//------------------------------//
// House of Earthborn: Lightning's Finest 
// Story: Equestria Divided Tales 
// by Grenazers 
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LIGHTNING'S FINEST


My name is Sgt. Tornado Spinwheel and I am part of the Earthborn's Pegasus Auxiliary Corp. I'm gonna tell you a story of how me and my company took on the whole Stormwing's strike force and beat them at their own specialty, flight.

For as long as this war has been going on, the House Stormwing always had air superiority. Sure the other houses have flying machines and their own pegasus troops, but the Stormwings are the true masters of the sky.

They have warriors who were practically born up there. They have spent their entire lives flying in the sky, mastering it to perfection. The perfect example of their superiority is their Hoplite unit. Well trained and well exercised, the elite fighter is worth ten normal infantry.

Despite having such an elite fighting force, the downside is that there are few in numbers. Only a few pegasus can become Hoplites and those chosen has to into a long and intense training to become a proper soldier.

Because of this, the most preferred attack style is shock and awe. The pegasi will swoop down from the skies and swarm their enemies. The Stormwings likes to launch surprise attacks on their enemies, catching them off guard, dominating the battlefield.

Their guerrilla like tactics have serve them well over the years since the war started, making them a thorn to the other Houses.

This is where my House came in. While the Earthborn are known to have the largest army of all the Houses, the majority of them are all Earth ponies. Unicorns were not allowed in the house and they only have a small percentage of pegasus on their side.

Our Earthborn leader knew that in order to fight off the Stormwing's forces, they'll need an army of pegasus warriors themselves. And while the Pegasi Auxiliaries did a OK job, they were nothing compared to the elite Hoplites.

Then came in General Lightning Dust. The mare promise our leader that she can train an elite fighting force that can rival the Hoplites. Being a former a member of the Stormwing, Lightning Dust knew of all their training and can use that to train their own pegasus troops.

After getting a approval, Lightning held try outs for all Pegasuses in the area. She made them do basic training and watch them carefully. Afterwards, she picked a handful of pegasuses, including myself, and separated us from the main group.

She dismiss the main group and focus her attention on us. Lighting informs us that she picked us because we have potential to become the most elite force Equestria has ever seen. By the time she's done with us we'll rival the Hoplites both in flight and in combat.

The next couple of months were the roughest for us. We wake up earlier and do training regime for the majority of the day. She trained us in endurance, stamina, strength, agility and mentality. At the end of each day we return to our barracks, tired, sweaty, and incredibly sore.

Despite the hard training, it all finally paid off in the end. All the chosen ponies, myself included, had never felt so great in our lives. We were stronger, faster and more skilled then any other pegasi.

Our celebration was then cut short by the arrival of both General Lightning Dust and our House's leader, Supreme Commander Applejack. The two brought grave news to us. Apparently some ambitious commander is leading a large force of Pegasi Hoplites into our land. They have already cut through our defensive line at the border and are continuing to go in deeper into our territory.

So far none of the ground troops or air troops are able to stop this flock of Pegasi Hoplites raiding in our land. Those that survive barely made it out of there, they recount their tales about the swarm of Pegasi overwhelming them, slaughtering everypony.

Lightning Dust then stepped up and told us that we are being sent to take on this small army of Hoplites and put an end to their raid. At first most of us were pretty nervous, after all we're all fresh out of training. However, Lightning assured us that we are ready for this and that she'll be leading us into battle. This help ease some of the tension of the situation, but a few still have lingering worries.

A couple of hours later, we were station somewhere between New Ponyville and Fillydelphia. Our scouts informed us that the raiding Stormwing's forces attacked New Ponyville, doing a lot of damage to the settlement. Luckily the town held off the invaders, forcing them to move onto their next target, Fillydelphia.

In the mean time General Dust ordered us to gather up as many storm clouds as we can and cover the entire sky with it. When they were finished the land was covered in a vast shade as the clouds block out the sun. Soon the storm clouds unleashed a downpour below, while also at the same time cracking loud thunder sounds.

