The Second Griffon War (Main Thread)

Assailant
As much as Princess Luna hated to admit it, the best thing that they could do right now was retreat. It went against her every instinct, the culture she was raised in did not believe in retreat or surrender, but times had changed and now she had to think of the innocent pony soldiers down on the ground below who would die if an order to retreat wasn't made.

The ponies left in the hospital would have to simply be accepted casualties.

Following Celestia's call for a retreat, Luna yelled out her own orders. "EVERYPONY, FOLLOW THE PLAN OF RETREAT!"

Each soldier had been given a plan before the battle. Earth ponies and unicorns were to load onto the train as fast as possible under the protection of Shining Armor's shield. Once the train left, it would not return. All other earth ponies and unicorns were to load into the train station. From there, a group of specially trained unicorns would turn the train station into a giant teleportation circle, and teleport them all to Canterlot. All pegasi were to fly directly to Canterlot.

And then there was the Death Knights of the Lunar Guard. They had their own orders.

"All Death Knights on the front lines... You know your job. Protect your fellow guards during the retreat, and face your death bravely. I will see you all on the other side, someday. All other Death Knights, follow regular protocol of retreat." Luna said, while taking a moment from the battle to salute all the Death Knights on the front lines.

Those intimidating, black full-plate clad warriors did the same without complaint.

And so the retreat was in full swing. The Equestrian army was so well organized that the train was filled and on its way out of there in under 15 minutes. From this point on, the pegasi began to slowly make their own retreat while the train station was turned into a giant teleportation circle...

The heroes might want to get there. Quickly...

Latios
His stream of fire hit the griffin multiple times, and by the time the smoke cleared he was nothing but a charred corpse on the ground...

... But now it was time to retreat. Flax would be able to lead Galagus to the train station, where him and the other unicorns and earth pegasi would be taken out of harms reach.

Cyan Hide
Unfortunately for Applejack, she was arriving right as the Princesses were calling for a retreat. Equestria's entire army, which from her spot on the road would look like a massive steel-covered blob, was all moving towards the train station or flying towards Canterlot.

She had a clear road straight to Canterlot that she could begin running on. Retreat now and live to fight another day...

Sinensis
As the last of the griffons fell dead to Starlight's fireball, Trixie paused and took a look around. She noted the pony who had helped them off to the side, and then heard the Princesses call for a retreat. She had been expecting this, honestly. This battle was not going their way, and trying to hold this position just to save a few injured soldiers was ludicrous. Admirable, but ludicrous.

Trixie ran over to Expellix, gently picked him up in her magical grasp, and then ran back over to Starlight. She stopped in front of Starlight and just shook her head vigorously. "It's time to go, Starlight. With our magic combined, we can make it nearly to Canterlot I think. Let's get out of here right now." Trixie said as her horn began to glow and linked to Starlight's; lending her a rather considerable amount of power. Trixie had a ton of magical power, and simply didn't know how to harness most of it apparently...

She took one look over at the pony who had helped them, and smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, but we have to take Expellix here and not yourself. There isn't enough magic here to get all four of us to Canterlot. Please, be safe..."

Assailant
As the three ponies look for a way out of the chaotic front lines, they are helped by a group of Death Knights who gladly step in to take their place. One of the Death Knights apparently recognized Lucian as a Paladin, and saluted him with a grim smile. Lucian saluted back. They were opposites in many ways, yet the same in so many others.

And with that, the Death Knights had given them a way out of the front lines. Lucian conjured a yellow shield under which any stray arrows would hopefully break against. Now they were making their way to the train station, where they would be teleported away...

Wylfen Shepard
Judging by the current rate of retreat, Cassian has about 20 minutes before the teleportation spell goes off and Ponyville becomes a ghost town. He had best hurry to the train station.

The larger griffon in front of him charges in with his axe and slams it down in an overhead chop, while the smaller griffon decides to run away. There were retreating Equestrian's that were ripe for the killing! He was confident that the larger griffon would be able to take out Cassian.

NevermoreStarsign
The three other dragons were getting closer by the second. To make matters even worse, Celestia was currently alone against that one dragon; Luna was busy shouting orders and saying goodbye to her 'suicide' troops, the Death Knights. She had to deal with this dragon by herself for the next few minutes while Luna directed troop movements to cover the retreat.

The dragon's jaw broke wide open from the impact of the mace. Scales, muscle and bone exploded under the impact. Yet somehow it was still living. This one really wouldn't let go of life, apparently.

The dragon spun around again, sending his tail at Celestia before flapping his wings together to send hurricane-force winds at her; hopefully propelling her into the ground...

