Despite standing valiantly against the sky, Canterlot Palace now stood as a testament to my failure. Inside its stone walls, a few thousand restless ponies were hoping to hear some good news. They've undoubtedly seen how things went in Ponyville now. The plumes of smoke still rose up from our towers and a sea of Og Nag still surround it.

As we exit the Growler, it takes four soldiers to carry Versa and two others carry Lucretia. We begin the slow climb up to Canterlot. All twelve of us. No pony guards, no battalions anymore. I was now an endangered species. Were we even as hardcore as we thought? How often did we even win without some kind of magical interference? Then there was the nagging question of how many our fights went according to Zaran's plan. Did he let us win the few times we did?

Emeris has nothing to say for once. We lost all one thousand members of Lancercore, so not even the pony guards could help us. There were maybe another hundred in the palace itself, but most of them hadn't been trained. Every volunteer was now being devoured in Ponyville. I shudder at the thought of a few soldiers, Taraskan or Equestrian, desperately hiding in a building, watching their comrades being slowly eaten.

Emeris sighs with frustration. "What are we gonna tell Umbra when she gets back?"

I furrow my brow in thought. "What do you mean?"

Emeris looks over at me as we walk. "Aren't her and Big Mac sort of an item? At the very least, they were super close."

I let out a half scream of anger and grief. "Yes, just what we need. Our best Lancer is now dead and having the meat pulled off his bones. That's going to be great for morale. I also recall him being one of the more popular ponies. Well this is just great isn't it?!" I kick a rock and send it sailing over the edge. "There's...nothing! Nowhere to go, no fallback plan, no one to ask for help. Even if the 4th shows up right now, which they clearly haven't, that's still not even a hundred of us. That's just dealing with the Og Nag too. There's still Zaran himself and whatever horrible magic he has. Why even bother at this point? Lucretia and Versa are both down for the count and not even Cadence's healing magic can fix them since it's Element Shock and not actual physical injuries."

Emeris shakes his head slowly and shrugs as he watches the path. "There has to be something. Anything. I mean maybe there's more species we can-"

I snort as loudly as I can. "What species?! Nothing survived all this! You know as well as I do that the surrounding land was picked clean! Countless cities fell to the Og Nag! No one was warned, no one put up a fight. Even if there were like...five thousand other creatures who miraculously had both the skill and courage to fight, there's still at least eleven thousand Og Nag down there, plus Garges. As far as I know, only Taraskans stand a chance of taking out Garges. Any battle will be a huge mess and are we just supposed to have the last twelve of us evenly spread out among the battlefield in hopes we can solo a friggin' Garge, who by the way, always group up in pairs?!"

Emeris clears his throat and motions with his head to the last of our units behind us.

I throw my hands up in the air. "I don't care if they can hear me! I don't care about morale anymore! What else is there at this point?! We get to sit at Canterlot, wait to be sacked and I get to live the longest so Zaran can torture me until I snap, and he becomes all powerful. Then I'm sure he'll finally kill me!" The clanking of metal behind us stops. Emeris and I turn around. Our soldiers start yelling as one of our people calmly walks over to the edge of the path.

I cock an eyebrow. "Allena what are you doin-" Before I can even stop her, she calmly walks off the path and she's gone without a sound. I run over and peer down. Her body kicks up dirt as she tumbles against the steep cliffs of Canterlot.

I back up several steps and turn around. "I...but I didn't-" Emeris hits me so hard, I fall back to the ground. Emeris clenches his hands furiously and starts shaking. "That's why you have to care about morale! That's why you have to care about others! If all you wanna do is complain and drive everyone to suicide, then feel free to join her! I'll lead the army myself and even if it ends with us all dying, at least I didn't die crying like a coward!" I point to Emeris' hands that begin sparking with teal energy.

He examines them like a child who's just found their lost dog. My soldiers excitedly mumble to each other. I get off the ground and watch Emeris with a new-found resolve. "Okay...okay! You know what?! Screw it, let's see if we can find some way of getting Versa and Lucretia back on their feet! I mean with your powers alone, if you just took out the Garges, that would certainly give us a chance, right?!"

Lucretia's voice quietly flows through the air. "If...if we can find a way to lure them up the mountain, we...might be able to save on stamina by pushing them off." Lucretia groans and goes limp. Emeris and I exchange bewildered glances before looking at Versa. The first soldier carrying one of her legs over his shoulder, shakes his head violently. "No trust me sir, she's out cold." His voice is strained, but we can't help laughing anyways.

