The midnight hour quickly approached as the Griffin standing watch monitoring for activity from the Crystal Guard yawned impatiently. She was impatient for her shift to end, hating that she got stuck on this duty when she could be in her rack asleep. A Griffin did not last long when she disobeys orders though, so she sat waiting for the shift to change in a couple hours.

Damn that ignorant captain and his foolish favoritism! This was her second night in a row on watch, and yet the captain’s own sons and daughters, who happen to be perfectly capable Griffins serving in the same company, had yet to serve a single hour of duty in a watch post. Maybe if she hadn’t slapped that one featherbrained fool of a son of his across the beak, she would be warm in her sleeping bag right now.

Looking over towards the post a few hundred yards away to her left, she swore she saw movement. Watching closely, her eyes could just make out the outline of what looked to be a crystal pony in a white ghillie suit. The camouflage was excellent, the Griffin noted, but not good enough to hide from her sharp eyes. Ponies often failed to remember just how sharp a Griffin’s vision normally is.

“Damn fool in the next watch post is probably asleep,” she decided. “I better call him to wake his sorry ass—”

Two ponies camouflaged in white jumped into the foxhole which served as a watch post, quickly checking for anything that they might find useful. There was not much that they could put to use. The arrows in the dead Griffin’s quiver joined the ones that the two ponies had with them, as did a couple of full canteens of water. The bow that the Griffin had would have been useless to the majority of the ponies, for Crystal Ponies lacked horns to use telekinesis, and a Griffin’s bow was made to be held in their talons, and not held mechanically by a harness built into their boots on their forehooves. The Unicorn though could have used it, but he found that he preferred his own bow.

The Unicorn removed his ghillie suit, for it would not be needed for the next phase. Pulling back his hood and removing his goggles, he revealed himself to be none other than Prince Consort Shining Armor, former Captain of Equestria’s Royal Guard, and now, Captain of the Crystal Guard. “Damn fine shot, Sergeant,” he told the Crystal Guard who stood next to him. “I don’t know of anypony else who could take a snap shot like that at eighty yards and score a headshot.”

The Sergeant replied as he removed his own ghillie suit, “She made it too easy, Sir, gawking over to the side like that. Maybe she saw one of the other groups moving into position. At least she won’t be able to report our movements.”

The soft shuffle of hooves behind them told Shining Armor that their radio pony had followed them in. “Got a report for me, Corporal?” he asked.

“Yes Sir. All teams report all watch posts have been silenced successfully, and all units are prepared to advance into position.” he reported.

“Excellent. Have them move into position and report in once they are ready,” he ordered.

Though it was highly unorthodox for a noble to be leading from the front lines as he chose to do, Shining Armor was not your average, everyday noble. Born from a minor noble house, he had his share of dealings with other nobles, including those born to a higher station. He had also spent much of his time among those who were referred to as commoners by the nobles. He found that he much preferred to hang out with the commoners than to be sniffing the flanks of those who spent their time with their own noses stuck far up their own flanks. There were a few nobles who were like him in that manner. Much to the displeasure of most of the rest of the nobles, that included all four of the Alicorn princesses. And one of those four happened to be his wife, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.

When the Crystal Empire had returned, it was Shining Armor and Princess Cadence that Princesses Celestia and Luna initially sent to the aid of the newly re-appeared empire. Over a millennia ago, it had been Cadance’s family who had ruled over the Empire, and they had been just and fair rulers, very much loved by their subjects. When the despot King Sombra appeared and took over, the Crystal Queen had been forced to flee with her daughter, and they simply disappeared from history for over a thousand years. Soon after that, Sombra had been defeated by Celestia and Luna, but at the cost of the Crystal Empire being transported outside of this plane of existence.

With the Empire’s return, it was his wife, along with his little brother, Spike, and his sister and her friends who had finally managed to defeat Sombra for good. Now it was the responsibility if him and his wife to rule over the empire, and they did so just as fairly and with the same love that Cadance’s family had done millennia ago.

