Rise of the Imperial Pony Empire

Location: Southset city Fort, IPE

Around same time as the other Commander started.

"Wake up and line up, troopers!" yelled Commander Marrow as the troopers lined up in columns for daily inspection.

They had arrived there at Southset and Marrow was already giving more drills, waking them more early, and the inspection every day, so that they are battle ready and fresh to perform the charge into the NLR.

"It is necessary for victory." Marrow responded to the question of a tired trooper after the first day of giving more drills.

As Marrow was standing, watching the high officers inspect the troopers moving along the lines, a messenger of the Legion came up to him. His ears twitch and swivel to the sound of hoof-steps headed his way. Being a Bat-Pony made him better aware of his surroundings and senses. The only real bad thing is he is more sensitive to light.

He turns to face the arriving messenger to receive the letter or whatever she had with her.

The messenger salutes to him before speaking, "I have a letter that just arrived today from Arthrenia, sir."

Marrow nods in acknowledgement, "Give it here. I'll read it now." She gives him the letter from which she got out of her saddlebags. He looks at her again after getting the letter from her, raising a brow at her, he comments, "You don't need to be so formal, Shadow Rift. We have known each other for a long time."

"Sorry, force of habit." she says resting from attention.

Marrow chuckles at her, "You know since my promotion you have been doing this mostly only around others. But even though we may be of different rank, it does not change our friendship." he informs as he opens the letter.

Rift chuckles with him, "I know, but its still a force of habit."

He chuckles once again before continuing to read the letter. Meanwhile, Rift was restless as the minutes passed and was shifting in her spot. She finally asks, "What does it say?"

"Its orders, we can move out and begin the invasion." he informs her.

"Woo! about time!" Rift exclaims earning a short laugh from Marrow.

"Now I know you are excited, but I want you to be careful when we go into combat." he warns.

"Ya ya, be careful." she say rolling her eyes and smiling.

"Remember what happened when your ego beat ya last time?" he asks smiling back.

Rift deadpans, "I thought we were not going to bring that up again."

Marrow just puts on a shit-eating grin, "I had to rescue your ass."

"Ok, fine I will be careful." she says before turning and walking away from Marrow. "You didn't have to bring it back up..." she murmurs to herself. Marrow hears it and chuckles at her before turning and going to the officers who had finished inspection.

They all salute at him as he steps up to the podium. Once he was at the top they turned to look out over the lines next to Marrow. All eyes were on him.

Time to give the info to the troops.

"All drills are now over from this point on." he starts getting some relived sighs from the troopers. "But thanks to that, we are more ready than ever, orders have been given to me by the Empress to start the invasion just as the other Legion is going to do. So now, get yourselves ready to move out in two days time." he pauses to salute the troops and yell out, "Pony Imperii!"

"Pony Imperii!" the troopers cry out in union and salute along with Marrow before being dismissed.

Location: North of Smokey Mt., East of Tall Tale, NLR

Two and a half days after leaving Southset

"So..." Rift says trying to strike a conversation with Marrow next to her as they headed down the road to the crossroads that split to two cites, "About when should we be able to see combat? I mean we are already in NLR lands." she looks over to Marrow who had turned to look at her as she talked.

"Well, we will be there in perhaps one more day then we will choose which city to attack first." he informs looking back ahead.

"Why not we choose now?" she asks.

"I will have scouts sent to each city to see which is more of a better target to strike. Then when they return, we choose."

"When you put it that way it make sense." she comments as she turns to look back ahead.

Marrow chuckles, "Guess it does..." Rift just looks at him mouthing "What", when she suddenly trips up her walking and faceplants onto the road with a small 'whomp' as she meets it. Marrow sees her fall and just starts laughing at her as he slows to a stop to help her up. "Don't want to die by the road before we get to the real combat, right?" he says smiling as she takes his hoof up.

Rift just smiles, "Yea. Its just the ground wanted to meet me before I get there." she comments.

"Hah! Yea." Marrow says continuing with Rift down the road surrounded by their Guards.

They stayed silent for a few more hours till they pitched camp in a clearing to rest. Marrow turned to look at Rift sitting around the campfire in front of them. "So, tomorrow we will finish out trip to the crossroads and then send the scouts to the cities to gather info on them." he informs Rift who nods.

"That sounds good." she says standing up from her seat and stretching her wings. "Well I am beat, Goodnight." she thinks for a bit, "Good eternal night." she rephrases with a smile as Marrow shakes his head.

Marrow watches her go  and stays around the fire to think for a bit before calling it a day, or night in the NLR's case.

Location: Crossroad fort, NLR

"Thank the gods we have half-changelings in our Legion." Rift commented once they sent out the scouts.

They had set up a small fort at the crossroads and from there, waited for the scouts to return from their missions. The first scout that came back was from Tall Tale. It had a simple garrison of only 10,000 NLR soldiers. By then the other scout from Smokey Mt. had returned with almost the same info but with only a garrison of 9,500 soldiers, pegasi only due to it being a pegasi military training base, which they found out.

