Conflict in Bloom

by aDerangedBrony

Shallow Water: Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Celestia entered the war room and saw that most of the invited ponies were already in attendance. They sat at a large round table and every one of them paused the business of shuffling papers around to pay their respects to the princess. The room itself was large and windowless with a high roof. Artificial light was cast from magical lanterns hovering near the ceiling, illuminating a beautiful fresco of the two alicorns curled around the iconic symbol of harmony; a fingernail moon hugging the sun. There was a door at one end of the room, directly facing the two gilded thrones, for the royalty to use. Opposite this was another double door for every pony else. Around the table were an additional seven chairs, considerably less magnificent than the alicorns’ thrones. Each chair was occupied by a important pony, except for the one at the far end of the room. Taking her seat at the throne next to her sister, Celestia waited for the final guest to arrive.

“Good morning, my little ponies!” declared Spitfire as she flew in the room, flinging the twin doors opposite Celestia open.

Every pony in the room paused their duties to greet the newcomer, much like they had for Celestia. Colonel Spitfire, although junior in rank, was one of the most respected ponies in the room. This was in no small part due to the fact that she could take out every pony on the council except for the alicorns in less than a minute with her bare hooves. She had resigned as captain of the Wonder Bolts about seven years earlier after being offered a position as the leader of a new military outfit, comprised of only the best pegasi in Equestria. It was part of a military reform put forward by Luna to slowly build a standing army, undermining the power of the aristocracy in favour of the monarchs.

“Seeing as we’re all here,” the room fell to silence as Celestia spoke, “let’s waste no time in getting down to business. Colonel Underhoof, you’re military intelligence. It’s probably best if you fill us in.”

A dark blue unicorn stallion with a white mane and eyeglasses stood up as he cleared his throat. “Thank you, your highness. As you all know, tensions in our southern colonies have been increasing over the past decade. A perception of inequality has come over our settler friends. They feel that they’re second class citizens compared to those of us in the homeland. The monarchy, in its wisdom, saw this problem and managed to quell it by assigning governors to represent the colonists’ interests. Most ponies have been satisfied with this, and we’ve been able to keep the few militants that opposed our regime suppressed,” he paused for breath and surveyed his audience, making sure none of them seemed confused or ready to interrupt.

“Despite this, a few rebellious factions popped up over the years,” he continued, “but we never cracked down on them for fear of creating a martyr. Better to have an odd skirmish than spark a full blown revolution. Now, it seems, these factions are getting more organised, in fact we have evidence that suggests they are cooperating with each other. They’re attempting to form a standing force, unified under one banner, presumably with the intention of undermining the alicorns’ regime. It looks like Luna’s military reforms may be about to pay for themselves, earlier than we had hoped.”

“You’re talking about a few thousand untrained, poorly armed insurgents rising up in the colonies,” replied Marshal Cossack, the old earth pony in charge of the Expeditionary Force, “All I need is a few free fire zones and some media cover-ups and we can crush these upstarts in a matter of months.”

“I’m afraid,” retorted the unicorn, “that it’s not so simple. These ponies are fighting a perceived injustice. We’ve been studying their philosophy; they don’t want to be treated the same as the ponies of the homeland. They want to be a free, democratic, sovereign state.”

“So?”

“So if we’re seen as oppressive, if we’re seen to fear them, or if we treat them like a political enemy, the sentiment will spread. There are already many ponies speaking out against their lords, and most ponies can’t differentiate between the aristocracy and the monarchy. If we don’t handle this situation delicately, we’ll have a revolution on our hooves.”

***

The PBR surged towards the Everfree Forest, cutting a trail of whitewash in the dark brown water. As soon as they hit the forest itself, an eerie coldness seemed to consume the whole craft, chilling the ponies to the bone. Reducing his vessel’s speed, the senior lieutenant narrowed his eyes in concentration, trying to judge the depth of the water ahead of him. The Everfree forest is not the sort of place you want to run aground.

