Manehatten: Present Day:

Lightning flashed in the stormy night skies of Manehatten. While this was weather normal for this city, some of the flashes were red lights…coming from the tallest building in the city: Sunset Enterprises.

Then something unexpected happened, an explosion was heard from above the clouds as several chunks of debris fell towards the street below. Many civilians screamed and ran as the debris crashed onto the street, causing a few cars to crash.

Soon several police cars quickly arrived on the scene and several offices stormed out, each one helping the citizens out their crashed vehicles before more rubble them. Soon after one of them was approached by a pink unicorn wearing a dark-red jacket. "Cadence, 23rd. What's going on here?!" She asked while showing her badge.

"You've got me detective!" The yellow Pegasus said as she looked at the fallen rubble. "I assume it might've been the lightning, but a few witnesses are saying they saw flashes of red up there..."

Just then there was another flash as more debris fell from the sky, Cadence quickly tackled the Pegasus out of the way before they crushed the police car (which was fortunately empty).

"Th-thanks..." She stuttered.

"You can thank me by doing your job! Set up a perimeter! I don't want any civilians becoming street-pizza!" Cadence commanded, the Pegasus nodded and quickly got to work. Cadence's attention was then drawn to the rubble that she just dodged, the stone seemed to have deep claw marks in it.

"Claw marks?" She said as she ran her hands over it, these were indeed real. 'What could be strong enough to put claw marks in solid stone?' Cadence thought to herself as she glared up at the building as another explosion went off.

Horseshoe bay: 994 A.D.:

As the sun slowly began set on the horizon, an army of armored Gryphons flew across the sea, each one wearing dark-colored armor, wielding either spears or swords in one talon and a large circular shield in the other. While on the oceans surface several ships manned by heavily armored Diamond Dogs sailed beneath them, each ship containing several catapults.

As the ships arrived on the beach, the doors on the side opened up and several groups of Diamond Dogs poured out of the ships while the strong ones pushed the catapults down the ramp. "Charge! Tonight Castle Horseshoe will fall!" Shouted the lead Gryphon wearing a black cape and helmet, he raised his sword swooped down toward his target, his allies all cheering as they followed him towards Castle Horseshoe, a strong medieval castle constructed on a cliff overlooking the sea.

It wasn't long before arrows began raining from the sky as the Knights of the castle, desperately trying to drive back the attacking forces. Several Pegasi quickly took to the air to fend off the Gryphons while the Unicorns & Earth Ponies either fired arrows from the Castle walls or attacked from the outside with spears and swords.

Despite their efforts however, several to of the Gryphons and Diamond Dogs managed to get within the castle walls by burrowing under the walls. More of their forces dwindled as they tried to fight off the invaders from outside and the inside.

Soon the Diamond Dogs got the catapults into position, a few of the smaller ones quickly burrowed underground before quickly coming back up with a large bolder they had carved out from underground. The larger ones quickly loaded them into the catapults and waited for their leaders command.

"I'd say the battle's going well, wouldn't you?" One Gryphons said as he landed next to his ally.

"Yeah, for now..." The rather scrawny-looking Diamond Dog scoffed."...but attacking a castle full of those things, at nightfall no less?" He said while casting an uneasy glance at the setting sun and then the statues that were perched on top of the castle. "This is crazy, and the leader knows it!"

"No my friend, that's not crazy..." Another voice said as a talon reached out from behind and grabbed the Diamond Dog by his neck, the owner of the voice being the lead Gryphon himself. "Questioning my sanity while I'm in earshot, THAT'S crazy!" He growled before tossing the Diamond Dog onto one of the loaded boulders. "FIRE!" He screamed, without a moments hesitation the other Diamond Dogs quickly cut the ropes, hurling the boulders (and one screaming Diamond Dog) at the castle walls, each one smashing a part of the wall to bits.

The Commanding Gryphon scoffed before turning to the rest of his soldiers. "I say those statues are nothing but stone! And even it they're not, it's still worth the risk for the plunder within! Now ATTACK!" The Gryphon shouted as his whole army rushed to the castle with swords drawn. The warriors soon crashed through the wooden door that guarded the castle with ease and clashed with several pony warriors. What they expected to be an easy fight, ponies weren't exactly well known as warriors, soon revealed to be their toughest battle to date as the ponies started to match them blow for blow. The Diamond Dogs were out muscled by the Earth Ponies and The Gryphons were slowly getting hammered by both pegasi and unicorn. All the while this happened the sun was slowly starting to fade in the back as the sky turned a nearly inky black over the horizon. The leader of the attackers seemed to notice this as he quickly scaled up a tower (his wing was injured in an earlier battle and had been rendered useless), and soon found himself face to face with a statue that looked like some kind of pony-esque creature in deep thought.

