Equestria's Ray of Hope

by The_Darker_Fonts

Stalemate

As it turned out, the day after the battle was not the busiest day, but rather the second day. With the business of both addressing their gains and losses completed, as well as keeping morale high by celebrating the victory, the second day was what Ray had expected the first day to be. Planning.

The entire day so far, from when he had woken up around six to halfway in the afternoon, had been spent assessing resources, replacement resources, positioning, and other miserably immaculate details. In summary, almost nothing needed to change thanks to how the five generals had executed the strategic reposition to the Big Face. That didn’t mean, however, that they could go on without reviewing every broad and narrow detail. As a matter of fact, part of the reason the discussion was taking so long was because of the effectiveness of the movement. It seemed that because everything had been placed so intentionally, one thing couldn’t be moved without disrupting everything else.

The problem arose that, if perhaps there was a situation in which the army needed to quickly launch itself to defend from behind or out over the cliff face, the archers would either be slow or in the way of the infantry. While the likelihood of the situation was incredibly low considering the minotaurs had remained encamped throughout the past two days almost five miles away, it could still be a problem. When the army did launch, it would be able to reposition itself for an offensive maneuver in under an hour. That was how the current camp set up was designed. If it needed to take on the defensive, then from almost every angle of attack, they were defended.

Somehow, they needed to cover the ten percent that was inadequately positioned without corrupting the other ninety percent. Ray was pretty certain everybody, including Kraven, had a headache from the problem, but because of their resilience, they had finally managed a solution in which two new paths were made, squishing some of the archers’ tents closer to make way. It was an okay solution that would allow hundreds of infantry to spew out every minute, and while they could only know if they tested it, it was believed that the infantry would be in a defensible formation in about thirty to forty minutes.

With the internal problem out of the way at last, they could focus on the main one. What next?

The crushing victory over the minotaur’s had allowed morale to soar and it was quite obvious that the Fallen were actually looking forward to their next confrontation. The issue was in the minotaur’s and their position. They had taken up a top of a hill as well, one about a mile and a half wide. The position was defensible, had excellent vision of its surroundings, and almost three hundred soldiers on the four hills that surrounded it, according to scout reports. It seemed that the minotaurs had taken up the defensive after they had been crushed in their own offensive movements.

The Fallen could technically attack or try to besiege the enemy position, but the biggest issue was their positioning itself. While the Big Face was excellent for protection and repositioning, it was also southeast of the minotaur’s camp. They would have to march not only diagonally to get to the minotaurs, but also weave around various hills for maximum speed and efficiency. It exposed them greatly to a possible new army, or left a route for which the minotaurs could simply loop outwards and switch the Fallen’s position with theirs, getting behind them. In such a position, Ray’s army would have to turn face and expose their backs to a potential third army.

The arrival of two armies at the battle had been a serious wake-up call to Ray and the generals. Presumably, the minotaurs had only sent the small number of troops to conquer Equestria because it didn’t have the capabilities to resist. The two larger forces sent afterwards had probably been sent knowing that, at the very least, something was wrong. The fact that two armies over ten thousand strong each had been thrown to the other continent gave them an idea of the minotaur’s total number, and it was rather bleak.

Assuming the two boats they had sunk had a total of eight thousand minotaurs on them, then the Fallen and spiderlings had killed around thirty five thousand minotaurs. The number was over two times that of the Fallen’s army, and if their estimation was correct, just around ten percent of the minotaur’s total army, around thirty-five hundred thousand strong. Twenty times the size of Ray’s army. Of course, those estimations had been intentionally large to account for the worst case scenario, but even with the number being half that, it would be nigh on impossible to fight the minotaurs evenly.

In order to smartly continue besting the minotaurs, they couldn’t take such extreme risks in attacking the enemy directly, as that would almost certainly double their casualties in battle. They needed plans that lured the minotaur’s out into a valley or open plain to be rushed and bombarded into oblivion. While the minotaurs couldn’t have realized this fact, it did mean that both sides now faced each other, waiting for the other to strike first. Now, to get the minotaurs to finally move and break the stalemate, Ray and the generals needed a plan that could both lure the minotaurs into a favorable battle while keeping risks to a minimum.

