The two armies stood where they were and watched the other side. Little Strongheart stared at the Changeling tank. That must be the weapon Sclerite was talking about. On the Buffalo side Chief Flametongue stepped in front of his army.
"Do you see what is going on here? We outnumber them five to one! The whole world will remember this battle! And they will remember our glorious victory! This day will be remembered as the day the Changelings thought they could beat us on our land!"
The crowd of Buffaloes cheered at Chief Flametongue's speech. On the Changeling's side, Sclerite heard a loud thumping sound coming from the outside of his tank. He looked up to see Tarsal peering down from the open hatch.
"Hey Sclerite! You see that guy giving a speech? Take him out!" Tarsal ordered.
"Roger, roger!" Sclerite responded and began to turn the turret towards Chief Flametongue.
"Those cowards know they can't win this fight! Those cowards know they can't stop our stampede! So they imagined a fake weapon to scare us! But we all know the truth! That weapon-"
Suddenly Chief Flametongue was hit by a large green magical bolt. Tarsal saw this, smiled, and looked back down at Sclerite.
"Good shot! Now fire at the others!" he ordered and closed the hatch.
"Chief!" yelled Stone Horn while the crowd shuddered at the sight of Chief Flametongue exploding. They had never seen anything like it. Little Strongheart gasped and covered her mouth.
Stone Horn glared at the Changelings. How dare they kill Chief Flametongue while he was giving a speech? Those dishonorable Changelings have gone too far this time. He moved to the front of the crowd that was still visibly shaken and yelled, "Charge!" as he rushed downhill. The other Buffaloes followed closely behind him as the tank fired again killing a group of Buffaloes with one explosive shot.
Tarsal grinned as he looked straight into Stone Horn's anger filled eyes. He had never felt so strong before and he could tell from Stone Horn's eyes that most of his strength came from him.
Sclerite continued to fire as the two armies collided. The Changeling formation held firm against the Buffalo charge. Even as things were looking good for the Changeling army he noticed the Buffaloes were also running around the sides to encircle them. He slowly turned the turret left and began firing at the Buffaloes. At the same time Tarsal began barking out orders and the Changelings began to shift around to defend from all sides. Sclerite noticed the Changelings and stuck his head out of the hatch.
"Sir! I can't get a clear shot when you're fighting the Buffaloes like that!" Sclerite said hoping his message got through to Tarsal.
Suddenly Sclerite felt something collide with the tank and nearly tipped over. He looked down to see a group of Buffaloes shoving his tank to its side. There was also a large hole in the Changeling formation where the Buffaloes were pouring through. It was pure chaos as Changelings and Buffaloes were fighting in a large mass of warriors and drones. He could see Queen Formic take wing and fly off in the direction of her hive.
The tank fell on its side and Sclerite had to crawl out through the hatch to join the battlefield. On his side of the tank there was no Buffaloes or Changelings, but he knew the other side wasn't so peaceful. Sclerite looked to his left to see Little Strongheart rushing around to his side of the tank.
"Sclerite! Thank goodness you're safe!" Little Strongheart yelled loud enough for Sclerite to hear her despite the battle going on.
"Little Strongheart? What are you doing? Get out of here!" Sclerite ordered as if he had any authority over her.
"Was that the weapon you were talking about?"
"Yes! Now why are you still here? You could get killed!"
"Watch out Little Strongheart!" Sclerite turned around and was immediately pinned to the ground by a massive Buffalo. "Are you okay?"
"Stone Horn! Stop!"
"It's okay! I've got this one under control!" Stone Horn said as he placed a hoof on Sclerite's neck.
Sclerite began gasping for air and struggling to remove the hoof that was choking him. Despite this, Stone Horn's hoof remained firm as he kept applying more pressure. Sclerite did the one thing he could do, he began to charge up his horn.
Little Strongheart saw the terror in Sclerite's eyes and began to panic. She grabbed Stone Horn's hoof and tried to pull it away from Sclerite's throat.
"Little Strongheart, what are you doing?" Stone Horn asked trying to maintain his grip against Little Strongheart and Sclerite.
"That's Sclerite!"
