Hammer and Harmony: Corruption

Waking up at 4 A.M. was normal for the two farmers who now stared out across the plains, watching the enemy camp begin to stir, just as their own was. General Applejack and Lieutenant General Big Mac watched as Celestia’s sun slowly rose over the horizon, quiet thoughts of what to come encircled their minds.

Turning back to the slowly-gathering earth ponies who made up her defense force, Applejack spoke, “Honestly, Ah don’t know what ta say. But Ah know one thing, we ain’t gonna let them varmint Saddle Arabians take our homes. We worked hards for this land, especially you Appleloosans!” This elicited a cheer before she continued, “So taday, fight fer yer family, fight for yer homes, and fight fer yer right ta return ta em when this is all done!”

A small tear in his eye, Big Mac spoke above the now-rabid cheering, “PHALANX FORM RANKS!” As he called, hundreds of stallions with shields and spears approached the plain where the battle would commence, Big Mac took his position front and center by Applejack and Braeburn.

Shields on the left, spears on the right. Yesterday, these ponies had been farmers, merchants, husbands, wives, teachers; but today they were soldiers, not because they wanted to, but because they had to be.

A mismatch of other earth ponies surrounded the phalanx on both sides. The Saddle Arabians also formed ranks. Much larger ranks. According to the Appleloosan scouts, their enemy was composed of 6,000 ponies, against the meager 1,500 Appleloosan defense force.

A single horn was heard from the Saddle Arabian army. At the sound, they lurched forward, slowly at first, then galloping into a full on charge, strange curved swords and iron armor glittering in the morning sun.

Then it came. The first impact, the most dreaded moment for the defenders, the moment where they would know if the phalanx would hold. Spears impaled the attackers, and the ones who weren’t impacted the raised shields with a sound heard throughout the valley. Scimitars failing, the Arabians attempted to break the phalanx with sheer numbers.

They succeeded at first.

A voice was heard above the sounds of blood and gore. Those who heard the voice would say it was stronger than the Royal Canterlot Voice:

“SHIELDS! REPEL!” the shout came from the red stallion, “SPEARS FORWARD!” The two shouts repeated several times, echoing across the defenders, and it started to work. The Arabians were being pushed back.

In the midst of all the chaos, a viewer’s eyes were drawn to one spot in the center of it all, where a single Orange Mare in glittering silver armor tore through dozens of enemies with only flicks of her tail, a metal blur rending them into pieces. On closer inspection, one would notice the brown and red stallions standing next to her, part of the phalanx, but seemingly more determined to protect the mare.

“Hey cousin, I think we’re winnin’!” Braeburn called to Applejack as she eviscerated another enemy.

“Ah think yer right, cus!” Applejack responded, choking slightly on her tears as she tore through those who would hurt her family.
Braeburn stepped forward slightly and stabbed his spear into the nearest enemy neck, calling forth a spurt of blood which covered his face. As he turned back to Applejack, Braeburn saw a flash of metal out of the corner of his eye. His vision changed, like he was falling, but that didn’t make sense.

Applejack looked where Braeburn had stepped into the wall of enemy, just as an enemy stepped forward with blood-red eyes and slashed Braeburn’s neck, decapitating him. Time slowed down for the mare as his she watched his head slowly fall.

Shock ran through her, like ice had been dumped through her insides. Denial started. There was no way Braeburn was gone. He couldn’t be. He was family, and Apples always protected their family.

Looking down at the head slowly rolling towards her, she froze. It now clicked that he was . . .

. . . gone.

Gone. GONE. GONE. GONE!

Applejack snapped. They did this, they killed him!

The nearby enemy froze, watching the mare, already scared of her battle prowess. They saw a change overtake her. The weapon held in her tail began to glow blue with runic symbols. Somehow, everypony knew what those runes meant: Brutality.

The hydra grew longer, and split. No longer were there four hydra heads, but sixteen. With a blue flash, it grew and split again, into sixty-four heads. Each head was glowing ominously with blue light. Dread filled anypony who caught sight of it, friend and foe alike.
With a scream of rage and despair all rolled into one, the Hydra struck.

Each head sought ought and decapitated the nearest enemy, showering the mare in blood. Not satisfied, she pushed forward, her weapon flashing all around her.

Heads rolled, limbs fell, blood splattered and fell like rain. Many fell with no knowledge of what happened. The Hydra’s touch meant death.

