Going down the mountain was much more ‘safer’ then going up it. There was no sign of any rebels to be found, this was either a good thing or a bad thing to the gang, but they took advantage of the situation while it lasted.

Piercing kept observing the mountain above them as they walked down it.

“This momentary peaceful environment is suspicious enough for an ambush.” He stated finally breaking the silence as they all walked.

When they reached the bottom they walked along the train tracks all the way back to Equestria. However the peacefulness was short lived as they were indeed ambushed by 3 rebels. With little time to react Piercing shot out three darts at them as they flew up. Piercing’s horn glowed and the darts split into 10 others for each one that was launched. Each Griffon suffered before their deaths as they were attacked from above by the shower of darts. Their backs full of darts and blood that trickled down to the ground where they flew above. They all fell to the surface dead before the impact.

The girls looked at Piercing who continued to walk ahead. He looked back, “Keep moving!” He ordered as they didn’t want to argue with him.

Twilight tried something, she put her horn to the ground and sent a magic pulse. This wasn’t just for the lights and scenery she was trying to find out if there were any more rebels around and there was more than they can count surrounding them. As Twilight looked up she was face to face with a rebel that came at them with blinding speeds. With an instinct kicking in she shot him with a magic bean launching him several meters away. He got up and lunged back at her blade drawn ready to kill, but Sunset was quicker than him stabbing a sword straight through his back, his blood gushing out all over the sword and Sunset’s hoof as she dug into him, killing him.

She removed the sword from the carcass and rushed to Twilight who was terrified. She embraced her.

“I didn’t even see him and was about to…” Sunset shushed her trying to calm her down.

“Shh… It’s okay you’re safe now...”

“I would be too sure about that…” Golden said with his bow drawn to 10 other rebels in front of them.

The girls were ready to fight back with everything they got. Applejack was about to buck kick one of them until she was stabbed in the hind leg, shrieking in pain and reacting just in time she swung her sword and sliced a Griffon’s throat killing him before he could cause any more damage. She examined her leg and yelled to Golden.

“Golden help!”

Golden rushed over to her shooting arrows at 2 more rebel Griffons. He levitated her on his back and he ran off yelling to the rest of the girls to follow him and fast.

Piercing was on his own at they made their escape. Twilight looked back and yelled at him to run but he refused.

“GO! RUN GET OUT OF HERE!” He yelled back fighting off 5 other rebels in front of him. 3 more came from behind, he was surrounded unable to run. Twilight continued to look back as she ran with the group. Piercing was fighting them off not for his life but for theirs.

Piercing punched a Griffon the ground and he stabbed him to the neck with the hidden dagger. The others pounced on him as they tried to get a good hit on him but failed. He teleported away from the scuffle and drew out 5 darts. However instead of hitting the Griffons they hit the ground around them forming a circle. They were confused by the action examining each dart that they were surrounded by. With the glow of his horn Piercing made each dart explode at once the resulting blast was seen by the group who stopped for a minute and watched the small mushroom cloud form from the blast.

More Griffons showed up but without Piercing’s knowledge, taking advantage one stabbed him on the hind leg another shot him with an arrow to his body break several ribs, and the last one punched him in the face cracking his jaw. He grunted in extreme pain from the sudden ambush. He grabbed one of his darts and hacked and slashed at them, he killed one this way and threw the dart at another one to his legs crippling him to walk but flying however not. The one who wasn’t harmed in any way lunged at him with speeds that not even Rainbow Dash can keep up with. With a bit of energy and strength Piercing had left he swung his sword upwards and split his face in two.
The remaining Griffon who was struggling to fly up was tackled to the ground by Piercing and during the heat of the moment Piercing removed the dart from his leg and stabbed at his side, repeating the gesture until he was tired.

Golden motioned them to follow but Twilight teleported in front of him stopping him in his tracks. “We have to go back and help him!” She barked at him but he wasn’t fazed by it.

“No you heard what we said we continue on, we serve to protect you Princess Twilight if you die then we not only failed our task but we fail Equestria entirely. Now I don’t want to hear it we will keep moving, he will be fine.” He put a hoof to her cheek. “Trust me…” She became water-eyed as she looked back at the disassembling mushroom cloud. Sunset patted her back as they continued walking. She embraced her.

“I don’t want to lose anyone none of my friends… Even if they were ordered to protect me with their life. I’d rather die than to lose any of my friends…”

Sunset didn’t know how to respond, Twilight being the Princess of Friendship she can understand that she didn’t want to lose any friend but the fact that she will want to sacrifice herself for her friends is something else.

She decided not to push her to explain, when Twilight is good and ready to tell her she will. Right now they just have to survive this together. Sunset gave Twilight a peck on the cheek and whisper in her ear.

“I won’t let any being harm you.” She looked to at Sunset who then tighten their embrace as they walked along trying to clear her mind of Piercing.

As for Piercing himself it was a skirmish of the ages. Before him was countless bodies of rebel Griffons, he was panted roughly from exhaustion and didn’t have any more feeling within him to fight off any more rebels but lucky for him they stopped coming in fact they ran off when that explosion happened. Piercing gave out a harsh laugh then muttered something out.

“Keep running…”

He passed out in the middle of the fallen Rebels he killed, smiling to himself knowing that he completed his mission.

The group made it to a small train station that they were supposed to stop at, it was small, very small to be a train station at all. They stepped on the platform where Golden took Applejack off his back so he can rest off from the weight put upon him. Golden saw a pony behind a small ticket booth he didn’t seem to notice them until he tapped on the glass to get his attention.

“Hello… My name is Golden Arrow, Major of the Royal Guard and I request to know when the next train will come?”

The pony looked to a train schedule and looked back at him a few seconds later.

“Well sir the next train will arrive in 20 minutes.”

Golden looked back at the gang who was tired and panting from running. He had to keep in mind that they didn’t have the endurance to continue like him so he sighed.

“How much is, one, two, three, four… Eight tickets?”

The pony gathered eight tickets and put them on the small counter for Golden to take.

“Normally it’s 24 bits but for you no charge I can see that you’re on an escort.” He gave out a small salute which Golden saluted back and thanked him for the tickets.

-20 Minutes Later-

Twilight and Sunset were huddled against a wall of the station alone separated from the group entirely. They were embracing each other giving equal comfort, though Sunset was more comfortable then Twilight who was curled up in a ball rocking back and forth while.

“He’ll be fine Twilight.” Twilight stopped and stared at her.

“Don’t ever leave my side.” Is all Twilight muttered out under her breath. Sunset gave her a small kiss on the head.

“That will never happen, I will always be with you to the end.” She held Twilight close to her giving as much love as she can give.

The train arrived as expected and everypony got aboard. Golden gave the conductor the tickets which he hole punched. The train left several minutes later from the station back to Canterlot the next stop.

Author's Note

I"ll end it there too much action for just one chapter... Don't worry there won't be as much as this chapter had. This story is actually reaching it's conclusion. The Third story will show off their next adventure. But that I won't give out any details to what it is.

Until next Time... Happy Reading!