My Little Soldiers

Chapter 2

The sun began dipping low in the sky, casting an ethereal glow to pass through the stained glass windows of the Royal Palace Dining Room. Normally Celestia would have begun preparing to raise the moon, but tonight her sister, Luna, joyously reunited after one thousand years, would raise the very heavenly body she had been trapped in for ten centuries. At the moment, she and her sister ate quietly, Celestia's dinner and Luna's breakfast. Though cured from the darkness that possessed her all those years ago, Luna still felt ashamed, if not awkward, in the presence of her solar sister.

Finally, Celestia could take it no more, "Sister, how are you adjusting to the new times? I know things are different from one thousand years ago, and it may be difficult to settle in."

Luna nodded, "Yes, my sister, things do seem much different. Many things are moved or... gone." Luna couldn't bring herself to look at her sister, fearing she may discover her true thoughts. Unfortunately, Celestia was a perceptive mare,and caught on to Luna's facade.

"Luna, dear sister, what is on your mind? We have been separate for so long, I must know." The solar princess asked.

Luna looked pensive, not truly wanting the answer to her sister. Finally she relented, "There is a particular thing I have been thinking about that is no longer here. I know I wont like it, but I must know, sister. Where are the humans I summoned so long ago?" She rose her head, revealing moistened eyes pointed at her sister, "You did not... did you?" She couldn't bring herself to say the words. Celestia's silence was not promising.

"I had a feeling you would ask about them sooner or later. They are gone, sister. After you were sent away, there was a great battle. Many dide. So many." Celestia paused, recalling the memories of that day in the past. "The frenchman, William I believe his name was, betrayed the rest of his kind and sought out a source of power to ensuer his victory. He tried to kill me, my staff, and his superiors at our peace negotiations. The human leader, Gregor if I'm right," Celestia noticed the lunar princess perk in attention at the name, "defeated the attempt and hunted William down while our two forces joined to fight the new rebels. The resulting battle cost Gregor many good and honorable men. When Gregor finally reached William, he was mortally wounded." Luna's face contorted into one of shock and dismay. Celestia pressed on, determined to finish the tale before the memories of that day overwhelmed her. "I was forced to use the Elements of Harmony to subdue William by encasing him in stone. Gregor gave his last breaths to hold him still as the attack charged. He was caught in the blast, and laided frozen in time. When we reurned to the battlefield, the sight made me sick. The amount of bodies was to much. The new leader agreed humanity could not remain in Equestria after such a horrific war, and I sent him and his people to the lands beyond the Everfree Forest. I do not know what has since become of them."

Luna sat in silence. Her eyes teared up more as the story went on. "What of Gregor? Would it be possible to-"

"No, sister. His wounds were to much. Even if we could release him from the stone curse, he would die within muniets. I'm sorry sister. I know he was... special." Celestia carfully guarded her tone, so as to not provoke her grieving sibling. She sympathised with Luna, having lost her own loved one for what she feared might be forever.

Luna dried her tears enought to look to her sister, "How do you know?"

"Gregor revealed his feelings at the peace meeting, just before the coup. Your reaction shows that you felt the same to him. I'm sorry sister. I wish you did not have to feel this pain."

Luna could only shake her head and force her sobs to stop, "Even if that had not happened, I suppose it would have been inevitable for us to part. He was still a mortal, and I would be a young and spry centuries after time had claimed him. Perhaps it is for the better that we were separated when we were, to save us both that pain."

Celestia walked to Luna and placed a comforting hoof over her shoulders. "Dearest and beloved sister, do not think like that. Gregor was a good person. You two should have been allowed let your love bloom and prosper. If humans taught me anythiny, it is that war will only destroy what we hold dear."

Her words seemed to have little effect on her sister, who broke out into crying again, "I never should have brought him here. If I had just never tryed that cursed rebellion I never would have summoned his people. I never would have put him on that position. He might have had a long a fruitful life if I had never gotten him involved in my petty feud. He, he did not deserve t-to"

Her words were silenced when Celestia pulled her sorrow filled sister into a full hug and whispered calming word into her ears. "If you had not done such things you would not have discovered such a great person. If you had not you would never have shared those loving moments you had with him. If you had not I never would have realized just how important you are to me, Luna. There are many things we wish we had never done in our past, my dear sister, but we must remember that those things are in the past. We must move on, even if it hurts. My dearest little sister, please do not drag yourself down into this darkness, as it is so much darker than Nightmare Moon could ever be." The Sun Princess' words comforted the crying pony, and withen a few muinets Luna pulled back and wiped her eyes.

