The Sunset Trilogy

by ocalhoun

Book 3 - Chapter LVII

Book 3: Equestria Abides
Chapter 23

“And you'll send us some royal guards if we need help then?” Gozwin continued lightly.

“Ah... well...” Apollo prevaricated. Though the griffons seemed to know that ponies had been through an awful tragedy, they still seemed to harbor a lot of assumptions about things still being the way they were in what he had gotten used to thinking of as 'the old days'. “Well... there aren't really any royal guards anymore.” At the dismayed and slightly confused faces of the griffons in front of him, he quickly continued, “But we would send what help we could, of course. It's only fair.”

“None... none at all?” The griffon ambassador asked, looking a little shocked.

“Well, there are a few retired ones living here now... I think one of them even still has his armor... but you know most of them were lost when Pestilence destroyed Canterlot.”

Even on this subject the griffon wasn't at a loss for what to say... after all, warfare was much more common in their kingdoms, right? “Ah, and may their souls bask in the glory of a fine death in combat.” He was silent for a moment, either in memorial for the fallen guards or just thinking of what to say next.“Now, as for trade...”

This was more to Apollo's liking, though he would let Quartermaster handle the details. He appreciated the mutual offer to help out in battle, but he didn't entirely like the idea of sending ponies off to fight in a griffon's war far away, no matter how decisive the advantage could be. He would have preferred to limit assistance to only against outside threats, not other griffons... but as Gozwin had pointed out, Apollo's group might also need help against internal threats, from other ponies... so he would leave that for now, and perhaps try to change the bargain later when the ponies had been unified again.

Behind him, Shimmer Spell was walking around setting up lamps – dusk was already falling on the rooftop of the castle. Sunny Daze had gone inside, setting with the sun; she would have to be up early tomorrow, after all... and most of the other ponies who had either helped bring their new airship to rest on the roof or ran up to meet the new arrivals had already retired back downstairs. Only Apollo, Twilight, Quartermaster, and a few others now remained, continuing on what had increasingly become a tedious negotiation.

As the lamps around the rooftop lit, the griffon envoys again became easily visible. They sat in a rough semicircle behind their leader, all different earth-tone shades of grey and brown, but with the same white feathered head and the same red-dyed wingtips. They all wore the same light leather armor, and all seemed well equipped with weapons... He supposed he couldn't blame them. They were setting out in a small group into what was now largely unknown territory... just because they were prepared to protect themselves didn't mean they were a conquering army... right? At any rate, they hadn't shown any hostility yet, and Apollo was enjoying his break from being the center of negotiations for a moment as Quartermaster took the lead. The old earth pony would know better than Apollo or even Twilight did what they did and didn't need... and he'd also know what they had to spare. Now... they didn't have any experienced sailors that he knew of, but there was a small fleet of ships still in the harbor at the base of the cliffs below Las Pegasus... and besides, wouldn't the griffons have trading ships of their own?

Apollo broke off his train of thought as he heard some kind of commotion from below. Negotiations seemed to cease for a moment as well, as everyone – griffons included – made their way to the edge of the roof to peer down and try to see what was going on. As Apollo reached the edge, before he could look down, a blue and white pegasus mare shot right up in front of him... he thought he recognized her as one of the newer arrivals... Windsong was it?

“They're here! I told you they'd come!” The mare cried out in obvious distress.

“What?” Apollo said, not understanding. “Wait, who's here?”

“Black Diamond! He's come for the escaped slaves, and he's taking everypony else he can get too!”

Apollo winced. He suspected this day would come... the two settlements were too close together, and they had been taking in some escaped slaves of his... it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

“I've got to go!” The mare shouted, already flying back downwards. “I've got a little filly named Breezy and that slaver is not getting her!”

Apollo prepared to dash off of the rooftop as well. This had to be stopped – hopefully before the slavers made it inside the fortress's walls. There were a few ponies living outside the walls, but if he could hold them off there, he could protect most of his ponies. “Sorry,” he called back at the griffons – and the other ponies present – “I've got to stop them!”

