Chapter 30: Ketsugousa re ta Ensei 'Tanikaze' (Joint Expedition 'Valley Wind')
TIME: 09:27 NRWT
DATE: War Day 271 (Local)/32 Solarius, 1002 C.S.
LOCATION: JMB Hatsukaze, Iwo Jima
Part 1: Gathering Intelligence
After a few days of work on the island, about half of the Moligans simply gave up. The other half fought to the death. We had 124 Moligans that wanted to play ball, and they had been put to work. Most of them were from the lowest classes in Moligan society - the Diggers. They dug, while the Starnoses (actually, also, the name of the leader of the Moligans in the old cartoon) got first bite at whatever treasure was found - be it food or whatever else. Starnoses were also the fighters of the Moligan race. As expected, we didn't have many Starnoses that wanted to join us - three, in total. That was fine.
The Diggers were set to work immediately, mining known coal and iron deposits. The 27 children that we also got, were sheltered temporarily in the work camp, while the Engineers built the buildings. Since we didn't have to worry about central plumbing, heating or electricity, the structures were very simple. This was made even easier when the Moligans showed us how to make Sheetrock from waste rock dust and other materials they had in abundance. They mainly used it as decorative facings for walls, but we could use it for (relatively) fireproof construction.
Basic labor was underway at Moligan Island. It was truly a paradise - plenty of good wood for shipbuilding, excellent sources of iron, good enough sources of tin and copper to make a difference, and plenty of coal. Once things were properly set up, we could generate enough coal from the mines in one week, to fully supply the entire fleet's bunkerage. Of course, constructing the small shipyard would help get the supplies to Iwo Jima quickly.
So much to do - and Cosmic was completely on top of this. While he was an artillery man by trade, I found that he had quite a bit of architectural education (his uncle) and he spent a lot of time in his youth simply drawing city plans. And as the war progressed, he'd taken to drawing plans for efficient military facilities in the field. Purely of his own volition.
By War Day 271, I noted that the Neighponese forces were growing restless - they wanted to get their home lands back, and I didn't blame them. They had been training for almost two weeks, and already understood enough about the essentials to be put to a live test.
We just needed a target.
Emperor no Ken: "Neigha may prove to be to rlarge of a tahget.."
I was in the Emperor's temporary quarters with the Seven Bushi and my staff. The Boys were here as well.
K: "I was thinking that as well. Actually, I would very much like to try island-hopping."
Forest Spirit: "Care to explain, sir?"
K: "It's a concept that was used in a major war that my nation particiapted in.. well, against the civilization analgous to this one."
THAT caused a few raised eyebrows.
K: "..but it's a solid strategy. And it may be the one that gives us the victory we need. The basic premise of it is that a smaller force that cannot focus its full power can overwhelm a larger one, by denying sea routes to th enemy's facilities and conquests. We will probably have to take Neigha - they likely have enough food growing there to feed the garrison - but some of the other islands on the other hand, we can probably cut off."
Neighpon, like Japan, was a series of islands. But where Japan had the four main Home Islands - Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku - Neighpon had two - Honshu and Hokkaido. The names were generic, actually. Honshu means "Main Province" while Hokkaido means "Northern Sea Circuit." And it fit. Honshu was in the south, and Hokkaido was in the north. The total land area was about half of the Japan I knew, and there were hundreds of smaller islands in the general region that were either unsettled or unexplored. The Reinyuku Island Chain was Neighpon's southern-most hard territory. The northern-most island in the Reinyuku's was a minimum of 27 hours' sail (at an average of 12 knots) away from Honshu.
Emperor no Ken: "If that is the case, then I wourld suggest.. here." An island marked "Stridesebo" in Equestrian. "Stridesebo was founded as a port - as you can see, it is among severarl major sea rlanes. I know it is under zere control, but ze city connected to it is very smawrl, so, the occupation forces they wourld require wourld be equarly smawrl."
Senshi: "A most wise prlan, My Emprah." He bowed his head a little. "We need interigence, zough." He looked at me.
K: "Okay, okay, I'm not exactly easy to disguise. Do fishing boats from the smaller outlying islands come there, often?"
Senshi: "Hai. Yes."
K: "Alright, get a boat and pick a crew. Load up with fish and go to the island. Play the part of simple fisherponies. Come back and report on what you see - what types of enemies, numbers, attitude, equipment, and if anyone special is leading them."
Senshi: "You mean.. go myserlf?" He seemed a little surprised at this.
K: "Yes. And pick at least one Equestrian pony to go with you, so you have someone combat experienced along. You have command of the mission, but listen to the advice of whomever you pick from Equestria's forces." I nodded. "I don't want our spy mission blowing up in our faces."
Senshi: "Und'a'stood." He bowed. "Wif your permission, My Emprah."
Emperor no Ken: "You have my permission." He nodded. "Do what needs doing, Senshi."
Senshi: "Hai!" He bowed respectfully and headed out.
Emperor no Ken: "What is our next step, Generarl?" He bid me, with a nod.
K: "Proper organization of your forces. After recruiting all able-bodied ponies on Iwo Jima, you have a land force of 211 ponies fit for combat. This is in addition to four squads of six each from Unicorn, Pegasus, Terra and Bellerophon, and a full company from Moonlight, and two Squads from Alarm, plus the 1st Royal Rangers, elements of the 1st Independent Scout Squadron, two gun crews from the Baltimare Militia, and a squad from Manehattan's Cavalry. In total, Equestria has 202 combat-ready personnel here - not including my General's Staff. I tend to fight on the front lines, with my ponies, Your Imperial Highness." I continued after sipping my tea respectfully (one does not allow one's tea to grow cold). "If we initiate a landing invasion, I would have the Equestrian Royal Marines take the spearhead, followed immediately by your forces - how large is the city of Stridesebo?"
Emperor no Ken: "Mm.. 1250 ponies. Neigha is much rlarger.. over ten thousand." He shrugged.
K: "Alright.. we'll do a company of Marines to start with. Forest Spirit?"
Forest Spirit: "Yes, General?"
K: "Organize the Marines here into one contiguous unit - the First Marine Division. This is an evolution - Royal Marines will now be our proper shock forces for navalized landings in addition to their current duties as ship-boarding forces. Your job will be to get there the firstest, with the most-est." I nodded. "You'll have to select your division staff from the officers available, and reorganize along the plan we discussed."
Forest Spirit: "Well, to be honest, General, I really only have one truly combat experienced officer - that's.." He looked at Tankette Blinda. "..yeah, I'll dual-hat as Marine Senior Officer and First Marine Division Commander until you're ready."
Blinda: "But.." She blinked in protest.
Forest Spirit: "You'll be the commander.. some day." He emphasized that. Some day.
Blinda: "I-I'm honored.." She blushed.
K: "Now that that's handled.. Forest Spirit, start preparations for beach landing training."
Forest Spirit: "Of course. I'll make sure the Marines and the Neighponese Volunteers are all ready."
Emperor no Ken: "And which unit of our fo'ces wirl make de initiarl rlanding?"
K: "I'm going to divide your units into seven parts - Bushi One through Bushi Seven. Each unit will have a radio and thirty troops to start with. As we gain more numbers and volunteers from liberated towns, you'll end up - I hope - with seven proper regiments. Two Infantry, two Cavalry, one Artillery, one Engineer, and one Special Operations. We'll worry about developing an Air Force later - the Air Force trainers were supposed to arrive on supply ships that were scheduled to get here about the time we were due to depart. We simply didn't have enough room on the ships we had. But, as I mentioned, the Supply Ships were torched and replacements had to be readied. They will be here around War Day 290 to 292."
Emperor no Ken: "Fascinating."
K: "A standard Equestrian Combat Regiment is actually six companies - three Infantry, one Cavalry, one Artillery, and either one Engineer or Ranger. Since you have seven Bushi, your initial Regiment will have seven companies. I would like to see about raising seven total Regiments in two front line Battalions and a reserve Home Guard Regiment for Neighpon, once this is all over." I said, shuffling through papers.
Emperor no Ken: "Wif each Bushi the rleader of zere own L'Regiemnt.. very good." He nodded to Rojin Roshi. "You have served since my father's days. I wourld be honored if you wourld take position as the rleader of our Home Guard - zat you may protect our rlands directrly."
Rojin Roshi: "Ah.. of course." He bowed. "It is my honor to serve, My Emprah."
K: "Alright, then - once Senshi gets back with the Intel, we can start planning the invasion!" I nodded. "Our first step, gentlemen, to the liberation of Neighpon." I raised my glass, and we toasted to it.
Despite the rosy hopes of this conference, I knew for a damned fact that by the time we made anything resembling progress on the main islands, Tirek would be very well entrenched. It was going to be more than a pain in the ass - it was going to be deadly. I just hoped we had the force necessary to pull it off when the time came..
{End of Part 1}
Part 2: Preparation
TIME: 10:11 NRWT
DATE: War Day 274 (Local)/2 Primaus, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: Bridge of HMS Moonlight
Capt. Whitecap: "Main guns, aim three-one-five degrees actual. Prepare and fire smoke charge at target zone."
Mstr. Northern Star: "Aye-Aye, Captain. Main guns, three-one-five actual. Prepare and fire smoke charge at target zone."
