War goes on and some Noble problems
Chapter 23
"War goes on and some Noble problems"
Breathing hard, Louis approached the throne room. He was taking slow but firm steps as he walked through the halls of the Canterlot palace, wearing his equestrian general uniform princess Celestia has ordered for him. He remembered he didn't wanted such a position, but after what appeared to have been an incredible display of leadership in green lake, he had been ordered one.
He was wearing one similar to the ones his own generals wore, only one without medals except for one that had the symbol of the two sisters, and the shield of their reign. It meant he was part of their army and followed orders directly from them. He had seen other generals in equestria wearing the military seal instead, which marked them not being directly below the princesses' control. He had slowly learned that the equestrian army had divisions within itself. One of them and the most powerful and significant was the royal army, the one directly controlled by the rulers Celestia and Luna. It was mostly composed of royal guards, but now with the expanding army due to the war they were adding newer troops not necessarily on the royal guard. Most had simple patches with the royal seal to indicate they were from the royal army, only the highest ranked officers, such as Louis and Davis, wore a medal.
After the royal army, there was the noble's army, or as it was officially called, the equestrian army. It was composed of the largest body of troops and had not been needed until the start of the changelings war. Apparently, it was composed of all the new recruits that were coming from smaller towns and farms not inside the big cities. From ponyville, for example. The troops from such towns followed direct command from the equestrian generals appointed by the noble council and could not follow a direct order from the princesses if it was against the wishes of their generals. Louis found that troubling, since it meant there could be a bad division between the troops he was supposed to lead. Still, even with the two main parts of the army, Celestia and Luna had the authority to call them all under their control should a greater threat arise, such as the ongoing changelings invasion. That gave the two sisters full control, but Luna had expressed Louis her worries one night ago. Apparently, the noble's disliked being striped off their own troops, since they elected the generals who commanded them. For what he had understood, there was an ongoing council to determine if the princesses could keep the control or if they needed to share it. Though that would relieve the princesses from a huge strenuous job, they wouldn't be able to make their own generals a higher rank then the equestrian army's generals. That would cause Davis, who was the supreme general at the moment, to have no power over the other generals of the larger force of the equestrian army. He'd be only the main head of the royal army.
Louis stopped in front of the gates to the throne room. He knew why he had been called, and he was prepared. Davis had arrived not a few hours before and was already there. Apparently, he had managed to convince most of the noble's to keep with the offensive plans. Form what he had heard, no agreements were to be attempted with the changelings on the offensive, to free the griffon empire was being planned inside.
Also, the problems with general Silverink, he had been having were postponed due to war planifications; it had been obviously thanks to the princesses, they seemed to be in the human's side even if the equestrian politics didn't allow them to show it publicly. He had never been one to involve himself much in politics, but he understood well enough what was going on.
Louis breathed slowly again as he nodded at the guards to open the gates. The two unicorn royal guards lighted their horns as the gates opened enough to let him pass. The German thanked them receiving a salute in response and then proceeded to enter inside the enormous hall that hosted the thrones of the rulers of Equestria.
His steps normally echoed, but this time they were drowned in a sea of voices. Soft voices, but they went noticed nonetheless. He noticed there were many nobles talking around the throne room and high-ranked equestrian officers stood around a table he knew used to be on the war room. The nobles seemed to be talking about random things, most nothing to do with the war; the table seemed to be the only part in the room that was concentrating on that.
He also noticed a few changes in the throne room. The two sisters' thrones had been brought up to the table and were now on the head of it overlooking the entrance. The owners were nowhere to he seen though. The podium where they used to be was now empty, the rock that had been below them was slightly blackened in comparison with the white tiles all around the room.
He approached the table as he noticed the attention in it had turned towards general Ace. He stopped in between to officers he had never seen before.
"...that if we don't," the blue general said. "I don't think ignoring the forts would be good idea."
Another pony he recognized as an equestrian army general took the word. "But if we don't ignore them, the campaign inside the griffon lands is going to take three times longer." He touched the table as a blue image flickered from his magic on the table revealing a map of the griffon empire. Louis had never seen the griffon empire very well on a map.
It was bordering the southeastern frontier of Equestria, and stretched south with coast to the eastern sea all the way to the border of the wildlands. Their western frontier bordered some of the small pony empires he had never seen before and north to the frontier of equestria on a place labeled black jungle.
The inside territory of the empire was almost as big as equestria itself, only slightly smaller. It had a large mountain range going from north to south and in the very middle of the mountain range was the griffon capital, labeled as the golden throne. There were a couple of cities on the coast, but they appeared small fisher... Fisher Griffon villages? There was only one other city apart from the capital that appeared to be big in size labeled as the City of Walls and after that only little forts that dotted their frontiers.
