As I recalled Stalwart’s bones, I used my connection to the forest to track the foes I had left behind. The ponies numbered only ten but were strong, fast, and both well-armed as well as well-armored. The fir tree I had left behind was doing a good job keeping them occupied, but the ponies quickly realized that it was just a tree and thus could not move.

I took a small amount of joy when they realized this and looked embarrassed for a moment before continuing the chase. I was very glad they had not chosen to burn the tree down or something like that, though that was likely due to the older deer. Even now her words calmed the worst of the pony’s violent urges, staying their hoof before they could kill the old plant.

Either way, my little gambit had worked, and I got the chance to inspect my pursuers a little closer.

Using a mixture of information gathered by various plants in my extended network, and a few bugs I had managed to bring back I got a good idea of my foe’s strengths. Only the two deer joined the ponies, but Whispering Alder was clearly not interested in fighting and trotted at a relatively slower pace behind the others. She had tried to do the same disappearing trick again but ended up unable to get more than a few feet. I got the feeling that my own magic was blocking her, though it wasn't a conscious effort on my part.

Thoughts for another time. I declared.

Focusing on the ponies, I studied how they moved, and what abilities they seemed to possess. The earth ponies, or those who lacked both wings and a horn, were tough, as well as far more heavily armored. The trio of burly soldiers acted like bodyguards for the unicorns, smashing aside small trees, or other obstacles in their way.

Bulky, but not so encumbered by their armor that they could not run at full tilt, little of the pony underneath was visible. Only the color of their eyes could be seen from their all-encompassing shell of gold and red armor. Two had warhammers, while the third had across his back a large tower shield that likely mounted to a forehoof.

The unicorns that marched hastily behind their larger companions had far less protection on their person. A heavy golden breastplate protected their vitals, while a mix of chain and light scalemail covered the rest. They also had only light maces, or a dagger for protection, the slim implements a mere backup weapon.

Like all the others, the unicorns had a mix of gold and red armor, though the deep crimson was a bit more prominent with them. They also had strange fake golden halos that resembled the sun half hidden behind their unhelmed heads. If this served a practical purpose or just signified rank, I couldn't be certain, so I stowed that thought for the moment.

Finally, there were the pegasi, who were even more lightly armored than their unicorn counterparts. They lacked even a breastplate and had only thick crimson leather armor studded with gold. Short, deep red cloaks billowed out behind them as they flew, the slightly tattered cloth telling me that they had likely not returned to base in some time. Their daggers and short, hoof-mounted crossbows were still in perfect order, however, though they had yet to put such weapons to use yet.

Despite their incredible speed, they made at least a small effort to keep with the rest of their squad. Which, at their center flew Commander Rays, barking orders all while flying just fast enough to stay at the head of their formation. Roughly wedge-shaped, with the other pegasi flying slightly ahead, they were slowed somewhat by their unicorns.

I knew I had to impede them further and hopefully even kill or at least down a few of them before they reached me. But, I had few options and they had yet to near my domain proper, so the plants out here were less eager to give me their loyalty. I also had to send a message through sometimes up to four different networks of mycelium and root so it would take time I didn't have.

The earth ponies were not likely to be slowed by much, so focusing any effort on them would probably be useless. They also stayed relatively close to the unicorns, meaning I wouldn't likely accomplish much there either. The pegasi posed unique problems as well, but they had not broken the tree cover yet, and most pivotally, had smaller helmets. Shaped like slightly bulky hats, they were metal but had been turned a deep crimson through unknown means.

I sent out a few promises of protection, and that their support would be reciprocated to the plants. I got back several affirmations, but not as many as I would have liked. The trees that far outside of my domain did not know me as well, and I got the feeling that they had something akin to pride.

Still, a few accepted, and I made a note of rewarding them in the future.

The first to come through was a rather young yew tree, which subtly moved a bough in the way of a pegasus. The pony was so confused and startled that they slammed face-first into it, breaking something in the process. They landed in a bloody heap, grasping their shattered nose while groaning in pain.

Just as the group slowed to find out what was wrong, a rather eager, and angry old oak brought a limb down on another pegasi’s back. The blow was mighty, and though their armor was strong, the strike knocked the wind out of them. Sent into a wild, uncontrolled corkscrew, the mare slammed into a second tree before coming to rest belly up in a shallow puddle.

