Author's Notes:

If you see any mistakes, plot holes or other issues please tell me. Thank you.

Chapter 32

Day 30

A freezing rain blew in over the ocean early in the dark morning and turned into sleet as the sun rose behind the clouds. Winter had arrived before expected and it hit with a vengeance. Luna watched the worsening weather from her unfinished headquarters with solemn eyes. The distant waves slammed into the shore and she began to worry.

“I hope dearly that this winter will be kind,” she whispered to herself.

There was a knock on her door.

“Enter.”

A pegasi, dripping wet and shivering from the cold stepped in. “Your highness. We compiled a list of the food reserves we have and the projections don't look promising. We expect to run out of supplies before winter is even half way finished. We didn’t expect to have this many refugees.”

She took the soaked paper from him and looked it over. “Send for Patton and Lee. Then get yourself somewhere warm.”

*

“It’s so fucking cold.” Matt huddled into a ball with his back to the fire that dominated the middle of the shed.

“Before the power of the Princesses tamed the weather it was said that the seasons were always angry,” Twilight stated, watching the flames dance.

“Sure seems that way.” Ian had a dismantled cartridge in his hand and was tossing small amounts of gunpowder into the fire just to watch it sparkle.

Bill and Jeff stood upon the Sherman cutting a small hole into the ceiling to let the smoke escape. When they had finished they climbed down and joined the circle.

Zeus sighed. “I’ve been through a lot of bad winters in Michigan. This has the signs of being a bad one.”

“Do you really need to be a pessimist?” Matt groaned, rolled over and faced the fire.

“Do not confuse a pessimism with realism,” Frederic replied.

The shed door opened causing a gust of cold air to rush in. Rarity and rainbow Dash hurried to close the door behind them but was too late to stop the angry protests from the humans.

“The fuck!” Bill wrapped his blanket around his previously bare arms. “Warn us before you open that door again.”

“Sorry,” both ponies echoed. They quickly sat down next to twilight and huddled as close as they could to the fire, shivering the whole time.

“Where’s Pinkie and Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.

“They’ve been helping in the city all night,” Rarity replied. “They will be here shortly.”

“About that.” Bill placed another bundle of sticks onto the fire then looked at the three ponies. “Why do you girls always linger around us? Don’t you have some of your own kind to talk to?”

“I thought you were tolerating the ponies now?” Ian was halfway through opening another cartridge.

“I’m not saying that I don’t like them,” the Virginian grunted as he watched his commander pop the bullet from the case and toss powder into the flames. “I just find it odd that they don’t spend more time with their family and other friends.”

Twilight looked at her friends then back towards Bill. “You guys have been through war, you know what to expect. I guess being with you makes me feel braver. Plus, everyone else is so busy.”

“Yeah,” Dash added. “If we see that you guys are calm then we will be too. If you start freaking out then something has to be fucked up.”

The humans and ponies stared at the multicolored pony in shock.

“Did you just swear?” Rarity gasped.

Ian chuckled. “It rubs off. Next thing you know we will have the ponies smoking, spitting and actually enjoying war.”

“You actually enjoy war?” Twilight asked, uncertainty in her voice.

The Lieutenant smiled. “Only when we are winning.”

“Some people enjoy war and death,” Zeus cut in. “I could tell you many stories of bastards who get their kicks from killing.”

Rainbow Dash coughed to help break the uneasiness that had suddenly formed. “Are any of you like that?”

“No,” Ian replied as the other Americans shook their heads.

Frederic and the Germans said nothing but the Tiger’s commander gave a glance to Felix. The gunner looked back, not understanding the conversation, and gave Frederic an innocent smile. The German commander realised that if the American’s knew of Felix’s blood lust and the atrocities he had committed their trust would evaporate drastically. Perhaps to the point where they would ask for his execution. The only reason Felix hadn’t been court martialed back on Earth was due to a lack of gunners with his skill.

