A Hero Untold

"Wolfram, you're going to hurt yourself if you keep clenching up like that." Amp said. Wolfram was still hanging on to a handle, which used to be attached to the ceiling, and now was attached to nothing. He was breathing heavily, and every muscle in his body was rigidly flexed.

"Seriously, quit it. You're weirding me out." Amp was far too calm about the whole ordeal. Only now did Wolfram regain full freedom over himself. He looked at the handle he was grasping and threw it out of the car.

"Amp?" He asked.

"Yes, Wolfram? Do you need a blanky?" Amp teased.

"Why are we both alive?" Wolfram was still breathing heavily.

"Good timing, is all. If Seymour hadn't told you your name was 'metal,' we would have been a second or two early, and actually would have ran straight into that cross section, before getting T-boned by the perpendicular train. You should thank him next time you see him."

Wolfram was silent. He had reached a similar feeling about the whole situation as Amp. That would be the unfamiliar feeling of not giving a rat's ass about anything. Unfortunately Amp met it through confidence, and some insanity. While Wolfram had met it through exasperation and frustration. He wasn't even sure what to say to Amp in response to her explanation.

"Well, we're here to fight some giant bugs, right?" Wolfram asked

"Yeah." At Amp's word Wolfram jumped out of the car, without opening the door, and said

"We should probably get some gear then." Amp got out of the car as well.

"Take the sword for now," Amp seemed sad to let it go "Just... Don't break it please?" She handed it over to Wolfram, as both were standing in front of the car now. Wolfram took it gently, and put it into his bag for the time being.

"It is safe with me, Amp. Don't worry." Wolfram was surprised. It took a lot to make Amp worry.

They turned to face the train entrance to the city. A guard stood on either side of the track, and both were staring at Amp, Wolfram and the car, with their jaws dropped. They weren't speaking, which was normal. But it was severely abnormal that something had broken a guard's stone expression.

"Hey, boys. We're here on a matter of defense." Amp said, trying to cover the fact that she had destroyed the roof of several passenger train cars. The guards still didn't speak.

"We'll just be going in now." Amp began walking toward the train tracks where they entered the city. As she walked up to the purple barrier, the guards fumbled about for a moment. Then started using magic to pull the field aside temporarily. Amp walked through, and poked her head back out before they closed it.

"Come on Wolfram, they aren't going to buy it for much longer!" She whispered loudly. Wolfram had been almost as flustered as the guards, and forgot he was supposed to be following Amp. He trotted up quickly, and through the field. It closed behind them, and when they entered they saw the train at the station.

The train was completely smashed up. there were wooden splinters everywhere, and the roof was caved in on most of the cars. Passengers had stumbled out of it. They all looked scared, and covered in rubble. But Wolfram spotted no major injuries. Wolfram looked back forward, and was worried when he saw he lost Amp.

Amp poked her head around the corner of a nearby alley.

"Wolfram! Get over here, you don't want to be seen at the scene of this much vandalism!" Again whispering, but too loudly for it to be effective.

Wolfram followed Amp into the alley, who was already tapping on a manhole. About 4 years ago, a filly had accidentally ended up in Amp's tunnel system. The code for entry used to just be three knocks, and that proved to be to easy to get accidentally. Amp didn't want to have to spend more resources on erasing memories, so she updated the code. It was now a complicated tap dance, Unfortunately, it was extremely difficult, and Wolfram often had to do it three or more times to get it right.

Amp, of course, executed it perfectly, and the manhole slid open. They both descended into darkness, and the lights flickered on almost instantly. Amp had fixed the lighting in most of her tunnels over the last year. The pair walked over to a steel door and Amp opened it after entering a combination code on an analog device.

The door opened revealing a large cement room. It had racks upon racks of intimidating looking devices. Some vaguely resembled weapons that Wolfram knew of, and others looked like they were meant to be worn. But none of them looked clean or safe. They all had exposed machinery, and were rusted and covered in sharp edges. Amp quickly trotted to one particular place on the wall and picked up a device.

