"And we're finally here!" Twilight gasped for air. Her long run from the flight of stairs had finally come to an end… for the moment. They now took a view of the airships of the massive area they were in. It was big enough to hold up to ten, but only docked six. The ships design was the same as the previous one they had went against before. This dock of airships also had a seemingly endless row of cargo crates, filled with the hardest wood they can acquire, and the shiniest of metals. The griffons working the ships were jailers and engineers. They were quite busy with their repairing and maintenance.
"This is… The airship harbor." Trixie told them.
"What's the point of this harbor?" Twilight questioned, pointing her hoof towards the wall of vines and thorns. "Those plants are blocking the only way out."
"The all knowing Trixie heard they have a griffon that opens them for the ships to leave and entered."
"Vines? Like the ones outside, right?" Luffy wondered.
"Huh… Oh yeah…" Twilight remembered.
Outside the Talon's Hold, you can see a tower. Looking like the claw of the griffon, reaching up to the heavens as if it was grasping it, the name was now seen as given properly. Strips of thorny vines were tied around the tower as thick clouds make it impossible to see the higher floors. The entrance, once proud to be the blocking of the prisoners, was now but a pile of rubble, allowing anyone to go through. Inside, the first stage formerly holding hundreds of working fugitives, now only have dust and defeated jailers.
On the second Stage, the jailers are regrouping, and went back to their posts. Some lied on the floor to rest. Many were beaten and had lost the strength or morale to continue fighting. Two griffons who were in the mess sat beside each other against the wall, talking about it.
"Three ponies just beat my squad." He sighed. "The higher ups are gonna fire me. Or worse!"
"Don't worry. I bet every griffon here was having a tough time. We won't get the boot." His friend assured him.
"I gotta make sure that doesn't happen again." He declared. Standing up as if he had risen from depression, he then says, "From this day, no, this second! I will make sure no enemy will pass me!"
Gilda then shoves the griffon to the ground, pushing his face into the cement floor. He flies to the wall next to his friend, who was freaking out. She then waved to Flare and Gold, who went into the room with hundreds of pony and griffon prisoners. The jailer dropped his jaw as Gilda stared down at them.
"Try anything, and I will bury you."
"Y-Yes mam!"
Gilda nods, and flies over the horde of angered prisoners. The bottled rage of the imprisoned was now released. It's revenge affected the stages by returning the cruel torture back to the jail. They start breaking into the offices and swarm the jailers. The battle then erupted between the jailers and prisoners. As they fought, Gold went on to unlock the chains of the unicorns of Stage 2. Gilda and Flare met up at the flight of stairs, looking up ahead.
"This is taking too long!" Flare pointed out. "By the time we release all the prisoners, Luffy and Twilight we'll be at Stage 5."
"It's not so bad, trust me." Gilda assured her. "Luffy can take care of himself and Twilight. After all, you did see how strong he was, right?"
Flare sighed, somewhat defeated by the statement. "I guess you're right, but… still…"
"And besides, you should get some rest. That thunder griffon got you pretty good. I'm surprised you're still up."
"I got some doctors to help me out, okay?" Flare stated. "Besides, I'm not going to lose to that griffon again anyways."
As the two looked back to the battle at hand, Gold manages to swim through the pool of enemies. Making it to the other side, Gold brings a jailer griffon with his hoof to his beak before throwing him to the floor. He looks as if he had seen a nightmare. Flare and Gilda stare at him in confusion until he tells them the low down.
"Twilight is in danger."
"What?" They both said in confusion.
"This griffon here just told me about their plan. The worst part is, it's going to happen on Stage 5."
"We're not gonna make it on time to stop her!" Gilda exclaimed.
"Not at this pace! Gold! Me and Gilda are going on ahead! You keep freeing as many prisoners as you can!" Flare proposed.
"Alright then." Gold nodded. "Hurry, they plan to keep Twilight to themselves. Luffy won't be able to protect her from what's coming."
"Okay!" Gilda shouted as she and Flare turned to the stairs. "Let's go!"
