//------------------------------// // Subject 228: Divide And Conquer // Story: Interviews With Equestrians // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// Our plan was--well at this point no amount of planning in the world would serve as an absolute solution in a situation such as this. We immediately had to spread out to cover as much ground as possible. Corkscrew took off towards the left. He swept up a few of those demons in a whirlwind to separate them from the larger group. Exemplary tactic. Now they won’t be able to coordinate as easily! "Let's go, let's go!" he shouted. Quick Draw meanwhile, decided to make use of her agility and sheer strength to overwhelm the right side. Like a skilled acrobat, she leapt over and landed several flawless kicks upon each demon which sent them flying into various nearby trees and rivers. "I got your back!" she cried out. And me? Well, I focused on the middle. There were so many of them that it had been difficult to keep track of them all. In order to stand a chance, I’d need to alter the terrain of the field just a little bit to even the odds. “Alright...hope this works.” I stood on my hind legs, and raised my hooves into the air. I came down, and slammed into the earth with enough force to rattle and reshape the earth itself. “HEEYAH!” BLAM! The ground became distorted, and reshaped into a mile-long divot that was easily a few yards deep. Deep enough for the row of demons in front of me to lose their balance and tumble into each other for a few seconds. This gave me the opening I needed. “HA!” I charged forward, and tackled a few of them to the walls of dirt that I had created. Among those that I had engaged in combat with, they were mostly nameless criminals from the past. The ones that I knew personally were not among this group. They had to be around here somewhere. “Where are you…” One of them tried to lunge at me from behind, but I countered just in time with a spin, and a punch from my hoof which sent them flying. But that wasn’t all. Another demon pony tried to sink its teeth into my neck right afterwards! Luckily for me, I had also anticipated this, and flung a backhooved punch squarely in their jaw to knock all of their teeth clean out. But that was simply a distraction. “Wha--hey!” Out of nowhere, I felt my hindlegs swept out from beneath me. A griffon demon had grabbed ahold of me with their claws, and flung me clear across the field and into a nearby rock! THUD! “ARGH!” When my body made contact with it, I flattened out like a pancake for a split-second before I fell down. I suddenly felt myself re-inflate with a pop!, and I was able to recover. Though for a second, I was a bit dazed. I could’ve sworn I saw stars swirl around my head. “Ow...agh...damn. They aren’t messing around…” By the time I regained full consciousness, I was already surrounded by more demons that started to close in on my position. This wasn’t good. Not because I felt intimidated, no. But the fact that I knew that I would be distracted here the longer I fought this swarm. Meanwhile, those certain other demons could get to Cozy and things would be tits up from there. “Come on, kid. Don’t be foolish. If things don’t go like you plan out, then just get outta here. I won’t blame you.” All I could do was pray in silence for her safety. For the time being, all I could do was fight. Concurrently, at Cozy’s house… Dad worried for me. And I appreciated it. This was the first time since forever that I could tell that somepony really had my best interests at heart. He saved my life. So I wouldn’t dare waste it. Which meant that I would fight. But if things did get crazy, then… Blech. Don’t think about the worst, Cozy. The battle had only just started. With that in mind, I had gathered up my closest friends. The friends that I had made along this journey. I asked them all if they would be interested in helping me out, and you know what they said? “A’course we are! How ‘bout the rest of ya’ll?” “That’s right! We’re not gonna let some creep take your body!” “Blech. Rainbow Dash would kill me if I let a friend go at it alone. You can count me in for sure.” “You’re our friend, Cozy. We’d never leave you hanging--especially not when you need us most. Right, Spoon?” “Darn straight, Tiara.” I almost cried. To have friends like these who cared about me so much. Well, it was a nice feeling. Even if I could sense the danger that loomed over us all. And so with that in mind, we all headed out. And surely enough, things had already popped off. But I was more than ready to fight back. And so were my friends. So I did my part, and gave out orders to make best use of everypony’s talents. “Applebloom, if anyone’s hurt--you find them and heal them so they can keep fighting,” I pointed off in the direction of the demon swarm. “Got it, sister!” the yellow mare sounded off. I turned to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “Get ahold of the weather team by levitating Scoots and getting her in the sky. If we can alter the weather in our favor, it’ll make us stronger.” “Got it,” Sweetie replied, “Let’s get going, Sc--ah!” The orange pegasus mare had already ran off to grab her scooter, and pulled her unicorn friend onto it as they sped off into the distance. She was also courteous enough to provide her a helmet too. “Already on it. Let’s go!” “A warning would be nice next time!” Lastly, I saved the most important task for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. “Alright. And you guys need to scatter around the town and start warning everyone and I mean everyone. Let them know if they can fight, they get ready to assist. If not, stay inside until everything has blown over.” “Okay we go that,” Diamond said with a worried tilt of her head, “But what are you gonna do in the meantime?” “I gotta go help my dad,” I took off into the air, “Now get going, you guys.” “...But--” Silver cut her off. “We have to let her do this. And we have our own objective, Di. Let’s go.” The pink pony sighed, and turned her head. “...Yeah. You’re right. Sorry.” Good. They were off as well. Now it was time for me to… I gasped as soon as I laid my eyes on the situation below. “PALE!” I shouted, and flew towards the South side of Ponyville. The wind in my mane washed over me like an elegant, smooth wave as I flapped my wings to fly as fast as I could. Then, as soon as I got over there… BAM! I flew in with enough gale force behind a kick so powerful that it created a small vacuum that forcefully pushed all the demons that had crowded upon Pale. As soon as they were gone, I turned to him, and flew over to give him a hug. He had already suffered a few scrapes and bruises on my behalf. “Pale! Are you okay?!” After a moment, I heard the most satisfying thing that anyone had ever said to me up that point. “...Yes. Now that you’re here, I feel far better, kid,” he replied with a smile as he put a hoof on my head.