Harmony's Wrath

by hahatimeforponies

No Quarter Griffon Or Asked

"Well! For those of us who weren't in a hurry to leap out windows with stolen goods, we now look absolutely darling, if I do say so myself!" Rarity chuffed, examining her work. None of the clothes were particularly elaborate, but they would hold up until she could sit down with sewing machine, and she'd be damned if they didn't look good.

"Good job, now let's get moving before Rainbow Dash gets in over her head!" Twilight announced, leading the party out of the room. Rarity had given her a long, deep violet jacket and a white button-shirt to go with her shorts (for practicality purposes, knee- or shin-length pants were the standard). She had also fashioned her saddlebags into a new kind of carrying bag; the strap hung from the shoulder, and the bag itself rested on the rump on the other side. Spike had tried riding in the bag, but while he was small, he wasn't that small.

"Stop!" A stallion's voice called from down the hall. Twilight spun on her hoof to see two royal guards lumbering down the hallway after them. Parts of their armour were broken off to accommodate their unexpectedly broad shoulders. "Stop right there, criminal scum!"

"Time to go!" Twilight squeaked, and started sprinting in the other direction. The others were quick to follow; the guards attempted an awkward pursuit.

"In Celestia's name, stop!" He barked. They just carried on down the hallway regardless.

Bam.

Twilight burst down the door to the throne room. The windows at the back of the grandiose hall formed an upside down U-shape around the back of the throne, with gold and silver panels radiating from behind the throne to the windows. The room was aligned so that it faced east, so first light of the sun rising over the mountains would shine in. It was a clear morning, and the sky outside was getting brighter all the time. The room also contained, much to Twilight's chagrin, half a dozen royal guards, in varying states of readiness.

"You've violated the l-" Applejack slammed the door behind herself to silence the two guards still barrelling down the corridor. However, the damage was already done. The pegasus guards reared up on their wings and moved in on the party like dive bombers. Fluttershy and her green sweater had no problem evading them, and she made sure to help Derpy Hooves keep up. Applejack entered a fighting stance, and while the guards had a few improvised weapons, she had far better control of her axe. Pinkie Pie had enormous fun bouncing around, leaping out of tackles and watching the clumsy guards collide with each other. Rarity found this part alarmingly easy: she rendered herself invisible in a flash, and spent a few minutes just tripping up any guards she found wandering around on hoof. Trixie was trying her best to copy this spell, to limited success; nevertheless, her mixture of semi-visibility and cowardly running kept her relatively safe. Twilight, however, was not so lucky.

She leaped down a flight of stairs and botched the landing, tumbling across the floor and landing at the foot of the throne. Her bag was upended, and its contents spilled across the floor. Two guards quickly pounced her, one holding her down, while the other drew her sword from the sheath strapped to her back, and held it to her horn.

"No funny business." The one with her sword barked. "What have you done with the Princesses?"

"What?" Oh no, oh no, oh no...

"Princesses Celestia and Luna are missing, your 'friends' were last seen chasing her through the palace, and you're carrying Luna's crown and a weapon! Now tell us, where are they?" Oh boy...

"Listen, it's not what you think!"

"Where are they?"

"They're not who you think they are!"

"Where are they, dammit?"

"Eugh... Luna sacrificed herself so we could banish Celestia because she was really a demon!" Twilight blurted out. The guard flattened his brow, double-checking whether he had actually just heard that.

"I'm not screwing around here, where are they?"

"You're holding a sword to my horn. What could I possibly stand to gain from kidding?"

"Hmm. On the off chance that what you're saying is true, then... there's nothing to pull up the sun! You've doomed us a-" Before the guard had much chance to panic, Twilight raised a finger. When he stopped talking, she then pointed to the window.

"Any second now..." A few tense, silent seconds passed. The sky was growing brighter, but only at a rate noticeable to the most careful of observers. "Just watch." Sure enough, the first few degrees of the bright disc of the sun edged over the peaks outside, illuminating the room with the first orange light of sunrise. The guard's jaw dropped; before him, despite all things known to be true about the world, the sun was rising by itself. He shook his head and collected himself, pulling the sword away. His partner stepped off, letting Twilight get up.

