//------------------------------// // Chapter Nineteen: Rally the Troops // Story: The Element of Willpower // by Redwolf15 //------------------------------// Chapter Nineteen: Rally the Troops "So, Captain, who might our savors be?" I ask the white unicorn after he's been introduced to the leaders of the three races. "Ah, glad you're all here. Where's Sharla and the kids?" He asks noticing we're missing three members. "Sharla and Shantze went to try and find their parents with Light tagging along, I hope they find them." "So do I pal, anyway. Everyone, in command of the stampeding minotaurs we have Chief Thunderhoof." He points to a big minotaur with shaggy, black fur. A big ring hung from his nose, five in his left ear and three in his right, his left horn was snapped off. He held a big warhammer suiting his size, he was a big guy with huge pex, massive arms, and he had a fat Steve Austin neck. "How ya doin'?" He had a deep voice and gives us a two finger salute. Note to self, don't fuck with this guy. "General Swift." He pointed to a griffin with pure white feathers, with a black beak and talons, I think he was missing his left eye because there was a scar that went across his left eye and ran down to the left end of his beak. He wore green armour with a red insignia of an eagle at the centre. "Hello." He said simply and gave a small nod. "And finally, Head Shaman Vana." Out of the three ringleaders, the zebra was a woman. She had the usual black and white stripe and a cutie mark, or tribal mark, I don't know what zebra's call it, of a tornado in a triangle. Her hair was in a mohawk fashion like Zecora's, only longer and drooped down when it got too high with many strands sticking together. "Greetings new friends," Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. "Soon Discord's tyranny ends." Dammit! "Nice to meet you all. I'm Jesse Ruesgen, this guy on my shoulder is Flex," he gives an affirmative squawk, "Flora," she nods, "Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash." Rainbow is a little unsettled by the griffins, I'm guessing Gilda. Fluttershy does what she normally does and shies away from them, and the minotaurs. Come to think of it, to my knowledge she hasn't had a good history with minotaurs or griffins. Applejack and Rarity are the only ones to give a proper greeting. And Pinkie Pie made a total, well, Pinkie Pie of herself. Vana seemed to like her though. Night pops up, this is really annoying. "Jesse, girls, can you come us." Shining Armor didn't make it much of a question. "Yeah, of course." The six of us along with the three leaders walked to a table with a map of Canterlot. "Well cap'n, what's the plan of attack?" Asked Chief Thunderhoof in his deep burly voice. "Actually, I'm not in charge of this operation." Shining Armor looks at me. "He is." "Him?" The three leaders, five of the mane six, and I all asked at the same time. "Cap'n, with all due respect, are ya sure that's such a good idea?" Applejack asks uncomfortably. "Yeah, why me?" I ask just as confused and unsure about his decision. "Because if it weren't for you, I doubt I'd be here right now. Given my injuries when we met and what you went through when you were a slave for the Diamond Dogs, I wouldn't have survived a return trip." "Okay, so you think I deserve to plan this because I helped you. I honestly think that's a poor excuse." "Not just that, but you were even able to get the Diamond Dogs and dragons to side with us, from the sounds of how things went down in those mines when you were their slave, I wouldn't have been able to convince them, let alone live. And let's not forget about that vampire. If it weren't for you none of us would have survived that. And just now, you took charge and made all the right choices. I think you're more than suited for this." He gives me a reassuring look with gentle eyes. He believes every word he said about me. I think hard, and he is right, Corig didn't sound too keen on joining forces with the ponies. I even convinced dragons for crying out loud. I think this out a lot more, trying to figure if he's right by putting me in the hot spot. "Okay." I decide that he's right. I have made a lot of right choices and made some leadership skills. Besides, he always was one to go by his better judgement, and his judgement was always right."This is what's going to happen. Chief, I presume that you and your minotaurs are well with a full frontal assaults?" "You presume correctly boy!" He said with a bark of laughter as loud as thunder. "Perfect. Vana, how are your zebra's in a fight?" I look to the