Blaze slid under a bush, the rest of his squad following suit as they charged through the forest, the distant sounds of hoof cannons going off pushing them on as their warm breathes curled in the cool morning air. The song of the birds was silent, leaving only the sound of the ponies' breathing and the crunching of frosted terrain as they passed. Blaze leaped over a log, his scarf twisting in the breeze as he did. Blaze quickly skidded to a halt, taking cover behind a small stone fence. His troops quickly fell into place along the wall, their dark armor with golden trim standing in stark contrast with the snow, though blending surprisingly well in the shadows.
"Bobcat, take team one and work around the right of the wall; team two and I will go around the left. Remember, attempt to avoid confrontation." Blaze whispered to the stallion he came face to face with. Bobcat nodded and signaled to the rest of team one to follow him while Blaze began working his way along the wall in the opposite direction.
"Sir, we have two contacts by the house." One of the ponies reported as he slinked up beside Blaze. Blaze peeked around the wall briefly and saw the two reptilous standing around the old house that had become their home, though a good deal smaller than they were. The two reptilian warriors seemed to be simply sitting down by the fire, not doing anything of particular interest.
"Good catch, send word to Hawk and Eagle to take aim with bows. Once we give the signal they are to take them out without letting any alarms to get set off." Blaze ordered before continuing along. The soldier nodded and turned to the ponies behind him, passing the word along before continuing after Blaze, who was already making his way towards the end of the wall. Blaze glanced quickly towards the other side of the wall and saw the stallions of team one moving into position. "Give them the signal." Blaze said. The pony nodded and made a rather odd warbling noise that vaguely resembled a bird call. Suddenly, two arrows pierced the morning air, striking the reptilous in the head, sending them to the ground without as much as a noise. "Move in and secure the area, there may be more enemies that are not in our visual." The ponies quickly made their way to the small cabin, keeping low to the ground while making as little noise as possible.
Blaze pushed the door in lightly, watching as one of his stallions rushed in, covering the way directly in line of the door while another swooped around the door and covered the rest of the area. A reptilous lay still on a bed, unaware of the knife a pony held a hair above his throat. Blaze quickly wrapped the beast in a coat of magic, restraining him from any further movements while another unicorn produced a silence bubble. The beast thrashed violently, attempting to break the bonds that held it while roaring at what would be perceived to be the loudest he could muster, though it was completely inaudible to the ponies as the silence dome held.
"Search the ba-" Blaze began, only to have a reptilous, holding a pile of wood, push the back door open. One of the stallions beside him quickly notched an arrow and sent it into the beast's forehead while three ponies surged out the door and quickly cleared the surrounding area.
"All clear, sir, no enemy contact within visual range." Bobcat reported with a salute. Blaze nodded before turning to the reptilous tied up in the corner.
"Well, Sergeant Bastion, let's see what we've won." Blaze commented; dropping the codenames they had adopted during the battle. "Take his gag off; let's see what he has to say." One of the soldiers nodded, removing the cloth binding from the reptilous' mouth. The beast warrior looked up toward Blaze with hating eyes.
"If you expect information from me, you will not be getting any." The reptilous growled as twisted and wiggled in his bindings. "We fought wars far before you even had a sense of order, we know all of the interrogation tricks that any army might use."
"I'm sure of that," Blaze commented, "But I also know that as the honorable warrior that you are, you know that to the victor goes the spoils, and since you are just a small outpost with no real loot to be had, I expect certain curtsies, such as knowledge as to why you were stationed out here." Blaze said, looking the reptilous up and down. The warrior beast spat at Blaze, though the wad of saliva sailed straight past Blaze's ear. Blaze nodded to the soldiers, who quickly sliced the reptilous' throat before making sure the job was done by planting a sword in his chest.
"The grounds have been searched, no orders in written form were found, though we have yet to actually check the bodies of the reptilous." Bastion stated after receiving the reports from another pony. Blaze nodded slowly, looking around at the surroundings.
"Strip the reptilous of any metal they may have and place them out front. The main force will be here soon enough. Report to me once that's done, we still have ground that needs to be covered if we are to reach our destination by nightfall." Blaze ordered before moving out the back door. The forest thinned out the further away, providing less cover and hiding places for anything, though the fog that had collected certainly did help in some small way. As Blaze looked over the landscape, he heard the approach of a pony. "Anything to report?" Blaze asked, turning to Bastion.
