//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18: The Strength of the Wolf 
// Story: Lone Wolf of Equestria: Back to the Pack 
// by JNKing 
//------------------------------//

I’d like to say I stood my ground against that army. Me against billions of bug pony freaks, tearing them down with lightning. 
But the honest truth is… I booked it. No way was I going to be able to take that many on. And thus, I was forced to swallow my pride, and race through that dark, cold hive, with an army of vampire succubus bug freaks on my tail. 
I was in their house. I had searched, and I had found an actual evil in this world; a thing that would take joy in my suffering and then use it to inflict pain and suffering on others.
My chase was not a straightforward one; changelings came out from the shadows, trying to block me off. Trying to bite into me with their numbing venom. I blasted past them. I focused my power into a shield that kept them at bay. Though I couldn’t hit at them, I could keep them from taking me down, and as long as my shield flared brightly across my fur, none of their attacks touched me. 
But defense wasn’t enough; everywhere I turned, more changelings were coming out, eager to see me fall. I slashed at a few, but there were always more behind me, ready to jump on any falter in my defense. I couldn’t move. I could barely see beyond the throbbing wall of bugs.
But then, almost like a light to heaven, I saw a bright green cocoon. And inside? 
There was a dragon. Red scales… yellow frill… 
I saw Sparks in that cocoon.

#

Logan’s head dipped. “Part of me knew it wasn’t her,” he admitted. “None of the people in those cocoons were the people I met. But at that moment. I needed it to be them. I don’t think I would’ve been able to do what I did with a bunch of strangers.” 