I stood behind the Captain and the Ship's Master, observing them practice calling in fire with the ship's deck guns. It was all orderly and efficient. The Moonlight had two forward sets of deck guns, one on an upper and a lower deck. The aft deck had only one set of deck guns. Still, that was one more set of deck guns than the Frigates. Plus, Moonlight's original three gun decks were modified into two taller ones with about double the number of guns than the Frigates. Same caliber, too - a mixture of 205mm and 255mm guns.
That would change once I modified her into a one-off Ironclad. The Moonlight was about the size of a smaller World War I Light Cruiser, though given the economies of scale of this world, she would probably pass for a Heavy Cruiser once she was done being rebuilt. I already had plans.. though the Ships-of-the-Line already under construction in Equestria would take about three months to alter. Fortunately, we had plenty of materials and workers.
I watched as the shells all landed in about the right area. A bit off, but that was more due to lack of gun crew training. And that was exactly what we were doing. So far, so good. I had targets along the beaches and on bouoys in the water, to practice shooting at.
The Frigates came up and did their run along the shore, and did the same thing. As expected, the Bellerophon and the Unicorn did the best. Alarm was pretty good, and the other ships did about what I expected. Moderately well all around.
K: "Captain, once we reach the back of the line, bring the Moonlight around again, but veer off to the left instead of the right. Closer to shore."
Capt. Whitecap: "Of course, Sir." Whitecap was a minty-blue Pegasus with white-fringed wings and pale-with-blue-streaked hair.
We proceeded with the firing run. I stepped up to the wheel, and watched the gun crews.
Capt. Whitecap: "Ease us in, Helmsman. Bring us towards the shore - Three-two-zero absolute."
Nodding a little, I put my hand out and grabbed the wheel as the Griffon at the helm completed the turn..
Helmsman Gretcham: "..General? What are you-"
K: "Come hard right! Zero-Four-Five! Torpedo in the water! Forward gun crews, retarget on Flag Number Seven Seaboard! Quick fire marking shells!"
A simulation of an emergency. I spun the wheel to Zero-Four-Five and Moonlight heaved over.
Mstr. Northern Star: "What the-!? C-Come hard right! Forward gun crews, quick-fire marking shells on Seaboard Flag number seven!" He delayed the orders by a longer time than I wanted to hear.
K: "Hard LEFT! Three-zero-zero! Forward gun crews, quick-fire marking shells to fifty meters left of Flag Number Seven Seaboard! Tracking for target moving twenty knots! Continuous firing!" I hit the wheel and spun it over.
Mstr. Northern Star: "GENERAL!" He shouted, exasperated.
K: "Hard RIGHT! Zero-five-Zero! Target seventy meters from Flag Number Seven Seaboard!"
Mstr. Northern Star: "GENERAL!!" He walked up to me.
I grabbed and righted the wheel at zero degrees. We were under sail power, so I had no need to halt engines.
K: "Order all Gun Crews to stand down, Helmsman. Yes, Master Northern Star?"
Mstr. Northern Star: "That was way too fast, sir! Way too fast! How do you-"
K: "You're releived and demoted to Lieutenant. Report to Chief of the Watch for your new assignment. Captain!"
Capt. Whitecap: "Aye-Aye, General?"
K: "Summon the senior Commander, they're promoted to Ship's Master. The Moonlight will come around for another pass."
Northern Star: "WHAT-!?"
K: "If you cannot adapt to a rapidly changing TRAINING exercise, what hope do you have for a combat situation, Lieutenant?!" I snapped at her. "Train as you fight! I simulated an attack from an enemy ship while performing shore bombardment duties - do you think such a situation is impossible?!" I demanded.
Northern Star: "N-No, General.. but-"
K: "No buts! If we can go 20 knots, so can they. If they can fire torpedoes at us, we must evade. If we continue to evade, we must return fire smartly! You made one stuttering attempt to correct our orders then complained the situation was developing too fast. Real war and real combat happen FAST, Lieutenant. If you cannot adapt to that, you have no place on the Bridge, executing rapid orders and changes to condition." I stated firmly.
Capt. Whitecap: "He's right, Northern." The Captain shook her head. "If you can't keep up, I can't be there to second you - I have to command the ship, I can't second orders to the crew as well."
Northern Star: "I.. suppose." She bowed her head. "I'm sorry. I'll improve." She removed the eight-point star from her shoulderboards and put them in my hand. "I promise." She walked off the bridge without another word.
Everyone but the Captain was staring at me. I learned later that Northern Star was a very popular First Officer and my demotion of her for her inability to perform under stress like that, wasn't a very popular move at first. The new Ship's Master, Sargasso Sea, was sterner, harder on the crews, and more disciplined. She was also an Earth Pony, while most of the bridge crew were Griffons, and Northern Star was a Pegasus (the racial difference being, Pegasi can fly, like Griffons).
To be honest, this wasn't the only reason to pull her from First Officer - Captain Whitecap had confided in me that she felt Northern Star was too easy on the crew, and lacked command discipline. Hence the test - she was willing to let her looseness towards the crew go, if she could perform in combat drills. This was her second try - her first try had been done by the captain earlier, as a verbal excercise, with Whitecap timing her responses.
This is what happens when people are appointed to command positions without a formal command education and simply picked for their basic talents. Northern Star was a navigator on a grain ship out of Fillydelphia. She'd never been in a senior leadership position. I made a note to found a formal Officer's College for military sciences.. once we had enough combat-experienced officers to serve as instructors. Saletine might make a good commandant of the school.. as might Forest Spirit, some day.
K: "Alright, get us around for another run." I ordered. "Sargasso Sea, correct?"
A dark green coated Earth Pony walked on to the Bridge. I offered Northern Star's eight-point stars.
Cdr. Sargasso Sea: "I'll accept them when I earn them, General, if that's alright with you." She nodded to the stars.
K: "Alright! Well. Combat Drills. Let's get to it."
The next several days were filled with active combat drills. Forest Spirit marshaled the First Marine Division (1MARINE) into an effective combat force. The "extra" unit from HMS Alarm was cross-trained in basic Engineering by Jim and Ambrosia - how to deploy demo charges, combat bridges, and erect basic fortifications. We worked our tails off, waiting on the Intelligence from Senshi.
On War Day 274, it arrived.
TIME: 14:49 NRWT
DATE: War Day 274 (Local)
LOCATION: Joint Military Base Hamakaze, Iwo Jima
Senshi came sailing into port looking quite pleased with himself. He'd taken Sigmask with him to back him up and advise him. When he sailed into port, his borrowed ship had no fish on it at all. Not even in the holds. I arrived at the dock with Blinda and Applejack as he pulled up to it.
Senshi: "Generarl!" He had an insufferable and not-very-humble grin on his face.
K: "Senshi. Sigmask. Report?" I nodded, with a broad grin.
Sigmask: "You're going to love us, General. More than usual." He gave me the cheesiest grin I'd ever seen from a Pony to that point.
K: "Explain." I crossed my arms and nodded.
Sigmask walked to the hold and dragged out.. a Griffon. One of Gorosbif's crew! I recognised him.. he had a scar on his beak. He was tied up like a mummy in thick hemp ropes. Senshi pulled out a bag of bits and put them in my palm.
Senshi: "Apparent'ry, Griffons r'love fish!" He chortled. "Can't get enough of de stuff! We sold every rlast one. Oh, and we manage to capture this one here. He say he knows you!"
K: "I don't know him by name, but I know who he is." I pulled Celestia's Short Sword and used it to cut the rope binding his beak. "Been a while."
Griffon: *Snort* "Shocked yer not dead yet." He turned his head slightly away from me.
K: "I haven't seen you since the second battle of Ponyville. Where's Gorosbif?"
Griffon: "Commanding the forces at Neigha and Stridesebo - Tirek gave us command of the Reinyukus." He cocked a brow at me.
K: "You're awfully forthcoming." I crossed my arms.
Griffon: "Gonna tell him how I ended up on your boat, Nip?" He sneered at Senshi.
Senshi: *Snort!* "He say he surrender! I don't trust him!"
K: "Understandable. Got a name?" I asked the Prisoner.
Gorlamb: "Gorlamb. I'm Goreham's nest-brother." He wriggled in the bindings. "That's a family member raised in the same nesting site, and one parental line in common, not both." He looked at Gilda as she walked up. "And there's the reason, right there." He nodded at her. "Gorosbif wants you for eggs, honey."
Gilda: "I'm even less interested in him than I was his brother!" She snorted. "And what's it to you!? You want your beak punched inside-out?!" She shook a fist at him.
Gorlamb: "Easy, EASY, sister!" He looked around a little. "I gave up! Honest!"
Gilda: "Outcasts don't just GIVE UP, and you ain't no brother of mine!" A sneer.
Gorlamb: "Well.. technically.. we're like.. twelveth cousins or something.." He said, thoughtfuly.
Gilda: "STUFF it!" She snorted, furiously.
K: "Easy, G. Easy. We don't want him dead." I had to hold her back a little.
Gorlamb: "Look, the reason I left is because.. well, fuck, doin' hit jobs for money is one thing, but I ain't down with what my Nest Brother is doin' - not at all." He shok his head. "Look, if I tell you what's up, can I at least get a little room to move? I got an itch on my fur and it's driving me nuts!"
K: "We'll see.. give." I nodded.
