//------------------------------// // 8: It’s a Long Way to Trottingham // Story: Anon von Bismarck // by WojakWriter //------------------------------// The past month had gone by in a blur. To my utter surprise, outside some probing attacks in the North, the griffons had not launched any major campaigns. Even those attacks had been non-commital and easily repelled with the joint garrison. In the intervening time, the Equestrian military production had quadrupled, factories once producing non-vital infrastructure changing over to wartime supplies. Metallurgy issues had been solved, and steel was of a higher quality than before thanks to the contributions of a team of unicorn alchemists. The budget increases had paid off. Four ironclads had been completed, and work was progressing well on the EGS Celestia. It was no longer two years away from completion, but only one. The army had grown explosively, with numbers rising from three thousand to thirty thousand. Five new infantry regiments had been established, taking names and colours from units long past. The artillery too thrived, dozens of guns were being produced weekly, many of them of the new breech-loading type, and seven batteries had risen to organize them. Of course, the majority of ponies in the military were still in support roles, as the combat arms grew they needed exponentially more support staff. Luna's personal battalion, the Black Bats, had been undergoing grueling training until just two days ago, when she finally deemed them prepared. They seemed to be the toughest soldier I'd ever seen, with fanatical devotion that made the SS look like heathens. And so it was that I was sitting at my teak desk, Quill at my side, reviewing their final plan to retake Trottingham. A beach landing at dawn, when the low morning sun would blind the eyes of observers and defenders alike. Luna's group would be landed a day earlier on the Southern tip of the island and proceed to wait near the lowlands East of Trottingham. Pegasi would be providing air cover and harry any scouts the enemy may send. What's more is that a part of the fleet, mostly ironclads, would besiege the Trottingham port, drawing the enemy away while also blockading their ships and supplies. The landed forces would then push inland and occupy a ridge ten miles Southeast of the city, digging in and drawing up prepared fields of fire for the guns. And finally, with all pieces in place, a small force of ponies would attack the griffons in a wide line, and once engaged would draw the enemy out, into the lowlands, where they would be under direct assault from every gun that could be brought to bear. On top of that, Luna's force would break from the forest and begin to outflank the griffons, kettling them in and holding off any reinforcements that could be mustered. There were further contingencies for all sorts of scenarios, some possible, some ludicrous, but it did seem to cover anything I cared to imagine. Overall, it was an almost foolproof plan. Stalwart stands before my desk at rapt attention, Luna beside him. They had both answered any questions I’d asked, pointing out what certain symbols represented. And, with a wry grin, I handed the sheaf of papers back to Stalwart. “I can't find anything wrong with your plan, Stalwart. You and your staff have done an excellent job with the plan. When will you be ready to carry on with it?” The general relaxed and smiled viciously. “Three days, sir. One to muster the troops, one to equip them, and then we sail, landing in the morning. Princess Luna's troops have been ready since their training was complete.” Luna nods and takes a step forward. ”Stalwart Shield is correct, Lord Anonymous. My troops are ready to sail at the order. Their ammunition stores and weapons and never further than a quick trot away.” After a month of quietude, the first large battle of the war was ready to go. Finally, after all the fear of the citizens, the sweat and blood of the troops holding the North, and the pain the residents of Trottingham had surely been through, action would be taken. And it would be truly telling. A grand battle for the history books. Something to inspire the ponies of Equestria. “Alright, do it. I pray to see the Equestrian flag raised over the city by next week. Good luck, and do be careful. I don't want to see my friends hurt.” Stalwart salutes and turns sharply, Luna turning after him after giving me a warm grin. Luna had been in fine spirits ever since getting a command of her own. She seemed to thrive in a military environment, easily catching onto new strategies and coming up with her own in remarkable time. When all is said and done, she will have earned the trust of the people a dozen times over, I’m sure of it. And if not, then maybe a couple military parades are in order. Or some propaganda to let them know she’s a model Equestrian hero… Quill nudged my leg, breaking me from my thoughts. She looked pointedly at her schedule, then to me. She had hardly left my side since the war began. Every night, she curled up beside me, and most of those nights, I was woken by her shivering and crying under the cold moon. Even when I silently comforted her, I never brought it up. She would talk about it when she was ready, and not a moment sooner. And all the while, I would keep soothing her, lulling her back to sleep, and stay silent all the while. No matter what rumors ponies came up with after seeing her enter my chambers night after night, no matter that it may damage part of my image. ”Sir.” She interrupted my reverie with a single word. ”Shining Armor is waiting for you to receive him in the council chambers. Shall we go?” I stand and stretched out my back, yawning. “Yes we had better. I need to get out of the office today anyhow. Anything else on the agenda after meeting with him?” She flips through several pages before looking back at me. ”No sir, the evening is clear.” I nodded as we both walked down the hall towards the chamber. Looking down at Quill, I gave