The Deathwish officers, along with the lone changeling informer, has long since departed from the glade that served as the outer entrance of Chrysalis' hideout after an order issued by the Summoner. His army scattered among the trees and shrubbery among the Everfree, given orders to anticipate the inevitable onslaught.

With a tone of stoicism, the prisoners reacquired their previously relinquished freedom. This particular display of sympathy and pity made Chrysalis grimace. Despite Chrysalis' protests, the Summoner still allowed the captives to depart.

The Summoner and Chrysalis remained, currently discussing about the pending battle...

"Hmph, this was all too predictable." Chrysalis said, kicking the dirt below her, as if disappointed. "I knew her intentions were more malicious than I thought."

"Well, what's the plan now?" I asked, sitting down on a sizable branch that fell from the tree. "We have an army, no, I redact that, we have two opposing armies preparing to execute a massacre on us. Not only that, the side-effect of this accursed book is also quite problematic."

"The plan? Simple, I go ahead and derail whatever meeting the Elements are planning at Crystal Empire, while you remain here and hopefully avoid dying and survive the legions of beings that the princesses have amassed." Chrysalis answered.

"What? That's something only a lunatic would consider as an actual plan!" I protested. "I thought you'd be more familiar with my inexperience at combat."

"Irrelevant. Simply avoid dying. Should it be a requisite for retaining your life, retreat back to somewhere. In other words, simply hide." Chrysalis answered as she began walking further into the foliage, "Now then, I've wasted enough time as it is, I will depart for Crystal Empire now."

Before I could even reply, she was veiled with green flames. As soon as the fires dissipated, she was no longer present within the region.

"Dammit all." I cursed spitefully.

Sighing in irritation, I unsheathed the same pistol that I have previously used. Glancing at the smooth, metallic surface of the pistol, I was haunted by the memory of me distributing a death devoid of any emotion to a poor, defenseless pony.

The aforementioned corpse of the pony was still there, lying motionlessly on the ground just a few feet away from the Summoner. Without uttering a single word, I approached the rotting corpse.

I examined the corpse with hopes that somehow the pony survived the obviously fatal bullet wound.

After concluding that the pony was going to remain dead indefinitely, I said to himself in a disappointed, dread-laced tone, "Such a degradation. Have I been reduced to a murderous, senseless being?"

I shook his head vigorously, denying to accept that. "No. It was this damn book's doing."

Sighing, I began making his way into the forest, vanishing into the shroud of trees and bushes around him. Hopefully, I don't have to contribute too much effort on the bloodbath, after all, that's the purpose of my army.

I took note of the cave entrance with a determined glare. I could do an assault; a sortie of some sort on the Red Queen. Although, that would prove to be reckless and would most likely lead me to my death.

Surprise would be present, and would be incredibly advantageous to my forces, should I attempt at doing the attack. But no, despite that, me and my combatants would still be struck down by her changelings.

The cave interior is pitch-black and highly confined, I couldn't possibly risk my troops accidentally unloading their firearms at each other. So for now, simply waiting for the adverse changelings will be sufficient.

Undoubtedly, the Red Queen will confront me, with the catalyst of her intentions based solely on the gain of a presumably hefty amount of money- er, bits, in exchange for my severed head, or perhaps my still-bleeding heart.

I have to steel myself when that confrontation occurs, otherwise, I'll find myself grasping desperately on a blade plunged into my chest. I shuddered at the morbid thought, but nonetheless, I continued forward into the shadowy overgrowths of the Everfree forest.

All I needed to do now is to locate a suitable area and anticipate for the pending genocide to occur...

I struggled to keep my eyes open, reclining recumbent on a branch of a tree, inching alarmingly close to descending into the hold of slumber. Waiting all the way for the entire duration for the night until dawn is an agonizingly uneventful and sanity-wearying task.

I almost fell of the tree due to my groggy state, but with a few swift, reflexive alterations to my adjustments, I managed to salvage my stability, saving himself a rather unfavorable fall, albeit barely.

I sighed in relief, colliding with the bitterly cold, foul ground would've been pestering. I gazed upwards at the night sky. I had expected them to launch the assault during the extent of nighttime. I would've been significantly more unperceptive due to the veil of night mitigating visual perception, and friendly fire among his army would have been more recurrent.

They opted not to attack during the night, however. They must be waiting for me to be plagued with sleep deprivation. Bastards...

The night sky was breaking, I could already see the morning sun rising, and slowly, the darkness faded. However, it was still considerably dark.

I dreaded if I had forgotten anything important. I had already assigned my army to locate a suitable spot for applying effective ambushes. Unfortunately, my forces were not saturated in one point of the forest, for I am certain that my army is going to be surrounded when the clash begins.

Moving onwards, I acquired a weapon, for the purpose of self-defense of ofcourse, and I shad-

My thoughts were abruptly derailed as an explosion resounded just a few feet away from my tree. Fortunately, my was relatively unscathed, however, the impact of the blast managed to bring me down from his tree and into the hard ground with a thud.

Dusting myself off, Irose from the cold ground, I pondered to what just happened. Could've it been an accidental explosives mishap from one of his comrades? No, it couldn't-

Yet another explosion scorched the ground of the forest as a concussive noise resounded from the distance. Dammit, what the hell is happening? I thought to himself.

Suddenly, a memory sparked from his mind, and suddenly, I gained complete clarity on what is currently happening. I am being bombarded with artillery spells, the same artillery spells that I have encountered back in Ponyville.

Suddenly, the consistency of the intervals of the explosions increased to the point that there would always be at least two explosions every second, or so.

