The War of 1002

by Fireheart 1945


Chapter 44; Trottingham again

James spied on the western-most fortress defending Trottingham with a spyglass. He wasn't able to see much, not at this distance; even a spyglass or a set of binoculars had trouble seeing precise details. But he could see enough, and that he could see the city was the most important factor.

It had taken a couple weeks to get here. The enemy had skirmished with his units, but logistics and supply were the main concerns holding him back. That and a couple bridges the enemy had deliberately destroyed to slow him down.

"Wasn't sure I'd ever get to see this place again," a gray unicorn drawled nearby.

"Comin' back feels a lot better than runnin' from it," his friend agreed.

James agreed with the sentiment, but didn't voice his agreement. It had been a little while since the city had been captured by Griffon forces. He wasn't sure how the inhabitants were faring, but he wouldn't have bet the Griffons were doing their part to keep them fed. An occupying army felt it had the right to requisition whatever it needed, and sometimes whatever it wanted, whether it was significant to military operations or not. Refuse, and if they didn't murder you, they'd imprison you and throw away the key, then beat you when you objected. He had little doubt the townsfolk would be more than pleased for him to reclaim their city.

A lengthy siege would only exacerbate the problem. It would be difficult - no, practically impossible - to just bypass it. For one thing, that would mean his supply lines would become intolerably long. For another, the enemy would be free to assault him from the rear, or, worse, slip by him and attack Equestria directly.

No, the town had to be taken, and taken with haste when he made his move.

Which was why he hadn't initiated the battle yet. He didn't have a good idea of how to do it. He had the bigger army, one that had won a decent victory, but he hadn't won a decisive victory. The enemy still had an army, with a decent number of soldiers left. They had some inexperienced replacements coming in, which wouldn't do much to replace the veteran troops who were dead, but would stabilize their lines. The Griffon clans were bringing in what they could to win the conflict, via a defense intended to wear him down.

"Fuck them," he muttered under his breath. With armies under similar doctrines - that of lining up, banging away at the opposing line and hoping for the best - and with his own force having too much of it's own made up of greenhorns as well, he wished he weren't in a hurry to accomplish his task. Even the heavy mortars he had couldn't kill all the defenders in a fort; what would happen was that the walls would come down, and enough of the garrison would survive to fight anyway. That was how artillery worked; it would kill some enemies, but usually didn't come close to killing them all, not unless they were firing over open sights and shooting canister at an onrushing enemy. He didn't like to admit it, but the mortars were also maddeningly inaccurate. Their power was in the explosive force they carried, as well as the impact of such a blast. They weren't weapons designed for pinpoint accuracy.

He realized he'd been thinking in terms of what he couldn't do, not what he could do. He took a moment to think about that. What he did have was a force larger than that of the enemy, as well as decent commanders and high morale. His army had won recently, though not without loss, and he had more artillery than the enemy. On top of that, new weapons, such as the tank Blue Fur was working on, were being developed. Ponies could run faster on the ground, and he had a lot of pegasi in case the foe took to the air. He doubted that would happen; it was much easier to fight on the ground with your legs braced against solid earth than to fight with nothing but air to back you up. The Army of Northeastern Equestria was, though not undefeated, very well trained and was fairly solid. They didn't rely on a mixed force, and ponies from different towns and provinces got on much better than Griffons from different clans did.

He thought about the situation again. Blue fur's team had come out with a small number of tanks - sixteen completed machines as of now, with more on the way. If he couldn't siege the town and he couldn't go around it, he might be able to go through it, or at least through it's defenses.

The problems with that idea were obvious, though; he wasn't sure whether he had enough of the metallic monsters to make a breakthrough. It was true they would be a surprise; he expected he'd be able to do something if he used them now. But there were ways to counter tanks aside from gunfire; a massive ditch would be the best idea, and mines fashioned from artillery shells wouldn't be a bad notion, either. The enemy hadn't faced tanks before, and it wasn't as if they didn't have the notion. From what he'd heard, the idea of tanks was widespread. But ideas and reality were often different critters altogether. Most of the vehicles the science fiction writers wrote about and pictured were mostly Da Vinci -style beasts - they looked like the top of a tower in Age of Empires 2 with wheels attached and cannons sticking out on all sides. Not all that intimidating; all the gunners and crew needed to shoot and operate the machinery would be falling over one another in one of those, and they wouldn't be able to help it.

