Dauphin looked out the shattered window of the ruined room. The sunset had washed the sky in a sea of red. Dauphin thought it set the mood of the whole war, the way it hung in the sky, casting a fire of light across the entire world. "The whole flanking world is going down in flames," Dauphin said under his breath," even when we win...what do we have left?" The regal white unicorn looked down at the fortress that they had built out of the ruined castle. What in the hay were they even defending themselves from? Almost everypony who could stop them was already locked away. His thoughts were broken by the sound of hooves walking up behind him. "Funny how things never play out the way you thought they would," Dauphin said to the bronze pegasus behind him," you just have to hope to you picked the right side, eh Hazel?"

"Having doubts, sir?" Hazel said calmly," I sure as hay hope you can quiet them quickly, I'd hate to lose another one of our leaders." The pegasus sat down next to Dauphin and stared out at the seemingly eternal sunset.

"Sterling was hardly a loss, if you ask me," Dauphin said bluntly," her only real use was her esteem in the politics we've already destroyed. And don't try to tell me that you actually valued her life. I wonder if there's anypony left that values life anymore."

"I couldn't agree more," Hazel replied," but I wasn't talking about Sterling. Your elites somehow managed to take down Gyro."

"Really..." Dauphin muttered, disappointed, but not surprised at Hazel's words. The elite guard was the best fighting force the world had ever seen, even if they were the two youngest members. "Well there's an actual loss. So, I guess it's on us two now to bring those two down."

"Looks like it," Hazel said as he exhaled deeply," Are you sure you're up to this? I mean these ponies used to be your friends. And we both know you already have your doubts."

"Don't worry about it," Dauphin said lowly," I've been there before, it's too late to turn back now. I'm in this to the end."

"So you're done? Putting everything from your past behind you?" Hazel asked as the two ponies stood up and walked to a table in the center of the room. Dauphin levitated a map into the air and set it flat on the surface of the table. Hazel looked down at the rough map of the Everfree Forest.

"You can't go back, Hazel," Dauphin said, still looking down at the table," no matter how much you want to. You've just gotta keep going forward, keep fighting. And then, when the smoke clears, you try to salvage what's left of what you used to have. I just hope I'm still there to see if there's anything left for me."

"Keep fighting..." Hazel said as he began to study the map more closely, noting the location of Colt Lake City in relation to the castle," well then let's get started on finishing this fight."

"Alright," Dauphin began," they should be coming from Colt Lake City, right?"

"Yes, sir," Hazel explained, referring to the map," they should be coming from here, and according to our informant, they have a good idea of where they're going. It should be easy to get the jump on them."

"How would they know where they're going?" Dauphin asked," they're in the same boat they were after they took down Sterling; they don't have any leads on where they're going. I guess that doesn't matter though. Where are they going?"

"Here," Hazel said," they're coming here. We don't how they figured out we were here, or if they even know we are here. The bottom line is that they should be coming through this way, and if our informant is right, we should be able to engage them here." Hazel pointed to an area about one third of the way along the path tot he castle from town.

"Good," Dauphin ordered," get together about a dozen of your best scouts and get them ready for action."

"Sir, with all due respect, don't you think we'll need a force a little bigger than that? We could get the jump on them with an overwhelming force, this is a great opportunity we can't afford to miss."

"They've already proven they can handle large forces, Hazel," Dauphin explained," which is why you and your scouts won't be going alone. I think it's time we called in a few of Spark's 'secret weapons'."

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Small spots of crimson sunlight shone through the trees, providing the only amount of light in the depths of the forest. A few odd plants actually glowed in the darkness. Twilight would have given anything to be able to slow down and study the outlandish flora while she had the chance. This whole thing had caused everyone to have to deal with things they didn't want to. Losing their friends was already horrible enough, but they had given up their entire way of life for weeks. It had felt like years since things were normal, everypony was starting to think that things would never go back. It certainly felt that way.

"Hey, Twilight," Briggs said, flying back to the unicorn who was trotting a few steps below the rest of their friends," can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Twilight replied," what's on your mind?" Twilight didn't know much about Briggs, and they hadn't really gotten a chance to get acquainted, so Twilight was happy that Briggs was coming to her.

"Well, it's about Gates," he began," have you noticed anything, eh, odd about him lately? I know you haven't known him too long, but seem like the kind of pony who would notice if something was wrong." The two ponies looked ahead at the gray pony walking ahead of Applejack and Fluttershy, who were chatting quietly between themselves. Twilight noticed Gates' lips moving, though he didn't appear to be talking to Applejack and Fluttershy.

"Come to think of it," Twilight said slowly, making certain to choose her words carefully," I guess he has been acting a little off. But I think that's to be expected considering all of the stress he's under. I'm sure with you around again he'll get better. I'm certain of it."

"If you say so," Briggs replied, looking up at his friend and squad mate," I guess I should have a little more faith; it's just the last thing I need is someone like Gates snapping on us. We're up against enough already, I'd hate to be going up against another elite."

"Another?" Twilight asked," I thought you and Gates were the only ones left. From what Gates has told me, there were only about ten of you, right?"

"We're the only two left on our side," Briggs explained," but there's another one of us who's… on the other side. He's actually our leader, or at least, was our leader. Dauphin. Flanking traitor. In my opinion, he's the biggest thing keeping us from winning this thing."

"You don't say…" Twilight said before being interrupted by Gates who had stopped dead in his tracks.

