From the notes of a historian:
When The Plague had reached a high point in its lethality, a turning point occurred. A cure, called Lunar Remedy, was discovered in the Moon Kingdom; however the king at the time charged highly for it. Shortly after this cure was found, this king began to destroy some of his own towns and villages for reasons unknown. However, when his armies reached the town of Crescentville the town’s militia, led by Countess Waning, drove them back. This countess rallied the citizens of the Moon Kingdom against their king and his corrupt ways, and soon a civil war broke out.
This civil war lasted for seven years before Countess Waning came out the winner and the king was killed. The countess took over the Kingdom and become its new queen. Queen Waning swiftly dealt with the affairs of the county, including restoring the damage done by the civil war, as well as distributing the cure for The Plague to all of her citizens. She also sent out messengers and Mourners to other countries and spread the cure across the world. It was through this the queen earned her place is history as the pony who eradicated The Plague, the actual creator of the cure unknown. Three years after the civil war, The Plague was completely gone.
The countries of the world began rebuilding and coping with the massive loss of life they had survived. Ten years after the eradication of The Plague, the world’s nations began attacking each other for resources or in an attempt to exploit another nation’s weakness caused by The Plague. The world was plunged into chaos once again, but the cause this time was war. The nations engaged in a free-for-all and attacked who they pleased. While war became prominent everywhere, the Scarlet Empire felt it the most heavily. It was situated between four other nations, the Moon Kingdom, Sky Flotilla, Magical Symposium, and the Griffin Homeland.
Ten years into this war, the boundaries of nations changed drastically, but the Scarlet Empire was holding strong and was one of the few to lose barely any land to another. It fought in many bloody battles and its council was determined to push outward and gain as much land as possible. In this determination many offensives were launched against the surrounding nations. One such offensive was aimed towards a town called Dawn, belonging to the Sky Flotilla. It was one of the few pegasi towns on the ground, a farming town for the nation, and provided them with food and supplies for the war effort. Taking this town would strike a hefty blow against them. It was ten years into this war that the offensive against Dawn was launched.
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30 years after Death…
I awake from my sleep to the sound of rain. The temperature has dropped drastically since I was last awake, possibly in part to the rain. Stretching, I get up off my cot and look around the tent; it would seem the rain is leaking in under the edged, but the center is still dry. I yawn as put on my armor, forged from steel and marked with my country’s crest, a red plaque background with the symbols of a horseshoe in the center and a unicorn’s horn between the horseshoe, the great Scarlet Empire.
As I am preparing to leave my tent, a soldier enters and salutes me before saying, “Sergeant Crimson! Lieutenant Sheath requests your presence in the command tent.” I nod to the soldier before telling him, “Thank you, I’m on my way.” The soldier leaves the tent and I turn to my mirror and examine my armor.
Everything looks in order and I admire the armor’s crest, which has the same red as my coat, crimson. My black mane is barely visible beneath my helmet, and my specially made armor shows my cutie mark, a silver gear with two swords crossed in front of it. I pull on my crimson cloak, head out into the rain and make my way to the command tent.
The camp seems abuzz with activity as soldiers run everywhere giving reports, moving supplies, or looking for some slight rest. After a short walk through the maze of tents I arrive at the command tent, a large crimson tent embroidered with our nation’s crest. As I enter I am greeted by the glances of about a dozen other stallions gathered around a table that has a map of the area on it. I quietly make my way to join them at the table and wait to be addressed.
“No! Absolutely not! We cannot throw any more troops against that side’s defenses. I am telling you, we need to come up with another approach or we will continue to get slaughtered.” One of the officers proclaims. “Then what do you suggest? The opposite side of the town is blocked by a trench. Sure, we could climb into and then attempt to climb out of it, but the damned pegasi will just rain arrows down upon us before we manage up again,” snarled another. “Calm yourselves gentlecolts. We must simply think up a proper strategy which will catch them off guard and exploit their weakness.” The General said in an attempt to calm his officers before turning to me. “Now then, Crimson, I am glad you are here. As I am sure you are aware, Lieutenant Blackhoof was KIA this morning. That leaves your squad without an officer. Well, congrad-u-lations, you are now Lieutenant of Maroon squad. Don’t make us regret this decision. Now then everypony, you as well Crimson, let us continue our planning.”
And just like that in a matter of seconds, I became a lieutenant; although, all too recently this has happened quite often. At least four of the other stallions around the table were field promoted like I just was, without any proper training in leadership and decision making. Unlike them, however, I had planned to eventually become an officer. My overall ambition was to become one of the five generals in the Scarlet Army and bring glory and wealth back to the Scarlet Empire. War does wonders for a pony’s military career.
I listened in to the conversation and planning that was going on around me. Since I was new, I wasn’t about to suggest anything right off the bat and risk a mistake. Instead, I would wait for an idea to show itself to me. I looked over the map of the town of Dawn and its surrounding countryside, making note of all the fortifications on both sides and thinking about what we could do. While I examined the map and listened to the other officers argue around me, messengers from the frontlines would run in every so often with reports and the map would change, if ever so slightly. This battle was a stalemate, for now.
After a few hours of arguing the officers were silent for a few minutes. The general looked at me after a while, and soon the others slowly did the same. “Crimson, you haven’t said anything for a while. Do you have any suggestions or anything to add?” Great, this is exactly what I didn’t want to happen. But, I did have a plan, I just wasn’t sure if it would work, it was a bit…risky, at least for one squad. I looked at the general, and then at the map, placing both of my hooves upon the table.
“The town has two entrances, this one which is an upward battle for us and we have been pushing for days, and this one which has a trench dug in front of it preventing us from moving in mass against them.” I pointed to each in turn. “From the scout reports, the trench entrance is slimly defended, and only so to warn the others of an attack from that side, as we have tried and seen. We have tried many approaches, including focusing solely on both and splitting our forces equally between the two. Even scaling the walls between the entrances proved futile.” I was mostly getting things straight in my head, not informing them of what they already knew. “In short, they are too swift to react to our efforts thanks to their aerial view of the battlefield and we cannot gain an upper hoof; we need to take them by surprise. So, I suggest that we wait till nightfall, when they will have limited visibility and our unicorn troops can use their magic to light our way or make us even harder to see. Then we have the mass of our forces attack the front while one squad will attempt to sneak through the trench entrance and get the drop on them. Any more than a squad and I fear our visibility level will be too high, and while the pegasi are distracted with the front we still trike them from behind.”
They general and other officers looked from one to another, some muttering amongst themselves, before they turned back to me. “It sounds good; we shall try this, Crimson.” The general said to me, then asked, “Who will lead the solitary squad?” He looked around at the officers, each of whom attempted to avoid his gaze. I sighed slightly before I spoke up once again, “I will sir, me and Maroon squad.” What was I getting myself into?