From the Ashes

Chapters

The Beginning...
...The Middle
And The End
Defeat
Dark Magic
Apples And Blood
Sparks
Fire
One Step Forward.
One Down. A Million To Go

The Beginning...

“Hold the line! let nothing through!” A Mage said as unsheathed his sword. “We must buy as much time as we can! Is that understood?!”

A chorus of “Yes Archmage!” ran through the corridor. Ten Mages stood at attention facing a large Metal doorway that looked out of place in the damp grey corridors.

Behind the mages stood Makeshift barricades were standing behind them. Everything was used, tables, chairs, parts of ruined vehicles. Anything that could hold back the enemy. Dozens of soldiers stood at the ready with their weapons facing downrange at the doors. Their job was to stop anything that pushed past the mages.

Fear was etched onto everyone of their faces. It was over and they knew it. Of course their superiors would never say that, but it didn't take a genius to realise that humanity was on its last legs.

Alex was standing behind the barricade. He was tall, had pale skin, dark brown hair and his eyes showed nothing but bloodthirsty rage. He was breathing heavily and many of the men at the barricade glanced at him in fear.

A hand landed on his shoulder causing him to tun quickly. He looked up at Max and felt much of his rage disappear. Max was average height and most of his face was covered in a pristine white hood. “Stay calm.” He said in a demanding put friendly voice. “Do not let the beast control your actions as it will be the death of you and everyone in this room.”

“I will try.” He said in a quiet voice before taking a deep breath.

“You will have to, otherwise we will fail our mission.” Max said said before scratching his clean shaven chin.

A loud thump from the door caught everyone’s attention. The sound of weapons being cocked echoed through the corridors as everyone got into position. “Everyone get ready!” The archmage yelled.

Max turned to Alex and sighed. He pulled his pistol from holster attached to his thigh and cocked it. “Fall back to the second barricade! kill anything that gets passed us.” Max said as he walked towards the barricade.

Alex nodded and sped of down the hall. A third loud thump at the door cause everyone to snap their attention back to it. “Everyone get ready! Here they come.”

CRACK

Alex turned on the spot and froze at the sight. The massive metal door was being slowly pushed inwards towards the barricade. And then it crumbled. The door fell forward only meters from the barricade and the men at the door wasted no time. Gun fire ripped through the corridor as streams of metal poured into the doorway.

The streams of gunfire stopped anything from getting past the smouldering doorway. White smoke made it impossible to see anything further than ten feet away and the sound of cheers and roars could be heard from outside. The guns fell silent as everyone scrambled to reload.

“FOR THE KING!” A loud roar, echoed from thousands of voices washed through the doorway. They had come. The ponies had come.

Alex watched on as a wave of bodies pushed through the doorway. Each and every pony was clothed in a golden armour and a dark blue crest sat upon their helmets. A wall of golden spears pushed into the room and the mages sprung into action. Ponies were being cut down in droves. Jets of flame and lightning from the mages turned any pony the touched into a smouldering pile of dust and molten metal.

Alex stood motionless as he watched the slaughter that took place. A sinking feeling washed over him as a quiet voice whispered his his mind. “Kill.”

He shook his head violently trying to shake the voices from his head. He looked back at the barricade and watched in shock as Max was lifted from the ground by a red aura. Everything went so fast Alex didn't even have a chance to shout his name before his body was impaled by a pair of glowing red swords.

A tall blood red alicorn with a bright white mane was looking directly into his eyes, a small demonic smirk played on his face. Max sputtered blood before sending a weak punch into the side of the ponies head that failed to even cause the alicorn to flinch. His horn glowed slightly brighter and Max was thrown into the wall with a deafening crunch.

The barricade had fallen the surviving men ran and screamed for their lives but were quickly chased down by the ponies. Alex was shaking as fathomable rage burned through him. His mentor, his saviour his friend. Was dead.

The ponies surged forward towards Alex as he stood their shaking with anger. An over eager pegasus took flight and raced towards him with his spear at the ready. Alex turned to the last pony as he stopped mid flight and threw his spear with all his strength.

The spear raced through the air before bouncing away merer millimetres from his chest. The pegasus looked on in horror at the undamaged human before his body ruptured and exploded in a fountain of blood.

His comrades that were just as eager only managed a single look of horror before having the same fate. Red gore painted the walls and Alex red. The pony force came to a halt as the blood covered human slowly walked forwards.

Flames engulfed Alex's hands before elongating into two red sabres. His eyes glowed a bright yellow as he started his advance. Several ponies rushed him only for six of them to paint the walls and and the last was impaled before being decapitated by the swords.

kill

The ponies that were in the hall tried to back away but were unable to move as wave after wave of them pushed into the hall. The king eyed Alex warily before disappearing in a bright flash and reappearing a six meters in front of him.

His horn glowed red as two swords materialized out of thin air. He stood at a fighting stance with the floating swords a foot in front of him. His calm demeanour when facing Max was gone. His look now could only be described as one thing. Fear, uncontrolled fear.

“What are you!” The alicorn roared as he tried to hide his fear. Alex turned his head slightly as blood dripped from his dark hair. “I said what are yo-” He was cut short as a large explosion went off right in front of him sending flying into the pony ranks.

Alex turned as another shell went whizzing past him. A large tanks was stampeding down the corridor straight towards him and dozens of men were behind it. A tall man ran up. “Quae ad pacem tibi,!!” He shouted before Alex fell to the ground.

Alex awoke with a start only for strong hands to push his shoulders down. “Alex don't panic! It's me !” Someone shouted and and Alex calmed instantly at the sound of his voice.

“Patt?” Alex asked as he looked at a tall man with grey hair and heavy wrinkles that sat on a chair next to his bed.

“Yes now calm down. Please.” Alex was breathing heavily as he sat up and looked at the old man.

“What happened?” Alex croaked.

“You lost control again.” Patt said in a sad voice before shaking his head.

“What? No I couldn't hav-... Max” He trailed of quietly, his eyes suddenly staring into nothing.

“He's gone Alex.”

“No he cant be dead! If he survived Boston he can survive here!” Alex said defiantly even though his words sounded hollow.

“He was...” Patt sighed. “He was converted Alex.” He said before his head dropped. His face was full of sadness as he thought about what happened.

Kill

Alex slumped back at the news. He couldn't believe it, Max was actually gone. A look of fear raced across his face as he looked at Patt warily. “Wait what happened to me then?”

“Don’t worry you didn't fully transform, no were near it in fact.” He shook his head. “It was to close though, far to close.”

Alex's head dropped at the words. How could he have been so careless? “And the ponies?” He asked trying to change the topic of conversation.

“The ponies were driven back and we detonated the tunnels. The second barricade was evacuated and all troops were moved back to the fort.”

The fort was a massive underground bunker that was created at the beginning of the war by the European governments and was situated in Scotland. The bunker was designed to be humanity's last line of defence against the oncoming pony hordes. Similar bunkers were built in Russia, The United States and Australia as they were the furthest way ponies from the oncoming barrier.

Luckily for humanity the Magical barrier that was slowly terraforming the planet and would kill any human that came in contact with it was moving slowly, very slowly. It had taken over fifteen years to reach the point it was at now but no matter how hard humanity tried, nothing could stop it.

“You best get on your feet as McClain wants to speak to you.” Patt said before rising from the chair and offering Alex a hand. Alex grabbed and heaved him self up. A wave of nausea washed over him causing him to stumble. Patt reacted quickly and grabbed him by the waist..

“Easy now.” Patt said as he steadied Alex. “You OK?” He asked.

“No.” Alex stated flatly as he mad his way to the doors with Patt's assistance. They pushed the doors open and Alex looked glumly at the fort. Hundreds of tents covered the large open ground just in front of the main complex. Complex was built into the side of the large cavern and looked over the large camp and the main gates.

Barriers were erected all over the place at strategic locations which gave the men stationed at them the best view of the gates. Tanks rolled around the open areas spewing plums of black and grey smoke that quickly floated upwards.

The complex it's self was a large concrete structure that jutted out from the caver wall and had a bird's eye view of everything that went on inside the fort. Dozens of gun emplacements lined the top of the structure. Machine guns, Cannons even mortars were all aimed for the main gates.

Alex and Patt scuttered through the crowd of people that were scuttering about doing one thing or the next. The walk to the complex didn't take long. Five guards stood at a security check point scanning the crowd for any sign of trouble.

“Identification?” One of the guards asked as Alex and Patt reached the check point. Patt pulled a small laminated card from under his shirt and passed it to the guard. The guard eyed it for a second before handing it back to him. “Clear.” He said.

Patt moved on and Alex fell in step behind him only to be stopped by the guard shoving him away. “No pass no entry.” The guard gruffly as he pointed the gun at Alex's face.

“Sir, he's with me.” Patt said as he ran over to the guard.

“It doesn't matter, we received new orders from general McClain. No pass, no entry.”

“The general ordered him here himself.” Patt said only for the guard to look at Alex with suspicion.

“Alex Duncan?” The guard asked.

“Yes.” Both Alex and Patt replied at the same time.

The guard turned to Patt. “An Alex Duncan has already arrived.” Both Alex and Patt started at each other in surprise then shock as the words dawned on him.

“Guards with me!” Patt cried as he and Alex ran passed the checkpoint and into the complex. “We have an intruder in the complex.”

Five men were running down the small narrowed corridors at break neck speeds. Alex and Patt were leading the group and three guards from the check point were hot on their heels. The endless grey corridors seemed to go on forever. They had climbed the stairs to the top floor at breathtaking speed but the main corridor seemed to go on like end. Well that’s what it felt like to Alex any ways.

“Move your asses.” Patt shouted back at the three guards as they began to fall behind. The group could see the end in sight as the corridor stopped in front of two metal doors.. They stopped at the large metal doors and stopped. Faint voices could be heard from inside.

Patt turned to Alex. “You hear anything?” he asked as Alex tried to zone in on the voices.

“What’s he doing?” one of the guards whisperer to Patt only for him to be told to shut up. Alex could faintly make out the voices from inside.

“You cant fight the inevitable general. Pony kind will be triumphant and humanity will be cleansed of their evils.” A voice said from within.

“You are nothing more than a traitor to your own species.”

“I am trying to save humanity by offering them the chance to become ponies. To cast aside old grievances and hatred, to be united in true harmony.”

“True harmony is not destroying an entire race.”

“What's going on?” Patt asked, pulling Alex away from the heated conversation from within the room.

“McClain and another man are arguing.”

“Hostile?” Patt asked.

“Yes.” Alex said flatly.

“Fuck all right everyone get ready, on my mark” Patt said as everyone got into position by the door. The guards clicked the safeties of their guns, Patt drew his pistol and Alex stayed motionless, which drew a few confused glanced by the Guards. Two of the guards grabbed the handles on the sliding doors. “1...2...3... MARK!” Patt shouted. The two guards pulled the doors with all their might and the others ran forward.

The room was a large control centre. Screens of sizes covered the walls and a large wooden table sat in the centre. The table was cover in an assortment of maps and computers. Large windows looked over the refugee camp out side and it gave the observers a perfect view of what was going on outside.

Everyone stopped as the man who was previously arguing walked forward with the general in front as a human shield. A pistol was pressed against the generals head.

“Don't come any closer.” The man said before pushing the gun firmly against the generals head.

“What do you want?” Patt asked as he aimed his pistol directly at the man's face, the guards followed suit and slowly moved out as to get a better shot at the man.

“I want you to lower your weapons and embrace harmony.” The man said. “I want you to forget your hate filled lives and live a life of peace and unity.”

“Now please, if you excuse me I have some very important people to meet and they don't like to be kept wait-” The man stopped his rambling as the sound of cracking filled the air quickly followed by a blood curtailing scream.

The man dropped the gun. McClain sent and elbow into the man's face sending him reeling backwards. He continued to scream, still clutching at his hand. “Please sto AHHHHHHHH!” he screamed as there were more sounds of bones breaking. His arm caved inwards and became a red gooey mess that as only the size of a tin can.

“I hate PER.” A quiet voice whisperer. Patt turned quickly and saw Alex staring at the man. His face was emotionless.

“Alex stop!” Patt cried as he ran over to his friend. “Don't let in control you.” This had no effect on him as the man continued to scream as more bones were broken. Patt needed to think of something fast. He could already see the slight green glow forming in Ale's eyes. Then it hit him.

“Think about Matt!” Patt yelled. The sound of breaking bones came to a halt but the screams continued. “Would he want this!”

“No.” Alex whispered.

“No. No he wouldn't” The green glow in his eyes slowly faded away.

The screaming of the man were silenced as one of the guards put a bullet in his skull. “No one should live through that.” He said as everyone stared at him.

“Get the body out of here.” McClain said two the three guards.

“Yes sir!” they said in unison before garbing and hauling the body out of the room.

“Are you all right sir?” Patt asked as the general rubbed his face.

“I'm fine, but we have bigger problems.” He said as he looked towards Alex. “ Leave us please.”

Alex nodded and walked out of the room and closed the large metal doors. Once the general was sure it was safe he turned to Patt. “What just happened?”

“Alex hates PER, and well, you see what happens if he looses it.” Patt responded throwing the general a wary look.

McClain sighed. “You said he was a mage but I have never seen anything like that. He crushed the man's arm without moving a single muscle.” He shook his head. “What is his power exactly?” the general whispered to Patt as he glanced at door Alex was behind.

“No one fully knows.” Patt said with a shrug. “We just agree not to get him angry and hope for the best.”

“That is the plan? To hope he doesn't get angry?”

“It takes a lot to get him angry.” Patt retorted.

“Obviously not! Did you see what he did?”

“He did that because he was a member of PER” Patt paused. “They converted his family in the London attack.”

That shut the general up. The attack on London was mercelise. The once great city was almost completely converted when the Pony airship fleet bombarded the city with the conversion potion. PER infiltrators had begun their attack on the surrounding airfield stopping any reinforcements from arriving. All attempts to destroy the ships were stopped as the unicorns created barriers that surrounded each ship. Half of the city was converted in two days and not a single airship was destroyed.

“YOU LIED TO ME!” Alex shouted as the doors were smashed from their hinges. “You told me they got away!” He shouted at Patt. “You said they had made it to the American bunker!”

“At the time I didn't know!” Patt shouted back as he and McClain backed away from Alex.

“So you decided to keep it a secret from me!"

“I did what I ha-”

BOOM

The ground shook as a massive shock wave rippled through the entire complex. “Perimeter breached” A loud, worried voice shouted over the base speakers. “ I say again perimeter breached! Ponies have made it to the main gate! All personal move to designated positions!” The voice cut off and All three men looked at each other.

“We finish this later.” Alex said before turning on his heels and made is way to the doorway.

Alex was fuming, he was making his way towards the main gates trying to doge all the frantic civilians that were trying to make it inside the complex. “I'll kill him.” Alex muttered as he remembered the previous conversation with Patt.

BOOM

Another shock wave went through the complex as the main gate shuddered. Alex could already see the gate slowly start to warp as the the concrete around it began to crack. He could now see where his group were. Seven mages stood in a small open area and they were all facing the gate.

A tall am wearing a white cloak waved Alex over. The existence of magic in humans only came to light after the war had started. Magical communities lived in isolation and out of the public eye in fear of persecution.

During the attack on Berlin hundred of mages joined the fray in hopes of holding back the barrier. It was fruitless though as the barrier merley soaked up everything they could throw at it. It only took three days for Berlin to fall and almost every solider and mage stationed there was either killed or converted.

“Alex, I want you to support group B.” He said motioning to a group of tanks and soldiers forming up on the right side of the gate. “Don't let anything through.” He said casting a worried glance to Alex. “Is it true the king is here?” He asked.

“Yes.” Alex stated flatly causing the mage to flinch.

“Then god help us.”

Alex turned and made his way to Group B. “He's not listening.” He mumbled just inside of earshot causing all seven on the mages to turn to him.

Alex made good pace to the group B. The group was a mixture of soldiers and a dozen tanks. The soldiers took cover behind sandbags and other pieces of scrap that could be found. Each solider had a look of fear on his face as they fiddled with their weapons, waiting for the inevitable.

kill

A loud whizzing sound could be heard and Alex turned to the gate. His mouth dropped as the centre of the gate began to glow red. Bolts began shooting off from the door. One unlucky Marine was hit dead in the chest sending him flying backwards.

“Here they come!!”

BOOM

Alex was thrown backwards as the doors flew forward. A beam of fire erupted from the smoking doorway aimed directly for one of the tanks. The tank exploded in a shower of fire and shrapnel as the beam disappeared.

“JOIN THE HERD!” A chorus of voices sang from inside the doorway as the first of the ponies emerged.

“Open fire!” A voice called over the comms. Gun fire erupted from the human fortifications turning the advancing ponies into bullet ridden husks. The tanks were the next to open fire as the 120mm high explosive shells detonated in the hallway causing chunks of pony to go flying.

