Inside safe walls

Chapters

Chapter 1: Cultural Exchange
Chapter 2: Changes
Chapter 3: Tender moments & high emotions
Chapter 4: A loving embrace (SKIPABLE CLOP INSIDE!)
Chapter 5: Myrmidons, to arms!
Chapter 6: At last autumn comes

Chapter 1: Cultural Exchange

I first want to start with that, except for the main ponies in the MLP series (Twilight, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash and the common names of the other known characters.) I have just given the ponies I come up with myself, like the two Scouts in the beginning, normal names like Eric, Adam and names like that, why? because i am too non-creative, plus having elaborate pony names for ponies that will only be mentioned one or two times in this fic ( which is kinda long) is in my opinion just unnecessary.

Also, to make the story more believable, I've put Canterlot on the top on some hills instead of up on a cliff in the mountains, and I've tried to match the ponies personalities as best as I could but I think it'll be more of a mix of my own version of them and their real personalities but I hope this wont kill your boner too much.
And since English isn't my first language there WILL be some grammatical errors in it and please dont get too upset if there's some typos too.
Later in the story it will become clop/ship (most-likely clop) and words like "cock" and "pussy" will appear, often in the same sentence and very close to eachother.
Last but not least, just so that you don't pronounce his name wrong in your head, Milon (at least THIS Milon) is pronounced My-lon, and NOT Millon or Me-lon.

Thank you.

Please enjoy~

_________

Inside safe walls

Prologue: The Discovery

Eric looked around, it was hot outside and he was sweaty and annoyed. The Captain of the Royal Guard had gotten orders to send scouts out to explore the regions around Equestria, why they didn't know but there were many possibilites to why, and as always he and Daniel were the lucky ones.

"What is the point of this? I just don't seem to get it!" He heard Daniel's voice beside him, he swallowed the mouthful of water he had just been drinking from the water flask he has at his hip, along with his saddlebag.

"I don't know, beats me. I mean, ponies have already explored the regions around Equestria many times. At least I think so." Daniel chuckled and sat down on a log that laid across the grass next to them. It hadn't been cut and it was mossy, so it had been laying there for a while, maybe it had fallen in the big storm that crossed Equestria the month before?

"At least we don't have to wear all that fancy armour that the soldiers have, I think I would have boiled to death in one of those in this weather." Daniel said as took off the leather cowl he was wearing, letting his short brown mane flow out in the breeze. "Sweet Celestia, finally some wind."

Eric nodded. "Yeah, the heat is unbearable. Still, it's better than if it were in the middle of winter, and we were freezing our behinds off." He huffed as he too took off his leather cowl, letting out his bright blond mane aswell."I wonder what Celestia want us to find out here, if there is anything to find."

Daniel opened his saddlebag and took out an apple, taking a bite out of it as he answered Eric's question. "Maybe she's just looking to expand the borders? Or maybe she's looking for a good location to build a new town or city? Or maybe even a fort, if our armies ever needed to be reinforced somewhere? After all, Appleoosa was founded for one reason, which was to supply the major cities in the area with food from all the apples. Maybe she is planning something similar this time?"

Eric nodded, that sounded logical, but he still couldn't shake the feeling of something being amiss. "Still we HAVE explored here before, and if we have, there should be maps. Which in turn can tell her everything about the area, its location and how far it is from Canterlot, or whatever town she has in mind."

This statement earned a smile from Daniel. "I think you're looking too much into this, I think she just wants to do a check-up so to speak. Just to see if anything has changed." Once again Eric thought that this was logical, if she had a reason for being interested in these parts it's best to send out people to look at the current state of a location, rather than descriptions and maps that were made years ago.

"We better get moving." Daniel said, and stood up, strapping his saddlebag back into place.

"There's still some land to the east we have to explore." Eric sighed, he was so tired of having to run around doing other ponies errands. He gave up the whining approach he was about to take about their situation, the quicker they got done the faster they could get home and be with their friends, get some rest and cool down.

They had been walking for a few days now, Eric liked sleeping in the open, it made him feel more free than he was, taking orders and having to run around like a crazed colt, he thought back to all the memories he had of him and Daniel exploring. All the times they had been in danger, running away in a comical manner from creatures, screaming their heads off. He smiled, there had been many wonderful nights under the starts, sitting by the campfire, just enjoying themselves.

Daniel had stopped, which took Eric from his thoughts, he turned around and looked at his friend who was standing completely still.

"Daniel, what is it?"

"Shh... be quiet!" He answered in a whisper " I heard something."

They slowly started to move forward through the woods, heading towards the sound Daniel heard.

As they did this they took out small helmet looking straps with a blade shaped horn on it, which would be placed on the forehead and used for impaling enemies, just as the unicorns in the army does during battles.
These helmets were a standard in the equestrian army and every type of pony enlisted had one.
Though the Pegasi also used these helmets they normally fly up and land on their enemies, pummeling and trampling them, attempting to break bones and armour to render their enemies unable to counter-attack before they use the blades on their helmets to finish them off.

The undergrowth was thick here, and through them, they could hear sounds that were familiar. Sounds of hammers on steel and nails being hammered into wood. They stepped forward and carefully looked through the leaves, gasping as they saw what was making the noises.

The creatures they were looking at were as nothing they had seen before. They had no coat from what they could see, and they were walking on their hind legs instead of all four legs. A group of them, about five, were pulling a rope to bring up a palisade wall, which was also held together by tied ropes. but they didn't pull with magic or with their mouths as ponies would. They had some sort of outgrowth were their hooves would have been on their front legs, the only thing that Eric and Daniel could compare it to was brances on a tree that branched out from the main log, but of course much smaller.

Eric looked to Daniel and whispered.
"Sweet Celestia... We have definately found something that wasn't here before..."

Chapter 1: Cultural Exchange

"TWILIIIIGHT!" Spike came running into the library where Twilight was living, the volume of his voice causing the whole tree to shake, a few books falling from their place in the bookshelves.

Twilight sighed, never a quiet moment to enjoy her books, it seemed that she spent more time rearranging and putting them back in place than actually reading them." Yes Spike, what is it?" the little dragon stopped in front of her and panted.

"I have..haah... haah... A message from.. haah... Princess Celestia." His body heaved as he caught his breath, he must have ran very far until he got home. Suddenly his cheeks grew and he let out a big burp, followed by green flames and a rolled up parchment that slowly floated down to the floor.

" I get letters from the Princess all the time Spike, why are you so excited about this one, anything special? Any new books i have to read, or maybe a test?" She asked, with a smile on her lips. Spike's excitement level had always been at maximum and he got thrilled over every single thing that happened, unless it was something boring, which also was everything that did not include Rarity and jewels.

"Oh I promise you, you will be excited too, Twilight! This IS a special letter." He cleared his throat and started to read from the letter:

"Ahem. My dear and faithful student Twilight, there has been a huge discovery in the lands east of Equestria! without knowing it, we have been neighbours with a different kind of people. They call themselves "Humans" after the name of their land, Holems. Personally I can't really see the connection, but I guess that many of our questions can be answered by studying their history. Apparently they are very different from us, they walk on two legs and have neither wings or horns, instead of hooves they have something called "hands", instead of using their mouths or magic to interact with object they use their hands to pick them up. I've also been told that they have no connection to magic at all, or at least there are very few that possess magic powers. All of this must sound very exciting to you and i understand that you might want to know more, therefore you and your friends are to invited my castle this evening. A representative from the country of Holems will arrive with an escort, and learning about other cultures and cultural knowledge is important. I expect you and your fiend as soon as possible. Best wishes, from your teacher, Princess Celestia."

Spike looked up at Twilight as he rolled up the parchment. "How cool is that? New people, that aren't ponies! This is going to be so awesome!" He rubbed his cheek and his expression changed from excited to slightly concerned. "Unless they happen to be aggressive and dangerous."

"Ohh this is so exciting!" Twilight jumped up and down and had a wide smile on her face. "New people! This is going to be wonderful! I will have new things to study! Human history, cultural and social norms, how exciting!" She noticed Spike's concerned look and stopped jumping around to assure him that everything would be allright. "I'm sure that they are neither aggressive nor dangerous Spike, they did agree to send a representative after all. If they had any intentions of being aggressive, Equestria would be preparing its defences and frankly the only thing out of the ordinary today actually, is this discovery."

Spike nodded and put away the parchment into one of the shelves. "We have to find the others don't we?" He asked and jumped up on Twilight's back. "I know where Pinkie Pie and Applejack are at least, Applejack is at Sweet Apple Acres and I think Pinkie is in Mr. and Mrs. Cake's Café, sugarcube corner."

Twilight walked out the door into the sunny day and smiled. "That's the best place to start then."

...

Little fillies and colts were out playing in the nice weather, the sight of them all playing and laughing filled Twilight with a warm feeling of happiness, Ponyville was such a nice town, and she were happy that she moved there after she met all her friends. First they headed towards the café since that was closest to Twilight's home, Spike looked around and waved at the young ponies playing.

They arrived at the café and went towards the door, but before Twilight could open it, it burst wide open and Pinkie Pie stood in front of them.

"Hi Twilight!"

The commotion startled both Twilight and Spike and caused Spike to fall off her back. "Waah!" He landed with a thud and groaned "Urrrgh..."

Pinkie pie giggled at this and apologized "Oh I'm sorry, Spike."

"It's all right, Pinkie " He answered and stood up while dusting himself off.

"Have you come for a cupcake? Or maybe a muffin? We have both actually, and some apple soda! How does that sound?" Pinkie asked all this very fast, making Spike give Twilight a confused look.

"No thank you Pinkie, I'm actually here to tell you that Princess Celestia wants us all to gather in Canterlot Castle and speak with her. Could you help me find Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and make them come to the Library?"

Pinkie pie smiled and made a salute with her hoof. "Aye aye captain!" And she to trotted away, humming a happy tune. Twilight shook her head slightly and turned around."Come on Spike, let's head to Sweet Apples Acres"

Spike jogged after her and jumped up on her back again. "I don't think I'll ever get completely used to how Pinkie are, always energetic and... Well, weird."

...

Sweet Apples Acres were as busy as always, Big Mac kicking trees to make them drop apples, Apple Bloom trying to help him out and Granny Smith is sitting in her rocking-chair on the porch.

"Hello Apple bloom, hello Granny Smith!"

"Hiya, Twilight!" Apple Bloom waved at them.

"How's everything going?" Twilight asked and looked at Grandma Smith. The rocking-chair creaked and Granny Smith shaked slightly.

"Mah old hip has been fightin' with me all day, so I sat down for a while, Twahlaht dear." Twilight smiled slightly. Poor Granny Smith, she is very old, her hip must be causing her a lot of grief.

"Is Applejack around here?"

"Yeah" Apple bloom walked over to them, her red bow bouncing as she went. "She is in the cider cellar."

"Oh..." Twilight shifted where she stood, clearly uncomfortable. "Can you get her?"

"Sure thing, just hold on a minute." The little filly ran away toward the barn, toward the open door in the ground.

"Are you still afraid of that place?" Spike asked her. The mere sight of the cellar reminded her of the day she had fallen into it, the day Pinkie Pie had all her twitching, it had opened right in front of her and she hurt herself really bad when she fell down the stairs. It wasn't really that bad, but she didn't like rooms that were opened by hatches in the ground and floor after that.

"Well, yeah I... I get a bit uneasy when I think about it." She answered and cleared her throat. Spike thought it was best not to push the subject, so he nodded and walked around, waiting for Apple Bloom and Applejack's return.

"Hiya, sugarcubes!" The happy and warm voice that Applejack had always made Twilight feel happy. "Why if it isn't Spike and Twilight, what brings you two all the way here? Ran out of cider?" Spike's face lit up, he absolutely loved the Sweet Apple Acres cider.

"Maybe some other day, today we come with an invitation from Princess Celestia! We are to be at Canterlot Castle tonight! Pinkie Pie is gathering Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Rarity right now! If you have anything to pack, then I guess now should be the time."

"Well, I guess we will come back home in a day or so, right? I don't need to bring anything but my hat if that's the case." she smiled and looked up at her hat. "So what are we going to Canterlot for anyways?" Spike jumped back up onto Twilight's back and began to explain to Applejack, with excitement in his voice.

"Explorers have discovered a country next to Equestria! Filled with people called 'Humans', and Celestia want us to meet with one of their representatives!"

Applejack had a mixed expression of excitement and shock on her face. "Another sort of people? sound mighty interesting. Maybe if Equestria and them start some trading, me and the family might earn some extra money selling apples and cider!" Her excitement successfully spread onto Twilight. "Hopefully both of our countries can prosper from this!"

Now, Twilight remembered that she had asked Pinkie to make the others meet them at the library, she gave out a small sigh, walking back and forth like this was really tiring.

...

The carriage Twilight and her friends were sitting in, heading towards Canterlot, was pulled by four strong stallions and shook on the bumpy road. This caused Spike to be slightly sick, making him sit with his head outside the carriage window to get some fresh air while the other ponies chatted away inside.

"Oh I'm sure that they will be MESMERIZED by the dress I will be wearing during the ceremony!" Rarity claimed with a confident tone.

"I just don't want them to be mean and scary..." Fluttershy sounded very nervous but when you looked at her you could see that she only were her normal, shy self.

"How are you, Spikey dear? " Rarity asked and rubbed her cheek against Spikes.

"I don't like when it bounces this much..." He burped and began to take heavy breaths of the outside air again. Luckily the carriage wasn't far from Canterlot now, his torture would end soon.

Applejack looked out the side of the carriage and gave a gasp at what she saw.

"What in tarnation!? Girls, throw a look at this!" All of the ponies, including Spike, looked out the carriage's windows, and they too gasped.

More tents than they had ever seen before at once, stood almost a mile or two away upon the slopes outside of Canterlot.

"Are those the Humans that are going to represent 'Holems', was it? " Rarity asked, her eyes as large as dinner plates.

Twilight, with just as much shock in her voice answered. "I think so, but... If I'm right, that must be enough tents for more than a few hundred individuals! Why do they send that many people here?"

"Maybe to have a big party!" Came from Pinkie Pie, who was smiling wide, this thought allone making her very excited, and very hungry for cake.

"Maybe..." they could hear Fluttershy's voice, "Maybe it is to intimidate us?"

That seemed to be the most logical explanation at the moment and the thought of all the people that could fit all those tents actually send a slight chill down Twilights spine.

In the distance they could see a large pole being raised, and at the top a flag was waving in the wind. It was red with a picture of a plumed black helmet, portrayed with a side view in the middle.

Almost immediately Twilight started to think about what it stood for or symbolized and compared it with Equestrias own flag, with Celestia and Luna circling the sun and the moon.

"If they try anything, I'll show them REAL Pegasus material!" Rainbow Dash had her competition face on, or as we modern humans would say, a 'Come At Me Bro' face.

"Calm down, Rainbow Dash! Being a Ruffian sure won't make you popular with them!" Rarity put her hoof on Rainbow Dash's chest, to make her sit down again.

"I'm just saying... If they try anything..." She murmured and looked out the carriage window again.

...

Celestia welcomed the seven friends with a warm smile and a greeting.

"Girls, Spike, this is a wonderful day! The Human Representative will arrive with a parade this evening and we will exchange cultural gifts, to show eachother mutual respect."

"The parade will be on the Canterlot Main Road, right? Will we have good seats, right?" As always, Pinkie was skipping around, getting her party cannon ready.

"You will actually be here in the Castle to meet the Humans personally." Celestia smiled at them as the tapping of hooves came into the throne room, a guards that held a roll of parchment in his mouth walked over to Celestia. He bowed, and put it on the floor in front of Her.

"A message from the human general 'Milon', Princess!" He said and turned around, walking back out from the room.

"Hmm, what could this be?" Celestia opened it up with her magic, looked at it and then handed it to Spike.

"Spike, if you would." Spike cleared his voice and began to read.

"I, Milon, General of the Royal Army of Holems and leader of the Myrmidon army, wants to wish you good health and prosperity. It is with a happy heart I write this letter, the ponies of Canterlot who has had the chance to meet us already has been most polite and honourable towards us and we wish to be the same towards you. I look forward to the audience with your Royal Highness this evening and I feel that we will all be happy with the outcome. For the banquet, me and my followers will bring with us food from Holems for you to taste and we will also bring with us some beverages for us all to drink. I will also happily tell you my family history, as this is tradition when getting the honour to meet royalty. My family is highly respected in Holems and I wish to earn the same respect in Equestria. May health and prosperity come to all of Equestria!"

Spike closed the parchment. "Well, he sure seemed to be a nice guy." He commented and looked around at the others.

"Food and drinks!" Pinkie shouted out, her eyes gleaming. "CAKE!"

"We don't know if they will actually bring a cake, Pinkie." Applejack put her hat back on her head after taking it off the fix her mane. "They might not even know what cake is."

Pinkie pouted at this. "That would be a bummer, but I know!" Her face lit up again and says "WE can bring a cake!"

This made Celestia giggle. "Oh of course dear, I'll make sure that the Castle's cooks add a cake to the banquet."

"He definitely sounds like he has some status." Rainbow Dash grinned "General of the ROYAL army AND leader of the MYRMIDON Forces!"

"What does 'Myrmidon' mean?" Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash, interested in how much she knew.

Rainbow Dash blushed "I... Don't really know, but it sounded cool..."

"Now then, girls, I have some very important errands to run and a lot of things to prepare before the humans arrive in a few hours. The tower room is at your disposal and you are as always free to do whatever you feel like."

"Don't forget the cake!" Pinkie pie smiled at her.

"I won't, Pinkie. Goodbye~" They all said goodbye to the Princess and headed up to towards the tower.

On the way, they met Princess Luna and they chatted with her for a while about the coming event and she said that she was exalted about all of it.

They finally got up to the tower and started to do their own things, Fluttershy was talking with Applejack and Twilight, Rarity was trying out different dresses to wear at the evening whilst chatting happily with Spike, and Rainbow Dash was just resting in the bed, reading a book about 'Daring Do' and her adventures.

A knock was heard on the door and Princess Cadence and Shining Armour walked in. Everyone was so excited about this day and what it could bring.

...

From the Tower you could see all of Canterlot and the hills and plains around it.

In the Human Camp you could see people walking and running around, some armour clad and some seeming to wear regular leather clothes. Everyone was preparing for the coming parade, all over Canterlot people were getting ready, standing by the side of the road, behind the royal guards. The Equestrian flag and banners was being hung up wherever they could be, waving proud in the wind.

Suddenly a fanfare signalled that the parade was about to start. This caused the streets to fill with ponies and Twilight and her friends went down to the Main Castle Hall. The gates to Canterlot Castle was wide open so that you could see the main road which led from the town gates all the way to the castle. They all waited patiently and exited, the sound of ponies talking and laughing filled Canterlot, more so that it ever done before. Suddenly they could hear the sound of marching and the louder it got the more they could feel the ground under their hooves shake.

There! The first row of armour clad soldiers came through the city gates and was met with roaring cheers and waving flags. The soldiers wore leather clothing with armour upon it and their shields were of rectangular shape and their helmets had plumes in them. The person first in the whole parade, which was the general Milon, had the biggest plume of them all, and he was holding a banner with the red and black flag in his right hand.

If the reader is wondering, the closest comparison to how they looked would be the ancient roman soldiers in our world, go on, google is your friend.

They all had smiles on their faces at their welcome, and at the orders of the General in the front they performed some sort of show, using their shields to form different formations.

"TURTLE FORMATION!" The general shouted and the soldiers at the edges of the each group lifted their shields close to their sides and the ones in the middle lifted their shields above their heads, making themselves look like a big armoured worm. Between the groups of soldiers there were humans juggling with burning torches, making the small fillies and colts in the crowd gasp in excitement, and right after them were musicians, playing on drums and bagpipes.

Slowly but surely the long trail of humans came closer and closer towards the Castle. Twilight shook a bit, nervous as she was, so was Fluttershy, but Rarity was patting her on the back in a comforting manner.

Rarity was wearing a white and purple dress, with many frills on it and truth be told, she looked astounding. Princess Cadance smiled at Twilight as she stood next to her.

"Everything will be alright." Twilight nodded, feeling more at ease now, but still nervous.

Shining Armour, fully dressed in his own gear took his place at the side of Celestia's Throne. The parade had now reached the foot of the stairs leading up to the Castle. The humans stopped and only the General holding the banner and two soldiers holding two boxes walked up the stairs. They walked up the stairs and into the main hall, they stopped in front of Princess Celestia and Luna, their backs straight and their heads held up proud.

"I, Milon, general and representative of the royal empire of Holems, salute you, ruler of Equestria!" Milon and his two companions knelt and he took off his helmet, revealing his face. He was a young man, not older much than twenty-five years.

His face had a few scars but it did not look like it was shaped by battles, instead it looked like it had been shaped by smiles.

He stood up again, his helmet under his left arm and the banner still held in his right hand. Now Celestia and Luna bowed at him.

"I, Celestia, and my sister Princess Luna, rulers of Equestria Salute you, Milon and wish you welcome to our home."

Shining armor stepped forward, speaking as he walked towards Milon."And I am Shining Armour, the captain of Celestias personal guard, I too welcome you." He stopped in front of Milon and gave a short bow with his head.

Milon smiled widely. "Holems and the Myrmidon forces comes in peace, and we come as brothers!" He let the banner lean against his side and held out his right hand, Shining Armour held out his hoof and they shook them.

"Holems wish to give you a few gifts!" Milon motioned his guards to step forward and place the boxes they held on the castle floor, after doing so they opened them up, revealing the objects inside.

One as a sword, sharp, shining and its handle was decorated with gold and jewels, the other was a silver tiara decorated with rubies.