“Hey, have I introduced myself yet?” the lance corporal asked of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle as he leaned nonchalantly against his turret, “I’m lance corporal Juvenis. You can call me Juve. I’ve been on this boat for over a year now. Signed up for a four year stint in the marines soon as I turned sixteen. Thought it’d be an adventure, you know? Travelling all across Equestria, seeing new places. Turns out you never get much of a chance to get off the boat. How’d you two end up in the service?”

“Oh, er, howdy Juve,” replied Apple Bloom, “Mah name’s Apple Bloom. I joined so as to earn some cash for mah family. Not much other employment opportunities around, on account of the recession and the drought and all that.”

“I see, that must suck. You’ve got a real cute accent, you know. Sounds like you’re from down south.”

“Mah family’s the first to settle anything south of Canterlot, save for what ya find on the east coast,” her voice swelled with pride, “Mah grandma was a li’l filly when mah family founded Sweet Apple Acres.”

“That’s quite a story, Apple Bloom...” he trailed off.

Juvenis opened his mouth to say something else, but then furrowed his brow, as if confused. The skipper and chief smiled at each other, knowing what he was trying to say.

“So, you wanna bang later?”

The boat was silent for a moment as Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom stared at the colt incredulously. He looked back with a coy smile, which slowly faded from his face.

“How long was that?” the chief finally asked, breaking the silence.

“About eight minutes,” the skipper replied.

Smiling, the chief sauntered over to the skipper’s side and held out a hoof. He frowned at her, holding back a smile, and retrieved ten gold bits from his front pocket.

“Much obliged,” she said as she took the money and placed it in her own saddle bag before turning to the youngest ponies on the boat, “You see Juve here enlisted before he had much experience with the mares. You don’t get much leave when you’re on a PBR, either, so he hasn’t had a chance to get that experience. He doesn’t quite understand how to treat a lady. The skipper and I have contemplated setting him straight,” she grinned broadly, “but it’s much more fun seeing him flounder. We’ve started putting bets on how long he can last before saying something like that.”

“That’s just cruel,” Sweetie Belle smiled.

“Well, yea” the chief paused for a moment and grinned, before remembering her prejudice, “Oh, he’s sunk so low he’ll even take a girl in the Expeditionary Force.”

“Hell, why didn’t any pony warn me about this before I enlisted?” Juvenis smiled awkwardly, “Join the Marines, they said. It’ll be an adventure they said. Mares love a stallion in uniform, they said. Turns out that they’re full of it.”

“You joined the Marines to get laid?” Sweetie Belle inquired.

“Pretty much. I was about sixteen then, everything I did was to get some action. But like I said, I also thought it would be a great adventure, like you see in the movies. Of course there were other reasons...” his voice trailed off. His goofy smile was slowly fading, giving way to a look of deep thought. The other four ponies waited for him to continue.

“I mean,” he continued, “of course there was more to it than that. I don’t exactly come from the nicest part of Baltimare, you know. While I was growing up, all I wanted to do was get out of that slum. But,” he looked up at the two cutie mark crusaders and hesitated, “err, sorry for dampening the mood,” he finished.

The two youngest mares stared at Juvenis sympathetically. In a matter of minutes, their perception of him had gone from foolish colt with a one track mind, to a deep young stallion with a troubled past. A heavy silence hung in the air as the lance corporal desperately racked his brain for a way to bring the conversation back to a lighter note.

“So, err,” he forced a smile, “you don’t want to bang then?” he grinned up at the two mares, hoping against hope they would just roll their eyes and shrug him off. He didn’t like any pony thinking about him too much. His life before the Marines was no pony’s business but his own. It was bad enough when he vented his emotions to the skipper in personal conversations.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” the skipper chuckled as he came to the gunner’s rescue, “now shut up and keep your eyes peeled. I want the chief on the bow gun and the lance corporal on the stern. Privates, just keep an eye on the bank and call out if you see anything. There’s all kinds of weird critters in this forest who might take an inclination to attack us. Hop to it.”

Every pony obeyed him obediently, taking up their positions on the boat. As the silence he ordered ensued, the eeriness of the forest seemed to become more noticeable. The deeper they plunged, the darker, colder, and more humid it became. The foliage crept closer to the banks and became increasingly dense. It was impossible to tell whether the glowing eyes in the brush were real creatures or just the mind’s way of telling a pony that the forest is dangerous, and that they should leave. In any case, a deep fear and sense that they were being watched began to grip every pony on that boat.