"I've been waiting to try this one out for a while." She mumbled. It looked like two black steel pipes attached to each other vertically, the bottom one having a large grip. At the rear end there was a wedge-shaped piece of more steel, but padded with foam at the very back of it.

"What's that supposed to be?" Wolfram asked.

"A device which I only recently created. The most similar thing you've probably ever heard of is a blunderbuss." Wolfram thought on the term for a bit. He recalled reading in a history book that a couple hundred years ago there was a completely failed 'revolution,' who's leaders equipped themselves with pipes filled with explosives and balls of metal. It supposedly launched the ball slightly faster than a bolt from a crossbow, and made a bang louder than anything besides a cannon.

They were quickly abandoned because they took minutes to reload, and had a habit of exploding in the wielder's hooves.

"I assume you've worked out the kinks, then?" Wolfram asked.

"I've done more than that. This thing holds eight shots, each one is a shell, with all the components built into it, and i can load them in just a few seconds. The muzzle velocity is just past mach 1, and it should kill anything within a few meters easily." Amp explained proudly.

"But that's the key word: 'should.' I haven't tested it before." Amp was clearly sad that she hadn't gotten to use it yet.

"Well it sounds perfect for dealing with whatever these creatures are." Wolfram assured.

Amp grabbed a bag full of shells, and attached it to her satchel harness, so it was in easy access, she slung the weapon around her side, and began walking toward the exit. Before she went far, she stopped.

"Oh yeah, do you want anything besides the sword?" Amp asked Wolfram politely.

Wolfram thought for a moment. He was already wearing light brigandine under his jacket. A helmet would be too cumbersome for fighting swarms, and the sword was more than enough stopping power for anything with a beating heart.

"I think I'm good on basic gear, but do you have anything that's particularly strange?"

"Oh yeah! I should take these for myself." Amp said, and she picked up a pair of heavy mechanical goggles. "Thermal vision can always come in handy. Besides that, yes. I do have a lot of strange things." Amp said.

"Like...?" Wolfram drew on, hoping for an explanation.

"Shock absorbing boots, let you fall farther and kick harder, too many varieties of explosives to list, an axe which exudes a solution that reacts violently and explosively with blood, that one is dangerous for the wielder, I've got a device which prevents the formation of lactic acid, but that requires surgery to function, a flash light that gives anything you shine it at cancer, I tried building armour our of chain saws, it didn't work out so well, but I still have it." The list trailed on for some time before Wolfram interrupted.

"I think I'll be fine." He said in response to the many ludicrous and dangerous items Amp listed.

"Suit yourself, let's go. I think that guy who bought the magic enhancers from me is running the force field around the city.  We should probably make sure he knows whats going o--" She was cut off by a muffled smashing sound, clearly coming from above.

"No time, let's go!" She shouted, and they both went back up the way they came down. Both of them were running, Amp with her inventions' safety in interest, and Wolfram with the safety of the city in interest.

As soon as they were up they saw a terrible sight. Black figures, equine in shape, but covered in chitin and with insect like wings, were smashing into the earth. Even worse, after hitting the ground and making a crater they stood up unharmed, and began pursuing ponies like prey. Wolfram saw innocents being tackled and restrained by three of these monsters at once. Once they were pinned the bugs engulfed the victim in a green glow, coming from the gnarled and twisted horns on their heads, and the target became limp. Not dead, but completely passive. Tranquil and emotionless.

Wolfram could only assume the sedation was for an evil purpose, and so he got angry. So angry in fact, that he audibly growled, and engaged one of the bugs he saw that was chasing down a citizen. He charged at the monster with immense speed. He leaped into the air while still behind it, and extending the jump with his wings, he drew the sword from his pack mid air. With a roar of exertion and anger he fell, sword first, straight down on the creature, and his blade stabbed straight through the thing's back and abdomen, then into the stone street below it.

The monster stopped in it's tracks and spattered a cough and a squelch of blood. Wolfram placed a back hoof on it, and yanked the sword out of it's body. This took an amazing amount of effort, the blade had driven into stone, after all. When he removed the blade from the body it began pouring a green ichor out in buckets. The creature tried to stay upright for a moment, but ultimately collapsed in pain and blood loss.