#

I forced my way over to her. Changelings tried to get in my way; I pushed them aside. A changeling grabbed at my tail; I kicked it away. And before long, I made it to the dragon’s cocoon.
Begging or speaking wouldn’t help, so I converted my magic from shield to a charged fist, and I slammed it as hard as I could into the cocoon.
Memories shot forward; Sparks leading me through the forest. My abysmal fight against her and her master. Gaining the strength to fight three griffons at once.
The green material shattered like glass, and the dragon tumbled to the ground. I barely managed to catch her, she weighed so much. 
She blinked blearily and looked around. “Who are… what…?” she stammered.
“Changelings,” I barked, indicating upward just as the horde pressed down on us. I yelped and increased my barrier, shrouding us both in lightning as the changelings pounded on it. Their pounding almost felt like they were crushing my head and eyes, but I forced myself to hold on.
“We gotta get out of here,” I moaned. 
Sparks blinked the bleariness out of her eyes, and as she took in the horde around him, her shock faded to anger. I didn’t notice it at the time, but her scales started to glow, my lightning protecting and strengthening her just as it was protecting and strengthening me.
“They… that treasure pile was nothing but a sham!?” she growled. She hurled herself up, grabbing me as my shield finally faltered. But as the lightning faded, it was replaced by fire.
Several changelings were disintegrated with the first blast. The rest were smart enough to draw back, going for her unprotected back where her fire couldn’t touch them. But as they tried to jump her, they met me, blasting at them with lightning. Warm and cold fire burned around us, forcing the changelings back. 
But even then, it wasn’t enough. The changelings jumped back to avoid injury, but their grins didn’t fade. They thought they had us. And honestly, they did. 
“This is our hive, not theirs,” Chrysalis screamed from above. “Rise above the flames, and extinguish these rebels!”
They began to rise over our flames. It became harder to keep them at bay. Then I spotted more cocoons further down. One of them had a feathered being floating inside.
“Come on,” I yelled, jumping onto the dragon. She was thankfully big enough for me, and spread her wings, forgetting her fire and leaping above the horde of changelings. They tried to follow her up, but my lightning drove them back and gave us room to maneuver. 
The dragon looked back, and I saw fear across her face. She didn’t know if she’d make it. But her flight got us close enough. As the horde managed to grab my allies’ tail, I leaped off her snout, and smashed through the cocoon we were going for. A griffon – Gabby -  fell from the goo, her eyes widening as she took in the world around her.
“How in the…?” she stammered, but I grabbed at her on the way down. 
My memories flashed; her father giving me a home. Gratitude for defeating the Cockatrice master. Even Gallus saving me flashed across my mind, along with Celaeno and her crew.
As I shook off the flashbacks, Gabby saw the changelings heading for us.
“Whoa!” She lashed out with her claws, and sent a changeling flying into a wall. 
Gabby didn’t have fire or lightning like Sparks or I did, but she knew how to fly. And as the dragon and I took to each other’s sides, she swooped over the horde, batting at any changelings that tried to come at us from the air, and even plucking changelings from the horde and tossing them to the wind.
The changelings themselves started to get nervous.
“How are they doing this?” they stammered.
“How are we doing this?” the dragon pondered. “I don’t even know what’s going on, and yet…”
“Don’t dwell on it,” I ordered, as we fought our way to another cocoon. “Just keep it up.”
I jumped to the next cocoon and smashed it open.
Crystal the sea pony flashed before my eyes; grateful for saving her from the Siren. Her people getting me to Daring Do. 
A being I swore was Crystal in her land form burst from the cocoon. A brief look of confusion was stamped down by determination as my lightning flowed around her as well, and she joined Gabby in holding off the horde.
“Stop that!” Chrysalis screamed. “Stop that glowing!” 
“Stop the thunder!” another changeling begged. 
I didn’t know what they were talking about. I was too busy getting others out. 
A changeling jumped from the next cocoon, snapping at me, but I seized its head with my jaws and slammed it into the next cocoon. A yak – Mongo - tumbled out from the cocoon, looking around in shock and horror. But I dropped the changeling and sent my lightning around him.
I remembered our fight; how he aided me in escape. The look of gratitude hiding under his gruff demeanor.
Understanding instantly dawned on his face, and he let out a bellow as the changelings moved to subdue him. Rushing forward like cavalry in a charge, he bowled over the changelings around us.
I managed to make it to one more cocoon before a wall of changelings tried to force me back. I ripped through the green slime, and…
I saw Fluttershy. I remembered her kindness; her standing up for me when all her friends saw me as a monster. The fact that I… well, that she was the only one I considered pack.
I knew it wasn’t Fluttershy. Even as understanding dawned on the pegasus’ face, Fluttershy would never have flung herself into combat the way this one did, bucking a changeling that was clawing at Sparks’ neck. But I needed them to be. It was one illusion that I needed to have, especially for what came next. 
Because even with the beings that I believed with all my soul were my allies, we were boxed in; a bubble of light in a sea of dark, wriggling changelings. We were pressed to each other’s backs, beating down any changeling that got near us. Even the changelings looked shocked as we knocked them aside.  
I didn’t know how we had lasted this long, nor did I care. I only knew that I had to keep myself out of their hooves for as long as possible.
Unfortunately, there was no way out. Our flyers weren’t able to take to the air without causing our defenses to crumble. And if I had looked up, I would have seen Chrysalis herself watching us, slowly connecting dots that even I didn’t know were there.
But they started to make sense when she shot me. 
A spell crashed down hard on my head. I hit the ground, my head bouncing off the hard stone floor and making my brain dance in my skull. As I faltered, the lightning faded, and the others faltered as well. The changelings charged in with glee, and our defense completely crumbled. 
I had gotten by through my journey by remembering Ocetorm. How the pain he inflicted had no equal. But this… Chrysalis’ horde managed to come pretty damn close. 
Where before, the changelings had just dragged me to a cocoon, now they were beating me down. I felt fangs rip into my skin, felt hooves bludgeon me and try to bury me into the stone. I heard the wails of my temporary companions. I smelled the sickly sweet goo that they were blasting us with. And every attempt I made to force myself back up was met and countered with the horde of changelings beating me right back down.
“That should do,” a voice cut through the pounding of hooves on flesh. “That should do!”
The changelings jumped off me, my entire body throbbing. None of them had used their numbing venom, allowing me to feel the agony of every bite and strike. Even as I tried to pull myself up, a hoof came down on my neck. It probably could have snapped my spine a second time, which was likely why I kept still. 
“Look at you,” Chrysalis mocked. “Look at the hero.” She shoved, and I was flipped to my back. Her hoof returned to my throat, as I found myself looking up into her bottle green eyes, narrowed in both triumph and anger.
“YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD GET OUT OF MY HIVE?” She snarled, her fangs bristling before me. But, just as quickly as the anger came, it passed. She tilted my head up, as I saw the others; the people I believed with all my soul were the allies I had made. They were bound in green slime, the changelings holding them down. Even Sparks, struggling with all her might, couldn’t break free of them. 
“Now… why don’t you lay there and see what happens when you resist my lure,” Chrysalis taunted me, before I felt her pressing down hard on my loins. 
I struggled against her, but with two quick shots from her horn, she had my claws bound in the green goo. The changelings set upon my allies as well, hooves grasping for their nether regions, tongues lathering disgustingly across their skins.
The pegasus – no, Fluttershy! It had to be Fluttershy! – whimpered. Gabby was crying as a changeling forced himself onto her. I tried to yearn for them, but Chrysalis held me fast, her tongue trying to slip down my throat. 
I couldn’t fight this. 
I couldn’t win!
“Carol…” I found myself thinking. “Mom… Dad… my pack…” My eyes shut and a keen escaped me as Chrysalis forced me inside her. “I’m so sorry… I can’t win this… I’ll never get back to you…”
Not alone…” 
But… almost from the depths of my soul, I heard something. 
“You are not alone, my son.” 
I saw my mother. Her cloak was a pure white – a globe of light, surrounded by darkness.
“Your pack is always with you,” she assured me.
“Here,” another voice said from my chest. “In your heart.”
Another being appeared in the darkness. Silver, like the full moon. 
“Father?” I whispered. 
This was no changeling illusion. Standing there, before me, were my mother and father. I couldn’t be dying; that would be a sweet mercy to what Chrysalis had in store for me. Yet there they were. Wagging their tails at me. 
I didn’t deserve their praise. I didn’t deserve to have them look on me as if I had won. 
“I failed you,” I whispered, my willpower cracking as I curled into a ball. “I failed you both.”
“Nonsense,” My dad’s voice insisted. “The victories of those we call enemy, are not your failures.”
“The struggle against those who believe themselves gods is arduous,” my mother agreed. “But none have fought more bravely than you, my son.” 
“You have won many victories,” a new voice said. I looked up, as another globe of light appeared, taking the form of Gabby. 
“Rekindled hope in the hearts of those you protected,” Crystal’s voice said. 
“The strength of the oppressed lies in the many,” Mongo’s gruff voice insisted.
“The lone wolf dies,” Sparks added. “But the pack will always survive.”
My eyes opened; glowing like a light bulb. Chrysalis pulled herself away, shielding her eyes as the glow strengthened. But I didn’t focus on her or her minions. Instead, I focused on the others around me.
Sparks… who trained me. 
Gabby… who guided me.
Crystal… who gave me hope.
Mongo… who fought alongside me.
And… Fluttershy.
Who had welcomed me. Nurtured me. Cared for me and called me her friend, no matter how much I had tried to push her away.
They called me the Lone Wolf of Equestria. But I hadn’t survived on my own. I had always had something to help me. Those who cared about me, and protected me against all odds.
A pack. 
As my lightning reformed, the changelings were pushed away from them, unable to touch my pack. Spells, teeth and horns glancing uselessly off my barrier. 
This was how the White Wolf had managed to gain such a large following over Myst, I realized. How wolves were able to stand a chance against humans and human technology and ingenuity. 
It wasn’t just sheer determination or cunning. It was because of pack. Of team work. 
The strength of the wolf is the pack. And right now, no matter our goals or our alignments, no matter if those weren’t the people I had come to care for… in that moment, those five creatures and I… we were a pack. 
My lightning curled around them, strengthening them in a way that I hadn’t ever used my lightning before. It pulled us together, binding us in light. A light that made several changelings wince, and one to run away screaming.
“No…” Chrysalis whispered from above. “How is this possible! That kind of power… I haven’t felt it since…” Her eyes bugged out of her skull. “The Canterlot Wedding?” She pointed. “Stop them! Stop them now! Don’t let it happen again!” 
A changeling tried to obey. It lunged for me, but it’s teeth broke against my barrier. As I felt my strength mix with the dragon, with the griffon, with the sea pony, with the yak, and with the pony, I raised my head up. And I gave a long, loud howl. 

