Princess Celestia
"The train tracks between here and Trottingham have been sabotaged, Princess. Advanced scouts have indicated Princess Luna's forces have already occupied Trottingham, we're too late." the guard calmly gave his report. How they could maintain their stoic expression when giving such news, I would never know.
"Do we have any estimate on the number of forces holding the city?" I inquired.
"We believe there are two divisions stationed there."
"Thank you for the report. Please have General Hoof and General Maneuver see me immediately." I commanded, the guard bowed and galloped off to find the generals. I walked around the makeshift command center we had set up near the train tracks. The train had managed to stop before it was derailed, leaving only minor injuries to my forces. I looked around the quickly set up tent, the heavy grey fabric protected the interior from the elements and getting a closer look at what was inside. I sat at the head of a long table, upon the table was a map, with flags and small plastic ponies representing troop locations.
I leaned forwards and looked over the map more carefully, my brow furrowed. Six plastic unicorns were located halfway between Canterlot and Trottingham, representing our location. Much to my displeasure, a plastic alicorn, which was painted white, was also present. They seemed to think that as an alicorn I was worth an entire army. While it is true that I am powerful, it remains to be seen if I am as powerful as they think. Sure, I could probably fight an entire army and win, but the collateral damage would be immeasurable. I shook my head, rebuilding from damage I had caused myself with spells designed to level entire armies would take a long time, it would taint the land with dark magic. The spells to destroy entire armies that an alicorn could wield, while powerful, would not discriminate between friend or foe, combatant or noncombatant, sentient being or animal.
Using such a spell would make me a monster. I would not let this make me a monster. My sister would not stoop that low either... She didn't even use those spells when she had been blinded by her hatred towards me. Twilight... I winced at remembering my most faithful student's rebuke of how I had acted... She wouldn't use such spells, even if she had the power. She would not stand for using that, I fear to think what she would do to herself if she ever used one of those spells...
It's sad, really. All three of us just want what is best for everypony... I closed my eyes and sigh, letting my head droop slightly. I want everypony to be safe, living without fear of any large scale conflicts... My sister wants everypony to live without fear... And then Twilight... She wants everypony to be safe, to not have to worry about dangers that lurk in the shadows, without fear of their leaders making a mistake... I reflected on my decisions, allowing myself to see them from Twilight's point of view.
I grimaced as I began to realize what she must think. 'She doesn't understand just how special she and her friends are...' I heard the tent door open, I looked up to see General Hoof and General Maneuver calmly walk in. I put on a mask to hid my distress, 'I promise this will all be okay, Twilight...'
"Generals," I calmly spoke as I rose from my seat, "I'm open to suggestions."
"According to the reports I received about the sabotage, due to it's nature it could be a few days before the tracks are repaired, and by then Trottingham could be too well defended for a direct attack." General Maneuver spoke.
"A most effective assault would be to have unicorns bombard the city with explosive spells. Weaken their defenses, scatter their ranks, move in during the chaos, and secure the town." General Hoof's bluntness caught me off guard, General Maneuver spoke up before I could.
"Civilian casualties from that would be very high, not to mention our losses from a frontal assault would easily number in the upper thousands." he paused, "We outnumber them, we should engage them in so many different areas they can't concentrate their forces enough to mount an effective defense."
"I will not authorize any plan which leads to a waste of life." I put my hoof down calmly, in a finalizing matter. "On any side, especially civilian." I turned away from them and paced for a moment, attempting to bring back the memories of years past, when I had led armies to defend Equestria during the time my sister was imprisoned in the moon. Nothing major was forthcoming. I shook my head in frustration. I walked over to the table and looked at the map. Using my magic I levitated two of Luna's plastic ponies over to Trottingham.
"Princess, if I may ask, what is the real reason you don't move to eliminate Princess Twilight Sparkle first." General Maneuver's question ran through my head a dozen times before I could process it.
I sighed, "It's not personal, if that's what you think." I calmly replied, "I fear Luna more than I worry about Twilight. Although she may be able to lead an army to victory, she is not as strong as Luna or me." I raised a hoof to stop him from asking another question, or saying that I was being a coward. "Luna, on the other hoof... If she were to engage both of you at once, in pony, you would lose. Big time." I shook my head, "That would mean I would have lost almost half of my forces, meaning that we would lose."
