Wings of Tomorrow ~ Lament of the World

by Keeper of Jericho

36. The turn of the tide

Wings of Tomorrow
Lament of the World

36. The turn of the tide
The Siege of Stalliongrad – Part 5

As he watched Shining Armour collapse together with his shield, Desert Heat could not stop himself from feeling a small sense of triumph. Rainbow Dash’s crazy plan had actually worked, and the defenders had a fighting chance again now that the barrier blocking their attacks was gone. The destruction of the shield also had the added effect of boosting the morale of his troops; a fact Desert Heat knew he had to take full advantage of.

With a swing of his arm, the admiral sent his still raging sandstorm forth towards the Republican army. Now that there no longer was a magical wall holding them back, the howling winds and the billions of sand particles they carried swept over the enemy lines like a great flood. The winds of the storm were not strong enough to blow the heavily armoured soldiers off their hooves and on its own would have done little to hinder the Republicans.

Riding those winds, however, were countless grains of sand, and though harmless on their own, combined they formed a threat as potentially dangerous and devastating as any lightning bolt or magic spell. The sand battered relentlessly against the enemy soldiers, getting into their eyes, ears and noses, blinding their senses and making it hard to breathe. The tiny particles also crept under the soldiers’ armour, where it grated and chafed against their skin, making every movement bring great discomfort.

Seeing the weakened state of the Republicans in the wake of his sandstorm, Desert Heat knew the time to strike was now. He could feel the anticipation and eagerness of his fellow soldiers as they lay in wait in the trenches behind him. Many defenders had been lost to the Republic’s attack while the shield was up, and their comrades now longed to return the favour. Thus, many of them were glad when the command they longed to hear was given.

“Attack!”

To any onlookers of the battle, the situation looked eerily familiar, almost like a déjà vu. With a bloodcurdling war cry on their lips, hundreds of royalist soldiers left their trenches and charged in a single line, like a wall of muscle and armoured steel, at their momentarily blinded and weakened enemy. As before, the attack was of such ferocity that the first lines of the Republic were simply overrun and trampled underneath the stampeding hooves of the royalist defenders.

The only one noticeable difference between this attack and the previous one, was the fact that there was a different pony leading the charge. The change in leadership appeared to have no influence on the attack’s effectiveness, however, for Desert Heat was just as capable on the battlefield as Amethyst Star had been.

Running at the head of the formation, the admiral was amongst the first to make contact with the enemy, and he threw himself headlong and fearlessly into the fight. Just before he reached the Republic’s first line, Desert Heat used his powerful legs and his mechanical wings to completely jump over it. He landed in the middle of the Republic’s ranks, crushing a soldier underneath him in the process, surrounded by enemies at all sides.

Before the Republican soldiers could recover from their surprise and attack, the admiral made his move. He swung his arm, creating a crescent blade of sand in its trail that soared towards the soldiers in front of him, who were blown back by the force of the impact. When they hit the ground, they lay still, and their comrades could see that, through extreme and focussed erosion, the sand had sliced through the solid steel of their armour, as well as the soft flesh underneath, leaving a bloody gash on their chests.

Desert Heat was already moving on, lunging at the soldier closest to him and delivering a solid punch to his opponent’s chest that, had it not been for the soldier’s armour, would have broken quite a few bones. As it was, the Republican merely got knocked backwards with a fiercely aching bruise on his chest, the dent in his armour a testament to his attacker’s incredible physical strength.

The other Republicans by now had recovered from their surprise enough to fight back. They attempted to overwhelm the stallion with their numbers, but their efforts were in vain as Desert Heat simply plowed straight through all that came at him. He dodged between attackers with surprising agility for a pony his age and size, delivering kicks and punches that could shatter bone and steel as he went, calling upon his magicite whenever his hooves were not sufficient to take care of his opponents. More than one Republican had taken a swipe at him with their sword or spear, only to discover their weapon had been sliced to ribbons by naught but mere sand.

One after another fell before him, but Desert Heat was relentless and continued his attack. He knew that it was only a matter of time before the Republicans recovered from the disorientated state they were left in the wake of the shield's collapse. Until then, he and his fellow soldiers had to make the most out of the limited time they had, to advance as far as possible and take down as many enemy soldiers as they could.

From the corner of his eyes, he spotted a group of Republicans charging his way, eager for a chance to try and take him down. With almost casual ease, Desert Heat stomped his left hoof on the ground in their direction. A vertical blade of sand rose up and raced in a straight line towards the oncoming attackers, cutting them down before they even managed to get close to the admiral. They had not even hit the ground yet, or Desert Heat already found himself turning around to face the next ponies eager for a try at taking his head.

“There never seems to be a shortage of ponies wanting to take my life,” he noted dryly, as he struck them down with more blades of sand. A sigh escaped his lips. “Such is war, I suppose.” The admiral looked at the fallen with pity for a moment, then averted his eyes and continued the battle.

---

In the air between the battlefield on the ground and in the sky, Amethyst Star watched as Desert Heat led their troops into battle once more, a move she and Rainbow Dash had made possible by taking down Shining Armour's barrier. The attack had taken more out of her than she liked to admit, however. Even a full minute after the shield had fallen, she was still gasping for breath, despite her physical abilities being enhanced by magicite. Her entire body ached, a reminder of how she had pushed it beyond even her magicite-enhanced limits, and her magic felt faint and weak. She was barely able to keep herself aloft, and was for the moment too tired to go anywhere.

Amethyst Star winced as she felt a throbbing headache come up, causing her magic to flicker and her body to begin dropping towards the hard ground below. Before she could regain her composure and reactivate her magic to keep herself floating, however, she felt two strong hooves hook under her arms and keep her from falling.

“Whoa there, Sparkler, are you alright?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking at her fellow in concern. Her wings beat lazily in order to keep the two of them from falling. “You don't look so good. Did something go wrong while you cut down the shield?”

“Everything went fine, though I admit I've been better,” Amethyst Star replied with a groan. “Don't worry about it; it's simply the price for wielding that much power. Just give me a moment or two and I'll be fine.” She winced again as the pounding in her head intensified. She chuckled humourlessly. “As exhilarating as that was, count me out if you want to do it again.”

Rainbow Dash wasn't amused, and her concerned frown only deepened. Even though she and Amethyst Star often had their fallouts, that didn't mean Rainbow Dash didn't care for her fellow admiral's well-being. They were both soldiers fighting on the same side, meaning they looked out for each other, even if they had their disagreements. “Maybe you should retreat for a quick check up at the hospital, Sparkler,” she said. “No offence, but you look like you need it.”

Amethyst Star turned her head so she could glare at the pegasus over her shoulder. “Are you insane?” she growled in disbelief. “In case you didn't notice, Rainbow, I'm an admiral and we're in the middle of a war here. I don't have the time or the luxury for a medical check-up, not that I need one to begin with. Desert Heat needs me down there.”

“You'd be more of a hindrance than a help to him in your current state,” Rainbow Dash replied stubbornly. “He has enough to worry about as it is without needing to look after you.”

“He won't have to,” Amethyst Star assured her. When Rainbow Dash still didn't look convinced, she quickly began to lose her patience. “I mean it! Stop fussing over me, it's humiliating. I just need a minute or two for my magic to return, and then I'll be fine.”

Rainbow Dash let out an annoyed huff, but finally relented. “Fine. But here's not the best place to do that,” she said. “I'm an admiral too, in case you forgot, and I have better things to do than holding you until you're feeling better.” Her gaze drifted up to the skies above, and she glowered at the Republican air fleet that flew there. “There's a certain enemy air fleet in desperate need of some payback.”

“Just take me to one of our ships,” Amethyst Star replied. “I'll be able to recover there and teleport back down once my magic's heeding me again.”

“Alright,” Rainbow Dash grunted, giving a curt nod. Then, suddenly, a cocky grin appeared on her face, like a ray of sunlight breaking through the clouds. “Hang on, and be taught the real meaning of fast!” With those words spoken, Rainbow Dash flapped her powerful wings and rocketed up into the skies before her passenger had a chance to prepare for the take-off.

The sudden departure took Amethyst Star by surprise, rendering her too stunned to say something. By the time she had overcome her shock and started speaking, they were flying so fast that Rainbow Dash couldn't understand a word of what her fellow admiral was saying.

Given the language Amethyst Star was using, however, that was probably for the best.

---

Down below on the ground, the defenders of Stalliongrad quickly found the tables turning against them. Desert Heat and his troops had managed to drive the Republican army back and reclaim nearly eighty percent of the terrain they had previously lost, taking out a fair amount of the enemy's forces in the process. But once the Republic had recovered from the shock of losing their shield and the after effects of Desert Heat's sandstorm were dealt with, they quickly regained their footing and brought the royalists' advance to a halt.

In a matter of minutes, Desert Heat and his followers had been put from the offensive on the defensive. Now, as before, they formed a single line, a wall of armoured steel and muscle, to hold back the Republican assault for as long as they were capable. The strategy had worked well under Amethyst Star's guidance and Desert Heat saw no reason as to why it would not under his. With a clear, loud voice, he bellowed his orders above the din of the fighting.