Screaming could be heard throughout the entire forest, no doubt yells of agony or panic from his soldiers. "They're over there! Shoot them! Shoot them now!" That particular shout caught my attention, and I began making my way to the source of the yell.

I sprinted as fast as I could, viewing the carnage around me; the trees were burning, I could see some of I comrades on the ground, completely limp, or in excruciating pain. Thankfully, I didn't need to stop to tend to my wounded fighters as there were already medics treating the injured.

After a few minutes of walking, while avoiding the kinetic forces being emitted from nearby artillery spells colliding with the ground near him, I finally reached the origin of the frantic shout, I arrived at the outskirt of the forest, and among the bushes stood a number of my own soldiers.

My own forces were unloading their respective firearms at the horizon. Upon further investigation, they were directing their torrent of lead into an approaching army of a miscellany of troops.

"Dammit, they can fly?!" One of them shouted as he unleashed a steady hail of bullets into the sky. What he was aiming for was revealed as one of his targets fell into the ground with a sickening crunch; a bullet-riddled gryphon.

Spears and arrows seem to rain down upon this position like a squall, however, these projectiles didn't really pose much of a threat, considering the amount of defensive plating my allies are donning. Although, these are extremely hazardous for me, considering that I have no armor on.

Although, this was not the only sector of the forest with bullets flying from it. No, far from it, I could hear constant gunfire emanating from the other parts of the forest, even the inner corner of the forest had some gunfire ringing from it.

No doubt that my troops within the inner parts of the forest had encountered the red changelings and have since have accosted them with bullets.

"Hey! Are you just going to stand there or what?" I heard one of the Cloakers yell out to me.

Recuperating from my entranced state, I readied my own weapon, the pistol. It wasn't much, but I think I can still manage with this firearm. Soon enough, I positioned myself and found a good view at the approaching army. What I saw startled me remarkably.

It was like a tidal wave of equines, and a few ground-bound gryphons, and minotaurs. Minotaurs? Their alliance comprises of minotaurs? Things got exceedingly more difficult. Above the army, is another army consisting purely of flyers, more specifically, pegasi and gryphons.

Taking aim, I fired away. I don't even know if I am hitting anything, but it is more productive and more beneficial to my survivability.

Due to my inept handling with guns, the recoil of the pistol threw me of by a bit, thus, the chance of me hitting someone was halved. Although, the chance of missing was basically non-existent due to the wall of foes charging at me.

Suddenly, the ground in front of me erupted in a violent, blinding explosion as a bombardment spell impacted it. The kinetic discharge of the explosion caused me to stagger downwards into the ground, clinging barely onto consciousness.

The sounds faded gradually and my vision blurred as I felt a nauseating pain being distributed to my body. Despite my efforts, I was unable to refrain from delving into the depths of sleep.

I heard a faint, distant yell just before I passed out completely. "Dammit! Boss- boss is down! Falling back is no longer something we want to avoid. It is something we have to do in order to save our asses!"

Suddenly, I was unable to conjure coherent thoughts as I passed out...

Darkness.

This is all that I can see, right now. Dammit, if I'm dead, I am going to be really disappointed. I mean, I've progressed a considerable length already, right? It'd be pitiful should my endeavors end in futility.

Dispersing the thought with a whim, I attempted to open my eyes. Surprisingly, my eyes complied to my orders, albeit slowly. I've tried to open them for quite some time now, but to use.

I rose up, or at least attempted to. Due to the radius of the blast being so adjacent to me, I suffered a number of burns, and I don't think I have to mention how much the debris embedded into my flesh hurts; it's quite self-explanatory.

I lay flat on the ground, unable to budge due to the agony. I looked around, the sight that was around me made me want to just simply flee.

There were corpses, ally and adversary alike, littered everywhere, painting the ground a fetid crimson red with the amount of blood they had lost. The putrid scent of decaying flesh was basically unavoidable in the area, and finally, the trees burned with an inferno that can easily decimate entire forests, should they be left unattended.

Have I been... defeated? No, that was a foolish assumption. The sounds of gunfire and shouts echoing from the distance disproved that theory.

Suddenly, I heard hoofsteps.

Adrenaline cascading through my body, I frantically tried to locate the source of the sound. Horror struck me as I discovered who it was.

It was the sound of the red queen making her way to me. A triumphant grin bearing murderous intent decorated her face, inducing even more fear into me.

I simply stilled myself, staring at the queen with a mien of contempt and bitter spite. Unknowingly to her however, I eyed at the corpse of one of the Deathwish specialists that was laying immobile near me. To be more specific, eying at the pistol holstered on the decaying soldier's belt.

She closed in the distance between me and her, revealing a steel sword tainted with the red of blood, wielding it via telekinesis. She brandished the blade, as if taunting me. Subsequently, she lodged the blade into my left shoulder.

I screamed in pain as the sword's blade resonated pain within my body. I grasped at the blunt side of the blade, attempting to yank it out.

"Ah, well, this is the end of this hunt. What a pity, though I must admit, you're smarter than I thought." She said with a casual smile that I failed to see due to my eyes focusing on the blade stuck within my shoulder. "So... I guess I'll kill you know? That fine with you?"

"No... That's not-" My hand swiftly dove into my robes, searching for something I desperately require right now with commendable haste, "-fine!" I slammed the Summoning Grimoire into her face, she hissed and staggered backwards as the book scalded the surface of her face.

Only the owner may touch the book. I am glad that I remembered that. Seeing the opportunity, I dove for the holstered gun the corpse had

Releasing the gun from its holster, I took aim and pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed throughout the forest, an agonized scream following subsequently.

Author's Notes:

If you want more of the Summoner, I suggest that you read the collaboration story!

Link to Story.

Pre-readers: