As you know, for over a month, Equestria was in a state of pointless civil war. Today, the war ended tragically – Princesses Celestia and Luna are dead and half of Canterlot was destroyed in the final battle. A battle which nopony won; we all lost.
However, even at the darkest moment, there’s still hope: the new Element Bearers were found and they’ll hopefully lead the country to rise from the ashes.
Unfortunately, the war is far from over. Cloudsdale is still in the claws of enemy and the Crystal Empire had been lost to griffons long time ago. Even though the Emperor didn’t declare war on Equestria, he’s sending his troops to ensure his rule over it.
I know that you are tired. I know that many of you are still mourning their dead. I know that many of you still hate your neighbours who chose the other side of the conflict that almost destroyed Equestria. But I, Princess Cadance, beg you – rise for the last time and fight the enemy.
Please. You’re our only hope.
“Damn,” Pluen muttered. “Are you sure none of them heard that?”
“I told Parasol to confiscate all the radios,” Ragnarok replied. The griffons were sitting in the control room of the weather factory, staring at each other. All eight of them were wearing body armours, just in case. “Once our guys come, we need to lock all those ponies in the basement.”
“I’d shoot them all,” Pluen said. “They will be no longer useful. Also, I wouldn’t trust Parasol. She’s a pony... And she’s already shown that she can be a traitor...”
“What have I done...” Parasol whispered to herself. She was lying on the floor on the lower level of the weather factory, in front of the radio. She’d hidden it when Ragnarok told her to confiscate them.
Tyluan walked to her, stretching his bat-like wings. “Well, it seems that the war is over. It also seems that we’ve won, though I have an unpleasant feeling that sooner or later we’ll get screwed over.” He shrugged. “I’ll tell you how it’ll look like: once the guys in Canterlot are able to find their own ass in the mess they created, they’ll come here, shoot the whole town out of the sky and hang us by our balls as an example for the kids...” He looked at Parasol and scratched his mane. “That is, they’ll hang me... They’ll find something else for you.”
“Don’t you get it?” Parasol asked. “The reinforcements from the Griffon Empire will be here at any moment. They won’t need us anymore. With all the cannons Cloudsdale has, they can defend themselves here for years. I practically gave Equestria to them...”
“Oh.” Tyluan shook his head. “Well, I can see two ways for you now. A honourable way...” He produced a gun from the pocket of his uniform and took all the bullets but one from it. “For you.” He gave Parasol the gun. “Same goes for the rest of the ponies here. We’ll show griffons that we don’t agree with their politics and we’ll achieve a moral victory. How does that sound to you?”
“You can take your honour and stick it up your ass,” Parasol replied, swallowing her tears. “What is the other way?”
“The other way should appeal to the heart of such a dirty little traitor as you...” Tyluan smirked.
“I just got a message,” one of the griffons said. “Adler should be here in two hours.”
“Good,” Ragnarok said. “Tell the crews of the anti-air cannons to hide in the factory. We’ll lock them there.”
“I still think we have to kill them,” Pluen said. “There won’t be enough food supplies for everybody.”
“We’ll see,” Ragnarok replied, tapping his claws against the table.
There was a knock on the door. The eight griffons immediately reached to their weapons, but Ragnarok raised his claw. “Pluen, look who is that,” he ordered.
Pluen walked to the door and looked through the peephole. “It’s Parasol,” she muttered and opened the door. “What do you–”
The first shot deafened everyone in the room. Ragnarok dived under the table, feeling something warm spraying on the walls and his face as Pluen’s body fell limply on the floor. The other griffons raised, but couldn’t do anything to stop bullets aiming at any place not covered by an armour. Screams and cries filled the air, when a group of pegasi and bat ponies ran inside of the room, shooting at the griffons at point-blank range.
Ragnarok gasped when the bullets hit his armour. The energy of impact threw him on the wall. More bullets followed; even though the couldn’t pierce the reinforced plates, they could easily break his ribs underneath them. He coughed up blood and rolled on the floor, struggling to catch a breath.
Time slowed down to a crawl. He was staring at the ceiling; the clouds had now a reddish tint. He heard somepony walking to him and saw Parasol, aiming a gun at his head.
