Battle Music: Poltava by Sabaton

Less than two days later, and the battlelines were drawn outside of Baltimare. Two layers of fortifications had been dug; one the Pryhans Castrum, the other a trench line for the Artillery. Ahead of this second line, the Pryhans, Saddle Arabians, Night Guard, and the Buffalo had formed up in a battleline, weapons at the ready. Overhead, Griffons and Wonderbolts flew in place, ready to intercept any fliers. An impressive sight; the PPNS (Pryhan Public News Services) would have a field day with it.

Behind the line, back by the artillery, a forward command point had been set up, and the officers were discussing the upcoming operation. Well, Rainbow was talking, the others were listening.

"Ok, so. The bulk of our forces are on the Battleline, or above it. Pryhans form the center and the Night Guard form the flanks. Sandstorm, get your men in the front, then have them fall back behind the line when the Changelings get close. Your troops are faster and have more ranged weapons. Thunderhooves, your buffalo start behind the line, then come up to charge after the collision, when ordered. Gallus, Spitfire. You two have to keep those who stay in the air off the line as much as possible. We can fight them when they're in the air, but I don't want to take chances. Luna, you, my 'friends', and the Appleousans stay in the back and keep the camp safe. Armor, you guard the artillery. If it falls, we loose our best anti-air weapons. Sound good?"

As they all nodded, one of her men ran in, panting. "Ave, Praetor! *Huff, huff*. They're coming."

"Got it. Get back to your position on the line, and get ready. Tell the Tribunes to ready the formation I instructed them on, and, well, get ready to repel fliers. Vale."

"Vale, Praetor", he said, and ran off.

"What did he say?", Captain Stratosphere asked.

"He said the Bugs are coming", she replied. "Well? You all know what you have to do. Get ready; those degenerates won't wait for us!"

Rainbow looked over the small field outside the city of Baltimare which had become the battleground. She stood behind the battle line, scanning the troops. Her troops awaited the coming battle, at the ready with officers scanning the Maniples for anyone out of line.

Ahead of her, she saw a small black dot on the horizon. At first, she thought it was a large storm cloud. However, when she saw a small section of it break off and head to the ground, she knew it wasn't a cloud. As it came closer and grew bigger, she was able to make it out better. It was a swarm; hundreds, if not thousands of Changelings, all buzzing past each other, practically pushing past themselves to get at her troops. Like at Appleousa, few of them were armed, with those few being armed having simple swords. Despite this, she didn't want to rely fully on that fact for an advantage, as she didn't really know how strong they were.

Behind her, the artillery was being set up to fire on the swarm. Most of it was her own Cannons and Ballista, although a few other artillery pieces like a few Griffonian Mangonels were present. The plan was to have the Changelings come to them, and pound them out of the sky with said artillery. She was taking a risk having Shining's tin cans guarding them, but she couldn't afford to pull troops off the line.

The bugs got closer, to the point she could hear their wings buzzing and hissing. As they got closer, her officers shouted for the units to form up into the new formation. Her velites and the skirmishers of the Saddle Arabians fired off a salvo of crossbows or any other weapons that could reach the bugs, before running back to the lines to get into the formation to be protected from the bugs. Following this, the Artillery opened up, firing its own salvo of cannonballs and fireballs into the sky.

A few of the lower flying Changelings were cut down by the bolts, falling to the ground, but only a few. When the artillery opened up, large groups of them were cut down. Groups of them exploded in fire, or were blown apart by cannonballs, or were simply crushed with small rocks. Dozens of them began falling down from the skies, slamming into the ground; but more of them kept coming.

Some of them, like Spitfire said, tried to fly down to slam into the group of them, but were dissuaded from the wall of spears, both her own and the Night Guards. Many of them landed around the groups to attack or came in at low angles using glowing green balls of fire. The blocks held firm and repelled the Changelings. Other groups began to go after the Wonderbolts and the Griffons, engaging in a mid-air melee combat. Other groups went after the buffalo behind the line and began their own scuffle.

Rainbow took off, drawing her swords. Blades flashing, she cut down several of the close ones to her as she tried to get a good look at her troops. Unfortunately, she couldn't get a good look at them. Changelings kept attacking her, and while she kept either sending them into spirals or outright killing them, another one kept coming to replace them in attacking her. Finally, she got enough of a respite to take in the state of the Pryhans.

It wasn't as good as she expected it to go. So far, few casualties appeared to have been sustained, but the battle line was completely cut off. The buffalo were in the middle of their own swarm of the Changelings and were unable to launch the counter-attack she had planned for them to perform. The Night Guards fought surprisingly well but were also surrounded. The fliers were also fighting well, but it was also being overrun in their own way.

Fortunately, the larger swarms were still being cut to pieces. The artillery fired as fast as they could, bolts, fire-balls, stones, and spike caltrops into those still in the air. She could likely out-grind them, and so yelled down to her men, "Stand your fucking ground!", before going back into the swarm.

A few minutes later, she suddenly realized the artillery had gone silent. Larger groups of the Changelings formed up, performing hit and run sweeps on the blocks of the Pryhans or Night Guards. Rainbow looked over at the trenches where the artillery was stationed, eyes going wide at the sight she saw. The crews had abandoned firing the artillery and were now fighting with the artillery tools and swords against some of the Changelings. The tin cans were nowhere in sight. Rainbow snarled, looking around for them, and then saw them: Charging off around the main battle, heading for the small dot that had broken off earlier.

Rainbow's men were cut off, surrounded, and the primary advantage over the bugs was under threat. She tilted her head back to the line and found almost half a dozen bugs greeting her, including one with a sword and wearing a large blue helmet, grinning wickedly.