I will not lie. The opening moments of the battle were some of the most intense in recent memory. Our drives towards Carlon were absolutely relentless. With our heavy machine guns that we carried with us firing, we made it to the holes in the wall. I then landed on the rubble, and looked back over my shoulder.

I then shouted over the din of gunfire. "REMEMBER PEOPLE, WE'RE ONLY AFTER THE CARIBOU MALES, AS WELL AS ANY OTHER WARRIORS!!! SLAVES, POW'S, AND FEMALES ARE NOT TO BE HARMED!!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!!"

We all began to pour into the city. What we failed to anticipate though, was the amount of resistance that we were going to be facing. While we already knew that the Caribous were running scared, we didn't know that they were "WW2 Japanese Kamikaze suicidal fanatic" scared. They threw everything that they had at us, even themselves!

"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!!!!!" We had to work OVERTIME to keep them back!

We managed to hold them, all while providing cover for the guys with the flamethrowers, who quickly got to work on any nearby buildings. After clearing them, the buildings would be set on fire. Also, all slaves and POW's that we came across were herded into areas away from the battle. To our surprise, we weren't finding as many of them as we originally believed that we would.

"Huh, maybe the majority are up in Donneth."

Even if they were, that still left us hundreds of thousands of Caribou soldiers, as well as Griffon and Minotaur mercenaries to deal with.

I shook my head. "Just another glorious day in Battalion 4009, Equestria’s Foreign Legion!" I muttered.

On the other end of things, When the first shots of the battle were fired, a report was immediately sent to Prince Dactyl.

"MY PRINCE, CARLON AND DANTON ARE UNDER ATTACK!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!" Dactyl was shocked. "By who?!?!?!"

"THE UNDEAD HARBINGERS!!!! THEY'VE COME BACK, AND THEY'VE BROUGHT THEIR GHOST TRAIN WITH THEM!!!!"

Dactyl was in shock, but because of his military background of once having been a general, and a strategist, he was able to think on his hooves.

"Ok people, here's the deal. Who's in charge of those cities?"

"Um, well, whoever their governors are, I would presume."

"Not anymore! Get me General Stuggs, and General Rodin IMMEDIATELY!!!! Tell them to forget what Danin told them before, and I need Stuggs sent to Carlon, while Rodin heads to Danton! They're the best in the business! Time is of the essence, so GO NOW!!!!"

"SIR, YES SIR!!!" The soldier then left to inform the two generals.

Meanwhile, next to the throne, Dash and Pinkie had been sound asleep. Suddenly though, they awoke to loud shouting, as well as what sounded like a battle in the distance.

"Huh? Is that.....a battle?"

Dash looked around. "I don't know Pinkie."

Once they heard the conversation between Dactyl and the soldier though, they knew the truth.

"So, these 'Undead Harbingers' that we're always hearing about beat the Battleship Express to us, did they? Let's just hope that Stud and the others get here soon, as I DO NOT want to meet these Harbingers!"

Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, they sound super-scary! And they sound super-evil, and super-mean!"

What both of them failed to realize though, was that we WERE the Undead Harbingers, but being hostage-slaves had really taken a toll on their minds.

Dactyl then turned back to his throne. As he sat down, he heard what the two were talking about. "If you 2 are scared of the Harbingers, don't be. They won't be getting ANYWHERE near here!"

"Um....why?"

"Because I WILL NOT be letting them! I've sent my best forces to deal with them, so this battle should be under control before long. We already outnumber the Harbingers, so we should be getting the upper hand here before long."

Dash and Pinkie looked at each other. Dactyl was sure of a different metal than Danin. He was definitely a career soldier, and knew how to handle a crisis. Nevertheless though, Dash felt a familiar presence close by. She couldn't help but feel that I was a lot closer than she originally thought.

"Come on Stud, we need you! Don't let the Caribou, or the Harbingers touch us! HURRY!!!!"

While the two generals were on their way to their respective cities with reinforcements, the battles for the cities were still in full swing. Under more orders, all slaves and POW's were being evacuated through the tunnels to Donneth for safe keeping. According to Caribou Logic, this was done so that they could face us in a no-holds-barred battle without the risk of collateral damage to valuable slaves. Unfortunately though, what this also did was provide us with opportunities to also take off the gloves without the risk of killing any bystanders. Carlon was indeed a no-holds-barred battle, and it was a blood-fest.

