The Second Griffon War (Main Thread)

Dreamweaver
Anonmare

Cassian nods his head to the pony who have to order to take positions. Even though some were reluctant in accepting a stranger's help, he's earned some trust after helping with bringing in the injured.

Once he stepped out with the others, he rows of different branches of guards taking positions in the front lines. But that's not what surprised him the most. Beyond the horizon stood a gaint red figure standing behind the enemy forces. A figure he was quite familiar. 'Oh no. You gotta be kidding me', he thought at he looked straight at the red Dragon that was actually standing with the enemy forces. He didn't know how the Griffons gained the favor of one of his own kind, but one thing was absolutely certain. "I Can't let him get too close to the troops. They won't stand a chance", he says to himself as he fired his hookshot and take toward the rooftops for higher ground. He quickly makes his way running across the rooftops to find the highest point closest to the front lines.

Stopping at where all the rooftops end, he stared down at the gargantuan red version of myself, preparing for the right moment to strike. Cassian may not be able to stand a chance against a Dragon head to head. But he does however knows a Dragons weaknesses.

Galagos sat outside the train station, ready to guard it when they needed to defend once more. The Princess had given his job and even though he had completed it in the first wave the second might do the same again. The night made no difference for Galagus to see. Pheonix's sharp eye sight made it all to easy to spot things. However the bird itself was tired from the constant flying and use of fire to help file Galagus's Flames when needed. Galagus's understood this and laid down with Flax on a patch of dirt he had cleared of arrows. The arrows he had collected he placed in a ring around with the tips pointed to the sky, forming a miniature barrier around him. It was much, much less would it stop anypony, but building it helped clear his mind from the blood shed. But for now he waited for morning and rested with Flax perched on his head.

Arc nodded to Silver. "Right, I'm staying here to maintain my shield like yesterday. Shining what's-his-face is gonna need all the help he can get." The second layer rose over Shining's shield: a barrier to buffer the attacks. Silver nodded with a grin.

"Right. Stay safe."

"I'm not the one in trouble here. Give 'em h-" As Arc said that, the red dragon crashed down behind the griffon lines. Arc groaned. "Are you shitting me? A DRAGON?!" He sighed. "Man, I want to dissect that thing and study it, but now I won't get the chance..." He sighed and nodded to Silver. "Hey, if you can, grab me an organ or two of that thing when you kill it," he said rather nonchalantly. Silver nodded as he ran out. Since 2000 years had passed, neither him nor Arc had retained their great statuses in the military. Arc was once in the Eclipse guard, long ago, though that time has faded into obscurity. Even still, they were ready to fight all the same... or, at least, Silver was.

Expellix woke up only feeling a little bit better than when he had gone to sleep yesterday. While he was glad that he had at least gotten some kind of rest, it didn't seem to do him all that much good; he would probably need quite a bit more before he had recovered completely. He wasn't used to making such extensive use of his magic day-in and day-out like this, he was used to only small bursts throughout his relatively long life. Maybe it would do him some good to find some way to train...?

Regardless, he still had a job to do and he would be damned if he wasn't going to do it right. He helped the wounded soldiers as best he could, aiding Trixie in getting them ready way before it was actually the time of the fight. It would certainly help, if he was completely honest. They had cut it a little bit close last time because of some of the stragglers, not to mention, it probably would have been nice if Shining Armor had gotten there at the start of the fight just for that reassurance. At least they had made it just fine anyway.

Dreamweaver
He made his way over to Trixie. He wanted to make sure that she had properly healed after the ordeal on the battlefield yesterday, two arrows was certainly nothing to scoff at. Then again, she would probably be dealing with even more arrow wounds by the end of this. "Hey," he greeted. "Are you doing alright?"

Dreamweaver

Starlight awoke very early, and immediately checked on Trixie. Once she was assured her friend was okay, she helped her escort the injured to the station under the cover of night. Once that was done, she stood beside Trixie, still yawning and rubbing sleep out of her eyes until the sun rose. Today, she wasn't going to waste all her magic like she did last time. Shewas going to stay back and fire spells efficiently. Not that she was in any danger of running out of magic. Every time Trixie limped or showed any sign that she was sire, Starlight would feel her anger bubble away inside her mind, ready to be drawn out and used.

That's when she saw it. The Griffin forces had a god damn Dragon. Starlight was suddenly very scared. Griffins were no match for her but one Dragon? She didn't stand a chance against a Dragon. If she hadn't made up her mind to stay at the station and keep the Griffins back in the company of the majority of Ponyville's forces, she had now.