zebra. "Our men are hardy and tough, and do not presume that I bluff. While our women perform enchantments, and brew many healing ointments." She said in what I will now presume is a zebra's regular speech pattern. "Alright. General Swift, what about your griffins?" "Only a fool asks how a griffin can fair in a battle." He says rather icily. "Ooookay then. Alright, Chief, Vana, I need you and your soldiers on the ground storming the castle. I need you to be as big of a distraction as you possibly can. General, we need these five mares, Shining Armor, and myself in that castle pronto, so you and your griffins will be playing escort and clearing the sky. Vana, your women play a vital role, can they keep everyone else fighting, and more importantly, breathing?" "Of course, only the best can keep you strong in health, whether you charge forward or prefer stealth." She responds with a pleasant smile. "Great, you and your women look after the wounded and make sure they can still fight. Make sure that the minotaurs and male zebras get past those walls and in the castle. General, once we get on the castle grounds you'll have to help with the seizing the castle, we can handle ourselves." He gives a short nod. "Okay, so it's a good plan, but why do we need so many to storm the castle? Isn't it just Discord?" Dash asks flying above us. "I doubt that. Discord is able to summon Lessers, chances are there will be more of them. A lot more. He's not going down without a fight." I look over each and everyone one of the five ponies. My eyes are dead serious that things will not be alright. "So that's the plan? Storm the castle and take no prisoners?" Chief Thunderhoof asks. "Basically; short, simple, sweet." He gives out a thunderous laugh saying he likes it and pats me on the back with his massive hand. The impact knocked the wind out of me a bit. "What about the others who will be joining us? The Diamond Dogs and dragons?" The green armoured griffin asks. "As much as an advantage it may be for them to join us on this, we can't wait for them. They'll have to arrive late or not at all. I don't know how long it'll take for them to get here, so we have to get into the castle ASAP." It's true, the sooner we beat Discord the better, I can't wait for Corig or Krinox. "But for now, I want everyone to rest up, we'll need to be at full strength if we're going to do this. We'll attack in about a day, well the estimate of a day that is, but let's keep plenty guards vigilant, I don't want an ambush while we're all napping. I'm going to take first watch." And just like that I departed from everyone else to dwell in my thoughts, Flex right by my side. Is this real the right decision? Did Shining Armor really think it a good idea to let me plan the attack? I can think of a hundred ways this can go wrong, but it's the best I have. I sit underneath an apple tree, well now it was an orange tree because of Discord. Flex flies up into the tree and just like that he was lights out. I hear foot steps as the sun pops back up, two sets. One's a ponies going clockity-clock, the other's rather padded. I turn my head and see Applejack and Sharla. Sharla's not looking to happy, our eyes didn't even meet. "Couldn't find them?" I ask knowing the answer. He shakes her head. "Shining Armor briefed me of the plan." "So ya' were tellin' the truth 'bout that vampire?" Applejack asks in her southern accent. I nod my head saying I had no reason to lie to her. She sat down next to me. "Hoo nelly, that's somethin'. An actual vampire. What'd it look like?" "Like me, only more batty." I give her a half smile thinking I just made a poor joke. "Like you? Ya' mean there's more o' you humans in Equestria?" "Nope, just me as far as I know." My eyes narrow. "And Mother." "Your ma's here too?" She asks confused. "No, not my mother. Mother. Apparently there was a human here before me. She was a mother to the vampire and a lot of other half-human creatures like Flora, the harpy. So what are you two doing here?" "The pink one decided to throw a party and thought you'd want to join. Don't worry, there are others who are keeping an eye out for danger." Sharla speaks up. "Nah, I'm fine." The three of us sit there for a while in total silence. "Ah'm real sorry fer the way ah acted towards ya earlier." Apllejack says taking off her hat to show her sincerity. "It's jus' been difficult for us ever since Discord returned, and ya just seemed ta spook me is all." "It's fine, I'd say I know what you're going through, but I really don't. You just want to protect your friends, and with Discord on the