Back at Cloudsdale at the Wonderbolts, the sun had already shown its full self at the set side of the sky. He once again returned to his office, set down his rifle on the rack and continued on his paper work. He hadn’t slept for the entire night, but he was already used to skipping sleeping hours.
A nice, appetising set of breakfast was delivered to his office by some workers. A platter with 2 scrambled eggs, some lettuce, some bacon, baked beans and toast with a cup of freshly brewed vanilla latté coffee. He continued reading the seemingly unending pile of papers as he ate his scrumptious breakfast. “Insufficient Weather Control Units in Northern Regions of Equestria”, “Rainbow Production Stalls Due to Lack of Resources” and more of the news about parts in the Wonderbolts which Eclipse treated as “non-urgent”. How could he possibly spend time to care about a few days of rain and snow out of control when there is a bloody civil war going on out there?
As he read the last piece of report, it was already almost near mid-day. The cup of coffee surely did keep Eclipse awake, but then fatigue was starting to kick in and he felt exhausted. He decided to have a little nap in the small room right next to his office area.
He walked towards the left doorway right next to him and gently pushed the curtains that covered the room to the side as he entered. There wasn’t much there, but some typical stuff you see in a barrack, a bed, a safe, an end table.
He lied down on the bed without pulling up the blankets to cover himself. He placed his hooves behind his neck and stared blankly at the ceiling, only to find that he was exhausted, but not sleepy at all.
“Shouldn’t have drank that latté, now I can’t even fall asleep…” He groaned. He tried to close his eyes and not to think about anything. If he couldn’t fall asleep, at least take a break from all that happened since yesterday. Flinging around with a helicopter about to crash, shooting rebels that dared to invade this land, and the final sight of his late friend.
However, the thoughts on the killing had only ended up haunting him. As pictures of brutal kills and injuries, bodies that were torn to pieces, pools and rivers of blood flashed through his mind, he couldn’t help but to open his eyes again to stop the horrifying images from replaying in his mind. Only a true savage beast would kill without feelings, and Eclipse was certain he wasn’t one, or else he wouldn’t be haunted by the images of the enemies he killed.
Quite some time had passed as he lied down there, half awake. He took a look at the clock on the wall, barely passed 1 pm. He got back up as he heard his mobile phone rang and vibrated on his desk. He got up to see a call from someone.
“Hello?”
“Captain Eclipse, it’s me, Lannister! General Shining Armor said that I suit more in the Wonderbolts than the Royal Guard today as I’ve talked with him this morning, so he reassigned me to your unit, and if you don’t mind, I will join immediately!” A familiar voice came from the speaker.
“That’s great! Hope to see you soon then!”
And out of his expectations, by “soon”, it was only seconds after the call ended that Lannister knocked on the office door, in a full battle attire reporting for duty.
“Wow, you’re fast. And by fast, that means you can join me over in the Security Conference later to talk about retaking Baltimare from the griffons. Up for the task?”
“Always a pleasure, sir.”
4pm, the time had come for the Conference to begin. Eclipse and Lannister flew to Canterlot to attend the meeting. By the time they entered the room, everyone was already there.
“So, what’s the latest update out there?” Eclipse asked right as he approached the table.
“Those griffons retreated from Manehatten after yesterday’s assault gathered up with another battalion as reinforcements. The battalion is leaded by one of their most elite lieutenants, codenamed “Granite”. An ex-terrorist and an expert of weapons.” One of the Sergeants reported.
“Chance of success? I can’t afford to lose more colts out there in the field for no good reason. We’ll also need to settle the refugees in this war.” Eclipse asked, worried that the same tragedy yesterday would happen again.”
“Send them to the Shadow Realm for now. With luck, they should be safe and the Realm wouldn’t be attacked.” Shadestep suggested.
“Sounds like a 1 versus 1 battle for me. As long as we take down this Granite, dealing with those griffons should be just like shooting a fish in a barrel. I’ll take the Special Force with me, the Shadow Realm colts can help with evacuation.”