Worse, however, it meant that the Fallen needed to remain within spying distance of the minotaurs, lest they realize that the army they were holding this mind war with couldn’t attack them. If they retreated, it would give the minotaur’s back the ground they had unwittingly lost and show that the Fallen were incapable of a prolonged campaign. The brutal truth of the situation they faced was that retreat meant concession of territory and control while attack meant heavy casualties and long-term, irreparable damage. Even with a massive victory, the Fallen now found themselves backsliding.

The one advantage they had in their favor offensively, however, was the now superior numbers. With the Fallen alone, they outnumbered the minotaur army by over four thousand. It was a comfortable lead that they could utilize in battle, but once again, finding the right battle itself was the challenge. If anything were to go wrong, like a salient in the wave charge or a section hitting after the others, letting itself get devoured as Captain Rohan had, the losses would be amplified. The lead seemed large, but in the perspective of longevity, it wouldn’t last if they tried to use it to simply win the objective.

Without the option of offense or retreat, they had two last options: defend or bait an attack into favorable conditions. Defense seemed highly unlikely, since after the astounding victory of two days prior, the surviving minotaurs seemed skittish. It was even exemplified from the positioning of the troops on the surrounding hills to their main camp. More than likely, the minotaur’s would not attack the Fallen’s current position unless there was some extraordinary shift in their mentality or a surge in numbers. In either case, it wouldn’t bode well for the Fallen, as it meant a battle which they hadn’t initiated, something they hadn’t done yet.

So, the only logical solution was baiting them into a position where it was favorable for the Fallen to strike a lethal blow. Narrowing down their options to that choice, even though it took an hour, had been the easiest part in hindsight. Now came the most difficult task for Ray, both in scale and execution. Choosing the time and place for his soldiers to die.

“Our soldiers need to rest for at least the rest of the week before we push them to fight again,” Yarem stated firmly, tapping on the map. “If we’re going to ask them to fight again so soon after a battle, they at least need to heal from their previous battle. Over two hundred are still recovering from serious wounds they received in the battle. Another several hundred need the mental rest after losing friends, family, and other loved ones to the fight. We can’t push them hard yet again.”

“I agree upon that point,” Skalos affirmed, staring at a position marked on the map as the minotaurs’ camp. “I believe too that if we attack in the next week, it will convey urgency and desperation to the minotaurs, and whether accurate or not, it would be harmful to display such traits. If they think we are on a timer, then they could intentionally stall out this confrontation. Not only that, they could potentially receive reinforcements after stalling us for so long and then force us into an unfavorable retreat.”

“And if they already have reinforcements on the way,” Pelios passively questioned, opening up the thought.

“Doubted,” Kraven shrugged, tracing a hoof from the minotaurs’ camp to the unmarked, blank parts of the paper. “They sent two armies out to this area probably to see what was going on with their original armies, the ones we crushed on landing. They wouldn’t have presumed the problem to be on their continent in this desolate plain, but rather in Equestria. Most likely, they don’t have any troops on stand-by for the sudden revelation that there is a sizable army facing them on their own territory. If they do, I believe their reaction will be sloppy and slow from the unpredictable situation we present to them. The current encamped minotaurs seemed to have come from a long walk anyways, based on their physical exhaustion displayed in their lackluster marching two days ago.”

“Then it sounds like it’s a safe bet to let the army rest for the rest of this week at least,” Harbor concluded, jotting the note down on paper. One piece of a huge plan that needed to be formulated.

“We are on a time limit, though,” Ray pointed out. “I have to be prepared to give Twilight a full rundown of our first movements, the battle, all of those statistics, and most likely the same for this next fight. We need to either scare the minotaurs off by the night of the next full moon or crush them so I’m not absent on what could be a night of battle. I also can’t skip this one, as it’ll likely involve all of the major details for the resupply in two months.”

“Have to fight the battle before the next moon,” Harbor repeated as he wrote the condition down. Looking up from the notes, he frowned and admitted, “I don’t think we can exactly plan a day to name for the battle, Ray. We have to react to the minotaurs, and currently they’re inactive. Even baiting out a fight wouldn’t necessarily mean fighting on the day we launch the operation, since it’s still dependent on how the minotaurs react.”

