Ch16 The Emotions of War

                “YOUR MAJESTY! The Nightmare Legion, they…”
“I know, they broke through the western wall and are making their way through the city.”
Princess Celestia sighed in worry as she looked at the destroyed wall from the tower balcony, “Please commander, don’t make me do this. I don’t want to use them, not on you… not on Luna.”
The Celestial Commander stepped forward to try to understand her mumbling, “Your majesty?”
Princess Celestia replied, “It’s nothing, gather your forces on the main road and attack the advancing enemy in the city. Also, have the catapult teams abandon their posts. The enemies are no longer in front of us; they are on top of us. After that I want you to go home and get your family, I don’t want to leave them in harm’s way.”

                The Commander nodded his head, “Yes your majesty, but uh…”
“Yes? What is it?”
“With all due respect your majesty I suggest you evacuate the castle… for your safety, of course.”
Princess Celestia gave the guard an irritated look, “My duty is to my subjects, if they are staying here than I will too.”
The guard nodded his head, “Yes your majesty but can you at least stand back from the balcony I hear they have an experienced, yet unpredictable archer in their ranks.”

                Princess Celestia Looked back off the balcony at the city, “Yes, I remember her, but it’s been a long time since that battle, I wonder, is that mare is still there by his side?”
At that moment, an arrow flew over her shoulder and dug itself into the pillar supporting the doorway.
 Princess Celestia glanced at the arrow then looked back at the city, “Hmm, I guess so, but will she be enough to end this quickly?”
The Celestial Commander stepped forward after realizing what just happened, “Your majesty! Please step aw…”
“I'm fine commander, go see to your duties that’s an order.”
The Celestial Commander bowed as he stepped back “Yes your majesty, as you wish.”
Princess Celestia turned her attention back to the city without noticing a small note tied to the arrow.

                Captain Stone stood on a large chunk of the wall with her bow still raised, as she lowered it she mumbled to herself, “Please your majesty, read the letter, before it’s too late.”
Commander Bolt saw Captain Stone looking towards the castle, “Stone, we need to get moving, that castle won’t get any closer by just staring at it.”
Captain Stone nodded her head and jumped down from the broken wall. At that time, Captain Snow trotted up with Chief Rafi and Captain Drib. Commander Bolt looked at them and started explaining the next phase of the plan, “Ok, now that we are here this is what’s next. We need to make our way to Mane Street, that road that connects the city gate with the castle gate. There are three roads to take to get there, but to prevent ourselves from getting surrounded, we will split up. Rafi, Stone, take your troops down the road leading through the market district. I hope your zebra can protect my archers, Rafi.”

                Chief Rafi Smiled, “My brothers and I can take down anypony on the ground with ease. I hope your archers will protect us from the skies.”
Captain Stone sarcastically looked at the huge gap in the wall behind them, and then looked back at Rafi with a smug smile on her face, “I think we can hold our own, don’t you?”
Commander Bolt shook his head with a smile, “Ok then, Snow I want you to split your troops In two groups, some will go with me while you take the rest through the slums. I'll need your speed to take down the catapult teams that are set up down this road.”

                Captain Snow Sighed, “Really sir, the slums? But it’s so unrefined, so primitive and not to mention unsanitary. To be seen trotting down those streets, it would be an embarrassment to my family name.”
Commander Bolt sighed, “Snow other than Rafi and his zebra you’re the fastest amongst us. I'll need you to eliminate the catapult teams before they finish off our troops outside the wall. Besides, this road leads directly to the intersection near the city gate. I'll need you to open the gate for Roza and Viscous when you get there.”
Captain Snow disappointedly nodded his head, “Agreed sir, I'll open the door for our lovely ladies, what sort of gentlecolt would I be if I couldn’t do that much?”

                Commander Bolt nodded his head, “Good, then I'll take the other half of your troops and go down the residential area. Remember to post guards at each alley, only civilian ponies are allowed down there and if any pony is wearing armor, carrying a weapon, or tries to attack you, they are deemed enemy soldiers and will be treated as such, understood. However, any pony who refuses to fight back whether they wear armor or not will be escorted out of the city. We will save as many ponies as possible.”

