Shadow of Fury

Chapter 11

All the Really Bad Stuff Happens

Lightning Hawk lay on a cloud, watching the sky. Yesterday had certainly not gone as planned. The random attack by a deranged robot had gotten in the way of him asking out Twilight. Normally, he would try and ask her out again today. But today was Friday, and that meant it was time to take a break.

For as long as he could remember, Lightning Hawk had designated Friday as "Break Day," meaning that he simply refused to do anything on this day. Sometimes he didn't even think, merely lay on a cloud and watch the sky above him. It was a good way for him to clear his thoughts, not to mention great stress relief.

Normally, nopony would bother him. Most wouldn't even notice the pegasus on a cloud. But Ponyville was anything but normal, and the day had other plans for him. Applejack pushed along her cart underneath the cloud Lightning was laying on. Suddenly, a barrel full of apples fell off, spilling its contents all over the floor. "Rats!" Applejack exclaimed, before looking up and noticing Lightning Hawk.

"Lightnin'? Partner? Mind lendin' me a hoof here?" she called out.

Lightning was shaken out of his stupor, and looked over the edge of his cloud at the farmer. He was significantly surprised that she had noticed him. "Kinda. Today's Friday. I don't work on Fridays,"

"But Ah just need you to help me clean this up!" Applejack pleaded.

"Sorry, but no can do,"

Applejack grumbled before setting herself to picking up the apples herself. "Good-fer-nothin' lazy bum!" she mumlbed under her breath. As she began to pick up the fallen fruits, both the pegasus and the farm pony heard something. It was the sound of somepony screaming.

This was enough to make Lightning turn over, as he tried to get a view of what was going on. Applejack squinted under her hat, trying to make out what was happening. "Ah'm gonna go help them," she said aloud. "But don't let that get in the way of your Friday," she added with poorly concealed sarcasm. Lightning rolled his eyes, before spreading his wings and joining on the path to Town Square.

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It all happened so fast. Fluttershy was so confused. What was going on? Why was this happening? As the pony cowered under a table, her head still pounding from yesterday's hangover, she tried to remember how it had all happened.

Everypony was surprised to suddenly hear the raspy voice of Gilda again. Nopony ever thought she would return, but obviously that was no longer the case. The griffon made her return all the more obvious by rudely shoving anypony in her way. She was followed by two other male griffons, each in full battle armor. The armor had the image of a red phoenix on the chestplate, and each one carried a long spear.

Rainbow Dash was the first of Fluttershy's friends to notice the trouble. "Gilda!" she shouted, flying straight up to the griffon. In less than two seconds she had gotten from her starting position to less than an inch from her ex-friend's face. "You have some nerve showing your beak back here!"

Gilda only smirked. "Oh really, Rainbow Trash?" she shot back. "Don't tell me you're still mad about the last time we met?"

"What do you want, Bird-brain!"

Gilda feigned offense. "Is that really the best you got?"

"I said, what do you want?!" Rainbow repeated, more forcefully.

By this time, a significant crowd of ponies had appeared on the scene, including the rest of the Mane 6. Well, the rest of the Mane 6 minus Applejack, who was previously occupied. Willus emerged from his store, alerted by all of the ruckus. More and more griffons appeared, each similarly armored, seemingly from nowhere as their numbers began to taint the sky.

Gilda smirked. "Payback," she said simply, before snapping her talons. On que, the griffon soldiers immediately attacked. They descended quickly, attacking without strategy or discrimination. Some of them carried torches, which they used to set buildings ablaze.

Ponies began screaming and running, and the soldiers gave chase. It was then that Flutershy rushed to hide, and her friends attacked the invading griffons. Sort of. Twilight and Willus defended the book store with their spells, while Rainbow Dash took on the opponents with her bare hooves from the air. Pinkie fired her party cannon, while Rarity provided cover for the ponies who were fleeing.

Not long later, Reaper and Shamrock showed up. Shamrock immediately set to work fighting off the griffons, while Reaper paused. He turned to the nearest griffon, before speaking in chirps and hisses. "What exactly is going on?" he asked.

For a moment, both the griffon and the pony he was fighting(which happened to be Pinkie Pie) stopped. "You speak Griffon?" Pinkie asked.

"You don't?" Reaper replied non-chalantly.

"We are attacking for the glory of our Lord, the High and Mighty Lord Ironfeathers. He has decreed that the Bearers of the Elements must be dealt with," The soldier replied in his native tongue.

Reaper nodded. "Very well," he said coolly, before punching the griffon in the face.

The fighting continued, before a soldier approached Gilda. "Milady, we cannot continue the fight for much longer. We must retreat soon," he told her.

Gilda considered the carnage around her, taking in the fiery mayhem. "Fine. But let's take some souveniers. I would hate to forget a night like this," The female nodded to two figures hiding under a bench, and the soldier understood the command.

Dinky and Spike suddenly felt themselves being ripped from their hiding place by a pair of strong claws. Both of them screamed as they were roughly shoved in a bag held by another griffon soldier. "Dinky!" screamed Derpy, who had been looking for her daughter.

"Spike!" shouted Twilight, momentarily distracted from helping Willus.

It was then that Lightning Hawk and Applejack arrived. Fluttershy was still cowering. Twilight and Derpy were trying to work their way towards Gilda, but seemed to be stopped by a griffon soldier everytime they grew near. Rainbow Dash was fighting in the sky. Shamrock was clobbering any soldiers unfortunate enough to get near him. Willus was beginning to panic, having lost Twilight's support. Reaper and Pinkie were using an overturned table as cover and systematically firing the party cannon. And Rarity had fainted somewhere along the line. It was absolute chaos.

"Well, this was fun, Rainbow Trash!" Gilda taunted, the bag containing her captives slung over her shoulder. "I'll be sure to tell Pops all about how easy this was. Oh, and if you value the lives of your dweeb friends," she said, gesturing to the bag. Muffled cries continued to escape from within. "Then you won't come following us,"

Rainbow Dash tried to charge Gilda, but was knocked back with the butt of one of the soldier's spears. She landed among her friends with a thud, just as the soldiers began to retreat. Cackling, Gilda took to the skies, followed by her legion. Within moments, they had disappeared.

Fireponies arrived quickly and minimized the damage. Nopony had been seriously hurt in the mayhem. Tears filled Derpy's eyes as the smoke cleared from the charred remains of buildings.