And he was finally killed by a falling star summoned by Luna, which embedded itself in his eye socket and then promptly exploded, showering Celestia with a thousand pounds of dragon brain.

... And two minutes later, time was up. The other three dragons were in Ponyville.

The only thing scarier than three dragons, was three dragons who were working together. And that's exactly what they were doing.

While the gold dragon, who was even bigger than the red one which Luna killed, flew at Celestia; the other two flew in tandem at Luna. The black dragon veered off course, an act that Luna didn't quite understand, but she had other matters to worry about. The red dragon was flying right at her, but her gut told her that it wouldn't attack her; it was going for the hospital instead.

And there wasn't much she could do to stop it. The only option was to make it crash. If it strafed the hospital, if would set fire to the entire thing and no-doubt kill every injured pony inside. At least with the griffons, they might take prisoners...

A beam of blue light erupted from Luna's horn and struck the red dragon right in the wing. It tore through the leathery fabric of its wing and sent the dragon careening downwards; into the side of the hospital. By the time the dragon stopped rolling, half of the hospital was flattened and thousands of patients were dead, crushed to death either by the collapsing half of the building or the dragon himself.

But the red dragon was hardly down for the count. He rose up from the hospital, only to be met by a charging Luna flying straight into his face. She punched him with enough force to break the sound barrier and make him fall over again. She stood over-top of him, ready to deliver the killing blow...

... Only for a massive shadow to appear on the ground around them. She looked up just in time to see the airship falling towards them, its propellers melted by the black dragons acid breath. This had been their plan. Isolate a Princess and drop an airship on them.

"... Well, fu-" was the last thing Luna got out through their bond before the airship landed on her and the red dragon. The red dragon died instantly.

The airship exploded, as did the hospital which it landed on.

And Celestia couldn't do a single thing about it. Not with a massive golden dragon in her face. She was forced to watch the red dragon distract Luna, while the black dragon literally dropped an airship on her. And that gold dragon was still attacking her, along with the black dragon now joining in the fight against her. The gold dragon, a creature of the purest intentions and well known for being completely good-aligned, winced when the airship landed on Luna. "I'm sorry..." it muttered out, before slashing across at Celestia.

Celestia would know from their bond that Luna was still, barely, alive. But she had absolutely no way to help her right now...

... If only another alicorn did.

Latios · Jun 5, 2017

Knowing that his foes were no longer a threat he finally was able to focus on what was going on. Apparently they had ordered a retreat issue. Galagus thought its was the dragons fault that they had lost Ponyvill. If not for their back up for the Griffons they would have had a chance here. Now this place was going to go up in flames as did all the towns they lost. It seemed unorthodox to burn them but at the same time necessary. But now was not the time to stand around sulking about defeat. If he didn't hurry to the escape party he would be stuck here and die with the rest. He wasn't that far from the train station to begin with and with Flax leading the way it didn't take long to get their either. Now he hid in the building with the rest of the troop waiting to leave.

Cyan Hide · Jun 6, 2017

Dreamweaver @Deathrattle BB

Starlight nodded at Trixie's words. It was time to go. She took one last look at the Castle, but needed to turn away after a second. She'd come back. When the war was over, she'd come back, and they'd repair the castle. This will always be her home. Even if she has to build Ponyville herself from scratch, brick by brick, if that was the cost...

She shook her head, and noticed that there were tears halfway down her face. When did they get there? She wiped them away and turned to retreat, then stopped.

Sinensis

She turned back, looking at the pony who helped her. "I don't know what your name is!" she shouted across to him. "But thank you! Here, take this!" and with that, her horn glowed and Tech suddenly felt his depleting supply of energy filling up until it was maxed out. She then turned and followed Trixie to the portal.

---

Dreamweaver

Applejack looked with anguish at the ruin that had befallen Ponyville since her capture. She really wanted to go in there and make as many Griffins and Dragons as possible pay for what they did. It wasn't even concern for her own life that stayed her hoof, but the desire to see her family and make sure they were all safe, and with the evactuation of Ponyville, if they were all alive, they'd all be in Canterlot. They might even need her help if the fight reached there. So she put revenge on the back shelf and sprinted up the track to Canterlot. Family came first. It always came first.

NevermoreStarsign · Jun 6, 2017

Dreamweaver
Well, there's only one thing to do at this point, isn't there?
Pray for a miracle.

And, as luck would have it...

