The Second Griffon War (Main Thread)

[Anonmare]

Dreamweaver
Cyan Hide

Celestia burst in through the Throne room doors, decked out in a full set of her specially-made armour, weapon sheathed as carrying that with her hooves and climbing any form of sharp incline was just not practical. Her magic was still sapped and even her strength was no longer magically-enhanced, but her pure, physical strength would still put her head and shoulders, no pun intended, above even the most dedicated bodybuilding Earth Pony. She had no idea what had occurred between Cadence, Shining Armour and anypony or anyone else in the Throne Room but judging by the way Cadence was holding her rapier and standing beside her husband...

It was safe to say that any kind of negotiations had broken down.

"If any of you want to live! Drop your disguises and your weapons! This is your only warning!" She bellowed into the room, unsure if Cadence had de-masked all the Changelings but she was not willing to take any chances. Once in the room, she grabbed her massive weapon with her hooves, her wing deftly sliding it within reach, and held it between her hooves Griffon-style. She'd always been prepared to fight without magic, she insisted upon it, and her mixture of staff and morningstar burst to life with a fire that seemed to burn with an intensity that looked like it should be too hot to hold yet the Princess of the Sun was unfazed. "If any of you harm my niece, I will drag you to Tartarus myself!" She said, warning the Changelings. If any of them knew about the kidnapping, then they would probably know that wasn't a threat.

It was a promise.

 

[Assailant]

Silver and Arc saluted Celestia as she came in through the door. The two were busy keeping their eyes on the Shifters that had been ousted already and making sure none of them made any moves. Silver frowned and Arc glanced over.

"Silver, something on your mind?" Silver huffed.

"Does this not seem too easy? The Shifters are surrendering with little fight." Arc nodded.

"They have not the vigor of their ancestors, it would seem. This is a different era. They have grown weak in age."

 

[Dreamweaver]

Station 1
Dumbledoof
The battle at Station 1 was, for the moment, pretty calm... In comparison to what it had been like before. No big enemies made themselves known, and for now it seemed as if Equestria was successfully repelling this particular invasion.

Station 2
Mini-Boss Battle - Griffon Brute!
Anonmare
Cyan Hide
A loud snap filled the air as Applejack's hoof connected with the monstrous griffons cheek. The creatures head was flung to the left, and in the process the creatures neck broke in half from the force of the punch. It twitched a few times, seemingly alive... Before collapsing dead on the ground, taking out a nearby griffon under its weight as it collapsed.

The griffon forces at Station 2 were completely demoralized after seeing the brute being taken out with what seemed like ease, although none of them could tell how injured Applejack actually was.

Lucian quickly made his way up to her. "I think you should go find a priest if you're going to keep fighting. Do you need help getting to the medical station?"

Canterlot Mansion
Cyan Hide
Dumbledoof
"Does it matter what caused it?!" came the exasperated cry from Trixie, who was currently running as fast as she could up the stairs. She reached the top of the stairs just a moment before Starlight and Expellix did, who were all behind her. Directly behind the group was a swarm of griffons, who outnumbered them by waaayyyy to much. Luckily, the trio had the high ground in this situation.

Unfortunately only two of them could fight on the staircase at a time.

"... Starlight, you have no weapon to defend yourself. Go help the Princess!" Trixie ordered, while cutting down the first griffon that advanced on her.

Before Starlight could move towards Luna, who was around the corner, the sound of an Equestrian Warhorn filled the air as the pegasus reinforcements arrived. That meant the griffons would soon be overwhelmed by the Equestrians.

Arcus would hear it as well from her spot in the theater.

Throne Room
Anonmare
Assailant
Cyan Hide
GeneralTyrus
Wylfen Shepard
The appearance of Princess Celestia pretty much ended the conflict. Despite the fact that she was half her normal size, her gleaming golden plate-mail and flaming mace made a case that her size wouldn't stop her from slaughtering every Changeling in the room. Rather than fight a pointless battle against Celestia, Cadence, and all the other heroes in the room... the Changeings did the intelligent thing and all came out of hiding. One by one they stepped forward, shifted to their true forms, and through their weapons on the ground.

The sound of an Equestrian Warhorn from off in the distance let everybody know that backup had just arrived for the guards fighting in the city. Very soon, the Equestrians would overwhelm the Griffons inside the city and would slaughter them to the last man. And then, as Celestia alone would know, the Griffons would no doubt retreat and begin negotiations, using Silvanus, Salacia, Flurry Heart and Asa as leverage. With Luna currently being trapped in the city fighting off Griffons, it would fall on Celestia's shoulders to inform Shining Armor and Princess Cadence of their loss.

With the Changelings having surrendered and the Griffons about to pull away... This battle was over for the time being. Celestia could allow the heroes to rest.