"Whoa there, Wolfram. That was a bit excessive, save your strength and all that crap." Amp said from some distance away.

Wolfram calmed down a bit. Why was he so angry? He had right to be, but a calm resolve would probably better serve him. Amp was right, he needed to save energy, stay calm, and not power attack every enemy he met. He looked up, and exhaled slowly, chaos was breaking loose all around him. He looked to Amp who was scanning the area intently.

So intently that she was not aware of her closer surroundings, Wolfram could see her moving her mouth silently, as she did whenever she planned or calculated in her head. One of the insectoids was right behind her, actually. She hadn't heard it, clearly, and it was about to tackle her. Just as it leaped off of the ground, Wolfram shouted.

"Behind you!"

Amp dropped her binoculars, spun around, dove backwards and away from the creature onto her back, and drew her weapon in one swift motion. Then before the monster could understand what had just happened, it was gone. In a flash of light and an earth shattering bang, half of it's head and most of it's shoulder were gone completely. It's body fell to the ground in front of Amp, who stood back up, and brushed her chest off.

"Thanks for the warning, kid." Amp said, calmly. Wolfram nodded in response before she continued.

"We should probably try to find your dad, he's the only guard I even half trust, he'll have some kind of plan."

"I guess my home is the best place to start, we're not far from there anyway." Wolfram suggested.

Amp agreed plainly, and told Wolfram to follow her. The trip was short, and thanks to Amp's knowledge of back alleys and shady short cuts, they made it there without encounter. The whole way Wolfram had to fight the urge to bolt out into the open every time he heard somepony scream, though.

Amp and Wolfram quickly circled around from the back to the front of his house, and went in through the door. The abode was messy and unkempt. The note that Wolfram had left for his father some days ago was on the living room table. Surrounded by magnifying glasses, quills, and notes It also.had a coffee stain on it. The notes contained scribbles and letters all over them. It looked like someone was trying to decode the message, but Woflram had put no code in it in the first place.

"Hm, that's Ferrous's writing. Looks like he was worried about you." Amp said.

Wolfram didn't know what to say. He thought his dad would have been mostly fine with his departure. Evidently that wasn't the case though, Wolfram didn't want his dad to be worried about him when he needed to do a job. Especially one as important as protecting the entire city.

"We need to find him. Do you have any idea how we can do that besides aimlessly searching?" Wolfram asked Amp.

"Hmm... About two years ago I sold two way portable radios to the royal guard. Assuming Ferrous is wearing his armour, which it's built into, he should be hooked up to the system."

"Great, do you have a radio that can get into the channel?"

"No, but I can make one right now. As long as you don't mind me salvaging some stuff from your house." Amp said.

"Not if it means contacting my dad." Wolfram responded, giving Amp permission to loot his house.

She left, and came back with a small diamond flake, a few coils of copper wire, a couple magnets, some paper, and a few other strange pieces. All along with a roll of her patented "Duck Tape," named as such because she originally designed it as the only material capable of preventing ducks from escaping your lab tests.

She tore the paper into two discs, and two rolls. Stuck them together so that there were two parts. Each a disc with the cylindrical roll in the center. She wrapped the copper wire around the cylindrical roll of one of them, and placed the magnet in the other. Then using more wire, and some of the odd bits, she fashioned what appeared to be a simple circuit with the diamond flake stuck in it, and a large antenna. The paper part began vibrating and playing static.

This alone impressed Wolfram, but when Amp started changing the circuit around and placing magnets over different parts of it, she managed to get a coherent signal. It sounded like the guard channel.

"Delta actual, this is Charlie strike! We are near your position, and ready to reinforce, but we've met opposition. Extend ETA to 6 minutes!" A young voice sounded out of the device.

"Charlie strike, this is Delta Actual. We won't last that long. We are going to pull out, Alpha's going to have to get out of there on their own." A deep, gruff voice said in response.

"Can we talk to them?" Wolfram asked.

"No, a microphone circuit would take too long to build." Amp responded.

More radio chatter went on for a while. But nothing was said that led them to Ferrous. After a few minutes Wolfram felt like it was hopeless.

"He's not on there, or if he is we won't know. We need to get out there and try to get at least some people to safety!" He said

"Just wait, he's on there." Amp said with little effect on Wolfram.

"How can you know that? Ponies are being taken by these things every second we don't spend stopping them!"

Amp hushed Wolfram, and gestured to the device.

"All teams, this is Whiskey leader! I'm here through Zulu leader's radio! The Princess has been incapacitated, and the captain is not fit for duty! Abandon all previous orders, and start a full evacuation! The city is lost, but the citizens don't have to be."

Even through the low quality radio Amp had made, Wolfram knew that was his father's voice.

"I am going to return to the streets, and assist as best I can near the castle! I need Alpha through November to work on the slums, and Oscar through Tango in the upper tier. Victor and up need to stay near the castle! The Elements of Harmony are attempting to access their artifacts. Until then brute force is all we have!" Ferrous continued.

"Hold on men, this is Yankee leader. An evacuation is not acceptable, Whiskey leader does not have authority over X-ray and up. Zulu is down, and that puts us, Yankee, in charge. We are stopping this thing right now. All squads return to the castle immediately! We're taking the head of the beast." A strong, loud, and gruff voice shouted.

"With all due respect, Yankee leader, that would lead to countless civilian casualties. For the sake of the people we need to get them out of here. We're guards, not soldiers." Ferrous argued.

"X-ray's taken a vote. We're with Whiskey, Yankee." A female voice said.

"Victor's with Whiskey, sir."

"Uniform checking in for Whiskey. Let's keep the people safe."

"Tango here, we're already sweeping the upper tier for innocents."

The list went on and on. A few letters were missing entirely. It was apparent a lot of guards had already been lost. Yet they all united against their superior, in defense of the people. Further more, they united in defense of the people under Wolfram's father's name.

A new voice chided in.

"Come in, is this the guard channel?" A female voice, an angry and strained one. It was Wolfram's XO, Thunder.

"Yes this is, who's speaking? The voice representing X-Ray asked.

"This is functioning leader of the slummer combat squad. We aren't as trained as any of you, but we're mostly alive and offering our help in protecting the city." Thunder said.

"We are at the black smith, pinned down currently. The smith himself has done a fine job for someone armed only with a broken bottle." She finished.

"That's Brandy, all right." Wolfram said. "Come on, let's go meet up with my team, we'll be able to do some good from there."

"You do that, I've got to get another weapon, I'll cover you from a distance though." She said.

"You're leaving me?" Wolfram asked worriedly.

"Yes, but only to get a bigger gun. I'll snipe for you. Don't worry, you'll do fine kid." Amp assured.

"All right, but how are we going to communicate?"

"Easy, you find a dead guard, take his helmet, and I'll go get the prototype radio. When each of us gets a transmitter we'll say 'Checking in for' and then the other's name. Got it?"

"I've got it. See you later." Wolfram said. Amp nodded, and they headed off.

Wolfram went through the streets this time. Heading toward the smith, he took attacks of opportunity at every one of the monsters which got to close to him. He ran the whole way, fighting his need for rest through will. He needed to catch his team before they moved out of the smith.

He was more than halfway there when Amp appeared again. She poked her head around the corner of a building like always.

"Psst! Wolfram, get over here!" Wolfram did as instructed, slowing down a bit. Once he was close to her he spoke.

"What is it Amp, I thought you were goi--" he was cut off by a hoof to the lower jaw.

"Ah, shit! What the hell, Amp?" he asked angrily. But Amp only responded with more kicks and punches. Wolfram was done trusting Amp. And he lashed out and struck her in the side of the head with a heavy punch. That knocked her to the ground, and she tried to get back up. But Wolfram picked her up, and threw her against a wall. She fell to the ground, and looked up at him. Wolfram now noticed her eyes weren't the usual deep green, but they were a teal-green hue, and the pupils had narrowed to slits.

