Lucretia and I look around skeptically. Thick branches and numerous leaves, blocked out most of the sun. Small patches of light littered the forest floor. They were both our only hope to see, as well as the last place you wanted to be. My soldiers armor was almost invisible, except for the occasional reflections of distant light patches. We were in the densest part of the forest now, there was no reason not to have just a few traps that basic infantry would get caught in. It also wasn’t like Zaran to pull any punches, so what was his game?

My breath trembles inside my helmet, as Lucretia and I continually exchanged worried glances. Not a single trap had been found yet, no mythical creatures from hell, just an unforgiving terrain that slowed everything down. I couldn't even see First Lancercore behind us, even though I could sure hear their fearful mutterings.

“Nunda!” I say in a harsh whisper. The command is echoed through my units as each soldier stops and taps the person in front of them on the right shoulder, who in turn do the same until my entire battalion is halted in complete silence. I examine every tree, every rock, and every plant; there was nothing. Lucretia angrily kicks a rock which explodes with a loud bang as it shatters against a soldier's armor. The sudden noise makes everyone flinch.

“Sorry…” She whispers regretfully. I wait a few more minutes, trying to find some trace. I check the underside of my boots to see if perhaps we were trailing some kind of poison or liquid marking. There were no birds following us, nothing skulking about in the dense shadows of the forest; something was off. A large rock formation stood ahead of us in the middle of our intended path. I take every chance I get to step on a stone, as if every crunch of a leaf or branch was a trip to the guillotine.
The rocks were at least twenty feet high and easy to climb, even in armor. I nod my head in satisfaction, knowing we at least had a good defensible position and check point.

“Gai Dezgo!” Once again the order is sent out in a silent wave of repeated whispers. It was now understood that if I yelled Gai, that this rock formation was our first landmark. I reach out and place a hand on the stone, right as Lucretia whispers to me harshly.
“Wait wait wait!” She says frantically. It came just barely too late. The rocks shake for a moment and a loud piercing howl erupts from it. I draw my sword and watch it carefully, expecting some massive monster to unbury itself. The seconds take hours to crawl by. My heart pounds in my chest, making my armor produce a light clicking sound with every beat. Every head in my battalion scans their environment obsessively. No one moves a single limb as we wait to hear what was in store.

Lucretia slowly lowers her rapier as we stare at each other. The silence is broken by distant yelling and clanking of armor. We try in vain to peer through the trees to see what was going on. I can’t dare break formation to investigate since this is exactly where Stormchaser will land if she needs to report something. Ironically, I hear those same wings flutter above my head. She lands with numerous leaves in her hair. She takes in one massive lung full of air.

“Timber….wolves!” She wheezes out. Lucretia stares at her.
“Big Mac said something about Timberwolves but he didn’t elaborate on exactly what they are.” Storm looks up at her frantically, doing everything she can to speak. I didn’t have time to wait on her.

“Gai Cor Dezgo!” I yell. Every unit backs up as close as they can. The two outer layers of units form a shield wall, with the third line ready with spears and extra shields if need be. The fourth and fifth lines ready bows, with everyone else ready to slay anything that is capable of jumping or flying past our formation into the inner circle. In one loud unison, every shield is linked together with the one next to it. As soon as I hear bows being loaded, I turn to Storm.

“I need updates immediately! Tell the Wonderbolts to start doing recon and report to me! I want to know how every unit is doing. Also make everyone form up defensive positions, but have them try to mix with other battalions until we get an accurate threat assessment!” Lucretia nods and adds in her own orders.

“Also any unit that is not under attack or vital to a defense needs to fall back here. We may need to send them elsewhere to-” Lucretia and I both whirl around at the rocks, which slowly build up a massive humming sound. It gradually becomes almost unbearable. We cover our ears as our inner troops start to groan loudly in pain from the noise. The ground starts shaking violently and the rocks begin to glow red. My legs start to buckle as the massive tremors it gives off make it difficult to stand up straight. I’m almost thrown to the ground as the vibration begins to feel like an earthquake. The rocks begin to crack and red light streams out.
“Cor fora!” I scream at the top of my lungs. The last two inner lines point their shields at us, stacking them together. I have just enough time to tackle Lucretia. A blinding flash goes off.

