Internal Strife
"My lord."
"Good morning, soldier."
"Heavenly Father, it is an honor serving you."
"Thank you, soldier."
"All hail the Scorpion Prince! Is there anything I can do for you, my master?"
"Er... no thank you, soldier. I'm fine."
"Allfather, it is my honor serving you. Is there anything I can do?"
"Uh... as I told the last one, I'm fine for now. Thank you, soldier."
"Hail to you, my lord."
Sigh. "Good morning, soldier."
Once the latest soldier walked by, I looked down to Tulip, trying my best to keep the exasperation out of my voice.
"Tulip, you know I appreciate the extra soldiers, I really do. However, can you tell them that they don't need to stop everything they're doing and greet me every time I walk by? It's really unnecessary."
Tulip frowned at that. "Well they're just showing their devotion to you, Prince Antares. Is there something about that you don't like? Are their shows of devotion displeasing to you in some way?"
"Not the acts themselves, more the frequency of them. I don't doubt their devotion." Unfortunately. "You've worked for me long enough to know that ponies grovelling to me isn't something that I particularly care for."
Tulip smiled and walked a little closer to me. "It is that selflessness and humble attitude that inspires so many of us, Prince Antares. We know we can never be like you, but we can strive to follow your example."
Oh for... She's not really listening to me, is she? To be fair, when she gets all "Jerusalem Syndrome" on me, she ignores that I really am not the kind of pony who enjoys being worshiped. I kind of have to let it run its course.
"Well, be that as it may, we are going to have to have a talk about them and their interactions with my Snarcasti-guard. I've gotten a few complaints that these new troops are trying to kind of take over around here. Soldiers will go to start their shifts only to find a few of the new soldiers already at their posts. I don't think that I have to explain how that counts as them overstepping their bounds a little."
"Well they're just trying to be helpful, Prince Antares," Tulip replied. They don't mean to step on any hooves."
"Well, I'm afraid to say that some of my troops don't quite see it that way."
"But they are your troops, Prince Antares."
"You know what I mean." I took a deep breath before continuing. Like I said: I didn't want to sound exasperated or unappreciative. "Look, my guard is just trying to do their jobs, and some of them have told me that they feel that by taking their shifts without permission, the ponies you brought are... usurpers."
Tulip raised an eyebrow at that. "Usurpers, Prince Antares? They're only trying to help."
"And none of them have asked me what I need done. They've all just started doing what they feel I need done." I frowned at Tulip. "You wouldn't have happened to give them any orders, right?"
Tulip's face flushed red, and she flattened her ears. "Er... well, they wanted to know what they could do to help you, and you weren't saying anything, so they deferred to me as your... well, given my role as your consigliere, a few of them see me as a sort of prophet, given that I'm so close to you and all."
If alicorns could get headaches, I'm sure a rather smashing one would be creeping up right about then. "Very well, I'll make this clear: all orders are to come from me. Is that understood?"
"Yes, your majesty," Tulip said, her voice barely above a mutter. I'd embarrassed her, no doubt about that, but she wasn't the one in charge here. She'd officially turned the troops over to me when they arrived, so she couldn't give orders to take jobs from ponies who had been with me since I ascended.
"We'll talk more about this later," I said, waving a wing dismissively. "Right now, it's time for court, then to talk to some of Princess Cadance's Blade Wings to see how the war on the eastern front is going." For the first time in a few days, a smile crossed my face. "Not well, last I heard. They've started getting deserters."
"Well that can only be good, Prince Antares," Tulip said, confidence returning to her voice. "That leaves us with more resources to fight the minotaurs."
"Precisely." We reached my throne room, and I noticed with some distaste that a few of the new troops had helped themselves to some spots inside. My real guard kept shooting the new soldiers nasty looks. This was going to get out of hoof if I didn't intervene. I cleared my throat as I walked up to my throne.
"Mares and gentlecolts, my court will be starting soon. If you have not been given a direct order from me to be stationed in this hallway, I'm afraid you need to leave."
I saw a few smug smiles on the faces of my guard, while the new troops looked like I'd just told them I was sentencing to them to Tartarus personally. Tulip gave a few of them apologetic smiles, but none of them would dare disobey a direct order from me. Without a word, but grovelling bows, the half dozen new troops trotted out of the hall.
I'd really need to set up some kind of big meeting with them.
* * * *
Court just dealt with war stuff. Same as always. I'd stopped getting requests to help noble families dodge the draft, so that was always a plus. Of course, given that not every single eligible noble had been drafted, that left some strife too. No doubt those families saw that as me favoring them. I'd sent most of them off to the training camps, but in the interest of social order and stability, I couldn't send all of them. The nobility had their uses, and I couldn't destroy it during one war.
I'd planned on that sort of thing being done over a few centuries or so. Not a few years.
"Next pony," I called out after finishing up a deal to procure some lumber for our army.