                Captain Drib stepped forward, “Sir? Are you sure, we should split up? The city isn’t like the battlefield outside the wall you won’t have a good field of view from the ground, why don’t you join me in the skies?”
Commander Bolt looked at Drib with a serious face, “If my soldiers will fight in the dirt then I will too, besides you know I'm not comfortable fighting in the skies, especially with a shield that has a small blade attached, I prefer close quarters. But I will rely on you to be our eyes, watch for any major movements especially near the castle gate, in fact when each of you reach Mane Street, I want you to travel south and secure the city gate. Once it’s open I want you to unite back into a mass army and assault the castle gate to the north. We will hit them hard and with everything we have, to finish this once and for all. Now let’s move!”

                The groups split into their predetermined groups and began moving down their roads. Outside the city gate, Lieutenant Viscous was cutting away at the gate while General Roza protected their battering ram from pegasi pike ponies. Up above archers and unicorns continued to send down spears and arrows that hammered the already damaged battering ram. All of a sudden, the arrows and spears stopped flying but there was a loud sound of scraping followed by screams of horror coming from the top of the gate. Burning ponies fell from the top of the wall only to have their screams silenced as they hit the ground. Those who survived the drop were immediately silence by Roza’s scythe.

                On top of the wall, Commander Orem was using his powder throwing ability to burn any pony or projectile that got close to him. Even the unicorns with their magic couldn’t stop the flames from spreading over their bodies. Commander Orem looked into the distance toward the castle gate and saw the Celestial Forces that were leaving the castle gate but he knew that they would have to face Commander Bolt so he roared the same mighty roar from the start of the battle, the enemy soldiers around him took a step back in fear. Commander Orem smiled, “Face me ponies, and I'll show you the power of a griffon.”

                Commander Orem charged down the wall cutting away at everypony he could with the metal claws, leaving a trail of gunpowder behind him, then he tossed a few grenades backwards and striked the claws on the ground igniting the gunpowder and the grenades. The explosion wasn’t even enough to do any damage to the wall but it tossed all the surviving ponies off the wall with ease. So he turned around and continued his assault, focusing on covering Lieutenant Viscous and General Roza from enemies attacking from above.

                Commander Bolt trotted down the street with his guard up, with each passing alley he put two of his solders on guard with the same instruction as before. After a while, he looked down the center of the street to see a curve in the road with a tower directly in front of him. just the sight of this tower gave Commander Bolt a bad felling, he spoke to the troops following him as he continued down the street, “Keep your eyes open and your wits about you, soldiers.”
After a while they crossed into the shadow of the tower then they saw a group of enemy pike ponies charging down the street towards them.

                Commander Bolt called to his soldiers, “BRACE YOURSELVES!!!”
Then at the last second he hears a familiar whistle. Out of simple reflex, he held his shield overhead as a barrage of arrows came raining down from the top of the tower. Feeling the pounding of the arrows hitting the shield didn’t drown out the screams of the ponies around him, but the sound of what came next did. At that moment a boulder came flying over the city hitting the base of the tower, causing it to rock as the bottom started to crumble. Commander Bolt already knew that the tower was going to fall and that’s its destination was right below his hooves.

                 Commander Bolt and the remaining soldiers turned and tried to run but it was no use the tower was falling too fast and they were too close to out run its path. Thinking quick Commander Bolt moved his shield over his face and used it to crash through a window on the closest house. Leaving no hesitation for the falling tower to hit the ground behind him and fill the streets and the room with dust. When Commander Bolt went through the window, he hit a bookshelf knocking everything off of it and dropping his shield in the process. After that, he stood up and looked around. The room seemed empty but there was dust blocking everything that was a foot away from his face, so he couldn’t be sure.

                Commander Bolt dusted himself off and reached down to pick up his shield; before he had a full grip on his shield, he heard a whimper behind him. He picked up the shield and turned around to see where the sound came from. On the other side of the room cowering in the corner, was a mare and her young colt. Commander Bolt dusted off his shield and turned to tell them that he wasn’t going to hurt them but before he could speak, another voice broke the silence, “Get away from them!”
Commander Bolt looked towards the door to see a Celestial pike pony standing there with is spear pointed directly at him. The soldier repeated himself, “I said, GET AWAY FROM THEM! NOW!!!”

