So, an interesting week I had. First was that Twilight joined our little group and became the warframe of magnetism, or polarity, which ever you prefer. Turns out, Harmony plucked more than just the warframes from my mind, as the weapons for Mist and Twilight, the latter having the Braton rifle, Viper auto pistol, and plasma sword for her melee. Turns out the reactors had subliminal training in them, as well, seeing as how Twilight was able to use her weapons like she had trained from the youngest age possible with them. Of course, she still had issues with violence, I didn't think that'd be gone in a month, let alone a week, but she is at least beginning to have a more gray moral sight. An improvement, considering.

Anyway, I was on the edge of the Everfree right now, arms folded and weapons stowed. The reason being that Harmony had requested the three of us to meet there. Why, I had no idea. And before you ask, Mist told Twilight of his real identity, while Azure, his marefriend, had known since he got the frame. Far as I know, she actually took it well. Twilight, that is. I guess with the first contact-at least to modern ponies and perhaps a word from Harmony-went well on Celestia's part.

Anyway, I had been waiting on the two for near an hour before I heard," Surprise," from behind me, and I quickly spun, bringing my Skana out, only to stop just shy of Mist's, in his frame, neck. "Jeez, Ex, I thought Tenno were supposed to be aware of their surroundings at all times."

"Go to hell," I said, stowing my sword. "Where's Mag at?"

"Should be here any second," Loki replied. "She's still trying to get the parkour shit down."

"Ah. Right," I replied. "How long did it take you?"

He shrugged. "Not long. When I was a nymph, I used to do a lot of exploring in the Hive caves. I was a little rusty, but I got back into it quickly."

"And she's never done it before," I said. "Fucking joy."

"Still, any second now-" as he said that, Mag, also in frame, crashed into the ground from the treetops.

"Not. A. Word," she said as she sat up from falling on her back. "So, did she say what she wanted us to do?"

"Not yet," I replied as Mag stood up. "So, told Spike?"

"Not yet," she replied as she stood up. "He's still in love with Rarity, and who knows what he could say in that state."

"Yeah, fair point," Loki said. "I wonder when we're going to get our mission."

"How about right now?" we heard from further in the forest. We turned, and saw Harmony. Mag and Loki out of habit with royalty bowed, while I remained standing.

"About time," I said. "I was beginning to think we'd be here for no reason."

"No, I was simply working on something else," Harmony said, getting my slight interest for some reason. "Regardless, the reason why I called you three here is simple: a contact of mine-more ponies than just the princesses have had contact with me- is reporting griffons massing on the western border of Equestria."

"I thought the griffons had their kingdom in shit and pieces," Loki said.

"One, yes," Harmony said. "But this is a different kingdom than Griffonstone. These griffons care nothing for personal wealth, and want more land for their nation. They are willing to take it, and, because of the nobles-annoying as hell they are-they believe Equestria wants war, and with this group, when war is called, the only thing that can stop them is destroying their numbers enough."

"So. . . we need to massacre them?" I asked in the simplest way possible.

"Maybe we can trick them into stopping this before it starts?" Mag asked.

"No," Harmony said. "It doesn't help that the leader of this group hates Equestria for the same reason I brought Excalibur here in the first place. I'll admit, because of that, if it wasn't for you three, he could take Equestria over with ease, seeing as how they somehow found an artifact that puts their king, named King Razor Wind of the High Talons, on par with Celestia and Luna."

"Then what hope do we have?" I asked, to which she chuckled.

"Easy," she said. "That hope is each other. After looking through Excalibur's memories from when I brought him here, I know that a single Tenno is a force unto themselves, but three? That, when it is the right combination, is as powerful as an army, if not more so. And you three are suited, no pun intended, for this task."

"Fair enough, I guess," I said.

"So we'll have to kill them?" Mag asked, worry and fear in her voice. I can see why.

"Mag, what's better, dying for nothing like a robber, or dying with honor and for a cause?" I asked. "The griffons will give us no quarter. The most we can do for the is make their ends as painless and quick as possible."

She sighed. "I guess you're right."

"So, how do we get there?" Loki asked. "Can't exactly teleport with our frames on."

"I'll handle that one," Harmony said. "Just so you know, it'll be like being teleported by Loki." And with that, she snapped her fingers, and the world seemed to go tunnel vision before expanding again, revealing a desert terrain.

"I think I'm gonna barf," Mag groaned before she retracted the face plate, revealing a face similar to her EQG face, by which I mean was her exact EQG face, before running to a nearby bush, and hurling.

