To Guard Equestria

by BleepBloop2

Chapter 12

I pushed myself to my feet, swaying slightly. I leaned against a tree for balance. Wait, that wasn’t right. I looked to my left and saw the tree. I looked around. Trees everywhere. We were in a forest. We were not meant to be in a forest. What if someone got teleported into a tree?

Thats when the screaming started.

I walked towards the sound. I managed a few paces before tripping over something. My spear. I picked it up and used it as a walking stick. Hobbling towards the screams, I passed dozens of ponies. Grabbing the first officer I saw, I told him to round everyone up here, marking ‘here’ by carving an ‘X’ in a tree. He mumbled something I took as a ‘yes’ and started helping other ponies to their hooves. I left him to it.

I found the source of the screams a few minutes later. An earth pony, with brown and green fur and a grey mane, was leaning with one hoof pressed against a tree, screaming. I walked closer and took another look. His leg met the tree just below his knee and melded into it. I broke a branch off the tree and his screams got higher.

“Bite down on this,” I told him, putting the stick in front of his muzzle. The stick was about as thick as my wrist. He looked at it, eyes wild, and ripped it from my hand. Planting my spear in the ground, I drew the hand axe I’d gotten from the mines. One hand on the tree, I lined the axe up. It took a few blows to sever the bone. I tried to get it as close to the tree as possible.

The pony, a corporal I think, just collapsed when he came loose. Unable to help myself, I took a quick glance at the part still stuck on the tree. The middle of the bone was made of wood. I shuddered, looked away. I heard retching, but the only people around were me and the corporal, who was whimpering. I cut the sleeves from my shirt and used them to tie it to the stump. They turned red too quickly for my liking.

He had stopped screaming by now, and had spit out the branch. Now how the hell was I supposed to get him moving?

“I’m guessing you can’t walk?” I asked.

“My back legs are fine, sir, and so is my front left. I should be able to manage a slow walk on three.”

I frowned. “I don’t like the sound of that should, corporal.” I looked at him, and had an idea. “Here, give me your front legs, I’ll hold you up by them, and walk forward, you just move your back ones.” I helped him to his hooves, and then moved so I was in front of him and facing the same way. Holding his forelegs at waist height, I took a pair of slow steps forward. He matched me at about the same pace, and soon we were moving, not quickly, but steadily. I did my best to keep the injured leg elevated, but I could only do so much.

We got back to the tree I’d marked after a little wandering and had Zecora and one of the unicorn medics look at his legs. I still couldn’t place who this pony was. We didn’t have any ponies of his colours in the Night Guard, and we hadn’t gotten any earth ponies from the Day Guard. I’d need to talk to Celestia about dog tags. I should have done it before we left, but there just wasn’t time.

I found my lieutenants, apart from Zecora, huddled under the tree around a map. I looked over Ironshod’s shoulder. “How far off target are we?”

Quick Cut looked up. “We don’t know, sir. None of us know the area or any landmarks.”

“Send a pegasi above the trees, tell them to have a look.” Night Wind nodded and moved to give the order. “Ironshod, you missing anyone?”

Ironshod glanced down at a piece of parchment next to the map. “Missing a Corporal Redsmith, sir. He was an armoursmith, signed up for the night shift a few weeks ago. Does some good work, too. Made me this.” He tapped a hoof against the steel breastplate he was wearing.

“Redsmith? I’m guessing he’s red, then.”

“Aye, sir. Rust red coat, flame red mane and tail.”

“Well, he’s green and grey now.”

“What?”

“Theres a reason we were supposed to get teleported to the far side of the forest from the first target, Lieutenant. Accidents happen.” I looked down at the map without seeing it. “Can we manage without him?”

“Most likely sir, but it never hurts to have an extra four hooves around. Permission to ask why, sir?”

“Only three hooves now,” I explained. There was a flash of confusion on Ironshod’s face before understanding dawned.

“I see, sir. Will I see about getting him sent back?”

“I think thats best. Have Spike send a message.”

Ironshod looked at me expectantly. When I only looked back at him, he said, “Redsmith’s leg, sir, where is it?”

