The town was bathed in screams as ponies were either being tortured or killed on the spot. The Gryphons had gone for the most vulnerable town in Equestria. Twilight and the others, along with the nearly-dead Gilda, were surrounded by four elite Gryphon hunters. One of them stood right in front of Twilight, his head arched down.
“What are any of you going to do? Ponies are weak, so there must be some reason that bitch over there chose you over her kind. What was it? Was it the fear she inspired that made her feel like she was on top of the world? Was she turned by that pitiful flight school up in Cloudsdale? Perhaps she just likes the plot.” The gryphon reached a talon over and grabbed Twilight’s flank, making her blush as well as cry out in slight pain. He let go immediately; he was not about to touch a pony any longer than he had to, disgusting creatures as they were in his eyes.
“So what makes you all so special? Perhaps you over there can tell me?” the hunter looked at Rainbow Dash as he spoke. Twilight took the chance to erect a barrier. The gryphon drew his head back, one of his feathers scorched as it touched the surface. He grinned.
“Not bad, pony. But there was a reason we were such formidable enemies to you ponies centuries ago. Our bodies produce a natural oil that acts as a solution for anti-magic. That barrier won’t hold long enough for you to gasp.” The Gryphon clenched his talon and punched the barrier. Sure enough, it shattered, knocking Twilight back into Fluttershy who yelped in surprise. The gryphons around their leader laughed as he did, their chortles sounding like a train wreck.
“So, which of you ponies has the guts to try and fight me? I mean, you won’t have any guts afterward, but you might as well show them to me before I rip ‘em out! So, who’s first?” he demanded.
Among the screams, there was an indescribable sound that repeated. It grew louder and clear as it approached. The leader tilted his head as he tried to make the word out.
“-ne, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine!” The next thing any pony or gryphon saw/heard was a loud crashing sound, followed by bones breaking and a squawk from the gryphons’ leader. A cloud of dust erupted from the impact and everyone’s vision was barred as sounds continued to escape the wall. Ripping and chewing sounds could be heard, as well as more bone breaking. The dust showed no sign of clearing, but it was forced apart by two large, very strange wings that hung upside down from a Purple and green Dragon’s back. The ponies looked at him in awe. He was completely different from the Spike they’d seen before. He was wild and without sense. His clawed hands were stained in gryphon blood and what was once the surrounding gryphons’ leader was now a shredded husk of red meat and feathers, with bites taken out of it.
Spike’s tail flicked up and down, showing sharp, pointy barbs on the end. The gryphons took one look at him and realised their primary target was standing right in front of them.
“You son of a bitch!” one of the gryphons shouted out at him. While Spike would have made a comment on that, he just growled with glee and swung his tail. The gryphon was impaled on the spikes immediately. The muscles in the dragon’s tail worked with ease as the husk of yet another gryphon was lifted into the air and sent flying upward. He then shot toward the other two, his wings causing a trail of dirt to follow on each side of him. With two gryphons left, he went for the one on the left first. He grabbed its head and jumped over it. He grabbed the gryphon by the beak with two hands and used his weight and momentum to force the gryphon’s head to lift backwards. There was a sharp crack and the body went limp. With weight beginning to press on Spike, he flipped the gryphon open and forced it to eat dirt, resulting in its face being smashed in. He then went for the last gryphon that was too stunned by the sight of his comrades’ demise to move. With his head caught in Spike’s grip, he cried out for reinforcements before his skull caved in and he was silent as the aftermath of this battle would become.
Out of immediate danger, Spike turned to his friends and approached them. Needless to say, most, especially Fluttershy were so scared of what he’d done that they backed away. Rainbow Dash remained behind to protect Gilda.
“Yep! Just gonna stand here and keep bein’ awesome!” Spike declared as he knelt down and examined the wounded Gilda, much to Dash’s displeasure.
“Spike… how did you do that? That was amazing!” Twilight said, avoiding eye contact with the bloody masses behind her.
“Uh, hello? Awesome… right here!” Spike said as he gestured to himself. Rainbow Dash made an involuntary huff at that. “Second only to the fastest Pegasus in Equestria.” he added afterward. Spike made one last quick observation.
“Looks like Gilda’s gonna be fine. You should take her to Zecora so she can quicken the healing process.” he said, standing to his feet.
“Wait, what about you?” Twilight asked, seeming to be the only one capable of forming words among her friends.
“I’m going to look for Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.” he said. With those names brought up, Applejack and Rarity both called out their respective siblings’ names, while Dash called out Scootaloo’s.
“Spike, please hurry. Big Mac’s probably trying his best to protect them, but if he’s going up against anything like those gryphons, he won’t last much longer.” Twilight said urgently. Spike grinned at her and nodded.
“Make tracks then. We’ll meet you at Zecora’s.” Before he could fly away to save the younger fillies, Twilight pulled the dragon down to her level and gave him a strong kiss. There was a smashing sound as the wards placed around Spike’s body solidified and smashed to pieces. Spike felt like a large weight had been lifted off of his body as his scales darkened slightly.
“War is hell.” he said. With a single powerful flap, he was sky high, looking down on Ponyville. He then noticed a large platoon of gryphons flying in formation headed for the already defenceless town. He grinned with glee as his magic flowed through him like adrenaline.
