//------------------------------// // Act 2: Chapter 5 - The Pegasi Scourge // Story: The Apocalypse Ponies: Origins // by PlagenShiki //------------------------------// “Waiting for your word lieutenant.” The new Sergeant of Maroon squad tells me. Maroon squad currently consists of eleven soldiers; four unicorns and seven earth ponies. We have gathered about a hundred yards from the trench of Dawn, beneath a tree help cloak our presence. A few hours have passed since nightfall, but the attack won’t start for a few more minutes. The main force will attack, and then after a few more minutes we will begin our infiltration. In the time remaining I go over our plan once again with the squad. The unicorns will be using illusionary magic to assist in cloaking us from the sight of watchful pegasi. Due to the strain on their magical reserves this would cause the four unicorns will alternate and work in teams of two to cloak the whole squad. We will move swiftly yet quietly into the trench and begin climbing out of it again and once on the other side, we will take out as many pegasi as we can quietly and when detected we will charge the opposite entrance where the main force is attacking. Once we engage the pegasi at the main entrance, they will be caught in a two-sided battle and we should gain the upper hand. The main force begins attacking and we can hear the fighting from here; our attack beings soon. Using this remaining time, I elect to give the squad some words of inspiration. “Alright squad, listen up! Our attack will begin soon, and we must succeed and take this town tonight! This is a risky operation, and the chance of our defeat is high. However, if we stick together, work as a team, and use our training properly we will come out victorious! Taking this town will strike a devastating blow against the pegasi, and help to secure our border against them. Whatever your reason is to fight, remember it and use it to crush the pegasi vermin from this town, a town which should rightfully belong to us, who reside on the ground! Come, my brothers! Let us take this town for the Great Scarlet Empire!” I raise my hoof to punctuate my statement. And as I do so the rest of the squad raises theirs and let out a quiet cheer as we begin to march towards the trench. ===============~*~============= We have made it across the trench and into the town without being detected. If it wasn’t for the battle raging at the gate, it would seem like a ghost town; all the non-combatant citizens having long since left. We made our way into one of the houses to give our unicorn members a rest. The spell had exhausted them and they were not fit for combat right away. However ever moment we rested is a moment one of our soldiers could fall. I decided to adjust our plan slightly. “Alright everypony, we are going to split up to give our unicorn brothers a chance to rest. Cog and Saber, you two stay here and watch over them and catch up with us when you can, the rest of you with me.” I led the rest of the squad to the stairs leading to the town’s wall. There was a pegasi standing near the top, looking over the area we had crossed to enter the town. I motioned for the squad to stop while I snuck up on him, unsheathing my knife. I crept up right next to him and quickly reach my hoof around to grab his muzzle while I used the knife in mine to penetrate a gap in his armor and stab him in the neck. His body tensed as is dropped to the ground lifelessly and I motioned for the rest of the squad to move up. We split up further and crept along the top of the walls taking out the soldiers on the ground; occasionally some would fly overhead and we would have to hug the shadows to avoid being detected. The stallion I had brought with me, Ironside, and I had killed around ten before the other group of three signaled that they had been spotted. Ironside and I began charging atop the wall to regroup with our other squad members, running into a few more soldiers along the way. Ironside brought his war hammer down upon one such fellow’s back, breaking both his wings, before tossing him over the wall to fall to his dead. Oh irony. As we approached the other three, four pegasi were swooping down upon them while another was shooting arrows toward them while hovering in the air. My squad members were doing their best to fight them off, but none of us had ranged weaponry so it was a losing battle. It was all they could do to fight them off. Once we caught up to them, Ironside hit one out of the air as it swooped down and the pegasi crashed to the ground. However more pegasi with bows flew in and began to shoot at us and we had to keep moving to avoid getting hit while still combating those still swooping down at us. Slowly we were being pushed into a corner, and just when it seemed we would be overwhelmed, Cog and Saber appeared on the wall in a puff of magic, impaling two of the attacking pegasi with their spears. At the same time, two of our four unicorns, who had bows, appeared on a near-by rooftop and quickly shot and killed the last pegasi who had close ranged weaponry. They then turned their attention toward the airborne pegasi and began launching arrows at them. While they engaged the pegasi in the air, we began running to the town gate where the main force was attacking. Cog and Saber informed us that the two other unicorns were in the same house and had used magic to teleport the others up, but will be in no condition to catch up with us for a while. The pegasi archers split into two groups, one pursuing us, and the other attacking our unicorn archers. We ran across the top of the wall toward the gatehouse our main force was fighting near, dodging arrows all the while. When we neared the gatehouse, we saw lines of pegasi archers on the wall raining