The ponies began to regather back at their camp after their search.

“We can’t find her,” Honey Mead said dissheartenly with Puck next to her.

“I couldn’t find anything either,” Metalance said as she walked up with Whirly Pop.

Tits Up, Pot Shell, Goldie, Rat Tak-Tak and the cows had stayed at the camp and watched the two group of ponies reconnect.

“Where’s Ferngully and Vepicon?” Pot Shell asks.

“Could question,” Metalance notes, “He used to be a soldier and should know the rags when searching for somebody who spontaneously runs away. He should be here about now, unless he just now came across Mousecakes or was attacked by something.”

“Don’t tell me they are missing too,” Puck groans.

“It appears that way unfortunately,” Whirly Pop points out.

“Shit!” Puck turns is back away from them shaking his head in a total loss.

“What’s that?” Pot Shell points out.

They all turn to see a silvery glow heading down the hillside. All the ponies braced themselves for combat. Suddenly there were mobbed by butterflies.

“Next morning...”

The Gryphus awoke with a stinging pain in his side. The last thing he remembered was fighting the Iron Bird. When he lifted his head up, he became horrified. A couple of boar had their snouts digging into his groin wounds pulling out strands of flesh and eating them. In a rage the Gryphus grabs one of the boar and uses it as a weapon against the other causing the two things to squeal as they died bloodily.

The Gryphus had to pull some of its larger feathers from its wing to act as a clot to stop the blood from flowing out of his leg. His head was swaying and his heart was beating rapidly. A spear jabs him in the neck and the Gryphus turns to see Feather Breaker with an evil smile on her face.

He knew that he didn’t stand a chance in the state he was in, but the Gryphus still had to fight for his life. Feather Breaker charges for him and he braces himself for battle and death. Just then two more Gryphus divebombs the boar princess. She squeals in pain and runs away.

“Are you okay?” Polis asks.

“I think I’m going to die,” the injured Gryphus grunted.

“Not today,” Polis told him.

“What are we going to do sir?” the other Gryphus asked.

“Revenge,” Polis answers, “I feel like killing something today how about out you?”

The other Gryphus nods his head in agreement.

The two Gryphus then flew in the direction of the fleeing boar. They soon found an encampment of them. They dived down at the boar.

The Gryphus would pick up a boar and drop it just to watch the thing splat or slam into another boar. The boar retaliated by firing arrows of hair. But the Gryphus were large enough that these didn’t bug them much.

Polis spots the biggest bore of them all and unsheathes his sword. A sword that was designed to be large enough for a Gryphus to wield. He dives down at the giant boar his blade raised and with all his speed and power comes down on the giant creature. But to his shock the sword bounces off knocking the Gryphus back. The boar were swiftly on him and Polis thrashed about to keep the pigs from injuring his body.

Blood trickled from the boar chieftain's skull. His bones were as strong as any steel blade but the impact still made his head hurt and he was feeling enraged. He put his eyes on the Gryphus before him and charged.

The other Gryphus had just looked down to see the boar mobbing Polis. He dives into the fray and helps pull the boar away from the other Gryphus. As he attacked and tossed boar the chieftain charged.

The Gryphus and the boar were shoved out of the way as the chieftain plowed through. Some where even injured by this brash action.

The massive boar hits Polis in the gut knocking the air out of him. He then found himself being drug along with the boar in its charge. Somehow Polis had managed to keep a hold of his weapon and he plunges it into the boar chieftain’s back. The old monarch squeals in pain and with all the strength he could muster, Polis pushes the sword deeper into the boar. The creature goes limp and stops moving.

“Father!” Feather Breaker shouted. The boar leaps into the air at Polis her spear poised. Polis smacks the sow with the broad side of his sword. She was slammed into the ground and felt the wind leave her body. The last thing Feather Breaker saw before she passed out was Polis slicing a number of boar with his sword.

“Later…”

Feather Breaker awoke to the stench of death and decay. Under normal circumstances this smell meant victory, pride and feasting. But her smug feeling soon left her as she remembered the last moments of consciousness she have had. Feather Breaker’s eyes cleared and she could see crows feasting on the corpses of her tribe members.

