Demons from the Past

Aldric awoke to darkness...black, inky, darkness. He tried turning his head but he couldn't, his head was fixed to look in front of him. He tried moving everything else but nothing responded. He was frozen, stuck looking into that darkness. He strained his eyes to see if anything was in the darkness but he couldn't see anything. He suddenly felt very tired and his eyelids felt heavy. Everything became blurry, he could barely make out outlines of creatures moving through the darkness. A pair of gold, slitted eyes appeared in front of him. He could hear distance laughter, surrounding him. The eyes disappeared and Aldric fell asleep.

Blackwing stalked through the Everfree Forest, looking for food. Blackwing took Aldric back to the mountain for him to sleep after fighting that massive battle. When Aldric was knocked out, Blackwing decided to see what scars Aldric gained while they were separated and were there a lot of them. Massive scars running down his back, multiple stab wounds, slash marks, and a couple of bite marks. The scars that were the most interesting were the ones running down his back. They didn't look faded, they look like they were just made, and when he put a claw on them they felt warm, warmer than his body. Soon his stomach grumbled, so he went hunting, which is where we are now.

Twigs snapped ahead, so he dived into the shadows. A manticore walked into a clearing, limping slightly. Scars were present all over its body. It sat down, licking its wounds. Blackwing slowly walked closer, staying as silent as possible. Something exploded out from the bushes to the left of the manticore. Another manticore, far larger than the other one, stood in front of the other, growling. The smaller of the two started limping away as fast as possible. The larger on stepped the smaller one's tail, pulling it to the ground. The larger put its jaws on the smaller ones neck, then with a quick twist, broke it. It fell limp to the ground, twitching slightly. Triumphantly, the larger one roared. The manticore walked off, leaving the carcass. Blackwing slowly walked towards the carcass. He looked around before eating it. After eating a sufficient amount, he started to fly up before stopping himself. Aldric should have some food too. He walked over to the carcass, opening a claw. He was about to carve out meat to give to Aldric when he realized he doesn't know how to do that. He was about to think on how to do this when a cragadile appeared, growling at him. Blackwing shot into the sky, letting it have the rest. He turned around and started flying towards the town.

Blackwing observed ponies taking down branches from trees and moving clouds. He was always fascinated that these ponies can move clouds. While watching, he wasn't looking ahead of him, causing him to bump into somepony. He shook his head and looked ahead, seeing a lavender mare with a seafoam green mane.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking where I was going." She stuck out a hoof. "I'm Flitter. Who are you?" He looked at the hoof before gingerly shaking it. "Um...your name?" Blackwing nodded and pointed to his feathers. "Um...can't you talk?" He shook his head and continued pointing. "Oh...Feather?" He shook it again and started floating down. She followed him, watching him scratch something in the dirt. "Color? Color....your name is Color?" He put a claw to his head and grabbed a feather, yanking it out. He drew an arrow and put the feather next to it. "Oh, Black!" He nodded and stuck out a wing. He then pointed to the feather and his wing. "Blackwing...Blackwing!" He nodded, sighing a little that Aldric wasn't here.

"Flitter! Where are-oh there you are." Another mare flew down and sat next to her, with same lavender coat. "What are you doing? We need to set up the clouds for the rain."

"Sorry Cloudchaser, I was talking to Blackwing over there." She pointed a hoof at Blackwing. Cloudchaser turned her head and saw him. "He can't talk so he tried communicating with me."

"Mhm, well that's nice and all, but we need to get the clouds in position. If we don't Rainbow will have our hides. You can talk to your new friend later." Cloudchaser spread her wings and flew back up, Flitter close behind her, but not before waving goodbye to Blackwing. Blackwing watched in silence as they flew away. Blackwing shook his head and continued walking.

Soon, he came across Twilight's library, so he knocked on the door. "I'll be right there!" Twilight yelled from inside. Blackwing sat down, looking at his claw. The door opened, so he looked up at Twilight. "Hello, and welcome to the Golden Oak Library." Her face was deep inside of a book, so she wasn't looking at him. He walked past her and got a better look at the library. The door closed and he turned his head, watching Twilight walk past him and sit down. He went over and grabbed the book from her. "Hey!" She looked at who took her book, staring directly into Blackwing's face. She yelped in surprise, falling over. He shook his head and put her book back down.

"Ow," she rubbed the back of her head, getting up, "sorry Blackwing, you surprised me. Not every day you see a gryphon with red eyes staring directly at you. So, what are you doing here?"  He shrugged and looked out the window. "Oh right, you can't really...talk, can you. I forgot." He nodded and continued looking out the window, watching ponies tear down branches. He tapped his claw against the floor, gaining the attention of Twilight. "Yes?" He pointed out the window, to both the pegasi moving clouds and to the ponies tearing the branches down. "Oh, well last week the pegasi forgot a slight drizzle last week so they have to make it up with a storm. They're tearing down the loose branches so they don't break off from the trees and break anything." He looked confused for a moment before slowly nodding. He put his claw around two feet off the ground, then looked around, confused. "What? Spike?" He nodded. "He's off in Canterlot with some royal business. So I'm sort of just...lounging around, where's Aldric?"  He pointed towards the mountain. "Ah, you know, this must be getting annoying, having to point out everything to everypony," he nodded, a questioning look on his face, "hold on, I think I have a spell that will let you talk." Twilight's horn lit up and several books floated down to her. She used her magic to flip through the books, setting down ones that didn't have the spell. Blackwing got up and walked over to another window, seeing Rarity and Applejack stuck in the rain. He opened the door and ran towards them.

"Ugh, my mane! It getting ruined!" He heard Rarity say, so he put his wing over her, protecting her from the rain. "Huh?" She looked up the wing, then followed the it to Blackwing's face. "Oh, thank you Mr. Blackwing." He nodded and looked towards Applejack, extending his other wing. She got out from under a picnic table and stood under his wing.

"Thank ya kindly Blackwing." A smile crept on his beak, but he shook it away.  Slowly turning back towards the library, he started walking back. They kept his pace and stayed close to him, keeping warm from his feathers.

"Oh, but won't you get a cold Blackwing?" He shook his head and continued walking. Soon they reached the library so Rarity walked inside, Applejack close behind her. Rarity stuck out her hoof, blocking Applejack from entering. "Please be a polite house guest and go wash up." She pointed to her hooves, which were muddy. Applejack grumbled something as she passed by Blackwing. He followed her, grabbing a hose and turning it on, washing the mud from her hooves.

"Thanks! If only somepony was more friendly." Shaking his head, he followed Applejack back inside, where Rarity was conversing with Twilight. Blackwing kicked the door closed, maybe too loud, because they all jumped. Twilight turned her head and when she saw Blackwing, a big smile grew on her face and she jumped up to him.

"Good news! I found a spell that's let's animals talk!" Blackwing held a claw up, feigning pain. Twilight looked confused for a moment when what she said caught up to her. A blush crossed her face. "I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to call you animal." She looked down at the ground. Blackwing put a claw to her head and rustled her mane. She looked up at Blackwing, who was smiling. "I'll...I'll cast the spell. Just step over there." She pointed her hoof to the middle of the library. Blackwing walked towards the spot, sitting down when he reached it. Twilight took one last look at the spell before her horn lit up, bathing Blackwing in a purple aura. It lasted a few seconds before Twilight's horn stopped glowing, stumbling a bit. Blackwing looked around, looking at everypony.

"Well, did it wo-" Blackwing slapped a claw across his beak, eyes wide. Slowly, he uncovered his mouth. "It...it worked. Holy shit my voice is gruff." It was true, his voice was like Aldric's, but rougher. "Oh man, I can't wait to see the look on Aldric's face when he finds out I can talk." Suddenly he grabbed Twilight and hugged her. "Thank you, now I can make fun of Aldric more!"

"Your.....welcome....let go of me please." Blackwing let go of Twilight, a sheepish smile on his face. "Now then, Rarity, Applejack, can you get home?" They both shook their heads no. Twilight's face suddenly lit up, confusing the two ponies.

"We can have a sleepover, I've always wanted one of those!" Rarity and Applejack suddenly looked very nervous, while Blackwing just nodded.

"I'm fine with it, but is sleeping inside a giant tree the best option in a storm?"

"It is when you have a magical lightning rod protecting it like mine!" She responded. Blackwing just shrugged and jumped up on the couch. Twilight levitate a book down and shoved towards Rarity.

"Slumber 101, all you've ever wanted to know about slumber parties but were afraid to ask." Twilight face lit up.

"It's a fantastic reference guide! You should read the table of content!" Blackwing stifled a laugh, gaining the attention of them both. "What? What's so funny?"

"It's just...why do things by the book? That's not fun, Aldric and I just take whatever is thrown at us, actually and figuratively, and do what seems best. Also, I won't take part of any of that girly stuff, for reasons most obvious." Twilight looked slightly shocked.

"But....but the book said." Blackwing sighed. 'She is a buzzkill, always doing things by the book,' he thought to himself.

"Fine, do things by your little book." He waved her off with a claw. Twilight's face lit up and flipped through the book.

"Okay, the first thing the book said to do is a makeover." Rarity jumped across the room, smiling heavily.

"Makeovers?! Oh, I love makeovers!" She pulled a bowl filled a green mixture from somewhere and stuck her hoof in it. She smeared it all over her face and Twilight's. Blackwing sighed and got up off the couch and walked over to a window, watching the rain hit it. He blocked out the conversation the ponies were having and focused on Aldric. He had changed so much, his attitude, his sense of humor was still there, albeit, a bit darker. Plus, he always kept that damn left eye of his closed.

"Blackwing? Is sometin' wrong?" Shaking his head, he turned his head to the speaker, Applejack. "We're 'bout to cook some s'mores, do ya want one?"

"No, everythings...fine. I'll take one s'more." Applejack nodded and walked over to where the s'mores were being made, grabbed one, and brought it back. "Thanks." Blackwing stuffed it into his mouth, chewing it. A common misconception is that gryphons only have a beak to eat food with, when in reality, they have some molars, taken from their lion side.

"Okay, s'mores; check. Next is truth or dare." Blackwing then watched as Rarity and Applejack started daring each other, increasing in randomness. Starting to get annoyed he lashed out.

"I dare both of you to shut the hell up for five minutes!" Everypony turned their head at his yelling, shocked. Sighing, he sat down. "I'm sorry, but friends shouldn't argue like that, trust me, I would know."  Feeling his eyes become watery he looked away, wiping them. He felt something on him, so he turned back. Rarity had wrapped her hooves around Blackwing chest.

"I'm sorry," she started, "we shouldn't have acted like that, isn't that right Applejack?" Rarity turned her head to look at Applejack. Applejack nodded and hugged Blackwing too.

"You're right as rain Rarity. I'm sorry Twi, this must've been the worst first slumber party." Twilight nodded slightly but joined the hug. Blackwing, in the mean time, was feeling very awkward, being hugged. Slowly, he unfurled his wings and covered them over the ponies. They hug lingered before Blackwing coughed, signaling that this was getting weird. They let go, faces flushed.

"So," Blackwing started, "what's next?" Twilight nodded and lit her horn, lifting the book over with her magic. Twilight cleared her throat.

"Let's see, what's this? 'Pillow fight'? What's that?" Blackwing, Rarity, and Applejack all looked at each other before Rarity and Applejack smiled deviously at Blackwing. Blackwing ran towards Twilight, picked her up, getting a "Hey," and dived behind the couch. Peering over the couch, Blackwing got a faceful of pillow. Spitting out feathers, he crouched back down.

"Okay, Twilight, just start throwing pillows at them, okay?" Twilight's face lit up and nodded. Using her magic, she grabbed three pillows. "Ready," she nodded, "okay, 1, 2, 3!" Blackwing leapt over the couch, dodging pillows. Applejack exposed herself, so Twilight launched her pillows at her. She fell down, laughing all the while. Blackwing started laughing also, joining everypony else. Soon, the pillow war ended, with everypony laughing on the ground. After everypony calmed down, Applejack yawned.

