Opening his eyes, the human looked more dead than alive as he stood in the center of the pass. His entire body was stained red and black from the blood and dirt he was covered in, his white eyes contrasting starkly against his filthy body.

The sight gave the wolves a moment of pause as they looked to the obstacle in their way. As they skid to a stop not far after rounding the corner the wolves in the front panted while the ones in the rear growled and howled, wondering why they had stopped. Looking forward at the man as he stood motionless minus the heaving of his broad chest causing his shoulders to raise and lower slowly the Shucks couldn’t decide which of them wanted to go first and try their luck with the menacing creature as it stood at the end of the passage that was covered wall to wall with the dead bodies of their littermates.

Growing impatient, Hank took the initiative and took off into a steady jog, regaining the ground he had lost in the first wave. Sending blood splatter everywhere with every breath he took from his nose and mouth his arms dripped deep red as he strode forwards.

As the human got closer his breaths got heavier and heavier until he eventually crossed the thirty foot mark and broke into a full bore sprint as a deep bellow worked its way up from deep in his chest.

The clear sign of aggression set off the deepest of predatory instincts within the Shucks causing them to break from their stasis and lurch forward on a collision course with the screaming human.

A particularly motivated strider leaped over the front two rows and shucks and quickly accelerated away from the group like a missile toward the human opening its jaws as its signature shriek cut through the air, drowning out the man and its kin behind it alike. Leaping into the air just as the distance between it and the human became mere feet, Hank turned his head to the right and tucked his shoulder while covering the side of his head with his arm and pushed forward even harder.

Head impacting the charging human’s shoulder, the strider’s neck instantly snapped while its body was sent spinning through the air before harshly slamming down onto the rock below cracking the skull wide open, ending its offensive as quickly as it began.

Shrugging off the impact like it didn’t even happen Hank untucked his shoulder right as he met the main force of the second wave and shoved the first Shuck he met with his full energy like a linebacker sending it flying back into the group, toppling the ones it was flung into over.

Now directly within the Shuck’s ranks a wolf at his side tried to snap at his left leg from its advantageous position on his flank while he dealt with the ones in front of him. Just as quickly as the K9 attempted to sink its teeth into the muscle of his calf the leg was just as quickly pulled upwards and away before instantly exploding back downwards pushing the Shuck into the stone wall of the pass. If the sounds of battle had not been so loud the sharp crack of the black furred wolf’s skull on rock would have surely echoed through, not today though, today was filled with much, much more than a single death.

Pulling the knife out from the armpit of the wolf with a twist Hank gave a quick jab of the blade through the ribs for good measure before pushing the punctured beast away and turning to the stunned Shuck on the ground that was still trying to get the sound of its own skull cracking out of its ears and thrusting the blade through the ribs with a hard and fast plunge that easily made its way through the bone and into the heart. Tensing from the strike for a moment the Shuck’s body quickly went limp, the human pulling the knife free from the chest cavity not a second later once the kill had been confirmed.

Twisting as he stood upright from his slightly bent over position Hank nearly fell onto his back again as he somewhat awkwardly had to take a few steps back as a strider and a regular Shuck snapped their maws at his at the same time. Fumbling back before finding his footing the human lunged forward at the strider but only found air as the more intelligent sub species dodged rearward out of range.

Just as he started to pull his arm rearward at the failed strike the regular Shuck lunged forward and onto its rear legs reaching for his upper body. Back stepping again his leg was quickly latched onto by the strider holding him in place, knowing he couldn’t get out of range of the thrashing jaws with his leg caught the human bobbed and weaved out of the Shuck’s path to focus on the strider that had his entire lower leg clamped in its jaws.

With its head in the sideways position clamped onto the human’s leg the strider easily saw the man focus on it and quickly disengaged from its target, knowing that there was no way it could win a one on one encounter. As such Hank’s downward thrust missed again greatly angering the man who kicked at the strider pushing it further away from him as he turned to address the Shuck he had slipped.

Thrusting his right elbow out to his side like a chicken wing as he also pushed off his feet in the same direction, the hard bone of the joint clacked against the side of the wolf’s skull sending pin pricks all up and down his arm while causing the Shuck to stumble back and lean against the rock wall as it tried to keep its balance on two legs.

Twisting his body to face the Shuck, stepping back with his right leg, he fired off a kick with his left allowing the appendage to rise as he aimed for the ribs of the wolf. Pulling his entire weight through the kick the Shuck jumped in pain when it connected and slumped forward, the breath drained from its lungs.

Forcefully pulling the leg back down from the side of the four legged beast Hank used the momentum as he twisted back into his base stance and thrust his knife into the left side of the neck causing the wolf to grit its teeth as it was forced to the hard ground by the blade in its neck.

Ending on the ground in a kneel, Hank twisted the knife and pulled it free before lunging forward at the group as he pushed himself back onto two feet.

<><><>

On her back hoof as well Luna took slow step back after slow step back as the relentless pack endlessly pushed forward. Blood oozing from her nose Luna gave one last push of her shield sending the Shucks down the hill they had just climbed.

Shrieking in pain at the splitting migraine the overuse of her magic was creating, Luna dropped her shield in favor of her buckler and sword. As the migraine subsided in the smallest way Luna limped forward to deal with the stragglers in just the same way she had done ten times before.

Everything hurt in one way or another, muscles screamed for pause yet Luna allowed for none as she pressed forward, uppercutting a charging Shuck with her buckler, pushing it on two legs, before splitting its stomach with her sword.

Spitting blood as she walked past the disemboweled beast, not even giving pause to finish it off, Luna clumsily dodged another as it lunged and gave it a quick poke in the heart with her sword as it galloped past where she had been walking just a second before. Turning to make sure it was dying, Luna stumbled over a corpse and ended up on her side, her weak legs failing to keep her upright.

As she used her wings to roll herself over, the lunar princess groaned in pain as she finally ended back on her stomach. Preparing herself, Luna took a deep breath and started to push herself back up, nearly tearing up from the lactic acid that had built up in all her appendages as she did.