The pig gets to her feet, she winces as pain shoots up one of her forelegs. Feather Breaker then scours the area until she finds the large body that she was looking for. Many crows had been feasting on her father’s corpse. She was filled with emotion and Feather Breaker charges at them.

“What goes around comes around, what goes around comes around,” the crows song as they flew away from Feather Breaker.

“I get it you bastards!” Feather Breaker shouted, “But I just want one piece.”

Feather Breaker dives her snout into her father’s chest ripping into the flesh. Her body soon became covered in his blood as she pushed her head underneath his rib cage. The boar found what she was looking for and pulls out the giant boar’s heart. She looks at it for a moment before sinking her teeth into the organ.

As she ate the heart, crows begun to gather around the boar. When she was done she lifts her head up and wipes off the mixture of blood and saliva from her lips. And without turning her head speaks to them. “Come and get me if you want me!”

“The Iron Egg…”

Polis laid the injured Gryphus on a cloud.

"Get my gear and supplies. they are over there,” the Gryphus weekly points at another cloud across from them.

Polis nods his head in acknowledgment and flies over to the cloud. He finds a few Gryphus sized saddlebags and starts looking through them for anything useful and quickly found the bandages that he could use to patch up his comrade. He also came across some runic spell books and writing utensils mainly chock. Polis puts this stuff aside for the moment in flew back to the injured Gryphus.

“What were you doing here?” Polis asks as he patched up the Gryphus.

“I was trying to retrieve the Iron Bird,” the injured Gryphus told him, “He is hiding himself within that egg thing.”

“I see,” Polis nods his head.

“I knew only magic could break such a thing and remember I had a book in my private horde.” The Gryphus continued, “Please, finish the spell and crack the egg. Then the Iron Bird will have no place to hide.” The Gryphus took a breath, “You will also need to make these pendants to make sure the butterflies don’t teleport you away.” The Gryphus showed them a pendant with a rune symbol on it that he had around his neck.

“Rat Tak-Tak wakes up…”

The mare found herself wading in some kind of wax bath. As she moved she broke apart the crust of wax that had formed on the surface of the water and around her. The first thing Rat Tak-Tak did after sitting up on her hunches was to check the wound on her back. It was almost healed.

“Almost as good as my mother’s old dagger,” Ferngully remarks as she walks into the room. “Maybe I should lie in one of those later on?”

“What’s going on?” Rat Tak-Tak demands.

“We found the Iron Bird, well one of their gods which is technically the same thing,” Ferngully answers.

She helps Rat Tak-Tak out of the bath and leads the mare out down the hallway and into a large dining room where the rest of their companions were. Rat Tak-Tak was hit with the smell of roasting meat. She looks down at the table to see a cooked bird about the size of a turkey.

“The whole thing is yours if you want it?” Ferngully remarks.

Rat Tak-Tak sank her teeth into the roasted bird. The muscle tissue fell apart in her jaws as she savers the taste. Her body thanks her for the food with waves of pleasure.

“Sister!” Mousecakes runs up and hugs Rat Tak-Tak.

Rat Tak-Tak wipes a chunk of charred meat from her lip by using her hoof. “It’s good to see you too.” Rat Tak-Tak looks around the room. “What is this place?”

“This is the Iron Bird’s sanctuary,” Mousecakes answered.

“But why are we here? Heck that, how did we get here?” Rat Tak-Tak asks.

“We were kind of captured,” Metalance says as she walked up her face red with blush.

“Dammit Meta, you had only one job to do and you had to mess that up,” Rat Tak-Tak snaps than us smile crosses her face and she begins to laugh. “At least you got us captured by someone who gives us expensive dinners.”

Whirly Pop came walking up to them as well. “It seems that the guy that runs this place is indeed the Iron Birds avataric god. He built this place around us as a safe haven for them to lay eggs and raise their young. But things have become desperate for him.”

“I suppose with a whole mess of Gryphus after him that’s not that shocking,” Rat Tak-Tak remarks.

“He remembers from ancient times that ponies used to be guardians of nature and the animals and hoped that we could help him,” Whirly Pop answered.

“And where is this benefactor now?” Rat Tak-Tak asks.

“I was checking my inner sanctum, it’s where I keep the others of my race,” a metallic gray coated Alicorn answers as he walked into the room. “You may call me Ferrum Avis.”