Gorlamb: "Gorosbif is workin' real close with Tirek. Seems he didn't totally fail at the Library - he ended up with a Copy Crystal copy of the first book. And it had something the bastard wanted, so he rewarded us with a permanent gig. When we invaded here, we were given control of the Islands. But Gorosbif? He wants more. He's constantly asking Tirek for more jobs, so he can gain some.. I dunno.. dark magical power or something. He wants you all dead, and he wants Gilda chained to a nest, popping out eggs like a factory. So, Tirek is having him do these tests on the local Unicorn fillies - he's looking for the Emperor's Daughter. She's supposed to have this gift of healing or something..." He trailed off. "The part that got me to say screw this all, is that he's taking ponies at random and ripping them up good - then he's making unicorn fillies try to heal them. When they can't, he eats them."
K: "The test victims, or the Fillies?" I blinked.
Gorlamb: "Both."
*Gasps from the crowd at the docks*
Applejack: "That's BARBARIC!" She shrieked. "That.. that.." She didn't have words for this.. so, she went over to a rock (the size of a small car) by the pier and kicked it as hard as she could in frustration. It evaporated into tiny fragments. "ARGH!"
Gilda: "I knew he was sick.. but that's.." She hook her head.
Gorlamb: "See now why I wanted out, Human?" He looked away, in shame.
Princess Yuuki walked up, with her head down. She was in a simple dress - something that didn't restrict her movements.
Princess Yuuki: "He teRs the Truth." She said, simply.
K: "Alright. Release him." I nodded to Sigmask. Princess Yuuki trusted him, I'd trust him.
Sigmask did as instructed, undoing the ropes and bindings and setting the Griffon free. Gorlamb stretched his wings and arms, flexing his fingers out and scratching his ass. He wore a leather-like shirt with a built-in belt with pouches attached to it. He pulled a small cloth drawstring bag from one of the pouches, and a small pack of papers from the other.
Something, somewhere, inside me, recognised this. Something that, for over a year and a half, had not been there. That I hadn't even considered. Like it didn't exist.
I watched him make motions with his hands. Open the pouch, curl the paper, and salt the battery. He then curled the paper over, and tightened it down, licking along the edge.
Gilda: "Thanks." She took it from him with a smirk, and lit it from a torch.
K: "That's.. a cigarette." I blinked.
Gorlamb: "Thanks, she says. Sass bitch, aren't'ya?" He rolled another one.
Gilda: "You know it, asshole." She narrowed her eyes at him.
K: "And you're flirting!" I pointed at her.
Gilda: "Relax. This is what we do to be sociable." She dragged on the cigarette.
K: "Cigarettes.." I paced, and Senshi looked at me strangely.
Senshi: "These are unusuarl in your worrd?"
K: "No, it's just.." I smelled it. The enticing scent of tobacco being burned. "..I haven't smoked since I first got here."
Applejack: "I ain't never seen that before.." She wrinkled her nose at it.
K: "It's tobacco. Highly addictive. It produces a substance called Nicotene that has mild calming properties, but it causes cancer." I shrugged. "Or, so they say."
Gorlamb: "You want one..?" He held it out.
To my own surprise, I pulled back from it. Reflexively. Instinctively.
K: "N-No.. I don't." I shook my head. I used to smoke a pipe back home - I remembered that, now. But I didn't want any part of what he was offering. I blamed it on the world - despite it going to hell, it had that calming property to it.
Basically, I didn't *need* it.
Gorlamb: "Suit yourself." He shrugged. "It's mostly a Griffon thing, anyway."
K: "Really..?" I cocked a brow.
Perhaps Griffons really did embody the darker sides of.. things. Addiction, violence, vengeance, things like that. Of course, back home, I was very up front about my bad habit and the reality of it. I plain did not care. It kept my stress in check, and kept me from killing the wrong people for being assholes. I recalled that, now. But.. I didn't need that any more. Strange. It just hit me.
K: "A-Alright.. forget that. Intelligence - I need numbers, arms, equipment, support forces, anything and everything." I nodded to Gorlamb.
Gorlamb: "Sure. What'cha want to know? Stridesebo isn't a major security concern right now - we used it as a jump-off point to take Neigha, but it's become a backwater since then. The whole island Neigha's on is a hotbed of resistance. No one wants to play ball there, really, so the number of troops at Stridesebo is minimal. Two tanks, that's it for support."
K: "Maybe you can answer another question I have." I tilted my head at him.
Gorlamb: "Try me." He shrugged, flicking the butt of the cigarette into the water.
K: "What does Tirek want?" I made a large hand gesture.
Gorlamb: "Control of the Inner World. So he can find a way to reach the Outer World." He shrugged. "What do you know of our geography?"
K: "Well, I now know that we're basically in some kind of a bubble sustained by ley lines." I shrugged.
Gorlamb: "According to legends, there's a whole 'nother world on the outside of this bubble. A huge one. And it's up for grabs. Legend also says that Tirek's people came from there, to here, and settled here. He wants to go back to whatever homeland they have, and conquer it. It's not enough for him to just control the Inner World, he wants to control his ancestral home lands.. he wants power, too. Like, beyond Celestia-level power." He nodded.
K: "Isn't he already immortal? I thought he survived the Rainbow of Light from the ancient past somehow." I asked, a bit confused.
Gorlamb: "Actually, he was trapped.. some kind of nether-realm.. he went on a rant about how the two Rainbows basically screwed him over into Limbo, and he got lucky he was released at all - that and the one Rainbow would've killed him." He shrugged his wings.
K: "..just like what Discord said.." I muttered under my breath.
Applejack: "Honeybun?" She put a hoof on my arm.
K: "I'll be alright. Come along, Gorlamb. We need to have a very long discussion." I said, gesturing towards the town.
Intelligence.. so vital. Just about dropped in my lap. Was I suspicious of him? Hell yes! Did I think this was a trap? Possibly. I wasn't about to trust his word, but at the same time, if he was telling the truth, I had a chance here to turn the tide of the campaign here in Neighpon, to my favor. I couldn't let that chance slip by...
{End of Part 2}
Part 3: Getting Answers
TIME: 03:21
DATE: War Day 275 (Local)/3 Primaus, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: Emperor's Temporary Quarters, Iwo Jima
I had Gorlamb placed under guard - for his own protection, of course. I didn't trust the job to the rank-and-file, that's a typical Good Guy mistake. I trusted him to Big Mac and Applejack. If he betrayed us, if he was a Plant, and he hurt Applejack to get away, he'd have to be sure to kill both me and Mac, because we would both rip him in half - IF he managed to get away from Mac.
I made sure he knew this. He acknowleged.
The information that he relayed to us was immense and invaluable. If he was a Plant, then Tirek or Gorosbif was giving us far more intel than they should (unless it was all lies, or something). The immediately verifyable intel was all top notch. Information about defenses and armaments in the city of Stridesebo, and at the Port - Senshi and Sigmask both agreed that he was telling the truth, from their observation. As for the rest of it..
Apparently, Tirek was banished to a limbo state after his battle with Megan and the others. Somehow - and he never explained how - he was released about a century ago. His race, being long lived, gave him the time needed to plan his revenge on Ponykind. Apparently, he was roughly early middle-aged right now, according to Gorlamb, and he had plenty of time left. His primary motivations were revenge, expansion of territory, domination over the civilized Inner World herds and species, and an eventual goal of breaching The Barriers to reach The Outer World, where his people originally came from, that he may conquer them as well - with his conquered races as his cannon fodder.
Tirek had Scorpan at his side at almost all times. Gorlamb had no idea how this worked, once I explained that Scorpan was supposed to have been a human merely changed into a monster by Tirek's magic. As for where the technology was coming from? Gorlamb had no idea - it was usually dropped in their laps with one of Tirek's top lieutenants explaining to them how to use it, and basically delivering a memo or a manual (which certainly explained why they had the tech, but no real idea how to use it effectively).
As for top lieutenants, he had Trixie, Grogar, Somnambula (confirmed! A major intel coup!), Gorosbif and his crew, Rep (who was supposedly overseeing some kind of major project - likely the factory I theorized about), and the Wizard known as Lostshort (which was an inversion of "Wontall" - an evil wizard from the old days) that he knew of, and he suspected there were several more that he never met. He also had lesser senior officers and commanders - some of which were survivors of his initial campaign into Equestria, and thus, experienced.
As for races under his control, he commanded the Duregars (he learned, somehow, what I called them, and turned around and used it to give them a racial identity and more propaganda reasons to fight), the Gizmonks, the Raptorias, the Porcines (he called them 'really big pigs') and some others that were never in his area of operations, but has seen in various facilities. They also had at least some Ponies as Slave Labor, though he had no idea where they came from, and some other Ponies that were working with him willingly.
Tirek's command style was VERY compartmentalized. Each area of operations was virtually independent of the others - they had little to no procedure for calling in support from different command groups. But, this also kept local commanders from conspiring against him or forming a cabal to overthrow him. So, each Command was led by a very trusted (and very powerful) leader. Each Leader has virtual dictatorial power over their commands and subordinates. Gorosbif had already gutted a Raptorian for insubordination - publicly, to teach everyone a lesson. He knew Trixie was still around, too. She'd been seen as recently as a month ago, during the initial stages of the invasion.