On her hooves once again Luna slowly trod forward holding her blade in front of her sideways before using the buckler to knock a Shuck into it, slitting its throat as she quickly pulled the tungsten blade while sidestepping the wolf at the same time.

Luna truly was happy she had paid what she had when she had the blade commissioned all those years ago. Even if it was enough to build a small village she had most certainly gotten what she paid for. It was a masterpiece, made to fit her perfectly. It was simple yet elegant, just how Luna liked to think she was, from the blade profile to the slightly extended cross guard to the exquisite wire wrapping of the handle that let her magic permeate into every millihoof.

The blade was fast, maneuverable, and so sharp it could quite literally shave a piece of paper in half. The issue currently was not the sword but the pony behind it.

Luna was sluggish and cumbersome in contrast to her sword. The exhaustion both physical and mental mixed with the numerous injuries that were scattered across her body slowed the princess immensely.

It had come across the ponies mind that if the current version of her was forced into a sparring match with the version of herself she had been twelve hundred years ago, she would be turned into vapor almost immediately.

While the revelation did anger her, and make her upset with herself, Luna’s mind was far too preoccupied with staying alive rather than focusing on internal reflection of what she had once been.

Head hung low as she approached the edge of the hill for what must have been the twelfth time Luna grit her teeth as she tried to conjure the large wall again only to feel her horn pop and fizzle as the buckler sparkled out of existence and her priceless sword fell to the ground unceremoniously.

Looking at the sword on the ground, not believing her eyes, Luna gulped. She was spent. She was completely drained of all magical reserves. I-it couldn’t be! She was an alicorn, their magical reserves didn’t “run out,” but as she tried her hardest to pick up her sword she was only met with extreme pain in her horn and not even a budge from the sword that had felt weightless just half an hour ago.

It seemed that the lack of exercise and stagnation she had experienced during her banishment was enough to outweigh even her next to godly abilities as an alicorn. Clearing her dry throat of blood once more Luna coughed at the thick iron taste in her mouth and looked back down the hill as more Shuck rallied for yet another charge.

Looking at the charging mass of bodies blankly for a moment, her taxed brain finally processed what was happening and suddenly plunged her body into a panic at the realization of what exactly was happening.

Just because she was out of magic didn’t mean the Shucks would give up, this was life or death and Luna was currently on the shorter end of the rope. Breathing heavily Luna focused as hard as she could and lowered her head putting everything into putting up one more shield wall.

Screaming as her horn exploded in pain she felt the boney appendage crackle and pop as the faintest of outlines appeared before her. Pushing harder as her vision slowly went black around the edges the shield was formed immediately before the rushing wall of black fur reached the injured princess.

Eagerly slamming their bodies into the translucent blue wall Luna felt her knees tremble as her stomach voided itself as late stage symptoms of magic exhaustion strongly washed over her. Hacking to clear the bile out of her throat and nose the midnight purple princess wheezed as she shakily shuffled backwards, her sword slowly disappearing into the black mass that pressed itself against the wall, all while she was powerless to save it.

Her only option now was to make her retreat as long as possible and extend the inevitable. She hoped Hank was still alive.

<><><>

Pushing the Shuck away from him as he backed away, pulling a strider along with him as it clamped itself on the same left leg that had been bit into before, Hank yelled in anger and grabbed a rock from the wall to his left before slamming it down on the side if the strider’s head making it lose its grip on his heavily injured leg. Having lost his knife only moments before, the man was limited to just his hands to defend himself as a seemingly endless number of wolves flooded into the packed flanking route.

Leaning over and grabbing the injured strider the large human lifted it easily to his chest by the fur on its back before flinging it into the gnashing jaws of its brothers who quickly tore it apart just to get to him quicker.

They were in an absolute frenzy to kill the man, his resistance had lasted too long, he’d taken too many of their litter mates’ lives, the defiance on display only enraged the evil wolves who were used to everything falling easily under their combined might.

Not Hank though, Hank was a stranger to easy; and even though every muscle burned, and the blood from his busted scalp kept obscuring his vision he fought on, unwilling to give an inch of the pass unless he made a Shuck pay with its life.

Facing off with the horde, his arms raised and hands clenched into fists, Hank parried one Shuck to the right, throwing it into the wall. Doing the same to his left Hank pulled back his arm and slammed his right elbow into its windpipe, before throwing it to the ground to asphyxiate.

As he turned to address the one he had initially thrown into the right wall he stopped and drove his knee into the snout of another strider that was trying to leg sweep him. Moving to eliminate the wide mouthed bitch he caught a claw to the side of the head and neck from the Shuck he had left pinned against the wall. Screaming in rage, the human exploded to his right throwing a monstrous left hook across the face of the wolf, breaking its jaw. As the wolf slumped to his right from the blow to its side he caught it with his right hand as it fell, pulling it back up before slamming its head into the stone over and over again, a red splatter growing larger and more chucky with each strike.

“I’M GONNA FUCKIN…RAAGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Mind too angry for words, the human flew into a frenzy, throwing the very much dead wolf to his side just as another grabbed him by his left elbow and harshly yanked him down to the ground where he was more vulnerable.

Pulling away from the Shuck that still had his arm trapped, Hank could feel the teeth in the muscle of his tricep as his right hand scrambled to find another stone. Finding one just in time he swung the rock into the side of the head of his enemy, cracking its orbital and making its eye fall out of its head.

Free again, the human rolled backwards to avoid another set of jaws and counter attacked with the same stone, taking a great many of the Shuck’s teeth with the strike as he got back on his feet and promptly kicked the front leg of the Shuck to the side, breaking it easily.

Screaming in pain from around the clump of bleeding gums and teeth in its mouth the Shuck fell to the floor and was immediately trampled over by its zealous brothers and sisters. Backing away from the still approaching group Hank threw the rock at one of the two rushing opponents hitting it dead in the eye making it stumble as the other leapt for him.

