Conflict of Embers and Souls

by Lord of Flies

Chapter Two: The Western Pass, Part Two: The Battle

The first wave of jackalopes rushed the defensive wall. Although very thinned by the defenders’ ballistas and archers, enough of their number made it to the wall to begin their attack on the wall.

***

“Kick those ladders down!”

“Keep them off of the wall!”

Officers and sergeants began barking orders to their subordinates, in an attempt to keep control of the wall’s top.

Captain Splash had joined his men up on the wall, not wanting to let his men take all of the credit, or so he had convinced himself. He frowned as he drove the blade of his glaive into a jackalope’s head, stopping the warrior from climbing up the ladder. He then kicked the ladder down, slowing the jackalope assault down a little bit.

One of the warriors would eventually pick up the ladder and set it back into place. And the next warrior to come up the ladder would soon perish to another soldier’s blade and the ladder would be kicked down again. Or one of the soldiers would take a torch to the ladder and turn it to ashes.

Movement at the edge of his vision drew Splash’s attention to a jackalope and one of the archers engaged in a sword duel. The archer, having run out of arrows for her longbow, had drawn her broadsword and engaged one of the nearby jackalopes.

The mare blocked a slash from the jackalope and delivered a thrust at the warrior. The warrior dodged to the left, but ended up with a cut across his right cheek, deep enough to draw blood.

Splash began jogging toward the pair, holding his glaive with the blade pointed outwards, intending to stab at the jackalope once he was in range of the jackalope.

He slowed to a walk and rested the shaft of his glaive on his shoulder as he saw the archer get inside of the jackalope’s swing, grab his sword arm, and run him through with her sword.

The jackalope dropped his sword, his body going limp as he died. The archer planted a foot on the jackalope’s body and kicked his lifeless body off of the wall.

“Next time,” the mare stated, flicking her broadsword to clean the blood of its blade, “try harder to hit me. Well, obviously, you won’t. But the thought counts. I suppose.”

“Excellent work,” Splash complemented, “I’m glad to see that someone payed attention in sword training.”

The archer nodded, pulling out a small cloth to finish cleaning her sword.

She turned, and looked at her superior, and smiled, slightly.

“Now,” Splash said, “who are you?”

The archer shrugged. “I’m Shimmering Rose.”

Splash nodded. A sound of a horn drew the attention of both Rose and Splash. “The jackalopes,” Rose said, “they’re retreating?”

“Only to regroup, likely with the second wave.”

Stormwinds had joined the two ponies, blood having been splattered on his armor and twinblade. “That your blood, General?”

“No. It’s all jackalope.”

He tapped his chestplate, proudly. “Geisteel is very tough, very durable, and light enough for a pegasus to wear a full suit of it.”

Splash nodded, looking at the retreating horde. “They’ll be back soon, won’t they?”

“Yes, they will.”

************

Cyclone frowned, face hidden by his helmet. The United Equestria outpost had defeated the first wave of his assault. He wondered who was leading the soldiers, as he knew that the quality of United Equestria’s army had severely declined in the last twenty five years.

He watched impassively as his plate armored soldiers pushed past the retreating soldiers, who were not as well armored.

One soldier, he noticed, was being borne on the shoulder of one the other soldiers, his only major wound being a wound from being run through with a sword. The wound had been bandaged, allowing him to survive the wound.

Flicking his left arm out to the side, he ignited his pyromancy flame and smiled. He would use his pyromancy to destroy the gate to the outpost. Then, he would take on the outpost’s commander.

Cyclone and his soldiers were close to the outpost. Very, very close.

************

Splash’s eyes went wide as he saw the large pegasus in the center of the advancing jackalopes draw his left hand back and swing it in a throwing motion. “INCOMING!!”

Stormwinds looked at Rose and said, “We’ve got to fly up! Up, out of the blast!”

Stormwinds and Rose flared their wings and shot up into the sky. Splash cast a defensive shield spell, hoping that the shield would be strong enough to keep him from being incinerated.

The fireball connected with the gate, and Splash’s world went black.

***

“Damn! There goes our primary advantage!”

“Do you think the captain survived, sir?!”

“I don’t know! But we’ve got to help our fellow soldiers!”

Rose nodded, and both pegasi dove toward their foe.

************

Cyclone chuckled as his soldiers swarmed through the destroyed gate.

A flash of gold out of the corner of his eye drew his attention to a pegasus in full plate armor landing in the middle of a group of his soldiers. The plated pegasus rose to full height and began swinging a twinblade, causing chaos in Cyclone’s ranks.

