MickeyAdaptus

Boop barrage in 3 2 1 @Pvt. Cerberus @Maple Bat @Johnny1226 @Lunalicious Alexshy @Lunar Echo @Princess Twilight Feri @Snow

The first creature got hit by Luna's first beam, it hit the creature in the backend, near its tail, not only did it damage the creature, but it left for an interesting outcome. Due to being hurt, the worm wasn't focusing on where it was going and went straight into Celestia's halberd. Taking this much damage caused the creature stop moving for a while. It became apparent to those who where fighting that these worms actually had a notable weakness, since they didn't have eyes, they had to rely on their instincts and other things like smell and feeling, but during the moment they get damaged greatly and experience a good deal of pain, they lose their focus, often resulting in an underground retreat or blind attacks in a desperate attempt to hit their enemies. The second creature was still above the ground and tried to crawl back into the ground, but it was slow in its progress and was still above ground. While the third creature tried something different. this time it burrowed itself into the ground straight down with a great amount of speed, and then went upwards, and managed to propel itself into the sky, while it couldn't fly, it had used the momentum of the underground launch to itself straight into the air, and was trying to attack Evelyn and Jack. "I might have an idea, though we have to make this work fast. If you could hold me in your claws tightly and keep me as close to you as possible, then I should be protected by the shield, tough i have got to make sure my arms, legs and tail don't stick out, then I should be good, and can always use my magic to strengthen the shield like I had told you before. Then we can try multiple things, if you have happened to bring some bombs with you, I could hold those and drop them in the mouths of these creatures when you happen to be near them, or... we could do fast straving runs, tough ice breath might not be a good idea, in the desert it will meld way to fast for it to have any proper effect on these creatures, and then comes the matter with-" Jack suddenly got interrupted by the creature who had propelled himself into the air was heading straight for them. 'Those things are capable of propelling themselves like this?! O gosh, this is bad!' Jack thought to Evelyn with extreme worry and also a hint of fear, as he did not know what to do, not that he could do much except as he was right now. The 4th and 5th creatures both quickly dug underground, and were trying to evade Luna's beams that she was firing in the ground. At one point they were trying to both attack Luna at the same time, both from opposite directions as they would try to bite her the moment they would emerge.

The first one who had tried to attack to attack Luna staggered back a bit from the gunshot, and when it noticed that Luna had flown out of the way, the creature decided to quickly burrow in the ground again, preparing for another attack. The second one roared in agony as Celestia's halberd damaged the creature, the stab itself was pretty painful, that was something the creature could wether somewhat, but it was the moment that the halberd started getting dragged through its flesh, it was one thing that would hurt any creature if a weapon would be grinding through its flesh with such momentum. The creature itself was lucky that it didn't organs like other creatures did due to it being a worm. The second creature didn't really bleed, but rather had a nasty deep cut in its body, and slowed the creature down. Also the 4th and 5th creatures noticed what happened to their fellow friend and decided to focus their attention on the 4 fighters rather than the other civilians who wouldn't be capable of doing that much other than a distraction and do slight damage with their weapons, wich only a few of the civilians even had proper weapons. But while this was going on, the 3rd creature had been underground this entire time... and it went straight for Celestia because while she was running, the 3rd creature had been able to catch up to her via tunnelling underground while she herself had been focused on the second creature. The third creature shot out of the ground in front of Celestia while she had been running and smacked her away with the side of its head, which the creature had been using the momentum of tunnelling upwards to increase the impact of the headbutt itself, and while it didn't do any sort of devastating damage, it did have alot of force in the impact itself, similar to doing a bodyslam to someone. "Celestia had mentioned running, which is a good idea, but we won't really be able to attack back during that, we should perform hit and run attacks, we can't perform outright attacks on these things that are capable retreating back into the ground so fast, I think when one person is being chased by one of the creatures, the other person should engage the creature with a fast attack and retreat quickly. Just constantly attack the creature when you have not targeted yourself, if we keep doing that in a cycle we can overcome them, we might have a proper chance then!" Jack called out to the 3 of them He laid down on the saddle with his belly and held on tight to Evelyn, as he was certain these creatures would try something desperate if they were starting to lose, which could involve attacking Jack or any of the other citizen.