“Hold the line and do not falter!” he cried. “We are soldiers of Equestria, do not let their numbers intimidate you! Every single one of you is worth ten of theirs! Remember what you are fighting for and stand your ground. Every enemy soldier you deny passage is one more who will not threaten your loved ones!”

His words earned him a determined war cry from his fellow defenders, who pushed back determinedly against the overwhelming mass of enemy soldiers, refusing to surrender even an inch of ground without a fight. None of them wanted to be the one to let down their admiral, from whose presence they took heart. Desert Heat's charismatic personality and leadership inflamed their courage and determination in a way Amethyst Star's cold and merciless leadership could not.

It was not a matter of respect, for the members of the royal guard respected each of their admirals equally, but the reason why was different from each of them. They respected Amethyst Star out of awe, but the respect Desert Heat got from his division came out of love. It was said love that drove them to stand their ground as determinedly as they did, and despite the relentless onslaught of the Republic, the line held.

“This is good,” Desert Heat thought, as he struck down a group of Republicans with another blast of sand. “If we manage to hold out here, we might still have a winning chance. ” He ducked his head to avoid having it severed by a Republican sword, then turned and bucked his attacker with all his might with his legs, shattering the unfortunate soldier's ribcage despite his armour.

“What I don't get is why Shining Armour has them come straight at us over and over again in the hope that their numbers will finally run us over. He's far too clever to stick to such a basic and not to mention ineffective strategy…So why does he do it? What is he waiting for? ”

As he cut down another dozen enemies with his sand powers, Desert Heat decided not to linger on it for the moment. If Shining Armour wanted to give them the opportunity to take down as much of his troops as they could in exchange for minimal losses of their own, Desert Heat saw little reason to refuse. As long as the enemy continued their frontal assault, he and his troops had the advantage, not to mention a chance. It was in his best interest then to keep it this way for as long as possible.

A cry to his right shook him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to see that the enemy had finally succeeded in creating a gap in their formation. The Republicans had combined their forces in a focussed attack on one single spot in the defensive wall of ponies, and had managed to overwhelm the defendants and cut them down. Now the enemy was pouring through the opening in the royalists' formation and attacked them from behind, threatening the stability of the entire defensive line.

“Close the gap!” Desert Heat shouted, as he rushed towards the gap in the formation after having traded his place with one of his guards to ensure he didn't create a second hole by leaving for the first. He reared up and stomped the earth with his hooves, firing off two vertical blades of sand that raced in a straight line along the ground towards the gap. The projectiles of sand smashed into the stream of Republicans that fought their way through the gap, nearly cleaving the ones at the front in two upon impact.

His attack threw back the Republican soldiers long enough for him to close the distance between him and them. With his impressive, armoured bulk, the admiral took the place of his fallen soldiers, closing the gap. “To me!” he cried out to his soldiers who made up this part of the formation. They had been scattered by the Republican breakthrough and been caught fighting the ones who had poured through the gap. “Everypony to me! Reform the line!”

Desert Heat gritted his teeth, the shard of magicite upon his brow flaring brightly as he called upon its power and sent forth a flurry of blades that cut down the enemy by the dozens. His arms moved quickly but fluidly, like shifting sand, as he relentlessly threw attack after attack at the oncoming army, trying to ease the enemy pressure on his fellow soldiers for a moment. It seemed to work. His continuous attacks gave them some breathing space, long enough for the other royalists to regain their footing and rejoin the line.

“Take heart, everypony!” Desert Heat bellowed, once the formation had been solidly rebuilt. “Their numbers are lessening! At this moment, we hold the advantage! Let that knowledge bolster you, and stand fast! Fight, come what may, and we will be victorious!” His troops cheered and resumed the battle with renewed vigour.

For a moment, it truly seemed the Royalists' line would continue to hold, and the lack of progress, combined with the many losses they suffered, seemed to make the Republican troops dispirited. All of that changed in the blink of an eye, when suddenly, somewhere down the line to Desert Heat's left, the ground beneath the defenders burst open and created another gap in the formation, even bigger than the first. A massive hydra, made of corrosive acids and poisons, emerged from underground and tore into the rank of the royalists, scooping up many in its deadly jaws and bringing them to a gruesome end.

A cloud of vile, crimson smoke welled up from the earth, blinding Royalists and Republicans alike, taking away their breath and making their eyes water. Three more monstrous hydras sprang forth from the toxic cloud, tearing more holes into the defenders' formation. As the four acid abominations slowly reared back up on their long necks, a large figure could be seen moving inside the cloud of gas, pulling itself out of the ground.

“I really, really hate unicorns,” Smaragd Haze said, as he calmly walked out of the toxic smoke. The commander looked as if he had gone through Tartarus, with a great portion of his mane being singed and his body and armour covered in scorch-marks. His armour was dented and cracked in many places, and covered in dirt and sooth. Despite this, he was smiling wickedly, an expression made all the more unsettling and frightening by the streams of blood that ran down his face, coming from the gaping wound on his head.

Smaragd Haze looked around himself, taking in his surroundings, and soldiers on both sides cowered under his gaze and backed away. With an appearance as if he had come back from the dead, coupled with the hellish, crimson smoke that surrounded him and the monstrous hydras emerging from his body, the commander very much looked like a demonic creature that had crawled from the pits of Tartarus itself. His unsettling, wicked grin did not much to disprove that image.

“Dropping an airship on top of me, very creative, I must admit. Not to mention effective,” Smaragd Haze said, his red eyes taking in the faces of the terrified royalists before him. “The impact gave me quite the nasty blow to the head, which made tunnelling my way underground to escape the explosion that much more difficult than it had to be. I almost didn't make it, as you can see.” He gestured at his singed mane and the scorch-marks on his armour. “But, happy times, I made it! Just in time to hear one of you royalist fools babbling about victory, no less.”

The commander's smile vanished in an instant, replaced by a seething expression of pure, boiling rage. “Victory?!” he snarled. “You simple-minded idiots! There will be no victory for the likes of you! Death is all that awaits you, and I am here to deliver it!”

With a beastly roar, Smaragd Haze sent forth his hydras once again, the foul beasts heading straight for the nearest defenders. Their maws opened wide, ready to close themselves around any pony unfortunate enough to not get out of their reach in time. Panicking, the royalists abandoned the formation and fled, knowing full well that they could not stand against this enemy and hope to win. Unfortunately, their panic made their retreat very chaotic, causing them to run into each other or head the wrong way.

One such poor soul found himself trampled beneath the hooves of his comrades in their haste to get away from the acid monsters chasing them. In pain, the guard now found himself laying on the beaten earth of the battlefield, unable to move, with the gaping maw of a hydra heading straight for him. Like a deer caught in the headlights, the soldier found himself unable to look away from his approaching demise. Only when it was almost upon him did he close them and look away, braising himself for a gruesome end.

Only it never came. A crescent-shaped blade of sand flew through the air and cut off the hydra's head before it could reach the crippled soldier. As the head fell to the ground in a now-shapeless mass of corrosive liquid, all nearby combatants, including Smaragd Haze, found themselves looking in the direction the blade had come from. Desert Heat calmly approached, not a hint of fear on his face, coming to a halt when he found himself face to face with the Republican commander.

“I knew it was too much to hope that you had met your end under that ship,” Desert Heat said, sounding pleasant despite a hint of disappointment in his voice. “Then again, I don't think you can blame me for hoping nevertheless, can you?”

Smaragd Haze scoffed disparagingly. “It only proves how much of a fool you are,” he replied, his voice as toxic as the corrosive venoms he wielded. The commander narrowed his eyes and looked at Desert Heat like a snake seizing up its prey before dealing the fatal blow. “You are always welcome to try and amend my status to better suit your expectations, of course,” he added, a sly smirk creeping up his face. “Provided I don't do the same to you first, that is.”

With a hiss, Smaragd Haze gave a mental command to one of his hydras, which responded by lunging at Desert Heat so quickly that the admiral seemingly had no time to react. The corrosive monstrosity engulfed him entirely, bathing the admiral in a toxic mix of corrosive poisons and lethal venoms. When the hydra retreated, it left behind a pony-shaped blob covered from head to toe in the foul liquids, which gave off a hiss when they hit the ground.

“Admiral!” some of the on looking members of the royal guard cried out in dismay, even as some members of the Republic began to cheer, in the belief that their commander had just managed to take out one of the enemy's most feared warriors.

Their cheers died on their lips when the corrosive waste layered upon the admiral suddenly became entirely engulfed with sand and formed a hardened crust. The sand-covered figure started to shake, creating cracks in the crust and causing it to crumble away, revealing a completely unharmed Desert Heat.

“I'm sorry to say that your acid just doesn't have that 'bite' to it once it has been dehydrated, Smaragd,” he said, while casually brushing some lingering bits of sand off his shoulders.

