No Easy Victory

by Omare Bradley

The General And The Prankster

The world was a colorful place. Stars moved erratically through the sky, occasionally colliding with each other to produce a massive explosion of light. Multicolored grass grew and then withered rapidly. Trees were sprouting up at random and the land seemed full of change. Nothing was constant. The laws of physics held no power here. The world made no sense and that was exactly what the creator intended. This was no world in a physical sense; it was simply a place outside of space and time, a place with no rules and no patterns. A mortal would have been awed at the sight of such chaos, but to Discord this world of his making was simply a place to rest and more importantly plan.

Discord himself was sitting up in a tree that was constantly changing seasons. For one second the tree would appear dead and leafless and the next it would blossom full of life. In this scene of chaos, Discord was able to scheme to his heart’s content.

Discord sat upon his tree calmly drinking in the many emotions he felt. They were not joyful ones; instead they were emotions that the darker part of the mind fixated on. Emotions of guilt, anger, and pain were dominating Discords thinking.

He snapped his fingers and a movie projector appeared. The projector let out a light and the sky was filled with an image of Tirek as he made the fateful decision to banish everyone of his hostages. Discord narrowed his eyes gauging Tirek’s power.

Discord realized that in his current state, Tirek was much stronger then he was. Worse Tirek was quickly bringing order to the land he now controlled. He was recruiting soldiers and opportunists everywhere were flocking towards him. There were struggles and certainly some fights, but the majority of the ponies who attempted sabotage had no magic and were unable to do any real damage. Tirek’s chosen ones however were allowed to retain their magic and they were quick to quell any revolts. The Equestrian military had all but retreated and were holed up in several secure locations. Many of the remnant forces still retained their magic but any major uprising would be useless as Tirek and his army would simply crush what remained of the once vaunted Equestrian military. The remaining generals were still reeling from the loss of the princesses and General Thunder.

Discord had come to the conclusion that he needed to get the ponies enslaved by Tirek and his lackeys to rise up. A mass uprising would be very useful. If a full scale war broke out, there would be massive surge of chaos to accompany it. Discord chuckled mirthlessly; he would easily be as powerful of Tirek in the midst of all that chaos. The hard part would be masterminding such a revolt.

His first problem was the fact that the majority of the ponies who would join the uprising were magicless. In order for the uprising to create a fight that would seriously threaten Tirek’s power base, the magicless ponies would have to be made deadly enough to contest Tirek’s new army. The second problem was that no pony would join him in an uprising. He had betrayed them and in their eyes he was probably as bad Tirek.

Fortunately he had a solution to both the problems he was presented with. The first one was very easy to solve. Discord grinned when he thought of some of the worlds he had explored. Not all species needed magic to function or be deadly. Humans were such creatures. Alone they were rather unimpressive, and with just their bare hands they were a laughable threat compared to some of the creatures that ponies had faced. A human when compared to a hydra or a chimera was pathetic in terms of natural fighting ability.

But humans could invent and the things they invented held no magic. Discord chuckled, but they were deadly, oh so deadly those inventions. How would you like to face a populace armed with rifles Tirek? You couldn’t even drain them of their magic, maybe your new headquarters needs to learn firsthand what a bomb can do. Maybe you need to watch the pegasi loyal to you drop from the sky riddled with bullets. Your earth ponies aren’t going to have fun charging ponies with machine guns. Oh and a bullet can be loosed off much more quickly than a war spell, so I wouldn’t count on your unicorns to hold the line.

Discord snapped his fingers and several factories appeared out of thin air. They all appeared to be working automatically. Discord teleported inside one of them and picked up a newly manufactured rifle. It was based off the AK-47 but it had a few modifications that would allow ponies to better fire it. First off it was designed to be able to be clamped onto a ponies shoulder. The “trigger” was a metal pole jutting out of the side of the gun. The top of the pole had a button that would discharge the weapon when clicked or bit. The pole was positioned so that it would fit inside a pony’s mouth and be easily reachable. The pony would simply have to bite down and the weapon would fire.

Discord teleported to another factory which was producing grenades and C4. Discord believed that the true Equestrian militaries the remaining Pegasi could learn to swoop in and drop grenades upon unsuspecting enemies. Pegasi were also very mobile and could be relied upon to stealthily plant C4 on important buildings. If those bombs happened to be detonated, there would certainly be a lot of chaos created, and chaos simply made Discord stronger.

Discord knew that the weapons he held where his trump card. He needed a mass uprising where every pony who wished to fight against Tirek’s tyranny would rise up and fight in an all or nothing gamble. Discord wanted there to be one massive battle so that Tirek’s troops would not have time to adapt to the new weapons they faced. The other reason, there needed to be one night of mass uprising, would be because Discord needed a large amount of chaos created quickly if he were to have any chance of facing down Tirek. Tirek and his forces needed to completely be caught off guard by the fact that magicless ponies could now prove a great threat. Ponies would be shocked at the new weapons power and their alien nature. The weapons deadliness would create shock and surprise which where deliciously chaotic emotions that could be quickly taken advantage of. The human weapons would be fairly easy to learn, and were certainly much quicker to master than war spells. With them Discord could turn the entire population into a weapon. Discord would have to train a few ponies and then have those ponies show the basics of modern warfare to their comrades.