We were all taking cover behind whatever debris that we could find, and the Caribou were coming at us so thick that it was impossible NOT to hit them! They were also seemingly surrounding us.

"Sir, we're being surrounded!"

I looked around. "Yes, I can see that Dan. The enemy is in front of us, trying to get behind us, beside us, and sometimes even above and below us! They can't get away this time! We can shoot them from all directions and still hit them!"

Private Dan looked at me to see if I was joking. He saw that I was perfectly serious, and even though I was trying to be a bit humorous, what I said was indeed correct. Unfortunately though, we had another problem.

From close by, another squad reported in. "Sir, we've just spotted the airships! They're coming right for us, and they've started dropping bombs on us!"

"Shit!" I knew that that was going to be a serious problem. I immediately grabbed my radio. "Don, Don are you there?!"

"Yeah, I'm here Leopard, what's going on?"

"We've got enemy airships dropping bombs on us! We need their base flattened, and then the drones armed with incendiary bullets to take down those airships!"

"Egad! That's really bad Leopard. Yeah, we'll get right on that! standby!" He then flipped frequencies. "Drone pilots, arm those drones with incendiary bullets, and get them in the air now! We need to take down the enemy's airships before they flatten our troops!"

"Sir, yes Sir!" They then quickly got to work on that.

"ETA 2 minutes Leopard, and it's 2:30am. How are they even using those airships?"

"They have searchlights all over them. It's all too easy for them to try and find us, and they're high enough so that our bullets can't hit them, and even the shots that do hit aren't enough to take them down!"

"Yikes! Yeah, well, just keep dodging for another 2 minutes, the drones are on their way! Also, if you give us the coordinates for the airship base, we could take care of that as well!"

I gave him the coordinates, which were relayed to me by another squad. "And a little gunship support wouldn't hurt anyone! We're starting to take losses, and they're coming at us just as fast as we can hit them!"

"Ok, we'll fire on the airbase now! And yes, we've received the same report from General Shining. We're launching the gunship as well. ETA 3 minutes!"

"Roger that! We'll hold them here until then!" A series of bullets then slammed into the rubble just to the left of my head. Aurora quickly took care of the shooter with her sniper rifle. "Assuming of course that we're even still here in 3 minutes!" I muttered. I then got an idea. I knew that it was a stupid one, and one that would possibly get me killed, but we couldn’t wait another 2 minutes for those drones.

From up in the sky, the Caribou airships were really trying to make a difference in the battle. Caribou sharpshooters were picking off our soldiers, and other crew members were dropping bombs on us as well.

"Yeah, that's the spirit boys! We're showing those Harbingers a thing or two!"

They all kept cheering. Suddenly though, on the airship that was really causing pain for the troops where I was stationed, a sudden *Thud* was heard on the deck.

"Whoa....what the....?!?!?! WHERE DID YOU COME FROM!?!?!?!"

A tall figure stood up on the deck. He was dressed in a dark robe, but there was something all too familiar about him. When he looked up at them, they all saw that his face was covered by a white fox mask.

"FOX-FACE!!!!" Someone screamed. "BUT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD!!!!"

"HE IS DEAD, NOW HE'S ONE OF THE UNDEAD HARBINGERS!!!"

As the steam from my breath in the cold air came out of the nose of my mask's muzzle, I smirked. "Damn right about that! And now, I'm here to f@#k you up!"

I then let them have it. From under my robes, I pulled my trusty fire-ax, and went to work. Oddly enough, my primary targets actually weren't the Caribou themselves; instead, I was mostly aiming for the airship's engines, as well as the cables that held the ship to the balloons above. The Caribou themselves were just a bonus!

I used a wrist launcher to send shrapnel into the engines on the starboard side, which snapped off the propeller blades, and seized up the engines.

"KRIFF!!!! ABANDON SHIP, ABANDON SHIP!!!!"

"Not so fast!" I then took my ax to their parachutes on nearby racks, before setting them on fire with a lighter. I also knocked out two cables, which caused the airship to lurch to the left.

I then saw a drone incoming. "Heh, well, this was fun guys, but I gotta go. Goodbye!" I then jumped overboard, and flew away.