And now, the Griffin Empire threatened all that. And that was something that Prince Consort Shining Armor, Commanding Officer for all of the Crystal Empire’s military forces, would not allow.

“Captain, all units report in ready to proceed. Waiting on your orders, Sir,” the Corporal told him.

The Captain simply grabbed the headset in his magic, and had the Corporal set the radio to all units. “All units, this is the Captain. Commence the attack.” With that said, he set the headset down, pulled his spear from his gear, and with a mighty bellow, led his Crystal Guards in attacking the Griffin base that had been a Crystal Guard base a couple days ago. The Griffins were about to learn the folly of attacking the Crystal Empire.

Throughout the southern Crystal Empire, the besieged nation began their fight back. The three captured bases surrounding the Crystal City quickly fell to the Crystal Empire’s attack, with the assistance of of hundreds of Crystal Ponies who had been fighting the Griffins guerilla style since the invasion began. Supply trains from Griffica were wiped out and looted. Camps and full bases razed to the frozen ground, and Griffin blood flowed in great quantities. Whenever a Crystal Guard base was recaptured by the ponies, their numbers grew as the ponies held captive quickly joined in to fight, given fresh armor and gear that the Captain had brought to each battle.

And they advanced. Like fire ants, they marched southward, capturing Griffin held cities and bases before they enemy had any chance to respond. The Crystal Empire showed no mercy to the Griffins, for they would have never received such mercy themselves from the Griffin occupational forces.

Ponies died as well in the fighting, but for every pony that died, far more Griffins fell to the blitzkrieg like assault that swept south, and then moved into Griffica itself. Shining armor did not stop this advance until he had reached the Equestrian border, and then he turned his forces east.

Griffica chose to wage war against the Crystal Empire, and Shining Armor obliged them in spades.

Along the central and western sections of the border between Griffica and Equestria, six Equestrian Guard divisions made their attacks on six major Griffin bases within Griffica.

When the signal was given to attack, Changeling infiltrators attacked key Griffin military personnel within the bases and set off explosive charges to further damage the enemy’s ability to fight. At the same time, underneath each base, Diamond Dog sappers detonated charges, collapsing whole barracks and supply buildings into the ground. Above ground, Diamond Dogs armed with crossbows newly built for this purpose took out the Griffin guards posted around the base, as well as other Griffins of opportunity once the guards were killed.

Once the Changelings and Diamond Dogs begin their wreaking complete havoc within the Griffin bases, the 3rd, 7th, 17th, 18th, 20th, and the 21st Equestrian Guard Divisions commenced their attacks on their respective Griffin Bases. Between the chaos and destruction the Changelings and Diamond Dogs had caused, and the swift assault of the Equestrian Guard divisions, the six bases fell to the might of the combined Equestrian forces.

The addition of Diamond Dogs and Changelings to these attacks proved to be decisive for the Equestrian forces. The Diamond Dogs brought down much of the Griffin forces with their sapper charges, and their crossbows made short work of numerous foes from a distance that made firing back nearly impossible. The Equestrian Guard ponies were actually shocked at the ferocity of the Diamond Dogs and Changelings both in these battles. The Equestrian Guard fought hard, as did the Griffin soldiers, but no one, Equestrian or Griffin, had even seen such wanton bloodshed. This was less of a battle, and more of a slaughter.

Still, there was no such thing as a fair fight in warfare, for the side that attempted to be fair in a battle was universally the side that lost. A smart warrior knew that you needed to strike hard and fast, using enough force to overwhelm your opponents. This was exactly what the princesses had wanted.

With those six bases captured, the Equestrian Guard, along with their Diamond Dog and Changeling allies, quickly worked to convert the bases into bases-of-operation for a continued assault deeper into Griffin territory. Equestria would bring in more and more forces, and they would destroy the ability of the Empire to ever make war with Equestria and her allies ever again.

