Chapter 63: The Thousand Year Capital, Part II
Part 1: Palace
TIME: 11:00 NRCT
DATE: War Day 579/8 Solarius, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: Courtyard of the Imperial Palace, Capital City of Miaco, Occupied Empire of Neighpon
I stood up. We still had plenty of battle left.
Applejack: "Yew.." She pulled me back in.
K: "ACK!"
Despite my display of prowess, it was clear she was still stronger than me. I could feel her tears wet my shirt, her practically choking me.
Rarity: "N-never.. doubted him for a se-" She looked at Fluttershy.
Who was staring her down.
Coco: "I never did." She paced over to me, and put a hoof on my shoulder. "My General can beat any baddie." She said, with a snort. "Major Weaver?"
Webley: "Ghn.. y-yes, everyone! OVER THE WALLS! DIG IN! COCO, CONTACT THE ARTILLERY, GET THEM IN HERE! PHASE TWO!"
Phase two of the plan would be to hole up at the Palace until the invasion force from Osaka broke through. That was up to Forest Spirit and Sacquet.
If we'd had more paratroopers, they were supposed to take over buildings in a ring around the Palace and act as scouts and observers. We didn't. Moreover, we took more casualties than we'd anticiapted. We had a battalion of Marines land, with some change, and had roughly 900 left.
K: "'Kay, honey, gotta lead, now." I stood up, and she really didn't want to let me go.
Applejack: "Ah'm 'shamed 'a doubtin' ya.." She shook her head. "Ah'm just 'fraid, all th' time.. fer yew."
Twilight: "We all are. We've seen our friends get very badly hurt, and some killed, Applejack.. it's only natural.."
Pinkie: "He's your husband!" She giggled.
Toola: "We.. all kinda feel the same.." She shrugged.
Gaze: "Ahhhh..." He shrugged. "Ah'kn unnerstand.." He took charge of a Platoon, and took them over to the west walls.
Cosmic: "You want me right here?" He did have the Comms.
K: "Yeah. After we secure the palace, I want you close to the Artillery, though." I looked at Norfy. "Take a team, clear the north side." Then Sigmask. "Bodies. Get them cleaned up and stacked somewhere. Make sure you cover them." I gestured to the rest of my team. "We clear the inside. Come on."
The Girls, plus Dusty, Teddy, Sweetheart, Cosmic, Spike, Kiwi, Gilda, and Gorcat.
As we advanced into the palace, I took immediate front, with the rest of them spreading out, and pepper-potting between columns and furniture. Anywhere they could get cover. The main hallway led straight to the formal throne room, which, in a nod to this world being one of fantasy, looked like something out of a Westernized depiction of a Japanese-decorated, European-layout throne room.
I expected it at this point. How the rules of this universe worked.
Standing there, however, was a Roostian officer.. and I could only tell this because he wore a formal Herdiet uniform. He was alone, and his belt had no weapon. Dark grey coat, white beard and mane. He turned to face me, and bowed.
Grunyev: "Greetinkgs, General K. I am Colonel Grunyev, Kouropalates of the Imperial Palace." He looked at the rest of us, nonplussed, and nodded. "I zurrender the palace to you, Bushin Senshi, General K. I prezume ze Shogun is deceased?"
Senshi: "Hai, honorable Kouropalates." He bowed slightly to him, and tapped my rifle, to lower it.
K: "Kuropalates.. a Majordomo." I tilted my head, and motioned for eveveryone to relax. "You handle the affairs of the palace."
Rarity: "Indeed he would, K." She smirked a bit, and paced forwards. "We accept the surrender of the palace in the name of His Excellency, Emperor no Ken, of which we bear his seal." She patted me on the hip.
I pulled the Royal Seal out and handed it to Grunyev.
K: "You're Roostian. How'd you end up here?" I shrugged.
Grunyev: "Ah, da, is genuine.." He handed it back, and looked at me over the edges of his steel-framed half-moon glasses. "..I was on an expedition thirty years ago. Ze Herdient Union wanted islands explored. Zere was a storm, and I vas vashed overboard." He shrugged. "Ze Emperor took me in. Taught me his language, and gave me zis job."
K: "Okay. House staff. How many, and are they here?" To the matter at hand.
Grunyev: "Zey are hiding in ze basement, as ordered by me." He nodded slowly. "Until ze shooting is over. 87 staff, of which, 27 are Maidens of ze Palace."
Meaning, they were young, unmarried, ostensibly virgin girls that acted as maids, servers, and suchlike, to provide a beautiful thing to look at for palace visitors - look, don't touch. They were Maidens, not.. something else.
K: "Alright, keep them there. Make sure they have food and water. We're going to be holed up in the Palace for at least three days." I shrugged, and looked at Senshi. "I can trust him, right?"
Senshi: "Vif your rlife. His rloyarly is to da Emprah, an' his dedication to de Parace, no one erlse." A small shrug. "What was dat ritter dishonorabu.." He pointed towards the courtyard. "What was he finking?!"
Grunyev: "He vanted to ally Neighpon vith Tirek." He shrugged. "Tirek demanded land concessions - Stridesebo, Neigha, a few other places. Vhen he could not deliver Princess Yuuki, Tirek altered the deal and took more land." A shrug. "He thought Tirek far too powerful to resist, so, he decided to act in accordance with his duties - protect Neighpon, and hopefully expand its lands. Tirek promised gains after his conquest of Equestria, Cowrea, and elsewhere."
