World of Ponies: The Pony-Human War

by ShadowWalking18

Chapter 8 - Human/Pony: Winter Comes

Castus

Castus pulled the fur cloak he had been given tight about him. It seemed that finally the snow had decided to come, and it had arrived with a bang. Not even a week since Ralof's funeral, and already there was a good nine inches of snow; and it looked like more was going to come if the clouds were any indication. So far at least the flurry had dwindled to a slight trickle of flakes here and there.

The Moot had of course been prepared for this, with wood and food stocks prepared and high. The only change was the extra coverings placed over tents and the use of extra fur blankets and cloaks to keep warm. Still, the winter bite seemed particularly vicious this winter and even with his cloak and fur clothing, Castus felt a chill.

Frankly he found the snow a blessing. it would mean that the Equestrians would need their supply convoys all the more, and so the attacks on these convoys would be a bigger blow then if they could still manage to scrounge up some supplies via foraging. If they could keep the supplies halted, unless they were suicidal, the Equestrians would be forced to leave and this skirmish would be over without any further casualties.

'That is wishful thinking though.' He thought with some bitterness.

A part of him knew that preventing deaths would be impossible. In battle, death was always waiting for you; he himself had blood on his hands now. But he feared that if further blood was spilled, it would only spark a greater aggression against his people at a time where they were unable to properly defend against it. He needed to push the Equestrians out then he could....do......something.

But before he could worry on what would occur in the future, he had to deal with both surviving, and curbing the fire that now burned in his peoples hearts. A fire he feared that would burn them all to their core.

Ralof's death had caused a stir amongst the Moot. The boy had become a rallying call so to speak among the hunters, who many were eager young men wanting to avenge their friend, and a distraught and angry father and his close friends. The most worrying was a young boy, Valen.

Valen had approached him and the other Huntmasters on the night of Ralof's funeral, and had all but demanded to be taken in the first...all...attacks upon Equestian forces. Castus could see the flame that burned in the boy's eyes. He had seen it a thousand times before in an age past in young men on a mission to avenge someone.

At first, Castus had decided to deny the boy, at least till he had cooled down. But his other memories had told him that such a denial, would only spark further anger in the boy and he would no doubt strike out on his own. Castus had felt conflicted in those moments, but finally and with reluctance had allowed the boy to partake in the strikes.

'At least then I can keep him under a tight eye.' Castus thought, and sighed as he leaned against a rock on the ledge near the mountain overlooking the Moot.

"You still worry on Valen. The coming attack?"

Castus turned and saw that it was Marcus standing behind him, clad also in thick furs.

"I worry on many things...but yes. I do worry on those two the most this day." Castus said, sighing again as he turned to look Marcus in the eye.

"If you worry about Valen, I can have him remain in the camp." Marcus said.

Castus huffed and shook his head, "No. I'd rather not leave him to his own devices. He could cause any sort of trouble."

"I don't think that. Valen looks greatly upon you Fire Man. If you order him he will listen." Marcus said.

"Maybe, but he would resent me in his heart, and he is young. Youth tend to have an inkling to causing trouble when they feel angry and resentful. I'd rather he stay as close to me as possible, where I can keep him in my sights and reign him if needed." Castus said.

No doubt he would be doing that for many of the hunters that would be coming on the attack. At least he could trust Marcus and the other Huntmasters to keep their cool.

"Hmmm. He is young. He is angry," Marcus said, "But Valen is not foolish. You can trust him to do as told."

"We will see," Castus said, "are all the men prepared?"

Marcus nodded, "Ulfric, Rognar and Theodoric are ready with their hunters. Each brought six. In total with myself and my hunters we have twenty eight hunters not counting yourself."

"Good. This should be a good first step. The next attacks will rotate the Huntmasters and their hunters until each has partaken in an attack."

Marcus nodded and the two of them began to make their way down the mountain to the camp. As they went, Castus thought of the battle plan.

