Emeris waits patiently, but I see a few of his soldiers shift about uncomfortably.
Shields are hastily raised at the sound of crunching trees. All eyes are on the forest, as something bad is about to go down. Birds dart from their nests, and the mighty wooden giants sway furiously. We hear the heavy sounds of many footsteps. Lucretia looks at me worried.
“Do we need to signal him to fall back?!” she asks nervously. I sigh in frustration.
“We can’t yet. We have to know what’s coming. If we give up ground now, we might not get it back. We won't be able to maneuver once he falls back up here and we'll have nowhere to go.”

Emeris stands confidently, but I know on the inside he has that same feeling of dread as the rest of us. Gasps echo from every unit, as several Garge’s emerge from the forest, carrying shaven down trees. There’s something odd though. I eye them suspiciously. I glance up and see Stormchaser hurtling towards me, a look of horror on her face. My stomach flip-flops as I can only imagine what gut-wrenching news she has.

Storm lands in front of me, panting heavily. She points at the Garges and tries her best to form words. Lucretia and I almost bit our tongues off while waiting for her. Lucretia cries out.
“Raiden! Emeris is falling back! He’s giving the signal that there’s something else going on.” Storm finally catches her breath and says one word.
“Foals!” she screams while pointing at the Garges.

I do my best to focus on the Garges but they do the work for me. One by one they raise their trees, revealing the most disgusting plan I had ever seen. Every tree had rope wrapped around the end. Under the rope, struggling in vain, were children. They twist and turn, crying out for help. I turn to the left, tear off my helmet, and vomit as the anxiety knocks the wind from my lungs.

Lucretia raises her hands to her mouth in silent horror, muttering in disbelief. This was a new low for Zaran. Emeris and his men can’t fathom what to do. Taking out a Garge was hard enough; taking out seven of them who use children as hostages was a crime against nature.

“Lucretia...what are we going to do? Do you think the Wonderbolts can rescue them?” I manage to mumble out.
Lucretia turns to me and shakes her head sadly. We couldn’t engage the Garges without hitting the children but we can’t just let them advance to the palace. Was I willing to give my archers the order to fire on the Garges? Could I even live with myself? With our regal backup out of commission, things began to look grim. Did Zaran know the Alicorns would be exhausted?

The Garges get closer, easily stepping over the bodies of fallen Og Nag. Emeris sprints up the ramp to Lucretia and I.
“Sir...I’m...I’m sorry, I didn’t know what to do!” Emeris is hunched over panting. His soldiers line the walls, pulling out bows, expecting the worst. Multiple faces glance at me, wanting me to make the call.

I can’t do it. It was my job to make these decisions and live with it, but I just couldn’t. Several soldiers start shaking their heads in disgust. The Og Nag grow quiet as they walk, allowing us to hear the desperate cries of the young, captive ponies. The same psychopathic grin is plastered on the face on every Og Nag. You can see every last sharp tooth clenched together in a malicious smile. Their eyes are wide and open, creating an unnatural, eager expression.

Emeris screams at me.
“Sir! We have to do something! They’re coming!” I don’t show it, but I start to panic. My thoughts are a train wreck. I’ve quarantined civilians and killed any who tried to leave. I’ve marched countless units to what I knew was certain death for the good of the entire city. I’ve held my ground against certain defeat. I have never given the order to murder children before.

My eyes dart wildly across the field as the Garges are almost to the wall. They step apathetically over their dead, having only one target in mind: Canterlot. Glancing to the palace, I see Celestia slumped over a distant balcony. She’s completely worn out. Would she forgive me for having the children of her kingdom killed for the greater good? Would she even understand ?I see her turn around and talk to someone further behind her that I can’t make out. A few of our archers look over their shoulder at me. I hear my name called a few times in panic. They want orders, and I have nothing.

Lucretia claws the sides of her helmet.
“We have to fire! They’ll just kill the foals if we do nothing anyways!” Emeris looks up at her in disbelief.
“Are you insane!? They’re innocent children! There was to be another way!” Lucretia lets her body slump to the ground in a depressed heap.
“We...don’t have a choice…” I mutter. I watch helplessly as the Garge’s are only five hundred meters from the wall and gaining ground every second. They had picked up pace after moving past the large graveyard in the middle of the field. Their heavy footsteps can be heard even from up here like the ticking of a clock. My heart pounds as every plan I come up with, crumbles. As soon as I'm ready to give the order to rain arrows on the Garges, my mouth freezes and refuses to do it.
flashes of my entire career being stained with the title of Child Killer, burst every thought I have.

We watch them with confusion as they stop. They gently lay their trees on the ground and untie their hostages. As the children run towards us, dozens of Og Nag climb aboard each tree. They draw their weapons, cheering and snarling. My blood runs cold.
“Emeris! It’s a trap! Don’t let the children up here!”
Emeris stares at the foals then back to me.
“Sir...what do you want me to do?!” My jaw trembles. I was almost ready to vomit all over again.
“Emeris...I want you to do what you have to do!”

Emeris’ arms shake as he pulls out his bow and loads a single arrow. The children make it to the wall and beeline to the ramp, with frightened tears streaming down their faces. Tiny little screams of terror erupt from them. Emeris draws his bow back, he shakes violently. His armor rattles as he trembles. He takes aim at the first filly in the ramp. I hear him start crying.
“Sir! I...I can’t! They’re just children! They’re…they’re coming to us for safety! I…I can’t do this!” I grit my teeth, not wanting to be the bad guy.
“Emeris, it is a trap! They'll be killed after they take the palace!”

