MLP: Equestria

by Draconis187

Part 6: The Price of War

MLP: Equestria Part 6 The Price of War
Author: Draconis187

Thanks to Starswirl the Bearded’s book, we know had blueprints for many forms of field and siege weaponry. There were designs for catapults, ballistae (it is the proper plural, I checked), trebuchets, rams that stood out the most. The griffon, Gilda was very good at copying documents; she copied the pages five times in 2 hours! We sent the copies to Celestia and Luna who had begun construction as soon as possible. This information was lost due to the fact that the last war was over 1000 years ago and therefore there was no need for weapons of war.

There were a few other breaches in the south, east and north over the next few weeks but these were minor skirmishes. I told everypony that they were testing our defences and were trying to wear us down. Thankfully the Griffon Empire had sent troops to assist us. When I sparred with one I could tell immediately that they were far more seasoned warriors than any pony. They had armour in a variety of colours: some were black, red, blue, and green, amongst others in a variety of shades. One of them told me that each division wears a certain colour to distinguish themselves from each other. Some of the names were Iron Claw (soldiers), Broken Wing (they were griffon medics), and Heatstroke (pyrotechnics) to name a few.

Of the five ponies that went to scout Alcanteraz Prison, only two came back and they were brutally injured. One of them died whilst in hospital and the other had to remain in hospital for a few weeks. He could not confirm if Alcanteraz was Chrysalis’ base of operations, they were attacked while going through Manehattan. The city had evacuated once we believed that Chrysalis was at Alcanteraz. Lucky for us I guess since that confirmed our target.

A week later…

Three days, three days until we reach the outskirts of Manehattan. The Star Guard, Nightmare and I were tasked with taking the train station so we could have a supply line. Rainbow Dash, Wonderbolts, several griffons and Pegasi ponies were to provide air support. The earth ponies and remaining griffons made the bulk of the actual army. The unicorns dealt with our new siege weapons, but those were arriving by train so it all fell on us to take it. Celestia was commanding the ground forces while Luna was to help the artillery. Everypony has said their goodbyes to their loved ones, we all knew not many of use will make it back but this was a battle we had to fight. We were in our own special divisions like the griffons were: my group was designated as a Special Forces Unit since we were all Alicorns, one of the commanding griffons called us ‘Silent Strike’ so we adopted it as our callsign; Celestia’s group was called ‘Celestia’s Hammer’; Luna’s group was ‘Moonstrike’ while our air support was called ‘Dawn’s Wing’.

We were flying to Manehattan; the only weapons we carried were the ones we made thanks to Gilda’s help. We had longswords, crossbows, axes and hammers. I made some special blade launching weapons after the perimeter breach, we all wore two sets under our wings and we used magic to activate them. As a reloading measure I added a very thin but strong line at the back of each blade so they could be reeled in after firing. I also had all our armour coloured with a resin from Zecora that would make the armour turn black at night which was perfect for night raids.

Three days later…

We arrived on the outskirts of Manehattan under the cover of night. We asked Luna to not raise the moon as the additional darkness would help us blend in. The HUD had nightvision capability so we could easily see our target. Nightmare was a pony of the night and said she could see as if it were the middle of the day. Looking into the distance I could see some of Manehattan’s buildings were missing chunks out of them and there were a few small plumes of smoke. I wondered why did the feel the need to do that to the city?

There were five changelings on the platform while several more were patrolling the skies. Due to complaints about the noise, the train station had been moved to the outskirts of the city a few years ago so if we attacked, it would take some time before reinforcements arrived. The train carrying Moonstrike’s weapons was 10 minutes away, standing by for us to give a signal that the station is safe. Celestia’s Hammer was waiting, Dawn’s Wing was waiting. It all fell on Silent Strike to take the station without drawing to much attention.

The changelings had not noticed us as we approached, we split into two groups: Nightmare and I with some of the guards went left, over the tracks while Lyra and Bon Bon went right in a classic pincer manoeuvre. Once we were in position I waved my hoof at Lyra, she then nodded and we attacked.

