The War of 1002

by Fireheart 1945

Chapter 25; Winter war

The biting embrace of winter was hardly pleasant. The wind blew often, frequently dragging another layer of snow with it. Human and ponies were almost constantly cold. Expansion of the base was difficult, though not impossible, and Blue Fur could be seen instructing soldiers on what to do and where to build things.

James was sitting in his own cabin, wishing the logs in the fireplace would actually catch fire; as it was, they were too wet from the snow and could not be lit. He tried to ignore the problem as he turned to his maps.

One idea made it's way into his frozen brain. If he sent out group of soldiers on harassment missions, some simulaneously, he wouldn't have to worry about spacing for soldiers' quarters as much. Detaching parts of the army on what was essentially a guerilla campaign had been necessary for his plans anyway; this just conveniently fit in with those plans.

He drafted the next orders for deployment. As he signed them, he noticed that the regiment sent on this assignment was that of the 1st Ponyville. He briefly considered changing this, then shook his head; Bright Star would understand. Showing favoritism was unacceptable for a commander.

I pray that you and your comrades return safely.

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Bright Star waited as the night grew darker; three days ago his regiment had been given orders, orders that said specifically "raid, harass, and ambush the enemy." Those same orders also said not to become entangled in a major engagement. Some officers might have wondered what was acceptable in the confines of those orders.

Not Captain Rolling Barrel. As uncouth as a military officer could be without being demoted (or discharged), he was well liked by the soldiers he commanded, Bright included. The brown earth pony had been a farmer before the war, but had adapted to military lifestyle and tactics better than anypony had expected. The captain was currently looking at the Griffon base through a pair of binoculars, occasionally nodding.

Lieutenant Blitz rarely spoke anything except the language Jim called German, and he was, in contrast to his superior, very much a disciplinarian. Regardless, he and the captain got along surprisingly well. A yellow-orange pegasus, the lieutenant was always fussing about something; Bright had lost count of the number of times he had forgotten to switch languages, in which case Blitz would ramble on in (what was to Bright) gibberish before almost comically realizing what had happened. He was at Captain Barrel's side, every so often muttering something to the company leader, who would nod in response, though he remained silent.

Last but not least, "Sergeant" Rail of the Unauthorized Regiment (which was technically authorized now, to the humor of those who made the connection). He was unorthodox, but he knew the land around here like the back of his hoof, and had been instrumental in getting them this far. He was aggressive, probably due to the fact that his village had fallen to the Griffons, and kept urging Barrel and Blitz for more offensive action, and was constantly let down when he was overruled by his fellow officers; he had actually been caught drinking alcohol twice, with both instances occuring after the captain and lieutenant had refused his "requests". He was anything but drunk now, however, and kept his eyes angrily fixed on the Griffon base.

"You sure you're ready for this, Bright?" a pony in his squad asked.

"Yeah, never better," the yellow stallion lied. He was actually scared down to the bone, as he always was before a fight. This was his first raid, and he didn't savor it anymore than he would have a major, no-holds-barred open battle.

The other pony nodded, but didn't reply.

"Stille!" Lieutenant Blitz said sharply, turning around for a moment.

Everypony had learned what that meant. Other quiet discussions died off almost immediately.

Blitz grumbled under his breath, but said nothing further and went back to staring at the enemy base. After a few more seconds, Captain Barrel came down from his position, with the lieutenant in tow.

"Alright boys, here's what the boss wants us to do," the captain said, almost in a whisper. "There's a warehouse filled with all the supplies the birds need fer food and ammo. The rascals don't have it well guarded, so I think it'll be an easy job, but keep you eyes peeled; this could be a trap fer all I know."

"Jawohl. Stay alert at all times, and avoid the notice of the enemy," put in Blitz. "We have our instructions to avoid a general engagement where possible."

"That means you, Rail," Barrel said, turning to the aggressive NCO. "Don't shoot unless they see you, and don't take risks; if ya do, I'll make personally sure you never rise above sergeant, in this or any army."

"I got it, I got it," Rail said, reluctance in his voice.

"You all know the drill," the captain went on, turning to the rest of the company. "Y'all split up, stayin' with yer squads; half o' y'all will give coverin' fire to the other half." Then, with a twist of his hat, the captain said, "Good luck everypony."

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Bright never knew exactly why the enemy didn't notice them; he expected some sort of alarm to go off at any second, or for a Griffon sentry to shout a challenge. That neither of these things happened over the next two hours was a miracle in and of itself. Griffon soldiers would, every so often, fly above the trees, looking for intruders. He supposed that they simply could not see very well in the dark of night, and the moon wasn't out tonight for whatever reason.

Finally, after an hour of freezing, sneaking, and being scared out of their wits, Bright's squad reached it's assigned destination. Only a short distance away stood the warehouse; it had been built outside the base, for whatever reason. Maybe the Griffons didn't have the experience for proper military enginnering; maybe they just didn't think anyone would attack them in the cold of winter.