“It seems arrogance is a trait shared amongst you royal admirals,” Smaragd Haze noted, keeping his voice and expression neutral. “One might begin to suspect it is an actual requirement for one to possess the title.”

“I never actually noticed that, but now that you mention it, it might just be,” Desert Heat replied with a smile.

Suddenly he lunged towards Smaragd Haze, all traces of humour gone from his face. Smaragd Haze reacted just as quickly, one of his hydras lunging forward to intercept his opponent, but Desert Heat sliced it in half with a blade of sand before it had a chance to hurt him. The admiral landed right next to the Republican commander, and lashed out with one of his hooves with the intent of striking Smaragd Haze in the face. Smaragd Haze intercepted the blow with his own hoof, covering it in acid, but the sand that suddenly engulfed Desert Heat's limb dehydrated it before it could do any damage.

Desert Heat pulled his hoof free from Smaragd Haze's grip, before dropping low to the ground for a sweeping kick aimed at his opponent's legs. Smaragd Haze jumped back to avoid the attack, retaliating immediately with an acid-covered punch at Desert Heat's side while his enemy was still recovering from his spin. The admiral nimbly moved out of the way of the blow, before lunging at his opponent again. Smaragd Haze intercepted him, and the two stallions grappled with each other, their arms locked. A contest of physical strength ensued as each tried to throw the other to the ground, with neither of them having a clear upper hoof.

This struggle continued for a while, and probably would have gone on for a lot longer when Desert Heat suddenly head butted Smaragd Haze in the face, hitting the commander's gaping wound. Smaragd Haze let out an agonised cry and let go of his foe, staggering backwards while clutching his bleeding head with one hoof. Blinded by the pain, he didn't see Desert Heat's kick coming until too late, and the admiral used every ounce of strength he possessed to buck the commander square in the chest.

Smaragd Haze was sent sprawling, and the royalists cheered. Their joy was short-lived, however, as Smaragd Haze quickly got back up, seething with rage. With a snarl, all four of his hydras lunged at Desert Heat at the same time, each coming from a different direction. Desert Heat gritted his teeth and jumped back to dodge the first, before quickly whirling around to slice the second in two with his sand powers. He then pressed himself low to the ground to let the third fly over him, before cutting off the head of the fourth. This distracted him long enough for Smaragd Haze to get close to him and hit him in the side of the head with an acid-covered hoof.

The blow sent Desert Heat reeling, the right side of his face stinging like mad due to the acid, though he managed to remove it with sand before it could deal any serious damage. Smaragd Haze went for him again, but this time the admiral was ready. With a swing of his arm, he blew back his opponent with a miniature sandstorm, sending Smaragd Haze crashing to the ground again. Even as the commander crawled back to his hooves, Desert Heat fired one of his vertical blades of sand at Smaragd Haze, which raced towards the Republican in a straight line along the ground. Smaragd Haze barely had the time to shield himself with one of his reformed hydras, sending acid splattering everywhere.

Growling, Smaragd Haze pushed himself back up and called upon the power of his magicite once more. Two hydras reared up on their long necks and 'looked' down on the battlefield with their lifeless 'eyes'. Suddenly, they opened their maws and fired a continuous stream of acid from them, like dragons breathing fire. A great part of the royalist's frontline was thusly doused with corrosive venoms, felling countless soldiers, their screams of agony being audible above the din of the on-going war.

Desert Heat hurried to counter the monstrous attack before it could claim more lives. He took a deep breath and reached out with his mind to the shard of magicite on his brow, which began to shine like a golden star. Even as sand began to run down his body like water, almost as if he was bleeding it, Desert Heat reared up on his legs and raised his arms up to the sky. A massive wall of sand rose up in response to his command, one that was nearly fifteen metres wide and a third as high.

With a forward thrust of Desert Heat's hoof, the wall surged forth like a tidal wave and crashed into the ranks of the Republic. Smaragd Haze's hydras and their acid breath were engulfed by tons of sand, together with their master and many of his soldiers. Desert Heat watched the pool of sand that now stretched out before him for a moment, then slowly dropped his arms and lowered himself back on his four hooves. Though he did not admit it out loud, the fight had required him to exert himself quite a bit, as evidenced by his laboured breathing and the sweat upon his brow.

“I sincerely doubt that it's over, though,” he thought darkly, still watching the pile of sand he had buried his opponent under.

And indeed, barely a moment after the thought had crossed his mind, one of Smaragd Haze's hydras burst forth from underneath the sand, quickly followed by its three brethren and the commander himself. Slowly, Smaragd Haze emerged from under the sand, his bulky, muscular form dragging itself free from the sand's greedy pull.

“If an airship didn't manage to kill me, what makes you think a bit of sand would?” Smaragd Haze asked, while casually brushing some lingering bits of sand off his shoulders. “Why don't you go and build some sandcastles instead, you demented old foal.”

“I just thought I'd scrub the lice off your coat a bit to leave you clean for your funeral, Smaragd Haze,” Desert Heat replied, with an icy smile.

Smaragd Haze chuckled lowly in response, but said nothing. The commander summoned back his hydras to his side, and then calmly walked off the sand pile until he had solid ground under his hooves again. As his opponent approached, Desert Heat's thoughts were racing in an attempt to find a way to quickly get out of this situation. Not because he feared his opponent, but because he knew that he couldn't afford to get caught up fighting him much longer, not while his troops needed him.

Desert Heat reluctantly pushed those thoughts away when he noticed the shadows of Smaragd Haze's hydras looming over him, and he braced himself for the fight. Before either could make a move, however, a powerful blast of magic appeared completely out of left field and blasted Smaragd Haze off his hooves. The commander collapsed in the dirt a fair distance away from his previous position, looking quite roughed up. His already cracked armour had now shattered completely in a few places due to the magic blast, leaving parts of his body unprotected.

“I thought the fact that I dropped an airship on top of your ugly mug made it clear enough that I didn't want to lay eyes upon you here, or elsewhere, ever again,” a familiar voice snapped, coldly. Desert Heat, and many with him, glanced in the direction of the voice and saw that it belonged to Amethyst Star. The unicorn admiral had returned to the battlefield and was now coming to stand beside Desert Heat, looking at the fallen Smaragd Haze with disdain all the way.

From where he lay, Smaragd Haze chuckled upon hearing Amethyst Star's words, though his laughter was interrupted a few times by low groans of pain. “Well, I have always been a hard learner, hornhead,” he spat back in reply, as he slowly climbed back to his hooves for what seemed like the umpteenth time today. He spared a moment to wipe some of the blood of his head wound out of his eyes.

“Good to see you again, Sparkler,” Desert Heat greeted, giving his fellow admiral a curt nod. “I must admit, I don't think I've ever been as glad to have you with me as I am now.”

“Glad to be here, Desert,” Amethyst Star replied curtly, after which she glanced to her right and left to take a look at the rest of the battle. “From the looks of it, I came not a moment too soon. I hope you don't mind that I took the liberty of bringing some reinforcements with me. Our line was getting kind of thin.”

“I feared as much. We lost many to his attack, and would have lost more if I hadn't stepped in,” Desert Heat said, glaring darkly at Smaragd Haze's struggling form. “Unfortunately, he proved to be quite a bit of trouble, which kept me from directing our troops.”

“The line held in your absence, mostly,” Amethyst Star informed him. “But they were simply not numerous enough to keep the Republic at bay forever. I helped reinforce the line and stemmed the gaps the Republic had managed to make, which is what kept me from coming to your aid until now. I wanted to, admittedly, but I knew you could more than handle yourself.”

“You did the right thing,” Desert Heat assured her. He paused for a moment. “What's the word on Dash?”

“With the barrier gone, they've managed to tip the balance back in their favour,” Amethyst Star replied. “Though the enemy is putting up more resistance this time, now that they're not letting themselves get pushed back on purpose. It's made the battle more fierce and the losses bigger on both sides. For now, though, we hold the upper hoof in the air.”

“Then I suggest we try to do the same on the ground,” Desert Heat said, narrowing his eyes in determination, as he turned to face Smaragd Haze again. “If we take out one of their commanders, we can reduce both their morale and their fighting power. The both of us should be able to manage that.” Amethyst Star merely nodded, facing the commander as well and bracing herself for battle.

Smaragd Haze watched the two admirals, standing side by side, for a while, then started to laugh.

“What's so funny, Haze?” Amethyst Star growled, her voice cold as ice. “Has standing in the face of defeat finally stripped you of what little shred of sanity you had left?”

“No, I'm merely amused by the both of you conversing like you honestly believe you have any hope of winning here today,” he replied, trying to stifle his giggles and failing entirely. “I'd be inclined to pity you for how completely out of touch with reality you are, if it wasn't so adorably hilarious.”

“No battle has a certain outcome until it has ended, I'm certain you realise that,” Desert Heat stated calmly, unfazed by the other stallion questioning his sanity. “Just as I hope you realise that you have no chance against the might of two royal admirals combined, something not even your marshal was not capable of.”