With a sigh, Tech nodded to Cassian, as the shield came up and all hell broke loose. he took the time to repair dents and his body in general. Once it was over, and his acquaintance had already ran away to rejoin the fight. After ducking behind the cart for a few moments, he took the chance to rejoin the fight, heading back into the fray.
__

Once the fighting was over, he had taken the time to undo the best he could all the damage he had sustained. By the end on it, he was covered in scratches, dents almost every part of his body. He would normally rest or sleep if he were a normal pony, however that was not the case, so he took to the streets thinking to himself and patrolling the now empty ponyville.
_____

When the morning came, he already knew what to do, where to go, etc. He decided this time to not be Directly on the front lines this time, but a few layers back, to focus more on spellcasting and mostly to prevent as much damage to himself when possible. Both armies were at a standstill, waiting for the signal to fight and both sides were getting restless. He took the chance to think about what he had got himself into. Throwing himself to the front lines. To think he had only really acclimated to being in the town a week ago and gotten to know a few who lived here, and now there was full out war. The thought was absurd, really...

Anonmare Cyan Hide Dumbledoof NevermoreStarsign Wylfen Shepard Sinensis Latios Assailant

A Bloody Dawn

As Celestia took hold of the sun and began to ease it into the sky, the safety of night slipped away from the Equestrians. As the night disappeared, it was replaced by the pink, red and yellow tones of early morning. The griffon army began to form ranks at their position roughly a mile away. You could have heard a pin drop, such was the silence between the two armies. As morning rose to prominence, neither side knew quite what to do.

The Equestrians were terrified of the charge that was about to come, meanwhile the griffons were terrified of charging. Not only did they get slaughtered yesterday, but now the airship was hovering above Ponyville, ready to assist the ground troops where it could. And the train they had been ordered to destroy was armored with laser cannons! The griffons had not expected that. And then, of course, there was the Princesses. Since the first day the war had started, Princess Luna had wreaked havoc among the griffon ranks... And now Princess Celestia was here too? That disheartened the griffons.

Now here the griffons were, fear in their hearts, staring into the cold faces of the Death Knights and Templars that they would be charging...

... An ear-splitting roar resounded from the back of the griffin's lines, resulting in both armies having to cover their ears. Apparently their dragon had gotten bored with the waiting.

A flap of its massive wings sent nearby griffins onto their sides from the enormous waves of air.

As the dragon flew in, so to did the griffin army charge...

Wylfen Shepard
Unfortunately for Cassian, moving closer to the front lines also meant that he was closer to the griffins when they started charging. And seeing as how griffins could fly rather well... He was about to have company. It didn't take long at all for a group of griffins to spot him alone on the rooftop. Solitary prey... But it seemed that they had heard of him, as they were being rather cautious in their approach.

Five griffons flew up to meet him. Two landed on either side of him, and one stayed in the air. The one in the air had a spear, while the ones on his left had maces and chain armor while the ones on his right had daggers and no armor. "Surrender, and maybe we can find a place for you in our army..." One of the dagger-wielding griffons to his right said while flipping the dagger around in his hand.

Train Station

Anonmare Cyan Hide Dumbledoof NevermoreStarsign Wylfen Shepard Sinensis Latios Assailant
It didn't take long at all for the griffons to get to the train station. Ponyville simply wasn't defensible and they could easily fly over the ground troops. Pegasi and Unicorns couldn't kill them all by the time they reached the train station...

Over 400 griffons arrived at the train station, and began assaulting the forces surrounding it. For now, they ignored the force-field. It just didn't seem worth it to try and attack that when they could injure or kill Equestrian soldiers instead.

Latios
Of the 400 griffons that arrived at the train station, three of them spotted Galagus and saw him as an easy target. He was blind, after all! They didn't know what to make of the Phoenix at all, but they didn't care at the moment. All three of them advanced on him with short-swords.

Sinensis
Seeing as how he wasn't directly on the front lines, Tech wouldn't be stuck in melee combat. From this position he could either lob spells over the front lines and into the griffon ranks, or fire at the griffons flying above. However, the griffons were smartening up and this time were carrying javelins and bows with them which they were raining down on the casters below in an attempt to thin their numbers or simply disrupt their spells...

Assailant Anonmare
Silver would come to stand beside a massive unicorn clad in full-plate and wielding a magically humming great-sword. The stallion had a pure white coat and black mane, with a single grey strip in it. Behind him stood a charcoal-black unicorn mare with a red mane. Judging from how closer they were standing and the subtle way they were comfortable around each other, it was fair to assume they were a couple. "Name's Lucian, that's Adali." He says while motioning to the mare. "Best to know the names of those you fight beside, yes?" the large stallion said with a nod in his direction.

Everything about this stallion was saying 'Vindicator'. One of the elite Solar Guard groups.

Silver and Lucian were side by side when the griffons charged the train station. After the initial clash and bloodshed, both were left standing. Soon the fighting became less organized and it was a free for all. 12 griffons charged at the three of them. Two went down with a stroke of Lucian's great-sword, which cut through their armor and bone in one fell swoop...

Dumbledoof Cyan Hide
As Trixie and Starlight showed up at the train station, she gave Expellix a nice hug. "I am doing fine, I think." Trixie said while setting him down again. "Look, I don't normally say this but... Thank you. Sincerely. You really helped me and I appreciate that. Rest assured that if you ever need me in return, I won't let you down." She looked off towards the griffins beginning to charge their way. "Again, I suggest us three stick together. Friends till the end, right Starlight?..." She looked over at Expellix and winked. "Welcome to the group."

