Saving Their Souls

by Clever Name

11: Champion!

The large beast let out a mighty roar and stomped into the battlefield, it instantly began thrashing and tossing, eating, clawing, and crushing both Hunters and Nomads alike. We all stayed silent in the treeline, waiting for either the beast to finish everyone else off and move on or Discord to kill it.

Discord was big but not as big as the Ursa Major, maybe a third it's size, he ran up and jumped on top of the beast. He stared clawing at it's face, the Ursa shook it's head violently in an attempt to throw him off. It took some time but the Ursa eventually got Discord off it's face, while he was face down in the dirt the Ursa reached down and bit Discord. Violently shaking him. The Ursa thrashed with Discord in it's mouth, when it let go Discord went flying over the Everfree Forest. A Hunter was stupid enough to try and stab it while it wasn't looking, ending up in provoking it further to stomp out all the Hunters and Nomads.

While it thrashed in the storm I moved along the Champions, most of them were in decent shape, others not so lucky. There was a few with large cuts and gashes across their faces and chests that were being treated with the little medicine we have. I found Charlette, Dagger, and Susan under a lager tree, Susan was either asleep or unconscious the other two were treating her and trying to communicate with one another.

I walked up to the trio and keeled down next to Dagger. "How's she doing?" I asked.

Charlette answered. "Well, she's lost a lot of blood and she's asleep right now. But as long as she doesn't move around too much I think she'll be fine."

I looked across the crowd of Champions, we had lost very few, but those that were still with us were defiantly beat up. They were making good use of the break the Ursa Major had just granted us.

"Okay, here's what we'll do. Everyone that can't fight or has trouble fighting goes back to camp outside the Fores, when the Ursa leaves everyone else will come out charging and the Nomads and Hunters." I looked over the Champions once more. "Actually, I want a group of fighting Champions to escort the wounded back, just in case."

Charlette nodded and got up to spread the word, leaving me with Dagger. He was still kneeling over Susan. I decided I should say something. "Don't feel bad, you did everything right and she's going to be fine. If you want you can be one of the escorts so you can stay with her."

He shook his head and looked at me. "I want to, but you need as much power as you can get when we make our final push." He glanced at Susan. "I just wish I could tell her how I feel."

I put my hand on his shoulder. "I think she has a pretty good idea of how you feel, when this is all over I could probably teach her how to read your eyes like I do."

He smiled at the idea. "That would be amazing, thank you."

I grinned. "Don't thank me yet, we have some old enemies to deal with first.

Just then Charlette ran up to us. "Okay, only about sixty are in bad enough shape to stop fighting. How many should we spare to escort them?"

I looked out into the storm and saw that the Nomads had given up on slaying the beast and were now running around wildly. As for the Hunters, they too were mostly running but every now and again one would try something against it. One thing was for sure, the Ursa had crippled their numbers.

Looking back to Charlette I answered. "Take about thirty, we won't need much to finish this off. I want to go too, take all the animals as well, stay close and watch one another."

She hesitantly nodded and ran back into the group, after a minute the wounded started shuffling into the forest. They all looked back, silently wishing us the best of luck. I nodded at the group and they disappeared into the trees.

A shout came from the battlefield. "RETREAT! FALL BACK! WE'RE GOING WITH PLAN B!"

I looked at the Champions, they all shared a look of worry. "That's our cue! Let's go get 'em!" They cheered with me as we raced around the Ursa and chased down the ones that destroyed our home.

---

Luna turned towards Celestia and Miranda. "The Humans are chasing the others deeper into the forest."

"What of the Ursa Major?" Celestia asked.

"It's wandering back to it's cave."

"Discord?"

"He is laying in defeat near Ponyville, we shall send a group of Royal Guards to collect him."

Celestia sighed. "At least that's over with."

Luna focused in on the telescope. "Yes, but I suspect that the fight is still well underway."

