Chapter 5: Fillydelphia (Revised)

Many of the Night Guard had their armor already on, even those who went to Ponyville for Nightmare Night had to wear their armor.    The majority of them gathered their things from the barracks and flew off towards Canterlot Central, trains from the four corners of Equestria were inbound to the station.  Luna's Express and the Ponyville Express were the a few of the trains that had already pulled into the station, on board of the Ponyville Express outbound for Fort Hoovington, that Star Shield could recognize were Ditzy, Time Turner, and Big Macintosh, Ponyville had gotten the news the quickest, many stallions and mares alike joined quickly and got on the train.

The Night Guard landed and the new recruits saluted them.  Big Mac was easy to spot from the crowd of ponies, a drill instructor talked to them after the Royal Night Guard boarded the train.  "Alright ponies, you know whats going on so I am going to skip over the obvious information, you will board this horse and go to Fort Hoovington, you will be trained in the art of war.  Good luck!"  The ponies saluted the sergeant and got onto the train, Time Turner and Big Mac waved to Star Shield before they got onto the train.

A few trains were pulling into the station, one as sleek as Luna's express, but this one had been themed white and orange.  The Royal Guard landed and boarded the train, Shining Armor was with them, along with Princess Cadance.  Luna came down about a minute after they arrived, she boarded the train with full battle armor, she didn't address any of the guards, they knew what was happening, they didn't need to be briefed.  Star Shield and Captain Shadow Song followed the Princess of the Night to her private carriage.  Princess Luna beelined to her room, she shut the door without saying a word.

Shadow Song sighed.  "Alright, Star Shield you stay here of course, I wouldn't bother Princess Luna at this time.  I'm going to be with the rest of the guard, I will see you when we get to Fillydelphia."  She walked out of the carriage as soon as she finished, leaving Star Shield alone to ponder what war was going to be like.  It's going to be bloody, that is for certain, after seeing what happened to that conductor was probably a mere taste of the enemies potential

He sat down at the bar outside of Luna's room, he grabbed a small bottle of hard cider and opened it.  It smelled strong, but he downed the cool liquid, it burned his throat slightly.  I wasn't expecting this to happen, one day everything's fine, the next war has broken out and I am heading off to Faust knows where.  He took another swig of the cider and coughed, he still wasn't used to drinking anything alcoholic.

The scenery outside rapidly changed from the mountainous regions of Canterlot to a flatter surrounding, they quickly reached the coastline in a matter of hours speeding north towards Fillydelphia, the sea stretched far over the horizon, sand came up almost to the tracks.  Star Shield stared in wonder at the great expanse of water, he had never gone this far away from home.  He heard the door to the car open, Moonfire and Nightwing took a seat beside their friend, Nightwing poured up a cup of the cider and took a swig.

Moonfire sighed.  "Couldn't imagine something like this..."  Nightwing nodded at her words.

The three looked out over the ocean, to the north they could see a cove like area, there residing in the center of the cove was the great city of Fillydelphia, it's ports sent and received good from across the ocean, there at the port sat the First and Second Fleets of the Equestrian Navy.

The Express pulled into the junction where troops from even farther north were unloading supplies, weapons, medical equipment, armor, and anything else that would be needed on the war front, there was a great commotion, but nopony really spoke to one another.  Many of the troops there were grizzly and older, some even towered over the crowd.

Shadow Song came into the car.  "Alright ponies, it's time to get things moved to the Celestia."

Moonfire seemed confused.  "Wheres that?"

Shadow Song rolled her eyes.  "It is the command ship of the Second Fleet, that is where we will be living for the duration of the campaign."

They all got up from the bar and began to walk out from the car, a voice stopped Star Shield though.  "Star Shield, you would, stay in the car for a minute."  It was Luna, she was still in her full armor, her face showed that she had and was thinking deeply.  He nodded and looked at the other three, Shadow Song shrugged and lead the other two out.

Once they left, Luna walked up to the window which looked out over the port city.  "Star Shield, are you sure that you want to participate in this war?"

Star Shield was baffled that the princess was asking him this.  What the hell is she talking about, of course I would fight! He answered cautiously. "Yes, I want to be able to defend my homeland."

Luna sighed and gave a small smile.  "Of course Star Shield, you are very brave."

Star Shield shook his head.  "No I'm not, I just do what I can, even if I don't have the power to do it."

She nodded.  "Alright, it's time for us to get to the Celestia."  Star Shield followed her out.  They flew over the port city, ponies of all kinds were unloading and moving supplies, large groups of soldiers boarded the vast battleships.  The Celestia was easy to spot, she was a carrier, pegasus pony divisions were landing on the vast carrier, the rest of the Royal Night Guard had already arrived and were moving below decks, even some of Celestia's Royal Guard had some to join the fight, they arrived an hour later, the passageways of the command ship were filled with staff and other naval officers.

They arrived at the bridge where Captain Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, and Captain Shadow Song were standing looking out the viewport to the open ocean.  A stoic earth pony was at the helm of the ship, Luna walked up to him, he bowed and spoke quietly to her.  Luna went back over to Star Shield.  "That is Captain Iron Jaw, he is Equestria's greatest naval officer."

Shining Armor and Cadance walked over to the two, Star Shield bowed before the other princess.  She laughed.  "It's alright, there is no need to bow.  Luna has told us quite a bit about you."  Shining Armor looked at him critically.

Cadance glared at her husband.  Shining Armor cleared his voice and dropped the critical look.  "Sorry, it is nice to meet you Star Shield."  Star Shield gave an uncomfortable smile to the Captain.

Iron Jaw spoke behind them.  "Princess Luna, the fleet will be ready to move in about three hours, troops from the westernmost regions are on their way, and supplies are still being loaded, we will deploy when we are ready."

Luna's face was serious.  "Very well Captain, inform me when we are ready."

The two princesses looked through another viewport towards the harbor, ponies were still moving about supplies were loaded onto the large ships, crates larger than the tallest of ponies were pushed by magic onto the large supply ships.  Star Shield was amazed at the ability of the ponies to mobilize, trains were pulling in at Fillydelphia Central and even more new and veteran troops poured out of the carriages.

Star Shield decided to go below deck, he still had things that he needed to drop off, his personal items were few but still weighed on him since he had his armor on, he was given a room near where the Princess would sleep.  It was small but cozy, only consisting of a small bed, a cabinet, and a window to look out of.  He dropped his stuff on the bed and walked back out of the room.

Throughout the ship there were ponies walking about, engineers were the ones who mainly moved below decks, he passed by the engine room, there were swarms of ponies working the engine panels, and checking gauges and things that Star Shield didn't understand.

Several times he bumped into ponies, he did see some of the other RNG, but most of them remained on the upper decks, and the runway platform.

***

Quickly the hours of preparation passed, Star Shield eventually made his way back up to the bridge, there Luna, Shining Armor, and Shadow Song were talking about the threat, what it had looked like, and how it attacked.

Star Shield had made it back to the bridge just in time for the horn to sound thorughout the fleet, it was loud and long.  Ponies on the dock looked at the Celestia, the last of the supplies were loaded and the ships were cut of from birth.  The other ships returned the call and the fleet moved slowly out of the dock and towards the entrance to the cove.  Star Shield could see ponies on the docks waving to them, some were crying at seeing the Second Fleet go.

Star Shield stared at the open ocean, in the back of his mind he could hear a voice.  Come little pony, time to show me what your made of