The Road Left Alone.

by Reggie

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Original Character, Tragedy, Random, Adventure, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 12847

Adventures of the one eyed griffon and hhis friends in dark times of Equestria.

A griffon outcast who used to be a member of the royal family tries to find a place from his dream. When he finally finds it, he receives a letter from his old friend. Followed by the ghosts of the past Reggie starts his log journey through the Known World lands... That's how this story starts and only Celestia knows how it will end.

The story contains few gore scenes. No sexual content.
This fanfic will be re-written in august.

Also here is the map to see the path of the heroes.
Click

Published 2012-05-14 11:14:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-06-06 16:11:31 UTC

A Dream

Equestrian border. Year 1001 by Celestian calendar.

It was dark... The rain was not making it easier to see and the wind was trying to prevent his every step. He couldn't see a thing in this darkness.

"Where the hell am I?" he asked the darkness ahead, but no one seemed to be near. "Damn it, i miss those days in Baltimare..."

Moving through the falling water was very hard, his feathers and the coat he bought few days ago were wet. Starving, frozen and lonely he reached the invisible border of his lands.

"You are selfish!" said the voice from the memories. "You did not deserved to be called a griffon! I don't want to see you anymore!"

"Screw you... Screw you all. You wanted me to leave? Fine! Satisfied?" he argued. The memories of the bright, shiny village he saw in a dream appeared in his mind. He refused to think about this mirage. It brought too much pain and sadness. "Friends? They called themselves "friends"? They left me once they had a chance...Heh, i guess that's how "friends" suppose to act."

The sorrow started to overflow him, but he remembered the song he heard in one tavern not far away from Silvermoon Woods. It was about the steps you are making on your way and about your true motives. "I'm not afraid of being alone, i like being alone..."

Suddenly he noticed a weak light far away. As he reached it, he saw that it was a road sign. "Ponyville, 10 miles north...Hm, what is this place?" It was his 7th day in his unending journey. On the way from the Red Mountains he visited many villages and towns, but he didn't found the place from his dream. The colorful streets, warm sunlight and strange looking building in the middle of a main square. It seems like there was sweets on it's roof and walls. "Woah, i should not eat too much sugar before my sleep." He said when he woke up. The thoughts about this picture stucked in his head and were keeping him from falling into darkness.

"Oh crap, I really must find a house or... Argh, at least a cavern, I can't stay like this all night!" he yelled.

In the nearest hill he found a cave where he set fireplace and finally had some rest.

"Remember, you must continue trying whatever it will take! Never ever say that you can't do something!" said the black female griffon.

"But..." little brown griffon tried to insist.

"Now listen to me. I have to leave. I really need to. They decided that i should study in far lands, to get better education... Try not to get yourself in troubles, okay?" she asked.

" 'kay sis..." little griffon said.

Bird's songs woke him up and he continued moving towards the village he never knew. The village he never heard about.

The rain was over and the feeling of a dry coat pleasured him. Sun was already high above, the warmth of it was filling the air. He noticed that the road was leading to another hill up ahead.

"Well, i guess i have no choice." he though.

As he reached the top of the hill, amazing view appeared before his eye. The wide and beautiful apple orchard laid as far as the eyes can see. Apples looked so delicious that he couldn't resist. He took one apple and made a big bite. "Woah!" he thought, that was the best apple he ever tasted.

"Heya! Watcha doin' here, fellow?" the voice from behind surprised him.

"Humh..." The piece of apple stucked in his thorat. He coughed few times before he actually could say anything. Unexpected appearence of an orange pony with a cowboy hat confused him. "Uh... I was... Traveling, yea. I heard there is a village somewhere around, so i was lookig for it."

"So ya are new, huh? Ah thought Pinkie is the first pony who meets every newcomer here... Oh, my name is Applejack by the way! Nice t' meet ya!" she said and shaked his claw.

"Yea... My name is Reggie. I'm from..." he was interrupted by a male voice calling for Applejack far away from them.

Apllejack neighed. "Oh, hayseed! I guess Big Mac needs me! Cya partner!" she said loudly as she ran away.

"Wh... Huh, anyway. Let's see what is this Ponyville they were talking about." he mumbled looking at the road ahead.

"Are you an idiot?!" old grey griffon yelled as he entered the room. It was a big hall with square windows and yellow walls.
Two griffon guards in their armor stood at the enterance. "I heard he went to The Diamond Marshes..." whispered one. "What? The Diamond Marshes? Let me guess... A manticore?" another asked. "Yes, he almost killed it, but look at him now... He is..." the voice of the old grey griffon stopped first guard from saying rest of his thought.

"Did I told you that no one should go in these marshes?! Did i told you that you are not a warrior?! Why are you not listening to me?" he yelled, but the brown griffon which was laying infront of him seemed to be unconscious.

"How bad is he?" he asked one of the white griffons next to him.

"He... He lost his eye. But he will live. We removed all the poison from his body, now he needs some rest. I really ask you not to visit him till the end of a week." the white griffon answered.

"But he is my son!" grey griffon said. "Oh, alright. I see. Guards! Stay here and report to me about everything!"

"Yes, your majesty!" guards shouted as he left the hall.

It was incredible! The village that was in a few miles was just like the one from his dream. Buildings, hills around... Everything was too good to belive.

"No way!" he was shocked. The months of travelling, many different places, hundreds of ponies and other creatures... Everything was worth it. He couldn't do a step. It felt like he was pinned down by the realisation of his success.

It took him an hour to finally brave himself and approach the village.

"Holy feathers... Here i go." he thought when he crossed the bridge.

Unwanted Troubles

'Who is this?"
"I have never seen him before..."
"Another griffon? I bet he is rude as Gilda."
"Gilda? Oh, yes, i remember. That 'cool' griffon..."

Reggie ignored the voices of ponies around. He finally reached his destination and complaints about some other griffon who made not a good impression on the locals couldn't stop him now. Not after everything he made to be here.

There was many ponies on the streets. They were walking, playing, talking and having fun in this gorgeous day. "No fights... No lies... A Dream, I'm sure." Reggie thought.

