Farther north in the Eternal Forest, where the swamp had long run out and been replaced by great fungoid trees, quite forces moved quickly amongst the ancient trunks. Though many wore armor, they moved silently, their bows prepared for battle. Leading them was the cervine Havier.

Their force was large, despite the hardships that they had been forced to endure. Vale had indeed made good on her promise, and by the time Havier had returned to his home he had found that all of the northern villages had been occupied by her forces. In its own way, however, this had been a blessing. The deer of the northern border had long been separating from Vale. They knew of her endless war with the demon Thebe, of how she used the Forest and the revenant gohh to slow and force back the progress of the metal-cities that continually forced ponies farther into the sacred ancestral lands of the deer. In time, however, it had seemed that Vale had grown soft. She defended, but in recent decades had refused to push back with the might and vigor that she had in ancient times. Many cared little for this, but those on the border had come to believe that she had ceased to care about the borders, content to play with her breezies in the southern swamps far away from the battlefront.

Because of this, many deer had joined Havier and his now villageless force of warriors. They had been joined by others, including several wearwoods that owed allegiance to nodeer. Even several diamond dogs had joined the fight, carrying with them Thebe’s own weapons, the sort that fired hot lead and green fire. The number of diamond dog soldiers had been more limited than expected, however. Diamond dogs were almost invariably neutral, dwelling on the borderline between the two great nations deep below Equestria’s surface. Some, however, were more allied with the Forest than others. Havier had gone to the Why-So-Many-Roots-Here tribe and asked for their support. They had vigorously accepted- -until he told them who they would be fighting. When he did, they promptly refused and retreated deep into the porous earth below their fiefdom.

The same had been true of the zebra sorcerers who dwelt in the Forest. Their potions and spells held great power, far more than the horn-bearing charlatan ponies could ever understand. The zebras had agreed to help, but only to sell enchanted arrows that could cut through pony armor and strong poisons to ensure that the invaders did not survive even a partial strike. Still, none had come to the battlefield, to wield their power in the defense of the Forest.

Despite the lackluster response, Havier was still confident in his army’s power. They were over three hundred strong, and knew the Forest and how to use it far better than any pony ever could. They were armored and armed, and prepared to defend their nation and their kind- -or to launch strikes into pony territory, to force them back to the horrid and lifeless world where they originated.

Others shared his confidence. Many whose homes had been destroyed by the miners and loggers had joined him, those who no longer had villages, as well as the natural nomads who had decided that living in a stable group was safer. A new camp had been formed, one that was on its way to becoming a new village, one that would oversee a kind of defense that Vale could never conceive- -one stronger, better, and more potent than could be manned by the strange buzzing creatures that she used as soldiers. The land of the deer would forever after be defended by deer.

That time to defend had finally come. Stories had come across the land, telling of how Thebe had begun the invasion. Few had survived to tell of it, but some had: of strange creatures clad in metal tearing their way across the upper edge of the Forest, leaving neither trees nor animals nor stones in their path. Those deer that had come back were changed and broken, shaking and telling stories of horrible glowing eyes. Such creatures, Havier knew, could only be a creation of Thebe.

The creatures had long since departed, though, but Havier did not care. Fighting actual forces would be pointless. More would always come. They needed to do what Vale was too afraid to do- -to strike the ponies in their homes, to show them what it meant to be at war. They had to know just how dangerous it was to live on the border, a fact that the deer already knew all to well.

So they had prepared for battle, and now the warriors moved through the Forest away from their camp where they left those member of their party who were too young or old or sick to fight, including those who were infected by the strange disease that Thebe’s white-eyed monstrosities seemed to carry. They carried with them more than enough, Havier knew, to tear through unsuspecting pony soldiers, to drive back the invaders that he had come to expect. He even dared to suspect that it would be an easy fight- -pony soldiers were hardly warriors, but rather children relying on the power of their technology and weapons. The deer would win this fight.

Havier slowed his approach and stood on tall rock, looking out at his warriors below him, moving silently through the trees. Another deer approached him from the side.

“Any word on the scouts?” he said.

“They have not yet returned,” said the other deer. She sounded somewhat nervous. “Is it possible that they were…”

“No,” said Havier. “They are the fastest among us. They were not to engage, but to fall back when they found the pony forces. They will return to us.” He was worried, though, at least on some level. It was not just that he needed the scouts to inform him on their targets ahead, but that they were due to arrive back hours ago. The fastest deer should not have taken so long to return unless something had gone wrong.

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the land. Ahead, Havier saw the sky ignite with light.

“The time is now!” he called, racing forward amongst his warriors. “The battle begins!”

With a cry that echoed through the forest, the battle began. Havier felt the excitement of the fight, the adrenaline, and the knowledge of the glory he was going to win for deerkind flow through him. Deeper in his mind, though, he might have realized that something was wrong. That the explosion had been too close, that the scouts had not come back even from something so near- -and that part of him, the one that understood what was occurring, told him to run. To turn and fly as quick as he could back to the swamps, to where he would be safe. Havier, of course, ignored this cowardice.

Then he reached the ledge, and saw the force that was attacking him. His breath caught in his throat, and his mind froze. He could not comprehend what he was seeing; it simply did not register in his mind.

He had thought he had known what to expect. He had planned the battle in his mind, imagined it every night before he went to sleep: a group of ponies, wielding their metal guns and clad in the armor that they falsely believed made them invulnerable, would enter the forest in a close formation, staring up at the trees, nervous and frightened. Then the deer would descend from above, pouring out from the forest, surrounding them. The ponies would shoot, but the deer would simply retreat and fire from the darkness of the forest, piercing their armor and winning the fight, proving that nature would always triumph over technology in the end.

