Glenn sat on the top of a hill, a telescope held up to his eye as he scanned the city below. It had no walls; the buildings were medium height and had a certain amount of distance between the other, the whole pattern of the city mapped around a large Elder Oak tree, which, by what Glenn had gathered, was the first piece of vegetation the colonist ponies planted in Equestria. Snow peeked mountains with sparse trees across their surfaces rose high above the city on the north and east side, and a river cut across the city from the east, the tiny streams unblocked as they flowed under small, stone archways that crisscrossed the center of the metropolis while they simply marked boundaries in the out skirting farm. Each element of the city rang out the earth pony way, with their ever present desire to carve a home from nature, but not rout nature from their homes as trees grew along every street, and almost every house had at least a small garden.
“General Glenn, the troops are ready to attack on your order.” One of Glenn’s Colonels stated as he approached his general, his scales glowing dimly in the moon’s glow. “What is the plan? The Usual silent take over?”
“Yes, that is our best bet. Tell the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth to come from the east, while the seventh, eighth and ninth move in from the south and the first heads in from the north. The second will move in to the east after the first building is destroyed or they are summoned.” Glenn ordered while stowing his scope into his bag. The reptilous nodded and charged off to give the orders out. Glenn reached into his pouch and pulled out a piece of dark, polished metal. He tapped on its surface twice, and the dark piece of metal’s surface waved like a pond that had a stone thrown in it. Greyhield slowly came into view, looking directly at him.
“What do you have to report General Glenn?” Greyhield asked. Glenn turned the piece of metal towards the city, only visible by the lanterns and candles lit in various windows, as well as several unicorn guards patrolling its streets with illumination spells.
“The city is barely prepared, I suspect it will go down quite easily, but if it doesn’t we have Gylom at the ready.” Glenn stated. “Stalliongrad will be yours by the morrow.” Greyhield gave a grunt of approval before the metal faded back to black, the connection ended. Glenn slipped it back into his pouch before heading down the hill towards the outskirts of the town, ready to enter with the rest of his troops.
“Glenn,” Gylom’s voice sounded out to his side, but Glenn didn’t turn to the bulky general, “My troops are ready to go into position, where are we going?” Glenn looked over at the lumbering general as he walked up beside him.
“Hopefully nowhere,” Glenn replied bluntly, “If all goes well, your troops will do nothing,” Gylom sighed loudly, “But position three quarters of your troops on the west side of the city, and the rest of them on the south in case the attack doesn’t go as planned.”
“Why so many troops on the west side, is that the weakest spot on their line?” Gylom asked as he slid his helmet on.
“No, quite the opposite,” Glenn replied, “That’s where the majority of their military buildings are. We need more troops on that side since there are more targets of high importance there.” Gylom nodded in satisfaction and walked off towards the large assembly of his troops, leaving Gylom in silence once again.
“Sir,” a pony shouted as he entered the mayor’s office in a bustle, “Scouts have confirmed, the reptilous troops are mobilizing, and their troop concentration seems to be in the west as anticipated.” The mayor looked at his counselors with a nod.
“The fifteenth, twenty-second, thirty-first, fifty-second and sixty-fifth Infantry Divisions as well as the sixth, forty-fifth and sixty-seventh Archer Divisions and the thirty-second, forty-third, eighty-ninth, and ninety-seventh Spell Casters will meet them there.” The Lieutenant stated with a firm nod, looking at the map of the area that was spread across the table, filled with red and blue pieces.
“Sir, we have all the troops in position, but there has been a slight over sight that I can see.” A sergeant stated, stepping up to the table with a somber expression.
“And what might that be?” The Lieutenant asked as he looked over the board, checking the position of each red and blue piece along with key buildings and positions they had set as points of high resistance.
“We have given all divisions their positions, but we’ve made one miscalculation.” The sergeant replied, pointing to one part of the city. “We have twenty cannons with enough ammunition to fire continuously for twenty minutes, but…” The pony paused for a few seconds, taking a breath in, “There is no division left to operate them. They are left completely open, and if we move any of the divisions to fill in it would only make another hole somewhere else. The first through thirty-second civilian reserve divisions are already posted as well.” The ponies in the room fell silent.
“As much as it might pain me to say this,” The mayor began, “The thirty-third civilian reserves will have to fill in that gap; there is no other way.” The stallion ordered, his head lowered at the shame of suggesting such a thing.
