//------------------------------// // Elements of war // Story: What you've got // by Broneyofnoel //------------------------------// "So how long to we have?" Applejack asked worriedly. "Probably six days," Blueblood "Actually, we've got twelve days," Fluttershy said. "How would you know that?" Blueblood asked, looking at Fluttershy. "It was thirteen when I arrived yesterday, and minus one day," Fluttershy didn't want to make him too mad. "We have thirteen days," Blueblood reassured himself. "Why'd you get us in here?" Pinkie asked. "Well, you five were my best contributors," he gestured the everypony but Fluttershy, "and you've got the most military experience," he pointed a hoof to Fluttershy. "So..." Fluttershy started, but Blueblood interrupted her. "I need you to train seven thousand ponies in ten days," Blueblood said. "Why ten days?" Fluttershy asked, they had thirteen. "We need to fortify, if we don't, training won't matter, we'll all die," Blueblood said coldly. "Alright, I can't train all of them at once," Fluttershy said. "Can you do 1,000 at once, and do seven, three hour classes?" Blueblood asked. "But she'll get only three hours of sleep!" Rarity interjected. "I can, when do I start?" Fluttershy asked. "Now, we're running out of time!" Blueblood stressed. Fluttershy walked out of the office and asked the front desk mare where she could find 1,000 ponies at once. "Well, there are seven districts, the first and last have 500 and 1500, but the other five have 1,000 even," she said. Fluttershy headed off to district one, it took some convincing, but she got them and 500 of district two to come to training. She was able to get them all to fit in the castle yard, she introduced herself. "Hello, my name is Fluttershy, and I will be training you, since we're going to be invaded in thirteen days, you'll get thirty hours of training," Fluttershy said in to the microphone. For many of these ponies, this was the first news on the fact they'd be invaded, and for some others, it was old news. "Why are you training us?' one of the first ponies asked. "I have more experience than the others," Fluttershy said. "And what was your 'experience'?" the same pony asked. "I was Nightmares assassin," Fluttershy said, causing massive amounts of yelling from the crowd. "Why are you here?" a different pony asked. Fluttershy told them the story, with the worst details, on how she'd killed Pinkie's daughter, those two dozen officers, those thirty-six students, and many guards and people who had tried to stop her. Her story had taken an hour. She quieted them all, they had ten things t learn. Weapons Stealth Camouflage Armor weaknesses Communication Explosives Morale Rations Ammunition types Victory Fluttershy decided to teach one a day, but that first class got a iittle less on explosives training, that was the subject Fluttershy covered with the day one classes. She really only explained what to do when a grenade lands near a pony. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After Fluttershy walked out, Blueblood restarted the conversation, "Twilight and Rainbow, can you tow take small groups of ponies and make small forward positions?" "Where?" Rainbow asked. "Well, I think you need to take some pegasi to the lowest clouds, and make fox hole like structures," said Blueblood "And me?" Twilight asked. "You, you have a choice, you can make foxholes in the ground, or build hidden structures in the trees," Blueblood said. "I'll pick the trees, do you want me to take only unicorns?" Twilight asked. "You can take ten of any kind,but Rainbow, you need to take fifteen, make sure at least one brings a weapon," Blueblood said. "Alright," Rainbow said,"where are the weapons?" "Take this to Derpy out there, she'll tell you," Blueblood handed her a card, it was laminate yellow that said, 'weapon vault'. Rainbow and Twilight walked out of his office, and the door closed, "What about us? Applejack gestured to herself, Rarity and Pinkie. "Applejack, you have several family members here, I want you to lead them in battle,' Blueblood said. "Where are they now?" Applejack asked.\\ "There in C district," Blueblood said. Applejack left the room. "And us two?" Rarity asked. "You two, Rarity, you need to distribute uniforms, and Pinkie Pie, is there anything you want to do?" Blueblood asked. "I'll help Rarity," Pinkie said calmly. "Excellent, now we're off to work," Blueblood rose form his chair, and the three walked out of the room. ----------Rainbow Dash---------------------------------------------------------- "Derpy?" Rainbow said, touching the guard's shoulder. "Oh, hi Rainbow!" Derpy said, surprised. "BlueBlood gave me this card," Rainbow handed it to Derpy. Derpy said nothing, but led Rainbow down multiple corridors, the last one they went down had a large, bolted door at the end of it. Derpy slid the card in it, and the door opened, the room was about 75 feet long, but was filled with rows of rifles, pistols, machine guns, rockets, and some other guns. "The card is for three guns," Derpy said, being serious. Rainbow went