Chapter Six
Frontieres sans Militaires

Princess Celestia watched the combat tape she had received from their experimental soldiers with her sister, Luna. The video was shaky, but that was to be expected from a tape that was made in a combat zone. The six soldiers performed amicably with the armor suits, and single-hoofedly wiped out an entire battalion of Peace Fighters.

“Very exciting footage, sister. And they suffered not a single casualty, correct?” Princess Luna asked, still watching the tape as the camera-pony engaged a Peace Fighter in CQC and eliminated him with ease.

“Correct, sister. These super soldiers are nigh impervious thanks to the armor suits, henceforth designated Solar Sword Mk. I. The soldiers themselves shall be christened ELEMENT GEAR” Celestia answered, watching the soldiers clean up the last of the Peace Fighters who were attempting to surrender.

“Very good. Now, about the walker received along with this shipment: I was led to believe it saw action on the ship itself” the Lunar Princess said, moving along.

“Yes, it seems the Peace Fighters boarded the ship in an attempt to steal the titanium onboard and were met with a warm welcome from the PEACE FIGHTER. Now that we have received the walking tank I think it is to be re-named. You may have the honors, Lulu” Celestia offered her sister, who brightened like the sun itself.

“May I? May I really? Oh wonderful! Oh I shall name it... Oh what will I name it? OH, I KNOW! METAL LANCE!” the Princess of the Night declared.

Celestia smiled and said “I see what you have done there, dear sister. Always following in my hoofsteps.”

“W-we always did want to be just like our older sister” Luna answered shyly, reverting to her archaic royal speech as a result.

“Indeed you did. Now, moving on to the next topic; the canines have proved as stubborn as always, and I believe it is high time we simply take from them what we need. Operation: Barbed Spear will be the invasion of the Democratic Republic of the Canine, and will see us conquering them and their valuable oil supplies. Also, Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings are to be receiving their special ‘gift’ from the Griffons in thanks from us for their titanium soon” Princess Celestia declared.

“It shall be as we wish, sister” Luna replied.

~~~~

Grass and dirt was obliterated beneath the treads and boots of the Equestrian Empire invasion force as they encroached upon the canine capital city, the groan of the tank engines filling the ears of all who were within range.

Normally a ground invasion force this slow would be seen and dealt with from miles away, but the canines were a bit busy with the constant barrage of FMAAUM-38s and kinetic-strike artillery cannons assaulting them, and thus none of them could see the true threat steadily approaching.

Finally they reached the edges of the city and easily smashed through, instilling even more panic through the hearts of the canines and forcing them to scatter like roaches in the light. Imperial soldiers went into homes and businesses where the tanks could not go and secured any civilians, forcing many of them to comply and killing the ones that were armed and brave enough to fight back.

The canines had no military at all, and the Equestrians steamrolled over them with ease. The invasion lasted for all of two hours, and when it was over the patriotic flag of the canines was torn down and shredded on the spot, replaced with the high-flying flag of the conquistadors.

With this conquering of the canines Equestria proved to all that they will eventually fall at their hooves.

~~~~

“What happened out there?!” Lieutenant Spear asked Shining Armor as he sat in the cafeteria of Mother Base, eyes buried in his hooves. His head hurt, he was tired, and the Lieutenant was screaming in his ear.

“We got jumped... Couldn’t even get the freaking metal before that thing attacked us” Shining said.

“What was it? Did you get a look at it?” Spear stated, sitting down next to the Captain.

“All of Equestria saw that damn monstrosity; thing was bigger than a house. It was some kind of giant walking tank or something, I don’t know. Point is; freaking thing was enormous and deadly as hell. I don’t know where the Princesses got such a thing, but it’s bad news for the Peace Fighters” Shining explained.

“Shoot! What the hell are we gonna do now, Shining Armor? They’ve got some giant walking tank, and you didn’t get the titanium! We are so screwed! What the hell happens now?!”

“I DON’T KNOW, Lieutenant! Goddess, don’t you ever just SHUT the HELL up?! HUH?! I KNOW I FUCKED UP, OK?! You DON’T have to remind me of my FAILURES and rub them in my FACE! Why don’t YOU think of what to do next instead of LEANING on me like a fucking CRUTCH?!” Shining thundered, standing up and hitting the plastic seat so hard it was ripped right off the screws holding it in place.

“Shining, I--”

“Shut UP!”

“Shining, can I talk to you?” Private Gleaming Bullet asked as he walked into the cafeteria.

“NO! Get OUT! Both of you! I am your Captain, NOT your friend. I am NOT Shining Armor, Shining, Mr. Armor, Lovely Armour, Gleaming Shield*, or ANY of that! I am the Captain and I WILL be addressed as such! Now leave!” the stallion ranted.

“Shini--” Lieutenant Spear started, silenced when Shining cut her off.

“NOW!”

The two ponies fled the room like it was on fire, and the Captain watched them go, sealing the door behind them.