The light of dawn shone over the formation which stood at attention on the parade grounds in Fort Rockwall as they waited for their orders. This formation, a combined reinforced brigade, had one purpose this morning. They were to go in and rescue some very important ponies who were trapped behind enemy lines. They were among the very best troops Equestria could call upon, and they would be certain to get the mission completed swiftly and decisively. Especially with whom it was that would be leading them this morning.

The two regiments that comprised this brigade, the 2nd Royal Guard Regiment, and the 223rd Equestrian Guard Regiment, stood in tight columns and rows next to one another waiting, with their respective commanding officers standing at the forefront.

They did not have to wait long as a lone Night Guard Captain walked up to stand before the two regiments. Coming to attention, the Thestral stallion barked out a single command. “REPORT!”

The two Colonels saluted and reported their forces were all present and ready for orders. The Captain returned their salutes before turning to walk up onto a stage to stand behind a podium. While it was normally highly unorthodox for a pair of Colonels to be saluting a pony of lower rank, in this instance the reason why they did so walked up on the stage. Captain Bloodfang was in charge of Princess Luna’s Night Guard, and as such, was considered to be the direct representative of the Princess of the Night herself. In occasions such as this one, he was considered to be above the Colonels who had just reported to him.

Princess Luna strode up to him wearing her full battle armor. It was quite fitting that she would be wearing this armor, because it was this brigade that she would be leading into battle. When the Thestral Captain delivered his report, Luna returned his salute and then stepped up to the podium as he stepped back and to the side to assume his position as her subordinate

“Warriors of Equestria, I inform you that the rumors that you most certainly have heard, that Equestria has gone to war, are true,” she addressed them through the mic built into the podium, which amplified her voice so that all may hear her. “A couple days ago, while on route to the Griffin capital on a diplomatic mission, the train that Princess Twilight Sparkle was on was attacked, and the princess was captured. At the same time, the Griffin Empire closed their borders with Equestria, and commenced to attack our ally, the Crystal Empire.

“Let it be known that Equestria will not stand by and let them take such actions with impunity. The reason for them taking Princess Twilight as a hostage was so that they may use her as a pawn, to manipulate my sister and I into inaction. While doing so, they brutally murdered all other survivors on that train.

“My warriors, I assure you that the Griffin Emperor has gravely miscalculated.

“My sister and I sent in a rescue platoon to bring Princess Twilight Sparkle, as well as her little brother, the brave young drake, Spike, home to us. Unfortunately, they were discovered, and now are fighting to make it home. It will be our job to get them home!” she declared into the mic, drawing an enthusiastic cheer from the Brigade.

The princess stepped away from the podium to stand before it. She continued her speech, but now without using the microphone. Instead, she used the Royal Canterlot voice to address her warriors. “As of midnight, this morning, six Equestrian Guard divisions, along with new allies, attacked six key enemy bases inside Griffica. These six Guard divisions were our opening attacks in this war that the Griffin Emperor has so foolishly called for. It is with great pleasure that I tell you that each and every attack was a complete success. Also, we are now moving more divisions into Griffica to further the removal of Griffica’s ability to make aggression against us.

“At the same time as those attacks occurred, our allies in the Crystal Empire commenced their own assault on the Griffin occupational forces there. Prince Consort Shining Armor himself is leading his Crystal Guard personally, and he is making certain to show Emperor Ironbeak that Griffica shall rue the day they made the mistake of attacking us and our allies.