The leader lifted up his morning star but slipped and started to fall down just as the sun disappeared over the horizon. Then something remarkable happened. The statue from earlier suddenly had cracks in it and began to move as the Gryphon leader continued to fall. He suddenly stopped in mid air and looked around to see his body was caught in a magic grip. He looked up and expected to see a unicorn but what he saw was far worse than what he imagined. Standing above him, it's body lavender like the field that surrounded him, was a legendary beast, a Ponygoyle!

"I'm sorry, but I do believe." The creature said as she grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt. "...that you are trespassing." She snarled before using her magic to slam him against the wall behind her. Thanks to his armor, he was spared from getting his bones crushed. However his attention was drawn to the other statues, which had the same cracks as the first one spreading across their bodies. All over the castle the same thing was happening as more and more of the beasts came to life and let the cool night air into their lungs. The Gryphons and Diamond Dogs all backed away in shock and horror as most of them were slowly surrounded by both the Royal Guards and the Ponygoyles.

The leader let out a war cry as he kicked the creature back before swinging at her with his sword, the creature easily caught the blade with her magic, only for him to pull out a second blade in an attempt to stab her in the heart. With no time to use her magic she quickly caught the blade with her left claw, it was then the Gryphon leader saw a few drops of blood dripping from the palm her her claw.

"Fight, my soldiers! They bleed just like normal ponies, they are not invincible!" He called out to his soldiers. This quickly heightened their resolve as they began to fight back. Several of the Ponygoyles quickly took to the air to combat the Gryphons, while the bulkier ones took on the Diamond Dogs.

The lavender Ponygoyle snarled as her magic aura quickly covered the Gryphon's entire body before throwing him off the tower. Two of his soldiers quickly caught him in mid-drop, they barely had time to recover as the lavender beast spread her bat-like wings and soared after them.

As the battle for the castle raged on, a trio of Ponygoyles watched from one of the towers. One was pink with very poofy mane of equal color, the other was cyan and her mane was more rainbow-colored, and the last one was yellow with a light pink mane. Unlike the pink one however, the cyan and yellow ones had more feathery wings instead of bat-like ones.

"So girls, you ready to join the party?" The light pink one asked while watching some of the other Ponygoyles striking from the sky.

"Of course! We can't let our brothers and sisters have all the fun, can we?" The cyan one smirked be taking off. The pink one was about to follow when she notice the third member of their group had her attention drawn elsewhere.

"Hey!" She called out, startling her out of her stupor. "Aren't you coming?"

"Um, a-a-actually I was thinking of g-guarding the rookery..." She stuttered out. "..after all, the younglings are d-d-down there…"

"Aw come'on! They just got here! They probably don't even know about that place!" She said before giving her a sly smile. "You're not afraid are ya?" She asked in a taunting tone.

This got her attention. "Of course n-not! I j-j-just think I'd be of b-b-better use guarding the..." She tried to explain, only for the pink one to interrupt her.

"I mean, think of would happen if you didn't fight." She said before pointing to the other side of the castle the attacking force was headed towards, despite some of the guards beast efforts. A few small groups of civilian ponies could be seen huddled around some campfires. "Think of all the poor refugees from last night! You don't want them to get hurt do you?"

The yellow Ponygoyle shuddered at the thought of what those horrible creatures would do to them if they weren't stopped. "Those poor mares and foals..." She murmured to herself before her eyes glowed menacingly. She let out loud roar before turning around and flying towards the battle below with the pink one following close behind.

Back near the castle gates, a light orange Ponygoyle barreled through the opposing forces, easily knocking them down a flight of stairs. Taking a moment to admire her accomplishment, she failed to notice two more Diamond Dogs sneaking up behind her, both with a spiked mace in hand. Seconds before they could hit her however the bigger ones mace was enveloped by a white aura of magic much to his confusion, the mace then swung itself into his comrades stomach, sending him flying off the edge of the stairs and into a pile of rubble.

The orange one heard the commotion and looked behind her to see the remaining Diamond Dog get tackled to the ground by another Ponygoyle, this one however was white with a purple mane.

"Thanks fer the help sugarcube!" The orange one said before turning back and punching out another approaching Diamond Dog.

