I bit down, barely getting a mouth full of blood before swallowing and discarding the small lizard I was drinking from. I then reached into the makeshift cage next to me and retrieved another one with my magic. However, this only served to increase my brooding scowl as I got even less of a mouth full than the previous one.

"What's for breakfast? Lizards... What's for lunch? More lizards... How 'bout dinner? Even moooore fucking lizards!" Cloud Streak protested while pacing back and forth.

I let out a deep sigh in response. "Ease yourself Cloud Streak. I doubt our situation is enjoyable for anypony else present either," I groaned.

"I know but we've been living off these damn lizards for weeeeeeks!" she growled while sliding her forehooves down her face making her lower eyes lids stretch down before they snapped back up.

"Forty-seven days, eighteen hours, and thirty-seven minutes since we got here," Twilight corrected while looking quite ill after draining her most recent lizard.

"This is hoooooorrible!" Cloud Streak complained yet again. But just when I was about to scold her, Night Fang decided to add her input instead.

"You would've never made it as an assassin. These lizards are great compared to some of the things I've fed off of," she commented with a smug expression.

"WHAT WAS THAT YOU DULL FANGED BITCH?! YOU WANT A PIECE OF THIS?!" Cloud Streak screeched before lunging at Night Fang. But luckily before she could do any harm Applejack and Rainbow Dash managed to restrain her.

This though was the final straw as my anger flared. Red and black lightning crackled around me as I slammed my current now expired lizard on the ground. I then stomped that poor creature flat before snarling out, "Night Fang cease antagonizing others! And you Cloud Streak calm yourself fucking down before I forcefully strap you to the nearest stalagmite in this cave! If you had not noticed we are all fucking miserable here! There are no medium to large game for us to hunt and the plant life is dry and tasteless for everypony else! We even had to restrain Applejack when the heat overcame her reason and she began hallucinating about finding apple trees in this barren wasteland!"

Silence reigned afterwards and all I could hear was my heavy breathing before Applejack piped up. "Eh beggin' yer pardon, but ah thought we all agreed on never bringin' that up again," she said holding her hat in her forehooves.

I let out a howl of frustration in reply before collapsing to the ground ready to slam my face against it. But it seemed fate was not going to give me that opportunity. For after well over a month of searching it seemed we had located the main pack of rogue lycans. Or the more correct and terrifying reality would be...that they seemed to have located us.

My eyes snapped wide open and my ears swiveled all the way forward. The others however did not seem to notice over their conversations or various bickerings. "Silence you fools!" I yelped out.

"What's wrong?" Twilight commented still as oblivious as the others.

"No time to explain! Grab any belongings and hide behind the biggest stalagmite! Do not make a sound!" I blurted out as I grabbed the makeshift lizard cage and shook all the lizards out of it. Then as they scurried to their freedom I crushed the cage and threw it into the darkness behind me. In turn I did not wait a second more before I leapt into hiding as the others followed suit.

I swallowed hard and my heart beat heavily in my chest. Time slowed to a crawl as beads of sweat began to drip down my face. My only thoughts were 'Please be wrong. Please only be a scouting party. Or perhaps even a small splinter group cut away from the main pack.' But I knew better than to doubt instincts. As I had mention in the past I had honed my paranoia down until it was frightfully accurate. And to my frequent dismay it was rarely ever wrong. This time was no different.

Howls and snarls of numerous quantities spilled forth from the mouth of the cave. Shadows danced on the walls before clear figures appeared. Then others appeared before even more. At the head of the giant barely contained mass of lycans was none other than Gore Gash herself.

Her face twisted into its usual sneer of distaste as she stomped noisily forward. The former pride of Discord held herself with a pride of her own that could easily match her creator. I wanted to analyze her further but she did not give me the chance. For when she got to be a few paces of us she halted her movements.

A second later she signaled for the others to do the same. And with several dozen snaps and growls the writhing mass behind her seemed to begrudgingly obey. Afterwards she sniffed a few times and gazed into the darkness where me and everypony with me hid. Then to my grand dismay she was not but two meters from me before one of her underling came up to her.

"What's wrong pack leader? Why have we stopped?" they growled out.

"Don't you dare question me you sniveling rut! Get back to where you were before I tear out that annoying tongue of yours!" she snarled back before whoever that was whimpered backwards. Then after a couple of eternity filled seconds later she signaled again and the now more chaotic mass of lycans continued forward.

