It was dawn and the sun was breaking the horizon. My men have been walking all night, still strong and ready to fight as if it were only minutes of walking. We had stopped at the barren land, on the edge of the Everfree boundary. Silver Dust had left my side to go prepare the combat medics, and also fastening his tail blade for battle. His amulet was glowing, ready for action. Silver Dust had gained much power from practice ever since he acquired the necklace of power. He was becoming more of a leader, rather than support. I had recognized this power, and the amulet recognized mine. Although it still was unsure of me, there were no unusual outbursts and life continued normally.
Bronze Hammer had been put in charge of the foot soldiers. He had the talent of good leadership in times of need, and left to go prepare the soldiers for battle. He had taken his hammer from his pouch to inspect it before battle. After much tweaking and modifying, the handle of the war hammer was made collapsible and more light weight for better performance and mobility. Each soldier looked up to him for his strength, loyalty, and forgiveness. Bronze was not a merciless pony, and strived to make each soldier stronger in ways that haven't been tried in an army before. Almost every soldier looked up to him at this new approach, and any who didn't have respect didn't have determination, and left the ranks soon after. The final outcome was a smaller army than possible, but had more strength and determination than a regular army twice the size.
Tiki had flown off to go give one last pep talk to the flying soldiers of the clouds. with his swords at his side and his bow on his back above his wings, he looked like a true commander. Although we were all given new sets of heavier armor, he had insisted on a more clothing based design for his flying ranks. Tiki had been the commander of the pegasi and griffin rankings of the clouds. Although Tiki didn't show the commanding power that some of the other ponies had wielded, his attitude and personality had earned respect among all of the flyers. In the end they all turned out to be an elite flying force I had hoped for. Not much more training had been needed, since almost all of the flyers of the army had come from mercenary Pegasi and rogue griffins. They were a tough bunch, but were turned from tough and stubborn to strong and determined after Tiki worked with them.
I had been the commander over all. I was the one to make the final call on what happens, the other three were there for when the battle had engaged and there wasn't time to cycle orders. I had the undying loyalty and command over the dragon ranks. Although there were only a hundred or so that had showed, there were thousands more ready to aid to my call. I haven't left my post at the front of the army, looking over the ranks prepared for the battle of the centuries. I knew that many would lose their lives, but they were all willing to die for the ones they loved back home, and for the fate and balance of Equestria. I had all of my faith in each and every soldier in this field. I knew each one of them was going to fight to their fullest, and will not disappoint me. There was no room for error, and no time for mercy. We had to stop the goblins for the fate of Equestria, and if we didn't... There was no "if we didn't," there was no room for failure. Even if the goblins outnumbered us ten to one, even if every one of my men fell, I will not fall. I refuse to fall and will kill every single goblin on this field who defies my way. I could feel my ancient command come to power in my thought.
Somepony had nudged me out of my little speech, it was Silver Dust. I looked around, everything was fine, why was I disturbed? Silver only had to motion to the soot on my coat and the burn marks of my hooves on the ground, I was breathing plumes of smoke and had singed the ground with my fiery core. I was ready for battle, but where were the goblins, and where was Glimmer? That was my biggest fear. Glimmer had said she would be back with valuable information on the coming army, but she hasn't returned, and the goblins could jump us any moment. I could only fear the worst, that Glimmer was dead, or captured as a prisoner of war. I had started to snort smoke and breathe blue sparks, the ground had started to smolder under and around me. I was ready to fight for my new era.
"Is that Blunt Will?" Silver pointed to the edge of the forest. A green, tall figure stood at the forest's edge, with one of his loyal assistants at his side. In the grasp of his long bony fingers, was a jagged blade. In the other hand was a purple pony, her blue mane being grasped like an animal.
"Are you ready to begin, almighty 'dragon lord'?" The goblin leader growled.
"I'll start us off with the first strike, the next turn will go to you!" He raised the knife in the air.
The blade struck down upon the purple pony. Red stained her coat, the ground, and the knife. I didn't know what to think or how to react at first, I just stood there. I almost fell to my knees, my source of power had been hit hard at the sight of losing such a friend, but another friend had echoed through my head. Silver had yelled to me, "there is still hope!" And he was right, there was. She wasn't dead yet, and I had to get to her. At the sight of my weak point, goblins of the forests edge had lined up for a mile around and fired a swarm of flaming arrows, all into my direction. Silver Dust had reacted quick enough to conjure a barrier, but didn't have time to control the power. A barrier of crystalized light had arose paralleled to the forest. It had stretched for a mile long and mile high. Each and every one of the arrows fired had stopped mid flight and the goblins had started to rush from the forest and charge our army.
