The Griffin War

by QuarterNote

Chapter 9

The sun was beginning its descent towards the west as Ponyville’s population trudged its way through the Everfree Forest. The sounds of creaking trees, chattering birds, and the odd howl of a timberwolf worked their way through the air and among the foliage, failing sunlight becoming fainter as its source began to move below the horizon. Wagon wheels creaked and hooves scuffed the loamy ground, the sounds following the long line of civilians and guards walking along the trail. Many ponies looked around them constantly, fearful of something suddenly breaking from the trees to attack the near-defenseless convoy.

Up front, Luna and Full Moon kept their eyes on the trail ahead. Full Moon finally chanced a glance at his princess. “Your Highness…Are you sure you know where we’re going?”

“Yes, Captain,” Luna replied, not turning to look at him. “I’m sure.”

“Well then, how close are we? Some of the civilians are starting to get tired.”

Luna glanced behind her at these words, looking back at the column. While the guards showed no signs of weariness, there were a larger number of ponies riding in the wagons than there had been when the group first left Ponyville, mostly just the younger foals and older adult ponies. Luna looked back at Full Moon. “Call a halt for now. Pass out food if anypony’s hungry and send a few guards forward to scout out the path ahead.”

“Yes, Princess,” Full Moon replied, nodding. He turned around and relayed Luna’s commands to the rest of the column, and four guards trotted down the trail as the rest of the ponies gradually came to a stop. Luna spread her wings and took off, flying straight up and through the ceiling of the forest. She felt the leaves brush her fur and branches pull at her wings and mane before she exited the tangle of branches and foliage, hovering in place as she looked out over the Everfree.
The forest stretched all the way from the edge of Ponyville to the foot of the mountains that stretched into the sky nearby, their snow-capped peaks and dark, jagged shapes outlined by the setting sun. Luna turned around back in the direction of Canterlot and Ponyville, looking east back towards the small village. The pair of airships that she had spotted earlier that day had not moved once they had gotten to Ponyville around noon, and she had seen the odd trio of griffins flying around the village on patrol. Nothing had been following them, however. She breathed a sigh of relief as she gently lowered herself back to the ground.

By the time she got back, the scouting party had returned and was making its report to Full Moon. The bat-winged pegasus was nodding as one of the guards spoke to him, occasionally looking down at a small map that the guard was drawing in the dirt. After a few minutes more of this he dismissed the guards, who walked back to where a number of Ponyvillers were doling out food to anypony that wanted some.

Full Moon turned and walked over to her, saluting with one wing before speaking.

“The scouting party reported back, Your Highness. Nothing dangerous in our immediate area but there’s a sizeable river a short distance away. It should be fairly easy to ford, though. The water’s shallow enough to just come up to around a pony’s knees. The foals will need to be carried, though.”

“Very good, Captain,” Luna said, nodding. “You’re dismissed.”

Full Moon saluted again and turned around, walking back to the rest of the wagons. Luna looked back down the road in the direction that the scouting party had been sent in, then gave a sigh.
It’s been so long… she thought to herself. So long since I’ve walked those halls. Of course, there had been that time when she had returned and been freed from Nightmare Moon’s influence, but that had just been for a few moments, and she hadn’t been able to thoroughly explore the castle. But enough anticipating. She still had a duty to perform. Spreading her wings again and lighting her horn, Luna raised herself into the air again, her eyes glowing white with power as she enacted the ritual that would raise the moon.

***

Captain Rosten stood on top of Ponyville’s town hall, watching the moon rise over the mountains. He took a deep breath of the crisp night air, then looked down at the village square. The griffins that had come with him to take over the town were in the final stages of setting up an outpost in the area, converting buildings into temporary courier stations, digging earthworks that would function as temporary defenses until more permanent fortifications could be built, and setting up tents in neat lines for rest stations. He could smell the aroma of cooking meat and hear the chatter of griffins as they worked.

