The birds outside were singing as happily as ever, the trees were covered in dew and the sun shined brightly in the sky above the safe house. In the trees, a young thestral guard was making his way down a dirt path to a nearby town. Another guard sat on one of the sparse clouds, watching for anything in the sky. WIthin the house, rations were being warmed and tea was being brewed on the stove by the highest ranking officer. She was slightly annoyed by the state they were in, but had little choice otherwise.

Alone in his room, still asleep, a young man snored loudly as his arm dangled over the edge of his cot. All was peaceful in the world, he was having one of his better night sleeps and was fighting to keep it from ending. Within his mind there was nothing, no nightmares, no terrors, it was a completely empty void of nothingness. Just as he liked it. Then, in the distance, a noise caught his attention. It was rather loud and caused the birds to take flight. It reminded him of a muffler back firing, and it was accompanied by a heavy rumble.

“God, sometimes I hate this place.” Dominic muttered before getting up and rubbing his eyes, he slipped on his clothes and tied his boots. When he opened his door, he found his letter had been taken and most likely sent. “Hey, Errant!?” He called as he walked down the hallway to the living room. “What the fuck is making that noise?”

“How the fuck should I know!?” The mare called from the kitchen.

“Send Rolling to find out, I want to know…” He trailed off as the noise in the distance was joined by another. Singing. “What on god’s green earth?” Dominic asked rhetorically, he walked to the window and peered out towards the town in the distance. Unicorn Falls ,as he’d come to know it, was about as close to Canterlot Lite one could get. In the sense that the population of Unicorns considered themselves above others, that often meant they were too uptight to sing. Past the trees, down the road to the town, smoke was rising in puffs. “What the fuck are they so fuckin’ happy about at…” He looked at the clock. “… six in the fuckin’ morning.”

“Let it go, man. You know you can’t go out there.” Errant said from the kitchen, looking out at the man sternly. Dominic sighed and sat down.

“Fine…” The man muttered, Errant came out a few moments later with the rations in a pot. She sat down and loaded two plates with the same paste they’d eaten for dinner. Then she slid one to Dominic, who began to eat it slowly.

“I noticed you used that new paper the princess sent you.” Errant said, taking a bite of her own food. Dominic nodded and picked at his meal quietly. “Can I ask you something?”

“You just did.” Dominic stated, looking at her for a moment. She glowered at him. “Alright, what do you want to ask?” The mare took a moment to gather her thoughts, Dominic took that moment to eat more of his breakfast.

“What’s with the flag, the one on the wall in your room.” She asked, Dominic chewed the last of his bite and shrugged.

“It’s an American flag, what about it?” He countered, Errant raised her hooves defensively.

“I just want to know why you care about it so much, whenever I go in there you’re always staring at it.” Dominic lowered his fork to his plate and let out a sigh. “Sorry, too personal?” The man was about to nod, but stopped himself. He didn’t really understand why, but he felt like he could talk to the Thestral. She was the only one of the three guards that didn’t act like a frat boy in her spare time.

“Nah, I’ll tell you.” Dominic said, looking at the plate. His voice became serious and intense, Errant noticed that he had slouched his shoulders a bit and interlocked his fingers. “Back where I’m from, there was this… virus. It changed people, turned them into monsters.” Errant had stopped eating, her attention was now completely on the man. “The virus, it took pretty much everything from me. My family, my friends, my life in general. It came close to destroying me. I got to the point where I almost offed myself.”

“As I sat there with the shotgun barrel in my mouth, I was saying a final prayer. From the place where I sat, I noticed a shadow moving outside.” The man had leaned back in his chair and stared at the table intently. “I was going to die, so I didn’t pay it much mind. Then I saw it again, and against my better judgement I put the gun down. I went to investigate the movement, assuming it was one of the infected, but… it wasn’t.”

