The jungle was deep with darkness and thick with trees so monstrously large that Cloud’s ego felt threatened. Outside of thinking about different ways to comically insult himself, Cloud found himself impressed; even without countless monsters and without the feeling of a looming curse, the jungle was far more intimidating than the Everfree.

Beside Cloud walked a police officer who had volunteered to help in stopping the golem, in whatever way that might be, and beside her on her left side walked the large Zebra who'd caused Cloud’s arrest in the first place. On hearing the punishment Cloud had accepted, the large Zebra, who went by the name Toestel, had insisted he join them. Despite not being around for this, nor knowing his name, Cloud suspected this was some attempt to prove his manliness or bravura. Bravura himself, the other large though considerably more toned Zebra, waking in front, leading the small group through the jungle.

“{How much longer do we walk through this fucking jungle?!}” Toestel snarled. His personality was sweet as Marmite.

“{Keep using language like that and I’ll worsen your punishment,}” Bravura’s spoke in a voice deep and threatening, whilst avoiding direct aggression. “{Though truth be told, this is worse than deserved, but I'm sure you understand what I mean. The journey to the creature’s cave will take another two and a half hours of travel, barring any interruptions.}”

“{We need to head more east soon, boss,}” the female officer spoke up. “{And, we shouldn't pass through any territories of anything particularly dangerous, so no worries on being interrupted.}”

“{Thank you, Ferret.}”

Cloud had run out of remarks about lacking context and was resolved to walking in silence. His scrap of cloth and stolen research had been left back at the police station in Oregano. He had doubted they would have any uses in fighting monsters, or at least not without reading them thoroughly beforehand.

“{Something else, boss,}” Ferret continued, “{when I was scouting out the area, I noticed a good clearing near the cave. Could use it to set up a quick base, make sure we're prepared and such.}”

“{Doubly thank you,}” Bravura smiled as he glanced back at her. The smile dropped considerably, though not totally, as he shifted his gaze to Cloud. “How much time will you need to prepare yourself once we arrive?”

“Uh… A couple of minutes to limber up?” Cloud suggested. “I usually don’t have ‘prep time’ in these things.” It sounds like a monster I can easily deal with using magic, so if I just boost myself and blast it nothing will likely happen. Stone isn’t affected by electricity too well, last I checked, and my magic has an electrical tinge. A boosted bolt could blast it to bits, or it could do nothing at all. If I think about this more- Well, at all… why do I never have prep time?

“What's our plan going into this?” Cloud asked. “I'm very open to suggestions.”

“{Ferret?}” Asked Bravura. “{One cave entrance?}”

“{That I could see, but I can't be sure without exploring the cave from inside,}” she replied.

“{Right.} We first set up a small base to prepare,” Bravura said to Cloud. “You said you can teleport things?”

Cloud nodded, and suppressed how impressed he was at Bravura’s kinesthetic sense - he'd been walking while looking back for some time now.

“Good, then Ferret will- Gah-!” Bravura had walked into a bush. He righted himself and continued walking before continuing. “Ehem… Ferret will scout out the cave more with you and I backing her up. We’ll follow a distance, with you ready to teleport her out of danger if needed. I'll provide combat assistance so you can focus on your spells, and Toestel will cover our flanks.”

“Sounds solid.” Cloud nodded as if to back up his words.

“{Not having context doesn't do me favours, boss,}” chimed Ferret.

Bravura laughed sheepishly before turning to her and explaining the same.

The group continued through the jungle without delay.

Within Canterlot castle, shadows burst towards one figure. With a few swings of a blade, twelve royal guards fell defeated.

“Your abilities are poor enough that I defeated you even without prep time,” grumbled Sight Watcher. He stood in his personal chambers, surrounded by his attackers. After defeating Cloud in his trial of combat, Princess Celestia had personally promoted him to Corporal, and leader of Squadron 20 of the royal guards. He, as well all other squadron leaders, took orders directly from the captain of the royal guards; Shining Armour.

“You need to be better than this,” Watcher continued, “Dragons have much keener senses than Ponies.” He sheathed his sword, a gold-pommeled gladius, and marched to the doorway. “Half rations for the rest of the week.”

“Sir,” whined one of the fallen soldiers, “you’re so unfair! We tried our best!”

“War is unfair,” he called back before the door slammed behind him.

Private Parts stood up. “Man, what an asshole.”

“Hey, Parts, you on cleaning today?” Asked Private Affair, as Private Server helped him up.

“Yeah… uh…” Spare Parts started walking towards the door. “I'll do it… after lunch… yeah…” Annoyed sighs followed him out of the room. To call Parts lazy would be a understatement, and the whole of Squadron 20 had come to know it.