The movement suddenly stopped when Celestia had used the spell, but then... 3 big things shot out of the sand, they where as tall as the largest tree's in the Everfree forest, they looked like massive worms, only these things had a big gaping mouth, that was round formed with sharp teeth around every corner. Not only that, among their entire body where tiny legs spread all over the place, which seemed to be used for climbing things when not using their body propel themselves through the ground. One of them had been hit by Celestia's spell, and had gotten more aggressive but also more alert than before. "G-guys, those things look repulsive..." Jack stammered as he became a bit pale, he was sometimes afraid of enemies, but he seemed to rather big fear of insects, and here near him were creatures who looked like massive insects. There where 5 of them, 3 above the ground who where observing Celestia and Luna, even though these creatures had no eyes, they seemed to have these senses, which makes them capable of smelling and feeling out anything flesh related, this was a terrifying aspect as they could seek out their prey in no time... 1 of the 3 tried to attack Luna, lashing forward like a whip towards her, attempting to bite her with its big mouth. The second tried to attack Celestia via a side manoeuvre, trying to catch her off guard. While the third one dove back underground and was moving its way under the Alicorns in circles, and it would try to attack via underground whenever it decided it would be the best moment. Everyone else in the third group was cautious, some of the people were glancing around with fear, while others tried to somewhat distract the 2 other worm creatures. One of the more braver people had drawn his weapon, which happenend to be some sort of makeshift spear. "Come at me, ugly creature! I will take you on!" The person shouted to one of the creatures who was towering above him. But unfortunately... the 5th one had been crawling underground as well... "What are you wai-" The person got attacked midsentence by the 5th creature, as the creature had killed the person with one strong bite, it had been rather easy because the mouth's of these creatures were only a bit bigger than that one victim who had been just devoured. Jack himself did not know what to do, he was both beyond scared and had not even the slightest clue what he was going to do againts such things that could where using the sand as their personal aquarium.

"Thanks, Evelyn, and I also do wonder why I haven't turned yet, I would call it a miracle, a miracle forged by our ancestors, and we wield it, it makes us strong. Call it silly beliefs, but I will never stop thinking that." Jack replied with a smile. "In fact, with the 4 of us, I believe we can take on the whole world! It's something I have never felt before, for once I no longer am afraid of what might happen, I felt like that perhaps a while ago, but then something happenend, I could feel it... Something or someone is helping us, and I bet I know who it is.." Jack said with a smile as he looked up into the sky. Someone walked up to Luna when he had heard what she had asked. He handed her a bandolier, which did seem to fit Luna, even though it was not made for ponies to wear, it still would fit. "These things are called Bandoliers, usually we put our pistols in what we call holsters, but bandoliers are overall more efficient since you can also store ammo and other items in it, but at the same time it won't comprise any space if you are planning on putting on armour. And you can craft these from leather, it is one of the best and simplest inventions made I must say, easy to produce and efficient at the same time." "My name is Edgar, I am a historian, or well, used to be one before.. you know. Anyway, don't feel forced to give me something in return, we have to help each other to survive, and this is one of those things." He said before he waved her goodbye and joined some of the others. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was about 6 hours later, everyone had decided to set up a camp, this had been made necessary since Luna and Celestia hadn't been able to keep up the spell much longer and thus this was the opportunity to gather some rest and wait before they could continue travelling again. Jack was still laying on the saddle, somewhat dozing off, when he suddenly heard a sound, he couldn't yet make out what it was, but he had a feeling it was something bad. "Guys heads up! Something is coming our way, or no wait... Multiple things are coming our way! I can feel some sort of movement, I can't tell how many or what they are, but it's heading straight towards us!" Jack suddenly called out to everyone as he had a bad feeling about this. Most of the others also stood up and looked around them cautiously, some of them seemed to be really afraid or tense, especially the younger ones. "Wait I can hear it too!" Someone called out. "I can't see anything approaching, but I can sure hear it... Just what in oblivion is going on?" someone else said. Everyone was starting to panic, normally they would be capable of somewhat readying and calming themselves, but they had no idea what was coming, some wanted to flee, while others were sticking together, it was becoming a bit of chaos. The members of this group weren't soldiers, after all, they where citizen. "Guys... Perhaps we should do something.." Jack advised though he did not know what to do himself, he was holding on to Evelyn's neck pretty tight. It was not apparent what was coming their way, but it was obvious it was something that wanted to attack them...