                Commander Bolt had absolutely no intention on harming the mare or her young colt but he wasn’t going to stand there and let another soldier order him around like he was a peon. Commander Bolt raised his shield and replied, “If you want to keep your head, you will lower your weapon and stand down.”
The guard replied in anger “NEVER!”
The soldier charged forward with his spear pointed at Commander Bolt but this was too easy for him to block. Commander Bolt swung his shield upward, hitting the spear blade, throwing it up and causing it to stick in the ceiling. Before the enemy soldier could react, Commander Bolt turned around and kicked him with both rear hooves in the face knocking the spear out of his hooves and throwing him into the wall.

                As Commander Bolt approached the stunned soldier, he could hear the spear fall to the ground and echo through the room. The celestial soldier tried to get to his feet but it was too late, Commander Bolt pinned him against the wall and put the blade to his throat, “Do you give up?”
the celestial soldier looked him in the eye and replied, “Do whatever you want but spare this family. They did nothing wrong.”
Commander Bolt ignored the plea, instead he looked down at the insignia on the soldier’s armor, “So, you’re the Celestial Commander, right? Tell me when were you going to attack my troops if we didn’t arrive this morning?”

                Instead of answering the solders face went white with worry, then an angry yet brave voice spoke out, “You leave my daddy alone!”
Commander Bolt turned his head just slightly to see the Celestial commander’s spear being held by the young colt, who was using every ounce of strength just to hold the weapon up. Commander Bolt couldn’t help but smile at the colts bravery, but the Celestial commander took this smile the wrong way, “Commander please! The colt doesn’t know what he is doing. He is young and naive please don’t take it out on him he’s just a foal, please I beg of you spare him! I'm the one you want! please!”

               Commander Bolt looked at the worried father and winked, “Don’t worry he will be fine.”
Without looking back at the colt, Commander Bolt swung his shield at the spear knocking it to the side. The weight of the spear alone was too much for the young colt to handle. The spear flew out of the young colt’s hooves, making him take a few steps back in fear. When the celestial commander saw this, he tried to get free, but Commander Bolt put the blade back against his throat so he stopped struggling.
The Celestial Commander continued his plea, “Please commander, I don’t care if you kill me but don’t hurt the colt, he is only trying to protect his family, he didn’t mean it. Please… don’t kill him, don’t kill my son.”

                Commander Bolt had no intention on harming the colt or the mare at all, but he knew if he did, this plea would be all it would take to change his mind. Commander Bolt lowered his weapon down to the strap to the celestial commander’s armor, then he cut it and watched the armor drop to the floor. Commander Bolt looked the confused commander in the eye, and spoke as if he were giving an order, “Commander, you are dismissed!”
Without warning, he swung the face of his shield and bashed the celestial commander in the side of his head knocking him unconscious, and then he let him drop to the floor.

                The young colt wanted so badly to rush to his father’s side, but he was too afraid to get any closer to Commander Bolt, so he held his ground trying not to show fear. Commander Bolt looked at the colt while he slung his shield, “Little stallion, do you want to help your father?”
The colt was too scared to reply so he just nodded his head yes. Commander Bolt continued, “Then help your mother take him into the alley. When you see some of my soldiers, tell them that you are civilians trying to flee the city to safety. So long that you approach them without his armor or weapons, they will allow you to leave unharmed. And don’t mention that he is a soldier, ok?”
The young colt was still afraid but he was able to ask, “I thought you were the bad pony, why are you letting us go?”
Commander Bolt only smiled as he trotted to the door, looked to see if the coast was clear, and left without an answer.

                Back at the City gate Viscous Axe just broke through the massive door allowing for a few griffons to land and set a grenade inside the huge hole left by the mare’s heavy axe. After lighting the fuse, General Roza galloped away from the gate yelling to the troops nearby, “EVERYPONY TAKE COVER!”
All soldiers near the gate, to include the ram team moved clear from the gate to prevent themselves from getting caught in the explosion. As soon as the grenade went off the door was pushed open enough for a number of troops to climb through. Unfortunately, the first battering ram was also destroyed in the explosion so the ram teams joined up with Lieutenant Viscous and her remaining troops.

