Another Point of View

Equestria was in absolute panic. News of the Royal Guards' defeat in Los Pegasus was now common knowledge and nopony knew where the griffon's would strike next. With over a quarter of the guards now deceased the pony's could no longer even think of mounting any offensive without leaving over half of their major cities wide open for another slaughter, causing a flood of ponies to abandon the large cities and seek out smaller, less appealing military targets.

Those ponies that did stay put in the large cities began taking steps to fortify their homes. Cities began to form militias, many of the stallions joining almost immediately in a sense of patriotic duty. The mares and foals also joined in the effort by rationing many everyday items and either saving the surplus items or fashioning them into weapons, armor, or other critical supplies should war find its way to their home. Even the smaller towns did their part by sending anything they could to the larger cities in hopes that their combined efforts would be enough to prevent another massacre like the one they just suffered. However, there was one question that loomed over everypony's head like a dark raincloud, one question that nopony knew the answer to;

...what would the Princesses do?

"For the last time, sister, we have no other choice!"

Luna slammed her hooves on the solid wood table with an echoing boom, causing the guards present to flinch at the noise. Celestia, however, retained her royal posture, though she did wince slightly at Luna's outburts.

"We have to act now! No more waiting! We must conscript every single able-bodied stallion and march for the Griffon Kingdom and strike back!"

Celestia shook her head no. "Luna, please calm down. Like I have said before, we have grossly underestimated Ray's capabilities and ruthlessness, but we must try to save as many lives as possible. Invading his land will only lead to more lives lost."

"No sister, YOU have underestimated him, not I! Had you allowed me to carry out my attacks this war would be over already!" Luna snarled angrily.

"We had no way of knowing Ray would be capable of this magnitude of destruction." Celestia tried to reason. "Besides, taking the offensive first would never be justifiable to the Canterlot Congress. They're still concerned with the report Soarin filed in regards to the griffon massacre he witnessed."

"That was no massacre, Celestia, that was my guards and I protecting Equestria! Something you do not seem capable of doing!" Luna declared proudly. "For once, dear sister, I know that I am correct, and from what our citizens all across Equestria are doing I would say they agree with me. The time for delegation and talks is over. It is time for war. Accept it."

Celestia sighed. "It is my duty to preserve life the best I can, Luna. It is your job as well. Whether it be pony, griffon, or any other species. You know that if there was any sure way to stop this war I would do whatever I had to do."

"Then let me lead the rest of our guard North." Luna begged. "With our combined forces, and whatever ponies Princess Cadence can spare from the Crystal Empire, we can then march on the Griffon's capital city. There will surely be many civilians that wish to join us in revenge and can bolster our forces. We cannot lose!"

"No." Celestia said almost immediately. "Luna, you read that report from the sole survivor of Los Pegasus, Swift Wing. It is clear that Ray has found Sombra's horn. It is clear that he has still yet to master Sombra's powers and is unpredictable."

"Then that is all the more reason to attack now!" Luna interrupted. "You did not choose to act when he committed those acts of barbarism on those two pegasi, and you still refuse to act with thousands of ponies dead. What will it take for you to do anything, sister?!"

Celestia could feel the tension reaching its breaking point in the room. "I need you here, Luna. Twilight is already at her breaking point with traveling across Equestria trying to keep everypony calm, and Cadence is needed in the Crystal Empire to prevent the griffons from moving straight East. I cannot oversee Equestria by myself, Luna. I need you here to help."

Luna gritted her teeth in anger. "There's no reasoning with you, is there, sister?" she says dryly before getting up. "We're done here."

"Luna, wait!" Celestia called out. The princess of the night stopped and looked back to see what her sister wanted, her patience all but gone. Celestia looked at her with pleading eyes. "Please, don't do anything rash." she begged.

Luna's stern expression didn't waver. "I shall do what needs to be done." she said before leaving the room, slamming the door shut.

Celebrations in the Griffon Kingdom went on well into the night, and as the next few days passed morale remained extremely high. The soldiers were treated as heroes of the fatherland and were free to do almost anything they pleased and rumors ran rampant over what pony city would be the next to fall.

In the privacy of the castle walls the griffon soldiers also got to enjoy a secret benefit to their victory; the captured mare that Lieutenant Windsheer had brought back was a popular spoil of war that all of the soldiers enjoyed. Once the two griffon soldeirs had finished using her and had dumped her in the barracks, the other soldiers quickly pounced on her. She was used non-stop, never going more than ten seconds without at least one griffon cock inside her body. The only way she was able to sleep was when she passed out from the brutal treatments she received, but her tormentors always found a way to wake her back up as playing with an unconscious pony was no fun.

There was no fight left in her anymore; even if she managed to escape, there was nowhere for her to go. The cold would instantly kill her before she could find her way back to Equestria, and besides... her family was all dead. With her spirit crushed, she resigned herself to a fate of remaining a fuck-toy for the griffons for the rest of her days.

At least until she found a way to kill herself.

A knock at Ray's door interrupted the griffon leader's meeting with a small group of his closest, most trusted officers. The unfortunate griffon tasked with delivering the message for the powerful griffon felt his heart almost stop as Ray cast a stare more intense than a cockatrices at him. "You better have a good reason for being here." Ray snarled.

The griffon shakily brought his talon up to a salute as he held out the sealed scroll in his other claw. "S-s-s-sir! My... a thousand apologies, bu-bu-but this needed your att... attention immediately." he managed to spew out.