Dominic gestured to his room. “I looked up and I saw a flag in the wind, flying high on a bent pole. It was tattered and slightly burned, stained and ragged, still it waved.” He leaned forwards and put his elbows on the table. “After all of that had happened, it was still waving, still fighting. In that flag I saw everything, two hundred plus years of history within a second. All the struggles the country had gone through, it always came out stronger. In that moment, looking at that flag, I found my strength again. If I died, I’d die fighting like an American, not whimpering and crying like a coward. And after that, things were different. I came close a few times, but I’m still alive now so…”

When Dominic finished Errant was silent, she simply nodded for a few seconds. The man went back to his breakfast, but he kept a careful eye on the mare. She was eating as well, but an expression of deep thought had wormed its way onto her muzzle. She looked at the man and was about to speak when the ground rumbled again, this time it was much more harsh.

“What the fuck?” Dominic asked, noting that the lamp above them began to sway. The man stood from his seat and went to the window, in the distance he could see the puffing smoke was more billowy. His blood ran cold as the singing from early had turned to screams. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph…” He mumbled as he heard a deafening roar. Chipped Blade came bolting out of the trees and towards the house, looking like he’d run nearly a mile and a half.

“R-R-REDWOOD WOLF!” He shouted, pointing towards the town. “IT’S REALLY FUCKIN’ PISSED!” Dominic opened the door and let the terrified guard into the house. The comotion stopped Errant from calling the man back to the table, instead she went to the window “THANK YOU! OH FAUST THANK YOU! I THOUGHT IT WAS GOING TO-” Errant slapped Chipped heavily.

“Snap out of it! Tell me what happened!” She ordered, looking out the window.

“I went into town to deliver the letter, while I was there I saw this magician pony! She was doing these really neat tricks, and everyone was singing, and ponies were yelling it like crazy! Then, out of fucking nowhere a big ass Redwood shows up and starts tearing into her carriage, destroying the entire town! Naturally I tried to distract it…” The ground shook, this time Dominic stumbled a bit. Rolling Thunder scrambled past the door and bolted it shut.

“Shit! SHIT!” He spluttered, heading for the basement. Dominic noted that the sun had disappeared, a shadow loomed over the house. He turned very slowly and found that the window was foggy.

“Errant?” He asked.

“Y-Yeah…”

“How big are Redwood wolves?” He received his answer when a deafening roar shook the house. The man blinked and shuddered, then he grabbed the two remaining guards and rushed to the hallway. When he was there he tossed the two of them down into the basement before bolting to his bedroom. He grabbed his weapons and bug out bag, as well as the flag from his wall. When he passed the window he caught a glimpse of the monstrosity that stood outside the home.

It was nearly the size of the house, massive trees were amalgamated into its body, and the needles on the branches were brown from dryness. It was glaring angrilly at the door, giving Dominic enough time to grab his weapons and his helmet. He rushed to the basement, stuffing his flag into the bug out bag as he went. When he reached the door he opened it and tossed the bag into the waiting hooves of Rolling Thunder, the stallion was careful to set it down gently. Dominic put on his helmet and buttoned his jacket.

“Now what?” He asked from the top of the steps, the thestrals shrugged.

“Maybe it’ll get bored?” Chipped stated. “I mean, if we don’t make any noise it shouldn’t be smart enough to know we’re in here.” Dominic nodded and started coming down the steps, he tossed his shotgun down as well. Errant held up a hoof.

“Wait! The tea! I left it on the stove, in one of those old fashioned pots. You know the ones that whistle…” Dominic sighed and started back up the steps. “Hurry!” The man waved a dismissive hand towards her and quietly rushed to the kitchen, he was able to hear the wolf’s heavy breathing against the house. It caused the windows to shudder, the house swayed ever so slightly. He ignored it though and came upon the teapot. Before he could think about grabbing it he could see steam bursting out of the nozzle.

“Shit.” Dominic was unable to stop the pot from letting out an extremely loud whistle before he slapped it off of the stove and sent it flying across the room. It landed with a clang on the floor, adding to the noise that had shook the house. The heavy breathing had stopped and the house no longer swayed, Dominic didn’t stop to question it and started back to the basement. Then the roof splintered above him and a massive paw came crashing to the ground. Shattered roof shingles and woods bounced off of the helmet on his head.