He smirked and coughed. “Do you... shoot everybody... who considers you their friend... in the head?” he asked.
“No,” Parasol deadpanned and pulled the trigger. She threw the gun on his body and turned back to Tyluan and his bat ponies. “Get to the cannons,” she said, her face pale. “We need to welcome our allies...”
Adler, the commander of the two hundred griffons flying above Equestria smirked, seeing his target. Cloudsdale looked quite impressive even for the griffons whose motherland was famous for its cloud cities. He knew from Ragnarok about its impressive anti-air defences and good strategic position – almost in the middle of Equestria, making it a perfect base. Especially now, when they had the Crystal Empire.
“Prepare to land!” he ordered. The first group of ten griffons lowered their flight, heading towards the city.
Suddenly, the air was torn by an explosion. Adler stopped in mid-air watching as shrapnel from a large-caliber cannon round tore a few griffons from the first group to shreds. One of them, missing half of his wing, fell towards the town, straight at the smaller cannons. His armour couldn’t stand a chance against them.
Adler flapped his wings harder as another rounds were fired at them, killing and injuring the griffons. One after one, the explosions were sending waves of shrapnel around, followed by smaller, deadly tracers. Some of the griffons, courageous or insane, were still trying to reach the town, while their companions were running away in panic.
“Retreat!” Adler screamed, feeling a piece of debris hitting his armour. The remains of the avantgarde were already far away from the town. “Retreat outside of their range and regroup!”
The griffons followed his orders, crashing into each other in the air and flying in all the directions. Adler watched in disbelief as over a quarter of his army perished in a battle that only lasted for about two minutes. The rest was slowly gathering around him.
“We should be safe here...” one of the soldiers muttered. At the same moment, a shell exploded above them, sending a rain of lead on their heads. Then the fire ceased.
“Give me the radio!” Adler exclaimed, flying to his adjutant. He grabbed the microphone. “Ragnarok, what the fuck? Why are you shooting at us?”
“Ragnarok is currently not on the radio,” a voice replied. “That is, there may be his brain in here, but I’m not sure...”
“Who are you?” Adler shouted.
“Tyluan,” the voice replied. “Equestrian Air Force.”
“What?” Adler almost crushed the microphone with his claws. “What are you doing there?”
“It’s simple,” Tyluan replied. “Equestria’s territory. Equestrian town. Equestrian Air Force. You clearly came here armed, with intention to attack the town. From what I know, your Emperor doesn’t know shit about your mission. Even better, he says that he’ll gladly make a peace treaty with Equestria, if we give him the Crystal Empire. We accept that... For now.”
Adler felt that his throat was dry. “How about Ragnarok? And the others?”
“We’ll send them back to you,” Tyluan said. “Along with those guys here. We’ll even put the wounded in our hospitals till the get better.”
For a moment, Adler was considering another charge on Cloudsdale. Then he looked at his soldiers – tired after a long flight and scared after witnessing so many of their companions die a sudden death.
“Fine,” he said and threw the microphone away as if it was burning his claws.
“What now?” the adjutant asked.
“We’re going back to the Crystal Empire,” Adler replied.
“How about the Emperor?”
“You’ve heard him...” Adler muttered. “Emperor doesn’t have to know shit...”
“They’re flying away!” Tyluan exclaimed, watching the griffonian formation through the window. He took off in the air and made a somersault. War was truly over now. Even though the Crystal Empire was still ruled by griffons, he was sure that they’d find a way to get it back.
“Parasol!” Tyluan exclaimed. “Where are you? They’re flying away!” He flew down the factory, above the heads of the ponies – some of them cheering, some of them picking up the bodies of dead griffons. “Have any of you seen Parasol?” Tyluan asked.
“She went to the sick bay,” one of the ponies replied. Tyluan rushed there immediately.
He found her, sitting on the hospital bed, staring at the wall with motionless eyes. Tyluan landed on the floor and slowly walked to her, knowing well that it was over. On the nightstand, along with a few empty boxes of sedatives, there was a piece of paper. Tyluan picked it up.
I will always be a traitor.
“No, you won’t...” Tyluan muttered, dropping the paper and embracing Parasol’s cold hoof.