"Stay BACK!"
The sorcerous apprentice herself, the newest princess in Equestria, has finally joined the fray, clad in a rumbling and shaking likely barely functional set of probably hoof-crafted armor. But whatever she was doing, it seemed to be working. She blasts her way over to the crashed airship, sending anyone who dared to try to intercept the armored princess flying with a concussive blast. Once she makes it to the airship, she raises a hoof and lights her horn and a black and red beam of pure destructive arcane energy punches straight through, cutting away whatever debris lied on the crashed ship, tossing the cut away pieces at the nearest troops of the Griffon army.
"Princess Luna! I'm here to rescue you! CALL OUT IF YOU CAN HEEEAR ME!"

Wylfen Shepard · Jun 6, 2017

Dreamweaver

Quickly, the young dragon brought up his sword, holding both ends horizontally. The powerful strike from the ace nearly made his knees buckle from the force behind it. However Cassian was stronger than he looked as he began pushing up against the Griffons brute strength. While the weight of the sword gave Cass an issue with his movements, the materials he used to forge it made difficult to break that easy.

Right as he felt the Griffon put more pressure down on the axe, Cass lowers the blade end in and angle to push and slide the axe away from him as the motion caused the grinding of the blades to make sparks. He quickly used the opportunity to srike at its opening by jabbing the back blunt pommel of the sword into the Griffons jaw. He then turns, winding his leg and plowed the sole of his talon foot into his mid- section almost similarly as hard as how a pony bucks an enemy. He put plenty of his strength behind that kick to make the Griffon tumble back.
I'm that moment he would go charging in a quick leap and swipe his blade at an exposed open area at the large griffon's neck to behead him.

Anonmare · Jun 7, 2017

Dreamweaver
“What a bunch of weirdos.” Adali commented to the Death Knights, who oddly saluted Lucian. She didn't know what it was about them but their whole gettup and demeanour practically screamed 'I am a walking red flag'. “Did you know any of them?” She asked the Paladin as they were given a way out from the front lines, and they were going to take it considering the order for retreat had been given. Adali like a fight as much as the next, well, not Pony – Ponies were rather conflict averse.

Great, now she lost track of her metaphor. Wait, what was that in the distance, it looked like... An airship..?

Meanwhile...

NevermoreStarsign
Celestia had no time to react to Luna being in danger, she was still grappling with a gold-scaled dragon who seemed, oddly, apologetic. As though it did not want to fight but felt it must. The Princess of the Sun hardly registered its words, too distracted, by Luna's weak life but being powerless to do anything about it. “Get out of my way!” She bellowed, firing several bolts of pure arcane force at the dragon's sensitive areas: Eyes, neck, belly, wings... Anywhere where its scales failed to cover. She didn't care about potentially burning herself out – she only cared about ending the fight now.

In any other circumstance, she would have been more cautious and even questioning the dragon behind its motives but her sister was beneath that wreckage and her life was fading fast. Without skipping a beat or waiting a second between launching her barrage, she propelled herself at the dragon, uncaring about the risk, and hefted her morning star to the apex of a swing before bringing it down on the dragon's chest – aiming for just under the ribcage to literally knock the wind out of it's lungs and out of the sky.
As all was going on, she almost didn't notice Twilight's appearance to the fray and hoped that she could get to her sister in time if Celestia could not. She'd give anything to make sure her sister was okay...

Assailant · Jun 8, 2017

Silver hated backing down. He had no problem retreating, but to let another pony lay down their lives for his sake... it disgusted him on his part... but he had orders, and he wouldn't betray them. As the soldiers came to take their place, he saluted them. "It pains me to leave. Honor still exists in this day. May your souls find glory beyond the gates of valor."

With that, he left them behind, following the other two. He wasn't sure what ceremonies had changed in the past 2000 years, but he'd be sure to give them a proper farewell from his day later. For now, he had to find his way out.

Dreamweaver · Jun 12, 2017

The Day Ponyville Fell

Assailant
There was barely a murmur from the troops as they all made their way into the train station, and were promptly teleported away. There would be three of these teleports, and by the end of it there would be nopony left in Ponyville. Immediately once one group of troops was gone, the next batch began shuffling in, filling as much space as they possibly could inside of the station.

With a burst of magic, the second group disappeared...

Within five minutes, the final group would be teleported out.

Latios
Your character would have escaped safely with the first teleported group.

Cyan Hide @Deathrattle BB
Trixie, Expellix and Starlight are safely away from the battle.

Anonmare
It doesn't take these three long at all to find the train station entrance, considering they had been holding the front line right nearby. They manage to arrive in time to be a part of the third and final teleporting group.