A few minutes later, and it was chaos. The forces guarding the train station clashed violently with the griffon invaders, sparks flying everywhere as death screams filled the air. A group of 10 griffons landed nearby, and were almost immediately massacred as a pillar of holy fire burst forth from the sky and lit them on fire. Trixie wiped some sweat from her brow and her horn stopped glowing, and after that the pillar disappeared.

Anonmare
The ground troops had their job, and the Princesses had theirs. Their duty was to protect those soldiers from the dragon. Seeing as how raising the sun took some energy from her sister, Luna decided to take the initiative for now and took off after the dragon.

This dragon was an elder. It was nearly twice the size of their airship, which alone was larger than the entire hospital of Ponyville. This thing could run through Ponyville and level it. But seeing as how it was old, it knew what the Princesses were capable of...

It was still surprised when Luna met it halfway across the battlefield and punched it in the face. The dragon dropped 50 feet to the ground, where it landed with a thud. It wiggled around onto its feet again and gave a grinding sort of laugh. This was going to be fun...

It looked up at Princess Luna and let loose a massive cone of fire from its mouth. The heat was enough that it set some of the grass outside Ponyville on fire... And this dragon was still a quarter mile away from the city.

Princess Luna surrounded herself in a globe of ice, but that couldn't stop the full effect of the breath...

Dreamweaver Cyan Hide
Expellix nodded his head at Trixie. "Well, of course. I would be an asshole if I let you die just because I don't like most unicorns." He said, though squirmed in the hug. It was nice and all, but he didn't like being picked up. It was a little pet peeve of his.

He caught sight of the wink. Friends with a unicorn... never thought he would see the day. "Let's give the griffins part two of our welcome to Ponyville, shall we?" He said, watching Trixie incinerate the griffins that had recently landed.

Another batch of them came charging up, clump up together like the idiots they were. Now, he wasn't much battle trained himself, but staying close together like that probably wasn't a good idea when you had guys throwing magical explosions and stuff at you. Expellix didn't really take advantage of it, instead he grabbed them all telekinetically, lifting them up and squeezing their necks. One by one, each griffin's neck was snapped and they dropped to the ground so he could focus on putting more pressure on the others.

After the last one was dead, he sighed and looked towards the dragon in the distance. "Hope the princesses will be okay dealing with that. I'm not scared of any dragon, but, uh... I doubt all of us combined can take down one that big."

Dreamweaver Dumbledoof

"Friends to the end," Starlight replied warmly to Trixie and Expellix, and seeing that the Princesses were righting the Dragon, was relieved. All they had to worry about were the Griffins, and against this particular group of Unicorns, they wouldn't get close enough to attack with claws or swords. A small group of six or seven were flying down in attack formation, but a barrage of very thin magic spikes from Starlight later, all of them were plummeting to the Earth. This time, Starlight was keeping a particular eye out for anything that looked remotely like a ranged weapon in the hands of a Griffin.

While Galagus couldn't see the Griffions, he could still here them coming. When the sound of flapping reached his ears he lifted himself up off the ground, waking Flax in the process. As the bird looked around Galagus cuaght sight of the 3 offenders surrounding him. Flax immediately knew what to do and ignited himself to give the wisp of fire the Galagus needed to pilot his flames. He quickly unleashed a ring of fire around him the expanded outward to burn the foes surrounding him. Once he saw that they were running away screaming from the fire esting away at the Galagus to note of what was happening around him.

Silver looked over at Lucian and Adali for a few moments before nodding. "Silver," he said gruffly. As the griffons charged, he readied his speed rune. He had an idea as to how to catch them off guard. He raised his sword to block the strike of one of the griffons, but right as their swords were to make contact, Silver swiftly dodged the blade instead, causing the griffon to strike air. In the moment of unbalance, Silver slit the griffon's throat. Taking advantage of his momentum, he practically danced between his enemies, dodging their strikes and attacking their vulnerable points. His strength and fire runes were typically his favorite, but there was certainly something to be said for his speed rune. He kept in practice, of course, but he didn't use it nearly as often as some of his other runes. When he did though, he could wreak havoc.

Dreamweaver

The hooded Dragon watched in amazement as his coat rippled from the air breaking in sky caused by the fight. The powerful dark blue mare from earlier nailed a powerful blow on the red Dragon, causing it to lose it balance and plummet into the ground. He knew that Alicorn ponies were powerful, but he wasn't expecting one to take on a full grown Dragon by herself. It almost seemed too unreal.

"Guess she's got this", he says to himself when the young dragon spots a group of Griffons approaching. They didn't seem to be in much of a hurry. In fact, thier pace seemed to be very careful. Slowly he reaches for one of his last remaining smoke pellets in his pocket with steady movements that made it seem untouchable with his sleeves covering his hand. While fishing for his is smoke bomb he just stands there waiting for the group to show. Once they landed, he finds himself completly surrounded on all sides. Yet he remind standing there firmly like a statue.

