//------------------------------// // Chapter 16; A stab in the back // Story: The War of 1002 // by Fireheart 1945 //------------------------------// "Are you sure you want these reports, Colonel?" asked a red pegasus regular. Looking nervous, the pony added, "I've seen them, and..." "It's my responsibility to know the state of the army I control. Please give them to me." James knew the reports weren't going to be good, but that aside, he had to see them. "Alright sir, but there have been orders I liked more." "There have been orders I was happier to give, now, then, the reports." The pegasus gave them to him, then trotted away. James looked over the various reports. He had to bite down on his tongue to keep from screaming. The damage his small army had taken was breathtaking; a little over a thousand casualties, with around four hundred dead, many from Golden Shield's harebrained attack. 207 were so badly injured that they would be incapable of further fighting, and 123 were severely wounded, some so much so that they were expected to die. There was one small problem he didn't have to worry about anymore; Captain Shield's body had been found, struck by dozens of energy bolts. Apparently he had died trying to rally his command. James sat back in his chair, stunned by the damage. What a waste. He put his hand to his head. No, what a loss. Two whole fifths of the army were either dead or incapable of fighting, with many of the rest shattered by loss of friends and colleagues. The Changelings, as always, had suffered losses far out of proportion to their foes; over eight thousand of their bodies had been counted in front of, in, or behind the trenches. Thousands more had died when the buffalo had smashed though their flank. The reasons for their withdrawal probably had less to do with their casualties and more to do with the queen knowing the buffalo had pierced her lines, and she had fallen back to escape death or capture. Whatever the reason, James was happy enough to see them go. It had been three days since the battle. The Changelings had fallen back to Greenspot, the large oasis-like area where the first battles had been fought. They had abandoned their camp, and even now a few Equestrian scientists were probing it for more information on the enemy. Nothing much had been found so far, other than black and green structures, all empty of life. What there was simply reinforced the notions he and others had already speculated; the bugs were largely just that, bugs. They had a hive-life structure, with buildings that reflected that lifestyle. No particular weakness, for either the Changelings or their structures had been found, although the artillery was going to run some field tests to locate the best places on the buildings to shoot at. The apple orchards to the north were practically destroyed, with wide swaths being cut by the combined fire of both sides. It would be a while before those orchards would recover. Fortunately, the town itself had sustained little damage, so the place was at least inhabitable. James sat up in his chair and began to write out another order, and a request for more supplies; his army would need them. He had just finished when a cyan unicorn popped his head in. "Sir, there's someone here to see you." Tell them to fuck off, I'm busy. That would have been inappropriate. Instead, he simply said, "Who is it?" in a tired voice; he had been working most of these past three days. "A bunny with a pancake on it's head." The feminine vice was unmistakeable. "Princess." His exhausted voice managed to lift itself into something a little more respectable. "What are you doing here?" "Checking on my army and my country, as I should." Princess Celestia's voice sounded jolly and fresh by comparison. I wish I had that kind of strength now. I could use it to pull things together at once instead of stringing them along, as I have been. "It's good to see that my trust in you was justified," the Princess continued. "I was worried, and for a time it seemed like the town would fall." She looked straight at him. "I'm so glad I was wrong." "You wouldn't be so glad if you had seen the reports I got just a while ago," James said. "We lost more than a few of our own boys, and we would have lost a lot more if the buffalo hadn't come when they did." "I am aware of our losses." Her voice changed, and her mouth curved downward. "It saddens me that so many must die for our liberties and for the safety of others." "What's eating me is that I give the orders that inevitably lead to that result. I can't stop them all from dying, no matter what orders I give, or what I physically do." "I know the feeling. Trust me, I knew that when the war started that some would have to die so that others might live in peace," the Princess said quietly in response. "Please know that neither I nor my sister blame you for what has occured." "You don't get angry letters from parents who lost their kids." James picked up one of several letters sprawled by his hammock. "You are a monster and if you had any decency you'd throw yourself of a cliff, for your orders led to my son's death." He dropped that one and picked up another. "I don't know what lies you told the Princess to get into her army, but if I ever see you I'll tear you to shreds with my bare hooves. You're a disgrace to whatever world you belong to and if we're lucky your kind will never be seen in our fair land ever again." He dropped that one as well, and sat on the hammock, head in his hands. "What am I supposed to do?" "Everything you can to ensure our victory." The answer came after a pause. "I'll speak to these ponies and convince them it was not your fault that their sons and siblings perished." "No, don't do anything, they'll still think it of me." "Listen, Jim, and listen closely," Celestia stated, in a firm voice. "I chose you to lead our army, and to lead us to victory. I know you can, the power to do so lies deep inside you. I would not have selected you if I had thought you would fail." "I need more than just the army I have to do it, though, and my army is in tatters." "it shall not remain so for long; I shall see to that. Whatever you need, we'll give to you." James looked up. "The town's going to need plenty of help as well, the apple orchards that are their main source of food and money have been almost completely destroyed in the fighting." "I had not heard that," the Princess said, surprise dotting her face. "Rest assured, I'll have the situation taken care of." "Thank you." James raised an eyebrow. "Where did you hear that my nickname was Jim?" Celestia grinned. "I heard it from a certain Bright Star, who, I've been told, was influential in saving our army from complete destruction. He dropped the nickname by accident when he was talking to somepony else, and I knew it had to be you; nopony would bear that name." "Well, you were right about that. Now, how soon..." "Are more troops coming? I've sent three thousand, five hundred more to this location. They should be here tommorow at noon." "That's great!" Then he frowned. The lieutenant four days earlier had said six thousand were coming. There was something amiss there, and he could guess what. "How are the negotiations going?" "You mean with Lord Spokesbane, and his associates?" Celestia scowled, though her wrath was not aimed at the human. "He's been abominable the entire time, rude at best and shockingly offensive at worst. I have to admit, I wanted to slap him for what he said about our army and it's conduct." "Are you sure you should be talking to him then?" A cocky smile returned to the alicorn's face. "I have ruled Equestria for over a thousand years; I can control my temper in political issues. Of course,", she said, growing somewhat stormier, "I haven't been challenged in the politcal field like this for a long time, so you may have a point." "Hmmm." "I suppose you asked the first question over the loss of troop numbers promised you?" She waited until he had nodded before continuing. "I have sent the remainer, about two thousand, five hundred strong, to guard our northeastern borders from Griffon aggression." "Uh, are they right at the border, like, only a short distance away from it?" James could remember reading about the German invasion of Poland in 1939; the Germans had got as far as they did so quickly partly because the Poles had placed the bulk of their forces on the frontier, leaving areas behind much more lightly defended. "Not right on top of the border, if that's what you're asking. Why?" "Because it's too easy to break an army that is so close to it's own border. If they break through the defenders, what lies for them to do but simply march through the land unchallenged?" "Again, you have a good point. I will countermand those orders." "Thank you again. How many Griffons do you think they're up against?" "Hmmmm." Celestia looked thoughtful for a minute. "Some sources say around five thousand, while others claim closer to ten thousand." "I'd guess somewhere around eight thousand, if I had to make an estimate from those numbers." "A wise conclusion." She paused for a few seconds. "Which is the more important front, the one against the Changelings or the Griffons?" James took a minute to think. "We can't let the Changelings escape to rebuild their forces," he said at last. "They have no supply lines we could cut off, and since their morale is either constant or nonexistant, they can, and will, keep fighting until either they or their foes are dead. The Griffons have those weaknesses, despite their technological advantages; unlike the Changelings, if we hurt them enough, they'll fall back on their own accord, and cutting off their food supplies would make them retreat almost as surely as a military defeat would. We must finish what we have started here, then we can focus on the Griffons if and when they come." "A good answer." "Yes, but..." He got no further; a pegasus regular flew into the tent. "Colonel, Colonel, sir!" the pony said in a British-accented voice. He turned, saw the Princess, and gasped. "And your majesty," he added, bowing. He looked up, took a letter out of his saddlebags. "I regret to imform you both that Lord Spokesbane and his diplomatic team have announced that they are leaving, effective immediately!" 'What? So soon?" Princess Celestia looked surprised. "I need to get back to Canterlot and figure out whaat he's up to." James stood up. "If I had to guess, it can't be anything good." "My suspicions exactly. Please forgive me for the hasty leave I must take." "Not at all. You've bought us time, and may God grant that you can buy us a little more." "I'll try." The magnificent alicorn walked out of the tent. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Lord Spokesbane!" Princess Celestia flew into the room, hoping she was wrong, that war with the Griffons was far away. "What is the meaning of your leaving the negotiations?" "Because there is nothing more to negotiate." The British-accented Griffon said, in a matter of fact tone. "We have seen that your army is incapable of defending it's own lands." "What do you mean? They won a great victory a mere three days ago, didn't you hear about it?" "You can claim all the victories you want, you can't make them real." The Griffon waved his right claw, as he had so many times at the peace table. The arrogance of the obvious lie threatened to overwhelm her; she barely forced it down. "If you try to march on us, we will resist." "I wouldn't do that, if I were you," the Griffon said. "Many of your subjects would die to no purpose. You can't stop us. You can't even stop the black, insectile barbarians who are even now devouring your country. We are merely restoring order." "That is a curtain for a declaration of war, ambassador," Celestia said, turning the Griffon's official title into an insult. "There shall be no victory for you in the conflict you have brought down upon yourselves." "We won't lose, if you choose to oppose us. If you do, we shall punish you for it, all of you. King Raniero* has told me that, if you do not oppose our restoration of order, you shall maintain some autonomy when we are done. If you resist, however, your country will be outright annexed." The Griffon packed his last bag. "I'll see you in a week or so, when this whole mess is over." He walked out of the room, accompanied by two porters clutching his bags. Celestia stared at the door he had exited through. Oh, what do we do now? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ James wrote another request for materials and supplies, then decided to take a break. He walked out of the tent and took a look around. The camp was a sight of activity, though not all of it was work; he could see some soldiers playing various games. Some were clearly gambling, replacing chips with gold bits. He looked back at the town; already some of the stubborn townsfolk were coming back to Appleloosa. Luckily they didn't seem too upset with the army, although the orchards had been pulverized; Celestia had authorized part of the Equestrian budget to used to assist the town until it could stand on it's own again. A steam whistle sounded in the distance. He was all too gald to use his binoculars to watchs for the trains, seeing as the Changelings had done little if anything as of late. He saw a long train, even longer than the one that had arrived five days ago. He watched as the train pulled into town, stopped, and began to unload it's passengers and baggage... which amounted to soldiers and supplies and artilelry respectively. Was that... He focused on a white unicorn stallion wearing purple armor. Yep, that's Shining Armor, or I'm a Russian Blue. He lowered the binoculars and smiled. Now he could catch up with his friend from the Royal Guard, not to mention he wouldn't have to bear every bit of responsibility anymore. He went back to his tent and got into his hammock. He was still busy trying to rebuild his army, and, while the reninforcements would help immensely, they wouldn't accomplish the job just by themselves. While he wasn't that exhausted physically, his brain needed a rest. Before he knew it, he was asleep. A crash to the floor woke him up. He took a minute to realize his hammock had been flipped over. He looked to his left, to see four purple hooves... He stood up. Shining Armor was standing before him, looking amused. "You know, it's expected that an officer will meet a superior will greet him in camp, not from a bed." "Oh, what's it to you?" But there was no really heat in James voice as he crossed the small space and sat down at the table nearby. "I've been awful busy just writing these reports, and my brain decided it was time for a break." "Your brain should be court-martialed." They both had a good laugh at that. The white stallion continued, "So, what's been going on since you left?" The joking mood left James, leaving sorrow behind. "They've been pressing us constantly, excluding the past three or four days. How so many of us survived, I'm not completely sure. The reinforcements we got saved us, but without the intervention by the buffalo, they would have crushed us here. As it is" - here he waved his right arm from one side of the tent to the other, trying to encompass the entire camp - "we barely lived to tell the tale." "Well, we should be able to finish the job now, we have about..." "A little under five thousand soldiers." Shining's mouth fell. "What?" "I'm not kidding; we've lost about one thousand, five hundred killed, wounded, or missing, most of them for the battle to save this town." Seeing the stallion's shocked face remain in place, he went on, "They had the numbers to keep pressing us, and they wouldn't stop coming. They aren't like you or me; we feel fear, they don't, or at leaast not the drones who do the fighting. They don't stop until they win or they're dead, or if their queen has ordered them to fall back, usually for her own safety rather than her army's." Shining finally recovered. "it sounds like you all had one rough ride." "No kidding! We've been fighting just to survive from the beginning." "Well, now we can do more than just survive", Shining Armor said, an arrogant (or perhaps confident) smile on his face. "We can knock them into the middle of next week." "It's about time, I..." Another pegasus, with a tan coat and white mane, flew into the tent. "Colonel, General, I have urgent news, from Princess Celestia herself!" "What?" They both asked in perfect synchrony. "The Griffon ambassador announced that Griffon troops are coming into Equestria to, er..." He looked at a piece of paper he was holding in his left hoof. "Restore order, because he claims Equestria can't do it on it's own, and he has warned us not to resist." James sat there, mind-blown. Then the anger welled up inside him. "Son of a bitch! Son of a mother fucking bitch!" he yelled as he slammed his fist down onto the table. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Note, I got the name Raniero from a book in Harry Turtledove's Darkness series (which is about WWII being fought on an alternate world with magic almost completely replacing technology), and chose to borrow it.