I walk along the same dirt path that I had taken to Canterlot when I first arrived here. My bare chest was exposed, with my black slacks torn to shreds. The red flame surrounds my body like never before. The magic flows outwards from within, easily reaching hundreds of feet into the air.

Canterlot Palace glowed faintly in the distance, fire spewing out from every window. Towers begin to fall and crash. The noise doesn’t reach me for multiple seconds. The air is so thick with smoke, it was impossible to tell the time of day. The flames of the land glow against the heavy red clouds.

Scores of pony guards litter the field like garbage. If they’re not dead, they crawl across the ground screaming for help. Blood and ash was a nice blanket across the bodies. There was not a single guard left unscathed. Most were missing multiple limbs, or crawled along with thick smoke pouring from the eye slits in their helmets, sentenced to an eternal realm of agony and darkness.

A single pony guard gets up arduously with her legs shaking. She gives me a fierce glare before yelling and charging. I point my open palm at her and let out a blast of magic. The roar drowns out her last screams, as a waterfall of death pours from my hand. I cut the blast short and stare at her armor which now glowed red hot and sizzled as it lays in a pool of blood from another pathetic guard.

I carelessly walk across the road, staring at Luna’s broken but defiant body. Her eyes tremble at me with both pain and fear. Her legs wobble as she tries to raise herself off the ground. I stop just a single foot away from her. She winces a bit, knowing this was the end. Celestia’s cold, motionless corpse lays a dozen yards away with its back to us. Blood has finally stopped pooling out from her missing wing. Her detached horn was dug into her chest like a knife.

Luna starts sobbing, looking back from her sister to me. She shakes her head with a silent, open-mouth scream of betrayal. Before she utters a word, I pick her up and hold her in front of me by her slender neck. Her rear hoofs barely scrape the dirt as she wiggles weakly in the grasp. All she can do is shake her head slightly and desperately plead for her life through her eyes. I hold up my right palm to her chest. She gets one tiny headshake in before her insides are blown out through her back. Her head rests lifelessly to the left, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth.
I drop her body to the ground and turn my head to Zaran in his pony form.
“Wow you’re right, this is fun.” I say with amusement. He cocks an eyebrow at me and grins.

I sit up with a blood curdling scream and a bright sky to greet me. Lucretia shakes me by my chest plate, yelling in my face.
“Wake up Raiden! You have to get up!” She yanks me to my feet frantically. I both groan and gasp.

“Wh...what’s going on?!” I barely manage to get out. Lucretia pulls my sword from its scabbard and shoves it lengthwise into my arms.
“Just shut up and kill stuff!” She shrieks, before whipping her rapier around and beheading an Og Nag. The creature narrowly misses thrusting into her midsection due to a well-timed sidestep on her part. My jaw drops as dozens of my soldiers lay motionless on the ground.

Before me, stood the most vicious creature I had ever seen, second only to a garge. It stands on four legs, still easily my height or more. What would normally be fur, is a mixture of branches and leaves, as if the very forest itself summoned them from its own wood. Red magic pours upwards from its mouth and empty eye sockets, along with a few open vents across its back. It's massive jaws are lined with jagged, crooked teeth.
Storm coughs from the ground and looks up at me, still heavily winded.

“Those...aren’t normal Timberwolves. The magic is always...green.” I turn to face the wolves again, knowing exactly what was feeding them.
“Zaran…” I hiss under my breath.

The beast prowls up to one of my soldiers who shakes on the ground helplessly. It bites her neck, as she pounds desperately on its snout with her fists. It quickly ends her suffering with a swift jerk of its mouth, breaking her neck. Her arms hang at her sides. Its head slowly turns to face me. We lock eyes momentarily, before it lowers its head and lets out a deep roar that could never be uttered by a normal creature. The sound mimics the growl of a massive predator, more thunderous than I have ever heard. It takes a few ominous steps towards me. I grab a shield off the ground and hold it in front of me, anticipating a charge at any moment.

An Og Nag only waist high runs up to me, but gets a quick rapier through the skull from the side by Lucretia. The wolf recoils back a bit and howls before charging me. I rush at him as well, making sure he knows I’m no grunt. I run a bit to the left, baiting him in the direction I want. At the last second before we collide, I duck right and cut off his left paw with my sword. I spin around as I sail past, giving it a final hack to the base of the neck. It almost cuts all the way through. The monster falls motionless to the ground. The red magic still flows vibrantly off its body. I start trotting off towards a few distant units who fight back to back.