"Getting tired Applejack? I supp-" Twilight yawned also, "I suppose we all are, who wants to get some shut eye?" They all nodded, so they got up and started walking up the stairs. Twilight opened the door to her room and pulled the spare bed out. "Um...Rarity and Applejack, you don't mind sharing a bed, do you?" Rarity and Applejack looked at each other and nodded. "Good...Blackwing we don't have another bed, but you can share mi-," he waved her off.

"I'll just sleep on the floor and don't try to stop me, I've slept on the floor a lot," walking over, he laid down near the window, "goodnight." He rested his head on his claws, closing his eyes. The others just got into bed, wishing goodnight to each other. Soon, after everypony was asleep, Blackwing got up. Sitting down near the window, he started thinking about Aldric's eye and those marks again. 'They, they must be connected, but how? How can charred marks on his back and a closed eye be connec-"CRASH

Jolting up, he looked out the window to see that a tree had been hit by lightning. It also woke everypony else, making them scream. He slammed a claw into the floor, shutting them up.

"Okay, that tree was just hit by some lightning, no problem. Twilight, Rarity, use your magic to lower it to the ground." Twilight and Rarity nodded, using their combined magic to lower it to the ground. "Well then, now that were all awake again, let's get back to sleep, hopefully without any distractions." They all nodded and went back to bed, Blackwing included.

Blackwing's eyes cracked open, letting them adjust, and opened them fully. Yawning, he stood up, stretching. He popped a few bones and looked at the beds, which were empty. He descended down the stairs, hearing some conversations. He saw Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack laying down, laughing.

"Ahem." They all turned to look at Blackwing. "Well, I'm going to check on Aldric, knowing him he's probably of fighting some big monster." Waving goodbye, he opened the door and took to the skies. He flew away from Twilight's, going over the town. Spotting the two mares from yesterday, Flitter and Cloudchaser, he floated down behind them. Feeling wind on their back, they turned around to see Blackwing behind.

"Hey Blackwing, how's it hanging?" Cloudchaser and Flitter asked at the same time, causing them to giggle. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Eh, it's pretty good, you?" Their jaws dropped, eyes wide. They started making a bunch of random noises. "Surprised, ain't ya?" He asked with a chuckle. They closed their mouths.

"I thought you said you couldn't talk? Was that a lie or something?" Cloudchaser asked, suspiciously. He shook his head.

"No, I couldn't always talk, but Twilight did a spell that let me. So, how are you two?" They shrugged also.

"Eh, nothing much, just shopping right Flitter?...Flitter?" Cloudchaser turned her head to look at Flitter, who was staring at a black pegasus stallion with a mohawk. Cloudchaser poked her side, eliciting a giggle from her.

"Stop it, you know I'm ticklish there!" Blackwing chuckled, getting a hoof to the shoulder from Flitter. He held up his claws in defence. "Why'd you do that anyways?"

"Well, you spaced out staring at Thundy over there," a massive blush appeared on Flitter's face, "so I decided to snap you out of it. Besides, you can stare at Thundy all you want later." Flitter's entire face was red in embarrassment. Blackwing sat down next to Flitter.

"All right, Cloudchaser that's enough, don't embarrass her even more." Flitter nodded her head in appreciation, while Cloudchaser stuck her tongue at him.

"I'm the older sister, I can embarrass her all I want." Blackwing glared at her, causing her to shiver. "Fine, I'll won't embarrass her," she looked away and mumbled the last part, "as much." Blackwing found that fine and started walking away.

