The Second Griffon War (Main Thread)

[Dreamweaver]

Station 1
Avedon
Dumbledoof
Latios
None of the Equestrians were very surprised when the Griffon army surrounding Station 1 simply dispersed. They all backed off, and then flew away. 80% of that army were farmers and blacksmiths, potters and carpenters... Not soldiers. They didn't want to be here in the first place, and this whole confrontation only terrified the lot of them. Seeing their Commander fall was the last nail in the coffin containing their morale. Until a new Commander made themselves known, the Griffons would be content to simply sit back some distance and regroup.

The Griffons didn't even take many potshots at the Equestrians. A few, to be sure, but not as many as a professional army like Equestria would have in their circumstance. None of these peasant 'soldiers' even wanted to kill. They hadn't even been given a reason for this war, so loyalty towards their King or any Commanders was low to begin with. As far as they were concerned, they were sent here to die for no reason.

During the short break in conflict, several clerics made their way over to examine the soldiers, though Avedon and Gunnolf got the most treatment.

Station 2
Mini-Boss Battle - Griffon Brute!
Cyan Hide
The massive griffon tilted its head at Applejack as she took her armor off. He hadn't seen that before!

And then he charged forward, lashing out at her with a clawed hand. His blow was aimed too high and instead ended up cutting into the stone wall of the cave, claws somehow leaving mark in that stone. Probably best not to get hit by him. He was big, but all things considered he was also rather fast for his size. And stupid. She could use that to her advantage.

Throne Room
Assailant
Cyan Hide
GeneralTyrus
Wylfen Shepard
Shining Armor was, unfortunately, a bit wrapped up at the moment to really bother talking or listening. He wasn't an alicorn, and although this shield was a specialty of his, it took a lot of effort to maintain. Far more effort than it took Cadence.

With Shining Armor being currently out of commission, the hard duty of leading fell on Princess Cadence. Shining Armor usually took charge with the soldiers, but seeing as he wasn't able to really do much while focusing on his shield, the weeding out of Changelings would have to be on Cadence's orders. There were only really two ways to do it; either you can force every guard to walk near the established runes, or you can wait and see who walks by the runes naturally.

If Cadence forced every guard to walk by the runes, it would have the benefit of giving 100% knowledge of which pony was really a Changeling. However, the Changelings would likely catch on to what was happening; and then you're dealing with a Changeling which feels cornered. Cornered animals are always more dangerous.

If Cadence let the Changelings walk around naturally, it would take much longer and wouldn't give exact numbers since not every guard would be wandering around. However, it would allow Cadence to simply observe and direct the non-changeling troops as needed to surround the Shifters.

So... What does she do?

Of course, she would need trustworthy guards around Shining Armor to make sure the shield didn't fall. Her magic didn't feel like it was returning yet. Silver and Arc were obviously not Changelings, nor was Cassian... Unless Shifters could now turn into dragons. Which would be a problem!

Canterlot Theater
Cyan Hide
At the moment the line appeared to be holding. A few griffons got past the line of pike wielding pegasi, but were quickly cut down by the pegasi behind with short swords. The real issue here was that nopony really knew how long they would be stuck here fighting; if all the griffons had come after them, they'd lose by attrition alone. But at the same time, that would also mean the other pegasi could hopefully come to their rescue.

None of these soldiers wanted to get captured by the griffons. Griffon and Pegasi relations were... Less than good. They never had been.

Canterlot Mansion
Cyan Hide
Well if by 'dangerous' Starlight meant 'Princess Luna with a griffons eyeball on her horn' then yes, she found something dangerous.

Except it didn't really look like Princess Luna... Except, not the Princess Luna she was used to seeing. She looked more like this:

Upon seeing Starlight, Luna let out a thankful breath. There were about 10 dead griffons around her, most killed while trying to clamber in the window after her. The smashing sound that Starlight had heard was apparently the glass of that window, if the pieces stuck in Luna's flesh were any indication. She either didn't notice the glass stuck in her, or didn't care. The dead griffons bodies were currently doing a good job of plugging the hole that Luna had created in the window.

She was wielding a scythe, which had a long silver handle with a spike at the end, and a blade which appeared to be made of condensed shadow; no metal at all on the blade portion. Judging by what the griffons, or rather the bits of griffons, looked like... That condensed shadow cut a lot better than steel. It was also radiating coldness. "Thank Harmony you are here! I heard the griffons got into Canterlot City and came to investigate, before finding them swarming this house. Surprised them all by diving right through them and through the window! You shoulda seen their faces! Ha!"

