Equestria 40 AA

The sound of fighting resounded all around me.

But, I was more preoccupied with the griffon clinging to my back to really pay attention to my surroundings and I paid for it when a second griffon came from the front and crashed into me sending all three of us flying into the ongoing brawl below us.

The good news is the crash dislodged them from me, the bad news is I now had a deer trying to bash my skull in.

A yak came out of nowhere and sent it flying off me only for three griffons to dogpile him into the ground.

As I tackled two of the griffons off him I thought of how everything had ended up like this.

Around a week earlier

The journey to Vanhoover would take around a week, maybe a little less.

The first three days were fairly uneventful besides some more yaks and ponies from the small tribes joining along the way.

I hadn't packed much, only a tent, food, my hunting gear, and of course how could I forget my hair brushes, I was NOT going into war with a messy mane after all.

Although my hunting gear could be called combat gear, to be honest, the hunters back in Hooflov were more like exterminators, seeing as we went out into the wild to make sure the yetis didn't come to close to town or overpopulated, the fuckers bred like rabbits.

The gear was only some trapping supplies and steel claws I could attach to my front paws along with some graves.

Still, I was feeling restless from simply marching on so I went to Moonlight to see if I could help with anything and a short talk later he decided that my flight and my ability to sense the movement of wind over long distances were a good combination and so I was sent ahead as a scout.

The next two days were pretty uneventful as well but at least I had something to busy myself with and Russy was also there to talk to whenever I was done with scouting.

One good thing that happened was that we were joined by the army of volunteers from Stratusburg and it's surrounding villages and tribes.

But even with them joining us we barely reached two thousand in number according to Moonlight.

On the sixth day of travel, it seems some higher being decided that things wouldn't be as simple as meeting up with the Princess.

It was late at night and I was returning to camp.

It was in sight when my senses picked something moving in the forest below me, I concentrated on where the movement was coming from and realized it was two somethings.

They seemed to be coming from the camp's direction and looked to be in a rush, it couldn't be one of the other scouts because this was the direction I was assigned to and my replacement was supposed to wait in the camp for me.

A suspicion started to form and it was promptly confirmed when two figures burst through the canopy.

They where griffons, they hadn't noticed me as I was flying much higher than them and they were sticking close to the canopy.

What worried me was that since they had obviously seen the camp and were trying hard not to be seen they were quite likely scouts, and if they were scouts then it meant there was an army they where scouting for.

Still, I couldn't just work off of assumptions, I needed solid information and luckily for me, there were two perfectly good sources right below me.

Decision made I started diving towards where the griffon's trajectory would take them.

When I was less than twenty meters away from them one of the griffons turned his head around and his eyes widened upon seeing me, he dashed to the side while screaming a warning just in time but, sadly, his companion didn't react to the warning in time and I crashed full force into his back.

My weight plus my sheer speed sent us into the canopy below and THROUGH a tree before bouncing once on the ground and rolling several times before coming to a stop.

Looking down at the griffon below me I blinked as I realized it was dead, although, really, it should have been obvious that not a lot of creatures would survive a crash like that.

"Well." I mused.

"In hindsight, I shoul-" I was interrupted as the second griffon I had completely forgotten about crashed into my side.

We rolled through the ground in a flurry of feathers and claws and when we came to a stop the griffon was clinging to my back.

I tried to shake him off and tried tugging at him but despite my superior strength he stubbornly clung to my back while simultaneously trying to kill me.

Sadly while my mane stopped his beak from ripping my throat out, it also gave him a way of holding on to me, thankfully my hide was thick enough that I only received thin scratches from his claws.

Deciding enough was enough I flapped my wings once lifting us into the air before I started flying backward as fast as I could.

By the time the griffon realized what I was doing it was too late as we smashed into a tree hard enough for the wood to crack and for the griffon's grip to weaken.

The moment I felt the grip on my mane loosen I quickly reached around and grabbed the griffon before throwing him away.

Before it could regain his bearings I leaped on top of him and used a paw to hold him down by his neck.

The moment it regained his breath he immediately started to claw at me in an attempt to go free, but, my greaves protected my front legs and he didn't have enough reach to claw at anything else.

With a growl, I tightened my grip and my steel covered claws drew blood, the griffon stopped clawing at me and instead tried to tear off the limb cutting off his air.

Loosening my grip I spoke. "Who are you, and where were you going." I demanded.