As I flew to safety, I watched the drones go to work. The airships never stood a chance, as although they were equipped to handle attacks from Pegasai, Griffons, and even had a chance at MAYBE repelling a Dragon, they were not equipped to handle a modern(ish) Reaper Drone.

It was all too easy. Since the drones were painted midnight black, and it was still nighttime, they blended in perfectly against the dark sky. They would dive in from above, and strafe the tops of the airships with incendiary bullets. Once the gas bags were exposed to the open air, the bullets would explode, which would completely take down the airship.

"AAAHHHH!!!!" The caribou crews screamed as they fell to their deaths. In their over-zealousness to come and get us, most of them had forgotten to bring their parachutes! A few did survive, but in short order, the airships were all neutralized, or so we thought.

"Targets neutralized Major Don."

Don nodded. "Good! Now then, are the guns ready Jim?"

"Affirmative. The airship base has been targeted. Permission to fire?"

"Granted!"

"FIRE!!!"

With a mighty roar, the 16in guns fired at the airship base. In short order, the base was leveled.

"Leopard, can you hear me?"

"Yeah, I'm here. Are the airships down yet? And was that big explosion the airship base?"

"Yes, to both questions. The skies are all clear, and Lt. Hughes should be right on top of your position in moments. The gunship will be flying back and forth between the two cities providing fire support."

I nodded. "Roger that Don. We're still moving forwards, although we've had to stop and take cover."

“Just hold on. Lt. Hughes will be there momentarily."

"Roger that."

Back in Donneth, several grave reports came to Dactyl's attention.

"Sir, our airships have been shot down!"

"WHAT?!?!?! HOW?!?!?!"

"The enemy was using their Flying Night-Stalkers! They also had some kind of explosive bullets. They just shot at the airships from above, and they went down in flames! Most of the crews are dead!"

Dactyl was worried. "Get me the commander of the airship base!"

"Yes Sir!" The soldier patched him through.

"Commander Fryl?"

"Yes, My Prince?"

"I need a second wave of airships in the air now! We HAVE to neutralize those Flying Night-Stalkers!"

"Sir, yes Sir. We'll get right on...." The transmission was suddenly cut off. Moments later, a massive explosion shook the palace.

"Good gods, WHAT WAS THAT?!?!?!"

The soldier looked out the window closest to him. "OH GODS, THAT WAS OUR AIRSHIP BASE!!!!! THEY'VE JUST WIPED IT OUT!!!!"

"WHAT?!?!?!"

"3 Airships did make it into the air before the base was destroyed, but they are now the last ones." The soldier then stopped. "Um, Sir, I'm also getting reports that the Hell-flyer has just been spotted!" (He meant our gunship.)

Dactyl turned extremely pale. Danin had given him several reports that were given to him by Zakia while the battle of Zebrica was underway, detailing just how destructive our gunship was.

"This....is extremely bad. However, I know that we HAVE to stop the Hell-Flyer now!"

"Yes, but how?!"

Dactyl sighed. He knew that there was a way, but yet, he didn't want to have to give the order. Unlike his brother, he took military losses VERY seriously.

"Get me.....the commanders of those 3 airships. I need to speak to them."

"Yes Sir."

The three commanders were then on the radio. "What is your bidding, My Prince?"

Dactyl sighed. "The Hell-flyer is currently on the loose, and it MUST be stopped. Unfortunately though, I can see only one way that it CAN be stopped, and it involves all 3 of you."

"How so Sir?"

"2 of you will have to distract the Hell-flyer, while a 3rd......does a suicide mission on it. I know that I'm asking the world of you guys right now, and that some of you most likely will die. And I'm not even asking you to consider this. This was just the only way that I could think of to stop the Hell-Flyer."

The 3 leaders talked among themselves. Finally, one of them, Lt. Spear, turned back to Dactyl. "I'll do it sir! I'll take the Hell-Flyer down! See you all in Valhalla!" He then terminated the call.

"No, wait you idiot!!! This has to be a TEAM effort! You have no cover!!! COME BACK!!!!"

Spear however was not listening. He wanted his moment of glory, and was too brainwashed by Danin's propaganda to listen. While not even telling the rest of his crew to grab their parachutes and jump, Spear kept his airship on course with our gunship. The commanders of the other two airships were right behind him, after the majority of their crews bailed out of course!

