The first strike.

I yawned and stretched my limbs until there was a loud pop. "Ah yeah, that felt good," I muttered and looked to the group of men and women who volunteered to fight. About thirteen volunteers sat in a circle, including Lizzy, Glenn, and Abe. I sighed before grabbing the map that creature gave me. I walked to the group and laid the map out in the middle of the circle. "Okay people, let’s get down to it," I said, pointing to the bottom of a large mountain in the middle of the Everfree forest. "From what I know, we're here at the bottom of this mountain. We're also not that far from the village named Ponyville, so we'll have to keep an eye on that," I said.

"How?" Abe asked.

"Simple, have two, or three scouts keep an eye on the village, and if anything happens have one man come back and report it," I answered.

"Hey, what's that area marked on the map?" a man said, pointing at the circled part of the map.

I waved it off, "It's something we will have to prepare for in two days, but for now we're going to focus on that farm.”

"What's the plan to take the farm?" Lizzy questioned.

I nodded, "We'll have three teams of four who will take different sections of the farm. Team one will take this area in the south, team two will take the west, and team three will take the north."

"What about the east?" a woman asked.

"Since there are fourteen of us, I will take someone with me and clear the east side of the farm. Once we take these areas, we will move in onto the center of the farm and wipe it out."

"Why do we have to take the farm from all these areas? Can't we just rush in and take it?" another woman asked, causing me to shake my head.

"We can, but I don't want anyone to escape and get help. Taking this farm will be much easier by surrounding it." I cracked my neck briefly before continuing. "We will also take whatever food we can find and save as many humans as we can. Understood?" Everyone nodded, but Glenn soon spoke.

"What will we do with the ponies that live on the farm?" he asked.

"Kill them if they try to stop you. I don't care about their age or gender; if they're hostile, then take them down." I said, Glenn nodding in confirmation.

"What if the soldiers from that village come to the farm?" Abe asked.

"Then we may be out numbered, so we'll pull back to the forest. I'll create a distraction while you all retreat. I don't want to lose anyone after this attack, so I want to be careful," I said. Everyone nodded before speaking to one another in quiet voices.

"So, when do we attack?" Lizzy asked. I was silent for a moment and looked up to the group with a smile.

"Tonight." Mostly everyone seemed surprised by my answer, their faces had worried looks. "Tonight we'll leave our mark and start the flames of war by setting that entire farm ablaze," I said.

Lizzy sighed before shrugging. "Well, if ya think we should attack tonight, then I guess we attack tonight," she said and looked around the group. "Remember everyone, as long as we watch each others back and do our jobs, we should all make it back alive." Soon the worried looks on their faces seemed to dull a bit and everyone nodded in agreement.

"That's right, do this and we'll all be home by sunrise," I tacked on, rising to my feet." Alright everyone, go prepare for the attack and we'll all meet up by the entrance. We got a few hours, so take that time to relax with your friends and family, or get some sleep. I don't want anyone to be tired during the attack." I said.

Abe sighed and stood up. "Might as well light up that dark ass tunnel. Glenn, wanna help?" Abe asked.

Glenn shrugged before getting up. "Sure, why not." Everyone stood up and went off to prepare, but Lizzy stayed put on the ground with a blank look as she only stared at the ground. I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow.

"You alright?" I asked, but she didn't reply. I walked over to her and poked her in the head. She seemed to snap out of some kind of trance before looking up to me.

"W-what?" she spluttered. I chuckled.

"You alright?" I questioned again.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking to myself,” she replied.

"Worried?" I asked.

She chuckled and shook her head. "The opposite actually. I'm excited, but I'm just still amazed that we're doing this," she said. "I can't believe we're actually going to fight back. I would have never dreamed about this in a million years." She looked up at me with a smile. "Thanks."

"Why are you thanking me?" I asked.

"Thanks to you, we're fighting for our freedom," she said, rising to her feet.

I chuckled and shook my head. "Don't thank me yet, we haven't even made our first move," I said, rubbing my neck. "Besides, it's my job." I patted her on the shoulder. "Well, talk to you later. I gotta have a little chat with our lizard friend," I said. She nodded, letting me walk away towards the hut where I had left Spike. I reached the hut and saw the little lizard in the bag sitting quietly in the middle of the hut. Spike looked up and only glared at me with disgust and hatred. I returned with an emotionless look before sitting down near him. "Hello Spike," I said.