“Don’t set a day then,” the young man replied, rubbing his hand over his chin. Stubble had grown thicker on his face since he hadn’t had the opportunity to shave in days. “We just need to quickly bait out the minotaur’s army in between the end of this week and the night of the full moon.”

“I believe that’s an achievable goal,” Yarem stated, still staring at the map. “I would propose an operation that required the Fallen to reposition into a ‘riskier’ position. I say riskier because we would need to convince the minotaurs that they could attack us, potentially giving them the chance to if we aren’t careful. However, the way I see it, if we plan the operation as a bait and switch to smash the minotaur’s we’ll also be prepared if they manage to strike first. The problem is simply convincing the minotaurs to attack without actually giving them a legitimate advantage.”

“What about these hills over here,” Pelios asked, pointing to a grouping of hills two miles south of the minotaur’s camp, directly west of the Big Face. “They have a plain in them large enough for wave tactics and the main hill is close enough for our archers to bombard them before the battle. It’s also less of a walk for us than trying to flirt with them as we pass their camp.”

“That’s just the problem though, Pelios,” Kraven sighed, pointing to the same spot the other general had. “It’s too advantageous for us and the minotaur’s would be fools not to realize it. We would basically be able to set up our previous battle but facing only one army and not two. It’s a generic area for us to fight in as well, giving the minotaurs the opportunity to counter us in whatever ways they may come up with. We have to remember we no longer have the element of surprise on our side when it comes to attacking tactics. Several dozen minotaurs witnessed out slaughter of the first army and survived to tell the second. There will certainly be countermeasures to deflect us if we attempt the same thing.”

“Then it seems the next best thing to do would be to move our army across and cut behind them, trying to scare them into thinking we’re cutting their supply lines,” Yarem suggested. “They may see our movement as too much of a threat and be forced into fighting us somewhere more advantageous to our army, whether they mean to or not. The threat of cutting them off from the rest of their civilization could be too much to ignore. It also gives us the opportunity to scout further out there, potentially finding a nearby source of support for them.”

“I like the idea, but moving closer to the minotaurs would almost certainly cause them to fortify their position further, locking themselves in,” Kraven once again pointed out. “We don’t even know if these minotaurs have supply lines, since it's obvious you don’t technically need one to survive in the Tauran plains. If they fortify further, they’ll be comfortable with us walking circles around them, unable to attack. In fact, it may delay us even further because the arrival of yet another army could mean we need a wider path of escape from the two armies. I also dislike the idea of circling the enemy, as it exposes too much of our sides for me to be comfortable with.”

The tent fell silent for a moment as everyone got to thinking on these words and any ideas they could receive from them. After several long minutes of silent thinking, Pelios asked, “Do we have to keep the army in one piece?”

Ray’s brows shot up in surprise at the proposition, as did the other generals’. Intrigued, the human stated, “Go on.”

“Well, suppose that we do something we shouldn’t do in order to achieve both our goal in proper position and proper bait,” Pelios began moving towards the map. “All this time, we’ve been thinking we need to get near the minotaur’s in order to trick them and not retreat in order to not give ground. Well, what if we take our archers and discreetly move them a mile down the Big Face, not too much, but enough to properly hide from sight while the infantry begin moving about.”

Tapping his hoof on their camp, he traced a line out towards and around the hill they had stationed on before the battle. “We could move the infantry like so, as if they were beginning to advance towards the minotaurs before they suddenly realized they were outnumbered and had to retreat. The enemy making such a bold and unprepared move would catch their attention and a chase would ensue, as we now have to walk around the opposite side of this hill and on the southern, cliff side of the Big Face to escape quickly enough. For the infantry, it would be a mad dash to cover their mistake while the minotaurs attempt to capitalize on it.”

