As the dawn rose, Shining Armor found himself standing next to the ponies who had called him Captain for years, and who now call him General. He watched the griffons form ranks as the sun slowly rose behind him, feeling its warmth and the release from the cool night. Both sides stood, staring each other down; the griffons not wanting to engage before the sun rose a bit more, the ponies anxious.

Then, as it always does, all tartarus broke loose at once with the sound of cannonfire rocking the city behind them. All at once, the griffon lines took stride.

One . . . Two . . . Three . . . the griffons gained speed.

Four . . . Five . . . Six . . . shields lowered, and Shining Armor raised his own.

Seven . . . Eight . . . Nine . . . muscles straining, muscles bracing.

Ten.

SLAM!

CRASH!

WHAM!

CRUNCH!

Bones crushed, shields shattered, wings cracked, limbs flew, spears impaled . . . it all happened within a moment. Those on the front line said the moment of impact lasted at eternity as they watched their comrades fall and their muscles strain from the griffon bodies striking their shields. The noise it made was described as “Pure Chaos”.

The moment was gone with two words, a loud voice ringing throughout the army.

“SHIELDS! REPEL!”

In response, thousands of stallions, Shining Armor included, sharply battered the nearest griffon with their shields.

Another call, “SPEARS! FORWARD!”

The ponies responded, the front line shields stepping back and allowing those behind to step forward and stab at the enemy. With that one stroke, thousands of dazed griffons met their doom before being trampled by their allies.

Shining Armor had withstood ridicule all of his career as a Captain. Failure at his own Royal Wedding, failure against Sombra, uselessness against Discord . . . twice. But this . . . this is what he was meant for. Protecting his country and kin from those who would do them harm. As the ponies behind and beside him stabbed the griffons in front, he lit his horn and withdrew his longsword.

The griffons re-engaged, a smaller impact against his shield this time. But it didn’t really matter, his talent was magic and defending, and the only thing to ever break his shield was an entire army. Shining Armor felt no remorse as he plunged his sword into the griffon pressed against his purple barrier.

There was a time for mercy, but not here. These griffons were threatening his home and family. There’d be no mercy for them. He slashed and stabbed with his sword, each strike echoing another griffon casualty. Time and time again, the bellowing voice rang over the cannonfire, indicating the change of formation.

Then, the tide shifted. Shining Armor noticed it instantly as he saw the griffons no longer pressuring against his shield. He watched as a massive griffon twice his height step out of the army. It was coated in black obsidian dragonscale armor, trimmed in gold.

The griffon emitted a . . . voice wasn’t the right word . . . but rather, the griffon emitted a sound that shivered its way throughout all the troops nearby, “Incompetent idiots! I suppose I must do this myself.”

The griffon drew a warhammer from his side, strange markings ingrained into its sides, and was as large as the ponies standing before him. The griffon raised the massive weapon high above his head, and slammed it into the earth.

BONG!

Lightning struck where it hit, amplifying the impact, making a horrible noise as it hit the hard-packed dirt, like it had hit an anvil. A shockwave rippled through the earth, cracking it and sending chunks flying into the air. Anypony not in the air at the time suddenly was in the air, before they crashed back to the ground.

That’s when it clicked: he knew this new threat. It was Emperor Ironblood himself, and he bore the King’s Hammer, a weapon so old and powerful, even its name was lost to the bowels of history. In that moment, Shining Armor realized nopony except himself could stand against that monster, and ran to stand in front of the approaching griffon. He brandished his sword, and said, “Come and get me!”

The griffon paused, then seemed amused as he looked at the pony in front of him. “So. I have a challenger?” He looked closer at him. “You must be Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire, Captain of the Royal guard?”

Getting no response, he continued, “Very well then. Die.” He raised his hammer high over his head, and brought it down with the authority of a god.

The hammer was met by a purple barrier conjured at the last possible moment. The impact between the unstoppable and the unbreakable sent magic and lightning pulsing around the combatants. They remained frozen, neither the hammer nor the barrier willing to give in, energy crackling around both.