“B-but, Sir, Those ponies are nowhere near battle ready!” The Lieutenant exclaimed in an exasperated tone. “They are a medical unit, barely trained to hold their ground until a real fighting unit is in place, not to mention that they are…!”
“Were they not trained to fill any capacity that might be left if another body of soldiers fell as I requested?” The mayor asked plainly, cutting the pony’s rant where it stood.
“Y-yes sir, but they are hardly suitable to be our first line against these beasts! Canterlot has fallen, even when they had the main body of the Royal and Equestrian guards within their walls.” The Lieutenant shouted.
“Lieutenant, we agreed when setting this plan that the cannons would be extremely necessary to delay their advance and thin out their numbers before they entered the city.” The mayor stated. “With every battle a sacrifice has to be made and a venture into territory we’d rather leave unexplored. Deploying the thirty-third to operate the cannons is a part of that place we’d rather not go, but must if Stalliongrad is to stand a chance against the reptilous.” The Lieutenant hung his head.
“Sir, I’ll give the order.” The sergeant said with a nod. The mayor nodded, and the pony galloped off to inform the ponies of the thirty-third of their new capacity in the battlefield.
“Sir,” The Lieutenant began, as the last of the ponies filtered out of the room, leaving him and the mayor, “If I may, how exactly do we explain this to their families if and when the times come?” The mayor lowered his head in thought.
“We don’t. Theirs is no right way to go about it,” The mayor confided, “The eventuality that they will die is high, seeing as they are the first line, which will receive no assistance; no matter how dire the situation is.” The Lieutenant sighed; knowing full well what the mayor said was true.
“Let’s hope we win, for their sakes, and for the sacrifices that will doubtlessly be made in the name of serving Equestria.” The Lieutenant replied as he left the room, leaving the mayor with the battle plan.
Glenn crept through the shadows, the trees that stood around the city providing excellent protection from visibility as their dense grouping and all covering shadows made the frolicking of a deer indistinguishable from a reptilous dashing from one tree to another as the group moved closer and closer to the edge. Glenn peered into the open field before them, barely visible between the trunks of the trees. All that lay between them and the unaware city of Stalliongrad was a field and a line of bushes that were already losing their leaves as the chill of the coming winter gripped the evening air with a grip as cold as death, though no snow fell.
Glenn broke the tree line, along with a dozen or so other reptilous. They quickly began to dash across the field, only the sound of the crunching of frosted grass under their stride and the occasional cling of metal against their scales gave any sign they were even there. Suddenly, the bushes were thrown away in various magical auras, and a unanimous sound broke the evening silence, as if all the thunder in the world crashed down on the battle field, as cannons lit the sky with their blasts and deafened the reptilous as their echoing booms filled the fields. Glenn quickly dove into a small ravine, left by a river that no longer flowed through its original path.
Glenn watched as several of his finest were mowed down by the pellets that cracked through the air, piercing scale and armor like softened butter. Glenn took out his bow, laying it beside him in the hole as he took and arrow, wrapped in an oil-soaked rag, and lit said arrow on fire before shouting it off into the evening sky, which was joined by several other arrows of the same nature. Glenn stowed his bow, and huddled up against the bank as the seconds ticked by, and the retorts of cannon fire refused to end as reptilouses attempted to run faster than the fuse of their grim reaper’s device.
Glenn looked over at the heavy thud of Gylom dropping into the ditch shoulder first, his armor bearing several dents, though it still hadn’t given way. Glenn nodded before taking a quick glance over the rim of the river, several iron orbs zipping by him as he retreated from the grapeshot.
“The cannons are holding us back fairly effectively.” Glenn commented. “I need you to tell you troops to form a line; my troops will use you as cover.” Glen ordered. Gylom sighed, then nodded as he stood up and exited the protective river bank while giving a roar, at which his soldier rallied in the correct formation. Gylom drew another arrow and lit it, this time the fire burning green as it shot up into the air, the reptilous quickly executing the order as they fell in behind the heavily armored troops.
The cannons continued roaring, sending grape shot and huge balls of iron slamming into the reptilous line. Gylom stumbled back a step as a mass of grape shot slammed into his chest plate, denting it heavily. A reptilous near Gylom was thrown violently backwards as a cannon ball slammed into him, crushing him in his own armor. Gylom moved on, another volley slamming into him without piercing, though the dents were becoming deeper and wider as more rounds struck near one another.
