That night my emotions flickered as wildly as an open flame during a windy day. But such fluctuations were to be expected given the nature of my plight. Not only was the fight against opponents that I had convinced myself to hate, but also against myself in some regard. Losing yourself to the fight, to that lust for carnage, is something I had thought about before. However I had never considered that it would ever become a real scenario for me.

With a small sigh to herself Celestia gave the sun a slight push, making it start its decline across the sky. Another day was coming to an end and quite frankly she felt that it was high time that it did. She allowed a smile to graze her lips as she pondered what she would do now that she had some well-deserved free time. Perhaps I should go pay Cloud a visit? She thought before stopping herself. No wait, he’s still on that trip. Helping his friend, was it not something like that Luna said? I wonder how he’s doing.

Letting out another small sigh she turned her head to gaze out of the window to her left. Outside lay the grand city of Canterlot, with all of its many businesses and homes. Ponies just going about their daily lives without a care in the world, but she wasn’t seeing the proud city. No Celestia’s gaze was at this time stuck on the horizon for some reason she couldn’t understand, not that it truly was something that bothered her. However unknown to Celestia the direction she was staring was straight towards the location of a certain fortress in Gryphus. The bond they shared making itself known in the simplest of ways.

“F- Fifty?!” Bonbon cried out in disbelief.

I held up a hand to silence her. “Calm down, this just means we need to rethink our approach to the situation.” I told her. However part of me had to agree, fifty was quite the number compared to the twenty I had been expecting.

“You can’t seriously say that we are going to be confronting them?” Twilight questioned as soon as I had finished my sentence.

“I never said that we’d be doing anything like taking them on head to head, although we still have cards to play. Even in this situation.” I said, turning to Twilight instead.

Rainbow opened her mouth as if to say something but ended up staying quiet for a few seconds before closing it again. I understood their feelings all too well right now. Fifty against six were not good odds, especially when they had a hostage. Despite the worsened situation I was not about to give up though, not when the Stella was so close.

“Now first off, Twilight how precise is your spell? I mean could you tell me with any accuracy where Stella is being held in that fortress?” I asked her.

“Well, yes. She’s being held somewhere on the third floor of that fortress. But the location seemed to be someplace in the back which means that we’d have to go through the entire fortress to reach her.” Came her answer.

That was definitely an obstacle, but it wasn’t an insurmountable one. “Aight, then here are my thoughts right now.” I said, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“First off we’ve confirmed that fighting all of them will not be an option, so then we’ll have to rely on subterfuge. Secondly I don’t see us successfully infiltrating with a full group of six. This means we’ll have two break into two smaller groups of three. Any questions so far?” I started.

“Well yeah, I have one.” Said Rainbow. “I’m guessing one group will go and get Stella, but what will the other group do?” she asked.

“Why the second group will be making sure that our exit strategy will work of course.” I answered a small smile grazing my lips. My plan was nothing short of outrageous.

“Oh, and what is your exit strategy then?” Twilight interjected.

“Well, it’s that.” I said pointing up towards the fortress.

The members of the party turned their heads in the direction I was pointing, their confusion written plainly across their faces. Then the light of understanding started to slowly ignite in Lyra’s eyes.

“No… You can’t possibly mean-” She began before I interrupted her.

“Oh, but that’s exactly what I had intended we do.” I said with a grin.

“That plan is reckless if not insane, but I think that it might work just for those reasons.” Lyra said returning my grin.

Meanwhile the others were exchanging confused glances. “What exactly are the two of you talking about?” rainbow demanded.

“Isn’t obvious? His exit strategy involves stealing their airship.” Lyra said, putting my exact thoughts into words.

As Lyra spoke I could see the expression on the others faces change from confusion into disbelief. For a few seconds they kept looking between me and the docked ship as if expecting me to suddenly proclaim that I was joking. But when it started to sink in that I was in fact serious Twilight was first to question me.

“That’s an interesting plan Cloud, but have you even considered the fact that we might not be able to fly it?” She asked.

