The soft stroke of oars was all to loud for Ardon's liking as they made their way up river from Stalliongrad. It was four weeks since the taking of Stalliongrad, late November by Equestrian calenders, and now winter was beginning to settle in over Equestria. Cold winds blew in from the north, the river had a layer of gray fog hanging over it, and the first snows of winter were just now falling. They had left the forests of Goldenleaf well behind them now and were entering the open grass lands of the Northern Expanse. The grass was covered in thick layer of frost now, the skies overcast.

Stalliongrad had been given over to Jarl Furyheart to serve as a base of operations for the fleet. The Nor Menn had begun probing raids into Moon and Stars territory but for now stayed clear of major strongholds such as the Fortress of the Sun and cities such as Canterlot and Struttgart. The opening moves to a larger campaign the King planned to begin after the new year.

Thousands of freed slaves, Earth Ponies and Pegasus Ponies now served under Nor Menn lords and chieftains. The surviving Unicorns of value were being held prisoner for potential exchanges with Moon and Stars while the rest had to live now on equal level with Earth and Pegasus Ponies as second class citizens. As it stood Unicorns were forbidden from joining the Fyrd, the pony Militia's that fought under Nor Mennn command. This had been Rainwalker's decision, though Rainwalker had wanted every last unicorn associated with Moon and Stars put to death instead.

While the opening strikes against House Moon and Stars had been successful they had yet to face the other houses of Equestria in battle. So when Ardon's scouts had discovered a small encampment of forces of House Stormwing a few leagues north of a recently captured town called Riversplit and perilously close to Jarl Krast's new holdings at Featherfall Ardon had gone straight to the King to approve a force recon mission. The King had approved of it at once though had ordered Ardon to only take a small force.

He had brought only three longships, with roughly two hundred and twenty five fighting menn. As per usual thirty of those would stay with the ships to guard them against enemy attacks meaning his force was realy just under two hundred. Knowing that the Stormwing was supposed to field large numbers of Pegasus Ponies Ardon had picked forces he deemed best suited to the mission. Forgoing Berserkers, Huskrals, Spellwarders, and Rams Ardon had instead taken sixty Raiders, forty five Clan Hunters, twenty Wanderers, thirty Fyrd Pegasi, twenty Snow Striders, five War Priests, five Avariel Healers, and ten Valkyr Caladria.
Not far behind he knew Lethrook was bringing up two more Longships to serve as rearguard for his mission. Hopefully however Ardon would not need Lethrook's aid.

As he stalked along the deck of the Graybolt he noticed several of the Pegasus Ponies shivering slightly. This puzzeled him as everyone was bundled up fairly well against the cold. He sat down next to one of them a young mare who practically jumped in fright as he did so.

"My l-lord," she said stumbling over the words in the Nor Menn speech.

"At ease," he told her in Equestrian. "What is you name."

"Sunspark," she answered glancing up at the sky nervously.

"Good name," Ardon replied. "Are you cold?"

She shook her head.

"Nervous my lord," she answered.

"First time in battle?" He asked.

She shook her head again then glanced up at the skies again.

"Then what?" Ardon asked.

"Stormwing," she whispered. "They don't like Pegasi fighting for other armies. They say Stormwing has a kill on sight order for any Pegasus flying under another flag."

"Wouldn't it be over?" Ardon asked with a small smile.

"Pardon me my lord, but I don't see how that..."

"It was a joke," Ardon said raising a hand for pardon. "And you don't have to call me lord either. Chief Scout or Ardon will do fine. If you must you may call me sir."

"Yes sir," she said looking embarrassed.

"Just keep your head and you'll be fine," he told her. "This is going to be an in and out job. We'll be back on these ships in three hours at worst, sailing back for Stalliongrad."

She nodded but did not say anything more.

They continued in relative silence up the river for several more minutes, mist rising from their mouths with each breath. At last they reached a bank upon which they pulled up the longships and disembarked. They made their way inland in silence hugging the sparse cover. This kept on for several miles of silent prowling through the brush. Every now and again however someone would throw a look up at the skies watching the clouds for any movement. Any break in the clouds and beam of moonlight sent everyone to the grass for cover.

There was nothing however, no patrols in the night sky it seemed. That in of itself did not put Ardon at ease as he lead his troops along. For all they knew Storming's forces had already spotted them and were setting up an ambush somewhere ahead of them. He kept his fliers on the ground, making it easier to hide them.

