The sky was a dim orange, with few clouds covering the view towards the rising sun.
Keen Eye sighed, he always loved watching the sunrise, it never seemed to bore him, probably the reason he always picked this time of the morning to be on his shift, he never minded waking up early for it, it was totally worth it, every living second of it.
An hour later and his small alarm clock next to him began to buzz, a noise to signal the end of his shift.
'Well, another eventless hour' thought Keen Eye, as he began his descent from his post.
As he was walking down the ramp to the center of the city, he noticed his neighboring guards exiting their posts as well, although they seemed more tired and less enthusiastic as he was, they couldn't be blamed, these unicorns were relatively young compared to Keen Eye, they hadn't seen much action in their time, so they had nothing to look for or to look out for every morning.
Keen Eye hadn't always been a sentry that was only for the past 4 years. Before that he was a covering unit in a scout party, because of his special talent, he could spot an enemy from a mile away, and almost always determine their race. However one day on patrol, he had noticed a lone pegasus flying low in the distance, not pondering why it was out on its own, he informed his leading captain of it and his pack set off towards it.
Less than a minute later, the pegasus was tied to the ground by magic. However, even though it was unable to move, it was still grinning, Keen Eye didn't think much of this, until he saw roughly 20 pegasi descend from a thick cloud layer above the unicorns. Catching them by surprise, the unicorns hadn't had time to prepare a spell to defend themselves.
Keen Eye, realising his mistake and his position, couldn't do anything to help his friends, apart from watch them be ruthlessly slaughtered by the armed pegasi.
After 5 minutes of fighting, all 8 unicorn lay dead on the ground, with only one pegasus injured. Keen Eye couldn't watch any longer, he turned and ran as fast as his legs could take him.
Returning home alone, was suspicious as it was dangerous, costing him several minutes of spell casting to prove he wasn't a Changeling that was attempting to infiltrate the city. He returned quickly to his commanding General, whom he quickly explained his story to, and after a few minutes of silence, Keen Eye, told the General that he no longer wanted to go out on patrol and simply wished to be a lookout sentry. The General accepted and Keen Eye began his new job the following day.
Snapping back to reality, Keen Eye, noticed he was at the military gate to the inner city, and, after a quick spell check, he was granted permission through.
despite living his entire life here, he still admired the city in all its glory, the towering spires of the castle where the king resided, the miles upon miles of smoothened Gemstone, which we gathered from Tagra mine, in conquered dragon territory and the rows upon rows of triple story housing perfectly placed along each street.
Keen Eye couldn't hold back a smile as he wandered through the streets towards the castle, where just beyond lay the barracks, where he resided.
After a short 15 minute walk to the barracks, he made his way to his private room, which he had acquired after he had received a promotion for a bravery act in the field.
After he had hung his armour up on the wall he wondered over to his bed and flopped down onto it, closing his eyes and ever so slowly drifting into a seemingly light sleep.
It seemed to him like he had been dreaming for hours now when he was startled awake by a rapid bang on the door, when actually he had only been asleep for 45 minutes. Grumbling, he wandered over to his door and swung it open to reveal a smallish unicorn with some boots for a cutie mark.
'What do you want' Keen Eye muttered
'Sir' The Unicorn replied, 'Attack on the eastern wall.'
Keen Eye's ears suddenly perked up.
'An attack you say?, any races identified yet?'
'Suspected Earth Ponies sir, we spotted several pieces of artillery as well.'
'Curses' was the reply 'Ill be out as soon as possible, warn any other officers that haven't been notified as well.'
'Yes sir, I'll get right to that' and with that he ran off again.
Keen Eye, immediately grabbed his armour and his dagger, and sprinted out the door, he was well aware of how dangerous Earth Ponies could be, despite not having any magic or wings, they relied solely on manufacturing weapons and brute force.
As he slammed open the door to the barracks and ran outside, he could hear the shouting of unicorns in the distance, commanding orders. Keen Eye, ran towards the eastern wall as fast as he could, knowing that the wall needed as many soldiers as possible.
