//------------------------------//
// Victory 
// Story: Victory 
// by Zeck 
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	Flicker was done. She had realized it almost as soon as the fight had started. She was acutely aware of that fact even as she sank an axe into the side of one of her remaining attackers. She didn’t even try to pull the weapon free, but instead let go of it with her magic as the griffon fell away.
She was down to two swords and there were still four griffons remaining, including their leader. She glared at him as she heaved for breath. Blood trickled down her forehead and dripped from her eye. Her legs shook from exhaustion and hunger, and she could barely maintain her grip on her last two weapons. 
If only I wasn’t starving, she thought bitterly. There had only been eight griffons against her, and on any other day, that would have been a simple matter for her. She could have defeated them all easily and moved on to help any of her surviving fellow ponies. But she was not at her best, and that fact was now painfully clear.
Still, she wasn’t dead yet. 
“It’s over,” the lead griffon said with a smirk. “You’ve lost. Surrender and we’ll make your death painless.”
“Four of you are still standing,” Flicker said and she struggled to hold her two swords with her magic. She needed to lose at least one of them soon, otherwise her magic would give out completely. “Well, three of you are still standing. One of you looks like you’re about to collapse.”
“You…look no better…pony,” one of the remaining griffons said. Flicker had managed to slash deep into that griffon’s shoulder, and the only reason he hadn’t died was because Flicker had been forced to make a quick redirect when another griffon had tried to flank her. That griffon had not faired so well. 
“Last chance,” the leader said. “Surrender or—”
Flicker did not wait for the leader to finish. She charged forward, forcing her limbs to ignore the lightness flooding through them and her eyes to see through the encroaching darkness. She slashed forward with one of her swords, the magic aura around it streaking through the night. The captain blocked the blow on his own sword, then flew up into the air as Flicker continued to charge, attempting to run him through with her other blade.
But her target had never been the lead griffon, as much as she wanted it to be. Instead, as her second sword passed beneath him followed quickly by herself, she swung the blade sideways with her magic. It slammed into the shield of another griffon, just as she had expected. She pulled the blade back and struck two more times, forcing the griffon to back away from the group as he blocked the repeated strikes. She just needed him to step back one more time…
Flicker released her grip on her first sword and heard it crash to the ground behind her. She focused all of her magic into holding her last blade and swung it as hard as she could at the griffon’s shield. He blocked it easily, but the strength behind the magical strike was greater than he had expected. The blow knocked his shield to the side slightly, and Flicker lowered her head and charged forward.
The next thing she knew, her neck felt strained and blood was streaming down her face in rivers. She tried to keep charging, but it felt like she had hit a wall. She felt talons dig into her neck and shred her flesh. She yanked her head back and heard a sickening noise inside her own head as her horn pulled out of the griffon. Blood poured into her eyes and flew through the air as she shook her head free in time to watch the griffon fall backward, a deep red hole in his chest. 
The unicorn didn’t have time to relish her victory though. A moment later, pain exploded in her left hind leg. She looked back and saw the tip of a sword poking through one end of her leg. She screamed and kicked with her right leg, but the pain from the wound was too much for the blow to have any real meaning. She cried again as the blade was pulled from her and she collapsed on her stomach. She tried to crawl forward, but she screamed as pain raced through her other hind leg.
“I tried to give you a swift death,” came the leader’s voice from somewhere behind Flicker. She couldn’t respond, couldn’t even think, as the pain overwhelmed her brain. She let out a sound she didn’t recognize as the blade in her leg was twisted quickly and then yanked out. 
Flicker barely felt two sets of talons grab her shoulders and flip her over so that she was staring up at the tree canopy. She tried to move her legs, but all she felt was unbearable pain. She lifted her head as best she could, her body protesting every ounce of effort that cost her. 
The last three griffons stood directly in front of her, the leader flanked by the wounded griffon and the last of his soldiers. She could see the sword she had dropped behind all three of them. She struggled to grab it, her horn glowing a faint yellow as she worked her magic.
“No you don’t.” The leader brought his front claw down hard on Flicker’s chest. She let out a gasp of air as the talons dug through her leather armor and pierced her chest. He dug them in further, flexing them under her skin and causing her body to scream in her mind, but the pressure was too great for air to reach her lungs. All she could manage was to make her eyes go so wide that they felt as though they were about to pop from her skull. 
“We’ve mastered this technique,” the leader said as he bent down until his face was barely inches away from Flicker’s muzzle. “We know just how deep to dig to cause as much pain to a pony without killing it. For example, despite how this feels,” pain raced through all new places in Flicker’s body as the griffon gently twisted his talons, “you won’t actually die from that. However, if I twist just a bit more, I’ll severe one of your main arteries and you’ll bleed to death in under a minute. Maybe less, given those leg wounds.”
Flicker looked up at the face smirking down at her. She memorized every curve of every black feather, the stare of those eagle eyes, and the hook on the wicked beak. She decided that wasn’t the last sight she wanted to see before she died. Her magic was useless. Even if her glowing horn didn’t give her away, she knew she didn’t have enough strength to grip anything, much less swing it fast enough. But she still had one option left. She opened her mouth, trying so hard to suppress the agony in her body, and tried to talk. 
“What’s that, little pony?” the leader asked. He tilted his head sideways and brought his ear close to Flicker’s gasping mouth. “I can’t hear you. Does this help?”
Flicker gasped as the talons were retracted from her chest. She forced the air that was rushing through her lungs to form words. “What’s…your….name?” she gasped.
“Your death will come at the claws of Captain Tyar, unicorn,” the griffon boasted, still with his head turned sideways. That was good.
“Fun…fact, Tyar,” Flicker gasped as she slowly reached out with her right front hoof until she felt it touch what she was look for. “Magic…isn’t a unicorn’s…only…way to…fight.” Flicker wrapped her hoof around the object she was reaching for, cradling it gently in the groove in her joint.
“What?” Tyar asked.
“My death…may come from you, but you…got this scar…from…Flicker!” Flicker summoned every last bit of energy she had and swung the sword up that she had slammed against the other griffon’s shield. Tyar looked toward the coming blow, but had no time to avoid it. The blade smacked into the left side of his face, its edge cutting into his flesh and eye. Flicker did not have the strength to make the strike anything more than a flesh wound, but she felt a small glimmer of happiness knowing that Tyar would most likely be blind in that eye for the rest of his life. 
Tyar looked down at her, rage burning in his good eye and blood dribbling from his face. He didn’t say anything as his talons dug deep into Flicker’s chest. She tried to scream as pain swallowed her. She felt the talons go deeper and deeper, until a small star exploded in her chest. Tears fell from her eyes as she looked up at the monster staring down at her, but they were only tears of pain. 
Tyar, his face twisted with rage and forever maimed, leered down at her, but she didn’t care. He would never be able to forget her now. Every time he looked in a mirror and saw his wound, he would see her face and know that she had gotten the last shot in.
