"Kal, keep that thing up! Ponies around here are a little edgy!"
"Alright, alright..." Kalza pulled the hood of her borrowed Wonderbolts hoodie back over her crest, and kept her head down as they disembarked from the train. This didn't stop her from joining the other Cutie Mark Crusaders as they scampered up to the wall to gawp in awe at Trottingham's most spectacular sights. The station opened out to a dramatic vista of the Great Bridge; the only thing that spanned wide enough to cross the estuary of the river Maresey below, framing the sea just a mile or so beyond. Even in the middle of summer, the winds here had a bite of frost to them, and most of the trees around were conifers. The other way, inland, the permanently snow-capped northern parts of the Dragon Mountains snaked across the horizon.
"Are you sure it was a good plan to bring the young ones to Trottingham?" Zecora whispered from close behind Twilight as they stepped off. The librarian grimaced, and leaned back to respond.
"The other option was leaving them to their own devices in Ponyville." Zecora gave a cautious look, and carried on.
The group's plan had been laid out on their way there. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Derpy Hooves would drop off the children at a cousin of Derpy's; they were looking to move to Ponyville later that year, and had a young son called Pipsqueak. Getting the Cutie Mark Crusaders out of harm's way for the day was easy to pass off as offering to let little Pip make some Ponyville friends before they moved. Meanwhile, Twilight, Zecora, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie could make headway on route planning. Which is to say, Twilight, Zecora and Fluttershy could make headway on route planning while Pinkie tucked in to everyone's lunch.
The two groups had just reconvened when the peal of distant thunder grabbed everyone's attention. Passers-by appeared confused - the sky was almost cloudless. However, ponies that knew better instantly saw deeper. That could only mean trouble.
Rainbow Dash immediately took to the sky, leaving earshot before the rest of her party could protest. The sound seemed to be coming from somewhere to the north - an observation that unsettled her deeply. Within seconds, she was over the northern gate of the city. The guards on duty were milling about in a mild panic - none of them seemed to be any the wiser. One of the towers had a distinctive burn mark at the top, and the sight and smell of smoke belied its recency. She frowned, and touched down above the gate.
"Pull yourselves together!" she barked. Immediately the guards stood to attention and formed up along the parapets. She picked a skittish looking pegasus guard and singled him out. "You! Alert the Wonderbolts! Go!" Muttering something incoherent but probably resembling 'yes ma'am', he stumbled into flight and darted away. "The rest of you, keep it together! The last thing we need right now is-"
Kerrack.
A tree near the edge of the forest below exploded in two, and a bolt of lightning ripped from the blast to strike another tower on the wall. As the dust settled and the smoke cleared, Dash picked herself up from her instinctive protective crouch to peer over at the source. A gryphon stood over the charred stump, propped up on his hind legs with the aid of an enormous ornate warhammer - black with a sparkling gold trim, emitting a few crackles and arcs of static electricity around the head. Over his back and between his wings was a flowing fur cape, and atop his head was a battered iron crown with a few garnets set in it, flanking the crown jewel: a red, pulsating, steaming, cracked, irregular crystal. With his free claw he raised a fist to the gates and unleashed a mighty roar;
"Charge!"
Dash was entirely too familiar with this sight by now. Scores of gryphon raiders, rising from their hiding places in the trees, letting loose blood-curdling battle cries and bearing down on underprepared, virtually unarmed pony guards. Still, she couldn't afford to lose her cool now. With a deft aerial feint, she liberated a raider of its spear, and hurled it into a rooftop below. Before the thump and squawk of the crash was over, she had another one to deal with. The guards below her were being cut to pieces, the best of them managing a couple of unarmed deflections and dodges before they either fell to the spears or panicked and fled. Quickly finding herself defending solo, she gave a frustrated grunt, and beat a hasty retreat.
"Rainbow! What's going on?" Twilight leapt when the pegasus thumped to the ground, panting.
"Gr-... Gryphons! We're under attack!"
"Oh for... of all the days they could have chosen to attack Trottingham, they had to pick today!"
"I've sent somepony for the Wonderbolts. Their leader has this lightning hammer thing... and I think he has the Apple too!"
"This just gets better and better!" Applejack grimaced. Twilight clapped her hands together and started pacing.
"Okay, we can salvage this. Rainbow Dash, alert the rest of the city watch."
"On it!" With a salute, she was off again.
"Rarity, try and get close to the leader. If they do have the Apple we need to get it from them, pronto."
"I, um... yes! Alright." Rarity nodded shakily, and scampered off to see what she could do.
"Zecora, I need... where'd Zecora go?" All the remaining group looked around bewilderedly for a moment, before turning up a blank.
"Should ah start lookin' for her then?"
"It should be fine. I trust Zecora not to summon demons when I'm not looking. We can work with it. Applejack, Fluttershy and Derpy, start coordinating evacuation. The forest to the south should be good cover, and we'll try and work on a distraction back here."
"What... kinda distraction?" Applejack tilted her head back, an uneasy tone to her voice.
"Pinkie!"
"This can't be good."
For several minutes, Rainbow Dash darted around the city walls and between keeps across the city, barking the news to the guards. All they seemed to do was panic - it wasn't surprising, but frustrating nonetheless. She was largely just killing time until the Wonderbolts arrived - wading into the aerial melee over the northern wall was suicide. After all, what kind of defence should she expect from the calibre of soldier that asks to break for lunch, or thought defending Appleloosa with pies was a good idea? Before long, she gave up and prioritised. Saving the whole town was proving a big ask, but she could at least try and save what she cared about the most.
