Haysead Swamp
After realizing that he had been duped, Prince-Captain Shining Armor immediately ordered his army of 300 ponies to rapidly march North. However, he knew that he would not be able to alert the Baltimare Garrison in time. He pulled out two parchments and a quill, wrote down new orders, and then handed a note to one of his lieutenants as they were marching.
"You, give this to Commander Speeder. Tell him to fly his pegasus division to Baltimare and warn them." The lieutenant saluted and trotted back over to find the Commander. Shining then turned to another lieutenant marching with him.
"You, give this to Commander Night Glider. Tell him to send half of his Thestrals to join up with Commander Speeder's division." This lieutenant also fell back to inform this commander. A few minutes later, half of Shining Armor's force had taken to the skies and headed for Baltimare...
Fort MacHenry, Baltimare
"Sir! Permission to speak to you sir?" A young royal guard saluted to his superior officer. They were in the General's quarters and the earth pony he was saluting to sat behind a desk, had a tan coat with a grey mane and mustache, and had a four-star insignia as his cutie mark.
"At ease. What is it soldier?" The pony behind the desk took a sip of coffee.
"General Four Star, I have two commanders here who urgently need to speak to you."
"Bring them in." The royal guard then ushered in a pegasus and a thestral guard. Both ponies saluted as they met the general.
"Sir, I am Commander Night Glider and this is Commander Speeder. We were sent here by Prince-Captain Shining Armor to warn you."
"Warn me about what soldier?" The general took another sip of coffee.
"Sir, we believe that at any moment, we may be engaged in an interspecies war, and that Baltimare may be ground zero." Commander Speeder announced.
"At war? Soldier, not to sound apathetic, but the most my troops have had to deal with are illegal immigrants from Klugetown trying to slip across our border." The general responded.
"Sir, I'm afraid that this is no false alarm. We have evidence that an unknown number of armed humans are heading this way with enough firepower to wipe out a Royal Guard Testing Ground." The general lowered his cup of coffee as he heard Commander Night Glider explain the situation.
"If they're humans, they should be our friends, right?" The general asked, lowering his coffee cup.
"Sir, these humans are not the humans we've heard of in the news. They've wiped out a Royal Guard facility and have fired at our troops in the Haysead Swamps. We've brought 150 troops here to reinforce you." Commander Speeder further detailed. Suddenly, a young pegasus guard came running in.
"SIR! WE'VE SPOTTED A LARGE CARAVAN OF NON-PONY ORIGIN LEAVING THE HAYSEAD SWAMP SOUTH OF HERE! THEY MAY ARRIVE TO BALTIMARE IN AN HOUR OR LESS!" The general immediately stood up.
"Commanders, I advise that you have your troops prepared for battle. This garrison has five hundred troops stationed here. I will sound the alarm and we will meet the enemy on the fields between the swamp and the railroad." All of the ponies soon rushed out of the room.
Baltimare Fields, forty-five minutes later, Human POV
"Dammit Tyler, I thought we were heading Northwest!" Commander Stevens looked at the map and then the compass in frustration, noticing that instead of heading toward Canterlot, his convoy was merely tracing up the coastline.
"Well don't blame me for not being able to use a compass in a place where we don't know where magnetic north is!" Tyler rebuked while driving the humvee. The convoy had just crossed a river and was heading to an open field.
"Fine then, don't worry about it. We can just assume the magnetic north is off by thirty degrees clockwise and we'll adjust for- wait, do you see that?"
"See what?" Tyler then turned to look. Across a large field stood an army of ponies, clad in battle armor and carrying spears.
"Stop the truck." Stevens ordered. He then announced his order on the radio.
"Alright team, spread out and park the humvees in line formation parallel to that enemy formation ahead of us. Get behind the humvees once you've parked." The humvee convoy then spread out and parked as he ordered.