"What?" was all Stone Horn managed to say before Sclerite fired with all the power he had in reserve. Stone Horn released his grip and fell backwards from the magical bolt that hit him in the forehead. He had used so much power that his wings reverted back to their regular self.
"Stone Horn!" Little Strongheart cried out and rushed over to him. She placed her hoof on Stone Horn's neck hoping he was still alive. She began to weep when he had no heart beat. Sclerite was in the process of standing up when he noticed Little Strongheart's tears. She looked back at Sclerite. "You! You killed him!" she shouted.
"Little Strongheart-"
"I thought you were my friend! But you are nothing but a murderer!"
"But-"
"Get out of here! I wish I never met you!"
Sclerite struggled to hold back the tears in his eyes. His only friend hated him now and there was nothing he could do about it. Suddenly the earth began to rumble again and he looked to see another ten tanks pull up outside of the battlefield.
"Retreat!" ordered Tarsal as the Changelings began to rush towards the newly arrived tanks. Sclerite heard the order and without looking back, he followed the retreating Changelings as the tanks began to fire upon the crowd.
Sclerite heard the sounds of explosions coming from behind him and ran for his life. Everything else could burn as long as he made it out of there alive. When he arrived at the tanks he noticed Queen Formic sitting in one of them.
"The enemy is in full retreat!" Tarsal announced.
Sclerite finally looked back to see the Buffaloes running all over the place. Many of them were trying to climb the hill to escape while others rushed into the river.
"All tanks cease fire! Let them go!" ordered Queen Formic. All the tanks stopped firing to await further orders. "Tarsal I want you to salvage that tank tomorrow. It is too dangerous to do it today." She then turned her attention to Sclerite. "So Sclerite... how was your first battle?"
Sclerite wasn't sure how to respond. On one hoof, he lost his only friend which made this the worst day of his life. On the other, he survived a battle and proved that he was more than just target practice despite the near death situation he found himself in earlier.
"The Queen asked you a question!" Tarsal said menacingly.
"It was... great! I killed a great many Buffaloes but there are problems with the tank that needs to be addressed," Sclerite responded.
"What sort of problem?" Queen Formic asked raising an eyebrow.
Sclerite began to tense a bit. "Well... I couldn't really do anything if other Changelings got near a Buffalo. Neither could I defend myself if they got close. The biggest problem is the fact that they could just knock it over with brute strength."
She began to smile. "Very well. I will keep that in mind for future designs but you have served your purpose here. I am going to give you back to Queen Chrysalis when we have the meeting. Until then you are welcome to stay at my Hive."
"You know Sclerite. I noticed you killed Stone Horn. I will admit, I underestimated you. Keep up the good work and we'll get along just fine," Tarsal said. "How's your friend?"
"She was angry at me. She told me she never wanted to see me again." Sclerite said with a bit of sorrow in his voice.
"Don't worry about her. Just remember this as a lesson for the future. 'There is no friendship in war. The only thing that matters is victory, at any cost.'"
"You sound a lot like Major Carapace."
Tarsal laughed. "Maybe I would make a good drill instructor one day. Alright I think it's time to go." The Changeling army turned around and left.
"How many did we lose?" asked Chief Thunderhooves.
A Buffalo rushed up to him. "Chief! There are only fifty of us left."
"What about my daughter?"
"Father!" Little Strongheart cried, tears were still on her face.
"Little Strongheart! You're safe!" Chief Thunderhooves said relieved.
"It was terrible father! Sclerite! He- he killed Stone Horn!"
"What?"
"I saw him do it!"
"Why did he do that?"
"Stone Horn was about to kill him and he fired his magic at Stone Horn," Little Strongheart explained.
Chief Thunderhooves thought for a moment. Then sighed, "I can't believe I am saying this, but I support Sclerite on this."
"But I thought you didn't like Sclerite!"
"While I still hate Changelings like Sclerite. Stone Horn tried to kill him. He probably would have killed him if Sclerite didn't. One day you'll understand why he did it." Chief Thunderhooves explained. He then turned to the survivors. "Alright! We're going back to the village. Gather up any more survivors and let's go!"