her a cheeky grin. “Well if the evening is free, how about you join me for dinner in town?” She gasped and immediately started coughing loudly. I couldn’t help but chuckle at her antics, and she regained her composure quickly. ”I'm not sure that would be appropriate, sir. Not with the state of Equestria as it is now.” Well damn. It's hard to argue, since she's objectively right. I had just wanted to treat her to a night out, and maybe distract her from whatever had been eating away at her. “Fine, fine. Once we win though, I'm taking you out. No matter how much you object.” I could see her cheeks flush before she turns her face away. “I believe I'd like that, sir.” What am I doing? What part of me snapped and decided that I could be happy with a pony? This wasn’t right… and I just kept lying to myself about it. After struggling with my own thoughts, I shoved them aside the closer we got to the council chamber. And finally, we were at the doors to the council chamber. I pushed them open wide and smiled jovially at the white coated pony sitting at the table, hiding my inner turmoil. “General Shining Armor, how are you doing today?” He smiled back and puts his hoof in my hand when I offered it to him. Shining begins speaking as me and Quill took our seats across from him. “Well enough I suppose. There hasn't been any action in the North for a few days, and the last sortie of griffons didn't even inflict a single casualty. I don't believe they have it in them to even attempt and invasion.” My grin only widened at the news. “That's wonderful news, general. And how is little Flurry Heart doing? It's been a while since you've returned to the Empire hasn't it?” Shining's grin shrinks and I saw a touch of sadness on his face. ”Yes sir, it has. Cadence—...the princess says she misses me and keeps wandering about the castle calling out for 'dada'.” I offered a gentle pat on his foreleg and a reassuring look. Children. Something that was forever robbed from me. No, don’t think about it. I can’t think about it. Keep smiling. “Don't worry too much, general. Even as we speak, preparations are being made to retake Trottingham.” Shining looks surprised as I mention that. The plan had been on lockdown since its inception after all. Even with all the griffons either holed up in the embassy or outright deported, the General Staff wasn't taking chances with information leaks. They had been clever to design drills around sections of the plan, but disguise them as simply part of their new basic training scheme. “That's great news sir! Once you take back Trottingham, we can force them into peace talks and end this war.” I grimaced and look at Quill, who wore a similar expression. Shining Armor simply looked confused. ”That's the goal isn't it, to get them to accept a peace treaty?” I sighed and furrowed my brow. “It is, but Shining...we're not stopping at Trottingham. That's why we asked to meet you here today. The overall war strategy is to conduct a naval invasion in the South, while simultaneously conducting an operation in the North. The current ruler and government of the griffons have shown themselves to be warmongers, first with the Capras and now with us. We plan to take Griffonstone and force them to give up their holds and overthrow their current government. After that, we can mandate a proper, abiding peace.” Shining Armor looks totally shocked at my straight delivery of this plan. Quill hands him several papers, one of them a treaty that would give him command of Equestrian units in the North for the duration of the campaign He takes a long while reading them, shuffling back and forth between the sheets several times. At long last, he puts the papers down and looks back at me. “You're serious about this. Anonymous, we ponies aren't warriors; we don't march into enemy lands and take them for our own. There's no way that everyone will accept this plan, it goes against our very nature.” I frowned at his statement. It seems he would be harder to convince than I’d thought. “General, I'm not entirely sure you understand our position. It has been eight centuries since the last war, and though ponies may have forgotten its ways, no doubt they now remember its horror. If we merely take back Trottingham and leave it at that, the griffon leadership will nurse feelings of resentment, strengthen their military to a point we can't contest it, and roll over us inside twenty years. I can not and will not allow that to happen. With this plan, they will only be under our administration until a new Grand Council is elected, and then they will be their own country once more.” Shining Armor looks slightly less incredulous, but no more inclined to agree with me. “This still isn't going to be widely acceptable. And what about the griffons, don't they get a say in this? Are you going to throw every single one of them out of the country?” I shared a look with Quill, now starting to get annoyed with these wild accusations. “General, the current strategy is the one outlined in those pages. The only deportations have occurred in Canterlot, and only because of the delicacy of the military reform and of the new strategies. And they will get a say when the war that THEY started is over, not a moment sooner.” Shining Armor sighs and rises from his seat, trotting to the doorway. “I will discuss your strategy with Princess Cadence. If some madness takes her and she agrees with it, we shall see if such an offensive is in our interests.” With that, he marches out, presumably to find the telegraph station. The moment the door shuts, Quill jumps into my lap and curls up. Without thinking about it, I found my hand stroking her mane, and she sighed deeply. She had been getting more clingy as the days went by. Not that ‘that’ part of my mind cared of course. The other part was screaming to see reason. As I stroked her, she speaks in a quiet, calm voice. ”I'm sorry about all this, sir.” A confused look comes over my face as I continued to run my fingers through her