"Did you guys see that?" Gates asked frantically, sweeping his around, looking for something.

"I didn't see anything," Fluttershy said as the rest of their friends nodded in agreement. Briggs gave Twilight a look as if to say "I told you he's crazy."

"Gates, I'm sure you're just seeing things," Briggs said," I don't think they could bring in enough soldiers for us to worry about without any of us noticing."

"No, I know I saw something," Gates argued," maybe it wasn't soldiers, but whatever it is, it's been tailing us for a while."

"We-well, if it isn't soldiers…" Fluttershy said shakily," then what is it?"

Gates wasn't given an opportunity to answer. Out of the trees, two massive, two-legged beasts were charging madly. The one in the lead swung its' massive arm into Gates, sending him flying into a near by tree. Briggs flew at the monster, throwing all of his weight into knocking it back only a few feet. The second swung a large club at Briggs, who dove to the ground, barely avoiding being crushed.

Fluttershy stood frozen in front of the massive beast, fear stricken. It rose it's club and drove it down at Fluttershy. Applejack tackled her friend out of the way at the last second, but found herself and her friend staring up at the tower of an animal. It let out a grunt as it leveled it's club above the two ponies.

Twilight levitated a nearby boulder with her magic and hurled it at the beast. The monster swung it's club into the rock, breaking it into hundreds of pieces, showering Applejack and Fluttershy in bits stone. The pieces stung their bodies as they scrambled away from the towering beast.

Gates stumbled back to his feet, and looked at Briggs, clutched in the first monster's massive hand. The beast spiked Briggs into the ground, and raised it massive, hoofed foot above him, preparing to crush the pegasus. Gates leveled his staff and fired a bolt between the monster's eyes, throwing it off balance and onto it's back.

"What in the hay are those things, Twi'?" Applejack asked in a panic.

"I think I've read stories about monsters like this," Twilight explained quickly," they're called minotaurs, they're brutal fighters, obviously, they were supposed to have gone extinct years ago, however."

"Well ain't that just fantastic," Applejack said wryly," now they have mythical creatures helpin' them out..."

"How do you know that the Triumvirate is using them?" Twilight asked. Applejack motioned to the pegasi circling overhead, watching the fight.

"Just a hunch," Applejack replied as the three friends ran behind a nearby tree. The minotaur holding the club swung at the side of the tree, bashing through it as the tree fell to the ground. Twilight lifted the broken mid-section of the tree, and Using all of her magical power, propelled it at the minotaur, it dropped the club and caught it in it's massive arms while it reeled back.

The three ponies galloped to a collection of tight-growing trees. The minotaur hurled the section of broken tree at the friends. The log crashed into several, trees, bringing down dozens of branches, separating Applejack from the others.

"Don't y'all worry, just go on ahead," Applejack called out to her friends," Ah'll find a way around." The orange mare ran out into the clearing where Gates and the other minotaur were fighting. Briggs lay, writhing in pain, a few feet away from where the monster was back Gates back towards where Applejack stood, in between them and the other angry beast. Applejack kicked up a few rocks from the boulder that Twilight had thrown earlier, bucking the pieces of jagged stone into the charging minotaurs chest, causing it to stumble before squaring up with Applejack yet again.

Gates fired a bolt of energy into the savage minotaur's chest before launching a flurry of melee attacks on it's limbs, in an attempt to get it back on the ground. The minotaur staggered back to relieve itself from the ruthless attacks Gates had unleashed. He figured that if Briggs could get back up, they would be able to take down the two minotaurs with Briggs' help from the air.

Gates plans changed when he looked into the air and saw several pegasi begin to swoop down and fire small dark orbs from a harness on their chests to a location in the center of the clearing. "Oh. Come on," Gates yelled frustrated," can't you guys just play fair. It's really starting to-" He was silenced by a massive fist hitting him in the side, sending the gray earth pony tumbling towards Applejack, who was standing just a few feet away from the small, brilliantly glowing orb that all of the scouts had been firing at.

Briggs stumbled back to his hooves and looked at the minotaurs back in front of him and then to the pegasi in the sky. He took to the air and weaved through the flock of now attacking scouts.

Gates and Applejack stood tail-to-tail with a minotaur on either side of them and the tiny orbs, violently flashing next to them. Briggs looked at Hazel, who had looped around in the air and was now streaking towards the clearing, the small crest on his harness glowing radiantly. Briggs soared towards the two ponies in the clearing, he grabbed Gates, not able to carry both ponies, and bolted straight ahead towards the spot where Twilight and Fluttershy had been watching about a hundred yards away.

Hazel fired his magical orb into the clearing, as it combined with the others. Gates yelled at Briggs, "Don't take me! Go back!" It was too late, the ball of dark magic flared and exploded with a violent blast, filling most of the clearing with a massive, raging portal. Gates and Briggs were knocked out of the air and sent rolling across the ground. The minotaurs. Applejack. Gone.

"Gates shot up to his hooves," NO! Why did you take me? You should have gone back we could have saved her!"

"Gates... I'm sorry, I just..." Briggs searched for the words to say to try to console his friend," I had to save you... we need you." Gates stood silently, staring at the portal, flaring violently in the forest.

"So..." Fluttershy said, choked-up," what do we do now?" The four ponies stood and looked at the portal for a few moments before Briggs spoke up.

He raised a hoof and pointed at the pegasi, led by Hazel, now charging the beaten friends," We run."

Next Chapter: Chapter Twenty One - Heart With Wings Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 8 Minutes