"Dang griffins," Applejack cursed, "if ah get half a chance ah swear ah'll strangle one with my own two hooves!"
Big Macintosh silently met her gaze and shook his head.
"What? Ya don't think ah could do it?"
"AJ," he spoke calmingly, "Ah know ya could do it, but ya got a family ta think of."
Applejack hung her head and kicked at the hay strewn floor of the Apple family barn. She knew Big Mac was right, but that sure didn't make her feel any better. Up in the barn's hayloft were exactly those ponies that the red stallion was talking about. When the griffins invaded a week earlier they had kicked the Apples out of their home, forcing them to sleep in the barn with only each other and the hay for comfort, while the griffins took up residence in the home they had worked so hard to maintain. Applejack worried terribly for the oldest and youngest members of her family. She decided to climb up to the hayloft to check on Applebloom and Granny Smith.
In a corner, far away from the barn's doors, sat Applebloom and Granny Smith on a large pile of hay. The young filly was curled up in the older Apple's embrace but she smiled weakly at AJ when she approached.
"How y'all doin' up here?"
"Oh we're jus' jawin' at each other ta pass the time," Applebloom said, trying to put on a brave face.
Applejack knew that wasn't exactly the case. She had no doubt that Applebloom was talking with Granny, but she knew the geriatric pony wasn't talking back. Since the invasion, Granny Smith didn't do much talking. She simply stared off into space as if her mind had simply shut itself off. The griffins had tormented her mercilessly when they first arrived until they grew bored and decided to find other targets for their cruelty. They had even taken Granny Smith's walker forcing Big Mac to carry her when she needed to go more than a few steps.
"Alright then," replied Applejack, "y'all hang in there. Ah'm sure this'll all be over soon."
Applejack said that so often these days that the others merely went through the motions of nodding their heads, not believing a word of it. With a heavy heart Applejack trotted back down to the barn's front doors and cautiously peeked outside.
The night air outside carried a slight bite of cold with it causing Applejack to wince. The barn wasn't very warm at night. Outside the doors three griffins lounged around a roaring campfire, laughing raucously and drinking from a large barrel of the Apple family's famous cider. Applejack's heart burned furiously as she stared at the griffins, wanting nothing more than to beat the tar out of them, but she knew she couldn't risk putting Granny Smith and Applebloom in any more danger than they were already. Sighing, she turned and went to sit by Big Mac.
"Ah jus' don't get it Big Mac. A few days ago Princess Celestia raised the sun to be such a sight as it warmed ma heart. Now the dang sun hasn't risen in two days!"
Applejack spoke the truth. Since Celestia's triumphal raising of the sun a few days prior the dawn had come sporadically and seemed far more dreary than a sunrise should be. Of course, none of the residents of Ponyville knew about the goings on in Canterlot or the battle that had been waged there. All they had were the cycles of day and night to speculate on.
"Heck, it seems like both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have givin' up."
Outside the barn, night reigned heavily over the land. Luna's moon was a mere sliver in the sky and only a hoof-full of stars glinted dully to match it.
Suddenly, a series of taps at the front door broke the barn's baleful silence.
"What in tarnation was-..." Applejack was cut off as two dark figures slipped into the barn.
Instantly she and Big Mac where standing, ready to meet the new threat to their family, but a feeling of familiarity drew Applejack up short. After a heartbeat she recognized one of the figures.
"TWILIGHT!?"
Twilight Sparkle didn't, at first glance, look anything like the Princess AJ was used to seeing. Her entire body was blackened, leaving only her eyes and horn as identifying features. She held a hoof to her lips to quiet her friend.
Trotting closer, with Big Mac a few steps behind, she whispered happily through her teeth.
"Twilight we thought you was dead! The griffins said you had run away and that Canterlot was under siege. What's going on?"
Twilight embraced her friend quickly before nodding to the pony with her.
"Applejack I would never abandon my friends. I don't have time to explain everything right now. Ares and I have a lot of work to do."
Applejack turned to Ares, who was casually leaning against a spear, and gave him a friendly nod.
"Whatever you're doin', Twi, Big Mac and me can help."
"Eeyup" Big Mac grunted.
Twilight Sparkle shook her head instantly.
"No Applejack. I won't put you in danger. Ares and I can handle this."
She turned and headed back towards the door with Ares at her side.
"Wait, Twi! What in hay are we supposed ta do?"
Twilight stopped and turned back to her friend. Applejack felt her blood run cold at the sight of her friend's eyes. She had never seen a look like that before on the face of the quiet bookworm she knew and loved. It was the hard, unforgiving look of a beast set on the bitter road of revenge.
