34. Clash of the titans
Wings of Tomorrow
Lament of the World
34. Clash of the titans
The Siege of Stalliongrad – Part 3
The clash between the two pegasi was as terrible as those watching it had feared it would be. When there was less than a pony-length between them, Rainbow Dash and Spitfire lashed out at the other at the same time. Their hooves crashed together, and the impact resulted in a massive discharge of power, accompanied by a boom like a great thunderclap. Soldiers of both sides who had the misfortune of being too close to them got thrown back like leaves in the wind by the sheer force emanating from the two commanders, as the both of them struggled and tried their best to push the other back with their magicite-charged hoof.
Fire and lightning fought for supremacy, the incredible heat given off by these two elements heating up the air around them rapidly, until the air pressure became too great and exploded with a second thunderclap. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire were both thrown back by the resulting shockwave, but not as far as any of their subordinates, and they recovered almost straight away. Without a moment of hesitation, they dove at each other again, brandishing their weapons this time.
Spitfire swung her glaive with both hooves in a graceful downward blow strong enough to cleave through bone, but Rainbow Dash dodged to the side and lunged at her opponent’s chest with the diamond-tip of her lance. Spitfire also managed to dodge the blow, her agility no less impressive than Rainbow Dash’s. She swung her glaive again, in a horizontal arch this time that could easily chop Rainbow Dash in half, but the admiral parried the blow with her own weapon.
With their weapons still locked together, Rainbow Dash’s thrust her free hoof at Spitfire’s abdomen, sending forth a blast of lightning aimed to fry Spitfire’s intestines. The commander reacted just as swift, using one of her legs to deliver a solid kick to Rainbow Dash’s arm, sending the blast off course. The two combatants broke away from each other, then immediately renewed the attack.
Rainbow Dash was the one who claimed the first blow this time, with a jab of her lance that was sure to pierce Spitfire’s throat, had the commander not swept the attack aside with a strike of her glaive. With Rainbow Dash still recovering from the momentum of her lunge, Spitfire aimed a sweeping kick at Rainbow Dash’s side. Her attack was stopped when Rainbow Dash’s lightning quick reflexes made the admiral grab her leg, and the hoof that held it crackled with lightning. Realising the danger she was in, Spitfire quickly swatted Rainbow Dash in the face with one of her limbs, causing the admiral to let go, but not before a small surge of lightning singed her leg.
The two broke apart again and took a moment to catch their breath, hovering quietly in the air as they regarded each other with wary eyes. Spitfire’s leg stung a bit, the armour on it showing one or two scorch marks. Rainbow Dash did not go unscathed either, as she had a few scratches on her face from where Spitfire’s razor sharp wing armour had cut her. Both were only incredibly minor, negligible injuries, however, and the two pegasi looked no worse for wear than they had before their brief scuffle.
Finally, after a brief moment of silence, Spitfire grinned. “I hope my little warm-up didn’t tire you out too much, Dash,” she said cockily, “because I could do this all day.”
“Only a day?” Rainbow Dash replied without missing a beat. She returned Spitfire’s grin with an arrogant smirk of her own. Then she suddenly launched herself forward with a powerful beat of her wings and lashed out with her lance. “And here I was thinking you were capable of more than that!”
Spitfire remained silent and gritted her teeth. The skies themselves trembled as the weapons of the two pegasi collided, sparks of power emanating from where their blades were locked together. They broke apart at the same time, Spitfire immediately throwing her other hoof forward in a flame-wreathed punch. Rainbow Dash answered with a magicite-powered punch of her own. Their hooves collided as they had before, shaking the skies with another thunderclap that pushed the two combatants away from each other again.
Rainbow Dash immediately went on the offensive. She shot up into the skies to create more distance between herself and Spitfire, and once she deemed she was far enough, she stopped and turned to her enemy once more. She held her two front hooves close to each other, lightning pouring from them into the air in between. Carefully she formed it into a sphere, a ball lightning, which she then threw with all her might at her opponent.
Spitfire, who was flying straight towards Rainbow Dash again, had to swerve to the right in order to avoid the dangerous projectile. But even then, she was not safe just yet, as the ball lightning grew increasingly unstable, with deadly bolts of lightning shooting from it at random until it finally exploded in a great discharge of electric energy. Worse, Rainbow Dash was already throwing more ball lightnings her way, turning the clear skies into an electric minefield.
However, even though she was not a Wonderbolt in this life, Spitfire was still an excellent flier with incredible reflexes. She expertly swerved between the attacks Rainbow Dash threw her way, passing through the minefield unscathed. Pushing her wings just a bit harder, she was suddenly on top of her opponent. Rainbow Dash was already preparing herself to block Spitfire’s glaive, only to see that the commander didn’t have her weapon in her hooves. Instead, Spitfire created a lance of fierce flames in each hoof and threw them at Rainbow Dash at point-blank range.
Rainbow Dash yelped and only just managed to twist her body out of the way, one of the lances singed the tip of her mane as it passed her by. Spitfire was already upon her again, this time she did wield her glaive again, and its blade was covered in flames. The commander swung her weapon and Rainbow Dash’s body was positioned wrongly in order to properly block it. Gritting her teeth, the admiral folded her wings and let herself drop, Spitfire’s weapon swinging over her head and nicking off a few stray strands of hair.
Before Spitfire could follow and attack again, Rainbow Dash pointed both hooves at her, unleashing the full might of her magicite. Bolts of pure lightning blasted forth, one of them singed the tip of Spitfire’s left wing as she swerved out of the lightning’s path. Wincing, Spitfire quickly righted herself and threw a wave of flames at her opponent. Rainbow Dash noticed the danger and quickly covered her wings with lightning, using it to rapidly heat up the air around her. With a flap of her wings she created another thunderclap, the shockwave that resulted from it dousing Spitfire’s flames.
After the skies had settled down again, Spitfire and Rainbow Dash watched each other in silence, quietly agreeing on another short pause to catch their breaths. Unlike the previous pause, when both had looked no worse for wear than before the battle had begun, they now both showed signs of having been in a scuffle. On top of that, their laboured breaths showed that it had actually required them to exert themselves a bit in order to make it through.
“I need to shake her off,” Rainbow Dash thought, as she glowered at Spitfire. “Every minute I spend fighting her is a minute wasted. We can’t beat each other, not unless we fight for a couple of days, and I know she knows that too. She’s just trying to keep me busy so I can’t guide my troops! ”
Her mind made up, Rainbow Dash decided that the break was over. She reached into the power of her magicite and called upon its might. Sparks of lightning began to dance around her entire body, and the admiral looked at her opponent and grinned. “Time to wrap this up, Spitfire!” she said aloud, and her eyes narrowed with determination.
Spitfire, sensing the amount of power Rainbow Dash was calling upon, quickly realised this was serious and braced herself. Her magicite glowed as flames whirled up around her, setting her body on fire, though she remained unharmed. As the two mares faced each other and drew deeper into the power locked within their magicite, their shards flared brighter and brighter, until they shone like stars. The air trembled and rumbled, signs of the oncoming storm.
For a moment Spitfire and Rainbow Dash’s eyes met, and they stared each other down in silence. Then they simultaneously unleashed their attack in the greatest display of the awful power of magicite seen so far during the battle. Lightning burst forth from Rainbow Dash’s body and flew towards her opponent, taking on the form of a giant bird of prey along the way. It was met by a searing sea of flames shaped like a gigantic phoenix, courtesy of Spitfire.
