//------------------------------//
// Resting and Planning 
// Story: Imperial Liberation of Equestria 
// by Darth Redbeard 
//------------------------------//

	With the Skirmish of Sweet Apple Acres over, Matthew got off his horse to observe the battle. Bodies of Imperial and Lennex soldiers laid everywhere as the stench of death could be smelled for miles. Luna walked up to him with a look of confusion.

“Is this how your wars are fought?” she asked. While Celestia and her were used to warfare, it was mostly fought by the Royal Guards in small quick battles, never on the scale between the Imperial and Lennex forces.

“I’m afraid so,” Matthew answered. “After the first several battles, it get’s easier to tolerate.” 

Before Luna could reply, the sound of fife’s and drums could be heard in the distance. Along the road, the lead group of the Imperial reinforcements marched in perfect formation, never missing a step to the beat of the drums. The regimental flags continued to fly as the wind allowed for them to be seen in full view.

“Battalion, Halt!” the officer yelled as the entire column stopped marching and stood in perfect attention. TK rode up to the front of the group and dismounted with his officers.

“You leave me in charge of the reinforcements, but when I get here, you've already beaten them back. Why does that sound familiar?” TK said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Matthew just stood there, eyes moving as he began whistling with an innocent look on his face. Luna could not help but to laugh at the two. From what she heard, they were like two brothers more than father and son. Celestia walked up to the three.

“Do I want to know?” she asked. The three looked at each other before smiling.

“No,” they answered, a mischievous look on their faces. Twilight and Cadance walked up and wondered what was happening. But the shouts of an imperial soldier stopped them from asking.

“Emperor Cunningham, we have a situation!”

“On my way, Tim,” Matthew replied. He walked to the barn and found the missing Royal Guard among a group people as well. “Looks like we found the Equestrian army.” Matthew approached the soldier who looked to be the officer. “Are you in charge?”

“Yes, sir,” he replied. “My name is Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire.”

“We heard that you were leading your men to recapture the nearby town. What happened?”

“We were ambushed before we could attack. One of us was killed and taken away, but the rest of us were-” Shining stopped there. From what Matthew could tell, he knew what had happened. The Equestrian army was beaten and subjected to some things that he tried to get out of his head. Their injuries ranged from beaten faces, to missing limbs. Matthew helped Shining to his feet and then moved to the guard next to him. Twilight and Cadance walked in and almost collapsed at the sight of Shining. They led him out just as Matthew helped the next guard up. When Twilight turned around, tears formed in her eyes as her body almost gave out.

“Flash!” she ran to the two and helped Flash out of the barn. More Imperial soldiers arrived to help bring the Equestrian army and the others outside. Celestia and Luna were relieved that their forces were alive, but when they saw the state they were in, Luna ran to the fence and let her lunch go. Matthew looked at the sky and made his decision on what to do next.

“Start setting up the tents and roll out the mats!” he shouted. He turned to the officer wearing white armor. “Yuri, your job is to ride to the top of the hill and scout out the defenses.”

“Yes, sir,” Yuri replied. As he rode off, a group of soldiers were working to get a shed open.

“What are you men doing?” TK asked as he walked over.

“We were told that there were weapons in this shed,” the lieutenant said. TK brought out his sword and swung it on the lock, knocking it off the door, allowing the soldiers to open the door.

Inside were a stache of the Royal Guards weapons. Matchlock muskets and spears were stacked in the shed into a massive pile. TK picked up one of the matchlocks and brought it outside. He took aim at a nearby tree and fired, the bullet hitting the ground.

“I can’t believe this thing was even loaded,” he said as he sat it back down in the pile and walked over to Matthew.

“Something going on, General?” Matthew asked

“We found the Equestrian weapons,” TK replied. “They were primed for battle so it seemed that they were prepared to fight, but from what we were told, well…” TK trailed off as he and Matthew understood what happened.

Before they could do anything, an elderly woman walked over to them.

“Thank you for freeing us,” she said. Matthew gave a small smile in return.

“You’re welcome,” he looked around, trying to figure out where to place his tent when the woman interrupted him.

“You and your officers will stay in our farm house. I won’t take no for an answer.” She said as TK opened his mouth to protest. Two of the soldiers laughed at how easily their Emperor and second-in-command was defeated by an old woman. Matthew turned to them and they stopped. Yuri returned with the info a few minutes later with a hand drawn map of the surrounding area.

“From what I saw, there are at least three or four lines of defenses,” he began. “The first is a small trench meant to funnel us into a killing ground. The second would be the town itself. The third line is another trench around town hall with a small creek in front of it. The last line is a small stone wall on the other side of town.” Matthew looked at the map.

“Looks like we have no choice but to launch a head-on attack,” Matthew said. “Unless we outflank them and surround them. We can make sure they won’t get away from us this time.” He turned to Yuri. “Which force are we fighting?”

“Their 24th Corps,” Yuri replied. “Same corps that slaughtered the sixth militia group.”

“Remember,” Matthew said. “We got revenge on them weeks later when we took out the bulk of that corps.”

“Which means we’re fighting the remnants,” TK summed up. “This is a good opportunity to get to finally wipe them out for good.”

“I agree,” Yuri said. “This battle will provide a unique chance that we don’t always get.”

“First thing to do is to get a plan ready,” Matthew said. The three of them walked into the farmhouse as Celestia and Luna were waiting on them.

“We have some food being prepared for you all at this moment,” Celestia said. “It may not be Imperial food, but it’s some of the best that Ponyville has.” As they walked inside, they found the rest of the Imperial staff sitting at the table.