He turned around the corner and found himself standing on the village square. Big house was in the middle of it. It looked like this house was sweet itself. Candies on the roof and walls, caramel sticks as the columns, a little tower that was made as a big pink muffin.

"I found it..." Reggie sighed.

"Found what?" Wait a second! O-o-o-o-o!" voice from nowhere sounded very funny and happy.

"A..." he tried to find the source of it, but it seemed that all ponies around were just walking or talking to each other.

"Hello!" the pink head appeared right before his eyes. "My name is Pinkie Pie! Who are you? O-o-o... What is this? Why do you have a bandage on your eye? Are you a pirate? Oh! Do you have treasure? Or maybe even ship! Do you have ship?" question after question she confused him as no one did before.

"Me..I...Well...The..." Reggie tried to answer on every question, but he had no chance.

"How could I forget that? What's your name?" Pinkie finally stopped asking.

"..." he didn't belive that she is not going to ask something else.

"Ha! Maybe you're shy? I have a friend, Fluttershy. She is shy too!" Pinkie Pie said.

"My name is Reggie, I'm from griffon lands..." he started.

"Oh! Have you met Gilda?" Pinkie seemed to be surprised.

"No, i actually..." the answer was interrupted by another random bunch of questions.

"Hm... She was upset when she left Ponyville. Have you ever visited Cloudsdale? Why are you not flying? I heard that griffons are very fast. Or you are not flynig because you are a pirate..." last words brought his memories back again...

"Quick! We gotta move!" Reggie shouted as they reached the edge of the forest.

"I... c-can't...Too... tired... Leave me! Why are you doing this?" green earth pony was in a very bad condition. He was injured, but the wounds were almost healed. Only the long way from town took his stregth. Once known as the strongest pony in the Arena, he was weak now.

"Arh, I won't leave you! You are my friend and I don't care what they say. I'm not the royal griffon anymore! Now..." voices from behind became louder. He turned back. "Run! I will hold 'em! Remember, go to the Foalga river, then turn to the left and find an Ironclaw village. There should be a griffon called Dawn, tell him that I've sent you. He will hel..."

Three griffons with a signs of the Red Feather clan landed before him.

"Here you are, traitors! You thought you can escape?" said the griffon in a red armor and golden helmet. "After your betrayal? You will be punished, ha-ha!"

Arh nodded to Reggie and ran away.

"He is so pathetic. He can't even fight! You never kept yourself from troubles, didn't you, pony lover?" another griffon in red armor said.

"Ponies have nothing to do with this." Reggie slowly took his sword from the sheath. "And I am not a traitor. Rik, you wanted punishment? Now come and get some!" he felt the anger inside him.

"Look, our little 'royal' son is trying to be badass! Such a shame... You succeeded on the Arena only because your father wanted this. Now he is not here, what will you do? Ha-ha-ha!" all three griffons laughed at him.

"You... You! How can you say something about my father?! You will pay for what you've done!" Reggie charged towards them rising his sword and preparing his claws to unleash the anger that was kept in his soul.

"What the..." Rik shouted, but it was his last words.

The sword fell right on his neck. Blood spreaded around him. Two other griffons tried to hit brown one, but his rage was just too strong. His sword was like a lightning and they could see the fire in his eye. The black bandage covered his second eye, but that doesn't stopped him from fighting.

Second griffon fell before him.

"Wait! We didn't want to hurt you! They ordered to keep you alive, nobody meant to be killed! Please, i wont tell anyone!" screamed last griffon.

Reggie swinged his sword and finished griffon's life with one move. "You wont."

"Keep yourself form troubles she said... Maybe I'm not so good at this..."

"Why are you so quiet?" Pinkie Pie asked looking at the brown griffon.

"Nevermind... So, do you have any place where I can stay for at least few nights?" Reggie asked.

"Of course we have! We have Sugarcube Corner! You can stay there!" said Pinkie. The wide smile appeared on her face.

"Oh, that's how it called... Fair enough. But, Sugarcube Corner? Really? I thought it's some kind of candy shop, isn't it?" he asked. An imagination of him living in candy shop was funny, he smiled too.

"O-o-o! You are smiling! Let's go! I'll introduce you to Ms. and Mr. Cake." she grabbed his claw and pulled him towards the Sugarcube Corner.

"Ahm... Em... Alright." really confused, he stopped resisting.

As they entered the house, Reggie saw a blue pegasus with a black mane standing at the counter and two earth ponies before him: mare and stallion with cutiemarks of different sweets. "I guess that's Cakes." he thought.

"Thank you Mr. and Ms. Cake! I'll come later this week to take my order." the blue pegasus said.

"Alrighty Lightning Reel, your muffins will be ready soon. Goodbye!" Ms. Cake said.

"See you!" Mr. Cake waved.

Reggie was standing at the enterance and he has to move letting Lightning to leave the Sugarcube Corner. As Lightning Reel moved to the exit, he saw Reggie and stopped for a moment. There was something strange in his glance. Something familiar...

The pain was so hard that he couldn't even rise his head and see what happened to his wing.

Weeks in the Diamond Marshes taught him how to fight сockatrice, but it's not so easy to use sword when your last eye is closed.

He heard voices coming from the left, but the headache made it hard to understand.

"...Dangit! Is it him? One eye, yellow claw on armor... Yes, it's him! What happened here?" asked the first voice.

"Cockatrice, I assume. Look, there is bodies. One...Two... Three? Three at once? He should be happy that he is still alive..." the sound of second voice faded as Reggie fell in a deep painful sleep. The last thing he saw was the view of the pegasus and unicorn looking at him from above.

The blue pegasus called Lightning Reel turned his head away and left the house.

"Ms. Cake, Mr. Cake! Look! It's my new friend Reggie, he came from griffon lands and he is a pirate!" cheered Pinkie.

"Wha...No!" Reggie laughed. "I'm not a pirate, I'm a...Traveler. Yes. I hope you don't mind me being here, i was just looking for some place to stay."

"Oh Pinkie, darling, don't you remember what happened with Gilda last time? What if he..." Ms. Cake wanted to say something else but pinkie jumped right to her.

"No no no! He is different! I know it. Also Gustave le Grand was not such a bad person. Trust me he wont do anything bad!" Pinkie said.