silky mane. “What do you mean, Quill? You've done excellent work over the past month.” I felt her weight shift in my lap, and she rests her chin on my thigh. ”No sir, I mean this. Always clinging to you whether inappropriate or no. I'm not sure why you haven't reprimanded me yet, so feel I should apologize.” I laid my hand at the base of her neck, gently stroking her soft fur. She makes a contented coo and rolls her head to the side, looking up at you curiously “You haven't done anything wrong, Quill. If I'm honest, I've felt a fair bit less stressed than I ought to be as of late. And outside the occasional midnight wake up, I've enjoyed it.” Wait, shit. I hadn't meant to mention her late night episodes. Immediately, my brain began both cursing itself and thinking up damage control for the statement. But Quill just sighed sadly, resting her forehead on my leg. ”I knew that would come up eventually. I was hoping I wouldn't have to talk about it at all.” Her resignation stops my brain for a moment. That was what I had figured she wanted, but I messed it all up. Before I could reassure her that I don't mind her silence, she speaks up again. “You know I moved here when I was a filly right? Well I was born in a little hamlet a ways outside Trottingham. It's not there anymore, but it used to be a nice, quiet little farm town.” I could feel little droplets strike my leg where she rests her head, and she takes a shuddering sigh before continuing. ”At the time, the island was a joint jurisdiction between Equestria and the Griffon Empire. So when a group of griffons tried to settle on the Equestrian side of the island, there was a significant dispute.” She sniffles and I saw her body shudder at the memory. ”One thing led to another, and a bunch of griffons in that settler group attacked our hamlet, the closest one to the border. Burned a bunch of barns and most of the crop before they got driven off; hurt a lot of ponies too. After that, my mother packed our bags and bundled me off to Canterlot. We stayed with some family for a while until we got our hooves back, and that's that.” She took a deep breath, and when she speaks again her voice is steady and soft. “I still get nightmares sometimes, about the burning barns, about finding...It's been worse since the war started, the constant reminders about Trottingham being taken on the radio, in briefings. I'll be glad when this war is over.” I scratched her behind her ears, and she makes a sound that almost sounds like purring. “We all will. Maybe you can bring this up with Shining Armor? It may have more mileage coming from another pony instead of a human he believes is a warmonger.” Her ears flattened against her head and she snorted. ”I don't want word getting out about this. Next thing you know, ponies are going to be staring at me with pitiful looks. 'There goes that mare who survived the griffon attack. Oh the poor dear.' I don't want something like that in my life.” I could understand her sentiment, simply wanting to be left alone to her life. I knew what it felt like to be pitied, to be seen as a lost soul. It was something I had idealized too, but life had strange ways to get around what I wanted. It always had to ruin everything. The door of the chamber clicks, and Quill hopped off my lap and sits back in her own seat without a fuss. Shining walks back in and takes his seat across from me and Quill, looking incredibly displeased. ”I suppose it's good news for you, Anonymous. Princess Cadence, while not liking your plans, sees it as the only way to ensure lasting peace. However, she wanted me to deliver a warning, and it's one I would have given you anyway. If you in any way abuse the griffons or your administration of their land, the Crystal Empire will not hesitate to intervene, treaties be damned.” Damn, as angered as I was by his suspicious nature, I forced myself to plaster a warm smile over my face. I had to put on a show of friendliness, even at such bald-faced accusations. “I assure you, general, we will do everything we can to ensure the safety of the griffon people. And as soon as their occupation of Capra territories is ended and their leadership changed, we will return administration to the griffons. Simple and secure. All I want is to ensure the security of Equestria, even when I will no longer be holding this station.” My words seemed to mollify him, and he levitates an ink quill over the new treaty. He signs the papers, as do I, then rises from his seat. ”I'll be holding you to your word, Anonymous. Let us pray for a swift end to this war, for both our countries.” I gave him a smile and a curt bow before responding. “And for the safety of generations to come.” He snorts and walks out the door, his hoofbeats echoing in the stone halls Finally, I allowed myself to collapse into a chair and let out a deep sigh. I had done it, I had managed to ensure that the Crystal Empire dedicated forces to helping the war effort. Even though a small number of volunteers had been asking at the Equestrian embassy in the Empire to join the Equestrian army and aid the war effort, I wasn’t sure what public sentiments were in the Crystal Empire. A few foreign volunteers does not equate to approval, as thankful as I was for the extra bodies. Already I was thinking of how I was supposed to sell the Trottingham offensive to the public. I knew it was doable, the polling on the war was closing on a hundred percent support, and the cultural ministry was doing a fine job with their own propaganda campaign. Hell, I had just manged to sell war to the princess of love. How ironic. As I sat idly in the seat, Quill once against hopped onto my lap, this time laying her head against my chest. Part of me was happy to indulge her, satisfied that I did my job as best I could. The other part wanted to shove her away. Personal thoughts aside, it was up to the military to accomplish what they had sold me on. I had my faith that all would go well. They knew what would happen if they failed after all.