“FOR THE KING!” They shouted as another wave tried to push through only for them to be cut down. The slaughter went on and on as each wave of the ponies was cut down before reaching the plaza.

Blood covered everything in the door way as chunks of pony went flying in all directions as the tank shells continued to pond them from inside. Alex tried to rise up only to stop as a wave of powerful nausea washed over him causing him to stumble backwards.

He turned slightly to left so he could get a better view of what was going on. Another Beam of light emerged from the doorway causing another tank to explode into flames. Using this chance dozens of pegasi emerged from the door way and shot upward. They came to a halt and dives straight down at the human lines. Dozens of vials of potion were dropped. Impacting Dozens of soldiers.

The soldiers lurched in agony as the potion got to work. Their hands and hooves merged into solid stumps. Fur began to cover their bodies and their face elongated. A tall bushed out from their back and few of them sprouted either wings or horns.

The line of fire broke and ponies began to pour in. Hundreds of ponies emerged from the gateway and charged directly at the human lines as they struggled with the newly converted ponies. A earth pony was charging directly at Alex, he had a purple vial in his had and was preparing to throw it. Alex extended his hand and a beam of fire shot out incinerating the pony.

“Fall back to secondary positions!” A mage called as he sent a beam of light at a peagsus turning him to ash. He aimed at another pony just as a vial hit his shoulder. He doubled over in pain as the transformations began to take place.

“Humans do not resist the inevitable!” A large booming voice said as the same blood red alicorn emerged from the gateway, only this time he was not alone. A tall blue alicorn stood by his side, this one was a mare. “Accept the gift we offer you!”

He killed Max. Kill him

Alex shakily got to his feet and aimed for the red alicorns head. He was just about to send a bolt of fire at him but was stopped when a blue pegasus slammed into him, he fell to the ground in a heap with the pony on top of him. The pony on top of him was trying to hit him in the chest with a vial of the potion but was stopped when Alex sent a fist into his face.

The pony went flying off of him and landed in a heap a few feet away. The pony shakily got to his feet and got ready for another attack. Ben extended his arm and shot another beam, the pony barley dodged the beam as it singed a few of his feathers.

“Come here.” Alex growled as he readied for another attack. The sound of breaking glass stopped his attack as he looked to his feet. A vial of potion had shattered only a foot away from him covering his feet in the purple potion. Realisation dawned on his face just as the pain hit.

Searing pain passed through his body as the changes took effect His feet changed into hooves and black fur began cover much of his body. A pair of wings sprouted fro his back and his face elongated into a muzzle. He stood on shaky legs as whispers began in his head. Thoughts of flowing green hills and lush forrest filled his mind. Voices telling him to worship the king and queen echoed in his mind, and then, then it reached his memories.

Memories of his friends were slowly being replaced by pony doubles. His memories of home were being moulded into what the ponies would have viewed as paradise. The memories of his parents flashed before his eyes. They were sitting at a small table eating lunch. They slowly began to change. They grew fur, wings and slowly shrunk. They all turned to him and smil- NO

The changes memories stopped. 'I don't want any of this!' Alex screamed inside his mind. 'They will not change me!'

kill

“AGRRRAAAAAAA!” Alex let out a primal roar. His now large pony eyes shrunk into bright, glowing green dots. “I will kill all of you!” He shouted as pony body was engulfed in flames. Causing the pegasus beside him to be turned to ash.

Ten ponies charged directly at Alex as he was engulfed in flames. The Red alicorn's attention turned to the wall of flame that was surrounding Alex. Is look of confusion changed to one of horror as the ten ponies that charged the human burst into a fountain of blood.

Alex was now standing at his full hight. Fully human once again. Flames whipped and swam around him as locked eyes with the red alicorn. His face contorted in horror. “Kill him!” He ordered. “Kill that human!” He bellowed as half of the ponies in the plaza charge at Alex.

A demonic smile spread across Alex's face as his white teeth slowly elongated to a point. Several ponies only inches away from Alex, exploded into a bloody mess.

Fire engulfed Alex's hands as two large sabres grew from the flames. Then, he walked forward. Ponies in all shapes and sizes ran at him in fruitless determination as only to become a pool of blood.

The red alicorn's face contorted in rage as his horn began to glow. “Stay behind me.” He said to the blue alicorn as she moved behind him. He shot his head forward and a beam of light came from his horn.

The beam shot straight at Alex and impacted with impunity. The light was so bright Everyone who had witnessed it had to shut their eyes not to be blinded. A smug grin spread across the alicorns face as black smoke surrounded where the human had once stood.

The blue alicorn was the first to speak up. “Honey, do you think you kil-” A gust of wind pushed out from the smoke and smashed into the side of the Blue alicorn sending her flying across the the plaza.

“Star light!” The red alicorn shouted as he ran over to her. “Star light, are you OK?”

“I'm fine sunburst.” She wheezed before trying to stand up only for her to fall to the ground.

“We need to get you out of here.” Sunburst said as his horn began to glow.

“ARGHHAAAAA.” Alex shouted just before he collided with the red alicorn.

“Sunburst!” Starlight cried as the red allicorn went flying. She tried to get back to her hooves only to stop when she saw a pool of blood... move?

Patt was not having a good day. First he got into an argument with his best friend and second the ponies had decided it would be a good time to attack during said argument. Patt pulled another mag from his belt and slapped it into his pistol and continued fiering.

The human defences had been pushed back to the third defensive line as the wall of ponies continued their advance. The humans took cover behind makeshift barriers as spells and potion vials flew overhead.

A beam of purple magic hit a marine to his left and sent him falling to the ground, a large black hole present where his chest had once been. Spells whizzed past Patt's head as he fired another round into the chest of an advancing pony.

“Hold the line.” He yelled before firing again. “We cant let them get through.”

A distant rumble was heard but no one paid heed as a second wave of ponies made their push. “Keep firing!” Pat yelled as he sent another round into a ponies face. A vial of potion fell from the sky and hit one of the men beside him in the back. The effects were instantaneous as the potion began it's work.

The new giddy unicorn got to his feet and gave a toothy smile. “Join us.” He managed to say before Patt fired a round into his skull. Another rumble only this time more power full ran through the human lines

Patt ignored it as he ducked behind a sand bag as a beam of purple magic grazed the top of his head.

“Fuck!” He shouted as he randomly fired a few rounds over his head in hopes of hitting the attacker.

Another rumble.

Patt pressed the button for his comm on his arm. “We are getting hammered out here! Where is our support?!” He yelled.

“Support cannot reach you. I say again support is unavailable.” The voice of general McClain said from over the radio.

“What do we do sir?” A royal marine asked as he fired the last of his clip at a pegasus flying over head.

“We hold out as long as possible!” Patt said as the gravity of the situation sank in. With no reinforcements they would have to fall back soon and then the entire west flank would collapse.

Another rumble was heard only this time much more intense. Three soldiers fell over as a large concrete building to Patt's left began to crack. What the fuck.” He managed to say before the building exploded in a plum of dust.

A large Red alicron was thrown from the building and fell to the ground with a thump. His body was covered in blood and there was a large smouldering black mark on his right flank were his cutie mark should have been.

The Patt saw him. Alex was standing on top of the now destroyed building. His eyes were glowing a ghostly green and his skin began to take on a light purple colour.

Pony and human alike were mesmerized by the scene. Everyone but Patt. “Everyone fall back” He roared as he sprung to his feet and ran. “Everyone fall back!” At the sight of their commander running the soldiers upped sticks and ran like fuck in the direction of the fourth, and final defensive line.

The ponies stared in shock at their badly beaten king as he quickly rose to his feet. Alex smiled grimly as he watched the beaten pony get to his feet.

“I have faced dragons and daemons!” The king declared as his horn glowed again. “A single human shall not defeat me!” A beam of light shot towards Alex only for it to impact against an invisible barrier inches from his face.

The king snorted in anger as the ponies around him watched in awe. He was about t send another beam at Alex only to stop as a scream ripped through the air. The kings eyes went wide. “Starlight!!” He cried.

Alex took the chance and lunged forward. He sent a fist into the pony’s face sending him flying into an abandoned tank. “For the king!” The ponies roared at the sight of their king. Alex waved his hand and a wall of flame erupted from the ground. The barrier of flame stopped all but the fanatical as a few tried to make there way through. It did not end well for them.

The king slowly emerged from the ruined tank. A large gas went from his forehead all the way down to his chin. “I will not be defeated by you!” The king said determined. His legs buckled and he fell to the ground on his stomach.

Shouts for the king were drounded out by the roar of the flames as ponies tried depretly to get passed the barrier. “I will destroy you!” The king roared as he put all his strength into his hind legs and lunged.

The king continued to roar as his skin split and his bones broke. His eyes caved in shortly followed by his muzzle.

*crush*

The kings body caved inwards as his bones and organs turned to pulp. An evil grin split Alex's face as he inspected the crushed and mutilated body of the king. The wall of flame slowly faded and the ponies froze in shock. The mutilated body of their king was only meters from their feet. And then, they ran.

The ponies turned tail and ran. Screams ensued as they scampered over one another ans Alex slowly moved forwards. A wave of his hand sent several ponies flying. Another wave of his hand saw ten become a bloody paste.

With each kill his body slowly grew. Once standing at little over six feet Alex was now reaching seven. He craned his head back and lead out a thundering roar. His skin had taken on a snow white colour with small specks of purple showing.

The rumble of vehicles could be heard in the distance as an armoured truck sped towards him. Alex turned and saw patt in the passenger seat with a megaphone in hand. “PUAE AD PACEM TIBI,” Patt screamed into the megaphone as Alex fell into darkness.

...The Middle

Patt stood watchful over the blood stained battlefield before him. Mutilated body’s of both pony and human alike littered the floor. Streams of gore covered each and every inch of the cold grey ground. Destroyed vehicles bellowed smoke as dozens of people fought to keep the blaze under control. The main gate was reduced to a smouldering pile rubble, and chunks of flesh hung from every little crevice.

“Sir, the general would like to see you.” Patt turned suddenly to the new voice. A marine stood standing at attention. He was black and blue all over and a large white bandage cover the right side of his head where a dark red spot had formed.

“Thank you private” Patt said before giving the marine a quick salute.

“Sir.” The marine replied before turning and walking towards the main complex.

Patt couldn't help but grimace at the sight of the once large building. Huge Chunks of concrete were carved out of it, giving everyone a clear view of many of the floors within. Only two of the six gun positions on the roof were operational, and the main control rooms windows were non existent.

He took one last glance at the gaping hole that was once the main gate and set off. As he walked he couldn't shake the ghostly feel that the complex had taken on. A deathly science had taken over. The only noise were that of the repair teams or the families as they grieved over lost loved ones. A star contrast the the underground city it had been only a few hours ago.

One family caught his eye. And elderly couple and a young child were gather around the body of a dead pony. Military rags still clung to his coat and three bullet wounds could be clearly seen on his chest. The elderly woman and child were bawling her eyes out whilst the older man watched on in silence. Like he couldn't believe that who ever the pony once was, was gone.

Patt kept his gaze for a few moments longer before breaking away. The next thing to catch his eye was a group of marines leading away a tall blue alicorn. She was battered and bruised, quiet obviously from some beating the guards gave her. Her horn was snapped in half and she walked with a noticeable limp. Patt felt no sympathy for her. How could he?

A marine sent the butt of his gun into the back of her neck and she stumbled to the ground. The guards cheered and began stamping on her body. Patt turned a blind eye as he continued his walk towards the complex.

Patt couldn't have been more than three hundred feet before his thoughts turned to Alex. At the moment he was locked in a prison cell with armed guards at all times. Patt couldn't understand the generals reason for this. 'Yes, just put the one person to ever kill an alicorn in prison, fucking A.' Patt thought as he reached for his id that was on a chair around his neck.

“ID!” A surprisingly clean looking guard asked as he moved his assault rifle in line with Patt's gut. After the incident with the P.E.R. Member they weren't taking any chances. The guard scrunched his face as he examined every feature of Patt's face.

“You're clear to enter, sir.” He said before deliver in sharp salute.

“Thank you.” Patt replied before walking past the guard and into the complex. Once inside He couldn't help but feel cold. Blood painted large parts of the corridors red and blast marks could be seen everywhere. The smell of burnt flesh hang in the air. Patt quickened his pace. The faster he got out of the corridors the better.

The control room was clearly visible as it was now lacking any kind of doors. As Patt got close the true extent of the damage became clear. The large glass windows were no more, almost all of the computer monitors were broken or hung loosely from their stands.

A group of five men stood around the large table in the centre of the room. General McClain stood at the head of the table and was in a heated discussion with a colonel.

“I will not do that.!” McClain said sternly as Patt entered the room

“He is to big a risk.” Patt knew instantly that they were talking about Alex.

McClain looked from the colonel and turned to Patt as he stood in the doorway. “We are in need of you 'expert' opinion.” The generals said. There was a hint of anger in his voice that sent a shiver down Patt's spine.

“I presume this is about Alex.” Patt asked.

“You're damn right it's about Alex.” A greying Sargent wearing full military fatigues spat. “You said you could keep him under control!”

“I never said such a thing. I said I would try and keep him under control.” He looked solemnly out the window at the devastation Alex had caused. Almost every building from the first up to the second barrier was flattened. “As you can see, I failed.”

The Sargent was about to speak again but McClain butted in. “Alex is not what concerns me at the moment. What worries me is the alicorn we have in the brig.” A chorus of mumbles broke through the men.

“The men were acquainting themselves with her just as I got here.” Patt said adding emphasis to acquainting.

“Please. Let us get back to the matter at hand.” McClain said. “We have decided that Alex Duncan is to remain incarcerated until further notice. You are not allowed to speak to him in any way and any attempt to do so will be classed as treason.”

“You cant be fucking serious!” Patt asked in disbelief. “He's the only reason you are alive!”

“There is no proof to that accusation.” The Sargent from before said “We may have held them at the fourth barricade.”

Patt ignored him. “Tell me why.” He demanded, his gaze never leaving the general.

“Because you said it yourself. If he fully loses control nothing can stop him. So tell me Patt how close was he to being fully gone?” McClain demanded.

Patt was silent. He knew that if he had waited five minutes longer it would have all been for nothing.

“You also said when he looses control he can't tell friend from foe. So what would he have done once all the ponies were killed?” McClain demanded. “Tell me!”

Patt's head fell. “He most likely would have turned on us.

“Exactly.” McClain growled. “As of this moment your are confined to quarters. Is that understood.”

“Yes, sir.” Patt mumbled as he turned on his heels and left the room. He glanced back at the general one more time. Something felt wrong to him but he couldn’t put his finger on it. And why was he sure that his eyes glowed?

The thumping of footsteps was heard behind him and he turned. A tired looking marine was running straight towards him. “Sir, I need you to come with me.” The marine said.

“And what would that be for?” Patt asked quizzically.

The marine looked over Patt's shoulder into the room where General McClain stood. “I have something you need to see.”

“What have you found?”

“Cocoons sir. Lots of green cocoons.”

And The End

Alex was sitting against a wall in his concrete cell. The room was cramped and void of anything but a sleeping bag. His eyes were locked intently onto the dark cell doors that were no more than three feet from him.

'They think that can hold me?' He thought to himself. He had been contemplating an escape attempt for over an hour. Every fibre of his body urged him to breakout but then, where would that get him? He would only be arrested again a few moments later.

'Coming to think of it, why am I in this cell? I saved the base did I not?' Alex thought. Upon waking up he had been told everything that had happened. How the Queen was in custody and the King was nothing more than a pool of blood.

A smile tugged at his lips at the thought of the King being killed, and by his own hands none the less.

The quietness of the cell was shattered when the sound of arguing came from outside. Alex groaned as the voices continued to rise.

*Bang*

The sound of a gun took Alex by surprise. He jumped to his feet and readied for what was at the door. The door was unlocked and his confusion only rose.

Patt was standing in the doorway. A bloody knife in one hand and a pistol in the other. “Patt... what are you doing...”

“We don't have time for questions.” He commanded. “The base has been compromised. All personnel are presumed hostile.” Patt said.

“In what way is the base compromised?” Alex asked as he moved to the door.

“Infiltrators able to take anyone’s appearance.” Patt said taking a step back allowing Alex to leave the cell.

Only once he was outside was Alex able to see what had happened. Two dead guards lay on the floor. One of them was lying in a large pool of blood and had a large gash in the side of his throat. The second was hunched up against a wall with a hole in his head.

“Infiltrators?” Alex asked.

“Yes.” Patt deadened.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “How did you know?”

“Their eyes glowed when I was speaking to them.” Patt said

“OK.” Alex said before he and Patt made their way to the brig's exit. “Would you mind telling me what I missed?” Alex asked.

“I'll tell you on the way.”

Patt had been following the marine that had spoken to him for several minutes now and he felt like they were going in circles. The marine had taken him down to the lower bowls of the complex and Patt's unease was growing by the minute. Every time Patt asked him what it was he was being taken to see the marine would say that he would need to see it himself.