Ever so slowly Dominic looked up, his eyes caught sight of the wolf’s head. It’s teeth were massive and sap dripped off of them like drool. Its glowing red eyes glared daggers at him, and steam puffed from its nostrils. Dominic did the only sensible thing he could. He bolted towards the back door. The paw followed him through the house, ripping through the building as if it was wet tissue paper.

“Oh shit! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!” Dominic shouted, running in a random direction. For ten minutes he ran, but it wasn’t enough. He could hear the lumbering steps of the massive beast behind him, he glanced over his shoulder and his eyes widened. The man rolled to the side, dodging a paw swipe. The claw still shredded through his jacket, but that was a worry for another time. Dominic looked ahead of him and saw that the woods were thinning, beyond them was a town. He briefly considered running away from the town, but a bellowing roar shot that idea out of the air.

He jumped over a fallen tree and burst out of the forest, the ponies that were just now starting to come out of hiding caught sight of him instantly.

“RUN! FOR GOD’S SAKE, RUN!” He shouted, moments later the trees behind him exploded and the Redwood was back in the town. Ponies panicked and ran for cover, but the wolf was more interested in the strange bipedal morsel to focus on them. Dominic hadn’t run like this in months, his legs were sore and pain rocketed up his legs with every stride, but he had no time to complain. Looking around he spotted an open door and made for it, the two story building was made of stone and he hoped it would stop the beast from gutting him.

The man thundered up the porch steps and slammed the door behind him, panting and sweating from his brush with the beast. He heard a gasp and looked up, the building was empty save for a single pony sitting in the far corner. He didn’t pay them much mind though, as the wall next to him shattered into stone debris and a wooden paw reached into the room.

“Stay there!” Dominic said loudly before opening the door and bolting outside again, he could see the wolf still digging around in the building. “This is a bad idea…” He muttered before drawing his revolver and firing a shot at the wolf’s head. The round burrowed into the wood and caused the wolf to yelp. It turned its gaze towards Dominic and let out a window shattering howl, Dominic took off running again. This time his eyes settled on the destroyed remains of a stage and a carriage. Maybe camouflage was the best answer.

He took refuge under a the chassis of the wrecked carriage, the wolf came lumbering towards the pile and sniffed the air. It let out a snarl and moved off towards another part of town, most likely to search for him. Dominic looked around further, he noted several items of interest. One was a hat, it was covered in decorative stars. The second was a cape, similarly adorned in the stars. The third was a package of peanut butter crackers. Dominic shrugged and picked up the package, then opened it and popped one of the snacks into his mouth.

“This is fucking brilliant…” He muttered, leaning out of his cover to get a better look around. The wolf was staying away from the burning buildings, which was understandable consiering its make up. Something else about the wolf caught his attention though. It was alone, not with a pack. He’d never heard of Redwood Wolves before, but he assumed that it had a pack. Then again, maybe it was so large it didn’t need a pack. Or maybe they were circling around the town, waiting for the moment to strike.

“H-Help…” A voice groaned, getting his attention. The man set the crackers down and looked around. “P-P-Please…” Dominic found its owner rather quickly, a blue unicorn mare with a ragged light blue mane was buried under several pieces of wood out in the open. He sighed and looked at the wolf in the distance, it was busy sniffing houses.

“Hang on.” Dominic said, he crouched and quickly made his way to the trapped pony. “Hey, don’t move. You could have a spinal injury.” He grunted and pushed one of the wood fragments off of her, it landed with a thud that echoed through the streets. “Shit…” He looked up, but the wolf still seemed to be sniffing around. The man continued moving the wood, and finally the last one came free. He caught site of the mare’s cutie mark and recognised it as familiar, a moon and a wand. He could think on it later though, as he had more urgent matters. “Stop squirming, you could paralyze yourself.”