thrown you'd probably jump at just about anything." "By the way, while I was flying over the town I noticed all the ponies lost their color and were acting strange. How come you five weren't like that?" Sharla asks Applejack across of me. "Hey yeah, you weren't affected." I join in remembering earlier before. They were discorded when Discord was first freed, so how come they weren't now? "Well ah'm sure ya'll are aware that this ain't the first time Discord broke from his stone imprisonment. First time we met the fella he turned us all into our opposites. Ah became a liar, an even worse one then ah'm now. But thanks to Twilight she made us remember who we are, all we gotta do is remember that, and we ain't affected." She says putting the stetson back on her head. "Ya mind if ah ask you question now?" "Go for it." "Why do you want t' come along? To the castle I mean, what business do ya have there?" Se asks me. I stare at her in silence for a while. "Because Discord's the only one who has the answers." "Answers? What answers?" Sharla looked just as confused as Applejack did. "Well, he's the one who sent me here, so he knows how to send me back. There's also Mother, who is she? Discord took her from Equestria and sent her back to my world, so he has to know who she is. But so should Celestia." "Princess Celestia?" Applejack says like I just told her I something shocking. Well Princess Celestia knew a human and no one else did, so yeah, I suppose that may be a little shocking. "Why would she know anything about that Mother lady?" "Because they were friends. Mother lived in the castle with Celestia and Luna. They must know something. And then there's the question as to what this power of mine is that Discord mentioned." "Power? You never mentioned anything about having any power to us before." Sharla says looking a little hurt that I kept something from her, a friend. "Yeah, I don't know what it is, but it's something. It allows me to get faster, stronger, forget pain, so many things. There's something different with me that I need to know about. Remember when we fought against Nosferatu? The vampire? I was getting my ass handed to me because I couldn't keep up, suddenly I felt a spark in me and I got faster than you could keep track of, that's what I'm talking about. That's what this power of mine is." "So ya get better, what's so bad about that?" Applejack asks me not finding this to be a problem. "My strength, speed, and stamina don't just shoot through the roof. I've even been able to do things that are impossible, I actually brought the dead back to life with it! And that's not all, it has a conscious, I have a second voice inside my head." "How come you never told us this before?" Sharla asks concerned. "I don't know, maybe because it's because of me and my power that Discord's free." I clap my hands over my mouth realizing what I just said. "What?" Applejack was speechless. Crap-baskets. "Ya mean it was you who freed Discord?" I hang my head and rub my hands through my hair. "Yeah, I kind of did. But I didn't mean to! I didn't even know that I did free him. That's the biggest reason why I need to go to Canterlot with you! When he sent me here, I apparently stole a bit of his chaos magic, and in return I had to give him a bit of my power, I didn't even know that I did that. It's my fault that he's free and ruling, so I have to be there to help defeat him. I don't know how much of a help I can be, but I have to do whatever I can. It's my fault so I have to take responsibility for this." There's a long silence. What could they be thinking of me? Can they trust me any more? "Alright." Applejack deadpans. I stare at her confused. "Alright? What do you mean 'Alright'?" "Alright. Ah'm the Element of Honesty bucko. Ah know when somepony's tellin' the truth and when they ain't. And ah can see a whole smack load of it in your eyes. Ya jus' wanna make things right is all, and ah can respect that. Now if ya don't mind, I'm gonna see how that party's doin'" She stands up and trots off, leaving Sharla and myself alone. "You could have told us before you know. We would have understood." She gives me a friendly smile, no longer looking hurt about the secrets I kept from her. "Yeah, I know you guys, and you would have understood. Guess I was just scared how you might react when I would tell you that this is all my fault." We sit there in more silence. She lies down and rests her head against my chest, this felt strangely comfortable. I stroked her head, rubbing my hand through her long feathers. At some point we drifted off to sleep.