K: "Huh." I shook my head. "Little bastard was misunderstood, too.."
Twilight: "I have a feeling, most of them are." She sighed. "Besides his loyalists, that is." She meant, the bulk of Tirek's army outside of his radicals (Duregar, Porcine, Raptorians), were likely following him 'because they had to.'
Kinda like how Sombra only fought me because he thought I'd destroy everything.
K: "Well, this is depressing. This is no different than Somnambula!" I grunted.
Oh, true, we found a way to stabilize her condition.. but she was now 'aging normally' and would still have to feed in probably fifty years. We hoped to have a better solution by then.
Fluttershy: "Or Sombra." She picked up on it, too. "Someone trying to do the right thing, in the wrong way."
Sweetheart: "That's what I hate about this war. We keep finding out that some of our most scary enemies are just misunderstood, and we end up fighting and dying.. almost for nothing.."
Dusty: "Not completely. Duregars, Porcine, and Raptorians will fight to the death - the more we kill, now, the less we have to, later. And the more experience our forces get fighting them, the less casualties we have, later." She shrugged.
Dash: "Yeah. WE learn from each encounter - Tirek really doesn't, we kill all of his troops. His worst generals are already dead." She shrugged.
Sweetheart: "True. Still. I wish.. we could just.."
K: "Fight only the Generals?" I turned to her. "Just, maybe, me and them? One on one?" I smriked.
Sweetheart: "Oh! K! I-I didn't mean it like that.."
I went over and hugged her.
K: "I know what you mean, and I feel exactly the same way. The leaders that want war, should be the first to fight it, on the front, with the troops they profess to lead." I leaned back. "The rest of you should never have been exposed to this. If there was a way I could have done things exactly like that, I would have, and you know it."
Sweetheart: "I do, and that's.. also why it hurts to think like that.." She patted my cheek. "..you're my friend, too, K. And I don't want to be patching holes in you. Or.. anyone."
K: "A career of sniffles and bruised knees." I smirked and shook my head, standing. "Alright, everyone, start getting our supplies and things in here. We don't know how long we'll have a connection to the beachhead, and I want as much beans, bullets, and bandages in here as we can get."
Cosmic: "I'll call the beach head." He paced out to get a clear signal, with Dusty and Kiwi on his heels.
The palace was secured, as were the inhabitants. Next step? Preparing to hold out until the main force from Osaka gets here.
[End of Part 1]
Part 2: Siege Preparation
TIME: 12:05 NRCT
DATE: War Day 579/8 Solarius, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: The Imperial Palace, Capital City of Miaco, Occupied Empire of Neighpon
We were just starting to get our supplies into the palace, when the other shoe dropped.
Norfy: "K? We have a problem." He came up to me, as I was monitoring the movement of troops.
K: "What's up?"
Norfy: "Marine scouts to the north of the palace report that a massive enemy force is coming this way. Division.. strength. With armor. ETA is about an hour."
That made my blood run cold. That would have us outnumbered better than ten to one, and they'd have armor..
K: "Norf. Get everything in here. I don't care how. Pull ponies off the wall, if you have to." I moved to Cosmic. "Radio."
Cosmic handed me the mic, and looked at Norfy, concerned.
K: C> "Alpha Actual to Baleston."
Capt. Wall Eye: C> "Aye, Alpha, go ahead."
K: C> "Start heaving everything over the side. We have one hour until a division-sized enemy formation reaches the palace. You need at least 20 minutes to start your ships moving. Start having the rear of the formation pull back to the split in the river, south of the city. Cruisers move out last. But, hurry. Anyone that isn't doing something important should be throwing freight over the side of the ships, onto the shore. They have armor, and likely artillery as well. You're sitting ducks out there if they have longer range guns than you do."
Capt. Wall Eye: C> "Roger that, Alpha. That's not enough time to offload everything.. but, orders received and understood. Baleston, out."
K: "Let's go. All wounded need to be aboard the ships in twenty minutes." I paced forwards, and went out to the courtyard. "LISTEN UP! DIVISION-SIZED ENEMY FORMATION ARRIVING IN ONE HOUR - WE HAVE FORTY MINUTES TO HAUL ALL THE CARGO WE CAN, INTO THE PALACE, AND EVAC THE WOUNDED! HAUL FLANK, PONIES!"
This was.. not quite part of the plan. Originally, we were going to land the Marine Battalion, and Paratroopers, then have the ships pull back that evening, after offloading all the supplies we'd need for a whole week. Then, they'd stay at a wider part of the river, where it splits in a Y shape, with the Cruisers offering bombardment support, and the Torpedo Boats running wounded back to them - and we'd hold the beachhead near the shrine and into the city in a large ring. The main invasion force at Osaka was then to march to the city, and liberate everything along the way - this was projected to take between two and five days.
Thanks to the casualties we'd taken, that was no longer possible. We had to hold the palace, however. We were sandwiched between the forces between Miaco and Osaka, and Tirek's main army in Neighpon, coming in from the north. We didn't even have enough time to evacuate.
Me? I went to go find Cody.. Dr. Allcome. I wanted a full doctor with us when we settled in for a siege, and he was the best in the Army. My.. personal doctor. My friend, too. I found him at the shoreline, finishing up stabilizing a case, and handing it off.
K: "Cody." I motioned him over.