The edges of my vision began to turn black before I realized I had been holding my breath the entire time. But luckily the ambient sound of the rogue lycan horde seemed to mask the heavy gasps I took as a result. However, that was all I did for I dared not do much else other than breathe while said horde made its way deeper into the massive cave.

This in turn left my thoughts to wander a bit as I monitored their passing. It seemed likely, given the difficulty of locating them, that they were utilizing some sort of underground network of tunnels. We had searched a good section of the Badlands by night and even some by day, but we only saw their tracks and little more. For such a barely contained pool of violence and mayhem they were surprising stealthy. But there was a good point to this that had been confirmed. Gore Gash was most likely the only factor holding them all together. In other words, slice off the head of the snake and the body flails as it were. But such a task was easier said than done and we required more information. And for that we needed one of them, willing or otherwise.

And so we waited and waited some more until the last members of the lycan horde began to pass by us. Then there at the very end were two lycans dragging some heavily equipment. Now if following the general scale of alpha to omega of wolf packs, these two were most definitely omegas. They were on the smaller size, given a task far out of their apparent abilities. Even the others of the group either ignored them or were at least passively hostile to them. In other words, perfect candidates for interrogation.

I turned to my head to the left and saw Cloud Streak looking at me, them, and back again. Without a word I nodded and we blurred forward before yanking our quarry back into the shadows. Then with honed practice I forcefully placed an armored hoof over their mouth and the blade of my scythe to their neck. I then moved my mouth close to their right ear and stated, "If you utter but a single syllable or get angry in the least I shall have no qualms removing your head from your neck."

The threat seemed to work, or perhaps worked far too well it appeared. Because the poor soul began to quietly sob and also actively soil themselves. But they were lucky compared to Cloud Streak's captive as I looked over just in time to see them faint from terror. I honestly felt rotten from this given the brutality they no doubt experienced regularly, but we could not have them give us away. So we waited a minute like this before three of the other lycans noticed they were gone.

"Hey where'd the punching bags go?" the first one stated.

"Ahh who the fuck cares. Those two little shits are useless anyway. Maybe something finally ate 'em," the second commented.

"Pfft yeah no loss there. We should tell the pack leader, she'll be happy to be rid of 'em. We might even get a reward," the third said somewhat excited.

One of the others smacked them over the back of the head before the first said, "You little brown noser. We ain't saying nothing. Otherwise we'll be one stuck carrying all the shit around here. Now let's head back before anypony else notices."

Then with no hesitation they left these poor souls to their fate without a second thought. The very act of such hit a chord in my mind that made these three the sole source of my ire for a few moments. And if I had less control I would have made them sorry for their very existence in this realm. However I managed to contain myself and all that happened was small arcs of black and red lightening crackled over the stalagmite next to me. This ultimately did not go unnoticed by the others in my group but nopony said anything. If nothing else we at least obtained what we required.

After a while the day burned out the last ounces of its light and the night took hold. We then slipped out of the cave with our prisoners into the darkness under the stars. And in somewhat surprise the two of them did not struggle and followed along with a strange obedience. It was not until I took a quick glance into their eyes did I realize how low these poor souls had been brought. Both were nearly hollow inside with little to no will left either. I took a deep breath through my nose before pursing my lips in response, but did little else as we continued.

Then with no small stroke of luck we managed to find another small cave half a day away from the one we came from. Afterwards we slipped inside and checked for any hostiles before setting up camp for the day. Fatigue eventually gnawed at us so I let most of the others get some rest while I dealt with the prisoners.

I had them placed in the back of the cave to prevent escape though admittedly I doubted they would try. In fact the two of them just huddled up next to each other if for some sort of comfort. They just sat shivering though the air was still quite warm from the day. To be fair they were most likely frightened and understandably so. So as to not cause any sort of incident I decided to try and sit a reasonable distance away in a nonthreatening manner.

This caused their shivering to cease but they did not seem to dare look at me. Progress I suppose, but I was still not gaining any ground in this so I decided to attempt a small measure of diplomacy. "I am sorry for the tactics and statements we employed on you two, but they were unfortunately necessary. We are obviously at odds with your pack if you had not determined as such. But regardless of this my name is Blood Moon, may I please have yours?" I said in a calm even tone.

Nothing but silence seemed to answer me as I continued to look at them. But luckily for me this unchanging nature only lasted until I moved one of cages of recently caught lizards for my evening meal. Then like a switch their bodies moved only to fix their eyes on the small makeshift cage with feverish desire. It was obvious they were hungry and by the looks of their bodies they were probably malnourished as well. So with a small grin at my apparent progress I picked up one of the lizards and tossed it with my magic at them.