 

[GeneralTyrus]

Dreamweaver
Cyan Hide

Tyrus would shuffle towards Cadence slowly, "Please... I... I can't... I..." He'd stammer, stumbling over his words, though he was clearly terrified. He'd look around, and look down at his hooves, "I can't change... Please... It... It hurts too much." He'd say, looking up to her, looking scared, terrified even. He was visibly shaking, likely due to the fact Celestia would maybe kill him if he didn't change. So, he was left in a pretty bad situation...

 

[Dumbledoof]

Canterlot Mansion Dreamweaver Cyan Hide
Trixie did have a point there. Whatever blew it up didn't matter unless they were going to start tossing bombs at them as well, which he didn't think would be a very smart decision. Bringing the house down on them and themselves would probably not be the wisest thing to do, especially when most of them could just teleport out. Hopefully that blast from before didn't do any major structural damage.

In the meantime, he parried one of the griffon's blades to the side and lashed out, cutting cleanly through their throat with Judgment. He kicked them back down the stairs into their friends, spitting. "This is ridiculous," he growled. "How could there possibly be so damn many? Griffonstone must be a fucking ghost town!"

 

[Cyan Hide]

STATION 2:


Applejack was grinning, basking in the afterglow of a good old slugfest. she shook her head at Lucian.

"Nah, pardner. All' be jest f-"

Was all she managed to say before she fainted and fell flat on the floor.

Dreamweaver

CANTERLOT THEATRE:


When the horn sounded, the Griffins stopped trying to push in, and many of them went back to bolsser their forces against the backup. With this change in tide, Arcus ordered her troops to push forward and drive the Griffins out, which they did, with Arcus flying about them, wanting to join in but knowing she was now too valuable to risk death. It...saddened her in a way.

Dreamweaver

CANTERLOT MANSION:


Starlight nodded and headed upstairs to help Luna. She heard the horn on the way and grinned, filled with new life and heart. When she reached Luna, she exclaimed. "Princess! The backup's here!", before firing off a spell at the nearest Griffin to Luna.

Dreamweaver Dumbledoof

THRONE ROOM:


Cadence put her hoof around Tyrus' shoulders, and made a long shushing sound as if she was calming a child. "You're under my protection, and that is known. I'll make it known that you were nothing but an ally to Equestria for this entire skirmish, and I personally thank you for your help."

That said, she kept him close as she approached Celestia, smiling warmly. "It is good to see you again, Princess, and not a moment too soon." Letting go of Tyrus, she approached the Princess and hugged her tightly. "Where did you go?"

Anonmare Assailant GeneralTyrus

 

[Wylfen Shepard]

Anonmare
Cyan Hide GeneralTyrus

Throne room:

With order now established thanks to the Sun Princess' s endearing entrance, the changlings finally lowered thier arms and thier veils. Cass sighed in relief and lowered his claws while tending to the cut on his hand. Seeing Princess Cadence tending to the one called Tyrus, who apparantly is also a changling, gave the young dragon a good hint that he was on thier side. The love princess made her way over to greet the Sun Princess, but the young drake kept his distance. From how things are, this wasn't a good time for a proper introduction. So for now he'll just go with the flow until he's actually noticed. For the time being, something else has caught his attention that he's been meaning to approach.

Tyrus would feel a gentle pat on his shoulder to see Cassian standing right next to him. The young drake gives a reassuring wave of his claw and a nod to show he means no harm as he would stand next to him watching the princesses have thier moment. "So...", the young dragon crossed his arms as he began to make conversation. "I don't suppose you know why thier are changlings involved, do you?", he said in a casual tone as if he's just asking a question and not interrogating. Personally, he doesn't have as much of an issue with changlings as he would with Griffons, given the circumstances. Even though he's had a few bouts with thier kind in the past, it was easy to understand why they do what they do.

"Can't seem to figure out why they would side with the Griffons. They wouldn't have much to offer", he assumed.

 

[Anonmare]

Dreamweaver
Cyan Hide
“Yeah we can carve a path for you, literally if need be.” Adali piped up, flashing a slightly vindictive smile as she casually tossed fireballs at the various Griffons, there was no particular pattern of priority to her targets but she was focusing on those closest to them. “'Cause if your stubborn about not getting any, lemme tell you that dying won't be fun and ya can take this from someone who has a very good reason to not want to.” She said emphatically, momentarily glancing towards Lucian and the nearest station.

Just to make sure it was still there.

Cyan Hide
Dreamweaver
Wylfen Shepard
Celestia felt her grip on her weapon loosen but she knew better than to let it fall slack until she was positive that all of them had come out of hiding. “You made the right decision, you will not be harmed. You have my word.” Celestia assured the Changelings whilst they prepared to surrender to the Heroes and the remaining guardsponies. She was nothing if not a Pony of her word. The sound of a distant Warhorn was the final nail in the coffin of this battle and, hopefully, the first of many to turn back the tide of the Griffon advance.

