As a stone hoof impacted the ground, it sent giant rock spikes straight up in all directions around Forge. The expression on his face was completely neutral as his eyes darted back and forth through the onslaught of minotaurs that were quickly advancing toward him. Another strike sent a shockwave through the ground, ripping it apart and causing a few of the minotaurs to fall between the cracks into the chasm below.

Another wave of the horned beasts rushed him, all of them dog piling on top of him and pounding away with their hooves and fists to try and kill the stone hard pony. The pony took hits left and right, yet no expressions of pain or remorse show upon his face. For a moment his horn glowed as the cracks along his body began to glow a bright red, erupting fire and molten stone in all directions from each and every crack. His mouth opened wide as the very fires of Tartarus itself seemed to bellow out and completely incinerate anything within twenty yards of him.

Many of the minotaurs fell back as the fires spread quickly, engulfing anything that got in its way. This fight had been going on for three days straight now, with the minotaurs loosing ground every second that they did not attack. But while attacking, they would loose even more life than the land they cherished.

"Fall back! Call in the Shaman, See if they can do anything!" On of the larger minotaurs yelled causing them all to back away from the slowly advancing stone pony.

After a minute of watching the pony slowly walk along, bellowing out fire onto any structures that he would pass as well as smashing his hooves into the ground to make the world tremble underneath him. The shaman Minotaurs arrived. Each dressed in thick earthy robes, many of them having staffs or some type of branch they would use as a type of wand. These were no ordinary Minotaur. These individuals were magically locked with the land to create peace and harmony throughout the world. Their magic could help plant life grow and thrive in even the most barren of lands. Their healing powers were the strongest in the world. Yet their fighting ability, would be of the lowest as well.

As they all stood there, they began to chant as one, causing the land around them to erupt in life. The grass bloomed out to several feet in a matter of seconds, followed by flowers that exploded into an array of colors. Vines began to quickly grow toward and onto the stone pony, locking him to the round in defiance of his continued advance. After a few seconds the pony stopped moving as he was encased in vines. Covering him with layer upon layer of foliage that would seem to suffocate any living creature should it have fallen prey to them.

After a few quiet seconds the Minotaur began to smile, thinking that they had finally beaten the monstrosity. Until the vines began to expand outward from the pony they were attempting to imprison. They exploded away from the stone pony in a shower of flame and shards of rock. Several shard hitting some of the shaman as they continued chanting.

After another minute, the stone pony was almost within range of the shaman to use his bellows to kill them. The ground began to quake as the chanting quickened from the shaman, splitting apart as a large stone golem slowly climbed out of the ground and looked around, seeing the shaman all staring at the stone pony who then began to bellow onto the golem, making it screech out in annoyance. The golem roared out at the stone pony, making Forge just stand their and stare at the twenty foot giant. His horn began to light up quickly, but it was to late as the hand of the golem reached out with a giant swing of its arm, connecting its massive fist into the pony and sending him skyward at the blink of an eye. Forge began to fly head over hoof through the air as he attempted to correct his posture in the air, failing as his sheer weight caused him nothing but problems. Making him a giant wrecking ball as his high arch began to fall, sending him hard into the ground below almost a thousand foot away.

"Get those shaman to make more of those golems, use whatever resources they need to do so and kill that damn pony!" One of the minotaurs shouted from the line.

The shaman began to chant quickly in unison as the ground quaked, sending forth more and more stone golems as they began to advance on Forge as he slowly stood, his horn glowing as he quickly began a trot, into a gallop as his form began to grow large with each passing second. Soon he was as tall as the golems and at ramming speed. His momentum alone began to send the golems flying left and right as he barreled through them like a hot knife through butter. Seconds passed by as he charged through them and into the shaman, sending them flying left and right. One being unfortunate enough to be under one of his hooves as it came crashing down, sending blood, bone, and body parts in all directions.

High above the nation sat several pegasi that were watching the whole thing play out below. Some of them getting sick from the sight of what war had brought to them. Others just writing down every detail they could about the stone pony that was destroying everything in its path.

