The radioactive river soon led us to dried grass and sand. About one hundred yards in front of us stood a once lively town, now weathered down due to the war and time. There were two cages in the middle of town and several griffins roaming around Dodge Junction.
"Can ya see which fillies those griffins captured?" I asked Scootaloo.
My friend nodded and quickly pulled out her binoculars from her bag and placed them over her eyes.
"It's kinda hard to make out details, but I see a cream colored pegasus, two earth ponies who are wearing matching purple armor, and a greyish white pegasus that's laying on the ground." Scootaloo informed us before putting her binoculars back in her bag.
"Let's go." Sweetie Belle whispered before slinking towards the town like a cat. Scootaloo and I just shrugged before following our unicorn friend.
As we came within a few feet of Dodge Junction, we dove into the nearest bush just as a light blue griffin with a shotgun walked in our direction.
Please don't notice us, please don't notice us. I prayed quietly in my mind.
Once the griffin past our hiding spot, I poked my head out and scanned our surroundings.
Oh my Celestia. I breathed.
The houses were lined with drying zebra and pony skin and meat while several snipers were positioned all over the roofs. In the red clock tower, there was a slick female griffin with beady yellow eyes who was barking orders at the other griffins.
"Isn't that Gilda?" Sweetie Belle whispered as she slightly poked her head out from the bush and followed my gaze.
"Ah think so." I gulped before I retracted my head back into the safety of the bush.
"So what's the plan?" Scootaloo questioned as she pulled out one of her revolvers to see if it was full of bullets.
"I can use Alpha Seaweed to capture all the griffins on the ground. Then Scootaloo can take out the snipers while Apple Bloom goes after Gilda to get some answers." Sweetie Belle suggested.
"But doesn't tat drain ya ov yer magic really quickly?" I asked.
"Then Sweetie and I will cause a distraction, allowing you to go and see Gild." Scootaloo said.
"We're suppose ta rescue those fillies! Not start ah fight with these griffins!" I hissed.
"Griffins are all over the place, we're gonna have to take them down in order to rescue them." My unicorn friend replied.
"Fine, but why do ah have ta be the one who sees Gilda?" I grumbled. If anypony needs to fight Gilda, it should be Sweetie Belle since she can use her magic or Scootaloo since she can shoot really fast.
"Cause your great at stealth." The white unicorn explained.
I sighed and gazed up at the looming red clock tower, "Go an cause ah distraction." I commanded.
"Take that!" Scootaloo shouted as she opened fire at some of the snipers.
"ICE MONSTER ATTACK!!" Sweetie hollered before she unleashed a torrent of snow and ice at a large group of griffins.
While my friends were fighting, I was walking quietly towards the clock tower. My shotgun was strapped to the side of my saddle bag, loaded with ammo and ready to fire.
As I crawled through a window with no glass, my hooves instantly touched something hard. Quickly, I got out my flashlight and turned it on, only to loose my lunch in the process.
The floor was covered in skeletons and stained in blood, there were huge metal tubes with small windows that shot out from the ground and rose all the way to the top floor. In almost all the small windows there was a pony head or internal organs that floated in some kind of clear liquid.
What is this thing? I wondered in horror.
"Why don't ya come up here and find out, flea bag." a voice mocked.
I looked up and let out a scowl as Gilda opened the trapdoor and was now grinning at my evilly.
"M-maybe ah will!" I shouted back angrily before marching towards the surprisingly well kept staircase.
"Good." Gilda stated before closing the trapdoor.
Quickly, I galloped up the stairs and towards the trapdoor as a million questions floated inside my mind. Why did you capture these fillies? What does this machine do? Why are pony parts floating inside it?
Once I reached the door, I kicked in open and jumped onto the second floor.
In front of me stood a giant silver like oven which the tubes connected to. A long thin see through tube that was caring neon green liquid ran from the top all the way down and out a blown out window. Gilda stood off to my right side, admiring the view of my friends battling the other griffins.
"What does tis machine do?" I asked while trying to sound brave. However, in truth I was really scared of having to probably face Gild head on.
"It's called the Oven. This machine runs on animal parts which in turn...well why don't I just show you?" Gilda replied before strolling up towards the Oven and pressing a blue button on the side. Suddenly, the machine hummed to life and a silver tube shot out from the top and Gilda picked it up with a thick wooden rod.
The griffin smirked and threw it out a window, after about a couple of milliseconds, a loud boom followed by an explosion of silver liquid followed suit.
"Take a look." Gilda grinned.
What can she be up to? I wondered as I slowly walked up to a window and peered through it.
The ground was covered in medium silver fires, I saw Scootaloo's left leg burnt and Sweetie Belle trying to ice it while also fighting off several approaching griffins.
"H-how could ya!?" I gasped in horror.
"Oh and things get better, this thing is just a prototype. Soon the Griffin Kingdom will have hundreds of these all over the world! Now not only will this awful war end, but the griffins will rain as rulers of this world!" Gilda cried out in glee.
I gritted my teeth and turned around towards the smug griffin. Oh how much did I want to beat some sense into her.
"Yer doing tis all wrong!" I shouted, "Ah want tis war ta end just as bad as ya, but tis is not ta way!"
"YES IT IS!" the griffin bellowed, "IT'S THANKS TO YOU PONIES AND ZEBRAS THAT THIS WAR EVEN STARTED! SO NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE GRIFFINS TO CLEAN UP YOUR MESS AND TAKE WHAT'S RIGHTFULLY OURS!"
"It was the changelings!" I explained, I really didn't want to hurt Gilda. All she wanted was for this blasted war to end, but the way she's doing it may bring harm to everypony.
"Lies, we griffins know that those bugs are long gone." Gilda informed coldly as she took out her machine gun and pointed it at me.
Please forgive me. I thought sadly as I placed my tongue in the trigger.
Then, we both fired.