"Fuck You!." He screeched.

With a growl, I shifted my grip before lifting him and slamming him into the ground.

The griffon let out a choke at the impact and seemingly decided it wanted to live as it started speaking.

"Ok Ok stop ill sing." Cried out the griffon.

"We were just scouts ordered to look around for any forces that could provide reinforcements to the Princess, when we found that camp we did a headcount before heading back to report our findings to the army." He said

I furrowed my brows at the information before my eyes widened at the implication.

"Are you attacking Vanhoover, How Big Is The Army." I demanded.

With sudden confidence, the griffon spoke. "Yeah, we have her cornered, and they might be holding on but it's only a matter of time until the army breaks through, and that little troop of yours isn't big enough for it to matter HAHA." The griffon was laughing by the end of it.

I growled and was about to ask him more when he threw a clawful of dirt into my face.

I leaped back and started rubbing the dirt out of my eyes but just when I blinked my eyes open the griffon bowled me over me.

And so I once again rolled in the dirt while the griffon tried to rip my throat open, sadly for him, this time I was able to get a good hold on him.

And so I quickly turned us around before, with a snarl, I used my paws to hold him still by his head and shoulder.

The griffon barely had time for his eyes to widen before my jaw clamped on his neck.

He immediately started trashing but I simply bit harder until *CRACK* the sound echoed through the forest as he went still.

I stepped back and wiped the blood off my snout before sighing.

The blood didn't really bother me, I had been hunting since I was nine, what bothered me was the fact that this was the first time I killed another sentient being.

Shaking those thoughts off I took flight in the camp's direction, I would think about it once this war was over.

To say everyone was in a rush would be an understatement, the moment I finished telling Moonlight of what I learned he immediately started giving out orders to pack everything and get moving.

Within ten minutes we were marching, the knowledge that the Princess was under attack lit a fire in everyone's bellies and so we marched through the day and night to reach Vanhoover.

On the way there we where intercepted by a bat pony coming from the east.

His name was Nightlight and thankfully he came with good news, apparently, yakyakistan had dispatched a force of over two thousand yaks under their prince's command to aid Equestria.

They passed right through the mountains and were currently passing by the galloping gorge, nightlight had decided to go ahead to inform the princess when he noticed us and decided to come this way first.

He was shocked to hear that Vanhoover was under siege but before he could rush off to inform the yak army a plan had to be made.

While we could either wait for the yak army to reach us or to go and join up with them it ran the risk of the city falling in the meantime, so, it was decided that we would go on ahead and engage the enemy while Nightlight went back to the yak army and tell them to come in from the east.

If everything went according to plan then the yak army would arrive less than an hour after the battle started.

Strategy decided Nightlight flew off as fast as he could while we marched on.

According to Moonlight, a long hill ran the whole north of Vanhoover, it was big enough to cover our approach and it would help us catch them by surprise.

Once we got close enough he signaled for the army to stop and stay quiet while he and I approached the hill.

We crawled our way to the top and peeked our heads over and our mouths promptly went dry.

Distantly, I realized why that griffon was so confident about our numbers not mattering.

Besieging a Vanhoover covered in a translucent blue dome was an army that at a simple look was at least four times our size, looking at Moonlight I saw him crawling back down the hill and quickly followed after him.

Moonlight was pacing for a solid minute before he took a deep breath then let it out.

He turned to me and started speaking. "Look, the good news is there doesn't seem to be many griffons, barely a hundred, maybe even less."

I raised an eyebrow before answering. "Last I checked we barely had a bit over a hundred pegasus so there's still more of them than us and it doesn't change the fact that there are close to nine thousand caribou troops." I paused for a moment before continuing.

"Even if the yak army comes in I don't think we can win this." I said.

"I know." He tiredly spoke. "But, there's still the Princess." Seeing my questioning look he explained. "You saw that dome covering the town right, that's quite likely the Princess, I doubt the town has enough troops to defend itself so she is quite likely holding a shielding spell to stop the enemy from entering the city, you saw how they were standing there didn't you."

At my nod, he continued. "They are obviously waiting for her to run out of magic so they can just charge in if we can get their attention off her long enough for her to catch her breath she will be able to join the battle."

Frowning I responded. "I see your point but she has probably been holding that shield for at least two days straight, I doubt it will be a simple as her taking a five-minute breather."

He had a resolute face as he spoke. "I know, but this is also our best chance of winning."

