War with the Griffin Empire Begins, how will it change our favorite characters?
War with the Griffin Empire Begins, how will it change our favorite characters? Since it seemed like people enjoyed the first story I figured I'd give making a Sequel a shot. While this story is fairly self contained I still suggest you read the first one. This story is also much darker than the first one so that's why it has the mature tag, personally I think it could be teen but I went with the safer option. I would appreciate comments and feedback. Also a big thanks to 20PercentCrueler since he helped a lot in brainstorming for this story, especially near the end. Editor: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7LEoRNDJEChwTJdWa_PypQ
A shout was heard behind a set of massive iron doors.“Announcing Crown Princess Gildalaria Thanos Ironblood!”
The doors slowly slid open, revealing a single female griffon wearing obsidian regalia. Looking around, the griffon took in the glory that was the Throne Room of the Griffin Empire. Currently, a long oak table was sitting in the chamber, sunset light shimmering through the large windows on one side. At the end of the table sat two griffons, and behind them sat the throne, a black obsidian behemoth rumored to be older than discord himself.
In one smooth motion, the griffon at the end on the long table rose, revealing his massive frame which stood a full two feet higher than the others, and flew towards the newcomer.
Landing in front of the female, his own obsidian and gold regalia glittering in the sunlight, he spoke in a voice thought to shake mountains, “Welcome home, my daughter!” The griffon smiled and hugged the newcomer.
“It’s good to be back, daddy,” Gilda replied hugging her father.
Turning back to the other griffon in the room, the Emperor spoke once more, “General Swiftclaw, let us continue the invasion plans . . . but let it be known, my daughter will be a part of them.”
“Of course, Emperor,” the General responded, bowing slightly before returning to stare at the massive amounts of paper laying on the long table.
Gilda surveyed the papers as she walked around the table to sit with the other two griffons. She saw things regarding food carts, cannon transport, airship and warship routes. But at the end, as she sat down, she saw what she was looking for: invasion plans.
The General coughed slightly then began, “So, to recap, our first goals are to ransack Manehattan, and occupy Fillydelphia and Baltimare.”
Pointing to a map, the griffon continued, “Fillydelphia will be invaded via our limited number of airships, while Manehattan will fall easily to a mere division of warships. Baltimare will fall to the rest of the force.”
Pointing a talon to Fillydelphia on the map he continued once more, “Fillydelphia is the most important place to take for invasion. It has a straight shot to Canterlot, and produces a large amount of the food for the surrounding area.
“We must also occupy Baltimare, because we need that seaport to transport our cannons. Manehattan has only one route to Canterlot, through a mountain tunnel, which the ponies will most likely collapse to prevent us from using it, making Manehattan useless.”
The Emperor nodded slowly, satisfied with the plan as he spoke. “Good. Gildalaria and I will support the invasion of Fillydelphia. You, General Swiftclaw, will invade Baltimare, and tell General Blood Bleak that Manehattan is his.”
“Yes sir!” Swiftclaw bowed as he gathering up the plans, before making his way out of the throne room.
Gilda now spoke, concern in her voice, “What about the Princesses, Daddy? And Discord?”
“War brings hatred, my young Gildalaria. And hatred brings the Windigos. If the Princesses and Discord want their paradise spared from the everlasting Winter, they must defend against those elementals.”
The Emperor rose and placed his massive frame upon the obsidian throne before continuing, “Now, my daughter, go to the royal smith, and have them make you a set of war armor, and any weapons you desire. We leave in two days. The week after, our conquest of Equestria begins.”
Normally, when Ponyville is busy, ponies would have smiles on their faces as they bought and sold goods.
But today was different.
Everypony was rushing around with deepening frowns on their faces. Even the element of laughter could do nothing to stop the ponies from worrying. After all, they faced something Equestria had not dealt with for 300 years.
War.
Among those frowns, two in particular were obvious. They stood outside a library arguing, a young mare and dragon in heated discussion.
“For the last time Spike, you are NOT coming with us to join the army,” Twilight voice borderlining on the Royal Canterlot Voice.
“And I said there’s nothing you can do to stop me!” the dragon argued. “I’m almost 18, that means I can enroll if I want to! And for the last time, the library doesn’t need tending while we’re away! Nopony is gonna need books during war.”
“Spikecanus Emerald Sparkle!” Spike flinched at the use of his full name, “You are not enrolling in the Equestrian Army, AND THAT’S FINAL!” Twilight proclaimed.
Thinking for a moment, Spike replied, “Fine! Then I’ll go to Canterlot and visit Kajiya. You can’t stop me from doing that!”
Frustrated, Twilight stomped off towards the train station, leaving Spike alone in front of the library.
Spike quickly gathered a small bag of personal items, and used a stick to sling it over his shoulder, much like he’d done after the dragon migration. Spike then followed Twilight’s path, which was marked by small burn patches as it wound its way towards the train station. Arriving, Spike found Twilight’s friends already there. All were wearing the shining armor Kajiya had made.
Approaching the group, Spike overheard Rarity speaking, “But Twilight, you can’t let little Spikey Wikey go to war! It’s just not natural for someone his age to participate in such ruffian behavior!”
“I know he’s too young, Rarity, but there’s nothing I can do. Tomorrow, Spike turns 18, and he can do whatever he wants. I can’t stop him from visiting that horrible blacksmith either.” he heard her sigh. “I just hope he’ll be okay.”
That was when Spike realized something. That Twilight and all her friends were protecting him from the world. He’d thought about this before, but this time it struck him differently. Before, it was comforting that somepony was looking after him. But this time, he felt stifled. Spike’s loyalty to Equestria emerged at that moment, and he knew what he had to do. He had to protect everything he could. No matter the cost, he had to fight.
With this newfound feeling of patriotism, Spike made his way onto the train, despite glares from Twilight and her friends.
The train ride was long. At least, it was long when you purposefully avoided the pony who was practically your own mother. Spike departed the train without a single word to Twilight or Rarity or anypony else.
Spike departed the train at the same time Twilight and her friends departed from the next car over. The young dragon noticed something interesting.
The crowd reacted heavily to the six ponies coming off the train. As the seven slowly walked through the streets of Canterlot, business stopped to stare at the six ponies, leaving no glares for the dragon ten feet away from them. Spike spoke no words as everypony around him gawked at the brilliant armor Twilight and her friends wore.
Arriving at the army barracks, the group split, the ponies headed towards processing, and Spike towards the smithy.
He came to a large building. From inside, he could hear hammering, and the hiss of quenching steel. Spike knocked three times. A large grey unicorn with a bright purple mane answered his knocks.
“Who’re you?” the pony asked.
“I am Spike. Kajiya told me I could visit him here.”
“Hmmph. He’s busy, but feel free to try. Nopony else can even get him to speak two words.”
“Thank you,” Spike said as he walked in, looking around to try and find the small stallion he knew as Gizo. He spotted him at the very far end of the shop, with large mounds of armor surrounding his work area. Spike headed that way.
Spike spoke as he saw Kajiya quench a helmet, “Hi. I came like you said I could.”
If the pony was surprised, he didn’t show it. “Ah, dragon Spike, good to see you. How long has it been?” He placed the helmet in the pile of finished armor.
“It’s been 6 months. Twilight said I couldn’t enlist, so I came here instead.”
“She’s still trying to protect you?”
“Huh? How’d you know?”
“The night you stayed at the forge, when she came that morning. That was all I needed,” Gizo answered as he pulled down a bag of oats, and offered some to Spike before eating. “You are a Dragon. If you wish to fight in war, nopony should stop you.”
“But Twilight says I’m still a baby dragon!”
“How old are you?”
“Eighteen. Why?”
“Then you are not a baby. Dragons should mature at the age of sixteen. Since you have not, I suppose you lack a hoard.”
“I need a hoard to get bigger?” Spike asked confused.
“Of course. Dragons only grow by hoard size.”
“But last time I hoarded anything, I grew really big and started destroying Ponyville!” Spike complained.
“And how old were you then?”
“Ummm…” Spike thought back, realization striking him hard, “Fifteen… It was my Fifteenth birthday when I started hoarding.”
“See. You were immature then. Now, you can hoard all you want, and grow larger because of it. But now the question is, what will you hoard?”
“I thought dragon’s hoarded money and stuff?”
“Most do, yes, but a dragon can hoard anything it pleases. Once, I saw a dragon who hoarded sand of all things.” Kajiya put up the oats, and sat back down, continuing to explain, “For a Dragon, their hoard is not merely a physical hoard, but rather, what they deem the most important thing in their life to protect.”
“So, I can hoard whatever I what?”
“Yes. Even ponies.”
“Isn’t that like slavery?” Spike asked, confused.
“Not if you treat them as friends.”
A lightbulb came on in Spike’s head, “So . . . I can use Equestria as my hoard?”
“Maybe one day. But for now, what is more important than Equestria to you?”
“Ponyville,” Spike quickly answered without thinking.
“Then accept Ponyville as your hoard and you will grow. It will not take long. The magic in your blood will accept that you have found a hoard, and force you to grow according to the size of your horde.” The pony paused. “I suggest sleeping outside Canterlot tonight, in a field. There is no telling how large you will become. Now, since you are here, will you join me in the singing of the craft?”
“I can’t wait!” Spike exclaimed as he and Kajiya started on a new piece of armor, this time a set of plate mail for an earth pony. The now familiar rhythm overtook Spike once more, and the two worked in perfect tandem. Slowly, the other smiths stopped to watch as the two worked. The dragon and pony were in perfect harmony, forging gear faster than anypony thought possible.
Spike thought back on his day as he slowly walked around Canterlot, the sun starting to dip below the horizon. Spike made his way out of the city and found a large field of grain. He proceeded to find a comfy spot to lay.
Before he fell asleep, he thought back to what Gizo had said. Accept Ponyville as your hoard, and you will grow.
The thing was, he didn’t need to. As he thought about it, he realized that Ponyville was his home, as much a part of him as his tail. It was the most important thing he could protect, except for his friends. He’d had a hoard all along.
With that realization still in his head, he fell asleep while watching Luna’s sky light up with stars ever so slowly.
Spike woke to a rather insistent hoof on his nose. Yawning greatly, Spike opened his eyes to see Gizo, who now stood several feet shorter than he was. Surprised at the vast change from yesterday, Spike stood up and inspected his body.
He was a little larger than those teenaged dragons he met that one time, along with a new set of wings, which he proceeded to stretch.
“Ah, good, you are awake now. Now, have you decided if you will go to war?” Gizo asked, looking up at the dragon that was almost twice as tall as he was.
Spike flexed his claws, marveling at the new power they had. He grinned. “Yes. I’ll defend Ponyville . . . and all of Equestria with it.” He stopped, noticing his voice felt different. He felt around his snout, noticing it was bigger. He also felt around with his tongue, and noticed his teeth were bigger as well.
“Good. Now I shall show you how to make dragon armor. But first, we visit Princess Luna.”
Now walking back towards Canterlot, the unlikely duo were eliciting several stares from the passing ponies.
“Why are we visiting Luna exactly?” Spike asked, wincing as he cut his tongue. He was still getting used to his new teeth.
“Because when a Dragon fights in a form such as yours, you must have a weapon. The only Dragon weapon in Equestria belongs to Princess Luna.”
His question answered, Spike continued to follow the stallion through the streets of Canterlot. The early-morning rush was significantly quieter with the rather large dragon walking through the streets.
For those ponies who knew Spike, they were awed by the change in him. Those who didn’t were intimidated. All who saw him had some hope that he would go to war with them.
Reaching the Castle, Spike surveyed the building in a much different light than ever before. He saw the defenses, the arrow slits, the cannon ledges, the thick iron doors, and choke points all within the building.
The duo approached the throne room, and allowed the guards to open it for them, revealing the two immortal Princesses of Equestria.
Both of them bowed to the Princesses. Gizo spoke.
“Princess Luna of Equestria, I have come to make a request of your highness.”
Surprised at his formality, it took Luna just a moment to recover, “Let us hear your request then, but first your name stallion.”
“My name is Gizo Tamashi, 67th master of the sacred art. My given name is Kajiya, for that is my profession. With me is Spikecanus Emerald Sparkle, brother of Princess Twilight Sparkle. On Spikecanus’s behalf, I ask for his use of the Gemini.”
Spike’s jaw fell. He had no idea Gizo had known his full name!
Princess Celestia asked, “And for what purpose would you use the Gemini, forged by Hephaestus himself and blessed by Ares?”
“For War, milady. Spikecanus wishes to defend Equestria, and has made Ponyville his hoard.”
Spike watched the expressions of the Princesses change from calm to a deadly serious stare. Princess Luna continued, “Are you prepared to swear an oath of fealty to Equestria, Spikecanus Emerald Sparkle?”
Spike was unsure of what to say. But then he remembered all those books Twilight had made him read, and he got an idea of what to do. He bow on one knee, saying, “Yes ma’am, I will protect Equestria with all that I am.”
A flash of blue light emanated from Princess Luna, who was now holding two sheathed swords in her magic grasp.
Setting the swords into Spike’s hands, she proclaimed with the Royal Canterlot Voice, “LET IT BE KNOWN! TODAY, SPIKECANUS EMERALD SPARKLE HAS PLEDGED HIMSELF TO EQUESTRIA, AND WE HAVE ACCEPTED HIS VOWS AND BESTOWED UPON HIM OUR FAVOR!”
Luna smiled, continuing in a softer voice, “Now go, Dragon Spike, as a knight of Equestria and protect us from harm.”
Spike was still in shock at what just happened. Being knighted was a BIG deal, and Princess Luna had given him two swords as well. Curiosity got the best of him: he unsheathe one of the swords to inspect it.
The blade was the purest amethyst purple he’d ever seen. The blade shimmered with power as he looked upon it.
Gizo interrupted Spike’s thoughts, “Now, armor we must make.”
“Wait! Uh, how’d you know my full name?”
“In my profession. One does well to know the names of all the dragons in the area. Now, let us be off to the forge, and I will tell you tales of your kin.”
Spike was excited to hear stories of other dragons, so he rushed off will Gizo to the forge.
The stallion collected heaps of mithril, iron and coal, and Spike knew what was coming.
He watched as the pony put all the ore into a crucible to melt it. When it was ready, Spike poured his dragonfire upon the crucible, noting with surprise that his fire was brighter, hotter, and there was a lot more of it.
His new fire turned the crucible glowing-hot in no time, and Gizo poured it into the awaiting bar molds.
“Now we fold, Dragon Spike. You shall join me, and we shall fold the bars 1500 times once more.” Gizo placed the first of the orichalum bars into the furnace.
At the first hammerfall, Spike noticed the pony began to hum and then to sing.
Sing in me o muse
And through me tell the tale of those
Dragons whose lives were wise
So that those younger may know
Of the perils of life
So the song continued, telling of dragons and their valor. Stories of intrigue and war, stories of the honor and pride of the Dragons. Hatchling tales of horrors in the night were told. Spike listened intently to every word the stallion sung as their hammers fell upon the orichalum.