Reggie felt uncomfortable in this situation. "Ms. Cake, i can pay for a room. I promise not to bring any troubles here."

"Oh, no way mister! If Pinkie trust you, so do I!" Mr. Cake looked at Ms. Cake. "What? Look at him, I can even feel how tired he is."

"Okay, what is h..." Mr. Cake was suddenly interrupted by Pinkie.

"Reggie! He is Reggie!" she smiled.

"Well, let me show your room. Let's go." Ms. Cake went upstairs and Reggie followed her with a long sigh.

"What am I doing here?" he said.

It was a bright morning outside the hospital. His wing still hurt, but not so much as it was last night. "Wait, last night?" he thought.

"Who brought me here? How long I've been asleep?" Reggie asked.

"Calm down. You're in the Lunar Lake's hospital and you were here since last week. Eight days in general." the female donkey with a medic hat answered.

"Wait... Eight days... I'm terribly late!" he jumped out of the bed and felt a pain in his wing.

"Get back into bed! Your wing is wounded badly. You won't be able to fly for at least a few weeks. And of course you need a rest!" medic donkey yelled.

"I... Argh, should go! Can I even walk?" he couldn't spend any minute. He was already four days late.

"Yes you can, but I think you better stay here until your wing gets better." donkey said.

"Screw this." Reggie said and walked through the door.

"Nightmares again?" Mr. Cake asked standing at the door.

Reggie opened his eye and shook his head. "Uh... Yes. I hope i didn't woke up babies?" he asked.

'No, you didn't" Mr. Cake smiled. "But I'm worried about that, maybe you'll tell me what happened and I will be able to help?"

"Hm... I don't think so. But thanks." Reggie said. He put his bandage on and walked out. It was sunny afternoon and most of ponies were on lunches or picnics.

"What to do...? Oh, I think it will be a long day."

Ghosts of The Past

"This evening is perfect..." Reggie was sitting on the river coast, watching as the sun hid behind the mountains. It reminded him about his own lands. About the Red Mountains and the red spiky rocks they were made of. When he was a kid, he liked to watch them in the evenings. It looked like they were glowing red. When he grew up, he tried to flew on top of these mountains, but they were just too high for him.

The familiar blue pegasus landed next to him."What's up?" he said.

He had a funny cowboy hat on his head.

"Nothing much." Reggie answered. He looked at the blue pegasus. "Where did you get this?"

"This? Oh, heh, i bought it from the Apple Family, they have many hats like this!" Lightning laughed.

"You are the one who saved me in the Southern Diamond Marshes, ain't you?" Reggie asked.

"Well... Yes, but I was not alone. Arh helped me and thanks to Dawn we knew where were you going." Lightning Reel sat on the little stone close to the water.

"Arh?! Is he alive?" Reggie stood up from the sand.

"Yup. Don't you remember? Oh wait... Did you lost your memory or something? I heard that some of the ponies who fought cockatrice lost their memories..." Lightning seemed to fell into his thought.

"No. Maybe. Not sure about it. Wait, did you brought me all the way from the Diamond Marshes to Lunar Lake?" Reggie asked.

"Mhm." Lighting nodded. "Also, I didn't asked him, but why is he called Arh? I thought ponies supposed to have names like 'So and so'."

"He was the Arena fighter since he earned his cutie mark, it's a long story..."

"How do you like that?!" Rik hit Reggie in his face. "You really think that you can help those...Pf-f Ponies? Now we'll see what you really are!"

Rik pushed him out of the room. It was late and the moon just showed on the sky. The old Arena was good illuminated and Reggie could see the blood on the sand. Stone columns were still standing in corners, although two of them were already down, crashed by warriors. Many fights happened here. The Arena was pretty popular in griffon kingdom, most of the criminals and warriors wanted to fight here. First for the freedom, second for the glory.

"Welcome to The Arena, good citizens of the Featherwind city. Today we have a special guest - a griffon who decided to abandon his own people and help pony spy! But it's not all the news I want to tell you." Reggie of course knew the commentator. Alex, his old 'friend'. "It will be a team fight! Our traitor seems to be surprised, huh? Meet the second piece of meat, Arh himself!"

The second gate opened and Reggie saw the pony he tried to help to. Green stallion, earth pony without a cutie mark. He knew that those scars on Arh's flank were there not without purpose. They burned his flank, because Red Feather clan never liked 'that stupid pony stuff'.

"Against them will be our usual beasts, THE DIAMOND DOGS!" the crowd started to applaud. "But as long as it's not a casual fight, there will be six of them. Have a nice meal, doggies. OPEN THE GATE!" Alex yelled as loud as he could.

Reggie had no weapon, but he saw a body of another unlucky griffon and ran towards him to look if there was something usable. Arh had his favourite weapon - spiked horseshoes. He winked to Reggie and started to move in the direction of the main gate which was slowly opening.

Reggie turned the body of a griffon and found an old scimitar.

"Better than nothing." he thought.

Six diamond dogs jumped out of the darkness. "Ph-h-honies-s and bhirds! Dinner!" said one of them.

Arh came closeer to one of the diamond dogs, dodged his hit and bucked him in the chest. Diamond dog screamed and fell to the ground. The others turned to see what is happening and it gave Reggie few moments to move behind them. He wanted to kill dog's leader as fast as he could, but at the last moment the grey, huge beast noticed the shadow from behind and shouted: "Bhirdh!!!"

"Crap!..." Reggie jumped away and it saved him from being sliced by the diamond dog's claws.

Two dogs tried to attack Arh. He reared up, hitting both of them, but one dog was a little bit quicker. Arh screamed as the diamond dog's claws left three bloody lines on his hip.

"Isn't it nice to reap what you've sow, huh Reggie?" Alex shouted and the crowd blew up with a laugh.

Reggie noticed that two more enemies were coming to him. Avoiding every swing of dog's claw he pierced diamond dog's leader. The old and rusty scimitar was covered in blue blood. "That's new..." he mumbled.

On the other side of the Arena Arh pushed one of the diamond dogs to another, gaining some more time for the maneuver he used in the fight two weeks ago. He ran around one of the columns and bucked it as hard as he could. The sound of crashing stones filled The Arena.

