Out of the corner of my eye, I see Luna poke her head just barely from behind the house, eavesdropping on us. Emeris sees it too, and pretends not to notice.

“Yeah I kind of gave her a hard time earlier. I got stressed out and yelled at her. I feel like a real jerk. Been meaning to apologize but it’s been so chaotic here I haven’t had a chance.” I rub the back of my neck for effect and because I honestly did feel bad. Maybe I wasn't exactly a poet, but words were never really my thing, that was Emeris' domain. I see her head disappear and hope it was enough. I start talking about what’s really an issue.

“Emeris...this is wrong. First, a few thousand Og Nag slip past Canterlot and Ponyville completely unnoticed. Then they use actual tactics and almost overrun us. Then that creature was...acting like it had a personality. I’ve never seen it before.” Emeris nods and looks at the ground.

“I didn’t wanna say anything in front of the other soldiers, but I noticed too.”

We stand there in silence for a moment. Emeris puts his hands on his hips and sighs.

“We’ve pushed back the Og Nag for now, but I got a feeling this is long from over. I came to tell you they fell back but we had to deal with that creature first.” I raise an eyebrow.

“Wait...they retreated? Like the Og Nag actually fell back?!” Emeris nods uncomfortably. They never retreat unless they’re in a really small group against a vastly superior opponent. The only exception is if they think they can nail a Lieutenant or higher. They never seem to show a sense of self. I sigh and grit my teeth.

“Look, I don’t think we’re going to figure this out anytime soon, so for now we need to assume they’re going to start operating with a military level of intelligence. If they came here and threw a bunch of bodies at us mercilessly, then they wanted something. What could be in Ponyville that was worth several hundred units dying over?”

Emeris' eyes bulge.

“Captain! Princess Celestia!” he roars in realization. In the chaos, we had forgotten Celestia was wearing down. Was that their plan? Knowing Celestia would split off herself so they could take her out while we were kept busy to the west?I had to tie up matters in this town before moving Northeast towards Celestia. We begin jogging back towards our units.

“Emeris, we need to turn Ponyville into a base for now. I don’t know whether this place was a distraction or if they still need something from here, but we can’t keep stashing refugees in Canterlot regardless. We’ll fortify the town with Luna’s help. I’d like you to oversee it. I’ll take Lucretia and we’ll go see if the Princess still needs us.” Emeris nods.

We finally get back to the shield wall, and Luna has already moved most of the bodies into the river.

“Princess Luna!” I call out. She turns around and casually walks up to me.

“Where does this river lead?” She glances behind her.

“Down past Las Pegasus then into the ocean.” I nod approvingly. Emeris begins going over our plan for Ponyville as I search for Lucretia. I find her sitting against a building, next to the archers we saved. She looks over at me as I approach, nodding her head backwards in a silent greeting.

“You okay?” I ask. She chuckles painfully.

“I’m alive...exhausted, but alive.” I look over her for a moment and decide she's too spent to come with me.

“I was going to have Emeris and Luna turn Ponyville into a small base for refugees and for a choke point, but maybe you need the rest more.”

She glares at me and tries to get up. She’s almost standing before stumbling a bit and slumps against the house for support. A warrior’s pride was a hard thing to conquer. She grumbles angrily, as I walk over and help her sit back down. I do my best to give her a list of tasks, and make them sound extra important, something Emeris taught me to do with our more stubborn troops.

“I need you fresh and relaxed. Someone has to stay here, it might as well be you. Use whatever debris you can and create a perimeter. Also assign some units to make more arrows; we may need them later. When this place is ready, we’ll use it as a camp for refugees. If we find a better place, it’s at least one more choke point towards Canterlot we control. Think you can handle all that?” She nods bitterly. I call out for everyone to group up and explain our current plan to our units. I have no choice but to mention the weird behavior from the Og Nag. Everyone looks around uncomfortably.

We begin moving forward. As we march through the town, the devastation is heartbreaking. Half the town had demolished houses, or were missing an entire wall. Every home that didn’t have structural damage, looked raided, or had a few broken windows. Carts were overturned, belongings were scattered all over. This place was clearly less fortunate than Canterlot. No one deserves this, but especially these people. The simplicity of their lives echoes in me, as I had always longed to have just a basic place to call home away from the chaos of war.