A copper-green fire crawled across her eyes, and they returned to the normal deep green. She grinned cockily and lashed out at Wolfram with her hind leg. He was tripped, and Amp took this opportunity to stand up. She got up, and stomped on the back of Wolfram's neck. That hurt. A lot. it hurt so much that Wolfram wasn't even going to restrain his lethal force any more. This wasn't Amp, and if it was, she wasn't an ally anymore. He got up and shoulder rammed her in one motion, knocking her over again, before he drew his sword and stuck the tip of it right at her throat.

"Amp, what the hell are you doing?" Wolfram asked loudly.

No response, other than an insane grin and an angry glare all rolled into one.

"Answer, or this sword replaces your larynx. I'm dead serious." He threatened.

"Just another strategic casualty. There are too many of us for it to matter." She said ominously.

Wolfram mustered up all of his will, to go through with what he had promised. He closed his eyes, and thrust the sword forward. He heard the expected squelching, and slicing. But then he heard something else, the sound of a flame whooshing through the air. He opened his eyes, and saw his sword stuck through the throat of one of the bug creatures.

He sighed in relief, extremely happy that he didn't have to hurt Amp. She was like an aunt to him, but when someone is clearly insane, and a serious threat to your life, sometimes necessity overrides compassion. He drew the blade, and put it away. Immediately running toward the smith again.

He eventually made it there, after taking a few more heads off of the shape changers. He saw the smith, it was completely surrounded by the creatures. Brandy was standing at the entrance, stabbing at other iterations of himself with a hot rod of iron and a broken bottle.

Wolfram drew his blade. and ran into the fray. He slew everything outside of the blacksmith. It wasn't very hard. The shape changers were weak, the only issue is that there were so many of them. But through evasion and clever retreat Wolfram managed to take them down one by one. It wasn't pretty, there was a lot more mutilation than he was going for.

He eventually broke through the swarm, and ended up on the same side as the smith. He hopped over the counter into the building, and away from the monsters. As soon has he was inside though, his team grabbed him, and pinned him down.

"Oh come on guys, we aren't over this yet?" Wolfram was exasperated at them.

"Wolfram, is that actually you?" Thunder asked him.

"Yes it's me, the bugs don't have swords, remember?" Wolfram gestured with his chin to the blade on the ground.

Thunder looked at him cautiously for a moment before ordering his release.

"I hate to say this, but it's good to have you back, no-name. Being down two was really hurting our tactics."

Wait, two? Wolfram looked around. he realized that Moxie wasn't there. It wasn't surprising, but he was worried.

"Damn it, have you seen Moxie at all today?" Wolfram asked.

"No we haven't." Thunder responded.

"Aye! The lass with the midget wing? I saw the bloody scoundrel just this morning! She came around wee o' clock, and woke me early! Needless to elaborate, I was bloody angry to me bones with 'er!" Brandy shouted, all the while jabbing and smashing at his many doppelgangers.

"What was she doing here so early?" Wolfram asked him.

"Honestly lad, I have no bleedin' clue as to what she was up to. She asked me to make a brooch outta some fancy amulet she brought to me. I did it, o' course, then she left without payin'! Said somethin' about openin' a bloody tab, the little slimy cripple!" Brandy cursed loudly, driving a hot bit of steel through the chest of his likeness.

"Great, she's doing an art project while we fight for the city's survival." Thunder remarked.

"We'll have to do without her. Do you have a plan already, Thunder?" Wolfram asked.

"Now that you're here, I've got a much better one. We split into squads of four, and check houses until we find conscious civilians, and help them get to the smith here." She explained "Brandy, do you mind us keeping a few civilians here until the guard comes?"

"Surely not, lass. I'll protect the bleeders as long as ye need me!" He confirmed in his thick accent.

"All right then, Wolfram! You lead Shadow, Lance, and Stone on rescue duty. I'll stay here with Crossbow, Storm, and Cannon."

"Hooah!" All the squad shouted in unison. Wolfram jumped back over the counter with his sword in hoof. Shadow, leaped over the counter, and turned himself invisible with his magic, and Stone clumsily climbed over it and jumped down, making a heavy thud in the earth. Finally Lance came over, and used his magic to put a barrier around his body, which resembled armour, but was orange, glowing, and semi-transparent.

Wolfram quickly stabbed one of the monsters who was charging at him, and pummeled another in the face, right as it took his appearance. Knocking it unconscious seemed to return it to it's original form.