Two diamond dogs saw what Arh was doing, but it was already too late. "Nhaaaaaooooo!!!"

Few big rocks fell on them.

Reggie were facing last dogs. His scimitar lowered, the bandage lost in a fight with enemy leader. Some of the scars on his eye started to bleed, but he didn't cared.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" the familiar voice of the old grey griffon brought attention of everyone on The Arena."Guards! Release them quickly! Who ordered to put MY SON here?!"

Few guards came from the little door on the left side of The Arena. One of them opened the main gate and another forced last two dogs to go back in cells.

"Arh!" Reggie shouted. "Let's go. We must leave."

They passed the gates which was used for prisoners and saw Rik with his soldiers standing infront of them.

"Get your red feather ass somewhere, Rik. Haven't you heard? Father will be mad." Reggie said.

"Heh heh, I'm sure he will..." Rik smirked.

Meanwhile in the king's lodge a grey griffon which was the king of griffon kingdom, Serh the Second argued with his adviser.

"He tried to help that green pony, so what? Arh is no more than just an arena fighter. He is not a spy or Equestrian warrior!" Serh said.

"But sir, it was the Red Feather soldiers who caught your son trying to help this green pony. It will be hard to solve this problem diplomatically." the advisor insisted.

The doors opened and few griffons in the red armor entered the lodge. Led by a big knight with red feathers and black tail they stood on the both sides of a room.

"Well well well... Look who is here. Serh himself, a good father who was trying to protect his 'traitor' son from the fair punishment..." he said.

"Tos! What are you doing here?! You threw my son into the jail without any word. How dare you to come here?!" Serh yelled.

"Oh sorry Serh, but wasn't it your son, who tried to help 'pony spy' to steal secrets of our kingdom?" Tos pulled his dagger from the pocket and hid it behind his back, coming closer. "I thought we have some kind of rules here..."

"I am still the king here, if you haven't noticed!" Serh said. "Now tell your men to get the hell out of here and let my son go." he turned away.

Tos came closer to Serh, rising the dagger.

"Of course you are still the king." he whispered "Of course you are..."

"Whoa, it's really late. I should get back to Cloudsdale." Lightning Reel said, looking at Reggie. "Oh, almost forgot. We are expecting some news from Dawn soon. Not sure how soon though, but I hope it wont take too long."

The sun was already down and everypony in Ponyville was already asleep.

"That ol' feathered bastard. How is he doing anyway?" Reggie asked, walking in the direction of the village.

"I heard he visited Moschoof a month ago. But who knows why, It's Dawn!" Lightning smiled.

"Yea." Reggie smiled back.

Lightning Reel waved his hoof and flew away heading to the big city above. Reggie had nothing to do except coming back to Sugarcube Corner. He came back and looked at his armor and a sword. "Hopefully I'll never have to use you again." Laying on his bed he fell asleep in 10 second flat.

An image of the huge enormous castle appeared before him. Giant spikes on the towers, skulls on the them and the smoke coming from behind the walls made this view very scary. Thunderstorm just started and first rain drops fell on the black, burned ground.

Silent and evil voice came from high above. "S-s-sapphf-f-fire!"

"A-a-a!" Reggie screamed, waking up. "Oh snap, what a dream..."It was early morning and Reggie wondered how did he managed to wake up. He put his black bandage on. Somehow he felt that it's much comfortable with this piece of cloth on his eye. "I'm starting to get used to you." he said with a little smile on his face.

The weather outside was cloudy. Seemed like the pegasus ponies had to make another rain as he was told. He heard that sometimes they miss the Rain Deadlines and have to make heavy rains or even thunderstorms. It was funny to think how the weather works here. In griffon kingdom and the Great Wasteland on the north weather was all on it's own.

The rain just started and he was walking through the streets, across from him was Carousel Boutique. Reggie was just about to visit this beautiful shop when Lightning Reel quickly flew to him.

"They...Now..Go..Gotta..." heavily breathing, he told only few parts of what he wanted to tell.

"Hey hey, calm down. Take a breath and say me what you have." Reggie said.

"The message from Dawn... We gotta... Get to the Ironclaw as soon as we can!" Lightning barely said few words.

'What? Ironclaw? No way! I just found a perfect place I always wanted to be in. Mayor even let me live in a small house on the edge of Ponyville." Reggie laughed, but then finally realised what Lightning Reel meant to say. "Wait, has something bad happened? Something about griffons or sorcerers from the northern lands?"

"I... Don't know. The letter says that we should hurry, that's all." Lightning responded.

"Dangit! Not again!" Reggie groaned. He turned back and ran towards the Sugarcube Corner. As he entered the house, he met Pinkie Pie. The big pile of muffins laid on the table. They looked incredibly delicious.

"Where are you going?" she asked cheerfully.

Reggie stopped. He thought that it's really bad to leave her when they just met.

"My friend is in need. I gotta leave." he said while picking up his armor and bag.

Pinkie Pie was shocked.

"No-o-o! I was just about to make a Welcome Party..." she looked sad.

"I will be back. Very soon. I promise." he smiled and left the Sugarcube Corner.

Lightning Reels was waiting for him at the main square, already equipped. He knew that Reggie couldn't fly, so he was scooting, annoyed by the wasting of time.

At the edge of the village, Reggie made a last look at the place of his dream. The Ponyville village...

*******

It was the second day of their way to the Ironclaw village. Whitewood was already passed. It was just a miracle that they haven't met any aggressive creatures there. Reggie still couldn't fly, because they pain in his wing hasn't faded.

They decided to place a camp next to the big old tree not so far away from the road. Reggie was making a fireplace while Lightning went to scout nearest hills. The night was dark. It was strange that weather outside Equestria was not controlled by anyone, the sky above looked very strange. The Moon was full, but clouds were covering some parts of it.

Reggie tilted down to light up the pile of logs, when he heard a deep voice from the darkness.

"Hello, my old friend..."

Betrayer

“Hello, my old friend...”

Reggie quickly grabbed his sword and looked around.

“Whoa whoa whoa, why so unfriendly?” said a mysterious person.

“Who are you? Show yourself!” Reggie called out.