Wylfen Shepard
Cassian almost managed to kill the griffon. Almost.

His leaping attack took the griffon by surprise, and he tried a desperate dodge. The blade missed his neck, but instead hit his beak and cut well over half of it off. With blood pouring from his beak, the griffon screeched and flapped his wings hard, taking off into the air. The look he gave Cassian said it all...

He'd be looking for him in the next conflict.

And with that, the griffon flew away to tend to his injured beak. This gave Cassian time to get to the train station, to be part of the final teleport.

Anonmare
Magic from an alicorn of their caliber was dangerous enough normally, let alone from a desperate and angry alicorn. The arcane bolts tear large chunks out of the gold dragons body, causing a light gold colored blood to seep out and drip onto the ground below. The dragon had barely recovered from those painful arcane missiles before Celestia got underneath him and aimed a full-powered swing at his rib-cage.

Considering that Celestia was strong enough to punch a dragon to death, that swing more than did the job. There was a sickening crunch as the dragons rib-cage exploded and a pop as the lungs of the best followed right after. Then there was a wheezing intake of breath... And the dragon fell from the sky, well over 300 feet into the ground where it lay gasping.

NevermoreStarsign
There was no call from Princess Luna. Although she was also buried under 300 tons of airship so that was probably muffling her voice if she was alive at all. The wreckage was enormous, and the fact that the entire area was on fire did not help matters. Luna was weak to fire, being burned decreased her overall power levels, so this was about the worst situation she could be in short of being inside the sun.

After several minutes of digging through the crash-site, Twilight could find a blue wing sticking out of the wreckage. A few more seconds of digging would have Luna completely free of the wreckage. She wasn't looking great.

The left half of her skull was just sort of... Gone. You could clearly see the mares brain. It also looked like she might be missing an eye in that region, although it was difficult to tell because that side of her face was swelled up. Her entire left side had been trapped under the wreckage and on fire. Her skin on the left side was crispy black with most of the muscle being destroyed. Her horn was totally gone.

There were several places that had bones sticking out where they really shouldn't be. One of her legs had a compound fracture, and the left side of her ribs were completely devoid of any flesh and were cracked into pieces.

Somehow her innate regeneration was still keeping her alive... Barely. Until she was away from the fire and cooled down, she was on the road to death. If left here any longer, she wouldn't make it.

NevermoreStarsign · Jun 13, 2017

Dreamweaver
Twilight had been scything through the wreckage, throwing aside finesse for raw power to just blast the burning wreck to bits. The magically animated armor did a good job of keeping the heat away from the princess inside, but even she was feeling the burn, so to speak. Approximately the same effect happened for any Griffon that decided to take a potshot at her while she was busy, as most things less than a determined, coordinated assault did little more than scratch the paint of the thick metal suit she was wearing.

Finding Luna in the wreckage, however, was a bit more than she was quite ready for. She was wholly unused to proper carnage and acute physical trauma, and feels suddenly queasy, especially when the overpowering scent of charred flesh, fur, and hair hits her nose, quickly raising the enchanted glass helmet visor and turning away in case any... Stomach unpleasantness happened. Whether it did or not is something to be left there on the battlefield and not discussed here.

However, she returned undaunted in her mission, wholly unwilling to stand on the sidelines now. Healing magic was far from her specialty, but she had just enough knowledge to hopefully at least begin the recovery process. Burning a decent portion of reserves to hopefully kickstart Luna's divine healing, Twilight hits her with a green energy beam as opposed to the usual red or purple. Only time or luck would tell if it did anything, but it should hopefully enough to stop any immediately life-threatening wounds and hopefully form some protection for her exposed brainpan.

"Princess... No, Luna, it's me. I'm here. You're going to be alright!"

Twilight proceeds to carry the crippled princess with her magic, having to go slowly to maintain the focus on keeping her protected and safely levitated off the ground, even with powered armor she lacked the strength to just lug the heavier alicorn around without causing her further damage.

Wylfen Shepard · Jun 14, 2017

Dreamweaver

With a returning stern glance back at the retreating Griffon, Cassian makes a break for the train station. Even though he knew how to get out of the most critical situation, he was not willing to test is luck today. He leaps off the rooftop to the next as he bolts off on all fours to bring up his speed. Normally he hates running on all fours, but given the current situation he doesn't have a choice.

On Griffon was about to dive on a retreating Pegasus, but the young dragon caught sight and directs himself at the assailant in a bone crushing tackle. He smashes the Griffon on the side of a building with his claw embedded in its neck. The momentum from the crash caused it's neck to break upon impact. With another life saved and one less enemy down, he lets the limp body plummet to the ground below and leaps off the side of the building and onto another one. His claws managed to dig into the vertical surface, enabling him to running along the wall as he went back on two legs again seeing how close he is now to the rendezvous point.

