//------------------------------// // First Blood // Story: Upheaval: Breaking Point // by Visiden Visidane //------------------------------// Upheaval: Breaking Point Chapter 23: First Blood From his aerial vantage point, Scarlet Rabbit watched the wolven forces arrayed before Bastion City. They showed during yesterday's dusk. They marched, and prepared throughout the night. By the time morning had arrived, they had the entire city surrounded. The chaos and darkness of Fangbreaker's fall had made it impossible to gauge the enemy's strength before. Now, with the rays of the morning sun breaking through the usually cloudy sky helping him, he could make his estimations. Just a crossbow shot away from the walls was a veritable sea of fur, fangs, and claws. The wolven stalked the grassy plain: eyeing the city hungrily, pacing through the short grass, and snarling at each other. At the rear section of the army, more wolven dragged a few dozen catapults forward along with battering rams, siege ladders, and mobile towers. It was only a matter of time until the first boulder struck the walls. Against the massive wolven army, the Northern Equestrian Legion had the survivors of Fangbreaker Fortress, Bastion City's garrison, and a contingent of new recruits. Scarlet grinned at the odds. This was going to be the battle of the century. Several centuries, in fact. When had been the last time things were this desperate? All his time in the Legion had been spent fighting in skirmishes. This would be his first time being involved in a clash between armies. He was almost too giddy to land, doing so only when he noticed Vanguard looking up at him. A streak of prismatic colors came from one side. Rainbow was hovering nearby by the time he landed next to Vanguard. Scarlet's grin spread a little wider. Here was something else that got him excited. He was still reeling from the other day's race; a race that she had refused to acknowledge. The same race that he felt like a winner, but not in a way she understood it. He had never thought he would ever encounter another pony who still appeared to be moving when he sped up, and put his mind into it. Finally, a pony who just might catch Scarlet Rabbit. All she needed was a little time under Tailwind's wing, just as he had done. "Those are a lot of wolven," Rainbow said. She tried to sound confident, but there was no hiding that quiver in her legs, or that tremble in her voice. "Steady yourself," Vanguard told Rainbow sternly. "You should be awaiting orders with the rest of your flight." He turned towards Scarlet. "Scarlet, we also have our orders." Still grinning, Scarlet saluted, and flew off while Vanguard ran in the same direction. After running a short distance however, Vanguard turned around. "Rainbow Dash!" he called out. "We'll win this, and you can see for yourself how "cool" the Legion can be!" Rainbow made her way towards the northern section of Bastion City. The assurance from Vanguard steadied her nerves a bit though her heart was still beating quickly. She passed through street after street of ponies scrambling to get ready. Civilians had run into their homes. Carts of supplies were being pulled away into safe storage while weapons were being distributed. Rainbow touched the crossbow strapped to her harness. How long would it be until she started using it on actual enemies? An hour from now? A few minutes? "Get over here, recruit!" Tailwind shouted at Rainbow from the top of Bastion City's crenelated northern walls. The rest of Flight Dreadwing lined the walls with her, taking cover behind the ramparts with their crossbows already drawn. Following what she had been taught yesterday, Rainbow landed in front of her flight captain and saluted. "Take your post," Tailwind ordered. While all sides of the city were facing a great mass of wolven, it was by the northern walls where they were concentrated. If the northern gates could be forced open, the wolven could easily swarm the city. Rainbow looked around her. In addition to Flight Dreadwing's thirty pegasi, they also had another thirty from Flight Frostshear. "Listen up!" Tailwind barked. "The commander expects the wolven to go for an initial rush to see if they can take the city in a single battle before settling in for a siege. It worked at Fangbreaker and they have the mutts to spare. Our orders are as follows: settle in, and make them pay when they come forward. You all know who to shoot first, and how to work your way down their chain of command. Once they bring their engines closer, Flight Frostshear will provide covering fire while Flight Dreadwing will swoop in with these." Tailwind motioned towards several sacks of small, ceramic spheres. Each sphere had a small pictogram for fire etched into it that glowed a dim orange. "What are those?" Rainbow asked. Several members looked at her as if she was an idiot. "Firebombs," Tailwind said. "The unicorn enchantments will light them up once the containers shatter, and the chemicals inside burn long and hot. Don't use them on the wolven troops, even if they're clustered. Aim for their siege engines, or supply wagons. Is that understood?" Flight Dreadwing saluted, and distributed the spheres among themselves. Rainbow was just tying a small pouch of the firebombs to her harness when she heard a familiar voice behind her. "Hey, RD, looks like you got stationed here too." Rainbow