I Am (No) God

by Animatorsnake


Predators Among Prey

Thirty-Nine Days Later – Ponyville, Eclipse Light’s Property; 7:30am

The heavy snowstorms began to ease up in the coming weeks, unlike before, things began to slow down but it still continued to snow lightly. Inside his home, Eclipse was reading the books he got help finding at the abandoned castle with Fluttershy’s help.

Currently out of all the books, the one that has both caught his attention and has so far befuddled his brain about this world’s knowledge on alternate realities… has been taxing. So far, the only known knowledge of alternate realities comes from a theory from a wizard that was around a thousand years ago. Apparently, this wizard was known to be the founder of the first spells commonly used in Equestria, he was also the teacher of both the princesses when they were younger.

Seeing that he can’t find anything of importance within the pages of this book, the only other source of knowledge he could think of was the Royal Canterlot Library, specifically, the wing that was built in honor of said wizard. While this was important for his own reasons, right now, satiating his curiosity on other realities wasn’t at the top of his list.

Mid-way through reading, he became distracted when a knock came from his door, placing a bookmark to where he was reading, he checked to see who it was. Opening the door, outside was the local mail-mare of Ponyville, Derpy Hooves; while she was known for her ditzy and clumsy actions, Eclipse got along fine with the mare, that and he found out that some of the muffins sold at Sugarcube Corner come from the mare herself, so it wasn’t shocking that he would have good ties with the mare who sold the same blue-berry muffins Eclipse enjoys.

Waving happily at Eclipse, she puts her snout into her mail-bag, pulling out a unique letter; the letter itself had a wax symbol known for representing the Canterlot nobility. After being given the letter and giving Derpy the rightful payment, with a farewell, Eclipse reviewed the contents of the letter.

Opening it up, Eclipse read the letter inside and the news was indeed troubling, it didn’t explain exactly much, but the letter did indeed come from Purity Snow and apparently he needs him to come to Canterlot immediately. It appears something has happened between our arrival back from the San Palomino Desert to Pristine returning back to Canterlot. Whatever the case, these summons appear urgent, I’ll leave immediately.

With little time, Eclipse leaves with his bare necessities to his trip back to Canterlot, having to leave so suddenly, a simple notice was only left behind at his home for those wondering where he was. Having left Ponyville early in the morning, it took roughly two hours for him to reach the marble city due to the train traffic from Ponyville to Canterlot being non-existent at this time.

After arriving at Canterlot, Eclipse immediately headed to the nobility district, arriving at the doors of Snow’s mansion. Pulling the rope at the front entrance, ringing the door bell, the door was immediately answered by the mansion’s butler; seeing who it was, the butler bows toward Eclipse and swiftly bring shim to Snow.

Following him, the two head to the backyard of the mansion to see Snow at a gazebo, apparently enjoying a cup of tea. Eclipse noticed that one of his element orbs, the fire type was placed just below the gazebo’s roof, creating a small bubble of warmth to both keep the snow away and warm the area within the gazebo.

“I see you received some of my element orbs, I assume so far there has been no problems?”

“None whatsoever, it wasn’t a mistake to make this deal with you, but that’s not why I brought you here,” said Snow, placing his teacup down. “You see, after your arrival from the desert, I haven’t seen my daughter since I’ve sent her with you. She sent me a notice that she would arrive back on Oct 13, she was in Ponyville for fifteen days after coming back from the trip…”

Snow stayed silent after retelling his side of the story of Pristine’s disappearance, after hearing this, Eclipse tells Snow that Pristine told him she was leaving Ponyville on Oct 12 during the evening, that she would arrive back home around midnight between 11 o’clock pm to 12 o’clock am.

Hearing this, Snow remembers he wasn’t home at that hour due to some business elsewhere, he also remembers that he brought his butler with him too, so the mansion would been empty.

“How come I wasn’t informed about her disappearance recently, she’s been gone for nearly four months?” asked Eclipse. Snow looked carefully, it was hard to tell if Eclipse was simply worried… or something else.

“Well, seeing as a noble’s daughter just up and vanished, especially somepony like Pristine, it would cause some alarms to go off. I needed her disappearance to be as quiet as possible and I wasn’t certain who to trust,” said Snow, sighing. “To be honest, I’m deeply worried for her safety, she may had been trained in self-defense...”