Pointing to the central part of the Big Face’s cliff ridge, he continued, “This, however, is where the archers come in. They line up along the ridge with their ballistas and bows and begin raining down fire on the minotaurs while they chase our infantry. In an instant, the spiderlings- perhaps supported by some infantry- then collapse at them from the back and pin them into this shooting gallery. If the minotaurs attempt to break loose, a singular charge would suffice in keeping them trapped. They would have been tricked into walking right under our bows and into superior numbers. The battle could be over in under an hour.”

As silence fell, each of the general’s thinking on Pelios’ words, Ray glanced at Skalos and then Kraven. Both briefly met his eyes, and while their expressions were unreadable, he realized they were probably thinking the same as him. The plan was bold, daring, and incredibly risky. It required the minotaurs to completely ignore or be oblivious to a large chunk of their army. On top of that, it necessitated a need for haste from the infantry before sending them straight into a fight. Unlike the battle of two days prior, it wouldn’t be a march into battle, but rather a march, panicked retreat, then quick turn about to attack.

“It has potential,” Yarem finally admitted, a hoof dropping from his chin to the map. “However, I’m concerned about leaving the archers without any way to defend themselves. A slight reposition doesn’t mean that they’ll be safe from minotaur scouting, and if they see the archers the minotaurs could easily start chasing them instead.”

“And how would we position the spiderlings in a way that they could collapse on the minotaurs without our assistance,” Skalos further questioned.

Pelios stepped towards the map, invigorated as he pointed at it, explaining, “These hills down here have deeper valleys that flow towards the cliff face. By putting the spiderlings in here, they would be completely invisible from minotaur scouting unless the minotaurs put a scout directly on top of their hill. They could then hit them from behind, ideally with the Matriarch leading the way to both terrify and clear a space to deaden spiderling casualties. Once the minotaurs were being hit from both sides, they would be forced back into the cliff face and the archers would only have to rain fire while we held positions.

“As for the archers, the minotaurs scouting so far has been horrendous. Our own six scouts have, for the past two days now, been giving us all the information possible while also preventing the minotaurs from gathering information. It seems the minotaurs don’t really ‘scout’ per se, but rather throw some of their soldiers outwards like a living net in an attempt to catch some information. As of my last discussion with Captain Samson of the scouting unit, they have dispatched forty-four minotaur scouts, the closest of which was two miles away. With continued diligence from our own scouts and their counter reconnaissance, we could easily maintain a deceptive radius around us that the minotaurs will have no information on.”

“Our scouts have been highly successful thus far, even in only deploying six at a time,” Kraven agreed, looking back down at the map. “If we use them to maintain this deceptive radius around our archers, it would allow for their movement to be hidden and the infantry’s to be seen. The minotaurs would have to think we’re trying to catch them by surprise with the archers, whom they won’t know are only archers. The pressure we apply with our infantry will force them into moving with the threat of a second, unknown force. But how do we guarantee the minotaur’s will chase us rather than completely retreat?”

“Sweet Celestia, it’s so simple now,” Pelios suddenly exclaimed, eyes shining with excitement. “That was the only question I had as well, but if I take my army of infantry early and march off to connect with the spiderlings, the minotaur’s will surely see they now outnumber us by a large margin. It’d be too tempting not to take their chances and strike the smaller, disconnected force continuing to march towards them!’

“So you propose that Skalos and I’s armies keep marching towards the minotaurs while yours breaks off,” Yarem clarified with a furrowed brow. “That would mean our army would be completely disconnected for when we did want to turn and fight…”

“Not disconnected, Yarem, but spread out,” Kraven countered, his eyes wide in realization. “It ensures the spiderlings would be supported by our infantry and that the strike from the front and behind is properly coordinated. Casualties would be dampened, effectiveness increased, and the fear factor also exploited. If any minotaur’s survive, they would tell their higher-ups that there are not one but three different armies in their homeland. The panic that could potentially be generated from that misinformation would be invaluable.”

“So it’s a good plan, then,” Pelios asked proudly.

“It’s an excellent plan, Pelios,” Ray confirmed with a smile, walking over to pat the stallion on the back. “Well done. Kraven, Harbor, formulate a plan of action for the archers. I want to know exactly where you plan to reposition and what we should do to signal volleys. Skalos, Yarem, Pelios, the three of you need to map out both the trajectory of the three infantry divisions and where the split off would happen. I’m going to go discuss the plan with the Matriarch in further detail. We’ll still need to set a date to begin this, but for now let’s say in ten days. It is very viable to change based on the minotaurs and their action or inaction and our soldiers’ recovery from the last battle.”