Morning turned to night without either noticing. The pair continued their craft into the night, folding the metal time and time again. The first thing Spike noticed was that Gizo had stopped singing, and the second was the morning rays shining into the forge, with other blacksmiths coming in.
With one last hammer blow, Gizo spoke again, “Fifteenth hundred,” As he touched the poker to an already bare chest, he panted, “That was a long night, Dragon Spike but we are done. Let us rest and continue tomorrow.”
Hearing Gizo’s words, Spike nodded, but barely made it out the door before collapsing on the ground in exhaustion, content to sleep in the field by the forge.
As Spike slept in the sun, six ponies in orichalum armor and armed to the teeth approached the throne room.
Rarity spoke up through Pinkie’s continuous chatter, “So Twilight, what do you think about Princess Luna’s announcement yesterday?”
“I hope it isn’t true, but if it is, there’s nothing I can do.” Twilight shook her head in despair before continuing, “But we are here to meet the other Generals and discuss the defense plan, and whatever Spike is doing won’t stop me. I’m worried about him, but he’s his own Dragon now,” The guards opened the doors to reveal five ponies and a Draconequus already inside.
“What’s He doing here,” Rarity hissed as she pointed to a white unicorn stallion known as Prince Blueblood sitting next to Shining armor at a long table in the center of the room.
The stallion quickly took note that he was being spoken to. “Ah, Miss Rarity, how nice of you to join us. I must apologize for my atrocious behavior at the Gala. Hopefully, you wouldn’t mind putting that aside for now as we discuss the invasion.”
Slightly mollified by Blueblood’s response, Rarity followed her friends and sat with the others gathered around the table, which included all the other Princesses, Blueblood, Shining Armor, and Discord.
Shining Armor cleared his throat and began, “Well since everypony is here, we might as well start.” The stallion pointed a hoof towards the table where a large three dimensional map of Equestria appeared, “According to our sources, the Griffon Army has around 50,000 griffons in it, and the Saddle Arabians are sending an additional 10,000 troops from the south.”
He let that fact sink in before continuing, “If all goes well, the Equestria military will have a total of 15,000 ponies, along with a mismatch of other races to defend with. The Saddle Arabians are expected to invade through the San Palomino Desert and the badlands. They will attempt to take Appleloosa and Dodge City before continuing further inland. The Griffons will invade Manehattan, Baltimare, and Fillydelphia all simultaneously. I’ll turn it over to Prince Blueblood, who’ll be in command on the front lines.”
“Thank you, General. As you can see on the map, Fillydelphia has the most unimpeded access to Canterlot. We expect the Griffons to want to take it at any cost. Manehattan proves to be of little use to them because its only connection to Canterlot is through a train tunnel, which unicorns will collapse after Manehattan is evacuated. Baltimare is important because the seaport will allow for cannons and heavy food supplies to be shipped further inland. This being said, we’ll try our best to hold Fillydelphia and Baltimare while evacuating Manehattan.” As Blueblood, finished he sat down.
Princess Cadance now spoke up, “I will be handling all civilian evacuations to the Crystal Empire.”
“Prince Blueblood, if Fillydelphia or Baltimare fall, where do we retreat to?” Twilight asked.
The stallion pointed to a large plain on the map, “The intersection of the Baltimare and Fillydelphia rail lines is the first retreat point. After that, we retreat back to Canterlot. I plan on sending 2,500 ponies to the defense of Appleloosa and Dodge City, and splitting the rest between Fillydelphia and Baltimare. I need one General to oversee the defense in Appleloosa. Any volunteers?”
“Ah’ll do it, sir,” Applejack quickly stood up to the call for a leader.
Nodding his appreciation, Blueblood continued, “I will also need one General to oversee supplies, another for the medical teams, one for the artillery division, one to head the unicorn division, and finally one General to head the pegasus division. These positions will be concurrent with Shining Armor and myself directing the battle.”
Twilight spoke before her friends could, “I can head the unicorn division.”
“I’ll head the pegasus division!” Rainbow said as she fluttered off her chair slightly.
“Oh! Oh! Artillery means cannons! I’ll do it!” Pinkie spoke right after Dash.
A quiet voice spoke up, “I… I guess I can head the medical teams,” Fluttershy said hiding slightly behind her hair.
“Well, I suppose that leaves supplies with me, sir,” Rarity said, “but before we continue, I have a question: Why are you acting so differently today, as compared to the Gala?” she asked.
Blueblood sighed heavily, “Well I suppose we were almost done anyway. Miss Rarity, while I appreciate your affections I must admit I am actually gay,” Rarity’s eyes widened as the stallion continued, “However that is no pardon for my actions. I must admit that I was so uncouth because I had just professed my feelings for another stallion earlier that evening and had been rejected harshly. I admit I was very angry and unfortunately you bore the brunt of that anger and for that I apologize.”
All the gathered ponies were silent for a moment until Discord threw an empty chocolate milk behind his back causing a small explosion.
Twilight now cleared her throat, “Well I guess that’s the major plans worked out except for one thing. Where will the Princesses and Discord be while this is happening.”
Discord responded first, “Well Twilight if you recall from the hearth’s warming eve play, war calls the windigos. The three of us will be fending them off from Equestria while the rest of you repel the invaders.”
The conversation dipped late into the afternoon. At some point Princess Luna departed to raise the moon and the rest of the ponies took their leave soon thereafter. Twilight sat awake in her room, thinking about what lie ahead. Tomorrow. Tomorrow, I leave for Fillydelphia, and I have no idea if I’ll ever see some of my friends again, or Spike for that matter.
It was her last thought before she fell into a fitful sleep.
Celestia’s dawn rose above the sea-stroked horizon, revealing hundreds of airships and many more warships below them, all heading west. On the frontmost airship, a pair of Griffins stood on the bow watching the sun light up the water and clouds in front of them.
The larger Griffin spoke first, “Gildalaria, My Daughter, My Pride, tomorrow is the day we take the first step. The first step of progress this Empire has seen in dozens of generations. Tomorrow, we make landfall on Fillydelphia, tomorrow we expand the Empire, and no creature will stand in our way. You, My Daughter, will help lead the charge. Earn your glory so that the bards may speak of you for centuries to come as ‘The Griffin who Conquered Equestria’!”
Chuckling, the younger Griffin responded, “Daddy, that honor will go to you. It was you who made all this possible. I look forward to tearing the ponies apart. After spending 10 long years with them, I want their blood on my hammer even more.”
“Good. The time will come for violence, Daughter, and that time is tomorrow. But for now, let us enjoy one of the final sunrises of their so-called Goddess.” The Emperor smiled as the two watched the sunrise.
A black dragon lounged in the sunrise air currents, glittering in the sky. Seeing the two Griffins staring, the dragon approached the ship and casually flew beside them.
The large Griffon spoke once again, “Enjoying yourself, Titan my friend?”
A small puff of smoke came from the dragon’s nostrils, “Not as much fun as crushing Equestria and taking their gold as my hoard will be.”
“Ha! Only one more day my friend. Then we both will drench our claws in the blood of those cowards.”
The new day dawned in Canterlot to find many ponies already awake and rushing around. All the ponies had similar thoughts, Today’s the Day. Today’s when the army takes the trains east.
Shortly after dawn Six ponies, Six Generals of the newly organized Equestrian Army, sat in front of a train. This train was going to Appleloosa, and only one of them was going on it.
Sniffling a little bit, Applejack stuttered out, “Ah...Ah jus’ don’t know gals. Ah know Ah need ta do it, but that doesn’t help none.”
“Its okay AJ,” Pinkie reassured, “I’m sure Big Mac and the rest of your family will help you!”
A Resounding ‘Eeyup!’ was heard from behind the mares. They turned to see a fully-armored Big Macintosh awaiting his Sister inside the train, “C’mon Sis, we best be goin’!”
“Eeyup, I’ll be right there,” Applejack answered as she went back and hugged each of her friends, even Rarity who was now crying slightly before getting on the train herself.
The train to Baltimare was the next one to roll up to the station. Pinkie’s hair straighten slightly when she saw the destination.
“Well, I guess it’s my turn,” Pinkie said as lightheartedly as possible.
“Don’t worry, darling. We’ll have the biggest Pinkie Party Ever when this is all over, ok?” Rarity reassured, hugging the pink mare.
Pinkie perked up slightly before saying, “Okie-Dokie-Loki!” Then, in a voice nopony could here, “Everypony be safe.”
The final train was the one bound for Fillydelphia. Nopony expected anypony going to Fillydelphia to come back alive. Everypony knew that the Griffons wanted that city the most, and that the fighting there would be the toughest. Even with the Wonderbolts and the full unicorn division heading there, there was little hope. The four mares left at the station held the largest smilies they could.
“Well, I guess this is goodbye. I wish I could have seen Spike one more time,” Twilight sighed morosely.
“Hey! Cheer up, with me there we can’t lose!” Rainbow Dash interjected into Twilight’s dejected thoughts.
“Besides Darling, its not goodbye, since we’ll see each other again right? I guess that makes it so long for now.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, Rarity. So Long!” Twilight and Rainbow Dash called as they got on the train.
Fluttershy finally spoke up a few tears in her eyes, “So… So now what?”
“Now, my dear, we do our damndest to make sure they do come back,” Rarity cursed, surprising Fluttershy,who only nodded before they both returned to their stations.
,
Spike woke once again to a hoof booping his nose. Opening his eyes slowly, he saw that, once again, Gizo had come to wake him up, and that it was still dark outside.
Spike yawned as he asked, “What time is it?”
“It is early morning. You slept through all of yesterday, but now we finish the work we started.”
“Sounds good,” Spike said as he entered the forge once more with the stallion.
Spike knew that dragons could survive swimming in lava. In fact, many dragons enjoyed doing so, but he was still nervous about molding his new armor straight onto his living body. Nevertheless, the duo proceeded to mold the armor with light and careful hammer falls, slowly wrapping the dragon in black metal. Spike noticed the heat, but it wasn’t terribly bad. Almost like a hot bath.
Hours of this passed as they made each piece fit perfectly, even the wing coverings. When the duo finally finished the molding of the armor, they heated it as a set and tempered it with oil before quenching in water.
Gizo spoke as the first rays of sun, and first other ponies, began entering the forge, “Now, for the most important part of Dragon armor, the gem slots.”
Spike nodded as he watched the stallion slowly draw white lines on the largest piece of armor. Realizing that Gizo was indeed drawing upon the, leylines Spike remembered a particular book Twilight had him read, Magical Leylines: Their Purposes and Placements, so Spike began to also draw leylines on the smaller pieces, eliciting a smile from the stallion.
It took a full hour for the drawing to be finished then Gizo spoke once more, “Now for the words of power we shall imbue it with. What shall we put on you armor Dragon Spike?”
Spike remembered the etchings from the stallion’s previous work, and quickly wrote three words that resonated with him on the armor: δύναμη. ελέγχου. αυξάνουν.
“Hmm. That is a good start, but for you more must be added,” Gizo responded placing more words on the armor:
φωνή. ανάπτυξης. μαγεία.
Spike nodded in response, before both of them started to write the words lining the treeroot-like leylines upon each piece of armor.
Another hour passed before Gizo handed Spike an orichalum knife to start carving out the lines.
Two hours of carving followed, before Gizo brought a large sack from the corner of his forge. Opening the sack revealed a glittering pile of green and purple gems.
“We shall line the carvings with emeralds, and put amethysts in the center,” Gizo said as he placed the first of the crushed gems into the carvings.
The pair worked quickly, placing the crushed gems into the armor. Continuing their work they finally placed the armor into the same still that they had used in Ponyville.
“Now, we wait. Go, enjoy your last day before you march to war. I fear the trains will be all gone, so you will have to fly to the sea to join your friends. I suggest that you practice your flying,” Gizo advised as he turned back to the forge ,a small frown lining his face as he was now unsure of what to do.
Spike left the small forge, stretching his wings. Each was as large as he was. With a single powerful flap, he rose into the air. The feeling was beyond anything he had ever felt before. Now I know why Rainbow Dash likes it so much. He continued to flap, gaining altitude, reveling in his ability to fly.
His thoughts began to wander as he thought of his home, his friends, and the war he was about to become a part of. On some level, he didn’t think he was ready, and resolved to practice with Gemini before he left. But on a deeper, primal level, he wanted it. He wanted to fight, to crush those enemies that threatened his hoard.
He landed at an empty training ground. With the sun nearing the horizon, Spike withdrew his Gemini. Gizo had called them The Twins. In Gizo’s stories, many things about the weapons forged by Hephaestus were said. Most of these things had to do with their name gave them power, more so than any other name.
Experimentally, Spike used both swords and slashed a griffin dummy into pieces with ease, but somehow . . . it felt wrong. The next time, he set one sword down, but instead of feeling it drop to the ground, he felt it in his right claw. But that couldn’t be possible, the other blade was already there.
His vision blurred slightly, then becoming sharper than before. Looking to his left, he stared at a perfect duplicate of himself, as though he was looking at a mirror. He froze in shock, not sure what to do.
Looking closer and stretching his muscles, Spike realized that their were now two of him. Somehow, both copies of himself were joined by mind through the swords. Grinning now as he realized he had discovered the power of the Gemini, Spike practiced as late into the night as he dared, attempting to use the Gemini to their full potential.
Tired now, it occurred to Spike he had nowhere to stay within Canterlot. He’d always slept outside, and he realized he actually enjoyed the cool night air on his scales as he slept. Quickly flying back to the forge, Spike laid down once more, staring at the stars, wondering what tomorrow might bring.
Waking up at 4 A.M. was normal for the two farmers who now stared out across the plains, watching the enemy camp begin to stir, just as their own was. General Applejack and Lieutenant General Big Mac watched as Celestia’s sun slowly rose over the horizon, quiet thoughts of what to come encircled their minds.
Turning back to the slowly-gathering earth ponies who made up her defense force, Applejack spoke, “Honestly, Ah don’t know what ta say. But Ah know one thing, we ain’t gonna let them varmint Saddle Arabians take our homes. We worked hards for this land, especially you Appleloosans!” This elicited a cheer before she continued, “So taday, fight fer yer family, fight for yer homes, and fight fer yer right ta return ta em when this is all done!”
A small tear in his eye, Big Mac spoke above the now-rabid cheering, “PHALANX FORM RANKS!” As he called, hundreds of stallions with shields and spears approached the plain where the battle would commence, Big Mac took his position front and center by Applejack and Braeburn.
Shields on the left, spears on the right. Yesterday, these ponies had been farmers, merchants, husbands, wives, teachers; but today they were soldiers, not because they wanted to, but because they had to be.
A mismatch of other earth ponies surrounded the phalanx on both sides. The Saddle Arabians also formed ranks. Much larger ranks. According to the Appleloosan scouts, their enemy was composed of 6,000 ponies, against the meager 1,500 Appleloosan defense force.
