Freedom Through Harmony

by Electricut

Chapter Seventy-seven

Chapter Seventy-seven
City of Dawn; HQ
Rarity

Rarity’s knees nearly buckled. Six [Ii]hundred royal soldiers on their way to the city?! How did they find this place? And how could the comparatively tiny fighting force of New Dawn possibly withstand this attack? Around her was mass panic, as none of the others seemed able to answer that question either. Soren had been abandoned by his captors, and limped over to Applejack, Rarity and the others.

“Damn... Sorry guys... I feel like this is probably my fault for coming here at all...” He shook his head sadly, then a hand shot up to his forehead in response to the splitting headache the action must have caused. Soren was still a bloody mess, and was in no shape for combat.

“It’s alright, partner.” Applejack stated wearily. “Like you said, seems like Celestia already knew about this place. You didn’t lead ‘em here, you just showed up at a bad time...”

“Well what are we supposed to do now?” Opal asked over the din of the soldiers. “How are we supposed to find Rarity’s ancestor in the middle of a war zone? And are we expected to stand and fight with them? Either way... I think we’re all pretty much screwed.”

Among the soldiers running around aimlessly in the room, the black-cloaked ranger dodged around and leapt up on the nearest high ground, which happened to be some wooden boxes stacked against the wall. He cleared his voice and shouted down the commotion around the building as best he could, then gazed directly into the crowd and began to speak. “Listen to me! Calm down! Look, I know this looks bad, but panicking will solve absolutely nothing. Now get our weapons ready and assemble yourselves outside and wait for orders.”

“Young sir, might I ask what you think you’re doing commanding my troops?” Vomora asked venomously, though kept his voice at exactly the same level tone he always used. Tug cast a weary glance back at the Hatarian, then leapt down from his perch and stalked forward until he was practically nose-to-nose with him, though neither backed down.

“Look. I can handle this. I live for this. And would your orders have been any different anyway? Vomora, I realize you want what’s best for your men, and want to remain in control and their symbol to rally around. But be honest- do you have any idea what to do right now?”

“I will do what I must to save my people.” Vomora answered coldly. “I will not send them to their deaths against such a large number from the royal army. It would be suicide, and we must live to fight another day. These odds are simply insurmountable.”

“Insurmountable? Why don’t you try taking on a fully stocked, manned and barricaded fortress with only a dozen pirates, a handful of malformed outcasts, a knight, a healer and your own bow- and then win- and then talk to me about insurmountable odds. Compared to that, we’re in bloody amazing shape. We have the high ground, we know the land, and you have me. We can win this yet, Vomora, and besides, if we don’t make a stand now, when will you get the chance again? When will you not be on the run from this army? We have to push them back today, and let Celestia know she’s really got something to sweat about, then formulate our next move. But to win, you need to give me full command of these troops, because I’m the best tactician here, or that’s ever been here. I’m your best hope for victory.”

Vomora held Tug’s gaze for a few more seconds, then dropped his eyes. “I know. There’s nowhere to run anymore. I just don’t see how we’ll be able to win against such a large force, and I’m afraid everything I’ve worked for will be crushed this day.”

“It won’t be, if you give me full command. I promise you, I can and will defeat them if you do. We may cut it close, but I know I can pull New Dawn out of this, and with minimal casualties. I want to see this revolution through, and it’d be a tough ride if Celestia had another victory here, so I won’t let that happen.” Finally, after another pause, Vomora nodded, and Tug did an about-face to address the confused and still panic-stricken soldiers. “Right then. You have your orders! Assemble yourselves outside until further notice. Except for one of the troops that spotted the royal army, I’ll need to talk to you. Go!”

All but one of the troops nodded with renewed purpose and filed out of the building, while one of the scouts remained, and Tug turned to him and Vomora again. “Right, now give me every detail we have to work with. How far off are the soldiers right now?”

“Around halfway through the woods, sir.” The soldier answered. “Estimate they’ll be on our position in an hour.”

“Right then, we don’t have a lot of time to waste.” Tug confirmed. “Vomora, how many of their men would you say your men are worth, and how many do you have total? And what sort of long-range equipment do you have?”

“New Dawn’s standing force consists of one-hundred fifty volunteer soldiers. How many of their soldiers mine could kill before being slain themselves? Well... I suppose it depends on the context of the battle, but... Our training regimens are not as rigorous as the Eclipse ones, and I’m sure their troops are much better trained than ours. However, in terms of our long-range arsenal, we have approximately a quarter of our troops specializing in fire and thunder magic, and enough archery equipment for... another fifty troops, I’d say. Additionally, we are in possession of three salvaged naval cannons, and enough ammunition for ten volleys from each of them.