With a purple flash and an ear-splitting BONG!, the energy released, sending everypony and every griffon within twenty yards flying.

The smile ran away from the Emperor’s face. He shouted, “ATTACK, YOU FOOLS!”

With that moment of distraction, Shining Armor attempted to plunge his sword into the griffon’s chest, only to be parried by the hammer. The griffon then sideswiped Shining Armor with his other talon, knocking him sideways.

The battle resumed around them, friend and foe alike giving them all the room they wanted. Amidst all the fighting, the one griffon and the one stallion stood, silent, a void in the chaos as they measured each other, circling slowly in the wide space made for them.

With no warning, the griffon spread his wings and shoved himself into the air. He flipped expertly, and dive-bombed Shining Armor, his hammer swinging with the force of a small mountain. Again, Shining Armor raised his barrier, and again, a small explosion rocked the battlefield. The space both armies gave them tripled in size.

The griffon withdrew slightly, golden eyes boring holes into Shining Armor. Not losing eye contact, the griffon unsheathed a second weapon: a long, serrated sword the color of bloody mud. Flapping into the air, the griffon struck again, his hammer met by a barrier and his sword met by Shining Armor’s own blade.

“You fight well!” the griffon complemented between sword thrusts and hammer swings. “It’s been too long since I’ve had a fight this good!”

“If only I could say the same!” Shining Armor replied, slashing with his sword. The huge hammer blocked it, sparks flying from metal-against-metal.

Furiously, the two exchanged blows: shield, parry, riposte, stab, slash, hammer. Every swing of the hammer was met by a barrier and an explosion. Neither of the two made progress, but after an hour or so of continued fighting, their fury had began to whip up a small whirlwind of dust surrounding them.

The griffon withdrew, panting, and the dust settled. The chaos of battle continued much as before around them. In that instant of relaxation, Shining Armor sent a bolt of powerful magic straight at the griffon’s neck. Attempting to dodge, the Emperor turned his neck to one side, but the damage was done. With a flash, the magic struck, blowing off a piece of the griffon’s armor and singeing the feathers and skin below.

As he let loose the bolt, Shining Armor charged the griffon, sword outstretched, and made another attempt to stab the griffon through the chest.

The Emperor was no fool, however. He parried the attack with his sword, and used its serrations to hook Shining Armor’s sword out of his grasp. Smiling, the griffon swung his hammer.

BONG!

Again, it met a barrier, an explosion rocking the battlefield. But this time, it was different.

The barrier shattered under the enormous weight of the blow, the shockwave sending Shining Armor flying, landing heavily on one side. He panted, exhausted from the fighting and suffering a massive headache from that last hammerblow. Before he could rise, the Emperor planted a talon on his side, pinning him.

Grinning from ear to ear, but with his armor battered and scorched, the griffon spoke, “Well-fought! For a pony.” His pointed the hammer at Shining. “By my authority as Emperor, you shall be remembered as a worthy foe.”

The Captain-turned-General saw, out of the corner of his eye, the one thing he didn’t want to see: his little sister, off in the distance, staring in horror.

Emperor Ironblood raised the enormous hammer, its sheer size blocking the sun. “May the Afterlife know your Honor, and welcome you.”

The hammer fell.

CRACK!

The sound announced the end of Shining Armor, the Prince, the Captain, the General, the Husband, the Brother, and the Son.
Around them, the ponies froze, shocked at Shining’s death

The Emperor turned back towards his army, smiling, extremely pleased with himself. This was a GOOD fight! His fellow griffons cheered on their emperor. He basked in the glory of his victory, his talons heavy but his heart in the sky. It’s been too long since I’ve had glory!

He saw the exact griffon he wanted to see: his daughter, the light of his life.

“Gildalaria! My Daughter! Come to join me, I see!” he bellowed with pride as he embraced her.

“Sort of . . . Daddy.”

She drew her dagger, and shoved it into her father’s exposed neck.

Blood spurted out of the massive griffon’s neck. This time, it was the griffons that froze as they saw their Emperor fall. The collapsed griffon struggled to breathe, but the fight with Shining Armor left him weak. Why, daughter? Why?