“Your majesty, you brought me a present?!” he began to laugh as the magic in him built up. With a loud roar, his wings transformed into a pair of giant arms. A small sphere of dark purple energy formed between the hands, flashing with green electricity as it grew. Spike’s voice grew distorted and echoed throughout Ponyville. He imagined every head turned towards him as he unleashed the dark ball upon the oncoming reinforcements. In the distance, the swarm could be seen scattering. But it was useless as the ball exploded into a wave of dark energy and a dense cloud of red replaced the gryphons as their bodies exploded upon contact with the wave.
The crusaders, along with Big Mcintosh, were staring up at the sky in wonder as somepony they didn’t know destroyed a stealth unit of gryphons. The group that had surrounded the four took to the air in search of their new target, leaving the crusaders with a badly injured Big Mac. He collapsed to the ground as his legs buckled.
“Mcintosh!” Applebloom cried as the three fillies gathered around the battered stallion.
“Now girls… y’all have ta get ta safety. Make your way to Zecora’s. Ah’ve a feelin’ Applejack and the others will be there. Leave me behind and go, now… git!” Mcintosh croaked as his words fell in deaf ears. The young mares didn’t budge, but remained by his side.
“Ah won’t leave you, big bro!” Applebloom cried into his coat.
“And we’re not leaving Applebloom.” Sweetie Belle added. Scootaloo said nothing as she wished she had somepony to run to.
To all their dismay, a lone gryphon landed neatly near them. “Ooh, this must be my lucky day. Two ponies full of apples and a couple of scrawny toothpicks for afters.” she said, cracking her talons. The fillies leaned into the large stallion, ready for their demise as the gryphon raised her talon over her head, ready to strike. She was about to when something landed between her and her prey. A gryphon had fallen to his death, the force of impact with the ground crushed his body. his talon stuck up in the air, the claws bent at unnaturally odd angles. His wings had been ripped from his body, enabling the fall. The female began to fret as she felt a presence near her.
“What you looking at dugong?” a creepy, distorted voice called out from above. She looked up to see the blackened body of a dragon with his arms crossed, just hovering horizontally above her.
“Dragon?” she asked.
“Crazy gryphon. Whoops, tautology!” He threw his leg toward the gryphon, his clawed foot kicking her head into the ground. The impact made a small crater that stopped just short of the four ponies.
“Hello, fillies and Gentlecolts. Tonight’s special is kick-ass gryphon death with a serving of pony rescues on the side.” he said, landing gracefully in front of the ponies.
“Spike, we can’t leave Big Mac. He’s too injured to move and Applebloom won’t leave him.” Scootaloo said, jumping up to him. She ignored the black scales and green eyes.
“You say that like it’s a problem. You’re talking to the most bitchin’ dragon this side of Celestia’s rule.” The black dragon took in a deep breath and blew a massive green flame at the remaining three ponies. They disappeared from there instantly, undoubtedly headed for Zecora’s. Scootaloo shuddered at the memory of going through the fire. Spike looked back at Ponyville and grinned.
“Anypony else you can think of saving?” he asked.
Scootaloo took a second to think, but wasted no time with her response. “Miss Cheerilee!” she replied. Spike nodded and grinned up at the sky as a whole bunch of gryphons descended upon the two, having found their target.
“Ballin’!”
Twilight and the others managed to navigate the Everfree forest to Zecora’s Applejack helped Rainbow Dash with Gilda and placed her gently down on the couch that Zecora had laid out for her. Not a minute had passed when Big Mac and two of the ‘Cutiemark Crusaders’ had popped into existence outside the hut. Appljecak hurried over to her siblings while Rarity braced for a leaping hug from Sweetie Belle.
Rainbow Dash had left Gilda’s side in search of Scootaloo, but grew heavy when the little chicken of a pony wasn’t present.
“Where’s Scoots?” Dash asked, fretting.
“Spike has her. He sent us ahead.”
Twilight sighed in relief. “Then I guess so long as she’s with Spike, we have nothing to worry about.” there was a moment’s silence before Twilight looked around. “Um… Where’s Pinkie Pie?”
The group scanned the immediate area before the pink pony emerged from behind Big Mac.
“Here I am. Like I told Spike, I’d turn up near the end of the story.” she said, bouncing around the group.
“Pinkie? Wait, what story, what end?” Twilight asked, trying to find a book on the mare’s person.
“Oh, but don’t worry, Twilight. There’s still another Chapter after this one. But that only makes it the end of ‘Book One’. There’s another on the horizon according to the author.” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down on Big Mac who seemed unable to feel it.
“Pinkie, what book?” Twilight urged.
“The Darkness of Love, duh! It’s based loosely around yours and Spike’s life. Jeez, Twilight, I’d have thought you’d have read it, what with you being the bookworm and all.”
Twilight gasped as something terrible dawned upon her. “Oh no, my books!” she cried.
“Got ‘em.” a voice said from behind her. Twilight turned to gaze upon the blood addled dragon with rich purple scales, clutching a sack full of the library’s books in one hand, an unconscious Cheerilee under his arm, and Scootaloo perched happily on his head.
“Spike!” Twilight gasped, rushing up to him.
“Nice to see you thought of the books first. I feel so loved.” he chuckled. Scootaloo hopped off his head, buzzing slowly to the ground where Dash scooped her up and held her tightly. The sack of books fell to the ground as Spike wrapped his arms around Twilight, and the two of them shard a kiss with the kind of passion they wished they’d had the time for earlier on.