Luna stood at the center of the single ranked inverted crescent battle line, her broadsword levitating right in front of her. Far ahead of her, and closing in fast, the hostile Dark Hoof Cavalry formed and charged towards their hilltop position.
There were at least ten squadrons of them, two thousand crystal earth ponies, give or take. Against them were her and her escort, composed of a syntagma from her Lunar Guard taxeis, one hundred and fifty bat ponies.
It was all too clear that the odds were against them.
But, they did, however, have two advantages.
The first was their position. With such a good defensive area on top of the hill, they held the high ground in which they could bear their weight, and shoot their arrows down upon the attacking force. Any good officer knew that having such advantage was a great force multiplier.
The second advantage was her, an alicorn with the strength to fight off a regiment’s worth of ponies. She knew her powers and what she was capable of, and although the enchanted armor and poisonous arrow tips of the enemy would mean she would have to be cautious in fighting, she still had the advantage of sheer strength and magical power.
The fight won’t be easy, and may turn sour with a wrong move, but Luna always loved a good challenge.
“Archers!” She commanded, her voice booming in the air. “Aim thy arrows at their officers. Loose!”
The sound of bow strings giving off the energy hummed in the air, as the thirty archers of the company let out a volley towards the nearing enemy. Following the flight of one of the arrows, she watched it glide through the air, before finding its mark right between a gap in the neck armor of an officer. Stumbling onto the ground, the pony fell and was trampled upon by his subordinates, as the next ranking pony in that unit moved forward to assume the fallen officer’s role at the head of the charge.
The rest of the arrows landed with varying degrees of success, with some landing on the ponies beside their intended target. Despite this, all arrows managed to find something to hit, with the large clump formation making it impossible to miss anything.
More and more volleys were therefore sent out, each landing and hitting, slowly chipping away at the mass force. However, those taken down were only a small part of the enemy attack, leaving little effect against their enemy. Luna knew that only those arrows that hit officers had any real effect on the organization and morale of the charging ponies of their foe.
Still, on the enemy cavalry went, and the distance was quickly closing. The rumble of their hooves grew louder and louder, as horns and officers urged their command faster.
“Get ready!” Shouted Dust Hunter from Luna’s right. Immediately, the bat ponies of her guard unsheathed their swords and firmly held them in their jaws. All were veterans, all had seen more than five major engagements. They were some of the best of the best. But would they be good enough to fend off a force fourteen times their number?
They were about to find out.
With her standing and fighting beside them, she knew they would fight hard. There was an old saying in the Lunar Guard, “We carry no banner for the Lunar Princess is our only standard”. A good soldier always fights for their standard, and because of that they would fight and die to protect her.
Although she never said it enough, she was always ready to fight and die for her ponies. So fight she will.
With the enemy cavalry only a few yards in front of them now, Luna closed her eyes and honed in all the magic within her. When she opened her eyes, they were glowing blue, as her horn lit to a brightness that could rival the hottest flames. Aiming forward, she let out a powerful burst from her horn, a widening stream of magic surging towards the center of the enemy mass. In the blind of an eye whole rows were burnt and annihilated, the victims of an alicorns magical abilities.
It was one of her signature battle spells, one she often used against careless and vulnerable charging masses. Such opportunities to use it were rare, however, since most battles had enemy mages casting energy shields to absorb enough of the power to make the attack almost ineffective. The all earth pony cavalry force, however, proved as a perfect target, and because she waited for the last moment, the dispersal of the magical blast took out a good chunk of them.
The spectacle, however, was not enough to fully halt the momentum of the oncoming attack. For the hundreds that were killed by Luna’s magic, there were still more than a thousand charging on towards the small scouting party.
Knowing their precarious situation, Luna made use of her magic once more, this time summoning a tall enough magical wall in order to stop the enemy dead in their tracks. Slamming hard against this surprise, the front ranks of enemy cavalry were pressed up against it hard, first by their own momentum, second by their comrades pushing against them from behind.
Sandwich between the magical shield and their comrades behind them, the poor ponies were easy picking, as they were unable to maneuver or fight back. Taking advantage of this, the ponies of Luna’s guard took a few steps forward and lifted their heads over the wall, which was just high enough for them to stick their swords and poke the trapped enemy from above.