All of this came up at the "interrogation" - really, it was more that we sat him down, fed him, and he wouldn't shut up.
K: "You're being very forthcoming..."
Gorlamb: "Yeah, I bet it looks bad. I'd think it looks bad if I was in your shoes. To be honest, I'm fucking done with this war. I don't want any part of it anymore - I just want to.." He trailed off, suddenly.
Gilda: "You ain't goin' home any more than I am." She shook her head.
Rainbow Dash: "Well, hey, you can always stay in Ponyville. Gilda and I have a place." She shrugged. "I know my G, she wouldn't mind putting up with yer fur-and-feather-flank until you can get on your feet."
Gilda: "Ahh.. I can see it happening." She was dropping Tsundere hints.. odd, that.
Gorlamb: "Maybe. I dunno." He shrugged. "Right now, I just want to get the hell away from Neighpon. I mean, I can see doing the revenge thing for Goreham, yanno? That's.. that's what we do. Honor and stuff, right? But.. nah. I can't do the killing and eating kids thing. War ain't my bag - I'll scrap, if I have to." He fingered his scar. "But I ain't no war hero." He shook his head as he ate the Sushi he was served.
Twilight Sparkle: "If you want to stay in Ponyville, I can send word to the local Militia Commander to set you up with a place until we return - and you can go back on the supply boats." She shrugged. "They're due here in about fifteen days."
Gorlamb: "They'll never get here." He lowered his head. "That's.. that's the other thing.. I know there's an active group of sabotage guys in Equestria - several, actually, the way Gorosbif talked about it. He mentioned something about sabotage being done on those ships. They're supposed to go off when the ships are about half way between here and there. I don't know what, exactly, he meant."
K: "How..?"
Gorlamb: "Around us? My Nest-Brother is very loose-beaked. He talks about all these plans and initiatives he's taken, just to get that reward from Tirek." He shook his head and drank his tea.
K: "I need to do something about this right away." I looked at Twilight. "Put me to sleep. Do it. I need to contact Luna." I simply laid down at a spot of floor near the wall, so I was out of the way.
Twilight Sparkle: "Okay.. but.."
K: "No buts. This must be done." I nodded.
......
.....
....
...
..
.
I woke up in Sweet Apple Acres this time. Peace. Luna always dreamed of peace. The sun was setting, the stars were just beginning to shine, the moon was rising..
..and she was already getting my pants down.
K: "Luna.."
Luna: "Mm.." She grabbed it out of my boxers, and started licking it..
K: "Honey! Not now!" I scooted away from her, trying to get my pants back up. "I'll.. dream sex with you later, this is important - lives are at stake!"
Luna: *Whine* "I hate this war! We can't ever be together like I want us to be." *Sigh* "I am sorry. It's just.."
K: "There's a bomb on the supply ships that you sent out. It's going to explode soon. Please, you need to warn the crew!"
Luna: "Oh, dear... no.." Her face was stricken with horror. "My love.. WE ARE ON THE SHIP!" She looked around.. frantic..
..the sky grew dark. Stormy. Thunder and wind. The grass shook in great waves, the trees creaked and groaned..
K: "WE!?" I looked shocked - her as we, or we as in..
Luna: "I-I.. our daughter is with us! I can't simply leave the dream realm.." She shuddered a little. "What would you have me do?!" She asked with fierce determination.
K: "Can you put us both in Starlight's head!?"
Luna: "Y-Yes.. give me a moment to concentrate.. this is not easy for me.. you are not.. one of us. Your mind is different.."
K: "Do it." I clung to her.
In a moment, we were in Starlight's head. And she was back on the island. It was a plesant dream.. her real parents were there, running with her on the sea shore. The dream was so happy.. there was no sign of Raptorians anywhere. Luna and I were in some bushes near the lagoon, hidden from her sight.
K: "Oh, dear God.." I wanted to cry. I knew what this would probably do to her.
Luna: "If we should interrupt this dream.." She trailed off, like something was bothering her.
K: "I hope.. she understands.." I was dressed in my military uniform, I simply stepped out from the bushes. "Starlight!"
Starlight looked over to me.. and suddenly her dream slowed down. The skies went red, burning with fire. Giant Raptorians came out of the skies.. I could hear explosions.. screaming.
Luna: "Wait.. this isn't.. K!" She called to me, stepping out from the bushes. "K! There's something wrong here!"
K: "Starlight! Over here!" I called to her.
Her parents were immediately ripped asunder by two Raptorians with huge claws. Blood and guts everywhere. This wasn't how this worked.. this isn't how it happened.
Luna: "K!!! HER DREAMS ARE INVADED BY AN ALP!" She screamed at me.
K: "An ALP!?" Ancient German demon of dreams.
Luna: "It's a Dream-Demon! It's going to turn this dream VERY real!" She stepped out and started running at full gallop towards us.
K: "STARLIGHT!" I grabbed for her, but I immediately lost all stregth. I almost fell to the ground. "LEAVE HER ALONE!" I yelled at the Dream-Raptorians.
Luna: "STAY AWAY FROM THEM!" She howled, as she rammed into both of them, halfway through the attack, she transformed into Nightmare Moon.
Nightmare Moon: *Royal Canterlot Voice* "YOU SHALL NOT HARM THEM!" And with a huge magial hand, she swatted them away, and they evaporated.
K: "Luna?"
Starlight: "Mo-Momma Luna!?"
Nightmare Moon: "In the realm of Dreams, our power is limitless. Yet you both must have the power to confront your fears, for your strength to show."
K: "Oh, holy hell! This is one of those bullshit confront-your-fears things!" I groaned. I'd actually done this as a mental exercise before.
Okay, so I messed it up and ended up having dream-sex instead. Still! I concentrated on myself as hard as I could.. I was going to turn myself into the most powerful thing I could imagine. I was going to turn into.. something more than me. I could feel myself changing.. I was going to kick this dream demon's ass so hard, it was going to wish it never crawled from the depths of hell.
*UUURROOOAAAHHHH!*
I was 8-foot, 6-inches (260cm). My hair grew long. A trenchcoat formed around me. I grew into a brown vest, with a blue shirt. Doe-skin pants. Brown leather boots that came up to my knees. I was The Highwayman - the Avatar of the Journey. I was my brother's character. I could feel the power flowing through me.
Did I look up to my brother? Fuck yes, I did. His characters were always powerhouses, and I needed POWER.
K/Highwayman: *Darkly* "..and the highwayman came riding, riding, riding.. The Highwayman came riding up to the old inn door." With a flex of my fist, and a swing, I punched ALL THE BLOOD out of the Raptorian coming up next to me. "HA!" I/We pointed at the deflated Raptorian. "Take THAT you SISSY!" I/He brushed the trenchcoat off. "Got blood on my damned trench coat."
Starlight Mint: "So.. I just.. I focus my self.." She shut her eyes. "I think of something powerful." She started glowing. "And I'll become that!" In a flash, she was grown up. She had hands, like mine. The knife that made up her Cutie Mark detached from her flank and grew into a short sword. She was also wearing my uniform. The yellow ribbon was now around her head like a bandanna.
Nightmare Moon: "We see.. you have great strength. Both of you. Now, we must all confront the Alp. We must destroy it in the dream realm, that it never rises again!" She led the way, walking with a goddamned purpose, as the dreamscape changed to that of Dream Castle.
K/Highwayman: "Let me guess.. Bitch-Face can use our worst fears against us? Shit like that?!" I/We put a fist on our right hip.
Nightmare Moon: "Yes.." She shook her head, looking at the Castle. "NO! THAT NIGHT IS LONG BEHIND ME! I HAVE ATONED! YOU CANNOT BRING ME FEAR - I AM FEAR!"
Starlight Rambo: "YOU CAN'T SCARE MY MOMMY! YOU CAN'T SCARE MY DADDY! AND YOU CAN'T SCARE ME! SO COME ON OUT, YOU FLANK-FACE!" She waved her sword.
K/Highwayman: "I have been on The Journey for billions of years! You cannot make me afraid - I fear nothing! EVERYTHING THAT MADE ME FEEL FEAR, IS ALREADY DEAD, AND YOU AIN'T SHIT, YOU FUCKING PUSSY-ASS DEMON WANNA-BE! GET OUT HERE, SO I CAN SHOVE YOUR HEAD SO FAR UP YOUR ASS, YOU TASTE PURPLE!" I/He chuckled. "Tastin' purple."
The world changed. To my home town. It was burning. Bodies everywhere. People I knew.. people I loved. They screamed at me.. begged me.. they asked in wailing tones.. why didn't I stop it?
Stop.. WHAT?
K/Highwayman: "BITCH-ASS! THIS SHIT DON'T WORK ON ME!!" It didn't - this might work on a pony, but it wouldn't work on a human. We needed more pain than this to cause fear and hatred. That and I wasn't totally me - I was The Highwayman.
That's all three of us. It was a frail attempt at best. That side that was still me, however, urged caution. Hard caution. Feeble illusions are one thing, but-
Alp: "So, you have.. evaded my visions.." He appeared before us, looking like a palette swap of Discord.
Nightmare Moon: "YOUR FORM IS INSULTNG!" She bellowed.
