Legends of Equestria: the Battle of the 10 Armies

by The Blue EM2

Through the Fire and Flames

Somnambula was no stranger to the dangers of warfare. Having had a fair few scrapes herself in the air and on the ground, she was fully familiar with the risks and dangers that airborne fighting brought, and was prepared to counter a lot of them from her experience.

She was currently flying at relatively low altitude, following and supporting the advance of a phalanx of Neighyptian guard. The army on the ground was moving at slower speed than hoped, as heavy fire was continuing to pin them down. Bullets and rockets and shells flew through the air and collided with objects and damaged virtually everything that anpony could see.

"This is Alpha Phalanx! We are pinned down under heavy enemy fire! Requesting fire support!"

Somnambula herself was not outfitted with ranged weaponry apart from her available stock of Glowpaz, but she was trying to save that for the big targets that may come her way. Below her, she finally saw a chance to act in her designated role of aerial spotter. She switched on her radio.

"Pillar Actual to Naval Command, over?"

"Naval Command receiving Pillar Actual, state your message, over?"

"Requesting fire mission on position two four zero seven eight. Repeat, requesting fire mission on position two four zero seven eight. Fire for effect, over."

"Understood, fire mission imbound on position two four zero seven eight. Hold tight, out."

Somnambula rolled out of the way of oncoming flak fire (remembering the massacre at the pyramid all too well) whilst the advance slowed to a stop.

Seconds later, a storm of shells and missiles smashed into the treeline, covering the land in a complex patchwork of explosions and flames, black smoke rising from the aftermath of the bombardment. Trees collapsed and some were completely obliterated by the explosions, and of the enemy there was nothing.

"The line is clear!" called one soldier. "Charge!"

The phalanx moved forward as a formation of war chariots charged at an enemy armour column. Whilst in most cases this would seem suicidal, these chariots were shielded. A volley of explosive crossbow bolts was loosed, and impacted the enemy tanks, blowing up several of them and severely damaging others.

The armour responded in kind as a squadron of choppers flew towards her position. Somnambula dived and dropped down to the ground close as she dared whilst the chopper pursued, door guns blazing as they tried to hit her.

She was glad she hadn't brought any heavy equipment with her that would weigh her down. She dived again and looked behind her as the chopper slammed into a tree and exploded. She flew over the threat, and joined up with the nearby Neighyptian air wing, which was heading for the centre of the city. She knew that the rally point was there, and that seemed a sensible place to fly to.

She orbited over a park as she suddenly saw a formation of extremely battered legionaries fly into position, ready to continue their swift advance into Montgomery.

"Finally decided to drop in?" Somnambula asked, seeing how utterly bedraggled Flash was. He must have taken quite the beating whilst in the air. "I was wondering when Cloudsdale would remember there was a battle going on."

"I was occupied," Flash replied. A flash from glowpaz powered weaponry later, and a tank was ripped to smithereens. "So, any news?"

"We have a confirmed lock on the Sphynx," Somnambula replied. The reaction from Flash confirmed to her that this news pleased him greatly, which was certainly a relief after all they had been through. "We're moving in to take her out, and I guessed you would want to come, given your history with the Sphynx."

"Let's go kill that bitch," Flash said, a satisfied look on his face. "For the Third Legion!"

As the flew away, whizzing over a formation of unicorns bombarding the treeline near Pike Road, they suddenly sighted their target. The Sphynx, big, ugly, and angry as ever, crushed a tank under her paws, and screeched in a high voice as aircraft smashed to the ground around her.

"Are you ready for round three?" she asked, with a laugh. "Because I can assure you that you will not survive."

It was abundantly clear what had to be done. The Sphynx, it was known, was fully capable of fighting both airborne and ground targets, and so flying clear of her was the best option.

Flash and Somnambula flew clear as a nearby anti aircraft battery opened up, the duo dodging around buildings and trying to hide from the enemy attacks. The soldiers on the ground, for an infantry unit was currently moving up, were being swamped by a swarm of reanimated corpses, mostly the bodies of ancient dead and recently deceased soldiers.