But even so, countering tanks wasn't as difficult as others made it out to be. The Germans, for the most part, hadn't lost their heads when the British had deployed their first iron monsters. Instead, they'd thrown grenades, dug ditches, used flamethrowers, done everything they could to stop them. Considering they'd held out until 1918, that spoke volumes about how tough a defending force could be. Of course, the generalship in that war had been pretty poor for the Allies, especially where new concepts were concerned.

"Damn it, there goes the history man inside me," he said, trying to drag himself back to the current situation. Every so often, history would sneak into his way of thought and distract him from what needed to be done.

James did have the hindsight history provided to go upon. "If I concentrate my armor, I might be able to accomplish something with it," he said, thinking out loud. Against an army from World War I, they might not suffice against the numbers available to the enemy. Against an army such as the one the Griffons had, unless they pulled another dragon out from under them, they would be good enough. Here, sixteen tanks might well be sufficient, especially against an enemy who wasn't ready for them. They weren't very fast - a galloping pony could easily outrun one, even with a rider or saddlebags - but they had something their predecessors in WWI didn't; an energy shield, one that could be renewed if necessary.

"I just might do it," he whispered.

He heard the hooves of a pony touch down behind him. He turned to see a light-gray pegasus facing him. He needed a couple seconds to realize it was Derpy. "I've got mail for you, General," she said, her eyes cutely unfocused.

He abandoned the minor irritation he'd felt when she'd interrupted his thoughts; he couldn't keep it up looking at that face. "Yes?"

"Mail from Canterlot." She looked inside her saddlebags, found it, pulled it out with her mouth, and offered it to him. "It got rerouted to Ponyville by mistake, so they asked me to take it here."

"For which I thank you," he answered, and took it. "At least I get to see you again before this mess heats up again."

She blushed, and her eyes focused slightly for a second before resuming their normal. "You wouldn't happen to have any muffins, would you? It's been a long journey, and I'm hungry."

He thrust a thumb toward the direction where the camp was being set up. "I don't know about muffins, but I can tell you they've got food back at camp."

"Okay. Thanks!"

As she flew away, he unfurled the letter. Sure enough, it was a reply to his reply;

Dear James,

I understand your point of view on the matter of the peace I would have us make. You've made a hard case, one you may well consider watertight. Nonetheless, I must regrettably set aside your advice. My goal isn't to make the Griffons suffer, or to demand territory or much, if any, compensation; it is to preserve our independence, and establish our sovereignty. As long as we are not the ones yielding to them, I am willing to take a good peace. I will be asking them for peace once Trottingham is ours once again. That is my final answer. Should they refuse, and with their losses they should not, you have the wherewithal to do what you consider necessary under the law to end the conflict as you see fit.

I doubt you'll take this well, but I believe it is for the good of Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom. Please do not try to flood me with letters asking that I rescind my decision, for I will not.

On a more positive note, your reinforcements will be arriving within days. Expect them shortly.

Hoping you are well,

Princess Celestia.

James read the whole thing twice. "Damn." Why the hell would you appoint me as your military advisor if you don't listen to me when I make a suggestion!?

For a moment, he felt like tearing the letter to pieces, or else burning it in a campfire tonight. Or maybe, he felt like doing both.

After a few seconds, he just put it in his left pocket and resolved to forget about it. That far he allowed his anger to be satisfied. He had a job to do; win. He had to do that, and do it soon.

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James brushed aside the tent door and entered. Inside, Blue Fur was making some sort of calculation with various instruments.

He noticed the commander walking in. "Morning, old chap," he said as James came to a stop in front of him.

"Good morning." James brushed aside military formality here as he had the door, though he found it mildly amusing to be referred to as "old". "The tanks we have now," he said, without any further ado. "Are they fully functional?"

"Oh my, yes," Blue Fur answered, not bothering to look up. "The vehicles already built a fully operational, with full loads of ammunition and with crews either trained or in the process of training."

"And the fuel?"

"Enough for all of them to drive a few dozen miles simultaneously."

"Good. I'll need them ready for operation two days from now."