“Oh, I have no such illusions,” Smaragd Haze shrugged, sounding bored. “Against the two of you, I'm dead meat, I won't deny that. But then again...” His red eyes narrowed to sinister slits as his lips formed an unsettling smirk. “Somehow I don't think you'll be having the luxury of fighting me two on one.”

Desert Heat looked puzzled by the words, and he suddenly felt very cautious, not trusting the situation at all. Before he could ask what Smaragd Haze had meant, however, he was interrupted by the sound of airship artillery, followed a moment later by a series of explosions. Now, the sounds themselves would not have been odd in the slightest, for both sides had been hearing them the entire time since the war had begun. Slightly more unsettling, however, was the direction these sounds came from. They didn't come from above or ahead, as by all means they ought to, but from behind the royalist lines, in the direction of the city.

All colour drained from his face in an instant, as Desert Heat whirled around to look at Stalliongrad. His eyes grew wide and his pupils shrank to pinpricks as he witnessed the source of the bombardment. Amethyst Star, and nearly every royal soldier with her, looked back at the city as well, their expressions mirroring Desert Heat's in the instant they laid eyes upon the awful truth. Behind the two admirals, Smaragd Haze could not stop grinning.

In the skies on the other side of Stalliongrad, behind the royalists' lines, a fleet of airships had appeared. A fleet made of heavily armoured warships. Warships that flew the colours of the Republic and were now approaching Stalliongrad at rapid speed. Already the city was within their firing range, as evidenced by the column of black smoke rising up from within the walls, a result of the earlier bombardment.

At the prow of the ship leading the formation, stood a unicorn mare dressed in the armour befitting a battle mage like herself. Her coat was blue, her mane and tail silver, and she had the flowing cloak of an arch mage draped around her shoulders. She regarded the city and the battlefield beyond it with her violet eyes, an eager grin on her face.

“Hark, ye members of the royal guard, and tremble, for the Great and Powerful Trixie has arrived!”

---

“Marshal Shining Armour, commander Trixie has arrived, sir!” an exited republican soldier cried out, as he ran towards his superior. The young stallion was so eager to deliver the news that he even forgot to properly salute or wait for permission to speak upon arriving. He could be forgiven, though, given the fact that any other Republican would hardly have done better at the moment, so relieved they were by the arrival of their allies.

Shining Armour heard the news just as he was being helped to his hooves by a lower ranking officer, the pain of his failed spell only now starting to fade. “Better late than never, I suppose,” he groaned, his legs still feeling rather shaky underneath him. “Remind me to buy her a watch once we're back home. Ow...” He winced and rubbed his throbbing forehead, careful to avoid touching his horn, the magical nerve within feeling like it had been set on fire.

“Are you alright, sir?” the officer supporting him asked, worry in her voice. “Should I get a medic?”

The marshal shook his head, though quickly stopped when it only made his headache worse. “I'll manage, Amber Chip, don't worry. Though admittedly…” He groaned and winced as his brain desperately seemed to try and escape from his skull. “That was quite a blow to my noggin'. I don't think I'll be raising up any shields again anytime soon. I fear that if I get struck by spell failure like that again, my brain would be turned into paste.”

He lowered his hoof, closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm himself. When the headache and pain finally started to recede, Shining Armour opened his eyes again, the light-heartedness from a moment ago gone. The thoughtful frown he had been wearing nearly the entire battle returned, evidence that he meant business. He briefly took in the sight of the second airship fleet approaching Stalliongrad from behind, gave a nod of approval, and then turned to the soldier who had brought him the news.

“So Trixie's here at last. That's good news at least,” he began. “What of the rest of the battle? What's the situation?”

“The enemy carried out a charge, led by Desert Heat, with which they managed to recapture nearly all the ground they lost during our last attack, sir,” the soldier answered, finally remembering his training and saluting. “We succeeded in halting their advance, but were unable to move forward ourselves. All attempts to break through their formation were stopped by Desert Heat.”

Shining Armour let out a barely audible sigh. “Nothing new there, then,” he muttered dejectedly, mostly to himself, before mentioning to the soldier to continue.

“We briefly made some progress when commander Smaragd Haze resurfaced and began destroying their formation, but he faced off against Desert Heat before he could finish his work,” the soldier continued dutifully. “While the commander fought the enemy's leader and kept him busy, we managed to break through the enemy line, but were driven back again when Amethyst Star appeared and brought with her reinforcements to strengthen their formation. She then joined Desert Heat in facing Smaragd Haze and…well...” The young stallion shifted uncomfortably. “The commander received a bit of a beating, sir.”

Shining Armour didn't so much as bat an eyelid at the news. He merely gave the colt before him a long even stare, as if silently contemplating his next decision in the wake of these developments. “I see,” he then said, so unexpectedly that he startled both the soldier and Amber Chip, who by now was no longer supporting him, convinced her marshal was healthy enough to stand on his own four hooves. “Thank you for the report, soldier. You may return to your post.”

The soldier nodded. “Sir, yes sir,” he stammered quickly, giving a hasty salute before running off.

The marshal hardly noticed it, his thoughts and attention already elsewhere. He frowned deeply in thought for a moment, then turned to face Amber Chip. “Lieutenant-commander, try to see if you can contact Smaragd Haze,” he began. “If he's still conscious or sensible enough to respond, tell him he is to prepare for the third phase of our strategy immediately. If he's out, pass these orders to lieutenant-commander Summer Breeze instead.”

“Right away, marshal, sir,” she replied, giving a dutiful salute before going off to carry out her orders.

Shining Armour watched her go for about a second, then turned towards the city he was here to conquer again. He fished a communication stone out of a pocket of his uniform and switched it on. “Trixie, this is Shining Armour,” he said. “It's about time you got here. How are things looking there from your end?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie apologises for the delay, but she did not wish to risk failing to carry out her orders by being discovered,” came the reply through the stone. “To make up for that, she is happy to inform you that her arrival has caught the enemy by surprise, as we hoped. Defences on our side of the city appear to be minimal, and the city appears to be evacuated.”

“Good, that's the best news I've had so far,” Shining Armour answered. “Proceed according to plan. We need you to lure at least half of their airship fleet to your side. Bombard the city to increase the pressure if necessary, but remember: the hospital and any other medical facilities are off limits. Concentrate your fire on the empty streets or some monuments instead. Under no circumstances are there to be any civilian casualties, is that understood? If I hear of fire opened upon as much as a first aid kit, I will personally drag you before the Nobles' Court!”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie understands,” the unicorn commander assured him. “She would never stoop as low as to commit crimes of war. She is above such barbarism and foul tactics.”

“For your sake, I hope so,” Shining Armour replied, with a dangerous edge to his voice. He let his unspoken warning linger for a moment, then continued the conversation. “Once they've spread their airships across the two fronts, it is imperative we keep it that way. We cannot move on to the final phase of the plan until we've ensured that their air fleet is too preoccupied with its own battles to be able to provide aerial support to their ground troops. I'm counting on you and Spitfire to make sure that happens.”

“You need not worry, marshal,” Trixie said confidently. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is ready to play her part, and do it flawlessly.”

“You'd better be,” Shining Armour warned. “Get to it then, commander, and good luck. Shining Armour out,” he added, after which he shut off the connection and pocketed the stone again.

Wearily, the marshal returned his attention to the battlefield, to gauge the reaction of his opponent to this new development. He knew that he hadn't given them much choice but to act the way he wanted them to, but still he remained careful and cautious. A cornered enemy could be unpredictable, after all.

---

Once he had managed to get over his initial shock at seeing the Republic attack them from behind, Desert Heat proceeded to invent some very creative and colourful swearwords, not caring who heard him. Amethyst Star hadn't taken the revelation much better, though she had made her feelings on the matter clear by sending Smaragd Haze flying instead of swearing. The admiral didn't really care for where he landed, as long as he was out of their hair for a moment so they could plan their next move.

Desert Heat by this point had taken out his communication crystal and contacted their fellow admiral who was still fighting up in the air. “Rainbow Dash, can you take a look at the skies above the city and tell me if you see what we're seeing?” he asked.

“I'm not blind, Desert, of course I can,” Rainbow Dash snapped back. “How in the name of Celestia did we not see these guys coming until now?! That's another complete airship fleet they have there, or else my name isn't awesome! How did they sneak up on us?!”

Amethyst Star narrowed her eyes and magically enhanced her vision to take a better look at the second Republican airship fleet. Her eyes narrowed further as she focussed on the ship at the head of the formation. “They're being led by the commander of their unicorn division, Trixie Lulamoon,” she announced after a while. “It must have been her. She's well known for her skill with illusion spells, she probably cloaked the fleet like I did with our ground troops.”

“Wouldn't doing that require quite a lot of magic?” Rainbow Dash wondered harshly. “I'm sure any of our magic scouts would have picked up on a spell of the size you're suggesting.”

“I see other unicorns aboard there as well,” Amethyst Star replied. “If each of their ships has a magicite user aboard, they could have been the ones hiding the ships from view, while Trixie instead masked the magic frequency such spells would give off. For an expert illusionist powered by magicite, that should be possible, even for that many spells. Though...”

