Honorable Opponent
The battle had started nearly an hour ago near Dragonpoint Mountain. Earthborn charged into battle with dozens of earth ponies and pegasi, while Stormwing held them back with only a small force of pegasi and earth ponies. Though outnumbered, Stormwing's elite training made them a force to be reckoned with, and Earthborn's ponies soon found this out the hard way. However, Earthborn had something Stormwing lacked: strength in numbers.
Soon, the tide of battle seemed to turn in Earthborn's favor. For each one of Stormwing's pegasi, there were thirteen Earthborn ponies, and Stormwing's ground troops did not cover up the difference, and were slowly forced to regroup behind the frontlines. When the battle had lasted already past two hours, Earthborn raised their flag in the part of the battlefield Stormwing had held when the battle started, as if claiming it for House Earthborn. It almost seemed as if Stormwing's brave fighting spirit faded, until one of the Hoplites spoke up to the majority of her fellow soldiers, as if inspired by the spirit of loyalty and glory. "Ponies of House Stormwing! This is our land, and the enemies of our House wish to take it for their own! We must stand united against them and make it clear to them that Earthborn has no business here!" she shouted as she pointed at the Earthborn banner not far from them. "By the strength of our armor, by the steel of our spears, we will make them fall! If that is not enough we will crush them with the force of the skies that cover Equestria! And if they bring us to our last breath, we will use whatever energy we have left to raise our heads in defiance and spit in their faces! But we will NOT let them destroy our honor!" As if the Hoplite had been a respected commander, the ponies of Stormwing found themselves with their spirits ignited with courage and will to fight. "For House Stormwing!" the ponies shouted as they charged back into the battlefield, the brave Hoplite leading the charge.
Earthborn's troops were surprised to see their enemies returning so quickly, and unfortunately for them their front defenses were unprepared. As the brave Stormwing soldiers fought, Earthborn sent their reinforcements, the best of their pegasi, Lightning's Finest, into the field. The battle went from the ground to the sky as Stormwing and Earthborn fought with all they could send. "Earthborn endures!" the pegasi shouted before engaging Stormwing's ponies. One particular pegasus took notice of the Earthborn banner being taken down by Stormwing's ground guards, and as quickly as lightning strikes, she flew to defend the banner. Before they could catch a glimpse of her spear, she struck them down with blinding speed. Not wasting time, she took it upon herself to raise the banner once again in the name of House Earthborn. Once it was up, the pegasus returned to the battle, only this time it had encountered her. Flying in front of her was the brave Hoplite, her eyes fixated on the pegasus.
Almost as if the battle around them stopped, both mares looked at each other and circled slowly around the banner, holding their spears, ready to strike at anytime. Without warning, the brown and gold armored pegasus flew at her opponent, attempting to drive her spear into her. Reacting quickly, the Hoplite put her shield on the way, effectively blocking the attack and giving her time to retaliate with her own spear, but the pegasus was quick enough to avoid the strike almost completely. The duel between the two pegasi was not slow at all, the speed at which each attack and counter happened was almost too fast for anypony to see. It was like jousting, only at extreme speed and with real attacks instead of being for entertainment. Though they grew exhausted, each mare fought until their opponent had fallen to the ground, reduced to a corpse. However, this was far from happening anytime soon.
Their spears bloodied, their armors scratched and their bodies wounded, the two pegasi were getting close to that stage where none of them was able to fight anymore. Using the last of her energy, the Earthborn pegasus finished the duel with one last, desperate strike that the Hoplite was not able to counter this time, having lost her shield during the combat, instead she held her spear in front of her at the very last second. After the contact, both pegasus fell to the ground together, and as irony would have it, they crashed against the banner the Earthborn pegasus had attempted to protect, bringing it down.
The Hoplite breathed heavily as she got up, having landed on top of her opponent. As she did, she saw her adversary's spear had gone through her left foreleg. A grievous wound, but she saw that it was much better than what the other pegasus had suffered. Lying on her back near the fallen banner, the pegasus had the Hoplite's spear into her stomach, though she made no effort to get up despite still being alive. Both pegasi saw with different reactions that the battle was drawing to an end, with Earthborn having lost their air support and being forced to retreat.
"Go...on. Finish me...!" the Earthborn pegasus said, making a great effort to speak and attempting to ignore the pain. "I live to fight for House Earthborn. It is...an honor...to die protecting that which we stand for..."
The Hoplite looked at her opponent and at the fallen banner. She had seen how she had stopped fighting to keep the banner up, she had seen the passion she had fought with, and now she could see that this pegasus was willing to die for what she believed in. Just like she would have done. "You...You showed loyalty, conviction, tenacity...I could go on...You were a strong one...Maybe even the best..." she said as she slowly took out her spear from the pegasus' stomach.
"It was...an honor to die by your hoof..." the pegasus said, now barely being able to speak at all but with a calm expression on her face.
"And it was an honor to fight you..." The Hoplite held her spear up and brought it down quickly, striking the pegasus' heart and ending her life.
A moment of silence afterwards, the Hoplite took her spear out and dropped it on the ground. She looked at the corpse of her opponent and felt something strange inside of her. She could not describe what drove her to do so, but she grabbed the cloth with the image of an apple, leaves and a horseshoe with her teeth and used it to cover the corpse as if it was a blanket, leaving only the head exposed. After the ceremonious act, the Hoplite took off her helmet and stood on the ground. With a single tear in her eye, she looked to the sky and stomped on the ground with her right hoof, respectfully emulating the Earthborn salute.
Hours later, long after the battle was over, a very small Earthborn force returned to gather the corpses of their fallen comrades and return them. It wasn't long before they found one of Lightning's Finest on the battlefield, covered with a fallen banner and with a spear and a Hoplite's helmet by her side. When they reached the corpse, they found a carefully written note on her exposed head. While one of the ponies retrieved the body and the banner, another one read the note.
"This pegasus died victim of her valor in defense of the banner of her House. It was an honor for her to die in the service of House Earthborn, and a greater honor to fulfill her duty, even if it was in vain. May you follow her example, for this honorable pegasus was the kind of pony that every House needs and deserves."