Desperately, the ponies of the Dark Hoof Cavalry tried to fight back, only to find their efforts futile, as the weight of pushing ponies from behind made it difficult to raise a sword above the wall.
Joining in the fray, Luna lifted her broadsword, with her remaining magical energy, and swung it wide against the enemy crystal earth ponies that trued to climb her magical wall. Clumbering above the bodies of their comrades, they stepped over their heads and rushed towards the magical wall. Most of them were picked off by her guard’s archers, but some where getting close enough that they had to be stopped by the sword.
Adjusting for this circumstance, Luna used more of her magic to raise the wall higher. But this just made things difficult, but not impossible for them, as the enemy force just began to work with one another, pilling up to create a living ramp that led to the top.
Coming over the top by a tricke, they were individually cut down by her sword, and the swords of her guard, as they jumped and landed all over them. But, as more and more enemy ponies went up their makeshift pony ramp, the volume of arriving foes started to become more than they could handle.
To make this worse, the flanks of their battle line were starting to feel heavy pressure, as mobs of Dark Hoof Cavalry began swarming these exposed areas that were left unprotected by her magical wall. Seeing this, Dusk Hunter diverted some of his guards there, which helped ease the pressure on the exposed areas, but left the center even more vulnerable to the ponies coming in after scaling the magical wall.
This situation could not hold on forever, and Luna feared that they would soon be overrun by the sheer numbers that were pressuring them. She had to act to prevent the line from collapsing, and she had to act fast.
“Order thy syntagma back. Reform.” Luna ordered Dusk Hunter. They couldn’t hold this position, so they had to trade space for a more advantageous fighting line.
Almost immediately, Dusk Hunter barked out his orders, and under the cover of the archers, they backed up the hill and formed a second line there. Stepping back with her ponies, Luna continued to generate the wall, all the while fending off charging foes with her broadsword. The trickle that jumped from above the wall had grown to become a waterfall, and with nopony to guard the flanks, the enemy there began rushing out with strength and confidence.
With her concentration and skill, however, she managed to take out a good number, while the archers took out the ones she missed.
Once everypony was safe in the new line, Luna gazed once more at the wall she created before releasing the magic that generated it. Immediately, the result of this action took effect, as the ponies that were leaning against it to form the pony ramp began to fall and tumble down. Like a wave they crashed on the ground, causing disorder among the ranks of the enemy. Some of them even ended up falling on top of their comrades who skirted on the flanks, causing them to fall off their hooves and lose their momentum.
Dazed by the sudden crash, they were unable to organize themselves and became victims of arrow volleys from the Lunar Guard’s archers. This hail of arrow fire was soon supplemented by another powerful blast of magic from Luna, taking out a good chunk of the massed enemy, while at the same time teaching their officers not to go against an alicorn without the proper magical counters.
Those who remained were quick to exit the fight, falling back towards a rocky formation close to the base of the hill. From there, they could reform their force, while at the same time keep a careful eye on Luna and her guards, ready to stop them if they did anything.
After that initial engagement, which, to Luna’s surprise, lasted less than ten minutes, her smaller force was able to push back and massacre the larger contingent. From her estimate, those left were barely above a thousand ponies, with much of the earlier for having been decimated by her own magic.
It was a soulless thing to do, she knew. To kill so many ponies with a single burst of magic. But war was war, and she felt no guilt, at least not yet. The battle was far from over, and the ghost of those she killed would not haunt her till the fighting was done, when she was alone in her personal quarters, in her vulnerable lonesome time.
She hated those moments, and wished war never came with it. But there was nothing to be done, and this was no time to think about it now. The enemy was still strong and could still do heavy damage against them if they weren’t careful.
Taking account of her own force, Dusk Hunter informed her that they only had light casualties. Five dead, and ten light injuries.
Luna made a mental note to be there for the burial ceremonies of those who died for her. She loved her guard and the ponies who fought for her. She always made sure to honor those who fell for her name by attending their funeral, no matter who they were.