"You know, I wondered if the reactors changed more for you guys than just giving you actual feet and removing muzzles, horns, and wings," I said. "Looks like it does."

"Yeah," Loki said before he showed his Tenno face, which was well tanned, but not overtly like these women who go to tanning salons everyday for near an hour, and not too scarred. "Azure actually likes this face better, and I use my magic to have it going when I can."

"Didn't need that info," I said. "You okay, Mag?"

She had stopped barfing as Loki and I talked, and used her left sleeve to get what was on her lips off. "Yeah, just a little disoriented now."

"Good," a voice said from behind us, making us turn to see a mare wearing jeans with those things stereotypical cowboys wear, I don't know what they're called, that had those tassels hanging off the side, over them, a black T-shirt with a leather vest-why in this environment. Her skin was colored brown, she had a yellow bandanna across her forehead, her hair and tail being colored a dark yellow. "Name's Mesa. Before you ask, yeah, I'm Harmony's agent here. She said you three would be coming."

"Nice to meet you, Mesa," I said. "So, you told Harmony there's a Griffon Army near here?"

"Yep," the mare plied before pointing behind us. "There. Far as I can tell, they have something hiding them from view. Best guess being that thing Razor Talon has."

"Any idea what it looks like?" Loki asked.

"Just that it's gold. Other than that, nothing."

"So little to no intel, then," I said, drawing my bow. "Fun," I added sarcastically.

"Yep," Loki added as he hid his face via faceplate, and drew his own Paris bow. "So, did you get a look at how many?"

"I'm going with near a thousand griffons, and half that ponies," Mesa said. And yes, I know it's confusing, as her name is the same as a frame's, so, when and if someone gets that frame, I will put a 'WF' in front to distinguish. "Of what I can tell from a distance, as they just recently cloaked, I'd say the artifact they have allows for mind control, as I saw ponies who fought them, even killed one at least, suddenly fight alongside them in the next town after Razor did something to them with the artifact."

And mind control. An. . . interesting point in my morals there. If it's to help someone, I'm for it, but if it's for something like rape or one's personal gain, I hate. But at the same time, if they use it for personal gain, such as money, but then contribute that money to charity, however unlikely that is, or the fetish of the one being hypnotized is rape-as the old saying goes, you can't rape the willing- and there's a signed document from before the hypnosis that says both parties were consenting, then it gets complicated. Yeah, I'll admit, having a gray moral scale can have downsides.

"So, what do we do?" Mag asked. "I mean, they aren't fighting us in their right mind. There has to be some way we can help them without killing them."

"Take out the artifact, maybe," Loki said.

"No idea if it would work," Mesa said. "But who knows? It may."

"Then we knock the ponies out, and if destroying the artifact does free them, we let them go. If not, then we tell Luna so the guards can come here and get them."

Mag sighed. "Guess I'll have to live with it."

"Still," I said, if you have to, literally disarm them. If they're unicorns, do what you can to make the horn removal painless."

"Right," Loki said. "First, though," he said taking his actual secondary, the Talons, and giving them to Mesa. "Just in case they come after you while we're down there. The ends with the tips detach from the rest, and can be thrown onto something. On the bottom is a trigger that'll cause the tops thrown to detonate. Keep in mind, though, only four tops can be thrown, and eight can be out at a time. I don't know why, has to do with the systems, I think." He then took a pouch on his right thigh, and handed it to her. "Spare ammo. Only twenty in there. Use them smart."

Mesa nodded. "I will," she said, taking the weapons and the spare claws. "Now, how about you three show why Harmony chose you guys?"

"On it," I said. "Okay, people. Let's go." With, I jumped off the cliff we were on, sorry that I forgot to say that, doing a double jump just before landing to land safely. Mag came down next, her hands spread apart, and pulses of energy coming off her palms, which faced the ground.

Before I could ask what she was doing, she was almost instantly swapped with Loki. "She'll explain when she gets down here," he said.

A few seconds later, Mag came down again. "Care to explain?" I asked.

"I just used my powers to change my polarity and the polarity of the ground to opposites, with the materials my suit being made of being able to somewhat resist it," she replied. "It allowed me to hover down. And in my spare time when I could get away from Spike and the others, we've been practicing."

"And you didn't invite me because?"

"We didn't think you needed it," Loki said.

"That's where you're wrong, as I need training to stay sharp," I said. "But we can discuss this later," I added. "Now, we stop an army."

Both nodded, and Mag drew her Braton. "Right."

"Then let's go," I said, putting my bow on my back, and drawing my blade before turning around, and running towards where Mesa had pointed to where the Griffon army was.