General Lighting Dust and the rest of us lay hidden down on the ground, waiting for the Stormwing forces to fly by. One pony asked why they couldn't hide up in the clouds, to which Lightning explained that is the obvious place where they'll look. She reasoned that since the Stormwing are flying so high in the sky, they won't have to worry about a ground attack. Especially not in this rain where a lot of our cannons will be useless. So they're only focus on looking out for any air attackers.

We waited on the ground for hours, we hid under some foliage that offered little protection against the rain. We stared up into the sky, watching the lightning lighting up the dark sky while the rain dropped on our faces.

We continued waiting until something appeared in the sky. It was hard to see since it was dark, but when the lightning cracked, we saw a couple of dark silhouettes of pegasuses. After some more lightning, we saw a whole swarm of pegasus silhouettes flying in the dark sky.

General Lightning Dust gave the signal and we all burst from our cover and flew upwards. Aiming our weapons at the unsuspecting Stormwing's Hoplites.

Our commander reminded us of the strategy we talked about earlier and told us stick with it. The plan was to strike hard and fast while using the bright blinding light from the lightning and the loud cracking sound from the thunder. We are to take out as many as we can before those Stormwing ponies knows what's going on.

As we flew nearer, I aimed my spear at a white coat Hoplite. When the lightning crack, I impale the stallion with my weapon. I push the stallion upwards, his dying scream was blocked out by the  thunder.

I tore the weapon out of the stallion chest and drop his body. I then flew downward, timing my attack with the lightning. I impale another stallion in the back as I went flew down, the sound of his spine breaking was heard as my spear penetrated his armor and back.

I looked around and saw the rest of my guys doing the same thing as I was. Impaling a Hoplite, pulling their weapon out of them and moving onto the next Hoplite. This process went really smoothly, but unfortunately it wouldn't last.

The Storming Hoplites soon discovered us and alert everypony. With our element of surprise gone, we engage the enemy in aerial combat. Now I might some a bit cocky, but I think General Lightning Dust was wrong. We're not equal to a Hoplite, we're better then them.

I stab a Hoplite in his chest with my spear. I then kicked him off it, just in time to evade a another Hoplite charging at me. After killing him I took his spear and started duel wielding with both weapon. I slashed, I gutted, and stabbed as many Hoplites I could count. Eventually my arms were getting tired so I threw the Hoplite's Spear at another Hoplite, piercing through her neck. I watch the body drop from the sky before resuming the battle.

The battle wage on, with many pegasuses dropping from the sky. We lost some of our own, but the Stormwing lost more. The ground below is littered with bloody splattered bodies of Hoplites that fell from above.

Near the end of the battle all that was left of the Stormwing force was the commander and his two troops. General Lightning Dust confronted the commander with two troops of her own, myself and some other guy.

We engage them and I easily defeated my opponent by stabbing him in the face. The other guy slayed his opponent by sneaking to back and slice his wings off. Now all that was left was the Storming Commander and the General.

The enemy Commander thrust his spear forward, but Lightning dodged it and headbutted the stallion, breaking his snout. He reeled back and raise his long weapon up, intending to block his opponent's next attack. Lightning swung her sword down and sliced through the Commander's weapon and slice off his right arm. As he yelled in pain, the mare wasn't done with him yet, she brought her blade upward, leaving a long slash mark on his chest.

Just as he was about to fall and join the rest of his troops, General Lightning Dust grabbed his left hoof.  The Commander looked up in disbelief that she was saving him, but his eyes widen upon seeing the blood stained steel of her sword, point down on him. She thrust the blade down into his mouth, cutting the inside of his throat.

The Stormwing Commander gurgle for a bit before the life from his eyes vanished. General Lightning Dust then pulled the sword out and let go of the dead pegasus, watching him disappear into the ground. 

With his death she declared our victory over the invading Stormwing forces. We too also cheered in our successful battle. We then all started flying back home, glad that all that training paid off. Lightning Dust will inform Applejack of our success. We'll then be congratulated and maybe even promoted. One thing for sure, after today Applejack will order up more soldiers like us, more of Lightning's Finest.



THE END