As her heart struggled to keep beating, as her blood flowed into places in her chest that it wasn’t meant to go, Flicker wanted to make sure that Tyar would always remember her, even in his nightmares, so she did the only thing she could think of.
As darkness claimed her sight, she grinned.

Geralt was in more pain than he had ever been. For a moment, he stayed on the ground, wondering if it was worth the effort to pick himself up and keep going. Then the vision of his sister’s terrified face flashed before his mind and he stood up. 
“Geralt, I think we need to withdraw,” one of the remaining griffons said. “There are only five of us left, and you and Telath are in no condition to keep fighting.”
Geralt glared at the green pegasus with his one good eye. “Neither is he.” 
Current was nearing his limit. Geralt could tell. He was grounded now after Geralt had managed to land a blow on his wing and he was covered in wounds. His armor was coming off in several places and his mane was a mess, with chunks of hair missing from everywhere.
Yet the look on his face hadn’t changed. He still stared coolly at Geralt and his fellow griffons. That angered Geralt.
“Your companion has the right idea, Geralt,” Current said. “You are in no condition to continue this battle.”
“You’re grounded now, pegasus,” Geralt shouted as the rage flowed through him yet again. “And you’re outnumbered.”
“Numbers did not make a difference before,” Current said. 
“We’re going to kill you, even if it kills all of us.” Geralt tried to take to the air, but was quickly reminded that his wing was bent in a way it wasn’t supposed to bend. “Get him!”
Geralt charged forward, struggling to hold his sword and maintain his balance as he ran across the ground. He saw the other three griffons fly ahead of him and then dive at the pegasus, spears and swords pointed toward his chest. There was no possible way Current would be able to avoid those weapons while he was on the ground.
To Geralt’s disbelief, Current did just that. He stood up on his hind legs and stepped to the side just as a spear came toward him. The weapon missed and he caught its shaft in the hook off his foreleg.  He twisted and yanked the griffon holding the spear out of the air, using his body as a shield to block one of the incoming swords. The second griffon stopped just before he impaled his comrade and Current used the lapse to his advantaged. He spun on one of his back hoofs and brought the other one around in a fierce kick that launched the first griffon into the second and sent them both tumbling to the ground. 
The third griffon charged in then, using a more cautioned approach as he tried to sever the pegasus’ head from his body. Current easily blocked the strikes with his remaining wrist blade—Geralt and the others had managed to snap the other one off—and stayed well away from any killing strike. 
But Geralt saw that Current wasn’t trying to counter attack. For all his fluid grace and defense, he was not striking back. If he had been at the same level as when Geralt and the others had caught up to him, Geralt was certain that he and Telath would be the only two left, and with Telath’s foreleg severed and Geralt himself barely clinging to life, the odds would have not been in their favor. 
Geralt reached the battle just as Current was forced to turn his back to the griffon. He stood on his hind legs—ponies weren’t the only ones who knew how to fight standing up—and gripped his sword with both claws and swung it toward Current’s midsection. 
Current bent backward at an impossible angle and tucked his wings in so that Geralt’s blade passed beneath his back. At the same time, the pegasus brought both of his hind legs up and kicked out, slamming his hooves into the face of the other griffon. His eyes locked with Geralt’s for a brief moment and time seemed to freeze as Current floated in the air above Geralt’s blade.
The moment passed and Geralt’s swing continued to slice through the air. Current fell to the ground on his back in front of Geralt. The griffon changed his swing and brought the blade above his head, then brought it down as hard as he could. He smiled a little when he saw Current’s good eye go wide in shock, but the pegasus managed to bring his wrist blade up and deflect the strike to the side and roll away. 
Something snapped in Geralt then.  All the pain from his wounds, the loss of his sister, and the sheer exhaustion he had been feeling over the past few days finally broke something in his mind. He screeched with rage in the peagasus’ face as his blade was redirected, but instead of trying to keep his grip on the weapon, he let it slide free and he fell forward. He formed his front talon into a ball and slammed it into Current’s snout as hard as he could. Blood and spit flew from the pony’s mouth and splattered across the ground, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy the burning hate in the griffon’s body. He pulled back and swung again, the blow smashing into the pony’s wounded eye and his talon coming back with even more blood on it. 
“YOU KILLED HER!” Geralt screamed as he threw a third punch, and then a fourth. “SHE WAS MY SISTER!”
“Who?” Current asked as he looked up through his quickly-swelling good eye. “I have killed many griffons. You will have to be more specific.”
“ARGH!” Geralt opened his talons and brought them down, raking them across Current’s face. He felt them tear into the pony’s flesh and he relished the sensation.  He was going to tear this peagus apart with his own talons, and he would make sure that this pony would beg for death before—
Geralt’s wing exploded in pain. He froze as agony slammed through his body at an unbearable speed. He managed to twist his head to look and see what was causing him such pain.
Current had shoved his last wrist blade straight up, skewering Geralt’s wing. The griffon watched in slow motion as his blood ran down the blade.  All Current would have to do now would be drag his blade up or down, and Geralt’s wing would be severed, and then shortly after that, probably his head.
But why hadn’t Current just killed him right away? Why go for a wound—a painful wound, but still a wound—instead of a killing blow? 
“Tell me something,” Current said. He pulled his blade out and sprang up, moving with a speed that shouldn’t have been possible with his wounds. Before Geralt had a chance to realize what was happening, he felt a foreleg wrapped around his neck, forcing him to stand up on his hind legs, Current’s body pressed against his back, and the tip of a blade at his throat. 
“How many ponies have you killed?” Current asked as he placed his mouth close to Geralt’s ear. “The rest of you stay back, or his head is going to be rolling on the forest floor in a matter of seconds.”
Geralt looked at his remaining soldiers. The three that could stand looked exhausted, and Taleth looked as though he could die at any moment. They were barely holding their weapons up, let alone their bodies, and this peagasus had still managed to gain the advantage on Geralt. 
Maybe they really weren’t going to be able to kill Current…
“You did not answer my question,” Current said, yanking slightly to snap Geralt back to reality. “How many ponies have you killed? How many did you sister kill?”
“I don’t know,” Geralt said, distracted as an idea began to form in his mind. He wasn’t going to let Current get away, even if it meant…
“You don’t know,” Current said in dark voice. “You don’t know. Let me tell you something. If your friend over there, Taleth I believe you said his name was, dies from his wounds, I will have killed two hundred and twelve of your kind. Do you know why I keep track of that number?”
“For gloating purposes?” Geralt asked as he slowly repositioned his left claw. 
“Do I strike you as the type of pony who enjoys keeping track of how many lives I’ve ended?” Current said and Geralt felt the tip of his blade push a little harder against his feathers. 
“No,” Geralt said, surprised not only at his answer, but at the fact that he believed it. 
