Warhammer Equestria

Smoke rose from the ruins of Griffonstone.

The walls which had been built to protect the city were now shattered but still standing, the tall buildings were reduced to smoking ruins and piles of rubble and ash. Those buildings which still stood were now used as command centers, bunkers and watch towers while in the rest of the population had been hunkered down in the old castle.

"I NEED SOME BANDAGES HERE!!"

"HELP ME GET THIS GUY PATCHED UP!! HE'S LOSING BLOOD FAST!!"

Doctors and nurses were calling out to one another as they treated their patients. Both ponies and griffons laid there by the hundreds, each with injuries more severe than the others.

"Fluttershy! I need another Ivy bag, STAT!!"

"On it!!"

Even though she could not fight like her friends, Fluttershy was a great help to the troops with her medical expertise and kind nature which seemed to lighten their spirits.

"There you go. You'll be better in no time."

"You have a healers touch miss Fluttershy, truly." A soldier complimented the mare who was replacing his bandages as she gave him a warm smile that seemed to dull his pain for a short moment before she laid him back down on the mattress.

"Now just lie down and get plenty of rest." Fluttershy advised her patient before leaving to clean up when she heard what sounded like crying. A doctor draped a blanket over a fallen griffon soldier and standing above him was his wife who was now in mourning after the doctor gave her the tragic news. The scene broke Fluttershy's heart as she could only imagine what it would be like if she were to lose one of her friends in this war.

"HEY FLUTTERSHY!!" Rainbow Dash called out to her as she and the rest of her friends walked in with more bandages and medicine for the troops.

"You alright sugarcube?" Applejack asked after noticing her hands were a little shaky.

"I-I'm fine I'm just..." She trailed off when Pinkie surprised her by hanging upside down in front of her.

"Come on Fluttershy! Turn that frown upside down!" The pink pony shouted as a doctor shushed her yet still Fluttershy wouldn't smile and how could she? She had seen so much suffering in the past week since she left Ponyville yet somehow her friends were still able to smile themselves.

"You okay Flutters?" Rainbow asked when her friend gave a faint sigh.

"No I'm not okay. How can I be? Look around us! I've already seen several families bury their loved ones, soldiers who have been crippled or blinded!! how can they still be smiling after all that?!?" The yellow pegasus asked in frustration as her eyes began to tear, her friends did their best to comfort her and decided to take her outside for some fresh air and to calm her nerves.

"I'm sorry girls. It's just I don't see how they can be so happy after what they've been through."

"They're being happy because they have to be." Valiant had surprised them with his usual habit of popping out of nowhere at the right time, much like a certain draconequs. they knew back home.

"What do you mean?"

"Look around you Fluttershy. What do you see?"

Fluttershy didn't quite understand his question and did her best to answer.

"Um....soldiers?"

"Exactly. Soldiers who are fighting to keep their families and homes safe, who are willing to risk their lives for others and who are willing to suffer for it. These men aren't keeping a smile on their faces because they want to but because they have to, in order to hold on to the one thing we fear to lose."

"What's that?" Fluttershy asked as Valiant looked her right in the eye.

"Hope."

It wasn't until a few hours had passed when the girls picked up a sweet smelling aroma as Gilda came walking up the street with her bakery wagon and in it a fresh batch of griffon scones.

"Hey girls! though I'd bring you a snack for working hard all day."

"Oh yeah? How much?" Rainbow asked jokingly as she was given the first scone.

"Ha ha Dash, real funny."

"OOH!! Snack time!"

"Now Pinkie be careful. Remember what happened last time."

Twilight was afraid that the scone would be hard as a rock like last time and remembered what happened to her friends teeth the first time they had scones from gilda. The dental bill Pinkie received was astronomical.

"Relax braniac, I added baking powder this time."

"Braniac?!?" Twilight snapped at Gilda's remark while her friends giggled but before they could enjoy their snack a loud horn call began sounding outside the city gates followed by the sound of battle cries and clanging weapons; The minotaurs had begun their attack.

"They couldn't wait until AFTER snack time?" Pinkie whined as she stuffed the scone in her hair as Valiant dashed by and called upon his troops.

"MAN THE WALLS!! ARCHERS AND RIFLEMAN TO YOUR POSTS!!"

It wasn't long before the first fireball struck the town followed by the sound of the gates being rammed with grate force. At the gate stood Emelyn and a few battle mages who began focusing their magic on creating a wall of stone to reinforce the gate.