"You've got... five minutes to explain yourself."

"Well..." She reached for two of the books spilled from her bag.

---

Rainbow Dash scanned the horizon for the source of the sound. She'd hurriedly fashioned the bedsheet and cord into a tunic by wrapping the sheet around her body underarm and the folding part of it over her head, with a hole cut for the head. She'd tied the cord around her waist to help keep the whole thing on, and while the sheet originally went down to her hooves, she'd cut it to thigh length for mobility's sake. 'Rough and ready' was one way to describe the improvised clothing, and 'breezy' was another. But it would have to do for the time being.

It was hard to place a direction on the drums. They seemed to be coming from every direction except the mountain, but she couldn't narrow it down beyond that. The sun rising through a mountain pass behind her started to light up some things, but the contrast made it even harder to pick out details in the shade. After a few minutes of frantic searching from her vantage point high in the sky, the drums ceased before she could get a hold on them. She was about to give up and return to the others, when a voice called to her from below, in the approximate direction of the forest:

"Took you long enough." She spun in the air to find the source. The voice was familiar; one that she didn't hear very often these days, but it didn't take too much effort to place it.

"... Gilda?" Lo and behold, the gryphon was gliding up from the forest to meet her in the air. She had an band tied around one of her front legs, and something strapped to her back, with a sack hanging off it. They circled each other idly in the cloudless sky.

"Come to watch the show, or are you still riding with those lame friends of yours?"

"'Show'? What are you talking about?"

"Do I have to explain everything?" Gilda sighed. "This is the part where we pick up where we left off a thousand years ago."

"What do you mean, 'we'?"

"Y'know, we. The horde." Gilda was as casual in her tone as she might be discussing dinner plans. Dash's stomach turned. Why did I believe a word you said? "I mean, you could be included in 'we' if you want to start being cool again. I've been told there's an offer outstanding with you." Not this again... Dash pulled the spear off her back.

"I think you know the answer to that." She stared Gilda down through narrowed eyes. The gryphon just chuckled.

"Shoulda seen that one coming! Hah. But, I don't think you should be so quick to turn it down. After all, you've been doing us huge favours already."

"What."

"Oh, you didn't notice? Celestia was the only thing stopping us crashing this party, and thanks to you and that book, she's now a non-issue." Gilda folded her front legs and smirked. Dash fumed. "Consider it a way of saying 'thanks'. There's some big formal thing from the king I'm supposed to say, but it pretty much boils down to 'we think you're pretty swell, and if you join us we won't eat you'. We might be able to stretch that to include your 'friends', but I wouldn't count on it." Dash reared up her spear and prepared to charge. Gilda just raised a claw, while the other pulled the sack off her back strap. Dash stopped in her tracks. "Ah-ah Dash, you might want to think this through first." Gilda held the sack in front of her with one claw, and reached inside to pull a rope out with the other. The bag fell away, revealing its contents; suspended from the rope, bound, gagged and blindfolded, were four young fillies, all with little scarlet capes. The Cutie Mark Crusaders?

"Wh- that's... you're a monster!"

"Oh, you know these brats? That's hilarious! We just found the little tykes sleeping all alone last night. Small world, eh?"

"You've got three seconds."

"I've also got a shield, if you think hurling that rusty old stake at me is a good idea." Gilda smirked, waving the Crusaders around carelessly. Dash gripped the spear tightly, furiously contemplating the dilemma.

Whoosh, smack.

Something far too fast to see tore across Dash's field of view. When she looked again, she saw Gilda recoiling from something - it looked like a blow to the face - and a smoke trail going from bottom-left to top-right. A few embers floated from the smoke. She had released the rope.

Whoosh.