“Still inside the tree he was attached to.”

Ironshod shuddered. “I don’t think I’ll be teleporting again anytime soon.”

“Then you’ll be walking through the Everfree Forest,” I reminded him.

He tapped his chin, a thoughtful look on his face. After a few moments, he said, “I think I’ll take my chances. I’ve been in the Everfree, it isn’t as bad as ponies make it out to be.”

A pegasus broke through the canopy and landed beside us. She took a second to catch her breath before saluting. “Sir. Lance Corporal Cloud Cover, reporting. Were close to the halfway point between the target and where we were supposed to end up. Maybe half a mile east, three quarters of a mile north. I did a quick check, though, and it seems a lot of our supplies ended up back there.”

“Thank you, Lance Corporal. Anything else you want to add?”

“No, sir.”

I nodded. Right now, no news was definitely good news. “Report back to Lieutenant Night Wind. Fill her in, and then take a break.”

I looked back down at the map. A day and a half, maybe two days to get to those supplies, another two to get them back. Say four and a half just to get them and get back here. Another day to get in position. Five days to do what should have taken three. Already one casualty, and friendly fire at that.

“Ironshod, do you know how much of our supplies we have with us?”

“Err, about a third, maybe?” He scratched the back of his neck, nervous. “Quick Cut would have a better idea; he does things like that. Good with numbers, he is. Mind if I ask why?”

“I’m thinking of sending a group of ponies back to get those supplies while a small group goes on ahead to scout out the target. I’m thinking mostly earth ponies with some pegasi scouts.”

Ironshod joined me in looking over the map. “I don’t want to take them all. Say I take seventy, leaving you a little under thirty. We’ll need a few unicorns, if only to lighten the load. Maybe one for every twelve earth ponies? No, make it one to ten. Add in a dozen pegasi, and we should be good.”

I nodded. “Talk to Night Wind and Quick Cut. I want one of you three with the group.”

“It’s fine. I’ll do it, sir.”

“Then get a detailed list from Quick Cut about what supplies should be there. Ask him to assign unicorns. Theres some delicate stuff in those supplies, so be careful. I’ll go and look for Night Wind.” Ironshod saluted, then turned and left. I put away the map and parchment and went in a different direction, scanning the skies. If Ironshod saw Night Wind first, he would send her my way.

I bumped into Quick Cut while looking for Night Wind. He hadn’t seen her, so I’d have to keep looking. I gave him an update and pointed him in the direction Ironshod went.

Finding Night Wind proved harder than I thought it would be. I found her curled up in a tree, holding on to her tail like a teddy-bear. I heard someone go ‘aww’ when I saw her, and it took me a second to realise it was Cameron. I really need to figure out how he sees what I see.

I had to shout to wake her up. She let out a girly squeal and fell out the tree. She managed to get her wings out before she hit the ground, but I think she still hurt herself a little.

“Yes, sir?” she said, not a hint of embarrassment on her face.

I told her pretty much the same thing I told Quick Cut; we’re sending some ponies back to get the supplies, pick out some ponies to go with. There were more details, but that was the jist of it.

Though, I did also say, “Ironshod is leading, so you’re pegasi will probably be left to sort themselves out. Make sure to pick someone who can lead.”

“Eh, sir? Why not just send unicorns to teleport the stuff?”

“Couple reasons. We’re still in the forest, so some of it will end up in trees. We don’t have a lot of unicorns, and I want to keep them rested. Quick Cut’s loath to lend out the seven or so going with this group.”

“Okay, sir. I’ll go pick out some pegasi…” she trailed off into a yawn. “Need to work out a far scout rotation anyway.”

“Make sure to get some sleep soon. You’re useless to me exhausted.”

She flashed me a quick smile. The canines Luna gave the Night Guard still looked odd to me. “With pleasure, sir.” She shook her wings slightly, in a way that would probably ruffle feathers if she still had them. I started walking to where I thought Zecora was, and Night Wind fell in beside me. She had a couple questions about the plan I did my best to answer, but honestly, a lot of it depended on how quickly we could get our supplies and get in position. There was a fairly short opening for us as griffons answered the call to arms and the ones deemed unfit arrived back.