Needless the say the poor creature did not stand a chance. Within seconds the two of them tore it in half with their teeth and swallowed what was left while hardly even chewing. Now this was not all that interesting except for one little detail, they shared it. Unenchanted lycans generally had self-control issues, but they still shared the lizard even though they were borderline starving.

Thoroughly puzzled I decided to test this observation a second time and tossed yet another lizard to them. And again just like the first one they tore it in half evenly before devouring the pieces. Now given they knew the concept of sharing then perhaps there was some intelligence behind those two pairs of hopeful eyes as I held up a third lizard. "Ah ah ahhhh if you desire more of these, then all I ask is for your names," I stated in a calm even tone again.

The small hope in their eyes faded as the one on the left whimpered out, "You...you can call us any...anything. We...we don't have names. Please...please we are so hungry. Please..."

Any grin that I previously possessed on my face drained out to a saddened frown. I have listened to my share of depressing statements before, but this by far was one of the worst. Unsurprisingly I lost my appetite before I slid the small cage of lizards over to them. A gesture they did not hesitate to accept as they dove into them with fiendish vigor.

Now it went without stating that it took little time before they cleaned that cage of lizards. Then soon afterwards they reverted to their pony forms from their lycan ones. Further observation served that the one on the left was a young mare. The one to the right of her appeared to be a stallion of I assumed to be of similar age. But this was all I could gather for further inquiry would need to wait. For it seemed that right after they transformed a heavy bout of lethargy took hold them and they soon fell asleep.

I in turn sat there with a full mind and an empty stomach pondering on these two. 'Perhaps they are siblings or maybe close friends? And why did they not have names?' I thought before I heard hoofsteps behind me.

"Do you usually do that for everypony or only for the fellow lost causes?" Twilight quipped as she walk up next to me and nuzzled my right ear.

I reached up and rubbed the side of her face with a forehoof and said "You saw all of that hmm?"

"Mmhmm, but what now?" she replied.

"Now? Now we wait for them to wake up and then I get the 'delightful' task of drilling them for more information. It is unfortunate that they have to endure more of this, but they are our only source of such information at the moment. And we truly need all the help we can get our hooves on," I said before letting out a deep sigh.

And so I waited...and waited...and waited. Needless to say it took the better part of the next day before the two of them started to stir. And also with a grand amount of luck they remained in their pony forms which was fortunate. For as a word to the wise, it is usually noted that unenchanted lycans are far more agreeable when not in their other more unpleasant state.

In turn when I saw the young stallion move, I straightened my back and cleared my throat. "Sleep well?" I questioned.

He merely stumbled around in front of me in response before stating, "Owww my head. I had the worst dream. I dreamt that some weird-o soldier with red glowing eyes..." but paused for second and looked me up and down. "Ahhh damnit, that wasn't a dream," he groaned.

"Quite," I quipped as I laughed mostly to myself.

"Well I can probably guess why you kept us alive. But before you start grilling us I better wake my sister," he grumbled as he put his right forehoof partly in his mouth. He then got close to his still sleeping sister and took a deep breath.

Then what happened next was quite amusing. He let out a high pitched whistle from his mouth straight into his sister's ear. The reaction was almost instant. She snapped awake with fury filled eyes before she slammed her right forehoof into her brother's face. And it goes without stating that the impact sent him flying into the nearest wall with an echoing crack before he collapsed into a heap.

"I TOLD YOU OVER AND OVER AGAIN YOU LITTLE SHIT! NEVER! EVER! WAKE ME UP LIKE THAT!" she yelled, nearly screaming until her voice cracked. But when her rage seemed to abate she looked puzzled as she noticed me before stating, "Who the fuck are you?"

"My name is Blood Moon, and you two are my prisoners," I said with a slight bow.

"HA! Like Tartarus we are!" she laughed before she realized the several pairs of eyes that sat right behind me. "Errr well this bites," she added as she swallowed hard.

"Heh amazing what a good meal and sleep can do for one's confidence or dare I say arrogance," I replied with grin before adding, "But as you can see you are clearly outnumbered. So I shall ask politely, would you like to do this the easy way or the unfathomably awful way?"

Her reaction was priceless when all the color drained out of her face. And whoever behind me that was grinding their blades together truly drove the effect home. Ultimately it was her brother who spoke first as he limped over next to her. "Yeah we'll take the easy way," he said with a nudge to his sister.