Seeing his certain disposition I sighed before speaking. "I really expected to die of old age or by yeti, not like this."

With a smile, I extended a clenched paw forward. "For Equestria."

With a smile of his own, he bumped his hoof against it. "For Equestria."

A couple of minutes later our little army was in formation and ready for battle.

Moonlight decided to be honest with them and told them how much we were outnumbered and that there was a high chance we would all die today.

Surprisingly while some of them were scared none ran away.

Seeing as we were outnumbered and that we simply had to stall for time for a chance to see tomorrow he decided on a full-on charge, the yaks would be the ones in the front, most of our hope was on them causing as many casualties as possible before they lost momentum.

Moonlight hoped that the charge reached the gate as when it stopped it would all turn into a brawl but it would allow the yak army to hit the enemy from the back.

We would still be hopelessly outnumbered even when they arrived but at least we would have a better chance of winning.

Something that worried me was the griffons, while we had only seen a little under two hundred flying overhead we didn't know just how many were waiting on the ground.

For all, we know there could a thousand mixed into the caribou ranks.

Either way including me we only had about a hundred fliers and it would be our job to keep the griffons busy as much as we could.

The army silently ran up the hill as Moonlight ordered us not to shout since he wanted to give the enemy as little time to prepare as possible.

As soon as the first yaks reached the top and started charging down the hill towards the unaware army I took flight along with the pegasus.

As we flew high above the charging yaks I saw the first enemies finally notice us and starting to warn their fellow soldiers.

It seems that since the enemy had started to notice them the yaks threw any semblance of quiet out the window and started roaring as they ran full tilt towards the unprepared caribou.

Focusing back up on the sky in front of me my fears where realized as the number of griffons almost doubled in size as more started to take flight.

As the clash got closer and closer the only thing I could hear was the beating of my hear as it tried to hear out of my chest.

Among the flock of griffons quickly approaching a glint caught my eye.

The closer we got the clearer I could see it until I saw that it was an armored griffon flying right at the front.

Realizing he was quite likely the leader I decided to focus on him as I changed my course slightly to be right in his way.

Apparently noticing my focus on him the griffon focused his gaze on me and I answered with a glare of my own as I snarled.

The closer and closer we got the louder my heartbeat sounded in my ears.

100 meters.

70 meters.

50 meters.

30 meters.

I prepared my claws in front of me as the griffon leader copied my actions.

20 meters.

The griffon let out a screech as the clash approached.

10 meters.

I answered with a roar of my own.

0 meters.

As I crashed right into the griffon leader sound returned to my ears.

As we tumbled through the air the sound of fighting erupted all around me as pegasus clashed into griffons and far below yaks plowed right through the enemy lines.

As I continued to lock claws with the griffon we both tried to bite at each other multiple times before he suddenly used his hind legs to separate us.

We stayed separated for a whole two seconds before we charged each other once more only this time while we were trying our best to kill each other he tried to headbutt me.

It didn't end well for him as while he was recoiling from the crash I showed him just why exactly I had won headbutting competitions against yaks.

A second later he was hanging limply from my grasp, the reason most likely being the caved-in helmet.

Letting him drop I looked at the battle around me and grimaced as I noticed pegasus dropping like flies.

Being this outnumbered meant that most pegasus were being attacked by multiple griffons at the same time, the only ones alive were the ones focusing on flying and dodging instead of fighting.

Noticing multiple griffons heading my way I decided to attack before I was surrounded.

And so with a flap of my wings, I charged towards the nearest griffon slamming into him and biting into his throat.

A second later I used his corpse as a springboard to boost myself towards another one.

And so the battle continued for several minutes with me doing my best not to get surrounded while killing as many as I could.

Eventually, the rising number of griffons focusing on me meant that one managed to crash into my back.

And so we are back here, with me wrestling on the ground with two griffons while all around me the sound of yaks and ponies fighting for their lives was heard.

Eventually, I managed to headbutt one of them off me and while he fell limply to the ground I focused on the other one, quickly using my superior size and strength I held him down and simply broke his neck.

Turning to look at the battle around me I grimaced as I saw that while the army had reached the gate, they had lost their momentum and everything simply turned into a massive brawl.

Hearing a screech I turned my head around just in time for a couple of griffons to slam into me, before I could regain my bearings more of them piled up on top of me.