Louis now knew what they were discussing.
The general proceeded. "As you can see, the forts facing our frontier aren't that big of a threat. They are too big to be handled by the changelings, and even if they do have them controlled there are a few oaths that can be used to pass them by and..."
"...and allow them to corral us," finished Louis. All the ponies and Davis looked at him. "Imagine in there, doing as you are suggesting and marching to their capital. Not only would it be the most obvious move, but a bold and, I'm sorry to say, terrible one." The general that had been speaking was about to contradict when Davis jumped in.
"I'm afraid general Louis is right. We cannot ignore the forts even if they are not taken. Once we get our hands... and hooves on those forts, we'll not only have them under our control, but also the lands around them and, should the changelings have it already, we would be evading a rapid defeat by them waiting for us to pass and then follow us and attack from the back as their main force in the golden throne comes from our front." He looked at Ace as the he nodded. Ace touched the table as the map made a zoom in on the closest fort to the equestrian frontier and one that stood in their path towards the griffon capital. "We need to take this fort and humor over to the next one and so on. We had to consider that, in order to keep those forts we'll need troops to spare and leave them there." He looked around. "Anyone has anything to say against this?" Louis smiled as no one did anything. Now only the sound of the talk from the noble's could be heard.
Davis stood up. "Alright then. I need to prepare the army. I want us ready to move within a week, if possible even less. Dismissed."
The ponies started to leave the room slowly as the noble's noticed that the officers were leaving. Louis even heard one sighing in relief.
"I'm glad this thing is over! I really need to go to that new chariot..." Louis stopped hearing after that. He walked over to Davis.
"Quite a thing, no?" the American asked as soon as he approached. Davis was looking at one of the large coated windows that depicted scenes from the equestrian history. Louis looked up and saw it was about the coronation of the princess Twilight.
"Vhat do you mean?" he said, his accent showing. Davis sighed.
"Ah, nothing. Just thinking out loud." He looked at Louis. "Weird, no? We used to fighting a war in opposite sides in low ranks in earth and now we are together in a world full of ponies that seem to be from a child's mind as generals of the army fighting a war that they were not 1prepared to fight." He chuckled. "I can't believe what I just said."
Louis smiled. "Well, it does sound... How was it... Far-fetched or something." He chuckled as well. "But it's true."
Davis nodded as he looked back at the window. His expression looked slightly sad suddenly. "Louis..." He turned towards the German. "You think we'll ever go back?"
Louis opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again. He looked down as he scratched his neck. "Ich... weiß nicht, I can't really know." He looked at the ponies leaving. "But I don't feel that bad though." Davis looked at him surprised. I mean, I do know this shouldn't have happened, but now imagine... The war was lost for me. I don't know why I hadn't seen it before, but it was. The last attack, the Ardennes... It was just a dying creature's last attempt. I don't think we could win."
Davis thought for a moment. "Yes... You were pretty much fucked up, weren't you?"
Louis nodded. "Even though I'm not one to say it like that, yeah." He laughed. "As you said."
Soon Davis had joined him as they laughed for some seconds. Louis stopped. "I suppose I should apologize." Davis looked confused.
"Apologize? For what?"
Louis looked at the window. "Well, I pretty much believed all that Adolf Hitler said. I now know I was mistaken, and I'd like to apologize for that."
Davis shook his head as he walked over to him. They looked at each other barely a feet away.
"I don't know if that was necessary, but I do feel it necessary to apologize myself. Still, we have a war to win, no?" he patted the german's back. "We are on the same boat now."
Louis nodded as they both smiled. He extended his hand and Davis shook it.
"We are indeed."
*** *** ***
Princess Celestia looked please as she saw the two humans shake hands. It was obvious they had left all their enmity behind now. It was better that way since they appeared (and had proven her right) much better qualified to lead the troops than any of his other generals.
She finally stopped her magic as the two stopped shaking hands and a mirror she had been using stopped showing the image. She had used a very old and forgotten spell only she and her sister remembered that allowed her to see all around a building. She had not allowed anypony to know about it because many would feel uncomfortable that she could see anything within the castle. She didn't used it much though; mostly to spy on her nephew to make sure he wasn't doing anything wrong.
"I see you were using the spy spell, sister," came Luna's voice from behind. Celestia turned.
"Yes. I'm glad to see that Davis and Louis have mended whatever problem they had now for good."
Luna smiled. "Well, I believe that is going to help." She stopped smiling. "We managed to distract the case of SolverInk, but soon the noble's will be angry not only that we supported general Davis, but also that we made the general they appointed a lower rank." She appeared troubled. "They are not going to stop until we restore him his position."
"And we take Louis and Davis off of theirs," Celestia added.