"Don't let your eyes off each other, and follow me, we're headed east first!" He shouted, and began advancing toward a residence near the square that the smith was in. Shadow was hard to keep a tab on. He silently snuck around the enemy, and you could see him break his cloak for just a moment to snap a neck or two, before shrouding himself again. He enjoyed it far too much.

Stone was walking slowly, but surely. He was a mountain of a pony, and simply trotted through the swarm, trampling as he went. His expression matched his name, and he remained silent throughout. And Lance was busy stabbing at them with a conjured polearm, made of solidified magic.

Before long, the surprisingly obedient group had made it to the house Wolfram had pointed out. They backed up against the door, and began holding off the bugs.

"Lance, hold this door with your spear while we go in, if you can, protect the windows with barriers as well!" Wolfram ordered.

"Got it, Commander No-Name!" Lance agreed, but he wouldn't let Wolfram get away without at least a bit of fun poked at him.

"Shadow, cloak and move one room ahead of us. Shout clear if it is, otherwise tell me of the threat, clear?" Wolfram asked.

"Crystal." Shadow said in his all-too-intimidating voice.

"Stone, I'll vanguard, you bring up the rear. If anything tries to sneak up on us, stomp it into the ground." Wolfram said.

Stone only nodded in response.

With Lance keeping the horde at bay, and Shadow scouting ahead, the squad went into the basement first. Shadow called up a 'clear,' and Wolfram trotted down the steps. It was dark, and Shadow liked that. But Wolfram couldn't see a thing.

"Shadow, do you know any light spells?" Wolfram asked.

At that the room was illuminated, and shadow was squinting painfully at the light in front of his face. But now Wolfram could see. The room seemed empty. Wolfram looked around, asking shadow to stay in the center of the room, so it was properly illuminated. The basement had little in it. A large keg on it's side, a few crates, and a writing desk. Wolfram stayed completely silent for a moment, listening intently. But it was shadow who heard something first.

"Something's breathing in one of those crates." he gestured to a pile of crates in one of the corners of the room. Wolfram trotted up to the pile.

He said quietly "Hello, is someone there? We're here to bring you somewhere safe." The soft breathing almost stopped when Wolfram spoke. He lifted the boxes up, one by one, in response, until only one was left, at the very bottom of the pile. He picked it up, and a very young colt scrambled away from Wolfram, and hid under the desk.

"Hey, don't worry, okay? We are working with the Royal Guard to keep you safe." Wolfram assured the child, but he didn't say anything in response. Stone, who had been standing quietly at the stair case for now walked up to the desk, and lifted it out of the way with his head. Then knelt down to the child and mumbled something very quiet. The child nodded, and climbed up onto Stone's back.

"The giant has a way with kids, amusing." Shadow noted quietly, before Stone glared at him angrily, and shut him up.

"Is anyone else in the house with you?" Wolfram asked the child.

"Yes," the child nodded "Daddy is in the kitchen, but he won't stand up. I got scared and hid down here."

"Shadow, scout the kitchen. Stone follow behind me again." Wolfram ordered. Shadow extinguished the light spell, and cloaked himself, and Stone waited until Wolfram had began going up the stairs, then followed behind obediently. Once they were back up to the pantry, on the main floor, Wolfram checked that Lance was holding out. Lance gave an 'OK' and Wolfram waited for Shadow to report.

"Hey, Wolfram? You'll want to see this." Shadow called from the kitchen, which was straight across the pantry from the front door. The entrance was to the left of a hallway, which was left of the staircase to the basement. Wolfram and Stone went over to the kitchen and saw something very strange.

There was a green and black sac, hanging from the ceiling and dripping ooze on the floor. Inside the semi-transparent membrane a pony could be seen. He appeared to be awake, and aware, but he couldn't move or speak. He was just looking around frantically.

Wolfram walked up to the pod, and examined it more closely. The membrane had a leather like feel to it, but covered in slime.