Spreading his wings, Rosten took off and glided to the ground, snapping his claws for a courier. “Take a message to Marshal Blackwing,” he said. “Tell him that Ponyville is secured and that we’re setting up an outpost here now. He can deploy the airships whenever he thinks it prudent.”
“Yes, Captain,” replied the courier, giving him a salute before taking off and flying back to Canterlot as fast as he could. Rosten watched him go before looking around at the town and sighing. They’d arrived in Ponyville around noon, only to find the town completely deserted. While they had only checked the main cluster of buildings, not the farms and homes that lay farther away, the town had been completely and utterly evacuated.

He found the captain of the marines in a small pavilion that had been set up in Ponyville’s park. The captain was with a number of his other officers, discussing deployments of the town’s impromptu garrison to the earthworks being dug.

“We’ll send Starboard’s section to the west defenses, and Cirrus’s section to the north,” the captain was saying as Rosten approached. “I want three-member patrols circling the village at all times. I don’t want to be caught by surprise out here, is that understood?”

“Yes, sir!” the other officers chorused. The captain nodded and waved a hand to dismiss them. As the other officers filed out, the captain looked up at Rosten.

“Something I can do for you, son?”

“Have the scout teams reported back yet?”

“Yes, actually,” the captain replied, tapping the map with one finger. “There aren’t any refugee columns heading in any likely direction away from the town, whether by an established road or through the countryside. They may have taken shelter in the Everfree Forest or Whitetail Wood.”

“So where does that leave us?” Rosten asked.

“Well, my marines are too scared to go into the Everfree, no matter how many of ‘em I say to go in. They’ve heard stories, Rosten. And even taking out all of those, that place is dangerous. There’s even a hydra in a bog somewhere inside it, I’ve heard.” He leaned back from the table and sighed. “Plus, there’s the added complication that we don’t even know where the civilians that were in Ponyville are going.”

“True,” Rosten replied. “What do you suppose, then?”

“We can at least search Whitetail Wood,” the captain replied. “If they’re not in there, we at least know for sure that they went into the Everfree Forest. If we can keep them bottled up in there, they won’t be able to trouble us.”

“Good point,” Rosten replied, nodding. He walked over to the table and shuffled a few of the maps around until he got to one that showed Equestria as a whole. He pointed out the closest cities to Canterlot, tapping each one with a claw. “The Lord Marshal is planning on moving to these cities first. Manehattan, Baltimare, Hoofington, and Seaddle. We’ll be deploying the airships in the morning.”

“Getting it done fast, eh?” the captain muttered. He nodded. “I like it. Not like it’ll be a challenge, though. I hear our boys in Germaneigh and Prance are having a lot tougher time than we are.”
“I bet, considering that those countries seem to be on a semi-permanent war footing,” Rosten said, shrugging. “Carry on, captain.”

The captain nodded, going off to see to his troops as Rosten flew the short distance back to Ponyville.

***

Luna felt a smile grow on her face as she rounded what she knew to be the final bend in the path. Though it looked rather ominous in the moonlight, Everfree Castle still looked as it had when she had returned to Equestria as Nightmare Moon. She turned around as the rest of the column rounded the bend, sweeping a wing behind her. “Spread the word down the column, Captain. We’re finally here.”

Full Moon nodded and spread his wings, taking off and flying back down the length of the convoy to tell the rest of Ponyville’s population. She almost immediately began hearing exclamations of excitement and the rapid thrumming of hoofbeats on the ground as ponies ran around the bend, looking at the castle that stood across the gorge from them. As Full Moon flew back around the bend and landed back in front of Luna, she nodded to him. “See everypony inside, Captain.”“Yes, Princess,” Full Moon replied, sweeping out a wing and bowing before getting back up and turning around to the civilians. Within minutes, guards and civilians were unloading the wagons, carrying them across the rope bridge that connected castle to convoy. Other civilians were making their way inside, looking around at the interior of the castle. Luna stood by with Full Moon, watching the unpacking. Full Moon was talking to several guardsponies, detailing duties.

“Lieutenant Bright Eye, get four other guards and start dismantling those wagons. I want earthworks made up on the other side of that bridge as soon as possible. Lieutenant Phalanx, you choose as many ponies as you deem necessary and get up on the walls. The rest of you, inside. I want regular patrols in every area of the castle.”