Glenn slipped by the armored line and rushed up between two cannons, quickly fixing the position of three of one of the cannon’s operators and sent knives straight into their heads, ending them on impact. Glenn quickly turned and ended another pony with a stroke of his sword and another as his claws sliced through the pony’s neck. Glenn threw the pony down to the ground, blood pooling around the dead pony as something caught Glenn’s eye. The pony’s muzzle was rounded, instead of being boxy as a stallion’s typical muzzle, and then it dawned on Glenn. The ponies that had been holding them off were all mares. Mares had killed the majority of his soldiers.
Glenn released his grappling blade from his gauntlet, catching it in his claws as the excess chain drooped a tad before he turned and threw it into the nearest pony before yanking the blade back out and shoving it down the throat of the mare that decided it would be a good idea to charge the reptilous without even trying to hide her approach. Glenn ripped the blade out of the pony, blood spewing out across his scales.
Gylom grabbed one of the cannons and whipped it around before lighting the fuse, letting it fire off randomly into the city, causing one of the larger buildings to crumble with a large rumble. Gylom planted his lance in one of the ponies that had a bit more tenacity than the others, the crunch of the bones under his lance bringing a grin to his face.
Gylom kicked down the door of the nearest building, only to have a flurry of arrows and magic bolts smash into his already weakening armor. Gylom ripped the door off of its hinges and threw it into the room, several cries ringing out as it smashed several ponies against the far wall.
Gylom threw his lance, impaling a pony to the wall as he drew his sword and ended another pony with a single blow. Gylom stepped to the side, directly into a wall, as another bolt of magic soared past. Gylom gripped his lance and ripped it out of the wall, the pony that it had been going through hitting the ground with a soppy, meaty thud as Gylom’s lance found its way through another pony, lodging itself in the ground, straight through the pony’s neck. Gylom slashed at the last pony, but this one had the good sense to jump backwards, but its grand escape was only for a moment as Gylom grabbed a rather sizeable chunk of wood that had been severed from door and jammed it down the pony’s throat, effectively ending the stallion’s short life.
Glenn twirled his grappling dagger, letting more and more chain out as he increased the speed at which he spun it as he observed the building around him from the roof of his building. A window opened, revealing a unicorn guard, its horn a glow as it prepared a spell. Glenn launched his dagger out, the blade slamming into the pony’s skull through one of its eye before being yanked out and thrown back, lodging itself in the window sill bellow the now limp pony’s head. Glenn entered the window after a quick climb up the wall, letting out a sigh as he removed his blade from the window and threw the pony out of the window.
Suddenly, the sound of a magic spell being casted caught Glenn’s attention, only to have a blast of magic slam into his back, sending him out of the window, only giving him an instant to slam his blade into the wall of the building as he tumbled downward, quickly activating the locking mechanism, his arm feeling the strain as the chain reached the maximum length. Glenn looked up at the window, the guard already lifting his sword to break the chain. Glenn threw a dagger, the blade slicing through the pony’s jaw, the limp form quickly tumbling out of the window and down into the streets. Gylom quickly began scaling the wall, slipping back into the window before throwing his blade into a higher building as he continued towards the interior of the city with the method of least resistance possible.
The mayor watched as the four guard slid a thick wooden shield in front of the front door, driving large wooden stakes through it, fastening it to the wall like the boards over the windows and platform that was situated under the dome. The Lieutenant walked up beside the mayor as the guards stepped away from their work and began to arrange desks and chairs in a slightly more defensive formation.
“Last report we received indicated reptilous’ entered the inner district in small numbers, completely avoiding our defenses.” The military pony stated. “The main body of their forces is still in the center district, quite detained by the civilian divisions and the remnants of the sixty-fifth.” The mayor nodded.
“I hope they have the courtesy to take us as well.” The stallion stated as he removed the proud metal that hung around his neck with a hoof, the golden star gleaming back at him as it had done since the day the princess had given it to him. “I haven’t been worthy of this medal for a long time.” He placed it in a draw of his desk before shutting it and locking it with a small bronze key. Suddenly there was a sound of breaking glass, and the wooden planks on one window bulged inwards for an instant, a cloud of dust spewing out as it returned to its previous shape.