Bang. The front door of Derpy's cousin's house burst off its hinges, and Dash stumbled in.
"Guys! I hope you didn't get too comfortable, we're going!" she called. "Guys?" A hatch burst open from under a carpet, and Applebloom popped her head out. She could just about see Sweetie Belle over her shoulder.
"Rainbow Dash! What's goin' on out there?"
"Uh... would you panic if I said 'gryphon attack'?"
"Gryphons? Cool!" The prospect just seemed to excite the fillies, and Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Dinky Hooves stumbled out of the cellar and tried to push past Dash. She blocked the door forcefully.
"No you don't, it's too dangerous out there for fillies!"
"But Scootaloo and Kalza already left!" Sweetie Belle protested.
"Wh- they did? Ah, fuck..." Immediately sidetracked, Rainbow Dash took off again. The remaining Crusaders shrugged, and pottered out the door in search of adventure. Behind them, a mottled earth pony colt tried to follow them, only to be picked up by magic and pulled back into the cellar.
"Mum! Let me go!"
"No Pipsqueak, I'm not going to have you getting yourself killed out there!"
Kalza had to work hard to fly for two. She was a little surprised to learn that Scootaloo wasn't fully confident in flying yet, but she was okay with being used as a mount, as long as she was actually able to do so. They had just crossed the river, when she decided she needed to stop for a breather. They set down on top of a house on the northern bank, and the pegasus filly stepped off to watch the carnage in the distance. It was kind of like a train wreck - she knew she was watching a disaster, but she couldn't take her ey-
Thud.
"Where do you think you're going?"
"Hey Rainbow Dash! We just came up h-"
"Don't you 'hey Rainbow Dash' me, you're not safe up here!" Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "And Kalza, you're no better! Y-... coming out here is just insane, okay? If anyone, pony or gryphon, sees you two together, they're not gonna think twice about-"
Crack.
The sound of a clay splitting from impact made Dash raise her spear and wheel around to face the source. On top of the next house, a raider had perched on a chimney top. The battle-scarred beast looked up with familiar gold eyes, and gingerly pulled the spear from his back. Kalza's face lit up, and she waved enthusiastically.
"Hi Dad!"
"Kalza, stop playing with your food!" he called back. "And you!" He thrust his spear in the direction of Rainbow Dash. "Get away from my daughter so I can gut you!"
"She made her choice!" Dash snarled. She crouched, and used the butt of her own spear to usher Kalza and Scootaloo behind her. Who's this creep?
"Hmm... so you're the... pal Gilda brought home? That one Kalza wouldn't shut up about?" He shot the gryphlet a mean look, and she cowered behind Dash's legs. "Well, well, miss... Rainbow Dash. You may have taken one daughter from me, but I won't let you take another. En garde!"
Pamf. Twilight stumbled a little upon reappearing at the top of one of the bridge towers. It was a little disorienting looking over the edge, but with shields and teleporting at her disposal, she was more than equipped to handle any mishaps. Added to this, the advantage of an aerial view of the battlefield far outweighed any personal unease she was feeling at this height. This was cold comfort to Spike, who was clinging to the back of her head for dear life. Her attention was drawn to a light bonk on her shield wall - a pegasus was hovering just outside in a familiar blue jumpsuit, knocking on it. When the crash helmet came off, she recognised her pretty quickly as Spitfire, which made sense of the similarly dressed pegasi patrolling the sky nearby. This was an entirely new Wonderbolt uniform - gone was the camp show spandex, and in its place was light armour; gauntlets, shinguards, a chestplate and a single pauldron on the right shoulder, all in the yellow-and-blue motif. Additionally, she had a bow and quiver strapped to her back, and a baton hanging from her belt. These were pegasi dressed for battle. Twilight dropped the shield.
"What's the situation?"
"Full-on gryphon raid, from what I can see the city watch are dropping like flies. I have ponies on the ground running evacuation, and we need cover."
"We can handle that. Where's Rainbow Dash?"
"She's... around."
"Doesn't surprise me," Spitfire chuckled. "I'm guessing this is field base, so I'll send somepony over ever-"
Crack. A bolt of lightning briefly connected Spitfire with an obscure spot on the ground, and arced to the edge of the tower to complete the circuit. Twilight backed away from the edge and hid from the worst of it, but looked up in time to see Spitfire's charred body go limp and start to fall. A blue blur shot from above to catch her before she fell too far. Soarin quickly dumped her on the top of the tower to check her breathing and pulse.
"She's... she's alive!" He laughed, a little desperately.
"Dammit, that must be that 'lightning hammer' Rainbow mentioned... okay, I have a pony setting up shelter and a field hospital south of the city. First get Spitfire there."
"No need to tell me twice."
"Next, I need the Wonderbolts to run cover for the evacuators. Try and keep the gryphons on the ground and funnel them to the bridge. If you stay up high and away from buildings, you should be safe from lightning. It won't earth through you if you're too far away from the ground."
"Roger that." Soarin nodded dutifully, scooped up his captain and high-tailed it to safety.
"At least I hope that's how it works..." Twilight grimaced and pulled her shield back up. Spike fainted and fell off her back.