Alp: "I rather like this form. Because YOU hate it.." Yes, his pallete was reversed on the color scale, and-
-before I realized what I was doing, The Highwayman flew straight at him, grabbed him around the neck, pulled out his Bison (a gigantic revolver firing 13mm-wide cartidges or pure energy from The Highwayman himself), and in a ridiculous display of insanely over-the-top violence, jammed it down the bastard's throat, and pulled the trigger about a hundred times. What feeble remains were left of the corpse were power-bombed into a mountain, the mountain completely levelled with a busrt of pure energy, an energy-nuke set off in the crater, the crater's walls forced to rise up and swallow the crater itself, a road paved over the crater, with a forest on either side of it, and an Inn sprouted up from one of the stones.
K/The Highwayman: "PROBLEM. FUCKING. SOLVED." I did say my brother made Powerhouse characters.
And the dream slowly dissepated from there. Yes, with that one major anti-climactic attack, we managed to obliterate the Alp. Luna (Nightmare Moon) had a look of total shock on her face. Rather anime-style, really. I swear I could see a sweat drop coming from her forehead.
Nightmare Moon: "It.. is dead.. yes." *Coff* "That.. was.."
K/The Highwayman: "FUCKING. AWESOME." He/I set a fist on the right hip, triumphantly. "We done here? I gotta go drinking with mah buddy.." He chortled (I had no part in it).
Nightmare Moon demorphed into Luna. Starlight harumpfed and went back to normal. The dreamscape around us returned to a peaceful field with the sun setting and the stars coming out.
It took some effort, but I was able to go back to my normal self.
K: "Starlight, listen, I think there's a bomb on the ship. You have to wake up and find it."
Starlight Mint: "All by myself?!" She seemed surprised.
K: "Yes, honey, because I don't think anyone is going to believe what just happened here. I know I don't, and I did most of it. Please, search the ship. When Luna gets out of her Dream-State, she can help you."
Luna: "I must make sure the Alp didn't have friends - I will have to search the dreams of everyone in the fleet. If an Alp kills a pony in the dream realm.."
K: "Yeah, yeah, Freddy Kruger, I get it." I gave a dismissive hand-wave. "Get to it, you two. I trust you." I kissed them both. "Wake me."
Luna: "As you wish, my love. We will see you soon." She kissed me back.
Starlight: "See you soon, Daddy!" She kissed me back, too.
.
..
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......
I sat straight up and checked my watch.
TIME: 04:47
K: "Hey, Gorlamb. Did your Nest-Brother mention anything about an Alp?" I said, looking right at him. He was lounging on the floor.
Gorlamb: "A.. whut-zis?" He looked confused.
Twilight Sparkle: "An Alp is a dream demon. It can kill you in the dream world, causing you to.." She looked at me. "You fought one?!"
Applejack: "You okay, Honeybun?!" She hugged on me.
K: "I'm fine. Gorlamb, is Trixie or Grogar anywhere on the Islands?"
Gorlamb: "Not that I know for sure." He shrugged. "Their units might be on the main islands - it's either that or the reserve divisions. I know Gorosbif mentioned that Cowrea was next, so, it's more likely that Trixie or Grogar were sent there instead. Tirek IS trying to remove these two countries from your little alliance.."
K: "I get it. I get it. Well, the ships should be safe - Luna and Starlight are going to look for whatever might be there, sabotaging things. Now, we're going ahead with our plan.."
I laid it out - we were going to invade Stridesebo, and we were going to take it back. It would be the first step in our liberation of Neighpon - and our victory there would be vital. If we lost, we would lose big. If we won, we would have the foothold we needed to continue our campaign. When the ships arrived, we would have the supplies we needed to open this conflict wide - and the recruits we gathered from the liberated lands would give us the military forces we required to make our victory happen.
As always, we just needed time.
{End of Part 3}
Part 4: Dawn's Early Light
TIME: 04:37
DATE: War Day 280 (Local)/8 Primaus, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: Off the shore of Stridesebo, Empire of Neighpon
Commodore Saletine: "Signallers! Alert all ships - initiate Landing! Raise Battle Flags!" He strode along the flying bridge of the HMS Moonlight. It was our flagship - being slightly different (not to mention larger) from the Bellerophon-class Frigates.
K: "First Wave to Long Boats and Landing Ships!" I called across the desk, standing next to him.
Twilight Sparkle: "Marines to Long Boats and Landers! General Staff assemble at the Launch!" She called down the stairs leading inside the ship, using the deck-to-deck talk tubes.
As I made my way down to the deck above the main deck, and moved aft, towards the launches, I could see a lot of activity already going on. All eight of Moonlights boats - four five-meter Dhingys and four ten-meter Launches - were in the process of being lowered. On the fantail at the aft of the ship, the five-meter dhingy and the ten ten-meter landing craft we constructed specifically for the operation were being lowered over the side.
I arrived at the ten-meter launch designated for myself and my staff. We were to be the fourth launch to land on the beach. The 1st Marine Division would land three squads ahead of us. Earlier, a Scout Squad led by Lt. Blinda went ashore. The flares on the beach were our target - flares set by her and her squad of Marines.
Twilight Sparkle: "This is going to be-"
K: "Small compared to a naval invasion of Tirek's homeland." I shrugged as I shouldered my Bradley and climbed into the Launch.
Due to the limited space, we could only fit two crewponies to drive our Launch, so I took position in the navigator's seat. Cosmic was in the gun turret seat with Norfy. Applejack was right behind me. Gaze was at the far rear, and the rest of the girls took up the center. We needed - I noted - dedicated troop transports for situations like this. Or, at the very least, a class of cruisers designed around amphibious landings. But that's what this was for - to test things, try things out, and experiment. After all, this should be a lot easier than invading Tirek's lands.
Rarity: "Looking good, darlings.. now let's get ashore." She checked her Super Sherman to make sure everything was in order.
We held on as the boat was lowered towards the water. The ship's guns were ready but held fire - after all, you don't want to rock the ship while you're dropping boats off the side. All the boats were quickly dropped into the drink, and rowed away from the motherships. While the Bellerophon-class frigates weren't designed for this, they made do with manually lowered boats and climbable netting.
With all the boats underway, the ships opened fire. Blinda had already marked targets for us - red flares for gunnery targets, yellow flares for civilian areas or shots that would cause collateral damage, and a blue flare for the landing zone. The Unicorn and the Terra came about as we departed and covered the landing ships from the right and left - we expected shore battery fire, which we soon got.
TIME: 04:48 NRWT
SeaPony Oarbis: "TWO MINUTES TO SHORE!"
K: "Cosmic, make sure that gun's ready." I nodded to the Mark III Pershing turret he as seated in.
Cosmic: "Aye! She's charged and ready!" He called back.
Rarity: "Artillery fire from shore! Incoming!" She had a pair of binoculars, and was acting as the lookout.
We could hear the roar of the shells as they arced overhead. Yeah, they were coming. We were going to be in trouble if the fleet took too many hits. Of course, one advantage to having wooden ships is cutting down trees to form and shape pieces for repair..
K: "EVERYONE DOWN!" Yeah, that wasn't going to help me much. But I took the time to fix the bayonet to my Bradley.
The shells splashed everywhere with no discernable pattern. It was chaos - it was like the gun crews had never fired the things before. Of course, given what Gorlamb told us, that wasn't unlikely. Really, our biggest saving grace was that _we knew what we were doing_ and Tirek's troops didn't.
SeaPony Oarbis: "ONE MINUTE!" Machine guns now. Heavy pieces - sounded like copied Pershings. Wouldn't surprise me.
K: "COSMIC! SUPPRESSIVE FIRE! SNIPERS! TAKE THEM OUT!" I called.
Cosmic: "GOT IT!"
Rarity: "On target, Darling!"
They both opened up almost immediately, almost at the same time, and their shots drown each other out. Heavy machine gunfire coming from the shore showed tracers - they used some greenish-blue tracer, ours was red - splashing all around us. They were aiming in our general direction, but not specifically at any of the boats or landers. This wasn't going to be like D-Day, it seemed, it was going to be closer to the assault on the Marshalls and the Gilberts. That sat fine with me.
Cosmic's return fire was pretty accurate. It stitched up one of the sources of muzzle flashes pretty well - I could see the tracers in the dawn's early light - and silenced it. Rarity made short work of each muzzle flash as she had the chance and a steady-ish shot. I didn't bother shooting - I knew it'd be one-in-a-million chance I'd hit anything.
Seapony Oarbis: "TEN SECO-*gulk*
I looked back to see a gout of red coming from his neck.
K: "FLUTTERSHY! HELP HIM! GAZE! STEER THE BOAT BEFORE WE CAPISIZE!"
Gaze: "Roight!" He flopped over the wounded helmsman, and steered the boat back on course, more or less.
Fluttershy didn't respond, she just grabbed the wounded SeaPony by the teeth and dragged him from his station, trying to get a little room to work on him. She was whimpering, too.
K: "YOU!" I pointed to the other SeaPony in the boat with us. Bar Cuda. "YOU'RE COMING ASHORE!" We didn't have a choice - you can't one-man row these things.
SeaPony Bar Cuda: "Uh-Right." He heaved into the oar he was sharing with Pinkie, just as we hit the sand bar.
K: "EVERYONE OUT!" I commanded as I rolled off the side. "COSMIC, STAY HERE AND COVER FLUTTERS!"