Intercepting its attack easily, Hank held the wolf back by the nape of its neck, feeling the vibrations of its growls in his hand before grabbing it by the long fur and pulling it into a knee that was sent directly for its kidney. The human knew the strike was effective when he felt the wolf lurch forwards and happily followed its lead pulling it downwards, letting go as its rear paws slipped out from under it.

As the teeth shattered in its mouth from the instant stop the rocky ground provided Hank stepped forward and drove his right leg down, collapsing the skull in an instant with a loud crunch. The sound and sight made the man smile and a deranged gargled laugh bubble out of his throat.

Looking up from his handiwork, a large toothy smile on his face despite his injuries, another Shuck lunged at him but to his surprise ducked its head before promptly ramming its huge self directly into his sternum, flinging him back and wiping the deranged smile from his face.

Lungs completely devoid of air Hank gasped and wheezed while he slowly pushed himself to his feet. A measly ten feet from the entrance of the pass the breathless human looked behind him and saw Luna slowly limping backwards, a massive tide of Shucks on the other side of her barrier.

Giving a quickly glance back down the pass as the Shucks rushed toward him Hank looked to his right and left for anything, anything at all to use as a weapon before he spotted it: the very thing that had set humanity apart from the animals, a big fucking rock.

Hastily pulling the hundred pound small bolder from the wall in front of him with both hands, the rock that should have strained his shoulders on Earth felt light as he juggled the weight a few times and pulled the rock over his right shoulder and swung it down with a guttural yell that sounded less like a modern man and more like the early humans that used the stone to begin humanities advancement.

Slamming the stone down on the side of the head of the wolf in the strangely golf swing-esk move, the wolf was flung into the wall to its side before falling into a heap on the ground. Pulling himself back up Hank pushed the stone outwards, using it as a rudimentary shield, ramming it square in the face of a tall shuck halting the beast at the cost of a few steps rearward.

Raising the rock above his head, Hank snarled as he looked at the crooked muzzle of the wolf before bringing the two foot across rock down on the top of its skull, snuffing out its life in an instant as skull cracked and brain liquified.

Still being pushed rearward, Hank swung the slab from side to side, top to bottom, bottom to top hoping he could hold out long enough to slip behind Luna’s shield as she retreated past him. His entire body was covered in a thick layer of blood, from head to toe the human was no longer white but a complete layer of dark and bright red. While the human’s sweat did wash some of the caked on fluid away the rate at which it was replaced was tenfold what could be carried away. The man’s new barbaric weapon didn't stem the tide of red either, with every strike splatter was sent in all directions, marking a clear path of death from where the man had first pulled the rock from the wall.

At the mouth of the path Hank tensed the muscles in his neck and growled as the teeth of a Shuck punctured into the thick muscle of his abdominal and lumbar muscles. Looking down at the wolf as it bit harder into him Hank’s eyes burned with rage as he raised the dripping red boulder and brought it down on the spine of the wolf just behind the shoulder blades causing it to go limp and fall to the floor.

Leaving the pathetic thing to crawl away Hank gave a glance behind him only to be met with a wall. Quickly jumping behind it Hank looked back at the pass and the Shucks that were nipping at his heels seeing that a few were most likely going to make it through before Luna and her wall were completely past the opening he had fought so hard to keep closed.

Raising the rock above his head Hank cocked his arms back and threw the stone forward with all his might sending him stumbling backwards. While Hank fell to one knee, catching himself with an outstretched arm, the same could not be said for the lead wolf coming at the human whose head was suddenly missing its left side, the heavy stone taking fur, flesh, and bone alike as it sailed past. A glorious finish to its life as a weapon.

Smiling grimly at the send off, Hank felt his hand bump into something cold and metal on the ground as he fought against his injured leg to stand. He didn’t even have to look at it to know what it was, as his hand found the handle on its own accord Hank unknowingly became the only other being to touch Celestia’s personal long sword since it had been created directly after her sister’s banishment.

Rising to his feet once again the human held the blade in his right hand alone; the large by pony standards sword feeling near weightless in his grasp, a testament to its balance and his strength. Holding the blade in front of him, putting his left hand below his right just above the pommel, the gap shrank to nothingness, closing him and Luna off from the route.

Backing away from the translucent shield slowly, eyeing every Shuck that continued to rage against the barrier, Hank showed no fear at the certain death held back by a steadily faltering shield. Injuries didn't matter to the man, they only added to the pure euphoria he felt, this was his element, what he was made to do.

Hank never felt more alive than when he was dying. The razor's edge that separated life from death is where the feral man wished he could live at all times, but he knew the consequences of such a lifestyle. And there was no way he was going to go hungry like that again.

As the edges of the wall started to fade, the width of the barrier slowly shrank as Luna verged on complete exhaustion as her magical reserves ran empty. Luckily for her, she didn’t have to defend herself anymore, Hank was there and extremely eager to use a longsword for the first time.

While Hank was an intimidating individual by nature, seeing him completely stained red from head to toe, every muscle in his large frame pushing against his skin showing just how much there was hiding under the surface, added a whole new level of scare factor to the man. And even though Luna’s vision was starting to fail when Hank turned around to look at the princess behind him she felt a strange feeling deep in her stomach as she looked back into the wide and wild eyes of the man, a blood stained snarling smile splitting the lower part of his face. There was no fear in those eyes she realized, he wasn’t even nervous, he was enjoying himself despite the circumstance and his injuries.

It was then she understood the man more than ever before. He wasn’t a calm man that could become wildly violent when he wished. He was a wildly violent man who had to fight to keep himself calm. She had never seen such a disturbing look on another living creature’s face, yet on the human it looked absolutely fitting.

As the first few wolves squeezed around the barrier, Hank snapped his attention away from the princess and focused firmly on the rushers coming at him from both sides. The ones on his left coming at him faster Hank turned to address the threat, keeping the long blade centered in front of him.

