Ponyserk I- Egg of the High Queen

Three Years Later

Rainbow Dash

The pegasus could only watch the battle that unfolded before her eyes with a growing sense of embarassment and annoyance. The sweltering heat was bad enough, the mare feeling herself cooking inside of even her light armor and helmet as the sun burned brightly up above her. The hill she stood on overlooked the large open field, grass and dust kicked up as the ponies below scrambled to try to get into battle. Or rather, escape from the black armored squadron that was slicing through the center of the field as though the armored ponies were nothing but leaves against their steel.
Worse still was the thundering of the cannons that seemed to be directed at the poor souls that tried to get out of range, the metal raining down sending entire throngs of soldiers flying in all directions upon impact. More dirt was sent flying into the air to rain down on the souls, along with varying body parts and fluids that remained of those unfortunate enough to have been hit directly by the projectiles.

The pegasus could have taken these armored bastards down with ease, and here she stood above because of her commanders orders: On the signal, she and her raiders would swoop down to lead a charge against the black armored foes. They were the Black Horned Manticore Heavy cavalry, among one of the best warriors that the kingdom of Cavolia had to offer and also had been responsible for devastating the last two forces that were sent to impede their efforts to get closer to Canterlot. But, to the pegasus their victories meant nothing, it was the fact that their heads were her paycheck. If it wasn't for orders, she would have already swooped down into this field of death and despair to do what she did best.
But, she had not only her orders to follow, but also her own raiders to worry about. She disliked placing them in danger needlessly even if they were regularly front line fighters for the Phoenixes and a main fighting force. It was why she was biting down the urge to charge down into the chaos that unfolded below and fight in a battle that, as far as she could tell, her benefactors were losing quite badly.

“In the name of Cavolia, we will have the kings head!” The pegasus was surprised to hear the roar of the black devils themselves, but something that should have been painfully obvious to her became apparent: There were no more ponies being crushed by cannonball or skewered by horns, no more dead lay in there way and no more ponies stood between the hill to the north that held their benefactor and the rapidly advancing force of black clad ponies.
“That's it!” Rainbow Dash declared, noticing movement of surprise from the large body of her fellow phoenix soldiers that stood behind her.
“C-commander Dash, we were told to wait for the order to charge” One of her raiders explained, making her eyes narrow in his direction.
“Then stay here! I'll take care of this” She stepped forwards, flexing her wings out slowly. She knew she should have stretched a bit this morning before the battle, but she doubted it would have made much difference: She hadn't even drawn her sword once throughout the course of this ambush, and with the time wasted up on the hill she knew that even if she had prepared herself for the fight it would have done nothing in the long run with all the waiting.
“Dash. Don't you dare!” The voice of Fluttershy from behind him and the sound of footsteps approaching made her roll her eyes. As always, blindly loyal to their commander and incapable of doing anything outside of breathing unless she was ordered. But, she half expected she likely wouldn't go to the bathroom unless she had been ordered to before a battle. And it was on this amusing thought that she leapt down from the edge of the hill and spread her wings, drawing her sword as she made a beeline towards the enemies that had started making their way towards the hill of the king.

The aroma's overwhelmed her senses the second that she flew over the carnage that was below. The smell of blood, of soiled armor, of sweat and of fear. It was the nostalgic scent of death, the smell of war and suffering that the pegasus had breathed almost everyday since she could walk. Even at the mercenary camps she had been unable to escape this smell despite it being obscured by the other smells that usually were found in such places. It had become apart of her life over the years, but even now the pegasus found herself wondering if she actually enjoyed the smell the assaulted her senses as she charged. It was one she had grown used to during her career, true, but she didn't know if she really liked it as she did other things such as flying.
Flight had been an instrumental part of her life that she knew she wouldn't be able to live without: If it wasn't enjoying flights during off days and the freedom of soaring through the clouds, it was the advantages it gave her on the battlefield. It would have taken her far longer to reach her enemies if she had tried to attack by foot and she would have definitely been spotted much sooner had she not been flying above her foes.
They never look up. Their loss She quickly diverted her trajectory to move directly down once she overtook the enemy force below. Her timing her to be just right for this: To soon and she would fly just over their heads and possibly leave herself open to retaliation, to late and she would end up faceplanting into the ground that was now soaked in the blood of ally and enemy alike. She took a breath, holding it as she continued her free fall to the ground below.
“Sir! Up there!”
Apart from the declaration that she had been spotted what caught her attention was the slowing down of the gallop from the Black Manticore troopers, her eyes turning to see the one directly at the front decorated in black armor that, upon getting closer, had a golden trim to it. All of them wore helmets in the shape of a lions head, albeit with the mouth piece constructed in the manner of a snarling lion jaw. The shoulderguards were in the design of a scorpions sharpened tail tip, looking equally as sharp as the horns they had been using. The foreleg armor seemed to have a more reptilian look to it as though trying to pass them off as scorpion tails, which made it seem very out of place when compared to the rest of the plated armor that the advancing force wore.
Interestingly the entire squadron was made up of unicorns, which wasn't so strange when she finally got a look at them. From the center where their horns would be allowed to stick through their helmets was a metalic horn guard. It was an inch longer then most horns, sharpened at the tip to allow for the horn to not only be covered but to be used to devastating effect. All the army really had to do was charge in with their heads low and, if they had enough momentum, could devastate a battlefield just as they had been doing.
The only one that stood out amongst them was the one at the head of the force who wore a long cloak of red and dark crimson. Upon inspection, it seemed to have been decorated in color to resemble a bats wing, just like the legendary creatures themselves that had been lost to time.
“He thinks he can fight us all by himself?” He chuckled, picking up his pace to make a charge towards her during the fall as if to skewer her.”As you wish, prepare to be crushed into dust!” She continued to fall, finally exhaling as she neared the end of her fall.
Now! As the knight neared her and the ground closed in, she stretched her wings outwards and moved her sword back to prepare for a slash. Her fall quickly became a swoop, moving herself upwards in a glide just as the caped soldier neared her. As she did this, she swung her sword up as she moved, creating an upwards slash that sliced through her enemy and sent him flying high into the air with the pegasus. The edge of her sword made contact with the leaders chin, managing to penetrate the armor and dig into the jaw of her enemy through the helmet. If the trauma of the blow hadn't killed her enemy, the sickening snap she heard as her enemies head was suddenly sent backwards indicated she had broken his neck and killed the colt herself.
She managed to regain control as she dived downwards again, the slain colts body crashing into another of the black armored soldiers below.
“He killed General Gian! And with just one swing!” It appeared the soldiers had yet to figure out her gender, but given the speed she had travelled at and the armor she wore, she couldn't blame them for the misconception. Not that it was going to matter in the next few moments.

Flying down in another pass she brought her greatsword by in another cleaving swing, severing one of the confused and halted soldiers heads in the process. She followed up by parrying a blow from another attacker before slicing through his chest in an upward arc, bringing her blade down on another charging attackers head before propelling herself upwards as she noticed one of the enemies charging her from the side. Looking down, she allowed a small smirk to cross her face when she saw the attacker skewer his ally and be sent tumbling in confusion whilst she hovered above. They had no ranged capabilities, and she had a whole days worth of energy to burn: She could take them, with that she was confident.
“Form up! He's only one soldier, he's gonna have a hard time getting us if we all stand together!” One of the soldiers declared, trying to create order amongst the troops despite the loss of their general.
“But-” An arrow through the neck silenced the colt which heralded the arrival of a large volley of the projectiles raining down on them from above, something which the pegasus moved to quickly dodge and weave as a gleam of white from the hill behind caught her attention.

“We're being flanked!” The soldier roared, soon standing still.”That...white armor. Is that the Band of the Phoenix?”

Fluttershy

Yet again she hadn't followed orders, had acted recklessly despite orders to stay put. She swore the other pegasus did this to her on purpose: Her “Comrade” was nothing if not full of blood lust, and while that helped in making sure the front lines were often cleared it meant that they regularly had to put up with many 'spur of the moment' charges into the thick of the enemy force. It was frustrating her beyond belief that Rainbow Dash was so reckless and absorbed in her ego, but right now they had a battle to focus on.