"You are right, sister. Gregor was a good man, who died performing a great act of valor. It is how he always fanticized dieing. He told me so on our walks." Luna managed a quiet chuckle as she recalled the particar instance. Gregor had jumped about, deuling an invisible enemy. He mimed suffering a fatal wound and fell with overdramatic flare. She could remember joking that his death would have to be prolonged until he could die with a sense of digntiy. He had responded by saying he would only die if it pleased her. She said she could never wish that, to which he pulled her close and whispered that she had nothing to fear then.

Recalling the intement moment brought a soft smile to her face. That smile was quickly swept away when the door to the dining room swung open. A messenger swiftly flew in, shattering the serinity of the moment with a sharp yell. "You majesties! Your majesties! There is trouble in Ponyville!"

Celestia and Luna scrutinized the little Pegasus who had broken their moment, forcing the pony to think twice about barging in unannounced. Once the messanger seemed calm enough to speak in a civilized tone, Celestia asked, "Just what has happened that is so importent it can not be addressed in the court tonight?"

The messenger reached into his saddlebags and retrieved a scroll of paper that looked crudely drawn on at best. " I couldn't quite see from all the commotion, but a pegasus called Rainbow Dash said this had to be delivered to you immediatly. Said something about forgetting about it earlier." Celestia was suprised to hear the Element of Loyalty would put such a high priority on such a matter. Usually the brash pegasus would try to do or fix whatever matter it was herself, or told her most faithful student about it, who would report it to her via Spike. Celestia took the scroll with magic and opened it, with Luna looking on over her shoulder. They both gasped at what they saw.

Depicted on the scroll was a bipedal figure covered in colored squiggles for clothes. The arms and hands were properly proportional, and the feet were kind of ovals to depict shoes. The two rulers looked on with different emotions. Celestia with stunned confusion, seeing what she thought she would never lay her eyes on again. Luna looked with a secret excitement at the possibilities. Her Gregor might be no more, but to meet with his legacy would be wonderful to say the least. The figure brought with it a message undeniable to the sisters, though. Humans had returned, and judging by the weapon in the figure's hand, circled several times with red crayon, their intentions were questionable.

Celestia turned to her guards, who had appeared at the messenger's sides to apprehend him for his intrusion. They looked to her, expecting orders as to what would be done to the messenger. Instead they received one order. "Get our carriages."

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Daniel was annoyed. Annoyed and uncomfortable. Annoyed, uncomfortable, and strapped on a table with enough restraints to hold down a dragon. At first he thought they were going to cut him open, or just execute him for killing the Frank pilot, but the little ponies just talked among each other. Even the little purple one who had tried to be friendly since they had met seemed to shy away from him. This was to be expected, Daniel supposed. His hosts couldn't know about the war, or the crimes of the Franks, so to them he just slew another one of his own in cold blood. Hopefully they could understand the necessity of the situation. The Frank had reached for his pistol, intending to kill him and finish off Mike. Couldn't let that happen.The dead Frank in question now lied across from him in a bed, covered in a white sheet. They had left all his gear on, which would come in handy later, if he could survive long enough.

Daniel concluded that if they wanted to kill him, they would have done it by now. The sun was already down, and only one guard stayed behind to watch him during the night. It was his little purple friend. She was quiet at first, but soon attempted some small talk. The effort was more or less useless with Daniel's ability to gesture restricted by the straps, but was appreciated. She was confused and scared, but not angry. He even got her to laugh accidentally when her little servant came in.

She had a baby dragon! Dragon! Baby! How she came about it was curious enough, and needless to say Daniel had freaked out, screamed like a little girl, and managed to break an arm free in fear of being fed to the little dragon. Looking back, it was silly and childish to act like that, but the legends the Norsemen passed down about dragons and wyverns had enough effect to momentarily stun him. Once his guard had realized what he was so scared of, she actually chuckled. Not a mirthful 'we'er gonna get you' chuckle, more of a 'nobody is going to eat you, silly boy' chuckle.