"Thanks," Jack said as he accepted the canteen and started drinking from it, but not by a whole lot, since he was very conservative when it came to resources and food, his early days of survival have proved that. "But don't worry about it too much, I have always been the type who has a problem in one way or another, whether it being kidnapped or having some sort of illness. I even remember that I used to have a curse, in which I would eventually turn, that dreaded mark... Yeah, I remember that all too well. I have been experiencing such things my entire life, I have grown used to it you know? This means I won't stop fighting againts this virus, I will fight with every fibre of my body because you know how stubborn I can be hehe." Jack replied to Evelyn with a smile as he handed the Canteen back. He then looked at Luna, who was still levitating the pistol. "Well, you store it away like any other weapon, and tread it as such, because these things are like a portable crossbow if you think about it. But make sure you put the safety on, which should be located somewhere on the pistol." Jack mentioned to Luna. "Perhaps you should keep that weapon around a while longer? For in cases, if you are out of magic and you need to engage enemies at range, then this might help you." "Or actually... You might have find a way to use such a weapon without magic, for in case things get desperate you know? Perhaps learn to use your hoofs and wings to utilize the weapon, heck, you can even use your tail, don't hesitate to be creative with the way you fight, that might actually be a good advice for Celestia as well. Learning to use any kind of weapon makes your odds in fights and survival better, I can sure remember when I learned how to use a bow, granted I am not very good at it, I can still use one with decent results!" Jack advised.

Charlie Charlie are you there? bites finger AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH Charlie has bitten me!

Life is a hard cycle, we no longer do things because want to do them, we do them because we need to survive. Everything we do is in reality purely selfish, someone might act like they want to always help others, but in the end its down to the selfish gain of wanting to feel good, there is no such thing as having no selfish desires, which sums up all of our intentions, only some have more selfish reasons than others. There is no such thing as a person without selfish reasons, even the most helpful and friendly person does it for his or her own benefit without realising it, it is in our nature to hide up our bad sides and mask them with our good sides to make better impressions, but the answer is, is that a good way to act? I see helping others as a good thing but said person shouldn't deny that it's for his or her own beneficial reasons as well, making up a lie about it, whether intentional or not, is yet another way to benefit to your own gain, telling the truth is less beneficial, because you will hurt yourself with that very truth in the process, but who am I to decide whether someone is selfish or not? If there is one thing that angers me, is that someone uses the good intention excuse as a way to get more fame and attention, while I do feel like helping others, I won't take any credit or acknowledgement from it, I don't want to stand out from the rest like some sort of puffed up ignorant who feeds on attention and power, it is how this entire mess started... -William mentions to Garrow in a philosophical way, voicing his oppinion on what he thinks of the term hero. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Well, I guess water would be nice, to be honest, I haven't really drunk anything in a while. It is pretty hot in the sun after all.." Jack admitted, he, however, looked up when he heard what Luna said and couldn't help but giggle, even though he didn't understand what Luna had exactly meant since he didn't know what a *videogame* was, he did always seem to find it funny when Luna was acting that way.

The second group was about to move out, the plan was being talked trough, most had already been covered, but there where still some parts unclear despite a plan had already existed due to previous engagements. The leader of the second group had made some errors at first, and now a new leader for the second group had been chosen... Jack was looking around for a targe that Luna could shoot at, but he then saw a tiny scorpion walking somewhere nearby. "You can shoot that Scorpion over there, but be sure to chamber the magazine in the pistol and rechamber it. I guess if we shoot the scorpion we gain more food as well, or atleast... not all of us can it since you and Celestia are Herbivores." Jack said to her He then thought for a moment. "While we are on the subject, how much food and water do we have with us? I don't know because I haven't been told." He said. "Evelyn, are you carrying those things in your saddlebags by any chance?"

Sounds good! I really like that classic themed type of music (especially since its Christmas themed!)