Whilst the raiders charged from the front alongside Pinkie Pie, the pegasus soon found herself raising herself into the air and taking flight. She drew her sword and kept a steady pace behind their commander and the raider forces that were leading the charge. Such a shame their commander had abandoned them yet again, but they didn't care as they found themselves locked in combat against the confused forces.
Their leader moved gracefully and quickly through the enemy ranks, aiming for the necks and exposed cracks in the armor but there was something she always noticed in her commanders eyes as she fought: Joy. She didn't act as though she was fighting in a fierce battlefield where her benefactors force was being devastated, but rather seeming to move with a playful spring and appeared as though she wasn't so much fighting as playing at war. Applejack remained back with Applebloom, using crossbows to pick off stragglers and lay down a supporting fire. The two acted in a calculated motion: As one fired, the other reloaded. It was simple, but it proved to be effective. Macintosh simply ran passed, swinging his axe from one side of himself to the other as he lead a force to attack the other enemy forces that they were flanking outside of the Black Manticores. Rarity she had half expected to stay to the flank or stay at a range, but she appeared to be having one of those rare moments she felt a need to contribute. She was leading her small group along the borders to attack the cannons and the crews manning them: She seemed to stay at a range for the most part, stabbing and skewering at some of the retreating cannon crew from a distance with a spear while the rest of her force seemed to get to work on sabotaging the canons to stop them firing. Rarity was clumsy and often times very sloppy in how she fought, lacking any of the grace she or Pinkie had, and didn't have the sheer physical power that Macintosh or Rainbow Dash possesed. She didn't even have the combat versatility that Applejack had, being rather lacking in most regards. Still, she wasn't necessarily bad as a fighter, but she had nothing that defined her.

The pegasus swooped down, cutting through one of the black manticores necks as she passed him by before landing in what she assumed to be clear ground. However, upon quickly surveying, she noticed that there were warriors rushing from the sides to try to skewer her with their armored horns, the female quickly launching herself up into the air to avoid the innevitable death that would have awaited her had she remained there. While most of them collapsed into one another or skwered each-other, one of the six managed to come to a hault just short of the collapsed heap that his allies had become, letting out a sharp exhale of relief that he had been able to stop. Unfortunately, the pegasus had other plans as she turned her swords blade down and allowed herself to fall from above. By the time the Unicorn had looked up, she had already stabbed her sword through the colts back, the male falling on his face from both the weight and the pain that now swamped his body. She wriggled the blade until it came free, only to find some blood splatter up into her face from the trauma, making her wince and shake her head in order to recover quickly.
She jumped from the colts back, looking up to find another of the black armored soldiers make a lunge towards her with his horn. She moved herself to the side, drawing her blade back before lunging fourth at her assailant. The blade hit home, lodging itself right in the center of the soldiers eyes and through his head. A loud gallop soon caught her attention, the mare drawing the bloodied sword from the skull of her foe to parry another incoming lunge, redirecting it slightly to her left. As her opponent stumbled, she turned her body and blade, stabbing the tip of her sword through the back of her new enemies neck, her foe letting out a choked gargle as his blood flowed freely from the wound.
“The Grim Reapers of the battlefield. Why....why are they fighting for Canterlot!?” One of the soldiers muttered in shock just as the orders to retreat reached his ears, quickly turning tail to run alongside his comrades. The pegasus let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding before flicking the blood from her sword, once more taking to the skies so as to avoid being toppled or trampled.

The Royal Knights

“Cavolia's forces are retreating” One of the knights to the left of the king spoke, an elderly colt that looked as though he had seen his share of battles throughout the years.
“Absurd! You honestly think that group of common rabble were what changed the course of that battle?” A grey unicorn with black hair hissed from the right of the elderly knight, seeming none to pleased at his companions choice of words.
“These Phoenixes are they really so strong?” The king, a white unicorn dressed in plated armor with a royal blue cloak. Underneath the chainmail helm he wore, strands of blonde hair peeked out messily whilst on his head remained a small crown he wore even now.
“Yes, they were well worth the price my prince-” The dark grey pegasus to the right of the king cut himself off as he noticed the kings eyes narrow, immediately clearing his throat.”Apologies, my King Blueblood”
“All they did was pull off a simple ambush! You shouldn't praise them so highly!” The unicorn to the left argued, making the pegasus chuckle.
“The fact remains that they defeated the Black Manticores while our forces struggled to even scratch them”
“They executed the attack flawlessly. And the way their leader anticipated the enemy with such skill...why I say it even rivals that of some of our best knights!” The elderly colt spoke, sparking a silence between the high class ponies.

The four of them surveyed the mercenaries below, cheering and congregating together before beginning to make their way back towards the camp they had made. Some stayed behind to help the surviving troops or collect their own fallen allies, but all of them made their way from the battlefield within a similar time frame to one another.
“Tell me, who leads these mercenaries?” The king inquired, leading to the dark grey pegasus to his right to turn to address him.
“The leader is called Pinkie Pie, it's strange to see a mare like her leading them so competently”
“And that's just further insult. Mares have no place on the battlefield, that is for us Colts. The fact they are sullying our fields with their presence sickens me more then their common status ever could” The unicorn grumbled, but the king didn't seem to notice.
“Pinkie Pie...”He murmured to himself, eventually turning to the pegasus to his left.”Tell her I wish to speak to her the moment we return to the capital”