After nearly an hour of slow marching they came upon a structure. It was a an earth and timber work encampment slightly larger than Ardon's base back in the Goldenleaf woods. Like a Nor Menn fort there were small platform towers around the perimeter walls which were manned by Earth ponies and unicorns. At one point however was a larger platform was a sizable bolt thrower.

"That could be trouble," Ardon muttered to himself eying at the bolt thrower.

Attacking this encampment would take careful planning and precise action. It would have to be done quickly however before dawn came and the garrison was placed on alert.

He motioned to his lieutenants who hurried over to join him.

"Fealen," he hissed. "I want your archers to pick off the sentries on my signal, which will be a howl. Quick and quiet."

"Understood," the Clan Hunter replied.

"At the same time I want Raiders to slip over the walls and get the gates open," Ardon ordered. "Pegasus Ponies, take out that bolt thrower. Last thing we need is that thing being used on us. Once the gate is open everyone rushes in. I want quick kills, quick and quiet understood?"

They nodded.

"Alright then signal with a wolf howl. Go," he whispered.

Quickly and quietly the Nor Menn took their assigned positions. As soon as Ardon heard the owl hoot signal from Fealen he checked the Raiders. They were ready to go as well, ready to rush the walls and get their hooks up. The Pegasus ponies including Sunspark were ready as well. He took a deep breath and made a fake wolf howl.

Like a breeze among grass arrows flew from the bows of Clan Hunters and struck their targets with lethal silence. No sound was made as the sentries collapsed dead, utterly silent. The Raiders rushed forward with their grappling hooks at the ready and threw them up onto the walls. Ardon winced as the iron hooks clacked against the wooden walls. The Pegasus Ponies shot up into the air silently as the Raiders rapidly scaled the walls.

Then there was a horn call from within the fort, echoing out into the night with a high harsh note of challenge! Ardon swore violently as the sound of rapid stamping of hooves came from within. The element of surprise was lost.

He yanked his sword out of its sheath and rose to his feet!

"FOR THE NORTH!" He roared rushing towards the gate. Horns sounded around him as the Caladria rose into the air along with the Avariel. The Fyrd dived into the fort as the Raiders scrambled over the walls. The Snow Striders, Wanderers, War Priests, and Clan Hunters rushed to the gate after Ardon.

He reached the gate and could hear battle cries from within and the clash of weapons. It took a moment before the gate was shoved open by a Raider and the rest of the Nor Menn poured into the camp.

The Stormwing Ground Guard had been caught completely off guard by the assault, most were still scrambling out of their barracks or hadn't pulled on their armor. Ardon grabbed a torch and slammed the door to one of the barracks shut. He could hear the ponies within shouting in alarm as he barred the door. He tossed one of the flasks of oil hanging about his waist into the barracks and then tossed the torch after it. The shouts quickly became screams as the barracks caught fire.

It was a grizzly act but necessary, they could not show quarter now. The Ground Guard were rapidly being overwhelmed throughout the fortress. They fell skewered by spears, slashed by swords, stabbed with knives, hewed by axes, and shot with arrows. It was a massacre, with more than one barracks being set on fire.

A chariot suddenly came clattering through the camp pulled by two ponies and a third on the cab jabbing at Nor Menn as they passed with a long spear. It caused considerable trouble until all three ponies were dead with a dozen arrows sticking out of them. After that the fighting began to rapidly break down.

Fifteen minutes of brutal close quarters fighting all of the Stormwing Ground Guard were dead. A dozen Nor Menn warriors were on the ground dead or wounded, being tended to by the Avariel Healers. Now they had to move quickly before reinforcements came.

"Fealen post watches!" Ardon barked as he kicked open the door to what seemed to be the command center. "You see anything in the sky that isn't ours I want you to fill it with arrows!"

"Aye sir!" Fealen called back.

Ardon picked his way through the detritus inside until he found what he assumed was the commanders desk. He yanked open the drawers and began stuffing all of the papers into a sack he had brought with him. Two of his Wanderers had followed him in and were grabbing other papers, maps, and books from the shelves.

"Sir!" He heard Fealen call out.

With another curse he shoved one more folder into his sack before rushing back outside and looked up.
They were coming from the west, a great mass of wings easily more than two hundred fliers. He could see moonlight glint off their armor and the tips of their spears.

The true strength of Stormwing was coming fast.