A single horn was heard from the Saddle Arabian army. At the sound, they lurched forward, slowly at first, then galloping into a full on charge, strange curved swords and iron armor glittering in the morning sun.
Then it came. The first impact, the most dreaded moment for the defenders, the moment where they would know if the phalanx would hold. Spears impaled the attackers, and the ones who weren’t impacted the raised shields with a sound heard throughout the valley. Scimitars failing, the Arabians attempted to break the phalanx with sheer numbers.
They succeeded at first.
A voice was heard above the sounds of blood and gore. Those who heard the voice would say it was stronger than the Royal Canterlot Voice:
“SHIELDS! REPEL!” the shout came from the red stallion, “SPEARS FORWARD!” The two shouts repeated several times, echoing across the defenders, and it started to work. The Arabians were being pushed back.
In the midst of all the chaos, a viewer’s eyes were drawn to one spot in the center of it all, where a single Orange Mare in glittering silver armor tore through dozens of enemies with only flicks of her tail, a metal blur rending them into pieces. On closer inspection, one would notice the brown and red stallions standing next to her, part of the phalanx, but seemingly more determined to protect the mare.
“Hey cousin, I think we’re winnin’!” Braeburn called to Applejack as she eviscerated another enemy.
“Ah think yer right, cus!” Applejack responded, choking slightly on her tears as she tore through those who would hurt her family. Braeburn stepped forward slightly and stabbed his spear into the nearest enemy neck, calling forth a spurt of blood which covered his face. As he turned back to Applejack, Braeburn saw a flash of metal out of the corner of his eye. His vision changed, like he was falling, but that didn’t make sense.
Applejack looked where Braeburn had stepped into the wall of enemy, just as an enemy stepped forward with blood-red eyes and slashed Braeburn’s neck, decapitating him. Time slowed down for the mare as his she watched his head slowly fall.
Shock ran through her, like ice had been dumped through her insides. Denial started. There was no way Braeburn was gone. He couldn’t be. He was family, and Apples always protected their family.
Looking down at the head slowly rolling towards her, she froze. It now clicked that he was . . .
. . . gone.
Gone. GONE. GONE. GONE!
Applejack snapped. They did this, they killed him!
The nearby enemy froze, watching the mare, already scared of her battle prowess. They saw a change overtake her. The weapon held in her tail began to glow blue with runic symbols. Somehow, everypony knew what those runes meant: Brutality.
The hydra grew longer, and split. No longer were there four hydra heads, but sixteen. With a blue flash, it grew and split again, into sixty-four heads. Each head was glowing ominously with blue light. Dread filled anypony who caught sight of it, friend and foe alike. With a scream of rage and despair all rolled into one, the Hydra struck.
Each head sought ought and decapitated the nearest enemy, showering the mare in blood. Not satisfied, she pushed forward, her weapon flashing all around her.
Heads rolled, limbs fell, blood splattered and fell like rain. Many fell with no knowledge of what happened. The Hydra’s touch meant death.
But Applejack herself was the real horror. Her roar of revenge made the enemy quake in their armor. Any who heard her lost their will to fight.
A path of dead bodies formed through the enemy’s ranks.
Another shout was heard on the battlefield, “Reinforcements! They have reinforcements from Dodge city. Looks 3,000 strong!”
Big Mac thought a moment. While the battle was going well, they couldn’t handle 3,000 more enemies. He called out, “RETREAT! RETREAT TO THE GORGE!”
At his word, a thousand ponies still standing turned and ran. All except Applejack, who was still in a raging frenzy. Seeing this, Big Mac charged into enemy lines, sideswiped his sister with his shield to knock her out, and threw her over his back before retreating himself.
The defense of Appleloosa was a massacre. The Saddle Arabians lost 3,000 ponies, and the Equestrians only 422. Those who saw the ‘Blood Mare of Appleloosa’, almost a thousand in total, all vanished. They returned to their homes, deserting the army rather than face her again.
Thus, Appleloosa fell, and the ponies retreating past ghastly gorge destroyed the bridge as they crossed.
Twilight woke in the pre-dawn hours in Fillydelphia. A voice was calling her name outside her tent.
“General, the meeting is starting soon,” a strangely familiar voice called to her.
Opening her tent flap, Twilight saw somepony she never thought she’d see again. The Great and Powerful Trixie stood before in full battle armor.
“Tr-Trixie? Is that you?” Twilight asked, shaking sleep from her eyes.
“Yes Ma’am. Lieutenant General Trixie Lulamoon, at your service Ma’am,” the blue mare responded.
“But what’re you doing here, Trixie?” Twilight asked.
“Permission to speak freely, ma’am?”
“Granted,” Twilight responded confused.
“Well ma’am, after you humiliated me in front of all of Ponyville,” Twilight blushed at the memory before Trixie continued, “I was able to turn my life around. I joined up with the guard, and now I’m here. I, uh, also wish to apologize for my behavior on both occasions that I visited Ponyville. Thanks to my career in the guard, I have learned a lot about friendship.”
Smiling, Twilight responded, “Well, it’s good you learned a lesson Trixie. But now, we’ve got more important matters to deal with. We have to get the rest of the unicorns into position before the sun rises.”
“Yes ma’am!” Trixie responded, trotting off to wake the rest of the army.
Twilight proceeded to find breakfast before finding her brother on the eastern edge of the town.
“Twily!” Shining Armor called ask he embrace his sister, both in full battle armor, glimmering slightly in pre-dawn light.
“So how’s it look?” Twilight asked worried.
“It looks like they have about 500 airships ready to invade when the sun rises. At normal capacity, that means we’ll be facing about 20,000 griffons, with only 7,000 unicorns and pegasi.”
Shivering, Twilight responded, “Well, I guess we’ll do our best to stop them.”
Shaking his head, Shining Armor continued, “I don’t think we can win this. They have three times as many soldiers as we do, the advantage of airships, and Fillydelphia has no defensible positions.”
With one last hug, the pair split up, Twilight heading back to her unicorns. As she arrived, the sun rose, revealing fully the sea and the airships above it. Slowly, the ships began their journey towards the city and the awaiting ranks of pegasi and unicorns.
Then, before the ships were within firing distance, a loud roar ripped through the silence. A black dragon appeared from behind the ships, rapidly making its way towards the city. It took high into the air, where its full bulk threatened to blot out the sun, before its assault began.
Another roar split the clamour of ponies, “I AM TITANUS, DESTROYER OF EMPIRES, BUTCHER OF INNOCENTS! FEAR! MY! POWER!” The dragon roared out a jet of flame that engulfed a dozen pegasi. Bigger and bigger the flame grew, until it looked like the sky itself was burning.
Screams fell faster than the burnt feathers.
The dragon ripped through whatever pegasi ranks were left, sundering some with claws as large as some ponies. Others burned to death before hitting the ground. Hundreds fell, and those who didn’t turned tail and flew, realizing the futility of fighting a dragon that large.
A single cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane flew towards the dragon, intent on punishing it for killing her comrades. Flipping out her wings revealing blue wing blades. She slashed the dragon’s chest repeatedly . . .
. . . but for a dragon that size, it was only scratches. It almost looked amused.
“FOOL! YOU CAN’T HURT ME!” The dragon inhaled, preparing a jet of flame to scorch the offending pegasus.
As the flame left the dragon’s mouth, a yellow pegasus with a flaming mane and tail swooped in and grabbed the other pegasus.
The yellow pegasus spoke as the two flew away from the dragon, “ARE YOU NUTS!?”
“Hey! I thought it’d work!” Rainbow dash responded, indignant.
The dragon dove towards the unicorns. Fire filled the air as magic impaled his sides to little effect.
“MAGIC WON’T WORK EITHER!” the dragon roared once more.
The fire quickly overwhelmed the defenders, and started spreading into the city. Shining Armor quickly realized that the fight was hopeless--the dragon was decimating their defenses, and the griffons hadn’t even landed yet! As he saw thousands of griffons fill the sky, he shouted “RETREAT! RETREAT TO THE PLAINS!”
With the retreat called, all the ponies broke ranks and ran.
“YOU CAN’T DEFEND AGAINST ME! YOU’ll ALL BURN! I SHALL REND YOU!” the dragon roared at the retreating ponies as the griffons landed their airships.
A single griffon with feathers dyed blood-red stood on the bow of his warship, looking over the city of Manehattan as the sun rose over the horizon.
A smaller griffon approached from behind before speaking, “General BloodBeak, our scouts report the city empty. They’ve evacuated the civilians, and there isn’t a defense force.”
Anger filling his voice, the general spoke with a deep blood-curdling voice, “Damned coward ponies! Burn it! Burn it all to the ground!”
“Yes Sir!” Turning around to the other ships, the small griffon roared with a huge voice, “BURN THE CITY! LEAVE NOTHING LEFT!”
Not even an hour later, the entire city of Manehattan was in ruins, cannonfire and torches burning through the city. Turning back to the small griffon, the general spoke as the flames continued to burn the city, “Sail for Fillydelphia! Let’s hope the Emperor left some glory for us!”
“Yes sir!” the small griffon responded, ordering the helm griffons to sail for Fillydelphia. All they left behind were ashes and burnt feathers.
201 ponies stood along the shore, separate from the thousands others, the first line, the first defense stood for Balitmare. The sun cracked over the horizon, revealing hundreds of warships just out of cannon range and thousands of griffons circling overhead them.
One hundred earth ponies, one hundred unicorns, and one pink earth pony mare in glimmering silver battle armor stood. They knew their job: sink as many ships as possible. Every ship that didn't make land was one more that didn't deposit supplies.
Every earth pony was strapped into their harness, facing away from the cannon barrel, ready to bolt at any command. Unicorns were all at the ready, to reload and fire the cannons. The first shots had been loaded long ago, in the pre-dawn hours.
The pink earth pony bounced around and made idle chatter with her ponies. She knew everypony was scared for their life, and for good reason. The artillery division was filled with only the ponies who could follow orders perfectly every time, with no questions. Despite being in command less than a week, Pinkie had wrapped all her soldiers around her finger. They obeyed perfectly, and that's exactly what she needed.
A single horn was heard from the griffons to declare their attack. As one, ten thousand griffons took to the sky, intent on decimating the pony force of 6,000. Worse, it was a mismatch of races at that.
A thunderous din and droplets of blood signaled the clash of the pegasi and griffons above the heads of the artillery, who were still waiting their chance.
Magic burnt through the air, wingbeats and clashing metal rang through the cove as the two armies met. Some griffons took the ground route as soon as they landed. These were met with small mobile phalanxes. Lightning erupted through the sky at random intervals, always accompanied by a singed griffon falling to their death, proof that weather was also a good weapon.
Still, the artillery waited. Waiting for when the ships moved in. Waiting for their chance to prove their metal by defending their homes. Occasionally, a loud bugle could be heard from the artillery division, the product of a Pink earth pony. Every time the bugle sounded the defenders attacked with new courage and valor.
An hour passed, an hour drenched in the blood of ponies and griffons alike, before General Swiftclaw gave the order to move inland. As the ships moved closer, the quite din of battle was overwhelmed by the thunderous noise of cannonfire. Cannons from the griffon ships began bombarding the pony army and the Baltimare buildings.
Another change occurred as the griffon ships moved closer, one that worried the artillery division. Their once-happy and cheerful General now stood silent. Even her mane and tail had lost all of its poof, and stood perfectly straight.
This didn’t last long before it began, the counter attack of the artillery. For a brief moment, Pinkie considered the situation: 500 warships, 100 teams, and 1000 cannonballs. Shaking her head in despair, she began to bark out orders, “Alpha team! Gamma team! Move out a quarter click north, rotate cannons 15 degrees south-southeast, and begin firing. Bravo Team! Delta Team! Began bombardment on the nearest ships! Sink them!”
She blew her bugle as she finished her orders, full of determination and confidence to help her allies. She watched and heard 50 cannons lash out against the approaching ships. Almost immediately, she saw the other ships turn their bows, pointing their cannons her way.
“Bravo! Delta! MOVE OUT!” Pinkie shouted. The ponies retreated in towards the city.
As soon as their cannons went silent, the other teams cannons spoke, ripping through the ships at a different angle. She repositioned her team for another barrage, now that they were safe and concealed behind a building. Just as predicted, the first ship appeared right in front of her teams as they crossed further into the harbor.
Three ships were visible. ”Hold.”
Five ships. “Hold.”
Ten ships. “FIRE!”
She blew her bugle as she yelled the order, calling the two teams not with her to retreat to the next position. At once, 50 teams fired. 40 cannonballs hit their mark and 10 ships were riddled full of holes. In no time, they sunk to the bottom of the bay.
Pinkie knew that trick would only work once. Blueblood’s plan is working. She shook the thought from her head, and called her team to retreat to the last point, right where Alpha and Gamma teams were, hopefully.
Ninety-nine ponies gathered in a sheltered shrub of trees on the north end of the harbor as more ships started to enter. One group in Alpha team had been lost. They were friends for sure, but there were more important things to worry about.
“Lieutenant General! Status!” Pinkie called as the two groups of ponies mingled.
A response from a gray earth pony, with black mane and treble clef cutie mark, was heard, “Down one team and 200 cannonballs left, ma’am!”
As more ships floated into the bay, Pinkie gave the order, “Plus fifteen degrees upwards! Send those griffons to Tartarus! OPEN FIRE!”
The barrage lasted almost thirty minutes, and the griffons had no response to cannons hiding in trees. All their return fire merely struck tree trunks. Hundreds of ships fell to Pinkie’s cannons and Prince Blueblood’s tactics.
However, the success of the ponies was not to last, even with all their skill. Supplies ran low, as did moral at times, which was rectified by Pinkie’s bugle.
The gray earth pony once again called out, “Last 100 cannonballs General!”
Nodding, Pinkie responded, “Alright everypony, load one more shot, and make it count! OPEN FIRE!” One last barrage of cannons hit the griffon ships.
As the cannonfire faded, the real situation was revealed: the ponies had suffered heavy losses to the heavily armed griffons. The defenders were almost out of the harbor now, pushed back by sheer numbers.
Realizing their plight, a loud shout echoed above the cannonfire as Prince Blueblood spoke, “RETREAT! RETREAT BACK TO THE-” The shout was cut off as a smaller-than-average griffon with golden feathers sank his talons into the stallion.
“Hmmph, good strategy...for a pony,” General Swiftclaw said to Prince Blueblood as the pony collapsed, choking in his own blood.
From a distance, Pinkie saw this. It slowly dawned on her that this made her acting General of the army. A cold chill enveloped her, making her armor glow with blue runic light. Everypony and every griffon now stared at a single Pink mare as she slowly walked up to General Swiftclaw.
“And what do we have here, little pony?” The griffon General asked, looking pleased with himself.
The runes shifted as Pinkie spoke. They were now readable by every being watching: Despair.
“Retreating.” The griffon’s eyes widened as she took out her bugle and blew one clear note, so full of pungent despair for her enemies, it produced a blue shockwave that rippled across the entire griffon army as Pinkie fled.