"She won't even let the dead rest," Somnambula said sadly. She swung round and dived on the masses of undead, letting off a pair of Glowpaz blasts to reduce them to dust. She climbed again as a missile flew just underneath her and crashed into a building.

Flash circled round and absorbed a storm of bullets with Invictus, before responding with a rocket barrage of his own that toppled a building onto the anti aircraft guns. Missile barrages continued to fly through the air.

"Raider 2 on scene, over."

"Raider 2, draw the Sphynx's fire. We need to get behind it, so could you keep it occupied."

"Yes ma'am. Load HEAT shells! Light that fucker up!"

Seconds later, shells exploded in the air and the massive creature reacted. Her armour deployed a series of missile batteries, the sky being subjected to a gigantic macross missile massacre, plastered in gigantic quantities of rockets and missiles.

Flash charged forward with Invictus, missiles and ordnance slamming into it as he tried to avoid getting knocked back. He dived on the target, and acquired a target lock on the Sphynx's targeting module. He then fired.

The missile slammed home, destroying the unit and rendering the creature unable to focus any of her rocket barrages.

The Sphynx was most certainly annoyed by this, and screeched at them. "I will take you down!" she said, and jumped into the air, trying to swat the two pegasi.

But her swatting proved to have minimal effect on the duo and their allies, all of whom kept buzzing the enemy and avoiding her attacks. The pair flew under the Sphynx, but the nearby building started to collapse from the bombardment it was taking. More rockets and missiles filled the air before Somnambula got into position, and followed it up with two blasts from the Glowpaz necklace. This inflicted severe damage on the Sphynx, which was followed by a storm of high explosive shells from the tanks that blew the gigantic creature into a series of nothing at all, no trace of the monster being left when the smoke cleared.

A few of the reanimated bodies were still wondering around, so Flash took the opportunity to blast them to bits with rockets, sending bits and pieces of them everywhere (or gibbing as its termed). He nodded. "That was for my friends."

Somnambula formed up next to him. "We have broken through their final line. It is time to proceed to the rendezvous and prepare ourselves for the final offensive."

"All units, this is Mad Dog. The last line of enemy defence has fallen. Push forward to Montgomery Mayor's Hall and prepare to capture the enemy officers."

The two pegasi flew over that position and watched as the building toppled onto the ground, Project 722 having blown it up rather than face capture from the US Army. They touched down at the rally point, alongside their friends, although of course Stygian was absent from their numbers, not being a soldier. All of their friends looked a mess. Rockhoof was bruised and covered in dirt. Meadowbrook had several scars across her body and other injuries, as well as untold amounts of dirt and rubble. Starswirl's eyes looked tired and old, as though he had somehow aged even more than he already had in the course of this battle alone. And Mistmane looked to be the worst condition of them all. Her clothing was torn, and her magic was fading, along with her appearance. She looked to have aged more than a hundred years.

Flash tried to crack a joke in order to lighten the mood. "I know war ages ponies, but I had no idea it could age ponies so much," he said, indicating to Mistmane.

"Hilarious," Mistmane replied, in a tone of voice which indicated she thought the exact opposite. "We need to stay focused, as the Pony of Shadows is up ahead."

Suddenly, there was a swirling cloud of fog before them, and a disembodied voice began to speak. "You made it through my minions, did you now? Very good! This will prove that it was all worth it!"

The clouds formed into a definite shape, and what that shape was horrified even our brave heroes. It was time for the last fight to begin.

Author's Note:

Final chapter arrives tomorrow!

Comments

[JimmyHook19]

Rockhoof was bruised and covered in dirt. Meadowbrook had several scars across her body and other injuries, as well as untold amounts of dirt and rubble. Starswirl's eyes looked tired and old, as though he had somehow aged even more than he already had in the course of this battle alone. And Mistmane looked to be the worst condition of them all. Her clothing was torn, and her magic was fading, along with her appearance. She looked to have aged more than a hundred years.

Excellent rundown of their appearances by that point. :)

[The Blue EM2]

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This is war, after all.