I found Zecora looking fairly uncomfortable in her armour, talking to a unicorn medic I think was named Bloody Bandages. Sergeant Bloody was not native to Canterlot. I think he came from out west, near Appaloosa. He was trying his best to understand Zecora, but it didn’t seem to be going well. Nearby, Redsmith was laying down, doing his best to not look at his stump.

“Lieutenant, Sergeant. What seems to be the problem?”

They both turned to face me. Bloody spoke first. “The problem, sir, is that this mare refuses to speak in anything but rhymes!”

“This argument is not about the way I rhyme when I talk; he is upset I do not roll over when he squawks.”

“That didn’t even rhyme!” Bloody shouted, pointing a hoof at Zecora.

“Maybe in Equestria it did not, but that is the language in which the rhyme was thought.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose.“Both of you shut up. You arguing is giving me a headache. How’s Redsmith?”

“Our armourer is stable, though his wound is like one from a fable. His bones seem to be made from wood and I fear this will do him no good.” Bloody nodded his assent.

“Zecora, do you have to rhyme?” She gave me an odd look. “Are you physically capable of not rhyming?” She nodded. “Right, if someones about to die, no rhymes unless they’ll help. Otherwise, rhyme all you want. Though would it kill you to pick a new meter?” She shrugged. I looked over at Redsmith. “He able to be teleported?”

Zecora just shrugged again. “We aren’t sure,” Bloody said. “Physically, he’ll probably be fine, but he doesn’t want to get teleported again. Doesn’t want to lose another leg.”

I looked over at Redsmith, then leaned in close to Bloody and whispered, “If he won’t go willingly, give him something to calm him down.”

Bloody looked down at his hooves, frowning. “I think I have something that would work.”

I nodded. “Alright, get to it.” Bloody nodded, gave a sharp salute, then left. Zecora managed a fair imitation, considering, but couldn’t completely hide her glare. I think she might be mad at me. It could wait. With a sigh, I set about taking care of all the little things needed to keep even a small army running. Supplies were distributed, disputes settled and, most importantly, food served.

Ironshod’s group left a little after dawn the next morning. The seventy left with me was mostly pegasi and unicorns with a smattering of earth ponies. Thankfully, we had counted on being able to graze for the most part, so we hadn’t brought much food.

I was waiting on everything getting packed away so we could move when I got a pleasant surprise. I had had to make do with a smattering of armour that could be made to fit me in the short time I had in Canterlot, so when Spike presented me with the leather armour I had commissioned, I almost forgot to ask why he had it. Turns out, he was the one that bought it from the griffons after I was declared dead.

The hide was thick, but surprisingly light, and it felt like cotton, for all it restricted my movement. I had no idea what the griffons had done to it, but I’ll be damned if it hadn’t been worth every bit. It was a dark brown, with the odd place where the Ursa’s stars shone through. It had metal reinforcements in it, along the front and back of the chest. And, while each part was great, the best part were the boots. They fit like a dream, and were the most comfortable things I’ve ever worn, including nothing. And best of all, there was a steel cap at the toes. I knew where I was getting all my boots after this.

After changing into my armour, to break it in faster, I got back to work. We’d lost two ponies, so far. Redsmith, and a pegasus that had flown into a tree, breaking a leg and a wing. They were both back in Equestria now, in a border town I don’t think has a name, awaiting pick-up by pegasi to take them back to Canterlot.

The trip through the forest took two days. Two boring, nerve wracking days. Everyone was on the look out for griffons, and by the end most ponies were jumping every time they heard wings flap. Even some of the pegasi.

We got first sight of the target with the sun high in the sky. It was a hunting town, main exports being meat, leather and bones. When full, it could house maybe a thousand griffons, but only reached that during hunting season. The rest of time, a skeleton crew of a few hundred lived there, protecting the stockpile of supplies, though few would be trained fighters. There was supposedly enough meat there to feed the entirety of Valgrpyh for a few days if needed. Looking at the size of the place, there was no way that was true.