"yeeeaaah what he said..." she replied with a small whimper.

"Great!" I said with a smile though I heard several curses and perhaps a groan of disappointment before everypony else dispursed.

Then after everypony in my little group went back to their respective tasks the two prisoners seemed to ease up a bit. But just in case they got any foolish ideas I summoned my scythe and cleaved the nearest stalagmite in half before resting on its pole. I then grinned to myself as their eyes widened before I stated, "So this is how this is going to work. I am going to ask a few inquiries regarding your lycan 'friends'. And if you respond truthfully we shall have no issues...or else," and then nodded to the sliced stalagmite.

The two them looked at me with confusion in their eyes before the young mare spoke. "Waiiiit a minute. You want us to screw over the others? Haha is that all? Well ask away. We don't owe them anything," she replied.

I fumbled on my scythe's pole for a second before I regained my composure. "You have little qualms betraying your kin?" I questioned while somewhat baffled at their eagerness to reveal what they knew. I had not expected to be met with so little resistance.

The young stallion half narrowed his eyes. "Well they did starve us regularly for weeelll...years. Not to mention the daily beating and stuff. Yup loads of fun. Oh yeah almost forgot the forced labor until we dropped from exhaustion. By Tartarus we'd be willing to even screw over our own mother...what was her name again?" he said puzzling the last part.

"Gore Gash. Yeah I think her name is Gore Gash or whatever," the young mare replied.

"Ahh yes that's it," he said smacking his forehead as he realized the expression on my face. "Umm you...you alright?" he questioned.

My scythe had slid out of my hooves and clattered to the ground next to me. I then lifted my left forehoof to in turn lift my jaw back closed. "Wait a moment...just...just hold that thought for just one moment please. I desire to know if I heard you right when you said Gore Gash is your mother," I said with a look of pure dumbfoundedness.

"Huh? Yeah that's dear old mom. And what a mom she is! Hey you know she didn't even give us names? Well other than all those insults anyway," the young stallion snarked.

"Sooo yeah don't expect a lot of leverage outta us given that she hates our guts for some reason," his sister added.

My mind was so full of swirling emotions that I could not seem to pin down which one was dominate. Rage, sorrow, surprise, and several others continued to churn and bubble up until rage was the one that seem to win out. "She did this to her very own children...her own flesh and blood. Does her cruelty know no bounds? I shall make her pay for this. I shall make her pay for everything," I said in a voice that did not seem like my own. A red haze in my vision had accompanied it before the haze slowly ebbed away.

When I shifted back to normalcy my two prisoners were pinning themselves against the wall behind them while holding each other. Their expressions showed wide eyed terror as they violently shook. Upon further realization I noticed much of the ground around me had arc burns on it.

"W-w-what in Tartarus was t-t-that?!" the young stallion blurted out.

I took a deep breath to further calm myself before I spoke. "Let us just state that the years have not been particularly kind to me," I said taking yet another deep breath before adding, "Now, as you two seem to be in an agreeable mood please tell exactly how the lycans are able to move around the Badlands with apparent stealth."

"Y-y-yeah s-s-sure anyth-th-thing you want m-m-mister," the young mare replied still squeezing her brother for dear life.

And other than that little "slip" of mine the night continued on its course. The two of them seemed more than eager to spill any secrets they knew about the lycan horde. In fact they surprisingly knew quite a bit more than I would have figured. They stated usual movement plans and general tactics including the usage of the underground tunnels I had assumed from before. They also alluded to the fact that the horde seemed to only be kept in check by Gore Gash herself as I assumed as well. Then after they said all that they could I sat their tapping my left fang with a forehoof.

"I thank you for the information. You two seemed to be quite useful in that aspect. But there is one question that remains. What to do with the both of you?" I continued tapping my hoof on my fang while I pondered.

Both of them swallowed hard before the young stallion spoke up. "If...if you're going to kill us...can...can you please do it quick?" he sputtered out.

I laughed a bit to myself. "Haha kill you? Nooo that is not how we...or at least I operate. I ultimately shall let the two of you decide. On one hoof you both can be sent to the royal dungeon until the princesses can determine what to do with you. Or on the other hoof...lays a different path," I said holding my two hooves up in front of me.

It appeared that when the threat of mortal peril was taken off the table to two of them eased a bit. But only slightly before the young mare said, "And that 'other' path is?"

