//------------------------------// // Chapter 9: ...and Into the Inferno // Story: Ace Combat: Gryphon Wings // by Bwaak //------------------------------// Chapter 9: …and Into the Inferno Military Academy, Gryphus, Griffin Kingdom May 16th 2020, 0715 hrs Morning light shines the capital of the Griffin Kingdom. As usual, the residence of the capital began their daily activities when Celestia’s sun peeked through the tall mountains. Black Star stirred from his bed and opened his bloodshot eyes.         “I overslept again…” he quietly thought as he noticed the morning sun shine through the window. Carefully, he stood up and did his usual stretchings before he opened the window. Fresh mountain air filled his nostrils, but he didn’t care about it much. He’d been through another nightmare, but thanks to Princess Luna’s well-timed interference, the nightmares had been toned down.         “At least she made the nights more durable than before…” Black Star thought as he watched the sun slowly rise from the east. “But even she can’t stop the nightmares like mine…” Black Star carefully recalled the last time the Princess of the Night said those words to him. Black Star sat on the ground in silence with Princess Luna standing before him. She had just saved him from another nightmare, with the remnants of said nightmares becoming nothing more than a few puffs of black smoke and clouds hugging the corners, trying to stay away from the dark coated alicorn.         “I must say, Blake. Your nightmares are very persistent on tormenting you,” the lunar princess spoke to him.         “I’ve noticed,” Black Star responded flatly, clearly not caring one bit about speaking with somepony with great power like Luna. “They kept coming back… even though I tried every possible way to suppress them.”         “Maybe suppressing them isn’t the right action for you, Blake,” Luna answered. “The more you deny these nightmares, the stronger they get.”         “Thanks for the damn info…” Black Star muttered, keeping his head down. Luna’s smile began to fade as she watched the griffon sitting before her. She never saw anyone this miserable in their dreams, Black Star’s guilt about killing Firefly’s parents must be greater than she initially thought. She knew that Black Star was unable to let the guilt go and let himself be tormented by it.         “I know that you’re suffering from you guilt, Blake, and these nightmares that tormented you for ten months was the result of your inability to forgive yourself for what happened in the past with Firefly.” Luna spoke with a powerful voice, but then, she lowered her voice, and Black Star could hear shame radiating from her last words “Even I have to admit that I’m unable to rid yourself from these nightmares… I’m truly sorry for that.” Black Star lowered his head even more, seemingly resigning to his fate.         “However,” Black Star’s ears perked up again when the lunar princess spoke again, “I can cast a temporary spell for you so you can at least endure the nightmares from this night onwards, but the only way for you to be rid of these nightmares forever is to forgive yourself, Blake…” After finishing her sentence, Black Star felt a burst of magic surge through his body. The dark remnants of his nightmares hissed and back up even more as they felt an enormous magical barrier around Black Star. For the first time in ten months, Black Star felt safe and secure inside his own mind.         “Thank you…” Black Star spoke with a small voice. Luna only smiled warmly at his gratitude.         “No need to thank us. Everyone deserved redemption, Blake. Including you…” After finishing her sentence, Luna spread her wings and took into the air. Black Star suddenly realized something.         “Princess Luna, wait!”         “What is it, Blake?” Luna responded as she hovered in the air.         “Please, do not inform Firefly of my current whereabouts,” Black Star spoke.         “May we ask, why?”         “It’s for the best, princess…” Black Star admitted. “I’m still unable to swallow the guilt of seeing her again… She reminds me too much of my greatest mistake.” Luna took the moment to consider Black Star’s sudden proposal. Finally, she let out a small chuckle and gave the black feathered griffon a wink of reassurance.         “Very well, this will be our little secret.” With her last word, Luna resumed her ascension towards the moon before disappearing in a bright flash of light. Black Star was now alone again, watching the large full moon giving him a small bit of warmth and protection as Luna’s words echoed through his distant mind as he slowly drifted from his sleep to reality.         Forgive yourself…         Forgive myself…         “Forgive myself…” Black Star muttered those words while watching rising sun and the citizens of Gryphus flying around the capital. Black Star sighed as he turned from the window and picked up yesterday’s newspaper to to re-read it to kill some time. The newspaper was already four weeks old, as the front page news was covering the return of Frostbite’s body to his family. The picture showed Valdar and Celestia handing over Frostbite’s corpse to the pegasus’ father who was on the verge of tears. The reunion between the deceased pegasus and his family was quite heartbreaking. Frostbite’s mother fainted at the sight of her son’s corpse, and his father was trying his best to hold his tears when he accepted his son’s body. Valdar immediately apologized to Frostbite’s family and vowed to bring justice for the killers. The griffon king even stayed for a day to attend Frostbite’s funeral in the “Garden of The Fallen”..Another photo on the newspaper revealed Frostbite’s grave was marked: Here lies Frostbite. Wonderbolt 3 A brave Wonderbolt and the first victim of war. Black Star sighed as he put the newspaper away. It had been four weeks since the encounter with the red Juggernaut… or should he say Frostbite, which caused all members of Aquila, Verde, and some members from Northwind squadron to be excused from all military duties until they could fully recover. Jet’s Verde squadron soon went back into the air under orders from Valdar. Jet, who had since recovered from