"The Other Side" Chapter 22- Blood on the Plains (Part 3)

Derpy Hooves watched in fear as her fellow townsfolk were cut down and slain all around her. The tide of battle had changed, this time in the invaders' favor. The trained and brutal warriors of the griffons and diamond dogs pushed the townsfolk back further and further into the town. Crude spears, clubs and board shields wielded by ordinary folk were no match for honed steel blades and thick armor wielded by experienced soldiers. Only a handful of the townsfolk were managing to keep the enemy forces back. Big Macintosh, Lyra and a few others were the only ones able to stand their ground against the advance. They were standing in a tight line, with those who had shields standing in front, while those who had longer weapons such as spears and pitchforks stood behind the wall of shields. Lyra and Big Macintosh stabbed and thrusted, bringing down foe after foe, but they kept coming. The mass of griffons and dogs pushed and struck at the line ferociously, trying to break through and slaughter the enemy on the other side.

"Come on, ya mangy bastards! Crush the lot of em'," Said Rex as he split open one of the townsfolk with his axe. "or I'll hang yer' skulls from my wall instead a' theirs!"

Derpy looked back at the mass of warriors facing off against Dylan. As she watched, another one fell, whose throat was ripped open by a swipe of Dylan's hands. Blow after blow missed Dylan by mere inches, passing by the young man -if he was still a man- who seemed to weave and twist in an unpredictable fashion, avoiding all the weapons of his foes. Derpy turned her attention to the rock that lay atop her rear leg, which was crushed like a twig. It was painful to move, and she could feel the grinding of jagged shards of bone as she squirmed and struggled. Desperately, Derpy tried to pull her leg free. Her screams of pain rent the air as she felt the stone weigh down on her broken, twisted limb. She began to flap her wings, trying to use as much of her strength as possible to free herself. Only more pain came of the pegasus' efforts, which made her scream in agony all the more loudly.

The sound of ragged panting coming closer to her made Derpy flinch. She turned, looking at the source of the breathing with fear in her eyes. Standing stock still, she gazed at the grinning face of the diamond dog before her. His claws wrapped tighter around the hilt of his blade as he moved towards her. He pulled it back as if to thrust. She watched as hunger and bloodlust glinted in his black eyes. He snarled and plunged the blade downwards, which struck the stones next to where Derpy lay. She had moved as quickly as she could at the last moment, twisting to the side, which sent even more flashes of pain surging through her. She reached for the weapon she had dropped among the stones, grabbing a hold of it with a trembling hoof. The dog swung his sword around in anger, which bit deep into the club which Derpy had raised in front of her. With her good leg, she slammed her hoof into the dog's kneecap, shattering the bone easily. The dog screamed and fell to the ground, landing on his face in front of the downed pony. As he was trying to get up and finish off his adversary, his head slammed against the pavement. A heavy club slammed into the back of his skull. It came down again and again, smashing his head into a ruined, bloody mess. The cobblestones were plastered with the remains of the canine's cranium, like a morbid and abstract piece of art some bloodthirsty god might will into being.

Derpy held the bloody club in her hooves and panted heavily. She felt a cold and terrifying feeling deep inside her chest, as if the entirety of her insides were freezing from the inside out. Taking a life was not a thing easily forgotten or forgiven, especially by someone as innocent as the wall-eyed pegasus. She barely had time to turn to watch as another of the dogs charged her, whirling a flail in a circle above him. The dog charged forwards, but stopped in the middle of a step as a flash of steel slashed across his throat. He blinked once and spat a gob of blood before his head rolled off his shoulders. The decapitated torso tumbled forwards after a hoof to the small of its back knocked it over.

The figure standing over the fresh corpse was dressed in worn and tarnished leather underarmor, normally worn under a set of platemail. If any observer had ever been to Canterlot, it would have been obvious that this was the armor of a royal guard, except it was not gold; it was grey. The shoulder guard appeared to have a scratched out insignia that had possibly been a symbol of rank long ago. The helm that the pony wore had had its plume cut; if any of the royal guard were to explain what this meant, they would say that it meant the wearer had been disgraced and removed from service. The pony was bluish black in coat and had a sky black mane which was streaked with lines of rich purple. The pony's eyes were also purple, but seemed as if they had been half-drained of life. The guard's figure was sleek and muscular, like a runner's; lithe and graceful, but powerful at the same time. The pony was a unicorn; the long, filed horn protruding from the warrior's skull made that very clear. Gripped in one hoof was a double edged short sword used almost exclusively by Equestrians. The blade was meant for chopping and quick thrusts, with a balance a few inches from the handle. It was already covered in the crimson stains of battle, and it was undeniably not the first time it had tasted flesh in its existence. In the warrior's other hoof was a large square shield, which was tall enough for all but the largest of ponies to hide fully behind.

The guard turned away from Derpy as a pair of arrows stuck into her shield just inches from the top edge. The pony in royal guard armor turned in the direction of where the arrows had come from and just barely managed to duck behind its shield before a number more arrows and bolts rained down upon it. The warrior first raised its sword in front of its shield and chopped downwards, breaking all the shafts jutting from the shield. They clattered to the cobblestones and lay there. With a flash of dark-colored energy from the warrior's horn, a burst of glowing projectiles shot out at the adversaries currently firing upon the guard. A few shrieks and howls of pain rose into the air from their direction, thick and tormented. Sounds of cooking flesh filled the air as foul black smoke rolled off of the corpses and into the grey sky.

***

Away from the raging battle on the streets, the town's young hid in the town school under the protection of Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Cheerilee. The sounds of weapons clanging together and the shouts of battle carried on the wind, followed by the faint yet chilling smell of blood.

"Miss Cheerilee... W-what's happening?" Sweetie Belle asked, her visage filling with fear.

"Don't worry about it, Sweetie Belle. I'm sure it will be all right..." The hesitation and doubt in the schoolteacher's voice didn't seem to be picked up by the children, but both Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy looked nervously at each other, their minds both turning to the horrors that awaited just a few hundred feet away.

The children still gathered close together in their fear of the alien sounds outside. Peace was all they had ever known; they would soon find out that there is no such thing as true peace in mortal existence; life is war, and we are all soldiers, whether we fight just to survive, to make a difference, or to show your belief is stronger than another's.

"When will it stop?" Scootaloo said, looking fearfully out of one of the windows facing the town and the destruction therein. The schools desks and furniture had been pushed up against all but one of the doors, which led out the back towards the open fields and forests surrounding the Ponyville countryside.

Fluttershy was the first one to answer. She looked just as scared as most of the fillies and colts in the school. What she was afraid of most wasn't herself.

"I... I hope so, Scootaloo."

Pinkie Pie spoke up, smiling despite the circumstances. She looked at the group of children sitting on the floor, waiting for what would happen next.

"Hey, you guys wanna play a game?"

Some of them perked up immediately, turning to look at Pinkie Pie with wide eyes. For the moment -at least- their attention was diverted. They began to play with her, laughing and talking, but still seemed to sense the chill of wrongness that permeated the air.

"Cheerilee?" Fluttershy asked, pawing at the floor with a downcast look on her face.

"Yes, Fluttershy?" Cheerilee answered, looking at her with a motherly kind of compassion she had garnered from years of teaching. Fluttershy shared the same compassionate nature as she, and she could see that she was worried about something important.

"It's about someone I care about... I... don't know if he's going to be okay... I'm scared." The gentle pegasus was beginning to shiver; not just out of worry and fear, but because the air itself was becoming chill. Her tremblings continued as she kept on speaking. "He... We... Um... Oh..."

Cheerilee raised an eyebrow, which was quickly lowered as she realized what Fluttershy had been trying to say. She smiled and lay a hoof on her shoulder, looking into her eyes with a knowing wisdom. "You love him very much, don't you, Fluttershy? I... I know how that is, being in love with somepony."

"You're-"

"Yes, I am. He doesn't think I know he does. If you need to know one thing, it's that if he really cares about you, he will do everything that he possibly can to get back to you, no matter what."

Cheerilee smiled. Her own love showed through her eyes like a warm candlelight. She knew how Fluttershy was feeling, and she felt the same way; her love was out there too, fighting for his home just like the rest of the town.

The only reason that Cheerilee, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy had been sent away from the fighting was because they were the best with young ones. The fact that Dylan had some say in sending them away might have had something to do with Fluttershy being placed with the children.

The cold grew greater, and the reason for the change grew with it; the sky was blackening into a cover of angry, roiling storm clouds. Rain was already starting to fall on the late-morning landscape, drumming on the roof of the schoolhouse quietly as the storm came sweeping in like a solid curtain of unwavering gloom. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled angrily in the distance, almost drowning out the sounds of screaming and battle coming from Ponyville. The ghostly light that lit up the landscape washed over the faces of Cheerilee and Fluttershy, casting away the blackness momentarily.

"Thank you. I know he won't give up on me. He... loves me... and I love him." Fluttershy's cheeks reddened slightly as she spoke, alluding to what Cheerilee already knew; she had done more than just talk to him.

Cheerilee turned for a moment to watch Pinkie and the children playing hide and seek among the school desks. Three fillies were not playing with the rest of the group; all three of them were standing apart from them as if they had something better to do; They were Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Applebloom.

"Why do we have to be here? My daddy says I can do whatever I want!" Diamond Tiara said arrogantly, stomping her hoof on the floor. Her friend Silver Spoon spoke something of a similar sentiment.

"Yeah, why do we have sit here like a bunch of babies? I want to go, now! This is stupid!"

"We're leaving! I'm not staying here for one more second!"