“Sounds good, on paper. Are you really sure what you are doing? This guy is no joke.”
“I hope so. As long as nothing super-natural happens, it should be easy.” Eclipse’s eyes showed determination and might.
Nightfall slowly pushed the last bit of twilight of the horizon, as Eclipse sat in the conference room, all alone. He was still planning on the assault
of Baltimare for tomorrow. According to the intelligence they had on their hooves, the amount of resistance they would expect to encounter was so high that there would be no way to take the city back with just the Special Force. One would be overwhelmed instantly if they were to mindlessly jump into battle.
A straight 48 hours without sleep and with a big operation planning, Eclipse could feel fatigue building up within him. His eye lid and head started to feel heavy, and his body felt weak. He finished up the last bits of details in the unit deployment for tomorrow’s battle, and leant on the table and soon drifted to sleep.
The sun had risen after a couple of hours. The entire Special Force had armed themselves and prepared for the fight today. A soldier had entered the conference room and found Eclipse inside the room, still asleep. He wasn’t sure whether to wake him up or not. The time of the attack had come, but their commander was still taking his rest.
“Umm, sir… It’s time…” The soldier spoke softly, and Eclipse opened his eyes. Rising his head, he looked at the soldier that interrupted his rest. He did a nice stretch and got up from his seat.
“Give me a cup of vanilla latté and we’ll be ready.” Eclipse said as he headed to the armoury for preparation.
As he headed out the armoury with his assault gears equipped, a soldier held a cup of his favourite coffee and passed it to him. Eclipse thanked the soldier and gulped down the cup of coffee, before hopping onto the chopper and towards a new mission.
“Alright now fillies and colts, listen well if you want to go home alive. Those damn griffons out there are their best of the best, their elites. And you are all here for this reason. You are the best of the best among this team. Do not engage them head on, move quickly and hit them by the sides. Hit and run, and you’ll do fine.” Once again the doors opened as Eclipse finished his briefing. The team hopped out of the chopper and into the white clouds.
It was more intense than the last operation. As they fell through the clouds, there were already facing enemy anti air weapons. Everyone twisted and turned to avoid getting shot, while returning fire towards the ground. A few was injured while evade enemy attack, but most of them made it.
They were going with the hit and run tactic, as they approach their enemies, they would fire and pick off a few of their infantries. When the enemies stopped proceeding, and return fire, the team would fly off and evade their attacks. This would hopefully damage the enemy, while keeping themselves out of harm’s way.
This time, their attack pattern seemed to be more effective than before, as enemy casualties slowly and gradually increases, they started to lose ground. Eclipse, even as the commander, stood ground with his team and breached through the enemy frontline. With his previous experience as a leader from the last operation, he knew better about his duty, and utilised the team’s power effectively.
“Spread out! We’ve got to find Granite! He’s gotta be somewhere around! And don’t shoot! We need that bastard alive!” Eclipse commanded. They tried to interrogate a few of the enemy soldiers for any useable intelligence, but they all refused to even make a sound, which means the team was pretty much on their own.
Eclipse flew up to get a better view and to cover more ground as he scanned around for Granite. He tried to look for their target while keeping an eye out for enemy activities. Some members in the team had already disarmed some of the anti air weapons upon their assault.
The enemies they encountered were less than they expected, too less. The streets were too quiet, and there were almost no griffons in sight. Feared that there might be an ambush, Eclipse warned the team about possible hazards lurking around. Just as he reached the coastline of Baltimare, a white and orange figure popped up into the air right in front of Eclipse. The figure moved quite fast, and Eclipse could see nothing but a blur of the figure.
The figure dashed straight towards Eclipse, as he fired his gun towards Eclipse. Eclipse dodged the figure, and could catch a glimpse of that white and orange figure. It was a griffon, with a Kevlar vest and his claws and legs covered in war paint and tattoos. Typical terrorist figure. That was definitely Granite.