Weapon up, I didn't need to say 'follow me.' I started moving towards where the Marines had landed already, intending to get a couple of Sailors from one of the other landing boats to take the wounded pony back to the ships. The landing beaches themselves weren't being rushed or attacked, though we were - I noted - now taking mortar fire.
I met the Marines up ahead. This Squad was commanded by Gunny Sigmask, since the reorganzation into the 1st Marine Division.
K: "GUNNY! I NEED A MEDIC AND TWO OF THOSE GUYS FROM THE BOAT! MY HELMSMAN GOT HIT!"
Gy.Sgt. Sigmask: "Right!" He pointed at his squad, and pointed in the direction of my Launch. "You and you!" He then indicated two Sailors from his lander. "Squad, give them cover!"
K: "Right!" I pointed back up the shore. I moved carefully, Bradley in my hands at low ready. No contact with the enemy yet. "Gaze! Radio the Moonlight, tell them we have wounded coming back!"
Gaze: "On it!" He grabbed the radio with his teeth, and pulled the mic around to face him. C> "Moonlight, thi' is Alpha Leader!" He started, relaying the information as we got back to the Launch.
We got back to the Launch without incident, thankfully. The two Sailors got in and started pulling Oarbis out, while Sigmask's squad's medic started taking over for Fluttershy. I waved her and Cosmic out of the boat.
K: "Cosmic, take the bolt out of the Pershing and hand the belt off to Sigmask's squad. I don't want the gun turned on us when we leave." Since I now had no one to take it back, and I didn't want to lose one of the guns permanently (never mind the ammo - 9x35mm isn't NEIGHTO standard, and naval versions of the Abrams weren't available yet).
Cosmic: "Done and done, sir." He handed off the belt to Sigmask.
K: "Sigmask, I'm retasking your Squad - find the Mortars and take them out. The General Staff will take your place leading into town." I instructed as Sigmask's squad started moving out.
Gy.Sgt. Sigmask: "Understood!"
The mortars were pelting the water right now, but it'd be a matter of time before they changed targets and started going after troop concentrations - which could endanger civilians. Sigmask took off.
K: "Alright! We're heading into town! Diamond formation!" I indicated, and took the lead (as always).
Applejack: "Uh-huh - we're raight b'hind'ya!" She called out, indeed, immediately to my rear.
K: "Because I can't be trusted all on my own-"
Fluttershy: "Y-you do get yourself injured an awful lot.. and that's not okay.." She spoke up enough to be heard, as she washed the blood from her hooves.
K: "Right." I groaned a little. "R-D, Flutters, up." I indicated. "Use caution."
Dash: "Scout duty! Gotcha! C'mon, Fluttershy!" She pulled her along as they flew up a few meters.
The path to town had a bamboo 'forest' along it, and several decorative stone paths that led deeper into town. This, of course, is a scouting nightmare.. on foot. I had ponies that could fly. Dash and Fluttershy got above the thicket and Dash eased back down, tapping me on the shoulder, and indicating something ahead.
Dash: *Very Silent Whisper* "Looks like a pile a' Duregars, manning a foxhole. Machine gun and mortar. Looks like they're waiting for more ammo - about ten meters that-a-way." She pointed.
K: "Right. Twi, Cosmic, set up your Abrams, base of fire left. Dash, get on the roof with Fluttershy. When we open up, drop eggs on them." I immediately looked at Pinkie. "I mean grenades." Before she could do something silly.
Pinkie looked at me with a chicken egg in one hand, and an ostrich egg in the other. I have no idea where they came from. She gave me a little frown.
K: "Get ready." I took a knee.
I couldn't see the targets, but that didn't mean they weren't there. The Abrams would be able to chop down the Bamboo easily. I waited for Dash to get up a little, and for Cosmic and Twilight Sparkle to get their Abrams down on their bipods.
K: "Open fire!" I said in a harsh whisper.
The Abrams opened up and cut right through the foliage with no problem, while Dash and Fluttershy fired grenades into the foxhole from up above. Once I got a clear look at the foxhole through the detroyed brush, I started picking off anything I could see that was hostile, while Twilight and Cosmic kept their heads down with suppressive fire. The exploding grenades and accompanying spray of body parts told me the situation was handled.
K: "Move up! Terminate survivors!" I ordered and advanced, keeping my Bradley near my chest.
We got to the edge of the foxhole and the sandbags around it, and peeked in. Sure enough, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash had done their jobs. Nothing survived.
K: "Norfy, check that machine gun." I pointed to the machine gun that had been on a tripod and fallen over once we opened up on the position.
Norfy: "Of course." He moved over to it, and examined the weapon carefully. "Seems to still be functional, K. It's a copy of the Pershing Mark I, right down to the brass of the water jacket. Water jacket's full, too, but there's no spare water container. Actually, it seems the hose spigot hole wasn't drilled out.. interesting. Cosmic, come take a look at this."
K: "Watch for booby traps, and don't take long. We have an objective to meet."
Cosmic: "Huh.." He said as he moved over and looked at the copied Pershing. "He's right. The top holes are here, along with the caps for them, but the bottom hole is.. the cap is just decorative. They can fill these things from the top, but they can't use a standard water container and hose combination. The brass looks like it's pretty good, though. Strange!" He nodded to me. "Ready to go, General. You want to take the gun?"
K: "Negative. AJ? Break it." A semi-functional Pershing? Nah. I'll sieze their ammunition later, though.
Applejack: "No problem, honeybun!" She stepped smartly over to the copied Pershing. "Git back!" And after Norfy and Cosmic stepped back, she kicked it HARD. The water jacket bent in half, and the barrel audibly snapped inside it.
K: "Alright, let's go."
Around us, I could hear the sounds of the battle underway. The shelling had died down, but I could hear automatic rifle and machine gunfire, mixed with the thudding bark of Shermans and Pershings. The Neighpon Imperial Army was currently using donated Shermans and Pershings themselves - donated war aid. The 8,000 small arms that we were donating to Neighpon and South Cowrea were what we had 'left over' - we had jumped from Shermans to Pattons to Bradleys very quickly (in fact, the Patton spent only a very brief time as the designated 'primary' long arm for Equestria's military). Now that we were on the Bradley as our NEIGHTO-compatible rifle (even though they were still 'new' and in fairly short supply - we had 600 with us for the expedition), we had a backlog of Pattons (which had been rushed into mass production at three arsenals, only to be dropped almost immediately afterwards) and Shermans (which had been mass produced for a rather long time). It's only natural that we 'loan' these older weapons to our unprepared allies until they can design their own indigenous assault rifles.
Our objective - now that we switched places with Gunny Sigmask - was to get to the center of town and relieve Lt. Blinda's unit. Fortunately, the town wasn't very big to begin with. We moved up the first major avenue, and-
???: "YOU BETTER WATCH OUT! IT'S A TRAP!"
-someone shouted us a warning. Wat? I didn't recognise the voice - it didn't sound like one of Blinda's squad, and it didn't have a Neighponese accent. In fact, that accent was.. Equestrian?
I motioned for everyone to take cover.
K: "Who's there!?" I called out. With the houses around us (about half of them what I recognised as traditional Japanese houses - paper walls) I couldn't locate the sound exactly.
No answer.
K: "Gaze, raise Blinda's squad." I took positon by a small rock wall. Given this was supposed to be knee-high to a pony, I had to go prone to get any cover at all.
Gaze: "Roight." He got his radio out again, and.." C> "Alpha Leader t' Sierra One. Come in Sierra One, over!" Sierra - Scout.
We waited a bit. I motioned for him to signal again.
Gaze: C> "Alpha Leader t' Sierra One. Sierra One, respond. Over." He gave me a concerned look.
K: "Move up. Use caution. They may have been captured." I'd planned for Gorlamb to be leading us into a trap. "Norfy, Cosmic, get your Walkers ready."
Norfy: "Aye."
Cosmic: "Yep."
And together, we advanced. I split us in half - Twilight, Dash, Rarity, Norfy and Gaze on one side, me and the others on the other side. We took the road slowly. We didn't have to wait long for opposition. Ten Duregars and four Raptorians came around the corner almost as soon as we got moving.
K: "ACTION FRONT!"
I immediately dropped to one knee and opened up on the front runners, tagging two almost right away. The Duregars and Raptorians took cover as soon as I yelled. Gaze caught one more with his rifle, and Rarity picked one of the Raptorians off as we scrambled to cover. Cosmic and Twilight got their Abrams set up on stone fencing and immediately peppered their cover. Dash and Fluttershy dropped grenades on them from their Gavins. It was over quickly.
K: "Headcount!"
Norfy: "All fine, sir. No injuries." He got up and gave both Twilight and Gaze a hand cooling their machine guns with a little arctic wind.
Who needs to change barrels with an Ice Mage around!?
K: "Move up."
We did, and got as far as the next street - with the town square in plain view about two streets ahead - when we caught sight of something scampering in the darkness. It could only be a pony.
K: "HEY!" I yelled out, but the pony was gone. "Follow them!" I instinctively ordered. I didn't know why. It was the last thing I should have ordered. I should have been pushing towards the objective.
Norfy: "Sir!?" And Norfy knew it.
Pinkie: "Follow-follow!" *Giggle* (a very unlike-her giggle, I must point out)
K: "Dash, Fluttershy, stay on the ground." I motioned to them.