The clash of the two attacks was utterly terrible and terrifying. In the skies between the two mares, fire and lightning fought for supremacy, the intense heat and energy coming from the struggle destabilising the atmosphere, and the air was tortured by explosive thunder. Stray bolts of lightning and blasts of flame erupted from the centre of the clash, a hazard to friend and foe alike. One of the Republican’s ships went down when its engines were fried by such a stray lightning blast, while a jet of flame caught a group of fighting soldiers by surprise, killing them instantly and charring their bodies to the very core.
Finally, the torment of the heavens ended in a massive explosion, which sank two more ships and felled numerous soldiers on both sides; unfortunate souls who had dared themselves too close to the battle of their superiors. Their lifeless bodies fell to the ground below, where they would join those who had been killed during the terrible battle in the valley.
Rainbow Dash had been knocked away by the explosion as well, but her experience in using her powers had ensured her safety, while her trained wings had quickly put an end to her uncoordinated flight. Now she hung back and observed the result of the terrible clash. The smell of ozone permeated the air, while clouds of black smoke hindered her sight. She couldn’t see Spitfire, which was good, as it meant Spitfire could probably not see her either.
“Were the both of you trying to get us all killed?” asked the voice of Rose Thorn, coming from Rainbow Dash’s communication crystal. The vice-admiral did not sound the least bit amused, in fact, his tone was rather icy.
“I’m going to be wrecked by guilt enough as it is already once the war’s over, vice-admiral, so spare me your lectures!” Rainbow Dash snapped angrily. “She wasn’t going to leave me alone and I couldn’t afford to waste much more time fighting her. I had to shake her off! So instead of berating me, tell me the damage and the situation. I was too occupied during my fight to keep an eye on the rest of the battle.”
The other side of the line remained silent for a moment. “We’re down three ships. One was lost during the blast just now, the other two while fighting the Republic. Meanwhile, we took down four of theirs, while your fight with Spitfire ended up costing them two more. As far as soldiers go, we’re still matched pretty evenly.” Rose Thorn fell silent again, but Rainbow Dash instinctively felt there was more he wanted to say.
“What is it?” she demanded, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, yet,” the vice-admiral replied. “I suspect they’re planning something, though. We’ve been pushing them back for a while now, but it feels too easy. Almost as if they’re willingly retreating back into their airspace.”
Rainbow Dash’s frown deepened. “Okay, that’s definitely suspicious,” she admitted. “This kind of strategy is unlike Spitfire, so I’m pretty sure Shining Armour’s behind this. I’ll contact Desert Heat and ask how things are going down there, maybe he could tell us more.”
“Should we halt our advance in the meantime?” Rose Thorn asked.
Rainbow Dash tapped her chin with her hoof as she thought it over. “No, if they’re retreating, we should take full advantage of it and push them back as far as we can, and take down as many as possible,” she said slowly. “Just to be safe, though, have the ships spread out. That should reduce the effectiveness of any area attacks they decide to pull off.”
“Understood,” the vice-admiral replied.
The communication ended, and Rainbow Dash put her crystal away with a sigh. She glanced at the singed tip of her tail and inwardly winced. Thinking back to her fight with Spitfire, she felt decidedly uncomfortable. She had forgotten how it was to face an opponent who could actually match her, and due to that she had let herself get carried away. Her final attack had been much too powerful and Spitfire had had no choice but to respond with the same level of power. She should have been more responsible.
She sighed again, but then shook her head and pushed those thoughts away. Now was not the time to reflect on the mistakes she made during this war. That would come later, after the battle. Then she would have all the time she needed to feel guilty and to be angry at herself. Now, however, she had a war to win, and in order to do that she first had to figure out what the enemy was up to.
Reaching under her cape, Rainbow Dash pulled out her other communication crystal and contacted Desert Heat.
---
Down below on the ground, Amethyst Star and her troops were still doing everything within their power to delay the Republic’s advance for as long as they could. Even though they had been forced back to their third line of defence, their strategy still held, for the Republic had paid a high price for that small victory, while their losses were still relatively low in comparison. However, the Republic’s attack was relentless and they never stopped coming, no matter how many of their number were slain.
“If there’s anything that seems off to me?” Amethyst Star asked, speaking into her communication crystal while cutting down Republican soldiers left and right with magically conjured blades. “Not to my knowledge, though admittedly it is hard to keep track of everything amidst this chaos. You have a better viewpoint than I, Desert, so why do you ask?”
“Rainbow Dash just contacted me,” the voice of the other admiral replied through the enchanted stone. “It appears the enemy’s up to something in the air. She mentioned they were driving the Republic back too easily, almost as if they were willingly retreating, though she couldn’t figure out why. Dash wanted to know if there was anything happening with you that might give her a clue.”
“There’s a lot happening here with me at the moment, the kind of things that normally happen during a war,” Amethyst Star said dryly, as she took a step to the left to avoid being gutted by an enemy spear. Her magic took hold of her opponent’s head and twisted his neck with a sickening snap. “I wish they were doing something as suspicious as retreating, Celestia knows we could use a break.”
“Somehow I don’t think Shining Armour will give us that,” Desert Heat replied. “Rainbow Dash’s report only confirmed what I already suspected: they are planning something. I only wish I knew what it was. Aside from their airships, none of their troops are behaving in a manner that seems off or suspicious. That just makes it all the more difficult to predict their next move. Knowing Shining Armour, it could be anything.”
Amethyst Star frowned, then conjured up a protective shield dome around herself, blocking herself off from the war. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully with one of her hooves as she pondered about the situation. “The only thing that’s been off to me so far, is the lack of resistance I’ve encountered,” she said slowly. “I expected one of their commanders to have intercepted me by now, like they tried with Rainbow Dash.” As she spoke, countless of enemies were pounding on her shield, but their efforts were entirely in vain. Their attempts were so pitiful she didn’t even acknowledge them.
“I noticed,” Desert Heat said. “Smaragd Haze has been hanging around Shining Armour this entire time and Spitfire’s in the sky, but I haven’t been able to locate Trixie yet.”
“Now that, I do not like the sound of,” Amethyst Star replied, her frown deepening. “We should be on our guard, Desert. I suggest we have some of our unicorn vice-admirals scan the area and see if they can detect any spells. They might be trying to approach us from a different direction under the guise of an invisibility spell.”
The other side of the line was silent for a moment as Desert Heat contemplated the advice. “A sound idea,” he admitted. “I will put some ponies on that right away. While that is taken care of, I want you to go a bit wild, Sparkler. Increase the pressure, force them to make their move and reveal their plan. It will give us a bit of extra breathing space and buy us some extra time as well.”
The female admiral nodded. “Understood,” she replied. “Consider it done.”
She pocketed her communication stone again and returned her attention to the battle around her. She noticed the Republicans had stopped their attempts to break through her shield, but paid it no further heed, pondering instead about the most effective way to cause as much damage as possible without endangering her own troops. She was so caught up by her thoughts that she didn’t hear Desert Heat’s warning cry until it was already too late.
Something huge and powerful came at her as if out of nowhere and slammed into her shield, shattering it. The backlash of her failed spell sent Amethyst Star flying and a bolt of pain ran down her horn and nerves. She landed a small distance away, sliding along the ground before finally coming to a halt. More startled than hurt by the experience, Amethyst climbed back to her hooves, shaking her head as her eyes tried to locate her attacker.
Said attacker was not exactly trying to hide himself, as Amethyst Star quickly located the bulky form of Smaragd Haze storming towards her at a speed that belied his size. Growling, Amethyst Star gritted her teeth and teleported out of the way just as Smaragd Haze jumped at her and brought his hoof down with tremendous force on the spot where she had just stood. The earth shattered under the commander’s hoof, the impact having created a small crater that spoke volumes about the stallion’s physical strength. If that blow had hit her, Amethyst didn’t doubt her bones would have been pulverised.