"Hang in there, I'm going to try to cut you down, okay?" Wolfram asked the pony in the sac. Not expecting a response from the paralyzed victim, he proceeded to go through without permission. He flew up to the height of the tendril of ooze that the sack was hanging by, and swung at it with his blade. He sliced through the material with relative ease, and the pod fell to the floor. Wolfram flew back down, and sliced open one side of it.

The pony inside fell out, in a wave of gel. He coughed and sputtered, but didn't move any of his limbs.

"I can't" he coughed more "move!" He exclaimed fearfully.

"Stone, can you take another passenger?" Wolfram asked, and received a nod in response. Wolfram lifted the paralyzed pony up, and placed him over Stone's lower back such that he wouldn't fall off. They went back to the front door.

"I can't hang on much longer, Wolfram. They're going to break the window barriers soon." Lance said.

"All right, we're headed back to the smith now. Lance, you and me are on Stone's flanks. He has passengers. Shadow, you do what you do." The squad agreed.

They moved out, and saw Thunder running toward them. She was dodging attacks from the monsters with some difficulty, getting scratched a few times.

"Wolfram, the smith's been overrun. The others  are still pinned there. I'm not even sure if they're alive." She shouted.

"Wait what?" Wolfram didn't understand. The smithy had held for almost a half hour, why would it collapse now?

"You heard me, we need to retr--" For the third time today someone was violently cut off. Her head jerked to the side, and Wolfram heard the sound of something whizzing through the air, accompanied by a thunk and a splat. Followed a half second alter by a loud, but distant bang. Thunder then changed into another one of the bugs, with a massive hole gaping in the side of it's skull.

Wolfram looked in the direction that the impact appeared to have come from, and he saw a pony a few blocks away on a roof, holding a long device in her hands. It was Amp. She waved at Wolfram, and went back to sniping.

"I'll go ahead and guess that the smithy being overrun was a lie. Let's move!" Wolfram called to the squad. Once again, it was slow going, there seemed to be an endless supply of the creatures. After much slaughtering, they made it back to the smith, which was being safely held by Brandy and the four others.

Stone and Wolfram, being the two strongest worked together to gently lift the paralyzed pony into the smithy's confines. Shadow materialized before them, and Lance kept defending while they planned.

"What next, boss?" Shadow asked calmly.

"We scan another house, we have to do this as many times and as quickly as we can until the guard gets here." Wolfram heard a high pitched scream of fear. Wolfram spun around, and saw the child who was supposed to be on Stone's back being surrounded by the monsters. His back was against the wall, the creatures were clearly feeding off of his fear, as they smiled malevolently.

"Damn kids..." Wolfram muttered before shouting "Hang on, I'm coming for you!"

Wolfram charged into the group of shape changers, and knocked them down like bowling pins, he saw one of them lunging at the child, and Wolfram dived in the way of the strike, Wolfram sustained a serious bruise from the blow. But he got back up, and hacked at the monster, cleaving it almost in two. Wolfram was still surprised at how frail they were.

The child was cowering behind Wolfram, who was unfortunately beginning to lose the upper hand. There were too many, and he had to remain stationary to protect the child. Shadow materialized beside Wolfram.

"I got your back!" he said right before one of the bugs grabbed him, and yanked him into the swarm. Wolfram heard Lance shout "Man down!" and went back to protecting the young colt. Wolfram looked around, and realized Amp's line of sight couldn't hit his location. Stone was actually being slowed down by the swarm now, and Lance couldn't move, he was pinned against a wall.

Wolfram was alone now. In a final burst of bravery, he charged into one of the bugs, picked it up and threw it into another, using the gnarled horn like a javelin, the first one's neck was broken, and the second had a puncture wound in the chest. Wolfram felt a blow to his waist, and he fell to the ground, he had been tackled. The swarm moved in on him, and he couldn't get up.

"What do you think, should we kill this one?" A bug spoke.

"You know the orders, keep as many alive as possible. We need food." A second one said with an identically eerie voice.

"He's too much of a threat, and too big. The spell won't last long, we should just end him now!" The first one said, and an alarmingly large number of them shouted in agreement. The second one was outnumbered, and walked away dejectedly. The first one raised his gnarled horn, and thrust at Wolfram's exposed chest.