"Sorry about that, but I didn't expect you were the one to spot me. I thought at first someone else would spot me, but that prank failed big time." Kiran said with a laugh as he regathered his weapons. "I guess the 2 of you should get ready, they are going soon. I will be joining the second group as well, but in secret, I am sure not everyone here will be happy to realise that I have returned, personal grudges and all that you know? Anyway, you are right about Festus, he is going through something that seems to bother him greatly, he will want to talk to you about it, I could see it from his face last time I saw him, so keep a close eye on the kid yeah? He is gonna need." Kiran said before looking around cautiously. "Yeah, there is my queue... Hey, I had better go now before anyone else spots me, and do please keep my return a secret for now alright? I rather not have a mob of angry people after my backside just yet. See you later!" Kiran said before quickly sneaking away, and then ran somewhere into the desert, without anyone spotting him. But he would meet them again eventually since he would come to them before the actual attack would happen. Someone walked up to Ember. "Hey there, are you coming? We are about to leave." The person told Ember. "I guess you are right, I cannot help but think about such things, my father knew alot about wildlife, so it's obvious that I would come to learn such things as well," Jack said back to Celestia with a smile. He then heard Luna's comment and thought for a moment, before he had a rather intriguing idea. Jack over a bit over wards the saddle with a bit of painful effort and was looking through the things that Evelyn had brought with her, but Jack had put in something himself before they had left the city. He then found what he was looking for and revealed a Pistol, though this had a silver touch to it, and it looked pretty powerful from its size. Jack also grabbed a few magazines and threw them to Luna, or rather, he tried to throw them, which ended up rather awkwardly as they just fell to the ground right next to where Evelyn was standing. "Luna, Do you think you could try and fire this handgun with your magic? I am interested to see if an Alicorn or Unicorn would be capable of doing that since we have never tested in theory." Jack asked Luna, hoping to make her lose her boredom as well in the process.

Kiran's expression turned into a frown when he realised that Ember still didn't recognize him, and he was also well aware she was joking in the slightest. "Calm down, It is me Kiran, that one guy who you had talked to before, I even remember you wanted to fight me sometime, but it is not very appropriate to do it now, is it?" Kiran told her with a sigh. He then threw his weapons to the ground to the ground. "There, happy now? Or do I have to lie on the ground with my hands behind my back like some sort of convict?" Kiran asked her with irritation. 'Well, I used to be on convict in a sense... But whether that conviction was justified is a rather debatable, especially if a death sentence is connected..' He thought with irony Everyone started following Luna and Celestia who were keeping up the spell, they were heading in the direction in where they were originally all heading towards, while the first group was travelling the opposite direction to fight againts the enemies while the second group would be tracking down the massive war machine. "Same here, but I am confident this is going to work, but at the same time, I am somewhat concerned about the wildlife around these areas. Think about it for a second, there is nobody keeping nature in check, and with all the infection going on, some animals will revert to a more predatory state while others will start to adapt to the infection and start growing counter mechanisms, mechanisms that will prove equally deadly to all of us as well. Or what I am trying to say in short-" "We could encounter animals that are very strong, as in having hides that could very well be tough enough to counter bullets and magic attacks alike, nature is scary when it is being influenced by the ongoing tragedies, and it's trying to bite back twice as hard..." Jack reminded everyone.

Kiran was silent for a moment, but his smile had widened, he had felt the force of the axe and knew he better not keep this prank going on any longer. 'She sure does let not let herself get fooled that easily, tough a bummer I couldn't keep this joke running longer.' Kiran tough. "I have to give you credit, you are not one to let yourself get fooled by such excuses, I like that." Kiran said as he used his normal voice again. He then stood up and looked at Ember's face with a wide grin. "Do you recognize the voice and orange eyes? If you don't, you might remember that one person who gave you that little performance a while ago where your friend Festus to came to my aid? You sure realise who I am if you put those puzzle pieces together." he said. "I guess you are right then, Perhaps we should get moving? Like Evelyn mentioned, we cannot wait any longer." Jack mentioned. He then into the far distance behind him and gulped. "Yeah... We really should get moving fast, I can't tell why but I don't have a good feeling if we stay around here any longer." Jack said as he nervously shifted around the Saddle.

Kiran stopped gathering things but didn't look at Ember yet, but during this, an unseen smile crept on his face. "Who? Me? I am just a mere refugee passing through the area, and then I saw all these people over here, so I thought, why not scavenge anything that I can find? We are all victims in the end, so there is no harm in doing that." "But my name is Theodor, i am gathering these explosives to excavate an area, i am planning on burying to those surviv- erm infected alive under all that Ruble. I need to keep my sick sister safe after all... Family is everything, am i right?" Kiran told her, but he was lying about it all, he wanted to see what Ember's reaction would be, because he enjoyed to play these kinds of pranks on others, even if it would go wrong, he was confident he could handle it. But he had a feeling she wouldn't recognize him, he purposely had talked in a more deeper voice and had mimicked a small accent, making it look like he was not from around here. Around 15 people gathered around the 4 of them, most of them not being soldiers but rather voluntary travellers or those who needed to go somewhere and had decided to travel with this group in the meantime until they could head out again. "I sure hope everything will be ok, despite the spell that will make us invisible to any outside eyes, there are some enemies who can find us by smell and sound, so we cannot lower our guards." Jack noted