"Awfully quick to negotiate there huh?", Cass chuckles from the dagger wielding Griffons demand. "Not very Griffon-like if you ask me.", the Dragon put in his two cents on what he knows about Griffon Pride.

"I thought you all were at peace with the ponies. What changed?", he asked in a now serious tone as he put one claw on his hip. Normally with out deep the situation is, he'd butt heads first and ask questions later. But he needed some information. He kept his field of vision as wide as possible and kept his ears open for any sudden movements. If any of them were to make one move on him, he was release the pellet from his grip and thier vision would be obscured in smoke. It was quite a hefty gamble for Cassian. But nothing he's never experienced.

Dreamweaver
Assailant
Adali nodded in agreement with Lucian's statement. “That way, they have something to put on our tombstones in the unlikely event not all of us die.” She said macabrely with a grim smile. She wore no insignia, just a dark-coloured cloak that concealed some finely-made, scarlet silk clothes but no armour. She carried herself in a relaxed manner that was almost the complete opposite to Lucian. Of course, that relaxation quickly came to an end when the Griffons began charging.

She wasn't idle during the melee, she threw arcane fire at the Griffons in flight, burning those closest and forcing them to land where they would be easy-pickings for the more melee-inclined. She made sure to stay behind Lucian and Silver, recognising her own frailty, but made sure not to stray too far behind where she would be vulnerable.

Meanwhile...

Dreamweaver
Princess Celestia was still somewhat drained from raising the Sun, the task would have required at least a dozen of powerful Unicorns to accomplish that task and would be burnt out, often times permanently, after the first few times so it spoke to the amount of energy she'd need to invest into lifting the Sun. With that in mind, it was no surprise her sister took the initiative against the elder dragon.

There was an audible *CRACK* that rang across the battlefield from Luna punching the dragon in the face, something its probably never experienced before, but it wasn't enough to kill it. It took a deep breath and summoned forth its flame, bathing Luna in dragonfire. Luckily for her, she had protection between her and the flames but the intense heat of the dragonfire licked at her protection and was wearing it down from attrition...

“I'm coming Luna!” She cried telepathically, the roar of the flames and clashing metal of weapon and armour beneath them drowned out any attempt at shouting. From her vantage point, Celestia could see the Griffon's suicidal light brigade charge was inflicting a heavy toll upon them...
Celestia got as close as she could to Luna, the flames would have a harder time affecting her, and she quickly weaved a shield of pure light between the dragon and Luna – giving her some much needed relief from the dragonfire.

Train Station

Anonmare Cyan Hide Dumbledoof NevermoreStarsign Wylfen Shepard Sinensis Latios Assailant
The fight for the train station have reached a roaring crescendo. All around the heroes, the screams of dying griffons and ponies rose above even the clash of steel. Dozens fell by the minute, causing possibly the bloodiest battle between the griffons and equestrians yet. While the fighting on the front lines was rather well organized, this battle around the train station was a chaotic frenzy that would make Discord proud.

The train once again arrived at the station, and the griffons ignored it. What were they supposed to do, dive-bomb into its metal shell? There was absolutely nothing that they could do against that behemoth of a train, not without explosives. Luckily, they had been ordered not to attack the train...

Cyan Hide Dumbledoof
Unfortunately for these three spell-casters, the griffons had also come more prepared to battle this time. They had heard of this groups exploits, of the way Starlight, Expellix and to a lesser extent Trixie had torn their soldiers to shreds with magical barrages. As such, they had assembled an elite task-force who's only job was to kill these three.

As the griffons fell to Starlight and Expellix's offensive, another group made themselves known. These griffons were all clad in light armor, allowing them to move quickly and dodge spells. They each had two weapons, and a bow. They stayed around 100 feet away in the air, where they would be able to dodge spells more easily if any were sent their way. There were 5 griffons in this group.

As a group, the griffons drew their bows and let fly arrows. These arrows landed in the area around the group, and would immediately be seen to be different from regular arrows. Rather than have sharp points, they had bags on the end with wicks coming out. And wicks were coated with oil, and on fire....

BOOM!

It was not a deadly explosive, but it did create a smoke cloud big enough to completely cover that half of the train station. You couldn't cast spells at what you couldn't see...

The sound of griffons moving all around them came next. The group had landed and were circling.

Wylfen Shepard
"Our King declared war. He is our king, and we will follow him to the ends of this planet if necessary! If he wants a war, his loyal troops will march on any enemy. Look at your Princesses..." He points off towards where Luna and Celestia were currently keeping the dragon preoccupied. "... Equestria would do the same for them. We're just following orders."

One of the griffons behind Cassian had heard enough, and lunged at him with both maces.

Latios
Those griffons were caught by surprise when he launched out a ring of fire, but they wouldn't be taken down that easily. One of the griffons fell screaming and engulfed in a blaze, but the other two had only minor singes on their coat. They got used to magic during the previous battle.

One of the griffons flew up into the air and dive-bombed down onto Galagus with a two-handed axe swing in front of him, while the other bided his time.

