The wind nipped at the skin around Laen's neck as her heavy steel armor chafed. Laen and forty other of her Terran brethren were fortified behind a wall of logs, sharpened at the top to ruin the day of whoever could climb. The Terrans around her seemed nervous but eager, ready to face the incoming threat. She drew her broadsword and gazed out ahead of her position at the gathering Pony Legion
"Lets see," Laen said under her breath, inspecting the gathering force she saw the winged equines forming formations, crudely made pikes long enough to stay out of the range of Terran swords mounted on the sides of their armor.
"Smart." She thought. In the Terran culture, it is proper to respect ones enemy, and learn their culture, in order to understand their tactics and motives better. As she gazed into the formations, she saw that some Pegasi were in flight, Red Plumes on their helmets, barking orders to the formations below.
"Those must be the Legates." Laen said thoughtfully.
She turned and viewed her force with practiced ease, they all looked to her with hope, knowing that their chances of survival rested on her shoulders. It was no easy feat to Laen, her combat experience with the Unicorns in the north, and the Pegasi in the west. made her the preeminent scholar on combating the races of Ponies.
"Soldiers, when the enemy attacks, they will be flying. So I want all of the bowmen focusing on the incoming fliers, pikemen, take a position on the wall and get ready for the enemy to try and fly under the range of our bows." The men had a nervous determination on their faces, looking to Laen to keep them alive, hanging on every word,
"And also, as a personal note from me. If confronted by the enemy in direct combat, do not waver, I know from experience that they do not feel mercy for the Terrans, and will kill you without hesitation. Do not bestow them your mercy, think of your wives and children in the village! Think of what would happen if these Pegasi were to breach our lines!"
The men now looked calm and controlled, with scowls on their faces and fists clenched around their weapons.
Laen chuckled lowly, before hardening into a grin of blood thirst.
Turning back around, Laen observed the enemy, they were now slowly walking toward the log wall, about a kilometer out.
"To arms! To arms!" She shouted. The soldiers started taking their positions, and were all ready in a matter of seconds. Laen began to recite the Terran War Vow to her men,
"When the enemy tries to spill our blood?"
The men responded in unison, "We paint the fields with theirs!"
"When the enemy attacks our homeland?"
The men shouted, "They march over nothing but mountains of corpses!"
"When the shadow of death surrounds us?"
The men Screamed "We ignite the fires of war!"
The men all began bashing swords and shields together, running their pikes through the logs, anticipating the Pegasi charge.
Suddenly the formations stopped.
The first row of Pegasi Warriors began to ascend into the air, then the second, then the third.
All of Laens men steeled themselves in preparation for the incoming flyers, burying their fear deep within as they fired the first volley of arrows. The Pegasi scattered to avoid the arrows, their muscular frames allowing for quick aerial maneuvering. But still they underestimate The Terran resolve, out of the dozens regrouping in the air, there were ten or twelve with arrows in their limbs crying out on the ground.
Laens men whooped and shouted at the Pegasi Warriors, as they circled for their next run, spears forward.
“Men!” She shouted, “Prepare yourselves, they will throw those spears if given the opportunity!” Good timing, the Pegasi were coming in for the kill, They closed their wings on their backs and plummeted toward Laen’s soldiers, throwing their spears and drawing bladed mouth held weapons. “Prepare for close combat men!”
The Pegasi began to decent, faster than a musket ball they aimed to fly over the pikemen.
The first wave of Pegasi was met with piercing spears. One of them Was impaled through the breast and the spear came out of his lower back, others were stabbed through the head, shoulders and torsos.
"Hold men!" Laen swung her sword, beheading one of the Pegasi soldiers. He was a young stallion, white, with a sword as a cutie mark. She felt a hard kick in the back that knocked her into the log wall. Knocking the wind out of her she barely had time to turn around before the Pegasi spear entered her Back. The last thing she Laen saw was the hardened face of a grizzled Pegusi officer. she hit the ground and the light faded from her world....
...The Terran defenses burned as the orange sun met the horizon. Pegasi rushing in to finish any resistance. Two men clad in green cloaks watched in the distant treeline, hidden from all view. Both of them cloaked , both of them Blond, both of them Wild Elves.
Nightfall began to set in as the Elves watched on, looking for any straggling Pegasi approaching their borders. Given the casualties that the Terran's and Pegasi obtained, the Elves need not worry about either for tonight. one of the elves donned a broadsword, his cloak tattered and worn, darkened with dirt. He had scars running across his worn face, green paint for camouflage masked the hardened expression on his face. His cloak bore the name, Trelvan.
