The fields outside of the Everfree Forest were scorched black for several hundred meters, the scent of ash and burnt soil in the wind as it blew across the fields. A large crater laid near the edge of the forest, a lone figure standing amid the smoke and ash. The figure looked up at the red sun and tsked before moving out of the smoking crater and up onto the scorched land.

A pony stood there, an alicorn, his entire body covered in a heavy metal armour, forged in the pattern of large scale plates, chain mail and splint mail. In short it was a mixture of several kinds of armour, put together into a hybrid armour of protection and mobility. His black fur and mane were seen upon his bare head, a strangely shaped helmet strapped to his side. His strange horn with its segmented parts looked like a curved claw of an mutated mantis, or a nasty mandible or tail of a scorpion.

Maleficus Victoria, breathed air once more. Even if the air was tainted with smoke and ash he just breathed it in, after having spent so much time on the Moon he was just glad to enjoy the sensation of wind against his fur and air in his lungs again.

"Ahhh... air... I have truly missed you." He sighed softly as he cleared his nostrils and throat from dust and sand from the moon. Even as the glaring red sun shone upon the land he felt at peace. Then he heard it, the rumbling of the ground, the sensation of vibrations causing his own armour to rattle. And in the distance he could see the lines of soldiers approach.

Twisting his neck, side by side, he enjoyed the sensation of the bones popping and the joins aligning properly. Looking around he saw how the ground was leaning down hill from the forest, and about five hundred meters ahead of him it was raised into a flat fields before shifting into small hills. The size of the army meant that they would have to stay along the flat ground to efficiently use their numbers. He highly doubted they could use the hills as proper staging grounds considering how large the units looked.

He had the look out of the battlefield, he did not know how they would position themselves, but he had an idea on how to handle them. There were ballistaes, some kind of catapult, rows of spear and shield wielders, staff wielding unicorns, groups of pegasi, lightly armed support units arming the siege weapons, several lines of units wielding... okay that was just weird, they did not even have a proper equipment line up except or Swords, Spears and Shield,s the rest of the units were just mixed up like someone opened several hundreds of Booster Packs for a miniature game and stuck them together without bothering to check if the units were of the same type or had the same kind of equipment.

But even then, he could tell that those units seemed to be the best equipped with their full plate armour. *Wonder if that gold is real... It makes no real sense if it is real gold. Why make armour and weapons out of gold, silver and bronze? Is the ratio of metal even lower then I assumed? Bronze is at least something endurable, but silver and gold are no ideal metals for armour.* Maleficus decided to drop the subject, he would figure it out once he got to the confrontation. Not like he had any way to escape an army of this size even with his alicorn powers. Since he had no clue on how to fly yet.

Deciding to let the army settle up into proper formations he sat down and waited, his satellite system floating in the atmosphere would give him the information he needed, he had a small monitor from the Interface on the moon inside his side pouch. It was not designed to let him cast spells through it like the Interface, but it did allow him a direct visual connection to his satellite network. Through a transition spell and some selection slides he could get a visual image of his surroundings or a far distant locations from an eagle eye's point of view through his satellites.

Sure it was not perfect, the images were not always clear, clouds or even smoke could block the visual image if he was unlucky. But his little free fall to the planet had cleared the clouds in the atmosphere in the immediate area so he had a good view. He had not installed any kind of marking or sensors into the monitor, but with the reflective, practically shining, metal armours of the army, he had little problem spotting the troops of the ponies gathering.

There was a single large rectangular block of bronze soldiers with shields and spears at the front line of the center, practically acting like a massive bulwark for the silver and gold troops. Behind the large bronze unit's two sides were two silver units, standing in rectangular formations with a slightly angle. Directly behind the bronze unit were two blocks of gold units. And behind all of them were ranks of slightly less gold units, with the siege weapons, in a large half circle formation. And in four wedge formations in the rear, split up to two units by the sides of the golden support units, were pegasus units, dressed in silver and bronze armour.

The purpose of the formation was clear, to maximize their firing power against him while still keeping him in one spot. And to be able to move against him should he flee. Celestia was truly not pulling any punches in her agenda against him. But even with all of this... he felt like something was wrong. The units did not look... stable. No not that... they looked... *Raw... unrefined... basic... green... fresh... these units are all freshly trained recruits. There are no proper discipline... experience... courage... insight... not even a bloody killing instinct. Some of them are more trained then most, most of them being the full plated gold soldiers. But even they appear... relaxed. Overconfident. These are not soldiers. They are militias and conscripts.*

Maleficus wondered if he should feel insulted. But then he realized just why these ponies were so unrefined and weak as units. They had never been in battle, let alone war. They were inexperienced considering the hardships of battles. Sure Maleficus was the same, but he had at least experienced truly horrifying and painful things, he had experience, even if small. and he had knowledge as well ,which was something the ponies appeared to lack as well. They had a basic formation structure, but not the discipline or command to keep these units in good order.

There was more then likely that there would be glory seekers, hot tempered berserkers or even zealots among these units. They would not work as soldiers, not like this. But then again, he did not seek to kill anyone. So perhaps he could use this to not only help himself but the ponies as well?

But for now, he would let the ponies prepare, he had not spotted Celestia anywhere yet but she would be among the soldiers soon if not already. Not that hard to spot a winged pony twice the size of a regular one dressed in gold armour.

And spot her he did, not that it mattered much, she landed by what he assumed to be HQ. Could be hours before the army put a move on. Plenty of time for him to enact some tricks of his own.

The ponies had been marching for four hours when they reached the plains where the Phantom of the Moon had crashed. And the smoldering crater was a pretty good way to confirm this. The first to arrive were the Bronze Soldiers, numbering up to a thousand strong they were a single block of units, yet remained split up into groups of one hundred to make it easier to control their numbers.

The lined up at the front as they were the ones to keep the one called Maleficus at bay from reaching the rear lines. Behind the line of Bronze Soldiers gathered the Silver Soldiers, the Sun Guards and behind them were the Gold Soldiers. All of them gathering up in the decided formation of the Generals. The Silver and Bronze Pegasus Soldiers flying over the grounds troops by the sides in their wedge formations.

Even as they gathered up by the plains they had not spotted the enemy yet. All they could see was the smoking crater and the smoldering field of ash that surrounded it. The smoke and ash in the air was making their eyes sting and the ponies had to scrub their eyes to not get blinded by it.

Princess Celestia arrived last, her armoured hooves landing by the support lines at the read were the Five General were gathered in the Command Tent located behind the lines of Siege Weapons. The Ballistaes, or Sky Fangs as the Pegasi like to call them, and the Catapults, called the Grudge Thrower by the Earth Ponies, were lined up in a nice order of of ten Ballistaes with ten Catapults behind them and five of their new secret siege weapon behind the Catapults. This line up was repeated three times, making a line of Thirty Ballistaes, Thirty Catapults and Fifteen Secret Weapons.

Eyeing the formations with a smirk Celestia strode into the Command Center and saw her Generals gathered by the Battle Map with their assistants and younger officers at the ready. As she entered all of the ponies before to her or saluted, except for Fearless Charge who let her assistant verbally acknowledge the Princess.

She waved a hoof at them to be at ease and spoke to them in a calm voice, hiding her internal turmoil. "At east Mine subjects. What art Our progress on the battle plan?"

Blood Gorger would be the first to respond to her inquiry, his necklace speaking up in a genderless echoing mechanical voice. "WE ART FINISH WITH. THE INITIAL PREPARATIONS OF. THE BATTLE PLAN. PRINCESSS. ONCE MALEFICUS HAS BEEN. FOUND. WE SHALT ENACT PHASE. ONE OF THE PLAN."

As the General spoke Celestia looked upon the battle map, the outlines of the figurines upon the map showed the set up for the battle's first turn of events. The battle was simple yet elegant in its nature. She was certain that the foul fiend would fall to her Generals' tactical knowledge and strategic thinking. "Excellent General Blood Gorger. What be Our next course of actions once the fiend hath enacted Phase One?"

