//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Taurus Rises 
// by YoungQuillMaster 
//------------------------------//



Hammer listened to the soft mumble of waves as the landing party slowly approached the shore of Equestria. Suddenly the boat shook, signaling they had hit ground. Hammer and the rest of the warriors jumped out into the frigid, knee deep water. Hammer helped pull the boat fully a shore, and soon there group was joined by others that had landed soon after they had. Hammer crouched and walked over to his platoon commander, who was quickly being surrounded by his other soldiers

“Alright, we are about two miles south of our target, just as we planned. Remember that this is a sneak attack; try not to alert anything to your presence. The First division is coming in with us while the third and fourth divisions are going to being staying outside in case one of us is caught and things get hot. Remember who’s on your squad and listen to your CO’s orders as if the king himself gave them.” Hammer sighed, he, unfortunately, had been given his own squad to lead. He would have protested, but he was one of the only corporals on the ship that was stocked to the brim with privates.

“Hammer’s squad, follow me.” Hammer said as he moved off to the side, followed by ten other minotaurs. Hammer laid out his map of their target. “This is the city; we’re entering from this area.” Hammer said as he placed a finger on the southeastern entrance of the city. “Our designated targets are the barracks here, here, and here.” Hammer said while pointing out the locations. “If any of us gets caught we still play the objective, no running. Remember, the streets are thirty-fourth and third, twenty-second and sixth, and nineteenth and seventh.”

“Why are the streets named in numbers?” One of his privates asked as he eyed the map. Hammer shrugged at this.

“Ponies are weird, what can I say. But we’ll be sure to give every one of those streets proper names when we take the city. Now let’s get going. Remember, no loud noises and no alerting ponies or anything else.” The soldiers around him nodded as they began moving out towards the city.





Hammer ducked into an alley way, promptly followed by his squad. Hammer watched as the police pony walked by slowly. Hammer moved down the alley a good bit before sticking his head out of the shadows to see the road sign. Thirty-second and fourth, they were a few roads off, but they were closing in on their target. After confirming where thirty-fourth was, Hammer went back to his squad.

“Alright, we got to cross two streets over to get to the first street in the set. Follow me. ” With that Hammer went over to the edge of the alley’s shadow and looked around for any more officer, but finding none, he nodded to the private beside him, who then darted across the lighted street to the shadow on the other side. Hammer looked around cautiously, but there still was nothing, and after a signal, the next private crossed.

Hammer then spied two officers walking down the street perpendicular to their street. Hammer stuck his arm out to stop the next Private from going as he watched the two ponies closely.

“I still can’t believe they instituted a curfew, it used to be so lively at night, and now it’s all dead as a ghost town.” The first pony said wistfully.

“Personally I like it when it’s quiet like this, gives me less headaches.” The second officer replied as they turned the corner to the street the squad had been crossing only a few moments before. Hammer quickly looked around, hoping for some way to distract them when suddenly the clinking of a can came from a few streets over.

“Hey, what was that?” The first police pony questioned as he turned, but his friend was already charging down to see if he could find the source. “H-hey, wait for me!” The first exclaimed as he galloped after his partner. Hammer looked back at his squad, who now was pointing at the private in the very back. Hammer sighed, then after a quick look around, shoved the next private through the gap, then the next, and then another.

Hammer then saw another patrol of ponies walking down his street. Hammer stuck his arm out and waited for them to pass, which they did eventually. Hammer pushed the next soldier through the gap, and then waited for a bit before sending out the next. 

Hammer looked back, three more to go before he went. Hammer pushed the next one in, only to have a second private to go out with him at the same time. Hammer rubbed his temples in frustration, these really were fresh recruits. Hammer pushed the next soldier out and prepared himself for his own crossing. After looking around, he darted across, the pendant softly tapping him on the chest as he ducked back into the shadow.

“Alright, one more street to go in the same direction, then we got to go across… one more. After that we’ll be on the same intersection as the barracks.” The privates around him nodded. War Hammer nodded back and pushed his way through to repeat the cycle.





Hammer looked around for what seemed the hundredth time that night. The signs indicated the right numbers for the first barracks, but he couldn’t see any buildings nearby that could be a military instillation, but then something caught his eye. A building a few doors down from the corner had a sign that in big black letters said ‘Recruitment Office’, one of the only buildings with lights on. Hammer looked around again, but finding no other building that might be the target, he charged across the street, followed closely by with squad. Hammer stood to the side of the door as he waited for all his troops to make it across.

“Alright, we’re going to take this place by storm, but try to make it at least a bit more quiet than usual. No battle roars, but quick surgical precision.” With that Hammer twisted the knob and found it open. Hammer shoved it open the rest of the way and rushed inside.

“Welcome to the Manehattan Recruitment Center, how may…? Uh, what are minotaurs doing here?” The pony behind the desk stumbled.

“Stay quiet and I might have you stowed away in a closet. Start yelling and you make yourself a liability.” Hammer stroked the edge of his axe at the word liability. “And I only know one way to deal with liabilities.” The pony’s mouth was suddenly clamped shut. “You, tie him up real good and gag him, then throw him in the closet.” The private nodded as he began his work with the rope. “The rest of you start pouring oil over anything and everything. Be sure to use extra on the cabinets and the desk.” His soldiers nodded and began drenching everything with oil.