Dr. Allcome: "K." He shrugged. "Blinda will survive, but she's going to be out of action for a while.. probably a couple months." He shook his head. "She's lucky the bullet didn't go a few millimeters to the left - it would have been an instant kill." He looked up at me, and frowned. "But, that's not it, is it?"
K: "Plans've changed, Doc. We all have to hole up in the Palace until the force from Osaka gets here, and I want you. There's other doctors on the ships, but I need one at the palace, and you're the best. You're also the only one that knows how to treat me, and we both know I'm probably going to be leaking before this is over. Again." I smirked a little. "Get whatever you need, and think in terms of a week. You have half an hour."
Dr. Allcome: "I see. Alright, K." He patted me on the shoulder, and moved off quickly.
It depressed me how much blood was staining his scrubs. I knew there'd be a lot more before this was over.
In the time we had, we managed to get about 45% of our assigned cargo into the Palace. Scouts kept tabs on the enemy's position, and fortunately, the force didn't split up as it entered the city. Wise on the enemy commander's part - it made the formation easier to control.
After the time alloted to the ships was up, the Cruisers started backing out, while firing 165mm shells towards the enemy formation at locations marked by purple smoke. It was pretty close - less than a half kilometer from the wall.
K: "OKAY, EVERYONE, GRAB WHAT YOU CAN - LAST TRIP! LAST TRIP!"
Twilight: "So much is being left at the shoreline.." She murred a bit.
Fluttershy: "We'll be fine." She grabbed way more than I knew she should be carrying, and hauled it anyway.
I grabbed a long wooden box of Bradley magazines, hauled it over my shoulder, and one-armed my rifle, covering the girls and the others as best I could, backing up towards the palace.
Everyone was overloaded, literally grabbing every scrap of whatever that they could. Some had grabbed rickshaws and civilian hoof carts, and loaded those up.
We scampered into the courtyard, and just dropped crates wherever we could. Fortunately, all we really needed WAS bullets, beans, and bandages.. being a less-modern army has its perks, too. Smaller logistical footprint.
I went over to the Artillery Commander, next.
K: "Okay, how much ammo have you got that you know of?"
Maj. Highplane Lifter: "277 high explosive, 282 anti-tank, 52 marking shells, 164 beehive." She reported.
K: "Alright. Guns?"
Maj. Lifter: "Whole Regiment landed, we got all the guns in." She shrugged. "36 guns, all 76-mils."
K: "Reduce your numbers. One Section of guns, each cardinal direction, set up for Anti-Tank/Anti-Infantry only. Two sections right here as Artillery. Two Wagon Trains only, and your HQ unit. Everyone else falls in as Infantry." That would give me 128 more soldiers. "For now.. Cosmic, get the Artillery and the Logistics sorted out. Make sure ammo and everything else gets distributed." I motioned for Dusty to come over. "Give her your radio - you're in command of the Artillery."
Cosmic: "Gotcha."
Next, over to the actual Marine Battalion Commander, Colonel Hyperion Plane. Hyperion had been in the Marines since the beginning, but hadn't been at 2nd Ponyville. During the first Neighpon adventure, he'd been in HMS Pegasus' Marine Detachment as a Lieutenant.
Col. Plane: "General." He shrugged. "You know, we've fought together a few times, and besides the strategy meetings.."
K: "I know, I didn't get to know you that well, I'm sorry." I shrugged. "Logistics count."
Col. Plane: "27 magazines per rifle, 32 per sub-gun, 18 per pistol, 38 per shotgun, 23 belts per machine gun, per pony. I have 817 Marines and 66 Paratroopers left under my command." He gestured. "We have 2.5 days of water at standard rationing, and 3 days of food at two meals per day." He nodded at the pile that had been brought in last. "Not counting what's in there." Then over to his remaining Mortar Team. "I have one full Battery of Mortars. They have 57 HE, and 7 marking shells per tube."
K: "Alright. That's 14 Mortars. Put three Mortars at each cardinal direction, back from the anti-tank guns. Put the last two mortars in reserve by the Artillery, but leave them uncrewed. Stack all the rounds near the mortar teams, assign three from the Wagon Trains per cardinal side. The remaining 18 Ponies fall in as infantry. That plus the artillery troops, gives us back 146 troops. We're short on food and water, though." I looked over at Gaze and Norfy. "You two, grab Twilight and Fluttershy, and go inventory everything in the palace. Make sure to account for the civilians in the basement as well."
Col. Plane: "Sir.. Blinda.. is she..?" He stopped me before I could depart.
K: "She'll live. She's going to be out of action for probably a month or two - a centimeter left and she'd be a flag-draped coffin, right now." I shrugged. "Get your ponies sorted out. I want one full Regiment minus a company at the north, one at the east. Remaining Marines, Artilleryponies, and Paratroopers split into two units, half at the west, half at the south. The two companies left out will form a QRF - if there's a breach, they plug it."
Col. Plane: "Right." And off he went.
I moved to the north wall.. the enemy would be here VERY soon, and I could see the Marines getting into position already.
Kiwi: "Where do you want the rest of us, sir?" She was behind me.
K: "I want the girls in the palace. They can get up high and snipe, but I want them in reserve in case Tirek brings out a magical monster and we need Rainbow Power. Senshi, Spike and Gilda stay with them. You, Norfy, Gaze, Gorcat, and Dusty stay with me. Sweetheart.. stay by Doc Allcome. He'll need you." I mounted an empty crate to get a look over the wall. "Get moving."
Dusty took position next to me, along with Gorcat.