Unfortunately, that left the far more grave matter to break to everypony else...

Celestia wanted to return the smile and the hug but she couldn't will herself to return the gestures, merely sheathing her weapon back onto her withers and letting loose a weary sigh. “...I'm sorry Cadence, they were prepared for us. They took them.” She stated, attempting to return the hug but her heart just wasn't in it. “They found out about the secret room somehow and foalnapped the children...” She explained, her voice lifeless and listless – lacking it's usually warm qualities. “Silva, Salacia, Asa... Flurry...” Celestia continued, agonising as she had to tell Cadence that her daughter was taken.

She could only guess as to why the Changelings were involved, though Chrysalis hardly needed a reason to hamper Equestria – asusming that these Changelings answered to her.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Station 2
Anonmare
Cyan Hide
Fainting on the front lines wasn't exactly the best situation that one could be in. A dozen hungry griffons all immediately started surging towards the fallen mare, only to be blocked off by a great arcing swing of Lucian's enchanted greataxe. The light-blessed blade cut through the lot of them, leaving a trail of yellow light and red blood flying in its wake. When they had a moment to breath, Lucian magically picked up Applejack and placed her on his back, before the trio set off to the medical center in the middle of the mountain.

(End of scene for these three)

Canterlot Theater
Cyan Hide
To say the tide turned was an understatement. It was more like the tide turned into a tsunami and came crashing down on the enemy.

With Equestrian's pushing from both sides, the Griffons knew that they were done for. With Equestrian's far outnumbering their own forces now flanking them, dozens of Griffons fell by the minute. As the battle raged on for another 20 minutes, the Griffons really lost all hope for victory at all and decided to throw down their weapons and surrender.

In total there were 120 Griffons left in this area which were taken prisoner by Equestria.

Canterlot Mansion
Cyan Hide
The only Griffon left standing around Luna was one who was currently trying to claw his way in through a hole in the wall. Starlight's spell exploded his head nicely, and his body went limp halfway through the opening.

Luna herself was pretty much red now, as there was blood covering every square inch of her. Her silver armor was a grotesque sheen of red, and blood was collecting on the tips of her light-blue mane and dripping down to the floor. Judging from the mess around the room, it was no surprise that she was soaked with Griffon blood. It hard to determine exactly how many dead griffons there were. 10? 20? 100? They had all been diced into little pieces by that cursed scythe of hers, which was currently trailing darkness and starlight around as she twirled it passively, waiting for more griffons to come.

None came. The war-cry from the Equestrians outside had completely drawn their attention, and now they were retreating from the house and into the street to fight the newly arrived troops.

Luna opened her mouth to say something, only for a scream to instead echo from the stairway of the mansion Starlight had just come from.

Dumbledoof
As the Equestrian forces arrived, most of the Griffons turned their attention towards them rather than the ponies (and rabbit) in the mansion. That force simply commanded the attention of all the Griffons. Judging by the screams and war-cries coming from outside the mansion, it was not going well for the Griffons.

Still, though, not every Griffon went outside to that fight. A few dozen who were closer to the stairs stayed to assault the obviously powerful ponies (and rabbit) here. They new that Expellix, Trixie and Starlight would be getting tired. Magic didn't last forever. With enough time and patience, the trio would fall. The griffons knew that. Once the magic users ran out of magic, they'd be prey.

The first slip-up comes from Trixie. As she raised her sword to block a particularly nasty two-handed downward swing from a great-axe, the magic emanating from her horn faltered. That particularly brutal swing took more effort to block with her telekinetic grip on the sword; more effort than she had to give with her empty magical reserves.

As her magical grip on her katana faltered, the great-axe continued on its descent towards her and she did the only thing she could think of; she threw herself back out of the way and raised a leg up feebly to block the strike.

Her lower leg, severed just a few inches above the knee, hit the ground half-a-second later... followed by a scream.

Throne Room
Assailant
GeneralTyrus
Wylfen Shepard
It didn't take long at all for the Changelings, except for Tyrus obviously, to be rounded up, chained up, and sent off to be questioned about everything that had just happened. As it stands right now, there was nothing else for the heroes ( Assailant GeneralTyrus Wylfen Shepard ) to do. There was a battle going on in Canterlot City, but it would no doubt be wrapped up soon. This throne room had been effectively cleared. And whatever talk was going on right now before Princess Cadence and Princess Celestia was a family affair, and none of their concern.

The only thing left to do would be to return to the front lines, but considering they all just heard that the Princesses children were taken... the battles on the front-lines would no doubt cease soon as the Griffons started up negotiations for the surrender of Canterlot, and therefore Equestria as well.

Anonmare
Cyan Hide
Thank Harmony that Celestia didn't say that overly loud, otherwise the shield around Canterlot would have been dropped by a dumbstruck Shining Armor.