“Our job, my warrior ponies, will be to fly into Griffica to rescue the trapped platoon and Princess Twilight from the talons of evil! Those ponies have undertaken a task against great odds, and now, they need our help. They face a force much greater than them, searching the Griffin countryside for them, and some have been wounded, and even killed, fighting to keep the princess safe. We will NOT leave them to the clutches of those forces that would cause them harm. We will NOT allow them to have those brave mares and stallions who are fighting to bring two of our own home to us. We WILL rescue them!” she exclaimed as she lit her horn. The energy quickly built, and electric blue flames encircled Princess Luna as she stood there. In an instant, with a burst of light, Princess Luna has changed. Gone was her coat of navy blue. She stood tall and proud as a true warrior. Many would have hid in terror, for she now wore her true, full power form. The same form that everypony knew as Nightmare Moon. But this was different. She was not here to bring eternal night to Equestria, but instead was to lead her fellow warriors into battle, and she was no longer holding back. The familiar, slightly shorter form she had been wearing for these past years was just a remnant of her weakened state, caused when she had been purged by the Elements of Harmony.

“MY WARRIORS!” she called out in the Royal Canterlot Voice. “TODAY, WE SHALL GO INTO BATTLE, AND WE SHALL NOT BE DEFEATED. TODAY, MY WARRIORS, WE SHALL TEACH THE GRIFFINS WHAT IT MEANS TO TAKE ON EQUESTRIA! TODAY, WE SHALL BRING UPON GRIFFICA A NIGHTMARE LIKE NONE THAT THEY HAVE EVER SEEN BEFORE!” she declared, as the brigade cheered loudly. “THERE IS BUT ONE OUTCOME FOR US ON THIS DAY, AND THAT OUTCOME IS VICTORY! TO YOUR CHARIOTS, MY MIGHTY WARRIORS OF EQUESTRIA. OUR ENEMY AWAITS US, AND WE ARE THIRSTY FOR THEIR BLOOD!” she ordered, sending them to their rides. She joined them at the head of the formation with her entire Night Guard at her side. With her command, they took off, and flew towards the border.

The whole brigade took only a few minutes to reach the border. Just past the border, they ran into their first opposition. Two Griffin platoons were positioned watch for any more invading Equestrian forces. The brigade barely slowed as they ground the Griffins to pieces as they went buy. The only surviving Griffins were the few who, shocked at the size of the Equestrian forces, did not take flight to attempt to oppose them. One messenger Griffin was able to get off a message to the Griffin base north of the attack site, but the message would be too late. The Griffins just did not have the resources gathered to stop Luna and her warrior ponies as they carried out their mission.

Fifteen miles inside Griffica, the brigade split apart. The 223rd Equestrian Guard Regiment split, with 1st Battalion heading due north directly to the site where the train was attacked. They would secure the site, killing any and all Griffins in the area so they could set up a base of operations for the Brigade. 2nd Battalion would travel north by northwest, where they would eventually turn southwest and approach the haggard Equestrian platoon to catch any attacking forces from the flank, as Luna lead the 2nd Royal Guard Regiment in from the southeast. Unless the Griffins had a full division or better on the ground at the target location, their enemy stood no chance against the brigade size force.

The Sergeant in charge of the Griffin patrol discovered the Equestrian platoon camped in a hidden valley just inside their patrol area a little before dawn. Watching from a well concealed position, he determined that the enemy was for the most part asleep, but was still too large a force for his squad size patrol to attack.

Gathering his fellow Griffins, they made their way swiftly back to their own platoon just a couple miles behind them. While a lone squad would have been killed off quickly, a Griffin platoon would make short work of the camp, especially if they were attacked before they woke.

Flash Sentry dreamed. He dreamed of being back home in Canterlot. He dreamed of a milkshake. Slowly, the delicious milkshake faded as his mind woke his body. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was not at home, but in the chilly forest valley they had camped in last night. “Vanilla milkshake…” he groggily asked himself. “Does that mean anything?” Looking around, he sees that Princess Twilight was sleeping, though her movements and murmurs in her sleep told him that her dream was not a pleasant one. Spike slept much more soundly next to his big sister, curled up around her head in a protective manner.