Assailant Anonmare
Lucian watched Silver as he fought and simply chuckled. He was rather good. Lucian knew he could trust Adali, they'd been together for years, but it was nice to know that he could also trust this new pony by his side. Silver, Adali and himself managed to kill 6 of the griffons...

Yet even with their explosive attack, 6 griffons were still left alive.

Two more of the griffons charged at Lucian with swords raised. Lucian side stepped one of those attacks and, with a quick flick of his magic, sent that griffon flying right back to Adali's hooves, where she would be able to finish him off. While throwing that one griffon to Adali's hooves, Lucian simultaneously blocked a downward blow from the second griffon, sending it off to the side. The griffon barely had time to register the parry before his head was taken from his shoulders with a swipe of Lucian's enchanted blade.

One of the other four griffons left alive ran at Silver, while another circled behind him and yet another flew over top of him. The one running straight at him flapped his wings at the last moment and soared at him, sword leading the way. The griffon behind him swept at his legs, and the one hovering above him simply looked for an opening.

Anonmare
The arrival of Celestia to this fight was quite relaxing for Luna, who wasn't the most well equipped to deal with a dragon. The flames would tickle Celestia, but could seriously injure the lunar goddess. "You take it from here! I will provide magical support!" Luna said through their bond, before teleporting a good distance away and behind Celestia. The dragon simply chuckled at the mares seeming retreat and turned his focus on Celestia.

He breathed in deeply and was about to let out a cone of flame at the solar goddess, which probably wouldn't have been the best idea but he didn't know any better. Instead he was surprised when several dozen bolts of blue energy slammed into his head, disrupting his breath weapon and causing him to recoil in pain. The bolts tore through his scales and shed blood everywhere.

He flew under the next few bolts and sent a claw out at Celestia, before doing a 360 degree spin and slamming her with his tail.

Galagus wasn't able to react in time to the charging for he thought dead. However it made little difference to Flax if he was dead or alive. Just before the griffin could land his blow, Flax plowed into him mid air with his flaming body, sending the attacking griffin off the the side of Galagus and hitting the ground hard. Flax kept up his onslaught by clawing and peaking at the eyes of the griffin. It wasn't long before Glagus reared back and bucked in the skull of the griffin to finish him off.

He had Flax look around for any more for who would try to sneak up on him. He spotted the lone griffin left standing there and waited for it to make its move so he could burn him to ashes.

Dreamweaver
Expellix was not completely prepared for a sudden onslaught of arrows. He barely looked up in time to see the volley, scrambling backwards. One of the arrows hit the ground right in front of him where he originally was, sizzling. He didn't notice this immediately, instead looking giddy and up at the griffons in the air.

"You missed!" The arrow then proceeded to explode into smoke; that sent him rolling back a few feet from his close proximity to it. "... Nevermind."

He got up with a disgruntled noise, glancing around the area. The clangs of weapons on armor and shields was still heavy in the air, but he focused himself temporarily. As far as he knew, most griffons didn't carry arrows with smoke bombs on them. He heard the landing of that same group of five griffons, though unable to see them quite yet. His ears were standing straight up, swiveling around on his head to better pick them up. He would get down on all fours to feel the vibrations but it'd be useless; there was too much happening around him.

He heard the sudden swish from his left and turned his head, only barely managing to get out of the way of a sword coming his way. He was tumbling over the ground in a small bit of panic, trying to right himself. The griffon pressed their advantage, going for more horizontal slashes until... Expellix seemed to just disappear. He had vaulted over the blade, managing to land and balance on the tip of it and got a free ride, poised to strike with the weapon Luna had given him the previous night.

Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance. He heard another noise and turned his head... he did not even have time to react properly. One of the other griffons had stepped in and swung their maul at him, slamming Expellix. His eyes widened, jumping away but still being caught by it. Bone crunched underneath the force of it and he was sent flying away, rolling across the ground until he came to a stop, face down.

He raised his head slightly, vision swimming and bleary, panting, before he hit the earth again and didn't move anymore. It seemed the elite team was able to take out one of them.

Dreamweaver

The moment Starlight caught sight of Griffins with ranged weapons, she focused her efforts on them, but they dodged her tiny magic arrows with ease. They were sending in fighters more skilled at evading ranged attacks themselves, which meant that combat was going to be harder from now on. The Griffins then knocked their bows, and Starlight was ready this time; taking Trixie's hoof and teleporting them two feet back as the arrows landed where they were. Starlight felt a moment of relief that didn't last very long when she, for a split second, got a closer look at the arrows. They had lit fuses on them, though Starlight couldn't see any lumps of explosive material, which meant that...

"Smoke bombs!" Starlight shouted, before covering her face with her hooves as they went off, filing the air with smoke. Starlight found Trixie's hoof again, and gave it a squeeze as if to say 'I'm ok and I'm glad you are' before her horn lit up and the smoke was dissipated by a stiff breeze, revealing that the three were surrounded by a close quarters force under the cover of the smoke.