"Well, I'm going to go, bye. Also, I heard that last part Cloudchaser." Cloudchaser looked at him in shock while he flew away. She could see the slight smile on his beak. Blackwing looked back to see the shock her face, smiling to himself. Flying over the Everfree, he looked down to see any signs of Aldric. Seeing no signs of him he turned towards the mountain. He settled on top of the mountain, looking into his nest. Aldric wasn't there, only a indent in the branches where he slept. Turning back to the Everfree, he flew down to the last place he thought of. Landing, he looked at the waterfall which hid the cave. Slowly, he walked towards it, avoiding the water. Peeking his head in, he saw nothing. Walking into the cave, he checked for any signs of Aldric. Nothing was there either. Sighing, he sat down on a 'rock'. The 'rock' suddenly moved, flipping Blackwing off it. Scrambling up, he looked at the 'rock' to see a cragadile. It snapped at him, biting a few feathers off. Jumping out of the cave, he landed in the water. Swimming away towards the water's edge, he felt something grab his tail. Looking back, he saw the cragadile's teeth on his tail. The beast yanked him further into the water, intent on drowning him. Suddenly, the pressure on his tail was released, so he swam as fast as he could to the water's edge. Pulling himself onto the ground, he looked back. The cragadile was on the beach, jaws open. Aldric was pushing it back, using his hands to hold the jaws open. His eye had a primal rage that Blackwing never saw before.

"I'm going to rip you apart." Aldric let go of its jaws and rolled it onto its back, revealing its soft underbelly. Releasing a primal roar, Aldric jabbed his hands into the beast, breaking the scales. He started moving his hands apart, ripping its flesh apart. He stood up and raised it over his head. He kept his word, ripping the beast in two. Guts fell onto the floor, bones effectively turned to dust. Aldric stood there, covered in blood. He roared to the sky, scaring everything, Blackwing included. Aldric wasn't finished though, grabbing one of the beast and started ripping it to shreds. Blackwing snapped out of it and tackled him to the ground.

"Snap out of it!" Blackwing yelled into his face. That seemed to do the trick, his eye losing the primal spark. Aldric shook his head, clearing it. He looked at Blackwing over him, then turned his head to see the carnage he wrought on the cragadile. Then his mind registered.

"Did you just talk? Also, get off me." Blackwing got off of him and stood to his side. Aldric got up, staggering. "Thanks, now, did you just talk?" Blackwing shook his head.

"No, that was the other black gryphon with red eyes, sorry." He replied sarcastically. Aldric walked over to the water and splashed some on his face, washing away the blood. "Aren't you surprised?"

"Oh, a little, I suppose. You expecting a different reaction?" Unclipping his armor, he started wiping the blood from them. "So, how's it been going." Blackwing watched as he took off his shirt, exposing those marks again.

"Actually, its been good. Made some friends, slept over at someone's house. Oh, by the way, what's with those marks on your back?" Aldric stopped everything, cursing under his breath. Setting his shirt with his armor in the sun, he walked over to Blackwing.

"Look, you don't want to know what those marks are from, let's leave it at that." Blackwing growled at him and pulled him to the ground. "Hey!"

"No more waiting, I've been in the dark far too long, you'll tell me, and you'll tell me now." Aldric glared at Blackwing, getting an equally intimidating glare. Aldric soon looked away, sighing. "I'll take that as a yes?" Aldric nodded. Blackwing got off of him, sitting next to him. Aldric sat up and rested his back on a log.

"It's a long one, after you hear it you'll think I'm lying. You ready." Blackwing nodded, resting his head on his claws. "Wait, I think the others should hear this also. Come on." Aldric got on Blackwing and they took off towards Twilight's house.

Soon they landed in front of the library. Aldric opened the door, revealing Twilight reading a book. She looked up at them, smiling.

"Hello Blackwing, Aldric. What brings you here?" Blackwing nudged Aldric forward. Aldric glared at the gryphon, who was looking away. Returning his gaze to Twilight he cleared his throat.

"Twilight, get your friends, I have something to explain to you all." Twilight clearly looked confused, so he elaborated, which he clearly found hard. "Look...it's about Ar-," he inhaled sharply, "Arya. This is about Arya." Twilight nodded and walked towards the door.

"I'll go get the others." Opening the door, she briskly walked out and shut it. Blackwing growled at Aldric.

"I thought we were going to talk about those marks, not Arya." Aldric's eye twitched. He was about to answer when the door opened again, Twilight and others standing outside. "That was awfully fast." Pinkie bounded into the room.

"Oh, well I sense that the author was about to explain Arya, so I gathered the girls and we ran here." She replied cheerfully. They both were confused while the others walked into the room.

"Okay, since you all know why you're here, I suppose I should tell you. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?"