It had been four months since the day; General Specter had made the fateful decision to betray his commanding officer. In that time period so much had changed, the red sun that now hung ominously in the sky was certainly a testament to that statement. Once again General Specter found himself marveling at his masters might. The power Tirek had displayed had only solidified his belief that the decision he made was the right one.
He had once been a major, but now…now the only being that outranks me is a literal god. The General grinned he held more power now then he had ever dreamed of. He had worked all his life to gain the coveted rank of general. He had neglected everything else in his life, and had fixated and obsessed over becoming the head of the Equestrian military. But the princesses and General Thunder cared little for a soldier who focused solely on war and defending the nation.
General Specter curled his lip, at the thought of General Thunder. The old stallion was an able warrior but he would never take an opportunity when it was presented to him. He never tried to expand Equestrians might and was simply content to defend his nation, when the army he lead could have conquered so many lands. The princesses were cowardly and had agreed with General Thunder’s idiocy. Now however, now we are lead by a lion, who understands that an army must conquer.
Tirek had been busy solidifying his hold on Equestria and there was a lot of work to be done. But Tirek had confided with Specter about his plans for the future. Soon Tirek would go out conquering and the nations around Equestria would fall, and it would be General Specter who would have the honor of conquering the griffin empire, the zebra republic, and the many other nations that lay beyond Equestria’s borders. Tirek even spoke of finding ways to leave this planet and go out conquering nations on other worlds. An eternity of war, an eternity of conquering! Specter sighed, could a better world be imagined?
The General and Tirek had spent a lot time reorganizing the Equestrian military all the while instituting a draft. There were plenty of ponies who Tirek had not drained and those that had proven worthy were welcomed into the new Equestrian army. General Specter had been sure to promote the best and brightest to top positions. His new adjutant, Colonel Poker Face, had proven to be a very valuable asset. The soldier would put in eighteen hour work days, and was a crucial part of maintaining the Tirek’s new army which had nearly three million active members.
Those soldiers had to oversee a nation that had a population of nearly three hundred and seventy million. Luckily the inhabitants they watched over were not particularly dangerous. Ponies that had resisted had been put on trains to Canterlot. There they were drained by Tirek and forced to work on manufacturing materials. Any pony that did not join the army or served in the workforce was stripped of their magic. The population was very docile as a result and magicless ponies would have a lot of difficulty combating pony’s that had super strength, could fly, or cast devastating war spells.
But there was still resistance and problems to be had. For one, Equestria’s military that had remained loyal to the old crown had all but vanished. It had been easy at first; Major Specter had known where all the major bases where, even the secret ones. He and Tirek along with the new Equestrian army had destroyed many and had on some occasions convinced the bases inhabitants to join the new order.
But now every base he found was completely devoid of life. Ponies were also going missing from towns. They weren’t ordinary ponies either; they were often scientists or very talented mages. General Specter had brought these problems to Tirek and he had found that he was right to worry.
Tirek was busy dealing with his newfound leadership position. For a being of unfathomable power he was certainly way too paranoid about being attacked. But Tirek had revealed to General Specter, something that would have to keep hidden from the populace and the soldiers he commanded.
Tirek had told him that Discord had escaped him and was still a threat. It was Discord that had been teleporting soldiers and ponies of talent out of Equestria. Tirek was actively looking for where Discord had brought these ponies to. Tirek had been surprisingly open about his weakness. Tirek after studying the various census reports and troop numbers had finally arrived at the conclusion that Discord had probably saved nearly a million soldiers, and had probably teleported around four million citizens to another dimension or at least somewhere that Tirek could not reach.
General Specter had come to believe that Tirek was more powerful in a fight then Discord. However Discord appeared to have a far greater range of abilities then Tirek and was able to elude Tirek fairly well. Not only that but it appeared that Discord was capable of concealing an entire army from Tirek. It worried Specter, but he chose not to dwell on it, Tirek and Discord played a game of cat and mouse that was far beyond Specters understanding. General Specter had been given a task of quelling any rebellion and that was exactly what he planned to do. Soon Equestria would be ready to conquer and would be a nation dedicated to a concept that Tirek had described as “total war.” General Specter was looking forward to the coming changes. Soon he would have honor of conquering the entire planet.