Cheerilee looked worried for a moment as she tried to placate the two young mares. She looked as if she could not believe what they had just said. Applebloom turned to look at the two fillies with a stare unlike any she had shown before. It was full of a darkness and an understanding that one as young as herself should not have possessed. Something had changed her, twisted her from the inside out. With a slow, cold tone, she said her next words with all the clarity she could muster.

"Stay here or y'all are dead."

Everyone in the room turned to Applebloom with looks of horror and utter surprise. Silence followed, interspersed with the sounds of thunder and rain. Her face was illuminated by a bolt of lightning spearing down from the clouds, making her seem even more eerie. It was a few moments before anyone spoke, but it was Pinkie who did.

"A-Applebloom... Are you feeling all right?" Pinkie's blue eyes looked measuringly at the red-maned filly, trying to understand what exactly it was that had made Applebloom say something like that.

"Y-yeah, Applebloom, what's wrong?" Scootaloo said. She looked as if Applebloom was... different. She seemed almost a different person.

"Why would you say that, Applebloom?" Cheerilee said, genuinely taken aback by her student's words. Everyone but Applebloom was speaking excitedly now, some of the children discussing if what Applebloom said was true.

"Die? Die?! Why would we-" Sweetie Belle's fearful words were cut short by Diamond Tiara spitting a reply at Applebloom.

"You can't be serious! You're just a dumb little country hick that thinks she knows more than-"

It was Applebloom's turn to interrupt now. She bared her teeth and lowered her head, glaring daggers at Diamond Tiara. Some deep, hidden energy suddenly awoke from inside her small form, sweeping over her and releasing all the pain and anger she had been holding inside of her.

"Ya ignorant, stuck-up little no-good piece a' cud. Ya think ya know everythin', don't you? Daddy's little angel don't have anythin' t' say except she needs some more bits fer' a fancy new dress! And that's just so the all the colts will stare at your skinny lil' rich filly plot, because there's nothin' at all 'tween your ears!"

Diamond Tiara's jaw dropped. Every single pair of eyes in the room turned to stare at Applebloom again. Every single one of them couldn't believe where the words had come from. Cheerilee began to try to speak, but Diamond Tiara blurted out her next words before she could.

"Listen here, you... you inbred little muck farmer! My daddy-"

"Yer' daddy? He has to do everythin' fer' ya, doesn't he, ya whiny little baby? 'Daddy, Ah want this, Ah want that! Why can't everyone like me because Ah'm so much snobbier and more insecure than everypony else?' 'Applebloom, you're such a blank flank!' You know what Ah' have t' say t' that? At least Ah' didn't get mah' cutie mark for being a whiny little bitch!"

Diamond Tiara's eyes literally flew wide open. Every single pony in the room besides Applebloom looked like they couldn't believe any of what they had just heard was real. Applebloom marched up to Diamond Tiara and literally put her forehead up against hers and stated right into her eyes.

"Ya wanna know how Ah know you'd die if you went outside?" Applebloom scowled, tapping Diamond Tiara's chest with hoof as she spoke each sharply pronounced word.
"Because mah' granny's dead, mah sister's gone, Ah' watched mah' brother almost git' killed in front of me, mah' house burned to the ground, and Ah was almost violated by one of the freaks out there tryin' to kill us! Wanna know anythin' else, ya stupid, useless little brat?"

Silence was her only answer other than the tears streaming down the filly whose eyes she was staring into with all the righteous anger she could muster. A thunderclap rumbled as she collapsed backwards onto her rump and began to sob uncontrollably. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were caught halfway between disbelief and pride. Cheerilee simply opened her mouth to speak and closed it again, blinking in shock. Pinkie Pie gasped and held a hoof up to her mouth, staring at Applebloom and Diamond Tiara and stood abnormally still for herself. Fluttershy looked at Applebloom in an entirely different way; she could see the pain and sorrow behind her words, somehow familiar to her. Applebloom reminded her of someone... Someone close.

"Applebloom, I know you're-"

The children screamed. Behind Fluttershy, a few feet from the window, a figure was lit up by a ghostly white flash of lightning. It was a diamond dog. His teeth glinted as rain pattered off of his metal helmet and dripped down to the ground below. He raised the blade clutched in one of his clawed hands and brought it smashing into the windowpane. The sound of smashing glass failed to drown out the children's screaming. Thunder rumbled as lightning flashed again. He was not alone.

Everyone backed away from the window and stared in horror at the dogs. Cheerilee yelled out, picking up a heavy metal mallet that she used for fixing schooldesks.

"Everyone! Out the back, quickly!"

There was a massive press of bodies as the ponies fled out the back door. The sounds of breaking glass and smashing wood filled the air as the dogs came bursting in through the front of the school. A few of them broke off from the rest of the pack and circled around the sides of the school, trying to catch the fleeing ponies as they came out the backdoor of the tiny schoolhouse. The ones heading into the front door advanced towards Cheerilee, who was still brandishing her hammer. One of them lunged at her with a growl, but went deathly silent as the schoolteacher bludgeoned the side of his face in with a moist crunching sound. His body slumped to the ground in an awkward, disturbing fashion, laying there with wide dead eyes and a gaping mouth. The dog's comrades looked slightly shocked, as if a children's teacher smashing one of their packmates' skulls in with a mallet was incomprehensible to them. It took them a few seconds to recover from seeing one of their own killed by a 'innocent, naive and peaceful pony', but when they did, they went at her like the rabid dogs they were. Cheerilee was forced to retreat from the snarling brigands; she was no match for them all on her own, but she would fight to her death if it meant saving her students. The screams of the children split the eerie stormy morning as they ran. They didn't get far. The rain fell down around them like a curtain, soaking them down to the bone. Lightning cracked, illuminating their terrified faces. The group had been forced to stop at the edge of a river; it was flowing too violently to even attempt to cross it. As they all stared at the roiling waters ahead of them, the sounds of shouting came from behind them as the dogs closed in. Their faces lit up with each lightning strike, becoming frightening visages of gnashing teeth and black eyes full of bloodthirsty hunger. They edged closer, brandishing their blades as they ran their tongues across their teeth and laughed. Cheerilee stepped in front of them and scowled at them.

"I won't let you touch them," she screamed. "Don't come any closer, or I'll crack your skulls right open!"

The dogs looked at one another and grinned.

"I'll do it!" Cheerilee tightened her grip on the hammer as she screamed angrily. "Don't think I won't!"

The dogs let out low, deep-throated laughs that were more like barking than laughter. They came at her with glinting teeth and flashing blades as the rain poured down. Cheerilee had no training, no mindset for war, but what drove her into her next frenzy of violence was a combination of adrenaline and protective instincts. Cheerilee swung the hammer around in a circular arc, bringing it slamming into the chest of one of the dogs with a resounding snap. He screamed and lurched forwards in pain, trying to cut at cheerily with the short blade clutched in his paw. She stepped to the side and swung the hammer downwards onto the top of his skull, smashing the dog's conical helmet inwards into his brain. He fell forwards into the muck near the side of the river, unmoving. His comrades snarled and came at her, swinging and stabbing and chopping. Cheerilee caught the first strike on the haft of her hammer. The second strike slashed deep along the flesh of cheerilee's shoulder, leaving a dark red gash that poured blood. The third buried itself deep inside her gut. Cheerilee moaned in pain and gasped for breath as she fell to her knees on the muddy, wet ground. The dog who had stabbed her smiled as he pulled the blade free, laughing to himself. He hefted the blade over his head, baring yellowed and filed teeth. He swung.

the blade never struck flesh. A loud yell cut through the overwhelming sound of pouring rain; It was Fluttershy. She slammed into the dog with her shoulder as he was mid-swing. The sword cut past Cheerilee's face, mere inches from slicing into her neck. He went over with a grunt and a curse, sliding back into the muck. Cheerilee was coughing up blood, and flecks of blackish red covered the ground where she spat them out. She was bleeding badly; her death was soon, there was no changing that. The other dogs turned to Fluttershy with barked curses.

"Kill that one! She got filth all over me!"

The dog was covered in muck. It made him look even more shaggy, unkempt and feral than he had before. He picked himself up and stumbled to his feet. The other dogs all snarled and gnashed their teeth, stepping towards Fluttershy. She didn't falter as they came forward. Bending low, she took up the weapon of the fallen dog and stood between them and the children, brandishing the blade with clumsy hooves. The first dog rushed in, hefting a heavy-looking axe above his head. Fluttershy barely knocked his chop out of the way, smacking the axe to the side with the flat of her sword. She swung back at him, bringing the sword around for a go at his throat. He stopped the blow with the handle of his axe. The sword took out a considerable piece of the handle as the blade chopped into the wood. The axe-dog kicked her hard. She exhaled sharply and stumbled backwards towards the children. She fell onto her back and grunted out. The dog grinned and moved forwards, raising his axe. The glint of murder in his eyes put fear into Fluttershy's heart. As she looked up at the axe poised to come down on her, she saw her death. A low growl came from behind the axe-dog. It was not one of his packmates. Two blue eyes full of rage stared at him through the darkness. He didn't have time to scream before the owner of those eyes took a hold of his head and snapped his neck like a twig. A sickening crackling sound came from the dog as he slumped lifelessly into the mud. Those blue eyes turned to look at the other dogs, fixing them with an insane, murderous gaze. Straight pink hair that was heavy with rain framed her face. The snarl she gave them was all that was left behind the smile she wore everyday like a macabre carnival mask. Her breathing was low and growled, like an animal about to pounce. She leaned down and took up the axe in her hooves. Pinkie Pie might be all smiles and laughter, but Pinkamena Diane Pie did not take kindly to those who hurt her friends… not… at… all…

***

The guardspony was on them before they could move. The first griffon to face the warrior almost got his spear to bear before he had a hole chopped four inches deep in his skull. The second griffon took a slash under the armpit as he raised his mace, dying instantly as the ex-royal guard's blade cleaved through his ribcage and into his lungs and heart. The next three dogs took a flash of energy from one of the guardspony's hooves. They fell to the cobblestones as they blackened and smouldered. The dark-haired pony was like a whirlwind of death; everywhere that the warrior turned, they fell down dead. But it was not enough. For every one that the warrior killed, two more showed up in his place. The townsponies fell one by one, killed by diamond dog and griffon alike. The warrior saw one fall as his skull cracked open under the club of a diamond dog with a horribly burned face. Another still stood for a second, staring at the javelin lodged in his sternum before he keeled over and turned the street beneath him a crimson hue. They were farmers and bakers and tailors, not warriors; they were fortunate they fought this far. They were armed with crude spears and clubs, pitchforks and shovels. Only a few wore any kind of armor; most wore simple clothes or nothing at all. Only a few hours training by a back-alley brawler had not been enough to prepare them for an onslaught of hundreds of well-armed, well-armored, well-disciplined and well-trained soldiers and bandits. Traps and ambushes would only get them so far if they were fighting professional warriors with peasants and a handful of trained guards.