Without a word I picked up my scythe and rested it on my back. I then walked forward until both of them were pinned up against the wall again. Afterwards I moved my head until my face was not but a few centimeters to theirs as I stared unblinking into their wide eyes. "That other path is one that demands a great commitment from both of you. Now understandably you two have not gained my trust yet, so you shall be on a sort of 'parole' if you will. But by my title as Lieutenant General of the Lunar Forces I invoke my right of conscription. And should you accept this offer I can offer you two things in return. Justice for those that have wronged you and something you may have never even hoped for...a future," I said in a stern yet even tone.

Tears soon flooded both of their eyes as the young mare mumbled out, "A future? You mean a future away from this Tartarus pit? No more daily beatings? No more going hungry all the time? This isn't some awful joke on us, right?" and I smiled and shook my head in response.

The young stallion next to her sniffed a few times before rubbing his nose with his right foreleg. Then a weak smile crawled up his face before he said, "Where do we sign?"

And with a grin I turned around and began walking away from them. "Then it is settled. You two will be under my watchful eye from this point forward. And as such I shall have everything ready for you two when you wake up," I said still grinning.

"What? Wake up from-" were the only words that were spoken by them before I activated my version of sleep runes on their chests. Runes that I drew with my own blood and placed on them when their focus was preoccupied. Then within a second they both collapsed into snoring heaps next to each other as I continued walking.

This night proved to be a fruitful one, but there was still something that made me remain on edge. And that was how in the world we were going to bring Gore Gash down even if we did find her. To elaborate Gore Gash did not survive this long by luck alone. No, the pride of Discord was gifted with two abilities that made her formidable. First was the lycan curse and the resulting horde that followed her, but this could be considered the weaker of the two in terms of survival. The second was a far more difficult problem, unnatural regeneration. Regeneration that more or less could heal severed limbs and even normally fatal wounds. It was the main reason I asked Discord for a way to defeat her, but all we received was a riddle instead. Now given the fact that I did not have time while tracking Gore Gash's movements to solve it, I left it up to Twilight and her friends to do so. And I believe it was time to inquire again on this fact.

Twilight was sitting not far from the entrance of the cave staring off into the horizon. When the Sun began to appear she did not even attempt to move away from the light it emitted. I watched carefully for a few moments as beads of sweat began to form on her unarmored head but she remained were she was. However her behavior took a turn for the worst when she started rocking back and forth chanting Discord's riddle like some sort of mantra.

With caution I walked up next to her and sat. Her eyes remained fixed forward bloodshot and unblinking. I even waved a hoof in front of her face but she did not respond. "Errrm Twilight are you...feeling alright?" inquired with a worried tone.

All that came in response was her chanting, "On the setting of the moon a curse shall end, with source so great that none can mend. But like the tallest mountain or the longest beach. It seems so close and yet so out of reach. So close and yet so out of reach. So close and yet so out of reach..." and the last part kept repeating as of some sort of loop formed in her head.

It was not difficult to notice sleep deprived madness when I see it so I grabbed hold of her with my magic and shook her. "Snap out of it Twilight before you burn your eyes out of your head!" I shouted but this only resulted in her bursting into tears and collapsing into heavy sobs. A frown soon formed on my face I held her.

"I'M A FAILURE!" she sobbed into my chest.

"Why are you a failure? Did something happen? I questioned.

She lifted her head for a second to blurt out, "NOTHING HAPPENED! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!" and continue her sobbing.

"Alright alright explain what is wrong and we can fix this," replied while stroking her mane.

After a few more seconds she pulled herself together enough to explain. "We've... well more like I've been at this damn riddle for a fucking mooooonth. And nothing. Absolutely nothing. The only solutions to it are either too obvious or so insane nopony could ever use it. I more or less only got either something regarding Celestia or the damn Sun itself!"

I was just about to state something in reply but a small plant not far from us ignited and burned itself to the ground. "What in the world was that about?" I stated in surprise.

Twilight just sniffed a few times before speaking. "The air is really dry here. It was probably spontaneous combustion or something."

"Well yes but I have never witnessed such an event like that before in nature. Why would it do that? There is barely anything left save a few ashes," I replied a bit intrigued.

"I don't know maybe the sunlight heated it up or something until it caught fire," she explained.

And in those few moments, as if two puzzle pieces clicked together in my mind, something appeared in my thoughts. Then with a clear mind I stated, "Twilight what was that second solution?"

The proceeding conversion seemed to solve our little problem with Gore Gash, but the implications were terrifying. But regardless of these feelings somehow I knew it was the solution because only Discord would be mad enough to have it as such. In turn I wasted no time hovering on my thoughts as we now had a task to complete.

"Twilight please send a letter to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Have them prepare for a full out assault. They should be able to home in on our position from the tracking crystal I gave them. One way or the other this little rogue lycan problem ends today," I said but paused for a second, looked back into the cave, and then added, "And have them bring two suits of probationary armor."

Twilight nodded but looked puzzled for moment before stating, "Umm why the armor?"

"For our two little guides of course," I replied giving her a sly grin.

The daylight burned away as we got ready of what we were about to do. The prisoners now turned allies and guides selected names for themselves. "Silver Mane" for the young stallion and "Sharp Fang" for the young mare respectively. We even had the grand idea to enchant them so they were more stable. I do admit I did not fully trust them, but what choice did we have? Without guides in the underground tunnels Gore Gash could easily out maneuver us and even escape our grasp. And as I stated before, this would end one way or the other...

Soon the time came upon us. Celestia's capital ship the Solar Siege came into view. I had partly wished we could use it to aid us, but I doubt Gore Gash would risk a surface confrontation. And while she was many things, a fool was not one of them. Almost everything we would do would be underground. At best the ship would only be able to dispatch any that attempt of their escape.

Eventually the ship landed in a clearing not far from us. A heavy thump echoed in the area when the ship's main ramp dropped. Then after a minute passed Celestia and Luna lead the march off of the ship. We, on the other hoof, did nothing in terms of such formalities as we all galloped over to meet them.

"Report," Princess Luna stated as she pulled out her khopeshes and sliced them off each other.

"Gosh Gash is using underground tunnels to travel around the Badlands. They entered one such cave entrance a day or two ago. Normally I would not suggest following them but it appears we have two new recruits in our possession who know the way," I stated and pushed Silver Mane and Sharp Fang forward.

Celestia and Luna glared at them through their helmets. Celestia however was the first to comment on them, "Are they enchanted and can we trust them?"

"Yes to the first and not fully to the second. It is the reason why I required two sets of probationary armor," I replied.

Luna nodded to a soldier on her right. The soldier then stepped forward before putting the armor rings on both Silver Mane and Sharp Fang. And then as the armor slipped over their bodies they soon found a khopesh to each of their throats.

Luna then walked up and leered down at them before stating in a grim tone, "Now I shall state this once and only once. I do not know who you two are and thus I do not fully trust you either. Should you prove to be loyal you shall be rewarded for your efforts for aiding us. However..." Luna paused as she leaned in further and then added, "If you prove yourselves to be disloyal or outright hostile to us then I shall have no hesitations beheading you two. Do you two understand these terms with crystal clarity?"

Silver Mane and Sharp Fang seemed to be far too frightened to speak anything coherent. So they just nodded rapidly while staring back wide eyed at the Princess of the Night. Luna then acknowledged their responses and pulled her blades away from them. She then turned to me and said, "Is there anything else of note to report?" When I remained silent while looking at the ground she raised her voice and bellowed out, "That was an ORDER lieutenant general! Is there anything else of NOTE!?"

The tone and calling of my title made me flinch. I was never skilled at deception so it was best to explain everything fully. However, I was not going to do so with so many listening in. So I took a different route. "I wish to speak to the princesses in private," I said returning the glare Luna was giving me.

Luna and Celestia pursed their lips but both of them nodded in acceptance. Celestia then had her guards setup a circle around us as Twilight walked up next to me. Luna then cast an anti-sound ward followed by an obscurus spell. Outside sound immediately cut off as a black sphere formed around us.

I took a deep breath through my nose before exhaling it out of my mouth to ready myself. I then closed my eyes and stated, "There is something you three must know before we continue. The two known as Silver Mane and Sharp Fang hold a greater significance than may be realized. Being as I do not know any other way to explain this I shall be blunt. They are Gore Gash's very own children."

The three of them gasped at the news. Twilight and Celestia remained dumbfounded as Luna blurted out "YOU CONSCRIPTED OUR SWORN ENEMY'S CHILDREN?! HAVE YOU GONE MAD?!"

"Please hear me out on this. These two have been tormented and abused by their mother for years. They had no hesitation on spilling every ounce of information they knew. Information that has been pivotal to our cause," I replied while attempting to reign in my anger.

"And if they ultimately betray us?" Celestia noted.

"Then I shall enact Princess Luna's threat with my very own hooves if I must," I said matching both Luna's and Celestia's gazes look for look.