Eclipse nodded his head, deep in thought until he raised his head up. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Snow at first was about to decline, but then a thought came to mind, after having first met Eclipse, Snow couldn’t find any information on the recluse stallion. If it were anything else, he would had politely declined his request; however, hearing about his talents – both physically and financially – Eclipse might be the pony to help find his daughter… he was currently barrel deep in problems for him to intervene – directly or secretly.

“Actually there is something you could help me with, ever since her disappearance, there has been strange rumors of voices and noises coming from within the abandoned mines within Mount Canter. I’ll use what connections I can for you to investigate this… and please, with all your power, find my daughter.”

Eclipse stood up and bowed slightly, turning around to leave until he spoke one final time. “That won’t be an issue, give me two days and she’ll be back… that I swear.”


Canterlot, Royal District; 11:00am

After leaving Snow’s mansion and the Noble District, the first place Eclipse went to find any clues whatsoever was to head to the local Royal Guard building in Canterlot. This being the main headquarters of all Royal Guard operations, meant it was located in the Royal District where Canterlot Castle was at.

The only issue was that Eclipse hasn’t been here in a long time, so he isn’t certain where the building as he hasn’t been in it before. Approaching the gates to the castle instead, he was deciding to get directions from the two guards stationed by the gates.

The gate guards both see him, doing their job they quickly stand stiffly with attentive eyes at their recent arrival. “HALT! What’s your business here at Canterlot Castle?”

“None, I was only wishing for directions to the Royal Guard HQ building, do you know where it is?” asked Eclipse.

Understanding why this stallion is here, the two guards still kept their attentive look, but gave a more calm demeanor. The guard standing to left of Eclipse’s view, points to the right with his free hoof that’s not holding his spear.

“Go to the right of the gates to Canterlot Castle, you should see a building there, trust me you’ll know it’s the Equestrian Guard HQ.”

Equestrian Guard? So the building doesn’t only hold the Royal Guard.

Nodding in thanks, Eclipse makes his way right, his destination doesn’t take him long, as he understands what the gate guard meant. Standing right before him is a large building that’s a quarter big as Canterlot Castle with dozens of floors. The main entrance was reminiscent of the staircase you find when entering a museum or a grand library.

Various pillars could be seen holding up an arch right above the doors to the building entrance, as several ponies – either wearing armor or not – could been seen entering and exiting said building. At the top of the building, symbols for both the Royal Guard and Lunar Guard could be for all to see if looking up.

Entering inside was just as amazing as the outside, the main lobby resembled a mix between a bank and a hotel lobby. The noise and clamor of various ponies busy within the large expansive space could be heard; above were solid areas to walk across to the other side of the building for each of the floors, areas for flight-capable creatures to both fly up and down without any issues could be visible through signs.

Several lines could be seen for several different desks similar to what you see in a bank, each one was manned by various unicorns of gender, size, and color. It was understandable why a unicorn was manning the front desks – whether it be due to the city itself or magical advantage for their job – while most tables were full to the brim with a line of ponies, one desk was bare of anypony.

This desk had a sign above that said, “Missing Pony Help Desk” with bright golden yellow letters, the unicorn at this desk was a young mare who appeared to be in the middle of reading a magazine, occasionally flipping to next page and reading with apt attention.

Approaching close enough to speaking range, the unicorn hasn’t noticed Eclipse yet, so with a cough from him she now noticed him. Placing down the magazine with a flick of her horn, she composed herself with a straight pose and smile.

“Hello there sir, how can I help you today?”

“I came here to report the disappearance of a close acquaintance of mine, I was hoping to speak to a guard who could help with searching for her,” said Eclipse.

“Hmmm, well most reported disappearances are usually cases that involve somepony simply forgetting to send a letter of their current whereabouts, getting drunk at some random bar, or being away for extended vacations. Are you certain your friend didn’t simply forgot to call home?”

Seeing that simply reporting wasn’t enough, Eclipse began to explain the same thing he did to Purity Snow about Pristine’s sudden vanishing after leaving Ponyville to return to Canterlot. After summarizing the important parts only – who vanished, her previous activities prior to her disappearance, and how long she was gone for since her last mention of contact – the mare’s eyes widen.

Carefully examining her surroundings, glancing left and right, she quickly levitates a close sign onto the desk. Getting up from her seat she turns around until her head swivels back to Eclipse with a follow gesture. “Please follow me sir, I think this needs to be heard by the captain himself.”

Following her to some stairs, after going up some flight of steps, they reach their destined floor. Trotting by several office spaces with various guards working, they soon past said areas until they come upon a door with a plaque on it.