"Leave me alone." He said. I shook my head and sighed.

"Ya know I can't do that Spike," I said, smirking. "I need you to tell me about your friends. I wanted to talk to you earlier, but you refused to, so I decided to give you some time. Your time is up now, so start answering my questions.”

"Make me, freak!" Spike said. I gave a heavy sigh and leaned in close to his face. Our eyes were now locked together, my smile having disappeared and replaced with a frown.

"Listen buddy, I tried to be nice, I really did. You know how hard it is being nice to someone who uses humans like tools? It's almost fucking impossible, but somehow I did it. Now? You’re pissing me off. Answer my fucking questions, or I swear to god I won't only hurt you, but I'll hurt all of your friends and burn down that entire village. Now, TALK!" I shouted.

Spike's attitude seemed to change. "What do you want to know?" he asked. I smirked and patted him on the head.

"Good. Now, what kind of relationship do you have with the ponies in these documents?" I asked, pulling out the documents of the ponies. "Let’s start, shall we?" Spike gritted his teeth and gave me a death glare.

"We're f-friends, that's all," he said.

I shook my head. "Need more details Spike, like what are they to you? What are you to them? Do they have any secrets that these documents don't have? What are their fears? What are their weaknesses? What are they like? I need answers Spike. These documents have their history, but they don't have their emotions or thoughts, but you do," I said.

"Why do you want to know this stuff?" he asked.

"Don't worry about it little buddy, just answer them and we'll both be happy," I replied.

"I can't."

"You what?" I asked, a bit annoyed.

"I-I just can't." He stuttered.

"Spike, I'm getting pissed again, so you better start ta-" before I could finish, he cut me off.

"I won't tell you anything that will help you hurt them and you can't make me!" he shouted. It was silent for a moment, my eyes staring into the small dragon. I sighed and placed my hand on the top of his head.

"Your young Spike, but do you want to die young?" I asked. Fear covered his face like a mask and he looked away from me, but I forced him to look back into my eyes. "Don't make me kill a kid Spike, even though you’re with those damn ponies, I don't want to kill you. Just talk, or you'll miss out on the rest of your life. Don't you wanna find love? Meet new people? Have a family?" I asked. He only looked down and closed his eyes. "This is your last warning Spike, talk, or feel pain," I threatened with a cold voice. Spike began to shake and opened his fear filled eyes. "Talk." Spike closed his eyes again, shaking his head.

"No! I'll never help you hurt my friends, or other ponies! I don't care what you do with me, I won't talk! I won't help you!" he screamed, keeping his eyes sealed shut as a few tears leaked out of his eyes. I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth in anger. I looked outside of the hut and saw a few people staring at the scene. My fist shook with rage as I looked back to Spike who kept his eyes shut. I pulled back my fist and nearly delivered a blow to the shaking dragon, but before I could I was stopped by a voice from behind me.

"Jacob!" I looked over my shoulder and saw a shocked Lizzy staring at me. I looked past her and saw a bigger crowd staring at me with mixed emotions.

I looked to Spike and sighed. "Fine, I'll give you more time to think about it. Please make the right choice when I come back," I whispered, rising to my feet. I turned to the crowd and Lizzy with an emotionless face. I walked past Lizzy and through the crowd. "Three hours, we leave towards the farm. Be ready," I said, before walking toward the newly lit tunnel, but as I entered the tunnel I felt someone pull on my arm, forcing me to stop. I looked back and saw an angry Lizzy. "What?"

"Don't 'what' me! What the fuck was that?!" she shouted in rage.

"I was getting information, nothing more," I said.

She pushed my shoulder and glared at me. "By beating up a child!?" she shouted.

"I didn't even hit him," I defended.

"But you were going to! Besides, what the hell would he even know that would be of use?!" she hissed.

"He lived with the princess and the other ponies that I've targeted. He may only know a little information,
but the smallest thing would be helpful," I said.

"But why beat it out of him?" she asked.

"Why do you even care!? He lived with those fucking ponies, so that means he part of their
community! A community of slave owners! He's no different from those ponies!" I screamed.

"He is different! I've talked to him and he's a good kid,” she fired back.