"Everypony! Charge! For Equestria!" I had yelled, my voice booming over the land.
"Silver, you're with me! We're going to Glimmer!" I shouted.
"Right! Lets move, you clear a path!" Silver shouted back.
We needed a path through the sea of goblins, and only one pony could do such a thing. This was the final push, the one to save a life and stop the hoard. I could feel my power showing, the dragon blood in my veins was at boiling point and engulfing my body once more. My features changed once again, and very rapidly. Bones could be heard shifting, muscle generated, and my blue aura glowed in a scaly pattern from my coat, complimenting the fiery burn of my green eyes. My legs had grown long and jointed around like a dragon's figure, the hair of my tail twisted into one curled knot, and became more flexible. My teeth had shaped to a bladed point and locked into my jaw. My pupils now shifted to a reptilian look and gave me a new form of vision. I could see regularly, but I could also detect life forces. I looked upon Glimmer's unconscious body, seeing her life force drain from her. At that sight, I had instantly picked up an incomprehensible amount of speed, charging the army of goblins running my way. The front line in front of me had stumbled and tried to run the other way, but within the moment I had been on them and started to bash through anything in my way. Heat was being thrown off my body like heat waves of a volcano pit. Any goblin that was lucky enough not to be tackled by the ball of flame was scorched beyond recovery and fell to the ground. I had cleared a large path through the goblin army, and Silver Dust soon followed, whipping his blade into anything that moved. Within moments Silver and I had arrived at Glimmer's side. Silver immediately sealed the wound and returned any blood he could to Glimmer's body. He also woke her from unconsciousness and had her airlifted out by a nearby griffin.
The battle had raged on, about six goblins fell for every pony. Dragons were scorching the land to an inferno, incapacitating hundreds with each fly by. I kept Glimmer in my mind as I fought. I killed mercilessly, not caring for the goblins that fell to my flame or blazing hooves. I wanted revenge, I wanted Blunt Will. Tiki was striking from the sky, arrows in the right spots, helping anypony in need on the ground. He had trained with the bow for countless hours until his shot was near perfect. There were only so many arrows to go around, which left Tiki to strike down on any of the other targets with a speedy strike of his swords to the head. The red Pegasus dropped from the sky like a bloody assassin, mercilessly ending each foe he struck down with his swords. Focusing on the biggest of the opponents, his blades pierced the thick skulls and blood flowed like a river of red with each strike. Bronze Hammer struck down waves of incoming attackers with a swing of his hammer. Dead on contact, the goblins fell instantly to the force of Bronze's swing. Before the war, he had engraved his and AJ's initials onto the side of his hammer, to remember who he was fighting for with every swing.
As the war raged on, goblins became more dispersed within the ranks, so everypony had to watch each others backs. Bronze had been jumped and ridden a couple times from the small brutes, but most were bucked off and smashed in by his mallet. Other times, Tiki had slashed the tougher goblins from Bronze's back, making sure as few soldiers fell as possible. One of these attacks, though, had been met with an unplanned result. As Tiki came down and finished one of the goblins from Bronze's backside, another had jumped upon his back and restrained his wings. Others soon followed, restraining him and sinking a blade into his right wing. One of the goblins had yelled, "we take no prisoners!" At the sound of those words, Bronze brought his hammer across the three goblins holding down Tiki, just barely grazing his wing with the head of the hammer. One of the medics had removed the blade from the wing and took him back to the camp.
Silver Dust came up with the amazing idea of throwing me into the middle of the goblin crowd, which turned out just as planned. A barrier was conjured and pushed me into the air onto the flood of little green warriors. As I hit the ground, the goblins had swarmed me, slashing at me with swords of bone and wood. None of these were effective against me, and most of them caught fire on contact with my coat. As I became overwhelmed with goblins surrounding every inch of my body, I let loose a massive burst of raw power. Smoke flared from my nostrils and blue fire spilled from my muzzle. A mushroom cloud of smoke and ash went into the air, and hundreds of goblins fell to my power, with plenty more to go around. We repeated this process a few more times as Silver kept to the side and slashed off any goblins swinging his way. Sometimes the tail blade wasn't enough to finish some of the larger goblins. Silver had levitated any weapons dropped by fallen foes and pierced the larger goblins through the back.