With a hiss Smaragd Haze pulled his hoof free from the ground and turned towards her, a dark grin spread across his face. “Taking a break under a shield in the middle of a battlefield,” he hissed dangerously. “The arrogance of unicorns never fails to surprise me. Have you no shame?”
He lunged at her again, but Amethyst Star was ready this time. With practised ease and a bit of magic, she neatly leaped over his larger form and landed behind him. With a flash of her horn, she lashed out at him with her magic, sending him sprawling.
“You’re one to talk,” she replied icily, as Smaragd Haze slowly climbed back to his hooves with a grunt. “For a stallion to attack an unsuspecting mare! So much for the ‘brave’ soldiers of the mighty Republic.”
The commander merely laughed as he dusted himself off, looking no worse for wear than before Amethyst had hit him. “All is fair in love and war, Amethyst Star,” he said simply. “Especially in war.” He looked around himself, at the numerous bodies of Republican soldiers that littered the ground, before turning his attention back to Amethyst Star. The dark smile returned to his face. “Something we appear to agree on, given the amount of bodies surrounding us that you took the life from.”
Amethyst Star raised an eyebrow, looking decidedly unimpressed. “Bold words, coming from the one responsible for the massacre at Neighara,” she said coolly. “Am I to assume that you came knocking merely to discuss war philosophies with me?”
Smaragd Haze’s smile turned into a dangerous grimace. “You should be so lucky,” he hissed, almost whispering. The magicite shards embedded in his grey armour flared to life and started to glow with a sickening crimson light. Almost immediately, a peculiar, crimson smoke welled up around his body, and Smaragd Haze’s grin widened. With a cry, the commander swung one of his arms, and a wave of viscous, crimson liquid burst forth from it, travelling along the ground towards Amethyst Star at rapid pace.
The admiral’s eyes widened slightly in shock, the nature of the attack having taken her by surprise, but she recovered quickly and managed to jump out of the way. The foul liquid passed her by harmlessly, and she paid it no further heed, focussing her attention on Smaragd Haze instead. Her horn glowed as she prepared to launch a counterattack, but she halted upon hearing wails of terror and pain coming from behind her. Amethyst Star glanced over her shoulder to see what the commotion was about, but the sight that greeted her was one that filled even her, battle-hardened and cold as she was, with horror.
Amethyst Star might have been able to dodge Smaragd Haze’s attack, but the soldiers behind her had not been so lucky. At least half a dozen of them, Republicans and Royalists both, had been doused by the foul substance, and cried out in absolute agony. The admiral could do nothing but watch as their bodies were being both melted and eaten away by the corrosive substance. One soldier had been so unlucky to have the liquid hit him in the face, and he screamed as his eyes were burned away, only to stop when the substance seeped through his skull and mercifully ended his life and his torment.
Still shocked, Amethyst Star turned back to Smaragd Haze, her face bearing an expression of disbelief and horror. Her opponent merely smiled and held up his hoof, a drop of the crimson liquid running down it and falling towards the earth. A hiss rose up as it hit the ground, the stuff burning a neat, small hole in the soil.
“Acid…” Amethyst Star whispered, her shock replacing the usual iciness of her voice. Said shock was quickly replaced by anger, and if looks could kill Smaragd Haze would have been reduced to a pile of ashes right there and then. “So the rumours I heard about your magicite are true, then.” She took a breath and then shook her head slowly, her usual cold demeanour returning to her. “It would seem your reputation as ‘the Ruthless’ is quite deserved.”
“I always thought it rather exaggerated, myself,” Smaragd Haze shrugged. “But then again, our fellow ponies have always been the skittish kind, wouldn’t you agree? They condemn me and my deeds, conveniently forgetting that it is because of me doing what I do that they can keep on living to condemn me in the first place. So ungrateful.” He clacked his tongue disapprovingly, then glanced over his shoulder at his cutie mark. “As for my powers… What can I say? I have a way with dangerous substances, so why waste the talent?”
“Out of ponity, perhaps?” Amethyst Star suggested coldly.
The stallion laughed. “Such a thing has no place in war, Amethyst Star,” he replied. “You know that as well as I do. ‘War ethics’ are something that only exists in the foyer of estranged philosophers who have never been in war themselves. Hollow concepts the ruling class likes to throw around in order to make themselves appear morally superior to the ‘lowly’ soldiers who do their dirty work.”
Smaragd Haze rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. “But we are those ‘lowly’ soldiers, aren’t we, hornhead? We’ve been in battle, we’ve seen war. We know what it’s truly like, out here on the battlefield,” he said, while Amethyst Star braced herself. She didn’t like the tone in his voice at all. “All that matters, is victory. As long as we achieve that, the innocent civilian in his home and the pompous ruler on his throne won’t ever question or condemn the methods their soldiers used. Because all they care about, is that we won!”
With a roar, he launched himself at Amethyst Star again, but the admiral jumped out of the way and hit him with another magical blow that sent him sprawling once more. Smaragd Haze merely laughed as he climbed back to his hooves, then swung his arm at her, throwing another blast of his venomous acid her way. This time Amethyst Star was ready, and she caught the dangerous substance in her magic before turning it into harmless water.
However, the time it took for her to do that was all the time Smaragd Haze needed to cross the distance between them and lash out with an acid-covered punch of his hoof. Amethyst Star managed to raise a magical shield in time to parry the blow, and she immediately retaliated by casting a spell that made the ground underneath him erupt with stony spikes. Smaragd Haze was knocked into the air by the attack, but remained unharmed as the stone teeth couldn’t puncture his thick, heavy armour.
Amethyst Star narrowed her eyes in concentration as she grabbed him with her telekinesis before he could hit the ground, leaving him hanging frozen in the air. She focussed her magic, ready to snap his neck as she had done to countless others before, only to see Smaragd Haze bursting out into laughter. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw him literally ‘grab’ the aura of her magic that surrounded him, before snapping it to pieces, breaking her hold. He dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.
“Figures he would have prepared himself for facing a unicorn,” she thought. “He probably has some kind of enchantment that allows him to physically manipulate magic.” She didn’t panic at this realisation, in truth she hadn’t thought it would have been that easy to get rid of a commander of the Republic. “It merely means I have to try another strategy.”
With a flash, she disappeared, reappearing again somewhere behind Smaragd Haze. She fired a blast of magic at him, then disappeared once again, teleporting all around him in rapid succession and firing her magic, until the stallion had magical blasts coming at him from every direction. With impressive speed and reflexes for a pony his size, Smaragd Haze swatted the attacks away with his bare hooves.
While he did this, however, Amethyst Star appeared right above him and fired a beam of pure magic at him. Smaragd Haze only had the time to glance up before he was hit by the beam and engulfed by the massive explosion that followed the impact. When the light of the magical explosion faded, Amethyst Star could see the result of her assault. Her attack had blasted a sizeable crater into the ground. She carefully landed a few paces away from the edge, still on her guard. The dust and smoke rising up from the crater made it impossible to see if Smaragd Haze was still alive or not.
Suddenly, a ball of crimson liquid burst forth from the smoke and landed at her feet. Amethyst tried to back away, but the moment the acid hit the ground, its reaction to the earth made it generate a great amount of toxic smoke that robbed her of her sight and took her breath away. The gas stung in her nose and eyes, which began to water, and she lifted her hoof to her muzzle in a futile attempt to shield her face.
Coughing, she made a blind teleport to get out of the poisonous cloud, reappearing a good deal away from it, where she gratefully took in deep breaths of clean air. She didn’t have very long to enjoy it, as Smaragd Haze was suddenly upon her and lashed out with one of his hooves. His blow hit her in the shoulder and sent her sprawling to the ground. Amethyst Star grunted as she hit the dirt, her shoulder aching. For her to feel this much pain, even though her armour had blocked most of the damage, meant her opponent possessed a truly monstrous amount of physical strength.