"Even if he is a good kid, in his mind slavery of humans is a good, innocent thing," I said.

She huffed and rolled her eyes. "If you would have talked to him more, then you would know that he doesn't see it as slavery, he see's it as having a pet or a personal helper. Not once has he called humans slaves, and he even talked to me as an equal. He never talked down to me and he never insulted me. He never talked to a human before, so it was new to him," she exclaimed. I sighed and rubbed my neck. Lizzy continued, "Delta, I know what you’re saying. I understand, but he's just a child. Beating him will only make him see us as monsters that need to be in chains." I looked over Lizzy and saw some of the women tending to the cowering dragon, causing me to groan.

"Okay, maybe you’re right, but sometimes you have to use force to get what you want," I said.

She nodded, "I agree, but you don't have to force a kid. You just need to get on his good side."

I lowered my head, and sighed. "Sorry, I'm just used to doing it my way," I said, raising my head. "It's ugly and hard to do Lizzy. I've never liked hurting civilians for information, but it's something you have to do in my world." I turned away from her.

"But you’re in this world now," she said.

I chuckled and nodded. "I guess you're right. I'll take your advice and get on his good side. For now just to comfort him, and I'll try again after the attack,” I stated, beginning to walk through the tunnel. Lizzy's words sunk into my thoughts and I gave a mental sigh. 'Getting on his good side, eh? Well, it's worth a try,' I thought to myself. Soon I was pulled out of my thoughts as I reached Abe and Glenn, who were lighting torches and placing them throughout the tunnel. Abe saw me and waved.

"Hey Delta, wanna help?" he asked.

I was quiet for a minute before smiling. "Sure, got nothing better to do," I said, reaching and grabbing a torch.

[Rainbow Dashes prov, three hours later]

"For the love of Celestia, where are they!" I shouted in frustration, leaning against a tree with sweat running down my face. It had been hours since I left Ponyville and it's starting to get dark. My brain keeps shouting at me to go back, but my body moved on it's own, and it didn't let me turn back. So I just kept walking deeper and deeper into the dark forest. I knew it was dangerous, but I was determined to get Spike back. I took a deep breath and began to walk through the forest again, but soon I smelled something that nearly made me puke. I wanted to get away from the smell, but I couldn't help but walk towards it.

I walked through a few bushes before freezing as I saw the horrific sight of a mutilated Manticore. Large sections of its body were picked clean and its bones were sticking out of its body as if they had impaled the creature. Its entrails were exposed and sprawled all over the ground. I slowly walked towards the corpse while attempting to hold my vomit down in my gut and soon saw several holes in the corpse’s head and back. I felt my heart beat faster and faster by the second, feeling fear crawl up my spine as I started to regret coming here.

"W-what in Equestria did that?" I asked myself and looked to the ground to see three pairs of footprints. "T-three humans?! I thought there was only one," I said with panic in my voice. I sighed and ran my shaking fingers through my short hair. "Alright Rainbow, just relax. They're humans, no big deal. You've beat several bad guys, so why can't ya beat three dumb humans." I said to myself and started to relax a bit. I smiled, shaking my head. "Geez, I was getting worried for nothing. I almost forgot that this is the Everfree forest, the place where animals kill animals, so this should be normal. Right?" I asked myself, chuckling. I looked to the tracks and followed them with my eyes deeper and deeper into the woods. I decided to follow the tracks, hoping to find the humans who did this. "Maybe the human I'm looking for is with them," I said, beginning to follow the trail of footprints.

Soon I reached a river and knelt down next to the river. I splashed the cold water onto my face, taking a sip of the refreshing water. Not satisfied, I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and dunked my head into the river. I felt joy as the water flowed against my face, easing my mind. I left my head in the river for a few more seconds before I finally emerged from the cold waters with a refreshed smile. I opened my eyes and chuckled, but soon froze from the sound of a stick snapping. I scanned my surroundings and soon heard a few voices. I slowly stood up, moving slowly in pursuit of the voices. I readied my wings just in case I had to use them. I soon reached the voices, taking cover behind a tree. I peeked out from behind the tree and saw a group of humans with weapons following an armored creature, but soon I realized that it was the human who caused all of the trouble in Ponyville, and the one who kidnapped Spike. I clenched my fist in anger and was about to lunge out at him, but soon noticed that the humans who were following him were armed with spears. 'This looks bad,' I said in my mind.

