"You know that just standing there with your head up your butt is like asking for trouble, right?" The bulky red earth stallion that, until just recently, had been lounging against the multi-story apartment's rooftop access started, falling on his rump and fumbling with his lance. He glared up at the source of his floundering, ignoring the soft yellow pegasus' futile attempts at preventing her mirth.

"Not everypony has the luxury of wings, Dizzy.” He sighed, setting down his polearm to scratch his head, and stared off into the distance. “Besides, nothing’s coming out this way anyway. Trottingham is as far out of the way of most of Equestria that it'd be pointless to attack. It'd take too long for us to even get anywhere else to help if they were attacked."

The young mare chuckled and hopped from her concrete perch to sit beside the stallion. "You know, just because we're out of the way, it doesn't mean we can't be a target. Did you not hear about what happened to Dodge Junction, North Gallopia, and Fetlanta? None of them have any major strategic significance, but they were wiped out."

"Still, even with that, wouldn't the griffons have-"

"Don't forget what almost happened to Ponyville. If it hadn't been for the soldiers there, my friends and I would have died too." She stared the stallion down, keeping her lighthearted smile present even through her serious tone.

"Fine, I get it, but it still seems pointless. We've been here for months and have seen neither hide nor feather of those beaked freaks." He sighed, retrieving his lance and settling back up against the wall. "I just wish we didn't have to take orders from one of them. It's ridiculous to trust one of those scumbags."

"Hey! I'll have you know that she is one of the reasons Ponyville still exists!" Dizzy glared at her companion, crossing her forelegs, but could not help the smile that slowly took over her stern countenance. “Hehe, the look on your face, Red. Don’t worry, I get what you’re saying, but she isn’t that bad. Plus, Rainbow Dash likes her, so that’s something too.”

“You really like Dash, don’t ya?” Dizzy blushed as Red jabbed her teasingly with his hoof and laughed. “Of course you do. All of Ponyville had the hots for her, right? You do know that she’s only bothered for the griffon though, right? It’s kinda gross if you ask me.”

“Yeah, I know, but it doesn’t mean I can’t pretend.” She giggled and shook her head, watching the lights of the city illuminate the skyline. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall with her companion, sighing as her body relaxed. “Think you could keep an eye out for me while I take a nap? I’ve been flying all night.... Just wake me up if somebody-”

“Dizzy! Dizzy, get up!”

The mare jolted up as her armored friend shook her to alertness, and groaned, pushing him away. “Oh, come on! I only got to close my eyes for a few seconds! Just let me nap already!”

“No! Dizzy, look!” Red grabbed her face and pointed her sight towards the edge of the city and the bright green sparkling flare momentarily overpowering the moon’s and city’s ambiance.

“Is.... Is that-?”

“Yes! Go tell the captain!”

"But I was just joking! I didn’t really-”

“Dizzy, shut up! Go tell the captain! The other sentries have probably seen the flare, but the captain needs to know!” The rosy-eyed pony balked under the stallion’s firm voice, quivering and blinking the onset of tears from her eyes, but didn’t move; she stared at the point where the flare had dissipated, wide-eyed and slack-jawed. "Snap out of it and go!"

"I can't! I can't fight! I don't want to fight! I don't want to die!"

The young mare thrashed in her friend's grip, trying to slip away, to escape the imminent war zone, but he held on firmly and shook her until she had called. "What would Rainbow Dash think of you right now!? I don't care if you can't fight, but you need to tell the others that can or we're all dead! Now get up and bucking fly!"

Dizzy flinched, stunned by the sudden anger in the earth pony's voice, but nodded as she backed away and took flight. The city was quickly coming to life below her, the stragglers that hadn’t evacuated or the ponies that just refused to leave their homes had finally realized their folly in staying and were moving to expedite their escape. Panicked shouts filled the air as parents dragged their foals out of their beds, not even bothering to pack more than a few day’s worth of food before fleeing into the night. The pegasi of the Lunar Army filled the air, some directing the evacuees alongside their ground-based comrades while the others helped raise the alarm, yet very few seemed to hold any more confidence than her.

She could see it in the uneven flapping of their wings, the way their tails flicked and fur bristled at the slightest noise. She could feel it in herself, roiling and aching to escape, urging her to turn tail and run like the civilians, but she couldn't. She owed it to her rainbow-maned friend, the pony who had supported her through their training far beyond her own necessities, to stay, even if he own terror was near-paralyzing.

The dome of the town hall drew nearer as Dizzy crested the newest line of businesses, and with it's sighting came the sounds of chaos of a hectic command center. A new feeling welled in the mare's breast as she took in the activity, slowing to a hover to take in the activity. A stuttering sigh escaped her lips and she scratched her muzzle, trying to shrug off the sensation of uselessness before it could settle and overwhelm her.

"I-it's going to be fine, Dizzy. They'll understand. You're just a small town mare. You're not experienced in these-" The pegasus yelped as a sudden weight on her back knocked her off balance. She struggled to buck the sudden freeloader off, but its larger size gave it too good of a purchase, helping it to maintain its grip on her. "Hey! Get off! This isn't fun-!"

"Oh, there's no need to be violent, little pony. I was just about to let go."

The custard-colored mare froze, the telltale sound of a clicking beak chilling her bones, as a pair of taloned claws wrapped around her neck. She could no longer struggle, her body having gone into shock as her fate slapped her in the face. The talons held her up, strangling her, as the Griffin braced its feline hind legs against the barding on her back. Blood began to trickle down her coat as her captor extended her razor sharp nails, piercing her armour and digging into her flesh, but all she could muster was a choked whimper. She wanted to rebel, to fight back and flee, but, as her lungs began to burn from the sudden lack of oxygen and the claws began to scrape away at her spine, she just could not.

"Have fun, pony."

The griffon yanked up on Dizzy's neck and kicked down with her hind legs, applying enough force to snap her neck and tear at the joints in her spinal column. She was released, only noticeable by the sudden burst of air into her body and the peculiar sensation of falling. Her vision cleared as she tumbled head over hooves toward the ground, catching glimpses of the cobbled street below and her albino executioner flying away above with each rotation. There were no sounds over the whistling rush of wind past her ears save for the faintest cry of shock as she hurled closer to her doom. One final thought entered her mind as her panicked brain caught up with her body.

I should have scre-

“What are they doing here!? They’re supposed to be trapped in those fucking woods! We weren’t supposed to move until next week!”

Rainbow flinched as the tawny griffon screamed, throwing a porcelain vase and shattering it against a wall. She shifted on her hooves, watching the commanding officer destroy more of the town's priceless relics, but did not interfere. "Gil, I get it, but we gotta go now. The ponies need you to tell them what to-"

"Fuck!" Another vase shattered, this time against a painting of the city before it's modernization, tearing the canvas. "Fuck, I know Dash. Get out there and get ready. These fucks are gonna regret fucking with me." Gilda sighed as her childhood friend saluted, her light chainmail jingling, and took off out a window. A claw dragged across her face, smoothing her feathers and soothing the twitch growing in her eye. "Damnit. The fuck are you doing Hardass?"

