Chapter 8: A Temporary Truce

Gilda glared at the black and brown griffon that stood before her. Her golden yellow eyes were narrowed in intense dislike as she stared at the griffon that she hated. Grayback answered her glare with an arrogant smirk. Gilda's friends were not pleased to see him in the slightest. They distinctly remembered the last two times they had come into contact with him. Their first encounter was when he and his friends had attacked their town and injured Lightning Dust. Their second meeting wasn't much better as it involved him attacking their friends and trying to capture Twilight Sparkle and sell her for ransom.

"Well it's nice to see you too Gilda." he said sarcastically.

"As if I didn't have enough problems already." Gilda spat. "With all due respect Your Majesty why would you bring him here? He's not much better than the griffons we're gonna fight."

"Gilda I understand your concerns." Princess Celestia replied. "Unfortunately this is necessary."

"Sometimes you will have to work with others that you do not particularly care for in order to defeat a common enemy." Princess Luna agreed.

"And why would you help us?" Gilda demanded of Grayback. "I thought for sure you'd be helping those griffons."

Grayback smirked a little as he responded. The arrogant griffon hadn't changed a bit.

"Well Gilda." he said. "I don't really like you but you and I are in the same boat."

"What do you mean?" Gilda growled.

"I'm saying that those griffons think I'm a traitor." Grayback explained. "Since I work with ponies they think I'm just like them. I don't really want to work with you but if it'll keep me out of trouble with them then I'll suck it up and deal with it."

"And I'm supposed to believe you?" Gilda asked sarcastically.

"Wouldn't expect you to." Grayback replied. "I know we're not gonna be friends but how about a truce? Just until this war's over."

Grayback stuck out his front right leg and waited to see if Gilda would accept his offer. Gilda glared at him with an expression of intense dislike and deep mistrust. However she gripped his talons with her own and shook.

"All right." she said. "We'll work together. But once this war's over you better get outta here. Got it?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Grayback replied with his usual arrogant smirk. "So why don't I introduce you to your temporary army?"

Grayback let out a roar and instantly a crowd formed in front of him. Gilda didn't like him but she couldn't help but be impressed at how much control he had over his troops. Grayback's army consisted of fifty muscular earth ponies, thirty swift pegasi, twenty unicorns, and twenty griffons. Unlike the Equestrian army which was mainly female, majority of Grayback's army had been male. Only one in five soldiers were female. Psyke, Monochrome, and Chunker were also there and they stood at the front of the crowd acting like lieutenants in a way.

"All right listen up." Grayback said. "You know that we're in a war right?"

"Sir yes sir!" the army replied.

"You know what will happen if we lose?" Grayback asked.

"Sir yes sir!" they said again.

"Until this war is over you will obey Gilda." Grayback said. "We might have had our issues with her before but I expect you to take each and every one of her orders as if they were mine. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir yes sir!" the army replied.

Grayback nodded in satisfaction and then he turned to Gilda.

"They're all yours General Gilda." he said as he took his place next to Psyke.

Gilda instructed them to train with the rest of the army. The entire group including Grayback saluted her and then they followed her orders obediently.

"Are we seriously gonna work with them G?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah I mean they attacked us twice!" Lightning Dust agreed.

"Can we really trust that brute?" Rarity inquired.

"Ah don't like this one bit Gilda." Applejack said.

"I don't wanna work with that Meany McMeanPants." Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"He's horrible." Fluttershy whispered with a slight shudder.

"I don't trust him one bit." Spike declared angrily.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie agrees with Spike." Trixie agreed. "That scoundrel is not to be trusted."

"Are you sure about this Gilda?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"Guys I know you don't like him." Gilda said. "But he's got just as much to lose as we do. I don't want to work with him anymore than you do but that kind of army will give us a better shot of winning. I know it's bad working with him but we just gotta deal with it."