“Ah, no I hadn’t considered that. However should that prove to be the case the second group’s mission will instead be to disable it. We wouldn’t get far if they retain use of that ship when we get Stella out. So if you just set it on fire that should bring a lot of attention towards the ship, allowing us to slip past them.” I quickly amended my initial plan.

“I suppose that’s a valid point.” Twilight said, nodding to my reasoning.

“Wait, wait, wait! You can’t seriously be considering this plan? I mean there’s fifty of them!” Bonbon protested as she looked at Twilight, Lyra and I as if we had grown extra limbs.

I hadn’t expected Bonbon to be the one to protest against a plan I had come up with. However given the plainly ridiculous idea that was the base for the plan I had to admit that her reaction was the most fitting among the party members. I would probably even go as far as to call it the only normal reaction to my plan so far.

“I understand your reluctance Bonbon, however please understand that this is plan born from desperation. As a result of that there will be plenty of what ifs that can occur. I know I’m asking a lot right now but unless you can present a new plan right now this will be the one were going with.” I said, turning to face Bonbon.

Bonbon looked at me as if she wanted to continue but ultimately she released a deep sigh.

“Fine, this seems to be the only option open for us at the moment.” She said, sounding only halfway convinced.

I would’ve preferred to convince her fully or even have her make another suggestion for our plan, however this would have to do.

“Alright, then let me get into some details on how we will pull this off. First we’re going to…” I started to explain.

My silently feet touched the deck of the ship, the fact that there had been no response yet proved that I had managed to approach undetected. Now the first obstacle would be to take out the two guards that were patrolling on the upper deck. Well to be honest calling it patrolling was to give too much credit, they were taking it with surprising laxness. But then again they were more than likely not expecting anyone to actually sneak in, and even less for someone to attack them. And luckily for us that would be the opening we needed to pull this off.

On the opposite side of me I saw Rainbow silently come gliding in towards one of the two guards, signaling that it was time for me to move. The timing here would be everything but I had no intention of backing down no matter how slim our chances were. So on silent feet I crossed the deck and before the guards had chance to react my right arm was firmly hooked across the throat of one of them. And before the second guard even noticed his struggling companion Rainbow had swooped and grabbed him too, mirroring the takedown I was in the middle of performing with ease. Given that we had managed to catch the first two guards by surprise their struggle was a short one, and the moment they lost consciousness Rainbow moved over to the railing to signal the others on the ground that the coast was clear. I would’ve moved over with Rainbow but a familiar object on one of the guards had caught my attention. It was one of those shock sticks that I had been hit with months prior, after throwing a quick glance towards Rainbow to make sure she wasn’t watching I quickly grabbed it. And after hiding it in one of my pockets I rushed over to Rainbow just in time to see the others approaching from bellow.

Favoring speed over stealth Gilda and Twilight, since she was back in griffin form, carried Lyra and Bonbon up to the deck where Rainbow and I waited. Lyra got off Gilda’s back on steady legs although the same couldn’t be said about Bonbon. The moment her hooves touched the deck she stumbled and fell, her disorientation from the rapid flight showing clearly. But this was a critical part of my plan so I could not spare any time worrying about her at this point. Instead I turned to Twilight deciding that it was time to break up the party in two groups.

“Aight, this is where we part ways. Remember your objectives and make sure that the ship is completely empty. Any questions?”

“None that I can think of no.” Twilight said before adding one more thing. “Good luck.”

“Same to you, your time limit will be until you see our signal. If you haven’t figured out how to operate this ship by then, burn it.” I told her before turning towards the fortress proper.

“Gil, Lyra let’s get going. We have a rescue mission to complete.” I said with more confidence than I felt. But no matter what it was too late to turn back now, the dice had been cast.

Before Lyra knew it she had already taken the first few steps after Cloud. Is his presence really that commanding right now? She had to question herself as she continued to follow after Cloud. Sure he had been the driving force the entire time during this entire excursion to Gryphus, but just now she had just obeyed as if it was the natural thing to do. I haven’t experienced anything remotely similar to this ever since I left the guard. She realized. He may not have noticed it himself but he has the qualities to make a wonderful guard captain. Well he might need to improve his fighting technique a bit before that is entirely true. She mused to herself as she thought back to that sparring match against Rainbow Dash he had shown them when he applied for the job back in Ponyville.