“I found him! I found him!” Eclipse yelled through the radio, informing the team to assist. Eclipse knew he need to capture him alive, so he sheathed his rifle and go melee. Granite stopped in mid air and made an 180 degree turn to face Eclipse again. By the look of it, he was wielding a revolver, a big revolver, most likely a .44 magnum.
“Who in Equestria would wield a huge revolver in the air?” Eclipse said to himself in his mind. The griffon made another dash towards Eclipse and emptied the entire cylinder towards Eclipse. Eclipse was flying in an arc, and all the high caliber bullets landed onto Eclipse’s artificial wing. Just as he approached Eclipse, he stretched out his claw and carved a cut right onto Eclipse’s left eye lid. The cut wasn’t very deep, as his eye was unharmed, but his eye lid was almost split straight into two pieces and bled like crazy. He quickly slipped six bullets in the cylinder and slapped the cylinder back in the gun.
“This guy ain’t half bad. Good aim, quick claws.” He muttered as he wiped off the blood on his eye with his front leg. Now with his white fur stained with a dab of his own red liquid, He decided to finally strike back and return to sender. He smacked Granite right in his beak with his hoof and grabbed his revolver, pulled it towards him, and gave am a slap in the face. Granite lost sense of direction and plummeted towards the ground. Eclipse flew under Granite and muffled his fall, and rolled onto the ground softly.
The team had arrived at their position and surrounded the griffon. As Granite slowly stood back up again, he found himself pointed with tens, maybe even hundreds of firearms.
“No more… I… surrender, don’t shoot… I yield…” Granite coughed as he struggled to get the words out. He rose his claws in the air.
Eclipse signalled the team to lower their weapons, and the team obeyed. They have absolute trust in their commander after all their previous mission. Eclipse trotted towards Granite with his revolver pointing straight at him, and Granite found himself staring straight down the barrel of his own gun.
“Knee down, claws behind you head.” Eclipse commanded, and Granite followed. A soldier ran forward and secured him and bonded his claws together with cuffs.
“Yield? For a griffon like you? I thought they were supposed to stay absolutely loyal to their Empire.” The revolver’s barrel touched Granite’s forehead. Granite didn’t react at all.
“Damn, you’re calm.”
“If I were you, I would take the team and get the hell outta here right now. Reinforcements are on their way, and they would surely overwhelm you.”
“How could I trust you? Like, look at you, used to be the most dangerous and wanted figure in Griffonstone and Equestria, with the power to tip the world out of balance?”
“Look, I drove those bastards off to but you all some time. If I didn’t do that, you’d be dead by now.”
Eclipse took the revolver of his head and unloaded it. “We’ll talk when we get back, your claw is too damn sharp.” Eclipse ordered the team to head back to base as he bandaged his eye with a first aid kit.
“Oh and you, you’re going on the same chopper with me.”
As they sent in a few choppers for extraction, Eclipse and Granite boarded the same little bird chopper. Granite’s claws was still bonded with cuffs, but at least he could move freely without a gun on his head.
“I still don’t get it, why would you choose to betray your Empire, as far as I know, you griffons never surrender to their enemies.”
“The Emperor, I hate him to the guts. He is a tyrant, and he deserves to die!”
“I thought you griffons serve your Emperor to the dead.”
“I used to. When I was young, I was already blessed with the gift of a fast learner. The Emperor that time wasn’t exact the best, but he was still good. The current Emperor, Krossair the Terrible, used to be just a member in the Griffonstone Congress. As a warrior in glory, he reached out to me. ‘This deal will generate billions for our cause. Money can buy a lot of things, even power. We will make Griffonstone great again, my friend.’”
“Since then, I became a power for hire, spreading terror and violence across Griffonstone. As long as money was involved, I’d do it. It made me rich, and money grants me power. But power corrupts, and I had soon realised my mistake. It was then, I met the one that changed my life, Obsidian. Her fur was dark as Ebony, and we soon found ourselves in love with each other. She showed me that what I was doing was wrong.”