Much to the surprise of Luna, the man didn’t wind up and try to use the elegant sword like a large mace like most untrained individuals did, but instead made a quick slash while he pushed off with his right leg. Hank’s quick reflexes and well tuned mind muscle connection made balancing the long blade an easy task as he maneuvered it, he also found that compared to an axe or knife his timing didn’t have to be as perfect. The sword gave him thirty inches of cutting edge where an axe or knife only gave him four to eight.

As such the first shuck that crossed the human only barely got into range of the sword before the tip of the blade was quickly flicked through its neck as the human simultaneously got off line with the charging wolf, sending it flying past.

Sword already re-centered after the cut Hank thrust the sword forward into the chest of the next Shuck while taking a half step back. Twisting the sword to the side and ripping it out, in one fluid motion Hank planted his right foot and pivoted his hips, this time swinging the sword like a baseball bat into the neck of another as it lunged at him from the rear. Cleaving all the way through the spine, the wolf went limp in mid air and crashed into the man who promptly pushed it off with his right hand while pulling the blade free with his left.

However, another Shuck was right on the other side of the dead one, ready and eager to replace it despite its kin’s gruesome death, and as the edges of the barrier faded further and further, more of the wolves rushed around the edges from both sides to get to the man.

What came next was a flurry of chaotic violence of likes Luna had never seen a mortal partake in. Watching the man roar as he slaughtered everything that came at him while taking punishment she was sure no other could endure inspired the lunar princess. If a being as mortal as the monsters he was fighting could keep going then what excuse did she have as a demigod to be showing weakness?

With every ounce she had left in her, Luna grit her teeth and screamed through the pain that radiated through her body and brought the barrier back to full width with such force it cleaved the shucks in the way in two even without them being held in place.

Doing her best to stay conscious as blood cascaded from her nose Luna kept the barrier strong despite her horn flicking and crackling all the while.

Kicking a Shuck from his right leg and throwing the one off his back by bending at the hips and slamming it to the ground over his head, Hank grabbed the sword from the ground and swung it into the side of the shuck he kicked back with one hand.

Sliding the sword free Hand re gripped it with both hands, just not both around the handle as his left grabbed the sword by the blade mid way down. Being too long in the claustrophobic brawl at full length the human improvised and half sworded the weapon,

Stomping down with his left leg, holding the Shuck he threw over his shoulders on the ground with his boot on the side of its head, Hank stabbed the half sworded blade straight down into the wolf’s heart, using his whole body weight to drive the sword all the way through by falling into a kneel.

Getting up from his knee and the lifeless body the human instantly switched from trying to stand to tucking his shoulder and dipping under the next beast that came at him. Turning to face the strider that he had barely missed, the mutant instantly jumped again for his neck only to be stopped as Hank punched his right hand forward stabbing one side of the cross guard into its eye.

Screaming and thrashing, the shuck dislodged itself from the prong in its left eye socket and fell back on all fours as the human moved his right hand to the blade as well and swung it back behind his head effectively turning the elegant sword into a mace.

Wondering where the human had learned such technique despite never seeming to have alluded to knowing how to even use a longsword, Luna watched with failing eyesight as the human swung the sword down from over his shoulder with such speed and force she could hardly see it move through the air.

In a flash the cross guard met with the side of the lithe wolf’s head sending a quillion deep into its brain. Flinching slightly at the sound of metal crushing through skull she watched as the human re grasped the sword by the handle with his right and harshly pulled it free from the head of the now limp body.

Standing again to his full height Hank looked rapidly from his left to right expecting another to be diving for his neck only to find nothing was there. Returning both hands to the handle where they belonged his hissed as he regripped with his left, the deep cuts the blade had put there suddenly making their presence known.

Finding it suddenly hard to stand, the human looked down at himself and realized he had not come out anywhere near unscathed from the quick and brutal brawl. Most of the fabric of his pants was either gone or hanging by threats and his legs underneath fared no better. Now exposed from under the covering Hank could see the gashes and bite marks that slowly oozed his thick blood. Numerous and varying in depth from superficial to bone deep on some parts of his shin Hank grimaced as a low hum started to resonate in his head.

Looking up from his rapidly weakening legs as the hum grew louder, the man assumed the tone was his body going into heavy shock due to his injuries and took in a deep painful breath while raising the sword and taking a few unsure steps back as the barrier before him flickered in and out of existence entirely.

Pushing herself to the absolute limit Luna did her best to keep breathing around the cascade of blood rushing down her throat as she lost the battle with exhaustion. Despite her very best efforts, her still weakened body was tapped completely dry of all mana and her barrier started to fade and as a loud hum shook the inside of her skull, Luna felt her rear legs give out from under her as her body started to shut down.

Committed to holding out for the absolute longest that she could, Luna stared forward at the human in front of her as she felt blood rush back up her throat and erupt from her mouth and nostrils. Everything running on empty from lungs to magical reserves the hum only grew louder and more oppressive until it finally raised an octave and instantly cut out.

With the sudden pull of a vacuum all the sounds of battle on top of the clearing went silent in an instant along with the deafening hum. Turning their heads to the right, where they felt the most pressure coming from, Luna and Hank barely had time to register what they were looking at before another shockwave exploded out of the trees and rammed into them.

As their ears popped from the sudden overpressure and the deafening sound of hundreds of trees being split from their roots simultaneously the two watched as the large swath of trees was sent a few feet airborne and started to fall in the same direction the unknown force came from.

Body acting on its own, Hank’s beaten body propelled itself rearward to get away from the unknown force and the suddenly airborne foliage.

Nary time to even twist his body and try to grab Luna to get her to relative safety, another note cut through the air and into their skulls though it faded just as quick as it came, ending in a sudden push of wind as all the trees that were still in the process of falling to the ground rapidly started to crack and splinter into millions of pieces from an inch to six feet long.

Starting at the far end of the trees and rushing towards the end closest to the Shucks the trees creaked and groaned in protest as they were rended to shreds as another extremely loud hum came from the far side of the now suspended organic shrapnel.

Turning away from the bloodied and battered pair on the other side of the fading magical wall the Shucks turned to what they saw as a greater threat and screamed back at the roar that easily drowned out their vicious snarls.