She felt a weight press down on her, forcing the air from her lungs, as Smaragd Haze pinned her down with the full weight of his heavily armoured, muscled body. She made an attempt to teleport from under him, but he whacked her in the horn, sending such a massive jolt of pain down her spine that she was momentarily blinded. Through the haze of pain, she glared up at her opponent. Smaragd Haze’s mane was dishevelled, the tips of his hairs slightly singed, while his armour sported a few dents and soot marks. A tiny stream of blood ran down between his eyes from a small, open wound on his forehead. He looked down on her with contempt.
“So much for the great Amethyst Star,” he said mockingly. “I had expected more. Then again, it is no secret that you hornheads are worth nothing without your magic.” The hooves that pinned her down began to emanate crimson smoke again as acid started to flow forth from them, the corrosive substance hissing as it began to eat away Amethyst Star’s armour.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” she hissed in reply. “I merely decided to give you a free shot out of pity!” With a cry and a burst of physical strength that he hadn’t expected of her, she reared up and threw him off her. A flash of her horn later, she had teleported herself back on her hooves, before clobbering the startled Smaragd Haze with a giant, magical fist. The blow sent him flying into a group of his own soldiers, who crumbled under his bulk and weight.
“From now on, no more games,” Amethyst Star said, her eyes glowing with cold fury, and she spat on the ground. Her horn started to glow and she was lifted into the air by her own magic. A magic circle filled with many incomprehensible runes appeared behind her, spinning slowly as five smaller circles formed along its edge. Amethyst Star cast another spell, and from every of these five magic circles, a great sword appeared, glowing with magic and shaped like the runic blades from a long forgotten era.
The blades rotated around their own axis as they lazily drifted in a vertical circle around her, as if they were rays of a magic sun. All the while Amethyst Star remained floating in the air, her eyes ablaze with power. She watched in silence as Smaragd Haze got to his hooves, throwing off the subordinates that had fallen on him and calling them useless.
“Amethyst, when I said I wanted you to go a bit wild, I didn’t mean for you to bring out your Sephiras,” the voice of Desert Heat said, coming from her communication crystal. The older admiral sounded worried.
“I was left with little choice. That stallion is a monster. He shrugged off all of my blows so far as if they were no worse than the bite of a flea,” Amethyst Star replied quietly. “Holding back was no longer an option.”
“You mustn’t let him distract you,” Desert Heat chided. “You can’t afford to let him do that, every moment you spend fighting him is a moment where our troops are without leadership, and their formation falls apart quickly.”
“But every moment I don’t keep him in my sight is a moment he could use to attack our line of defence instead,” Amethyst Star countered. “Now that I’ve faced him, I know he’s every bit as ruthless as the rumours suggested. I can’t let him slip through my hooves, else our troops will just get slaughtered. We can’t hold any formation with him running around unopposed.”
She heard Desert Heat curse quietly under his breath. “I have to find a way to get over there myself, or else we won’t make it,” he muttered, his voice stressed and on edge. “Do what you can in the meantime. I’m counting on you, Sparkler.”
“Don’t worry,” she replied, her voice firm and confident. “I’ve got this.”
With that, she shut off the communication and focussed her attention on Smaragd Haze again. The Republican commander was charging towards her once more, but this time she was ready for him. With a wave of her hoof she sent forth her swords, which were known as Sephiras and as feared as they were famed, and it was them that had earned her the nickname ‘the Mageblade’.
The Sephira swords flew through the air as if they were alive, heading straight for their target. Only a few paces away from Smaragd Haze, the group of swords split up in all directions. One kept flying straight ahead and went for the stallion’s head, the speed with which it was going ensuring that it would chop it clean off the neck if it managed to land a hit. Smaragd Haze growled and lashed out, his armoured hoof landing a solid blow on the enchanted sword that knocked it off course.
But these swords were not like the simple weapons Amethyst Star had conjured before, which were dispelled easily upon impact or when she no longer willed them to be there. No, her Sephiras were much more durable, not to mention greater in power as well, and they were her deadliest weapon. Smaragd Haze may have succeeded in stopping one, but at the same time another Sephira swung by, delivering a glancing blow to his side that left a cut in his armour. Even as he turned to face the new threat, another Sephira was already coming at him from another angle.
The blades danced their deadly dance, battering Smaragd Haze with blow after blow, their speed being too great for even his impressive reflexes to catch up. His acid could not shield him here either, for the swords were magical constructs and thus unaffected by his corrosive poisons. Finally, he became fed up with trying to bat the annoying pests away, and instead turned his attention towards Amethyst Star himself, knowing full well that all of her sorcery would end the moment he ended her.
He lobbed a ball of acid her way, shrugging off every blow and strike of her swords in the meantime, only moving his head every time one of the Sephiras tried to take it off. His attack never struck home, as Amethyst Star simply vanished and reappeared elsewhere, all the while continuing to direct her magic blades. He tried again, but every time he threw an attack or charged at her, she would simply teleport herself out of harm’s way.
“Not even going to face me directly, are you, you coward?!” he snarled at her, his frustration levels building as he failed to hit her, while her swords just kept wailing on him and chopping at his armour.
A cold smirk crept up on Amethyst’s face. “Why should I willingly place myself in needless danger by facing you under the circumstances you excel at, when I can just as well take you out from afar, with far less risk to my own self?” she asked. “That has nothing to do with cowardice; it is simple, basic battle strategy to face the enemy under your own terms. You said it yourself, after all: all is fair in love and war.”
Her smirk disappeared and was replaced by a scowl, as she momentarily held her swords back to give him a serious look. “You cannot best me, Smaragd Haze. Even if my magic cannot affect your body directly, there are many other ways I can use it to defeat you,” she said. “You’re outmatched. I suggest you retreat, or else I will end your life.”
Smaragd Haze stared at her in silence for a moment, a look of pure hatred on his face. Then, to her surprise, he started to laugh. “Outmatched?” he echoed, shaking his head in amusement. “Now you’re simply being insulting, Amethyst Star.” Slowly, crimson smog rose up from around his hooves and began to enshroud his body. “All is fair, you say? In that case, allow me to even the odds once more.”
Before she could stop him, Smaragd Haze had thrown a dangerous amount of acid in a wide circle around himself. It was the same corrosive substance he had used before to blind her, the reaction of the earth with the acid giving off generous amounts of toxic smoke. The smoke came together in a great, crimson cloud that took Smaragd Haze out of sight. Amethyst Star didn’t like this development at all. She sent her Sephiras into the smog, but due to the lack of visibility, she might as well have been a blind mare trying to swat flies.
“Tell me, Amethyst Star,” the voice of Smaragd Haze said, coming from somewhere within the poisonous cloud. “Have you ever faced a hydra? Have you ever felt the sting of its venomous fangs as they burry themselves in your flesh?” The tone of his voice almost sent a chill down Amethyst’s spine. “Well, you’re about to.”
Amethyst Star thought she saw something stir within the toxic fog, but she couldn’t make out what it was. The very next moment she barely had the time to jump aside as something burst forth from the cloud and lunged at her. It was the monstrous head of a hydra, made entirely out of the acids and corrosive venoms Smaragd Haze had at his disposal. The head balanced on the end of a long, snake-like neck of acid, moving as if it was truly alive.
Only her quick reflexes saved Amethyst Star from being swallowed, and the hydra’s maw closed itself around nothing but dirt instead. More toxic smoke billowed from between its ‘teeth’, as the earth it had scooped up corroded away. The head reared up again on its long neck, retreating back into the cloud that surrounded Smaragd Haze. Then a second hydra appeared, followed by a third and a fourth, all giant monstrosities composed of corrosive liquid, their maws large enough to swallow a pony whole.