Gorcat: "Oh, this is going to be a bad one." He scratched his beak a little. "Fun, but bad." A head shake. "You think they'll try a frontal assault?"
K: "Initially. And it'll be from the north and east - that's their axis of advance." I saw the mortars getting set up, and one of the 76mm guns was rolled up right next to me. "Get ready. I estimate 30 seconds before their attack. One gun, load Beehive, fire on my command. Second, load AP and hold fire unless you see a tank."
Gorcat was right.. this was about to be very, very bad. We were outnumbered at least 10 to 1, possibly more. We had ammo, plenty of ammo.. but we were short on food and water. This siege might last a week or more.. and neither I nor Tirek could afford to lose.
This was going to get very desperate, very fast.
[End of Part 2]
Part 3: Alamo I, First Fight
TIME: 13:09 NRCT
DATE: War Day 579/8 Solarius, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: The Imperial Palace, Capital City of Miaco, Occupied Empire of Neighpon
They took just a bit longer than I thought. The first wave was all Goblin Sappers.. that is, suicide bombers, loaded with Tirek's brand of grenades. These were round balls with pull fuses on the top - same things they'd had on Alamo Island.
K: "AIM FOR THE CHESTS! SUICIDE BOMBERS!" I opened fire right away, trying to pick my shots.
Everyone opened up. I don't think the forward commander believed we were as numerous as we were, or had the firepower we did. One by one, the little bastards exploded in a spray of bone fragments and shrapnel. Most of it hit other Goblins, and knocked them down, or killed them. Since they were all running with lit fuses, this had a domino effect..
..and very rapidly, we took them all down. I estimated maybe 50 Goblins died.
Second wave? Goblin and Porcine Combined Arms units. Goblins with Zhukov copies, Porcines with Pershings, and an occasional Goblin unit with a small cannon - looked to be a 20mm or something like that. It was set up like a machine gun - tripod, spall shield, full crew, someone carrying shells.
Ingenious, really. A light cannon with perhaps a 1km effective range against massed infantry, defensive fortifications, and the like. For the size of the combatants, this more or less filled the same kind of role a Carl Gustav or SMAW would, against bunkers.
I didn't have to tell them to start shooting. They just did. The Goblins and Porcine were trying to get close without stopping to shoot, and this cost them about two platoons before they stopped, started getting to cover, and setting up their weapons, using the Porcine to draw fire and be meat shields for them.
K: "Gorcat, focus on the Goblins with equipment. Teddy, give him a hand." I directed. I wasn't about to try and direct fire for the whole regiment - at this stage, command above Squad Level was out of the question besides general orders. "Dusty, put a grenade over there by that building - I think those Goblins are trying to set up a cannon."
Dusty: "Got it." She loaded an impact fuse shell into her Gavin, and closed the breech. "Cover me, I'm going to stick my head up."
K: "Covering." I changed mags quickly, and popped over the edge of the wall, firing on everything I could see.
Dusty popped up, sighted in the building I'd indicated, and let rip with a shell. It went in a perfect arc, and landed right where I wanted it to. She switched to the rifle portion, and returned to firing on moving targets.
What troubled me, was that about one in three Porcine were wearing armor plates over their chests. Yes, I could see the 7mm NEIGHTO round was penetrating them nicely, but I knew the penetration into flesh would be reduced - the wounding effect would be reduced. Meaning they'd be that much harder to take down.
Norfy: "Is it just me, or do those Armor Plates look manufactured?" He grunted.
K: "They are." I frowned. "HOLD FIRE, HOLD FIRE." I pointed to the gun loaded with Beehive, and threw my hand down, for them to fire.
They did, and the 76mm Beehive shell ripped a HUGE chunk in their ranks.. it downed TEN Porcine, and the ricochets hit Goblins way in the back, besides chewing up the ones in the front.
K: "PICK YOUR SHOTS!" There weren't many left, the Beehive shell had broken their assault.. "DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY!"
A few more rounds out, and the first fight was over. I looked at Gorcat.
Gorcat: "I count seventy nine enemy dea-" *GUNSHOT!* "-eighty enemy dead. Heh, nice one, Teddy." A deep, lionic chuckle.
Teddy just gave him a hoof's up and a smirk.
K: "That's just a taste." I pulled back from the wall, and moved over to the Artillery. "We may have to level the buildings around the palace. Get good co-ordinates and pre-zero."
Cosmic: "..this is really going to get bad, isn't it?" He frowned, already writing notes.
K: "This is probably going to be a lot worse than 2nd Ponyville. I'd say.." I looked at the Marines and others present. "..thirty percent casualties, minimum."
Cosmic: "That IS bad." He shook his head. "Maybe we should've changed the plan."
K: "I don't know. We knew this was going to be really bad no matter what - Tirek can't give up one of his only footholds in Pony territory. His army is largely stupid, and their first taste of real fighting usually comes when they die. There's lots of them. We were going to face them sooner or later. Better now, when we have him off balance. As far as we can tell, this is the main body of his army in Neighpon - he was relying on the Shogun and his ponies to keep the peace. A division here, and two at Osaka. Even Tirek can't take those kinds of losses lightly - even if we're outnumbered 50 to 1, army to army. And these soldiers are the only ones with any combat experience at all.." I shrugged, and nodded back to the north wall.
Getting back there, I could hear occasional gun fire. Every now and then, something would stick its head up, and get shot at. I tapped the Regiment Commander, Major Brick Road.