The General pulled out a scroll containing a detailed image of what looked like a wagon with two large spears sticking out of it its front, each spear was inserted in a spring loaded launch mechanism and connected between them was a long link of thick rune engraved iron chains. "PHASE ONE SHALT BE. THE TROOPS TIME TO. TRAP OUR FOE'S MOVEMENTS. ONCE HE HATH BEEN PINNED. WE SHALT ENACT PHASE. TWO. WHICH SHALT INVOLVE. OUR BATTLE MAGES AND. THE SUN GUARD TO. SEAL HIS MOVEMENTS AND. CHAIN HIS FORM WITH. OUR SECRET WEAPON. AS YOU KNOW WAS. THE STALLION OF TORMENT. SUCCESSFULLY BOUND BY STARSWIRL. WITH MAGICAL SUPPRESSING CHAINS. OF BLACK IRON. WE HAVE COPIED THESE. CHAINS AND CONSTRUCTED A. FIRING PLATFORM THAT WILL. LET US FIRE THEM. AT OUR TARGET. NOT ONLY THAT BUT. WE HATH EVEN MANAGED. TO IMPROVE ON THE. ORIGINAL ENCHANTMENTS OF THE. CHAINS STARSWIRL THE BEARDED. CREATED. THESE CHAINS ARE TWICE. AS POWERFUL AS THE. ORIGINAL CHAINS. WE CALL THIS WEAPON. THE RESTRICTA."

Eyeing the plans of the weapon Celestia felt pride for her ponies, they had truly done well to design such a impressive weapon from Starswirl's mad experiments. The fact that the chains did not contain the essence of Maleficus was irrelevant, these chains were twice as strong in all factors so they would work for their intended purpose. Which was to ensnare Maleficus so that she could bring down all of her might upon his foul form. "Excellent. We shalt be most pleased to see Our foe rendered powerless. He shalt not escape Us! He Shalt Face Justice. For Equestria!"

"For Equestria!"

"FOR EQUESTRIA."

Raising their hooves in salute to their kingdom and princess the ponies cheered for their future victory, soon justice would be satisfied as the fires of vengeance struck down the despoiler. But such things are far more fragile then they appear. Their bravado and cheer was shattered by the sudden loud boom, followed by a powerful tremor shaking the very earth itself for a few seconds. The Princess and her War Council left the tent post haste and witnessed the first sight of their foe, as he proclaimed himself to the world.

The signal came that the battle had begun not from the ponies but from the one they were searching for. For as Celestia and her Generals were talking and planning had Maleficus decided to make the first move.

It had actually been a spur of the moment thing, but he found himself enjoying it. When he had been human he had, had a big case of stage fright since his early childhood. Now he felt free, refreshed and unbowed. Thus he would make his first impression to the world one to be remembered, forever.

The clouds of ash and smoke had been starting to settle when he got the idea on how to get the show started. He jumped up a bit, about twenty meters, and slammed down into the soil. He enforced his legs and hooves with magic and thus enlarged the impact of his landing, even with the heavy armour and his own body's physiology did he need to use more... 'oomph' to make the right kind of effects caused by the impact.

And he got a fine result from it.

The earth shook and the ash riddled ground erupted into a large cloud that expanded outwards as the shock wave of the impact did so as well. The wall of black smoke flew out across the field and the ponies were panicking at the sight, some of the older ones even going into shock at the familiar sight of the billowing wave of smoke and ash. But no pony moved, they held the line, even as the wave of ash and dust flew straight into their ranks.

Their eyes began to sting, their throat got irritated and their nostrils got clogged. Within seconds was the entire Equestrian army, except for the rear lines and the aerial forces, coughing and choking on the ash cloud.

It did not last long, only around two minutes, then the ash and dust settled into the ground. Coughing and spitting the ponies scrubbed their eyes clean from the dirt and ash, only to hear a loud and rumbling voice that caused chills to run down their spines.

"Pathetic."

One word was all that had been said, yet it resounded across the entire field like a resounding echo of a brass gong. The one who spoke the word was hidden among the settling ash clouds, yet even if barely seen was the dark shape's glowing eyes, glaring down at them, as if spearing through their very souls with its intense glare.

"One little gust of dust and ash and you are reduced to this? I would have thought that Celestia would have heeded my words when we last spoke. It would seem that my words went ignored."

The clouds settled and more then one gasp was heard from the ranks of the ponies at the sight that greeted them. A black alicorn stallion, that was what they saw. The largest alicorn, the largest pony, ever seen was standing among the burnt ground.

A pony's body, yet it was all wrong. It was a body large and thick with muscles, a savage like pelt, an unruly and wild mane and tail along with the most bizarre looking horn they had ever seen. All of this made him appear far more alien then any hybrid monster they had seen before.

The Alicorn was dressed from hoof to head in a thick and heavy looking armour of black metal. His black mane and tail billowed through the air, his own pelt was just as black as his mane, making it almost impossible to discern his features, jet a row of teeth with a pair of large canines gleamed in the red sun light, while a pair of crimson eyes glared out from the fur of blackness that covered his face.

The segmented claw like horn upon his skull shifted and twitched as if anticipating violence and his large crow like wings were spread out. This was the one they had come to fight, this was the one who the Princess had declared an enemy. This was, Maleficus Victoria. Known to be the Phantom of the Moon and suspected of being the Stallion of Torment and the Green Star.

"You are all green. Weak and unrefined. Raw and naive. I look upon you and I do not see Soldiers, I do not see Knights and I do not see Warriors. You are regular people, given a weapon and a small amount of training."

Ponies all over the field twitched and frowned at his description of them. It felt down right infuriating that this stranger would declare them weak when they had trained with vigor and intense motivation for months just to defeat him.

"I say this because what you are about to embark upon is NOT something to take on lightly. This is bloody serious if you intend to go through with it. For once you take a step upon the battlefield. There. Are. No. More. Time. For. Regrets."

Taking a single step forward Maleficus's entire body seemed to grow larger to the ponies as he took that small step forward, the sound of his hoof beating into the burnt soil was like the sound of a giant. It was such a small and seemingly simple move, yet all of the ponies felt a chill down their spine as he took, one step, forward.

"You are not here for War. You are not here as Soldiers. You are here for a Lynching. You are here as a Mob. You seek not Honour, Glory or Duty. All you seek is Revenge, Power and Murder. You do not know the expectations or consequences of War. All you know is whatever glorified imagination world you got stuck in your thick skulls. You think you are prepared and ready. You are not."

Maleficus began to slowly walk forward, each time he took a step, the entire army seemed to shirk back as if physically struck. They did not know it, but the presence of an opponent with a hostile intent, was far more different then a wild beast. This was no wild animal, this was not small time pony bandit, this was a sapient hostile trained soldier with the strength and muster, far beyond their own, and it was their own bodies' instincts that was betraying them, making them react like skittish animals.

"You are not prepared. I can see this very clearly. I have shaken your will. I have rattled your minds. All it took was words and some physical effort. That was all it took. And I have already affect all of you to the most fundamental of levels."

The ponies tried to reason with themselves, they tried to shake off their unease. Some managed, but most did not. For Maleficus was right, he was affecting them, more then they were willing to accept.

"Your lines will not hold me. Your ranks will not contain me. Your weapons shall break. Your shields shall bend. Your arrows will shatter. Your bodies will scatter. All if this will be done by me, and me alone. And do you know why I will be able to do this? It is not just because I am an alicorn, no, it is something far more basic."

Maleficus stopped walking, he was now a mere one hundred meters from the first ranks. A wind was picking up and clouds of ash was flying around him like a black mist.

"You are still, at your core, herd animals with a safety mentality. Violence is not a natural reaction for you. I was originally an omnivore, an apex predator at that. My species dominated the entire world I came from. And I still hold that mentality even if I am now a pony. So listen to me and listen well."

Suddenly he rose up on his hind legs, his barrel expanded as he inhaled, his nostrils flared, his jaws opened and his axe flew out to float by his right side. and then he spread out his wings and stomped the earth with his forelegs and shouted out at the ponies. His eyes glowing red while wisps of ashes flew around his dark shape. His voice making the ponies' stand rigid and tense, as if their very nerves were frayed with frost and lightning, they were frozen stiff with fear.