Dactyl watched the skies. He saw Spear's airship head straight towards the gunship before suddenly getting blown into a ball of fire. It didn't take a genius to tell him that Spear, and most likely his entire crew, were dead. He also saw one of the other airships get knocked down in flames, before the 3rd and final ship threw up a smokescreen, and fled.

"Prince Dactyl! This is Lt. Bolt of Airship 2. Do you copy?!"

"I'm here Lieutenant. What happened?"

"Spear didn't even tell his crew to abandon ship! They never even stood a chance! Before he could even get into range to fire his guns, they got obliterated. Lt. Veers and I tried to retreat, but.....he, and his skeleton crew.....got blown up as well. Some of them hit the chutes, but literally only a few. We're the last ones now standing Sir. What do we do?"

"GRAB THOSE WHO BAILED OUT, AND THEN GET OUT OF THERE!!!!!!" Dactyl screamed. "You are the last airship in this area! All others were either shot down, or destroyed with the airship base! You must evacuate! How much fuel do you have left?"

"Um, maybe 3/4 of a tank Sir, why?"

"You need to head south. Once you have the others, take your airship, and head to Bryerton! I CANNOT afford to lose you!"

Lt. Bolt nodded gravely. "Yes, My Prince, we will fall back."

He then ordered his crew to make more smoke, before dropping down to pick up any survivors who bailed out. In total, all of the crew of Lt. Bolt's airship, as well as all those who bailed out of Lt. Veer's airship before it got blown up, as well as 7 from afterwards, including Veers himself, were saved. Once they were all onboard Lt. Bolt's airship, Bolt ordered his airship turned to the South, and then they all flew off towards Bryerton.

Back in the Imperial Palace, Dactyl was starting to snap. He had had to deal with suicidal fanatics before, but what Lt. Spear had done, and without even warning his crew, was completely inexcusable. The losses were really starting to wear him down.

He then contacted General Stuggs, and General Rodin. "Stuggs, Rodin, come in please."

Stuggs picked up first. "I'm here Sir."

"As am I."

"Please, tell me that the ground battle is going better than the one in the air."

Stuggs nodded. "For the moment, yes. We've managed to hold the enemy back, at least for the time being. We've also lost our airship base, as well as all of our airships!"

"As have I and my forces, but the Harbingers certainly are persistent! They've already managed to knock out some of our ammunition factories! They may not be the fiercest enemies, (at least, not yet!) but they sure are Harbingers!"

Dactyl nodded. "Just....keep doing whatever you're doing. They CANNOT be allowed to reach Donneth! I'm still not entirely convinced that they really are back from the dead, but even if they aren't, that still doesn't make them any less dangerous!"

"Yes Sir!"

"Yes, My Prince."

They then got back to work, while Dactyl went back to the digital maps, to continue planning strategies.

Over next to the throne, Dash and Pinkie continued to listen as the battle played out.

"Wow", Dash muttered, "This may be getting pretty bad for them. If the Harbingers have already destroyed their airship fleet, as well as the airship base, things could really start turning ugly!"

Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, so let's just hope that the Harbingers wanna show us mercy!"

Dash nodded as well, and they continued to listen as the battle progresses further.

Up in the skies, Lt. Hughes and the rest of the gunship crew were really getting kind of rattled. "Ugh, Damn! What was that, a suicide mission?!"

"It appears to have been one Sir, but if so, it was not the best coordinated one! Obviously, somebody either missed a memo, or got a bit overzealous, and went for it without backup."

"Well, nevertheless, all of the airships are gone, and the rest of the guys on the ground need air support, so let's get to it!" Hughes then got on his radio. "Captain Leopard, are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here Lt. Hughes. Where are you guys?"

"We're right on top of your location. Just give us the word, and we'll fire!"

"Roger that!" I then turned to the guys around me. "HEADS DOWN, INCOMING FIRE!!!" They all got their heads down. "Fire at will Lt. Hughes!"

"Roger that!"