“Yessir,” came the responses of the generals, each instantly getting to work as Ray turned to leave the tent. Before he was completely out, he heard Kraven loudly ask him, “Could you send for Zecora and some of my assistants, please?”

“Of course,” he replied, stepping out into the blistering heat. Setting out for the medical tent, where Zecora undoubtedly would be, he signaled for the two guards that hovered a short distance away from the generals’ tent. Instructing them to gather Kraven’s assistants, a group of soldier-scribes and scientists like him, he began walking towards the eastern wing of camp near the cliff’s edge.

The medical tents had been set up intentionally far away from the side of camp facing the minotaurs to give them more of a buffer in case of an attack. Despite only being occupied by about a hundred or so seriously wounded soldiers right now, it was given as much space as a whole brigade to prevent possible infection and disease from spreading. More tents and more space also gave the injured less stress and more air, or at least that was what Zecora had said. Ray had been able to learn much about the army, but the medical aspects he was still dangerously naive about. Luckily, Zecora had snuck her way into the war.

It only took a few minutes to arrive, thanks to the relatively compact nature of Fallen camps. Their style of almost suburban tent formations took up minimal space and gave the greatest amount of accessibility to other parts of camp. It also allowed for distinguished zones such as the medical zone or the food and supply areas to be defined firmly.

Each of the tents in the medical zone was marked with green triangles on the top of their squarish shapes. Pushing through a flap, Ray grimaced slightly at the smell of both foul medication and blood. Fallen blood, as it turned out, had a strange smell to it much like milk, and if that blood was allowed to sit, dry, or clot, it would quickly sour much like milk. Resisting the urge to pinch his nose out of respect for the injured, he passed by several wounded soldiers who were either attempting to sleep or simply had their eyes closed. The injuries in this tent seemed less serious, with either missing ears or long gashes that had been stitched up. It was occupied by only twelve soldiers as well, though a few had friends or other visitors that stood beside them. Ray nodded in acknowledgement to those who noticed him before moving on to the next tent.

This one had some of the more grim and serious injuries, as he found Zecora tending to a Fallen missing his left eye. Pausing at the tent flap, not wishing to disturb the zebra’s important work, he waited. There were only seven soldiers in here, all stallions, and all missing something. Two didn’t have a front leg, one had both eyes covered with a missing ear as well, and another was bandaged heavily around his stomach. Frowning, he almost jumped as a hoof tapped him on the ankle.

Eyes darting down, he found a stallion laying in the space to his right, a front hoof wrapped in a cast while his neck and mouth were bandaged. Not being able to talk, the stallion instead gave Ray a wave with his uninjured right hoof, his eyes shining proudly. Smiling, the young man crouched down to be by the stallion as he whispered softly, “It’s good to meet you soldier. When you’ve recovered, you should come and find me so I can learn your name. For now though, what would you like?”

The stallion attempted to scooch a little to sit up, causing Ray to reach out and carefully press the stallion down as he said, “Whoa whoa whoa, don’t move!”

Resigned, the stallion instead reached up and tapped Ray’s shoulder, beckoning him in closer. A little confused, Ray leaned in and was greeted by a halfway hug, the uninjured hoof wrapping slightly around his neck while the stallion’s eyes continued to smile. Smiling as well, Ray carefully hugged the stallion back, touched by the injured Fallen’s emotional welcome. Blinking back some tears, the young man wrapped both his arms around the stallion’s back to not touch his injured neck.

“Janera is the one you embrace,” Zecora suddenly said from behind Ray as he and the stallion parted. “He’s always wanted to meet face to face. He was in the front lines alone when a minotaur slammed into him, breaking his bones. His jaw and neck were a mess, but in spite of this he has made excellent progress. In a short time he will be free to go, but for now, his recovery is slow.”

“That’s good to hear,” Ray replied, still looking at the brave stallion. “I’ll hear from you then.”