---

I jumped on top of the fallen Hunter and plunged my blade into is heart. I pounced off of him and fell back into formation with the rest of my Clan. Dagger jumped off to the left and I heard a pained scream, seconds later he jumped back out with a slightly bloodier blade.

We had been picking them off while chasing them for a while now, what really had me worried was this 'plan B' they mentioned. What was the fall back plan when you failed to march an army into Equestria?

I dismissed that problem and focused on this new one, we were approaching their base.

---

Bulls-Eye looked at the few soldiers they had left, which wasn't many, he frowned and turned to Shadow. "What now? The Champions are on their way and plan B will take a while."

Shadow grinned evilly as he pushed a nearby button. "While you were busy being ominous and creepy I was busy looking around." A door opened, revealing rows and rows and new weaponry. "I found out that they brought some old toys with them."

Bulls-Eye smirked and grabbed the one that suited him best. "You devious bastard you."

---

We arrived at the base sooner than I would have thought, maybe time flies when murdering, we all stood at the edge of the treeline, watching for anything that might tell us what they had planned. When it seemed safe enough I hesitantly stepped out, everyone followed when nothing happened.

We sprinted to the small door on the side of the foundation, approaching it I stood with my back on the wall to the right and Dagger mimicking me on the right. I gave a nod to the Champion in front of it and he kicked it in. Honestly I didn't know what to expect, a few desperate Nomads to come charging out that Dagger and I would close line I suppose. Or maybe they would be hiding on the other side and jump out.

The Champion exploding was not one of the things I imagined. That;s right, as soon as that door swung open there was a light hum for only a moment and the Champion exploded into chucks that flew into the air and rained down on us.

"Get away from the door!" I yelled, everyone scattered except Dagger and myself. I poked my head around the corner and saw a wall of Nomads with a single Nomad behind them holding a strange cannon-like gun, I guessed it to be the cause of the Champion's explosion.

When he saw me he lowered the cannon and brought up an assault rifle, the rest followed suit and took aim. I ducked my head back only seconds before they opened fire.

As the bullets flew past us Dagger gave me a hard look. "I can take them out."

I realized what he meant and my eyes widened. "Are you sure you can handle it? You've never gone up against guns like this before."

I took his answer as a yes when he flicked out his blades and ran into the hallway. I poked my head back in so I could see what was happening. Dagger had used his unbreakable blades and armor to shield himself from the rain of bullets, he ran to the wall with his blades covering his eyes and throat. When he reached the Nomads he jumped into the crowd and started slashing, they stopped firing and I rushed in with the rest of the Champions.

He had already taken out most of them when I reached him, I gave him a look over and turns out the bullets had done little more than denting his armor.

I looked over the mess and nodded. "Good job, now lets go get the rest of them."

---

The sounds of hundreds of Champions echoed across throughout the halls and shook the foundation slightly, rows upon rows of soldiers lined up and prepared for their final defense. Many of them wished one another good luck, even more of them hid their fear, but all of them were thinking about the pure irony of the situation.

Here they were, desperately trying to fend off an old enemy that refused to give up.

But why were they here?

Because almost two years ago they became selfish and ignorant. They became drunk off of their power and wished to feel even more powerful. All that time ago they had one common goal, to get away and find sunlight. To save themselves and live lazily and happily for the rest of their lives in peace.

But no, two years ago they had detoured because they wanted to tie all loose ends. Two years ago they cornered the smaller Clan. Two years ago they overpowered them by sheer numbers. Two years ago they killed thousands of helpless people, men, women, elderly, children, even animals. Two years ago they angered the few survivors beyond comprehension. Two years ago they were scared off by a single survivor.

But now the few survivors were back. Now the survivors had cornered them. Now the survivors had managed to cripple their numbers, despite the large difference in numbers. Now they were in the building. Now they were coming for them. Now they were the ones winning. Now will be the final battle between the three Clans.

Now will be the decision of Equestria's fate.

