Chapters 19-20 sneak peeks!

Here´s what I promised:

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Chapter 19:

"Estimates in enemy losses?"

Golden Flame scratched his head. "I think between fifty and one hundred. We didn't really stayed to see how many of them died, sir." Davis nodded.

"And their shields? Did you managed to destroy some of them?" Golden Flame nodded, but seemed worried.

"Yes, we did. Problem is that they seem to have made bigger ones as well as some smaller ones. The big ones won't manage to cross our pikes, and the original ones neither, I think. The smaller ones are more maneuverable and seem to be made to copy you own phalanx formations." Davis cursed.

"Well have to manage with that."

"Indeed..." Golden Flame said.

Davis looked curious at Golden. "How many times did you attacked them?" Golden flame smiled.

"Four, but the last one was the one that impacted them the most..."

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A couple of hours before...

The sound of marching hooves filled the air as the changeling troops moved. Golden Flame and his second looked at them, hidden within some bushes. He was waiting for the precise moment with which to give the order of attack.

He had been attacking te enemies constantly, but there had been a total of three major attacks; with them he had managed to cripple many of their oversized shields, but he was a little worried since they were making new shields, and this ones were more maneuberable than the first ones. He knew the main defense tactic was using rough terrain so that the shields would have problems with moving along. Sadly, the new ones were smaller in design and seemed even thicker. Hopefully that wouldn't change how the attack was to be developed.

By now the changelings were close to position four. Sadly, Golden Flame expected that this was going to be their last large scale attack in an attempt to slow the changelings. Three large and continuous raiding didn't seemed enough. If they had luck, Golden's ponies would have managed to give Davis enough time to get the position ready for the attack.

The changelings were marching in lines of ten, and Golden had chosen a special part were the changelings were going to need to go slower. The part they were on was covered in tall grass, but the rain the other day had caused the dirt to soften up. Hooves tended to get stuck on it easily. Other way to cross it was flying, but Golden knew now by experience that moving an army as large as the changeling's was hard while having all of the troops in the air; it also made them easy targets for archers and unicorns. While the changelings moved faster that way, he knew that them walking gave him and his troops advantage, especially after considering that all of his ponies were Pegasus. Air was in their favor.

He raised his hoof the moment the first changelings crossed a mental line he had drawn on the ground. The moment a good amount of troops passed it, he breathed once and quickly pushed his hoof down, hard in the ground. He felt his beating slow down and he could swear everything around him began to move slower just as he uttered the words.

"Attack!"

He jumped off from his hiding spot within the talk grass and bushes, quickly flapping to gain some altitude. Behind him, pegasi abandoned their hiding spots and shouted as they charged. He saw the specialized archer pegasi fire arrows after gaining barely a couple of feet on the air. Shooting a bow from the air was hard, Golden Flame knew this more than anypony else. He himself had trouble with them, and watching his troops engage in professional combat… He had come to like this guerilla technique. It worked perfect for pegasi.

He unsheathed his sword and prepared to throw himself down.

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Chapter 20:

A battle has many factors that can affect its outcome, and most men, or ponies by the occasion Davis now found himself, had the wrong thought that number was the most important factor in it. Though he did knew that it was important to an extent, he knew that it wasn't vital to win, just a plus. When one ended up fighting an army larger than his own, he should think what extra advantages his own army had over the enemy's; that alone was important to win a battle, no matter who was superior in number. An enemy could have you ten to one, and you could still win, what mattered then was not a number, but how well prepared the smaller army was.

Davis felt confident that he had his army prepared for the enemy. The number of the enemy still seemed surprising against his own, but he knew it wasn't going to affect much his own plans as long as the events didn't turned to far away from his own planned outcome. He didn't wanted to need to change at the very moment should the enemy do something he was not expecting, but he knew that the possibility always existed and that he could have the odds changed at any moment. That was present on his mind all the time, even before getting to Equestria.

He feared for his men, or in this case, for his ponies. He didn't saw them as he had understood germans sometimes saw their own, as cannon fodder. He feared for their lives and wished none had to die. The problem was that death was going to be present in the battle, no matter what he did to try and stop it. He knew the enemy General was good, or at least had good counselors since he had proved to have better tactics than the American had first thought he would. An enemy with good ideas and innovative mind was dangerous in many ways, and he hoped he could counterattack his offensive. That alone kept bothering Davis a lot, along with many other things.

Now, he remembered seeing the enemy army before. It was huge, but not huge enough to scare him. Worry, yes. Not scared.

An estimate if five thousandth changelings now swarmed the small hills south of las Pegasus, ready to end the Equestrians without second thought. One thousand equestrians against five thousand. They were outnumbered one to five, and he didn't liked those odds. The fortifications surely would make a huge difference, but he didn't wanted to rely on those alone. He knew his obstacles and pikes could be passed, his ballistas and his walls burned; he knew his ponies would be much harder to defeat.

He now stood in front of the army, his army. They were in lines, all their eyes looming at the human general. He saw in their eyes many different expresions. He was worried about those that looked scared or confused. Some just looked tired and others seemed ready. He smiled for those that's err prepared, but he knew his army needed to fight at more than their hundred percent capacity. They needed to fight with inhuman (in pony?) strenght and resolution. They couldn't let the enemy scare them or intimidate them. He needed his ponies to have one goal in mind with nothing else beside: to win.

He had his highest ranked officer at his sides and he had ordered a long post to he placed in the middle of the fortress. In it he had hanged the Equestrian flag, and it now fluttered in the night sky silently. The symbol of Equestria and the royal seal stood proudly above the troops. Davis hoped that would encourage then as well.

He cleared his throat. He was going to say another speech, but he feared that at this rate he was going to run out of speeches Byrne end of the war; he was saying one before each engagement, and he supposed that wasn't usual. But, it worked and that was what mattered. If he needed to prepare them beforehand he would as long as they served their purpose of lifting his troops spirits.

As he watched all the ponies around, he began to feel sad, knowing that many could die. He shove that thoughts off his mind since they could distract him, even though he kept them in mind, though slightly hidden.

"You are all gathered here because if want to let you all know that we won't yield to the enemy. They want us to lose, and I won't let that happen." He began to pave around. "I know this isn't my first battle, or my second engagement as it is with most of you. What I do know is what it feels for the first time. The enemy seems worse than he really is, and we let that sink deep within our hearts, creating in us a feeling of dread as the battle comes closer."

"Well, the battle is here, and the enemy is half as bad as you imagine him to be. They may look intimidating, but it is not us who should go running away," he pointed an arm towards the approaching changelings. "It is them!"

"Their numbers are greater than ours by one to five, but I know that each one of you is worth more than a hundred of those things! Prove me right! Prove that Equestria is safe with you caring for all the ponies in it!"

"They come with their numbers, we come with the courage and the force of will to win." He had raised his voice and was shouting now. "The changelings want to take our lands! Out families and our friends! Our lives and all that you've known since you where born!" Shouts of outrage began to be exclaimed within the troops. "They want Equestria for them. You know what I say to that!" He waited some seconds to give what he would say more feeling. "I say buck 'em! We will not give it to them as long as there is one of us standing!"

The last he said with all his emotions in it. He meant every word of his speech, and the last part was just where he had decided to let all his conflicted thoughts out. He smiled at seeing the ponies around cheering and exclaiming that they would not let the changelings take Equestria. He waited for the cheers to calm down before he said his last words.

"Make Equestria proud and honor that flag! To arms!"

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I hope you guys enjoyed this sneak peeks.

The chapters will be posted soon, though I´m not sure when. 19 is surely within this week.

Red-