She hoped that those five would be the only ones who would fall for her that day, but as she studied the enemy position on the rocks, she knew that there would be more. With the Dark Hoof Cavalry positioned so near them, the idea of falling back to camp was still impossible.
To make matters worse, Luna noticed a couple of ponies galloping from the rocky position and head straight towards the distant enemy stone fort. There was no doubt in her mind that those ponies were carrying messages of help, and in an hour or so, a force from the fort would be marching out to reinforce the Dark Hoof Cavalry. They would most likely bring mages too, ones who can shield their forces against her magical attacks.
The fight had just begun.
Maximus never thought it possible, but they were more lost than they were earlier.
Losing the path because of the fog, he and the remains of his legion somehow managed to stumble their way to a denser portion of the forest, with trees popping up left and right of them in a never ending course. This did no favors to the formations of his various cohorts, as the columns weaved their way around all the trees that stood in their path.
“Damn fog made it impossible to see anything, sir.” Agrippa said, a hint of frustration in his voice. It was his cohort that was in the head, so it was his duty to lead the legion through the forest. The failure to follow the path was thus his personal mistake, or so he believed. “There must have been a damn turn we missed somewhere.”
Maximus sighed at this and considered what to do next. There might have been a turn in the path, but then again the oath could have just abruptly ended and maybe there really wasn’t anywhere else to go but into the compact denseness of the forest. But there was no telling which one it was, since the never ending fog made any vission beyond a few yards impossible.
At least the barbarian attacks have stopped. It’s been an hour since the last their contact with them, and although he found their sudden silence suspicious, he was at least thankful for the respute it gave his force. Taking the opportunity, Maximus had ordered his cohorts to rest and reorganize, as they tried to find their bearing and figure out where to go from there.
He would have preferred to have built a marching camp then and there, so that they would have been safer. But the lack of room in the area and lack of tools with them made it impossible.
He, nonetheless, ordered every centurion to keep their men’s eyes peeled, and swords ready. There was no telling when the next attack would fall upon them, and he didn’t want to be caught completely off guard.
Summoning the remaining senior officers of the legion, Maximus held a consilium, so that he could get their advice and get the column moving as soon as possible. Staying in the forest was not a good idea, and the sooner they got out the better.
“In my opinion, we should turn back.” Maximus announced, once all the officers and senior file closers were present. “We have no clue where we are, and are blindly poking our way deeper into unfamiliar territory.”
“I beg your pardon, sir, but the way behind us is as equally unfamiliar as our front.” Agrippa informed him. He was the one who had been scouting ahead for most of the day, so if there was anyone who knew the land better than anyone else, then it was him. Although he might have been the one responsible for the blunder that led them here, it was a mistake that was not completely his fault.
The fog would have blinded and deceived any good scout, even one who would have grown up in this area. In fact, part of Maximus thought that the reason the barbarian attacks stopped was because their own force was blinded by the fog also and lost track of the Roman legion.
“I understand your concerns, Agrippa, but what are we to do?” Maximus asked. “Continue on forward, march through tough terrain, weaving among the trees, in hopes of finding what?”
“A clearing, sir.” Agrippa said. “Or maybe even an end to this damn forest.”
Maximus thought about this, while the rest of the consilium remained silent, tired or having no better option to offer.
What Agrippa was saying was wishful thinking, but what the options they had were indeed limited, and his suggestion was the simplest to perform. In the end, wasn’t the simplest plan always the best one?
He still had his doubts though.
The judgements of his Centurion may have been right and proper, but he was still the Tribunus in command. Yes, Agrippa would say would be based on the many years of experience and campaigning, but as the most senior officer in charge, he couldn’t help but assert his dominance.
It was in his blood to do so, and although he was humble enough to accept advice and gracefully admit when he was wrong, there was still a part of his Equites heritage that wanted to show off the natural leadership skill that came along the line.
He had to remember though that not all leaders made right decisions, and although asserting his position was important, he shouldn’t be prudent in ignoring any sane advice given to him. Maximus was young and inexperienced, and the gentle taps of a centurion towards the right path should never be ignored. With that in mind, however, he still did his best to explain what he thought was a good idea, wanting to hear what was wrong to his seemingly sound plan.