"Anytime darling!" The white Ponygoyle said before grabbing the downed Diamond Dog with her magic and tossing him off the edge of the stairs like his partner, she then noticed a flash of golden magic and saw another Gryphon plummet to the ground in front of her. Looking up saw one of the unicorn guards on one of the ledges. He simply smiled at her before returning to his own battle, but before white Ponygoyle could thank him she caught a glimpse of lavender magic coming from the base of the tower and took to the skies again.

Meanwhile higher in the skies, the cyan Ponygoyle to slammed into another Gryphon with impressive speed, sending him flying into one of the towers. "Come on! Is that all you've got?" She taunted as she ducked to avoid the Gryphon trying tackle her. "Ha, missed!" She shouted before dodging another swipe before giving him a sharp kick to the face, then while he was still disoriented she flew down and grabbed him by his talons and swung him towards another approaching Gryphon, sending him crashing into his comrade plummeting towards the battle below.

"Who's next?" She boasted before a flash of blue magic shined from behind her. She quickly turned to see another cyan Ponygoyle (only with bat-like wings instead of feathered ones) holding an unconscious Gryphon that had tried to attack her from behind.

"Watch your back, old friend." She said as she tossed her foe away.

"Heh, I could've handled him!" The feathered Ponygoyle shrugged before darting towards another Gryphon. The bat-winged Ponygoyle sighed before following her.

Back on the ground, the Gryphon leader had just barely evaded the lavender Ponygoyle, leaving the two soldiers that caught him to deal with the beast. He made his way towards one of the bridge passages that lead towards the inside. 'If I can find their beloved Queen and take her hostage, we can force the guard and these beasts to surrender!' He thought to himself as he strode towards the entrance.

"And where do you think you're going!?" A female voice called out. The Gryphon leader turned to see the white Ponygoyle land on a few feet away from him. "You have invaded our home and tried to harm our loved ones, death is too good a punishment for you!" She snarled as her eyes glowed menacingly.

"Hmpth, I don't fear you demon!" He snarled as he pulled out his sword. As he did, two more Gryphons landed next to him drawing their weapons. "You're outmatched and outnumbered! Give up and I may be merciful enough to keep you as a slave!" He gloated as three Diamond Dogs climbed up the bridge walls behind the Ponygoyle.

To his surprise however, she simply smiled. "Although you may lead these creatures well, you seem to have forgotten the first rule of combat..." She said before snapping her claws. "...never underestimate your opponent."

Suddenly a loud roar echoed from the hall behind the Gryphons, they turned to see a most horrifying sight: A dragon nearly the size of a full-grown tiger. It was dark purple with lime green spikes and a light green underbelly. It growled menacingly as it approached the three Griffons, snorting smoke from it's nostrils.

"Oh my sweet little dragon~!" The white Ponygoyle called out, getting it's attention. "These mean ol' Gryphons wanted to hurt me badly! They said they were going to keep me as their slave!"

Upon hearing that, the dragon's anger reached new heights as it let out an ear-piercing roar before charging at the Gryphons. The leaders his two guards quickly flew upwards, taking their leader with them. The dragon missed his target and slashed his claw against the wall, ripping out a good chunk of it. It quickly caught sight of it's fleeing targets and spat out several fireballs at them, the Gryphons (despite still holding their leader) managed to dodge them all. However as they did, the lavender Ponygoyle appeared behind them before encasing her claws in magic and slamming them together, creating an intense wave of magic that slammed into the Gryphons back, sending them spiraling out of control and crashing into their comrades.

With the Gryphons occupied, the white Ponygoyle and her dragon turned their attention to the remaining three Diamond Dogs who desperately tried to flee, only to find their route blocked by the cyan (feathered) Ponygoyle. "Going somewhere?" She smirked while cracking her knuckles.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the castle where the civilian ponies were. More Diamond Dogs burst through the walls. Several foals held their mothers for protection while the stallions got in front to protect their family friends. The Royal Guards stationed there quickly got into position to defend them.

The yellow and pink Ponygoyles roared as they descended upon the attacking forces, well the yellow one did, the pink one was more drawn towards the nearby food as she landed near one of the table and took a bite out of a drumstick. "Mmm, juicy!" She giggled to herself as she watched the yellow one land in front of the advancing Diamond Dogs, stopping them in their tracks.

"How dare you try to hurt these innocent ponies!" The yellow Ponygoyle snarled as her eyes glowed menacingly, although unlike her sisters, her eyes were glowing blood red. The Diamond Dogs backed away in fear as she advanced on them, forcing them into a corner.

The civilian ponies watched in wonder (and fear) as the creature of the night managed to stop most of the Diamond Dogs single-handedly. Among them was a young, orange Pegasus pony with a dark-pink mane, who watched as one of the smaller ones tried to flee, only to have misfortune of running past the pink one, who simply bashed him on the head with her unfinished drumstick, knocking him out.