With the ice broken and a wary eye tossed to the little dragon from time to time, Daniel and his purple captor settled in for the night. One free arm allowed them to have some semblance of a conversation, and even the small dragon servant had some input at times. When nothing more could be said, she opened up a book of letters and characters couldn't understand. The dragon seemed content enough to sleep, and soon the purple unicorn did too, exhausted from the day. Daniel, seeing few other options, also fell asleep.

He was awoken by the sensation of freedom across his body, opening his eyes to see Mike, still bandaged but moving, releasing his remaining restraints. The rancher-pilot smiled to his friend, occasionally grimacing when his cast-bound leg moved inappropriately. He was still dressed in his flowing hospital gown, which seemed to stick to him where the blood congealed.

"Well arn't you in a pickle?" Mike whispered so as to not wake the sleeping unicorn on the edge of the bed. She dozed undisturbed by the movements of the restraints, lightly snoring against her book.

"Frank pilot that shot you down got dragged in, tried to finish the job. I was quicker on the draw" Daniel gestured to the dead human in the nearby bed, "but our friends didn't seem to like my cold-hearted slaying another being. They couldn't understand why I did it, and strapped me down."

"Well then, we should probably get out of here before any more craziness occurs. Where's my gear?"

"They took it to another room, along with all our weapons." Mike's face drooped in disappointment. No way they would have time to search the hospital for his uniform, but he couldn't just keep standing here in the near-buff. Clothes would be needed. He felt his gaze being slowly drawn towards the dead man on the adjacent bed.

After a quick change Mike looked over to Daniel who was quietly regaining circulation in his limbs. their little guard had shifted a bit, but snoozed with a light snore. Arguably, it was adorable.

"Well, how do I look?" Mike did a little twirl in his "new" uniform. Daniel watched with a small smirk.

"Like a Frank pilot who got shot up." It was true. The jacket was full of blood-dried holes from where the previous owner had been hit. Those could be patched later, if he really wanted to keep the suit.

"It does it's job, and look at what our friends left in his pocket." Mike twirled the pistol around his finger. It was a Frank high class semi-auto pistol. High power ammo and very accurate. And expensive. The weapon was for only high ranking officers and rich Franks who could afford it. Who the hell did Daniel kill?

"That'll come in handy." Daniel said, standing with stoop to avoid hitting the ceiling. His pony captors had been kind enough to just strip him of weapons, leaving his uniform intact. "Lets go. No telling when the next 'guard' shift." Mike nodded and the two started out of the room. Unfortunately, they didn't get far, when Mike's acquired boot landed squarely on the tail of the purple and green dragon. The creature shot up in alarm, a spurt of green flames dancing out of it's mouth. The two looked at each other for several seconds, before both let out equally loud, shrill, almost girly screams of terror.

By this point the purple guard pony had awoken and seen their breakout attempt, forcing Daniel into action. "Come on!" He yelled at Mike, swiping the pistol. He fire a single round into the overhead lights, causing a shower of sparks to distract the pony and baby dragon while they made their escape. Mike's busted leg continually slowed them down, but the pair kept running as fast as possible.

A nurse Daniel recognized as the one who admitted Mike in the first place stepped out in their path, probably to see what was causing all the noise. Kind as she was, they couldn't stop now. Daniel let off another shot in the ceiling, scaring her enough to hide. The door was now in their sights, and from there they could move and hide in one of the nearby houses or make for the woods or something. The realization hit Daniel that he had not really planned this breakout well. As they reached the door, the pair slowed down. They were still weak from the blood loss. They would have to stop and rest somewhere nearby to gather their strength. Someplace they wouldn't be found.

The sight that greeted them on the other side of the entrance way squashed all these plans. Gold armored ponies flanked them on all sides with two of the largest ponies Daniel had seen yet staring straight at them. One was almost the size of a full grown horse with a white coat and a brightly colored mane of three different colors that moved about, despite the lack of wind. Next to it was another, smaller and a dark purple, with a mane and tail that seemed to be made of the night sky. Daniel couldn't help but think to himself 'Just what the hell have I gotten us into?'