As he reached the wall, he was called over by an officer, who seemed to be white with fear, despite having a dark brown coat.
'S..S.Sir' he mumbled as he thrust a hoof towards the horizon. 'look'
Keen Eye quickly ran to the edge of the wall and stared at the horizon, then blinked, and stared again, and after the realisation of the situation had finally hit him, he stood back for a second to make sure he wasn't seeing things, he wasn't.
On the horizon, about 2 miles away, the ground turned black with Earth Ponies, and artillery, and shields, and Brutes.
equaling, to the largest army, any unicorn had seen in a very, long time. and Keen Eye, knowing not to panic, used the only useful spell to himself, He looked up, focused his mind and shot a small green flare into the air, and waited. About ten seconds later, a green wall appeared in front of him, and ever so slowly, began to expand, until it covered the entire eastern wall. Being one of 25 unicorns able to do that spell, he was highly respected in the ranks, but being relatively new to the spell, meant that he was utterly exhausted, and would have to wait days to regenerate his magic.
'That will hold them' He muttered, exhausted '...For now'
Rheia stood proudly on her pedestal, watching from her castle, gazing over the seemingly everlasting sea, that lead eventually to the mainland. She grinned from ear to ear, as she soon knew that this expanse of sea would finally be hers. The Sea Ponies, would never knew what hit them.
Griffins, the race that every species knew to stay clear of, however, there will always be the exception. The Sea Ponies, a notorious race that had conquered every known ocean or sea, forcing any coastal cities to be put on high alert round the clock in case of attacks. The Griffins had always been indifferent to the Sea Ponies before the war, but alas, when both nations saw a formidable foe in each other, they had declared each other rivals, and to this day they still are.
Just as Rheia started to descend from her pedestal she could have sworn she noticed a faint movement in the waves, only a few miles out. Curious she flew up to a telescope of hers and pointed it at the spot she saw the movement.
Nothing, just water and waves.
She cursed herself for not concentrating more.
'What was that splash? what ungodly creature could make.....' her thoughts trailed off as the realisation hit her like a ton of bricks.
'Oh dear god no' She thought, now in panic mode. 'How could i have forgotten!' And with that she flew at top speed towards the barracks, within the city.
*
She raced through the air, other Griffins flying out of her way, in respect for her, she was the queen of this land, and certainly the body shape to prove it; A muscular body, which could easily kill any opponent at close range, A 6 metre long wingspan, that enabled her to fly at formidable speeds, and claws which could crush the skulls of any meagre being she came across.
As she neared the barracks, she noticed lines upon lines of Griffin soldiers lined up in perfect formation, The more upper class ranks marching along each of the lines, with her 5 most accomplished generals standing motionless at the front of the army. All of them waiting and ready for battle, and one of the largest ones of time, they were attacking the Sea Ponies home city of Aquastria, which was run by the Sea Pony king; King Leo.
Rheia knew what they were going into, Griffins could swim but only for a certain time, and even that was limited, so she had developed a new plan; Artillery.
The Griffin mines had built numerous rocks that could crush any city with their weight, but had taken years to develop out of the mountain side.
Rheia was so confident about this plan she hadn't even considered what could happen if things went wrong, not even considering the city's defences, or rather the, things, that defended the ocean from intruders. Rheia shuddered at the thought of those beings, she hadn't personally come into contact with one, face to face, not that she would have made it back, but she had seen them slowly swimming across the ocean, when she had made flights around the city, their backs covering enough water to build a small town on.
But enough thoughts for now, she needed to warn the soldiers, and soon.
*
'Wait a minute your highness. Are you sure that you saw one of them?' Asked a confused, yet slightly nervous general.
'Well, not exactly, all i saw was a rather large disturbance in the waves about 2 or 3 miles from my pedestal, but if there is anything that can make a disturbance that big, ill take a guess to say it was one of them.'