Approximately three seconds after they left Shining Armor collapsed in another seat and covered his eyes with his hooves, beginning to cry. Muffling his mouth the Captain sobbed and wailed, the stresses of the war getting to him. He knew Lieutenant Spear was right; without that titanium and the armor suits they could make with it, the Peace Fighters were screwed. More so now that the Princesses had some kind of walking tank. Not even the IMRT-96 they’d stolen would help them fight that thing.

The Captain cried for close to 30 minutes before finally calming down, wishing that Cadence were there to help him.

Why couldn’t it have all gone down differently? Why did the events of that day happen the way they did? Cadence...if you were still alive, this war would be over by now Captain Armor thought.

He stood up and headed into the nearby bathroom, taking a drink from the water fountain and looking up into the mirror, seeing failure staring back at him.

“You failed” Shining whispered to his own reflection. “You failed, Captain! You screwed up! You failed bad and now the Peace Fighters are doomed! They’ll all be killed! And the ones that won’t die fighting will be captured and executed right in front of you. And you won’t be given the same mercy. No, you’ll be forced to live the rest of your life knowing that your FUCK UP cost everypony in your army and eventually all of Equestria their LIVES! But you know what the worst part about it is, Shining? You could’ve prevented all this. But you ran. You ran away from that walker. Your FIRST reaction was to run away from that thing. You COULD’VE fought it! The leg joints looked easily susceptible to damage by grenade, but no, you RAN! You ran away screaming like a scared little colt! You’re a COWARD!”

With this final exclamation Shining Armor reached up and smashed the mirror, shards of the glass cascading into the water fountain and clattering all over it and the floor.

When the Captain looked back up, all that stared back was the wall.

Shining rubbed at his head and left the bathroom, making a note to have the mechanics fix the broken mirror and seat.

A vibration in the pocket of his vest alerted Shining to a message he had received from Lieutenant Spear, who was likely too afraid or just smart enough not to speak with him in person right now.

You’ve got visitors on the landing pad, Captain.

-Lieutenant Spear.

Shining made another note to talk to her and Private Bullet later, and headed through the base out to the landing pad in a clearing through the trees in the jungle.

Two canines were waiting near one of their aerial transports, the Dedicated Multi-Role Aerial Transportation Craft Model 45.

“Ah, finally! Captain Armor, I am Commissar Bulldog; we have urgent matters to discuss. May we please come inside?”

“Woah, woah, slow down there. What’s going on? Why are canine representatives here at the Peace Fighter home base? Furthermore, how did you find us?” Shining inquired, alarmed at the implications; if the canines had found them this easily, how easy could the Princesses find them?

“You gave us the location of your base during the Mid-Morning War, remember? When we helped you form the Peace Fighters. And we are not representatives, we are official leaders of the canine nation” the canine answered.

“Oh” Shining stated, remembering the event. “OK. Let’s get inside, yeah?”