Patt had already removed the safety from his pistol and had his had restring on it's grip, he wasn't going to take any chances. Something felt off about the marine. He seemed to move as almost he was skipping, a slight buzz to his step. There was also the fact that Patt was sure he recognized him from somewhere.

The corridor that they were walking down was getting duller by the second as the lights spaced out. In the distance Patt could make out a small door resting at the end of the hallway. He hoped to see someone else down in corridors, but It was only him and the marine.

“What's your name?” Patt asked cautiously.

“Stevenson, sir.” The marine said, his eyes never leaving the door in front of him.

“That’s strange.” Patt said as he came to a halt and pulled his pistol. “The only Stevenson on this base died during the initial assault.” Patt said before pulling back the hammer on his pistol.

The marine stopped dead in his tracks only meters away from the door. He turned back with a confused look on his face. “Sir, you must be mistaken.”

“Oh, I'm not mistaken. Do you know why that is.” Patt asked, he raised his gun and took aim at the marine. “Because I watched him die.” He squeezed the trigger, the bullet impacted the man's shoulder and green liquid covered the walls.

The marine let out a shriek, he trembled in pain as he noticed the large chunk missing from his shoulder.

“What are you?” Patt asked in shock.

The marine smiled. Two black fangs emerged from his mouth and his green eyes turned a light blue. “My queen will feast upon you.” He spat.

*BANG*

The marine's head exploded in a shower of green and black meaty bits. Patt recoiled as a large piece of brain landed on his boot. Dark grey smoke began to rise from the marines body and the skin fizzled away.

The marine's body melted away until there was only a large headless pony. Unlike other kinds of ponies Patt had seen this one had a black, almost chitin like skin, a pair of bug like wings and it's body was peppered with small holes. Mostly around it's hooves.

Patt examined every aspect of the strange, bug like creature he could. Then it hit him like a brick wall. He turned to the door at the end of the hallway and sprinted for it. He listened intently and once he was sure there was nothing moving on the other side he turned the handle and went it.

He froze instantly. The door lead into a massive room and it was filled with pods. Hundreds of them. The pods glowed with a sickly green colour and they lined every spot of free space. Even the roof was covered in them.

He approached the closest pod and looked at the person inside. A solider wearing a prison uniform was inside and he seemed to be out cold. Patt ran over to the next pod and his breath caught in his throat. Inside the pod was general McClain. He was missing his left eye and part of his left leg.

Bzzzzzzzz

Patt drew his attention from the mutilated body of the general and scanned the room the noise. He readied his gun and waited for the ting to jump him.

BZZZZZZZZZZZ

A deafening roar of buzzing ripped through the room. Dozens of glowing blue dots appeared at the far side of the room. Everyone seemed fixated on Patt. He took a step back and the dots followed his movement.

“Oh shit.”

Patt turned violently and sprinted for the door. The buzzing intensified. “Shit shit shit shit!” He yelled before jumping through the doorway and slamming the door behind him. He jumped over the dead body outside the room and continued running down the hall.

He barreled up the stairs and slammed the security door they had come through shut. He breathed heavily as he tried to catch his breath. “The general!” He blurted.

'If that was the general, who was in the control room?' Patt though before jumping to his feet. “Alex, I need to find Alex.”

“And now I'm here.” Patt finished as he looked around a corner. Once he was sure it was clear he continued on.

“Was the general definitely dead?” Alex asked.

“Yes, well I hope so seeing his injuries.”

Alex stopped dead in his tracks. “You said the creatures bleed green, yes?”

“From what I saw, yes.” Patt said as he continued down the corridor, not knowing that Alex had stopped.

“Then why didn't the guards bleed green?” Alex asked calmly.

Patt stopped suddenly. He kept his back at Alex for a moment before turning.

“Yes they did.” He said in the worst attempt at a lie Alex had ever seen.

Alex narrowed his eyes. “Cut your hand.” Alex said.

“What?”

“I said cut your hand!”

“This is a waste of time!” Patt shouted.

Alex took a step forward. “I will not ask you again. Cut your hand!” Alex roared.

Patt looked terrified. “This is obsur-” He didn't get to finish. Alex ran forward, he sent his fist into Patt's cheek and he was sent flying into the wall. A wet crunching sounds were itemized from Patt's body as he was lifted into the air. Green ooze was leaking from his nose and he was missing his two front teeth.

“TELL ME WHERE PATT IS!” Alex roared. Patt was engulfed in a purple flames leaving a large black creature to float aimlessly.

*crunch*

The creatures front left hoof exploded in a shower of green goo. It gave of a screech of pain and Alex could see tears beginning to form. “Where is Patt!”

“With the queen.” The bug cried. “The control room.”

*crunch*

Patt's day had some how got even worse. First he gets captured by some black, bug, pony things and second, one of them has taken on his appearance and headed to fetch Alex.

Patt looked to the right and saw the general and six of his senior staff in the same position as him. His arms were tied behind his back and a cloth rag was placed into his mouth.

Patt didn't fare much better. His arms and legs were tied and a piece of cloth had been stuffed into his mouth. His thing was red with blood when one of the creatures had hit him with a spell, and there was a dull thumping in his head when the marine that met him outside had hit him. The only thing he was sure of was that these creatures were diffinetly not the ponies he was used to fighting.

The creatures in the control room, seven in total, were speaking to each other in a strange language had never heard before, it mostly consisted of clicking and mild shrieks.

Patt watched in horror as another guard from the complex was pulled through the door by two men. One of the creatures broke away from the main group and stalked over. He watched the terrified looking man for a few moments before suddenly bursting into purple flames.

The struggling man tried to back away but was held still by the two men. The flames disappeared and a copy of the trembling guard smiled down at him. The imposter said something to the men and they nodded. Without a moments notice one of the men pulled a knife from his belt and slit the guards throat.

The Guard fell to the ground, drowning in his own blood. His eyes locked with Patt's for a second. Patt tried to look away but was entranced by the guards expression a mixture of fear and pain on his face before his eyes slowly closed.

“Ahahahah, fear... it tastes wonderful.” A high pitched female voice said. “Almost as nice as love.” Patt turned to the voice and watched in awe. The creature before him was as large as the pony king and queen were but had the same appearance as the creatures in the room. A large jagged horn protruded from her head. She had a mane of light blue that looked rather like seaweed and her eyes were a ghostly green.

The smaller creatures and the human imposters bowed as she walked into the room. “Rise my subjects.” She spoke in English. “We must prepare.” A chorus of screeches filled the room as the Bugs fluttered into the air, held aloft by their small wings that looked incapable of holding any kind of weight.

She smiled before turning her attention to the tied up humans. “So.” She began. “ Which one of you is in charge.” She said before removing the gags from their mouth’s.

General McClain spoke first. “I am and I demand that y-” He didn't get to fish as a beam of green light smashed into his chest. He was through the air and collided with the far wall. Patt and the other men called out to the general but he lay motionless in a heap at the end of the room. His clothes were smouldering and black smoke arouse from the wound on his chest.

“Who is second in charge?” She asked giddily. The men stayed silent, only offering her looks of hate. Her horn glowed green and she zapped another man who Patt had known as Sargent Matthews. He fell to the floor with a large burning hole in his chest that one could see right through .

“No one?” She asked with a wicked smile as her horn glowed again. She aimed it at Patt.

The ground shook as a deafening roar ripped through the base. The queens face fell. Her look of wickedness was washed away as fear took over.

“What was that.” She cried. A horrible shriek of pain filled the air and her eyes went even wider. She began shouting orders in the bugs own language and they buzzed out of the room and down the corridors.

Her head was shaking franticly as she mumbled. Patt could only just make them out. “No no no no no, to soon, far to soon.” Another roar filled the air and the room trembled.

“Which one of you is named Patt!” She yelled. “Answer me!”

The men said nothing. Her horn glowed again and she aimed it at Sargent. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. Patt couldn’t bare the sight of it. “I am.” He yelled.

She turned her head to Patt and smiled. Her horn discharged and the man screamed as a hole was burned through his chest. Patt was speechless. “I'll fucking kill you!” One of the men roared only to get stuck by another green beam

“The look on your face says it all” The bug said as she shot the three remaining survivors leaving only Patt. He watched in horror as skin and bone melted from the heat of the beam.

Patt suddenly felt weightlessness as he was levitated from the ground. Rage ripped through him as his mind finally came to terms with what had happened. “I'll kill you.” He growled before being levitated in front of her.

The sound of screaming was heard down the corridor as pieces of bug flew through the air. She looked at Patt and smiled.

Alex squeezed with his hand and the bug turned into a gooey, green mess. He smiled at the green mess but his smile falterd as two more of the bugs charged him.

Alex flicked his wrists and sent a gust of air towards the bugs. They flew backwards and collided with the wall giving off a sickening crunch. He fell to one knee as a wave of nausea washed over him.

Alex gritted his teeth. “You are not controlling me!” He growled as a voice like ice laughed inside his head.

You can't hold me back forever.

More thumping came from behind and Alex tried to turn only to fall onto his side. Two soldiers were running towards him. Each in their respective combat armour and weapons.

“Sir are you OK.” One of the yelled as he knelt by his side. The dissiness Alex had felt washed away as he quickly grabbed the man by the neck. The second solider stumbled back at the sudden movement.

“Name and rank.” Alex growled, edging ever closer to the struggling marine. Alex lessened his grip and allowed the marine to speak.

“Corporal Donald 2nd battalion Fusiliers.” He croaked. The second marine was shaking, trying to snap the safety of his weapon but was failing.

Alex pulled a knife from petters belt and ran it across the back of the soldiers hand. He let out a wince of pain as red flowed. Alex let go of the corporal, he grabbed at his neck and began coughing violently

He turned to the second solider and he got the message. He pulled the knife from his belt and ran it across his hand. He winced a red blood dripped to the floor. Alex nodded, “What’s your name?” He asked the second solider

“Private Ramsay, Royal Marines.”

“The base is compromised. I need all available units to help at once.” Alex said.

The cast worrying looks at one another. Donald was the first to speak. “We are the only help you will get sir. The ponies are about to make another push and we were sent to investigate the sudden drop in communications.”

Alex listened carefully to every word he had said. 'there was no way they would already launch a counter attack. It was to soon' He thought.

“How long till the pony force reaches the base?”

“Scouts say that at their current speed they will reach the base in twenty minutes.” Donald said.

“We need to get to the control room.” Alex said.

“Yes, sir!” Both of the men shouted.

“Lets move.” Alex said before setting off down the corridor towards the two dead changeling’s. He stepped over their limp bodies and continued on. The control room was only one flight of stairs above him.

Donald and Ramsay stopped to look at the two bugs. “Sir, what exactly is it?” Ramsay asked. Alex stopped and looked back at them.

“I have no idea but we must hurry.” Alex ordered.

“Yes, sir” The two soldiers said before running after Alex.

“How many mages survived the last battle?” Alex asked as the total number of casualty’s was unknown at the time of his imprisonment.

“Only eight sir.”

“Eight...” Alex shuddered at the number. At the beginning of the battle there had been sixty mages.

Ramsay spoke up again. “Only six of them are combat ready sir. The other two are in no state to fight.”

“Who are the survivors?” Alex asked hopping that some one had known survived.

“I don't know sir. All that I know is that they are all graduates.” Donald said.

“Well fuck.” Alex sighed. “You're telling me that not one single qualified mage survived?”

“Yes, sir.” Donald said sadly. “At the moment your are the most experience magic user on this base.”

Alex was silent. 'I surely can't be the last one?' He thought. 'Someone must have survived.'

“Sir, contact!” Donald shouted. Alex dropped the train of thought for a second and looked to where The two soldiers were aiming their weapons. On the stairs that lead up to the control room, lay a man breathing heavily with a hand over his chest.

“Help me.” He wheezed before going into a coughing fit. The two soldiers rushed forward as Alex stood in the hallway. He looked at the man and noticed something worrying. There wasn't a single drop of blood on him.

“Get away from him!” Alex roared.

“Sir, he is injured and needs medical attention.” Donald shouted back as he and Ramsay knelt by his side and began to look him over.

“The enemy can be anyone.” Alex said as he checked the hallways for any sign of an attack. “Cut his han-” Alex didn't finish as a beam of green light hit him in the shoulder. The light burned a hole straight through his shoulder blade and he fell to the ground screaming.

Donald didn't even have time to register what happened before the injured man pulled a knife from under his hand and plunged it into the solider neck. Donald grabbed at his throat in a feeble attempt to stop the torrents of blood but it had no effect.

Ramsay Frozen in shock didn't have time to notice a second man run down the stairs and tackle him to the ground. The man began to send punches into Ramsay's face. The marine tried in vain to block the punches but they were coming to fast.

Alex was screaming in agony. The beam had Burt a hole straight through his left shoulder that was wide enough to put your fist through.

I can make the pain go away. Alex growled. All you have to do is let me in.

A scream of pain was heard as the man plunged a finger in Ramsay's eye. He floundered around in pain before the man did the scream to the second eye. Ramsay's screaming became louder as the sound of bones cracking could be heard.

Oh, will you look at that. Wonder how long he will last.

Ramsay let out a blood curtailing scream. *Crunch* He stopped struggling and went limp.

Not long I see.

“Get out of my head!” Alex cried.

Nope.

“What about him?” One of the men asked. “Did the queen want him?”

“Yeah, alive.” He said with a smile.

The man who had crushed Ramsay’s skull rubbed the blood onto his shirt. “You grab him.” he said.

“Aww, thanks.” he laughed. He raised the same knife he had use to kill Donald and waved it in front of Alex, inches from his face. He pressed it against his neck and cut.

Alex was powerless to stop him. He felt every millimetre of the blade slide along his throat. The pain was unbearable. He tried to speak only for it to come out as a gurgle. Tears formed at the sides of his eyes as his vision began to fade to black.

'Not like this, not like this' He screamed to himself. He was growing weaker by the moment.

Just let me out. I can fix everything.

'No, never'

Then I guess they all died for nothing, Max, Kevin, Raygan, Patt. 'Shut up!' You let them all die. 'NO!

“NOOOOO!!” Alex roared. The two men flew backwards from unseen force and landed in aheap on the stairs. “I will kill all of you!”

Alex lunged forward before the men had a chance to react. He grabbed the closest one by the head and lifted him up. He shot his head forward and dug his teeth into the man’s neck. Green goo went everywhere as Alex tore of a chunk of flesh and let him fall to the ground.

No! you are supposed to give me control! Me!

The second man tried to ran but was stopped when Alex grabbed him by the neck. He beat tirelessly at Alex's arms and began to scream. His skin shifted position and began to rupture. Green goo sprayed everywhere as the man was turned inside out.

Give me control! Do you hear me give me-

“I will no longer answer to your temptations!” Alex roared.

… you need me.

“We shall see.” Alex growled before making his way up the last flight of stairs. He turned the final corner and stopped. Five drones were waiting for him. He threw his hands forward and sent a beam of light into the two closest bugs. They immediately turned to ash.

The other three drones fire the same green beams from earlier at him. He ducked and the three beams whizzed past his head. The bugs watched wide eyed as Alex ran towards them. Two large sabres that appeared to be made entirely from fire, materialized his hands.

Alex cut two of them in half with a single swipe. Their bodies fell to the ground with a wet plop. The last bug, frozen with shock, did nothing but stare at the dead bodies in front of him. With one final swipe the last of the bugs was dead.

Alex flew towards the control room, leaving sickly green footprints in his wake. He got to the door and place his hand upon the cold metal. He pulled it back slightly before smashing his palm into it again.

The door flew from its hinges and went flying to the far side of the room.

“Alex get the fuck out of here!” Patt yelled as Alex walked into the room.

Patt was being held a few inches above the ground by the bugs magic. A large black knife was placed at his throat.

“So, you finally join us.” The large bug said to Alex.

“And you are?” Alex growled.

“I am Queen Chrysalis. Ruler of the changelings.”

Alex watched the changeling intently. She appeared to be the same as any of the other, changeling only larger.

“Now put away those swords of yours. Please” She said cheerfully. Alex didn't move. She moved the knife slightly and it pushed further into Patt's neck.

“Don't do it.” Patt said. Chrysalis jerked the knife again. “This isn't a movie! kill the bitch!”

“Oh isn't he just precious.” Chrysalis chimed.

*BANG* For the Princess!!

The roar caught Alex of guard. He turned his attention to the main gate that he could clearly see through the broken windows of the control room. Ponies were rushing into the fort and were being mowed down in hails of gunfire.

“Ah, just on time.” Chrysalis grinned. Alex could see many of the soldiers suddenly flash into purple flames. A changeling drone was left in their place and in the confusion the lines began to break.

“Now, drop those swords please.” She smiled. Alex hated the smug way she looked at him.

“No.”

“What?” She replied, sounding honestly confused. “Drop them or I will kill him.” She said, motioning to Patt. He smiled.

