Tendrils Of War

"Move it, hurry up"  Shouted Grian, commander of the Griffonian air force.

It had been a stressful couple of days since Germania invaded Polandia and it was clearly obvious that Griffonia was next in Germania's 'plans' of world domination. Politics had failed, time to bring out the weapons.

Grian was assigned to train the new air force recruits, it was a painful and exhausting job. Looking from the reports of the forces attacking Polandia Grian saw no air force of any kind was used. 'Perhaps they don't have one?'. But after all Polandia didn't put up much of a fight...

"Grian, how do these suit things work?" asked one of the recruits. Grian turned his attention to the brand new battle packs. They worked a bit like a saddle, but providing it's wearer with armament.

"See these straps? You fit them around you and press the green button on the side" Grian responded with irritation in his voice. He put the straps around the recruit and pressed the button. The two straps locked into place and two large long barreled guns slid out of the backpack.

"G8-Fs. the finest gun for killing ponies who lost their place" Grian laughed and helped the rest.

Germania was going down.

TWO WEEKS LATER

The knocks on the door persisted. Grian sighed, got out of bed and walked to the door rubbing his eyes. 2:00 AM in the morning, this better be important.

He opened the door to see a young griffon wearing a lieutenant coat and cap. "Grian, The Council has requested you to be in the city hall in ten minutes" The griffon turned around and flew away before it could sink in.

After a ten minute flight through the rain he arrived at the City Hall. There was electricity in the air, he didn't like it.

He walked into the main hall, it was abuzz with shouting, loud chatter and barely audible music. Grian took a seat and waited for the sound to die down.

"Grian, I am glad you could join us" Counciller Greer smiled and began to speak

"Our friends, the 'Germanians' though it was acceptable to invade our land and slaughter our people. They are here people"

"What?! DEATH TO THE PONIES" Yelled someone from behind

The griffons roared and ran out the room to fight for their homeland.

Grian hated when that happened. Griffons were so overdramatic when it came to the homeland.

INVASION OF GRIFFONIA

Grian and his squadron flew through the cold morning air. All armed and ready for battle. They were targeting a small town which was recently abandoned when the Germanians were approaching.

"Target is in sight" Grian said through the mic.

In front of them, just 5 kilometres away, was the small town of Griffonville, one of Griffonia's many agricultural hubs. About two days ago it was assaulted by Germanian tanks in their plot to destroy the farm towns, but the Griffons stationed there forgot to burn the crops to make sure the invaders couldn't help themselves to the wheat.

They were now very close.

"Initiate bombing run" Grian said and the griffons nose dived toward the ground, each one was holding onto four incendiary bombs, perfect for burning crops. As they passed over the town they saw the Germanian ponies look up and gallop towards their Anti-Air cannons, some of the griffons dropped their bombs which exploded in a torrent of fire upon the streets.

The first patch of crops were up, Grian dropped two of his bombs, they fell through the air and exploded setting the crops on fire.

Grian turned his head right to see one of the Germanian tanks move up to the burning field. It's cannon was replaced by four smaller barrels. Two Germanians sat on the back.

"AA guns! Evasive manoeuvres!"

The gun opened fire, there was screams as the bullets ripped apart a couple of griffons in mid-air. Grian turned toward the second crop field and dropped one of his bombs. He had a mission and he wasn't going to let ponies stop him.

"We're taking too much casulties!" Yelled one of the griffons

"Retreat, get back to base"

Just as he said that, a bullet clipped his wing.

Grian suddenly spiralled toward the ground, the fiery pain in his wing began to spread. He painfully pulled up and headed toward the last crop field. He could hear the AA cannon following him trying to get in range.

Dropping the last of his bombs he banked right and landed onto a street and pulled out his pistol. He stood up on his hind legs and hid behind an overturned carriage just as a tank rumbled passed. He pulled out his mic.

"This is Grian, I'm wounded and need help. Is anyone there?"

He climbed onto the carriage and poked his head up, a group of armed Germanians were making their way toward him. Fortunately lying next to him was a wingless griffon riddled with bullet holes, it's dead talons holding onto a weapon.

