Ammunition was quite low. And even though Luna had the uphill advantage, they were out numbered. The enemy force of pony sized lobsters in which Luna had built in mere minuets thanks to her magic, were forming up at the bottom of the hill. General Hickory was able to get Luna's attention. He pointed over to the stash in which ammunition was stored. Luna could tell he was worried. "I know. Ammo is not abundant. But I might have a plan."
Old Hickory looked at Luna with desperate need of a good answer. Hickory, though unable to hear due the vacuum of space, was quite good at lip reading. He also could not speak, even if he wanted to. Even if atmosphere allowed him to. But he was very specific and always knew how to communicate. Even with a sign language ignorant princess.
Luna looked back down at the army of moon lobsters. They were almost ready. Soon, havoc would break loose. But for now, Luna was devising a plan. She had lied to Hickory that she had a plan prepared so he would not panic. Though, panicking was not something he would do. Not often. She picked up her musket and looked at it for a long time, about five minuets.
Then it hit her. As the enemy came marching up the hill, Luna stood before her army of over 1,000. There was no way she would be able to tell them all at once without breaking some type of scientific law. But she could create an atmosphere for a few seconds before it was taken away. Her horn shone with that blue color it always did. Suddenly, the sky turned a light blue. Now she could talk. "Do not fire until you see the whites of there eyes!" she shouted before the sky turned pitch black again.
The truth was, though, nopony but her had white in their eyes. Think of it like this: The eyes were basically carved out of the dust. By now, you should have a fairly good picture in your head. As for the lobsters. The eyes looked like a normal lobster's eyes. Now why did Luna say what she did? Well, other than sharing an elaborate, perfect battle plan, it sounded pretty cool. Her army of moon-dust-stallions understood , though. Basically, don't fire until they're really close.
Luna peeked up from her cover and watched as the lobsters were closing in on her. She could see the enemy's moon rock bullets fly past them in a fruitless attempt to hit a target. They scuttled closer and closer. She could finally see their shifty eyes filled with confusion and wondering why Luna wasn't returning fire.
She popped up and aimed at one of her lobster enemies. She took the first shot. Right between the eyes. She signaled her army to return fire. The stallions came out of cover and let loose with a barrage of moon pebbles which were basically bullets. 'We are not going to lose Citadel Ridge! Not today!' Luna thought to herself playfully.
They enemy seemed to have set themselves up like dominoes. In perfect lines. Just waiting to be knocked over. Luna was determined to serve these lobsters with butter, garlic and water chestnuts. She loved lobster with water chestnuts, despite them not going together. Celestia would always call her weird for that.
Luna quickly reloaded her musket and levitated it. She aimed for another unsuspecting lobster. Fire! Dust flew off the lobster. Whoa! She just took his big claw! One shot. The claw floated majestically away as the former owner watched it for the last time. Another bullet took his head off soon after. Luna turned to see who took the shot. Who but Old Hickory.
The two loaded their weapons beside one another. "Nice shot." Luna mouthed to Hickory.
He smiled proudly. He knew he was a good shot. He always was. He nodded his head in approval. They dropped another pebble into their muskets and stood up. They both shot at the same time. Hitting two different lobsters. The leader of the lobsters, General How, turned to face his colleagues. He ordered a regroup. The lobsters fled down the hill.
The stallions didn't celebrate. They knew better. Soon the lobsters would scuttle back up the hill. The battle was not yet won. Luna was proud of her league for showing such gracefulness. They did share a few high-hoofs and hoof shakes. But those were acceptable. Hickory watched the lobsters regroup. His face looked grave.
"General?" Luna shook Old Hickory's shoulder. "Are you alright."
He looked at Luna and nodded. She didn't know for sure if Hickory was telling the truth. She shoved him playfully. "Come on, Hickory! It's a game! Just lighten up."
Old Hickory nodded again and forced a smile. It probably was a good time to lighten up. The lobsters on the other hoof were back in rank and headed back up the hill for another rally with Luna's army. The amount of ammunition had, no doubt, shrunk. Same plan as last time. Once again, the lobsters got closer to the base and once again, Luna and the other stallions opened fire.