I stop as I hear that deep growl again. I turn around slowly and watch the very wolf I killed raise its body from the ground. I almost drop my sword as I see this things most fearsome quality. The paw I cut off begins to glow where the wound would be if this thing wasn’t made from wood. The paw is dragged by a long strand of red magic back to the leg, where it seems to seal itself whole again to the limb. The wolf looks over its paw before turning its attention back to me with a nasty snarl.
“L...Lucretia!” I stammer in a loud yell above the combat.

“These things...don’t seem to die!” Lucretia finishes cutting off the wrist of an Og Nag before impaling it downward through the heart. She turns to me and watches the wolf with a mix of horror and confusion.

It lunges at me. I have just enough time to block two swipes and a nasty bite with my shield. The force the beast can put into every hit is shocking, pushing me back slightly with every hit. We circle each other as I block swipe after swipe. It dodges to the left and right a few times to throw me off before taking a snap at my left ankle. I have to take several rapid steps back as it tries over and over to grab me in its mouth. I fend the beast off with several swipes at its face, carving off small sections of wood. They don’t regenerate back.

So this thing can reattach limbs but it’s not immortal. Hacking off wood with my sword would take all day. There had to be another option. I stay hunched behind my shield, trying to ponder this things weakness while also avoiding getting my arms tore off. I yell out in surprise as the entire wolf leaps into my shield, chewing on it viciously. I have to drop my sword so I can use both arms to brace the shield, seeing as how my weapon wasn’t going to do me much good in the immediate future.

I start yelling out in agony, as my arms almost buckle under the weight. It pushes itself against me, using its hind legs to dig into the ground. I do my best to hold my own, but have to resort to letting the shield rest against my shoulder. I grit my teeth and groan loudly, using every ounce of strength to keep myself upright. Suddenly I both fall backwards, tripping over an upright branch. My eyes go wide as it snaps at me from either side of the shield. I hear it growl angrily before a pair of teeth snap on my left. I roll my shoulder just in time. Its mouth snags a bit of dirt and creates a tiny dust cloud. Only having a split second to react, the teeth marks on my armor start adding up.

I start wheezing, as the full weight of the wolf on my shield is crushing my chest. I shake my head, trying to stay conscious but my arms are slowly giving up. I open my mouth to call out for help, but I can’t make a single sound. My head starts pounding as the lack of air begins to add up. This wasn’t working and it was time to try something else. I look to my right and see a rock the size of my fist.

As soon as the monster snaps on my left, I grab the rock and hammer it in the face while dropping my shield. It recoils just enough from the blow. I reach up and grab onto any pieces of wood I can. With a firm grasp on the beast’s neck, I tuck my legs around its left paw and roll to my side, forcing the beast down to my right. Without being able to take another step for stability, it falls to the ground. It rolls over to its right side as it lands and I take the opportunity to change my grip. I hold onto the back of what I’m assuming is its spine. It howls angrily and thrashes about, but I somehow hold on.

It lunges to its left, bringing me up from the ground as I lay across the monster. Before it can push itself up, I swing my body over to its other side, causing it to topple back to the ground again. I needed more time and lots of it. Its legs kick wildly as it tries to free itself from my grasp. My fingers cry out in agony, straining themselves in a desperate attempt to not let the creature get free. Instead of trying to get up, it rolls around back towards me. To avoid having my right arm pinned beneath it, I’m forced to release my grip. I spin my legs to face it considering my arms were already spent

As it faces me, I give it a nasty double kick to the face, forcing it to scoot backwards. I try to sit up to get to my feet, but it lunges. I manage to trap it between my legs, as I stare at the vicious snapping jaws that cover my stomach armor in strange acidic drool. It’s not enough to eat through my armor, but I knew immediately I didn’t want to get any on my skin. Its furious red eye sockets are lit like bonfires. As it tries to force its mouth closer to me, we start sliding backwards across the ground inch by inch.

