Chapter 18 done! (And teaser...)

Finally!

Not as long as I wanted, but still long enough. Nex one will be a Little longer though... Chapter 18 is the second part of the three chapter battle for Las Pegasus. I hope you guys like this teaser, since this chapter took me a long time to get it done as I wanted.

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The pegasus captain entered the tent slowly and looked around cautiously. There was something on his look that unnerved Davis a little.

"What is it, Golden Flame?" Davis asked. "Is there something wrong?" Golden Flame didn't answered right away, but rather waited a couple of seconds.

"Yes sir. We are hearing reports of enemy movements around. In small groups, but I'm not sure what to think of that."

Davis scratched his chin as he began to think what could the changelings want. For what he knew, they could only be moving around and try to attack the morale of his troops. On another sense, they could be positioning themselves for an attack. That quickly worried the American.

"Send a couple of scouts around to report me the positions of those changeling groups. It could be just unimportant moves by the enemy, but one can never be too sure." Golden Flame nodded and walked outside. Davis sighed and leaned back against his chair and the armrest. Hopefully the attack wasn't coming soon.

He looked around and saw his equipment. His rifle was laying beside himself, and the gun was on its holster, strapped to his belt. He had a small number of grenades as well and his combat knife. He had no longer his cap, but he wasn't really sorry for that. He was more worried on other matters.

He strapped his sword on to his belt and placed his rifle on his back. He looked at the map once more and then walked outside. He saw the the sun was beginning to rise. A new day. Luckily the enemy hadn't attacked at night. That would not have ended up good. He then realized that he had not slept anything.

Well, he'd have plenty of time to sleep once that battle was over.

He looked around the troops. They didn't looked as hopeless as he had seen them barely an hour ago, but rather he could even see hope in their faces. he saw determination, and that brightened up his spirit. If his troops were ready to do what was necessary to win, he was sure that winning was going to be much easier.

He moved around once more, making sure all his troops were ready for the next fight. Many seemed happy to see their general, and he felt his heart warm up when many smiled at him. He also spoke to many, asking how they were and if they were ready for the next battle. He asked some about their families, and he was greeted with many smiles on ponies as they told him all about their families. He also came to realize how much these ponies were fighting for. Many were parents, or had mare-friends. He even met one or two that had engaged with a mare before departing to the war. He met one that his father ran a factory that was producing materials for the war, one that worked in a plow field, one that was a writer, a journalist, and the list just went on and on. He met ponies from las Pegasus all the way to Manehattan.

As more and more ponies met their general, he began to feel warmer between his troops. He had never known what it felt to be respected and loved by his men, or ponies in this case, but he learned that once he asked ponies more personal questions, about their families and such, they seemed to get more open than how he had seen them first and they'll even begin to consider him their friend. He tried to keep the rank for other more official circumstances, but knowing his troops proved to not only raise his troops' spirits, but his' as well.

He was helping a pony move a bunch of arrows around when a scout pony landed right in front of him, almost causing him to fall over. He was about to tell the pony to look around before landing before he saw he was a scout.

"Sir! Reporting as ordered in case we noticed strange or suspicious enemy movement!" the pony exclaimed. Davis nodded.

"Go ahead soldier. Report."

The pony looked around and then back at Davis. "They are moving towards us from a couple of positions. They are not moving in large groups, but rather in small twenty or thirty changeling groups. They seem to be holding some type of strange large shields over them." He looked at the arrows. "I'm afraid they're thick enough to stop our volleys, sir."

Davis didn't said anything and instead walked to the side of the hill and looked down.

Indeed changelings were moving in smaller groups and carrying their large weird shields. They seemed to be large tree trunks placed together into large shields. capable of covering at least six changelings below them. He turned to the archery captain.

"Prepare your ponies to fire. We'll see how thick that cover is, and if the arrows manage to cause damage, as small as it is, we'll still shoot. If the shields manage to hold off our bolts... we'll see what to do then."

The captain nodded and began to shout orders around.

"Archers on position! Prepare to fire at my signal!" Archers began to move around. Shouts as ponies moved to prepare for the fight filled the entire hill. Once the archers were ready, the signal was given.

"Archers, ready!" The sound of bows being strung filled for a couple of seconds the camp. "Aim!" the captain shouted. "Fire!" WIth a downward motion, the captain's sword slashed down signaling his archers to fire. instantaneously, hundreds of bolts went away. Davis watched as the black bolts whistled through the air and towards the groups of enemies. At last they hit, immediately quenching Davis' hope that they could make it with the archers.

Not a single arrow had made it through the shields. Yes, one or two changelings fell down, but it was obvious nothing was going to be achieved by keeping the archers firing but waste bolts.

Just as the captain was about to order a second volley, Davis stopped him.

"No! Don't waste our arrows. They are not making any effect. We'll need another way..." He began to look around. "Prepare shields and pikes! We'll meet them hoof to hoof!" Ponies began to make charging lines. "Sword ponies, prepare to attack once the shield barrier has been placed. Keep piked forward at all times and don't let them reach the shields! Their own shields are going to make them slower and less maneuverable than last battle. Archers!" he shouted, immediately gaining their attention. "Once the enemy abandons their shields or we manage to break them, we'll fall back. In that moment you'll begin shooting at will. Wait until we are clear from the battlefield! Don't fire unless there's not a single equestrian down there!" He received nods around and then proceeded to unsheath his sword.

"We are going to stop them!" he shouted. "For Equestria!" he exclaimed. "Charge!"

The charge seemed to not affect the enemy. The changelings kept moving on their own slow pace. That's when Davis noticed the short pikes in front of each groups of changelings. Fear covered his eyes as he realized that the ponies wouldn't manage to hit the enemy before having a couple of his own impaled.

"Stop the charge! Stop the charge! Do not engage the enemy up front, repeat: DO NOT ENGAGE THE ENEMY UP FRONT!" He hoped his troops heard him and sighed once his saw captains repeating his command. He ran with the troops up until hitting the enemy. The ponies stopped right in front of them. The changelings began spitting curses at the ponies, infuriating Davis. They dared shout curses from behind their pikes and shields!

"Prepare pikes! Shields in between pikes! Swords behind, wait for enemy pikes to be eliminated and then engage!"

He watched as his own troops made small phalanx formations, with shields protecting like a barrier and spikes sticking out like thorns. The changelings suddenly seemed unsure of what to do, since the ponies seemed to be protected and impossible to be attacked. Davis was beginning to form a smile up until he heard a shout not far off within the enemy utter a command.

"Don't stop! Use your own pikes to push theirs and open spaces inside their formations!" Davis cursed.

"Tighten up formations! Hold your pikes steady!" he shouted desperately. the soldiers didn't acknowledged and Davis hoped they had heard him. He saw the enemy formations begin to move forward back again. He prayed that they wouldn't be able to break his own formations. The sound of battle seemed to die down as the first pikes collapsed against the enemy's. He watched in surprise as the first enemy changelings jumped over his own shields and began to fight the sword ponies. Formations, on both sides, broke completely. The good part was that the enemies abandoned their shields. The bad one that they were not engaged completely in a fight he knew they couldn't win. A charge was his own option and chance of winning. The phalanx formations their only chance of holding them off. Straight hoof to hoof combat wasn't in any way to their advantage. He saw as a pony was killed beside him. He immediately killed that changelings responsible and then sheathed his sword. He took his rifle out and began to shoot rapidly. As much as he wanted to see that battle won, it wasn't going to be unless he managed to change how it was going at that moment...

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I hope it`s good.

Now, good night/morning/evening!!!

Red-