Darkness Rising

“In the beginning, there was peace; all of the races lived in harmony. This all changed when the great Gaia left, left all the races. The first of each race was given a small spark, a level of power and a gift to bestow on their children, in time. The squabbles’ of the children nearly rent the home that Gaia had made, apart. These children then realizing their mistake set aside their differences, and created the first races. But of course, this is not the story you seek. You came here for war; you came here to listen to great deeds, fell portions of history. You come here, to listen to me tell you of darkness, of light, of shattered peaks, and of the falling might of those that struggled; those are the stories you wanna hear, eh? Well, you’ll have them, these tales, but, for a price. A drink, then we’ll go into it.”

The firelight glimmered in the background, as the aged pony takes a coin from you, and buys a drink.

“Well a good tale, well, a good tale is a rare as any, I suppose, do you want to hear of the grand griffons? Proud race, proud history, a way of tearing those that dare impugn their honor? No? Then perhaps the deer, a queer, fey race, dancing for years in glades, under the stars singing to the heavens and earth for the return of the mother? The wolves then, you must want, their howls waking both the living, and the dead. If not them, what? Pony heroes? Dragons? The Lupis? Well, Diamond dogs they are now, but, before the fall? Grand history.”

The aged pony scowls, his grin slipping ever so slightly, as he stares into the fire. “If none of that individually interests you, how about all of them? A grand war, one that nearly collapsed us all into the fire, you might say.” He grins, taking another drink. “Well then, that’ll be my story tonight, it was a hard time, before we had all the peace we know now, back then if you didn't at least carry a blade you were either a clergy member or a fool. Back then, there wasn't the peace you know now. Equestria was still a fledgling, more of an idea than a state. Sure, the ponies had banded together mostly, but only in ideal, nothing strong yet. We hadn't been tested; we hadn't forced the other countries to see us, to respect us. Hadn't earned that peace you've enjoyed your entire life, much like making a sword, we hadn't been forged, hammered, quenched.”

He stares intently back at you and smiles slowly. “So, the story begins simply, on a mountain path by the Everfree, a Pegasus was flying from her captors, a Griffon was walking with the intention of a hot meal, and perhaps a roost to bed down in, but of course, both had the markings of greatness, little they both knew.”

Eves Storm flew as fast as her tired, aching wings would allow, her only thought was escape. She sought to flee from the slave-masters, those that had tried to break her, keep her from the sky. Eves looked up to the clouds she was dodging, her wings trembling in the efforts of keeping her aloft. It wasn't fair she thought that through whip and drive they sought to take her. To break her, facing monsters and worse, other prisoners in fights to the death just for the amusement of others? It was sick, and she would be better to fight the guards that supported such a sick ideal, that carnival of evil. She had killed two of them on her escape, there was no turning back, no carnival for her next time, they’d tie her down and tear her wings off, letting the Timberwolves eat what was left of her.

They were after her, of course, they would never let a prisoner in the games get away, if they could help it. At least four of them were still after her. She cursed under her breath as she flew, if only that blade had been worth more, it had broken inside that unicorn, stuck in the foul things rib cage, at least she killed it before it wrapped her in its freaky magic. Eves shivered at the thought, grabbed in a unicorns grip as it squeezed until her eyes…well, it was better to avoid that line of thought anyway. An arrow flew by her, twisting through her mane fast enough that it hurt. It served as a fit enough warning that haste was better than thought at this juncture.

A cramp suddenly exploded into existence in her wing, muscles screaming at the months of poor treatment, suddenly cast into hard action. A chain dangling from her wing against her tightly corded body clicked against the air currents as she began to spiral at the ground, pulling into a glide as she landed in a heap at the claws of what seemed to be a very surprised looking griffon.

“Succor! Please, by Luna, Succor! Anything you wish of me, I’ll be your squire, your servant, just kill those that follow me!” Eves croaked, her pride swelling against her words, even as her brain told her it was likely her only chance of survival at this point. The griffon looked down at the weakened pegasi and gave a half committed shrug.

“What get a servant from killing prey anyway? Maybe I’ll keep you around for a tasty snack later too.” He drew something from his belt, a thick stick and leveled it at one of the guards, with an explosion of noise. As Eve stared in horror at the sharp crack of thunder, the guards head literally exploded. A keening screech of joy rose from the griffon, as he leveled a second strange stick, killing the other guard in another easy motion.

“Yes! By the Aeries, they work!” A grin was a strange thing to see on a griffon, but as the other two guards fled, he poured some arcane powder into those wooden sticks, and again hit the other guards with thunder as well. “I was looking for an excuse to try these out, I’m quite glad they work.” Eves stared in horror, what sort of mad-griffon had she aligned herself with?