Daniel thought fast. No way they could make a break for it now, and the hospital doors were now occupied by the staff who came to investigate the commotion. There was even a crowd building up behind the armored semicircle. They could fight and get clobbered, run and get clobbered, or...

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Luna looked to the pair of human beings. They had caused quite a commotion as they tried to run, and now they were trapped. She knew how dangerous a cornered human could be. They were predatory by nature, and would fight until dead or disabled. The Night princess took a few cautious steps forward, igniting the magic within her horn. She didn't foresee what happened next. The brown-clad human lurched forward, brandishing the weapon Rainbow Dash had crudely drawn on the slip of paper. While her focus was on casting the spell, she could not manage to defend herself.

Fortunately Celestia and the royal guards were on point. Both humans were propelled by magic onto the wall of the hospital and held in place while they groaned to each other in pain. Now unimpeded, Luna recast her spell. A blue magic feild wrapped around the humans, diving into their minds. It was a complicated spell, cast only once before in her life. It involved searching the target's mind for particular information, copying that information, then implanting some of her own. It was a very delicate spell, and not too much information could be given or taken, lest either the target or caster have an aneurysm.

Once the spell was complete, Luna felt the cool tricking feeling of knowledge flow into her mind. She could handle it much easier than the two humans, as she already had most of the information in her head, while the humans had just been forced to learn the entire Equestrian language in ten seconds. Their heads must have been splitting. She turned to her sister and the guards, nodding the signal to release the humans from their magical hold.

The two humans fell to the ground in a heap and slowly pulled themselves up, groaning and swearing. Now that Luna could understand them, she suppressed a blush at their... colorful choice in words. The tan human felt the ground around him apparently searching for something, which the Night Princess could only assume was the weapon they had wielded, and now floated in air, suspended by her own magic. The blue human also rose, but slower and favoring his leg. It must still be injured.

She gained their immediate attention by stomping a hoof down as she approached, and hovering the weapon in plain view. The blue human seemed to look helpless as the tan one stood looking from the weapon to her, eyes hard and serious. He was trying to plan his next move. She spoke, causing both human and Equestrian to sit in shocked silence as the human tongue left her muzzle, "HARK, HUMANS! WHO ART THOU TO COME INTO THE KINGDOM OF EQUESTRIA WITH SUCH VIOLENT INVENTIONS!" Perhaps the Royal Canterlot voice may have been to much, judging by the expressions on their faces. It reminded her of the first time she had met the humans one thousand years ago.

Thankfully, either the new humans were stronger, or she had found the more heroic of the species, because the tan-clad human straightened himself and looked Luna square in the eye. "First Lieutenant Daniel Marsh, Serial Number 095336532, Lunar Republican Army Air Corps."

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Commander Frile watched the infantry column march along the edge of the previously impenetrable forest. Glory and honor would soon be his, as the man who conquered the ancestral homeland of humanity. He would be written into the legends as the man who reclaimed what was ousted from the Frank crown. He may even get a lordship, or made a duke! Even without the new equipment, or tanks, or even air cover, he would take this land.

The nobility though him a fool, but he would prove them wrong. He would prove himself a brilliant tactician with his handful of companies, take the ancient lands, and become great like his father always dreamed. The blitz tactic that Lieutenant Schliefflen presented using the maps drawn up by the fly-boys was unbeatable. They charge in from the forest and take a small village, securing the main road to the capital. From there they burn the town, and move in and use their superior technology and firepower to secure the capital and the leadership. It couldn't fail.

Lieutenant Schliefflen himself walked up next to Frile and snapped a salute while speaking to him using their native language, "Sir, I have just finished speaking to high command. They still don't want to dedicate any armored or air troops to this occupation force when the Solars are pushing hard to the north."

"That is fine, Lieutenant. Our enemy is weak and our plan flawless. These natives will buckle under the heel of the glorious Franken Empire, and we will have secured the perfect staging ground for the invasion forces. I think a few promotions lay in our future, especially for the mastermind of this mighty plan!" Commander Frile slapped his subordinate on the back as they shared ambitious grins. The air reconnaissance that had been done for the past weeks made it clear the native inhabitants were mere ponies who didn't even make it out of the dark age. All he would have to do is kick in the door. "Bring up the mortars. We should be in range."