"No sir, they either had no orders or their instructions were purely verbal." Bastion replied. "There's nothing else of interest in this area unless you like an old sheep farm. Are we moving on?" Blaze nodded as he turned his gaze back towards the thinning line of trees. Bastion let out a hawk call, and all the ponies were promptly on the way towards the next point along their trip.
"There's a camp to the north that has been occupied for at least two weeks according to reports, though none of the scouts could check how many enemies there were." Blaze commented, unfurling his map before him allowing Bastion to see it too. Blaze lit up the area in question with a brighter spot in his magical aura. "We'll travel together until we reach the southern end of the ravine, then you'll take team one and loop around. Once you reach the other side, we'll converge on the target. If you get in trouble, you know what to do." Bastion gave a quick nod before rushing to catch up with the other ponies as they bolted through the forest. Blaze rolled up the scroll while dashing to catch up with the rest of the group, the forest scenery reminding him of his training with Flint those all that time ago. It reality, it had only been a bit under three years, which was little in the grand scheme of things, but now seemed to be a lifetime ago.
Blaze slid to a halt behind a snow bank, the white flurry he sent up fluttering over the small crest. The trees had completely disappeared, and the troops had to take out their extra wool coat, that made their movements more difficult, but much more concealed. Blaze peeked around the bank, the ravine before him just as the map had said. Bastion and his team skirted around the edge of the ravine, only noticeable by the occasional flash of one of the troops' true coat or mane as they rushed through the snow. After a short wait, Bastion's hawk call pierced the air, signaling the charge.
Blaze zipped around the side of the pile of snow while other troops leaped over it, joining back up with the group as they made their way down the ravine's crest. Blaze hopped down a small drop, quickly shifting to the wall while removing his wool coat, placing it back in his pack in favor of his darker armor to blend in with the shady stone floor and walls. Blaze quickly made his way along the wall, following the gray smoke that rose from deeper within the crevasse; while his troops disappeared in the shadows as they stored their woolen coats.
"Have Hawk and Eagle ready to fire on multiple targets. We can't be sure if they have an advanced guard or not." Blaze whispered, turning to the pony directly behind him. "And have Shade prepare to do his thing." The pony snorted lightly in recognition before turning to give the word.
The ponies continued to inch along the wall, keeping a close watch around them for any signs of the enemies. Blaze rounded a corner, coming face to face with a reptilous that had just turned to look at something the other direction. Blaze quickly slit the beast's throat before smashing the reptilous' skull against the cavern wall, making sure not to let its chest make contact with the stones. He let the body down slowly, careful not to let it make too much noise. Several of the stallions rushed by to check the surrounding area as Blaze checked the corpse over for anything of use.
Blaze moved on, checking around carefully until he heard a large racket up ahead. He quickly charged towards the noise, leaping over several corpses as he went. As he drew closer, Blaze slid behind an outcropping of rocks, peaking over it quickly to ascertain the situation. Several reptilous lie on the ground, arrows set firmly in their heads, while other had slash marks. So far, Blaze didn't see any pony bodies, though he did see Eagle standing rather still with his bow drawn a little distance away. Blaze charged across the gap and came up beside Eagle, who still remained nearly motionless.
"What's the situation so far?" Blaze asked; looking around the area Eagle had his arrow trained on. Eagle motioned farther down the path where Blaze spotted three ponies partially behind a rock with a reptilous holding a sword towards them. The ponies were unfamiliar, probably being from around this area. "Bastion's team will be here soon enough."
"That's what we're hoping for, but Shade already is making his way towards them. He's hoping to get the guard out of the fight before it hurts anypony." Eagle replied. Blaze nodded slowly, his eyes attracted to a sudden movement as Shade slipped between two boulders above the reptilous. Shade dropped down, his knife plunging into the warrior's skull with a sickening crunch; but as the ponies watched, a reptilous jumped out of seemingly nowhere and grabbed Shade by the throat. The reptilous ran his sword through Shade's chest before throwing the limp earth pony away like a piece of trash.