The door opened up, and, to my mild surprise, a teenaged pegasus mare came in with her forelegs in hoofcuffs and her wings bound at her side. Beside her stood a rather irate looking noble by the name of Duke Banks, making me that much less excited about this. Two guards flanked the two of them, and I noticed with some distaste that one of them was a soldier that Tulip had brought.
I really needed to get them to the training camps.
The group stopped before me, and Duke Banks bowed low to me. The pegasus mare bowed as well, but I noticed that it held less respect than normal from one of my subjects.
Oh dear. This one looked nasty.
"This is the case of Duke Money Banks versus Ms. Quick Wing. Apparently Ms. Wing vandalized Mr. Banks' property."
"She sure did!" Duke Banks said snootily. "Caught her at it myself!"
"Duke Banks, if you would wait to speak until I ask you to, I would appreciate that," I said, trying to keep my voice neutral.
I didn't miss the look of confusion on the duke's face, but I ignored it in lieu of levitating Tulip's notes on the case over to me so that I could read them personally.
Alight, so vandalism. The notes indicated that Quick Wing had thrown a few rocks through the windows of the Banks manor, on top of painting the word "coward" several times throughout the property, most notably underneath the window of Duke Banks' son.
And I'd had such a good streak of avoiding cases about the draft.
Well, apparently I wasn't reading fast enough for Duke Banks. Either that or my reprimand didn't really sink in for him. Either way, the duke chose to break his silence as I read over the notes.
"Er... Prince Antares? If I may--"
I gave him the best princely stare that I could, adding just a hint of a glare to it. I had given him an order, and he wasn't going to defy it. My look did the job, and he fell silent once again.
Finally, I couldn't put it off any longer. In truth, I'd read the whole thing fairly quickly. I just didn't want to deal with this, and Duke Banks had defied me.
"Very well. I've read the case notes." I turned my head to look at Quick Wing. "Ms. Wing, do you deny these charges?"
Duke Banks' look of disappointment at not being allowed to speak first sat very well with me, but he'd have his turn. Quick Wing, for her part, looked like she wanted to be resolute, but given that an alicorn was looking at her, she faltered a little.
"Er... well, no I don't deny the charges, your majesty." Quick Wing glared at Duke Banks and bared her teeth. "But I didn't say anything that wasn't true! Him and his family are cowards!"
"And why do you think that, Ms. Wing?"
"Because he's using his position to avoid sending his son off to fight the minotaurs!" she spat. "My brother has to go off and fight, but his son gets to stay at home with some cushy desk job?" She made a noise of disgust. "It's not right!"
I sighed. "Ms. Wing, Duke Banks' son was not spared from the draft because of his position. We did the draft by lottery, and his name didn't come up. It's that simple. Causing property damage isn't right, especially under these circumstances."
"With all due respect, Prince Antares, but it's not fair!" She shot Duke Banks another dirty look. "I heard his son sitting in a bar and talking to whoever would listen that he wasn't going to go to the war because you favored his family, and his dad had an 'in' with you! He was bragging that the 'lower-born weaklings' and the 'weak noble houses' were gonna die because of this, but because his dad was more important, he wasn't gonna have to fight!"
"Ms. Wing, I can't deny he was completely out of line saying such things, and that he is absolutely incorrect..." I turned my gaze to Duke Banks. "Absolutely incorrect. But the fact stands that his incorrect behavior doesn't justify your actions."
A triumphant smile crossed Duke Banks' face, while Quick Wing looked at me as though I'd betrayed her somehow. "B-but Prince Antares, why shouldn't his son go? I get that not everypony was drafted, but it isn't fair that nobles are doing everything that they can to get out of the draft, but we can't do a thing about it!"
"His son is no more obligated to volunteer for the army than you are, Ms. Wing."
"I volunteered two days before all of this," Quick Wing grumbled. "I'm set to leave for Canterlot tomorrow morning. Still, though, it's not right that the nobles around here do everything to keep their children here..." Quick Wing jerked her head to one of Tulip's ponies. "While noble ponies from his neck of the woods happily volunteer their children!"
Oh.
Oh.
So that's what this was all about.
A group of affirmative mutters from various ponies in the room confirmed my suspicions. Oh dear.
Duke Banks didn't really care for her assertion, if his sputtering and beet-red face gave any indications.
"N-now see here!" he snarled. "As Prince Antares said, my son is perfectly within his rights to not volunteer for the army if Prince Antares chose not to draft him! If the southern nobles want to volunteer their children, then that is well within their rights, too!"
"Now look, Duke Banks, who says that I 'chose' not to draft--"
"Yeah, I guess so!" Quick Wing retorted. "But if that's the case, then you need to stop telling all of Baltimare that your son wasn't drafted because you and Prince Antares are so close! You stupid nobles would do anything to get out of real work, while the southern nobles don't have to wait to be drafted, they volunteer willingly! They're ten times the ponies you are!"