“I don’t think any ponies will like killing and war.” Twilight laid her head onto the ground and closed her eyes, seeking sleep.

“All is fair in love and war,” Jeff whispered to himself as he reopened his journal and started to write The only person who heard him was Martin and the German didn’t understand a single word save for war.

Moments later Fluttershy entered carrying a pile of blanket on her back. Once again the humans started swearing but this time they were joined by the grumbles from the ponies too.

“I’m sorry,” the yellow pegasus whispered pitifully. She sat down next to her friends, dripping wet and shivering violently. “I brought blankets but they got wet on the way here.”

“We’ll dry them out by the fire,” Ian replied, taking the blankets from her and setting them over the steel rod that served as a spit.

“What is the weather like outside?” Rarity asked her friend.

“Still cold and windy but the rain has died down slightly.”

“Flutter, you look miserable,” Ian stated.

The yellow pegasus dropped her head. “I’m fine.”

“It looks like you have been crying recently,” Rarity said as she lifted her friend’s face.

Tears started to well up in Fluttershy's puffy eyes. “I’m fine, realy.”

“When was the last time you slept?” Twilight asked.

She was slow to answer. “I-I think it was back at Ponyville.”

“Jesus.” Ian stood and limped over to his tank.

The other’s continued talking over the sound of Ian rummaging through the machine.

“You need to take a break,” Twilight said. “I know you just want to help but you can’t help everybody.”

Fluttershy lowered her head onto her hooves and stared into the fire. “But they need me. They are dying and I can help them.”

“Other ponies can help them for the moment.” The violet unicorn replied.

“I guess,” Fluttershy went silent and continued to watch the fire and listen to Ian rummaging around. Moments later she shot up and headed towards the door.

“Where are you going?” The ponies chorused.

“I need to help.”

She was halfway to the door when Ian jumped from the tank and lifted her under his right arm. Fluttershy screamed in surprise and struggled for a moment but quickly tired out and instead stared up at the human pitifully. He sat down back by the fire and set the pony in front of him.

“You need to settle down miss.” He said sternly before revealing a cloth sack from his belt. He turned it over and poured out a wide assortment of glass bottles filled with dark liquids. “You're not the only one who has trouble sleeping.”

Fluttershy stared fearfully at the items. “Wha-what i-is that?”

“A wide assortment of sleeping remedies and medicine. Lets see.” He picked them up one by one. “We have a few Veronals, Medinals, hmmm, Other types of Barbital, oh my favorite as a child, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup for Children. Ahh, yes, and if you want to go to sleep immediately and not wake up for a while, some chloroform I had Matt smuggle out of a med station.”

“We could just use a sleeping spell on her,” Twilight protested though she had no urge to do that to her friends.

“I don’t want to sleep I want to help.” Fluttershy tried to leave again but Ian held her back. “I need to help!”

“You need sleep,” Ian shot as he held the struggling pony.

“Fluttershy, you need to relax!” Twilight and her friends rushed over to Ian to help calm the pegasus down.

Bill sat up and snatched the Chloroform from the pile, opened it and held it out toward the yellow pony. “Hey Flutters, do you like flowers? This medicine smells like flowers.”

She stopped squirming and stared at the human in disbelief. “It does?”

“Yeah. If you don’t believe me smell for yourself.”

Fluttershy frowned. She could hear the condescending tone in his voice and had a feeling that he was just tricking her. But in her mind she knew that no harm could possibly happen if she just smelled medicine. She took a quick sniff from the open bottle and smiled slightly.

“It did smell kind of swe-” without another word the pony closed her eyes and fell limp in Ian’s arms.

“She might be out for a while,” Ian stated as he laid Fluttershy by the fire. Twilight glared at him but deep down was happy that her fried was finding some form of rest.

Bill huffed. “Good, now I can finally get some more rest.”

Ian stood again. “Sorry Bill, rest is over for us. Time to get to work.”