Which brings up a difficult reality for Cadence; she could not tell him. Not until it was her magic returned and she could uphold the shield around Canterlot. If she told him right now, he would no doubt be unable to sufficiently focus on the shield and the entire Griffon Army would be able to invade the city. The war would be lost and their children would be gone.

 

[GeneralTyrus]

Dreamweaver
Wylfen Shepard
Cyan Hide
Anonmare

Tyrus would flinch at the touch, shuffling away Cass, wincing, "I.. I wouldn't know..." He'd say, looking to the ground, staring at some cracks and such, "I haven't been with them for a while..." He'd say, shuffling closer to Cadence, not really wanting to get to far from her, "I... I can't really... Think straight at the moment..." He'd mutter, shaking his head, then look up at Celestia, then yank his vision back to the to floor, shaking as he realised how close she was to him, well within killing distance.

He'd lower himself to the ground, trying not to get noticed any further. He'd nearly had a heart attack when Celestia had shown up, so he really wasn't feeling any better now that she was in front of him.

 

[Wylfen Shepard]

Dreamweaver
GeneralTyrus Cyan Hide Anonmare Assailant

Cassian couldn't help but frown with concern at the changling's response. "Whoa. Poor guy looks pretty shaken up.", he thought to himself as he decided to keep his distance. Apparantly, Princess Cadance was his emotional leverage and he seems to trust her more. Either way, it was best to not rile up the poor guy. However, the princesses and shining armor were not fairing any differently. What ever they were conversing about, it didn't sound good. The tension and dread in the air was so thick, he could cut it with a knife. Even some of the soldiers in the room weren't fairing any different from Tyrus. After all, war doesn't happened very often in equestria.

With very little he could do, the only option he had was to help tend to the injured. Picking up his bag, he walks over to Silver and Arc long with any other soliders. "Hey, anyone need help with any injuries?", he offered.

 

[Dumbledoof]

Canterlot Mansion Dreamweaver Cyan Hide
Expellix wasn't one to take attacks completely head on. Rather, he preferred to just parry them instead of trying to block. It took too much energy to stop a blow entirely. He would rather try and conserve it, as came naturally to him because, well, doing things the harder and more inefficient way meant you died. While he wasn't against dying, he was not actively seeking it out.

He saw what was happening with Trixie just a little too late. "TRIXIE!"

He did try to save her. But he simply wasn't fast enough and she had her foreleg cut off. His eyes widened ... he couldn't heal that. Could anybody heal that? That's if she didn't die from blood loss before they could get her to a hospital. He turned his attention to the griffon, bringing Judgment up and slamming the blade of the axe deep into his skull, tearing it out a moment later and shoving the body down the stairs. Hopefully that would slow somebody down.

He gnashed his teeth, now facing the griffons alone. "Luna, Starlight, somebody get Trixie." He said to them telepathically. "She's hurt and doesn't have a lot of time."

His necklace began glowing as he decided to use the spell he had charged in there now. Dark energy built up around him, turning into black electricity that arced across his fur. He thrust his paw forth and dark lightning burst forth from it. It hit the first griffon and then bounced, arcing to the next griffon, and then to another, and another ... it kept bouncing until it reached an end after a dozen of them. He let Insight and Judgment fight on their own for now but he wouldn't be able to rely on that for too much longer.

After the spell ended, he took hold of both weapons and blocked the stairwell, ready for others to come. He could only hope to defend Trixie until somebody came to save her, he didn't have the time to do anything for her himself.

 

[Cyan Hide]

CANTERLOT MANSION:


The moment Starlight heard the scream, she didn't even race down the stairs. She didn't even turn round. She instead teleported to the edge of the downstairs room and what she saw shocked her to her very core. As a million emotions whirled around her head and battled for dominance, her horn crackled with barely contained dark energy. She wanted to slaughter every griffin standing right now, but didn't. She forced herself to think, but it was no use. With a wide sweep of a pitch-black laser, the room was cleared of whole griffins and gained a couple more Griffin pieces. With the immediate danger passed, Starlight went right to the Mansions cupboards and pulled out some toweles and tablecloths.

"Watch our backs!" she barked at Expellix, as she raised Trixie's arm and wrapped the cloth around it tightly, trying to slow the bleeding. The pain and rage in her face was hard to hide as she worked.

Dreamweaver Dumbledoof


THRONE ROOM:


Cadence felt like the world had just dropped from under her hooves, she kept a hold of Celestia to keep herself upright. She glanced back at Shining Armor, and it was clear that something was very, very wrong, but she shook her head, and mouthed "Not now. Later." over to him. Until her magic came back fully, she couldn't tell him, and she knew this. She gave her magic a little test just to see how far it had recovered.