Luna nodded. "Yes, the noble's of today are indeed a bunch of disrespectful ponies that think too highly of themselves. I remembered we used to have full control before."
Celestia sighed. "Yes, but in the end the deductions to give them more power stopped their wishes for rebellion three hundred years ago."
Luna nodded. "I don't think it should be that way." The princess of the Sun sighed.
"What do you propose then? We take their power away? Say we have full control now and they are simple advisors and land-owners?" Celestia seemed slightly angry.
"Calm down Tia, I was merely suggesting." She looked away. "It's just that I find this way of their council a little too problematic for matters of state. We can't do anything now without them approving."
"Nothing on the lands they have under their charge, you mean?" Celestia said confused.
"Nothing that is good for equestria but not for them!" she growled suddenly. Celestia looked surprised and shocked as Luna suddenly opened her eyes in surprise. "I-I'm sorry... I didn't mean to snap at you like that..."
Celestia seemed to recover from the shock as she went and smiled at her sister. "Don't worry Luna. It's fine." She nuzzled her kindly. "I do understand your concerns, and I'm troubled by that as well; let me see what I can do, but remember that we can't do anything harsh."
Luna nodded. "Yes Tia."
*** *** ***
Davis wasn't one to think much of things from his past before the war. He didn't really care much about his childhood save for a few memories of his father. Now most of his thoughts were about war and plain as memories from battles and death. As much as he wished he could forget all, he knew they helped him stay strong in moments of weakness. He used his past to fight the future.
So far that had save his life many times.
There was one thing he had never experienced though, and it was royalty. He had heard little of any royalty back on earth, and kings and queens were a thing that he had started to see as a thing of the past; here in equestria it was entirely different.
First, the princesses.
So far they had proved to be good rulers, always caring for the good of their kingdom. He had met both personally and came to think of those two very highly, even admiring them. The way the spoke to him was nothing to what he had imagined a queen or a king would do, even though they called themselves princesses; they were queens nevertheless. He even dated to call them friends in his mind, but he tried to think little of that, mostly considering he didn't know anything about how they thought.
And then...
Then were the nobles.
The very mention of those made his blood boil dangerously. The princesses were nothing like the nobles. This were ponies with no morals, no thought for others apart from their own, greedy ones and worse if all, they seemed to think themselves better because they were nobles.
Of course he had met one or two he came to like, but he even felt unsure if they were good with him because, well, they were good themselves or simply because they wanted to take advantage of him. Still, the rest had proven out to be a bunch of idiots.
He was, in fact, facing one of such nobles at the moment. He tried to listen patiently as a pony with a wig (ridiculous looking I might add) demanded to have one of his sons (a lieutenant) being ascended due to his royal blood and his right to command. He gave him the pony's name (Gold Coin! Davis wanted to smack his head after hearing such a name!) and repeated his demand.
"I'm afraid," Davis said. "That I cannot give what I don't think I should. I need to see him do something worth of ascension, and then I'll consider..."
He was immediately interrupted. "You dare question my orders, peasant!" Davis grinned angrily and crossed his arms. They were in one of the hallways leading to the main entrance, and Davis wanted to leave that pony fast. He feared that wouldn't be possible with how much he was insisting. "I am not asking, I am ORDERING..."
"And I don't care!" Davis snapped as he ran out of patience. First, he demanded things out of him without any real and acceptable reason. Second, he insulted and not asked, but rather ordered him. He had reached his limit! "You think I'll do anything you say that me? Firstly, I'm not under you," Davis emphasized his point by touching the royal sister's sign on his uniform. "Second, I will not help anyone that talks to me in that way!" The pony opened his mouth in outrage as he was about to answer. Davis didn't let him, though. "Goodbye!" He turned and walked the other way, not without hearing threats from behind.
"You'll see, freak! I am not going to be talked like that by a hairless monkey with no honor and a peasant nonethe..." Davis stopped hearing once he passed through a door and closed it rapidly.
He laid against the door sighing and moving his hand up to his face, running his eyes tiredly. He opened them once again and noticed he was in the kitchen, and not alone.
"Hello there Davis!" Striker said happily. Davis smiled as he saw her fellow mare general.
"Hi Striker. It's been some time,' he declared as he went to the table she was sitting. He noticed she was munching something green.
He recognized grass... With...
Was that ice cream?
"Yeah!" she answered as he say. She laughed. "I heard you with that noble out there. Good way to put those guys in their place, no?" she chuckled. Davis followed.
"Well, I couldn't resist more. I have only so much patience. He crossed the line, and I think it's had to do that with me," he said, still eying her plate.