If so, they were dead wrong.

Another squad moved up to their left. Bright clutched his crossbow in his hooves and made sure it was loaded. A couple Griffons stood on guard, but they seemed bored and tired than on alert. They clearly hadn't seen anything. One of them said something to his partner, but he couldn't make out what it was they were saying from this distance. Lieutenant Blitz muttered again in his own language to a pony nearby who clearly understood; the junior trooper began crawling quietly to the right.

To their front, the two Griffons suddenly pitched forward; four ponies had sneaked up on them. One of them issued a warning to the feathered invaders to remain quiet. Too shocked or too scared to disobey, the Griffons remained silent as they were disarmed and lead away.

"Vorward."

The squads moved forward, unopposed, to the warehouse. An earth pony began to light a fire as other soldiers kept watch. Eventually, an orange flicker arose from the wood, and spread quickly from it's source to the storage building.

"All right, everypony," Captain Barrel said, "we've done what we've set out to do; let's back off and watch the blaze."

Bright was only too happy to obey, but out of the corner of his eye he saw two dark shapes aligned against the night sky. There was a screech, like that of an eagle, and two crossbow bolts buried themselves in the ground nearby.

"Griffons!"

Several ponies turned around and returned fire; over half a dozen bolts flew from their mounts, and at least one stuck home, as a Griffon squawked in pain and fell from the sky. His companion gave a startled cry and flew back toward his own camp.

"Come on," somepony said in a loud voice, "inta the woods!"

Everypony proceeded to do so. They managed to make it into the woods before a Griffon platoon came in an effort to extinguish the blaze.

They never got the chance. Firing from the cover of the forest, the Equestrians put forth a withering fire of quarrels, sending a number of the enemy sprawling on the ground and making the rest seek cover. Although they were firing from a distance, the ponies had a numerical advantage, at least for now, and were able to make up in quantity of shots what they lacked in quality.

The fire continued to spread. Bright hoped it would do it's work before more Griffons showed up.

An explosion came from the warehouse; seconds later, a deafening BOOM and a lasting roar were all that could be heard as the ammunition within exploded. Bright looked away and shielded his eyes. The heat was intense for a few seconds, then gave way as the flames subsided.

The Griffon soldiers hadn't had a chance to flee; they were all on the ground, most ominously silent but a few screaming horribly in pain, some of them on fire and trying to crawl away from the blast zone.

Bright couldn't bear to look any longer. He turned away. At the same moment, he heard the order to retreat come from Blitz's throat, and he eagerly obeyed, trying desperately to ignore the sounds of injured enemies.

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Silver Shield took a moment to marvel at his name; few ponies had ever used a shield, as they were too used to walking on all fours to use one and a weapon at the same time. It wasn't the first time he had had this thought, and it never failed to at least bring a smile to his face.

He had little else to smile about right now; his company was about to ambush a Griffon force that was advancing on Trottingham. Combat never got any easier, not since the first Changeling attaack on Canterlot. It had been the first real time he and his comrades had faced defeat. He had managed to kill a few Changelings even then, but their numbers had been overwhelming, and their focus on obtaining sources of love for energy meant the enemy hadn't even tried to kill him; they had instead immobilized him and his fellow guards. That had been exceptionally embarrassing. Only the love spell by Princess Cadence and Captain Shining Armor had thrown the black monsters back. His first taste of war, and it had made him sick to his stomach.

He still felt rankled by the failure of the Guard. It still pained him to remember being made unable to move, with Changelings all around, looking like some deity had tried making ponies but had failed to do it properly. Green goo covering his hooves; although he couldn't feel it, it had looked disgusting. Guards strapped down or made to sit back to back, disarmed and helpless. He shivered. Never again. He would never allow that to happen again. Ever.

He managed to shake himself out of his thoughts. The war had entered another phase, one that was less of open battle and one of movement and surprise attacks.

"Can't see why we're obeying the orders of that blasphemer," said a private in his squad, and earth pony with a coat of light blue and a mane of orange and red.

"Excuse me, Sky, I don't think I heard that," Shield said quietly... and menacingly.

"You heard me," Sky siad defiantly. "I heard rumors that... thing Princess Celestia hired to lead our army said to her face that she wasn't divine. And I don't..."

"The Princess herself set him in charge of the army," Shield interrupted. "Thats means you will obey him as if every word he says came from the Princesses themselves. Is that understood?"

Private Sky simply looked away instead of answering openly.

" Did you hear me?"

"Yes, sergeant. Sorry, sergeant," the junior soldier said reluctantly.