"The sword, i smithed myself, and it's made of the hardest steel, lined with gold and decorated with the most valuable jewels!" Milon started to describe the gifts, and as he said 'valuable' Rarity let out a low squeal.

He pointed at the tiara and continued. "This is a silver tiara decorated with rubies. It symbolizes health and prosperity!" As he spoke his last sentence he bowed his head and smiled.

"Milon, your gifts are both generous and beautiful. we thank you greatly. I suspect that your soldiers are tired, hungry and thirsty from travelling here and as a gift of my own, I will make sure to give you supplements to feed all of you." Celestia said to him, her voice itself showing how grateful she was of the gifts.

"Thank you princess, my men will appreciate it greatly!"

"And I," Applejack suddenly said and stepped forward "I will make sure that you will get some of Sweet Apple Acres finest cider" Milon looked at her and smiled.

"That sounds very good, thank you for your kindness, miss...?"

"My name is Applejack, sugarcube." She blushed slightly at her own words.

"Thank you Applejack. Who are your companions here, princess?"

Celestia walked down to Twilight and the others. "This is my student, Twilight Sparkle, and these are her friends, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and her assistant Spike." They all bowed when their names were said, except for pinkie pie, who said "HI!" and waved her hoof, making Milon chuckle.

"Now, I want my men to salute you too Princess, if we may?" Celestia nodded and all of them headed out the castle gate and to the top of the staircase.

The human soldiers still stood there, looking up towards them.

"Men!" Milon shouted with a loud, strong voice. "Hail Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! The rulers of Equestria!" and with one synchronized voice that seemed to make everything vibrate, they answered.

"AOOH! AOOH! AOOH!" This made all the ponies outside cheer again, their roar almost over-voicing Milon.

"You may go back to camp or stay in Canterlot for tonight, but if you get in trouble the guards will deal with you in the manner everyone else is dealt with and you will take the punishment! If you do not, i will punish you myself!"

"YES SIR!" The soldiers answered and started to scatter, some heading back outside towards their camp and some headed into town, many of the ponies had already started to speak with some of them. Milon turned back around.

"If you give me a while the food we brought with us will soon arrive."

Chapter 2: Changes

The banquet table in the Canterlot castle dining hall was filled with laughter and smiles.

Milon had brought with him a food type that for us humans are very familiar, pasta. but since the ponies are vegetarians they have never heard of such a thing.

As they happily ate the pasta, which had spices and some vegetables added to it, Milon explained how to make it and cook it.

"Well its a very simple kind of food to make. You see, first you put a pile of flour on your table, either a big or small pile, depending on how much you want to make, then you form the top of it so that it is like a small hole, you then you crack an egg and put it in the hole, maybe two eggs depending on how big your pile of flour is, and then you use a fork to mix it until until it becomes a dough, add some salt to it and knead it until it becomes dry. There you have the main pasta, but after that you can make it into these long pasta strings you are eating right now, or small curls, or any shape that you like."

Celestia and the ponies nodded and Rainbow dash asked. "But how do you cook it?"

"Ah, that's the fine part, first you let it dry for a few hours, or over night. Then you cook it for five minutes or so in boiling water, add whatever you want to it and you're done. And since there are so few ingredients and lots of it can be made at the same time and can be stored for almost any range of time, we use it in our army food storage when our armies are out in the field, which is perfect since the cook time is so quick" Milon took his glass of water and drank out of it, when he put it back down on the table he noticed that the pony named Applejack was looking at him with an intense stare."Is there something you want to say, miss Applejack?"

Applejack blinked and started to stutter a bit. "O-oh... W-well I... Uh... I was just thinking a bit, you see, you told us before that you had a story to tell about your family. And I would mighty happy to hear it now." Milon put his fork down, his plate clean and his hunger sated, he figured that it was about time to tell them a bit about his family.

"Ah, well I won't make you wait anymore milady." This comment made all the ponies smile or in Rainbow dash's case, smirk, and Applejack blushed slightly.

Milon cleared his throat and ran his hand through his short black hair.

"Five generations ago, Frederick the First, my ancestor, was outside his house taking a walk in the middle of the night, something depriving him of his sleep. As he walked around he was blinded by a bright light, the goddess of war, Calorossa had appeared before him with a message. I will grant your family courage and strength, your family will lead powerful armies which will defeat others which outnumber them by the thousands. I will grant you a tool that will grant you this strength and courage. But you have to swear an oath that you and those who are to become after you shall swear allegiance to my worship. He thought for a few moments and answered the goddess. I agree to take the oath. I, Frederick Damel swear an allegiance to you, Callorossa, that I and those who come after me in my bloodline is to worship you as our master goddess! A loud bang and even more bright light caused him to fall to the ground. For a few moments he was blind and it felt like his blood boiled in his veins, but slowly he regained sight and the pain disappeared. Once he could see again he noticed a blade stuck into the ground next to him. He stood up and drew the blade from the ground, it sang as he swung it through the air. It was a simple blade, no jewel decorations and so silver or gold linings. He had seen many swords and blades in his life but none could overcome this blade in beauty, and he was soon to discover that nothing could beat it in strength aswell. Frederick vowed to create a blade just as beautiful as this, but he never succeeded, and neither did his son or his grandsons or anyone of their sons, but we became master smiths over time. Myself and some smiths that I've trained have forged all the blades and armour that my Myrmidon forces are equipped with."

The story had captivated all the ponies and they listened, focused and interested. Twilight who, as always, was a pony interested in facts opened her mouth. "The blade sang? How do you mean sang? It wasn't alive was it? I mean, you said your goddess gave it to him but, a living and singing sword?"

Milon stood up and put his hand on his sword handle, looking at Celestia. "If I may, princess?" Celestia smiled and nodded.

"Go ahead, general." Milon backed a few steps away and slid his word out of its sheath, he lifted it and slowly swung it through the air and the group of friends could clearly hear a tone emanate from it, and this caused them all to gasp.

"Oh wow. That's amazing. Holy guacamole. That's something else. Oh my. That's a neat party trick! whoa nelly!" Could be heard from the ponies and Milon bowed with a smile on his face and slid his sword back were it belonged. "And that happens because the blade is so thin and sharp."

Twilight looked at the sword again. " Is that the same blade from the story?"

Milon nodded. " Yes it is, it has survived for five generations, due to love and care, it is also the proof of our bloodlines strenght. Five generation of forging our blood as well as we have forged our steel." Suddenly his stomach grumbled and he looked confused. "Huh... I thought I was full a little while ago." He chuckled. "I guess it was because of the harsh winter, freezing cold and darkness makes you very hungry when there is enough food to get around."

Celestia smiled again, she knew there was another story behind his statement. "We would love to hear that story aswell, I very much enjoy stories." She was fascinated by the way he made herself and the other ponies get so captivated by his storytelling. Even some of the pegasi guards in the room seemed to listen to every word he said while telling his story, maybe his talent in making people listen is what made him a general, and his tactical skills too of course.

Milon sat down and raised his plate. "Can I please have some- oh thank you!" He didn't even finish his sentence before one of the waiters took his plate and nodded, heading back out to the kitchen.

"Well Celestia, that story is not a happy one and I don't quite remember everything, due to what actually happened." He sighed and his voice got a tone of sadness.

"All I remember, is that me and my army was out in the frontlines, it was colder than it had ever been before and our food started to run out. I laid in my tent with a burning fever and was quite malnourished as I had given every bit of food I had to my soldiers. I lost many friends and fellow soldiers that winter, and I am lucky to be alive. My best guess is that Calorossa still has a plan with my life." Without noticing it himself, his eyes had filled with tears.

Celestia sat up, ready to console him in some way but Fluttershy had beaten her to it. "I'm... I'm so sorry we made you talk about it, are you allright? We did not mean to bring up bad memories, I promise."

He swallowed and sat up straight clearly trying to hold back his sadness. "I am allright miss Fluttershy. They're just some bad memories, that's all." He cleared his throat and smiled again, his face back to its normal, happy state.

The waiter came back out from the kitchen with a plate of salad and vegetables. He placed it in front of Milon, who smiled and said. "Thank you, my friend." The waiter pony smiled back at him and kept smiling as he walked back out to the kitchen.

"Please send my compliments to the chef!" Milon said to him before he went through the door, which earned another nod and smile.

"These potatoes are lovely." he started to eat again, and everyone were happy again, except one.

Applejack didn't know why but, she felt... Different somehow after what she's seen and heard. Milon was very interesting indeed. Suddenly the others stood up and she was taken back from her thoughts.

"Well it was lovely to have you here Milon, and I hope you will have a pleasant stay. you are welcome here as long as you like." Celestia giggled. "As long as you behave that is."

Milon laughed as he held out his hand to shake Celestia's hoof and give her a bow. "I promise I'll behave princess." They all stopped in front of the castle gate.

"I guess this is my exit." Milon put on his helmet and bowed. "Good evening ladies." He looked at Applejack for a moment, and she looked back at him, he then took her hoof and gave it a light kiss and said. "Milady." Before turning around, walking down the castle stairs.

When he got halfway down he picked up a small horn he had at his hip and blew in it, making the loud, vibrant tone echo through Canterlot.

"Myrmidons! Back to camp!" This made the town suddenly rustle with life, it must have been at least two hundred soldiers coming out from inns, taverns and even from the houses of some ponies, who were waving them goodbye.

"Come back soon!" And "see you tomorrow!" Could be heard from the ponies waving the humans goodbye. They have had wonderful chats and drinks together and, this I do not know for sure, but perhaps some lonely mares and stallions had gotten the company of a strong, handsome and friendly human soldier?

"He was really friendly!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, still waving even though the humans had disappeared through the Canterlot gate long ago.

"They all seemed very friendly." Twilight filled in.

"And he had so many interesting things to say." Celestia turned around and started to walk back into the main hall. "He is a friendly and respectable man indeed, and he has earned my trust so far."

Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack and smirked."And he certainly seemed to show Applejack some respect eh?" This made the girls giggle and Applejack blushed slightly.

"Oh shush you, I'm sure he just wanted to... Uhm..."

"Make a flashy exit?" Pinkie Pie filled in with a bright smile and twinkling eyes.

"Yeah! A flashy exit!" She didn't sound very convincing, but her friends understood. It would have been a little embarrassing if he'd done it to one of them so they decided to not comment on it further. But as they headed back up into the castle tower, Applejack couldn't stop thinking about it, and her thoughts seemed to go back to the soft lips that had kissed her hoof.

As she lied down in one of the sofas, putting her hat at the edge of it, she fell asleep with Milon's warm smile in her thoughts.

_________

Milon woke up and stretched himself, he looked around in his tent, it was plain, a bit large, since he was a general but nothing special. He got out of his bed and walked over to the mirror, it had a bowl of water under it. He cupped his hands in it and splashed his face, and then began to clean himself. He was tired but he had much to do and to organize today, broken weapons had to be repaired, which he would do personally along with his pupils, some of the best blacksmiths he had ever trained.

His thoughts trailed back to the day before. Princess Celestia and the others had been so nice and respectable, and Applejack who had so generously given them a few barrels of apple cider, which would arrive today in fact. He had almost forgot to thank her properly, so before he left, he kissed her hoof, since she didn't have any hands. She had smelled of earth and flowers, which wasn't surprising since she worked at an apple farm. But the smell felt very feminine to him, and he had enjoyed the moment a little bit more thanks to it.

A few moments and thoughts later he walked out of his tent. Since there were no parades or things of that sort today and since it was very hot outside he only wore his undergarments and the skirt looking trousers, which were standard clothing amongst his soldiers.

Have you ever seen a grass skirt worn by natives on different islands? Or maybe the ones that you can see in Hawaii? This skirt didn't look much different aside from being a lot shorter, since it only needed to cover his undergarment and it was made of leather, rather than palm leaves.

He stretched himself again, his muscles flexing a bit as he did. The many years of morning exercises and training in general had made him fit for killing, so to speak. He walked around camp, getting a few "Sir!" followed by salutes from his soldiers, which returned.

"Milon!"

Milon recognized this voice. He turned around and hugged its owner, its old, strong very beardy owner. "Augustus, you scoundrel! Haha!" They were the closest of friends, Augustus were a lot older than him but they had gotten very close through the years. They had saved each others lives more times they they could count.

"So what are the plans for today? There doesn't seem to be much to do around here except training, which we all enjoy, but as you know, variety is a good thing." Augustus said, looking around at the tents.

"I actually thought that we all could take today off? The men, AND ladies, calm down." He nodded to one of the female soldiers who were smirking at him as he spoke.

Pray to the gods I never forget the females! He thought to himself. Their temperament makes them more dangerous than any soldier I've ever seen before on the battlefield. He turned back to Augustus.

"The soldiers will attend the morning training, but after that they'll be free to take the rest of the day off, head into Canterlot, or just stay here." Augustus chuckled at him.

"Always the do-gooder, aren't you boy?" He rubbed Milon's shoulder. "You're a good man Milon, never forget that."

Milon smiled again and gave Augustus a strong pat on the back. "And you're the best friend one could ask for!"

Augustus smirked. "I'll go tell the men. AND the ladies, Calorossa help me." He filled in as he too earned a smirk from the female sitting outside her tent, at the moment she were sharpening her sword, which made the men think twice about what they said. The females in the Myrmidon army were not walking topless as the men did today despite of the heat, since their breasts are on their chests and very noticeable when undressed.

"I am going into Canterlot, I want to see the sights around town, and have a drink somewhere." Milon took his belt with the sword in it and swung it around his waist, tying it in place. He gave a satisfied nod and started to walk from the camp, heading towards the Canterlot gates.

"I will await your arrival general!" Augustus shouted after him.

As he walked through the gate the Canterlot guards greeted him with equestrian salutes and a "Greetings general!" Him being in Canterlot on his own earned a few exited looks and greetings from the ponies he walked by, and maybe him being topless added a bit to the exited looks, but, we'll never know.

Milon almost tripped over a little colt and had to regain his balance to avoid smashing his face in the cobblestone street. The colts mother were there almost immediately to scold the little unicorn.

"Alexander! What have I told you about watching where you're going!? Now apologize to the general." The little colt lowered his head, clearly feeling ashamed.

"I'm sorry mister, I didn't mean to get in your way..." Milon smiled and knelt down.

Milon smiled at him, he didn't think it was a big deal, the little unicorn was just a child. "It's allright little guy. I guess I'm so tall I couldn't see you down there, I am the one who needs to apologize."

"T-thank you mister, you're awfully nice!" The little unicorn gave a shy smile and lifted his head.

Milon patted him on the head and held his hand out, now holding a golden coin in it. "Here you go little guy, make sure to buy yourself something nice."

" Thank you so much mister! I promise that I will buy something nice! I really promise!" The unicorn colt jumped up and down and made the golden coin float in the air with a bright red glow emanating from his horn.

His mother smiled, admiration in her eyes."That's generous of you, thank you very much general!"

Milon stood up and shook her hoof. "You can call me Milon, miss. You have a good day now."

"Oh I will Milon, I wish you the same!" As Milon continued down the road he could hear the little unicorn, Alexander shout after him, "Thank you, mister Milon!"

When he went down the roads of Canterlot there were many stops, saying hello and chatting with ponies, pegasi and unicorns.

He finally found a pub where he sat down and ordered a cup of cider, which he almost had to fight the barkeep to pay for, since he wanted to give it for free. After a little while he suddenly noticed a pink, widely smiling pony sitting down next to him.

"Milon! I didn't expect to see you here!"

Milon chuckled and took a mouthful of the cider. "Neither did I Pinkie Pie, enjoying a drink?"

The pink pony giggled and took a bite out of the donut she had brought with her. "No silly, I'm eating a donut! They serve my favourites here!"

Milon drank again and turned to pinkie. "This cider is delicious, is it local produce?"

Pinkie nodded and swallowed the rest of her donut in one bite. "Mmmhhyup! From Sweet *gulp!* Apple Acres!"

Milons eyes widened a bit. "Miss Applejacks farm?"

Pinkie Pie nodded as fast as the speed of light. "Yup yup yup! Hey barkeep, another strawberry donut please!" She waved at the barkeep who nodded and came walking out with a pink glazed donut and put it in front of Pinkie Pie.

"Thank you!" She ate it all in one bite again at the same time as she gave the barkeep a few coins.

"I'll take another cup of cider please, and I will pay for this one too." Milon said to the old pony and gave him his empty cup and a few coins to pay for a refill.

After chatting away together at their table Pinkie Pie suddenly jumped out of her seat. "Oh my goodness! I forgot to tell you! Big Mac and Applejack will be arriving with the barrels of cider she promised you, anytime now!"

Milon finished the rest of the cider in his wooden cup and stood up. "Lets head back to camp then!"

"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie looked at Milon and noticed his bare upper body. "Have you been sitting without a shirt all this time?"

Milon smiled nervously, thinking she wouldn't approve of it. "Yes I have, it was so warm earlier that I didn't think it would be needed."

"That's allright, I just didn't notice, silly me." Pinkie giggled. They headed down the street again, heading towards the Canterlot gate. This7little trip was also full of stops, with Milon being greeted by ponies, unicorns and pegasi that flooded around him wherever he went. They also met some of the human soldiers going into Canterlot as they went out that saluted him before they continued their conversation.

_________

Applejack and Big Mac, who were pulling the wagon with all the barrels of cider on it, were getting close to the human camp.

"He really is a nice guy Big Mac, and he sure is a mighty fine storyteller." Applejack was telling her brother about Milon, she had already told him twice about Milon's storytelling, but she looked so happy talking about him that Big Mac chose not to comment on it.

"So what kind of storytellin' did he do?" He asked his sister, this maing her shine up even more. "Well, he told us about his family story, and about a singing sword."

Big Mac gave her a skeptical look. "A singin' sword? Sounds more like a little ponies tale to me." Applejack giggled, it was so typical of her brother to not believe anything that could be even remotely supernatural.

"Hehe, it wasn't actually singing. If I remember right, he said that it's because it was so thin and sharp that it vibrated and made a tune when you swung it through the air, like... Swosh!" She swung her hoof through the air as she made the sound effect.

"I'd love to see that when we arrive there." Big Mac sighed and dried his sweaty forehead. "Whenever we DO arrive that is..."

"Oh don't worry brother, its just behind this hill." And behind the hill it was, the large camp with tents stretching as far as they could see, or atleast as far as the hills stretched.

"Hello ponies!" They heard when they walked into the camp, the humans waving happily at them as they did their chores or were just sitting down and noticed the two ponies walking into camp.

"Hiya fellas!" Applejack greeted and waved back at them.

"Do any of you know where Milon is?" She asked, a male soldier next to them pulled a rope, pulling up another tent, and tied it to a pole in the ground before turning to her, wiping his face with the back of his hand.

"He should be in his tent, it's the big red one, uhhh..." He looked around and then pointed to the left of the two ponies. "It's that way. I hope you'll enjoy your stay here."

"I'm sure we will mister, thank you very much!" They turned to the left and followed the path leading down that way. After a little while they could see a large tent and a banner outside it, thinking that this must be the right one.

Big Mac stopped and started to unload the barrels from the wagon, putting them in a nice pile next to the tent. Applejack knocked on the pole of the banner, since there was no door, and she didn't want to be impolite and stick her head into someone else's tent either.

"Milon? We brought you the cider as we promised!" no answer.

"Uh, Milon? Sugarcube, are you here?" She heard someone clear their throat behind her and she spun around.

"Are you looking for Milon, miss?" It was an older man with a beard on his chin and a smile on his lips, who we already know as Augustus.

"He went into Canterlot for a drink earlier, but I can tell him that you delivered the cider, miss Apple- Hey there he is! And he seems to have brought a friend too!" Milon came walking up to the tent along with Pinkie Pie, both waving at them.

"Hey, I'm back. I hope you won't leave without saying hello! Haha!" He smiled at Applejack and Big Mac, who were smiling back. "So, who is your friend here, Applejack?"

Big Mac held his hoof out and shook Milons hand.

"This here is Big Mac, my brother!"

"I'm glad to meet you Big Mac,thank you so much for bringing the cider here. There must be some way that I can repay you?"

Big Mac chewed on his wheat stalk, giving a wide smile at finally meeting the man that his sister had repeatedly told so much about. "Mighty fine to meet you too Milon, I'm just delighted to be able to do you and my sister a favour. Besides, if you like it there is always more to purchase at Sweet Apple Acres"

Milon looked over at the five barrels that Big Mac had put outside his tent. "Hmm... well I did taste some of it at the pub that I went to in Canterlot, and I have to say it was the best drink I've ever had. If my men likes it as much as I do, these barrels won't be nearly enough for all of us." He stroked his chin in thought and turned around.

"How about ten times the amount that you brought, just to make sure it'll be enough for all my thirsty soldiers? I'll pay it in full right now and I'll even send some men to help you carry it all here, what do you say?"

Right now, neither Applejack nor Big Mac had anything to say. Applejack just stared at him, so did her brother, with his mouth agape, the wheat stalk threatening to fall from his lip.

"B-but, that's half of our stock! That will be an awful lot, you sure you won't be fine with less?" Applejack asked.

"No dear, I simply must have fifty! So, deal Big Mac?"

The big work pony stomped his hoof in the ground from the excitement. "Eeyup! And since you've been such a nice fella to my sister I will give you a special price, four hundred bits total!"

Milon took his hoof and shook it. "That sounds amazing!" He turned around and whistled at two men who were chopping wood a few metres away.

"Arkantos, Smith! I have a job for you!" They dropped their axes and came running over to him.

"Yes sir! What can we help with?"

"I have just purchased a lot of cider from Big Mac here and you are to follow him to Sweet Apple Acres and help him carry it back, you can bring one cart each." They saluted and ran away to get their carts and were back before you could even notice they were gone.

