//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Facing Southern Thunder 
// by The Prancing Red Pony 
//------------------------------//

"There's some of the CSE" yelled Colonel Thunder to his pegasus soldiers as they flew through the night across the badlands. It was a CSE encampment and the only way they could draw to such a conclusion was because nopony really lived in the badlands. The 24th began to descend down to a cliff that was close enough to the encampment for them to see movement but, not too close for the guards to see them. The regiment stood at attention as the Colonel trotted forward to get a better view of the camp. Colonel Thunder looked intricately at the encampment. It was very large with more than 200 tents, clustered in a rather small area of the large canyon. Flags were waving very gently in the wind on top of some of the tents and in the center of the camp. The Colonel removed his eye goggles to get a better view. The moon had cast a very luminous glow over the canyon that allowed the Pegasus's to see the CSE encampment in the dead of night. The Colonel whispered to one of his subordinate lieutenants. The Badlands could carry voice for miles so everypony spoke in a very hushed tone.

"Bring me a pair of binoculars" the Colonel whispered. A pegasus with an orange mane trotted over to the Colonel's side and hoofed him a pair of pale gold colored binoculars. The Colonel scanned the camp intricately before whispering back to the lieutenant.

"I need you to record what I see" whispered the Colonel. The lieutenant took out a quill and a few sheets of parchment paper to record the Colonel's report back to Princess Celestia. 

"Ready, When you are sir" whispered the lieutenant.

"Okay, Let's see what the CSE is hiding here. I see over 200 tents which I presume are filled with soldiers" whispered the Colonel. The lieutenant wrote down everything the Colonel was saying word for word.

"Very few lanterns glowing in the encampment. Can hear very loud snoring from tents. Guards patrol around entire encampment so closer view is impossible. Tents range in size from small to very large." the Colonel stopped so he could catch his breath and rub his slightly strained eyes. The lieutenant already feeling carpal tunnel in his hoof kept writing as quick as he could. The Colonel looked through the binoculars but did not say anything for a couple of minutes just staring at one place in silence. The lieutenant nudged him.

"Sir, What do you see?" the lieutenant asked the Colonel. The Colonel slowly turned his head to the lieutenant, tears were streaming down his eyes.

"Look" he said hoofing the binoculars to the lieutenant before collapsing in his tears. The lieutenant looked through the binoculars and couldn't see very clearly at first so he adjusted his eyes and what he saw horrified him. Other than the massive amount of cannons the CSE had brought with them, there was a mile upon mile wagon train and attached to many of those wagons and cannons were suffering ponies. The ponies were shivering around the small fires that were built for them, they were under armed guard,  they looked completely starved, and looked very battered and bruised some of them looked like they would die on the spot. This was all to new, nopony had seen such evil's. Even the ponies that served on the immediate front lines knew nothing of this in the reports that were sent to Celestia and her officers. Sure, the stuff that happened with the factories and farms was very bad but, this could almost be seen as a war crime. The lieutenant sniffled and tears dripped from his eyes to see such terribleness. The Colonel soon collected himself and took the binocular's from the lieutenant who trying to hold back tears and snot prepared the quill and parchment. 

"Ok, CSE has many cannons. They range in many sizes but the main one's are medium-sized. Wagon Train goes for miles and attached are ponies. Many of them are starved, bruised, beaten, shivering, or something far worse. First report of these newest atrocities. Will continue on South to find CSE capitol and nation" the Colonel finished and he handed the binoculars back to the lieutenant who gave him a rather puzzled look. 

"Did you say we were to continue South, sir?" the lieutenant whispered. 

"Yes we are" the Colonel whispered back. The lieutenant was slightly shocked.

"But, sir shouldn't we try to help those ponies suffering down there. We should at least try to let them escape." the lieutenant said. The Colonel shook his head and sighed.

"If we were to help them escape the CSE would find us undoing their chains and might even capture us and do far worse. If they didn't catch us and they escaped just think of the terrible retribution they would get if they were caught again by the CSE. And if we attempted to fly them out our packs are already heavy enough and they would drag us down" the Colonel said sadly. "But, I need you lieutenant to fly these papers back to Celestia so then she can get updated on the latest news from behind the enemy lines and do make haste." the Colonel told the lieutenant.

"Yes, Sir" the lieutenant whispered. The lieutenant turned towards the direction of Canterlot and flew off into the sky before passing out of everypony's vision. The Colonel waved the regiment forward so they could see the atrocities the CSE was performing. Some of the soldiers removed their helmets and goggles and bowed their heads in silence, many of them snorted and huffed angrily at the atrocities, but they all cried bitter, angered, and sad tears. The Colonel wiped his eyes with his hoof before standing in front of his regiment.

"Okay let's get going we have a lot of ground to cover and the moon is departing from the sky. If the CSE finds us we will probably be lynched for being spies. Let's get a move on, let's put an end to this war, drive the CSE from our homes, and free the ponies that suffer from their tyranny" the Colonel said. The Pegasus's all nodded in agreement instead of yelling and screaming and the CSE detecting them. The Colonel took off first, followed by his subordinates, and then the rest of the regiment. To the South to find the CSE capitol and find a way for Celestia to drive them away from Equestria. 

"For Celestia, Equestria, and all ponykind" the Colonel said to himself as the 24th flew through the sky.