Author's Note

This chapter is very dramatic and tries to be sad toward the end. I'm not very good at writing to convey emotion, so any tips or criticisms to help me improve are welcome in the comments!

The Colourful Crusade

The Ork army marched for 5 days through the thick and treacherous forest. Many were lost due to hidden chasms, traps and one field of blue plants that made the boyz get high voices, small heads and huge feet. Grubgutz had to shoot one of the boyz who kept going on about how he saw a hut in the forest and a zebra with earrings and tiki masks. It was ridiculous; everyone knows zebras went extinct in the 20th millennium. Eventually the Orks reached the edge of the jungle, and began to trek across the grass plains toward the pony village. Grubgutz still thought the Kommandos were crazy.

The horde slowly marched toward the small village before abruptly stopping. Grubgutz was passed a pair of binoculars as he stood at the front of the army and quick-checked the village for any immediate threats. He was shocked to see that there really was a population of Technicolor ponies in the town.

They walked through the streets and greeted each other as they passed one another; it disgusted Grubgutz. Where was the fighting and insults? Where were the public brawls? They bought items of various interests at market stands with little shiny pieces instead of traditional teeth currency. The buildings were made of bricks, wooden frames and straw, and painted as if they were supposed to look nice rather than serve a purpose, a tradition most unfamiliar to Orks.

A huge, glass fort was situated in the centre of the town, where Grubgutz assumed the Tribe leader ruled his people. He grunted and passed three teeth from his pocket to General Slikknife, giving the binoculars back to the boyz.

“So why ain’t weex chargin’ dem yet, boss?” a gritty voice spoke to Grubgutz.

“Just wait boyz. Dey’ll cum rite to us”

5 Days Earlier

Twilight wandered through the halls of the crystal palace, gazing into the far reaches of the corridor ceilings and marvelling at the intricate décor of the place. She had been living among the palace walls for several weeks now but it never ceased to amaze her with its almost hand-crafted details. Trotting up the immense spiral staircase in the palace centre, Twilight reached the balcony of the palace where she saw it. It was plummeting towards Everfree. It was huge; the size of a planet. With a quick glance, Twilight saw that everyone else had noticed it too. Everypony in the streets stared in awe at the mountainous entity that fell toward the surface. At once, the princess flew back down the staircase into the hall.

“Spike, take a letter. Quickly now, this is important. We have to warn Princess Celestia about this”

Present

It had been five days since Twilight had written to Celestia, with no reply of any sort which deeply troubled the purple pony. Sat in the palace hall, she tapped an idle hoof on the table as she impatiently waited for word from her mentor.

“Twilight! I you have a letter!” Spike exclaimed as he burst into the hall with force.

“Oh, thank goodness” Replied the princess with a tone of great relief in her voice.

The letters content wasn’t what Twilight had expected.

‘Dearest Twilight,
I have received your letter of warning about what you referred to as ‘the monolith’. I had also seen it, and have taken immediate action to find out more about what it is and more importantly, where it came from. We have sent several teams to scout Everfree, but it is a vast jungle. Though the monolith’s location is obvious, getting close to it is proving difficult. No teams have returned as of yet and we fear that this monolith may contain Extra-Equestrial life. This is obviously dangerous, and may be even more so if this life proves to be hostile. I thank you for your concern and hope to see you when this situation is under control.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia’

Twilight placed the paper on the table before her, scared to the bone by the message she had just read. She tried to keep a level head but it was all a bit too much to take in. She convinced herself that a nap would help her think, and with that she was off to the balcony where a sun lounger waited for her.

Twilight awoke from her rest, refreshed and happy, until she noticed something. It wasn’t a breeze or a disturbance in the force, just an odd smell, one of rotting flesh and body odour. She gazed across the town, looking for a cause. The citizens seemed to have noticed it too. Everyone was running through the streets and into their houses, hoping to escape the stench that filled the air.

Twilight saw an abnormally green patch of land in the distance, on the edge of town. She gazed through her telescope to see what the mysterious gathering on the side of town was. As she looked closer she realised just what they were. Hundreds of ugly green men with huge, protruding teeth and red eyes stood in a huge cluster, waving edged weapons and strange metal squares. One could say it was a formation of some sort, but it was awfully organised.

