The loud explosion echoed through the streets of Gryphus. The sound was so immense even the king and his personal guard could hear it from the castle. With his ears still ringing, Sergeant Major Storm picked himself off the ground after being tossed from the top of the center cannon by a powerful shockwave. Dazed and weak, Storm leaned against the side of the cannon and tried to look around, but with all the smoke and dust in the air, he couldn’t see ten feet in front of him. When Storm saw his weapon lying next to him, he reached down and picked it up. Then he used the long staff of the Morningstar to hold himself up. Continuing to look around, Storm could see one of the griffin refugees approach him, “SIR! SIR! ARE YOU OK!?!”
As Storm started to regain his hearing he replied, “I'm… I'm fine, what happened?”
“Sir, cannon number one exploded as soon as the fuse was lit.”
Rubbing his head, Storm replied, “Oh… so that’s why I was tossed off this one. The shockwave right?”
“Yes sir… The entire crew was killed in the explosion sir. None of them made it out.”
Storm then nodded his head as he regained his balance and flew back to the top of the center cannon he was on before. At this height, he could easily look over the smoke that surrounded the area. As Storm looked at the cannon to his right, it was just as the refugee said. The massive tube of the iron cannon was blown wide open on the center. The griffin refuge flew up and landed next to him as he spoke, “Sir, orders?”
Sergeant Major Storm looked back at the gate that he ordered the cannon to fire on. Traipse and his main force was still stunned by the explosion but it seemed like the only thing that hit them was a massive cloud of smoke. Traipse turned and started yelling to his soldiers, “If you’re wounded, then head back, otherwise all other push forward!”
Seeing this, Storm looked at the left cannon and yelled his order to the crew who were ready for it, “We will fire separately! Cannon Three, FIRE!!!”
The crew looked at each other in worry then the griffin by the fuse lit it and braced himself. The entire cannon crew including the crew watching from the center cannon waited in anticipation at whether or not the cannon would fire.
As the fuse burned into the cork of the cannon, a loud pop was heard as the cork was shot out the top of the cannon leaving the tense crew to sigh in relief. Storm mumbled to himself, “A dud… crap…”
As Storm looked back at the enemy that had fully opened the destroyed gate he realized that he had no choice but to fire the cannon he was on otherwise they would be overrun quickly. Without giving the order he turned and sprinted to the fuse of the cannon he was standing on as he yelled, “BRACE YOURSELVES!!!”
Storm grabbed the torch that the griffin refugee was holding and held it against the fuse as it lit and started burning quickly. As soon as the fuse vanished from the cork, the powder inside ignited as the massive cannonball was fired out the front of the cannon, leaving the full force of its recoil to break the braces holding the cannon in place, and tossing Storm and his crew off it while the tube went flying in the opposite direction. Seeing the cannonball heading towards him, Traipse made a ninety degree turn and dove out of its way as the ball collided with the center of his formation killing all in its wake. Traipse picked himself off the ground and looked at the destruction the cannonball did to his soldiers and spoke, “well… that was interesting.”
The now loose Cannon tube from the center cannon flew back more than one thousand feet before hitting the ground and beginning a vertical roll as it smashed everything each end hit as it continued its roll down the main street. Further down Commander Mist was sprinting to the front of the slums before seeing the massive tube flipping right for him. Using the same manner of taking cover that Traipse did, Commander Mist managed to dodge the massive cannon tube as it continued its roll before colligating with the third city gate and destroying it. Commander Mist looked down the road just in time to watch the gatehouse above the gate collapse, he could only sigh at the sight, “Way to go Storm… now the king is as good as dead. But I can still get Traipse.”
With those words, Commander Mist turned back to the road and continued toward the now smoke covered area of the slums.
Further, in the front sector of the city Major Bolt continued down the main street as fast as he could, passing soldiers fighting on both sides with ease simply because both sides didn’t know whether he was a friend or foe. However, with a straight path to the castle before him, Major Bolt started to see a cloud of smoke ahead. The confused pony looked very closely at the massive cloud in curiosity, but as he did, he noticed something large and round coming right for him. By the time he had realized what it was, it was too late to dodge it. The massive stone ball bounced along the ground until it hit the ground just ten feet in front of him before splitting into two and flying by him on both sides. Both pieces of the massive stone ball contained flying into the factories on both sides of the street causing them to collapse as Major Bolt turned and looked at them, in a strange combination of shock, and relief, “whoa… that… was… um… what in Luna’s nights was that supposed to be? I wonder if it had something to do with those loud explosions I heard. I gotta find the Equestrian forces, as soon as possible. Whatever’s ahead, I don’t like it.”
