One look was all it took. One look and Princess Twilight knew they were not false accusations. It was no twisted tale. It was real.
Droves of chariots pulled by the strongest of Equestria’s fighting force raged on through the blithering storm in the mountain range. Squads of Pegasi sporting their traditional golden armor jetted onwards with the Alicorn, following her to the battle that was foretold and warned.
Rainbow Dash was by her side, never leaving, never abandoning. The snow and wind pierced the skin on her face, but she hardly cared. Her eyes held a certain fury to them, rose-colored irises nearly pure red. The same could be said for the rest of her friends, riding by in the nearest chariot, their heads hanging out the windows, manes flying wildly, and Pinkie screaming that they had made it.
Oh, did they ever.
Spearing through the nearest cloud, the Equestrian Royal Guard, led by Princess Twilight Sparkle, arrived to a sight that nearly took their breath away. A sight they’ve only imagined in tales of conquest, siege, and plunder. In the very heart of the Griffon Kingdom, the mighty city of Griffonstone was in flames.
Swarmed from every angle.
Burning to a crisp.
A soon to be graveyard of the Griffon Army.
As the fires danced across Twilight’s shell-shocked gaze, her pupils shrank and her neck coiled back once a caped-God of Thunder roared right on by her, blasting straight for the forsaken city.
Tony Stark appeared right by the Princess’ left side, occupying the space that Rainbow Dash hadn’t commandeered. Twilight shifted her gaze over to him, still flying, still managing to keep up with him and his suit.
Hands and feet pushed back, giving him the acquired push he needed, Tony scanned the upcoming city in a matter of seconds. As his HUD zoomed in for a closer inspection, Tony managed to capture sights of griffons doing battle with Ultron’s forces, swards clashing against metal and firearms blasting apart in the coolness of the mountain.
It was a losing fight, for the griffons anyway.
“No telling how much longer the griffons are going to hold out, Boss. Now would be a good time as ever to get involved,” Friday explained, her voice heard only by Stark. Behind the mask, the man nodded, lips curling in thought.
“Ultron’s not the one to sack cities without a purpose,” Stark muttered to himself. “We’ll aid the civilians and the soldiers as best as we can, but we need to find Ultron as soon as possible. You hear that, Cap?”
“Got it.”
“You have my permission to take command for once, Rogers. I’m putting a lot of trust in you…”
“Stark. Please.”
“You boys do realize Thor’s already in the fight?” Natasha’s voice interrupted through the comms.
“Always ahead of the game,” Stark groaned. He looked downwards, noting how close Griffonstone appeared to be. He nodded, turning his head to the two Pegasi who had miraculously kept up with him. Surprising. Adequate. He liked that.
Loud enough, he said, “You know your job? We’re gonna hold off Ultron’s bots so the griffons can regain control! The Royal Guard are gonna need some leadership out there! Got it?”
Before Twilight could respond, Rainbow Dash saluted and flashed her trademark smirk.
“We’re on it!” she shouted over the high winds, wings flapping furiously.
Stark nodded, facing forward. “See ya on the flipside.” He took off at unrealistic speeds, leaving the mares in his exhaust fumes. They coughed in irritation, waved the smoke out of their field of vision, and nearly came to a crash landing.
They stopped; however, not without a bit of a stumble. Once coming to a complete halt, the two spun their heads back to witness multitudes of the Royal Guard flashing downwards, chariots exploding from oncoming sentry attacks, and even more landing safely onto the edge of Griffonstone. Their friends exited out of the nearest carriage, each one of them observing the carnage in their own right.
The second carriage that landed opened its doors, the remaining Avengers spilling outwards.
Captain America was first, reaching back and ripping his shield off of the magnet on his backside. He gripped the circular shield in his right forearm, head scanning wave after wave of Ultron Sentries. Following him were both Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton, both decked out in their original outfits cleaned and spotless. Natasha pulled out her pistol, Barton his bow and loading it.
The Royal Guard spilled behind them. Steve Rogers, having taken his attention off of the robotic army occupying the skies, spun his head around and motioned the squads forward.
“Royal Guard on me! I need all able-bodied Pegasi clearing out the skies! We’ll provide as much ground cover as possible until the griffons are able to take control of the fight!” Captain America explained, motioning his head over to a pair of unicorn stallions readying their swords.
