His dreams were troubling that night. Battles played across his mind, whirling cyclones of manufactured death ravishing beautiful landscapes and leaving barren wastelands behind.
Some of the most disturbing involved his new friends dying from blows struck by various monsters, and knowing his orders had lead it to be so. Worst of all, he could do nothing to stop it from happening.
James woke up in a sweat. He got dressed quickly and got out of his tent. Already the camp was a scene of activity, with ponies rushing to and fro to prepare for the battle that would likely decide the fate of the war with the Changelings.
He got his weapons ready; he had only a few more shots in his revolver, though he did have plenty of ammunition for his crossbow. He sighed. It just didn't feel the same as a gun; it didn't have as much stopping power in his opinion, and it couldn't shoot as far as a rifle.
He walked to the frontlines. The trenches had been dug in a semi-circle around the town, with cannons set and ready to fire. The anti-aircraft battery had been set up in the center of the line, where it had the greatest line of sight and presumably the best angle.
Soldier after soldier rushed to the breastworks. Crossbows were loaded and checked, and powder monkeys delivered gunpowder and ammunition to the batteries (hence the nickname "powder monkeys"; they, of course, were not really monkeys).
James watched the army prepare. He looked out over the plains with his binoculars; so far, the enemy hadn't done much. He looked back at his army, and found himself smiling as he remembered what one of his books had said about war; hurry up and wait. That was certainly the case here; some of the soldiers were fidgeting. In fact, two had begun a game of dice, but stopped when they realized he had noticed.
I don't blame you guys. If I was in this situation, regardless of rank or discipline, I would probably play a few small games myself just to have something to do. We'll have plenty of warning when the enemy comes out to play. He turned back to the Changeling base and raised his binoculars. He heard something clatter behind him, and again felt amused; the two soldiers must have resumed their game. He gave no sign he had heard.
A few black dots began to fly over their base; simultaneously, closer to the town, a number of pegasi started to lift off and fly back to towards the army.
One of them flew up to him; a regular, with a corporal's rank badge on his shoulders. The trooper saluted. "Colonel, we have sighted activity in the enemy camp, and believe they are about to begin their assault."
"Thank you Corporal." He continued to watch the Changelings as they made their own preparations for battle. "Go join the rest of your unit."
"Yes sir." He heard the flutter of the pegasus' wings and it flew off.
"Colonel, I don't think it's wise to remain above the trenches", another soldier said.
He lowered the binoculars; he was indeed standing above and a little forward of the trenches, the better to observe the enemy. He felt a little annoyed, but managed to crush the emotion; the soldier, whoever he was, was right. He walked over to the breastworks and was about to jump back down into the pony-made ditch when he felt something rise inside of him; it was a warm feeling, and he felt the urge to speak.
"Soldiers, friends, comrades", he shouted. He pointed toward the enemy lines as he continued; "There stands the enemy. Behind us" - here he pointed to Appleloosa - "stands the town, the gateway into the country. We have no room for failure; if we fail here, the gate shall be open for the foe to press into Equestria, and we all know that the "mercy" of our enemy would be worse than death." He stood straighter. "We have fought hard, and made the Changelings pay for every inch of land they dare to occupy. We've delayed them, and in so doing have given the people of the town time to get to safety. But it's not enough; today we must hold firm. We cannot afford to withdraw; they'll chase us and cut us down without mercy, and then our prior struggles would have been for naught."
He paused, knowing he had to give his army some hope. "In the past, various peoples have fought wars for power, land, or simply for the joys of battle. Many of you hold a question in your hearts; why do we fight? It's not about land," he said, shaking his head. "There's always more land to go settle or improve. It's not about power," he went on, as he shook his head again. "What do we want that we don't have here, in our own land?"
My mother, father, and baby brother, he thought. He shook himself mentally; he had a job to do.
"We certainly don't fight because we enjoy it; how many can say that you have?" he asked, watching many heads shake. "Why, then, do fight, bleed, and die on these grounds?" He paused. "Because behind us are your homes, your families, everything you hold dear," he continued, his voice lowering a bit. "In the end, we fight out of love for those we care about, and for their futures. And," he said, even quieter, "we fight for each other. The bonds we have forged in the heat of battle have become stronger than any metal could hope to be. They cannot be undone by anything our enemy could do to us, and they will outlast our lifetimes, that I know." *
"Now ready yourselves; we have a future to fight for," he ended, to wild cheers and defiant yells cast at the enemy. He jumped back into the trenches.