(Nightmare’s POV)

Once Starlancer gave the signal I fired a few bolts of lightning at some of the flying changelings which sent them plummeting to the ground. Some bounced off the roof of the station while others just ate dirt. Starlancer threw a few daggers at the changelings on the station platform, a dagger stabbed one in its chest and continued through and came out of its back, taking what ever organs it hit with it. Lyra took out her katana and sliced a changeling’s head off, splattering its blood all over the place. Bon Bon fired some of those blades from under her wings at a changeling. They connected but when she reeled them in, the changeling came with it. The changeling was still breathing and once it got close to her she took out her hammer – its head was almost as large as her - and slammed it on its head, killing it instantly.

These ponies weren’t prepared for war but they knew what was at stake: if we lost here we would lose Ponyville, each other, Canterlot and eventually Equestria itself. They had to toughen up considerably, and thanks to the battle at the perimeter they did. We had to show them all that we would not show them any mercy, that if they want to kill us they would have to work for it. A few tried to flee but we killed them too.

We took the station without loss, but that was because they did not expect us. Starlancer fired what he called a ‘flare’ which looked like a firework but when it exploded the light lingered for a few minutes. We heard some chatter coming from inside the city, they knew we are here. Celestia arrived with her forces, while the train pulled up and offloaded its cargo, Rainbow Dash landed with her group and Twilight got off the train with the rest of her friends. They were all wearing the Elements and Twilight gave Rainbow hers. The plan was to get to Chrysalis and Discord and use the Elements on them. We all knew our jobs and split up.

(Michael’s POV)

Celestia’s Hammer was to keep the bulk of the changelings occupied. Moonstrike was to attack the changelings before they reached Celestia. Dawn’s Wing’s job was air superiority and close air support when needed. Silent Strike was to protect the Mane Six and infiltrate Alcanteraz amidst the confusion the battle would surely cause. The Mane Six would then use the Elements of Harmony to defeat Chrysalis and/or Discord depending on who we found.

As we entered the city we saw the changelings come into view, there were a huge number of them. Celestia’s Hammer steeled themselves and readied their weapons. Moonstrike started firing the trebuchets, ballistae and catapults. Dawn’s Wing went in to engage the airborne changelings. As Moonstrike’s weapons were making contact with either the ground or with a changeling they exploded. We put a hell of a lot of gunpowder inside hollow shells and hollowed out ballista bolt tips that would ignite upon impact.

Silent Strike and the Mane Six went into the nearest alleyway and made our way to the harbour. Luckily our black armour hid us while Twilight used a camouflage spell so the Mane Six blended in with us. I saw a few scenes from the street as we got close enough to see. Celestia was still holding while Spitfire from the Wonderbolts was being carried away, Dash tried to break for it so she could help but Applejack grabbed her by the tail and stopped her from giving away our position.

“This is war Dash, there are never any winners, only survivors who continue to fight on. Honestly, the dead are the lucky ones.” I told her. We made our way to the harbour with only a few close calls. A changeling found us by accident but I threw my halberd at it before it could call for backup. Another time Fluttershy almost gave us away when she saw a changeling unlike any of the others. It stood on two legs; had chitinous armour covering its body from head to toe; even its head was more flat but its eyes were the same. Its body looked like it got overdosed with steroids. What was weird was the fact that it had hands, and it was carrying a lamp post like a club. As we ventured further we saw more and more of them. Soon we got within sight of the harbour which had remained intact and still had a couple of boats and ships remaining.

As we looked on to the harbour I saw we were not going to get through unless Celestia has gotten through all the other ones behind us. I counted at least 40 of these Changeling Hulks as well as 23 normal Changelings. There was a way for them to get through, oh well time to have fun.

“Everyone, I’ll get their attention and you make it to the boats.” Nightmare grabbed my hoof; I could see she didn’t want me to go. “Sorry Nightmare but I will come back, I promise you.” With that I ran towards the group waving my arms and generally acting like Pinkie Pie and Surprise do.

Turning around I saw that I had also attracted the attention of the changelings at the rear of the forces attacking Celestia’s group. “You want a fight, I’LL GIVE YOU ONE!!!” I shouted and changed to REX. I fired off my railguns at the Hulks, splattering them into paste; I turned around and fired my back Anti-tank missiles at the changelings coming from behind me. A few got too close so I flattened them with the railguns’ magnetic rails. I even caught the iron in their blood after intensifying the magnetic field in the railguns and fired them like ammo. I saw Silent Strike and the Mane Six make it to the boats and then they left for Alcanteraz.