But then he noticed the crowd of Griffons closing in from the ground. And right in the path there are soldiers quickly escorting possibly the last of the refugees to safety. They were getting far too close to them, and they were likely to breach to the rendezvous point if something wasn't done soon enough. He had to think fast. "Dammit....", with little choice in mind he leaps off the building and nosedives down toward in between the group and the Griffons ready to trample them.

Cass was charging his magic as a green aura emits from his arm. Thoughts her racing through his mind, realizing that it might not be enough to save them.

"No...."

"I can't..."

In that moment as he started to fear the worst, his eyes caught his of two foals on thier parents backs scared to death. In that moment something snapped...

"I CAN'T LET THEM DIIIIIIE!!!", his aura suddenly combusted like fire as the yellow magic ingima seal appeared bigger than it usually would.

------

The group was about to get rushed by an angry flock of Griffon soliders stampeding through the street block. Suddenly a streak of green light crashed between them and thier first victims in thier path. Next them they knew, a massive wall of stone erupts out from the earth's surface. It had veins of green magic glowing on the surface and had enough surface to completely block thier path. Before they knew it, all thier momentum smashed right into the wall as it remained strong nearly towering the buildings like a sentinel.

- - - -

On the other side, the group stood there I shock at what just happened. At the base of the massive stone wall stood a cloaked figured. It turned around to face them as it's hood came off from the surge of magic when the wall came up. Thier mouth were agape and thier eyes went wide as saucers. The figures face had glowing jade reptilian eyes, dark brown auburn scales, forest green spines mixed in a mane with the same color and sharp teeth with white glowing smoke seeping from its nostrils. It was a Dragon. And a young one. It was Cassian.

Cass motions them with a swipe of his arm pointing toward the station. "GO NOW! RUN!", he roars at them. The group snapped out of thier shocked trance and bolt off toward the station. Cass quickly followed in pursuit to cover them as his magic still remained highly active. Suddenly a few more Griffon came at them from the sky in different directions. Cassian's instincts responded as another magic seal appeared on his right arm again. This time, stone and minerals pulled in and formed a large stone gauntlet around his arm reaching up to his elbow. He leaps over the group, winding up his arm and plows his fist deep into the first Griffons face, making lose an eyeball as it's face was completly embedded from the strike. The young dragon quickly leaps off its limp body in mid air and spins his body horizantailly. His stone fist met with the next griffon's neck as it completly snapped. The Griffon went plummeting to the ground with its head barely hanging off it shoulders.

Cassian's eyes and heightened sense detect the last Griffon diving at them close to ground level. "Oh no you dont!", With an angered growl, he flips his body and thrusts his weight of his fist toward his target as he plummet down toward his target at high velocity. He crash right into the Griffons back, making a little crater below it. It's body was smashed in half with blood and entrails spewing from his beak.

Cass slowly gets off the Griffon to see the soldiers and the small family finally make it to safety.

As he was about to head in, one small group of Griffons on the ground charged from another direction and getting too close to the station. With one more push, he charged his magic and chants another earth incantation. "FISSURE STRIKE RRRRAAAAAHHHH!!!", with a loud battle cry he plows his stone fist into the ground and created a bright green trail of earth surface cracking it's way to its target. The ground below the group of Griffons erupts as spires and rugged rock surfaces break out, causing the group to get plowed, smashed and completly obliterated by that strike.

With his fist Sri in the ground and his coat flapping in the wind from that last spell, Cassian's magical surge finally ends. He started becoming dizzy and slightly disoriented. But now wasn't the time to straighten himself out. With one more push, he strains himself into jumping within radios of the teleportation spell before losing conciousness right when the spell would activate.

Anonmare · Jun 20, 2017

NevermoreStarsign
With the immediate threat of the Golden-scaled Dragon gone, Celestia could concentrate on aiding her sister. Twilight had been far, far head of her and, for her assistance she'd be eternally grateful. They were immortaal and exceptionally durable, but, even they had their weaknesses and under a fire of that magnitude – Luna's regeneration would be completely useless and death was a very real danger; the thought weighed heavily on Celestia's mind as she urged her wings to carry her as fast as they physically could, uncaring if they even pulled right out of their sockets from the strain.