It appeared that the last watch was waking those who had not woken up on their own. A few feet away, Dancing Dead was curled up next to his newly wedded wife as one of the watch ponies shook him awake. A little further away, the Major was being woken up by the First Sergeant. The camp would soon be moving, and they would soon be picked up by Princess Luna for their ride home.

Getting up to take care of morning business, he was startled full awake by the sudden berserker Griffin battle cries that were immediately followed by the screams of ponies dying. Instantly, the platoon was awake and grabbing weapons, but for many, it was too late. They had been spotted by a Griffin platoon, and they had attacked while the watch was waking everypony up. There had been no time for any warning, and now they were paying for that with their lives.

Dusty immediately ordered everypony to fall back into a defensive position, but the Griffin attack was so relentless, they were nearly overrun. The best that they could manage was a fighting retreat, but that was proving to be a losing battle.

Sunny Hearts and Healing Touch immediately went to either end of the stretcher. Not trained to fight, they did the best thing they could do by grabbing the princess’ litter and heading towards the mouth of the valley that the First Sergeant had pointed them towards. Flash and Dead were both tasked to guard the Princess’ retreat as the platoon covered them fighting off the Griffin Platoon.

They had just made the mouth of the valley, and were about halfway through a small clearing when Flash stumbled. The sound of a snapping bone combined with the sudden intense pain that shot up his hind leg told him what had happened, and he now knew that he would not be enjoying that vanilla milkshake when he got home.

“Get the fuck up and move it, Flash!” yelled Dead as he tried to help the injured Pegasus up. “We’ve got to get the princess out of here, dammit!”

Flash made another attempt at getting up to run, but the leg would not support him. He collapsed as the pain ripped his breath from his throat. When he looks down to his leg, instead of a nice, healthy looking hind leg, he saw the jagged edge of white bone smeared with blood. More blood poured from the wound as he watched. His stomach twisted in his gut at the sight of it.

“What the friggin’ hell? What's wrong?” demanded the Major as he ran up with what remained of the platoon. The Griffins had decimated them as they attempted a fighting retreat. “First Sergeant, help Corporal Sentry! His leg’s broke!” He had no intentions of losing any more of his ponies to the Griffins. They had managed to temporarily beat the Griffins back, knocking them down to just two squads, but doing so had cost them dearly, and the Griffins were only reforming for another attack.

Flash could see that their numbers were just too few, and the Griffins too many. Most of the ponies in the platoon that still lived were wounded in some way or another, and were in decidedly poor shape to fight. They needed to get the hell away now, but he could see the Griffins now coming through the trees to resume their attack. The only chance they had of the princess surviving this was to stop these Griffins so that the surviving guards could get away.

His decision made, Flash grabbed ahold of Shaped Charge as the demolitions stallion was running past. “Quickly, I need your claymares. Rig them to all go on one detonator, and strap them top my wings so I can throw them,” the Pegasus instructed the Unicorn. When he was given an incredulous look from the half panicked Unicorn, Flash hurriedly told him, “The damn Griffins will swamp you guys. Give me the mines and I’ll stop them.”

“What the fuck, dude? Shut that shit and let’s go, Flash!” Dead yelled, only to be pushed back by the First Sergeant, who instructed him to get the princess to safety. “Fuck that! We ain’t leaving him!”

“Get your sorry hide MOVING, Corporal! That is an ORDER! We only get to die once, son. Let’s make sure that his is a good death,” Silver told him, forcing him to continue on towards safety.

“Corporal, you don’t have to—“ Dusty tried to tell Flash as the demolitions pony strapped as many of the claymare mines to Flash as he could. Flash just held up a hoof as he said to his commanding officer, “Get Twilight home safe, Sir. Just get her and Spike home.”

Dusty and Flash share a final look, a measure of shared respect that few have ever experienced. Dusty silently nodded his head, and followed his troops as they fled the quickly approaching Griffin attackers. It ripped him apart inside leaving one lone pony behind to stop their enemy from reaching them, but above all else, the princess was his one and only priority now. If need be, he would sacrifice his whole unit, as long as that meant that Princess Twilight and her little brother would make it home safe.