But Applejack herself was the real horror. Her roar of revenge made the enemy quake in their armor. Any who heard her lost their will to fight.

A path of dead bodies formed through the enemy’s ranks.

Another shout was heard on the battlefield, “Reinforcements! They have reinforcements from Dodge city. Looks 3,000 strong!”

Big Mac thought a moment. While the battle was going well, they couldn’t handle 3,000 more enemies. He called out, “RETREAT! RETREAT TO THE GORGE!”

At his word, a thousand ponies still standing turned and ran. All except Applejack, who was still in a raging frenzy. Seeing this, Big Mac charged into enemy lines, sideswiped his sister with his shield to knock her out, and threw her over his back before retreating himself.

The defense of Appleloosa was a massacre. The Saddle Arabians lost 3,000 ponies, and the Equestrians only 422. Those who saw the ‘Blood Mare of Appleloosa’, almost a thousand in total, all vanished. They returned to their homes, deserting the army rather than face her again.

Thus, Appleloosa fell, and the ponies retreating past ghastly gorge destroyed the bridge as they crossed.

Twilight woke in the pre-dawn hours in Fillydelphia. A voice was calling her name outside her tent.

“General, the meeting is starting soon,” a strangely familiar voice called to her.

Opening her tent flap, Twilight saw somepony she never thought she’d see again. The Great and Powerful Trixie stood before in full battle armor.

“Tr-Trixie? Is that you?” Twilight asked, shaking sleep from her eyes.

“Yes Ma’am. Lieutenant General Trixie Lulamoon, at your service Ma’am,” the blue mare responded.

“But what’re you doing here, Trixie?” Twilight asked.

“Permission to speak freely, ma’am?”

“Granted,” Twilight responded confused.

“Well ma’am, after you humiliated me in front of all of Ponyville,” Twilight blushed at the memory before Trixie continued, “I was able to turn my life around. I joined up with the guard, and now I’m here. I, uh, also wish to apologize for my behavior on both occasions that I visited Ponyville. Thanks to my career in the guard, I have learned a lot about friendship.”

Smiling, Twilight responded, “Well, it’s good you learned a lesson Trixie. But now, we’ve got more important matters to deal with. We have to get the rest of the unicorns into position before the sun rises.”

“Yes ma’am!” Trixie responded, trotting off to wake the rest of the army.

Twilight proceeded to find breakfast before finding her brother on the eastern edge of the town.

“Twily!” Shining Armor called ask he embrace his sister, both in full battle armor, glimmering slightly in pre-dawn light.

“So how’s it look?” Twilight asked worried.

“It looks like they have about 500 airships ready to invade when the sun rises. At normal capacity, that means we’ll be facing about 20,000 griffons, with only 7,000 unicorns and pegasi.”

Shivering, Twilight responded, “Well, I guess we’ll do our best to stop them.”

Shaking his head, Shining Armor continued, “I don’t think we can win this. They have three times as many soldiers as we do, the advantage of airships, and Fillydelphia has no defensible positions.”

With one last hug, the pair split up, Twilight heading back to her unicorns. As she arrived, the sun rose, revealing fully the sea and the airships above it. Slowly, the ships began their journey towards the city and the awaiting ranks of pegasi and unicorns.

Then, before the ships were within firing distance, a loud roar ripped through the silence. A black dragon appeared from behind the ships, rapidly making its way towards the city. It took high into the air, where its full bulk threatened to blot out the sun, before its assault began.

Another roar split the clamour of ponies, “I AM TITANUS, DESTROYER OF EMPIRES, BUTCHER OF INNOCENTS! FEAR! MY! POWER!” The dragon roared out a jet of flame that engulfed a dozen pegasi. Bigger and bigger the flame grew, until it looked like the sky itself was burning.

Screams fell faster than the burnt feathers.

The dragon ripped through whatever pegasi ranks were left, sundering some with claws as large as some ponies. Others burned to death before hitting the ground. Hundreds fell, and those who didn’t turned tail and flew, realizing the futility of fighting a dragon that large.

A single cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane flew towards the dragon, intent on punishing it for killing her comrades. Flipping out her wings revealing blue wing blades. She slashed the dragon’s chest repeatedly . . .

. . . but for a dragon that size, it was only scratches. It almost looked amused.

“FOOL! YOU CAN’T HURT ME!” The dragon inhaled, preparing a jet of flame to scorch the offending pegasus.