Picking up the King’s Hammer, Gilda spoke, “You were right, Daddy. I will be the griffon that conquered Equestria.”

Horror struck the Emperor’s face as his life left him, but it settled on grim acceptance as his last breath left his lungs.

His last thoughts were about Gilda. On one claw, he was displeased that his daughter killed him in such an dishonorable way. He’d have words with her when her time came.

On the other claw, he knew she would lead them to victory. Her resolve and strength were just as strong as his. Perhaps, in the end, it would balance out when she reached the afterlife. He hoped she wouldn’t be bound for Tartarus.

The fighting continued when Spike left to fight Titanus, leaving the six ponies to fight off hordes of griffons on their own. Twilight in particular was worried for him, and prayed silently he would return as she dealt death to countless griffons.

The earthquake worried her . . . earthquakes don’t happen in Canterlot. She knew of the rumors, that the griffon Emperor had a weapon powerful enough to move earth and sky with a single blow. She’d seen magical weapons in her time, so she didn’t disregard it.

She also worried for her brother. She hadn’t seen him since the battle started. With that in mind, she spoke to her friends, “Girls! I’m worried about Shining. We should go find him!”

The five other ponies nodded, agreeing. The six ponies tore through the crowd of griffons again, but this time with direction, towards the center of the army where Twilight’s brother was.

The six came to a clearing, an odd thing to see in a battle.

Then, Twilight saw it: a massive griffon in black and gold armor towered over her brother, pinning him to the ground. An enormous hammer was pointed at Shining’s head.

The hammer rose. “May the Afterlife know your Honor, and welcome you!” she heard the griffon say loudly.

Before she could react, the hammer fell upon Shining’s head, breaking it as though it were a watermelon, spewing its red contents onto the earth.

As the smiling griffon turned around, three things happened: Time seemed to stop, Twilight teleported to her brother, and her friends either screamed or puked. Twilight watched in horror as her brother, her BBBFF, died in her hooves.

Of the ponies who knew Twilight, only Celestia and Spike knew two important details about her:

1) In times of rage, the sheer power of her magic lit her and her surroundings on fire.

2) She was capable of using black magic better than anypony except Celestia and Luna.

At that moment something happened nopony could have predicted: both of those things happened.

Powerful emotions flooded her. The first was Denial. No. NO. Shining . . . Big Brother . . . NO!

The second was Anger. It pointed her thoughts towards the large griffon. YOU!

It led to the third emotion. Rage. Hot, red, violent Rage. It bubbled in her bones, and made the ground around her quake. Strands of her mane began to burn.

But the last was the worst . . . the feeling of complete emptiness, where no emotions resided. It was like her insides were full of lava, but the lava suddenly disappeared, leaving her empty, and consumed with nothing.

Turning around, Twilight laid eyes on the thing responsible for her brother. She wasn’t quite empty yet . . . in her mind was a single goal: that large, armored griffon. Her horn began to glow. YOU. ARE. MINE.

But before she could do anything, the griffon jerked and fell to the bloody ground, a dagger sticking out of his neck. Confused, she looked up, and saw something she thought she’d never see again.

Gilda . . . Gilda the griffon, standing over the one who killed her brother. Questions filled her mind as she watched the griffon she knew only as Rainbow Dash’s friend reach down and pick up the large hammer.

Twilight now felt her friends around her, and she finally looked at herself for the first time all the battle. The runes on her armor still glowed blue, but now she was engulfed in black and green flames, and her horn glowed with black magic, fueled by her empty rage. The very ground she stood on seemed to burn.

She watched as a change overtook the griffon in front of the six of them. A dark blue mist spawned from nowhere, and swirled around Gilda, enveloping her. As the mist slowly dissipated, Gilda was visible once more, but now she bore something else familiar.

The Armor of Nightmare.

Gilda spoke, examining herself, “So . . . this is the power of Nightmare . . . I like it.”

Sometime later, ponies would realize that Gilda was the only being ever to withstand the influence of Nightmare, possibly because they were so similar in nature and goals.

