The sky was filled with dark grey clouds. Rain would fall soon, but that didn't stop them from working. Every now and then, the crack of a whip sounded and echoed against the cliff, making it louder.

On the ground, wearing torn clothing, were Griffons. All of them had their wings chained, preventing them from flying away. They were clearly malnourished, and some barely even had the strength to do the work they were assigned.

Around the work camp, Unicorns wearing steel armour were guarding the Griffons, making sure none would escape.

One Griffon, a young male who had barely reached twenty, slowed down his pace to take a breath. His break was short-lived as a whip struck him between his wings, causing him to howl in pain.

The Griffon fell to his knees, his cargo's weight now too much for him to support. The closest Unicorns, apart from the one handling the whip, quickly rushed to the Griffon, horns glowing. The whip master grabbed the Griffon's right arm and forced him back up.

"Go back to work," he said to the Griffon.

The Griffon didn't move, his head bent towards the ground.

"I said go back to WORK!" The whip master drew his whip back, preparing to slash the disobeying Griffon once more.

The Griffon rose his head, a smug grin plastered on his face. The whip master stopped his motion, confused and slightly afraid. The Griffon took the opportunity and struck.

Dropping the burden he was carrying, he urned around and punched the whip master, scoring a direct hit on his nose. Blood dripped down from the exploded capillaries in the nose of the whip master.

The three Unicorns closest to him fired their spells, stunning the Griffon. However, despite having lost most of his sensations, the Griffon turned towards the Unicorns and lunged at them.

The Griffon's fist connected with the first Unicorn's jaw, sending him to the ground.

The Griffon then jumped and spinned around, kicking the second Unicorn's face hard enough to make him stumble backward, falling into a ditch filled with dirty, brown water.

The third Unicorn stepped back, another stunning spell forming. The Griffon ran towards him and grabbed the horn.

The Unicorn's face distorted in pure terror as the Griffon began to apply force onto the horn.

Every second, small sickening cracks were emitted by the Unicorn's horn. The Unicorn himself was contorted in sheer pain as the Griffon slowly broke the horn.

As the horn finally gave, blood rushing down the Unicorn's forehead, the Griffon let out a scream of victory, or at least tried to.

While the Griffon was busy breaking the horn, another Unicorn came behind the Griffon, a much more powerful stunning spell ready.

As the Griffon's body hit the dirty, muddy ground, the Unicorn grinned at the Griffon, standing over him like a predator over its prey.

"Nighty night," the Unicorn said before the Griffon lost what little remained of his consciousness.

***

The Griffon finally came back to consciousness in a cell. The walls were made of stone, as was the floor and the ceiling. In one corner of the cell was what the Griffon thought was a chamber pot, although the smell of the entire cell should have probably given the Griffon the indication the the pot probably had never been used.

Slowly, the Griffon got up. All his muscles were stiff, and he was sure the last stunning spell he received had something to do about that.

He stretched his arms and legs, the stiff joints cracking and popping. He then made his way to the steel bars preventing his escape.

As he grabbed two of the bars in his hands, a voice came from the cell left from his.

"Ya okay in there?"

"Could be better," the Griffon replied.

"What's your name?"

"Yours first," the Griffon rolled his eyes.

"Fine. The name's Stamp. I was a mailpony before I got accused of stealing mail."

"I am Rick Razorwing." Pride was dripping from the statement.

There was a moment of silence before Stamp spoke again. "Ya know, if I didn't know better, I'd say you were royalty or something."

Rick stayed silent. Not that he was short of anything to say, but he would rather wait for his sentence, which would almost certainly be death, than talk with the pony next to his cell.

Rick let go of the bars and walked towards the back of his cell. Near the wall, he found a puddle of brown liquid. Its surface was still and reflected well enough.

Rick looked intently at his reflection. His skin, a light tan in colour, was now several shades darker from working outside in the sun. His white hair, turning reddish near the tips, was much longer than what he had before he was captured, and was also a real mess. Despite being underfed, he had kept his muscular shape, the knife-cut muscles still firm to the touch.

He then saw his eyes.

His blue eyes, usually bright, were now dull and cold.

He quickly shook his head and proceeded to examine the rest of his body. His wings, still looked heathy, his feathers, the same colour as his hair, still bright. His tail had seen better days, but it was still working.

At last, Rick sighed. He was still healthy while his peers were dying of overwork. But all those thoughts, Rick knew it too well, no longer mattered.

A click got Rick's attention. He turned around to find the door to his cell unlocked and opened, a guard glaring at him. Rick let out a sigh.

"Let's get this over with," he said under his breath.

The guard slowly approached the Griffon. In his left hand was a pair of cuffs. Rick saw them and turned around, hands behind his back, ready to be cuffed.

