Banners waved, armor stretched and ground, and hooves pounded against the hard
dirt of the earth pony home land. There, just half a mile was the city, nothing more then
a large town with a mud wall, but inside the unsuspecting city, spies say there is a army, a
massive army.
I was in right wing with the rest of the reinforcements from 8th, there must have
been over two-hundred solders from our legion, but first company was here, they were the
best in the whole legion, maybe even the whole army.
General Burning Sky stood at the front of the army, his saber drawn and raised
as he gave his speech, but I was to far away to hear what he was saying, probably words of
encouragement and suggestions to pray to the gods.
At that thought I gently pulled off the necklace of Robigus that rested on my neck,
I lifted it up above my head and prayed to her.
"Robigus,"I stared my prayer."Please hear me, take my prayer to the counsel and
ask for blessings on me and my friends, shield us from the death that seeks us, have
influence on your divine family for our safety I pray."
At the conclusion of my prayer I looked up at the general and put my necklace back
on, it would not be long now, soon we would attack the city and many would die, on both
sides.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was not long after the general gave his speech that the attack commenced,
a horn blew from the front of the army signaling that it was time to advance.
Immediately the whole army surged forward, at a slow march. Then a horn bellowed
from inside the city, the walls were suddenly covered in solders who took up firing positions
and took aim, we were still too far out for them to hit us but that would soon change, they
were on a slight hill and a wall, so they had a height advantage, and there weapons had
slightly longer range. But we marched on, for what felt like forever we marched strait at a
wall of death.
Suddenly I was ripped from my thoughts as the enemies on their wall fired their
first volley, it cracked through the silence and tore through the air, dirt and dust kicked up from
the ground just in front of the first wave, they shot too soon, instantly the general saw the same
thing I did, because a split second later I found myself running at full speed toward the
wall, I never heard the order but everypony else was running with me.
The earth ponies on the wall were frantically trying to reload, but were to slow,
we made it to the wall before they even got off another shot, ladders came out of the mass
of men in the center of the army then they started to put them up against the wall, but the
earth ponies had by this point reloaded, a volley rang from the wall and sent many ponies
falling to the ground, then a order came from the general.
"Firing walls will fire on my signal."He shouted.
"Alright,"The commander of my troop yelled at us."take aim for the top of the wall
and wait for the generals orders."
Immediately everypony compacted around me and as one we raised our guns
toward the heavens.
"Fire!",the voice of the general shrieked, just as the enemy on the wall popped up
to fire their next round.
The sound of exploding gun powder filled the air and a good half of the earth
ponies fell back down out of sight.
The next wave of bullets came flying from the enemy just as the ladders fell into
place on the wall, lead zipped through the air and the poor soul next to me fell to the
ground not even making a sound.
Pushing the dead stallion next to me out of my head I just heard the next order,
to move toward the ladders and get on the wall.
As one the whole troop turned and moved toward the ladders, others were
already funneling up them long before we got there, taking the wall quickly.
"This battle must be almost over,"I thought to myself."the spies reported only
three or four hundred, there must have been at least two hundred on the wall, they stand no
chance."
My thoughts ended as the gate was opened from the inside, two troops from the left
wing of the army broke from the rest and moved toward it.
Now it was my turn to climb the ladder, one hoof at a time I made my way up,
finally climbing over the edge of the wall, I was caught by a sight that turned my stomach,
bodies littered the wall, blood flowed over the edge freely like a river, and then my eyes
looked beyond the wall, at the city, every building had a solder in the window and on the
roof, more guns fired as two troops marched down the street clearing building after
building sending every last one of these barbarians to their deaths.
I, along with the rest of my squad, and by extension my troop marched down the
stairs that led to the wall from the inside and began marching down a street that had not
yet been cleared, going from building to building we broke down the door poured in and
just fired.
This went on and on, sweat started to pour down my face as my legs stared to burn
and my eyes stung from all the gun smoke, finally we came to the last house, it was like all
the rest, mud brick, no glass in the windows, and a wooden door.
Like all the others we formed a square around the door, checked our guns to
make sure they were loaded, then kicked in the door, I rushed in accidentally slamming into the
side of Swift Steel to make the line lifted my gun like I did so many times to day and with
the rest of the troop fired.
Slowly the smoke cleared, at the last second I saw what was in the room before
the powder exploded, now it lay on the ground bleeding from all the wends, a face filled
with terror came out from behind it, a young filly protected by her mothers body from the
leaded death we brought, her breathing was heavy and fast as she stared at us, no weapon was
anywhere in the house, I was frozen my eyes glowed to the horror in front of me, a accident
that we caused that would leave yet another orphan from this war.
None of us could look her in the eye, we all just stood there, silence griped the
room, she didn't make any noise ether, shock making her silent, if she had picked up a
knife and stared to stab each of us, we probably would have stood there and let her, but she
did nothing, so we left never even looking her in the eyes, we just left.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We marched in silence down the road, the battle was won, a 'decisive victory' the
general had said, with acceptable loses.
I now know this was not just something to take lightly, the army was serious, and I
had blood on my hooves.
"Thank the gods,"I thought to myself."at least I'm being transferred."