Several yaks try to charge the assassin, who easily dodges to the side and follows up with quick swipes, beheading any yak who attacks. His long tail acts as a perfect counterbalance, allowing him to spin on spot and perform maneuvers that would otherwise be impossible for a normal Garge. Bargna slowly backs up while watching each yak helplessly try to catch a leg, just to be cut to shreds. With smaller axes, this assassin Garge was almost impossible to dodge. Instead of a huge, heavy swing, they were lightning fast and absolutely brutal.

Bargna’s eyes are wide and his mouth trembles. Then he does the unthinkable: he turns around and runs into the forest. Emeris and I watch with bulging eyes. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pity, despite being left high and dry. Yes, they were prideful and strong, but this is war. You get tested, strained and broken. When the Assassin is done cleaving through yaks, he turns his attention to us. He sneers with his massive jaws and starts charging. There was no way either of us could outrun or outmaneuver this thing.

Emeris instinctively reaches over and grabs my wrist while watching in horror. Right before impact, another black Assassin shoulder-rams the first Assassin from his right, sending him tumbling across the dirt. Pharynx’s deep voice makes me jump. “Raiden get out of here! I’ll deal with this one!” Emeris and I fall back to our soldiers and the last two yaks we have, who are covered in blood that’s not their own and completely in shock.

The Assassin roars and charges Pharynx. Pharynx dives forward and to the left, plants a hand on the ground and legsweeps the Assassin, who cries out and drops both his axes so he can roll across the ground. Pharynx runs at him, but the Assassin spins around and hits Pharynx with his tail. Pharynx stumbles back from the blow and almost falls backwards. The Assassin ducks down and charges, tackling him in the midsection. As they hit the ground, the Assassin goes for a bite and Pharynx barely has enough time to lean his head to the side. They haven’t even rolled back fully when Pharynx brings up his legs, plants both feet on the Assassin’s stomach and uses his momentum to send the Assassin flying. Pharynx backrolls to his feet right before the Assassin eats dirt.

Pharynx stumbles to the left and right slightly but shakes his head and runs to the Assassin. The Assassin gets to his feet and goes for another bite on Pharynx’s neck. Pharynx ducks, wraps his left arm over the Assassins shoulder, his other arm under the Assassin’s left shoulder, then yanks him to the right, throwing him back to the ground.

The Assassin rolls on the ground helplessly and before he’s even up, Pharynx jumps on his back and wraps one arm under the Assassin’s jaw and his other arm below the Assassin’s right arm then behind the assassins head, completely locking up the monster’s right arm and head. They roll across the dirt a few times, but Pharynx doesn’t let go. The Assassin gags and flails helplessly. Pharynx leans his head back then rocks forward, grabbing the Assassin’s right arm in his jaws. He bites hard and rocks his mouth back and forth, eventually tearing through the monster’s arm, ripping it off completely.

The Assassin reaches up with his rear legs and digs into Pharynx’s arms with nasty claws. Pharynx howls angrily but still keeps the Assassin locked in. The moment the Assassin starts going limp, Pharynx’s arm flexes right before giving the Assassin a nasty snap.

Pharynx transforms back into his normal self, panting wildly with his right foreleg bleeding badly. Emeris bolts over, picks up Pharynx and brings him back. Pharynx quivers in Emeris’ arms, with green blood pouring down Emeris’ armor. Private Ingenia runs over with more bandages and does her best to dress the wound.
“Get him out of here, private. He’s done enough.”

The body count was high. Moral was shattered and no one but me seems to notice that we’re running out of neutrals. No matter how powerful the yaks were, they could get overrun and swarmed. Even our Growlers couldn’t handle a horde of Og Nag climbing all over it. We needed the neutrals as fodder. I hated admitting it, as no soldier should ever be reduced to a pawn, but that’s how battles work.

I look over at Emeris, who pants heavily and holds his throat that had to be sore from all his yelling. “This...this isn’t working! We’re running out of troops!” I holler.

Emeris looks behind him and I see a burst of desperation in his eyes. He turns back and glances at the mountain. “We gotta fall back to Canterlot mountain! I know it’s the worst place, but once the neutrals run out, we’ll get swarmed!” I look back at the mountain that was too far away at this point. We’d all get blitzed from behind trying to retreat. Even if we got there, then what? Maybe we had burned through another thousand Og Nag, but they still had nine thousand left.

