Things quickly escalated.

True to Shelled Seed's word, the amount of work actually decreased as the weather became comfortable. All that urgently needed doing, was tend to the newly planted crops, haul ore to the blacksmith's workshop, and haul the newly made weapons and armor to warehouses that were newly made, the idea was they would someday be used as granaries, but for now, kept the City forged weapons.

And that left quite a lot of Ponies with suddenly no job to do.

Volunteers came by the dozens.

I had to pull aside a few of the Ponies I knew to help me suddenly manage an army already numbering in the thousands.

Appleflower was one of the earliest volunteers. She couldn't fight, but she could teach those who didn't know how to fight and bark orders.

I welcomed her help gladly.

Pansy, Smart Cookie, and Clover actually came to me and volunteered personally. I welcomed their presence with a glad hug. Only Pansy had any fighting experience, which she expressly told me she didn't want to use if she could help it. So I kept all three as my assistants. Helping me track the logistics, supplies, and how the flowering army would handle those said things.

I had heard too many horror stories from the former Pegasi and Unicorn legionaries about how inexperienced generals tended to ignore their supplies. And I had been part of too many starving caravans to make that mistake. I wanted a very clear idea on how much I had, how much I needed, and how long I had left at the current rate of consumption.

I was well aware of my own inexperience. So I knew I had to be serious about leading the army. So I pushed what remained of my fillyishness aside and focused on what I would do to win.

If we were fated to fail, I refused to be the reason.

I made sure volunteers were asked if they had previously been in any of the original tribe's armies, and if they had any artisan or craftpony skills. My purpose was two fold. One, I knew I needed as much experience as I could get, from military leadership to weapon repair to siege engine construction if I were to lay siege to Pegasopolis itself. The single most impossible city to sack. Not only were its defenses mighty, it was after all the fortress home of the entire Pegasus tribe, but it literally flew in the sky like a cloud!

I needed to break it, without ever stepping hoof inside it.

My second reason, was because I wanted to know if anypony was going to go back to their original loyalties.

I wasn't sure if there truly were any spies amongst us, but I wasn't going to take the risk. If there were, my saving grace was I could still trust the spies against the tribes they weren't originally in.

Those Ponies with experience were given command of subsections, and kept close.

I told nopony the full extent of my scheming.

Not even Tia.

I loved and trusted Tia, but I couldn't afford that she'd accidently let something slip when she shouldn't.

It was two weeks after Tia had given me command of her "United Army" when we started the long march North. To increase their strength, in what little time I had, I had the rank and file Ponies carry most of their own equipment, not enough to tire them out, but enough so they got used to moving their own bulk when the fighting actually started. Between the marching formations, I kept the supplies and mobile workshops on carts.

I didn't want to present a centralized target for a potential ambush to attack.

It was a week into the march we met Puddinghead herself, coming to tell the City her part of the news.

The single cart, pulled by a giant of a Pony who had looked like he spent his entire life living on a farm, but was too old to fight. The oddly chipper mare I knew as Puddinghead stood on her hind legs in the back, waving energetically.

"Lulu!" she cheered. "Good to see you again!"

I felt my ear flick in irritation with her usage of the word 'Lulu'. I didn't like Ponies who I didn't know so well using what was effectively an affectionate nickname given to me by my long dead Mother. But I pushed the irritation aside. This was one of the Ponies I was coming to help.

And Tia was at least a week's march behind me, she wouldn't be digging me out of whatever hole I dug myself in.

"Puddinghead." I nodded respectfully. "We've heard quite a lot, but we don't know what we can trust or not. What word do you bring?" I asked.

"Always so stiff Lulu!" she chuckled.

I fought to keep the flinch under control.

"Well to start from the beginning, I, Commandy Hurricane, and Princess Platy, started our journey North!" she began to chirp.

This mare had to be some sort of figure head... There was no way she was a legitimate and effective ruler by herself.

"Commandy and Platy continued on while I veered off towards Oigheannheim! That's my hometown... And I did what Tia asked! I sold the idea of uniting under her new tribe's banner! But my Earthbreaker knights weren't too happy. They've been fighting Pegasopolis and Unicornia too long methinks." Puddinghead blinked. "What a weird word, 'methinks'..."

"Pudding..." I stated loudly, re-catching her attention.

"Oh right! Yeah, they weren't too happy. They decided they didn't want to be part of the Clans anymore if they're 'blindly trusting those hornheads and featherbrains'." Puddinghead explained.

"So what are they doing?" I asked.

"Oh, they holed themselves up in their citadel, Casúrdomhain!"

"Damnit!"

The Ponies who I had chosen to lead the army had all gathered in the cart where I kept all the documentation of supplies and all the maps we had of the North. Currently, one of those maps lay open on a crate I was using as a table, a series of rocks had been placed on it, four in the corners to keep the map open, and variously colored pebbles to mark locations.

Four locations were marked. A blue slate pebble, a red granite pebble, a white limestone, and a vaguely green pebble that looked interesting when I was searching for stones.

"Here's the plan." I began, addressing everypony present. "According to Chancellor Puddinghead;" I gestured towards the mare, who beamed off to the side. "Everything Commander Hurricane said was true. As such, we have three targets." I pointed down at my map.

"Casúrdomhain, Pegasopolis, and Unicornia." Breathes were audibly inhaled, but I continued. "Casúrdomhain is red, Pegasopolis is white, Unicornia is blue, and our present location is green."

"Sorry, but Casúrdomhain and Pegasopolis?" A Pegasus mare I had come to know as 'High Wind' interuppted. "Those two alone are two of the most heavily defended fortress' known to mortals. And you're expecting a mob of only a few thousand to break them?"

"Casúrdomhain and Pegasopolis are mighty yes. But they all, Unicornia included, share a weakness. They are all cut off from their typical supplies of food." I tapped on the granite pebble. "Casúrdomhain is the only city who has foreseen this. They have stockpiled a massive trove of goods and supplies. Enough to keep everypony in their keep well fed for years if they need to. My plan is thus;"

I moved the green pebble so it bumped into the red.

"Casúrdomhain is arrogant in its assumption that it is invulnerable. Earthbreakers are mighty warriors, it is true. But they rely on a head-on direct battle to win. If a small band of Ponies were to sneak past its walls, and cause havoc from the inside, Casúrdomhain will crumble has its fortifications suddenly become obstacles for its own defenders."

I removed the red pebble.

"With Pegasopolis in play, we cannot trust any flank we present to remain unmolested. We cannot however, take the city by force." I moved the green pebble so it was touching the white pebble. "Instead, we use Casúrdomhain's looted trove to force Pegasoplis into a long drawn out siege. Not directly underneath its arms, but far enough away to handle its weather, yet close enough for mages and trebuchets to pin the city in place." I put a hoof on the green pebble and circled the white pebble with it. "With nopony to raid, Pegasopolis will starve. And we use that to force their surrender."

I removed the white pebble.

"Unicornia will have to be taken the old fashioned way." I moved the green pebble to the blue. "But with nopony threatening our flanks, we should be able to force a capitulation given enough time." I reset the position of all the pebbles.

"Any questions?"

Next Chapter: Chapter 96 The Memories Part 55 Estimated time remaining: 6 Hours, 52 Minutes