Eclipse reads the plaque which held a name he never thought to see again. Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Guard, Twilight’s brother? This should be interesting…

Knocking on the door two times, after a short amount of silence, a voice could be heard. “Hello, who’s there?”

“Its secretary Melon Slice, Captain Armor, there’s somepony here that needs to see you, it’s urgent,” said Melon.

“You may enter!” After hearing his permission to enter, Melon opens the door with Eclipse following behind. Once inside, Shining now sees who was the pony that secretary Melon brought, until he sees a familiar face.

“Eclipse Light? Melon, why is sir Eclipse here?” asked Shining.

Explaining – albeit shorter and straight-forward – to Shining why Eclipse is here, Shining’s acknowledgment to the severity of this situation is shown by his widen eyes. After hearing her explanation, he tells her she can leave, after exiting and closing the door behind her, both stallions are left alone with Shining sitting while Eclipse continued to stand.

“So, I’m told you came here to report a missing pony, Melon so far explained she been missing for nearly six months. So who exactly that’s gone missing, is it somepony I know?”

“You may have, she is the daughter of Purity Snow, Pristine Snow, heiress to Snow Transports,” said Eclipse.

“Wait, that Purity Snow? Yeesh you sure know some scary individuals, if I remember correctly he’s the only transportation company that hasn’t made any contracts with the guard, supposedly the stallion has a deep dislike of the guard and royalty… at least that’s what I heard from veteran guards.”

“Indeed, you see I was hired by him to find his daughter at all costs… and I hope you understand that this news stays as anonymous as possible.”

“I understand, anything involving the nobles would be need to be kept hush hush, though I’m shocked that the same Purity Snow is alright with you asking help from the guard?”

“He never specified my methods, simply that I find her at all costs.” Shining smiled at that, understanding that no matter what kind of lifestyle, family is one thing you do not mess with.

At least not all nobles are that caring of their reputation and it’s simply a stallion worried over their own daughter.

“Now, as I mentioned to the secretary, Pristine vanished on Oct 13 last year and hasn’t been heard or seen of since then. Another thing you should know, Pristine was ex-Church,” said Eclipse.

Hearing this raised some alarms, but after clarifying that her connections with the Church have been severed completely, Shining asked is there anything else he should know about her, Eclipse so far states that what he knows of her is from personal experience only.

“Well thank you for telling me, this at least narrows down the possible suspects now… and don’t worry, ex-Church, connected to any crimes, or any illegal activities will be kept confidential no matter the individual, only higher-ranked members of the guard and the royalty can order a public release of information of said individual.”

Nodding in thanks, Shining then decides that simply sending a small group of guards to do the search and seeing not only is the missing pony in question is a noble and has connections with the Church, would require a level of anonymity and experienced hooves.

“I need to call upon some experienced members of the guard for this search, will it be alright if you wait for four hours, some of them are in the middle of their own duties or stationed at various different parts of Canterlot. I’ll have Melon Slice call upon you until the meeting is ready, you can wait in one of the waiting rooms.”

“I’m fine with this, I’ll await until you call upon the necessary help,” said Eclipse. Before Eclipse left, he turned around to face Shining. “It was also good to see you again, I’ll tell your sister that you’re doing well.”

“Thanks, I should really send a letter every so often when I get the chance, she may report to the princess on daily basis, but I gotta check on my lil sis too sometimes.” After seeing Shining cheeky grin, Eclipse left with his own subtle smile.


Some time later – Canterlot, Royal District, Equestrians Guard HQ; 4:00pm

After some time has gone by, Eclipse was sitting in one of the meeting rooms in the building, sitting around the table was ten other ponies, including Shining Armor, there was twelve ponies involved with the disappearance of Pristine.

The ponies that were called to help with this investigation were all the lieutenants stationed in Canterlot from both the Royal Guard and Lunar Guard. Standing up from his seat, Shining points to a screen that showed images of Pristine and of various locations within Canterlot that she frequently visited before.

“I’ve called you all here as the daughter of noble Purity Snow vanished on October 13, she has been missing ever since then and has only been reported by an acquaintance of Pristine’s, Eclipse Light. Sir Eclipse has been hired by sir Purity to find any evidence of his daughter’s whereabouts with any means possible. Since he has come for our assistance, it is important that I want all of you to search these locations which she frequently visited before her disappearance.”