Before you go thinking ill of the griffons for leaving something so vital so badly protected, remember this is in central Valgryph. The capitol is closer than the border, and doesn’t have mountains in the way either.

We spent the rest of that day, and all of the next studying the target. The patrols were good, with some overlap and almost nowhere to hide on the approach.

When Ironshod and his group arrived with the supplies, I sent Spike in as the sun went down. He had a surprise, courtesy of Zecora and Cameron. While he was gone, I looked over the supplies Ironshod had brought back with Quick Cut, to make sure everything was there. It was, even the magically chilled containers I’d been able to talk Celestia into providing. She had wanted to know what they were for; I told her she didn’t. She did not find that as reassuring as she should have. Cameron grumbled when I looked over the containers, but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t entirely innocent where they were concerned.

When Spike returned to camp a few hours later, I could just make out the glow of the fire through the trees. I gave Ironshod and his group a couple more hours to rest, then sent him and Quick Cut south to hit a few towns that way, while Night Wind and I kept going north east. Spike gave his report as we circled around the still burning town.

“I managed to get most of the supplies lit up before I had to leave. There was more than I expected though. They couldn’t fit all of it inside, they had so much. There was meat, fruit, leather, lots of cloth, some other stuff, some metal that I melted, more metal I didn’t. Lots of stuff.” He stopped, interrupted by a cough. “Man, I don’t know what it was Zec- eh, Lieutenant Zecora gave me, but it made the griffons cough whenever they breathed it, and a couple of the smaller ones just fainted.” Another coughing fit. “I don’t feel so good.”

“Go see Zecora. Tell her you breathed in the stuff she gave you.” I don’t think the stuff was too deadly, but he was fairly small. He nodded and barely remembered to salute before walking off.

Spike, and some of the unicorns I’d sent in, had managed to steal some reports. Thankfully, Night Wind could read Avian, because I couldn’t. They warned of bandits attacking smaller towns, one group in the north, the other to the south. It also said that the army would be sending some troops to help in the defense of towns in the bandits path. I couldn’t decide if that was good or bad.

The next town on the list was the biggest one so far. Holding around a thousand griffons, it was a little short of being a city by this world’s standards. It had maybe two hundred trained guards in it, though normal griffons are just as capable of tearing out your entrails.

I wasn’t sending in a few troops to start fires and cause some disarray. Not this time. I had pegasi whip up what winds they could, and with the moon full and high above we tore down the walls around the place. They fell to a single barrage of kinetic spells, stone shattering, splinters flying everywhere. The dust hadn’t settled when we charged in. I speared the first griffon I saw through the wing, which only seemed to piss her off. She clawed at me, but it was surprised and slow. I leaned back, twisted my spear and pushed. I felt the delicate bones of her wings break, and she let out a high pitched screech. I pulled out when she hit the ground and stepped over her. She let out a couple pathetic chirps I ignored.

The ponies had split into two groups, each heading a different direction. The winds should stop all but the most suicidal griffons from taking to the air, and on the ground griffons were only a little faster than ponies. They certainly weren’t stronger than earth ponies. I could tell when they started running into trouble and the unicorns had to bring out the big guns, because it was when I started smelling roast chicken. After that, the town fell quickly, most choosing to flee rather than face the flames.

We had lost maybe fifty troops total, which was blessedly low. Thank whoever for unicorns and Zecora. After that town, we linked up with Quick Cut and Ironshod’s group. They had fared a bit better than use, loosing only twenty troops to our twenty three. Unicorns are a hell of a force multiplier.

We were camped in a forest a few days march from where we met up. I was giving the troops a well deserved break. We’d covered several hundred miles and burned down a dozen or so towns, and I could tell most ponies weren’t taking it well. Ponies, being a generally non violent species, did not cope well with seeing their friends die beside them, though some did cope better than others.

Of course, Cameron made sure I was aware that most humans don’t cope much better, and that I was the exception, not the rule. He doesn’t think highly of me.

