By the time Twilight managed to hurry to see what exactly was going on, the clearing was being flooded with gryphons of every size and color. Ponies were charging them in retaliation, blades tilted down while pegasi took to the sky. Metallic feathers shot from their wings like arrows, piercing through the haze of battle into the gryphons' flesh, eliciting numerous caws of pains.

As Twilight stood there, stunned by the scene unfolding before her, a lanky gryphon slunk out of the crowd towards her. Digging its panther feet into the ground, it lunged with a battlecry and tackled the distracted mare to the ground. A sharp gasp escaped her mouth as she thudded face-first into the packed dirt ground. It sat triumphantly on her back, wasting no time tearing into the base of her wings with beak and claw. Screaming, Twilight thrashed about, attempting to knock it off until the weight was lifted from her. Looking upwards, she saw Sharpoint standing beside her, the offending creature impaled on his blade. With a flick of his blood-matted head, he flung the still twitching corpse into the fray, knocking "ryphons off balance with it.

"Up! Now!" he shouted, turning his back to her to lower his head in a defensive stance. Hurriedly, Twilight scrambled up to her aching hooves, trying to ignore the pain radiating from her shoulder blades. "You can use magic, right?" he asked, panting.

"Y-Yea." she replied, light headed.

"Then do something! I'm not going to lose my people to some scrawny half-bred birds!"

Nodding, she bowed her head and tried to think of something, anything that might work. Suddenly, her horn lit up and encased her in its aura, taking the shape of a dragon. The moment the illusion reared its hed to gaze around, the gryphons began their retreat, squawking in fear. The ponies began picking them off, yelling in victory as the raid was finally over. Sharpoint only watched in awe as the illusion finally fell, dropping a now-unconcious alicorn to the ground with a rough 'thud'.

"Oh dear..." Sharpoint muttered, approaching her limp form. With the assistance from a few other ponies, he lifted her up onto his shoulders and trotted to his quarters, his hooves carelessly treading through the carnage and trailing behind him. Upon slowly sliding her into his own mossy nest, he turned to Fireflight. "Get Stymph to begin checking on the others, I need you to treat Twilight before you join her."

Nodding, she trotted away, taking to the skies to find her sister. Sharpoint followed, looking back at the unconcious mare with a grateful smile.

Groaning, Twilight awoke to the sunset's final rays slowly disappearing behind the peaks. Mind hazy, she went to get up when a muzzle gently nuzzled into her side. Turning her head, she found Sharpoint laying beside her on the dirt floor, his head turned as so not to graze her with his blade. Based on his breathing, she guessed he was passed out cold. She went to stretch her sore wings, only to feel them hindered by bandaging.

"Glad to see you awake." a light, wispy voice said from the darkness behind her before trotting into sight. Fireflight Stood above her, watching her with wary emerald eyes. Before Twilight could speak, she continued. "He's been worried sick, refused to leave you be while I healed you."

"O-Oh.' was all she could say in return, wanting to curl in on herself at the other's tone.

Fireflight trotted to her, not-so-gently removing the bandaging to reveal the mangled base of the alicorn's wings and silently replaced them. An aura of annoyance radiated off the healer as she working, only confirming Twi's suspicions; she was not welcome by everypony here, and her attempt to save the clan earlier had given those wary of her enough proof that she was very capable of wrecking havoc. She watched with worried eyes as the healer left, sparing her a glance and a disapproving frown before gliding off to her den, the last rays of light consuming her form.

Author's Note

I know this a bit of a short chapter, but I really wanted to update this fic.