Shining Armor first knew something was wrong when after twelve hours he had seen no sign of Captain Spear. He knew something was disastrously wrong when his scouts returned carrying a single maimed pegasus between two, with the other eight marching along behind. The pegasus had a shattered left foreleg, a splint supporting the destroyed limb. Both of soldier's wings were damaged beyond healing, the very nerves sliced away by slivers bone fragments from a gaping hole in his back, long since frozen shut from the cold. The pegasus sported a bruised and broken snout, teeth protruding through the lips. The eyes of the pegasus were unfocused and distant, gazing far into the sky.
His scouts reported that they found no other survivors out in the snow, the rest having either froze to death or succumbed to their wounds. That they followed the hooves of the enemy Srenoograds all the way to the forest edge, before turning back to search through the battlefield. The dead of both sides were left where they fell, not even the Prussian’s own being tended to, except their weapons, all of which were pried from their sheaths and hands before departure. Not even a sword was left behind.
Shining had Twilight explain the weapons the outpost possessed, at the fort she had raided, learning of their smokey crossbows that could go right through armor and their knives attached to the end. After several minutes of mulling, he called a meeting with the company of Unicorns and Twilight to discuss something.
“The weapons these Prussians have, I think they are a form of magic or enchantments of some kind. I need you all to begin working on finding a way to suppress it. If we can make the only advantage they have turn sour, we can make them surrender much sooner.”
A mage towards the back, who had a slightly disheveled mane raised her hoof before speaking, “And what makes these magic weapons so dangerous? We need to know what they do for us to prevent it from working.”
Twilight answered, “They create a plume of smoke and fire, before propelling a projectile that punctures almost anything in its path.”
“We’ll need the magic weapon to good way to counteract it, but we can try, sir.” The captain of the company told Shining Armor.
“I’ll have one of my infantry companies assist you with daily duties, so you have more time to work, captain.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll assign my unicorns to begin immediately,” the captain said, before addressing Twilight, “Any assistance you can offer will be welcome, ma’am.”
Twilight nodded, looking slightly exited before vibrating out of the tent to start working. Shining shook his head with a slight smile at her eagerness, and lack of proper military decorum before dismissing the unicorn company. With shrug he began to plan the march for the next day, deciding to take the same path the Prussians did through the forest, as an old and disused road that had been abandoned for several decades ran through there, and was hopefully easier to march through.
General Harvig Karlson received the report from his dragoons detailing the enemy army's composition and was preparing the ambush. He hoped the crystal army’s commander would take the bait and follow his dragoon’s retreat path through the woods, which were significantly thinner there for one reason or another. If he had time later, he’d investigate it with some of his more scholarly friends. But for now, he just made sure the ambush was properly set.
The trenches and choux-de-frais were all built and prepared, sitting just in front of the trenches arranged north of the forest. His artillery had been wheeled into place, with plenty of ammunition packed behind them and prepped for use. The light infantry had finished setting up their fougasses prepared just in front of their fallback lines, and his dragoons were enjoying their last warm cups of coffee or tea before embarking out into the late night cold for their positions.
Once the preparations were double checked by the general, he moved into his command tent, going over contingency plans one last time before trying to catch a few hours of sleep before the engagement.
Shining’s army was in ready marching order, embarking through the woods just after dawn. The vanguard of the force was his personal guard, followed by his greenest troops. Admittedly that was almost all his companies, leaving the unicorns and a single company of heavy infantry that predated Shining Armor’s command. The elements of Harmony were marching along with him, their multicolored armor catching in the faint light filtering down through the trees. The air was heavy with unease as they departed, the ponies sensing the nearing potential of a battle. Shining had assured them that the battle would be little more than a skirmish, with himself and the princesses believing the scouting force they had seen earlier were almost all the soldiers the Prussians still possessed.
That had done a good enough job at settling his soldier’s uneasiness of their first battle, even boosting the morale slightly at the thought of being the superior force. Now Shining just needed to make it through this forest before establishing a slightly more permanent camp to scout where settlements had been built throughout the stolen lands and plan a route for the ‘tour’ to take. Then he heard a branch break with a crack, echoing through the woods. The sound of scrambling steps, dulled by snow, followed it, perhaps an animal that had misjudged a tree before eating the bark.
But the steps sounded more like a bipedal animal than any quadruped. Glancing at the elements, he quickly whispered to them to stay with the army and sent a lieutenant to investigate the noise. They marched off path into the deep snow drifts into the thick forest, searching for Prussians.
the light infantryman punched himself in the leg for being so careless. He shouldn’t have ventured so close to the road. He scrambled away from the branch he broke, dashing away from his unit’s position. He cursed himself quietly before slowing to a walk, and finally an almost dead crawl. If he was lucky, they’d not think anything more of the sound and keep marching it. If the enemy were smart, they’d send a patrol to look for him. He knew that he couldn’t return to his company, so instead he hastily began to pull dead branches into a pile before making a messy nest out of his scarf and spare foot wraps to dump his cartridges into.
The first gleam of armor peered through the foliage in the distance, about three hundred yards away from his position. Glancing to his left, the light infantryman could clearly see the main column standing still along the road, not but fifty yards away through the trees. Pursing his lips, he drew his lips together and pulled a match and spare flint out of his pocket, setting them inside the nest.
Bringing his rifle to bear, the light infantryman took aim, aligning the iron sights with the chest of the enemy soldier, now just two hundred fifty yards away. Breathing carefully, his finger began to squeeze the trigger gently, almost lovingly.
A shot tore through a crystal gaurdspony, echoing through the woods. The guards around her jolted at the sound and began pushing through the woods faster, zeroing in. The dense foliage hindered their efforts, slowing their gallop to a steady jog. To the right of the crystal platoon the main column was springing into action. The companies were wheeling about, beginning to march off path, before a messenger came through, ordering them to hold their position.
Quickly shifting his position, the light infantryman began to reload, quickly picking a cartridge from the pile and preparing it. Not wasting time, he began to ram it down into the muzzle. Within ten seconds he had prepared another round and took aim again. With a far worse shooting position he fired, this time it shattered the knee of his target, ricocheting off the thick wedge of bone and piercing the side of another pony slight in front of them, wounding them. The crystal guards were now only a hundred yards away.
He loaded again and fired, this time missing entirely. He quickly set to his match and got it burning, tossing it onto the pile of cartridges. The fire rapidly consumed the cloth, before spreading up into the cartridges. With a quivering lip and his eyes pressed shut, he tossed his rifle onto the pile before covering it with branches. The fire nipped at his fingers, burning them. Wincing he reached for the bayonet sword he carried, drawing it from its sheath and taking some semblance of a fighting stance as the crystal ponies closed in.
The ammunition he set afire began to explode, the gunpowder finally catching. The branches that had been hastily thrown over the weapon started to burn. The lead rounds shattered out through the pile, flying in all directions. the light infantryman barely managed to dodge behind an ancient, old spruce that absorbed several lead balls. The guards were just far enough away that the exploding ammo lost velocity before hitting them.
A guard sprinted towards the light infantryman, who readied his sword, only to be slammed to the ground by another guard from the other side of the tree. He smacked the ground and had the blade knocked, his head hitting a rock, and he lost consciousness.
The officer of a howitzer battery heard a distant volley faintly drifted into his ears. The young eyes snapped to the forest, expecting something more to follow. After a moment he turned to his crew, who were sitting beside their guns, chatting idling amongst themselves. He waited for some sort of reaction, but they didn’t spring to their weapons.
“I-I just heard the signal! I hea-heard a volley from the woods.” The officer squeaked out in an uneasy and small voice, unheard by the happily talking soldiers. After a deep breath, the young officer steadied his voice and more forcefully ordered, “Man your guns, the lights have engaged the enemy.”
Now his men heard, leaping up from their idle states, rushing to begin firing their weapons. The hammers were brought down on the primers, launching four shells arching high into the sky. The boom rattled the carriage, bouncing it back several inches.
The gunnery men along the other batteries jumped into action, the other officers glancing at the young officer with surprise or flexing faces, before turning to their own batteries and giving the order to fire. Soon twenty-eight further shells joined the first four, tracing similar paths high into the sky. Within moments of the shells leaving the barrels the crews set to cleaning and priming the barrels for their future shells.
Shining saw the platoon drag the unconscious spy back to the formation. He also felt his face fall, unable to stop the grief for a moment when Starlight Glass was brought back on the back of her fellows. When the broken knee of Crystal Bowl, hanging limply has he leaned on his fellows. The wounded Brass Horn groaning and clasping his side. All soldiers he had personally selected. Personally trained. Spent countless nights camping with them on patrol, leading parades with them.
And then he drew the mask back up, if only until they reached camp, and took command of the situation. He ordered his wounded friends taken to the rear to be attended, before having the prisoner brought before him. Another guard presented a tightly bundled package, extremely hot and warm, nearly scalding Shining's hooves.
Before he could inquire more about either of the prizes his unit had brought him, a distant series of booms began to rush through the forest, following one after another, coming almost constantly for thirty seconds. Looking around, Shining called Twilight over to him, “Twilight, did you detect any magic? Those booms don’t sound natural.”
Twilight shook her head quickly, “No, I could not sense any magic. There must be a Prussian Quarry nearby, Shining. Support may have given way. Or maybe they...”
Twilight trailed off as a strange whistling started to fill the air. It had a strange quality, like that of a wobbling ball flying fast through the air. Cocking her head, they looked up into the air and saw the strange balls bearing down from the sky. She opened her mouth to voice her confusion at the sound, before a pink shield sprung up around her and her friends, who had accompanied her conversation with Shining Armor. Shining’s horn was alight with the pink hue of his magic, tracing up to the dome. It covered a small area, due to the hurried nature of the shield, only just covering the elements and a few of his compatriots nearby.