“Aight, this is it. From here we’ll need to minimize every sound we make.” She heard Cloud say suddenly.

It would appear that they had reached the wall of the fortress and seeing how the main entrance had never been an option they would now scale the wall to attempt to enter from the battlements. She looked over towards Cloud, catching his gaze. There was no need for words since this part of the plan had already been discussed, so after a quick nod to Cloud to signal that she was ready he wrapped his arms around her barrel. With a few strong flaps they shot upwards, Gilda following close behind. A few seconds later they had cleared the walls height and went in for a rapid landing. For a few tense seconds they waited for any sign of them having been spotted, but as the seconds continued to tick by it seemed that luck was still their ally.

“Right, let’s find a way inside. We need to get down to the third level from here, and then start searching for Stella.” Cloud whispered, motioning them to follow him.

As one they began to slowly move towards what looked like a tower built into the wall. Disregarding whatever purpose the tower had served during the days this fortress had been in use it was bound to have a stairwell inside it. Once inside it quickly became apparent that this part of the fortress didn’t seem to be occupied by the deserters, at least it was that way if the pressing darkness was anything to go by. Although that particular development just served their purpose perfectly, giving them an incredibly clean entry so far. It was almost uncanny how well it was going almost as if this was a prelude to some kind of terrible disaster. Nono, you can’t think like that Lyra. That’ll just lead to you jinxing the progress we’re making. She berated herself. However as they went down the stairs and entered the third floor such worries proved to have been premature.

She pushed any further thoughts along that line of thinking out of her head as she followed Cloud through the dark corridors of the fortress. However as they entered the fourth corridor the fact that this fortress was not abandoned became abundantly clear with a flickering light, most likely cast by a torch, at the end of said corridor. That light could only mean that the easier part was now over, and from this point onward there would be an increased risk of running into patrols. The same line of thinking seemed to have been on Cloud’s mind as approached the upcoming corridor with great care. Just as he was about to take a peak around the corner though the sound of a door opening caused him to freeze in place. Not that it didn’t have the very same reaction on her, no she was equally frozen with her heart pounding in her chest. Is our luck about to run out right here?

“Ugh, I can’t believe that we’re stuck guarding that damn kid!” An annoyed voice rang out from around the corner.

“Yeah I’m with ya but the boss had plans for her or something.” A second voice answered the first.

“I know that but I just wish could rid of her! Well let’s get going at least our shift is over.” The first voice lamented.

What the two voices were talking about fell away after that point as it became abundantly clear that they had started to move in the direction where Lyra and the others were hiding. She felt her muscles tense in response to the potential scuffle that might happen and in front of her she saw Cloud’s body tense and relax. Then the two griffins stepped into view and Lyra felt herself inhale but due to some unending stroke of luck the two griffins just went past them without even sparing a glance in their direction. The voices of griffins slowly faded away as they went further down the corridor until they could no longer be heard. As one the three of them exhaled loudly.

“Aight we were just disgustingly lucky, so we may be able to pull this off cleanly yet.” Cloud whispered almost as if reassuring himself.

He carefully approached the corner again and took a quick peak before waving that the coast was clear. Lyra hurried to follow Cloud as he entered the corridor ahead of them. The new corridor was the same as the first few ones that they had already gone through with the exception that there were lit torches here. The brightness stung a bit in her eyes after having spent the past few minutes in the dark. Ahead of her Cloud had already stopped in front of one of the doors lining this corridor’s walls. She continued to observe him as placed his ear against the door to listen. She had to agree that taking such precautions seemed to be a good idea so with a couple of quick steps she went past Cloud to get the next door in line. For a few quiet but furious seconds Lyra helped Cloud and Gilda to check if the rooms where inhabited. Then at the fourth room she happened upon a room where she could hear subdued sobs from.

“Cloud, Gilda! Over here!” She hissed out as loud as she dared.

Both them hurried over their faces betraying the concern that they had been trying so hard to hide from the others up until this point.

“What’s up Lyra?” Cloud asked.

“I think we’ve hit the jack pot with this door.” She replied with a small smile.