The cloud of fog faded, until Smaragd Haze was visible once more. His form was shrouded by his crimson fog, clinging to him like ghostly tendrils and making his already impressive figure appear even larger. Streams of venom and acid ran down his body, as if it was bleeding the substances, and the four hydras emerged from his back. The monstrous abominations loomed threateningly over the battlefield, and soldiers on both sides panicked and grew afraid upon seeing them.
As for Amethyst Star, she was not afraid, though she silently had to admit to herself that she was impressed. What Smaragd Haze was displaying here was nothing short of absolute mastery over his magicite power, and she could scarcely imagine how hard and how much he must have trained to be able to control his venoms like this. She was not an elemental magicite user herself – her shards merely enhanced her magic to exponential higher levels – but she had heard enough from Desert Heat and Rainbow Dash to know how difficult it was to force the raw power of an element contained in a magicite shard into a certain shape.
Yet there was Smaragd Haze standing before her, creating and sustaining four absolutely massive hydras and controlling the acid in ways that made it seem as if it were a real living creature. She scowled, then summoned her blades back to her side with a wave of her hoof. Her eyes stared into Smaragd Haze’s, looking for any signs of weakness, but there were none to be found.
“It would seem your odds have increased somewhat,” she finally admitted dryly. “However, no matter what form you present it in, nothing will ever change the fact that magic remains unaffected by acid.”
“That is true, I admit,” Smaragd Haze readily agreed, at the same time the hydras reared up and focussed their venomous ‘gaze’ on Amethyst Star. “The same, however, cannot be said for the one who casts the magic.”
With a silent roar, one of the hydras lunged towards the admiral again, its stinking maw spread wide open. Amethyst Star sniffed in disdain and scowled, then vanished with only a minor surge of magic. Instead of catching a defiant unicorn in its jaws, the acid hydra crashed into the ranks of soldiers that had been fighting behind her. Corrosive liquid flew everywhere, with ponies of both sides scrambling to get away, tripping over and trampling each other in the process.
Amethyst Star reappeared some distance to Smaragd Haze’s left, and with a command from her magic sent her Sephiras forth once more. The swords spread out again, flying in erratic and random patters through the air surrounding their target. One of the hydras went after one of the swords, trying to trap it within its jaws, but the magical weapon moved too fast for it. Another Sephira approached from the opposite direction and with one mighty hew, sliced off the head. It fell to the ground as a formless blob, where it formed a deadly puddle.
Smaragd Haze stared at it for a moment, then clacked his tongue disapprovingly. “Did nopony ever tell you, Amethyst, that if you slice off a hydra’s head, it simply grows back?” he asked, one eyebrow raised mockingly. Almost immediately, he was proven true, and a new head was formed in the place of the severed one. Smaragd Haze gave her a wicked grin. “I expected you to know better than that, my dear.”
“Who says I didn’t?” she retorted, smirking as well. Said smirk was replaced by a determined scowl, and suddenly one of her swords caught the commander off guard, delivering a solid blow in his side that made him stagger backwards.
Smaragd Haze let out a hate-filled snarl, but Amethyst Star was already guiding her swords towards him for another attack. This time he was ready, though, and one of his hydras intercepted the blades coming for his head. The head was blown apart, sending acid flying everywhere, but Smaragd Haze cared little, already reforming it, while two other heads dove towards Amethyst Star from different directions. It was useless, however, for the admiral had already teleported herself to safety.
This continued much the same as before; Amethyst Star would stay at a safe distance, wailing at her opponent with her blades and teleporting herself out of harm’s way every time one of the hydras came after her, much to Smaragd Haze’s ever increasing frustration. As she reappeared in a different spot after escaping a hydras charge yet again, Amethyst Star couldn’t help but call her foe out on it.
“I fear the odds are still very much in my favour,” she noted calmly. “You may now have the range needed to hit me, but it matters little if I’m too fast for you to hit.”
“Is that so?” he growled in reply. “In that case, perhaps I should go for a target that is less swift on its hooves!” His gaze trailed from Amethyst Star to something behind her. Too late did the admiral catch on to his meaning; the four hydras were already lurching forward in a united attack. But this time, the aim of their attack wasn’t the admiral mare that had eluded them countless times before.
The acidic abominations instead crashed into the defence line of Amethyst’s fellow soldiers that were still fighting hard to keep the Republican army from advancing for as long as possible. Amethyst Star could only watch in horror as Smaragd Haze’s attack tore a deep gap in the defenders’ formation. The hydras passed low above the ground, from one side of the formation to the next, catching dozens of ponies in their corrosive jaws and engulfing them with the deadly acid. Even the Republican soldiers who had been fighting them were not spared, as many of them were swept along into the hydras’ gaping maws.
Screams of terror and inhuman wails of pain permeated the air as dozens of ponies were being melted or mutilated alive, setting Amethyst Star’s heart aflame with unbridled anger. “You filthy, lowlife… bastard!” she snarled, and she fired a powerful beam of magic from the tip of her horn. The attack never hit its intended target, as Smaragd Haze intercepted the beam with one of his hydras, which exploded into hundreds blobs of acid that flew all over the battlefield, but the hydra was quickly reformed.
“Why so angry?” Smaragd Haze asked, giving her a sickening grin. “Wasn’t it you who said a mere moment ago that all was fair in love and war? ‘Face your enemy under your own terms’, weren’t those the words you used?”
A low growl escaped Amethyst Star’s throat and she made to attack him with another spell, but Smaragd Haze ignored her. He sent his hydras towards her subordinates again, leaving her with the choice of attacking him or protecting her fellow soldiers, Republicans and Royalists alike.
“Damn it all to Tartarus!” she swore under her breath, before turning her back on Smaragd Haze and teleporting away. She appeared again directly in the path of the oncoming hydras, with ponies all around her panicking and trying to get away. One stallion saw one of the monstrous head come straight towards him, and he folded his arms over his head and closed his eyes, waiting for the end.
Only it didn’t come, and he heard the sound of the deadly beast crashing into something solid instead. Tentatively, the soldier opened his eyes again, barely believing that he was still alive. Slowly, he peaked from behind his arms, which were still folded over his head, and saw Amethyst Star stand protectively before him. The admiral’s horn was glowing brightly like a star, as it powered a great magic wall that had stopped the four Hydra’s in their tracks.
The admiral glanced over her shoulder and saw how her formation had completely fallen apart. Her soldiers were terrified of the venomous threat that had appeared in their middle, Smaragd Haze’s reputation having preceded him even before the appearance of his deadly hydras. Many of them were too scared to move, a lot of others disobeyed her earlier commands and fled, and even more laid on the ground, dead or dying due to being exposed to a lethal amount of corrosive venoms and acids.
Gritting her teeth, Amethyst Star took a decision, knowing she had no other choice. “Retreat!” she shouted, magically amplifying her voice so it was heard over the din of battle. “Fall back to the fourth line of defence!”
Her troops needed no persuading and hurried to obey her command. She remained where she was, knowing she had to cover their escape and prevent Smaragd Haze from pursuing them. The commander by now had called back his hydras, and Amethyst Star lowered her shield. To her surprise, she noticed how the Republicans didn’t press forward either, seemingly content to stay behind their feared commander. Strangely enough, Smaragd Haze didn’t seem to be ordering them to attack, either.
Amethyst Star inwardly shrugged off her suspicions. If the enemy hung back for now, that just meant that her troops had more time to recover and reform the line. In the meantime, she had a bone to pick with a certain acid user. For the moment she didn’t care what Shining Armour was planning or what his troops were up to. She only wanted to take down Smaragd Haze, and by Celestia and Luna combined, she was going to do it. With her troops safely retreating, she didn’t have to hold back out of fear for their safety.