"You. Are. Not. Prepared!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gTX2tyZUIw

Celestia had not realized what was going on until after she heard her hated foe speak. Her eyes grew wide as she listened to his speech and noticed how her soldiers grew anxious and uneasy. The way Maleficus spoke, the way he moved, it was making her proud ranks of trained soldiers act like skittish cats. Their armours were practically rattling as their bodies began to shiver in uneasy or down right fear. *He seeks to weaken Our ponies through intimidation! We hath to stop it!*

Growling she spread her wings and prepared to take flight and charge at the black stallion. when suddenly, he did that himself. His hunched shape suddenly sprang forward like a javelin as he roared out a battle cry that sent chills down her spine, then her eyes widened as the mighty bulwark of solid enchanted bronze shields, was folded together to meet his attack, and without even a hint of effort, was broken, as several of the soldiers within the front line charged to meet him.

She felt a twitch in her left eyebrow at the sight of several dozen of her newly trained ponies, break rank, charge their opponent, and thus weaken the large bulwark's front. "We... might be in trouble."

*No bucking kidding.* The assembled officers all thought at their ruler's words, this was going to be a big mess.

Of course, they had no idea just how big of a mess it would become.

Sergeant Rough Stock was a grizzly dark brown earth pony with a solid short cut black mane. He was all around rough with bad hygiene, bad manners and, badassery, as he called it. But he was one of the most efficient trainers of the new recruits. Too bad or him did he have to end up with one of the most unmotivated and lazy ponies of the lot for his unit in the Bronze Soldier's front lines.

Glaring at the source of his frustration fidgeting with his shield the Sergeant barked at the earth pony next to him“By the Gods! Would ye stop that Private Weak Guts! Yer messing up yer bloody grip more then normal!”

“Sorry Sarge, dese here straps be tough te handle ye know.” The small dark green earth pony muttered as he tried to properly adjust the straps of his large bronze shield, his yellow mane sticking out of the back of his helmet.

“Ye bloody well know it be yer lazy ass shit attitude that be de problem Private Guts! Now strap on ye bloody shield good an' proper before We smack it on ye thick skull!”

Grumbling a bit the younger earth pony adjusted the shield's traps, again, at his leading officer's barking. "Aye, aye, Sarge."

Then the earth shook and every single pony in the ranks of the Bronze Soldiers had barely the time to prepare their shields and weapons when a wave of ash and dust hit them. Weak Gut and Rough Stock were at the center of the very front of the entire unit, and had to spend a good moment clearing out the ash and smog from their faces and lungs.

"Pathetic."

It was only One Word, yet one word was all that was needed to shake them, Guts and Rough both felt chills down their spines as the dark shape within the smoke stared at them and their fellow soldiers with glowing red eyes.

"One little gust of dust and ash and you are reduced to this? I would have thought that Celestia would have heeded my words when we last spoke. It would seem that my words went ignored."

The clouds settled and Weak Guts heard more then one gasp from his fellows, he was too shocked to realize that he was one of them, at the sight that greeted them. What he saw was the largest pony, ever, wings, claw like horn and all covered in black fur and iron armour. The sheer power resonating from the Alicorn was making his armor rattle, although that could be his legs shaking, he wasn't sure.

Then the Alicorn spoke once again.

"You are all green. Weak and unrefined. Raw and naive. I look upon you and I do not see Soldiers, I do not see Knights and I do not see Warriors. You are regular people, given a weapon and a small amount of training."

Weak Guts agreed with the alicorn, he was a farmer, not a soldier. Yet he knew that more then one of his fellow conscripts were not going to take those words lying down. And sure enough could he hear angry muttering, growls and snarls among the ranks from Ponies all around him, Sergeant Rough Stock was still calm though, not bothered by the Alicorn's sharp words.

"I say this because what you are about to embark upon is NOT something to take on lightly. This is bloody serious if you intend to go through with it. For once you take a step upon the battlefield. There. Are. No. More. Time. For. Regrets."

The black alicorn suddenly took a step forward, it was only a small gesture of movement, yet the way the Alicorn's body moved was not normal. In Weak Guts' eyes it was not like a pony's body movements at all. It was far more like a prowling wolf. And it was making Weak Guts' body break out into shivers and cold sweat at the sheer sight of it. And the Alicorn was still moving towards them even as he kept talking, the slow walk driving more and more unease into him and the rest of the unit.

"You are not here for War. You are not here as Soldiers. You are here for a Lynching. You are here as a Mob. You seek not Honour, Glory or Duty. All you seek is Revenge, Power and Murder. You do not know the expectations or consequences of War. All you know is whatever glorified imagination world you got stuck in your thick skulls. You think you are prepared and ready. You are not."

"Sarge... We art not feelin' all too good about this. Da others... some of 'em hath tempers ye know." Weak Guts muttered to his superior who was frowning.

The grizzled Sergeant took a fe seconds to survey the situation before he nodded to the soldier. "Aye. He be messin with Our brains an' he knows how to. He may look like he be a pony. But he sure as Our old ma's grave do not act like one. Ye better stay close te Us private an' hold yer place in da ranks."

"You are not prepared. I can see this very clearly. I have shaken your will. I have rattled your minds. All it took was words and some physical effort. That was all it took. And I have already affect all of you to the most fundamental of levels."

"Sarge..." Came the uneasy voice of Guts as the ranks of the entire unit were now down right unruly and not even holding their stances in some places.

The older earth pony nodded and adjusted his grip on the shield and spear in his hooves. "Aye lad, We see it. He be real clever this one. We art not willful enough te handle somepony like him yet. We art not trained nor experienced enough in both body an' noggin yet. Jest be glad there be no more ponies like him or we be real an unproperly scrowed. All We can only endure it an' hope fer da best."

"Your lines will not hold me. Your ranks will not contain me. Your weapons shall break. Your shields shall bend. Your arrows will shatter. Your bodies will scatter. All if this will be done by me, and me alone. And do you know why I will be able to do this? It is not just because I am an alicorn, no, it is something far more basic."

Weak Guts and Rough Stock bolt felt like they should do something to stop the now highly agitated ponies in the ranks, some looked ready to charge, some looked ready to flee and some even looked ready to faint. But the visage of the alicorn was making it difficult for them to speak, let alone shout. And things were steadily getting, worse and it seemed like the Alicorn was preparing the coup de grace. And even if this was the first largest scale battle of the ponies of Equestria since the Fall of Discord, were neither of them willing to bet that things would work out.

"You are still, at your core, herd animals with a safety mentality. Violence is not a natural reaction for you. I was originally an omnivore, an apex predator at that. My species dominated the entire world I came from. And I still hold that mentality even if I am now a pony. So listen to me and listen well."

"Sarge! He is gonna do something!" Weak Guts practically shouted as he tried to anticipate just what to do. There was no way to run, Sarge would make sure of that. There was no way he could attack, he was the weakest of the unit. And he sure as bucking hell did not think he could do much to deterrent the charge of an alicorn, as mentioned just a moment ago, he was the weakest of the unit.

"Aye lad! Time fer some last second effort before da big party starts!" But apparently, this fact did not seem to phase Sergeant Rough Stock one bit. The large earth pony laughed and slammed his pole arm into his shield to get the troops attention, well the attention of those within shouting range that were not lost in rage, fear or arrogance. Then he started doing what he did best, shouting out threats and orders.

"Alright listen up ye flank holes! Ye better grip yer shields tight or it be yer buckholes that will be smeared to da ground! By US! So ye better get yer brains on straight an' LINK YER BUCKING SHIELDS!" There was a flurry of movements as the soldiers reacted to the voice of the Sergeant, rune engraved bronze shields linked up like a row of dominoes falling into place. Yet there were still several holes and uneven lines of the shield wall because of the psychological warfare of the alicorn.

Then the black giant of a pony rose up onto his hind legs and then he slammed his forelegs down upon the earth, it felt as if their very souls were being judged and found lacking as his voice slammed into them like a physical force.

"You. Are. Not. Prepared!"

Then, he charged.

Weak Guts shivered as he saw several dozens of his fellows break ranks and charge at the alicorn. And then his eyes widened as without even pausing in his charge the alicorn swatted the ponies aside like leaves in the wind, a wing slap sent one spinning into the air, a toss of his head sent another straight into the sky, a forward way push with his shoulders sent two of them somersaulting up in the air and then down into the ground. And even the group of twenty who tried to charge him en mass was thoroughly slammed into the ground, literally, in an instance.

If it had not been so terrifying to see over a dozen armed ponies beaten so soundly, would he probably have found the sight humorous.