“Really?!” Gilda said in a loud voice moments before trying to open said door.

However the luck they had experienced up until that point decided to pick that moment to run out as the door proved to be locked tightly. Gilda kept trying to open the door a couple of more times before Cloud placed a hand on her arm making the worried sister turn to face to him. He gave her a small shake of his head before whispering to her.

“Calm down Gil, we’ll get her out.” He reassured the griffin before turning to her. “Say Lyra is there any chance of you breaking this door down?” He murmured, still keeping his volume on the low side.

That question made her stop and think for a second. I definitely have enough magical strength to pull something like that off, however if I do that all hopes of future stealth will be gone. In the end she decided it would be best to talk to Cloud about it.

“I can destroy the door no problem but you do realize that it will cause a lot of noise, right?” She half murmured back.

“I’m aware but I think that right now this option is better than trying to find a key.” Cloud reasoned.

“Alright then, take a step back please.” She agreed before starting to charge magic to her horn.

I wonder what type of spell will be best for this or should I just use raw magic as a blunt instrument? She pondered as she felt her peak for magic capacity approaching. Eh, to hay with being conservative I’ll just use a shatter spell. She decided as she started to form the required spell matrix. As she released the spell the door gave a long groaning *creak* before snapping inward, a clearly vertical break down the middle, spraying splinters everywhere.
Lyra turned her to towards Cloud and Gilda again to tell them to hurry but before she even had a chance to open her mouth Gilda had leapt over her and into the room.

“Stella!” The older griffin cried out looking around the room wildly.

“Si-sis?” A weak voice rung out from one of the room’s corners.

Lyra turned her towards the direction of the new voice to see a much smaller griffin peek out from under a badly damaged bed.

“Stella!” Gilda cried out happily as she went over to the younger griffin, scooping her up in a tearful hug.

“Gil, you c-came.” The younger griffin sobbed.

“Thank whatever deities there is that you’re alive but we need to get moving, now.” Cloud’s voice said behind Lyra. However the relief was clear in his voice.

The younger griffin looked up from her sister’s shoulder and a weak smile spread across her features as her gaze found Cloud. “Cloud, you’re here too!” She said.

“Yes I’m here Stella.” Cloud said in soft tone that was very rare for him.

It seemed however that Gilda had heard Cloud’s previous order to get a move on so she was already relocating Stella so that she could ride on her back. As soon as the younger griffin was securely seated on Gilda’s back, Gilda began moving towards the door. It was at this point that Lyra finally got a good look at the smaller griffin as the light streaming in through the broken door illuminated the sister pair. She didn’t have to be an expert in griffin physiology to understand that Stella was severely malnourished at this point. Wordlessly she stepped out of the way for Gilda so that she could exit the room and then threw a glance at Cloud. She was not exactly surprised to see him with balled fists, slightly trembling at the scene. If someone dear to me had been put through something similar I’d probably be mad too. Lyra thought to herself before nudging Cloud’s leg slightly with a hoof.

“Hey what’s the plan now?” She asked him.

Cloud shook his head slightly. “Oh sorry. Now we run, we’ll escape the same way we came in.”

Lyra wanted to sigh, she wanted to say well here comes the hard part but instead she just nodded her head and fell in line as Cloud started to lead them back the way they had come.
With their first objective completed with the retrieval of Stella things were looking up again but that nagging feeling from before that things were about to go wrong still smoldered at the back of her head. However with Cloud quickly taking point such thoughts would have to wait. As they headed towards the unlit area they had come from Lyra decided that she would take the role of rear guard. They even managed to make it as far as the intersection before Lyra’s feeling of impending disaster proved to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The sound of somepony quickly approaching from behind caused the group to hurry their steps. Mere moments later an angered screech could be heard from behind them, sending echoes along the corridor. By pure chance Lyra decided to throw a glance in the direction of the screech only to find a large griffin in the process of loading a large crossbow. At that point her old military training kicked in and Lyra found herself turning to face the threat.