Major Bolt then turned and continued down the street as fast as he could towards the second gate hoping to reach the front before the battle ended.
Back at the slums where the cannon’s were placed, Sergeant Major Storm and the crew of griffin picked themselves off the ground as he sighed, “Why is it so hard for anything to go as expected?... sometimes I'm wondering if Celestia is testing me.”
Before Storm could continue to complain, an enemy griffin charged from the smoke in front of him. But before the griffin could strike the unsuspecting pony, one of the griffin refugees tackled the griffin from the side and started punching the soldier while he was on the ground. Then when the soldier tried to reach for his weapon, his talon was crushed as Sergeant Major Storm recovered his Morningstar and brought down the spiked iron ball on his talon without hesitation. As the enemy griffin screamed in pain, Storm looked around as the poor griffin refugees’ fought back the Griffin rebels using nothing more than their bare talons and whatever rubble or tools they could find. As the enemy griffin was finally killed by the merciless beating that the griffin refugee was giving, Storm smiled, “wow, you griffin don’t play around do you?”
The refugee stopped pinning the corpse to the ground and smiled, “When we said we have your back… we meant it. A lot of us look at you ponies as an inspiration. You may be smaller and weaker than your enemy… but you still face them with the courage that only you can show.”
Storm smiled, “Thanks… I think…”
Sergeant Major Storm looked at the remaining cannon that didn’t fire and smiled, “I have an idea… do we have any gunpowder left?”
The refugee nodded, “Yes sir, only two barrels though, why?”
Storm replied with a devious smile, “I have a plan to use this dud to our advantage… Have the other refugees continue holding the enemy back, while they do that, I'll need your help. We are going to make this last cannon as useful as the first.”
At the front of the second gate, Major Bolt tried to find a way through the rubble as he heard a voice call to him, “m-major…”
As Major Bolt looked at the edge of the rubble, he could see Colonel Gill lying on the ground with a spear in his chest. Major Bolt rushed to the dying griffin and looked at his wound, “Oh no… Gill, we got to get this ou…”
“It’s ok Bolt… it wouldn’t help anyway. I know how bad my wound is… and I'm ready for death.”
Major Bolt tried to reach for the spear to pull it from his chest while Gill stopped him, “no… don’t… I’ve been ready for this day for a long time… even if you try; I’ve lost too much blood. and you can’t get me to a medic in time.”
“You say that as if you’re giving up…”
“I said that because I know what’s next… I'm going to die here Bolt… I'm a griffin. At birth, we accept death, because all we know is how to fight. War is what we are raised to do, and only a fool will fight in a battle without considering the chance that he will not live through it. I fought long and hard to be in this battle, and if I won’t live to see this war end… then I'll gladly die as a soldier who fought in it.”
Major Bolt tried to argue with the dying griffin, “Yea bu…”
“Look at how many you’ve killed thus far, how many you’ve seen die in this war. You think they weren’t ready for it? You think that they expected to die? And if so… how many did you try to save?...”
Thinking about the question, Major Bolt lowered his head, “I… I…”
“Exactly… this is what war brings. This is what it means for those caught in the middle. I… no we are soldiers. And we will remain as such until death, or retirement. That is the life we live, don’t you get it?”
Major Bolt suddenly realized that those were close to the same words that Traipse said back in Kestrel. Then Colonel Gill continued, “You still have that princess to fight for right?”
“What?”
Gill smiled, “Storm told me all about her… you aim high, but you need to understand, if you die here… then you will never get your chance… that’s my only regret in my life. I'll never see my wife again, but knowing I fell in battle will be all she needs to understand what I'm fighting for.”
Colonel Gill reached into his armor, pulled out a picture of her, and spoke, “if… if you see her… can you tell her that? Tell her I died fighting…”
As Major Bolt grabbed the picture he replied, “Of course… rest easy my friend.”
Colonel Gill nodded his head as he laid back and quietly pass away. As Major Bolt looked at the photo, he was amazed to find that it was the same griffin who gave Commander Mist the letter in Trottingham. Major Bolt sighed as he put the letter in one of the pockets on his armor and sighed, “I'll see that she gets it friend… I promise.”