Then the alicorn's voice spoke up as he approached the front lines and Weak Guts got a very awkward feeling in his stomach as the black mass of iron and muscles charged, towards him. *Oh glue.*

"There are far more weaknesses to a shield wall then the weak discipline of the wielders!"

He could feel the presence of the alicorn come closer, he covered behind his shield, lowering his head as he tried to grip the shield with all of his strength.

"If one knows how the shield wall works! If one knows how to align their weapons, tool or natural born implements according to the wall's shields!"

Weak Guts tried to steady his hind legs into a proper steady stance. He was gripping the handle of the shield next to his own, as was taught to him in basics when it came to how to properly hold together the shields. And while he gripped the other pony's shield, was Sarge holding onto his. While the the straps on the center of the inside of the shield was strapped tightly to his other front leg.

"Then it is no more difficulties to breach the wall then there is when you flip over an empty table!"

And then he felt something shift at the bottom of his shield, he had barely the time to notice a black spade shaped object slip beneath the bottom of his shield. The spade suddenly tore upwards and wrenched the shield off him, nearly dislocating his foreleg as the straps broke. The shield went flying into the air while Weak Guts himself got the forehead of an alicorn slammed into his gut.

Weak Guts felt his stomach churl and burn as he found himself hanging limp on top of what appeared to be the horn of the Alicorn, reshaped into what looked like a mixture between a line of plating spread out over the top of his muzzle from forehead to nose before ending up in an up curving spade like blade. The poor pony had no time to register all of this however, since he was too busy spewing out his breakfast over his comrades as he hung on the head of the alicorn like a sack of carrots.

Rough Stock shouted out at him but Weak Guts had no option to respond or react as he found himself the unwitting passenger of a ride he would never want to go through again. He seemed to be stuck as the alicorn slammed through his fellow soldiers and smashed the entire front lines and the ranks behind them like dominoes, yet he remained on. As the shields began to fold against the sudden shift in weight and pressure the ponies started to panic and the shields began to fall back over their wielders en mass.

As the alicorn began to move on top of the falling shields the puking earth pony named Weak Guts could only think, *This... sucks... so... much...*, while gurgling out stomach juices. Acting like an unwilling puke launcher as his stomach took a repeated deep pounding from the bouncing his body was making on top of the alicorn's head.

As Maleficus rushed forward he was attacked by several bullheaded fanatics screaming bloody murder. The first one to try and strike at him was a big earth pony who had decided to turn aside his polearm and use a short sword with his shield instead.

Flexing his left wing he swept the earth pony stallion up into his feathers and then with a sharp upwards flex sent him spinning like a discus into the air. The screaming pony flew away from the battlefield and disappeared into the hills, he would not have flown so far away had he not been holding so tightly onto his shield.

Another pony tried to attack him, this time a mare unicorn wielding a pair of floating spears along with her shield. He ducked his head beneath her attack and rammed his head into her shield, making her body fall over his head and neck, before throwing his head upwards, sending her flying up into the air.

He could have sworn that she had made a Wilhelm Scream when she landed again.

Next were two earth pony mares, each wielding spear and shield, they were trying to lam their shields into him from opposite angles. An interesting tactic but he met their charge and pushed his upper body against their shields while slamming his armoured forelegs into the lower part of the shields. The lower part of the shields slammed into their own lower body and the upper part folded against his, causing the two ponies to flip up into the air before slamming down into the ground.

Next up was a group effort of earth ponies, unicorns and probably a pair of pegasi. They were an unruly mob of random efforts and he took care of them in a less then humble way. First he swept his wings, causing a gust of ash to hit their faces. And then he suddenly spun his entire body in mid charge and slammed one of out folded his wings into the back of their heads, burying their upper bodies into the ground as they lammed face first into it.

After he had forced away the attackers he noticed the sudden change in stance of the unit in front of him. *Hmmm... interesting that is the basic form of a Shield Wall... Guess my shouting had more of an effect then a I thought, it is rather shabby considering the way some of them are shaking.*

Maleficus knew the shield wall more then the ponies. He had always found the concept of the Shield Wall to be the most basic of formations when it came to using shields as a unit. If someone knew how to properly align the shields together and move together, they would essentially become invulnerable to most medieval weapons.

"There are far more weaknesses to a shield wall then the weak discipline of the wielders!"

Of course even the Shield Wall had a great deal of weaknesses, something that he knew as well. One of the earliest solutions to the shield wall was a strategy called the Boar Snout, developed by Viking Mercenaries. In essence it was another Shield Wall but with a wedge formation ,where the largest and strongest of the group was at the ground to breach past the shield wall with brute force.

"If one knows how the shield wall works! If one knows how to align their weapons, tool or natural born implements according to the wall's shields!"

What he intended to do was something different. The ponies knew how to use the shield wall a bit, but he noticed instantly something very important about the way they held the shields. And he knew how to pierce it.

"Then it is no more difficulties to breach the wall then there is when you flip over an empty table!"

His horn shifted and altered its shape, the segmented parts from the base and up to the middle flattened out over his forehead and down between his nostrils before shifting upwards into a flat spade shaped horn. He lowered his head and slipped his horn beneath the lower rim of the shield in front of him, that had not been lowered into the ground. Then the black alicorn raised his head and sent the shield flying into the air.

He then felt something press down onto the top of his muzzle and stared at the sight of a pony hanging on his head, puking uncontrollably over his allies, the straps on the left side of his armour had gotten stuck on Maleficus' horn. *Oay... this is messed up in more ways then one.* Maleficus thought to himself before he returned his focus to the fight. *I hope you are not going to get traumatized by this kid, for things are about to get even rougher.*

Maleficus then spread his wings and tilted over the ponies on his side, the force of the gust he caused sending the troops on his sides rolling to the ground, their shields making them unable to stand as the forces of the wind made them lose their balance.

Slamming his front hooves into the shields behind the front line ended up causing a domino effect. The shield bearers could not handle the sudden shift in weight as the iron armoured alicorn pressed himself against the shields. This caused the shields to fold back over their wielders and into the shields behind them. And as the shields in front of him became tilted enough he pressed his front legs and heaved himself up on top of the falling shields and began to sprint down the unit on top of their own shields.

The ranks behind the first were unable to handle the increased weight and pressure of their comrades' bodies and shields collapsing against them and fell backwards as well with their own shields pressing down on them. This was all caused by the weight of their own shields and Maleficus' body weight pressing down upon them as he ran on top of the folding shields, and thus causing them to fall to the ground.

This pattern of falling shields was repeated as Maleficus charged down on top of the shields. His still puking passenger still stuck on top of his muzzle like a unwitting weapon used for a mixture between psychological and biological warfare. Rank after rank fell and collapsed beneath their own shields and back over the other, making the entire Bronze Unit collapse like a set of dominoes.

All Celestia could do was gape and stare as her proud unit of a thousand strong, was flattened by a single charge, with no use of magic whatsoever from what she could tell.

Her Generals stared in shock, amazement and agony at the sight of their well trained Bronze Soldiers reduced to a rabble and mockery within a manner of minutes. Yet they felt a grudging respect for the Alicorn for achieving it, even if they wanted to strangle him because of it. Yet the Generals and the Princess were both fearing just what manner of evil scheme he would come up with to handle the Silver Units.

The Silver Soldiers had readied their weapons at the sight of the Alicorn Breaching the lines, crossbows were ready, bows were pulled back with arrows notched and spells were being charged. But as the alicorn got closer so noticed the front ranks his unwilling passenger and shouted out at the others in their troops. "Sir! The enemy hath one of Us on top of his head!" The Sun Guard in charge of the unit cursed and shouted out at his and the other silver unit. "Hold yer fire! Don't thou recklessly shoot! That foul fiend hath one of our fellows hostage and be using him as a living shield! Aim for the legs!"

Now in a perfect world would this order have gotten through and both sides would have whittled down the alicorn's armour with ranged attacks and forcing him to stop his reckless charge. Sadly though, this is not a perfect world and it is proven when the Sun Guard in charge of the second Silver Unit, disregarded the orders from his fellow Sun Guard and gave another order. "Disregard that fool's command! We art taking this fiend down now! Our fellow shalt be remembered for his brave sacrifice!"

The other Sun Guard did not appreciate this and shouted out at the other Sun Guard. "Quit acting like thou art a thick headed snake Glory Seeker! That there be one of us! Do not dare put his life at risk cause of thine ambitions!"