"Wow..." She mutter to herself.

"It's like I don't even have to try..." The pink one sighed as she continued to much on her meal, however another Gryphon quickly swooped down towards her with his talons ready to strike…

"Look out!" The young Pegasus called out.

...only for her to dart out of the way at the last second, leaving him to crash into the table. She quickly spun around and kicked him into a food cart, then before he could recover she darted towards him and slammed her fist into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. She then looked into his eyes, giving him a malicious look. "I'MA PLANT ME A DUMBASS TREE!" She cried out before driving the Gryphon into the ground with tremendous force, creating a crater the size of his body.

"That was incredible!" The young Pegasus shouted in joy while her mother held her back...

The Gryphon leader slowly picked himself up from the crash site, his two guards having landed somewhere amongst the rubble. He grabbed the wall for support before looking around, realizing that he had crashed close to the Castle gates, he saw his forces being driven away by both the Royal Guard and the Ponygoyles little by little. 'Cowards, the whole lot of them!' He thought with low growl as he pulled out his sword, he wasn't ready to retreat yet!

"Face me Gryphon, if you dare!" A voice shouted from behind him, he turned to see the cyan Ponygoyle land before him, her bat-like wings spread and her eyes glowing menacingly as she snarled with her teeth bared. The Gryphon leader backed away and held out his sword, trying to put some distance between himself and the creature, only to hear a roar from behind him. It was the dragon from before, snorting and growling as it approached, ready to tear it's prey limb from limb. The Gryphon leader tensed and began to sweat, knowing he couldn't take on both opponents at once.

"I see you've found our "watchdog"..." The lavender Ponygoyle called out as she landed next to the cyan one. "...and my second in command as well." She finished while placing a hand on her shoulder, the cyan one smirked with pride. "I grow tired of all this!" She snapped before levitating the Gryphon leader with her magic and bringing him face-to-beak with her. "Take what's left your army, and BE GONE!" She shouted before tossing him over the wall and crashing into some of the retreating Diamond Dogs.

The Gryphon leader cursed as his subordinates picked him up. "This isn't over monsters! I promise you, I'll be back!" He shouted in rage before his Gryphon guards carried him off and flead along with the rest of his forces, the Diamond Dogs burrowing underground to avoid the arrows being shot at them while the Ponygoyle chased rest of the Gryphons away.

With the invading forces repealed, the Royal Guard began cheering in celebration.

"Haha, we did it! We sent them running!"

"Those heathens will think twice before attacking us again!"

Up above where the Ponygoyles were, however, the creatures did not share their joy. Mostly because they were celebrating and congratulating each other, yet not once acknowledging that they had helped as well. Sadly this wasn't the first time this had happened.

The pink and rainbow-maned one shared a disappointed look, while yellow one looked down in sorrow. Meanwhile the cyan one was healing lavender ones wounds from the fight, one of the guards approached them, it was the same one that had helped the white Ponygoyle earlier. "Twilight, we owe you our lives yet again." He said with a humble bow before taking off his helmet to reveal a more elderly gray unicorn with a white mane and beard.

"As we owe you ours every day Starswirl." Twilight smiled as she placed her claw on his shoulder, unaware of the scowl the cyan Ponygoyle was sending the other ponies...

Later that night in the ballroom, the guards and most of the nobles were enjoying a rather grandeur meal in which the wise Queen Celestia was attending. The royal Unicorn was dressed the most elegant gown made from only finest of silk and adorned with the most beautiful gems.

She sat at the royal table with her nephew and most loyal adviser; Prince Blueblood, a noble unicorn stallion with a light gray coat and light amber mane. He had an air of superiority around him, as if he was no less than a god amongst ponies. Meanwhile at the other table, several of the Royal Guard talked amongst themselves.

"...I have to say, I actually thought we'd met our match back there!" One of the Pegasus said with a hearty laugh before taking a bite out of his apple.

"Indeed, our captain of the guard is a fine soldier." A Unicorn guard agreed as he took a bite out of his bread.

"Captain of the Ponygoyles ya mean!" Said the same Pegasus sarcastically as Starswirl passed by, causing some of the others to start laughing.

"Ha! He'd fit in with them at the rookery with them! That's a fact!" The Unicorn replied, causing his comrades to laugh even harder.

Starswirl simply snarled as he walked towards the Queen's table. Queen Celestia smiled at the approaching Unicorn. "Ahh Starswirl. Once again you have lead our stallions to victory. You have our thanks for another battle well fought!" She said in a joyful tone. While her tone was sincere, her nephew simply regarded him as if regarding and ant before sipping down his wine.