Major Bolt then turned to the rubble that was the second gate and opened his wings to fly over it, but when he did, he cringed as he felt a pop in his wing followed by a lot of pain. as he looked at his wing he figured it was still hurting him from when it was dislocated so instead of flying over the rubble he just decided to climb through it instead.
Further, into the slums, Commander Mist was fighting off enemy soldiers as Storm called to him from the top of the cannon, “It’s ready sir!”
Commander Mist replied, “Then get your plot in gear and let’s fall back!”
As Commander Mist turned to retreat, he stopped when he saw Traipse standing in his path, “hello again commander… lovely day for a battle isn’t it?”
Commander Mist glared at his foe as he replied, “You… I’ve been waiting for you…”
Using his magic Commander Mist picked up two spears and tossed them at Traipse. The skilled mercenary managed to dodge both spears by jumping backward allowing them both to dig into the ground in front of him. Thinking fast and reacting faster, Traipse grabbed the closest spear and pulled it from the ground as he charged forward using the spear staff to volt himself into the air for an aerial strike.
As the airborne mercenary was nearing his target, Storm quickly rushed between the two and brought the ball of the Morningstar into Traipse gut with enough force to stop him but not enough force for the spikes to penetrate his armor. Then with the earth pony being held up by the weapon, Storm flung Traipse off his morning star as he hit the ground near the massive cannon. As Traipse picked himself up from the ground he coughed then smiled, “good one… that’s about as cheap a shot as you can give.”
Sergeant Major Storm nodded his head as he replied, “really… then you’ll love this…”
Sergeant Major Storm then bashed his weapon against a shield creating sparks along with his swing. As the sparks flew they landed on a small pile of black powder that nopony other than Storm knew about on the ground. As the sparks ignited the powder, it made a small trail that led straight to the base of the cannon before lighting a long fast burning fuse that lead to the top of the unused weapon.as Traipse followed the flame to the cannon with his eyes, he realized what was happening as he quickly turned to run away, “UH SH…”
As Traipse tried to run from the large weapon, Storm grabbed Commander Mist by his horn and forced him to the ground as he took cover next to him. Then the massive cannon exploded in a loud booming sound that once again echoed throughout the entire city.
Immediately following the explosion, a cloud of thick smoke filled the area making it impossible to see the damage done to the enemy forces. As Storm picked himself up from the ground and looked around he smiled, “Well… we lived after all. I though the explosion would be a lot bigger.”
Commander Mist stood up and looked at him, “wait… you mean you lit the fuse expecting that thing to kill us?”
Sergeant Major Storm laughed, “It worked didn’t it? Besides, I don’t see Traipse anywhere, do you? He got caught in the blast.”
Realizing Storm was right, only made Commander Mist more nervous. He didn’t see Traipse anywhere… meaning there wasn’t even a corpse to confirm his death. As Commander Mist looked around he replied, “Don’t drop your guard, He has a reputation for pulling himself out of the worst scrapes imaginable. I know better than to underestimate him.”
Taking his commander’s advice, Sergeant Major Storm started looking around to see if he could spot the mercenary before he could ambush them. Just then, Storm saw a shadow in the smoke ahead so he held his Morning star at the ready and called it, “There!”
Commander Mist looked towards the shadow and picked up a spear with his magic. However as the two soldiers observed the distant shadow, Traipse charged in from behind and kicked Sergeant Major Storm in the back of his head knocking him to the ground. As Storm tried to get up, Traipse picked up his morning star and swung it around bashing Storm on his side and tossing his body out of the way like a rag doll. Too weak to move, Sergeant Major Storm laid on the ground where he was tossed while Traipse pointed the Morningstar at Commander Mist and spoke, “Now… it’s just you… and me. Let’s finish what we stared almost thirty years ago.”
Commander Mist sneered at his opponent and replied, “Fine by me.”
As Commander Mist held the spear with his magic, Traipse shook his head and changed his stance from hostile to casual as he looked at the Morningstar, “No… we settle this like stallions. No weapons… no magic… just my bare hooves… against yours. As a stallion who respects a worthy opponent, I want this to be fair.”
Watching Traipse toss the morning star away from him made Commander Mist smile as he nodded his head, “agreed… this is a matter that should be settled equally.”
Traipse smiled, as he unlatched his metal horse shoes, knocked them away from him and braced himself to charge, “Ready?”