“Everything hurts…” The mare groaned, Dominic sighed and looked around for something to use as a back board. He spotted a piece of plywood and dragged it over, looking at the wolf every couple of seconds. Normally it would take to people to get someone on a stretcher, Dominic was glad that ponies were so small. It made it easier for him to do it himself. He looked at the wolf and his heart started beating faster, it had spotted him.

“Shit.” He growled, pulling the stretcher bound mare back into the cover of the destroyed chassis. The wolf howled and stalked towards the area, it brought its paw down just shy of the chassis, barely missing the two that had taken refuge. “Shhh.” Dominic said, clamping his hand over the unicorn’s muzzle. The wolf must not have been smart, because it quickly forgot where they had hidden and went back to sniffing the air. Dominic let go of the mare’s mouth and looked her over. There were several cuts and bruises over her body, but she didn’t look like she had anything broken. “What happened?”

“I… I was trying a new spell, I was going to make a big flower grow in the center of town…” The mare stated through gritted teeth. “I think I got it wrong…” Dominic nodded.

“Well, it’s not leaving.” He said, watching the wolf lay down. “How do I kill it?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen a Redwood before.” The mare replied, trying to turn her head. “Ow.”

“Don’t. Move.” Dominic said sternly, rubbing his chin. “Okay, think Dominic… It’s made of wood, it’s a big mother fucker… It’s dry.” He looked around for a moment. “It’s dry wood, so logically I need fire.” Dominic patted himself down, praying that he had some form of combustion on him. He didn’t. “You, can you do fire?” She shook her head slightly. “Fuck…” He looked around for some form of fire. There were burning pieces of wreckage, but they were out in the open. “Another bad idea…” He looked at the mare. “Stay here.”

With that he took off sprinting towards the flames, the wolf spotted him instantly and stood up. It went after him like a bat out of hell, it’s massive paws digging into the dirt like massive shovels. Dominic skidded around a building to try and lose the massive beast, it simply tore through the structure with a roar. Debris landed around the man, some bounced off of his helmet. He was close to one of the fires and grabbed a piece of burning wood, thankfully he was able to take a piece that was only half burning. The wolf paused and looked at him angrilly.

“BACK THE FUCK UP!” Dominic shouted at it, the wolf tilted its head and raised a paw. Then it brought the paw over to the burning wood and closed two of its claws over the burning wood. The fire died within seconds of being smothered. “BULLSHIT!.”

The man let go of the wood and took off running again, the wolf chasing with much more speed and fury. Dominic’s thoughts turned to Luna. She would probably be destroyed, he could practically see the tears streaming down her face. The same could be said for Twilight. They’d be the only ones to shed a tear, the rest of the country would most likely rejoice.

Dominic was snapped from his thoughts as his tattered jacket was caught by the paw of the wolf, he was yanked into the air and flung towards the maw of the beast. Thankfully he was able to dodge the sharp teeth of the beast before being swallowed. It was painful being swallowed by a piece of wood, if he survived he would most likely be pulling splinters from every inch of skin for weeks to come. He landed in an empty leafy chamber, he assumed it was the beasts stomach. A heavy thumping was coming from above, and he could see a large pulsing orb outside of the leaves. A green gas started to filter into the chamber, and Dominic could tell he’d be overcome if he didn’t do something.

“Here goes nothing.” He said with a cough, the man drew his revolver and fired the remaining five shots at the pulsing orb.

[♦]

Errant, Chipped Blade, and Rolling Thunder pushed the wreckage off of them and crawled up the steps. Errant had taken to carrying the bag of Dominic’s belongings and his shotgun, seeing as Rolling had a piece of wood lodged in his side and Chipped was concussed. When they reached the surface they found the house completely leveled, a silence fell over the group as they thought of the fate that befell the human.

Then a single voice echoed through the forest.

“BULLSHIT!”

Errant’s ears perked up, she looked at her comrades.

