The Fall Of Brothers

Nova Squad

The squad had built a small campfire on top of the hill.  Shield Breaker, Frost, and Storm Sweeper were watching it burn, chatting about nothing important.  Meanwhile, Shadow and Hawkeye sat on opposite sides of the hill, looking out into the battlefield.  The crescent moon provided some light across the expanse, but most parts were covered in shadow from passing clouds.  The two soldiers sat attentively, searching for any sign of the enemy.

Hawkeye's ear twitched, hearing the sound of wings beating in the air.  He quickly grabbed his bow in his hoof, knocking an arrow with magic.  Searching the skies, he saw the silhouette of a pegasus approaching from the south.  After aiming his bow, Hawkeye yelled, "Halt!  Identify yourself!"  The silhouette stopped its foward movement, instead descending straight down.

As the pegasus became eye-level with Hawkeye, he replied,  "I'm a runner for the Guard, Private Starshot, I'm meeting up with available squads."

Hawkeye didn't lower his weapon, but continued to question the new arrival.  "If you're  a Guard, what is today's code?"

"Dragon fire," answered the runner as he landed in front of Hawkeye.  "I'm here to check on our squads' conditions, relaying them back to command.  I saw you guys take this hill earlier as I flew by, so it seems you fared a bit better than some of the other Guards today."

Hawkeye nodded, then pointed his hoof towards the three ponies around the fire.  "Shield Breaker is the one you want to talk to then, he's the squad leader.  I'll stay here and continue my watch," he said.  Starshot thanked him and trotted over to the small fire, interrupting the three ponies' conversation.

Turning to the black stallion, Starshot began, "Private Starshot reporting, I'm here to gather your squad's status, then see what command wants you to do next. How did you guys hold up out there today?"

"No one was injured beyond small cuts today luckily.  That's a damn miracle considering we had this cannon raining shots on us the whole way here.  Besides that, you can tell command that Amber Squad is set and ready for orders," Shield Breaker said.

"Good job on your part then. A few other squads were hit pretty hard, got boxed in by the enemy.  Took heavy losses before they could break out of it.  Nova Squad lost three ponies just east of here, including their medic during that.  I'm going to fly back to them, and send them your way.  They need medical attention and don't have enough ponies to be an efficient group.  Besides, I doubt you'll complain about having a larger fighting force," said Starshot.

Shield Breaker nodded and looked over to the two mares around the fire.  "Frost, get some bandages and potions ready for when they get here.  Storm, accompany Starshot to Nova Squad and lead them back to us.  I'll inform Shadow and Hawkeye about this," he said before turning back to the runner.  "Is that all you need?"

"Yep, that should cover it.  Once Nova shows up, try to rest up before tomorrow.  Looks like you guys earned it today," said Starshot.  Backing a little bit away from the fire, he lept into the air and flew off.  Storm quickly fell in behind him.

As Frost started pulling out supplies from her bag, Shield Breaker yelled, "Shadow, Hawkeye, get over here!"  After the two guards stood in front of him, Shield continued.  "Starshot just informed me we have another squad joining up with us.  Nova Squad got hit hard by the rebels, and don't have enough ponies to continue as a squad.  Storm went to lead them here, so it's our duty to help them.  They will come up your side Shadow, so call me over when you spot them.  That's all."  After dismissing the soldiers, Shield placed more wood on the fire, enlarging it for more ponies to sit around.

Half an hour passed without incident.  As Shadow Hoof stared at the land in front of him, he saw a group of shadow walking towards the hill in the distance.  Before he had a chance to call it out, he spotted another group of shadows off to the right.  But instead of going towards the hill, it was heading to intercept the first group!  Shadow turned towards the fire and yelled, "Guys, we need to get down there now!  I think some rebels are going to try and pick off Nova Squad!"

Shield Breaker and Frost ran down the hill towards him, with Hawkeye not far behind.  They quickly looked to the east, spotting the two groups of ponies.  As they sprinted down the hill, Hawkeye looked to Frost and asked, "We need to warn them, can you do something?"  Frost thought for a second, before stopping.  She charged her horn, until a bright orb of light shot out.  The light arced across the field, bouncing and then stopping between the two shadowy groups.

From the light, Amber Squad could clearly see both groups.  Storm Sweeper was walking on the ground, helping a unicorn Guard who's leg was bent at an unnatural angle.  Two earth ponies followed close behind them.  Looking over at the magical light that came to a stop in the field, Nova Squad froze.  Sprinting right at them were four armed REF's.

While the Nova guards stared at the approaching rebels in shock, Storm acted quickly.  She lept inbetween the unicorn and approaching ponies to protect him.  Two of the rebels halted, raising their bows as the others continued their charge.  The fired arrows launched towards the stationary ponies, one harmlessly landing in front of the group.

"Agh!" yelled Storm as the second arrow drove itself into her flank.  She dropped for a second, but painfully stood up again to continue shielding the unicorn.  She grabbed her spear, biting down on it harder than necessary due to the pain.

"NO! I'm gonna kill them all!" roared Shadow as he forced himself to run even faster.

"Shadow and Hawkeye, make those archers pay!  Frost and I are going to catch the other two before they can reach Storm.  Go!" ordered Shield.  The squad split into two teams, running towards their objectives.  One of the rebel archers heard the yelling, and turned to engage the running ponies.  As he was about to release an arrow point blank at Shadow, a different arrow grazed his hoof.  The rebel reared up in pain, wildly firing the arrow into the night sky.