What had come instead, however, was a single monstrosity, a creature cast of iron that towered hundreds of feet over the forest, its six red eyes burning with blood-red fire. It resembled no known creature, walking on two vast clawed feet with its arms swinging as it moved. It’s body seemed to radiate scalding heat, and Havier saw that as it moved, a radius around it was cleared as the trees and animals within were reduced to ash.

“No,” he said, looking up at the armored horror that towered over the land, marching slowly toward their village. “No…”

His courage had left him, but had not left the others. Havier’s warriors ran forward, throwing themselves at the creature. Those that approached close, however, were torn asunder by its magic, their bodies pulled apart and reduced to ash. Even the wearwoods, their bodies enhanced by the curse they carried, only managed to last for a few moments longer before their flesh disintegrated, leaving them to take a few more steps as partially complete corpses before they fell.

Those outside of the circle fired their arrows. The metal monster’s magic did not shield its upper body, but the arrows did nothing. They had been intended to crush through pony armor, but this creature was all armor. At least, Havier hoped it was all armor. When the thought crossed his mind of what kind of creature might don such a suit of metal, he felt himself nearly faint.

The diamond dogs had come prepared for larger game. Several fired rockets into the metal creature’s face. They exploded- -those had been the explosions that Havier had seen earlier- -but did nothing. The creature did not respond, or even seem to notice. Its metal did not even change.

The creature then stopped. For a brief, shining moment, Havier thought that they might be winning. He took a breath to call to push the attack- -but then the creature’s head turned slightly, its eyes looking to the distance.

Havier’s eyes widened. He knew where it was looking. Somehow, he knew that it was staring directly at the camp.

“Please no,” he whispered.

The creature did not hear his plea. Its immense horn ignited with red light, the force of which was strong enough to push Havier backward and into the ground. Then it projected a beam of light. Havier closed his eyes and heard the screams as the corona of the blast incinerated his soldiers. They had not even been the target, though. There was a sound of a great blast, and he knew that his village had been destroyed. Then the world started moving, and went black.

Havier gasped as he awoke. All around him, the land was red and orange and lit. He realized that the forest was burning. All around him, he saw the trees alight, some strewn with the remains of the deer who had been his friends and followers. He heard the crackling of the flames, and it was nearly deafening, louder than he had ever thought fire could be.

He coughed, choking on the smoke, and looked upward. In the distance, he saw monster walking away, leaving a path of destruction in its wake, marching in the same direction that the white-eyed creatures had gone.

In that moment, Havier understood that Vale had been right. That he had become caught up in a romanticized version of war, a version of battles that only existed in the stories that the old harts-of-ten told over campfires. This creature, this giant, it was Thebe, distilled into her purest essence. Not a being of honor and glory, or even one of conquest and plunder, but one consisting of nothing more than limitless death and destruction. This was what Vale had fought, and what Havier had failed to see.

He tried to stand, but cried out in pain. His entire body had been badly burned, and his skin and coat were hanging off him. Strangely, though, his hind legs did not hurt at all. In fact, he could not feel them.

Havier looked down at himself, and his blood ran cold. He had to look away from the wreckage that was his lower body, and the entrails that had been pulled from him. He knew that his time in this world was over, and he felt himself falling away from his pain filled with regrets. The life he could have lived would now never come to pass.

As he slowly died, he watched as a stream of silver light poured out of his chest. It slowly resolved into a ghastly form, like a translucent and fleshy worm, its body twisting around alien joints, its mandibles gnashing as it pulled free of him.

Havier wanted to vomit upon seeing it, but he hated to see it go. He wondered if that horrid worm was his immortal soul, now departing for the Dark Forests on the other side.

“Please, don’t leave me,” he whispered.

Then it disconnected, and he died.

With its host now fully depleted, the incurse departed. For a brief moment, it existed in the inhospitable outside world, gasping as it pulled itself away, terrified that it might not find a host in time.

A carrion bird was nearby, however, and the incurse implanted itself into its new body. The bird cried out and convulsed, not understanding what was occurring, but then quieted as the incurse’s ephemeral body linked to its mind, taking control.

In the language of the organic beings of this world, it called itself Dravl. It had dwelt in the body of the deer Havier for close to a decade, ever since he had been implanted while the deer had been a faun so that he might serve as the eyes for Thebe. The deer’s body, however, had been irreparably damaged in the blast and rendered inoperable.

Non-sentient hosts were always more difficult to use, and they burned out quickly. Dravl had time, though, and paused for a moment to look out at the burning land around him and the golem that continued to march toward a destination unknown. He was reminded of the fires that had consumed his own world long ago, when the civil war that had consumed it had still been young. A war that had had begun on their nameless planet and ended on Equestria; and yet, once again, Dravl found himself in the midst of a great battle, and for this, he wept.

Thebe had been the savior to his people, defending the organic-dwellers from the machine-dwellers in a long and violent war. He loved her, as all incurse did, but he also knew of what was coming to this word. He could feel them. The things that the ancient incurse had told stories of, the beings that lurked in the blackest and deepest reaches of the Beyond where no known creatures could survive, the old gods that slumbered, dreaming dreams of annihilation and cataclysm. He knew why Thebe fought this war, and prayed to the gods that he could not remember that she defend this world he had come to tolerate.

He watched the golem go, and resolved to trust Thebe’s judgement. He then stepped forward over Havier’s body and began to devour it.