After quietly talking to one another and activating an enchanted gem around one of their necks, the pony turned invisible as they took the current gathered intel on the enemy back to Equestria.

"So what do you think about the element of earth and stone master?" Steel asked Screwball as they watched him destroying another home of the minotaurs as he crushed it underhoof. Everything being seen through an enchanted mirror.

"This is going to be far more entertaining than I first thought." She giggled as she leaned back into her plush, over sized Spongebob beanbag chair. "But it will get far more entertaining once that bastard Alicorn shows and fights us all. I have some very special torture planned for him." She cackled.

"Dare I ask what?" Steel chuckled seeing her grin evilly toward him.

"Let's just say this, I am not going to break him physically until later on. I am going to break his mind first." She giggled evilly.

"Oh I do love it when your this evil." He grinned for a moment as she gave him a seductive look, pulling him close as she gave the tip of his nose a playful lick.

"Then your going to love what I am going to do when we win this war." She grinned evilly before roughly kissing the Steel pony.

The pegasi that had been taking intel on the enemy had taken several hours of flight at top speed in order to arrive back at the castle in time to see several platoons of ponies heading out of Canterlot to travel to one of Equestrias cities. The young light blue pegasus quickly landed, panting hard as his wings drooped from having flown so hard for such a long period of time. After quickly trotting up to one of the guard, he hoofed over a small tube with parchment in it to another guard.

"Take this to the princess, it's urgent." He spoke before falling to the ground in a heap, breathing hard as his sore muscles ached to the point where he could no longer move.

The guard that had received the tube quickly rushed into the castle and toward the throne room. The royalty along with the captains of the guard were all sitting around a large table that had a huge map on it. The war room had proven to be inadequate for what needed to be done as for planning ahead for the war that would soon be upon their doorstep. So moving the war room into the throne room was the only logical choice.

"Princess, urgent news from the land of the minotaur." The stallion guard spoke as he quickly hoofed the tube to Celestia. She pulling the parchment out of the tube and reading it quickly, her expression turning to that of horror as she looked upon it.

"This is terrible." She spoke in a soft tone, Midnight taking the parchment as he began to read it aloud.

"The enemy appears to have a body made of pure stone with cracks running all over it. Visible powers are as follows from what has already been seen.

Stone body (type unknown)
ability to create molten rock/fire
breaths projectile fire
Earthquakes
can break apart the ground to open wide chasms
rock spikes
increase size and durability
seemingly immune to physical attacks

This is all of the current data collect. More will arrive as it is witnessed."

"Sounds like we are going to have a time dealing with this monster." Midnight said as he placed the scroll into a small bin next to the table.

"How can we fight something like that? It sounds like we won't even be able to scratch this thing, let alone defeat it." Cadence stated in worry.

"Don't give up before we even get the chance to fight it." Shining Armor spoke up with a determined grin. "With all of these spells that Midnight created, I'm sure that we can find at least one of them to use to defeat these bastards."

"The only problem with that is that I can't use all of them anymore." Midnight spoke up in a monotone. "Ever since that damned curse hit me, I'm still stuck with only the use of a thousand spells, and with what I currently have memorized, I only have a few spots left for spells that we can use against these monsters."

Midnight gave a sigh as he placed a hoof in between his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he continued. "There are only a few of us that have my list. Twilight, Trixie, Shining Armor, and Celestia." He began but was cut off.

"I ............ have that list as well dear Midnight." Luna spoke up giving a nervous chuckle. Midnight looking to her and then to Tia while cocking a brow. She gave a sigh nodding in confirmation about the question he was going to ask.

"Alright then, adding Luna to the mix, we have a total of five individuals who can cast my list of spells. Other than that, I will let everypony decide on who can be trusted with what spells are needed to win this war." He said while looking around the table to each pony in question. "Alright then, are the plans set for the first strike?" He spoke up seeing Shining Armor nod in confirmation. "Very well then, let's shake things up a bit."

At that, Midnight's horn lit up as his body glowed for a few seconds then split into two. Standing before everypony was two Midnight's. They nodded to each other as one of their horns lit up and vanished in a bright flash of light. "First strike initiative is on its way." Midnight grinned as the group began to talk again about future plans of action..