Still growing louder, Hank tried to place himself between Luna and both threats as the barrier finally faded out of existence entirely and the suspended shrapnel started to vibrate at a concerning rate.

While most of the Shuck’s had turned their attention to the vibrating mass of wood and deafening roar behind it that sounded like two 747s trying to take off, a few were still focused on the pair and once the barrier fell, they seized the opportunity to surge forward.

Just the first Shuck took its first step forward however, mouth wide open, as Hank raised the sword for what was mostly the last time, the airborne shrapnel rammed into the mass of black furred bodies.

Cutting, crushing, snapping, its way through the mass of wolves, all that could be heard was the screams of the damned shucks and the cracking of lumber as the splinters tore through their soft bodies en mass.

The combined weight of hundreds of trees rammed into the large force, outright killing most of the woodland beasts and gravely wounding the rest. It was a spectacle that Hank had never seen in his life. Close range artillery had absolutely nothing on this, it wasn’t even comparable to what he was seeing. This was no explosion no, this was like a hurricane, a force of nature focused on destroying the life in its sights. It was mesmerizing.

It also flung the man like a ragdoll backwards just after he was able to get ahold of Luna and wrap her up in a protective hug.

Gritting his teeth in pain as he skidded across the forest floor on his right shoulder, still holding onto Luna, Hank opened his eyes once they stopped moving and slowly unwrapped the pony.

“Y…You good?” Hank coughed out.

“....no.” Luna replied after a few seconds of silence spitting out some blood as she did so.

“Me either.” Hank groaned while pulling his arm out from under the nearly limp princess and pushing himself into a sitting position despite his screaming abdomen.

What he was met with when his eyes finally focused was the complete and utter devastation of the tidal wave that once raged against Luna’s barrier. Bodies and lumber were strewn everywhere, some ripped into pieces while others were suspended in the air by twenty foot long pikes that were planted firmly in the bodies of their kin on the other end.

It was the definition of annihilation before him, every individual of the many hundred member horde was run through and cut in more ways than he could count. Even more shocking than the sight before the human was how silent the woods had grown. There was no growling, no barking, no yelling, no music.

All that could be heard was the gallons of blood dripping to the forest floor from the limp bodies skewered on the numerous spear-like large fragments that rose into the air like grim spires.

Taking a deep breath that he had actually survived, Hank quickly snapped his head to the right at a series of leaf crunches coming from the previously standing grove of trees.

Pushing himself into a kneel and taking hold of the sword that had been flung with them after he had dropped it in his scramble to get to Luna, the human used the blade as a support to stand and pushed himself to his feet.

Narrowing his eyes at the spot where the unknown entity would exit the cut off grove, Hank tightened his right hand on the grip of the sword while holding it at his hip while holding his left hand to the deep cut on his side. Fighting to stand the human waited before instantly feeling his muscles untense at the sight of not black fur, but bright white, even if it was dulled by dirt and blood.

As Celestia strode toward the human, there was a lot to take in about the scene in front of her. Luna was laid behind the human, very clearly unconscious and injured but still breathing. Celestia wasn’t worried about her sister as strange as it sounded, she knew Luna would pull through, she was still breathing after all.

Switching her gaze to the human however, worry was about all she could think of. To say he looked near death was a lie, he looked past death; like a corpse that refused to fall. Covered in gore from head to toe, more of his own seeped from open wounds as he stood on shaking legs looking right back at her. And while his body was beaten his eyes bore no fatigue, she knew his mind was still sharp behind those piercing gray eyes. There was still fight in the human somehow even if his body wasn’t up to the task.

What caught Celestia’s attention most however, other than the unfathomable endurance and will on display from the human was the fact that he was holding her sword. Yes, he was holding the very sword that’s scabbard had never even been touched by another being.

In truth it really shouldn't have been a surprise at all, she had lost possession of it when she had been sent careening into the trees and rocks that had “broken” her fall. But still, seeing the elegant weapon dwarfed by the stature of her newly sworn enemy was very strange to the princess. The fact that the human had very obviously used her sword, in the most brutal ways possible she imagined, added to the weird feeling in her stomach. At least she had been the first to draw blood in anger with the blade, even if just barely.

Still looking at the human as she approached, the two stared at each other before Celestia heard exactly what she wasn’t wanting to: A howl. It seemed the Shucks didn’t know when to quit, much like the man in front of her.

The small smile that had found its way onto her lips disappeared with the K9 vocalization and the rest of the elder princess’s face followed, falling into a deep scowl.

If the Shuck’s didn’t want to quit. Then she would force them. Her sister and Hank had done their part, and now it was time for Celestia to prove she was still the princess of the sun.

With a growl of her own, Celestia turned on a dime and started walking toward the mangled mess of lumber and gore.

Reaching the edge of the mound the solar princess took a deep breath and unfurled her wings to full span. What she was about to do was most certainly past her current ability, it was something she had not done in so long that Equish wasn’t even the dominant language of Equestria at the time.

“Finis id.” Celestia stated forcefully before propelling herself into the air and lighting her horn. Now above the mess she had created, Celestia could see the activity that was reforming in the valley and started channeling the great amount of power needed into a small but insanely dense ball at the tip of her horn.

She knew what she was doing was stupid, but Celestia wanted these pests Gone. And gone in the most final way there was. She just hoped that Hank would catch her when she inevitably fell out of the sky.

It didn’t take long for the princess to cut through her remaining mana and her reserves. In fact, with the sheer size of the spell she was bringing into the world she was going in the hole by nearly half of what her current mana pool was. Using that frustration and self hatred Celestia charged her way into magic exhaustion head strong. It was her fault for getting soft and weak, her fault for letting her empire get soft and weak, but now the writing was on the wall. It was time to stop being so passive.

As blood vessels ruptured in her eyes and sinuses Celestia ignored the pain and grinned as she felt the ball on her horn start to pull her in due to its mass. Letting her wings fall motionless, Celestia saw a brilliant flash of light through her closed eyelids before it cut out. She was close now.