They glanced at each other with uneasy looks on their faces before Luna stated, "We shall be watching them as if we were hawks. And...we shall trust your judgement on this and your promise if the situation arises. But regardless of those two the greater point of interest is do you believe you can achieve what Twilight mentioned in her message. We are taking a grand risk with this plan of yours."

A knot formed in my throat that soon sank all the way to my hooves at her statement. I swallowed heavily before stating, "One of my predecessors achieved this feat. And she was by far not as skilled as I. I will do what needs to be done."

Celestia looked from Luna to Twilight and then finally me. "I can't stress enough how important that we cannot fail at this. We've already lost so very much in this war with this faction. This needs to end once and for all."

And on that note Luna disabled her spells and the world around us reappeared. I then held sturdy until Luna and Celestia were a distance away. But afterwards my legs shook so violently that I nearly collapsed. If Twilight was not next to me to physically support by body I would have been a shaking heap on the ground.

Twilight shifted her weight before whispering, "Do you really think this is a good idea?"

"No, I believe it is an absolutely terrible one, but we have no other options. We must 'stay the course' and hope for the best," I whispered back still attempting to regain my balance.

Several hours passed since that moment. I did recover my nerve but probably because everything became more or less numb. But regardless of my current state me and my group lead our forces to the cave that the rogue lycan horde entered. Everything thing was ready. All soldiers were set and the Solar Siege being commanded by Black Wing and Black Hammer would give us cover fire if needed. But for some reason I felt that something was wrong with this. I could not place a hoof on it, but my instincts kept screaming at me from the back of my mind. In turn my current mood did not go unnoticed.

"You alright?" Cloud Streak mentioned as she sharpened her wing blades.

I took a deep breath and shook my head. "No, something is wrong I know it is. My paranoia is going haywire for some reason and I do not know why," I said holding my scythe in shaky hooves.

"We're about to enter a cave and underground tunnels that are overflowing with rogue lycans lead by two defectors. Not sure what part of that would considered 'right'," she replied with a weak smile.

"Perhaps you are right. We shall just have to truly keep on our guard," I said as we positioned ourselves next to the Princesses and others.

Celestia acknowledged our presence before she walked up to the mouth of the cave. She then raised her great sword high in the air before pointing it into the darkness in front of her. Her eyes began to glow with solar energy before she bellowed out "GORE GASH! WE'VE COME HERE SEEKING JUSTICE UPON YOU AND YOUR ALLIES. YOUR REIGN OF TERROR UPON THESE LANDS ENDS NOW!"

Her voice echoed down into the deepest darkness and for a few eternity filled seconds nothing but silence replied. But then something did make a reply. It was not a growl. It was not an equally boastful threat. No, it was something far worse, cackling laughter that crescendoed into roaring hysterics. We did not have time to prepare for what happened next.

All around us rogue lycans jumped out from the sands and began openly assaulting us. The only statement made amongst the screams and incoherent shouting was "AMBUSH!" Everypony scrambled backwards in retreat. Twilight and Spike worked together to generated cones of crimson fire laced with emerald flames to keep the majority of our foes at bay. Me and the others kept what remained away from us before the main horde poured from the mouth of the cave.

There were far more than I could have ever anticipated but luckily those among the Solar Siege had noticed what was happening and began open firing. Bits and pieces of rogues lycans were sprayed in all directions as the shells pounded into the earth. But our luck seemed to have run out by this point. For not but a minute after the Solar Siege began its onslaught, separate cannon fire came from a nearby hill. The sky soon lit up with burning fury as the cannon shells exploded.

Now admittedly the old battle hardened airship could easily withstand such an offensive, but it left us on the ground with no support. Panic soon set in and our well form plan turned into little more than a rout. What the rogue lycans lacked in skill and tactics they made up for with sheer numbers. A battle of attrition if I had ever saw one.

They ground our numbers down to only a hoof full before circling around us. Then as some sort of cruel jest they kept their distance. It was puzzling as to why until I heard that familiar laugh. The horde not far from me partially separated long enough to let but a single individual through. And the laughter intensified as I realized it was Gore Gash herself generating it.

"You...damn...idiots. Did you really think that you could overrun me on my own turf? This is my yard dear children and you've fell right my trap like a band of dumbasses. We've got eyes all over this place and we been watching you the entire time for well over a month. I even smelled your damn stench in our caves days before this little excitement. In fact I'm a bit disappointed you all didn't put up a better fight," she laughed and gloated her little head off.