Panic immediately struck the group, who stopped for a moment to gather their bearings and check on their injured. I wanted to push this advantage, and crush a few of them so I sent out more pleas to the nearby vegetation. The oak was eager to break the back of the pegasus in the puddle but was stopped in place by a sharp whistle.

Quaking Yew had appeared out of nowhere and continued to blow her whistle for several more seconds. My already flimsy control over the nearby plant life fell away, and I was forced to merely watch. When the sound stopped, I pushed back but found my efforts stymied by a soft chanting from the deer. Like a wall erected against my influence, I couldn't even speak to the trees or look through their metaphorical eyes.

So I pulled back to my domain, covering my tracks as best as possible while I did so. I hoped that they would get lost, and potentially perish, but I knew that was wishful thinking on my part. The deer was a surprisingly adept tracker, and I had a feeling she was receiving assistance from the plant life as well.

Tree or bush, big or small. None in my domain will bend to the will of that witch. I declared, tightening my grip on my grove, and the forest beyond.

Sure enough, she and her band of assassins approached not long after. She spoke to the trees for nearly a minute, giving an impassioned plea, but received no response. Even the use of her whistle and an even more desperate request did not sway them, their boughs and branches firmly blocking the way. That seemed to be enough for the commander, as she ordered her soldiers to attack with a burst of magical fire.

Though I had seen this coming, it still enraged me to levels that I could barely even put into words. Even Rainy felt irritable and wanted to ask me what was going on, but I brushed aside her concern for the moment. I could ill afford the distraction, nor did I dare to take my attention off the invaders pushing their way into my forest.

Each step they took was a sacrilege, their hooves crunching the dead plant life they had killed a moment earlier. It was enough to almost make me lose all sense of reason and launch everything I had at them, but I held back. Putting a plan into motion, I urged the dragon skeleton into motion and began the strangest bit of multitasking I had ever attempted.

Trees parted, strength was given, redirected, and used to aid those caught in the path of the flame throwers. Though damaged, my efforts kept the fire from spreading any further than what was unavoidable. Managing so many trees, dead animals, and magic pushed my talents to their limit, but not so far as they broke.

For a moment it felt almost like I was home, on earth. My keyboard before me, my foes displayed on the monitor, and the chat eagerly baying for blood. I pushed that thought from my mind in order to better maintain my laser-like focus on the invaders.

They had gotten a good distance inside before I sprung my first trap, though they likely didn't see it as such. The trees unexpectedly parted, and they walked out onto an open area, talking about how they must have beaten me. The deer attempted to dissuade them from their brazen steps but was ignored by the commander and her squad.

Gotcha. I thought.

The ground opened up, revealing one of the pit traps I had covered but never destroyed. The earth pony that had been standing atop it plummeted into the earth and landed amidst the primitive spears. His enchanted armor held up and saved him from any harm, but I had seen that coming a mile away.

Rather than attempt to kill him with spikes, I collapsed the sides of the pit, burying him in six feet of dirt. Sure his allies tried to help, but digging through the slightly moist, heavy dirt as well as the roots that covered him was difficult. By the time they dug two feet down the pony had already stopped moving and by four feet he was as dead as a doornail.

By five feet, I brought him back, and pushed up, grasping through the layer of topsoil. I then heaved, pulling my new servant out from his grave, and refilling his lungs despite how unnecessary the action was.

“He's alive,” muttered one of the squad.

“Thank the sun,” added another.

“Wait. It might be him!” exclaimed the deer from atop the hole.

The unicorn standing next to me scoffed and gestured to me as I pulled the helm from my head.

“See? He's fine. The helmet saved him just like I said it wou-”

Whatever the unicorn had been about to say it was cut off when I pulled him into the grave and shifted atop him. In a single fluid motion I sunk my teeth into the soft flesh of his neck and used my bulk to cover his body. My mostly square, flat teeth didn't do a lot, but this pony was strong, even his jaw muscles were powerful.

So it wasn't so much that I tore his throat out, but that I collapsed his trachea in the process of trying to do so. His allies tried to save him, to kill my servant, but although the armor hadn't saved him in life, it had saved him in death. Spells bounced off, blades found no purchase, and only the heavy hooves of another earth pony could do anything to stop me.

Not like it mattered, as by the time he thudded into the grave, and tore me off my foe, the unicorn was already near death. His windpipe had collapsed, a good chunk of his neck had been removed and blood spurted out of the hole I had left behind. My newest servant was then tossed aside, and pelted with spell and hoof alike, the magic shaking my control.