“Find her! Please!” She called out to Twilight, smacking any nearby opportunistic Griffons nearby with a lancing arcane bolt straight to the centre of the chest. She helped Twilight remove the rest of the wreckage, her eyes focused and burning with an intensity that far outstripped the airship fire's own intensity and the lingering heat had zero effect on her. Finding luna was... An experience, she looked broken, like a child's toy that had been torn apart by a family dog with vitreous humour and blood covering her like a dumped paintcan. Organs that should never see the light of day exposed and bones jutting through the skin.

It was an honest to Heavens' miracle she was even alive, let alone capable of drawing breath.

Luckily for Twilight, Celestia was skilled in the arts of healing and supplemented her faithful student's magic with her own. “Don't move her too much Twilight!” Celestia warned, harsher than she would have liked but she was not in a good place right now. So focused was she on the task that everything else in the world outright did not exist in her mind. “Keep her still or we could be in danger of making her injuries worse than they already are.” She warned, using her magic to stabilise Luna. Healing her to be able to move around on her own right now was an impossibility, they needed to get her stable before they could consider moving her – even teleportation might be too much strain.

And getting somepony stable would not be easy, lying in the middle of battle while attackers lingered nearby...

Dreamweaver · Jun 21, 2017

The Day Ponyville Fell
Cassian managed to arrive just in time as the final teleport spell went off. Himself, along with thousands of other troops, were all teleported directly under Canterlot Mountain. With everypony evacuated, preparations immediately began to be made for Canterlots defense...

NevermoreStarsign
Princess Luna was far into the realm of unconsciousness, so she would be of no use in this situation.

It was at about this point that the final teleportation spell went off, and the last of Equestria's soldiers were evacuated. The only ponies left in Ponyville were the sacrificed hospital patients, who would soon be killed by griffons, the Death Knights who helped hold off Equestria's escape, and these three alicorns.

Twilight did the right thing by carrying Luna away from the wreckage. Her innate regeneration would take care of her body, as long as she was away from the fire.

However, just how bad of a situation they were in would quickly become apparent to Celestia and Twilight as they moved away from the wreckage. All around them were griffons, in hordes, as far as the eye could see; and upon seeing the three alicorns there, one of them even appearing dead, the griffons began to flock towards them.

Twilight couldn't kill an entire army. Celestia could nuke the area with a solar flare, but would kill Luna and Twilight in the process. That wasn't an option. So Celestia and Twilight had a choice to make; and their were only really two options to pick from;

Firstly, they could try teleporting to Canterlot. Celestia and Twilight could both do it in an instant, and either one of them had more than enough power to be able to bring Luna as well. However, the shock of such a teleport could easily kill the already near-dead Lunar Goddess. Teleporting was strenuous and her burnt body could not take much more.

The only other option was a much more difficult one, but also more logical; they could simply leave Luna there, and teleport themselves away.

Princess Luna wasn't going to die now that she was out of the fiery wreckage. Her body would heal itself and in a few hours, she'd be good as new. Unfortunately, they didn't have a few hours. As it stands right now, the griffons would not kill her; why would they? She'd be an incredible prisoner for them, and a massive piece of leverage to use against Celestia for the surrender of Equestria.

So there's the options. Either teleport and risk killing her, or leave her to regenerate but be taken prisoner.

Either way, it was Princess Celestia's call. Twilight Sparkle could just teleport Luna to safety... But if Luna died, it'd be on her hooves.

Anonmare · Jun 22, 2017

Celestia saw the horde of Griffons approach and could only despair at the sight of them, there simply wasn't enough time to let Luna heal and she was far beyond healing spells to undo this level of damage. There was no magical remedy, no panacea, no spell that could just repair having tons of weight dropped on you followed by an intense level of burns normally only acquired by being roasted over hot air heated by liquid lava. It was a bad situation and there was no way Celestia couldn't recognise it as the sadistic choice it was: Teleport her and risk her death, robbing her her of any chance at life. Or leave her ans save themselves, but sacrifice her to the mercy of an enemy that would undoubtedly show none.

And there was that promise she made to Luna...

if Luna was her conscious, she'd be screaming at Celestia what she would have preferred, and if she was Luna, she'd rather do something than nothing at all - which is what leaving her behind would be. “Twilight, go to Canterlot. I'm going to try teleporting her.” She told the young Princess of Friendship, she would more than likely knew the potential consequences of teleporting Luna in her current condition, but, Celestia simply couldn't abandon her. She just couldn't. And she wouldn't let Twilight's hooves be dirtied if something were to happen, it would be her fault if it was a bad call and hers alone.

And with a regretful heart, she began to cast the spell. “Forgive me if this is the wrong choice sister...” She muttered, closing her eyes as she let the spell take them both...