Strange earth pony with black stripes on his body and mane made of fire blazed out infront of the griffon. The light from the mane of mysterious visitor illuminated everything around.

“Who...What are you?...” Reggie never have seen a creature like this before.

“Ha ha, I love how you guys react on me!” creature laughed. “But now, I have something to tell you.” the expression on it’s face changed to serious. “Until this moment, your journey was just like a simple walk in a park. Great dangers are waiting for you ahead. Be careful what you do and what you say, keep your friends close and remember: Once born, the light lives till the darkness.” with these words creature disappeared.

Reggie didn’t move. He was standing and thinking about creature’s words when Lightning landed next to him.

“What happened here? I saw the light.” Lightning asked.

“Hm... Nothing, I was trying to make a fireplace... How about any wolves or other beasts around?” Reggie replied after a few seconds. His ‘old friend’ left a circle of burned grass where he stood. “Who was it?” he though. “I don’t remember anyone like this guy. Damn this sorcery...”

“Nah, not at all, but Whitewood is still near. I would like if we’ll sleep for 3 hours each, to watch the situation, you know.” Lightning Reel said.

Reggie looked at him and silently nodded. “I’ll go first, you can sleep.”

Lightning smiled and put his leather armor on the ground. He has two long daggers and a bow on his back. Reggie couldn’t understand how those ponies were able to use bows, but he saw some kind of rings on his pegasus friend’s hooves. “Maybe he pulls the bowstring with it?”

Blue pegasus laid on the grass and closed his eyes. Reggie opened his bag and took the map.

“Well, the Ironclaw village you say... Eastern part of The Wilds. Two days of the way from the Steel Peak on the west edge of the Forsaken Forest. It would be much easier to made our way from Talos, but my wing... And I’m not sure if the city is clear of Red Feather soldiers. I hoped they won’t notice the most wanted public enemy of their ‘kingdom’.” he sighed.

“Wait a minute... What is to the north?” Reggie thought with a familiar feeling of suspicion. There was nothing after northern border of the Griffon Kingdoms. Although he heard some stories about wastelands and the Forbidden City. His dad told him those stories and Reggie always thought that it was just a fairy tales. “Dawn would tell us if it was the red griffons. What could it be? West... Hm...”

*******

When he raised his head, he noticed that it was already midnight. “Scratch my claw!” he mumbled.

“Hey Light, hey! Wake up, time to change.” Reggie poked pegasus at his wing.

“What... Uh... Already?”

“Get up, you lazy bastard! Argh... WOLVES! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! ENEMIES EVERYWHERE!” the griffon screamed, pretending that he was really scared.

Lightning jumped on his hooves, trying to find his bow. “A! Who? Where?”

“Gotcha! Now go and look for terrifying angry wolves. I need some sleep.” brown griffon said and took off his chain mail.

The clouds were gone and the cold, blue moonlight spread across The Wilds. Reggie liked that time of a day. Being hunted by his own people, he got used to hide in the shadows even when he preferred a good fight. He looked at Lightning and saw him sitting near to the campfire. The pegasus ranger was reading the map as Reggie did before. “I guess we are not so different..” brown griffon whispered and closed his eye. It was a long time since he has a good sleep without any nightmares.

******

The white, heavy armored griffon was standing on the barricades. He has a large tower shield and a gold scimitar. A picture of yellow claw was painted on his armor. White griffon moved to another side of a wooden wall, giving the orders to the people below.

“Thor, bring a ladder! Drowning Stone, what are you doing?! Place spikes on the other side of the trench! Oh Celestia! Why the hell they can’t do a thing without me?”

A black unicorn ran towards him. “Captain Dawn, sir! One caravan just came to the village, but...” he stopped for a second.

“Only one? Black Bloom, what happened? Where is the first, don’t tell me that...”

“First caravan was destroyed, everyone is dead. ‘They’ attacked both. Few ponies from the second one survived. Everything they brought was a few axes and bows.” Bloom answered.

“Curse on their heads!” Dawn yelled, pushing Black Bloom from his way. He saw a broken carts on the other side of a village. Ponies and griffons were gathering around them. “Stay here and control the preparations!” captain ordered and jumped from the wall.

When he approached the carts, another griffon flew to him. “Captain, we have many injured soldiers and few traders from the caravan. The village is low on food and water, I don’t think we can stay here for one more week!”

“What about warriors? How many do we have left?” Dawn asked, looking at the ponies on the ground.

“About twenty, sir. Including griffons. Do you want to start recruiting civilians?”

“Not yet. We need them to build barricades and dig trenches. Any news from our scouting group?” captain turned to the mountains behind the village.

“No, sir. The last letter was received four days ago.” the griffon answered.

Dawn sighed. “Dismissed” he said. The scouting group was sent to the Red Mountains to check the situation around Talos and he hoped that he would be able to call reinforcements from there, but it seemed like his squad was killed or the city is under the siege as well.

“Where are you, Reggie? Only you can help us now.” white griffon looked at his armor and flew back to the barracks.

*******

“WAKE UP!”

Reggie opened his eye. It was early morning. The sun just appeared on the horizon. He yawned. “No dreams today? Heh, my mind keeps surprising me.”

“You can’t imagine how hard it is to wake you up! I thought that you learned something in your journeys...” Lightning moaned.

Reggie stood up and checked his equipment. Everything was on it’s places.

“Time to move.” he said. “I don’t know what is happening there, but i have a strange feeling that we should hurry.”

After a half of a day they were making their way to the Steel Peak. It was named so in the memories of the ancient Steel War between few griffon clans which was ended under these peaks. Made of grey, dead stone it seemed like the mountain itself was trying to tell the story of what happened here. The little valley between two mountains was the southern corner of the Griffon Kingdoms.

The eagles were flying above, but that was the only sign of life here. Both the mountains and the ground were clear of plants. Someone told that it’s a spirits of the warriors who silently guards this land from either life or death. Reggie didn’t knew if he believed in this or not.

As the reached the valley, Reggie looked up. It was his first step on griffon lands since he left it, running from his enemies.

“Feather to the wind, claw to the ground, spirit lives in skies, body rests in stone...” he whispered, closing his eye.