'I guess it comes to down to what you want to see from me? Do you want me to fight hordes of enemies or rather see me infiltrate somewhere and bring the place to the ground? I can do it all, just be specific about what you want to see from me. Actually, hold on to that answer for later.' Kiran told her. 'But first... Watch that body bag over there, i had asked someone to bring something special before the army left the city.' Kiran said, with a hint of enjoyment in his voice The artefact started to glow violently, and after that one of the body, bags started to tumble over like something was moving inside of it. Slowly but surely, the body bag was opened from the inside, and a black with brown coloured Terran climbed out of it, the Terran had a very familiar set of orange eyes. It was Kiran, or rather it was him in his remade body, it turns out he had asked Jack to contact someone, and then this person had placed Kiran's remade body into one of the body bags, he had then used the same method as when he had controlled Jack's body, since his remade body had this same DNA as the one that Jack had injected himself with before. When he had crawled out of the body bag, he started to sneak out of the camp, where only Maple and Ember would be capable of seeing him, since all the other soldiers were to busy with gathering up. He then sneaked over to the area where the supplies were stored and started to arm himself, grabbing things like Assault Rifles, Pistols, grenades, and even grabbed what looked like to be some sort of Machete. But he was also grabbing explosives, LOTS of explosives. "You don't have to apologize for that, you saved my life because even though deep down he wouldn't want to pull the trigger, he might have actually done it, not willingly, but more like a forced feeling, he is just having trouble with handling all of this, I don't blame him for that." Jack said to Evelyn as he was still shaking a bit. "I.. I just didn't know what to say, I have tried helping people before with words, but this was just hard for me, seeing my friend going through this devastating feeling. But I do personally think Ember can help him through this better then I can since she knows Festus alot better." Jack said with sadness, but he couldn't deny that he felt bad about Festus leaving him, it felt really bad. "So... What are we going to do now?" Jack asked everyone.

Jack was very grateful that Evelyn had saved him from that because he knew what anger and grief could do to a person, even if he was not sure Festus would have really pulled the trigger or hesitated at the last moment. It had scared him greatly, but he did understand why Festus did it, he could relate all to well and did not blame him for that. Seeing as he really couldn't stand anymore with his current strength, he decided to sit down in the sand and take deep breaths. "She is right Festus, you really need to calm down... But I do know how you feel, I have felt this before as well. And yes, I am going to die, I can't and won't lie about that, but it has always been this case for me, I will always be hunted down, get kidnapped or killed in one way or another, its how it will always be for me. But that doesn't mean we will stop being friends, I know its hard... I really do, I won't have to explain to tell you how I can relate to this as you already know. Listen..." Jack said carefully, he then paused for a second. "If I do end up dying, and I won't be there anymore, can you do one thing for me? Find my friend William, I know deep in my heart is still somewhere out there. Just please remember we will always stay friends, no matter what happens, even if I am death, our friendship won't break. I don't know what to say further, I am not good at such talks... But he really is, he showed me, I think he can show it you as well..." Jack said, but it was obvious that Jack was very scared, he didn't know what to do further, he wanted to hug and comfort Festus, but at the same time he was too afraid. Jack was giving everyone else pleading glances. 'Use your mechanical body? That does sound like an interesting challenge, though for me it won't be that much different from piloting stolen Mech's, so it won't be that unnatural for me. You know what? You have got yourself a deal, just tell me when you are ready to switch and I will give you one heck of a show. Tough preferably at a place with lots of enemies, I can't exactly show off if I have no unwilling participants.' Kiran told her. He couldn't help but chuckle when Maple had kicked the group leader, as he somewhat enjoyed the fact that she had done it instead of questioning him about that. Some of the soldiers started laughing when their group leader got kicked, it was obvious that they had no shortage of humour, which was especially useful in these desperate times. "Fair enough, I deserved that one." The leader muttered as he stood up and dusted the sand off him. He then started to form a plan. 'Don't feel forced to listen to his plan, I can instead explain it in greater detail. I am already starting to gag about the fact that he is trying to explain it regardless despite he knows that he is not good at it... The frog should have asked somebody else to do it instead..' Kiran said with a sigh. 'I will just go ahead and tell you in a bit, but in the meantime...'

Seeing as Evelyn wasn't going to help him climb up, Jack decided to stand up, or atleast partly. "Festus... I used to say this all so many times as well, back when I had nobody and was living like an animal in the streets while infected where trying to claw off my face and turn me into one of them, but then my group found me, took me in as one of their own, and then I met someone, he told me things that changed my view on it, because deep down I knew he was speaking the truth, no matter how bitter and dark it was." Jack said, then he gave a long pause before talking again, since he was going to say the very thing that he had been told long ago, and was echoing through his head like a cherished memory. "The truth is that friendship will only have a point if we give it that point, in the end, you would have to decide how strong your bond with your friend is, you would have to decide if it is worth to stay at your friends side even beyond the grave and carry his memories with you forever, or if you see that as a pointless gesture and want to look on the more practical side rather then beliefs and leave your friend behind once he has passed away, that is the choice we all have to make. We can deny the fact that our way of living has become nothing more than the struggle for survival, but it won't change the fact that we will have to live as homeless people who will die one way or another, but the way we perceive this is different for each of us, if you think friendship is your biggest desire to have in your current lifestyle, then go for it, make it worthwhile and give it the purpose that you desire, instead of questioning the purpose of friendship, you create that very purpose, because we created life the way it is, not because of some natural events, WE are the reason things exist, not nature, or any other thing, we shape life the way we wan't, and every single of us has to co exist with the desires of others, that is how we all came to be. My desire is for this friendship to exist, so despite all the horror among us, all the tragedy an death among us, we still have each other and know that we will never be separated again, no matter the distance or place, whether dead or alive, we will always remain friends Jack, that is my desire in life. It is YOUR choice if you perceive this the same way, it is your life, not mine. My desire about this is so strong that I am even willing to make a scar on my hand just so show how good friends we are, are YOU willing to go so far? There is your answer Jack, we decide our own outcomes, others may influence your desire, but it will always remain yours in the end, and nothing can change that, only yourself." "Those are the words he told me, I am not sure if you can agree with them, but it really did change me, more then anyone can realise... And I am going to turn into an empty shell, I know that... But will that really stop us from being friends? We-oof!" Jack paused midsentence as his head was turning red from the pressure with trying stand, previously he had the still leftovers of adrenaline to help him move easily, but all that moving had put to much strain on his body before, it had been very stupid of him to even fight at that time. He had really hoped she had helped him climbed up as he wasn't going to hold it much longer. "What I was saying, don't let it get to you too much, I have gone through the same thing so I know how you feel.." Jack said with a sore voice. "You make some valid points, but there are some things I should mention, our group has done such things before, and we tend to include these things in our training schedules, I would have expected someone to actually inform the 2 of you of how we would do things, but clearly nobody has... If you prefer I can tell you 2 our current methods we use in the situations we are going to face? And well, we can't guarantee anything, this is not a situation where we have that luxury, we had to little time, and most of all we don't know much except for that war machine, there isn't much we can guarantee if we only know so much." The leader explained. 'Oh boy, what have you done this time Karth? Have you chosen a Rookie to lead your group? Not his worst decision that I have seen him make, but a bad one nonetheless.' Kiran said in a rather mocking and comedic manner. 'Just drop it, for now, I will tell you the plan along the way, and then you can relay it to your friend. Because it seems this guy has been chosen for his knowledge and fast leading skills in battle, but not for his planning skills, and you just happenend to catch on to his weakness. Just don't start worrying about this factor, because one person is an inexperienced in planning doesn't mean that it will go wrong, heck, I don't even believe this guy is the person who does the planning, it wouldn't make any sense for him, I bet someone else has been assigned to the planning while he is just there to lead the actual attack. But if this still doesn't reassure you about it...' 'Then punch him in the face, hard.' Kiran said. "I am glad to hear that those machines atleast have some form of weakness, but i do personally think you should have a little more trust in everyone here. I am not saying you should tell everyone about the machine's weakness, but atleast to the ones who know what they are doing, or to some of the more experienced researchers." Therisha said. "You are aware of how many lives could be saved if you told them this secret? Entire groups of survivors have been wiped out because they had no way of fending off against such a machine, it has always been the *run* tactic againts it, because how could a bunch of bullets, close combat weapons and explosives even harm such a thing, they can't, I can remember I once saw a 6-year-old child getting killed because one of these machine's legs stepped on the poor kid." Terisha said as she gave Windphaser a confident glance.