I turned my attention back to the changelings attacking me and kept up my onslaught, firing everything I had. As much as I don’t use up ammo, the reloading uses up my strength to the point where I can no longer move which was not bad since the would not be able to break my armour plating (nothing short of a HEAT round would damage the plating). My radomes detected that Celestia was slowly losing, so I kicked my engine into high gear and moved through the changelings, either kicking them with my feet or hitting them with my railguns.

(Nightmare’s POV)

As he ran off we waited until the changelings gave him their undivided attention. We then made a break for it to the nearest boat. Dash and Fluttershy pushed us while we had the motor on so we would go faster. As we left the harbour I turned back to see Michael had turned into a large metal monster, which ran off into the street towards Celestia’s group. We were now on our own.

“Now listen up everypony, we are on our own now but we must not lose faith. We will defeat Chrysalis and Discord but only if we work together. We have all seen the blueprints for the Alcanteraz so we will cut a path for you so you can use the Elements.” Everypony nodded. I looked back at the harbour again and saw Michael was gone.

We were soon attacked by changelings defending the path to Alcanteraz. I fired off some more lightning at them which scared them off. Twilight was prodding me with her hoof and pointed to the island the prison was on, or rather ABOVE. The prison and its surrounding grounds were floating in the air above the island that was still in the ocean. We made landfall on the island section and we carried the non-flying members of the Mane Six up to the steps which lead up to the main building.

We saw more of those creepy, muscle-bound monsters and charged at them. I stabbed one through its chest with my horn which seemed to kill it instantly. Lyra ran her blade through one’s chest as well. Bon Bon hit one so hard that it flew off the facility and plummeted to the ground below, they apparently can't fly. Soon more and more were coming out of the buildings and straight towards us, we were going to get slaughtered soon if we weren’t careful. All of a sudden Twilight raised her head and her horn glowed brightly. Then all the changelings vanished but Twilight collapsed from exhaustion.

“When I was teaching Michael how to teleport he asked if it was possible to teleport only those around them and not themselves as well. I guess he was ri-” She fainted so I put her on my back and we went into the largest building.

There were many corridors and stairways as we went through the building, searching for either Chrysalis or Discord. As we went deeper into the building we were seeing more and more strange green goo all over the walls and ceiling.

“Aw come to visit my little ponies? How nice of you.” Said a voice, I looked all over but I could not find the source. “Over here, my dear.” This time I saw it, him. This must be the ‘Discord’ I heard about. He had a serpent like body; a scaly red tail that had a white tail tuft at the end; his head resembled a pony’s; he had on long fang and mismatched pupils; his left claw was that of a lion and his right was an eagle’s; even his wings were mismatched: one looked like a Pegasus’s wing and the right looked like a bat’s; his left leg looked like a goat’s and his right was a lizard’s; a goat horn on the left hand side of his head and a deer antler on the right. He was as the stained glass window in Canterlot depicted him, the Draconequus, the God of Chaos and Disharmony, Discord.

“So you are Nightmare Moon huh? How delightful, and here I thought it was just going to be Twilight and her little friends.” He turned his attention to Twilight who still had yet to wake up. He teleported right next to me and poked her on her side. “Wakey wakey, why is she asleep?”

“She overexerted herself when she teleported those changelings off this floating island. The rest of us on the other hoof? We are going to beat you and Chrysalis.” I said. He teleported away and was hovering above us again. He was laughing hysterically.

“Please by all means do try but you need ALL the Elements in order for them to be any good and quite frankly you are one card shy of a deck. Now, how about we some fun?” He snapped his fingers and then all of a sudden we were in the grounds outside the building. “Now then, this game is called ‘Survival’ which ever pony lives after 30 minutes are up, I will take them to Chrysalis. The rest that don’t? Well you may need to call your next of kin, let’s begin!”

He snapped his fingers together and then we were surrounded by changelings along with a large grandfather clock, counting down 30 minutes. We all readied ourselves as they charged; I finally took out the weapon Michael made for me: two identical curved scimitars. I was uncomfortable using weapons but I had little choice this time. As they came I stabbed one through its chest and sliced another one’s head off and as I did so the blade continued until I cut it through its back, taking its wings with it. Lyra fired off a few spells and Bon Bon smashed a changeling’s head into the ground. Blood was flying everywhere but I was unable to move much since Twilight was still unconscious on my back.