“Another Animus? We have been running into a lot of you guys lately,” Rat Tak-Tak raised an eyebrow.

“Well we have been dealing with a lot of wild animals as of late,” Whirly Pop points out.

“True,” Rat Tak-Tak shrugs.

“Also every living being has the ability to take the shape and form of another living being,” Ferrum Avis points out, “They just need the magic power and the mind for it.”

Suddenly the entire structure is shaken by a loud boom from outside. Then they could hear loud cracking and creaking noises.

“Oh that’s not good,” Puck remarks.

“Is that the building breaking apart?” Pot Shell points out.

“What do we do if we have to abandon ship?” Honey Mead asks.

“Fall,” Puck snickered.

“That’s not funny,” Honey Mead said coldly.

“My concern is how are we going to fight the enemy on top of clouds,” Vepicon points out.

“Well any being with the ability to make a giant metal egg float should be able to make ponies float,” Pot Shell adds.

“And now we have no excuse not to fight them,” Vepicon moans.

“It is true that I can cast the magic to make you able to walk on clouds,” Ferrum Avis told them, “But we now have three of those winged beasts the deal with.”

“Well one of us face those odds before and won,” Metalance pats Whirly Pop on the back.

“No!” Whirly Pop backs away horrified.

“What’s the matter? Metalance asked.

“Your friend Puck is right about me,” Whirly Pop answered then pulls out the bow that Inspiration is fused with. “This thing is making me scared of myself. Having thoughts and memories of bad things.”

“You’re not a bad pony Whirly,” Honey Mead said to the white mare. “Puck is being paranoid.”

“No, I’m a bad pony,” Whirly Pop shook her head as memories starts flashing in her mind. She focuses on an image of her cutting into a pony on an autopsy table with Leo standing behind her watching.“I have never flinched away from blood and gore. I’m sick, I’m sick.”

“Sister, you don’t have to beat yourself up,” Pot Shell stated.

Whirly Pop just shook her head and backed farther away.

“Look, once we defeated all the Gryphus you can do whatever you want with that sword bow thing or whatever you want to call it,” Rat Tak-Tak tells Whirly Pop, “But for now we need you. We just don’t need your weapon we need you.”

Whirly Pop still stood there silently. Then Tits Up walked up to her and slugged the mare in the face.

“You’re not the only one who has experienced blood and meat, I have seen all kinds of injuries and I have watched and helped births of many kinds, blood isn’t something to be afraid of it is nature.” Tits Up snaps.

“You don’t get it, I loved it, the pain, the power, I was in control, I am the strongest,” Whirly Pop said as a silver glint goes into her eyes.

Ferrum Avis puts a hoof on the back of Whirly Pop’s head. He mumbles some words and the glint leaves Whirly Pop’s eyes.

“What just happened to me?” Whirly Pop shakes the strange feeling from her head.

“Your weapon is admitting strong magic,” Ferrum Avis answered, “May I see that for a moment?”

For a split second a voice in Whirly Pop’s head told her not to hand over the weapon. She had to push back that feeling and reluctantly puts the bow inside of Ferrum Avis's hoof. The Animus’s horn glows causing magic symbols to appear on the weapon.

“This weapon has a strong will of its own,” Ferrum Avis said, “Its prime directives are to find a wielder in wait for the spark and join its brothers. But until then they desire to be separate from one another as to not be abused as one force. But this weapon is special, it has an ego stronger than the others. It wants to show the world what it can do. And since that is in the form of a weapon that is kill.” Ferrum Avis hands the weapon back to Whirly Pop. “I have pushed away this ego for now. It’s still there but it will be seeping into your mind much much slower. So slowly in fact that once you realize something’s wrong it may be too late to resist. But that’s the risk you take for using this thing.”

Whirly Pop nods her head.

“Outside the Egg…”

Polis, The injured Gryphus and the Gryphus that came with him all drew symbols on the side of the egg. There was already a crack across the side of the structure.

Once another set of runes were finished there was another explosion and the crack grew wider.

“One more of these could do it,” The injured Gryphus said.

“Not if I can help it!” A metallic gray Alicorn shouted.

Before their eyes the alicorn turned into a giant Iron Bird.

“That’s the guy!” The injured Gryphus shouts.

Polis draws his sword. “Lancep make sure one of you keeps drawing runes.” He orders the uninjured Gryphus.