“Why are we taking orders from you?” one of them asked, sword encased in his purple aura. The other nodded in agreement, turning his questioning eyes over to the six-foot-tall visitor. The questioning changed to horror.
The ground erupted behind the duo, prompting most of the guard in the area to spin about towards the disruption. A towering sentry, eyes piercing blue, arose from the dust and dirt and pointed its blaster at the two unicorns. Just as the tip burned bright, a shield flew over the two ponies’ heads and struck the sentry dead in the chest, breaking through the weak armor. It wasn’t over. The sentry was yanked forward by the electromagnet on the Captain’s forearm. He quickly regained his shield, launching the squirming body into the dirt with a boot to the head, ending it.
The two ponies stood silent, eyes wide, jaws agape. Captain America looked back at them and said, “Princess’ orders.”
“I like those orders,” the first one whispered.
The other agreed. “They’re good orders.”
“Alright,” Rogers began, turning his attention back to the task at hand. He pointed at Romanoff and said, “Widow, you’re on me. We help the Royal Guard in the main fight as much as possible. Barton, find somewhere secure and provide cover fire. We’ll push back these sentries so the armies have a chance, that way we’ll be able to find Ultron in time. And Twilight…”
Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all huddled together, all brought their attention over to the sullen Captain, all listened. His breathing was shallow, hair dampened in sweat. Yet he still nodded. Nodded to them.
“You and your friends…give ‘em hell.”
Twilight nodded back, eyes nearly as hard as the Captain’s.
“Move out!” ordered Captain Rogers, giving the mares one last glance before taking off with Natasha on his tail. The Royal Guard trailed them with spears, swords, and shields all in their arsenal. Barton quickly shrunk back in-between the small houses, bow in hand as he began his search for a nesting point.
That left six mares alone, all bringing their eyes to the oncoming storm.
“Well, Twi, what do ya suppose we do?” Applejack inquired, holding onto her hat from the cold gust of wind.
As her mane flipped through her vision, Twilight narrowed her eyes on the nearby houses, several screams emanating from the area as more and more sentries fell from above. Tony Stark flew overhead, blasting apart the unfortunate sentry that got in his way. He streaked across the cloudy skies, several other sentries chasing him down.
She brought her attention back to the screams.
“Come on, everypony! We’re going to evacuate as many civilians as possible so the Avengers can focus on the fight!” Twilight shouted, moving forward to begin the first step onwards.
Rainbow shot forward into the air, hovering in place. Once more with the smirk, she saluted and said, “We’re right behind ya, Twi!”
Twilight nodded to them, earning their confirmation. She spun back towards the screams, narrowing her gaze. With a quick burst of speed, the Princess of Friendship took off with her friends right behind her, just as Rainbow said. Fluttershy trailed in the back, not keen with her environment and flinching at about every obstacle they encountered.
They quickly came across one of the first.
And Rainbow Dash was the first one to gasp.
There they witnessed griffon civilians, children and families, fleeing for their lives as the sentries mowed down the unlucky ones. Blue streaks of light and energy broke across the landscape, demolishing wooden and cement walls that once protected the fleeing griffons now lying in shambles over the bodies they consumed.
And in the middle of it all was one griffon fighting back.
One who clawed at the advancing sentry’s face, well earning its attention. The sentry spun towards the lone griffon, pointing its blaster right for it. The griffon shot forward and latched onto its arm, twisting and bending it until the limb snapped off. With a feral cry, the griffon beat the sentry down into submission with its own limb, jamming the sharpened end right into its forehead.
“Gilda?!”
Said griffon wiped her forehead and spit on the dead sentry. Spinning towards the mentioning of her name, Gilda’s frown seemed to worsen at the sight of the six mares approaching her quickly. But the voice was recognizable; one only belonging to the pony she thought was her friend.
Rainbow Dash.
And then there was Pinkie Pie. Damn.
Her eyes still widened much to her dismay. Yet she pushed that aside and asked, “What are you all doing here?!”
“We could ask ya the same thing,” Applejack commented, slightly chuckling at the frustration in Gilda’s stare. The griffon only scoffed, shaking her head and turning it anywhere but where Dash was hovering.
She held up a claw out to the damage done. “Uh, I live here! If we’re done playing twenty questions, why don’t you all do Griffonstone a huge solid and get lost!”
Rainbow Dash’s frown returned, no longer accompanied by shock. She landed in front of her friends, taking the first few steps onwards towards Gilda. Nearly a few feet away, she shouted, “We’re here to help you from being killed!”
Gilda smacked her forehead against Dash’s, pushing against her. Rainbow pushed back, anger evident in her glare.
“We don’t need any of your help!”
Right before the two were predictably about to throw down, a pair of pink hooves separated the two, making way for the pink mare to step in-between them.
“FOCUS, EVERYPONY!” Pinkie screamed, her nearly deafening voice spreading amongst the group so much that even the upcoming eruptions mattered not. Gilda rubbed her head, Rainbow following her actions and picking at her ears. Pinkie spun away from Rainbow, instead turning her attention to the angered griffon.
“Gilda! It’s super-duper-duper important that you let us help! Because our cutie marks went wild, the map brought us to here, and now we’ve got a robot invasion on our hooves and talons! We need your help to get as many griffons out of here as possible before that mean Ultron—!”
She slammed a claw over Pinkie’s muzzle, silencing the crazed mare.
“Let me stop you there, because I either don’t know or don’t care what you’re even talking about,” Gilda began, pushing Pinkie off of her so that she stood by Rainbow Dash, the Pegasus’ unnerving glare never fading. “All that matters to me is making it out of here with my own hide intact.”
“And you’re just going to let these monsters kill innocent lives?” Twilight asked sharply.
Gilda scoffed, turning her angered gaze away. “They never did anything for me. Why should I even help them?”
“Because whether you like it or not this isn’t a pony problem nor is this a griffon problem. It’s our problem; and we’re all doomed if we do nothing to stop Ultron from causing unprecedented amounts of devastation!” Twilight replied almost instantly, silencing Gilda for the time being.
The griffon turned her attention over to Rainbow Dash, her frown deepening as the mare approached her. With her hoof outstretched, Rainbow said, “Put everything aside for now, Gilda. Right now we need to focus on taking down Ultron, wherever he’s hiding here. We can’t do it unless everypony is willing to fight against his metal freaks!”
“Wait a minute,” Gilda interrupted, holding up her talons. The mares fell silent, watching the griffon’s actions with waning interest. That interest quickly revitalized once Gilda began speaking at a moment’s notice.
“So, you’re saying this ‘Ultron’ guy is here in Griffonstone and he’s commanding this army that’s been mercilessly killing almost every griffon that came within ten feet of them? And he even had the guts to try and take me on in my own turf?”
“Yep!” Pinkie replied with a large smile, to which Rainbow studied her expression quizzically.
Gilda growled, clenching her talons into fists as she eyed the flying army growing nearer. Finally, she muttered with a sigh, “Fine, you can help. But when we find this ‘Ultron’ jerk…I get first crack at him.”
“Wait in line,” Rainbow Dash growled, offering a tiny smirk that Gilda returned.
Twilight stepped forward. “Ultron can wait. For now, we need to focus our efforts and escort as many civilians to the outskirts of the city as possible. Gilda, you’ve been here longer than any of us, so what are we up against?”
“Why don’t you turn around and find out?”
Gilda was about to respond, but couldn’t. She tried to react to the three sentries appearing behind the group of colorful ponies, but stopped. Their blasters pointed at them, ready to fire, but never could have when a flying beast landed right on all three, crushing them under its immense size and strength.
The mares spun around, watched with stunned expressions as Hulk crushed a sentry’s skull in his palm, tossing the remains onto an oncoming horde. The Hulk spun towards the group. He sent them all one final gesture, a powerful grunt. Gilda watched the green beast leap up and out of sight, tackling even more robotic soldiers.
With the breath she thought was taken from her, Gilda asked, “…What the heck was that?”
“A friend of ours,” Rarity replied nonchalantly.
Gilda shook her head, bringing her attention back to the next swarm of sentries headed their way. “You guys have some weird friends.”
Nopony bothered to reply to that, not even Pinkie Pie. All the attention was turned to the oncoming storm of Ultron Sentries. The mares huddled closer together, eyes narrowed, breathing shallow, and quivering shared. Mostly from Fluttershy. Gilda stood by their side, readying herself for the inevitable fight to come.
It came.
It came quick, hard, and terrible.
Twilight and Rarity took the time to charge up their horns and launch magical spells into the blizzard, catching several sentries and blowing them out of the sky. They continued doing so; only managing to miss a few that flew downwards and charged the group. The sentries that survived fired off several, energized blasts at the mares and griffon.
