"FIRE!!" shouted the generals. The muskets fired sounding the first gunshots in the battle. The musket balls flew across the field killing ponies and goblins alike. The sound from the gunfire resonated across the area those in the nearby area was able to hear it. Basil had commanded the troops on the inside to hurry. The militia at the outer wall lost some troops but were stable. They continued to fight even though they were losing troops more than the enemy.
"Sir," a soldier said. "We're losing troops."
"I know that, but we need to keep Tirac at bay for as long as we can." The general noticed at that moment, the enemy artillery was in range and were preparing to fire upon the wall. "The enemy artillery is up. Soldier, tell Basil that he needs to hurry up with the defenses."
"Yes, sir." The soldier went inside. The general turned toward the fighting.
"Stalyon, help us all." The cannons roared as they fired their shots. The solid shots striking the wall behind the ponies. Some of the shards were explosive and as they exploded the fragments striking down some of the ponies. As the fighting continued, the line's morale continued to decline until it was about to break. Seeing that losing the wall was inevitable, he turned to his troops. "Stallions, get every living pony behind the wall to the medics."
"But what about you, sir?" asked a soldier. The general and his bodyguards drew their sabers and pistols.
"I will hold them off. Now just go!! Retreat!!" The soldiers that were still alive injured or not fled into the middle part of the city. The general and his bodyguards fought against the invading goblin forces until their heroic deaths.
Meanwhile, it the city there were many ponies celebrating the holiday, blissfully unaware on the chaos that was about to occur. Over with the main six, they were chatting about various things like learning about what Spike did for the past 700+ years.
"I wonder what's taking Basil so long," Twilight stated. "I'm starting to get worried."
"Relax, Twilight." Spike stated. "With Basil's skill, I'm sure he'll be fine." But at that moment, Pinkie's pinkie sense went off. Her whole body started to shake.
"Uh oh." Pinkie said. "I think a duzee is coming up."
"Probably." Twilight Sparkle replied.
"It's not like something bad is about to happen." the king stated. Then, they all heard explosions. That got everyone's attention. "What was that?"
"That sounded like artillery."
"Maybe they are testing the fireworks." The explosions occurred again but not all together.
"Why would ponies test fireworks?" Then, the king got everyone's attention as he got on the podium.
"Ladys and gentlecolts, it is time to ring the bell to begin the celebration of Confederacy Union Day. The ponies cheered. "Now, we will begin the countdown for the ringing of the bell."
"Ten, Nine, Eight," all of the ponies said. The messenger pony had made it to the main chamber. "Seven, Six, Five," The found the bell pony and told him not to ring the bell. "Four, Three," The messenger pony found the crank to the siren. "Two, One." Then, they heard the war siren. The ponies were terrified at this point; there was only one meaning for the siren.
"Attention, every pony." The messenger pony explained through the amplifier. "We are under attack. This is not a drill." Then at that point, ponies began to panic. "All civilians head to the shelters immediately."
"HOLY SHIT! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" the king explained and he, then, turned to Spike. "GET THE ARMY IN THERE NOW!"
"Yes sir." Spike replied. He ran to inform the military to get out there and aid the ones currently defending the kingdom. "Where do you what them to go?"
"Have them go toward the gun fire."
"Got it." Twilight noticed that the gun fire was leading to the area, Basil was at.
"Now, Twilight we need to get the girls to…" he looked around. "Uh, Twilight? Twilight, where did you go?" They realized that Twilight went to the battlefield, other ponies began to follow suit.
"They do realize they might get killed out there, do they?"
"Nope."
Near the area of battle, Basil's crew was not finished making the trenches when he heard the guns. He had the ponies build for their lives. They heard the guns firing from both forces firing at each other. They heard the cannon firing and their shots hitting the outer wall. At this point, the trenches were complete. The bricks that made up the wall were beginning to fall out of place. Basil drew his sword.
"Stallions. Get into positions." Basil shouted. The stallion platoons, most of which were volunteers, loaded their muskets and armed the bayonets. A messenger came with injured ponies.
"Sir, the front line can't hold much longer." The messenger stated. "They were forced to retreat."
"Make sure that the injured get to the medics, pronto."
"Yes, sir." That messenger left and another came.
"Tirac's forces have been seen sailing along the coastline." that messenger said
"Warn the Coltabasso navy." Basil replied.