“I keep track of that number to remind myself that I am responsible for ending their lives. So they are not forgotten, while everything that they were vanishes. It is my way of honoring them, and to remind myself that life is precious, even if I have to take it from someone else. So tell me, how many ponies have you killed? Do you still see their faces every night? Or are they all just faceless corpses to you? I will see the horror on your sister’s face for the rest of my days, just like all the others, because I fully understand what I’ve done.”
“Well you won’t have to worry about that much longer,” Geralt said. He threw his head back and slammed it into Current’s face, then dug his talons as deep as he could into the peagasus’ thigh and bit his beak down on the blade near his neck, holding it in place as best he could. “Kill him now! I’ve got him!” he shouted as he held the blade.
“But you’ll—” one of the griffon’s protested.
“Stab through me! Just kill him!” For a brief moment, none of the remaining griffons moved, then one of them flew forward, aiming his sword straight at Geralt’s chest. He closed his eyes and waited for the killing blow. “Looks like you’re coming with me,” he whispered.
“No, I am going alone.”
Before Geralt could ask what thatwas supposed to mean, the blade was yanked from his mouth—cutting his tongue slightly—and he felt a hoof press against his back. Fearing that Current was about to shove him onto the oncoming blade, he dug his talons in deeper in an attempt to delay the peagasus’ escape. But the shove did not send him forward. Instead, it pushed him to the side. He felt his talons twist deep in the pony’s thigh as he fell to the side. The blade missed him by only a few inches, and then he felt the muscles in Current’s leg go slack.
Geralt fell to the ground, his claw twisting at a painful angle as his talons tore flesh when they came free.  He laid still for a moment, then rolled over on his back and looked up.
Current had been impaled on the blade of the griffon who had attacked. His body was completely limp, his hooves and wings dangling from him liking dying fruit on a tree. Blood still flow from his wounds, but Geralt could see it was slowing.
He was dead. Current was really dead.
Why did that suddenly bother Geralt? He had avenged his sister, and if Current had been telling the truth, a powerful enemy of the griffon kingdom was now dead, and he himself was still alive. That was a win, right?
“Finally,” the griffon said as he pulled his blade from Current’s chest. “I still can’t believe he’s dead.”
“Well, he is,” Geralt said, trying to chase away the feeling of unease he felt as he stared at the corpse. “Come on. Go help Taleth and—”
“Don’t bother,” another griffon said, anger dripping from his voice. “He’s dead.”
“What?” Geralt turned around and saw that the wounded griffon was slouched against a tree, his eyes open and head lolled to one side. 
“Died from his wounds,” the other griffon said as he glared at Geralt. “Guess he was number two hundred and twelve, huh? Hope you’re happy. We could have saved him if you had let us fall back.”
Two hundred and twelve…
“Carry him back. We’re not leaving him here.” Geralt turned back to the peagasus corpse. “I will carry Current.”
“Why?” the third griffon asked. “Leave him to rot in the forest. He would have done the same.”
“Because,” Geralt said as he knelt down and began to carefully place Current’s body on his back. The pain from the weight was intense, but he could bare it. “Because he is number one.” 

One thought went through Spinner’s mind as he slammed against the cave wall: he wanted to go home. He wanted to back to his little house, curl up in his nice warm bed, and go to sleep. He wanted to forget about the war, forget about the suffering, and forget about the blinding pain that was now racing through his back and threatening to cause his vision to black out. 
And the giant space bear—what had Hersah called it, an Ursa Major?—hadn’t even been trying to hit him. It had simply been readjusting itself inside its cave in order to take a real swing at him and had ended up glancing him with its front paw. 
“Spinner? Spinner, get up!” The blue earth pony shook his head to clear it and looked up. His eyes went wide as they saw razor sharp claws coming to at him. He scrambled off the wall and rolled to the side just as the Ursa’s paw smashed into the ground and its claws tore gashes into the stone that were as deep as Spinner himself. 
The beast howled in anger and pulled its paw up to its face, looking for any trace of a smashed pony. Spinner used the brief pause to limp away from the monster bear as fast as he could. He hobbled toward the entrance, each step telling him that if something in his body wasn’t already broken, it would be soon. 
“Hersah, we gotta go!” Spinner yelled into the darkness, still trying to figure out why he was worried about a griffon that had literally been trying to kill him not twenty minutes ago. He looked over his shoulder, hoping to see the female griffon following close behind him.
Thankfully she was, but so was the Ursa Major. And at the speed the two of them were moving, the Ursa was going to overtake Hersah in a matter of seconds. 
I should just leave her. While the Ursa rips her apart, I can escape. Spinner wasn’t sure why he hadn’t done that in the first place, or why the thought left such a sour taste in his mouth. It was the only logical choice left to him, and there wasn’t a soul anywhere in Equestria that would blame him for leaving—
Hersah’s wound, a wound that Spinner himself had inflicted, caused her to trip and fall on her face. Her eyes looked up and met Spinner’s and the earth pony swore in his mind. 
You’re an idiot. A bucking idiot! Spinner yanked the lock off of his remaining chakram and whipped it through the air, aiming for the Ursa’s face. The ringed weapon slammed squarely into the creature’s nose and it let out a roar. It fell back on its rear and clutched its nose with both paws, letting out little whimpering sounds as it gently touched its nose. 
“Get up already!” Spinner said as he ran back and helped Hersah stand. He put one of her forelegs over his shoulder to help, his own body protesting every move. He tried to bring his chakram back, but the Ursa had apparently severed the connecting string when it had pawed at its nose. He was now without his weapons, in the middle of a forest that was trying to kill him in ways he couldn’t even explain, half-carrying a wounded griffon, and his own body was on the verge of collapsing. Things could not get any worse. 
A roar unlike anything Spinner had heard so far tore through the air. Spinner felt his bones shake inside his body and he was certain his eyes were going to be forced from his skull.  He slammed his free front hoof against his ear and pressed his other ear against Hersah’s feathery neck, trying in vain to keep the noise out. His teeth clattered in his mouth so hard that he was certain they were chipping themselves. The sound lasted for what felt like a lifetime, and it was all Spinner could do to keep from collapsing and dragging Hersah down with him. 
When the roar finally stopped, Spinner carefully opened his eyes. He blinked several times, hoping to clear the edges of blackness that were eating at his eyesight. His head was still ringing, and while he saw Hersah’s beak moving, he couldn’t hear a word she was saying. He tilted his head in confusion as he looked at her. What did she want? Why was she gesturing so frantically behind them?
Reality came back a half second later and Spinner’s eyes opened all the way. He whipped his head back over his shoulder and saw the Ursa Major charging toward him and his wounded baggage. Rage was pulsing in its eyes as it opened its mouth to reveal those rows of bladed teeth. It would be on them in a heartbeat. There was nothing he could do to save himself. He knew he was staring death in the face, and it was going to be a very painful death by the look of it. 