It had taken a week of constant work, weaving the Wind to the mind of owls, who were one of the few remaining birds in the region, to allow him to scout out the areas around the Equestrian camps. As well, using hunters to survey the areas around the camp, while avoiding detection, all lead up to him having a good idea of where their supply lines lay.

In that week he had seen the first supplies arrive, and now planned their first attack on the next to arrive this week and weeks following.

That had been the easy part. The hard part was yet to come.

---

Valen

Valen felt his heart race, and his body tingled in anticipation and nervousness. Even the biting cold was but a minor feeling at the back of his mind in this moment as he lay crouched low in the snow, along side several other hunters. Each armed with a bow with a full quiver, and the large knife most hunters carried to fight off lions or predatory creatures that got too close.

This was the first attack on the pony forces, though if not in the way he had expected. It wasn't like the stories...but then again....the stories had never told him how losing a friend in battle was like.

His grip tightened on his bow, and bit his lip. He had been hoping to find and kill the pony who had killed Ralof immediately, but it seemed he wouldn't get that chance yet. Instead the Fire Man was making them attack mobile food storage huts, supply wagons, and worse yet he had given them all strict commands to avoid killing unless their life depended on it.

Valen found that command to be the most agitating, as did other hunters. The ponies had already killed one of their own, they should respond in kind and pay them back! Of course...no one gave these thoughts any voice out of fear of angering the Fire Man.

Still, Valen didn't care too much. He didn't understand why the Fire Man wanted to avoid killing, but he would listen. The Fire Man had always led them right, and besides....Valen only really wanted one pony dead. So long as that pony Huntmaster died by his hands he could be satisfied.

The sound of some animal calling out, and the sound of clanking things drawing closer pulled Valen from his thoughts and he looked down toward a path that was uncharacteristically clear of snow. All around him the other hunters and even the Fire Man watched, and stayed low.

Slowly, something came into view. Valen watched and his eyes widened a bit as he saw the wagons. They looked like strange logs, with a tent top over them. Strange circular objects that turned and moved the wagon as two large and thickly muscled creatures that looked like scaly birds walked at the front of the wagon, where ropes and a long wooden pole stretched from the front of the wagon to attach to the creatures.

He had seen such creatures before. They were Plain Runners, tall bird like creatures that ran on powerful legs in large flocks across the plains. They were difficult to hunt, as their long necks allowed them to see over tall grass and long distance, and incredible fast when spooked. They also produced large eggs which the clans would steal, though such a thing was risky as males and females were protective of their eggs and Plain Runners could give powerful kicks that could crush a mans ribs to pieces.

But this was a strange sight indeed. The Plain Runners seemed absolutely calm, and didn't seem to mind the presence of the ponies, and it looked like...they were pulling the wagon. How had the ponies done that? For that moment Valen forgot about his revenge and found his curiosity take control and wondered if the clans could do something similar.

But his thoughts were disturbed as the Fire Man slowly lifted his hand, and Valen prepared his arrow into his bow as he felt a strange sense at the back of his mind. An odd feeling of calm that fought against the anticipation of the coming attack. Valen couldn't explain it, but he knew it was coming from the Fire Man.

They all stood silent and still, as they watched the wagons, there were a total of six, come into better view. The wagons had an area where a pony sat, wearing the same strange gleaming coverings. What surprised Valen the most though was the lack of hunters, though the ponies who sat on the wagons all had a strange long dagger at their hip, there were only another six who held spears and four that held those strange bow weapons that shot the metal arrows.

In short they out numbered them, though Valen felt that it would mean little. He had seen their arrows do nothing against those gleaming coverings.

The Fire Man still held up his hand in the wait position, and Valen felt apprehensive as the wagons were now right in the middle of their sights. Valen felt for sure that the wagons would get away, and wondered what the Fire Man was doing when he saw the Plain Runners suddenly screech out and bolt left and right, running off and through the forest; the wooden and rope holdings snapping and breaking away from their bodies without any reason.

The ponies shouted, with wagons bumping into each other and all laying still in the middle of the road. The ponies below shouted and some tried to catch the fleeing Plain Runners. In short it was total chaos by the wagons.