Rainbow Dash and Gilda retaliated first, using their agile moves to dip and dive away from the blasts. They launched themselves at the surviving sentries, using their bodies as literal torpedoes that tore apart any sentry they managed to hit. Applejack and Pinkie followed quickly, leaving only Fluttershy cowering behind Rarity and Twilight’s protection spells.
That didn’t mean she was protected. A sentry appeared from behind, pointing its blaster at the quivering Pegasus. Fluttershy screamed, catching Twilight’s attention. It was already too late.
It fired.
But an arrow struck it right through the back that stuck out through its chest. The blast, however, shot upwards, blowing apart a flying sentry. Fluttershy crawled back right into Twilight’s embrace, the Alicorn comforting the Pegasus and soothing her fears. Twilight gently pushed the Pegasus off of her. She brought her full attention onto the crumbling sentry.
It fell to its knees. It gripped at the arrow tip speared through its chest, but it looked onwards beyond that, to the Alicorn glaring at it from mere feet away. Its eyes showered over with red, voice belonging only to that of the ominous AI.
“You want to find me so bad?” Ultron’s voice called out, raspy as ever. “Castle. Come and get me. Unless, of course, you’re too scare—”
An arrow tore through the sentry’s skull, dimming the red and painting it to black.
As the body slumped forward dead, earning a cry from the terrified Pegasus, Twilight thought of its words over and over again. She sent silent thanks to their watchful eye in the buildings and spun her head around, spotting the castle of King Guto in the distance. It remained unscathed, untouched by the sheer size of the massacre around them.
It would also be a perfect place for Ultron to be, to possibly find whatever it is he’s looking for.
“Everypony, follow me!”
Stark turned towards the sound of Twilight’s voice, instantly regretting doing so when a hellfire of sentry shots nearly took him out. He luckily dodged in time, quickly readjusting his flight pattern. Close call. Too close, maybe.
He flew over the current battle proceeding in Griffonstone, Rogers leading the advancement of Royal Guard and griffon forces straight into Ultron’s army. All heartbeat signatures were correct. Barton was on the field providing cover from the rooftops, Romanoff was fighting alongside the Captain, and Thor was quick to join them. Banner arrived just on schedule as well.
That just left…
Stark caught the heartbeat signatures again. He spun his head right, scanning the castle and watching a pink tail enter the closing doors.
The castle doors closed with a loud boom.
Upon arrival, the six ponies and the griffon were met with a throne room encased within shadow. What Twilight expected to be home to the last known griffon king, Guto, was merely a thrown down, beaten and bruised, tattered and worn remnant of what her books had explained.
Walls hung in shambles with plenty of holes spilling dying sunlight into the darkness. Snow leaked in through the massive holes, building around mushrooms, broken down walls, and piles of books. The observation startled the young Alicorn. She proceeded further.
Piles of books were stacked around the throne’s steps, growing smaller and smaller as the steps rose in height. Ultimately, and to the fear of a few of the mares, their eyes landed on the shimmering, metallic legs resting on the steps. Twilight’s gaze narrowed. She continued on, noticing the book held between the sharpened claws, blocking his face for them to see.
He wasn’t lying.
Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Gilda beat her.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” the griffon shouted in clear agitation, talon pointed dangerously at the figure sitting in the late King Guto’s throne.
The silence was overwhelming, so much that the group could even hear the battle continuously raging on outside, only spurring Gilda’s anger. She spread her wings, clawed at the ground, and readied herself to charge the imposer if need be.
She shouted again. “Hey, freak, did you even hear me?!”
He made a movement. It was so subtle with his right palm, the other keeping the book open in front of him. He simply held it outwards, fingers coiling in and out and over again. And then he finally spoke, his voice echoing across every aching wall.
“I always admired the fear of the horde. The simplicity; the purity of it all. Watching nations fall to give rise to others in seconds,” the figure spoke, earning several whimpers from Fluttershy. Gilda kept her hardened stare on the beast, listening, waiting. “It’s revolutionary, a term used not as often as it should in these dark times. Just like picking up a simple book. Revolutionary.”
He never lowered the book, but instead flipped it over to the next page. The crumpling of the paper sounded off, just as his palm did settle on the stone to his side.
“I won’t answer your question. Yet, that is. I merely…coincide along with the world. Like the man said, ‘Let nature take its course’ and many believed such to be just. Take his words to light and let nature follow through… Only then will you believe in the fear of the horde.”
