Chapter 13: The Weapon Appears

The ponies of The Equestrian Army were feeling extremely proud of themselves at the moment. The first four waves of the war had ended and they had gone incredibly smoothly for Equestria. They had easily taken down three waves of Grifforian soldiers as well as their usually devastating Boulder Barrage and they had hardly taken any damage during the process. The injuries that had been sustained were very few and incredibly minor. Property damage wasn't even a factor since not a single one of Grifforia's boulders had even scratched the cobblestone streets of Ponyville let alone destroyed buildings. All of the ponies that had been injured were now feeling one hundred percent better thanks to the treatment given by Fluttershy and other medic ponies. Everypony was ecstatic about the way the war was going. They were easily besting Grifforia at every turn and they felt like the war would end extremely soon. For all of their talking, Grifforia had barely harmed Equestria at all. The most damage they had done was insult the ponies by calling them mules many times during the battles.

Gilda however had a much different feeling about the war than her friends and comrades did. While she was definitely extremely pleased by how the war was going, she knew what was coming for them. Grifforia was undoubtedly going to unleash their secret weapon on Equestria. This would be the ultimate stand for Equestria for if the ponies in Ponyville lost then Equestria would be doomed. Gilda was beyond nervous about what lay ahead, she was terrified. Gilda was scared for herself as well as all of her friends in Ponyville. She couldn't afford to let Equestria lose this war because then Grifforia would torture them. Gilda stood silently and she anxiously waited to see when the secret weapon of Grifforia would arrive.

Suddenly the afternoon air was filled with the terrified screams of hundreds of ponies. Their shouts were filled with the utmost terror as if they were seeing their worst nightmares come to life. They pointed upwards to the sky and shouted in panicked tones as they looked at what loomed above them. Every single pony was terrified at what they were now seeing. Gilda followed their gazes and her jaw dropped in utter amazement as she looked at what Grifforia had sent to annihilate them. She felt like this monstrosity was something that had come straight out of a horrifying nightmare.

Grifforia's secret weapon was a massive battleship. It was roughly the size of a fully grown dragon and it was just as intimidating. The smooth metal that made up its exterior was painted in varying dull shades of gray and black. It cast an enormous shadow over all of Ponyville encasing them in darkness as it flew slowly through the sky. The underside of the flying fortress had a very large door on it which was closed at the moment. While the massive battleship had no weapons, everypony feared what it could do to them. None of them knew what it could have at its disposal but they all knew that whatever it did would not be good for them. The massive battleship dominated the scene as two griffons flew down to the ground and smirked at the stunned ponies.

Gilda's golden yellow eyes narrowed in fury as she recognized the two griffons. The male was her father who she had seen during this war already. The female griffon had a light and agile body like Gilda's with the same tannish brown sort of color. Her head was covered with feathers which were an off white color with pink highlights surrounding her sky blue eyes. Gilda recognized this griffon to be her mother. Gilda's anger towards the griffons grew as she watched them strut towards the shocked ponies.

"Like it?" Gilda's mother asked as she grinned at the stunned ponies and gestured towards the massive weapon that was floating above them. "I designed it myself."

"Perhaps you mules will consider giving up now hmm?" Gilda's father asked in a smug tone as his golden yellow eyes struck fear into the hearts of Ponyville's citizens.

Everypony in Equestria's army turned towards Gilda. The brown and white griffon stared at the ponies that served her willingly throughout this war. Each and every face was showing some level of fear of the new weapon but it seemed like they were all seeking reassurance from their general. Every pony that had volunteered to fight in this war looked to Gilda as a leader and they depended on her to lead them to victory. Gilda studied the faces of her comrades as well as those of her closest friends. The looks that her friends gave her stiffened Gilda's resolve. Gilda stared her parents in the eyes as she spoke in a loud clear voice.

"We're not gonna give up!" she declared as she stood tall, proud, and firm against her parents. Gilda was determined not to let her face show any fear or anxiety. "We're gonna fight and we're gonna win! We're gonna turn that weapon into a pile of scrap!"

Instantly the army of ponies began to cheer at the top of their lungs. All of them were ready to fight against Grifforia's weapon no matter what it had in store for them. None of them were going to back down from this battle. Each and every pony was willing to put their lives on the line to save their homeland. The two griffons rolled their eyes and flew off. They retreated back to the weapon and the doors on its underside began to slowly open. Everypony tried to brace himself or herself for anything to come out from the opening. None of them knew what Grifforia was going to send out to defeat them in this fight.

Finally the doors on the underside of Grifforia's weapon opened and hundreds upon hundreds of griffons poured out from the battleship. Each and every one of these griffons were identical to each other but they were unlike any griffons that Equestria's army had ever seen. Each of the griffons had bodies made up of a tough durable metal. Their 'eyes' had a cold, lifeless, and unfeeling look to them which made them all the more intimidating. The griffons seemed to not even be living beings but rather objects. The Equestrian Army was astounded as they watched the army of metallic griffons land on the ground and charge straight towards them. The army of ponies charged towards their enemies and the battle began.

This battle was unlike any that Equestria had ever witnessed. The metal griffons took hit after hit but never went down. They showed no signs of exhaustion, pain, or emotion as they fought against the ponies. Rarity, Applejack, as well as Grayback's pegasus tried to organize their troops as best as they could but they had little success. A good amount of the griffons stayed in the air and circled the battleship as if they were protecting it. Every once in a while a pegasus or a griffon would try to attack the battleship but they would get struck down by one of Grifforia's metal soldiers. Gilda had absolutely no idea on how to take down this new threat. Nothing was working since the magic of the unicorns bounced harmlessly off of the battleship's armor while the other ponies couldn't even get near the thing.

"We need a plan here G!" Rainbow Dash shouted as she used her speed to bring down one of Grifforia's seemingly endless supply of metal griffons.

"Any ideas?" Gilda shouted back as she tossed one metal griffon at another. The two collapsed into a pile of metal and were unable to get up again.

"You're the leader!" Rainbow Dash told her as she fought against another griffon.

"Well I didn't think we'd be fighting something like this!" Gilda said indignantly as more griffons tried to take her down.

The duo were forced to fight against the griffons and they tried to think of a plan as they attacked their enemies. While Gilda was strong, these griffons had a lot of endurance. Even with her brute strength it still took Gilda quite a few hits to take down just one solider. It didn't help that Grifforia had about ten metal griffons for every pony that was fighting for Equestria. Gilda's parents watched from the sky and grinned. The battle was going perfectly. All of the previous losses were just minor setbacks. They were positive that there was no way for Equestria to beat their new weapon. Laughing maliciously, the two griffons left the battleship behind and observed the fight from a better spot.