“And does he appear to fear death?” Alex said again, trying to sound as calm as possible even though the words hurt so much to say. “Idle threats will not work on someone who does not fear death. They simply prolong the inevitable.”

She stared at him for a moment. “So be it.” She removed the knife from his neck and stabbed it into his stomach.

The room fell so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

“Noooooo!” Alex threw his hands forward and pushed at the air.

Alex flared his hands forward and in one quick motion pushed at the air. The Queen went flying and slammed Into several of the many computer screens that lined the far wall. He flared the magic in his hands and sent two beams of light into the fallen queen. She screamed in agony before falling silent.

“Patt!” Alex cried as he ran over to his friend. He had a hand pressed tightly against the stab wound but it did little to stop the blood. He was breathing heavily and blood red spittle flew from his mouth after every breath.

“We need to get you out of here.” Alex said. He Pressed both hands against the wound earning a loud wince from Patt. No matter how much pressure he placed on the wound the bleeding would not stop.

“Don't think that helped much.” Patt wheezed.

“Shush! Don't talk, just stay still.”

“It's over Alex.”

Alex shook his head. Tears were forming In his eyes. “No-”

“Look out..outside.” Patt grunted. His breathing becoming weaker by the second.

Alex didn't need to. The once distant sound of battle was not as distant as it was before. Alex's hear sank. He could hear people screaming, even over the roar of battle. 'They made it this far back already?' He thought.

“We had a good run,You and me.” Patt wheezed again. His voice no more than a whisper.

A fain smile grace Alex's lips. “Yeah. Yeah we did.”

*Clop*

“Aarghhh!” Alex let out a deafening scream, white hot pain enveloped his right shoulder. He felt weightlessness as he was thrown across the room. He crashed into the wall next to the door and landed with a thump.

“Ah, So easy.” A voice said

Alex shook his head turned to the noise. Chrysalis stood over Patt with a blood red dagger in her magical grasp. “Now come with me, I have some one who is dying to meet you.” She grinned.

Alex pushed past the pain in his shoulder and rose to his feet. He reached back and winced when his hand came into contact with the wound. Crimson coated his fingers.

He raised his left hand and aimed it at her. He charged his magic and let loose. Nothing happened. He tried again only to fail for a second time.

Chrysalis's grin grew wider, “Something wrong dear human?” Alex's eyes shot to the dagger. “Ah yes Detrozine. Extremely rare and has a strong effect on human magic I've heard.”

Alex's mind went into over drive. 'Not good, really not good. That dagger should have been destroyed years ago.” His pupils shrank until they were pin pricks.

Run

Chrysalis's grin somehow became even bigger. “Ah so the stories are true then. It does have an effect on humans.”

*Bang* “Arggghhh” Chrysalis jumped to the side. Her chest leaking a light green ooze.

A smoking pistol was held loosely in Patt's hand. He balanced the gun on his chest and tried to pull the trigger for a second time. His eyes were locked on the stunned Chrysalis.

The gun fired again. The second bullet skimmed past Chrysalis, missing her head by no more than a mere inch.

Her horn glowed green and in a blink of an eye the magic discharged. The beam of green light hit Patt directly in the chest, His eyes lost focus and his hand went limp. Patt was dead.

“Now that that's sorted.” Chrysalis grunted. Before turning to Alex. He stood motionless. His gaze transfixed onto Patt's lifeless body. The strength in his legs faltered and he fell to his knees.

Chrysalis’s horn glowed. Alex was scooped from his feet and levitated into the air. His eye never left Patt's lifeless body as he was drawn closer to her. She moved him directly in from of her. “Sadly you will not share is fate. I have someone who wishes to meet you and she doesn't like to be kept waiting.”

She extended her wings and gave them a quick buzz. She went to the massive hole blown in the side of the room and jumped. She took flight, her large wings buzzing quickly like a swarm of hornets.

Alex was defeated, He hung limply in the queens magical grip as he was flown over the ensuing battle. Humans ran in all directions as the hordes of ponies never seemed to end. The ground was completely red, not a single inch of the grey concrete could be seen, blood and bodies had buried it long ago. Everything Alex had held dear was gone. Patt, Max his family,friends, even hope.

“Ah, there she is.” Chrysalis chimed. She went into a deep dive before coming to a sudden stop a meter from the ground. Alex felt the magical grip around him disappear and he fell to the ground with a grunt.

“I have him.” Chrysalis said.

“Good.” A emotionless feminine voice said. “Have you found my mother?”

“She has been... executed.” Chrysalis replied in a hushed tone.

Alex slowly looked up and set eyes upon the creature Chrysalis was addressing. She was an alicorn and stood at least six foot tall and had a coat of pure white. Her mane was a mixture of light rainbow colours that seemed to float in the air, and she was clothed in a set of bright gold armour. Flanking her were three royal guards each wearing a suit of golden armour.

Her eyes burned red and the white alicorn turned her attention towards Alex. “Is this the one that killed my father.” She demanded.

“Yes, Celestia.”

“Take him to the front and hang him.” She ordered two of the guards beside her.

Alex couldn't bring himself to move. They had lost, There was nothing left to fight for.

*Snap*

A dark smiled twisted onto Alex's lips. “Ahahahahah.” Alex laughed.

The attention gained Celestia's attention. “Why are you laughing!” She demanded. Her eyes flaring white hot in the process.

“Because.” Alex's face dropped all emotion. “I have NOTHING to hold me back..” And his eyes turned green.

Defeat

Alex raised his foot and in one quick motion brought it down into the concrete. A Shockwave flew outwards and knocked everything within thirty feet of him into the air. The ground shattered sending massive chunks of debris into the air.

Black smoke billowed around his body obscuring him from view. Celesita watched in shocked awe as she raised to her feet. Three of her guards lay beside her, each one to the ground. She turned her attention to Chrysalis. The queen was fifteen meters from her and standing in a similar position her horn glowed and she disappeared with a pop.

The smoke continued to rise. Thousands of ponies had stopped to watch the ever growing cloud. The fighting at the front line stopped. The ponies may have watched with awe but the effect on the humans was very different.

They abandoned their posts, running as fast as possible in the direction of the control center. At the sight of the running humans the ponies awe turned to fear. They had been fighting for every inch of ground and now they run. Why?

Celestia took a step back, She didn't want to loose her composure in front of all her men and the last thing she needed was for them to retreat at this time.

It was then that she started to hear something, A deep breathing as smoke began to move as if it were being blown. And then a growl.

A massive body pushed into the smoke. Massive limbs could be seen behind the smoke screen as well as a colossal body. Celestia held a gasp as the size of the creature became apparent. It had to have been thirty meters tall and it was still growing.

“Hello world.” A deep voice rumbled from the smoke. “ Did you miss me.”

The smoke began to clear and Celestia's could only mutter one thing “Wyvern.”

Alex stood before her, his human form replaced by the behemoth. His scales were the darkest of black. Glowing green eyes stared down at Celestia. A maw of massive white teeth grinned at her. She involuntary took a step back. His wings were folded against his forelegs that stood like the tallest of pillars. Claws the size of cars spread from his hands and large spiked tail swayed behind him.

She moved her lips in vain to find speech. All the while the wyvern looked at her, hunger in his eyes. A glint of light caught her eye. His shoulder was bleeding, heavily. Dark red blood poured from the wound. Chrysalis, Celestia thought, remembering that the queen stabbed him with the blade.

She smiled, he was hurt and she knew it. “Surrender now!” Celestia yelled. “And I may rethink my decision on refusing your conversion” She got her answer.

He lifted his head to the side, a bright light glowing in his chest that reached up to this throat. His green eyes flashed red. Celestia barley had time to cast a shield around herself before the wall of flame spewed forward.

Bright blue flames collided with her shield forcing her back. Armour and pony alike were turned to ash, no shield to protect them from the wall of death. Celestia closed her eyes and prayed that her shield would hold as the ground around the shield began to melt away. She smelt burning fur as the heat began to seep through her shield.

The flames abated and, she opened her eyes and was dumbstruck at the devastation. Everything that was behind her, and entire armoured legion had been disintegrated. If she dropped the barrier her hooves would be consumed by molten rock.

Celestia turned her attention to the beats that slaughtered her little ponies. He was breathing heavily and his shoulder as bleeding heavily, even more so than to begin with. She smiled, she knew how to defeat him.

She charge her horn and called upon the power of the sun. She stood on her hind legs before lunging forwards. A beam of white light erupted from her horn, hitting the wyvern in the chest. He tumbled backwards from the impact crushing even more of her ponies who were cowering behind the beast.

“Star Swirl!” Celestia cried. A dark grey unicorn appeared with a pop just outside the molten ground. He had a large white beard and a dark blue hat with bells attached to it.

“I need you to hold it off whilst I get the elements.” Celestia cried as she teleported beside him.

“Yes princess.” He replied in a gruff voice.

“Stay safe my friend.” She said once more before disappearing with a pop.

He turned his attention to the now standing wyvern. The beast looked down at him with rage filled eyes. Star Swirl said a silent prayer before charging his horn.

“Ah, she sends her pet to do her bidding...” They wyvern growled, his voice like a landslide.

Star Swirl didn't answer he released the spell he was charging. The wyvern raised his arm, covering himself with his wing. The spell struck his wings and he yet again was sent falling backwards. Star Swirl didn't allow himself to smile. He rushed forward and charged another spell. The wyvern's tail flicked forwards. Star Swirl ducked and the tail flew over his head.

He ducked to the side and fired the spell. The beam of blue light shot forwards hitting the wyvern in the back. He smiled, when the wyvern tried to raise to its feet only to fall, he had done it.

Alex breathed heavily. His body was in so much pain. His wings had been reduced to nothing and his back leaked blood. He shuddered when another bolt of light struck his back. He didn't have the strength to try and stop it.

His eyes fell, they were heavy, he was tied and everything was gong black. He had failed for the last time. Cheers ripped through the base as the wyvern fell.

With one last ounce of strength he squeezed his eyes open. He could see the complex, it was only a two hundred meters in front of him were humans, men, women, children, but every single one of them dead. Many had been impaled onto spikes or had their throats cut.

One thing caught his attention a little girl was mounted onto a spike. Her chest was weeping blood where the spear had pierced through, her eyes blinked at him, she was still alive. The guards, pony guards laughed and cheered. Cheered as children bled to death on spikes, cheered as people watched their family die in front of them.

KILL

His eyes flared read. His chest grew white hot and he let out a roar that split the heavens. Blue flame spewed forwards towards the stunned guards as they stopped their cheering. Flame engulfed them killing them all instantly.

Rage filled him, unlocking strength that was hidden away. His wing Shawn white hot as the membrane grew back. Along with his missing scales on his back. His attention turned to Star swirl and the rest of the army that gathered behind him.

“You will know death!” Alex roared. The based shook and he got into position to rain death upon them. Star swirl readied another attack, but he was to late. Flame erupted from the daemons head engulfing everything before it. Star Swirl raised his shield and stood his ground. His shield lasted for barley as second before it faltered. The last thing he felt was his skin melting from his body.

Flame engulfed everything, every nook and crane was bathed in blue fire. Everybody, human or pony alike was turned to ash.

He roared again. His attention turning to the base entrance.

Steel feather, a newly converted pegasus couldn't wait to see some action. He had been drafted as the reserve force just in case the main attack force was repelled. He couldn't wait to have his chance to convert people and show them a better way.

“Do you think we will get a chance?” He asked an earth pony beside him. “To convert some humans?”

“I hope so.” The earth pony replied. “I can't wait-”

RAHHHHHHHH

“WHAT WAS THAT!?” Steel feather shouted.

Then he was it. A wave of blue fire was cascading down the tunnel towards him. Shouts for Celestia to save them fell onto deaf ears as the wall of flame engulfed him.

Alex grinned, he pushed his way down the corridors through a field of ash. Their were no bodies or armour remaining, only ash. He grunted as a wave of pain shot through his shoulder. He knew it was hurt bad but he couldn’t let himself forget his mission, kill Celestia.

He came to the entrance. It was so small he could barley put his leg through it. He growled, his chest glowed bright red and flame shot forward. The rock face was nothing to him. The extreme heat had melted it in seconds. Causing it to pool around his feet.

Black smoke billowed forwards due to the draft it created. Smoke and ash flew forward engulfing Alex. He had his work cut out. Outside the mountain fortress were thousands, no hundreds of thousand of ponies waited.

He grinned. They shook in fear as the black some covered their view of the new exit he had created. They had no idea he was there, and he loved every second of it. The fear on their faces, the tremble of their bodies. It was exhilarating.

His chest grew red hot again. Before he unleashed the torrents of death he said one thing, one thing that shook ponies to the bone. “Vengeance.”

*pop*

Celestia readied the shield around her and got ready for the attack. It never came. She looked around and saw nothing. Only fields of ash. Her eyes caught onto the destroyed command centre at the far end of the fort. It was the only thing that remained standing. She looked down at her saddlebags and sighed in relief that they were still there.

She looked down at her hooves. She was standing in at least a foot of ash. “No, no no no.” She said, snapping her head in all directions. “Star Swirl!” She called at the top of her lungs. Her voice echoed for a moment before everything fell silent.

Maybe he got away unharmed. She thought hopefully. She turned her attention to the entrance to the fort. Or what was left of it. The metal doors had been sheered off and the only thing coming from the tunnels was darkness.

She extended her wings and took flight, pulling up a wave of ash as she went. She descended into the tunnels. The walls were melted and ash covered the floor. She was breathing heavily now. If he could do this much damage was there any hope in stopping him?

She flew all the way to the mane gate, she looked out at the lands before her and froze, the air left her and she fell to her knees.

The green land was gone. In its place was a black scorched wasteland. She ground was black, not a single drop of green as far as the eye could see. The sky was black with ash and the smell of death filled the air.

Celestia didn't know what to do. An army of over two hundred thousand of her ponies stood guard outside the fortress. Two hundred thousand.

“There will be more of this.” A voice like thunder growled. Celestia turned and looked up. Alex stood tall on the mountain side looking down at the scorched land. “So tell me Celestia, was it worth it?”

She summoned a shield around her. “I will kill you!” She roared as her horn charged.

The wyvern's eyes narrowed. “I will enjoy this.” His chest glowed red hot as he unleashed a wave of blue flame. Celestia teleported away, turned and fired. A beam of light cascaded from her horn towards Alex. He jumped from his mountain perch just as the beam it, blowing the mounting face to pieces.

He soared upwards into the sky and above the cloud cover. Celestia readied another attack and waited. She set her eyes on the sky waiting for the time where he dives down onto her. They are only for last resort. She thought eyeing her saddlebag.

A screech filled the air and Alex broke through the clouds. He directed himself directly at Celestia and sent a wave of fire towards her. She teleported away moments before it hit. She reappeared to his side, she fired her magic and the beam hit his side.

Alex tumbled from the sky, the beam had hit his wing and disintegrated most of the membrane. He fell to the ground with a crash.

Alex growled and turned to her. They stared at one another for the longest of moments. Waiting to see who would react first. Alex did. He built the flame in his chest and let loose. Celestia fire her beam moments later. The two streaks of death met.

The explosion was sow powerful the two assailants were thrown from into the air. Celestia slammed into the ground but was quickly back on her hooves. She wasn't going to be defeated that easily. Alex was another story.

He struggled to get back up. His wounded shoulder casting daggers of pain throughout his forearm. The wound no longer leaked crimson, no, the blood had turned a sickly green. The blade was working its effects.

Alex stood heavily. He couldn't show weakness, not now. Celestia took to the sky and closed the distance quickly. Her horn glowing even brighter. Alex turned and flicked his tail. Celestia easily dodged the attack and sent another beam of light towards him.

He threw his massive body to the side. The beam of light glancing across his back. The pain from his shoulder was unbearable. He knew he couldn't take it for much longer. He ready fro one last attack.

He built the heat in his mouth but stopped. Celestia stood in the distance. Six object floating above her head. White light engulfed her as she floated into the sky.

“You do not deserve the mercy of death!” She roared, the white light increasing. “None of your race does.”

The light shot forward towards Alex. He readied the the fire in his chest but was to slow. The beam hit him and his vision turned completely white. White hot pain flashed across his body, most notably his shoulder.

His vision turned white and he felt weightlessness. He knew he was now in his human form, the way he felt lighter through the air. He landed with a thump.

The air left his lungs and he lay still. He didn't have the power to open his eyes, the only thing he could do was listen, listen to the birds...

Birds?

Dark Magic

He snapped open his eyes. Alex was lying in a small field of blue flowers. Dark trees covered his view of the sky, casting the forest into darkness. He turned his head, his vision was obscured by fields of light blue flowers

A sharp pain in his shoulder caused him to wince. The wound was till leaking the same green fluid and the veins had started to turn black. He roared in agony as he tried to get to his feet. His entire body racked with pain.

