So great was her reign and Brilliant her Glory

Luna shivered through her fur, the armor she was given by the Stalliongrad Guards did almost nothing to warm her despite the layers of fur underneath the Blue platemail she was wearing.

"Glade, how far until we reach the camp?" She called out to her guide, the Thestral wearing a modified Guardspony uniform.

"three days travel, princess, we still have to pass through the mountains and the abandoned mines."

Luna grumbled under her breath, the cold was getting to her and she doubted she could last 3 minutes in this cold if not 3 days. Her rapier had been packed away onto the groups pack deer, the weapon replaced with one of the Rifleponies Halberd-Musket hybrid. Another shiver racked the Alicorns body as she walked, while the nights were usually cold, the freezing temperatures of the Great East were magical in nature and thus bypassed her natural affinities.

"I don't understand how you guards are capable of standing this cold, the blasted snow is freezing me right through my fur and clothes," She said to one of the Rifleponies next to her.

"It's the lack of magic we have up here, the Great Tundra saps all magic to fuel the frost which leaves us adapting, you could say we're a new breed of pony," The Guard said with a chuckle.

"blasted Easterners," Luna muttered under he breath before casting a low powered flame spell an inch off her armor.

She sighed in pleasure as the low powered flames heated her body, the fire not burning her thanks the magic fueling the flames.

"Careful Princess, that magic might attract Deomir constructs, they like to roam around the Tyraith Valley and are attracted to Aetherical Disturbances," her Guard cautioned, his hand shifting to grip his weapon in a more readied stance.

She nodded as she lowered the output of magic to the fire, the cold crept back in as the warmth she felt from the flame ruined her bodies adjustment to the cold. Several hours passed uneventfully as the Princess and her escort marched onwards without interruption, that uneventful march was changed when several loud mechanical roars filled the Valley, shocking Luna and making her lose control of her output, the loss of control caused magic to flow into the fire in large quantities, flooding the local Aether with disturbances.

"By faust, that sounded like a Deomir war band," the Guard muttered under his breath as he, and all the other guards, drew or readied their weapons.

Luna grimaced as she reigned in her magic, the Aether slowly quieting down from the massive removal of magic from a localised area. More roars filled the frozen air as other constructs answered the call.

"Princess, I recommend drawing your weapon!"

Princess Luna frowned as she grabbed the Halsket from her back before cocking it, the Halsket was a Multichamber Musket capable of shooting four shots before neeing to be reloaded from a removable revolving barrel, the barrel would rotate and chamber a new charge after each shot. After each shot you had to rotate the chamber and then cock the weapon manually. Rifling was included in most patterns of Halsket but some patterns lacked it, instead having a slightly bigger projectile for an increased lethality.

"Contact!" A Guard shouted from the left side of the escort, several loud cracks filled the air as muskets discharged at what appeared to be a massive mechanical walker.

The construct was massive, standing three ponies tall and armed with 4 steam driven automatic crossbows the machine was capable of laying down a barrage of crossbow bolts that could topple even a heavily armored knight column. Several of the Behemoth Guards charged into the fray, their massive Zweihanders rending large gashes in the machines armour, their enchanted blades cutting the metal like a hot knife through warm butter. Musket fire tore gouts of metal from the construct, holes tore into the mechanical golem.

"Keep the fire up, ponies, the Construct is nearly finished," A guard near the back shouted as more Halskets fired, the cracks of the weapons firing tore through the monsters roars.

A cry rang out as the golems crossbow wounded a pony, the bolt penetrating through the thin plate armor of the Rifle equipped guard. Luna rushed over, her horn erupting into ethereal energy as she began casting a healing and numbing spell simultaneously on the wounded Guard.

"Be still, I can't numb the pain easily if you squirm and writhe around," Luna commanded as her magic began to disintegrate the bolt while closing the wound and numbing the pain.

While Luna healed the Guard, the fight raged on as more constructs slowly appeared, these ones much smaller and weaker than the larger machine.   The smaller ones were armed with Longswords and Claymores, the heavy blades easily breaching the armor of Lunas Behemoth Guards, blood stained the ground as guards were over-run under the swarm of faster constructs. Luna flinched as a large crossbow bolt impacted the ground next to her, the projectile imbedding itself into the snow.

"Now you've done it!" Luna shouted as she dropped her Halsket.

Her horn erupted into purple energy as Ethereal energy began to concentrate at the base of her horn, the energy pooling and condensing into a small bubble. The air shimmered and gravity intensified as the condensed magic gained mass, chucks of earth began to tear out of the ground and orbit her, the magics mass giving it it's own gravity. Sweat began to bead down Lunas head as she focused, the spell almost finished gathering energy. A large pulse rippled out through the air as light began to shine blindingly bright.

"Face Oblivion!" Luna screamed as she released her built up magic, the energy taking the form of a massive gout of purple fire.

The fire washed over the battlefield leaving Lunas escorts alone but Incinerating the Deom'ir Constructs. Metal boiled and melted into slag under the onslaught of Ethereal energy, the ground turned black as the heat charred the very stone of the land while the trees near the constructs turned to ash in seconds. Cheers rang out from the remaining Guards who survived the ambush, a total of 54 from the original 80 remained, rifleponies being the majority.

"Your majesty, should we turn back and gather reinforcements?" A guard asked as he approached, a rifle slung over his shoulder and a small dirk at his waist.

"Nay, we will press on, who knows when Celestias guards will track us down."

No conversation occured after the battle, many of the guards had lost friends and in some cases family, one had even lost a son. Luna glared at the direction of Canterlot, if Celestia hadn't tried to assassinate Luna then this wouldn't have happened. Sighing, she pressed on towards her Armies Camp.