Emeris screams in agony, unable to make his fingers do what has to be done. He looks away and lets his mouth hang open. His face folds all over itself, soaked with tears. He falls to the ground sobbing and lets his bow hang loosely in his hand. I brace myself, unable to grab my own bow in time. The children reach us and immediately hide behind numerous soldiers in absolute terror. I breathe a sigh of relief, as the foals run around in blind panic. This must ahve been to draw our attention. It was time to pay the price of hesitation though.
“Archers! Take them down!” Lucretia shrieks. Our soldiers snap out of their grateful trances and start pulling out arrows.

A white filly with a pink mane runs up to me crying. I bend down and pick her up, each hand under her forelegs. I smile at her. She smiles back. Her eyes glow green and that sick grin gets plastered onto her face. My jaw drops. The filly transforms into the same type of black and green changeling from the palace. I suck in air to yell out. Before I get a word in, its horn glows green. I see the same thing happening with every filly, and most of them are hugging the archers.

All I see is a light, green flash, followed by blinding, burning pain. I can’t see. I feel the changeling kick my stomach, knocking me to the ground. I hold my eyes as the burning sensation is unbearable. The rumble of the Garges shakes the ramp, as they jog towards our walls. The devilish laughs of the changelings fade as they transform again. I gradually get to my feet, unable to see. I give the only order I can.
“Everyone! Fall back and regroup!”

We abandoned our only choke point. It was a scenario I never thought would happen so early and so easily. I look around and see the second stage of their plan. The changelings had morphed to look like Taraska infantry. It was almsot impossible to tell who from whom. Before I get to my feet, a soldier comes charging at me, with no weapon drawn. I stay hunched down on one knee until the last second. I lunge at his torso and wrap my arms around it, before suplexing them neck first into the ground behind me. They lay on the ground either unconscious or dead.

I look around, both delirious and panicked. A copy of Lucretia beats on her mercilessly, as she lies on the ground, still covering her face. I draw my sword and raise it up. The copy of Lucretia gets one final punch in. The Lucretia on the ground morphs back into a dead changeling. The real her turns around and glares at me. I lower my sword.

“Sorry!” I holler.

Lucretia stands up and rushes over to a pair of soldiers choking each other against a wall. She shoves them apart.
“Nehora!” She screams out. One of the soldiers stands at attention, the other stands there shaking and confused. She kicks the side of the imposter’s knee. They go down to kneeling, and cry out in pain. She grabs its head, and tilts it back so they're looking at the sky. Lucretia brings her elbow down into the creature's face, with all her might. It makes a sickening suction sound as her sharp elbow of armor sinks a good four inches into its face. It falls to the ground with a thud, morphing back into a changeling.

Lucretia pulls out her sword.

“Everyone! To arms!” Our soldiers quickly get the idea that the changelings don’t actually have weapons to pull out. The changelings morph immediately and fly away, howling with laughter.

“We need to find a way to-” I’m cut off as the trees slam against the wall with a deafening thud, and numerous Og Nag pour all over the place.

An average sized Og Nag rushes me. I deflect his sword to the left, turn to my side and boot him in the face with a well-placed side kick. I swing my sword horizontally and send his head bouncing down the ramp. The Garges begin slowly making their way up here. The very first Garge has a massive metal shield, making it almost impossible to hit any of them with arrows.

“Fall back!” I scream through the chaos. Another Og Nag rushes me from the left. I deflect his attack to the right, making him turn his back to me as his own momentum into a power attack betrays him. I reach around with my free arm, wrapp it around his neck. Stepping onto the back of his leg, he flls down to both knees. Giving his head a hard yank, I get to see his lifeless eyes as he drops his weapon. He falls forward with a loud thud.

I sprint back to the majority of my units that try to form a defensive wall with their shields. I stumble through them, mentally drained for a moment. Lucretia helps Emeris to a spot on the wall, as he holds his ribs. I shake my head in disbelief. The rest of the path through Canterlot to the palace was too confined to fight Garges without massive losses, assuming we even managed to take one down. The Garge's carefully fan out from the ramp, forming their own shield wall with massive pieces of wood.

All seems lost when a familiar blue princess lands in front of me. Luna’s horn lights up and a wave of kinetic energy blasts forth, knocking the Garges to the ground momentarily. The air is filled with the sound of angry monsters. She turns to me.
“Cadence will be here soon, but we need to talk first.” I stare at her for a few seconds.
“Talk?! I don’t have time to talk! We’re in the middle of the worst-”

“Raiden!” She shrieks.
“Listen to me, and listen carefully, we will not have time to discuss this! There are four main universes, with limitless alternate dimensions! There is a Human realm and a pony realm, both being considered “good”. Then there are evil versions for both the pony realm and human realm. We believe that a specific evil pony realm has found a way to travel through dimensions.”

I grit my teeth.
“That’s absolutely fantastic Luna! I’ll write a report on it later!” Luna charges forward, and pins me against a wall with her front hooves.
“Shut up and listen! We sent a small scouting party to that alternate universe and recovered an artifact that will help! Given your past, I need you to keep an open mind!” She lets me off the wall, but still glares at me. I rub my neck.
“Wh...what do you mean an artifact!?”

I hear a strange noise as Cadence appears to my right. Behind her, there’s something I’ve never seen before but recognize from the old tales of my world. Lucretia and Emeris both gawk at it in disbelief. Behind Cadence is a massive glass orb filled with purple energy. She looks at me with concern, unsure of my reaction.

I point a trembling hand full of hatred at the orb.
“Wh...what is that thing and what is it doing here?! You have no idea what happens if that thing detonates!” I scream. Luna gets between Cadence and I. She bits her lip nervously.
“These orbs are filled with magic. For now, us Alicorns can pull extra magic from it. Cadence can use her magic to keep your units alive for a while.”

I cock an eyebrow.

“How long exactly?”

Cadence sighs.

“I can make your soldiers immortal for five minutes…but there's a catch.”