for a machine gun first, and then picked two rifles, mainly because there was only one pegasus stallion who could lift it for an extended amount of time. Rainbow walked out of the room, and Derpy sealed it, keeping the card. Rainbow carried all of the weapons out to the second district, where she found fifteen pegasi, including the stallion, Featherbrain was his nickname, mainly because he was clumsy. Rainbow led the pegasi up to some sturdy clouds, and they morphed the clouds in to bunkers, even though the stallion had to hold the machine gun, usually a bunker would hold it. The other two armed pegasi were in a bunker opposite from him, when the guards walked under theirs, Featherbrain would fire, and when thee guards were under Featherbrain, the other two would fire. "Alright, you are the first defense, it has been an honor to serve by you, Rainbow flew off, the three pegasi were confused, the enemy didn't arrive for at least ten days, they flew back to the castle. -------------Twilight Sparkle------------------------------------------------ Twilight ran to district D, and she recruited ten unicorns, they ran to a point one mile in front of the castle, they dug a trench, and they put punji pits, all scattered, it would scare the enemy enough to halt them for a while. After an hour of trench digging, and punji planting, Twilight called them all in. "You ten will be the only ground defense for a mile, when you're over run, fight, don't retreat, this is a death sentence, but you remember what Celestia's final words were?" Twilight said, everypony shook their heads. "Her last words were, Alas, I am defeated, but I shall not lose, my followers shall not lose, and their followers as well," Twilight was near to crying. "In seven days, you will be put out here, and you will wait for the enemy," twilight said to them as they walked back with the unicorns. -----------Applejack----------------------------------------------------- Applejack ran to her family, everypony was there, except for Granny Smith, who was with the elderly in District 8. "Listen up," Applejack said, "I am going to lead all eight of you in battle," she looked at Caramel, Apple Bloom, Big Macintosh, Braeburn, Apple Fritter, Golden Delicious, and Red Delicious. "When?" Apple Bloom asked, she was getting older, she was sixteen now, she'd gotten her cutie mark, it was an Apple tree. "Thirteen days," Applejack said coldly. "So, where do we meet in thirteen days?' Apple Fritter asked. "Here, and you need to go to double classes from Fluttershy," Applejack wanted them to all survive, she knew itmight not happen, but she wanted it. "Applejack, what battle are we talking about?" Big Macintosh asked. "We're being invaded by Nightmare," Applejack saying Nightmare made everypony flinch. ---------------Rarity & Pinkie Pie------------------------------------------- "Alright Pinkie, we have to make uniforms for the pony's squad, any ideas?" Rarity asked. "Well, we could do a bandoleer type thing with a patch for squad on it," Pinkie said, it was a good idea, but they kept on thinking. "I have an idea!" Rarity gasped, "What if we take their existing clothes, and sew their name and squad on it?" "That is a good idea,' Pinkie said sadly, they started to gather clothing from everypony. "So, we'll sew a patch that has their name on the inside, and their squad number patch on the outside," Rarity continued, "Pinkie, we have to sew 350 each for ten days straight, this is going to be hard," "It will be worth it," Pinkie said, following Rarity. -----------------BlueBlood's decision------------------------------------- "Should I fight or lead?" Blueblood said to himself, pacing his office. The odds of survival were slim for both, but he was a Prince, not a fighter, if he could just do... "Prince, a new report came in, we have seven days now," his assistant said, poking his head through the doors. "That settles it, I will fight!" Blueblood said loudly. Blueblood would fight at the first line of defenses,he would lay down his life to save the lives of any ponies, but these ones especially. They were the last ones who would fight for Celestia. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Princess Nightmare, we have killed all of the town's spies," a guard said, he pointed to a firing squad, in front of them, ten dead ponies, including Mrs. Cake. "Excellent, now we can continue early, I will have that castle burning in seven days," Nightmare said, laughing evilly. Her ten thousand soldiers had gained three volunteers, all of which were flag carriers now. They would crush the rebels, no matter how many they lost, they had everything on their side, money, power, numbers. "Fluttershy will burn!" Nightmare yelled. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fluttershy had just finished day one of training, she was so exhausted, she swore she saw multiple ponies two times that day. She was glad to get the three hour of sleep that she got. For once, her body didn't crave the rush of murder, but it craved something different. It craved the rush of victory...