                General Roza and her troops were the first to make it through the gate. She turned to her troops, “All soldiers fan out and continue to the castle gate! Lieutenant Viscous, vill you join me in vaiting for the commander?”
as Viscous claimed through the damaged gate she replied, “Uh general, shouldn’t we both continue to the gate… wait how will we know where to find the comman…”
“I'll help you find him, my little ponies, I need the exercise anyway.”

                Commander Orem landed behind Lieutenant Viscous as General Roza replied, “Very good Commander, then I hope you vill let him know that ve vill vait for him at the castle gate.”
Lieutenant Viscous asked before continuing down the street, “Commander Orem, can you check on Captain Drib while you’re at it? I'm worried about him, so can you do that for me, please?”
Commander Orem smiled, “For a polite mare like you. I'll guarantee your stallion will be safe the next time you see him.”

                As Commander Orem took off into the skies Captain Snow and his troop made it to the gate, “Sorry I'm late, you would not believe the traffic I ran into on the way here, simply barbaric, and the scenery was horrid at best. I never want to be caught dead in the slums ever again.”
Lieutenant Viscous shook her head, “You wimp. Do you know where everypony else is?”
Captain Snow shrugged his shoulder, “Last I saw the good commander was making his way down the residential district, our Zebrican ally was accompanying dear Stone through the market street and your faithful suitor was in the sky. Need I say more?”

                Lieutenant Viscous turns to continue up Mane Street, “No that’s fine, but we definitely need to make you less civilized. You’re getting harder to understand every day.”
Captain Snow followed her and her troops up the street and he replied, “My dear, we need to make you more civilized.”
“Are you talking back there Snow?”
“Who me? Preposterous, I would never.”
Lieutenant Viscous smiled as she kept galloping, “I didn’t think so.”

                On another part of the city, Commander Bolt looked up the dust-covered street. Even though he could hear sword on sword fighting and explosions in the distance, the street was dead, deserted and quiet. The swords, pikes, shields and bows sat propped up in the rubble, like tombstones to those who were ether on the tower when it fell, or crushed below it. Commander Bolt lowered his head in shame, “This war… these dead ponies… this senseless violence… it needs to end, today. this empty place is in my opinion a wasteland where ponies like me will spend the rest of eternity after we die… Tartarus. It must end tod…”
“Commander Bolt!”

                Three soldiers came stumbling through the dust, one seemed fine, he was carrying a celestial crusader who survived the tower incident, while the third was limping. The one who was fine spoke, “Commander, we captured this celestial crusader who survived the wreckage, what should we do with him?.”
Commander Bolt looked down at the celestial soldier and asked, “What’s your name soldier?”
The soldier glared at Commander Bolt with intense anger, “Oh, so The Great Commander Bolt has the decency to talk to a pathetic peasant like me huh?... its because of you this happened… the explosions… I… I can still hear them. I… can still hear them screaming… running… falling… and dying… they are gone, they… they are dead.”

                The celestial soldier started to cry as Commander Bolt turned to the wounded soldier, “This soldier is traumatized, what injury do you have?”
The wounded soldier replied, “When the tower fell I…”
“COMMANDER! DID YOU HEAR ME!?! THERE DEAD!?! ITS YOUR FAULT THEY ARE DEAD DON’T YOU GET IT!?!”
Commander Bolt turned back to the celestial soldier, “Soldier, calm down we all have lost friends toda…”
“Friends? FRIENDS!?! MY WIFE!!! MY DAUGHTER!!! I LOST MORE THAN JUST FRIENDS BOLT!!! I… I lost… I LOST EVERYTHING!!!”

                Commander Bolt was speechless; he had no idea what to say about this. He knew that this war had taken a toll on the city and its ponies but he didn’t think that one would be standing in front of him. He turned to the wounded soldier and spoke. “Take him back to the camp then once he is seen by the medics release him. He isn’t a threat to us anymore.”
The Celestial soldier yelled as Commander Bolt, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU COWARD! Are you too afraid to face me, or is it that you just don’t care! Is that it! My family is dead, and a pampered commander of the Nightmare Legion just doesn’t care about the ranting of a peasant, does he? If you let me live I'll spend the rest of my life hunting you down and making you suffer. YOU HEAR ME!?! I'll watch as everything you care about burns in front of you, then I'll kill you, nice and slow! Why? Because you’re a coward, YOU HEAR ME! A PATHETIC, TREACHEROUS, COWARD!!!”