Both Tulip and the guard preened at that comment, not to mention the louder affirmative mumbles. I'd stop them, but apparently this belief went beyond Quick Wing, and I needed to know about that. Even a few of my guards looked like they agreed with Quick Wing.
"My family runs the banks in three major cites, Ms. Wing," Duke Banks retorted snootily. "Prince Antares realizes that I need all of my family members to help manage the money in this country during the war!"
I slammed my hoof down on my throne. I imagine that if it hadn't been enchanted, a piece of it would have broken off.
"Duke Banks," I began, my voice deadly calm. "I thought you understood this, but since you clearly don't, I'm going to have to speak plainly. Your son is only not going off to war because his name didn't come up in the draft. That is the only reason. It has nothing to do with his standing, so if you could stop telling him and the ponies around you information to that effect, I'd appreciate that, please and thank you." Before either side could respond, I turned back to Quick Wing. "Now, Ms. Wing, what you did was wrong. You may believe that Duke Banks erred morally, but vandalizing his house is not the proper way to express that. I don't want to hear any more of this nonsense, so I'll cut it off here. I sentence you to thirty days in prison, after which time you will begin your tenure in the Equestrian army. You will also pay to repair all damages to Duke Banks' house." I stomped my hoof on my throne. "That is all. Next case, please."
Duke Banks smirked at Quick Wing as the two guards led her out of my throne room. Before he could leave himself, I cleared my throat to get his attention.
"Duke Banks?" He turned back to me with a smile. "She was in the wrong here, and my actions reflect that matter. However, if I hear that your son has been telling other ponies that he was not drafted because I play favorites, I will be extremely unhappy. Is that understood?"
Duke Banks flattened his ears and lowered his head, but nodded all the same. "Y-yes, Prince Antares. I will let him know not to spread such falsehoods around. Thank you."
As he left, I leaned in closer to Tulip. "I really hope his son is an isolated case. A pony from his walk of life saying such things can really shake the hornet's nest, as it were. Let me know if you hear of other ponies saying the same thing."
"Yes, Prince Antares."
* * * *
After the headache of court, I had Tulip ask around to see if she could find out any more cases of that kind of thing. Not the vandalism part, but more ponies being mad that more noble children weren't being sent off to war. I was especially curious to see if the new troops from the south played a part in that opinion.
Yeah, pretty much, that turned out to be the case.
Now again, I'd been very fair in doing the draft. It's not as though no noble children would be going off to war. Several of them would be. It seemed that the new opinion of most of Baltimare was that not volunteering children to the war effort in some way was cowardice, since the southern nobles had done it. To make matters worse, the opinion started spreading beyond Baltimare too. Not good.
I did not miss the conveniently forgotten fact that several non-noble families were complaining about the nobles, but had children who would not be sent off to war. That fact told me that this was less about fairness and more about just how much the common ponies really disliked the nobles. I guessed that this kind of strife would have come up sooner or later. The war just happened to trigger it.
I obviously wasn't going to start sending more noble children to the front lines to appease the masses, but something had to be done about it. My best option was to really drill it through the heads of the families who didn't have children going that I didn't do it out of favoritism. That seemed to be the worst cause of it. Quick Wing didn't get angry about it until she heard one of the nobles bragging about it.
Oy. Nothing can ever be simple around here...
I put those thought aside for the moment, and entered my war room, where Captain Skies sat with one of her troops. They both bowed to me when I entered.
"At ease," I said, taking my seat. "What news from the eastern front?"
Captain Skies smirked and pulled out two pieces of paper from her saddlebag. She unrolled both of them and laid them out on the table. One was a map of Equestria, and the other bore a dozen pictures with names underneath them. All were pictures of griffins, but one had a big red X through it.
"Well, in terms of the eastern front, I'd say that things are going very well, Prince Antares. Our efforts to cause disarray among the griffin army have succeeded quite beautifully. Between the torrential rain, the poisoning of their food supplies, and the death of one of their top generals..." She pointed at the picture with the X through it. "There is already major discontent in the army. We're already starting to see both deserters and some small riots in Iselin. Most of the deserters have been re-captured and executed, but either way, they're not taking the field."
"Good, good," I said with a nod. "And what of the other griffins on this list?" I pulled it over to me and saw that it bore the pictures of a few more generals, some advisers, the dukes, and Emperor Cromwell. They were on a hierarchy tree, representing their importance "What is being done with them?"
"Well, after the death of their general, most of them that would be with the army have been pulled back to Iselin for their safety. These are some of Emperor Cromwell's most trusted allies. It would be devastating for both the war effort, and his hold on Griffonia if they were killed."
"Well, wouldn't that be a shame?" I said with a grin. "Are there any of these that you have a location on?"