Striker nodded. "Nobles and their ways of thinking. I've met some good ones though..." She grinned. "Still, I wish I could do as you did. I'd I ever did something like that I'd he kicked out of the army!" she said. "Remind me to have you by my side next time I want to talk to one."
Davis stranged. "You can't?"
Striker shook her head, her mane moving slightly with the motion. "I'm not from the royal's thingy. I'm under those guys' rule," she said, patting her seal. "And I'm already crossing through thin ice after supporting Louis back there at court. I can't do anything else."
"You can ask tone transferred over to the royal army," Davis suggested. Striker shook her head.
"It will set off some alarms”, you know. In fact, the real royal army is the one I'm in. The names are barely for politics. They make the equestrians think the princesses have their own army when instead, the army that serves some ponies own interests is the equestrian." She whistled. "I hope nopony else heard me," she said chuckling. Davis smiled.
"Well, that doesn't explain about transference from one to another."
"Well," Striker began "as I said, it's officially one army divided in two. You can't really change from one to another, since, you know, it's the same."
Davis crossed his arms. "You know, this one army two factions thing is proving to be very troublesome."
Striker chuckled. "Tell me about it."
Davis opened his mouth to say something when he stopped. Striker stopped too. He noticed her ears moving frantically around, as if trying to find a sound. Davis and Striker met with their eyes. Both had heard the same thing.
Something was in the room, though he couldn't guess what.
Suddenly, striker jumped to the air and sent a chair flying towards some doors to the pastry. Immediately, the chair managed to hit something. Davis stared in disbelief as he approached a black mass.
Both looked at each other once they saw what it was.
It was a changeling, right there in front of them.
He had been invisible...
He was in the palace...
And they had other three right behind them...
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How was Fury?
5498795
thank you my friend!!!
I'll send Ty a PM about it.
5499315 fury was pretty cool! I really recommend it (though if you don't like hard gore scenes, it has many). If you like WWII movies, it is one of the best that has come out lately. Oh! And tanks! That is one if the best parts!
5499651 Ive already seen it
. I did like the fact that instead of a squad of soldiers it was a tank crew so that was pretty cool, ill agree with you on there. And if you ever watched the Walking Dead, im pretty sure the guy who played Shane on the show played as one of the tank crew guys (Forgot his name). 8/10 for the movie from me.
5501168 As in rating, if dare to say 10/10, but I'm afraid my biased view comes from love to tanks and WWII, sooooo... I'd agree with you in 8/10 taking those factors out. I don't really watch the walking death, partially due to time problems but also because I kind of get slightly bored.
You saw the Mexican crew member, right?
5501529 Yeah I saw him. The guy who blew himself up? I thought he was pretty funny, especially at the beginning. I got kinda mad that he died, I kept watching though, plus there was also a crying baby in the theater so I was already pissed off. I mostly got my laughs out at the moment when The Tank Captain guy walked up to that SS Member and said in german " You a good dancer? You like fat girls?!" then proceeded to wail on him, the other American soldiers had to hold him back. Lol
5504990 Haha, the Mexican was very funny if you understood what he said. And a baby? I'm not sure a movie like that is one you go with a baby, but... whatever.
5505413 I don't know who brought him, but they were sitting directly behind me. It was very high pitched, it stopped crying at the end.
5528164 oh, thanks again! I really need to check more times
Nitpicks. A lot of capitalization issues and that weird past tense thing.
Equestrian general's
Princess Celestia had
didn't want
Green Lake
Equestria
Equestrian
nobles'
Equestrian
Ponyville
Equestrian
nobles
stripped of
than the Equestrian
Equestrian
nobles
From
on the offensive to free the griffon empire(,) which was being planned inside
(optional comma)
remove bad comma after Silverink
"planifications": what???
even if Equestrian
Equestrian
Equestrian
Equestria
Equestria
appeared to be
humor???
We have to
(comma after "forts")
nobles
nobles
from Equestrian
used to be fighting a war on opposide sides
prepared
"I mean (begin quotation)
the German's
I have always heard the expression as "in the same boat", but if you have heard it as "on the same boat"...
pleased
"her"? If not, who is "he"?
didn't use
Silverink?
nobles
General
nobles
...decision?
Equestria
had saved
Equestria
I believe it should be "come to" (because it is implied to be "had come to", matching "had met", and "had came to" would be wrong).
way they spoke
nothing like what
I think you mean "dared"!
and worst of all
one such noble
(or, one of those nobles)
I don't think it's appropriate for the narrator to speak in the first person. There are many possible ways to rewrite, a couple being "a pony with a (ridiculous looking) wig" or "a pony with a wig (which looked ridiculous)".
say to me?
to be
Equestrians
ponies'
Equestrian
Striker
Despite error, I enjoy this story and hope to see more!!!