“What did you said?” Lightning turned to him

“Nothing” was the answer.

*******

It was very quiet in this valley. Many griffons were afraid of ghosts who, as they believed, were keeping this place from unwanted guests.

“Hurry up, we should not stay here for too long.” Reggie said to Lightning when they passed through half of the way. “Sapphire... Power... Too strong...” he heard the whispers in his head. At the first moment he thought that it was just a wind. Griffon looked around, but there were only stones and dust.

“Yea. I don’t like this place, let’s go.” Lightning pulled his dagger.

They started to move faster and the wind became stronger with every step. As they almost left the valley, Reggie heard a loud voice “Betrayer!”. Forcing himself to keep moving, he refused to think about it.

When they stepped on the normal ground of the Weastern Forsaken Forest, he turned back for a moment. The peaks were dark in the shadow of the Red Mountains. Reggie now knew why they’ve told him about dark spirits of this place.

“Have you heard anything there?” he asked his friend.

“Not at all, only wind. But I felt myself very uncomfortable anyway.” Lightning was looking at the peaks.

“Next time let’s go to Trottingham first.”

“Mhm.” Reggie nodded. “Never again.” was his only thought.

Forsaken Forest was once a home for many creatures. Nobody knew why it was abandoned. Someone told that it was because of a griffon mage who accidentally casted a powerful spell which cursed the land. Others were saying that it happened after the Steel War. But everyone, even Reggie were avoiding this strange place.

Two warriors made a camp under the slopes of the Red Mountain.

“I don’t want to be any close to the Graveyard of The Forgotten at night. We’ll move out in the morning.” he said.

“What about this Graveyard?” Lighting seemed to be curious.

“Don’t ask. I just don’t want to be there now.”

‘Righto!” the pegasus finally noticed a foggy bottomland far away to the north. Weak green light was coming from the depths of it. “I see...”

“Arh! Jump down there! I’ll take something!” the brown griffon said, moving towards his room. The green stallion jumped out of the window.

“Come on!” he whispered.

“Just a moment...” Reggie took a sword and his black jacket from the chest. He sliced a line of a black cloth and used it as a bandage on his eye. “Stupid dogs...”.

Suddenly he heard voices form the corridor. “It was terrible! He flew right to the lodge, killed his father and advisor, then he ran away!” It was Tos, the leader of the Red Feather clan.

“I saw them running here, sir!”

“Find him and remember: Only alive! We are not the beasts... Not this time.” Tos ordered.

Reggie opened the window. It was much higher than if he would jump from the window used by Arh. He swooped down to the shadow of his companion.

“We got to cross this mountain ahead. It’s the lowest one of the Red Mountains.” Reggie said as they stepped into the little village. “Now be careful, Red Feather clan is looking for us.”

The door of the little tavern opened and a griffon which was wearing the armor with a picture of the yellow claw came from it.

“Reggie? Is that you? I heard what happened! They killed the king!” he said when he saw a brown griffon.

“WHAT?! No! That can’t be the truth!” Reggie was terrified by a thought that his father was dead.

“I know! Wait a second, I’ll be here in a moment!” Yellow Claw soldier dashed into the tavern.

“Ha! I knew that! Where is he?! Rik! Time to unpack our presents!”

Reggie looked at Arh.

“They betrayed you too.” Arh answered his silent question. “RUN!”

“Not this time!” Reggie grabbed the green pony and flew to the Red Mountains as fast as he could.

“How far are we from the Ironclaw?” blue pegasus asked.

“If I’m not mistaken - six hours of flight and one day of walking.”

Reggie and Lightning Reel had to cross the hills and a little forest after them. “Four days... I hope it’s not too late.” Reggie thought. “ I was four days late once, don’t want to make this mistake again.”

*******

It was a hall of the village Inn, but when the threat grew, Dawn had to make a headquarters there. A little candle on the table was the only source of light in this room. Captain already checked all maps and correspondence he had.

“Who are they?” he read another response from his scouting squads.

Someone bucked the doors so hard that one of the doors crashed. Dawn turned back when the black unicorn ran to him.

“Captain! They are here! Undeads are moving towards our village, there is a whole army!!” he screamed.

“Oh no...”

The Fall

The sky was tighten up with dark black clouds. The air around was heavy. But there was no rain. Some strange kind of thunderstorm was coming on the little village of Ironclaw. All houses were closed, a weak wooden wall around them was providing a little protection from the bandits, not more and Captain Dawn hoped that it won’t break up in the first minutes of the assault.

White griffon was standing on the barricade with a group of officers who was still alive after many enemy raids. Below them were soldiers and citizens of the Ironclaw, who took any weapon they found to protect their home and families. None of them had battle experience yet. They were just a bunch of farmers. Few dozen ponies and griffons against the darkness.

A nerve-racking silence covered everything around. Everyone was looking at the impenetrable fog ahead. It appeared when the patrol noticed the movement in the hills to the north from the village.

Suddenly a blaze of purple fire bursted somewhere deep in the fog. It flamed up the ground for the miles around, but stopped when it came close to the first buildings. Dawn commanded: “Get ready!” and took his scimitar. He placed some nails on his shield before the fight - to use it as a weapon.

“Screw this!” yelled one of the villagers, he pulled his mace and charged into the fog. When he was one step away from it, a long bone-blade arose from the ground, slicing him on two halves.

The sound of cracking ground was followed by a lightning storm and hundreds of skeleton warriors rose from it with a joint scream.

Most of the undeads were pony-skeletons, but they had no forehooves. Strange spikes replaced what once was their legs. There were griffon skeletons as well, bone-blades attached to their claws. They blasted off the ground. It was impossible how they were able to fly without any muscle on their wings. Terrifying, huge beast got out last. It seemed that this was some kind of a giant wolf, but with three heads. It's eyes were glowing purple.

“Cerberus...” Dawn watched, horrified, as the unending army was moving up to him.

“Archers and griffons! Take care of flying skeletons at my command!” he ordered. About twenty soldiers prepared their longbows to shoot at the enemies.

Undeads started to run. “They are coming from all sides! FOR THE IRONCLAW!” Captain shouted and smashed his shield against the dead pony in front of him.