She wondered what they were doing, just waiting at the edge of town. She had read about men before, and remembered the time when Pinkie Pie was teleported to the world of men, but they had all been tan coloured, not green like these ones. She remembered reading about the men who were obsessed with the world of Equestria, those who were trying to create portals to their world, and collaborated with each other on ‘forums’ to share their successes and failures. These men were clearly not eager to engage with the people.

As Twilight’s mind wandered, she quickly realised what was going on. Just South of the clump of men was the Everfree forest. These beings must be the Extra-Equestrial life from the monolith. There was no other explanation for their sudden appearance.

“Spike! Take a letter! Tell Celestia that I have eyes on the Extra-Equestrial life and that I’m going to investigate. Tell her they look like humans, but with green skin, big teeth and red eyes.” Twilight yelled as she rushed down the spiral staircase and into the throne room.

“I’m going to get the girls and head over to them to start a conversation”

“Okay, Twilight! Are you sure you don’t want to wait for a reply before you go? She said it might be dangerous! We all know how people with red eyes have turned out to be in the past” Spike asked.

“No time, she could take five days again!” Twilight replied as she glided through the hall to the front door.

With a quick goodbye, Twilight was through the door and on her way to Rarity’s boutique.

“Hello, Green Men! We wish to speak with you!” Twilight shouted from the border of town.

Now assembled in traditional fashion, the Elements of Harmony stood proud alongside each other to face the mysterious intruders.

“Hello? Can you hear us?” Twilight shouted again.

She was confused. In the past, even villains had at least responded to her, but the silence of the green army didn’t deter her from starting to advance toward them. The residents of Ponyville begun to leave their homes and line up at the side of town, watching the six of them walk further.

“Is anyone there?” Twilight was beginning to doubt their intelligence.

As the main six neared the green men, details became clearer. The beasts dressed themselves in poorly cured hides and wore bone necklaces, they had skewed postures and unnaturally long arms and sharp talon-like hands. Their faces were coated in strange face paints and their beady red eyes were unblinking. They pressed on ever further, nearly in arms reach of the formation by now.

“Stop rite dere, ‘orsies” A gritty voice said as the girls came little more than 5 feet of the horde. It shook the group. They stopped.

“I see we finally have a response. My name is Twilight Sparkle and I-”

She was cut off by a wave of laughter from the green men.

“Oh, ya make me larf, ‘orsie. I’ve fought Panzee Eldar farlookaz… wait no, seermun? Uh …” He paused and looked at the ground with a hand on his hip. A smaller man whispered in his ear and he jumped back to life.

“Farseers! Farseers wiv manlier names den dat!” said the large green man.

‘Eldar? What in Equestria is an Eldar?’ Twilight thought to herself.

“Uhh, Twilight? What are we doing here again? These dudes clearly aren’t friendly” Rainbow Dash said as she strode to her friends side.

“We are trying to communicate with them” She replied. “Perhaps to find out what they want”

Twilight turned and spoke to the green men again.

“Why did you wait so long to reply to our calls, green men?”

The presumed leader of the group stepped out, with his hands behind his back and with a thoughtful frown across his face. His huge hulking body made his head look rather small, which already looked off as it protruded from the front of his torso rather than the top. He had armour crafted from various scrap strapped to his shoulders, back and chest. Towering over Twilight at at least 8 foot tall, the brute spat as it spoke through its over-sized jaw.

“Well, I jus' thoght ya might wan ta see dis up close!”

The giant creature, wielding a massive mechanical claw of sorts that was in place of his right hand, quickly raised his hand above his bulbous head and broad shoulders. He slashed downward with it and sliced into Rainbow Dash, her body reduced to little more than a clump and her eyes darted frantically as she slowly and painfully perished. The claw was buried deep into the grass, pinning the cyan pony to the floor and hiding much of her flesh in the mud.

Twilight turned to the massive man, to see that he had bent over, now face to face with her.

“We iz da Orks. And youz is gunna die” He whispered, his scarred face smiling grimly at her.

Twilight froze up in shock. Her whole body was incapable of action as the Ork raised his blade once again. Dripping blood and bits of entrails onto her face, she stared at it in horror.

Before she could even process what was happening, a yellow flash lunged at her and whisked her away. Fluttershy had taken flight, dragging Twilight with her as the whole group had turned tail and was heading back to town.

“ARGHH! Youz ponies can’t escape from me!”