The Griffins wanted blood. Pony blood. They wanted it as payback for Major Bloodclaw and his special forces unit that the Equestrians had slaughtered. They wanted it for the platoon of Griffins killed yesterday morning by the same enemy unit. Lastly, they wanted their blood for their brothers and sisters killed just moments earlier. They had never before seen ponies fight so fiercely, and they had lost nearly half their numbers trying to destroy the Royal Guard platoon that had invaded their land.

Once they cleared the trees and entered the small clearing, they caught sight of the fleeing remains of the enemy formation ahead of them on the other side of the clearing. As one, they all took flight to quickly close the gap. They got nearly halfway through the clearing when a lone Pegasus stood up in front of them. The Pegasus, orange with a brilliant blue mane, reared up on his one good hind leg, and snapped his wings outward. They immediately recognized the objects that flew off his wings into the air around them, as well as what he had attached to his left hoof, but it was simply too late for them to do anything about it.

With a final defiant battle cry of, “FOR EQUESTRIA!,” Corporal Flash Sentry of the Royal Guard slammed his hood down on the detonator.

Within the detonator was a small crystal that was crushed by the button being slammed down upon it. This crystal was paired up with the detonator crystals inside the claymare mines that were in the air all around the Corporal and the attacking Griffins. Those crystals detonated, setting off explosive charges. Surrounding the ten explosive charges were thousands of small steel balls. When the mines exploded, those thousands of steel balls tore through everything nearby, turning living, breathing Griffins into pulpy, red masses.

Two of the Griffins managed to escape the storm of steel that scythed through their comrades like a farmer’s blade through rows of wheat. They were wounded, but would survive to report in the contact. Soon, a whole Griffin battalion would be hunting the damn ponies to the ground, and they would know the price to be paid for invading Griffica. The two survivors flew off to deliver their report.

It took nearly an hour, but Dusty and the remaining Royal Guards made it to the river valley where they were to be retrieved from. The opposite side of the river from them had tall wooded hills right up to the river bank, but on this side, they had a clearing that was a good thousand yards long, and about two hundred yards wide. A small copse of trees stood along the river bank, and this is where they finally stopped to wait. Their rescuers should be here at any moment, and it looked that they would finally make it home.

Still, their situation looked bleak. Over half of them were wounded to some degree, a few seriously. Forty-one ponies had come into Griffica to rescue Princess Twilight and Spike. Now, their numbers totals sixteen in all, and that was including the princess and her little brother. Of the five Wonderbolts that came in, three had been lost during the fighting retreat. Only Spitfire and Soarin remained. So many others as well had been lost, their bodies back where they had camped the last night. His two medics had managed to survive, and were now tending to the wounded, treating them with what little supplies they had. Two of the wounded were in bad enough shape that they could no longer fight. They were now down to ten warriors to hold off an unknown number of enemy until their help finally got there.

Their ability to fight had been reduced to the point where any enemy unit larger than a squad would wipe them out to the last. They were now dangerously low on arrows, and only had a few of the explosive tipped ones. They were also without any more claymare mines. Corporal Sentry had used the last of them when he gave them their chance to escape. Once the ran out of their projectile weapons, they would be reduced to hoofblades and spears.

This could end up being their last stand. If it were to be so, it would be their graves.

“Sir, we got trouble,” First Sergeant Silverwing informed him, intruding on his darkening thoughts. “They just crested the hill, Sir. Squad size formation of Griffins,” Silver told him, point to the hill a couple hundred yards away.

“Get everypony undercover within the trees. Our first volley will be the last of our grenade arrows. After that, we’ll cut them down with broadheads,” Dusty instructed. “Nopony is to fire until I give the signal. We need to make every arrow count.”