"Shut thy manure filled muzzle Kind Protector! We art taking this foe down, no matter the price! Our princess hath told us to act and thus we shall!"

"If thine head would separate from thine buckhole for more then a minute, thy would understand. Thou art putting a life of one of our fellows at risk by thy own greed for success! Do as I hath ordered! Aim for the legs!"

"No! Care not for the lose of one life if we can win this battle! Shoot to kill!"

The Silver Soldiers of both units were equally confused by the argument between their two superior officers and they could not make a decision in how to handle things properly. Some shoot to kill, some shoot to cripple, yet because of this was their coordination bad, very, very bad. There is a reason why ranged units do not fire in random manners while in formation, it is dangerous not only to them but their allies as well.

Projectiles and spells were fired in a random unprofessional fashion towards the charging alicorn, but nothing would hit him, most of it was because he shifted his position by charging side ways left and right to avoid any kind of strike. But other then him dodging was more then one third of the attacks misses because of the spells interacting with one another and thus disrupting the other projectiles. Some were harmlessly dispelled in gusts of wind, pretty sparks of light, a flash of light or possibly become a pile of ice or snow. Yet other spells were far more devastating, and dangerous, in their reactions, some exploded like fireballs, of those explosions were a few ice or light based, others erupted into electrical discharges and a few even managed to create freak weather conditions like small tremors and tornadoes.

And this total chaos of magic and projectiles, lead to the Silver Units imminent defeat, not at the hooves of Maleficus, but at their own lack of proper order ad coordination with their fellow soldiers. Most of the blame could be put at the Sun guards but the Silver Soldiers had minor officers who should have taken command when the situation became as it was. Yet they too had conflicting interest and thus, this was the result.

A pair of spells detonated into a freak snow storm. And for a few seconds was every body blinded by snow and frost blowing into their faces. Once the chilling wind had cleared could everybody open their eyes again and saw that the small storm cloud had disappeared and in its place was a massive block of ice in front of both the units. It looked like the largest piece of ice ever for many of the ponies, it looked like it could chill many a drinks for an entire summer.

But those daydreams came to an end when that block of ice was destroyed by a powerful eruption of fire and molten rock as another pair of spells reacted to one another. The icy and molten stone shrapnel of the spell did not hurt anyone, yet it did cause quite a disaster to the Gold Units, the ones with control over the Ballistaes and Catapults of the northern Gold Unit to be exact.

The Sun Guard in charge of the Gold Unit had seen the impending disaster and shouted out at her men when the ice began to crack. "Take Cover!" All of the Gold Soldiers took cover behind the closest things they could find to act as a solid cover. Most of them took cover behind the wooden frames of their siege weapons, and that would end up being a bad decision.

Icy shards of ice and pieces of molten rock flew out from the explosion, most of it went sky high but quite a bit of it struck at the northern Gold Unit because of the angle that the Ice Block had exploded. Ice sharp as razors and molten stone pieces from the size of coins to the size of heads rained upon the siege weapons. And then, the first ominous sound was heard.

It sounded like something tightly strung up was being unfurled, as if what had once tied it in place had gotten loose. Then a loud twang erupted as one of the ballistaes' strings went slack and the two strung back wooden arms of the large crossbow slammed forward. The force of the two arms springing out at full speed without a restraining support rope tied to its frame caused the weapon to suddenly fall apart.

Or rather, first all the screws and nails holding it together flew out of it like shrapnel and once it could not hold its shape together the entire weapon platform collapsed as it fell apart. This buried its crew beneath a pile of timber, yet no one was seriously injured.

The same could not be said for the Siege Weapons.

The ice and molten stones had struck every single one of the catapults and ballistaes. The ice shards and cut rope, pierced wood and dented the metal. While the molten rocks had burnt rope, set wood on fire and melted the metal. Like a mockery of their hard work of constructing the weapons, training to use them and caring for them ,the massive wooden frames groaned, and then began to slowly tear themselves apart like the slowly build up to the final note of a wicked orchestra.

The Gold Soldier Ponies were running around frantically trying to save the war machines. Yet with the amount of damage they had taken in such a short amount of time was it no chance they could save them. The ballistaes were ruined in different ways, their ropes being ruined, the frames burning, their infrastructure torn apart and so on. Each ballistae tore itself apart in a different fashion and some of them even made a great final effort to make an impression by either flipping over or shooting off parts of their frames into the air.

But the catapults were a different story, they were all built in the same manner and even if they had been hit by a vast amount of both ice and molten stone, were the events the same. Their security ropes snapped and the large wooden spoon like launchers swung up and fired the hundreds of already loaded small metal orbs that had been prepared for the fight, and then the wooden structure's launcher tore off from their foundations and flew off into the center of the battlefield.

The result? The defeat of the Silver Units.

They came like a rain of horseshoes. A cloud of solid metal spheres the size of a golf ball covered the red sun for a few seconds, making everybody in the battle field stop and look up. Their eyes widened as they witnessed the cloud of metal falling down from the sky. Even as the units tried to raise shields to protect themselves they could not do anything to stop the barrage. They had no time.

It took only around two seconds for the sphere to impact the areas of the two Silver Units. Each of these spheres had been prepared for one purpose, suppressing Maleficus' movement. To prevent him from being able to attack or flee while the Bronze until held him at bay. Within each orb was a single crystal surrounded by a runic array.

The small gemstone was loaded with a small amount of magic and when the thin copper sphere containing it was cracked, dented or impacted something very hard, the spell of the array would activate. Even if the sphere was intact would the spell inside it still activate after it registered an impact, it would only be delayed by ten seconds.

A single sphere struck the head of the Sun Guard Captain, Glory Seeker, and as he tried to shout out in rage, the sphere cracked open and a bright light emitted from the sphere before a rapidly expanding mass of pink gunk erupted from it, covering up to five meters in radius. The Captain was covered from top to bottom in the slimy mass and found himself furious as he tried to pull the sticky mess off his fur. "What be this disgusting-! Wait what!? We can not move!"

All over the area were flashes of light erupting and soldiers were finding themselves stuck in a mess of pink hardening slime."Aaaah! This thing will not come off!"

This was a mess and would make the entire Silver unit immobile since most of them had expended most of their magic recklessly attacking Maleficus, they were either too exhausted to cast magic or fearing of injuring themselves trying to cast magic while encased in a hardened pink slime. "We... can... not... move..."

Some were of course less focused on the whole, military issues of the situation. "Ewwww! It be in mine mane!" And more on the icky parts-

While others were enjoying being stuck in slime a bit too much. "Hroohh! Mmmm!" *Translation: Oohhhh! Mmmmm!*

While those stuck to those enjoying themselves were finding it rather annoying. "Thy better stop enjoying this Hot Flank or by the Sun we shalt beat thee like a straw dummy!"

"Oooommm mesh! Chloud huoi lo wlath wogll lon ubs fldofk themer!?" *Translation: Oohhh yes! Could thou do that to us Thick Member!?* Came an eager muffling from the slime covered figure, the mare's barely covered eyes sparkling through the compound like a pair of fire flies was making it obvious that she did not find that much of a punishment.

The stallion stared at the sparkling eyes of his fellow silver soldier before he closed his eyes and slowly counted to ten. "...We do not want to know what thou just tried to say."

The pink slime was a newly made compound of water conjured through magic combined with a powder, made from a stone discovered at the mountain of Canterlot. Even if the compound was fluid and sticky at first would it hardening into a solid mass in mere seconds after being in contact with air. But that was only when combined with magical conjured water, when combined with naturally produced water, it would heat up at a high degree of temperature before hardening. The stonecutters of Canterlot were very eager to develop it further for architectural purposes, even if the compound was far weaker then the magical version, was it still far sturdier then some types of rocks they had been using when building the city.

Also, the magically conjured version would become brittle after a few hours but was strong enough to hold even an alicorn in place, Celestia had accidentally gotten herself stuck to a boulder after forgetting to wash her hooves when touching one of the produced slime masses during a test. It had been a bit embarrassing to discover she could not remove it even after dislodging the ten ton boulder from the ground in a struggle to get it off. Even if the situation had been an embarrassment so had it helped them realizing that the compound could hold an alicorn in place, even if only for a few minutes.

As compound grew weaker in a progressive state so could a being a strong as an alicorn get themselves free after around ten minutes, yet for a regular pony so was there a too large a difference in physical capacity for them to get free in such a short amount of time.