Dreamweaver Anonmare GeneralTyrus Wylfen Shepard

 

[Assailant]

Wylfen Shepard

Silver and Arc both glanced at each other. They had accumulated minor cuts throughout the battle earlier at the station, but compared to what many would gain, they were indeed very minor. Many would simply heal on their own, and the one or two that should probably be treated paled in comparison to the wounds of many others. "We are alright," Silver said to Cass with a nod. "We will be treated once those with more severe wounds do."

One brief look at the two would just about confirm this. Most cuts were minor, little worse than what a foal would procure on a playground. A few cuts were a tad deeper: their chest had a cut that had brought out a small amount of blood, though it looked like the wound had stopped bleeding some time ago. Silver had also received a gash down his side for his trouble with the griffons, and of the two of them, it seemed the most severe wound. Even still, it was nothing particularly major: a simple gauze pad and light wrapping would fix it up nicely for now. Whoever these two were, they could certainly hold their own.

"Yeah," Arc confirmed. "My pain is mostly mental... that fucking champion took a lot out of me when he destroyed my barrier like that." He held his head as he said this. "I will get over it with some rest."

 

[Anonmare]

GeneralTyrus
Cyan Hide
Dreamweaver
Celestia glanced at Tyrus, unaware of the context or the circumstances surrounding his being here, but concluded that if Cadance as comfortable with him around then there was no reason to be overtly threatening towards him. She turned back towards Cadance and nodded her agreement with the princess of Love. “I'm sorry I had to tell you this, you have my sworn promise that I won't let anything happen to them. But...” She glanced at Shining Armour, doing her best to appear composed and regal.


“You're going to have to keep your husband in the dark. He's a strong stallion, but, we simply cannot afford him to be distracted right now.” She added quietly, knowing Cadance likely came to the same conclusion if she had chosen to hold her tongue. She noticed the terrified Tyrus and looked to the pink Princess questioningly.

“Do you trust him?” She asked, subtly nodding her head towards him.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Canterlot Mansion
Cyan Hide
Dumbledoof
Seeing as how the griffons upstairs had been more or less dealt with, Luna abandoned her post to instead come over to the stairs and see what all the commotion was about. Needless to say, what she saw worried her. While not overly concerned for Trixie's life, the fact that one of their group was down was a big deal. That was 25% of their crew gone. At the very least, seeing Starlight tending to Trixie's wounds made Luna feel a bit better. Hopefully the mare would survive.

"Everypony, up the stairs!" Came Luna's call from above, right before slamming the butt of her scythe on the ground and summoning forth its latent powers. Two globes of what appeared to be smoke flew forward, landing in front of Starlight, Trixie and Expellix before taking on the shape of ghostly griffons. The sounds of the griffons immediately began tearing into their comrades as they came up the stairs, made all the more effective as the griffons non-magical weapons passed harmlessly through the spirits.

Once the others had pulled Trixie up the stairs, Luna turned to them. "Starlight, you're doing well. Keep calm, and keep pressure on that wound to slow the bleeding. Expellix, I know you're tired but see if you can summon some fire to cauterize the wound. And, uh... Starlight, hold her down while he does. She will scream a lot."

With that, Luna left to guard the stairs. Trixie was pretty much passed out by this point from blood loss.

... Some 10 minutes later, and the griffons were defeated. Although 10 minutes felt like a lifetime for them. Clerics immediately came in to take Trixie away, rushing her off to the nearest hospital. Considering she looked dead before they eve got there, that probably wasn't a good sign.

Throne Room
Assailant
Wylfen Shepard
All in all, there were several soldiers in the room who desperately needed medical attention. Not many had been evacuated since the original ambush attack and as such a lot of the guards who fought in that skirmish were still here, bleeding profusely. Cassian lending his healing magic to them would be greatly appreciated and remembered, as would any magic that Arc could lend to the fight or manual healing that Silver could lend.

No doubt Arc and Silver could at least mend wounds with makeshift supplies, being as how old and hardened they were as warriors.

Cyan Hide
Cadence would see just the briefest of sparks form at the tip of her horn. At this rate, it would likely be another 2 hours before she had any amount of useful magic at her disposal. Luckily they had Shining Armor available still, though 2 hours of maintaining this shield on his own would be tough for the non-alicorn. He could do it, though.

He noted her mouthing 'not now', and simply nodded. Whatever it was, it'd have to wait. If this shield fell they'd all be killed or worse, he knew that, and he wouldn't fail in his duty to his people at this moment of need.

Anonmare
Celestia, likewise, would feel her magic returning. That meant no doubt that Luna, out in the thick of battle in Canterlot City, would have hers returning too. Celestia didn't need to test her magic to know it was returning... Instead, she would be able to tell as she felt her mind be prodded by another, familiar entity. One that hadn't made itself known in a very long time, not since Celestia had gained control over it.