"Delta, how much farther?" a skinny human asked. I was surprised by the human’s ability to speak, snapping out of it to listen for a few minutes. The human in the front groaned and spoke in a mechanical voice.

"Just a few more minutes Abe, so calm down, and keep your voice down,” he said. The human named Abe sighed before he remained silent. They started to get farther away, but I needed to know where Spike was, so I took another deep breath and flew up into the air.

"Alright human, time to teach you a lesson!" I said, shooting towards the lead human. The wind brushed against my face and my speed increase by the second. I narrowed my eyes and gave a loud war cry as I neared my target. The human turned and looked up, but before he could do anything I slammed into him, sending him flying into a tree. The human grunted before he clenched his fist in rage.

"Delta!" A woman's voice shouted. I turned around and saw several humans pointing their weapons towards me. The look of rage was plastered on their faces as they slowly walked towards me. I backed up a bit and got into a fighting stance.

"Come on ya dirty humans, I'll take you all on!" I shouted and shot into the air. I aimed for the nearest human, and dashed towards him. I gave a hard blow to his jaw, sending him to the ground. I looked over my shoulder as the woman charged. I reeled back my left leg and sent it slamming into her gut. She gasped and fell back, holding onto her gut. I smiled before spinning around towards the other humans. "That all you got? I can beat you guys without my wings!" I laughed. The humans only glared even harder, but soon the look of rage left their faces, smiles taking its place. Soon the humans lowered their weapons and only stared at me. Confused, I was about to ask them why they were smiling, but soon my entire body froze from a chilling and mechanical voice inches from my ears.

"So you can beat us without your wings?" the voice asked. I couldn't move as I was frozen in fear and felt my heart sink as I felt something grab my wings, its grip tightening. "Let’s test that theory." Before I had time to react, a loud crack filled the air and I could hear a bloodcurdling scream. But soon I realized that the scream was coming from me. The pain surged through my body and I fell to my knees still screaming. My nails dug into the dirt as I tried to fight through the pain, clenching my teeth. Tears blinded my vision as I reached for my wings, but before I could feel them, the human grabbed my arm and I was yanked up to my feet. I came face to face with the armored human and heard a low chuckle. "Well, aren't you going to beat us? Or was all that talk since you got a lucky shot off on me?" The human laughed and grabbed my throat, choking me. I struggled to breathe and violently twisted and turned, trying to get out of his grasp, but he was too strong. I started to scratch at his arms, but he didn't flinch. He sighed and, before I could react, his fist slammed into the left side of my jaw. I cringed, energy surging through me as I retaliated with a hard punch to his jaw, but all I hit was his helmet. He laughed and shot his knee into my gut. I gasped as I felt the air escape my lungs, desperately trying to draw air back in as I wheezed. He threw me to the ground and kicked my in the ribs.

"Ha! Fight you damn pony!" a human shouted and laughed. I tried to get up, but the human slammed his foot into my back, pinning me to the ground.

"She's all bark and no bite," the human above me laughed. I tried to crawl out from under his foot, but my body froze in pain as he slammed his foot back down onto my back, pinning my wings to my body. I screamed out in pain, blood running down my back.

"Stop!" I screamed. All I heard was his dark, mechanical chuckle, and closed my eyes as I buried my nails into the dirt.

"Why should I you rainbow haired bitch!" he shouted and stomped down on my wings again. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. Only a pathetic whimper escaped my lips as the pain flowed through me. "Why the fuck would I show a creature- no I'm sorry, a monster any mercy?! HUH!?" he shouted with anger in his voice.

"You're the monster!" I screamed out. Everything seemed to go quiet in an instant as I said those words and I knew I would soon regret those words as I felt the pressure of his foot grow heavier, and heavier.

"I'm the monster?" he whispered. A few more seconds of silence went by before a bone chilling laugh filled the air. "I'm the monster?!" he shouted. In an instant his foot lifted off my back and came crashing down even harder than before on my wings. I heard several cracks and felt my entire body scream out in pain as he delivered several more stomps to my injured wings. The pain was so intense that I couldn't even scream, my body going numb. It felt like hours until he finally stopped his attack, his heavy breathing and my weak wheezing echoing around us. The human soon lifted his foot off of my back and grabbed me by the neck. He pulled me up and started to tighten his grip around my throat. "You have the nerve to call me the monster?" he interrogated. I choked and gasped for air as I scratched at his arms, trying to get free, but his grip was made of stone and didn't budge. "You’re trash and nothing more," he whispered.