"Hmm," Marrow was thinking. Should they attack the strongest and remove the threat of a large retaliation attack or go for the weaker city because it has less troops and only consists of Pegasi? He was looking at the map of the region in his tent, along with Rift who was helping...somewhat.

"We should attack Tall Tale, its stronger and it is more critical to take." he says.

"Are you sure?" Rift asks. "It is pretty well defended from what the scouts say."

"That's why we must take the strongest. Plus, it is connected to the main road that leads deep into the NLR."

"That is true....but what about the other city? They could get alerted and attack us from behind."

"Wait a second...." Marrow thinks for a bit. "We have way more than them...how could we forget?"

Rift face-hoofs, "Wow...just...wow. We could just split the army and attack them both. Its that damn simple!"

"Well, of course we can, we got plenty of troopers."

"Yea but every one of them counts."

They go quiet for a time till Marrow speaks up. "Ok, want to start making the plan or keep debating?" He asks looking up from the map.

"Yes, lets do so."

"Alright, so I will find a suitable commander to lead the attack on Smokey Mt. Most of that army will be consisted of pegasi." He points a hoof to Tall Tale. "We will attack Tall Tale. We will start with a steady bombardment, then enter to clear the small city."

"And Smokey Mt.?"

"Do the same there, but due to it being a base you have no fear of civilians getting hurt."

"Let me guess, I am going to be with you in the assault on Tall Tale." Rift says.

"Spot on." Marrow smiles.

They kept chatting out on how to execute the assault for a few more minutes till finally agreeing with a conclusion and exiting the tent. Marrow called for his second in command and bought him into the tent to discus the plan. Rift however, was gathering the personal guard for Marrow.

A few hours of preparations later, they were ready and set for war. Two armies for both places of attack. The Tall Tale army had the only WAM-A1 in the legion, but they have low amount of pegasi compared to the other. The WAM was the same as the other Legion attacking the SE, but was painted to match the night. It was time for the assault to begin, both armies marched off to their point of attack.

Location: Tall Tale, NLR

The bombardment had begun on Tall Tale. It was a very nice looking city, white buildings of stone and wood. Clean streets that were once full of ponies move about. After the bombardment, the city looked like a shell of its former glory, holes littered here and there in the streets and buildings, creating choke points everywhere.

Marrow and Rift were moving with the troopers down the main street with the WAM thundering along. The whole city was quiet, as Marrow expected. They reached a T-section of the streets with a tall building at the tip of the T. It was damaged, with rubble spread around the ground and doted with a few craters here and there. No bodies tho, it seamed they all had made it to safety before any losses could take place.

A single shot rang out.

A IPE trooper drops to the ground with a hole through his nose and stopping at the back of his helmet, eyes wide. The troopers dive for cover as more shots ring out and flashes come from the building. The troopers return to favor with the firing of their own rifles on their back. The WAM retaliates with all the turrets turning on the building and firing.

An officer looks over to the fallen trooper from the cover of rubble. "Clever bastards aren't they?" Marrow nods absently at his comment.

More troopers were arriving from the main road and other streets. Shots were now ringing out across the city as the IPE and NLR clashed. The WAM was firing away at the building in front of them, shots were pinging off of the WAM as it was struck by bullets from the NLR soldiers.

Marrow chuckles and shakes his head, "They might as well just run away, they can't hurt that damn thing."

Another trooper falls with a yelp. Marrow winces at the fall and it motivates him. He turns to the troopers near him. "We need to clear that building. Are you all willing to do so with me?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Alright." He looks back to the building through a crack in the rubble. He spots a hole in the left side of it, an almost perfect spot to enter. "See that hole right there? On the left? We must reach there to clear them out. Wait for my signal, when I give it, run as fast as you can to the hole. Got it?" He hears 'Yes sirs' being replied back to him. He watches for the right moment...any second now....

The WAM stopped firing to reload its guns and the NLR were still firing though, they were much slower than before.

"Now!"

Marrow and the troopers following him jumped to their hooves and over the rubble, charging toward the hole, using whatever cover they can gain to help get them there. Rift sees him and the others charge. Looking over to the troopers under her command she gives one order; "Suppressive fire." Immediately, her troopers fire upon the NLR within the building in rapid succession.

Marrow reaches the hole first then a few of the troopers. He spots Rift looking at him and nods his thanks. Rift nods back at him before barking orders to the troopers there. Finally, just about all of his troopers had arrived with him. They enter the hole to the building after a brief pony count.

The hole led to a hallway that was ended into the main room in the center of the building. There were the occasional doors to other rooms or parts of the place. Marrow had with him 9 troopers, four Close-Combaters and four Riflestallions (or Riflemares for Females in the team), the last one was a medic, noticeable by the white and red crossed marked right shoulder guard and the medical saddlebags. The medic was the only mare in his group.

They came across a large room that had seen better days. It had broken windows near the front, a double door that had been blocked by debris, a staircase in the middle-back of the room that splits off to the upper floors. The troopers enter with caution, weapons at the ready.

And that was good that they were ready....

A loud Thud resonated through the room of troopers. Marrow looks to the staircase, tracking the sound thanks to his bat-pony ears. Hes eyes go wide and ears flop down in fear and threat.