And we advanced up the street, away from our objective, and in chase of the pony we had seen. The street was narrow. I hated narrow streets, it was too easy to cut down a bunch of people really quickly (but it was a great idea for Defenders!). But, we advanced that way. I didn't have to remind anyone that they should hug the sides and leapfrong between the spaces between houses.
Soon, we were over three 'blocks' away from the main road that would lead towards the center of town. Senshi's group should be close by..
K: "Gaze, raise Bushin One." I nodded and held my hand out for the mic. Everyone automatically took cover.
Gaze: "Roight." He nodded. C> "Bravo One, Bravo One, thi' is Alpha Leader. Come in, over."
Neighponese Commspony: C> "Bravo One to Arfa Reader! We read you! Ovah!"
I took the mic.
K: C> "Alpha Leader Actual to Bravo One Actual. Come in."
Senshi: C> "Bravo One Actuarl, Copy."
K: C> "What's your position, over?"
Senshi: C> "We arr behin' skedurar, Arfa Reader! Encountered some resistance near de beachhead. We arr one-five-zeror metahs from de edge of town. Ovah!"
K: C> "Roger that, Bravo One. Come to us, we're in your line of advance. Alpha Leader Actual, Out." I didn't want questions at this time.
Senshi: C> "Bravo One Actuarl, Copy!"
We waited about twenty minutes. Senshi and his unit caught up to us in short order - his team dispersed expertly, and once in cover, had us well reinforced.
Senshi: "Fo'giv'a'hness, prease.. why ahre you out of your rlane?" Each unit taking part in this invasion had a 'lane' they were assigned to, that would all converge near the north side of town - after Sigmask relieved Blinda, he was supposed to immediately form up with us, anyway.
K: "We switched with Sigmask, I ordered him to silence the mortars near the beach before we lost any landers. Then.. I saw a pony." I gave him a look of 'Not just any pony.'
Senshi: "I undah'stand. A pony from your homerand, then?"
K: "Sounded like it. Plus, we can't raise Sierra One. I want you to switch with us, partially.." I looked at my staff. "Dash, Pinkie, come with me. Everyone else, reinforce Senshi's unit and aide him in reaching our objective." I looked back to Senshi. "The voice warned us it was a trap. Use extreme caution, keep your machine gunners near the back."
Senshi: "Undah'stood!" He gave me a respectful short head-bow before he rallied his unit plus the additions, and moved to get back to our lane.
Dash: "Why us?" She gave me a quizzical look.
Pinkie: "Because we're Pinkidie-AWESOME!" She hugged Dash. 'Pinkidie'?
Dash: "Uh.. you feelin' alright, Pinkie?" She cocked a brow at her, giving her a strange look.
Pinkie: "Pinkerriffic!"
I gave her a flat look. I knew she wasn't joking with us. Something was up.
K: "That's why. You're the only one even close to her speed." If she decided to run away. "Come on."
And just as we were about to depart, I saw that mystery pony again.
Then Pinkie went into her 'bounce' mode and took off after her. Dash and I followed, but.. it seemed like no matter how fast we moved, Pinkie was ahead of us, somehow.
K: "How does she DO that?!" I asked Dash.
Dash: "I'unno!" She honestly didn't. I could see it in her face.
K: "Pinkie! Wait for us!" I called to her.
But, she kept going. Soon enough, we turned down a dead-end street. I had no idea where in the town of Stridesebo we were, but..
Dash: "We got them cornered!" She pointed ahead to where Pinkie Pie was stopped. Someone was standing in front of her.
I could see.. hair. No, a mane. Somewhat rainbow-colored. Yellow was prominent. It also seemed to be.. in slabs? Thick slabs, with what seemed to be pony dreadlocks in the back. And.. glasses? Glasses..
We approached, and I kept my weapon out. When we got close enough, Pinkie turned around to face us.
Pinkie: "It's our old friend, Dash!"
{End of Part 4}
Part 5: Art(ist) of War
TIME: 05:35
DATE: War Day 280
LOCATION: City of Stridesebo, Empire of Neighpon
K: "Who are..?" I started.
Dash: "..you?!" Dash finished, questioning.
Pinkie: "DASH! That's no way to talk about an old friend!" She scolded, mildly. Her voice was.. different.
I stepped forwards, slinging my Bradley behind my shoulder.
K: "I'm General K---, commander of Equestria's military.. you can come out, we're not going to hurt you."
???: "Equestria? A military!?" She moved a little - yes, the voice was clearly feminine.
Dash: "Where have YOU been for the last year!? There's a war on!" She snorted.
Pinkie: "DASH!" *Shh..!* "Dash, now, be a dear and make her something pretty, hm? She hasn't got any clothes! And you make the best dresses.."
Dash: "WHAT!? WH-WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY!?" She looked ready to pound Pinkie.
Even I didn't make the connection, really. It finally hit me when I thought about how L.F. originally wanted to do the Ponies - the whole story behind which ones got picked and why, and what changes were made..
K: "Dash.. that's.." I pointed to her. "Toola Roola?"
Toola Roola: "Yes, that's my name, but how-"
Pinkie: "PINKERRIFIC!" She jumped. "You DO remember!" She hugged Toola.
Toola Roola: *ACK!* "And WHO are YOU!?"
Pinkie: "Oh, not you too, Toola Roola!? It's ME! Pinkerrific Pinkie Pie!"
I was.. stunned, was a good word for it. I was thinking about clocking her over the head with the butt of my rifle. It was only THEN that I remembered that Pinkie Pie - as named - was also a Generation 3 character. And all the G3 characters were, basically, completely cutesie and TOTALLY aimed at young girls. There was no two ways about it. Their personalities were wooden, two-dimensional, with little character development. Not like L.F.'s Ponies. No, Generation 3 was mainly designed to sell toys and tell cute stories with little inferenced life lessons in them. It hit me like a ton of bricks.
K: "Miss Roola.." I started.
Toola Roola: "Toola, please.. uh.. can someone get her off of me?!" She was trying desperately to push Pinkie off of her, but Pinkie would NOT release.
K: "Dash!" I pointed.
Dash: "Can I bash her over the head!?" She asked what I was thinking.
K: "Dash! That's rude! No!" I snorted a little. "Sleeper Hold." If she's behaving like G3 Pinkie, then she wouldn't be immune to anything.
Dash tackled Pinkie to the ground, and put her in a sleeper hold right away. Locking it in, all Pinkie could really do was squeal a little in objection before she passed out. Dash let up - despite being frustrated with her, she didn't want to hurt her.
K: "I have a lot of explaining to do, it seems.." I started. I noticed a bag near her with all kinds of paints in it. "..that yours?" I nodded to it.
Toola: "Sure is. I came to Neighpon over a year and a half ago, to study traditional Neighponese silk painting techniques. Then.. all these monsters started showing up." She shrugged. "I ran as best I could, but I got stuck in Stridesebo. Fortunately, the local artist's guild hid me away for a while.. but I ended up joining the Resistance." She looked towards one of the boxes in the alley.
K: "Dash. Box." I nodded.
Dash: "Right." She had Pinkie Pie secured with red fuzzy fetlock-cuffs. Actually, they looked like they were meant for a Griffon.. oh, dear!
Dash inspected the box, and came up with a copied Zhukov and a copied Lee. The Zhukov had three extra magazines, while the Lee had one. There was also an armband in here with some kind of Japanese writing on it, and a beret. A red one.
K: "Your things?" I asked, tilting my head.
Toola: "Yeah.." She looked between them and me.
K: "You're wondering if you can trust us." I pulled out Celestia's Royal Pass - the same one I used to get into Phantomhorse of the Opera with Applejack some time ago. With it was the Emperor's Seal. I handed them both to her. "You're smart enough to know the difference between the real deal and a forgery." I offered.
Toola: "..yeah, these are real." She looked up at me. "I have.." She looked at her paints bag. "..no desire to get shot."
Dash went over and checked it without me having to ask. She handed me the 'seal' of one of the Bushin - the elder Bushin, in fact, Rojin Roshi.
K: "Take your weapons." I nodded to them, and offered her the bayonet from my Bradley. "Got a knife?"
Toola: "Got that covered." She pulled out a paint-cutting knife from her kit. A wicked thing, it had a hawk's beak blade. Good for cutting guts open. "Thank you, though. So, what do I call you?" She asked, stripping and checking the Zhukov and the Lee quickly. "For that matter, what ARE you? I've never seen anything like you before."
K: "Just call me K. And, I'm a human." I shrugged.
Toola: "A human..?" She turned to look at me. Up and down. Examining me like an artist might a blank canvas - or a new artistic subject to make art from. "If I live through this, I want to paint you." She assembled the weapons and loaded them. "I'd sure like to know who made these horrible things.."
Dash: *SNORT!* "Sister, if only you knew.." She 'thumbed' a hoof at me.
Toola: "YOU did!?" She looked aghast.
K: "Oh, Gawd, a hippie.." I muttered to myself. "Look, I'm not going to give you a whole speech here - but let me ask you this. Would you rather Tirek and his cronies be armed with spears, swords, and crossbows while you're armed with that paint knife? And the much higher number of occupying troops necessary for him to control terrain?"
Toola: "I.. I suppose you have a point.. but.."