Dash squinted at the pony who was talking to her. She recognized the voice, but the sight of this barded pony, no taller than she was, was a little confusing. She looked a little closer and saw the yellow mane, and the green eyes, underneath the metal champron. "Applejack?" she asked. "What the-- It took you that long to recognize me?" Applejack asked. "I spotted you a mile away, even in your barding!" "The rainbow mane and tail were dead giveaways," a stallion standing next to Applejack said. "Don't be such a fuss-budget, Twocolt, I swear you sound like Rarity sometimes," Applejack said. "Must be a pony with an unbelievable amount of common sense," Twocolt replied. "So what are you doing way up here?" Rainbow asked. "You don't even have crossbows!" "Those wolven are going to bring along those giant ladders they've got over there, and latch it to our wall here," Applejack said. "Our platoon got assigned to make sure they don't climb over and get'cha." "So is Twilight here too?" Rainbow asked. "I haven't seen her around," Applejack said with a shrug. "Maybe she got assigned somewhere else." "We better get back to our posts before Iron Jaw throws the both of us off this wall," Twocolt said. Applejack nodded. "I'll see you later, Rainbow," she said. "Stay safe and alive." Rainbow cleared her throat and grinned. "You too, Applejack." "If you had a cutie mark, Twocolt, it would be a wet blanket," Applejack said as they walked off. Rainbow turned her attention back to the enemy. The wolven were getting agitated. They massed in front of the gates, snarling, and barking themselves into a frenzy while their siege engines rolled into place. Tense hours seemed to fly by. Tailwind made the signal to take aim. As she had been taught just yesterday, Rainbow looked for one of the bigger wolven. Size and strength often decided how officers were chosen among the wolven. It was a more difficult task than she had anticipated. Each time she spotted a big wolven, an even bigger one caught her eye. Then, there were the enormous, white-furred wolven at the rear sections. Even from a distance, their monstrous fangs and claws gleamed in the sunlight. Rainbow's forelegs started to shake again, causing her aim to go all over the place. Gritting her teeth, she concentrated harder, forcing the fear down like a mouthful of bad feed. A lone howl burst from behind the wolven lines. The wolven surged forward. They crossed the distance between them and the walls so quickly that Rainbow lost the one she had been aiming at. "Fire!" Tailwind shouted. Rainbow picked the nearest wolven, and fired. A barrage of bolts struck the wolven, knocking down those who were hit. Rainbow couldn't tell if she had hit anything. Some of the smaller wolven lined up, and aimed their crossbows at her direction. Unlike hers, their crossbows were huge, about as tall as she was when stood up. "Bolters!" Tailwind shouted. "Cover!" Rainbow was already ahead on the cover part. She put her back against a rampart, and waited for the telltale sound of metal striking stone. An enormous bolt flew past just inches from her cover. "Reload!" Tailwind shouted. Rainbow pulled out another bolt from her case, and loaded it, pulling the crossbow's crank with a foreleg. "Fire!" Tailwind shouted again. Rainbow came out of her cover, and aimed for the first wolven she saw. There was no time to be picky, and the lecture from yesterday flew out of her mind. The wolven bolters were reloading, and she didn't want a single inch of her body exposed when they fired. On instinct, she went for one of the bolters. It was winding up its weapon, using some kind of pulley to draw the massive string back, when her shot connected. The bolt plunged deep into its ribs, and sent it tumbling towards its fellows. Rainbow quickly went back to her cover, took a deep breath, and waited. She wasn't just waiting for the sound of enemy bolts striking the stone, and flying past her. She was also waiting for…something. The wolven she had hit was surely dead. She even hit it at the same spot she had imagined she would hit her first wolven. The exhilaration was still ringing in her ears while her heart hammered wildly in her chest. 'That wolven is dead.' she repeated to herself. She had killed something. The wolven were vicious, monstrous creatures, but she had still killed. Once the exhilaration settled down, she braced herself for guilt, horror, something that would protest violently over what she had just done. "Stop staring off, recruit!" Rainbow looked to her side to find her flight captain right next to her. "They've got their catapults in place!" Tailwind barked. "Get ready to take off!" The rest of Flight Dreadwing were securing their firebombs and crossbows. All of them except one. One of the new recruits was lying on his side just behind Tailwind. Rainbow swallowed, and wiped the sweat from her forehead when she saw the wolven bolt sticking out of the poor stallion's neck. The first flight of pegasi took off. They dodged and weaved through a barrage of bolts, and fired back furiously. "Frostshear is up!" Tailwind called out. "Get a move on!" Rainbow followed directly behind Tailwind as they took off. Flight Dreadwing flew past Flight Frostshear, then swooped in on their targets. Tailwind led the way, dropping a couple of firebombs on a nearby catapult. The spheres struck true, spilling liquid flame