The compound was rather weak to magical attacks though so it would only be used as a supportive weapon against Maleficus. At least, that had been the intention, until things turned out like this. And with the majority of the unicorns in the silver unit too exhausted and the rest too nervous to cast magic, they were pretty much stuck. And then as they units laid there immobile by their own support, came several large wooden spoon like structures flying in the air before descending and slamming like tree trunks into their ranks. About one third of them were struck by the wooden spoons and many would have some broken bones form that disaster, yet no one was severely injured.

And to top it all off, Maleficus had not even reached them when all of this happened.

Celestia felt like crying at the sight and one of her Generals, Blood Gorger, fell over from a heart attack and had to be revived by his fellows while the rest were trying to figure out, what, had, gone, wrong.

Had anyone been able to see Maleficus face for a few moments they would have seen a, very, very heavy grimace that made it look like he was in intense physical pain.

He watched as the Silver Units fired like mad raccoons with laser pistols and bows. And twitched.

He watched as the misfired spells caused their own long range Siege Weapons to misfire and get destroyed. And twitched.

He watched as a rain of metal spheres impacted the Silver Unit, spheres that later exploded into a pink slime like concrete that trapped the entire unit. And twitched.

He looked with a curious fascination of disbelief as several launch pads, looking rather spoon like, flew from the siege weapon units, and slammed into the trapped Silver Units. And twitched.

It was... awful to watch. It caused him near physical pain by the sheer sight of the ludicrous buffoonery in front of him. *........What.... the.... actual.... fuck..... are.... they..... doing?*

The alicorn was wondering if this was a sign that he was still sealed on the moon he was having a very lucid dream. Yet he could not stop to ponder the acts of Murphy. So deciding to not take this for granted he raised his speed for a few seconds before suddenly making a forward leap, pounced and then jumped.

Maleficus did not know how to fly, or even glide properly, but he did know how to jump and with his powerful muscles he could jump far farther then any pony. He spread his wings to get some more distance just to be safe. But he had forgotten about his unwitting passenger, who had decided to once gain, puke. There were many cries of disgust and outrage down bellow him. It made him almost pity the soldiers beneath him, had they not all made a Monty Python like act n front of him mere moments ago.

It was rather hilarious, but it was also making him ponder something. *Just how much do you have in that stomach of yours? Did you eat a whole barn's worth of food or something before the battle?*

But Maleficus did not voice his curiosity and instead silently pondered while staring at the swirly eyed pony hanging over his head. He then noticed the ground approaching. Shifting his fore legs and hind legs he landed smoothly, excluding a loud burp and groan from his passenger, and then, he kept charging forward. Straight towards the Sun Guard Unit in front of him.

Smirking the alicorn raised his head, his passenger groaning but he ignored that, and as he came up upon the gold armoured soldiers he roared out, "Now that the comedy is out of the way! Let us have a bit of proper fun!", and charged straight into the unit.

The front line of the golden unit was made up by soldiers of full plate golden armour, yet every one of them wielded a different weapon, no unity or focus. Just random weapons for everybody. So when he charged straight into the unit he aimed for the weak point, were there was only a group of four soldiers, each wielding one or two one handed weapon,s no pole arms, no shields and not even a two handed weapon.

Two earth ponies, one wielding a mace and one wielding a pair of daggers. A unicorn wielding a long sword. A pegasus wielding a... short handled pitchfork? Or was it some kind of weird looking sai or short handled trident? Well either way they were not suited for handling the charge of a full plate covered alicorn.

They tried to swing their weapons at him from different angles, they had decent team work but little else. All of their weapons were made of rune engraved gold and... well they bent when they struck his solid iron armour. He gave them no time to gape as their blade, knife, mace and... pitchfork, were ruined in their attempt to strike him. Forcing himself forward he pushed past them with only the force of his forelegs and chest slamming straight through them like they were a group of fence poles. All four got slammed hard into the ground as his armour covered forelegs and chest slammed straight into their bodies.

And then he stood up on his hind legs, grabbed the closest opponent, a greatsword wielding unicorn, with his left hoof by the helmet, and swung him like an improvised club into his fellow soldiers. Now charging on his hind legs he swung his unwilling living weapon in a wide arch, slapping aside three ponies with every wing like they were rag dolls. After ten swings he then threw the pony in his hoof to the side like a javelin, making a line of ten or so fall to the force of their buddy's body flying into them.

Side stepping he avoided a pair of spears from the left, grabbing onto the spears beneath the spear heads he made another sweep, this time taking out a group of ten. But after having swung the spears in a 120 degree arch into ten ponies, with their wielders still holding onto the ends, the wooden shafts broke and their wielders flew off into the back of the unit, hitting more of their fellows as they landed.

Throwing aside the spear heads Maleficus jumped over a group of shieldbearers before kicking them to the ground with a backwards aimed wide side kick sending them as a group to the ground. The amount of unconscious or fallen ponies were starting to pile up as he moved through the unit. The Sun Guards were starting to get desperate to take him down, it was infuriating that he was handling them so easily!

Four ponies attacked, one pegasus and three unicorns, each wielding a shield and a different type of bladed hand weapon, a longsword, a shortsword, a saber and what looked like an oversized butcher's knife. Their aim was to press their shields into him from the sides and stab at his weak points. Sadly for them though, was their target already on the move. The large alicorn stallion reached out, grabbed hold of one of their shields, and with a brutal rotation of his entire body, swatted them all aside with the use of their own companion's shield and body like a crude kind of club.

Letting go of his unconscious weapon the Alicorn rushed forward and pressed his forelegs against another shield user, and started to use the shield, an its wielder, like a protection as he rushed straight forward through the unit. The Sun guards tried to stop him ,they tried to form up and delay him. Yet he was not to be denied and with his unwilling battering ram he pushed through half of the unit, when something unexpected happened.

The Sun Guards scattered, reforming away from him, leaving a wide area free to him, yet still surrounded him. Still holding his, now unconscious, living weapon the alicorn casually tossed the pony to his fellows and lowered himself back on all four of his legs, and for the first time, stopped charging. Something was up and he was not willing to continued his charge until he realized what was going on.

As a human he had experienced, watched and read, way too many ambushed in entertainment medias like games, comics, books, cartoons and movies. He had also experienced an ambush, when Starswirl the Bearded tried to murder him, even if the experience of it was hard to recollect because of the state he was in, so is the feelings he experienced still there. And the feeling he got from this was very similar to what he can remember feeling just before Starswirl enacted his ambush. Yet even if it was an ambush... he did not feel threatened or unsettled. It was hard to put it in words but he felt like he was not in danger, even if there was an ambush.

That's when he heard something in the distance.

It sounded like something being cranked up, it reminded him of the sound a key winding up an old clock made. Only much heavier in its resonance. Whatever was being cranked up was big and from the steadily extended periods of the sound, it was very tightly strung. *I wonder what kind of device it is. Well, I better make sure to prepare myself, I do not want to be caught off guard if things get out of han- I mean hoof... *Sigh* I miss having hands.*

Calling forth his power he traced a runic circle into the ground around him. The Sun Guards were watching him with tension and were trying to disrupt his concentration by firing spells and projectiles at him. He took a few hits yet nothing too serious, but it was the first injuries he had taken for the entire battle. A few arrows struck his but were forced aside by the slight updraft his magical preparations were causing. Some spell hit him as well but did little else but singe his fur a bit, and even if they hit so did they not even slow down his spell.

The Sun Guards were stunned at their failed attempts at disrupting his spell casting. Normally when a unicorn, or even an alicorn, is casting long time channeling magic, they can be easily distracted by outside interference. So the most common way to fight someone casting a long time channeling spell is to hit them to disrupt their focus.

There was a reason why most Unicorns preferred short time spell casting rather then long time channeling, it required far less focus and time, even if less powerful. The slightest hit on an Unicorn when channeling could disrupt the process. And if hit on their horns they could even get a very powerful migraine that would keep them from casting magic for a while.

Yet that was not efficient in this situation. Maleficus was not casting magic like a normal unicorn would, his acquired fragments of knowledge over the arcane was too... well, fragmented, to make him able to cast magic the same as any other horned pony could. Instead he channeled his magic through his entire body, not just his horn. While his horn was his main focus point, was it by no reason his only means of channeling magic.