That got the blue pony's attention; he finally looked from what he was doing and stared into James' face. "So soon?"

"Yes. So soon."

"But we haven't the number of vehicles you wanted, and for that matter a number of the newer crews are having difficulty with their machines."

"Consider this, though," James said. "We need to take the town, and quickly. If we don't the townsfolk starve. What's worse is that they're on our side, even if occupied by the enemy. Furthermore, I don't want them" - he meaning the enemy - "to pull another surprise out their ass while we wait to starve them out. You're a brilliant engineer. The enemy have more, and I'd be a fool to think they aren't fumbling with their own technology to come up with something new. They've proven they're willing to buy mercenaries to shore up their own numbers. I need to beat them before they bring more of these resources to bear, or, as I said, come up with something new to unpleasantly surprise us."

"We've just started on this line of warfare," Blue Fur said sternly. "There may be kinks in the line, as it were."

"The enemy will have a bigger kink to worry about when we deploy these. They don't have the notion of how to deal with them, and I know a few ideas they might come up with to stop them."

"Are you certain you wish to go down this route, sir? I still say it's better to wait."

"And I'm telling you we can't afford to wait." James sighed. "I know it's risky, and I'm sorry to be overriding you here, but I need this town taken, as quick as possible."

"Well..." Blue Fur looked at a blueprint on the opposite tent wall. "I suppose the armor is useless if it isn't ultimately used. And, considering my family went through had times when I was a colt, my heart goes out to those poor souls in Trottingham."

"Alright. In any case..."

"General? You in here?" asked a voice outside.

"Yes," he answered. "What is it?"

"There's a Griffon what wants to meet us under a white flag," came the drawl from the pony outside.

"Hmm?" That caught his attention. "I'll be right there." To Blue Fur he said, "Thanks for your hard work, my friend."

"My pleasure, sir, even if I have misgivings. Hopefully, they will prove misplaced."

"Yeah, that's my hope too," he answered, before pushing aside the tent door and leaving.

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James had his misgiving about the meeting even before sighting the Griffon officer. Seeing what the enemy soldier was wearing made him despair of a successful settlement, or whatever the enemy were offering. The Griffon was dressed in a pompous military outfit with several medals that he was sure were undeserved. The set even included a fake monocle, which the officer was wearing on his right eye.

Son of a bitch is probably one of those noble officers who thinks everyone under him is dirt, he thought viciously. he frowned even more than he was; if not for one of those kinds of idiots on his side, Equestria might well have won, or been close to winning, the war by now. Well, the Prince didn't have the joy of it afterwards, or at least, not for too long. With luck this guy would go home empty-handed (or was that empty-clawed?).

The look the officer gave him further fueled his rage; it was like he was beneath the Griffon's notice, as were the ponies with him.

I'll wipe that fucking look off your damned face.

He wondered why the enemy hadn't sent someone more practical, for this guy obviously wasn't going to be practical; he was going to act like a spoiled brat. A proper veteran of the war wouldn't be holding a victorious army in contempt. Not all, not even close to all, Griffons were evil, or anything like it. Many of them, in his opinion, just happened to be on the wrong side of the war.

Damn it, you're already angry, and he hasn't spoken a word. He held his hand over his heart. God help me.

"So you've finally decided to show up, have you?" the Griffon opened. "You must have had urgent business," he added with a nasty smile.

James pointed a finger at him. "Don't you dare suggest I or any of the soldiers under my command have done anything so filthy. What are you here for?"

"Don't point those dirty sausages at me," the Griffon snapped. "You obviously have no idea who I am."

"All I see..." James made a massive, conscious effort to control himself. It wasn't easy. "What do you want?"

"I've been sent by General Grayfeather of the Griffon Army to speak to you and your rabble," the enemy officer said.

James did his best to ignore the insult, but under his skin he felt something burning. "And?"

"He has instructed me to say that you would be well advised to cease your advance on the city of Feathersburg."

James was caught by surprise. "The city of what? We are near Trottingham."

"That name no longer has any meaning," sneered the Griffon. "It is now Feathersburg, and will remain so."

"Trottingham," James snapped. "I'll refer to the city by no other name. And I fail to see how you could stop us."