all over the wooden engine. Rainbow Dash tried to do the same on the next catapult when a wolven bolt whistled past her face. She forgot the target, and dashed upward in an erratic pattern, desperately making herself impossible to hit. "Rainbow!" Tailwind shouted. "Get back in formation!" Her flight captain's angry shout broke through the panic ringing inside Rainbow's ears. She swooped back down with a couple of firebombs in her hoof. Once she was close enough to one catapult, she hurled them with all her strength. The spheres shattered, and another siege engine burst into flames. The wolven crew operating it snarled and barked while trying to put the flames out. Elated over her success, she flew back along with the rest of Flight Dreadwing. A sharp pain to Rainbow's left hind leg brought her up short. For a single, horrifying moment, she thought that she had just been shot. She looked at the hurting leg, and found blood trickling down from a gash. A wolven bolt must have grazed it. "Don't stop in midair, foal!" Tailwind shouted. She grabbed Rainbow by the barding. "It's just a scratch, now move!" Rainbow nodded, and followed Tailwind back to the walls. Behind them were several flaming catapults, and a supply wagon. She was still waiting for the revulsion and despair to kick in, but all she was feeling was a mixture of fear and elation that made everything seem so vivid. While the two flights made their sortie, it was up to Applejack's platoon to defend the walls. The wolven latched their hooked ladders on to the ledges. Snarling eagerly, they rushed to climb once a ladder was secured. By the gate, a battering ram wheeled into place. The wolven found it difficult to actually use it, however. Bolts from the walls, and rocks from the gatehouse's towers killed any wolven crew that tried to get in place. A firebomb landed directly on the battering ram, lighting its protective roof ablaze. The first wolven that reached the top of the wall swiftly encountered the armored hooves of its defenders. Applejack smashed her metal-shod back hooves into the face of one wolven, knocking it senseless and down on the rest of its brethren. A tangled mass of flailing claws crashed to the wall's base. Applejack rushed towards the ladder, and unhooked it before the wolven could start climbing again. She pushed the ladder off, and watched it fall on the frustrated wolven beneath. "And don't you try that again!" Applejack crowed. A bolt struck the rampart just a foot from her face. She ducked as a couple more bolts followed. "Oh sure, present your face for target practice why don't you?" Twocolt stood next to Applejack with his back against a rampart. A trickle of blood dripped from his right shoulder where a gap between the plates of barding was. "You're bleeding!" she said. "Lucky wolven slipped in a swipe before I knocked him off his ladder," Twocolt grunted. Before Applejack could reply, another ladder latched onto the wall just a few feet away from them. They both sprang into action. Around them, the rest of their platoon was fighting off even more wolven. A few ladders had been secured, and the wolven continued to climb up through them. "Watch out!" Twocolt shouted. A wolven jumped off a ladder, and charged Applejack. She jumped aside, then slammed her shoulder against it. Twocolt was already by the its other side. He reared up as soon as it fell, and brought both front tramplers on its skull. Applejack flinched and look away at the sickening crunch of bone breaking. When she looked, Twocolt had kicked the dead wolven off the wall, and was scraping some of the blood from his tramplers on the stone. "Damn, I hear it takes forever to get the smell out," Twocolt said. Applejack's stomach heaved. Twocolt was a recruit just like she was, but the only emotion he seemed to feel about killing his first wolven was annoyance. "Want to start a--" A second wolven slammed against Twocolt's side, its claws scraping against his barding. His head banged hard against the ground. The wolven immediately went for the throat. "Help!" he cried out. Applejack smashed her head against the wolven's side before it could bite. It fell heavily to the ground, and struggled to get back to its feet. She smashed a trampler against its face, stunning it, and making it squeal. The wolven continued to struggle, however. Applejack smashed another hoof against it. When its claws scraped against the plate protecting her chest, she continued bringing her hooves down, stomping over and over until it stopped struggling. She nearly fell on her tail when she slipped on some of slick liquid on the ground. The wolven was dead, and its blood was all over her front hooves, chest, and face. Vomit rose to the back of her throat. "Thanks." Twocolt groaned as he stood up. "I thought I was done for there. That makes one actual kill for each of us." Applejack turned on Twocolt. One kill each? Was he keeping score? Was this some sort of game? "Look here--" Twocolt's eyes widened. He jumped towards Applejack, and dragged her to the ground. Several bolts whizzed past them. When one pony failed to duck, a couple of bolts quickly found their marks, and plunged deep into his right flank. The impact hurled the pony to the ground where he lay crying out hoarsely for help. A pair of ponies dragged him off the wall. A second pony dropped to the ground. There was nopony coming to her