//------------------------------//
// March Of The Beasts, Battle For Ponyville. 
// Story: A Lost Soul Returns: The King of Monsters 
// by Dark Star the Crazed 
//------------------------------//


Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity, nothing exceeds the criticisms made of the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. ~ Herman Melville 





Twilight and Fang awoke and went down stairs to the throne room. The sound of shouting and metal hitting stone caught their attention as the element bearers and their coltfriends entered. Each had a look of anger on their face. They all took note that Trixie was there with Soul as well. "Girls what are you doing here?" Twilight focused on her friends necks. They were each wearing their element.

"We're here to save you Twi!" Rainbow Dash took a few steps forward before stopping dead in her tracks when she saw Twilight's wing.

"Dash... You don't understand... I don't need to be rescued because I don't want to be rescued." Dash shook her head and looked at Fang.

"He must have hypnotized you into thinking that! I mean look at yourself! He broke your wing!" Dash darted toward the two alicorns with the but was blocked by a sharp gust of wind that cut off some of her mane. Once again she stopped dead in her tracks. "Who the buck did that!?" A cough was heard from one of the windows.

Looking up they all spotted a arbor brown pegasus with a starch white mane and tail. Twilight and Fang recognized it as the pony form of Fang's general. Lǎoyīng, The Eagle. He was reading a book. He flew up and landed in front of Dash, facing her, all the while not even looking up from his book. "Can you feel it? The winds of war are..." He slammed the book shut revealing his golden eyes. "Blowing!" The wind swept up creating a small tornado around the hooves of the pegasi.

Dash just snorted as she was lifted off the ground. "Who are you supposed to be? Shakesmare?" The general just sighed. "Whatever! Get out of my way!" Dash's element lit up and a red beam shot from it, hitting the general. A large cloud of red smoke appeared after the blast and all was silent. Dash grinned. "Twilight! I'm coming to get you!" She took a step forward and was immediately blown back by a strong blast of wind.

"Requiem of The Fallen Soldier!" The winds whipped up cutting through the smoke and blasting it away. Dash soon found her self with a small cut on her cheek. She looked up from the ground and saw the pegasus she had blasted. He now had blades attached to his wings. "An ancient proverb says: Foolish is the soldier, who knows not the face of their enemy. For all of their weapons will prove useless under the weight of their ignorance." He stood firm as a tornado rose from the ground and lifted him as if it were a platform. "I am Lǎoyīng, The Eagle Of Wind!" The winds whipped up around Rainbow lifting her up and causing her element to fly off of her neck. "None shall harm my king while I still draw breath!" 

The element flew over to Lǎoyīng who grabbed it out of the air and tossed it behind him. "Hey give my element back!" Dash got up and charged at Lǎoyīng but was thrown back by the wild winds surrounding him. 

The general glared down at Rainbow Dash. "Be grateful that it is only your element that I have taken. I could have killed you with the first blow."

Dash raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? If you could have killed me then why didn't you? It would have saved you time!" The stallion just smirked.

"Because my king ordered me to not take any lives in this war. Now behold!"  The winds began to whip around the other elements, their coltfriends, and Trixie and Soul. The front doors to the castle opened. The general crossed his wings in front of him so they resembled an X. "Technique of The Seven Winds! Blow Away!" Soul grabbed Trixie and jumped out of the way so that they wouldn't be hit. The general quickly made his wings spread out to full length and a strong gust of wind kicked up literally blowing away the other elements and their coltfriends. The doors slammed shut.

The elements landed on the ground outside the forest unharmed. The landed right in front of Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. Celestia looked at the ten ponies. "I assume that the elements didn't work?" They all looked at each other nervously.

Rainbow looked at Celestia. She had been the one to fail so she had to tell Celestia. "We didn't get the chance to use them princess... I was going to blast Fang then this weird pony who called himself Lǎoyīng appeared and took my elem-" Celestia raised a hoof.

"D-did you say... Lǎoyīng?" Rainbow nodded. "Then he is ready for war... He has awakened his generals." Celestia turned behind her and looked at the two thousand or so soldiers. Celestia knew that this was not going to be a battle. It was going to be a one sided blood bath. Still she had to fight to save her daughter. "Soldiers hear me! Today you stand at the gates of Tartarus! As your princess I order you to kill Crimson Fang when he leaves this forest! Those who fear for their lives leave now! Your desertion will not be held against you!" With that all the soldiers looked at each other, she watched as about a fourth of them threw off their helmets and armor before leaving. The others all saluted and drew their swords, spears, and bows.

"Celestia..." Celestia looked back to see Fang and Twilight step out of the shadows. "This is your first, and only, warning. Tell me now what the problem is and I will save you the humiliation of defeat. My army far surpasses yours after all."

Celestia grimaced and motioned for the elements and their coltfriends to get behind the soldiers. Only Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy, Acid, Pinkie, and Jekyll listened. The others stood firm. "Get behind the soldiers! That is an order." The elements of loyalty and honesty nodded before meeting up with their friends. Celestia turned her attention to Fang and Twilight. "Twilight if you come back now you won't be branded a traitor."

"I'm sorry Princess Celestia but..." Twilight looked between her mentor and lover five times before walking over to Fang, laying her head on his shoulder, and smiling. "I don't want to leave Fang's side... He makes me feel safe."

Celestia stared at her student for a few minutes. "I can see that you truly feel that way and are not under Fangs' control. That means that you are a traitor to Equestria and must, sadly, be brought to justice..." Her horn lit up and a large orb of light and flame flew at Twilight. Fang was quick to react and jumped in front of it. He took the full blast and fell to the ground with singed fur and smoke was rising from his body.

"Fang!" Twilight ran over to help him up but was stopped dead in her tracks when she heard Fang laughing. "Fang?" Her lover stood up and smiled at her.

"Impossible! I used all of my strength with that spell! How did you survive!?" Fang shot forward and got in Celestia's face.

Fang gave a slight laugh. "Celestia... You were never truly strong... Luna is the strong one. You couldn't even defeat a changeling queen." He jumped back before Celestia could blast him. He turned to the forest. "My generals! It is time!" The ten generals left the shadows and slowly went towards the Equestrian army. Fang went up to Twilight. "You give the order... Will they cause bloodshed?"

Twilight blinked. Fang was giving her the option of causing a one sided massacre or not. Twilight smiled and turned towards the generals who had all gotten into fighting stances. "Do not kill! Only restrain! Try and get the elements, Cadence, and Luna as prisoners!"

"Yes m'lady!" The generals all charged forward and Twilight smiled at Fang. Fang smiled back in turn and watched as Celestia cowered at the sight of just ten ponies charging her.

"Soldiers! Meet their charge!" The battle cry was loud and vicious as the one thousand five hundred soldiers charged against their ten enemies.

Lǎoyīng smiled as he was surrounded by fifty pegasi. They pointed the tips of their spears all pointed at him and charged. "Technique of The Seven Winds! Gale Storm!" The winds whipped up and blew the pegasi away. There were shouts from the other generals as they blew away the Equestrian army. While nopony was watching Lóng had snuck behind the troops and taken Luna, Cadence, the elements, and their coltfriends hostage. 

Celestia went wide eyed when she saw that the elements and the other alicorns had been captured. "Retreat!" The soldiers did not need to be told twice as Celestia used a mass teleportation spell to get away from the battle. Cadence, Luna, and the elements were all left behind.

Fang looked at all his generals. "Ponyville is ours! We shall return to the castle with the captives for the time being."

"Yes sire!" They all disappeared and the town was amazed as a dark shield appeared around the town. It was officially the land of monsters now.





Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles. ~ Charles Chaplin