The Kingdom and the Leviathan

by beckoning devil

Act I, Chapter VIII

The fields outside Canterlot
August 27th, 1851
Day 17 of the Invasion of Equestria

"I bet 20."

"I fold."

"Fold."

"I'm out."

As Tom collected 20 coins of the looted money we had acquired, we heard another volley or artillery going off. But it was old news.

When we had arrived in position to bombard Canterlot, the ponies (I was getting much more comfortable with that term) had put up some kind of bubble around it, and our siege artillery had been bombarding it non-stop for two days.

Which left the rest of Army Group B to simply wait and watch. Half of the Army Group would sit in the field, ready to stand up and deploy in line of battle should the shield fall. The other half was busy entertaining itself by collecting money, or just trying to pass the time by some other means in the nearby village, which we had cleared out rather quickly. This would rotate every four hours.

Our game of poker was halted by a messenger arriving at the door of the house which now served as our living quarters. These ponies may be brutal, but they sure had nice beds.

Where did the ponies go? Simple. They were rounded up, and put in two different houses. We noticed that they appeared older and younger than the ones we had encountered in combat. Perhaps their soldiers were conscripts, just like us...

"Ok guys, time's up. Colonel Gearhart wants you to report to him in five."

A chorus of groans followed, as the relieved section began taking our spot. I grabbed my musket, my cap, and a copy of our orders for the day, and headed out.

We found Colonel Gearhart, and the regiment began to gradually fall in, until all 800 of us, of an original 1,000, had fallen into line of battle, then we were told to sit.

We began our game of poker again, this time it was me who got the most coins, I think they were called "Bits", but it didn't matter. Money was money.

Just as I had sealed the deal with a pair of queens, the alarm went off.

"Stand up! The shield has fallen! Everybody up! We're heading out in two minutes! You there, get UP!" Our regiment's sergeants got us into line of battle, as the other regiments fell into formation.

It was now that one could see the sheer magnitude of our nation at war. We had everything. We had our normal infantry, cavalry, and artillery, but we now had light infantry, who would skirmish in front of us, and even some dragoons, who would be quite handy for outflanking the enemy. But how does one outflank a city on the side of a mountain...

"What's going on?" People were beginning to ask that, and Tom knew the answer.

"I think we've won. They're surrendering."

From the second rank of men, I couldn't see much. Our regiment was in the second wave, with fresh units making up the first and third. Perhaps the Trident Plan now applied to the amount of waves we were to be deployed in.

"Wait...what's that...GET DOWN! EVERYBODY DOWN!" We had seen the explosions of their artillery going off, as it impacted to the left of us, straight at our own artillery, which was massed in a single grand battery.

In just a few seconds, a good half of our artillery crews were either dead or their guns simply exploded.

Even though I couldn't see them, I could imagine the scene in my mind, of their sergeants getting them back together, re-assigning crews, and preparing a response. "Counter-battery fire, let's go! Shift your fire to their guns!"

This time there were no speeches, no prayers, and no whiskey. The first wave began to march, their regimental bands playing Old 1812. We saw them march, just as we did, in line of battle, then they encountered the first trench.
We couldn't see them, but we could hear the screams.

I've always heard that story about the Good Samaritan, who helped that man in need. Well, we wanted to help them, tell them that it was going to be ok, but for a good half hour we heard them, then their voices disappeared, as Colonel Gearhart watched them with the help of his binoculars.

"Sweet Jesus..." he would occasionally mutter, followed by a "Get out of there, you fools! Can't you see the leaves rustling to your left?"

After a total of an hour, we were told to advance.

"Fix bayonets! You're gonna need them!"

Tom looked over at me, and we shook hands, knowing that this could be the final battle in this cursed war.

"Regiment, forward, MARCH!"

Our regimental band began playing Yankee Doodle, and we began marching closer to the sounds of battle.

As we closed in, we swiftly came under fire from their artillery, which had near completely destroyed ours. Their shells began exploding in the air, raining shrapnel down on us.

"Steady! Steady!" There must have been 100 of us that had died in that volley alone, leaving us with around 700 men now.