As the flame left the dragon’s mouth, a yellow pegasus with a flaming mane and tail swooped in and grabbed the other pegasus.

The yellow pegasus spoke as the two flew away from the dragon, “ARE YOU NUTS!?”

“Hey! I thought it’d work!” Rainbow dash responded, indignant.

The dragon dove towards the unicorns. Fire filled the air as magic impaled his sides to little effect.

“MAGIC WON’T WORK EITHER!” the dragon roared once more.

The fire quickly overwhelmed the defenders, and started spreading into the city. Shining Armor quickly realized that the fight was hopeless--the dragon was decimating their defenses, and the griffons hadn’t even landed yet! As he saw thousands of griffons fill the sky, he shouted “RETREAT! RETREAT TO THE PLAINS!”

With the retreat called, all the ponies broke ranks and ran.

“YOU CAN’T DEFEND AGAINST ME! YOU’ll ALL BURN! I SHALL REND YOU!” the dragon roared at the retreating ponies as the griffons landed their airships.

A single griffon with feathers dyed blood-red stood on the bow of his warship, looking over the city of Manehattan as the sun rose over the horizon.

A smaller griffon approached from behind before speaking, “General BloodBeak, our scouts report the city empty. They’ve evacuated the civilians, and there isn’t a defense force.”

Anger filling his voice, the general spoke with a deep blood-curdling voice, “Damned coward ponies! Burn it! Burn it all to the ground!”

“Yes Sir!” Turning around to the other ships, the small griffon roared with a huge voice, “BURN THE CITY! LEAVE NOTHING LEFT!”

Not even an hour later, the entire city of Manehattan was in ruins, cannonfire and torches burning through the city. Turning back to the small griffon, the general spoke as the flames continued to burn the city, “Sail for Fillydelphia! Let’s hope the Emperor left some glory for us!”

“Yes sir!” the small griffon responded, ordering the helm griffons to sail for Fillydelphia. All they left behind were ashes and burnt feathers.

201 ponies stood along the shore, separate from the thousands others, the first line, the first defense stood for Balitmare. The sun cracked over the horizon, revealing hundreds of warships just out of cannon range and thousands of griffons circling overhead them.

One hundred earth ponies, one hundred unicorns, and one pink earth pony mare in glimmering silver battle armor stood. They knew their job: sink as many ships as possible. Every ship that didn't make land was one more that didn't deposit supplies.

Every earth pony was strapped into their harness, facing away from the cannon barrel, ready to bolt at any command. Unicorns were all at the ready, to reload and fire the cannons. The first shots had been loaded long ago, in the pre-dawn hours.

The pink earth pony bounced around and made idle chatter with her ponies. She knew everypony was scared for their life, and for good reason. The artillery division was filled with only the ponies who could follow orders perfectly every time, with no questions. Despite being in command less than a week, Pinkie had wrapped all her soldiers around her finger. They obeyed perfectly, and that's exactly what she needed.

A single horn was heard from the griffons to declare their attack. As one, ten thousand griffons took to the sky, intent on decimating the pony force of 6,000. Worse, it was a mismatch of races at that.

A thunderous din and droplets of blood signaled the clash of the pegasi and griffons above the heads of the artillery, who were still waiting their chance.

Magic burnt through the air, wingbeats and clashing metal rang through the cove as the two armies met. Some griffons took the ground route as soon as they landed. These were met with small mobile phalanxes. Lightning erupted through the sky at random intervals, always accompanied by a singed griffon falling to their death, proof that weather was also a good weapon.

Still, the artillery waited. Waiting for when the ships moved in. Waiting for their chance to prove their metal by defending their homes. Occasionally, a loud bugle could be heard from the artillery division, the product of a Pink earth pony. Every time the bugle sounded the defenders attacked with new courage and valor.

An hour passed, an hour drenched in the blood of ponies and griffons alike, before General Swiftclaw gave the order to move inland. As the ships moved closer, the quite din of battle was overwhelmed by the thunderous noise of cannonfire. Cannons from the griffon ships began bombarding the pony army and the Baltimare buildings.

Another change occurred as the griffon ships moved closer, one that worried the artillery division. Their once-happy and cheerful General now stood silent. Even her mane and tail had lost all of its poof, and stood perfectly straight.