One of the griffons bodies was shoved through the window and a bloodthirsty griffon began pushing through, only to be stopped as Luna just sort of... Dropped the scythe on it. It wasn't really a swing, she just sort of poked it in the head and the shadowy blade did the rest. It tore the things head in half, and Starlight could swear she saw some kind of gray mist leave the griffons body and get trapped in the scythe...

"Who else is here with you?"

 

[GeneralTyrus]

Dreamweaver Assailant

Throne Room

Tyrus would continue to make his way around the room, searching for the other Changelings, whilst looking for someone he could inform, though he was worried with that option, as it would bring up questions as to how he knew, and he'd likely be taken into custody, or worse... Death.

Sighing, Tyrus would reign in his feelings, and make to walk for ponies who seemed to be in charge or at least in the know of this situation. Noticing Silver and Arc, he nod to himself and begin to make his way, with a great deal of worry, toward Silver and Arc, hoping that his honesty would at least grant him a few more days in the world. Looking around, he'd gulp, and hope that things went his way.

 

[Dumbledoof]

Canterlot Mansion Dreamweaver Cyan Hide
Expellix watched through the window, waiting for any griffons to p[ass by him. Of course, he did see a few but they weren't within his line of sight long enough to shoot at. This was going to be some weird game of cat and mouse. Find the griffons, or let them find you, and kill them before they kill you. He didn't particularly want to die ... at least, not to them. That would be below him. Even rabbits were better than stupid griffons.

Particularly this rabbit.

His ears shot up at voices coming from above. Starlight had went to check it out and now she was talking to someone? He kept his eyes forward but his ears were straight up, swiveled in the direction of the sound. Focusing a bit, he could make them out, little by little. He smiled and gave a tiny sigh of relief when he figured out who was the one making the ruckus up above.

"It seems Luna has joined us." He commented to Trixie. He raised his paw, arcane energy charging in it and he blasted a griffon that flew by, tearing through his body and sending him down below.

Trixie and I are down below you, Luna. He said to the night princess telepathically. Is everything alright up there?

Station 1 Avedon Latios
With the griffon army retreating for the time being, Gunnolf was able to properly take some time to rest. The burns on his chest were really starting to sting now with his previous adrenaline wearing off and the battle winding down temporarily. He didn't know what to expect when going into the battle, but being set on fire was not something he would have thought of. That was a bit of an annoyance.

He sat down, trying to maneuver his head to look down at his chest, but couldn't see anything, unfortunately. There wasn't any way for him to figure out how bad the damage was, especially with his breastplate on still. He would just have to look later. For now, he turned his attention to the station entrance and watched, doing his best to ignore the pain.

 

[Assailant]

Assailant
GeneralTyrus Dreamweaver

Throne room

One second he was helping with setting a trap to crush the Griffon enemy and block them from entering the mountain entery at Station, next thing he knew he was suddenly carried off by a team of fliers and taken to the throne room along with Silver and Arc. Now here the young dragon stands in line with the others trying to keep a straight face. "What's going on?", he thought to himself. Apparantly they were being assessed by the guard to see if there were shifters of not. "Shifters? Wait you don't mean chalnglings do you?", he asked when the subject came up.

Arc smiled. "I believe your time calls them Changelings, yes. But..." He paused. He knew he could trust this dragon, but the fact was that he had orders. "While I trust you, I have my orders." When the princess walked up and asked her question, Silver frowned.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we have orders to-" Arc nudged him, and Silver turned to look at him. When it was clear he wasn't getting the message, Arc harshly whispered.

"That's the princess, Cadance." Silver turned and examined her for a few moments before bowing.

"A thousand pardons, your highness. We are still learning details about this age. Forgive me." He stood back up and glanced at Cassian. He wasn't supposed to let others know, but if the princess herself was asking, it was not like he could refuse. In the end, the princess's authority trumped, and he spoke. "Early, we confirmed there were indeed Shifters amongst the guards in this room. We have not confirmed the number or location, that is what we are working on now. We've set up detector runes around the room. If a Shifter walks past one of them, we'll know which one and when. So far, none have triggered. However, we are keeping a keen eye out. That is all." He paused and glanced at Tyrus, slowly approaching them. "Actually, your highness, there IS one more thing." He surreptitiously motioned to Tyrus, such that Tyrus wouldn't notice but, hopefully, the princess would know what he meant. "That stallion is acting quite odd. We believe him to be a Shifter, but it is too early to tell. He may simply be an anxious guard. We recommend keeping a particularly close eye on him."

 

[Avedon]

Dreamweaver
Avedon wouldn't accept more than the basic treatment to get himself up and moving without serious issues. Ushering off the clerics to his men who he spent his time walkng amidst inspect ing and waiting fror reports or orders from other regions.