"Applejack, in four hours the sun will rise. If Ponyville is free, when it does, you will see my signal."
"What if it ain't?"
"Then take your family and run as fast as you can."
****
Ducking back out of the barn, Twilight and Ares approached the griffin campfire. The three griffins who had been enjoying the evening around it lay still and cold, never to rise again. Ares nodded to the stallions standing by the slain foes.
"Give the signal, Twilight."
Nodding, Twilight raised her head to the sky. Her horn began to glow with a soft white light. Three times her horn flashed before she severed the flow of magic. A few moments passed as the ponies stared heavenward, then one of the stars winked back the same three flashes. Ares raised his spear into the air before bringing it down sharply to point at the sleeping town of Ponyville. All around, dark shapes rose from the ground as if they had been birthed by the earth itself. A hundred hoof-picked stallions, their coats blackened with soot and devoid of armor (lest it rattle and give them away), began to creep through the orchards of the Apple family farm. With nearly no ambient light they were impossible to see from a distance. A small detachment broke away from the group and snuck towards the Apple family home. The Apples would not have to continue living in their barn for long.
Far above the creeping army, dark shadows drifted through the sky as another death dealing force winged towards Cloudsdale.
The liberation of Equestria had begun.
****
In Cloudsdale the occupying griffins had grown complacent and lazy. Thanks to round the clock Equestrian aerial patrols no griffin messengers had arrived to warn them of the defeat of their army on the plains outside of Canterlot. As a result, the griffins slept soundly assuming that their strategic plan was still well underway. Little did they know that death incarnate was winging its way towards them.
At the head of her bat-winged guards Princess Luna glided silently between the clouds high above Equestria. Her guards were arrayed into two flying Vs with one a hundred meters above the other. After receiving Twilight's signal on the ground, she began her two pronged attack on Cloudsdale. The higher formation fell silently on the upper reaches of Cloudsdale's spires as Luna and her company gently landed on the lower fields. They trotted quickly over the cloud fields where so many pegasi would, in happier times, spend their leisure time basking in sun or enjoying picnic lunches. Now the fields were littered with the loudly snoring forms of griffin soldiers. One by one their snores were cut off by thrust of spears and the crush of hooves. From there her guards swarmed through the vats were rainbows were made, and up the causeways that led to individual pegasus homes. Said homes were occupied by griffins who had imprisoned Cloudsdale's inhabitants in hastily improvised barracks. They would free the ponies after the fighting was over. With one force infiltrating from the top and the other from the bottom, griffins died in droves, their bodies cast out into Cloudsdale's streets or out of Cloudsdale entirely, falling to the earth like marionettes suddenly devoid of their strings. Blood flowed through Cloudsdale's streets to drip off the edge of the clouds in a hellish rain.
Princess Luna watched this all with cold detachment. Her time as Nightmare Moon, though in the past, had inured her to such things. She did not revel in the slaughter, but she knew that it must be done to see the freedom of her subjects achieved. However, the Princess of the Night was not without sadness. She knew that for many years to come the ponies affected by this war would probably never again know untroubled sleep, and as that was her domain, she would be the one to provide them succor. They would dream of flashing talons and rivers of blood before waking up, screaming in the night.
The Princess also feared for her guards. They performed their duties bravely and without hesitation, yet, she worried for them. Although fighting for one's homes and future was as justifiable a cause for violence as one could hope for, she knew that justification rang hollow when faced with the end results of war. Her guards would bear their share of nightmares, and many of their loved ones would shy from their embrace because of what they had justifiably done. No, justification could never cover the wounds of the heart and mind caused by war.
Princess Luna was surprised to find her cheeks wet and, seeing no one around, she gave in to the flood of her emotions.
Whereas Princess Celestia had wept for the lives of the ponies affected by this war, Princess Luna, ruler of the Night, sat down and cried for their souls.
****
"So these are the famous former wielders of the Elements of Harmony? HA! What a joke" mocked the leader of Ponyville's occupying forces.
Strutting around the Mayor's office he grinned wickedly at his captives with his one good eye. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all glared back at him, powerless due to the heavy metal collars that chained them to the floor like dogs. Rainbow Dash strained at her collar for the thousandth time, but it still failed to grant her any freedom. She was the only who made the effort any more.
Pinkie Pie hadn't been the same since that first night's terror. It seemed as if her normally bouncy, unkempt mane had been deflated. She still tried to smile at her friends, to keep their spirits up, but her eyes were hollow behind that smile.
Rainbow Dash's heart broke for her friends. The griffins had learned to leave her alone after a few had wandered into the range of her bucking hooves and went away with bruises for their trouble. Her friends weren't as lucky.