Once again, there is nothing like a pair of Avenging Cannons reaping death at 4,500 rounds of depleted Uranium a minute. The Caribou were mowed down faster than they could come at us. It was also around this time that Don informed us, (thanks it intercepted radio communications) that Stuggs was in charge of defending Carlon, while Rodin was defending Danton.

"So, I have Stuggs, and Shining has Rodin? Eh, all the better, two birds with one stone! Soon Danin will lose BOTH of his best generals! What then?"

Hughes shrugged. "Eh, I don't know, but if I had to guess, I'd say that they'd REALLY be hurting!"

"Not as badly as they've been reeling from your gunship attacks! We really needed that, so thanks Hughes!"

"You're welcome Captain Leopard! We've got to keep flying, but we'll be back if you need us!"

"Roger that!" Hughes then flew off to go assist Shining with another airstrike.

I then turned back to my troops. "Ok guys, this is it. Lt. Hughes has bought us a lot more breathing room, but it's up to us again. Our target is getting to General Stugg's fortress on the far side of this city. If we can knock that out, then we will be able to hopefully take him hostage!"

They all cheered, but then someone asked. "So, what's the plan Captain Leopard?"

"My plan is for us to keep them busy, while other groups advance. Then, we switch."

"So, basically we take turns advancing, and providing covering fire?"

"Yes! Also, please at least TRY to avoid too much collateral damage, as this city will most likely be used as a camp for the refugees, slaves, and POW's once we can secure it."

They all nodded. "Ok, so who goes first?"

I was about to answer, but then another wave of Caribou came down the street. "Hold that thought! LIGHT EM' UP!!!"

"Right!"

We were all about to fire, but Aurora beat us to the punch. Using her minigun, she flattened most of the wave. We quickly picked off the rest.

I hugged her. "You're the best Aurora!"

She licked me in the face. "You're welcome Master! It's my job to keep you safe, so that's what I'm going to do!"

"And you do such a great job of it too!" I then turned to the rest of the guys. "Ok, NOW we can advance!"

They nodded, and while the rest of us provided covering fire, First Platoon advanced to a cluster of buildings about 12 yards or so ahead of us. In waves, the rest of us followed them, completely unaware of what we were close to.

Eventually, by almost 4:33am, large portions of the cities were in American and Equestrian hands. Meanwhile, my group was proceeding to the central military training academy. This base was home to 30,000 troops, as well as, (unknown to us) a large amount of War-Beasts.

Inside the base, the Caribou Commander, Marks, received a report from a guard. "Sir, the enemy is right at the gates of the academy! What do we do?!"

Commander Marks looked up at him. "Release the War-Beasts! Let THEM have their way with the intruders!"

The soldier saluted. "Sir, yes Sir!" He then went to fulfill his commander's request.

True to his word, several soldiers went over to the pens and barns where the War-Beasts were being held, and turned them loose.

"YEAH, GET OUT OF HERE, GO ON!!!!!" They shouted. "GO AND KILL THOSE HUMAN-HARBINGERS!!!!"

With furious battle cries, the War-Beasts did as their masters ordered them. They began to charge towards our positions. A few other Caribou, including Commander Marks himself, mounted up on other War-Beasts, and also came to attack us.

I suddenly stopped. We had managed to blow apart the gates of the academy after killing the guards, so we'd gotten inside, but I gave the signal to stop.

"What's wrong Sir?"

"I just heard something. It sounded like a large herd of something, and it sounds like it's coming our way!"

My comrades heard it too. We didn't need to be told that that meant trouble. As quick as a flash, we all took cover, and assumed firing positions. All of a sudden though, from somewhere across the academy grounds, illuminated by fires, the moonlight, and the academy's lights, we all saw a large herd of beasts charging towards us! They looked like no beasts that we had ever seen before.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that they came from a buffalo, a bear, and a bull!" I said when speaking later of the first time that I ever laid eyes on a Caribou War-Beast.

"HOLY......!!!! WHAT THE F@#K ARE THOSE THINGS!?!?!?!"

I was getting scared. "I don't know, but open fire on them!"

"YES SIR!!!"

We all did so, but to our extreme horror, our bullets either seemed to bounce off of them, or be absorbed!"

"WHAT THE.....!!!!!! THEY'RE ABSORBING OUR BULLETS!!!!!!" The beasts kept coming.