 

[Cyan Hide]

STATION 2:

Applejack wasn't exactly a master tactician, but she was fairly confident in her abilities to outsmart this opponent. She ducked under his high blow and dealt some strong strikes to his chest, though unsure if even her strength will let her hurt this beast.

Dreamweaver

CANTERLOT THEATRE:

Arcus did have these fears that they may have drawn off more than they could hold out for, but in the early stages of the fight, when the Griffins were bottlenecked and were being piked so fast they had to drag their own dead out of the doorway so that they could be granted access to the Pegasi forces, it didn't matter yet. For every Pegasus that fell, 50 Griffins did, but those numbers weren't good enough when it was less than a hundred Pegasi versus what could be thousands of Griffins on the other side.

Dreamweaver

CANTERLOT MANSION:

"Trixie and Expellix are below. It's good to see you again, Princess, though you've got glass in you." Starlight answered, as she set about removing the glass carefully yet in quick, sharp movements. "Our plan's to hold this building and hit as many of them as we can from here with magic. Unless you have other orders."

Dreamweaver Dumbledoof

THRONE ROOM:

Cadence decided to give the order. "Okay. Each squad send your members near the magic runes one at a time, and the rest of you, stay near Shining Armor. When you're screened and cleared, return to your post and send the next squad member. If there are any Changelings from Thorax's hive, or otherwise who mean to help us rather than hurt us, come forward now and you will not be punished for your race. The only ones among us who will be punished are spies, assassins and saboteurs; enemies of the Throne."

As she spoke the latter half of her speech, she looked straight into Tyrus' eyes. She had little reason to doubt the suspicions of Silver and Arc given the evidence.

Assailant GeneralTyrus Wylfen Shepard

 

[Wylfen Shepard]

Cyan Hide
GeneralTyrus
Assailant

" 'This time?' What's he talking", Cass quoted Silver in thought. Then again, he only knew most of these ponies briefly and hardly had much time to get to know them. After all, Equestrian Ponies have quite the interesting stories in thier lives. When the young dragon noticed the tall pink pony around Princess Luna's height, he didnt notice she had both a horn and wings. Then again, her regalia should have been a dead give away. Yet he was still far too concerned with what was going on at the moment. "Princess.....Cadence? Wait, as in...Princess Mi Amore Cadenza o.o ?!", Cassian internally shouted to himself as his eyes nearly popped out of his skull. He wasn't expecting to actually be presented to the Princess of Love herself. Quickly, he dusted himself off and stood firmly. He would have respectfully introduced himself. But due to the current situation, he kept his distance until he would pass through the rune. At least he knew for sure he wasn't a changling.

Once it would be his turn to pass the rune, it would most definatly determine he is not a changling.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Station 1
Avedon
After a few minutes, Avedon would be approached by a lower ranking officer. The unicorn soldier had blood splashed on his armor and cuts on several areas of his body, showing that he had just recently been in a fight. While he wasn't as high ranking as Captain Avedon, he was much higher than any other troops around here. Avedon would recognize him as having been one of 3 officers assigned to the Royal Throne Room to oversee Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. He came up to Avedon directly and leaned over to whisper to the Captain, "Sir, we need to talk immediately. Away from the troops."

After they had went a little bit away from the others, the officer spoke up once again. He was still keeping quiet though; he didn't want anypony except for Captain Avedon to hear this. "Things in Canterlot City have gotten dire, Captain. Several of the guards stationed with Princess Cadence and Shining Armor revealed themselves to be Changelings working for the Griffons, and launched a surprise attack against us. We prevailed, but the losses are heavy. We are currently sending more troops to the Throne Room and have magic specialists on the case who can identify shifted Changelings. When the fighting broke out, the shield around Canterlot City momentarily dropped and allowed some griffons to enter. We expect them to be defeated within the hour."

"What's more is that it appears Princess Silvanus, Princess Salacia, Princess Flurry Heart and the crystal dragon Asa have all been taken. We have absolutely no idea how they found the children. Our best guess is a traitor among us; likely the children's caretaker, Sapphire Love. She is gone, which means she either was kidnapped or taken willingly. All the guards in that room with the children were slaughtered. The Changelings have also weaponized some chemical which appears to render magic unusable. Princess Cadence and Princess Celestia are both magic-less, and the last we saw of Princess Luna she was also depowered and heading into Canterlot City to help combat the griffons there."

Dumbledoof
Gunnolf would hear all of that, of course. He had rather keen hearing. And considering the battle here was stopped for the moment, there wasn't much else for him to do except listen. In the meantime, a cleric made their way over and began to heal Gunnolf. They weren't powerful enough to heal the wounds, but they helped regrow some of the surrounding skin rendering the wound smaller than it originally was. In addition, they also worked on providing a sort of pain killer through magic, which they would maintain until the battle started once again and the adrenaline started coursing through Gunnolf's veins.

