Blaze sat at the table, having just heard the report of the last battle. Even the innovations in war didn't change their ability to win even in the most hopeful of conditions. The Equestrian army was all their with the exception of one division, the fifty-third, which had stayed in Winterglade, the small hamlet they had protected in the battle before last, for the protection of the populace and the holding of their new forward operating base. All fifty-two divisions had been beaten down by an army of roughly six, at least according to Equestrian standards.
"Fortunately for us, the enemy never pressed the advantage after we abandoned the city. We can only imagine if they had, and what effect might have been achieved in doing so." Stone Wall finished before finally taking his seat at the table. One of the other First Lieutenants stood up and gave a nod to Stone Wall.
"I believe I speak for everypony here when I say that you truly did everything in your power to stop what happened, and for that you have nothing to be ashamed of, no matter what anypony says." He said in a rather friendly tone, a small smile born of sympathy on his face.
"Except he lost the city..." A pony muttered, though it had been low enough that no pony knew who had made the comment.
"Stallions, this is no time to bicker amongst ourselves." Blaze said in a calm voice, or at least as calm of a voice as he could manage with all the stress that had suddenly been heaped on him. "It the battle that Stone Wall faced there was no other choices he could've made that would've made a positive effect for our side in the long run. He saved many of the ponies who would have otherwise been slaughtered by the reptilous if he had not been there. It is true, we all with we could've won, but some battles are made to be unwinnable, but we must still fight each as if they were winnable, much as Stone Wall did." The room was swept up in a low mumble of agreement as the ponies looked solemnly at each other, the three empty seats around the table presenting the harsh reality of the war's far reach. Suddenly the doors to the room flew open, a messenger still partially covered in snow galloping in to the room.
"Message from the southern outpost!" The messenger shouted as he threw his ice crusted scarf off to the side. "Reptilous forces are marching hard on their position, with estimates of arrival in this area ranging from later today to early tomorrow." The room quickly fell into a silence that was unbroken except for the runner's heavy breathes. All at once, the ponies began to talk in quickly increasing volume, reaching a point of sheer disorganized shouting.
"EVERYPONY QUIET DOWN AND LET'S BEEN SENSABLE!" Blaze roared, his voice magical augmented to be louder than everypony else's voice. The stallions were quickly silenced, as they looked over towards Blaze. "What reports do you have concerning their force? Is it a scouting party, a brigade, the full army?"
"Reports are inconclusive on that score, though the sound produced by the force's movement was significant, leading to the assumption that it is most likely the bulk of the force." The messenger pony replied quickly. Blaze nodded and waved him off before returning to the stallions.
"As we all very well know, these reptilous have a power greater than any of the other forces. We'll need a new and better strategy to deal with this force, and we'll need to make it in a short amount of time." Blaze stated. "I suggest we close this meeting and take an hour of rest to have each of us come up with our own plans, and then discuss which plan is the best and fine tune it so that we are all as satisfied with the plan as possible." The stallions all nodded in agreement, and shortly dispersed to different areas of the building, leaving Blaze alone with his basket full of maps and bucket full of plastic pieces. He quickly brought out the map of the area and pieces that corresponded to the two armies and began to concoct a plan, much as he had to earn his mark.
"We then have the smaller force loop around this way and hit them from behind, hopefully throwing them off enough to finish them off with one last attack from the aerial divisions." One of the pegasus lieutenants finished, grinning as he ended his explanation of his battle plan. Most of the stallions in the room seemed unimpressed to say the least, the whole plan had almost exclusive use of the air based units in the combat n any sort of active way. In a way, Blaze envisioned what the lieutenant had explained as some sort of air show that had been fitted with swords and lances for a bit of extra flash, with a minimalist choreographed formation on the ground giving small accents to the fliers moves.
"Thank you for that... interesting plan." One of the senior officers commented as he stood up, sending the enthusiastic pegasus back to his seat. "And now we finally come to Blaze Eternal." Blaze nodded and stood up, draping his map over the last plan.
