Music for this chapter: Winged Hussars by Sabaton. You'll see why shortly.

The Changeling officer grinned, saying, "Surrender in the name of Queen Chrysalis, and I promise you a nice po-"

He then stopped talking, as his jaw was now hanging on by a small thread of his flesh. Rainbow then went into spirals, blades flashing, and cut into the Changelings around them. They tried to shoot bolts of green energy or buck with their hooves, but she was too fast and dodged the attacks, or parried with her swords. Soon, the rest of them were all cut out of the sky, leaving her facing the jawless commander. He made a sick gurgling noise, greenish blood leaking out of his mouth, sword hanging limply out of his hoof. She just smirked, and cut his throat. Then, as he fell into a death spiral, she took off toward the artillery.

She flew forward, bucking one of the bugs into one of the defensive stakes, impaling him with a loud squishing. Using his twitching head as a bounce pad, she took off into the swarm, attacking the nearest ones. They tried a 'quantity over quality' approach, coming at her from multiple directions and as many at once. However, that was exactly the type of enemy both the Pryhan army and herself were adept at fighting. Soon, her blades were somewhat soaked in blood, and a small section of the artillery was clear.

Above her, at least twenty of them formed a dome. These must've been smarter than the rest, as they had grabbed spears, likely from the tin cans. She didn't know what was happening to them, but she had a feeling it wasn't too good. At least a dozen other ones landed around her, several of them also armed with Royal Guard spears. Blades at the ready, she prepared to charge...

...But stopped when the one directly facing her stiffened, and the ones around him stepped away. Looking closely, she saw it was a golden, bec de corbin-like weapon with a hammer/pick made out of a type of sky blue crystal. It was yanked free, and the Ling crumbled to the ground. Rainbow looked up in shock at the one who did it, and she said in shock, "SPIKE!?"

Sure enough, the purple dragon in question grinned at her, holding the massive hammer. However, he was no longer the tiny, wingless dragonet that reached up to her barrel. He was easily as tall as a minotaur, with rippling muscles under his scales and a massive pair of wings on his back. Besides the bec de corbin, he wore a suit of bronze armor, sealed to his scales with massive, thick leather straps. A helmet with a golden face mask adorned his head, and a blue-and-red crystal staff was slung on his back.

He wasted no time hesitating, swinging his massive hammer in wide arcs at the bugs. He would swing a heavy blow, knocking them aside, blowing spouts of green fire periodically to drive the Changelings back. Overcoming her shock, she joined in, blades flashing. Soon, the area was cleared of the enemy. Those not cut or beaten down or lit ablaze, turned and flew away.

"Rainbow Dash?", Spike said. His voice, while a bit deeper and with a more authoritative tone, still sounded almost the same as he had when she last talked to him. "Long time no see, eh?"

"Yeah! And look at you!", she exclaimed, eyeing him up and down. "Like, I mean, what are you!"

"Dragon Lord!", he exclaimed, grinning like a maniac. "About five years ago. Long story short, I won a contest, and now lead the dragons! And after Luna promised us access to the mines beneath Canterlot, we came to fight!"

"Sounds good, and we'll talk about it later. But; what do you mean by we?"

He just grinned and pulled out the staff. Lowering the bec de corbin, he raised it into the air, the massive gem inlaid in it glowing blood-red. "Come on!", he shouted.

Over the horizon, she saw several more specks, growing closer fast. As they did, she was able to make them out like she did with the swarm. Dragons, at least two hundred, all clad in heavy armor. Rainbows jaw dropped as they came, letting out roars of adrenaline. That slack-jawed amazement turned to a sadistic grin as a wall of fire slammed into the far flank of the Changeling swarm, instantly incinerating hundreds of them. They then got in close, getting stuck in with tails, teeth, talons, and, in the case of the smaller ones, intricately carved and expensive-looking weapons like Greatswords and Pole-axes.

She said, "Well, that's handy." She then turned her attention back to the battle line, where the Night Guard and Pryhan Pedes were still surrounded. "Hey, Dragon Lord Spike", she said, getting his attention. "You go help the Griffons and the Wonderbolts in the air. I got to go help my men."

He hefted his hammer, and just said, "With pleasure." He took off towards the sky, while she skimmed along the ground, over the corpses of many a changeling.

Her troops tried to hold onto their formation, hounded on all sides. A few of the Changelings shape-shifted into smaller animals, trying to slide into gaps in the wall. Others went the opposite approach, turning into larger animals to smash the wall apart. While her men were able to hold on by holding up their shields, the Night Guards' lack of them meant they were taking a pounding.

She slid back into a buck, slamming both her hob-nailed boots and her swords into the back of one of the larger ones. It turned back into a bug as if fell to the ground, almost neatly cut in two. "Disengage formation! Engage all hostiles!", she shouted over the pounding of battle. Her voice was somewhat drowned out, but she was still heard.

With a loud "Hurrah!", the Pedes pushed forward, shoving into the bugs with their shields. Those that hadn't been able to throw their Plumbata took the opportunity to, the heavy war darts driving them back. The First Maniple, which had been given the Thunderlances, fired, the crack echoing over the thrum of battle. Exploiting the distance this maneuver gave them, many of them with broken lances or simply of their own choice drew swords, charging into close combat. The bugs, disorganized and without leadership, were cut to pieces.

A general retreat was sounded among the bugs, with those remaining fleeing back towards the city. The fliers held position, artillery and ranged weapons firing into the fleeing mass. Only a few hundred, maybe less, were fleeing back into Baltimare. Rainbow examined her own units and found herself with low casualties. Finding Vexillum, she came down to him and said, "Ave, Praefect. Report."

"Ave, Praetor. I just got info from the Tribunes. In total, we have about three hundred wounded, and maybe...Er, two dead?"

"Order them to sound assembly. We'll be advancing on the city within the hour. Don't give them even the chance to let them reinforce." She walked away, then remembered something. "Oh, and send someone to reel the tin cans in. I want to have a 'chat', with Captain Armor."