introduction and chapter 1

Woodchip is an officer in Princess Celestria's Solar empire. To be more precise he is a Major of the first battalion of the Ponyville. He was originally a carpenter who spent most of his time building and repairing the houses and shops all over Ponyville. But when civil war broke out between Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Ponyville moved to the side of Celestia. Like all the others in Ponyville, he was unfamiliar with the ways of the war and combat. Thankfully war was a very uncommon thing for Equestria as for a thousand years peace had reigned over the land. Like most wars in history you have heroes and you have villains for the stories. One of our heroes, though he would never admit to in is Woodchip. He will find that in desperate times he will find the strength to do what is needed of him. Now I am very fond of an author called Bernard Cornwell, who wrote a number of stories about a man called Richard Sharpe who fought in Portugal and Spain with Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the duke of Wellington. So the siege in this story is based loosely on the great siege of Badajoz, a site where the duke of Wellington lost over five thousand men in one night. This was because siege warfare at the time was more science, than tactics. You make a breach in a wall and funnel you troops through it till the win. But the defenders will be ready with booby traps of all kinds to slow you down and in the end a breach is nothing but a meat grinder which must be beaten to archive victory.

The tall stallion walked down the hall of Canterlot castle looking for the right room for the meeting he had to attend. He was dressed in a red officers tunic with green facing on the collar and cuffs and silver buttons going down his chest and from his side on a belt hung a simple short curved sabre which he hated to use. It was too light and dainty for him and he knew the cheap blade was not much good. This was the first time he had ever been to the Castle and the multitude of corridors and staircases was making him frustrated. 'This is ridiculous!' He muttered under his breath to no pony in particular. He finally gave up and asked a passing mare in a maids outfit for directions. 'keep going down their till you reach the end and take a left and it's the fifth door on the right.' He gave her a polite thank you and Trotted to the room and was given a small salute from two young Guards at the door. On of them barely reached the tall stallions chin and looked like he had come strait out of school.

The door opened into a large room with with stained glass windows and a long table running down its centre. The room was filled with ponies all wearing similar tunics like his but all with different colours on their collars representing the different regiments they all came from. A mare with a grey coat and blonde Mane dressed in the same tunic as his trotted up and gave him a crossed look with her one eye. 'I see you got lost again Major Woodchip!'
'Always a pleasure Colonel Derpy' He clicked his hoofs together and gave a smart salute.' she rolled her eye and ushered him to the far side of the room, pushing pass other ponies as they passed. Sitting at the table was Colonel Macintosh, who was Woodchips friend and commanding officer in the Ponyville regiment. 'Derpy, Woodchip the red stallion smiled as he waved a hoof to the chairs. They shuffled into their seats and looked and all other ponies in the room. Their had to be at least thirty of them all together representing the commanders of easily ten regiments of Pegasus, unicorn and Earthpony troops. It was clear to the three friends that this meeting was of great importance to this years campaign against the forces of the Luna republic.

Before the start of the war. Your common subject of Equestria believed that the two sisters ruled together in perfect harmony. But this was far from the truth, as in fact there had been multiple disagreements between them since Luna's return a few years ago. For Celestia was opposed to radical change in the way of life in Equestria. Many labor saving devices had been refused by Celestia due to them taking away some of the wholesome values of life. But Luna was the opposite, as she wanted to make Equestria a better world with the introduction of new technology and new policies. She believed the ponies deserved a parliament system which could address the many problems in their country. But Celestia told Luna that their subjects would find corruption in politics and the end result would be stagnant and useless.

It had come to a head when Princess Luna attempted a coup de ta to overthrow
Celestia and place herself on the Thrown of Equestria. With her Royal guard and a number of sympathizers, she stormed the castle and the throne room. But Celestia was no fool and with her own guards she had been waiting for Luna. Quickly the fight in the throne room swung in Celestia's favor and resulted in Luna and her royal guard fleeing from Canterlot heading for the Eastern provinces. But it did not take long for princess Celestia to realize that her sister had greater support for her cause, than just her royal guard. In less than two weeks the eastern territories of Equestria had risen up and Luna's flag flew in their towns and cities, Hailing her as their true Princess.