We kept our pace, and soon were in the midst of combat. We could see that the advance had stalled at the edges of the city, and we were needed for the push in.

"Regiment, HALT!"

I saw the first wave had been broken up into three areas, all of them keeping their heads down, hiding for their lives. They looked at us, almost as a man welcomes a savior, only they now knew as much as we did that so many of us were going to die.

"Make ready!" The ponies now saw us, and spears were beginning to be tossed our way. The soldier to left of me had his head taken off by one, and the disgusted Private behind him had to step over him, then he promptly vomited.

"The bastards with the spears! Front rank, take aim!"

"Fire!"

Our muskets went off, and they impacted several of them, but now the ponies began to retreat into the city. We knew what was next.

"Form column of fours! Come on, move!"

After the column was set, the men of the first wave got their act together and began moving down the street to our right.

We began moving into the city, and it was eerily quiet again.

"Shit...sergeant, I can't do this..."

"Yes you can! Keep moving!"

There they were...in the buildings now. "Halt!"

Spears...so many of them...impacting the whole line...

"Aim!" Anybody who could find a target did so, not just the men in the front rank.

"Fire!" They promptly hid in the buildings, and now we knew what came next.

"Split into groups, take the buildings! Go! Go! Go!"

Tom and I, along with about 50 others, split up and kicked down the door to one of their houses. The first soldier that entered had his head promptly smashed open by a pony behind him, which I wasted no time in bayoneting.

I scanned the room. It was dark, there was barely any light, and I could hear them moving in there. Tom came in after me, and the fifty of us began clearing the bottom floor, knowing full well that the spears had come from the top floor...

We looked at each other, and I nodded. Tom and I, with the others, cautiously went up the stairs, one by one, and began clearing the rooms. Nothing...nothing...nothing...nothing...

Then there was one last door. We prepared to enter, but before everyone was in place, they swarmed out. The Private nearest the door was consumed by a storm of blows, and before he had a chance to scream, he was dead.

"Shit!"

"Goddamn!" I was near the back of the hallway, and was then pushed by the others, who tried to escape their deaths. I didn't blame them.

"Out! Get out of the house!"

We fell out of the house, and the ponies inside didn't follow us. They promptly began throwing spears at us.

Colonel Gearhart saw us outside the house, and began bellowing commands, seeing that the others were falling outside of their assigned houses. "Find the largest one, get everybody inside!"

We saw what looked to be a theater of some kind, kicked open the door, and the few hundred of us that were still kicking began to clear the house, except we saw that this was some kind of hospital, for them...

The theater was cleared of any of them who wished to fight with us, and we began taking positions at the doors and windows. There were only a few, so I got to guard their wounded. The chairs in the theater had been pushed to the sides, to allow the numerous cots and beds now arrayed inside.

We were stranded here, the other regiments were God knows where...

"Here they come!"

"Incoming! Prepare to receive them!"

The ponies in the other buildings now began sprinting toward us, and they promptly broke open the door, and began simply slaughtering us. They obviously wanted their wounded, who were beginning to trot outside if they could walk.

In all the confusion, I saw that orange pony again, this time flanked by a rather pink one, who jumped up and down, perhaps in excitement.

I knew that this was the end of my life. I could either die now, trying to kill one of them, or I could die trying to hide.

I walked up to the pink one, called out, "Hey, asshole!" and swiped at it, cutting it's chest a bit with my bayonet. "Hi!" It responded, and it and the orange one began to close in with me, rather menacingly, though the pink one had a smile as it looked over me.

"Don't worry John, I got your back!" Tom was to my right now, and he saw the grin of the pink one, and was briefly taken aback by it.

"Oh, lookie here, Pinkie! It's the fella ah was tellin' you about!" The orange one smirked as it saw me, trembling in fear, debating whether I wanted to run and hide or not.

I started approaching the orange one, bayonet forward, as Tom started to approach the pink one.

"Fuck!" Tom exclaimed, as the Pink one suddenly bolted to his right. I made the mistake of turning to look, and was rewarded with a swift kick to my musket, as the orange one kicked my musket out of my hands. It slid over to where a soldier was desperately trying to grapple with a green-looking pony.

