Thunder rolled through the valley, echoing across the walls as a griffon dove, narrowly avoiding the lightning that laced out at her, followed by a second roll of thunder. “Cmon, is that all you got?” She shouted up at a pegasus pulling a cloud along, harnessed to a device that sparked with electricity.

“Aww Gwyn, sit still so we can hit you!” The pegasus called, firing at the griffin again. Another pegasus swooped down, catching the Griffin in the side with a kick as she looped around, darting forward for another strike.

The Griffon grabbed the pegasus’ forelegs and spun, throwing her at the pegasus with the lightning gun. The pegasus caught herself, levelling out with the other as the duo glared at the griffon. “Why are you so mean? Throwing me around like that.”

“This is a war, Lightning. You two needed more training, so that’s what I’m doing.” The griffon, Gwyn, shouted back.

“But no one is attacking us right now. We live in the clouds, we’re basically untouchable.” Whined the other pegasus.

“You’re right, Thunder. No one has any long ranged weapons, or spells, that can hit you. My bad, you can go home now.”

“Really?” Lightning asked, a smile on her face.

“No.” Gwyn said as she shot upward, catching a bolt of lightning to the chest.

“Oops.” Thunder said, tossing the gun aside, and diving with Lightning to catch Gwyn.

Gwyn awoke, in a bed that seemed to be a medical area. “What happened?” Gwyn asked, looking toward Thunder and Lightning who were waiting nearby with worry in their eyes.

“Gwyn! You’re awake!” Lightning shouted, rushing over and nudging Gwyn. “We were afraid you’d never wake up.”

“Yeah, you were out for a couple days.” Thunder said, chuckling slightly. “Guess I didn’t have the Thunderer down low enough.”

“Oh, yeah... You shot me. No harm done, I suppose.” Gwyn muttered, looking toward Thunder. “Good shot, though.”

“Yeeeahhh.... No harm done.... Well, About that.” Lightning started, Gwyn met her gaze with worried eyes.

“Well, The doctors weren’t able to reattach the wing... And theres a chance your heart may explode if you move around too much...” Thunder explained.

“Yeah, being struck by lightning tends to have that effect. Oh, and if you happen to go blind, let the doctors know immediately.” Lightning nodded.

Gwyn sat up real quick, looking to her left. Her wing was there. Then her right. Her wing was there as well. Thunder and Lightning started laughing. “You should’ve seen the look on your face, Gwyn! Priceless!” Thunder said, falling over as she laughed.

“Yeah... Hilarious.” Gwyn grumbled, standing up and pushing past the duo.

“Gwyn, Thunder, Lightning.” A voice came into the room, causing Thunder and Lightning to stand at attention.

“Mr Windtalker, Sir.” The duo said in unison, saluting the colt that walked in.

“At ease. You could show a bit more respect, Ms Blackfeather.” He said, glaring toward Gwyn. “Now, if your little nap is over, I need you three taking up a position to the south. Our scouts tell us there are a pair of Earthborn heading up this way. Intercept them, find out what they’re doing this far north.”

“Sir, yes sir.” Thunder said, snapping a quick salute.

Lightning Nodded, looking back toward Gwyn. “Well, let’s get going. We’ve got work to do.”

A few hours passed as the trio sat on a cloud, watching the landscape below. Thunder had gotten bored a long while ago, and was now playing with the cloud, shaping little buildings out of it like a filly at the beach. “There they are.” Lightning pointed out, Gwyn looked toward them and thought for a few moments.

“You two stay here. Keep an eye out for any reinforcements. I’ll see what kind of info I can get out of these two.” Lightning nodded, and Thunder went back to her little project.

Gwyn hopped from the cloud, spear clutched in her talons as she dove toward the duo. Halfway through the dive, she let out a piercing screech, startling the two. As she landed, she lowered the spear toward the taller of the two, A mare. “State your business.” Gwyn demanded.

“H-Headed home.” the mare said, her voice sounding rattled.

“This far north? Earthborn belongs in the south with the other Dirt Ponies.”

“We’re not Earthborn.” The Colt replied.