                Commander Bolt grew tired of the soldier’s outbursts so without any hesitation, he drew his unready soldiers sword from its sheath, then he trotted towards the Celestial Crusader. The soldier watched his movements and continues ranting, “So the commander has a short fuse, does he? Now he is tired of being insulted so he is going to kill the one doing the insulting isn’t he? Your true colors shine brighter than any sun commander; I’d expect that from a coward like you!”
Commander Bolt raised the sword up and stabbed the blade into the ground between them, then he stood there staring at him with less than an amused expression on his face.

                The celestial soldier was confused, “What? Why didn’t you kill me? I don’t have anything left, why not take my life and be done with me? I… I don’t need pity. I especially don’t need it from the likes of you. Kill me! just kill me and be done with it already.”
Commander Bolt spoke in a serious tone, “You want two things to happen, right? To make me watch as everything I care about burned in front of me, and to kill me slowly right? Look around, the city is burning, the buildings are crumbling to the ground, and soon I will attempt to kill the mare that I always looked up to… looks like your first goal has been met, all you have to do is decide when and how you will complete your second goal. I'm sorry for your wife and daughter. Truly I am, but I can’t stop now that I came this far. If you want to kill me then all I can do is wish you luck, but don’t think it will be an easy task. Besides, you shouldn’t just give up your life like this. A beautiful princess once told me, if you start to doubt yourself now, than you will never reach your goal, so make your choice.”

                Commander Bolt looked at the other two soldiers and spoke, “Go back to the camp and get looked at by a medic. When you’re done you will stay and guard Nightmare Moon. You two have seen enough of this battle.”
the unharmed soldier pointed at the celestial soldier and replied, “What do we do with him?”
Commander Bolt replied as he trotted away, “Leave him, he has lost all will to fight, and I wouldn’t doubt that he lost his will to live too. What he does from this point on… is his decision.”
Commander Bolt trotted through the rubble passing what’s left of the tower and leaving his two soldiers to their orders, while also leaving the speechless stallion on his knees in the middle of the street staring at the sword, broken and alone.

                Shortly after passing the tower Commander Bolt reached Mane Street and started making his way towards the southern gate, “Commander!”
Commander Bolt looked up as Commander Orem landed in front of him, “It’s a good thing I found you Commander, general… uh, the hooviet general and your axemare have already passed here. You will find them at the gate to the north; also I have a troubled feeling about this.”
Commander Bolt sighed, “OK, first off you really need to start remembering everyponies names, second what is it that has a mighty griffon troubled?”

                Commander Orem continued, “Sir, it’s about our numbers, since the battle began I have lost all contact with my griffon. The ponies that took the gate also suffered heavy losses. Then there are the remaining soldiers who are still fighting. Less than half of our starting force is neutralized, dead, or missing. I don’t like this one bit sir.”
Commander Bolt thought to himself for a second, then he replied, “Our catapult teams are still active, we have captured more than half of the celestial forces, and we killed the rest. This battle was a long shot to begin with. Once we corner them in the castle then we will have control of the situation, until then continue to push forward, I will not give the order to fall back unless our situation doesn’t get any better after we clear the castle wall. If you’re that concerned then feel free to search for some of your griffon, but know that I'll need your support inside the castle once we break down the door. Is that understood?”

         Commander Orem nodded his head, “Yes sir!”
Commander Orem flew off to search for his soldiers. Commander Bolt continued up Mane Street toward the castle gate while he was traveling he started to think about what happened on that last street he went through, “That commander, his colt, and that stallion. Each one feeling every emotion there is in battle, fear, anger, worry, courage, confusion, fury, and sorrow. No matter if, you’re fighting on one side, the other side, or just caught in the middle. We all feel it, the emotions brought on by battle… and not one of them even comes close to happiness, and to make matters worse, our numbers are dropping I must end this as quickly as possible. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

                At the castle gate General Roza, Lieutenant Viscous, and their last ram began hammering away at the gate with Captain Snow, Chief Rafi and Captain Stone providing cover from the remaining ground forces and the celestial pegasi who are attacking from all directions. Captain Stone carefully chose her targets as she fought; only aiming for charging pegasi or officers. Captain Stone drew her bow aimed and fired, “Three.”
She drew another arrow and aimed at a pegasus directly overhead, after she released it she counted again, “Two”
just then a unicorn grabbed her with his magic and pinned her against a wall. Captain Stone struggled as hard as she could but it was no use, she couldn’t move. The unicorn drew his sword and was about to stab her before a spear came out of nowhere and hit the unicorn in the side knocking him to the ground and stopping his spell.