“Sir, we have three other fires across the city already. The enemy doubtlessly knows our presence, and if they don’t they will soon.” Hammer nodded at the news.

“Alright soldiers, light her up, we got two more targets to go before the nights over.” The squad members nodded as they threw the last oil container on the various objects and began lighting the several pools as they exited. “Alright, next target is… twenty-second and sixth.” Hammer said after a glance to his map. “Fall in; we got some distance to cover!” Hammer shouted as he started into a jog towards the first number in the address.





Hammer kicked in the door of the barracks that had actually been a barracks this time. A guard immediately sprang to his hooves, only to find an axe’s blade come down on him. Hammer put a hoof on the dead pony’s back as he pried his weapon loose.

“Spread out and take out any ponies you find. I want this place cleared and on fire within the next ten minutes!” With that the privates quickly saluted before branching out in several directions. Hammer ran up the stairs and kicked open the first door he came to, which ended up to be the living quarters of some of the guards who had just settled in for the night.

Hammer swung his axe and caught a pony in the shoulder and carried him along with the blade until it slammed into the wall. Hammer pried his axe out of the wall as the first pony came out of his stupor and charged him with a sword clenched in its teeth. Hammer slammed his hoof down on the charging pony. Suddenly Hammer found his axe being taken from his hands by a purple field.

Hammer turned and saw a unicorn with the same glow around his horn. With a snort Hammer let go of his axe and drew his knife before slamming it down into the small creature’s skull. Hammer pulled the dagger out, only to find something hard smash him in the back. Hammer burst through the railing and down to the floor below. He looked up and saw a pegasus pony fluttering above him while drawing its own sword. Hammer threw his knife, which caught the pegasus in the wig, causing it to draw its wings back in shock, making it quickly fall down.

Hammer slammed his fist into the pony’s head before retrieving his knife from its wing. After a quick glance, he decided to take the sheath and sword from his defeated foe, adding to his arsenal of useable weapons. Hammer sheathed the knife and lifted the sword as he went back up the stairs to get his axe back and clear the rest of the floor. As he reached the top he found himself face to face his an earth pony. Without time to react, the pony twirled in place and bucked Hammer straight in the face, causing him to lift into the air and slam against the far wall before sliding down in a daze.

Hammer shook his head, trying to remove the stars from his vision. He wiped his face off with a hand and found red looking back at him. A quick examination revealed that he had cuts on his brow that now stung like mad from the sweat that was beading in his coat. Hammer shook his again in time to see the earth pony pile drive into his chest. Hammer tasted the metallic taste of blood in his snout, but he wasn’t down for the count.

Hammer smashed his fist into the pony’s face, and then delivered a kick to its stomach. Hammer stood up quickly while drawing his knife and lunging for the pony, which surprised once again as it ducked to the side. Hammer quickly turned, only to receive another kick in the chest that knocked him down to his knees. Hammer swung wildly at the pony, attempting to gain some advantage, but found his blade only cutting through air.

The pony expertly jumped over Hammer, causing Hammer to grow all the more frantic. He turned and watched as the pony grasped the blade in its teeth. Hammer got to his hooves and assumed a battle stance, then charged his opponent, who again jumped out of the way. The pony kicked of the stairs and landed on Hammer’s back, but Hammer was a bit more prepared than before as he slammed the pony against the wall in a half fall half roll. The pony fell to the ground unmoving with the sword nearby. Hammer sheathed his knife as he picked the sword back up.

“Sir, the oil is set and we are ready to burn this place to the ground.” A private said as he threw one last bottle of oil, which ended up shatter on the wall above the pony, drenching its limp for in the flammable.

“Very good, now let’s light this place and get over to the last target.” The private saluted as he moved back through the building telling his comrades their orders. Hammer looked back upstairs, wanting to retrieve his axe, but there was no time. Soon the multiple pools of oil were lit. “Alright, last one is on nineteenth and seventh, let’s…”

“Sir, watch out!” One of Hammer’s privates shouted abruptly as he shoved his officer away. Hammer looked back and saw an axe’s blade sticking through the front of the soldier’s chest. The minotaur slowly fell to the ground and revealed a partly on fire earth pony holding the axe’s handle in its teeth with a look that spelled death. Hammer raised his sword as the axe swung at him. After a quick flick of the wrist, the axe came out of the enraged pony’s mouth and replaced by the blade of a sword. 

Hammer crouched beside the fallen soldier who slowly bled to death, with no chance of survival. Hammer grabbed the soldier’s hand in a firm grasp.

“What’s your name soldier?” Hammer said to his dying comrade.

“My name is p-private Tungsten of the lineage of Steel Gaze, s-sir.” The dying soldier said in a low raspy voice. He fell into a coughing fit that sent bits of blood onto Hammer’s coat.