Gilda spread her wings, ignoring the six ponies in front of her, and flew into the middle of the pony army, flapping high above the heads of the confused ponies.

“Let’s try it out!” She dived down, and struck the ground with the King’s Hammer.

The earth shook, and ten thousand lightning bolts rained down onto the ponies gathered below, scorching thousands in their armor. The thick smell of burnt fur and flesh radiated out from the crater Gilda stood in, surrounded by bodies.

Twilight and her friends ran up to Gilda, Twilight leaving burning hoofprints. Rainbow Dash had tears in her eyes, and was shouting, “GILDA!! WHY!? WHY are you doing this?! We were friends, Gilda!”

“I tried, Dash,” Gilda said coldly, swinging her hammer in a talon, “But you didn’t listen. You chose ponies over me . . . and now, you pay!” Gilda raised the hammer, and a bolt of lightning struck Dash, before arcing into the ground. She collapsed with a cry of pain.

The other five ponies surrounded Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy bending down to help. Twilight spoke, her mane slowly turning to fire as her confusion was replaced with rage, “We defeated Nightmare before.” Her eyes glowed with black magic. “We can defeat you now!”

“Without the elements of Harmony?” Gilda laughed, a disturbing sound. “I doubt it.”

Dash struggled to her hooves, tears streaming down her face, which immediately hardened into anger. “Together!” she proclaimed, snapping her wings open.

Without another word, the six mares used their strongest attacks on the griffon before them: a petrifying stare from Fluttershy, a pillar of fire wrapped dark magic from Twilight, thousands of deadly needles from Rarity, a pitch-perfect note of pure pain from Pinkie, a bolt of lightning from Rainbow Dash, and a deadly strike from Applejack’s hydra.

All the attacks froze before they even got close, the armor of Nightmare working against all the potent magic flung at it. Gilda stared in awe at the power of her armor, then grinned at the six mares.

“My turn.”

She leaped forward, her hammer swinging with the force of a mountain.

In an instant, Twilight had an idea. Even better, the loss of her brother would fuel it perfectly. “GET BACK!” she yelled to her friends. They scattered, not questioning her.

Twilight let the anger, rage, and hate flood her with their enormous power, so much that tears fell from her eyes. Shining . . . Big Brother . . . the sense of loss was overpowering, even stronger than the rage . . . no, it was fuelling the rage.

YOU. WILL. BE. AVENGED!

Her mane fully caught fire, her eyes shone with black magic, and her armor wrapped her in green and black flames. Her wings spread as she gathered her strength.

Ponies were told from filly and colt hood that death was an alicorn, whose dark magic bore ponies to the afterlife. In a sense, it was an Angel of Death. It was a guide, as well as a terrifying protector. In that moment, Twilight’s friends gasped as they saw her become wrapped in fire and magic, and turn into exactly that.

With a scream of pure rage and loss, her eyes flashed with black magic, and an enormous plume of fire erupted from her horn, so large it rivaled even Titanus’s fire.

It struck Gilda with the force of an explosion. The Nightmare armor protected her, but the shear, raw force stopped her in her tracks, dropping her to the ground.

Twilight didn’t let up, letting her rage and hate flood her, tears streaming down her face as the emotions filled her entire being. The Titanus-sized plume of fire pinned Gilda to the ground, completely encasing her in an inferno. Gilda wasn’t touched by the fire, though, and thought herself safe.

Until she started struggling to breathe. That’s when it hit her: Twilight wasn’t trying to burn her . . .

. . . she was trying to suffocate her!

Struggling from the lack of air, Gilda raised the hammer, and smashed it into the ground. Lightning rained from the sky, and a shockwave blasted from the griffon. Twilight was knocked over, and the plume of fire quickly died.

Both quickly rose to their feet. Twilight’s friends kept up their attacks, but they all failed under the Armor of Nightmare. Again, Gilda charged Twilight with the hammer swinging over her head. Again, Twilight screamed her hate and rage, and again, a roaring inferno erupted from her horn. But this one wasn’t dragon-sized, it was narrow and thin, and aimed exclusively at the enormous hammer.

