//------------------------------//
// Chapter Six 
// Story: Era of Grogar 
// by Pulsar Wave 
//------------------------------//

The sun was glaring at the earth from a shallow angle. The morning hours of the day were wrapped in a dense fog, which concealed the vast swamps the unicorn army was striding amidst. The division was under the command of General Hardboil. Him leading the task force personally was commendable, considering his initial skepticism. His second-in-command was, naturally, Gusty. 

Half the entire Legion was rallied for that fateful mission. The remaining warriors stayed at home: leaving the unicorn settlements without defense would have been unacceptable, especially considering the possibility that the operation might backfire, however depressing and dismaying that thought was. Were it to happen, and the whole army were about to be decimated by Grogar, the lands of the realm would be ripe for taking.

The upcoming war's participating hostile force, the - at the moment - unknown shadow army Grogar was presumably establishing would hear the call of conquest. And Gusty reckoned it was entirely possible that army had already been created. Maybe Grogar wanted to lure the unicorns to him, because he had arranged for a confrontation between the two armies there. If that were to be case, they would most likely be unable to accomplish their objective.

Anything was possible. Grogar was apt to do anything, as they knew. And they were ever unaware of his doings until it was all in their faces. Even now, they were just groping in the darkness, speculating about something that had proven to surpass their imagination many times in the past. It was the best they could do. It was the best they had to do. And right then, getting rid of Grogar was what they ought to do. Even if his army existed, and was preparing for war, with Grogar out of the way, their chances at winning would increase greatly. But they had to succeed first. Everything depended on it.

Gusty had a lot of time to think about all that, since they set off. The closer they got to their destination, the more she realized the rashness of their decision. She couldn't help but feel uneasy throughout their journey, but now, with the bog covering the horizon, and the marshy stink of the surrounding cesspool filling her nose, she was overtaken by a terrifying sensation. The urge to cry out and tell the whole division to turn around and go back the way they came while they could grew by the minute. She knew she had to calm herself. Still, she was completely certain every one of the warriors felt the same way as her. She knew they had to continue, if they'd come that far. Just may the mission be successful. It was their last best hope.

"Commander," was all General Hardboil said to turn her attention to something clearly visible in the distance, now free from the haze. "We're here," he added.

Gusty observed the monstrous rock. It was shaped to imitate the lord of the house. It looked so deserted, it could have  fit into a memorial site as a stage of the play of history, a relic of ages past, forever gone. It looked harmless...

However, Gusty knew it was possibly the most noxious place on the earth. She realized that would be the last place to be seen for a lot of them. The warriors of the task force seemed to stop in their tracks for a moment, before proceeding with reluctant, hesitant steps.

After about fifteen minutes of dead silent marching, the first phase of the operation was completed successfully: to arrive at Grogar's lair intact. It almost seemed like getting there unhurt was too convenient. As if Grogar had handed them a clear path. They thought the swamps would be packed with monsters, but they were as barren as could be.

The entrance to the cave was glowing red, and a passage made of stones rising above the water's surface. When the first line unicorn warriors saw the shadow moving inside, they prepared themselves, before even noticing it was approaching them. Grogar casually walked out of the entryway, then the general gave the order, "Fire!"

The horns of two thousand well-trained and capable unicorn warriors lit up, and started firing their beams at him, who deflected them with not particularly significant exertion.

"I have to say I am impressed. I would not have thought you would resort to such a daring move," Grogar said in a chatty tone. "You finally show some valor. Maybe you are not hopeless after all. But..." Grogar stopped, as the unicorns saw countless manticores, chimeras and other beings, seemingly coming out of nowhere, essentially ambushing them, surrounding the entire army. "...I am afraid you arrived prematurely. You are a distraction to my plans now."

Gusty closed her eyes, and exhaled. This is going to be messy, she thought to herself. "All right everypony," she shouted. "We know how to deal with these guys. Just..."

She got cut off by the sudden charge of the beasts that surprised her too. The creatures bore down on the unicorns, beginning the slaughter, and the poor, unfortunate ones who stood closest to them were ripped apart within seconds. The monsters tore into the army, which was now nothing more than a shocked, albeit armed crowd. Panic and chaos erupted in a few more seconds. Gusty turned her head back and forth in recoil, trying to assess the situation. It was in vain. It was over. The screams ringed deafeningly in her ears. She knew that sound. It was the sound of defeat. The sound of utter failure. And what a revolting sound it was.

"...don't lose your heads," she muttered. As she looked at all those fine warriors, all those people entrusted to her, shredded and mangled by the detestable aberrations, she knew all hope was lost. She conceded to the fact that they were all going to die there. And Grogar would survive. He would go on to build his army, by the annihilation of the task force completely unchallenged: the other half of the Legion would never leave their posts, especially knowing the fate of her heroic but damned comrades who deserved an end far worthier than that morbid butchering. 

Grogar's army would then wage war on the Kingdom, condemning her people to more unbearable suffering. That mission had been their last best hope. Everything had depended on it. And they had lost. And Grogar had won.

The thought of Grogar being triumphant disgusted Gusty to her core. All she could think of was that it couldn't be. It wasn't possible. It wasn't how it was supposed to end. It just wasn't. She preposterously waited for something to end the nightmare. Some deus ex machina. To wake up and realize it was a horrible dream, and know that all the warriors are sleeping peacefully, surrounded by their families, possibly reliving their most pleasant memories, as evoked by the resting, blunt mind... The beautiful, desirable image shattered into nothingness.

The massacre the unicorns went through infinitely saddened her. She knew that was how death was going to find her as well. The best she could do was making the beasts work for their bloody victory. Before she could join in the last battle of her life, however, she saw a few pieces of rock flying in the direction she was standing, but she couldn't react, as she got knocked out by one of the stones hitting her head. She no longer had to watch the carnage, which cost so many of her friends their lives, and which raged on long after her fainting, as fiercely, as mercilessly as stilly she was all of a sudden resting in blissed senselessness.