The door opened and Pinkie walked in silently. She ambled wordlessly pass them, stumbled over to the fire, collapsed to the ground and fell into a deep sleep.

They stared at the pink pony with sad expressions.

Ian sighed, “time for us to go lads.”

The Americans grumbled in protest, save for Jeff who stood silently, grabbed their coats and joined the Lieutenant.

“Shut it. Besides, the hard work will keep you warm.” Ian turned to the ponies, only twilight and Rarity were awake. “See you ladies later.”

The humans stood, headed out of the door and into the wind and rain.

*

“The only answer to our problem right now is to ration out our food in a far stricter manner,” Patton held papers with supply logistics out for Luna to take. “The numbers we have come up with in my system will keep the population near starving but not starving. All the while allowing an amount of food reserves to be left alone until they are needed in an emergency.”

Luna looked over the paper and then at Lee. “Do you support this plan as well?”

The other general nodded. “In times like these you are forced to support the necessary idea. The only problem I see with it is the fact that many ponies might become unhappy if they are hungry and food reserves are being held out of their reach.”

“True to that,” Patton hastily added. “But it is a risk we have to take to ensure success further down the road. But it wouldn’t hurt to put a regiment or perhaps more on police duty. To prevent revolts and ponies from smuggling food from the storehouses.”

“Also,” Lee added, his voice stern. “There should be an equal distribution of resources. Officers will be fed the same as soldiers.”

Luna continued to look over the papers. “What of the refugees, especially the foals?”

Patton nodded. “It is much more difficult to feed civilians. They aren’t part of any organising system and it will be hard to find out how much of the supplies need to be diverted to them. But, and it saddens me to say this, but they must remain secondary to the military.”

“Perhaps we can establish that everyone who assist with the war effort will be fed and supplied?” Luna proposed.

“Separate the industrial efforts into different offices.” Lee added. “Civilians will then sign up to work for the respective offices for a daily payment of supplies.”

Patton nodded his head. “I agree. Luna, how does that sound?”

“Sounds far more effective than the current plan of having the military take care of it.” The Princess sat down at her desk. “We need to gather the generals and civilian leaders. We must discuss this plan with them.”

“I will call for a courier, Princess.” Lee saluted, turned on his heels and left the room.

Patton sat down and started to write, pausing for a moment to speak again to Luna. “I have been through supply problems worse than this, don’t worry. I remember one time when I was commanding-”

There was a deep rumble in the direction of the city followed by a loud explosion. Patton and Luna rushed to the window and peered out. A column of black smoke rose from one of the hastily constructed storehouses and half of the building was engulfed in fire. Without a second of hesitation Luna put her hoof on Patton’s shoulder and with a flash of magic they appeared yards away from the inferno.

“Princess!” A pony exclaimed as they appeared next to him. “It’s not safe here! That storehouse is filled with black powder!”

“I can contain this,” Luna shot back as her horn started to glow. But before she could summon a spell to extinguish the flames an explosion sent a rush of fire and debris in all directions.

Patton dived to the side, slamming into Luna and they fell into a muddy pit as burning fragments started to rain down upon them. The hissing of the fire hitting the mud was barely audible over the burning building. Patton sat up and looked around and after a moment so did the Princes.

“We need to contain it or it’s going to spread to other storehouses!” Luna screamed over the roaring fire. She immediately started on another spell.

Her horn ignited with dark blue magic that she directed at the ground around the storehouse. The mud started to boil and pillars of water started to rise. With another flash of magic the pillars bowed over and fell into the flames. The fire lessened but was far from conquered.

Patton looked around and noticed several other nearby storehouses were catching flame. He removed his helmet and broke into a run towards the nearest building. He arrived and knelt down, scooped up a helmet full of muddy water and tossed it onto a small fire that was forming on a roof. With an angry hiss the fire went out, then in a loud poof, returned.

The General stared at the flames dumbstruck before getting another helmet full of water and trying again but with the same results.