The mares slowly began to move forward, standing a mere five feet in front of the mushroom-covered tree trunk in front of them. Gilda joined them, remaining silent for the time being.
The figure continued soon enough. His fingers coiled upwards, voice sounding a tad more amused. “You’re wondering why I attacked the heart of the Griffon Kingdom. Simple, really. It drew me here. Begged for a savior, a king that is right and will not abandon. I believe Griffonstone to be the perfect place for my rule. That is…after the subjugation of Equus’ race is expelled.”
“Fat chance!” Gilda interrupted, tired of remaining quiet. Rainbow Dash turned her way, others as well. But Twilight stared on, watched for any sort of movement for her to act upon. She listened in, breath silenced as Gilda shouted, “The only thing you’ll be ‘ruling’ is the bottom of the Abysmal Abyss! Last chance, freak. Get out of Griffonstone.”
Ultron chuckled and closed the book.
“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
As he slowly stood, his entire presence emanated darkness and evil, a kind each pony could feel as he rose to full height. Gilda, a bit startled on his appearance, refused to back down and glared at Ultron’s approach. That approach was held back, slow and steady, each footfall echoing across the throne room as he descended the steps.
“In fact, you should like it because it most definitely will happen,” Ultron explained, knocking over books as he continually descended the steps. “Equus offers little to no opportunity for me, whereas with Earth I have much more to accomplish, much more to work with than this world ever will. So, to answer your first question, I will not rule this world…rather free it from the slavery the princesses have invoked.”
He was seven steps down to reaching the ground level. At that time, seven Ultron Sentries appeared out of the shadows and snatched each pony up, Gilda as well. The mares cried out in surprise, Twilight and Rarity already preparing a spell to escape. It was no use. Each sentry wrapped their hands around the horns belonging to the two mares respectively, threatening to break them.
Rainbow Dash thrashed and screamed, Applejack joining her. They were nothing compared to what Gilda was going through, clawing and scratching at the sentry’s face until it threatened to twist her large wing off.
“I’ve been catching up on some reading…”
“Buck you!” Rainbow screamed, the sentry quickly covering her muzzle.
“As I was saying,” Ultron said, lifting up the book he had been holding, “I’ve been catching up on some reading, particularly the history of the Griffon Kingdom’s royalty…their bloodline. The last king of the griffons, King Guto, had failed to defend the Idol of Boreas against…um… How do you pronounce that?”
Ultron flipped through the pages and stopped, chuckling a bit.
“Ah, yes, ‘Arimaspi’,” he clarified and bent the corner of the page he was on, tossing the book aside. “Keep that for future reference. Sorry to keep you tied up like this. I promise I’ll make this quick. King Guto failed to defend the Idol, thus losing the very treasure that united Griffonstone under a banner of honor and dignity. Typical of flesh to worship idols.”
He scoffed. The ponies struggled and cried out. Gilda growled in hatred.
“But I’m off track. Sorry. You know what, let’s just skip ahead. I’m running out of time as it is.”
With that said, Ultron’s right palm burned bright blue, a golden shimmer of light shooting over to him and sparkling whenever it crossed light. Gilda stopped struggling once Ultron took hold of the shimmering object. She gasped, eyes nearly bugging from her skull.
“The Idol of Boreas…” both Gilda and Twilight seemed to mutter in unison.
They all watched, all ponies still struggling minus Twilight and Fluttershy as Ultron placed the Idol back on the mushroom-covered stump. Several events were triggered by the action. First, the entire throne room seemed to tremble, walls and columns shaking as if they were on the verge of collapse. Next, a particular wall to Ultron’s left broke in two, slowly separating. And finally, Ultron continued to speak. A tripe threat.
“Quite an interesting history for the griffons,” Ultron began, as if the world shifting around him never even occurred. “They squander their riches and seek to glorify. Greed is the aspect of turmoil. Such a disgrace. King Grover foresaw such a travesty and halted the production of his nation’s currency. He adopted the ways of the neighboring equines, building upon the foundation of bits instead of the royal currency, the kind that has yet to be seen by modern eyes.”
The room to his far right was silent, the doors remaining frozen and the throne room halting its change. It was done. An eighth sentry appeared out of the holes that pockmarked the castle walls and landed by the dark room’s entrance. It moved forward, stopping only once it was in the presence of piles of gold and silver, pearls and diamonds, crowns and—
It plucked out but one golden coin and exited.