MLP:ED

Something burned against her coat and she swore violently as she shot up, magic gathering about her horn. Hot wax from the candle bracket over her desk was dripping onto her fur. She shot a glance at the grandfather clock in the corner and saw that it was well passed midnight.

She scowled down at the text she had been pouring over before she had dozed off. Such a lapse in her attentiveness to her studies was shameful. The problem was the text she was pouring over wasn't exactly the most enthralling read. The Complete History of Prance was written with all the grace and attention to the rules grammar and punctuation of a drunken buffalo.

What little it could tell her of humans was mostly stories of the carnage and brutality they had unleashed. Half of it was gross exaggerations to make the pitiful forces of Prance look more noble and heroic in the face of countless brutal defeats.

She tried reading another page before frustrated she slammed it shut with her magic.

The trouble was that even in the great libraries of Canterlot there was very little information about Humans. To twilight's mind there were only two reasons why this could be. Either A somepony had destroyed all the texts about Humans, or B they had never existed to begin with. Neither sat well with Twilight.

She walked out of the library, heading down towards the lower recesses of the castle. These chambers were where some of the more secretive acts of the House were conducted, the interrogation and detainment of valuable prisoners for example or Twilight's own experiments . There was also a very special chamber down there to which she now was heading down towards.

The chamber was circular and dark. A single crystal dominated the chamber, a jagged gem stone that Rarity would have literally killed for. She wouldn't have understood its true value however, not the way Twilight did.

"Wake up old ghost," she commanded her horn glowing with magical power.

The crystal glowed in response to her command. A wizened and bearded Equine face appeared upon its brilliant surface. His face was fixed in a nearly perpetual frown which he always had when he saw her.

"What do you want young tyrant?" Starswirl the Bearded's ghost asked rather tersely.

"I have no time for your verbal barbs ghost," she replied. "I need information."

"When don't you need information from me?"

Twilight rolled her eyes in annoyance. Despite his brilliance Starswirl's flagrant disrespect for authority often grated upon her.

"I need to know about humans," she said. "You will tell me everything you know."

"Humans?" Starswirl asked raising an eyebrow. "Why? Are you planning on going beyond simply tearing Equestria apart in favor of global domination."

"A group of them have invaded Equestria," she replied. "I need to know..."

She stopped however as she saw the look of pure dread on the ghost's face.

"You idiot," he said his voice split between fear and anger. "Do you have any idea what you have done?"

"What are you talking about?" She demanded.

"You utter foal!" He shouted. "You've doomed the whole of ponykind!"

"What?!"

"When Equestria was founded my student Clover the Clever helped create the spell to keep the humans out of Equestria," he snapped. "No human could set foot in Equestria or else doom would fall upon all of humanity!"

"Well clearly his spell didn't work," Twilight said evenly trying to calm him down.

"Because you made the spell irrelevant!" Starswirl snapped.

"How?" Twilight demanded.

"Because Equestria does not exist anymore!" Starswirl snapped. "It doesn't matter if they are in the former territories of Equestria only that they are in the Nation of Equestria. That Nation ceased to exist when you and your friends tore this country apart!"

Twilight's mouth fell open but before she could speak Starswirl's face vanished from the face of the crystal. Furious she tried to calm him back but for the first time since she had meet the ghost he refused her summons. She was left alone in the chamber, with the knowledge that she may have doomed her entire race.

MLP:ED

Sweat ran down Ardon's face as he tossed another look up at the sky above what was left of his raiding party. He could see the enemy above circling high above them waiting for their most recent sortie group to rejoin the main body of the pursuit force.

The Nor Menn and their pony allies had done their best to defend the Stormwing fort but it soon became clear that Stormwing had carefully planned the construction of their base. It had been completely open to air attacks likely so that encase it fell as it had. House Stormwing could then quickly retake the fort with a quick attack.

Ardon had lost almost a third of his warriors before he had ordered them to abandon the fort and make for the Longships. All stealth was abandoned now with speed and the cover of trees sparse trees being the Nor Menn's best defense. Ardon didn't dare send his own fliers against Stormwing in what would be a futile attempt to by time.

Instead Ardon along with the remain archers and fliers had formed a hasty rearguard trying to keep Stormwing off their backs as best they could. But the Nor Menn discipline was beginning to break down, what discipline there was at least. Anyone who got to far ahead or drifted to far from the main group was quickly picked off by Stormwing forces. Ardon was struggling to keep his forces together.