Twilight dropped from Fluttershy’s grasp and ran along with the other four. Just as they reached the town, Twilight screamed a warning.

“Run everypony!” She shouted as she barged through the crowd formed at the edge of town. “Run for your lives!”

There was panic among the crowd. Many began to yell and flail about in fits of fear; others worried what true terrors must be coming if Princess Twilight was running from them. As everyone bustled to get to the other side of town, the pile-up of ponies failed to move.

“Alright lads! Let’s get lootin’!” Grubgutz said.

Grubgutz pulled his claw out of the ground and got himself together. He sounded a mighty war cry as he encouraged his army to advance.

The army charged onward, a thousand men simultaneously screaming:

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”

There was too much panic. The bundle of ponies all trying to move in one direction caused havoc as they tripped over each other and trampled those who had fallen.

It wasn’t long before the Orks reached them, the field they sprinted across torn up behind them. The green beasts stamped feet, swung axes and chomped jaws as they shredded the ponies in their way. The butchering of the crowd thinned it down, allowing movement to start and the peoples fled to all corners of the town.

Some braved the fearsome beasts, taking higher grounds and attacking with whatever was to hand. Unicorns shot magic lasers, Earth Ponies and Pegasus alike swung random objects at the tough creatures. A few Orks fell but there was too many for mere civilians to combat. Overwhelmed, the brave few retreated but fell to stampeding greenskins flooding the area. Beasts of all sorts trashed the streets, some lighting strange devices that spat roaring flames across the town, others ripping into buildings with propelled explosives and mighty cleavers.

Twilight and the other 4 reached the town centre, jumping up onto the stage and taking position. Twilight cast spells into the Ork horde, dispersing them and spreading panic among their ranks. Applejack ran around the edge of the stage, bucking Orks that were scrambling up the structure. Rarity and Fluttershy sat behind twilight, shivering and whimpering as the chaos (no not that Chaos) wrecked their minds. Pinkie pie hopped about the platform cheering on her friends but ultimately contributing nothing to the fight, oblivious to what devastation was unfolding around her.

Grubgutz strode through the streets, his boys flooding into houses, slaughtering those who hid within and bursting out the other side like hatchlings from oversized egg sacs. One foot in front of the other, Grubgutz slowly progressed toward the centre stage. His klaw scraped across the floor, his shoulders swayed and his body dripped with blood as he stomped through town.

Many of his boyz had fallen trying to conquer the stage. These Technicolor ponies were proving quite the formidable foe. As the green tide thinned, space cleared and the hulking warboss came into view of the now five Elements of Harmony.

Taking position on a clump of green corpses, Grubgutz stood a mere 10 feet from the stage, staring at his enemy. His boyz were starting to flee, disheartened by the layers of brethren at their feet and the realisation that they were being beaten by pansy ponies.

Twilight shot one last energy blast at the retreating Orks, blowing off legs and leaving dishevelled torsos to crawl away; bleeding everywhere and cursing at her.

“That should do it. For now.” Twilight said, wiping a mixture of sweat and Orky gunge off of her face with a free hoof.

Applejack fell to her knees, panting from the taxing work of smashing mindless goons in the face repeatedly for several minutes.

“I nevah thought… you… so tough, Twilight, but ya’ll proved… me wrong today” she said between breaths.

Pinkie Pie stood at the edge of the stage, looking out at the Orks who hid behind rubble of collapsed houses from the ponies.

“Why are you hiding, green man? I thought were playing tag, not hide and seek!” she called out to them, making them duck back down behind the bricks.

The dynamic duo of orange and purple got themselves back together, preparing for what was to come next. Meanwhile Pinkie Pie pulled silly faces at the rugged soldiers behind the rugged debris.

Fluttershy remained on the deck, curled up in a ball, weeping uncontrollably as she tried to grip the situation. Her best friend was dead, she was likely next and the town was destroyed, all of the ugly truths hitting her at once. It was unbearable.

A faint repeating clang was sounding from the north side of the stage, alerting the ponies and moving their gaze. They turned to see Grubgutz himself, hitting his hand against his Klaw in an attempt to slow clap the group.

“Good job, ‘orsies. You really made work of my boyz, didn’t ya? YOU WURTLESS GROTS!” the warboss yelled at his army, who cowered further at the bellowing tyrant. He knelt by a corpse, tearing off an ear and popping it into his bloody maw.

