To Chase The Shadows of Redemption

As they crossed the final stretch of land which mixed meadow into something of a precursor for warmed tundra, the final town finally came into Celestia's sight. She breathed a sigh of relief at the undisturbed nature of the place, for they had made it before anything could happen. She was glad. They had not been too late.

This time around, she had been walking with her ponies at the front of the formation, surrounded by her guard. Leading them all. She gave peripheral glances and saw that the sentiment was largely the same for others. All were glad to see that their fears were unfounded.

Just due around twenty kilometres north of here, they were sure to find hostile lands. This was it, and they could not allow them to make it to this point before them. They were going to be the ones invading, not the other way around. She had surmised that the chaos of losing their emperor must've slowed them down, and it appeared there must've been an inkling of truth to that. They had declared war almost immediately, but the initiative to strike had not been possible for them it seemed.

"Come now my ponies! Our final stop before our destiny awaits!"

The town had received word long ago about all of Equestria's recent dealings through the pegasi news routes that had been sent out, and had already prepared somewhat to fortify the town and be ready for an attack. Speaking of pegasi, Cloudsdale may as well have become a shell of its former self at this point and a near ghost town. The demand for pegasus work had tripled and quadrupled now, and they quickly approached being the most important tribe by a large margin at times like these. The contributions of earth ponies and unicorns was certainly significant, but it could be said that the pegasi were the ones connecting all of it so it could run smoothly in the first place. It is what allowed for the distant spots of Equestria to stay informed, after all. The opposite was true as well, where they could contact the centre to draw attention to unfocused areas in times of need. Some ponies had probably left after hearing, as well. Nopony would blame them if they did.

Her ponies overcrowded the town the moment they arrived, as it was obviously not built for these kind of numbers. That was no problem at all, as they wouldn't be staying here for long.

They checked in with the local populous, and reports that griffin sightings had increased by early scouts confirmed what they already knew.

Staying here tonight would be the final stop, and then the chaos of war would begin.

Celestia made for the local town hall where she would go over the strategy with the top level officers that had been left with this portion under her control. General Reacher commanded the second largest force directly, and had gone another route. Eventually, they would hear news from each battlefield and adjust, but for now they just had to stick with the preorganized plan.

While her ponies rested up, she worked tirelessly away into the night so that they could be as prepared as possible.

Soon, she could unleash her true strength which hadn't been used even since a millennium ago, unable to go all-out even against the corrupted version of her dear sister.

Soon...

It was only a little bit longer until she had the blasted Sanctuary and could end all of this. Return to better days, only this time not alone.

The level of shock at what welcomed them had been cruel.

As their march, after countless steps taken, had finally slowed and now halted, they witnessed their fears made manifest.

Before them lay Byane, a torch that stood out even in the midst of day. Griffin's swarmed the airspace above, and the telltale signs of engagement were ubiquitous on the mangled dwelling. Nopony knew if the town still struggled against the invaders, but they knew they would soon hear the answer to their call of desperation, from of all Equestria if they still drew breath.

Unfortunately, they would be unable to execute many of their tactics in their own home, but this was a battle that they had to fight no matter what.

Colonel Birch Eve, who they all had grown familiar listening to, quickly took command.

"Stand at attention! Before us lies the enemy! Do not allow your emotions to cause a break in rank! Move as an organized unit! We shall meet them with superior form! Move forward with poise and remember your training!"

His commanding voice held all the oomph you'd expect for somepony whose confidence and experience had placed them at the top of their position, and it calmed ponies enough for them to stay focused. Even if the adrenaline had kicked in already for most.

They moved forward as one, formations already held the entire journey thus far, it only needed to come forth and meet the enemy.

Many ponies had cursed the griffins under their breath as they approached, the volume quiet enough to die before it neared you.

Smoke billowed from buildings engulfed in flames, and the swarm of griffins which had been chaotic before had become focused as they neared finish of their cruel work on the place and set their sights on the new army. They had grown confident after destroying the first thing they met, it seemed.

A younger looking mare was seen trying to sprint out of the village dodging and weaving between falling debris, but it was cut short by a foul griffin swooping in and using a scimitar to deadly affect, essentially opening up half of the side of her body. It was utterly gruesome, and she succumbed on the ground to the mortal wound without much more struggle.

Seeing the visceral brutality in front of him, awoke a brutal emotion inside of Dire, and he grit his teeth at the feeling. In fact, everypony around him were ready to savage any griffin they saw in a hundred kilometre radius. The unspoken ferocity grew to feverish limits, but the echo in the back of Colonel Birch kept them at bay. They knew better, even after the storm of emotions, to keep from breaking rank and offering up easy targets to the enemy.

But that time was quickly approaching now, and the unicorns were given the signal to begin casting. They had actually been given a number system for which made calling out multi-casting easier. This time the number was four, which had been practically screamed by the leading unicorn of the group. The second number that was said afterwards was simple - direction in which they were all to direct their magic together. One meant one o'clock, two meant two o'clock, and so forth.

So, just like all of the others, Dire lit his horn and focused on creating his part of the giant magical net they were going to create. The amassed magic formed quickly behind most of the griffins to their right at one o'clock who were flying just outside the village parameters. The net had very little space in terms of holes in between, and may as well have been a wall for forcing opponents to go where you wanted them to, except it was more flexible in shape.