Maleficus was also able to ignore pain and distractions because of several simple, if uncomfortable reasons. He had spent a century as a regenerating burning corpse, feeling constant agony to the point of insanity until he went sane again after the century had passed. He could endure pain.

He had also always been able to ignore people and tings in his surroundings since he was human. In fact he was sometimes so focused on what he was doing that he would lose track of his surroundings and even time. He once spent whole day reading a book, non stop, he did not even put it aside when he ate or went to the toilet. And he did that when he was a kid, not even a teenager, he was even worse during that period of his life. So ignoring the attacks and shouts from the surrounding Sun Guards, was not even a challenge for him.

As the runic array beneath him was completed the black alicorn positioned himself, hind and forelegs spread out to the sides his body lowered, as to give him a good stance to sprint or jump away should it prove more dangerous then he could handle.

The cranking then stopped as a loud click, or rather, clack sound was heard and there were loud voices speaking out in the distance, from the less armoured Gold Units he had seen before. And then came a loud voice shouting out, "Fire!", before several loud kachunk like sounds was heard from all around him. Then something could be heard whistling through the air towards him.

He had barely the time to register the fact that fifteen pairs of spears, each pair linked together by a thick iron chain, flew towards him from almost all angles except for his rear, and then they struck. The spears pierced through not flesh but grass covered soil, their spear tips shaped to act like anchors once they hit something. As they struck the chain between each pair of spears, latched onto whatever was between them like a primitive bola, useless on its own, but rather efficient when using multiple of them.

Of course several of the spears were not able to hit him, about six of the fifteen pairs shoot at him missed, and one of them struck at his body. He had to lift and constantly shift his head rather swiftly to keep the pony stuck on his head out of harms way as the spears flew at him, the poor guy puked some more but was unharmed. The spear that actually hit him struck at his left side, yet only managed to create a loud clang like sound that made his ears ring when it impacted his armour and it ricocheted into the ground. The rest ensnared him from all sides, the heavy chains tugging into his body, tying him into place while the spears held the chains straight. He looked like a cartoon character wrapped up in chains.

After then surprise had left his system he investigated the chains, and his eyes instantly narrowed when he recognized them. These chains were very similar in design to the chains Starswirl had used when trying to kill all those years ago, he could not really, recognize them by sight, with his haze of pain, and the fact that his eyeballs had been burning, made his visual memories unclear. Yet he recognized the aura from the chains and the way they felt, far more refined then those that last tied him up, yet still based upon the same design in purpose and feeling of the magic.

He smirked and shook his head a little, his movement might be restricted by the chains but he could still move a little. "I see. So that is your plan Celestia. To keep me in one place, heavily trapped by both physical and magical means, so that you can enact your revenge. I'd say it is rather clever, had not Starswirl the bearded attempted the same thing all those years ago."

A sudden flare of light erupts i nthe distance and Celestia's voice explodes out from rear ranks of the army, he could feel her anger even while so far away. "Do not speak Our teacher's name fiend!"

He just snorted at that. "Hmph. I will speak the name of that deranged old goat any day I want to. You cannot tell me what to say and what not to say. I am not a slave. To speak one's mind is not a privilege, it is a right. And I will not take back my words about him, even if he once was a great person, he tried to chain me down and murder me with my own horn. So he will get neither pity or respect from me." The alicorn then looked at the surrounding smug Sun Guards and just sighed before he shifted his body a little getting the feeling for the chains holding him.

"Now then, let me tell you ponies something, you are included in this Celestia. Something VERY crucial that you have overlooked when it comes to this situation we have right now." The ponies looked at one another in confusion, but kept their weapons and horns steady and aimed at him. *Hmmm... these ones at least got some discipline.*

"These chains may be enchanted with runes to nullify magic, it is actually a very impressive runic array, very refined and works like a buffer when combined with the other chains, making it stronger the more chains there are. Yet these chains only stop the magic from touching the chains themselves." The ponies winced as the levitating axe, which had just been casually floating around next to him, flew over and around his head, proving his point.

"If I am casting magic that reached not for the chains there are no effects of the anti magical arrays. Plus I can still cast magic on myself or the area beneath me. So yeah, this limits me a bit, but it is not much." Celestia winced, she had thought the chains would act like a sort of seal, she had never actually used the chains like their intended purpose, she was not willing to chain herself down to try it out. She was far too uneasy with being tired up with magical suppressing chains to even consider it.

The ponies were shifting with unease as the alicorn's words begin to register in their heads. But if they thought he had finished talking, they were very wrong. "And there is one more thing you have overlooked." Celestia wanted to cry, it was so frustrating to hear him tear apart all of her hard work and then just keep on pouring salt onto the wounds! Truly this was a fiendish foe! Not even Discord could aggravate her like this! Her Generals were all equally uneasy and she could hear the assistant of General Fearless Charge, call out the command for the Silver and Bronze Pegasus Units.

"General Charge wants all air units to make their move right away, they need to attack the target now before he gets free of the chains."

One of the Sun Guard Officers turned his horn towards the sky and with a brilliant flare of his horn, signaled the Pegasi units to attack.

Now here's the thing, the Bronze and Silver air units were each given a specific purpose. Bronze, close combat, Silver, ranged combat. It was that simple. So when each of them were given the same order, they went at it in a different way. The Bronze units flew off into a sudden downward charge towards the target. While the Silver Units flew above them with their weapons ready to throw or fire. With their trained speed limit, as to not endanger other flyers who were too slow, they would reach the target within a minute.

Yet Maleficus did not just stand there and wait for them attack him. Even before the units began their charge towards him he spoke. "These chains are nullifiers, but they do not just nullify the magic cast on them or make it hard for those to cast magic they hit. Since they are linked to the spears you used to launch and anchor them, I highly doubt there are any kind of enchantments on the spear heads to keep them in place. This soil is not even stone or rocky, it is moist and soft. So all I have to do to get out of this, is this."

The ponies felt their courage waver and break as the alicorn shifted his entire body and without even a slightest resistance, the spear heads slid out of the soil they were buried in like they had been anchored in pudding. He then shifted his forelegs up to his neck and spread them, pulling the lengths chains down from his neck, past his sides, hind legs and to the ground. It had not even taken him ten seconds.

Casually shaking his head, cranking his sore neck into order, he looked up at the approaching flyers and then back at the units behind him, he could hear the Bronze Unit star to get back up on their hooves. And eve nif the Silver Unit was still tied down, was the two Sun Guard units not doing him any favours since they were blocking his path better then before. He was very much in a tight spot, not bothering to turn his head around he spoke to the surrounding ponies. "Now let me give you a piece of advice that I learned from someone else. When things get tough, when a situation may seem dire, when you lose your edge and all hope may be lost. You do what you have to do. You pull yourself out of despair and anxiety and act. And sometimes, what you have to do. Is to IMPROVISE!"

The alicorn reared up onto his hind legs his mouth opened wide and the ponies could almost see the wind being sucked into his throat and he took a deep breath. Celestia, seeing the behaviour of her hated foe, shouted out at the surrounding units to act. "No! Stop him! We can not let him escape!" She was too far away to do anything herself so she had to rely upon her loyal subjects to handle the situation.

With their ruler's orders the Sun Guards charged as a mass. It was a crude and undisciplined charge, yet it was the first offensive act that the ponies had managed to properly follow according to command. Yet it would not do a thing to stop Maleficus.

His lungs were filled with air and magic and as his forelegs lowered down towards the ground he was being charged by ground and air troops from all sides. But as they came inches close to him, his forelegs slammed into the soil, his spine arched, his wings went half folded in a down ward angle, making him appear more draconic then equine, and then, as his jaws opened, he screamed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rtI86rgZ9I

To call it a scream was like comparing a lizard to a dragon, it was more then a scream, or even a screech or a howl. It was a baseless sound that should never have been uttered by a pony. Yet it was sounded from Maleficus It spread like a piercing gale across the battlefield, it filled the eardrums and hearts of all who heard its piercing sound.