Discord was hovering above all of, bringing more and more changelings for us to fight with a snap of his fingers, still laughing. We were starting to get exhausted, we needed some help otherwise we were not going to last the next 10 minutes we had left on Discord’s clock. Lyra got knocked unconscious and Bon Bon was standing over her, protecting her friend with every bit of strength she had left and some of the Star Guard were dead or badly injured. We needed help, and soon. We heard a whistling sound coming from above us and all of us looked up, including Discord and the changelings. The whistle was coming from some small metal oval shaped containers, falling towards us. They hit the changelings around us and exploded. After the dust cleared, we were safe for the moment as these containers had killed every changeling around us, their bones, blood and guts were all over the grounds. Lyra somewhat regained consciousness and pointed up to the sky with her hoof. As we all strained our eyes to see what Lyra was seeing, I noticed a strange object flying quite high above the prison… Michael!

(Michael’s POV)

After I fought and trampled my way through the changelings, I saw Celestia was nowhere to be found. I found one of the griffon commanders of a group called ‘Terror Wing’ and asked him where she was. He seemed a little shocked over a metal monster talking to him until I reintroduced myself.

“She got hit pretty badly about 10 minutes ago so Broken Wing took her to a field hospital we set up by the train station. Her sister is attending to her and since they both left the troops have started to lose hope.” So the situation was far worse than I feared.

I had to get Luna to get back to Moonstrike and help keep up their morale but first we still needed to clear the streets of changelings. My revision of the original REX comes with a small electromagnetic/photon cannon situated inside the cockpit codenamed ‘Eclipse’, its weakness is that it needs 3 minutes to charge and I only had enough energy to fire it once. I opened fire with my other weapons, the free electron laser cut through the changelings like a hot knife through butter but it had to recharge ever minute for a 2 second continuous beam. I used my knee mounted grenade and missile launchers for the Hulks and the back AT missiles at the flying ones. ’30 SECONDS UNTIL FULL CHARGE’ The cannon was nearly there, and I could already see that once I arrived their morale had picked up a bit.

‘ECLIPSE READY TO FIRE’ I opened up my cockpit which also split sideways down the centre and four magnetic rails extended from inside the cockpit. Electricity crackled and arced along the rails and the Eclipse fired in one large stream of red, blue and yellow energy; afterwards I reverted to my human side in my AC clothes and collapsed.

I was on one of the Dream Islands in the Dream World but it seemed slightly different from the rest, I felt that I knew the place. Then it hit me, it was the clearing I fought Icarus on several years ago when he ‘evaluated’ my abilities by trying to kill me. I heard a familiar roaring of plane engines and looked up, it was Hades the aircraft I was lost from my roster when I got to Equestria, but before I could do anything I woke up. When I woke up I saw the ceiling of a tent. Red Heart, a white pony from the Ponyville Hospital was looking over me.

“You’re awake, we were all worried.” She gestured to Luna, the Terror Wing commander and Celestia. Celestia had one of her wings in a sling; there were multiple cuts across her body; there were also some nasty ones by her neck and she seemed have a cut that ran from her left eye to her nose, forcing her to keep that eye closed. She noticed I was looking and she pulled her mane over it.

“Don’t worry about me Michael, how did it go on Alcanteraz?” they were all worried, they must have thought I was the only one to get back. I was about to answer when my HUD lit up with an S.O.S. signal from Lyra and Bon Bon.

“Haven’t been there yet, I separated from the group so they could get to the prison. No time though, they need help. I just got an S.O.S. signal from them.” I yelled as I tried to run out of the tent. Everypony tried to stop me from leaving saying I needed time to recover but I could not let them die. After I got out I could see it would take me a while to get to my friends and by then it would be too late. I checked my roster hoping it was there… it was! Hades just as I remembered it, the blueprints must have come together while I was unconscious so I activated the protocol.

