//------------------------------// // Chapter Ten: Weathering the Storm // Story: Equestrian Doom // by tankmanbrony //------------------------------// Stahl looked around his post his soldiers were reading themselves for battle as Commander Spike had spotted the demon army advancing in Canterlot so the entire garrison had been roused to combat it. He had already gotten into his armor a chain mail full body piece covered by a less gilded standard set of royal guard armor. He had taken his sword that had served him well in all of his previous engagements. “Captain where will we be sent” asked Stalwart Shield? “We will be guarding the side of the city that is over the valley.” “We’ll be fighting the flying demons than?” “Yeah, though I fear that we have no experience against them. They only ponies who ever fought them were the third and fourth Fillydelphian Regiments and they can’t tell us much about them.” “We’ll have to learn and quickly.” They were now marching out of the barracks and following the rest of the army to his staging area they would cordon off a small plaza to prevent demons from landing troops there due to sightings of Cacodemons seen ferrying demons generally the smaller breeds between places. He waved to the civilians as they passed noticing that not one Stallion could be seen in their ranks they had all volunteered into the army. The survivors of battles often had the mares flocking to them especially his unit with the exception of the Diamond Dogs. He had turned down several telling them that due to high casualty rate that he couldn’t bear them losing him. His hero status however kept them coming despite his protests even some of the female soldiers had taken an interest in him. They had reached the plaza and assumed the defensive positions that the army had been preparing for a month now. He saw the ballistae crews were already there and their weapons were loaded and ready to fire. They had one of the riskiest jobs in the army except for the scouts who would fly close to the demons hordes as they marched. They had to be crazy he thought but they saved a lot of lives during the initial retreats. “Formations” he shouted over the soldiers who assumed their designated positions. The other officers followed his example everyone one of them looking up to him as the most experienced member of their force. He was waiting for the demons to begin their assault. They would arrive by nightfall he had been told but since it was already afternoon he didn’t think that they would have a lot of time to prepare. The reports from the scouts had mentioned the lack of the usual Cacodemon cloud over the army which meant that they had already deployed somewhere else. He was apprehensive about facing them since they had made a reputation for themselves in the slaughter of Fillydelphia. Night fell and he could hear the sounds of the battle starting at the gate mainly the battle cries of Demons and Hell Knights. But his position hadn’t been attacked yet but it was only a matter of time if they breached the gates. His thoughts were interrupted by a massive banging noise. It ran through the ranks of soldiers and throughout the city. Dread filled him that wasn’t a battering ram it was far too loud. “By Celestia what was that” he asked to no pony in particular? The noise again filled the air making him wonder what Hellish terror had been released on them. He had heard that Gorrog would be personally be leading this assault but he hadn’t thought him capable of that type strength. A third thud interrupted him causing him to wonder if the gates would hold. If the reports held true than ten of the strongest unicorns would be holding them shut. This demon had slayed Celestia singlehandedly how were ten unicorns going to contain that kind of power. A light interrupted him and everypony in the plaza stared at it. They didn’t recognize it until it got closer it was moving fast. It was a lighting ball from a Cacodemon. It slammed into a pony sending her reeling backwards from the blast electrical burn marks showing. He gestured to the ballistae crews who were swiveling their weapons to face this threat. He heard the retort from the ballistae as it fired. By now several other Cacodemons were firing at them. Other that Stahl didn’t notice until they got closer had Maggots and Imps on the side. They were going to land troops inside the city. “Concentrate your fire on the Cacodemons carrying the other demons.” They were turning to adjust their fire when a lightning ball impacted right next to him, he was thrown several yards abut he didn’t suffer the burns that the other pony had. Several Imps and Maggots were rushing the soldiers in the front lines. Several of the newer soldiers were knocked over and gutted by the demons. “Fight you foals push them back” he shouted to the soldiers who starting to panic after seeing guts being torn out of one of their fellows. His soldiers pushed forward charging the demons having lost the natural fear of them that most ponies possessed. He rushed to catch up with his soldiers who had started to engage the demons in combat. He was about to lead the charge when a Forgotten One collided with him. He pushed it off him and stabbed it with his sword. It glanced off its hard skull and proceeded to ram him again. He rammed his sword through the rear of its skull at the base. The Forgotten one exploded he was surprised by the