"Rarity, are you crying?"
"No, I..." the unicorn sniffed and wiped her eye. She shook her head. "I'm fine. Honest!" She smiled, her expression to be met with a smirk and a quirked eyebrow from Twilight. "If I were you, I'd be more worried about Rainbow Dash. She appears to have, shall we say, lost focus." She pointed a hoof at the sleeping pegasus. Applejack shoved her, causing her to scramble awake.
"Actually Rainbow, I think you might want to listen to this part..."
Flying solo, all of Equestria was Spectra's oyster. The pegasus' speed was unparalleled throughout the land, and had been part of her rapid rise to officer ranks in the Cloudsdale city guard. Even with Dawn keeping pace with magical means, she still had to hold back; but now, she could really get the lead out. An hour's endurance flying (as opposed to a flying sprint, which would be many times the speed, but exhaust her in minutes) took her from Ponyville to within visual range of Canterlot. She made sure to give the citadel a wide berth - she would be no good to anypony captured. It would be another half hour of flying before her objective came into view. In the distance, roaring, clattering and the faint smell of burning let her know the gryphon horde was close. She gulped and steeled herself as she descended from the clouds.
Into view came a small hamlet, primarily built of thatched cottages, lit not by lanterns, but by loose fire. As she descended further, more details came into view; gryphons circling the village and raining down arrows, taking particular care to pick off any pegasi trying to escape through the air; ponies running around, screaming and attempting to flee, only to be cut down or forced back by the marauding gryphons advancing on the settlement. Bolt saw no time to lose, and immediately dived for the nearest gryphon archer. Taking him completely by surprise, she span him around by the arm and flung him towards another archer, stunning both of them. This alerted the other two nearby. She lingered for a moment while they took aim, lit only by the flames of the village below. She dashed up and away from the archers, far faster than they could crane their necks after her, and with a somersault, she positioned herself neatly between them. Before they could turn to her, she grabbed both their heads and cracked them together. Both of them fell to the ground unconscious. With the skies temporarily clear, she swept down to the ground to survey the scene.
She knew she was only there to get some evidence, but arriving when she did, she wasn't just going to abandon these innocent ponies. As she neared the surface, she accelerated downwards, hooves outstretched, aiming them at a gryphon foot soldier. In no less than a second, crack. The gryphon's upper body was crushed under the impact. The blow forced its head and shoulders firmly into the dirt, killing it instantly. She regained her balance and stepped off the body. The soldier's spear was tossed to the side. She grabbed it and twirled it for a moment, getting an idea of how it balanced in her hand. This'll do. With that thought, she darted to cover, lest she attract more attention. Her arm was still giving a little pang of pain every now and then.
Okay Bolt, it's just you, a spear, and an entire army of angry, angry gryphons. No problem, right? Right? She began to panic a little. She kept sprinting between hiding spots, hoping to take a lunge at one of the barbarians as they passed. Luck was not on her side though - they were too numerous to be able to take down quickly. Before long they were herding the remaining villagers into the middle of the settlement, moving in for the kill. Reasoning that the odds were too stacked against her on the ground, she took to the sky. She hovered to a position about twenty yards off the ground and hurled the spear downwards. It careered, straight and true, to her target; the top of a gryphon's head. She couldn't see many details from here, but there was an audible crack and a squelch. It also caught the attention of everyone on the ground, which was just what she was hoping for. She wasn't sure what for yet, but that part of the plan was a work in progress.
"Hey! Up here, you big beaky buzzards!" She yelled, much to the disgruntlement of the horde. The trapped ponies looked confused; they didn't know whether to be relieved or doubly afraid. Bolt could see some of the same posters fluttering around. Many of the grounded gryphons were rearing up to take off when another sound rang out.
"Wait!" the sound echoed around the town, gruff and harsh, commanding obedience from every decibel. The instruction cast silence across the whole crowd, gryphon and pony alike. A single gryphon leapt from the horde and rose to Bolt's level. Its form was muscular, only its narrow shoulders and wide hips belying the female voice that had called out a moment ago. Clutched in her claw was a weapon; the flickers of flames revealed its identity as a trident, plated with gold. Spectra's eyes narrowed as the gryphon closed in, calmly, not as if to attack, but to discuss.
"Aurum." Bolt uttered, staring down the gryphon warlady.
"Well, well. It's about time they sent someone interesting." The pair slowly circled each other in mid-air, hovering around with just the most idle beating of their wings. "Your reputation precedes you, 'captain'. Even if it's... heh. Not all good." The pegasus just kept up her glare. "I'm not gonna lie, I was kinda disappointed when I saw those wanted posters. It's like the Priestess wants to just gift-wrap Canterlot and everyone in it for me."
"Why are you doing this? Why Canterlot?"