Getting to his feet he wobbled. He was completely naked and his arm fell limp to his side. “Ow” He tried to say but no words came from his mouth. He tried it again to only fail. He grabbed his throat with a hand and coughed.

He had lost his voice. He cursed himself at his attempts to speak, only causing waves of pain to wash through his throat. He could easily heal the damage don to him as soon as he get the blade shards removed. He turned his attention to the stab wound and winced. It was leaking green ooze and the veins had turned black. He need help and fast.

*Rustle*

He turned slowly. He went wide eyed. Standing in the bush was a red unicorn. His horn was glowing and aimed directly at him. He didn't have a chance to react until the bolt hi him square in the chest. He fell to the ground and blacked out.

When he regained conscious her noticed something different straight away. He didn't feel any pain. His eyes shot open and turned to his shoulder. The wound was covered in a white piece of cloth and the horrible green-ooze was gone, replace with a nice red. Black veins still snaked down his arm and much of his neck but they didn't appear as bad as they once were.

That's when he noticed the collar around his neck. “The fuck!” He tried to say only for no sound to come out. He closed his eyes and focused on his throat. He rushed his magic into his neck and shivered. That was a feeling he missed. Even being without magic for minutes felt foreign to him.

“That's better” He growled, his voice usually deep. He had a look at his surroundings. Only now did he realize he was trapped in a barred metal cage, inside a large tent. Two other humans were tied up, both staring at him, both as naked as he was.

“Pssst, where the hell am I?” Alex said to the two humans sitting in the cadge. They didn't answer, turning to him they stared at him with blank eyes.

Alex looked at him for a moment. He looked human but sure didn't act like it. They were more like animals than they were human.

“Can you hear me!” Alex whispered again. The man said nothing.

Giving up with the other men he turned his attention back to the collar. He tried to pull it off but shrieked in pain when a surge of energy surged forward.

“Go check on him.” A voice from outside said.

Someone grunted and got up from their seat. Alex clutched at his neck, a small amount of smoke rising from the burnt flesh.

The same red unicorn from before pushed into the tent, he was wearing a large brown cloak that obscured most of his body. The pony walked over to Alex's cage. “ Don't do anything stupid now, we still need to sell you.” Alex's eyes narrowed and the unicorn took a step back.

His horn flashed and the collar around Alex's neck activated. Another surge of energy surged through him. He yelled in pain. He floundered around on the ground. The unicorn grinning all the while.

After a minute of constant shock he stopped. He peered closer at Alex cage a smile on his face. “Stupid animal.” He muttered before coming just in rage of Alex. It was his last mistake.

Alex pushed passed the pain and grabbed the unicorn by the horn. He pulled forward and squeezed the unicorns head through the metal bars. He tried to scream but Alex was quicker. He slammed his hand into his throat, silencing any attempt to call for help.

The unicorn looked up at him with pleading eyes. All he got was a smile. He plunged his teeth into the unicorn's neck. Blood pooled around the body. Tears formed around the unicorns eyes and Alex tore a piece of flesh from his neck. He let go of the body and it fell to the floor. He licked his lips and savoured the taste. He hadn't tasted blood for years.

He gave a bloody smile as a small wave of power washed through his veins. All the unicorn could do was blink. His throat had been torn out and he watched his blood pool onto the ground before him. The last thing he saw the human do was smile.

Alex smiled down at the boy before turning his attention back to the bared cage. It didn't seem to have any entrance or pad lock to speak of. He slumped back in his cage and let the magic work. The black veins on his shoulders and neck vanished along with the burn marks on his throat. He grabbed the collar and ripped it off.

He grabbed two of the bars and pulled. The metal slowly bent in his grip. A minute of pulling and tugging later he had made hole just large enough to squeeze through. He wriggled past the bars and out into the tent. He reached down and yanked the bloodied cloak from the pony's back and strung it across his waist. He flexed his fingers and sighed, he felt so much weaker than he had been.

He approached the the two cages holding the humans to get a better view. They shrunk away from his bloodied body. Alex took a step back. What the fuck is going on? He thought.

“Catcher, what's taking you so long!” A voice from outside called. He turned towards the entrance to the tent. I'll come back for them. He thought, casting a look back at the humans.

“CATCHER!” The voice shouted again. “What the buck is taking you so long!”

Alex peered through the small gap in the tent. Three ponies, two unicorns and an earth pony, sat around a small camp fire.

Alex pushed through the tent. A blank expression on his face. The closest pony, a blue earth pony scrambled at the sight of a the bloodied human. “What the buck!” He jumped from the small stool he was sitting on and scampered behind his friends.

Alex didn't wait for them to act. He charged the magic in his hands and shot a beam of light at the closest unicorn. The beam him him square in the chest, he didn't stand a chance. He fell to the ground, a large smouldering hole where his chest had once been.

The other two ponies screamed as the beam hit their friend. The unicorns horn began to glow and the earth pony turned and ran into the bushes, leaving his friends behind.

Alex charged another beam in his hands, his shoulder burned with pain. He ignored the pain and aimed at the second unicorn and fired. The beam shot from his hands, impacting the pony's foreleg. He yelled in agony as the lower part of his leg disintegrated.

Alex turned his attention to the fleeing pony, his eyes flashed green and the pony erupted into a red mist. He grunted in anger before stalking over to the crying pony. Alex reached down and grabbed his good foreleg. Raising him up until they were face to face. He tapped the pony on the head, casting a small pain relief spell. The guard slowly stopped screaming as the pain disappeared.

“You will answer every question I have or the pain starts again.” He growled. The guards pale face looked at him in utter shock.

“You talked.” He wheezed.

Alex tapped his head again and the pony started to scream. He waited a moment before relieving the pain. “Understand?” The pony nodded.

“Where am I? Who are you? and why are there humans caged in the tent?!” Alex growled into the terrified pony's face.

“You talked.” The pony repeated.

“Answer my questions!” Alex roared.

“You tal-” He didn't finish. Alex broke the spell stopping him from feeling pain and dragged him towards the fire. He grabbed and snapped both of the ponies back legs before dropping him into the fire. Alex didn't think the pony could scream any louder but he did. He kicked and thrashed against the fire, his skin and fur burning.

“No more mercy from me.” Alex said coldly to the still burning unicorn.

He grabbed the stool the pony had been sitting on and entered the tent. He placed the stool in front of the two cages and sat down. There was something definitely wrong with these guys and he had to figure out what.

The human in the cage whimpered like a dog when he sat down. He was average height with long brown hair and grey eyes. Alex averted his eyes from his man hood. Making sure to keep his eyes on his face, he still needed to show some decency.

He rolled his shoulder trying to ease the pain. Since his magical outburst the pain had been slowly decreasing, but not by much. Alex frowned, before running a hand through his short hair. Nothing felt right. Was he dead? Knocked out? In a comma? He had no idea. Even the air felt wrong, it was to clean, to fresh. Even when it was filled with the smell of burning pony.

Alex turned his attention to the second human he was tall, skinny, had short black hair that looked somewhat styled and light blue eyes.

Definitely human. Alex thought. He leaned a little closer to the cage, a cold tingle washed down his spine. He pulled back instantly, he knew that feeling. He waved his had through the air, channeling just a small amount of magic into his palm, causing his shoulder ache and his gut turn cold. The hairs on the back of his neck rose as he spoke the words.

“Dark magic.”

Apples And Blood

Alex back-pedalled, he couldn't risk himself being touched by dark magic, not in his state. His arm ached slightly.

Dispelling a back magic curse was relatively easy if you knew what you were doing. Unfortunately Alex had very little knowledge in curses. The threat of failing to dispel the curse was severe. It could result in anything from instant death, to being mortally injured, and in the worst case scenario, the curse could copy itself onto the dispeller. Alex couldn't risk breaking the curse, if he failed he could turn out like the two men.

Alex rubbed his eyes. He had to do something, they were his only hope of finding out what was going on around here. “I guess I can find out what the curse does.” Alex mused. He focused on the magic radiating from the man. A coldness filling him as he did so.

He retracted his had from the air and sighed. The curse was to stop all higher rain function, to render the person it cursed to nothing more than a husk of there old self. To cast this spell on one person would be difficult, but two people? How powerful had these ponies become.

Alex clenched his teeth. He couldn't just sit there when they were like that. He growled before extending his had. He had only one shot at this. A bright blue ball of light slowly grew in his palm, the light slowly increased until he had to shut his eyes from the intense light. He discharged the spell and opened his eyes. What he saw left him breathless.

The once cowering human was almost motionless. His hands were shaking as he slowly lifted them towards his face. His eyes locked onto his moving hands as he wiggled his fingers. He looked towards Alex with tears in his eyes.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”He cried over and over as he tackled Alex in a hug.

“Hey!”Alex cried as he fell onto his back. “It's OK.” He managed to say, trying to forget the fact that the man on top of him was naked.

The man sobbed heavily into Alex's chest. He just lay there unsure of what to do. “Thank you.” He sobbed.

“It's OK, It's OK.” Alex repeated over and over. “But can you please get off me.”

He continued to sob as he pushed of of Alex and sat down, his eyes were bright red from crying and he was wearing one of the biggest smiles Alex had ever seen.

“Thank you so much.” He cried again before whipping tears from his eyes. “Are you an angel?” He asked sincerely.

An angel? “No I'm not an angel.” Definitely not an angel.

“Then.... who are you.” He asked.

“My name is Alex and I'm here to help you, but first please cover yourself with something.” Alex said, averting his eyes from the man's crotch, which he quickly covered with his hands and blushed.

“Sorry... it's just been so long...” He said again before wiggling his fingers.

“Get something to wear for you and the other man in the cage.” Alex said. “I will remove the curse from him then we can talk.” The man nodded before shakily walking out of the tent.

Alex quickly did the same spell again, sure of how to do it now, and freed the second man. Much like the first he was grateful beyond belief. The first man quickly came back with two overall type things that both men quickly put on.

“What's your name?” Alex asked the human with long brown hair once he had sat down.

“My names Matt.” He replied with red puffy eyes.

“And you?” Alex asked the man with short black hair.

“Tom.”

“Right, now I want you to tell me everything that is going on, and I mean everything.” And they did.

They talked for what felt like hours, the sun was slowly rising into the sky casting the dark forest into a slightly brighter version of its self.

“So let me get this straight.” Alex said, hardly believing his ears. “You are locked within your own body?”

“Yes.” Matt nodded. “We are still in there but we can't do anything, not even blink.”

“And that you have lived through this torture multiple times?” Alex asked.

He nodded again. “How many times?”

“Seven times. We only seem to live till fifteen years old, maybe a bit loner if you are unlucky.” Matt said sadly. So I'm in the future.

“Fifteen.” Alex growled causing the two men to flinch.

“It seems that way, and thank you again.” Tom said. With a slight accent that Alex couldn't place.

Alex thought for a second. “So you are treated as pets or forced labour?” The two men nodded. “sometimes used as food for the carnivorous creatures out there such as griffins and diamond dogs?” They nodded again. “And once you die, there is sometimes what seems like a large jump in time?” A third nod.

“Can you remember the last time you were able to control your bodies?”

Tom shook his head but Matt spoke.“During the siege of London I think.”

Alex's eyes went wide. “Did you say London? As in the city in England London?” Matt nodded. “Why were you there?”

“I was part of the civilian militia that was formed.” He replied with a worried look. “Why? What happened?”

“Once London was destroyed by nuclear weapon fire. Once the city was breached and they began their air attack it was decided to fully halt their advance.”

“But... I...”

“You would have died.” Alex said firmly.

“But... How? I'm alive aren’t I?”

“You have already said that you have lived at least seven times.” Alex rebutted.

“So what does that mean?” Matt asked, his voice getting caught in his throat.

“Truthfully, I have no idea. In fact none of this should be happening, if what you have told me is true something is deeply wrong with this world, very few mages could cast two curses and hold them at the same time, to cast thousands if not millions would be impossible.”

“Then why is it happening?” Tom asked.

“Like I said, I have no idea.” Alex replied. “But I intend to find out.” The two men perked up at his words.

“Do any of you know where the closest settlement would be? I need to find immediate medical attention.” Alex said.

“The closest town would be Ponyville, that’s were we... well or bodies escaped from, a a large apple orchard. These poachers were tasked in hunting us down.” Matt answered.

“Then that is were we need to go, is there a doctor in this town?”

“Many, there is a small hospital there, but it is ran by ponies.” Tom jumped in.

“Yes, and they are the only ones that can remove this.” Alex said pointing to the small bandage on his shoulder. “I don't need their help, only their tools.”

“What's in your shoulder?” Matt asked curiously.

“A piece of metal that stops me from effectively casting magic. I need it removed as quick as possible. The ponies that captured us tried to remove it but there are still small fragments lodged into my shoulder.”

“So we are going to a pony occupied town?” Tom asked.

“Yes, garb what weapons you can from the dead poachers. We are going to walk into that town and kill anything that gets in our way.” This caused all three men to smile.

Finding the end of the forest was incredibly easy. As it turns out they were no where as deep into the forest as they feared and the tracks left by the poachers were still fresh as there hadn’t been any rain to wash them away.

“What did you do to that pony, the one in the fire?” Matt asked. He had grabbed himself a small dagger that one of the poachers had on him.

“I broke his body before leaving him to burn to death.” Alex replied nonchalantly. “Why is there a problem?” He asked Raising an eyebrow.

“No, I just heard him scream, rather soothing in a way.” Matt said back with a twisted smile. Tom on the other had looked slightly green.

“His flesh fell from his body.” The slightly green human said. “It was disgusting.” Like Matt he to took a weapon, a small bludgeon that the poachers used to subdue unruly humans.

“Perhaps.” Alex shrugged as he pushed another bush out of the way. The forest had grown considerably brighter since they had set off after the tracks. Beams of sunlight burst through the canopy signalling the thinning out of the forest.

“Why are we going to Sweet Apple Acres again? You said you needed to go to the hospital?” Tom asked, causing Alex to grumble, he had already told him the plan.

“We need to free the humans this, Applejack has as workers, without them we cant take the town.” Alex replied

“We wont be able to hold a town forever with only twenty odd people.” Matt replied. “We will need a serious plan before we do that.”

“The plan is to get my shoulder fixed, take all the equipment and supplies we need as well as releasing any humans we come across. Once that is accomplished we retreat back to the forest before the army arrive. From their we will start to think of long term goals. If we get lucky someone from the town might be a mage, but I highly doubt it.”

“So all this magic stuff was true then?” Tom asked Alex. The edge of the forest clearly insight by now. “It wasn't just some kind of moral boost.”

Alex snapped his finger and a small flame materialized in his palm, his shoulder aching as he did so. “We have been around for hundreds if not thousands of years, only when humanity was truly threatened did we show ourselves to the public. You were also under the effects of a curse, did you really need to ask that question?”

“I didn't know if humans could do it.” Tom asked ignoring Alex's previous statement.

“Almost everyone 'can' do magic, but only a few can use it to an effect. With enough practise and training almost anyone could summon a small flame or breeze, but most will never advance past that point.”

“So you really just need to be lucky then?” Tom asked sadly.

“Pretty much.” Alex replied. Toms head fell to the floor. As Matt shook his head.

They reached the edge of the forest and looked out onto the christen land before them. Rolling green hills lead into the distance, and snow peeked mounting tops hugged the horizon. Alex didn't care for the beauty.

“Where is Sweet Apple Acres?” Alex asked Matt. The man pointed to a field of trees in the distance that seemed to stretch for miles.

“Then we best get moving.”

Sweet Apple Acres was huge. It had taken the group over an hour to get their but it felt like they had been wandering through the fields of apple trees for twice that time. The trees were void of fruit and small green leaves were forming on the branches.

“You said the farmhouse is in the centre of this farm correct?” Alex asked Matt.

“From what I remember, although it's hard to remember something like that as a wild animal.” Matt replied. Alex nodding his head in understanding.

A large red barn slowly came within view and it didn’t take a genius to realise that’s were they were heading.

“You said there would only be four ponies in this place, right?” Alex asked turning towards Matt.

“Yeah, The only danger will come from the two middle aged ponies, Applejack and Big Macintosh.” Matt answered. “If we are lucky Applejack might be out with her friends.”

“How many humans are here again?” Alex asked as they made their way to the front of the barn. There wasn't a single soul in sight.

“At least fifteen, maybe more.” Tom answered. “It's not a pretty sight.”

“I'll have seen worse.” Alex said as he grabbed the barn door and swung it open. He froze once he saw the state of the captives. They were compressed into small cages that lined the walls, dirt and excrement covered the floors around the cages. Every single human turned to the new noise, just like a dog would.

The sight made Alex sick to his stomach. Even horses and cattle on earth were in better pens than this. “Unlock these cages now!” Alex ordered. Matt and Tom complied.

Alex closed the door and got to work opening the cages, there were five cages in total, each with around four humans trapped inside.

“They are locked!” Tom shouted as he fiddled with the large metal padlock on the front of the cage. Alex inspected his and he had the same problem.