The Fire Man brought his hand down in the sign of attack, and Valen and the other hunters shot up, bows pulled back and let fly their arrows to the wagons below.

The arrows flew and struck, many hitting through the tent like tops of the wagons, or into the wagon body itself. Some struck near the drivers, causing them to fall back in shock. Other clattered against the ponies gleaming armor and fell harmlessly to the ground, though some managed to strike through the gaps in the armor at the shoulder, and ponies fell down as their hooves went to the arrow in pain.

The ponies though now knew they were there, and the ones armed with the metal bows began to line up and take aim. Valen expected to dive for cover, but the metal bows suddenly seemed to break, their strings snapping or the shafts snapping in two. The ponies looked in shock at their broken bows, and quickly made for cover as a second and third volley of arrows soon followed.

The ponies were now hiding behind the wagons as more volleys of arrows flew, when the Fire Man lifted his hand up to stop. The hunters all stopped firing and the Fire Man lifted both his hands, and with it so too did rise a great deal of the snow.

The Fire Man growled as the snow rose with his hands, and as he shot his hands forward, the snow flew off and soon turned into shards of ice, which tore through the tent flaps of the wagons to shreds, and below Valen heard the shouts of pain from ponies, no doubt cut by the sharp ice shards.

"Charge!" The Fire Man shouted and ran down the hill through the snow. The hunters followed, all setting aside bows to draw forth knives and shouted a howling charge. Valen joined in this, and remembered old battle cries from the stories. He shouted some of those, thinking it would make a better impression.

Below the ponies began running, some carrying injured allies on their shoulder, and fled into the other side of the forest. But what shocked Valen was that their gleaming armor was...gone. At least partially anyway, some still wore what looked like chunks, with hole filled and brown color replaced the gold and silver colors.

Valen and other hunters started to give a chase, when the Fire Man shouted, "No!" Valen and the hunters stopped and looked at him confused.

The Fire Man gave them all hard looks, and Valen felt himself very small to that gaze as the Fire Man spoke, "Leave them. They are bloodied and scared. They have left their wagons and supplies. Now we must move on with the next phase of the plan."

Some of the hunters grumbled, looking in the direction where the ponies had fled. Valen himself looked back, noting spots of where blood fell to the snow, leaving a good trail to follow. A part of him wanted to follow and finish them off, but the Fire Man had spoken.

So with a sigh he moved to the wagons with the other hunters. Each of the six wagons had several hunters positioned behind it, as the Fire Man stood at the front, and with a wave of his hand opened the familiar shimmering magical opening that led to the Moot.

"But Fire Man...I thought we were going to destroy the supplies." One hunter called out, as they all began to push the wagons forward into the tear toward the Moot.

"We will. But there are many supplies in these wagons that we can put to use. And no doubt supplies of food. No sense in wasting it if we can use it." The Fire Man said.

Valen nodded, along side other hunters. It made sense. It was foolish to waste food that was still good, and while he didn't know what ponies ate, if the Fire Man thought it was good it must be good for humans.

So with grunts of effort and exertion, the hunters all pushed the wagons through the hole and back to the camp; leaving an empty, blood scattered road and broken pieces of gleaming armor.

As they entered into the camp, Valen found himself feeling rather proud. The first attack upon the ponies, and it had been a success. Not a single hunter had been hurt, and they had injured their enemy and stolen their food and no doubt weapons. He could not help but smile, after all if they continued like this then nothing could stop them.

---

StoneWall

Stonewall paced back and forth in the command tent of the camp. It had been nearly a week since the initial encounter with the humans, and so far nothing had occurred; and for a moment it seemed like nothing else was to come of it for the time being. But now nearly weeks later something had happened.

The humans had somehow managed to find their supply routes and attack their supply trains, not only for this camp but for the other camps as well all within the span of two days. And now winter had finally set in, meaning that supplies would become crucial for this operation.

'And that is where they are hitting us.' Stonewall thought, and turned his eyes back to the map on the table.