his injuries, was glad he could fly again, but the green griffon was reluctant on leaving Wave, who was still recovering from his spinal injuries behind from the actions. Wave assured his teammates that he wass fine and the doctors predicted that he should recover within three weeks thanks to the zebrican medicine. Good news aside, the Belkans managed to hack away what little remnants of the griffon forces were defending front lines. Approximately over 60 griffon soldiers had been killed in action, and more were captured by the Belkans. The casualties were the result of the sudden push by the Belkan and mercenary forces after the Juggernaut incident. Crimson and Silver squadrons reported that they suffered heavy losses and were forced to retreat along with the Wonderbolts and other Hoofstian forces, leaving Hoofstio at the mercy of the Belkan forces. Their last report that they were currently packing things up in Valais Air Base to return to Gryphus under Valdar’s orders. The Hoofstian forces, though reluctant to leave their country behind, decided that they were going to aid the griffon forces first before liberating their country from the Belkans again. Luckily for them, the neighboring griffon and pony nations around Hoofstio agreed to make a stronghold to prevent the Belkans from claiming more grounds. The griffon forces also received more help from their equine allies from the south in the form of five new squadrons which arrived just a week ago. The squadrons consisted of two pegasi squadrons, two unicorn battalions and the Lunar Guards. Black Star didn’t know who the two pegasi squadrons’ names yet, and the same could be said for the two unicorn battalions. He only knew the name of the Lunar Guard’s leader, Red Moon: a pegasus stallion with bright golden eyes who had some bat-like features on his wings. Black Star had to admit, Red Moon’s appearance reminded him of himself at times. Thanks to the newly arrived help from Equestria, the griffon forces managed to retake a strategic sector near the city of Pisa. Black Star heard from the chatting recruits that a large scale operation was planned soon to retake Pisa to gain more ground. Pisa was the jewel of the Drakenridge mountains and the city held the many preserved ancient griffon cultures, customs, traditions, and even ancient structures from the early founding days of the Griffin Empire. His thoughts came to a halt as two familiar griffons flew near the window. Black Star smiled when he saw Kite and Stalker chasing each other and doing some combat maneuvers together.         “Damn, I knew that you’re fast, but I never thought that you were this fast, pipsqueak!” Stalker yelled as he dove to the ground with Kite flew upwards into the sky. Both griffons passed each other as they laughed in joy.         “Heh, and I never knew you could be this persistent, Stalker!” Kite squawked as he prepared himself for another dive. Suddenly, Kite found himself being tackled from behind as a familiar feminine voice chuckled behind him.         “Watch your back, pipsqueak!” Rave giggled as she wrapped her limb around Kite’s head and gave the small griffon a noogie. “… and watch your head too!”         “Hey, Rave. Stop that!” Kite laughed as Rave let him go. The crow griffoness stuck out her tongue and flew away. Kite laughed and followed suit.         “Hey, get your own partner, egghead!” Stalker squawked in annoyance. “Kite’s teaching me some maneuvers!”         “You snooze you lose, Sir Big Beaked idiot!” Rave mocked him with a sing-songy voice, causing Stalker to growl and chase the two griffons. The trio chased each other around the military academy, laughing and having a great time with one another; until Black Star noticed Breaker coming out from the building in a hurry. The tan griffon’s face showed some concern as he tried to locate his three friends. When he finally found them flying overhead, he yelled as loud as he could,         “Oi, dweebs! I think you guys better come inside and see this!!” Rave was the first one who heard Breaker’s call.         “See what exactly, hm?” she sneered. “Your over-inflated ego?” Stalker and Kite snickered at Rave’s remark while Breaker only frowned in response.         “Oh ha-ha, very funny Rave. I’m dead serious here! There’s something you guys gotta check out right now! It’s on the news!!” The three young griffons looked at each other, they never seen Breaker this distressed before.         “Yeah well, you can show that later…” Stalker said while rolling his eyes. “We still got some training to do.”         “Guys, I’m serious here. C’mon!!” Breaker whined. The three griffons glanced at each other before Rave let out a groan in defeat.         “Okay fine. You win, Breaker.” Rave descended first, followed by Kite and eventually, a groaning Stalker. Black Star, who was also interested in what could have made Breaker like this, exited his room and headed straight for the main dining hall where the other recruits gathered around a large TV screen which showed a news griffoness reading the news.         “Oh, Black Star! Good morning!” Decoy greeted the dark feathered griffon with a grin. Rosepink immediately hid herself behind Ricochet’s wings though the latter assured her that Black Star won’t scare her again.         “Morning,” Black Star answered. “What’s going on here, and why is Breaker acting strange?” The recruits glanced at each other and mumbled something. Even Decoy’s cheerful smile was gone and replaced by a solid frown. Before any of the recruits could give the black griffon an answer, Breaker with Rave, Kite, and Stalker entered the hall from the same door Black Star came through.         “Oh, you…” Breaker frowned at Black Star before he turned his attention at Ricochet. “Hey, Rico. Is it on yet?”         “No, not ye— Oh hell, speak of the devil… It just started!” Ricochet answered as the news griffoness on the television screen began to read the news the recruits were all waiting for. Breaker flew into the group and hovered above them while Black Star and the trio just walked to the group while not taking their eyes off the screen.          “Just earlier this morning; the astronomers at the Asgardian Space Monitoring Center have detected four massive chunks of asteroids on a collision course with our planet. More information will be provided by our reporter, Ferdinand broadcasting live on Asgard…” The screen now showed the griffon reporter, Ferdinand, standing before the main building of the Asgardian Space Monitoring Center with another griffon dressed in a tie and white lab coat standing beside him.         “Thank you Karen. This is Ferdinand, reporting live from the spot with the chief of the ASMC, Granz,” the griffon reporter spoke before he turned to Granz and held up his microphone. “Sir, it is said that your men have discovered four asteroids heading towards Equis. What exactly threat do these asteroids possess to the planet, and may we know more about them?”         “Well, for starters, the ASMC have confirmed that these asteroids are none other than the leftover fragments of the 1010EQG Ulysses asteroids that impacted Equis nearly two decades ago…” Most of the recruits were intrigued by the asteroid’s name: Ulysses. However, Black Star and Rave knew all too well about that name. Rave in particular was horrified at the prospect of these asteroids impacting the planet again, she had read the books and she fully knew the outcome of the planetfall. Black Star could only frown when he thought about Ulysses. The 1010EQG Ulysses was responsible for wiping out nearly 10% of the world’s population, and it was also responsible for the creation of the Stonehenge railgun networks, the superweapons of Project Valkyrie, and many more asteroid interception weapons that the ponies or the griffons had built.         “… as for the threat, we predict 7.9 percent mortality rate if the four chunks remain intact upon impact. The percentage will decrease if the chunks break up on entry.” The recruits at this point began to chatter amongst each other with Rave pointing up some facts that she read on the books in regard of the previous planetfall and what would have happened if these new asteroid fragments impacted Equis in the future. Black Star kept his eyes glued on the screen and continued to watch the broadcast.         “A live broadcast, hm? I wonder what the Equestrians think about this…” Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria May 16th 2020, 0747 hrs Princess Celestia, a powerful alicorn and ruler of Equestria, stood in silence as she watched the live broadcast from the ASMC in the throne room. She and her sister, Luna had detected the asteroids’ presence last night, and the older alicorn had remained troubled ever since. Her sister, Princess Luna who just arrived back from her morning strolls noticed her sister’s troubled look.         “Is something a matter, sister?” the lunar princess asked before she saw the live broadcast on the monitor. Luna frowned as she found the answer to her own question. “Oh, I see. Ulysses…”         “Indeed, Luna,” Celestia answered. “I can’t believe it’s already been twenty years since that event, and now it seems that the past had decided to come back to haunt us again…” The younger alicorn didn’t respond at first. She never saw her sister being this concerned except during the Equestrian War. She knew her sister’s pain, since Ulysses was a rather touchy subject to the solar princess, let alone be discussed among ponies. Even the snooty nobles refused to speak another word when Ulysses was brought up.         “We understand your pain, sister…” Luna began. “It is not your fault. Your ties to the Elements of Harmony were already weakened when you tried to…”         “I know, Luna, I know,” Celestia answered. Her tone was filled with guilt and sadness. “But I had to do something, Luna! I was suppose to protect this planet from disasters like Ulysses… I tried, I really did, but I failed, and the heavens finally rained down upon us.”         “Then… what should we do now, sister? Shall we inform this to the Elements of Harmony?” Luna asked after a brief silence. Celestia closed her eyes and shut down the monitor before turning to face her sister. She nodded in silence.         “What should we tell them?” Luna asked again. “The truth?”         “No, just tell them to come here. The truth can wait until they arrive…” Celestia answered. Luna merely replied with a single nod before she teleported out from the throne room, leaving Celestia alone with her guards. The solar princess told the guards to leave her for a moment, stating that she needed some time alone.         “Yes, your majesty.” The lead unicorn guard nodded before he and the other guard trotted to the main doors. Celestia was now alone in her throne. The solar princess sighed as she began to charge magical energy on her horn before releasing it into the air. The magical energy exploded in mid-air, and the particles soon formed the image of the planet Equis. Celestia keep her eyes locked as another object coming from the distance broke up into millions of pieces, and soon, the pieces rained down on the planet.         “I hope we can do it this time…” she quietly thought. Gryphus Castle/East Wing, Gryphus, Griffin Kingdom May 16th 2020, 0800 hrs Riddle let out another loud yawn as he finished tinkering with a communicator device. The blue griffon put the device on the desk and sighed in satisfaction.         “There, that should do it,” he smiled. Riddle had been up for hours, not counting on how many days he spent in his room designing and creating a new type of portable weapons for the last four weeks. He finally decided to work on this little project he dubbed “Z.O.E. Mk.II” ever since the disastrous encounter with the Juggernaut Z.O.E. in sector T10. His ears perked when he heard the door opening from behind him, revealing a maid holding a tray of food and Valdar standing behind her.         “Y’know, I can get food by myself,” Riddle squawked. “I’m 48 years old. No offense, lassie.”         “Well consider this as a thank you gift from me, Sir Wonderfalke,” Valdar responded before motioning the maid to put the tray on the a nearby table. “I admit, this Z.O.E. Mk.II will surely be a useful weapon in our arsenal.”         “There’s no doubt about it, Valdar. Though this version of Z.O.E. will be weaker than the first one,” Riddle pointed out. “It will only boost the wearer’s power about 10 times, and it will only work when a secondary unit is close by. I know, because I purposely designed the Zaubenschaft gems powering these to prevent any juggernaut mishaps in the future.” Riddle then grabbed two of the modified communicators and a pair of bands containing the glowing Zaubenschaft gems.         “Care to try one? It’s not lethal, I swear,” the blue griffon offered. Valdar stared at the devices for a short time before he shrugged.         “Eh, why not?” Valdar wore the band around his upper limb and put the comm on his right ear. Riddle also did the same with his devices. The maid watched in silence as Riddle took a brief glance at Valdar while speaking,         “You might feel a little tingle… and a brief taste of coconuts on your tongue…” Valdar only raised his eyebrow in confusion as Riddle activated the Z.O.E. Mk.II. The Zaubenschafts glowed red and blinked as both devices tried to synchronize with one another. A loud ping was heard from both comms as the Zaubenschafts finally turned green. Both griffons immediately felt an amazing surge of power rushing through their bodies.         “Woah…” Valdar mouthed as he flexed his body. “I never felt this good before.” Riddle only smirked as he grabbed a large solid metal ball and hands it over to Valdar.         “Alright, try crushing this ball,” Riddle challenged the orange griffon. The maid gasped at Riddle’s sudden challenge at the griffon king. For her, such behaviour would not be tolerated well by the king, but to her surprise, Valdar only shrugged and smirked at Riddle.         “Very well, I accept,” The orange griffon spoke as he grabbed the metal ball with his two talons, which he finds incredibly light due to his enhanced powers, and began to crush it. Riddle’s smile grew as Valdar began to put several dents on the ball, and soon, the orange griffon’s talons pierced the solid metal ball. Valdar growled as he applied more pressure on the ball, forming more cracks on the dents. The maid watched in amazement as Valdar let out a roar as he finally crushed the metal ball with his own two claws, and the remains of the metal ball fell onto the floor with a loud thud.         “Oh… my…” the maid squeaked after witnessing what she thought was an impossible feat. Valdar carefully cleared shrapnels of the metal ball from his claws.         “Extraordinary…” Valdar muttered in amazement before he glanced at Riddle, who just responded by deactivating the Z.O.E. Mk.II. Both griffons groaned as they felt their strength being drained from their bodies. The maid quickly grabbed Valdar by his shoulder and propped him up while Riddle had to use his workbench to keep himself up.         “Ugh… I assume this is… the side effects?” Valdar groaned.         “Yep… that’s why the device should… ugh… remain on… until every unit… is back to base,” Riddle stated between breaths. The maid helped Valdar taking off the devices before handing them over to Riddle. “The Zaubenschaft… was never designed… to be used as a power source… for living beings. I merely reduced the gem’s energy output so it’s compatible for biological usage…”         “Heh, too bad we can’t use the gems like the ones implanted on the Elements of Harmony…” Valdar chuckled, though Riddle only responded with a skeptical look.         “I do not believe those rumors, your majesty, nor do I plan to trust those stories right now,” Riddle spoke flatly while he was busy cleaning his workbench and put the Z.O.E. Mk.II into a small box placed on the right of his bench. “If I were to see these… Elements of Harmony in use. I must see it myself, but until then…” Riddle closed the box before he made his way to his bed.         “… those artifacts will remain a legend to me.” After he finished his sentence, Riddle drifted into sleep, letting exhaustion wash him over. Valdar gave the maid a quick look, telling her to get out from the room as quietly as possible. The maid slowly made her way out with Valdar closely trailing her from behind, the maid felt uncomfortable leading the way with the king behind her. It seemed that all standard respect for royalty didn’t apply to Riddle, yet alone, in this room. When both griffons were finally out from the room, the maid realized that Riddle had slept before eating his breakfast and decided to wake the blue griffon to remind him about his meal. However, Valdar quickly stopped her and said,         “Don’t worry, he likes his meals cold.” The maid quickly nodded and requested to be excused from the spot, to which Valdar agreed. The orange griffon sighed as he made his way to the briefing room to prepare for the massive briefing in the afternoon, because tonight: The Griffin Kingdom and the Equestrian forces are going to make their move. S.A.I.T.N. Turret #4, Sudentor, Neue Belka May 16th 2020, 0805 hrs Hog was nervous as he re-checked the data on his portable scanner. It had been an exhausting four weeks for him as he worked nonstop to replace the old codes inside S.A.I.T.N.’s or Stonehenge’s four hundred supercomputers. For now, he had succeeded in freeing Stonehenge’s fourth and third massive turrets from the fail-safe codes.         “Civvies cleared, Stonehenge turret number 4 ready!” spoke one of the Belkan officers near the turret through Hog’s comm. The railgun turret network had been inactive for so long. that some of the lower class citizens of Sudentor began to use the cannons as their makeshift homes, so the military had to force out some of the citizens living in the cannons.         “Alright! Let’s get this thing moving!” the green unicorn said through his comm to the Belkan officers flying around the huge railgun. “All Belkan units, move away from the cannon.” The Belkans immediately complied at his order, although the griffon officers complied in contempt rather than respect as Hog began to put several commands into his scanner. Multiple pings were heard from the scanner, prompting Hog to enter several more commands into the scanner. Soon, a loud metallic groan was heard from the base of the cannon. Small tremors shook the ground as the cannon roared back to life. Hog’s smile grew as the large barrel of the cannon began to tilt sideways and the whole thing finally stopped in that position. Hog couldn’t help but to drop his professionalism and squee like a little colt at his success. Stonehenge Type 0 was partially ready to be back in service.         “Alright guys, that’s one down! Let’s go free three more!” Hog exclaimed to his comm as the Belkans and his group began to move towards the third cannon located at the far end of the city. While Hog was busy waking the cannons from their slumber, Gray and Violet’s squadrons were conducting their daily aerial exercise together above the city. Despite their success in capturing “The Round Table” and Hoofstio, Hog’s Grau Squadron lost five fliers, while Violet’s Lila Squadron lost ten fliers. Gray was very affected by this loss, and he decided to double up the training for his underlings to prepare the final push to Gryphus two weeks from now. Violet, however, didn’t care that much about her team’s loss as she focused more on dreaming to meet her “beloved little birdy again.” Gray tried to reason with the yellow mare not to underestimate the griffon forces, but Violet shrugged it off, saying that her team will be enough for the job on the final push to Gryphus. Gray couldn’t really complain, Violet’s squad was composed of nearly twenty bloodthirsty mares like their leader. Her squad’s members’ behaviour were ridiculously vicious, even when they’re not conducting a sortie. This fact was enough to put Gray’s subordinates on the edge at all times. Still, they still looked tame in comparison to Esser’s flock of pirates. Violet giggled as Gray threw another jab at her midsection which she dodged effortlessly and retaliated by sending a double hoof kick at his head.         “Head’s up, hun!” the yellow mare cackled as Gray evaded the kick before gaining some distance between him and her. Violet’s wingmares continued to battle against Gray’s subordinates; each of them had a psychotic grin on their faces. Some of Gray’s men also had huge grins plastered on their faces. Gray noticed this and shook his head.         “Great, your wingmares are beginning to affect my soldiers,” Gray sighed. Violet only giggled in response before she approached Gray.         “And that’s a good thing for us; it means we’re getting closer together…” Violet cooed as she brushed her red mane near Gray’s face. “All we need now is take over Gryphus, kill more of those catbird freaks and take lil’ birdy with us.” Violet wrapped both of her front hooves around Gray’s neck as she whispered to his ear.         “…and we can be one big happy family.”         “C’mon, Vi, you’re making me blush,” Gray spoke nonchalantly as he brushed Violet aside, earning a small chuckle from the yellow mare. “We still have some training to do.”         “Ooh, playing hard to get, hm?” Violet cooed while licking her lips hungrily. She then took a stance and continued, “After this battle, you’ll be begging to have some piece of me…” Gray only smirked in response.         “Wanna bet?” Both pegasi began to clash with one another as their subordinates continued to battle around them. Unknown to them, Esser was watching them from afar. The brown griffon chuckled to himself while rubbing the bandages that covered his chest. Before long, Blue, who had been released a week ago from isolation, approached the brown griffon and tapped his shoulder to gain his attention.         “Oi, I got some news for you and the others,” he spoke bitterly. Esser didn’t even bother to pay attention as he continued. “Apparently those griffon scums said that fragments of the Ulysses asteroid is approaching the planet. I think it’s all propaganda crap, trying to scare us and—”         “I’m sorry, but did I gave you the permission to talk to me?” Esser interrupted the dark blue pegasus with a sneer. Blue only frowned in response while Esser just chuckled in amusement.         “If you want to share your opinions on hardcore facts like Ulysses, please, share it with someone else. I’m busy at the moment.”         “Busy at what, slacking off?” Blue scoffed. “I haven’t seen you doing anything since that oaf Kriegstreiber hired you.”         “Heh, that’s a nice example of the ‘pot calling the kettle black,’ I recalled that you haven’t accomplished anything either, beside getting your sorry plot kicked by us griffons.” Esser pointed out. Insulted, Blue snarled at the brown griffon before delivering a punch straight for his beak.         “SHUT YOUR BEAK, SCUM!” Esser just raised an eyebrow before he caught Blue’s hoof with lightning-fast reflexes. Blue was completely thrown off guard before he realized that Esser had already swung his elbow at his stomach. Blue coughed in pain before he stared at the brown griffon hovering above him with that same strange smirk on his beak.         “How… did… !?” Blue asked between pants, Esser’s response was a roar of laughter.         “Silly, Cap’n Blue. I told you I’m stronger than any of you, buuut you guys didn’t listen,” esser mocked him before he grabbed Blue by his neck and his tone changed into a darker one. “If you ever do that stunt again, I’ll make sure to put you in permanent retirement.” Blue couldn’t believe it, all these years fighting griffons, hating and berating their race for being different meant nothing to him. He thought he didn’t had a sense of fear towards the griffons, but he was wrong. Blue could tell that something was very wrong with Esser ever since day one. Now, with Esser staring him down with his red eyes, Blue felt like he had just being pointed at by one of Stonehenge’s barrels straight into his face. Snapping out from his world, Blue only nodded in response before Esser let him go. The dark blue pegasus quickly flew off to the Sudentorian City Hall as Esser’s comm beeped, indicating that he had received a message from someone. Esser only chuckled in response as he turned the comm off. Esser soon turned his sights over the distant mountain peaks separating Neue Belka from the Griffin Kingdom.         “Tonight’s going to be interesting indeed.” Gryphus Command Center, Gryphus, Griffin Kingdom May 16th 2020, 1547 hrs Black Star and Kite traversed the hall of the GCC in silence with a few griffon officers running back and forth around them. Just an hour ago, Aquila Squadron received an order from Valdar to attend a briefing for a large offensive campaign the kingdom was about to conduct. They still hadn’t received any details about the operation yet, but Valdar assured that everything will be explained through the briefing. Realizing the awkward silence between them, Kite tried to start a conversation first by coughing to gain the dark griffon’s attention.         “So,” he began. “I heard this operation will be an emancipation effort to free Pisa from the Belkans.”         “I think so too,” Black Star replied shortly.         “Yeah…” Kite nodded, internally cursing himself. This conversation wasn’t going anywhere. “Umm… uh…”         “What’s on your mind, Milvus?” Black Star asked suddenly, surprising Kite for a second. “I could tell by your failed attempt to start a conversation.”         “Uh… well… to tell you the truth, sir. I’m kinda nervous…” Kite admitted. “I mean… besides the operations on gaining some… intel from the Belkans, I.. I’ve never been on a large scale operation like this…” The two stopped when they finally arrived at the door to the briefing room. Black Star glanced at the nervous Kite and smiled while rubbing his head with his talons.         “Don’t worry, kid. I’m sure you’ll do fine.” Black Star assured before he opened the door. Inside the briefing room, nearly all of the squad leaders, including the Wonderbolts, Crimson and Silver squadrons who arrived nearly two hours ago were present. Hammerdown and Red Moon, along with their Royal Guards were also present, sitting in the front with Riddle and Kestrel. The only squadrons that were not there were Ronin’s Southwind Squadron, Quox’s 13th Unicorn Company, and Rod’s Northwind Squadron. Both griffons made their way to the front row and took their seats beside Red Moon with Black Star sitting right next to him. Kite tried to hide his laughter when he noticed the uncanny resemblance between Red Moon and Black Star.         “What’s wrong with him?” Red Moon asked the dark feathered griffon. Black Star only chuckled before he responded,         “Don’t worry, he just knew about us being similar in appearance.” The lunar guard responded with an “oh” before nodding thoughtfully. Everyone’s attention shifted to the large monitor screen as Saetos started the briefing.         “Everyone here? Good, let’s start this briefing shall we?” The monitor flickered to life as the emblem of the Griffin Kingdom appeared on the screen with a loading bar below it. After the connection with the Z.O.E. was established, the emblem and the loading bar were replaced by a digitized map of the Griffin Kingdom, Neue Belka, and the surrounding nations. The area of Neue Belka was shown in red with the invaded territories were also shown in red.         “Thanks to the efforts of our brothers on regaining tactical ground near Pisa, I think it’s time we made our move towards the city to reclaim it from the Belkans. Now, our intel has confirmed that the city was heavily fortified with automatic AA guns placed on the rooftops and flak guns surrounding the city,” Saetos explained as he changed the screen to zoom in to the city Pisa. The bright blue dot labeled as Pisa soon showed images of the fortified city taken from different angles. Some griffon were disgusted seeing their beautiful cultural city being turned into a fortress. Many of the AA guns were placed on historical sites, and some of them were even destroyed to make space for the heavy ordinances.         “Belkan bastards…” Jet muttered under his breath.         “According to our intel, the main defense lines were divided into four sectors positioned at the western and the eastern gate of the city. These defense sectors housed several flak guns and automatic AA guns capable of firing 30mm to 50mm rounds with each shot.” Saetos explained. The monitor now showed four red dots with each two dots positioned on the eastern side and the western of the city. “The annihilation of these four defense sectors will pave way to the ground forces to storm the city from the east and west gates.” The monitor now showed two blue arrows heading towards the two defensive sectors. The arrows contained three squad names: Verde, Silver and Ursa Major.         “Verde Squadron’s task is to neutralize the majority of the AA and flak guns on the eastern sectors to make way for the Ursa Major bomber squadron so they can deal the finishing blow. Silver Squadron’s task is identical albeit in the western sector.” Jet and his squadron quietly nodded at their task. Rot, the large harpy griffon leading the Ursa Major squadron, smirked at the prospect of bombing the Belkans to oblivion, while Silver 1, a gray feathered griffon named Silber, began to discuss a strategy with his subordinates.         “Once the sectors are neutralized, we shall began phase two of the operation: “Combine and Conquer”. The unicorn companies along with griffon aerial support will storm the city through the gates, but remember, this is only a smokescreen for the main force to be teleported here…” The monitor showed the unicorn companies, which included the two new EAF forces. The two griffon forces were labeled as Southwind and Northwind while the EAF forces were labeled as “Jade” and “Newt”. Then, another arrow which contained Quox, Aquila, and Bertz’s team appeared from the north end of the city.         “Quox’s ‘Avion’ Company will teleport Bertz’s ‘Thunder’ Battalion with Aquila squadron providing aerial support,” Saetos pointed out with Quox, Bertz, and Riddle listening carefully from their seats. “Hammerdown and Red Moon can dispatch members of their teams to the forces invading the city from the front to provide some support.” Both leaders of the Equestrian guards nodded quietly as Saetos continued. “Meanwhile, Ursa Major squadron, along with Crimson squadron, can move on to eliminate the AA guns around the city to ease the strain of our fliers. The Wonderbolts, Verde, and Silver squadrons can join in the battle to eliminate the Belkan troops once the AA guns were destroyed, but you’re cleared to aid the first strike team if they’re having some difficulties on their task.” Soarin’ raised his hoof in acknowledgement and Jet responded by giving him a thumbs up.         “If things goes smoothly, then Aquila, Avion, and Thunder can move on to phase three: ‘Seek and Capture’.” The monitor began to show some slightly blurred images of several unicorns exiting a transport balloon. The griffons and some of the Equestrian forces immediately recognized one of them as Kriegstreiber.         “Once again, our intel has confirmed that the leader of Neue Belka, Kriegstreiber, is in the city. The reason for him being in the city is unknown, but there’s one thing for sure, he won’t be leaving anywhere until tomorrow morning,” Saetos stated. “We can use this small window of opportunity to finally capture Kriegstreiber. Sir Wonderfalke predicted that without their leader, Neue Belka’s already unstable movement will tear itself apart within weeks or even days.” Kestrel took a glance at the already smirking Riddle.         “I hope you’re right, sir,” she quietly spoke.         “Maybe I’m right, maybe I’m wrong,” Riddle shrugged. “Only time will tell.” The two quickly turned their attention back as Saetos continued on the briefing.         “This operation will be called ‘Silent Owl’, and if this operation succeeds, it will be a major turning point for us in this war. We can use Pisa as a spearhead to mount a full invasion effort to free Dinsmark and Sudentor from the Belkans within this month,” Saetos explained. “Of course, you’re all probably know why we need to hit their capital fast.” The griffons quietly nodded, fully knowing the reason behind this planned mass invasion effort. However, some of the EAF forces who had been fighting on the front lines asked why they needed to end this war as quickly as possible. Saetos’ answer was to bring up some images of the Stonehenge railgun turrets placed around Sudentor.         “Do any of these look familiar to you?” The ponies studied the images carefully. Some of them widened their eyes in shock when they realized what the railgun turrets really are, but a small minority of the ponies didn’t even recognize what the structures were and guessed that the Belkans possessed the same laser technology like the Burning Talon, due to Stonehenge’s resemblance to the former laser facility.         “I wouldn’t blame you for not knowing about this. Princess Celestia made the right call to keep these weapons’ existence a secret from you,” Saetos explained grimly. The monitor soon showed the blueprints of the Stonehenge Turret Network, as well as the images of the three facilities which had been built.         “What you’re looking right now is the Strategic Asteroid Interceptor Turret Network Type 0 or Stonehenge Type 0. These four massive railguns were the basis of our country’s effort to destroy the incoming Ulysses 1010EQG asteroids. Each cannon can fire an explosive 120cm round containing small burst missile warheads that can reach the range of 596 kilometers, about the half the range of the final design: Stonehenge Type 2.” Riddle saw that some of the ponies gulped in fear. He couldn’t blame them; nopony in this briefing room would expect to face a giant superweapon designed to shoot down asteroids as their enemy.         “It is crucial for us to retake Sudentor and neutralize these cannons before it can be deployed into service, and it all starts with the success of this operation. That will be all, dismissed.” Following Saetos’ closing words, the monitor was turned off. and everyone got up from their seats and headed outside to prepare for the invasion. Black Star waited for everyone to exit the briefing room along with Kite. The dark feathered griffon noticed Kite’s troubled look and asked,         “Still nervous?”         “Uh-huh,” Kite nodded. “I expect for General Saetos to provide some decent boost of morale, but…”         “Heh, trust me. Saetos may be a laid back guy, but he’s terrible at encouraging the troops to fight,” Black Star chuckled. “Hence why our morale dropped like an anvil once The Burning Talon was destroyed in the last war. The guy keeps pointing out sharp facts on briefings and debriefings.” This made Kite felt lighten up for a bit, smiling as he walked to the exit along with the others. The small griffon gave Black Star a thumbs up for the talk in which Black Star responded by spreading his right wing. On his way out, Black Star felt a hoof touching his shoulders, prompting him to turn around and find one member of the Wonderbolts smiling at him. The Wonderbolt had a white coat, purple eyes, and a yellow mane and tail. Her expression suggested that she was a very energetic mare.         “Hi! Can we walk together?” she asked with a smile.         “Um, sure,” Black Star responded shortly. Both griffon and pony walked to the castle courtyard in silence, though Black Star could feel that the pegasus was keeping her eyes on him. Feeling a little uncomfortable, Black Star decided to ask her intentions,         “What?”         “I think I know you, Mr. uhh…” the yellow maned Wonderbolt trailed off as she tried to remember Black Star’s name despite never actually meeting him before.         “Call me Black Star,” the dark feathered griffon answered.         “Oh yeah, duh! How could I forget your name like that! Silly me!” the Wonderbolt laughed to herself. “I’m Surprise, but you probably didn’t know me.”         “And you claim to know me,” Black Star said thoughtfully. “We never met before… have we?”         “No, of course we haven’t met before!” Surprise giggled, confusing Black Star even more.         “Then how did you… ?”         “My friend Firefly told me about you!” Surprise answered with a wide grin, causing Black Star for the first time in his life, balk in response.         “She did? Wait a minute… You know Firefly?”         “Of course I knew her, silly!” Surprise giggled. “We used to be the bestest best friends! We even auditioned for the Wonderbolts together! Well… until you ruined her day.”         “More like destroyed her childhood…” Black Star sighed.         “But that’s in the past now, nothing to worry about!” Surprise assured the dark griffon by patting her hoof on his side. “I mean, she had already forgiven you, right?” Black Star could only nod in response with a dim smile on his beak. He had to give Surprise credit for trying to cheer him up. True that Firefly forgave him for his deeds, but he wasn’t not sure if he was ready to forgive himself. Both of them continued to make their way to the courtyard in their own pace (though Surprise was bouncing merrily along the way). When they finally arrived, two griffon squadrons were already covered by Avion Company’s teleportation spell. Surprise waved good bye to the dark feathered griffon before she joined the rest of the Wonderbolts. Black Star looked around to find his team, which he finally found them standing near Bertz’s Thunder Battalion. Kestrel immediately glared and scolded him for being late.         “Sorry, I got lost for a minute,” Black Star apologized, much to Kestrel’s shock.         “D… did he just apologize?” Kestrel thought with a perplexed look on her face. Unfortunately, Riddle noticed her expression and decided to ask,         “Is something wrong, captain?”         “No! It’s nothing…” Kestrel responded, slightly yelling at the first part. Riddle’s response was a smirk before he noticed Bertz had approached him.         “Sir, we’re ready to move,” the dark yellow stallion spoke. “Good, tell the lass, Quox to teleport us,” Riddle answered which Bertz acknowledged by signalling Quox and her team to teleport them. Quox and several of her subordinates trotted to them and said,         “We’ll teleport you to the main rendezvous point. We still have many squadrons and teams to teleport.”         “But, that means your energy will be spent before the battle,” Kite said with worry.         “Don’t worry, we had some help from Jade Company to teleport some of the teams,” Quox smiled. “We’ll make sure we are ready to put that warmonger into custody.”         “Alright, enough with the chit-chat,” Riddle interrupted them. “Aquila 4, go to your position near Aquila 2 and 3.” Kite gave Riddle a quick salute before he ran to his spot. Though Kestrel was still uncomfortable standing with Black Star on her side, the dark griffon’s unexpected apology from earlier mellowed her heart a little. Soon, Riddle walked back to his position as Quox and her underlings began to cast the teleportation spell around Aquila Squadron and Thunder Battalion. The familiar transparent bubble formed around both teams with sparks of magic crackled around it. Within 10 seconds, the sparks intensified and both teams soon found themselves being engulfed by the bubble. The griffons and ponies of Aquila and Thunder watched the brief images of the courtyard, the city of Gryphus, the cold landscape flashing around them as they’re being teleported to their destination. The group also noticed the rapidly changing colors of their coats and feathers; all of them were standing inside a bizarre light show.         “W0w, triPPy…” Kite commented with a slight giggle; his voice was slightly distorted. Riddle guessed that Quox and her subordinates must have used a more powerful version of the teleportation spell, seeing that the travel time took longer than the average “hopping” teleportation spell used during the sortie on Schmierfett Canyon. The lightshow came to an abrupt end as the group finally arrived at their destination… …Ruins of Vona, 3 miles north of Pisa, Griffin Kingdom 1630 hrs The teleportation bubble burst as the group began to survey their surroundings. Around them were structures… well, more like scorched ruins of houses. Riddle immediately frowned when he finally got a good look at the surrounding area.         “What is this place?” one of Bertz’s subordinates asked, rubbing his hoof on a charred brick on the ground.         “Vona,” Riddle answered. “A small town near Pisa. Past population: two-hundred. Current population: zero.” The stallion was mortified by the grim answer. If he remembered correctly, when Pisa was overrun by the Belkans, some of the civilians managed to escape to Vona where the griffons of said town were issued to leave their town when the soldiers from Gryphus arrived. They were about to pack things up and leave, but alas, fate was cruel to them. The rabid mercenary forces of Murtair Militia ravaged the town, killing griffons left and right. Young, old, didn’t matter, they only cared about filling up their fat tabs with their high kill numbers. After the killing spree, or massacre to be more precise, the mercenaries burned Vona to the ground along with several other towns surrounding Pisa. When the griffon forces finally arrived three hours later, all they found were charred ruins and smoking corpses before they were forced to retreat by a sudden strike from the enemy forces. When the news reached Gryphus, Valdar wasn’t happy. Riddle remarked that it was the first time he’d seen Valdar so angry.         “Well buck, too much information…” the stallion squeaked, his ears dropping in sadness. Bertz tapped his hoof on the stallion’s shoulders and said,         “Don’t worry, we’ll get those bastards.” After those words, Bertz and his team were called by a griffon officer to get into position immediately. Griffons were also known for their high regard for the dead, but sometimes, they knew they had to overcome that nature in order to do drastic things, even if they had to disrespect the dead by building a base on top of these ruins. Aquila Squadron was also called to patrol the perimeter with Ronin’s Southwind Squadron, Riddle had to say; the light blue griffoness was quite delighted when she saw Aquila flying with her team. Within fifteen to thirty minutes, the other griffon squadrons were teleported to their own posts around Pisa, occasionally dealing with enemy forces sent out to thin the invasive force. Nightfall came when the final teams from the EAF forces finally arrived on their spot. Saetos informed them that Operation “Silent Owl” will commence at exactly 1900 hrs. The clock showed 1848 hrs, 12 minutes before the operation. All teams felt their muscles tense. This is it, the operation that could change the tide of this war. No slip ups now.