//------------------------------// // Bad News // Story: Of a German and American soldier in Equestria // by redspark //------------------------------// Chapter 12 Bad News The knocking and pounding on the room's door awoke Louis. The german groaned as he sat up on his bed, rubbing his eyes. There was more knocking and pounding. He sighed angrily and stood up. He looked at himself in the mirror, inspecting how presentable he looked. He heard more pounding, this time a little more violent. "Yes! I'm coming!" he said angrily. He noticed he had slept on his uniform. "Agh..." he said, then walked to the door. He opened it and looked out. "What is it?" he asked angrily. He saw SilverInk there. "Ah, it's you," he said, walking back inside his bedroom but leaving the door opened for the general to come in. The stallion walked in. "Is that a way of talking to your superior officer, commander?" The general asked. Louis stopped walking. He was going to change to his german uniform, since the equestrian one was now sweaty and with wrinkles. He turned. "I'd guess not, sir..." he said between teeth. He turned back again. SilverInk saw the room Louis was staying on. "Nice place the princesses gave you, much bigger than the one they give me, actually." Louis turned, clearly containing his anger. "Is that for all you came, sir." He said sir with obvious disgust. SilverInk immediately changed his neutral face to a clearly angry one. "Now, commander, I will not be addressed in that way by anypony of inferior rank, not even you!" Louis groaned angrily and turned again. "Please tell me what it is that you came for, or else I'll need to ask you to leave my room." SilverInk stopped his advance into the room. He looked about to explode, as his face as turning red in anger. "I came to tell you that the princess has asked the reunion of the war council immediately under alert 5, that is the top of alerts, since I guess you don't know. You are to report to the throne room in ten minutes." The general didn't wait more; he turned and left the room without even bothering to close the door. Louis walked to the door and closed it. He sighed and went to change. When he was done, he walked to the mirror. He smiled; being in the uniform he was used to made him feel like if he was not that far from his home, from Germany. He put on his private's cap and then walked out of the room. He closed the door and proceeded to walk to the throne room. Louis hadn't been in the throne room more than two times. He knew the way, but still the twists and turns were confusing. He made his way through the victorian-style rooms and halls that he was now getting used to. After a couple of minutes he finally reached the throne room's main doors. He saw they were closed. How was he supposed to get in? He looked around until he spotted a guard. "Excuse me," he began. The guard, the typical white unicorn with golden armor that distinguished the royal guard immediately turned to him. "How can I enter the throne room?" The guard pointed to a small door. "That way commander. They are waiting for you." "Thank you," he said. 'Great... I am late...' he thought to himself. He walked to the door and opened it. He entered the throne room. The room was exactly as he remembered. Two thrones, one golden the other dark blue. Tinted glass on all the windows depicting important events on Equestrian history, as well as a chandelier on the ceiling. The only different thing was the magical table he had seen a couple of times being used by the ponies to show their plans. He noticed that there were more ponies than the last war council he had been to. There was SilverInk as the only general present, but also others he didn't recognize. All wore officer badges. As he made his way through the room he noticed that the lowest ranked officer there was a lieutenant. He also noticed a type of badge on an old looking light blue unicorn with a spyglass cutie mark. He guessed it could be from the navy, but he wasn't sure. It was probably the dark blue uniform. He finally saw a small golden medal with an anchor. Yep, definitely navy. "Commander Louis, I'm glad you could come," Celestia said. Louis noticed Luna wasn't present. "Now, let's begin." Everypony present looked at the sun princess, expecting about what she was going to say. "As all of you are well aware, we have been on a thin line between entering a war, as horrible as it sounds, we have known from its very beginning we couldn't stand by without doing anything." She turned to the navy officer and nodded. The blue unicorn nodded in response as his horn glowed with a faint blue aura. A blue holographic image appeared behind the throne depicting a large moving army of changelings, then it changed into a map of the south of Equestria. "I'm afraid that our estimates as to when war would fall on us were wrong. We expected to have enough time to prepare our troops, at least to have big number of them ready. As it happens to be, we have deceived ourselves." She began pacing in front of the two thrones. "At this hour yesterday, a force of ten thousand changelings crossed the southeastern equestrian frontier, and at the same time, another force of five thousand crossed through the west. One advancing in the direction we had already guessed and planned on. The smaller force of five thousand was something we did not expect. We thought that the changelings were too busy fighting the griffons to dedicate any more resources on the invasion on our lands. I'm afraid it wasn't so." "I'll appoint two generals to be commanding officers on the two fronts. One of them is to be general SilverInk, the other one general Davis. General SIlverInk, please step forward," Celestia said, looking at the general. The stallion moved forward towards the princess. "Do you accept all the responsibilities that this brings forth upon you?" SilveInk looked solemn. He nodded. "Yes my princess, I do." "Then it is decided, SilverInk, you are to command the larger equestrian force. Three thousand troops are at your disposal to defend the south-eastern front. We will further discuss the defense preparations on another meeting." "And to general Davis, one thousand troops will be given to him. The rest will remain back, should the worst happen, to defend the nearest cities and towns, them being Las Pegasus and Appleloosa." Chattering broke out throghout the room. Many were angry becase of Davis' appointment as general, others simply disturbed by the news and others simply began to discuss with others. Celestia looked around. "I know some of you have a different opinion on some of these decisions, and I understand you. But