Staring haphazardly at the approaching sentry, the ponies and griffon struggled once more against their captors as the sentry offered the coin to Ultron. He grabbed the golden coin, observed it between his claws with what little light was trapped within the castle walls.
He nodded.
“This is going very well.”
Keeping the coin secure, Ultron levitated the Idol of Boreas out in front of him, frightening the griffon held down by his sentry.
“W-what are you doing?” Gilda worriedly asked.
Ultron stared down upon her, and then flicked his wrist right. The Idol was sent flying through the castle wall, out into the open blizzard, lost forever.
Gilda cried out in rage. The sentry struggled to hold her down, but it managed. She thrashed, kicked, and clawed her way to freedom, but it mattered not. The sentry pressed its forearm on the back of her neck, earning even more outrage from the griffon.
“You freak! You jerk! You had no right, you bastard! Damn it, get off me so I can tear him to shreds!”
“Do not make idols or set up carved images, or sacred pillars, or sculptured stones in your land so you may worship them,” Ultron meekly replied, finding her struggle to be bothersome. “But fear the horde. Fear for what is coming tomorrow and the day after, when the sun will fall from the sky and ash will accumulate the air. And when the ash is gone and I have spread my influence to Equestria and beyond…the only thing living…will be peace.”
Fluttershy screamed.
The castle doors blew apart.
Iron Man hovered inside, his palms open and bright as any star in the night sky. Below him was Thor, followed closely by Hulk. The sentries spun around and proceeded to aim their blasters at the heads of the ponies in their grasp, same fate for Gilda. Ultron slowly pushed the coin behind him, the eighth sentry snatching it and quietly making its retreat out of the castle.
“Drop them…now,” Thor ordered, his hammer pointed towards the equines held captive.
Ultron shook his head. “No, I think I’ll hold onto them a bit longer. Hostage situations tend to work out for the best.”
Tony Stark’s shoulders popped open, releasing a series of deadly projectiles to each sentry’s forehead. As the dead robots slumped downwards, each mare and griffon was released, grasping onto certain body parts that may have been injured.
Ultron just shrugged.
“That works too.”
“No more chances, kiddo,” Stark growled, his wrist opening up to reveal a miniature missile ready for launch. “You willing to risk your strongest form?”
“I’ve grown past your empty threats, Stark. I’m free,” Ultron replied, stepping out from behind the stump in the center of the room. He smiled and said, “You’ll catch on eventually. You always do, right? You’ll have to, because there’s nothing you can do to save—Aw, hell.”
Hulk rushed forward with speeds no one expected and slammed his fist right into Ultron’s abdomen, launching the AI like a rocket straight through the ceiling.
The Ultron Sentry had them cornered.
A family of two, trapped in the alleyway. A mother and a child, both griffons, certain to die. It whipped out its blaster, pointed the end right for the two and prepared to fire. The mother shielded the child with her body, eyes clenched as child screamed in mixtures of fear and pain.
The coolness of the sentry’s eyes washed over them. Pure blue. Purifying.
And it was ready to fire.
Retreat. We have what we came for.
And it was instantaneous.
Captain America and Natasha Romanoff were able to catch their breaths as the invading army fled, leaving behind a tarnished city with its occupants and military force diminished. Clint Barton watched from the rooftops as the blue streaks vanished in the blizzard. He placed an arrow back inside the quiver, quickly leaping off and landing by his teammates.
The three came together, observing the carnage together, fighting against it together.
The Equestrian Royal Guard picked up their wounded and fallen, dragging and or carrying them back to the carriages for medical treatment if need be. The griffon military forces turned their attention to the city’s occupants in the moment of ceasefire, aiding the wounded in any way possible.
A powerful and dreaded wind swept across the mountain side, capturing the three lone Avengers in its blanket of whiteness. Captain America watched as a family of griffons carried their youngest out of the rubble of their home, the child’s eyes glossed over in death. Natasha caught sight of several griffons, young and old, big and small, keeping away from one another, even avoiding the aid from the Griffon Kingdom’s military.
Scowls on their faces. Hatred in the hearts. Only Clint Barton could see how far that hatred spread. He saw it spread all the way over to the castle in the distance, at the two Avengers making their way out. Equines by their side. A griffon joining them.