The general sighed, this wasn't the first report of one of the beasts on the coastline, although when carefully scouted out, there appeared to be nothing there... Most of the time anyway.
'Well your highness i can personally assure you that it wasn't a beast, they wouldn't have come this close anyway. they prefer to stick to the great depths of Aquastria and its surroundings, so i promise you that there is nothing to worry about.'
Rheia swallowed heavily
'Ok then general, i trust your choice, but i sure hope that you are correct, or our entire army is doomed before we have even started.'
And with that, Rheia set off back to her private tower of the wall.
*
Rheia studied herself in the mirror, A light golden set of armour covered the vital parts of her body, and a majestic golden crown rested itself upon her head, although light, this armour could withstand an impressive amount of damage before giving up, this was particularly useful for when the Sea Ponies decided to make quick skirmish attacks on the city borders, before retreating into the deep, dark ocean.
Upon hearing an orchestra of trumpets outside, and the announcement of her name, she realised it was time to begin. Holding her crown under her right wing, she proudly marched outside and onto a raised pedestal, in front of what seemed to be a least a couple thousand Griffins, all in shining armour, and all perfectly lined up. She gave a quick smile before announcing to the crowd in her most prestigious voice:
'The Glorious Griffin Empire, and all of its fallen leaders thank you for your sacrifice on this day! May the keenest fly fastest, and the strongest fight the bravest. Long live the Griffins!' And with that she put her crown on and gave the Griffin salute; one claw raised in the air, with both wings flared fully outwards, it must have been an amazing spectacle to view her on that particular moment.
*
Rheia positioned herself on the wall facing the ocean, feeling the adrenalin flowing within her blood as she had waited for this moment for so long, for what every king or queen had always wanted to do; Wipe out the Sea Ponies and claim the sea for themselves.
Rheia readied herself and launched herself into the air at an astonishing speed, that would have rivalled the fastest pegasus on the mainland.
She heard a low pitched scream, and she immediately snapped back to reality. By now they had passed at least 5 miles over the ocean, and she was curious to what the racket was all about.
Focusing her eyes forward she noticed a looming shape under the ocean, coming to them at an incredible speed, Rheia, realising that it could only be one thing she immediately commanded out orders;
'EVASIVE MANOEUVRE, TOWARDS THE SKY, FLY AS FAST AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN!' she screamed, as she watched thousands of Griffins fly towards the clouds, but realising her own mistake of waiting, she panicked, she was hovering about 10 metres above the water, and the shape was getting even closer now.
Heart racing she aimed upwards and flew as fast as her magnificent wings would take her. It was a full 5 seconds before she heard it.
A Leviathan, and it was one of the biggest she had ever seen in her entire life.
As it left the water hoping to catch something, it opened it gargantuan mouth, revealing teeth, that must have been at least twice the size of a Griffin. and a breath so pungent she had to hold back the vomit in her throat from the smell if it.
She couldn't spot any eyes of the monster, but it could sense her to some precision. and its back appeared to have thousands of long black hairs with a type of brown liquid dripping from them
She quickened her pace and with a free claw, she gave a quick signal to the Griffins above, whom started moving about.
As the Leviathan hit the water, an enormous rock hurtled past Rheia, with spikes jutting out the sides, hitting the leviathan on the head and giving an audible crack as it landed.
'SUCCESS' Rheia chanted, as did the entire Griffin army. but it was cut short, by looks of terror and surprise on the Griffins faces.
Confused Rheia turned around and glanced at the beast, only for her entire body to shiver with fright, as she realised the crack wasn't from the splitting of a skull, but rather the rock, that had just cracked in half, and had started to sink to the bottom of the ocean.
It turned to the army and gave an audible roar, that would have scared any other army off for miles around. But not the Griffins, as shocked as they were, they dove straight down, after their queen, down into the presence of the great leviathan, who opened its jaws, to greet the thousands of Griffins flying its way.