She called her Sephira blades back to her side, having them circle around her as they had when she had first summoned them. Only this time, she held her blades horizontal, their tips pointing in the direction of Smaragd Haze. Amethyst Star called upon her magic, feeling its pulse, its strength enhanced by her magicite. Her power levels climbed higher with every passing second, while strange magical runes appeared on her swords and body, which stared to glow just as brightly as her horn.
The ground started to tremble purely because of the huge amount of power she was drawing into herself, and sparks of energy began to lace down her blades. The Republicans tried to stop whatever she was doing, realising that whatever it was would be little good, but it was futile. Every arrow they fired at her simply burst into flame and every magic blast sizzled out long before they could reach her. They now began to grow quite nervous, all except for Smaragd Haze.
The commander did a step forward, facing down Amethyst Star without a trace of fear or hesitation. His deadly hydras rose up, there venomous ‘eyes’ focussed on the mare floating in the air before them. With a mental push, Smaragd Haze made his corrosive demons attack, launching them forth towards Amethyst Star simultaneously, their maws gaping wide and dripping toxic acid.
Unlike before, Amethyst Star made no move to teleport herself to safety this time. Perhaps it was because she had her eyes closed at the moment, or perhaps because she simply had no intent of running. When the hydras were only two pony lengths away from her, Amethyst Star’s eyes snapped open, and they glowed white with power. At the same time, the magic energy she had gathered burst forth from her brightly glowing swords in the form of beams of pure, raw magical power.
The five beams blasted the hydras apart entirely as if they weren’t even there and rushed forth, straight towards Smaragd Haze. The ground was blasted apart purely by the force they emanated in their passing. There was little doubt that they could have done some serious damage to their intended target, perhaps even killed him, if they had not suddenly been stopped.
A magic force field rose up from the ground before the Republican frontline, shooting high up into the sky. On the other side of the valley, far behind the enemy lines, Amethyst Star could spot another such force field rising up, the two coming together high above the valley in the sky, forming a protective dome over the entirety of the Republic’s army, even their air fleet. The purple colour of the magical shield left little doubt as to who the creator of it was.
“Shining Armour…” Amethyst Star growled through clenched teeth, as she watched how one of her most powerful attacks crashed into the marshal’s shield. Her powerful beams created visible strain upon the magical dome, but failed to pass through and were instead sent flying in random directions.
Slowly, Amethyst Star lowered herself to the ground, staring with a stone face at the dome that now separated her and her allies from their enemies. A glance to the skies revealed that Rainbow Dash and the royal airfleet were facing the same problem. The whole valley had gone quiet again as the defenders of Stalliongrad took in the sight of this new development. Behind her, at the fourth line of defence, her troops were casting nervous glances at Shining Armour’s shielding dome, uncertain of what would come next.
Amethyst Star’s face betrayed no emotion, though inwardly she was beginning to feel signs of panic. She had known Shining Armour possessed a shield spell that was capable of protecting an entire city, but the magic now displayed before her exceeded even her highest expectations. She could feel how strong and powerful the shield was, evidently so given how even her strongest attack hadn’t been able to shatter it. No doubt the marshal’s magic was enhanced by magicite, just as hers was.
Her eyes drifted from the dome to the Republicans that stood on the other side of it; specifically, to Smaragd Haze. The commander was looking quite pleased with himself, much to her frustration.
“I should thank you, admiral,” he said. “Your order of retreat made the task the marshal had given me of creating a clear division between our troops that much easier. Otherwise, he might have been forced to include some of yours under his shield, or worse, excluded some of his own subordinates from safety! That would have made the next step needlessly more complex.”
The stallion did a step back and signalled with his arm to the army gathered behind him. Immediately, unicorns and archers stepped to the front across the entire line. Horrified realisation dawned on Amethyst Star, as she realised that Shining Armour’s spell prevented any spell or arrow from coming in, but the same did not count for anything that wanted to go out.
She made to return to her troops, but she was too late. Smaragd Haze had already given the signal, to which hundreds of archers and unicorns promptly opened fire.
End of chapter 34.
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The battle continues, and the admirals and commanders finally show what they are made of, giving us an idea what magicite is capable of. In the meantime, Shining Armour reveals the next step of his plan, doing what he does best: casting uber-powerful shield spells! And unfortunately for our dear royalists, this time there is no Changeling Queen around to weaken him. Oh dear.
I pray that you're all enjoying the action so far. I kept everyone waiting for it long enough, in any case, so I'm doing my best to repay that now and make these chapters as good as I can.
While I really don't care either way, I would like attack names. You know, for the lulz.
"Wings of Tomorrow" Sounds steampunk-ish, something I've been curious about lately.
"Lament of the World" Oh Celestia what happened?
*Reads description* Well, I was right about the steampunk, though I do have one question. What's with all the weird stuff happening to Fluttershy? I don't even really like Fluttershy I'm sorry to say.
None the less sounds interesting.
*Notices chapter number and story length* Great googly moogly
this is gonna take a few days...
Fridge Logic for the day: Why would Shining Armor want to send Haze out to the battlefield, the stallion who demonstrably has the least regard for pony life, when he apparently wants to keep deaths to a minimum? The bastard was even killing his own soldiers left and right without giving a damn. That seems incredibly counterintuitive
Shining Armor is an idiot.
2606472 The story, at first, takes a long time for nothing to happen, but it gets really good when it finally picks up.
Well, this have just even more justified my hatred for that douchebag, a thousand times over. And, Shining pulled off an intelligent move on his part...too bad he isn't as intelligent as his tactics. Now, we will find out what Trixie have been up to. As well as the gang...
C&Cs:
“Where the both of you trying to get us all killed?”
> Replace ‘Where’ with ‘Were’.
“...We know what it’s truly like, our here on the battlefield,” he said, while Amethyst Star braced herself.
> Replace ‘our’ with ‘out’.
For her to feel this much pain even though her armour had blocked most of the damage meant her opponent possessed a truly monstrous amount of physical strength.
> Comma after ‘pain’ and ‘damage’.
She made to teleport from under him, but he whacked her in the horn...
> Add ‘an attempt’ after ‘made’.
...but the magical weapon moved to fast for it.
> Replace ‘to’ with ‘too’.
“Damn it all too Tartarus!”
> Replace ‘too’ with ‘to’.
That's not good.
Is it time for a certain unicorn with a penchant for copying spells and supreme magical power to save the day?
After all, it's the things you don't see coming that hit you the hardest.
Acid Hydras kinda remind me of that one Poison dude from One Piece.
And Amethyst Star acts kinda villainy, what with killing her own troops on purpose and all. At least that Haze dude just killed his own troops by chance.
The fact that Shining Armor waited until now to raise that shield spell means he wanted it to be a surprise. The fact that he wanted it to be a surprise means there must be a way around it that he is aware of and wants to compensate for.
Better think fast, though...
2608437 Wait a minute, when was Star killing her own troops? Let alone on purpose?
Awesome! This chapter was simply awesome!
The fight scene was as good as the ones in The Immortal Game. And that's really quite an accomplishment.
Well done!
2608614
I seem to have gotten Republican and Royalist switched around in my head. I was just thinking about Her little "motivational speech" from the previous chapter. Although now I have to think about why Haze would criticize Star for kill the enemy troops.
Twilight stop being lazy, just drain the magical shield or power somepony up?
Even without any of Twilight's old skill the amount of power with magnite (I assume standard in unicorn armour ) she could channel would be hilarious.
If you are not already a published author you should become one.
2606430
Maybe I'll make a list of names and post it in a blog, I'm not sure yet.