“We need to get the key, I don't want to waste my energy.” Alex shouted back.

Click

Alex, Matt and Tom turned quickly towards the barn door. A large red Stallion walked into the barn, he had a yoke around his neck and a menacing glare on his face. Attached to his back was a saddle back that looked like it was ready to burst.

“What do ya thing yer doing out of yer cages?” The stallion boomed.

Alex stared at the stallion for a moment before waving his had in the air, his shoulder burned as the boor to the barn slammed shut.

Big Mac jumped at the sound, he turned his attention to Alex as he closed on the stallion. He put his head down and stomped his hooves into the ground. Alex stooped, he had seen this hundreds of times before, ponies would stamp their back feet into the ground before charging.

Once Big Mac ran forward he simply stepped to the side and sent a fist into the side of the ponies face. The shock of being hit made him tumble to the floor a few feet from Alex. He jumped to his hooves and shook his head. Matt and Tom stayed back from the fight and watched.

The two began circling one another, well Big Mac did as Alex stayed in the same spot and waited for him to come within range, the last thing he wanted to do was waste his magic on a lone pony. Big Mac stopped once he realised the human wouldn't move.

The stallion shuddered, something was wrong with this human, the way in wore a cloak and how it managed to close the barn door with a wave of its hand. He only wished AppleJack was with him.

Alex waited for the pony to move, a stallion of that size could easily break his ribs if he got tackled full force. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if he bucked him in the chest or gut.

The stallion charged again and just like before Alex swatted him away. A trickle of blood fell from the pony’s face, he wiped it with a hoof before turning back to Alex. The only thing Big Mac could think of was that this human had to have been trained for combat, and very few human owners were allowed to do that.

“Ah don't want to hurt ya.” Big Mac said in a voice like a man would do to a dog.

“The feeling is not mutual.” Alex growled.

Big Mac froze, the human just talked. His mind tried to wrap around what had just happened. He was totally unaware of the human running towards him.

Alex ploughed into the pony, he crouched down slightly as he ran, getting under the pony's chest and pulled him up of the ground. The stallion, to shocked to do anything, was powerless to stop himself from falling onto his back. Alex began to pummel the stallions face, teeth and blood flying from his mouth.

Big Mac swung his hoof wildly in front of his face and clipped Alex in the side of the head, he tumbled off of the stallion before jumping quickly to his feet. “I don't have time for this.” Hunter growled. He extended his arm towards the slowly rising pony.

“NO!” a small voice called as Alex readied his spell. He turned to the voice. A small filly was standing in the barn door that had been open during the fight. “Please don't hurt my brother.” She begged before running by his side and pulling him into a hug.

Alex froze, his fingers tingled with magic, he could discharge the spell and turn both of them to ash in an instant, but he didn't. His hand fell to the side as the little filly cradled her blooded brother.

“What are you waiting for?!” Matt cried. “Kill them!” He walked up to Alex, fiddling with his dagger as he did so.

“I will not harm a child.” Alex growled. “No matter what shape they take.”

“Fuck you. They kept us as slaves!” Matt shouted before kicking the little yellow filly in the stomach. She fell over with pain as he got ready for another strike.

“No, please. Leave her alone.” The large stallion wheezed. Trying to move from his spot only for Matt to kick him in the stomach.

He brought his foot down onto the filly again, a sickening crack ran through the barn as a rib broke. She screamed in agony.

“Please.” Big Mac pleaded to Matt. “Don't hurt her.” He ignored the please of the stallion and slammed his heel into her chest again.

Tom was standing at the back of the barn doing nothing, a blank expression on his face as he watched the filly being attacked.

Alex's gaze was focussed on the little filly. His mind cast back to the memory of the small girl on the spike, her tears from the pain. He never wanted to see that again.

Matt readied another strike, and from the state of the small filly most likely the last, her bow and fallen from her head and a rib pocked from her chest. He didn't get very far as Alex grabbed him by the neck,he swivelled the man around until he was looking directly into his eyes. Those dark, glowing, green eyes.

Alex plunged his thumbs into Matt's eyes, he barley had time to register the pain before his skull was pierced and his brain turned to mush. He dropped the limp body to the ground and rushed to the filly side.

Tears stained her eyes as she looked up at the human towering above her. Her breathing came in pain rasps and blood pooled around her.

Alex reached down and place a hand over the filly's chest, it grew bright red and something Big Mac couldn’t even begin to think possible happened. The bone from her chest pulled back into her boy before the wound sealed, her cuts and bruises on her face ad chest disappeared before passing out without a single scratch on her body.

Alex let out a roar once he had finished. His shoulder was in the most pain he had ever felt, like dipping flesh into molten metal.

“Thank you.” Big Mac said heavily as he inched towards the filly. He pulled her into a hug before beginning to cry. Alex considered killing him right there and then, to simply bring his foot down onto his skull, but something stopped him, something suddenly change his entire look on the situation before him, Patt's words haunting his memories.

You can't blame children, for the sins of their fathers.

Sparks

After he had healed the filly that was called Apple Bloom he nearly collapsed, his shoulder still burned and he had a burning anger towards Tom, he hadn't moved from the back of the barn since he had killed Matt.

Big Mac hadn't stopped cradling the small filly for one second, sure that Alex would come over and kill her as part of some sick joke. But he didn't. Instead he sat by the wall of the barn, a vacant expression on his face.

Alex didn't know what to do. For the first time in his life he had no idea what to do. He had and unbearable desire to kill every pony in his sight, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He felt lost. even the voice in his head had been vanquished.

“Thank you.” Big Mac said getting Alex's attention. “For saving ma sister.”

“Don't thank me. I'm still thinking whether or not is should kill you.” Alex growled. Big Mac flinched at the words.

“Why did ya help her?” Big Mac asked, not wanting the conversation to stop. He need to find some way in which he could talk the human into letting him go.

“I have my reasons.” Alex shot back, not wanting to explain to the pony.

“Would you like something to drink or eat?” Big Mac asked, if he could distract him he might be able to call the guards.

“No.” And so ended that plan.

“What do ya want from me.” Big Mac asked changing tactics. Alex didn't answer.

Big Mac shivered before looking down at Apple Bloom, she was still passed out but seemed relatively unharmed. Though she would remember the attack for a long time.

“She wont remember the attack.” Alex spoke up, “I made sure of it.”

Alex rose to his feet. Big Mac flinched and pulled back. Alex needed to get moving, waiting in this barn would only slow him down. He turned to the top of the barn expecting to see Tom, but he wasn’t there. He scanned the room for any sight of the man but there was none, he had completely vanished.

“Tom!” Alex shouted to the back of the room. “Where are you!”

He didn’t receive an answer. The only sound coming from the room was the noise of whimpering humans as he stood, something that still confused him.

“Where did he go.” Alex growled turning to Big Mac, only to get a scarred and confused look. “The other human, where is he!”

“Ah... Ah... Ah don't know.” Big Mac stammered. “There were only two of ya.”

“There was three of us!” Alex growled down at the stallion.

“Ah swear, there was only two of you.”

Alex turned back to where Tom had once stood, there were no exits and he wouldn't have been able to sneak past him. Had he just imagined it? No, there was definitely another man.

“Can I please take ma sister inside?” Big Mac asked.

Alex stared at him for a second as he weighed his options, he couldn't stay here forever, sooner or late someone would fine him, and without the full use of his magic he wouldn't have much chance in a full scale fight.

“In your home, do you have medical equipment?” Alex asked. Looking down at the stallion.

“Yes...” Big Mac answer warily.

“Then I have a proposition, you help me remove the metal in my shoulder.” He said motioning to the bandage wrapped around his shoulder. “And I will leave.” Once he had freed the humans of course.

Big Mac was silent for a moment, “How can I trust ya?” he asked unsure.

“If I wanted you dead, you would be dead by now. So tell me, do we have a deal.” Alex asked with a slight grin on his face.

Big Mac nodded.

The farm house was cosy, brown wooden floors and low roofs each room was painted a different colour, photos of the family lines many of the walls, giving it a warm and appealing look.

“This way.” Big Mac said after he had put Apple Bloom in her bed, he lead Alex into the kitchen and sat him down at the table, he pulled a small green box with a red cross on in over and clicked it open with his hooves, somehow.

“What do ya need?” Big Mac asked, he was trying to put on a brave face but Alex saw right through the façade. The stallion seemed to shiver every time Alex spoke.

“A knife, alcohol and bandages.” Alex replied. “There are small pieces of metal still stick inside the wound, I want you to cut them out.” Alex asked as he slowly removed the bandage. “Don't get any ideas with that knife, I could still burn this house down in the time it takes you to kill me.”

Big Mac nodded before taking his spot behind Alex. He noticed the small flame burning in his had as he finished bandaging his shoulder. The wound was still open and slowly seeping red. The wound would have been immensely painful, and as far as Big Mac new it didn't seem to be phasing the man at all.

“Where are the shards?” Big Mac asked.

“I don't know, take a look!” Alex growled.

Big Mac gulped before inspecting the cut again. A small shimmer of light caught his eye. A piece of metal, about two centimetres in diameter was jutting out of the cut flesh.

“I see it, how do ya want it taken out?” Bid Mac asked, he couldn’t use his hoof or mouth to remove the metal, and he didn’t have any pliers small enough.

“Use the knife, cut it out.”

“Big Mac's eyes went wide, “Ya can't be serious.” He asked in disbelief.

“The pain and damage will heal, now do it.” Alex growled causing the stallion to flinch.

Big Mac nodded and took the knife in his mouth, he hovered over the wound for a second, not wanting to proceed, hoping that Alex would think of another way.

“Do it.” He growled, the small flame in his had growing in size.

And so began one of the most painful things Alex had ever felt. Big Mac kept true to his word and began to push and nudge the small shard of metal in hopes of dislodging it from his shoulder. After a minute of trying and falling to move it he took a deep breath and began to cut. Alex growled as the pain surged through his body, he could feel every cut, every tug, every yank and slice.

The sound of a tink sounded the end of the attack. The small piece of metal flew from his shoulder and he collapsed to the floor, his strength had left his pain racked body. From the pain through he felt something else, power.

He smiled all of his power returned to him, the wound on his shoulder healing within moments. Big Mac back peddled at the sight of the wound closing up. Alex slowly rose to his feet and wiggled his fingers, he snapped his fingers summoning a flame and smiled, not even the slightest hint of pain.

He turned to Big Mac with a toothy grin on his face, the stallion flinching as Alex took a step forward, the fatigue instantly gone from his body. “Thank you.” He said before turning towards the exit. “You followed your part of the bargain, and now I shall do the same.”

“One more thing.” Alex said, turning back to the scared stallion. “Tell Apple Bloom that the memories were a dream, she will remember a small amount of the attack.”

Big Mac nodded as Alex walked towards the door. He pulled it open and was met with a very peculiar sight. Three large bipedal dog creatures were standing by the door, one with its had raised ready to knock.

“Ah pet get your master.” The dog that was about to knock croaked, his voice like nails on a chalk board.

Alex looked at them for a second and was about to speak but before he could Big Mac barreled past him, knocking him onto his back. He shot up ready to defend himself. Big Mac was standing outside with the dogs.

A tall one, at lease six foot tall had a large cleaver in his hands, he twiddled with it as a small dog spoke with big Mac. This dog pressed a dagger against the stallions throat and whispered in his ear, his eyes pleaded with the dog.

The dog with the dagger smiled before removing the blade from his neck. Big Mac nodded before walking back into the house, the three dogs watching him as he went.

He walked past Alex and went into the kitchen, Alex quickly got up and followed him. “Who and what are they?” He demanded, if the stallion had sold him out he would enjoy watching him squirm.

Big Mac noticed the look on hos face. “They haven't come for you, they have come for their money.” He replied in his strong souther drawl, although this time his voice was flat and silent.

“And you are just going to pay them?” Alex asked. “Surely they must be guards to help.” Big Mac shook his head.

“If we ever get help they would bring reinforcements and burn down the farm.” He cast Alex a sad and worried glance, “They have a dog in Apple blooms room, if I go to get help or refuse to pay, they will kill her.”

The stallion pushed past the human with a bag of coins in his mouth. Alex watched him go before turning his attention to the stairs.

Big Mac grudgingly handed over the bag of bits to the diamond dog. The clatter of gold causing the dogs to smile. “Remember, we come back in two months.” The dog croaked, “And we want double.”

Big Macs eyes went wide. “We can't afford double!” He was stopped from saying any more as a dagger was placed against his throat.

“Double.” The dog ordered. “Or we kill the little one” Big Mac gulped and nodded. The dog removed the knife from his neck and smiled. “Come on boys-”

“Big Mac!” A group of voices called. Coming up the road were four ponies, Apple jack, pinkie pie, Rainbow Dash and Twilight.

The dog slammed his paw into Big Mac's face causing him to fall to the ground. “Silly pony!” The dog cried as the four mares stopped a few feet from them. Twilight's horn was glowing purple and rainbow dash was being held back by the tail by Pinkie Pie.

“You bring help, you brake deal!” The dog shouted as the tall dog with the big cleaver got ready to attack Big Mac.

“No please!” Applejack shouted. “Don't hurt him!”

“Silly pony break deal! Pony must pay-”

A loud comical crash came from the bedroom above the front door, everyone turned around just in time to see the window shattered and a dog to go flying towards the ground, he landed with a crunch.

Everything was silent for a second as the ponies and dogs stared at the crumpled body of the dog. His legs had been broken of and shoved through his chest and his arms were jutting out of were his eyeballs once were.

A tall human emerged from the bottom floor, his hands were covered in blood and the cloak he wore was no better.

He walked down the steps and made his way towards the dogs, The tall dog charged at him, wanting to avenge his friend The dog stooped however as he was disemboweled by a quick strike from the human.

He turned his attention to the other two dogs. Their eyes jumping from Alex to the now dead dog at his feet. Their gaze finally fell onto him, they turned on their heels and ran.

The dogs were gone but the danger was still there, the four mares were now looking at him with the same fear and anger they did so to the dogs. Alex didn't pay them any notice, he turned to Big Mac as he slowly rose from the ground. “Apple Bloom is safe, I moved her downstairs.” Alex spoke. The four mares mouths dropped, the pink ones quite literally hitting the ground.

“Thank you.” Big Mac replied. Tears were forming at his eyes at the sudden realisation, of the state Apple Bloom must have been in. He turned and quickly ran back to the house. Leaving the four gob smacked mares and the bloodied human alone.

“Hello.” Alex waved to the group of mares, Twilight let go of her pent up magic in her horn and a beam of purple light soared towards Alex.

Fire

Alex was thrown backwards by the blast, he fell to one knee as he skidded across the now burnt ground. Once the spell had abated he looked up at the panting unicorn, his skin was smoking and his cloak hung to him by a loose thread.

He slowly rose to his full height and locked his eyes on the small group of ponies in front of him. His eyes locked on Twilight in particular, a small smile gracing his lips. “My turn.” He whispered.

He snapped his hands forwards and a beam of light shot from his pals, Twilight didn't have time to react and took a direct hit from the beam. She screamed as she flew through the air and crashed into a tree behind her.

His attention then turned to the blue mare that had decided to charge him. He waited for her to get close enough and lunged, only a second before his fist would have collided with the pony she disappeared with a pink flash along with the other mares.

He relaxed and waited for a counter attack, an attack that never came. Once he was sure that he was in no immediate danger he relaxed. His attention turned to the burned skin as it slowly began to heal.

The cloak he was wearing was almost completely destroyed, he grumbled as his attention turned to the barn not far from the farm house, he had waited long enough and had been lulled into a false sense of security.

He made his way to the barn and entered, pausing for a second to look down at Matt's dead body. He shook his head and turned to the end of the barn where Tom had been, he knew there was another person, the pony had lied to him, he had to have done.

He shook away the thoughts, he would have a chance to repay the stallion later, but first he had to free everyone around him. He closed his eyes and began.

To say the noise was loud was an understatement. The Celebrations started immediately after he had freed them. Many not believing what was happening before their eyes, they showered Alex with hugs and kisses as they finally got to move their bodies after such a long time.

Alex didn't allow himself to be overcome by their praise, he quickly stopped the celebrations and ordered everyone to find something to cover themselves with and to garb anything that could be useful.

Ten minutes later all twenty of the men and women had returned, they had all found something to wear, mostly just sacks with holes cut in them but clothes none the less. Many also held things such as hammers or scythes to be used as weapons should they need them.

Alex himself had found a cotton cover and wrapped it around his lower half. Once he had found a replacement for his cloak he rounded everyone up and stood before them, he didn't have time to answer all of their questions, not at the moment anyway.

“I will answer all of your questions in time!” Alex shouted over the crowd. “But we first must make it to safety and the forest on the edge of the farm is our best bet!” Alex paused for a second to let his words sink in.