The griffoness growled, shooting a harsh glare out of the window facing east, and strode to the city hall's oaken doors, grabbing her poleax from its resting place against the wall. With a heavy push, the portals swung open, bathing her plate mail in the silver light of the moon and the harsh orange of the building's magical lanterns. She surveyed the area, watching as her soldiers scampered about to form their ranks and avoid the wrath of their commanding officers. Gilda saw Dash fall into line in the griffon's personal regiment, taking her place at the front of the formation, and allowed the slightest bit of cheer to show on her face.

"Heh. It's been awhile since we've been in a fight together, eh Dash?"

The cyan mare smirked and sheathed her sword, taking a moment to lick away the taste of cloth. "Yeah. Not since flight school. Flight school sucked, though. We couldn't do horseapples there." Her confident grin slipped as her eyes drifted to the halberd in her hybrid friend's grasp and she took a quick, shaking glance at her own short sword. "H-hey. Do you-?"

"You better not die, you dweeb. I still gotta kick your ass in a race." Gilda flashed a smile, laughing when Rainbow scoffed, and turned to the rows of pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies. "Okay, you twits! We weren't ready for this shit, but we damn well aren't gonna take it like bitches! The foreguards are already preparing to retreat back to us and draw the baddies right into our main force. Keep your asses ready and be prepared to die! For, uhh.... Whatever! For the Queen!"

The cheers of the soldiers were half-hearted, but the griffon simply nodded, turning back and watching the city from atop their hillside vantage. Pathetic, but they're weak. Can't expect much from a bunch of ponies. She sighed, idly flattening back her crest feathers with her free talon as she leaned on her weapon's haft. The fuck were you thinking, old man? What's the point of-?

"Captain! Captain Steelfeather!" Gilda groaned, grinding her beak, as a lone pegasus landed at her back, saluting shakily. "I have a report from the, uhm... perimeter!"

The stallion stood at attention, shifting noisily in his heavy armour, but made no other move even as Gilda arched an inquisitive brow. "Well? What is it, dumbass?"

"Ma'am! The, uhh... enemy is moving en masse on hoof from the east."

"Good. They sent the dragoons. That means we have the advantage with the pegasi. So, what's the problem?"

"Well.... Isn't it strange that, uhm..." The stallion glanced around the area, pointedly avoiding looking directly at the griffoness. "Isn't it weird that they aren't fighting as your kind normally do? Not that I mean anything by that! I'm just saying that the griffons usually attack in flights. There's an awful lot of ground soldiers and we didn't see a single aerial-"

A splattering crack silenced the ponies as a custard-yellow mare impacted the cobbled courtyard, crushing her body across the ground. Screams rang out from the gathered ponies, most of the soldiers experiencing their first taste of war, but the allied griffon watched the mare's blood begin to seep downhill with disinterest. She looked up at the chaos the pegasus' violent death caused, took a deep breath, and loosed a deafening roar. She smirked as the terrified equines froze to stare wide-eyed at their half-feline officer and cracked the hilt of her polearm against the stones.

"Get your heads out of your asses! The plans have changed!" She turned, keeping an eye on the sky for the wings of Griffonian warriors, and jumped into the air with a flourish to hover under the strength of her powerful wings. "Something's gone wrong and now we're doing the Commander's dirty work! Keep to the air and stay in large groups! We griffons fight like savages, and work together like a bag of rocks!

"The rest of you, don't die. The dragoons are the best of our hunters! We'll try to help from the air, but don't expect it or you're dead!" Gilda raised her halberd and roared, swelling her breast with pride when the ponies cheered along with her. "For the Queen!"

As one, the pegasi took flight, following Gilda's contingent until their officers split them into their own units. The cloud blanket above them drew closer, blocking all sight past its mass, and the bits of straggling grey fluff lowered visibility further, but the Lunar army pushed onward, spurred forward by the griffoness' impromptu speech. Below them, ponies cheered and stamped their hooves, creating a raucous din to lead the frontline soldiers back to the city square.

Gilda smiled, relishing in the early music of war. This is what I live for! You're an idiot, Dad! Fuck the priestesses! She levelled her weapon at her side, gripping the haft until her knuckles ached, and plunged into the cloud curtain. Visibility dropped to inches in front of her face and the thick, condensed moisture dampened the sounds of pegasus blades being drawn behind her, but the eagle griffon pushed on. The light of the moon began to shine through the dense grey, illuminating wavering silhouettes from beyond its borders. She could feel her blood pulsing through her veins, eager to spill the crimson essence of her enemies, and the heaved one final roar before piercing the edge of the clouds.

Immediately, the captain came to a halt, locking weapons with a leather-clad bull griffon, and gaped at the mass of avian soldiers behind him. "Fuck."

The sky exploded into chaos in a matter of seconds as her continent of pegasi burst from the clouds behind her, meeting with the same surprise of their commander. Gilda shrugged off her foe, clubbing him in the beak with the flat of her poleax's head, and watched as several of her unit fell in the first few seconds of battle. The grey mass below was stained red with blood as winged pony and griffons alike crashed into the surface, either too crippled to remain airborne any longer or cut down by enemy blade, and sank through its body as their innate magic left their own.

The novice officer had little time to contemplate her force's next move as a new pair of her former kin took notice of her silver plate. She narrowed her eyes and parried the larger griffon's scimitar, kicking off the wingling as his momentum carried him into the cloud bank. Her second assailant proved to be more skilled than the first, using his smaller, more flexible form to twist and slice at her side, but her metal plate served its purpose against the slashing blade, lessening the blow to a slight flesh wound. Gilda hissed, reflexively flailing her weapon to put some distance between herself and her adversary, and clipped the griffon's head with the flat of her pole's blade, but not before the stunned male's companion latched onto her back.

The soldier grappled with the smaller griffoness, ignoring her frantic squawking and twisting as he tried to snap her wings. Gilda cried out, intensifying her struggling when his nails began to dig into her flanks and shoulders, and tore at his stomach armour with her hind legs in an amazing feat of flexibility, but she couldn't gain enough leverage over him to do enough damage to free herself. Her back burned as the bull pulled on her wings, trying to bend her wings backwards, and her eyes flitted back and forth for something to help her, but all of her own troops were locked in their own death battles. She could feel her joints popping and clenched her beak to keep from screaming when her wings inevitably gave. "Break them and you'll regret it, fucker!"

Her body jerked as something slammed into the pair with a sickening, squelching crack, bringing sweet relief to her strained limbs and sending the Griffonian soldier cartwheeling away, the side of his face smashed and neck snapped at an impossible angle.

"I thought you told us not to die, Gee?" Rainbow smirked and pretended to dust her hoof off on her chainmail, and carefully steadied her feline friend. "Seriously though, we're getting our flanks kicked. We need to do something, or we're all dead."