“Wait!” The ambassador called out, his voice booming loud enough to bring Apollo to a halt. Turning, he saw the griffon give a signal that sent all the other griffons into motion, taking off one by one. “You get your ponies safe inside! We will honor our deal and stop the slavers ourselves!” There was an unmistakable tone of pride in his voice, and for once Apollo found himself not inclined to doubt him.

With a nod towards the griffons, Apollo tossed himself over the edge, quickly gaining control of his fall and turning into a steep dive for speed. He swooped low over the gates to the fortress, which now looked very much like a battlefield... one where his ponies were not doing well. They had been caught off guard, of course. Policy so far had been to only set one guard at the gates... hardly enough to stop an assault from hardened slavers. Most of the ponies he recognized below were unarmed, though a few were still managing to put up a decent fight, but even as he watched, one of them became entangled in a net and was quickly bashed on the head and dragged off.

He caught the glint of steel in the dim light and dodged away just in time to miss a date with a thrown spear... apparently these slavers had dealt with pegasi before... he quickly descended near the largest group of his own ponies he could see, watching the sky for their secret weapon... and there it came!

“Inside!” He shouted. “Fall back and seal the doors!” He kept shouting it and most of the ponies in the courtyard seemed to hear him, beginning to move back towards the fortress's doors. Just as they began the retreat though, the wing of griffon warriors descended on the slavers, turning their confident approach into a terrified rout in just moments.

Gathering a few of the better fighters on his side, Apollo stayed outside the fortress's doors. They would hold the doors from the outside, buying more time for the griffons to wreak their havoc on the field. It looked like that would be unnecessary though; now being harried from above by an unknown, unexpected, and well-armed foe, the slavers were in full retreat, many even dropping their weapons to run faster. Before long, only a few stragglers were left inside the courtyard.

“You three,” Apollo said to the ponies beside him, “Come with me; we're going to catch one of those slavers!” He knew it would be important to gain some intelligence on them if he was ever going to get the ponies they had captured back... and who better than a member of their own organization? “You other two, get that front gate closed so they can't get away!” With that, he rushed off, taking wing to quickly get on the other side of the soon-to-be trapped slaver.

Their targeted pony was more crafty and agile than he had expected though. She quickly side-stepped him, and quickly rushed between two of his chasers, causing them to collide into each other. He took off again, hoping to beat her to the gate. His third chaser was close behind her, but not gaining ground. The two ponies he had sent to close the gate were cranking away at it as fast as they could... but the doors were enormous. They couldn't be closed quickly and he could already tell that the slaver pony would get through before they closed.

Just as she was about to make her escape though, the huge doors suddenly burst into a bright yellow glow and slammed shut impossibly fast, filling the courtyard with a deafening boom. The slaver pony had been running flat-out... she couldn't stop in time and slammed face-first into the heavy doors, making a nice slaver-shaped imprint and a thud that would have been impressive if it hadn't been preceded by the sound of the doors slamming closed.

Sunny Daze slowly floated down next to Apollo with a proud grin on her face. “Twilight woke me up and said I should come see you... and it looked like you could use a little help.” Looking at the semi-conscious slaver pony laying in the gateway, he could even forgive Sunny the snide grin she was displaying. That pony laying there would be the key to getting their friends back.

* * *

Comments

[ocalhoun]

2058550
Oh, don't worry. I promise there's nothing horrific. ...Just that towards the end, it begins to cover a very long timeline.

2066968
Weather they like it or not. ^.^

2067017
Very astute. ^.^

2057015
Yep, things are finally drawing together.

2067723
Oh come now, Griffons have better understanding of pony language than that.

2069344
Well... at this point, that would be difficult to do now... I'd have to delete all the old chapters, and resubmit them as new stories... and I'm not sure the FimFic mods would like that...

[Shadow Shard]

Woooohooo! I love this story, and will definitely follow it until it's finished!

[ocalhoun]

2074511
Thanks!