Station 2
Mini-Boss Battle - Griffon Brute!
Cyan Hide
Judging by the way the brute staggered back slightly, it was fair to say that her strikes her it. If they hurt it much, however, was another question entirely. It paused for a moment, obviously surprised by the fact that it just got kicked back by a little mare, before raising its hands above its head and slamming them down on Applejack in a ball shape.

Throne Room
Assailant
Cyan Hide
GeneralTyrus
Wylfen Shepard
There was some grumbling in the room when Cadence ordered the guards to walk near the runes, but nopony really argued against that order. As the rounds were made, it quickly became apparently to Arc and Silver who exactly the Changelings were and weren't. Once cleared, the officers in the room were filled in with what was happening and then asked to calmly gather certain guards, ones which had been cleared, and lead them over to Shining Armors position.

So far they had counted 13 Changelings. All the Changelings were moving around the room now, spreading themselves out...

While all this was going on, they also had Tyrus approaching who appeared to want to speak with them...

Canterlot Theater
Cyan Hide
For now, things would remain much the same for Arcus. The fight was a stalemate, with the griffons having much larger numbers but the Equestrians having better equipment and defensive positioning.

Canterlot Mansion
Cyan Hide
Dumbledoof
Luna grunted slightly as the glass was pulled from her, blood spilling out of those wounds and trailing its way down her fur. "Nice to see you again as well, Starlight. You go downstairs and help Expellix and Trixie, I will stay up here and make sure no griffons make it through. And tell Expellix that I can't respond telepathically right now, I have no magic. In case my appearance didn't show that obviously enough."
....
In between stabbing griffons with her blade through the window, Trixie let out a snort and a chuckle. "Oh, truly the day is saved. The great princess Luna has come at last. Normally I would be glad of that fact, but there are still hundreds of griffons outside! So I wouldn't say out situation got any better."

 

[Dumbledoof]

Station 1 Avedon
Of course Gunnolf heard everything that was being said. He was on high alert currently—the slightest movement of the air around him didn't even escape him. He was completely trained on detecting any threats. He glanced down when the cleric had begun healing his injuries, but that was the least of his concerns. His ears swiveled in the direction of Avedon and the pony that had gone to talk to him ...

It started slow, building up in his throat. Deep vibrations in his throat that could be heard even by those around them before it had even turned into a growl. Once the full news had been relayed, Gunnolf let out a deep snarl and roar in outrage that echoed far, scaring the cleric half to death from the outburst, not to mention half deafening them. He twisted around in his spot, his eyes slitting and staring straight at the two of them.

"What did you just say?" He said, his voice laced with venom. It wasn't really directed at anypony, but the roar in his voice was like a cannon blast firing in their heads. "I should have stayed. I shouldn't have trusted them!" He continued on his tangent quietly in his head after that, whirling around to face forward. His claws dug deep gouges in the earth as he tried to stave off his rage. They stole the young from his pack? That just couldn't stand.

Next time the griffons came, he was going to maul them until they were unrecognizable as being once living creatures!

Canterlot Mansion Dreamweaver Cyan Hide
Expellix could also hear the conversation, though it was still highly muffled to him. It was going through the entire house and even through the floor, which was a bit difficult even for him. "I heard you, Luna." He said back. "Yell if you need anything. I'll hear you."

He turned his attention to Trixie after that, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, we're still better off with Luna with us here. If nothing else, she'll stave off some of the other entrances. I imagine there are many more windows—not to mention doorways—into this place. We shouldn't remain here for very long, we'll be overwhelmed."

 

[GeneralTyrus]

Tyrus would make his way up to Silver and Arc, nodding to them, giving a weak smile, "Um... Hello. My name is Tyrus, and I would like to inform you of a situation." He'd say quietly, looking back over the crowd, wincing as he wondered what would likely happen if they didn't trust him still, which was very likely. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he'd force a smile, "As I'm sure you are... very aware, there are changelings in this room..." He'd say, staring at the ground, "I could help you pinpoint them, because..." He'd take a deep breathe, and look at them, his eyes full of worry, "I... Am a changeling." He'd say weakly, tensing up as he waited for death to reap upon him.

 

[Avedon]

Dreamweaver

"Find Luna and ask her her orders on how to proceed now that they have hostages."

 

[Assailant]

Silver and Arc paused and looked at one another. This was... certainly unprecedented. Neither of them were quite sure what to do. Silver, in particular, wanted to slay him on the spot, but even he didn't make a move. A shifter... was confessing? That wasn't unheard of after torture and the like, but to simply walk up and confess?