"Fuck! I know! Damn! Why is every fucking tribe here?" The Lunar Officer cracked her knuckles, perching herself on the storm clouds to rest her wings. Her body went rigid as she surveyed the battlefield from her hidden vantage. Ponies and griffons alike fell like a spring shower from the sky, peppering the grey fluff even further with severed limbs, blood, and corpses.

It was a gruesome sight, one the griffoness knew all too well from her own time in the Griffonian Tundra, but it was what she lived for, what she thrived on. Defeat, however, was not a word that the girl could tolerate and it was all too apparent that her meager forces were not prepared for the full scale of her people's battle prowess. Even as the ponies fought back with all of their combined might, slaying griffons as they swarmed around them with the ferocity that only a cornered prey could exhibit, they were far overmatched and outnumbered in the air to even dream of being victorious.

Horus, we're fucked. "Dash, fly through and sound the retreat. We're falling back below the clouds. We won't win shit up here and the unicorns can provide cover fire with their freak magic." The pony's captain and her prismatic-maned friend flinched as the body of a Griffonian hunter impacted the cloud cover next to them, drawing the attention of his winged comrades over to the hidden alcove. With a growl, Gilda grabbed the fallen griffon’s bow, slinging his half-empty quiver over her head, and slapped Rainbow’s backside, ushering her into the air. “Get out there. I’ll fuck anybody up that messes with ya.”

“Aye, aye, Cap’n!” With a light chuckle and flick of her tail, the pegasus kicked off a cloud and bolted off into the sky, barely dodging Gilda’s first wooden missile that embedded itself in the closest non-pony’s throat, and whizzed past the other griffons, shouting their retreat over the din of war.

Behind her, the Equestrian migrant grappled with another Griffonian, using her moon-enchanted gauntlets to guard against her adversary’s scimitar and pummel his face relentlessly until he slumped, dead. Before his grip could loosen and drop his weapon, Gilda snatched it up and sheathed it between a strap on her armor, switching her focus back to the aerial chaos. Already, ponies were struggling to fall back, most of them barely remaining airborne with the crippling injuries they had suffered, but there was no sight of the rainbow-maned mare. The griffoness cursed herself, discarding her shortbow pulling the liberated scimitar from its momentary sheathe. Her soldiers escaped as quickly as they could, disappearing into the fractured grey front, and the enemy followed suit, chasing their prey as they fled, but the Equestrian officer remained topside.

“Fuckin’ Tartarus, Dash! Why do you have to be so damn fast now!?” Using her superior agility, Gilda swept through the flocks of griffons and pony herds with ease, only stopping to fight when she had no choice and dodging out of melee range with powerful wing beats. She grimaced whenever a new cut added to her already heavily nicked body, but she had suffered far worse, even if it hadn’t been part of reality, and ignored the burning agony of her open wounds.

Damnit! Where did you- A wild sword swing halted Gilda in her tracks, glancing off her heavily-armoured foreleg and scraping across her cheek, spilling a fresh wave of blood down her dirtied white feathers. She squawked, lashing out with her hind legs and raking her claws across the attacking griffoness’ throat, tearing her neck open and ripping through her esophagus. She glared through the red rage as her foe fell and finally caught a glimpse of her own focus further along the clouds, trying to fly around a trio of griffons. Even through the darkness and distance, she recognized the distinct grey coloration and black, owlish plumage of the bull male, but what stood out most was the golden falcon head emblazoned on his black black breastplate, the only metal piece of metal on his suit of brown leather.

"Don't you fuckin' touch her Rahmir!" Gilda knew deep down that her words would never reach the war chief and his entourage through the sadistic cheers of griffons, the agonized wails of the injured and dying, and the clashing of metal on metal, but her panicked mind did not. All it could register was the near endless waves of soldiers in between her and her childhood friend and father and her own waning strength. She’d already fought so many kinsman, all of them falling to her borrowed blade and travel-honed strength, yet more kept coming, pushing her beyond what she had thought was beyond her own abilities. How many times did I die fighting just two dream ponies...?

Her wings ached, her entire body burned from the multitudes of cuts and slashes that had penetrated her plate, but she couldn’t stop; Rainbow Dash was so close, taking advantage of her speed to outmaneuver the warchief and his bulkier soldiers. Gilda watched as one fell, the mare’s sword sticking out of his leather-bound chest, and silently cheered for the pegasus as she grappled with another warrior in her path, but her hope was short-lived. It had escaped her mind that this was a war zone, filled with ponies fighting for their lives and the griffons bent on taking them, so when a stray pegasus clipped her cerulean friend’s wing, her heart leapt to her throat.

The world seemed to move in slow motion for the young griffoness as Rainbow spiralled away from the dazed stallion, her wing bent at an awkward angle as she careened off towards the waiting tribal leader. Gilda crushed the face of the first soldier that blocked her path, ignoring the slick blood as it coated her first and the sickening squelch of the her victim’s eyes as they were pierced by the spines on her knuckles, and shoved her lifeless corpse away. She pushed further, closing the distance between herself and the pegasus at alarming speeds, but her sire had less air to cover. The lunar captain screamed, throwing her scimitar into the back of the last form blocking her path without care if it was friend or foe, and fought with her fatigue to beat her father and save her companion, but the glint of steel in the moonlight shone through as a symbol of her failure.

A piercing cry filled the air, mixing in with the rest of the anguish to all but one as the war chief’s sharp blade tore through the flesh and bone of Rainbow Dash’s foreleg. To Gilda, however, it seemed to drown out all the noise in the world. Blood glistened in the silvery light as the pegasus plummeted to the ground, stunned unconscious by the shock of such immense pain, and the beige eagle-griffon dove after her, blind to the look of surprised satisfaction on Rahmir Steelfeather’s face. The darkened clouds filled her vision and the wind resistance buffeted her face, watering her eyes as she spiralled at top speed to catch up with the fallen mare, but she soon broke through the feral formation into the open air below.

All around her was death and destruction, remnants of an ongoing battle already lost. Roofs were caved in from bodily impacts, splattered with blood and gore. Houses and buildings stood tall, sprayed with the sanguine liquid and littered with bodies, both furred and feathered, like a gruesome combination of a foal's hoof paintings and a sculptor's work of art. Ponies and griffons alike lay in heaps, slain by each other's weapons, having been pushed together to form a macabre barrier in an attempt to create some distance advantage. Gilda almost froze and vomited despite her predatory nature, something many of the survivors below couldn't claim, but shook off the shock and focused on the rapidly retreating form of a certain azure Equestrian and the looming ground below them.

Blood splattered her face as she neared the pegasus, spilling from her crudely hacked limb like a hose, but she merely blinked away the crimson essence and reached out for one of the mare's good hooves, stretching her talons in preparation for when she finally reached her. Her first attempt missed and sent the fallen pony into a wilder spin, but a second swipe netted the griffon a clawful of mane. Disregarding any further suffering she may have caused, Gilda yanked violently on Rainbow's mane and pulled her unconscious form into a tight embrace against her body as she pulled out of the dive, levelling out several meters above the looming buildings.