At that exact moment, I felt Sombra take control of me again. "Listen very carefully to what I'm about to tell you Sweetheart, as it will save not only your life, but those of your men as well. These are Caribou War-Beasts. They are the primary mode of transport for Caribou Warriors, and they're tough; EXTREMELY tough!"

"Yeah, tell me something that I don't know Sherlock!"

"However, they can be killed, or taken control of. I'll show you how to do both....." Sombra then gave me whispered advice.

I then stood up from where I was kneeling behind a pile of rocks, and began to walk out towards the charging War-Beasts.

"SIR, WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?!"

I half turned. "Saving us all. Trust me, Private Dan, I know what I'm doing. First of all, the only thing that we have that can kill these beasts are depleted uranium bullets. Do we have any of those?"

"QUICK, DO WE HAVE ANY DEPLETED URANIUM BULLETS?!?!?!" Dan yelled to the rest of the soldiers.

"YES!!!! THEY'RE HERE IN MY PORTABLE MACHINE GUN!!!!"

"SHOOT THE BEASTS OUT FRONT, I'M GOING TO TAKE CARE OF THE REST!!!!"

"Wait....WHAT?!?!?!?!"

My troops then watched dumbfounded as I ran across the snowy ground towards the War-Beasts with my fire-ax in my hands. I dodged the first number of them, as my target was the beast being ridden by the Caribou Commander.

"His beast is the Alpha Male of this herd. All of the others obey him. Kill the commander, and then I'll help you take control of the beast."

"As you wish, Sombra."

My men were still in shock. "WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?!?!?!?!"

"I don't know, but the rest of those beasts are too close! MACHINE GUNNER, FIRE AT WILL!!!"

The machine gunner did as he was told. As quickly as he could, he pumped depleted Uranium into the oncoming War Beasts. Sure enough, this time the bullets were penetrating, and killing the beasts.

"Yeah, that's the way to do it!!!!" He continued to knock them down while the rest of the soldiers sort of fanned out, and provided distractions.

Meanwhile, I was approaching my target.

"COMMANDER, WATCH OUT, HE'S COMING RIGHT FOR YOU!!!"

Commander Marks looked, but alas, he was too late. Quick as a cat, I pulled out a small hatchet, and hurled it at him. The hatchet embedded itself into the commander's face, and before the 3 other Caribou warriors who were with him could really even scream, I was in the air on my wings, and flying around them. Just as the commander's body hit the ground, the bodies of the 3 others, all with their throats slashed, hit the ground as well. My gauntlet-covered hands were now stained with blood, but I did not care. I went over to the dead commander, and after grabbing the hatchet's handle, I yanked it out of his face.

"So do the officers fall like all of the rest," I muttered, "In a flurry of sweat, steel, and blood!"

I then turned my attention to the commander's War-Beast. Sure enough, just like Sombra had said, not only was this beast bigger than the others, but he was also obviously their leader. A few others made the move to charge me, but he stopped them with a glare.

"Leave this scum to me!" He seemingly roared at them, "He is MINE!!!"

I narrowed my eyes. "I don't think so!" I then felt something surge through me. It was a power that I had never felt before. It seemed to start from my head, and flow down through the rest of me. It was Sombra's horn. The magic within had embedded itself into its new host.

I then stared at the War Beast, my eyes blazing, and with dark magic seemingly oozing from them, and with a voice not my own, I growled, "Bow to me! Submit!!!!"

The War-Beast came to a stop. He suddenly seemed to be terrified of me. I began walking towards him, my hand outstretched, and power seemingly oozing from it as well. (I was also still wearing my Kitsune mask, which made my blazing eyes, and dark magic oozing from them, that much more terrifying.)

Eventually, I reached the beast. He growled at me, and tried to bite me. I didn't even flinch. Instead, I placed my hand, which was still surging with power, onto the War-Beast's forehead. "I said, SUBMIT TO ME!!!!" I roared.

That did it. This War-Beast, seemingly the king of them all, rolled over in submission. The other War Beasts, seeing their champion defeated, also submitted.

I then looked at the War-Beast. The name "Argus" was engraved onto his saddle. "Argus" I said gently, putting a hand on his neck, "That's a nice name. Now then, are you going to be good for your new master?"

I heard him growl softly, but it was not a growl of anger. Instead, it seemed to be a growl of submission.