“Well, Tungsten, you proved yourself this day. Your family will be honored by you bearing their family name with such dignity. Rest now in confidence that you will be accepted among your kin that have gone before you.” The Tungsten smiled at Hammer as he gave one last breath as he closed his eyes for the last time. Hammer placed his hand on the dead minotaur’s eyes. “Go now, warrior, to the land beyond, see not this world of pain that surrounds the living, but rejoice in the greatness of your last, and greatest, achievement.” Hammer removed his knife and cut a lock of the soldier’s coat off before placing it in his locket. He then stood up at looked at the corpse of the soldier that had saved him from death.

“Sir, do we perform burial now or do we leave him here to do it later?” One of the privates asked cautiously.

“We will give him the warrior’s farewell, and then we must move on with his memory empowering our every strike against the enemy.” The soldiers around him nodded as they began using their axes to cut planks of wood from the barracks that still had not yet been entirely consumed in fire.





Hammer stood at attention as the pyre that held the body of Tungsten continued to burn. Hammer and all of his soldiers slammed their right hand in a fist against their chests in the minotaur salute. Hammer stood there for a few more moments before dropping the salute and walking away towards there next objective. He stopped as he came to the where his axe lay on the ground. He lowered himself and picked it up as he sheathed his sword again.

“Come on, we got another objective to take on before we’re done.” The soldiers of his squad looked at each other, and then fell in line behind their officer.





The last objective had been an easy one; it hadn’t been a barracks again, but a supply depot. Hammer had used the excuse of standing guard when he didn’t enter, but in reality it had been to think. He had just been saved by a fellow soldier who had died because of it. This had been the first true battle of the war for the minotaurs, and he already knew of one warrior who had died. He hadn’t expected to have everyone you entered come out of it on the other side, but having a fellow soldier die so close to you was different than seeing the casualties report on a flimsy piece of paper. On paper each death could be counted and reconciled by how many enemies fell in comparison of how many the enemy took down.


Hammer heard the crackling of the fire starting behind him as his troops made their way out and back into the street. Hammer nodded, and signaled for them to follow him. After taking out the targets they were supposed to move in on the capital building of the city. In the distance Hammer could already see the tents of the Taurus forces readying for a full out assault on the city’s greatest stronghold. All across the city fires burning in key locations of either military interest or were parts of the mailing service, and by their destruction the news of Taurus’ involvement in the war would be delayed by at least a few days if not a week.

Suddenly a group of shadow landed near Hammer’s group, causing him to jump while preparing to strike out at whatever had just arrived.

“Whoa whoa, friendly, didn’t you guys hear about the griffon mercenaries that were in bound?” Hammer peered into the shadows, and sure enough, he made out the very distinct shapes of griffons.

“Yeah, but how about announce your arrival before landing; I doubt some of my comrades would show the same amount restraint that I did.” Hammer said as he lowered his axe. The lead griffon shrugged as he walked out into the light.

“Well we couldn’t exactly tell if you were friendly or not from the air.” The griffon said nonchalantly as he and his band walked up to the squad.

“Really? It’s hard to tell if something is really tall or really short or walks on two or four legs when you are flying? I think the only hard part you might have is telling what weaponry we have.” Hammer stated with a smirk as he began walking again, followed closely by his squad.

“Whatever, we still are on the same side, so we’re all good.” The griffon commander said with a shrug as he fell in beside Hammer while his troops formed up with Hammer’s troops. “I was sent to help any incoming troops. Tell me, have you had any casualties?” Hammer stiffened slightly as he continued to walk.

“Yeah, we lost one. He died honorably and did his family name proud.” Hammer said, picking up the pace a little more.

“Well, I’m instructed to give any units that lost a soldier an immediate replacement from my unit. Jet, get up here!” At that a griffon soldier flew up beside her commander before landing without missing a step.

“Corporal Jet Stream reporting as requested, sir!” The griffin said while keeping eyes forward. Hammer looked over at the new griffon arrival. Yet another thing he didn’t understand about other species. First it had been the bulkiness of the human knight’s armor, and now it was the griffons having females as recruits, something that had never been done, or even considered, by the minotaurs. It seemed that the world just loved throwing new differences into the mix at every turn.

“You are here by transferred into this minotaur unit. You will respect the commands of your squad commander.  Do you have any objections?”

“Sir, no, sir!” Jet replied quickly.

“Good, then I officially give you over to this unit. And Mr. Minotaur, try to not get her killed in the first week. Griffons on me, we’re moving out!” with that the griffons shrugged into the air and began their aerial patrol once more.

“Corporal Jet Stream, huh?” Hammer began, trying to engage in a bit of idle conversation with his new team member as they walked down the darkening streets towards the capital.

“Yes sir that is my name.” Jet said with the tone of a true military officer.

“I’m Corporal War Hammer.” Hammer stated, “So, how long have you been in the service?” He said glancing over at his new comrade.

“Three years, sir.” Jet replied in a monotone voice. Hammer sighed. He had been used to getting this kind of talk near bases and the like, but when he was in the middle of a mission he felt a certain sense of that certain parts of the formalities instituted in the army could be bent a bit. Clearly this griffon hadn’t gotten the memo, and Hammer was sure now that this was going to be a long night.