As the guards moved off to perform their tasks, Full Moon looked over at Luna. “Do you think we’ll be safe here, Princess?” he asked.

“I’m certain, Captain.” Luna replied. “Equestria isn’t the only place that fears places such as the Everfree Forest. We won’t be followed.”

Full Moon nodded, going back to watch the unloading. “You can go inside, Princess. I’ll supervise the unloading.”

“Very well, Captain,” Luna replied. “Come and see me as soon as you’re done.”

“Yes, Princess.”

Luna walked toward the castle, nodding at the pair of pegasus guards that saluted as she went through the castle’s main door. As she entered the castle’s main hall, Luna took a look around.
The civilians were already doing their best to make themselves at home, setting up bedrolls and shelters in neat rows, supervised by several other guards. Foals ran to and fro, their happy chatter floating through the air as they ran among the makeshift tents. The Cakes had already gotten their shelter up, a sizeable camping stove already lit nearby, out of the way of any fire hazards. Mr. Cake was setting their foals down to bed. As he drew the blanket over the twins, he gave Luna a smile and bow.

“Is everything all right?” she asked, stopping and turning to the family.

“As good as we can make it, Your Highness,” Mrs. Cake replied. “Would you like some bread? I’m making a few fresh loaves in case anypony’s hungry.”

Luna shook her head. “No, not at the moment. Please, if there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask.” With that she left them, walking up to the dais at the head of the room. She looked out over the room, watching the rest of Ponyville’s population thread their way in and start setting up shelters of their own. A few walked over to the Cake’s tent following the smell of baking bread, though the majority kept building. She saw Applebloom and Big Macintosh setting up a small shelter, the bright yellow filly standing on her brother’s back to hook a tarp over a length of rope to make a tent as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo moved boxes and bags around. Spike was with them, handing Big Macintosh things to pass up to Applebloom. As the last of the civilians filed in, Luna saw Full Moon fly in over them, heading towards the dais. He landed at the foot of the stairs leading up to it, bowing.

“You may stand, Captain. I want us to get right down to business.”

“In what way, Princess?” Full Moon asked, looking up.

“Gather any other captains that survived Canterlot and meet me in the eastern tower,” Luna replied, pointing with one hoof to a small, round-topped tower that stood apart from the rest of the castle. “We have much to discuss, now that we’re here.”

“I’ll see to it immediately, Princess,” Full Moon replied, saluting before flying off again. Luna spread her wings, a bright flash obscuring her as she teleported to the tower.

***

Blackwing was not a happy griffin at the moment. Colonel Grimfeather stood in front of him, the grizzled veteran unafraid of the marshal’s wrath.

“What do you mean, the Royal Archives are empty?” Blackwing snarled.

“Exactly what I said, Lord Marshal,” Grimfeather replied. “Everything in the Archives is gone, even the guards. My guess is that they moved themselves and everything in the Archives to a safe location."

"Smart of them," Blackwing remarked idly. "Lots of sensitive information in there that they wouldn't want falling into the wrong hands."

"We do have word from some of the scouts though," Grimfeather continued. "Shining Armor was apparently inspecting the Archives at the time of the attack.”

“Shining Armor…” Blackwing murmured, nodding. While he hadn’t heard of any notable accomplishments of the officer, one thing he did know was that the unicorn had wed Celestia’s niece, Princess Cadance, a few weeks ago. Not to mention that he was the elder brother of Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s personal student. Such a large magical undertaking as teleporting every single document in the Royal Archives somewhere else would not be beyond the capabilities of such a unicorn, if he was anywhere near as strong (or even stronger than) his sister. “Right, then. Never mind finding the Archives’ guard detachment for now. Focus on gathering task forces to take Equestria’s cities. Once that’s done, we can focus on hunting down any rogue guard elements.”

“Yessir,” Grimfeather replied, saluting and walking out of the throne room, which Blackwing had designated his command center. Mostly because he liked the chair, but still.