"I do, it must not be easy in what the second group will be doing, even though none of us can really destroy such a monstrosity, they can still divert its attention away from everyone else. Because we will have to face the facts, we could shoot, stab, or use some kind of magical trick againts it, but none of that will do anything againts other than perhaps slow it down for a few moments, you need weaponry that is around the strength of the very weapons that thing carries. Apart from very heavy cannons and ordinance, EMP Bombs or effects could probably help, but then it would be debatable on how big the EMP would need to be in order to work on such a big machine? Who knows." Terisha said as she had her hand on her chin, which was a gesture of thinking. "But the terrifying prospect of this machine comes not from just its size and destructive capabilities, but for the fact how they even managed to build such a thing, let alone multiple ones, because none of us would ever be able to build such a thing, atleast not without a minimum of 14 years and lots of resources, but even then... We wouldn't have the technology that they use for these things, but from what I can assume... Our enemies have been known to build fortifications at a concerning speed, building entire coastal defences that would take months to create, yet they have been known to do it in a matter of 2 or 3 weeks... Sometimes I am beginning to wonder if any of this makes sense, perhaps there is a bigger motive behind it?" She speculated "I guess we will never find out, because few bother to take interest in these kinds of subjects with everything going, yet so many lives could be saved if we at least had more researchers aside from the current ones that we have." 'I think I have slept enough for a while, I am going to wake up now, good thing I have learned how to wake up from lucid dreaming, its one of the things I practice.' Jack thought as he woke up afterwards and crawled underneath Luna's wing. Jack tried to stand up at first but then decided againts it, as he would be wearing himself out fast from making to complex movements with his own muscle strength due to his current state. "Evelyn, do you think you could help me up in the saddle real quick? I rather not wear myself out, as I do need to heal.' Jack thought to Evelyn. He then spotted Festus and looked at him with a concerned expression. "Festus, are you alright? Have you been crying?" Jack asked him, he did notice the bruises on his fist but he rather not mention those injuries. "Greetings everyone, I will be leading the second group, and as you all might be aware, this is going to be very dangerous, fighting is one thing, but having to outrun a rain of ordnance being fired towards you is another. And as you all know, we will be trying to lead that war machine away from the first and the third group, but even with first groups effort in holding back the enemy, you can expect a good amount of enemies to vanguard the Warmachine, which means instead only trying to lure the machine away, we will have a fight on our hands as well, wich means we can only devise a proper plan once we know what we are entirely dealing with, any questions?" The leader asked towards his group.

"Yeah, that is a shame, this did seem like a good spot..." Terisha muttered. "Anyway, we should all move out now, we have stood around for far too long." She mentioned as she started walking ahead, of course, this was the sign that the other soldiers of that group had been waiting for and also started moving out. "You coming as well? We will plan along the way." She mentioned to Windphaser 'Thanks! And I don't know where Festus is either before I closed my eyes he was still there.' Jack thought to Evelyn. 'Could you perhaps ask the others if we can get ready to leave soon? I had seen everyone already preparing, tough i hope Festus shows up soon, we can't leave without him.' Jack mentioned. The leader of Maple's group had also been mentioning for everyone to gather, as they were going to leave any moment, though it seemed their group was a little smaller then Windphaser's group, but not by much.

The person who had asked nodded, to which everyone else agreed, they didn't need to know more about Windphaser to realise what kind of fighter he was, his words confirmed it all. "My my, you really know what words to use to describe not only your fighting style but your personality as well, colour me impressed," Terisha said with a smile. "But Windphaser here is right about the fact that we should move out, or rather..." Terisha said as she suddenly got an idea. "I have been thinking, our enemies are tracking us, and we are the group is going to fight them, wouldn't it better if we actually just stayed at this place and turn it into a fortifiable position? The others will move out soon so I don't think that should be a problem, and Karthspire didn't order us to go to any specific direction or place, just that we would have to hold them off and fight them, how does that sound Wind?" She asked Windphaser. In Maple's thought processor suddenly came a voice, a very familiar one. 'Guess who is coming with you? Me, I would never want to miss out such an opportunity, and I have been inactive for far, FAR too long.. I will keep you up to date, my first objective is to acquire a temporary body of course.' Kiran told her, though there was a slight pause in his words as if he busy doing something at the same time. 'Just don't tell anyone else I am around, not everyone would be happy. Happy hunting.' Kiran told Maple, but the moment Kiran had finished his sentence, it was completely silent again, as Kiran had disconnected his thoughts from Maple's processor very fast as if he was in a hurry for some reason. Jack was still sound asleep under Luna's wing, as he was lightly snoring, which came out to sound pretty comedic. But while he was sleeping, he was also dreaming, but he was utilizing something that he remembered for a while ago. 'Evelyn, can you hear me? I remembered last time I was in a dream I could hear your thoughts, so I had figured if I lucid dream, I could still talk to via my thoughts.' Jack thought to her, he personally found this genius that he had found out he could do this while dreaming.