All of the griffons still in the air simply fell and died, now lacking a desire to live. Those left standing on docks or ground collapsed as the shock wave passed through them, filling them with such a dark outlook that they couldn’t help but shed tears. For a while, the sea was red with griffon blood.
It took half an hour for the army to recover from the despair of that single, heavy note. By then, their numbers were cut in half. Thus, Balitmare fell to the griffons, but at heavy cost. 8,000 griffons, along with 192 warships, fell that day. The ponies were left with over 2,300 casualties, only two of which came from Pinkie’s company.
Those on the boats called her ‘The Pink Genius’. The other griffons, though, had another name for her, one that shivered the spine of any griffon that survived the Note.
They called her ‘The Banshee’. It was an old, old griffon legend about a creature whose voice was so terrible it shattered the hardiest warriors.
Spike awoke late that day. Celestia’s sun was already climbing high above the horizon as he stretched his body, removing sleep from his limbs. He enjoyed the warmth of the sun.
Walking inside the forge, Spike saw it abandoned . . . except for the pony he was looking for. Gizo sat calmly, staring at the forge, a distant look in his eyes.
Without turning, the stallion spoke as though he knew Spike was there, despite the dragon’s soundless entrance. “Are you ready Dragon Spike?”
Nodding, Spike replied, “Yes.”
The pair worked quickly to strap the dragon into his now-silver armor, with lines of green and purple encircling it.
“Go now, and defend your hoard.”
“Will you come with me?” Spike asked.
Shaking his head, Gizo replied, “I will not leave my forge. Should the griffons come to Canterlot, I will fight. Until then, this is goodbye, Dragon. Make your ancestors proud.” Gizo placed a hoof on Spike’s foot.
Dipping his head in goodbye, Spike left without another word.
Lifting his wings, Spike left the ground with a single powerful downstroke, dirt flying from the downdraft. Now high in the air, Spike observed Canterlot in all its glory, but no business was done today. Except for a few patrolling guards, the city was empty.
As Spike left the city, he began to turn east towards Fillydelphia, before spotting something unusual. A whole army of ponies was coming from the west towards Canterlot. Unsure of who these ponies were Spike swooped down towards them to get a closer look.
He was confused at first, for the ponies had no banner of loyalty. They walked slowly and dejectedly instead of marching. Then, he noticed one particular pony, an orange mare in a large Stetson and silver armor near the back of the army.
Swooping down, Spike landed next to the orange mare, frightening some of the other ponies. Applejack didn’t notice him. She simply stared at the ground, ignoring everything around here.
Spike spoke, “Applejack! What happened?”
Shaking her head to clear her stupor, “Hi Spike we-,” Applejack turned and saw the dragon for the first time, “Sp-Spike? Is that you? What happened to ya?” She poked one of his wings with a hoof.
Laughing slightly, Spike responded, “I got a little bigger, I guess. Dragon stuff. Now, what happened?”
Somber again, Applejack spoke, “We lost, Spike. We lost Appleloosa and Dodge City. We’re headed back ta the plains ta meet up with the rest o’ the army.”
Staring, Spike responded, “That can’t be all of it. I know you too well, AJ. What else happened?”
Without warning, she burst into tears and hugged Spike. “We-We lost him Spike… They-They killed Braeburn!” Sobs rocked through her, head to tail.
All Spike could do was hold the mare as she cried into his armored shoulder. The pair stayed there for several minutes as the army slowly faded into the distance over the hills.
Unsure of what to say, but still wanting to say something, Spike finally spoke, “They need you, AJ. Your brother needs you. Your friends need you. Equestria needs you. You have to be strong now,” Spike said as he stroked Applejack’s mane slightly.
“Ah-Ah know. It’s jus’ . . . It’s jus’ so hard now!” Applejack looked up for the first time in several minutes, and looked around. “Aw horse apples! Let’s git a move on, we don’t wanna be late.” She wiped her tears and hurried after the remnants of the army.
THAT’Sthe strong mare I know, Spike thought to himself as they both hurried to catch up to the army. Once there, Applejack quickly took command from her brother and made tracks for the plains. Spike followed from the air.
The sun was low in the horizon when Spike and the army of earth ponies arrived at the predetermined retreat point. He instantly saw that something was wrong . . . instead of a few thousand ponies helping with injuries and supplies, he saw the entire army of 10,000 setting up tents and battlements.
Spike tried to catch a glimpse of anypony he knew, but the crowd was massive.
Then, he saw them. Five mares in glimmering silver armor were entering a large tent. Noting its location, Spike turned around and searched the crowd for Applejack. Finding her, he swooped down, grabbed her, and lifted off. She protested loudly, but in no time, they were at the tent.
Applejack was quite shaken from her short flight, but the guards at the door allowed them to enter, revealing a war room like Applejack had seen at the Castle.
Shining Armor bore a scowl as he approached the newcomers, “I guess this means we lost Appleloosa too?”
“Eeyup,” Applejack sighed as she lowered her head.
For the first time, the other gathered ponies noticed Spike. It was kind of hard to ignore him, he was the largest one in the tent.
“Spike? Is that you?” Twilight asked as she trotted over, poking one of his wings with a hoof.
“Yeah. A lot happened in the last few days,” Spike responded, laughing slightly.
“That has to be the understatement of the century, Spike,” Shining Armor said as he sat back down. He looked at a large map before continuing, “We lost Fillydelphia, Baltimare, and now Appleloosa. It’s anypony’s guess what the griffons did to Manehattan. We have to try and hold them here . . . the only other option is to retreat to Canterlot. From scouting reports, they still have 42,000 griffons, and we’re down to only 10,000 ponies.”
Sighing as he looked at the map and list of things that needed to be done, Shining Armor continued, “The griffons won’t march at night, which means the battle will probably be the day after tomorrow. Until then, we all have our preparations to do. Dismissed.”
The mares nodded their heads slowly, and began to walk out of the tent. As it was Spike’s turn to leave, Shining Armor spoke once more, “Spike, we need to talk.”
Spike froze and turned, “Huh?”
“We had a problem in Fillydelphia. A dragon by the name of Titanus showed up, and made us retreat all by himself . We didn’t even dent the griffon invaders.”
Spike shivered at the name. Titanus was old and powerful enough to be in Gizo’s stories. What he remembered, he didn’t like.
Shining armor continued, “When the fight starts, I need you to distract him as long as you can.”
“Why me?” Spike asked. From the stories he’d heard from Gizo, this was going to be a tall order.
“Because you’re the only one with fire resistant scales. Nopony can survive against that monster. We need you to either distract him the entire battle, or put him out of commission.”
Nodding, Spike replied, “Well, if that’s the job you have for me, that’s the job I’ll do.”
“Thanks. Now, go relax. We have bad couple of days coming up.”
The next day passed quickly as Spike helped out wherever he could. He spent most of the day with Pinkie Pie, helping build battlements for the artillery division on a nearby hill. He’d tried talking with her, asking what happened to her company, but she didn’t say a word unless it involved moving the cannons. She was direct, didn’t stray from her work, and very quiet. It was so . . . Un-Pinkie . . . that Spike knew something was wrong. He kept his concerns to himself, knowing Pinkie would talk when she needed too.
The camp was a constant flurry of activity, the newly-formed soldiers running around like ants. They were doing everything and anything they could to help ward off anxiety, while the trained guardsmen simply sat with their whetstones, sharpening their weapons to perfection. The tense atmosphere only grew as, late that afternoon, the griffons arrived and began making camp.
Spike stared up into luna’s night sky as stars began to light up. Tomorrow’s the day I guess.
Then, out of nowhere, a shrill scream echoed through the night, followed by a flash of fire lighting up the camp.
General Bloodbeak paced in front of a small company of griffons. All were armed to the teeth.
Licking his beak, the General spoke, “Colonel, you and your company are to raid the pony’s camp once night falls. Your goal is to set everything on fire, and eliminate all the supplies and medical personnel possible. Any questions?”
“Dismissed!” Pausing slightly, the General then called the average-looking Colonel over, “And Colonel . . . if you would be so kind as to bring me back some . . . Entertainment,” the General licked his beak once more, “I think there would be room for a promotion.”
The Colonel shivered before responding, “Of course, sir.”
“Good. Dismissed.”
Every griffon in the army had at least heard rumors of General Bloodbeak’s ‘tastes,’ which often involved the rape of whomever he was fighting. Thoughts of this fact filtered through the Colonel’s head as he followed his company. If all went well tonight, he would break the pony’s resolve and get promoted. A good night indeed.
They flew silently towards the pony camp. Turning to his team, the Colonel whispered, “Major, I need you to take ten griffons of your choice and find the medical area. The rest of us will raid the supplies.”
“Yes sir!” came the response as the Major gathered his team, and flew off in a slightly different direction.
Ten griffons landed silently outside of the major supply tent before entering unseen. The Colonel saw exactly what he was looking for: food, water, and a single white mare with a purple mane wearing silver battle armor facing away from his company. Perfect.
The Colonel signaled for silence as he crept up behind the mare, quickly knocking her unconscious with the pommel of his warhammer.
“Light it up!” The Colonel said as he slung the pony on his back.
The other griffons quickly lit everything on fire with the matches and oil they’d brought, followed by a swift exit. Well, that was easy, the Colonel thought as they flew back to the griffon camp, flapping hard under the unconscious pony’s weight.
Fluttershy was busy all day, and didn’t notice the sun had gone down. She was too busy tending to the hundreds of wounded from Fillydelphia to worry about much of anything. That changed when she heard something odd from the tent entrance.
Her eyes bulged when she saw ten fully-armed griffons enter the tent.
Doctor Horse was near the entrance, and tried to call the alarm. Before he even got a word out, a large spear stuck into his throat, reducing his scream to a gurgle. Fluttershy fled to the back of the tent. She watched in horror as the griffons massacred the unarmed doctors and injured patients, and destroyed all the supplies they could.
A griffon spoke, “Major! This yellow one is kinda nice. We should take her to the General, you know how he likes his ‘Entertainment’”
Another large griffon looked over to where his subordinate was pointing at Fluttershy. “Yeah. She even has armor . . . must be important. Bring her with us.”
Fluttershy panicked even more, and was stuck shaking in a corner as three griffons came close. Fear flooded her.
Then, out of nowhere, a white unicorn with large purple shades jumped between Fluttershy and the griffons. The unicorn slammed the griffons into a tent wall with her magic.
“You Bitch!” a griffon exclaimed as he threw a spear towards the unicorn, the spear slicing through her shoulder, impaling itself in her chest. She froze in shock, staring at the wood pole sticking out of her. Then she collapsed.
Many ponies knew that Fluttershy could get angry, and when she did, everypony better stay out of the way. Other ponies also know there are two types of anger: the red-hot anger that normally involves cursing and shouting, and the other, much more dangerous anger that was cold, calculating, and murderous.
That cold anger was what enveloped Fluttershy as she saw the unicorn drop. She recognized her as the Ponyville DJ.
Runes glowed over Fluttershy’s armor, flooding the inside of the tent with blue light as she knelt down and held the white unicorn who had tried to help her. The griffons took a step back, surprised at the sudden change. The runes were unreadable at first, constantly shifting, but then they seemed to settle on one word . . .
Authority.
Fluttershy stared at the griffons that surrounded her. Tilting her head, she somehow gave “The Stare” to all of them at the same time, and spoke in a monotone containing no emotion, “You can all die now.”
Their response was quick. “Yes, My Lady!” They pulled out their weapons and slit their own throats.
Dubiously seeing all of this happen, the Major, who was on the other side of the tent, hauled tail to get out of there, taking to the sky as quickly as he could.
As the night wore on, rumors of ‘The Harbinger’ spread throughout the griffon camp. Many were fearful, for they’d either heard stories or been there when the Blood Mare and the Banshee had done something similar in Baltimare and Appleloosa. All too many were getting discouraged by the stories. The Major’s report didn’t help.
Rarity awoke in an unfamiliar tent, strapped down with ropes and facing the ceiling. Blinking her unconsciousness away, realized she was gagged and in a very compromising position. She looked around the room, and in one corner she saw her armor, but no sign of her rapier or disk. A sound from outside was heard as a griffin with blood red feathers entered the room.
It spoke in a voice that ran a shiver down, Rarity’s spine, “Ah, I see my Entertainment is awake. I guess I can begin.”
Rarity started to struggle and attempted to scream as the griffon placed himself on her with obvious intentions. She quickly used her magic to push the griffon off.
“A feisty one I see…” The griffon licked his beak, “I always did enjoy the feisty ones,” he said as he tried to force himself onto Rarity once more.
While fending him off, Rarity searched the room, desperately trying to find something to help her. Then, she found it, a small glimmer in the corner near her armor, a glimmer she recognized as her disk. Reaching out with her magic, she pulled the disk towards her, then slammed it against the griffon’s beak. He howled at the pain, sending him back several steps.
“You bitch!” the griffon cried, “I guess I’ll have to kill you first!” He dragged out a small sword from the tent wall, and brought it up to Rarity’s neck, freezing her in place.
“Ah, so now you’re going to be a good little pony, aren’t you?” He pressed the sword into her neck, almost drawing blood. At this point, the stress proved too much, and she fainted below the bulk of the griffon.
Rarity awoke what seemed like a moment later to see the griffon now standing above her with a rather satisfied look on his face. Horror crept over her when as she realized what had happened, and why her body felt strange, and why her tail was now slightly blood stained. The horror flooded her, from nose to tail, until she shuddered.
All her life, she'd been generous, just like her mom and dad had told her. She even saved herself when the other fillies and colts committed acts after school and in barns all the time. But now, in an instant, this griffon . . . no, this thing . . . had taken all that away from her. The horror was replaced by an emotion completely unfamiliar to her, one she embraced wholeheartedly.
The griffon reached with his sword, intending to slice the throat of his used Entertainment, when he noticed a strange glow from the mare’s armor in the corner. Stopping what he was doing, he grabbed the armor. He found it hot, almost intolerable even to his tough talons. Glowing runes flitted over the armor, making indecipherable patterns until, in an instant, they stopped. There was only a single word…
Cruelty
Hearing a noise behind him, the griffon turned. To his shock, the mare had escaped her bonds, and held a shining disk in her magical grasp.
“They say it can take three minutes for somepony to die from a fatal wound,” Rarity said coldly, her voice empty, “Let’s see if I can make it longer.”
The griffon lunged at the mare, only to find himself painfully stopped in his tracks. The pony’s disk had disappeared, and now a thousand tiny needles stuck into his skin, each one on a pressure point or nerve cluster. Harder and harder they pushed, until he was in excruciating pain. The griffon tried to scream, but found he couldn’t. Something was painfully wrong with his lungs.
With renewed vigor from his rising anger and even faster-rising pain, the griffon tried to attack again, only to feel a prick in his back, causing him to collapse to the ground involuntarily. The griffon watched helplessly as the mare grabbed her glowing armor and put it on, strapping her rapier to her side.