Commander Mist smiled, “Set…”
Both stallion charged at each other as they both yelled “GO!!!”
As the distance between the two quickly closed, Traipse threw his rear hooves low to the ground and slid as he tried to knock Commander Mist’s hooves out from under him. With barely, enough time to react, Commander Mist jumped into the air only to have his right hind leg grabbed as Traipse reached for him while he was sliding. With the counter motion from his body and his hind leg, Commander Mist was slammed against the ground on his chest as Traipse quickly spun around to his hooves and tried to bring the restrained pony’s hind hoof over his back to break it. Thinking fast, Commander Mist quickly rolled himself around using his other hind hoof to kick Traipse across his face causing him to let go and step back in a stunned daze. Commander Mist quickly rolled back onto his hooves as he reached up and grabbed the stunned stallion by his neck. Using all of his strength, Commander Mist flung Traipse over his shoulder and slammed him on the ground.
With the dazed pony at his mercy, Commander Mist started bashing Traipse’s head against the ground continuously. Trying to regain his focus, Traipse curled his hind hooved inward and used his shoulders to trust them upward, kicking Commander Mist in his face and tossing him a number of feet into the air before he hit the ground, on his back almost ten feet from his starting position. Both stallions quickly rolled onto their hooves and faced each other as they wiped the blood that was dripping from both their muzzles. Then in a fit of blinded rage the two stallion charged at each other and threw the same punch with all their might hitting each other on the opposing cheek and knocking each other back to the ground. Feeling the full force of their rival’s punch, the ponies laid on the ground for a few seconds before stumbling back to their hooves. Breathing heavily, the two stallions looked at each other trying to regain all their senses, while Traipse smiled, “Good… very good… it’s been a long time since I had this much fun…”
Commander Mist nodded his head, “you’re just as good as the rumors say… I'm impressed I lasted this long…”
As the two soldiers tried regaining their breath, they noticed that the smoke around them had cleared up and that the griffin rebels had already claimed this area and were continuing their charge. Then a call was heard from one of the Rebels, “The third gate has been breached! Our soldiers are advancing through the Noble district!”
Still dazed, Traipse picked himself up and smiled at his opponent, “Well… it’s been fun… But I better head back… Blade will be looking for me.”
Commander Mist stood up and replied, “What? No! we are here to settle this now…”
“It’s done commander… my contract with the griffin general only went as far as the third wall. Nothing personal… it’s just business.”
Traipse then trotted past Commander Mist and started making his way down the road back to the front of the city as Commander Mist yelled, “STOP!!! You’re not going anywhere! Your business with the general is over, but you and I have unsettled business to attend to.”
Traipse stopped and turned around, “Really? I see no point in working for you right now… The griffin king is too young to gain my trust. So I won’t work for you… sorry.”
Commander Mist got angry, “That’s not what I'm talking about! You killed a good soldier of mine and I aim to ge…”
Commander Mist froze, as Major Bolt came galloping from behind Traipse and stopped readying himself to fight, “Commander! You need any help!”
Traipse looked at Major Bolt and smiled, “oh… Bolt, I was wondering when you would make it. but you’re a little late. My contract with the general has expired so I'm not going any further today. But I'm glad you made it nonetheless.”
Commander Mist yelled, “BOLT! You’re supposed to be dead!”
Major Bolt gave him a funny look and replied, “Oh, gee thanks for the positive reinforcement commander.”
Traipse couldn’t help but laugh at his joke he played then he replied, “Well since you two are reunited, I think I should take my leave. It was a good fight commander… one of which I hope to never finish. I rather continue life thinking we are perfect equals then to know I'm better or worse then you. May Celestia watch over you… or whatever you Equestrian ponies say.”
With that unusual way of saying goodbye, Traipse trotted past Major Bolt and down the road leading to the main city gate. Major Bolt turned and tried to stop him, “COME BACK HERE AN…”
“Don’t…”
“Don’t? But commander he…”
Commander Mist trotted next to Major Bolt and put his hoof on his shoulder, “A mercenary fights until his contract ends, then he stops. If he held any grudge he would have continued, but that’s his choice entirely. The way I see it, if he refuses to fight back, then he isn’t a threat. That’s just how war is fought, we are not murderers, we are soldiers. We fight only those who fight us… and if it’s any conciliation… I'm glad you’re alright sparky.”
Commander Mist trotted over to Sergeant Major Storm who was lying on the ground in pain from the attack, “Storm… you ok?”
