I stood there in the frigid cold of the early morning, just before the sun rose. To my right there were solders as far as one could see, all standing there in a perfect square formation, just waiting for the order that was soon to come, waiting for the cannons behind us to finally stop firing and for the general to give the order to advance. I shivered as the cool air found its way through my uniform that did little to resist its chilling influence. I looked to my left, no pony to be seen stood at my left shoulder, I was on the far left of the army, the very end of the line, somehow, that made me feel less safe.
I was pulled away from my thoughts when I realized that the canons on the hill had stopped firing, it would not be long after that, soon the general would shout the order and we would come crashing down on the enemy like a wave, the thing that worried me was that waves tend to brake on the rocks, not the other way around.
"Charge!"The general shouted as loud as he could, for those next to him it was probably very clear, but from my side of the army, and probably the far right, his order was barely audible, but even though I could not hear the order I knew what it was, and all the Captains repeated it farther down the line until there was no doubt.
With orders given, the entire army lurched forward and began running up the hill at full speed, the goal was to get into firing range as fast as possible, and marching up would have been too slow, they had a height advantage so we would be in their firing range first.
"God's protect us."I whispered, just as the enemy began firing down on us. The burning lead instantly took down brave solders all along the line, but on we charged.
The next volley tore through the air just as ladders began to land on the wall and troops began the climb up them, only for the entire first wave to take the shots directly and plummet to their deaths.
I was next up the ladder on the far left of the line, so up I went, and by some miracle, I got to the top past two volleys.
When I reached the top and jumped from the ladder I found myself surrounded by heavily armored griffons with swords raised, then the fight began. I ducked as a sword went to take off my head, then rewarded its master by stabbing him in the chest.
Two more came at me from my left, I raised my sword and blocked the first one and then turned toward the next, only to find my friend Maximus had made it up the ladder and had me covered, so my attention went back to the staggered griffon that I blocked. I swung my sword at him in a downward angle, but he was just fast enough to block it and swing at me again, this time I blocked it and ripped it from his clawed grasp, then swung my sword back around and took off his feathered head.
By the time I killed my enemy, the wall had been nearly taken, it was now a simple matter of cleaning up what was left of the enemy in the city, which was the easier part of any city battle.
From the wall I could see the center of the city, the main body of the enemy was there, blocking the three entrances with wagons and anything else that was loose, if we were griffons and they were unicorns that would have been a really bad defense, but sense it was the other way around, that was the best one.
"Form up on the flag!"The order was shouted from an unseen Captain somewhere near by. At this order I began looking for the flag of the 7th legion, I soon found the burning phoenix, which was the flag of the 7th and began running down the stairs toward the street just below, Maximus and my squad were right behind me.
Upon making it to the flag with the mighty phoenix symbol on it we fell in behind the rest of our legion, the might of the 7th was something to behold.
Fear seemed to evaporate as the strength of the legion flowed through our veins, we may not have been the most spoken of legion, but in our hearts, we were the mightiest of all legions.
As one, with a mighty shout we yelled a battle cry that would shake the enemy to their souls.
"7TH,"The Captain of the 7th legion, Captain Fire Heart yelled."CHARGE!"
The entire 7th legion lunged forward and let out another battle cry, I, with every other solder in the legion, readied my musket, as I ran I felt fear try to climb back up my throat, but I held it down.
I heard another captain give the order to charge, and another legion joined us, but I was pulled from the thought of looking to see which one it was by the Captain of my legion giving his own order.
"Fire!"He yelled when we were just in firing rang.
"BANG"
The chorus of musket fire filled the air, and the lead danced through the wind and fell on its targets, griffons in their line began to drop and their line began to collapse, and a small gap opened in the center.
"Push through the gap!"The Captain shouted.
With a ferocious roar, we tore into the enemy line attempting to push through the hole that continued to open as we relentlessly pushed it open with force.
Finally the line fell and the 7th rushed over the bodies of the fallen griffons, toward the General and his personal guard, who stood there waiting for their end to reach them. The General then gave a shout that the rest of his guard then picked up as he raised the flag of his legion as high as he could, then they broke their shield wall and charged us back, this changed our spirit, they charged with no chance of winning, but they charged non the less.
Metal clanged against metal as our blades met theirs, I was at the back with my squad, we couldn't get to the fighting as it raged in the front, but then I saw something interesting, the enemy General climbed onto a flipped cart to give his solders inspiration, but he left himself wide open.
Seeing him standing there, I lifted my musket and leveled it at him, my shot was ready, the trigger primed, and now he was in my sights.
"BANG"
Suddenly the General stopped shouting and waving his arms, he just stood there, then he dropped the flag, but he still stood there, just holding his saber.
Then his eyes started scanning the battle field, looking for the one who had killed him, his eyes then fell on me, he just stared at me, after a second he fell forward, collapsing in a billow of dust.
After their general was dead they all just surrendered and the battle was over, a great victory to be sure.