Just before Dyntos thrust his sword into my chest, I heard a crashing noise. It was enough of a noise to distract Dyntos for a split second. That's all I needed.

I grabbed the blade of his sword and pushed, sending him stumbling backwards. I staggered to my feet, still weak from the battle we just had. Suddenly, I felt a pair of talons grasp my shoulders.

"You okay?" a somewhat familiar voice asked from behind me. I grunted. "Quick, come with us. No time to lose."

I put Ihsoylr and my shield away and looked around the room. Dyntos was being held down by two other griffons, but he was struggling hard and would probably be free soon. Three other griffons were escorting Twilight, Applejack, and Spike outside.

"What's going on?" I demanded weakly as the griffon helped me walk. When someone's cut your leg with a sword, it's a lot harder to move.

"We're making our first move," the griffon replied. "You gotta come with us. We'll take you to our B.O."

"...what?"

"Base of Operations. I complained about the name too, but our leader ignored me. C'mon."

I didn't pay much attention to what happened next. I know another griffon saw my condition and carried my weapons for me, making it easier to move. It felt like we were walking slowly, but we were definitely making progress.

My vision started to blur, and I collapsed again as everything faded to black.

The eighth thing I learned today was that I get more sleep from blacking out than I do from just sleeping.

...what? You thought it'd be something important? Well, way to get your hopes up. It's me. What do you expect?

I don't know how long I slept, but it was too long.

I awoke looking up at a stone ceiling. I heard a few ponies – or griffons – talking in what sounded like a nearby room. I groaned as I sat up. My leg had bandages roughly wrapped around it, trying to cover the wound caused by Dyntos's blade. Looking around, I saw that the room I was in was small; it had nothing but a cot I was lying on, my items in the corner, a wooden door, and a small bedside table with an empty glass on it.

Probably had water or something in it that they were giving me while I slept, I thought to myself as I picked up the glass. There were still little drops of liquid in it. I put it back and checked myself.

Aside from the bandaged leg injury and any other wounds I had from the entire trip so far, I was fine. My knives had been returned to my shoes and my other stuff was within easy access, so I figured I was safe. I sighed in relief and opened the wooden door.

It led to a hallway, which I was at one end of. Along the hallway were a couple of other doors that likely led to rooms just like the one I came from. One larger door at the end, however, caught my attention.

The muffled voices seemed to be coming from behind it. I walked up to it and listened. The door was thick, though, and I couldn't eavesdrop, so I just shrugged and knocked loudly. The speaking stopped, and a few seconds later, the door opened and a griffon's face peeked out.

"He's awake!" the griffon called back into the room before opening the door and motioning for me to enter. I walked inside, limping due to my leg, and looked around.

The room was full of griffons. There were at least ten or fifteen of them, and along with them were Twilight, Applejack, and Spike. The dragon and earth pony were awake, though they looked a little exhausted and beat up. Twilight was out cold, and something wrong with her made me do a double take.

Her horn had been broken off.

The base of her horn remained, not bleeding or dangling off of her forehead or anything like that. The rest of her horn, though, from the tip to about two-thirds of the way down, was gone.

"We got attacked on the way back, and one of Dyntos's followers snapped it off," the griffon behind me explained. He walked in front of me and waved a talon. The other griffons all assembled into a line, no longer blocking the way between me and my friends.

"What the hell is going on here?" I asked, surprisingly calmly. I looked at the griffon in confusion. "And why do I feel like I've seen you before?"

He extended his claw. "Caboose, leader of the Griffon Resistance, at your service."

Caboose...oh yeah, one of the guys I beat up when I first got here. Small world. I hesitantly shook his claw with my hand. Wait...

"Griffon Resistance?" I asked, as though I didn't believe him. (I didn't.)

"A group of civilians of Mt. Griffon who don't believe in Dyntos's rule," Caboose clarified. "He didn't know about us before, so we were able to plan in secret to overthrow him. He's been an absolute tyrant for the last few months."

"He's completely changed," one griffon spoke up. "He used to be kind, but...suddenly, he began working us all even harder, executing any slackers, and trying to 'take care of' anyone from outside who came in or near the mountain."

"Didn't he do that previously?" I asked.

"No, he just chased them away or ignored them," Caboose replied, shaking his head. "Something's happened to him, and we want to figure out what."

"I thought you were going to overthrow him?"

"We can't figure out what's happened if he's still in power. If we can take control, we'll have all the time we need to figure out what's going on. If we can fix it, we'll give him back the throne."

"It was going good until yesterday, when we had to reveal ourselves to save you and them," a female griffon added, gesturing to Spike and the two mares. "Then Dyntos found out about us, and now he's looking for us. Thankfully, Caboose had this hiding place planned for such an emergency."

I nodded, understanding so far. Suddenly, I thought of something. "Where are the others?" I asked.

"We have griffon members undercover looking for information outside," Caboose responded.

"No, not other griffons. Ponies. Where are they?" I demanded. "I see Twilight, Applejack, and Spike. Where are the other four?"

Caboose blinked in surprise. "We...didn't find them. They weren't with you."

"Did you check the hospital?"