On rapid hooves she started to charge towards the griffin using her magic to form a directional barrier in front of herself. With the magic she had left after that shatter spell she would be able to deflect one bolt easily, but a second one was doubtful at best. Everything hinged on her reaching the target before he had time to get a second shot off. With that fact firmly planted in her mind she pushed herself harder as the griffin finished loading the first bolt. Wait something is wrong with this picture. A sudden realization shot through her mind. The griffin she was charging towards wasn’t even looking at her, his gaze was locked at something behind her. I can’t rewrite the shield matrix fast enough to change the direction it’s being projected. A fearful thought shot through her mind. She needed to reach her target and take him down before he had time to shoot once.

No, she wasn’t going to make it! She realized, as a feeling of dread started to spread through her body when the griffin she was charging towards leveled his crossbow. With a roar she pushed herself to close the distance but as the recognizable *twang* of the bolt being launched rang out the world seemed to slow down around her. As if moving through a dough like substance she felt her body turn ever so slowly as she attempted to catch the bolt with her magic but deep down she knew it was too late. Then out of nowhere Cloud arrived faster than her eyes could track, suddenly he was just there right next to the bolt. She felt her eyes slowly start widen as his right hand closed around the bolt, effectively catching it midair. His entire figure radiated an aura of previously hidden power and malice. It was as if the air itself had been electrified. For moment longer time continued to flow at a reduced pace for her and it seemed almost as if the long scarf that Cloud had taken to wearing since coming to Gryphus was flowing in an ethereal wind that only touched the scarf. But the very next moment, time resumed its normal flow and the scarf dropped back down. I guess I must’ve imagined it, but for a second it almost looked like that scarf behaved like princess Celestia’s mane. She thought. No wait a second! That’s not the important bit. She followed up her own thoughts as a sudden realization struck her. How did he cross that distance so fast? There must’ve been at least fifteen meters between him and that bolt’s path! Just what are you Cloud? She thought, not sure whether she should be in awe or be afraid of this new side of Cloud that she hadn’t seen before.

I felt a twinge of pain as time seemed to resume its normal pace, a quick glance over my shoulder showed that my left wing had become dislocated. It had probably happened during the weird surge of speed I had experienced, a feat that I had no idea how I had performed. I looked back down at the bolt in my hand small residual sparks of electricity jumped between the metallic tip and my hand. I had reacted on instinct and done something that should’ve been impossible and yet it had felt natural like it was meant to be. However seeing how my wing had become dislocated as direct result it was abundantly clear that my body couldn’t handle the strain of this new technique I had stumbled upon. A roar from Lyra brought my attention over to the griffin she was busy beating up with precise telekinetic strikes.

If the rest of them have crossbows as well going out into the open will be a bad idea. At least if their attention is focused on one point. I thought to myself.

“Lyra come on! You’re on point for now!” I called out to the mint green unicorn.

“Alright, follow me!” Lyra responded quickly, rushing past me to take the lead.

I fell in line behind the others while continuing to shout out orders. “Come on we need to pick up the pace and Lyra, I want you to signal the others as soon as we get outside.”

“Roger that!” Came Lyra’s spirited reply as she increased her speed.

But as we ran I gradually slowed my pace so that the distance between started to increase, and then ultimately I stopped entirely when the others disappeared around a corner. I’m sorry guys but it has to be my job to do this. I won’t be able to get off the wall with this wing anyway, and waiting for Gil to carry Lyra down and then help me will take too long. I thought before I turned and started to run in the opposite direction. To my right windows flashed past me as I ran towards what I hoped would not be the end of me.

I threw a glance out of one of the small windows to my right as I rushed past it, unknowingly staring straight in the direction of Canterlot. I’m sorry Tia but it might take a bit longer before I can return to you. I thought as I steeled myself for the task that awaited me. At that time I believed that I was doing something noble in giving my friends a better chance at getting away. Later in my life I would view this moment as the first time that I strayed down a darker path. For in the end all I was doing was to give in to my own sense of revenge.

Author's Notes:

Well then here's chapter 18 and the last chapter before we reach the climax of this arc. I gotta say that this is not one of my favorite chapters as I have some issues with how the pacing turned out. However I hope that you find it enjoyable nonetheless, so until next time have a good one.

The next chapter is being worked on under the name, Fangs of the storm.