Wylfen Shepard · Jun 22, 2017

The exhaustion from all the magic Cassian conjured took it's toll on him. As soon as the teleportation spell activated, he lost consciousness. And now he lies in the middle of a spaced crowd of scared and confused ponies looking down at his now exposed form. His hood was gone. Without it, his Draconic features are shown for all to see who the mysterious stranger was under the hood.

"He....he's a dragon!?", said one of the soliders.

As soon as the word left the soliders lip, the survivors backed away in fear as several of the soldier standing by took a defensive position while the guards kept the refugees back.

One of the soldiers cautiously approached and nudged the young sleeping Dragon with its hoof. Cass responded with a light groan and a twitch of his claw. This made the pony flinch but held up his guard. "He's out like a light", he stated to the others.

NevermoreStarsign · Jun 23, 2017

Anonmare
"We- You can't! She's too injured to mo-"
Twilight looks around at the encroaching army. The evacuation was completed, but as it seemed to be, she'd come too late to make a difference. As usual. It was a special sort of pain, this new failure. Playing it safe and playing it by the rules would leave a place special to her heart in the grip of a ruthless enemy driven by little more than a madman's lust for power and ingrained loyalty.
"...You can't. You just- You can't! Princess, I must protest this course of action!"
Twilight stands her ground, and just looks at Celestia.
"There's always hope if you're alive, the Griffons won't execute political prisoners, we-"
With not much time left, Twilight lifts her helmet visor once more.
"...Please..."

Dreamweaver · Jun 24, 2017

NevermoreStarsign
The griffons were quickly closing in. The three princesses, one out of commission, were a massive target. At this rate they'd be upon the princesses in about 10 seconds.

Princess Luna was still unconscious.

In the end, it was Princess Celestia's decision as to what she wanted to do with Luna. Twilight could offer advice, but Luna was Celestia's fiance, oldest friend, and oldest pupil. So the only question is...

... What does Celestia do?

Anonmare · Jun 27, 2017

Dreamweaver
Celestia sighed deeply, with a single breath – thousands of years of exhaustion seepd through. She didn't want to risk it but she had made up her mind. She would not, and could not, leave her to the tender mercies as a prisoner of war to the Griffons. The mere possibility of inflicting fates worse than death was too great to risk, and, she had sworn to una that she would never let anything like that happen to her. Her emotions clouded her judgement and, were it anypony else she would have listened to Twilight and left them behind than risk it, but this was her sister – Blood of her blood, flesh of her flesh.

She just couldn't make that call.

“I'm sorry Twilight...” She spoke softly, making it clear that she couldn't be disauded. With a heavy heart, she continued with the spell and hoped that fate would be kind and random chance would be forgiving this day. There wasn't even time to stabilise the teleportation spell to make it a safe trip. If Luna survived, she would be grateful to whoever or whatever intervened beyond belief. But, if she did not...

It did not bear thinking about.

NevermoreStarsign · Jun 30, 2017

Anonmare
"..."
Twilight is unable to stop herself from reaching out after the two before they eventually disappear into the aether. She frowns deeply, before stomping her hoofs in frustration and, knowing the army would be there soon, leaving a special little instant-cementing explosive behind before blink-teleporting her way through the army and out of the immediate area.
"Curses...!"

Dreamweaver · Jul 3, 2017

NevermoreStarsign
The explosive goes off just as a few dozen griffons pounce on the spot where the Alicorns had been a moment later. A deafening explosion marks the passing of 32 griffons who stood much to close too the explosive.

Despite all the odds stacked against Luna's survival, when Celestia arrives in Canterlot she would find that Luna was quite alive and healing still. Apparently the mare just didn't feel like dying today. Despite the fact that she was still unconscious, the fact that she was now removed from danger would ensure her survival. Her bodies regeneration would heal the burns, and once she had cooled down Celestia could begin treating her with proper healing magic.

Scorched Ponyville

Assailant
Off in the distance, closer to Ponyville than to Canterlot, a group of 50 pyromancers were readying themselves for a spell of devastating effect.

As per Princess Luna's request, they had a job to do.

When the signal came that all of Ponyville had been properly evacuated, the pyromancers completed their spell and summoned a terrifying pillar of fire from the sky, centered on Ponyville. The entire middle of the town was completely reduced to cinders, and that fire quickly spread to consume every other part of town. Soon all that remained was Twilight's Castle, protected from the flames by magical enchantments.

The griffons would not be using Ponyville as a base...