One of the guards entered as Colonel Grimfeather left the room, saluting before giving his report. “A courier for you, Lord Marshal.”

“Send him in,” Blackwing replied, settling back in Celestia’s throne.

The courier came in almost immediately, walking straight up to the dais and presenting the letter.

“A message from the King, Lord Marshal.”

“Thank you,” Blackwing replied, walking down the dais’s steps to take the letter personally. “You’re dismissed.”

As the courier retreated from the room, Blackwing walked back and sat down in the throne, slitting the letter open with a claw and unfolding it. His eyes darted back and forth as he read, taking in each detail. It wasn’t much, mostly just an update of how the other six Marshals were faring in their respective theaters of war, as well as an update on the reinforcements that they had requested, along with an update on the status of experimental weaponry being developed by the War Ministry, mainly improved designs on cannons and trial runs of handheld firearms. Blackwing folded the letter back up and sat back in the chair, awaiting the next update from his command staff.

***

Luna stood in the great hall of Everfree Castle’s eastern tower, her hooves planted firmly on the grey stone dais at the far end. The high windows at her back stretched up to the ceiling above her, revealing the night sky that had come out as Luna had raised the moon. Stars twinkled in a backdrop of glittering light and the moon hung massive and full as Luna looked down at Full Moon and the three captains that he had found. Luna looked the three of them over as they stood at attention before her, waiting for her to speak to them.

Captain Stout Heart was an earth pony, colored a warm, sandy brown with blue eyes. His short-cropped black tail protruded from the back of his armor, and his eyes stared straight ahead, not looking at Luna. Captain Rite, a unicorn, was colored white with a blue mane and tail. His eyes were green, his posture mimicking Stout Heart’s. Captain Aileron the pegasus was colored a sky blue with a snow-white mane and tail, his blue eyes facing straight forward like those of his compatriots.

“These three are the only ones I could find, Your Highness,” Full Moon said, gesturing to the three with a hoof.

“Thank you, Captain. You did the best you could under the circumstances,” Luna replied, nodding to him. She turned to the other three captains, then sat down. “You all can relax.”

The captains mimicked her, sitting down as well. Luna looked at all of them, then sighed. “I assume that there’s no point in putting this off any further. Where do we stand currently?”

“The attack on Canterlot devastated the Royal Guard, Your Highness,” Stout Heart said. “Or at least, the section of the Guard that was assigned to guard the rest of the city and the castle itself. We don’t really have any intelligence on what happened to the Archive guards.”

“And what of Captain-General Shining Armor?” Luna asked.

“He was to inspect the Archive guards the night of the attack, Princess,” Aileron said, taking up the explanations. “Though whether or not he was still there at the time of the assault, however, we don’t know. We have no information on Princess Cadance's current whereabouts, though our last check-in before the attack confirmed that she was still in their summer house on Gallopfrey.”

“We can only assume that Shining Armor escaped,” Luna said. “His magical talent exceeds that of Twilight Sparkle’s, and the Archive guards are exclusively unicorns all trained in combat spells. Not to mention that Shining Armor is no fool. He wouldn’t stay in Canterlot if the situation was hopeless.” She looked at all four captains again. “For now, our efforts should be focused on finding out the extent of the situation in Equestria and replenishing the Royal Guard’s numbers. Captain Full Moon, I expect you to recruit as many fit male ponies as you can into the Royal Guard. Volunteers only, mind you.”

“Yes, Princess,” Full Moon replied, bowing his head.

“Captain Aileron, I want you to take a few pegasi and scout out the surrounding area. We can only assume that the griffins have taken Cloudsdale by now. Scout out the surrounding cloud formations, see if there are any pegasi that you can bring back with you.”

As Aileron saluted, Luna turned to Stout Heart and Rite. “As for the both of you, I would like you to start training the new recruits as Full Moon brings them in.”

“Yes, Princess,” the two said together, saluting.

Luna nodded in approval. “Very well. Get to work, all four of you.”

Comments

[Edragon]

oooh, well this was a nice surprise. Do I smell guerrilla counterattacks?