"Yes, sir." the messenger ran off. At that moment, he heard the siren. It was a relief that the volunteers heard this because aid from the army was on their way. Another messenger arrived.
"Sir, the army from Saddlebury has received the news and is currently on their way. Also, the army at Ponydale is also on their way."
"Excellent."
"Not only that, the Golden Chocobo Calvary is on their way."
"You mean?"
"Yes, your father is coming to help you."
"Perfect, we definitely need him." He was being sincere. "What we need to do is hold off the enemy until they arrive." Then, a mighty rumble came as the volunteers saw the outer wall crumbled before their eyes. They took cover behind the trenches that were created. Behind the lines of enemies, he noticed dual horns (grey creatures with a peach-colored horn pointing forward on each shoulder) pulling the artillery for Tirac's forces. The artillery consisted of James rifle cannons and farther back was the mortars. "ALL LINES, FIRE AT WILL!!" The lines he commanded began to fire their guns. They were shooting down goblins and vice versa. He saw there were causalities on both sides. "Get the medics out there to help the injured." The medics rushed out to aid the injured.
The medics headed out. The enemy lines advanced as the volunteers fired upon the enemies. Some of the enemies fell to the ground after being hit with the shots. The enemy line continued to advance, stopping to fire. From the fire, several of the volunteers fell. The cannons fired upon the volunteers. One of the volunteers looked up and his head was blown off by a cannon shot.
Unknowingly to the volunteers, on the inner wall 20-pounder Parrott rifles rolled into position. "All right, stallions. Get into position." shouted an unknown voice. "Ready." The cannons were loaded with the canister shots. "Aim." The cannons were aimed and the ponies got to the sides. "FIRE!!" The cannons on the walls fired canisters upon the enemies. The canisters disintegrated as it came out hurling the balls toward the enemies, defeating the enemies that weren't shot down earlier. The first enemy line broke. Basil looked back and saw his friends coming to save the volunteers. They also saw the support from the army causing a boost in morale. The second and third lines of enemies began to advance. At that moment, he saw Twilight. It was a bitter-sweet moment because of uniting on a battlefield.
"Twilight, what are you doing here?" Basil asked Twilight.
"I came to help you, Basil." Twilight stated.
"I wanted to keep you safe."
"Basil," She hugged him on the battlefield and he hugged back. "It was my choice to help you. I can't bear the thought of you dying in this battle."
"Twilight..."
"Please, Basil allow me to fight with you."
"Okay. It was a good thing you and your friends came. Many of the officers are away."He turned to all of the mane six. "Consider yourselves officers in this battle. Can you show the officers who are away what you can do?"
Applejack was put in charge of the artillery units. Rarity was put in charge of the infantry units. Twilight was put in charge of the magic units. Rainbow Dash was put in charge of the pegasi units. Pinkie was put in charge of the light infantry units. Fluttershy was put in charge of supply and medical units. Basil would help them out as well as helping with cavalry. "All right, Let's move out." A messenger appeared.
"Commander," the messenger stated.
"What is it?"
"Tirac has created a third theater. Your father and his mighty cavalry are fighting in that theater."
"I need to help him; he is the commander."
"No, he stated that this was your battle. He placed you as the commander." A weight he never imagined was put on his shoulders as well as the other six. The fate of the Confederacy was now in their hooves.
"Troops advance." The troops began their advance on the enemy.
Meanwhile over at the enemy camp, Tirac was watching the battle at a safe distance. A servant whom was a pony poured him a glass of wine. A goblin messenger came up to Tirac.
"What is it?" Tirac asked.
"My lord, our scouts have detected a strong magical presence in the battlefield." Tirac was interested.
"Which theater is it coming from?"
"From the northern theater, there are two different ones. One is coming from a purple unicorn."
"I remember that pony, she and her posse had taken my hostages away. Where is the other source?"
"It is coming from Basil XIV. I'm starting to think that is the item you are looking for. Do you want us to lure him out?"
"First, where is his father?"
"He is currently fighting in the Western theater. Do you want us to attack using artillery?"
"No, the artillery should stay on the task." Tirac grabbed his halberd. The blade was made of the mythril. The mythril looked like glass; however, it was truly a metal, it was the strongest metal in existence. The handle of the halberd was made of moonstone. The halberd was enchanted so only he can wield it. "As for Basil's father, I will deal with him myself. That alone, will get his son to come and face me." He, then, charged into battle heading to the northern theater of battle.