"My plan includes some elements that I have noticed playing a minor role in some of your plans. I suppose when we thought of what this battle most likely held for us, we all had the same general thought, though I have taken a certain piece some of you have worked in to your plans in a small way and made it the entirety of mine."
"Well out with it already! The reptilous will be here soon enough, and we still haven't given orders out to the troops." One of the stallions commented with a huff. Blaze gave a nod before taking up a stick with his magic as he prepared to present his plan.
"The reptilous have the definite advantage in numbers and all around strength, training, and almost every other facet that can be conceived." Blaze began. "What we have to use to our advantage since we don't have any of those things to our advantage, is ingenuity and all around well executed movements that will throw them off during the fight." Blaze smacked the stick at a certain point of his map where the red and blue blotches met. "We will place our strongest, most able ponies at the center, with the less able fighters on either side of them. When the reptilous strike us, our next move will need to be made in just the right way, or else the whole plan will fall apart."
Blaze stood behind the ranks of ponies, looking out towards the reptilous army as they marched up towards them. He could clearly see how many more there were of them there were in comparison to the ragtag Equestrians that stood in formation before him.
"Sir, reports from several outposts." A messenger pony said as he gasped for air. "Estimates of what we can see tell us they most definitely are twice as big as our forces, if not three to four times." Blaze nodded slowly. If he had been in the middle of some field in the middle of Equestria, he might have considered retreat, but that wasn't an option in this case.
"Return to your post soldier." Blaze ordered. The pressure mounted on him as he continued to look over the armies, the knowledge his plan had been selected over the others bringing him all the more stress during the calm that choked the air. A light breeze rippled through the grass, bringing a chill to the field as the first flakes of snow fell as planned.
"General Gylom, the troops are in position." The colonel reported. Gylom nodded, looking across to the field to the site of his last defeat. This time he faced the full force of the Equestrian army with no unexpected addition to sway the battle.
"Tell the others we go in at full force, have the madrahciah provide shielding as best as they can. I don't want a single reptilous lost before we meet them face to face." Gylom ordered, his sense of levity completely missing. "Having the main force of my division is something I will not stand for, and I will not have my auxiliary forces squandered on meaningless frivolities."
"Aye sir, it will be so. Also, a runner arrived a few minutes ago. Spike will arrive within the next hour with fresh troops to support us if necessary." The colonel stated before leaving his general. Gylom looked across the line of ponies standing before him, their golden armor glistening in the evening sun. If they were fortunate, the remnants of the forces would disappear over the horizon before the sun could.
"You may have defeated me once, but you don't stand a chance this time." Gylom growled as he put his helmet on. He rolled his shoulders, readying himself for the coming battle.
Half Pint rolled his shoulders, his armor still bothering him as he tried to stand still in the face of the reptilous line beyond. The silence that engulfed the field made his heart quicken, breaking into a cold sweat as the anticipation and anxiety built up. Suddenly, a horn blared across the field, and the reptilous line began to charge forward, with several shields popping up before them.
Half Pint watched as the flag pony nearby began waving the newly added Hoof Cannon flag. The first two ranks of soldiers took their cannons out and aimed down range, readying themselves to fire at the oncoming enemy. As he watched, the archer flag was raised. Half Pint quickly took out his crossbow and puller the slide back before placing a bolt into the groove before lifting his weapon at an angle, preparing to fire on the enemy line when given the command. As he waited, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead, the spell caster flag was also lifted, several auras lighting up around him as soldiers prepared themselves.
“Hey,” the pony beside him said, “Don’t look so nervous,” He commented, “With a leader like Blaze, we have a good shot at making this work.”
“I know that,” Half Pint replied, “but I can help but worry, Palisade.” Palisade shook his head with a grin before returning to his own crossbow.
All at once the mass firing flag was waved proudly, met by the loud explosions of the hoof cannons, the soft whizzing of the bows and crossbows, and the zinging sound of casted spells flying out towards the advancing lines beyond. The signal to fire at will was given, and soon the field was filled with the many sounds of projectiles being launched. The shield rippled and shook under the stress of the many points of impact across them.