“By the time I met her, Krossair had already became the King of Griffonstone, as I had murdered the previous Emperor of Griffonstone with a bullet to his head. He fulfilled his promise of promoting me as a general and the commander of the Griffonstone Royal Agents. I had a pretty good life there in the palace, but she didn’t come live with me that time to avoid rumours, especially from Krossair. Then, Krossair did something I would never imagine. He slowly transformed into a tyrant, exploiting his power for his own benefit and entertainment. He spent lots of money on antiques and poaching, and even went insane enough to send orders and called in the female griffons for his enjoyment!”
“He promised me to let me pick a few for myself, and so I thought Obsidian should be safe, as long as I pick her. By that time I already doubt his role as an Emperor, due to his arrogance and bossiness. Just as I wanted to pick Obsidian for myself and protect her from his cruel ‘enjoyment’, he claimed Obsidian for himself because he thought she was attractive, and threatened to kill me if I don’t obey him!”
“She went through so much pain and torture, had her virginity brutally taken away, not by the one she wanted, but a tyrant that did so purely for his entertainment and pleasure! I tried to secretly save her from the palace’s dungeon, but I was discovered and compromised. I was lucky that those soldiers that found me were my loyalists, that absolutely obeys my orders and trusted me. None of us disclosed anything to Krossair, but he eventually found out Obsidian was gone. He was very mad, and killed almost all my loyalists!”
“Only me and a few of my surviving fellows decided to go rogue and put an end to this toxic tyrant of Griffonstone. I tried to assassinate Krossair myself, but feared that I wouldn’t survive to see Obsidian again. She might have escaped, but Griffonstone was still in chaos under his control. The last I heard of her was that she was hiding in the eastern border of Equestria, specifically in Baltimare. Krossair took the opportunity of the Siege of Crystal Mountains by the Crystal Empire and ordered me to plan an invasion towards eastern Equestria, and so I sent troops to all three of the major cities, while I went to Baltimare to look for Obsidian… I was a soldier of the Griffons, not a taker of innocent lives… Krossair, that mad griffon, deserves to die and burn in hell…”
Eclipse stalled upon listening Granite’s story, and he felt sorry for taunting at him upon Granite’s yield. He sniffed, it sounded like his nose was runny and clogged.
“Right… Sorry about that…”
“That’s why I decided to yield. I know that although I can’t kill that bastard by myself, you can. I hoped that upon a joint operation with Equestria, I can relief Griffonstone and her citizens from his tyranny, save Obsidian, and let me be the me before I met Krossair…”
“Then you found the right guy then. We can provide what you need, as long as you prove loyal to the correct side. A majority of citizens in Equestria might not respect griffons at all, but if this alliance succeeded, I am pretty sure they will change their tone for sure.”
“Look, if I were to kill you all, you would be stranded in Baltimare and probably be dead by now already. I want Krossair in the same stage as much as all of you do right now. Moreover, you can kill me anytime you like if you think I’m working shady. I have all of the Griffonstone Army and Royal Agents’ intelligence that you can make use of.”
“Let’s get started, then.” Eclipse got the cuffs off Granite, and gave him his magnum revolver back to him.
*************************************************************************************
Back at Canterlot once again, Eclipse brought Granite into the conference room inside the castle. Everyone was shocked that Eclipse brought back a griffon, a dread enemy that they longed to eliminate.
“Eclipse? What in Equestria do you think you are doing bringing a griffon back here? You do know they are the invaders that you were supposed to kill, not befriend with, right?” Shining Armour asked, as he turned his head from his papers to Eclipse and Granite.
“Alright you all. Calm down. I know what you are all thinking. We are supposed to be eliminating those invaders, not befriending them. And that’s why he is here. This is Granite.”
Everyone gasped. The elite soldier of the Griffonstone Army, in this room?
“Look, it’s a very long story to explain about why he is here, but he’s here, and he’s on our side to stop the damn griffons. He has all the intelligence and information we need, and we would need him if we want to take down the damn griffons and turn them to our favour.”
“How can we tell he’s helping us?”
“If it wasn’t him, we wouldn’t return here in the first place.”
“Alright then, what kind of idea do you have?”