She spoke once more, her voice still empty, “They say it can take five minutes before a pony or griffon dies from suffocation, as your lungs slowly fill with blood.” With a twitch of her eyes, the needles began to stab into an ever-growing number of sensitive places, multiplying his pain a hundredfold. He tried to scream, but could only suffer his torture in silence.
“Let’s test that.” Horror flooded the griffon, before getting drowned by pain.
The agony lasted an eternity, each placement of the tiny needles worse than the last. Every single nerve in his body was on fire in a way fire could only dream of, and still the pain grew. His mind shuddered within his skull at the agony. He pleaded within his mind for death, but it would never come.
As he felt his consciousness slip from the lack of air, Rarity spoke again, “You deserve so much worse . . . far, far worse . . . but I don’t have time.” She drew her rapier, her face and voice more empty than the blackest night. “So die.”
She drove her rapier through his eye, and into the ground beneath his head. He twitched violently, but quickly stilled.
Somehow, his death brought her no satisfaction. She wanted more, but nothing more could come from a corpse. Shuddering at the horror that pervaded her bones, she left the tent.
Rarity slowly trotted through the griffon camp, not looking at anyone. Griffons tried to attack her occasionally, but all of them met the same slow fate of painful paralysis and suffocation. As she walked through the camp towards the west, she left a trail of convulsing griffon bodies.
The witnesses spread more rumors that night, rumors of a pony capable of impossible cruelty. The called her ‘The Cruel Plague’ because of the way her victims died. These rumors only got worse for those who saw General Bloodbeak’s mutilated, bloody corpse.
“Whaddya mean Rarity got Foalnapped?” Spike asked the green unicorn angrily as they continued to put out the fire that threatened to spread through the camp.
The unicorn, who Spike now recognized as Lyra Heartstrings, answered “Right before the fire started, I saw a griffon fly off with a white unicorn on its back. I’m pretty sure it was Rarity, judging by the armor.”
As the unicorn finished talking, she dumped yet another bucket of water on a small patch of flame. Twilight Sparkle, who was also on fire duty, walked up.
“Good job, everypony!” Twilight said in a loud voice. “That’s the last of it. Now, everypony go get a good night’s rest.”
“I’m going after them, Twilight,” Spike said with certainty.
“Spike!” Twilight complained, “You can’t go after her. She’s deep in their army by now! They’ll kill you!”
Spike dipped down, and brought his face right in front of her before speaking with a power and determination that she never knew he had, “I. Will. Not. Lose. Her. If I die, then so be it. It’s better than living a life without her in it.” Without waiting for an answer, Spike spread his wings and lifted into the air with a powerful gust of wind.
Staring after the dragon, Twilight shook her head in anguish. She knew there was nothing to be done. She only hoped that they both came back.
A voice from behind her interrupted her morbid thoughts, “Twily! We need to talk,” Shining Armor came trotting up to Twilight.
“Shining! Is there something wrong?” Twilight asked, a note of confusion in her voice.
“Yeah… Listen, I just got a scouting report that said we have at least 5,000 Saddle Arabians on our southern flank. And now we have no supplies.” He paused, then shook his head, “Twilight we have to retreat to Canterlot. If we fight here, we lose the rest of the army, and then Equestria.”
Twilight shivered at the thought of the griffons winning the war, but Shining Armor wasn’t done, “I need somepony to lead a team, to defend our backs while we retreat. I need somepony I can trust, Twily. Go pick whoever you want, from whatever divisions, and make sure we get out of here.”
“Of course,” Twilight answered as she embraced her brother and looked to the night sky where Spike had disappeared. For the first time in her life, she prayed. To what, she didn’t know.
Bring her back, Spike. And yourself too.
Rarity trudged through the empty fields that separated the two armies, thoughts of murder and vengeance still heavy in her heart. Staring at the near-full moon, she wondered at the meaning of life, and why something so horrible could happen.
A large thunk in a nearby bush interrupted her pondering. With a thought, her disk turned into thousands of needles, which she sent crashing into the bush.
“Ow!” came a familiar voice from the assaulted bush.
“Sp-Spike? Is that you?” Rarity called hopefully, the voice shaking her out of her stupor.
“Yeah it’s me,” Spike answered as he stepped out of the bush, picking needles from his scales, “That hurt, you know.” He plucked another out of his snout.
Rarity galloped up to the dragon and threw herself into his arms, before beginning to cry.The crying grew into sobbing, then into full-on bawling.
“Hey what’s wrong? Everything’s going to be okay now,” Spike said as he stroked the mare’s mane with a careful talon. Sobs racked her from head to tail.
I’ve done this twice now, to two of my friends, Spike thought grimly. And a third won’t even talk to me. He sighed, smoke puffing from his nostrils. What’s this war doing to us?
After what seemed like an eternity, Rarity was able to speak through her sobs, “I...I don’t want to talk now… Let’s go back, Spike… I just . . . want to forget.” With a sigh of the weary, she fell asleep in the dragon’s arms.
Spike tightened his hold on her and lifted himself into the air, heading back towards the pony camp, his thoughts heavier than the precious cargo he carried.
Spike landed as softly as he could outside the intact but near empty medical tent, and deposited Rarity into a cot to sleep. Fluttershy quickly rushed over and tended to her minor wounds, before seeing the blood on Rarity’s tail.
She froze. She knew what happened. Such a despicable act was unheard of in Equestria, but when she’d joined the fight, the doctors had taught her the signs of rape, and Rarity satisfied all of them.
Spike was worried at Fluttershy’s frozen posture, “She’s going to be okay right?”
“I… I don’t know, Spike… Can you bring the others here please?”
Confused, Spike responded by flying off, calling behind him, “I’ll be right back.”
Moments later Spike returned with the other four ponies dressed in silver armor.
Twilight spoke first, “Thank goodness you found her, Spike. We were so worried about both of you,” she said, hugging the dragon.
“Where’d you find her?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“On her way back here, oddly enough. I’ve no idea how she escaped.”
“I… ummm… I do,” Fluttershy stuttered before continuing, “She’s under magical overload, and along with small wounds, it indicates she fought her way with her magic. Also her disk is stained in blood. Also umm… I’m not sure how to say this but ummm… I am pretty confidant that a griffon raped her before she escaped.”
This elicited gasps from all the other ponies in the tent, and growls from Spike and Rainbow Dash. Smoke poured from Spike’s nostrils.
A long stream of curses escaped Dash’s mouth before Fluttershy began to speak again, “It’s best to let her rest for now.”
“Alright, then. Everypony . . . go get some sleep.” Twilight then turned to Spike, “You too.”
In answer, the dragon curled up around the sleeping mare’s cot, determined to pass the night protecting her. The few hours of Luna’s night passed slowly, anxiety flooding those who were awake, and nightmares plaguing those who slept.
The next morning, Twilight assembled Rainbow Dash along with the entire wonderbolt squad for her special mission. The restless night before had proved useful, helping her determine the best strategy for defending the retreating army. She’d come up with a single plan: use all the speed they had to outmaneuver the griffons in the air, and the ground griffons would be too slow to catch up to the retreating ponies.
Speaking to the few dozen pegasi in front of her, Twilight spoke in a clear, loud voice, “Our mission is to protect the retreating army. You will, under no circumstances, endanger yourselves, but instead act to distract and delay the enemy griffons. Any questions?”
“No Ma’am!” they responded.
Nodding her approval, she spread her wings. “Let’s go, then!”
As one, three dozen ponies lifted into the air . . . just as they saw a hundred griffons do the same across the plains. Unlike most combat, there was no ‘first contact’ that shattered the silence. Instead, the pegasi avoided actual combat, and instead went for annoying and distracting the griffons.
Twilight was not a fast flyer. Certainly, she was better than, say, Fluttershy, but she couldn’t hold a candle to the gathered Wonderbolts. Then again, she didn’t really need to either. She had magic on her side. Bolts of arcane energy flew against the griffons which incapacitated them, but at a thousand feet in the air, that meant certain death.
Sometimes, a wonderbolt would fall to injury, or a well-timed griffon strike, and would retreat. In one case, a stallion by the name of Rapidfire fell to the ground, dead from a griffon sword. This particular event had dire consequences for the attackers, who had just received reinforcements.
Rainbow Dash stared in horror at the body of Rapidfire on the ground far below. The griffons had killed a wonderbolt, one of her idols from fillyhood. Not only that, but they’d raped Rarity and mentally scarred Fluttershy for life.
She would stand for it no longer. She built up speed as she approached the incoming griffons, which caused some of the enemies to laugh at the mare and raise their weapons. Blue light began to flood the sky, drawing eyes of the griffon army below. Runes began to encircle the mare as she kept going, nearing the enemy. The runes settled on one word:
Vengeance
Without thought and on pure instinct, Rainbow Dash reacted only feet away from the company of at least a hundred griffons. She stopped instantly and flicked out her wing blades, feeling a crackle of energy. In one smooth stroke, she touched the blades together as she would two feathers.
The blades glowed red, and from a cloudless sky, emitted the largest lightning bolt ever witnessed. It struck her blades, before being redirected into the awaiting company of griffons.
Rainbow Dash watched in satisfaction as all the griffons fell to their deaths, electrocuted and smoldering from the bolt. Realizing how bad of a position she’d put herself in, she quickly retreated back to rest of the wonderbolts as more griffons came after her.
As Twilight watched Rainbow Dash kill so many with a single move, she felt a cold chill down her spine. The feeling worried her, because she enjoyed the idea that so many of those who hurt her friends were now gone.
Her thoughts quickly changed as she saw 20 griffons chasing Rainbow Dash with murderous intent, to avenge their comrades. Dash rolled, dropped, and did everything to dodge the griffins, but pegasi and griffons were evenly matched when it came to flying.
Thoughts invaded Twilight’s mind as she saw her friend being hunted down in front of her. On a normal day, she would call these thoughts evil, thoughts of murder and hatred. But today, they were justified.
As these thoughts continued to roil in Twilight’s mind, she didn’t notice that her own armor had started glowing blue with runic symbols. Spreading her wings, Twilight took to the air and rushed the oncoming griffons, bypassing Rainbow Dash in the process. The griffons drew their weapons as Twilight was only moments from death. The runes solidified on one word:
Hatred
As that rune made its mark, Twilight’s eyes glowed green and blackness poured from her eyes and mouth. A sickly flash of black and green magic came from her horn, striking the griffons.
In mid-flight, the griffons decomposed. Their feathers crumbled to dust, the flesh rotted off their bones, and then the bones themselves were ground to dust. It blew by Twilight harmlessly.
That proved too much for the other pursuing griffons, deciding that a court-martial was much better than the death facing them. They retreated to their own camp.
Rumors of ponies with . . . otherworldly strength . . . spread through the griffon army as they marched towards Canterlot. All had a name:
‘The Lightning Caller’, who pulled lightning from a clear blue sky.
‘The Princess of Demons’, who turned her enemies into dust.
‘The Cruel Plague’, who froze her enemies in agonizing pain before they suffocated.
‘The Harbinger’, who could command death with a glance.
’The Banshee of Baltimare’, who instilled despair into any who heard her voice.
And ‘The Blood Mare of Appleloosa’, who had a metal Hydra-beast in her tail, and slaughtered as easily as she breathed.
Rumors of these six mares who seemed to hold the power of the gods spread throughout the army like wildfire, demoralizing them. The few brave griffons and Saddle Arabians who had any sense decided to abandon the cause.
After all, there’s no point fighting demons and banshees. Especially when it looked like the Gods themselves were behind them. Slowly, the griffon army began to shrink.
Spike stood upon the outer wall of Canterlot as the sun set illuminating a blood red sky. The griffons had already set up their tents, and were waiting for tomorrow, for that was when the battle of Canterlot would be fought.
Spike dwelled on thoughts of his friends, especially on Rarity. He knew that he should be with her as a shoulder to lean on, now more than ever, but something stopped him. He wasn’t sure what.
Its been only seven days since I came to Canterlot, and now I find myself ready to defend it, Spike thought to himself. But at what cost?
Behind him, Twilight Sparkle slowly climbed the stairs, stopping when she saw his armored back. “Spike,” she called, her voice trembling slightly.
Surprised, Spike woke from his thoughts and turned to see Twilight with tears in her eyes. He quickly stood and embraced her, asking “What’s wrong?”
“It’s… It’s nothing. Just . . . just overwhelmed by everything,” she replied, wiping her tears away. “Rarity wanted to see you . . . but I want to say something first.” Taking a deep breath, she continued, “I just want to say . . . I love you Spike. No matter what happens tomorrow.”
Embracing Twilight harder than before, Spike responded, “Same here. I love you too, Twilight,” The pair sat there for a few moments, enjoying each other’s company, before Spike left without another word to go see Rarity.
During this time, another pony joined the pair atop the wall. As Spike disappeared into the sky, he spoke, “Twily, we need to talk.”
Jumping in surprise, she quickly turned around and saw her brother standing behind her. “Shining!” she called as she ran over and hugged him.
After a moment, Shining Armor broke the embrace and spoke, “Twily . . . I need you and your friends on the front lines tomorrow. You six are our best hope for beating the griffons.”
With an unsure expression, Twilight responded, “I don’t know if Rarity and Fluttershy will be up for it.”
A distant look overtook Shining Armor’s eyes as he spoke again, “Twily, can i ask you something?”
“Wh-What?” she asked.
“If anything happens to me . . . can you help take care of Cadance?”
“What are you talking about?! Nothing’s going to happen to you!” Twilight responded, sure of her statement despite her shaking voice.
“Twily, this is war. Anything could happen, and I do mean anything. Promise me you’ll look after Cadance if something happens.”
Twilight gulped hard, then spoke softly, “Cross my heart. Hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye!” She repeated the familiar motions as she spoke.
With a smile, Shining Armor embraced his sister once more, “Thanks, Twily. We should head back.”
The two ponies slowly made their way down the wall. Shining Armor went back to the Captain’s quarters while Twilight went back to the infirmary to check on Rarity.
She saw something she didn’t expect: Spike was surrounded by the five of her friends, each of them taking warmth and comfort in his somewhat-familiar form. All were fast asleep. From a distance, Spike looked like he was covered in cats. Any other time, she’d have thought this amusing.
She was surprised by a slightly familiar voice from behind her, “It seems in even the hardest times, friendship reigns true.”
Twilight turned to see the blacksmith that had come to Ponyville what seemed like forever ago. “Oh. Hello Kajiya . . . I thought you’d be in the forge.”
“The forging of metal is done. Now, only the forge of battle.” Twilight noticed a set of guard armor adorning his form.
He looked at her more closely. “I see you are troubled, young Princess . . . what is wrong?”
At that point, emotions boiled over inside Twilight. Tears came as she sobbed out, “Everything! Everything’s wrong! This whole war . . . it’s awful! So many were lost, and it’s not over yet! And . . . ” she paused as more tears came, before continuing quietly, “ . . . what’s happening to us? We’re all . . . murderers now!”