Dylan screamed in anger as he literally splattered the head of a diamond dog into thirty pieces with a blow from his hammer. He was mad, in more ways than one. Insanity and bloodlust made a dangerous mix inside his mind, propelling him forwards like a fearless, remorseless killing machine. Left and right he smashed them apart like they were nothing, tearing through the common warriors towards Tanning and his elite bodyguards. He saw the guardspony save Derpy, but he almost didn't acknowledge it. Tanning had taken his friend, tried to kill more of his friends, and decided it was this innocent town that should suffer his wrath. Dylan didn't care if he had to kill for the rest of his life; he would make sure Tanning tasted justice before he died. In this case, justice was a fifteen pound warhammer with the griffon warlord's name on it, except his name would be written in blood. Dylan snarled and howled as he swung over and over, smashing through shield and body with tireless fury. The corpses of those he had slain trailed behind him as if they had been hit by a locomotive. A griffon thought himself brave and decided to charge headlong at Dylan, swinging his poleblade at the bloodthirsty Celt. He swung his hammerhead against the edge of the blade with the strength of five men. The blow crumpled the metal as if it were made of wet paper, along with the top of pole that the blade was mounted on, which broke into splinters. The griffon's arms flew backwards as the force of Dylan's hammer blow sent them jerking backwards. The horrified expression on the griffon's face didn't last long as he caved in the front of the warrior's skull with a roar. One of Tanning's honor guards stepped forwards, gracefully ducking under a blow from the enraged human. He swung down and to the side, trying to cut Dylan open from shoulder to hip. The guard's sword left a two inch deep cut in his chest, which bled for no more than a couple seconds before it knit itself closed in a disturbing, inhuman fashion. Dylan gritted his teeth and swung his hammer into the guard's shield with the clash of metal on metal. The force of his swing nearly crumpled the shield, yet somehow the griffon still held onto it with all his might. The griffon weaved to the side and thrust his sword right at Dylan's chest. Through the pouring rain and thunder, Dylan saw the blow stabbing right at him. He stepped to the side and swung his leg low and around, slamming right into the back of the griffon's legs. The guard lost his footing and went keeling over onto his back, grunting out in surprise. Dylan jumped forwards, slamming the head of his hammer down on the griffon's exposed sternum. The armored plate on the griffon's chest bent inches inwards as Dylan collapsed his ribcage with a yell of anger.

"DIE, BASTARDS, DIE!"

Dylan was upon the next one before the griffon whose chest he had just crumpled inwards could let out his last breath. He put all of his force into his next blow as he flattened the side of the next guard's head with a splatter of grey and pink and red.

***

Derpy watched as the guardspony continued to cut through the invaders like they were nothing. They fell around her like wheat, collapsing to the ground in pieces. She desperately pulled at her leg, which only made her wince and cry out in pain as she felt the broken bones digging into her flesh. She reached down with one of her front hooves and pulled, trying to dislodge herself from her certain death. The longer she stayed here pinned under this rock, the more chance she had of being noticed and killed where she lay by one of the dogs or griffons. One of the griffons did turn and see her laying there trying to free herself. He hefted a large spiked flail, grinning as he heard the three wickedly-pointed heads of the weapon clink together like some deathly music. He stepped towards her over one of the corpses littering the ground. One of his comrades lay there, his skull smashed in from above by one of the many giant rocks heaved down from the rooftops. He looked at the body and turned back to Derpy with violence burning hot in his piercing green eyes. He ran towards her, screaming at the top of his lungs and raising his weapon above his head. Derpy raised her club and braced for the griffon's attack. He never reached her. The first thing Derpy noticed as he barrelled towards her was that the weight on her leg was gone. The second thing she noticed was the large boulder surrounded by a purplish aura hurtling like a bullet towards the charging griffon. The stone smashed into the griffon with enough force to smash most of the bones in his body. He flew backwards as the few hundred pound boulder rocketed into him, rolling and flipping along the stones of the street until the rock finally landed on him and put him to a stop as it crushed him. Derpy looked down at her leg; She was free. She tried to stand, but screamed in agony and fell to the ground as she put pressure on her ruined leg.

"Derpy, stay there!"

She turned to see Rainbow Dash and Twilight making their way towards her. Twilight's horn was glowing with her strange magical light, and it was obvious why when another large boulder lifted off the ground and shot off into a group of diamond dogs, crushing many of them as it knocked them over like dominoes of flesh and bone.

"It's all right, Ditzy! We'll get you out of here," Twilight said.

She bent down and lifted Derpy up by the shoulder. Rainbow Dash did the same with her other shoulder and began to help move her. As they were doing this a loud cry broke out from the street.

"FALL BACK! FALL BACK! GET TO THE TOWN HALL! RETREAT!"

It was unsure who had screamed this, but it was not Dylan. Derpy saw him plowing through foe after foe, leaving each one broken and twisted on the ground like tattered and bloody ragdolls. It was then that Derpy saw why. Through the storm and the darkness, hundreds of torches burned in the distance, heading towards Ponyville; Reinforcements. Before she knew it, Derpy was being dragged through the street as the militia of Ponyville pulled back under the onslaught of enemy troops pouring into the town.

***

Dylan smashed another of Tanning's guards atop his skull, crushing his helmet down into his head. Dylan kicked the limp body over and was about to charge headlong into the next one when he heard the yelling.

"FALL BACK! GET TO THE TOWN HALL! RETREAT!"

He stopped in his tracks and looked around uncertainly for a second. After a moment, he bolted off in the direction of the fleeing townsponies. The sounds of death came from behind his as the militia that were too slow or surrounded by enemies were cut down where they stood. He could hear their screams as he ran, and he could feel the pull of grief on his heart, yet he had known almost none of them. He would have his vengeance, he thought. They would all get their justice, if he had anything to do with it.

***

Rarity hid. Spike had insisted she stay as still and as quiet as possible. He peeked around the very corner of the window and watched as the ponies fell back through the streets, dragging wounded and picking up groups of their comrades as they moved. The dogs and griffons came after them and continued to finish off any ponies who couldn't run away fast enough. The enemy forces appeared to be moving towards the house they were in. Most of them stopped a few doors down, but at least twenty of them gathered around outside the house that Rarity and he were hiding in. He leaned back away from the window and glanced back at Rarity curled up in the corner nursing her broken arm. Her crossbow lay beside her, with a bolt on the string ready to be fired.

"Rarity, we can't get out of here," He whispered. "They're right outside."

The white-coated mare looked up at him with watery eyes, staring into his own with curiosity and fear.

"Spike… why…. why are you-" He tensed, and answered before her, looking down at his feet.

"-A freak?"

At this, Rarity gasped and shook her head vigorously.

"No, spike… I… I was going to say 'why are you grown up?'."

Spike blinked in surprise and looked at her with a mixture of delight and confusion.

"Grown… up?"

She smiled and nodded.

"Yes, Spike. I… what you did… that wasn't something a child could do… you're a stalli-… I mean a big dragon now. I think you look beautiful."

He raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"You think I'm-… Rarity, shh…"

The sound of claws clicking on wood came from the direction of the stairs beyond the door to the room. Rarity tensed and reached for her crossbow, but Spike motioned her not to. He reached down and coated his claws in the pool of blood from the dead griffons. Rarity's jaw dropped.

"Spike, what're you-" He smeared her all over with the blood before she could finish.

"This is disgusting," She hissed.

Spike clasped his hand around her mouth and put a claw up to his lips.

"Shh…"

He brushed his hand over her eyelids, closing them. Rarity squirmed for a second, but Spike laid a hand on her chest reassuringly. She stopped moving and lay still, staying as quiet as death. Spike made his way over to a corner, picked up a dagger from one of the dead griffons and stabbed it into his arm. He gritted his teeth and hissed as his blood ran out onto the floor around the crude iron blade embedded in his arm. He let go of the dagger and closed his eyes, slumping back against the wall. The sounds of growled voices entered the room. Spike could smell them. They were bloody and sweaty and coated from grime from the fight, but the rain had left its scent on them like a crystalline freshness on top of the stench filth and death. He lay deathly still as one of them walked right up to him and hissed.