"Why not?" the gryphon chuckled, almost casually. "Because it's there? Or maybe because you mules need to learn your place on the food chain?" Her tone pivoted from jovial to belligerent on a dime. "Y'know what all of you are in my eyes? Meat. Great, big, walking, talking bags of meat that don't know when to shut up and accept their fate. Except..." she drummed her claws on her beak, starting to draw out her words. "... except. Except the one, every once in a while, that knows how to fight back. Now and then I meet a pony with that little... predatory spark in their eye. The ones that don't just run like livestock when you charge 'em. The ones with a little fire in their bellies. Like they weren't born in the right place. And y'know what Spectra? I think I see it in you." Bolt's eyebrows raised for a moment, but slowly lowered again, retaining a stern expression. "You heard me. It's not like you could have found your way out here to play hero to these cattle unless you had at least a little fighting spirit."
"Cut to the chase, Aurum. What do you want?"
"I'm gonna make you an offer, Spectra. You can join me. Ditch those walking steaks and join the winning team. All the spoils of war your own courage and drive deserves, and all you'd have to do is quit defending the main course." The pegasus lowered her eyes, looking within herself. "They don't want you anyway. Look at them. Cowering down there. Are they more afraid of me, or you? I don't know. But I suggest you look at the writing on the wall and tell me." Aurum pointed a talon towards one of the few intact posters on a wall. Spectra inhaled deeply, her eyes closing. The entire village was silent, save for the crackling of the burning houses, every living soul's gaze awaiting the pegasus' answer. Seconds dragged on for eternities. The gryphon warlady held out a front leg, claws outstretched. "Do we have a deal, Spectra?" Bolt opened her eyes, and hacked to the back of her throat. The sound brought a wry smile to Aurum's beak... until Spectra spat, not in her palm to seal the deal, but in Aurum's face.
"That's what I think of your deal." She barked. Aurum slowly wiped the saliva from her face and flicked it to the side.
"You're too loyal for your own good, meatbag..." the gryphon growled. She backed up a little and inhaled deeply, before screaming the order at the top of her lungs, "Kill them all!". Not needing to be told twice, the horde began to tear into the quivering mass of ponies. The pegasus immediately darted to the ground to reclaim her thrown spear. An unpleasant gush of blood accompanied its removal from the warrior's skull. A quick aside glance revealed Aurum to be chasing her; she reasoned that she didn't have time to stick around and help much, unless she wanted to join the massacred. Nonetheless, rather than sprint to safety, she began to lead the gryphon leader on a complicated trail, weaving around huts and trees, running rings around the bulkier flier. In the chase, she managed to make a number of passes on the melee in the middle of the village. She slashed and stabbed at the raiders as she passed, or alternatively, if she had a bigger lead on her pursuer, reached into the crowd and grabbed a pony, not so much hauling them to safety as throwing them a short distance and hoping they landed softly enough to make a run for it. She felt like her injured arm was going to come off, but her sense of duty forced her to push through the pain. In just minutes, there were none left to save - all of them had either been tossed into the trees outside the village, or lost at the claws of the ravenous horde.
As this grim fact became apparent to Spectra, she gulped. All of their attention would now be set on her. She looked again at the spear she had acquired. It was distinctive - its bronze head was engraved with gryphon markings, and the blade was highly curved; it was almost like an ornate glaive. This'll do, she thought, and took off full throttle for the south. However, she was not alone just yet - reflected in the metal of the spear she could see Aurum tailing her, trident in claw, tongue hanging out of her beak, almost hungrily. Bolt redoubled her efforts, flapping her tired wings as hard as she could. Her tighter turning circle was no good to her here, this was a test of pure speed. Acceleration was with her, but momentum wasn't. Unless...
With a mischievous smirk, she took a slight detour to her right; a mountain was coming up fast. She angled her trajectory up a little. This alone was enough to make the tailgating gryphon have to work just a little more, her weight punishing her more for the incline than the pegasus. Not satisfied with that, Bolt began to bank further to the right, spiralling around the peak.
While circling the landform certainly compounded Aurum's weight disadvantage, it wasn't enough to throw her off completely. Once at the summit, Spectra immediately pitched down, racing down the sheer drop and adding gravity to the smorgasbord of forces tugging at her body. Wind resistance was starting to really come into play by now. She held the spear out in front of her, the point cutting the air in front of her and contributing to an aerodynamic form. The gryphon in pursuit continued to fall away behind her, completely unable to match this speed. And to top it all off, then, it happened. Bolt was never sure what quite happened then, but almost as soon as she levelled off from coming down the mountain, the most almighty, thunderous explosion echoed across the land, heard as far as Canterlot; a terrific flash of multicoloured light radiated from its centre, and the most brilliant trail of colours followed the source of it all - Spectra's merciless shattering of the sound barrier. The shockwave tossed Aurum aside like a children's toy, and she could only watch her prey escape in the distance as she wiped out. The trail, however, got her thinking.