The ponies flinched as they watched his teeth clamp down on his own kind. The warboss chewed happily and stared at the mares intently.

“What do you want, green… skinned man?” Twilight slowed as she struggled to describe the beast before her.

“Ooh! Greenskin? Dat’s wot ‘dose ‘humies call us!” Grubgutz chuckled.

“Wait… you’re not humans?” Twilight asked, realising what a terrible mistake she had made as the words escaped from her mouth.

A huge ruckus erupted from the Warboss and the Orks hiding nearby.

“Bwahahaha! Us!? Da Orks!? ‘umies!? Neva!” Grubgutz managed to spurt his words from his great jaw between laughs.

“We are a peaceful kind! We have dealt with humans before, they weren’t so intent on killing us then, though.” Twilight shouted, unable to overcome the noise of the ogre-like men.

Grubgutz bent over with his hands on his knees as he began to tear up from the laughter that shook his body.

Pulling himself together, he stood up and re-engaged in conversation with the ponies.

“You see, ponies, we iz da Orks, we iz made for fightin’. Weez don’t care who youz iz, if youz can put up a fight, we’ll clobber da whole lotta ya! If youz can’t, we’ll have ya fa lunch! I’m not one fa talkin’, but obviously youz ain’t met us before, so I’ll let ya in on a lil’ secret. Orks never loses, and Orks never gives up, cuz we iz made fa fightin’, and weez is da strongest dere iz!”

“You’re… made for fighting? You… enjoy conflict?” Twilight couldn’t help but well up, her mind twisted by such a concept.

Everything she had lived for, all she had learnt, been taught and experienced was none but an illusion. She’d been living in this bubble, this world of peace and friendship for so long that she forgot that war, suffering and hate was so ripe elsewhere in the world, in the universe. These creatures couldn’t be won over by love and tolerance, they were heartless abominations.

Applejack spoke up.

“Conflict is natural, Twilight. It might be an inconvenience, but you can’t avoid it. But I’ll tell ya what ain’t natural”

She turned to face the Ork Warboss.

“Killin’ ponies! We’ve fought plenty of villains, but never have I eva seen one kill somepony!” She shouted, putting a hoof around Twilight’s shoulders.

“Youz ain’t neva had a good time den, haff ya?” Grubgutz snidely remarked.

Twilight wiped her tears with a forearm and looked into her friend’s big, green eyes.

“Thank you, Applejack.” She murmured.

They held their gaze in for a moment. A terrible noise broke the silence. A sharp crack filled the air, re-sounding for what seemed like an eternity.

Twilight flinched as crimson spewed over her face.

Applejack went limp. She fell against Twilight, collapsing and spilling a pool over the stage. Twilight stood back, staring at the orange pony that lay across the deck. A gaping in her head hole oozed thick, coppery life over the weathered planks of the stage. It trickled over the wood, just reaching a quivering white hoof at the back of the platform. Rarity bit her lip harder, trying her best not to burst into tears. Twilight turned to Grubgutz to see him holding a strange metal device with wisps of smoke floating from the end of it.

“Wot? Youz was draggin’ on wit all dat panzee stuff, I saw no point in listinen furter”

Twilight lost control. Tears filled her eyes as she screamed at the scene before her. Her moment of naïve ignorance had caused the death of another one of her dearest. Streams of tears became rivers. Rivers became geysers. The clear, salty liquid created odd patterns as it met with the warm, fresh blood beneath her hooves. Her throat became sore and dry. She paused, swallowed and gasped as she tried with all her might to hold back her emotions. A few moments passed before she burst out in more cries of pain and sorrow.

“If I wonted dis cryin and emoshonal stuff, I’d have gone to an Eldar world” remarked Grubgutz.

The other three ponies watched as their friend projected inaudible screeches, unsure of what to do. The longer they kept quiet, the less chance they’d be noticed. They slowly inched to the back of the stage, careful not to distract any Orks from the current display before them.

“How could you do this!?” Twilight shouted at Grubgutz.

“Look, pony. I done too much talkin’ today, just let me shoot ya already.” He replied with his broad ‘shoota’ rifle still raised into the air, aimed still at the lilac princess.

“You killed two of my best friends!” She yelled.

“And you enjoyed it! Do you hear yourself! You’re laughing! You have no remorse!”

Twilight looked back at her twitching companion.