Soon the human stopped choking me and chuckled. "Wait a minute," he said, pulling out a folder. He soon chuckled. "You’re one of the ponies on my list,” he said, laughing as he showed me my picture. "A Ms.Rainbow Dash," he said before looking to the other humans. "Aren't we lucky?" he stated. The other humans all nodded and gave big smiles, but luckily, the human who was choking me, wasn't paying attention, so I took this chance to escape.

"GET OFF OF ME FREAK!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, slamming my knee into his crotch. The human froze for a few seconds before letting go, releasing a terrible howl of pain. I gasped for air and pushed the human away as I stumbled away in the opposite direction. I heard shouting and yelling from the humans, but I couldn't understand what they were saying as I only focused on getting away. I felt my heart race as I stumbled through the pitch black forest, tears escaping my eyes. My body screamed in pain after every step I made, but my fear kept me moving. At one point I tripped, catching myself on a nearby tree. "W-where am I?" I asked myself, tears streaming down my face. I pushed off the tree, but barely stayed up on my shaking legs. I stumbled a few times and looked around the dark forest. "I can't see anything, where am I?!" I shouted, hoping for an answer, but all I received where the sounds of the forest. I felt my legs finally give in and fell to my knees. "Damn it! Why didn't I listen to the others?" I asked myself.

"I think she went this way!" a voice shouted in the distance. Soon I could hear several other voices start to approach, my fear forcing me up on my legs, followed by running away from the voices with what little strength I had left, but the voices seemed to grow closer and closer no matter how hard I tried.

"Please, please, please, PLEASE! Celestia help me!" I cried out, but as soon as I pleaded for Celestia's help I felt the ground under me disappear. I fell down a small hill and landed hard on my broken wings. I closed my eyes and screamed in pain as I clenched my fist, quickly rolling over onto my stomach. I slowly cracked my eyes open, a dim light shining beyond the dark forest. At first I was scared and I was about to run away from it, but soon the voices of the humans grew too close and I decided to take my chances. I crawled to my feet and started to run towards the light with the rest of my strength.

"There she is!" another voice shouted from behind me. As I ran towards the light, I could hear the humans grow closer, but I didn't dare look back and only focused on escaping. Soon, I reached the light and smiled in relief as I saw the Apple family's farm glow in the darkness.

"APPLEJAC-" before I could finish her name, I felt a hand cover my mouth and a sharp knife pressed against my throat. I was frozen in fear as my capture slowly ran the knife down my neck, a low chuckle filling my ears.

"You know, I could kill you right here," he said with his mechanical voice. He then took the knife away from my throat and pointed it at the farm. "But I’d rather make you suffer as I burn your friends home to the ground. Seems fair, right? You make my race suffer, so I'll make your race suffer,” he said. "All teams, move into position! We'll attack once I fire a round into the air!" he shouted. I tried to scream as the humans ran past me, but all that came out were the muffled sounds of my voice. I started to struggle, but the human holding me spun me around and placed the knife on my cheek. "Don't worry, you'll live, but you better pray for your friends,” he spoke darkly and, before I could react, he slammed his head into mine, my world going black.

[Jacob’s pov]

The body of the rainbow haired pony fell to the ground motionless, causing me to chuckle. “Goodnight,” I whispered, looking up to see Abe, Glenn, and Lizzy waiting for my orders. I sighed and pointed to Abe. “You go with team one.” Abe grinned and nodded.

“Sounds good to me,” he said, starting to run off after team one. I then looked to Glenn.

“Team two,” I said. He nodded and left without a word. I finally looked to Lizzy. “You’re with me since team three is full,” I ordered.

“Alright, let’s get moving,” she said. I nodded and we began to move towards the east side of the farm. Lizzy looked to me with an uncertain look and I spoke.

“What?” I asked.

“Do you think it was a good idea to let that rainbow pony live? What if she wakes up?” she asked.

