The next morning had been a pretty uneventful affair that began at 0500 with a breakfast of plain lukewarm oats and coffee so strong I swear that it would have eaten my spoon had I left it in there for too long, followed up by weapon maintenance and then a final gear check before we set out at 0745.

“Company halt!” I ordered as we came up to the field, the heat from the sun making my rough cotton navy-blue coat with shiny gold buttons and light-blue trousers just slightly uncomfortable to be in.

“Where’s the camp?” Ice Box asked from my left.

“I don’t know, the reconnaissance reports said that it should be about 50 yards ahead of us,” I responded, wondering just where in Tartarus they had gone as well. I mean you could clearly see where they had been thanks to all the worn-down grass but aside from that, there was quite literally nothing else left to show that they had ever been there in the first place.

“Well, no matter what, I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Ice responded.

Airing on the side of caution, I ordered the company to fix bayonets and to advance slowly. That’s when I realized something, this would be the perfect setup for an ambush…
*CRACK*

The sound of muskets firing confirmed my suspicions about halfway across the field as several of my ponies got hit and fell down, wounded or dead.
“Company, fire!” I shouted as we all fired our muskets at the gray-coated rebels that had just entered the field from the opposing tree line, cutting a few of them down. Reloading, I decided to do something that would be a bit crazy but, I figured why not do it?
“Company, CHARGE!!” I yelled as I heard the 3rd. Platoon’s bugler signal for them to do the same. Galloping forward, I impaled a private right through his heart with my triangular bayonet, killing him instantly. Spinning to my right, I withdrew my Coltchester 40-50* pistol from its holster on my lower right foreleg with my magic and fired it point blank into the base of some poor, unsuspecting sergeant’s neck, killing him in a shower of blood. I then threw up a shield with my magic just in time to catch a shot from a rebel sergeant major’s musket, I then impaled said rebel with my bayonet, killing her as well. Feeling a thunk on the back of my navy-blue helmet, I heard a cry from behind me, spinning around, I saw a rebel corporal charging at me with her bayonet. Holstering my musket and pistol, I drew Concursus, my enchanted broadsword that had been issued to me back in the guard, I then parried the corporal’s bayonet to the outside and swung my sword to the inside, decapitating the poor corporal before she had realized what had just happened. Running forward I then stabbed another rebel private in the side, taking him out.

A little while later, my sword dripping with hot fresh blood, I took a few seconds of relative calm during the battle to finally go about the tedious process of reloading my musket. Seeing that the rebels had begun to be pushed back, I wiped the blood off Concursus and ran up and down our line, making sure that all the wounded were being taken care of before rejoining the fight. As I was about to rejoin the fight though, the rebels started to run back to the trees and, seeing as how our orders were to just push them back and then take their camp, I made the painful decision to not pursue them.
“Company, halt!” I shouted, as everypony stopped chasing the rebels and a few instead chose to start complaining, cursing me and my non-existent mother. “Now look, I know you ponies want to chase them, I do too, but our orders were to take their camp and hold the position. Now what I need is for everypony to put aside their complaints and to help the medics look for wounded on both sides. After that, I want the 38 healthiest ponies to stay here with me and Lt. Ice Box and for the remaining ones with minor injuries to take the more severely wounded and dead back to the FOB with Lt. Brandywine, and that means ponies from both sides, so no skipping them because of their uniform. Sergeant Major Clover, get the casualty report together so we can send it back to the Cpt. with 3rd. Platoon. After that, I want the ponies that are still here to get a temporary camp set up,” I ordered to everypony as they began to run around, executing their orders.

Five minutes later, as I was finishing donating blood that was desperately needed for a rebel 2nd. Lt. that, ironically, needed it because I had cut off one of their forelegs, I saw my second in command, Sgt. Maj. Clover Field, a “vertically challenged,” as she put it, albino earth pony mare who had joined up only 12 weeks prior and had since been placed with me, trotting up with a scroll in her mouth.
“Lt., here’s the casualty report that you asked for. Out of 60 ponies, we have 8 severely wounded, 2 dead and none missing, as for rebel forces it’s too hard to tell at the moment,” Clover said, saluting me sharply as I took the scroll in my magic, returned the salute and then teleported the report to Brandywine once I had confirmed its accuracy to what Clover had said.
“Thanks Clover and remember, times like these you don’t have to use formalities, " I said because I wasn’t really the biggest fan of being addressed by my rank like I was somehow above the ponies around me.
“I know, I know, it's just that we were, y’know…” She replied, picking at a pebble in the dirt with her hoof.
“Trained to do that? Yeah, I know, trust me, my drill sergeant made that very clear from day one,” I said. “So, how are you holding up?” I asked her.
“Well, I’m still in one piece so, fine I guess,” Clover replied, smiling a little.
“That’s good to hear,” I said, “Now let's get everything finished up so we can get lunch ready,” I said, gesturing to all the ponies hard at work.

A little while later after we had finished cleaning up and I got the guard duties assigned, we got our itchy, wool navy-blue blankets out for when we would bed later (this was done because our white, canvas A-Frame tents were too bulky to carry with our personal gear). After that, we had our lunch, which consisted of hardtack, a salad “bar,” which was basically chopped lettuce and carrots held together in a “bar” shape with something that I think was supposed to be ranch and pickled, plus a Hershneigh bar.

“Well, this is…interesting,” Ice Box said after she took a bite of her salad bar.

“I swear, whoever is coming up with these is just trying to kill us at this point,” I replied after taking a bite of my own salad bar.

“Yeah, who would even think that this is good?” Clover added in scrunching up her muzzle at the taste of her salad bar.

“Probably the cooks,” I said, getting a laugh out of everypony.

“At least the chocolate is good,” stated Ice

“Ice, the day that a Hershneigh bar isn’t good is the day that we lose this war,” I jokingly responded, getting another laugh out of everypony.

Early that evening around 1645 I was approached by a messenger from the FOB carrying orders from Captain Cloverleaf. After taking the scroll from the messenger and thanking him, I went ahead and took a sip from my canteen whilst mentally reading the orders and then immediately did a spit take, rereading the scroll to confirm what I had just read, I immediately put my canteen down and ordered for everypony to assemble in the middle of our little camp.

“Everypony, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I had you assembled here. Well, that reason is because I have just received orders from the Cpt. that we are to continue pushing forward to the rebel town of Cottonwood ASAP tomorrow morning, where we will then meet with 5th. Co. from 2nd. Bn. who will be helping us take Cottonwood from rebel forces. As such, lights out will be at 2000 and I want us up by 0500 with everything ready to go by 0530 for an 0535 departure. Other than that, dinner will be in 15 minutes, dismissed,” I explained to everypony as they dispersed, murmurs of excitement and intrigue among them at this development. What made this news so surprising was the fact that normally command wouldn’t be this quick to tell us to attack after a victory, with this development though I was suddenly really excited for tomorrow…

Chapter 2, woo! So, what do you guys think? That was the first fight scene I have ever written and I'm curious as to what you guys think, do you think it was too fast, too slow? Also, if anyone has any suggestions/thoughts on how they think the Battle of Cottonwood should go, then by all means let me know in the comments.

*Coltchester 40-50; .40-.50 caliber flintlock, smoothbore pistol

Chapter has been left here for those who wish to see an older version of this story.