Storm struggled to pick himself up as he replied, “yea… I'm fine; I think my Morningstar just broke a rib… or five.”
As Commander Mist helped Storm up from the ground, Major Bolt continued his argument, “Sir! That pony is responsible for the death of many of our soldiers. To include Commander Shriek and Colonel Gill… Do any of their lives matter to you?”
Commander Mist looked back and replied, “Sparky… we are soldiers, and there is no such thing as a war that claims no lives. But do you think we should kill him just because we lost a few friends?”
“YES! Sir we…”
“That’s enough! What’s done is done. There is no reason to discuss this now…”
At that moment, one of the griffin refugees ran up and spoke, “Commander! The enemy they…”
Commander Mist interrupted, “I know, I know, they breached the third wall.”
“N-no sir… they breached the castle! A small force had entered the castle through the back and are fighting their way to the king sir!”
Commander Mist immediately reacted, “Major Bolt, stay with Storm, I'm going to save the king.”
“Sir I can fight too let me…”
“That won’t be necessary, I can handle this.”
“But sir I…”
Commander Mist turned and yelled, “THAT’S AN ORDER BOLT!!!”
Major Bolt took a step back in shock, in all of the years he has been raised and trained by Commander Mist; he has never seen an outburst from him like this before. Feeling like a foal who did something, wrong, Major Bolt lowered his head and replied, “Alright… I'll stay here…”
“ALRIGHT WHAT? WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO SOLDIER!!!”
Feeling even worse, Major Bolt stood up straight and replied, “Yes Commander… I'll stay here with Storm.”
Commander Mist kept his serious expression as he turned around and began sprinting to the castle as fast as he could. He felt a little bad about being so rough on Major Bolt, but with fear of losing him for real, Commander Mist wanted to know that Major Bolt would be safe, even if the battlefield was the safest place to be right now.
Back in the industrial district, Traipse continued casually trotting back to the city gate until something shiny caught his eye. Traipse approached the small shard of metal and immediacy recognized it. It was a piece of metal from the Cupids Kiss, Traipse immediately looked around until he saw Blade lying in a nearby wagon. As he approached her, he checked her pulse and found that she was only unconscious so he looked around to see what could have done this but all he found was all her weapon parts in a pile next to the wagon. Feeling that it was his duty to look after his partner, he connected the wagon to himself and began pulling it back to the front of the city, “Well… at least you’re not dead. This has been one he…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Traipse saw spotted the factory that was destroyed by one half of the stone cannonball. Traipse then unhooked himself from the wagon and trotted over to the large broken cannonball. As he ran his hoof along the point where it split into two, he mumbled to himself, “This… this isn’t a break… it’s a cut. But it’s a very familiar cut, one that I haven’t seen since…”
Traipse looked around him trying to find more clues, but when his search came up empty he just sighed, and reconnected the wagon as he mumbled, “I can’t say it’s her… but I don’t know who else it could be. Are you still watching over him?”
Back at the castle, the king sat in his throne with an uneasy expression on his face. Colonel Orem looked at his leader and asked, “Your majesty? How are you feeling?”
The young annoyed king looked at him and replied, “Oh, I'm doing well Orem… how about you? Are you feeling well, knowing that the wretched ponies are blowing up my city outside hmm? Or that there is a pathetic Traitor after my head? Are you feeling special, KNOWING THAT YOUR ONLY TASK RIGHT NOW IT TO SEE THAT I STAY ALIVE!!! KNOWING FULL AND WELL THAT THEY DON’T CARE WHETHER YOU LIVE OR DIE HMM!!!”
Colonel Orem stood his ground knowing that the outburst was just the cries of a worried cub, while the kings teacher spoke, “Temper your majesty, temper… you know that remaining calm shows your strength in ba…”
“I AM CALM!!!”
Just then a loud cry came from the Equestrian Forces outside the throne room, “ENEMIES IN THE CASTLE GET THEM!!!”
After a brief moment of metal on metal clashing and the cries of dying soldiers, all noises outside the throne room ceased and everything became so silent, that the battle outside the castle was all that could be heard.
After a few minutes that seemed like an eternity for the suspense-filled trio, the massive doors that lead into the throne room, slowly opened with a loud creaking sound as the griffin general entered the room carrying one of the Equestrian ponies who was struggling to get free. The general then turned to his last remaining soldier and spoke, “Stand behind me and don’t let any enter.”