There were flower shops, bakeries, clothing stores: all looked like they had been left for dead. I catch Emeris looking around who shakes his head.

“I feel like this is our fault.” he says bitterly. A heavy sigh forces its way out of my chest. I want to disagree, but I can’t think of a decent argument worth making.

“Regardless of whose fault it is, we’ll exterminate every last Og Nag we find. No one and I mean no one deserves this.” I get an angry cheer from the soldiers within earshot.

We get within eyesight of our Growlers. The same purple mare from the first house I entered comes running up. I hope she’s not here to apologize for throwing every piece of cutlery at me. She stops short and bows. I’m surprised but I do likewise.

“I’m sorry miss, but we cannot currently stop for conversation. We’re on our way to assist Princess Celestia.” She walks by my side, much calmer, confident, and probably a bit angry.

“I want to...fight.” She barely chokes out. I turn to Emeris. He thinks it over for a minute then nods. He looks down at the mare.

“I could always use more scouts. Can you tell me anything about Celestia?” A worried look crosses her face.

“Yes, last I saw she was holding them off the best she could, but she looks exhausted!” I growl angrily. I wanted to be there now but exhausting my troops after they just got done defending a town was a bad move.

We get to the Growlers and loading up is slower than I want. My troops are getting tired, and admittedly so am I. I’m still racking my brain trying to figure out exactly what we’re gonna do to help Celestia. The Og Nag will hit us hard and fast. We simply don’t have the energy to hit them head on. I needed to buy us all valuable resting time. I get a very fun but unorthodox idea.

Our Growler tears along the dirt path, kicking up leaves and sticks. My new scout has her head out of the hatch at the top. I wanted her to immediately feel valuable. I couldn’t keep using my normal infantry as scouts anyways. She pokes her head back down.

“Celestia is on the ground! She’s hurt but still fighting!” I swap with her, and signal Emeris’ Growler to defend Celestia. As I hop back down, lieutenant Albia speaks up.

“Sir, aren’t we gonna get out and fight?!” I chuckle and cross my arms.

“Soon, soon.” I bang on the driver door. “Run em over!”
Howls of excitement and blood-thirst erupt from everyone. The mare looks around and smiles timidly. We bounce around wildly: units let out amused laughter as they slide into each other on the benches.

The shriek of our enemies is a war trumpet to our ears. We make a hard right turn, and the thumping stops. The driver calls back to me.

“Sir, the infantry have turned their attention on us, but we got some Garges in there, and they’re keeping an eye on us!” The Garges were always an issue, too large to run over, too powerful to face with normal infantry. It took special training and courage to deal with just one.

“Turn around and get us back to Celestia!” I open up one of the side viewports and watch as almost every adversary out there is running at our vehicle. Emeris has already deployed his troops and is having an easy time defeating the few stragglers who come at his shield wall. I still can’t tell if Celestia is okay, but the fact that she’s not in the Growler means she’s probably going to be fine. The driver screams wildly.

“Everyone hold on! Garge at our nine o'clock!” We all link arms, with my new scout huddled in between my legs. She wraps her hooves around my leg and holds on tightly. A few agonizing seconds go by, then something hits us so hard, we spin twice. The mare starts screaming. My head slams forward, making my neck ache. We brace ourselves as we come to a sudden halt. The moment we’re still, we start pedaling again and take off. I was lucky there weren't any pedals under my Commander's Chair. The driver calls out again.

“He’s gaining on us! Pedal harder or do something!” I look at the rear of the vehicle.

“Lower the ramp!” I yell. The units near the levers for the rear exit look at me confused.

“Do it!” I scream anxiously. With a quick uncertain glance at each other, they pull their levers and the ramp opens up, kicking tons of dirt in the air as it hits the ground. I grab a nearby bow and start hurling arrows into the beast's knees. It howls angrily, still gaining. The rest of my soldiers catch on and start firing arrows, or passing their bows forward to someone with a clear shot. The Garge is almost within swinging distance. In a few seconds, you could barely see anything below its stomach. It howls and starts slowing down. Unfortunately, almost every arrow we had was now lodged in its legs.