Turning to face Zecora, still crouched so he was eye level, he said, “I need to know how long it will take for the injured to recover enough to move.”

“I would like to say in under a week, but that prediction is very bleak,” Zecora admitted with a sigh, gesturing for him to follow her out of the tent. “I can no longer work alone with so many harmed. I need somepony else who is medically charmed.”

“I see,” Ray muttered, glancing back at the tent of injured soldiers.

“Alone, I barely have time to save anypony at all,” Zecora murmured, drawing Ray’s gaze again. She looked tired, more so than he had been, and there was a terrible sadness to her as well. “Not enough medics will be my greatest pitfall.”

“Those soldiers you weren’t able to save aren’t your fault, Zecora,” he assured her. “And you’re right, you do need more medics. How about this: you take those too maimed to fight and have them be your assistants. That way you can have them bandaging up minor wounds while you take care of the more serious wounds?”

“That sounds like a plan to me,” the zebra replied, glancing towards one of the tents as she spoke. “Though I have a patient I now must see.”

“Before you go, I do have one last question,” Ray insisted, halting the zebra. When she turned enough to meet his eyes, he softly asked, “Are you doing okay? Do you need somebody to take over, even for just a few minutes? You’re dealing with some of the worst… stuff I’ve ever seen and you aren’t even meant to handle that kind of violence.”

“I think it’s because I’m healing and not harming that I find this all less… alarming,” Zecora sighed tiredly. “But thank you for your concern, it is appreciated. Skalos, I fear, may be the one who needs to be alleviated.”

“I’ll make sure to check in on him privately, if you want,” Ray offered. Smiling silently, the exhausted zebra simply nodded before turning and entering the tent. The young man could hear groans of pain as he began to walk away.

It wasn’t a very long walk to where he needed to go next, but it was late enough in the day that the sun had already set by the time he made it to the cliff’s edge. While most of it was a flat, rocky wall that fell hundreds of feet down, there was a strange slanted bit wide enough for Ray to walk down. It was steep and the rocks weren't necessarily stable here, but with webs coating the wall here, he wasn’t concerned. Even if he did fall, one of the thousands of spiderlings would catch him, the wall serving as the walls of Tartarus once had for the Matriarch’s brood. Once, he might have been freaked out by having to walk past so many giant spiders, all easily big enough and strong enough to devour him, but these were the Matriarch’s children, and much like her, they didn’t look like the monsters he had once seen them as.

Many of them barely noted his presence, not out of disrespect but out of nature. They moved about and thought differently than any other creature he had met so far, simply focused on whatever task no matter how “important” something else might be. In battle, they barely noticed their own dying to minotaurs, simply focused on their task of destroying the enemy. Once a battle was done, they set about wrapping up the corpses for food and didn’t relax until that task was done. Simple, yet extremely effective single-mindedness.

He was able to see the Matriarch from where he was carefully walking, the steep downhill forcing him to focus more on walking than watching her. Still, he managed to make it about halfway down the short, jutting trail before she noticed his arrival. She had been leaning against the stone face, legs spread across from the top of the cliff almost to the bottom, so that only her abdomen and part of her head could be seen from his vantage. Pulling herself up so that she was standing flat against the cliff face, she reached out with one leg. Smiling, he jumped and landed with both feet on the extended leg.

“Kinda fun how naturally that’s come,” he admitted as she lifted him towards her face.

“It is indeed amusing,” the Matriarch agreed, a smile in her voice. “Come, I wish to hear what you’ve to talk with me about.”

“Well, I’m sure you were listening earlier, but I’ve come to ask what you think of Pelios’ plan,” Ray stated with a shrug, walking off the Matriarch’s leg and onto her back. She was taking them not too far away, just enough that they would have relative privacy.

“I think that you should give the stallion more credit for what he does,” the Matriarch remarked frankly.

“Pelios,” Ray questioned, slightly confused.