After we had gone I'd say thirty feet, magical bolts began to fly at us out of nowhere. "Looks like she called it," I said as I deflected the bolts with my sword.

"Obviously," Loki said as he dodged the bolts, as well as Mag.

After what I can assume was a hundred bolts of magic flew at us, they stopped, and a large blast roared our way from nowhere. "KEEP GOING!" I yelled as I stowed my Skana, and drew my Exalted blade, and held it two handed. "Line up behind me!"

"What are you planning?" Loki asked as they got behind me.

"To absorb that shot."

"What?" Mag asked in surprise. "But that blast is on par with Celestia's magic!"

"Then shut up and let me concentrate!" I yelled, as I rough my sword into a blocking stance and slowing down, stopping just before the blast hit, and began to channel energy into the sword, causing an even quicker drain.

I was stopped in my tracks, and Loki and Mag nearly hit me before they stopped. The energy from the blast was strong enough to where my shields were almost instantly drained, even with the block. I guess heat or kinetic force suddenly hitting. "Guys, I don't know ho wlong I can hold it,"I strained out. "Mag, how long can they keep this up?"

"I don't know," she said. "With their numbers and the strength, ten to twenty seconds, maybe."

"Yeah, I'm not going to last that long," I said as I saw the blade begin to flicker before it lit up like a star.

Then perhaps I can help, Harmony said. I may not be able to handle this directly, but I can still help you three. I'll be able to keep your sword up, but your energy reserves will be drained until the fight is over.

"Don't care," I said out loud, as I knew Mag and Loki heard her as well. "I don't rely on them, anyway. Give me a sword, and I can kick all kinds of ass."

If you say so, Harmony said, and I began to see the beam of magic be absorbed into my blade. When it had passed, the blade glowed green with a rainbow aura around it. I flipped, the sword into a back handed grip, and then sliced in the direction of the beam, causing an energy wave to make its way toward the area, my Exalted blade disappearing as it traveled. Now, before you yell hypocrite, my plan was to make the griffons take to the air to confirm the area, and, as the wave was chest level, the ponies, if they had fast enough reflexes, would duck below, letting them live.

At the least, the griffon part was true, as I saw a few griffons appear out of thin air. "Bingo," I said. "Looks like Mesa was right."

"Then I guess we'd better get to work," Loki said, and the three of us charged again, with this time, only crossbow bolts flying at us, which we deflected with our respective melee weapons. Eventually, we breached the field, nothing special, really, we just didn't see the army one second, and the next, we did. The ones closes to us, ponies, were on the ground from the energy wave. Loki used his radial disarm to remove the weapons from their hands, while Mag used her powers related of magnetism to make sure the weapons and armor were opposite polarities, ensuring they couldn't use those weapons.

Then came the griffons, and the lead and arrow began to fly, with my sword tasting blood. As we reached the griffon lines, one tried to swipe at me with his sword, but i blocked the downward strike before punching his face with my left hand, and lopping his head off. I then used my foot to pick the sword up with a sweep, and throw it at a charging griffon's torso, making him stop and fall to the ground, blood coming from his chest.

The next one to try and hit me tried to do so with a mace, which I ducked under by bending my back-thank you, training, for flexibility- slicing him in half as I got back up before I drew my Lato, and blew the brains of fifteen griffons out. After that, I saw movement in my peripheral vision to the right, and turned, my sword raised in a blocking manner, which stopped a short sword from cleaving my head in two, but leaving me unprotected from the second that tried to strike my torso.

Which was blocked by my shields. This allowed me to kick the griffon in the chest to send him back before slicing his head off before spinning the Skana around into a back handed grip, and slicing another in half diagonally. I then flipped it back around before putting it on my back and drawing my bow as I spun to avoid a sword slice, drew the arrow back, and let it fly into a griffon's skull. I then used my bow to deflect a sword strike to the ground before spinning myself while twirling the bow and hitting him in the head with the upper part before getting it back into a normal grip, grabbing an arrow from my quiver, and firing it at another griffon's heart. I drew another, but couldn't fire as another griffon tried to slice me in half, making me dodge, and use the arrow to stab him in the throat.

I spun back, putting the Paris bow on my back and drawing my sword, but before I could attack again, or them, for that matter, a voice yelled, "Cease!"

The griffons stopped attacking, while I stayed on alert. The others are all right, Excalibur, Harmony said. Yeah, for now.