arrows down upon our soldiers. My squad and I quickly charged the grounded archers and began doing away with them. They were caught off-guard and we managed to slay nearly fifteen of them before the rest took to the skies. Ignoring the flying pegasi, we charged inside the gatehouse and I ordered Cog and Ironside to begin opening the gate while the rest of us fought off the pegasi. The gate was almost fully opened when a pegasi archer took a shot through an arrowslit in the wall. Saber quickly stuck his spear back out the arrowslit and stabbed the archer, however the arrow had struck Ironside in the chest and he was bleeding badly. I ran over to him and laid him upon the floor as I took over his task and finished opening the gate. Once the gate was open, I told Cog to tend to Ironside as I went back to fight off the pegasi to prevent them from closing the gate. As my squad held the gatehouse, I could hear triumphant shouts as Scarlet Empire soldiers galloped through the gate and began overrunning the town. A few minutes later the two unicorns, who had been recovering in the house after teleporting the others, galloped into the gatehouse and rejoined us. I ordered them to relieve Cog and see what they could do for Ironside. The battle for Dawn raged on for hours as each force was stuck in a staring contest, the pegasi waiting for openings to swoop down and kill one of us, and us waiting for them to swoop down so we could kill them. However thanks to our unicorns’ magic we were able to shoot them out of the air and their forces began to dwindle. The sun was beginning to rise as the remaining pegasi fled the town of Dawn, leaving us to stand triumphantly in victory. My plan had worked. We had taken Dawn. ===============~*~============= After things settled down and clean-up began, the officers had conducted a head count on how many had died on our side. We had lost a few hundred soldiers this battle, but we had killed nearly double our losses. However, Ironside did not survive the wound he received and I later found out that one of the unicorn archers in my squad had been killed as well; the other had received multiple wounds and would be unfit for combat for at least a few days. While those who were fit to work secured the town, the other officers and I gathered in the command tent once again. Even after a victory, we had no time to rest; we had to plan our next move. As I entered the tent, a messenger pony galloped out; no doubt he was on his way to the capital of the Scarlet Empire, Amaranthia, to report news of our capture of Dawn. As soon as I entered, the general spoke to me, “Good work Lieutenant Crimson, keep this up and your career looks promising. Now that we have taken Dawn, the pegasi will be hard pressed for supplies and should pose less of a threat to us. However, we still need to fortify our position in this area so we will be taking the neighboring towns of Morning Dew and Nightingale. They are both fairly smaller than Dawn, and have no importance, but we can use them as bases of operations if nothing else.” The officers around him nodded in agreement as they looked over the map of the area. “To take these as soon as possible, we will be splitting in two groups and take them simultaneously. But first, we will camp here for a day and tend to our wounded; however we might as well start discussing the basic plan.” The officers, including myself, sighed slightly, we wanted to rest, not formulate plans. But the general continued. “Come now everypony, the best time to make plans is when your adrenaline is running, not when you are relaxed and dulled. Now then, Lieutenant Cross and I will remain here and defend Dawn with our forces. Colonel Sharphoof, you will lead the attack on Morning Dew with Captain Blackmane and Lieutenant Clover. Major Crystal Spring, you will lead the attack on Nightingale with Captain Arid, Captain Iron Order, and Lieutenant Crimson. Come tomorrow morning, form ranks and march upon the town of your conquest. Since we have no idea what defenses each town has, I will leave your method up to you. Alright everypony, with the exception of Colonel Sharphoof and Major Crystal Spring, your all dismissed.” He nodded to us as we took our leave. So, my next battle would be for the town of Nightingale, a battle that would be almost meaningless and give us no advantage. Very few pegasi choose to live on the ground, most of those who do are farmers or their families. Because of this the Sky Flotilla has very few towns on the ground; I think the number is around ten. We cannot exactly take the towns they have in the clouds, so once we take the towns they have on the ground, all that is left for us to do is defend them. And to be honest, I’ve heard that we don’t plan on moving in any further than we currently are, meaning that Morning Dew and Nightingale will be our last conquests against the Sky Flotilla. If that is indeed the case, I plan to apply for a transfer to another front. Perhaps against the Magical Symposium, I hear we aren’t faring well against them. With thoughts of the future battles to come in my head, I walk back to my tent to rest for the coming march and battle that tomorrow will bring. ===============~*~============= After resting in my tent till noon, eating, and helping to secure the defenses of the town of Dawn till nightfall, I returned once again to my tent where I set about drafting a letter. To my dearest Ivory Snow, How are you doing, my love? I am doing fine, thankfully, and have only sustained a few scratches. Today I am writing from the town of Dawn, a former pegasi town we have most recently taken from them. Just before the final battle for it, I was made a lieutenant! My goal of becoming a general is closer, and hopefully my career won’t end here. Not only