“Got a little too cocky there Nick,” the wolf struggled against the cyclop’s grip on him. He should have known better than to try and test his magic under the stress of the situation. He was glad though that Rainbow was able to knock Twilight out of the way of her own magic. However, due to the way she impacted her friend, the cyan pegasus overshot where she wanted to stop and crashed into the rocky outcrop. While not visibly injured it appeared, she was knocked out cold and couldn’t assist him.

Seeing as the whole group had retreated, Nick tried to figure how he was going to get out of the predicament he was in. He knew his claws had been effective, able to pierce the cyclop’s skin and cause it to howl in pain. With his limbs bound to his sides though, he wouldn’t be able to claw his way out.

He could feel a tinge of fear run down his spine as the hands began to lift him up, his positioning not able to see everything that was happening, but the hot breath on his back told him all he knew.

There’s no way I’m dying like this… it can’t be over. But how am I going to -

“YOU’RE NOT GOING TO KILL HIM!!!”

Before Nick could even process what was going on, he was shaken up by the cyclops, namely from it being body slammed into the nearby wall. The beast, caught just as off guard released his grip on the wolf, causing him to fall.

Shaking off his stupor he tried to brace for impact before being stopped by a large black hoof. Thudding into the bony appendage, he looked up to see a super sized Chrysalis looking down at him, checking to make sure he wasn’t hurt. Giving him a small smile, she plopped him closer to the ground before turning her attention to the giant.

“Grab Rainbow Dash and meet up with Tempest! We have a plan,” she called to him, pinning the cyclops to the wall.

Not wanting to leave her but deciding that he had already been beaten enough, Nick just nodded and took off towards the unconscious pegasus.

“Rainbow Dash!” he tried to wake her up, causing the pegasus to stir but no answer was given. Deciding there was no time, he lifted her up by crawling under her stomach and placed her on his back. Making sure she was secured, he took off to Tempest.

“What is it doing?” Matt asked, seeing that the cyclops was now struggling against the wall, as if being held by some invisible force.

“I don’t know but we might as well take our shot,” Starlight determined, seeing as this was the perfect opportunity.

“There’s something odd though about all of this,” Twilight mused. She couldn’t say she was positive but she knew somehow Nick was tied into all of this. And she couldn’t risk them hurting him if he was. “I think that somehow Nick is doing this,” she told the group.

They looked at her, somewhat disbelieving what she was saying but finding it one of the only plausible explanations that they could find.

“If so,” she continued, “I don’t know if we can hurt him, but those claw marks on the cyclops point to him.”

“Well if he’s struggling on his own how do we help?” Ivy asked, determined to not just be idle during all of this.

“Applejack! Now’s not the time to shove!” Rarity cried out after being knocked into by supposedly the orange mare.

“Whatcha going on bout Rarity? I’m over here,” the cowpony shook her head, looking over to the seamstress but saw something in the sand.

“Hey everybody, check this out,” she motioned to the group.

In the sand, there were words, sort of. Not all of the letters were there but obviously someone had left a message.

SH T H RE ↑ AI 4 E E

“Shit here aid 4 eve?” Matt hazarded a guess, although quickly realizing that that didn’t make any sense at all.

“I think there’s two spaces for the first word,” Starlight commented, trying to decipher the message. “Shoot here … aim 4 ... eye!”

The group hummed in agreement.

“So that means… Nick is going to get the giant to turn towards us,” Twilight looked at the cyclops, still being pinned down. How the wolf was even able to accomplish such a feat made her wonder, but it warmed her heart knowing how close he was to her. If he was able to leave notes… how come he didn’t do so after he died?

“Let’s get into position everyone!” Matt barked out, running back to his specialized weapon. The group nodded in agreement, and as they assisted the human in ensuring a clear shot, the cyclops managed to break free from whatever restraints it had and was now charging them.

Nick was swift to clear Chrysalis’ limp, normal sized body away from the stampeding giant, a sharp headbutt causing the queen to lose consciousness. After quickly dropping off the pegasus with Tempest and getting the idea of what was needed, he teleported to her side.

“A life for a life,” he spoke to her and himself as he ran away. “It seems your carapace isn’t as obstinate as I thought.”

Leading the cyclops towards his love may have seemed stupid and illogical, but with the beast so focused on killing those not living, he saw no other way. It did look as though the group got the message Tempest wrote, seeing that the cyan pegasus with her was slowly coming back to consciousness.

“I hope you two humans are as capable as you claim,” he peeked a bit behind to make sure the giant wasn’t up to anything sneaky. It did seem rather unintelligent, just using brute force to solve things. It probably wouldn’t realize what was happening until it was too late.

The queen on his back was silent, but could feel her heart beating from the way she was positioned on his back. This led to him thinking why she had gone to save him. Sure he was probably the only chance at being revived but risking her life like that wouldn’t have mattered. He could have reasoned it was a change of heart, but he decided to just wait and see her true motives. Either way all he needed to do was get them out of harm’s way.

He could see the normal human loading up what looked to be a sniper rifle, getting behind it and aiming it at the cyclops while the snake woman had drawn a bow and was also targeting the same area. He realized he was the only one that was fully transformed and appeared to have magic capabilities, things he’d have to talk to them about later on.

“Release the lasso Applejack!” Matt barked out, with the country pony nodding and throwing the rope at the giant. Twilight’s and Starlight’s magic took hold of it, entwining and forming an encasement around the rope which looped around the cyclop’s legs. Pulling it taut, it caused the monster to trip up and begin its descent down.

“FIRE!!” Ivy screamed, unleashing a volley of arrows at the giant’s head, Matt unloading his clip and Pinkie Pie firing a scattershot of debris all at their target. Nick lunged out of the firing range, watching as all the projectiles hit their mark, the cyclop’s bellowing out in pain. He noticed the skin of the giant flicker, making him think that perhaps they had wounded it enough to disable the beast’s protection. Placing Chrysalis safely on her side, he turned towards his opponent.

Battered, bruised, clutching at it’s eye in pain, he saw that the cyclops was on its last legs. Seeing as the ranged attackers of the group had stopped, he saw his opportunity. Running towards the foe, he sought to finish it off.

“Should we fire some more?” Matt asked Ivy, seeing as the giant was still breathing but wounded badly.

“NO WAIT!” Twilight held out a hoof, then pointing towards the brute’s left. Flickering against the sand, almost like a mirage, they could see a shape, dark and seemingly like a large animal, running towards the beast. The only thing she could think of was that it was Nick, which was confirmed by what happened next.

The shape jumped up high above the giant, and in a flash, Nick appeared to materialize, glowing green.

“AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” he yelled out, releasing a blade of magic right at the cyclops. It struck the exposed neck, and a loud crack could be heard as it sliced through the flesh and its spine, severing the head from the body. Blood began to pool out from the gash, quenching the sand’s thirst with crimson red. As soon as he had appeared, the wolf disappeared again.

The image Twilight saw though, was burned into her mind. Nick, looking just as he did but with white markings on his body, had turned towards her before he disappeared, and gave her a smile.

Author's Note

One baddie down, how many more to go?