Polis strikes the roc but the roc’s living iron feathers protected it. But the impact was enough to knock the roc back. He dives and Polis dives after him.

The ponies crawl out onto the surface of the egg. The first one to step out was Metalance. Her hooves looses its footing on the slick surface and she starts to slide. Lucky for her military ponies have to wear horse shoes and her metallic foot wear dug into the surface making her stop in a trail of sparks.

“Watch your footing!” Metalance shouted.

Honey Mead was the next to walk out. The wind was fast and it caught her long hazel mane and blew it across her muzzle. The pony brush the hair from her face then activates her spear and walks cautiously out. If she felt like she was going to fall she would right herself with a burst of flame that pushed her in the right direction.

“Show off,” Metalance smirked at Honey Mead.

“Your just mad because your powered form turns you into a rock,” Honey Mead remarks as she balanced on her hooves.

Rat Tak-Tak was the next to step out. She looks nervously out at the horizon. “This is the first time I’m entering into a battle feeling that both sides are equally fucked. Spell or no spell a tumble down that thing is going to hurt. ”

“Now you’re the officer in charge Rat, you are suppose to be encouraging not depressing,” Puck remarks as he steps out with Vepicon.

“Do you two have horseshoes on?” Metalance asked.

“No, But that’s not stopping us, We just need to be a little more careful.” Vepicon answers. He looks at the runes. “I know this magic.”

“Where from?” Ferngully asks as she flies out of the hatch.

“I had a mentor that lived not too far from here, She was an Earth Pony born Unicorn and needed runes to help her cast magic.”

“I was noting my mother used the same kind of magic,” Ferngully remarks.

“Can you use runes?” Vepicon asks.

Ferngully points at the antenna at the side of her head. “Don’t need too.”

Puck slips and Ferngully swoops in and catches him. “Careful now,” She tells him.

Finally Whirly Pop climbs out of the hatch.

“It’s nice to see that you decided to join us,” Rat Tak-Tak smirks.

“I said I would help,” Whirly Pop replied.

“Back in the Egg…”

Tits Up leads the cows into the aviary. Pot Shell and Goldie follows in after them. Inside the aviary were less than a hundred Iron Birds most of which were sitting in various nests.

One of the eggs, a thing made of living iron, starts to hatch. It started by getting a spot of rust. That spot would grow and crumble until the egg fell apart. Then the chick could crawl out of its shell.

“Could you imagine how few ponies if any have actually seen this?” Pot Shell remarks.

Then there was another explosion. Everything shakes and an egg rolls out of one of the nests. Goldie reaches out and grabs the egg and puts it back in the nest were it belonged.

“That was a close one,” she comments.

“Back outside…”

Lancep had just finished another rune and watched it explode. A large fisher was now ripped open in the iron egg.

“You’re up for raiding this thing?” Lancep asks the injured Gryphus.

The injured Gryphus shook his head up and down.

Just as they were about to crawl in a voice calls out.

“Where did you learn these runes?” Vepicon shouted with his sword in his muzzle.

The injured Gryphus turns and looks at him. “What is it to you?”

“Answer me!” Vepicon screamed.

“Some stupid Unicorn was walking alone on the road and I made a little meal of her,” the injured Gryphus smirked.

Light shines off the rune at the tip of Vepicon’s sword. The blade was set afire and the pony charges. Polis rips off a loose chunk of iron and blocks the sword swing. Honey Mead charges in and Polis dodges her spear strike.

Rat Tak-Tak transforms her spear. The upper atmosphere’s winds move across the holes and it emits a high pitched wail. All the ponies through their ears back at the sound. Lancep tosses his chunk of metal at Rat Tak-Tak. She dodges it but looses her footing and starts sliding down the side of the egg. Ferngully had to dive down and grab Rat Tak-Tak and in the process took the chance to fire a magic bolt at the Gryphus. It hits Lancep in the shoulder.

“Could you put your spear back in its normal state?” Ferngully asks, “That noise is hurting both sides.”

Rat Tak-Tak’s spear turns back into its passive state.

The injured Gryphus grabs Vepicon’s sword. It was red hot and singed his flesh. A look of fear goes into Vepicon’s eyes.