Tears burned the young griffon's eyes, not from the stinging chill of the air, but the overwhelming fear that finally caught up with her adrenaline-addled mind, as she cradled Dash in her forearms. "I almost lost you, Dash. Why the fuck wasn't I faster?" With the adrenaline high slowing down, Gilda could finally feel the immense weariness her exertions, both physical and emotional, had left her with alongside the added heft of her friend's dead weight and she almost faltered in her already erratic flight. Sound soon returned as the blood in her ears stopped its deafening pounding, surprising her with the volume of the dying city and its invaders, and brought her mind back to the present, immediate danger of the long lost battle.

Already, Griffonian warriors were aiming to swarm her, spotting her as lone, laden prey after disposing of their latest victims. She knew she couldn't fight them, not without sacrificing Rainbow who was growing heavier by the second as what little stamina she had left slowly waned. I'mma have to run.... The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth, amplified by the metallic flavour of blood as it trickled onto her tongue from a cut on her forehead, especially after her most recent failure, but the griffoness had little choice. "She's too spe-" She shook the stay words from her mind and pushed herself, saving her lungs solely for breathing. I don't have enough friends left to just screw Dash over....

Her breathing grew laborious, but Gilda pressed on, giving a mental sigh in relief as her pursuers eventually gave up, their bulkier builds making it near impossible to catch up with the sleek speedster despite her metal and living burdens. Even with the griffons off her tail, though, she didn't stop flying, but slowed down to a more reasonable pace to accommodate for her exhaustion. Already, the Trottingham skyline was fading away, noticeable only by the lights of the buildings and the fires slowly engulfing them, but there was no sign of a refugee camp for the displaced townsfolk anywhere in the distance. The.... The fuck are the rest of my soldiers...? We weren't fighting that long.... How could they have gotten so damn far?

She gave a shuddering sigh and slowly lowered herself to the ground, landing in a clearing spotted with the occasional fir. Gently, Gilda laid the mare on the grass, trying to ignore the blood pooling around her leg, and began stripping off her broken and severed plating, her talons shaking as she struggled to undo the leather clasps. "F-fuck.... J-just hang on, Dash. I'll get you help somewhere, but this damn armour is too heavy...." She fumbled with the straps, the metal pieces clinking together noisily, until her frustration got the better of her and she bit through the leather, snapping them apart one by one with her powerful beak.

Panting and finally free of the oppressive plate mail, the griffoness turned her attention back to the paling pegasus. Her even breaths had grown shallow, labored, and the steady gush of blood from her severed forelimb had slowed to a trickle. "Shit!" Gilda rushed to her friend's side, grabbing one of the least damaged armour strap she could from the flurry of leather littering the grass, and set to work on staunching the already diminished flow of Rainbow's life, an act made near impossible by the tremors in her fatigued limbs. "They don't... prepare you for this... in Junior Speedsters, eh Dee?"

A chuckle escaped the griffoness' throat, a weak, mirthless noise making a poor attempt to cover the ache of guilt swelling in her breast, as she worked on cinching the belt as tightly around the pegasus' stubbed leg as possible. Her throat and eyes burned, whether it was from the smoke she had flown through during her escape or her sorrow she couldn't tell, but she welcomed the distraction; it was difficult enough just trying to puncture new holes in the leather without her being focused on the imminent death of her only real friend. Finally, though, her perseverance paid off and her sharp nail pierced the thick strap, allowing her to finally secure the makeshift tourniquet and cut off any further blood loss.

A heavy, stuttered sigh escaped the girl's beak as she leaned back and gently pulled Rainbow into a weak embrace, tears running lines through the blood splattered across her once pristine feathers. I'm so sorry, Dash. It's all my fault. I could have saved you if I wasn't so damn.... Gilda grimaced as Dash twitched and whimpered weakly and loosened her already slipping hold on the mare. "D-don't worry, Dash. We'll get help. I'm sure somebody will notice us-" The crinkle of leaves behind her set Gilda's fur on end, but didn't have the time not energy to reach for any sort of protection. The young chimaera's body stiffened and slumped to the ground when a sharp crack rang through her skull followed by searing hot pain, and she instinctively pulled her friend as close as possible before she blacked out.

Hoofsteps played throughout the depths of the northern Whitetail Woods, resounding off the trunks of the evergreen trees as several troops of ponies stomped their way through the brush. Leaves and pine needles crunched underhoof, crushed into the frosty grass by steel-clad hooves, scaring away the few mildly brave forest critters remaining in the area. No other noise made itself present over the cacophonous march, barring the occasional startled cry of a squirrel or bird, and the lack of outside distractions was taking its toll on the travel weary soldiers, but none as heavily as the one-winged pegasus marching at their head.

The orange mare shifted her saddle packs, repositioning the heavier bags closer to her shoulders and off of her longsword. The packs weighed heavily on her trembling back as her eyes searched the sparsely lit forest and ears swivelled at the slightest shift in the air, twitching nervously. Her feathers ruffled on her one good wing as a lone pegasus in light chainmail alighted before her, momentarily halting the travelling lines, giving a lax salute as the high commander briefly acknowledged his presence. "Well? Any word from the outer units on the enemy positions?"

"No, ma'am. Nobody's seen anythin' of the griffons. There were a few fights with some small fries, but nothin' big, and not many are hurt. There ain't anythin' here 'cept for us and the critters."

Cloudy stared at the older pegasus, her incredulous expression hiding the rising ire in her stance. "Nothing? Really? You haven't found any trace of the Griffonians at all?"

"Not unless you count the small groups flying by, think they might've been scouts or something. Haven't even found any camps or nothin'."

The crippled commander scowled, stomping her bone covered hoof into the dirt with a snarl. "We've wasted too much time on this wild goose chase. You! Soldier!" She turned to a portly unicorn at her back, sweating profusely in his too tight armour despite the chill in the air, and tossed him a pouch from her pack. "Use this and light a flare to signal the eastern and western flanks. We're marching southwest to meet up with the pincer group as planned."

The pudgy pony nodded nervously and scampered off to find a clearing so the signal beacon could be lit. It didn't take him long to find a small break in the trees, large enough to allow the smoke to easily pass through, and he quickly set up a small circle of rocks to contain the magical blaze. "N-now..., was it two flashes for fall back, or three?" He shifted his coif back out of his view, grunting as it gripped his flabby face before undoing its strap and tossing the chain piece to the ground. "Man I h-hate those things. They don't make this stuff big enough for ponies like me."