"Look at this thing! I didn't know there were fucking dragons in this pisshole!" The dog lowered his spear and struck it lightly against the 'dead' dragon's skin. Spike felt the dog tap his spear against his scales, but kept as motionless as the grave. The tap, tap, tap of the dog's spearhead rapping on his scales sent a surge of anger rippling through his mind. He felt his throat close tight, as if he were about to growl. Just as he was, another dog yanked the one with the spear out of the way noisily. Taking the dog holding a spear by the shoulder, he growled in his face.

"Everything's dead in here. Let's get outside and finish off the rest of em'."

He jerked his head towards the door they had come in, as if to tell the other one to head that way. The dog looked at the bodies for a moment. He grunted and turned to leave, huffing disappointedly.

"Damn. Wanted to kill some more."

The two dogs slinked out the door and headed back downstairs. It was a few minutes before Rarity or Spike dared to move again.

***

(Calamity- GRV Music)

The glint of bloodthirst in Pinkamena's eyes put a chill into everyone; Pony and Dog alike moved backwards in fear. Something had snapped in her, and it would never be fixed again. She ran headlong at the closest dog, laughing the insane cackle of a demented soul. The dog thrust out with his spear, but she danced around the blow and planted the head of the axe between the dog's eye and his cheek, splitting his skull nearly in half. Before the corpse could even fall, Pinkamena howled in laughter again.

"Let's party," She screamed in laughter.

One of the dogs rushed in, but Pinkamena ducked right under his attack. She slammed the blade of the axe into his gut and swept her legs into the back of his knee. He fell on his face, only to have the back of his skull chopped open by a second blow from Pinkamena. She slowly turned her head towards the other dogs and grinned. The smile was of one possessed. Her eyes glowed and sparked with a mind-bending energy. The dog closest to her screamed and began to run, but Pinkie pounced on him as he fled and buried her axe in his spine. The other dogs looked like they were going to flee, but a snarl from one of them shook them out of it.

"Rover'll have our 'eads on feckin' spikes if'n we don' kill 'er! GUT THE BITCH!"

As if set on fire, they barrelled towards her, snarling and growling and barking. Whatever Pinkamena was saw them coming and just laughed. They nearly got to her when she went up in a flash of bizarre light. She was no longer standing where she had been. The dogs slid to a stop and cried out in shock and confusion. "The fuck she go?!" One of them barked, just before he heard a splattering sound from behind him. He spun to see one of his comrades' bodies floating in midair. It was shredded and crushed, almost unrecognizable. Ribs were curled outwards as if something had burst the entire dog's chest cavity open. His insides hung out of his mouth and from everywhere they could come. Blood dripped down out of the ruin of a body along with every other kind of filth. It was surrounded by an otherworldly glow which seemed to twist and move when you looked at it. It shifted in and out, as if it were disappearing from time and space at random intervals. Standing behind the mangled body was the Pinkamena-Thing. One of her hooves was extended towards the body, and it was glowing with the same macabre luminance. Pinkamena looked right into his eyes and through them into his very soul. She tilted her chin up and looked down at him with an insane twist to her face. Her grin seemed to stretch impossibly from ear to ear, stretching and pulling flesh where flesh should be. Her teeth were not the teeth of a pony now; they were the teeth of a predator. The dog screamed as she tossed the mass of wrecked flesh away and walked towards him.

"TIME TO PLAY A GAME," The Pinkamena-Thing said as she tore the dog in half with her hooves. The other dogs wailed in horror and cringed backwards away from her.

Fluttershy struggled to stand. She heard the maddening sounds coming from where Pinkamena had gone. She glanced over and her mind almost cracked. Surrounding her friend was an aura of disturbing light which seemed like it was /alive/. That was not the most horrifying thing about Pinkamena. What seemed to hover and follow her body's movements was a transparent ghostly figure; A blunt-faced, crazed-eyed, Shaggy and twisted looking dog. It was more hyena than dog, and it cackled along with Pinkie, ripping flesh from bone just as she did. It was like a second skin of madness, wrapped and coiled around her body. Fluttershy's throat went to scream in horror, but her mind wouldn't let her; It was too shattered for her to even speak. As she stood, she saw some of the dogs had broken off from where the Pinkamena-Thing was busy tearing them apart and headed for her and Cheerilee. Cheerilee was gasping and holding the wound in her side. Fluttershy could tell at a glance that it was a mortal blow. She stumbled towards Cheerilee and fumbled to pick up one of the downed dogs' swords. She gripped it unsteadily in both hooves and stood between the oncoming dogs and Cheerilee. Fluttershy cringed and whimpered, half-shutting her eyes and yelling out. She swung the blade with her eyes closed, but it simply cut through the air in front of the dog. She heard the wet sound of metal passing through flesh and a gasp of pain from the dog. He looked down at the spear ran through his guts. He screamed and his eyes went wide as he stared down at it. Fluttershy turned to see the spear's wielder. She knew with all her mind that it had to be Cheerilee. But the pony clutching the spear in trembling hooves was not Cheerilee; It was Applebloom.

"You took my sister!"

She yanked the spear brutally out of him, causing the dog to howl in torment. He took a few unsteady, furious steps towards the little filly, raising his blade as he charged. His body made it to her, but his head did not. Fluttershy panted as she clutched the bloodied sword. She was terrified that she could have even done such a thing, but at the same time… /she would not let them hurt her friends… they would die before they could touch them/. The snarl of a second dog turned her attention away from her thoughts. She barely had time to raise her sword above her head as the dog slammed his mace down on it. She blocked another two swings before she stumbled. He growled and swung again. His mace would have crushed her collarbone, but luckily, she tripped and fell to the ground. He took a stab to the throat from Applebloom's spear and gagged on his own blood as he died. Fluttershy looked down at the body for a second, wheezing and breathing heavily. Her lungs were on fire even though she had been fighting for mere seconds. She turned to cheerilee, who was spitting up blood.

"Cheerilee!"

The schoolteacher looked at her, trying to speak.

"F-Flutter… urgh…shy… I need you to prom- GUH! I need you to promise me… something…"

Fluttershy's heart seized up in her chest, and tears began to run down from her eyes. This was the first time that she had been this close to someone dying. She propped Cheerilee up with her hooves, which became slick with the blood pouring from her side in mere moments. Fluttershy's voice was heavy and full of sorrow.

"Ch-Cheerilee… w-w-what is it?"

Her hooves trembled as she watched Cheerilee lurch forwards in pain. The schoolteacher's eyes were locked on hers. She hacked up a massive gob of blood onto the ground near Fluttershy's hooves.

"P-Promise me that you'll t-tell… Mac… that I love him."

Cheerilee moaned in pain and held her stomach, her eyes shooting wide open.

"Cheerilee! N-No! Don't die! Please!"

Fluttershy was sobbing now, her tears pouring and mixing into Cheerilee's blood. Sobbing and crying and wailing came from the direction of the children. Applebloom came and laid her hoof on Cheerilee's shoulder.

"Ah… Ah'm here, Miss Cheerilee…"

Applebloom choked the words out through sobs. Cheerilee blinked and slowly turned her eyes to Applebloom and smiled like one who had accepted their fate.

"You'll make a fine mare someday, Applebloom…"

Applebloom cried into the muck, down on her knees. She threw her arms around her teacher and sobbed into her shoulder.

"D-don't go… please don't go…" Cheerilee blinked her own tears away and hugged Applebloom back.

"I… Hrk! I have to, Applebloom… I… I'll wait for you… Make sure… Mac… doesn't fall in love… with somepony else…"

Cheerilee's eyes blinked. They were heavy-lidded now. Her face was pale and sickly, and her movements slow and weak.

"Fluttershy… I need you to do something…"

Fluttershy couldn't speak; her sobbing made it impossible for her to even get out a word.

"Take… Guh… take care of the children."

Cheerilee lurched upwards, her eyes widening. She let out a long, agonized moan that went on for several seconds before it seemed to drift away under the downpour. She sighed one final time and slowly went limp in a pool of red. Her eyes closed and her mouth parted slightly as she breathed her final mortal breath. She did not move again.

Something inside Fluttershy set aflame. It was like the burning of a white sun scorching every fibre of her being, setting her very soul ablaze. Without a word, Fluttershy's wings lifted her off the ground. Her eyes turned towards Pinkie and the dogs. The sounds of carnage loomed ahead of her as she drifted towards the violence. More dogs poured from across the river, fording it and hastily making their way towards the otherworldly creature which was Pinkamena. Fluttershy regarded them all with hatred and a merciless desire to exterminate every last one. Every last shred of mercy or kindness for them was gone. No longer was she the loving, innocent pegasus that could do no harm; she was the agent of justice. Her eyes were filled with blinding, crystal-clear light that seemed to melt away the darkness around her as if it were made of black, cold glass.

Her mouth opened slowly, her lips drifting apart from one another as a sound built up inside her chest. The sound was a low rumble, growling and furious. It rose above the sound of the rain and above the screams of the dogs as it came up her throat and the sound of it changed. It was no longer a rumble; It was a scream, roared and keening. The sound was piercing like a knife, so loud that some of the dogs got down on their knees and screamed along with it as they held their ears. Fluttershy screamed and shook as she flew towards them with her ghostly eyes glowing and the burning hate in her soul filling her with violence. The dog-troops pouring across the river found their fear in the eyes of Fluttershy. With a howling and a baying, they strode up the riverbank and began to run towards her. The pegasus didn't lift a hoof as they gnashed their teeth and beat their weapons on their shields and charged. She stopped there and hovered in the air as she screamed her soul out to the stormy heavens. The sound of feet and claws running through the mud and the cries of angry warriors built to a fever pitch as they bore down on her. Fluttershy's eyes closed and she stopped screaming. Even with her eyes lidded, the light still shone through and bathed the darkness with its blinding, clear brilliance.