She looked Kajiya in the face. “Why?! Why’d we get pulled into this mess? Why do we fight?! Why can’t everything just be normal again!?” She collapsed on the ground, sobbing.
Kajiya placed a small hoof on the distraught mare, “That is why you fight, young Princess. So everything may be normal once more.”
“Bu-But what about us?!” Twilight waved a hoof at her sleeping friends. “We’re so different now. All of us can kill with a thought! How’re we supposed to go back after this . . . We’re so corrupt!”
Sighing, the stallion responded, “Do you never listen, young Princess? I told you already: I paid for all the sins you make in that armor.”
Twilight tried to speak before being silenced by a hoof on her snout, “Let me speak, young Princess. In my homeland, there is a concept, an idea, called Yin and Yang.” Kajiya drew a circle into the dirt with his hoof. An ‘S’ shaped squiggle divided it evenly in two.
“It tells of two sides to everything. One is Good,” he tapped the left half of the circle, “and one is Evil.” He labeled the halves of the circle with the appropriate runes for good and evil. “This, I believe you already know.”
Twilight nodded, understanding. She tried to wipe her tears, but new ones took their place.
“But Yin and Yang tells that, within the Good,” he drew a small circle inside the “Good” half of the circle, “there is a small portion of Evil. And within Evil,” he did the same for the other half, “there is a small portion of Good. There is no absolute evil, but neither is there an absolute good. Does this make sense?”
She nodded, and tried to speak, “Yeah, I guess, but what does that-”
“It means that everypony, no matter how pure, has a piece of corruption in them. Good ponies all have a dark side, and evil ponies always have a light side. It may be small, but it is always there.
“Nothing ever changed, Princess. You and your friends have not changed. Rather, they have discovered their corruption.” He pointed to the small circle within the “Good” half. “I warn you, do not let that corruption become what defines you.” He pointed to the “Evil” half.
“Bu-”
“What I am trying to say, Princess, is everything will work itself out. But now, you must rest for tomorrow. You must defend your home and your friends.” He walked out of the infirmary room as he spoke.
Twilight, now confused but strangely reassured, sat down next to Spike and let sleep take hold.
The last thing she saw before sleep took her was the Yin and Yang drawing:
It was a time of night that someponies considered to be night and others early morning. The clocks around Canterlot showed zero dark thirty as two hundred ponies climbed up the steep cliffs along Canterlot Mountain. All were laden with cannons and cannonballs, desperate to get into position before the dawn rose and the battle began.
Octavia struggled with her cannon as her partner, a daft white unicorn stallion by the name of Sour Chord, pulled along a large set of cannonballs.
Finally, the division reached their destination as the first glimmers of sunshine touched the horizon.
Setting down her load, Octavia spoke, “Alright everypony, listen up! I’m no General Pie, so I can’t help much when it comes to strategy.” She paused slightly as she surveyed her troops, who all bore a concerned face. “But I do know what needs to happen: everypony here must do their part to sink those airships!”
She waved a hoof at the valley below, where over 300 airships floated gently over the ground. “I want every group here to act independently when everything starts, that way everypony lasts as long as possible. Remember, the ponies down there are counting on us!”
The gathered ponies stood quietly, silenced by Octavia’s speech. It wasn’t a call to arms or a warcry, but a simple statement of what needed to be done. All those gathered contemplated the battle to come as they watched the airships rise with the dawn.
In an instant, it all started. A loud clash from Canterlot signaled the commencement of the siege. The airships opened fire upon the city, cannons striking the millenium-old marble and stone. 100 cannon teams responded with their own fire at a single word from their commander.
Cannonfire ripped through engines and masts, sinking dozens of ships with the first volley. A small griffon stood where Bloodbeak once did, taking his place as General. He watched the carnage ensue.
A loud voice rang through the ships, “Return Fire, Cannons 5 degrees up, 10 degrees north by northeast… FIRE!”
After they sent the first volley, the pony cannon teams began to move swiftly from their first position so the return fire would be less damaging. However, several teams were too slow as the cannonballs struck the mountainside. Debris went flying, burying several teams alive.
So the battle went, cannonfire and return fire from the ponies and airships. Each pony team downed was accompanied by three airships sinking to the valley below, impacting hard upon the roots of the mountains.
An eternity passed for those in conflict, but in reality, it was mere hours as the sun climbed to its apex.
Sour Chord spoke, “General, Ma’am we are down to two cannonballs… there might be more in the debris…”
Octavia looked at her partner, then the team next to her, then at the airships below. “Alright, load em up!” As she spoke, the airships opened fire the cannonballs striking the team next to her. One unicorn, bless their soul, was struck dead on by a cannonball which sent limbs, blood and guts splashing up the mountainside.
Ignoring the gory scene next to him, Sour Chord loaded his shot and fired. By the grace of Celestia, he hit the perfect spot in one of the airships. The cannonball ripped through the engine, sinking it to the valley almost immediately. As the impact resounded through the valley, the last ship, the General’s ship, opened fire upon Octavia’s group.
The cannonball struck the next group over instead, sending Sour Chord flying into the cliff behind them, breaking open his head upon a sharp rock. The impact splintered a piece of the cannon Octavia held, implanting large pieces of wood into her left forehoof.
The pain was mind-boggling, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins made her able to somewhat ignore it. Her left hoof now hung limply and barely attached. She had no option but to sink that last ship, and she was out of cannonballs. She looked over to where the other team had fallen, and saw a single cannon still loaded and ready to fire.
Second after agonizing second, she limped towards the cannon. She tripped on a small rock and fell onto the cannon, which sent a bolt of pain coursing through her body. She hooked herself into the cannon as she slowly realized that she heard none of her comrades fire their own cannons at the airship.
The shot had to be perfect. It had to be that one shot that sank an airship without any assistance. But Octavia was perfect . . . she had to be perfect. All her life, she’d trained to be a musician. As a musician, she had to have perfect aim and timing. She absolutely couldn’t miss. In this one moment she took aim at the last airship.
In that moment she breathed out slowly, and prayed to Celestia and all the Gods above as she lit her cannon and let forth one last shot.
On the deck of that airship, the small General paced. They’d lost all their airships to a group of mere ponies, and he seethed with anger. It was embarrassing.
But at last, it seemed they’d eliminated the resistance. There wasn’t any return fire coming from the ground. Victory seemed assured.
Suddenly, a shot rang out. He turned to where it came from, and saw a cannonball hurtling towards him.
Fear flooded his veins. He’d prided himself on being able to work artillery like it was an extension of himself. He was always able to work out where the cannonballs were going, and what damage they could do when they hit. As he looked at this one coming towards him, he noted with a cold lurch that it was perfect it every way. The arc, the speed, the spin, was all dead-on. It was unavoidable.
It ripped through the engines, and his last ship joined its brethren at the mountain’s roots.
Octavia sat by the cannon as she watched the last airship sink in the midday sun. She allowed herself a small victory, overjoyed that her last shot had been perfect.
Then, pain coursed through her body from her injury as it finally registered that her leg was completely useless. She heard a shifting of rocks behind her, and saw a white unicorn mare struggle out from under a pile of debris.
The unicorn had a brace on her shoulder, along with a new wound: a large splinter had broken her sunglasses, and was now impaled in her eye. It was gruesome to look at. The unicorn made her way slowly towards Octavia before speaking, “Looks like we’re both banged up, eh? But its over . . . over now . . . Shall we head back, General?”
“Yes . . . ” Octavia said as she struggled to stand. It occurred to her that she didn’t know who she was speaking to. “What’s your name, soldier?”
“Vinyl Scratch, Ma’am. Permission to speak freely?”
“Granted,” she grunted through pain.
“Let’s get the Buck out of here,” the unicorn said. She helped Octavia take the weight off her useless leg, and the two ponies made their way down the mountain towards Canterlot.
The rising dawn revealed two armies at the ready. A massive conglomerate of griffons and saddle arabians were shoved into a much-too-small battle plain outside of Canterlot.
Opposite that army sat a laughably small phalanx of earth ponies, with thousands of pegasi floating above them. Lining the walls of Canterlot stood thousands unicorns, spells on the tip of their horns.
Dawn peaked, and the griffons sat, waiting for the sun to rise a bit more. With no warning, cannons roared out from the air and mountaintop above, the armies signaling the start of the battle. The sound of first impact rang through the mountains.
Separate from the phalanx of earth ponies and the occasional pegasus or unicorn stood a small group of ponies. They were the combined fears of the griffon army. An alicorn, a unicorn, two pegasi, and two earth ponies stood in their gleaming armor. Behind them stood two identical dragons outfitted in near the same, but with two shimmering purple swords held it their talons.
Once the sun rose, the charge began. The phalanx took the impact just as they did in Appleloosa: hard, but with little loss of ground. Just as in the past, a loud voice echoed throughout the Phalanx, “SHIELDS! REPEL!”, “SPEARS FORWARD!”. As these sounds echoed through the army, the six mares and two dragons stood in the center of battle.
The mares were everything the griffons were expecting. They were the Demonic 6, the legendary ponies who had godly powers at their command. Pretty much every griffon had heard the stories of their power, and how any who faced them rarely survived. But today was different. Today, the entire army was being thrown at them. Maybe the demons would succumb to numbers.
But when the battle started, that didn’t happen. Those unlucky enough to be near any of them died a horrible death.
Some died by electrocution from the cyan Pegasus, who called lightning from the clear sky. The yellow one made them turn their weapons on themselves, none questioning her orders.
Others suffered the agony of suffocation from the white unicorn, or the instantaneous decay from the purple Alicorn. At least her method was painless.
All too many simply collapsed when confronted by the horn of the Pink Banshee, losing their will to fight, only to be trampled to death by their comrades. Like the purple Alicorn, the orange mare dispensed painless death, her Hydra flashing in the morning light.
But the griffons were not expecting the sheer ferocity of the twin dragons. Thousands of griffons and saddle arabians fell to the six mares, none even coming close to injuring any of them. But the dragons were the ones who directed the carnage.
When the battle began, an ancient urge had overtaken Spike, an urge to see all his enemies burn and drown in their own blood. He’d found himself licking his new teeth in anticipation. Under normal circumstances, he would've been horrified by this.
But now, here, on this battlefield . . . he could let it out, let the urge control him as it saw fit. Now, he needed that urge to push him forward. The ancient instinct to protect his horde, many of whom stood beside him, now kicked in. Conscious thought fell away as Spike swung his sword into the first griffon he came upon.
The blade shimmered . . . it liked the feeling of blood. Spike indulged it. Violently.
Wheeling through the griffons, he simply acted and reacted, his form changing from stabbing griffons through the chest or throat, to hacking off limbs and heads, to ripping out throats and wings with his teeth, to the occasional burning alive of some of the more pitiable souls. The twin dragons tore through the griffon army at an alarming pace, his best friends behind him every step of the way.
Spike slowly felt his breath quicken and his body ache, conscious thought returning to him as he looked at his twin selves, and saw a dragon he didn't recognize. His armor was dented, scratched, and blood-soaked from battle. His scales were an ugly mix of purple and blood. His teeth gleamed red in the sunlight. His twin blades were glowing with power, fed by the blood of his enemies. No runes shone on his armor as it did with his friends.
But then again, he didn't need it. He was a predator. His instinct were Kill, Destroy, Protect What Is Mine.
Looking in front of him, he realized something. The griffons had retreated slightly. Griffon blood dripping from his forehead, Spike looked up and saw the sun high in the sky, and noticed for the first time the lack of cannonfire.
Two things happened then: he felt the earth shift underneath him, and he saw a massive black form appear from behind the griffon army. It spread enormous wings, so large they almost blotted out half the sky.
With a jolt that brought his twin halves back together, he remembered what Shining Armor had told him only a two days ago.
Titanus. He swallowed stiffly. He’s bigger than I thought.
“We need you to either distract him the entire battle, or put him out of commission.”
Gritting his teeth in determination, Spike took to the sky, ignoring his protesting friends. As he got closer, he eyeballed the black dragon to be at least ten times his size. He put himself within feet of its nose and spread his arms, blocked its path to Canterlot.
The large dragon almost went cross-eyed trying to look at Spike, he was so much smaller. A massive voice yarred him to the bone, “A MERE HATCHLING DARES BLOCK MY PATH?” The dragon laughed, licking his teeth as he reared up in front of Spike, “I SHALL ENJOY KILLING YOU, WHELP!”
With that, Titanus put himself into the air with a massive downstroke. He swung a paw nearly as large as Spike, talons gleaming in the sun from their sharpness.
With a thought, Spike split himself into two with the Gemini. Two Spikes floated above and below where he used to be. Titanus’s paw swung through the empty air between them.
With a downstroke, Spike surged towards Titanus. As one, Spike used both his bodies and swung the twin swords into the dragon’s shoulder, the sharp blades cutting into the nearly impenetrable dragonhide. Recoiling at the unexpected pain, Titanus turned to fireball Spike . . . only to find there were now two of him, each holding a gleaming purple sword.
His growl felt like an earthquake. “YOU HAVE A GODBLADE . . . DO NOT THINK IT WILL SAVE YOU, HATCHLING!” He re-engaged Spike, swinging another paw.
After blocking Titanus’ strike, Spike flapped hard and closed the small gap between himself and Titanus’ chest, holding his blades in a stabbing position and attempting to strike the dragon’s heart.
WHIP!
Spike was met by a tail, Titanus flipping his massive barbed tail around and into Spike, sending him spiraling towards the ground. The tail had struck Spike on the armor, but the impact had cracked ribs and bruised a wing. Struggling to stay flying Spike looked up to see the elder dragon chasing him.
Titanus opened his maw and emitted massive jet of flame that rivaled his own size. Spike dodged to his right and to his left, and flew towards the oncoming dragon. Two paws attacked Spike, one on either size. Both bodies rolled to avoid the attacks, but Spike’s other half was getting too far away, and he was starting to suffer a migraine.
Ignoring the pain, Spike drove his swords into the soft lining of the dragon’s wings, before his left half was smacked towards the ground with a swipe of his tail. The migraine grew exponentially with the sudden change in distance between his two halves. Spike struggled away from the elder dragon towards his other half.
But he soon realized his mistake, as he was now hovering above a mountainside. Titanus saw his chance. With another swipe of his powerful tail, he sent the small dragon flying, landing heavily on the mountainside, and was rewarded with the cracking of bones and wings.
The impact proved too heavy for the young dragon. He dropped his swords, fading his clone out of existence, his vision flickering from the pain. As he saw Titanus approach, he realized one, if not both of, his wings were now broken. Even if they weren't, he was in so much pain he couldn't move. The Dragon loomed large in his vision, and laid a crushingly heavy paw on Spike’s battered frame, placing a single talon near where his heart was. He struggled to breathe.
“IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE ANYTHING INJURED ME, HATCHLING. FOR YOUR PRIDE, I WILL GIVE YOU A SWIFT DEATH.” He pressed his talon harder against Spike’s chest, forcing the air from his lungs.