He loosed a shaky chuckle and lit a small fire with a quick spark from his horn. "Okay, t-two flashes to retreat...." The blue-grey colt sprinkled a pinch of bright green dust on the flames, flinching back when it flared into a dazzling blue pyre and released a thick cloud of purple smoke. "Always surprises me.... Why do I have to do the signals? It's not like I'm good at it. Takes forever to do. And what if the griffons found me? I'd be dead! I can't fight!"

His grumbling quieted to nothing more than mumbles as the flames slowly began to peter out, no longer fueled by the dry grass or magical dust, and tossed a second hoofful of the powder into its origin. Another burst of energy surged into the mini inferno, momentarily illuminating the area with its dazzling display as the unicorn shivered in his shoes. "Stupid fire.... I can't see anything...."

"That's not such a bad thing, eh, little pony? You won't have to see allll the little things that want to take a bite out of that ample meal you call your flank." The unicorn screamed, his unusually high voice piercing the air like a siren, and loosed a bolt of blue from his horn in the direction of the voice. A round of disembodied cackling sounded from around the clearing, any trace of their origin lost in the glare of the signal pyre. "Such a funny pony. It's really a shame that we have to kill you and your friends, but orders are orders.... And you're such a tasty looking morsel...."

The colt whimpered, cowering near the heatless fire for protection as a group of twenty griffons stalked out from the broken line of trees, sinister grins plastered on their faces. "Please, don't.... I'm not even old enough to drink yet! I'm only here because I have to be; I never wanted to hurt anybody!"

"No need to worry your juicy little head. We aren't really going to kill you...." The leader, small by griffon standards, walked up to the colt and drew a sharp talon across his cheek, tracing a fine red scratch along the plump skin. "Give us what we need to know and we will gladly let you go."

"Anything! Please, I'll tell you anything I know, just let me go!"

Another round of laughter filled the little clearing as a pungent odour began to overpower the scent of dry pine, originating from the fat colt. "Aww, you really are scared, eh? Poor little chunk pissed in his armour. That's gonna be such a bitch to get the smell out of." She chuckled softly and sat in front of the pony, crossing her forelegs across her chest. "Now, if you want to go free like I promised, you're gonna have to tell me what I want.... What does that signal mean?"

"I-I don't know! I just d-do what I'm t-told." He yelped as the tingling draw of the griffoness' claw turned into sharp pain as she pressed it into his cheek, drawing a small line of blood from the puncture point. "It's a retreat signal! It's a retreat signal! We're moving southwest to meet up with the rest of our army! Please stop, I'm sorry!"

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" She cooed softly, lightening the pressure on his cheek and quickly lapped up the small trickle of blood as it ran down her rough digits. "So, what are you doing after you join your friends? What is your next target?"

"I d-dunno. I wasn't told. I just use the smoke signal whenever I'm told something new." He squirmed in his soggy armour, fresh tears streaking down his face as the signal fire slowly died down, sputtering as it reached its final breath. "Please, that's all I know. I'm just a relay pony. I- I don't even know how to fight!"

"Aww, well isn't that too bad? You didn't tell me everything I wanted to know, did you? I'm afraid you didn't hold up your end of the bargain." The Griffonian soldier smirked as the blue colt's face twisted into a deeper mask of terror and his trembling worsened and slapped the pony's shoulder. "I'm just playing with you, kid. Get out of here, but don't tell your crippled warchief that you met us."

The colt nodded furiously, never taking his eyes off the feathered cats even as he stumbled through the urine-soaked foliage as he backed away, much to his predators' delight when he tripped over a loose root and sprinted off the moment his eye contact was broken. "Give him a second then rip him to pieces. We can't let him tell that pegasus what we know."

The nearest soldiers grinned as they primed their wings for flight, yearning to tear into the helpless pony and feast on his fatty corpse. Already their stomachs were grumbling, aching for a meal better than the paltry catches they'd had to forage for over the past few days. A twig snapping in the distance was all the signal they needed to take off into the near-black forest, their appetites amplified by the thrill of their hunt, but they hardly made it past the tree line before they fell to the dirt, their bodies peppered with the shafts of arrows. Their death cries, horrible screeching caws more resembling grinding metal than animalistic noise, echoed through the immediate area, alerting the remaining griffon unit who immediately drew their curved blades and feather-carved bows

"Damned pig! I should have guessed they'd follow their relayer!" She growled, her throat vibrating in her frustration as a massive unit of ponies stepped into the break not too dissimilar to how she and her winglings had prowled out to surround their chubby target. "Any chance on letting us go? We promise not to tell our warchief what we know." She held up her claws in the air as if to surrender and chuckled, letting her words draw out in a singsong fashion.

The orange mare smiled, inclining her head to her soldiers who lowered their weapons at the unspoken command. "I'm sure something could be arranged, seeing how kind you were to let our young recruit go, but we're going to need something from you, first."

"Hah. As if we, Griffonian soldiers, would give in to you ponies' demands." She chuckled and shook her head, brushing a stray black crest feather from her face. "We are a proud race! We won't submit now or-" The whistle of an arrow zipping past the griffon's head to be embedded in the eye of one of her comrades ended her rant before she could even raise her voice, instead drawing out a terror-filled croak in its place.

"Well, that's a shame right there. A perfectly good bull griffon, dead before he could even sire his first, most likely. Nice shot, Bowstring." An older mare to the commander’s right smiled and gave a curt nod before stringing another arrow, this one aimed dead center on the wing leader’s beak. “As you can see, I’m much less forgiving than you seem to be. I have no qualms against killing you all right here, especially considering all of the trouble your kind have caused for me and Equestria.”

A dark scowl spread across the griffoness’ face, an act mirrored by the flightless pegasus, until the mare began to raise her hoof and fear finally registered in the foreigner’s mind. “No! Wait! Okay, you damn ponies. What do you want to know? Where our warchief is?” One of the griffons behind the wing leader squawked noisily, motioning angrily with his talons as he yelled at her in Prance-Griffonian, but she just waved him off with a scoff and angry caw of her own.

"What did he say?"

"The idiot was telling me not to say anything. What does it matter, though? I talk, we're more likely to live. If I don't then we're dead for sure, eh?" The girl shrugged and kick some dirt at the griffon behind her, silencing his outrage as he tried to clear the debris from his face.

Cloudy frowned, her jaw setting as she tried to catch some common phrasing, but shrugged it off with a sigh. “Fine. Anyway, you’re a wing leader, so you should know more than some lowly scout. Where is the bulk of your army? You were supposed to be in this forest.”

The northerner would have laughed had it not been for the threat of death staring at her from the curve of a shortbow, but could not help the small smile that crossed her features. “You haven’t figured it out yet, eh? We never had more than a few wings in this forest, most of which are gone or dead.” A soft chuckle escaped her throat, but she quickly swallowed her mirth when Bowstring’s line was drawn taut.