Just as quick as the first one, another blur crossed her vision, from bottom-right to top-left. There was another smoke trail left behind, crackling a little. The Crusaders had disappeared. Dash looked down, and they were nowhere to be seen. When she looked up and followed the contrails across the sky, she saw two bright spots at the heads of the trails; one a flaming orange, the other electric blue. You're kidding me! The orange one swooped around behind her, while the blue one curled around to return to the city.

"Rainbow Dash!" The orange form called as it neared. It slowed down as it approached, coming to a stop about ten yards behind her, revealing itself to be a pegasus. Gilda was still clutching her face and groaning, so she figured she had a moment to talk.

"Wh- Spitfire?" Dash boggled. She rubbed her eyes and looked again to be sure; there, wearing the bottom half of a flight suit and a really baggy t-shirt, was her idol.

"That's uh, that's some dress you have there." Spitfire chuckled, pulling her goggles on to her forehead. Rainbow chuckled nervously, and tugged on the bottom of her makeshift tunic a little. "Just thought you could use a little help."

"I, uh, uhm..." Dash was struggling not to start babbling like an infatuated schoolfilly.

"Soarin has the hostages, he's setting them free in the city."

"I... how did you..."

"Long story. No time now." Spitfire stated bluntly. She pulled her spare goggles from her hip and tossed them to Dash. "I'll just leave it at, 'you've earned these'." Dash fumbled the catch a couple of times, before eventually clasping the goggles by one lens.

"Does this mean..." She gibbered.

"Hey!" Spitfire cut her off, pulling her own goggles back down. "Focus." Dash snapped out of her fannish daze, and nodded dutifully, slipping her new goggles on to her forehead. Soarin returned from the city to cover Dash's other flank. He wore just the bottom half of his flight suit; the arms were in tatters, and what was left of them was tied around his waist.

"Ahh, what's all this then?" Gilda sneered. Her head was bleeding at the side. "Is this your whole army? I knew you guys were punching above your weight, but this is kinda ridiculous."

"You'll never take Canterlot. Not with Celestia on our side." Spitfire declared proudly. Gilda snickered.

"Ehh, about that..." Dash scratched the back of her head nervously. "... long story. No time now." Spitfire and Soarin exchanged concerned glances.

"Ohoho man, this is rich!" Gilda cackled. "You guys are a scream! We might have to take you alive if you keep this up!"

"Save it." Dash growled, thrusting her spear forward. The point stopped just short of Gilda's beak.

"Hey!" She chuckled, moving the point out of her face. "There's no reason we can't be civil. Tell you what, since I'm feeling generous this morning, and you guys gave me such a good laugh, I'll cut you a deal."

"I don't like this..." Soarin muttered. Spitfire waved an arm at him.

"I propose a wager. I go back to our camp in the forest, and you... just talk among yourselves or something, and each side chooses a champion. And then, they duel. Gryphon style - so, to the death. If the meat I mean... pony! If the pony champion wins, we pack our bags, and we go home. We'll leave you alone, for a little while, at least. But if the gryphon champion wins, well... I don't think I need to tell you what happens then."

"And why shouldn't I just kill you right now?" Dash held her spear to her side, ready to thrust it at any moment.

"Oh, then the horde will just attack anyway. They hate it when their messengers get killed." Gilda chortled. The three pegasi looked at each other, each thinking the same thing; It's not perfect, but it might be the only way. "So." Gilda spat in her claw, and extended it in their general direction. "Do we have a deal, Dash?" Reluctantly, Spitfire gave a nod. Soarin sighed, and nodded also. Dash took a deep breath, and acknowledged their decision. "I haven't got all day, an answer would be nice!" Dash hacked to the back of her throat, and spat in her quivering hand. She hesitated another moment, before grabbing Gilda's claw and shaking it. I feel so dirty right now.

"Deal."

Comments

[Shadow Scryer]

I declare treachery. No possible way these Gryphons'd keep their promise.

[themanesix]

It's kinda pointless for the Griffins to offer than and really nothing keeping them to the deal anyway