The weapon, a S-31 Carbine, felt heavy in his hands. He reloaded it and took the extra clips from the corpse. He breathed in, the first Germanian passed him, turned his head and screamed before a bullet went through his open mouth. The other ponies shouted and opened fire, Grian jumped up as high as he could with both wings flapping, he pulled down on the trigger, the gun fired back, it's heavy recoil made his aim rather bad and most of them missed one of the shots hit one of them in the leg and missed the other who seemed to be very angry. Grian landed back on the ground and aimed for the last one's head, but before he pressed the trigger the Germanian shouted a profanity and ran away to get reinforcements. Grian dropped the Carbine and ran off.

The pain in his wing was almost unbearable, but it was his only hope in escaping. With a beat of his wings he took to the sky, flew through the smoke from the burning crops and turned east toward the nearest base. His eyes became heavy and he became cold. But he continued on, he would not admit defeat in front of a mighty foe, not yet.

Finally after what felt like an eternity he landed onto the airstrip and collapsed, two soldiers and a doctor ran out to his shivering body and examined it. Grian blacked out.

Grian woke up, the feathers on his forehead dripping with sweat, his wing was bandaged. He got up and looked around, he was in a big white room, stretchers and tables were all over the place.

"Ah Grian, you are awake" a griffon wearing a white coat approached him. His voice urgent.

Before Grian could open his beak the doctor continued.

"Come, we must hurry. The Germanians are coming from the west, they'll be here at nightfall"

Grian looked out the window, the sun was dangerously low in the sky. There is still time.

"Let's go" Grian stood up and flexed his muscles and wings, His bandaged wing still sore from the bullet.

"where are we going?" Grian asked while limping after the doctor (who seemed in a rush)

"To the trucks, they will take us to another base further east".

"and then?" The doctor stopped and turned around.

"I don't know" The doctor sighed and continued his nervous power walk.

They arrived at the gates to the airfield, there were several Griffonian trucks lined up. Injured griffons were waiting to board.

Grian was greeted by a pair of griffons when there was a loud shout.

"THEIR HERE! ENEMY INFANTRY SPOTTED!"

Everyone started to panic.

"Get on the truck" one of the griffons pointed Grian to a already packed truck. Hopping into the back he sat next to a child with a bandage across one of it's eyes.

The truck rumbled to life and accelerated, dust and dirt was kicked up and flew high into the air. The truck continued to speed up until they were followed by the rest of the vehicles.

After ten minutes columns of smoke could be seen rising from the direction of the base. They were safe, for now.

Germanian forces continued to cover ground, even though the griffons constantly bombed the infantry and tanks from the air. The griffons have to hold Talonopolis at all costs. It was the pride of the griffon empire and it's heart. The Germanians knew that. The Griffonian's only hope was to destroy enemy formations from the air. But even the sky was being taken from them.

GRIFFONIAN BOMBING RUN, 100 Kilometers north

"Roger, Target in sight"

Delta Squadron was on route toward a diamond-mining town, it was recently captured by the Germanians and was a big loss for the griffons. They were sent to destroy the main entrance into the mine complex.

"What is that?" One of the recruits suddenly said over the channel.

In front of them, about 10 kilometres was a long cigar shaped construct. It was hovering far above the ground. The Germanian swastika clearly defined on it's tail.

As they got closer they could see smaller craft guarding the big one. Suddenly they all turned toward the griffons.

"Enemy fighters?!? Evasive Manoeuvres!"  One of the younger griffons screamed in fear.

The fight was over before it even started. The Flankzi fighter jets, short stubby planes with long wings and a propeller on the front, opened fire on the griffons. The high-strength bullets tore the griffons apart before they could retaliate. Bombs exploded in mid air finishing the job. On the ground, the Germanians looked up as blood, tissue and other body parts rained from the sky, some of them even vomited  and ran into shelter.

The war was now in the Germanian's favour.

Talonopolis

Talonopolis, home of the griffons. The Griffon Council, the head of the entire governance, decided to make a last stand. Every single remaining squadron was called forth, along with proud civilians who wanted to fight for their homeland.