“You don’t even care…”

“Look, let me do youz a favour,” muttered Grubgutz as he re-aligned his gun, instantly regretting showing even a dash of mercy.

The warboss squinted and looked down his sight; an unusual practice for an Ork but he wanted to do this quickly. His clubbed finger pressed against the trigger-

“Boss!”

Grubgutz tensed as a high pitched voice broke the tension, accidentally squeezing the trigger as he jumped out of his skin.

Accompanied by a terrible crack, a hot, steel bullet cut through the air and tore into Twilight’s knee.

Only just recovering from the fit of screaming, Twilight was hit with another wave of pain she could never have prepared for. This was no ordinary injury; Twilight had never felt anything remotely close to this. She cried out in unbridled agony. Unable to stand on the shattered bone, she collapsed and wept into the damp floor of the stage. She raised her head to glare at the monster that had done this.

“Why!?” She screamed at him. “Just kill me!”

Her eyes were bloodshot, she grinded her teeth, mucus dripped from her snout and mixed with her tears as they poured down her face.

“Come on! Don’t you enjoy this!? Just get it over with!” She continued.

Watching from behind, Fluttershy felt a rising sensation in her gut, an agonising ache that burned in her abdomen. She put a hoof to her mouth as yellow sludge oozed from it. Gagging hard, her hoof came away and she spewed the bile over the stage as she witnessed the horrible display. Rarity held her close, stroking her mane in an almost motherly attempt at comfort.

Grubgutz dropped his arms down. He turned to his left with rage painted across his face. The measly Gretchen assistant of grubgutz was sprinting across the grass about 20 feet away, shouting for his Warbosses attention.

“Zog me! I’m gonna haff ta use another bullet now! Wot woz so important dat ya had ta tell me rite den!?” Grubgutz shouted at the snotling.

“Uhh…” The Gretchen paused and swallowed.

“We found your lucky bosspole in the crash site?” He said, shaking in his boots.

“ARGH! Youz is USELESS!” Grubgutz yelled.

The brute picked up the grot with one hand and slammed him into the floor with force. Taking a step back, he punted the snotling far beyond the horizon.

“Now dats all cleered up, les get bak to bizniss”

The warboss holstered his rifle and pulled out his ‘slugga’ from his thigh pouch. He began to stride up to the purple mare, checking the magazine before stopping at the stage end where Twilight lay in a heap.

“Is youz aliiive?” He croaked with a menacing grin across his face as he rolled Twilight’s head over with his pistol. She spluttered and coughed as he shoved her.

“Not for long” He laughed.

The deafening crack of the handgun was dampened by the thick mane of the princess.

A huge uproar came from the still hiding Orks, cheering on the success of their leader who continued to smile and chuckle to himself.

Rarity and Pinkie still stood tall, braving the green hulk while Fluttershy lay on the floor in a panicked mess.

“Come on then, you barbarian! Have at it!” Rarity shouted, taunting her foe who clearly out-skilled her on all levels.

Grubgutz climbed onto the stage, standing upright and turning to face his boyz. They swarmed the stage and crowded around the edges, forming a sea of green upon which a wooden raft sailed.

“Now, now boyz, leave dis ta me. Make ya bets wif Shraktoof and enjoy da show!” He preached to his minions with a charismatic bellow.

Rarity spoke up among the cheers of the green men.

“Is that all this is to you? A game? A show? You, sir, disgust me!” She spat at him.

“Oh it’s more den dat. It’s a WAAAGH!” As he shouted the signature word, the boyz joined in, screaming it at the top of their lungs.

“That is it!” Rarity exclaimed as her horn glowed.

A plank from the stage glimmered in a teal bubble as it peeled off of the frame and floated to Rarity’s side. Running at Grubgutz, she swung the plank at him while projecting a warcry of her own. The Ork simply lifted his great talon and gripped the plank right out of the air.

Unable to halt her furious charge at the Ork, Rarity met with the plank as Grubgutz overcame her magic’s force and swung it back. The old, weathered wood collided with her skull at such great impact that it was hard to recognise the end result. Teeth flew into the crowd of Boyz and blood stained the stage once more.

Not quite dead yet, Rarity brought herself back up and spat out blood plus a few remaining teeth.

“Rarity!” wailed Pinkie Pie.

“Just give up! You can’t beat him!”