But that glorious future would have to be put on hold. Specter had heard reports of trouble brewing in the small town he was visiting. The cities were mostly pacified but the backwoods seemed to fuel rebellion. Perhaps the citizens here believed they were safe, and their towns were too small for the authorities that be to care about. General Specter grinned wolfishly; on my watch not even the smallest rebellion will go unpunished!
General Specter had traveled to this troublesome town with all due haste. He was eager to get some action after so many months of being cooped up in a military headquarters organizing the various forces that he now commanded. But the hard work had been worth it and he been proud of his work directing and creating the mighty army that now listened to him.
General Specter had a platoon of thirty unicorns with him. They would be needed to help strike fear in this town’s inhabitants. Yesterday the new mayor of this town and her bodyguard had been found dead in the woods with their throats slit. The mayor and the soldier tasked with protecting her had been enforcing Tirek’s new laws rather strictly. Their deaths showed where the citizens of this town stood and that was against Tirek. So it’s time to teach them a lesson, thought Specter savagely.
He had had his soldiers erect a platform and a gallows in the town center. After amplifying his voice with magic, General Specter began to speak calmly to the citizens of the town who had been forcibly assembled before him.
“It appears that this town has a little problem accepting the new laws emplaced. I understand that one of my soldiers killed in this town. Know this, I do not care who did this treacherous deed, I only care about where this deed was committed and that unfortunately for you it was in this very town. As such you are all guilty of this heinous crime.”
General Specter paused to study the effect his words had on the crowd. They appeared uncomfortable but not truly scared yet. Many were tossing uneasy glances at each other. There was however an air of apprehension, and the feeling was one of dread. The crowd gathered here today knew that something dreadful was going to occur in their town today, but they didn’t quite know what that something would be.
General Specter continued to talk, “For killing one of my soldiers, I have deemed it imperative that some form of punishment must be doled out. As such I have decided that ten random citizens will be taken out of this crowd and hung. Since this town cannot be trusted, a new military governor will be appointed for this town tomorrow. A whole platoon will accompany the governor, to make sure this town follows the new laws accordingly.”
General Specter suddenly dropped his calm demeanor and began to speak far more harshly, “Know this, if you kill another of my soldiers I’m prepared to have another twenty citizens strung up immediately.”
General Specter suddenly drew his blade and said in a voice barely above a whisper, “and for all your sakes make sure there’s not a third casualty.”
He then calmly left the stage, deciding to let the platoon that had accompanied him to this town begin to hang the ten unlucky souls who been selected for hanging. He walked out feeling confident. This towns little rebellion wasn’t the only fire that needed putting out, but it was likely the biggest one he’d have today.
It had been a few days since General Specter had personally saw to it that any act of defiance no matter how little, would be punished severely. Word had spread quickly of the general’s savagery and the population was proving to be much more docile. General Specter had built himself up to be quite the fearsome figure indeed. One of his lieutenants had even told him that behind his back, soldiers and civilians alike referred to him as “Tirek’s favorite butcher.” The General was fine with that title, fear equated to respect in Tirek’s new world.
Today he was doing more paperwork. Tirek had told him that he planned on building a new school system of indoctrination. The young were to be ripped from their homes and taught to worship Tirek, all the while being raised as perfect soldiers. The General agreed with this wholeheartedly. It was best to mold the mind of a pony when they were young. Fillies and colts grew up to be soldiers and soldiers were what Tirek and Specter desired more than anything.
The nations that surrounded Equestria needed to be crushed and crushed quickly. Already those neighboring nations had been wary of Tirek and his new policies. They had been building up defenses along their borders. The Zebra Republic in particular had built a series of challenging forts that would require taking. Hmmm perhaps if we…a sudden knock on the door soon brought the General back to reality and he hastily said the words, “come in.”
