Existence

by Spectar37

How to war

Chapter 33

“…And that’s when you appeared,” I finished a brief discussion. The table had given all their points of view on what happened. I even gave them what I heard from little Chirp. Twilight had left to care for her wounded friend. The newcomers paid attention to everything we said.

“So what do you think are our current options are?” Shining asked everyone.

“Well, my good captain,” I began before anyone else could begin. “From what I can see, we rebuild as fast as possible hoping that they don’t attack again or we move into the forest and do some team slayer, find the source of their armies and close it.”

“That’s too dangerous, even for them,” Shining told us.

“No it isn’t,” Tim stated. “They’re demons.”

“They’re in there,” Ana said, sure of herself.

“Ok, assuming they’re in there, how do we take them on?” The sun princess asked.

“We can sweep the forest, standard pattern and find them before following up with the main force from the sky,” the captain answered professionally.

“That sounds too predictable,” Sam pointed out. “Why not scout from the sky and bring the main force on the ground where there’s more cover.”

“We won’t be able to bring the full might of our force on them,” The captain countered.

“What about splitting the forces up, half in the sky and the rest on the ground,” Cloe said.

“Who will move ahead?”

“I could,” I offered.

“How will you tell us where they are?” Ok, he’s got me there.

I I decided to redirect the question. “Striking them will be easy, we have the weather but scouting will be an issue.”

The pause that followed told me that they were a bit confused. “Wait, you never used the weather to your advantage?” The look on the captain’s face told me enough. “Well think about it, lightning has enough voltage to fry anything effectively with the exception to pegasi.”

“Meaning we could attack them from the sky even without unicorns,” Celestia spoke up.

I clapped my hands and grinned. “Now you’re getting it.”

“So we attack from above and the ground,” the princess concluded.

“That’s how you war, people,” I exclaimed as I sat back and listened on to the planning.

“If we organise the guards to round up storm clouds, we could shock them all and find their source before they can strike back,” Luna stated.

“I’ll see to it,” Shining nodded his head before walking out the door.

“Meanwhile, I must ask the six of you-” Celestia never finished her sentence.

“We’ll do it,” I said quickly, earning five aggressive stares. “Ok then, I’ll do it.”

“I’m in too,” Sam joined in, followed by everyone else.

The Princesses stared at us in disbelief. “Why?”

“I’m bored!” I answered.

-*Two Hours Later*-

“Ah, the Everfree Forest,” I said to myself as the six of us stood at the edge of the forest accompanied by a troop of 30 guardsponies, one being the familiar Spinning Cog. Too bad they don’t have lasrifles. “Home to dragons, hydras, manticores, cockatrice and who knows what else.”

I spun around to face the team of ponies and humans, ready to take on demons and heretics alike. “Ladies and gentlemen,” I began. “You are all about to take on demons in what we are assuming their source.”

The force looked around nervously, either at going to hell or that they have to listen to me. “Today we are moving ahead of the main force and finding the enemy so that we don’t end up going in the wrong direction. Let’s go.”

I took a step into the forest and felt a chill go up my spine. This place feels off, even smells off. I put my helmet on and continued onwards. The forest itself seemed normal to me. Trees grew how they wanted to, animals did what they wanted and the dirt was soft. Surprisingly, no form of wildlife had attacked us. Maybe they liked us.

After thirty minutes of random song singing and trekking through the bush, we entered clearing with some very interesting findings in it. The rotting carcase of a manticore lay at the foot of a tree, evidence of severe burning on its body.

“That’s brutal,” I told Tim, who had walked up beside me. I looked around further, ignoring a pony retching into a bush. There is no burnt tree here. “They tried hard to leave no evidence.”

“Maybe they were trying to be quiet about their presence,” Tim suggested.

“Probably,” I said as I noticed sky through the tree line. I walked towards it, wondering if we already walked straight through it. We can’t have done it that fast. As I breached the tree line, I saw that it was just a cliff. I saw a pony standing at the edge, motionless like a statue.

“Hey, you alright there?” I asked as I approached the still individual. When I was close enough I shook his shoulder, or whatever they call it. Then I saw a nightmare of a sight.

The cliff overshadowed a massive sink in the land, like a little hole in smooth sand. The cliff expanded in a full circle around said hole. The dip in the land was full of fire, a legion of over 9000 demons carpeting the land where trees once stood proudly. In the centre was a portal to the unknown, more fire coming from its maw. It didn’t seem very large but the army it had summoned was more than enough to clean this landscape of life in an hour. Now I know why the poor guys all frozen.

I ran back at break neck speeds, clearing the thin tree line between the hole and the clearing within seconds. I stopped in the centre before shouting out to everyone. “Where’s the messenger!”

When a guard raised his hoof, I ran up to him and said, “Tell them that Operation Shock and Awesome is a go.”

The sound of metal on flesh came from behind me. “Why did you call it that?” Tony asked.

“Cause I can.”