"Shall we go?" They were very eager to go, I guess they wanted to see more of Canterlot and the outlying villages.

"Hooee!" Applejack were ecstatic and she stood up on her hind legs and stomped at the ground.

"Granny Smith is going to be delighted you bought so much! I wont be surprised if she gives you and these two fellas some apple pie as thanks!"

Milon looked at her, his eyes full of curiosity. "Granny smith?" He asked.

"Yup, that's our granny, she wanted to go with us but she's old and her hip can't take her going on any trips." Applejack sighed, she thought about how much Granny smith wants to go out and walk around town, and how sad it is that she can't do it.

Milon walked into his tent and came out holding something in his hands. "Big Mac, wait a minute."

Big Mac turned around and looked at milon.

"If your granny has problems with her hips, then give her this." He held out a jar with a lid on it, he opened the lid to show him the light green ointment in it. "This is an herbal lotion against pain in your joints, it's used a lot amongst the people in my homeland and it works pretty well." He put it in Big Mac's wagon, then he held out a glass bottle filled with a clear liquid.

"Oh, thank you kindly! I've been thirsty for a while now."

Before Milon could say anything Big Mac had taken the bottle, undone the cork and took a mouthful.

He spat it out, shuddered and began to pant as his chest and body filled with heat. "ACK! BLUAAH! WHAT IS THAT!?"

Milon chuckled. "Haha! This my friend, is a very strong alcoholic drink that we call vodka"

"Phhhhhhh!" Big Mac exhaled loudly, the sudden heat and the strenght of the alcohol making him feel a bit dizzy.

"If you just wait a moment, the heat will disappear, that happens when you drink too much at once, though you should be careful walking home, you might get slightly drunk on the way, since you drank quite a bit! Now, tell Granny Smith that after she has put the lotion on the parts that hurt she should fill the bottom of a glass with the vodka and drink it. This is to get the blood flow going and speed up the lotions effect." With this he corked the glass bottle again and put it in Big Mac's wagon along with a bag of golden coins. "There you go! If the coins don't add up please do come see me. See you later friend!"

As Big Mac, Arkantos and Smith walked away with their carts, Pinkie pie, Milon and Applejack noticed Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike and Rainbow Dash coming up towards them. Of course, Rainbow Dash was flying and arrived before the others.

"Hey there." She said , whilst doing an aerial somersault and hovering mid air. "What's up?"

"You are silly, heehee" Pinkie Pie giggled.

Rainbow giggled herself and shook her head at Pinkie. "Always the joker aren't you? Haha!"

Twilight, Spike, Rarity and Fluttershy smiled at the display and walked up to Applejack and Milon, who were talking to each other.

"I'm sorry we are late, we were supposed to be here earlier, but SOMEONE ordered too many sprinkled donuts and got a belly ache." Twilight explained and gave Spike an annoyed look.

"What? They were really good! i figured it would be the good kind of pain, you know?" He jumped down from Twilights back and walked over to the barrels of cider. "Whoa! Thats a lot of cider!"

"And he bought fifty more!" Applejacks comment made Spikes mouth drop to the ground. "I am so happy I could kiss him!"

Milon smiled. "Then why don't you?"

Applejack giggled and blushed. "Ho there lover boy~ You know just what to say don't you?" She looked down, but felt a hand on her chin and looked up. Milon were smiling, but it was a different smile that she hadn't seen before, Applejack couldn't put her hoof on it, but it was something about him, was he blushing?

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you." He said and let his hand fall to his side.

"It's alright sugarcube, it was a funny joke, hehe."

"You two seem to get along very well." Twilight looked at them with that analysing gaze she always had. Applejack and Milon chuckled, they did get along very well.

_________

The group of friends had a wonderful day at the humans camp. They went to the lake and went for a swim. Since ponies didn't wear clothes, besides hats, scarf's and the like, the group of ponies was quite interested in the loincloth Milon wore to cover up his private parts.

After some awkward questions and some more awkward silence after he had explained that he actually had genitalia that weren't hidden until it's used, like ponies genitalia, they had all jumped in an had enjoyed themselves very much. After drying themselves off, they went back to the camp and lit themselves a campfire.

All the barrels of cider had arrived and the soldiers were sitting around their own campfires and in their tents, happily drinking cup after cup of cider while eating pasta along with whatever they had made along with it, fish, meat vegetables and so on.. Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity had fallen asleep and only Fluttershy, Milon and Applejack were still awake.

They had been staying up, talking about how to take care of bunnies the best way. It might have been the cider getting to him, but after half of the conversation Milon started to talk about the best way to grill them over an open fire, which made Fluttershy go mute and get slightly nauseous.

Milon realized that what he said about grilling bunnies made Fluttershy uncomfortable and he tried to lighten up the mood by changing subjects. "Uhm... So how does the cutie marks work?"

It worked, Fluttershy smiled and started to explain how ponies, pegasi and unicorns were born with blank flanks and that their cutie marks appeared only once they had found their special talent or something that they are good at.

"Well that is weird" Milon commented on the information he'd just gotten. Humans never got any cutie marks and they didn't really have any special skills either, they just were good, or bad at things and they tented to do what they were good at.

"So their jobs are based on their special talents? Like you being good at taking care of animals and having an animal care?" Milon had picked up a trail of thought that he didn't plan to drop.

"Yes, and I'm so happy my talent is taking care of animals, that's what I like doing the most!" Fluttershy gave her normal wide smile as she said it, confirming her own words.

"But what if someone has a special talent but don't enjoy doing what they are good at?"

Fluttershy tilted her head. "How can one not like their own talent?"

Milon rubbed his chin in thought. "But, let's say a pony is very good at digging graves for some reason and their special talent ends up being gravedigging and what if they don't like it because they have to see all these dead ponies?"

Fluttershy pouted slightly, she too was now deep in thought. "I have never thought of that before, that is very interesting!" As they elaborated on the matter Fluttershy noticed that Milon and Applejack gradually scooted closer to each other, and when they sat right beside each other she thought that they might want some alone time, so she yawned a bit. "Ah, I think I'll try getting some sleep, if you don't mind?"

"That's alright Fluttershy, I reckon me and Milon can stay up for a while and keep the fire burning." Applejack leaned against Milon's side, smiling and enjoying the warmth of the fire that burned away slowly in front of them.

Milon threw another chunk of wood onto the fire, it crackled and after a few seconds the new piece of lumber had caught fire. He turned his head and looked down at Applejack, he felt that tingling sensation in his stomach again. He let out a happy sigh, but to Applejack it sounded like a heavy one. She looked up at him. "Anything wrong, sugarcube?"

"No, everything's alright" Milon reassured her and blushed a bit.

Damn. He thought to himself. I hope she won't notice my blush. But she didn't, the fire threw different colours and shadows everywhere as it flickered and burned, warming everyone around it.

Milon began to caress Applejack, rubbing her shoulders, which caused her to sigh contently."Applejack?"

"yes?"

Milon bit his lip, unsure of how to continue without looking silly or making a fool of himself. "I... there's..."

Applejack sat up and smiled, waiting patiently for what he was going to say.

"You... You intrigue me."

She simply looked at him, waiting for the rest.

"I... I mean, I find realise that I'm very interested in you. You're a great friend and... We... We get along very well and you are always so happy and... Every time I see you laugh or see you happy I get happy myself." He didn't notice it himself but, he had almost blurted it all out, but Applejack had listened closely to every word he had said.

"Ah, this is embarrassing." Milon ran a hand through his hair.

Applejack took a step forward, warmth in her eyes. "Aw, ain't that sweet." She giggled and put her hoof on his shoulder. "I am very flattered Milon, you're a lovely guy, and you're so nice to everypony. What you did for Sweet Apple Acres before was amazing, helping us with the money, and helping granny smith and all. I like you too Milon, I really do."

They were both blushing now, and they looked at each other for a moment, trying to read what the other was going too do next. Milon put his hands on each side of Applejack face and leaned forward. Applejack felt her heart skip a beat as he did this, she knew what was going to happen, she lifted her hoof and took off her hat, throwing it on the ground next to her just before her lips connected with Milon's. Her face suddenly flushed with heat and she could feel her lips quiver. His lips rubbed against hers as he kissed her deeply, and they smacked lightly as they connected and disconnected. She swung her forelegs around his neck and slid her tongue into his mouth, letting out a soft moan as his tongue rubbed against hers. Milon was running his fingers through Applejacks mane, blushing in a bright red colour as he did so.

They both gasped for air as they pulled away from the kiss before they started kissing again, this time Milon lifted Applejack up onto his lap.

They didn't make much noise, but the little noise they did and a loud crack from the campfire caused Rarity to wake up, she shifted and nudged Rainbow Dash in the process also causing her to wake up. They both looked up, Rainbow Dash had one eye closed and simply turned around and laid back down. Rarity looked around, she looked over to the other side of the campfire and was shocked at the sight before her. Milon were holding Applejack on his lap and they were kissing each other, deeply. Rarity bumped Rainbow dash with her hoof to get her attention. Rainbow turned around and whispered.

"What is it Rarity? I'm trying to sleep!" Rarity simply pointed at Milon and Applejack. Rainbow looked the way Rarity as pointing and her eyes shot wide open when she saw what happened over there. She opened her mouth to say something out loud but Rarity shoved her hoof into rainbows mouth, stopping any sound from her, and gave her a Dont you dare! look. They couldn't do anything but to watch for a moment as the two lovebirds kissed each other. They could hear soft gasps as the two pulled away and kissed each other again and again. Suddenly the both of them settled down and looked into each others eyes.

Milon caressed Applejacks cheek again.

Applejack looked into milons eyes and smiled. "I think we should get some sleep now." She said, blushing.

"Yeah... I think we should." He put her down on the ground again and laid down next to her. This made Rarity and Rainbow Dash lie down, pretending to be asleep, they didn't want to be caught peeping.

Applejack laid down and smiled at Milon. "I... I think I'm in love with you, sugarcube."

Milon gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. "I think I am too."

Applejack blushed but couldn't help to look down as she started to think.

Milon noticed this. "What is it dear?"

"I... I'm not sure what the others will think..."

Milon looked at her."After what I've heard about how close you guys are, I think they will only be happy for us."

"I know... But since you're not a pony they might have some opinions on the matter, and we might not like those opinions. But we're in love, that's the most important thing, right?"

Milon nodded and smiled at her. " Of course it is, dear."

"I hope this didn't happen too fast... Did it?" Applejack asked and looked at him with a concerned look.

"Some things can't happen fast enough dear." "With this reassertion they both drifted of to a peaceful slumber.

_________

Applejack stretched and turned around, smiling, her eyes still closed. "Mmmh... Good morning sugarcube..." No answer.

He must still be asleep. She thought and sighed contently. She stretched out a hoof to wrap it around her sweetheart, but there was no one there. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. It couldn't be too late, it wasn't that warm so the sun couldn't be all the way up yet. She looked up and noticed that she was right, based on where the sun were in the sky she could see that it was still early in the morning. She yawned and took her hat off of the ground, where she had left it the night before, and put it on her head.

"Good morning Applejack dear!" Rarity said, already sitting up by the ashes of the campfire herself.

"Good morning Rarity, any idea where Milon might have gone?" Applejack looked around, and in the distance she could hear the sound of... Was that marching feet? And sounds of metal against metal? She shook her head, thinking that it might be the human soldiers having morning workouts, and she was pretty sure that it might be the blacksmiths working on repairing or creating armour and weapons, after all Milon had told them about him training blacksmiths personally. He had also told them that the key to having a good, and organised army was regular training and discipline.

Rarity Stood up and walked over to Applejack. "I have no idea, he was gone when I woke up myself. Maybe he is cleaning himself up or making some breakfast? He is a man with class after all! He sure know how to take care of himself.

" Applejack giggled, Milon might be a general and he might be the nicest individual that Applejack has met, but compared to Rarity and Fancy Pants, there isn't really any class to speak of. Milon was a warrior, a man that worked with his body and mind, there was no trace of the fine dining halls or the luxurious balls that the richer ponies, and people, was throwing around themselves, but maybe he were classier back in his homeland.

"Hmm... Well I think I'll be going out to look for him, if he is making breakfast, then he has one hay of a hungry pony to feed right here." Applejack stood up and started walking towards the center of camp, or atleast what she thought was the way to the large kitchen tent she had seen the day before.

"Oh! Wait for me , I just HAVE to see what's around here darling! There is so much to see, and so little time." Applejack and Rarity left the others, who were still sleeping, back at the campfire, they thought that if they wanted to find them, they should get up and look for them.

As they walked around they were greeted by many waves and good morning's from all the soldiers at work. They seemed like they had all the energy in the world inside their bodies as they went on with their duties, shining their armour, sharpening their swords

Rarity was looking around, making a few exited sounds at the things she saw. "Ooh! That's some wonderful looking capes. Oh my, that tent is marvelous! My goodness, dear! I think all that wood would be enough for all of ponyville to warm themselves over the winter." But the thing that stunned her the most was a female soldier that was sparring with a male soldier. In Equestria, only males were allowed to become soldiers, so this was something that was very odd to her. " Applejack dear, why is there females in their ranks?"

Applejack shrugged. " I'm not sure, I reckon Milon thinks that anyone can have good reasons to fight for their people, even females."

Rarity turned back to Applejack and giggled. " Well, let's hope that he won't want us to fight anyone."

As they moved around, the sound that Applejack had heard before of marching and clashing metal, got louder and louder. They seemed to be getting closer to it, and when they came around the corner of one of the tents they saw two groups of soldiers standing on opposite sides of each other in a big grass field. They were battling each other out, but they weren't standing in a mishmash as on would think when there was a battle. Both sides were standing in lines, still and focused, only the soldiers in the front lines were fighting.

They could see Milon walking around behind the two squadrons, shouting out orders. Keep your legs in, or have a tighter grip in your shields. Suddenly he held up a small object to his mouth and blew in it. The whistles sound could be heard over all the other sounds and suddenly the soldiers in front lines walked backwards in between the lines behind them and placed themselves at the back. The line that had been just behind them now moved forward and began to battle it out.

Rarity and Applejack hurried over to Milon and the soldiers to get a better view of it all.

"Hello girls!" He greeted them and looked back to the squadron closest to him. "Remember, shields in front and quick swings! A good defence keeps you alive!" He turned back to the girls and gave them a smile. "Just some morning training ladies. We always need to stay strong, alert and agile!" He explained, proud as he was over his soldiers. He put the whistle to his lips again and blew in it, making the soldiers change places once again. Applejack and Rarity stood and watched as the training went on, interested as Milon continued to walk around, shout out orders and blow in the whistle.

"Hey! What's going on over here?" Spike came running up to them and hugged Rarity. She smiled at this and gave the little dragon a kiss on his cheek.

"Good morning darling, Milon and the soldiers are doing their morning training, so we decided to watch."

"And it's fun watching them do some hard labor." Applejack filled in. "There's some kind of pleasure in seeing someone do some real work."

They could hear hooves behind them and Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie came walking up to them.

"Good morning girls, interesting match?" They looked at Twilight with questioning gazes.

" Match, Twilight?" Applejack asked her, lifting her eyebrow at her.

"Isn't that what they're doing?, Having a competitive training?"

Rarity giggled, and Spike laughed. "Hahaha! They're training, Twilight! There won't be any winning team."

"Oh!" Twilight realised how silly she had sounded and giggled.

"Well it could have been a competition of sorts, sure looks like it though." She defended herself.

A long tune from the whistle pierced through all the noise from the training in front of them and the soldiers stopped their training and scattered, heading towards their tents or walking away to do their duties, such as cutting wood or making food.

The gang walked over to Milon.

"Hey Milon! Will there be breakfast soon? I'm pretty hungry and I really love eggs for breakfast, and milk, milk is really good!" Pinkie Pie blabbed away about her favourite food types as they came over, causing Milon to smile in confusion, nodding as she kept going.

Her friends giggled and smiled, Pinkie will be Pinkie.

When she had slowed down with the talking, Milon told them that breakfast will be a while, since the cooks were making batches of pasta, meat and vegetables for all the people living in the camp.

"But if you're interested in our style of warfare I'll be more than glad to explain a bit of it to you!"

Twilight's face lit up and Spike quickly got a roll of parchment and a quill out of Twilights saddlebag. "Well, I actually have a few things I would like to document, if it isn't too big of a deal for you?"

Spike turned around to Rainbow Dash and mumbled. "If SHE actually documented anything I'd be out of a job!" This made Rainbow Dash grin and giggle.

Milon held his arms out as to say, I'm all yours. "So what do you want to know, miss Sparkle?"

Twilight trotted around him, speaking at the same time. "First I wanted to know what this fighting style you used is, because from what I recall from reading about battles, it seemed a bit more chaotic, even in training." As soon as Milon opened his mouth Spike was ready with the quill close to the parchment, ready to write down every little detail.

"True, in many battles the soldiers are scattered everywhere, and due to this a group of soldiers can become overrun easily or surrounded, and their energy and morale fades very quickly. So me and my commanding officers have invented style of fighting that maintains both stamina and the comfort of strength in numbers since all of your comrades stand in line with you rather than spread out everywhere around you. This strategy is nor quite ready for the battlefield just yet, but for the time being it is a perfect way of training a soldier to keep their cool and to stay together, no matter what happens." He turned around and began to walk, all of the ponies were following him and listening, all while Spike's quill worked its way down the parchment.

"So what we have found out is that, intervals with breaks just as long as the working time works well with both training and exercise, so we tried to combine it with battle. So, in theory, the soldiers wait for the enemy to charge at them, and to force them into doing so, we have archers attacking from long range, forcing the enemy to charge if they want a chance to attack without being shot down, and I'll explain everything about archery later. So the soldiers in the front, who hopefully doen't die, fight the enemies and when the squad commander blows the whistle they protect themselves and walk backwards between the lines of soldiers and stand in the farthest back, and the soldiers who stood behind them continue where the others left off. This way, the soldier that is attacking will always have their stamina on top."

Twilight's eyes were literally sparkling at this wave of information she received and she asked another question. "And these archers you spoke of, what are they?"

Milon nodded and said. "Well I guess that you don't have archery here, since you do not have hands. But from what I gathered from talking to your princess, the unicorns in the Equestrian armies shoot bolts of lighting or fire at their enemies, correct?" Twilight nodded.

"Yes, this is to paralyse and blind them so that they can be dealt with swiftly, but it also happens that the unicorns kill the enemy right away with this technique, which works just as well."

Milon nodded again and turned around to a wooden table with lots of small blades, swords and a wide assortment of weapons on it. He turned back around and held up a wooden device that looked like a wooden cross with a half circle upon it, but far more complicated.

"This is a crossbow, the archers of the earlier generations used to have bows, which are strong but flexible wooden sticks that are strengthened to be able to survive pressure, since you tie a string between its ends and use that to shoot an arrow at far distances." He were now explaining this while holding an arrow between his hands.

"This is an arrow, and you can see, it has a sharp metal head which can, with enough force, travel long distances in an arch through the air and pierce armour, hopefully maiming its victim, or killing them if you get in a good hit!"

The thought of killing someone made a few of the ponies shudder and feel a bit uncomfortable, but they still listened, though Rarity were patting Fluttershy's shoulder to comfort her since she's so sensitive.

"But, he crossbow a perfected version of the bow. It does not have quite the same range that the bow has because of its construction but it can pierce even the strongest of armour!"

Rainbow Dash huffed and flew over to him, hovering above his head."Oh? The strongest of armours you say? Well, prove it then! All you've done has been talking about a bunch of stuff without demonstrating." She stared at him with a competitive glare, and he just simply smiled back at her.

"Of course! Just let me set some things up and we'll see what this can do!"

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight was frowning, mostly because her research of this special, and not to mention human only, weapon was interrupted, but also because she thought the tone Rainbow had used was rude.

The pegasus shrugged and looked back at her. "What? He said it could pierce strong armour, so let him prove it! Could be a bonus for your, research thingy, right? It's always good to see some demonstrations first hand."

Spike sighed. "Oh come on. Do I have to write even more? This guy is like a talking book! I've had to change to a new roll of parchment already!" He held up the new one which he had just started to write on.
"You wrote everything down exactly like he said it?" Pinkie Pie was reading the other roll of parchment, quickly skimming through it.

Spike shrugged, as if it was nothing. "Well, yeah. That's what I do right? People talk and I write it down. But sometimes when I'm not writing things down, I think that some ponies talk too much." Pinkie Pie nodded and rolled up the parchment and put it back in Twilight's saddlebag. "That explains it!"

Rarity shook her head and smiled. "You're doing a wonderful job, dear." She gave the little purple dragon a kiss on the cheek, causing him to smile and look very proud. "Yeah, I guess I did a god jo-"

"Here we are!" He got cut off by Milon, who had some objects that looked like sticks, a sack filled with something and some chest armour.

"Just hold this for a second." He threw the sack over to Rainbow dash, who caught it, but the weight of it caused her to fall to the ground with a loud thud. Milon went and He tied the sticks into a cross and stuc the cross into the ground, he then took the bag that he had given to Rainbow dash, which he had filled with ashes from some campfires close by, and tied that to the cross. Finally he put the piece of chest armour around the sack.

"There we are, all done." He knocked on the piece of armour and looked over at the ponies." Our armor is very strong and can stand very much, but sadly not a crossbow arrow. Rainbow, since you were so eager to see if the crossbow is up to the test, you get to fire it first!"

A wide grin spread on the blue pegasus face. "Hay yeah! That would be awesome!" She picked up the crossbow in her mouth but quickly realized that it wouldn't be the best way to aim it, let alone fire it without
getting an arrow in her leg.