Occasionally bolts of lightning would strike around them as the Stormwing Thunderers made use of their weapons. These only made the situation worse, some having thrown a side their weapons in terror, trying to run as fast as the could back to the safety of the Longships only to be picked off by swooping pegasi with spear and lance.

One such bolt hit a pegasus just in front of Ardon who fell to the ground with a cry. She struggled to push herself back up but her legs seemed to be refusing to function. Without a second thought Ardon yanked the wounded pony to her feet by mane and gave her a hard kick in the flank.

"Sunspark I forbid you to fecking die!" He roared in her ear half shoving her forward. "Now get moving!"

She gave a yelp of fright but kept moving forward.

"Here they come again!" Fealen cried out.

Ardon looked up again to see the Stormwing fliers lining up and swooping down towards the Nor Menn raiding band.

"Archers turn!" Ardon shouted!

The remaining Clan Hunters and Snow Striders came about as did the Valkyr Caladria.

"Archers knock!" He said said fixing an arrow of his own to the string of his longbow. "Draw!"

The bow strings were drawn back and turned up into the swooping mass of pegasi.

"Loose!" Ardon shouted firing is own arrow.

Nor Menn arrows and spears rattled against the heavily armored Stormwing fliers, few finding a mark upon the oncoming storm. Against such a charge the Nor Menn would stand no chance.

"Run!" Ardon shouted.

The retreat was rapidly turning into a full blow rout as the Stormwing Heavy Lancers and Hoplites hit the rear of Ardon's force cutting several warriors down. Wind Riders were amongst his fliers battling with the Valkyr, Fyrd Pegasi, and Avariel Healers. Many of them fell to the ground screaming, blood pouring from gashes made by razor sharp wing blades.

The Storming Fliers pulled back before the Nor Menn could regroup and were quickly circling just outside of bow shot once again. In the distance Ardon could hear the thunder of hooves and chariot wheels and knew that Stormwing's ground forces had joined the pursuit.

Then at last they saw the Longships and Lethrook's rearguard waiting for them. One of the Valkyr blew a horn blast to alert the rearguard of their return then blew a second horn blast. Two horn blasts was the standard call to indicate foes approaching. The rearguard blew one in reply acknowledging their approach and Ardon could see the warriors forming up into defensive formations.

Ardon had ordered Lethrook to take a much heavier force to form the rearguard. Lethrook's force comprised of thirty Huskrals, forty Raiders, forty Axe Throwers, fifteen Clan Hunters, and five Avariel Healers. The Huskrals were forming the front line of the defense with a heavy shield wall bristling with spears with Axe Throwers just behind them. Raiders had the flanks with Clan Hunters in the the rear. Most importantly however all of the Longboats were manned and their crews had readied weapons.

Each Longship had a pair of light bolt throwers similar to the larger ones the Nor Menn used for siege warfare. While they lacked the range and power of their larger cousins these small bolt throwers could still run a man through with a heavy bolt and were extremely accurate. The rest of the crew had grabbed bows or spears or axes or knives to defend the ships, which were their only way to escape.

Ardon urged his warriors on until the reached the shield wall which parted to allow the exhausted warrior passage. Once the last of his warriors was through Ardon collapsed to his knees, allowing his bow to fall to the grass gasping for breath.

"Boss," Lethrook said by way of greeting.

"Get the... wounded onto the ships," Ardon ordered panting heavily.

"We won't get far with those winged devils on our arses," Lethrook replied nodding to the Stormwing forces.

Ardon stood up and turned to see that the Stormwing fliers had come to a halt. Below them a large force of Earth Ponies and Unicorns was forming up for an attack. Ardon guess they had to be out numbered now almost two to one and most of his warriors were in no shape to fight.

But if they didn't fight they wouldn't get far before Stormwing's fliers would be on them again with lightning bolts.

"We'll have to make a stand," he agreed.

He took a deep breath to steady himself before he shouted, "anyone who can still fight form up!"

About half of his remaining warriors including several pegasi slowly moved to form up with the battle line. He grabbed a passing war priest by the shoulder.

"We're going to need the fury of the Gods to survive this," he said grimly.

The War priest nodded before rejoining his fellows.

Ardon took his place among the shield wall, his quiver of arrows completely empty. He took an offered wooden round shield and drew his bastard sword.

"Let 'em know who we are boys and girls!" Ardon called out.

The Nor Menn began to stamp their feet and bang their weapons against their shields. They shouted and cursed at the Stormwing warriors facing them across the field. Horns rang out as the War Priests began to chant a prayer to the Gods.