The two stayed in place, neither making a move. If he was a shifter, he was an enemy of the state and was to be dealt with... but what could they gain by using him? Could they even trust him? Under normal circumstances, they would refuse to trust one of his kind, but for him to so openly admit himself with so little prompting was a level of openness the two had never seen from a shifter. Could he be one of those new types of shifters they had heard about from time to time?

After a few moments, Silver turned back to the princess. "Your orders, your highness?" In the end, this was not his call to make. He would accept whatever commands the princess dolled out.

GeneralTyrus Cyan Hide

 

[Wylfen Shepard]

GeneralTyrus
Assailant
Cyan Hide
Dreamweaver

After passing the rune test, it was confirmed there were 13 changlings. It's been a while since he last encountered an insect equine race. Though he expected there would be retaliation, there was no blade of magic raised. "What's going on here?", the young dragon thought as he scratched his chin. He winced from a sudden ache in his arm. "Ugh...after effect...", he muttered to himself and rubs his arm. For the moment, he doesn't quite understand what was going on or why he was even brought here. Yet, the others along with the generals and Princess were all engrossed in conversation.

He deadpanned, seeing as though he became the elephant in the room. He decided not to bother with the questions and just play it out by going with the flow. "Sometimes I wonder how these equestrians even get into situations like this", he commented at the sight before him as he walks to the wall and squats himself down to take a breather. His arm was still aching but it'll go away after a few minutes. "Still need more practice on the stability", he said to himself. Instant casting takes quite a bit of focus and skill to practice. When Cassian instant casted his 'Stone Fist' spell on his arm during the fight with the Griffon champion, he hadn't gained enough stability in the flow of his magic. In which, it put a little strain on his arm. Besides, he doesn't normally use geomancy for offensive purposes. So it would make sense that he'd make that kind of mistake during a fight. He was lucky it was just a small amount on one arm. Otherwise, he could have potentially broken it.

Suddenly, the young drake was brought out of his thoughts when the one called Tyrus announced he himself was a changling. He didn't show any surprise but he kept a stern face.

 

[Cyan Hide]

STATION 2:


The spry, athletic pony was too fast for a telegraphed attack like that, and rolled to her right as the fists slammed down, decimating the rock below. AJ made a mental note to not get hit under any circumstances. Not even she could take any of those blows and be in fighting shape afterwards.

AJ then slid behind it swiftly and then, running up it's back, delivered a strong punch to the back of it's head, trying to either daze or anger it. Both were good results.

Dreamweaver

CANTERLOT MANSION:


Starlight bowed to the Princess and returned downstairs. When Trixie voiced her complaints, starlight nodded and gave her a grim smile. "At least it's only hundreds. There are thousands in Canterlot. We have some kind of chance with only hundreds."

She heard Expellix then, and turned to the rabbit. "Where? There aren't many places in Canterlot right now safer than here, and if there are, it's a matter of getting to them!"

Dreamweaver Dumbledoof

THRONE ROOM:


Cadence, looking very stern, slowly approached the pony who had just addmitted to being a Changeling. Her gut instinct was correct. When she reached him, she gave him a salute which she expected him to return. "I admire your bravery. Not just to risk animosity from ponies but from Changelings. You seem to be the only loyal one here which means the rest have allied with the enemy, and you're a traitor in their eyes. But not ours!"

Cadence then turned to face the soldiers, many of whom were eyeing Tyrus with hatred. "Equestria," Cadence started, "Is a land of love and friendship, who's very foundation came from differing races who were warring with one another coming together in harmony as one. It seems I must remind you of that. No creature on this world, not even Griffins or Changelings, are born traitors. Being a traitor is a choice, and being loyal is a choice. The crown recognises the friendship of the hive of King Thorax, even in the aftermath of the multiple coup attempts of Queen Chrysalis on this city. But, for those of you hiding in secret, who would wish us harm. We will find you," Cadence began, her eyes narrowing on the crowd, "And we will make you tell use which Hive has allied themselves with the Griffins. It's up to you how painful that process is."

Cadence then turned to Tyrus, Silver and Arc. "Tyrus, it is your duty to assist Silver Duty and Arc Light in detection of Changelings. Silver, Arc, keep a close eye on Tyrus. I'm not fool enough to take anybody on their word alone but I do believe he has a good heart. When everybody's checked, give the list of changelings to me and nobody else."

Assailant GeneralTyrus

 

[Dreamweaver]

Station 1
Avedon
"... As I said, sir, she was last seen heading into Canterlot City. We currently have troops moving to intercept the griffons in the city, and hopefully soon will find Luna as well. When she has been found, I will send a pegasus messenger here with her orders." And with that the pony saluted and took his leave, heading for the City where he would join the others in battle. A good portion of troops were called from Equestria's reserves to put a quick and absolute end to the griffons who had dared to enter the city.