"Horl'omn!" She said through her teeth, which was still holding the crossbow and sat down on her rump, now trying to hold the weapon in her forelegs. "Okay, I'm ready! Bring it on!"

After a quick tutorial on how to load the crossbow with the arrows and to push a small trigger at the bottom of the handle to fire it, Rainbow Dash were sitting and aiming at the armour clad target practice.

Applejack smiled and leaned over to Rarity. "I bet she'll miss it."

Rarity looked at her with a shocked expression."Applejack, a lady such as myself cannot possibly stoop to something as low as betting!" She looked over to Rainbow Dash again, who's aiming started to get less shaky and more steady. "How about two bits?"

Applejack giggled."You're on sugarcube!"

"Allright!" Rainbow Dash said, trying to get her aim at the middle of the targets chest. "Here we go!"

She pulled the trigger and a loud twang was heard, followed by a chunking sound as the arrow hit the tree trunk.

Rainbow Dash had fallen backwards from the recoil and dropped the crossbow in shock. "WHOA!"

Applejack snickered and held out a hoof. Rarity sighed and gave her two golden coins. "Maybe you should have been a lady after all?" Applejack taunted.

But Rarity smiled back, trying to keep her ladylike impression. "Well, we both know which one of us is more ladylike."

Applejack laughed at this comment.

Milon helped Rainbow Dash up on her hooves and Spike was writing away like crazy, describing the results of Rainbow's failed test.

"Well, Rainbow Dash. It's difficult to prove that it can pierce the armour if you don't hit the armour at all." Milon chuckled and picked up the crossbow. "Here, let me show you how it's really done." He reloaded with another arrow and aimed, holding the crossbow steadily against his shoulder. With the same twanging sound the arrow flew like a bolt of lightning through the air and pierced the armour as easy as if it had been a piece of paper, causing ashes and coal to leak from the bag that the armour was strapped upon. Spike walked over to the armour clad bag and wrote some more as he inspected everything closely.

Milon smiled and turned around, resting the crossbow against his shoulder. "Does anyone else want to try?"

Chapter 3: Tender moments & high emotions

Chapter 3. Tender moments & high emotions

Rainbow Dash liked Applejack, she cared for her a lot. She was her friend after all, but she wasn't sure about her and Milon. She promised Rarity that she wouldn't question it, love is love after all. But Milon is a general of another country, maybe there's something more to it than what they can see? It might be something more. Maybe he's a spy and is using Applejack to get information? But Applejack doesn't really know anything that could be of use now that she. And of use to what? They are here in peace after all, Rainbow huffed as she flew through the air on her daily exercise. She sailed through the skies, reducing the clouds the flew through to small puffs.

"I can't keep it in anymore! I have to deal with this." She exclaimed and headed down towards Canterlot.

Everything seemed to be as usual in Canterlot, bustling with life out on the streets, ponies chatting, shopping and simply living. She landed in the town square, taking much care not to crash into anything. Last time she crashed she broke a few vendor stalls and she had to ask Applejack to help her pay off the stall owners. She had repaid Applejack by helping her buck apples and repair her barn, but she didn't want to make the same mistake twice.

She trotted around, she was looking for Milon but weren't sure where to look, to be honest, she had no idea where he could be. She'd heard that he used to be in town though, he had started to like the local donuts and came in every day to buy new ones. She saw a small group of human soldiers sitting near a fountain near one of the tailor shops. She needed to start somewhere, and maybe the soldiers knew where he was.

She walked over to them and they greeted her with smiles. "Hello miss!" The one that seemed to be the youngest of the three soldiers gave her a short wave.

"Hey guys! Do you know where Milon is? I need to talk with him."

The soldier that had waved at her had the beginnings of facial hair growing on his chin, and he was now scratching it in thought. "I might know where he is, but not just anyone are allowed to speak with him." This earned him a slap from one of the other soldier.

"Are you stupid? The general decides himself who gets to speak with him or not. If he doesn't want to speak with her, then he'll tell her!" He back looked at Rainbow Dash and smiled.

"I'm sorry, he's new. The general were over there last time I saw him." He pointed to the other side of the town square. "He was accompanied by a pony with a hat and a white unicorn."

Rainbow bit her lip. Damn, she wanted to be alone with Milon. But she had to confront him, even if Rarity and Applejack were there or not.

She nodded at the soldiers. "Thank you, he's with my friends so I think it might be easier to find him now, thanks again!"

"You're welcome miss!" All of them said and waved at her as she walked away. She waved back with one of her wings. The humans seemed awfully nice, but maybe it's because they're not in their own country? Trying to show their best side perhaps.

She headed towards the other side of the town square and looked around, for a second she thought she saw Applejack's hat, but the next second she couldn't. Since it was her best lead, she headed towards where she last saw the hat and groaned. "What am I doing? I'm chasing a hat! On hooves!" She shook her head and began to fly above the mass of ponies, and sighed again. "Why does everypony have to be out in the town today?"

_________

Milon, Applejack and Rarity had a fun day out in the town. They looked through shops, market stalls, and of course Milon went to the bakery and bought a whole box of donuts with sugar on them.

It wasn't Rarity's intention to snoop, but she had noticed small signs of Applejack and Milon showing public affection, like when Milon caressed Applejacks cheek when they had been inside a shop selling hats, not only that, Milon had leaned down and whispered something to her.

Rarity was almost positive that he'd kissed her cheek, but she couldn't really see, so she gave it the benefit of doubt. Not that she disliked them doing it, or them being in love at all. She almost wished they were a little more public with it, but she understood that things like this can't be pushed. It had to come gradually, until it felt natural, it had been the same with her and Spike.

Suddenly she realized that neither Milon or Applejack where anywhere to be seen. "What in Equestria's name?" She turned around and saw them further down the street near one of the fountains. As she trotted closer she could see that Milon were sitting on a bench next to the fountain and Applejack were sitting on her rump in front of him. Milon had cupped his hands into the fountain and were holding them to Applejacks lips. She were blushing slightly as she thankfully drank the cold, clean water from Milon's hands. Rarity smiled and stood next to the pair.

She wiped her forehead with her foreleg. "It really is hot today isn't it? I should have brought a hat to shade myself."

Milon cupped his hands into the fountain again and drank some water himself. "Mmmh... Yeah, really hot. The sun has big opportunity to shine when there's barely any clouds. Good thing I decided to only wear my pants today." Which was true, he had started to go without wearing anything on his chest, Canterlot had been stricken by sunshine for a very long time now.

"It's just a bonus that you're looking mighty fine." Applejack giggled at him.

"Oh you." Milon smirked and sat up with his back straight and looked proud.

"She's right though darling." Rarity filled in, "I haven't seen many of your kind, but I'm sure that you're one of the best looking ones."

Milon smiled and bowed his head slightly. "That's very nice of you to say."

"Well there's a reason I am saying it." Rarity continued, not able to hold her smile inside. "At least Applejack likes you for being who you are."

This made Milon and Applejack freeze in their spots.

"Uhhh... What?" Applejack looked at her, she knew what she was talking about but she was shocked that Rarity even knew about the feelings between Milon and herself.

"I didn't mean to spy on you two but, I woke up that night all of us slept near the campfire and I saw you two... Well, I didn't want to disturb you so I turned around and fell asleep. At least I tried, but after a while I did succeed."

Applejack Stood up on her hooves. "So, you don't mind? I mean I don't think that you or the others would like me less because of who I love. But... You know... During the circumstances, he's a human and all..."

Rarity's smile grew wider. "Why, of course not! How could I ever do such a thing, you were nothing but happy when me and Spikey wikey became a pair remember? And let's not forget, love is supposed to be exotic and spicy."

Applejack giggled. "Yeah, I absolutely agree."

Milon cleared his throat and looked at Rarity, with a serious and relieved tone in his voice as he spoke. "I am happy that you understand and that you accept out love. For that you have my thanks."

"Oh don't mention it dear, it's my pleasure. And I am only happy to see that Applejack has someone that she can love and that loves her back. After all she deserv-" She was cut off by a loud voice that the two ponies recognized all to well.

"MILON!" They all looked up and saw Rainbow Dash flying toward them. She landed next to them, nearly knocking over a few ponies in the process, and gave them a stern look.

"I have searched for you EVERYWHERE!" Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof at the ground. "Now, care to tell us what you're doing with Applejack, huh? Trying to seduce her to get some information? Are you some kind of lowlife spy!? Explain yourself!"

it all came as a shock to the three of them and even some of the ponies, unicorns and pegasi around them stared at her and Milon. He was shocked, the accusations she threw at him were preposterous!

"I don't know what you've gotten into your head but-"

"I saw you! " She interrupted him. "And I know you're up to something, what is it!? I'm not going to let you use one of my friends for your little schemes, whatever they are!"

Milon frowned and stood up, the feeling of his whole presence looming over her caused Rainbow to step back.

Milon's voice was calm, but everyone who heard him could feel the firm undertone in it. "This is not the place for this. If you want to talk civilized, we can do it in my tent! Now, if you'll please calm down a bit we'll meet you back at the camp!" With this he took his box of donuts and began to walk away, Applejack following closely beside him, looking back at Rainbow dash with a look filled with sadness and betrayal.

Rainbow Dash sighed. "That went well..."

She heard Rarity clear her throat. She turned her head to her and was met with an angry gaze."How dare you!?"

Rainbow Dash frowned, she didn't want to hear this right now. "Oh, don't start!"

"Oh, but I will! How dare you accuse him of something like that? I have been with them all day and I have seen nothin but pure affection between the two!" Rarity was irate, and her eyebrows were shivering slightly, she were frowning so hard.

"I just got this feeling that something was wrong and- " Rainbow tried to give her friend an excuse, but she was cut off by Rarity's irritation at her.

"Wrong!? How could anything be wrong!? They are in love, Rainbow! What the hay were you thinking!?"

it all dawned on her, she had been an idiot. Rainbow Dash looked down, feeling the shame showering her like a bucket of cold water. "I... Oh dear Celestia... I didn't think! Damn! What have I done?"

Rarity huffed. "Well, it certainly isn't me you're supposed to apologize to." She turned around and headed down the street, towards the city gate, causing Rainbow Dash to run after her to catch up, "And we're heading to Milon's tent right now!"

Rainbow Dash shivered as she thought of what Applejack and Milon would say to her, and if they would even accept her apology.

_________

Milon put his box of donuts down on the tent floor with a sigh. He wiped his forehead with his hand and sat down on his bed, made of a wooden frame that could be dismantled and a mattress stuffed with hay. He used a duvet made of different fur pelts sown together to warm himself at night. He sighed again and put his head in his hands.

"That sure was interesting." He sighed and rubbed his forehead.

Applejack walk around on the floor, like she was restless. "I haven't got the slightest idea what has gotten into her head. This is so unlike her, even though she is quite hot headed she has never done anything like this before!"

"It might be because of who I am, a leader of another country's army, so I guess I have something to hide." Milon added with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Applejack looked at him, certainly not amused. "Absolutely not. I know you have nothing to hide." She walked up to him and looked straight into his eyes. "I can feel that you are as honest as you are kindhearted."

Milon caressed her cheek, with a slight smile. "A womans intuition, huh?"

"I would call it knowing your loved one "

Milon chuckled and kissed her, causing her to close her eyes. She shivered as their tongues touched one another and she felt her cheeks getting warm.

They slowly pulled away from the kiss and Milon chuckled. "So Rainbow Dash isn't always like that you say?"

"No, she is stubborn and competitive, but she isn't stupid."

Milon stood up and walked over to his donut box and opened it, lifting out a big one with sugar and sprinkles on it. "That's always something. Though I can't imagine what made her think that I'm a spy."

Applejack walked around in the tent, looking at everything around her. "I think she's been doing too much thinking. I'm not defending what she accused you of but, this is new to all of us and I think that she's just confused."

Milon nodded and bit into his donut. "Mmh... I still excpect an apology though." Applejack poked one of the shields near the different suits of armour, accidentally causing it to fall over, strartling her.

"WAH! Uh... I hope she'll apologize. As I said, she's stubborn." She blushed and picked up the shield, putting it back in its place.

Milon ate the rest of the donut and pointed at his bed. "So, what do you think?"

Applejack cocked an eyebrow at him.

"What? I sleep in it everyday, I like it, I just asked for an opinion from someone else about how nice and comfortable it looks." He explained to her, giving her a sly smile.

She walked up to him with a playful look and put her hoof on his chest. "If you want to have fun with this girl you better earn it, and you better get ready for a ride when you do earn it~!"

Milon smirked. "Is that so?" <he leaned forward to kiss her again, but they heard footsteps, or hoofsteps really, outside the tent.

"Milon darling are you in here?" Rarity's voice was kind and vibrant, as always.

"Yes, please come in." As she walked in, they realized she wasn't alone. Rainbow Dash followed her inside, clearly ashamed, with her head down.

"Rainbow Dash wanted to apologize for her very mean behaviour before." She turned around and looked at Rainbow Dash. "Isn't that right?"

The blue pegasus looked up. "I'm... Milon, I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't think, I was stupid and I didn't think about your and Applejack's feelings." She looked down again- "Can you please accept my apology?"

Milon was looking at her, thinking for a little bit. Then he opened his mouth to speak. "You accused me of seducing the woman I love to get information"

He chuckled. "Not that I know what kind of information I would be able to get from her though, maybe which food Big Mac likes the most? Or if Granny Smith's hip is feeling better after she used the lotion I gave her? If I wanted any kind of information, I would try to seduce the Princess."

This caused Rainbow Dash to look hang her head.

He huffed, "But you did apologize. I can see that you mean it. But let me tell you one thing: I only want the best for us and for the relation between our countries and the last thing I want to hear is that I'm seducing a girl to get some information. You hear me?"

She looked up and nodded, "I hear you."

"Apology accepted!" Milon held his hand out and Rainbow placed her hoof in it and they shook them.

_________

Twilight were in her room inside the library she were living in, transcribing Spike's notes into a small empty book which she intended to fill with various information about humans and their culture. She had actually stalled quite a bit, the fact that the notes were very interesting caused her to get caught in the reading, rather than transcribing them.

"They like their warfare, don't they?" She said to herself as she wrote down the part about squad formations and Milon's own strategies.

She heard a knock on the door. "Who can that be that at this time of the day?" It had gotten dark outside and she began to feel a bit tired, Spike had already gone to bed and were sound asleep in his little basket on the floor, in his sleep he had kicked of his blanket and were snoring audibly. She tucked him in quickly once again before answering the door.

Outside were Rarity and Flutteshy.

"Hi! What a suprise to see you to here, come in, come in!" Twilight invited them in, happy to get some company.

Both of them walked in and she closed the door behind them.

"We thought that we'd keep you some company, if that's okay with you of course." Fluttershy smiled and sat down on one of the pillows, that were place around a round table."And we have some news we thought you'd like to hear. It's amazing and quite adorable if you ask me."

Rarity nodded. "I was actually there first hand to see it. As was Rainbow Dash."

Twilight looked at them, a bit confused. "Now you really have to reveal this little secret of yours, what did I miss?"

Rarity looked at Fluttershy, who nodded. "Milon and Applejack is a pair now."

Both Fluttershy and Rarity looked at Twilight, excited to see her reaction. "You're kidding... How is that even possible?"

That wasn't really what they expected, but at least she didn't seem to be disgusted about it.

"I mean, she's a pony and he's a human. Are we even compatible?" Twilight continued.

Fluttershy giggled. "They love each other, and I think it's cute. I mean, he seems to be an emotional, caring man. I think they'll be happy together."

"Of course they will be dear." Rarity exclaimed "He's a respectable man. He will do well."

Twilight had been thinking during the two's conversation and turned to them. "But... Doesn't he have a family at home?"

The question seemed to strike the two other ponies, they haven't thought out of that. "Yes, you're right." Rarity answered. "Does he have a family?"

"He didn't tell us, I think." Fluttershy said and walked over to them. "What if he has a family waiting for him at home? Children? Brothers or sisters?"

Twilight's horn glowed with a purple colour and the book she were writing started flipping through the pages. "When I asked him about different things about their warfare two days ago he told me he had been a general for five years, so that means I must have asked how old he- Yes! Here it is, he's twenty-six years old. I don't think he has any children, Fluttershy." She turned around and showed them her scribblings.

"But, what about his family then? And did you say he's been a general for five years... Was he only twenty-one years old when he became a general then?" Rarity asked, taking a closer look at what Twilight had written down.

"I have never heard about such a thing. Even Shining Armour, the skilled strategist he is, were thirty before he became the captain of the royal guard. And we're only one year older than Milon ourselves."

They looked at each other. "I think we have to ask him to tell us the story of how he became a general." They all nodded as Twilight came up with the idea.

"What's with all the noise down here?" Spike walked down the stairs, rubbing one of his eyes, groaning as he had been disturbed in his sleep. "I thought sleepovers meant sleeping. Not staying awake all night..."

"We're sorry darling." Rarity apologized and gave him a kiss on his lips when he came over to her, giving her a hug. "We we're just talking about Milon, you could say that we might have made a discovery."

Spike looked at them with his eyebrow raised. "Milon? I think absolutely everyone is talking about him! When I were in Canterlot yesterday I even heard a stallion say that... Well, it was very creepy and it should have been kept personal."

The girls giggled at this and Twilight used her magic to make the small notebook fly back up into her room.

"The discovery is that Milon is twenty-six years old, and has been a general for five. Which means he was twenty-one when he became a general. But none of us has never heard of such a thing, since getting high ranks in the military requires many years of experience."

Spike nodded and twilight continued, "and even Shining Armor was thirty before he became a captain, Spike. Think about it, a captain! A general must be like, five times the rank."

Spikes eyes widened. "Yeah, that's very strange. How did that happen? How the hay could Milon be ten years younger than Shining Armour and get the top rank?"

Fluttershy opened her mouth. "Can't we just ask him? That is what we planned, right?"

Spike shrugged. "It looks like that's our best bet."

_________

Milon had lit a small fire inside his tent, over which he were grilling a fish that he had caught in the Canterlot lake, and in a pot next to the fish he were boiling water for some pasta he were going to cook.

Beside him sat Applejack, she was looking as Milon had scaled the fish and gutted it before he started to grill it. She had never eaten fish before herself, and ponied werevegitarians, so Milon had gone over to the cooks tent and asked them to make some salad, which he had brought back to her. She hadn't started to eat it yet because she wanted to share their first dinner together properly as a pair. Milon took a few long strands of hard pasta and broke them in the middle and put them in the boiling water. After he did that, he turned the fish upside down by turning the small metal pole it was impaled on.

"It sure is efficient having those hands ain't it?" Applejack looked at them closely.

"Yeah I guess. I mean it's easy to grip, hold and turn stuff with them. But you ponies seem to have done everything good enough without them. You earth ponies and pegasi I mean, unicorns have their magic."

Applejack took off her hat with her hoof and put it next to herself. "I guess it's like you humans, learning to use your hands without any magic, you get used to it after a while."

Milon stirred around in the pot of pasta with a fork. "I guess you're right. But there are very few humans that actually know how to use magic, but for some reason they are outcasts, living alone, far away from people." Applejack took the leather hair band out of her mane and let it fall out onto her shoulders and back.

Milon smiled. "You're pretty, you know that?"

She blushed and smiled back. "Thank you sugarcube. You're pretty handsome yourself."

He smirked and chuckled. "Shaving every morning can do that to a man."

This made Applejack to laugh, almost knocking over her bowl of salad. Milon reached behind himself to get a bowl and got the pasta out from the pan and put it in it, along with some pieces of fish, which he had taken away from the grill and put on a wooden platter.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Milon got up and filled two cups with an inch of the clear liquid that he had called vodka, he also grabbed a bottle of wine and brought it back with him, putting one of the cups in front of his girlfriend. "For us! Also, drink all of it in one go, it's just to get us a bit warm."

Applejack nodded, she knew it was really strong, and it was just good that he'd only taken an inch of it. They knocked their cups together and swallowed their drinks. The taste and strength of the liquid caused Applejack to shiver and grimace. "Brr!"

Milon was used to drinking this, but it still made him grimace, it was that strong. "Oh, fuck me!"

Applejack huffed and shuddered again. "How in Celestia's name can you like this?"

Milon chuckled. "We don't really like it the way someone like drinking milk, it's mostly to warm you up. The worst thing you can do is to drink loads of it, you'll get the most horrible hangover in existence. It will feel like there is a quarry inside your head."

Applejack put her empty cup down. "I'd imagine, sweet Celestia..."

Milon now filled half of their cups with red wine from a bottle. "I love you."

Applejack smiles again, with a slight blush on her cheeks. "I love you too, Milon." She leaned forward and kissed him on his lips, causing him to smile again. He pressed his lips against hers rubbing her left ear as he did.

As they pulled away from the kiss, Milon looked at her, still smiling. "I think we should start eating now, or else the food is going to get cold."

She giggled and agreed.

As they ate and sipped on their wine they chatted away, talking about how life were at the Sweet Apple Acres farm, and in the military.

Applejack asked Milon about his family. "Are your family waiting for you to get back? They must be missing you."

Milon sighed. "I don't have a family."

"Oh..." Applejack felt uneasy, this was awkward. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad."

Milon smiled at her again."It's okay. I just don't have the happiest family history, and you couldn't have known."

...

The evening went on and it got darker and darker outside. The small fire had burned down and their food was eaten, so all left to do were to either go to bed, or to cuddle. And both you and me know that they would not waste a chance to snuggle, right?

Applejack leaned her head against Milon's chest as she sat in his lap. She was blushing, feeling the heat on her cheeks. Maybe it was because she could feel his body against hers? Or that his arms were wrapped around her, keeping her safe and protected?

It might have been all of it at once. She looked up and saw him looking back down at her, his eyes, kind and warm, looking into hers. She reached her hoof up to his cheek and brought herself closer to him. They kissed each other again, their lips rubbing softly against one another as they kissed each other tenderly, and with each tender moment she felt her cheeks get warmer.

She opened her mouth and let her lovers tongue inside, shivering in pleasure as it rubbed against her own, causing her to let out a soft moan as she massaged his tongue with her own. He pulled his lips away from hers, allowing them both to breathe. Their lips connected again and Milon laid her down on the rug covered ground, kissing her deeply once again.

They both moaned now, Applejack wrapped her forelegs around his neck and clinged to him. She never imagined kissing anyone could feel this amazing. It was totally different from the kissing when she was a little filly, she remembered kissing a little colt, and she remembered that he were even more nervous than she was.

Milon was the opposite, he knew what he wanted, and he seemed to know what she wanted as well. Whenever she wanted him to rub his tongue against hers, he did it without her telling him, not that she were able to at the moment.

It was the same when she wanted him to rub her cheek or just kiss her normally, massaging her lips gently as he kissed her oh so tenderly. They couldn't really tell when the kissing stopped, suddenly they were just laying there, looking into one another's eyes.

"This will be very interesting to write to Celestia about." Applejack said with a soft warm voice.

"Please don't, I don't think she'd approve of me kissing one of her subjects in this kind of manner."

She booped his nose and giggled. "You're wonderful, sugarcube."

He gave her a soft kiss again. "So are you. Come, let's go to bed. It's getting late." They laid down in the bed, holding each other close as Milon pulled the fur duvet over them.

Applejack smiled and sighed contented and enjoyed feeling her lovers strong arms around her. Suddenly she felt something poke into her lower back.

"Milon, what-" "I'm sorry!"

She giggled and blushed again. "You really are quite the man aren't you?"

"I blame you, being the lovely girl that you are."

"Goodnight sugarcube."

...

Applejack woke up, she was tired. The rooster weren't there to wake her up so she had been sleeping longer than she used to. Something was off, not that she was sleeping in a different bed than what she was used to, but Milon was not there. She yawned and stretched as she sat up, blinking a few times- She saw that there was a wooden plate in front of the burned down fireplace with some salad on it, and the cup seemed to be filled with milk this time, instead of vodka.

She smiled. Lover boy indeed. She sat down at the plate and began to eat. As she sat there her thoughts went back to the day that she told Big Mac that she were going to stay for a while with Milon in his camp.

...

Her saddlebags were packed with some apples and different things she thought she needed staying over at Milons camp.

"I hope ya'll won't miss me too much while I'm away." She smiled at Big Mac, who were helping her strap on her saddlebags.

"I just hope that you won't get into trouble. I'm sure that Milon will take good care of you, but you can't be too sure about everyone else."

Applejack turned around. "They are all very nice, they'll make sure I have a nice visit."

Big Mac looked at her, suddenly going quiet.

"What?"

"You like him don't you?"

Applejack to avoid answering the question. "What do you mean?"

"I'm your brother... I can see that you like him. As long as you are happy, I will be happy" he kissed her forehead before putting her hat on her head and started smirking, "I hope you know what you're doing little sis', and please don't break him, im not sure what it costs to repair a broken general."

She giggled. "Don't get any ideas now Big Mac, and make sure to buck those apples, we need to make more cider!"

Their dog Winona were sitting next to Big Mac, panting and waving her tail happily at them both.

"I'm sorry Winona, I can't bring you along." Applejack smiled at the her beloved dog, to be honest, she was a bit sad that she could not bring her alone, but she needed to stay at home and protect the family.

This made Winona lower hear head, and let out a whine.

"I promise that I won't be gone for too long, and maybe I can get Milon to come visit."

This made Winona bark once and start to wave her tail again.

Suddenly a shout could be heard from the living room, it was granny smith.

"Whoa nelly! This is some drink!"

Big Mac turned around and walked out to her, waving at Applejack "See ya, sis'!"

"Take care brother, take care Granny!"

Granny's voice came floating out from the living room. "Oh I will dear! Just let me have some more of this, then we can get this dance started!" She giggled as she walked out.

"Take care of the family Winona, and try not to let Applebloom push you around with all her cutie mark crusadin' you hear?" Winona barked again.

Applejack smiled and closed the door behind her, walking out to the carriage that were waiting on her.

...

She finished her salad and drank the milk, licking her lips. It tasted delicious. She walked out out the tent and looked around. The camp was bustling as it always seemed to do and she walked around, looking for Milon. She didn't ask anyone where he was because she hadn't seen all of the camp yet and she liked to get some exercise and air along with seeing all the things she had missed.

he soldiers greeted her with happy smiles, hello's and the like. A Female soldier even shook her hoof when she greeted her. She wished her and Milon luck with everything. Applejack didn't know if Milon had told them about it, but gossip was bound to go around amongst people, and she didn't mind that they knew, and the fact they were positive about it just made it easier.

There were lots of noise coming from the area where the smiths were repairing weapons, and even making new ones. She walked over, and coughed as a big cloud of smoke engulfed her.

"Okay guys, lets bring the heat up a notch! Remember, these are supposed to be Myrmidon blades! Put the Myrmidon spirit in you into the blade! Let them be strong, swift and reliable! Just like the men and women that will wield them!" As always, Milon sounded like he was in total control.

Another cloud of smoke flew into Applejacks face again, causing her eyes to water and she started to cough.

"Mil- *hack, cough* Milon! Where are you?" A loud TSCHH Was heard and suddenly someone bumped into her.

"Oh goodness, I couldn't see you, love!" Milon put his hand on her shoulder and led her out of the smoke and steam. "There we go."

Applejack blinked and looked up at him. "Thank Celestia, it was hard to even exist in that there environment."

Milon gave her a kiss. "It's not always like that, it's mostly steam, but it does get very thick at times. We've had some broken shields, spears and swords that we needed to replace, that's what we're doing today." She looked over at the forge. The smoke had started to dissolve and she could could see four persons through it.

"Forging swords causes this much smoke?" Milon turned and looked at the smiths at work.

"Both yes and no, right now we're heating up the steel bars and cooling them down repeatedly to make it as hard and durable as possible. After that we heat it up again and start the smithing, pounding it into shape with our hammers." As he spoke the smiths started to work on the steel with their hammers, pounding the steel with full strength, slowly shaping it. "The last thing we need to do, is to create the handles, wrapping leather around it for good grip, and lastly we sharpen the blades to perfection."

Applejack looked back at him. "Didn't you say that you and your family were good blacksmiths?"

Milon smiled proudly. "Yes we are. The best in Holems to be precise. Or that's what we like to advertise. speaking about it..."He turned around to shout at one of the blacksmiths.

"Remember to pound it outwards, Earl! From the base, so that you get the correct shape!"

Earl answered with a "Yes sir!" And continued his work.

The weather wasn't the best, it had rained earlier that morning and the sky was gray with clouds, which meant that Milon didn't go half naked today. He was wearing a brown wool shirt along with the usual skirt pants.

The pair walked away from the forge and headed down one of the gravel trails that went through the camp. The Myrmidons were in the middle of building a Palisade around their camp and both Milon and Applejack decided to help with hammering the poles into the ground, making the ropes that would be needed for tying them up and all the other things that needed to be done.

After a few hours they looked at their work. There were still much to be done but a gate had been finished along with small watchtowers next to it and they were proud of their work. It wasn't long until two crossbowmen were stationed in the watchtowers, keeping a lookout.

It was almost time for lunch and most of the soldiers were heading towards the cooks tent to get their grilled fish, meat, vegetables and cooked pasta. The soldiers in the watchtowers and the soldiers guarding the gates did not leave their posts, they would get their food delivered to them so they could eat at their post.

As Applejack and Milon started to head towards Milon's tent for lunch together, they were addressed by one of the gate guards.

"General! Visitors are approaching!"

He turned around and saw Twilight, with Spike riding on her back, Fluttershy and Rarity walking towards them through the gate. He greeted them with open arms. "Friends! I'm so happy to see you on this, I would say wonderful day, if not for the weather."

The three pony girls smiled back at him. And they greeted him. "Hello Milon!"

Milon smiled at them, feeling very happy that they decided to visit"What brings you here? More research? Or maybe just some quality time?"

Twilight looked around, interestingly studying the half built palisade. "This wasn't here the last time I visited. Why the fortifications?" ¨

Milon smiled and began to walk towards his tent, the others following. "It always feels safer with walls around you, also we will be staying here for a while so I thought we might get a little proper while we're at it." He opened the curtain to his tent and let the ponies in, before going in himself and closing it after himself. Spike jumped down from Twilight's back and began to inspect the tent, looking around at the different things inside it. Twilight looked a bit nervous, which Milon noticed."Anything on your mind Twilight?"

"Yes. I read through Spike's notes yesterday and I noticed that you said you were twenty-one when you became a general and that you're twenty-five now." she shifted where she stood, not sure how to continue. "I'm wondering, how did you become a general at such a young age?"

Milon didn't say anything for a long time as he thought. He then sighed and sat down, starting to light a fire. "If you gather around, I will tell you the tale." He said with a neutral voice.

They all sat down around the small fire as it started to grow and Spike took out a quill, some ink and a roll of parchment.

"Should I write this down?" He asked Twilight, who looked over at Milon. "Is it okay if he does?"

Milon nodded. He put a log of wood on the fire. "It's not a happy story, though, stories of this kind never are.

...
Milon were standing on the wall, looking out over his hometown, the capital of Holems, Darkane. Merchants, peasants and all sorts of people were yelling, talking and living their lives in the streets below.

"Milon!" He heard a voice calling to him. Milon recognized this voice very well. He remembered the first time he heard it, the day his father and him moved to Darkane. He had been living in the Darkane stronghold almost all of his life and since he was the captain of the soldiers in the fortress and his father was the general of the royal army, things were good for them. But what this day had in store for him, would change his life forever.

He turned around and were met by the sergeant, Augustus.

"Augustus, my friend. what brings you here?"

The older male did a salute. "Your father is requesting your presence sir!

Milon chuckled. "I told you, you can drop all the sir and salute things, we're friends you and I."

Augustus smiled and took off his helmet. "Casual as usual I notice," He smiled and patted Milons shoulder "Your father seeks you, he said that it was important, but nothing more than that."

Milon nodded. "the old man is sounding more and more as a wise old wizard with each passing day, but I'll head to his chambers immediately."

Augustus nodded in response and headed back to the barracks, from where he came.

Milon walked through the halls and up stairs, heading towards his fathers chambers. At the end of the top hall were his fathers room. He opened the sturdy wooden door and went inside, closing it after him. "Father, you wanted to see me?"

His father, Rolfe, was old, he was sixtyfive years old and his hair and beard had turned gray long ago.

"Ah... Son..." He stood up from his chair and gave his son a tight hug.

"I need to speak to you. And I'm afraid that this won't be making the day any brighter, I know that it will make the sky dark, for the both of us..."

Milon gave him a concerned look. "Father? What do you mean?"

Rolfe sighed. "I am getting old... I have lived a long life. Taking care of you after your mother died was not easy. But you have been a good son, you're a good man. We have lived here for so long and... What I'm trying to say is... I'm dying."

Milon froze at his fathers words. He knew that this day would come, the day his father told him that his life was coming to an end, but he had always hoped that it would never come.

"Time has caught up to me, and I feel myself getting weaker every day and I am going to die. But I have one last thing to ask of you."

Milon nodded. "What is it that you ask of me? You know that I will do anything for you."

Rolfe gripped his sons shoulder and looked at him, his face serious. "I want you to fight me in a duel, and defeat me to take my position as the general when I die."

Milon wanted to protest, even though he had told his father that he would do anything for him. "Father! You want me to kill you!? I... I don't think I can do that!"

His father shook his head. "I know it's not easy, but there is no one else that I trust will do the right thing with the power my position will give. Remember what I've always told you, We need to protect our people, the people is the kingdom. "

"For without a kingdom, the king will have nothing to rule." Milon finished. "It is our duty to the king."

His father continued. "I also know that you will give me a quick and painless death."

Milon smiled at him, sorrow starting to fill inside his chest. "I promise that I will give you a warriors death, so that Calorossa will accept you into the heavens."

Rolfe nodded. "I'll go talk to the king, we have some preparations to make before the duel."

Milon took his fathers arm, causing him to look back at him."I want you to fight me, no going easy. Or else you won't die like a warrior if I manage to take you down!"

His father chuckled. "I might be old boy, but I'm not so old that I have forgotten the meaning of honour, or how to fight a scrawny shrimp like you."

...

King Gordin were standing in the castle courtyard along with Rolfe and Milon. Captains, Sergeants, the kings men and soldiers were standing around them, about to watch the duel between the father and the son.

"Rolfe." The king spoke loud and clear, so that everyone could hear, and to make them be quiet. "If you are defeated in this duel to the death against your son Milon, he will take over your position as the general of the royal army of Holems, and as an honouring gift for the services you have done for your country you will be buried in the tomb of heroes. Do you accept these conditions?" Rolfe, old as he was, still looked strong and dangerous in the armour he was wearing. He gave his king a nod, accepting the conditions of the duel. "I understand, my liege."

The king turned to Milon, both sorrow and seriousness painting his face now. "Milon, Captain of the Darkane Stronghold soldiers. If your father defeats you, in this duel to the death, the sergeant below you will take over your rank as captain and you will be buried in the Soldiers Graveyard. Do you accept these conditions?" Milon nodded. "I accept."

The king sighed, it was almost like he had wished that one of them didn't accept, so that there were no need for them to duel.

"Then, let the duel begin!" The king backed away,and Milon and Rolfe drew their swords.

The sound of steel against steel filled the courtyard as the duellists swung their swords against one another, sending sparks around them as their blades crashed against each other. As they stood close, their blades connected.

Milon spoke. "I love you father, and I will miss you..."

Rolfe just gave a quick nod and swung his sword again, forcing Milon to jump out of the way. The adrenalin were pumping inside him and his heart was beating harder than he thought was possible. He lunged forward again, causing his father to back away as he parried the blow. Rolfe stood steady, swinging his sword down toward Milon's head. Milons instinct took over, he couldn't really explain what happened. It was as if the sword in his hand took control of him, controlling his movements.

He swung upwards, his sword hitting the handle of his fathers sword, causing it to fly out of his hand. Then he slashed down across his fathers chest, tearing through his armour like it was made of paper. He watched as his father staggered backwards and fell down on his back, defeated.

Milon dropped his sword and ran over to his father, kneeling down at his side. "Father..."

Rolfe smiled at him through the pain. The wound was deadly, they both knew it. He coughed, blood dripping out from the side of his mouth.

"Milon... My son..." He grimaced in pain as he spoke. "You have made me very proud... I know you are ready for what is in front of you. I only wish that I didn't have to die for you to protect our people. I love you, son... May Callorossa give you courage and strength to do what is right, and to protect the ones that need protection..." Tears were flowing from his eyes now, dripping into his bright gray beard.

Milon was also crying. "I love you father..." He could barely speak, the tears were dripping down his cheeks. "I pray to you Calorossa, the goddess of war to take my father, the warrior Rolfe Damel into the heavens. He has died a warriors death!"

Rolfe was dead, and Milon were breathing heavily, trying to hold even more tears back.

"I love you father... we will meet again in the heavens above..."He put his fingers at his fathers eyes and closed them, making him look serene, and finally at peace.

Chapter 4: A loving embrace (SKIPABLE CLOP INSIDE!)

Chapter 4. A loving embrace

( if you dont like clop you can jump over that part, you will easily notice the passage it is in and you will just as easy be able to skip it. thank you )

The ponies looked at Milon. Their gazes filled with shock, sorrow and most of all, pity.

Milon had no expression on his face, he couldn't cry, not now. He had cried enough anyway, five years of being all alone after his father had died had gotten it's fair share of tears out of him.

Spike's quill had become quiet long ago by now. They had been sitting there for a while, no one daring to open their.

Applejack put her hoof on her boyfriends shoulder, making him put his hand on it, squeezing it softly.

"That was a long time ago..." Milon continued. "There is not one day that I don't regret what I did. But I know that I did the right thing. I am happy that I got to give him my goodbyes, rather than someone else taking his life in battle."

Twilight cleared her throat, looking painfully sad. "I'm sorry Milon, I didn't think that it would be such a painful and sad story! Sometimes I don't know when to stop asking questions..."

Milon looked up at her, his face was still wearing a neutral expression, but his voice were softer than it were when he told his story. "You have nothing to apologize for. You might not know when to stop asking." He took a cup of water standing in front of him and drank a mouthful before putting it back down and continued. "But sometimes I think that I should know when to stop answering."

It almost looked like Twilight had been hurt physically by that statement. "Please, don't say that..."

Milon looked at her with a stern look in his eyes. "Twilight. You asked, and I chose to answer. It might be for the best that you got to know this, I think you would have gotten me to tell you eventually anyways." He looked around to the others, Spike, Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy were still looking uncomfortable and sad.

"Guys..." He started to sound a bit frustrated. "This doesn't bother me that much. My father entrusted me with this position, and he knew I'd give him an honourable death, you don't need to neither apologize nor feel sad for me. I have done my mourning, and to be honest, i feel better now that you know"

They didn't look very convinced by this,but they chose to trust him and nodded.

Spike yawned and stretched, putting away the quill and parchment into Twilights saddle bag. "Well, I guess that we should head home, it's late and we'll need our sleep. Especially me, my scales need me to get my beauty sleep."

...

The ponies stood up, saying their goodbyes as they walked out, one by one, wishing the pair a good night and a calm sleep.

Milon sighed as he closed the tent entrance after them and sat back down at the small fireplace. Applejack leaned against him, trying to give him some comfort.

None of them spoke, not for a while at least. Milon didn't feel like speaking, and Applejack was afraid to speak, in case she said something wrong, or something that would upset him.

He turned around and kissed her cheek. "I don't know what to say, love." He started, sounding a bit tired. He sighed again "As I said before, this was long ago, and I've already mourned my father. I have to move on, I need to prove that we both made the right decision. It's all I can do by this point"

Applejack nodded, as to tell him to go on.

"My men and women trust me, and I do not plan to let them down or to make them believe that I don't have the will or courage to lead them. But..." He slapped his knee in a way that would make it seem like he had an epiphany. "We are all friends! There might be differences in rank, but we're brothers and sisters, we are close and we would die for each other, even if it meant that we'd have to wage war on the whole world!"

He suddenly felt a hoof on his cheek and he turned his head, a pair of green eyes meeting his. "Sugarcube... You're the top rooster here because they know that you can do it. They believe in you! You are the best of the best. They look up to you! Everyone is allowed to feel sorrow, love, and happiness. That sure won't stop you from being the same reliable person. They-"

She was cut of by Milon's lips landing on hers in a passionate kiss, which she immediately returned, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. She opened her mouth and both of them were quick to show their partners tongue some love.

She felt Milon's arms wrap around her and pull her close to him. Her hat fell off as Milon ran his hand through her hair, letting his fingers run through its lenght.

Applejack placed both her hooves on his cheeks and held his face in place, kissing him deep and passionately. Milon's other hand slowly moved its way down to her rump, giving it a squeeze.

This caused Applejack to pull away from the kiss, giggling. "Whoa there. Did the big strong general find something he likes?" She gave him a naughty look.

He now moved both hands down to her butt and began to rub it softly. "I think you already know the answer to that." He leaned forward and gave her another kiss, this one quick and soft. Their kissing and cuddling went on for a while, but when they finished, Applejack jumped down from her lovers lap and sat down next to him, leaning on his arm. He wrapped his left arm around her, looking at the campfire with a smile, throwing another piece of wood on it. Everything had just gotten a bit more lovely.

...

Things had been going well for the past week, Applejack and her friends had spent time over at the human camp and there had been many good opportunities for eating dinner in front of a campfire and then sleeping under the stars, all of which they took. Now both Milon and Applejack were fully comfortable with being open with their affection. Kissing, hugging and snuggling felt just right when they sat in front of the warm campfire. As always, Pinkie Pie had no comment about it, she just said "Okie dokie lokie", threw confetti in the air and wanted to throw a They're a pair party, which of course they all agreed to.

There were much love between them and everyone were happy for them. Applejack loved him deeply and she felt he did the same, not only because he told her, he proved it. She could feel it in every kiss, every touch. But now, Applejack started to get in the mood. Milon had treated her right, done everything he could for her. He made food for her, cuddled her to sleep, showered her with love at every chance he got, basically everything a man should do for the woman he loves, and Applejack did he same for him. She had been supportive and proud of Milon, showing him that she believed in him, and loved him no matter what.

She had wanted to take the next step for a while now, she wanted him to take her with the same energy, love, and determination he had shown her his love. She started to blush every time she thought about it. There had been good times for them to make love but it simply just didn't happen. But this time it is going to happen. She swore to herself.

Milon smiled at the armour clad pony in front of him. "Good job, just keep your legs steady."

A group of pony soldiers had arrived that afternoon, asking if they could train with him, and he had agreed, he thought that it would be fun.

At the moment they were practising parrying. Milon was a bit shocked when he realized that ponies wore a helmet with a blade on it, but he found it to be understandable since they had no hands. The soldier he was sparring with now, Salvatore, was not a novice in handling his blade.

Even though he was skilled with his weapon, he could barely keep up with Milon's speed, but he turned and swung his head, successfully protecting himself from Milon's blade.