As Half Pint loaded in another bolt, the gigantic explosion told him the cannons were joining in the fight. Several of the shields before them fell, allowing projectiles to strike the soldiers that had once been protected by the failed shields. Suddenly a gigantic bolt of magical energy rose above the reptilous line, rising in a massive arc before reaching its apex, coming screeching down towards the pony line. Half Pint watched in horror as it collided with the ground in front of him, sending him flying through the air with dirt and pieces of metal.
For a second, Half Pint felt weightless as he flew through the air above the ponies. All at once, he landed painfully on top of several ponies, his world spinning as he tried to right himself, feeling something warm and sticky dripping down his brow. He stood up shakily, only to fall back down, the stream of blood rolling down his brow into his eye. He looked to his side and saw Palisade looking back at him. He pulled himself along the ground to the pegasus, and then noticed that half of the pony was now chard black.
“P-palisade, a-are you…?” Half Pint trailed off, noticing the lack of breathing and the glossy eyes that had been so full of life mere seconds before. Half Pint reached out towards the pony, only to feel himself lifted up and carried off towards the medical camp, his fallen comrade left behind.
Amber rushed from one bed to the next, looking over each of the ponies that had already been wounded. The battle had only just started, and even without having met the pony line, had caused massive damage, not to mention patients from the previous battle.
“We got more coming in, nurse!” A soldier stated as he flew in, holding a pony in his hooves. Amber nodded quickly, grabbing her medical bag from the nearby table before rushing over to the first of the new arrivals. The pony was apparently white with a swath of black and gray running from the front left leg, up his face, almost touching his right eye. Suddenly the realization hit her who she was looking at as her eyes met the familiar cutie mark.
“Half Pint!” She gasped in a moment of shock and horror. She quickly removed burn cream and disinfectant from her bag, along with a large roll of heavy duty bandages. She quickly applied the disinfectant over the areas that had been stripped of skin.
“P-palisade…” Half Pint said in a whisper, tears still rolling down his face, hissing as they met the still heated flesh. Amber quickly spread the burn ointment across the rest of his affected area before lifting her bandages in her teeth, quickly maneuvering Half Pint and the cloth with her hooves.
“Nurse, we got three more coming in!” The soldier at the entrance of the tent shouted before charging off to help the ponies. Amber looked towards the tent’s flap as two gurneys rolled in, the soldiers laying on them covered completely by white blankets that had been stained with the blood of the bodies under them. Several ponies entered behind them, most of them with expressions of immense pain as they were carried to the empty medical beds, which were quickly running out.
Suddenly, the tent disappeared, as did the ground. Amber quickly slammed into the wall of a building, the burning remains of the medical tent flittering down in the breeze around her. She quickly looked around her, seeing ponies screeching in pain and agony as they lay on the cold, hard ground. Amber quickly lifted herself and searched for her medical bag, only to feel her right front back leg give out with a screeching pain that wracked her entire form. She looked back and saw the mangle form that once was her leg, which was now bent in the wrong direction, with bone peeking through her bare skin.
Amber gritted her teeth and slowly stood up, lifting her leg as best she could so it wouldn’t touch the ground. She limped over to one of the soldiers, pressing her hoof against his neck to check for a pulse, only to have the chard corpse give a grotesque crack as the head plopped of off the ciders that had once been a neck. Amber shot back in horror and disgust, only to hit her leg against something, sending her to the ground in tears. Amber shook her head and dragged herself towards the next downed soldier, testing for a pulse. In that moment she lit up at finding the pony was alive, hope stirring inside of her that other could also have survived.
Amber quickly checked the pony over, and was relieved to find only small scratches and bruises which he received from the landing no doubt. Amber crawled to the next pony and once again found him alive, though in extremely bad condition. Amber looked around for some sort of medical supplies, but none of them had survived the explosion apparently.
“Somepony, help me!” Amber shouted, looking around for some pony that might be able to help. As if by some miracle, a pony came out of their home, and saw the ponies that littered the ground around them. She quickly charged further into town towards the center of operations for the medical ponies. Amber gave a sigh of relief as she let herself succumb to unconsciousness as the distant explosions rang on.