The nine friends frowned but they accepted Gilda's statement. Like it or not they were going to have to work with Grayback and his team. The army that he supplied would give their chances of winning a serious boost. All of them hated the idea of working with the griffon that had wronged them before but they knew that it had to be done for the sake of themselves and all of Equestria. They walked to the field and watched the massive army train. While they seemed fast and strong they were highly disorganized. Gilda knew that she couldn't handle an army of that size on her own. She huddled with her friends and had a whispered discussion.

During this discussion Gilda explained the tactics of the Grifforian Army to her friends. The Grifforian Army consisted of four groups. The first group was the infantry which consisted of a large amount of griffons with similar builds to Gilda. They weren't strong but their numbers would be massive. The second wave consisted of a smaller amount of much more powerful griffons known as the elite corps. They had a lot more muscle than most griffons which was used to their advantage. The third wave was known as Special Ops. These griffons were trained to walk and fight on their hind legs. Instead of punching or kicking, they would be equipped with sharp blades. Gilda said that their fourth and final wave was the most dangerous of all: The Boulder Barrage.

The Boulder Barrage consisted of the smallest army of the four. However this attack was always the most devastating. What would happen was that the griffons would fly towards their opponents in a cluster. Each and every one of them would be carrying a fairly large boulder. Once they were in position they would drop their boulders on their targets in an attempt to totally obliterate them. This attack had helped Grifforia win a number of battles during the first war. The one thing Gilda was concerned about more than anything was the secret weapon that Grifforia had.

Gilda had very little knowledge about Grifforia's secret weapon. The conversation that she had heard didn't give her much insight about it. All Gilda knew was that it was supposedly extremely devastating for Equestria. Suddenly the group was joined by Grayback. The dark brown griffon had information about the weapon. He said that it was a huge flying machine that could send down a massive army of griffons. These griffons however were not like any normal griffons. They were made of metal and were referred to as robots. The only way to stop them was to destroy the machine. Grayback had a team that was working on a way to bring it down.

Gilda checked on the team's progress and they said that it would take four griffons or pegasi to bring down Grifforia's secret weapon. This was due to the fact that it had four weak spots at different areas. Gilda decided to have her friends lead the army as she went to take down the weapon.

"Okay guys here's the plan." she said. "AJ you're gonna lead the earth ponies. Your job is to beat the infantry."

Applejack nodded as she understood.

Gilda called up the pegasus pony that had been Grayback's lieutenant during the treasure incident. Gilda appointed him in charge of the pegasi and instructed him to focus on the elite corps.

"Rarity." Gilda said. "You're in charge of the unicorns. You gotta beat the Special Ops. Got it?"

Rarity nodded in assurance and said that she'd do her job.

"Pinkie." Gilda asked. "How many of those party cannons do ya got?"

"I have tons and tons of 'em." Pinkie Pie said enthusiastically.

"Good." Gilda replied. "We're gonna need 'em."

Gilda instructed Pinkie Pie to have her cannons enlarged and to increase their power.

"We're gonna use 'em when they start dropping those boulders." Gilda explained. "We're gonna blast those guys outta the sky. Rarity you and the unicorns gotta make sure that those boulders don't hit anything. Use your magic to slow 'em down and then AJ and the earth ponies will move 'em outta the way."

Rarity and Applejack nodded. They were all set on the plan.

"What about the weapon?" Spike asked curiously.

"I'm getting to that." Gilda said. "We need four to take it down. Dash, Lightning, Twi, you guys are with me. We're gonna bring that weapon down."

The trio nodded as they understood the plan. Gilda told her lieutenants to meet with their armies and explain their part of the plan to them. The brown and white griffon watched as her army trained. This was going to be a very difficult situation for her. Gilda couldn't believe that she was in charge of the army. It seemed like just yesterday that she had been singing in SugarCube Corner in an attempt to earn back Rainbow Dash's friendship. Time had certainly flown by and things had definitely changed. This war would be dangerous. Gilda could only hope that her army would be able to end it quickly before anyone got seriously hurt.