It was certainly a tactic he hadn't expected from the humans, and the fact that it was happening showed that the humans had a better grasp of military tactics then he and others had realized. When food supplies began to grow low, he had to send out double patrols, especially along the supply routes. With the snows falling, food would be vital to their operation.

Though it wasn't food alone they took, but the other supplies like ore, weapons and medical. In each attack so far, nearly all the wagons were taken, vanishing the same way the humans did. Though sometimes they were merely burned, even the weapon shipments were burned so hot that the metals were cracked, bent or melted.

Still dispite this, there had been yet to be a single casualty. Plenty of injuries but not a single death among the caravan guards. It was an odd thing really, and it made Stonewall confused. If even half the information regarding Castus were true, then they should have been seeing fire rain on their camps with humans howling and screaming from the forests to attack them.

Why?

Well, in the end it was something that could only be worried until after they had dealt with a current issue. And as he heard the flap of the tent open and a voice say, "General. You called." He hoped that this issue would soon be solved.

Stonewall turned and saw Gleaming Light, the lead Battle Caster of the unicorn casters in the regiment. All six regiments had their battle casters working on deciphering a way to track the strange teleportation magic that the humans used. They left plenty of places to study with their raids, not to mention the original study point where he had lost several scouts. But still, despite their best efforts so far it seemed little progress had been made.

"Yes, I wanted to know how your progress has come since your last report." Stonewall said, which hadn't been much.

Gleaming Light frowned and cleared his throat, "Well....it is sort of a mixed barrel. We are.....coming closer we suspect to deciphering residue but....well as I stated in my previous report the residue is fleeting at best. It doesn't seem to linger like normal magic residue. However with the number of spots now to study we have managed to at the least get a sense of the residue. I think that with a few months, we can construct a spell that searches for the residue sense that the human magic leaves."

Stonewall sighed, "And is that all?"

"Uh...yes..." Gleaming Light said with an uneasy smile. Stonewall sighed again and nodded.

"Very well," He said, "carry on. Report to me if you have any new breakthroughs."

Gleaming Light nodded with a salute "Of course sir." And with that he left.

Stonewallk shook his head. Still nothing close to what he had hoped. Frankly he didn't think they had months to work on a spell. They needed one now. Still, perhaps with some rearrangement of the soldiers he could-

"General Stonewall!" Someone shouted, the tent flap flying.

Stonewall turned and saw one of the camp messangers, the mare had a look of horror in her eyes, "Sir. Forgive the intrusion but there has been another attack on the caravans."

Stonewall muttered a curse, "So how many wagons did we lose this time?"

"All of them, but...that isn't all." The messanger said.

Stonewall blinked, "What do you mean?"

"I think you should see it for yourself sir." The messanger said, her voice grim.

---

Before Stonewall and a contingent of soldiers arrived, the smell of fire was already heavy.

As was the smell of burnt and cooking flesh. The metallic smell of blood lingered in the air.

When they came within sight of the caravan, it was a lot worse then he thought.

The wagons were burnt and upturned, the contents blackened by flame and scattered everywhere. The swift runner beasts were all hacked down and their bodies mutilated...and the guards and drivers...

...well...Stonewall wasn't sure if they would find all the pieces for some.

The bodies of the ponies were everywhere. Some were filled with arrows, and lay in large pools of their own blood. The arrows had probably killed them, but each also had their throats slashed open from ear to ear. Others were pinned to trees with three to four large spears that only a human could have wielded stuck in their chests. And others...others looked like they had been torn apart.

"Animals!" He heard one of the soldiers say in disgust.

"They slaughtered them!" Another said in horror.

Stonewall also felt disgust and horror. The arrows were made with the same black stone tips, as were the spears. It all pointed to a human attack....yet something...just didn't feel right.

'Why now? Why slaughter an entire caravan now? What changed?' He thought. Still, they were humans. Who knew what went on in their heads.