Dumbledoof

Shortly after this discovery, Expellix tried to attack and was promptly hit with a nasty maul shot, ragdolling back into the circle. Starlight stepped over him and guarded him from any follow ups by rearing her head and brandishing her horn threateningly. She knew that the moment she started attacking with magic, they'd all attack with swords, and they had similar fears, so there was a very tense calm as they stood off.

Dreamweaver

Not the answer he was hoping for but more understanding information. The moment he mentioned the princesses fighting out there, he nearly flinched. 'Princesses....so it really is them', he thought to himself as he takes a quick glance at them. Just then a loud explosion was heard near the train station and the noises of battle began to grow into a loud frenzy. Which is not a good sign.

The moment he felt the Griffon behind him male his move, he releases the smoke pellet from his hand. In the moment came a loud snap as the Griffons surrounding have thier vision obscured with a strong odor caused by the herbs and other materials in the mix of the smoke. Cass took that moment to side step away from the Griffons swing with the maces. Avoiding the blunt weapons, be grabs the Griffon by the neck and brings up his knee hard into his throat with enough force to break his adam's apple.

In that moment of confusion with the smoke, Cass used that moment to use his ears and instincts to know the position of his enemies as he started to take them down one by one.

"One thing you should know about me", he said drawing his sword one the two Griffons on one side with a wide powerful swing at thier throats with perfect alignment. "I didn't come to this fight under orders", he says again as he snuck behind the Griffon beside the one with the dagger. The unsuspecting Griffon with have a long blade sticking far out of his chest and would then find himself chucked in the air towards the Griffon who took his position in mid-air.

The smoke then clear up and the Griffon with the dagger with find himself with a massive Blake's edge being held at his throat with the reptilian jade eyes glaring right at him. "I came by choice", were he finished before jerking his arm to the side with the blade, cutting the Griffons throat wide open.

Dreamweaver
elestia merely nodded at Luna's message, keeping the shield up long enough for her to get away, Luna and fire was not the best combination. She couldn't know what the elder dragon was thinking but from his confident chuckle, he probably believed she was retreating or abandoning Celestis and she merely smiled smugly. She prepared for his next blast of fire breath but it never came as Luna propelled bolts of blue magic into the back of his head, tearing apart scale and bone alike but failed to put the dragon down for good.

In fact, he seemed angrier.

As he flew towards her, she prepared herself for an attack from his claws, creating a barrier around herself that would resist his claws, however, it turned out that was a mere feint as he quickly spun three hundred and sixty degrees and struck her with his tail. Her shield was not as protective against blunt trauma and she got knocked a good twenty or so feet away by his tail, her barrier shattering but absorbing most of the blow.

“Luna, keep back I'm casting fire.” Celestia warned telepathically, preparing to strike the dragon down with er own brand of solar fire, fire magic infused with holy energy that allowed it to burn even through the toughest fire-resistant material. She merely stared at the dragon as her horn glowed a bright, white-gold before a spear made from fire erupted from the tip – shooting right for the dragon's heart.

Meanwhile...

Dreamweaver
Assailant
Adali held her own, for now, against the Griffons and performed a coup de grace against the one that landed against her hooves, unsheathing her knife and quickly stabbing it right between the eyes before continuing her magical defence. She saw a Griffon hovering above Silver and decided to give him a hand; she cast an acid arrow right at the Griffon who didn't have time to get away. His armour quickly melted away from where it impacted and continued on to the feather and flesh beneath.

Tech spent most of his time in the middle, hurling spells at the army and dodging the occasional javelin or arrow, not really paying attention on what was happening around him. Though, once he heard the train horn he remembered how the griffons had spent a large amount of their efforts trying to stop and destroy it. He turned and barged through the crowd, they'd probably need a hand again, anyways. Especially if they had the same objective as before. He broke into a sprint, making it there to see a strange scene.

Cyan Hide Dumbledoof Dreamweaver
Smoke, and strong winds causing it to dissipate, revealing a few figures. He counted 5 griffons and two ponies, and a familiar looking unconscious bunny under one. With a shrug he decided to make the most of their lack of focus on him, focusing slightly as he built energy and... Crash! A bolt of lightning, comparable in loudness and strength to the actual thing, arced towards two griffons close together, one with a maul and another with a sword. He hoped at the very least it was able to arc between them or their weapons to hit them both, with the amount of energy he put into it. Pausing a second, he drew his sword and shield and readied to defend against attacks, it was probably attention grabbing enough for some of them to turn attention to him. He gave a nod to the two ponies, though he didn't recognize either of them. Time to even the odds a bit.

As Silver became surrounded, he frowned and looked between his three enemies. He told himself to remember that these were not the Shifters he was so accustomed to fighting, these were griffons, and though he'd been taught how to kill them, he'd only ever fought them when it was a Shifter in disguise as one. Mulling over the current situation, he recalled the strengths and weaknesses of the griffons, shifting his runes. That's when the two struck. From the flapping of wings, he knew the one behind him was also attacking. While the griffons couldn't see it, a different rune shone underneath his hooves. The ground below him gave out, creating a dip as the ground bent to his will. As the two griffons collided into one another, he didn't take the time to figure out if either had fatally wounded the other, as he swiftly jumped back up and cut off the heads of both. As he came out from his dip, he saw the acid arrow hit the griffon above him. He nodded to Adali, a sign of thanks and recognition.