An evil smile crawled under my helmet as I chuckled. “Don’t worry, I hit her real hard. She ain’t gonna get up for a while,” I said. Soon we reached a small shack and took cover behind it. I poked my head out and scanned the opening, spotting nothing. I then started to scan the house and saw that two lights were on upstairs. The downstairs were pitch black and the only thing that could be heard were the crickets chirping.

I looked back to Lizzy. “Listen, I’m going to start the attack, but once I do, I need you to keep an eye on the house’s front door. Whoever comes out that’s not me, you have to kill. Understood?” I asked. Lizzy nodded and tightened her grip on her spear. I saw the nervousness on her face and patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. Remember, keep your cool and do your job. As long as you do that, you’ll be alright,” I said. She gave a small smile and nodded. I gave one more pat and raised my rifle into the air. I gave a short prayer before pulling the trigger. The gunshot echoed throughout the air, my body lurching as I sprinted towards the house. Soon the sound of several loud war cries filled the my ears and a smile came to my face. I slammed through the door with a loud crack and raised my rifle. I saw nothing but darkness, but the sound of a confused and frightened voice came from upstairs. I quickly turned on my night vision and moved to the stairs. I aimed up the stairs, noticing a green pony with a walking cane staring towards me with surprise and confusion.

“What in tarnation!” she yelled.

“On the ground, NOW!” I screamed.

“Granny Smith, what’s going on?!” a voice asked from upstairs. The green pony looked back to reply, but she was cut off by the sound of a gunshot. Blood sprayed into the air and she let out a scream of pain as she tumbled down the stairs. Sho soon reached the bottom of the stairs, laying at the bottom of my feet moaning in pain. I pressed my rifle onto her skull, shaking my head.

“I said get onto the ground.” I pulled the trigger. Blood sprayed out from her skull and her body ceased to move. I sighed, but I quickly aimed back up the stairs once a light turned on, revealing a smaller pony with a bow in her hair, wearing a red dress, and a look of absolute horror painted onto her face. A child most likely.

“G-Granny…” she said with tears running down her face. I cursed under my breathe and quickly ran up the stairs to catch her. The child let out a scream and ran away from the stairs.

“Hey! Get back here you-!” Before I could finish, I reached the top of the stairs, only to be greeted by a large red pony in shorts and a white shirt. He let out a loud roar and tackled me, sending us both tumbling down the stairs. We landed on top of the dead pony. I quickly pushed off my attacker with both of my feet. I rolled to my knee and aimed my rifle at the large red pony, but before I could fire, a pot slammed into my head and dirt covered my visor. I quickly wiped the dirt from my vision, but as the dirt was cleaned off of my visor, the red pony shot his knee into my helmet. Holy shit did that hurt! I fell onto my back and lost my rifle as it slid away under a table.

“Shit!” I yelled. I tried to get up, but my attacker was already on top of me. The look of rage and bloodlust filled his eyes as he delivered blows to my helmet. I knew I had protection, but this guys punch’s felt like a horse’s kick, and I started to taste blood in my mouth. Soon I had enough and dodged his next punch. I then delivered a hard punch to his jaw, but it only seemed to get him even angrier. He grabbed my helmet and slammed it into the wooden floor. I cringed and reached for my knife, but I was instead yanked up off of the floor and thrown into kitchen. I landed onto the kitchen table and fell to the floor. I took a deep breath before I jumped to my feet. “Holy fucking shit! What are you, the red version of the hulk?!” I shouted.

“I’ll kill you!” the red pony screamed and charged into the kitchen.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said and flipped the kitchen table over. I jumped to my right and dodged the charging pony just in time as he smashed through the table. I grabbed a nearby chair and smashed the chair into his back. The chair shattered and the large pony shot up with rage. “Shit!” I hissed, ducking as the pony threw a punch over my head, my body retaliating as I shot a hard uppercut, hitting his jaw and sending him stumbling back. He quickly recovered and clenched his teeth.

“I’ll kill you, ya murder!” he growled. I smiled under my helmet and pulled out my knife.