Discord believed he had taken care of the first problem but now he needed to start the uprisings. Unfortunately no sane pony would follow him; after all he was a traitor. It was unfortunate as to fight Tirek; Discord would need these mass rebellions. Discord knew he couldn’t be the face of the rebellion instead he would need to contact Equestria’s remaining commanders who were still loyal to the princesses. He wished he could teleport into Tartarus and free Cadence, Luna, and Celestia. Their presence would be able to rally the population to revolt. As it was Tirek had made entering Tartarus impossible and the only way Discord was going to rescue the princesses was by killing Tirek. This would allow Tirek to open a gateway to Tartarus and save the beings that once ruled this land in perfect harmony. The military was the next best thing, and Equestria’s ponies could easily be manipulated into an uprising if they were being led by the ponies they already regarded as heroes. Discord chuckled as he snapped his fingers; it was time to pay the remaining leaders of the Equestrian military a little visit.

General Stalwart was a weary stallion as his eyes groused over a seemingly endless pile of field reports. Ever since the attack on Canterlot and the death of General Thunder the army had been retreating and desperate for new leadership. General Stalwart was the next in line and he taken on the position eagerly at first. But now the endless paperwork was enough to make even the most driven worker exhausted.

Blinking he looked up and decided to take the luxury of a quick break. He sighed, he was in a bunker near the city of Fillydelphia. Its location was fairly secure and he had been directing various military ponies to bases scattered throughout the land. Several air contingents had been held back during Tirek and Discords initial run and it was fortunate that he still had many pegasi that could be called upon to scout. He had a scattering of unicorn and earthpony divisions at the base and several more had been arriving in the “safe zones” that had been established. Some had proven not so safe due to traitors.

The soldiers had fought valiantly but they were no match for Tirek. The newly promoted General Specter had also gathered quite a following and was attacking any base he knew about. There the soldiers had fought hard but they had been outnumbered and often slaughtered. A few bases had managed to hold, after all General Specter and his soldiers could be fought and defeated through conventional means. Unfortunately any base that did hold soon received a visit for Tirek, and suddenly the base was wiped off the map.

General Stalwart ground his teeth and his eyes turned to narrow slits when he thought of Specter. The stallion was an ingrate, a traitor of the worst kind. It was bad enough he would turn on his own brothers and sisters in arms, but the fact that he would willingly help Tirek oppress the ponies he had sworn to protect was disgraceful. But sadly General Specter wasn’t the only traitor. Several soldiers had joined Tirek and whether it was out of fear or genuine desire, it didn’t change the fact that those ponies would have to be treated as enemy combatants. His own troops were demoralized and many felt that it was best to surrender to Tirek and see what terms they could get. Others wanted to squander the remaining forces he had left in an idiotic counter attack.

Stalwart grimaced; there were too many egos in this bunker. Too many generals believed that a full on frontal assault would overwhelm Tirek and his forces. They believed that the populace would rise up and fight when they saw the Equestrian military swooping in to save the day. He shook his head, the populace was magicless and had no weapons training. They would stand little chance against Tirek and his army. Charging in was stupid, look at what had happened with the Wonderbolts. Captain Spitfire’s rash decision to charge in against Tirek had lost her an entire battalions worth of able flyers. He shook his head ruefully when he thought of Spitfire. She was brave, but had little tactical sense and had cost him more losses then he could spare.

No, thought Stalwart, I will not squander my resources so foolishly. It is best to sit and observe. Perhaps my pegasi scouts can discover a weakness in our enemy. Or maybe our unicorn mages can come up with a spell that can contain Tirek. Earthpony ingenuity is also going to be needed; I hope that our surviving engineers can rig something up. Hmm, perhaps the earth pony scientists should be given a higher priority. Tirek is a magic eater, perhaps science is what can stop him.

General Stalwart was brought out of his thinking by knock on the door. He looked up and spoke quickly, “Enter.”

An angry looking tan unicorn marched in, ahh yes Colonel Banzai, he sighed. The colonel had a massive ego and would go about making demands, all the while harping on why his unicorn divisions should be given top priority. The pony was however very energetic and was an able troop leader that could come up with some very innovative ideas. Of late, Colonel Banzai was showing less of his innovative side and was constantly making demands for full on assaults.

Colonel Banzai snapped off a perfect salute and exclaimed, “Sir! I have regrettable news. It appears our base in Baltimare has been eliminated!”

General Stalwart sighed; he was losing too many bases, and too many troops. He spoke decisively, careful to make sure he sounded calm.

“It is what it is, send out some pegasi runners, and search for any survivors. We’ll see how many troops we can…gather.”

He almost said, “Scrape together.” That would have sounded much less encouraging. This was a time for confidence not panic and every order would have to be carefully worded.

Colonel Banzai took a deep breath, and spoke, “Sir, we need to make a move, we simply can’t keep sitting still. The longer we wait to attack the weaker we will become. I have outlined plans for an offensive that would allow us to take back Manehatten and encircle an entire army group of Tirek’s. The soldiers are eager to attack, let us reclaim our glory!”