Maj. Road: "General." He looked back at his Marines. "..confirmed targets only, right?"
K: "Read my mind." I resumed my place at the wall, binoculars out, and scanning the area.
Gorcat: "You know they'll be looking for you, man." He shrugged, linking together another belt to his partial one.
K: "Yup." Scanning..
Dusty: "You're hoping to draw them to this side, aren't you?"
K: "Yes, I am." I could see them moving out there.. in the distance. "SNIPERS! FREE FIRE IF YOU CAN HIT A TARGET!"
That started intermittent shooting from all sides. That.. that concerned me. We were surrounded.
K: "In the famous words of a General I've yet to name something after, 'We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things.'"
Gorcat: "Did he survive?" Legit question.
K: "Yup. Chesty Puller." I smirked. "One of the craziest, ballsiest people my nation ever birthed."
Gorcat: "Hm. Waiting for the right weapon, eh?" He grinned.
K: "Probably the purpose-made landing craft. Calling them Pullers would be an homage to one of his ballsier acts - pulling three companies of Marines out under fire with nothing but a Destroyer and several landers." I shrugged a bit.
The fire died down. Either the snipers ran out of targets, or the enemy started using better concealment and cover. One of the two.
Gorcat: "...mm.. counted seventy seven shots from all directions.. roughly."
K: "Two companies. That's a start." I looked over at Major Road.
Maj. Road: "Two light injuries here, and I heard one pony got hurt at the west wall. Besides that, nothing." He shrugged.
K: "I'm pretty sure they're trying to bring their armor up. They'll rush two sides with it, at once, with Porcine infantry support, and probably Duregars and Raptorians, and possibly some Goblins with crew-served guns. Watch those Goblins, though - they may be suicidal, but they recover their wounded. None of the others do." I shrugged a bit, and looked around for any tall buildings. There were three within a kilometer.
Back to the Artillery position, and Cosmic.
K: "Cosmic, get coordinates on those three towers, and knock them down with shells. They're the only concealed positions they could stick snipers, and that's the last thing we need." I nodded to him.
Cosmic: "Right. OKAY, PREP FOR FIRE MISSION.."
It was time to make the battlefield conform to my needs.. this being one of the hardest choices a commander can make, especially when you're technically in an allied city. Wreck the homes and property of the average civilian. Either do it on your terms, or let the battles play out as they may, and risk more casualties because the bad guys can take cover in them.. stuff like that.
For me, this choice was not a choice. We'd start blowing down buildings around our perimeter, and give the enemy as little concealment as possible. Honestly, if I'd known it'd be this bad, I would have had the fleet start doing it. As it was, we were out of accurate range of the 165mm guns on my Cruisers. Gunfire Support would be like a shotgun.
Could I have made a better plan? Possibly. But, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. This battle was supposed to go differently. Instead, Tirek sucked me into a battle on his terms. I knew any invasion was going to be bad, but I'd planned for Tirek to do what he's always done - defend in place, or piecemeal attacks, not counter-attack with force.
Now, we just had to wait and hope the Osaka attack went well.
[End of Part 3]
Part 4: Alamo II, Espionage
TIME: 14:24 NRCT
DATE: War Day 579/8 Solarius, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: The Imperial Palace, Capital City of Miaco, Occupied Empire of Neighpon
The radio call came a few minutes ago. Forest Spirit was bogged down. The Prench and Neighponese forces had been counter-attacked by formations much larger than them, just as we had. He was deploying the Roaman and Germane forces to back them up. Casualties were mounting, but he still had a connection to his beach head. I did not.
Twilight: "What do we do?" She shrugged.
K: "At this point, we're all fully committed to the battle. Every ground unit we can dispatch, is in the field. Same with Tirek. Both sides are going to take a lot of losses.. Tirek really planned for this." I frowned.
Dash: "You think he knew our plans?" She brought it up.
K: "It's possible.." I scowled. "I thought we got the spies, though? Mimics, and the spy ring in Ponyville.."
Gilda: "What if that wasn't all? What if it's a pony?" She, too.
K: "..yeah." I paced around a little. "Who, though?" I shrugged.
Norfy: "I don't think we have any evidence to even hazard a guess." He shrugged.
Gaze: "Aye, suh." He lowered his head a moment, though, then looked up. "Ye r'member when I got attacked, goin' to Detrot?"
K: "Yeah. What of it?" I implored.
Gaze: "Welllll.." He paced around a moment. "..th' squad that went with me. I was just thinkin' we didn't recover their bodies."
K: "Name them all." I nodded at him.
Gaze: "Mmm.. Private Land Wader, Private Holly Oake, Corporal Cozy Glow, Sergeant Yellow Fluff, an' Staff Sergeant Green Trees." He gestured.
I looked over at Pinkie. Her eyes were wide.
Pinkie: "Gaze.. huhm.. that's.. that's not possible." She wagged her hoof at him. "Cozy Glow wasn't in the Detrot Militia, she was in Ponyville's."
K: "I sent, specifically, Detrot militia with him." I crossed my arms. "What happened to Cozy Glow?"
Everyone just stared at me.
K: "We thought they died-"
Dash: "She."
K: "That she died with the others. What if she didn't?" I looked at them.
Gaze: "Y'T'hink so?" He looked back out among the troops outside the palace.
K: "I think we have our spy." I made a face, and paced out to Cosmic. "Cosmic. Is there anyone in the force we have right here, named Cozy Glow?"