When Silver went to carry out his orders, Dusty hurried to find Soarin. Of the few remaining Pegasi he had, Soarin was his strongest flyer. It looked distinctly like things were about to go teats up and if push came to shove, the princess’ only chance would be for somepony to get her away, flying towards where they expect Princess Luna to be coming from. He quickly found the Wonderbolt Lieutenant, and gave him his instructions. “Soarin, everything’s about to go south on us. I need you to get the princess on your back, and if it looks like we’re going to be overrun, I need you to fly her south towards Princess Luna. No matter what, she needs to make it home alive. I’m going to detail Spitfire to go with you to watch your six. It will be up to you two to keep her alive. Take this,” he instructed, giving Soarin the locator beacon. With the beacon going with the Twilight, Princess Luna would be certain to find them.

Soarin nodded his understanding, knowing that if he were to do this, he would be leaving one of his closest friends to die. Yet he knew the importance Princess Twilight’s survival was to Equestria. It would cripple the morale of the nation if she were to be killed. More so, her loss would be a crippling blow to the leaders of not just Equestria, but to their closest ally, the Crystal Empire. Looking into the eyes of his brother-in-arms, Soarin locked hooves with him as they shared this moment between two warriors. “Good hunting, my friend,” was all he said, before he headed to grab Spitfire so they may carry out their tasks.

Dusty made his way back to the First Sergeant. Silverwing had completed his tasks and was now watching the Griffin Squad from his hidden spot in the trees. “What do you see, Sarge?” he asked.

“It ain’t good, Sir. The Griffins stopped at the base of the hill, a moment ago, and sent one flying back over the hill. Seems that they know we’re in the valley, and just sent for reinforcements.” Silver shook his head, knowing what the likely outcome would be for them this morning. Of that, he could accept. The failure of their mission was something he would even accept with bitter resentment, but he had been in this business long enough that not all missions would be successful. The fact that he would most likely not see Tavi again hurt, but the two of them understood that it was part of the life of being a warrior, that he might die in the field away from the mare he still cared for. She would understand.

The one thing that hurt the most, that he deeply regretted, was that his daughter would likely die beside him. Deep down, he had feared that something like this could happen, and he had not wanted his daughter to be trapped here with him. He would have given anything for his little filly to be able to have a family of her own someday, and maybe give her mother the grandfoals she deserved.

“I’ve tasked Soarin to carry the princess out, if it looks like we won’t make it, Sarge. And I have Spitfire going with them, to provide cover for them. All we got to do is keep the Griffins off of them so they can reach Princess Luna,” Dusty told the stallion next to him. That was Dusty’s final gift to the Sergeant who has been the most loyal and trustworthy second-in-command that any commanding officer could ask for. Silver was a damn good Royal Guard, and one of the finest stallions he has had the honor to serve with.

Hearing those words, Silver felt a great weight lift from his heart. Knowing that his daughter would live, he no longer felt any regrets. His life had been good, even after losing his left wing in that training accident all those years ago. Even after the failure of his own marriage, he could tally up the score for his life, and honestly say that he was satisfied. Silently, he said a prayer of thanks to Faust for the one gift that, as a father, he could ask for.

“They’re moving. Slow flight towards us. We’ll wait until they get within thirty five yards, and then we’ll cut that squad to pieces,” Dusty told the First Sergeant. He watched as the Griffins advanced towards their position. In moments they were within a hundred yards, and then seventy-five. Then the Griffin formation landed about fifty yards out from them. The Griffins should have charged them by now. They had to know just where they were. What were they doing?

Dusty received his answer when the whole squad of Griffins threw what looked like hoof sized balls towards them. And then threw another volley of the same objects. Grenades. Talon thrown explosive balls They had a fuse inside them that was lit when the Griffin pulled the pin from it. They were not a weapon a pony used, due to an inability to throw one to any great effect. The Griffins did not often use them either, because they preferred to just close in and fight talon to hoof. This realization at what the Griffins were doing sent a chill down his spine, and he raised his bow, yelling a command to fire as the Griffins were throwing a third volley towards them.