Spinner pulled Hersah’s foreleg off of his should and shoved her toward the cave entrance. She screamed, whether from pain or terror, Spinner didn’t know, but she flew rather far because he had put as much of his earth pony strength into the shove. He started to turn around then, to face the Ursa head on, when his entire body felt like it had been set on fire. 
Even though Spinner knew exactly what had happened to him as he sailed through the air, his mind could not process it over the searing pain he was feeling. He didn’t even realize he had hit the ground again until he felt something wet soaking into his legs. He struggled to lift his head, but found that it weighed too much now. He let it fall to the ground and remained still, his body screaming at him. He faintly felt the ground shake as the Ursa Major closed on him. He closed his eyes and waited for death to release him from his agony.
Something slammed into his back and his eyes shot open. He tried to scream, but all that came out was a choking noise and a dangerous amount of blood.  He tried to suck in more air, but the pain was beyond comprehension and his lungs could not keep pace. He twisted his head back to see what had happened just as the Ursa prodded him again with its nose, sending a new wave of pain through him. This time, a scream did escape his lips and tears streamed down his face as the nose pressed into the gaping wounds across his back.
The Ursa sniffed him several times, the wind stinging the open wounds, and then let out one final roar right next to Spinner. The sound vibrated through his body and only added to his pain. Why didn’t the thing just kill him already? Was it enjoying watching him bleed out and suffer?
Spinner’s breaths began to come in quicker gasps. His vision began to fade, and the ringing in his ears was dimming, but so was his hearing in general. The pain was subsiding as well, along with every other sensation. All he felt now was the desire to close his eyes and stop. 
“Spinner!” a muffled voice said from far away. He tried to raise his head, but it was still too heavy to lift, and now it was becoming impossible to keep his eyes open. He blinked a few times, but finally his eyelids closed.
“Don’t you dare die,” the voice said, louder this time but still muffled. “You’re…you’re going to be fine. Just…just stay awake. Can you do that for me? Spinner!”
Pain flooded back into Spinner’s mind and he snapped his eyes open with a gasp. Hersah was standing over him, shaking him gently with her claws. Each movement was a whole new experience of pain. 
“Where…where is the…?” Spinner trialed off and began to close his eyes again. 
“It went back home, Spinner,” Hersah said. Spinner felt her claws slip under his neck and raise his head. “It wasn’t hungry. Just wanted us out. Now come on, you have to get up.”
“No…I…I think I’m…done,” Spinner said, even as he struggled to open his eyes. He saw a slit of light and for a moment he thought he was looking at fluffy clouds, but then realized he was staring at Hersah’s white neck. She had such pretty white feathers.
“No, no you can’t,” Hersah said, and Spinner couldn’t quite place the tone of her voice. “Now get up.”
Spinner tried to move his legs, but the pain was too much. He looked over his shoulder and finally saw his back.
Three deep gashes ran across his entire backside, each one bleeding rivers of blood. He thought he could even see bone in a few places, but he wasn’t certain because his eyes were barely working. How he was still alive was beyond him, and he was wishing he wasn’t because of the pain. 
“Forget it…griffon,” Spinner said, his head sinking back to the ground. “Even those…bandages of yours…can’t save me.”
“They’re soaked in a special herb mix designed to speed up the healing process,” Hersah said quickly even as her voice became more muffled. “I don’t have any left. You…you used the last of them when you patched me up and—Spinner? Spinner, don’t close your eyes!” 
The earth pony felt the darkness beginning to swallow him again and he found himself embracing it. It would finally be all over—
“OW! What the buck are you—ARGH!” Spinner snapped back to reality again as pain woke him up. He felt Hersah pick him up, twisting his wounds and broken body in ways it could no longer go, and then he felt himself being hung over something. He opened his eyes to find himself staring at the ground and Hersah’s legs.
“Griffon, what are doing?” Spinner asked. Each step she took sent liquid pain through his entire body. 
“You’re not dying,” Hersah said curtly. “And my name is Hersah, Spinner.”
“Look, I’m not going to be one of your slaves,” Spinner said, anger bringing him back a little further. “Even if I wasn’t…almost dead and useless…I’d…rather die.”
“Too bad,” Hersah said as she continued to walk with him on her back. Spinner closed his eyes again, his body becoming heavier with each step, until once again he was at the brink. 
A different voice brought him back this time. 
“Hersah? Is that you?” the voice said, so muffled that Spinner wasn’t even sure he had heard it.
“Give me your bandages,” Hersah said. “Now!”
“Why? For that pony? You’re joking.”
“He’s right, Hersah,” another voice said. “Even if you do save him, there’s no way anyone will pay for him now. He’s broken. Best to just let him die and—”
“Rasa, the only reason I don’t rip your throat out with my bare talons is because I don’t have the time. Now give me your bandages, both of you, or I will take them off your corpses.”
Spinner opened one of his eyes as he was carefully lowered to the ground. He was vaguely aware of something cool and slimly being wrapped around his entire midsection again and again, as well as the pain it caused, but his mind had slipped too far for him to even be bothered by the pain. 
“Hersah, it’s too late,” one of the new voices said from far away.  
“No!” Hersah shouted, hysteria flooding her voice as Spinner’s mind slipped further away. “You…you know how much an earth pony is worth. I’m not losing something so…valuable.”
Like I’m going…to let you…keep me…griffon, Spinner thought bitterly as darkness swallowed his mind. Why had he risked his life—and apparently sacrificed it even—to save a creature that only saw him as a product to be sold? 

Twirl had often heard it said that the world slowed down when certain things happened. She had first-hoof experience with the effect actually. Many times during her training or fighting in the war, the world had seemed to move at a slower pace than was normal. Part of that, she was told, was because she was so fast with her pole and fighting style that others simply could not keep up.  Another part of it was her brain going into overload as it was flooded with chemicals and emotions.
Right now, she was certain the world was slowing because of the latter reason. In fact, the world hadn’t so much slowed as it had stopped. 
The four griffons around her were frozen in snarls and screeches as they tried to attack her. The fifth griffon was making a horrible face as Twirl’s pole smashed against the creature’s head. That was the good part of the situation.
The bad part was that the unicorn who had attempted to save Sea Tide’s life was now staring down at his chest in horror as the tip of a sword poked through his fur. The griffon behind him was still thrusting the weapon in as far as it would go, a sickly sadistic look on his face as he did. 
Sea Tide, no longer surrounded by Quickeye’s magic, was falling from a height that would cause her great injury, if not outright kill her. The griffons that had dropped her were still hovering high above, watching as she plunged slowly to the ground.
The frozen moment came to a screeching end and Twirl was brought back to reality as the vibration from her pole smashing against the griffon’s skull snapped everything back up to speed. 