One of the soldiers raised his hand. "Sir, if I may ask, what are our fallback options should we need to undertake them? From what I can gather, we won't have any form of cover and staying at one constant position in the open desert would prove fatal." The soldier asked. "We have many options, the strategy is like usual if you feel like you need to fall back due to any circumstances from having wounded to needing to relocate, tough be responsible for your actions, don't cower out and leave your brothers and sisters to fend for themselves unless you absolutely have no choice, and also give your team members a heads up if you fall back. Proper communication between team members is crucial for maximal teamwork, if one strays away from the flock, the rest will have to take action for the lost one as well, remember that." Terisha pointed to the soldier, she had decided to answer this question as she presumed that Windphaser was not yet aware of how their own strategies were performed. Then another soldier raised his hand, this one seemed to be a more curious type of person. "We are now falling under your current command, but we don't know any of your own methods in battle, let alone what type of fighter you are other then what we can presume from your appearance, could you tell us more about yourself? Rather not about your personal life, but about how you fight, if you are to lead us, we must know how strong and experienced you are, we are all qualified to show our skills, so wouldn't it be proper if you did the same, sir?" He asked, in which, a few others nodded in agreement. "Well, you heard the man, you up for that?" Terisha asked Windphaser with a laugh. Jack yawned as he blinked a few times, but he looked up when he heard Festus talk to him. "I am doing pretty decent, the bullet is out of my body now, and I have been bandaged, tough my ribs and inside damage still need time to heal, I don't know how long, could be weeks, perhaps even months, who knows, but I can sure say I have been sleeping comfortably for the last hours." Jack with a smile as he was half awake. But then something happenend, when Festus was looking in Jack's eyes, for a brief 2 seconds, Jack had gotten that same effect as to when Festus had noticed Jack was infected by looking into his eyes with that brief glow, only this time instead of just a glow, they are completely golden, only his pupil was still black, the eyes itself where an almost complete copy to those of an infected eyes, but when Jack then blinked 2 seconds later his eyes where back to normal, wich Jack himself was completely unaware of, because only Festus could see it during that moment. "Luna, could you tell Evelyn that i want to ride with her later on when i wake up? I want to spend some time with her as well." Jack told Luna, but moments after he had told her that, he fell asleep again, unlike other moments where he would have just stayed awake, he was so comfortable right now that he just fell asleep by it, which was a good sign.

"And now, you will all participate in a test, to see if you are all worthy enough in the eyes of the chaos gods, follow me, and we shall take it!" Korphian said as he started walking through the tunnels, his cult following him, which was around 50 ponies, all wearing dark red robes. Korphian himself was a light grey unicorn with a white man and tale, he looked to be around 65 years old, and his face was covered with strange and ancient text, the written text itself was very small, and lots of text was plastered all over his face like some sort of markings. As they emerged outside, the other ponies and nobles were very wary and disturbed by all these cloaked and hooded ponies that had suddenly emerged, but started to back away as these hooded ponies suddenly drew their weapons and had sinister grins plastered on their faces. "Today, we mark the skies with crimson, the sea's with blood, and the tree's with fire, for we are the bearers of the word! Now heed my warnings unbelievers, you have all served under 2 princesses, but let me ask you this, how would think of the prospect that there is something better? Something more promising to follow? Today, all of Equestria will see the first glance of the gods, they gaze upon us with their unholy favour!" Khorpian said out loud like a speech, both to his cult and the surrounding ponies alike, but the speech could be heard all over Canterlot "And now... It is time, for all of you... To BEAR THEIR MIGHT!" He shouted out, as this was the very sign that all of his followers needed, and so it happened... The cultist started attacking both civilian and soldier alike, and went through the streets of Canterlot, murdering their victims, burning down their houses, and perform vile rituals. And it was hard to stop any of us, as all of them were spreading throughout all of Canterlot, making it very hard to track down the source and eliminate all of them, even from Canterlot Castle, the flames could be seen. It was a tragedy... it was a full-fledged heresy, but not this time not in an Imperial world, but in the very capital city of Equestria itself.