               When the spells effect faded Captain Stone quickly pulled the last arrow from her quiver and fired it directly at the unicorn, the force of the arrow at this range caused it to go directly through the unicorn’s chest sending it into the ground below him. Stone lowered her bow and tried to catch her breath as she spoke, “One. that was my last arrow, Thanks for the help Chief, you saved my skin there.”
Chief Rafi Trotted up to the dead unicorn and pulled his spear form the fallen soldiers side, “No problem friend, anything to be of assistance. By the way have you seen the commander yet?”
Captain Stone looked around and saw Commander Bolt as he came around the corner of the street. Then he stopped where he was and stared at the castle.

                Commandeer Bolt looked at the balcony of one of the towers, there he could Princess Celestia staring back at him with disappointment in her expression, the same disappointment that his mother gave him in Cloudsdale. Commander Bolt mumbled to himself, “I'm sorry princess, but I have to do reach my goal, I only hope that I can, without losing more than I had…”
“Commander!”
“Glad you could make it”
“So rude to keep us waiting sir.”
“Ve have almost breached the vall.”
“What took you, friend?”
Commander Bolt looked back as Stone, Viscous, Snow, Roza and Rafi as they approached him, “Sorry I ran into some unexpected trouble along the way, do you know where Drib is?”

                Captain Viscous replied, “I saw him fly overhead a second ago, but I don’t know where he…”
At that moment a boulder came crashing down onto the house next to them sending a large wooden beam flipping through the air, as Commander Bolt wathced the beam he noticed something in its path, “DRIB! LOOK OUT!!!!”
Captain Drib wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings instead; he was watching enemy movement on the ground when he heard the warning. When he noticed his incoming hazard, it was too late for him to dodge it. Out of reflex he tried to block the beam with his spear as if he where blocking a sword but it made absolutely no difference, what’s so ever.

                The Dual Bladed spear broke into two pieces as the large wooden beam colligated with Captain Drib in midflight, throwing him to the ground, but where ever he landed was on the other side of the buildings a few blocks to the east so it was impossible to tell if he was ok or not. Lieutenant Viscous panicked, “CALLOUS!!!”
Commander Bolt stopped her as she tried to sprint towards where Captain Drib Fell, “Viscous! Wait!”
“Sorry sir, but no! I got to help Coll…”
“I said wait! I'm going too! The rest of you will continue breaking down the gate. When you get through, storm the castle, and capture Princess Celestia… Alive!”

                Captain Snow and Captain Stone stepped forward, “NO SIR!”
“No?”
Captain Snow explained, “Sir, Captain Drib is a good colleague with barbaric yet charismatic qualities that I can only respect. If you are going after him then I will be your sword… as it were.”
Captain Stone continued, “And you know that I can’t leave you alone for five minutes without lecturing you, on how to not get yourself killed, so you can expect me to lend you my arrows… if I had any left that is…”

Captain Stone felt a little embarrassed about the comment until General Roza spoke up, “If arrows if vat you need than vait a second. SOLDIER!!!”

                A hooviet soldier rushed from the battering ram to General Roza, “Yes, my General!”
“Are you an archer?”
“No my General, but my corporal is.”
“Bring me his arrows, at vonce”
“Yes, my General!”
The soldier galloped to the ram crew and returned with a quiver of arrows. General Roza took the arrows and handed them to Stone who placed them into her quiver, “As you can see, ve hooviets stay prepared.”
Captain Stone smiled, “Will you join us?”
General Roza spoke as she and Chief Rafi shook their heads, “No, ve need to continue taking the castle. Ve vill have it ready for you vonce you catch up vith us.”
Commander Bolt smiled, “Then let’s go get Drib. If we hurry then we will be back before the castle gate falls.”