Train Station

Anonmare Cyan Hide Dumbledoof NevermoreStarsign Wylfen Shepard Sinensis Latios Assailant
The griffons were steadily gain ground on the equestrian forces. Despite the fact that four griffons fell for every equestrian soldier, Equestria simply didn't have enough troops to hold Ponyville forever. It wasn't defensible, by any means. They were fighting a losing battle... and if something didn't change soon, they would likely lose the train station before the next moon-rise.

Luckily, the airship covering troops from up above wasn't idle during this fight. There was a large cacophony of explosions from up above which were accompanied by dozens of cannonballs raining down on the griffons surrounding the train station. It didn't kill them all, but it helped take some of the pressure off the troops down there...

Latios
The griffons were getting much smarter in the ways they combated Equestria, and this one left over was certainly no fool. By now he had been able to deduce that Galagus seemed to be blind and perhaps that Phoenix was helping him see? He wasn't sure if that was even possible, but if there's one thing that the griffons had learned by now it was that ponies were weird.

So he did the only thing he could think of; he tried to take away any sight that Galagus might have been gaining from the Phoenix.

With a whistle, the griffon called to one of her comrades in the sky. Immediately there after, an arrow landed beside Galagus and then exploded into smoke, masking the entire area from sight...

And then he cautiously moved in, covered by smoke and undetectable from the sky...

Wylfen Shepard
Just as Cassian was about to slit that griffons throat, an arrow soared in and struck his sword, knocking it just slightly out of the way. The griffon he was about to kill took that opportunity to smash the back of his head into Cassian's face and make his escape, retreating several feet away and picking up his mace once again.

Behind Cassian, landed the griffon who shot the arrow.

He was wearing full plate armor, from head to toe. It was well-kept and engraved with depictions of battle. Across his back was a massive two-handed axe, and in his clawed hands was the bow which he just fired. He dropped the bow and unshouldered his axe, twirling it around and grinning as he did so.

This griffon was massive. At least two feet taller than the others Cassian had been fighting, and much heavier as well. He held out the large axe in one hand, pointing it at Cassian. "Come on, then." was all he said.

Sinensis Cyan Hide Dumbledoof
"Expellix!" Trixie cried out, quickly hovering over him and checking him over. He was alive, barely. Unfortunately there wasn't much that Trixie could do at the moment. She knew that the minute she began healing him, these griffons would take advantage of her distraction and likely kill her for is. "Hold on for just a while longer..." She whispered to Expellix, before turning to face the team surrounding her and Starlight.

... She was quite surprised when a bolt of lightning came out of nowhere and struck two of the griffons. The first griffon is struck, the one holding the maul, died nearly instantly. His body lit on fire from the sudden intense shock and he dropped dead without a sound. The second griffon didn't die, but was shocked harshly enough that his muscles contracted and he accidentally tossed his sword about 20 feet away in a random direction.

Trixie didn't even have time to thank the newcomer before the remaining griffons charged. Even the one who had just survived the lightning bolt charged.

Luckily, Trixie wasn't completely defenseless. She might not be as magically powerful as Starlight, but she had been trained quite extensively in the use of her enchanted katana. As one griffon charged at her, he was shocked when she started charging at him. Just as they were about to meet, Trixie dropped onto her knees and slid past his swing while drawing and slashing with her katana. She severed one of his legs, and he fell to the ground screaming.

The griffon who had thrown his sword away was now facing her, although he was more cautious than his friend had been...

Two more griffons charged at Starlight, although they kept to the air; it was easier to dodge spells in the air. One led with a spear, which she hurled at Starlight to distract her, and the other circled around behind Star and slashed at her legs.

Assailant Anonmare
As the last of the griffons died, the heroes had a brief moment of respite. After that hard fought battle, Lucian took the opportunity to brace his sword into the ground and lean on it, panting slightly. He had taken a few injuries, but nothing major. His horn began glowing a soft yellow and his wounds sealed themselves shut.

"Do either of you need a hea-..." he was cut off as he noticed one pesky griffon far away loosing an arrow at him. He summoned a yellow magical shield in front of himself, which the arrow broke off of. That would have been a kill-shot, in the eye. "... Adali, would you please?" He said while motioning to that pesky griffon.

Anonmare
Celestia's divine-fire based spear missed the dragons heart, but it did collide with his wrist. The dragon screamed in agony as the divine magic tore through scale and bone alike, and his clawed hand fell to the earth below. The fact that she was able to hurt him with fire-based magic surprised the dragon, he hadn't known she could do that. He had never been burned before. He was a red dragon!

The fact that her magic tore through his scales, which were harder than steel, as if they were nothing also scared him.

Panicking slightly but still keeping his wits about him, the dragon lashed out... With his severed hand. He was hoping to blind her with his own blood. Directly after that attack, he lunged at her and tried to crush her in his jaws.