One of the lieutenants raised their hoof to ask a question which Shining signaled for that pony to speak. “Sir, is this the same mare who was recently exiled from the Church?”

“Yes, but I want the news of her previous relationship with the Church to stay anonymous, if anyone found out an ex-member of the Church vanished and we were trying to find her, it would cause some misunderstanding or at worse direct some negative reaction from the public. This investigation isn’t being done because she has ties with the Church, but because one of the well-known noble families needs help and it would be a boon to have one of them to owe both the guard and the royalty.”

Satisfied with the answer, the pony in question settled down as Shining began to split each of the ponies into groups to search the different parts of Canterlot. Since Eclipse is the one responsible for investigating Pristine’s whereabouts and has asked for the help of the guard, it made sense he would be involved with one of the teams.

Eclipse was introduced to two of the ten lieutenants by Shining Armor, as they would be his partners until the search was over. The ones chosen was a lieutenant from the Royal Guard and a lieutenant from the Lunar Guard; the Royal Guard lieutenant is a unicorn, First Lieutenant Strike Point, while the Lunar Guard lieutenant is a thestral, Second Lieutenant Thorn.

Strike Point is notable for his precision and power with his magic and is one of few unicorns who are capable of piercing through Shining Armor’s trademark barriers. On the other hand, Thorn is known for her reputation to being prickly to anyone who get to close to her, but she can handle herself in a fight so the need for teamwork isn’t important to her.

As the other groups left to begin their own investigations in different parts of Canterlot, the area that Eclipse’s team was sent to investigate and check was the place that Pristine visited that one time when she ditched him to that bar, it was also the same time she was attacked by those ponies before.

Before they would arrive at their destination, Eclipse felt a presence eyeing him from afar, but decided to pretend to not have noticed. “Sir Eclipse, is something the matter?” asked Strike.

“Nothing, was just busy with my own thoughts, let’s head off, I know the place that we’re going to investigate.”


One investigation later – Canterlot; 5:00pm

After traveling from the Royal District, all the way to the Market District, Eclipse decided to let the two lieutenants handle the investigating and gathering clues, while he did his own ‘investigating’. With his eyes closed, the world around him became an inky darkness, but within this darkness was small glimmering lights or colorful blots; the lights or blots represented each individual living thing – from the bartender, the bar’s customers, the mice that skittered on the rafters above, the insects scurried under the floorboards, and the flowers just above a balcony nearby.

My abilities are slowly coming back, but this isn’t enough to give me a clearer picture, I can barely see the individual forms within the city, never mind trying to search and sift through an entire continent.

Internally sighing that this form of searching won’t help yet, Eclipse opened his eyes to find Thorn in front of him – which he already knew she was standing before him. “We finished asking the bartender, he remembers her, but hasn’t seen her since that fight you mentioned… I’m amazed it was you and her that was involved with that fight, but don’t worry, we got enough witnesses to know you or her weren’t at fault, but you sure did a ringer on those colts,” said Thorn.

“Still, was it necessary to use that amount of force on those stallions, you could had cause some serious harm,” said Strike.

“I arrived later on in that tussle, I did what I could to deescalate the situation,” said Eclipse, with a plain look.

How is breaking a stallion’s leg deescalating a situation?

As the three were leaving the bar, Eclipse suddenly turns around and thrusts his hoof right at Strike, at first he thought Eclipse was trying to hit him for his earlier comment, but with his quick reflexes from his training as a guard, he noticed something. Behind both him and Thorn, they didn’t notice the figure that dropped down below from the ledge of window above the entrance of the bar.

Eclipse’s hoof quickly connected with the face of their assailant, as a squawk and the sound of something breaking was heard. The assailant tumbled some distance away from the trio, a trail of blood dripping down from what appeared to be from a beak, a claw wrapping around the now cracked beak.

“SONNA VA OMELET! YOU PIECE OF SHITE, YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT GROUNDER!” shouted the wounded griffon.

As the griffon charged again with knife in claw, Eclipse swiftly side-stepped him, hitting the claw that was holding the knife and quickly put the griffon into a hold, now pinned to the ground, the hoodie of the griffon’s cloak fell off to show his face.

“You have some balls to attack in front of a member of the guard,” said Thorn, grinning viciously. “Now why would you attack us though?”

“I ain’t speaking vampony.” At that comment, Thorn, stomped her hoof where the griffon’s lower parts is, a tiny chirp came from the griffon, as his eyes squeezed shut from the pain he felt.