I began searching for a weapon as the orange one pushed me to the wall, and held me there with a hoof, pushing hard against my chest.

"You...devil..." I made out, and it simply looked at me, almost with pity. "You poor thing...what lies brought you here?"

I started kicking, and it seemed about to let me go, when a Private called out to us, from the top floor, "Reinforcements! They're sending in the third wave!"

The ponies looked confused for a second, then the orange one called out, "RETREAT! FALL BACK TO THA PALACE!"

I remember the orange one looking into my eyes for a moment, shaking her head, and then she simply trotted off.

We could begin to hear the strained tune of Yankee Doodle as our men began heading down the street. We saw that some of the wounded ponies, who didn't have the strength to walk, started to shudder as they remembered that tune, and all that came with it. Their nurses simply looked at us with a disgusted face, and continued to treat them.

"Men, now's the time! Onward, rally behind them!" Colonel Gearhart's voice was beginning to become hard to hear as Yankee Doodle took it over.

We formed outside the building, after a column of the third wave had passed us. We formed our own column, and began following them.

We knew that it was now or never, and through repeated bayonet charges, massed volleys, and some luck, we began getting closer and closer to their palace. As we approached it, a fire began to form at the top of the palace.

I thought nothing of it, but the screams of those banshees...

The winged ponies began falling from the clouds at us, who were now all tightly packed. One of them plowed through easily fifty tightly-packed men, leaving behind a rainbow trail as we saw them collapse, all missing parts of their body.

"FORM! FORM! FORM!"

Our regiment now formed into line of battle, and saw the winged ponies prepare to charge us.

"Retreat!"

"Fall back!"

"WHO SAID THAT!?"

Colonel Gearhart looked and saw, as we all did, soldiers of the first and second waves begin to run for their lives.

"STEADY UP! STEADY UP! HAVE NO-"

I thought I had misheard him, but there he was. Colonel Gearhart clutched at his throat, where a spear had been thrown through it. He coughed up blood, then collapsed.

For the first time in the war, our men began to rout. They turned and ran, first as a trickle, then a stream, then all our regiments began to run.

I looked at Tom, and he looked at me. What were we going to do? We were right at the palace, it was so close...we could see that the end was in sight...and we were running...

"John...I think we'd better follow them."

"..."

We saw a wounded soldier near us, picked him up, and began to run.

We ran, and ran, and ran. We eventually ran so far that they began cheering, and our own lines were in utter chaos.

After we had cleared the city, we didn't stop there. We took a right turn, and ran straight into a forest. Tom and I, along with our wounded soldier, were well away from where we were supposed to be. The rest of the regiment...were they still alive?

I doubted it.

However, we had bigger problems. We were lost.

Not just us, but this war...it would take much longer...and I could only imagine what that would bring us.

Comments

[Matt345]

First............Again.

[normalshearstress]

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Kill some ponies already

[The Gunny]

What commander would charge into a frontal assault on a fortified position? The Colonel of course!

Other than the tactics being way off a rather good Chapter

[SupremeSoviet]

This Colonel needs to be killed, he's just too incompetent. One of the most obvious things you do with artillery is not group them together, you are supposed to divide them across your lines, so that if the enemy hits one position, you will still have other pieces of artillery intact. And next is if your enemy is to dug in a city, you usually wait it out, they will run out of food, and water, eventually. Please have that Colonel die, and be replaced by someone who is competent.

[Tenebris Caeruleus]

I enjoyed this a large amount, and, ponies, You did everything to deserve this.
:3

[poisedanimeBloke]

People stop complaining about the colonel being incompetant. It is a historical fact that most of the colonels and generals of the US army in the 19th century were very incompetant.

Just look at some of the civil war battles, total failures on the Union's part!

[Dubious]

Suddenly, the British. But in all seriousness, if the ponies did something like this in modern times, many years would be spend repairing the giant hole that was Equestria. And if they entered the Everfree, may Odin help them.