A little in further, Soarin lay on his stomach prepared to rise and fly the princess that rested on his back out of the fight if it became necessary. Spitfire was close by, waiting to take off with him to watch his back as they made their escape. It did not sit well with either of the two Wonderbolts to be leaving the Royal Guard squad that remained, but they had their mission to complete, and that is what they would do.

When the grenades started landing around him, Soarin made a snap decision. As explosions all around them peppered them with flying chunks of dirt and shrapnel, Soarin lept to his hooves. “We gotta go NOW!” he to screamed to Spitfire over the sounds of the detonating balls landing all around the squad. He was about to take off when one landed right in front of him.

The blast knocked every bit of sense out of him as he turned to shield the precious cargo he carried from the deadly flying fragments. the force of the blast knocked him backwards as he was turning, and when he landed, he felt a sharp jolt of pain, similar to being punched, under his left side.

The grenade he landed on exploded directly under him. His battle gear saved him from an instant death, absorbing most of the blast and fragments which would have obliterated his ribs and the organs they protected. The blast propelled him upwards where he landed a couple yards away on his other side, bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth, as well as from the jagged stump that remained where his left wing used to be.

Twilight fared little better. Her left foreleg had been trapped underneath the Pegasus stallion, and when it had detonated, the explosion had effectively erased her lower foreleg from her body. She lay there in shock, not feeling any pain as her vision slowly started to fade. She heard Corporal Healing Touch rush up to her, but it sounded like everything was underwater, and just as slow. The last thing she remembered was dimly watching the medic grabbing ahold of the remains of her foreleg and start wrapping the bleeding stump, then she faded away.

Spike witnessed all of this in utter shock. He barely registered hearing Spitfire scream out the stallion’s name as the grenade had gone off underneath him and his sister, and could only watch in numb shock as the two medics rushed to the aid of the two critically injured ponies. There was nothing in his short life that could have prepared him for the horrors he was now forced to bare witness to.

He saw the grenade land, and saw it roll next to his sister’s head. He simply reacted. Jumping from his spot where he had been watching in stunned silence the carnage all around him, he leapt over Twilight and the Unicorn tending to her wounds. Picking up the grenade with his left arm, he runs a few steps and throws, just as Healing touch ducked down to shield his patient.

The grenade had just left Spike’s claw when it exploded just inches away from the limb. The grenade fragments and blast turned his lower arm into a cloud of blood and meaty fragments of bone and tissue. The blast and fragments spread out, and the left side of Spike’s face was shredded by the shrapnel, and the force of the blast slammed him bodily to the ground where he lay unmoving. But his actions saved Twilight and Corporal Touch from what would have been a fatal explosion next to them.

As the very last of the grenades were exploding around them, Dusty and his troops launched their remaining arrows. Their grenade tipped arrows had taken out about half of the Griffins, and now the enemy was charging to close the distance to force a talon to hoof fight. Only one Griffin survived the last of the arrows, and he let out a screech from Tartarus as he leapt in to tear the ponies to shreds with his talons. It was Private Tent that met him, matching the talons with his own hoof blades, screaming out an incoherent cry of rage.

The Griffin was a battle hardened veteran, very skilled in fighting, but the Mare of Luck favored Tent, and the Griffin went down as the young stallion thrust his hoof blades up under the Griffin’s chin.

The battle had only just begun, though. Over the rise across the valley, a large formation of Griffins appeared. This was it. It was no patrol, or even a platoon this time. It was a Griffin battalion coming down upon them. Nearly five hundred Griffins, all fresh and eager for their blood.

First Sergeant Silverwing simply extended his hoof blades, and pulled out his spear, which he set in his wing for him to carry. “Mares and gentlecolts, prepare to defend yourselves!”

Author's Note

R.I.P. Corporal Flash Sentry

July 9, 975 AB - October 28, 05 LR