I couldn't really count how many of them there were as I was more preoccupied with not getting killed by the growing number of griffons trying to kill me.

"are you talking to me?.

"are you talking to ME?.

"THEY CALL ME MISTER COW!".

"waaaaaaaAAAGG."

Suddenly multiple griffons we're flung off me as a flying deer slammed into them.

The griffons stopped their attack to stare stupefied in the direction the deer came from, turning my head to see what they were looking at I saw an enraged Russy chasing after a terrified caribou soldier and bashing aside or trampling anything that got in his way.

I balked and quickly scampered off to the side as I realized he was heading in a collision course straight towards us.

Sadly for the terrified soldier, he chose a bad moment to look over his shoulder and proceeded to crash into the staring griffons sending them to the ground.

The still standing ones quickly shook out of their stupor as they took flight just in time to avoid the charging Russy who slammed into the downed enemies.

While Russy was busy smashing them to a paste the griffons who had dodged jumped on his back.

Russy roared and started bucking to shake them off to no avail, luckily I was there a second later tackling one of the griffons off his back.

As I felt the griffon's neck collapse in my jaws I turned around and saw Russy roll on the ground causing the griffons still clinging to his back to be crushed under his bulk and let go.

The moment Russy got back on his hooves he turned around and started stomping them to make sure they were dead.

"Hey Russy, you okay." I yelled over the clamor of the battle around us.

Russy turned around and smiled when he noticed me. "Friend Lapiz is alive." He joyfully exclaimed.

"Ha, Russy is fine, deer too twiggy to stop mighty yak charge." He boasted.

I was going to respond to him when we noticed a lull in the battle around us.

Looking around I noticed the armies separating and took flight as Russy ran back into formation.

And so there we where our greatly reduced army standing in front of Vanhoover ready to charge into the thousands of enemies before us.

Looking around I realized that the shield around the town had vanished and I sadly noted that while there were less than a hundred griffons left I could not see any pegasus either.

The tension was getting higher by the second and a clash was imminent when something happened.

Thanks to my senses I was the first to notice the tremors starting to shake the ground, looking to the east I smiled as I saw the source.

The enemy noticed as well and almost as one they turned to look just in time to see two thousand fully armored yaks charging towards them.

Taking advantage of their distraction I roared getting the attention of my allies.

"CHAAAARGE." I screamed before immediately flying towards the griffons.

The army followed suit and let out a cry as they charged the suddenly uncertain caribou.

While flying towards the griffons I noticed shapes flying beside me, turning my head I smiled as I saw multiple bat ponies in armor.

The griffons responded in kind and charged towards us.

A moment later I once again heard the sound of armies clashing as I grappled with a griffon.

A swing of my claws later and I let his body fall to the ground as I chose my next target.

Seeing a griffon fighting a bat pony close by I charged towards him and crashed into his back.

Before he could defend himself I bit into the side of his throat and pulled.

His flesh gave away with a tearing sound, sharing a nod with the bat pony I looked around and noticed there were no more griffons and saw bat ponies diving into the ongoing brawl beneath us.

Taking a moment to breathe I looked over the battlefield to see how the battle was going.

It seems I had underestimated just how much help the yakyakistan army would be against such numbers.

The two thousand fully armored yaks had torn through the caribou as if they weren't there.

Even when they lost their momentum and everything turned into a massive brawl the caribou were helpless against the heavily armored yaks.

"At this rate, we won't even need the Princess to get involved." I thought to myself, not a second later a beam of what I could only call a star-filled night tore through the center of the enemy formation killing hundreds in a single stroke.

And like that, the sound of hundreds of caribou routing overtook the sound of battle.

Everyone just stayed staring at the retreating army until they were almost out of sight.

Then, a massive cheer erupted from all around me as everyone celebrated our victory.

It took a moment for my brain to process the fact that we had made it, we won, and I was still alive.

Once I did I simply hovered limply in the air as the wounds and exhaustion I had accumulated through the battle caught up to me.

Too tired to join the cheering I had a single thought.

"I'm Alive."

Author's Note

Well, this thing just wrote itself.

For the first battle I've written I think it came out pretty well but tell me your thoughts on it.

Also, I'm using the Equestria world map by BootsDotEXE.
Check him out on Deviant Art.

https://www.deviantart.com/bootsdotexe/art/Beyond-our-Borders-Equestria-and-Beyond-Fanmade-804364657