//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Pony: Princely Arrivals and Initial Meetings // Story: World of Ponies: The Pony-Human War // by ShadowWalking18 //------------------------------// Stonewall Stonewall grumbled inwardly, cursing his poor luck to have drawn the shorter straw. He stood before a table in the command tent of the Thirty Third regiment of the Equestrian Royal Army, and scanned over a map of the terrain that they would need to cover in order to locate the main human force. 'At least winter is setting in. With the snows, the humans should be forced to camp somewhere.' He thought. At least he would not need to worry about a constantly moving force. All he had to do was find them. The sound of marching hooves made Stonewall look up, and saw a group of spear marching in drill. Blueblood stood away, watching the soldiers with a smile, a number of minor officers beside him. Despite the headache he was sure to gain, Stonewall had to admit that the prince cut a striking figure in his military garb. He would make a perfect recruitment poster model, though that was probably it. His uniform was too clean and cut, and the sword at his hip was gem encrusted and too gaudy for proper battle. 'And yet he is the Commander of this entire operation.' Stonewall thought with a shake of his head. At least that is what he thought. Despite the dread of putting the prince in charge of such a delicate procedure, Stonewall knew that it was he who would be making sure everything went smoothly. Oh, he would give the prince this, he knew how to run a camp. Blueblood had something of a thing for neatness and pomp and while Stonewall had to address certain things that the prince considered to common for his person, such as the digging of a latrine and the arrangement of supply lines, Blueblood had set for near daily drills and parade ground exercises to as he said, 'keep up the discipline.' All well and good for peace time, but the Prince had never had to actually lead ponies to a fight. Things like a wall for the camp, and sentry positions and guard duties had been overlooked; which Stonewall was left to address. 'He thinks this is just another one of the many deployments in the past.' Stonewall thought with a frown. Though he couldn't fault the prince in thinking that. No doubt some of the younger troops did as well. Even he couldn't see much difficulty in rounding up these wild humans. 'Once we get rid of their leader.' Stonewall thought. He knew that capturing or killing this....Castus would be the blow to finish off these attacks. The humans would fall like cards after that. But first they had to find him. Seeing that the drills were finishing, Stonewall saw Blueblood and the other officers approaching. He had asked them before they had started the drills to meet to discuss their strategy. It was time to get to work. Blueblood Blueblood felt rather confident. The soldiers were all in good shape and order and the camp was running smoothly. As well, many of the lower officers and even some of the troops were rather pretty. So, while he would be away from anything resembling civilization, hunting some smelly animals, he would at least have some pleasant nights. But pleasantries would have to be put aside for now. It was time to address their forces course of action in the coming weeks. Blueblood was giving it a few weeks before this whole thing was over. These humans might be able to take on some lowly mercenaries and traders, but they would be facing full trained military soldiers now. It would be a walk through the gardens. Still Stonewall seemed insistent that they and the lower officers all meet to discuss a strategy. Frankly he found it to be a waste of time. But, he supposed he could humor him. In the end, he was in charge of this operation. "Our scout who first saw that group of humans reported them traveling southward here." Stonewall said, pressing a hoof to the map on the table and circling a spot. Blueblood gave it a brief look. Despite that, he took immediate knowledge of the cartography of the map, taking the details in quickly. It was his special talent after all. "We can begin our search from there. If we are in luck, we should find some signs of their passing before the snow covers everything." Stonewall said. Blueblood huffed, but gave a nod. It made basic sense in tracking movement. Still they wouldn't have to worry about the snow if that scout had been more competent. Blueblood ignored the remainder of the meeting, only noting map routes and supply lines. Frankly there wasn't much to do until they found the humans first. He hoped it was soon, he sure did not want to spend an entire winter slugging through snow and cold to find a bunch of smelly animals. The meeting was about to adjourn, when suddenly a cry went up. "Humans! Humans are attacking!" Somepony shouted. Blueblood turned, and saw soldiers of the camp running to cover and started firing with crossbows up toward a wooded ridge. The camp was descending into minor chaos as the cry went up. Blueblood ran out, his horn a glow with a minor shielding spell as he drew his sword. A specially crafted spell sword, which was enchanted with a minor searing beam spell. It allowed him a ranged advantage without needing to overly exert himself with those bulky crossbows. His eyes scanned over the ridge until he spotted the humans. Clad in rough fur, at least three were ducking behind tree and rock near the ridge overlooking their camp. They were armed with simple bows, and fired arrows down toward the camp. Blueblood saw an arrow fly towards him but his shield spell stopped it in its tracks and caused it to clatter to the ground. "To me soldiers of Equestria. Drive them off! For Equestria!" He called, and aimed his sword toward the human that shot at him first. The Searing Beam spell fired, though the human ducked behind a tree. Still it tore through the bark of the tree leaving a faint burn line. Crossbow bolts, and soon other minor beam spells joined in. Blueblood felt confident that the humans would soon flee, but to his shock he saw an arrow fly right in front of his face from the side; nearly hitting him. He stumbled back in shock and quickly brought up his shield spell again. His heart racing as he looked for his attacker. He