"Not as of yet, Prince Antares, beyond the obvious of Emperor Cromwell and the other dukes being in Iselin. They're holed up there pretty tight, so I wouldn't bet on being able to take them down." Commander Skies pointed at a couple of pictures. "We believe that these two here are with the main army, but it's hard to tell exactly. We know they're not in Iselin."
"Very well. Keep us updated on all of that." I pushed the list back over to her. "And what of the western front? Is all quiet?"
"Beyond a couple of preliminary skirmishes with our Saddle Arabian border guard," Commander Skies said with a nod. "They weren't particularly bloody, only a few dozen dead and wounded on both sides. My guess is that they were merely testing our defenses. All intelligence points to the fact that the main minotaur army is stationed about fifty miles outside of Equestria. I gotta admit, Prince Antares, even with Mesud's troops guarding our border, we wouldn't be able to hold an army of that size back for long. We need to get our army together, and soon."
"We need a few more weeks for that," I said with a grimace. "We're up to a quarter million with the draft, but I'd say just over half of that is ready to take the field."
"Which might be enough for a few major battles," Commander Skies said. "It all depends on how well we can do against the main army. We've been trying to do to them what we're doing to the griffins, but it's not been nearly as successful. Sure, we've killed a few of them and ruined a lot of supplies, but there's this sort of cult of personality around Purgle. These minotaurs really believe in what they're fighting for, I'm afraid. We don't have the means to damage them psychologically yet outside of killing Purgle."
"Which will be hard to do outside of the battlefield," I finished. "What do they know about..." I looked around the room to make sure we were truly alone. "Uh... Princess Celestia?"
"Hard to say, though we haven't heard much talk about it. The griffin general we poisoned had been told about it, but he's dead. We killed the subordinate who brought the news to his attention too, so that might help. Honestly, the griffins have been too angry at Emperor Cromwell for getting them into this mess to bother with what's going on with Princess Celestia."
"That's good," I said, breathing a sigh of relief. "That can only help us. It's going to get out sooner or later, though. She's going to start showing in the next month or two."
"Yes. However, we haven't heard anything about it from the minotaur side, but it's not like we can just go ask them. It sounds like the kind of information Purgle would keep until he found the best way to use it."
"True." I shook my head. Like I said: it'd get out sooner or later. We just needed to make sure Celestia wouldn't be hurt before we did. The last thing we needed was to lose her or our son. "Is there anything else, though?"
Commander Skies nodded. "Three things, actually. I've already spoken with the princesses about this, and they wanted me to fill you in. One: Purgle has already started sending emissaries to the yaks up north. I'm sure I don't need to tell you why an army attacking us from that direction would be bad."
"Naturally. We'll have to send some emissaries of our own, then." Once again, I was glad alicorns couldn't get headaches.
"Two: we've not heard from either the diamond dogs or changelings about their part in the war one way or another. Once again, it's not like we can just go up to Queen Chrysalis and ask her, but we've had a few freeminds infiltrate her hive, and they haven't heard her talk about joining. They did mention that she's rather unhappy about what happened with her soldier and the scorpipony foals, though."
"I expected nothing less from her." However, on the plus side, we knew who sent the changeling after the foals, now.
"I'm not surprised either. On the diamond dog end of the spectrum, they haven't declared a side just yet, but intelligence indicates that they're leaning a touch more to Purgle's side. They, ah, they weren't happy about what we did while looking for Nightmare Weapons down there."
Great. Still, I'd rather have angry diamond dogs than Nightmare Weapons.
"And the third thing?"
My stomach clenched up when Commander Skies grimaced. With everything she'd already told me, that wasn't a good sign.
"The minotaurs and griffins are planning something big, Prince Antares. Something that doesn't have to do with armies and troop movements. They're planning on some sort of precision strike, from the sound of things. We don't have all of the details just yet, but we're working on them. It sounded like some big "ace in the hole" for them."
"Do you have any idea what that might be?" I asked.
Commander Skies shook her head. "I'm afraid not, Prince Antares. We know it's some kind of attack, but not with the main army. It's coming soon, too."
"Maybe they're going to raze some small town in the heart of Equestria, or something," I muttered. "Or on the border. Make sure nopony on our end feels safe, no matter where they are. Or an assassination of some kind. The Elements, Princess Cadance..." My eyes widened when another thought struck me. "Commander Skies, are you certain they don't know about Princess Celestia? Even I have to admit: causing a miscarriage would absolutely destroy our morale."
"Like I said, I'm not sure," Commander Skies said. "But we're looking into it around the clock. We've set up more security around Ponyville, as well as the other princesses. We'll have Canterlot Castle ready in a matter of days, so we can move the Elements there very soon."
"Good. That's good." I sighed and rubbed one of my temples. "War is going to be here very soon, Commander Skies. I'm not sure how ready we'll be for it when it gets here."