She tapped her chin in thought, confusion evident on her face. “I do wonder how they managed to get across our borders unnoticed… Did they fly over the Everfree Forest or through the Frozen North?”

“We'll figure out the how later,” Desert Heat interrupted, sounding uncharacteristically but understandably impatient. “We should be deciding on what to do instead.” He cast a dark glance at the second invasion fleet. “Though admittedly, there's not much of a choice to be had. If we don't deploy a unit to meet them in combat, we might as well surrender.”

“Splitting up our airship fleet would put us on the defensive, Desert,” Rainbow Dash reminded him. “If we divide our air forces across the two fronts, both halves will be outnumbered enough to have a really hard time. Our chances of holding out against either side will be seriously low.”

“And if we don't split up, we'll have no chance of holding out at all. Our fleet would be crushed between theirs, and then we'd lose the only thing standing between our ground troops and an annihilating bombardment,” Desert Heat argued back. “Losing our air fleet equals losing the war, which is simply not an option! We cannot afford to lose!”

“That sounds all nice and good, Desert, but mind telling me how we're going to avoid doing that? Because in the current situation, our fleet is bucked no matter what!” Rainbow Dash shouted, finally losing her nerve. “Even if we split up, we're gonna get crushed, it's just going to take a bit longer. So unless you can whip up some magic fix during that time that'll take out all their ground troops, it looks to me like we've lost already! So what do you propose we do?!”

“I DON'T KNOW!” Desert Heat thundered, finally breaking down under all the pressure as well. “Tartarus, I do not know! My plan was to force Shining Armour to retreat by making the war too costly for him to continue, but we can't do that in a war on two fronts! Skies above, I do not know! I'm not Derpy Hooves! I can't make up winning strategies on the fly! I can't just take one look at a hopeless situation and figure out how to turn the tables!”

The exhausted stallion took in a deep breath and opened his mouth to continue his venting, but stopped when a hoof was pressed to his chest. Desert Heat looked up and saw Amethyst Star standing before him, which caused his anger to be redirected from Rainbow Dash to her. He opened his mouth again, to start raging at her instead, but he froze upon seeing the expression on her face. She did not frown in disappointment, grumble with anger or sigh hopelessly.

Instead, she did the most unexpected thing of all, especially for her: she gave him a serene smile.

“Desert, calm down. Breathe,” she gently urged him, not a trace of her usual methodical bluntness or cold indifference in her voice. She tapped her own chest and breathed in, before slowly breathing out again. “Panic will not get us anywhere, you know that.” She proceeded to tap his chest, urging him to repeat what she had done previously. For a moment, Desert Heat looked like he wanted to argue, but then relented and breathed deeply in and out to calm himself.

Pleased, Amethyst Star smiled and dropped her hoof back to the ground. She then took out her own communication stone and switched it on. “As for you, Rainbow Dash, words can't express my disappointment,” she said, her voice and demeanour back to her usual icy self. “When did you turn into a defeatist? 'It looks like we have lost already', truly? Were it not for others having heard it as well, I'd think something was wrong with my ears!”

The other side of the line remained tellingly quiet, and both Amethyst Star and Desert Heat knew their fellow admiral was keeping her head very, very low in shame right now.

“Yes, if we split the fleet up, we'll be outnumbered on both fronts,” Amethyst Star continued sharply. “What of it? Since when did Rainbow Dash turn down a challenge when it appeared before her?! What happened to all that bravado? All that boasting? Where all those words of 'going down fighting' just that, words?! Is the great Rainbow Dash nothing but a bag of hot air?!”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash snapped back defensively. “Of course not!”

“Then get your act together, you sorry excuse for a royal admiral!” Amethyst Star sneered. “Pick yourself up and send word to the ships from my division and the ships you can miss from Desert's division that they're to head out to face the new threat immediately. Of the three of us, I'm probably the one best suited to take on Trixie, so I'll be leading the attack. When I get up there, I expect to see a royal admiral in charge of the fleet and herself again, and not the snivelling coward I'm hearing right now, you hear me?! Amethyst over and out.”

With those words, she shut off the connection and stuffed the communication stone back in her pocket with an angry huff. “Of all times for her to lose her nerve, she had to pick this one,” she grumbled quietly to herself. She started to say more things about Rainbow Dash that were decidedly not nice, but stopped when she felt the unmistakable feeling of being watched. Turning her head, she noticed Desert Heat looking at her with a smile, his eyes shining with laughter.

“That had to be the worst pep talk in the history of ponykind,” he said, shaking his head in amusement.

Amethyst Star answered his smile with genuine one of her own, the anger and contempt she had been displaying just now having vanished without a trace. “The way she was talking, she was clearly in need of a verbal kick in the rear,” she said with a sly grin. “It was the only one that was gonna get through that thick skull of hers.”

“I daresay I was more deserving of it, but you were too nice to give it to me,” Desert Heat replied. “So you used Rainbow Dash to tell me what I needed to hear instead.” He laughed quietly when she gave him an innocent look that basically told him he was right. Letting out a deep breath, Desert Heat reached out and gratefully reached out and laid a hoof on Amethyst Star's shoulder. “Thank you, Sparkler.”

“Just doing my duty, Desert,” she said, brushing off his gratitude with a smile. “Speaking of which, I think it's about time we both went back to doing that. You have an army that requires your leadership, and I have a Republican commander and her airship fleet to sink.” Amethyst Star mimicked his gesture and grabbed Desert Heat by the shoulder as well, while looking him straight in the eye. “It's not over yet. We'll only have lost when none of us are left standing. Remember that.”

Desert Heat bowed his head in quiet resignation. “You're right,” he said. Then he looked up again, and the determination and confidence had returned to his eyes. “Things may look dreary at the moment, but we never expected things to be easy to begin with. Just means we'll have to work harder.” He glanced at the war surrounding them through narrowed eyes for a brief second, and then turned back to Amethyst Star. “You go and deal with Trixie and leave the rest to me. I'll think of something.”

“Now you're talking,” Amethyst Star replied, smiling in approval. “Contact me when you need me. Good luck.” She gave him a quick nod, an action he mimicked, and then she called upon her magic and teleported away. She had a fleet and a fresh load of enemies to tend to.

---

In the hospital of Stalliongrad, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle found themselves with a rare moment of reprieve from their duties, an opportunity they used to gaze outside the window to try and get an idea of how the battle was proceeding. With the city currently trembling under the bombardment of Trixie's fleet, their impression was understandably not very favourable, and the two friends exchanged worried glances.

“Ah, Rainbow Dash did say that we would be safe here, didn't she, darling?” Rarity asked, nervously biting on her lower lip and wincing when another explosion could be heard uncomfortably close by.

“As safe as a place can be during war, at least,” Twilight replied. “Rainbow Dash said that any medical facility is considered neutral ground during a battle and that attacking it is actually a crime both in the Republic and the Kingdom. As long as we stay here, we should be safe.” She used a handy little spell she had picked up during her studies to get a better look at the area surrounding the hospital. “They seem to be mostly targeting the streets, for some reason. I don't get it, though, there's nopony out there.”

“At least that way they won't be ripping off any unfortunate mare or stallion's limbs,” Rarity said, a shiver running down her spine as the images of all the horrid injuries she had seen today welled up in her mind again. “The less work for us, the better.”

“Not going to argue with you there,” Twilight answered, her face appearing a bit strained as she tried not to let her discomfort show. The two fell silent for a moment, each occupied by their own thoughts, until Twilight let out a sigh and spoke again. “Still…I can't stop myself from wishing I could do more to help somehow...”

“Now, now, don't you go down that lane, darling,” Rarity chided, placing a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. “I certainly understand how you feel, I daresay we all do, but we are already doing the best we can. I'm not saying I wouldn't want to contribute in a more decisive way than keeping soldiers from bleeding to death, but at the same time I understand that I simply do not have what is necessary to do that. If we were out there on the battlefield, I doubt we would last very long, and our presence would only serve as a distraction for Rainbow Dash as well. She'd be constantly worrying over our safety, while her attention needs to be focussed on other things.”

Twilight let out another deep sigh. “I know that,” she admitted quietly, bowing her head. “I know that, as I am now, I would be nothing but a hindrance to Rainbow and the others. That's what's so frustrating! The old Twilight Sparkle would have been able to do more than just…sitting here while one of her friends is doing all the fighting!” She stomped her hoof in powerless frustration. “It makes me feel so…helpless.” Her head dropped even lower, tears running soundlessly from her eyes.

“Oh, darling,” Rarity said, a small, compassionate smile on her lips, and she pulled her friend into a warm hug. “Didn't I just say to not let your mind go down that lane?” she chided gently, patting Twilight on the back. “Who you were and who you are now came to be by things beyond our control, it's useless to think about it.”