With the destruction of Ponyville, there was no reason for the griffons to stay there any longer. The griffon army made their way over to Canterlot and began to set camps up around the base of the mountain, where they would attack. They knew that attack the city itself would be a fools errand, due to the entire area being shielded by Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, so for now they would focus on the four entrances to Canterlot Mountain.

North, South, East and West. Canterlot had an opening for trains on each side. It was there that the defenders would hold off the Griffon hordes.

End of Chapter 3.

Dreamweaver · Jul 31, 2017

Chapter 4
The Battle for Canterlot

Cyan Hide @Deathrattle BB @Lady Magicae

Avedon

Latios

Wylfen Shepard

Sinensis
It had been three weeks since the fall of Ponyville. With that devastating loss ending in the burning of yet another town, Equestria's military had retreated to its final bastion of defense; Canterlot. It was here that preparations were made to hold the griffons off once and for all. Although many may think that falling back so far was a bad sign for the war effort, in Equestria's case the opposite was true; it was always going to end here. It always did end here. Canterlot was an impenetrable fortress, a mountain, guarded by not one, but two deities and two more demi-gods.

Canterlot is where Equestria wanted to fight. It was the single most defensible city in the world, and it was where Equestria had held off countless invasions before.

The Griffons had set up camp outside of Canterlot. Their camp was shoddily made, mostly consisting of wood and cloth, and as such it had made a very easy late-night target for Pegasi raids. The Pegasi, every night, had gone out hunting with longbows and killed as many sleeping Griffons as they could; from a distance. The Pegasi were simply too quick for the Griffons to catch and as such it was free kills in Equestria's favor. It was brutal and not an honorable way to fight, but Equestria never did care to much for honor.

Battle Preparations

Cyan Hide @Deathrattle BB @Lady Magicae

Avedon

Latios

Wylfen Shepard

Sinensis
Canterlot was a city built for defense. The actual city itself was built high into the mountain, at an altitude where ground-based races could never hope to reach. In the event of an invasion by flight-based races, the Princesses or other powerful magic users could shield off the main city; at which point all the fighting would take place on the ground at the base of the mountain. This was one of those cases.

With the main city shielded off by Princess Cadence and Shining Armor, that left only one way into the city; through the train ports at the base of the mountain, and then up the mountain and into the main city. Such a journey was not easy. Even if the invading force did somehow breach the train ports, a feat which had never been done before, all of those ports merged into a central room which then split into two tunnels which then led all the way up to Canterlot City.

Although the tunnels leading up to the main city was nearly 50 feet wide, that was an easily guarded force by lines of soldiers. The invading force, no matter how big, could only fit in so many soldiers in those tighter quarters; and from there, the number advantages that they may hold mean nothing. The Equestrian's may not be the biggest army, but they were the best equipped and best trained, which in such situations mattered far more than numbers did.

Avedon @Deathrattle BB
Station 1 is where Luna, Gunnolf and Avedon would make their stand... With troops to back them up of course. With a giant wolf, a Goddess, and one of the worlds best fighters at their disposal, the three of them and some elite troops should be able to hold it.

Station 2 and 3 were both being guarded by the rest of the Equestrian forces. Earth Ponies at the front lines, Pegasi behind them and unicorns in the back line ready to blast any Griffons that managed to break through overhead.

Station 4 is being blocked off by a magical artifact from Canterlot's treasury. A shimmering blue shield blocks the path.

Between stations are the healers. While each station has a number of assigned healers, most of them traveled wherever was needed.

Cyan Hide
Station 2 - In addition to the Equestrian troops, station 2 is where both Trixie and Lucian are joining the fight.

@Deathrattle BB
Station 3 - This is where Aurelia is fighting, albeit on the front-lines rather than the back lines like most Pegasi

Cyan Hide @Deathrattle BB @Lady Magicae

Avedon

Latios

Wylfen Shepard

Sinensis
As for all remaining heroes... Pick your place of battle.

Assailant · Jul 31, 2017

Arc slowly connected two lines of chalk at section 3. The two had been assigned there, as it seemed like the other stations had it covered. Silver looked over at him.

"Is it done?" Arc looked around before nodding.

"Yeah, I made a rune shield around Canterlot." Arc rubbed his head. "Though... I may be using runes, but the sheer size... I'd only be able to maintain it for about thirty minutes, and that's being generous. Let's hope I don't have to use it." Silver nodded and looked around at the city.

"We always end up here, don't we?" Arc grinned.

"If this is as successful as last time, these griffons will be gone pretty soon."

Cyan Hide · Jul 31, 2017

STATION 2: