On the way back to Riyute village, they had a small amount of time to prepare. The one they'd paid to take them back there was content to give them the time to do so.

Naofumi went over his skills, determining which ones would be most useful. Also, he took the time to create some healing potions and the like, should the inevitable occur.

Applejack was polishing her equipment and stretching with a bit of shadow kickboxing.

Raphtalia was polishing, sharpening and otherwise performing maintenance on her equipment as well. She wanted to be sure that her stuff was able to do what was necessary, so she could be of use to her master.

After a while, the counter ticked down to Zero. Immediately after that, it was like someone had added coloured oils to the sky, swirls of colour weaving and spinning through the air.

If not for the circumstances, it could be considered quite beautiful.

Just then, they were teleported to a location near the very village they were headed for. Applejack grumbled that that would've been useful information BEFORE, but they were closer now, anyway.

From the sky above came hundreds upon hundreds of monsters.

"Great jumpin' Jehosephat!" Applejack exclaimed at seeing the sheer immensity of their numbers.

Naofumi was inclined to agree. "How do we fight so many of them?"

Applejack mustered her courage, then said, "Hit 'em hard; Hit 'em fast. Protect the townsfolk; Take out as many monsters as you can." she summarized.

Naofumi nodded. "It's not a great plan, but it'll do. Raphtalia, with me! {Spiked Shield}!"

Naofumi's shield flashed, then rounded out and in an instant grew spikes along the side, effectively literally making the best defense a good offense. He then began charging toward the town, Raphtalia and Applejack in hot pursuit.

The cart driver paused for a moment, to reflect on what just happened. He then shook his head and said, "I STILL wasn't paid enough for this."

Turning the cart around, he started to head back to the capital, which would hopefully be safe once he got there.

"Okay, we need a plan of attack." Naofumi said, as they charged forward.

"It seems a mite late fer that." Applejack stated.

"Hear me out, here; Raphtalia, protect any citizens you see on the left. Make sure they can get to safety. Get them to grab something with a handle and a focus, if you catch my drift."

"I understand, Master Naofumi." Raphtalia affirmed.

"AJ, you take the right. Send any citizens you find Raphtalia's way. Oh, and any enemies you come across? Turn 'em back or turn 'em to scrap."

"Dead 'tis. Makes thangs a load easier thataway." Applejack said, darkly.

"Alright! BREAK!" Naofumi said at a conveniently placed intersection, causind the small group to section off.

Raphtalia dashed in, just in time to stop a gigantic skeletal monstrosity from killing a downed man. Using both of her blades, she blocked the attempted strike, then incanted, "{Dual Blade Art; Vertical Cleave}!" swiping upward.

Her swords left sawblade afterimages in the air as the giant skeleton's arms were cleanly sliced off, allowing her to bring her swing around and to the right, trisecting the undead creature laterally.

Helping the man up, she said, "You look strong."

"I'm the local woodcutter; I kind of have to be." he said, relatively proudly.

"Have you ever used a weapon in combat before?"

"Well..."

Raphtalia pointed to a nearby two-hand axe. "Grab that, but hope you never have to!"

The man nodded, doing both.

Raphtalia had already found her way to another couple of skeletons, which she leapt at, cutting into both and sliding a small way across the grass. The skeletons just slumped into a heap. Just to double-tap, she brought one sword down, cutting through much of the amassed bony pile, hopefully stopping the creature from coming back. Again.

"Don't worry, everyone; the cavalry's here!" she said, trying to assuage the people she came across. "Grab a weapon and head toward the mine! Even if you don't know how to use it properly, you're better off with one than without!" she ordered, pointing back in the direction of the mine.

A woman pointed behind her, shouting, "Look out!"

Raphtalia spun around and met the gigantic blade of another of the large skeletons. Managing to shove the monster a short distance away, she intoned, "{Finishing Strike: Extreme Void}!"(1)

A blade of force sliced out of the ground and effectively impaled the creature before disappearing just as quickly,

Looking back at the stunned civilians, she pointed toward the mine again. "Go! Get there as fast as you can! More will come, but HURRY!"

(Meanwhile)

Naofumi rushed in, just in time to intercept a monstrous skeleton's equally enormous maul. The hammer and Shield colliding caused a massive wave of force to erupt, Due to the nature of the form Naofumi's Shield was in, the damage inflicted reflected back onto the attacker, blowing him a fair distance backward and dealing heavy damage.

Helping the downed man up, he said, "Help those other people! Head toward the mine! Grab a weapon if you can! Go! Go! Go!"

That was all that he had the chance to say before having to face the monstrosity again. This time he spun, striking with the spiked portion of his shield. With the rather satisfying sound of crunching bones, the skeletal construct fell over and apart.

Turning to find another target, Naofumi bravely challenged, "Okay. Who else wants some?!" only to find no shortage of takers. Steeling himself, he shouted, "Come on, ya stupid zombies! Catch me if you can!"

Seeing a swarm of giant bees descending upon a small family unit, he gestured towrd them. "{Shield Prison}!" The flying insects were repelled by the barrier.

A small skeleton was bearing down on another man, who had his back turned. "{Air Strike Shield}!" Naofumi called out, the shield of force appearing just in time to make the block. He quickly ran over to the skeleton and smashed its face in with his Shield, knocking it to the ground where, just to double tap, Naofumi crushed its skull, ensuring that the skeleton wouldn't rise again.

Looking around for some way to thin the numbers of the foes, he saw the village's main water tower. Having an idea, he looked nearby, coming up with a makeshift torch. He waved it at some of the monsters, calling out, "Come on, slowpokes!"

He then ran to the tower and climbed the ladder as quickly as he could. Seeing the monsters following, he placed one hand against the cold metal of the water repository. "Here's hoping this works..." he prayed. "As source of this power, I order thee: decipher the laws of creation and bless this water, make it bane to Evil! Sanctify!"

His Shield and the tower's metallic cotainer flashed a vibrant green briefly. Swiping with his Shield, he sliced a slit in it, causing the water within to start gushing out, trickling down the tower. Any of the undead monsters it touched either let go of the tower or burst into white flames on the spot.

"How about that?" Naofumi mused aloud, "It worked."

Before his eyes, he saw his Skills menu come up, the spell that he'd just made up on the spot adding itself to his spells section.

"So I can pretty much make these up on the spot as long as I have enough faith in it? Awesome!"

Looking down the tower, he figured that climbing down was out.

"Time to test this out." he said to himsekf. "As source of this power, I order thee: Decipher the laws of creation and soften my landing. Feeather Fall!"

He flashed a golden yellow briefly. "Here goes nothing!" he said aloud. "Blessed Shield" he called. shifting the Spiked Shield he had out for a golden yellow kite shield, crackling with holy magic.

Leaping off of the tower, he "floated" (with mild success) toward the ground, the spell expiring as he neared the ground, thus he ended up crushing several monsters with the sanctified object.

"Finally, things are looking up!" he crowed, thrusting his off hand in the air in delight. Turning back to the horde of monsters, he said, "Okay. Who's next?!"

Meanwhile, Applejack was fighting off several of the monsters herself. Having practiced for a while, she was now relatively well versed with bi-pedal combat. It helped that the monsters seemed to come at her one at a time, allowing her to dispatch them fairly easily.

"Alright, ya varmints!" she called out, "Who's next? Or do ya want me ta choose fer ya?"

Mis-timing a swing in her over-confidence, she scored a glancing blow on one enemy, recieving a few blows herself. With a quick flurry of kicks, she knocked her current targets away. "Not gonna make that mistake agin." she admonished herself. Nevertheless, she dove back into the fray.

After that, she began to have more success, managing to save several people along the way. But, looking around, she saw that there were dozens -if not hundreds- more of the monsters. Just the three of them wouldn't be enough. It seemed like only a miracle would save them.

Bringing up her Skills screen, she looked for a skill that would help in a situation like this. And boy did she find what she was looking for.

{Rallying Cry}

{Up in Arms}

"Those sound useful. What do those do?" she thought aloud.

Rallying Cry: The user gives a stirring speech, (requiring a roll of Charisma + Presence[2]), stirring spirits and emboldening the hearts of those who hear it, causing them to fight with increased effectiveness.

Up in Arms: Empowers those fighting alongside the user with temporary arms and armour, channeling some of the user's power. (Strength or Toughness + Charisma(3), lasting 10 minutes per success and increasing in quality per three successes)

'What we wouldn't have given to have magics like THESE back home.' Applejack thought. 'Well, worth a try.'

Thrusting one arm toward the sky -also making sure she wasn't being targeted at the time- she called out "{Rallying Cry}!"