"Who's next? I can take any challenge you throw at me!" The reptilous boasted as he grabbed one of the hostages, holding her above his head. "I challenge you to try and stop me from ending this pony!" Blaze looked over at Eagle.
"Make him drop her, then drop him." Blaze ordered. The archer nodded, sending an arrow straight towards the reptilous' fore arm before drawing back another arrow, sending it to the beast warrior's chest. The reptilous seemed to smirk as he moved the hostage in the way of both arrows. As Blaze watched in shock, one of the arrows pierced the pony's head while the other slammed into her back.
"Worthless, you can't hope to gain victory from this." The reptilous taunted, tossing the corpse to the side. "How about one of you actually come and face me in open combat instead of just hiding behind rocks, or are you far too scared of me?" Blaze glared at the reptilous from the shadows before standing up.
"Sir, he's baiting you, don't fall for it!" Eagle hissed as he notched another arrow. "He wants you to fight, and that means nothing good can come of it."
"I've let this go on for far too long." Blaze said to nopony in particular as he came out of the shadows, facing the reptilous, barely keeping his anger in check. "You've hurt the ponies of this land, but I tell you now that you will never be able to harm another for the rest of your days."
"Oh," the reptilous began, tilting his head in curiosity, "And why is that?" He asked, his grim smile growing larger as he began to approach Blaze.
"Because your days end here." Blaze said, his sword snapping into position as he lowered himself into a fighting stance. Blaze rushed the reptilous, swinging his sword towards the beast's neck. The reptilous quickly raised his sword, catching the attack with ease before slamming the sword to the ground, pinning it with his foot. An arrow shot out from the rocks towards the reptilous as Blaze shot a bolt of fire. The reptilous sliced the arrow out of the arrow while letting the fire bellow off of his scales. Blaze lifted Shade's knife from the fallen reptilous' skull, sending it towards the creature's back, but the reptilous parried with expertise before ripping the blade from Blaze's magical grip, slamming it into the skull of one of the ponies that still coward behind the rocks.
Blaze drew his sword out from under the reptilous' foot while spinning around, sending his legs out towards the reptilous' legs. The beast jumped backwards, letting the sword go as he did. Blaze spun around again, bringing his sword back to his side as another arrow whizzed past, only to be cut in half by the reptilous. Blaze snorted, lashing out with his sword, only to have it smack away by the reptilous, which then slashed Blaze across the cheek. Blaze turned back, his furry rising, only to be replaced with horror as he saw the reptilous bring the blade down on one of the ponies, ending it in a second.
The world seemed to slow as the pony slowly slumped down to the floor, the life gone from his eyes. Blaze felt the raw horror and sorrow as the last of the hostages fell to the reptilous, but those emotions were short lived as a furry grew inside of him, burning brighter than any hate he had ever felt for anything. His mane shifted into a jet black color, his muscles grew, his stature increased, and his coat waved like fire.
"No." Blaze whispered, though his voice had grown so powerful in volume that it echoed all around the ponies. Blaze's eyes went wide, glowing brighter than the sun as he roared, a flame issuing out from all around him as his horn glowed fiercely, and waved about violently as the flames stripped the reptilous of every piece of flesh. For a brief second, the canyon was hotter than summer in Equestria, the snow melting into water, rushing down further into the grotto. Blaze breathed out heavily, tired from expelling so much energy in an attempt to stay away from Rage Shift. Several ponies ran up from deeper down the gorge, dripping wet from the water that had just shot past them. Each of them stopped as they saw the scene of the bones of a reptilous lying in a crumpled heap with pony corpses lying about.
"Sir, what-" Bastion began, only to be silenced by a look for Blaze.
"Gather the troops, we need to keep moving. We have three more targets to take out before the day is done." Blaze ordered, walking past Bastion. The group of soldiers looked at each other before finally following Blaze down the crevasse
Blaze exited the tree line, the army now situated on the outskirts of Baltimare. The city looked almost unchanged, except for Greyhield's flag fluttering in the breeze on the spires of the taller buildings. Barricades had been set up, along with several trenches and other defensive measures, but all of them were devoid of any type of guards. Their plan had worked so far, but now they were faced with the hardest part of all: the battle.