Storm

        A large boom rippled through the castle, causing both Luna and Steel Shadow to jump out of their skin. Figuratively, of course. Luna turned to Steel and asked, “What was that?”

        “I don’t know, but whatever it was, it sounded big,” Steel replied. “I’ll go check it out. Don’t worry, Princess, these plans are safe with me.”

        “Good, now go. Take your team, too,” Luna paused as Steel bowed and turned around, “And for the last time, call me Luna!”

        “As you wish, Princess Luna!” He called after his shoulder as he sprinted back down the hallway. Luna sighed, shaking her head. She shrugged as best she could and decided it was best to compromise on matters every now and then, especially one as small as a name. She turned back around, galloping down the hallway towards the castle observatory.

        Meanwhile, Steel Shadow was emerging from the castle. The first thing he noticed when he got out into the open was the griffons flying above and periodically swooping down at a guard or two. Nearby, he saw Spearhead fighting off one of the griffons with his, well, spear. As he watched, Spearhead plunged the spear into the griffon’s chest. Steel motioned for Spearhead to join him and waited while he came rushing over, striking at any griffons that were in his way.

        “Come on! We’ve got to find the others!” Steel called to Spearhead as he came within earshot. Spearhead nodded his understanding and fell in behind Steel as they weaved around the hostile griffons, searching for Firebrand and Helix. They spotted them fighting off a few griffons of their own. Firebrand was leaping at them one by one, expertly swinging her sword in her teeth. She had gotten even better with her blade than she was last time the four of them were on a mission.

        Helix had also gotten better with his weapon of choice, the bow. He loosed arrow after arrow towards the griffons gathered nearby, hitting his mark 85% of the time. Griffon after griffon fell before the highly efficient and deadly duo. Until, suddenly, the griffons turned tail and fled.

        “Yeah, that’s right! Get out of here, you disgusting hybrids!” Firebrand yelled after them after sheathing her sword. Helix drew back a final arrow and loosed it after the retreating griffons. He wasn’t aiming to hit them, but apparently the ground is a difficult target to hit. The arrow flew straight, striking true and puncturing one of the griffons’ heart from behind. Not a single soul moved in that moment. The griffons were shocked that one of their comrades had fallen, and while they were retreating, no less.

        Firebrand was shocked that Helix had even attempted the shot in the first place. Steel Shadow and Spearhead were honestly surprised that he had hit at all. Helix himself was surprised he had missed that large a target and shot the griffon instead. They all came to the realization that Fate was not on their side at that moment. The remain griffons, enraged that their comrade had fallen without honor, turned around and readied themselves for a final, crushing charge. They rallied any and all griffons nearby, and pretty soon the small squad of ponies were faced with a third of the entire griffon strike force.

        “Helix! You’d better be able to get us out of this!” Firebrand called to her brother as she backed up to meet the other three.

        “If you can, you’d better do it fast! Those griffons don’t look very happy!” Spearhead added.

        “I can see that, Spearhead! Just give me a second to think!” Helix replied angrily.

        “Your second is up,” Steel commented quietly as the griffons charged. There was silence from all four of them as they thought of a way, any way, that would allow them to escape from the griffons rushing towards them. After wasting precious seconds racking his brain, Steel Shadow came to a decision.

        “It’s no use fighting…” The others looked at him curiously. Spearhead was about to ask what he meant by that when Steel continued. “At least not up front. Spearhead, can you distract them for me? Just get them to chase you,” he began, before going on to outline his plan. They were about to put their plan into action when another guard jumped down and stood in a battle stance beside Spearhead.

        “I’ll go with Spearhead as the distraction,” she said, drawing her sword. She was a grey pegasus with amber eyes. Or rather, an amber eye. The other one was covered with an eyepatch. She wore the armor of a solar guard, and was equipped with standard-issue weapons. She lowered her helmet’s visor and waited for Steel’s and Spearhead’s signal.

        “Alright, Private Hooves, you’re with me then,” Spearhead replied. He turned to wish the others good luck but they were already gone. “Let’s go!” Spearhead led the way as they ran for where the majority of the city guards were. They were incapable of helping, however, as they were preoccupied with standing their ground against the rest of the griffons.

        All was going according to plan. The griffons thought it was either Private Hooves or Spearhead who had shot down their comrade, and the majority of them were chasing the two guards. The sunlight glinted off of their armor, the dark indigo of the Lunar Guards providing a deep contrast for the bright gold of the Solar Guards, although they both shone equally bright. There was no way the griffons could miss them, even more so when Spearhead cast a quick spell to make their armor shine even brighter, almost blindingly so. The leading griffon gave a cry of pain and swerved off to the side, collapsing from the searing pain that had just been inflicted upon his eyes. He quickly shook his head and rose, charging after the two guards, even more enraged than before.