The soldier replied, “Yes sir!”
The king stood up and tried everything he could to hide his fear, as the general held the struggling pony out in front of him and spoke, “Is this… your pet your majesty?”
After a few seconds of silence, the griffin quickly drew his sword and pushed the blade through the pony’s back exposing the blade out his chest before pulling the sword back out, “Oops… it slipped.”
The as the dying pony stopped moving, the griffin general tossed the corpse forward letting it hit the ground mere feet from the king, “You’re out of peasants your majesty, so unless you think you can take me on yourself, I'd surrender your crown, otherwise you might find that a sword can be used may times before it needs replacing. In fact if you surrender now, I'll spare your life, now how does that sound?”
In fear, the Griffin teacher turned and screamed as he ran the opposite direction, “Some griffin save me!”
The general smiled as he gave an order, “Kill him…”
Reacting quickly to his order, the griffin blocking the door raised his spear and tossed across the throne room hitting the fleeing griffin in his back. As the teacher fell to the ground dead, the king looked back in terror at his fallen teacher as the general spoke, “you see… none want to protect you. You will never be the king your father once was, and any attempt to try, will only lead to death.”
The cub looked at his foe and spoke with confidence, “My crown is mine and mine alone. Passed down to me by my father as was to him by his. Though I may never be the king he was… I would die before I ever pass my crown to any griffin other than my future son. So don’t think because you made it this far that I will ever kneel to the likes of an anarchist. I would give you an option to surrender or die… but I will not show mercy to the likes of you.”
The general started walking forward as he smiled, “Well, I'll say this much, I didn’t expect you of all griffin to talk to me li…”
Before the griffin could finish his sentence, Colonel Orem quietly stepped in front of him and blocked his path to the king.
The intrigued general looked Colonel Orem dead in the eye and spoke, “Step aside.”
Orem didn’t reply all he did was stare the general in the eye and hold his ground. The griffin general smiled, “Oh… you must be the powder thrower, right? What was your name? Orem was right? How does it feel to be this cub’s guinea pig for his weapon tests?”
Orem continued holding his silence as he opened the pouch on his side. The general drew his sword and continued, “Well, loyal and quiet… a good quality in a personal guard eh your majesty? Nevertheless, I don’t have all day so I'll tell you again… Step aside.”
Orem continued holding his ground in silence as the griffin general sighed, “Too bad with a griffin of your reputation I would have seen you as a good commander once this war was over, oh well I guess the good do die young.”
With little warning, the griffin general raised his weapon up and attempted to bring it down on the silent guard, but as he did Orem reached up, caught the blade with the iron gauntlet on his talon, and smiled, “My king comes first traitor.”
With the iron linking in the gauntlet protecting his talon, Colonel Orem jerked the sword until the blade hit the ground, then he slid it across the ground over a clear liquid that was hidden from the general’s view. As the sparks from the grinding blade hit the liquid, it instantly ignited into flame creating a wall of fire that split the room in two, separating the king from his foe.
With the flames quickly rising between the two, both the general and Orem had to jump back to avoid being caught on the six foot wall of flames that rose through the room. With the feathers on his face slightly fayed, the general quickly rubbed his face and began to laugh, “You know what the best thing about a worthy opponent is? They never cease to amaze you.”
Then as he looked back at the fire, he saw Colonel Orem hovering just over it with something in his left talon. The general quickly tried to brace himself for an attack but before he could, Orem scattered black sand over the flames that ignited in a singed flame that fell towards the griffin general. The general quickly jumped out of the path of the falling flames, then brushed off his feathers thinking he was on fire. As he looked back at his opponent, Colonel Orem dove towards him with the metal claws on his talon exposed and ready to finish this quickly. Expecting an aerial attack, the griffin general switched the way he was holding his sword so that the blade was below the palm of his talon. Colonel Orem swung his gauntlet hoping to dig the razor sharp claws into his opponents face, but the clever general ducked, dodging the attack as he brought the handle of his sword up into Orem’s gut, knocking the breath from his lings as it sent him crashing to the ground behind his opponent. Orem quickly shuffled to his paws, but with no time to counter. The griffin General swing his sword to strike his enemy, but Orem barley had enough time to catch the blade with his gauntlet a second time, only this time, he didn’t have enough focus to avoid what came next.