General Stalwart shook his head, “You speak of attack, but you ignore the fact that enemy we face is one that cannot be fought on even terms. We can might destroy some of General Specters army groups around the cities and towns, but any mass effort would be thwarted the second Tirek arrived on the field. Besides, Tirek and General Specter have been able to recruit a lot of soldiers; they’ve organized whole army groups in weeks. They’re so much more efficient then us, due to the fact they don’t have to worry about sneaking around to communicate. Tirek rules this land, he controls the sun and the moon, look outside he has the power to turn the sun blood red for Celestias sake! A lot of ponies have given up and joined Tirek, simply because they believe that’s the only way they’ll ever live in peace. The civilian population is massive and would be friendly to our cause but they’re completely drained of magic and useless in a fight! “

Colonel Banzai began to open his mouth to speak, but he was silenced with a sharp glare. General Stalwart looked up warily, “Colonel, I promise you we will move when we are ready, but for now we need to consolidate our strength and study our enemy.”

Colonel Banzai was quick with his response, “I understand the need for caution sir, but as each day passes, Tirek grows stronger and stronger. His army is quickly gaining recruits and his laws are already being enforced very efficiently. You’re right he controls the sun and the moon and he made them both red, soon he will control the populace and any dissent will be quickly wiped away. We have to move now if we have any hope of the citizens joining us!”

General Stalwart response was just as quick and far angrier, “Involving civilians in our war would be monstrous! They don’t even have magic, how do you expect them to stand against pegasi air brigades that rain arrows from the sky? We failed these ponies and it will be our job to save them. I appreciate your point colonel but right now any offensive we tried would fail miserably. For now I want you monitoring field reports, we have much to do!”

As Colonel Banzai dejectedly made his way to the door, he heard the general murmur, “And when the day comes that we are strong enough to attack, I promise you colonel, you’ll be leading it.”

The colonel looked back his face suddenly very fierce, “I promise when that fine day comes I won’t let you down sir.” And with that said the colonel made his leave.

As the door closed General Stalwart looked up to find he had another visitor. The visitor was a very peculiar one who had seemed to appear out of thin air. The visitor slouched up against the wall and gave the general a disarming grin.

“Whoof! That Banzai guy could talk couldn’t he!” Discord snapped his fingers and suddenly he was wearing a suit that made him look like a private investigator. He began to speak again in a pompous voice, “From your conversation I deduce that your situation is pretty bleak, lucky for you old chum commander Discord is here to help!”

The General regarded him wearily, “Discord, you haven’t been seen in a long awhile. Are you still working for Tirek?”

Discords smile remained constant but it appeared to be flaking around the edges, “Tirek pulled a Brutus on me, my dear general, Not that you know anything about human drama still it was a quite a play, I think…”

“Enough!” The General growled, “can you not speak in riddles for one second and tell, are you here to take me to Tirek or not!”

Discord chuckled, “Didn’t you just hear me Tirek pulled a Judas on me!” He paused, “Oh dear I keep using human phrases again, let me put in way you’ll understand.”

The Generals eyes flashed in annoyance as Discord continued to ramble, “You see Tirek has betrayed me, and that means we have something in common, care to throw out a guess general?”

The General suddenly felt a glimmer of hope he spoke tentatively, “Is the answer to that question, we both want Tirek dead?”

“Bingo!” shouted Discord and suddenly several streamers and balloons appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to cover the room.

Discord looked at Stalwart, still smiling. His expression made it appear that he was recovering from a good joke and now ready to turn the subject of the conversation back into something more serious. His facial expression had changed and it now held a look of intensity that was frightening.

“General,” spoke Discord softly. “Are you prepared to do whatever it takes to win this war?”

The General looked at Discord warily as if he were about to make a Faustian bargain. “To free my country from Tirek and Specter, I will do anything.”

Discord looked at him and spoke all the while keeping his voice dangerously soft, “Would you be willing to kill any pony deemed as an enemy, even if they only serve Tirek out of fear? If captured would you kill yourself before giving away vital secrets? Would you be willing to involve civilian’s even fillies and colts, in your battles all in effort to rid your land of a great evil?”

The General looked up and faced Discord his eyes brimming with steely conviction and he answered firmly, “Yes.”

Discord broke his somber expression and smiled, “Good, because I need your soldiers and you need my magic. If we’re going into this for the long haul then I need a good warrior by my side. There’s a war coming, a war that’s going to introduce weapons and tactics that this peaceful world has never seen. New methods of fighting are going to be introduced that even a dark mind like Tirek’s would stray from. You and me general, we’re going to bring down this monster anyway we can. So I ask, do you wish for a new kind of war to sweep in like a tempest leaving nothing for even vultures to scavenge in its wake?”

General Stalwart looked up at Discord and said, “I wish to make it so my nation’s inhabitants will no longer have to live under tyranny, and to complete that goal I will commit any act, no matter how dishonorable.”

Discord chuckled and exclaimed nastily, “By the time this is over general, you will have learned that honor is useless when it comes to defeating enemies like Tirek.”