“I’d like to see you try asshole,” I muttered. We stood there for a good thirty seconds, waiting for someone to make a move, but finally he gave a loud roar and charged towards me like a bull. I took a quick breath and charged forward with all of my speed, crashing into each other. Luckily, I was victorious in the charge and he was pushed back, but he had grabbed my arm that held the knife, resulting in a duel of strength. He delivered blow after blow to my helmet, but I returned his blows with several hard punches to his jaw and sent my knee into his gut a couple of times. Rage and pain were all I felt as we returned blows to each other, but while we were pounding away, I still struggled to send my knife into his damn throat! But luck seemed to be on my side as a voice filled the room.

“Big Mac!” My attacker quickly looked to the left and grin shot onto my face.

“Wrong move asshole!” I yelled as I tore his hand off of my arm and shot my knife down. Unfortunately, he stumbled back a little and my knife ended up digging into his shoulder. He yelled in pain and pushed me away. I took my knife with me and stumbled back a bit. He held his bleeding shoulder and looked to his left. I looked to where he was looking, noticing the child pony hiding behind one of my targets. Applejack! Fear, anger, and confusion covered her face as she stared at the larger pony.

“Applejack, take Applebloom and run! I’ll hold this bastard off!” he shouted. Right on cue, a rock smashed through the window and the entire room lit up with a bright light from outside. I looked out the window and smiled as I saw several humans causing chaos outside. My smile grew even larger as I saw Abe and Glenn leading out other humans with chains around them from a burning barn. I turned my head towards the ponies to see shock and fear. I couldn’t help but laugh. Anger had replaced the red ponies face, or ‘Big Mac’ as Applejack had called him, but the anger quickly disappeared as he looked to the two ponies with a small, gentle smile. “Applejack, Applebloom, I’ve watched both of you grow up into the ponies you are today. Both of you make me proud to be your older brother and I’m happy to have worked on this farm with you, but please do something for me,” he said, looking to me with a stern face. “RUN!” he shouted, again charging at me.

“Big Mac!” the child screamed. I soon took my attention away from them and focused only on the charging Big Mac. I lifted up my boot and smashed it into Big Macs face, but surprisingly, this didn’t affect him and he grabbed my leg.

“SHIT!” I shouted as he kicked my other leg, sending both of us falling to the floor. He attempted to throw a punch, but before he could land it, I sent my knife into his gut and smiled as he yelled in pain. I thought it was now over, but before I could react, he slammed his forehead into my helmet, my visor cracking from the impact. He then stumbled to his feet and took a few steps back as he grabbed my knife that was in his gut. I crawled to my feet and shook my head, trying to clear my head. “Holy shit! This asshole hurts!” I mumbled, looking up to see Big Mac pulling out my knife and throwing it aside. He held onto his injury and panted heavily as a small stream of blood ran down his face. I smiled and took off my helmet to inspect it. “Aw man, look what ya did! You know how hard it is to fix this?” I asked. A smile appeared on his face as he coughed a bit.

“Oh well,” he muttered. I sighed and placed my helmet on a nearby counter.

“Whatever, let’s just finish this,” I said, looking over to the spot where Applejack and the small child once was. “I want to have a little chat with your sister,” I said with a smile. He only glared at me and growled. I chuckled and sprinted towards him with a warcry. He took a deep breath and charged towards me. We smashed into each other, surprising me as I was lifted off the ground and carried through a wall. I grunted and slammed my elbow into his head several times, but soon I was slammed onto the floor and felt my back crack. “Oh shit! Yeah, that hurt!” I groaned. I looked up to see Big Mac raising his leg up and rolled to my left as he brought his hoof smashing to the floor, leaving an imprint. I jumped to my feet and slammed my shoulder into his side, sending him to the ground. I panted and waited for him to get up, but took a quick glance down, noticing my rifle poking out of the bottom of a table. I ran to the table, snatched my rifle, and spun around with my rifle raised, watching as Big Mac staggered to his feet. I smiled and cleared my throat. He looked up and anger was plastered on his face.

“You’re a coward,” he said with disgust. I shrugged.

“Maybe, but guess what,” I said, aiming towards his head. “I win.” And with that, I pulled the trigger and his head snapped back with a bloody mist spraying out the back of his skull. He crumpled under his own weight and laid motionless on the hardwood floor. Blood leaked out of his head and I gave a heavy sigh. “Well, that's over with,” I muttered, cracking my back. “And holy shit am I gonna be sore,” I moaned and walked through the hole leading to the kitchen. I grabbed my helmet and snatched my bloody knife from the ground before heading towards the front door. Once I reached the front door, I saw Lizzy standing there with a happy look, but no Applejack.