"His Majesty can, and so we will find a way." The Griffon sounded sure of that. "And, despite your current advantage, the town will suffer greatly should you continue moving forward."

James growled, and he wasn't the only one. "What do you mean?" he demanded in a very dangerous voice.

The Griffon obviously didn't know the anger he was generating; that, or he assumed it was no threat to him. His smile was both very amused and very cruel-looking. "Why? Because if you don't, the ponies in the city will not see so much as a slice of bread nor a leaf from a twig to eat, for we will forbid they have any rations whatsoever in order to feed our army."

"You son of a bitch," James said, his voice still low, but the anger unmistakable.

"You have your nerve to speak to me so, peasant," the Griffon said, leering at him. "It's your fault for resisting His Majesty's army-"

James took a step forward as his self-control evaporated, but General Barrel got there before he did. Whap! Barrel's hoof struck the Griffon so hard that it knocked him over backwards.

Clearly the Griffon hadn't expected the blow; he must have thought that diplomatic immunity would protect him. Well, there were lessons that were learned everyday, one being that if you insulted someone enough, he might not care about the rules any more. He got up; the monocle, or what was left of it - it had shattered - still hung from a string. The enemy officer's expression was full of anger, but for the first time showed fear. "How... how dare you ... do this?"

"Next time, remember who you're talking to, and how they might feel," Barrel warned.

The Griffon looked at him as though he'd spoken gibberish. James found his surprise comical; most Griffons weren't like this, or not as bad, but those in charge often were. If this isn't a condemnation of nobility everywhere, I'd be surprised. Then again, this bastard was being arrogant.

"I shall report to the General that you have refused, and reveal your depravity in allowing your own people to suffer," the officer said.

James didn't know whether to laugh or strangle him. God, there goes my anger again. Once more, he made a massive effort to control himself. "Go ahead and proclaim it to the world. You're the ones inflicting that suffering."

"In punishment for fighting us."

"Get out of here," James said, as several ponies stared daggers at the officer. "Get out of here while your head is still relatively intact. And let your general know that we're coming for him, and for the noble brats like yourself."

"Are you threatening me, sir?"

"If I tell you that the sun will rise tomorrow, is it a threat, or a prediction based on something likely to occur?" James asked. "Now I suggest you take your leave, before you piss off my soldiers beyond the breaking point."

The Griffon took a step back, gauging the situation for the first time. Finally, he turned and walked away. However, before he was out of sight, he turned around and shouted, "You will pay for this indignity!"

"We're sorry we had to listen to you in the first place!" a private yelled back.

That visibly rocked the Griffon, who thereafter did not turn back again.

James couldn't help but wonder if he'd inadvertently set back Celestia's plan for peace. If he had, he hadn't done so on purpose. The officer was just so disconnected from reality, and from common sense in general, that he had been barely able to control his emotions. Once more, he was very happy that the United States had never bothered playing around with nobility.

"Well, that was a fruitless meeting," he said.

"Sorry for losing my temper," Barrel apologized.

"I have a hard time blaming you, General, but please refrain from doing something like that again."

"I'll try, but if they throw another beast like that guy again, I'd advise you keep me away from him."

"I'll keep it in mind."

"Wish I'd nailed a horseshoe to that hoof; I'd have really gotten the point across that way."

"And you might have killed him. You're probably lucky that you didn't as it is." James sighed. "I need anger management too, but where do we find that in the army?"

"Sir, about what he said..." Barrel's head turned to face him fully, so that both eyes bore on James. "I'd hate to find out they weren't bluffing."

"That's why we're deploying our tanks earlier than we planned."

"We're deploying them now?"

"Not quite. I want to bring the army to decent positions before attacking. I want to break them utterly."

"Oh, good. Where do you want us to deploy them?"

"I'm... not sure yet. I'm still making plans. In fact, if you would join me tonight with the other commanders, I would be most pleased."

"Count me as being there, sir."

"Good." James took a look at the distant fortifications. They would be tough, but they had to be overcome.

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"Nice to see ya back 'ere, sir," Silver Lining said as James sat down on one of the logs at the campfire.

"Good to be back," James said, getting comfortable. Silver Shield, Bright Star, White Knight, and Star Blaze were all there, seated around the fire. It felt good to be back among the old crowd.