The griffins loved tormenting the yellow pegasus, Fluttershy. Being timid and kind hearted she had little resistance to the griffins torments. It seemed that whenever they were bored they would tease her mercilessly, snapping their beaks at her face and trailing their razor sharp claws over her coat. All Fluttershy could do was curl up into a ball and cry until they went to find better sport.
Rarity too suffered under griffin imprisonment. Being of surpassing elegance and beauty she was under constant threat of their lascivious leers and jests. When they ran their claws over her it was for entirely different purposes.
"You'll never get away with this, you big meanie-butt!" yelled Pinkie Pie.
The griffin leader merely laughed at her before sauntering back behind the Mayor's desk and plopping his muscular bulk in her swivel chair.
"I won't will I?" he thundered. "I am Thrakka, first of my name, son of King Dyaros, and heir to the throne of the Griffin Kingdom. I have never been beaten. Face it, your Princess Twilight abandoned you, and in a few days time Canterlot will fall to our forces. Your Princesses will be tried and executed and you will take your rightful place underneath the heels of your betters!"
From there Thrakka dissolved into a fit of maniacal laughter. The other three griffins in the room joined in his dark mirth.
"BWAHAHAHAHAH-"
All of the sudden, Thrakka's laughter was cut off sharply. Every eye in the room swung to him and an audible gasp filled the room. None was more surprised than Thrakka, had he still possessed the ability to gasp he might have joined them. As it was, all he could do was stare in shock at the razor sharp spear point that had sprouted six inches out of his chest. With a sharp rasp blood frothed from his beak and his one good eye rolled back in his head before he pitched down on to the mayoral desk. Behind him stood the hard eyed form of Ares.
The other three griffins leapt to their feet, but before they could move dark shapes fell from the rafters and, in the flash of downward spear thrusts, they too were cut down.
The captive ponies watched in shocked silence as they were freed. In the space of a few heartbeats they had gone from prisoners to freed, but more shockingly they had witnessed the ending of four lives. Fluttershy stared at the cooling bodies and the growing pool of blood on the floor. Her mouth trembled as a silent scream built in her throat, before it could become reality Rarity's hoof slipped over her mouth and pulled her into a comforting embrace. Together the two took solace in each other's embrace.
For her part, Pinkie Pie seemed surprisingly unshaken.
"I knew you guys were coming... ya know with my Pinkie sense."
Ares stared at her for a moment before he was pulled away by Rainbow Dash.
"Whatever you guys are going to do, I can help."
"No, Rainbow Dash, it is too dangerous."
"But I'm the fastest flyer in Ponyville! I can help!"
Ares eyes locked on hers and Rainbow Dash felt her bravado wither.
"If you want to help, stay here and hide your friends. When the sun rises, fate willing, Ponyville will be free."
Turning sharply, Ares and the other stallions ducked out the door.
*****
In the first hour Twilight's liberation force had infiltrated and secured half of Ponyville. However, their good fortune was not to last. Within moments the entire liberation turned into slaughter.
Approaching the 70th minute of the operation a squad of stallions crept silently towards Sugar Cube Corner. Their leader, a young corporal named Bright Star, waved his soldiers forward. In twos they slowly advanced up the street, alley by alley, shadow by shadow. Holding up a hoof he brought them to a halt as he studied their target. An open space of 20 meters surrounded Sugar Cube Corner and, even more troubling, every light in the building blazed. With a final direction he and his stallions broke cover and trotted quickly and silently across the open ground.
Suddenly the front door burst open and a pony tumbled out in a heap, the shapes of several griffins following quickly behind. Bruised and bleeding the pony got to his hooves as the sounds of cruel laughter resounded through the air. Each of the griffins bore a loaded crossbow.
"Dance!" one cried, before launching an arrow at the poor pony's hooves. A quick, panicked shuffle spared the pony from any harm but only redoubled the griffins' cruel laughter.
Caught in the open, halfway over the open ground, Corporal Bright Star and his stallions were spotted.
The Equestrian soldiers leapt into the attack and were met by a volley of bolts. Corporal Bright Star stumbled in his charge and dropped his spear. Shaking his head he took another step before a wave of pain brought him up short. Glancing down he found the broken shaft of a crossbow bolt in his chest. He hadn't realized he'd been hit. Taking another drunken step he found it increasingly hard to breathe. Blackness began to creep in around the edge of his vision as he slumped to the ground. He was dimly aware of his stallions locked in combat with the griffins outside Sugar Cube Corner. One of the griffins broke free and leapt into the air, crying out the alarm. Bright Star wanted to help, wanted to fight, but he felt so tired.