The armor did not break. Gizo’s work was too good for that to happen. But it did bend, crushing Spike’s ribcage more and more with every breath. No . . . No . . . It can’t end like this! Spike desperately glanced around, looking for a way to escape. One of his swords lay at his right side, just within reach. He grasped the handle as the talon crushed his armor against his scales. He groaned at the pain.
Dragon instinct is known to do powerful things, and at that moment, Spike’s instinct was at its strongest. His entire life, he’d never felt more concentrated emotion than right then and there. His enemy was right in front of him. This was the being that threatened not only his hoard, but his friends, and now his very life. He would no longer stand for it.
As Spike gripped the blade, runic symbols flared from his dented and blood-spattered armor, revealing a single word:
Fury
Titanus paused, contemplating the strange runes, and that proved to be his downfall. As Spike gripped the sword, his twin burst into being holding the other sword, completely uninjured. With a roar, the twin flew straight towards the larger dragon.
Caught off guard, Titanus tried to block, but the original Spike drove his own sword through the paw that lay atop him, pinning it to the mountainside.
The twin struck, driving his sword into the black dragon’s heart. The blade flared brightly with purple light as dragon blood flowed upon it, so much energy coursing through it that it looked wrapped in purple fire.
Fury and instinct overtook the elder dragon as he ripped the blade from his chest and flung the two dragons against the mountainside once more. The uninjured twin flickered out when it hit the mountain.
But the sword wound in his chest continued to burn. The purple fire that had wrapped the sword now burned violently within the wound. Titanus was in an agonizing amount of pain as it felt like his chest was being ripped open with claws of fire.
He continued to assault the now single dragon repeatedly with his talons, pounding Spike into the ground. His armor dented from the heavy blows, but did not fail.
After almost a full minute, the black dragon was simply in too much pain from his burning wound to see straight. He reared up on his rear legs, swatting at his wound to try to put the fire out. But it only made him bleed more, which only made the fire burn hotter.
His roars of pain turned into shrieks of agony as the fire spread, fueled by his own blood. Darkness circled him as the purple fire spread through his body. Purple fire erupted from his eyes, and with a final roar that shook the earth, Titanus bellowed:
“CURSE YOU, HATCHLING!!”
Then, he collapsed, his fall making the entire mountain shake. A minute later, he was laying in a burning pool of his own blood. After another minute, he stopped breathing.
Spike stood as painfully fast as his broken body allowed for, and panted hard as he looked at what he’d done, dumbfounded. One of the largest and strongest dragons in the entire world lay dead at his feet, dead by his own hands. The purple fire continued to burn, turning the enormous dragon’s body into the world’s biggest funeral pyre.
Spike thought this was an appropriate way for a dragon of his calibre to go out: fighting another dragon, and being set on fire by an instrument of the gods.
He bowed his head out of respect. Even though this beast had been trying to kill him and his hoard, he was still a fellow dragon. He was incredibly old, and strong enough to be in Gizo’s stories. He may have been evil, but he still deserved respect for his strength.
He slowly tried to climb down the mountain, using his Gemini swords as walking sticks. But it proved too much. After only a couple dozen steps, he collapsed onto one knee, breathing heavily through his crushed armor. He then fell over backwards, the fall taking the air from his battered lungs. He stared at the blue sky, marveling at the color.
Then he heard what he thought he’d never hear again, the voice of a pony.
“Hey, General! GENERAL!”
He heard another pony speak. “What is it, soldier?”
“Look there! It’s Spike . . . And look, he did it! He killed the black dragon!”
Spike found himself staring a white unicorn with an eyepatch, and a brown earth pony mare in the face. The unicorn spoke again, “Well, it looks like we’re all beat to shit, Spike. Care to join us?”
He tried to laugh, but it came out a painful gurgle. “If I could move . . . I’d love to.”
“Well, I think we can help with that.” Vinyl pointed towards a cart, which already had Octavia on it, which they had once used to haul cannonballs. Now, the three carried themselves down the mountain on it. Behind them, Titanus burned.
As the dawn rose, Shining Armor found himself standing next to the ponies who had called him Captain for years, and who now call him General. He watched the griffons form ranks as the sun slowly rose behind him, feeling its warmth and the release from the cool night. Both sides stood, staring each other down; the griffons not wanting to engage before the sun rose a bit more, the ponies anxious.
Then, as it always does, all tartarus broke loose at once with the sound of cannonfire rocking the city behind them. All at once, the griffon lines took stride.
One . . . Two . . . Three . . . the griffons gained speed.
Four . . . Five . . . Six . . . shields lowered, and Shining Armor raised his own.
Bones crushed, shields shattered, wings cracked, limbs flew, spears impaled . . . it all happened within a moment. Those on the front line said the moment of impact lasted at eternity as they watched their comrades fall and their muscles strain from the griffon bodies striking their shields. The noise it made was described as “Pure Chaos”.
The moment was gone with two words, a loud voice ringing throughout the army.
“SHIELDS! REPEL!”
In response, thousands of stallions, Shining Armor included, sharply battered the nearest griffon with their shields.
Another call, “SPEARS! FORWARD!”
The ponies responded, the front line shields stepping back and allowing those behind to step forward and stab at the enemy. With that one stroke, thousands of dazed griffons met their doom before being trampled by their allies.
Shining Armor had withstood ridicule all of his career as a Captain. Failure at his own Royal Wedding, failure against Sombra, uselessness against Discord . . . twice. But this . . . this is what he was meant for. Protecting his country and kin from those who would do them harm. As the ponies behind and beside him stabbed the griffons in front, he lit his horn and withdrew his longsword.
The griffons re-engaged, a smaller impact against his shield this time. But it didn’t really matter, his talent was magic and defending, and the only thing to ever break his shield was an entire army. Shining Armor felt no remorse as he plunged his sword into the griffon pressed against his purple barrier.
There was a time for mercy, but not here. These griffons were threatening his home and family. There’d be no mercy for them. He slashed and stabbed with his sword, each strike echoing another griffon casualty. Time and time again, the bellowing voice rang over the cannonfire, indicating the change of formation.
Then, the tide shifted. Shining Armor noticed it instantly as he saw the griffons no longer pressuring against his shield. He watched as a massive griffon twice his height step out of the army. It was coated in black obsidian dragonscale armor, trimmed in gold.
The griffon emitted a . . . voice wasn’t the right word . . . but rather, the griffon emitted a sound that shivered its way throughout all the troops nearby, “Incompetent idiots! I suppose I must do this myself.”
The griffon drew a warhammer from his side, strange markings ingrained into its sides, and was as large as the ponies standing before him. The griffon raised the massive weapon high above his head, and slammed it into the earth.
BONG!
Lightning struck where it hit, amplifying the impact, making a horrible noise as it hit the hard-packed dirt, like it had hit an anvil. A shockwave rippled through the earth, cracking it and sending chunks flying into the air. Anypony not in the air at the time suddenly was in the air, before they crashed back to the ground.
That’s when it clicked: he knew this new threat. It was Emperor Ironblood himself, and he bore the King’s Hammer, a weapon so old and powerful, even its name was lost to the bowels of history. In that moment, Shining Armor realized nopony except himself could stand against that monster, and ran to stand in front of the approaching griffon. He brandished his sword, and said, “Come and get me!”
The griffon paused, then seemed amused as he looked at the pony in front of him. “So. I have a challenger?” He looked closer at him. “You must be Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire, Captain of the Royal guard?”
Getting no response, he continued, “Very well then. Die.” He raised his hammer high over his head, and brought it down with the authority of a god.
The hammer was met by a purple barrier conjured at the last possible moment. The impact between the unstoppable and the unbreakable sent magic and lightning pulsing around the combatants. They remained frozen, neither the hammer nor the barrier willing to give in, energy crackling around both.
With a purple flash and an ear-splitting BONG!, the energy released, sending everypony and every griffon within twenty yards flying.
The smile ran away from the Emperor’s face. He shouted, “ATTACK, YOU FOOLS!”
With that moment of distraction, Shining Armor attempted to plunge his sword into the griffon’s chest, only to be parried by the hammer. The griffon then sideswiped Shining Armor with his other talon, knocking him sideways.
The battle resumed around them, friend and foe alike giving them all the room they wanted. Amidst all the fighting, the one griffon and the one stallion stood, silent, a void in the chaos as they measured each other, circling slowly in the wide space made for them.
With no warning, the griffon spread his wings and shoved himself into the air. He flipped expertly, and dive-bombed Shining Armor, his hammer swinging with the force of a small mountain. Again, Shining Armor raised his barrier, and again, a small explosion rocked the battlefield. The space both armies gave them tripled in size.
The griffon withdrew slightly, golden eyes boring holes into Shining Armor. Not losing eye contact, the griffon unsheathed a second weapon: a long, serrated sword the color of bloody mud. Flapping into the air, the griffon struck again, his hammer met by a barrier and his sword met by Shining Armor’s own blade.
“You fight well!” the griffon complemented between sword thrusts and hammer swings. “It’s been too long since I’ve had a fight this good!”
“If only I could say the same!” Shining Armor replied, slashing with his sword. The huge hammer blocked it, sparks flying from metal-against-metal.
Furiously, the two exchanged blows: shield, parry, riposte, stab, slash, hammer. Every swing of the hammer was met by a barrier and an explosion. Neither of the two made progress, but after an hour or so of continued fighting, their fury had began to whip up a small whirlwind of dust surrounding them.
The griffon withdrew, panting, and the dust settled. The chaos of battle continued much as before around them. In that instant of relaxation, Shining Armor sent a bolt of powerful magic straight at the griffon’s neck. Attempting to dodge, the Emperor turned his neck to one side, but the damage was done. With a flash, the magic struck, blowing off a piece of the griffon’s armor and singeing the feathers and skin below.
As he let loose the bolt, Shining Armor charged the griffon, sword outstretched, and made another attempt to stab the griffon through the chest.
The Emperor was no fool, however. He parried the attack with his sword, and used its serrations to hook Shining Armor’s sword out of his grasp. Smiling, the griffon swung his hammer.
BONG!
Again, it met a barrier, an explosion rocking the battlefield. But this time, it was different.
The barrier shattered under the enormous weight of the blow, the shockwave sending Shining Armor flying, landing heavily on one side. He panted, exhausted from the fighting and suffering a massive headache from that last hammerblow. Before he could rise, the Emperor planted a talon on his side, pinning him.
Grinning from ear to ear, but with his armor battered and scorched, the griffon spoke, “Well-fought! For a pony.” His pointed the hammer at Shining. “By my authority as Emperor, you shall be remembered as a worthy foe.”
The Captain-turned-General saw, out of the corner of his eye, the one thing he didn’t want to see: his little sister, off in the distance, staring in horror.
Emperor Ironblood raised the enormous hammer, its sheer size blocking the sun. “May the Afterlife know your Honor, and welcome you.”
The hammer fell.
CRACK!
The sound announced the end of Shining Armor, the Prince, the Captain, the General, the Husband, the Brother, and the Son. Around them, the ponies froze, shocked at Shining’s death
The Emperor turned back towards his army, smiling, extremely pleased with himself. This was a GOOD fight! His fellow griffons cheered on their emperor. He basked in the glory of his victory, his talons heavy but his heart in the sky. It’s been too long since I’ve had glory!
He saw the exact griffon he wanted to see: his daughter, the light of his life.
“Gildalaria! My Daughter! Come to join me, I see!” he bellowed with pride as he embraced her.
“Sort of . . . Daddy.”
She drew her dagger, and shoved it into her father’s exposed neck.
Blood spurted out of the massive griffon’s neck. This time, it was the griffons that froze as they saw their Emperor fall. The collapsed griffon struggled to breathe, but the fight with Shining Armor left him weak. Why, daughter? Why?
Picking up the King’s Hammer, Gilda spoke, “You were right, Daddy. I will be the griffon that conquered Equestria.”
Horror struck the Emperor’s face as his life left him, but it settled on grim acceptance as his last breath left his lungs.
His last thoughts were about Gilda. On one claw, he was displeased that his daughter killed him in such an dishonorable way. He’d have words with her when her time came.
On the other claw, he knew she would lead them to victory. Her resolve and strength were just as strong as his. Perhaps, in the end, it would balance out when she reached the afterlife. He hoped she wouldn’t be bound for Tartarus.
The fighting continued when Spike left to fight Titanus, leaving the six ponies to fight off hordes of griffons on their own. Twilight in particular was worried for him, and prayed silently he would return as she dealt death to countless griffons.
The earthquake worried her . . . earthquakes don’t happen in Canterlot. She knew of the rumors, that the griffon Emperor had a weapon powerful enough to move earth and sky with a single blow. She’d seen magical weapons in her time, so she didn’t disregard it.
She also worried for her brother. She hadn’t seen him since the battle started. With that in mind, she spoke to her friends, “Girls! I’m worried about Shining. We should go find him!”
The five other ponies nodded, agreeing. The six ponies tore through the crowd of griffons again, but this time with direction, towards the center of the army where Twilight’s brother was.
The six came to a clearing, an odd thing to see in a battle.
Then, Twilight saw it: a massive griffon in black and gold armor towered over her brother, pinning him to the ground. An enormous hammer was pointed at Shining’s head.
The hammer rose. “May the Afterlife know your Honor, and welcome you!” she heard the griffon say loudly.
Before she could react, the hammer fell upon Shining’s head, breaking it as though it were a watermelon, spewing its red contents onto the earth.
As the smiling griffon turned around, three things happened: Time seemed to stop, Twilight teleported to her brother, and her friends either screamed or puked. Twilight watched in horror as her brother, her BBBFF, died in her hooves.
Of the ponies who knew Twilight, only Celestia and Spike knew two important details about her:
1) In times of rage, the sheer power of her magic lit her and her surroundings on fire.
2) She was capable of using black magic better than anypony except Celestia and Luna.
At that moment something happened nopony could have predicted: both of those things happened.
Powerful emotions flooded her. The first was Denial. No. NO. Shining . . . Big Brother . . . NO!
The second was Anger. It pointed her thoughts towards the large griffon. YOU!
It led to the third emotion. Rage. Hot, red, violent Rage. It bubbled in her bones, and made the ground around her quake. Strands of her mane began to burn.
But the last was the worst . . . the feeling of complete emptiness, where no emotions resided. It was like her insides were full of lava, but the lava suddenly disappeared, leaving her empty, and consumed with nothing.
Turning around, Twilight laid eyes on the thing responsible for her brother. She wasn’t quite empty yet . . . in her mind was a single goal: that large, armored griffon. Her horn began to glow. YOU. ARE. MINE.
But before she could do anything, the griffon jerked and fell to the bloody ground, a dagger sticking out of his neck. Confused, she looked up, and saw something she thought she’d never see again.
Gilda . . . Gilda the griffon, standing over the one who killed her brother. Questions filled her mind as she watched the griffon she knew only as Rainbow Dash’s friend reach down and pick up the large hammer.
