Darkness of Ages - Book 1: Greyhield

by YoungQuillMaster

Chapter 35: Fight a New Way

The thunder of the reptilous troops marching up to the city woke the few Equestrian soldiers that had settled down for the evening. The golden clad soldiers quickly rushed out to the front of the line of tents, the first four lines carrying their Abus Cannon's. The mass of dark armored reptilous perched atop their steeds, dimly lit by the setting sun, grew ominously closer as the Equestrians formed ranks, readying for the fight they had been anticipating.

"Everypony, stick to the plan!" Stone Wall shouted as he reached the front line, putting his helmet on as he stepped in front of the first line. "Stand tall, stand strong; don't fall back unless ordered to!" Stone Wall ordered as he looked on towards the slowly moving reptilous line.

---

Spike rolled his shoulder, letting his armor settle more comfortably on his ever increasing frame. Celestia slowly came to a stop as he lightly pulled back on the reigns. Galintrent pulled the visor on his helmet down while stopping Luna. Everyone of the troops wore more armor than usual, though Spike knew all too well from what Gylom had reported that it would wouldn't be near enough to stop any of the projectiles that would doubtlessly flying towards then in a matter of moments.

"The troops are in position." Galintrent muttered his voice carrying exceptionally well over the calm evening breeze. "We await your signal, General Spike." Spike nodded, lifting his lance from his saddle, pointing the tip up to the heavens.

"Tell the troops, today will be our finest." Spike muttered as he slid his visor shut. Spike extended his arm higher into the sky before snapping Celestia's reigns and swinging the lance in an arc. The unified battle roar of the army behind him brought a smile to his face and a shiver to his spine as he lowered into his saddle, tucking the lance under his arm. The first line of pony quickly lowered their cannons and aimed at his advancing line, taking a moment to line up their shot before a light flared from the line and an explosion rocked across the plain. "NOW!" Spike roared as he snapped Celestia's reigns. The alicorns horn lit in a brilliant golden aura, and in a second produced a shield that spanned the entire length of the charge, which was quickly reinforced by a blue shield that sprung up directly behind it.

"Let's see how powerful your new weapons really are." Galintrent hissed as he snapped Luna's reign's harder, pulling out in front of Spike. Spike pushed down on his stirrups, Celestia responding quickly as she took to the sky with a single firm bellowing of her wings. The shields lit up in an array of small pools that struck the surface as the cannons' fire slammed forcefully into the newly formed shields, a sight that made Spike's smile all the bigger.

-

Stone Wall starred in disgust at the shimmering magical wall before him that rippled against the charges as if it were reflecting spitballs that a foal had shot at it.

"All lines fire at will! Bring that wall down!" He roared, the lines around him quickly erupting in a flurry of shot, several whisking by his mane and ears as he stood resolutely, watching the shield shimmer and spark against the charges while a pony beside him waved flag to send the order farther on. "Archers and spell casters, provide support! I want that wall down before they can even get close enough to see what hit them!" The pony beside him quickly lifted two flags and signaled to the lines farther behind, the message quickly received and carried out as the sky was darkened by arrows with small streaks of lit from spells creating small bands of light amidst the blackened skies.

"Sir, the shield is holding firm, what is our next move?" A sergeant beside him asked. Stone Wall looked towards the pony and then back towards the advancing shield and reptilous that charged behind it in safety.

"Signal for Battalion One to fire, we need that shield down before we can do anything against them." Stone Wall ordered. The pony nodded and raised a flag and gave a signal to the ponies behind them. Suddenly, the outer most lines of buildings of the city lit up as cannons held within fired solid iron orbs with resounding explosions. The cannonballs smashed into the shield, and as the first wave of fire hit, the shield wavered for a second, allowing a volley of charges, arrows, and offensive spells past it, and taking down several of the enemies beyond.

---

Spike felt Celestia flinch as the cannonballs connected with her shield. He watched in terror as the shield faltered, allowing the attacks to slam into Luna's shield and then on to the troops. Fortunately, the attacks had been slowed down enough by the two barriers that they only took out the first ranks of the charge, but the heat of battle was already starting to mount up. Spike looked back towards the ponies and saw the smoke rising from the buildings, followed promptly by a few blast from certain windows.