Pony POV
"Sir, they're spreading out. I think they're moving into battle positions!" Commander Speeder informed General Four Star. Along with Commander Night Glider, they were standing at the head of the Equestrian Army on the north side of the field just west of Baltimare. The General lifted his binoculars to see the human formation. He then chuckled to himself.
"Hah! I only count fifteen or so vehicles over there with five humans each at most! We have six hundred and fifty ponies here!" The two commanders looked at the General worriedly.
"Sir, despite our clear numerical advantage, I would not underestimate these humans. Remember how our human Rangers could defeat changeling armies despite the fact that there were only five of them?" Night Glider warned.
"Nonsense! Those were but insects! We are the Royal Guard! Fourth Brigade! Charge!" The General bellowed. A column of earth ponies and unicorns yelled and charged forward straight at the human line. The general pulled out his binoculars again.
"Watch and learn Commanders. When you have the numbers and know the land, you can overwhelm any foe..."
Human POV
"We've got incoming!" a soldier yelled as he stood behind a humvee, with his Regulator at the ready.
"Alright! Snipers! Aim for the unicorns first and work your way down! They're probably the only ones who can shoot back!" After Stevens gave the order, several men armed with Raptorstrikes positioned their rifles over the hoods of their humvees and opened fire.
Pony POV
"Sir, they aren't even getting within a thousand hooves of them, look!" Commander Night Glider noted. The general looked through his binoculars and gazed on in surprise as his ponies were collapsing half-way across the field. He gritted his teeth in frustration.
"Very well. Commanders, hold your pegasi and thestrals in reserve. I will deal with these apes myself! ALL UNITS OF FORT MACHENRY! CHARGE!!!" The General and his entire army then began galloping across the field while the Commanders' flying ponies kept back.
Human POV
"Well, that's alot more than the last wave..." One human soldier noted as nearly two-thirds of the pony army began charging at them.
"Snipers, keep up your fire! Riflemen, lock and load! Have the MGs manned! Wait on my signal to fire!" Stevens ordered. While his snipers kept on taking down ponies at long range, there were simply too many for them to hold off alone. The ponies kept galloping closer and closer...
Soon, they were about three-hundred feet out.
"FIRE!!!!" A loud, crashing sound filled the air as numerous blasters went off all at once. The effect was immediate. The front wave of the entire pony charge collapsed. The grunts with their Regulators and the Nemesis turret operators kept firing, with numerous ponies falling. A few unicorn blasts impacted the humvees, but failed to do much damage to the armor.
Pony POV
"Oh dear Celestia, help me!" General Fourstar had taken hits in three of his legs. All around him, he was watching his ponies get mowed down like grass as the humans shot at them like fish in a barrel. He soon felt a pony try to pick him up.
"Sir! We've gotta get out of-" the pony's statement was interrupted by a dart going through him. Fourstar looked around himself again and saw the field being strewn with fallen ponies. By now, he realized that he had made a grave mistake by underestimating human firepower. He also realized that as long as he and his army kept attacking, more lives would be lost.
"RETREAT!!!"
Fourstar didn't need to bark his order twice. As soon as he gave it, everypony around him began galloping back toward their original position. Unfortunately, many wounded ponies, himself included, were stranded in that field, at the mercy of the humans a few hundred feet away...
Human POV
Cheers went up from among the ranks as the ponies desperately took off galloping away from the convoy. However, there were still alot of wounded ponies sitting in front of them.
"Sir, what do we do about the wounded?" Finn asked Stevens.
"Leave them. They've learned not to mess with us from now on."
"Alright guys, fun's over, let's get outta here." Finn ordered. Within a minute, the convoy had taken off to Canterlot again.
Pony POV an hour later
We were lucky...
We were lucky that they didn't massacre the wounded after the rest of the army retreated.
We were lucky that they didn't come and attack the two remaining divisions across the field.
We were lucky that they didn't invade and ransack Baltimare itself.
We were lucky.
-Unknown Royal Guard
"By Celestia, I hope that our Rangers will come and help us..." -Commander Night Glider