"So your presence is to keep Luna from entering the field herself, or containing her if she does?" General Hoof asked.
"Yes, although my combat powers... Have not been tested in some time, I may not be able to contain her, but I will at least give her pause..."
"Princess, I don't believe she would enter into the field herself, she has no officers capable of commanding a force as large as she does. The highest ranking officers she took with her were colonels. And while she may have promoted them, rank and skill are different things." General Maneuver's words held truth, but I couldn't risk it.
I turned my attention to the map, and let myself enter deep into thought. About a moment later I turned my attention back to the two generals, "General Maneuver, prepare your forces to move out towards Stalliongrad. If we can take that city, we should be able to reduce Luna's ability to recruit more ponies into her army, thus we could afford to take higher risks..."
"Yes, your highness. I will assemble my forces and move on Stalliongrad at once." he saluted, but remained sitting, awaiting further orders.
"General Hoof, your forces will remain here with me, we will await Luna's next move..."
"Yes, Princess." he saluted.
I stood up and nodded at them, "Dismissed."
Twilight Sparkle
I stood just inside the sheriff's office, the faded wooden walls felt like they were starring me down, as if trying to intimidate me. I shook the feeling of nervousness off, the town had voted to follow me, I had nothing to fear. 'Except making a fool out of yourself, or screwing up and costing ponies their lives for nothing.' I winced at the stray thought.
Rainbow patted me on the shoulder, I turned towards her and smiled, thanking her for the reassurance. "You'll do fine, Twilight. You always do."
"I... Thanks, it's just that... Well... All these ponies are putting their trust in me, asking me to take care of them and to lead them... What if... What if I fail?" I ruffled my wings, Rainbow shook her head.
"Twilight, calm down. Sure, you may not win every battle, some towns may not vote to join you, others may resent you... But you will do your best. Your best is at least twenty times better than what most ponies can do. Princess Celestia raises the sun, and she's not half as awesome as you are."
"Rainbow Dash giving me a pep talk about politics... I never would have imagined this in my wildest dreams..." I chuckled lightly, "After this is all over... Depending on if I-" Rainbow jabbed me in the ribs with a hoof, "Er... When..." I glared at her lightly, "I win, I will be busy... I probably won't have a lot of time for you and the rest of the girls... Most likely a lot less than what I do already..." I grimaced. Running Ponyville and preparing for war was consuming more than half my waking hours, and training was using most of what remained, leaving me very little time to just hang out with the girls outside of 'official' business.
"Won't you like... Have a lot of ponies to do things for you then? Like, hundreds of them that you could have take care of things for you?"
"I suppose, but I would still be running things..." I shook my head.
The door opened and Applejack leisurely walked in, "You're up, Twilight."
I nodded at her, "Thanks." She walked back outside. "I still feel like I should have prepared a speech beforehoof."
"You'll do fine." Rainbow's brash confidence in me seemed to be infectious, as I soon found myself believing that I would do fine.
No, better than fine. I would succeed.
I inhaled deeply, put a hoof on my chest, and exhaled. I closed my eyes and opened them, preparing myself for the crowd of ponies I would soon face. I moved over to the door, opened it, and strode out, radiating an aura of confidence.
I took in the sight of the crowd and my jaw fell. I knew that Appleoosa had a population in the upper thousands, but the crowd stretched as far as I could see, buildings appeared to block the sight of even more ponies who had came to see my speech.
Not just ponies, buffalo also. That took me by surprise, I had not expected the buffalo to take any interest in what was happening in Equestria, however it seemed I was wrong. It made sense, I supposed, considering that they do live within the borders of Equestria.
I calmly collected myself, and stepped forwards. Once at the edge of the raised platform, I lit my horn and cast a spell to amplify my voice, so that everypony could hear me. I opened my mouth.
And then closed it, being overwhelmed by the sight before me. 'Just relax... It's not different than Ponyville...'
"Hello, everypony! I can honestly say I am shocked by the sheer numbers of you that showed up to this. And not just ponies either... I am honored that you would put your trust in me to lead you, and I only hope that I can live up to it. I promise I will take care of and protect you, all of you. As you know, I have seceded from Equestria, with Ponyville as my capitol." I paused, realizing this would be a good time to rally support and build an army, "I do not posses the military strength of either Princess Celestia, or Princess Luna. But I have the support of the ponies, together, we can forge a better future. Together, we can restore harmony, and protect all who live in our lands. And while we fly a new banner, and are citizens of a new country, we are Equestrians!" I paused when the crowd cheered for me, I felt a smile tugging at my lips.
I raised a hoof to calm them, once they settled down I continued, "Equestria has faced many trials, and many evils. We have overcome each and every one of them, and we have become stronger, not as individuals, but together because of them. We will not just survive this new threat, but we will conquer it, and we will emerge even stronger than before! We will prevail against evil, as we always have." I nodded and turned around, signaling the end of my speech.
I felt it was awful, but the crowd didn't seem to agree with me. I walked back into the sheriff's office and took a seat. Rainbow had followed me back inside and sat down beside me.
"That was one awesome speech, Twilight."
"Thanks... Although it doesn't feel like it..." I admitted with a sigh.
"For being unplanned, it was really invigorating."
I smiled weakly. A few minutes latter, the sheriff, Braeburn, and Applejack all walked back inside, smiles plastered across their muzzles.
"Good speech, Twilight." Applejack chirped.
"Anything you need, Princess?" the sheriff asked.
I stood up, "I need to see the town and or region's records, financial information, population reports, that sort of thing." I listed the items I could think of, I was sure I would think of more later.
"Sure thing, Princess."
Braeburn stepped forwards, "Princess, the buffalo would like to speak with you, if you could make the time."
I added another item to my mental list of things to do and nodded, "Sure, I can meet with them right now if it's important."
"I think they'd appreciate that, your highness. I'll take you to their chief." Braeburn responded and walked towards the door, and then waited for me to join him. I opened the door with my magic and motioned for him to exit first.
"Any idea what they want?" I asked as we made our way through the dispersing crowd, I could see a small group of buffalo clustered together approaching us. I didn't recognize any of them.
"I'm afraid I don't know, Princess."
After making our way through the crowd of ponies, we eventually reached the group of buffalo, they bowed respectfully when I approached them.
"There's no need for that. Braeburn told me you wanted to speak with me?"
The buffalo rose from their bow and one of them stepped forwards. The large buffalo was wearing a tribal headdress, he stepped with a sort of humble confidence I had never seen before, his dark brown fur was somehow well groomed, relatively speaking, of course. "Princess, the Buffalo Tribes will follow you."
'I swear I'm hearing things.' I shook my head, "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?"
"The Buffalo Tribes will follow you, your highness." he repeated.
I stood flabbergasted, I blinked and shook my head, "You... You speak for all of them?"
"I do." he firmly answered.
"I... See..." I had not been expecting that. 'Looks like I have a lot more work to do now...' "I was unaware that the buffalo knew what was going on..." I trailed off perplexed.
"We do know what is going on in Equestria, news of the three way splitting of the princesses has even stretched beyond the borders of Equestria."
"And... Why are you wanting to help me? Not that I don't want it, I just didn't expect it is all."
"You are Princess Twilight Sparkle, an alicorn." I ruffled my wings when he said that, "The Princess of Friendship. Do not believe that we do not know how you helped the buffalo in the past. We know how you helped negotiate a peace between our kind and the Appleoosians." he paused and nodded to himself, "You have taken interest in these parts before, and continue to do so even after your ascension. The other princesses, and Canterlot nobility," he huffed the words with anger, "want nothing to do with these parts. You care, where they don't. That is why the Buffalo Tribes will follow you."
"I... Thank you, Chief." I suddenly realized I didn't know his name, "I'm sorry, but you didn't tell me your name?"
"Chief Rockbreaker, your highness." he replied with a bow.
"Thank you, Chief Rockbreaker." I smiled.
"Now, I will not keep you from any other business you might have, we can meet again at a later point in time to discuss our concerns."
"Alright then, but I won't be in Appleoosa much longer, and I'll probably just be getting busier and busier, so I may not be able to spare the time to come down here as much as I would like to."
"It is understandable, you do have a growing kingdom to manage."
I smiled wryly, and nodded.