We yank the ramp back up, and start gaining speed again.

“Get us over to Emeris!” My heart pounds in my chest. I needed to know what was going on, but I would only have a minute or so tops the moment we came to a stop. We hit a few more Og Nag then come to a skidding halt and immediately exit the vehicle. Celestia stands weakly, conversing with Emeris. I sprint up to them.

“Princess, are you alright?” She nods with a bit of embarrassment. I could tell she rarely hits her limit.

“All the magic I used flying and dodging has left me quite drained. To be honest it has been far longer than I care to admit since I've been in a fight.” She hangs her head ashamed. Emeris and I exchange glances; neither of us knowing what to do. Celestia looks up at me.

“Emeris tells me your soldiers are exhausted as well...I do not know how we will meet this current threat, but we have little time to decide.” She says while pointing at the advancing Og Nag.
I get another idea.

“Princess, if you didn’t have to fly or move, could you keep fighting?” She stares at me confused but nods. Emeris gets it. He faces the princess.

“If we could get you on top of a Growler, do you think you could target just the Garges? The big guys who mean business?” Celestia gives Emeris an amused grin.

“Yes I could. Would that work?” she asks with concern. Emeris crosses his arms proudly.

“These babies are meant to run over Og Nag. The big guys make that dangerous though. If you can take them down or at least keep them away, it could easily cut down the effort.” She eagerly looks at me.

“Captain Raiden, could this work?!” I nod and within seconds, she’s inside my Growler with half her upper body sticking through the top hatch. We manage to load up at the very last second. Og Nag pound at the back door as we speed off. Three of my soldiers nearest to Celestia's flank, do their best to keep her tail from smothering them, but give up and just hold onto it. We gain about a hundred feet on them, swing back around and cross our fingers. I get up and pound on the driver door.

“Run em over but try to stick to the outsides of the group. We don’t want anything flying up and hitting the princess.” As we rocket along, the screech of enemies is accompanied by exhilarating sounds of explosions. I open a small side port and grin at the site of dead Og Nag and smoking craters. There was around five Garges still in the party, but they stay close to the center. We make one big loop, crushing adversaries and cheering as they’re followed up by numerous booms.

Our celebrating is cut short as we hit a previously made crater. Celestia screams as she’s almost thrown from the vehicle. Two of my men hold her hind legs desperately.
“Pull her back inside now!” They tug as hard as they can, but it’s not enough. We hit another crater and her legs disappear. I hear thudding as she manages to hook one of the handles on the outside of the roof with her hoof. I climb up and stick my head out. Her face shows agony as her already exhausted muscles do everything they can to keep her pulled up on a handle. She’s too far away to grab. The Growlers had handles across the roof in case we ever needed to climb onto it in an emergency. Without fingers, she won’t last long.

“Grab my ankles!” I holler down to my men. I climb out and reach out to her, but forgot to tell the driver to stay clear of enemies and now it’s too late.

A few Og Nag get tossed onto the roof and bounce off. A free sword goes soaring near my head. I roll to the side as it barely misses my face. I roll back and finally get a hand on Celestia’s left hoof. I do my best to reach out with my other hand, but without it to stabilize me, I start sliding to the right. I grit my teeth, desperately holding onto her hoof and a nearby handle. I hear yelling down in the cabin. We swing to the right and it balances me out momentarily. I take the opportunity to reach out. Celestia hesitates but lets go of the handle and stretches her foreleg to me. I grab her hoof but it's awkward. There's only a few inches of it in my hand. We slow down just barely. I pull her right hoof towards me the best I can, allowing me a few seconds to get a better grip on her other hoof. She glances towards the sea of Og Nag.

As I look over, a lucky Garge is running towards us. He leaps into the air, howling with one arm back ready to bring his ax down on us. A blinding beam of light comes hurtling out of Celestia’s horn, striking the beast in the face. It makes him fall backwards, but he sail feet first towards us. With every last ounce of strength, I pull Celestia to me. I don’t have time to pull her inside, but I get a good grip behind her front legs. We slide as the Garge’s body plows into us. The Growler skids several feet across the ground.