He turned to see the Changelings begin to swarm into the air and begin to mass on the ground.
He turned to the anti-aircraft artillery. "Don't bother firing yet, wait till they're in range." He had good reason to call out; the crews had loaded their piece, and one gun captain had been about to pull the lanyard.
"Sir, I'm good with measuring distance." James turned to see a red pegasus with a green mane. The pony went on, "I could fly up to that cloud, and fire lightning when the enemy are in range of our guns."
"Hmmm. How do you know the range of our new guns?"
"I talked to the crews. I think I can remember, sir." The soldier looked a bit nervous.
"...Alright, permission granted, just be careful."
"I will, thank you sir!" the trooper finished, saluting him before rising into the sky toward a cloud hanging overhead.
May God grant you all return safely. He knew the odds were against that happening. He hoped for it anyhow.
He turned back toward the incoming horde. They were closer now, of course. Looking through his binoculars, he could almost see their faces, angry and determined to erase the defenders from history. Some, in their haste, fired green beams from their horns, only for the energy to disappate well before they got close to the Equestrian lines.
A thundering roar met the ineffective enemy fire; the artillery had begun to fire, and explosions slammed into the Changelings. With the reinforcements from yesterday, many more cannons were now in operation; massive holes appeared briefly in the enemy ranks, to be closed quickly by replacements.
A bolt of lightning struck the Changelings on the ground. The pegasus must have found the range. Another boom, different from the rest, began to sound out.
The first shot exploded behind the first ranks of aerial foes, and the second burst well short of them. The third blasted three Changelings out of the sky, their wings beating helplessly as they fell.
The new guns must have been built for rapid-fire; more explosions illuminated the sky, and the gunners, readier this time, were dropping the Changelings like flies. Some caught on fire, trailing orange flames as they dropped from the sky; it was eerily beautiful. It didn't stop the survivors from coming, of course. That was the problem with the Changelings; although they had no real civilization and very primitive technology, if that, they had numbers, and they knew it. And their lack of technology was a blessing as well as a curse for them; he couldn't cut their lines of supply, or damage their production.
Crossbow quarrels flew almost as soon as the enemy was close enough for them to be effective. Changeling after Changeling was hit and crumpled, only to be immediately replaced by those behind them.
Double-shotted cannister ripped the foe's ranks apart, tearing their bodies apart. For a moment, James hoped this had stopped them; their front ranks had been all but wiped out, and their replacements were slowed down by their dead and wounded comrades, giving the Equestrians another free volley of quarrels to send at them. Then his hopes were dashed as the Changeling tide swarmed over their dead and continued their mad rush.
Another volley of cannister and crossbow bolts hardly slowed them down. James drew his revolver and fired off all six rounds; five hit their targets, sending them sprawling. Their companions kept going.
No other option, then. He holstered the pistol and unsheathed his sword. "Swords and spears at the ready!" he called. The soldiers obeyed as fast as they could, dropping their crossbows and snatching up close combat weapons. James braced himself.
The first ranks of Changelings stopped just short of the cheval-de-frix; their comrades pressed on, impaling them on the wooden stakes and climbing over the dead.
James slashed at the first enemies to show their faces; they dropped, all bleeding green blood profusely from the neck. More swarmed over the barricade, and leapt into the trenches, or tried to; the first ones to try were stabbed in the chest by spears and crumpled.
Black bodies kept coming, filling the trenches. To James' satisfaction, their numbers hurt them, for once; they kept interfering with one another's movements, making it almost impossible for them to fight effectively. Ponies armed with spears and swords cut them down in large numbers.
For all that, the Changelings never seemed to get any fewer; they continued to pour reinforcements into the breastworks, and their weight began to tell once more, slowly pressing the defenders back out of their own trenches.
Deafening roars boomed out once more; the artillery continued to fire, with soldiers protecting the crews as they loaded and reloaded, firing as the barrels of their guns grew hot. Not that the crews noticed; their hooves were unable to feel the heat in any case.
The anti-aircraft guns fired point-blank at the Changelings on the ground; they inflicted severe casualties, and the area around them was relatively well protected.
"Quick, rally 'round the guns!" James hurried to obey himself, and found that most of the soldiers who had heard him were doing as he said. He killed three Changelings in his way and scrambled over their bodies.
"Colonel, thank Celestia you're here!" said one of the gun captains, a gray earth pony. "They're pressing us hard, we need help to defend the cannons long enough to withdraw!"