---

We thundered through the halls of the enemy's base, not knowing what to expect. Now we knew that they had guns again we would have to be careful, I'm not sure how only Bulls-Eye's bullet punctured Dagger's armor. Maybe he had different bullets that could pierce armor but that wasn't what I was focusing on.

I had to focus on saving Equestria now, we had our fun and we had our revenge. Now a new fire was in my heart. All that distance away from me in Canterlot was thousands, maybe millions of people. Sure they didn't look like people anymore but they still were people. They didn't have to know about this fight, they didn't have to thank me, they didn't have to give me anything if we won.

This wasn't about revenge or saving them. This was about doing what was right, this was us taking a stand stopping the greater evil.

We rounded another corner and faced a large door at the end of the short hallway. It was obviously the door the remainder of our enemies would be hiding behind, being the only door we haven't checked yet, now we just needed a way to get in without being shot up.

I looked around the large hallway until I saw our way in.

---

Shadow didn't like this one bit, the thunder of his enemies had ceased what seemed like only steps from the large doors ahead of him. It cast an uncomfortable silence throughout the room. Everyone else was sure that they would burst through the doors any moment, but not Shadow. He knew this nameless foe, he knew that they were waiting for him and he would never put his own at risk. He was doing something and Shadow knew it.

But what? That was the thing about that nameless punk, he was completely unpredictable. He had given up on trying to figure him up a very long time ago.

Shadow held his hand up. "Shh." Everyone held their breath as he looked around the room, weird he could have sworn he just heard a strange noise. He moved slowly and carefully around the room, not making a single sound. He wheeled around suddenly and pointed at a wall. "Someone check that wall." He ordered.

The closest Nomad got up and hesitantly put his ear against the wall. "Well?" Shadow demanded. The Nomad stayed silent and stayed still.

Shadow quickly got fed up and walked over to him, he stopped in his tracks when he saw why the Nomad hadn't answered him. The blood trickled down his face and started forming a puddle on the floor at his feet, the blade was pulled back into the wall and the Nomad fell over with a clear hole in his head.

There was a quite stomp behind Shadow and he turned to see the Champion's Guardian fall out of the vent in the roof. He grinned dangerously at him. "Get ready."

---

He had little time to react. "They're in the vents!" Was all he shouted before the rest of the Champions exploded from the walls and started cutting them to pieces. The guns did them little help and most dropped them in fear or instinct and switched to their regular weapons, there was a few lucky ones that kept them but they couldn't get a shot without wounding or killing an ally.

I of course went right for Shadow and pictured mounting his head on a pike. Unfortunately he had similar plans and sprinted away from me, I didn't worry too much, he would be back. I figured right now I would help finish off the rest of the Nomads and Hunters.

---

Bulls-Eye's hands rapidly moved all across the control panel as Shadow entered. "How much longer?" He asked.

Bulls-Eye spared him a glance before returning to the panel. "Hard to tell, another minute or two for sure. You'll have to use your key in a little bit, I'll send someone for you when I need it.."

Shadow swallowed hard, one or two minutes was a long time to go up against a Champion. "Sure thing, I'll go get rid of that nameless dog before he messes anything else up. Once it's set they should back off."

The Hunter narrowed his eyes. "Oh, they'll back off alright."

---

There was a small raised platform in the center of the large room, which was where I was now. I had to find out what their plan was, what they were really doing. The rest of the Champions had it simple enough, corner and kill. Me, not so much, I had to find out what was going on behind the scenes here.

I could tell that they were all swarming near a part of the room but it was hard to pin-point it. I was just about to give up and join the fight myself when I saw a familiar figure expertly weaving his way through the fight, we locked eyes and I knew that right now we would see who the better leader really was between the Champions and Nomads.

He turned and ran out the far door, I hesitated but figured that the Champions were though enough without me. Deciding to remove a thorn from my side I gave chase to Shadow.

Running through the door I met his outstretched arm with my throat, as I fell I grabbed his arm and brought him down with me. He managed to flip over me and escape my grasp in one motion and landed on the other side of me.

"Clumsy dog, I should put you down." He spat.