Then a large force of Stormwing warriors began to charge across the open flats between the two lines. Behind them the Chariots and the rest of the infantry began to advance while the fliers surged forwards. The Vanguard of the assault were a mass of earth pony warriors wearing next to no armor. They were covered in war paint and had heavy axes clutched in their teeth. Ardon recognized them instantly as Nhorse warriors, ponies who had copied and adapted Nor Menn styles to themselves with mixed success. Ardon allowed himself a savage grin. This would be a good fight.

As soon as the infantry came within range the Nor Menn archers opened up many having ignited their arrows. Burning contrails filled the sky as arrows whistled into the oncoming Stormwing infantry. Ardon saw several drop, but the rest pressed forwards.
The Chariots pulled away from the main body and moved towards the flanks hoping to smash through the Nor Menn flanks.

Above, the Stormwing fliers dove towards the Nor Menn lines heedless of the arrows and heavy bolts flying to meet them. Several of them dropped, an arrow having found an unarmored point or a bolt having skewered them but they quickly closed with the Nor Menn. The remaining Nor Menn fliers met the superior Stormwing fliers and sound the air was filled with war cries and screams with bodies of both ponies and humans falling from the skies.

On foot the the Nor Menn Axe Throwers opened the battle hurling their weapons at the Stormwng forces. Many ponies fell dead or wounded or simply stunned by the storm of axes. Then the Nhorse vanguard hit the Nor Menn line, many being cut down by the spears of the Huskrals. The few that managed the cut their way past the spears slammed into the shield wall hacking and bucking at the Huskral shields to little real effect. Then the main body of the Stormwing foot hit the Nor Menn line jabbing with spears or swinging flails.

On the flanks the Chariots slammed into the Raiders on the flanks. These chariots were each pulled by two armored earth ponies with a driver in the back jabbing away with a spear. Blades were fixed to the wheels adding to the carnage the machines unleashed. Ardon ordered the Wanderers how remained to back the Raiders up. So long as the chariots were moving they were pure death cutting warriors down without mercy but once they were unable to move the Nor Menn turned the tables without mercy.

Then the War priests gave a mighty roar and Ardon felt power surge through him. His mind was overwhelmed with rage and the desire for slaughter, his vision going red bringing the dark battle field into sharp relief. With a roar of his own he surged forwards as did the rest of his warriors pushing back against the Stormwing infantry even as the fliers penetrated the defense of the Nor Menn fliers to engage the warriors on the ground.

Ardon had difficulty processing everything that was happening during the War Fury. It was mostly indistinct flashes of images as his body reverted to pure killing instinct. One minute he was hacking at a Pegasus wearing heavy armor and carrying a heavy lance. The next moment he was throttling a unicorn with his bare hands, watching it flail its legs in the air trying fruitlessly to beat him off. Then he had his sword again clambering onto a chariot to shove the blade right through the throat of the driver.

Then the power faded away and he found himself on his knees panting heavily. He could feel hot blood on his face that he knew was not his own. He looked up to see that the Stormwing forces had pulled back across the field out of bow shot. He pushed himself to his feet and turned to see the carnage behind him.

Dozens if not hundreds of bodies lay across the feild all of the way to Longboats all five of which were still intact. Of Ardon's warriors only about half were on their feet still, coming down off the combat high of the War Fury. The Raiders had taken heavy loses against the chariots while the Huskrals had held up fairly well. The fliers and archers however were in a poor state.

Only four of the Avariel Healers were left doing their best to tend to the wounded. Six Valkyr Caladria remained one having to be carried by one of her battle sisters. Of the Fyrd Pegasi only eight of Ardon's original thirty remained alive most now on the ground stumbling about the battlefield aimlessly, one vomited up his dinner and collapsed on the ground coughing in the blood until some pulled him back up into a sitting position. The Axe Throwers done the best they could against the Stormwing fliers but throwing axes were of little use against enemies who could fly only twelve of them remained. The Clan Hunters had been decimated down to about twenty five warriors, only eight of the Snow Striders remained.

"Boss," Lethrook said stumbling over to him, his left arm hanging at an odd angle, a spear having punched through his round shield and now partly stuck in his bicep. "We can't take another assault like that."

Ardon nodded, wiping the blood from his face noticing that his hand was shaking slightly.

"Pile the dead and burn them," he ordered. "They can cover our withdraw."

Lethrook grimaced but nodded.

