War | A Memoir

by Cammunism

The Canterlot Conference (Prelude to War Pt. 1)

It has come to my attention that, at least in the public eye, my image has seen better days. I have heard from numerous accounts from close allies that I should explain myself for my own personal safety and sanity; allow me to achieve that with these memoirs:

Equestria was a peaceful nation! For as long as I could remember nopony got upset with their Government. The two Princesses ruled with care for their own citizens and the only protection was from other races or ancient overlords! I remember these times fondly, when the Elements of Harmony and their bearers could solve any issue that questioned Celestia and Luna's authority! That all changed one day however, when our State was attacked!

I remember hearing the news, about the attacks. I was sitting in Las Pegasus by a pool. I had only arrived there the night prior and I was enjoying myself. I had an entire suite all to myself and if there was anyplace anypony went to escape to it was Las Pegasus. A Royal Guard appeared and whispered into my ear something along the lines of

"We are under attack! The Princess orders you back to Canterlot at once." I was frozen in my place. I almost thought it was some sort of joke or maybe a mishap but the urgency of my Guards told me otherwise.

The attack he spoke of was an attack on three Equestrian ports off the coast. They were attacked by ships bearing the flags of the Griffins homeland. The ships, mostly carrying cargo, were bombed and raided. Their supplies being taken and the ships being burned to the ground. The crew also were either captured or killed and there were about seven civilian casualties with two missing, presumed dead. The Griffins lived on a far away island towards the east. Our nations had been at peace with ponies and griffons living abroad from their homelands. I remember Celestia being concerned as sailors had made settlements on the Griffin's homeland of Scythia. The Griffins had a long and victorious history of defending their homeland from intruders, they were not the type to be messed with.

The ride from Las Pegasus to Canterlot was tense. Nopony knew what was going on. As ponies heard the news from one another things began to turn to panic. Scared masses of ponies appeared in front of Canterlot Castle wanting some sort of explanation or guidance from their dear rulers. Under the sound of public outcry Celestia called together a league of the most powerful nobility in all of Equestria. I, whether I liked it or not, was royalty and I was also called to the meeting. I remember being lead towards the Council Hall; I could hear the crowds of ponies from the windows. As I entered most of the seats of the roundtable were already filled. Shining Armor and his dearly beloved sat beside me. His wife, Princess Cadence, represented the Crystal Empire; and her husband the Royal Guard of Canterlot. Princess Twilight Sparkle was also there, but oddly enough no other Element of Harmony had a seat at the table; I later found out she not only represented them but all of Ponyville as well. Things were tense, nopony spoke a word, Celestia and Luna had yet to show up as the council seats filled one by one. The last seat to be filled was Cloudsdale their representative was WindSoar a prized flyer and member of the Royal Guard. I had seen him at Canterlot gatherings from time to time but hadn't spoken too him once. He was a little older than me but, as I admit now, much more mature. He was wearing Cloudsdale Royal get-up that covered most of his brown coat. Cloudsdale, in ancient times, had been militaristic but nowadays it was more of a Historical tradition thing.

Suddenly the doors leading from the Royal Hall opened and Royal Guards flooded in, wearing Canterlot banners. The two Princesses trotted in triumphantly as always followed by a pony in Royal Uniform whom I briefly recalled as Frontline the Royal Chancellor. He was a older stallion; his grey fur was well groomed, as was his short blacker mane which grew whiter with age. The Princesses both took their seats, one at each side of the oval shaped table. The Chancellor took a seat adjacent to my own. He appeared one of the most urgent of all the representatives; stonecold and heroic, like a rock or a brick wall! I don't think his face lightened up one bit that whole meeting, but he was the oldest non-Alicorn at the meeting. His presence gave off this 'I know what I'm doing attitude' that I admired at that time. Next to him I must of looked like some dumb colt who had no business being there, which in hindsight i suppose that wasn't all that wrong.

After a brief moment of silence Celestia cleared her throat, "I suppose I don't need to waste anypony's time in explaining why we're all here...?"

Nopony spoke, most shook their heads, "Good... We have called this meeting because this is a decision that we may not make alone"

The Chancellor broke the brief silent as her words sunk in, "Excuse me for interrupting but I think the decision is a relatively easy one, am I not mistaken?" his voice was strong and cold showing the sense of urgency behind his words.

Celestia was taken back by his comment, "What is your opinion on the matter Chancellor?" Princess Twilight spoke at him; her voice was sweet and despite being younger than me even she had more experience on the matter.

"Is it not obvious?! War!" I heard Cadence gasp beside me as her husband chuckled slightly. "Does anything about this situation please you commander, if so speak!" the Chancellor directed towards Shining Armor.

"Excuse me Chancellor but the Royal Guard is not equipped, nor prepared, to invade a country! We simply don't have enough arms to complete an operation!" Shining Armor replied swiftly.

"So what do we do then, do we just wait to be attacked again?", the Chancellor barked back.

"It is under my interpretation that we know in complete certainty this attack was carried out by aggressors from the Griffin Empire and not by some rouge pirates?" WindSoar spoke up for the first time of the conference.

Celestia took no time to let any radical mindsets take over anypony's mind, "That's one of the issues we have no idea if the reports coming in are accurate. Any Griffon can fly their Empires colors and the ships appeared to be sailor vessels not navy."

Silence took over the council room as many pondered her statement, I had the sudden urge to break the silence, a knot seemed to fill my throat as I rose up in my chair to speak "We could always... Raise an army correct?".

Many looked at me like I had three heads, I could feel my cheeks turn red and sweat on my forehead immediately after I spoke. "That is an option BlueBlood..." Luna finally broke the silence, "Sister we cannot stand defenseless against aggressors" Luna spoke again,

"Or appear weak" The Chancellor added.

The Council Room's door violently flew open, "Princess!" a young guard yelped into the room his eyes black as coal. He ran up to Celestia's chair, whispered, and gave her a document he had been carrying in his pack before leaving as fast as he arrived. Celestia levitated the letter, opened it, and read it urgently.

"Well Princess?" The Chancellor blurted out after some time had passed, "Speak now, what does it say?!"

"It's a... A Declaration of War from the Griffin Empire..."

Author's Note:

Alert: I have never written any story prior to this one so excuse my... Lack of skills I suppose? There may be a few grammatical or spelling errors as you read but bear with me (Or point them out) because my ignorance is high with this kind of field.

Other than that I have a plan with this story and I hope that some will find enjoyment out of it. It's inspired by War Memoirs from Generals and other Auto-Biographys of that nature.

My two OC's (Expect more) so far are Chancellor Frontline and WindSoar, and they're both my own creation; if not partly inspired (Ripped off) by Kaiser Wilhelm II/Otto Von Bismark and King George V respectively.

I don't know exactly how many "Prelude to War" segments there may be, but we'll get to the actual fighting relatively soon. I'll try to split up the story between dialog and exposition...

I hope you enjoy!

Comments

[Brony Soprano]

A potentially promising beginning, but I'll wait to see more first.

[Cammunism]

6038604 I guess I'll take "potentially promising" as a first ever comment... ;D

[Teal]

Well this seems interesting. I'm going to keep an eye open for this story.