Dumbledoof
Gunnolf would start hearing cries of terror long before anypony else around him did. However, it took only a few more seconds for the source of those shrill shrieks to make itself known. From over the edge of the cave, Gunnolf and all the Equestrian troops could see what appeared to be a rotten dragon corpse flying through the air. Blue flame erupted from its mouth, incinerating the griffons in its path and leaving not even bones in the flames wake. It swept down and breathed yet more fire on the griffons in front of Station 3, clearing a path right through their ranks and leaving many more screaming in agony. As its breath lit up the area, its claws and jaws snapped up griffons and left half eaten corpses behind.

And after a few minutes, it fell to the ground and died its final death. The griffon horde was simply to great. But its job was done; it was succeeded in tearing apart thousands of griffons and left them terrified.

But with the dragons death, the griffons began to feel more hopeful and started marching towards Canterlot Mountain once more.

Station 2
Mini-Boss Battle - Griffon Brute!
Cyan Hide
Applejack did a lot more than just anger and daze it. Her hoof cracked into its skull and sent blood throughout the air. The only problem with that was... She angered the thing a lot. It reached back with one of its clawed bird-like hands and grabbed hold of her leg, throwing her harshly into the wall of the cave and glaring at her angrily. It had blood pouring down the left side of its face, obscuring its vision on that side.

Throne Room
Assailant
Cyan Hide
GeneralTyrus
Wylfen Shepard
While all this was going on, the other Changelings in the room weren't just doing nothing. They knew that they had been found out. There brethren had been killed in this room merely a few minutes ago after an assassination attempt against Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, and now each soldier was being ordered to 'walk close to a rune'? Yeah the Changelings weren't dumb creatures at all. While all this was going on, they got into their own positions spread out across the room.

Yet even with some preparing for battle, others simply knew the chances of their survival here were negligible. There was no escape. The city was domed off and they were greatly outnumbered here; 10 to 1. Outnumbered by better trained foes, with a demigoddess in their midst to help out as well.

Seven "ponies" made their way over to Cadence, only to toss down their weapons and drop their disguises. They were the dark black unchanged Changelings that everybody was used to. The one in the front merely said, "We surrender. The others don't." He merely shrugged. Neither him, nor any of the others, were going to help point out their allies. Tyrus could do that well enough.

Tyrus would spot one Changeling making his way straight towards Shining Armor, reaching for his weapon. Two others nearby were readying their short-spears, presumably to throw them in a combined assault.

Canterlot Mansion
Cyan Hide
Dumbledoof
"I'm going to die in here with a bunch of losers!" Cried Trixie as she stabbed her Katana into the eye-socket of yet another griffon. She was being dramatic of course, but that was normal for her. "I should have never moved to Ponyville! My cave in the Everfree would have avoided all of this! Ahh!" She screamed again as a griffon reached through and managed to lightly claw her, before having its arm severed. She lifted the arm telekinetically and through it back at him.

Judging by the non-equine screams and completely-equine laughter coming from upstairs, it was fair to say Luna was doing her job remarkably well even without magic. At one point the blade of her scythe tore through the floor below and showered them all with dust and wood-chippings... And blood, as a griffons head was somehow crammed through that hole in the floor.

 

[GeneralTyrus]

Cyan Hide
Tyrus would watch the changeling, "Cadence, there, heading to your husband, he's armed." He'd whisper, not really wanting to draw so much attention that the changeling would know they were spotted. Tyrus would continue to watch, wishing he could change, though he knew it wouldn't help anyone if he knocked himself out, and he wasn't a fighter, so he wasn't going to face off against someone likely better trained than he was.

 

[Dumbledoof]

Station 3 Avedon
A small growl never died in Gunnolf's throat, making the air around him vibrate slightly. He was very eager to tear the griffons apart when they came again. Watching the undead dragon simply wouldn't cut it for him. He hadn't been bloodthirsty before but at the news of the stolen foals ... he truly was furious now. It was rare for him to get like this. For once, he was cutting a bit loose. The griffons will learn to not mess with Equestria or his family.

Canterlot Mansion Dreamweaver Cyan Hide
Expellix dodged to the side of a griffon's beak snapping at him. Judgment came down, slicing it's beak off and then he rammed it straight through their into the back of the socket. They fell from the window, screaming in pain. He snickered slightly before another one came. He ducked cleanly underneath that one, his foot raising up and sending a blast of magic at it. It hit the griffon in it's stupid face, killing it instantly.

He did pause slightly at Luna's hysterical laughing. Maybe she was enjoying this just a bit much? "Well, I'll own up to myself being a loser, but I'm not all that sure about everybody else." He remarked to Trixie. His axes worked on defending him, cutting up griffons for him on their own. He focused on shooting griffons with his magic for the time being. "But the Everfree Forest isn't exactly the nicest place to live! I would know!"