The guard put the cuffs on Rick's wrists. Once they were secured in place, the guard tugged at them to get Rick moving. They left the cell and made their way through a daedalus of hallways.

***

Rick was chained to the ground, the chains binding him too short for him to move his arms, which were outstretched. The sun was blinding him, but he could clearly hear the cheering of the ponies.

Forcing his eyes open, Rick took in his immediate surroundings.

He was in the middle of an arena of sorts, with rows upon rows of seats filled to the brim with ponies cheering and demanding blood. In front of him was a VIP box covered with purple fabric. It was currently empty, save for two guards.

The arena had a distinctive Pegasus style, however, it also included several architectural designs borrowed from Unicorn architecture. The place where Rick was chained, the place where battles and executions could take place, was oval and the ground was covered in sand.

Suddenly, the cheering died, bringing Rick out of his train of thought. He looked up at the VIP box as a Unicorn entered it.

Said Unicorn was male. He had shoulder length silver grey hair. The horn sticking out of his forehead was midnight black, and it seemed longer than most Unicorn horns. He was wearing a deep red tunic with golden trimmings, dark blue linen pants and a red-and-purple cape. However, the feature that caught Rick's attention the most was his eyes.

They were a deep blue, like a calm sea during a hurricane. But they were also cold and merciless and could making anyone shudder, which is what Rick did.

"Rick Razorwing, you are accused of mutiny and murder," came the voice of the Unicorn from the VIP box. It sounded young but old, wise but inexperienced, angry but calm. "You are sentenced to fight to death."

As soon as the words left the Unicorn's mouth, the chains unlocked and opened, freeing Rick. He opened his wings to fly up and leave the arena through the openning of the stadium, but a laugh made him freeze.

"You cannot fly away from here. There is a shield preventing any flying criminals from escaping."

The Unicorn laughed again before sitting down. With a small gasture of hand, four doors located north, south, west and east opened.

Rick tensed, his hands closing into fists.

Coming from deep within the darkness of the door located under the VIP box, an unearthly roar echoed.

Rick waited for the beast that bellowed the roar, however, it never came. Instead, thousands of ponies, Dragons, and even a few Changelings and Griffons came rushing out of each of the four doors.

The next three hours were a mess for everyone, as well as a blur to Rick.

When the first of the bellowing criminals, an Earth pony, reached him with a makeshift weapon that looked like a sword, Rick didn't think as his fist impacted with the pony's head, a sickening crunch coming from the collapsing skull.

Rick quickly grabbed the makeshift weapon with his bloody hand from the corpse. More criminals reached him, some with makeshift weapons, others without, and none with armour.

Rick sliced and slashed wildly around, severing heads and limbs. Blood sprayed everywhere, giving a red tint to the sand. The spectators were cheering louder than before, but nothing of that registered for Rick as he battled to stay alive.

Eventually, and as the number of criminals thinned out, Rick finally looked around. Mutilated bodies littered the ground. He gave a quick glance at the Changelings and at his fellow Griffons.

They had stayed out of the fight, but now that they were the only criminals left, they had to fight. At least, that was what Rick thought.

One of the Changelings walked to Rick. As Rick readied himself for an attack, the Changeling spoke.

"Fear nothing, Razorwing. We are with you," the Changeling said before bowing, soon followed by the other Changelings and the Griffons.

"Touching," the Unicorn in the VIP box said while clapping his hands sarcastically. "NOW DIE ALREADY!"

As soon as the words were spoken, hundreds, if not thousands, of armoured ponies flooded in the arena from the doors. The Changelings and the Griffons had sprung to their feet and got ready to fight.

As the wave of guards rushed towards Rick, the Changelings and the Griffons, a green bolt of magic coming from the spectators' seats hit a guard square in the head which exploded, sending bits of brain everywhere. The headless corpse fell to the ground.

The wave of guards stopped, and every guard looked up at the wave of Changelings, Griffons and ponies coming from above. They all wore a black, chitin-like armour that covered their body entirely save for the head. The all had homemade weapons that looked far sturdier than the makeshift sword Rick still held.

A Changeling landed near Rick as the others began attacking the guards. The Changeling gestured to the sky above, then to its horn. Rick smirked and nodded, wings spread wide. They took off, most of the Changelings firing at the barrier preventing their escape.

It quickly crumbled and vanished, and the wave that came to save Rick quickly left into the sky, those who couldn't fly carried by those who could.

Rick felt alive again. The adrenaline was still pumping through his vein with his blood. He followed his rescuers to their hideout in the mountains, leaving behind befuddled guards.

Author's Note

My second fic here, I hope you like it.