sudden rush of heat but other that nothing happened to him. “Holy Celestia” he said a t the sight in front of him. There was a massive aerial battle being played out thousands of Pegasi and demons were fighting. Every once in a while he saw an explosion or a fireball falling towards the ground. He shuddered the entire Third Army was in the air fighting the demons. A loud roar snapped him out of his thoughts. He turned to see a Hell Knight behind him. It was covered in blood and had a plasma ball in its hand. He ducked as it hurled the ball at him. Narrowly missing him but it sent several soldiers reeling back. He looked up at the monster. It was injured in multiple places. It also was too heavy for a Cacodemon to carry which must mean… that the front gate had been compromised or fallen. He would strike this monster down if it killed him it had killed its way here and he would halt it. He readied his sword to strike when the Hell Knight charged him roaring. He swung his sword into its arm when it attempted to punch him. His blade sunk into its flesh but got torn from his grasp when the demon retracted its arm and grabbed him. Its jaw opened as it brought him towards it. He stared into its massive mouth seeing the large and very sharp teeth that would soon be in his flesh. A line of drool landed on his face obscuring his vision but not enough to not notice what happened next. A bolt of purple magic shot through the Hell Knight’s chest. It convulsed dropping him to the ground before collapsing to the ground. As it corpse burned away he saw a purple alicorn standing several feet away. He took a moment to recognize her it was Princess Twilight. “Thanks for that” he said. “There are more demons captain and I want them gone.” She was clearly upset about something but what it was he didn’t know. He got up slowly and looked around. His soldiers were still in a to the death battle with the demons. Mostly Maggots and Imps but a few of Cacodemons were still supporting them and they had to be removed. He shouted a command to the remaining ballistae crews who were supporting the Third Army in clearing the skies. A few switched to firing on the closer Cacodemons and slowed the rate at which his soldiers died. “We got them on the retreat” said one of the other captains. He sounded more confident than he should. Stahl’s answer was interrupted by a lightning ball crashing into the other captain. He looked at what remained of the other pony and what he saw sickening. He was writhing on the ground grasping the stump that used to be his left forehoof. Stahl furrowed his brow and pull forth his sword. Sweat poured off his forehead as the heat from an Imp’s fireball exploded against the top of his helmet. His mane was singed and his grey armor blackened but otherwise he was fine. The offending imp was twenty feet in front of him and was reading another fireball. He charged it intending to cut it down. It jumped straight into him knocking him into the ground tearing at his lighter armored belly. He quickly brought up his sword and slammed it into the demons mouth. As it burned away he got up this being the second time he had a brush with death. They were slowly pushing the demons back and since their support was engaged with destroying the Ballistae and they had no Hell Knights or Demons they lacked the harder hitting demons to make and sustain a breach in the pony lines. That was until he showed up. They had pushed them back and secured the landing area preventing the sporadic flow of reinforcements from continuing. A loud thud signaled his arrival. Stahl turned slowly to face it. Behind him stood a perfect replica of Gorrog except it was the size of a normal Hell Knight. In its hand burned a very large fireball. It stretched back its arm and threw it into the largest gathering of soldiers in the plaza sending several flying. A diamond dog charged it swinging a war hammer. The Hell Knight dodged it with surprising agility and punched the diamond dog sending lurching back several feet and breaking several ribs. What was this monster it was far more capable than most Hell Knights and wasn’t nearly as reckless. It had turned to him and was charging him roaring. It swung its fist at him narrowly missing his skull in what would have probably knocked it straight off his neck. He stuck his sword into its chest only penetrating only a few inches into the skin. “Damn what is this thing made of” he said wondering how it managed to not even seem effected by a thrust into its chest in what would have killed most demons. A massive roar thundered over the city and it proceeded to vanish into several red lightning like flashes. “Where’d it go” Stahl asked surprised by the sudden disappearance of his foe that had been winning why did it disappear? “Also where is the princess Lieutenant?” “With all due respect Captain neither of them were here” replied Stalwart Shield. “I say her she saved me from the other Hell Knight” he said wondering how only he had seen her. “Sir, you killed the other Hell Knight by yourself you slammed your sword under its chin and apparently into its brain” said Stalwart. He couldn’t believe it she had been there she had saved him why hadn’t any of them seen it. How could they have missed it? A massive shockwave interrupted him almost bursting his eardrums. “What in Equestria was that” he asked to no one in particular and where did it come from?