Celestia closes her eyes and grits her teeth, relying on only me to keep her from certain doom. My arms burn, already tapped out from my previous engagement. I feel my fingers slip, inch by inch. Celestia opens her eyes and clamps onto my chest piece with her teeth desperately. We stop sliding and resume our forward motion. The sudden jerk makes my hands let go for a second. Celestia grabs the nose guard on my helmet with her teeth at the last second.

My neck strains, but I pull her back inside. She falls on top of me. We’re both too drained to move, but my people help us up.

“Driver!” I call out, “Get...get us out of here for now.” That was it, we were tapped out. The panting of my soldiers, the sweat dripping out of their helmets. I had to get them rest or they’d start pulling muscles and would be out of the fight even longer. I see a look of defeat on Celestia’s face, as she weakly gets up and sits on a bench. I plop down next to her.

“Any other ideas?” I ask in-between gasps for air. She pants.

“My...niece Cadence, she should be here any time now. I sent word to her before I departed.” Good, then we’re playing for time. Hopefully this Cadence has an army, or some powers of her own. Either will be useful at this point.

During our brainstorming, my newest mare scout had her head outside the hatch. She calls down to me.

“Sir, third Growler coming in, and they look mad!” I step up to the hatch and look out: It’s Captain Lucretia. I call it out, and every unit explodes with happiness. I howl with laughter as a familiar cobalt blue alicorn sticks her head out of the latch and begins firing. Instead of long, powerful beams, her shots are rapid but are still enough to put down a single Og Nag. The view holes on her Growler go down, as streams of arrows get dumped from her vehicle into every Og Nag in sight. We stay to the West of the entire battle, but still in range of the fight if we have to. Emeris sees his turn is up, and takes off in his vehicle. My soldiers get out and cheer as arrows and explosions whittle down what was left of their forces. Only three Garges remain.

I gawk confused, as they go back to back. Lucretia stops firing arrows, and Luna halts her magic use. They circle the trio of Garges like a shark. Luna lowers herself from the hatch for a brief moment, converses with Lucretia then comes back up. The Garges look around nervously. Suddenly, one howls in anger, as his ankles glow purple, and he’s dragged towards the Growler. With a nice opening, the arrows commence again. In just a few seconds, all three Garges are dead. I had never seen them go back to back before. It was their best option, since their back armor offered less coverage. Usually they had an entire army of Og Nag behind them, so no use for the extra weight.

Emeris and Lucretia pull up to us, and hop out. We’re covered in sweat and scratches, but everyone smiles at each other, doing their best not to fall over panting. Celestia walks out of the Growler tediously, trying her best to stay up. A few soldiers move into help her walk. She thanks them weakly, and walks up to us. Luna trots up eagerly.

“Sister, are you injured?!”

Celestia shakes her head and smiles.

“I am fine, just tired.” Luna smirks and lets out a small chuckle. I take in some air.

“Well, thanks to both of you, we were all able to hold them off. I’m going to be honest, your magic will come in very handy in our defensive. Given time, we might be able to-” Celestia interrupts me,.

“I believe it will be best for my people to take refuge in Canterlot for now until I can figure out a plan. We are not prepared for this, and we cannot risk other settlements falling prey to the Og Nag. I shall set up massive evacuation plans across Equestria. Once everyone is safe, we can decide how to combat the Og Nag.” I can’t help but notice Celestia awkwardly avoids eye contact with me, despite looking around at everyone else during her plan.

We begin our trek back to Canterlot. Our pace is slow, as the Growlers move at almost marching pace. I trade out soldiers every few minutes, so only half are pedaling at a time. I get a tad jealous knowing Celestia and Luna are talking in Lucretia’s vehicle. I can’t get the trio of Garges out of my head. There was something off, and I knew by the end of the war, I’d have my answer one way or another.

An enemy you can't kill with a sword, was easily a nightmare.