“They’re here, sir.” The Lieutenant stated the obvious. “Guard, get ready for our last stand; make me proud.” He said to the four guards in the room. As the pony looked back towards the window, when a green flash caught his attention, making his whip his head back towards the guards to find two of the guards turned into changelings, with their swords already planted in the backs of the two real guards. The Lieutenant drew his sword and cut down one of the changelings before the other bolted straight up to him and sliced the guard’s neck, blood splattering across the black carapace armor of the changeling. The mayor quickly picked up the letter opener from his desk between his teeth, imitating the changeling’s attack on its throat.
The mayor let go of his weapon, letting the changeling drop to floor, grasping the green fluid that gushed from the wound on its throat with desperate hooves. The old stallion sat down beside the dying pony that had saved his life, tears beginning to slip down his cheeks. The Lieutenant smiled at the mayor, blood still spilling from his deep wound. He opened his mouth to speak, but only a gurgling noise came out as blood pumped out all the more furiously from the slash.
“Th-thank you, Lieutenant Gallant Heart, for your service, and unwavering loyalty in the defense of Stalliongrad,” The mayor stated, ear flowing freely, “May death be kind, and may you receive your due reward for your sacrifice.” Gallant smiled, putting a bloodied hoof on the mayor’s chest while mouthing out the word ‘medal’. “Y-you want my medal? Of course, you deserve it and a hundred others.” The mayor went to open the draw, fitting the key into the lock, only to have the hoof place on his shoulder. He looked back, and saw Gallant pointing at him. The mayor cocked his head to the side as Gallant reinforced the motion, pointing at the mayor with more force. “F-for… me?” Gallant nodded. “I-I don’t deserve a medal.” Gallant smirked as he closed his eyes for the last time.
The wood over the window broke open as a reptilous landed in the office, blade brandished, ready for the kill as it fixed its eyes on the mayor. The mayor swallowed, putting a confident smile on as he turned the small key in the lock on the draw where his medal still laid. The reptilous straightened as the mayor lowered his hoof, taking a step towards the unwavering mayor. The reptilian warrior looked around the room, seeing the dead bodies of ponies and changelings and the unharmed stallion who stood seemingly unfazed in the middle of it all.
“You are the leader of this settlement, are you not?” The reptilous asked. The mayor didn’t reply immediately as he eyed the reptilous carefully, sizing up the draconic beast carefully, judging his chances of victory against this obviously well trained fighter. “Answer me, are you the leader.”
“Yes,” The pony replied, “I am the acting mayor of Stalliongrad, Stalwart Vision.” The mayor finished. The reptilous pointed its blade’s tip at Stalwart.
“Surrender now and your life may be spared.” The reptilous ordered. Stalwart gave the reptilous one last look over.
“You’ve killed many ponies during the course of this battle, ponies that were under my leadership and protection.” Stalwart stated. “I believe you are probably familiar with the phrase ’the captain always goes down with the ship’.” Stalwart said.
“I see no relevance to boats and your surrender.” The reptilous retorted curtly, only to have Stalwart dive for the changelings blade, roll on landing as he gripped it between his teeth before slashing out at the reptilous, who jumped up and landed square on the blade, ripping it out of Stalwart’s grip before swiftly slamming its other foot down on Stalwart left hind leg, causing it to go the opposite direction it was supposed to, popping the metacarpal from the tarsus, earning a roar of pain from the old stallion. The reptilous lifted the stallion by the mane, looking him straight in the eye. The reptilous brandished his claws and ran them along the pony’s side, leaving red tendril that began bleeding more and more as time passed. The stallion bit his lip as pain cracked across his die, giving the reptilous a grin. “You ponies have such a low pain tolerance.”
“I-I may not… be able to hide pain,” Stalwart said through gritted teeth, “But we can certainly take more you beast.” The reptilous dead panned, grabbing Stalwart’s right foreleg and pushed it forward, disjointing the ulna and radius from the metacarpal gaining yet another howl of pain.