2606472
Well, Fluttershy takes central stage only during the first part of the story, later, once they join up with Rainbow Dash again, the focus shifts more to Twilight and Rainbow, and will shift again later on to another pony (not saying who just yet), though, of course, all Mane Six have a role to play. So even if Fluttershy isn't your favourite pony, you should be able to enjoy this story nevertheless, I think.
2606686
Because Amethyst Star was a greater risk to the Republican troops than Smaragd Haze is. Amethyst Star is out to kill Republicans, and as many as possible, given how she's the enemy and all. She already killed more Republicans than Smaragd Haze did this chapter, and was about to "go wild" and do even more damage until Smaragd Haze stepped in. Sure, Smaragd Haze killed some of his own men as well, but that's because they simply happened to be in his way. His goal wasn't to kill Republicans, while Amethyst's was. In the end, if Smaragd Haze hadn't stepped in, a lot more Republicans would have died than when he hadn't. Shining Armour knew that, so he ordered Smaragd Haze to step in. Did that end up costing some of his men their lives? Sure. But much less than it would have if he hadn't sent in Smaragd Haze.
2607006
Well, in Smaragd Haze's defence, I'll say that he didn't kill his own men for fun, they just happened to get in his way. Wrong time and wrong place, that kind of jazz.
I've fixed those mistakes, too, thank you for that!
2607063
Well, I don't know who Richard Trevithick is, so I couldn't make a pun of it because I hadn't heard of him.
2607127
Ah, I apologise, I meant to say that Amethyst Star had more training with magicite than Rose Thorn does. In total years of service, they are indeed pretty much equal, but Amethyst Star became a Vice-Admiral earlier than Rose Thorn did (as did Rainbow Dash, for that matter), so she got access to magicite earlier than he did and could start training with it earlier than him. That's what I meant when I said she's had more training than him, I meant training in the use of magicite.
It's also not necesarily given to the most skilled users, it's given according to rank. Once a royal guard reaches the rank of vice-admiral, they receive magicite and start practicing with it, though most magicite on vice-admiral level focusses on supporting and enhancing the natural abilities of a pony (increase their stamina, strength, endurance or magical strength, etc.). Of those, the ones showing the most promise and skill get access to more shards with offensive abilities, such as Rainbow Dash's lightning. Rainbow Dash and Amethyst Star were simply two extremely skilled ponies, either because they happen to have sheer determination to the point of obsession (Amethyst Star) or because they may or may not be tied to the strongest magical artifact in all of Equestria (the Elements, in Rainbow Dash's case).
Also, I think you're overestimating magicite's power and use a bit. It's true, it is a major game changer, something even Spitfire has alluded to in chapter 26 (when she mentions the old days pre-magicite were less complex). However, in the end, no matter how powerful, a magicite user is still just one pony. They could take down a thousand, maybe even ten thousand ponies on their own, but eventually, they'd just tire out and be overrun by the ninety thousand remaining soldiers. Who is going to stop that army then if you have no other combatants than a handful of magicite users? Power matters, but high numbers matter even more. A magicite user can also not be everywhere at once. Send an army of fifty-thousand against them, and they will more than have their hooves full to try and stop it, while at the same time, another army of the same size simply takes another route and capture the magicite users' capital while they're busy trying to hold of the first army. Hence the need for classic combatants. A group of magicite users, no matter how powerful, will still be powerless against overwhelming numbers.
As for six admirals against three republican commanders, that battle wouldn't go as easy as you appear to think it would. It would take a couple of days, probably, a lot of damage to the land and each other, before that battle would reach its conclusion. And in the end, all it would achieve is that both sides tire out their strongest players. Once they've done that, they'd still have to send their normal armies against each other to end the war (because it's not as if the royalists would surrender if their admirals got defeated, or the other way around, it simply would mean both sides would fight their war without super-powered commanders).
Finally, the reason magicite is so powerful, is because it has to be, because otherwise, there is no way any of my readers would ever believe that the Republic could have taken down Nightmare Moon unless its commanders were as powerful as shown here. But the reason for this will become clear further on in the story.
2607297
The only way to find out is to keep reading.
2607686
Now don't take this as me saying you're correct, because I'm not! I will admit that there's more to the case of Discord than Twilight and the others think there is, but the exact details and if he's alive or not, well, you'll just have to wait and see! 
I wish I could comment on this, but due to spoilers for much later, I can't.
2608437
Well, I honestly came up with the idea of acid myself and it wasn't taken from One Piece, but as for the way in which Smaragd Haze used his acid I did take inspiration from Magellan, yes.
2608453
Actually, the reason he waited with it is because he wanted the Royalists to come out of hiding first and start fighting them. If he had cast his shield from the beginning, chances are the Royalists wouldn't have come out to fight at all, they're not suicidal, and then both sides would have simply winded up staring at each other, waiting for the other to make a move.
2609158
Well, I haven't read "The Immortal Game" so I don't know how mine compares, but I thank you for the compliment nonetheless and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
2609494
He wasn't really critisizing her, he was simply calling her a hypocrit. She condemned him for being ruthless, and he just pointed out that she's been methodically killing Republicans left and right as well, so she really isn't in any position to judge him. That's what he meant.
2611828
Hmm, that seems to have slipped past my editor's watchful eye. Thanks for that!
2615095
Actually, magicite doesn't come standard in a unicorn's armour. It's given only to royal guards of rank vice-admiral or higher, and Twilight isn't even a guard, so she has no magicite to speak of. She's simply in no position to be able to do anything against Shining Armour's power at the moment. He's a trained magicite user and highly trained in combat, while she's just a normal unicorn with memories of her studies that she's never been able to put into practice, it's really no contest.
Funny you should mention that, though, as I am working on a novel in my spare time (when I'm not working on my fanfics).
2616566
That's not a continuity issue. Applebloom remembering Fluttershy but not remembering Ponyville can perfectly exist together. Remember that nearly every pony in Ponyville had some sort of memory of Fluttershy, even though they did not remember their previous lives. Applebloom is the same. Or is she?
2617206
Keep reading, the truth will be revealed eventually! (In fact, I might as well say this: after the battle of Stalliongrad is over, there'll be another chapter with Luna that will shed some light on the mysteries she's brought up.)
You may be onto something here, good sir (or ma'am)!
2618691
DBZ flashbacks incoming!
Without the screaming and charging stuff of course.
I'd recommend it if you like fighting ponies. It's also quite dark but in the end, friendship still shines through, just like in the show.
2618691 While you do have a point there, wouldn't it ultimately have made more sense to try and pull back, reorganize, and change strategy instead of sending in the guy who still ended up killing his own troops?
I mean, clearly, the offense Shining had going was walking right into Royalist hooves given the employed defensive strategy, which was killing Republicans left and right. He might as well have thrown droves of soldiers at a certain fortified beach front, head first in walls of machine gun fire (both a movie AND real life reference!). Fairly reckless itself if you ask me. 
And, surely Shining Armor didn't think Haze wouldn't have killed his own troops given his offensive fighting style, and the fact that both commanders, as they fought, would probably be surrounded on all sides by ponies fighting one another, right?
And, I wouldn't necessarily say they "got in his way." Republicans and Royalists would having their owns fights with one another, while stray attacks from Haze traveled far and wide, killing many. I wasn't under the impression anyone had crossed paths that closely, unless I'm mistaken.
But yeah! Let's see where this goes.
I wonder what Derpy is up to?
And on a final note, do I argue too much?