"I'll just rest awhile," he thought, his eyes closing, "then I'll get back up..."
*****
Ares ducked instinctively as crossbow bolts thudded into the produce cart he was hiding behind. Peeking around the cart's wheel he took in the situation and grimaced. Thirty meters ahead was the Ponyville library, every window and balcony of which was occupied by a griffin sniper.
An hour earlier a griffin had winged through town raising the alarm. It seemed as if every light in Ponyville had come on and griffins poured from the buildings in numbers beyond what the liberators had expected. Perhaps more troubling was the plethora of griffins that were armed with bolt throwers. Crossbows were a rare and very expensive weapon, but it seemed that Prince Thrakka had spared no expense for his forces. The deadly weapons could pierce the heaviest of armor at 100 paces. Against unarmored stallions it seemed like overkill. What had started as a silent infiltration devolved into bloody house to house fighting as the griffins dug in against the invaders, only giving ground when they were forced out of a position or overrun.
Ares said a silent curse as more bolts hissed overhead. Already the open space around the library was littered with the forms of fallen stallions. Looking back he could see Twilight and several unicorns fire beams of magic at the griffins in the library. Pinned down in the middle of the kill-zone there was little the earth pony could do. Suddenly, an idea began to form in his mind. Signaling frantically to get Twilight's attention he did his best to pantomime his plan. Twilight Sparkle cocked her head in confusion which only made Ares signal more frantically. Finally nodding, she backed away from the firefight and slipped into the shadows.
Ares waited a few minutes, which he passed by counting the number of bolts that thudded into his hiding spot. Taking a deep breath he grabbed the produce cart and began to slowly wheel it towards the library's front door. He had to push the cart in a serpentine fashion to prevent himself from becoming a pony pincushion. At last he reached his objective and, leaping over his cart, kicked in the library's door. Rolling inside the stallion dove behind Twilight's writing desk as bolts chased his every move. After a few moments a griffin voice hailed him from the library's upper level.
"Hey 'my little pony'" the voice sneered derisively, "come on out and we'll make your death quick."
Ares cinched up his courage and did his best not to tremble as he sauntered out from behind the writing desk with his spear held jauntily over one shoulder. Above him, six griffin crossbows tracked his movements as he came to a halt in the center of the library's ground floor. Doing his best to appear nonchalant, he plopped down in a sitting position to face his firing squad.
"Any last words, pony?"
"None," he smirked, "just waiting for some friends to drop in."
The griffins looked to each other in confusion a mere moment before Twilight and half a dozen pegasi burst through the library's upper windows. Ares had to duck to avoid a griffin that Twilight blasted from her former bedroom with a bolt of magic. The fight was over in seconds. Still sitting, Ares waved to Twilight as she trotted over to him.
"Are you okay, Ares?"
"I am well," he smiled.
He didn't trust his legs to stand until after the Princess had left.
*****
When the first light of Celestia's dawn illumined the sky, Ponyville was free.
Twilight Sparkle gazed sadly around her home town. The bodies of friend and foe lay together in silence as if having finally quit their fighting in life to embrace mutual peace in death. Broken glass glittered like countless stars in the grassy streets as the rising dawn revealed the extent of the night's devastation. Slowly, Ponyville's inhabitants crept into the street from their homes. Many wept openly though whether it was because they were free or because of what they had witnessed Twilight couldn't say. Maybe it was both.
Twilight turned her head to find Ares at her side.
"Ares, we won."
Ares nodded though her statement hadn't been a question.
"But what did we win, Ares? All these broken homes and broken lives, will things ever be the same? Will we ever find happiness again? Why did this have to happen?"
"Twilight, why this happened matters little. The Kings and rulers will have their reasons that will go down in the history books, but it truly matters very little. To these ponies, who have endured so much, knowing the cause will not bring back their loved ones or fix their homes, to them all that matters is the end result. A new war is about to begin, Twilight Sparkle, a war to return to normalcy. It will be fought in their hearts and minds and you must be the one to lead them."
Ares motioned to the ponies emerging from their homes.
"Your example will lead them. You must do your best to be happy and they will follow you. You have won the right to return your lives to how they once were, as best you can."
"I'm not sure that I can do that, Ares. I'm not sure I can just forget about all this."
"You must, Twilight. If you do not then these stallions will have died in vain."
Twilight grimaced, not quite believing Ares' words. Then, raising her head, she fired a bolt of magic into the sky. Up and up her magic soared until it burst high above Ponyville like the birth of a star. All over the town and in the surrounding country side ponies who saw the signal knew that freedom had come to Ponyville and raised a cheer.