“But I knew!” Twilight insisted, as she sobbed into Rarity's shoulder. “All those years, I knew there was something wrong with the world and with me! I knew it, but I still didn't do anything about it! All those years in Ponyville, I could have studied, worked and trained to bring my skills and my magic back to the level they used to be! “But I didn't!” She shook her head and pounded powerlessly against the white pony that held her.

“I just lived my life, knowing everything was wrong, knowing what they did to the Princess, and I let it be, telling myself there was nothing I could do about it to shush my guilt,” she continued, her chest heaving as she sobbed. “Now look at me, not even capable of doing much to help. I should have followed Rainbow Dash's example and joined the Royalists the day I ran away. She knew the world was wrong and she stood up to fight, so why didn't I? I'm the Princess' personal student! I should have been the first to do something!”

“Begging your pardon, darling, but you are hardly alone in that. We knew everything was wrong, too, but none of us did anything about it either. Goodness, I even went and made career out of it,” Rarity said, looking a bit guilty as she did so, still rubbing Twilight's back in an attempt to help her calm down. “Being the bearers of the Elements of Harmony as we are, we should have been amongst the first to stand up for the Princess as well, but we did not.”

“All of you had families to worry about and Fluttershy didn't even exist in this timeline until a month ago,” Twilight rebuked almost immediately. “You had to take care of them, while I did not. I didn't have anything holding me back, and yet I still decided to do nothing and let Rainbow Dash do what I should have been doing.”

“Now that's hardly true, Twilight,” Rarity insisted firmly, letting go of Twilight so she could lift up her friend's chin and look her in the eye. “You also had a family you were worried about. True, you disagreed with them, quite vehemently so I must admit, but you still loved them, especially your brother. We all know how much you care, or cared, about Shining Armour in the past. It's hardly surprising you didn't want to fight him, and I don't think even the Princess would blame you for feeling that way. Family bonds are hard to break.”

Twilight was silent for a moment, then shook her head and futilely tried to wipe her tears away. “I did love my brother and I didn't want to fight him…Still don't, I guess. But brother or not, what he's doing is wrong, and I knew that from the start. I should have stood up for what's right, even if it hurt,” she whispered tearfully, feeling foolish and useless. “I let my love for him keep me from doing what's right...” She turned away from Rarity, her eyes straying back to the window and looking to the outside world. “I feel so stupid...”

Rarity looked at her friend with pity, feeling totally at loss, not knowing what she could say to pull Twilight out of her haze of guilt and pain. Part of her wondered what had caused her friend to break down so suddenly, in the middle of a war no less, but then she realised that it was perhaps because of the war that Twilight felt this way. Rarity couldn't deny that her own emotions were in flux as well, due to the things she had seen and the stress of her work. In that light, no, Twilight's breakdown suddenly didn't seem that odd or sudden anymore.

Rarity mentally shook her head to clear her mind. She should really be thinking about a way to make her friend feel a bit better instead of wondering about why Twilight felt the way she did now. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when a shadow gliding past the window pulled her attention away from her friend. Twilight had noticed it as well and was now looking through the window to see what it was, Rarity quickly joining her at her side. Together, they watched as airships passed overhead, flying towards the second Republican fleet in the near distance.

“Hmm, do you suppose it's Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

“I don't think so,” Twilight replied, sounding unsure. “I think I recognise their flag as belonging to the third division, which is Amethyst Star's, I believe. Rainbow Dash is the head of the second division.”

“They seem to be outnumbered,” Rarity noticed, frowning. “I thought Rainbow Dash said our side was stronger in the air?”

“That's what I thought, too,” Twilight said, looking worried. “Was the information we got wrong, or have we lost that much ships already that the Republic outnumbers us now?” She gnawed on her lower lip in worry. “I wish we knew how things were going out there...”

“Maybe it is better that we don't,” Rarity offered, though she didn't sound entirely convinced of her own words. “If we did, it might wind up making us worry even more.” She tried to give Twilight her best encouraging smile, but it didn't look entirely convincing. She couldn't deny that she was nervous, worried and scared herself, but Rarity did her best to not let it show. She was quite aware that many of her friends were looking at her for support, something she couldn't give if they knew she felt just like they did. So she selflessly pushed out her own fears, for the sake of her friends.

Twilight was not fooled by the act, but she did understand why Rarity did it, and she admired the strength her friend showed for her sake. No matter how much time or their lives changed, it appeared that Rarity would always be the generous mare the others remembered. She wanted to say something; to thank Rarity for simply being there, but at that moment a nurse arrived, saying they were needed. It would have to wait, it seemed. She couldn't linger on her feelings while she had a job to do and ponies' lives depending on her.

As she followed Rarity back to the infirmary, Twilight cast one last glance over her shoulder through the window. The two opposing air fleets had engaged one another in combat, ensuring that she had more work to look forward to. She felt her heart ache at the sigh, and once again wished she was stronger, so she could put an end to all of this madness.

Ruefully, she realised that she could wish for it as much as she wanted; it wasn't going to change anything. She was powerless, only a shade of the magical prodigy she used to be in her other life, and all she could do now to help was keeping ponies from bleeding to death.

---

Shining Armour watched with satisfaction how the Royal Airfleet broke apart into two smaller fleets, one of which turned around and set course to intercept Trixie and her fleet. He was pleased and more than a bit relieved to see that so far, everything was still going according to his plan. Granted, if it hadn't, he still wouldn't have had to panic. As any good tactician ought to, he had multiple backup plans and strategies in order to steer the enemy back onto the path he wanted them on. The only difference would have been that the next phase of his strategy would have been delayed even further, which would have ended up wasting more lives.

Luckily, he didn't have to worry about that now, as everything had gone as he had hoped. He turned his gaze from the skies to lieutenant-commander Amber Chip, who was acting as his right hoof pony in the absence of one of the three commanders. Upon seeing that his attention was on her, the mare snapped to attention and waited for him to speak.

“Sent word to the special unit that they may begin their approach,” Shining Armour ordered. “We need to strike the crippling blow now, before they get a chance to adapt to the new situation. We can't afford to waste this opportunity.” He took a brief look at the frontline on the ground, tapped his chin a few times with his hoof in thought, then turned back to Amber Chip. “Were you able to contact Smaragd Haze or Summer Breeze?”

The lieutenant-commander nodded. “Commander Haze didn't respond to my callings, but lieutenant-commander Summer Breeze did,” she replied. “He said he will take the necessary steps to proceed to the next phase of the plan.”

Shining Armour sighed and rubbed his forehead just below his horn. “It's good that I know Summer Breeze is a capable stallion, or else I'd be having a small panic attack right now due to the commander of my ground troops being unreachable,” he muttered, shaking his head. He made a dismissive gesture with his hoof towards Amber Chip. “I'll ask around for Smaragd Haze's whereabouts myself, you go and deliver my orders to the special unit.”

“As you command, marshal,” the pegasus mare replied. She gave a dutiful salute, then flew off to carry out her new orders, leaving a trail of dust in her wake.

Her superior returned his attention to the on-going battle. His ground troops were still having a difficult time to get past the defensive formation Desert Heat had deployed to stop them. Shining Armour had to admit he was impressed by the way the other stallion managed to hold back an entire army more than hundred and fifty thousand strong with not even a hundredth of that number, simply by making smart use of the terrain and making every soldier he deployed count for something. He had a lot of respect for the royal admiral, and lamented the fact that, under different circumstances, they probably could have been great friends.

Alas, Desert Heat strove for the very thing Shining Armour wanted to prevent, and so here they were, facing one another on opposite sides of the war. Averting his eyes, the marshal decided that now wasn't the time to reflect on what was and what could have been, not while he had a war to win. He briefly scanned the sea of soldiers laid out before him, trying to find his missing commander, though his efforts were for naught. He might as well have been trying to locate a single drop of water in the rain.

Shining Armour pulled out his communication stone and was just about to try and contact Smaragd Haze with it, when said pony suddenly emerged out of the ranks of his army, heading towards him. It became immediate apparent that Smaragd Haze had seen better days, if the scorched mane, bleeding head and shattered armour was any indication.

“I've been trying to contact you, but you didn't answer,” Shining Armour said by means of greeting, once Smaragd Haze stood at his side again. “Good to see you're still amongst the living, commander, though admittedly, you don't look that good.”

Smaragd Haze merely laughed in reply, though it came out more as pained wheezing. “Yeah, well, you get clobbered with an airship and see how good you look afterwards,” he said. “That, and Amethyst Star didn't take the arrival of our second fleet very well.” He rubbed the side of his head where Amethyst Star had hit him with her magic to send him flying with a smile, as if cherishing the memory. “Sadly, when I came down again I crushed my communication crystal under me, which is why I haven't been answering.”

“That explains it,” Shining armour muttered, giving a nod. He frowned in thought, mulling over something in his head for a while, then gave Smaragd Haze a questioning look. “All preparations have been or are being made and I've just sent Amber Chip to bring word to the special unit. It's time to move things into the final phase. Are you still able to fight?”

The commander gave him a deadpan look. “You're kidding, right?” he scoffed. “These little scratches don't so much as itch. It will take a lot more than this to keep me down.”