One lobster was able to sneak into the base. Luna was lucky enough to scout him out. She swung the musket around and aimed at the lobster. She was to slow. The lobster shot a stallion in the forehead. Moon dust flew out the back of him and he hit the ground. Luna shot the lobster in the eye, instantly killing it.
She shifted her concentration back to the battle. They were still like dominoes, still ruthless and still lobsters. A lobster aimed at Luna and fired. She was lucky enough to get out of the way. But on her way down, she realized she had to sacrifice a few strands of hair from her mane. Luna watched as the hair slowly drifted down and touched the ground. Mild anger surged through Luna. Why you ask? Because as we all know, females are extremely fond of their hair. Most of them at least. Luna was one who loved her hair. The Lobster was going to served with extra chestnuts. Because she was going to chew him senseless.
Luna aimed at the lobster who had a surprised look on his face as he saw her. "I'm going to cut you open and replace your insides with butter!" she screamed soundlessly.
She fired at the lobster. The bullet hit him, yes, but it was not a lethal shot. She only hit one of his legs. He didn't need it though. He had many more. Now, Luna promised herself she wouldn't use any magic. But she really hated him. She aimed her horn at the lobster. She fired. And there his body lie on the silver platter. Water chestnuts and all.
Multiple barrages of fire later, the lobsters had once again retreated to the bottom of the hill. Once again, regrouping. Luna went out to pick up the now cooked, red lobster with water chestnuts and quickly teleported it to her house. Tonight, she was going to eat like a princess.
The stallions reloaded, only to find out that there was close to no ammo. About a box left. The lobsters were moving to a different side of the hill. Luna watched them and followed. If she was a leader, she wanted to be in front. The lobsters had ammo. Plenty of it. How were they going to keep them back? She looked around the hill. Looking at the bodies of lobsters. So many of them. The sight encouraged Luna. If they could keep them back with the odds against them, they just might be able to win this.
Luna suited up and went back to the side the lobsters were on. They were coming back up for a third time. Everypony ducked for cover and reloaded. General Hickory kept an eye on them. Waiting until he could see their eyes. For the third time, a lethal barrage was shot upon the enemy lobsters. But they marched on.
Luna went to reload again. Only thing stopping her was the fact that she had nothing more. Old Hickory was reloading as well. He saw that Luna was clearly deprived of bullets. He had two bullets, one of them already in his musket. He got Luna's attention and quickly tossed her his last bullet. Luna gave him a quick thanks and aimed at another lobster. Fired. She missed. The bullet flew right past the lobster. He didn't even know he was somepony's target.
How could she have missed? That was the last bullet and she wasted it. How could she? Soon enough, the enemy crawled into the base. Now was the time to get up close and personal. A lobster jumped at Luna. She quickly swung her musket and hit him with the butt. He was cut in two and both parts slowly floated away. Outside of the battle.
For the few seconds she thought she was safe, she was taken down. Somelobster had snuck up on her and knocked her to the ground. He stood on top of Luna triumphantly and aimed his musket right at her head. Moon dust spewed forth from the lobster's head and a hole was made in between his eyes. His body fell to the ground and standing behind him, was the General.
"Hickory?" Luna's asked in partial disbelief. Hickory saluted in response. He picked up Luna off the ground and she dusted herself off. Now, ponies were starting to die. They had to resort to close combat and the enemy was starting to mow them down. She had no choice. She surrounded the base in a barrier. Both lobsters and stallions alike stopped all combat and looked up to Luna. They suddenly fell down. Turning back into nothing but piles of dust. All except for Old Hickory. He gets to stay.
The two headed back to the house. Hickory jumped on the couch and stretched out. Luna grabbed the lobster from the kitchen, warmed it up, grabbed some butter and happily ate. Even though she lost the fight, she was still able to keep that promise to the lobster who had the sheer audacity to cut her hair.