Ardon threw a look over at the Stormwing forces squinting through the darkness try to gauge their strength. He guessed maybe half of their infantry remained along with maybe a third of the chariots. The pegasi forces however appeared to still be in good strength. He hoped the lack of sufficient ground forces however would keep their enemy at bay at least until they were reinforced. Hopefully by that time the Nor Menn would be miles away.

Then suddenly he heard the rush of wings and the soft clop of hooves against the hard pack dirt. He whirled about bringing his sword up to defend himself.

The Stormwing pegasus however he now faced bore no weapon but a white flag. Ardon knew that plain white flags were the standard pony call for diplomacy. The mare stared at him with hard eyes, any surprise at fighting humans appeared to be lost on her.

"Are you the commander of this rabble?" She asked.

"Aye," Ardon replied in Equestrian.

"We wish to call for a ceasefire until sun rise to collect our dead and tend to them as honor demands," she said.

Ardon felt a wave of relief wash over his tired muscles.

"No weapons," he said. "We'll leave yours alone if you leave ours be."

"For now," she replied before turning about and rising back into the air with a few beats of her wings.

Ardon slowly walked back to the Nor Menn line a spread the order to leave the Stormwing corpses be and of the temporary ceasefire. By Sun rise the Nor Menn would be long gone. Then he set about helping to collect the dead and pile them together.
As he turned over another corpse he swore. Fealen's blank face stared up at him, the broken lance sticking out of his side having gone straight to his heart. With reverence Ardon closed the Sindarla's eyes and carried over to the pile and laid him down gently on the kindling which was a mix of broken shields and spears piled together with what fire wood they had.

The Stormwing warriors arrived a minute or two later, unarmed as requested. Aside from the nasty looks both sides threw each others way they did not interact at all. Both sides worked in silence save for the moans of the wounded and the dying. To Ardon's surprise several Stormwing Nhorse warriors arrived dragging the Nor Menn dead from the fort and the retreat on a chariot. They said nothing to anyone as they allowed the Nor Menn to unload their dead from the Chariots. For the briefest moment they were united in the macabre task of tending to the fallen.

After a half hour the Nor Menn completed their grizzly task. A great mound of bodies and kindling gathered before them. They were arrayed as best the Nor Menn could for the funeral with the blood washed from their faces, their hands resting upon their chests, heads resting upon shields to look as though they were merely sleeping. Their weapons were at their sides. Those whose weapons could not be found had been given daggers, spare axes and spears so they would not be dishonored.

The War Priests and Valkyr Caladria began to chant prayers for the dead, calling upon the gods to accept them into their halls with all the honor befitting warriors. Oil was poured on the dead by the Valkyr before the War Priest ignited torches and reverently set them to the kindling. The great pyre was soon a mass of flames burning brightly, lighting the night with a red blaze.

The Nor Menn stayed for a moment heads bowed reverentially in silence.

Then Ardon began their final task for the dead.

"Blood and fire, sweat and steel," he sang his voice slightly raspy from the dry air of the heat of the flames. "Proud you stood, noble you lie."

"On to Odin's halls you go," his warriors sang out joining him in the lament.

"Axe and sword, spear and bow," he continued. "In bright mail, in hard leather."

"On to Odin's halls you go."

"On to the halls of song and feast. Sit now in glory, to your honor we shall drink."

"On to Odin's halls you go."

"Rest now in the eternal glory of death," he said lifting up his head to stare into the flames. "Pity us for being left to contend with the fleeting glory of life. You will not be forgotten."

They remained there standing about the pyre as the flames rose hire and hire obscuring the faces and bodies of the dead. Then in silence they returned the longships and set off back the way they had come, the funeral pyre lighting the horizon until its light was at last out of sight well over an hour later.

Ardon turned to remains of his scout force and could not help but feel the shame of defeat. Though they had achieved their objective the price had been far to high. He walked the deck looking into one tired face after another until he came upon one he had not expected.

Sunspark was sitting there shivering. Ardon sat down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"You did well," he said.

She did not reply or even look at him. She simply stared at the deck. Ardon did not press her, he knew how she felt every warrior did.

Death was a constant companion of warriors, a pitiless and cruel follower. How one dealt with facing death defined them as a person. Or a pony in this case.

Author's Note

Man its been a while since I posted.

So if you haven't realized it yet the Nor Menn kind of suck at anti air. So an army that is more than half flying units like Stormwing kicks their asses and kicks them hard.