Gwyn shifted with her spear, leveling it at his neck. “You’re too clean to be Everfree. You have to be Earthb...” Gwyns sentence trailed off as she noticed dried blood on each of their foreheads. She shifted the colts hair away from his forehead with her spear, noticing the stub of a horn. She checked the Mare as well, and found the same. “You’re Moon and Star.”

“Yes. We are... Or were. Not much use to them now...” The mare said, still slightly rattled.

“What are you doing here?” Gwyn asked once again.

“Reconnaissance on the Earthborn. Moon and Star is working on something, and we thought we could get some pointers. We didn’t get much of anything before this...” The colt said, looking toward Gwyn with sad eyes. “Please... If you’re going to kill us, just do it. We’re already disgraced as it is, a swift death would be preferred.

“What’s the hold up, Gwyn?” Lightning asked as she landed. “Get anything out of them?”

“Yeah. First off, they’re not Earthborn. Moon and Star unicorns who lost their magic.” Gwyn said with a sigh.

“Ooh... That’s no good. Are they going to end up like the Fallen?”

“I don’t know... They’re not a threat to us. Though, part of me thinks we should just kill them, and put them out of their misery.”

“I don’t feel right fighting a defenseless opponent... It seems less like a battle, and more like a slaughter.”

Gwyn nodded. “I agree...” She looked toward the duo, slinging the spear over her back. “You two get out of here, before I change my mind.

The duo nodded, and scrambled to walk away. Gwyn turned to Lightning and smiled. “Let’s get back... We have to report.”

A booming of thunder echoed across the plain, and the unicorn mare flopped to the ground. A second crack of thunder and the colt fell. Gwyn looked up to Thunder, who was looking around in confusion.

Windtalker dove from cloud cover with two other pegasi, one with a thunder gun. “What are you two thinking? Letting an enemy go like that?” He looked up at Thunder, who flew down to join the other two.

“They were unarmed, and maimed. They are of no threat. They were sent to scout Earthborn Territories, and got their horns taken.” Gwyn said.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re in the middle of a war, and you think it’s okay to let them go? What kind of information were they sent to retrieve? Did you at least get that much?”

“Trying to find what the Earthborn is doing. Something our own scouts have been doing. We’ve got more than they do, anyway.” Gwyn said, narrowing her eyes at Windtalker. “If that’s all, I have more important places to be.”

“Report back to Cloudsdale. We still have to deal with your insubordination.” Windtalker said, meeting Gwyns gaze. “You’re lucky I didn’t just queue you three up as targets to the Thunderer and be done with it.”

Gwyn shook her head, and took to the air. Thunder and Lightning quickly followed. Gwyn paused, hovering just above the cloud layer. “What’s wrong, Gwyn?” Thunder asked as Gwyn looked to the north.

“I came down here to escape my own problems in the north. Now, it seems troubles follow me wherever.” She muttered.

“Oh well, at least we can deal with the problems together, right?” Lightning said enthusiastically.

“Yeah... I’m sorry, you two... I can’t deal with this anymore. Being bound to one place isn’t me. I’d prefer take whatever job that needs done... I think I’m going to retreat to the north for a little while. And come back when things have changed.” Gwyn said quietly.

She pulled her spear from her back, and pulled her helmet and armor off. She bound the things to the spear and dropped it through the clouds. She watched it until it stuck out of the ground by the point, the helmet and armor hanging from it. “What do we tell Windtalker?”

“Tell him whatever. It’s not my problem anymore. As far as I care, you two make better commanders than he does... It’s been fun, you two... I’ll see you around.” Gwyn said, reaching out a talon for a goodbye shake.

Thunder and Lightning flew forward in unison, wrapping Gwyn in a hug. “Be safe... Keep in touch. That kind of thing.” Lightning said.

“And don’t get shot in the chest anymore... At least, not with us there to see it!” Thunder grinned.

“Farewell, you two.” Gwyn muttered, curving and flying to the north as Thunder and Lightning continued to Cloudsdale, and back to their posts.

Author's Note

I need to stop writing at 4 in the morning.

The end of this chapter happened kinda how I wanted it to, but it doesn't feel right to me. Any feedback on it would be greatly appreciated.

This marks Chapter 4 of 6 to begin the series! Next up: Shoot for the Moon and Star!

Hope you all enjoy this chapter.