This didn’t last long before it began, the counter attack of the artillery. For a brief moment, Pinkie considered the situation: 500 warships, 100 teams, and 1000 cannonballs. Shaking her head in despair, she began to bark out orders, “Alpha team! Gamma team! Move out a quarter click north, rotate cannons 15 degrees south-southeast, and begin firing. Bravo Team! Delta Team! Began bombardment on the nearest ships! Sink them!”

She blew her bugle as she finished her orders, full of determination and confidence to help her allies. She watched and heard 50 cannons lash out against the approaching ships. Almost immediately, she saw the other ships turn their bows, pointing their cannons her way.

“Bravo! Delta! MOVE OUT!” Pinkie shouted. The ponies retreated in towards the city.

As soon as their cannons went silent, the other teams cannons spoke, ripping through the ships at a different angle. She repositioned her team for another barrage, now that they were safe and concealed behind a building. Just as predicted, the first ship appeared right in front of her teams as they crossed further into the harbor.

Three ships were visible. ”Hold.”

Five ships. “Hold.”

Ten ships. “FIRE!”

She blew her bugle as she yelled the order, calling the two teams not with her to retreat to the next position. At once, 50 teams fired. 40 cannonballs hit their mark and 10 ships were riddled full of holes. In no time, they sunk to the bottom of the bay.

Pinkie knew that trick would only work once. Blueblood’s plan is working. She shook the thought from her head, and called her team to retreat to the last point, right where Alpha and Gamma teams were, hopefully.

Ninety-nine ponies gathered in a sheltered shrub of trees on the north end of the harbor as more ships started to enter. One group in Alpha team had been lost. They were friends for sure, but there were more important things to worry about.

“Lieutenant General! Status!” Pinkie called as the two groups of ponies mingled.

A response from a gray earth pony, with black mane and treble clef cutie mark, was heard, “Down one team and 200 cannonballs left, ma’am!”

As more ships floated into the bay, Pinkie gave the order, “Plus fifteen degrees upwards! Send those griffons to Tartarus! OPEN FIRE!”

The barrage lasted almost thirty minutes, and the griffons had no response to cannons hiding in trees. All their return fire merely struck tree trunks. Hundreds of ships fell to Pinkie’s cannons and Prince Blueblood’s tactics.

However, the success of the ponies was not to last, even with all their skill. Supplies ran low, as did moral at times, which was rectified by Pinkie’s bugle.

The gray earth pony once again called out, “Last 100 cannonballs General!”

Nodding, Pinkie responded, “Alright everypony, load one more shot, and make it count! OPEN FIRE!” One last barrage of cannons hit the griffon ships.

As the cannonfire faded, the real situation was revealed: the ponies had suffered heavy losses to the heavily armed griffons. The defenders were almost out of the harbor now, pushed back by sheer numbers.

Realizing their plight, a loud shout echoed above the cannonfire as Prince Blueblood spoke, “RETREAT! RETREAT BACK TO THE-” The shout was cut off as a smaller-than-average griffon with golden feathers sank his talons into the stallion.

“Hmmph, good strategy...for a pony,” General Swiftclaw said to Prince Blueblood as the pony collapsed, choking in his own blood.

From a distance, Pinkie saw this. It slowly dawned on her that this made her acting General of the army. A cold chill enveloped her, making her armor glow with blue runic light. Everypony and every griffon now stared at a single Pink mare as she slowly walked up to General Swiftclaw.

“And what do we have here, little pony?” The griffon General asked, looking pleased with himself.

The runes shifted as Pinkie spoke. They were now readable by every being watching: Despair.

“Retreating.” The griffon’s eyes widened as she took out her bugle and blew one clear note, so full of pungent despair for her enemies, it produced a blue shockwave that rippled across the entire griffon army as Pinkie fled.

All of the griffons still in the air simply fell and died, now lacking a desire to live. Those left standing on docks or ground collapsed as the shock wave passed through them, filling them with such a dark outlook that they couldn’t help but shed tears. For a while, the sea was red with griffon blood.

It took half an hour for the army to recover from the despair of that single, heavy note. By then, their numbers were cut in half. Thus, Balitmare fell to the griffons, but at heavy cost. 8,000 griffons, along with 192 warships, fell that day. The ponies were left with over 2,300 casualties, only two of which came from Pinkie’s company.

Those on the boats called her ‘The Pink Genius’. The other griffons, though, had another name for her, one that shivered the spine of any griffon that survived the Note.

They called her ‘The Banshee’. It was an old, old griffon legend about a creature whose voice was so terrible it shattered the hardiest warriors.