I didn't hold on very hard however and released what control I had on the puppet almost immediately. Their victory was short-lived as I simply collapsed the pit a second time, though I knew this wouldn't work. Sure enough, the unicorns were quick to pull their earth pony ally out before he was buried alive.

That did leave them open, and I grabbed one of the unicorns with a winding vine around the leg. The pony’s scream was utterly delicious, as was the horrid yelling of her friends as the forest closed in around them. They tried to fight, to resist, but being dragged bodily across an unstable surface made it difficult to cast anything.

Her trip didn't last long, as I soon reached the patch of deathnettle. Dragging her unhelmeted face across the bush made dozens of deep scratches open up, allowing the toxin a potent vector. She made things worse by screaming and pulling herself away, increasing her heart rate even more.

By the time her allies burned through the woods and managed to reach her she was in the final stages. Bleeding from every orifice including her eyes, the mare scrambled desperately for aid, heedless to how little they could do for her. Healing magic was attempted, as was whatever strange power the deer had, both of which only drew out the inevitable, increasing her suffering.

It was a sad sight, but thankfully all the screaming covered the advance of the dragon which reached them just as the unicorn started to expire. The last thing the horrified pony saw was the glowing eyes of my servant as he bit the head off of a pegasus mare. Her armor’s enchantments flared, and I felt an unexpected resistance as I bit down, but it couldn't stop me.

“It's up there, get it!” screamed Honey Rays.

My dragon retreated, falling back behind an eager shrub, the magical bolt intended for it hitting the plant to no effect. Slipping into the woods, the enormous undead creature vanished in seconds, though the squad tried to chase it. Every tree, bush, and vine moved to stop them, giving my draconic servant more than enough time to disappear.

I didn't give them so much as a moment to gather themselves, however, as the deceased unicorn they had left behind now served a different master. With dagger raised, I commanded them to leap from a bush and attack Honey Rays. My attacks were sloppy, and my control of the unicorn was barely even complete at that moment.

What I lacked in grace, I made up in ferocity, my newest servant biting, stabbing, and otherwise attacking with everything they had. To my disappointment Commander Honey Rays was no pushover, and despite getting snuck up on, avoided most of my swipes. Receiving only glancing blows, she turned and with a twist, threw my unicorn servant into a bush. They were then pelted with magical fire while also having their bodies assaulted by Quaking Yew’s damnable whistle.

Sure enough, they collapsed in a heap a moment later, inanimate corpse tumbling to the ground. Though annoyed by this, I wasn't exactly surprised, so I began to calculate my next plan of action. A plan I was having to put into play a bit faster than anticipated, as Quaking Yews was using some kind of magic to clear a path.

Her hooves glowed a dark purple, and the chanting I heard from earlier returned, but darker, each word promising pain or death. This seemed to cause some dissent from Whispering Alder, but the other deer was quickly shouted down by the ponies. Whatever dark or forbidden magic she was using had an immediate and pronounced effect, however.

My trees bent, my bushes cowed, and the plantlife that had sworn themselves to me found their will’s broken. A thousand tiny screams ran up my networks, each one begging, pleading to be released from their bondage. Somehow this was worse than even the flame throwers, but I could do little to stop it at the moment.

The anger I felt returned, but it was crushed not by will, but by hopelessness. My dragon was powerful, but without any manner of cover, would not survive against all six of them alone. I had a few scattered undead servants and several hordes of buzzing insects, but that wasn't enough to turn the tide.

As I struggled to come up with a counter, I could feel the squad begin to draw closer to my grove. They avoided the pitfalls, both literal and metaphorical with ease, the plants telling Quaking Yews the location of my traps. I knew that this was not something these plants did willingly, but it still enraged me.

To think that the deer would stoop so low, and sink so far over something terrible yes, but ultimately something that was a mistake. A mistake that would not cost me my life, of that I was absolutely certain.

Fine. I thought. If I cannot rely on them, I shall use the most tried and true method I have at my disposal.

Summoning my swarms of insects, and other, lesser undead, I loaded them with toxic plants or other poisons. Every vile and deadly natural defense created by plants was stuffed into or splattered across the gathered horde. I then gathered them up just as the group was about to breach my grove proper, morale no doubt lifting.

I quashed this notion by raining undead corpses on them from nearly every direction. For a moment the sun was blotted out by the buzzing, screeching swarm quickly descending upon them. They panicked but had enough cohesion to form up around the sole remaining unicorn, who was using his fire spell. Quaking Yew’s whistle joined in, but even that mattered very little at this point. Whether they met their final death or not, my missiles would strike true and kill the interlopers where they stood.

A pegasi, too slow to get into cover, found themselves eating a face full of fist-sized beetles covered with blood moss. The unusual plant adhered to her flesh the moment it came in contact, burning away her skin. Screaming and clawing at her own melting features, the pony died a moment later when a sparrow covered in blowball fuzz hit her in the neck. On contact, the fluffy white spores got stuck in her fur, and rapidly took root, burrowing into the pony’s body. Within seconds her airways were clogged with spreading mycelium, and she died unable to breathe.

The last of the earth pony’s wielding hammers met their end at about the same time, his backside pelted by insects. Covered with a mix of buckthorn, and beggertick blossoms, the earth pony initially thought he was fine. Then he took a step and felt the jagged barbs work their way into his flesh and deposit their potent payload. All at once, nearly every nerve in his body came alive as if he were being electrocuted, sending him into the ground. He got off lucky, as the guy snapped his own neck during a particularly powerful spasm, dying before the poison could reach the next stage.

The others got off lucky, managing to dodge, or otherwise take no fatal hits that I could detect. A few got covered in ribleaf, or nostrix extract, but that alone wasn't deadly and caused only minor irritation. Quaking Yew, however, was hit by all manner of attacks but was completely unbothered by any of them.

Poisons capable of felling giants, toxins that should have sent her into shock, or eaten her from the inside out were ineffective. The impact of my undead hurt her and scratched at her skin but even the increased vectors for spread were not enough. It was as though she was simply immune to nearly every form of poison imaginable, annoying me profusely.

Regardless, I was down two more foes and had a few more seconds of swarm assault left before I had to let up. Using this cover, I raised the dead, working quickly while they were distracted by the stinging assault. The constant whistling weakened my control, but I didn't need to hold onto them for long in order to utilize them.

The pegasi and earth pony leaped back up and charged the only former ally slightly away from the group. The pegasus stallion was incredibly fast, agile, and able to use bursts of wind to keep the bugs from hitting him. He could not, however, stop his ex-wingmate from tackling him out of the air, hooves pinning his wings against his back.

Once they hit the ground, my earth pony puppet began pounding the living pegasus’ face in with his warhammer. Though fast, the stallion could barely move, and thus could barely dodge more than a single strike before getting the ground painted with his brains. I moved on quickly, throwing my newest puppets at Quaking Yews in an effort to distract the deer.

It worked somewhat, but I discovered that she could continue whistling even while dancing away from my strikes. Even trying to pincer her between my two servants did nothing, as she avoided every attack as if they had been the clumsy swings of a novice. I could almost feel her growing confident as the zombified ponies started to break down, their bodies dying once more.

Then an enormous skeletalized dragon burst from the underbrush and tried to bite her clean in half. Already in mid-air, the deer couldn't dodge, or at least that's what I had assumed anyway. She was still able to twist her body suddenly, trying to escape the jaws aiming to split her in half around the midsection. She couldn't avoid it entirely though, as her left forehoof dangled behind slightly, lagging just enough for me to bite down.

Razor-sharp teeth and more pounds of crushing force than a falling tree removed the deer’s leg completely. This finally caused Quaking Yew to stop her incessant whistling, but unfortunately, by then I had little left in my arsenal. My swarm was depleted, and my servants lay broken, save for the headless corpse, though its charge was stopped fairly quickly. Magical flames burnt away control, and then the rest of the zombie’s body, leaving behind little in the way of remains.

They moved to help Quaking Yew immediately, using a few spells and a medical bag to stop the worst of the bleeding. During this brief moment of downtime, I retracted the dragon, pulling it back to my grove proper. There I lay in wait, building up my defenses and preparing myself for the pony’s final assault.

An attack I knew was coming, not after they had come all this way and accomplished what they had. While I bided my time, I took a moment to push down my rage, burying it under a mountain of cold, calculating brutality. The anger of my grove, of my forest burned still, but even they found themselves swept up in my emotions.

Their wounds would be patched with the flesh of ponies, and their roots would drink deep of our foe’s blood.

I swore it.

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