Cosmic: "Y.. what?" He tilted his head, and pointed to the South Gate. "She's a Paratrooper."
K: "Thanks." I paced over to Webley's impromptu command center. "Webley. Cozy Glow." I grabbed her head on either side of her skull, lifted her up, and stared right into her eyes. "Cozy. Glow." Come on, girl, connect to the Internet...
Webley: "Cozy Glow is one of the main antagonists of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. She is the main antagonist of Season 8, first appearing in the episode "Marks for Effort", and then finally reveals her true nature in the finale "School Raze". She's also one of the three main antagonists of Season 9 (alongside Queen Chrysalis and Tirek). She is the former friend and one of Twilight Sparkle's archenemies." She dribbled this out, her eyes going completely white.
K: "Well, that's just fascinating! From where I'm standing, this should be Season 3 or 4, not EIGHT.." I looked at the sky, wondering.. "..where is she?"
I felt a gun to the back of my head.
K: "Oh, never mind." I didn't bother to turn around. "You know you don't have a chance, right?"
Cosmic: "DROP YOUR WEAPON!"
Gaze: "DROP EET! YE TRAITOR!"
Applejack: "YEW GIT AWAY FROM MAH HUSBAND!"
I could hear guns cocking, all over the place. Marines and Paratroopers demanding she lower her gun. I was still holding Webley by the head.
Cozy: "I shouldn't BE here." She hissed. "I missed my chance to hop units again.." She snarled. "..but at least I put the Paratroopers out of action." She giggled madly. "YOU all drop YOUR guns, or your GENERAL becomes a HEADLESS HORSEMAN!"
K: "Tell me.." I started.
Cozy: "You have no idea what kind of power I have." She snarled in my ear. "The Amulet? The GameColt? That was all me. ALL. ME." She giggled again, madly. "I've been Tirek's pony on the inside since BEFORE THE WAR." She looked at the rest of them.
K: "So, that's it." I nodded. "That's the OOPA." Out Of Place Artifact. "Discord?"
Oh, and there he was. Right in front of me.
K: "Going to help?" I flicked a glance behind me. "Or.. what?"
Discord: "You picked up on it. Something went wrong, and she started her evil plans long before she should've." He shrugged.
Cozy: "WATCH IT, CHAOS!" She yelled at him. "You even TWITCH one HAIR and he's DEAD."
K: "Then you lose your bargaining chip." I noted. "And the war will continue. Blinda will recover. Forest Spirit and the others will lead. My usefulness as anything other than a figurehead is at an end. Has been for some time. I've already put into motion all the keys for victory. You? You can die now, or die later."
Cozy: "All of you.. all of you.." She growled like a cat. "..you don't understand.. the power. Beyond the veil, beyond the limits of t-"
*CRACK!*
I heard a body fall behind me, and turned. I expected to see Rarity. I saw, instead, Teddy.
Teddy: "I think we're even, sir." He smirked.
K: "I think I've shit myself." I said, flatly. I had. I was so close to death...
Discord: "Now you know. One of the reasons for the Legend." He put a hand on my shoulder. "Not all of my reasons for bringing you here, were a desire to sew chaos. I saw her, and I knew, I knew that I had my own role to play in the Legend. And if I didn't go through with it, we really would be lost. My power, Tirek's power.. together." He shrugged. "Imagine if he stole it? Or, she did." And shook his head. "I thought the legend was a joke. Seeing her, I knew I was wrong. But, I couldn't just tell you everything when you arrived - you wouldn't have gone about things this way, and you would have.. oh, probably died on Gloom Mountain." A one-hand gesture.
K: "I see." I scrunched my face up. "One favor?"
Discord: "Yes?"
K: "Clean pants, please." I nodded very slightly.
In a flash, my underware was no longer a casualty, and he was once again, gone.
A few minutes passed in silence.
Webley: "Shir.. cld yu rleesh my fash..?"
K: "Oh, sorry, Webs." I put her down gently.
Cosmic: "So.. what the heck WAS that?" He paced over.
K: "An out of place artifact. She shouldn't exist, yet. Something went wrong and she appeared far too early." I shrugged. "Anyone's guess who." I looked down at her body. Teddy had tagged her through the back of her head, and out through her right eye, at an angle. "Nice shot, Teddy."
Teddy: "Gotta get my awesome back, K." He smirked. "Saving your monkey ass is a good start." He paced over. We brohoofed.
Norfy: "Welcome to the inner circle, Teddy." He nodded.
Gaze: "AYE! Fer damn reight, aye." He one-leg hugged Teddy.
Applejack: "Y'saved muh husband." She hugged him. "Y'all're kinfolk, now." She squishied his face a bit.
Rarity: "Yes, an excellent shot." She paced over to me. "Are you alright?"
K: "I literally shit myself. I really thought she was go-"
The body levitated.
K: "FUCK!"
Everyone backed away, and weapons were trained on it. Without having to say a word, her corpse was riddled with holes from everyone carrying a weapon. But, it was no use - it vanished into thin air.
K: "That was Tirek's magic." I was suddenly looking all around.. paranoid.
Pinkie: "It's okay, silly. He projected that!" She giggled. "But, you know, if Teddy hadn't been there. If you hadn't saaaaved him.." She tilted her head and paced over to me.