“Stay here.” She ordered, handing them Dominic’s belongings and taking to the sky. She beat her wings as fast as she could, and soon she came upon the town. She watched as the wolf caught Dominic by his jacket and ate him. She let out a shriek and dove down at the beast, fury welling up in her. The man had confided in her just before all of this had happened, he had trusted her with his life and she had failed. Errant was going to level the beast as it had leveled her home. Then she heard five loud bangs from within the beast, the wolf shuddered and shook. It fell forwards with a groan and landed on the ground with a tremendous thud.

Errant corrected her course and landed in front of it, the beast let out a final groan before its eyes faded into nothingness. The thestral looked it over, confused.

“Goddamn, motherfucking, piece of shit, bastard…” A voice shouted before a fist punched its way through the wolf’s stomach. The wood shattered and broke apart, green gas billowed from the hole and a bipedal figure limped out into the light. “See what happens when you fuck with me? Huh!?” Dominic shouted angrily at the wolf. “YOU GET DEAD! MOTHERFUCKING FIREWOOD PIECE OF SHIT! TRYING TO EAT ME! FUCK YOU!” He kicked the wooden corpse out of anger, causing the dry piece of wood to break. Before Errant could get to the man, he had picked up a piece of flaming debris and tossed it into the body. It caught on fire in moments. “NOT SO FUNNY NOW! IS IT!?”

“Dominic!” Errant shouted, getting his attention. The man looked at her, his face covered in grim and tiny cuts. She noticed his jacket had seen better days, as had his helmet. “You alright?” The man nodded.

“That was fucking bullshit!” He yelled before turning back to the burning carcass. “FUCK YOU!” Errant rushed to the man and looked him over. He looked around for a moment. “There’s a wounded mare over by that carriage.” He stated. “Possible spinal injury.”

“We’ll get to her, for now let’s just get you some rest.” Errant stated, a few Royal guard chariots appeared on the horizon. “Fuckin’ Canterlot boys, they’re gonna show up and take all the credit.”

“Like hell they are.” Dominic muttered, standing up straight. “I was nearly digested, this kill is mine.” Errant just nodded and sat the man down on a bench that had survived the destruction. She noticed the man start to shiver. “Fuckin’ adrenaline…” Errant extended her wing and put it over his shoulder, it wasn’t the best blanket but it would do.

“MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!” Shouted one of the Royal Guards as the chariot landed, thirty or so guards started securing homes and gathering any wounded. Thankfully it was confined to the single mare, Dominic watched as they loaded her onto a chariot and took off for Canterlot. A few guards came and looked him over, thankfully he was wrong about the splinters. After they had finished checking him over, they were greeted by reporters.

“Guess the cat’s out of the bag.” Errant muttered as photos were snapped. Dominic nodded and stood up.

“Guess so.” He said before looking at the reporters, they started shouting questions faster than he could process words. In the end he ignored them and sat back down. “Where do you think they’ll send me now?”

“Hopefully somewhere sunny, and not teeming with plant matter that wants to kill us.” Errant replied, she reached into her armor and pulled out a box of cigarettes as well as a box of matches. “Smoke?” She asked, Dominic shook his head.

“Luna already says I drink too much, she’d kill us both if I started smoking.” He watched the guards push the reporters away and let out a sigh. Errant puffed on her cigarette and leaned back.

“Hey, about what you said earlier, the flag stuff.” She said, looking at the now blazing pile of wood. “I’ll keep it to myself, so don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks.” Dominic was watching the billowing smoke. “I still haven’t told Luna yet. She doesn’t like the idea of me offing myself.” Errant let out a chuckle.

“You think?” She asked, for a few moments she was silent. “That mare really cares about you.”

“Yeah, she’s a good friend.” Dominic stated, looking back at Errant. The thestral looked like she had something else to say, but shook her head.

“A good friend.” She repeated.

Author's Notes:

Here's another. Hurray! Someone recently pointed out that my pacing could use a little work, this is an attempt to rectify that.

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