“No!” Twirl didn’t even wait to see if the griffon she had hit went down. She continued to spin on her back legs, twirling the pole along her neck to keep her attackers back for a half second, then stopped her weapon and shoved it like a spear, catching one of her attackers in the stomach. She pressed forward and down, forcing the griffon to the dirt in the process, and then used her pole like a vault to jump clear of the fight. She was vaguely aware of the pained gasp that escaped the griffon she had struck, and just before she started to fly through the air, she pushed down just a little hard on her pole, shoving it deeper into the griffon’s stomach. 
As Twirl took to the air, she pulled her pole with her, twisting the weapon in the air until she had it in front of her body.  The griffon who had impaled the unicorn pulled his sword free, letting the body drop to the ground, and looked up ready to fight, but Twirl wasn’t going to give him a chance. She brought her pole down as hard as she could with her front hooves, fully expecting to have her attack blocked.
It was. The griffon brought his sword up and caught Twirl’s pole with the flat of the blade. But like so many other griffons, he hadn’t counted on the strength of an earth pony. Twirl came down hard, causing his arm to buckle slightly. She landed and twisted closer to him, bringing the pole around in a dizzying motion that most found impossible to follow. She brought it up on the back end of his forearm joint, snapping it with a single blow, then slammed her front hoof into the griffon’s throat. Sea Tide was better at hoof combat, but Twirl knew the basics, and combined with her strength and rage, the blow crushed the griffon’s throat.
The entire fight had lasted for only two seconds. The griffon staggered backward, trying to open his collapsed throat with his one remaining forearm, but to no avail. He fell to the ground, slowly choking.
Twirl took one glance at Quickeye and knew the unicorn was dead. His tongue was hanging out of his mouth and his eyes were locked in fear and pain. Blood was still pooling around him from the wound, turning his brown coat to a darker mud color. 
Twirl pushed the image from her mind as the scream of Sea Tide filled the air, and then was suddenly silenced. Twirl looked over, her purple mane whipping in front of her eyes, and saw the turquoise pony crumbled on the ground. 
She wasn’t moving.
Twirl wasn’t sure what happened next. She didn’t remember crossing the distance to Sea Tide’s body, but she found herself staring down at her friend through blurred eyes. 
“Sea Tide?” she said, her voice barely holding together. “Sea Tide!”
“Don’t worry, pony,” a voice behind her said. “You’ll be joining—”
Twirl spun around so fast and swung her pole with all her strength. The impact broke the taunting griffon’s neck with a loud snap! That caused the other griffons to back off momentarily, and Twirl made a note in the back of her mind that the two who had dropped Sea Tide had landed.
She decided those two would not make it out of the forest alive, even if it killed her.
Twirl reached down and stroked Sea Tide’s face, tears streaming from her eyes now. Her hoof touched the scarf that Sea Tide had insisted on wearing when she and Twirl had volunteered for this mission. It was a bright orange color, with three yellow squares in the middle. She had said she wore it to remind herself why she was fighting, and when Twirl had asked her what that meant, Sea Tide had smiled.
“Each square represents one of the three tribes,” she had said. When Twirl had pointed out that each square looked exactly the same, Sea Tide had smiled and said that was the entire point. 
Twirl understood now what Sea Tide had meant.
The earth pony gently removed the scarf from her friend’s neck and tied it to the end of her pole. She look one last look at Sea Tide, and then started to turn away, but something caught her eye.
Sea Tide moved slightly. Her eyes twitched and she winched, but that was all. Still, it was enough to life Twirl’s spirits. Her friend wasn’t dead! And Twirl was going to make sure she stayed that way. 
She turned to face the remaining griffons. She counted six of them now. Apparently the one she had smacked in the head and the one she had vaulted over where both still alive, but they weren’t looking too confident. So she really only needed to worry about four griffons. She could hold off four griffons easy. 
“I see things are not going as smoothly here,” dark voice said. Twirl, along with the griffons, all looked up. Three griffons descended from the tree canopy, one of them being the black feathered leader. Okay, so she needed to hold off seven griffons. It was still possible.
“Captain Tyar,” a new voice said and Twirl felt her heart sink. She looked to the left and saw four more griffons coming out of the trees. Her heart fell even more when she saw the body of Flowing Current draped over the back of one of the griffons. Current would never allow himself to be captured, which meant only one thing…
“Ah, Geralt,” Tyar said as he landed. He had a bandage wrapped around his head that was covering his eye and stained in blood. Apparently Flicker had put up a decent fight at least. Twirl hoped her death had been painless. “I see you killed that winged monster. Well done.”
Geralt simply nodded and looked back at the body on his back. Current had apparently put up an astounding fight as well, because Geralt looked like he was about to collapse. 
“Geralt!” yet another voice shouted, and this time Twirl couldn’t help but let out a yell of frustration. Three more griffons emerged from another area of the forest, and like Geralt, one of them was carrying a pony on her back. 
“Hersah! What’s the—”
“Geralt, please! I need your bandages,” the female griffon said as she ran forward, limping and struggling to keep the pony on her back. “I need any medicine you have. Please. He’ll die if we don’t help him.”
Why in Equestria was this griffon so desperate to save the pony she was carrying?
Tyar let out a laugh. “Found another slave then, Hersah?”
Hersah went stiff for a second, then slowly turned around. “Y-Yessir! But…but he put up a pretty good fight. I had to hurt him more than I wanted to.”
“And now you’re in danger of losing your prize?” Tyar said.
“Yessir,” Hersah said, her eyes drifting down to the ground for a moment. “He…he is really strong. He’d make a fine addition, if you’ll allow me to save him.”
“I don’t know,” Tyar said. “He doesn’t look like he’ll make it, but go ahead and try. Would you like this one as well?” Tyar pointed to Twirl and all sixteen griffons turned their heads toward her. She glared back at them, defiant even as her heart sank into her hooves. There was no way, even at her best, that she could defeat sixteen griffons, even if some of them looked to be half dead. 
“Yes, please,” Hersah said.
“You must be bucking insane if you think I’m going to be your slave,” Twirl spat, her anger drowning out the despair she had been feeling moments before.  “I’ll kill each one of you before I let you take me.”
“Please, um…what is your name?” the female griffon asked. 
“Twirl, you feathered freak, and if you think I’m going to let you drag him away to a slow death, you have another thing coming.”
“Please, Twirl. Surrender. I…” Hersah trailed off, her eyes shifting between Twirl, the ground, and the griffons around her. What was wrong with this girl? Did she seriously think pleading with Twirl would change her mind? Not only was this griffon a sick slave owner, but she was also apparently an idiot. 
“I’m going to kill you first,” Twirl said. She stood on her hind legs and raised her pole above her head. Sea Tide’s scarf flowed out from the pole like a banner, and Twirl drew a sense of pride from the sight. She was about to die, but she didn’t regret. She chose to believe that Starswirl had completed whatever it was he had set out to do in this cursed forest, and hopefully that meant that other ponies would no longer have to suffer from the griffons.