        “Are you sure… this was a good idea?” Private Hooves asked, panting slightly. The griffons had been incited into a berserk frenzy by their leader’s anger.

        “It wasn’t a good idea, but it was our only idea,” Spearhead replied calmly, continuing his run. He turned slowly so that he was leading the griffons back towards the others, or at least, where they should be. “Besides,” he continued, “you didn’t have to help.”

        “Except that I did,” she replied, “If I hadn’t, I would have missed out on the first part of our quest. I really don’t want to get in trouble with the Princesses again. I’m sure you understand.”

        “Indeed I do,” Spearhead replied, nodding his head and chuckling slightly. His smile quickly turns into a frown. Private Hooves notices this.

        “What’s wrong?” she asked. He motions ahead of them and she sees what had troubled him. A large ring of griffons had surrounded the others.

        “I think this puts a bit of a knot in the rope of our plans,” Spearhead said, dispelling the enchantment on their armor and slowing down beside the circle. Private Hooves nodded in agreement, slowing to a stop beside him.

        “What took you guys so long?” Steel asked, his voice humorless in tone.

        “Ah, shut up, Steel,” Spearhead replied as he dropped his spear and walked into the circle to join the others. Private Hooves dropped her sword and followed him into the circle.

        “Well… now what?” Firebrand asked helplessly. The others could see that she’d rather be on the outside of the circle. Of course, she wasn’t the only one, but they were trapped and disarmed. Even Steel’s wingblades had been pulled off. His wings had been injured in the process, and he couldn’t fly. The griffons began closing the circle, weapons bared and gleaming like deadly teeth. The five ponies were helpless to stop the griffons from running them through and leaving them bleeding on the flagstones.

        “Hold steady!” a cry came from outside the circle. The voice sounded vaguely familiar. Suddenly, a figure in dark indigo armor and wearing a facemask jumped into the circle, holding back the griffons. Despite the fact that her body was hidden, her mane was not.

        “Luna!” Steel cried, leaping forward and tackling a griffon, relieving it of both it’s sword and it’s life. He stood up again, watching with satisfaction as the griffon’s lifeblood ran warm out onto the flagstones, hissing as it steamed against the cold stone. The others followed suit, either diving for their own weapons or taking out a griffon and swiping a weapon that way. No matter what, the five of them were now armed and very dangerous. The griffons chuckled, however. One of them stepped forward.

        “You really think that you can stop us? There’s only six of you!” He laughed again. The other griffons followed his lead laughing at their attempt at survival. The griffons quickly stopped laughing, for an arrow had appeared from nowhere and embedded itself in the speaker’s chest.

        Another griffon stepped forward. “A single arrow isn’t going to do much against the hundreds of us,” he said. The others agreed.

        Helix grinned in reply. “A single arrow? No self-respecting archer would carry a single arrow. No, see, I’ve got enough arrows to take out twenty of you.”

        Now it was the ponys’ turn to laugh. The face of the griffon who had stepped forward wore a look of disbelief. “You can’t be sincere. I’d like to see you try,” he replied, his smirk returning. “There’s no way you can hit twenty of us! I doubt you could even hit ten.”

        The other five ponies frowned, but Helix’s face was set in a look of determination, an infectious smile crossing his face. He spoke to simple words before leaping into action: “Watch me.” True to his word, he leaped into the air, taking aim at twenty five different targets. The arrows arced through the air and all of his targets fell to the ground dead. Except one. The griffon speaker collapsed, crying out in pain. Helix had hit all twenty five targets, but he’d had enough time to make this a nonlethal shot Painful, but nonetheless nonlethal.

        “My bad. I may have taken out twenty four of you,” Helix said, still smiling. The griffon frowned as he stood up, wincing slightly at the pain.

        “Okay, so there’s twenty four less of us that can kill you, and you managed to injure me. There’s still hundreds of us still at full combat capacity. You’d need an army to defeat us!”

        Now, Luna was the one with the smile. “Luckily, we have one.” As she finished speaking, a combined force of Solar and Lunar guards washed over the circle of griffons. It took seconds for the guards to overrun the griffons. A small entourage of griffons managed to escape the city, but the rest fell, their blood pouring out over the stony streets of Canterlot. Clean up efforts cleared the dead bodies and washed up the blood in minutes, allowing the citizens of Canterlot to get on with their lives. Steel and Spearhead moved into position guarding one of the many entrances into the city, while the others went to have a private conference with Luna. Today was going well.