"Leave it to me!" Did I really just say that? he asked himself. No time to answer now, of course; the swarm was massing around the guns, trying to find a weakness in the defense. a few pegasi with spears kept them at bay from the air, but the soldiers on the ground were in danger of being overwhelmed, especially from the rear, which was least protected.
He jumped over to the position and cut down a Changeling. "Defend the guns!" he shouted, slashing at another, which jumped away before he connected. It was killed by another soldier, and James struck another dead center in it's chest as it tried to fly over him.
For the next fifteen minutes, he and the soldiers defending the battery fought fiercely as the Changelings sent their endless numbers to overrun them. Time and again, they came on; time and again, the soldiers cut them down.
"URRRRAAAA!" James stabbed a Changeling that tried to pounce on him; he kicked the bug off the blade and looked for another target. He saw that the AA guns had been limbered at last, but there were still innumerous enemies between them and the nearest friendly position, where the Equestrians were trying to reform their lines.
A white light suddenly unfolded around him; he braced himself for death, until he noticed the light was transparent, and that it had enveloped the defenders. He stood up and turned around. The small number of unicorns in the force had created a barrier, holding back the black tide.
However, he could see from the strains on their faces that this barrier wasn't going to last long. "Come on!" he yelled, and walked forward. The gunners began to move their guns, and the shield moved with them. Changelings threw themselves at the shield, but it held firm against their assault.
They were almost to the new position before the shield started to flash, as the unicorns put all their effort to maintain it.
"I...I...can't..hold it..." One of the unicorns collapsed, having fainted from the loss of energy.
James picked him up and set him on his left shoulder; to his relief, the soldier wasn't too heavy to carry, although he could feel it's weight pressing down on him. He was surprised by his own ability. Must be adrenaline; I probably wouldn't be able to do this otherwise. "Let's go! Move it!" he shouted, as the shield began to fade.
They all broke out into a desperate run; a beam of green light flew past his right shoulder, but he didn't try to look back. he got to within inches of the new line when one soldier, startled, shot at him.
Time seemed to slow down. James threw himself forward, and the bolt passed under his belly, almost close enough to touch his chin as it whipped past.
He fell to the ground, and the soldier he had been carrying fell forward, landing a few feet away. James got to his feet and ran, picking up the still-unconscious unicorn and running the last few feet. He made it, and set down the trooper gently.
He heard a buzzing sound, and felt a strange sensation; he looked up and saw that another unicorn was scanning him with it's horn.
"Its you sir," the unicorn said after a few seconds. "Sorry, but you did tell us to check everyone."
"Yes, I did." He looked around. The Changeling attack had hit the entire line. Although the Equestrians were holding for now, he could see enormous numbers of Changelings enveloping the line to the east and west, though there were far more in the western force. Sooner or later, they would be able to attack from either side, and the only option would be to fall back into the town itself and make them pay the price of digging the ponies out, building by building.
Unless... He turned to a nearby soldier. "Sergeant!"
"Yes sir?"
"Gather a detachment and take them to the western flank, anyone who's free, anyone who isn't fighting, I don't care if they are in the Quartermaster Corp, just get someone to block that flank.
"Yes sir, but what about the other flank? There's a lot of them heading that way as well."
"It can't be helped. We're scrapping the bottom of the barrel as it is."
"Yes sir." The pony went off to follow his orders.
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As the hours passed, the Equestrians fought ever more desperately against a foe who refused to stop coming, regardless of their losses. The came on willingly, taking horrible casualties to hurt their enemies even slightly. And their strategies were slowly working; the army's ammunition began to run out.
"I have no more bolts, Colonel! What now?" asked an earth pony. Sure enough, he had nothing left to shoot with.
"Switch to your spear, and prepare yourself."
"Er, yes, sir." The earth pony, yellow with a mane, looked nervous. "Do you think..."
Suddenly, his face seemed to change, becoming that of the frightened blue pony from the first battle... the one he had comforted... the one who had died...
James shook himself. It's too late to change his fate, but I can help this poor kid get out of this alive. "No, we will not lose this fight. Our spears and swords will prevail where our 'bows have not." He stood up. "Come on, they're coming!"
"Uh, yes, uh, sir." The soldier still looked nervous, but he lifted his spear and lifted himself onto his hind legs, in the position James had taught Bright Star and the others; it seemed so long ago, even though logic said it was a couple of weeks at most.
He looked eastward and was surprised to see how many trees had been completely destroyed, most likely by artillery fire. What is going on over there?
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Note; I based part of this speech off of one Colonel Chamberlain gives in the movie Gettysburg.