Whatever the reason, Stonewall couldn't allow it to happen again. And as he ordered the soldiers to see to the bodies to be given a proper burial, he sent a runner back to the camp.

Gleaming Light didn't have months to work on a tracking spell. Stonewall wanted it ready by the end of the month. He would give his soldiers a fighting chance before any more massacres occurred.

Yet still he could not lose that feeling of something being wrong.

Comments

[SuperGodzilla2030]

Nice Skyrim reference in this chapter.

[Mr Dorito]

So they're going to make them suffer through the winter. Nice

[The Hat Mann]

Wonder who committed the slaughter?

[shinikage]

so i take it the last attack was made by a third party in order to rally the ponies into a frenzy

[Moongaze14]

Nice chapter. I liked the shifting POVs.

[AstralFlame]

I have a fleeting suspicion blue blood is up to this, of course my opinion is corrupt with hate for him.

[The Great Derpsby]

6283140
That... makes absolutely no sense. Unless he's being mind-controlled by an outside force (coughChangelingscough) he has nothing to gain from having his own supplies destroyed and his own soldiers murdered. Like, nothing at all. He's already in command of the Equestrian forces, for what reason would he ever feel the need to do this?

Also, the Equestrians are kinda dumb. They could always switch to Pegasus-drawn carts; let's see even an OP mage like Castus disrupt a supply line above the clouds.

[PiMan]

6283140
Nah, not his style. Blueblood is so convinced of his position that he wouldn't feel the need to fake the humans' actions.
I blame changelings.

[AstralFlame]

6283674 like I said my opinion is bias.i know blue blood has no reason to do that but it feels nice to blame him. Now the changeling would make more sense, of that I do agree, if what we saw from "a Canterlot wedding" the guard is absolutely useless.

[ShadowWalking18]

6283674

Well the ponies themselves aren't pulling the carts, they have the Plain Runners and other beasts to do that. So it wouldn't be Pegasus pulling the flying carts but a flying creature. Also, got to remember that flight requires light weight material to stay airborn. Carts loaded with the supplies to keep an army well supplied would weigh a great deal, perhaps too much for flight to be possible.

6173924

Actually cauterization increases the chance for infection. Something with the burning of tissue and such. I looked it up before writing the chapter. Remember kids, burning isn't healthy.

[amiamera]

Really? The commander notices a pattern and then the pattern suddenly changes and he doesn't investigate why? He just goes "Oh those humans. You can't think like one. The person in charge is obviously not a rational person who one could study for patterns and see if there's something off about this attack."

Attacking supply lines equals strategy and the capability for rationality. Therefore denying something in light of evidence makes the commander stupid or lazy. Stupid for ignoring an obvious contradiction or lazy for not being willing to investigate what he knows to be a contradiction.

On a different note, I'm for the probability that a third party was involved. Maybe an old enemy assumed destroyed like so many others?

[HgSpartan]

6290103 Or a rogue faction. Though how they could have done that alone I don't know.

[skultech]

I think the one thing we can be sure about is that there is a third party in this war.

[Autarch Prime]

6290103 Well General Stonewall still has a hubris about humans, thought as mindless barbarians, which will be his own downfall. He can't get past his ingrained view of humans.

[Just Sandy]

6350145 i guess changelings or griffons

[HumanSVD]

Changelings. That is all.

[Vibrant lies]

now nearly weeks
incredible fast

Now weeks
Incredibly fast

[Truthseeker]

Aha. The female that has been shagging Blueblood is after information, my guess is Changeling. The most recent attack is the result of that gathered information, perpetrated by Changelings as well.

[Earthpatriot117]

It's the changelings!!!
Things just got more interesting.

[Hunter Steel]

Marcus nodded, "Ulfric, Rognar and Theodoric are ready with their hunters. Each brought six. In total with myself and my hunters we have twenty eight hunters not counting yourself."

Ulfric? You for a Skyrim reference in here and all? Was not expecting that!

[Omegaxxx]

, "Ulfric, Rognar and Theodoric are ready with their hunters.
I get the first two. But whos the second