I narrowed my eyes and jumped to my feet "Just try." I growled.

He accepted my invitation by jumping and spinning towards me, I then received a powerful kick the chest and crashed into the opposite wall. Giving myself a good shake I stared him down.

"Oh, I'm so scared." He mocked. I roared and swiped at him with my sword, he jumped back just out of it's reach and grinned. "See? You can't even touch me, how do expect to win this?"

I swiped again and he rolled to the left of it. "You've only led them to another gruesome death you know, all you've done so far is fail." I snapped and swiped at him again, and again, and again, and again. For every swipe I made he only took a single step backwards. I was leading him through the hallway and into the next room.

We had stepped through the door and onto a narrow catwalk very high above a concrete floor, I wasn't paying attention to what was underneath us but at a glace it looked like they had been using this as a storage for something big.

I slowed down for just a moment and Shadow seized the opportunity. He stepped forward and kicked me hard in the stomach, I bent over and he kicked me again in the face.

I fell onto my back and groaned.

You can't use brute force with this one.

I use what I want right now, I'm pissed off.

No one ever stayed alive disobeying that little voice inside their head.

Then I'll be the first.

Not if you don't watch out within the next half second.

I instinctively brought up the Guard and found it stopping Shadow's dagger just above my eye.

See?

You win this round.

With that said and done I kneed Shadow in his stomach and pushed him off of me. He was up before I was somehow but I didn't care at this point.

I faked left with my sword and punched him in his eye with my right fist, he growled and pulled out both daggers. "Fine, we'll play by your rules."

Half a second later I only just managed to avoid his hook passing just in front of my eye. He sliced again and cut my right cheek, I ignored the mild sting and focused. Once again the blade came at me except this time I had anticipated it and my sword was already moving towards his eye, but he was too quick, he grabbed it with his suddenly free hand held it there.

Neither of us were budging and we might have stayed there for a lot longer had it not been for the sudden announcement. The speaker system crackled to life and strange electronic voice echoed throughout the building.

"Countdown will begin shortly, I repeat, the countdown will begin shortly."

What?

Shadow understood it and glared at me. "Looks like I'll have to speed things up." He seemed to say to himself. With that said he kicked me back and pulled out a pistol from behind him I didn't notice before and aimed it between my eyes. "Save me a seat in hell." He hissed.

I narrowed my eyes. "I wont die yet." I returned. As he pulled the trigger I ducked under the bullet and tackled him into the railing, he tried to shoot me again but I grabbed his wrist and pushed it away from me.

He fired wildly as he tried to shake his wrist from my grasp. Bullets flew across the large room, bouncing off of walls and ricocheting off of the ceiling and floor. A bullet must have struck a pipe because there was a hiss and a black cloud of smoke started rising up from the floor.

I payed little attention to it and focused on wrestling this scum in front of me. Shadow suddenly ducked down and swept me off of my feet. I landed on the metal catwalk with a thud.

He was panting when he walked over to me and kicked my helmet off my head and over the catwalk. "I want to see the look on your face when you realize that you've failed again." He explained. He then stepped over me and pointed the gun at me. "Well, well. Even after you tried so very hard you just had to fail in the end didn't you?" I remained silent and stared him down. "Don't feel like talking do you? Fine, suit yourself." He closed one eye and aimed the gun.

Just then I punched in his knee and he fell forward in pain and I pushed him off of the catwalk, he scrambled for something solid he could grab onto and grasped my armor. We both tumbled over the edge and headed for the hard concrete floor.

Only we stopped not even half way from it. We had landed on something soft and fluffy, I regained my focus and saw I was resting on the smoke cloud that had gathered during the gunfight. I then noticed that Shadow was still hanging on by my shirt.

Twilight's cloud-walking potion, of course. Did smoke even count as clouds? Whatever, they do now.

I peered through the smoke to see Shadow hanging the the thick smoke, he only had one hand latched onto my armor and the other holding his dagger.