Twilight Sparkle
The next few days I spent in Appleoosa, finalizing the transfer from Equestrian control to my own. It was a boring task, consisting mostly of paperwork and finding ponies to manage things for me while I was away. I met with Chief Rockbreaker and discussed various topics of interest between us, including having the buffalo warriors fight for me. He gave me his word that the tribes would fight for me, however when I had asked him how many buffalo warriors there were, he was unable to give me an estimate. I asked him to try to find out, it would be a while before I knew.
When it came time to leave, they gave us free pass on the train back to Ponyville.
"So I'd call that a success, don't you think, Twilight?" Applejack's voice managed to pull me back into reality, I had been thinking about some of the nightmares I had been having. The nightmares were horrible, yet I felt like I was growing used to them. I found myself wondering why I was having nightmares.
"Yes." I concurred. The nightmares... If it wasn't one where I was standing over the corpse of one of my friends, my hooves covered in their blood, it was one where I ended up getting killed. Most of the time when I dreamed I was getting killed, Celestia was killing me. I shuddered as memories flooded back into my mind.
"Twilight? You okay?"
'Perhaps Luna has something to do with these nightmares... She... She wouldn't do that though, right?' More images filled my mind, I stood on a battlefield, the smell of smoke was strong... I felt something poke my rib, I lit my horn in preparation to defend myself against my attacker. I quickly turned my head and lowered my horn, but I stopped when I realized who it was. I winced at the look of shock and fear on her face.
"Tw-Twilight?" Rainbow nervously chuckled, "You... You okay?"
I sighed, "No."
"What's got you so worked up you almost took Rainbow's head off?" Applejack asked.
That was a very bad choice of words. "I'm still having those nightmares." I answered once I had collected my thoughts. "I was just thinking about some of them..."
"Still? I thought you were done with those..." Applejack trailed off.
"Sorry about that by the way, Rainbow." I apologized.
"It's fine..."
"So did you enjoy catching up with Braeburn?" I changed the subject, hoping to leave behind the previous conversation.
"Sure did." Applejack answered, "We got a lot of work done-" I facehoofed, "What's wrong Twilight?"
"I thought you were going to take a vacation while you were here..." I mumbled, then laughed lightly, "I should've known better..."
"Something wrong with that?"
"No." I answered.
"So Twilight... I heard you were talking with Chief Rockbreaker about your uh... Army..."
That got my attention, I swiveled my head towards her, I looked at her suspiciously, I had a sinking feeling I knew where this was going...
"And I was wondering if I could Join it?" Rainbow finally spit it out.
'Yep, knew it.' I pretended to think the subject over for a few seconds. I had already thought this over before, my answer would be 'No.' but I didn't want her to know I had already decided. "Sorry, but no. It's too dangerous."
"Oh come on!" Rainbow shouted and threw her front legs out in exasperation, she hovered in the air above her seat, "I'm Rainbow Dash! You know, fastest flyer, Wonderbolt Reservist, flight instructor of-" she held out her hooves in an exaggerating manner, "Princess Twilight Sparkle." she pointed a hoof at me.
'Maybe it would be better to let her join, I could keep her out of trouble that way... I shouldn't have to worry about any of the others though...' Perhaps that idea held water... "Fine." I calmly answered.
"Aww yeah!"
"You'll have to obey my ever command, like everypony else you know."
"Yeah yeah," she batted a hoof towards me in the air, "and how's that any different from normal?" she paused, "No biggie."
I turned towards Applejack, who was maintaining a 'are you serious' face. I shrugged off Rainbow's unintended insult.
"So what does that make me now? A captain? Sergeant?" Rainbow asked as she landed back on her seat.
"Guard." I nonchalantly answered.
"Aww..." Rainbow dejectedly moaned. "But I'm too awesome for that!"
"Take it or leave it."
Rainbow mumbled something inaudible.
"What was that?"
"I said fine..."
"Good, because that's just a temporary rank I'm assigning you to..." I trailed off as her eyes light up.
Twilight Sparkle
"I thought you said you didn't want any of your friends in harms way." Captain Light spoke up after I told him about my decision.
"I did. This way I can literally order her to stay out of harms way." I answered.
"Yes, Princess." he flatly answered.