aid, however. A bolt had found a home in her skull. The hail of bolts continued. Strangely enough, they were flying towards them at an even level instead of upwards. She pushed Twocolt off, and looked towards the bolts' source. A massive, mobile tower had rolled against the walls. Inside, a squad of bolters shot at them. "Darn it!" Applejack shouted. "What are we going to do with that?" "Stay down!" Applejack recognized the voice. Sure enough, Twilight crawled towards them. Behind her, was a squad of unicorns, firing blasts of magical energy down at the wolven. Their mage captain, easily recognizable with his coat, telekinetically lifted one scaling ladder, even with a couple of wolven still climbing it, then hurled it away from the wall. "We got to do something about that tower!" Applejack said. "I have an idea," Twilight replied. She started to concentrate on a spell. When heat gathered around Twilight, Applejack backed away slowly. A sphere of coruscating, red-orange energy formed just above Twilight's horn. "What is that?" she whispered. "Fireball." Twocolt's voice was also tinged with awe. "You sure you came from the same place as this one?" For a moment, Applejack herself wasn't sure. But this was still Twilight Sparkle, the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria, they were talking about. "I'm sure," she replied. "Recruit Sparkle!" the mage captain called out. "Add more heat! Make it white hot before you throw it!" Deep in her concentration, Twilight only vaguely heard the warning from Owlsight. White hot? Wasn't that just an excessive use of magical energy? Fire was fire. All she needed to do was deal with the mobile tower, not test the limits of her spellcasting. "White hot!" Owlsight called out again. Another bolt flew above Twilight. There was no time to ponder what the point of more heat was. She had to deal with that tower quickly. She waited for a pause from the barrage of bolts coming from the tower, aimed the spell, and released. The red-orange ball streaked unsteadily towards the tower. She held her breath when it veered off slightly, but it managed to steady itself, and land gently on the tower's top section, just before the feet of the wolven bolters. The tiny sphere blossomed into a silent, and powerful explosion, sending bits of burning wood flying in all directions. The bolters howled as they fell to the ground below. One of them dropped on the wall. The wolven whimpered and flailed, rolling on the ground in a futile attempt to smother the flames. Twilight tried to tear her eyes away from the sight, but couldn't. She gagged, and retched when the smell of burned flesh and fur wafted towards her. A few seconds more, and the wolven flopped to the ground, and lay still. Twilight fell to her knees. The screams were still ringing in her ears. Some of the fat on the smoking corpse still sizzled. She heaved to the side, and vomited violently. The back of her throat burned with leftover vomit. Owlsight stood before her, but she didn't have the strength to look up. "And that's why you make it white hot, recruit," Owlsight said. "Don't give them time to scream. Don't leave any remains." Flights Dreadwing and Frostshear had flown back. Behind them were smoking patches within the wolven army. The battle continued to rage even with the mobile tower now smoking and useless. The wolven persisted in battering the gates down head on, but it was to no avail. The Legion made their foes pay dearly for each attempt. After what seemed like hours, another lone howl rose from the wolven army's rear lines. As quickly as they had rushed in, the wolven began to retreat. It was time to settle down for a true siege. Rainbow walked towards her friends proudly. Despite a few hiccups, she had successfully completed her first battle. She was responsible for two burning catapults, and she knew she had done her part in shooting down wolven attackers. Though there was much more fighting to be done, they had won this day. Seeing her friends alive, and mostly unharmed, put a smile on her face; a smile tempered with concern. Applejack was doing her best to wipe off the blood on her barding with a rag. Her lips were settled into a grim line. Twilight looked sick. She was lying on her belly, her face almost green with nausea. She didn't look up when Rainbow approached. Instead, she just stared blankly ahead of her. A trickle of vomit escaped her lips. Rainbow wondered why she wasn't sick or upset. In fact, she felt exhilarated. They won. The wolven would come again. They burned down a bunch of siege engines, but there were plenty more at the rear lines. They didn't even seem to put much of a dent on the wolven numbers. They also didn't win this battle without casualties. Several pegasi got shot from the air around her. The wolven swarmed them as soon as they hit the ground. Yet, she was somehow able to put all those bad things to the corner of her thoughts, and concentrate on fighting, and winning. 'Is something wrong with me?' she thought. A hoof touched Rainbow's shoulder. "Not bad for your first battle, Rainbow Dash." Tailwind grinned as she walked past. "Next time, less panicking, and more shooting, alright?" Rainbow grinned back, and saluted. She set aside her worries, and focused on the tasks ahead: cleaning up, patching up the scratch on her hind leg, and sharpening her skills. Then, on to more fighting.