"Celestia, can you use an offensive spell in your current condition?" Spike asked as he lowered her height in the sky as a flurry of arrow approached.

"If I'm to do an offensive spell I'll need to divert my focus to it, which means I'll have to lower my shield while I attack." Celestia replied in her monotone voice. Spike weighed his options quickly as he looked at the distance between his army and the pony line.

"Do it! Aim a magical beam at the area between the first and second floors of the first line of houses, and make sure you give it enough power to cut through completely and then some." Spike ordered as he raised Celestia altitude once more. Celestia's shield quickly dissipated and was replaced by a golden beam that swept along the line of houses. As he watched, the houses burst into a mass of flames and explosions, much as Spike had expected.

"Any other targets I should eliminated before raising the shield?" Celestia asked as she prepared herself for a spell. Spike quickly thought of his choices and their possible outcomes and snapped to a conclusion.

"No, raise the shield now; we need to keep enough troops alive so that we can fight with what waits for us." Spike replied as he watched another flurry strike Luna's shield, which faltered slightly under the strain. "Put as much power as you can into the shield, we need to give Luna some time to breathe." Celestia nodded, her magical shield rising in front of Luna's in an instant, seemingly more vibrant than before. Spike quickly swooped down to fly slightly above Galintrent and Luna, waving his lance to gain the colonel's attention. Galintrent looked up to Spike and put a hand to his ear to show he was listening. "Tell Luna to send a beam across the pony line!" Galintrent nodded and quickly relayed the message to Luna.

Luna nodded in response and shot a sweeping beam across the pony line, only to have several shields pop up in sections of the army as the blast reached the half-way point of the line. Spike nodded as he directed Celestia back up into the air.

---

"Damage report! Tell me what we've got!" Stone Wall roared as he lowered his small shield, beads of sweat rolling down his brow as he recovered from the impact. The Sergeant looked around the line for signals, nodding as he noted each one.

"Heavy damages reported in the areas occupied by the fifteenth through twenty-first divisions, mild damages in twenty-two through twenty-ninth and in thirty-second and thirty-fourth, while as we have no damages reported in the rest of the areas." The sergeant replied as he signaled back to the other divisions. The pony turned to look past the line, nodding once more as he received another message. "Our heavy artiler... I mean Brigade One reports total annihilation of their forces." The sergeant finished before turning back to face the continually advancing line.

"Those ponies were our best shot at stopping them here." Stone Wall hissed as he looked around at the ponies. "Send the order, divisions twenty-five through thirty-five fall back to the river; brigades twenty-four and thirty-six are to cover the gap." The sergeant nodded quickly and relayed the message as quickly as he could. The mass of soldiers quickly gathered their things and fell back towards the winding stream, with several of the soldiers further back in the ranks standing in the gentle current. The hoof cannons shortly returned to firing on the advancing wall, the charges still bouncing off insignificantly.

---

Spike snapped Celestia's reigns once more as they drew closer to the pony line. Celestia folded her wings in and dove forward, her speed aided by gravity as she screeched straight for the pony line like a hawk towards its prey. She quickly gained enough speed she past straight through her own shield and into the pony line as Spike let his lance run through the line, the blood of his victims splattering across his armor and Celestia. Spike pulled the reigns back and had Celestia swiftly shoot back to the heavens in the opposite direction of the pony line.

The sound of thunder ripped through the sky as the clouds overhead were sprung to life by pegasi. Spike pulled farther up and broke through the clouds in a matter of seconds, coming face to face with the pegasi warriors. Spike threw his lance at the first pegasi, watching as the projectile slammed into the pony, piercing straight through the armor of his shoulder. The sound of a pony in intense agony pierced the air as the pony spiraled downwards, landing on a cloud that seemed to sag under the weight of the lance. Spike closed his eyes as he drew his sword, preparing for the next attack as best as he could.

---

Stone Wall lifted his magical shield once more as another blue beam screeched across the field, only making through the blast because of how fast it passed by. He quickly looked around at the soldiers around him, some of them apparently having been hit by some off the attack. Beside him a soldier fell down, his once pure white coat stained a hideous black on one side where the beam had struck him. Stone Wall quickly picked up his cannon and ammunition pouch and began firing at the wall as quickly as possible while occasionally shooting a beam of magical energy as the wall met the lines that were farther up the field.