Celestia felt the sound press down against her, it was like nothing she had ever felt before, her entire body was shaking and shivering, it felt like she was having a panic attack. Then as the sound passed she found herself gasping for breath, slumped down on her forelegs in utter exhaustion as the pressure disappeared. Yet when she looked up, she was greeted by a sight that almost made her heart stop.

https://youtu.be/xDR4U9w6I7o?t=38

The entire army of Equestria was frozen, as if time itself had stopped. They just stood there, as silent and unmoving as statue, and then, it happened. It started when the pegasis flew through the air, and fell to the ground like rag dolls, their bodies impacting the ground in droves. Then a single earth pony ground trooper's eyes rolled up into her sockets and then she fell down, unconscious. And then a stallion unicorn fell, his eyes rolling up as well, revealing only whiteness. And then another, and another, and another. All of them falling to the ground. Before long was every single pony soldier falling like leaves to the ground. Landing with gentle rattles and thuds as their minds just blacked out from the sound that had shaken them to their very souls.

Celestia barely registered the thuds of her Generals and officers near here, their bodies falling to the ground just the same as the regular soldiers. For even them, the most hardiest of Equestria's soldiers, had yet to be prepared to handle such a sound. A sound of utter, mind blowing, bloodlust infused, terror.

And within mere seconds laid the entire army of equestria on the ground, completely defeated. With Maleficus Victoria standing tall and proud over their unconscious forms, not even wavering in his stance.

Maleficus stood tall and silent, not even uttering a word, yet in his mind he was panicking like crazy while swallowing mouthfuls of blood from his shredded vocal cords and throat. *Ooooh gods! That hurt like hell! I cannot open my mouth or blood will gush out! I must endure it, let my throat heal, just stay quiet until-*

Celestia decided at that moment to snap out of her shock and screamed out in outrage at the alicorn. "W-w-what hath thou done monster!"

Maleficus remained silent, his throat was no longer bleeding but it was still useless, he could feel it healing though it would take a bit of time, internal injuries took far longer to heal then external injuries. But apparently was staying silent only making Celestia even angrier. *Ah shit.*

Screaming out Celestia drew forth her axe polearm and pointed it at him , her floating rainbow mane and tail started to grow brighter. "Answer Us!"

As well as anyone with a still recovering throat could speak, Maleficus just decided to do what he did best, annoy people. So he just turned his head and smirked, his mane covering his eyes, giving him an arrogant look.

Celestia sputtered and her eyebrow twitched dangerously at the blatant arrogance of the stallion. She grit her teeth and then she slammed her axe into the ground and shouted at him. "We shalt end this Maleficus! Thou art to face Us! And Us Alone! We shalt break thee!"

*Well that was going to happen either way so you are just announcing the, well, obvious here princess.* Maleficus thought as he rolled his eyes. That's when he noticed, or rather, remembered, the pony stuck on his head. The earth pony as groaning and drooling like crazy from his constant puking, but... he was not unconscious. Yet he had been at point blank range of the scream Malefius had done. Plus, there was the runic circle he had not used yet.

*Perfect! One distraction coming right up.* Maleficus raised his head and before Celestia could enact her charge towards him he let his magic flare, the runic circle he had carved out earlier. The circle started glowing blue before it exploded out into a bluish white light that engulfed the battlefield. He had intended to use it like a flare to blind his attackers but this was just as good.

Celestia covered her eyes as the bight light erupted and had to blink away the spots that had come from it, yet when her vision cleared, Maleficus was still standing there. Only this time, he opened his mouth to speak again, he sounded a bit hoarse but that barely lasted more then a couple of words before he could speak clearly again..

"There is no need to rush Celestia, we will have our fight. But there are currently far too many non-combatants around us to properly fight." His horn glowed and the soldiers around them moving, the crimson red aura of telekinesis grasped Gold Soldiers, Silver Soldiers, Bronze Soldiers and Sun Guards before lifting them off the ground and towards the hills behind the Princess. They were placed in lines, making the hill look like a primitive amphitheater or gladiator arena.

As the two Alicorn were left alone Maleficus made a show of surprise on his face as he shifted his horn and dangled the groaning pony soldier into his field of vision. "Oh right, I forgot about you for a second there kid." He then gently plucked the Earth Pony off his horn and smiled at the pony as he held him in the air with his hoof like he was a cat. "I am impressed, out of the thousands of soldiers I've meet today, were you one of the more tenacious. You did not even black out when I stunned the entire army into unconsciousness with my scream earlier. You got potential kid, make sure to properly nourish it and you will become something great in life."

He then levitated him off to the other soldiers with a smile before turning towards the confused Celestia. "You should be proud Celestia, that pony was able to withstand not only a ride on my head through the entire battle when he got stuck on my horn, but he even stayed awake through my Cry of Terror, even when he was at point blank range. He got a bright future if you or someone else can properly train and motivate him."

Celestia wanted to speak out, she wanted to rage, she wanted to curse, she wanted to scream, yet no words came out. The fact that Maleficus was praising one of her ponies, was... befuddling and not to mention a complete and utter shock to her already strained mind. But she bit through it and glared at him before pulling her battle axe out of the ground and aimed it at her hated opponent.

"Thou shalt answer for thy crimes Maleficus! We shall deal out Justice for Our sister!" Maleficus just smiled at her, lazily pulling his own axe through the air with an elegant grace. The two stared down one another, the crimson sun above them making the air feel thick and hot as it boiled down upon the battlefield. There was a thick tension in the air and even if Maleficus had a calm and serene look on his face, was his internal mind just as tense as Celestia was.

The silence held command over them, the only sound was the wind flowing through the fields and the burnt ground. Neither of them moved, making themselves appear as if posing for a dramatic portrait. It was like a mosaic moment, a historical moment that should be embodied forever in an artwork worthy of its splendor and drama.

One black like the night, a foul creature burn of another world turned into a god of fear. The other white like the freshest of snow, bearing a golden divine like armour with the power of the sun. A pair of odd beings, opposites because of circumstances outside of their control, and their own personal reasons giving them cause for conflict. The black alicorn Stallion in his black armour, wielding a large axe of black iron stood with his wings folded to his side, his calm crimson eyes never leaving the rage filled purple eyes of the white gold armoured princess in front of him. Minutes went by and neither did as much as move. Their stand off was passing the point of tension and to the moment of ridiculousness.

An hour had gone by, yet they had not moved or even spoken.

The soldiers at the hill felt themselves awakening from their terrible nap. Their bodies were too weak to properly stand without collapsing, yet they were able to raised their heads or roll their bodies. While Weak Guts just sat quietly next to him Sergeant, watching the pair of immortals preparing for a clash of the ages. He felt like he was watching history in the making, the start of something both gran and terrifying.

"Wh-what happen' te us?" Muttered the older earth pony as he woke up from his uncomfortable nap. The last thing he remembere was charging after Maleficus to keep him from escaping deeper into the ranks. But as he passed the glued Silver Unit he felt a powerful pressure before a beyond terrifying scream was heard, and that's when he blacked out.

"Oh, yer awake Sarge." Rough Stock looked to his side to see Weak Guts sitting on his flank looking straight ahead. The old Sergeant looked at what the smaller pony was looking at and his eyes widened as he saw Maleficus and Celestia, staring each other down upon a field of grass, ashes and mud.

"What de buck is goin' on?" Weak Guts chuckled weakly at his officer's confusion and pointed his left hoof at the confrontation between the two alicorns and gave, his own, honest opion. "Dere be a clash comin' Sarge. And it will be a a Clash of de Gods."

Sergeant Rough Stock looked at the sight of the two Alicorn, and he could almost taste the static build up of power in the air and he sighed tiredly. "...Oh vey... We never hath a dragon's dung pile of a chance against dat fellow, eh Guts?" Weak Guts only nodded and muttered softly in response. "Aye Sarge, indeed."

The two stared down one another. Their powers rising around them steadily as they never looked away from one another. Then a single drop of rain fell down from the darkening sky, impacting the ground between them with a soft plop, and then... the fight began.

Author's Notes:

Staadnauthursil: Okay... I am tired yet very proud of my progress on this chapter, my longest one yet I believe. I really need to make a list of achievements so that I can show just what I have managed to do.

Pinky: Wohooo! Great work Staady! Even if you are a bit late!

Staadnauthursil: Yeah well, as I mentioned before, I wanted to add lyrics. But I never managed to finish them. So I decided to just add some OSTs instead to spare myself the time until I can later edit the chapter and add the proper Song Lyrics. But until then, I hope that you guys enjoy this new chapter an leave a review.