Milon swung his blade in a wide horizontal swing, it connected with Salvatores and the strength of his strike makingit cut through Salvatores blade. There was a moment of silence as the cut off end of the pony's blade fell to the ground, then they all started to laugh, even some of the human soldiers that had been watching were holding their stomachs in laughter.

Milon chuckled. "I guess that Equestrian blacksmiths have done their work about half right!"

Salvatore smirked. "Yeah, it lasted this long at least, good thing it broke now, rather than in a battle." Milon shook Salvatore's hoof, to thank for the match. "I promise, I'll repair it for you, my friend."

Salvatore shook his head "That won't be necessary, I'll just take it to one of our blacksmiths."

"I insist, now follow me." Milon took the helmet off of Salvatores head, and went to pick up the part of the blade that had been cut off.

It was Salvatore's turn to chuckle now. "And the people that trained you did their job right, a general thats stubborn and won't bow down to no one in a lesser position than himself."

Everyone laughed again. The Myrmidon soldier named Arkantos stepped forward, sword in hand, "So, is anyone up to challenge me?"

A big, strong looking stallion with a blade helmet on his head stepped forward, "you're on!"

Milon and Salvatore walked away from the group of soldiers, Milon holding the broken helmet in his hands.

"So, are you going to get one of your smiths to fix it?" Salvatore smiled as he followed him, looking around at all the tents in the camp.

"No, I will actually do it myself, wasn't that what i promised?" Milon said, his expression unchanged.

Salvatore looked up at Milon. "You have some skill in forging weapons then?"

Milon chuckled, "Some skill is saying the least. My family are, or me, since it's only me left, is the best smith in Holems."

Salvatore raised his eyebrows, "Is that so? Well seeing-"

Milon filled in with the rest of the saying. "Is believing. Thats why I'm going to show you how to do it properly, and you might have something to tell the equestrian smiths afterwards."

They both chuckled.

As they arrived at the forge, which were not in use at the moment, Milon got the equipment he needed and lit the fire. He went to work in silence, Salvatore watching closely at what he did.

First Milon started with heating up the blade and the cooling it down rapidly in a barrel of cold water, as he put the cut off piece of the blade inside the raging fire it started to glow with an intense heat.

He picked the iron blade up with a pair of tongs. the heat had caused the blade to deform, but when the repeated heating and cooling process were done Milon started to shape the blade with his hammer, until it resembled its original shape.

The last thing he did before sharpening the blade were to heat up the cut off end at the helmet until it glowed with a bright white colour. He then held the helmet in place with a vice and he then hammered the two pieces together.

As he sharpened the blade on the large sharpening stone, which is turned by pushing a pedal, sparks were flying from the blade, making squint his eyes and Milon smile slightly.

"You worked in silence through the whole thing. You're focused."

Milon held up the helmet, inspecting the blade and then continued to sharpen it. "Myrmidons are one with their blades, and blacksmiths, such as myself, we put our soul into the blades we make. These are our creations, they symbolize us. They our entire being objectified in a blade."

He took the helmet away from the sharpening stone and stood up."All done!" As he gave the helmet back to Salvatore he looked proud. "This one will never be cut in half! You can now boast that you have the best blade of all the soldiers in the Equestrian army!"

Salvatore smirked as he put his helmet on. "You really do brag."

Milon chuckled, "If your smiths had done their job we'd never been here in the first place my friend."

This earned a laugh from Salvatore. "Allright, I yield to the power of the Myrmidon blacksmith." He turned around. "I apologise for leaving already, but have to go back to my group, have a good day general."

Milon put his hand to his forehead, giving a salute. "You too soldier."

Milon walked back to the forge, and began to assemble more equipment and steel bars.

"HEYA!" The shout didn't really startle him as much as it made his soul choke on whatever it had in its throat. Pinkie Pie stood beside him with a wide smile on her face.

"Hello Pinkie." He greeted her, doing his best to recover from the shock.

"Hi Milon, whatcha doin'?" She kept smiling and looking at him with an intense stare.

He pulled a rope that controlled the bellows of the forge, blowing air into the fire, which caused it to flare up and shoot sparks into the sky."I think I'm going to smith some armour, since the palisade has been fully constructed and there is no need for me to be anywhere right now. I think this is a good time to work with my hobby."

"Oooh!" Pinkie Pie walked closer and sat down on her bottom next to the big bellows. "Can I watch?"

"You sure can."

Milon started to heat up the big steel bars by putting them into the forge and pumping the bellows. He started to think about what he was going to smith. A chest plate, one of the square shields. He could not decide at first, but then he thought about what he had said to Salvatore earlier. Seems like the equestrian smiths have done their job half right. . He looked over at Pinkie pie and kept thinking. Pinkie Pie didn't seem to care that he was looking at her, she just stared right back, determined to win this game of stare.

"Pinkie?"

"Yup?"

Milon held out a rope with a few knots on it, used for measurement. "Care to help me with something?"

...

Applejack had decided to surprise Milon with another box of donuts, a big box filled with atleast thirty of them. In truth she didn't really have any idea how to go about to make Milon have sex with her, she didn't really figure any plan out. But they loved each other, and it couldn't really be too hard to get everything going after all, she thought.

She carried the box of donuts in a saddle bag and she was heading down the dirt road that lead to the, now fort of the Myrmidon army. She had taken her hair band off again today, letting her long blond mane flow out into the breeze, it felt good, the wind was rustling her mane in a way that she enjoyed.

She was thinking to herself Maybe... She suddenly got an idea, a good one, she thought atleast. Maybe I can use the cider to heat everything up!

She had noticed that Milon drank quite a lot of the strong cider he had gotten. Of course it wasn't as strong as the vodka, so he needed to drink a few cups but once he got going he could become quite drunk. She also knew this because last time it had taken him about six or seven cups before he started to make out with her in a very, lets say sloppy, but passionate way. She was drunk herself at the time so she didn't mind it one bit.

She giggled to herself. Men become so practical and simple when they're drunk. Then she reminded herself that men weren't the only ones changing when they got tipsy. She remembered how she were feeling when Milon had kissed her in that sloppy manner. She became really hot and she were blushing profusely once she realized that she were getting aroused and wet between her legs.

Applejack felt the blush on her cheeks from remembering these things and she smirked. I think that adding some cider to this mix will have the result I want.

She came in through the fort gates and headed toward Milon's tent. It didn't matter if he were in the tent or not, she still had to get some cider anyway.

Milon wasn't in his tent so Applejack put the box in front of the wooden bed and headed out towards the kitchen tents, where they had all the food and drinks. Luckily she managed ask them for a few liters of cider without any problems. According to what she knew they measured drinks in liters, if you wanted one litre of milk for example you got it in a kind of wooden bucket with a lid, and in this bucket fit almost exactly one litre of whatever you wanted in it.

Her saddle bags could easily fit the four liters she asked for and after the cooks had helped her put the buckets in her bags she headed back towards the tent. As she trotted back down the dirt path towards Milon's tent she could hear a voice that she recognized.

"I'm so gonna wear this at my next party! It's so shiny, and comfortable!" Was that Pinkie Pie?

Now interested in why Pinkie Pie were in the camp, and what it was that she thought were so shiny and comfortable, she headed towards where she last heard her voice.

As she came around the corner of a big red tent she could see Pinkie Pie sitting on the ground, wearing a set of armour that looked like it fit her perfectly, and as a cherry on this shining steel sundae, she had a helmet on her head. It didn't have a plume but it had a blade on it, just as the standard Equestrian army helmet, unless the wearer is a unicorn, in that case your horn in sharp enough to cause damage, so a blade wouldn't be needed, and there would just be a hole for the horn to go through.

Milon was sitting in front of Pinkie Pie, inspecting the armour to see if there were any defects or if there would be any chance of it pinching or hurting the wearer when the different sections moved around during movement. From what he could see when he looked at it closely while moving the pieces around, he had done it close to perfect, the only thing left to do now were to sew and attach leather on the inside so that it would be more comfortable and less cold to wear.

"Hiya Pinkie pie!" Applejack trotted towards them, smiling widely.

"Oh hi AJ, look at what Milon has made me! Isn't it awesome?"

Applejack looked up and down, checking her new piece of clothing out. "It sure looks nice, but that helmet looks silly without the plume thing up there."

Pinkie Pie nodded- "Yup, but I'll fix that." She took the helmet off, held her mane up and put the helmet back on, her curly pink mane now sticking up where the plume should be.

Applejack giggled and turned to Milon, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "How are you feeling today darling? Got some work done?"

Milon smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss on her lips- "I'm good, I just wanted to see how it would be to try and make some armour for ponies from scratch, and I think it turned out good. Some small details to work on, but it takes time to get perfection." He looked at Pinkie, giving her a smile and a nod. "All done Pinkie Pie!"

This caused the pink pony smile widely, at the same time as her eyes began to twinkle. "Thank you so much! I'll be sure to tell everyone that you're the one who made it! Oh everyone is going to be sooo jealous!" She started to trot away and waved goodbye.

Her new armour earned some looks as she walked past some soldiers on her way out of camp.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Applejack turned back to her boyfriend, who were cleaning himself off with a rag.

"Not much, I have nothing scheduled today and no one has needed my assistance yet. So basically, I have the rest of the day off."

Applejack smiled and felt a slight blush grow on her cheeks in anticipation of what she hoped would happen.
"I got some cider for the two of us from the kitchen just now, want to go back to your tent and drink some of it?"

Milon stretched and groaned. "Nnnngh... Yeah, absolutely. Would feel wonderful to cool down for a bit and to take a drink."

Suddenly a loud rumble was heard and then the rain poured down with such force that it felt like someone had emptied a bucket of water directly upon them.

They ran towards Milon's tent wanting to get away form the rain as fast as possible. They were not the only ones, soldiers around them picked up all their belongings and equipment they had brought out with them and ran into shelter.

Of course the guards in the towers and over by the gate had cover from the weather, thanks to the roof built on the towers, and stayed at their posts. Another lightning bolt lit up the sky, followed by another loud rumble.

The two lovers almost literally threw themselves into the tent when they got to it.

"Holy crap!" Milon's hair was lying flat on his head, completely drenched, and Applejack's hat was drooping as it was now soaked.

"Now that was something none of us expected!" She said and took her hat off.

"Yeah, is the weather always like this?" Milon asked as he started to dry himself off before going to light a fire.

"No, it's not very often that this happens." Applejack took off her saddlebags and put them at the foot of Milon's bed and Milon used his flint and steel to light a fire in the fireplace. Soon there was a sparking fire in it and they both sat in front of it, holding cups with the cider Applejack had brought with her.

"So, any reason you wanted to bring the cider with you, love?" Milon took a sip from his cup and smiled at her, feeling the warmth spread inside him.

His girlfriend were leaning on his chest, drinking some herself. "I guess that my intuition told me the right things."

He smirked. "Oh yeah, you girl sand your intuition." As they kept on talking they drank more and more, and became more drunk as time went on. After a while, Applejack shoved the big box of donuts to Milon, which earned her a big kiss on the lips. The donuts Milon didn't save for later did lot last very long, and they went down quick.

He smiled at his girlfriend, and gave her another kiss on the lips. "I love you, my dearest."

_________ (Clop begins here, don't want to read it? scroll down until you can see the notice saying "clop over")____

Milon held her close, kissing her deeply. He didn't know if it was because they both had so much cider taste in their mouths or because he was drunk, but this was the best kiss they had shared so far.

Applejack was sitting on his lap, kissing him back just as passionately, her tongue lapping hungrily at Milon's.

As Milon's hand placed themselves on her butt she let out a moan that was of nothing else than pleasure and naughtiness. "Mhaa..."

His hands gripped her butt cheeks firmer now and Applejack felt her want for him and his love grow. Each second she wanted him more and more, until she reached her limit.

"I love you!" She moaned and pushed her butt back onto his hands as they rubbed her.

"I love you too Applejack." Milon were panting, the heat and the alcohol in his body making him slightly dizzy.

Applejack put her hooves on the sides of Milon's head, staring right into his eyes with an intensity that scared Milon for a second.

"Take me! Make me yours!" She pleaded to him, rubbing herself up against his chest.

Milon understood, but his words wouldn't come out when he tried to tell her that he'd do anything for her. "Uhh..."

Applejack groaned, thinking that he didn't understand anything she said, she moved her hoof down to his crotch, rubbing it firmly. "Take this thing, and slam it as far as it gets into me! And if you don't I'll take it myself and I'll make sure that you release your love inside me by pinning you down to this ground! Ya hear!?"

Milon lit up, if his words wouldn't come out to his aid, he'd have to use his body.

He lifted her up and put her on the bed, laying her on her back. He looked down at her as she laid there, spreading her legs, revealing her full self to him.

He bit his lip, feeling his member stiffen and grow at the sight of her laying there. He knelt down on the bed, bringing his face up close to her wet, longing pussy. He gave her breasts a soft squeeze, making applejack squeal and shiver.

He opened his mouth, letting out a hot breath onto her pussy, making her shiver and gasp even louder at this feeling, "Oh... Ooooh!"

She let out a high pitched squeal as his tongue slipped into her folds, rubbing wildly against her inner walls. "M-Milon! Oh! D-don't stop!" She couldn't control her movements anymore, her tail swished back and forth and her whole body squirmed in pleasure.

Milon sucked on her clit, grazing it lightly with his teeth, teasing her, wanting to make her anticipation for the full thing grow and grow. He looked up and moved away from her pussy, a string of her juices still connecting his lips and her hot, quivering pussy.

His cock was rock hard, he couldn't wait anymore either. He had teased the love of his life for too long now. He laid down between her legs, and moved his member closer to her nethers. As he pushed his tip into her she could hear her soft moans. "Yes! Finally, yes! Oh nelly, that feels so good!"

As he slid his length into her she let out another squeal, and he could feel her warm, wet insides squeeze tight around it. He groaned, it felt so damn good to be inside her, to feel her inner muscles welcome him with such passion. He started to thrust, sliding his length in and out at a steady pace, causing them both to breathe heavy and moan. Applejack clinged to him, doing her best to wrap her legs and forelegs around him.

The bed started to rock and creak as his thrusting became harder. "Ah! M-Milon!" Applejack couldn't have imagined that it would feel so good. She moaned out loud each time his cock slammed into her, spreading pleasure throughout her body, her moans mixed with the moans and the grunts of pleasure from her lover.
"Ahh! Harder! Yes!"

Milon shoved his cock even harder into her and let out a long heaving moan as the tip of his cock slammed into her cervix again. He leaned down and kissed her, their saliva mixing when their tongues wrestled in the dance of love.

Applejack wrapped her hind legs around him again, wanting to keep them there even though they kept slipping down, moaning in rhythm with the beds creaks and Milons thrusts. "Ah! Ohh! Yes! Milon! I love you! Ahh, never stop! Please, never stop!"

Milon didn't respond with anything more than a grunt that sounded like never! He moaned and kept at his pace, Applejack's juices dripping from her pussy onto his cock and down on the bed, creating wet stains on the hay mattress. As his cock repeatedly slammed into her cervix, Applejack felt her orgasm build up, so did her moans.

They grew louder and louder until she finally got over the edge and screamed out in pleasure as she came, her pussy clamping down tightly around Milon's cock. If she tired to say anything, it didn't come out audible, she let out loud squeals as her legs kicked weakly in the air.

Milon started to groan, his had cock started to throb and pulsate, he was close to realse himself, and his speed automatically picked up from this.

He tensed up and pushed himself as deep he could get as he came. Applejack squealed and her body shivered with each spurt of cum that shot into her womb. She wanted this, more than anything she ever wanted before, it finally happened, his seed was inside her.

They both breathed heavily, the heat inside the tent were like steam, lingering in the air, clinging to the pairs sweaty bodies. They looked at each other, still panting. They shared a soft, loving kiss, basking in the afterglow of this moment of love.

Milon smiled, with that look in his eyes that revealed he had something going on.

"What are you up to now, love?" Applejack smiled back.

Milon smirked. "Ready for another round?"

The last thing you could hear from inside the tent after that were Applejack letting out more soft moans.

______ (clop over!)_____________________________

A few weeks later.

It was a sunny day, everything was as it used to be. The birds were singing, the soldiers were at work in the Myrmidon camp, nothing was out of the ordinary.

Still, something was in the air, Milon could feel it, and it made him lose his focus slightly. He didn't know why, but this was the same feeling that had saved his life in past times. He walked around in the camp, checking everything just to make sure. The kitchen tents, the armoury, the forge, the soldiers training. Everything was normal, but he could not ignore or shake off the uneasy feeling.

"GENERAL!" He heard someone call for him, it was one of the soldiers on guard over the gate,"Two of the kings officers are arriving!" Milon looked out of the gate and saw two men, wearing plumed helmets followed by a small group of soldiers.

"What the hell?" He gasped then turned around. " Soldiers, be on guard!"

Chapter 5: Myrmidons, to arms!

"Hail, general Milon!" one of the two officers adressed him, bowing his head. "We have orders from the great king Gordin!"

Milon frowned, this wasn't expected, and he hadn't gotten any message about this arrival either. "Come into my tent, officers, so that I can hear these... Orders that the king has sent you to give me."

As they walked into Milon's tent the officers took of their helmets and ordered their bodyguards to wait outside. They took off their helmets and the oldest looking one started to speak to Milon. "Let's make this quick, general. The king wants us to prepare the coming events as quickly as possible. "

"What events?" This didn't feel right, something inside Milon told him that something was horribly wrong

"Since you are already so close to the Equestrian capital, Canterlot, with your soldiers, you and your army are to conquer Canterlot and make them kneel before the great empire of Holems!"

It felt like Milon's heart had stopped, fear, hate and anger rising up inside of him. " You want me, to do what?"

The officer looked at him with a piercing look in his eyes. " Take over Canterlot and keep it until our king comes here to make the princesses of Equestria kneel to him and accept him as their new king."

Suddenly the soldiers that were standing outside of Milon's tent heard a loud scream, and out of the tents opening flew both of the officers, landing in a heap on the dirt road in front of their own bodyguards.

"NEVER!" Milon shouted at them as he stepped out, rage emanating from his very being, "I would rather DIE than performing this kind of treachery!"

The two human officers got up from the ground and the soldiers that had escorted them rushed to their side, weapons in hand.

"Guards, seize this traitor!" The officer commanded them and they hurried towards Milon to arrest him. But they didn't get far, the Myrmidon soldiers around Milon and the officers had jumped up and charged at the attackers.

It was over quick, the officers bodyguards laid dead at their feet, the Myrmidon blades had easily cut through their armour, and the skill of the Myrmidon soldiers had overcome the guards skill with their blades.

The officers faces were painted with blood, shock and more than anything, fear. "M-Murderers!" They slowly backed away, stuttering while pointing at Milon and the soldiers. "MURDERERS! You will all be punished for this! You will all pay with your lives!"

They turned around and ran, they ran like they were chased by the darkest demons of hell themselves.

The young soldier Arkantos walked up to Milon, a crossbow in his hands. "How many men does it take to deliver a message general?" His tone was serious, and so was the look on his face.

Milon sighed, and answered. "One, do your best, soldier."

Arkantos held up the crossbow, aimed, and fired.

The bolt flew through the air and impaled the neck of the officer that were closest to them. With the sound of an axe hitting wood, the bolt went into his neck, the tip poking out on the other side as it went completely through his throat. With a sound that was a mix of a scream of pain and gurgling, the man fell down on the ground, gripping the bolt as his blood flowed out of his throat.

Milon turned around and sighed at this sight. Augustus came to his side asking for what they were to do. "What are your orders general?"

"Collect their armour and weapons, then bury the bodies outside our camp." He walked back into his tent. "After that assemble every soldier, we are heading to Canterlot, we have to prepare for war."

...

The girls and Spike were sitting around a table outside of their favourite inn in Canterlot, eating donuts and drinking cider. Well, not all of them, Rarity was eating a salad and Spike had brought some rubies and sapphires to eat from home, since they aren't cheap to buy and the inns doesn't sell them.

Pinkie Pie was still wearing the armour she had gotten from Milon, she burped and waved her cup around trying to get the bartenders attention. "Barkeep! Another one please!"

"Don't you get warm in that thing at all Pinkie, darling?" Rarity asked looking at her with an amused look on her face.

"Not at all, the leather under this steel is thin, and its just to stop the armour from giving you scratches and pinching you, so it feels kind of like wearing a dress, except that it weighs more and that I look totally badass in this thing~!" She answered, looking at her with a smile, waving her hooves around as she spoke.

"But why are you still wearing it?" Twilight asked her. "I mean, it looks like a perfect masquerade outfit, and it might be badass, but it's not for everyday living, plus you are not a soldier." She pointed out, ever the pointer-outer.

"Easy." Pinkie answered, her smile still wide. "It's a gift! And I'm going to wear it for a loooong time, until I've given Milon a gift back! I wonder what he'll-" A loud burp cut her off.

The girls stared at spike, who now had the bowl which the gemstones had been in, on his head.

"What?" He asked, and frowned at them. "When you girls burp all you do is giggle and smile about it..." he put the bowl down and started to walk away.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Rainbow Dash shouted after him.

"I'm going back home! See you there, Twilight."

The purple pony sighed. "We might have been a bit unfair on him."

Rarity sat up, striking a high class pose. "At least a lady like me would never burp, in public of course!"

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and took another bite of her donut.

Suddenly Spike came running back towards them as fast as his legs could bear.

"I knew he'd come back!" Rainbow Dash said. "So, did you change your mind alrea-"

"Guys! Come here hurry! HURRY!" He waved for them to follow him, which they did, all of them running down the road, heading for the big main road going through Canterlot.

"What is it Spike? An emergency?" Twilight asked as she easily kept up with Spike's speed.

"I'm not sure, but it looks like that atleast!" He answered, panting.

As they got to the main road they were met with the sight of the Myrmidon army marching towards princess Celestia's castle. As they turned their heads in confusion to look at them, they saw Milon in the front, holding the Myrmidon banner in his hand.

They galloped over to him."Milon!"

He turned his head to look at them, but didn't stop his stride, answering them with a neutral tone. "Yes? "

"What is this?" Twilight asked him, now very confused, "Why are you marching to the castle?"

"Something has happened" Milon said, letting out a huff.

"What has happened? What are you talking about sugarcube?" Applejack seemed just as confused as the rest of them as she tried to get some answers from her lover.

"I will explain when we reach the castle!" Milon said with an annoyed tone and started to walk a bit faster, as if he thought that they couldn't get there fast enough.

"But, darling-" Rarity started but she got cut of by Milon.

"At the castle ladies, please!"

They quieted down and followed Milon towards the castle. The soldiers behind Milon stopped at the base of the stairs, and only the girls and Milon's officer, Augustus followed him up the stairs.

Now the streets started to get filled with ponies that wondered what was going on and why the humans were standing below the castle at all, since this had not been planned.

As the group walked into the throne room they were greeted by both princess Celestia, princess Luna, and princess Cadance and Shining armour.

"Good day Milon, what a pleasant surprise!" Celestia greeted him and gave him a bow.

Milon bowed back. "I wished that it would be a pleasant visit my lady, but I have grave news."

This earned him everybody's attention. "Holems is declaring war on the kingdom of Equestria!"

The girls and spike gasped, princess Cadence hugged her husband tight in shock and both the royal sisters stood up.

"What do you mean declare war!?" Luna asked, her voice booming now, echoing through the room. "You said that the people of Holems came with wishes of peace and prosperity, was this all just a plan to deceive us?"

Milon sighed. "The king of Holems, Gordin sent his officers to me, they came with orders that I was to ambush Canterlot when you are not ready for it and through that, conquer Equestria."

Princess Celestia's face had turned from shocked to depressed as she heard him out. "Then, if what you've told me about the size of the great army of Holems is true... Then Canterlot won't stand a chance if they come here to conquer us."

Milon looked over to Shining armour. "Captain!"

"Yes general?" Twilights brother walked over to Milon, making a salute with his hoof.

"The Myrmidon army will not stand for the treachery the king of Holems has committed against you. Telling you that we come in peace but secretly waging war. The king has no honour, and no sense of defeating an enemy in open battle rather than using cowardly means. The Myrmidons and I have decided that we are going to help you defend Canterlot!"

Shining Armour let out a sigh of relief and gave Milon a look of respect. "Then you came as brethren after all! I thought you were going to leave, to not participate in the attack. But what you are doing now, turning yourself into traitors. You have earned my deepest respect!"

Milon turned around, "I know more about how the army is equipped and of the officers below me and their strategies. And with your army by our side, they will have to fight for their lives!"

Celestia cleared her throat, making the two warriors turn to her. "Before we start to plan our defences, we have to prepare the people for what is to come, they deserve to know."

Shining Armour and Milon nodded at her, agreeing with her decision

She walked towards the castle gate, Milon following close by her side. As they walked out, they were met by cheers from all the ponies that were standing below them, around the Myrmidons.

Celestia raised her hoof, silencing the ponies. "loyal and beloved subjects, today is a dark day!" she began, her voice echoing through all of Canterlot, "The king of Holems has declared war on Equestria!" now even the pony soldiers standing around them stared at them, and some mares could be heard screaming, "Milon told me that by siding with us they have been branded as rebels. For aiding us, he is a hero!"

Now Milon stepped forward, putting his hand on Celestias foreleg. "If you'll excuse me princess, I think that I can take it from here."

She nodded and Milon turned to face his soldiers and all the ponies had gathered. " Earlier today, I got orders from my king to betray you, to stab you in the back when I came in peace! We will not stand for this! Me and my soldiers will do everything in our might to defend this city and you! But I want you to remember, I am no hero, I am not trying to be one. I am going to do what's right, we are going to stand by your side and fight with you! We will fight side by side! As one!"

This got everyone, humans and ponies alike to let out a roar that shook the ground they stood on.

Celestia took a step forward. Continuing the speech. "We shall give them one hell of a fight, and we will not let them inside the walls of Canterlot easily!"

...

Shining Armor, Celestia, Milon, and Augustus was standing inside Celestias counselling room around a table with a map on it.

Milon looked at the others, explaining how long it had taken him to get to Canterlot. "It took my army one full week to march directly from Darkane to Canterlot, we're two hundred blades strong. The kings army has five thousand soldiers, so we will have a month, give and take a few days, to prepare our defences." Milon looked up at Augustus. "Augustus, with you and me here, lieutenant Zach is the next in command correct?"

Augustus nodded. "Yes, and if I know him right he will bring siege towers and ladders to take control of the walls and to ensure a steady flow of soldiers onto the walls from both the ladders and siege towers. They will also try to take a hold of the gatehouse, if they succeed, their soldiers will storm into the city."

Milon looked at the map. He took up a quill and placed three crosses on various places inside the walls, "If we built catapults here, we can defend ourselves against the towers, or we can at least try."

Celestia looked at the crosses and hummed. "Hmm... How are we going to know when to fire them? If we have people controlling the catapults, they will not be able to see the siege towers until they are already at the walls."

"We can place markers at different distances outside the walls." Shining Armor filled in and placed his hoof on the map that showed the area outside of Canterlot's walls. "When their army walks past these markers we fire them off."

Augustus cleared his throat. "We will have to start working on the catapults and measure out were we are to place the markers. But we can't allow them to see the markers or they might change their tactics." Augustus pointed out. "So, what If we place rocks on the field and paint the side facing towards us with a white color so we can see it?"

Celestia nodded, her face still serious, "The best strategy is to catch the attacker off guard, if we surprise them enough they will be on their heels, and off focus as they try to be ready for a new surprise rather than focus on their attack!"

Suddenly the door opened and spike walked in, a pony guard following him in. "Spike requested to speak with you Princess." He said. " I did not want to let him in, but since he is the assistant of your personal student I thought that you could decide if you had time."

"Spike, my friend! What are you doing here?" Celestia greeted him, and nodded to the guard, making him bow and walk out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"H-Hi, princess... Sirs!" Spike bowed and turned to the table, facing the officers. "Uhm... I was walking around outside of the walls, watching the soldiers patrol and such and, I think that I might have an idea that you can use. I'm sorry if this is interrupting I just thought it might be something worth looking into."

He climbed up on the table and pointed to the Ever-free forest, that grew close to Canterlot. "The Ever-free forest is close to the hills and fields in front of Canterlot right?" The group nodded. "And on the side of the wall here." Spike pointed to the west wall. "There's a smaller gate here, so if we hide some soldiers at the edge of the Ever-free forest and attack their army from the side as they march towards the wall, they might loose quite a lot of soldiers, and if they attack the soldiers that hide there our men can just run back through this gate and have it locked behind them."

Milon smiled and patted Spike on the head, "You could be a fine strategist one day!"

This made Spike smile and chuckle. "Hehe, thanks Milon."

"If we have any men to spare I will make sure that we use your idea, alright?" Milon assured the little dragon and smiled.

"Thanks Milon!" As he walked out, he stopped in the doorway, turning around to speak. "We believe in you... We all believe in you Milon." With that he walked out and left a warm feeling in room.

...

The next day, there had been literally wave after wave of ponies who wanted to volunteer to help with everything that needed to be done to prepare Canterlot's defences for the coming battle.

Ponies and humans were running around inside and outside of Canterlot with weapons, building materials and the like, taking the materials to their destinations. Outside the walls they were putting up sharpened poles to prevent the enemy soldiers from approaching the walls in too great numbers, as well as allow the unicorns and archers to attack them from atop the wall with crossbow bolts and magic as they tried to weave in between the poles.

Even if they did not show it, everyone was afraid, an army from a different country was going to attack them, and their people would give their lives to defend themselves, they did not have any other choice.

Milon knew that it was difficult and that they were afraid for their family and friends. As Milon walked past ponies and his own soldiers working, he noticed that they got more energetic, as if his presence inspired them to work harder, almost like they wanted to be like him.

He kept telling himself that he wasn't a hero. He was simply protecting innocent people from a tyrant, a cowardly tyrant that wouldn't dare to go into battle himself. But, if he inspired them the way he seemed to do with just his presence, maybe he could lift their morale immensely when the final hour arrived.

He headed to one of the catapults, the only one that had been completed so far. They had started to test fire it so that they could calibrate the distance it would fire.

Both humans and ponies had moved big boulders around outside the walls to different positions, marking five hundred, three hundred, two hundred, one hundred, and fifty meters from the wall. And as planned, the sides that were facing towards Canterlot had been painted in a bright white colour.

The catapults were to be fired as the first line of enemy soldiers crossed the three hundred, two hundred and one hundred markers. The time it took for the enemy to get from five hundred to three hundred, were to prepare the catapults to be fired.

The catapult he was inspecting was supposed to be fired at two hundred. At the moment, they were making some adjustments, since it didn't quite reach the two hundred mark.

Milon climbed up the stairs heading up onto the wall in front of the catapult.

"How are we looking Salvatore?" He asked a brown coloured pony in front of him, he had recognized the blade he had forged onto the helmet as soon as he saw it.

"General!" Salvatore turned around and bowed, taking off his helmet. "Things are looking good, but the catapult doesn't fully reach the two hundred mark yet, it either goes too short, or too far each time we test it."

"Well, it shouldn't really exactly and at the two hundred mark should it?" Milon pointed out. "Make it land a little bit further than the mark, that will thin out the number of soldiers as the first line is at the walls. Plus, it will make the lines behind those who got hit be a little bit scared. Since one does not normally want a giant boulder on top of themselves."

"Okay, that sounds like it could do some damage. And I like damage." Salvatore turned around and shouted down to the pony engineers adjusting the machinery. "Guys! We're going to aim a bit further than two hundred. So tighten it up a bit allright? Let's give it a bit more punch!"

"Sure thing, lieutenant!" One of the engineers answered, then they adjusted the wooden cogs on the arm that slings the rock and then had two, big, strong stallions and two human soldiers of the same stature lift a boulder into the sling. "We're ready down here!"

"Allright!" Salvatore answered. He and Milon turned around looking out onto the field in front of them. Salvatore held up a red flag and waved it to the ponies out on the field, telling them that a test shot is incoming and that they need to move out of the way. They got a wave of another red flag back and the ponies on the field moved to safety.

"Two hundred, fire!" Salvatore ordered. One of the engineer ponies pulled down a lever, a loud clonking sound, followed by a swooshing sound was heard when the catapult launched the big boulder into the air.

Flying in an arch through the air, it landed on the field, a bit further than the two hundred mark, spraying dirt and grass everywhere.

Salvatore laughed and smiled widely. "A perfect launch! Damn, this is going to work perfectly, two more catapults to go. The other teams are almost finished building theirs."

Milon nodded, happy that everything worked out as they had planned. But he knew that soon enough, those boulders will spray blood and pieces of bodies and armour around them, rather than dirt and grass.

...

As the days went on, the defences were getting closer and closer to being finished. The catapults were adjusted, all the poles outside the wall were in place and the gate had been reinforced. To make sure that no one could get into the castle by using the walls, they had barricaded all the entrances to the castle along the wall with rubble, boulders and by boarding up the doors and doorways leading there.

The weeks started to slow to a crawl. Each day passing caused the anxiety and fear to grow in Canterlot, all of the ponies and humans now living there was dreading the day they would see the human army at the horizon. That day was to come, sooner than they expected.

Everything was as it had been for the few weeks. Soldiers getting ready for any possible surprise assault, ponies going on with their normal lives, trading at the market in the town square. Taking drinks at the many inns, still talking and laughing.

But suddenly, one day, the peace that still lingered in the air in Canterlot disappeared. A bell was ringing, echoing through the town with its strong vibrant tone. The bell on the gatehouse signalling that approaching enemy forces could be seen on the horizon.

Milon, felt the adrenaline rush through his body as the first tone of the bell was heard, then the second one, and then the others that followed. They were here, there was no way out now.

He ran as fast as he could, heading towards the gate. He had been talking with Applejack and the other ponies, they had been worried about what they were going to do when they were attacked. But they had felt better once Celestia had ordered that the ponies that weren't going to fight, which meant women and children, were going to hide in the castle dungeons to be protected. In theory they would be protected until the enemy broke down the castle gates, but Milon wouldn't let that happen.

Milon ran past groups of Canterlot and Myrmidon soldiers as he headed for the city gates. The soldiers were putting their armour on and headed towards their designated guard posts.

He sprinted up the stairs inside the gate heading up to the top as quickly as he could.

"General! Enemies on the horizon!" Salvatore pointed with his hoof over the edge of the wall. At the horizon you could see the tips of looked like tall wooden towers.

"Siege towers..." It was as Augustus and Milon feared. They needed to fight like lions to defend the walls from this. They could see something moving in front of the The siege towers, quickly coming closer, and Milon realized what it was when he could see the glimmering of swords, armour and what looked like wooden ladders coming towards them. It was a small assault force.

He turned around and started to shout out orders. "Myrmidons! Assault force incoming! Man the defences! Ponies of Canterlot, man your defence stations!"

Ponies and humans rushed to their battle stations upon the walls and near the gate. "Unicorns, get ready for a defence volley!" Salvatore ordered.

Milon turned to him. "No, order them back. This assault is just to see how many defenders we have, they will pull back and then bring the numbers back to the main force. Order half of the unicorns to stay where they are, that way they wont know our correct numbers when the main attack comes."

Salvatore shouted out additional orders, making a group of sixty unicorns stay behind.

"Auxiliary crossbow regiment! Half of you defend the walls, double time it!" Milon ordered and his soldiers started to stand in a line behind the wall crenelations.

The group of humans that were carrying ladders had come closer, you could now see their armour and the emblem on their banner. A black, winged shield on a white flag. The humans got ready with the ladders, slowing down as they came close to the poles that the defenders had put up outside the wall

"Get ready!" Milon shouted, both the unicorns and his own crossbowmen ready to fire at the enemy.

"LOOSE!" Both Salvatore and Milon gave the order simultaneously.

Their shouts were followed by bolts of fire, lightning and the swooshing sounds of arrows raining down on the small attack party. The soldiers below the walls screamed in fear and pain as they got struck by the arsenal and many of them fell down dead, impaled by the arrows and their faces scorned by the magical attaks.

The soldiers that survived the first volley from the walls dropped their ladders, shields and swords, retreating. They knew that they were outmatched and did not want to loose all of their men so that they were unable to give the number of the defenders to their superiors.

"Hold your fire!" Milon ordered as the enemy ran back towards the approaching army that were steadily getting closer.

Milon walked back down the stairs heading down into Canterlot. The soldiers on the walls cheered, their enemy had been defeated, for now.

Milon walked past ponies that had hid at the first best place they could find out of fear. They looked at him, many with tears in their eyes.

He pitied them, he understood their fear, they were trapped in here, and had to fight for their lives. He wished that he could take the fear out of them so that they did not have to worry, but he couldn't.

As the first attackers were defeated, the mares, fillies, colts and foals that lived in Canterlot were led into the castle to hide in the dungeon underneath it.

Milon wanted Celestia to stay inside with her people, but she refused, at least she did for a while until Milon convinced her that it would lift the spirit of her subjects to have her being with them inside the castle.

For the moment Milon and Shining Armour were standing on the Canterlot gate, gazing out onto the Holems army.

The army had stopped almost a kilometre away from the walls, and they were getting ready to attack soon, from what they could see. The sun was going to settle in a few hours and the soldiers in Canterlot were ready, they were on guard, waiting for the final moment when the Holems army attacked.

"Milon?" Twilight Sparkle were calling for him, she and the rest of the girls, along with spike were standing below the gatehouse looking up at them.

"Yes, Twilight?" Milon looked over the wall to speak to her.

"We are heading into the castle now, we just wanted to say goodbye, for now." She told him, her voice distraught.

Milon turned around and walked down the staircase leading down to them. "I'll follow you there, if anything happens Shining Armor will sound the bells."

They were all quiet as they walked towards the castle. Applejack walked close to Milon, rubbing her chin against his hand, making him rub it affectionally.

"We will do our best to defend you." Milon stated as they walked up the large staircase leading to the castle. "We will die to protect you!" His tone was serious, more serious that they had heard before-

"I don't want you to die!" Applejack cried out, stepping in front of him stopping him in his tracks."I know you are the best one to lead our soldiers, but I don't want you to die! I love you! Don't die! I'll kick you all the way to tartarus if you die!"

Milon chuckled and knelt down, placing his hands on her cheeks. "I don't want to leave you either, but I have to do the right thing, to protect you from evil. I love you more than I can tell you, and I don't want to die away from you. But I promise you, if I die I will take a hundred of them with me, and I will wait for you in the heavens." He looked deep into his lovers eyes, seeing that she acknowledged all he had said. Their tender moment was interrupted by the bells on the gatehouse that started to sound. Their clear tone echoing through Canterlot.

The ponies that were still heading to the castled started to run, letting out screams of fear.

Milon looked over his shoulder. "They are coming!"

He turned back around and lead the others into the castle. "I will come back to you, I promise, my love!" He pressed his lips against hers, kissing her passionately.

He pulled away from the kiss, turned around and started to run towards the wall.

"Milon! I'm-" Applejack shouted after him, but she was cut off as the castle guards closed the gate and barricaded it from the inside.

Her friends stared at her, a bit thrown off by her shouting.

"You're what? Applejack?" Twilight asked Applejack as she walked over to her. Applejack turned her head, and looked over at them, tears dripping down her cheeks.

"I'm pregnant!"

...

As Milon dashed up the stairs to the gatehouse he was met by Shining Armour. "They have started to move towards us! We have to get ready for them!"

Milon nodded. "Our catapults will rain down on them when they get in range!"

Shining Armour had the look of determination his face. He must be feeling the same as Milon, if he is going to die defending his people, he will take as many human soldiers as he can with him.

Milon looked over at the soldiers, they had mixed expressions. Many looked determined and scared, there were also some that were crying, tears of either fear or just plain acceptance that they were going to die defending the innocent.

He turned back around and started to shout out to the soldiers to make himself heard. "Soldiers!"

They all turned to look at him as he spoke.

"We now stand before an enemy more dangerous than any we have ever met. This enemy is made of pure greed and treachery! Me and my men came here as brothers, determined to make you love us as your friends, to prove that our kingdoms could be allies. But here we now stand, defending our loved ones from an enemy so much greater than us. But the courage I see in your eyes proves to me that every man and pony here is worthy of being a Myrmidon! We all now stand, as Myrmidons! Brothers in arms!"

He turned around and drew his blade, pointing it to the advancing army outside the walls.

"They will not get over these walls without the biggest fight in their lives!" He turned back around reaching his swords into the air. "Myrmidons! What is our creed?"

His soldiers raised their weapons and answered, shouting. "Never give up, never back down!" They continued to chant and soon all the ponies had joined in aswell. Their voices echoing over the landscape.

"Myrmidons!" Milon shouted again and now every soldier that was on the wall answered.

"Yes general!"

"Lets give them hell!"

The soldiers roared as they all ran to their specific stations to which they had been assigned. You could now hear and feel the ground shake slightly as the Holems army came into close view. The Myrmidon flagman held up the banner, now with two flags on it. The Myrmidon flag next to the Equestrian flag with Celestia and Luna circling the sun and the moon.

Milon looked out at the enemy, their first lines had passed the first markers, at five hundred.

He turned back around and shouted to the group of ponies handling one of the catapults to the left of the gatehouse. "Five hundred! Get ready!" they pulled at the ropes on the catapult and tightened the cogs one last time, now waiting for their signal.

The enemy army had now gotten closer, and they had just passed the three hundred mark. " Three hundred!" The engineers pulled the lever to the catapult and it launched the large rock over the wall.

As it arched over in the air, screams and shouts could be heard from the lines of the enemy, but it was too late. When the boulder landed, the impact launched the soldiers closest the it into the air, as well as crushing those it landed and rolled over, their screams of pain and agony over-voicing the marching feet of the entire army.

Milon felt a bit of triumph at this, they must have gotten almost fifty or sixty of them, and they were slowly getting closer to the two hundred mark.

Milon looked over to the edge of the Ever-free forest. "I hope this works!"

As he finished his sentence a stream of fire, lightning bolts and arrows flew out from the Everfree forest, hitting a regiment of the Holems army in the side, taking them by surprise. Some of the soldiers caught fire immediately, the flames engulfing them causing them to scream and drop all they carried, flailing their arms around in failed attempts to put the fire out. Others fell to the ground trying their best to pull at the arrows that had lodged themselves into their chests and legs.

Those who had been hit by the lightning bolts were on the ground, shaking as the electricity shot through them, literally cooking them inside their armour.

The survivors of the squadron immediately ran towards the unicorns and crossbowmen in the Ever-free forest, who were now fleeing back towards the smaller gatehouse close to their location.

Swords in hand, the enemy was determined to kill the unicorns before they had a chance to retreat back into Canterlot. Shining Armour shouted out orders, making crossbowmen and unicorns on the wall fire down at the soldiers attacking the group of unicorns. They didn't get far, as the arrows and different attack spells took care of them quickly.

Milon signalled that their enemies has passed the next marker down on the field. "Two hundred!" The second catapult fired and launched the boulder out to the advancing army.