The three were escaping from the jailer griffons. The pursuers flied close and ran fast, making the chase a close call. Upon the pathway was a tall doorway. Twilight and Trixie manages to enter the passageway, but Luffy was stopped. What then stood between the two unicorns and Luffy were a thick wall of thorny vines, denying him access.
"What the!?" Luffy yelled. He punches the vines and makes a hole, but it regenerates quickly after his blow. "What's with these mystery plants!?"
"Luffy! Are you alright!?" Twilight asked.
"I can't get through! There's too many plants in the way!" Luffy claimed as he kept punching the vines over and over again.
The griffons who were giving chase, stepped back and made way for another. She wore green plates of armor upon her legs and talons. Her green snake like eyes preyed upon Luffy as she spoke to get the stallion's attention. "You might want to conserve your strength for a real fight."
Luffy turned and saw the griffon before him. He got into a battle stance with one hoof kicking, showing his eagerness to fight. "Get out of my way!"
"I'm afraid I can't let you go little colt." She grinned, lifting her hoof toward the vine walls.
The plants on the side with Twilight and Trixie then flood the passageway. The two scream and run ahead. Luffy turns to the doorway and calls them.
"Twilight! Are you alright!?"
"They're long gone boy." She claimed. "It's just us now."
Luffy jumped ahead and bashed his hoof against the armor plating of his foe. She lifted her talon, and then came the vines, trying to grab Luffy. He jumped away and rolls to the floor, only to see the vines had followed after him. He ran across the room to evade the plants before turning and attacking the pursuing plants.
"Gomu Gomu no Bazooka!"
The vines burst, but shoot out the thorns before they explode from impact. The thorns nearly cut Luffy if he had not dodged it with a jump into the air. However, he was left wide open as the griffon flew to him quick enough for him not to notice, and slams her talons onto Luffy's chest.
"Thorn Mallet!"
The spiked talons pierce into Luffy, throwing him into the ground, hard. He gets up and looks to the doorway, wondering if Twilight and the other mare was alright, before turning back to the griffon from earlier.
"Susususususu, It's nice to finally have your acquaintance Pony D. Luffy." She spoke with a slithering laugh. She stood tall and elegantly as she introduced herself to her enemy. "I am Laflora. Gatekeeper of the harbor."
"Gatekeeper?"
"I control the plants with the armor, you see." She explained before turning to the huge wall of vines. "I can make the vines open and close for any ship to pass through. As for you, you're not going anywhere."
She then gets the vines to grow all around the two, surrounding Luffy with more thorny traps. Luffy augments his hooves with Haki before stretching them to slam the vines.
"Gomu Gomu no Muchi!" ("Gum Gum Whip!")
The vines were easily beaten, allowing Luffy to get into the offensive. The red stallion rushes forth, fighting Laflora as she rides her vines to get some distance from Luffy. In the battle, Luffy throws his hoof at her.
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!"
"Vine Strike!"
Laflora shoots a vine out just like Luffy's, intercepting his attack on the impact. Luffy then throws more and more punches, as Laflora copies Luffy to match up against his attacks.
"Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun!"
"Vine Strike Force!"
Luffy's augmented hooves meet with the vines, and hit on the beat. The countless hits eventually wore out the vines and destroyed the plants. But more grew in and surrounded Luffy.
"Damn it! There's too many plants!" Luffy cursed.
Laflora chuckled lightly as she stood on a vine to carry her up higher. "Just think, you came all this way just to rescue one stallion. How foolish you must feel!"
"I don't regret rescuing Twilight's brother!" Luffy told her. "We're gonna break him out."
Laflora began to laugh hysterically. "Sususususususu! You really think Shining Armor is here?"
"What are you talking about!?"
"Shining was escorted to Scraper City already. He's been there for days!"
"… What…!?"
"We only set up all this up along with that rumor for the mare! Twilight Sparkle!" She announced.
"What do you want to do with Twilight!?" He questioned angrily.
From the back, where the stairs to the next floor was, a voice yelled across the room. Electra was seen nearing the entrance to the next floor. She yelled to Laflora, "Move your vines! I'm going to attack Twilight Sparkle from this side!"