"Holy shit, pull me up!" He demanded.

I snorted a laugh. "Fuck that, you're going over and I'm staying right here."

I put the dagger to my throat. "You pull me up right now or I slit your throat and we both go down."

I glared at him. "After all this you think I actually fear death? You're stupider than I thought."

He raised an eyebrow. "What of your precious Clan? What will they do without anyone to guide them? If you die their deaths are certain, do you fear the deaths of another hundred Champions?"

I blinked and thought about it, when I reached a conclusion I stared him down again. "Yes, I do fear the death of the Champions. That's why I won't allow you to live." Without waiting for a reaction I took his hand holding the dagger and used it to cut off his other hand holding onto my armor.

He screamed in a mixture of pain and rage as his hand was severed and he fell to the floor below, he continued screaming until he reached the concrete with a loud thud and snap. I laid back on the cloud and waited for it to float me back up to the catwalk, it took longer than I would have hopped but when I could reach it I climbed up and looked for my helmet. Only to realize it went over the edge when Shadow had kicked it off. I figured I would return here once the battle was over, until then I had an invasion to stop.

I entered the large room and found that the only people in here were dead, the fight must have moved to another room. I decided to skip a game of eneeie-miney-mo and just head for the closest door. It was a single door that seemed a bit out of the way to me, it was probably a bad bet but my curiosity was setting in quickly.

I was not happy with what I saw.

Missiles, lots of them. This room was a launch pad for hundreds of missiles, plan B was to blow Equestria to high Hell and scavenge from the ashes. I couldn't let that happen.

Running out of the massive launch pad left me filled with yet another purpose to win this fight, and my fire grow even stronger.

I decided on going through a larger set of double doors this time, when the sounds of fighting filled my ears I knew I had guessed right. I sped down the hallway without so much as a second thought.

---

Dagger was beyond the point of rage, this was something rarely experienced by a single man, this was a fury so strong it would require new words to describe it. Every time he had found joy or happiness in his life it was brutally taken from him in what seemed like moments later to him.

This was all because of the neighboring Clan known as the Hunters, sure the Nomads had been assholes but it was the Hunters that made it personal. The Hunters had killed his brother, turned his home into ruins, forced them into hiding for two years, put Susan on the brink of death, and now they threatened to destroy the one good place left in this war-torn world.

You bet he was pissed off.

He had stopped using his blades now, for some reason he found them too slow, now he was using his bare hands. To prove his point he grabbed a nearby Hunter by the back of his head and smashed his fist into his skull with strength only his nameless friend could compare to.

Dropping the red mess that was once a man to the floor he continued his search for the Hunter's leader. He didn't realize where he was until it was too late. A boom sounded over the fight and Dagger looked up to see Bulls-Eye standing on a catwalk with a large sniper rifle in his hands.

What really set him off was the fact that it was pointed at the Champion's Guardian...

---

Watching a battle from afar is one thing, fighting in one is another, but to just stand there and watch your friends throw themselves at enemies for what they believed in and not do anything more than stand there and watch is a whole different thing entirety.

It's a strange thing for a person like me, watching others fighting for me out of sheer admiration and loyalty. I've gotten so used to fighting for myself and myself alone I forgot there was others in world sometimes. But this, it was almost mesmerizing how they seemed to almost worship me.

For what? What have I really done that's so great? I'm good at killing people, that's about it. Maybe I'm missing something, I don't know, it's all these lies... Just because I admitted I lied doesn't mean everything is cleared up, I still have some things to clear up.

I was reminded that I was in still in a battle through the courtesy of Dagger tackling me to the ground the same time a thunderous boom echoed across the large room. I rolled him off of me and was about to give him a piece of my mind for randomly tackling me to the ground when I saw the blood slowly pouring out from under him.

Without thinking I shouted for help and rolled him onto his back as gently as I could, which wasn't very gentle because he let out a pained groan. But he was still alive, although I wasn't sure for how long.