#

“Logan, don’t!” Fluttershy screamed, as Logan nearly cut loose with a loud bellow. His fur had actually started glowing, and lightning crackled around him before he came to his senses. 
He looked down, remembering that he was in the Crystal Empire. That he was surrounded by the very ponies that he had been reminded of. He gave a sheepish grin.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. 

#

But when I came to, the hive was a wreck. I saw the last of the changelings being scattered to the wind. 
“NOT AGAIN!” echoed faintly off the mountain tops; the Queen of the Changelings, once again hurled to who-knows-where by the power of love. Who'd have thought?
My small pack stood confused and looking around in shock. And further away, more victims of the changelings were pulling themselves out from the shattered cocoons.
“What… just… happened?” the dragon stammered.
But bit by bit, they started to look towards me. My fur was still glowing faintly, and I stared at them with the same dumbfounded look.
The pegasus was the first to respond. She wasn’t Fluttershy – her fur was tan, and her mane, while long, was a pure white. 
Yet, when she whispered, “You… saved us?” I still felt my tail wag.
“Not alone,” I admitted. “You guys helped me save you.” 
After that, there wasn’t much else to talk about. The dragon flew off with a vague promise that she owed me one, which I guess was the best I was going to get. The rest of us walked as a group for a bit before reaching a set of train tracks. With the train tracks, we had a sense of where to go for civilization. The ponies, both earth and sea, and griffons set out for the south, while a couple of yaks and I went north. The Crystal Empire was still somewhere out there, and I was interested in trying to find it. As for the yaks, their home lay further north, even further north than the Crystal Empire.
It took at least a week of travel, but the tracks led to an old train station, which one of the yaks recognized. 
“Leads to where Crystal Empire once was,” Mongo replied. Turns out I hadn’t been fooling myself; Mongo had been there.
I nodded, and headed for the ruins. “Thanks again,” I called.
“No, Lone Wolf of Equestria,” he replied. “Yak thanks you. Without Lone Wolf, Yak would have been prisoner of changeling. Yak will remember Lone Wolf. And should Lone Wolf travel further north, Lone Wolf will receive hero’s welcome in Yakyakistan.”
I nodded, and gave a final wave goodbye before noticing a trodden pathway past the train station. Looked like someone had gotten there before me. Likely Cadence and Shining now that I think about it. 
Undeterred, I strode forward, where I eventually made out that shield, along with Sombra trying to force his way in.
And the rest… well, you guys were there for the rest.