Black Bloom was fighting with a griffon zombie. He dodged a swing of its blades twice, then he slid under the griffon, rolled on his back and broke creature’s legs. Bloom somersaulted onto his hooves and smashed skeleton’s head. A yellow pony with cutiemark of a jam bottle waved to him from the other side of a street and isntantly got attacked by undead griffon.

*******

“A-a-agh-h-h...!!!” a big zombie-pony pierced Drowning Stone with it’s spikes. The barricade was broken and the army of evil was dashing through the crashed wood.

“Celestia, save us...” Dawn whispered weakly when he saw a flaming purple fireball, flying across the sky.

The fireball fell on a group of ponies, who stood side by side, trying to push enemies back from the village. The fire spread from it. Those, who were still alive after the explosion screamed in pain. Almost everyone who was at the barricade were dead or dying.

A griffon in a plate armor crashed two skeletons and looked at Dawn.

“We can’t hold them! There is just too many...” he recognised the horror in Captain's eyes. As he turned, he saw a enormous beast. All three heads looking at him. “... of them...” Cerberus bit half of griffons body like it was just a piece of butter.

“No-o-o-o!!!” white griffon screamed and blasted off. He flew to one of it’s heads, but was almost hit by a Cerberus paws. The beast roared and jumped up to the griffon. Dawn reacted too late. He dodged the tooth, but first head of the beast beat him at his wing. He fell.

*******

"Wind in my bu...Lightning, look!" Reggie pointed his claw ahead.

The village was visible from the hill they were standing on. It was burning, Reggie and Lightning Reel could hear the sounds of battle and screams. Many purple fireballs were falling from above.

"Let's go! Dawn is still there!" Reggie yelled. "I will go through the streets. You check the air and roofs!"

Lightning Reel nodded, flying away.

******

“Black Bloom! There is more on the next street!” a yellow earth pony called out, jumping from the dead griffons back. She threw a knife and broke it’s forehead.

Another fireball destroyed a nearby building. A piece of wall fell down and killed an Ironclaw warrior.

“We should get to the headquarters. Everyone, fall back!” black unicorn casted a light spell and trotted up the street.

A door of the blacksmith’s house opened, and bleeding stallion with many wounds came out.

“Cracking Hoof! You need help!” said a yellow earth pony.

“Hrghhhh...ARGHH!” was a painful response. Bloom noticed a purple glowing in stallion’s eyes.

“JAM, NO!” he screamed when a yellow pony came closer to the blacksmith, but it was too late. He bit her neck and smashed her against the wall. Summer Jam was laying dead, in the village that used to be her home...

Black Bloom took a great-sword from the ground and with a rageful cry he dropped it on the head of a zombie. He threw a sword away and fell to his knees. A tear flow on his cheek.

“Jam... Sorry...”

*******

Dawn laid on the ground. It seemed like hours passed since he fell, but when he looked up, he saw three pair of purple eyes.

The sky was black, lightning strikes crossed it with a sound of thunder. Purple fireballs were falling on the village, setting buildings and streets on fire.

Dawn rolled on his back and hit Cerberus forelegs. Giant dog lost it’s balance and with a long moan started to fall to the ground. Griffon jumped away from it, but then turned back and walked up to it. He cut one head by another. The blood covered his armor. The beast was dead.

Dawn sighed and looked around. Few ponies were still fighting, but it was just a matter of time. Two griffon soldiers above just killed an enemy squad, when two other groups of skeleton flyers appeared. Captain tried to fly, but the pain almost blinded him. The wing was broken and a deep hole was not looking good. His shield was broken to pieces.

“Reggie number two” he thought and ran through the street, moving to the headquarters.

Two zombie ponies attacked him, as he stepped to the square. Dawn killed one with his sword and broke the head of another one by punching him in the face.

The old Inn was burning, many dead bodies of ponies and griffons were laying on the square, no one seemed to be alive.
Captain heard the sounds of a fight on the street ahead. He cautiously crossed the square, trying not to get in sight of the undeads.

When he turned around the barracks, a freezing picture appeared before his eyes.

Big pile of bones and dead bodies was on the other side of the street. Black Bloom was standing on it, heavily breathing, with an expression of pain on his face. At least twenty skeleton ponies and griffons rounded him.

“COME! PAY FOR THIS, YOU DEAD MONSTERS!” Bloom cried and killed first closest undead. All others attacked him at once. He bucked a huge griffon, standing on one hoof, then turned and cut off the head of a zombie-pony. One of the skeletons pierced his flank with a bone-blade. Black Bloom screamed. Another griffon flew to him and swung his claw, tearing apart Bloom’s second foreleg. Unicorn fell down and instantly got covered by the living dead.

“Bloom...No...” Dawn was horrified. His friend died and he couldn’t even go closer. He would be killed. “What purpose?” white griffon thought. “I lost my friends, my people and the village is probably full of those bastards...”.

A fireball exploded at the middle of a street. Fire quickly filled it, moving to him very fast.

“And now that!” he said and turned back only to face an undead Cerberus with only one head left. It was barely connected to dog’s neck.

Dawn closed his eyes. “I hope Reggie will find out what they are. He is our only hope...” said Captain and pulled his scimitar. The weapon was half-broken. He looked at the Cerberus evil eyes. “Come at me, puppy...”

Suddenly few arrows made a hole in creature’s head. An imprecise shadow appeared behind the Cerberus. Shining longsword crossed the air and sliced a huge piece of flash.

The beast roared last time and crumbled into dust.

“Reggie!” Dawn was happy to see his old friend alive. “Where have you been? The village fell...”

“No time to explain, we have to leave this place now!” a griffon outcast shouted. “Can you fly?” he asked and then noticed the wound in Dawn’s wing. “Damn it. Follow me, we made a clear path from here!”

Blue pegasus landed next to Reggie. He saw Dawn and nodded to him. “There is no flying undeads above, but these spells or whatever it is keep falling and I should say that this “rain” is becoming very strong.”

“Then hurry!” brown griffon said and started to run.

*******

A group of friends was already on the edge of a burning village. They had to fight few times, but working as a team, they finished their enemies very fast.

When they reached the last house, Reggie turned back to his friends. “Come on! It’s almost over!”