“General!” Luna exclaimed in terror. “This fire is enchanted! I need more unicorns to help!”

Patton turned his attention back to the first storehouse and saw that the Princess was having equal success extinguishing the flames. Another explosion sent Patton flying backwards into a wall. He sat up and looked around, dazed before putting his muddy helmet back on. Luna was in the process of standing up, the explosion had knocked her back too. She started renewing her efforts against the fire.

“I’ll get help!” Patton yelled but was unsure if Luna had heard him.

The General ran towards the city, passing masses of ponies already rushing to Luna’s aid. Many of them were unicorns but Patton doubted they were powerful enough to take on the roaring flames. He needed Twilight Sparkle.

“General!” A voice yelled and Patton looked back at a pony he had just passed. Shining Armor ran after him. “What is happening?”

“Magical fire is engulfing the storehouses!” The human replied, pointing back at the columns of black smoke rising into the grey clouds. “The Princess needs unicorns like you to help get it under control.”

“I will hurry to her aid!” Shining shot before stopping and rushing towards the fire.

Patton continued to run, first stopping by the officers quarters, knowing that many of them were unicorns skilled in magic. He threw open the door and glared at the officers staring wide eyes at the distant inferno.

“Get of your fucking asses and help your Princess! That fire is magic and only unicorns can stop it!”

Patton held the door open as they hurried past. After they had left Patton then continued on his search for Twilight. The rain was starting to change into snow when he reached the shed that housed the tanks. He tried to throw open the door but it was blocked on the other side. He backed up and slammed his entire body weight against the door sending a pile of boxes tumbling onto Rainbow Dash.

“What the!” the multicolored pegasus shrieked.

“Twilight and Rarity,” Patton began as the ponies stared back at him in confusion and terror. “Magical fire is engulfing the storehouses and Luna needs your help in putting it out.”

Twilight and Rarity nodded and rushed out of the shed followed closely by Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkiepie. Patton took a look around the shed to see if anyone else was in there before closing the door. Outside Spike was standing with three loaves of bread and Patton guesses it had been intended to be their breakfast. He watched Twilight and her friends pass before looking up at Patton.

“Hey,” Spike said jokingly, oblivious to the emergency. “Where’s the fire?”

“Try to keep up lizard.” Patton huffed as he started to run again.

Only after the number of unicorns helping Luna reached a substantial number was the fire quenched. Luna stood, exhausted, before the charred ruin of one storehouse. Three more were completely destroyed and around ten others had been damaged to varying degrees.

The rest of the humans had joined Patton next to Luna and the ponies. They were speechless as the snow fell heavily around them.

“How could this have happened?” Twilight finally asked.

“Sabotage,” Paton growled.

“Fucking hell,” Ian added as he kicked at the ashes.

“We must be vigilant,” Luna added. “We have enemies on the island and we can't let this happen again.”

Patton stepped towards one of the destroyed storehouses and looked down at a charred wooden sign that read, Food Storehouse #5.

The fire had died down, much to Flower Fluff's displeasure. She watched the unicorns struggle against the flames and at first thought her sabotage was going to be a complete success, but alas no. Still, she resigned herself to be happy with the destruction that was accomplished.

Beside Flower her sister, who was going by the name Sunshine Smiles, chuckled, “It’s too bad they didn’t let it burn longer. I was starting to enjoy the warmth. Cursed snow!”

“Don’t worry,” Flower replied. “Soon, more of our sisters will arrive and we can burn it all down.”

There was a sudden whisper in her mind, much like a soft hiss causing Flower to become still at once. Her entire being was tied to that telepathic voice. A voice that only Flower and her sisters could hear. Everything it said, and will ever say was law.

‘Daughters on the enemy’s island,’ the beautiful voice said. ‘More of you will be arriving over the next few weeks for your primary mission. But before then Blandire has another assignment for those already there. Find and kill the humans.’