Do we call in the princesses? Do we risk our last defense? Before I have time to think, a group of Og Nag break off and charge us. My soldiers are still mixed in with the neutrals and if they leave, we’ll lose control of the frontline completely. The only thing allowing us to hold our own, was my soldiers taking care of any problems. If an Og Nag started pushing through, one of my people killed it. If one of our neutrals started pushing too far ahead, they’d pull them back. Keeping a flat line instead of a chaotic wavy front, was also part of the reason we could hold it together so far.

Despite being somewhat brainless, the neutrals quickly adapted to how we did things. New arrivals waited patiently for their spot, while the Og Nag literally climbed over each other in a messy wave, just to get killed with no way of maneuvering away. Tactics was how we made up for the neutrals lack of aggression, compared to your standard berserking Og Nag. While their crazed nature made them terrifying to fight, they got messy when in a large group. Their bloodlust made them desperate for a kill, leading to poor footwork and even worse maneuvers. Of course, when you don’t feel fear, storming enemy lines in large waves was your best bet.

An Og Nag my size charges me. No weapon, just claws and jaws, making him extra fast and vicious. I pull out my sword and jam it into his stomach up to his heart, with my other hand on his throat so he can’t bite me. He stops and plows into my chest piece. A second adversary shrieks and runs up to me with a hatchet in each hand. I don’t have time to pull out my sword without risking a hit, so I grab a nearby shield from the dirt and shoulder-ram him with it. He staggers back but keeps his footing. Emeris ducks under his opponent and cuts off his hand. Without looking, Emeris tosses his sword over his shoulder. I turn and catch it. Rapid footsteps approach from behind. I whirl around and slam the sword up into the Og Nag’s head through its jaw. We both roar at each other before he goes silent and falls to the ground. Emeris has already pulled out a boot dagger and slid it into the back of his opponent's head.

I motion for our left flank to fall back, but they’re surrounded now. There were too many, far too many. Even if we controlled this situation, the entire ocean of Og Nag slowly approaching would change it all. Zaran was sending just enough to overwhelm us, to where even if we busted out a trump card, he’d have plenty of reinforcements. If the princesses use their magic, Zaran will attack us himself.

My head snaps up as a massive shadow passes over the ground. There’s nothing to be seen and it passed too quickly to catch a glimpse. Did Zaran have even more beasts to bring to the fight? A deafening roar makes us almost fall to our knees as we cover our ears. Emeris pats me on the shoulder repeatedly while yelling inaudibly. As I look up at him, he’s pointing to some massive black creature in the sky.

Luna’s voice briefly startles me from my left. “It’s Daruk! He was just a hatchling when I first met him! I haven’t seen him in years!” she cries happily. Whatever Daruk was, he was absolutely massive. He plummets and lands on the ground roughly forty feet from me, but only a few inches from my face.

I had never seen a creature like him before. His head was similar to the Assassin we just faced, but thicker. His mouth could swallow a man whole. His large, yellow eyes look me over with a blatantly unimpressed expression. A dozen massive horns stuck out from the back of his head, along with two main ones that were a dull gray color. His wings made him larger than a Growler. His forelegs were angled at a way that made it look like he could wield weapons if need be, or crawl on all fours. His tail swishes behind him casually, despite the entire Og Nag army storming over to his position.

He casually looks over his shoulder and a tidal wave of fire erupts from his mouth. It shakes the ground violently, almost exploding from his throat. A Garge is hit first and it engulfs his entire chest, forcing his arms and legs to fly off in various directions. The blast doesn’t even slow down and drills through dozens of Og Nag in a split second. The ground below his breath of fire, is in flames with glowing red-hot armor littering the ground. The rest of the Og Nag would need a few minutes to get back to him.

He takes the time and casually walks on all fours to me, slowly circling Luna and I. Spikes like his back and travel all the way down his tail. His voice is so deep, it takes my ears a few seconds to register what he’s saying.

“So...this is the little human I’ve been hearing about. Hard to imagine you’ve been the one causing so many problems.”

The look on Luna’s face creates a tad amount of jealousy in my chest. She beams at him the way Hurrand looks at money. “Daruk! This is General Raiden! He’s been leading our forces for-” She stops talking when Daruk scoffs condescendingly, his yellow eyes never stop scanning me.

“I must admit I was interested upon seeing all the smoke coming from this direction. A dragon’s life is one of solitary however and these ponies don’t take kindly to me...exploring. That being said, their reactions are quite...entertaining. Tell me Raiden, if I were to attack you right now, what would you do?” He stops and his eyes lock with mine and have this uncomfortable eagerness to them.

Luna laughs lightly. “Come now Daruk, we don’t have time for-”

His tone is angry and direct, yet he doesn’t look away from me. “Let him speak. Do you really think you could stop me, Raiden?”