“Right now many, if not all of you want revenge! But this isn't the time!” A mumble of disagreement ran through the barn. “If we loose control of ourselves now we will lose the once chance we have. Although I can assure, by the end of this there will be enough pony blood on the ground to fill a sea!”

Those words got a roar of approval. “Then lets get moving!” Alex shouted before pulling open barn door.

“Stop in the name of Princess Celestia!”

Outside the barn was seven guards, six earth ponies and one unicorn in the center. Each one wearing golden armour with a spear in hoof. Everyone stopped as the guards slowly encroached on their position.

“It would be best if you moved out of our way.” Alex said quietly.

The guards flinched slightly at his voice. “Surrender now abomination! Or we will be forced to put you down!” The unicorn that was most likely the leader commanded.

Abomination Alex's eyes focused on the leader. He looked to his left, a tall man with a hammer was standing by his side. He had a fearful look on his face, his eyes locked on the approaching spears. Alex reached out and puled the hammer from his grip. He twiddled it in his hands and approached the guards.

No secondary weapons. Alex thought as he scanned the guards in front of him, their only weapon being their spears. His grip on the hammer tightened on the hammer till his knuckles were tuning white.

“I don't like that word.” Alex whispered to the guards. He was less that a meter from the spears now, the group of humans hung back, unsure if they should follow him or not.

“Halt!” The lead guard shouted. “Do not take another step! By order of princess Twilight you are to surrender and be taken into custody. This is your once chance to comply. Abomination.”

Alex flicked his left hand forward, a gust of wind shot forward and pulled the spears into the air. He didn't waste a second, lunging forward he pulled the hammer back and brought it to bear on the unicorn, his eyes went wide. The hammer slammed down on top of his horn shattering it in one hit. The hammer continued on and slammed into the top of the guards head causing it to cave in with an explosion of blood.

He turned and and swung again, clipping another guards in the chin, their was a loud snap as the guard flew backwards, the remaining five guards quickly got their bearings and brought their spears to bear on Alex, leaving their flank completely undefended, and then everything fell into chaos.

The men and women from the barn didn't waste the opportunity. A roar filled Alex's ears as a wall of bodies charged forward. Two of the stallions didn't even have a chance to blink before they were swarmed by the humans from the barn, hammers, and scythes cleaving and cutting them to pieces.

Alex watched smiling as two other ponies, completely unprepared were cut to pieces by the rampaging humans. A lone brown stallion watch on in horror as his comrades were torn to shreds before his eyes. He turned and fled, he eyes locked on the town in the distance.

Alex waved his hands and the stallion lost his footing, he fell face first into the ground and Alex slowly walked over, sending gusts of wind every time he had almost regained his footing. Alex looked down at the stallion, he was crying heavily.

A pang of guilt filled Alex's stomach. The guard was pleading to be let go, muttering prayers to Celestia for her to save him from the monsters, and with that one prayer that guilt Alex felt was gone. Alex raised his foot slowly, allowing the pony to get a good view.

“No more mercy.”

“PLEA-!” Crunch

“Burn it.”

Alex and the group of humans stood at the front of the farm house, after leaving the barn they raided the house for any supplied they could take, they had gathered a large amount of food, clothing and a small box of medical supplies from the kitchen.

Alex was confident they had enough supplies for at least two weeks, although the chance of it lasting that long was slim, the humans from the barn were incredibly under nourished. Most with visible bones and sunk cheeks.

Alex turned his attention away from the group around him and turned back to the house, three men were throwing burning logs onto the thatched roof that caught instantly. The house had been unfortunately empty of the owner of the barn, a young miss Applejack.

He would find and punish this Applejack later, but first he wanted to enjoy the view. Flames flickered in his eyes as the farmhouse went up in flames, a swirling wall of flame that reached high in the sky.

The heat was intense, so much so that many on the people around him and to take a step back from the inferno. He turned to the horizon as a second plumb of smoke rose high into the air. The sun was setting and the glowing from the farmhouse and the now burning barn cast an ire glow over the apple farm.

He looked round at the people around him, he still hadn't learnt any of their names, unlikely some would remember them but hopefully he could gain some insight into what was happening, not to mention what had happened to Tom

One thing he couldn't shake from his mind was the condition that many of them were in, most of them were so weak they could walk more than five hundred meters without taking a rest. He shook his head, what kind of torture they had endure he would never know, and he hopped it stayed that way.

If every human in this country was in similar condition he didn't really have much hope in wining any battles, let alone a war. He wanted to defeat Celestia and take control of the country. He didn't want to annihilate the pony race, decrease their numbers of course, but not exterminate them.

They stood there for a few more moments, basking in the heat of the fire as the night began to grow chilly. The cold worried him, most of the people around him wore nothing more than sacks, he could take the cold but he worried for them, not to mention the fact that his shoulder was slowly beginning to ache again. He hopped it was only a side effect of the sudden surge of magic, if not he would be in some serious trouble.

He wiggled the appendage around in hopes that the throbbing would go away, it didn't of course only leading him to growl in frustration. “All right we need to get moving!” He shouted “Grab everything you can and lets move out!”

The walk was long and hard, even though the edge of the forest was in sight the group of humans had to stop every few minutes to rest, having not controlled their bodies for so long they could barely keep on their feet.

The added weight from the bags of food and loot from the apple farm only worsened their position. Alex carried what he could but it was still to much for them. Hope still burned in him though, the forest was less than a mile away now and they were slowly making ground.

He looked over his shoulder and sighed, much of the group had paused again and were catching their breath. As the group was resting for the umpteenth time Alex turned his gaze to the glowing sky. Hills had obscured the view of Sweet Apple Acres but the fire still burned with fury.

A smile tugged at his lips, this was only the beginning, once he was finished anyone who stood against him would burn. Alex looked back to the group who were slowly getting back on their feet, if everyone he freed was like this the chance of creating an effective force was nil.

His second problem was freeing more people, he couldn't run into towns as it would be likely that their security would bee increased, and he didn't want to over use his magic, not when his shoulder was acting up.

Their only hope would be to hit very small settlements or farms in the middle of no where, maybe even a small convoy once in a while, anything that could bolster their numbers without offering to much risk.

The guards at the barn gave him hope, they had killed them all with ease but he knew that wouldn't last, once guards slowly got words that humans could think like them things would change fast.

The chance that Celestia might also order every human in the realm to be executed was also a real danger, small and unlikely but not unthinkable. After all if their 'goddess' ordered them to do it most would follow without question.

He shook his head, he dint want to think of that possibility, for if she did order that he wouldn't waste any time in burning the entire country to ash.

He shook his head again before jumping to his feet. He had waited enough and they had to keep moving.

“We have to keep moving!” Alex shouted. “We are almost there.” All he got was groan from the group. They grudgingly continued on.

Celestia let out tired sigh, she had spent much of the day in court, having to listen to each and every complaint of request from her little ponies, many of which were trivial matters such as noise complaints or that they didn't like the colour of a certain house on their street.

She truly loved her ponies but they always found ways to irritate her. She was listing to one of the last proposals of the day, a line of ponies still waited in the throne room but Luna could deal with them.

“I think that an investment in a human welfare shelter would help get homes humans off the street.” A small mare with red fur said confidently, she beamed a smile at Celestia and she in kind returned it.

“I will take the offer up for advisement.” Celestia said. “Though I am unsure if we can afford such a grand building.” The mares ears flopped onto her head.

“But there and hundreds of homeless humans in cant-”

“I am aware of the situation,” Celestia interrupted softly, “But the money required to build a refuge for so may humans would be astronomical.”

The mare's head dropped. Ears splayed against her head she looked back up to Celestia and mustered a sheepish smile. “I understand, thank you for your time princess.” She bowed.

“Comeback in four months and we will see if the situation as improve-” Celestia didn't get to finish her sentence as a scroll flashed into existence before her eyes. “Sorry just a moment.” Celestia said before unrolling the scroll. It was unusual for Twilight to send a scroll unannounced.

Her eyes scanned the paper before her magic aura disappeared and the scroll dropped to the ground. She jumped from her throne causing the red mare to fly backwards.

“Guards!” She cried. Two of the personal guards ran forward to her side.

“Ready every solider we have, even if they are on leave!” The guards looked back with a flabbergasted looks.

“NOW!”

The group let out a sigh of relief as they collapsed onto a large open are in the forest. They had walked through the thick brush for over an hour to ensure their safety from prying pony eyes. Even Alex was feeling the strain now, he had to carry much of the supplies they had taken as well as the weapons from the stallions.

“We need to make a fire, then we can get some rest.” Alex said. He walked around the clearing, grabbing dry sticks, leaves and logs as he went. Once he had enough material he placed it in a small circle. He snapped his fingers and summoned a flame that immediately caught the dry sticks and leaves.

The group slowly moved around the warm fire and lay down. The soft grass of the clearing must have felt like silk compared to the state they lived in at the farm. They were all to tired to try and make any conversation, most of them fell asleep the moment their head touched the ground.

Alex's eyes fluttered, sleep was taking him. He slowly lay down on the dry grass and closed his eyes. He was going to save humanity, he was going to free them all, kill Celestia and her followers and nothing was going to stand in his way.

Kill

One Step Forward.

“Sister!” Luna’s voice rang through the corridors as Celestia powered away from her. “You didn't answer my QUESTION!”

Celestia stooped in her tracks, taking a deep breath she turned to face her younger sister, a look of anger etched onto her face.

“I told you not to worry yourself, it is only a precautionary measure.”

“Precautionary measure?” Luna said in disbelief. “You have not readied the entire guard since the rise of Nightmare Moon, not even the threat of Discord caused you to take such measures!”

Celestia lowered her head, she knew that trying to convince Luna nothing was wrong was pointless. She took a deep breath before turning her attention back towards her sister.

“A long since vanquished treat has returned from a time before you could even walk..” Celestia explained, her gaze turning cold. “This monster does not care for chaos, slaves or power, all he wants is to kill every living pony on this planet.”

Luna gulped at the words, she hadn't heard her sister speak in suck a cold way for more than a thousand years. “If this creature is as much of a threat as you say we must combine our forces and strike-”

“No Luna!” Celestia interrupted. Luna fell silent at the outburst. “You are to retrieve Twilight and her friends. Bring them here and do not let them leave your sight.”

Luna tried to say something but gave in and nodded. Celestia turned and continued her way down the corridor leaving Luna alone. The young Alicorn sighed, ever since her return, Celestia was treating her as if she was a child. Something that was growing old quickly.

She turned and made her way back to her chambers. She was still tired from being awoken from her slumber and she needed to get some rest. Her mind buzzed with the thought of an enemy so dangerous an entire army had to be mobilized to defeat it, She had never head of something so dangerous.

She stopped mid stride. How could she not of know about an enemy as dangerous as her sister described. She hadn't even heard of such a monster in old tales or stories used to frighted young foals.

She turned around and headed down more identical corridors until she arrived at two massive gold doors. Her horn glowed and the doors slowly swung open.

Inside sat rows upon rows of books, thousands of them. An elderly unicorn stallion sat behind a small desk at the front of the room. His coat was a light grey colour and his mane was a crisp white, thick wrinkles sunk into his face making his age all the more apparent.

The old librarian looked up from a book on his desk and looked towards Luna, he levitated a pair of glasses onto his face and smiled. “It's not every day I am visited by royalty.” he said closing the book he was reading and turning his attention back to the princess.

“I require access to history books written before I was even a child.” Luna said to the old stallion who she remembered being called Book worm.

“Ancient history you say, hummm.” Book Worm said, taping his wrinkly hoof to his chin. “It's been a long time since anyone has wanted to read ancient history.” He shakily stood from his chair and took wobbly steps towards one of the aisles. “If you would follow me please.”

Luna fell into stride with the wobbly stallion. “So what has you so interested in ancient history then?” Book Worm asked.

“An ancient enemy has arisen and my sister has place her guard on high alert, but she is reluctant to tell em any more about this threat. I hope to find a reason for this.”

“Of course princess, but if I may add, could there be a good reason for her not telling you?” Book Worm asked only for Luna to glare at him. “Perhaps she just wants to keep you safe.”

“I am capable of taking care of my self, I am no longer a child.” Luna growled.

“Of course princess.” Book worm said. He stopped and and looked up to his left. “Here we are!” he said. “this entire section covers history from Before discord, if you need to learn of this new threat it should be in one of these books.”

“Thank you Book Worm.” Luna said with a smile.

Book Worm bowed and turned to leave. “Book Worm.” Luna shouted out to him.

He Turned “Yes your majesty?”

“Can you please bring one of my lunar guards to me.”

“Of course princess.” Book worm said with a creaky bow.

Five minutes passed before one of her Luna guards came to her. “I want you to send a detachment to retrieve Twilight and her friends from Ponyville.”

“Yes princess” The guard said with a bow.

“I also want the entire guard mobilized, my sister has ordered against it but if this threat is as grave as she says she will require all the help she can get.” The guard bowed once more before setting off down the corridors of books.

Luna scanned the book shelf and randomly picked at a book. “History of Equestrian monsters.” Luna read the title, a small flash of her horn and a char appeared behind her, sitting down she flipped open the first page of the book and began.

“So you're saying the last thing you remember was waking up in an uncontrollable body?” Alex asked another one of the Sweet Apple Acres escapees. He got a nod in response from a young man named David.

Alex cradled his head in his hands as he tried to absorb all of the information being thrown at him. Almost every one who had escaped knew very little to nothing about the time just before waking up in Equestria.

David said he had been in Paris when it was attacked, and like everyone else his memory seemed to die off at that point. He pulled his head from his hands and looked at all of the worried faces before him.

Alex died slightly at the looks, he had already forgotten many of their names but each and every face shared two things in common, fear and sadness. None of them remembered why they were here , or how long it had been since their first life of slavery.

That also caused Alex to go cold, the thought that not even death could relieve these people of their torment, they would just simply be reborn and the cycle would continue.

Alex sat there cold, he didn't know what to do, his shoulder ached, the sky was beginning to darken and strange noises that cast a shiver down his spine could be heard deeper into the forest.

“Does anyone know what is in this forest?” Alex asked the group.

None of them spoke, just simply shook their heads. “Has anyone heard anything about this place? Even just conversation you heard from passing ponies?” Another wave of shaking heads.

Alex pressed his had into his face as he tried to think. There was to many variables, to many unknowns. He didn't even know where they were. Let alone what he should try and do. Ponies would soon be chasing them down after what they had done at Sweet Apple acres.

“What do we do?” A meek voice asked.

Alex looked up at a man with long brown hair, brown eyes and a rather small build. Strange build considering he was used as a slave.

“What do we do now?” he asked again, his face fell and a look of terror crossed his features. “How do I even know this is real and not some dream? How do I know I won't just wake up again in my cage!” He yelled his voice cracking as he did so.

The outburst caused many of the other humans to take on similar looks of dread, their eyes growing wide at the possibility of it all being some hope filed dream.

“I don't know.” Everyone turned to look at Alex as he shrugged. “I have no idea.”

“To... to what answer!?” The sacred man cried, his eyes watering as tears began to stream down his face.

“Both, I don't know what to do and I have no way of proving this isn’t a dream.” Alex said as he locked eyes with the crying man. “After all, nothing I say could change your mind if you were dead set on this being a dream.”

The man's mouth wobbled as he tried to think of a retort. “To be honest, if this is a dream it's by far the most logical one I have ever had, as far as dreams go.” Alex said before the man could think of something to say. “If you truly believe this to be a dream then I'm not stopping you from going back to the farm or jumping up into the sky and flying all the way to the moon.”

The man fell back slightly, slumping forward as tears continued to stream down his face. The rest of the group also sat back, each one of them lost in thought.

“What was your name again?” Alex asked the crying man after several minute of constant sniffling.

Wiping his eyes the man looked to Alex. “Ben, I think, it's been to long to long...”

“I know, I know” Alex interrupted in a warm tone. He reached forward and placed a comforting hand on Ben's shoulder. “But we have to assume that all of this is real, that you re finally free. Or you risk falling into a state of mind you won't easily recover from.”

Ben's head fell again. “That goes for all of you!” Alex said rather loudly as he turned to the group. “We can't continue thinking that we will wake up at any second. This is your chance at freedom.” There was a quiet pause for a moment. “And revenge.” Those last words sparked a small change in the group, spirits lifted at the thought.

“I do not wish for the destruction of pony kind, no no no no, I wish for something much worse, we are going to make them feel true loss, ever single pony alive will feel loss, feel pain, and once we have completed this, we will allow them to live, just so we can bask in their misery.” Alex finished with a low growl.

A pregnant pause followed these words and Alex took the time to lock eyes with each and every person who sat around him.

“Now that's enough talk, lets make a fire and get something to eat.”

Around the fire sat fifteen men and five women. Their eyes locked on the flickering flames that licked the air. No one talked, most basking in the memory of the previous day where they had burned Sweet Apple Acres to the ground.

Standing by a tree not far from the group was Alex, the noises of the forest had been growing closer and wilder, as such he decided to take watch, it also gave him the much needed time to think.