 

[Avedon]

Dreamweaver
"Then Celestia dammit. Soldier, they have the princess's children captured. If the griffon-commander is even HALF competent they'll order the surrender of the city within the hour before we can hope to catch them. So I need you, to go to her right now, no matter how many griffon lines you have to cross to get to either of the foals, and bring me her orders because unless we can out-run and track those griffons, I'm going to need to know if they're willing to sacrifice their foals lives to hold Canterlot."

 

[Wylfen Shepard]

Dreamweaver
Cyan Hide
GeneralTyrus

The acts of the changling walking up to Shining armor did not go unnoticed by the young drake with him sitting far back and keeping a close watch on everything going on. He quickly looks around and spots a little something that'll hopefully prevent anymore bloodshed.

Out of the blue, he steps in between the path of the assialnt making its way to Shining Armor.

His reptilian Jade eyes stare down the group as he stood before them completly unarmed with nothing but a......flower vase? "I'd think twice about that if I were you.", he said before holding out the vase of a colorful bouquet to them. "Look, you guys are obviously smarter than the Griffons. So I'm giving you this one chance to stand down. Otherwise I'll be forced to use this", he stated very sternly, gesturing to the flower vase. It appeared Cassian must have hit his head on the battle field. But little did they know, he had quite a bit of magic charged into the vase to execute a spell if they chose to attack.

 

[Cyan Hide]

STATION 2:

Being flung into the wall hurt AJ a lot. Something must be burst, broken or ruptured inside her if she's feeling this much pain, but looking at her opponent, she might be in better condition. For combat, not healthwise. Healthwise she needed a trip to the hospital. But she could still fight as well as ever, whereas the enemy was dazed and now half-blind on it's left side, which the grinning orange pony took advantage of as she charged, and banked to her right - it's left- at the last minute, before pivoting on her front hooves and launching both of her hind legs at it's left side in a bone-crunching buck.

Dreamweaver

THRONE ROOM:

The moment Tyrus pointed out the Changeling that was about to attack her husband, Cadence didn't say another word to him, but charged straight to it, as well as the others. When she reached them, she looked beyond angry. She looked deadly. Even a few of the guards, not used to seeing Cadence like this, backed off.

"I cannot speak for Celestia or Luna but I show mercy to my prisoners. But if any Changeling assassin here so much as puts a scratch on my husband, I will retract that kindness and you will really not like what I can do with my magic if I so wish. I could charm you into falling in love with each other, and those of you who do not reform with this processes will literally drain each other to death. That's the happy ending, should any of you not surrender right now."

Dreamweaver GeneralTyrus Assailant Wylfen Shepard

CANTERLOT MANSION:

Upon seeing Trixie get scratched, Starlight created a floating, firery orb to prevent Griffins getting through her window or burn themselves trying. Shen then ran to Trixie, pulled her back from the window, and shot out a large arcane laser that killed every Griffin remotely close to her lover's window. After inspecting Trixie's cut and having to stop herself from making a big deal out of it, she kissed the mare's nose. "Never call me a loser again," she jokingly warned before returning to her own window and propelling the flaming orb out into the crowd outside.

Dreamweaver Dumbledoof

 

[Dreamweaver]

Station 1
Avedon
Dumbledoof
Battle cries began to once again fill the air as the griffon horde found a new commander and charged at the Equestrian line. Despite the massive horde charging at them, the Equestrian soldiers beside and behind Avedon and Gunnolf seemed completely unperturbed. They were all professionals, from the Solar and Lunar guard, and had all seen war before. This was just another day for them.

Once again there was that awkward buckling when the Griffons and Equestrians collided, a strange shoving contest between the shield bearers at the front and the ravenous griffons, but soon enough that contest ended with the Equestrian's shoving the griffons backwards... And the fight was on once again!

Station 2
Cyan Hide
Judging from the crunching sound that came from the creatures side, it was fair to say that Applejack just did some massive damage. The massive griffon let out a sharp cry of pain as its ribs shattered and its lung collapsed, but it wasn't out of the fight yet. It raised its right hand up and smashed the claw down hard on Applejack...

Only to be surprised when a shimmering shield of golden magic stopped its claw inches away from Applejack's face. Lucian rejoined the fight, stepping up to stand beside Applejack. The giant griffons momentary confusion at the magical shield Lucian created gave her a free attack against it.

Throne Room
Assailant
Cyan Hide
GeneralTyrus
Wylfen Shepard
When approached by a small dragon and demigod, the Changeling did the only intelligent thing; it dropped its weapon and raised a hoof to signal peace. If it was guessing right, that was Cassian, and that was certainly Cadence. He wouldn't be able to take either of them in a fight, so surrendering was the next best option. Live to fight another day and all that.