He shook his head. "If your friends are there, we'll see if we can send someone out to fetch them. But we may not have much time. Unless they could get away and hide, Dyntos would likely have already captured or killed them for...well, being ponies."

Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy could probably have gotten away...but Rainbow, in her current state... "So, why are we here?"

"Hm?"

"Why are we hiding out here and not out there finding them?!" I yelled.

"Rylan, we can't just rush out there in the middle of the city," Spike interrupted. I looked at him. "The entire place is filled with griffons on the hunt for anything not a griffon. Plus, they probably know who the members of the Resistance look like, so we can't send them out."

"Well, screw the griffons, screw the Resistance, and screw the city! If none of you are gonna do anything, then I will!" I shouted back. I walked back through the door I entered through and slammed it shut.

A few seconds later, I opened it again and poked my head through.

"Where's the exit?" I asked casually.

About an hour later, I was sneaking through Mt. Griffon with Applejack and one of the griffons. He said his name was Stalwart, and I said I didn't care what his name was unless it would get the ponies back.

I didn't take all of my weapons, since I knew the more stuff I had, the less sneaky I would be. I just took my knives in my shoes. I hoped we wouldn't actually have to fight anything.

"Where's the hospital?" I whispered to Stalwart. He pointed in one direction, so we headed off that way. You're probably wondering why we went to the hospital if the ponies probably weren't there. Well, with a bit of luck, we'd find some clue as to where they had gone, if they escaped.

If they hadn't escaped, at least we'd know.

When we arrived at the hospital, we hid in a nearby alley with a clear view, keeping behind a small pile of boxes. Looking out, we saw the building was being ransacked by griffons. They were tearing the place up, not finding anything. Applejack swallowed, but I put a hand on her back to keep her steady.

"If they're looking, that means they haven't found the others yet," I whispered. "If nobody was here, then we'd have to worry. For now, we know they're safe."

Applejack nodded, and we looked for a way in. Having Stalwart fly us in a top window would attract too much attention, and there's no way we'd be able to fight our way through. There wasn't any entrance we could see.

"Dammit," I cursed under my breath. "What now?"

"We can't fight and we can't sneak," Stalwart muttered. "What other options do we have?"

"Retreat or give ourselves up," Applejack replied. "Ah don't like either of those options."

"If only we could somehow impersonate one of Dyntos's guards, we could just walk by them," I grumbled. "Of course, it's hard to pretend you're something a completely different species than you."

"I could try it, but I don't really look like a griffon guard," Stalwart mentioned.

I looked at him, then at the guards. "Do griffons look different to each other, but not ponies and humans? Because all griffons look alike to me if they don't have facial hair or different genders."

"And Ah bet all humans would look the same ta me," Applejack snipped.

"Touché."

"We'll have to create a diversion of some sort," Stalwart said, putting his claw to his chin...do beaks have a chin? I never bothered researching.

"A diversion? Oh, that's easy," I said. "Just make some noise."

"Unless we're going to give ourselves away, all we could do is make just enough noise to get a few guards to notice us," Stalwart replied. "We need all of them to notice us, not a few. There must be twenty guards there."

"Then we'll work our way up." I picked up one of the boxes we were hiding behind and climbed over the wall. Moving swiftly to avoid being noticed too early, I pulled the giant box over myself and hid under it. "Now, make enough noise to get a few guards over here, and then hide," I called out to them.

I don't know what they did, but I heard a few loud thumping noises, so it sounded like Applejack was bucking a wall or something. I couldn't tell if it worked at first, but after a moment, I heard footsteps. Or rather, talon steps.

"Around here?" a muffled female voice asked. I heard another grunt in confirmation. "I don't see anything, Sigma. I think your old age is catching up to you."

"I heard it too, Omega," another voice chimed in. This one was scratchy and hurt my ears to hear.

"Well, I didn't," the female – apparently named Omega – snapped back. "Let's just get back to our posts."

Before they could move, I reached out, grabbed a leg, and swung hard in the direction of Stalwart and Applejack. I heard the scratchy voice from before scream, and the sound of crashing boxes.

Since just kicking a wall won't get all the guards over here, maybe that will!

While the three griffons began yelling at each other for the griffon I grabbed screaming and him claiming he was attacked, I slowly snuck away, Solid Snake-style.

Well, not really. I tried, but after a moment, I felt the box lifted off of my body, and I looked up to see the three guards, looking at me with both annoyance and amusement.

"You could've at least let me throw the box off myself to make it look more awesome," I complained.

"Get him," Omega sighed. Sigma and the other guard looked at each other, shrugged, and hoisted me up by the shoulders. The guards ransacking the hospital came over, leaving it open.

"What is this?" one of the guards asked. He seemed to be the captain.

"I think it's the human, Alpha," Omega replied. She looked at me.

"Woof woof. I'm a dog," I said dully. Many claws met faces.

"Lord Dyntos considers this thing a threat?" Alpha groaned. "He must be getting weak."

"To be fair, there was only one of him, and he didn't take me by surprise," I stated. Alpha sighed in annoyance. "So...this is the part where you kill me, right?"

"Yes," Omega growled, holding her claw to my throat.

"Hold on," Alpha ordered. He stepped forward. "Human, I am willing to make a deal with you."

"Sorry, I don't have any money."

"I don't care about money, human. I care about information."

"You know what I care about? My name. Rylan. Call me that rather than 'human'. It makes me feel like I'm being interrogated by aliens." Which I technically am...

"Fine, Rylan. Tell me where your friends are, and we may let you off easy." Alpha looked like he was getting even angrier.

"I don't know." I shrugged as well as I could while being held up by my shoulders.

"Tell me!" he demanded.

"No, seriously, I don't know."

"I am running out of patience!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Well, if that's the case, you shouldn't be destroying the hospital."

He paused. "What?"

"You're losing your patients."

There was a pause, suddenly followed by various griffons laughing as they caught on. Alpha glared at them, silencing them.

"You want to play that way, I see," he grunted.

"The way with puns? Yes. I like that way. It makes me laugh."

"I mean the hard way."

"Sorry, I'm straight."

"SHUT UP!" Alpha was really losing it. "Why must you torment me so!"

I glared. "You're holding me prisoner, yelling at me, demanding answers, and trying to kill me and my friends. And yet you accuse me of tormenting you?"

He punched me in the face. "Where. Are. The. Ponies."

Ignoring my bleeding nose, I just shook my head. "I told you, I don't know. If they're not in there, I have no idea. I'm out here looking for them anyway."

"Alpha, I think he's telling the truth," one griffon piped up from near the back, working his way to the front. Alpha glared at him. "If his friends were with him, why would he be out here all alone?"

"Exactly!" I voiced my agreement. "Out of curiosity, sir, can I call you Logic? That seems to be your skill."

He smirked. "Actually, my name's Stalwart."

PLOT TWIST! How did I not recognize him? ...oh right, every griffon looks the same to me.

Suddenly, I felt one of the griffons holding me up get bucked forward, and my left arm was freed. I punched the other griffon, forcing him to let me go, and rolled back away from the crowd as Stalwart raked his claw across Alpha's face.

Well, apparently griffons CAN'T tell each other apart that easily, I thought as I caught my breath. I looked to my side and saw a certain orange earth pony looking at me.

"This part of yer plan?" Applejack yelled at me over the commotion as we got into the brawl.

"No, but if you managed to check the hospital, it works!" I shouted back as I kicked one griffon in the chest. However, I made the mistake of kicking with my bad leg, meaning I ended up not doing much aside from hurting it more.

"Stalwart flew in and checked while Ah waited here. Nothing!"

"Well, then buck," I grunted as I punched a male griffon between the legs. He stumbled backwards, knocking into another. I used this brief open moment to pull out my knives. "Once we're done here, we'll have to look all over the city."

"That might not be very easy," Stalwart yelled, flying back beside me. "This fight's bound to attract attention. Even if we wrap it up quickly, we'll be lucky to get away before some other griffons find us."

"Then you go look!" I yelled, slashing another griffon's wing. "If we're doomed to get caught, don't let it be all of us!"

"I won't leave either of you behind," Stalwart replied through gritted teeth.

"Yes you will," I ordered. "We're in a lose-lose situation here. Either we lose this battle, or we win and get into another, and the cycle repeats indefinitely. Unless we can somehow take down literally the entire kingdom, we're dead meat."

"Rylan's right!" Applejack shouted, joining us. "Stalwart, ya go find the others! Tell 'em what happened to us, and finish the job!"

"Us?" I glared. "AJ, you're going with him!"

"No can do, sugarcube," she said with a smirk.

"Yes can do, sugarcube!" I stabbed one griffon guard in the throat. "Go with Stalwart and get out of here! I'll down as many of these guys as I can!"

"With a leg and mindset like the ones ya got, yer gonna need help," Applejack retorted. She bucked one griffon in the head as he stumbled forward.

"Rylan, I think she has a point," Stalwart insisted. "Besides, if she came with me, it'd make us easier to spot and get us in this exact situation again. And if we split up, it'd just defeat the point of gathering all the ponies!"

"Fine, do whatever you want!" I shouted, tired of arguing. "Just do it!"

Stalwart flew off without a word. Two griffon guards tried to fly after him, but I threw my knives at them. One knife missed completely, but the other nailed one of them in the side. He fell down, and the other guard forgot about Stalwart to fly down and help his buddy.

And now I had no weapons.

"Rylan!" Applejack yelled. I felt myself being tackled down by a griffon, and he – or she, I couldn't tell – restrained my arms. I struggled, but couldn't do anything. A grunt and thud from a few feet away told me that Applejack was in a similar predicament.

"Take 'em to the dungeon!" Alpha's voice called out, sounding much more pained. "We'll deal with them later. We need to find the other ponies!"

Something hit me in the back of my head, and I blacked out once again.

Next Chapter Preview:

"Ya didn't have to do that, ya know."

"I know I didn't have to. I still did it. Problem?"

"No..."

"Didn't think so. Now, what do we do next?"

"Ah...don't know, Rylan. Ah don't know."

"...neither do I."