“Moon damn you all!” Cloudy stamped on a rock under her hoof, the dragon bone horseshoe glowing a soft white, and crushed it into dust. The ponies and griffons in the clearing all flinched as a small tremor shook the ground around her, but none dared move. “Farsight!” The chain-clad recon troop jumped to attention, saluting more stiffly than before, and stood tall. “Go find our young flare-colt and bring him back here, then tell our flanks to converge on the northern field.” A choked ‘Yes, ma’am’ was all the response the angered pony received before the stallion took flight to fulfill his orders.

“S-so, can we go now? If we don’t report soon, w-we’re all dead anyway.”

“No! I have other questions that need answered before I let any of you sorry lot off. Patronizing and hunting an innocent colt doesn’t sit too well with me, so let’s hope your answers are adequate.” Cloudy sighed and settled her wing back against her side, frustrated that she had let her emotions loose so easily. “Where are your other wings located? I need specific answers for all of the largest units.”

“You really haven’t received any word, eh? Most of our dragoons are in your city, uhm... Trottingham, I think. Probably killed everything in the area.” The girl watched the older mare, gauging her reaction before continuing on. “The rest of our soldiers that aren’t harassing your suppliers and smaller clutches are keeping your fool queen busy."

The armoured pegasus sighed, kicking the rock dust from her shoe, and turned her tail to the cornered hybrids. "One final question. Where is your warchief and his entourage?"

"I- I don't really know. I heard he was going to attack with our dragoons, but that news is old. I report to my own wing chief. Only he would have new information." Commander Horizons nodded and began her walk back into the dense woods, nodding almost imperceptibly to Bowstring and her subordinates, a motion that did not go unnoticed by the nerve-wracked griffoness. "Wait! You said you'd let us go!”

Cloudy stopped, glancing nonchalantly over her shoulder at the distraught griffons, and shrugged. “You’re free to go. Let’s just hope you can outfly our pegasi.” She scratched her chin and shrugged again before waving the soldiers off. “I’ll even give you a headstart. Seems fair, given the recent circumstances, eh?” The wing leader blanched, her beak moving noiselessly as she stared at the high commander, and backed away slowly, unable to will her wings to open. “You have five seconds. Five....”

Her winglings found their strength and took to the sky, speeding off into the silver-bathed night. “It seems you’re not as brave as you let on. Four.... It’s a shame that you couldn’t keep up your facade. Three....” The mare turned on her heels, drew the ornate longsword from her silver scabbard, and affixed it to her bracer, never once taking her eyes off the petrified girl. “I was looking forward to fighting something of my caliber, but all I’m left with is a boastful child with nothing more to her name than a slot between her legs. Two....” Cloudy stood in front of the griffoness, her weapon-bound hoof raised from the ground, and kicked back up onto her hind legs, using her one wing and years of practice to keep her steady on two hooves, and finally came eye to eye with the much larger being. “Any final words before I silence you and yours forever? One....”

Behind the pegasus, Bowstring nodded and aimed her bow up towards the boughs of the trees, igniting the shaft of her arrow with a small bout of magic, and shot the projectile into the sky. Overhead, hundreds of pegasi zipped over the clearing, momentarily blotting out the light of the moon and leaving only the glow of the pony commander’s magic-infused armor to illuminate her gruesome smile as she lifted her blade above the terror-stricken girl’s head.

“Wait! Please! I am with child!”

The pegasus cloud passed and light returned to the glade, revealing Cloudy’s confused frown and the cowering griffon below her. The white-maned mare lowered her sword to the ground and glowered at the coward. “And why should I spare you after all the trouble your kind has caused us? How many pregnant mothers and children have Griffonian soldiers murdered? How many have you murdered?”

“None! I’ve never touched a pony other than that chubby one! Not violently, at least.” The griffon broke down into fear-driven wails, tears streaking her dark plumage. “I’m just a small-town griffon from Colton, up north! I was born and raised there and my husband was a pony! Please don't kill me! I was only with them 'cause I didn't want to die!"

Cloudy's stern facade broke as the desperate griffon scrambled at her hooves, hugging them as she begged for her life in her thick northern accent, and she lowered herself back onto all fours after stowing her longsword. "You said was. Where is your husband now?"

"I- I don't know. I haven't seen him in months, not since day changed into night. I heard he was in the Royal Guard from one of the wing leaders when they destroyed Colton and that if I joined, I’d be able to see him again.” The girl sniffled, wiping her face on her leather armor, and sat back, keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact with the mare. “I haven’t yet, but if it’s true, I’d do anything to have him back. I won’t be able to raise our hyppogriff alone.”

“He’s likely dead. Most of the Royal Guard were wiped out in their assault on the queen’s castle. If he is still alive, then it’s possible that he’s among your ranks, but he’ll be dead either way. The queen does not tolerate turncoats and your warchief is going to use us as cattle should Griffonia win the war.”

“But they said they’d let him go. They’d honor that, eh?”

Cloudy sighed and sat down next to the griffon, pulling her head down to stare into her eyes. “You know your brethren. They’re a heavily tribal people, savage in their ways. They’ve been pining for our lands and flesh for ages, even if you haven’t noticed it.” The Colton griffoness tried to lower her head and look away, but Cloudy held her firm. "You've obviously been with these ones for some time; you've seen what they're like and changed to fit in. It may just be my age and my own loss getting to me, but I'll let you go. You'll come with us to our rendezvous point and I'll turn you towards Manehattan. It's where we were going after this if you'd prefer to stay with us, but after that you'll be on your own. Stay out of trouble, and if I see you back in armour, I will kill you."

The black plumed hybrid flinched, but nodded and stood, glancing ashamedly at the small cut on the cheek of the plump colt she had tormented as he tried to inconspicuously creep by. "H-hey! You, little pony!" The blue colt jumped, cowering away from the griffoness, but made no other move to retreat as a grown spread across her face. "I, uhm.... I'm sorry for earlier. I didn't want to hurt you, eh? You kinda reminded me of my husband, but I was more worried about saving my own tail." She smiled weakly as Cloudy sidled up to the colt and slipped away, content with her half apology.

The one-winged mare patted the stricken pony’s back and grinned. “Good job, soldier. You did well.”

He jumped, surprised by the sudden contact due to his focus on the retreating griffon, and spun to face his commanding officer, his trembling renewed. “Y-yes, ma’am....” He glanced back at the newest addition to their numbers being escorted into the forest with fresh shackles around her forelegs and swallowed nervously. “Uhm, ma’am? Can I ask a question?” The pegasus commander arched an eyebrow and the young pony took that as his cue to continue. “Why are you having me send signals? I’m useless in a fight and can barely even light the fires. Why don’t you use the pegasi like you have been?”

The scarred mare sighed and ruffled her feathers, using her wings to reposition her pack once more. “What’s your name, soldier?”

“B-Bluebell, ma’am. From Manehattan.”