Ray made his way over to the messenger, and as he took possession of the scroll his mind thought of how he could make the helpless griffon suffer for barging in on a top secret meeting. However, as Ray's eyes took in the words scrawled on the parchment his mood relaxed and a crooked grin slowly began to form.

"Well... this is quite the interesting turn of events." he muttered more to himself than any other griffon in the room. Glancing back up, he was annoyed that the messenger was still present, frozen in a nervous salute. "You're dismissed. Leave, NOW!"

The griffon's departure speed rivaled that of the late Rainbow Dash's racing speed, and he dared not stop until he was safely back in his barracks. Ray instead calmly turned to his officers and tucked the letter under his wing and addressed his group. "It appears that we have been delivered quite the gift. Our southern patrols managed to intercept a small flight of pegasus ponies, and if the intel in this report is correct, we just captured the leader of the Wonderbolts." Ray said.

In the dungeons below the griffon castle, three pegasi found themselves locked up in three separate cells. Ray's intelligence was correct; the leader of the Wonderbolts, Soarin, was now in the custody of the griffons, along with another well known Wonderbolt, Misty Fly. However, the two pegasi had only eyes of hatred for their third companion, the one responsible for their capture and current predicament; Thunderlane.

"You filly-fucking coward! If I weren't chained to the wall I'd kill you right now!" Misty Fly yelled out to the groggy pegasus.

Thunderlane breathed a sigh of relief as he found himself isolated from his two teammates. There was also the strange fact that, unlike his two fellow pegasi, Thunderlane was free to move about his cell while the others were chained down. However, the presence of the chains did not stop the shouts of anger and sense of betrayal the bound pegasi felt...

"Thunderlane, what the buck did you do? You... you..." Soarin asked in confusion.

Soarin's already fragile mental state was already being pushed to his limits. It had been weeks since he had last heard from Spitfire, Rainbow Dash, or that other pegasus courier. He was more than capable of leading the Wonderbolts, but Spitfire was the true lead flier, and Soarin wouldn't have it any other way. Still, though he missed her terribly, he refused to believe that the three pegasi were dead and kept telling everypony else that Spitfire would be back soon.

One of his duties had been to help survey the damage and utter loss in Los Pegasus, but on his way back to Cloudsdale his small group had been ambushed by a griffon patrol. Half of his escort was killed in the initial attack, but as three griffons had descended down on Thunderlane the cowardly pegasus pointed to Soarin and blurted out that he was the leader of the Wonderbolts. The chance to capture such a high value target was too good to pass up, and though the remaining Wonderbolts valiantly tried to buy Soarin enough time to escape he couldn't abandon his teammates. The three imprisoned ponies were all taken prisoner; Misty Fly only because she was found alive on the ground with a broken left wing.

The sound of a door opening and approaching griffons caused the three ponies to turn their heads to the hallway. Each of them felt a shiver jolt down their spines as the unmistakable figure of Ray appeared, the powerful griffon eyeing each pony one by one. He stopped at Soarin's cell and silently looked at the bound pegasus stallion.

"Don't touch him, you scum!" Misty Fly suddenly yelled out, compelled to protect her leader.

Soarin winced, expecting Ray to savagely attack his team member for her outburst but Ray surprisingly simply chuckled.

"Such fierce loyalty, even in the face of uselessness." Ray said. "Just know that such attempts are useless and will only get you killed faster. However..."

Every creature watched as Ray walked over to Thunderlane's cell and unlocked the traitor's cell door. "If you cooperate with me, you can find yourself in a seat of immense power in the new world I will create. Surely you wouldn't mind ruling your own city or two with an entire battalion of griffons at your command?"

The offer didn't have any effect on Soarin or Misty Fly, but Thunderlane was almost drooling at the offer. To rule a city and order around every citizen and soldier under his command... there was no way he could ever achieve that as a Wonderbolt. Nopony but a princess could ever achieve that kind of power.

Misty Fly watched as Thunderlane slowly walked towards Ray's outstretched claw. "Don't you dare. Don't you bucking dare..." she threatened, but the stallion reached out and accepted Ray's offer with a happy grin.

Soarin felt tears of betrayal fall from his eyes. "Thunderlane! How could you? Betraying the Wonderbolts was one thing, but to betray everypony in Equestria?! Just wait until Spitfire hears about this!"

Soarin's statement caused Ray to roar with laughter. "Hahaha! Oh, you mean that mare whose mane looked like it was on fire? Thunderlane, my friend, you don't have to ever worry about her. Ever. Again."

"No... NO! You're lying!" Soarin yelled out, struggling uselessly to break free. "There's no way... she's not dead!"

Ray laughed again. "Oh, she's past dead by now. I imagine by now their corpses must be frozen solid, though they'll never be found. Oh, yes, you heard me correctly. She's not alone. That rainbow slut and foolish pegasus courier are with her."

Soarin ceased struggling as he felt all of his energy drain away instantly at the news. Misty Fly struggled against her chains, wanting to do nothing but console her leader and try to motivate him to remain strong and to look for a way out, but Ray could tell that he had made great progress in breaking down the Wonderbolt's leader in such a short time. Adding one last insult to injury, Ray turned to his newest spy and motioned Thunderlane to follow him. "Come, my friend. Let's talk about your first mission, as well as which Equestrian city you would like to rule."