“Call me that again and I’ll start plucking you!”

As Strike tried to keep Thorn back, Eclipse paid attention to something else, his surroundings. At that moment, several more griffons wearing cloaks began to appear from the alleyways and rooftops that surrounded the bar. “You think I came here… alone… You’ll pay… for messing with us…”

Seeing that keeping him conscious wasn’t necessary, Eclipse did another solid hit to his beak, knocking the griffon unconscious. Stepping back with Strike and Thorn who pulled out their own individual weapons – Strike only brought a steel sword while Thorn held spiked mace in her mouth – Eclipse stood in a ready position.

Neither party spoke or made a sound, in side watching the other to see who would make the first move… and that all hell broke loose. Whether it was impatience or not, Thorn roared out and charged one of the griffons, slamming her mace down on their cranium with ruthless efficiency.

“Dammit Thorn,” said Strike.

(Fight Music)

Just like that, Tartarus broke loose, the griffons made the next move as they began to swarm the three with their numbers. Since Strike and Thorn were the only ones armed with any weapons, they expected to keep the griffons off Eclipse as it appears he was the one they were after, but their worry was unneeded.

Taking the weapon dropped by the earlier griffon – a simple dagger – Eclipse managed not only block and parry, but incapacitate a few of their numbers, whether it was simply hitting the hilt of the dagger on their heads or inflicting enough wounds to bring them down.

Deciding to not be out done by Eclipse, Strike fired several precise magical blasts while using his sword to push back any griffons that got too close, Thorn however used sheer might, swinging her mace around, shattering weapons and bones.

After the heavy yet short skirmish, almost all the griffons were unconscious or writhed in pain, leaving only one griffon who was terrified and trembling. Raising both claws in a surrendering gesture, the griffon was currently being interrogated by both lieutenants.

Rather than join the two, Eclipse decided to check the griffon’s belongings on them, checking whatever pockets and pouches on them, Eclipse found an interesting item that might clue to where these griffons came from.

“Bird-brain passed out before we could get anything juicy from him,” said Thorn, grumbling.

“Maybe if you hadn’t tried to threaten him by crushing his ‘eggs’ he wouldn't had paled so badly like a marble statue,” said Strike. “Eclipse, did you find anything from these guys?”

“I did, catch.” After hearing that, Strike immediately caught the object tossed to him with his magic, bringing the object closer to him, levitating before him was an uncut gemstone. While gemstones aren’t that rare in Equestria, there was one particular thing about this gemstone.

“It’s radiating magical energy… means it came from Canterlot, but almost all the gems in Canterlot had been mined out, sure you can occasionally find a gem vein in the mines, but they're too spread out that it’s not worth mining through several more chunks of stone to find said veins… which mean-”

“That these guys found one and it means their hideout it within the abandoned mines,” said Eclipse. “We should head back to Captain Armor soon.”

“HOLD UP! What about these riff-raff?” Looking around the wounded and unconscious griffons, Strike soon called a nearby patrol of guards to detain and escort these griffons to the medical wing and dungeons for questioning later.

After hearing the encounter with griffons near one of the spots Pristine regularly visits, Shining Armor prepares two platoons of guards to investigate the abandoned mines.


Canterlot, Canterlot Mines; 7:30pm

Once arriving, the two platoons which consisted each of sixteen ponies were led by the Captains of the Royal Guard and Lunar Guard, the platoon Eclipse was joining was the one Shining Armor was in command of. Due to the sudden summons to Canterlot, Eclipse never brought his personal equipment, so he was given a standard-issue Royal Guard, iron sword – unlike his own weapons or any weapon he wielded, the swords for the guard were designed to be held within a user’s mouth or for unicorns, was light enough for a standard unicorn guard to levitate and wield.

While not his usual equipment, Eclipse still wielded it with one hand, but had to get use to the fact that this weapon wasn’t designed to be held upon one’s hoof. I’ll get used to it, I’ve used more unconventional weapons in the past.

“Will you be alright with that sword, sorry we couldn’t get you something suitable for you,” said Strike. Alongside with Shining, the lieutenants joined this excursion, while Thorn and the Lunar Guard lieutenants joined the other platoon.

“I’ll be fine, I also brought some other things other than my wallet,” said Eclipse, gesturing to the small saddlebag to his side.