Starswirl ignored the show of disrespect and bowed to his Queen. "The credit is not mine alone to take, your majesty. If it wasn't for Twilight and the other Ponygoyles, our defenses would have proven useless." He said in a proud tone.

However, upon hearing him mention the Ponygoyles, the Queen's calm warm demeanor changed to cold and dismissive. "Please, don't mention that...monster's name in my presence." She said in stern tone.

Suddenly, the door to the ballroom opened, revealing Twilight and the cyan Ponygoyle. Everypony stared in shock as the two creatures of the night made their way into the room. They were further surprised when the two stopped in front of the Queen and Twilight then bowed to her in a formal way.

"Sorry we're late my Queen but we were just rounding up the last of the more rowdy ones of our kin." Twilight explained.

While Prince Blueblood snorted in disgust, Queen Celestia ignored the Ponygoyle and turned her attention to Starswirl. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Starswirl bowed as well. "Your Highness, I took the liberty of asking them to appear and be recognized for their bravery."

Celestia's glare hardened. "Captain, we are very displeased that you would allow these beasts into our dining hall!" She said before shifting her glare towards the the two Ponygoyles, the cyan one matching her glare with one of her own.

"My Aunt speaks words of wisdom." Blueblood added. "These...creatures are unnatural, no good can come from associating with vermin like them!"

That last word got to the cyan Ponygoyle as she snarled at the prince. "Vermin?! At least we don't hide while our brethren do all the fighting!" She shouted in rage, her eyes glowing white as she took a step forward. Blueblood quickly backed away in fear as some of the Royal Guard got up, ready to defend their Queen.

"Stop!" Twilight commanded, spreading her wing in front of her friend and halting her advance. "I will not have you causing an uproar with your short temper!" She growled before folding in her wings. "Excuse us, your Highness." She apologized before leaving with her friend in tow.

Starswirl could only watch as they left in disappointment, why couldn't the Queen see? The Ponygoyles were their ally's, yet they treated them like they were a bigger threat than the ones who attacked them.

"Captain Starswirl." Celestia began in a calm yet threatening tone. "In the future, you will make your reports to my nephew, not directly to me! Is that understood?"

Starswirl shot a glance at Blueblood who merely smirked arrogantly. "Yes, your Highness." The older Unicorn sighed as he turned away and left the dining hall in silence.

"I'm so sorry about what happened there." Starswirl said as he walked alongside his friend down the hall.

"It's fine Starswirl. I can't claim to understand why they hate us but it will pass." Twilight said as she turned to face her old friend.

The Cyan Ponygoyle scowled in rage. "But we were here long before they were! These cliffs were once our home!"

"But now it's theirs and ours." Twilight retorted. "They may act like they hate us, but deep down I know these ponies truly are grateful for what we do."

"And yet they treat us with contempt even after we defend them! Have you no pride?!" The cyan Ponygoyle snarled in irritation before storming off.

"She's right you know..." Starswirl said before walking off. "Your kind deserve better than this…"

Twilight sighed sadly. "Maybe, but hopefully she'll come to realize that disharmony between our two races will only drive both to ruin..." She cast a glance at the moon before climbing out the window and soaring through the night sky...

Meanwhile, deep within the secret chambers inside the castle, Prince Blueblood was going through one of his many spell books. Contrary to popular belief, he was quite experienced when it came to spell casting. He simply didn't see a reason, or find a reason, to use his more powerful spells.

'With those creatures constantly prowling our castle every night, it's only a matter of time before they rebel.' The Prince thought to himself as turned the page. 'Once they're ready they'll strike when we least expect it, taking back their home and bringing out glorious kingdom to ruin. As heir to the throne that's something I cannot allow!'

He thought as he continued looking for a certain spell, a spell that would take care of those monsters should the worst come to be. He blinked before going back a few pages. "Yes...this will do nicely..." He mumbled as a sinister smile spread across his face…

To Be Continued...

Author's Note:

I hope you liked the first of many chapters to come! I'd also like to thank VampDash for helping me write this! For those of you who are curious, here's a small list of which of the main characters our heroes represent (more characters will be added as time goes on):

Twilight: Goliath

Rarity: Angela (Goliath's daughter from the comics, in this version however she her sister)

Applejack: Hudson

Rainbow Dash: Brooklyn

Fluttershy: Lexington

Pinkie Pie: Broadway

Spike: Bronx

Trixie: Demona

Stay tuned for the next chapter!