We Have Problems

... It was that moment, in the midst of battle, when more roars pierced through the air. One, followed by another, which in turn was followed by another. Off in the distance were three ore dragons; a black, another red, and even a gold dragon. A red and gold dragon working side by side? That's not possible.

Their roars made both armies pause.

Anonmare
Luna had also paused to listen to the roars of the dragons. That was an issue. One dragon? Alright, she could kill one by herself any-day. Two dragons? Her and Celestia could deal with that.

... Four dragons? That was a problem.

"T-Tia... Tia, I think we have to retreat from Ponyville..." came Luna's voice from their connection.

Galagus knew it would be a loseing battle if he stayed in the smoke. Flax was still able to see what direction the griffon had entered the smoke so Galagus immediately ran in the opposite direction and escaped the smoke. Afterwards he turned around and let lose as much fire as he could into the cloud of smoke.

Dreamweaver Dumbledoof Sinensis

The standoff was broken when a bolt of lightning caught one of the Griffins surrounding the group, and then the Griffins rushed in. Starlight saw two going straight for her, throwing a spear, which she flinched to avoid but stopped in midair with magic, and was about to turn it around, when she felt breath behind her, and teleported behind her rear attacker causing the spear to go into freefall for a second before she caught it again, rammed it into the sword Griffin's chest, turned it round, and fired it at the Griffin who threw it.

That's when she heard the rumble of the Dragons. There were more of them coming, and not even the Princesses could handle multiple fully grown Dragons. It was at that point that Starlight realized she'd have to leave Ponyville today, once the last train was fully loaded. She have to leave her home behind for the second time in her life, and that thought broke her heart. In her anguish she set fire to the unarmed Griffin who was facing down Trixie with a potent fireball spell and the other Griffins cleared a line for him as she ran out screaming, only to discover that the fountain was dry and partially demolished. Ironically the fault of Griffins. He burned to death.


---

That morning, the Griffins who had been looting Sweet Apple Acres and using it as a temporary base to treat the injured out of the line of fire yet still close enough to rejoin the fight quickly when they were well enough had moved. It was the final push, and every Griffin they could spare was fighting today, leaving only the mildly injured to hobble around and look after the severely injured. Applejack took this opportunity. Today would be the day she'd finally escape from house arrest and take back her farm. And after her farm, Ponyville. Granny Smith and Applebloom had already been evacuated and Big Mac fought his way to Ponyville on day one and had joined their frontlines, as had many of Ponyville's non-military residents who could still fight.

She kicked down the locked door she was trapped in with a strong buck, then simply strolled out of the farm, much to the Griffin's shock. "All right, listen up!" she shouted to the group. "Y'all need to take yer injured and go someplace else. This is my Apple farm!"

A few of the fitter Griffins came at Applejack with swords. Four of them, in fact. Applejack ducked and weaved through their swings and answered with her own devastating punches, kicks and bucks. When it was all over, every Griffin was knocked out, and most were bleeding from the head. She took at step towards the weaker injured, and they took a collective step back

"Y'all need me to repeat myself?" she challenged, and they shook their heads and began loading up wagons as Applejack trotted past them, up the road to Ponyville.

Adali's horn was practically smoking from how much magic she had used today and the air was uncomfortably hot from the heat of constant fire magic, heck, she was sweating figurative pebbles. But at least they were in the clear, not a single Griffon soldier remained flying or stand- “Oh, one moment please Lucian.” She said with a sort of dismissive annoyance in regards to the sole remaining Griffon assailing them.

With a sigh, she took aim and threw a fireball in his direction, the flyer tried to get away but it exploded too close for him to get away in time – catching his feathers alight and the blast sent him careening to the ground with a thud. And then all was silent. “... Well. Now that, that is over with... I could use some restoration, or else I'll get magic burnout if this keeps up.” She said by way or warning, she held her magical ability quite integral to her value as a Pony and being burned out would make her feel like a three-legged applebucker.





Celestia swung her elongated mornign star as hard as she could with an underarm swing, sending the spiked head towards the red dragon's jaw. His blood did blind her yes, but, she didn't live this long without being able to fight with impaired vision. Upon impacting the dragon's lower jaw, the dragon went backwards, his scales not offering much protection against a weapon of the princess' calibre. His jaw and teeth broke upon impact and, with the sheer force, he was practically launched back-flipping backwards. He was badly hurt but still alive.

With Luna here, this dragon would be easily mopped up... Wait, what was that noise..?

Celestia looked to the source of the noise and felt her skin grow cold at the sight. One dragon was taking their full attention but wouldn't be too difficult. Four dragons? They could actually lose the fight. She hesitated, they had been retreating from so many engagements already but there was no defying common sense.”... You're right. Get everypony to the train, we... We have to hold them back at Canterlot. It's our last chance.” Celestia replied to Luna telepathically, she hated it but staying was to die pointlessly. She magically enhanced her voice and yelled throughout the battlefield, her voice ringing far and wide to the Equestrian forces: “Fall back! We're withdrawing!”