The shells burst into pure white puffs ten to twelve meters in the air, which spread greatly over the road. The powder began to drift down in a gentle fashion, looking much like snow. Twilight looked up at it with mild confusion. The guards outside the shield shared the same confusion looking up at the strange sight.
Then the quicklime began to land on their faces and in their open mouths. The fine powder immediately began slaking in the damp eyes, saliva filled mouths, and snow melt thicketed fur. The eyes of hundreds of guards widened for a moment as the agonizing burning began to sear their eyes and mouths. As the skin peeling chemical burn began to melt through their pelts. Then the eye slammed shut, locking the chemical agent and pressing it deeper into eyes, which began to melt deeper into their sockets. They began coughing fervently, spittle flying everywhere. Their hooves began to clay at the straps of their armor, pulling off plates of armor and scratching long lines through their coats with sharpened horseshoes.
Twilight and her friends blanched at the guards writhing in agony. She stood frozen, eyes wide and mouth agape. She began to dry heave and sweat. She collapsed onto the ground, dry heaving harder, whole-body shuddering. She pressed her eyelids shut and pressed her armored hooves against her ears, trying to block out the screaming.
A rough pulling on her shoulder roused her from her despair, causing her head to jerk up. Shining Armor was shaking her, saying something that was drowned out by the screams and blocked out by her plated hooves. Shakily lowering her hooves, she heard Shining telling her too, “Teleport us to the rear! Now! We need the mages to help us!”
Twilight instinctively followed his order, and a flash of magenta magic removed them from the horrific scene.
The thunderous booms shouldn’t have happened yet. The artillery shouldn’t have begun their bombardment yet. The light infantry officer knew this to be true. But the howitzers fired anyway. Which meant the ambush had been botched. The soldier he foolishly sent to observe their column’s attempt to destroy his ammunition had sounded like a volley to an officer in the distance. Or maybe they just got twitchy and opened fire. Either way he heard a bombardment.
He sent a runner to inform the Frei Korp company along his side of the road of his plans, then ordered his company to creep up upon the enemy column. They began a slow steady advance, moving slowly and carefully to avoid detection. He dodged low underneath branches, and sidestepped brush laying on the snowy ground.
As the Crystal column entered his sight, he saw the ruined state of the forward units. Dozens, nay, hundreds of corpses and wounded lay upon each other in the road, with the few unaffected in a panic, trying to aid their wounded comrades. The units along the edges of the bombardment weren’t in quite the same disarray, but their morale still seemed to be wavering, bordering on broken. The units nearing the rear were shaken, but still had some semblance of organization remaining. The rearmost unit had the most cohesion, preparing to do something. With a bright magenta flash, a brightly colored contingent of armored ponies appeared out of nowhere.
Officers. Commanders. Somebody clearly important. Fleeing their position at the front towards safety. The Prussian officer silently gestured at the group, his hands giving the order to focus fire on them. His soldiers took aim, three soldiers selecting the same targets, quietly agreeing on their color-coded target. The rest selected random unicorns. The Prussian light infantry raised their rifles, ready to fire and fingers gently resting on the triggers. Waiting for the officer’s order.
A small, tight smile grew on his lips. His hand raised above his head and...
A volley from the damnable Frei Korps flew into the front of the unicorn company. Nearly a dozen fell dead instantly, with many more dropping and grasping at wounds. The company fell into disarray, diving for cover beneath shields that they threw up around themselves.
Then the officer’s hand dropped. His unit’s volley only caught less than a quarter of the potential victims it could have. The officers that had just teleported had their own shield thrown up, absorbing the volley meant to obliterate them. The Prussian officer called to his men to keep firing, and not let them move an inch without being peppered with shot.
He sighed at the idea of the lost massacre and joined his men in shooting at the glowing shields.
Things were bad. Shining couldn’t sugarcoat it to himself. His forward companies were all but eradicated. His friends lay burning thanks to that magic snow that wasn’t magic. The Prussian weapons were plinking into his shield, rapidly causing cracks that continued to grow larger and larger, despite his constant efforts to repair the crumbling magic barrier. The unicorn company in front of him were in a worse situation, their lack of experience and talent leading to shields shattering under the pressure of continues assault. One by one the shields covering small teams were blinking out, and the ponies they protected followed suit.
With one final terse look he summoned up a spell, carefully diverting some power from the shield to magically enhance his voice. And he gave the thunderous order to retreat. The little coherency and morale still standing collapsed. The surviving ponies started to gallop. Many galloped back the way the army had come, streaming past Shining Armor’s shield. He stood strong with the elements and a few surviving ponies from his company, waiting for the last of the ponies to leave the accursed forest before he turned tail and ran.