Looking up at the pony as she did…. Something. Hank was completely immune to the massive magic draw that would have tipped off any other being from Equis that something absolutely huge was happening and that it would be smart to get away. The human however, stood his ground just like always and watched.

He stayed like that; looking up to the solar princess for a few seconds before a brilliant flash of light flashed and made him squint before making him open his eyes wide in astonishment at what he was witnessing.

Flashing in and out of existence, coming and going each time with a crackle and pop, what could only be called a miniature sun was forming at the tip of the pony’s horn.

While the sun grew larger and swirled more angrily the time between it being visible and not shortened before it was self-sustaining and stayed unconcealed.

Looking up to the orb, completely gob smacked Hank couldn’t help approach the display of awe inspiring power. There was no excess heat to the slowly growing sun, no eye damaging light, just swirling patterns that were too beautiful to even describe in words.

Celestia knew she was close, close to collapsing, and close to finishing the spell. Everything ached in her body, as she kept pushing she knew she was reaching the most dangerous part of the spell: the part where it became fully self powering.

As the weight of the miniature sun grew enough it would start to siphon its own power through the connection she had ripped into reality with the orbiting celestial body and grew on its own. The issue was that if she failed to contain and cut the connection between the two suns before her body gave out the newly forming sun would continue to rapidly expand until the two reached equilibrium. Such a thing would obviously destroy all life on the planet a few times over.

Celestia knew her decision was foolish and selfish but she didn’t care, she needed to prove she was still capable of being the pony she used to be; and as blood filled her throat she was finally granted the chance.

As the mass of the forming ball of fire exceeded the resistance of the connection between it and its source the orb suddenly expanded four times its previous size in less than a second before Celestia could finally cut the umbilical to halt its rapid and deadly expansion.

Entire body numb as she held the roughly fifty foot in diameter ball of hate and flame on the tip of her horn Celestia took one final gargling breath before commanding the ball forward and cutting the shielding around it.

The last thing Celestia felt as her body shut down was immense heat and the sudden feeling of falling before all went black and silent.

Ignoring the pain the heat brang to his skin Hank looked up at the massive ball of fire with a smile, that childlike wonder full rekindled in the human even if just for a second. Chuckling to himself at the absurdity of what he was seeing, the man was forced to squint and flinched as the shields dropped and the ball roared forward.

Deafened by the volume of the orb as it burned its way through everything in its path, instinctual alarms caused the man to panic at the elevated heat as the ambient temperature around him instantly raised to three hundred degrees as the leaf litter and massive pile of wood and bodies started to smoke before erupting into flames just from being close to the orb..

Finding it impossible to breath for an instant Hank forced his body to calm as the temperature started to lower and the hot flash ended as the rampaging ball of fire melted its way through the rock of the slope they had fought so hard over and cascaded down into the valley, turning everything it touched into ash and slag.

The spectacle of destruction before him was so immense the man found it hard to look away, but finally, either out of concern or something else the man looked up to where the solar princess had been only to find her falling from her previous spot completely limp.

Smile falling Hank tossed away the sword and pushed with absolutely everything he had left to reach the pony before she hit the ground. Luckily having already covered some of the distance when he had been mindlessly approaching the doom bringing sphere he didn’t find it hard to make it to the spot where Celestia was careening toward the ground.

Bracing himself as the large equine fell toward him Hank held out his arms and bent his legs, ready to roll rearwards in an attempt to dissipate some of the force that Celestia’s mass would have generated. As the man took in a deep breath and used it to brace against his abdominal muscles he realized that catching her was going to hurt….. A lot.

Suddenly finding himself flat on his back with no breath in his lungs and the back of his head roaring at him Hank struggled to roll the comatose princess of him as he rolled to the other side and on his stomach struggling to breath.

Fighting back against the tunnel vision as his lunges slowly re-inflated Hank coughed a few times and groaned, “Jesus Christ, Celestia. Are you tryin’ to finish me off? Maybe don’t go up in the air thirty feet if you ain’t gonna come down gracefully.”

No remark coming back from the pony Hank slowly turned his head and body until he was looking at Celestia’s back as she laid on her side facing away from him. Looking at her questioningly as his eyes focused his features dropped and he felt a sudden burst of energy once he realized that she wasn’t breathing.

Scrambling over to the prone form of Celestia he put a hand on her barrel and realized that her sides were heaving violently as she tried to breathe but couldn’t bring any air in. Sliding over her to the side where her head was, Hank grabbed her head and pulled her mouth open to inspect for any blockages.

As his training kicked in, making him forget all about his injuries Hank scooped the curdled blood out of her mouth and checked it again to make sure it was clear before gently setting her head down, pulling her chin up to open her airway as much as possible

Still getting no air flow her body started to shake violently as her lips went blue. Keeping calm and calculating Hank felt her trachea all the way down searching for soft spots where it may have collapsed. While the maneuver took longer than he would have liked to, her fur and the length of her neck compared to a human being much different than he was used to, he was still one hundred percent confident her trachea was intact at the end of his check.

Picking up his pace as she continued to heave against her own body Hank moved lower to Celestia’s ribs and rolled her directly onto her back. Feeling and listening for anything like a pneumothorax, a hemothorax, or a mix of the two. Hank clenched his jaw when he realized he was stumped.

As the man racked his brain for anything he could do, mind moving a hundred miles a minute as he tried to save the solar princesses' life, he knew that if he didn’t get her breathing now she’d never wake up.

“C’mon, C’mon, C’mon!” Hank growled trying to think. Maybe the overexertion and fall had scrambled her brain and she actually couldn’t breathe and there was nothing he could do. Maybe she had a severe pressure outside of her lungs that he wasn’t detecting and he should put a decompression needle in, but maybe she didn’t and he’d just end up puncturing a lung making her chances even worse. Maybe her windpipe was fractured and he should do a quick tracheostomy low down on the neck. But maybe her windpipe wasn’t and he’d risk hitting an artery he didn’t know the place of because she WAS A TALKING HORSE.

