growled, watching several pegasuses disappearing into the distance. "Leave them be, we want them to tell their commander, remember?" Jaco reminded them, as their objective was to blunt their fighting capabilities, not win stealthy victories. "I hope this success may continue..." Copper prayed, his eyes closed and hooves braced. "But our weapons are no longer secrets..." He added, groaning lightly in annoyance. "But our strategies new and unexpected..." Green argued, "Their weapons are inferior, and they have only seen an ambush." Green continued, "Little do they know, we thrive in open combat..." The four ponies nodded in agreement, standing atop the hill and overlooking the village. They saw parents covering their fillys' eyes from the carnage, whilst the stallions began digging mass graves. They saw the executions uphold, but they paid it no mind. After all, this was war. A war of revanchism, boiled up by the constant mistreatment of the earth pony race. The repeated oppression, starvation, murder and slavery. Their former overlords will pay in blood for their debt, down to the last litre. They will advance. "Giant wooden spoons..." Lefty thought as he flew across the air, small splatters of blood covering his barrel which caused it to cool under the colliding winds. "Earth pony rebellion..." Lefty concluded, as they were embedded within the village, which meant their populace supported them. "Is this what happened to the northeast?" Lefty hypothesised, as Thunder had told him the objective of the mission; to find out what had happened to the two-month silent garrisons in the northeast. "The last message was the return of a village..." Lefty remembered, beginning to think harder. "Did they... Receive any outside help?" Lefty thought, but quickly shook his head in disagreement, "Who would help them?! They have nothing to give, and every other creature hates us!" Lefty concluded. Not knowing how right he was. "Atchoo!" Harold sneezed, as his beak suddenly became ticklish. "Is someone talking behind my back?" Harold rubbed his beak with a claw, which made Nina across from him cringe in disgust. "Must be Little and Green talking about you." Nina dismissed. "...I guess..." Harold wiped the mucus off his claws and began to think. "I hope they're safe..."