Celestia could not ignore this open act of treason And so with a heavy heart she declared war on the newly formed Luna Republic. Both sides massed their armies and marched out to face
each other. The banners and flags flapped in the warm summer breezes and the ponies marched in good spirits of a quick and easy victory. Outside of Hoofington the first battle was fought and had resulted in a dead heat. Both sides had lined up on the ground and in the sky and simply charged at one another in massed packs. They clashed together and hoof to hoof fighting broke out between the untrained ponies. Only the royal guards actually showed their fighting skills on the ground and air. Woodchip found himself fighting for dear life against a unicorn who was taking pleasure in watching him duck and run from the blasts of magic. If it had not been for big Macintosh and his heavy cavalry sword removing the unicorns innards, he would had surly died. The battle continued in to the long shadows of the end of the day. So the two sides separated and returned to their respective camps. But the first sheaves of Celestia's sun it became clear that Luna had up camped and marched away. The Ponyville and the other young regiments were sent to patrol the border between the empire and the republic and to trained their ponies under them. Those autumn days of patrolling saw a handful of small skirmishes with republic troops doing the same as them. Woodchip had showed himself to be a capable leader of ponies and a loyal friend. When Derpy was injured by a crazed Hussar pony and his flailing blade. Woodchip had carried the Major on his back all the way to the camp. Sadly Derpy had lost her right eye but her life had been saved. Due to his actions, he was promoted to the rank of Major and Derpy was given and commission to lieutenant colonel of the second battalion back in Ponyville.

But with winter coming in, the two side returned to the warm and dry of the cities and villages. But the winter had given each side time to think up new strategies for the new year and Celestia had called a council of war in Canterlot Castle. As they waited, Woodchip talked to Derpy next to him "what do you think her plan will be? I'm betting she will go for the Baltimare and push on to Manehatten."
Derpy shook her head at him. 'Honestly Woodchip you have no
concept when it comes to strategy! Celestia will want to stick to the main roads so we can move fast into Republican territory and secure a quick victory.'

She was interrupted by a nudge from Macintosh 'Hush up you two' announcing that Celestia wanted to address her officers. The table fell silent as they all turned to their Princess. "Thank
you. Now I've called this council together to discuss our campaign for the year ahead. I know that last year we were not ready but thanks to you officers and your subordinates training you ponies and drill and combat, we shall be better prepared this year." With a Glow
of her horn, a map was lowered onto the table and Un-rolled to show the lands of Equestria,
marked out showing all Villages, towns and cities, along with a red line marking the
border between Luna's republic and Celestia's Empire.

"The plan is this my little ponies. According to our spy in the republic Luna is
currently in Manehatten and is getting ready to move south down the central road of
Equestria. Strait into the heart of our territory and this would also split our empire in
two." she looked sternly at her officers. "we must not let this happen, and so I will
take a sizable force east and will proceed to assault the Luna's north flank by assaulting Darby and push on to Manehatten. This will stop her before she can put her plan into action."

She looked up to Shinning Armour at the opposite end of the table. 'whats our current situation sir Armour?' The Stallion stood up to address the room. "We currently have thirty four thousand troops spread out across our territory and nine thousand of those are in Canterlot at this moment. We have enough food for a whole campaign stored in the city"
Celestia was pleased at this news. During the winter months she had decreed that the
army had trained and recruitment be increased, Shinning Armour had done well
with the organizing and this had earned him the rank of Brigadier General.
"That is good. In that case I will take half of the Canterlot garrison and head east. I want
you all to make sure we have plenty of hay and oats for the march. We leave tomorrow morning at nine o'clock. Good morning Ladies and gentle colts."

They all rose from their seats as Celestia walked away followed by her Assistants.
Woodchip gave a low whistle "Well it looks like we'd better get organised. I'll go
prepare the regiment." with that they all headed out of the castle to their tasks in the city.

By next mornings light the bugles were sounding all across Canterlot, singing the soldiers who were billeted in city to assemble in the great square. Every house in Canterlot had soldiers billeted inside and most shared the house with it's current owners. Stallions and mares alike pulled on their new and shinning armour, heaved their packs onto their backs and gave themselves one last glance in the mirror to make sure they were properly dressed before heading out to the parade. Woodchip was in a small room above a shop in Canterlot high street pulling on his new armour. He and Big mac had put their bits together to pay the armorer for their armour. It was a dark green with silver buckles and lining. His helmet was the same color and covered the top of his muzzle and his cheeks. His flank was protected by a leather skirt which covered his legs to his hind quarters. Lastly was his big shield, with its red and green pattern with a large silver boss in the center. He tightened the strap and headed out down the back steps into the street below. As he headed for the square he saw a pony wearing light blue armour with a crested helmet and a curved saber at his side. The stallion was a member of the Blues and royals cavalry from southern Equestria and he was a good friend of Woodchip. His name was Thorne, he was almost half the age of Woodchip but last year the two became friends during the long patrols of the borders.