Hank had no clue what to do, nothing, absolutely nothing came to mind, and as he looked down at Celestia as her body slowly started to calm in its heaving and shaking, her lips a dark purple. He took in an angry breath and climbed on top of the princess, holding her between his legs as he set his hands on her breast bone where he figured they should be and started pumping.

He figured that simple CPR wouldn’t be what she really needed. It wouldn’t magically clear a blocked airway that had no air behind the blockage to be used to force it out, but he did it for two reasons anyway: One because it would give him some time to think, and two because he had never quit early on a person and the solar princess had earned enough of his respect to deserve the same treatment.

So as the man counted thirty compressions he moved to her head and started the first set of breaths. Immediately feeling discouraged at the lack of air he could get into the pony, signaling that there was most certainly a blockage of some kind. Something happened on his fourth breath that gave him pause.

Stopping for just a second to register what he had felt he pushed his breath again and suddenly felt the pressure he was pushing forward dip, allowing more air to fill the void that had been created. Right in that instant he knew what was happening.

Practically ripping the canteen from his belt Hank picked up the limp princesses' head and filled her mouth with water, making sure as much as possible went down her throat. Before roughly massaging and squeezing her windpipe.

The problem wasn’t that something had collapsed, or a pressure outside the lungs in the rib cage, the problem was that her throat was sealed with blood that had curdled and coagulated into a huge clot when she had dropped the shields and sent the miniature sun forward. The act of casting it had knocked her out of consciousness meaning that she wasn’t able to consciously tell herself to not breathe in the sudden gust of what must have been five hundred degree air with how close she was to it when the shields finally dropped.

Her airway was sealed shut by her own thick blood brought on by the heavy sinus hemorrhaging that extreme magical exertion caused. He had seen the same bleeding in Luna just a little while before.

Moving quickly, Hank cleared the water from Celestia’s mouth that hadn’t gone down to the blockage and laid her head back out in the way that fully opened the airway before pulling her mouth open and trying again.

The main issue that he was running into was that there was no air in Celestia’s lungs to be used to push the blockage out even if he could get it loosened up. No amount of CPR or Heimlich would get it out and that meant he had to do everything from the front end, it also meant that things were about to get very unpleasant, if it even worked that is.

He knew he couldn’t just give breaths and push the blockage deeper. That would only serve to get it more stuck. No he needed to bring it out by creating a vacuum that overpowered the one on the other side by sucking it out.

First giving a few small breaths and pulls to work it back and forth, the human was encouraged forward when he felt it moving inside her throat with the hand he had placed there. As the analytical, borderline computing side of the man took over as he got into the groove he pulled away and applied some more water before moving back and giving one more series of chest compressions to keep any oxygenated blood circulating to her brain.

Face completely blank as he worked, driven purely by training and his own innate drive to succeed. Hank noted that Celestia no longer had a pulse or any signs of life and had officially flatlined. The immortal princess of the sun had died, and he was the only one who knew.

“Coded.” Hank said to himself as a way to file the information he was processing and to start an internal clock of eight minutes. Working like an unfeeling machine, not a single movement was wasted, not an ounce of pain from his own broken body was considered, and even more so no emotion was felt. He was completely focused on his task.

Moving back to Celestia’s head after thirty compressions Hank took a deep breath and re opened the ponies bloody lips before giving a few more short pushes and pulls he then pulled away and emptied his lungs near completely before going right back in with no hesitation.

The job of a medic was most certainly not one for the faint of heart. It was messy, traumatizing, and often many magnitudes past what would be considered disgusting by the average person. However in the moment there was no time for second thoughts or hesitation, you had to be able to put a knife to a neck or reach into a wound to pinch shut an artery.

The man was more than familiar with such actions and as such had not a single reservation about getting very intimate with the dead body of his charge to create a complete seal lips to lips and giving a mighty heave in that promptly shot the massive clot of blood, saliva, and mucus into his own mouth, filling it and even sending some down his own throat.

Pulling away in an instant and spitting it all out along with a few heaves of the stomach at the taste, despite his best efforts the man couldn’t suppress his body’s response and threw up the significant part that had made it down his throat along with the rest of his stomach.

Taking only a moment to spit out his vomit and blow some out of his nose the man instantly moved past the unpleasant experience and got back to work by examining her airway the best he could and then trying breaths again to finally get a the significant win he needed by inflating her lungs with air for the first time in over five minutes.

Now it all came down to restarting her heart, and the only method he had in the field conditions he found himself in was CPR. He had no AED, and no intracardiac adrenaline shot. Well he did but not on him, plus he was saving it for himself.

With only one option available Hank immediately set to it. Following the same patterns as always, thirty compressions followed by three breaths, the only thing that had changed as he got into the rhythm was the force he was using to press downwards. The human found that in his own experiences the two previous times he had taken part in getting the heart working again that a little extra pressure helped. Being truthful, he didn’t know if it really did but he decided to go along with what the combat surgeon he had been trained by had said: “If it makes you work better and makes you more confident in what you’re doing without making it severely worse for the patient I don’t give two fucks what your hillbilly ass does.”

While the human didn’t focus on it Hank did allow himself to think of the Boston born man for a second and to acknowledge that he missed the short city slicker before focusing back on the task at hand.

As time unfortunately raced toward the eight minute mark without any sign of life coming from the still dead mare besides her lips going from purple to blue as the human breathed for her and acted as her heart. The signs weren’t looking good, and Hank knew that. He had never resuscitated anyone past eight before, the previous times being a minute twenty seven and four minutes and six seconds respectively, and he had just passed the six minute mark with Celestia.

Regardless of the odds the man wasn’t going to quit though. He’d go for hours if he had to, even if he knew after eight minutes brain damage became a likelihood and after twenty minutes unaided resuscitation became almost a zero percent chance.