that, but my promotion also means a higher pay grade! We will be able to finish the baby’s room before they arrive, hopefully. Speaking of which, it won’t be long now, will it? Only a few more months, right? I hope I can take leave and be there to witness our child’s birth. Have you been thinking of names, by the way? I would like to keep to my family tradition of naming children after the color of their coat. That way, they won’t end up with a name like Hammer when their cutie mark is a carrot, like my great-great-great-etc. grandfather. But, we can decide on that together. Tomorrow morning I march for the town of Nightingale, but by the time you receive this letter hopefully we will have taken it and moved on. I wish I could be there with you now; I miss your snowy white coat, your elegant black mane, and your brilliant ruby eyes….Ah! How I love you. I am sure it is tough managing the housework and daily duties yourself. But, the Great Scarlet Empire requires my help, and I am proud to do my duty for the empire. Yours always, Crimson I often write to my wife after battles, I like to keep her informed of my safety and where I am, I don’t like it when she worries about me. And the moments when I receive a letter from her fill me with happiness and comfort. I wipe a smile from my muzzle as I step out of my tent to give the letter to a messenger pony, who will deliver it once he goes to relay news. After delivering my letter, I return to my tent, remove my armor, and settle into my cot before drifting into sleep. ===============~*~============= To my dearest Ivory Snow, How are you doing, my love? I am writing this letter a few days after the most recent battle, and I am now in Dawn once more. This past battle, for the pegasi town of Nightingale if you recall, I managed to make it through with only a cracked rib! The unicorn doctor here will have it mended in a few days, so don’t worry. It doesn’t pain me much, so please don’t fret over it. The town was lightly defended, compared to the forces we had at our disposal anyhow, so the battle lasted but a day. I am sure you are asking yourself, “If it was lightly defended, how did you get injured?” Well, it was simple bad luck. When I was galloping around a corner to flank some of the pegasi, one was waiting there for me and struck me in the side with his mace; thankfully the armor took most of the blow. To be honest, we really didn’t have a plan except for charging in and overwhelming them. Major Crystal Spring decided their defenses weren’t anything to make a fuss over and we should just run in and take it from them. How he made it to Major is beyond me, but we did manage to conquer the town with few casualties. The same cannot be said for the attack on Morning Dew, however. From what I heard of the attack on it led by Colonel Sharphoof, the pegasi who retreated from Dawn regrouped there, got reinforcements, and gave the Colonel a run for his money. Both Captain Blackmane and Lieutenant Clover were killed in the combat that ensued, resulting in Lieutenant Cross being promoted to Captain to replace Blackmane, and two Sergeants being promoted to replace Clover and fill Cross’ old position. Other than officers, about a third of the soldiers attacking Morning Dew were either killed or badly injured. I either got lucky by getting assigned to attack Nightingale, or I missed out on an opportunity to show my merit at Morning Dew. The only good news is that roughly ninety percent of the pegasi who defended Morning Dew were killed, while those who remained alive surrendered. From Colonel Sharphoof’s report it appeared they did not feel retreat was an option, and it was only when all the pegasi in positions of leadership were killed that the others surrendered. As with all captured prisoners they will be marched to the iron mines outside of Amaranthia and can work their way to eventual release by mining the iron we use to forge our weapons and armor, but of course some will refused and be killed on the spot. On to other news, the General informed us that we would indeed just be defending against the pegasi hence-forth, so we can focus our offence elsewhere. I requested to be transferred to the Magical Symposium front, which is under the charge of General Blood Hoof, where we are having the most trouble. The unicorns are ferocious opponents and I am glad those on our side sided with us, instead of going to the unicorn “homeland”. Hopefully transferring there will help to hasten my career. Now, on to you and the baby! Is everything going alright? No troubles with anything? If something were to go awry, it would take an army to prevent me from reaching your side, in fact, for you, I could defeat that army and reach you unscathed! And even though I am transferring to another front of the war, I will try my hardest to get leave to be with you when our child is born, as long a time as I am able so I can help you with whatever you might need. That is all for this letter darling! Say hello to your mother for me! She is helping you with the housework and what-not, right? Yours always, Crimson Another battle, another letter to my lovely wife! Oh how I miss her…But, the war goes on, and I am needed to fight for the Great Scarlet Empire! Still, I hope to take leave and witness my child’s birth. For now, however, I will deliver this letter to a messenger and rest up for my journey to the Magical Symposium front, once my wounds have healed enough. I hear the combat down there is fierce and many on our side have been lost for minimal victories. If my lucky streak continues down there like it has up here, I will no doubt earn myself a good leave to visit my wife when she gives birth, and possibly another promotion! But until then, I will simply rest up and prepare for what lies ahead.