“Lucretia!” I call as loud as I can. She’s already too busy keeping stray Og Nag from making the fight even harder. To my horror, the monster starts pulling its face back. I grab ahold of its face, driving my thumbs into its eye-sockets and get dragged back with the beast. It finally stands its ground and strains its neck to lift me into the air. I had no idea it was so strong. It barely manages to lift me into the air, but makes up for it by slamming me into the ground on my back. I cry out in pain, but my grip stays firm.

It lifts me into the air again gradually. As I collide to the ground again, my fingers can’t take the strain anymore. I lay there helplessly, gasping for air. I get in a few decent kicks to its face before it starts circling me. I keep my feet pointed towards it, my last desperate attempt to defend myself. The wolf gets more aggressive as my strength starts to dwindle. It starts rapidly circling me, waiting for a single mistake to pounce. My chest pounds inside my armor and my breathing sounds like a choking gasp as I fight off my exhaustion.

It lowers its head and snarls, preparing for the killing blow. My legs kick so slowly, I know I’m not a threat anymore. As it paws the ground to lunge, a familiar massive colt in golden armor blindsides the thing out of nowhere with a nasty head ram. It howls as it makes several rolls across the ground, finally coming to a halt on its side facing away from us.
Big Mac keeps a defiant glare pointed at the creature, as Umbra runs up to me.

“General! Are you alright?! We found a way to fight these things!” Her head snaps back to the monster as it gets up gradually. A large amount of hot air comes rolling out from Big Mac’s nostril slits in his helmet. I eye the lancer still in its housing on his left side. He must have some serious stamina to have enough strength to send a Timberwolf flying while still having a massive spear on his side.

The wolf charges Big Mac, who does the same. The split second before collision, Umbra runs up from the side and jumps above the creature. She stomps on the monster's head as she soars over it with her perfectly timed jump. In the small amount of time it lowers its head, Big Mac does a leap and smashes his helmet ax into the creature's skull, as if he was diving into a lake.

The crack is brutal, as small pieces of wood go flying all over. The creature howls angrily, retreating a few steps, as its head drags lifelessly on the ground. Big Mac gives it a nasty swipe from the right with his helm blade. As it turns to the side, Umbra follows up with a drop kick that sends the helpless beast staggering into a tree. Big Mac kicks his lever and his spear slams straight through the wolf, pinning it to the tree with an echoing crack.

It's head reforms, but there’s no way for it to get a grip on the spear. It can do nothing but kick its legs and howl angrily. Big Mac grabs my chest piece in his mouth, and lifts me off the ground to my feet as I cough wildly. He leans into my leg and motions with his head for me to climb on. I lay across him, as he gallops towards Lucretia with just enough caution so that I don’t fall off. Three Og Nag run out of the bushes at us. I can’t move my arms and I don’t even have a sword.

The first Og Nag gets the chance to at least look to its right as Umbra runs up and sends him flying into his allies with a dropkick. As she lands, she balances on her hindlegs and sends two knives out from under her cloak, each nailing an assailant in the chest. The third gets up and rushes at her. She doesn’t have time to send a knife flying while also evade the sword attack.

Instead, she dives to the creatures left and swings her hind legs under him, tripping him to the ground. The moment he lifts his head, he gets a dagger to the back of his skull as she slams her hoof into her lever. The entire fight is over in a few seconds and Big Mac never slows down.

I groan as he gallops, slowly losing the battle to stay on. He looks over his shoulder at me and slows his pace.
“Sorry General, not use to havin’ passengers. Honestly I kinda forgot yer were even there!” He finishes with a small chuckle. I’m sure he was enjoying saving my rear after how hard I was on him in basic. Umbra catches up to us and gives me a quick glance. As she looks forward, a small smirk crosses her face and she tries in vain to hide. Their confidence was mesmerizing. If they had only fought a few basic Og Nag and pinned a few Timberwolves, they were in for a nasty dose of reality. It was best to let them enjoy their small victories while I could. Sometimes it’s a lot of these tiny memories that keep you going against the large, nasty ones
“Where are we going?!” I yell over the noise of battle. Umbra looks over at me.
“A squad of your soldiers are holding out. We were told to come find you, Lucretia and Emeris and bring you there!” I nod a few times and take the brief trip as a chance to rest. I look behind us and see that Lucretia is riding a large mare several paces back.

