The Return

by John 117

Chapter 12: Fight As One

Listening from afar, Marcus sighed at the stallions words; while they were true and held merite, it was not good of them to be thinking of things like that. What they needed to really focus on was getting out of the ravine alive, and Marcus wasn't quite sure how they were going to do that. He had enough ammo for one more major engagement, then he would have to switch to his sword. He couldn’t keep up that kill count he had going for him for much longer, and the ponies around him looked like they knew that. Marching over to the small group that had formed up on the wall, he called up to them.

“Hey, quit your moping and get down here. There work that needs to be done.” The few that were there groaned, offering points of wisdom like ‘what is the point?’ and ‘we’re exhausted’. Having heard enough of the gripping, Marcus climbed up on top of the rocks and threw them off himself. Only getting curses and complaints, and drawing a much larger crowd from the surrounding tents, Marcus silenced them with a pistol round towards the sky. Coincidentally, a crow fell soon after at his feet. Smirking, Marcus addressed the ponies around him.

“Several centuries ago, or maybe even a few millennia by now, a country by the name of Greece on a world in my universe was under siege from a force far superior and larger than anything they had faced before. They were out matched; they were outnumbered, and they had no hope. The army that was coming for them had conquered most of the known world. But a brave few stood against the onslaught.” Marcus paused taking in their stairs. He had their attention, but he needed their hearts.

“Among the Greeks were warriors known as Spartans. They were trained from childhood to become the best that they could be in the art of war. 300 of these men went against this army, in the hopes of giving their people and fellow greeks enough time to gather their forces and fight this force to preserve their freedom and their way of life. 300 men marched against this force, led by their king. Loyal to a fault they were, and there, on the side of a mountain, 300 men held of the tides of an entire nation. For 3 days, these men held that small stretch on the mountainside.” Smiles were creeping on their faces now. Hope began to glimmer once more but a few stayed as they were; forlorn and lost to the hopelessness of the story. How could a few hundred stand against a nation? They didn’t.

“While those men never returned to see their wives and children, what they did do was give their children a future to live in. The Greeks had been bought enough time by this bold sacrifice, and stood against the might of their foes, and bested them. These 300 Spartans were known as hero’s, passing on into myth and legend as one of the greatest lost causes of all time.” Walking down towards them as a voice cried out from the soldiers present.

“That’s it? They all died? Great! But if you didn’t notice sir but none of us were trained from birth. We are normal ponies who lead normal lives when out of duty.What hope do we have of surviving 3 days? Let alone a few more hours! ” Marcus smirked. He found the mare in question and looked her dead in the eye.

“You think the Spartans did all the hard work? That's what the story tends to leave out. That along with these Spartans stood a few thousand Greeks, who heard of their march and joined them. They were potters, bankers, farmers. Most had never held a shield in their life, and most certainly had never taken a life. But they marched on. And they died.” Walking slowly into their midst, Marcus raised his voice a bit higher and again addressed them as a whole

“You may not be Spartans; hell some of you might only have just joined the service.You may not have been trained from birth or have super stregth or speed like I do. You do not have assault rifles or grenades. But what you have and what I see in each and everyone of you is the same things those Greeks held dear to their hearts; a hope for a better future for your children.” Walking to the wall and pointing beyond the large barrier, Marcus yelled as best he could, hoping that the griffins might hear the echo of his voice.

“Those bastards intend on taking your land from you, will you let them?” A few no’s and shouts were given.

“They want to take your freedom and your lives, will you let them?” A loud response, a bashing of a shield against a sword was heard. Marcus smirked.

“They want to take away a bright and prosperous future from your kids, will you let them?!” A thunderous uproar was heard; the stomping of hooves and the bashing of shields reverberated through the ravine letting loose stones and rocks from up high once more.

“Then I say to you; stand with me! Stand with me and die with me. Give them a chance out there to fight back! Buy them time. Stand with me and fight!” Marcus raised his fist in the air as roars of approval were shouted out. Calling out for his lieutenant, Marcus brought together his small command squad. Bullseye had pulled out one or two competent stallions from the survivors, one them the apparently being Steel Wing. Giving a gruff sound of approval, the stallion stood there taking in the ponies around him. Speaking in a somewhat hushed tone, and spoke to Marcus.

“Nice speech, but speeches don't win wars. What the plan?” Bullseye raised and eyebrow and waited. Marcus just responded by telling them to meet them in his tent in 10 minutes.

“If we’re going to survive long enough to give Armour and his generals enough time to put together a counter offensive, we’re going to need to get ready for a long fight.” And hopefully buy Emilia enough time to kill that fucking king.

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Ten minutes later and the four of them had gathered outside of Marcus’s tent.The soldiers, while still rilled up from the speech, had nothing much to do, and sought to just roam around and do whatever meaningless task they could find, be it from fixing a cartwheel that carried supplies or to just keeping watch along the wall. Watches had been set up by the ponies alone, not command needed or given.

“So you got their hope; now what?” A earth pony mare by the name of Iron grip said. The name looked like it lived up to the owner. Iron Grip was almost as tall as Bullseye, and at least a foot taller than Steel Wing. She could’ve been chiseled out of marble for all Marcus knew; there was no lean fat or anything. She seemed to be made entirely out of muscle. If he didn’t know any better, Marcus would’ve guessed Celestia started her own Spartan program. Marcus addressed her specifically, but looked each of them in the eye.

“Now we dig in and get ready for the long haul. A wall is good and all, but you have to hold it. It also had to keep standing, and for all we know those griffons have things that can take down a makeshift rock wall like that like it was made of tissue paper. First things first is to make that thing as strong as we can get it, and to keep up a watch and have it manned at all times. It would seem that a watch has already been set up, however, it will still need to be strengthened. Iron Grip, think you can handle that?” A sharp nod was given.

“Good, next, we need our air to be clear and clean. Steel wing, gather up what pegasia we have and start training them as a unit. We need them to be able to fight together as a unit at a moment's notice. Can you handle that?” Silence. Marcus looked up from his papers and looked at him. “Steel Wing; can you do that?” More silence. Marcus just sighed and looked around for some answer. It was all he needed to hear. He would need to find somepony from his company who could-

“Logistics.” Marcus opened his eyes and looked at Steel Wing.

“Pardon?” he asked.

“I can work logistics. Contrary to the name I just joined the army a few months before this. Before I had worked in a steel factory. I was good at logistics. I can run the numbers on what we have and make it last; from food to cannon rounds.” Smiling from ear to ear Marcus nodded. “Logistics it is. Bullseye?”

“Aye?” Marcus nodded out towards the soldiers walking around outside.

“Find me a pegasus who knows how to fight and to lead and bring him to me. Once that is finished, I want you to gather what unicorns you can and put them into two units; one for wall defence, and the second for air defense. For the first gather what earth ponies you can who aren’t working on the wall and mix them in. Can I count of you to do all that?” The gruff stallion just smirked and nodded.

“Piece o’ cake Chief.” Smirking at the nickname, Marcus nodded.

“Alright. You have your orders. Get to them and get ready. We got a long fight in front of us.”

Comments

[Thesandman888]

Yes good timing