"Can you give me your honest opinion on this idea?"
"Honestly?" I nodded in affirmation. "The idea is bad, but having her as a guard is not bad." he paused, "She's fast and a wonderbolt, so she has skill. She represents the element of loyalty, correct?"
"Yes, she does."
"Then I think she would be a great addition." he smiled, it slowly turned into a frown, "How does she deal with conflicting loyalties?"
I sighed, "Not well." I paused, "But she always figure it out... Eventually." I quickly added. While it was true Rainbow Dash represented the element of loyalty, she was not perfectly loyal. She had her own dreams and desires, but her sense of loyalty was still strong, strong enough that when she realizes she wasn't being loyal to her friends, she would fix it.
"Perhaps she would be a good choice for a personal guard. She's already training you in flying, and I get the feeling neither Princess Celestia nor Princess Luna want to assassinate you."
"I suppose I could talk it over with her. Anything to report from when I was away?"
"Princess Celestia deployed a large number of her forces to take Trottingham, the train tracks they were taking were sabotaged, and now they're encamped about halfway between Canterlot and Trottingham. She is there personally, too."
"That's... That could prove useful, actually... And how goes recruiting and training?"
"We have a a few dozen recruits already, and they're being trained. They're... Making progress."
"Slow going?"
"It's to be expected, training can take weeks to months. It's something that you can only rush if you go directly into battle, and then you'd end up with high casualty ratios."
I pondered his words for a moment, I definitely didn't want any pony to die if it was unnecessary. I grimaced, I knew I was still unprepared for the horrors of war... It... It wasn't real to me, not yet anyway. "Anymore guards defect from either side to our side?"
"No, Princess."
I sighed, "I suppose that's to be expected." I shook my head sadly, "Have the diamond dogs sat up their mining operations yet?"
"I believe they have, but Sparkler would have more information on that."
"Thanks anyway." I nodded at him and dismissed him with a wave of my hoof, "Dismissed."
"Yes, Princess." he saluted and then walked off to perform his other duties as captain of the guard.
'If I have Rainbow as one of my personal guards, she'll follow me around everywhere... That could put her in danger if I lead an army into battle...' I felt a shiver run down my spine as I thought about leading an army into battle. I felt woefully unprepared for leading from the front... 'I could order her to stay back... But she probably wouldn't listen... Then again, she is pretty strong and agile, she will probably be alright...' I walked out of the throne room door, opening it with my magic. 'I can't believe I'm actually considering doing this...' I shook my head as I started walking throughout the castle. I wanted to talk to Sparkler to see if the Diamond Dogs had set up operations yet.
Twilight Sparkle
I wondered around for half an hour before eventually finding Sparkler. I had to ask a couple of the guards if they had seen her, eventually one of them directed me to the Ponyville Bank. Well, former Ponyville Bank, now the Royal Treasury of the Kingdom of Twilight. 'I need to think of a better name for the treasury.' I added another item to my to-do list. As I approached the structure I took the time to examine it's construction. The building looked to be old. Older than me, anyway. The white painted stone front showed signs of fading, indicating it had not recently been repainted. The marble support columns supported a triangular archway leading into the entrance. I also noted how small it was, only slightly larger on the outside than the town hall. 'I may need to invest in a new banking facility.'
I saw Sparkler walk out of the bank with a smile on her muzzle, she held the door open as two diamond dogs wearing hard hats walked out of the bank. The diamond dogs bowed slightly to her and then took off in the direction of the Everfree Forest. I slowly trotted up to greet Sparkler.
"Oh, hello Princess!" Sparkler started to bow but I raised a hoof.
"No need for that right now, Sparkler. Have the diamond dogs started mining yet?"
"Yes. As a matter of fact, they just dropped off their first shipment of gems for us. I have them sorting it, it's not a lot right now, but Sir Rover says the shipments should increase in size as the mine system becomes larger." Sparkler chirped.
"I see. Keep me apprised of that if you would."
"Of course, your Highness." Sparkler bowed her head respectfully.
"What else do you have to report?"
"Here, take a look." Sparkler levitated a yellow folder I hadn't noticed she was holding until now over to me. I took it in my magic and started looking over the information. "As you can see, we're progressing at a slow, but steady rate..."