Fluttershy's whole body trembled and shook violently, twitching as if an electrical current was surging through it. The glow from her eyes seemed to build to an almost celestial radiance, seeping out from the cracks between her eyelids and her flesh and into the dark. Her lips opened again and from them came a bloodcurdling roar of anger that echoed all across Ponyville. The dogs' feet trampled the mud and carried them onwards towards their target, never stopping. Her foes readied their arms to butcher her like the helpless, peaceful pony she should have been… she was not that pony any longer. Her head lowered down to face them as they came to tear her apart like the dogs they were, and as it did, her eyes opened. A supernatural, scratching, roaring sound like barbed wire on glass exploded into reality as the light from her eyes shot forth in twin shafts of pure white energy. The light didn't illuminate the oncoming dogs, but rather incinerated them. Steel and fur and flesh and bone all burned with ghostly, white fire as the beams cut through them like they were nothing. They charred and burned, sloughing meat off of the dogs in massive pieces. They cut and sliced and burned right through, parting them into neatly severed, smoking pieces. Their screams were barely out of their throats for the merest of moments before they perished under the searing energy pulsing and arcing from Fluttershy's eyes. She closed her eyes and stopped screaming. The light faded slowly from her eyes. No longer were they two weapons of merciless death, but they were still two windows to the soul of one whose mind had just been shattered and replaced with a singular desire for retribution.

Applebloom's heart caught in her chest. The spectral thing moving with Fluttershy flapped its wings and both she and it took off. It was like an eagle, but it was like no eagle Applebloom had ever seen. It was beautiful, but it was not the beauty of something soft and gentle; it was the beauty of a predator, merciless and remorseless. It had three pairs of wings, all of which seemed to be carrying the butter-haired pegasus with barely a hint of movement. The thing inspired a feeling of holy dread into Applebloom, as if she was looking at something immortal and not of this world. It had a beak and claws of ivory, which were sharpened into graceful, lethal edges that could shear steel as if it were paper. Its feathers were all pointed like needles. They refracted the light that emitted from its body in a blinding scatter that dazzled any who looked directly at it. It had two arms that sprouted from just under its three pairs of wings and two legs that splayed out under it. The limbs were long and thin, but had a graceful power about them, like that of a dancer or a runner. Each hand and foot had four taloned fingers, sharp as the tongue that darted out from its beak like a razor-edged snake. It set its hands down at its sides, as did Fluttershy. It floated on towards those dogs that still lived with a predatory desire emanating from it and rippling through the minds of all that beheld it. Applebloom fell onto her back and tried to drag herself away from it. The thing turned its head for a moment and focused on her with its light-filled eyes. It smiled, showing rows of glinting needlelike teeth behind its beak. Applebloom opened her mouth and screamed. It turned away from her and seemed to laugh to itself.

Pinkamena tore the first dog in half and cackled as she tossed the two pieces aside. She walked up to the next one, who tried to punch a hole in her skull with a war pick. She knocked his arm to the side as he swung and caught it underneath her foreleg, pinning it against her chest. She smiled as she snapped the bones and slammed her other hoof into the front of his kettle helmet and crushed it inwards as he screamed. He went limp, and Pinkamena spun, still holding his body by his arm. She brought the body around just in time for it to take a thrust with a spear from one of the other dogs. She released her hold on the corpse's arm and slammed her hoof into its chest in a kick. The body and the spear-dog with his weapon stuck in it both flew backwards at least half a dozen yards, tumbling through the air before they both slammed back down on the ground and rolled through the muck. A feral diamond dog with a scythe swung his blade right at her head, but she leaned back in a movement so unnatural for a quadruped that it shouldn't have been possible. Bones and muscle and flesh all twisted backwards as the blade sliced the air right above where she had been. The dog looked surprised for half a moment before Pinkamena spun low to the ground and kicked his snout into the back of his head with a kick. The crumpled face of the scythe wielder flopped down into the mud with the rest of his body and leaked out its insides in a gruesome display.

Pinkamena laughed and her body untwisted itself. Sickening pops, creaks and wet sliding sounds went on for a few seconds before Pinkamena's body seemed to reshape itself. She grinned so wide that you could only see smiling, glistening teeth and her crazed, luminescent blue eyes. It was enough to make one's skin crawl. She raised a hoof and pointed it at a dog who was starting to aim his crossbow at her. The glow around her hoof intensified, and a glow burned around the canine's skull. There was a moist popping, shattering noise as the dog's head exploded outwards in a shower of brain bone, covering his nearby comrades in the contents of what used to be his head. They gaped in horror as the headless body of their comrade stood there for a moment, went limp and fell forwards, spilling blood from its open neck like a faucet. A large cluster of dogs advanced on Pinkamena and struck out at her frantically. She danced and twisted around each strike, her muscles and bones twisting and bending to move her body out of the way of each attack. She laughed and vanished in a burst of light. The dogs turned to see Fluttershy floating in place with her eyes locked on them like pieces of meat. The light surging around Fluttershy seemed to flow and form around her like a suit of armor. It covered her hooves and stretched out into shining talons of supernatural light, needle thin and deadly sharp. She flew into their midst, clawing and slashing and slicing as she went. The screams and death cries of the dogs echoed all the way to ponyville.

***

Rover looked at the retreating ponies in disgust, pulling his weapon free of one of their fallen with a sick, wet sliding sound. Many of them had not managed to escape and flee in time. The street was filled with dozens of bodies, and everywhere he stepped there was the wet sound of blood under your feet. He turned to look at his bodyguard. The tall wolf-dog got up and cleaned his rapiers off on the fur of a dead stallion whose chest leaked blood from two precise, lethal stab wounds. He flourished them skillfully and slid them into their scabbards before turning to his master. He blinked and lowered his head before speaking.

"Yes, master?"

Rover quirked his lip up in a smile. He liked being called master; he liked it very much.

"Take some soldiers with you and check on our reinforcements. I'd rather be sure that they're arriving on time, don't you agree?"

The guard nodded and turned on his heel, waving a group of dogs over to follow him. They stalked off as the rest of the invading forces pushed into the town after the ponies. Tanning was eyeing the fleeing equines with a snarl on his face.

"Damn them… I wanted that thing. Now we'll have to fucking break down the hall to get in and take him. You, dog." He pointed a claw at Rover, who growled quietly in contempt.

"Yes, Warlord Tanning?"

The griffon warrior pointed off with his falchion. "Get sssome of your muttsss to cut down a tree. Make me a ram. We're sssmashing in the fucking doorsss to that ugly, indefensible ssscrap heap. And make it quick, I don't want that abomination getting away!"

Rover grumbled and nodded, then turned to his men.

"All right, you lot! Get your damn mangy hides moving and cut down that tree over there! we're making a ram! And make it quick, or I'll start executing the lot of you!" The dogs in question snapped into action, getting axes from their fellows and chopping at the tree. Rover grinned and looked back at the town hall, where the ponies had fled into and blocked themselves in. "Like rats in a trap…"

***

The rat-thing crept through the back streets of Ponyville, ducking down alleyways and climbing over roofs, always staying out of sight. The sound of chitinous claws moving an arachnid body could be heard behind him. His comrade followed close behind, watching from multiple directions with his many eyes. The rat-thing stopped and sniffed the air, then peeked over the edge of the roof. There was a massive crowd of warriors below, both griffon and diamond dog. He slid back away from the edge and signalled to his comrade. The spider-thing grinned with rows of needlelike teeth and nodded. They leapt across silently to another roof, and could hear movement below them. The sounds of dogs moving through the houses could be heard from throughout the street. It scampered and over to another roof as soon as the sounds of movement receded. Yelling of orders below from the invaders told him that they were going to move, and move /fast/. He couldn't take any chances. He had to make sure they got their target before the dogs and griffons did. The sounds of axes biting into wood perked his rotting, ragged ears. He swivelled his milky dead eyes and looked down below at a group of dogs working around a great tree. It was obvious to him that they were making a ram. With a silent growl, he moved into a position high on one of the larger buildings. Rain hammered down on everything, filling the air with its calm and yet somehow unnerving sound. He looked at the hall that the man had fled back to with the townsfolk. His face twisted into a smile; a smile of cold knowing. The spider-thing clambered up beside him and looked at him with a strange expression. When the rat-thing turned to him smiling with rain running down his scarred, tattered, shredded face, his own took on a sinister grin. The two of them thought the same thing: there would be blood.

***

The doors slammed behind Dylan as he came through the doors of the town hall. He was the last one through them, for the simple reason that he craved killing now. He didn't even hide it. There was a powerful, fulfilled look about him as he walked inside, his arm and weapon hand soaked in crimson.

"Block the doors!" The dark-maned guardspony ordered, pointing with sword in hoof.

"Block them?! But we'll be trapped in here! They could just set the building on fire," Twilight said with a quake in her voice. She was propping up Derpy with one hoof, and in the other she held her sickle blade. It was obvious that she was not innocent of violence this day.

"On f-fire!?" Derpy gasped out as she exclaimed, slumping in pain. Rainbow Dash looked down on her with pity in her intense, rose-colored eyes. the shattered ruin of her leg dangled above the floor as she and Twilight carried her into the hall.

"Why should we stay here?" Big Macintosh said with cold squint of his eyes. He leaned on the shaft of his pitchfork, curling his lip and raising an eyebrow quizzically.