Twilight now felt her friends around her, and she finally looked at herself for the first time all the battle. The runes on her armor still glowed blue, but now she was engulfed in black and green flames, and her horn glowed with black magic, fueled by her empty rage. The very ground she stood on seemed to burn.
She watched as a change overtook the griffon in front of the six of them. A dark blue mist spawned from nowhere, and swirled around Gilda, enveloping her. As the mist slowly dissipated, Gilda was visible once more, but now she bore something else familiar.
The Armor of Nightmare.
Gilda spoke, examining herself, “So . . . this is the power of Nightmare . . . I like it.”
Sometime later, ponies would realize that Gilda was the only being ever to withstand the influence of Nightmare, possibly because they were so similar in nature and goals.
Gilda spread her wings, ignoring the six ponies in front of her, and flew into the middle of the pony army, flapping high above the heads of the confused ponies.
“Let’s try it out!” She dived down, and struck the ground with the King’s Hammer.
The earth shook, and ten thousand lightning bolts rained down onto the ponies gathered below, scorching thousands in their armor. The thick smell of burnt fur and flesh radiated out from the crater Gilda stood in, surrounded by bodies.
Twilight and her friends ran up to Gilda, Twilight leaving burning hoofprints. Rainbow Dash had tears in her eyes, and was shouting, “GILDA!! WHY!? WHY are you doing this?! We were friends, Gilda!”
“I tried, Dash,” Gilda said coldly, swinging her hammer in a talon, “But you didn’t listen. You chose ponies over me . . . and now, you pay!” Gilda raised the hammer, and a bolt of lightning struck Dash, before arcing into the ground. She collapsed with a cry of pain.
The other five ponies surrounded Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy bending down to help. Twilight spoke, her mane slowly turning to fire as her confusion was replaced with rage, “We defeated Nightmare before.” Her eyes glowed with black magic. “We can defeat you now!”
“Without the elements of Harmony?” Gilda laughed, a disturbing sound. “I doubt it.”
Dash struggled to her hooves, tears streaming down her face, which immediately hardened into anger. “Together!” she proclaimed, snapping her wings open.
Without another word, the six mares used their strongest attacks on the griffon before them: a petrifying stare from Fluttershy, a pillar of fire wrapped dark magic from Twilight, thousands of deadly needles from Rarity, a pitch-perfect note of pure pain from Pinkie, a bolt of lightning from Rainbow Dash, and a deadly strike from Applejack’s hydra.
All the attacks froze before they even got close, the armor of Nightmare working against all the potent magic flung at it. Gilda stared in awe at the power of her armor, then grinned at the six mares.
“My turn.”
She leaped forward, her hammer swinging with the force of a mountain.
In an instant, Twilight had an idea. Even better, the loss of her brother would fuel it perfectly. “GET BACK!” she yelled to her friends. They scattered, not questioning her.
Twilight let the anger, rage, and hate flood her with their enormous power, so much that tears fell from her eyes. Shining . . . Big Brother . . . the sense of loss was overpowering, even stronger than the rage . . . no, it was fuelling the rage.
YOU. WILL. BE. AVENGED!
Her mane fully caught fire, her eyes shone with black magic, and her armor wrapped her in green and black flames. Her wings spread as she gathered her strength.
Ponies were told from filly and colt hood that death was an alicorn, whose dark magic bore ponies to the afterlife. In a sense, it was an Angel of Death. It was a guide, as well as a terrifying protector. In that moment, Twilight’s friends gasped as they saw her become wrapped in fire and magic, and turn into exactly that.
With a scream of pure rage and loss, her eyes flashed with black magic, and an enormous plume of fire erupted from her horn, so large it rivaled even Titanus’s fire.
It struck Gilda with the force of an explosion. The Nightmare armor protected her, but the shear, raw force stopped her in her tracks, dropping her to the ground.
Twilight didn’t let up, letting her rage and hate flood her, tears streaming down her face as the emotions filled her entire being. The Titanus-sized plume of fire pinned Gilda to the ground, completely encasing her in an inferno. Gilda wasn’t touched by the fire, though, and thought herself safe.
Until she started struggling to breathe. That’s when it hit her: Twilight wasn’t trying to burn her . . .
. . . she was trying to suffocate her!
Struggling from the lack of air, Gilda raised the hammer, and smashed it into the ground. Lightning rained from the sky, and a shockwave blasted from the griffon. Twilight was knocked over, and the plume of fire quickly died.
Both quickly rose to their feet. Twilight’s friends kept up their attacks, but they all failed under the Armor of Nightmare. Again, Gilda charged Twilight with the hammer swinging over her head. Again, Twilight screamed her hate and rage, and again, a roaring inferno erupted from her horn. But this one wasn’t dragon-sized, it was narrow and thin, and aimed exclusively at the enormous hammer.
Gilda was forced to a stop. They stayed frozen, locked in combat, Gilda forcing the hammer towards Twilight, while Twilight forced her seemingly-limitless anger, hate, and rage into the King’s Hammer. Gilda’s armor only protected its user, not their weapons. Around them, the other mares continued their attacks, magic and metal flickering furiously between them and the griffon to no effect. Soon, the hammer was glowing red-hot, and the handle was smoking within Gilda’s grasp.
After at least a full minute, something finally gave. The hammer jerked, and Twilight went flying, her fire spewing everywhere as she flew. It died when she hit the ground. She struggled to her feet, turning to face Gilda.
The hammer had gotten so hot, she’d dropped it, wincing at her burnt talon. The armor glowed, wrapping her talons in a thick metal gauntlets. She gingerly laid a talon on the hammer’s handle, grabbed it, hefted it, and charged Twilight again, the huge chunk of metal glowing with heat.
Again, tears fell as Twilight screamed her rage, and a dragon-sized plume of fire pinned the griffon to the ground a second time. Again, Gilda struck the ground with the hammer, but no lightning came. Black Magic was sparking off the still-glowing hammer. Don’t tell me this thing’s broken!
Suddenly, part of her armor vanished in a puff of blue mist. It surrounded the hammer, whirling around it like a miniature tornado, cooling it, before resolidifying back where it came from. The hammer wasn’t glowing with heat anymore. Seeing spots from the lack of air, she hit the ground again, and this time, lightning blasted Twilight off her feet, ending the fire.
Twilight’s friends surrounded her, helping her to her feet as Gilda panted hard for air. “This’s bad, gals!” AJ said, a scared look in her eyes. “None’ve us can even touch her!”
“Twilight seems to be doing the best,” Pinkie said. “Maybe if we--”
“I’m letting the loss of Shining Armor fuel me,” Twilight said coldly, still glowing with black magic and fire. “If we all let our pain and suffering from this war fuel us, and if we work together . . . we might stand a chance.’
Her friends winced, painful memories hitting them. They didn’t want to think about their pain. But against an enemy like this . . .
“We’re with you, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said. The rest nodded, and stood by their friend.
Applejack thought of the loss of Braeburn. Runic light coursed along her hydra, splitting and lengthening it until it was taller than the trees and had 64 heads.
Pinkie thought of the loss of Blueblood, and the cold feeling she got when she realized she was in charge. Her bugle glowed blue, the feeling of despair resonating off of it.
Fluttershy thought of how Vinyl Scratch saved her, and of how the griffons just . . . murdered . . . all the injured at the medic tent. Her armor glowed, and blue light leaked from between her closed eyelids.
Rarity didn’t think of her rape, because the horror of it still thundered through her bones. Her disk flashed with blue light, and was suddenly five times its size, looking like a large shield. With another flash, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of needles floated around her in a dense cloud.
Rainbow Dash did think of Rarity’s rape, and the feeling of vengeance filled her. Her wingblades crackled with small tongues of lightning, tinged red by her emotions.
Twilight was still full of rage, anger, hate, and loss. She still appeared on fire, still looked like Death incarnate to her friends. Across from them, Gilda got back on her feet, no longer out of breath. She hefted the hammer, ready to charge.
“TOGETHER!”
Applejack’s Hydra struck, all 64 heads whipping forwards.
Pinkie blew her horn, a concentrated funnel of emotion blasting towards Gilda.
Fluttershy opened her eyes, locking her gaze on Gilda.
Rarity sent the cloud of needles flying, a harsh metallic ringing sound following it.
Rainbow Dash sent a blast of lightning.
And Twilight yelled her rage, spewing a Titanus-sized plume of fire.
All of these attacks combined halfway to their target, leaving a wall of fire, metal, despairing noise, and lightning. All of it smote Gilda with power only the Gods knew of.
Her armor protected her. But the raw force blew her backwards, stunning her. Finally, she was down.
But with a jolt from the armor, she was back on her feet. Spreading her wings, she took to the air, and charged the six mares as they recovered.
Twilight tried to protect her friends as they recovered, sending another plume of fire skyward, but Gilda plowed through it, protected by the Nightmare armor. Twilight was smote in the side of the head by the hammer, knocking her to the ground.
Gilda turned, and her weapon fell upon the armored forms of Pinkie and Applejack. Raising it towards the sky, she called lightning, striking through Fluttershy and Rarity, and struck Rainbow Dash to the ground with her armored talons.
The six mares struggled beneath her and her weapon. “Hmph . . . Is this all you got? It’s more than many, but still . . . oh well, I better end this.” Gilda raised her hammer, and prepared to crush the life out of Twilight--
“Orichalum is a funny thing, you know.”
Gilda was interrupted by a voice familiar to the six mares: it came from an approaching Kajiya.
“It responds to pure emotions: show it magic, loyalty, kindness, honesty, laughter, and generosity, and it will respond in kind. In fact, some ponies say the elements of harmony were made from it long ago.”
Gilda turned to look at the small stallion with battered and bloody armor. Confusion painted her face. “Who’re you?”
“I am no one of importance. But I believe the pony below you is.”
At the words of Kajiya, Twilight thought furiously. Then, realization struck her like a ton of bricks: he was saying to use the armor like they would the elements! Twilight teleported herself and her friends out from under the griffon, and they gathered together.
“Girls! Element positions!” Twilight said as Gilda recovered from the shock of her missing prey.
Taking a deep breath, Twilight tried to let go of her anger and rage. But she’d let so much of it in, it filled her from hoof to horn. It looked like she was made of nothing else.
But the sense of loss . . . that wouldn’t go away. Loss had rooted itself in her soul, aching her at the loss of her brother. Shining . . . Big Brother . . .
Let it go, Twily.
She looked around in alarm, thinking No, it can’t be--
It’s okay to avenge me. But anger and rage isn’t the way to go.
The voice faded, and Twilight understood. Big Brother . . . I hear you.
With her understanding, the rage and anger left her. Her mane faded back to normal, and she was no longer wrapped in the black and green flames of black magic. Tears began anew, but with her mind finally clear, she thought of her element. She thought only of magic, and everything she had ever learned about friendship and magic. The runes on her armor shifted: no longer did they read hatred and rage, but instead they read:
Magic
Seeing this, the other five mares did the same, their runes also changing. Rainbow Dash had trouble, her consciousness was attempting to slip: she was still light-headed from when Gilda hit her. But her friends gave her the strength to overcome, and she changed her emotions back to her element.
As the last runes changed, Twilight and the others lifted into the air, the magic of friendship and the elements of harmony engulfing them, and then the griffon in front of them. Gilda screamed, a blood-curdling sound, as her form twisted and bent within the light of the magic. Magical light flashed like a hundred suns, and as the light faded, there was no sign of Gilda, just a pile of ash and the King’s Hammer.
Kajiya spoke, “It would seem that that good part of her was too small to save.”
At the sight, thousands of griffons realized two things:
1) they now had no Emperor or leader.
2) the ponies now had the King’s Hammer.
All at once, twenty thousand griffons turned and fled. After seeing this, the remaining forces joined those. The whole griffon army headed towards Baltimare, where ships were still waiting to return them to the Empire.
The ponies cheered. It was over, they had won.
But six mares, one in particular, wept the day and night away, thinking of nothing but their losses.
As night fell and the rest of the ponies went into Canterlot, a single griffon stood on the bloody, corpse-ridden field, a small griffon with gold feathers. A grim look was on his face. When no one was looking, he bent over and picked up a single item, an enormous hammer, and flew off into the night to join his comrades.
The sun slowly crept up over the battle-torn Canterlot, heralding the return of Celestia, as well as her sister and Discord. The ruins glistened with water from the blood that was freshly washed away. Mounds of dirt stood in a line where the royal garden once was, now the resting place for way too many.
They reached the castle, and Discord opened the doors with cheery smile from the victory. But the sisters were so physically exhausted, they could barely keep their legs from giving out under them.
Twilight quickly ran to their aid. She tried to say something, but choked on her words. Those of her closest friends who were present helped them to Celestia’s throne, where Kajiya stood without expression on his face. Rainbow Dash and Spike were recovering in the infirmary.
Celestia worriedly asked about their absence. Twilight still couldn’t speak, so Applejack reassured her that they were ok.
Twilight caught her breath and spoke quietly. “Wh-What do we do now?”
Celestia looked into her large reddened eyes that were begging for answers she just didn’t have.
Kajiya spoke in her place, “Young Princess, where I come from, we honor our dead. We do not let their sacrifice hold us down. We celebrate their lives by mourning their passing, and we hold their memories dear. They will be looking down upon us now, and we do not want them to see us in such a way. We do what we can, and nothing more.”
Celestia looked over to her sister, and they nodded in agreement. Celestia sent Flash Sentry to summon the ponies of Equestria.
In due time, the royal hall was filled with ponies, young and old, beaten and healthy, veterans and refugees. All who could move their legs were gathered before the princess to hear her words.
The royal Canterlot voice echoed from Celestia, bringing all before her to order. “Today, my dear friends, we have gathered here to honor those who have fallen, so that we may rise. Though they may no longer be with us, they are as alive as they have ever been.”
Luna handed Celestia a large scroll. Celestia took a deep, bracing breath before opening and reading from its solemn words. “We honor Private Sour Chord, we honor Thunderlane, we honor…” Celestia continued. Crying erupts from the friends and family of the names that are read. Many of which did not receive the news until this event. The hall filled with sounds of crying and sadness.
Celestia continued to read. She tried to seem strong for her subjects, but many could now see her falter as the list came to an end. At last, after what seemed like days, she began to read the final name.
"We honor Captain... Shinni... Shin..." Celestia's mouth quivered as she read the name. The hall was silent. The only thing that could be heard was the soft patter of tears striking the floor beneath the ruler of the land. Even Discord was for once without a joke or witty remark. Twilight walked over and hugged her former teacher. The splashing of extra tears in the growing puddle echoed throughout the hall . . .
Cadance looked over her Empire from her bedroom. She saw thousands of white tents that contained refugees from the war. She had received word earlier that day that the war was over, and they had won. The first trains were now docked at the station, ready to leave.
Cadance looked down to the small object in her hoof. It’s Blue.Shining will be so happy . . . I wonder if he’ll like the name Skyla?
Cadance heard three soft knocks at her door, and turned to answer them.