Before he could ask what he meant, the voice of Shining was heard just as they stood by the main entrance to the Canterlot Mines. “Okay, while the other guards are stationed at the other smaller entryways to the mines, our job is to root out these griffons, we’ve confirmed from what information we could get from the ones we caught that they’re the griffon mercenaries, the Iron Lions and that they set up a camp within the mines, as to where we don’t know. Once we reach the intersection further down the main entrance of the mines, the platoon following me will go down the left side while the one’s led by Captain Lilium Nix will head to the right platoon.”

“Now be careful when down in the mines, while the first few levels are pretty safe and stable, further below is dangerous and we should be careful when entering an unstable tunnel or elevator. Now I want earth ponies at the front, unicorns in the middle, and pegasi to watch our rears! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!”

With a boisterous, ‘SIR YES SIR’, both platoons made their way down the mines, once they reach the intersection, both platoons split up to cover more ground. It wasn’t clear how much time went by, but it felt like hours had gone by exploring the endless yet tight tunnel system that was the long abandoned Canterlot Mines.

It was when they finally encountered resistance as they stumbled upon a sizable patrol of five griffons wielding various weapons. Due to both sides stumbling into one another, there was much confusion, luckily Eclipse was the first to react; even though he was slightly slowed down by the unfamiliar sword, Eclipse still managed to take one of the griffons by surprised with a quick swipe to the head.

Now due to the way guard swords are wielded, the standard guard sword were more blunt than sharp due to the angle they’re held by a pony’s mouth, so it was somewhat difficult to slash somebody with it. So rather than trying to cut someone, it was easier to slam the side of the sword against them, while not causing a cut, would leave a nasty bruise and possibly break somebody’s bone.

With this in thought, the simple swipe to the head of the griffon resulted in said griffon seeing stars, as they pirouetted in a circle and flopped in front of his fellows. Quickly the remaining four griffons retaliated until they were struck by spells or several stun crossbow bolts.

Once they were disarmed and in chains, the unicorns set up a teleportation matrix around the five griffons to send them instantly to the Royal Guard HQ dungeons. “Good work Eclipse, but we can’t let you have all the glory. Come on you excuses for Royal Guardsponies, let’s show our guest here how the guard really fights!” shouted Strike, with a grin.

With a roar, the guards prepared to delve deeper from the direction the griffons just came from, they soon encountered more resistance, but managed to take down every obstacle they came across.

It was when they entered a cavernous part of the cave is when they spotted some commotion from down below. Just some meters further below the cavernous cave, they could see a skirmish between a larger group of griffons that were better armed and trained, going against the platoon under the command of Captain Nix.

Currently she and her platoon were taking cover behind some crates probably brought by the griffons while taking heavy fire what appeared to be bolts and a weapon only heard by the higher echelon of the Equestrian military.

“Are those muskets, how the heck did these mercenaries smuggled muskets into Equestria, especially the capital itself?”

“The situation has changed, not only are we dealing with the ones possibly responsible with the kidnapping of miss Snow, but smuggling too. We need to find a way get their attention away from Captain’s Nix platoon, but we can’t get ourselves under fire by those weapons either… if only we had some way to destabilize them quick enough to make the fight a close-quarters one,” said Shining, muttering to himself.

Apparently the muttering to yourself part is hereditary, would explain a lot about Twilight.

Seeing that explaining his plan would take too much time and the necessity for action, Eclipse made his decision as he jumped down from the five meter drop – which was just as shocking as running into a literally wall of ranged weaponry. Surprisingly, Eclipse managed to grab some scaffolding that was previously set-up in the past, swinging himself down from scaffolding to scaffolding until rolling down behind some crates.

Reaching into his saddlebags, he pulls out two objects – an oval-shaped object with a hollow inside and a purple crystal – placing the crystal into the hollow slot of the oval object, Eclipse hears an audible clink. A button soon pops on the top, with everything set, Eclipse runs full-kilt toward the griffons, getting their attention as they soon spotted the suicidal pony rushing them.

“LOOK THERE’S ANOTHER, TURN THAT MUD PONY INTO SWISH CHEESE!”

Aiming all their weapons at the newer target, Eclipse mentally began to countdown.

Five, Four…

The first volley of shots were easily blocked as Eclipse grabbed a piece of a barrel top and a metal slab to reinforce the barrel top, to block the crossbow bolts and musket shots.

Three, Two…

Seeing them reload for their next volley, Eclipse tossed aside his impromptu shield to quickly speed up toward the circle of griffons. The ones he could see the closest, began to sweat and squawk, backing up to their colleagues.