It had taken us only a week to stop the griffon army and its advance on Equestria. With that problem solved, I moved on to the next one; what to do about the army between us and Equestria. It was, to be fair, a large problem. I met with me four Lieutenants on the second camped down. We did have a plan, but it might need changed. Word from Luna and the griffons I’d loaned to Shining Armour was that the fight against the Diamond Dogs was going not very well. What that had hoped would be a series of quick, if bloody, conflicts in our forts and then the Dog’s tunnels had instead turned into a war of attrition, with each day seeing barely a dozen injuries and even less dead. For a war involving maybe eight to ten thousand people, that was very very low, especially with magic taken into account.

I was the last to arrive to the meeting. We were meeting in the forest, on the opposite side of the camp from the tent we had set up for having meetings and nothing else. I think my paranoia may be rubbing off on them; only Ironshod though it was a bit much.

As I crossed the sound barrier Quick Cut had set up, I heard Ironshod ask, “Just to be clear, we absolutely can’t fight them head on?”

Night Wind answered. “Scouts report them outnumbering us around twenty-two to one, now. And thats just the standing army they have. From what Markus and Jon have told me, the griffon equivalent of basic training is around twelve weeks”

“And that means what, exactly?” Ironshod asked.

“It means we can expect to be outnumbered even more in, what, four or five weeks? Assuming they stagger recruit intakes like we do.”

Ironshod frowned. Before he could reply, Quick Cut sighed. “Not like it’ll matter. We can’t fight our way out now, so direct conflict is off the table. What does that leave?”

Night Wind and Ironshod answered at the same time. “Stealth.” “Indirect combat?”

Quick Cut nodded. “We need to be smarter than them. Anything to reduce the advantage numbers gives is good, and anything we can do to split their forces is better.” He looked at me and Zecora, then focussed on Zecora. “How many injured do we have?”

“Our injured comrades number five and twenty, and to me that seems plenty.” That was directed to me. I’d commented on how good we were doing to her, and she disagreed.

“We need terrain that can split forces, reduces the advantage of numbers, and it’s easy to sneak about in, right?” I asked, ignoring Zecora’s glare. Quick Cut nodded.

“If it were any other species, a forest would do, but I don’t think theres a forest in Valgryph that you can’t fly in.”

“But there is one in Equestria. And it’s right next to Valgryph. The Everfree.” Quick Cut seemed about to dismiss it, but paused.

“One problem with that, though,” Night Wind said. “What’s to stop them just flying over us? We don’t have the wing power to stop them.”

“So we need something they want,” Ironshod said.

“Valgryph has a crown princess,” Quick Cut said. “The few reports we’ve got from the last town say she’s holed up in a small town near the capitol under heavy guard, but not which one.”

“My ears must be failing me in my old age, for it sounds like you mean to put this bird in a cage.” We ignored her.

“Night Wind, go get a map or two,” I ordered. She saluted and was gone, leaving behind a faint silver cloud. She was back minutes later. She dropped a map on the ground in front of us before taking her place.

“Quick Cut, what do the reports say about where this princess is?” And so the meeting went. Zecora left after a few minutes, citing the need to tend her patients. Using the reports and common sense, we managed to narrow it down to two towns. Both were small, near the capitol, fairly popular with nobility and had been reported as needing extra supplies recently.

We were working on narrowing it down to one when when Ironshod looked up from the map and said, “Does this seem a bit easy to anypony else?” We all looked at him. He shifted slightly, nervous. “I mean, the king, or whatever, could have sent his daughter anywhere, right? So why not send her somewhere harder to get to? Hay, why send her some place you can find on a map? We passed dozens of cabins and even more caves just to get here.”

“For one, as a Princess, she’ll have certain standards for comfort and food you usually only get near big cities,” Quick Cut explained. “And keeping her close to the capitol means if it does fall, and the king escapes, they can meet up quickly or, if we get spotted near the town, she can be taken quickly to the capitol and from there to somewhere else.”

Ironshod nodded. Night Wind wasn’t as convinced. “But what about his last point? Why send her somewhere we can find on a map?”

“So someone else can find her if need be?” Quick Cut half said, half asked. When he saw no one was buying it, he sighed. “Yeah, that was pretty weak. It’s the only thing that makes sense though. I mean, the reports say-”

“Reports can be faked, Quick Cut,” I pointed out.