I tried to get a read from his eyes but it was all nonsense, he couldn't think clearly enough to let me know what he was saying. The next thing I noticed was the bullet hole in his armor just left of his heart, another inch or so and he would have suffered a fate similar to his brother's.

Four Champions rushed to my side, after one look at Dagger they knew what they had to do. Two of them carefully grabbed him at each end and were about to lift him up when he made a sound that sounded almost like a word.

I held up my hand to stop them and walked up to him. "What is it?" I asked.

He coughed, his eyes were still unfocused so I had no idea what he was trying to do, then he grunted until I started to recognize words. He spoke quietly and slowly, his voice sounded downright awful and nothing like it was before the shot. But I could understand him.

"Y- You... Pro- Promise... Me." He went into another coughing fit, after he calmed down he tried again. "Sa- Save, no. Guard... Guard the Ch- Champions."

I agreed in the time it took me to nod my head. "Of course. Now you get patched up, I'm not going to let you die today."

He weakly grinned and the two Champions lifted him up and rushed him back to the camp, I nodded for the other two to follow them in case they met any dangers on the way back.

I looked back into the battle with one last purpose, I had to keep a promise.

---

Bulls-Eye carried the smoking gun with him back to the control room, he saw that Dagger had blocked his shot and he was pissed. That was the first time he had ever missed. At least he had taken out one of of them. He had hopped to splatter their precious guardian's brains across the wall and stop them, but now that he had failed he knew he would hunt him down.

He kicked in the door to the control room and grinned at the control panel. Walking over to it he set the missile guidance for mainly Ponyville and Canterlot but set a few in between just in case. He wanted them in the air as soon as possible and looked over the settings, it would take at least ten minutes to get all the missiles set and ready to launched.

In ten more minutes Equestria would be dust...

---

The few remaining Hunters had retreated into the control room with their leader while the rest of the Nomads guarded the door outside, a quick head count told me there was little more than fifty of them. This was too easy, we still had hundreds of Champions.

I almost felt the fear emitting from them as when we charged them, a well combined sweep with the other Champions eliminated the rest of the Nomads. Just like that the last Nomad lay dead on the floor at our feet, but I would get sentimental later, there were still the Hunters we had to deal with.

I led the final push and kicked down the door as the announcer informed us that we only had eight minutes left. When I looked the room over I saw that it was completely bare of anyone being here. The others circled me and spread out to search the rest of the room. I made my way over to the console and looked read the large screen, it was fairly easy for me to figure out, all I had to was select cancel launch and it was over.

I didn't like it, that was way to easy for the Hunters.

There was a murmur from the crowd and... I guess the Hunters actually gave up this time. Maybe they learned their lesson and fled to the boat and went back home, whatever it was I guess... It was finally over.

Eventually we shrugged it off and made our way out. When the last of us were leaving through the narrow hallway I decided to have one last look around. I told them I would catch up and I walked back into the large building. I followed the narrow hallways all the way back to the large room where the majority of the fight had taken place.

It's a strange feeling, revisiting the sight of a bloody battle, it feels as though you're reliving it and at the same time like it happened in a distant life. I turned around to meet up with the rest of my Clan...

Only to be met with the business end of a baseball bat.

---

Ice cold water was splashed on my face, it did it's job and woke me right up. I spit the little bit of it that had gotten into my mouth onto the floor and looked around, Hunter, lots of them. I was back in the main room and was surrounded by Hunters and tied to a chair.

The first one I noticed was Bulls-Eye, and he was standing right in front of me with an empty bucket.

He grinned evilly. "Well, I thought I was lucky when you all decided to leave. But now that you're here I feel like it's my birthday!"

"Yeah? Well untie me and I'll giver you a little present." I spat.

He laughed evilly. "Joke all you want, but you'll accept it eventually."

"Accept what?"

He stared me down. "That you finally lost. All your time of fighting, deceiving, and lying, and you lost. There's nothing more you can do, you and your Clan will finally stop being a thorn in my side."