“I have my doubts, but let’s just see if you can put your legs back in joint and still have the presence of mind to fight me competently.” The reptilous stated before hurling Stalwart across the room. Another wave of pain seared through Stalwart as he slammed into the wall and then onto the floor. Stalwart looked up at the reptilous, his vision already blurring. Stalwart rose to his two good hooves, slamming his bad foreleg against the floor, popping joint back into place, causing a bolt of pain to flare up his leg, and then he began walking forward, paying no heed to his hind leg that still hung limply. The reptilous surged forward, pinning Stalwart to the wall, dislocating his last hind leg in the same motion, giving Stalwart yet another taste of pain that had become his good companion.
“Why don’t you… just kill me?” Stalwart asked, looking at the sword on the floor beside the reptilous’ foot. The beast warrior simply grabbed the blade with its foot, swinging it up before letting it go, sending it on an arc above its right shoulder. The reptilous caught the blade and twirled it around, pointing he tip of the blade at the pony’s throat.
“You’d like that wouldn’t you? To have it all ended in a swift motion. In your position I suppose you’d even have in slow, as low as it still ended you. Unfortunately,” The reptilous continued, slamming the blade into the wall beside Stalwart’s head, “You won’t get it like that.” The reptilous proceeded to break Stalwart’s remaining limbs, earning a pain filled yell each time, Stalwart reduced to a mess of tears by the time the reptilous was finished. The reptilous threw him to the other side of the room, sending him straight through the wooden plank and locked door. The reptilous broke down the rest of the door, walking it to find the old mayor attempting to put at least one leg back into joint. “It’s almost entertaining to watch you struggle with four disjointed legs.”
“Why don’t I give you taste of how fun it… is for the performer. Trust me, it’s… absolutely wonderful.” Stalwart retorted before finding his weight being thrown out the window, straight into a cart, whose door was slammed close behind the flying earth pony. Glenn climbed through the window, giving the signaling to the leader of the cart, who nodded and hauled the cart away. Glenn looked up to the dome of the building, watching as the Equestrian flag and Stalliongrad flag were torn down and set on fire as they were thrown from the building, a new flag taking their place. Glenn nodded as Greyhield’s dark banner rose above the city’s capital.
“The city is under our control.” Gylom said as he walked up beside Glenn. “I’m surprised they lasted this long.” Glenn nodded, looking to the second setting sun he had seen since the battle began. The ponies had done everything they could to prevent their defeat, and it had been effective in slowing them down, but it had failed stopping them. Glenn took out his piece of metal, tapping on it as he had two nights previous. The surface shimmered and revealed Greyhield’s face as it usually did.
“General Glenn, it has been some time since your last report.” Greyhield stated, his tone unchanging, not revealing any emotion the dragon might have.
“The last bits of resistance have been stomped out, Stalliongrad offers no more hassle.” Glenn reported, his voice mirroring Greyhield’s.
“Two days? Glenn, I expected better from my seasoned assassin. It appears that my choice to acquire new blood was as wise as I had thought.” Greyhield stated. “Leave a small occupying force and return, there’s a new recruit I wish you to meet.” Glenn nodded, and the metal shimmered again, Greyhield’s face disappearing with the last of the ripples.
“I’ll rally my troops and get ready to leave. I’ll post those staying in their places.” Gylom said, turning to leave, only to have Glenn place his hand on his shoulder.
“No, tell your two strongest soldiers to report to the central courtyard of the capital, there is one victory we need to claim before leaving.” Glenn stated.
“Are you telling me that you are going to disobey Greyhield and stay?” Gylom asked, surprised by his compatriot. Glenn shook his head as he walked towards the white building that sat in the center of the town, wrapped around the most important thing in Stalliongrad for moral and a sense of strength.
“We need to claim this last victory. It will break the spirits of these pathetic ponies and will only take a matter of minutes.” Glenn replied as he entered through the broken window as Gylom walked off.
Glenn watched and listened as the gigantic Elder Oak fell to the reptilouses axes with a loud groan. Several madrahciah walked up and pealed the bark off and cut into the hardened wood of the tree, removing several large chunks before allowing the reptilous to pour oil up and down the gaping hole in the tree before the eyes of the line of ponies that stood chain before lighting it on fire with a flint and steel, a dark cloud of smoke crackling with magical energy soaring up as the fire ate at the first plant on Equestrian soil to the chagrin and tears of the ponies looking on. Glen walked up to the blaze and spat on the burning tree, the liquid quickly evaporating and joining the cloud of smoke that rose.