As the battle raged on, soldiers were shipped out back to the camp, some of which returned to fight once again within a few hours. The goblins weren't so lucky. They didn't train medics and only lost more soldiers by the minutes passing by. More dragons had showed to swarm the area for a taste of the blood of their foes. As the hours passed, I became more impatient. I didn't want to fight grunts any more, I wanted to find Blunt Will so I could end him like the rest of his army. As these thoughts circled in my head, something large had emerged from the forest. More and more started to run through the fields and started to plow for my men. It was the design the Flim Flam brothers had designed. There were so many of them, I didn't think we would be able to fend off from such power. The front end was avoided by all of the goblins, keeping clear of the jutting blades of the front. Swords slashed from the sides and back, and arrows flew from the crossbows mounted on the tops. Before the machines could reach the helpless warriors on the ground, I had signaled to the dragons of the air, "destroy the machines before they reach the soldiers!" Immediately, dragons started to forcefully land upon the machines one by one, crushing the frail design of the machines of death. There weren't enough dragons to go around for all of the machines, surprisingly enough. Some of them reached the front lines and began to spin and slash the blades in the front of the machine. Armor was grinding and soldiers were cut into fine pieces as their bodies were processed through the horrid machines. Chunks of meat and pools of blood were spilt out of the other end, a smell to make even a dragon lose its lunch. Any of the machines that made it into the front lines were soon disabled by griffins or Pegasi, killing off the drivers of the machines and ripping apart the control center.
One of the few death machines that had made it into the front lines of the ponies had appeared directly in front of Bronze Hammer. Without skipping a beat, Bronze swept his hammer through the moving blades of the machine and took out every single one of them. This left a clear opening for the core, which Bronze had thrust his hammer into the middle of. The machine's internal design was meant for flesh and thinner armor, not a solid block of extremely strong metal. Without receiving a scratch, the head of the hammer mutilated the spinning gears of the machine, causing it to violently throw out blades and metal objects from both ends of the contraption. Bronze was the pony front and center of the hit area, and was slashed and pelted by flying objects. After taking a serrated blade to the chest, Silver Dust was rushed to the area and soon had Bronze fixed as much as possible. Bronze had taken so many blades to his body, there was question to whether he would survive. I had soon approached Silver, grabbing his amulet with a touch of my hoof. I spoke to the gem with my core energy, to give it power. Silver was overcome by magical energy and engulfed Bronze with a dazzling show of golden sparkling energy. All of the parts had been disintegrated from Bronze's chest and had caused him to fall unconscious. There was no argument, Bronze was sent back to a tent at the camp to rest and recover while the battle raged on.
It had come down to Silver Dust and I, fighting back to back. We kept going for what felt like hours, the bodies piling up around us. All the surrounding goblins started to take notice of our resistance as we fought more and more into the enemy crowd. Silver had encircled us with a dome-shaped barrier as the goblins poured over, blocking out the light and covering the top. Silver could only hold the shield for so long, and was fading fast. I had reacted without thinking, throwing Silver under my body to protect his life as I let loose an explosive blast from all directions of myself, allowing my core energy to emanate from me. A massive blast was summoned at the last second which shattered the barrier and instantly killed all the goblins in sight. The blast had forced back the two opposing sides and cleared an area for one final battle. The battle between Blunt Will and I. Silver Dust was quickly escorted back to the side of the battlefield, exhausted from magical exertion. Blunt Will had appeared into the middle of the field, still covered in the Blood of Glimmer Hunt. This was to be the deciding battle, the one to end everything.
"Are you ready to end this, ironclad warrior?" The goblin bellowed in an amused voice.
"Commander, you best not taunt him... Our plan did not go accordingly..." The assistant had cowered.
"What do you mean? I killed his little marefriend in front of his own eyes, he couldn't possibly have the full potential that he originally had!" Blunt laughed.
"That's where you are false," I said calmly. "You failed at killing her, Silver and I got to her just in time to stop the bleeding. She will live and fight another day." I said strongly.
"Ah, but I doubt you noticed the poison, am I right?" Blunt chuckled.