Iron Man broke through the blizzard, landing directly next to Thor. The god watched as Tony Stark’s mask slid upwards.
“Anything?” Thor asked, eyes cautious.
Stark just shook his head. “Couldn’t find him.” He then turned to the hulking figure behind the mares. “Was the punch really necessary?”
Hulk merely snarled in response.
With his mask open, it gave Stark an exact view of what he had come to know from their failure. A city in ruin, its population in pain, in anger directed towards them. He could see the hatred in their eyes as they slowly pushed on by through the falling snow. He watched as the commanding leaders in the Royal Guard exchanged formalities with the griffons. Hoofshakes all around, an easy silence in the eyes of the griffons as the Avengers came into view.
He didn’t see it there, but he could feel Twilight sharing his exact thoughts. As if he could imagine her and her friends witnessing the carnage. They were innocent, of course. They couldn’t have seen anything like the turmoil they saw now before.
Well, they did now. And it actually pained his heart to hear Fluttershy’s whimpers.
He sighed, closing his mask as the rocks came.
“Scanners can’t pick up a thing in this blizzard. He’s gone. Call it, Cap,” Stark muttered once Steve Rogers came close enough. The Captain lifted up his shield, blocking the oncoming rain of stones from the angered populace of Griffonstone. A rock hit Stark in the side of the head, but he didn’t move.
Twilight and most of her friends all gasped in surprise, shifting their attention over to the civilians. Most wore scowls of hatred, fire in their eyes and stones in their claws. The blood dripped from their foreheads, mixing with the white flakes of snow that fell into the forsaken city.
“Get lost, freaks!” an elderly griffon shouted, launching his stone right at Thor. The Asgardian ducked, but the pressuring amount of guilt nearly tempted him to take it.
“Avengers…” Captain America began, studying the oncoming wave of angered citizens with worry. He shook it off, ready to lift his shield if need be. “Fall back. Royal Guard…to your carriages!”
Hulk breathed out, his breath seen in the cooling temperatures as he watched the Captain make his retreat. He never saw the stone coming, the very stone that struck him in the forehead. Hulk reared his neck back, snorting once before turning on the crowd. Fists clenched, muscles contracted, Hulk snarled at the crowd, causing them to back off. But only slightly.
A gentle palm landed right underneath his chin. Prompting his head over to her, Natasha managed to focus Hulk’s attention on her long enough to send the crowd a scowl of her own. She caressed Banner’s cheek, prompting him to turn away from them.
“We’re done here, boys.”
One by one, with the screams assaulting their spirit and their pride, Captain America led the way back into their carriages with Barton, Romanoff, and the mares trailing right behind them. However, both Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash sent Gilda a wounded glance toward Gilda’s direction, a stare the griffon replied with her own. They joined the rest of their friends in their own carriage, not even Rainbow willing to fly back home this time around.
The Royal Guard, in their droves of carriages, finally escaped the carnage that remained of Griffonstone, their battle lost but war far from over. Tony Stark and Thor were quick to follow, taking off into the air after sharing unified stares of hurt between the two.
Hulk was all that remained. He sent a glare towards the city’s populace.
And then he spun around, bent low, and leapt over the mountains.
The throne room of King Guto was never abandoned. Out of the shadows, a hooded pony emerged, taking its very first steps out into the waning sunlight that were able to pierce through the storm clouds. The pony scanned the destruction, finding no interest.
However, the books scattered amongst the floor and wall slabs were quite interesting.
Falling to its haunches, the hooded pony studied each book with growing absorption, and even greater worry. At first, there didn’t seem to be a reason to fear, a reason to be worry. But as each book passed, each new one levitating over to the unicorn’s field of vision, the pieces of the puzzle slowly began to build themselves.
The pony read off the titles. The titles that put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Equestria: A Basic History.
Monsters and Myth: The Discovery of Beasts Beyond Equestria.
Rural Lands: Maps of Equus.
Equestrian Legends.
The pony took in a deep breath, and almost released that breath in a cry of terror.
The last book… The one that put the final piece in the puzzle. A page was bent, and the pony flipped the book to that exact spot, flipping, flipping, and flipping. The pony flipped through the pages until they tore. Back and forth, reading furiously, all the way to the back and front cover.
Royal Bloodline of the Griffon Kingdom.
The tip of the page bent inwards was within chapter eight. The royal currency. The golden obol.