Our cackling is cut short when we reach the palace doors. There was too much bad news and every pony in that castle needed to hear the opposite. My eyes flutter as the guards standing outside the gate watch us in horror. They knew we were all that made it and now their world was shattered. Instead of them standing at attention and composed with honor and pride, one bows his head in defeat and the other sits on her haunches staring across the land.

We walk silently past them and the double doors creak like a guillotine as all eyes watch us eagerly. When the clicking of the doors echoes behind us, those excited eyes turn to despair. They widen, fill with tears and take them to a land far away. As I try to look at the floor while walking forward, I notice the blood splattered across my armor. I couldn't even remember who's it was, let alone the species it belonged to.

A young colt trots up to us confused. "Where's the Honor Guard?" His little voice bites into my ears. I hear him looking around concerned. "General, where's my parents? They said they were going to defend Ponyville and save us from the monsters." He was so certain that they were coming back that there's not even fear in his voice yet. My feet glue themselves to the floor and tears start to trickle down my cheeks.

War, this is all it ever does. It always bothered me how in stories everyone is so eager to go to battle for valor, for victory, for pride. If you had ever truly been to war, seen the death and agony of it all, you'd stave it off until it came knocking at your door. It was the illness that there's no cure for. Our species always found a way to spill blood. When that sickness encompasses entire countries though, they act like it's some reason to celebrate. Everyone rallies with cries of "Support our troops!", but deep down, those of us that have to drag cold steel over bare flesh, we hate it. Our reply will always be something patriotic, but in the back of our minds, there's always that nagging question of why.

Why does anyone have to fight to begin with? Is there not plenty of land to share? Do we not have enough words to reach an agreement? What possible reason could you have to slaughter one another? I had seen countless forests and barren landscapes covered in ash and blood. I could see fighting for survival, but that never seemed to be the case. Hurrand was known for finding any reason to threaten another country with combat, just for the sake of his own ego.

What possible reason could Zaran have to fight? He clearly wants more power, but he was already so unstoppable. What could even more power do for him? What could possibly be worth all this?

We stop outside the throne room. "Take Versa and Lucretia into the back and don't stop for anything. See if Cadence can help speed up their recovery." Emeris pushes open the double doors and we quietly walk in.

The upper royalty and several socialites look us over eagerly. Luna's face quickly drains when she sees the complete lack of lancercore personnel. Celestia nibbles on her lower lip. "Did you...win at least?"

Emeris lowers his head then shakes it slowly. "Not even close. I think Zaran killed more of his own units than we did."

Luna recoils and narrows her eyes in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

I can't resist letting out a low growl. "Zaran hammered our main wall with his own Og Nag. As soon as they were built up, he climbed over them and we got overwhelmed. He even nailed our ballistas with them."

Shining's mouth hangs open in disgust. "He...he seriously used his own soldiers like that?!"

Emeris looks up and crosses his arms. "Think of it this way Shining, he can just build more, and moral isn't an issue for him. Using his own troops as artillery is a new tactic, so we're still not sure if these are the same Og Nag we fought on Nova or if Zaran merely adopted them. We have virtually no intel on the original Og Nag, but these ones seem a bit sloppier. We're used to fighting ones that at least have decent weapons and armor."

Shining closes his mouth and swallows. "I hate to ask, but what about Lancercore? How many survived?"

I take off my helmet and hold it under my arm. Sweat rolls down my face and my legs are ready to buckle. "None that we know of. There's a chance some made it out, but we had to retreat immediately. As of right now, the twelve of us and your royalty, are all that stands between the last eleven thousand Og Nag-"

Screams erupt from every room and it's utter chaos. Ponies run around trying desperately to gather their stuff. Shining stares across the room, as if he could see through the walls themselves. His eyes bulge and water up while he slowly lowers his flank to the ground. Celestia closes her eyes and inhales slowly. Her horn flares and the double doors behind us slam close. "Raiden...I don't know what to do anymore. I'm tired of Zaran always beating us at every turn. Is there nothing we can do? Does anypony have any last ideas?" The room is uncomfortably silent, except for the horde of screams across the palace.

Luna motions to me with her head to join her in a hallway. As we walk, she has to retrain her face from forming a deep frown. "Alright Raiden tell me everything you know of these Og Nag. What about the ones from your world? Are they the exact same?"

I lean against the railing that overlooks the land as Luna stands next to me with a blank expression. "The Og Nag we fought on Nova were worse. They usually were the size of people and had decent armor on. These Og Nag seem to mostly use weapons, but the ones on our world would go for literally anything. They'd make you lock weapons with them, just to suddenly drop their sword and lunge at your throat with those rows of jagged teeth. They also seemed more independent. They didn't quite stick into huge groups as often."

