The Great Gryphon Adventure

An ancient tower stood at the edge of a cliff overlooking a dry and boneless region of land. Its history and purpose had been lost to the changes of time. Left to degrade by some long-forgotten civilization, the tower was the last relic to signal that people once lived here. The construction was basic stone all the way up the tower, the top flat and level with stone walls to provide protection and a strategic location during attack. Three windows dotted at three different sides of the tower, each one in the shape of an arch. Only one allowed a view for the outside for the tower's recent occupants.

Of these occupants, six were prisoners. The seventh couldn't even be called such. It was simply a manifestation of pure malice and evil. A remnant of a time of agony and banishment that was long over in everypony's mind, yet still fresh enough to be written about in tales and history books. It had no definite shape or form, only knowing that at one time it was the shape of a magnificent alicorn female. It knew its name was once Nightmare Moon, but that name along with the being it held host to was a curse to its very life now. So it had taken a new name, a new purpose, one that would allow for it to exact revenge on everything that had done it so wrong.

The room it resided in was on the third level of the ancient tower it called home. It was circular and the walls provided adequate coverage to house chains to torment captives. Such was the case now. It took form, mimicking the form of its captives in a twisted sort of way. It had stolen these beings from another world. Thanks to the deepest desire of one of this world's residents, the entity could now take as it pleased to gather the resources it needed to fulfill its dark fantasy. These six, all chained from each limb and hanging from the wall, were only the first step. It had glimpsed unlimited possibilities of carnage from their world and intended to abuse the privilege of 'World Jumping', as it came to term the capability, to its fullest.

Two eyes of dark purple opened in what it formed to be its head. Around it, its energy swirled like a mist, encompassing the feminine form it chose. It gazed from one prisoner to the next, deciding which one should be the starting point for the cataclysm to be brought upon Equestria. It had learned early on its existence how to enter and twist the minds of those nearest to it. These prisoners had all had such treatment. Information of the deepest sorts had been stolen. The entity had literally assimilated six lifetimes of knowledge in the matter of a few seconds. The twisted emotions of their world now corrupting its very soul with the new desire to kill everything.

Through them it had learned every conceivable emotion. So complex in form that not even this world properly understood them. The main one it enjoyed feeling was the murderous desire to slaughter. To feel life taken away with its own capable ways. The entity wanted to experience this first-hand for itself, as it soon would. Without the inhibitions of its previous form and life, it would soon grow unchecked and become more powerful than Celestia herself. That traitorous alicorn was at the top of its list of things to destroy.

"Henry Forman," the entity spoke in a soft tone as its eyes settled on one of the six. It knew, quite personally, this man. He was a Chief among his people, responsible for leading his land's armies to bring hope and relief to others. It hated this. Out of all the ones that were here, he was the one the entity hated the most. Such feelings of kindness, the entity had learned, were a complete waste of time and only deserving of death. It reached out its formless hand and pried Henry from his chains, levitating him close.

The entity turned the man's head to the left and right, examining him. If the entity had chosen a different path, perhaps a path in this man's world, he would be pleasing to its sights and desires. Not now though. The entity was simply amusing itself with these thoughts. The man's outfit merely tatters of clothing after it had dragged him him from his world. It could even see in his dreams, he still desired to help those whom he was parted from now. This sickened the entity. It was time to test its strength.

Slowly it desired the man's body to begin to implode on itself. As its will increased, so did the pain on Henry's face. Eventually the man was screaming in agony as his eyes shot open, the entity relishing in his pain and literally sucking the emotions he experienced from him to feed itself. Henry had managed to lock eyes with the entity which caused it to momentarily cease its torture. All too quickly it continued, watching with sickening glee as the man's lifeblood streamed from every orifice and he went limp.

Oh, what an experience! The entity had loved doing that!

It had tasted its first experience of death and wanted more. Slowly, murderously, it went through the remaining five and fulfilled its psychopathic desires of bloodlust. Each one going through hell in their last moments, all wondering how this could happen to them, all being consumed by it in the end. Their screams still echoing through the entity's tower by the time she finished her twisted and sickening fun with the last prisoner. It discarded the body next to the rest, its floors stained with their lifeblood and one of the prisoner's entrails as it had literally exploded him for its own amusement.

Through their memories it had decided on a form. One that was fitting for its desires and purposes. Slowly the dark energy engulfing the entity's spectral form started to condense and gather shape. It shrank in size, condensing further until all too suddenly the remaining energy dispersed into the air surrounding the new form. The ball of fur unrolled and stood. The eyes of a predator looked out, staring out the one window into the world. The new form bounded effortlessly to the windowsill and out stories below to the ground. Its sight stretched into the distant, falling on the form of a certain pony living in the Everfree Forest.