My heart went blank and I almost fell to my knees once again. There wasn't any poison. Silver would've stopped it right? We would've seen it, right? No. It was a slow acting poison, no smell, no taste, and clear to the eye, as if it were regular water. I had felt so hopeless to the idea. He had outsmarted me and taken a friend from under my nose, from my iron grip. All of my friends were gone. I was alone on the battlefield, my defeat slowly approaching me. Blunt Will walked up to me, blade in hand. I was on the ground, my core flame only glimmering with sorrow. The blade was raised into the air, gleaming for everypony to witness. "Here is your new era! In my grasp!" Blunt had yelled across the battlefield. Everything was silent, not even the goblins were cheering, they only watched in angst. I saw tears, dripping down in front of me, but they weren't mine. They certainly weren't that of the goblin king. My thoughts were vivid, before my fall. I saw Twilight, the tears belonged to her. The knife hit my neck, straight down it fell. The metal cut into my mane and soon stopped at my skin, the metal itself started to melt. With each picture in my head, each memory coming back to me, my fire grew stronger. I saw Rarity with Twilight, then Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and then Pinkie Pie. It was the famous picture of them, as a group, but I saw more. Spike was in the center, and I was behind the group, behind Twilight. Bronze Hammer stood to the right, with Applejack in his arms. I saw Tiki to the left, with Rarity to his side. Even Silver Dust was laying in the grass next to Fluttershy. My core fire was now extremely intense, starting to roast the big goblin from the intense heat. I saw him back away as his skin started to blister and split from the heat. I stared him straight in the eye, and what I saw was so rewarding. There was fear in his eyes, terror at it's best. I saw the image of the mane 6 again, at a funeral, crying for their loss. I hadn't a clue who was in the grave, but it was the final straw. I started to get my revenge.
"So, you thought you won? One death will only weaken me, it won't stop me." I smirked grimly at the beast.
"I have many more reasons to keep fighting, even if you defeated me in one single way." I laughed evilly.
"It doesn't matter! You cannot defeat me! Dark magic will overcome your attempts in your early stages of development! I WILL be victorious!" Blunt said, starting to back away.
"Well, if I can't kill you, then the attempt is going to be so much more enjoyable." I said with a twisted grin as I lunged at the staggering goblin.
It was all over. The heat from my fire had consumed the monstrosity as my hoof hit his thick neck, penetrating through his spine to the other side. I made sure it wasn't just a punch of revenge, but a blow of magic to what ever dark core he had, and I felt it all crush. His very skin turned a lighter green from the destruction of the dark energy engulfing him, before it darkened to a crisp from my internal heat. Instead of pulling my hoof from his neck, I brought my arm up and removed his head from his body, blood sizzling as it hit the ground. I thought about keeping a battle trophy for myself, but my thoughts were primal and sickening from my pulsing dragon blood. I looked up at the battlefield, soldiers looking at me in disgust, I must've looked like a monster. I soon noticed the other side of the field. It was barren from bodies of fallen goblins. There were few goblin bodies littering the battleground, but only a fraction of the amount that was originally there. Blunt Will used dark magic to conjure an army to his command on the day of the battle. Although this explains the massive amount of soldiers he had, I know that there were more original goblins than this, Tiki saw it with his own eyes. The camp that was built up before the battle that Tiki flew over was filled with real goblins, not conjured ghosts. It didn't matter now, none of it did. The battle was over and I could finally relax, but the thought of Glimmer crossed my mind again and I was soon on my feet once more, flying at unimaginable speed to the tent she was kept in.
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"Silv... You can save her right?" I asked, my body trembling from anxiety.
"I dunno man, its pretty bad, the toxins have already taken points in her body, its only a matter of time before the reaction occurs and she..." Silver Dust dipped his head in sorrow.
"Give me a time. How long does she have?" I asked.
"I would say, at least 10 minutes, an hour at most." Silver said disappointedly.
"Ironclad... I have something... To show you..." Glimmer whispered through the pain.
"What? Anything to make your last wishes come true." I said, a tear streaking down my cheek.
"Help me out of bed, its a surprise..." Glimmer grimaced at the pain as she tried to get out of the cot.
"Hold on, lemme help you out there." Silver levitated Glimmer out of bed and onto her hooves.
"Look... My cutie mark..." Glimmer smiled weakly.
It had changed, it really did change. Her cutie mark went from a contract with a dagger to her original crossed swords. The swords were different though, they had deep blue engravings on them, dragons snaking down the sides of the blades, breaking a lighter blue fire out the ends. I didn't know what this meant, but I did know it had something to do under my leadership with her.
"The time I spent training... It was for you..." She whimpered.
"Every second I spent, after that day in the mine... Was all because of you..." She smiled again.
"Your determination is amazing, I'm so proud of how far you've come." I said, more tears flowing down my face, but I continued to smile.
"Yeah, it's such a shame that she's gonna die." Tiki said, soon jabbed in the sides by Bronze and Silver.
"Just know... It's ok... I've accomplished my goal. You've helped me set that goal and achieve it... The only greater thing you've done for me is teach me how to... To love again..." She laid down, closed her eyes, and stopped breathing. She was gone.