This time they reacted faster to it and tried to move away, but a small portion of soldiers were still crushed and some of them that stood a bit away from the impact died from their comrades weapons and armour being smashed to pieces and flying out and piercing into them in form on shrapnel. Arrows started to rain down on the defenders on the wall from one of the siege towers that had gotten close enough for the archers inside it to attack. The defenders held up their shields to protect themselves, but some of them were not quick enough and arrows buried themselves deep into their bodies, causing them to fall backwards onto the wall or to fall over the edge down onto the field below.

"Defend the catapults from the archers in the siege towers!" Salvatore ordered ponies and soldiers ran around, trying to hide from the steady volleys of arrows raining over them.

Once again Milon ordered the last catapult to fire "One hundred!"

The third catapult clunked and this time they got a lucky hit. The boulder arched and flew right into the of the siege towers that had gotten close enough to attack. More screams were heard as the tower exploded into pieces of wood and the soldiers inside fell out and were crushed against the ground as they landed with loud thumps. The tower collapsed and raised a big cloud of dirt as all of its big wooden pieces crashed onto the ground. The Myrmidons and ponies roared at this triumphant shot.

"FIFTY! ARCHERS!" Milon gave the last signal, now the archers and unicorns would get to work.

The crossbowmen and unicorns that were on the wall ran up to the crenelations and started to fire arrows and different attack spells down at the soldiers under them.

One of the siege tower came closer and closer, and it couldn't be stopped at this point, they were going to reach the walls.

"Get ready! They will not take this wall without each one of us taking one hundred of them!" Milon shouted and drew his blade.

The Myrmidons did the same and all the ponies and unicorns lowered their heads, getting ready to run blade and horn first into those who would run out from the tower as it reached them.

The pegasi flew up in the air, ready to knock down every enemy from the wall, if the were close enough to the edge.

The siege tower were only a few meters away now, slowly creeping closer and closer.

"Whatever comes out of those towers, remember, you are all Myrmidons, you will stand your ground. You are defending your families lives! Think of them and their lives when you drive your blades your enemy!"

A loud creaking sound was heard as the siege tower stopped. The big opening on the front of the tower slowly lowered itself and then it slammed down on the crenelations, smashing the rocks under it.

The first silent seconds felt like an eternity, but then the soldiers streamed out at them, swords in hand. Screaming like crazed animals, they charged towards them, determined to show their might by cutting down any man or pony standing in their way.

The first of the soldiers that emerged from the towers were impaled by the blades and horns of the pony and unicorn soldiers as they lunged right at them.

Some of the soldiers behind the first wave were knocked down by the flying pegasi that came from above. But the archers in the tower were quick to fire at them and some of them fell out of the sky, their sides impaled with arrows as they fell to their death.

"Stand your ground!" Milon commanded as he swung his sword at a young soldier, cutting his side open and making him fall backwards off of the wall, down into the mass of soldiers below. There were a few ponies that had lost their lives already, but their comrades stood their ground, they were braver than Milon had ever imagined that they would be, he had underestimated them.

"Second tower!" Shining Armour screamed as he stuck his horn into the chest of another soldier. The second siege tower had reached the wall, and soldiers were pouring out onto the wall, cutting down the ponies who were valiantly defending it with their lives.

"Second regiment!" Milon gave orders to a group of fifty soldiers that were below the wall on the inside. All as he clashed swords with an enemy soldier. "Assist the ponies on the east wall!" He headbutted his attacker and decapitated him with powerful swing of his blade.

The soldiers ran at full speed towards the staircase that lead up to the east wall segment. And they literally jumped into the fight as they arrived to assist the pony defenders, cutting down any enemy soldier they could see.

Suddenly screams were heard from outside the walls. The third siege tower was engulfed in flames.

Their secret plan had worked. Milon had asked for ten volunteers in something that could only be described as a suicide mission. The ten soldiers was to wear the armour of the soldiers they had killed when the officers of Holems wanted Milon's army to turn on Canterlot.

Their mission was to infiltrate the Holems army as they rested before the final attack, pretending that they were part of the first assault party, and when the time was just right, they were to sabotage one of the siege towers. They knew that once they did this they would be discovered and killed.

Milon quickly pressed his blade against his heart, doing a mental salute to the warriors that died doing their duty. With their lives they had given the defenders more time before the wall would be overrun, hopefully allowing Milon and Shining Armour's soldiers to thin the numbers of the Holems army while defending the walls.

Raindrops started to fall, and soon it poured down on them, the sky darkening as the rain overtook them. The dead Holems soldiers, ponies and Myrmidons started to cover the walls, and the blood that pooled out from them were slowly being washed away by the falling rain.

After almost three hours of fighting the defenders of Canterlot were able to drive back the attackers from the walls long enough for them to retreat.

Knowing that they couldn't tear down the siege towers, they retreated into the city and spread out the soldiers as they had planned, a big portion of all the soldiers were to stand visible at the end of the big roads leading to the town square so that the enemy would head straight towards them.

In the small roads between the houses, small groups of soldiers would hide until the enemy had started to run past them, at which they would run out and attack the enemies behind them, leaving the small group heading towards the main defenders, alone and temporarily cut off from their comrades. The strategy was based on giving the enemy a bait and then surprise them.

They all ran full speed back to the town square, standing in formation at the three roads that went out from it, leading through Canterlot, ultimately connecting to the gatehouse. Crossbowmen and unicorns stood behind the pegasi, ponies and Myrmidon swordsmen on big boxes and the merchant to elevate them, giving them better aim to fire at the enemies once they came towards them.

Some of the soldiers was running around with bottles of water, handing them to the soldiers in formation, taking the chance now that they had time to refill some of their stamina and energy. From were they stood they could see the groups of their soldiers hiding between the buildings, waiting for the enemy to attack them once again.

The Holems soldiers started to pour in from the walls soon enough, running around and regrouping before they started to head towards the town square. A larger group got to work, opening the city gate, which had been cleverly barricaded from the inside inside as well, so to open it they had to bash it to pieces, no matter which side they did it from.

The myrmidons put their left feet forward and held their shields in front of them, creating a shield wall. The enemies ran towards them, their minds set on eradicating the remaining defenders. Luckily they were so set on that goal that they didn't notice the groups that Milon and Shining Armour had ordered to hide in the alleys. As the enemy ran past them, the soldiers in the alleys simultaneously ran out and swung their blades at the enemies, catching them by surprise, as planned.

The result of this was that the soldiers following behind those that were attacked by the small groups in the alleys stumbled and fell over the bodies of their comrades as they failed to stop in time, and as they lay there, trying to get up, they were killed by the ponies and Myrmidons.

At the town square, the defenders braced for impact. The enemy came closer and closer, and they were going to ram into them. "Arches! Fire at will!"

The order was followed by volleys of arrows and magic spells.

The first lines of the Holems attackers fell down in their tracks, as they died or got severely injured by the ranged attacks. Those who didn't get hit just jumped over the limp bodies of their comrades and charged at the Myrmidon lines.

Milon waited until the last moment before he shouted out another order. "Push!" The swordsmen took a step forward and bashed their shields into the enemy.

This move turned out to be more effective than they had thought. The Holems soldiers fell back to the ground, many with their skulls bashed in or their rib-cages bruised and broken.

"Charge!" with a roar, the ponies and Myrmidons took the fight to the enemy, charging towards them. The sound of screams, weapons clashing and bodies falling to the ground started to fill the air.

The sun had gone down, the skies now dark, and the rain was still falling. Of the six hundred total men, women and ponies that defended Canterlot only 300 was left. They had lost almost half of their numbers but judging from all of the bodies on the walls and inside Canterlot, the enemy must have lost more than a thousand men.

The unicorns and crossbowmen that had been standing behind the Myrmidons and ponies ran up the stairs heading to the elevated points outside of the gate. From there the could shoot down on the attackers, as they could see all of Canterlot from their position. The projectiles soon rained down on top of the enemy, thinning the numbers that reached the defending lines at the town square tremendously.

"Milon! They're thinning!" Augustus shouted over at him, as he bashed his rectangular shield into an enemy soldier and then stabbed his sword into him as he fell down. "If we keep them at bay a little longer they might retreat again!"

Milon nodded at him. "Myrmidons! Never give up!"

"Never back down!" They automatically finished their battle shout.

As Augustus swung his blade at another enemy an arrow flew through the air and hit his throat, poking all the way through. With a gurgling sound he fell down on his side, dropping his sword, making it fall to the ground with a clattering osund.

"Augustus!" Milon shouted and started to cut his way through the enemy as he tried to reach his fallen friend.

But before he had gotten half of the distance, he saw something that he never imagined to ever see in his life.

Augustus slowly dragged himself up, the arrow still lodged deep in his throat. Hunched over, he took his blade from the ground and continued to slay his enemies. The blood sprayed from his throat with each movement he made with his upper body. He cut down his enemies one by one with pure strength and will. But soon he got overwhelmed and was cut down by the blades of the enemy.

After another volley from the archers and unicorns above, the enemy started to pull back, heading towards the gatehouse, which they had broken through long ago.

"Captain!" Milon called out to Shining Armour.

Shining Armour turned to Milon as he and his soldiers cut down the soldiers that didn't retreat.

Milon pointed with his sword towards the staircase leading to the castle gate. "To the castle gate! Our last stand will be there!"

"Yes general!" He answered. "Ponies! To the castle gate!"

"Myrmidons, castle gate, move it!" They all ran up the huge staircase, moving to their last line of defence.

The enemy stirred again, gathering below the staircase. This is where they would stand and fall. Every man, woman and pony defending their city and their people, would stand and fall, at this last line of defence.

The soldiers below them started to run up the staircase, Milon held up his arm, "Fire at will!" And the archers and unicorns let loose again.

...

Dawn had finally come, the sun had risen and its rays lit up through the windows of the Canterlot castle. The ponies inside the castle had listened to the sounds of battle outside through the night until it had died down. With the royal guard inside the castle, Celestia had decided it was safe enough to open the castle gates and if the enemy was standing outside and had defeated their army, they were to surrender.

Applejack had been crying all night, and her friends attempts to comfort her were in vain. "My child will never get to know its father! The love of my life is dead!"

This is what they had heard all night, and they understood the pain and fear she was feeling. Milon was dear to all of them, he was a close friend and the thought of him not being alive was to heavy for them to handle.

"He is not dead." Twilight tried to reassure Applejack, and herself, holding her close in a tight hug, "If anything they will capture him, they will not kill him. He is alive Applejack, you hear me? He is alive!" The others agreed.

"Milon promised that you would meet again, and he is a man that doesn't break his promises!" Rarity exclaimed, a passionate tone in her voice. "He would stand against that army on his own if it meant that you would meet each other again!"

"I hope he's allright." Fluttershy said with her usual, almost whisper of a voice. "I cant imagine the pain he would go through if he was hurt."

The memory of all the sounds that they had heard during the night replayed in their minds. The screams, the sounds of swords clashing, armour rustling and the rain and lighting bolts that rained from the sky. They all had a group hug, to keep their hopes up. They wished that Milon would be alive, captured or not.

A guard stepped into the room they and other ponies sat in. "Celestia has ordered that we are to leave the castle." A stir of hope went through the room, they were going to be let out. But they had no idea of what they would see.

The castle gates slowly opened and a small group of royal guards dashed out to defend those inside if there was anyone outside, but the sight that were in front of them sent chills down the spines of everyone in the gate opening, and Celestia gasped and put a hoof to her mouth.

Everywhere there laid bodies of ponies, pegasi, unicorns and humans. The blood was like a small flood as it had run out on the roads and down the steps of the castle. They laid there, limp and cold, never to get up again. Celestia sniffed and a tear ran down her cheek at the sight of her fallen subjects.

It had been a massacre, a massacre like none before. They all walked slowly down the steps, and then out into the corpse filled streets to look for their loved ones, it was like an eternity filled with sorrow, children and mares finding the bodies of their fathers and husbands, crying and grieving their deaths.

Celestia was just as heartbroken as those who had lost their family and friends, she had loved all of her subjects. Every fibre of her being was grieving over her dead kin.

"Princess!" Came a voice from one of the royal guards that had walked around, securing areas of the town in case any enemy soldiers would be in hiding. "Survivors! We found survivors!"

Celestia was followed by Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash as they all ran towards where the guard was pointing.

In a corner of the town square there was a large group of ponies and Myrmidons. It looked like there were about a hundred of them. They either sat down or laid on the ground, exhausted. Their armour were filled with marks and cuts where they had been hit by enemy blades and their hooves, hands and faces were covered with dried blood. On one side, sitting with his back against a box, were Milon. His eyes were closed and he was holding his side, blood had slipped through his fingers, painting trails on its way down. This was the most severe injury he had sustained, but he too was covered in cuts and bruises.

"Milon!" They all said, their hearts exploding with happiness. He opened his eyes and turned his head to look at them.

Applejack were the one that arrived first, kissing him as tears of joy was streaming down her cheeks. "Oh sweet Celestia! I thought I would never see you again!"

Milon returned the loving kiss, and answered with a low voice, "I thought the same thing during our final stand, but Calorossa didn't want me to leave you it seems... We won... They are defeated..."

Celestia looked down at Milon, proud of the man that had risked it all to defend the people he had barely known for even two months. "Milon, me and my people have been saved because of you, this is a debt we can never repay, thank you." She bowed to him, this caused her private bodyguards to bow to him aswell .

Milon smiled, not saying anything, just giving the Princess a look of gratitude. He looked back to Applejack and looked into her eyes.

"Milon, dear?" Applejack said to get his attention.

"Yes, Applejack?" He could barely see the blush on her cheek, but it was there and it made him smile again.

"I'm pregnant, I am carrying your child"

Milon smiled again and caressed her cheek. "I knew, I could see it. Itmade me fight even harder. I had to protect our child." He kissed her deeply, making her blush even more.

"We have work to do." Twilight said, looking around. "We have to bury the bodies, and raise a monument to those who defended their loved ones." They all nodded, but Milon was still looking into Applejacks eyes.

"And after that..." He placed his hand on her cheek again, "Applejack, will you make me the happiest man in the world, and marry me?"

She smiled back and kissed him. "Of course I will, you big ruffian."

Chapter 6: At last autumn comes

Chapter 6: At last autumn comes.

Years has passed, and everything is peaceful in Equestria now, especially in Canterlot and Ponyville. After the battle for Canterlot, the remaining humans and all the ponies of Canterlot built a large cemetery outside the city walls for their fallen defenders.

In the middle of the cemetery a large statue of a human and a pony back to back in full armour was raised in memory of those who died defending the city. Shining Armour also wanted to dig a big mass grave for the fallen Holems soldiers, but Milon said that he wanted to give them a traditional soldiers burial. Which was
cremation. They were enemies, but not even Milon would leave a soldier in limbo without letting them get judged by the gods, to get to know if they had earned their place in the heavens.

They piled the dead enemies in a big pile outside of Canterlots walls and then lit them on fire. After a while the dust that remained after the fire had burnt out blew away with the wind.

After that, the rebuilding started. Repairing the homes that had been burnt down and the damaged sections of the walls and so forth. It took close to a half a year, but Canterlot finally looked as good as new again when they were done, and ponies from far away came to move in, starting the city anew.

Before Milon and Applejack got married the two of them, with help from their friends, built a home outside Ponyville. Even Celestia and some guards came to help them along. Soon they had a wonderful looking house and a barn to go with it.

The day they got married were the happiest of their lives. The wedding was held in the Canterlot castle, and they were going to be wed by Princess Celestia herself.

Big Mac was happy beyond belief as he walked his sister down the isle, up towards Celestia and her soon to be husband. The two lovers could barely hold their laughs of joy in as they said "I do!" And all their friends and their friends families applauded them as they kissed.

Then came the day that their child was born, it happened to be on a day when all their friends were over. Luckily Twilight knew a bit about childbirth and Pinkie Pie was willing to help, so when Applejacks water broke, they were ready to help.

But Milon had no clue what to do, so Rarity sat him down, saying. "You men can't handle this, you're too clumsy to deal with such a delicate matter." The statement was blunt but true, he was in no state to help a child into the world, let alone his own. But that might have been what made him so confused, this was his child coming into the world. It was a wonder in itself that something that came from his and his wifes love was now on its way out into the big world.

Milon got more and more frustrated as Applejack started to scream from the pain that the birth brought her. But soon her screams faded and was replaced by another one, the scream of a newborn child. Now he couldn't stay still anymore, so he walked over to his wife. Twilight held the little pony baby in her forelegs.

"It's a boy," she said with a bright smile.

Applejack had given birth to an orange coloured, black haired little colt. They named him Chester, and he was to grow up to become as honest and friendly as his mother and as strong and brave as his father, he was to become a natural leader.

The years came and went and Milon had begun growing grapes at the little farm he and Applejack had, both because it was something he had always wanted to do, and the wine he made from the grapes became quite popular in Ponyville, which in turn earned him a nice little profit on the side, along with what he earned by training the soldiers in Canterlot.

He usually stayed in Canterlot a few weeks at a time during the periods he trained soldiers. Applejack and Chester often came with him so that they could sell apples and apple cider with Granny Smith and Big Mac, they brought their own wine along with them too at these occasions.

Milon usually trained each regiment that got assigned to him for a month. A month filled with the toughest training you could imagine. Jogging laps outside the Canterlot wall for hours after hours as well as training in different fighting styles and other workouts that lasted for just as long.

But there was one regiment that he had seen something special in during their training, and he ended up training them personally for a whole year because of it.

From the start, the unicorns, ponies and pegasi in the regiment had been determined to be the best of the best. Each and every one of them were trained by Milon and the other Myrmidon soldiers that had survived the Canterlot defence, which the battle against the Holems soldiers were later named.

Every Myrmidon were far more advanced in the art of battle but the soldiers gave their trainers a run for their money. They didn't fear their trainers like the others had done. Milon remembered young ponies shuddering in fear as he had shouted at them when they had made an error in training with their blades, almost killing one another. But these ponies, they accepted their punishments and the reprimands, they knew that failing is just a way to learn from your mistakes and improve.

When Milon and his officers were done in training them, they were the most fearless and skilled pony soldiers he had ever seen. So he promoted them to Second regiment in direct command under the Myrmidons.

He and the Myrmidons, who now also had quite a few male and female pony soldiers in their ranks, had held a practice battle against the second regiment, and they found out that fighting against these strong fearless soldiers had felt like fighting an endless wave of enemies that never gave up until they were forced down. That is why Milon named them The Myriad. But in the end, th Myrmidons had come out of the practice battle as the winners, they were still on top.

So now, if the Myrmidons were out on a mission, The Myriad would stay in Canterlot to keep the defences, and if the Myriad were out on a mission the Myrmidons would keep Canterlot safe, and so on.

Of course there hadn't been any more battles with Holems since the Canterlot defence so the missions that Celestia sent them out on were only to check up on the different towns and cities in Equestria, seeing how their residents and local soldiers were doing and so on.

But times were simple now, Chester was twelve years old now and he was both young and stupid as young boys are, but he always fessed up to what he did and wasn't ashamed to admit his faults.

Though he still had some more years of play before he would be a grown up. Of course his father wanted him to become a soldier, and Chester didn't seem to be against that idea, but he still had time to find out what he wanted to do.

Celestia had decided to raise a statue of Milon in the town square of Canterlot. Milon didn't really want her to, but she finally talked him over.

At first she wanted a statue of him in full armour, his sword drawn, but Milon wanted a statue of him on one knee, smiling and hugging two ponies, he did not want to be depicted as a soldier, he wanted to be depicted as a friend to all ponies.

The final result was a statue in the middle of a fountain, of him kneeling down on one knee, holding his arms open and smiling towards two ponies that looked like they were running towards him. It looked much nicer than a soldier in full armour. He felt that this would make them remember him as a friend, rather than a soldier that defended them, but in all honesty, they never forgot that he put his life on the line to protect them.

...

Milon was out in his grape field, tending to the dark purple grapes which were starting to get ripe. "You lovelies will make some fine wine when you're all grown." He said with a smile on his face.

He heard hoof steps behind him and turned around. "Hi Chester. Joining your old dad in checking the grapes?"

This statement was true, he was 37 years old now, and he started to feel the ageing in his bones. It was like a slow tickling feeling inside of him.

"Hi dad." Chester said with a smile. "No, I'm going out to play with Snips and Snails. But mommy wanted to see you, she asked me to tell you that she is in the house."

His father stood up and rustled his hair, "I'll go talk to her, you have fun. But be home before sundown, you hear?"

"I promise dad," Chester smiled and galloped away into Ponyville.

Milon sighed and wiped the sweat off of his forehead and headed into the house.

"Darling?" he asked when he got inside, nobody answering him.

"Applejack my dear?" He walked upstairs, "Applejack? Are you up here?" he asked again.

"In here," he heard her voice coming from their bedroom.

He smiled and headed down the hall and opened the door. What he saw made him stop in his tracks.

On the bed lay his wife, on her stomach with her butt high in the air. She were wearing butt less leather pants and a leather vest, both sitting tight on her body. The look she gave him from under her hat was a sultry, lustful gaze.

"Why, hello general~" she said, barely containing herself from asking him to lay her that exact second. "I need you to fight another battle for me~"

Milon smirked and crawled onto the bed, taking her hat off and putting it on his own head.

"Oh, you want some of this Generals steel?" He leaned forward and kissed her, their tongues dancing intensely.

As the kiss ended, Milon whispered into her ear, "I love you and I'm so lucky that I have you."

Applejack bit her lip as she felt him pressing himself into her, and through the sound of their love making you could hear her voice, calling out to him.

"Oh, Milon I love you!"

-The End-

First I want to thank Munck for editing the story and being supportive of my ideas. And thank you readers, for taking the time to read my story whether you liked it or not. And lastly I'd like to thank my brain for taking much inspiration from movies and books, and for coming up with those dirty bits you all like.

-Felix Karlstrom