* * * *
The next day came quickly, but no good news arrived beyond the internal strife with the griffins. It did bring one thing that I didn't really care for, though.
A minotaur ambassador.
We'd been sent word of his arrival about an hour before he crossed into Equestrian territory from the griffin side of the border. From all accounts he was unarmed and alone. A mere peaceful ambassador during a war, therefore it would break a few rules if we were to kill him as a message to Purgle.
The one problem was that his name was on the list of minotaurs we really needed to take out. It was underlined, as matter of fact.
So my day was shaping up to be just peachy.
My whole palace was on edge when he showed up. I sat on my throne when the announcement came that he had arrived. Unarmed and alone, as expected.
When the doors to my throne room opened, a shorter, leaner minotaur walked in. No... strutted in. Kind of like he owned the place, or expected to in the near future. He smiled and nodded to each one of my guards as he passed them by, even giving a few of them waves. He stopped about ten feet in front of my throne, but didn't bow.
"Good morning to you, Prince Antares. Lovely to see you. We have a lot to talk about. King Purgle sent me to talk to you about why all of this..." He spread his arms and motioned to the room. "Is just a really bad idea. War? It's kind of a silly thing, if you ask me. Especially this war." I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off. "My name is Marller. Personal adviser to King Purgle, but I imagine you already know that. I've come here unarmed and alone as is befitting someone of my profession."
"Yes, I noticed," I said evenly. The jerk had already put me in a tough spot. He seemed the type to really enjoy pushing peoples' buttons, so I imagined that the only thing I would accomplish by telling him to not interrupt me would be letting him know that it bothered me. Of course, not bringing it up would do the same thing.
"Excellent, then we can talk." Marller gave me a friendly smile, but one filled with enough venom that it made me shiver inside. Like a spider sizing up its next meal. "So, we've seen what you've done with the griffins. Those were all very smart things you did. King Purgle sends his congratulations."
"Yes, though soon he won't have an ally to attack our eastern border," I retorted.
"I agree. We won't really need them, though. I don't think we ever did. It's like my lord said: congratulations on your successes. I'm sure you all must be very proud."
I narrowed my eyes ever so slightly. "What is it exactly that Purgle sent you to talk to me about?"
"Good question. The long and the short of it is that King Purgle doesn't see the need for any bloodshed between our nations. He wishes to know what you'd do to see the war ended before it ever really began."
I raised an eyebrow. "What we'd do?"
Marller nodded. "Absolutely. You were the aggressor nation, after all. Those experiments of yours killed our most valuable general. Would you be willing to turn them over to us to see peace between our nations?"
My eyes narrowed a little more. "No."
Marller's smile widened a hair, and he nodded. "Of course not, of course not. It's hardly fair for two babies to stand trial when they didn't understand what they did." He frowned and tapped his chin. "Or wait, did King Purgle say that it was just the brother who should stand trial, but you can keep the sister?"
"We're not giving either of them to you, so I'd suggest you refrain from that line of thinking."
"Oh, no need to get testy, Antares," Marller said, backing a step away. "I thought we were merely having a dialogue about what would need to happen before the end of the war. It was merely an idea we had."
He was trying to get to me, but, unfortunately for him, I'd learned a bit since my meeting with Purgle on our joint border.
"Not all ideas are good ones, I'm afraid." I said with a nod. "I'm certain that you wouldn't be open to the idea if the roles were reversed."
"Well, we don't experiment on pregnant females where we come from, but I can see your point, I suppose," Marller said with a nod.
"Mr. Marller, if you have only come into my court to throw baseless accusations at me, then we will end this meeting right now."
Marller inclined his head in a small bow. "Easy there, Antares. I mean no disrespect. No need to get upset, like I said. I was just going off of information that I'd been given. I didn't know that you viewed it a different way."
It's only thanks to years of alicorn stoicism that I didn't throw him out the window. Back when I was TD, I'd have already punched him in the face several times. I mean...
Wait.
Ah. I got it. He wasn't there to work on any kind of deal with me. Purgle had literally sent him to push my buttons to see what I'd get the angriest about. If that was the case, I needed to end this soon.
"But, back to the topic at hand: we don't want a really bloody war, do we?" Marller frowned and began tapping his chin while keeping his eyes fixed on me. "I mean, all of those ponies who would die. I can't imagine how you'd save any border towns. There wouldn't be anything left by the time we were done with them. Yes, those small towns would surely be a loss. I mean, for all of the talk of cities like Manehattan and Canterlot, it's those small towns full of hardworking, everyday ponies who are really the blood of Equestria."
"Mr. Marller, you're not here to talk about the war, are you? Not really."
"Come on now, Antares, I'm not here to argue with you or hit any sore spots. I'm just stating facts. If that offends you then I apologize, of course."
"Mr. Marller, I am a very busy pony. Either get to the point or leave my hall, please."