It wasn't as if what James had said that night hadn't bothered Shield. It had. After serving for years in the palace, it was hard to believe anything different from what everypony believed. But as a Royal Guard, he had had to deal with liars and criminals much of the time, and that had given him the experience to know, more or less, when somepony (or someone, as the case may have been) was lying or telling the truth. It wasn't as if either Celestia or Luna had confirmed (or denied, up till now) their status so far as the divine went.

He had heard such murmurings before, but they had largely disappeared after the battles to defeat the Changelings. Confidence in their commander erased any religious division the army had had between it and it's Colonel. That is, until more recruits passed training and joined the army; a little less than half the army James had to lead were fresh from the Ponyville camp, and the mutterings had begun shortly before the first fight with the Griffons.

Jim, with more urgent business to deal with, had probably not noticed yet. Most veterans had ignored the religious rumors and mutterings, but the new guys would make themselves known eventually, one way or the other.

"Eyes to the front!"

Shield again shook himself back to business. Now was not the time to think about internal problems in camp. Especially not since he could see the enemy coming; a line of Griffons marched in close order. They wore red coats and carried long muskets, and bayonets hung from their belts. A banner of white with red and blue stripes waved on a flagpole; two crossed golden Griffons stood in front of the stripes.

Troops loyal to King Raniero himself, then. The King's troops were the best armed soldiers in the Griffon army, and always had the best equipment and, reportedly, the best training. They were also understandably the hardest to beat. Shield hoped the ambush worked.

The road was surrounded by forest to either side; the road itself was slightly sunken and worn. A wooden fence stood on either side of it. The captain had decided this was the best place to stage an ambush.

Celestia, Luna, or God, whichever of you is listening, please let this work.

The Griffons were close. Any second now...

A quarrel flew from the woods and struck the Griffon officer leading the troops; he crumpled without a cry. The column stopped.

"Fire!"

The Equestrians obeyed; Griffons fell left and right as quarrels struck them. The ponies could hardly miss at such close range.

Professional as ever, the King's soldiers lifted their muskets to their shoulders. An officer gave orders to fire at the woods to his left; he died seconds later as a crossbow bolt hit him in the neck. Ignoring the loss, his soldiers fired.

One advantage the Equestrians had was that the enemy had trying to shoot at a foe that, for the most part, they couldn't see. Almost all their shots missed. Almost all; a couple ponies were hit and cried out. A few other Equestrians quickly dragged them to (relative) safety behind the trees.

Another disadvantage the Griffons had was that their weapons required a precise reloading proceedure, while the crossbow was more simple to reload, and at the very least would not explode if it's owner didn't load it just right (Shield had seen a few Griffon muskets explode in their owners' claws; the cause was later revealed as an overload of gunpowder). The Equestrian weapons didn't have the range or the hitting power of their counterparts, but in this scenario, it didn't matter. More Griffons were hit and fell out of line, or what there was of it; it was almost impossible to form a proper line when the road was only a few feet wide.

Shield took aim and shot at another enemy officer; it was easy to tell who they were, as they were the only ones swinging swords everywhere. His target fell, though others had probably been shooting at the Griffon as well, so he had no clue whether his hot had been the fatal one. It wasn't as if he wanted to know, either.

The slaughter continued. The Griffons tried to fight back, as they always did, but they were unable to see who they were fighting, let alone take aim. Most shots they did take were blind, and very few actually managed to hit anyone. The longer they stayed, the more losses they suffered.

It came as no surprise when the call came from one of the few enemy officers left standing called, "Retreat!" His soldiers were too glad to obey. They began to retreat, although some of them kept shooting at the foes they could not see to cover their comrades' withdrawal. The firing slowly died off.

"Permission to pursue, Captain?" a private called to Captain Lion Mane.

"No," replied the captain (who, true to his name, had a mane of red-gold and a yellow coat; he really did resemble a lion, except that he had hooves instead of paws). "We fall back. Gather the wounded, ours and theirs, then prepare to move out."

"Yes sir."

Shield leaned on his crossbow for a moment in relief. He was still alive, and ready to fight another day. For him, for now, that was enough.

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Silver Lining flew through the night air with a squadron of other pegasi. The cold was difficult to bear, especially from this height.

That didn't mean he didn't enjoy flying, even now. The ground was ever more pretty from the sky, or at least that was what he had always thought.

The group of pegasi had been given the mission to bomb an enemy camp and then retreat back to the base. Each one carried an artillery shell with their forehooves; they had been refitted with an activation switch, so that they wouldn't explode by accident. They were lucky this night was cloudy, or else the moon would have illuminated them.

As they continued to fly on, Silver remembered his days as a sailor. It was what had drawn him and Jack tar together; they had served together on a ship for a few voyages. It was how he had learned to many languages, from sailing all over the world to new and sometimes exotic lands.

He frowned. He and the orange pegasus sailor had fallen out after the latter had insulted Jim to his face. As a former sailor himself, he could understand his fellow pegasus' feelings, but the way he had expressed them was simply unacceptable.