“Indeed, Pelios,” the Matriarch confirmed. “You were presented with a situation that required true tactical genius to even conceive a plan that presented an opportunity for escape. The fact of the matter is Pelios saved you and the others a great deal of time and effort by simply thinking outside the box. He’s been doing this the entire time, and sometimes it seems you overlap in your thoughts, but you’ve become too much like Kraven and Skalos, I would say. While their treatment of Pelios isn’t toxic or intentionally snide, they and the others, including you, often seem to forget him. The fifth general, if you will.”

“I’ll… apologize the next time I see him,” Ray promised the World Weaver, shocked. He hadn’t even noticed it before, but now in hindsight he saw exactly what the Matriarch was talking about. He had been surprised today when Pelios presented him and the other generals with a sound plan, if risky. He shouldn’t have been, though. Pelios was a general, the same rank and skill as any of the others, yet in retrospect, Ray realized he hadn’t treated him as such. Angry at himself for the lapse in both kindness and professionalism, he vowed to pay more attention to how he treated each of his general’s personally.

“I don’t blame you for your actions, and I don’t wish to scold either,” the Matriarch clarified quickly. “You are extremely busy, with many threads to connect and tend to. This one was just one you had allowed to fray subconsciously.”

“Thank you for the reminder,” Ray said, trying hard to keep his voice from being stiff. While he was frustrated at himself, he didn’t want it to come out as anger towards the gentle correction. However, with a thought, he asked, “Did you speak with Pelios personally?”

“Of course, you didn’t think I only spoke to you, did you,” the Matriarch inquired, her voice humored. It was a newer emotion that he was growing to like hearing in her wizened voice.

“I guess I almost did,” Ray admitted sheepishly with a chuckle. “It’s good, though. You certainly should. I’m guessing Pelios told you how he’d been feeling and you took it upon yourself to help him out?”

“Indeed,” the Matriarch confirmed. “The stallion is willing to be open, but he’s also afraid of being open around those he wishes to impress. It’s a problem I think each of your generals face.”

“It’s a problem I face,” the young man chuckled, staring down at the top of the Matriarch’s head.

“Speaking of which, I had a second question for you, but I wasn’t able to catch you at all yesterday,” she said, her voice softening.

“You want to talk about the battle, I’m guessing,” Ray assumed, feeling his voice going hoarse. He had managed to keep himself from lingering on thoughts of Garish, but with the reminder of the gruesome reality that his friend was gone, his emotions were beginning to surface again. With a shaky sigh, he managed to mutter, “I’m holding up okay for now.”

“It… doesn’t sound so, Ray,” the Matriarch carefully pushed. “I haven’t heard such pained mourning since the terrible loss of… well, I shouldn’t say. But it sounded as if you had lost your own child when you mourned after the battle.”

Ray was silent for a moment, throat tight. Slowly, he turned and faced the camp on the cliff’s edge. “Those soldiers, the Fallen. I’ve always seen them as more than soldiers, more than friends, even. Brothers and sisters, maybe, but I don’t think it’s much like that either. They’re older than me by hundreds upon hundreds of years, but when I look at them and think of what I have to do to win this war, I only want there to be a future for each of them. It’s strange that I would want to look after their future like a father would, yet I talk with them like a friend and give orders like a general. I don’t know what to call my relationship with them.”

“It isn’t doctrine, but what I’d call it is being an outstanding general, Ray,” the Matriarch whispered.

Accepting the answer with a quiet nod, Ray stated, “I do know one thing now, after yesterday.”

“Oh,” the Matriarch encouraged.

Taking a deep breath, the young man growled, “For the longest time, I’ve been training for and fighting this war to defend the ponies of Equestria. I didn’t want to see such innocent, pure creatures be consumed by violence and death. I defended them because they’re my friends and family. I lead the Fallen like I do because I don’t want them to die. I want every Fallen I know to get their second chance of life and to live it like they deserve to because I love them. But I never really wanted to kill the minotaurs. I did it because- frankly speaking- it’s the most effective way of protecting both the ponies and the Fallen. It wasn’t until yesterday, when I watched Adant let her husband’s ashes float away in the wind on a completely different continent that I wanted to kill minotaurs.

“I want to kill minotaurs now, because I need to destroy them. I need to win.”

Author's Note:

Not much to say really, but questions, comments, and concerns welcome and wanted!