Chapter One: Prelude to Modern Warfare
In many ways, it is an unfortunate fact that war has existed since the beginning of history, and that it has existed in such forms and with such alarming regularity that pony-kind has required the existence of organized armies in one form or another since nearly the beginning of written history. On the other hoof, one can hardly recount the history of Equestria, nor speak of the government or lands of our great kingdom without mention of our military in some way or another. Without our armies, our land would be left defenseless to our countless enemies, and no doubt without an armed force to resist outside invasion and internal strife, we would not be able to enjoy the relative peace we do today.
In the centuries before the age of Celestia (about 500-50 B.C.R.), there was no unified pony military. In fact, this was not to occur until the formation of the Kingdom of Equestria in the year 5 Before Celestia's Reign. In this classical time, each race had its own army, distinct to its pony type, and serving the purpose of defending only the lands and holdings of each race. Because of this fact, uniforms, equipment, tactics and organization varied greatly between the three races.
The Pegasi military, under such powerful leaders as the fabled Commander Hurricane (45 B.C.R.-32 A.C..) built quite possibly one of the strongest true military organizations of the classical era. I say 'true' military organizations in the sense that they used weaponry and tactics to achieve their goals in a military setting. The unicorns had their own forces, but used predominately magic during combat, and their strategy of amassing their best and most adept in phalanx formations, and welcoming all-comers is indicative of a purely defensive type of force, and their reliance solely on magic, and that solely as a standoff weapon means that they had little or no true combat experience. The pegasi however, had long adopted armor and weapons as a means to combat their enemy, and their army was a well-known and feared one.
As of about 200 B.C.R., the pegasi had achieved the perfection of armor and weaponry in the field. Their black iron breastplates and crested helmets gave them a fierce look in battle, and served their intended purpose of protecting the pegasi from the blades and projectiles of their enemies. Of this armor, the breastplate was of blackened iron, and about one quarter of an inch thick on average. This cuirass was of one piece, secured across the girth with a thick strap and buckle. Two holes on the back allowed for the breastplate to be fitted over the wings. On the chest was affixed a seal or device dependent upon the legion the soldier belonged to, and its material and size denoting rank.
The helm was of the crested type, also made of thin blackened iron, and interestingly enough, was the primary way of displaying rank within the pegasus army. The typical soldier wore a combed morion-style helmet of iron, with a steel brim riveted to the crown, which would have provided excellent protection from sword, spear or pike. Officers and field commanders wore a more ornate helmet of the galea type of thin, black iron, with a black or red crest. Higher officers' helmets had silver accents on the outer rim of the helm, as well as on the crest holder. Field commanders and generals had gold accents on their helmets, and junior officers seemed to have worn a basic galea without the inclusion of precious metals.
The pegasi seemed to prefer the kind of short, double-edged sword known as a gladius, the linear ancestor of the short swords or main battle swords used by the military today. All pegasi soldiers from the common soldier to the highest general all seemed to have carried a sword, with some officers and commanders having ornate gilded swords made for their own use by competent and well-known swordmakers such as Lightningsteel the Hammerhoof. In addition to the gladius, each soldier would have carried two spears. Combined with their ability to fly, this combination of armor and weaponry made the pegasi the most powerful military force of the period.
It should be noted that to this very day, the Royal Guards of Princess Celestia still wear armor similar to that of the pegasi of the classical period, albeit of gold, serving a more ceremonial purpose now than a martial one. The night guard also wears a modified form of the type of armor mentioned here, and closer in color and material to the original, though not in appearance.
The earth ponies of the classical era had possibly the most colorful and noteworthy uniforms of any military in the classical era, but unfortunately few examples have survived to this day intact, and we draw conclusions about materials, color and construction from paintings, historical accounts, and scraps of fabric found in excavations. It appears that the army of the earth ponies wore little or no armor, and instead wore a more ceremonial uniform, even in battle. It is known that officers and commanders wore a large white ruffled collar, and a baggy uniform of earth-tones secured with a heavy brown belt, and a wide-brimmed hat of wool felt. Common soldiers wore a similar uniform, omitting the large collar, and almost theatrical style of clothing worn by their leaders, but from what we can tell from period paintings and tapestries, still used a style of uniform no modern soldier would ever consider wearing into battle.
Most depictions have the common earth pony soldier wearing a doublet with peculiar puffed shoulders, the garment being almost candy-striped in earthtone hues of tan, brown and yellow, with some, even more colorful depictions having some of the doublets shown in stripes of green, yellow red and brown. Their headgear consisted of a conical felt hat with a narrow brim, offering virtually no protection from enemy weapons. Their weaponry consisted of halberds, and a strange weapon called a godendag, which was essentially a long wooden club outfitted with iron spikes and hooks. If the pegasi were the most efficient fighting force in the classical period, the the earth ponies were without a doubt the most inventive and unique.
After the founding of Equestria by the three races, military structure, uniforms, armor and tactics went through such a frantic and ever-changing transitional period, that to attempt to make any sense of the chaos would be almost impossible. It appears that the three races, now joined together in harmony, influenced each other in a way that they used to combat one another. It is apparent that the earth ponies and unicorns began to adopt armor at some point in that hundred year period, did away with it, then re-adopted it for specific applications, while the pegasi began to slowly do away with it altogether. Weaponry began to evolve as well as they shared ideas about military tactics, weapons design, and superior metallurgy.
After the crowning of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, there began a modernization of military practice. The Royal Guard was founded early on, and included Unicorns, Earth Ponies, as well as Pegasi. The rest of the military was still in a sort of limbo, and fell into almost disuse for a few decades, shrinking the number of true soldiers to somewhere around five hundred (Not including Royal Guards, which at the time numbered about the same), and for a short period of time from about 15 A.C.-65 A.C., Equestria attempted to make do with what amounted to a militia system. In times of war or internal anarchy, each town or city supplied a certain number of soldiers for the general defense. After the fighting was over, these citizen soldiers would return to their homes and peacetime occupations.
This system of civilian militia was not to last very long. Following several incursions into Equestria by Griffons and Dragons, as well as internal strife brought on by changes in the government and social structure, it was decided that Equestria was in need of a larger and more professional army. At this time, the military began to grow and improve in training, equipage and armament from about the year 65 until about 100 A.C.
By that time, the Royal Army of Equestria had grown into a respectable force of some 4,500 ponies. This was divided up into three regiments of heavy cavalry made up of 600 ponies in each regiment. Wearing cuirassier-style armor and helmets and carrying large double-edged swords, these regiments were the primary defense units of Equestria during that time. Additionally, three regiments of Unicorn Guards were created, again with each regiment mustering about 600 ponies. Of the remaining ponies in the military, 600 more were pegasi, members of two 300-pony units who served the purpose of aerial shock troops. About 300 more were archers, divided up and placed with other units. This phase in military structure took root, and with little war or internal strife, didn't change for almost another one thousand years, until after the War of the Two Sisters.
Author's Note: Note that this is not technically a sequel to The Drake Chronicles stories written thus far. Instead, this is supposed to be a work written by Drake sometime after Volume 3 and before Volume 4. Now with Dashie, Lieutenant Drake took some time off after the events of Volume 3 to help Rainbow Dash recover from her injuries, and to settle down himself. In this time, he began to pen this work, which was published shortly before the events of Volume 4.
I hope that you all enjoy this work, and though it may be a while before Volume 4 is posted, at least you can be sated with reading a work by Drake himself. Please review with any questions, comments, or advice. I especially look for advice from military personnel and historians out there, and anyone who knows alot about canon military matters I may overlook. I'll try to have the next chapter up soon. Thanks for reading, everypony.