“Yes, but troop movements can’t! And pegasi have reported seeing far more griffons than normal flying that way. Why send guards there if not to protect the Princess?”

“As a trap. I mean, it’s not like they need all their soldiers together to beat us.”

Ironshod tapped a hoof against his chin. “Do we have to capture the Princess? Can’t we just find a griffon filly and say it’s her?”

Quick Cut answered before I could. “That can be plan B.”

The meeting lasted a few minutes more before we had to break to take care of other business. I stopped Quick Cut from taking down the sound barrier after the other two had left. “How are you with mind reading?”

He looked at me for a long moment. “Sir, any and all mental magic is illegal except under the direst of circumstances.” It had the sound of a practiced line to it.

“Things are damn dire, I’d say. Now answer the question, Lieutenant.”

“I am… reasonably competent with them. Why? What are you planning?”

“We capture someone high ranking, you read his mind and find out where the Princess is. Plus, you know, anything else that might be useful. The only reason I haven’t already asked is because I wasn’t sure if you could do it. Or if you’d be willing to.”

“Not unwilling, as such, sir. It’s just, it’s not a pleasant experience.” He shuddered, making me think there was more to it than that.

Curious, I asked, “How so?”

“It hurts, sir. It really, really hurts.” He seemed reluctant to say more, so I let it drop. He dropped the barrier and left. I spent a little more time looking over the map and the few reports we had. I noticed something that could become important later, but was next to useless for now. I filed it away, picked up the couple maps still here and got back to work.

We didn’t get a chance to take any prisoners for another week or so. By that time, the griffon army had more or less slowed down as their leaders wondered what they were meant to do. On one hand, they had a group of hostile foreign agents inside their borders. On the other, we were almost certainly from Equestria, and we were stuck inside their borders with no chance of hiding. It had more or less been forced to leave some troops here to deal with us while the rest head to Equestria when we, well, lucked across the prisoner. I don’t know his exact rank, because he refused to tell us and neither Quick Cut or Night Wind knew the word, but he had been out doing an inspection or on patrol and got his stupid arse captured.

Before the pegasi telling me we had a prisoner had stopped speaking, I had grabbed Quick Cut and told the messenger to take me to him. Or, as it turned out to be, her. As soon as she saw me enter the tent, she started screeching and chirping at me. Ignoring her, I looked at Quick Cut. “Do it.” He glanced around the tent, at all the ponies there. “Everyone out,” I ordered. When the tent flapped dropped behind the last one to leave, Quick Cut put up a sound bubble.

“The Princesses won’t be happy about this,” he said.

“Let me worry about Celestia and Luna. I’ll take any trouble for this.”

He looked at me for a moment before nodding. “Thanks, sir.” He took a few cautious steps over to the trapped griffon. Stopping close enough to touch, he took a pair of quick, deep breaths and, eyes tight closed, he gently, gingerly touched his horn to the griffons forehead. There was a small flash. Both Quick Cut and the griffon went instantly still, muscles straining against nothing. Quick Cut was tensing so much he was starting to shake. His nose started bleeding.

And then it was over. Quick Cut’s horn stopped glowing, and he staggered away from the griffon and collapsed. His nose was still bleeding, though not heavily, and when he finally opened his eyes they were bloodshot and he squinted at me.

I crouched down by his side and offered him my canteen. “How you feeling?” I asked, nervous.

He took it shakily - in his hooves, not with magic - and gulped it down. He didn’t look dehydrated, just confused. It took him a few seconds to speak. He kept letting out high pitched noises. Eventually, he managed it. F- fine, sir. Just getting used to being a pony again.”

Huh. “So, what, you saw through her eyes?”

He nodded shakily. “And heard through her ears, tasted with her tongue, smelled with her nose, flew with her wings. For a while I was her. Thankfully it isn’t both ways.”

I tilted my head towards the griffon, who was curled up a little birdy ball. “Then whats her problem?”