Granite approached the table and took a copy of the Equestria map.
“Krossair, the King of Griffonstone, is now leading an army out in the sea. He has a luxurious command vessel out in the sea which he waits for report. If we can stall the ship, infiltrate that place and bust right in his room, he would be dead in no time.”
“So how many soldiers should we take? Like, it’s a stealth mission, we aren’t gonna go in armed to the teeth.”
“That place is a damn labyrinth, and full of guards. The only place without guards would be inside Krossair’s room. A lot of sentries and armed crews on the deck, and a full radar scan capable of detecting threats in a really damn big radius. We can stall the ship by screwing with the control room, which I can send someone to get it done. I’ll pretend to hold you as a captive and this should grant us access straight to Krossair’s room. Right after we enter, we seal off the deal right away, and send in fleets to surround the ships. Once they are engaged in combat, we strike them from the inside, and effectively take them down. Since Krossair appointed me as the second-in-charge and had that written in a parchment, I would rightfully be in charge of Griffonstone after Krossair’s death. Before we kill that bastard, however, I would like to ask that bastard where Obsidian went.”
“I’ll take Staff Sergeant Sky Lannister with me to the operation, which would also pretend to be a captive. After we kill that bastard, the Navy would mop up and attack the griffon fleet. Whatever happens afterwards, we’ll just improvise.”
“Sounds good for me. I’ll get ready, and when you are ready, we’ll kick this off.”
*************************************************************************************
Eclipse armed himself with light gear, a sub-machine gun, a pistol and a combat knife should be all he needed on a ship. Sky Lannister also prepared for his first operation not as a Royal Guard, but a Wonderbolt. They approached the landing pad and met up with Granite.
“Alright, I’ll tie you two up with strings. I’ll leave a piece of string for you to pull once we’re in, but remember – wait for my signal before you do anything. I still need that bastard alive to know where he sent Obsidian.”
They nodded to show that they are ready, and Granite helped them board the chopper. The Navy fleet were already on their way towards the command vessel. Granite put on the earpiece as he started the chopper up and flew towards the vessel.
Once the Navy was in position, Granite landed onto the vessel. To cover his act, he tossed Eclipse and Lannister onto the floor and let them stand up themselves.
Eclipse’s bandage was already removed, revealing a scar on his eyelid. They walked towards Krossair’s room, right behind Granite.
“Avoid eye contact with those bastards.” Granite instructed.
So they looked away. The deck looked shiny and new under the moonlight, indicating the luxurious Emperor’s greed. Upon entering the ship, it was literally a maze, as they went through countless twist and turns, ascended and descended floors upon floors.
“Granite, are we there yet?” Sky Lannister asked impatiently.
“Just keep walking, Sky. Patience.” Eclipse stopped Lannister.
“Alright, this is it. Here’s Krossair’s room, just around the corner. You guys better get ready.”
“Wait. You hear that? Let’s wait a bit first, at least there aren’t guards here.” Eclipse suggested.
“Your call, then.” Granite agreed.
They neared the room and listened closely. Two voices could be clearly heard, a male one and a female one. It sounded like the male was laughing in a dominant voice, with the female voice was crying and pleading, along with screams and moans. The male on was most likely Krossair.
Granite seemed to look very worried among hearing the voices from the room. His eyes were wide open, and his eyelids are twitching.
“What is it Granite? Anything wrong?” Lannister asked.
“This can’t be happening. That male voice is Krossair for damn sure, but the female voice…”
“The female voice… Could it be?” Eclipse asked.
“One way to find out.” Granite said, with a little rage within his voice, “Stick with the plan. I’ll take care of the bastard.”
He knocked on the door calmly, waiting for a response, while his other claw already gripped his magnum revolver tightly.
“I said don’t bother me! Get lost!” Krossair yelled from his room.
“Kross, it’s Grand. I got something for you.” Granite responded.
“Oh, it’s you Grand. Sorry about that, come on in.” Upon his response, Granite nodded at Eclipse and Lannister. They both grabbed onto the loose string and readied themselves for the fight.