“This pain means nothing to me,” The Gryphus lifts Vepicon by the sword in his muzzle and with a flick of his wrist tosses the pony aside.

Ferngully puts Rat Tak-Tak down and swoops to the red stallion.

Puck fires a bolt at Lancep hitting the Gryphus in the upper arm.

“Why aren’t you armored up?” Puck asks Metalance next to him.

“I move more agile without it,” Metalance answers, “Besides I’m afraid I’ll fall faster with it.”

“You do realize you can’t fall faster,” Puck remarks.

Lancep swings at both of them and they jump out of the way of his attack.

“Okay then,” Metalance said with determination as she armors up and charges.

Lancep back hands the mare and she was sent tumbling down the side of the egg. She rolls off the cloud.

“I knew this would happen!” She shouted as she fell.

Ferngully sees Metalance falling in her heavy armor and sighs disheartenly. “Sorry Meta I’m not touching that one.”

As she fell, Metalance felt her armor moving on its own. Her legs tucked in and her plates popped out and started shifting. She found herself in the shape of a crescent. The wind hits her body and Metalance hits the ground hard at a semi glide that broke rock and tossed up dust. As the dust settles Metalance stumbles out of the crater that she made and falls over.

“Well, she lived, I think,” Ferngully smirks. She then flies down to help her.

Honey Mead charges at the injured Gryphus. She stabs him in the knee causing him to back near the edge of the cloud. The injured Gryphus stabs at Honey Mead with the flaming sword. The flames hits the ethanol gas making a fireball explosion that knocks the Gryphus off the cloud.

Whirly Pop pulls out her bow. The injured Gryphus was now hanging off the edge of the cloud. She rapid fires on him and he lets go his injured wings not allowing him to fly.

Polis could see the Gryphus figure fall out of the sky. His head ducks as a set of bladed wings swing over him. At the same time Polis uses his sword to block the roc’s talons.

“Where em I?” Metalance said groggily.

“You fell from the sky,” Ferngully held the mare up. “I didn’t know you could glide.”

“I can fly?” Metalance jumped awake.

“I said glide not fly,” Ferngully corrects.

Lancep reaches out and grabs Whirly Pop with his claw. Whirly Pop replied by making metal spikes shoot from her body. Lancep shrieks and tosses Whirly Pop off of the cloud. Wings appears on Whirly Pop and she starts gliding toward Ferrum Avis and Polis.

Lancep quickly binds his bleeding claw. At the same time Rat Tak-Tak stabs him in the hind leg knee. Lancep kicks her away as Vepicon grabs his sword and charges. He cuts into the Gryphus its flesh simmering in the aftermath.

Lancep looks around at the ponies creeping up on him. He realizes the odds aren’t good and flies away. This caused the ponies to cheer.

Polis swings his sword. It bounces off of Ferrum Avis’s wing. Polis goes around and bunts the roc in the face with the hilt of his sword.

The Gryphus caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. He swings around with his sword, Whirly Pop blocks with a forehoof extending out a metallic shield.

“So you came down to fight me?” Polis smirks.

“Oh, I just happened to be here,” Whirly Pop smiled back.

Ferrum Avis lashes out with his beak. Polis jumps away in takes a defensive stance against Ferrum and Whirly Pop.

Ferrum Avis flaps his wings sending feathers flying. The feathers turns into butterflies and swirl around Polis. They glowed brighter as they attempt to use their teleportation magic. But Polis with a swing of his sword scatters them.

“Think you can beat me,” Polis snaps, “My quest is too righteous to fail.”

“When pigs fly,” Ferrum Avis smirks.

“Then they fly today,” Polis charges.

Ferrum Avis dodges, “No! Pigs really flying.”

Polis turns to see a giant boar with wings charging at him. It hits the Gryphus and they both tumbled to the ground. Polis lands chest first and the boar bites into his wing joint. Then the boar takes a pony form, that form was of an Alicorn.

“Remember me?” Feather Breaker says into Polis’s ear.

Lancep makes a dive and tackles Feather Breaker. He grabs Polis and they both fly away. Whirly Pop fires at the two Gryphus. Even though she had hit her mark it didn’t stop them from getting away.

“Get back here you coward!” Feather Breaker shouted.

