It was a quiet spring afternoon at Robert Sanjen High School in the quiet city of Westfield in eastern Nevada. (Yes, it’s a fictional city and a fictional school. Don’t give me crap about it.) Well, except for the four 6’2” senior bullies picking on a freshman that was at least a foot and a half shorter than them and at least that much scrawnier in the middle of the main courtyard at the center of the campus. While this was happening, Lance, a 5’6” Mexican sophomore with short dark hair and glasses, happened to be walking by. Hm... Lance thought to himself. I should probably go help that kid over there. Not like anything exciting has happened today, anyway. Lance then set down his book bag next to a nearby bench and walked over to where the four bullies were. “Hay!” he shouted, causing the bullies to turn to Lance, allowing the freshman to run away.
“Who do you think you are?” the bully who seemed to be the leader of the group asked. “Some pathetic little sophomore just waltzing up to us and ruining our fun?”
“Bingo,” Lance nonchalantly replied. “You don’t actually expect me to just stand around while you bully a helpless little kid, do you?” Lance then took an offensive stance.
“Pfft, you don’t scare us,” the leader of the bullies said. He then charged right at Lance, yelling a battle cry.
In the course of two seconds, Lance flicked his right wrist, revealing a watch with an out of the ordinary insignia on it. It was the insignia of the New Lunar Republic. Still within the previously stated two seconds, Lance waved his right hand over the watch, causing the insignia, as well as his eyes, to glow a sort of light blue for a half-second. Lance then ran up to the bully and sweep kicked him off his feet, causing the bully to crash hard on his back into the concrete below. Lance took a second to make sure his adversary was down before shifting his gaze to the other three, who didn’t need to be asked twice to attempt to succeed where their leader had failed. In a series of fluid motions, Lance rushed up to the other three, leapt up, kicked one in the face, spun around, landed, gave a second bully two quick jabs to the stomach, rose to an upright position, and judo threw the thrid bully to his back.
“Let that be a lesson to you four,” Lance said, dusting himself off. “Next time you wanna bully the innocent, give me a call. I’ll be happy to kick your butts a second time.”
“Is that so, Republic boy?” the bully leader asked from behind Lance.
“The presence of a Royal Guard would only be obvious to another Royal Guard,” Lance said, not even bothering to turn around. “I knew there was something in particular I didn’t like about you four. I just wasn’t bothering to check, that’s all.” Lance then turned around to face the bully leader. “Don’t tell me. Significant number in your group, ganging up on one weak innocent bystander... I’m going to guess you and your little gang are griffons, correct?”
“That’s right,” the bully leader said, raising his wrist to reveal a watch that was similar to Lance’s except for the fact that the New Lunar Republic insignia was replaced with that of the Griffon Empire. Lance backed up a little as the four bullies regrouped, all flashing similar watches. Of course, Lance wasn’t intimidated, but he certainly knew his limits, and four griffons was, indeed, one of them.
“Time to die, Republic boy,” the leader of the group said. Then, in unison, all four of the bullies moved their left hands to their respective watches and pressed two buttons on either side.
“Griffon power!” the four shouted. “Equestrian form!” Then in four flashes of light, the four 6’2” bullies disappeared and were replaced by four griffons who looked similar to Gilda, but had blueish feathers where Gilda’s white feathers would be and were wearing blazing silver armor.
No way I can take on four griffons on my own, Lance thought to himself. Looks like I’ll just have to try to hold my own until somepony comes in to assist me. “If it’s a fight you griffons want, it’s a fight you’ll get!” Lance then pressed two buttons on his watch similarly to how the bullies/griffons did. “Lunar power, Equestrian form!” Then, in a blueish flash of light, Lance’s form changed from a regular kid to a grey unicorn stallion in blueish armor, a grey mane, and a cutie mark that looked like the New Lunar Republic insignia.
“You really think you can beat all four of us single-hoofedly, pony?” the griffon leader asked.
“‘Course I can’t,” Lance nonchalantly admitted. “That doesn’t mean I can’t at least stall you until somepony comes to help me.”
“Like that will make a difference,” the griffon leader said. The four then charged right at Lance. Lance sidestepped the charge and fired several bolts of magic, hitting the griffons, but the attacks weren’t enough to deal any significant damage. One of the griffons turned to attack Lance, who readied himself for a quick hoof-to-claw battle. Lance leapt and bucked the griffon in the beak, followed by a quick magic blast to his face. However, the griffon recovered and gave Lance a powerful swipe with his claw. Fortunately, the griffon’s claw only caught Lance’s armor and the unicorn was hardly damaged. Lance then tried to use his magic to grab the griffon by the tail and threw him into another approaching griffon. This worked, but it didn’t keep them down and even then, there were two other griffons that Lance didn’t have any time to avoid an attack from.
“Claws off the unicorn!” a female voice shouted from the other side of the courtyard. Just then, a white pegasus mare wearing gold armor similar in design to Lance’s and sporting a cutie mark that resembled the Solar Empire insignia flew in and slammed head-first into the two griffons who were trying to attack Lance.
“Thanks, Saria,” Lance said to the pegasus. “You came just in the nick of time.”
“I would have gotten here sooner,” Saria replied, “but I had history this period, so I had to take the time to get a pass to the bathroom.”
“Well the point is you’re here. Ready to kick some griffon flank?”
“When aren’t I?”
The two ponies then charged at two different groups of two griffons each. Lance used his magic to blast the griffons away. Even though the griffons had the advantage in physical strength, they certainly weren’t a match for magic. Especially now that their strength in numbers was gone.
Saria, on the other hoof, got hooves-on with her two griffons, and was having no problem handing their flanks to them. She had much more speed than the griffons and was able to dodge their attacks with ease. And her physical strength was no different. Within about fifteen seconds, she had defeated her griffons. Roughly at the same time, Lance had defeated his pair and knocked them into the same pile that Saria had started with her griffons.
“You griffons learned your lesson yet?” Saria asked.
“What do you think, ponies?” the leader of the group asked. “Come on, guys. Let’s bail.” The four griffons then flew off over a building and out of sight.
“Think they’ve learned their lesson?” Saria asked. This resulted in Lance looking over at her, staring at her for a few moments, and then the two ponies bursting out laughing.
“Ha, a griffon learning a lesson,” Lance said. “If we had personalized cutie marks in our pony forms, yours would have something to do with stand-up comedy.” Lance then stood up on his hind legs, waved his hoof over his other, and in a flash of light, returned to his human form. Saria then did the same thing. In her human form, she was just barely shorter than Lance and she was white with long dark hair. The two just stood there awkwardly for the longest time before Saria spoke up.
“Well, I’d better get back to class,” Saria finally said.
“Yeah,” Lance replied. “You probably don’t wanna be out for longer than you have to.”
“Are you kidding? It’s history.” Saria then turned and jogged off, leaving Lance as the only person left in the courtyard.
“Well,” Lance finally said after a while, “I still have about... half an hour left in my free period. I already fought some griffons today, so I might as well go hang out in the library, now.” Lance then picked up his book bag and headed towards the library.