I scowled at him. "Then why would you destroy all of Equestria? All of this for this one Clan?"

He shook his head. "You know, you say you care about Equestria but all I hear is Miranda. You couldn't give a shit about them if you tried. All you really want to protect is you're stupid little girlfriend. Just another lie I suppose."

"That's where you're wrong. While I do care about Miranda, I really do. But I'll still fight my hardest to protect this land, these Ponies... These Bronies that live here, they've all earned their place. They deserve happiness, the one thing I've always tried to give. Why would you destroy the last happy place on this Earth?"

He chuckled. "So that's what you think they are, tired old people enjoying their happiness. But you're the one that's wrong. They're not people anymore, they're animals, pests, and they're taking all the spoils for themselves."

"No, they're keeping the good things for the good people."

He shrugged. "We'll see what happens."

"You mean when you launch a barrage of missiles at them?"

He grinned. "Something like that, but I was thinking of something more... Nuclear." At my jaw dropping he laughed and explained. "What kind of boat do you think could carry thousands of people here? An old war boat, that's what. Just so happens that it was still fully stocked and ready to launch a couple hundred nuclear warheads at the enemy."

"But, if you want what the ponies have then why destroy it?"

Another chuckle. "I don't want their useless shit, I just want the sunlight and some more room. The Ponies are in the way is all." With that he turned around at walked to the control room, but stopped at the door. Turning to his few remaining men he gave them one last order. "Oh, and don't be too rough. I want him to watch Equestria fade away when the countdown reaches zero."

Which basically meant keep me barley alive for a couple minutes, but judging by their expressions I don't think they heard him. Before I knew it they were all taking turns trying to knock out my teeth. All I could do was take it and listen to the countdown, five more minutes.

Then this one Hunter came up, he seemed very hesitant. He pulled his fist back like he was about to punch me, then he winked.

Like lightning he whirled around and knocked out the hunter behind him, before the rest could react he pulled out his assault rifle and mowed them all down. Which was fairly easy seeing as how there was only forty or so left and they were all lined up.

He moved behind me and started cutting my bonds. "Why are you helping me?" I asked painfully.

He spoke very seriously. "I can't let those little Ponies get destroyed."

I spat out some blood. "Really? Your boss seemed to be okay with the idea."

He finished and moved in front of me. "Yeah, well my boss isn't a true Brony."

As I rubbed my wrist it clicked and I laughed. "Son of a bitch, you're that Hunter who had all the My Little Pony stuff in his house aren't you?"

He stepped back. "How, how did you know?"

He stood up and cracked my neck. "It's a long story, maybe I'll write a book about it. But right now the only one standing between us and and saving Equestria is Bulls-Eye."

He grinned and passed me the Guard. "Then let's go get him."

I returned his grin. "You would have made a damn fine Champion."

He nodded his thanks and led me to the door to the control room. At my nod he opened the door and was about to rush inside.

Then his head exploded.

I jumped back as his blood splattered across the door.

"Dammit!" Bulls-Eye yelled from within. "That's the second time I've missed you!"

I stepped over the dead Hunter and into the room. Bulls-Eye threw his rifle down in rage and picked up his spear. "You think you're so damn special." He hissed. "You think you're so damn great, so damn STRONG!" He yelled and speared the monitor.

He glared at me. "Well not anymore! You've lost this time, you can't stop this! I'm going to destroy Equestria now, just to finally beat YOU!"

I twisted the Guard back into a sword. "You know I wont give up until I stop breathing."

"I can arrange that."

He charged at me, spear ready. When he was close enough I spun to the side to avoid him and sliced the back of his calf. He roared in more rage than pain as he stumbled forward to catch his balance.

He jumped forward and swept at me with his spear, I stopped it with my sword and only just managed to hold him away from my throat. He slipped my sword and pushed past my throat, but he did manage to leave a nasty cut just below my chin.

"What's you're plan now dog?" He said venomously. "Why don't you just lay down, accept defeat, and die? What could possibly be driving you at this point?"