Was he actually challenging or messing with me? How the hell would I even try to fight something that big? Even with an army.

He chuckles once, his eyes not leaving my face. “Satisfy me with an answer and I shall help you. What would you do if I attacked you right now? If I decided that you were my prey, what would you do?!”

My face was a rock, but my insides were liquid. “Honestly, while there’s probably no way I could stop you, I’d probably call you a coward and make sure to jam my sword somewhere inside your mouth that you couldn’t get to, so you’d never forget my name.”

He goes quiet and the air is tense. He doesn’t bother to turn around at the approaching Og Nag. His eyes dart across my face and no one makes a sound. Then, he chuckles with some form of amused anger. “I like you little human. Had you answered with some babbling cowardice, I would have left you to your fate.”

A Garge cocks his arm and hurls an ax into the side of Daruk’s face. It barely makes his head move. He stares at me for a moment, then narrows his eyes and turns his gaze to the Garge. He snorts out a small plume of fire. The Garge roars and charges him. Daruk waits for the Garge to get within range, then with a nasty swipe of his tail, sends the Garge sailing so hard, it plows through a stone wall from a previous fence. Dozens of Og Nag run up to Daruk’s feet with swords drawn. Daruk inhales, then coats the ground with flame that spreads across the dirt like an infernal flood. Every adversary falls forward and gets submerged in fire. What is left, are glowing orange weapons and smoke from what bits of metal remained.

Luna puts a hoof on my shoulder. “Raiden, we need to fall back to Canterlot. Daruk needs...as much room as we can give him.” I purse my lips slightly, still annoyed that the only reason he gets to be the savior, was due to the body he was given, unlike myself who had to earn everything from the ground up. Luna is so calm and relaxed that I can’t help but send a rock flying with my foot. She says nothing and pretends not to notice.

The tide of Og Nag isn’t quite here yet, but there’s plenty of stragglers that want some. Another Garge runs at him mindlessly. Daruk snatches him up with a quick bite and throws him effortlessly into the air. The Garge flies so high, it takes almost a full twenty seconds for him to come back down. Daruk breaths a small jet of flame onto several smaller units, who fall to the ground squealing as soon as it hits them. Their bodies crackle and pop, exploding into small bits.

Two Garges try to be smart and split up, then ambush him from either side. Daruk mindlessly plows one of his claws into a Garge and with a quick jerk, tears it in half. The creature’s upper body goes flying and its legs fall to the ground. His ally grips his ax with both hand and brings it down on Daruk’s tail. Daruk casually looks behind him and sends the Garge flying with a rear kick. The Garge tumbles backwards across the dirt faster than I could ever run and stops when he slams into the side of the mountain, a few hundred feet away.

Daruk chuckles and narrows his eyes. “Is this all the mighty Zaran has to offer? I’m not impressed.” His tone is condescending and challenging. Part of me is nervous about provoking Zaran, although I wouldn’t mind seeing of Zaran could hold a candle to Daruk. If he could, he surely would have attacked us himself by now at least. A loud screech fills the air and dozens of creatures are flying overhead. I cover my eyes with a hand and see the Abominations. What’s worse, is their formation is exactly what I’m used to seeing from the Wonderbolts.

Daruk looks up at them, barely even showing any sign of amusement. He rolls his shoulders, acting like he’s doing a small amount of stretching. It’s only a few seconds later that what we thought was arrogance, was really knowledge. A much larger creature appears above them, and in a bright flash, several Abominations fall straight to the ground. The rest split up to avoid their new adversary.

One group that breaks off, heads towards us and for a moment, we draw our weapons and brace for an attack. I can clearly make out the Abominations, but it only lasts for a second as another dazzling beam fries them. They kick up large plums of dirt and smoke as they collide into the ground. As if Daruk wasn’t enough, a second dragon appears, much different in appearance. “Raiden! We need to talk!” She calls out in a familiar, feminine voice.

Her skin is white with short fur across it that shimmers a light shade of purple in the sun. While Daruk’s head was narrow and wide like a predator, her mouth is rounder at the snout and her head is a bit wider. Her eyes are a brilliant teal, with a smaller ring of blue around her pupils. Small particles of white light, almost like fireflies, drift out of her mouth even with it closed. Instead of spikes going down her back, she has strange fins with tiny claws every foot or so. She’s a bit smaller than Daruk, with teeth that look like they’re not meant to tear flesh from bone. Even her tail had a fin on either side at the tip.

Her eyes are wide and excited, as if she hadn’t seen me in a while. “Oh! I’m sorry! Raiden, it’s me! Umbra!”