K: "I'd be dead, right now." I nodded. "My actions aren't foretold, only my coming." I looked at the soliders around me. "Alright! Man the walls! Come on - Tirek's boys are right outside. Who's pulling Sniper Overwatch? Move, people! Show's over!" Get them back on task.
Get myself back on task.
I seriously thought.. that it was the end. And it almost was.
[End of Part 4]
Part 5: Alamo III, Rescue
TIME: 09:17 NRCT
DATE: War Day 585/14 Solarius, 1003 C.S.
LOCATION: The Imperial Palace, Capital City of Miaco, Occupied Empire of Neighpon
We were now out of food. Even the palace's own supply was drained. Water.. we had a well, until yesterday, when an artillery shell landed in it. A shell filled with toxic sludge, poisoning the water.
We were down to 402 combat-capable ponies. Ammunition was the only thing we had. Our artillery guns were mostly out of action for want of shells. The entire area around us was craters. I had no idea what the civilian population was doing.
We were beseiged. Tirek had us pinned down, and he was playing extra dirty. Right after Cozy's death, he'd attacked in force. The entire counter-attack division hit us in successive waves, all that afternoon and night. It didn't stop until dawn. They'd breached the walls more than once, and we'd beaten them back each time.
Then, another division appeared. And another. Forest Spirit and the Osaka Landing Force were bogged down in the mountains between here and Osaka, with the enemy dug in to fortified positions almost ringing the city of Miaco.
I was sitting with Grunyev.
Grunyev: "De situvation looks dire, General." He sighed.
K: "It does. The Osaka Beachhead reports 33 percent casualties." I shrugged. "I'm.. I don't know what to do."
Grunyev: "You vill think of somesing, I think." He nodded.
I stood up and paced over to Dr. Allcome in the 'hospital' area.
K: "Cody." I nodded.
Dr. Allcome: "We need to get the critical cases out." He sighed. "I lost another one last night. We have no water, no antiseptics, and I'm running out of everything else." He looked out the window. "Was it supposed to be this bad?"
K: "I think Tirek is punishing us for killing Cozy. He wants us dead, now. No two ways about it." I shook my head. "There wasn't supposed to be this many troops in all of Neighpon. He pulled them from somewhere else - some other operation. Whatever he did, he did this with the intention of destroying us."
Dr. Allcome: "Really. Why, though?" He tilted his head.
K: "I think Cozy replaced Somnambula as Tirek's queen." I looked down at him. "If she gave Trixie the Alicorn Amulet like she said she did, then she had to have another for herself. She was intentionally powered down to fit in."
Dash: "Hell of a thought." She paced in, and handed Dr. Allcome a canteen. "Found this on a dead Marine. Still got some water in it."
Dr. Allcome: "Thank you, Dash." He paced away.
Dash: "This is what you meant when you told us war was terrible, wasn't it, K----?" She hugged me. "Mmmhrr.." A frustrated noise. "I can't stand this."
K: "Yeah, Dashie.. this is what I meant." I nodded. "This is about as bad as it gets. In about ten hours, we're going to start taking heat and dehydration casualties. Probably a few of them are going to go mad with thirst and try to drink from the toxic pit." I shook my head. "I have no idea how Cozy missed her chance to jump units again and keep being a spy, but however it happened, that's the reason this is happening. She's dead, Tirek wants us dead for it."
Dash: "You think he loved her?" She looked up at me.
K: "Probably. Maybe. I don't know. I'll ask him next time I see him." I gave a weak grin.
And out I paced, into the courtyard. Cosmic met me.
Cosmic: "We have 22 HE shells left, K. That's it." He frowned. "I have a volunteer crew manning the last gun. Where do you want me?"
K: "North Wall with the others." I shrugged. "Sorry, Coz."
Cosmic: "It's okay, K." He patted my hip. "We're friends. I knew, going in to this, I might die in this war. I just hope it's fast." He paced off.
I followed, loosely. Looking to the north, I could see only fields of trampled rubble, and corpses. The smell was ungodly. Tirek's forces hadn't bothered to pick any of their dead up. At least twelve thousand corpses were out there.
K: "Gorcat. Ammo?"
Gorcat: "Ten Funston rockets, one AP shell in the gun. Rifle ammo's okay. We have plenty of Zhukovs passed around just in case."
K: "Gotcha." I nodded. "Won't be long before he tries again."
Twilight: "K!" She called from the second floor of the palace.
K: "What's up!?" I called back.
Twilight: "They're coming.. from the WEST!" She pointed.
K: "He's NOT!" I exclaimed. "Call Forest Spirit, tell him there's a breach on the line somewhere! He just pulled back his defenders there, to break us here!"
Not that that would help - they had a massive head start on Forest Spirit. He'd probably get here in time to pick up our bodies.
K: "WEST WALL! MOVE!"
2/3rds of the force moved over to the West Wall. That was about 260 ponies. 260 versus.. what.. a division and change?
I mounted one of the defensive bits on the wall, and looked over it. Sure enough, a massive infantry force was coming this way, down the hills on the west side of the city. The bridges across the river had been blown up by artilery, but so many bodies choked the river, now, it could be crossed by stepping over them.
Dash: "Well.. we're screwed now, aren't we?" She racked her Bradley and presented at the wall.
K: "High Score time, people. Let's hope we take enough with us to give Forest Spirit a victory." I frowned.
Ochre Wave: "Sir. You should try to escape. You and the Elements." He looked over at me.
K: "No, Ochre. I'm not running away. Not that we could."