He didn't like where his train of thought was going, so he focused on the ground again. The Griffon camp was coming up. He sighed with relief; they didn't have any airborne patrols.

Probably all freezin' their beaks off. The birdlike invaders had thought they would have a walkover, that they'd simply flex their muscles and victory would be theirs. The Equestrian army had proven that that victory wouldn't come so easily, if it even came at all.

"Alright, everypony," the flight leader said, just loud enough for them all to hear, "We're over the target. Set your shells to explode, and drop em' all on my mark."

Silver did as he had been commanded; he turned the fuse.

"3, 2, 1... drop em!"

He dropped the shell, explosive head pointing toward the ground.

"That's it, everypony back to camp!"

Silver again obeyed, paying close attention to the Griffon camp as he did so. A couple minutes later, orange flashes dotted the enemy base.

Maybe you'll get a dose of reality, you bastards. He didn't normally swear - nopony usually did - but it seemed appropriate here.

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White Knight shivered. It was cold tonight, as it was every winter night. And he had drawn the short metaphorical straw tonight; he was on guard duty, and the moonless night was unwelcoming.

How'd I evah get inta the army? He knew the answer; he had thought of war as a big baseball game, not as the bloody, costly affair it truly was. Patriotism and a belief that the war would be over quickly had settled the matter.

And ta think dat I could be back in Manehattan, beatin' everypony at chess. He giggled; a few of his victories there had been ever so amusing. One colt had lost in two moves*; he had laughed for weeks over that.

The night was dark, and it was beginning to snow. He wrinkled his nose once more. He felt like this job was useless; who would be dumb enough to attack now?

He looked to his right, where a fellow guard was supposed to be. "Hey, Shiny Bolts, how ya hangin'?"

For a second, there was no answer, and certainly nopony where he was supposed to be.

"Shiny, if you're pullin' a prank on me, I'm gonna...

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'm here, buddy," came an answer at last.

Knight frowned. That voice didn't sound like Shiny's. "Ok, well, the shift's almost ovah. You wanna catch a biute before we bunk for da night?"

"Uh, no thanks, I'm good."

"Ok, if you insist..." Knight focused on his magic and teleported to his comrade's spot. A Griffon lay there, attempting to keep Shiny Bolts quiet. He raised his crossbow and his horn lit with magic. "Hold it right dere,buddy," he said in a dangerous voice.

"Oh, damn it," the Griffon said angrily, and released Shiny.

"Claws up, buddy."

The Griffon obeyed. "What in hell gave me away?"

"For one ting, Shiny never calls nopony 'buddy'," Knight said confidently. "For anodder, ya voice wasn't right."

"Damn it, knew I was off a bit."

"You ok, Shiny?"

"Shut the heck up and take that monstrosity to the prison barracks," Shiny said in his usual unfriendly way.

"Roger dat. Get movin', you." White Knight, his crossbow floating in from of him, marched the most recent prisoner all the way to the brig. He slept well that night.

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Sorry for not updating this for awhile, Civ 5 and school are the usual suspects (and, in this instance, convicts) here. Thanks for all your support, everyone!

*This is actually possible; look up "Fool's Mate" on Google or Yahoo.

Comments

[Philobrony]

I've actually fools mated someone before. It was epic. And hilarious.
Also, this fic needs theme music.

[For Soviet Equestria]

Civ 5. I don't blame you.

[Philobrony]

2323345 The link doesn't work, I'm afraid.

[Guardian]

Winter War

I see what you did there. And actually, it kind of does remind me of The Winter War. However, no offense, but the storyline in this chapter seems slightly off. You have several battles happening here, some seems to serve a purpose while other don't, that last one being an example.

2321724 Perhaps this?

[Fireheart 1945]

2323542

My intention was to pass the time while showing various actions undertaken during this period of the war. Each mission shown took place a day or two apart from one another. And the last one featured an attempt by the Griffons to spy on the Equestrian camp, which luckily failed.

[Guardian]

2323998 Ah, good trick, although it would have been better if you actually indicated the passing of time. Okay, now I'm getting too picky.

[Fireheart 1945]

2324008

I happens to everyone

[Guardian]

2324016 On a side note, you think there should be a theme song for this? It's something I like to do in my stories to add more depth.

[Solowing32]

Albeit there are some mistakes in the earlier chapters (spelling with the ocasional repeat), you my good sir have earneda fav.

[Old Diggy]

One colt had lost in two moves*; he had laughed for weeks over that.

I was facing a friend about 2-3 years ago and she had absolutely no experience with chess (I had to show her how to move the pieces right) and I wasn't paying much attention to her pieces and she ended up winning in 2 moves herself, she didn't even notice she won till she said check and I saw what happened and told her she won.