“Say we do move forward and continue through here-“ Maximus said, as he considered the option. “-wouldn’t that leave us cut-off and separated from the rest of the army? What if they noticed the supposed turn that we missed? Wouldn't they follow that path instead?”
Agrippa was silent, but the legion’s Praefectus Castrorum, Publius Epidus, soon broke it. Although the Praefectus Castrorum was a rank lower than Maximus, he was nonetheless the most respected legionnaire in the whole unit. Because of this, his advice was often headed. Promoted from the ranks of the Centurions, the ranks often called for a man who had served for long years and had many campaigns under his belt. Publius Epidus was no exemption.
“The rest of the army is surely behind us, albeit scattered. They’ll be following our tracks and no matter where we go, sir, they’ll surely be in our rear. Turning back to retrace our steps would only lead us back deep into the forest and would tangle up the whole marching column. I agree with Centurion Agrippa, we should just continue marching forward, we’ll be bound to find the edge sooner or later.”
Maximus pondered this for a moment, before turning his gaze towards the other gathered men with them. “Does everyone agree with this suggestion?” He ultimately asked.
Scanning the faces before him, his eyes soon fell upon Titus Junius, the Primus Pilus, the Centurion that commanded the elite First Cohort.
Noticing the stare and thinking no better option, Junius just nodded. “Better to go forward than go back to the killing space in our rear, sir.”
The Centurions, and Praefectus Castrorum, and their combined voices cannot be ignored.
With all his senior and most experienced officers in agreement, and being convinced himself that the way forward was the better option, Maximus nodded to Agrippa, symbolizing that he accepted his plan. What better could they have done anyways?
Besides, they surely can’t blunder worse than Varus already has.
The enemy that was marching for them was far greater than they had faced earlier, and in normal circumstances one syntagma of Lunar Guards would not have held them off. But these weren’t normal circumstances, and Luna was amazed how the guards managed to hold their courage by knowing that she was there with them.
Advancing a few paces forward, back to their initial position, the small contingent watched from their hilltop as a force of four taxeis, around five thousand heavy infantry, marched out from the distant enemy fort to join the Dark Hoof Cavalry at the base of the hill. Due to the distance Luna knew that they had a lot to go, but sooner or later they would be here, and her force could do nothing to impede their movement.
She gave it an hour before they got here, and another hour to reorganize and plan for an assault upon them. That gave her two hours two plan something, not that they had kuch options anyways, since all they could do in their precarious position was to wait and watch.
At one point, Luna had been tempted to sally out with a small force and disrupt the movement of the approaching enemy reinforcements. With a couple of lucky shots with her magic, she was sure she could have taken out a good number of them.
But she ultimately decided against it, as the risk it brought and the enemy’s ability to counter her powers were too great. With the approaching reinforcements most likely carrying unicorn mages, a strong enough energy shield could have been formed by them to protect the force from her attacks. It also didn’t help that any sally from their hilltop position could easily be seen and prepared against, giving the enemy enough time to position themselves and generate shields. Add that to the fact that her absence in an attempted sally would leave the remaining force on the hill vulnerable to an attack from the Dark Hoof Cavalry, then it was clear that such a plan would just end up in disaster for them with little gain.
So instead they sat there and waited, hoping that the main camp of the Equestrian Army would notice their prolonged absence and would have already sent out a strong search force to find them. That force, however, would take hours to get here, and she was still uncertain if such a force had already been sent out.
In her long military career this was the first time she had ever found herself in such a situation where almost all the odds were against her. She was holding on through sheer power and lucky, and although her power was still strong, her luck seemed to have already ran out.
“How art thou, Dusk Hunter?” Luna asked, as she moved towards the Captain and joined him in looking down at the hill against the slow recovering Dark Hoof Cavalry at the base of the hill. After their disastrous attack against them, the Dark Hoof Cavalry had been slowly tending themselves after the defeat, trying to reorganize and get their morale together.
“I’m fine, your Majesty.” Dusk Hunter said. “Although I might not be totally fine, because I just thought of the most insane idea ever.”
“Oh?” Luna asked, giving him a curious look.