Dozens of griffins were caught in it, and the speed of which the net hit them and then trapped them with the force of rapidly approaching being pulled towards and thrown at the pony army didn't allow them to budge, really.

And that was exactly what happened - they were tossed heavily right in front of a large group of ponies who had yet to see any action. That would quickly change soon enough. While they tried to regain their bearings from having been in flight to dumped roughly on the ground and draw their weapons, earth ponies heavy hooves connected in a battering way as they galloped to meet them, Dire shivered to ever imagine receiving that kind of blunt trauma.

The griffins in fact were being jumped so hard that, multiple earth ponies had surrounded most of the griffins and they could not protect themselves from every angle, and thus the beat down began after a few hits that discombobulated and overwhelmed them.

It was a massacre.

But this was not to last, and merely a fraction of the entirety they still had to meet. As the griffins were quickly adjusting, Dire just now realized the faint sound of Griffin communication could been heard over the melee, even from this far away.

Two swarms of griffins made to go left and right of their force, seemingly attempting to get around them for an eventual flank, which would lead them directly to the most vulnerable unit, his own type.

He briefly heard the cut in from Birch again, who had been speaking mostly this entire time, which had been almost impossible to stay focused on to hear all of it. He wouldn't miss anything directed at his unit.

"Everypony, stand your ground! Pegasi, begin operation B!"

Around two thirds of the pegasi moved to defend the unicorns rear and prevent them from getting around completely. From what he knew, it was more their aim to sabotage the unity of the griffins ranks than to beat them right now. They should've fought safely, without the intent to finish off any griffins. Not quite a distraction, but neither a full on confrontation. They still made attempts to fight, but they focused on staying mobile and not getting caught out.

The tactic was mostly successful, even if many griffins eventually poured through into the space directly behind them.

Dire was vaguely aware of a formation shift as he moved about to allow some portion of earth ponies to join them in the back for added protection, and he was forced to refocus on what was in front of him.

Dozens of griffins held what had been the terror of their initial reactions.

A literal firebomb squad soared towards them, ready to drop the hellish liquid fires on them all.

He once again heard the leading unicorn, and this time he knew he would have to make his shot count.

On a count of three, they prepared and readied a barrage of beams to meet the bombers before they could get close enough to drop the blasted things and cause untold casualty. It was the earth ponies who would be mostly effected, at the front. They could not allow this.

Finally, after the longest three seconds of his life were up, he fired like the rest of them. The beams poured forth like liquid arrows thick with deadly energy, fired at unprecedented speeds as to appear to never dip down due to gravity. His pride swelled as he saw the noticeable thickness of his beam being far greater, containing more power than almost any other here could produce. It was also to his pleasure that as he stared down his beam, he saw it directly blast through the side of one of the bastards, leaving nothing but a gaping hole to bleed from which had been that side of the body but a moment ago, as it collapsed from flight and fell to the ground a bloody mess.

This feeling didn't last long, and to his horror several bombers had made it through despite their attacks, and tossed the liquid death down onto the majority of the earth ponies, choosing to take the opportunity to hurt the ponies before it was lost, like trying to go deeper into their ranks before dropping it, which held far more risk.

It was to his amazement that, while most ponies had locked up in terror at the impending doom, a singular cyan pegasus moved like a blur and snatched most of them before they could reach the ground. The speed was unreal, and if he lived through this Dire knew he would never forget the scene before him.

One of the bombs did land however, and to every ponies horror the earth ponies quickly fell into recumbent forms while rolling in pain and also a desperate attempt to put it out.

A giant sphere of water appeared above them, and then was promptly released and exploded like a tidal wave as it landed on the burning ponies. The affect was immediate - almost every single roasted one of them was put out, and he believed that they wouldn't have had suffered any mortal wounds from that short a time being lit. They would be scarred, yes, but alive was better than not.

Or he would've thought that if not for the intense panting he was making as he tried to recover. It was with a start that he realized he had acted on his own for the first time, his instinct to save his fellow ponies taking over. Nopony had the time to admonish him for it now he knew, but he would probably hear about it later.

To his dread he realized that he had only seen a narrow scope of the battlefield in his urgency, and his heart nearly broke seeing the charred remains from another spot. Something deep inside of him hardened even further at the sight of it, which was surprising considering how much he had already seen.

These monsters would pay. He'd make sure of it. No, this wasn't enough. HOW DARE THEY DO THIS TO HIS FELLOW BRETHREN. His inner youth had been coming back for a while, now it was reborn, like a pheonix whose final moments had taken far too long before the fresh new life began. His eyes burned with focus and determination, and a little hatred.

Too much had happened in the intervening moments, the battlefield becoming too complex for him to fully understand anymore, with ponies and griffins fighting everywhere the eye could see. The griffins main force had arrived and began the full engagement with them, it seemed.

Just as he was about to start taking individual actions, as any attempt at cooperative magic had faded and they were given the clear to move independently, something barrelled into his side. As he tried to recover from his fall, the griffin moved first.

He barely maneged to jump back to avoid a mortal wound, instead the slash from the scimitar had cut the side of his face, allowing fresh blood to pool down it. The second attack was met with a hastily prepared shield, and it gave him the proper time to regain his bearings for the fight.

It had finally become personal now that there was an opponent in front of him, and he was ready to fight all-out and until the end if this was it.

War had made its return on Equus, for better or worse.