“No, Twirl! Please, don’t do this!” Hersah screamed, tears coming from her eyes now. “Spinner needs help now! I can’t help him if we’re busy—”
“Trust me when I say he would rather die,” Twirl said as she brought her pole down in front of her, planting it like a flag. “Come and get me, freaks.”
Tyar shrugged. “Very will. Capture her if possible. If not, there are plenty of other ponies we can take.” When none of the griffons moved, Tyar glared at them. “Well, what are you waiting for? Kill her already.”
“Twirl, please…” Hersah said quietly, and Twirl almost believed that Hersah genuinely wanted to help. 
The moment passed though as several of the griffons raised their weapons and began to close on Twirl. She noticed that Hersah just stayed where she was, her head hung. Geralt too seemed to be uncomfortable and did not advance, along with the injured griffons. Still, nine of them, including their leader Tyar, were closing on her and she knew she wasn’t going to win the fight. She would make sure she took some of them with her though, and if it came to it, she’d kill Sea Tide herself. She didn’t want to risk her friend being trapped in a life of slavery. 
“Enough!” Twirl couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the sound of the new voice. Just how many griffons were left in this—?
The ground exploded a few paces in front of her as a beam of light tore through the earth. She closed her eyes as dirt and gravel slammed into her face. The shockwave pushed against her body and she leaned forward, bracing herself against her pole as she struggled to stay standing. This was a magic attack. And griffons didn’t use magic. That meant only one thing.
Twirl opened one of her purple eyes slightly once the shaking stopped. A gash ran through the ground directly in front of her, separating her from the griffons by a large margin. At the sound of soft bells, she turned her head to the side.
“Griffons, you will leave this place,” a pony said as he walked forward. He was clad in a blue cloak and a wide-brimmed blue hat, both of which looked tattered and ripped, and several bells were missing from the edges of his outfit, but he still carried himself with a pride that didn’t scream arrogance, but confidence. 
“Impressive magic, old pony,” Tyar said with a smirk, but Twirl noted that he wasn’t moving any closer. “But at your age, I bet you can’t do that again.”
“Twirl, are you hurt?” the pony asked, completely ignoring Tyar and the griffons.
“I…I’m fine, Starswirl,” Twirl said, still trying to believe what she had just witnessed. She had heard Starswirl was a prodigy among the unicorns, but she had had no idea what that meant until right then. His power was incredible. 
She shook her amazement from her mind. “But Sea Tide is hurt pretty bad. I don’t know if she’ll make it.”
“None of you are going to make it!” Tyar shouted. “We’re going to kill all of you.”
“No, you will leave Equestria,” Starswirl said, finally turning his attention back to the griffons. “And your kind will free and return all the ponies you have captured.”
“And who is going to make us do that?” Tyar laughed. “You, old fool?”
“Me?” Starswirl tapped his chest with his hoof, mock shock appearing behind his beard. “Oh no. As you say, I am getting up there in years. You were right. That magic blast took a lot out of me. No, these two will be the ones making you leave.”
Starswirl stepped to the side, his blue cloak jingling softly as it trailed through the air and then revealed two hooded figures.
Two very small hooded figures.
Tyar laughed out loud, and Twirl heard several of the griffons chuckle as well. Twirl herself was at a loss. Did Starswirl really expect these two…fillies to stop the griffons? Was he going senile in his old age or something?
“Um, Starswirl?” the taller of the two fillies asked quietly. “Are…are you sure we can do this?”
“You can, my dears,” Starswirl said softly. “It is your destiny. You were born for greatness, and to fulfill a prophecy that ponykind has been awaiting for years.”
“Enough of this!” Tyar shouted. “Kill the unicorn and the earth pony. We’ll take the fillies back with us. Now go!” Tyar raised his sword and flew into the air, heading straight toward Twirl. The earth pony knew she wasn’t going to be able to react in time because she was still trying to wrap her head around how Starswirl thought children would be able to stop the griffons. Was that seriously the reason she had risked her life? Were these two girls the reasons why so many ponies were now dead somewhere in this cursed forest? Was she about to die because some senile unicorn believed a prophecy in some ancient, dusty book?
Twirl attempted to bring her pole around into a better position to block the upcoming blow, but she knew she wasn’t going to make it. It would only be a second before Tyar’s blade…smacked against a wall of light.
What?
Twirl found herself surrounded by a sphere of yellowish white light. Tyar’s blade slammed into it, but it held with ease and the reverberation caused the griffon to stagger back in the air. He snarled at her and raised his blade again, bringing it down with enough force to cleave a pony in two. Surely that would cause the light shield to break.
Only it didn’t. Tyar’s sword slammed against the light, but the barrier held. Twirl looked over at Starswirl and the two fillies with him. One of them had removed her hood, revealing a flowing pink mane and a glorious white coat. Her light purple eyes were narrowed in concentration, and a golden glow surrounded the long white horn on her forehead. 
“You…leave…her…alone!” the young filly said as she continued to hold the shield around Twirl. She had some serious magic power if she was able to produce something so strong at such a young age. 
“You little brat!” Tyar shouted, now diving toward the young filly. Twirl wanted to run in and help, but the shield was still up, trapping her inside. She watched helplessly as the griffon closed on the little girl.
“You will leave Tia alone!” the other hooded figure said. She was smaller than the first filly, but she still stepped in front of her. She threw her hood back, revealing a sky blue mane with a royal blue coat, and like Tia, she too had a unicorn horn. It glowed blue and then a blast of light sprang up in front of her. 
Tyar barely managed to halt his attack before he crashed headlong into the wall of light. He snarled for a moment, then let out a laugh. “So you found two little unicorns who can use impressive magic. So what? It just means they’ll make excellent servants back in the kingdom. They can’t possibly stop me.”
“Griffon, this is your last chance,” Starswirl said darkly. “Withdraw, leave our dead here, and tell your ruler to never trespass in Equestria again.”
“Never!” Tyar snarled. “The rest of you, attack! We’ll kill the lot of them!” 
Twirl’s gaze turned back to the remaining griffons. Some of them where hesitating, and Hersah, Geralt, and the wounded still hadn’t moved, but six of them drew their weapons and charged forward, screeching as they closed the gap. 
Tia needed to drop the shield now if Twirl was going to have any chance of helping fight. Twirl turned to the young unicorn to say as much, but she froze before a single word left her mouth. 
Tia had removed her cloak. Her coat was silky white and a flaming sun was on her flank, but having a cutie mark at her age wasn’t the surprising thing.
She had wings! How did she have wings and a horn? That wasn’t possible. No pony in history had ever had both. Alicorns were creatures of myths and…and prophecy.
Twirl felt her head swim as she began to realize what she was seeing. 