Dusk Hunter nodded, hesitating, before letting out a sigh. Whatever he had in mind, it must have been something so bold that the pony felt it too hard to easily express.
“You see, Princess, once those ponies from the fort get here, then the bloody Dark Hoof Cavalry would have magical support, right?”
Luna nooded, as Dusk Hunter continued.
“Well, that had me thinking. Those earth ponies down there, they don’t have unicorns right now, and they won’t have them for maybe another hour or so.”
Almost immediately Luna’s expression lit up as he stared at Dusk Hunter with a smile growing on her face.
“Captain, and thou a genius! Rally the guard!”
“My pleasure, your Majesty.”
In no time Dusk Hunter managed to gather his command and form them up in a square column that was six ranks deep. At the head of the formation was Luna, with Dusk Hunter standing right beside her, swords drawn and ready.
Down at the base of the hill, at the rocky area in which the Dark Hoof Cavalry had taken position, Luna could see that their enemy was still busy tending to their wounds. The massive loss they took earlier took a massive hit against the various units within them, and there was no doubt in her mind that they took heavy losses on the numbers of officers and rank filers. Their slow recovery was already an obvious sign that this was the case.
This left them vulnerable and perfect for a quick and heavy attack. But they had to act fast, since the longer they waited, the more time the enemy would realize what their plans were. Already, some of the Dark Hoof Cavalry’s picketts were noting their change in formation. It was only probably due to the broken chain of command, due to a heavy loss in their leadership, that prevented them from responding as quickly as they should.
Turning her head to face her loyal guard, Luna gave them a determined look, as she levitated her sword up high for all of them to see.
“Loyal guards!” She shouted. “Follow thy Princess into the fray! Follow thy War Mistress in this charge to glory!”
With that she glanced back forwards and took her first step before starting to gallop and gain momentum as she charged down the hill. She didn't need to turn her head back in order to check if her ponies were following, as the massed sound of hooves stomping and battle cries calling were enough to tell her that they were there.
“For the Night Princess!” Came cry from behind her, followed by the sound of a sword unsheathing.
Soon enough the whole syntagma was charging down hill, staying in formation as best they could as Luna led them to the now aware Dark Hoof Cavalry, who were beginning to form a line to meet them. Cursing inwardly, Luna was surprised at how fast they were able to form. They still had some fight in them left, and despite the disorganization within their ranks, they still moved swiftly and coherently.
Knowing that the line the enemy formed was enough to impede the charge they were making, Luna took immediate action and started charging up her magic. Horn glowing, and eyes set on the target, she quickly let loose her powerful eradicating beam, aimed directly at the center of the enemy formation. As effective as ever, it did its job of clearing a path, as earth ponies were obliterated by the magic, leaving a gap in the line.
Before the enemy could react and close this gap, Luna began galloping faster straight for it. Behind her the Lunar Guards followed, trying to keep pace with their faster alicorn monarch.
Levitating her broadsword forward and keeping it steady, she swung it as hard as she could and had it slash hard against a foe who was rushing in to plug the gap she had created. The blow was powerful, stronger than any unicorn could do with a sword of the same weight. In one swing, she was able to penetrate the enchanted armor of the enemy earth pony and strike the flesh it tried to protect. He went down almost immediately.
Behind her Dawn Hunter and the rest of the Lunar guards charged into the gap, following their Princess into the thick of the fight. Swords clasped tightly between their jaws, they swung and slashed the enemy before them, doing their best to inflict the same damage as the alicorn had.
Each individual pony managed to take on at least one foe in the initial contact, with the shocked and dazed earth ponies of the enemy reacting too slow, allowing them to stab at the weak spots and gaps on their armor. However, as the seconds passed, and the enemy’s wits returned, the battle turned into one that tested skill and endurance, as sword met sword, while armor did their best to protect, as the fight consumed the two sides.
Pressing on and trying to keep the momentum, Luna used her strength to swing her sword and chop down the mortal ponies that got in its path. She needed to inflict enough damage to make the enemy retreat and route.
As she gathered more energy for her magic so she could fire another powerful burst, a horn from within the enemy’s ranks blew out, a loud cry for help so that the oncoming reinforcements would come faster.