With his sword gripped by his enemy, the griffin general grabbed Colonel Orem’s bag of black powder with his free talon, and broke the strap as he tossed it away from them before using the same talon to grab Colonel Orem by his throat. Orem tried all he could to get free, but unless he released the generals sword, he couldn’t do anything. The general then pushed Colonel Orem back to the closest palace column and slammed the weakened griffin against the column continuously until finally Colonel Orem became too dazed to keep hold of the general’s sword. With his body, now weakened by the continuous beating he had just sustained, Colonel Orem lost his grip as general managed to pull his blade free of the iron gauntlet. The general smiled as he sheathed his sword, turned, and grabbed Orem’s gauntlet, “Such a deadly weapon… and yet, useless and fragile.”
The general then slammed Orem’s gauntlet against the column and broke the support ring that held the weapon together. Now with the gauntlets support ring broken, the weapon fell to pieces as the general released Orem’s talon and smiled, “Funny, your gauntlet is just like the king’s crown. Without it, he is nothing, just like you.”
Too weak to get free, Orem replied, “Says… the griffin who crosses… th-the crown.”
The general smiled, “Then you will die first.”
The general began walking towards the still burning wall of fire; dragging the griffin behind him as he spoke aloud so the king could hear him, “How do you like your guards your majesty? Medium, or well done? I for one prefer them still bleeding myself!”
The king looked away as the griffin general approached the fire dragging Orem behind him, “Any last word guinea pig?”
The colonel looked him and the eye and tried to reply, “Fuc…”
Before Colonel Orem could curse the general’s name, an echoed scream came from the doorway as the lone griffin rebel fell to the ground with a spear in his back. All three remaining griffin looked at the doorway as Commander Mist entered, the room and pulled the spear from the soldiers back with his magic, “That’s far enough!”
The griffin general sighed, “Does anygriffin else think that there are way too many ponies in this war? Seriously! What gives?”
Commander Mist continued into the room and yelled, “The Cutters are no longer yours to command. It’s over!”
The general smiled, “oh I beg to differ pony… if this griffin soldier couldn’t stand up to me, then what makes you think you could?”
With a serious expression, Commander Mist replied, “Because, I’m not a griffin… I’m a Unicorn!”
With that said, Commander Mist used his magic, to pull the spear from the dead griffin in front of him and send it flying towards the General. Reacting quickly, the general dropped Colonel Orem and drew his sword knocking the spear out of the way with the same movement. As the spear flew away from him, the general smiled, “Magic or not, you’re still a po…”
Before the general could finish his sentence, a spear flew in from behind him piercing his back and exposing the blade out his right shoulder. The King, Orem, and the general were shocked about what had just happened. The General grabbed his shoulder in pain as he looked behind him and saw that not only did the commander use the spear he brought with him, but he also used the spear that was still in the teacher’s corpse. As the general turned back to sneer at Commander Mist, he was quickly caught off guard as Commander Mist sent his first spear at him a second time leaving him only enough time to raise his sword and block it. However, when the griffin blocked the incoming attack, he didn’t brace himself so with the force of the spear pushing him, he fell backwards hitting the shaft of the spear in his back and causing the blade to get pushed further out his front until finally he rolled to stop the intense pain he was feeling.
With the incredible pain in his shoulder and his senses dulled by his rage, the griffin broke off both ends of the spear so that the small part that was inside his body was all that remained. Then he picked himself up and glared at his foe, “You… you son-of-a…”
“As I said… It’s over. Or shall I prove you wrong a second time?”
With those words said, Commander Mist used his magic to pick up all four metal claws that had fallen off Colonel Orem’s gauntlet. With each one hovering in the air, even the king new they would be like razor sharp arrows with Commander Mist’s magic controlling them. With his advantages in ruins, the general was thinking as fast as he could on his next move. However, there was only one option he could think of, though it wasn’t something he ever planned on.
Trying to act calm, and ignoring his pain, the general began to pace away from Orem’s exhausted body and along the wall of flames, “You know… you ponies are better than I though… and the cutters were also a good example. Why don’t you work for me? I promise I can make it worth it.”
Commander Mist tried to watch the griffins actions as he replied, “I’ll pass…”
The general approached Orem’s pouch that was laying in the ground with the black powder spilled on the floor. Then he smiled, “really… that’s too BAD!”
The cleaver griffin opened his wing and slid it across the ground picking up the spilled powder and sending it into the air completely concealing him as Commander Mist sent one of the claws straight at him.