My arms extended and split into two sets of wings; my body lengthened and five sets of tires came out of my chest, neck and thigh regions. My legs became wider and shorter; my clothes fused with my body as they usually do when I change (it’s why I never need a change of clothes every time I change into something); my body too heavy so I went onto my landing gear. My head elongated and split into a twin nose design; my eyes became the cockpit’s screen and my body finally became completed horizontal and rigid. My feet opened up into engine exhausts and my legs split into two so I had four engines in total. The good thing about Hades is the several multi-directional nozzles on the top, underside and front of my by body. The underside ones were larger and more powerful than the rest due to the fact I use this on planet for VTOL. I grew two smaller wings by the cockpit area; two of the larger wings were under the other set and had a forwards sweep design (like the Su-47 Berkut) and the upper wings were slightly swept back (Like the R-101 from Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere), the design was a strange combination but it gave a massive amount of manoeuvrability. Once the transformation was complete I fired up the VTOL engines and took off for Alcanteraz.

As I flew by, some changelings tried to get in my way so I fired off missiles and my four nose mounted guns. The changelings I missed I killed with the turrets on the top and bottom of my fuselage. I approached the Alcanteraz Prison facility to find it was floating in midair. I pulled up to an altitude of 35 000 feet which was far higher than the hovering facility. I saw down to the prison grounds and saw Nightmare, the rest of Silent Strike and the Mane Six fighting some changeling Hulks. I saw that Lyra had fallen as well as Twilight who Nightmare had laid on her back. I targeted the changelings and dropped some smart SFFS (Self – Forging Fragment Submunitions, think of them as mini bombs dropped from a box with many holes). They hit their targets and my friends were unharmed for the most part, I then went into a dive and aimed straight at the ground. Before I hit the ground I changed into Starlancer and created a small crater at the point of impact.

Getting up I saw the sun was rising and looked to Manehattan. Celestia, Luna and the rest of our army was on their way to Alcanteraz to lend support since I cut a massive path through the changeling forces. I ran up to Nightmare, concerned for her and my friends.

“We are fine now, thanks to your timely help. Twilight is just unc- oh she is awakening.” Twilight had started to stir.

“Hey! Don’t just ignore me! Hello, almighty god of Chaos here.” I turned around to see what could only be Discord and told him to shut the hell up. He was physically taken aback. “I call foul play, nopony is supposed to interfere in my games.”

“The time for games is over Discord.” Said Twilight who had gotten off Nightmare’s back but she was still seemed weak on her hooves. “Let’s do it girls.” The Mane Six powered up the Elements and were encased in a bright white light. A rainbow like the one at the wedding fired from them as Twilight opened her eyes which had turned completely white.

“NO, we were just starting to have fuuuu-” Said Discord as the rainbow circled him. After the light and the rainbow disappeared Discord was still there, unharmed. “Well then, it looks like it didn’t work but I have to go, so much chaos to spread, so little time to do it in. Ta!”

With that Discord vanished, and the facility started to lower down back onto the island it came from. The rest of the army made landfall and met us in the grounds. We left most of the army outside so Chrysalis would not be able to escape. We were about to set off but we stopped when Twilight collapsed.

“Don’t worry… I’ll be fine.” She was not fooling anypony. My HUD was showing her vital signs were getting low, dangerously.

“Sorry Twi, you will have to go back with the medics.” She tried to protest. “You are in no condition to carry on and if you did you could die. Just go back, for your friends. We will try to at least capture Chrysalis until you get your strength back.”

She nodded and Broken Wing put up a new field hospital in the facility’s grounds so she went there. We could only hope that she would pull through, her vitals were getting worse with each minute. Bon Bon took Lyra to the hospital as well. Celestia said that Bon Bon and her were going to look after them while we were gone. We all assembled and delved back into the facility.

We searched for ages, killing changelings one after another but we were coming up short with finding Chrysalis. We got down to the lowest levels of the facility and found that the changelings had built a tunnel system under the prison. We would have seen it easily from the sky but we were too preoccupied with the floating half of the facility. As we went through we could see more green goo all over the place and we were encountering more Hulks but they seemed to be getting stronger. We found multiple tunnel systems we were not getting lost but we were wasting time. I couldn’t use REX as the ceiling was too low and I would have caused a cave-in.

After searching for a few hours we found a huge central chamber and in its centre was Chrysalis but her body different from what I remembered. How she got out of the mirror was one question but her body was another matter entirely. Her old thin frame was gone, she was so fat I doubt she would have been able to move so much as a muscle; she was about 3 times her old size; she was much longer; she had 4 pairs of legs and she was laying blue-green eggs at a continuous, slow rate (about one every two seconds, I counted). Her face was the same but she looked as though she was in a lot of discomfort. Some of the smaller changelings were picking up her eggs and taking them into the many tunnels that led out of the chamber, I could see the old mirror inside the goo off in a corner. There were a few Hulks guarding her but we dispatched them easily enough. Chrysalis saw us and she started to cry.