"Glad you're still alive," Shield said, nodding to him. "Even glad the bat pony got through this." Star Blaze gave him a look, but without heat, as though they had been teasing one another like this for a time. They probably had.

"What's up?" Knight asked.

James took a stick that was on the ground and began to fiddle with it. "A couple days from now, we're going to begin a major assault, with the intent to liberate the city before the inhabitants suffer too much."

"Heard one their big shots went and threatened to starve out the ponies there," Star Blaze remarked, anger in his voice.

"He did. I heard him. I had the displeasure of having to meet with him." James started using the stick to scribble on the ground.

"They aren't all bad," Bright noted. "I've had a couple good chats with prisoners. I'll agree that too many of them are arrogant, though. They wouldn't have started the war if they weren't."

Shield chewed on a piece of grass. "Can't really wish for something like that, not now. All we can do is finish the war they started." He sighed. "Even fighting against the Changelings didn't feel like this. This feels like two nations just grinding soldiers down, spitting them out, and then sending more to do the same. It isn't the glorious conflict a lot of novels, and, lately, the papers have been printing."

"Most wars are like that," James answered. "Too many soldiers on both sides of the Civil War thought it would be... I don't even know, like a glorified bar brawl, I guess. They even referred to battle as 'seeing the elephant'. Well, they found out things weren't as they expected pretty quick."

"So did we," Bright said, sticking a marshmallow on the end of a stick and holding it out over the fire. "I learned much too soon."

"You did," James agreed. "But the bug was about spit me, so I can't say I'm not grateful for still being alive, and for counting you, all of you, as my friends."

"Speaking of which, what's going on with the captured Changeling, the one you like?" Shield asked.

James grunted. He didn't like being prodded. He also knew he could pull rank and refuse to answer. He could... but he wouldn't. "He's doing well. He's still being asked questions, but he's cooperating, and he's being allowed some freedoms. Seeing as he hasn't caused any trouble for over half a year, I'd say he deserves it."

Now it was Shield's turn to grunt disagreeably. However, he said nothing. Star Blaze stretched. "Sorry," he said to them. "Just doesn't feel as natural to laze off at night as it does to the rest of you."

"As opposed to lazing off during the day?" Shield asked. Star Blaze sent him another glare.

"Hopefully this whole mess ends quickly," Bright said. "I just want to go home. And my sister signed up for the military; I don't want to have her put in danger."

"She'll be disappointed," Silver noted.

"Too bad. If she isn't killed or wounded, I'll be happy, even if she's not." Bright pulled back the marshmallow, tested it with his muzzle, then chomped on and swallowed it.

"Canna say I'd be ana diff'rent." the silver-coated pegasus answered. "Course, me own sibs are busy with dockwork an' sailin', so I doubt the recruiters would be able ta get their hooves on 'em."

"My folks are all fact'ry workas," Knight added. "An' they're good. Can't replace somepony dat's good, not dat easy. Bosses won't like it, and at least most of dem ain't all dat bad."

"My family have always been Guards," Shield spoke up. "Bet that tells you what chances they have on that score." He made a noise halfway between a snarl and a heavy sigh. "I've already lost my brother. I don't want anypony else going through that, if I could do so. After the war, hopefully all I have to do is just protect the palace, and with luck that's all my descendants will have to do." He gave a nod to James. "I hope your plan works, sir, whatever it is."

"I believe it will. I won't give you any details, in case, and my God prevent it, that any of you are captured between then and now."

"Can't blame you," Star Blaze said. "I think we've all heard of pickets and sentries disappearing. It can happen to anypony." Then, looking at Shield, added, "Well, almost anypony." Shield gave him a look no more or less hard than Star had given him earlier.

A meow at his feet made James look down. Kiki was currently rubbing her head up against his leg. He scooped her up in his arms and held her, patting her all the while.

Shield snorted in amusement. "Little thing liked to weave in and out of my legs. I wound up tripping at least three times while you were gone, just because she did that." He scratched his chin with his hoof. "I couldn't hate her, though, She's just another victim of the war, after all."

A contented purr was the only answer to that.

"I can only hope we end off as well as she has," James answered after a period of silence. No one argued with him.

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