There was really nowhere to run TO - the river, almost a third of the way downstream to Osaka, had been filled with rocks, the result of Tirek's forces blowing away part of the mountain over there, to stop our naval forces from getting close. And it'd worked - the landing force had gone back to Osaka to support the units there.
Ochre Wave: "Thanks for giving me a chance again, sir." He steeled himself.
K: "No problem. Sergeant." I patted his shoulder. "Equestria forgives you." For what it's worth.
Ochre Wave: "..thanks, sir." He grinned just a bit.
K: "GET RE-" I was stopped by the sounds of horns.
Horns. Trumpets.
Blasting a sound I was familiar with, but couldn't place.
Gaze: "THA'SSA CAVALRY CHARGE!" He screamed, running to the North Wall. "K..."
Thunder. Hooves. I scaled the wall next to him, and looked.
A force of Ponies no less than Battalion strength, fresh, were charging from the north, to the west, and right for Tirek's advancing force. They'd collide with them.. in minutes. I grasped for my binoculars, and looked through them.. who were they? Did Forest Spirit send a force far around the mountains?
No. The flags were red and white.. with an eagle.
They were Poles.
The Winged Hussars had arrived.
K: "Fuck me." I blurted out.
Gaze: "Been o'er that, suh. Not innta stallions, suh." He snickered. "Who're they, though, suh?"
K: "Poleland. They've come to help us." I dismounted the wall and ran back to the West Wall. "EVERYONE! FIX BAYONETS! PREPARE TO CHARGE!"
Norfy: "Charge?! Have you LOST it, K!?"
Gaze: "Naw, Norf! Poleland's here!" He pointed at the advancing soldiers coming from the north.
K: "It's the LAST thing Tirek expects! Come on! While we still can!"
Ochre Wave: "FIX BAY'NEEEETS!"
Sigmask: "BAYONEEETS!"
Dash: "COME ON, ARE YOU STALLIONS OR FOALS!?" She screamed.
We all mounted over the wall, everyone walking, fixing bayonets to their weapons if they had ones capable of doing so. The distance between Tirek's force - which was now slowing, and reorganizing to meet the incoming Hussars - and us, was about a kilometer.
K: "ADVANCE, FAST PACE!" I started marching. This was our only shot.
We closed the distance quickly.. as did the Hussars. Soon, all three forces were within 200 meters of each other. The Hussars were at full charge as they reached that point - and I could see the Polelish army wasn't just cavalry. At the 200 meter mark, towed weapons of all kind, stopped, and spread out to the flanks. Machine guns, 76mm artillery, rigs of rockets on a towed mount.. and the central force, of cavalry, continued the charge.
K: "CHAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGEEEE!!" I screamed with all the strength I had left.
We charged as well. 200 meters. If they hadn't had all that nice adrenaline in them, they'd've been too tired and broken to do it. But, they did it. They even outpaced me. Some fired, as they could. Others didn't bother until they were MUCH closer.
I drove forwards, and mounted a tall broken wall, firing down on anything that wasn't a Pony or Griffon. Cutting down everything I could see. I reloaded. And I could see one Pony in particular, about Sombra's size, in golden armor that was entirely unsuited to modern combat. He had a massive lance tucked under one leg, which he drove into three Porcine at once. Letting it go, he switched to a Chaffee, and started firing.
I jumped down, and cut my way to him, one-handing the Sword of Rainbow's Light. We met on either side of an armored Porcine. He ejected the Chaffee magazine into his face, and I carved a chunk out if its back. The Golden Armored Pony produced a wicked sabre designed for the mouth, and slashed the Porcine's legs out from under him. I caved in its skull once it was fallen, with the Sword.
K: "General K, Equestrian Commander-in-Chief. Thank you, whomever you are!"
King Solarenski: "I am King Vladislav Solarenski." He bowed his head to me, reloading his Chaffee. "Of Poleland. A pleasrue, General." And, one-legged, no-look, whipped it behind him and fired a shot that beheaded a Raptorian. "We decide it is time to stop sitting on our flank and help our friends." He gave a cruel smirk as he got back-to-back with me.
K: "I don't see many Kings fighting alongside their ponies, sire." I fired ten rounds into a pair of Duregars.
King Solarenski: "HAHAHA! THIS is where it is MOST FUN, though!? WHY NOT!" He fired three times, and cut down three targets.
The war raged around us like a maelstrom. Any Tirek forces not in the melee were being chopped down by the crew-served weapons. Tanks were exploding to our left and right. Between the Hussars and the remaining Equestrian forces.. it took us five minutes to force the enemy to a retreat.
K: "LET THEM GO!" I ordered, tapping the King on his shoulder. "Trust me. We delayed them long enough.." I smirked.
As Tirek's forces mounted the hilly trail leading back towards Osaka, I saw Forest Spirit's forces crest the top of the mountain..
Now it was THEY who were surrounded.. outnumbered.. and trapped. They scattered in all directions at once. Everyone started shooting, picking them off one at a time. A few minutes after that.. and it was ALL over..
..we liberated all of Neighpon with this battle. Every soldier Tirek had anywhere in the island chain had been sent against us, and he'd lost every single one. His field commanders, his spy, and as we found out, more than FIVE divisions of troops. Fifty. Thousand. Troops.
We'd fielded seven battalions. Six to one odds. And we'd sustained heavy casualties, yes, but not as bad as he had.
Neighpon was ours again.
{End of Chapter 63}