"Of course." Laflora replied, moving the vines away for a moment to let her ally cross. It closes once more, and Luffy became worried.
"Twilight!" Luffy yelled, running to the door, but was stopped by the vines. He turned to Laflora, raising a horde of the thorny plants, aiming at the red stallion.
"Don't struggle so much. It's bad for your health."
"If you don't get out of my way…" He growled. "Then I'm gonna kick your ass!"
"Good luck."
"Gear Second."
Luffy then rushes in, diving practically through the vines. He reappeared in front of Laflora with his hoof stretched back and in its augmented state. Fire blazed, shocking Laflora and leaving her frozen in the state of awe. The attack hits, and the fiery punch burns deep, easily flaring all the vines around it.
"Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk!"
Stage 4 - The caged
Twilight and Trixie walk upon the semifinal stage. They look at the cages around them. Some rooted to the floor, others dangling from the ceiling by lines of chains. The two look around for a moment to gaze at the horror.
"Imagine being stuck here for the rest of your life." Trixie shuttered at the thought. "Trixie is glad she was not here. They seem to be tortured in other ways."
"What an awful place." Twilight muttered. "Shining… I'm almost there…"
Just as they moved on, someone from the cages shouted.
"Hey! You two! Over here!" Someone called. "Look brother! They're not those cheating jailor griffons! They're ponies! Like us!"
"Really Flim?" He replied in astonishment.
"Yes Flam! Hey! Over here!"
Twilight gave a surprised expression as she walked near the cage to see the familiar faces. "The Flim Flam brothers?"
"AH! And you're… Oh… The pony who's friend with that stubborn old apple." Flim huffed.
"Now, now brother, be nice. Any help will do in our situation." Flam reminded him.
"Why are you two here?" Twilight questioned. "I thought this floor was for war prisoners."
"Not just war prisoners dearie! We're designers of the great contraptions of Stage 1 through 3! We're the inventors of enchanted metal!" Flim explained.
"YOU'RE THE ONES WHO MADE THOSE AWFUL THINGS!?" Trixie shouted. "Do you know how much Trixie had to suffer through all that!?"
"We were told that if we did it, we'll be spared from the prison!" Flam told her. "But after we did, they threw us in the slammer anyways!"
"Serves you right." Trixie sneered.
"Hey!" Another voice shouted. "Over here!"
"Honey? What is it?" his partner spoke.
"Our ticket out of here!" He responded. "Hey! come on! Help us out and we can escape with an airship! We know how to drive one!"
"We don't have time for this!" Twilight told Trixie. "I want to help, but I don't have the keys. You all will just have to wait until my friends get here! They'll be able to get you out."
"Hey! You! Purple mare!" Another called, waving his hoof out through the bars. "Behind you! Watch out!"
"Huh?" Twilight responded before seeing an electric griffon. As she suddenly shot lightning, Twilight managed to come up with an energy bubble quickly. The electric blast bounces off, and the two gaze at Electra.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Twilight Sparkle."
"How'd you… I'm not on any of the wanted posters…" Twilight spoke.
"We know a lot about your interesting life with Princess Celestia." Electra explained.
Twilight's eyes shrunk as Trixie dropped her jaw. "What do you have to do with Celestia!?"
"W…What's going on!?"
"Twilight!?" The same voice that saved her called out. "Your name is Twilight Sparkle!?"
"W-Why!?" Twilight responded.
"Get out of here! This is all a trap!"
"It's too late for that!" Electra exclaimed as she created a wall of electricity, forbidding them from returning downstairs. The two unicorns fled to the stairs, running from the powerful griffon. The one who called for her slammed the bars tirelessly again and again.
"NO! It's a trap! Don't go in any further! Listen to me!"
But no avail. Twilight ran until she was blocked off by Venom. The purple griffon breathed out his gas, forcing Twilight to make the bubble once more. The gas surrounds her and Trixie as she attempts to hold the outside forces for as long as she could. But Twilight's magic would not last forever. She struggled against the tide upon her.