After cleaning up their poor attempt at an ambush, the rest of the squadron returned to the barracks. The barracks had become home to many Privates in the squadron and, despite the harsh life their employment brought them, no soldier had any plans of ever quitting. The squadron’s common room had become homely, almost like a cross between a living room and bar. No alcohol was allowed of course, not that the rule stopped anyone who desired it, but the ‘bar’ was instead stocked with different vegetable and fruit juices.

After an hour or so from their return, the room had gone back to its usual atmosphere. The feeling of winding down after a day's work spread through the room, alongside the sound of chatter and pool balls clacking against each other.

Like a cleaning swab wiping a dirtied surface, the good vibes and relaxed atmosphere suddenly came to a halt. Watcher had marched into the common room, his head held high and haughty despite the many stink eyes rolling his way. He came to a stop at the centre of the room and in a strong, commanding voice he found fitting for a Corporal, he bellowed:

“Bring me Private Parts!”

His hard, stoic expression remained unchanged despite the snickers crawling about the room.

Parts sighed as he approached, stopping with a salute and half hearted, “Sir.”

“The mess hall is filthy, Private,” Watcher growled. “You were assigned to cleaning duty this week, correct?”

“Well, sir, it is called a mess hall-”

“Silence!” Watcher barked. “I am in no mood for jokes, Private! The purpose of assigning you to cleaning duty was to instil some discipline!”

“All due respect, sir, that's a pretty stupid idea.” Parts was promptly struck across the head. “I also don't see the logic in hitting your own soldiers.” He was struck a second time.

“As the leader of this squadron, I have free reign to train and discipline all of you as I please.” Watcher stood tall, savouring the chance to wield his authority.

“But you only got the job because your squadmate was killed in action,” Parts complained, his voice like a never-ending yawn. “Why would they promote you of all people?”

The events following Honeybee Wingbeat’s death - Cloud’s banishment and trial as a whole - had been kept secret among the politically powerful. Watcher had failed to realise that his promotion was a move the Captain had made in place of hush money and was by no means a reward. His love for his government coloured him greedy, and his new paycheque along with inflated pride had been put towards a self-congratulatory reward: A gold-pommeled gladius he had named ‘Justice’.

“Do not question your betters, Private!” Watcher barked again. “I earned this position for serving my Queen, which is more than could be said for a lowly Private like you.”

He barks so much, you think he'd tree-t us better… Parts thought, resisting the urge to smile at his awful, awful pun.

“When I order you to do something, I expect it to be done. Be certain to remember that.”

“Yes, sir,” Parts sighed. “I'll get to cleaning then.” He walked away lazily, not ever bothering a salute.

Watcher scowled. His gaze never left Parts until he was far and away.

As Bravura had predicted, the cave was now in their sight after two and a half hours of walking through the jungle. He let himself fall back slightly, allowing Ferret to take the lead.

“{Clearing’s just over here, boss,}” said Ferret, without turning to face him. With her guidance, they quickly reached the clearing to the left of the cave.

“{We didn't bring any gear, so this is hardly a camp,}” Bravura chuckled, “{but we can rest up for a while.}”

Cloud had given up listening when the others spoke in Zebrican, and had started tuning it out. He hoped anything important that was said would get translated for him. He sat down, letting his legs rest from the long walk. For once, his mind was quiet as he took in his surroundings.

The clearing was just that - fewer of the enormous trees were around, meaning there was enough light to see fairly well. Cloud’s stomach gurgled a little, but he paid it no mind. If the clearing was so close to the golem’s home, he suspected it could be where the creature relieved itself. This thought stayed in his mind as he glanced at Toestel mindlessly chewing on grass.

After a little time to stretch himself out and discuss his plan with Ferret, Bravura walked over and sat sat next to Cloud.

“Nervous?” Bravura asked. “To fight a creature like this is no joke.”

Cloud’s mind reflected on the Dragon that attacked Ponyville and then further back to Nightmare Moon.

“No,” Cloud finally replied. “No, I've faced worse.”

“Very well.” Bravura stood up. “Then there's no reason to further delay.”

As planned, Ferret lead the way into the cave with Cloud and Bravura following a short distance behind her. Behind the two of them followed Toestel, at around the same distance the two were from Ferret.

Ferret worked quickly and quietly, checking around corners of the ongoing tunnel as it twisted deeper into the ground. Cloud kept his horn charged but not lit, instead following the lead of Bravura through the darkness. Soon, the darkness became too much for even that, and Cloud found himself lighting his horn after all, though keeping the light very low. It did not spread far enough to be an immediate threat to Ferret’s stealth, but he found himself feeling tense all the same.