Ashamed to finally be discouraging her friends, Pinkie Pie spoke the voice of reason to Rarity.

The white mare turned to face her companion.

“It’s too late to give up”

With adrenaline fuelling her body, Rarity once more gave a valiant charge at the giant. She lowered her head as she plummeted toward the great Ork; the lumbering beast whom was distracted turned to see her plunge into his abdomen with force. The short horn she wielded pierced his leathery hide just enough for it to get stuck, leaving her trapped inside the huge man. Ooos an ahhs sounded from the crowd as Grubgutz winced. He jolted. The semi-sharp bone wriggled within his body while Rarity struggled. He gripped Rarity with his grubby talons and hastily twisted her out, breaking off her horn with a painful snap.

“Youz is gunna regret dat” Grubgutz said as he lifted the pony up to level with is head.

He tossed her onto the floor, reaching for his stomach and removing the horn.

“Horns are wurt 50 teef! Go and get sum!” yelled the warboss to his army as he threw the sheared unicorn part to them.

Rarity lay in a heap, gasping for air as blood filled her mouth. Grubgutz used a foot to roll her onto her back, the crimson liquid blocking her throat as it poured out of her gums. Using the same boot, the menacing creature thrust into the soft white belly of the helpless pony, forcing organs and a river of blood to catapult from her jaw, coating the crowd in a red haze of gore which only edged them on to see the rest of the fantastic display. They jeered in excitement, witnessing an explicitness of violence that was never quite simulated on the battlefield.

Pinkie Pie watched as her friend was flattened by the hulking man, gripping Fluttershy and sobbing into her soft mane.

“Don’t you worry, Shy. We’re gonna be safe soon. We’re gonna be with the others, we’re gonna be warm, happy and smiling with our friends in the midday sun” Pinkie Pie said through watery eyes.

Fluttershy gave no verbal response but hugged Pinkie tighter and began to stop crying.

With heavy thuds, the lumbering Warboss approached the two ponies.

“Which of youz is first?” He asked with a terrifying grin upon his face.

Pinkie Pie looked up at Grubgutz.

“Just do it, you meanie. I’m not afraid of you, or your little gang of bullies, and neither is Fluttershy! If you want to hurt us, you might as well get it over with and leave the rest of Equestria alone.” Pinkie pouted and frowned at Grubgutz, keeping up her childish and innocent ways to hide her fear.

“Well if it’s gonna be like that,” The Ork muttered.

Grubgutz used his power klaw to grip the pink mare, lifting her up and smashing her into the stage, breaking both planks and bones with relative ease. He repeated the process again and again, each time the screams of pain becoming weaker as the party pony came closer to death. It wasn’t long before Pinkie was thrust through the stage and impaled on support beams and Gurbgutz moved onto Fluttershy.

The pale mare was crying out in a slump on the floor, hoping this would all just go away like a bad dream. Kneeling before her, Grubgutz lifted Shy’s chin with his green talon and looked her in the eye. Streams of tears rushed down her cheeks, her adorable features whimpered in terror.

“Your friends put up a good fight, but you don’t seem to be the fightin’ type. How about I do youz quicker, eh?” Grubgutz said to her with a small chuckle.

Fluttershy nodded in agreement, absolute fear stopping her from resisting.

“Well too bad!” Grubgutz exclaimed as he plunged his thumb into one of Fluttershy’s eyes.

Like an enraged banshee, Fluttershy screeched in agony. The Ork pushed her to the floor with his hand firmly gripped on her skull. He smacked her head into the weathered planks with force, shattering her snout. She groaned as the shards of bone shifted around in her bruising flesh, blood oozing from her nostrils. Raising her once more, Grubgutz slammed her back down, splitting her head down the side; Fluttershy’s treacly blood pooled over the stage as the Warbosses hand came away from her. Her hooves twitched as her heart continued to pump blood around her body that wasn’t quite dead yet.

Grubgutz stood up, dusted himself down and looked out across the town of Ponyville. Great fires raged in houses, corpses of many colours covered the streets and the faint cries for help sounded through the late day air.

Great cheers erupted from the ever-excited mob of boyz at their leader’s brutal performance. They scattered from the stage, eager to find something to kill after far too many minutes of standing around.

As he stared out into the distance, Grubgutz pondered upon his next conquest. A little white castle nestled in the mountainside caught his eye;

That was where he’d strike next.