Cyclone knew of only one soldier who preferred full plate armor and a twinblade.

“General,” Cyclone murmured to himself, smiling faintly.

He began walking toward the General, going faster as he neared the General, reaching a full sprint, gripping his greatsword’s hilt with both hands. Roaring, Cyclone swung his greatsword.

***

Stormwinds dodged the swing from the roaring pegasus, stabbing another jackalope with his twinblade, killing the warrior. He called out, knowing who the pegasus was, “Hello, Hurricane! How are you?!”

“Autumn!” The larger warrior bellowed, “It is good to see you again! This time, I will beat you!”

“I’d like to see you try!”

Cyclone swung his greatsword, only for Stormwinds to block the swing with a blade of his twinblade. Stormwinds dashed forward, and unleashed a flurry of attacks that cut deep into Hurricane’s dark grey armor. The slashes drew no blood, but the flurry staggered Hurricane, allowing the older stallion to recover from the flurry, leap back, and rush at the younger, but larger stallion.

Cyclone dodged the flurry of attacks from the General, and smiled.

***

Even after a duel that had taken the better part of an hour, Stormwinds still proved he was the better swordspony. Cyclone snarled, and decided to try a different attack. Stormwinds bolted toward the larger pegasus.

Cyclone swung his greatsword again at Stormwinds, but using the flat side of his blade.

Stormwinds noticed the blade coming at him, and jumped up out of the way.

Or would have, if it weren’t for the fact that the flatter side of the blade made the contact surface much wider. The blade made contact with his torso and sent him flying.

The General slammed full force into a wall and slid down the wall.

Groaning, he rolled over onto his hands and knees. A shadow covered him and he looked up. It was Cyclone, glaring down at him.

“Why, Hurricane? Why would you do something like this, turning against us?”

Cyclone snarled, “Because the Council is corrupt, Autumn. They turned a blind eye to my concerns about Clover. You know what happened next.”

“Clover still lives… You failed to kill her.”

Cyclone tsked. “Guess this time, I’ll have to make sure to kill her.”

Stormwinds looked back down, and responded, “You’ll fail.”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. It won’t matter for you, though.”

Cyclone hefted his greatsword up and swung it down at the General.

Stormwinds closed his eyes and waited for the blade to connect.

***

The blade didn’t connect. Cyclone’s eyes went wide as he noticed a black armored knight-like figure, standing in front of Stormwinds, blocking his greatsword with its shield. “General Stormwinds,” it said, addressing the stunned soldier, “can you stand?”

Stormwinds stood. The figure nodded, “Good. Now, get your weapon, assemble what’s left of your soldiers, and run!”

Stormwinds nodded, and did as he was told. “Run! Run! Get out of here!”

The General bolted away.

The black knight slapped away Cyclone’s greatsword, and kicked Cyclone in the chest, knocking him over. The knight drove its sword down at the pegasus, only for the pegasus to roll out of the way. “Retreat,” the knight barked, “run away and never return!”

“Never!”

“You must! Or I will kill you!”

Cyclone roared, and gripped his greatsword with both hands and rushed the knight, who smacked away the greatsword, out of Cyclone’s grip, and stabbed the pegasus through the heart.

Cyclone collapsed to his knees. The black knight chuckled evilly. “See, that’s what you… Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

Cyclone stood, and grabbed the knight by the helmet, and tore its helmet off, revealing a stallion under the armor. The knight recoiled, and glared at the defiant pegasus, orange eyes filled with anger. Ashen hair reached down to his shoulders, showing how old he was. Pale green fur with the telltale grey fur covering scars denoted his experience in war.

Cyclone felt one of the knight’s hands clamp around his neck. “I have fought the demons of Izalith! I found my weapon and armor charred black and my hair turned the color of ash because of said demons! My lord is gone and those I served with scattered!”

Dropping the black knight’s helmet in an attempt to appease the knight, Cyclone found himself flung through the air by the knight. The knight picked up his helm and pulled it on. Retrieving his fallen weapon, the knight spat, “The next time I face you, I will kill you.”

The knight sheathed his weapon, and walked away. “Goodbye, Hurricane,” he said, “may we clash again, or perhaps not.”

The demonic-looking helm turned to look at the fallen stallion, “Good luck.”

Author's Note:

If you have any suggestions, feedback, concerns, or want to ask me any questions, leave them in the comments below. Thanks!