finally spotted him, a human near a tree to the left side of the ridge. Blueblood snarled, angry that such a primitive beast would dare try to hurt him. He aimed his sword and the beam spell fired once more. This time it stuck true, taking the human in the right side as it tried to duck behind the tree. He was sure he heard the beast cry out amongst the clamor of battle, and he gave a satisfied smirk. Filthy thing. Finally, it seemed the humans were running. He saw two others running back into the woods, and he fired off several more beams as a few other crossbow bolts flew. "Their running!" A pony cried, and a cheer went up among the camp. "The prince hit one. I saw him." Another soldier said. Blueblood found that the soldiers eyes were on him now, and some began congratulating him. Blueblood merely smirked and puffed out his chest. The admiration was perfectly sensible. "Yes well. I am a crack shot." He said, flipping his mane back a bit with a flick of his head. "Alright enough. Get back to work. Pathfinder, taking some troops and track those humans. See if you can't follow them back to wherever they came from." Stonewall said, pointing to several ponies. Mostly earth ponies, who would be better in the woods, but he did see a Pegasus as well. "Yes sir." The Pegasus said, saluting before running off with the others to follow the humans. Stonewall then turned to Blueblood, and the officer said, "Your highness. Are you injured?" Blueblood smirked, "Of course not. No human could harm me." Stonewall nodded, "Good. Still, this is not a good start. If those humans get away, their whole force may know our location before we know theirs. We should double patrols and sentries." "Oh I don't think there is a need. We had ample warning, and we drove them off easily. We can easily do it again as we are." Blueblood said, waving a hoof in dismiss. "But your highness..." Stonewall began, but Blueblood decided to cut him off. "Come Stonewall, you're being too overly cautious." Blueblood said as he picked up an arrow. Perhaps the one that nearly got him? The arrow was of simple wood, though its arrow head was of some black stone. Not metal. Blueblood couldn't help but give a laugh. These humans didn't even have proper weapons! Did they have clubs of wood and stones too? Probably they did. And not even any armor from what he saw. "Come Stonewall. Even if they do send another force, look at what they use." He offered the arrow to the grizzlied officer, who took it with a frown, "Stone arrows. Those things couldn't even break through our armor. And they certainly don't have any magic to fight against our mages shields." "Your highness you are forgetting..." Stonewall began, but Blueblood cut him off again. "Oh so they have that one human. But he can't be all that dangerous. So he can cast a teleport spell, he must constantly be exhausted from using it to move troops. And he surely can't move then five or six. Besides, he ran from my Aunt. If he was so powerful, he surely wouldn't have ran away three years ago as he did." Blueblood said. "No, Officer Stonewall. I do say we have every advantage. Superior weapons and armor and our mages put us at the top. Besides, we have endless supply lines. These humans are probably eating grubs and berries from the woods. So they know where they are, it will just make it all the easier for us. No doubt they will just come charging from the woods eventually." Blueblood gave a smirk, "And when they do. We will wipe them out, one by one." "But your highness..." Stonewall said, his voice hard. Blueblood brushed him off. He was finding this attitude to be such a bother. "No buts. I am in command here. And I say we are fine as we are. But if it makes you feel better, I'll allow some extra guards placed. I'll take care of it myself." Blueblood said, hoping to finish this rather dull conversation now. Stonewall looked ready to say more, but merely saluted and grumbled, "As you say. Your highness." Blueblood nodded, "Good, now I think I will grab myself some food. This has been a rather strenuous day." Stonewall saluted once more, and Blueblood gave a return salute before walking off to his tent. Though he did take back the stone head arrow once more. Laughing inwardly as he saw its stone tip. He would keep it as a memento of this day. The first victory against the humans for Equestria. And he, Blueblood would be the one to lead her armies to victory. And, as he entered his tent, he was met with a surprise. A Pegasus mare. Cream colored coat with a long mane and tail of red hair. She was dressed in military garb so she must be one of the soldiers, and she seemed surprise to see Blueblood. Blueblood was just as surprised, though he certainly didn't mind. "Oh, y-your majesty. I...I didn't mean to intrude, I just..." The mare stammered, fidgeting, tail swishing in uncertainty. Blueblood smiled, and held up a hoof, "At ease. There is nothing wrong, though I am curious as to why you are here...miss?" The mare saluted, "Sergeant Scarlet Rose." "Well, sergeant. It is not quite in proper protocol for you to be in my tent without my permission. I could assume you were a spy." Blueblood said with a smirk as he stepped closer. He caught a faint scent of roses, and his tail flicked once. Scarlet Rose gasped, "I..no I'm not. I...I just...I had seen you drive off those humans. And, you cut such a dashing figure I....I just wanted to show my own appreciation." Blueblood flicked his tail again, and he couldn't help but smirk. It seemed his day was a good one after all. He stepped closer to the mare, and she looked down at her hooves and fidgeted. "Oh? How exactly?" Blueblood asked. Though he had a few ideas. Scarlet made a slight eep sound, "I....I...I can't...quiet remember now." Blueblood smirked and placed his hoof under her chin and lifted her head to look into her eyes. "Perhaps I can....help you remember." He said, as he cast a silence spell around his tent. He then leaned over a bit to kiss Scarlet. The mare froze a bit, but soon wrapped her hooves around him and returned the kiss. Blueblood was surprised as the mare became more aggressive, forcing her tongue to his mouth and pushing him toward his Pegasus feather stuffed bed that he had brought to the camp. After that, he forgot everything else too.