"I guess you would rather go back out to the slaughterhouse outside." The guardspony said this coldly and flatly, voice lacking all emotion. Dylan could pick the scars out in the pony's words, scars of pain and of a jaded soul who had killed too many times to count. The scars in the guard's voice were not the only scars the warrior carried; the remains of burns and cuts covered much of the pony's visible skin.

"Ha! You call yourself a stallion? If you're so tough, why don't you go back out there yourself, tough guy?" Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and waved her sword in the direction of the doors.

"We can't get out even if we did stay out there… they've got us surrounded…" Lyra swallowed back a twinge of fear, adjusting her helmet atop her head with a slightly trembling hoof. With the other, she rested her halberd in the crook of her foreleg. She chewed on her lip and peeked around the edge of a window. A crossbow bolt slamming into the frame next to where her head was was followed by a frightened yell from her and the sound of her body slamming back against the wall as she jumped away from the window.

"So, you think I'm a big, hard old stallion, do you? Are you saying you have a better idea, or are you just trying to give me a reason to kick your ass?" The dark-haired pony turned to look at Rainbow Dash from through a visored helm.

"Listen here, buddy, if you want some, I've got some!" Rainbow Dash growled and took a step forwards, but she stopped and calmed down a bit when Dylan put an arm between her and the newcomer. "D-Dylan? What is it?"

"Dash, she's right." Dylan said, running a hand down his haggard, unshaven visage.

"SHE?!" Rainbow Dash's eyes widened as she turned to the pony.

"How'd you guess?" The guardspony turned to Dylan and flipped up the visor on her helmet.

Her face was scarred, but not ugly. She had a hard look about her; a look that said "I'll never stop fighting". Her black and purple mane was cut in typical Equestrian military style: short and out of the way. It had grown a bit since her last cut, and a large part of it covered one of her eyes. The eye that was visible was purple, but it seemed to lack color somehow, as if it had been drained away from years of only seeing the greys and reds of war. No humor existed in that grim, fierce face, only a dark satisfaction that he somehow knew was not so different than the bloodthirsty hunger that coursed through him. The difference between her desire for violence was that hers was a cold, cruel, calculating craving for death, whilst his was hot, brutal and wild, like the feral anger of a beast.

"I'm smarter than I look," Dylan said, working his jaw and looking at the doors. He turned and stared at the ponies just standing around fearfully waiting for something to happen. Their faces were empty, like masks worn over true their real ones. Some of them were crying, others whispering what sounded like prayers to whatever ponies prayed to, if they even had something to pray to. "You heard her! Block the damn doors! Move!"

His voice snapped them back into focus. They leapt into action, grabbing desks and tables and chairs and cabinets. Overturned shelves spilled books and papers and antiques all over the floor. The mayor stood in shock, a hoof covering her jaw. Two guards were standing by her, holding their spears tightly. The ponies dragged the furniture to the doors and stacked it up, propping it against the floor so that the doors would be easier to break open. The grinding, squealing sound of wood scraping on wood filled the air in the hall as they worked, interspersed with chatter and the occasional sound of something being broken. Dylan turned back to the guardspony and regarded her face with an expression halfway between apathy and interest.

"What's your name?" he asked, stroking his rough beard.

"It's Dusk Mane," She said back to him, sheathing her sword and slinging her shield onto her back. She rubbed her hooves together and sighed. It was not a sigh of relief or exasperation, but one of someone calming themselves before a conflict. "I hear your name is Dylan." He nodded, turning his eyes to the work at hand.

"Do you think those doors will hold?"

"They're all we have, but I'm not sure," She said. She crossed her hooves over her chest and turned around to look. The ramshackle barricade was coming along, but it was obvious that its sturdiness was not its most prominent trait. Piled benches, tables and shelves could only hold back an entire horde of besiegers for so long. "We'll have to make sure they don't get through them... but we'll have to deal with them sooner or later." Her hoof drifted to the hilt of her sword and gripped it with its strange, invisible magical force. Dylan still had no clear idea how ponies could hold, pick up, or carry anything with their hooves; the simplest answer for him was just to put it off as magic.

Big Macintosh looked around then, twisting his head to scan through the crowd in the hall. He saw many faces he knew, and a lack of many also, but he saw a lack of one face in particular. "Oh, shit." Dylan turned at Big Mac's voice, looking at him with sharp blue eyes. His throat tightened as he spoke.

"Mac? What is it?" Dylan gritted his teeth and looked intently at Big Macintosh, waiting for an answer he was sure he would not want to hear.

"Where's Rarity?"

Dylan, Twilight and Rainbow Dash all stared at Big Macintosh for a moment, chills running through them. All three of them feared the worst had happened.

"She's not here?!" Twilight half-screamed.

"Fuckin' hell…" Dylan placed a hand over his face, and tried to hide the moisture seeping from the corners of his eyes. He had not known her long, and the last thing he had said to her had been calling her a bitch, but he still considered her his friend. He let out a low, growling breath; There was sadness and anger in it both.

"R-Rarity's outside?! Is she… is-" Rainbow Dash looked strangely sensitive and undetermined now, unlike her usual self.

"Ah dunno, Dash," Big Macintosh said, frowning. He was sure that Rainbow Dash had been about to ask if Rarity was alive. Mac's bandages were red with his blood, and trickles of it ran down his back and chest, slowly dribbling off of him onto the floor. He had been bleeding from his previous arrow wounds the whole battle, but he had shrugged it off and fought on. Now he was leaning hard on the shaft of his pitchfork, hissing in pain as he tried to fight back the agony in his torn and pierced muscles. "Ah dunno…"

"Shit. We need some medical attention over here!" Dylan barked, pointing at Big Macintosh and Ditzy Doo.

Almost immediately, a small group of veterinarians and doctors and nurses rushed forward. Some of them helped ease Derpy off of Twilight and Dash's shoulders, while another two helped Big Macintosh limp somewhat over to a part of the hall that had just been hastily cleared to make space. They laid her down on one of the couches that sat in the lobby and began to treat her leg. Big Macintosh walked over to where they had made room, slowly and painfully. He sat down on one of the chairs there while the nurses and doctors looked him over. He rested his pitchfork against the wall next to him and sighed exhaustedly, then bit his lip and moaned in pain. It was obvious he was in an amount of pain that would be too great for most normal ponies to handle; Big Macintosh was no normal pony. His fight was for his sisters, one captured and the other in grief. His fight was for his grandmother, dead and burned to ash in the ruins of his house. His fight was for his friends, one of whom he thought may be dead outside. His fight was for his home, and all those in it; all those that had sheltered and loved him and cared for him. And his fight was for his love; he would fight for her until he could fight no more.

Dylan turned back to Dusk Mane, frowning. "How long do you think we can hold them?"

"With this amount of barely trained soldiers? Maybe an hour." She breathed heavily, once again turning her eyes to the dark, rainy skies outside. The pattering and constant falling of the rain seemed to make everything seem much more peaceful than it actually was.

"What if I give them what they want?" Dylan peered out along with Dusk Mane, blinking weary and angry eyes at the doors of the hall, which were now completely blocked with furniture.

"What's that?"

"Me." Dylan grinned. "But just not how they wanted."

***

The marching of thousands of hooves could be heard across the Equestrian countryside as the army marched. They were so many strong that the ground they had walked upon was churned and trampled under legions of armored hooves. The army moved like a well-oiled machine, spears and shields glinting like jewelled iron as lightning flashed and thunder cracked and rumbled through the clouds above. Every last soldier seemed to march with a singleminded, disciplined purpose that showed just how much discipline had been instilled into them like steel poured into a mould. Each soldier looked ahead with the icy gaze of a warrior, cold and fearless. They were no ordinary army; they were the Golden Legion of Celestia herself. She had hand picked every last one of the hundreds of officers, who she had entrusted to choose and train only the best, the most loyal, and the fiercest fighters in all of the realms of the princesses. They were no simple militia or conscripts or mercenaries; they were honed, precise killing machines.

"Ponyville nears, my Princess," Said a tall, white maned blue pegasus. "We should arrive at the town on the morrow."

He was dressed in gold- etched white steel armor that looked like it had been passed down many generations to him. It was like a work of art, with powerful muscles etched into the front breastplate, a gold-ringed skirt of armor made of segmented strips, spiked and flanged shoes of polished metal, and finally a gracefully curved helmet with shining gold edging, ceremonial ivory wings, and a long, flowing plume of white rising from the top of his helmet. On his back was strapped a wide, disc-like shield with a golden-painted sunburst emblazoned flanked by two storm clouds emblazoned on the front. He had a long sword sheathed at his side, which on the hilt of he rested a hoof. The sword was a mastepiece; the hilt and guard alone were engraved and embroidered with fine, artistic depictions of pegasi at war, lightning striking down from the heavens upon twisted and monstrous beasts and a sun and moon clashing against one another in the sky. The metal that made the weapon was pure and masterfully smithed; it was smooth and mirror-like; a pure, shining hue unlike the dull greys of iron and the faded silvers of steel. It was curved, but unlike the backwards-curving swords of the Zebra Kingdoms; it curved forwards, the blade tilted ahead of the hilt. His name was General Tempest.

Celestia turned slowly and looked into his dark blue eyes; eyes full of memories great and bloody and terrible, but nothing in comparison to her own. "General, once we near the town, have your Stormwings scout ahead. I want something found."

"Something, Princess? What is it you need found? I've only heard of brigands and raiders, nothing more, your Grace." He shifted slightly on his feet as he walked by her side, giving a quick glance at his best soldiers: The Stormwings.