Ferrum Avis and Whirly Pop looks at Feather Breaker. She noticed their stairs and arched her back preparing for battle.

“Want to join sides?” Feather Breaker asked nervously.

“Later…”

“No,” Vepicon snaps, “That thing should be in chains and tried for her crimes against pony kind.”

Feather Breaker in her pony form stands in front of the party of ponies with a sheepish look on her face.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Whirly Pop points out.

“Given that she attacked us not too long ago, that kind of thinking is stupid,” Rat Tak-Tak remarks.

“But we do need the manpower,” Puck adds.

“Puck!” Vepicon snaps.

“No, he’s right,” Rat Tak-Tak replied.

Vepicon turns his back to the ponies in stomps his hoof. “At least put her in chains until we need her and once all this is done make sure she’s atleast put on trial.”

“I am starting to have second thoughts about this partnership,” Feather Breaker remarks.

“Think you can take on an army of Gryphus all by your lonesome?” Rat Tak-Tak smiles, “Vengeance has a price. If push comes to shove we can kill you now.”

Feather Breaker holds out her forehooves. Whirly Pop contacts them with her bow. A piece of metal jumps from the bow and wraps itself around Feather Breaker’s forehooves. The metal turns into gauntlets.

“I am telepathically linked to those cuffs,” Whirly Pop told her, “With a thought I can have those slice off your hooves. Make a wrong move or get too close to me.”

“I get your point,” Feather Breaker nods her head.

Above them they could hear a loud crack. They look up at the cloud that holds the iron egg to see many Iron Birds fly away.

“Wow, those things grow quickly,” Ferngully remarks.

Ferrum Avis lands in front of the ponies. “I would like to thank you for helping me.” He said.

“The honor is ours,” Mousecakes bows.

“My vessel is damaged,” Ferrum Avis told them, “I’ve been thinking about making a new one, sadly year after year the numbers of my kind have been dwindling more and more. Perhaps I should make a smaller vessel one less conspicuous.”

“I think that may be a good idea,” Rat Tak-Tak remarks.

“You may use this old vessel as you wish,” Ferrum Avis tells them.

“Is that so?” Rat Tak-Tak looks up at the sky and smiles.

“At the Gryphus stronghold...”

Claymari rummages through the pile of Gryphus horde. As she picked out gold goblets and jewels, she takes swigs from a small alcohol barrel around her neck.

“Claymari what are you doing?” Winkz asks as she walks into the room. “If those things catch you in here they will strip your hide.”

“Oh, I have permission,” Claymari told her as she slid down the pile of gold. “I told them it might be nice to reutilize some of this material to decorate the teapot.”

“I never thought you to be so artsy,” Winkz remarks.

“Oh, I’m not, I’m a practical blacksmith,” Claymari smiles, “The thing is going to look like shit if I start plating it in gold and adoring it with jewels and crap.”

“The party has returned!” A voice shouted, “And get the medic.”

“Again?” Claymari remarks as she takes a chug from her barrel. “I sware for bad ass monsters these people get their asses kicked a lot.”

Claymari and Winkz heads for the entrance chamber, there they see Polis and Lancep covered in wounds.

“Don’t tell me you failed again,” Azrael remarks entering into the chamber with Nutcracker following him.

Seeing Nutcracker causes Claymari to give Azrael a cold glare.

“You really want to kick my ass don’t you?” Azrael smirks.

Polis looks around the room. “Where is Kira?” He asks.

“She’s been very depressed lately with the loss of her arm,” Azrael answered then looks at Claymari. “Once the babymaking teapot is made she should be a little bit happier.”

“I get your point,” Claymari rolls her eyes.

“Did you get any living iron?” Azrael asked.

“Sorry, We completely failed,” Polis answered, “Their god hidden all of their species inside a giant iron egg. We managed to blast it open, but the Iron Bird god and a group of ponies with strange powers repelled us.”

Azrael pauses for a moment to mall over this information. “Did you retrieve a piece of this egg?”

“No, why?” Polis asks.

“One would think a magical iron bird would use living iron to make an iron object,” Azrael told him.

“Oh,” The two Gryphus said in unison.

“Well regardless I had a backup plan,” Azrael says as he walks up to a wooden crate. The Zebra smashes his hoof into the crate allowing pounds of iron crab to fall out on to the cavern floor.