"All of you stand back!" The sorceress ordered as she began to focus her power into melting the stones to form one giant slab but as she neared completion Emelyn suddenly felt completely drained and fell to the ground as the other mages rushed over to help her.

"My lady!"

"I'm fine..." She said weakly as sweat began to drip from her brow.

"Finish the spell!! We can't let them through!"

The remaining mages did as they were told while Emelyn was taken to a safe zone to recover.

Atop the wall, Valiant stood above the gates with his elite guards protecting him as they began cutting down one minotaur after the other while the city was bombarded. As the fighting grew more fierce one of the soldiers spotted a minotaur climbing into a catapult aimed at the gate.

"Uh...sir?!?" He called out to Valiant just as the brute was launched into the air.

"WAAAAGH!!!"

"SIR?!?"

"Relax boys." Valiant said calmly as he stepped back ever so slightly.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!!!"

WHAM!!!

"OOOH!" The soldiers winced as the minotaur slammed hard, face first into the wall before it fell into the battlefield below.

"Hm. Missed." Valiant almost sounded disappointed when an arrow zipped past his left ear. His attention was instantly brought back to the battle and began giving out orders to his men while the griffons did their part in destroying the siege engines with their aerial attacks.

"Sir...what's that?" A lookout pointed to a large armored creature in the distance. The beast was carrying a large number of minotaurs on its back, it seemed to be some kind of large reptile with two very large tusks and one large horn followed by a mouth full of teeth with a massive underbite.

"Damn it's a squiggoth! If that thing rams the gate all hell is gonna break loose! We have to hold them here!"

"Leave that to us!" Flim and Flam appeared with what looked like a miniature ballista and a box of small ammo clips, each fully loaded.

"We found this in the old blacksmith shop and decided to fix it up."

"With our own personal touch. you see we-!!"

"Sell it to me later! Gimme that thing!!" Valiant shoved Flam aside and began to aim the device at the beast when he noticed something: There was no trigger!!

"How do you fire this thing?!?"

"Ah it's quite simple really. Just turn the crank here on the left and aim." Flim pointed to the crank on the left and the handle bar to help aim on the right

"GOT IT!!"

BLAM!! BLAM!! BLAM!!

Bolts came flying out like clockwork and began hitting the Squiggoth nonstop as well as a few minotaurs who were unfortunate to be caught in Valiants crosshairs yet it seemed the beast was unphased by the attacks until one last bolt struck it in the eye and sent it crashing down on its side, just a few feet from the gate.

"Damn!" Valiant cursed despite the fact that he was able to halt the creatures advance but it wasn't long until the invaders began using the creatures carcass as a means to leap onto the wall and in no time at all the entire front line was slowly being overrun and leading the assault was a large black minotaur with bloodshot eyes and a sinister double bladed axe who was staring Valiant down with a grin of anticipation.

"Ironhide..." Valiant said coldly, having faced this warlord before yet his foe gave no response but simply raised his axe to signal the charge.

"WAAAGHH!!!"

The minotaurs were suddenly roused into a frenzy and began tearing through the already ruined city, slaughtering anyone and everyone they could find while atop the old castle, Twilight and her friends could see everything.

"This is horrible..." Twilight whispered as she covered her mouth.

Gilda gritted her teeth in anger as she watched the savages tear her city apart, even though it was already a wreck before.

"The...warboss..." Emelyn whispered after hearing the commotion. Twilight and the others rushed to her side to hear the rest of her message.

"You must...defeat the warboss...without him the army is finished..." Emelyn passed out once more as a nurse began to check her pulse.

"Alright girls. You heard Emelyn!" Twilight said as she grabbed Dragon Tooth and began strapping on her armor.

"Hold on sugarcube! how are we gonna find this 'Warboss'?" Applejack asked, showing some doubt.

"If I'm right, Valiant will already be engaged in combat with him so let's go!!" Twilight was becoming more like a soldier with each passing day and headed straight for the battle field with her friends close behind her when she noticed something hidden in the corner of the room. A banner bearing the symbol of Griffonstone.

Back at the battlefield

Valiant and Ironhide wasted no time in exchanging blows as the minotaurs giant axe came crashing down onto a building after being dodged by Valiant.

"We finish this now..." the unicorn spoke in a murderous tone as he threw his helmet to the ground. He wanted to make sure the last thing Ironhide saw was his face once he delivered the killing blow.

End.