A blue pegasus with bright orange hair strode into his office. She snapped off a crisp salute and got to the point of her visit quickly and with a military efficiency General Specter admired.
“Sir Lord Tirek wishes for you to meet with him right way.” She then quickly walked out and flew off presumably to deliver more messages.
General Specter arrived at the palace to find it very heavily guarded. The amount of soldiers stationed at the palace angered him. Anything that could kill Tirek would probably not be slowed down by a few guards no matter how well trained they were. General Specter needed those soldiers in towns and cities; he was stretched thin as it was!
He entered the throne room to find Tirek pacing back and forth. It was a good thing Tirek had shrunk his size down so that he at the height of Celestia, he much easier to talk to this way. Tirek looked up his mysterious yellow eyes were unreadable. General Specter gave Tirek a bow, a general is lowly when compared to a god after all.
He rose up and waited for Tirek to speak. All the while he was desperately searching Tirek’s face for a hint of emotion. He found that no matter how hard he tried, he could not predict what the centaur would do, it was better to just listen.
Tirek began to speak in his standard growl, “General Specter, we are surrounded by enemies; our new army is filled with agents of Discord. I believe we need to search our ranks more thoroughly and pull out the weeds of treachery before they choke us.” Tirek had started to mutter now and did not sound like the collected leader he usually was.
General Specter was unnerved, Tirek usually only grew angry and irrational after he had drained several ponies of their magic. Specter had always assumed that the feeling of the magic coursing though his veins made Tirek unstable. But this paranoia was something new, something very dangerous, yes that was the word.
He groaned inwardly, Tirek’s new found paranoia, if not kept in check could bring ruin to his new army. If Tirek cracked down too hard he might stir up revolt and that would mean General Specters job would become much harder. He racked his brain frantically; I must soothe his fear quickly! Our plans are going so great, I mustn’t let his misplaced fear destroy everything we’ve worked for. Oh what a wretched encumbrance this is!
General Specter spoke as calmly as he could despite the fear he was feeling as he looked up at his master.
“My lord, we have done many great things in such little time! The whole nation has been pacified, your army is growing quickly and any form of resistance is being squashed out. This land is yours my lord!”
But Tirek was not listening, “I don’t care about ponies, I care about Discord! Do you have any idea what he could do to us? All my work could be torn down any second because of him!”
Lord Tirek suddenly stopped talking and began to look intently around the room. His yellow eyes were frantic and were rapidly darting back and forth.
Tirek’s voice came out full of panic, “There can’t you hear it!”
General Specter looked up at Tirek with genuine concern, “Hear what my lord?”
“The laughter!” Tirek bellowed, “it’s everywhere, how can you not hear it!”
“My lord!” General Specter broke in desperately, “Can’t you cast a spell that can find Discord? Surely that’s in your power, you’ve been able to track down resistance groups, I bet you can find Discord!”
General Specter suddenly found himself flung across the room in the chilling grip of Tirek’s telepathy. Tirek let out another roar, “I can’t see him, don’t you understand!”
General Specter got up woozily and Tirek looked down at him with sudden concern. He snorted and shook his head before talking.
“You’re dismissed General, keep your eye out for any suspicious activity and report back to me.”
General Specter bowed and gratefully took his leave. He glanced back at Tirek and he could have sworn that there were some flecks of gray in his normally red skin. He strode out grateful to have survived this encounter. As he walked out he heard what sounded like an explosion and more of Tirek’s growling. The guards outside the palace could clearly hear it as well, but they were professionals and to their credit they kept their expressions unreadable.
Tirek was pacing around the throne room letting of blasts of energy seemingly at random. The laughter in his ears was deafening and rage inducing. He was starting to gain some level of self control back as the laughter receded. Snarling he stomped out not noticing a little fly on a wall that let out of chuckle before blinking out of the palace and seemingly existence.