We started to circle each other and I gave him my answer. "Easy, even if you win, even if Equestria is ashes and the Champions fade from existence, even if I die here today. You will always remember that I was the one that got away, I was the one that stayed, I was the survivor, and I am the one that fought you're tyranny to the very end. And if I win, then I get to know that I got rid of another evil in this world."

"But you can't win. I broke the controls, you can't stop the countdown, the missiles will launch and destroy Equestria."

I narrowed my eyes. "Not if I can help it."

He motioned for me to attack him.

I accepted his invitation and charged him, he lunged forward predictably and I batted it away with my sword. In an attempt to stab his heart I pulled my sword back, a mistake, he moved his spear behind me and knocked my weapon out of my hands and it went sliding across the floor.

He grinned at me and swiped my feet. He drew his spear back and aimed it at my heart. "Any last words?"

I grinned. "Just two." I pulled both feet back and gave him a hard kick chest, he was knocked away and into a wall, leaving me free to search for my Guard.

I quickly discovered that it had slid into a nearby air vent and it was way too small for me to crawl into. Before I could make a decision my left arm was pinned to the wall with Bulls-Eyes's spear.

I roared in frustration and mostly pain. He walked over with a smug look on his face. "Oops, did I do that? Here, let me help." He yanked the spear out as heard as he could, luckily it hadn't gone all the way through so my arm was mostly intact. I had little time to enjoy the fact because Bulls-Eye had me by the throat.

"Not so strong and powerful without you're favorite now are you?" He managed to throw me across the room, I slid on the floor a little before I crashed into the wall. Not wanting to die on my ass I staggered to my feet. "Wow, you really are stubborn."

I stared at him, after a while he realized I didn't having anything planned. He put his hand up to his chin. "What was it that really set you off? There was something I had to call you're girlfriend..." He thought for a moment but grinned when he remembered. "Oh that's right, a whore. Miranda is a tiny, little, good for nothing whore."

Rage quickly boiled inside me and I rushed him in my fit of rage. He only got his spear ready to strike. When I got close enough he predictably lunged at me with his spear and I jumped and landed down hard on his spear, snapping it in two. In one swift motion I spun around, picked it up, and pointed it at his throat.

He stared at me in awe. "What are you really doing here?"

I locked eyes with him. "Isn't it obvious? I'm saving their souls." I plunged his spear tip deeply into his throat and he fell over dead.

I stood there panting over his bloodied body, I had finally ended this bastard's life. I had finally gotten my revenge on him, the one I had promised so long ago.

But the automatic countdown reminded me of another promise I had made earlier today. I still had to guard the Champion's from the nuclear missiles that were launching in two minutes.

I quickly ran out of the room while cradling my recently speared arm with my good one. Entering the large, bloody room I easily found the room that held all the missiles. I took a good, long look at the room. It was completely slick, not a single thing in it but over a hundred nukes ready to launch.

One minute to launch, one minute to launch.

I had one last idea.

I raced around the large room, picking through the fallen bodies of Hunters and Nomads. I knew that one of them, just one of them had to-

There it was. I pulled the entire belt off of him and rushed back into the launch pad. Only to trip on a dead Nomad, of course, it was like he was being an asshole even in death. I dropped the belt as I fell and hit the ground hard with one arm still broken.

The mechanic voice started to countdown backwards from fifteen. I was in a panicked rush at this point. I found the belt at twelve seconds and kicked open the door at seven.

With little time to think I pulled the pins on most of the grenades on the belt in my hand and threw it in between the two closest nukes.

Five.

It was another countdown, except this time it wasn't just Miranda and Eddie. It was all of the Champions and Equestria.

Four.

The roof groaned and slowly started to separate in two.

Three.

Nothing.

Two.

Oh no.

One.

---

Miranda's eyes teared up as she saw a large mushroom cloud form in the distance. The grenades had gone off at the last second, and the Champion's Guardian Angel had been standing only feet from the massive blast.