"I thought you said ten minutes!" I turned to Silver.
"Well, I gave my best estimate... I don't know what else to say, I guess we just have to give a proper burial." Silver said, hoof on my shoulder.
"I'll do it, you guys don't worry about it..." I said, trying to stay strong.
I had picked up Glimmer's body, still warm from her bed. I walked outside to the middle of the barren land, bodies litter the floor. I found the area, clear of death, that I had finished the battle with Blunt Will. I soon got to making a mound of stone upon where I laid the body of Glimmer Hunt. I piled more stones into a perfectly shape mound, a monument of such a battle. I drove a sword through the stones into the rocks. As the sword sunk in, something amazing happened. The dragon detailing of Glimmer's cutie mark stretched through the sword and up the handle. It was a deep radiating blue, it was pure magic, it was the only explanation. I had taken the knuckles I had made, my best and only weapon, my closest possession in this world, and laid them upon the hilt of the sword so that they may gleam in the light for the years to come. I made sure that this monument was not to be disturbed or moved in any way for as long as this field stands by melting everything together with a magical flame. The sword did not change, and my knuckles were bound to the hilt of the sword. The dragon detailing glowed white at the touch of my flame. The rock pile was melted together and formed a glassy texture into one solid mound.
"May this battle be remembered by the starting act..." I spoke to myself.
"This fight wasn't for nothing, and I'll make sure of that..." More tears ran down my face.
I walked back into the camp, congratulations and cheers greeted me. I put on the best smile I could, even after such an event as the honorable burial of a friend. I walked back to the tent where all of my friends were waiting. Comforted by all of them, I tried my best to move on. Glimmer will be pulling at the back of my mind for a while. The only thing left to do was to pack up and clear the battlefield. After a heartfelt ceremony for the fallen soldiers, both goblins and ponies, the field was burned by the flame of the dragons and I. The dragons started to loose flames over the bodies, and as the flames all connected, I dropped a single spark of my magic into the pool. Everything flashed blue and the bodies disintegrated.
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After sleeping the night on the battlefield and packing up the next day, we all immediately started the walk back to Ponyville. The wounded were hauled by the dragons walking the land, and the rest of the army was tired and soar from such a fight. It was only a day of walking, but it felt like forever, each step farther from Glimmer in the battlefield. We arrived at the edge of Ponyville when Rainbow Dash saw me climb over the slope. She alerted the entire town to our return and everypony was gathered on the streets for our return. They thought it was going to be a happy celebration, but it was far from it. Only mourning came from the loss of lives and the pain in each soldier's eyes. There were enough rooms for most of the soldiers who returned, some had to camp in tents once more, but the wounded were all taken to the clinic and the rest of the army had spent the night in the courtesy of the citizens' homes and the old motel. After sorting through the soldiers, Tiki, Silver, Bronze, and I had returned to the mansion, only to be greeted by the mane 6 and Crisco, with the best dishes he could possibly have prepared for us. We all enjoyed the dish and had time to catch up on the events that had happened over the last couple days. At the end of dinner, when everypony was getting up to leave, I had sneezed and recieved a letter from the princess. She had been informed on our return and was coming to Ponyville for a ceremony on our victory. After the dinner, everypony took time in the living room to relax and talk for a while.
"Now, ah know ah wasn't the first sight for ya to lay eyes on when ya got back, but it doesn't matter, cuz you're alright, mostly." Applejack said, staring at the scars across Bronze Hammer's face and chest.
"Ah'm alright. Ah got back in one piece, thanks to Silver Dust and his healin' abilities." Bronze said.
"Yeah, same here, my wing works perfectly after Silver went to work on it with that amulet of his." Tiki said, flexing his right wing.
"We definitely owe a toast to Silver Dust for his hard work out on the field. Everypony deserves one." I said, raising my glass in the air.
"Oh no, the one who deserves it most is you, Ironclad! You're the one who defeated the most goblins, you killed Blunt Will, and you lost a close friend today." Silver said solemnly.
"Ah think y'all need some sleep, you've worked hard the past few days, lets get some rest sugar cube." Applejack kissed Bronze and they both went to bed.
Everypony else went home and also joined in on the slumber. Sleep was good for everypony that night, they all worked hard and fell asleep quickly, except for me. Glimmer had visited in my dreams and I rolled in bed for countless hours. The princess of the night finally visited me in one of the dreams and allowed me to sleep that night. I fell into a deep slumber of blackness, my core flame keeping me warm in the night. It was the most pleasant sleep I've had in a while, and would be the best I would have in years to come.