“Like I said, for a while I was her. If I was her, and she wasn’t me, what was she?” His voice was steadier, and his nose had stopped bleeding. He slowly got to his hooves. He passed my canteen back to me, with magic.

“Alright, feeling better?” When he nodded, I stood back up. “Good. What’d you find in there?”

“Give me a few minutes.” I left him a long, and he sat still and did nothing for maybe ten minutes. “Okay, she might know where the Princess is.”

“Might?”

“She gets moved around. She should be on her way to Valcorve, which is a few days north of the capitol. By air, that is.”

“North of the capitol. As in, on the other side of it.”

“Thats what I said, sir.”

I sighed. Great. “Well, at least we know where shes going to be. Lets get moving.”

“Uh, she’ll only be there for two weeks.”

Oh it just gets better. God this headache was killing me. “Then we’d best leave now? Go get the troops packed up.” He glanced at the griffon. I waved him out. “Go on, I’ll take care of her.”

It took us three days to get around the capitol, staying far away from it. We had lost some more ponies to griffon patrols recently, which were getting both more common and more violent. I thought they had been jumpy at first, but this was ridiculous. We needed to get out of this country.

The griffon Princess was staying in a cabin, probably used for hunting. Scouts reported around twenty other griffons there, an assortment of guards and servants. I had the unicorns wait until she was outside before teleporting in. One grabbed her and immediately teleported back. The rest opened fire. It was a massacre; twenty confused griffons against ten unicorns with the element of surprise.

I was a little surprised when I first saw the griffon Princess. I was expecting her to be full grown, for some reason, but she came up to around mid thigh on me. I should probably learn her name. I found Quick Cut as we headed for the border. As far as the griffon army should be aware, we were still down south of the capitol, heading farther east. It started to raining, heavily, when we were maybe halfway there, which slowed us right down. Which, of course, is when Celestia contacted me via Spike and told me she needs more time to take care of the dogs. Just another week or two, she said. The griffon’s, not slowed down as much by the rain, were more or less on top of us. The only thing slowing them down was the wind the pegasi managed to whip up. Eventually, the rain got so bad we had to hole up in a cave or risk being drowned by it. I don’t think morale had ever been lower, Honestly, I think only a lack of places to go was stopping people from deserting.

The griffon Princess had been surprisingly docile, for the most part. No escape attempts, hadn’t attacked anyone. Didn’t even seem scared. Her name was Alvor, or something like that. Night Wind said it didn’t translate exactly, but that that was close enough.

The rain let up after a few days in the cave, which was good; we had been close to eating the land around the cave bare. It didn’t last. It started snowing maybe a few hours after the rain stopped. You know, I was so used to seasons being controlled I forgot to find out when winter started in Valgryph. Stupid mistake. It wasn’t coming down as fast as the rain had, but it slowed us down just as much. And now we had griffon scouts swooping us. and then I found out the bad news.

Night Wind must have drawn the short straw, because she delivered it to me. She landed a little in front of me and shook the snow from her feathers. “Bad news, sir.”

I snorted, my breath steaming the air in front of me. “What news isn’t as of late?”

“Griffon army’s seen us, sir. They’re around a days flight from us.”

God dammit. “How far are we from the Everfree?”

“Two days. Three, if the snow keeps piling up.”

“I’m guessing you can’t do anything about it?”

She shook her head. “Untamed weather is difficult to touch, nevermind move.”

“How long ‘till we reach the mountains? And the pass we’re travelling through?”

“We should hit the mountains today,” Night Wind said, happy to give some good news. “As for the pass, maybe noon tomorrow? Hard to tell. Probably around the same time the griffons reach us.” She looked around, but no one nearby was paying us any attention, too busy focusing on not falling in the snow. She stepped closer and whispered, “Sir, what’re we going to do? Any way I look at it, we’re bucked, but you and Quick have a plan, right?”

“Right.” We did not. “Just focus on slowing down the griffons if you can. We need some more time to make it work.”

The grin she gave me almost made me feel bad for lying to her. “You got it, sir!” She took to the air, moving faster than she had been any time recently. False hope’s better than no hope, I guess.