“Jacob!” she said, running to me. I held up a hand and she stopped dead in her tracks. “What?”

“Did you see any ponies come out the front door?” I asked.

“No, you’re the only who’s walked through those doors,” she said. I sighed and scanned the area. My luck seemed to have run out.

“Damn, they got away,” I muttered, looking around the farm. I saw Glenn and Abe at the entrance of the farm with several humans. “Come on, let’s go get a report,” I said. We both began to walk towards the group of humans. I walked with a bit of a limp and winced at the pain in my back. Lizzy offered to help me, but I waved her away and we continued towards the farm’s entrance. Soon we reached the group of humans, Abe noticing me.

“Holy shit, what happened to you?” he asked, chuckling. “You look like shit.”

I smiled and rubbed the back of my neck. “I was having a little fun,” I said with a chuckle.

“Clearly,” Glenn said. I looked to the chained humans and frowned. They all had this confused face as they looked around the farm, wondering what was going on. They were all covered head to toe with dirt and they wore ragged clothes with several holes in them, some of the holes revealing large sections of their bodies. Soon I noticed the children who hid behind the larger humans and felt sadness as I saw that they were in the same state as the older humans. I growled as I saw iron collars around each of their necks and looked to Glenn.

“Why are they still chained up?” I asked. He shrugged.

“We were too busy on gathering food into a cart,” he said, pointing his thumb over to a small cart filled with food.

I sighed. “Fine, but did anyone here notice two fucking ponies running from the farm?!” I asked.

“Yeah, three of our guys went after them,” a man said and pointed towards the main dirt road.

“Should we send help?” Lizzy asked.

“Yeah. Abe, take your guys and help them catch those ponies,” I said. Abe nodded, rallied his men, and started to head down the dirt road. I looked to Glenn. “Glenn, I need you to take the humans and food back to the cave. Move fast and try to cover up your tracks,” I said. Glenn nodded and they began to lead the chained humans towards the Everfree forest with the cart following behind. But I stopped two other men and motioned them to me. “You two are with me,” I said. “We’re going to burn this place to the ground.” They nodded and ran off to get to work.

“Alright, lets get cooking,” Lizzy said, but I stopped her.

“No, you go with Glenn. He’ll need some help since he’s down two men,” I said. Lizzy seemed confused, but soon she was instantly angry.

“What!? But I want to burn this place down too!” she shouted.

“Look, just do as I say. I know you want to help burn this shit land, but if Abe and the others don’t catch those two ponies, I need you to be the one to be there to help Glenn, Abe, and the others get back to the cave alive. Alright?” I asked. Lizzy stilled look pissed, but she soon had a look of worry.

“But if they don’t get those ponies, and the Equestrian armies come here, what will you do? What if you get hurt, or worse?” she asked with fear. I stood there silent for a moment before sighing.

“Then I’ll have to hope for luck to be on my side,” I said, placing my hand on her shoulder. “But if the worst happens, I need you to take my place,” I said.

“What, why me?” she asked. I shrugged.

“Cause you seem right for the job,” I said, smiling. Her cheeks seemed to light up a bit, but she closed her eyes and sighed.

“Fine, I guess you’re right,” she said with a smile and gave a soft punch to my shoulder. “But you better not die; I don’t feel like leading an army,” she said before walking past me. I smiled and looked back as she jogged off down the road after Glenn and the others. I sighed and looked back to the farm to see one of the men throw a burning torch through a window. Soon, fire began to spread throughout the house and I placed my helmet back onto my head. I walked over to one of the men who held two torches and chuckled.

“Alright, you go set the apple trees ablaze and I’ll finish here,” I said. He nodded with a smile and handed me a torch.

“Have fun,” he said, running off towards the acres of apple trees.

I smiled. “Oh I will,” I said before walking towards the house.

Author's Note

Hey everyone hope you enjoyed the chapter. I want to give a big thank you to Requiem17 for editing this chapter! Thank you so much for the help! You guys should go and check him out he's a cool guy and he can help you out with any editing.

Also, if anyone wants to have any OC's in the story please message me.

Anyways have a good day, or night.