“Huh... Alright, alright, give me a minute... Got it. Get all that stuff at the ready. That’s eighty troops that can do long range... Yes, I can work with that. Have the rest of the troops form a defensive perimeter around the important part of the city, ready to fend off any sort of flanking maneuver. I’m going to take the long range ones up the incline and to the gorge beyond the castle, where we’ll set up our first line of defense. We’ll cut the rope bridge there so they will have no way to get across, and bombarde them with everything we have, as long as we can. We’ll target any Children of Air specifically, to make it that more difficult for them to cross. If they do manage to get a sizable number over, we’ll fall back to the Castle of Dawn and stave them off some more. If and when that happens, I’ll send a scout back to fetch the rest of the fighting force, and we’ll drive them back.”

Vomora nodded as the plan was lain out before him, and soon Tug left through the main door to relay his orders to the troops waiting outside. Rarity shook her head in dismay. The group’s options were extremely limited now, and no matter what the final outcome of this battle was, it did not bear good tidings for the future. If New Dawn was destroyed that day, it would be a crippling loss of morale for the rest of the country, and they may never muster up the power again to take on Celestia. If any of her troops survived, they would return to Eclipse, and New Dawn would never be able to rest again, hounded by the royal army until the end of their days. Plus, if Rarity or her companions were seen, House Icarus and their whole town was surely doomed. The best case scenario would be if Celestia’s troop were completely destroyed; this would give New Dawn and Moonlight precious time to gather themselves and launch a counterattack. But no matter how she spun it, Rarity was forced to accept that the war had officially begun, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop the impending bloodshed.

She turned to Applejack, Opal and Soren, her voice low. “We have no choice but to help. We must join these brave men and women and defend this place, at any cost.”

“I wouldn’t leave ‘em to die anyways.” Applejack stated adamantly. “We gotta push them back, then find your ancestor out here. Then… Then we gotta head home and brace ourselves, I guess. Things’re gonna get tough from here on out…”

“There isn’t even any chance of running away now…” Soren complained. “Ugh, fine, I’ll stay too. But as soon as things calm down, I need to get back to my own team... I guess I’d better find a healer…”

“We’re mighty grateful to have you though, partner.” Applejack consoled him, putting a hand on the muscular mercenary’s shoulder. “I’ve seen what your spear can do first hand, and it’ll be good to have that kinda’ insurance.” Soren nodded with a slight grin on his face, then trudged off to the medical ward from which Applejack had only just come. “I guess we should go join the other close-combat troops, then. We’ll lead ‘em up the slope if the Eclipse soldiers get that close, and be the first to tear into ‘em.”

Rarity shook her head sadly. “You two and Soren go on ahead to join the others. I can use long range light magic, and I feel obligated to join the front line troops with Tug. I have to do everything I can to make certain we do everything we can to stop those soldiers cold before they have a chance to get to the people who cannot fight. Applejack, I’d have you come as well, but you haven’t had the time to practice your newfound magic. You’ll be much more comfortable and useful with the melee troops right now.”

Opal nodded in resignation, with an arm on her hip. “I wish you weren’t right. I know you’ll do your best to stay out of the line of fire. Just stay safe, and remember we’ll be right up there if things get out of hand.” Rarity closed her eyes and nodded solemnly, then tightened her armor and weapons and jogged after the young ranger. He stood before the gathered soldiers, who milled about uncertainly as he explained his plan in detail, and they were all clearly still fighting to contain their panic. He noticed Rarity approach beside him, the two shared a terse nod, and Tug finished his orders.

“Now get moving! We can’t have more than half an hour to set this thing up!” The selected troops marched quickly through the streets up the incline back to the Castle of Dawn, while the other half of the soldiers spread out throughout the lower city. Rarity was right beside Tug as he followed behind the archers and mages, her hand fingers wrapped around the chain of the Icarus Charm. Tug turned to her as they walked, speaking in tones too low for the rest of the men to hear. “I forget, you’ve been in command of other soldiers before as well. Do you mind if I bounce some of the finer details of my plan off of you before everything starts?”

“It... It was never that many troops.” Rarity insisted. “I’ve only ever led a group of twenty-five trained soldiers at a time. We’ve almost four times that amount in volunteers, so I’d imagine this is quite a bit different.”

“It can be.” Tug admitted. “The key is the same though; knowing the limits of the people under you. These people are fighting not only for their lives and everything they own in the world, but for the sake of the rest of the country too. Their skill might not be top-notch, but their motivation is great, and if we can keep their morale high too, then they’ll be that much more powerful on the battlefield. We’ll have to play this smart though... If we could set up some barricades on our side, or camouflage...”

The procession reached the top of the slope, and the archers and mages began spreading out to cover a greater area of their side of the ravine. Tug raced ahead with a heavy-headed knife to slice the rope bridge that connected the two sides, and Rarity watched with curiosity as the three canons were wheeled into position at the front of the pack. These devices were very rarely used on land, and were almost exclusive to naval vessels, as they were too heavy to move efficiently in battle, left the operator too exposed to magical assault, and were not usually powerful enough to warrant use with these risks. However, for an ambush like this, they could be cleverly hidden and used to break apart the enemy line, while the rest of the troops could keep the enemy mages too busy to target the canons.

Rarity jogged ahead to help some of the other men drag some loose chunks of mortar from the ruined upper city into position at the edge of the ravine. It would serve well enough as cover. The canons were moved into position, with the extra ammunition stored in the corner between brick and dirt where the enemy fire couldn’t get to it. It was slow, arduous work moving the slabs of stone into place, and they had precious little time already, but with this many people working on it at once, a workable barricade was soon set up along a decent stretch of canyon.

“How well do you think we’ll fare, in all honesty?” Tug asked as he and Rarity dragged along another stone.

“I choose to remain hopeful about things.” She answered. “But these men do not have the same experience, skill level and... alterations that the enemy does. I’m afraid that a head-on confrontation using our defenders may be inevitable.”

Tug nodded solemnly. “So you are aware of Celestia’s use of the Feral Ones drug on her soldiers, then. It’s simply despicable, and I can only guess where she got her hands on a surviving recipe... But regardless, it does make her soldiers a lot more dangerous, in terms of strength and sheer unthinkingness... It’d be nice if we could cut their numbers about in half, or preferably down to one third, if possible.”

“Three to four hundred soldiers dead before they cross?” Rarity asked incredulously. “While we only have a fraction of that?”

“I wouldn’t ask these men to do anything I wouldn’t do.” Tug replied confidently. “Without going back for more ammunition, I can kill exactly twenty-five of Celestia’s men at long range. By that logic, two or three from each of them isn’t too much to ask, is it?”

Before Rarity was able to come up with a counter argument, one of the arial scouts shouted down to the rest of the group in a panic: “They’re almost to the edge of the woods! They’re almost here!”

Tug nodded and put one last shove into the stone, moving it into place, then called down the scouts above. “Does it look like they suspect anything?”

“Sir, they come expecting a battle, so their weapons and armor are already at the ready. However, they do not seem to expect any sort of organized counter-attack.”

“Excellent. Everyone get to cover! Now! Fire only when I give the signal, then give them everything you’ve got, but keep yourselves covered and safe.” Once his final orders were given, Tug dashed over to a makeshift cover a few yards from the cliff, his longbow strung taut and an arrow already notched. Rarity dove for the nearest stone wall and crouched behind it with rapier drawn, two archers sharing the cover with her.

She faced away from the woods, but soon she could sense the enemy soldiers approaching, a split second before she heard their footsteps as they tromped through the trees. All the soldiers of New Dawn waited with bated breath as the sound of the approaching army grew louder and louder, and both determined and fearful glances were shared throughout the company. At last, the march came to a halt, and Rarity could feel the gazes of the hundreds of soldiers at her back. It’s all ruins still, just in a different place, she told herself, they don’t know what it’s supposed to look like, and for all they know, things could have been set up like this for the civil war.

From the other side of the ravine, Rarity was able to hear someone, most likely the commander of the group, speak: “They cut the bridge. Cute. Men, move forward as planned.”

Beside her, one of the soldiers swore in a whisper as he peeked through a crack in the mortar. “They’ve brought their own wheeled bridges...” Rarity cursed under her breath as well. Slightly behind her, she saw Tug hold up three gloved fingers with one hand. He dropped one a moment later, then another. He was counting down to the point at which the troops should open fire.

He closed his hand in a fist, then put it back to the bowstring and arrow and rose. He fired off one arrow immediately, then continued in quick succession. Three arrows were already in the air by the time the first struck the commander in the dead-center of his forehead, an instant kill-shot. Upon seeing Tug leap into action, countless others rose from their positions and opened fire as well, and Rarity felt a sudden wave of vertigo. The first shots of the revolution had been fired.