"Fine, fine," he said. "We don't want emotions to get out of hand. King Purgle says that he'll forget the whole matter if you pay some reparations. I'm afraid that given the circumstances, the reparations wouldn't be small, but surely no price is too large to end a war of this size before it begins, right?"
"Let me guess: a lot of money and territory?"
Marller shrugged. "Well, if that's what you're offering to make up for the damages, I'm sure King Purgle wouldn't say no."
I sighed and stood up. "Mr. Marller, we have no interest in giving Purgle land and money to end a war that he started. Besides that, if he really wanted peace, he'd set a meeting that included Celestia and Luna as well. That makes me wonder why you're really here."
Marller grimaced. "Well, I'd heard that the alicorns were proud and occasionally a bit too paranoid, but to see it in front of me..." Before I could retort, he bowed to me. "Oh, my apologies, Antares. I didn't mean to say that. A slip of the tongue, if you will."
Yeah, I'll bet.
"I'll tell King Purgle that you think it's best if he sets a meeting with you, Celestia, and Luna to discuss peace before we can get going." He bowed to me again. "But if that's all you want to say to me, then I'll leave you be. I will say that I am glad that you observe the protocol of not harming an innocent, unarmed ambassador who only came to your court to discuss peace. I was worried after you started getting testy." He put his hand up to his mouth. "Oop. So sorry once again, Antares. I mean no disrespect. I'll be leaving now."
I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of an answer. Or even so much as an expression to give away what I was thinking and feeling. I'm not totally sure why, but I thought he could guess the answers anyway. Still, if Purgle was sending him over here instead of to Celestia, that didn't make me feel any better about this.
Marller walked towards the door of my throne room, but stopped just a few feet shy of it. He turned back to me, giving me that insufferable smile again.
"Oh, I almost forgot. My congratulations to you and Celestia. Having a child is no small thing. I'm sure the two of you must be very happy." He seemed to deflate a little bit, to my surprise, and he slapped his palm against his forehead. "Oh. Darn. I'm so sorry. I'd forgotten that you hadn't officially made the announcement to your nation yet. My mistake." He frowned slightly and tilted his head in a questioning manner. "But that's tomorrow, isn't it? When your newspapers all over Equestria print it on their front page? I think that's what I heard. I hope I didn't spoil anything for anyone. I'd hate to do that."
Before I could say another word, he walked out of my throne room, leaving me alone with my guards, all of whom were staring at me in shock at the revelation that I'd gotten Celestia pregnant.
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6640422 Was about to comment exactly that, lol.
6640422
6640432 Good, because that is, in fact, an intentional reference.
...I see lots and lots of dead minotaurs in the near future for when they attempt to hurt Tia.
She'll get (lightly) wounded, and TD will absolutely flip his Goddamn shit.
Ain't no amount of Nightmare Weapons gonna stop him.
Mmm, mmm, MMM.
We're havin' bull jerky tonight, boys and girls!
Just hurry up and napalm all the Minotaurs already Antares that will end the war pretty quick
6640453 how bout some prairie oysters?!
6640500 MOAR ALCOHOL!!!
AND POPCORN!!!
This whole war is one big waste of time.
This is like humoring stone age people by meeting them on their own terms when you have machine guns.
It's just plain stupid. NAPALM them and be done with it. The war will be over in less than a day with zero pony casualties.
Hell, with magic it'd be simple to nuke them too.
Water inside a spherical forcefield, compress until the atoms of hydrogen fuse together.
Instant Hydrogen Fusion bomb.
There's nothing like 100 mile wide explosions to deter anyone from fucking with you.
now artanis you need to send a message, have the minotaur dead before he leaves the palace.
6640612 Dead? Cut his head and send it to his King, or best at all, just like the Godfather, cut the head and put it in the bed of Purgle when he wake up.
P.S: Just a question... Is Discord going to help in the war? It could be easy for Discord to transform Purgle in a cow just as a warning
6640604
I.
Can.
Think.
Of.
A.
Few.
Things.
Really glad to see another chapter of this story. It was nice to see Antares deflate Duke Banks and express annoyance with the devotion of his new guards. Also, Marller just tied with Purgle on the list of characters that I want to see wrecked by Antares. Thanks for the chapter, I hope to see how Antares will react in the following one.
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
I bloody adore this story, which I suppose sounds odd considering the content, but it's true nonetheless. I can't wait for further updates!
I wish I could patron for you, but I don't even have a single source of income myself. However, since I'm working on computer sciences, which is just about the biggest business out there now, maybe someday soon I can help you out.
Also, I like how your pledge goes from a thousand straight to a million per month.
6640721 I believe in this timeline, Discord is still a lawn ornament.
If I recall correctly, in the main TD timeline, Celestia didn't try to reform discord until after TD returned from wandering the world, for years.
But yes they should totally have researched a way to turn Purgle into a cow. They did the opposite with Antares, so it's theoretically doable.