2618817
) but the thing is, Shining Armour has a plan he's carrying out. The first part of that plan requires the Royalists to come out of their city to fight them, and keep them there. If he retreats, he might give unnecesary ground to let the Royalists advance, or he might give them a chance to retreat and recover as well. Both would end up costing a lot of lives. Compared to that, sending in Smaragd Haze who, at best, killed only a couple of tens of his own troops here, while keeping the plan on track as well, is a much better option.
It might have made more sense to try and pull back, yes, if what was shown so far was all of Shining Armour's plan. But it isn't. Obviously, I can't reveal too much because of spoilers (
Of course, Shining Armour is all too aware of Smaragd Haze's reputation and his fighting style, but again, lesser of two evils. In the end, Smaragd Haze didn't kill that many (far less than Amethyst Star would have killed, in any case). Also, he was the only commander left available to face Amethyst. Spitfire is busy up in the air, Trixie is doing who knows what, and Shining Armour can't leave his position since he needs to organise things. And aside from the commanders, no Republican soldier is a match for the admirals in a one-on-one fight. So, well, he really had no choice but to send in Smaragd Haze. And in fact, Smaragd Haze was very effective. He stopped Amethyst Star from killing a couple of hundreds (or more) of their soldiers (compared to that, the less than hundred that Smaragd Haze killed himself are neglectable). He forced the royalists to retreat to their next line of defence much earlier than Amethyst Star or Desert Heat would have liked (they are trying to hold out as long as possible at every line, while shaving down the ranks of the Republic by as many as possible too, after all). He made it possible for Shining Armour to put up his shield flawlessly. As far as Shining Armour and the rest of his army is concerned, Smaragd Haze did a darn good job at minimum loss of life. He's an asshole and an extremist, for sure, but he's also very effective. Only we don't see it that way because we're rooting for the Kingdom, not the Republic.
As for getting in his way, well, not literally, they were only fighting the Royalists as commanded, after all. But in Smaragd Haze's eyes, those royalists they were fighting were the same ones he wanted to attack, and they just happened to be in the way of that. Had they been somewhere else, he wouldn't have killed them. They were just at the wrong place at the wrong time, but such things happen in war (in his thinking).
As for Derpy, remember that she's fighting off the second invasion in New Saddle while this is all happening.
And I personally don't think at all that you argue too much. In fact, I am really grateful for it; if your readers are discussing certain aspects of your story in greater detail, I see that as proof that, as the writer, I'm doing something right. So please, argue all you want!
2623903 Oh, good then! I was worried I might end up getting on your nerves.
Anywho, back on the subject, I will admit that I might place a bit more scrutiny on Shining Armor than I might for anypony else because you have successfully made me hate him.
In fact, I actually hate him the most out of any currently known character. Even more than Blueblood. This is partially because, come on, did we really think Blueblood would suddenly be a nice guy? His douchebaggery was practically expected where ever he might turn up. But Shining Armor!? Weren't you supposed to be the good guy? Where did you go so wrong, Shining Armor? 
And I do a little bit more now that he's shown his We Have Reserves mentality.
By the way, did you get the reference I made to compare Shining's strategy?
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Well, while I can't tell you how to feel about Shining Armour, personally, I wouldn't be too hard on him. If anything, I'd say people should pity him. None of what he does here in this story, he does because he really wants to. But he's afraid. Very, very, deeply afraid. Almost every night of his entire life, he has been plagued by nightmarish visions in which Celestia destroys everything, visions so lifelike they feel as if they are real. Any normal pony would long have gone paranoid after that; the fact that he's still sane should be a testament to his strength. But they did wake up a deeply rooted fear in him, fear of that vision becoming reality. He's afraid. Terrified. He wants to protect Equestria, he wants to keep all ponies (on both sides) safe, wants to prevent them from all meeting a death in flames and heat.
Then why, I hear you ask, does he fight to keep Celestia imprisoned? Is that what he wants? No, it's not. But then what does he want? What is his plan? He does what he does because he is afraid, but what will he do should he win this war? Now that, I can't reveal yet. (Sorry, spoilers.
) But it will be revealed. We will eventually get to Shining Armour's reasoning, his motivation and his plans, and why he chose the path he's taken. And when we do, maybe you'll hate him a bit less, maybe you'll go "Yeah, dude, okay, I understand what made you do that, you just went about it the wrong way." Or maybe you'll still hate him, which is fine too. XD
I also think the "We have reserves" mentality is a bit too harsh on him. He regrets and mourns every single loss in this war and if he could, he'd save every single one of them. But he also understands that he is a commanding officer, that this is war, and that soldiers are going to die. Does he like it? Heck no. But to move and command troops according to strategy, even when that will inevitably lead to some of them dying, is a burden every military officer must bear. It's part of the job, and he understands that.
As for the reference, I'm guessing it's about Normandy. Which, I admit, was pretty simple and bloody as far as strategies go. But I'd like to add that it was executing that strategy and plan that eventually got the allies to win WW II.
2624999 I suppose we will just wait and see. Ideally, Shining Armor will be redeemed, even if I think he could have done better. Though, I am curious, why hasn't Shining Armor tried a coup yet? Is there something in particular that's truly stopping him? It's like Sun Tzu said (I think), which something along the lines that if you are like a father to your men, they will follow you into the deepest valley. I would be surprised if Shining Armor couldn't get a sizable chunk of the Republic army to do something like that. What in particular has kept him from doing that? Whatever the reason is, is it currently a spoiler?
Though, maybe I was a bit too hard on Shining with We Have Reserves, though it sure does seem like it. Again, I might be biased against him.
As for Celestia, well, there's much that can be done about that if she actually would go postal on all of Equestria.
And yes, I was referencing Normandy.
Though, Russia was the first to make it to Berlin, I suppose the US managed to draw some of their fire away from defending against Russia. The Germans were prepped and ready for US assault at Normandy. Nazi Germany lost the war because they were fighting on too many fronts. History! 
But, you can probably see where I would make that connect with Shining Armor's current push strategy: Throw waves of soldiers head first into the choke point filled with volleys of archer fire, among other defenses. It kinda clicked with me, reminding of the same basic strategy the US did at Normandy. It just seemed like the kind of strategy you would employ if you wanted to maximize bloodshed, rather than minimize it.
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Though I cannot answer that yet, I would like to remind you of something else. In chapter 21, Shining Armour revealed that after the civil war has ended, he plans to resign as Marshal of the Republic. Of course, that's assuming the Republic wins, but still, something to think about.
Well, personally, I'd say he is still a very moral stallion, at least as moral as his duty and position allow him to be. He's no Smaragd Haze, at the very least, I can assure you of that much.
Yeah, I can certainly see the similarities. Shining Armour's current push strategy, however, is just the first step of a bigger strategy. One that costs lives, yes, but one that is necesary to keep the Royalists where he wants them to be nevertheless. He's got quite the strategy planned, as you'll see in following chapters. So much I know that I wanna share, but unfortunately thinking stuff up is faster than writing it all out into decent chapters.
2625251 Assuming he wins the war, though, this is what will happen: He personally destroyed the other faction dedicated to actually making life better in Equestria, he resigns afterwards instead of launching a coup to overthrow the tyrannical, sociopathic maniacs in charge of the republic, and doesn't do a damn thing to make anything better. In the end, he would have just made things worse and further drove Equestria into the grip of tyranny. There's also no guarantee he could save the lives on the Mane 6, even with his status. I wouldn't but it past the the assholes in charge to order the death sentence for them if they survive. And he would have been personally responsible for their defeat and capture (assuming Twilight and her friends don't get killed). Oops.
As good of a military strategist as he (apparently) is, and as moral as he (apparently) is, he seems awfully willing to support the greatest currently existing evil in Equestria. And it's as the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words.
But, I guess we'll see what you have planned, in the meantime.
Link is broken :c
~Have a good one.
Wow this really good you deserve some epic music