We go back to the minotaur nation to see much of the capital in ruins along with most of the city. Bodies of the fallen littered the ground as the stone pony continued its advancement through the battlefield. Killing off any who got in its way as well as tearing down any and all structures that could house the enemy. The elemental pony was back to its normal size as continued on, but was suddenly halted in its advance as an ear splitting explosion sent the pony flying back and through the air. Crashing into the hard ground below before skidding to a stop in some fallen rubble of a building that had fallen a short time ago.

Forge slowly stood up as he looked around. His face devoid of any expressions. After a minute of looking around, his eyes fell upon Midnight Flame as he stood where the stone pony had been launched from. After a few seconds of standing there, a bright flash of light erupt from next to Forge showing a light purple pony with a beanie atop her head. Her expression that of pure rage and determination as she glared at the Alicorn, several hundred feet away.

"It's about time you showed yourself you pony wanna-be!" She shouted toward midnight who only smiled in return.
"I am going to make you suffer, for the rest of your life you will be nothing more than a shell of your former self!" She slowly increased in volume til the end, she then bolted toward the dark Alicorn with such speed that Midnight didn't see it coming and was hit square in the chest. A magical light erupting from the point of impact as his shield took most of the damage, sending both ponies flying backwards in a brilliant display of sparks. Midnight stood after being plowed backwards, taking in a deep breath as his horn lit up. His expression neutral as he lowered his stance and charged Screwball, his wings glowing brightly as they were encased in his magical glow.

Screwball stood up, giving her head a shake from the blow. Giving a slight gasp as she noticed the Alicorn charging her. However, as soon as she stood into a defensive stance, Midnight disappeared from sight, causing her to blink as she turned her head to look around her to try and locate him. Her vision finally fell on him as a streak of light busted straight through her body. She gave a gasp as she felt pain for a moment before quickly using her magic to halt her body from falling to the ground. There, she floated in two pieces as her body was encased in her magic, slowly pressing the two halves together as they began to heal and become whole again.

"Nice trick, but it won't work on me you idiot." She growled as she landed back onto the ground as her whole self. "Just for that, I'm going to enjoy what I am about to do to you." She cackled as she disappeared, reappearing in front of the Alicorn as she reared her head back and then brought it down, connecting her forehead to Midnight's just below his horn. The two stayed in the position for several moments, both ponies eyes shut tight as a glow encased them both. After a few seconds, Screwballs eyes shot open, along with Midnight's as he gave a sinister grin, His horn alighting and holding onto the pony before him as his body began to glow brighter and brighter.

"YOU SON OF A........." Screwball trailed off as the light erupted from the Alicorn as an explosion. The blast roaring outward and engulfing the entire area, along with the stone pony that was standing idly by as he watched the fight progress.

Once the smoke cleared, Screwball lay on the ground bleeding badly, her body torn asunder. She slowly managed to get to her hooves as she took in what she saw all around her. The area the explosion was focused on was now a large crater. The elemental pony now lay silently on the ground as the cracks along his frame began to loose its red glow like a slowly cooling coal that had been pulled from the fire. The devastation from the explosion had disintegrated everything that was no longer living in a five hundred foot radius.

"Damn you Midnight, that was low, even for you." Screwball growled as she glanced around her to see if another exploding clone was nearby. After a few seconds she slowly moved over to the fallen pony, gathered him up in her magic, then vanished from sight.

Back in the throne room of the Castle of the Alicorn princess', Midnight's eyes shot open as he felt his clone get destroyed from the kamikaze attack it had used. Information from the fight flooding into his mind as he saw the entire fight being replayed in his thoughts. He gave a loud sigh, catching everyponies attentions as he began to speak.

"We have a problem with Screwball. My clone didn't kill her, and she now knows the extent we are prepared to take in order to wipe them off the face of the planet."

The group sat in stunned silence as they let that bit of information sink in. Only time would tell what would happen next in this giant game of chess. Let's just hope that checkers is the preferred game to play by Screwball in the future.