“If it would be alright,” TK began. “We would like to talk about what we’re going to do next before we eat. If we could have some privacy?”

“It’s alright,” Luna replied. “The ones here are trustworthy. You’ll be fine.”

        “Very well,” Yuri said. The five sat down as Yuri placed the maps at the center of the table.

“We plan to surround Ponyville and make sure the Lennex forces can’t escape, so here’s my plan. The Patten’s will go around and hit the rear. The 2nd Army will hit their right while elements of the Imperial Marines hit their left. The Emperor's Guard, 1st Army, and Guardian Force will assault the front. We’ll be fighting the remnants of their 24th Corps, so be prepared for a rough battle” He turned to his officers. “Any questions?”

“No, sir,” they replied.

“What about us?” Twilight asked. “We can help.”

“For now,” General Potter, the 5th army commander said, “Just keep out of it. We know that you want to help, but leave this fight to us. It’s somewhat personal anyhow.”

“But,” Twilight wanted to speak out, but Cadance placed a hand on her shoulder.

“We’ll be fine, Twilight,” she said. “Remember, we tried and now it’s their turn. We’ll be needed more later on or if they need help tomorrow.”

Twilight nodded and sat down.

Just as Yuri placed the maps back into his bag, the food was being brought into the room.

“Apple Bloom, who’s this you brought in?” asked another young woman with blonde hair and green eyes.

“My boyfriend, Pip,” she said, eliciting a few twitched eyes. Pip looked around at Apple Bloom’s family and saw one member get up from the table. He braced himself for a beat down, but was surprised to feel a hand on his shoulder. He looked up and saw Big Mac smiling.

“Take care of her,” he simply said. Pip nodded and everyone went back to his or her food. After the salads came the main course of mouth-watering ham, mashed potatoes, and green beans. The elderly woman, whom the Imperial leaders now knew as Granny Smith, went into the kitchen and brought out ice cream and apple pie for dessert. After dinner, everyone went to walk around the house. Sweetie Belle was looking out a window when Matthew walked up to her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“It’s just not fair,” Sweetie Belle muttered. “Apple Bloom get’s to spend time with her boyfriend while mine’s suffering. It’s just not fair.” Tears began to flow freely from her eyes as she sobbed into her legs. Matthew put a hand on her shoulder.

“Like I said on the Liberty, we’ll get him back,” he assured her. Unlike on the Liberty, Sweetie threw her arms around him.

“Thank you,” she said, the tears calming down as she began to smile as she moved away.

“You never did tell me what your boyfriend was like,” he said. Sweetie Belle’s face began to heat up as she began her explanation.

“He’s kind, smart, funny, really handsome, his green hair makes me want to run my hands through it, and-and, oh, Spike,” she trailed off. When she realized what she did, Matthew had a tiny smirk on his face.

“You really love him, don't you?”

“Yes, more than anything,” Sweetie replied.

“You can tell he’ll keep that promise, Sweetie Belle,” explained Luna as she walked in. “You should also know that you’ve seen this man before,” She was confused after that.

“What do you mean?” she asked. Luna just gave her a smile.

“The Canterlot Statue Gardens,” Luna explained. “The same statue that Spike kept talking about.” Sweetie Belle’s mouth dropped when she heard this.

“You’re the hero in the statue?” she asked Matthew. He nodded his head.

“I wouldn’t say hero,” he said. “I was just a regular officer. 13,000 men were under my command at the beginning. TK was there as a drummer. Out of all those men, only 20 are left, not counting TK,” he explained.

“Can you tell me more?” Sweetie Belle asked. Her eyes began to water as her bottom lip quivered in her usual puppy dog look. He just shook his head.

“Another day,” he said. “Time for you to get to bed, anyhow”. Sweetie nodded and went to her sister’s room.

“She’s not going to forget you said that,” she said.

“I know. That is why I said another day. I understand that something happened between you and your sister?”

“I was jealous of the fact she was more popular than me. They loved her because she was the oldest. I was a no one. Every day, our parents would always say how special she was. One day, the jealousy became too much and darkness began to overtake me. It caused me to turn against Celestia and nearly ruined the whole nation because of the powers I had. When my sister finally won, I was afraid she would kill me. Instead, she had me live here in Ponyville for a few years to help clear my head, and it certainly worked wonderfully after some time. It was during those months that we got word about the bandits that you dispatched. That’s why I wasn’t there during the meeting,” she explained. Luna felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and saw Matthew give her a small smile to help her calm down.

“Looks like we’ve both had hard pasts. I had to lead a rebellion against my cousin because of what he was doing. Back then, I was reckless, so I was always on the move. That fight you saw today? Three times, we have used that tactic, and all three times it has worked. However, that fight against my cousin took a toll on me. I lost my so-called fiancée and a large number of people I came to respect,” Matthew told her.

“How did you deal with it?” Luna asked.

“I just remember that the empire needed someone to help it and gave up many of the old things I loved to help it,” Matthew replied.

Just as Luna was about to reply, Yuri walked in.

“Pardon the intrusion, sir,” he said. “But it’s late and we all need our sleep for tomorrow.”

“Alright, Yuri,” Matthew said. As Yuri left, Matthew brought out a small sleeping bag and laid it near one of the walls just as Luna walked over to him.

“There’s not a lot of room, so I’ll be staying in here. I brought my own sleeping bag and I’ll stay on the other end of the room,” she said. After the sleeping bags were laid out, Luna walked up to Matthew and kissed him on the cheek causing him to blush. “That’s my way of saying thanks for listening and coming to help us.” The two went into their sleeping bags and dozed off. Tomorrow would be one of the largest battles of the Second Imperial-Lennex War.