What stood there, was a Earth Bat-pony, a Bat-pony without wings but has remarkable strength and power. To make matters worse for Marrow and his troopers, it was a heavy variant of the NLR Soldier. Plated in armor from hoof to head, and usually armed with a great-sword. They are strictly used on these types of ponies, ones that could lift the armor with ease and master it. They were rare in a small battle but a grand scale battle however, they were an common sight.

The whole room had gone silent, other than the sound of combat outside. All eyes were on ether Marrow or the NLR heavy, unsure of how to react. Everyone but Marrow and the Heavy jumped when it spoke.

"Ready to die?" it asks in a muffled voice of its helmet

A few mil-seconds of processing before the Troopers opened fire upon the Heavy. The Heavy reacted by thundering forward to the nearest trooper, ignoring the bullets hitting him, when it reached him, it landed a blow right to the neck, cutting his head clean off. It stood watching the head roll before moving on.

"Target the eyes!" Marrow orders while reloading.

It turns to Marrow's voice with silted eyes. Marrow reacts by taking the combat stance and spreading his wing-blades. All time has seamed like it slowed as the tension built up. All gunfire had stopped when they started their staring contest. The troopers had started to move back from the duo to the walls. Now all that needed to happen was,

for somepony to move....

The Heavy moved first at sudden, with a war bellow it charged at Marrow, who swiftly dodged with a jump and flap of his wings. Landing him across from the heavy. While he dodged, he landed a blow on its back with his wing-blades, leaving a half-penetrated cut in the armor. Growling, it turns around to face him, with the great-sword scraping the ground by his side, once again beginning the waiting game. They began to circle each other, never losing eye contact. Marrow decided to move this time, leaping forward, narrowly dodging the blade sent up to counter him, he landed another blow on it on the left shoulder guard, shattering it and making it crumple to the ground in pieces. Turning around swiftly, he attempted another blow only to be blocked by the great-sword with a angry Bat-pony behind it. He used the block to bounce off and land across from it again to begin the circling.

It began to taunt him, "Brother, why do you fight for this false empire?" it said under its helmet.

"It is my home and country." he replies.

"Do you forget that it was LUNA that saved the Bat-pony race?"

"No, I do not," he watches him for any movement of attack while thinking out his. "but that does not mean we have no rights to choose who we follow."

"What? Luna saved the Bat-ponies long ago, we owe our allegiance to her."

"That was then, this is now." he replies.

It grunts before going silent. Marrow finds his attack plan and goes for it. Leaping forward like before, but dropping to dodge the slow blade and swinging out to the armored chest of the heavy. It emits a loud screeching as it cuts into the armor only halfway, making Marrow's ears flop down to his head. The heavy brings his great-sword down where Marrow was at only to hit the ground and getting it jammed into the stone floor. Cursing at himself and the stone floor, he attempted to free it, giving Marrow an open chance.

He takes it.

Charging forward with the wing-blades forward in front, he aimed for his chest, right where the half-penetration cut was. It tried to block him with its fore hooves. The first attempt was blocked by the armor on his legs, but the second went right through it, cutting it clean off. It screamed in pain as his life essence flowed from the broken limb and pooling on the floor. Marrow felt a bit of sympathy for it at the back of his mind but he pushed it away and came in for the final blow. He came closer....closer..till....

It went through the cut in his chest. It let out a soundless scream, eyes wide as it stared into Marrow's. marrow could feel the blood seeping from the cheat wound onto his open wing. He decided to do something for the poor Heavy.

"What is your name? I would like to know it so I can remember what a great opponent you were." he says.

It started speaking, blood now coming through its lungs. "M-My...name is..M-Midnight S-S-Shadow...."

Shadow started to cough hard, blood flowing from his mouth as the life left him to join the others. Marrow withdrew his wing-blades and looked at Shadow. "May you rest in peace forevermore, Brother." he says. He heard hoof steps from behind and he turns to see the troopers headed his way. The gunfire has stopped outside, he noticed.

"Trooper, report." he orders to the one now entering.

The trooper salutes before speaking. "All hostile activity has been almost crushed. We have virtually won the city."

"I was here the whole time?" Marrow says quietly. "You are dismissed trooper." The trooper nods before walking off.

"What in the hells did I miss?" Marrow heard Rift comment from the corpse of Shadow.

"Well, you missed a big fight."

"I can see that." Rift says. She looks back down at Shadow. "What was his name?"

"It was Midnight Shadow, a Bat-pony earth. A NLR Heavy."

"Dang, hope I don't got to fight one of them." she comments about the armor.

"Lets hope not, I'll have to save you again." he says with a smile.

Rift Rolls her eyes and smiles back.

The city's remaining NLR soldiers were ether killed or captured by the Troopers. The death toll was quite high, 1,752 deaths on the IPE side and just about the whole garrison on the NLR. Reports came back from Smokey Mt., the attack was a success, with few deaths and many captures. Marrow gave orders to regroup at Tall Tale to prepare for the next move into the NLR.

Marrow was in the bed preparing to sleep after the battle when he remembered Shadow....

"Never shall I forget you Brother..." he said as drifted off to sleep.