"Let me out, I can help..." it whispered to her.
---------------

The Battle for Canterlot

Anonmare
Assailant
Avedon
Cyan Hide
GeneralTyrus
Dumbledoof
Wylfen Shepard
As suddenly as the wave of griffons had come, it seemed to stop. As the order to fallback was passed along through the griffon lines, the true carnage of today's battles was made clear. In front of each station at the base of Canterlot Mountain, tens of thousands of griffon corpses littered the ground. That wasn't even accounting for the thousands of pony corpses that had been continuously dragged away for a proper burial and to make room for more fighters. The devastation was clear... and the stench was overwhelming.

Equestria obviously let the griffon soldiers come and carry their dead comrades away. It was a long process, but it was one of respect and honor. Both sides respected each other and the dead would be allowed to rest.

On the following night, the griffons sent a messenger to meet with Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor. The message, although put much more eloquently by this terrified messenger, was nonetheless rather straight forward when you broke it down;

"Surrender the city and swear fealty to the Griffon Empire, after which point you can have the children back.

For each month that passes without an answer, one child will die."

END OF CHAPTER 4

 

[Dumbledoof]

Canterlot Mansion Dreamweaver Cyan Hide
Expellix was about ready to fight before Luna gave the call and the spiritual griffons came to defend the stairs for them. He didn't care what they were, didn't even bother to question it. Seeing how he was no longer needed there, he immediately turned around and bounded up the stairs to where Trixie was, Judgment and Insight floating over and coming to rest nearby, criss-crossing across his back. He was still holding them, this was just more ... convenient.

He paused next to Starlight and Trixie, looking her leg over critically. Honestly, he was healing injuries so often now that he might as well become a full-time medical practitioner at this point. Maybe it would be worth it to seek additionally training in more hands-on approaches that didn't deal with magic. He might not have the ability to use Light magic forever, seeing how he was constantly using dark magic. They balanced each other out for now at least.

"Cauterizing ...?" He murmured. Honestly, he'd only had to do that once or twice before, but there was actual tools for that before. How was he going to ...? His eyes lit up slightly and he waved his hand, Judgment coming from round his back to hover in the air right next to his paw. Intense heat came off it's blade. This would have to do.

"Starlight, hold her down." He brandished Judgment, maneuvering it so the flat of the blade was close to pressing against Trixie's severed leg. "And don't lose your nerve. This isn't going to be the prettiest thing to ever see ..."

After that, he did the deed, moving Judgment forward and touching its burning blade to Trixie's flesh. You could immediately hear the sizzle that it made from coming into contact with her body, and it only lingered for a second before Expellix quickly pulled it away. Doing it for much longer than that ran the risk of damaging the healthy muscle, and this was dangerous as is. But it had to be done. He didn't give much time to recover from it if Trixie happened to wake up, quickly touching Judgment to her leg once again, jerking it away hastily after another second, and then repeating. He continued like this until it was sufficient to stop her bleeding and the clerics had come to take her away.

With Trixie off to the hospital, Expellix sat against a wall and let Judgment and Insight disappear back into their pocket dimension, closing his eyes for a few minutes to recollect himself.

 

[Wylfen Shepard]

Dreamweaver
Assailant

(Last post for the chapter)

Cassian couldn't help but roll his eyes at Arc's personal problem. "Well I cant help you there, buddy.", he said. " But yeah, we sure got lucky. The explosion from magic discharging from a broken enchanted weapon is never a pretty sight. Although, I'm more concerned about how they even got a hold of a weapon like that. Those are not easy to come by.", he ponders while scratching his chin.

Cassian was pulled from his throughts from the sounds of groaning and wincing in the room. While Arc and Silver seemed to be physically fine, there were plenty of other soldiers with more serious injuries that need help. Wasting no time, the young dragon takes out his first aid pouch and his potion kit of assorted medical herbs. He wasted no time rushing over. However, most of the solider hardly knew him well enough to trust him. Yet he persisted in assuring that he meant them no harm and tried to keep a gentle demeanor so he doesn't frighten anypony.

 

[Assailant]

Silver and Arc began to do the same as Cass. Arc quickly pulled out some clay and spent a few minutes flattening it and patterning it before quickly spraying it with some fire to solidify it. He ran around with the clay and placed it near the wounded soldiers and poured some magic into it to heal them up. It didn't do a ton, but they wouldn't be bleeding or hurting too much. For now, anyway. Silver soon followed behind, putting further bandages on the affected wounds. It was not much, he never was a doctor, but it was something he could do to help and it would prevent further infection.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Chapter 5
Nightfall​

Assailant Avedon Cyan Hide GeneralTyrus Dumbledoof Wylfen Shepard NevermoreStarsign
One Week AgoIt had been one week since the assault on Canterlot had come to an end. Knowing that the Griffons could not possibly hope to outfight the Equestrian's, their king had made a final desperate attempt to take control of this war and had launched a covert operation to steal the Princesses children from the safety of their castle. Using a network of Equestrian spies, the strike team had quickly gotten into the castle, disabled the fillies of their magic, and assassinated the guards around them. Much to their surprise, they found more than just Princess Silvanus and Princess Salacia in that room; Princess Flurry Heart and Princess Asa were there as well! This only added to the leverage that the Griffons now possessed over the rulers of Equestria.