6640604 Keep in mind a few things: 1. no guns have been created.
2. the alicorns aren't all powerful, and can't be everywhere at once. Especially now that Celestia is pregnant. And Cadance is mortal. So really, in terms of fighting, only Luna and Antares are viable options.
3. I've given no indication that the alicorns even know of "instant nuke" spells. It's not really one that Celestia would study up on.
4. Celestia isn't the type to destroy whole cities of innocent beings. Weak of her? Maybe. She'd still not go for it.
5. Celestia already vetoed the idea of using napalm. Maybe they will at some point, but from where she's standing, that would be a terrible idea.
6. The minotaurs have a cult of personality around Purgle. If they razed Schunie, or even killed Purgle, they wouldn't stop. They're devoted to a cause, and mass casualties aren't really going to deter them in the short run. It's hard to defeat an army surrounded by an ideal.
7. The minotaurs have half a million soldiers. That's not the kind of army you can just push aside.
Pugface isn't being very smart here. Not only did he just confirm that he knew about the pregnancy he also proved that he has a spy high in the government's rungs. Overconfidence is going to be the end of him.
6640604
Better yet, a series of craters of varying size etched across the frontier to literally spell out a message. Precise control over a readily available WMD and a severe sense of gravity all demonstrated in a single taunt! No one would ever cross you and the possibility of casualties is reduced to a negligible amount! It's perfect! Not to mention bad ass and quite snarky. A giant HI is burned on to our border? Yes, let us run away in a comical fashion!
6640895 They're called both right now. They've not been given an official title.
6640853 Perhaps no napalm, but didn't Antares say he would use some human weaponry awhile back? If not napalm, then I can't help but wonder what you've got in mind. I'll backtrack to try and find the line; I may be mistaken.
6640934 He did use a coal bomb, which is a human weapon. It worked very well.
6640953 Best alicorn hands down. :3 Can't wait to see what else he has in store.
Ah diplomatic immunity… You really are the bane of my teeth enamel...
Take a good look at the Minitors, Equestria.... because they will probably be going extinct very soon.
and on that note. high Explosives + want in need it spell+ teliportation spell right in the middle of their camps.
Don't forget to bring the popcorn.
Saw only one error:
Forgot the beginning quote.
6640853 Yeah...to be honest, it seems like Kristen just isn't gonna show. That's really disappointing. I always wanted to see more of her.
6641020 Since when has faith in me ever been truly misplaced?
BPN844BAP284BP142BAP281BP342BP536BP324
BP281BP341BP098BP862
BP654BP343BP851BP281
Decode that (very real) code and you'll get the answer!
6641060 CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
Is there a key, or anything similar? Or is that all I should know?
Well its oficial the minotaurs strike officially strike back, I suppose they must had their own web of spies. you have to give credit where credit is do, Purge was clever enough to find that weakness, now we know he is not all brawl and no brain. He knew where to stir and wait patiently for the perfect moment to strike, now Equestria will going into a bit of chaos for the news, specially if this minotaur spill the beans 'accidentally' after or even before TD told the news, and it will be not used of him to ask everyone to keep quiet because he doesn't know who knows and who doesn't.
Things were bad before but now for 24 hours things will be in complete chaos with no way of calming the nest down
6641060 Honestly, I don't know what kind of code that is. Never heard or seen it before. I know lots of codes, from morse to Caesar Box to Hexadecimal, to putting the words you intend to be read either before or after the punctuation.
But not this.
Still, let the freaking games begin. Like TD "Antares" Powell, I never give in.
6641114 I'm no master at codes and such, and a master might very well be able to decode it easily. But if you think you're up for the challenge...
If you solve it, I will put your OC in the story.
my god just set there country on fire already
6640853 Minotaurs = IRAN!!!
BLOW THEM UP WITH SUPER MAGIC MEGASPELLS AND... *KABOOM*
Oh... great. I just made FoE happen.
6641155 I don't have an OC. By Kristen, I meant TD's sister, who TD had that insult contest with before the car accident.
...And who showed up in that non canon parody of Hellfire.
Is that right? That was your character, not mine. I think. I'm confused.
6640604 The fusion bomb would only work if you dissociated the water into hydrogen, then sorted out the deuterium and tritium. It'd be best to mix it with lithium, as that combination fuses much more readily. Also, it would form the solid 'lithium hydride' which would be much more compact than either a gas or liquid.
Now, you would have to keep it away from air, which might prove tricky, as it can spontaneously combust if the air is humid. And regardless, it forms oxides and nitrides in air which would impede fusion.
If memory serves, the lithium-6 isotope is ideal for deuterium-lithium fusion. The lithium itself can be fused, and limited lithium fusion likely occurs within the cores of brown dwarfs early in their formation. But in the conventional fusion reaction, the lithium is used to 'breed' tritium which is then consumed in tritium-deuterium fusion.