"Yes, I know that you are." Then, once I was in control of myself again, I took hold of his saddle, and climbed up onto his back. Then, after giving him the commands to move forwards, he did so.

"You all, follow along!" I said to the other War-Beasts. They obeyed.

A few moments later, I arrived back with the rest of the guys. When I saw their faces, I saw shock, horror, fear, terror, and just outright being dumbfounded.

"What? I told you guys 'I got this!'. I take it that you didn't believe me?"

All while I had been hard at work, once the War-Beasts had stopped charging, and instead turned to look at what was going on behind them, the machine gunner ceased fire.

"What......what are they doing? What's going on over there?"

The others turned to look, just in time to see me pick up my hatchet from the dead Caribou Commander. They then saw me stare down the lead War-Beast.

"He.....is a DEAD MAN!!!!"

"CAPTAIN!!!!" Dan yelled. "DON'T DO THIS, YOU MEAN TOO MUCH TO US!!!!"

I heard them, but I chose not to reply. They all continued to stare at me.

Looking through binoculars, Dan was able to see the situation more clearly. What he saw scared him. He saw the raw power surging through me, and what I was doing with it.

"Good God!" He muttered, hands trembling, "He really IS King Sombra reborn!" When the War-Beast seemingly submitted to me, it was too much. Dan sank back, and almost passed out.

When I arrived back to their location a few moments later, they were all shocked, scared, terrified, and just plain dumbfounded. They had seen everything that I had just done, and, thanks to the camera mounted to my helmet, so had Don, and the Princesses, even though I wouldn't know about this until much later.

I looked over them all again. "Well, are you guys coming, or what? We don't have all night here! We have to keep moving!"

"What, do you expect us to RIDE those monsters?!"

I looked over at the soldier in question. "These beasts are not monsters; they are Caribou War-Beasts. They're most commonly used by the army as cavalry animals. And don't be afraid of them. I've tamed the leader, Argus here," I reached forwards, and rubbed Argus's neck a little, "So the others have to obey him. They're all ready for you to ride them, assuming of course that we can find some tack for you all. I think that there may be some in those barns over there." I pointed to them.

With great hesitation, some of the soldiers went over to the barns, and sure enough, found saddles, saddle pads, and bridles. Then, following the directions on a board on the wall, (which was used by new recruits who were learning how to ride War-Beasts), saddled them up.

They then climbed up, and got ready. Sadly, there wan't room for Aurora, so she had to remain on the ground.

"That's ok guys, I'm used to running anyway!" She tried to sound happy, but in reality, Aurora was terrified. She had seen what I had done as well, and even though I had sometimes done terrible things to other Caribou, Zebras, and Futas, this was different. "It's like he was possessed by something!" She thought to herself. She continue to follow along, although she did try to keep her distance from me, at least for the time being.

Eventually, by close to 5am, we had Carlon in the bag. Almost all of the Caribou inside were either dead, or had fled through the tunnels to Donneth itself. Thanks to Argus and the other War-Beasts, we continued to clear the city in record time. We also accidentally discovered that War-Beasts could shoot fire out of their mouths!

"HOLY....!!!!!" Dan screamed when he accidentally pulled the reigns back to hard on his War-Beast when a group of Caribou tried to ambush us. The War-Beast shot a stream of fire out of its mouth, almost like the stream of a flamethrower, and the Caribou were instantly incinerated. "THESE BEASTS CAN SHOOT FIRE OUT OF THEIR MOUTHS?!?!?!?!"

I was genuinely surprised as well. "Apparently they have a little Dragon in them too! Well, I guess that we can give the guys with flamethrowers a break, at least for the time being!"

Although a few others did laugh at my jokes, most of the others were really starting to wonder how and why I was suddenly so comfortable with what I was doing. Most of them didn't know it yet, but by the time that the sun was up for that day, they would have witnessed from me a display of violence so far beyond anything that they had ever believed was even Humanly possible.

Soon, the last of the city's defenders either fell back to Donneth, or were killed. I tried to get my mitts on Stuggs, but alas, he had already fled into the tunnels, and made it to Donneth. After conducting a final sweep of the city, looking for any more hidden surprises, as 5:45am, I radioed Don.

"Don, this is Leopard, do you copy?"

"Yeah, I'm here Leopard, what's going on over there? Are you guys done yet?"

I nodded. "Affirmative. We're finishing up our final sweep for any more surprises, but it appears that most of the defenders have fallen back to Donneth, or have been killed. We've located a few more slaves and POW's, which we're sending your way. How's Shining coming with Danton?"

"He radioed in just moments before you did. The city's all clear. Now all that's left is Donneth itself."

"And Dash!" I added.

"Yes, and Dash, but Leopard, there's something that I need to talk to you about, and no, it cannot wait."

I could sense the nervousness in Don's voice, so what he had to say had to have been important. "What's wrong Don?"

"What you did back there with those War Beasts......" Don paused. "I don't......even know what to say. Celestia was right about this. She's seen that kind of raw power only once before Leopard, and it didn't scare her enough then. I didn't understand it, until I saw what you did. It scares me too. Those powers are not natural Leopard, you need to ditch them right now!"

I sighed. "I know Don, I KNOW!!!! I can't stop it! It just feels so....right, even though I know that it's not! I'm sick Don, very very sick! I need help!"

Don groaned. "Yes, I know that you need help, and if I didn't need you in the field so badly right now, I would have you withdrawn, and taken in for psychiatric evaluation! Unfortunately though, we need all hands on deck for this one, and I cannot afford to take you off the field. HOWEVER, I will now be taking control of this battle, as will General Shining! You will be under me, is that clear?"

I nodded. "Yeah, clear as glass Don! This is your show now." I then sighed. "So, how much longer until our campaign into Donneth itself?"

"We need a few more minutes to rally our forces again, as well as bring in the reserves, but we CANNOT wait too long, as the enemy's defense will only get stronger! We’ll start by 6am, NO LATER!!!!"

I nodded. "Sure, just give the signal, and we'll be right there! Leopard out!"

In those final few minutes before the battle for Donneth would begin, I stood at a balcony railing of what used to be Stugg's fortress. Down below me, I could see all of Carlon, most of Danton, and of course, Donneth itself.

"Soon", I muttered, "Very, VERY soon! This war is drawing to a close, and most of it will end TODAY!!!" I then looked out at the pinkish-gray of the dawn. I also saw all of the blood-stained snow as well.

"No matter how this ends, it ends at Donneth, or at the very latest, Bryerton! Then, NO MORE!!!"

I then sighed, and began to prepare myself, as most likely, in just a few short hours, I would be seeing Dash again face to face, and saving her from that awful prison, before carrying her in my arms to safety.

"Just hang on a little bit longer Dash. I'm literally looking at the Imperial Palace right now, so I'm almost there! I can practically SEE you from here! Just hang on a little bit longer!"

I then left the balcony, to go prepare for the bloodbath ahead.

Author's Note

Ok People, this is getting down to the end of the wire. So now, the Battles of Carlon and Danton are over, and all that's left, are Donneth, and Bryerton, plus whatever few towns and villages are between them. The war, is ALMOST OVER!!!!! Yeah, I know, it's been a long journey, but hey, it's not over yet! We still have to put the Caribou dead to rights, and there's still the hostages to save!

Also, YES, I brought on the War Beasts, cuz, after all, what's a story with "Fall of Equestria", without War Beasts? (Also, if they do not shoot fire out of their mouths, please do not hurt me! I looked at the cover of "Sun's Setting", by Twipet, and they sure seemed to be. I didn't have the stomach to read the story, and it is incomplete, so I don't know if they do or not. Well, they do in MY story at least!) And yes, they WILL be playing a part in the Battle of Donneth, and you will also have the return of the famous bulldozers, loaders, and tractors from the Battle of Zebrica! Won't that be cool?

Hang on to your seats, cuz this story aint over yet! The next chapter(s) will be so jammed full of action, it'll BLOW your minds! Will we be able to rescue the hostages in time? Will I ever be able to get a handle on Sombra? How much longer will the war last? What will happen when we realize that Dactyl is in Donneth, instead of Danin? Well, you know the drill, stay tuned, and I'll tell you!

As always, comments, feedback, questions, as well as spreading the word about this story, are always appreciated, and I'll see you all in Chapter 25!

ScarFox out for now!