One…

Pressing the top of the button, Eclipse tossed the object high into the ear, with a clunk it landed in the middle of the group. Those who recognized the shape immediately had their eyes bug out, while others gave a confuse tilt to the strange yet familiar object… until one of their own began to scream.

“GRENADA! GRENADA!”

Zero.

(Fight Music)

Those that knew the word, scrambled to safety while others stared dumbfounded, what happened next shocked everyone… literally. After several loud beeps came from the device, the sides of the objects slide open, as a torrent of electricity spiraled out like the claws of a ravenous beast.

The untamed lightning unleashed itself upon the hapless griffons as they were cooked alive by the scorching lightning, while some were seared by the slight tingle that the lightning caused as it made a glance touch upon their feathers.

Even after the light show ended, the horror wasn’t over just yet, as they were about to recover and regroup, the same pony from earlier who threw the grenade came over to the closest griffon and smacked him hard to the ground. Quickly grabbing his musket, with ease he aimed at a griffon who was aiming a crossbow at him, with ease he fired the unfamiliar weapon easily.

The musket shot flew true as its target was the griffon’s left calf, blood splattered out as a sizable chunk was taken out. The griffon cawed in agony as he grasped his calf, but quickly once he fell, Eclipse quickly did a one-eighty and used the musket as a club to smack away another griffon who sneaked up behind him.

The remaining standing fifteen or so griffons tried to dog-pile Eclipse, but seeing the brave yet suicidal pony fight them off, gave both platoons enough time to regroup and charge forth at the now disoriented griffons.

The battle was bloody and quick, there was no fatalities on either side and while the lightning appeared to be deadly, only brought those struck by it to go unconscious as it was non-lethal douses of electricity, enough to make them go unconscious but not harm, leaving only some scorch marks.

Eclipse had his share of scrapes, but was fine, as the medical guard bandaged him off and nodded them he was fine now. Just as he was about to speak with Captain Armor and Captain Nix, he was stopped by Strike and Thorn – Strike giving an inquisitive look while Thorn gave a thankful grin.

“Hey, thanks for saving our flanks, whatever that thing you tossed, you might try selling it to the guard, would help a lot with some of the missions we need to deal with when handling troublesome critters.”

“I could, but everything comes with a price,” said Eclipse.

“I like a stallion that can fight and manage his own finances.” After done speaking with him, Strike approached with the same musket Eclipse used, which was now snapped in half after being used as a club.

“How did you shoot this thing? The trigger was designed for griffons, not ponies?” asked Strike.

“…I’m familiar with weapons like this from my previous travels, before arriving to Equestria.”

But that doesn’t answer my question. Before he could ask further, Eclipse was soon called by both captains to see him.

Watching him leave, Strike continued to ponder how it was possible for Eclipse to fire a griffon-only weapon, the impossibility of this situation and many other prior to this now making Strike question about his recent acquaintance.

Eclipse stood before both Armor and Nix, who just finished interrogating the griffon leading this group. “Eclipse, we managed to get what information from this griffon before he’s sent off,” said Shining.

“Apparently, miss Snow is being held at an ancient Equestrian fort located at Unicorn Range, the fort was built during the earlier years of the Founding of Equestria,” said Nix. “Most of that area hasn’t been checked and I know the fort, though due to the location and resources it wasn’t refurbished for use, I kept telling the higher ups that these abandoned forts had to either be refurbished or demolished so they wouldn’t be used against us, but bloody nobles and their grubby hooves wouldn’t spend a single bit to support said expeditions or projects.”

Eclipse now knowing this glanced down at a map that was brought earlier to show where this fort was located. Just as they were about to head off, a guard from the surface approached the trio, saluting at both captains and oddly enough, bowing toward Eclipse.

“Captains Armor and Nix, and Sir Eclipse, I’m sorry to intrude, but both Princesses Celestia and Luna wish an audience three of you. They know of the current situation happening down here and wish to be further updated on the current status of your investigation to the disappearance of Pristine Snow. It is vital you quickly come to the castle, immediately!”

After hearing this, both captains ordered for their guards to gather the wounded and griffons back to the guard headquarters while the remainder secure all weaponry, evidence, and contraband for storage.

Once they got to work, Shining asked for both Nix and Eclipse to come close as teleporting to the throne hall entrance would be easier than on hoof. Getting close, Shining activated his spell as all three were teleported and would meet the princesses of Equestria themselves.