Gilda was forced to a stop. They stayed frozen, locked in combat, Gilda forcing the hammer towards Twilight, while Twilight forced her seemingly-limitless anger, hate, and rage into the King’s Hammer. Gilda’s armor only protected its user, not their weapons.
Around them, the other mares continued their attacks, magic and metal flickering furiously between them and the griffon to no effect. Soon, the hammer was glowing red-hot, and the handle was smoking within Gilda’s grasp.

After at least a full minute, something finally gave. The hammer jerked, and Twilight went flying, her fire spewing everywhere as she flew. It died when she hit the ground. She struggled to her feet, turning to face Gilda.

The hammer had gotten so hot, she’d dropped it, wincing at her burnt talon. The armor glowed, wrapping her talons in a thick metal gauntlets. She gingerly laid a talon on the hammer’s handle, grabbed it, hefted it, and charged Twilight again, the huge chunk of metal glowing with heat.

Again, tears fell as Twilight screamed her rage, and a dragon-sized plume of fire pinned the griffon to the ground a second time. Again, Gilda struck the ground with the hammer, but no lightning came. Black Magic was sparking off the still-glowing hammer. Don’t tell me this thing’s broken!

Suddenly, part of her armor vanished in a puff of blue mist. It surrounded the hammer, whirling around it like a miniature tornado, cooling it, before resolidifying back where it came from. The hammer wasn’t glowing with heat anymore. Seeing spots from the lack of air, she hit the ground again, and this time, lightning blasted Twilight off her feet, ending the fire.

Twilight’s friends surrounded her, helping her to her feet as Gilda panted hard for air. “This’s bad, gals!” AJ said, a scared look in her eyes. “None’ve us can even touch her!”

“Twilight seems to be doing the best,” Pinkie said. “Maybe if we--”

“I’m letting the loss of Shining Armor fuel me,” Twilight said coldly, still glowing with black magic and fire. “If we all let our pain and suffering from this war fuel us, and if we work together . . . we might stand a chance.’

Her friends winced, painful memories hitting them. They didn’t want to think about their pain. But against an enemy like this . . .

“We’re with you, Twilight!” Rainbow Dash said. The rest nodded, and stood by their friend.

Applejack thought of the loss of Braeburn. Runic light coursed along her hydra, splitting and lengthening it until it was taller than the trees and had 64 heads.

Pinkie thought of the loss of Blueblood, and the cold feeling she got when she realized she was in charge. Her bugle glowed blue, the feeling of despair resonating off of it.

Fluttershy thought of how Vinyl Scratch saved her, and of how the griffons just . . . murdered . . . all the injured at the medic tent. Her armor glowed, and blue light leaked from between her closed eyelids.

Rarity didn’t think of her rape, because the horror of it still thundered through her bones. Her disk flashed with blue light, and was suddenly five times its size, looking like a large shield. With another flash, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of needles floated around her in a dense cloud.

Rainbow Dash did think of Rarity’s rape, and the feeling of vengeance filled her. Her wingblades crackled with small tongues of lightning, tinged red by her emotions.

Twilight was still full of rage, anger, hate, and loss. She still appeared on fire, still looked like Death incarnate to her friends.
Across from them, Gilda got back on her feet, no longer out of breath. She hefted the hammer, ready to charge.

“TOGETHER!”

Applejack’s Hydra struck, all 64 heads whipping forwards.

Pinkie blew her horn, a concentrated funnel of emotion blasting towards Gilda.

Fluttershy opened her eyes, locking her gaze on Gilda.

Rarity sent the cloud of needles flying, a harsh metallic ringing sound following it.

Rainbow Dash sent a blast of lightning.

And Twilight yelled her rage, spewing a Titanus-sized plume of fire.

All of these attacks combined halfway to their target, leaving a wall of fire, metal, despairing noise, and lightning. All of it smote Gilda with power only the Gods knew of.

Her armor protected her. But the raw force blew her backwards, stunning her. Finally, she was down.