It quickly sprinted for its next victim. Having no desire to stop now.

• • •

Zecora was busy meditating in her hut as she always did on quiet evenings such as this. Her excellent sense of balance played a key role this time. Her bottom hoofs were balanced perfectly on the top of her bamboo stick. As she stood perfectly still in a standing fashion, mimicking that of Halkan, her fore-hoofs were crossed over her chest. Her breathing was perfectly timed to counter the wobble of the stick she balanced on, creating a perfect harmony of leaning and centering.

In this state she was extremely perceptive to the energy and world around her. Ever since Halkan had left, the energy that flowed from his pendant into him and around him still lingered here. She had found out that whatever originated from was not hostile in any means. On the contrary, it had little interest in her and simply existed as a remnant of whatever had created it. In her quiet contemplation she had reached herself farther out to the energy to explore it, discovering that as she did so the lingering energy started to manifest as a mist that encompassed her figure and tickled her senses.

It was a rather pleasing experience. One she was in deep appreciation of before the energy suddenly shocked her. Her eyes opened and she lost balance almost instantly, falling to the floor on all fours. The energy, however, did not stop there. It literally flowed across her body and directed itself at the door as if encouraging her to go. At first she was hesitant, but as the energy completely dissipated from its mist form and become completely gone from her sight, she soon realized that it was trying to warn her.

Without warning the door was cracked in several pieces as a blur ran through it. Her instincts heightened and she knew she was in the presence of some type of unknown predator. Grabbing her bamboo stick in her mouth for defense, she reared up to try to swipe at the blur as it turned her way. However she was too slow, even with all her expert training, and was knocked to the ground.

Zecora groaned, feeling a weight on her chest. She had been knocked on her back and she was pinned from the waist down. Her eyes shot open and she saw the largest wolf she had ever seen. Its eyes were a crimson red, staring back into hers. For the first time in many, many years she felt fear. The wolf snarled as she breathed deep, screaming out the name "Halkan!" before the wolf's massive jaws bit down on her throat and ended all train of thought. Her vision darkened and soon she drifted off into an eternal sleep.

• • •

Halkan stopped in his tracks. He swore he heard Zecora call his name. He looked back towards the direction of her hut, but a light blinded him. He turned back towards the way he was heading and realized the star was urging him onward. He felt his pendant, secretly asking if there was any need to worry. A feeling of reassurance flowed through him. He felt secure that Zecora was perfectly fine. He continued on, following the light of the star as he had been for several days now. His next thought was to plan a place to rest.

In the distance he saw a large tower at the edge of a cliff. His pendant glowed. He was nearing the end of the first part of his journey.

• • •

The giant wolf exited the hut of the Zebra. Its jaws were fresh with blood as it snarled and contemplated its next move. Its vision expanded and it looked once more in the distance. It looked towards its tower home and saw nothing of interest, turning its gaze towards Ponyville to see a multitude of new prey. Its hunger for revenge would never be quenched. It could kill all these ponies and every other creature for miles and still not be sated. It wanted the death of all life in Equestria. When it was done, it would World Jump to the next and the next, not stopping until every life form it came across died in a manner it saw fit. No longer did any logic guide its pretenses for destruction. It simply wanted to.

The wolf's eyes looked back to the path it had scanned before leading to Ponyville. Odd that it hadn't noticed the two figures before. Something strange seemed to surround them, something it did not comprehend or couldn't. It didn't matter. It saw them. It would kill them, then investigate their strange energies. A human from the last world and a griffon were casually strolling side by side. It became sick seeing the care they seemed to show for one another. They had to die.

Before it could properly stance itself for its long, striding leaps for its kill, its ears perked. A part of itself was still in the tower. That part sensed a nearing presence. It scanned the area again, seeing nothing once more. It growled with confusion, not knowing what to think of this possible threat. Still, if this form was somehow destroyed it could always reform back at its tower. It knew it would have to keep a watchful eye on its tower being its only weakness. Thankfully no one would know this. No one could know this.

With a satisfying huff, it accepted this wisdom and started for the human and griffon duo. This time, however, it slowly stalked them. Something inside it wanted to savor this kill. Not like the last seven it had done. This one needed to be done, it concluded, with stealth and attention to detail. The wolf lowered to the ground and slowly trudged forward towards Ponyville, fully intent on getting its fill of blood, not only from the happy duo it stalked, but also from others it had seen in the town.