The other Elf, donned a clean green cloak, barely any dirt and no tatters what so ever. His face, boyish and young, but there was an unmistakable flame in his eyes. He looked to his Master before beginning to speak,
"Sir, those Terrans need our help, we could easily sneak in and save survivors-"
"NO!" Trelvan interrupted, "We cannot forsake the security of the Everfree forest! If the Pegasi had information of the Elves in the wood, they would certainly strike us next!" Trelvan Snapped. The younger Elf looked defeated, but the fire remained in his eyes, He darted from the treeline toward the Terran war camp. Trelvan only had a moment to snatch him by the cloak, "What do you think you are doing, Chekya! What do you think will happen in you go to that camp! The Ranger Tomes do not say anything about foolishly throwing away your life for the sake of a mere Terran!"
The young Elf looked to Trelvan with the flame of passion in his eyes, burning so brightly that it made Trelvan recoil in suprise. Only then did he lose grasp of Chekya's Cloak, and he dashed into the grass with such Elven speed and grace that no mortal force on this earth could deter him.
Chekya approached the camp sprinting nearly silently, bow in his left hand and arrow in the other, The tall pointed log wall had a hole burned into it, most likely by Pegasi Ballistae. Leaping into the hole and entering the fort, he went quickly into a crouch. all around him there were Pegasi tents, a body pile of deceased Terran fighters lay rotting in the mud in a hastily dug ditch by the wall of the fortress across from him.
Hearing shouting, his reacted and Rolled into the nearest shadow, only the tip of the arrow graced by moonlight as he immediately readied his bow. Putting the arrow back into the quiver he instead drew a slim Elven Dagger. He crept out of the shadows and began nearing the tent, the shouting inside growing louder as he approached. Looking inside of the tent he saw a woman chained to a wooden torture table, Pegasi standing around her. She was wearing only rags, and a Pegasi Legate was standing in the room observing.
'Good, he is target one' Chekya thought.
Moving into the room silently his Dagger drawn, he moved behind the Legate, His pony form unfamiliar to the typical Elven Rangers training. 'I bet my blade can still silence this garbage' Thought Chekya. The Legate was the closest to the door, nobody would hear this. Moving behind the Legate, Chekya Covered the Legates muzzle with one hand and swiftly stabbed him in the throat with the elven dagger. The Legate started struggling, eyes wide, as Chekya felt blood coming out of the Legates mouth, Chekya lifted The Legates head and let him choke on his own blood. Withdrawing the dagger he stabbed him three more times in various points along the neck before finally dragging the Legate silently into the shadow and releasing his limp body.
Moving on to the others his simply slit each of their throats before finally moving onto the Terran woman on the torture table. She looked at him in fear, her mouth covered. Lifting the dagger her eyes widened, she glared at knife as it neared her face. Chekya cut the cloth over her face before quickly covering her mouth. Realizing that it would be more suspicious to silence her, he released her mouth and she started screaming. Covering her mouth again he Opened his own to speak,
"Listen well, Terran, I've come to save you, If I cut you loose, will you try to fight or will you come with me?"
Releasing her mouth she began to speak, "I... I... They killed them all... My men.. they are all dead. I do not deserve your mercy, kill me." Chekya gave her a skeptical look, before walking up to her, she looked away, "I know what you must do, make it quick" He sheathed his dagger, before reaching to her, Grabbing her by the shoulder, she looked back at him curiously, taking advantage of this, he punched her in the face, knocking her out.
"Nope, I see you are overcome with grief, but I'm not going to leave you behind. worry not though, before I leave, I will save as many as possible, and these Pegasi will pay in blood for their crimes."
Leaving the tent with her on his back, he slipped her out of the hole in the wall, and propped her up against a rock in the grassland, before draping his cloak over her.
"I'll be back." he said quickly before darting back into the fort. Maneuvering past the fallen Pegasi from earlier, he heard other guards talking,
"Yeah, the air patrols we sent up should look out for any other stragglers that we missed. hopefully we've drove the Terrans out for good."
Looking toward the sky Chekya saw the Pegasi air patrols circling the camp. "Damn, those flyers will give me grief on the way out of here" he muttered under his breath.
"That is not the only thing to beware of Elf."
Rolling out of the shadow he spun around with an arrow readied, aimed toward the darkness, "Who goes there? Pegasi?"
A black shape emerged from the shadows, revealing a large black Pony form.
"No, I am more than Pegasi, But you may call me Nightmare Moon."