As Night Wind said, we reached the mountains that same day. We had lost more ponies in the march. Some to the cold, more to the griffons. They were picking us off one at a time.

I looked over the supply list I had been given, and saw something halfway through. Ten chilled metal canisters, two hooves by ten hooves, contents unknown. I’d almost forgotten about them. I’d need some wind to make use of them, but thats what pegasi were for. Need the griffons to be close as well, both to us and each other. I went looking for Quick Cut. We had a plan. It took some explaining, but Quick Cut got my plan fairly quickly, and made it better even faster. We pushed the ponies to go faster, and I had Spike melt the snow where he could. He was hating this weather with a passion. Kept setting himself on fire, which scared everyone the first time he did it. Once ponies got used to it, though, he was probably the most popular person in Valgryph, considering he could make himself warm enough to boil water on his scales if he wanted.

Despite everything I could do to make us move faster, we still reached the path through the mountains at noon. The snow was less deep here, though the wind was just as biting. Before we’d even settled down, I had the pegasi push the winds back towards the griffons. According to Night Wind, we had maybe twelve hours before the griffons reached us, even with the wind. I had Spike make some fires, to heat the troops. The earth ponies were stockpiling rocks for the unicorns to throw. The sun was halfway under the horizon when a messenger dropped in front of me.

“Griffons are almost here, sir.” he panted. The way the winds were howling, flying must not be easy. I nodded to a spot near the fire.

“Get yourself warmed up. Quick Cut, any last observations?” The unicorn looked up from the book he had been reading. I have no idea where he got it. Must have been in his saddlebags.

“Not really, sir. This is probably the best we could do. The pass is fairly narrow, so the griffons will need to bunch up to get at us. The winds will blow the gas towards them, though I wish you would tell me what it does.” He looked at me hopefully.

I shook my head. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

He sighed. “I thought as much. Well, the snow and rain will probably dissolve some of the gas, and the cold will make it less effective, but we can’t do anything about those. I’ve dispelled the enchantments keeping them cold, so all we need to do is put heat spells on them and we’re good to go. Nothing left to do but wait.”

“Waitings the worst part,” the messenger pegasus said, getting a few nods from the other ponies around the fire. I think he was one of the Day Guard ones.

The griffons hit us just after sunset. I don’t think they were expecting any resistance, because the first volley of rocks took them by surprise. After a few more barrages, the unicorns aimed for the flanks, pushing the griffons to the centre. A few of the faster ones got close, but pegasi forced them to the ground where earth ponies could take care of them. A few unicorns stepped away and lined up the canisters as I told them to before putting the heat spells on them. For a final touch, I had Spike breath fire over them, just a few seconds each, to get them started. When they snow around them and melted down to stone, I had the unicorns open them.

The gas boiled out of the canisters, a pale yellow cloud. It was caught by the wind and blown towards the griffons. They slowed down, no doubt wary of some trap. The barrage of rocks continued, forcing the griffons back. And then the cloud reached them. They had been flying for hours. I could see them, huffing and puffing. They screamed when they breathed it in. It burned their throats, their eyes, their mouths. Some fell from the sky, too pained to keep aloft. They unicorns redoubled their efforts, sending boulders flying towards the griffon. The wind pushed the cloud over the griffons as the ones farther pack tried to push those in front forward, eager to see combat. The cloud flowed over them, burning them as well. It took ten minutes for the gas to stop the griffon attack. Fifteen for the leaders to call a retreat. They had been expecting an easy target, not for the air to turn against them. The snow turned back to rain as I led the hundred or so ponies left into the Everfree.

Author's Note:

Chapter 12, as promised. Though this was a bit of a rush job, as I've had a really busy week so far. Christmas and all that jazz. Don't worry, the war isn't over. It'll last another chapter or two at least.

Comments

[hs0003]

Chemical weapons is best weapons.

[Some random Rapidash]

From what I know about WW1 that was Mustard Gas I think.

[Amethyst Blade]

Poison Gas! WWI Tactic.
Well, this is war! All is fair in love and war.
Now all we need is nuke!
*Maniacal laugh*