I ground my teeth at her words. She easily played us like fiddles and we fell right into it. But a glimmer of hope spring up in my heart. Gore Gash had reveled herself to us. The linchpin of the entire horde. The only factor holding this entire swirling vortex of fur and fangs together. I bit my lip before mumbling to myself "Just one shot. Just give me one opening and I will burn you out of existence."

But my statements did not go unnoticed. Silver Mane and Sharp Fang both shoved me backwards before they started laughing. "Fat chance you dipshit!" they both said in unison.

They then trotted away from us to stand next to Gore Gash. "We delivered them to you on a silver platter dear mother. All to get in your good graces," Sharp Fang boasted.

Gore Gash seemed just as confused as we were. And Luna was just about to lock down their armor before I stopped her. For unknown to everypony else Silver Mane smiled and winked at me before walking away. 'You sly little fiends' I thought to myself. However to pull off this little deception they required aid. So I walked forward a few steps and truly layered it on.

"You two were using us right the start! You had no intention of aiding us you backstabbers!" I shouted trying to making it appear genuine.

Silver Mane tilted his head back to let out a single "HA" before stating, "Of course we did. Did you really think we would betray our own mother? She's far more powerful than you wimps are and we knew the winning side when we saw it."

Upon gazing at Gore Gash's face it appeared the deception worked. And manipulating her pride really sealed it in. And then the deed was done, she had let down her guard. In the blink of an eye Sliver Mane and Sharp Fang struck. In lycan form each grabbed one of her hind legs with their teeth and savagely wrenched them.

The snapping of bones and blood curdling howls echoed for all to hear. Confusion spread through the lycan horde like a plague thus giving me a prime opportunity. Then just when both Silver Mane and Sharp Fang dashed away from Gore Gash I bellowed out "EVERYPONY GET BEHIND ME!"

Black lightning circled around me as I pulled every last ounce of death energy from the environment but it was not enough. In a last ditch effort I called out in my mind, 'Death! Your advocate beseeches your aid! I require all the energy you can spare to give me!'

Time slowed to crawl before he spoke. "For what purpose my advocate?" he stated confused.

'I AM GOING FOR THE PLATINUM!' I shouted back.

His only reply was maddening multi-toned laughter before my body surged with new found strength. My mind then flew at the speed of thought away from this world. Passed the sky. Passed the moon. Passed the very frigid void of space until it reached its destination, the Sun.

My mind then generated a link from nothingness to this burning sphere before my consciousness shifted back to my physical body. Time slowed to crawl. All I could hear was my heartbeat. The only emotions that I felt was joy at my success...and an absolutely deep seated all consuming terror.

A hoof sized death gate opened not but a meter in front of me. And then it came. The untamed fury of the Sun itself let loose upon our world. A white hot beam of plasma blasted forth from the gate aimed directly at Gore Gash. And in that moment the only expression I saw on her face was something she probably never felt before, naked fear.

The plasma bathed over her and her screams of agony halted nearly the moment they started. Purple lightning arced around her seeming to try and reconstruct herself, but it was all for naught. Flesh and bone mended only to be strip away a moment later. The magic that Discord had bestowed upon her was no match for the wrath of the Sun itself and every little piece of her was disintegrated.

Black blood streamed out of my mouth, ears and eyes as my body collapsed from the monumental strain. My vision darkened around the edges as I laid on my side. In my foolishness I had forgot to ward myself, but luckily three different color wards seemed to shield me from the worst of it.

But regardless ash was all that was left of Gore Gash's body but her spirit remained. With an ethereal howl she charged at me only to be grasped around the neck by an inky black tendril. The tendril lifted her off her ghostly hooves as she flailed around attempting to free herself. However her efforts were in vain as a deep multi-toned voice echoed around us, "You have been a thorn in my side for millennia. There were not many in this world that I derived such pleasure in sending on their way than you. "

Then not a moment later an otherworldly rage filled voice boomed from everywhere and nowhere as it said but a single word, "GUILTY!"

A large burning ethereal portal opened up under the spirit of Gore Gash. Chains of burning metal flung out of it and wrapped themselves around her legs, waist, and neck. Afterwards they dragged her damned soul kicking and screaming into the portal itself. Then as mysteriously as it appeared, it slammed shut leaving nothing to note it was ever there.

A ragged laugh left my lips as I laid there. "Heh heh heh it appears...we bested you...on your own 'turf'...you arrogant monster," I gurgled out before my vision went black and I lost consciousness.

Next Chapter: Chapter 47: Ending the Reign of a Sunlit Betrayer: Part 1 Estimated time remaining: 57 Minutes