“I’ll be honest, Bluebell. The signals are meaningless. They’re just smoke and fire, but they are good for drawing attention.” The fat colt gasped and stared wide-eyed at Cloudy, too stunned to speak as anger began to well in his chest. “Don’t think I was just using you. You’re too young to be fighting, even if the draft pulled you in, but you were just what we needed tonight. Did you notice how nothing happened whenever I sent you to signal with an escort?” Bluebell nodded slightly and stared down at his hooves as the pegasus smiled at him. “We would have been running blind for ages if you hadn’t been sending those flares, but now we have some idea of what to do.”

He nodded again, but cast a furtive look over his shoulder at the mass of ponies mulling about where the turncoat griffon has disappeared. “W-will she still try to kill me? Is it safe to keep her around?”

A soft pat turned the colt’s attention back to his superior who motioned towards the ponies’ supply line as it was hauled into the glade. “If she does anything, I’ll kill her myself, but it shouldn’t be an issue. For now, take some water from the cart and get yourself cleaned up. We’re leaving in twenty.” Cloudy watched as the young recruit nodded and sprinted off towards the carts, obviously eager to clean the stench of his shame from his armor, before turning to the bow-wielding unicorn at her side, her motherly facade replaced by an icy stare. “Bowstring, pull together a team from the current parties and hurry up to meet with the main forces in the south. Take a quarter of the soldiers and march back to New Mareland and assist our queen. If the girl was speaking the truth, then there will likely be heavy resistance. Moonspeed....”

Cloudy sighed, looking up into the radiant glow of the moon as her second-in-command trotted off to fulfill her orders, and closed her eyes and whispered into the sky. “Please, My Queen, keep Cherry safe....”

A thunderous explosion shook the black walls of the throne room of the pony queen's castle, dropping dust and debris onto the few milling about the vast chamber. A few whimpers could be hard over the echoing rumble, originating from the weak of heart amongst the castle's staff and one particular filly trembling underneath the relative sanctuary of her temporary guardian's stomach. Another explosion rocked chamber, eliciting wails of despair from the servant ponies and the occasional griffon and sending the little red foal into a fit of tears, and several tapestries adorning the walls fell from their hooks to cover the cold black floor and snuff out a few of the magical torches. Memories of past horrors; of griffons swooping down and slaughtering friends and family, her mother bleeding from a slash in her side, the look of delight in the eyes of the beast that had broken into their ranch home; flashed through the filly's mind with each teeth-rattling concussion until she couldn't bear it anymore.

Cherry Tart latched onto the grown unicorn's leg, quivering enough to cause the mare to nearly lose her balance, and shrieked into her fur, drowning out the moans filling the hall and drawing all attention to the pair. "No! No! Make it stop! Mooommy! Mommy! Make it stop! Mo-ommy!"

The maid, caught off guard by the outburst, glanced nervously to her peers, unsure of what to do with the despairing child, only to see her own bewilderment mirrored on their faces. She grimaced before gingerly nudging the cherry-yellow maned foal. "N-now, don't worry Miss Tart. E-everything will be j-just fine.”

“Nooooooo! I want Mommy! I want Moon Beam!” The filly kicked away from the pink mare, her eyes flicking frantically across the room and widening as she caught sight of each feather-headed cat. Their faces twisted into the cruel grin that still haunted her dreams. She could feel their eyes sizing her up with each step she made towards the massive metal doors, dissecting her into the meals she knew they would make out of her.

“M-miss Tart! What are you doing? The q-queen told us to stay in here!” The maid inched closer to Cherry, worry etched on her face as the girl began to push the portal open.

“No! Stay away!” The crowd crept closer to the earth filly, closing in around her like a pack of wolves that had finally cornered an injured fawn, but Tart screamed and bolted out into the open hallway with a scream. "Moon Beeeam! They're baaaack! M-make them go away!"

Cherry galloped through the halls, her tiny legs carrying her as fast as she could make them, until she ran face-first into a solid mass barring passage to the wing of the palace that housed her room. She fell to the floor, bawling incoherently, and tried to beat away the black barrier with foal-sized kicks and screams. It took her several moments to calm down enough from her terror-induced tantrum for her to remember the past few months, through the off-and-on siege of the castle, and the night her filly friend had left. It finally registered in her mind that the navy-coated foal wouldn't be waiting for her in the room she shared with Cloudy as she was wont to do when they were both up too early in the morning. "M-Moon Beam... isn't.... The-en M-miss- Queen Moon can h-help...." She sniffled, hiccuping as her emotions began settling down, and wiped her nose on her hoof, smearing a line of clear mucous across her fetlock.

Cherry’s journey to the central staircase moved slowly, her exhaustion finally catching up with her now that the explosions had stopped and her fear had dwindled down to a nervous chill and stopped its invigorating supply of adrenaline, and was punctuated by bouts of lost footing as her eyes drooped and exaggerated yawns. By the time she had reached the polished black steps, the filly was already half-asleep, struggling to remain awake to get the comfort she desperately needed. She stumbled on the first step when one of her forelegs didn't quite cover distance, and banged her chin on the volcanic stone. A choked sob escaped her lips as she pulled herself back up, the impact shocking into full alertness, and crept up the staircase with a fresh line of blood trickling down her lip. "O-owww...." She felt the sting of fresh tears resurfacing, but swallowed the pain down with a grimace only to slip over the top step as a new explosion echoed through the empty hall.

Cherry groaned and rubbed her face, darkening the cherry of her coat with a fresh smear crimson, as she stared down the dimly lit passage for the source of the new attack. Another quake shook dust from the rafters and the filly almost turned tail to run back to the false safety of the throne room when something else echoed through the hall. She recognized the sound, having heard it a multitude of times throughout her stay under the obsidian roof and the night queen's care, as Nightmare's voice and, more specifically, her scream. "Sh-she's angry again.... M-maybe I should- shouldn't...."

Her mind screamed at her to turn back, reminding her of what had happened to the last pony that had disturbed the night mare after her temper had flared and his deteriorating mental state, but the tone of her voice, a tone that only a child would notice, caught her attention. Cherry found herself inching towards the cacophony one step at a time, moving softly so her foalish gait wouldn't alert the monarch to her presence, until the intermittent explosions, now easily recognized as blasts of magic and godly crashes of hooves, were nearly deafening to the young pony's ears. The doors to the queen's chambers were closed, rattling with each conclusive force, but she could now clearly make out Nightmare Moon's words through the thick steel.

"-not care for lives of those spineless foals cowering in my throne room! Were it not for me, none of them would be any more than a smear upon the rubble of this castle!" Her words were punctuated by the slamming of her hooves against the floor and a splitting crack as the stone spider-webbed out from beneath the door. "Her life is more precious than all of them entwined!"

The filly heard a gruff clearing somebody's throat before another voice spoke up. "Now, Queen Moon, calm down. You know that-"

"I will not calm myself! I have spent nearly a month keeping this barrier up to protect their pitiful lives as they do nothing but whimper and moan for their lives!" Another explosion shook the floor, this one coming from beyond the walls, followed by a pained scream of rage from the alicorn. "Were it not for those damn foals, I would have razed those pathetic mutants to the ground and fed them to the beasts of Tartarus aeons ago!"