“Sister!” Tia shouted as she flapped her wings and rose into the air. Twirl’s jaw fell open as the other filly removed her cloak, revealing her own set of wings. She started flapping and rose into the air along with her sister. 
Both ponies closed their eyes as Tyar and the griffons came at them. Twirl noticed that the confidence had bled away from some of them, but not Tyar. He was still charging forward. He was just moments away from striking down the two girls. Twirl needed to do something now!
She took a single step and then something happened. Six jewels rose up from the two ponies’ cloaks and began to swirl around the girls. Tyar stopped his charge and floated in the air, the rest of the attacking griffons falling in behind him. They all watched as the jewels began to glow and spin faster, until they appeared to be rings of light encircling the two girls. 
The girls’ eyes sprang open, their pupils now glowing white with magical energy. 
“Leave us, and all the ponies, alone!” the two girls shouted as one, and then a beam of light shot from them. It was so bright that Twirl had to close her eyes and turn her head. She heard a roar as the air sizzled with energy and she felt her fur stand on end as static crackled around her. 
The feeling of overwhelming power seemed to last forever, and just when Twirl was certain her body couldn’t take anymore, the feeling vanished and the roaring stopped. Twirl heard nothing but silence, and she was too frightened to open her eyes. She wasn’t sure what she had just witnessed, but she was certain it was something that was not normal. Especially for two little girls. 
“It’s okay now,” a voice said and Twirl felt a small hoof touch her foreleg. “They are gone.” Twirl opened one of her eyes and looked down to see the blue filly smiling up at her. Three of the gems, the red, brown, and blue ones, were still slowly circling above her head, sparkling with her magic.
“What…what are you?” Twirl asked. She hadn’t meant to sound so terrified of the child, but she couldn’t help it.
“I’m Luna,” the pony said with a big smile. “That’s my big sister, Celestia, and that unicorn is our teacher, Starswirl.”
“Okay,” Twirl said, her mind slowly starting to calm down. “Um…nice to meet you, Luna.”
“I like your flag,” Luna said.
“Flag?”
“That.” Luna nodded toward the end of the of Twirl’s pole where she had tied Sea Tide’s scarf.
“Oh, thank you,” Twirl said as she brought the scarf closer so Luna could look at it. “My friend made it. She wanted to remember what we were fighting for.”
“Victory over the griffons,” Luna said with a smile that only a child could have when saying something like that. “That’s what Starswirl said. Now we won’t have to worry about them hurting ponies anymore, because we have the Elements of…of…Starswirl, what are they called again?”
Starswirl walked toward Twirl, with Celestia right beside him. “The Elements of Harmony, dear Luna. But I am afraid you cannot keep them. You must return them to the tree.”
“But they’re so pretty!” Luna said as she watched the gems circle above her head.
“The Elements of Harmony?” a voice said in disbelief and all heads turned to see who was speaking. “You took the Elements of Harmony? From the Tree of Harmony?”
“I am surprised a griffon is aware of such things,” Starswirl said matter-of-factly.  “You must study ancient lore.”
“Are you insane?” Geralt asked. He, Hersah, and the other griffons who had not attacked were still standing where they had been before.
“You watch how you talk to Teacher Starswirl, or we’ll make the rest of you go away like we did with those mean griffons,” Luna said. Twirl was about to tell him to watch is mouth as well, but the look of terror on his face silenced her. 
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Geralt asked as he stomped forward until he as only a leg’s distance away. Twirl kept her staff ready, just to be safe.
“Yes,” Starswirl said. “We have ended this war. Go back to your kingdom and tell your ruler that Equestria is now under the protection of the Elements of Harmony and its two princesses, and if your king doesn’t want his country destroyed, he would do well to return all of Equestria’s citizens, and never attack us again.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” Geralt said, anger dripping from his voice. “The Tree of Harmony was a seal. It kept something locked away since ancient times. By removing the Elements, you broke the seal and released something into this world that is the stuff of nightmares.”
“We already said we would put them back,” Luna said, sticking her tongue out.
“Teacher Starswirl, what is he talking about?” Celestia asked. 
“A sacrifice we had to make, my dear,” Starswirl said as he patted the young girl on the head with his hoof. “It is why you must put the Elements back after this war is over. There may still be time to prevent what he’s talking about.”
“A fool’s dream,” Geralt said. “But I will relay your message. I can promise you that griffons will not be coming to Equestria for generations now. Not after what you’ve done.” Twirl got the feeling that Geralt wasn’t referring to the Elements of Harmony’s power. 
Geralt turned to the other griffons and nodded, the slowly lowered Current’s body to the ground in front of the ponies. “He fought with honor,” the griffon said quietly, then turned to leave.
“Is he sleeping?” Luna asked as she stared at Current’s body. 
“Yes,” Twirl said as she looked at Current’s body. It was bruised and covered in dirt and open wounds, the worst being the dark red hole in the middle of his chest. “He’s taking a very long nap.”
“Like her?” Luna pointed behind Twirl and she recalled the body of her friend on the ground behind her.
“Sea Tide!” She turned around and dropped her pole as she fell to the ground next to her friend. “Sea Tide, please open your eyes. Don’t leave me here. We…we did it. We won.” Sea Tide remained still, and Twirl felt tears forming in her eyes.
“Celestia, Luna, you need to use the Elements again,” Starswirl said softly. “Otherwise, this pony will not wake up.”
“Okay,” Luna said with a smile.
“We will,” Celestia added. The two sisters closed their eyes again and the gems glowed white briefly, then the light flowed down onto Sea Tide. It flowed around her for a moment, then faded, and Twirl held her breath.
“Uh…what happened?” Sea Tide asked quietly as her eyes fluttered open. Twirl leaned forward and wrapped her friend up in a hug. “Ow! Easy, Twirl. I hurt all over.”
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” Twirl said, refusing to let go of Sea Tide’s neck.  She had lost so many friends and family over the years. Sea Tide was the only one she had left, and she wasn’t sure what she would have done if Sea Tide had left her too.
“Hersah, come,” Geralt said and Twirl looked up to see the female griffon still standing where she had been, while the others had already started to take their leave. “We still have to get out of this forest, and it’s safer to travel together.”
Hersah didn’t move. She simply stared at Twirl and the other ponies, the earth pony still draped over her back. 
“You look sad,” Luna said as she stared at the griffon. 
Hersah blinked in shock and took a step back at the sound of the filly’s voice. “I…I, um…”
“Is there something you need, Hersah?” Celestia asked as she walked toward the griffon. Luna quickly followed, and Twirl wanted to reach out and hold her back. 
Celestia and Luna walked forward until they stood directly in front of Hersah. The sisters looked up at the griffon and waited patiently, while she stared down at them with her eagle eyes.
“Did you want us to heal you too?” Celestia asked. “You and the other griffons do have a long journey ahead of you, and many of your are seriously injured.”