Hawkeye knocked another arrow, watching the success of the previous one.  Firing the new arrow, it flew to the second archer.  The arrow buried itself into the rebel's shoulder, not allowing her to raise her foreleg.  Hawkeye continued his shots as Shadow reached the first archer.

With no arrow available, the archer swung his bow down, hoping to smash it into Shadow's head.  At the last moment, Shadow side-stepped, avoiding the swing.  With his dagger drawn, he stabbed into the rebel's side.  Eliciting a yell from his foe, Shadow quickly turned backwards.  Bringing his rear legs up, he bucked with as much force as he could muster.  His hooves made a satisfying CRUNCH sound as they connect with the pony's skull.  The rebel harshly fell to the ground and didn't get back up.

Retrieving his dagger and looking up, Shadow saw the other archer. She was laying on her side in a puddle of her own blood.  Added to the arrow in the shoulder, two more were stuck in her side and one had pierced her neck.  Shadow turned around and nodded to Hawkeye for the support.

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While Shadow and Hawkeye laid waste to the archers, Shield Breaker and Frost continued their run.  Shield glanced over at the other saying, "You need to get to Storm and that unicorn.  And make those other guards to do something besides stand there!  I'm going to try and slow down the REF's, so be quick."  Frost acknowledged him, headeding for what was left of Nova Squad.

Upon reaching them, she knelt down next to Storm, looking at her new injury.  Making sure arrow hadn't hit a vital organ or blood vessel, she quickly yanked it out with her magic.  Storm yelled in pain while Frost placed bandages over it to stop the bleeding.  Using her magic, she brought a glass jar to her friend's lips.  After drinking the purple liquid in the jar, Storm could feel the pain numb significantly, but not disappear.

Once Storm was taken care of, Frost rushed over to the earth pony mare and stallion.  They were looking around confusedly, unsure of what to do.  Frost remembered hearing about what they experience earlier today, and almost understood why they stopped.  Almost.  Arriving in front of them, she slapped both ponies in the face.

"You need to get a hold of yourselves.  Are you Royal Guards or a pair of crying foals?  My leader is fighting off two rebels by himself right now because you are too scared to do your job!  Pull your weapon out pull yourself together, because we need you.  Now MOVE!" yelled Frost.  With a final shove from the medic's magic, both guards bounded off towards the fight.

Reaching the three battling ponies, they realized they were needed badly.  Shield Breaker was skillfully blocking most of the rebels' attacks, but wasn't able to get in a swing of his own.  He was relying purely on defense.  The Nova earth ponies went to opposite directions, pincering the REF's.  Before the rebels could turn to block, the guards attacked. They brought their swords down on both of the enemies' necks, snapping them and killing the ponies instantly.  Shield looked at them gratefully, before sheathing the broad sword and running to his squad.

Storm and the injured unicorn sat together, with Frost standing next to them on guard.  Once Shield arrived, Frost reported to him, "Ok, Storm was hit in the flank by the arrow, but it didn't seem to cause any major damage, only hit skin and muscle.  Might be a bit before the wound heals though."  She walked over to the unicorn, laying down next to his injured leg.  "Looks like he has a dislocated hind leg.  Just have to pop it back in," she said before giving him a nearby arrow to bite down on.  Grabbing the leg with both hooves and her magic, she forced the leg back into the socket.  This caused the unicorn to shout and roll over in pain for a few seconds until he managed to calm down a bit.

Gently, he placed some weight on the newly fixed leg, testing it.  Finding he could stand with only mild pain, he addressed the three ponies before him.  "Heh, well you guys definitely saved us a heap of trouble right there.  Name's Dawn Light, Nova Squad's leader," he said.  Looking directly at Frost, he continued, "I especially want to thank you.  Not only fixing up my leg, but snapping my team outta their state, I don't know if I can blame them though.  Today when we got boxed in by the REF's, there was so much chaos, confusion, and death.  It's a miracle we managed escape with what little injury we did get."

By this point, Shadow and Hawkeye came trotting up with the other two Nova Squad members.  Shield Breaker looked around at them all and said, "It's nice sitting here for a chat and all, but I want to get back to the hill.  We need a defendable location, especially with one of my ponies now injured.  Dawn Light, are you good to walk on your own?"

"Ya, I should be able to make it over there easy enough.  What about Storm though?" he asked, glancing at the injured pegasus on the ground.

"I've got her, let's just get moving and get off this field before another rebel team comes along," Shield replied.  Bending down, he pulled Storm up onto his back, and set off in with a steady pace towards the hill.  Frost and Shadow flanked the group while Hawkeye brought up the rear.  Moving quickly, they arrived at the smoking embers of the previous fire in a couple of minutes.

Gently placing Storm down beside the fire pit, Shield addressed the gathered ponies.  "We're all worn out, so try to grab some shut eye.  More than likely, we'll find ourselves in even more trouble tomorrow.  But as always, we will pull through, because it's our job.  I'll keep first watch, so the rest of you should try to relax," he said.  As the ponies from both squads settled down, Shield began to calmly pace around the group.  Every once in a while he would stare at some shadows down the hill, but nothing happened during his shift.

About an hour later, he woke Hawkeye from his sleep.  Trading spots, Shield rested on the grass, glad to be be off his hooves.  As he drifted to sleep, he couldn't help but wonder what challenges they would face the next day.