Granite opened the wooden door and breathed in deeply. The three walked inside the luxurious room, and Eclipse could see Granite’s claw shivered.
Granite stalled upon seeing Krossair. An ebony black griffon was lying down on the bed, sobbing and panting, while a dark brown griffon, with a red cape on his body and jewelled rings on his claws, got up from the bed and turned towards Granite.
“What is it Grand? Two ponies tied up on my ship?”
“I captured these two bastards back at Baltimare, those muppets didn’t stand a chance. I was about to execute them there, but I reckon you would want to do it yourself. Victory is ours, Kross.”
“Oh, nicely done, Grand. I knew I can count on you. Come on, bring me my gold-plated desert eagle and my best wine in stock. Equestria is now ours!”
Granite walked towards a wood-plated shelf and opened the shelf doors. He took the two items and turned towards Krossair. He loaded Krossair’s pistol and out of Krossair’s expectation, points the gun at Krossair.
“Come on, Grand, what is this? A joke?”
“Look, Kross. Time to end this little game. I though I could trust you, and bring me all I want, but all you did is taking thousands of innocent lives, and you abused my girlfriend! Eclipse, Sky, do it!”
Upon Granite’s instruction, Eclipse and Lannister pulled the loose string in their hooves and freed themselves from the bonds, and simultaneously pulled their SMGs out from their back. All in a sudden, with 3 guns pointing at Krossair, the King knew that he was doomed. He stood still and raised his claws.
“Should we shoot him?” Lannister asked Granite, without moving his vision away from Krossair.
“Nah, I still have stuff planned for this son of a gun. I would like to drag him back, if I can.”
“Signal the Navy, and I’ll take care of this bastard. What about that griffon on the bed?”
“ Oh shoot, I forgot about it!”
Granite ran towards the bed and gave Krossair a bloody nose, and went to check on the griffon. With a scream, he exclaimed,
“Guys! It’s Obsidian! I found her!”
He almost panicked upon seeing the griffon’s condition: Multiple wounds and bruises on her back, it’s certain that she’s being violated and abused by Krossair. He picked her and held her on his back with his wing. Eclipse tied Krossair with the ropes they had with them and did the same.
“Lannister, take point. We’ll be right behind you!” Eclipse ordered, as he took Krossair’s gold-plated pistol and armed it.
They waited for a response from the Navy for engagement. Once the Navy had confirmed that they had started the assault towards the griffon fleets, they busted out of the door and proceeded towards the deck of the vessel.
Krossair tried to struggle and get rid of his bondage, but Eclipse just set him down and shoved a syringe full of anaesthesia fluids right on his neck, and sent the King to sleep.
Once they proceeded away from Krossair’s room, the whole vessel’s alarm was set off, and there were red lights flashing all around them. Apparently the griffons had discovered their intentions and sent warning all over the ship.
“Damn it, enemy reinforcements are on their way here. Get ready!” Granite warned the two ponies as he pulled out his trusty .44 magnum with a spin and took cover.
Eclipse raised his awareness and held tight on his pistol, while Lannister observed for enemy activities vigilantly. It was silent, not even footsteps could be heard. All of them found themselves holding their breathe and listening carefully for anything unusual.
“Here they come!” Lannister yelled as swarms of griffon soldier ran towards them with P90s. He returned fire as those soldiers started firing their weapons. The three backed off and retreated into a side corridor leading to a barred door. It wouldn’t save them, but it could at least buy them sometime.
Lannister struggled to keep the griffons from approaching their position. One UMP just can’t fight twenty all by its own. Eclipse set the King down and provided support fire for Lannister. Granite also set Obsidian down and helped taking down the incoming forces.
“They just keep coming! We can’t do this all day!” Lannister yelled, as he slipped back into the corridor to dodge the crazy spraying from the griffons.
“Holy crap, so many damn bullets fly towards me!” Lannister exclaimed, as he almost got shot.
“Throw a damn grenade then!” Eclipse yelled back.
“I didn’t bring one!”