There was to much to consider all at once, and Alex didn't know where to start. They would need to move again or risk get found by the ponies, but advancing into a forest filled with who knows what was also off the table.

The pain in his shoulder had abated and for good reason, his ability to do magic was almost completely gone, the most he could do was summon a small flame for the fire, even then it flickered out after a few moments. He only hoped it would be enough to lift the curse.

The largest problem of all was lacking a plan, he had acted to quickly in trying to rescue the slaves and it backfired. He had no plan and no way of trying to form one, he didn't know where he was, and he had no idea of what he could be facing.

There were to many unknowns, and jumping into things to quickly would lead only to disaster. Alex rubbed his tired eyes, everyone he had freed was looking at him for direction, and he didn't know which way to turn.

Not to mention the worst problem, the disappearance of Tom. Alex had asked every single person in the group and not one of them remembers seeing a third man with him, if it was an effect of the dark magic Alex had no idea how to reverse it.

The snapping of a twig stopped Alex's train of thought and he turned sharply. Thick bushes covered his view. He reached down and grabbed the spear at his feet and aimed it in the direction of the bushes.

A minute passed with no other noise, Alex relaxed slightly and returned to his position by the tree, this time keeping the spear firmly in his grasp. It was hardly the time to be complacent.

Science reigned, the only sound coming from the soft crackling of a fire long since extinguished. The air had chilled and darkness slowly engrossed the camp. Sleepy eyed men and women stared long fully into the flickering embers.

The day was long but passed quickly, names and memories of past lives shared, and future hopes and dreams lit. their belly’s were full and their thirst quenched, feelings that had for so long been lost to them.

For the first time in as long as they could remember they had tasted freedom, a feeling that none of them wanted to lose, not again.

But not everyone shared their glee, standing not far from the camp, cast in shadows stood a man, his attention not on the cheerful talk, but on the forest around him. Something stirred in the distance, older than the trees themselves and long forgotten by any who lived.

Cold and still, waiting for someone to unearth it.

One Down. A Million To Go

“I told you it won't work.”

“It is happening and that is final.”

Richard, a tall man with pale white sink and long brown hair growled. “You may not have a problem with getting killed today but I do!”

Alex only shrugged “Then try not to get killed, but like I said this is happening. Even if I need to drag your dead mutilated corpse with me.”

Richard didn't respond, he settled on glaring. Alex turned around to him glared at him. The other four men that had come with them shied away from the glare. Most finding something incredibly interesting about the ground.

Alex turned and pointed at a small flickering light in the distance. They were standing on a rock face that looked over a large clearing that was cut into the forest, likely made for the mine he had his eyes set upon. “Inside that mine is at least fifteen people, we have seen them being led in and out over the past few days. We are going to free them and slaughter anything that stand sin our way.”

Two of the men by the name of Mark and James nodded. They were gaining Alex's attention and admiration. They followed orders well and were both interested in improving their fighting ability’s.

Something Alex found great pride in consider Mark and been an accountant and James a lawyer.

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly when he locked eyes with the others. Richard, Ken and Matthew. They didn't like Alex, he knew that but didn't really care. What he did care about however was their endless nagging and questioning of orders.

“There are to many guards.” Richard said causing Alex to frown. “It will be suicide to go in with so little people.”

“No one else could be spared, they are either working on improving the camp, or finding a somewhat sustainable food source.” Alex growled. Repeating the same line over and over again as growing tiresome.

“As for the reason you three were picked.” Alex said, knowing the question was on the tip of Richards tongue. “It's because I find your lack of trust and support for me to be quite painful.” he said sarcastically.

Richard shook his head in disbelief. “You may be a powerful, but we are not warriors. I was a Bricklayer!” Richard said. “Ken was a chef, and Matthew was a door salesman!” He shouted.

“And yet you expect us to be able to fight of trained and well armed guards!?”

“What are you afraid of? Dying for the... fifth time I believe it was.” Alex growled, his patience fading fast.

“Yes I am! You have lifted the curse that affected us. You even said it yourself, if we die not we will not come back!”

“We are going in and that is final.” Alex growled as he tightened his grip on his spear. “If you do what I say, when I say, you will survive. If you or anyone deliberately puts the lives of anyone else at risk I will kill you my self. Is that understood!” Alex gave it a moment for the words to be absorbed.

“This mine will also be filled with supplies, gems, weapons armour, food. And we need those items desperately.” James and Mark were nodding as he spoke. “Not to mention the people that we must free, and if you stand in the way of that goal I will kill you.” Alex said for second time to make sure the point was across.

Richard didn't say a word. His gaze fell and he settled with staring at the ground.

“Now that everything is settled.” Alex said. “Lets get on our way.”

The first guard went down quietly. Alex had sneaked up behind him as he scouted the outer most regions of the mine. One quick stab in the neck and the dog was dead within moments. The attack invisible due to the heavy rain that was erupting from the sky.

Alex untied the dogs scabbard and drew its sword. It was old and in poor condition but would suffice. He secured the untied scabbard to his wast and sheathed the sword. With the spear in his right hand he moved forward.

He glanced back and sure enough the others were quickly making their way over the muddy flat of dirt towards him.

Alex slowly closed in on the glowing light through the heavy rain. Sitting under a thatched roof outbuilding were three dogs, packed closely around a fire in hopes of keeping warm in the terrible weather.

Alex waved the others over. “James, Mark.” Alex said once the small group had arrived. “I want you two to run around and sneak up on the two that are facing this way, once I distract them I want you to sneak up and stab them in the back.”

Both of them nodded and ran off into the heavy rain. Alex gave a clear five minutes before advancing. The dogs were heavy in conversation but anything they said was drowned. out thy the rain.

He stalked forward until he was only a few meters from the outhouse. He readied the spear and took aim. He spotted James and Mark in their respective positions. Not wanting to wait any longer he aimed and threw.

He was already running forward, unsheathing the sword as he ploughed through the thick mud. His aim was accurate the closest dog to him was impaled through the stomach. The other two dogs jumped in fright.

They both however met similar grisly fates as James and Mark sprung from the darkness. Both of them with their spears already on target. In less than a second two dogs were on the ground in pools of their own blood.

The first dog that had been hit wheezed and coughed. Somehow still alive even with a spear sticking from his gut. Not wasting time Alex casually approached and brought the sword down onto the dogs neck, cutting through with ease.

Alex turned to Richard and Mark who both looked a little pale. Alex shook his head and waved James, Ken and Matthew over.

“Grab their weapons, take what you want and leave the rest by the fire. We will come back for them later.” Alex said as he grabbed a second sword and tied it to his waist.

James and Ken both grabbed the other two dogs spears. By this point Matthew was the only one without a real weapon. Grunting Alex pulled the spear from the dogs gut and threw it a the man, who quickly turned green when his hands turned red.

They were now less than twenty meters from the entrance of the mine. It was little more than a large outhouse in the middle of the open plane. A single dog stood guard with his back to the door and watched the rain carefully for any movement.

“I'll deal with it.” Alex said as he pushed back into the rain. He moved quickly and quietly. Falling into a sprint he made right for the dog. No one inside the mine would hear a yell for help over the rain, and the only dogs that could have heard him were already dealt with.

The dog narrowed his eyes as he saw a figure making its way toward him. He didn't have the time to shout however as Alex was already on him. Two swords punctured the dogs chest and drove him into the outhouse door.

Withdrawing his swords Alex waved called the others over. Alex could hear the clapping of feet against the wet ground as he moved the body away from the door, before slowly pulling it open once the others had joined him.

The door led into a dark tunnel with the barest amount of light. The clapping of the rain made it impossible to hear anything that could be coming from inside and a trickle of water was making its way down the tunnel stairs. “Lets go.” Alex said. “Just remember to stay behind me.”

Alex pushed into the darkness, careful with his footing as the muddy and crumbling stair case looked like it would collapse under any form of pressure.

The further they moved down the stairs the brighter everything became. It the tunnels were being illuminated by sparsely placed torches.

The trickle of water that had been moving down the stairs had pooled into a large puddle at the bottom of the stairs. With a splash Alex landed into the puddle and continued on as faint voices became noticeable further down the tunnel.

A large flood of light was coming up ahead. The light was pooling out from a room to Alex's right and illuminating much of the tunnel ahead. The voices that he had heard could now be understood clearly. It sounded like there was at least two of them in the room.

Alex slid along the tunnel wall and peaked in. He was right, Two guards were sitting around a fire laughing as they cooked something that resembled meat on the fire. They looked to be unarmed, their weapons likely being with the pile that were stacked up against the far wall. Two large open-top barrels filled with a clear liquid sat with the weapons. Alex guessed it to be some kind of oil if the strong smell coming from the room was anything to go by.

“Nice and juicy.” One of the dogs said, causing Alex to dart back around the corner. “Needs more salt, the meat is always a bit too chewy when cooked like this.”

“The younger meat always is, never knew why Griffons find this stuff to be a delicacy, it tastes like crap.”

“Yeah, what's up with that anyway? You’d think that with one of their biggest exports being meat they would have better taste. ”

Richard and the others had gone pale. They had all heard stories of how Griffons used Humans as farm animals. Lie the dog had said they were one of the Griffon kingdoms largest exports besides weapons and armour.

Richard closed his eyes and tried not to think about it, the horrors those people must face would be unimaginable. He had almost met with the same fate once before, he however was lucky and had been sold to a griffon noble as a pet. Something he was forever thankful of.

He took a few deep breaths before opening his eyes to find Alex had disappeared. He moved forward and stuck his head around the corner. Alex was standing behind the dogs, his weapons were not drawn and he was completely motionless.

All Richard could hear for a moment was the dripping of water from his hair and the crackling of the fire. The dogs had turned around and were both looking right at Alex. Before the dogs could react Alex had reacted, moving so fast the movements hadn’t even registered to Richard until the dogs howled in shock.

In less than a second the first dog Alex approached had its jaw broken when two large hands grabbed the side of his head and pulled. The top part of his head being ripped from its body before Alex sent a kick into the body sending it flying into the wall.

The last dog didn't have time to blink before Alex was upon him. Richard went wide eyed and ducked behind the wall. Just in time for a piece of the dogs torso to go flying through the door and hit the tunnel wall with a wet smack.

Richard covered his mouth with his had in an attempt to keep his stomach in check. He and the others turned sharply away from the body, but not before getting a good look at the dogs mutilated guts that painted the tunnel wall. The smell of copper filled Richards nose causing him to gag.

“We need to keep moving.” Alex said breathlessly and painfully, his hands twisting and contorting as he tried to keep the pain under control. Richard turned around slowly making sure not to catch sight of the mutilated corpse and nodded.

Alex turned and walked on. The others followed quickly behind, none of them wanting to be left alone with two dead dogs that plastered the walls.

Richards eyes burrowed into the back of Alex's skull. The use of any power he had was always up for discussion, some thinking that it should be used only to free people from the curse as his ability to kill anyone at a moments notice was a terrifying prospect.

As such the survivors were divided. A number wanting to push Alex away from things. His attitude towards people and the enemy causing a lot of friction.

The other group however were the polar opposite. James and Mark being in said group. Believing him to be their only hope for humanity, 'An angle that came from the darkness' Richard had head one man call him.

Richard shook his head. What hope did humanity truly have if they were already braking down in separate factions. He however wasn't stupid, he could see that Alex was a danger to everyone, not just the survivors.

Richard's train of thought was stopped when a strong hand pushed him into the tunnel wall. Alex was staring at him with his finger over his lips. Richard had been so lost in thought he hadn't noticed the large cavern they were coming up towards.

The cavern was massive, five floors high and dozens of tunnels cut into the rock wall with large wooden platforms allowing for easy access to the highest points. Gems of all colours and sizes dotted the cavern walls, the small tunnels glowing with multi coloured light.

At least fifteen humans were digging away at the walls. Using large pick axes they picked away before throwing any gems into large barrows beside them.

Dozens of carts were filled with the brightly coloured gems, most of these carts being pulled by the largest of the men.

The largest problem however was the number of dogs. There had to have been at least thirteen of them, all of them well armed and a few with what looked like heavy plate armour.

“There's too many of them.” Matthew whispered breaking the silence.

“For a frontal assault yes.” Alex agreed. Before a smile appeared on his lips.

The five men went cold at the grin.

Toby hated his job, guarding the humans was so boring, every so often they would get into a fight with one anther but it was easily sorted by just separating them for a moment. He would have much preferred to be on guard duty, even if it was pissing down with rain.

A loud clank from the cavern entrance caused him to jump. He turned quickly only to find Rex standing in the entrance. He breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of his friend. “Don't do that Rex, you scared the life out of me!” he called over.

Rex however never answered. Actually, he never moved, and he wasn’t standing on the ground he was floating. Toby's blood went cold as he finally saw what had happened to his friend. His throat had been slit and his arms and legs were limp.

A dark figure moved behind him and the body of Rex fell to the ground. “Rex!” Toby screamed and getting the attention of the entire room.

Rage filled him and he ran forward towards the shadowy figure, he would make him pay fro what he had done to his friend. Toby was joined by seven other guards all looking for revenge for the death of their friend.

The shadowy figure darted up the corridor out of sight. The group of now rampaging dogs filled with a burning rage didn't stop. They ran as fast as they could around the corner. Toby’s foot got caught.

He fell flat onto his muzzle causing all of the other dogs to trip as well. It would have been quite comical if not for the dire situation. A strong smell filed his nose as he tried to push himself up only to fail due to the large weight on his back.

It was oil, he was laying in a large puddle of oil. Toby managed to get one last glance at the shadowy figure. He was standing in front of him with a large barrel. The figure was not a dog however, it was a human. A human that was looking right at him. Teeth bared and a sickening smile on his face.

Toby wanted to yell, to scream, but he couldn’t. His moth was quickly filled with oil as the human kicked over the other barrel of oil, coating all eight of the dogs. Toby coughed and sputtered as he breathed in the oil.

The was a loud snap and then the true pain began.

Richard forced his eyes shut and cusped his ears. He didn't want to think about what was happening further down the tunnel. He didn’t want to think about what Alex was doing to the dogs. He was no Angel like many in the camp had said, he was little more than a monster.

Alex watched on happily as the dogs burned alive, they flapped and floundered but it was no use against the flames, and within moments they were burnt black. One however still squirmed, the small dog, the first one to come after him.

He twitched in pain causing Alex to smile more. He brought his boot up and slammed it down onto the dogs neck, there was a sickening snap as the body stopped fidgeting.

Turning back Alex frowned. The only ones still standing behind him were Mark and James. Though they looked a little green, had stayed behind to watch. Alex admired the fact they hadn't ran away, something he would need to congratulate them on later.

There was a loud howl from inside the cavern. Alex stepped over the crisp bodies and turned into the cavern. The other five guards watched in horror as Alex emerged from the tunnel with the smell of burnt flesh and fur following him.

Mark and James came into view but stayed within the tunnel. Bunching against the tunnel wall as to be as far away from the burnt bodies as possible.

The cavern was silent for a moment as the smell of burning flesh reached the dogs causing many of them to take a step back. The mining humans had stooped and turned towards where the previous screaming had been coming from.

Alex approached further and looked around. He only hoped that the still cursed humans didn't try and save their owners once the killing began.

Not wasting any time, Alex locked eyes with one of the closest dogs and began moving forward. He drew both of his swords and smiled. The six dogs took a step back in unison.

Mark and James joined him on his flank. They looked eager for a fight but were both tense, they stayed a good foot behind Alex as he approached. All they had to do was stay behind him, just like he had said.

Then without warning it took off. One of the dogs, tiered of all the waiting and eager for revenge ran forwards. This new found enthusiasm was quickly shared by all the dogs as they joined him in the charge.

Alex jumped forward into the first dog. He sent the sword in his right hand into the dogs chest, the impact driving the dog to the ground. As Alex fell with him he slashed towards the next closest dogs feet. Slicing into the ankles causing him to fall.

The wounded dog fell to the ground a few feet from Mark and James. Who quickly were upon him. He didn't even have a chance to Howl as two spears were driven into his gut finishing him off.

Alex slashed and cut his way through the dogs. One fell, then another and another. Leaving only one dog alive. He was on the ground with a seeping wound n on his thigh. He tried helplessly to push himself away from Alex. He stopped however after Alex drove the two swords into his gut, pinning him in place.

After the final guard was dealt with he let out a tired sigh before looking up at the humans, Thankfully they had all stayed in place as their 'owners' were mascaraed.

“Mark, James.” Alex said getting the two men's attention. “I want you to unchain all of them and bring them down here.” Motioning to the working humans.

“Got it.” they both said before making their way towards a rather weak looking ladder.

Alex needed to rest for a moment. All the running and killing took quite a lot out of him. He turned his attention to the entrance as Richard, Matthew and Ken rounded the corner. All three of them turning a shade of green as they walked over the burnt bodies.

He was going to Have a long long talk with them.