“Yeah,” Luna added. “We can do it. It’s really easy.”
Hersah’s eyes darted back and forth between the sisters and the other ponies. Celestia had raised a very good point. All of the surviving griffons looked to be in terrible condition. The chances of them making it out of the forest were slim at best, and Twirl couldn’t care less. If they all died, she wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. 
“No,” Hersah said. She looked over her shoulder at the other griffons, then back at the sisters and lowered herself so that Spinner’s body gently slipped to the ground. “Could…could you…save him?”
“Interesting,” Starswirl said from beside Twirl. 
“Why would a griffon want to save a pony?” Twirl spat. She grunted as Sea Tide’s hoof slammed into her stomach. “Sorry,” she whispered and Sea Tide smiled up at her.
“He…he saved my life,” Hersah said as she looked over her shoulder again and caused two of the griffons to hang their heads. Twirl wondered what that was about. “He saved me twice, actually. I…I don’t…I mean, I feel like…”
“We can heal him,” Celestia said. She looked down at her sister and Luna nodded. The two siblings closed their eyes and the Elements began to swirl around them again, followed by the bright white light from before. Only it didn’t just surround Spinner’s body, like it had Sea Tide’s. It kept growing, until it engulfed Twirl and Sea Tide too.
Twirl felt the tiredness of her body lessen greatly, and aches and wounds she had suffered over the past three days dissolved. She closed her eyes and let the sensation flow through her. She had never felt so warm in all her life. She could stay where she was forever, embraced in the soft warmth.
The light dimmed, along with the feeling of warmth, and Twirl found herself sad as the feeling left. She opened her eyes again and blinked a few times to clear them. Her body still hurt, but it was more like the soreness of recovering from a day’s workout than the exhaustion and pain she had been feeling before. 
“Spinner?” Hersah asked. Twirl looked over and saw Hersah hunched next to Spinner’s body, her eyes wide with hope. “Spinner.”
“Twirl?” Sea Tide whispered.
“Yes?”
“Um…I’d like to stand up now.” 
Twirl suddenly realized that she had been holding Sea Tide in her hooves ever since she had regained consciousness. She quickly stood up and nearly dropped Sea Tide in the process. She reached down and carefully helped her friend to her hooves. 
“Dammit,” a new voice said weakly, and Twirl and Sea Tide looked back toward Hersah, Celestia, and Luna. “I’m not going to be a slave, Her—argh! What are you doing?” 
Hersah wrapped her forelegs around Spinner’s neck and was crushing him in a fierce hug. A hug that Twirl recognized all too well, and one she wasn’t sure a griffon should be giving a pony. 
“You’re alive!” Hersah said as she buried her beak in Spinner’s neck.
“Yes,” Spinner said, trying to get out of Hersah’s embrace. “Um…what’s going on?”  Spinner looked around until his eyes fell on Celestia and Luna, then they went wide with shock. “Who are you two?”
“I am Celestia,” Celestia said, bowing slightly. 
“And I am Luna!” Luna added, raising her front hoof. “We saved you. Well, she asked us to, but we would have helped you even if she hadn’t asked us to.”
“I…see,” Spinner said, his eyes turning back to the griffon wrapped around his neck. 
“We also healed the griffons,” Celestia said, raising her head to look at Geralt and the other griffons. “We will go with you until you are out of the forest, if you wish.”
“Thank you, Celestia,” Geralt said, bowing. “We…would appreciate that. Hersah, we’re leaving. Are you coming?”
Hersah’s eyes snapped open and she suddenly became aware of what exactly she was doing. She immediately pulled out of her hug and stood up too fast, refusing to meet any of the eyes that were looking at her. 
“I, uh…” She clawed at the ground, then looked down at Spinner.
“Spinner will need time to heal,” Starswirl said as he, Twirl, and Sea Tide walked over. “We all will, I think. I’m certain he could use some help.”
Twirl saw Spinner roll his eyes, but he didn’t object. He held out his front hoof and Hersah carefully helped him stand up. He winced and fell forward a bit, whether on purpose or accident Twirl couldn’t tell, but Hersah immediately caught him and steadied him again.
“I think I’m going to stay here,” Hersah said as she looked over at the other griffons. “Just to, uh, make sure Spinner heals properly.”
“I see,” Geralt said. “Well, we all still need to get moving. We don’t want to stay in this forest any longer than we have to.”
“How come they didn’t wake up?” Luna asked. Twirl looked to where the filly was pointing and her heart sank. Current’s body was still on the forest floor where Geralt had placed him, and Quickeye was still collapsed on the ground as well.
“They’re…not going to wake up, my dear,” Starswirl said as he put a hoof around Luna. “They…they made a sacrifice for you and your sister. One that I’m sure they’re proud off.”
“Sacrifice?” Luna asked, looking up at Starswirl with an expression that broke Twirl’s heart. 
“It means…they did something very special for you two. Something that they maybe didn’t want to do, but knew they had to do.”
“Oh,” was all Luna could say.
“We’re not going to leave them here, are we?” Celestia asked as she stared at the two bodies. Twirl could tell that she knew what sacrifice the two ponies—and so many others—had made. 
“No,” Geralt said to everyone’s surprise. “My troops and I will carry them out. We can take you to where the other ponies are too, if you wish.”
“Please do,” Starswirl said. Geralt nodded and two griffons walked forward and retrieved Current’s and Quickeye’s bodies, then put them on their backs. 
“I do not think I like sacrifice,” Luna said as she snuggled against Starswirl.
“I now, my dear,” Starswirl said as he ruffled Luna’s mane. “But I fear you and your sister will have to grow accustomed to it in the coming years. But don’t worry, I’ll be right here for both of you. I promise.”
As the group of griffons and ponies began to move, Twirl felt a hoof hold her back until she and Sea Tide were at the back of the group. 
“I feel I missed some very important things,” she whispered. “For starters, what are those two? I’ve never heard of a pony having both wings and a horn. Well, except for the legends about the sun and moon. You don’t think…?”
“I don’t really know,” Twirl said as she watched Celestia and Luna walk ahead of them. “But they found something called the Elements of Harmony, and the power they wielded with them was…well, you saw what they did with Spinner. And you.”
“So does that mean the fighting’s over?” Sea Tide asked as the first griffons vanished from sight into the tree line. 
“The griffons would be fools to continue the war now, I think. But as for the fighting…” Twirl thought for a moment. Geralt had said that, by removing the Elements of Harmony, they had released something terrible. Twirl would have dismissed that as a silly scare tactic, save for the terror on Geralt’s face. 
“Twirl?” Sea Tide asked.
“Nothing. I think it’s safe to say that the war with the griffons is finally over.”
“Great. I have just one more question.”
“Can it wait? We’re about to be left behind.”
“Why is my hoof-made scarf tied around your pole and laying on the ground?”