A wave of energy began to radiate from her, gathering the attention of all those nearby.

"Alright, y'all! This here's yer town, yer homes, yer families that're in danger! Are ya gonna take this lyin' down? Or are ya willin' ta stand up and fight!? We're doin' our possible ta defend ya; Let me be yer strength. So who wants ta run.... and who wants ta FIGHT B'SIDE ME!?!"

A chorus of "YEAH!"s souinded out as people gathered to her side, men, women and children alike. Nodding, she said "Mm-hm. Darn tootin'. Now, part two..."

She sub-vocalized, "{Up in Arms}" then she lifted both arms to the sky and shouted, "Dono Armorum Es(4)!"

Another wave of energy exploded outward as the gathered people were endowed with armour of varying qualities, from lighter Studded Leather armour for the children to heavier Scale Mail for the bulkier males. Also, they were given clubs, morning stars, hammers, whatever the magic could give them that would work best against the undead horde.

"Now this's more like it!" Applejack cheered. "If'n we stands t'gether, we can give these varmints the ol' heave-ho! Am Ah right?!"

"MA'AM, YES, MA'AM!" the impromptu militia shouted in unison.

"Yer dang right Ah am! Fer queen 'n country! CHARGE!"

The assembled people rushed into battle, using their granted arms and armour to great effect. Even though they were outnumbered and recieved a few cuts here and there, they fought courageously. By the time the literal cavalry arrived -late as usual-, much of the attacking invading force had been eliminated. Some of those who had come decided to fight beside the Shield Hero. Others just decided to fire off some flaming arrows, burning some of the undead to the ground, but doing the same to several of the houses as well..

By that time, the sky had cleared up somewhat and there were just the remaining monsters to deal with.

The most decorated of the arriving force -a colonel, by the look of him- nodded and said, "Alrigt, men. Good job. The village is saved. Let's move out."

Naofumi made to stride forward, but Applejack beat him to the punch. "Yeah, yeah. You fellers ain't 'xactly what Ah'd call as fast's a speedin' arr'er."

Naofumi nodded and said, "And when you DID provide "help", you did nearly as much damage as the monsters did!" he said, pointing out the devastation.

Applejack spoke up again, "Keep performin' like this, friend-os and next time there'll be nothin' left ta save!"

The colonel huffed and turned his horse to leave the area. "Come on, men. We're done here." He didn't even acknowledge what either Applejack or Naofumi had said.

One of the junior army members said, "Wait, we made some of this mess, and some of us are FROM this village! Shouldn't we at least help clean some of this up; help them rebuild?"

Several of the juniors began to make noises of agreement.

The colonel just gestured dismissively and said, "If that's what you want to do, feel free." He looked back long enough to address the remainder of his unit. "Let's go."

The soldiers that decided to stay -some 30 or so of them- arrayed themselves before the trio of heroes, bending to one knee in unison. The one that had spoken against the colonel said, "Sir, madams... we want to fight beside you next time. Some of us have homes, families here and.... well, put shortly, we feel that we need to repay that debt. In the next battle, we'll serve you."

Naofumi sighed. 'What a pain.'

Applejack smiled and said, "Welcome 'board. As one'a the heroes, Ah think it's within mah rights ta do this." stepping over to the speaker, she asked, "What's yer name, sonny?"

"Corporal Alexander, ma'am.(5)"

"Then Ah name ya SIR Alexander, knight an' Captain o' th' army o' th' Shield."

Naofumi deadpanned, "'Army of the Shield?'"

Applejack glared at him. "It's a workin' title."

Turning back to the young man, who was looking greatly honoured, she said, "Don't just sit there all slack-jawed like that; yer gonna 'tract flies." Looking at the rest of the small group, she said, "The rest o'yas get promoted too. RCCs ta... Hoplites, Ah b'lieve?"

"Uh... Yes, ma'am." Alexander said.

"Done 'n done. Now let's git this place cleaned up. We got a lotta work ta do. More hands'll make it easier, though."

Author's Note

1: From one of my all-time favourite games; Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth. I hope that using that in a case like this isn't against the rules? If so, I'll change that.
2: I believe I mentioned before that I'm using my D10s to determine some of the story's elements.
3: Applejack retains her Earth Pony powers even in this form. This is gonna be good.
4: Cookie for those who get this reference
5: I don't think they actually name this character in canon, so I'm making this up.