The Stormwings were a force of pegasi warriors a hundred strong. They were trained from birth, often having no relations at all to their blood-parents. The most skilled and prized of all the Stormwings were raised from orphanhood, before they could bond with their parents. Those foals whose mothers died giving birth usually grew to be the most skilled, lethal, hardened killing machines in the whole of the Stormings. These soldiers had known no love when they were most in need of it; instead, they were instilled with a loyalty to their commander, to their brothers and sisters in arms, and most importantly to the ways of the warrior. There was no weakness or hesitation to be found in them; it had been crushed, burned, whipped and beaten out of them in their youth, leaving only the hard, calculating mind of a warrior. Their armor was as black as the stormy skies that loomed on in the distant sky. Upon each breastplate was a black lightning bolt between two red wings on a white background. They carried a long-handled, square slashing blade, a quiver full of long, sleek javelins, and a small buckler shield affixed with spikes. Every last one was utterly focused on the objective ahead. They were so focused and disciplined, they even put Celestia's legion to shame with their restraint. They marched on, unblinking despite the rain running down the fronts of their pitch black helmets and cascading down past their grim faces.

"Do you know the old legends, General?" Celestia said this with a hushed, deliberate tone, as if she did not want anyone but Tempest to hear. She looked at him with searching sky-blue eyes, trying to look into his thoughts. Whether that was just a metaphor, or if she could actually read minds was something Tempest tried not to think about as he answered.

"Which legends, your Highness?" He looked at her out of the corner of his visor, still walking ahead alongside his troops. Celestia looked up into the sky. She contemplated for a moment, breathing heavily. She knew exactly what she was going to say, but she couldn't help but recollect what she remembered of these /legends/ that were burned into her mind for the rest of her millennia-long life. "And what do legends have to do with our march out to Ponyville? I thought you were sending us out here to put an end to a force of raiders."

"Have you never heard of secrecy, General? What the masses do not know cannot bite and gnaw at their minds. We are here to deal with the incursion on Ponyville, and make sure that the Elements remain safe, but there is another matter I must attend to here. To answer your question: the human ones."

Tempest's eyes widened slightly, and he blinked in shock. It took him a few seconds to compose himself after that. He had heard of the humans, and how powerful they had been. He knew not much about them, but what he did know was dark and bloody. "The… human legends? Are you saying-" You could see the whole of his eyes as they opened as far as they could go; they were full of fear and realization. "That's not possible."

She knew what he was thinking without him saying it. "So was Discord returning, not so long ago. It seems he is not the only ancient enemy that is choosing to swim up from the depths of history and surface to wreak havoc once again. You must not speak of this to a soul, Tempest. If this knowledge were to fall into the wrong hooves… or claws…" Her face went grim and her lips fell silent. They walked on in silence for a minute before Tempest spoke.

"So, there are humans… in Ponyville?" He said this as a chill went down his spine, spreading a feeling like cold fire through his body as the fear set in.

"Only one. He seems to have manipulated and deceived a number of ponies into trusting him. Among them are the Element Bearers. Disaster is only a step away when a monster lurks so close to home. My student herself has fallen for the human's deceptions, as intelligent and wise as she is for her age." Celestia frowned, breathing out as she felt tension twisting a painful knot in her chest. "These creatures are dangerous. You can just as easily trust one as a serpent. I've known dragons less greedy than these… humans..." she hissed the word.

Tempest creased his brow in thought as he looked upon Celestia.

How does she know so much about them? Aren't the legends tens of thousands of years old?

Celestia seemed to know what he was thinking. She turned her eyes to him, looking at him from the corners of her vision. "One does not rule a nation without learning a few things, General. Where you have your armies to lead, I have a throne to sit upon and wait away the centuries. Time makes one's mind sharper with use, and one's knowledge grows greatly when solitude is one's only solace for many a year."

Tempest assumed she was speaking about Princess Luna's banishment and absence. He kept silent. The two of them walked, trailing alongside the army as it traversed the countryside. They passed by rolling hills, patches of green and brown forest, clear running rivers and rustic farmsteads. It disgusted Tempest that there were beings in the world that desired nothing more than to ruin and destroy the serene beauty of his home. That disgust seemed to turn to hatred in his heart as he thought of Ponyville; at this moment, outlaws and criminals were laying siege to a place he treasured deeply inside himself. He had friends there, and family too; Few knew that he had relatives in Ponyville, and the relatives themselves had forgotten of him long ago. He had not dared return… not after what had happened years ago.

***
Roughnut watched the hall with an icy look in his eyes, blinking away the rain as it rolled down onto his face. He held his rapiers low against his sides, clenching and loosening his claws around their hilts in anticipation. He had always been good at his job, and he wasn't about to start getting worse.

Rover grinned, showing polished and cruel white fangs. He looked on towards the hall as he and his warriors closed in. They marched in a line of shields, banging their weapons against them in a clamor while thunder and lightning raged and crackled overhead. He looked back at the dogs carrying the ram and felt a gleeful bloodlust pass through him. He looked back at the doors to the hall and laughed.

Bregan silently twirled his morningstar as he listened and watched the dogs and griffons around him chant. His old, greying eyes saw it all with a world-weary jadedness. He lowered his head, looking down from under his brows at the final stand of the ponies. He thought of the thing inside that Tanning wanted, and how it knew where Gilda was. Gilda... he missed Gilda. He missed his lover.

Tanning's world seemed to narrow. It collapsed and shrunk until all he could see was the doors of the hall in front of him. Behind those doors, he would find the way to his sister… to revenge. His warriors were around him with open beaks, roaring a battle cry. One he knew all too well. It signalled the end for their enemies was at hand. He drew his blade, hissing his hatred out at the thing behind those doors. He could taste the blood waiting to be spilled, and he savored the moment, raising his sword into the air and letting it hang there. He locked his eyes forward as he breathed in to scream.

(Zack Hemsey- See What I've Become)

Dylan breathed out slowly. He stood at the front room of the town hall, waiting by the doors. He clenched his fist around his bloodstained hammer. He had been so focused on everything else he hadn't even bothered to clean it. He thought maybe it was more frightening that way. His jaw tightened as he heard what was going on outside. A chill ran down his skin and his hairs all stood on end. The sound in his ears seemed to come from all directions, echoing over and over. It was chanting. The griffons outside were chanting, while the dogs howled and barked and snarled incessantly. The pounding of weapons on shields and the clinking, clanging sound of armor shaking filled Dylan's hearing. The sound was wild and threatening, like a living storm whose thunder was the sound of blades and teeth and steel. This, combined with the storm raging above and all around, made the whole scene deafening.

Dylan's thoughts seemed to fade away, all words and images escaping from his consciousness. No longer was he the compassionate, kind, fun-loving man that joked with his newfound friends. Neither was he the scared, confused and desperate boy he had been when he had arrived. He was something different now. He felt it inside him, ripping and tearing at his soul, clawing its way out into his being once more. He felt the burning inside, scorching and charring away all restraint, all mercy, all remorse. He heard the howling in his mind, the dark, hellish howling from the deepest darkness. And most of all, he could hear its voice. It's words were dark and growled, like the sounds of a feral animal: Let me out. Let. Me. Out. LET… ME… OUT!!!!!

"Kyaag! Kyaag! Kyaag!" the griffons shouted over and over again. The word was alien to all inside, except for Rainbow Dash. She had learned a bit of the griffon language from Gilda while she still knew her as a friend. The word meant something that made her shiver, made her sweat. The word… was doom. She held her blade in both hooves, sweating and looking around desperately. No matter which way she went, they were there outside, waiting for her. Even if she flew, a storm of arrows would pierce her flesh within an instant. There was no escape for her. "Why? Why is this happening?" Rainbow Dash whispered to herself as she quivered inside, her cocky, confident outer shell gone completely now.

This isn't you. Escape isn't what you long for, is it, Dash? Your friends stand all around you, and you would abandon them to their deaths? No, you will protect them to your last breath. How many have died to defend you? How many have lost their lives so that you may live? How many sacrifices have been made so that you would not have to make them? Do not fear the dark, for the light burns on, and it burns in you.

Rainbow Dash stood still, her heart pounding hard in her chest. At first she said nothing, simply standing there with eyes that looked straight ahead of her at those heavy doors, and what waited outside. She closed them. She tightened her muscles, preparing for what what would come through them. When she opened them again, there was a spark in them. They glowed with an unbridled resolve, hot and unyielding. Rainbow Dash knew one thing in that moment: "I'm not afraid."

Lyra shifted her weight uneasily, pushing her helmet down to cover more of her face. She stared out at the doors with eyes that had once been brave, but no more. She gripped the halberd in her hooves with hesitation, as if she knew that she was no warrior. She shouldn't even be here, she thought. But then she remembered. Bon-Bon… she couldn't let them get her. Lyra glanced back behind herself and saw her lifelong friend shivering in the back of the hall, holding a spear weakly between her hooves. She was crying, shaking and cowering against the back wall along with most of the other ponies that still lived. Something within Lyra burned at that moment; something powerful. She felt a chill go through her, but it was not a chill of fear or terror, but a chill of anger. She defiantly dug her hooves in, standing tall and raising her head. She felt something echoing inside her mind now: Don't let them get her. Don't you bucking let them. She growled and gritted her teeth, lowering her halberd into a readied position. She stared at the doors as her chest heaved in pent up fury.