“Dispose of the hoof cannons, don’t let them have one!” Stone Wall ordered as he teleported his away to a random location he hadn’t had time to think of, riding on the hope that it wouldn’t show up in front of a reptilous. The Last few shot went off, some designed to blow the barrel to bits as a magical cork plugged the chamber. Stone Wall drew his sword and readied himself for combat as the reptilous line drew closer. “Send a message to the lines to the north. Tell them to send us half their troops. They might not make it in time to hold this position, but will help a great deal if the fight enters the city.” Stone Wall ordered as he charged up a spell. The sergeant nodded and wrote the message on a piece of paper before charging off towards the messaging post.

---

Spike sent Celestia into a drive towards the pony line, the air rushing past as he shot downwards. Spike leveled Celestia out as they soared past the heads of the ponies, his sword extended outwards to catch whatever was in the way. Suddenly his blade was knocked out of his grasp as a blue blast screeched by, taking a great many of the ponies below with it. Spike continued flying forward, looking down at his claws that were slightly singed from the blast in shock.

“General Spike, your attention is required for flight.” Celestia droned as she flew on straight towards the line of buildings. Spike quickly shook his head and looked towards the buildings, and saw the distinctive glint of cannons inside some of the windows.

“Level those buildings.” Spike ordered as he pulled back on the reigns. Celestia’s wings spread wide, her momentum disappearing in a second, only to be replaced with backwards movement as he shot a gigantic blast at the line of houses that incinerated them, and tore down the fronts of the next line of houses. Spike turned Celestia back towards the battle, his breathing erratic as he tried to wrap his mind around what had just happened.

He had just ended not only the lives of so many ponies, but had also destroyed the homes of many others. Sure, it had been Celestia who had done the action, but he had given the order. Was he become what he had sworn never to be?

“General Spike, we are leaving the area of the battle, is this according to your wishes?” Celestia asked. Suddenly something snapped inside of Spike. He yanked the reigns and turned Celestia around before having her fly higher and higher. Spike watched as the battle slowly was nothing but a blob below, with no sense to it as the two colors fought, morphing around each other as the individual warriors fought the battle.

“Dive straight down and fire the most powerful beam you can straight at the golden area.” Spike ordered, feeling light headed at the high altitude. Celestia nodded and folded her wings in, pointing her body like a javelin down towards the earth as she charged a massive spell.

---

Ashes, there was only ashes. No life, no death, no light, no dark, just ashes, the acrid smell of ozone and burning things. The world was no more, life was no more, the universe was gone, all except one form that fell to his knees and wept, longing for days gone by; days that were gone, never to return.

---

Spike opened his eyes, returning to consciousness after his brief laps of wakefulness. He quickly realized what was happening as the golden orb on Celestia’s horn grew brighter and brighter. He quickly pulled back on the reigns, Celestia quickly leveling out as he did.

“Get rid of the spell, do not cast it!” Spike roared as he turned Celestia away from the battle.

“I have charged it far too much to not release it. I cannot absorb it, and cannot disperse it harmlessly into the air.” Celestia replied. Spike looked around trying to figure out what to do, trying to find some way to get rid of the beam without destroying too much.

“Shoot it at the river!” He shouted as he turned Celestia towards the direction he wanted her to fire. With a gigantic boom, the beam shot towards the river directly behind the troops, sending a plume of steam and dirt into the air.

---

Stone Wall stood panting looking on at the city beyond in complete disarray, with Greyhield’s flag now bellow in the wind above it. He had been able to escort the majority of the civilians and soldiers out of it as the attack grew fiercer than any attack he had witnessed since the beginning of the war.

“Sir, it seems that the reptilous are making no efforts to pursue us. We need to get back to the town before they change their mind.” One of his Second Lieutenants reported as he walked up to the beaten and bloodied up soldier.

“Fine…” Stone Wall grunted, whipping around to march away from the city with utter disgust. “Next time we’ll get them for sure.” He hissed as his subordinate fell in to a march beside him.