The children had been taken not far outside of Canterlot, to a small hidden camp comprised of a few traitorous unicorns. By the time Equestria got to the camp, it was too late; the children were gone. Teleported away by the traitorous unicorns, far across the sea into the Griffon Kings homeland. The unicorns were quickly found guilty of treason and were then put to death. The guilty unicorns were publicly hanged, drawn and quartered.

It was brutal, but necessary. Equestria would not tolerate treason; especially not against the royal children.

Not long after that, Princess Luna had begun to make plans to get the kids back. Her plan was rather simple; she would go into Griffonstone alone and deal with the situation. It was simply the safest way to get the kids back, without risking the lives of Equestria's heroes; and it was certainly not the first world leader that Luna had assassinated. She could easily teleport into the Griffon Kingdom, go invisible from that point, and then simply assassinate the King while he slept. Then it would simply be a matter of finding the kids and rescuing them. Griffonstone itself could be dealt with after, and would no doubt be an easy target with its King dead.

In the event that something happened to Princess Luna, the official orders were for Princess Celestia to take control of the Lunar Guard with Avedon working directly under her, just as he had with Luna. Avedon's job would not change, although his leadership would.

Princess Twilight, Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, however, had a slightly different job; don't let Princess Celestia, or themselves, do anything they would later regret. In the event that something did happen to her wife, they needed to remind Celestia that Griffonstone still had their children and she could not simply attack them without major repercussions. Launching any sort of attack could get not just her own, but all of their children killed.

But if all went according to plan, and it should, then they should be reunited with their children rather soon, and the Griffon King should be dead.
Present DayIt had been two days since Princess Luna had ventured into the Griffon Kingdom. She was not taking the time to send progress reports simply because of how quickly this would all be over.
....
Avedon Cyan Hide GeneralTyrus NevermoreStarsign
It had been a day since the bond between Celestia and Luna had stopped functioning. It wasn't gone, but it was... distorted. Celestia could not gain any useful information from it; she didn't know where Luna was, she couldn't even read her thoughts or feelings. Whatever magic was at play in the Griffon Kingdom was beyond anything in Equestria, if it had been powerful enough to warp their bond.

On that very same day, the Griffons called for a meeting with the rulers of Equestria. They would be sending a diplomat shortly to meet up with Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, Princess Twilight, Shining Armor and Avedon.

 

[NevermoreStarsign]

Dreamweaver
Twilight has been busy for quite some time, raging a quiet guerilla war around the smoldering crater that was once Ponyville. Such an endeavor has been keeping her busy for quite some time. But now, when the princesses call once more... Well, there's no way to be tardy for that, is there?

Twilight makes quite sure to be the first one to show up, covered in soot and smoke and the byproducts of whatever other magical or otherwise experiment she'd been working on recently, although she'd used some sort of spell to make sure her mane was still styled properly and free of the soot that had made its home on her face and neck.

 

[GeneralTyrus]

Dreamweaver Cyan Hide Avedon NevermoreStarsign

Celestia had been pacing a great deal during that second day, not really being in the mood for much outside of focusing on Luna, hoping that she'd maybe catch say of something. An image, a feeling of something, anything really. She cursed herself, not being able to go out and see if everything was alright, but given status of the kingdom at the moment, she couldn't put to much trust in advisers at the moment, spies were everywhere as it seemed, and she had to be careful.

Of course, when news came that a Diplomat would be arriving, her heart skipped a beat, and she had to steel herself so to not worry to much. Luna would have been back if the mission had been completed, so now she was worried as to what might have happened. A diplomat from the Gryphons meant they likely wanted to argue more over their terms; she knew the king was too proud to give up, so she could only wonder what his plan was now.

Quickly, Celestia had gotten herself ready, and made her way to the Throne room. She'd gotten there quickly, though she didn't sit down, and merely paced for a minute or so before finally taking her spot on the throne, waiting. She'd sit like that for a while, appearing in deep thought, though she was still trying to focus on the bond, but knew it was fruitless.

Finally, the worry melted from her face and she smiled warmly, waiting for everyone to arrive. She did not want to let those who followed her see her in a ragged state of worry.

Of course, when Twilight came bursting into the room, covered in soot and dirt, she just rose a brow, "I see you've made it Twilight, that's good. Now we can wait for the others." She'd say, smiling as she sat there, thinking things over.