The soldiers parted from around me and the others, creating a space and letting the three of us see each other, and letting me see that Mag had a little blood on her, but no cuts in her frame. The griffons to the cardinal north of us then parted again, revealing two griffons in golden armor, shields strapped to their arms, swords in their scabbards, and spears in hand. Between them was another griffon, his armor golden as well, with gems adorning the breast plate. He didn't have a helmet on, but he did wear a grin. "So, those are the Demons of the Everfree I've heard about," he said. "I'm surprised you three are this far away from your home. Or maybe that's just a ruse Princess Celestia made so none would try to threaten you." He shrugged. "Regardless, you three will bow to my will. I am King Razor Talon of the Western Griffons, soon to be conqueror of Equestria."

"And what makes you think that'll happen?" I asked, to which, he chuckled.

"This," he said, bringing a small orb in his right hand up to view. "This artifact my archaeology teams found allows me to control the minds of who ever I wish, and rumor says that not even an alicorn is immune to it." He chuckled. "Oh, I will enjoy having those two be my personal guard. . . Among other things." And I want to castrate him with a rusty spoon now.

"You want that?" I asked. "You'll have to go through us."

"Oh, you misunderstand," Razor Talon said. "I do not wish just the alicorns under my thrall, but you three as well, seeing as how you decimated my forces. Having you three as my vanguard for taking Equestria over will make it much easier." The orb then brightened, and I fell to the ground clutching my head, which felt as if it was on fire. "Every pony I have used this on before has fallen in a minute, and you three will be no different."

"Then what about us four," I barely heard through the pain before I heard explosions, and the pain cleared. "You guys alright?" Mesa asked.

"Yeah," Loki replied as we stood up. "Head feels like it was just beat with a hammer, though."

"Same," Mag replied. "Thanks, by the way."

"No problem," Mesa said as she drew two more talons into her hands, and Razor Talon regained his bearings and growled.

"Kill them! We'll show what happens when you attempt to stop the griffons!"

"Mag, crush 'em!" I yelled as Razor Talon and his guard retreated.

"On it," Mag said, nodding before she thrust her arms out, and the charging griffons stopped in their tracks before Mag closed her hands, crushing each with their armor. When the power faded, the heaps fell, and Mag was, understandably, horrified. "I-I just killed each of them," she said in shock before looking at her hands. "If I knew I could kill that many at once-" before she could go further, Loki stepped in.

"Mag, snap out of it!" he yelled. "Being a protector isn't about saving everyone, it's about saving who you can. When you took Harmony's offer, that's what you accepted:that you would have to kill, quite possible in large numbers. Now, tell me, is it better that we killed this group and sent their king packing with his artifact, or would you rather have had him reach Ponyville, enslave you and your friends, and then march on Canterlot, and do the same to Celestia and Luna?"

Mag was silent for a while before she glumly said, "I guess out of the two, this is the better," she said. "Barely. At least with the second, nopony would be killed.

"You don't know that," I said. "There would probably be a few killed in the taking of each town and city. I'd rather kill a few to save the many than spare the few and let corruption run rampant. Which reminds me, I need to go to Canterlot. Have something to do there, related to the Manehattan Massacre."

"You'll have to do it on your own, then," Mag said. "I need some time."

I nodded. "Of course," I said. "I was planning on going by myself, anyway. Take however long you need, Mag."

"Thanks," she said, and I could hear the small smile.

"You got it," I said as I saw Mesa go to give Loki his Talons back.

"Here," she said.

"Keep 'em," Loki said. "You may need them, and they generate their own back up ammo."

"Right," she said. "And thanks to you guys. My town was next in their path."

"No problem," I said. "You need help, just let Harmony know, and I imagine she'll get at least one of us."

She nodded. "I'll keep that in mind," Mesa said. "See ya guys later." With that, she walked off.

"You know, put a more noticeable country accent on her," Mesa said, "and she'd sound like Applejack."

"Yeah, I thought that too," Loki said. "So, you guys ready to go back?"

We both nodded. "Then I guess we'd better hold onto our lunches."

That would be best, Harmony said, and we were teleported away from the battle site.

Author's Notes:

And due to tag limit, I have to add a tag in the notes, so I add the romance tag now.
Also, I have decided on Fluttershy's frame. Valkyr. Before you go bat shit insane with hate comments, let me explain my reasoning.
Yes, Fluttershy would not go into a bloodthirsty rage, but you forget Valkyr's background. She was not always that way. Her standard form is because of Zanuka. Before, she was not blood thirsty, and because of there not being any Corpus, Valkyr would get the skin showing her from before then. Don't get me wrong, you guys did have fair points, and that's why I had originally planned on Trinity, but with the frames, I take everything into consideration. The background, their abilities, even their look. As such, with Valkyr, I will be using the pre-corpus Valkyr.