All of a sudden, the previously continuous rock walls opened out into a large cave. As before, Ferret checked the corners from the entryway, but followed the right wall rather than continuing forward into the deep darkness. She now relied on the feeling of the ground beneath her as guidance, focusing all but sight on what surrounded them. She stopped suddenly, and the others followed suit. Cloud dimmed his light. In front, Ferret could feel movement rumbling gently into her hooves. For a brief yet long moment, all was silent. Nobody dared draw breath. The rumbling faded to nothing, and Ferret slowly exhaled.

The monster exploded with movement ahead of them, and charged. Cloud abandoned his attempt to be stealthy and lit his horn to maximum.

The beast was horrific. Tall as the Ponyville library, the monster vaguely resembled a gorilla. Clumps of rock and mud made up its body, long streaks of moss hung from its chest, and two chunks of onyx buried in what could be called its head resembled a pair of rough, beastial eyes.

The monster roared again, throwing a colossal fist at Ferret as fast as a train. With no time to teleport Ferret, Cloud grabbed her in magic and yanked her towards himself. He wasn’t fast enough, and the boulder of a fist connected with her right foreleg, tearing it from her body. Ferret screamed, and Cloud found himself too frozen in shock to act. The golem had already reached them, and brought down both fists to crush them. Bravura grabbed the two of them, one with each hoof, and threw them aside. He jumped back soon after, but was thrown with the force of the shockwave as the beast’s fists smashed into the ground. Toestel was petrified with fear, not moving even as the best threw a boulder. Bravura rolled awkwardly and painfully, then kicked off toward Toestel and tackling him out of the way.

Turning to the source of the light, the golem charged again toward Cloud and the heavily bleeding Ferret. With more time to react and a grit set of teeth, Cloud teleported Ferret to Bravura and at the same time summoned a Support Circle under his feet. He flew upward above the monster, circled around and fired off a boosted magic bolt at its back. The bolt smashed against the beast, pushing it forward a little and bringing up dust but doing no visible damage.

“Over here, you ugly fuck!” Cloud yelled with his voice amplify spell, trying to keep its attention.

“{Get her out of here!}” Bravura barked to Toestel, who hastily obeyed as Bravura ran back towards the golem.

Again and again, the golem threw its fists at the flying Cloud and again and again Cloud dodged them in the air, out-maneuvering the fists on his Support Circle. He fired off a boosted bolt when he could, but still to little effect. Come on! Something’s gotta work! He tried a disorientation blast to no avail before swearing loudly and switching back to boosted bolts.

“Wet its legs!” Bravura ordered, as he ran towards the golem’s right leg.

“Got it!” Not wasting time checking where Bravura was, Cloud swooped past the beasts fist yet again and flew low. He dashed between its legs, blasting them with his basic water conjuration spell. He went again, avoiding the left fist, the right fist, and through the legs.

When only a metre away, Bravura launched himself at the golem’s right leg, landing a devastating punch. His hoof smashed into the soaked leg, but it wasn’t enough to do more than a reasonable dent. The golem stumbled, but stood tall with a roar and switched its attention to Bravura. Before it could do a thing, Cloud let loose a whirlwind of tiny, rapid fire magic bolts into the golem’s face which snapped back to him. It opened its mouth to roar, only to be waterboarded with another torrent of conjured water.

Using the distraction to its fullest, Bravura had built up another running start to again launch himself at the golem’s right leg. A second devastating punch landed in the dent of the first, and this time smashed through. The creature roared in agony as its leg crumbled into pieces, and fell onto its back. As Bravura leapt out of the way, a colossal fist flew to him in midair. For a split second, time seemed to stand still - the unavoidable fist coming right for him.

With everything he could muster, Cloud pushed his Support Circle to its limit. Magical energy visibly rose through his body, red light spilled from his eyes, and a matching red energy encircled his horn - a boosted magic surge. Cloud unleashed a magic bolt which overcharged into his red, electrical beam many times more powerful than the version in his bought with Nightmare. The beam slammed into the golem’s soaked head, obliterating it.

Its fist fell mid-punch, sparing Bravura who landed in a heap. Cloud’s Support Circle shattered beneath him, and he fell. His still slightly glowing horn was visibly smoking, and his body was limp. Surprisingly, he stayed conscious, and saw the ground coming faster and faster. A flash of black and white filled his vision, and he felt himself stop with minimal pain. Bravura had caught him.

Bravura set Cloud down on the ground and the two merely lay there, breathing heavily. Neither had the heart to speak.