Lieutenant Spear, meet me in the meeting room. We got canine politicians here.

~~~~

“OK, lay it on me bluntly: what’s happened? Why are you guys here?” Lieutenant Spear asked the canine Commissar. The mare sat next to Shining Armor, albeit a little uncomfortably.

“We were invaded, without warning nor provocation, by the Equestrian Empire. Without an army to fight back we were completely annihilated. As a result the Princesses now have complete control over our land and people” the Commissar explained.

“Do you have any idea as to why they would invade you without provocation?” Shining stated, taking a drink of his coffee that he had made along with three cups for the others.

“The only thing of value in our country are our oil supplies; we have millions of gallons of oil and gasoline already mined and refined, and millions more underground in untapped sources. We refused the deals the Princesses offered us in trade for that oil, and suspect that is why they have invaded us” Bulldog answered.

“So you refused their offers and now they’ve decided to take what they want? This is too much; the Princesses have gone too far! The Princesses I used to know would never stoop this low! What are you asking of us?” Shining Armor exclaimed.

“We have no army, we want yours” Commissar Bulldog flatly responded, earning a few blinks from the Captain before he pushed back from the table.

“No! Absolutely not! We are already fighting a civil war against the Princesses, we can’t afford to fight another war for you” Captain Armor said.

“Please, sir! Every day thousands of canines suffer! The males, the females, the pups, we all suffer at the hooves of the Empire! Without outside intervention our country is forever doomed!” the Commissar pleaded.

“Captain, think about it for a moment; we’re running low on current supplies, and are losing the means to acquire new ones. Every day the Princesses take more land, supplies, and lives from us. If we affiliate ourselves with the canines, fly our flag under theirs, we could have access to their supplies and manpower. Besides, we’re already fighting the Princesses, but now we’ll have even more resources to do so. We could actually stand and fight head-to-head instead of using guerrilla tactics” Lieutenant Spear reasoned.

“Please, sir, we have borders without soldiers! Frontieres sans Militaires!” the Commissar exclaimed, apparently fluent in Ponyguese.

Is it his native language despite being a canine?

Shining mulled it over for a moment; it was incredibly risky, his army siding with that of another nation. It was basically starting a civil war and then allying with a foreign nation as its army. If this were to come to pass then all of Equestria would ignite in total war.

But if they didn’t do it, then the Peace Fighters would be swiftly destroyed by the Princesses.

“...Fine, Commissar Bulldog, we’ll liberate your country. HOWEVER, we want unfettered access to any and ALL supplies we need to fight. And we’re going to train your damn people how to fight” Captain Shining Armor told the two canines.

“Oh thank you, sir! We are a peaceful people, we thought a day like this would never come. But it seems times are grim for all countries of the world. Again, thank you very much for helping us!” the Commissar declared.

“Yeah, yeah. Now get out of here before I change my mind” Shining said, jerking his head towards the door.

The canines nodded and promptly left, thanking Shining all the way to the door. Lieutenant Spear was also about to leave when Shining stopped her.

“We need to talk” he said, motioning for her to sit back down.

“Is this about what happened earlier?” the mare asked, earning a nod to the affirmative from Captain Armor.

“I...I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I was just so pissed off about what happened on the Cobra Star, I lashed out at you and that Private. I blame myself for what happened there... I ran, Strong Spear... That was the first thing I did when I saw that walker come out of the darkness. I ran away like a little foal. I was... I was... I was just so damned scared of that thing! We all should be, too! It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen! And we didn’t get the metal and I thought the Peace Fighters were screwed and I’m just SO damn sorry!” Shining ranted, closing his eyes and once again covering them with his hooves in shame as he tried so desperately not to break down and cry in front of her.

It just barely worked; a few sobs escaped his gritted teeth.

Suddenly he felt increased warmth, and looked up to see Strong Spear wrapping her hooves around him in a comforting hug, her eyes closed and a content smile on her face. “Shhhh, it’s OK, Shin-- Captain. You’re frustrated and upset, I get that, but it isn’t your fault, you can’t blame yourself. Anypony’d run if they saw the same thing you did, not knowing what it was or what level of threat it presented to you and your team. You wanted to save the stallions under your command, more so than you wanted that titanium, and in the end saving lives is more important. That’s what we set out to do when starting the Peace Fighters, isn’t it? Save lives?” the mare inquired rhetorically.

“Yeah...” Shining Armor replied. “Yeah I guess it is... Strong? I think you can go back to calling me Shining again. We’re all friends here in the Peace Fighters. I guess when I get pissed I start reverting to my old days as one of those Imperial sheep. If we’re going to distance ourselves from the Princesses’ doctrines then I need us all to know each other on first-name basis at least. I need to go apologize to Private Bullet, too.”

“Glad everything’s alright now, Shining” the Lieutenant said.

“Well not everything, Strong Spear. We still got a war to fight. And by tomorrow it will be bigger than what we had ever dreamed of” the Captain declared.

~~~~

Captain’s Diary, Day 1 of Month of the New Year 2, 1177 years after the Nightmare Moon Event.

Today was another one of those good and bad days, and it is well close to 6 AM right now.

Bad news first, I suppose. Operation: Cold Steel was a failure. A catastrophic failure at that. We not only failed to get the titanium but also nearly all died at the hands of some walking tank, labelled PEACE FIGHTER. Seems the Princesses want to be as ironic as we are. Though maybe it is a literal peace fighter, a fighter of peace. Makes sense considering the Princesses are secretly perpetuating this war, hoping it lasts for several years.

Well, looks like the canines’ announcement tomorrow will give them more than they bargained for.

Which brings me to the good news. The Peace Fighters have allied with the Democratic Republic of the Canine, and have pledged to be her army in a time when they have no such thing. The Princesses have proved they are nothing but childish and misguided, deciding if someone won’t give them what they want then they will just steal it.

And now the in-between. Allying with the canines was a risky move on our part. Before it was just a civil war against the Princesses, but now we are an army allied with an army-less nation to help them expel the invaders from their homes. Come tomorrow when the news spreads all of Equestria will explode at this insane turn of events and the weight they hold.

The canines had borders without soldiers, the Peace Fighters were soldiers in the wrong borders. I guess now we should change our name to Soldiers without Borders - Militaires sans Frontieres.**

...Nah, we’ll stick with Peace Fighters. Fits our cause better.

There’s a lot of planning to do, and all manner of supplies and soldiers to use in our planning. This is a big time for the Peace Fighters and indeed all of Equestria, and there’s no going back.

But I think it’ll all be worth it in the end.

I hope.

...End Diary entry.

P.S: I talked with Gleaming Bullet, found him crying in his bunk. Seems he was a bit shaken up from being nearly killed by a machine and my screaming at him pushed him over the edge. I told him the same thing I told Strong Spear, except this time it was I giving the hugs and comforting him. We’re all friends in the Peace Fighters, time we acted and fought like it.

~~~~

Author's Note

*This is a reference to Shining Armor’s Rule 63 name.
**This is a reference to Naked Snake’s(Big Boss’s) mercenary group, MSF, in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

Author's Note: WHY DID THEY CHANGE EVERYTHING HERE ON FIMFICTION?! HOW DO I FIND MY NOTIFICATIONS?! I DON'T LIKE CHANGE!!

Legal note: Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, and all related characters belong to Hasbro. Lieutenant Strong Spear, Commissar Bulldog, and all related characters belong to me. My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro.