Shining Armor and the messenger took a shocked step back as James ignored the pain going through his own fist. The human's fierce face might have had something to do with it as well. He was so angry that he didn't move; he just stayed where he was, fist on the table, his furious face over it.
Finally the Captain of the Royal Guard was able to recover. "James," he said, with a frown on his face, "calm down."
"Calm down? Shi... Er, I mean, General, you might not have heard, but we've just been stabbed in the back," replied the human colonel. "We finally get a taste of victory after all this - here he banged his fist on the table again - freaking - he repeated the action - time - once more he pounded the table - "and now we have to deal with this," he said, dragging out the last few words in an outraged growl. He raised his fist to strike the table yet again, only to be stopped by a glow of energy from the unicorn general's horn.
"Come on, destroying your hand on the table isn't going to solve the problem." Then Shining's face softened. "I know what you're feeling; in fact, I'm probably even more upset than you are. But we need to focus."
James slowly calmed down, though it took several minutes. "...Alright." He lowered his fist, which Shining had released, and stood up, putting his hands on the table and leaning over it. "In that case, we should push hard here and now, so that we can defeat the Changelings before the Griffons become a major problem. Then we can bring all our boys back east and knock those aggressors into next week, and end this damn war."
He began looking at the map showing the Changeling positions. They didn't seem to be doing much, but he knew it wouldn't be long before the queen made the choice to attack again. "We've been falling back and back, now it's our time to hit them, and to hit them hard." He pointed at the map. "A force of Royal Guards will..."
"Hold on." Shining Armor stepped up and and looked James in the eye. "I'm the General, anything you say has to meet my approval first."
"...I see." James hadn't considered that. Breathing heavily through his nose, he went back to studying the map as he sat down. "General, if I may, I think I have a plan." Seeing his friend nod, he continued. "Some of our troops will make a frontal attack on the enemy camp, while more attack from the side, and a force of pegasi willget in their rear and trap them." He moved the little troop indicators on the map to various positions in a rough circle shape around the Changeling base. "If this works, we'll surround their camp from all sides and crush them between us."
Shining nodded, but looked unconvinced. "That idea sounds good, but they could see us all too easily and escape."
"Which is why we'll make our move at night, and wait for dawn's early light to make the actual assault", the Colonel replied, savoring the reference.
"That's still risky. They could still see us by the light of the moon, and there aren't any clouds to block it, even if the pegasi to be involved in that operation weren't in danger."
"If you have a better idea, I'd like to hear it." James folded his arms. "If you can outflank your enemy, you're the one who survives, even if you're the one who's outnumbered. And we can't afford frontal assaults, not with a fight on two fronts. Besides, I don't intend to risk anyone's lives in that kind of attack."
"I wasn't going to suggest that." Shining looked at the map. At last he lifted his head. "I don't know what else we could do, other than tunnel under their camp, and only Diamond Dogs can dig fast enough to suit us."
"Hmmm." James sighed heavily. "In any case, it's your decision, General."
"...We'll go with your plan. I just hope we don't fail."
"We won't. We don't have room for failure."
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That night the army packed up and began to move. The sky was clear, with a bright moon brightening the landscape, making it almost as clear as day. James wished he could extend his arm long enough to slap the satellite, even if it wouldn't have done any good. He felt betrayed by the giant space rock's light.
They kept on even so; a few clouds did block out the light of the moon here and there, but Shining Armor had been right; there simply weren't enough clouds for the pegasi to entirely block the treacherous rays.
James didn't know how long it took before the regiment he was to lead the following day got into place; he passed the time by staring at the desert sand and the moon. Before long he felt entranced by the errie beauty of it all as the march went on it's way.
Presently he heard hoofbeats to his left; he turned his head and found Silver Shield's head a few feet to his left. At least, he thought it was the sergeant's head; the moon was nowhere as bright as the sun, and it didn't illuminate the Guard that well. "Sergeant, is that you?", he asked.
"Yeah, it's me." That was Shield, alright. He sounded subdued. "I just wanted to see if everything's going as expected."
"I'm not sure; the flanking units are miles to the east and west of us. I don't think the Changelings have noticed anything, though I'm not sure how well they can see at night."
Shield gave a grunt.
"You sound ill, sergeant. Are you going to be alright?" It was a different question from "Are you alright?" The difference was subtle, but noticable.
Shield noticed. "I'll be fine, just a bit under the weather after hearing about my brother."
"Oooooh." James removed his hat. "If it's any consolation, I'm sorry to hear that." He walked on, not speaking for a few seconds. "He was a... talented officer."
"You mean aggressive, Jim, I know all about him disobeying your orders." Shield gave a small laugh. "It was one of his greatest weaknesses. I remember wrestling him back when we were foals and dreaming of joining the Royal Guard. I found early on I could win by goading him into making some impatient move." The stallion shook his head. "It worked on almost any game I played with him."
"We could use that aggressive spirit now. We are going on the actual offensive for the first time."
"Hmmm..." The Guard looked down at the ground. "No Guard worth his stripes would even think of disobeying orders. Golden Shield dishonored the Royal Guard, and destroyed the ponies under his command, by not following your orders." He looked up into James' face. "I don't blame you for his death. I thought about it a while; he brought it on himself."
"I can tell from the tone in your voice that you still miss him."
"I do. I miss him more than you can ever know. But in the end, we have to live up to the fact that death exists, and that it visits us all. And we have to recognize the facts in those deaths, hope to learn from them. Maybe then we can make life better for ourselves and for others."
James grunted approvingly. "Well spoken, my friend." He stared at the ground as he kept walking. "I have learned all too much recently, if you know what I mean."
"I don't envy you, having to make the big decisions."
"You have no idea..."
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The rest of the march went on in silence, as Greenspot finally came into view. Changeling towers were visible above the trees, dark, tall, and evil-looking. James couldn't see any activity coming from it, but that didn't necessarily mean anything; they may have detected the approach and set up an ambush. His soldiers were alert despite the hour, and their heads kept turning this way and that, watching for anything suspicious.
The artillery had been set up a distance behind his current position. His unit was in a sunken ditch, some distance away from the enemy camp. If the foe was ready for them, they showed no sign.
"Sir," Shield whispered in his ear, "we don't know the enemy's exact location, or what they're doing; we should have somepony go out on a reconnaisance mission."
"You're right," James said, also in a whisper, "we should. And you're coming with me." The pony grunted in response, but otherwise said nothing. The human pointed to three other ponies nearby. "You, you, and you," he said quietly as they turned their heads in his direction, "we're going on a scouting detail. Come with me." He lifted himself out of the ditch toward the trees, which were only a few dozen meters in front of them. He heard their hoofsteps as they followed him.
For a while, nothing seemed out of order in the once unblooded forest. An owl hooted, but other than scaring the Colonel and his squad out of their wits, all was quiet.
Then he felt something tap his shoulder. James turned, pistol drawn, only to find that it only the hoof of one of the ponies he had ordered to follow him. The soldier made a silencing gesture. "Sir," he whispered, "I can see a Changeling, over there," he finished as he pointed a hoof in the direction he wanted to indicate.
James looked; indeed, there seemed to be a black body sitting beside a small pool.
"Alright," he whispered back, "get up behind the trees, and don't let it hear you. I'll take up shop behind that one," he said, pointing at the closest tree to the Changeling.
They all hastened to obey. James crawled up to the tree he had in mind, revolver out and ready to fire.
He looked at the Changeling. It didn't seem to be doing anything; it just stared into the pool, sighing once or twice.
That's odd. I haven't seen Changelings act this way before.
Shield gave him an inquiring look from behind the tree he had taken up position behind. James shook his head, then lifted a finger to tell him to wait. The pony looked disapproving, but said nothing.
James kept watching the lone Changeling. It shook its head as it stood up. Then it sighed.
James nodded to Shield, then took aim at the Changeling. Before he could shoot, a merciful impulse fell on him, urging him to take the drone alive. "Don't move," he said quietly, but audibly.
The Changeling jumped; to his own surprise, it looked... surprised. And scared. It's eyes got wide as it realized it was surrounded.
"P-p-please, d-d-dont hurt me."
James almost took a step back in surprise. The Changeling's voice was different from the insectile, hissing voice the others used; in fact, he thought with amusement, it sounded almost exactly like the character Rand in Robotech.
He stood up. "We won't hurt you if you come quietly. Come on, we're going back to camp."
The Changeling looked frightened. "Are y-y-you sure no one will hurt me?"
"I'll make sure of it, just move. And no magic."
"O-ok." The drone walked forward, then his eyes lit up. "You're that monkey thing the queen wants."
"For everyone's information, I'm a human. And she's not going to capture me alive." They walked back toward the camp.
As they got closer, Shield whispered, "Are you sure it was a good idea to take him alive? I'm not convinced this was a good idea."
"Trust me," James said as he came out from under the trees, Changeling prisoner walking in front of him.