K: "Bitch at me later, okay?" I nodded. "It was you that sent the warning that this was a trap, wasn't it?"
Toola: "Yes, it was me. And it was a trap - your friends are stuck in the biggest art store in town, with big mechanical things - "
K: " - THOSE aren't my fault - " I interjected.
Toola: " - and a lot of monster soldiers all around them." She finished.
K: "Blinda must be maintaining Radio Silence." I looked at Dash. "Take Pinkie, get to Senshi, tell him what Toola said. Tell him to flank the center of town. Go!"
Dash: "Right! Come on, Pinkie!" She grunted, but was able to get her up with a little effort, and off she took.
K: "Come on, Toola - we'll have to link up with Allied forces, on foot. I hope you know how to use that thing." I unslung the Bradley from my shoulder and checked my magazine. Ten rounds left. I changed and stowed the partial.
Toola: "I sure can." She nodded to me to take point. "I may not LIKE these things, but.." She looked away. "..sometimes you have to do things you don't want to, to protect yourself.."
I led the way out of the alley, and continued towards the next Lane. Bushin Fudou's unit. His main objective was to secure the edge of town where there were a lot of residential houses, and evacuate anyone he had to. HMS Alarm was standing by to bring people to the fleet, if need be.
K: "Had experience with that?" I asked, softer.
Toola: "Let's just say I hate this.. war." She said, grimly.
K: "You had no idea anyone was fighting it, did you?" I said as we got to the road that we had been following initially, to track her.
Toola: "None. I thought we were all alone, here. That the Emperor had abandoned everyone - and with good reason. They had THESE. We had.. nothing." She looked at the Zhukov, then back to me. "I guess I kinda get it. Maybe if we'd had these in the first place.."
K: "You're smart." I nodded ahead. There was an improvised roadblock here. "Stay behind me." I got the Bradley to my shoulder and moved up, in as low of a creep as I could manage. "Watch the barricade.."
Of course, if this was Iraq or Afghanistan, I'd just put a grenade over the barricade and be done with it. But this was Equus - I couldn't risk accidental civilian casualties.
Not that I had to worry - three Raptorians and a creature I'd never seen before. It.. looked like a pig-man. I guessed it was a Porcine. It didn't matter - the Porcine had a Pershing and he opened up on us almost immediately. Toola dove behind a decorative wall just as the rounds started impacting around her. I pressed myself against the wall of a house and slid back. My heart was in my throat. I should be used to this, but I wasn't. Not by a long shot.
I edged the Bradley around the corner and wild-fired a couple of shots. The Porcine wasn't phased, but the Raptorians took cover. Best guess? After Gorlamb came up missing, Gorosbif probably asked for reinforcements. He wasn't stupid - a little asking around about where the Raptorians got their fish from would probably be all the proof he needed (an unusual fishmonger they'd never seen before?) that Gorlamb was gone and something was going to happen.
Which could be good, or very bad. Very, very bad.
K: "TOOLA! COVERING FIRE!" I shouted out, hoping she'd know what I meant.
Toola: "RIGHT!" She did.. sort of. She hefted a glass bottle with a flaming rag in it, and hit the wooden barricade. Some of it splashed on the Raptorians, and caught them alight. Covering FIRE, indeed!
I used this as a distraction to flatten myself on the ground and properly sight the Porcine. Not taking any chances, I fired about five quick shots at its head. Four hit, and it staggered back. The skull, it seemed, was very thick. Staggering, the Porcine finally fell over. The Raptorians were still lightly burning, trying to put out the fire when Toola ran over with another flaming bottle and smashed it all over them.
They screamed.. and I started to smell roast chicken. I got up, walked over in a combat crouch, and put a few rounds into each of them.
K: "Unprofessional, but effective. Any reason you tortured them like that?" I checked my mag - twelve rounds. I pulled out my partial and quickly transferred over the 10 from my partial, to the 12 left in the one I had.
Toola: "They deserve worse." She sneered.
K: "I heard about Gorosbif conducting.. experiments.. on the ponies.." I started.
Toola: "It's not just that. Raptorians eat ponies. It's not unusual for someone arrested to be eaten. Executed and eaten. Usually publicly." She rubbed her right upper leg with her left fetlock, looking at me with darkened eyes.
K: *Ahem* "Come on." I didn't want her to think about it, but..
We got about halfway to where Bushin Fudou's lane, when I heard that familiar sound. Like a broken tooth chewing on aluminum foil, her voice pierced my head with the rage of a thousand white-hot needles.
Trixie: "CAREFUL, YOU PIG-HEADED PIGS!" She screeched.
She was one block away, to my left, deeper into town. I looked at Toola, and nodded towards the voice.
K: "Toola, that's Trixie Lulamoon. She's a traitor to all ponykind, she - "
Toola: "- was the one that told Gorosbif about the Princess with the mystery healing powers in the first place." She finished. "I know who she is. Her name, now. We just called her The Azure Blue Curse before." She glanced in the direction of the scream. "..I'm just an Earth Pony.." she started.
K: "We have to see what she's doing here. It could be vital.." Without another word, I moved towards the alley that would cut through the row of houses separating me from Trixie's location.
She HAD to die.. and this time, it had to fucking stick. Whatever she was doing here - STILL doing here - couldn't be good. She must have something up her sleeve, or she would have cut and run already.
We got to the turn in the alley, and took cover behind a large wooden crate being used as a wastebin. Trixie was in a small square area formed by the confluence of two alleys and the road, with a tree planter in the center of it. The tree was torn out of its planter and was laying aside it. Meanwhile, no less than twenty large Porcines with dusky grey-and-brown skin (all armed with Pershings) were hefting something very large. Spherical. It had to be at least ten feet across, or more. Like a really large bomb..
..my brain refused to let me acknowledge the first theory that came up.
Trixie: "MOVE. IT." She screeched at the Porcines. They were moving it manually.
Lead Porcine: *Grumble* "Muh-mistress Trixie.. it is very heavy, and.. the streets are very narrow.." He started.
Trixie zapped him with a long beam of purplish-pink light from her horn. The Porcine that dared speak was electrocuted slowly, but not to death. When she released him, she produced a whip that fit in her mouth, and lashed him with it several times.
Trixie: "MOVE. THE. BOMB!" She demanded. *Growl!* "That human thinks he's the only one that can do Science. I'll show him. I'll show him alright. And then I'll make him clean my Great and Powerful butthole with his tongue every night. Every night!" *Mad cackle*
Toola: "Eww.." She murmured.
K: "That better not be.." My heart dropped into my lower intestine. "..it's not.."
I shut my eyes and opened them again. Yep, Trixie was still there, with her work crew, trying to move the 'bomb.'
K: "An Atomic Bomb." My eyes filled with tears. I knew what this meant, if I was right.
Toola: "What?"
K: "That one bomb - if I'm right - has the destructive power to wipe out a city larger than Canterlot." I stated, simply.
It looked like Fat Man - the implosion-type atomic bomb used on the city of Hiroshima in 1945 - but without the tail and guide fins. That told me Trixie had no intention of dropping this on something from the air. It was designed to be detonated on the ground. That meant fallout. Lots and lots of fallout.
And between me and the A-Bomb was an Alicorn and twenty Porcines armed with belt-fed automatic weapons.
Toola: "How..?"
K: "By converting a very energy-dense metal into energy at speeds faster than you can blink." That's.. the basics. Not totally accurate, but whatever.
Where the HELL did Trixie get a centrifuge to purify Uranium from!? Where did she get the Uranium from, in the first place!? This was wrong, this was all wrong.
I had to stop her. Somehow. I had to stop her!
So, I walked out into the middle of the alley...
K: "Toola, run for it." I told her. Urged her.
Toola: "What-" She started.
K: "Do it!" I hissed at her. "Back to the road, head straight up it, you'll hit Nieghponese Troops. Tell them.. tell them to contact Twilight, and have them tell her that Trixie is here with a scientific bomb that can destroy half the island! She'll understand! GO!" I pushed her. And I walked to the other side of the alley.
I debated my limited options. I could try to blow up the A-Bomb from here - prevent the core from imploding uniformly and going to critical mass - which might cause it to become a Dirty Bomb (better than a proper detonation, at least). I could try to take out Trixie first.. guaranteed she'd kill me if I blew up the bomb first. Or I could try to pick off the Porcines, one at a time, first. If Trixie detected my shot and put up a barrier, I'd never be able to kill her, and twenty Pershings would cut me down in no time.
Switch magazines. Full load. Grenade loaded. Next magazine in my offhand already. Celestia's sword at my hip, with Senshi's Uchigatana..
I took a knee. Taking out the Porcine first was probably my only option, if I planned to survive the encounter. At least some of them. The grenade would go to the A-Bomb once I got a clear shot. After that, I'd run, and hope Trixie couldn't get to me. And hope that Toola Roola could get the message to my staff. If Twilight remembered what little I told her about what Atomic Bombs do, she'd be smart enough to call for a general retreat until she could get someone to link up with me. Get everyone out of town before Trixie did the unthinkable..
Hopefully.
I gently raised the Bradley to my shoulder and took aim at the Porcine in the very lead of the formation, who was navigating over a crushed handcart.
And my hand tensed on the trigger-bar.
{End of Chapter 30}