“Please, you have to help me. Discord did something to my body. I can't move anymore, all I do is lay more eggs which hatch into those monstrosities you’ve fought. Please you have to stop me.” She looked desperate. Without warning her body expanded slightly and she laid about 50 eggs at once and when her body calmed down she was laying at a slightly faster rate. “You see? I can not control myself, I keep getting bigger and my changelings wont obey me otherwise I would have made them lead you here instead of fight you. Please end this, I don’t care how kill me if you have to but please make it stop!”

She was a terrible sight, but the Elements… I contacted Bon Bon via the HUD for a status update on Twilight. I got no response, maybe it was because we were too low underground. I looked at everypony and turned into REX, everypony was looking rather shocked at me, thinking I was going to kill Chrysalis. It was an idea but she could have information on Discord. I charged the Eclipse, entrenched myself and raised my head towards the ceiling above us. Once it charged, I fired the cannon. The energy made a hole large enough for any of us excepting Chrysalis to fly through. I almost instantly received a message from Bon Bon, I was very worried. Wasting no time I turned back into Starlancer and flew through the tunnel, Nightmare followed with me.

As we entered the tent we could see the situation got worse for Twilight. As my HUD brought up her vitals I could see she was beyond hope, in her attempt to use the Elements despite her condition, she seemed to have written her own death sentence. Celestia was over Twilight, her horn glowing brightly. She was trying as hard as possible to heal her student; I could see she was not succeeding. Celestia was crying, Luna was trying to heal Twilight as well.

“Twi! Come on you need to pull through.” Nightmare said. “You were right that day, I did find the magic of friendship. Please I don’t want to lose my friend, please hold on.” She stood over Twilight and her horn glowed as well.

Try as they might, my HUD was showing no change. Not even gods can hold off death forever. Twilight nudged Nightmare and I stepped into her view as well. She was smiling despite knowing she did not have much time left.

“We had some good times Nightmare, Michael. I am glad to have had friends like you. We are all lucky to have friends like you.” Twilight said softly. “Nightmare, you must carry on for me, for all of us.” With that she used her magic to pick up her tiara and placed it on Nightmare’s head.

Lyra had gotten up off her bed and came over to the bed with Bon Bon. “I’m sorry Princess; I won’t be able to send you any more messages about friendship.” Celestia shook her head softly.

“No Twilight, you have demonstrated a trait all good friends share: one’s willingness to sacrifice themselves for each other. I Promise Twilight you will never be forgotten, we will all make sure of it.” Celestia said slowly. As Twilight looked to each of us we nodded, assuring her we will never forget our friend. She smiled and closed her eyes. My HUD showed her vitals flat line, Twilight Sparkle was no more. We all cried, Nightmare and I held each other; Celestia cried into her sister’s mane and Lyra and Bon Bon were holding each other.

As we left the tent Twilight’s tiara started to shine. Nightmare threw it off her head and as it touched the ground, it shattered. Without the Element of Magic the others were useless. We flew back into the chamber, and gave everypony the bad news. The Mane Five cried and Chrysalis was shocked. As I looked at the mirror an alternative solution to killing Chrysalis presented itself. I took my halberd and broke through the goo and picked the mirror. I placed it over Chrysalis and concentrated. Chrysalis started to get sucked into the mirror, despite her now colossal size. I put the mirror on the ground and saw Chrysalis was back to her old self. I looked behind the mirror and saw a rather large slug make its way through one of the tunnels; there goes the theory that you need an Alicorn.

We all came out of the hole with the victory over the changelings. We boarded the train and headed back to Ponyville. How can we beat the Discord without our most powerful weapon? We lost many ponies, including most of the Wonderbolts. Only Spitfire and Soarin’ survived, barely. Spitfire was told she would never be able to fly again and Soarin’ had to have front left leg amputated because it caught an infection from a wound. Looking out the window with Nightmare I started to wonder: now what? Was Chrysalis a victim in all this? I looked at the container we put the remains of Twilight’s tiara in. Are the Elements truly lost to us? In war there are no victors, there only survivors.