Unfortunately everybody ignored the two who were readying their spears! One of them let loose his spear straight at Princess Cadence, seeing her as the most dangerous one in the room. He had no idea how tough Alicorns were, he had only really heard stories of Luna and Celestia fighting so far, but he hoped that spear would damage her...

The other spear was thrown right at Shining Armor. Luckily he had a small army of guards around him, and before the spear could make contact another guard jumped in the way; dying in the process, but saving Shining Armor's life.

Canterlot Mansion
Cyan Hide
Dumbledoof
This fight seemed endless, and it didn't seem like one they were going to win. The three of them and a depowered alicorn could not hold off hundreds of griffons. Despite how many dozens they killed, there were so many more at every turn. Trixie was starting to get magically exhausted, and no doubt Expellix and Starlight would soon follow. Luna didn't even have magic right now.

A loud explosion rocked the house as the wall to Starlight's left blew open. Some kind of new devil technology! ""EVERYBODY UPSTAIRS!" Came Trixie's call, quickly shutting her window and locking it to buy them an extra sliver of time. They all had to get upstairs right now. With the wall blown open, that gave the Griffons basically a free entrance into the house; and those Griffons would swarm them. Their only chance for survival at all was to hold the stairs.

 

[GeneralTyrus]

Dreamweaver
Cyan Hide

Tyrus would charge at Cadence, throwing himself at her to try and knock her out of the way of the spear, clearly not thinking right, as this could be seen as him attacking, or maybe someone would be rational and know he was trying to protect the person who actually gave him a better chance than the others, he might as well pay her back by getting her out of the way of the spear. He certainly wasn't about to throw himself in the way though, he didn't want to die yet.

 

[Dumbledoof]

Station 1 Avedon
Unfortunately, Gunnolf couldn't attack quite yet. With the griffons and Equestrians right against each other on the front lines, he was too big to be getting into a position. He didn't want to harm the ponies by accidentally stepping on them or something, he'd have to wait for them to move out of the way so he could start tearing the griffons apart. He was still pretty fucking pissed off if that wasn't obvious by the murder that could be seen in his eyes. If looks could kill, he'd have killed dozens by now with his eyes alone!

Canterlot Mansion Dreamweaver Cyan Hide
Expellix predicted they would be overrun soon enough. That really was an obvious thing, seeing how they were dealing with so many griffons and there were very few of them. There didn't seem to be much in the way of backup, either, these griffons were bloodthirsty. He imagined some of them wanted him dead the most, considering his previous exploits. They had such fond memories of him ...

He didn't predict the wall exploding.

He shot a few more magical blasts before grabbing his axes out of the air, jumping away from the window. He took the debris from the wall and jammed it into his own window, making a barricade of sorts. Have fun with that ya pricks. "I called it!" He yelled, racing by and hopping up the stairs in a single bound. "I freaking called it! Does anybody know what just blew the wall up?"

 

[Wylfen Shepard]

Cyan Hide
Dreamweaver

Cass let down the vase and sighed in relief when the changling surrendered. But then something flashed at the corner of his eye. The light bouncing off the shiny tip of the spear flying at the princess of love. Before he even realized it, Cassian's instincts took over as he quickly lunges in front of Princess Cadence and deflects it with his claw in a fast swipe. The spear snapped in half, but left a cut on his hand. Luckily it wasn't too serious. "Not very smart", Cassian narrowed his eyes at where the spear was thrown from and glares. He remained standing in a defensive stance closely in front of the Princess in case another spear would be thrown.

 

[Cyan Hide]

STATION 2:


Applejack wasn't quite fast enough getting out of the way of it's attack, and it would have hurt and maybe killed her had it not been for Lucian coming to the rescue. Applejack grinned at him right before using this brief window of opportunity to leap up and punch it really, really hard in the face, using the momentum of the punch to propell herself backwards and hopefully out of harm's way lest it retaliates.

Dreamweaver

THRONE ROOM:


Cadence silently nodded her thanks to both Tyrus and to Cassian, before getting up and rushing straight to the side of her husband, drawing her rapier as she did so, lest any more Changelings decide to attack. It's a shame she'd have to kill them instead of following through on her promise.

Dreamweaver GeneralTyrus Wylfen Shepard Assailant

CANTERLOT MANSION:


Starlight sealed off her window by taking the fireplace out of the chimney, putting it in the gap and then melting the metal frame, and followed the others up the stairs. She nodded in agreement at the rabbit's assssment. "That was no ordinary explosion," she agreed.

Dreamweaver Dumbledoof