The biggest problem is the implosion. It must be virtually instantaneous and create immense pressure and temperature. Can an alicorn create a pressure equivalent to several million atmospheres and temperatures of tens of millions of degrees (at minimum) in a nanosecond? You need to completely strip the electrons from the nuclei so they can merge and overcome the repulsion forces of the positively charged nuclei.
You'd be better off with a crude enriched uranium criticality bomb of the Fat Man type. They're fairly simple to construct once you've managed to enrich uranium. Plutonium-based nukes are more powerful, but plutonium is very nasty stuff to work with. Highly radioactive and exceedingly toxic.
Can I just say that I really, REALLY like that Minotaur ambassador. That guy has balls.
6640432 I'm pretty sure we were all thinking it.
Purgle hurts Celestia and/or his unborn kid, the baby gloves (napalm) comes off. He'll show that primitive, how the big boys back home party.
favoritememes.com/_nw/45/45953680.jpg
god I love it when Antares shits all over the nobles...
and i hate it when the minotaur-trash shits on Antares
This is actually the unofficial prequel to Fallout Equestria
6641162 I know what you meant. But if you solve it, then you can give me a character to put into the fic.
6640853 The ideals of WW2 Japan is no different from the Minotaurs. Japan didn't even lose 5% of their population to the war and they as a nation broke. The weight of knowing that, at a moment's notice, an entire city can be erased off the face of the planet, and that the same thing can happen as many times as needed to multiple cities at the same time does terrible, terrible things to the psyche.
The reason Japan surrendered is because they knew the second atom bomb would not be the last if they continued the fight.
Points to the other side of the argument is that I don't think we know just how big the minotaur country is. I don't remember if we were told how many minotaurs there are in the world, and if those 500 million troops represents a large fraction of their population or a sacrificial force. I also don't think we know how dense the minotaur population centers are. If the minotaur lands are similar to the USSR then super weapons would have to be on the scale of hydrogen bombs and I don't think napalm has the power to cut it there. Poisoning agricultural centers would do well in that regard, but if the minotaurs subsist primarily on aquaculture then that plan goes out the window. Air based biological warfare would prove to be incredibly successful against a more spread out enemy, and considering the technology shown I seriously doubt the minotaurs would be able to fight against it.
To conclude a rather jumpy jumble of points, there's a lot of variables on whether or not terror warfare would succeed, and it has nothing to do with the outlook the minotaurs have. WW2 Japan shows us that no amount of imperialism will keep your nation going in the face of total annihilation, and the USSR shows us that even insane death tolls are not enough to stop the nation's war efforts. Putting these concepts together tells us that it's all about the enemy you face, rather then the strength of your own nation. If the ponies become harbingers of the four horsemen then Purgle's armies will fall. If no such event transpires then it is nothing more than a numbers game.
Simply put, the country to win a war is the one that shows the least humanity.
I'm eagerly looking forward to reading the next chapter. Keep up the great work!
6641405 I was thinking a touch more song the lines of "Saddam died, so we won Iraq, right? Oh... no, we still have a long way to go." It's All about what both sides are willing to do.
And I must stress this: Equestria does not have nukes, or anything like that. I know why everyone is begging Antares to use weapons he doesn't have. The most destructive human weapon he does have its illegal in our world, and he knows that. Not to mention the psychological effects it would have on him. I already did a scene about that.
Also, remember who you're talking about: Antares might think he has the capability to slaughter a nation, but there's no way Celestia and Luna would be on board with that. I'm not sure why everyone thinks that the first thing that rulers who either have never gone to war, or haven't gone to war in centuries, would think is "kill them all horrifically."
6641589 you do realize that to peacefully end the war before it starts, they'd have to give up a lot of money and land, right?
Always happy to see this update.
now this chapter gives a pony so much to think about, there is so much going on behind the scenes with this war.
I love this story over all and will gladly read any thing with TD in it.
Harts Fire
The solution is simple, I remember in a story I read they used Poison Joke and Parasprites with the enemy... Why not do it? With Poison Joke they make the enemy power decrease and also they are confused. With the parasprites eat the food of the enemy so they can't feed themselves.
And also they could use a group of pegasi to control the weather, if they make sure that minotaurs don't have rain, soon or later they are going to need food and water.
P.S: Too bad that TD could not take a tank from the human world
P.P.S: We know about the changelings, diamond dogs, griffons and Minotaurs... What about Zebras and dragons?
6640453
... along with a side of slithery minotaur tongue, freshly cut...
He shouldn't have. Haha, wow, that guy is a magnificent dick. Even I want to punch the guy now. Follow him to the border and put a crossbow bolt in his head. He's not an ambassador anymore once he's on his own soil.
6642001 ...You do realize that when I said bull jerky, I was referring to them, right?
I was laughing a lot this chapter, because for some reason I kept reading "Dude Banks"