“Go and grab a new communication crystal then, and have the medics patch up that head wound,” Shining Armour ordered. “After you've done that, take control of our ground forces again and make sure the special unit can pass through to the front smoothly and unhindered. We can't afford to have things go awry this far into the game. Our next step is crucial, remember that.”

“I know the plan, marshal, don't worry,” Smaragd Haze assured his superior.

The commander took his leave and went to carry out his orders, while Shining Armour returned to follow the proceedings of the battle. He hadn't been lying just now when he had told Smaragd Haze that the next step was crucial.

He had been carefully planning this moment for months, had been closely monitoring the battle ever since it began to make sure everything went the way he wanted it to, he couldn't afford to have it be botched up now. Sighing, Shining Armour closed his eyes and clutched his forehead, feeling a bead of sweat run down the side of his face.

The next few minutes were going to be some of the longest of his life.

---

Rainbow Dash was overlooking the battlefield, furiously working her brain as she tried to figure out the best strategy to pursue now that her attack power had been effectively halved. She knew that she still had a winning chance and she still felt deeply ashamed of the fact that she had given into panic a moment ago, however briefly. Amethyst Star had been right to be upset with her, though she didn't have to be so rude while saying so. But that was Sparkler, she supposed.

Reaching a decision, she lifted her communication stone to her mouth. “Rose Thorn, have all ships focus fire on the Republican vessel, fourth from the right,” she instructed. “I noticed some damage to its rudder, so it won't be able to manoeuvre out of the way of a concentrated barrage. While they're distracted with that, the third ship on the top left is currently understaffed, so I want the fifth and sixth unit to board it.”

“Understood, admiral,” came the reply through the stone. “Should they destroy the ship in case they are successful in capturing it?”

“Buck no!” Rainbow Dash cried out. “I don't know if you noticed, Rose Thorn, but we're currently undershipped here. And since we can't strengthen our numbers with our own ships, we're going to borrow theirs instead.”

“I highly doubt the enemy is going to let us do that, ma'am,” Rose Thorn remarked.

“I know that, but if we do manage to capture any, there's little they could do about it aside from firing on their own ships, so even if we can't use them, they can't either, so we gain either way,” Rainbow Dash explained. “We're running on a tight budget here, vice-admiral, so we have to make do with what we have and get creative.” She thoughtfully tapped her chin while casually moving out of the way of a stray cannonball.

“They may have more ships than we do now, but we still hold the advantage in terms of soldiers,” she reasoned. “All of ours can fly, even our unicorns and earth ponies, while theirs can't. That makes the use of their non-flyers limited. That's a weakness we could exploit in our favour, if we make some clever use of our unicorns.”

“I'll send word to all unicorns to stand ready for special orders,” Rose Thorn said, already a step ahead of her. After receiving Rainbow Dash's permission, the vice-admiral closed the connection and went to carry out his orders, leaving Rainbow Dash to fly over the battlefield looking for other potential targets and possible weaknesses in the Republic's formation.

As she flew a bit lower to get a better look at one of the enemy's ships, her eye almost entirely by accident took a glance at the ground below. At first she didn't even think about the image that greeted her, but when her brain ran the image of the accidental look at the battlefield below through her head again more slowly, a shock ran through her body. Immediately she looked down again, to make sure she hadn't been seeing things. When the second glance only confirmed the information relayed by the first, Rainbow Dash wasted no time in grabbing her communication stone again, though it was not her own vice-admiral she contacted this time.

“Desert Heat, can you hear me?” she asked, a frown on her face as she kept looking to the ground in order to try and figure out what the Republic was trying to accomplish.

“I hear you, Rainbow Dash,” Desert Heat responded after a brief moment of silence. “What is it? Not to be rude, but I have my hooves rather full here at the moment, so I hope it's important.”

Rainbow Dash wasted no time with arguing that it was, she just told him what she was seeing. “Desert, the Republic's moving rather strangely down there,” she reported. “The troops at their rear are starting to break off to the left and right, opening up a hole in the middle, though I've got no idea why they'd do that. I still thought it was better to let you know.”

“Good of you, Dash,” Desert Heat replied, genuinely sounding grateful. “I can't see anything from where I'm standing, not yet at least, but I'm glad you told me. They've caught us off guard enough already.”

There was the sound of somepony yelling, followed by a grunt from Desert Heat and the sound of hooves impacting against flesh and bone. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but wince. She had no doubt what she had just heard was some poor sod attacking her fellow admiral and winding up regretting it.

“Sorry about that, there was a small disturbance on the line,” Desert Heat apologised, his breathing sounding slightly faster than normal. “What are they doing now? Is there anything else out of the ordinary?”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes to try and get a better look at the valley below. “Not really, except that they keep splitting off left and right, like I told you,” she replied. A movement in the corner of her eyes made her turn her attention to the area behind the Republican lines. “Wait, I think I see something moving at the valley entrance. Let me get a...”

Her voice suddenly failed when her eyes got a good look at what she'd seen. Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped, her eyes grew wide and she nearly dropped her communication stone out of pure, utter shock.

From the start of the battle, the odds had been moving back and forth between the two sides, the tides of war sometimes changing within an instant. The spectacle that had unfolded in the valley of Stalliongrad was of a kind that had not been seen since the outbreak of the civil war, three and a half centuries ago. The full might of the Republic clashed against the entire military force of the Kingdom in a battle that was set to decide the future of both.

And now, approximately two hours after the commencement of the battle, Shining Armour at last unveiled his master stroke.

A column of roughly fifty vehicles thundered into the valley, each carried by six wheels and powered by a powerful steam engine. Thick, armoured steel covered every inch of these new vehicles, even their wheels, which had spikes mounted on them. There seemed to be no opening for any driver to look through and see where he was going, but regardless the vehicles trudged on in an orderly fashion and at a frightening pace. From the top of each of them protruded a long pipe, which somewhat resembled the barrel of a cannon, though it was too small to actually be a cannon.

As the steel monsters approached the ranks of their allies, they used the path the soldiers had cleared in their middle to move towards the front, and the Republicans began to cheer at the sight. The defenders of Stalliongrad, their sight still obstructed by the frontlines of their foes, could only wonder what the cause of their enemies' joy was. Watching from above, Rainbow Dash was the only one who knew the reason, but her brain seemed to have taken a sudden leave of absence.

“Tanks,” she muttered deliriously. “They've got friggin' tanks!”

End of chapter 36.

Comments

[Keeper of Jericho]

I apologise for the delay of this chapter, but I had some real life problems to deal with. To make up for the long wait, have an extra long chapter! I hope it delivers, because it took many, many hours to complete. Now if everything goes according to schedule, we have about four more chapters to go 'till the battle's conclusion.

[Nova_Blast]

“Tanks,” she muttered deliriously. “They've got friggin' tanks!”

oh shit

[Warwolf]

2844398

Makes me wonder how many chapters we have to go once the battle ends. This is getting interesting.

[redskin122004]

Can Celestia loose her cool now, I think now would be an appropriate time for Canterlot to turn into a volcano....

Loose their capital in one big explosion and realize they never had the alicorn under their hoof would have them begging for help.

And Luna would appear, shocking them even further, while she whispers the magnificent words of denial to their pleas....

"No...you only brought this on yourselves, now suffer your sins of your hubris..."

[Sylocat]

I don't want to know what those pipes are if they're not cannons...

Of course, we're about to find out.

[Barbecue Sauce]

Tanks have treads, not just wheels. The wheels turn the treads, which grip onto the ground allowing for more all-terrain movement. Wheels alone would be a bad idea for tanks to have. Another thing to keep in mind, that tanks were developed and deployed to counteract trench warfare, which doesn't feature much in this story. It was mostly used to take out fixed enemy positions, like machine gun nests, bunkers, etc (things that you WOULD find in trench warfare. It helps that machine gun suppression fire wouldn't be able to hurt tanks). Later down in history, tanks would also attack other tanks.

But yeah, given that, I'm not really sure what purpose the tanks serve.

[junkers1337]

2847069 Fear Factor mainly. I mean imagine if they had tanks back in the 18th and 19th Centurys, those fuckers would break through infantry ranks with a quickness.

[Barbecue Sauce]

2847268 If they could catch up. The first tanks could drive at a walking pace. But yeah, there's not a lot men could do to stop a tank from just plowing through them or something. But these ponies? They have magic. And flight. There's probably a lot they could do to fend off the tanks, especially Desert Heat. I could seem him burying the tanks with sand.

Hmmm, but then republic mages could probably dig them out, provided they are given the chance to that is.

[Keeper of Jericho]

2847069
Our tanks have threads and were developed for a certain purpose (and for more than just breaking through trenches, otherwise tanks wouldn't have been used as extensively in WW II). This in a different universe, with ponies, not humans. Things can look different or be designed a different way from their real life counterparts, especially in a steampunk setting. Besides, these are the first tanks ever used in pony history, so they're basically prototypes and the design hasn't been perfected yet.