Luna groans with her mouth closed. "Is there something we've missed? Some tiny hint that could help us? Even if we defeat these Og Nag with magic, what about Zaran? I saw him use his magic a few times. He is certainly no push over, but perhaps, just perhaps he is no match for an alicorn?"

I go back to staring off and bow my head. "Zaran has to have some kind of plan for you all. I don't know if he has some kind of device, or if he plans to take you on himself, but he's definitely not messing around. If I could just surrender myself to him and be done with it, I would, but he'd certainly just destroy everything afterwards."

Luna's head snaps to me and her eyes widen with anger. "I would never allow such a thing! If this is the end, it will be together, do you understand?!"

I turn and face her, leaning against one of the pillars connected to the walkway. "I don't know what to do Luna. I'm literally an endangered species now. We need an army and one isn't going to just suddenly appear out of nowhere. Even if we did get an army, there's still Zaran himself and we don't even know the full extent of his powers."

Luna cocks an eyebrow. "Wait a minute...why didn't he use his Timberwolves on Ponyville? They were highly effective and borderline indestructible if I recall, but we haven't seen them since. Isn't that odd? You'd think he'd just need a few dozen to take out an entire army."

My eyes narrow in concentration. "Hey...that's true. Are there maybe limits to what he makes? Some kind of time until they either die or wear out? What if these Og Nag he has, have an expiration date? That could be why he's pushing so hard so fast."

Luna bites her bottom lip gently with excitement. "Maybe...just maybe we can keep stalling for time. If a straight fight is out of the question, then it reasons that's all we can do is play for time. Who knows, maybe something will change in our favor."

Luna and I are suddenly distracted by the forest several miles from Canterlot. The birds scatter out in droves as their natural home is disturbed. Luna sighs with frustration. "Okay now what? He already has all eleven thousand Og Nag grouping up from Ponyville, what else could he possibly need to bring?!"

I give a small shrug. "I don't think it matters anymore. We either stall for time- wait, why hasn't Zaran attacked us yet?" Below us, the Og Nag form up in battalions but don't take a step towards Canterlot.

Luna leans closer, studying the swarm of monsters then narrows her eyes. "I think we're about to get our first break."

I rub my face with a hand. "Unless it's another ploy."

Luna stops watching the land and casually creeps under my arms, leaning her head against my chest. I gently grasp her ear with my fingers and massage her neck with my other hand. She lets out a frustrated sigh. "Do you think Zaran is actually as smart as he seems? Did he actually plan this out, or do you think he just takes credit for things going his way?"

I chuckle lightly and kiss the top of her head. "That's true, I mean Starswirl said he potentially had several lifetimes inside the negazone to plan this all out, but can one being actually have predicted all this? Maybe it's closer to him having a lot of different side plans that he was holding onto that were just flexible to make it seem as if it was all going according to his plan." Luna takes her head back and looks into my eyes. She gets on her hind legs and gives me a quick peck on the lips before turning and walking back into the hallway. I follow her and we suddenly walk into a shouting match between Celestia and Emeris.

Emeris has his hands balled and is screaming at the top of his lungs. "That's the only chance your people have! If they stay here, it's certain death! At least with my way some of them will make it!"

Celestia lets out a loud, condescending scoff. "I'm not going to watch from my tower as my people are teleported below and try to make a mad dash in every direction!"

Emeris gives a massive shrug. "As opposed to what? Them getting the pleasure of hiding in their rooms as Og Nag flood the palace and execute them one by one? Assuming they even get the luxury of dying immediately! You know Og Nag get hungry sometimes-"

Celestia gets in his face and her horn flares. "That's enough! We will stay here and think of something! I am not abandoning my people to random chance! I have been through too much to just assume it's all over!"

Luna runs up to the pair and holds up a hoof. "Easy now. Raiden and I have been talking and there's been some developments. First off, Zaran is consolidating his forces, but he's not attacking us as of yet. There is also something coming this way from the forest, but we don't know what. Lastly, we find it odd that Zaran did not use his Timberwolves while attacking Ponyville. We think that perhaps there is a time limit on his forces. We suggest playing for time as much as possible."

Emeris pants heavily, but still has a look of intrigue. "That wouldn't surprise me. I've never seen anything that's built quickly and to last." He turns to Celestia. "Very well, so we wait and see how things play out. We can use the steep cliffs of Canterlot to our advantage possibly. As far as Zaran himself goes...we'll cross that bridge when we get there I guess."

Celestia and Emeris lock eyes and there's one last spark of rage before they walk away.