He drew up close to talk to him. "That new armour suits you Thorne. I wish you could get Scorpio to trade his in for a new one also. He looks like a scare pony in his current armour" Scorpio was a Dark blue stallion with red eye and who had once been on the side of Princess Luna. He was one of her elite royal guard and when he refused to take part in the coup, he was imprisoned and spent almost Two months in prison chained to a wall. During his escape he had been hit by a large blast of magic from Luna which shattered his armour and almost killed him. But his bravery and will power gave him the strength to carry on. When he was intercepted by Woodchips company his requested to join Celestia's army, he was thoroughly debriefed in Canterlot and he used bits of old brass armour to repair his own, his armour was half purple and half brass giving him an odd appearance.

Thorne just laughed at the comment "Good luck with that one! He's too fond of that
armour to give it up." The two continued on together till they reached the square, and what a sight it was to behold them! Four and a half thousand ponies all wearing shiny new armour, which was glistening in the morning sunlight bustling about in their regiments And above their heads their were the different flags. Each regiment had two flags. One flag had the Equestrian flag with its two Alicorns circling the sun and moon, whilst the others showed the regimental
colors. A few of them were a little tattered around the edges, but it was a matter of pride to the regiment, as it proved they had seen battle last year and were skilled in combat.

Woodchip looked at the flags as he trotted down the center of the square and smiled when he found the one of his regiment. It was a green flag with golden plough in the center. It symbolised the fact that the majority of their regiment were earth ponies, with the exception of a sharpshooting regiment of unicorns and a light company of Pegasi. Woodchip took his place at the front of the regiment and smiled as he was joined by Nurse Redheart who gave him a warm smile. "Morning woody, you always look so smart when your in that uniform." Woodchip went bright red at the complement "Thank you Red, your just as Beautiful as ever." They both fell silent as Macintosh came into view, wearing his armour and a carrying a large and strait cavalry sword. It was a crude weapon, I'll balanced and in wildly, which had made it unpopular with the cavalry who used them. But for strong stallion like Big Macintosh it was perfect. In his hoofs it was a terrifying weapon and could cut down a armoured stallion in one blow. He trotted up to them and nodded. "Major, Miss Red Heart. I reckon you'd better get to
your position." with that Nurse Redheart returned to he spot at the end of the line
with her other Medic's. Their role was the health and care of the regiment and to act as surgeons in battle situation.

Then came the sound of horns from the front of the square and Princess Celestia was standing with a Unicorn they all recognised. He wore a blue and white armour similar to Shinning Armour. He had a light grey coat and a brown mane. His name was General Neigh and he had led his forces to a Victory on many occasions last year. He stood forward and shouted in the loudest voice he could. "Regiments! At-ten shun!" All at once four and a half thousand hooves slammed into the cobble stones and heads snapped back, with eyes forward . He took a deep breath "This year, we will bring the republic to its knees! We will show them that their is no
power in Equestria which with stand the might of the Celestial army! Long live the
Princess!"

Everypony chanted at once "Long live the Princess. Long live the Princess"
Neigh Called out again "Bands ponies! Lead us to victory!" The conductor nodded
and had his ponies play the Earthponies March (Grenadiers march) . Drums
hammered and fifes played as the regiments started to filter out of the square in
their neat columns. Woodchip and the regiment was next to move off. Colonel Macintosh shouted the order "By your right Hoof. March!" By the drumbeats they moved forward and wheeled to the left and marched down the center. Now it was Woodchips turn as they drew close to Princess Celestia and her Generals. "Eye's RIGHT!" As one they all looked to the right and dipped their heads in salute as they passed.

They moved out the square and into the main street of Canterlot heading for the city
gates and the open road. The streets were lined with hundreds of ponies wanting to see their brave army off. All over ponies were cheering loudly and flowers fell from the windows onto the ponies. A young mare bolted from the crowd and gave one of the young Pegasi a full on kiss on the lips, before she was pulled back out of the way. It was a wonderful day to be in the army and they all felt a sense of pride in the task before them. The great gates swung open and they filed out onto the main road and turned turned east to their victory. As the troops filed out the wagon train followed with the food, water, weapons and the camp followers joined the march. They would help pitch the tents and feed the ponies when they stopped for the night.

High up on a cloud a lavender Pegasus had been watching and counting the army as it
moved out of Canterlot. She smiled to herself as she took off and headed high into the
clouds and East to report her findings. For Celestia had not been the only Princess
with plans for the new campaign season And this intelligence would prove most crucial.

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