[Dead Turtle]

This chapter is awesome! Sandbending vs poisonbending, Trixie's surprise attack, and tanks!

[Barbecue Sauce]

2847562 No offense, but that's all the more reason they don't have that much use. .

And tanks did have a purpose other than break through trenches. Because they were armored, they were great for countering machine gun suppression fire, allowing them to break through trenches. They were still great for eliminating fixed enemy positions, trenches or not, after trench warfare was a thing of the past.

Machine gun nests, bunkers, etc were fixed enemy positions that would give advancing troops a hard time. That, and pretty much all major players in WWII had tanks, meaning tanks would end up engaging each other as well! Some tanks were even developed to be faster, smaller, and less armored for scouting purposes. It's interesting stuff! But that said, they weren't as practical against infantry as much as they were against the aformentioned setups. That's what machine guns and rifles were for.

Anywho, I hope that the fact that you didn't give the pony tanks treads hints at that being used against them to make advance too difficult.

We shall see, won't we?

[Keeper of Jericho]

2848729

No offense, but that's all the more reason they don't have that much use.

I really can't understand this. We have a batallion of tanks too heavy to lift except by the strongest magicite users, charging at an enemy that has no place to run (since the royalists are trapped between the walls of the city, the Republican army and the walls of the valley) and no arms to put even so much as a dent in the vehicles. How can a vehicle that practically just has to bulldoze over its cornered targets at this point, doing the job that would otherwise take a couple of tens of thousands soldiers' lives, not be useful? That's not even taking things like fear factor and firepower into consideration.

I'm just saying, but I really don't see what's the problem here. I know there's a history of why and how the tank developed in our modern warfare, but just because the ponies aren't armed with machine guns and grenades doesn't mean a tank can't have its uses. To which I would like to add that, while I'm trying to keep things sensible and 'realistic', I'm still writing about an alternate, non-human universe, that has its own history of warfare and the development of weaponry. Shining Armour wanted to have a way to wage this war with less dead soldiers. The tank is the answer he came up with, which is why he so carefully crafted his plan to ensure they can achieve maximum effectiveness.

Now if he succeeds, or if he overlooked a couple of things, now that remains to be seen. These are the world's first tanks, after all. They're just prototypes, there are bound to be some shortcomings.

I'm not angry, I'm just confused, because I really don't understand your point here. I thought the advantages and usefulness of a tank compared to normal infantry here would be obvious.

[Barbecue Sauce]

2849256 Well, the impression I get from the battle field is that it's still pretty wide open overall. If the republic ranks can split aside to let the tanks through, I imagine the Royalists could just walk around them. If they're prototypes being put to use for the first time, I question the capabilities of their speed and maneuverability. Unless you give them good stats, that is.

Oh, keep in mind, just in case this becomes an oversight (as well as a possible weakness), but, Steam engines require an external energy source to keep the waters boiling and the steam pumping (ie. burning coal to heat the water). You could probably use fire magic in this case.

But yeah, in terms of armor, unless the armor has special magic enhancements that make them far more durable than normal, the tank armor would have no logical way of tanking (excuse the pun) any attack on par or above artillery fire.

But I guess we'll see what you have in store.

[Keeper of Jericho]

2849336
The battlefield is pretty wide, that's true, but the tanks passed through the Republican ranks in rows of two, once they're at the front and spread out, they'll be able to cover nearly the entire width of the valley. Any ponies who still manage to slip by will simply be taken down by the army following behind it. As for their stats, we'll get to that in the next chapter.

I actually already explained how the steam engines in this world work back in chapter 4. Steel Gear developed a steam engine that uses orichalcon ore as its heat source. Steel Gear discovered that orichalcon, when charged with magic, gives off a startling amount of heat, so he used that to power his engine. Unknowingly, his discovery of certain ores that are affected by magic in certain ways led to the discovery of magicite a few decades later. A charged orichalcon shard can last pretty long, and once run out, it just needs to be recharged with another shot of magic. Reread the beginning of chapter 4 for a more detailed explanation.

As far as the tanks taking hits go, you have to remember that the infantry here has no projectile-based weaponry stronger than arrows, which don't exactly do much against thick steel plating. True, they do have magic, which might work. or it might not, we'll see next chapter. About the only thing that could stop the tanks is a bombardment by the airships, which is precicely why Shining Armour made sure that the royal airfleet needed to focus all its attention on the Republican airfleet. He couldn't risk them bombing his tanks before they got to do any damage.

[Barbecue Sauce]

2849414 Shining Armor, that clever little sneak.

But yeah, it's startling to realize how much one can forget from earlier chapters. I totally forgot about the Steam engine info.

[Keeper of Jericho]

2849428
Well, Shining Armour is considered one of the greatest tacticians in the world, so I'm glad I'm able to show that here. You calling him clever just makes me go: "Yes, mission accomplished!" Because, well, he is clever. With his job, he has to be.

Well, it's only a minor detail, so I don't blame you for forgetting. It does remind me that I've actually scattered hints and references to both current and future plot elements throughout the entire story, but I don't know how many people have picked them up as we went on. Due to my irregular update schedule, it's easy to forget such small tidbits. I even dropped a hint at what it was that allowed Steel Gear to travel in time, but I'm not sure if anybody picked it up. It was a while ago, too.

[Barbecue Sauce]

2849500 How did Steel Gear travel back in time?

That's my answer!

But yeah, not going to lie, any hints you have given about future developments and such, I would have long forgotten. Now I debate if I should reread all 200,000 words of it just to analyze and figure things out, or continue with the ride and let myself be surprised.

[ISKV]

Tanks... (Or assault guns if you want to use the absolutely correct term. They don't have turrets do they?) I'm actually surprised they didn't think of this earlier. They have engines and cannons, it was only a matter of time before they were combined. Though I wonder how much of the budget they ate up.

Little confusing part-

From the top of each of them protruded a long pipe, which somewhat resembled the barrel of a cannon, though it was too small to actually be a cannon.

By "small" do you mean the length or diameter of the pipe?

[Keeper of Jericho]

2845008
"Oh shit" seems to sum up the situation pretty well, doesn't it?

2846189
Good question, but frankly I have no idea. I do have the plot entirely worked out in my head, at least in rough terms, but how many chapters it's going to take to reach the end, I really don't know. If I had to make a guess, I would very carefully say that we probably have as many chapters ahead of us as we've had so far. Personally, I don't suspect to see the "The End" until chapter 80 or so, possibly later, but I really doubt any earlier than that. Still so much good stuff coming, so many things I want to write, so many ideas and concepts I want to work out and share with my readers. And then I'm not even talking about potential sequel(s). I think too big, but I can't help it. I have a very rich and active imagination.

2846329
As nice as that would be (and trust me, I'd love to write badasslestia), to the populace it would appear as if everything the Nobles have been saying about Celestia (that she's a monstrous tyrant who wants to enslave them all and bring forth an era of terror) was true. Which will only make things even worse than they already are.

2846377
Yes, yes you are. Eventually. Sometime. Someday. Maybe. We'll see.

2847268
Interestingly enough, Leonardo Da Vinci designed a medieval tank back in his days. I saw a program on tv where they build the thing, and you know what? It actually works! If they had built it back then, it would have brought death and destruction to the battlefield.

2848097
Yeah, a lot happened, didn't it? Partly, that was to make up for the long delay, but also because I wanted to get back on schedule for the war chapters. Trixie's appearance was actually supposed to be the cliffhanger ending to the last chapter, but that one got already so lengthy that I just pushed it ahead of me into this one. But when I wrote this one, I said to myself: "Enough delays, no ending this chapter until it has everything it is supposed to have according to your planning! No matter how long it gets!". I managed to do it, somehow, and now I'm back on track to wrap this war up in nine parts.

2849559
Well, of course it's magic! But the question is, what kind of magic? As for the hints, once the big reveals happen, I'll make sure everything is explained in detail so it makes sense to the reader, even if they forgot the hints or didn't pick up on them.

2849671
These tanks don't have turrets, no. Are they assault guns in that case? I had no idea. As for the budget, quite a bit, I'd guess, but I think the Nobles were willing to hoof over the cash if it meant finishing up the royalists. And I meant the diameter of the pipe, yes, not the length. Sorry if that wasn't very clear.

2869107
Ah, thanks for that. It should be fixed now, hopefully.

[redskin122004]

2871704 at this point, I don't she would care anymore. Blow up Canterlot and leave. You want to be on your own, fine, leave me be them. But if you coming looking for me....well....we all seen what happen to Canterlot didn't we?

Oh well good story so far.

[ISKV]

2871704

The difference gets pretty confusing at times. Arguments could be made for both, but I guess more people will know what you're talking about if you call them tanks.

So they're too thin to be cannons... I wonder what they are.

[Arnjol]

Once this is all finished you should make it into a book. I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
I read every single chapter in less than 24 hours and I NEED MORE, DAMNIT!

[Fury of the Tempest]

Oh boy... that's not good.