Much to his displeasure, and despite his best efforts, the eight minute mark came and went in silence as he now marched towards ten and the distinct feeling he was in for a long haul with no results. It didn’t matter though, even if it was an exercise in futility the human would honor the solar princess by continuing to try even when he knew there wasn’t a chance anymore.

It truly wasn’t really over until after the twenty minute mark however so the man cleared his mind and sat back on top of Celestia to take a breather and clear his lightheadedness while also mustering strength for his arms that were feeling more like noodles than proper appendages.

As he sat there, realization setting in while adrenaline faded out Hank very suddenly realized the immense pain he was in from head to toe. There was still no time to think about himself however so with grit teeth and shaking hands Hank leant back forward and placed his hands on the very defined dark red spot of fur the hundreds of compressions had created.

Every compression was a struggle with his arms and shoulders, and every lean forward to administer breath was a lightning of pain from his back and legs. Yet there was no way he was going to stop, Hank had done a lot wrong in his short life but one thing he was never going to do wrong was quit early, something would have to physically stop him, and he didn’t care if it was his own body that did it or something else.

Despite his commitment, the pony princess still showed no signs of coming out of it as the minutes approached that hated twenty minute mark. Hank’s entire body screamed in pain as his muscles spasmed from the continued strain and blood started to seep again from the barely scabbed wounds that were littered across his body.

As grit teeth and labored breathing became his extended existence Hank started to fade as he tried his best to keep going.

“C’mon big girl, work with me. Work with me.” The human spoke for the first time since Celestia had coded out as a way to keep himself going and distracted from his rapidly faltering body, “Don’t let this be how you go.”

Pulling up from another series of breaths the human had to take a few seconds to get his own back before continuing with compressions on the limp and lifeless body.

Leaning back forward with great strain against his rock solid muscles in his back to put his hands back on the blood stained target. It felt like he was pulling himself apart fiber by fiber as he started back again, pushing harder than ever against what used to be Celestia, making the body jump and jerk with each compression.

Fine motor skill gone, each compression was a harsh punch to the breastbone that was on the razor’s edge away from breaking through the skeletal structure. Fighting for every ounce of power he had, Hank grunted and growled in pain with each compression as he started to feel the faintest throb in his left hand, the one that was in between his right hand and Celestia’s chest

Figuring it was just due to his lowering blood pressure from blood loss mixed with the extra hard compressions Hank thought nothing of it until he was forced to stop and take a breather and was still met with the same sensation but in his right hand after he had pulled the two apart.

It was extremely faint, so faint Hank didn’t put the dots together until he all of the sudden realized it and practically exploded off of Celestia despite his injuries to eliminate any pressure he was putting down on her.

Instantly back at her head though and realizing that she still wasn’t breathing on her own, Hank knew that if he didn't get her lungs working on their own the little flame of life would die again.

Holding a hand directly above her heart, using it to feel the tiny beats it was making, Hank used the beats to time the breaths he gave in and out hoping her body would take over control of its functions again.

He was so close, so close to actually bringing her back, that he started to almost smile while giving breaths as he felt the heartbeat grow stronger and faster before with a massive gasp Celestia’s chest expanded to full capacity and held for a few seconds before emptying on their own and taking more air again.

Pulling away to clear the way of her mouth, Hank laid her head down on the ground gently while putting two fingers to her neck to feel her pulse while listening to her breathing.

While her breathing was raspy and her pulse was rapid as her body oxygenated itself Hank was confident it would hold and let a smile fully split his lips. He had done it, HE HAD DONE IT! He had brought the solar diarch back from the dead right at the end of the natural resuscitation window.

As a huge wave of emotion washed over the human, Hank suddenly sprang to his feet and screamed, “YES! THAT IS WHAT I AM TALKIN’ ABOUT! THAT IS HOW IT IS DONE GOD DAMNIT. YES!” Holding both arms above his head with balled fists the man celebrated before his features started to fall and an immense wave of sadness, resentment, and anger started to overwhelm the euphoria.

“YOU DON’T GET THIS ONE! YOU CAN’T TAKE THIS ONE FROM ME!” Hank turned his attention to the sky and pointed from it to the now very much alive but unconscious body of Celestia.

“YOU’VE GOTTEN ALL THE OTHERS, BUT YOU DON’T GET THIS ONE!” Hank bellowed, taking shaky steps forward as he did so, “YOU’VE GOTTEN ALL OF THEM, ALL OF MY FAMILY, ALL MY FRIENDS, ALL OF MY PEOPLE! BUT YOU DON’T GET HER!”

Trying to take another step forward as he yelled, Hank’s body finally put the hammer down and said ‘no’, sending the human to his hands and knees where he slowly pressed his head to the ground while wrapping his hands around his head.

Fighting to keep the sobs in his throat the emotions were too great and his body was too weak to keep down causing the man to openly weep at the loss of his family and everyone else he had ever known, “why did any of it have to happen? why did they have to go without me?”

Shaking with every breath he took Hank slowly started to push himself out of his balled up state and as gingerly as possible laid down on the blood stained soil as he got control of himself. The pain he was experiencing served as a great grounding point for the man and after a few minutes of fighting off waves of pressure in his brain that tried their best to spiral the man into madness the human was eventually left alone with his usual level of torment.

Looking around the clearing with red tear stained eyes, really taking it all in for the first time since it had ended, Hank realized that both Luna and Celestia were thankfully only figuratively dead to the world but both laid out completely defenseless just like he was at the moment.

Best course of action taking a second to come to the man, Hank rolled himself over onto his stomach and started dragging himself over to Celestia and watched her take slow breaths all the while, afraid that at any moment the rising of her chest might stop.

Once he had reached her he did his best to be gentle and grabbed under both other front legs with his arms before pulling her back on top of himself and starting the slow and painful journey to a small dugout where he could put them both to hide them from anything if it were to approach.

Here is the last bit of the large chunk I had written up, I hope you find this to be a good conclusion to the mini arc. Things will start to change in big ways.

I also have an idea for a new story so all the while im writing this I'm also thinking about that story as well. It is of course another HiE. Can't help it, I like writing em.

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