With the powder concealing the griffin general, he jumped into the air dodging the metal claw as it passed through and hit the wall on the other side of him. Trying to take this opportunity, the griffin general flew straight for a stain glass window that was near the top of the large throne room. Commander Mist saw the griffins escape attempt, so he sent another claw straight at him, aiming for the griffin’s right wing. The small claw stick into the griffin’s wing throwing off his aim as he approached the window. With this slight shift in direction, the griffin’s wing hit the window pain as the rest of his body crashed through the stained glass, giving him numerous cuts and scratched, but also breaking his wing on contact as he rolled out the window and fell into the castle garden. Wasting no time at all, the griffin general rolled himself around and could only slow his crash so that he could gain a running start as he sprinted from the castle garden and into the alleys of the noble district.
Back in the throne room, Commander Mist looked at the King and spoke, “There is no need to go after him your majesty. As I said, The Cutters don’t work for him anymore, and with no attained crown or assets from this battle, he will be forced to go into hiding, since he will now be their next target.”
With those words said, Commander Mist trotted over to Colonel Orem to check on his wounds while the king could only stand there speechless as to what he just witnessed. His personal guard, the only griffin who mastered Powder throwing the most dangerous form of combat known; just fell. While this pony, this weaker species not only succeeded with flying colors… but without sustaining so much as a scratch. He couldn’t believe the power that this pony alone could control. He started imagining the devastation that a whole platoon of ponies could do, or worse, an entire army. With power like this, the Griffin Kingdoms would fall in a matter of days.
The king hid his concerns while he replied, “Barbaric… but impressive. You and your soldiers did well commander. Go out and send the word. Tell all who are still fighting that the Griffin Rebellion’s leader has fallen and this battle and war have ended!”
Commander Mist nodded his head as he replied, “Yes your majesty.”
As Commander Mist turned to follow his orders, the king called to him, “Oh and commander… when you’re done gather your remaining soldiers here, I want to speak with the heroes of this war.”
Felling skeptic, but honored, Commander Mist nodded his head, “yes your majesty I will.”
As Commander Mist turned to leave the throne room, a number of Griffin Royal soldiers entered the room and hauled the wounded Colonel Orem off to see a medic. The king then mumbled to himself, “These ponies… they are much stronger then I though… I guess it’s time to deal with them.”
Just outside the palace walls, the Griffin General quietly made his way through the alleys of the noble district trying to avoid every Royal soldier he could as he mumbled, “Ponies… I can’t believe I was beaten by a pony… this is the second time I had to deal with that troublesome species. I swear if I ever see a pony again I’ll…”
as the general made his way through the alley, he felt a dark presence around him, so he stopped and looked around. He carefully examined every inch of his surroundings but he couldn’t see anything so his just continued down the alley in silence. It wasn’t ten steps more that he felt the presence a second time. Stopping and readying himself for an attack despite his injuries the griffin yelled “SHOW YOURSELF!!!”
Like before, the griffin looked around but didn’t see anything other than the alley around him. The griffin mumbled to himself, “Must be my imagina…”
As the griffin turned to continue down his path, he stopped short when he saw his reflection on the blade of a scythe that was being held from behind him with the blade curving in front of his head and the point resting against the wall of the alley. The griffin started trembling in fear as he also saw a cloaked figure in the reflection from the scythe. The griffin cleared his throat as he started to speak, “W-who… who are you?”
The figure replied, “You hired the services of The Cutters for this job… correct?”
The griffin swallowed as he continued, “Y-yes… I did…”
The figure continued, “Tell me… did you pay them? And don’t lie to me… I can see the answer in your eyes, trying to hide behind your fear.”
The Griffin thought to himself and replied with increasing fear, “You’re her… aren’t you you’re The Rea…”
“Answer my question… have you, or have you not paid the cutters for their services?
He replied, “I… I haven’t. But I was going to whe…”
Before the griffin could finish his sentence, the scythe was quickly jerked back making a loud scraping sound as the tip of the blade ran against the wall cutting and killing everything between the blade and its wielder. As the now dead general fell to the ground, the figure flung the blood from her scythe and sighed, “Yet another life ended… I guess this is a curse I’ll never escape. Too bad, I started to enjoy the quiet life.”
With that said, the figure vanished into the shadows leaving nothing behind, but a gash in the wall, and a dead foe.