Grian walked through the main hall, statues of famous heroes lined the walls. The council called him to the Castle of Wings, home of the council and the government. He approached the massive door, the two guards opened it and he walked inside. The room was filled with fancy furniture, golden sculptures and other fancy pleasures Grian would never experience. Greer, head of the council stood waiting for the commander. While Grian wore nothing, Greer had on a fancy robe. Perfect Council clothing.

"Commander Grian, I see your wing is better, yes?" Greer asked

"I guess so... You called me?" Grian responded with slight confusion. Greer beckoned the befuddled commander to sit down.

Grian leaned in.

"I need you to lead the final war party, i reviewed your record. You are perfect for the job"

Grian's beak dropped, his heart pounded. In no ways was he privileged.

"I would rather be shot" Grian spat out. His voice began to rise. Greer's face remained unchanged. Grian saw hope in the fool's eyes.

"Don't you get it? The war is lost"  Grian added. Anger washed over Greer's face.

"Explain how it is over!"

"Our cities are destroyed, our army is in ruins. Our civilians are giving up hope. We need to leave Griffonia or else the Germanians will wipe us out" Grian said, not with anger fueling it, but fear for his race.

Greer saw the change in tone.

He whispered loudly, sadness filling his tone.

"We would be forever disgraced, there is still hope. We have plenty of squadrons left, we still have a chance!"

Grian considered this and looked away.

"Don't do it for me or you. Do it for the future generations, so they can live without harm and worry just like before" Greer begged.

"Very well" Grian whispered and walked out the massive door. The end of the griffon race was here.

50 kilometers west of Talonopolis

This was it, line after line of armed griffons, flying to their doom. There was at least over 10,000 griffons here.

In front was the massive flying construct, dubbed 'The Airship' by griffon engineers.A massive cloud of enemy fighters leading the airship.

Grian estimated they had 10 minutes before in firing distance. He opened his beak.

"To all my fellow griffons, I know this looks bad, and it is. But you need to keep in mind the survival of our race and homeland. Many of you will die, but as you breathe your last breaths, you will know you fought and died for the future generations of griffons. Let your guns be your fury, and your wings the guides to our salvation!"

There was roaring and cheering throughout the squadrons. But the threat in front of them was almost upon them.

"Arm weapons"

Each griffon was equipped with two very powerful guns and two missiles. Perfect loadout.

Each squadron leader reported in

"Armed"

The enemy fighter craft were now clearly visible. The black and grey paint job, the big swastika on each one's tail, the massive guns... The sound of the engines were now blocking out the sound of the rushing wind.

Grian's heart skipped a beat.

"FIRE!"  The air was filled with the sound of zinging as bullets shot through the air and smashed into the enemy formations, one of the fighters was hit straight in the cockpit, it veered right and crashed into another fighter exploding and sending wreckage into the air. The enemy fighters returned fire.

The squadrons broke into evasive maneuvers. The dogfight had began. Grian trailed a fighter and shot at it's wing, blowing it right off. He turned to another one and send off another salvo of bullets, smashing into the fuselage. Even though they were fighting in a massive space, the air seemed very tight, bullets, bodyparts, griffons, explosions and so on filled the air. He was slowly heading toward the airship, he could see small engines fixed into the grey metallic skin on metal beams. Finally he cleared the dog fighting area and approached head on toward the flying, metal beast. He armed his first missile and launched it. It left a trail in the air and finally impacted into one of the engines. The explosion was spectacular, suddenly a pair of fighters broke off from the fight and flew straight toward the commander. Grian's luck has run out.

The fighters opened fire, a bullet went right through his left wing. Intense fiery pain filled his injured limb, Grian scowled, he opened fire and managed to destroy one of the enemy craft, it tumbled towards the ground. Another bullet went right through Grian's stomach. With a sigh the griffon stopped beating his wings and fell toward the ground.

His goggles covered in blood, his life flashed before his eyes. With the last of his strength he pulled up and slammed into the ground, he slid and rolled to a stop on his back. He looked in the air, there were hardly any griffons, the fighter jets picked off the last of the squadrons. Blood rained from the sky. Grian closed his eyes.

Griffonia officially surrendered to the Germanian Army only three days later. Talonopolis was bombarded and destroyed and the remaining griffons retreated Northwards to Equestria. The Germanians were left almost untouched by the fighting.