I need you to understand that this is what I have decided and am confident about these decisions." "Now that everything is clear and I announced the important things, everypony dismissed. All of you are to report to your stations at the camp for tomorrow morning for departure. Good Luck," Celestia said. She looked at the blue unicorn beside her and the two left the throne room through a door behind the thrones. Louis didn't moved as everypony began to walk out of the room. He was the last on the room. He didn't moved an inch, but kept looking to the thrones. He finally looked down at his empty holster. He had left his gun at his room, since he knew that he didn't needed it where he was. He sighed as he turned to leave the room. Soon his holster will not be empty again, soon his hands will carry his rifle. Soon, he would be marching to war... Again... *** *** *** "What the hell does this mean!?" Davis exclaimed as he re-read the letter the princess had sent him earlier in the morning. It was already afternoon and he still couldn't believe it. "Davis, calm down, maybe you are looking at it too dramatically," Fire Strike said. "Calm down! How can I calm down!" Davis shouted to the sky. He threw the letter away. "This was not what I intended in any way! This changes everything I had carefully planned. My plans could burn right here right now and it wouldn't matter! Why didn't the princess consult her decision with me first? Why couldn't she see it the way I..." he couldn't finish as a hoof stopped his mouth. Davis looked at his friend. Striker slowly retrieved her hoof. "Look Davis, as much as I know you are upset.." "Like hell I'm upset..." "...I think you should understand that, one, you couldn't have planned everything ahead, it was always a very likely thing to happen for the changelings to do the unexpected. Two, even if your plans would been used anything could go wrong and all that you planned would not matter. Finally three, that you are just a general, princess Celestia is the ruler of this land, you answer to her and not her to you." Davis stopped pacing around. He sighed, suddenly looking tired. He sat down and grabbed a glass of water from a nearby table. "You're rigth, I'm overreacting. I should calm down..." They were in the headquarters of the camp. The planning room seemed quiet compared to the outside. The table with the map of Equestria rested on the table, as well as other maps of specific regions of the south of Equestria. Outside, the sound of training troops, steel being forged and ponies chattering filled the room. Davis looked at the window. "Maybe we should make the announcement. Tomorrow I want to be ready to move so that we have time to fortify ourselves," Davis said. Striker nodded. "Do you want me to make the announcement?" Davis shook his head, standing up. "No, I'll make it. Please tell Ace to be there as well as you. Us three will make a stronger impression." He walked to the door. "I'll go and announce everypony to be in front of the headquarters for the announcement." Striker nodded and walked out of the room. Davis followed her. They two went in different directions once outside the wooden structure. Davis walked over to every officer he saw and told them to have their units and their ponies in front of the Headquarters for an important announcement. Finally, after an hour of walking and saying the same to every officer, he was finally back on the headquarters. He saw Ace and Fire Strike approach. "I suppose you received a letter as well, Davis," Ace said. Davis nodded. "Yes," he said. "I can guess you were not happy for the changes made on your plans." Davis and Striker chuckled, remembering how Davis had reacted. "No, I was not." The three moved into a large stage that had the equestrian banners all around it. They waited until a large crowd was in front of them. Ace went to ask an officer if they were all here. The general returned and nodded in confirmation at Davis. Davis cleared his throat. Everypony stood attention, not making any noises and not even moving. They obviously knew something was up. Davis began. "I am sure all of you know well enough the reason you are all here. We are at war, and you answered your land's call for duty. I am sure most of you know what is at stake, but still, I'll remind you. We are being invaded by a most horrible foe. The changelings, which surely most of you remember from their invasion to our capital, Canterlot. Now, I know how peaceful you are. When I first arrived here I found such peace I couldn't believe it. Now, that very same beautiful peace I found is being threatened; it's being harassed by those changelings." "I know you would rather not fight, and I am proud of that. Fighting is a last resort, and I really wish it wouldn't be like that, but it is. I trust you all, since I've seen you and met you all. I know what you are capable, and I know that not even a thousand changelings compare to one of you. I know and admire your bravery, I know and admire the cause we are all fighting for." "We are fighting for freedom and for liberty, which those creatures want to take from us. They want to enslave us, and I promise you that I'll do whatever it takes to stop them; I'll do whatever is in my power to do that and to achieve victory. Tomorrow we begin preparations to leave and as soon as the other generals and officers arrive we will leave for war." "Never forget who you are in battle, don't let the cruelty of it grow into you, for then everything, what we are fighting for, will be lost. Now, let's go, for Celestia, for freedom, and for Equestria!" he finished with a shout. Everypony began to cheer, stomping the ir hooves in the ground causing a tremble that made the headquarters building shake. Davis smiled. He walked back to Striker and Ace. "Well said, general. You even inspired me," Striker said mockingly. Davis laughed. Ace walked over to him. "I couldn't have said it better Davis. Now, let's hope we are going to victory and not to massacre," Ace said. Davis nodded. "I promised these ponies I'd do everything in my power, and by God I will do it." Davis looked at the cheering ponies. "Let's give them this night for themselves. Tomorrow we leave as soon as I have all my additional officers," he told them. Striker and Ace nodded. "Perfect, now..." Ace said looking at the two smiling. "Shall we join the party?" he said. Both Striker and Davis laughed as they joined their friend. The three walked inside the huge mass of soldiers, their fears hidden by the joyful singing and the smiles all around them... And so the night move on, making way for the next day, and making way for war...