 

[Avedon]

GeneralTyrus
Avedon was normally punctual, normally he would be there only moments after the Princesss, but these were far from normal times. The realities of war and this most recently disturbing news with Luna meant his schedule was at the whims of the reports and news he received. In truth he was thankful for it, the news of the bond being broken haunted every moment of rest between his work. He didn't think Luna was dead, she was too resourceful for that, but he felt things were far more complicated than she had assumed. he wished she hadn't been so arrogant to not give time delivering proper reports back to Celestia. If she had they'd have more information to work off of...

He let out a small sigh as he stepped into the room and saw the ivory-alicorn. Not arrogant perhaps...desperate. He wouldn't have understood that drive, the obsession and need to feel things were under control when your children were threatened.

"Princess Celestia."
Ge gave her a short but respectful bow of his head. Something only she and Luna would ever recieve.

 

[Cyan Hide]

Dreamweaver GeneralTyrus

Cadence arrived with Shining Armor, and the two were seemingly the last to arrive. Cadence, though her mane was immaculate and she was wearing her regal tiara and greaves, it was clear from her face that she had slept little if at all since the abduction of her daughter. The worrying news of Luna going silent and the Griffins requesting talks didn't help. That was not a coincidence. Cadance had a strong feeling that Luna was captured and would be used as a bargaining chip against Equestria. That would certainly explain this series of events.

She half-smiled upon seeing Twilight, though could hardly be called happy. Nontheless, she trotted up to her old babysitting charge and hugged her warmly. She bowed to Celestia and gave a respectful nod to Avedon. She waited silently for business to begin, though wasn't looking forward to it.

 

[Dreamweaver]

Avedon Cyan Hide GeneralTyrus NevermoreStarsign
After the rulers had taken their seats, one of the Royal Guards came in to make sure everypony was in their place. After getting the nod from Princess Celestia, the guard went off to fetch the Griffon Messenger who had just arrived at the castle gates. It was a dangerous trip for the griffon to make, since literally the whole city wanted him dead, but no citizen of Equestria would attack a messenger... without permission from a Princess, at least!

About 10 minutes later, the door to the throne room once again opened and the same guard from before entered with a bow. At his side was the Griffon Messenger, carrying a small box that was just slightly smaller than Princess Celestia's horn. As the guard bowed, so to did the Griffon Messenger. The guard then backed out of the room and closed the door behind the messenger.

The messenger was doing a surprisingly good job of keeping calm. Much better than the last messenger; although he was still quite obviously nervous. He didn't really know why he was here, besides to give Princess Celestia some box which he did not know the contents of, and to deliver a message that he had yet to read.

The messenger stepped forward and bowed his head to each of them in turn. "It is my honor to stand before you all and attempt to reach some sort of peaceful agreement. I bring a message from King Eurus that he wishes for you all to hear. Ahem..."

He pulled out the message, opened it for the first time, and began reading.

Dear Rulers of Equestria,

Never before have I seen such arrogance. Did you truly believe that one mare could hope to stand against me? I have allies of such great power that they make your 'Goddess of the Night' look like a common street horse. I have sent this gift as proof of her capture. She has told me many interesting things over the small amount of time she's been here. With her capture being now known, I speak directly to you now, Princess Celestia.

I am calling for a meeting to take place, to negotiate the terms of Equestria's surrender. Myself and 1,000 troops will come to the coast of Fillydelphia and set up camp there. In exactly 1 weeks time from the day you hear this message, meet us at that camp. You may bring 2,000 troops with you, as a show of peacetime trust from myself. I will have all griffons around Canterlot pulled back to Ponyville, allowing you safe passage through.

However, should myself or any of my 1,000 troops fail to return home, all of the royal children will be executed. I have the means to do it; do not give me a reason.

Please send a unicorn over here immediately so that I know the message has been received.

Enjoy the present.

- King Eurus

As the messenger read the message, his face began to drain of color and his voice began to stutter, although he never slowed down or sped up the message, delivering it professionally. He began to look frantically at the box that he was carrying as he realized what was likely in that box. Given the size and shape...

He gulped and walked forward, sweating profusely as he handed the box up to Princess Celestia.

The box was made up of dark black wood, and looked all around beautiful. There was a little moon symbol on the top; the silver of which contrasted starkly with the black box.

Inside the box was Luna's horn. The wedding ring that Celestia had crafted for her was still attached to it.

Upon closer inspection, Celestia would see that the base of it was not nearly a clean cut but rather looked like it had been chopped many hundreds of times before it had finally broken off. Her horn could stab through steel like it was paper, so whatever actually managed to break this horn off was not to be underestimated.

This must have taken at least an hour to break off. And it was said that even slightly damaging a horn was a pain worse than being stabbed in the gut, so it was fair to say that Princess Luna was likely not having a good time over in the Griffon Kingdom, nor was she being treated well.

The messenger looked like he didn't know what to do. He was just staring in terror up at the assembled rulers as he wondered what was going to happen now. Leaving without being excused would be wrong and also probably get him killed.