“Me neither! Bollocks!”
“Smoke? Flash? Decoy?”
“Negative! Nothing!”
“Bloody hell!”
As the two yelled at each other, they could hear an explosion outside along with griffons screaming. Granite tried to peek from the corner, but
the smoke was too thick to be seen.
“Grand! You there? Let’s get outta here!” A voice yelled from down the corridor.
“Malachite! Is that you? It’s so good to see you again!” Granite answered.
“Yes it’s me! They’ll keep coming, let’s move!” The voice instructed.
Lannister was about to shoot at the griffons out down the corridor, but Granite pushed his rifle down. “Check your fire, friendlies!”
“Ponies? What did you plan to do with ponies on this ship?”
“No time to explain, get us outta here first!” Granite met up with a few griffons out there. They were his loyalists that he had be mentioning before, by the look of it.
“More of them on the deck! Just stay behind us!” One of the griffons said. He was the one talking a while ago. He has green feathers, hence the name Malachite.
“Alright! Lead on, then.” Granite responded with a nod, and picked Obsidian up again. Eclipse and Lannister also followed Granite and hung behind the team. They wasn’t exactly sure wether those griffons could be trusted, but they had came this far, and they didn’t have a choice either.
They returned to the top floor from where they came. Even inside the ship, they could hear gunfire and missiles exploding outside, along with the raging sea.
“We’re too exposed. If we just run outside like this, we’ll be shot for damn sure.” Malachite said, as he landed his claws on the door.
“Let me do it. My wing is a shield, we can bust out as long as you stay behind me!” Eclipse said, as he set the King down once again and stretched out his wing, and drew his pistol.
Malachite hesitated for a moment, before giving way for Eclipse to go first. Eclipse released the seal on the door and took a deep breathe. He turned his head and looked behind him, roughly 10 members in the team total, including himself and Lannister. Everyone nodded to show that they are ready to strike, and Eclipse bucked the door open.
He turned his wing towards the opened deck and ducked down, staying as low as possible. The team behind him pushed forward behind Eclipse’s cover. Some of the griffons on the deck turned from resisting the Equestria Navy to fire at Eclipse’s improvised team.
One of the griffon in the team picked Krossair up and hung back in the team. Eclipse was struggling to move forward due to the amount of fire he was taking. Granite, being one of the most elite soldier, knew he needed to assist Eclipse. He passed Obsidian to one of the griffons and took an M4 from his teammate.
With all the enemy in sight neutralised, Malachite reported, “Deck clear!”
A few choppers arrived at the command vessel not long after. Eclipse dropped Krossair on the chopper and Obsidian was loaded on too. Eclipse, Lannister and Granite hopped on the chopper, and signalled the team to get on too.
“Negative. We’ll help your fellow soldier to mop up. You guys head back to report in first, with Krossair taken care of, the rest of Griffonstone’s soldier would soon loose heart and Granite would be in charge.”
“Oh and you, that white pony, thank you for helping today. Griffonstone will be in your debt. I am Malachite, Senior Lieutenant of the Griffonstone Royal Agents and a friend of Grand. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“Name’s Eclipse. Head-Commander of the Wonderbolts and the Field-Commander of this war. Nice to meet you, Malachite. It’s good to have you on our side.”
“The invasion was all Krossair’s idea. With him now no longer in charge, we are more than willing to assist you and your fellow soldier in the war. You have done us a great service for Griffonstone, and we will be forever thankful.”
“It’s nothing. I look forward to defend our homeland with you, Malachite. I’ll see you back in Equestria.” Eclipse smiled, and before he left, he got back down from the chopper and gave Malachite an abrazo, which he gladly accepted.
“Hey! My girlfriend is dying! Can’t you make it quick?” Granite roared at Eclipse.
“Oh, crap. Sorry! Let’s move!”He apologised as he jumped back onto the chopper.
“So, you own an Empire now, Grand. What would you do now?”
“My heart belongs to the battlefield and the badlands. I would nominate someone that is capable of ruling an Empire, and never make my mistake again.”