Big Macintosh blinked away a tear, shaking his head at the floor. He was kneeling on the ground, shaking as he heard the hundreds of foes outside preparing to storm the hall. His hooves trembled as he leaned forward, outstretched as they held his body up. His pitchfork sat on the floor next to him, forgotten. He groaned in anguish as he knelt there, looking down at the floorboards. His mind was a blur of sadness and regret and self-hatred. Mah… mah family… they counted on me… and I let em' all down… I'm sorry, Granny… I couldn't save you… I couldn't save Applejack… they took her because of me… and… and they almost got Applebloom. Something changed in Big Macintosh. He felt a voice in him crying out, speaking to him with a calming tone.

You saved her. Don't you forget that, Mac. Applejack's out there, and you're going to just cower and cry here waiting for the end? That's not you, sonny. Get up. Get up and fight.

"G-Granny?" Big Macintosh went cold and his eyes widened as he spoke. He was too shocked and too astonished to say anything else.

You heard me, boy. Get up.

He stood up, grabbing a hold of his pitchfork and propping his body upwards. He winced and shuddered in pain as he felt his injured flesh pulling and tearing. He fell back down and hacked out a cough. He felt the thick fluid in the back of his throat and heard the spatter of it as it hit the floor. He looked down at the red spots dotting the floorboards beneath him. He blinked and closed his eyes. He grimaced and shook, slumping back down.

Don't stop. You're not giving up. Not a chance, sonny.

Big Macintosh gritted his teeth and huffed, pushing upwards again. he felt his muscles burning as they moved, the tendons cracking as they shifted, the wounds stinging as the flesh pulled. But now he didn't care. He growled out and pushed himself up onto his two rear legs. He swung the prongs of his pitchfork in front of him and lowered them, ready to slam them through whatever came through that door next. "For mah' family," Mac whispered as a chill went through him, numbing his pain. "And Cheerilee..."

Derpy watched as her friends and neighbors gathered at the front of the hall and took up positions with their weapons ready. She trembled and gasped in pain as the doctors working on her leg set the bones with his magic. She looked down and watched with gritted teeth and half-closed eyes as a nurse tied a splint wrapped it with bandages and tied a splint to it. She tried to stand, but the doctor waved her down.

"No, you can't get up, you need re-" He was interrupted by Derpy raising her hoof up to his lips and bracing against the wall as she pulled herself up. She groaned and stumbled as she put weight on her injured leg, careening into one of the nurses with a grunt of pain.

"Stand still, we don't want you hurting yourself any more!" The doctor said, just a little too harshly.

"Why, because I'm dumb? Because I'm stupid? Is that what you think?!" Derpy pointed a hoof at him while she leaned against the wall, grimacing in pain and squinting her eyes angrily at him. "Don't you understand?! It doesn't matter! If they get inside, we're all dead!" The doctor swallowed and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Derpy walked off on her three good legs towards the back stairs. She approached the nearest pony and with a determined look on her face.

You're not weak. You're not just the silly clumsy pony they all think you are. You can do this, you know. You don't have to be her forever. This is your chance to show them.

Twilight shivered and twitched as she listened to the sounds outside. They were growing louder… closer. She knew they wouldn't stop, wouldn't think twice about what they were going to do once they got inside. She swallowed and closed her eyes. Her knees wobbled under the weight of her fear. Her sickle hung feebly in one of her hooves, as if it itself was in doubt of what it was about to face. Twilight panted heavily, muttering to herself. "This can't be happening. this can't be happening. This can't be happening!" She was holding her head with her other free hoof as she felt her throbbing temple. She couldn't believe it; so many of the ponies she knew were dead. Dead. She looked up as a long, rolling thunderclap rocked the sky for a few seconds, booming out and lasting for almost half a minute. She looked at the doors and shuddered, swallowing again. "N-no… this… oh, no…" She stopped speaking and her eyes widened as she heard a voice inside her mind.

My child, fear is not the way... Fear will not save you, but your mind will.

"Wh-who?" Twilight stuttered, her thoughts racing as confusion wracked them.

Who I am is not yet for you to know… Your mind is a weapon, greater than any steel… It cuts deeper and moves faster than all blades forged under the sun. With it, you will fight. Do not fear, for fear is the one thing you cannot afford now. The voice groaned in agony, screamed and became silent.

At first, Twilight said nothing. She just stood there, breathing and blinking in awe. The voice faded from her mind, and she felt it leave. She felt strangely strengthened by it, as if… as if she knew the voice, somehow. It was wise and ancient, like the voice of one who has lived long. She felt sadness at its pain, and took strength from its words. Her home was unclean now, made filthy with the blood of the innocent; she hated that. With two silent word she rose, steadying the sickle in her hooves. "Thank you…"

Dusk Mane did not fear them. She only saw their deaths, only heard their final screams. She smiled with cold, hollow enjoyment on her lips. Her dark eyes blinked, but one of them glowed underneath her mane. She raised her shield in front of her and held her sword at her side, letting out a bloodlust-filled sigh as she stood there waiting. The voice in her head kept talking.

Ah, my little soldier… be a good girl and kill them all for me, would you? Hahahahaha! And make sure you tell them that I sent them, dear. And make sure to get blood all over yourself, it's much more fun that way. Dusk Mane grinned and nodded silently in reply to the voice. Good... GOOD… and one last thing... She stopped smiling for a second and listened. Protect Dylan. She looked over at the tall, two-legged thing with the hammer and the strange hair growing out of his face. She nodded once more.

"Yes, my master. As you command."

Excellent. Have fun, now.

Everything suddenly went quiet now. Every last griffon and dog had stopped their howling and chanting. The only sounds were the incessant droning of the rain and the booming of thunder, along with the quiet breathing of all inside the hall. No one dared to move, except Dusk Mane, who raised her sword up towards her head and pushed down the visor of her helmet with the edge. The whole hall was still for a whole minute before anyone dared move or speak. The first one to say anything was Rainbow Dash.

"Ha, are they running?"

Dylan turned to her with a stony expression. He looked back at the doors. "Not away from us."

"CHAAAAAAAAARGE!" The voice who screamed this word was none other than Tanning's.

The word was answered with the battle cry of two hundred warriors charging headlong towards the hall. The sound of clawed feet and armored talons clicking against the wet stones of the street could be heard rapidly approaching. The roar from the dogs and griffons shook the air, drowning out the sounds of whimpers and crying and pleading from some of the ponies inside. There was a massive crash as something slammed into the front doors, shaking them. Everyone at the doors jumped back slightly, except for everyone who had heard a voice… they stood firm in front of the doors, readying themselves for the onslaught. Again, something hit the doors, which let forth a splintering sound as the front began to cave. The creaking of bowstrings and the sliding of blades from sheaths could be heard again. It slammed into the doors again, bursting through the center of them with a wooden shattering noise. The pointed shape of a wooden ram jutted through the hole.

"Here they come," Dylan growled as he tightened his fingers around the haft of his hammer, baring his teeth. "Everyone... ready…"

One final crash rocked the doors before they came falling against the pile of debris stacked behind them. Where the doors had been stood an uncountable number of angry shapes in the dark. The glint of steel could be made out in the torchlight as they pushed forwards with their shields, trying to shove the wreckage out of the way. They yelled out as they rammed and pushed against the pile, glaring at the occupants of the hall with violent intent. They pushed most of it out of the way before some of them began climbing. They clambered over the mound towards their enemy. The dogs scrambled over the top like a wave, clawing and scurrying their way up in a mob. One of the diamond dogs smiled with crooked, sharp fangs and a twisted look in his one faded eye. He laughed as he crested the top. A handful of griffons strode over the top with their shields ahead of them, cold-eyed and fierce.

"FIRE!" Dylan roared, spraying flecks of spittle from between his open teeth as the word rose out his throat. A second after his cry, the air inside the hall above his head was filled with arrows. They streaked into their targets with a chorus of wet thuds, followed by high-pitched screaming and low groans. Bodies rolled off of the pile, crashing to the floor, looking more like porcupines than diamond dogs or griffons. Those who were smart or lucky enough to not have died in the initial volley leapt down off of the pile into the hall rushed towards the line of defenders with war cries rising from their throats. As the first bodies lay still and began pooling their blood on the floor, another horde of them poured through the doors and began ascending the pile. As they did, the sounds of glass shattering and wood breaking came from the boarded up windows as the attackers smashed them in. They began to clamber up through the windows and into the hall.

The second volley rained upon the charging griffons and the few dogs that hadn't been killed outright. More fell dead, but they were like a tide of teeth and flesh and steel pouring into the building. There was no end to them. The first griffon ran headlong at Twilight, who pulled back her sickle to swing. The griffon's beak was wide, as were his eyes. The blood that was washing off his chain mail from the rain was not that of his own kind. His sword flashed in the torchlight as he raised it above his head and keened a griffon curse at her. He never made it to her. Twilight watched and heard as an arrow whistled through the visor of his helmet and punched right through his eyeball and out the back of his skull. It stopped at the other side of his helm. The griffon fell forwards and slammed down on his face right in front of Twilight, snapping the shaft of the arrow off and driving the rest of it inside his brains. Twilight looked back up from the body and yelled out, turning to the next attacker as she swung her sickle.

Derpy leaned her back against the stairs, panting. She grunted in pain as she reached down with a hoof for something. She picked it up and brought it up to where her other hoof was; It was an arrow. Her other hoof held a bow. She nocked the arrow and moved her hoof to the string, grasping it with the tiny sliver of magic that all ponies possess in their hooves. She drew the string back to her cheek and looked into the melee below. She breathed out and released the string, sending the arrow through the air on its flight of death.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack~