It seemed like an eternity as I stood there, next to Daniel, in front of a huge crowd of monsters. For some reason, they hadn't made the first move. Which was a shame, considering my magic muscles could run out at any moment.

For a moment, my gaze slipped to Ponyville. If the forest breaks through Daniel and me, the town and all its inhabitants will be doomed. Oh, every moment it seems to me that this was a very bad idea. I wish I'd stayed in town.

It doesn't matter anymore. I'm already here.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Daniel was starting to make some kind of rune. Two runes, to be exact. With his entire left hand he created the familiar ball, but without fire. And with the rest of his right hand he created a rune I didn't recognise. The outer circle with strangely curved spikes, the middle circle with four hands, vaguely resembling a clock, and finally the bomb symbol.

As soon as Daniel had created a ball with his magic, he hit a rune with a bomb, and then turned around and threw the ball into a crowd of enemies. However, the ball only hit the muzzle of the distorted manticore and fell to the ground. Outraged, I asked tensely, "Why did you do that?"

As if to answer my question, the ball suddenly exploded loudly, turning the monsters in the centre of the formation into burnt logs. Or in the case of Manticore, burnt, torn bodies.

It's going to be hard.

Swallowing at the sight of blood, I asked, leaning slightly towards Daniel: "Can we come to an agreement? You fight the Manticores, and I fight the wolves. The roots are fifty-fifty. "

Daniel gave me a brief glance before returning to the monsters standing in place and saying, "Inside these wooden wolves, there are spheres that glow. If they are not broken, they will not die. "

Exhaling, I slightly twisted the sword in my grip. The handle was too small for me to hold it with two hands. Perhaps it was specially designed for the one-armed Daniel. Taking a breath, I took a step forward and asked irritably: "How long can I wait!? Attack already!"

Naturally, the monsters did not react in any way to my attempt at provocation. They probably didn't even understand what I was saying. Daniel snorted behind me and said, starting to walk forward, "Okay, it looks like they want to go on the defensive. Then, we'll make the most of the initiative."

I feel like you consider yourself the boss among the two of us.

Before I could express my indignation, Daniel ran straight into the formation of the monsters. Right into their centre, which had just been blown up. Not wanting to be left behind, I twisted the sword once more to make it more comfortable and ran after him. But even with magic muscles, it was hard to keep up with him.

Suddenly, when the formation of monsters was only a dozen steps away, a dozen roots came out of the ground at once. Before I could react, they had wrapped themselves around my legs, arms and even my neck. Worse, the spikes dug into my skin, causing blood to gush from the wounds.

I tried desperately to breathe, but all I could manage was to stick out my tongue. I wanted to do something humiliating. To call Daniel for help. But all that came out of my mouth was a wheeze. And my eyes started to go dark.

Will I die like this? Will some roots grab me and suffocate me? So early? So stupid? Is it so, so pathetic?

Suddenly I felt strangely dizzy and the next moment I realised I could breathe normally. Almost instinctively, I opened my mouth to take a deep breath, and that was when I heard Daniel's voice: "Do you understand? They set a trap for us. That's why they didn't attack us. Well, until now."

I looked up with difficulty and saw that I had been teleported about fifteen feet back from the roots that had almost killed me. And a huge crowd was running towards us, a distorted manticore, wolves made of wood and roots popping out of the ground.

Before I could get to my feet, the first Manticore was too close. The long roots protruding from its eye sockets looked like spikes ready to pierce me. But at the last moment Daniel stopped the Manticore. He put one foot on the tree-covered snout and did not let the animal move!

I'm not sure I could do that, even with magic muscles. . .

In the blink of an eye, Daniel raised his left arm and sliced through the Manticore's wooden defences. For a second, both creatures stood still. Then Daniel withdrew his hand and blood gushed from the pierced spot.

Swallowing, I raised my sword and looked around. Wooden wolves were running around us, pinching us in a kind of pliers. It was unclear where we could move from our position.

Suddenly Daniel grabbed me by the neck and threw me somewhere to the right. Out of the corner of my eye I saw that the roots had burst from the ground, right where I was standing a second ago. But the suddenness of the movement caused my legs to fall off and I rolled over on the ground.

Without giving me time to recover, a wooden wolf attacked me, trying to reach my face with its wide mouth. Gritting my teeth, I held it with my right hand, despite the thorns digging into my skin, and with my left I felt Daniel's sword. Without hesitation, I sliced through a wooden wolf with my sword. This move did not slow down it, but a green glow came from the wound.

This is probably the area that Danielle was talking about!

Throwing the sword away, I put my left hand into the hole it had made and quickly felt something spherical. With a sigh, I threw the wolf back and snatched the orb from its grasp before crushing it in my fist. It showed no sign of life after that.

I picked up the weapon from the ground with one hand and pushed myself up with the other. Unfortunately, I was already surrounded by many wolves. I couldn't tell where Daniel was. We could only rely on ourselves. I struggled to swallow the lump in my throat.

Three wolves broke free as if from a chain and ran towards me with their mouths open. The middle wolf lunged forward and attacked me, but I reacted quickly and struck it with my sword while it was still in the air. Taking a deep breath, I turned slightly and threw it at the other two wolves from the tree. Strike! All three hit each other and shattered into splinters.

Wait, I forgot to break the spheres with them!

My eyes quickly spotted three orbs lying on the ground, collecting the newly destroyed timberwolfs with a green glow. I quickly ran towards them, hoping to smash them before it was too late, but just then more roots grew out of the ground and wrapped around my legs!

Letting out an irritated growl, I grabbed the pesky plants with my hands and pulled them towards me, tearing them apart. Suddenly, a growl from behind me stopped me from even getting up. Instead, I turned and swung my sword in the direction of the sound. Surprisingly, I hit the wolf and cut it in half. Between the two halves was a ball oozing with some kind of green goo, which I crushed with my foot.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAA!" A loud noise came from behind me, making my ears ring for a moment. I let out a short groan of pain and turned around, sword at the ready. And I saw a wooden wolf. But it's not simple. No, it was a combination of the three I had destroyed earlier. This one was about three times the size of the others, and the snout looked, how shall I put it, more menacing.

In my opinion, the big Timberwolves were also in the series. It seems to be.

Before I could think, the monster jumped at me. Almost reflexively, I rolled to the side, but the weight of the new thing was so great that the ground shook when I landed. As if sensing the slightest hint of instability in my position, the huge wolf suddenly waved its paw, which was half the size of my body.

Unable to think of anything better to do, I swung my sword at the approaching paw, hoping to slice it in half. But instead the sword got stuck in it. Thankfully, my magic muscles allowed me to maintain parity with a larger creature.

Suddenly I felt my muscles ache like hell. As if they were on fire. No amount of restraint helped me to hold back a loud moan of pain, which turned to despair as the wolf began to push me back with his paw.

Gritting my teeth, I put my other hand on the blade of the sword, trying to use all my strength to stop the monster. But it only caused a lot of pain in my muscles and did nothing to stop the huge paw. In the end, I was too weak and was thrown back.

No more magic muscles. But I have another good rune and not so laborious.

I was thrown back several dozen feet and rolled several times on the ground, rubbing the bruises on my back. I finally stopped when I hit the back of a wooden wolf, right on the spikes. It seems that the adrenaline suppressed all the pain, because almost immediately I began to create a rescue rune. An outer circle with spikes inside, an empty central circle and. . .

A huge paw landed on my chest, ending all concentration. A cough of blood came out of my mouth as the owner of the paw brought its huge mouth closer. I don't know what I was hoping for, but I raised both hands and put them on the front of the snout, trying to pull back the huge wooden wolf. But it only pressed harder against my chest, causing more blood to flow from my mouth.

It looks like the other wooden wolves decided to join in too, as I felt my outstretched arms being bitten in many places. Unfortunately, my darkened, clouded vision could not properly assess what was happening around me. I can't even see the thing that's going to kill me.

I don't want to die. I could do so much more! It can't be that in my whole life I haven't made more than one friend, found a soul mate or at least achieved something completely on my own! I have to live!

In utter desperation, I tried to push something with my hands and feet, with my head, with anything! But I felt absolutely nothing. Also, my vision went completely black, I was in total darkness. But if I'm still thinking, able to imagine and analyse the situation, then I'm still alive, right? Come on, I can't die like this!

Maybe it was a hallucination, but I saw a stream in front of me. In this absolute darkness I was in, a stream of green liquid began to flow from nowhere and flowed into nowhere. My hands seemed to reach out to it of their own accord, and when they touched the water, something changed.

I blinked a few times until I found myself lying on the couch. But it wasn't my flat, no. This was my home, where I was born and raised. It was the middle of the night outside the window, there was a staircase to the second floor on my left and a television on my right. Which was showing a cartoon about ponies.

You know, after a while in Equestria, it feels very strange. It's like looking at the real world through the prism of an animated series.

Suddenly I saw my younger sister, Wendy, sitting on the other side of the couch. However, she looked much younger than the last time I saw her. Probably twelve years old. You could tell by her natural blonde hair.

I don't know why, but I wasn't surprised. It was as if something deep inside me felt that everything was as it should be. Slowly, I sat down on the couch and looked at the television, which was coming to the end of its screensaver.

But the cartoon paused on the last frame of the screensaver and the nurse said in her soft voice, "Oh! I didn't realise you were here. "

An old, dusty memory flashed through my mind and I said, half jokingly: "Were you going to sit in front of the TV again while everyone was asleep? "

" No, not at all. I was going to watch until Mum got home. " she replied evasively.

Considering how much she works, it's at least until one o'clock in the morning.

Sighing, I ruffled her hair slightly and said carefully: "Wendy, you know you have school tomorrow. It's better to go to bed early."

She grabbed my hand with two of her own and said, puffing out her cheeks: "Oh, well, this is boring! And school is boring too! I've already learnt to write and count, there's nothing for me to do there! "

I sighed, understanding her insistence perfectly, and asked, without taking my hand from her hair: "What do I have to do to get you to go to bed, Wendy? "

At that she gripped my hand even tighter, smiled slightly and asked with her eyes closed: "What makes you think I'm still alive?"

Ah!?

I was, to put it mildly, absolutely stunned by such a question. But my sister did not let me recover and continued: "Where was I when your whole apartment was teleported to another world? Maybe I was standing right at the front door. I was about to open it, but everything disappeared. And I fell from a deadly height. "

I swallowed at the thought of it and said, shaking my head, "No, that couldn't happen. It just couldn't. "

Suddenly, Wendy pushed my hand aside and coldly asked, bringing her face closer to mine: "What if it is? Why do you even exist if I'm not around? You didn't have any friends, you don't have any, and you never will. You graduated from college so as not to upset your mother. Your 'own' apartment is basically just a mom's birthday present. You're just pathetic, Arthur."

I . . .

Wendy quickly moved away from me and said, spreading her arms out to her sides: "Hug me, huh? Then you can do the one thing you're good at and join me."

Join the younger sister. In the light of what has been said, it looks as if I am going to die. Maybe it's true? About the fact that I'm only good at spending time with my younger sister. Maybe someone paid for my drawings on the internet just because I'm cheap?

.

.

.

"Sis, spending time with you isn't the only thing I'm good at. " I replied with restraint. In response, she simply crossed her arms, clearly and without words expressing her disagreement.

There was a lump in my throat for a few moments and I began to speak slowly: "Maybe I'm not the strongest person in the world. Perhaps I'm not the most brilliant artist. Maybe for now I haven't achieved anything in my life completely on my own. "

I looked up at Wendy and replied boldly, "But I think I have a special interest in helping others. Really helping. It's just that I've always projected it onto you. Maybe if I try a little harder I can become a friendly neighbour? Or even a hero?"

"Are you serious? Are you going to come and help ponies you barely know? Help ponies that you think are just fictional characters?" She asked with obvious scepticism. And to be honest, I really hesitated for a moment.

No, I'll do it. Because it's the right thing to do. I will help others, because it's not a fact that anyone else will.

As if reading my mind, Wendy sighed in exasperation and said, before hitting me on the forehead: "I think you're just absurdly idiotic. "

As soon as her fingers touched my head, the entire environment began to turn into a green liquid. After just a few moments, I was back to reality again. A huge wolf made of wood held its mouth a couple of inches away from me and my limbs were being bitten by other, smaller wolves. However, one thing has changed.

A thin layer of my green magic enveloped my hands. He was steaming like evaporating water and I swear I felt an unknown tickling all over my body. I think I understand what's going on.

Test of will. I remember Ahirata telling me about this thing. Even though it made Daniel powerful, I didn't want to follow his path.

Suddenly, I slapped the ground with both hands to throw the wolves out of me. And in the next moment, my forehead collided with the open snout of a huge monster, crushing it. As soon as the main threat had receded from me, I quickly got to my feet. The energy in my body seemed endless, yet it only increased.

Almost intoxicated by the new ability, I took off and brought both my fists down right into the belly of a huge wooden wolf. Both hands, surprisingly. They easily broke through a thick layer of roots and wood, revealing three interconnected spheres that glowed green. Without thinking, I pulled my hands away and kicked into the hole that had formed.

I felt my foot crumple all three spheres and the next moment I was standing on both feet again before I looked around to see what was happening. The Timberwolves still had me surrounded, but they didn't look so brave. And the sword was conveniently right next to me.

Although I don't like all this aura around me and the steam coming out of it. And it bothers me that it's only getting bigger. . .

Shaking my head quickly, I grabbed the sword with one hand and ran quickly towards the remaining opponents. None of them even had time to move as I smashed the snout of one of the wooden wolves and plunged a sword through its neck. As soon as the orb was destroyed, as the lack of movement indicated, I spun in place and slammed the carcass into other Timberwolves, shattering all four or five into pieces.

Not wanting to make the next mistake, I bent my knees to be close to the ground and with a wide swing from left to right, cut absolutely all the balls in half. Almost instinctively, I turned around and looked at the remaining Timberwolves. But as soon as my leg moved forward to continue the fight, they took a step back. The next thing I knew, they were all running into the forest.

Finally, I could see the whole crater and what was going on. It would have been better if I had not, as a huge pile of manticores with holes in various parts of their bodies appeared before my eyes. Blood was pooling beneath this mountain of cruelty, forming a huge puddle.

Daniel was holding some sort of root spike that had belonged to the last Manticore. Before I even had time to think about helping him, he bent it and drove it straight into the beast's skull! It died instantly, of course, and Daniel rolled over on his left leg, tipping the manticore onto its side, right next to the pile of dead brethren.

Oh my God . . .

While I tried to force myself to look away from the sea of blood, Daniel approached me at a brisk pace and said thoughtfully: "Hmm, so you really died from those wooden wolves?"

I swallowed slightly at the sight of his black clothes turning red from all the blood and his face stained with the same liquid. Finally, looking at the aura and the steam around my aura, I said, "It's a test of will, isn't it?"

Daniel chuckled briefly and said, pulling my hand, "We'll talk on the way, we don't have much time. "

Unlike that time with Cerberus, I was able to throw him away with both hands and say harshly: "I can walk on MY own. "

Daniel sighed and started jogging towards the forest: "Okay, okay. We just really have to hurry. "

I kind of figured it out when I realized that more and more steam was coming from me. And the green aura does not decrease at all.

I ran after him, and as soon as we had caught up, Daniel finally began to clarify the situation: "Yes, you have passed the test of will. The aura that surrounds you is the result of your soul expanding wildly and your body not keeping pace. "

I nodded slightly and asked, concentrating on the road ahead, "Can you explain what kind of vapour it is? "

" New amounts of magic are burning through your skin, muscles and so on. I suppose you've used magic a little more thoughtfully than I have, so your body can handle it a little better. But it won't last long, don't worry. "Daniel replied thoughtfully.

I swallowed slightly at the thought that my whole body would soon start to burn like a match and asked: "How much time do I have? "

Daniel shrugged and said, speeding up a little, "Ten minutes. Maybe a little more. At any moment, at any point, your soul will stop expanding and with it the burning of your body will stop and you will lose consciousness almost instantly. "

And then what will be left of my body?

The two of us ran past a lot of trees and soon a couple of Timberwolves appeared in front of us. But before I could do anything, Daniel snatched the sword out of my hand and suddenly picked up speed. In the next second, he jumped on one of the Timberwolves and plunged the weapon into its back. Daniel used the sword as a lever and jumped onto the second with all his weight, crushing him!

I couldn't resist the urge to snort and did so, running past him before yelling, "Stop showing off!

After my words, I just ran on in silence for a while until Daniel suddenly appeared on a branch in front of me and said: "That's nice, of course. But you're going the wrong way, Arthur. We need to turn right."

Damn. I can feel you holding back your laughter.

Suddenly, as I turned in the direction Daniel had asked me to go, my nose caught the smell of roasting meat. It looks like what he was talking about earlier has begun. This test of will really is a very dangerous thing. The only thing that pleases me is that I don't feel any pain. But it seems to me that this is only temporary.

Not daring to look at my skin, I just kept running. Soon I heard heavy footsteps behind me and eventually Daniel caught up with me. Continuing to walk forward, he said, "So are you ready to listen to my plan or are you going to show off?"

I just snorted, which Daniel seemed to take as an answer: "Great. You see, I feel our dear heroes. We will get to them and support them if necessary. If not, I'll send you to the doctor. Or to Ahirata. We'll see."

I wonder what she's doing at the moment.

I didn't have time to think because an abandoned castle appeared ahead of me. And just below it must be the Tree of Harmony. This is where I find out whether my idea was absolutely terrible or not.

"Ha, I didn't know there was a ladder here. " Daniel grinned, suddenly turning slightly to the right and slowing his pace as he started down the stairs.

"Didn't you live in Everfree?" I asked without much curiosity. Actually, I just wanted something to distract me from the growing smell of fried meat. Don't look at yourself. Don't look at yourself, don't look at yourself.

"Damn, I didn't notice. I'm sorry. " Daniel replied with a shrug. Damn, can you at least give normal, detailed answers sometimes? Not about something violent!

Snorting, I finally descended the last step and from my position I could see a small light coming from the cave ahead.

If there's light there, then the tree hasn't died yet, right?

I took a deep breath, feeling the tension building in my head with each step. Time seemed to slow down when the cave was only a few metres away and Daniel said, "Get ready for battle, OK? I sense something much stronger than these six.

Immediately after these words, we found ourselves at the entrance to the cave. There I saw the Mane Six standing in front of the Tree of Harmony, which was covered with many roots. There were elements hanging from its branches, but they were small. It was as if the tree was trying to grow new ones, but was interrupted by a sudden catastrophe.

It seemed that the main characters were unaware of our presence as they began to talk to each other. However, from a distance it was impossible to hear exactly what they were saying. As expected, Daniel decided to break in with the words: "Hello, heroes. How are you doing? Are you winning?"

Do you have some kind of vendetta against them or something?

I frowned, but took a few steps deeper into the cave with Daniel anyway. Well, I tried to be more precise. My legs gave way and I collapsed onto the stone floor of the cave. The smell of burnt flesh had become omnipresent, unbearable. Although the feeling of infinite energy remained, I'm not sure if I'm able to realise it in any way.

Daniel suddenly stopped and asked me, crouching down beside me: "How are you? Do you need to be carried for treatment yet?"

His sudden concern took me by surprise for a moment. Probably because I had no time to answer, Twilight suddenly spoke, seemingly addressing the group: "I understand! The Tree of Harmony has created our Elements. Elements that together symbolise friendship. To save this tree, we must show that power, without symbols!"

To be honest, my brain was starting to boil from all the sensations of boundless energy, the smell of burnt flesh and, most importantly, the pain that was starting to build up. It's possible I didn't understand any of Twilight's words.

Damn, it's terrible. It's just disgusting. It's like I'm going to fall apart into a thousand pieces right now.

Suddenly, all six mares were surrounded by bright light and they soared up, almost to the ceiling of the cave. Then, a bright rainbow appeared around them, which swirled around them for a couple of moments before crashing right onto The Tree of Harmony and creating an even brighter light that made me close my eyes.

As soon as I felt that it was possible to look, my eyes saw how The Tree of Harmony threw away all the roots and moreover, the small elements of the garomnia became full-sized! The piles of smaller plants on either side of the tree also evaporated and exposed the two princesses. To be honest, looking at them up close, I felt a kind of awe. I would even say an almost irresistible desire to bow in their presence.

Although Celestia's mouth opened to say something with a gentle smile, I didn't hear it. Moreover, I suddenly felt my eyelids getting heavy, as if all the endless energy had suddenly run out. However, I was able to see one shocking thing. Celeste's chest was covered with a layer of stone. It was as if they wanted to turn her into stone, but they didn't do it to the end.

Does this have anything to do with Daniel?

As soon as I thought of him, he was there in front of me. Daniel's teeth were clenched and one eye was fixed irritably on everything that was going on in the cave. But then he said with a heavy sigh: "Relax, Arthur. I'll make sure you're all right."

Despite my sincere desire to stand up, be sarcastic or just grin, only one thing came out. I fell onto my back and unconsciously looked at my body. My hands were charred black and my clothes were full of holes, revealing other damage.

"Help." I exhaled heavily before finally throwing my head back to the ground and losing consciousness.

Operation Storm.

Objectives: Defeat Everfree, improve your reputation with the civilian population and test new tanks against the backdrop of a sudden disaster.

Achieved: NOTHING

Losses: One old tank and a significant amount of land being prepared for agriculture.

Conclusions: Arthur's unwanted coma has given me time to do something. Maybe it's time to make real peace. Understand your enemies and accept them.

P.S. Why the hell am I writing this? Structure my thoughts? Give the princesses a convenient way to see what's going on in my head? HOW IS THIS GOING TO HELP ME CHANGE?! It's useless, pointless. Nothing works. Maybe Celestia and Luna aren't even trying. And really, why should they FIX me?

~~Manipulation~~

~~Containment~~

~~Revenge~~

~~L~~

Me. I'm going to spend time with my friends. And I'll think about what I want from my birthday.

I WROTE IT, DANIEL, NOT ANYONE ELSE.

Author's Note

Important announcement: the story goes on hiatus until the end of October (maybe a little more) I need to take some time off and write something, uh, different. So, uh, have a nice day!