A single battalion worth of my soldiers have our traditional shield formation set up. Two units move aside to let us in. Big Mac sails past them, with Lucretia on our tail. Big Mac comes to a skidding halt in the middle of the unit and I slide off. My shoulders ache from the ride. The standard formation shield wall leaves a decent sized hole in the middle, that can be sealed up if need be. It was almost pitch black however, with random reflections from armor and weapons dancing across the trees.

The only light we get was from the massive hole the rock formation made in the treetops when it ignited. It shines through from my left a few inches above the first row of shields. Lucretia had made the edition of adding in four inch spikes at the bottom of the shields to help them be dug in. It’s also bent inwards a ways too so you can really slam it into the ground for extra support. I was responsible for making small latches on the side that let them literally be linked together. We could actually make a small bunker out of shields in thirty seconds with the right units and strict training.

I peer out from our tiny fortress, doing my best to see over the crouched soldiers. Normally it would be two shields high, but that makes the wall wobble more. Due to these horrendous wolves, we lowered it for more stability so they can’t just charge through the wall. Lucretia and I poke our heads through the hole in the ceiling for a better view. It doesn’t help much, but we needed to stretch anyways. Lucretia leans over to me.

“We need a way of signaling the Wonderbolts. I doubt they can see us below the trees.” She says in a whisper. I nod in approval.
“Do you think Stormchaser got ahold of them? She only mentioned the wolves when she got back.” Lucretia lets out a quiet agonizing groan. Her head suddenly snaps and she points over to a nearby tree while bumping my shoulder. Stormchaser waves at us weakly from up in a tree. Lucretia turns to me, still talking in a whisper.

“We have to get her back here!” Big Mac pokes my armor with his hoof from behind.
“We can get ‘er if you wan’.” I look at Umbra on his right who gives me a confident nod.
“Alright but...be careful, we can’t lose you two.” The pair creep to the front where the shields are. Two shields are always left unhooked from the rest to be used as a vague pair of doors. There was another set just like it on the exact opposite side. Two units were stationed at both entrances as guards with orders not to move from those spots under any circumstances while we do our formation.

Umbra whispers to the door guards, who in turn look at me. I give them a nod, since only the highest ranking Commanding Officer in the formation can allow the doors to be uncovered. This was more to discourage desertion than a defensive tactic.
Big Mac and Umbra hunch over, getting ready to make their move. Lucretia crouches down next to me.

“This should be good...” She mutters eagerly. The shields are moved and the pair take off. Og Nag howl and start chasing after them, previously keeping their distance from our fortress. Umbra hops onto Big Mac’s back and presses her entire body down. He picks up insane speed and leaves the Og Nag in the dust. As they get closer to the tree, Umbra stands up and balances herself. Big Mac slows down just a bit and Umbra jumps onto the tree. Her hooves touch the bark and she kicks off again, sending her up to the branch where Stormchaser was helplessly lying.

She gawks as Umbra collides with her. As they fall, Umbra wraps her forelegs around Stormchaser and they land on Big Mac’s back. Umbra puts her left legs on the lancer housing on Big Mac’s side, using the foothold to help keep Stormchaser pinned down. Big Mac does a complete reversal, slides across the ground as he turns and starts making his way back to us. His eyes dart to the right as three Og Nag come bolting at him.

My soldiers immediately take aim with their bows and make shot work of our clumsy assailants. We cheer loudly and I’m caught off guard by just how coordinated these two were. They were great for moral and provided us with both speed and maneuverability. Big Mac looks over to his left and skids to a halt. A monstrous roar makes me flinch. Big Mac whips around and starts running away. I raise a confused eyebrow, when I see the behemoth he runs from. Standing at a staggering nine feet tall, a garge with a massive chestpeice and helmet chases after Big Mac. It swings its axes a few times, narrowly missing Big Mac.

It already has several arrows in its back, but it’s not slowing down.

“Take that thing down at all costs! If it’s going after Stormchaser, then she knows something vital!” I scream at the top of my lungs. My soldiers glance at each other nervously, but pull out their swords and leave the safety of the bunker. Moral was already running low with half our people gone in one attack and we still haven’t even come within eyesight of the objective. They let out a powerful cheer and start sending arrow after arrow into the beast. It completely ignores them and keeps going after Big Mac and his passengers.

Even he can’t outrun a garge.