But with a jolt from the armor, she was back on her feet. Spreading her wings, she took to the air, and charged the six mares as they recovered.

Twilight tried to protect her friends as they recovered, sending another plume of fire skyward, but Gilda plowed through it, protected by the Nightmare armor. Twilight was smote in the side of the head by the hammer, knocking her to the ground.

Gilda turned, and her weapon fell upon the armored forms of Pinkie and Applejack. Raising it towards the sky, she called lightning, striking through Fluttershy and Rarity, and struck Rainbow Dash to the ground with her armored talons.

The six mares struggled beneath her and her weapon. “Hmph . . . Is this all you got? It’s more than many, but still . . . oh well, I better end this.” Gilda raised her hammer, and prepared to crush the life out of Twilight--

“Orichalum is a funny thing, you know.”

Gilda was interrupted by a voice familiar to the six mares: it came from an approaching Kajiya.

“It responds to pure emotions: show it magic, loyalty, kindness, honesty, laughter, and generosity, and it will respond in kind. In fact, some ponies say the elements of harmony were made from it long ago.”

Gilda turned to look at the small stallion with battered and bloody armor. Confusion painted her face. “Who’re you?”

“I am no one of importance. But I believe the pony below you is.”

At the words of Kajiya, Twilight thought furiously. Then, realization struck her like a ton of bricks: he was saying to use the armor like they would the elements! Twilight teleported herself and her friends out from under the griffon, and they gathered together.

“Girls! Element positions!” Twilight said as Gilda recovered from the shock of her missing prey.

Taking a deep breath, Twilight tried to let go of her anger and rage. But she’d let so much of it in, it filled her from hoof to horn. It looked like she was made of nothing else.

But the sense of loss . . . that wouldn’t go away. Loss had rooted itself in her soul, aching her at the loss of her brother. Shining . . . Big Brother . . .

Let it go, Twily.

She looked around in alarm, thinking No, it can’t be--

It’s okay to avenge me. But anger and rage isn’t the way to go.

The voice faded, and Twilight understood. Big Brother . . . I hear you.

With her understanding, the rage and anger left her. Her mane faded back to normal, and she was no longer wrapped in the black and green flames of black magic. Tears began anew, but with her mind finally clear, she thought of her element. She thought only of magic, and everything she had ever learned about friendship and magic. The runes on her armor shifted: no longer did they read hatred and rage, but instead they read:

Magic

Seeing this, the other five mares did the same, their runes also changing. Rainbow Dash had trouble, her consciousness was attempting to slip: she was still light-headed from when Gilda hit her. But her friends gave her the strength to overcome, and she changed her emotions back to her element.

As the last runes changed, Twilight and the others lifted into the air, the magic of friendship and the elements of harmony engulfing them, and then the griffon in front of them. Gilda screamed, a blood-curdling sound, as her form twisted and bent within the light of the magic. Magical light flashed like a hundred suns, and as the light faded, there was no sign of Gilda, just a pile of ash and the King’s Hammer.

Kajiya spoke, “It would seem that that good part of her was too small to save.”

At the sight, thousands of griffons realized two things:

1) they now had no Emperor or leader.

2) the ponies now had the King’s Hammer.

All at once, twenty thousand griffons turned and fled. After seeing this, the remaining forces joined those. The whole griffon army headed towards Baltimare, where ships were still waiting to return them to the Empire.

The ponies cheered. It was over, they had won.

But six mares, one in particular, wept the day and night away, thinking of nothing but their losses.

As night fell and the rest of the ponies went into Canterlot, a single griffon stood on the bloody, corpse-ridden field, a small griffon with gold feathers. A grim look was on his face. When no one was looking, he bent over and picked up a single item, an enormous hammer, and flew off into the night to join his comrades.

Author's Note

That's it everypony. I just wanted to thank everyone for reading. If someone had told me 6 months ago I would write over 30,000 words worth of stories I would have laughed in their face. I now want to say a special thanks to my editor and 20percentcrueler for all their help with this story. Tomorrow I should be uploading a short epilogue but other than that, "So long and thanks for all the fish!"