The earth pony shivered, chilled by an immaterial wave that swept past her body, but pressed herself against the dream between the doors, silently and slowly paying them until there was a crack large enough to peep through. The sight beyond the portal took Cherry's breath away, simultaneously bewildering and awing the foal. The once perfect, clean room was in shambles. Pieces of debris, previously beautiful furniture and artwork, lay seen across the floor, most of it burnt and crumbling. The majority of the tapestries that had adorned the walls had been reduced to nothing more than ashes and leftover silk while the few that remained were singed and permanently soot-stained. The walls and floors, riddled with cracks and missing chips, looked like they were ready to collapse, yet remained firm as if through the sheer will of the queen alone. Cherry likened it to a memory of a stampede she had witnessed early in her short length of years, the act having left nothing behind but disaster, and yet, despite all of this, there was still a magnificence to the scene.

The entire room was awash in a radiant white light with small, partly ribbons floating through the air like miniature serpents. The ethereal glow was supported by black tendrils, each one snaking out from a small onyx orb hovering near the ceiling that pulsed like a beating heart.

At the center of it all, though, was the midnight black queen, reclining across the remnants of her once majestic bed. Her turquoise eyes, typically piercing and commanding, were bloodshot baggy with lines of her fuschia makeup running in steaks across her cheeks. The sleek black fur she was known for was matted and disheveled, and yet she still managed to awe the filly with her majesty, but that wasn't what quite caught the girl's eye. The astral mane, that snaking, undulous mass that had always amazed the filly with its star-speckled beauty, hung limply from the mare's head like a roiling navy curtain after a heavy storm.

Cherry shivered as the queen's eyes passed over the door, the deathly coldness in the turquoise orbs drawing out her darkest terrors even when it was apparent that she wasn’t the meant to be the recipient of the gaze. Nightmare’s fury was almost palpable in the air, seething and pulsing from the orb at the room’s center, and yet the foal could see something else in those eyes as they paid no heed to the near-unseeable crevice. She yearned to be close to the mare, to comfort her as only a child could, but her fear of punishment acted as an uncrossable mire, keeping her hooves planted firmly in place at the metal barrier as the queen’s guest, the massive minotaur lord, stepped into view.

“Your Majesty, I know how you feel, but you can’t let those feelings addle your judgement. Those ponies and griffons downstairs need you here.”

“Over a week has passed since my child has gone feral and my link with Twilight was severed!” Nightmare stomped her hoof to emphasize her anger, making the metal frame of her bed give a metallic cry of protest.

“Loss is something I am not unfamiliar with, Your Majesty, but you are a queen and your subjects need their ruler.” He stood over the bed, seeming as if he filled all of the empty space in the room with his presence as he maintained his place.

“What do you, a mere whelp in years when compared to my eternity of life, know of my pain!?” The giant flinched back as the alicorn’s horn pulsed black, sending out a shockwave from the spell’s source that would have slammed the foal’s peephole shut had it not been for her standing in it. “I care not for those foals! They are nobodies from a line of nobodies! They hide in my castle, under my power, like a bushel of terrified rabbits in their hole while my Twilight is missing!”

“They are...” Jahurl crouched down to the mare’s level, meeting her eye where no other would have dared. “But.... If it weren’t for those foals, then you wouldn’t have your throne. Your army also lies in wait inside that barrier, and my people as well. If you go flying off to save a dead mare, then you leave your last bastion only allies to the Griffonians.” Nightmare Moon glared at the bull-headed man, who returned the look, unfaltering under her intense gaze.

“What is an empire without the mare you love!? What measure of solace do I receive from this castle without those I maintain it for!?” The onyx queen stood on the broken mattress, leaning over the crouching bull with an imposing aura. “Let them die! All of them! I would sacrifice the lives of every creature on Equus Prime to Tartarus if only to bring her back!”

“Then why haven’t you?”

Nightmare opened her mouth, prepared to scream her rebuttal at the waiting minotaur, but the words died in her throat. She struggled to find her voice, her lips moving without sound, and found that she couldn’t. The words that she wanted to yell, to crush him with, wouldn’t come. She swallowed the lump that had begun to well in her throat and turned her attention to her ruined bedding. “B-because....” She gave a shuddering gasp, her anger slipping away as her body shook and dropped to her stomach. “Because she- she would not....”

Jahurl lifted the mare’s head with a calloused hand and looked into her watering eyes, a grim frown on his muzzle. “You knew that it was a fool’s mission. Lady Sparkle was a powerful mare, but she was still a child when it comes to war and yet you sent her anyway.” The queen struggled to look away from him, but he held her firm with his substantial strength. “I sent one of my own with her, one that I cared for like my own child, knowing that she would not return. I know what it is you’re feeling now, but you can’t let it control you. You have to remain standing for those that can’t without you.”

“I-I know- I.... I promised her that-that I would protect h-her.... Sh-she was relying on me... and I failed her.... N-nothing but....”

Tears began to well in the emotionally fortuitous mare as she struggled to break free of the minotaur’s grasp, her efforts becoming weaker and weaker as she slipped further away from the protection her mental shell had always provided. She pushed at his arms with her hooves, twisting her head painfully to escape, until her walls finally crumbled. A sob wracked her body as the burning liquid ran down her cheeks. She choked, coughing as the first cry slipped past her lips, sputtering incoherent noise as her attempts to protest the emotion were drowned in her sorrow. The minotaur lord smiled softly and stood, letting the mare’s head sag to the bed as he turned to spare the monarch her dignity. Nightmare gripped the bedding for support, clinging to it as if it was the sole lifeline in a monsoon, not noticing the eep of a foal caught red-hoofed outside the door or Jahurl’s quiet urging of the foal to join her.

Tart crept up to the queen’s bed, watching the mare nervously from just out of view, until she had built up the courage to climb up beside her. Cherry swallowed loudly, nuzzling the alicorn as lightly as possible. “Uhm.... M-miss Moon?” Looking up towards the source of the nudge, Nightmare let loose a piercing wail, a terrible shrieking cry that would forever haunt the dreams of the cherry-maned foal, as she desperately leaned into her tiny embrace.

Author's Notes:

Author’s Notes: Well now, who would have thought Nightmare would finally break her shell and show some real emotion for once? Me, of course. Anyway, sorry this one took so damn long. There will be more to come across the board as I work on and finish the rest of the stuff, but, as for this, you’re gonna hafta hold onto your seats, 'cause I already told ya these are part of the final leg.

I'm probably gonna be working in the next chapter of UD in between work and stuff, so prepare your bodies for some adorable fillies and awkward situations. Who knows? Maybe something interesting will happen. Anyway, the next chapter of ATFN is going to be relatively fun, so here's hoping that I'll find the time to concentrate without too many distractions! Anyhoof, that's it for today! Peppy out~!