“Ok, I know I told you to be quiet, but if some pony doesn’t say something soon I’ll go crazy,” the skipper said.

“Yea,” the chief tried to continue the conversation, “this forest is way too creepy. I’ve been on rivers and brown water my whole life. I’ve seen serious combat. Hay, my first deployment was way back when we put down the second Nightmare Moon insurgency. Since then I’ve fought countless pretenders, sympathisers, revolutionaries, you name it. In over eight years of military experience, this forest is without a doubt the most suffocating, eerie, unnatural thing I’ve ever had the displeasure of experiencing. How the hay can you Ponyville girls live in the shadow of this thing?”

“Don’t be such a baby, chief,” Sweetie Belle said casually, “Apple Bloom and I walked through this forest when we were just fillies, and the worst thing we came across was a cockatrice.”

“Yea, now look who’s full of it,” Juvenis said incredulously.

“It’s true. Our friend, Fluttershy, stared it down. Believe what you want to believe, but it happened.”

“Hey, if that’s true, you two have got guts,” stated the chief, “and you should’ve joined the real military. Marine Force needs good ponies. The Expeditionary is a bunch of useless cowards. Maybe if the rebels were more active they’d do something useful. As it stands, all they do is strut around like they own the place and treat the colonists like second class citizens,” she was raising her voice and becoming noticeably tense, “I mean, who thought it would be a good idea to take a bunch of violent, bored ponies from up north and shove them in the colonies anyway? Of course they’re going to cause trouble. Hay, most of the rebels we’ve had to gun down went militant in the first place because they were tired of putting up with the Expeditionary troops oppressing them.

Another silence ensued as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle began drawing conclusions from the chief’s little rant. Juvenis had already drawn his conclusions, and the skipper knew about the troubled mare’s background already, but wouldn’t tell a soul unless she gave him permission. As an officer, he believed that the ponies in his command should be able to trust him completely, and vice versa. The time came, every so often, when they needed to trust each other with their lives. Besides, without understanding a pony, how can you really command them effectively?

“Take it easy, chief,” Apple Bloom finally said, against better judgement, “yer getin’ yerself all tightly wound up an’ flustered.”

“I’m getting wound up? That’s insubordination!” the chief said in a frustrated tone. The skipper raised an eyebrow at her, and she quickly abandoned that notion and searched for something else to throw at the land soldier.

“Ok, bumpkin, why don’t you take my position on the gun for a while,” she snapped, stepping down from the turret, “No, seriously, you’ll need the practice, we’re probably not going to run into any trouble, and I need a break. How about it, skipper?”

“Alright,” the skipper said reluctantly, “but keep your eyes peeled and be ready to grab your self-loading rifle on the off chance the forest gets hot.”

Apple Bloom took this as her cue to step up to the turret and grab it. She had some training with mounted weapons, but never on a boat.

“Pretty simple,” said the chief clearly, “just keep looking from bank to bank. The only way this baby differs from what you use in the expeditionary is that it’s got this here shield in front of it. If something starts squeezing off at you, keep yourself hunched behind it and you’ll be fine. All you really need to do is make sure you bend your front legs down, not out.”

Absorbing this information, Apple Bloom nodded in understanding. One hoof on the trigger and one resting on top of the gun, she swung it in an arc a few times for practice. Satisfied that she had it under control, she made herself comfortable and started scanning the impossible darkness cast by the forest on each bank.

Comments

[BenRG]

I'm getting a definate "apocalypse now" vibe from this. Something tells me that the crew are about to get a lont more action than they are prepared for... or want.

This is seriously AU from the tech levels alone, let alone the racial strife; not that's necessarily a bad thing but still something of which the reader should be aware.

[aDerangedBrony]

1091509 I was unsure of the AU thing. I'll go ahead and add the tag now.

It wouldn't be much of a story if the crew's journey didn't escalate in some way, now would it?