Suddenly a sphere of purple fire fell between them, throwing back Reggie and his friends. Lightning Reel hit a wall with his head and fell unconscious. Dawn moaned, but stood up.

Reggie jumped up, turned back and saw a purple fire, spreading everywhere.

“Dawn! Where is Lightning?” he shouted.

“Uh... He is here, but he is out! Now the path is blocked!” Dawn answered and took his scimitar from the ground.

“Can you find another way?”

“Yes, we can get there through this house!” white griffon picked up the body of an unconscious pegasus and opened the door to the nearby house. As he made a first step, he heard a sound of thunder behind.

******

Reggie was watching as Dawn made his way to the building. “Heh, always can find a solution.” he smiled. “I wonder how this ol’ bastard managed to...”
With a sound of thunder, pain blasted through his chest. Reggie didn’t understand what was it until he looked down.

The blade of a strange sword stuck out of his body. The vision started to blur and he lowered his head. “Why...So... fast...”

"REGGIE!!!” the fading voice of Dawn came from another side of a fire wall...

A griffon outcast was dead.

Wake up

Cold raindrops were falling from the grey sky.

“I can’t believe that...”

Six days passed since Dawn and Lightning Reel escaped the Ironclaw massacre. The rainy weather followed them all the way from the southern Wilds till Trottingham. Usually warm and soft, the wind became freezing. Seemed like Equestria itself mourned the loss of a good warrior, kind friend and a brave griffon.

Many friends of Dawn died there, but only Reggie’s death shocked him so much. When he saw the blade from his companion’s body, he dashed through the building, trying to do anything, but there was nothing. A puddle of blood was the only thing that left of a brown griffon.

He hadn’t seen who did that either. Seeing something in the dark night, looking through the bright purple fire was almost impossible and he was ashamed himself because of that. Every night he has nightmares. Faces of his friends, their voices and happy laugh. It was just too hard to bear alone.

Lightning Reel was mostly spending his time on the clouds, understanding what happened back then. “How could I miss that? It was my fault that I didn’t notice this magic spell coming...” He woke up when everything was over. Dawn brought him to the Forsaken Forest and told a grim truth. Once saved Reggie’s life, he couldn’t do it again.

They didn’t knew who controlled the army of undead, but the magic reminded them about the old tales of dark sorcerers, who were able to use greatest spells and control the Death itself.
It was strange that the army hadn’t moved through the griffon or pony lands. It’s just disappeared. Although Dawn heard something about Talos being sieged. That might be another little war between griffon clans anyway.

Some ponies of Trottingham were terrified by the news brought by two travellers, but others just didn’t believe them.

“Undeads? Ha, you are just crazy! How could a huge army like that stay unnoticed? Likely story! You griffons are always trying to scare us, ponies. Not this time!”

Dawn and Lightning had to investigate this all on their own. They were heading to the Canterbury to find a wizard named Midnight Sun. He knew a lot about dark magic and necromancy. That is what made him the only chance to find out the nature of the threat.
The white griffon was standing on the road to the east. He used to be the one who helped banished griffons to get into Equestria. Now, he was just a half lion, half eagle, with no goal. His only wish was a revenge. Revenge for every soldier and civilian who died, trying to stop the killing march.

“Ready to go?” a blue pegasus asked.

Dawn sighed. “Midnight Sun won’t be happy to hear these news.”

********

He always enjoyed travelling across Equestria. Somehow the land of it was clear of aggressive animals and other darkspawns. Even winter here was soft and windless.

They decided to wait in the nearby undergrowth till the rain ended, hiding under the trees. His feathers were wet, same as his armor and pockets.

“We’re close to the Equestrian border.” Lightning once told him. “I can’t do anything with clouds here, it’s just useless.”

“The weather is alright. I don’t want to get our food rot.” Dawn answered.

As the rain stopped, they continued moving through the plains. Dappleshore was not far away from them, but it would be just a waste of time, visiting this town - they already had provisions for a few days and their equipment didn’t need any repairs.

It was a cloudy afternoon, Dawn and Lightning reached a little forest in a few miles from Canterbury. There was nothing special about it. Just simple Equestrian trees, green juicy grass and friendly animals around.

A light from a bonfire was warm. Pegasus ranger cooked some mushrooms on the fire and it smells very tasty. Nothing of that cheered Dawn, the dark memories were not going out of his mind.

Lightning glanced at him. “What did you think when he died?” he asked silently. It was too hard to tell these words.

“I’m not sure... I... I was shocked and tried to save him, it was too late...” white griffon stared at fire. He had no chance to bury his childhood friend, that hurt him. “They will pay. I promise that I will find out who was behind this attack. I will find out who killed him, and I will kill him with hardest violence you could ever imagine...”

“You are not alone. This wizard from the Canterbury surely knows something about what happened there. After getting some clues, we’ll be able to do what we must.” a pegasus laid on the ground. “Now we need some sleep, tomorrow will be a long day.”

“You sleep. I will stay up guarding our stuff.” was his short answer.

“But it’s Equestria, you don’t need to...”

“Just let me do this.” the tone of his voice was speaking for itself. Lightning nodded and closed his eyes.

********

Canterbury was a seaport near Bridle Seashores. Many ships and boats were making their stops in this town to resupply or sell some goods. The wharf was made of a stone and wood. There were many boxes and chests, because traders liked to make their business not going aways from ships. Many of them spent their free time between journeys in the Inns or Taverns around the town.

Being a popular place helped the city to earn big profits. There was all kinds of shops: armories, bakeries, magical stores, even libraries where travellers could buy interesting books or maps they needed.

But a showplace in Canterbury was a big, ancient castle, which was founded by a pirate ponies hundreds years ago. An observatory was a part of one tower and was a house for a wizard and scientist - Midnight Sun.

A little group of two armored fighters was not an unusual picture here - many ponies wanted to become a bodyguards or sailors.

“Hello ponies... Oh, and griffons of course! What brought such a brave heroes here? Do you want to find some job? We have many contracts in War Guild these days!” said the grey unicorn with a cutiemark of a quill. “Or maybe you need to buy powerful weapons and mighty armor? We have everything here in a good city of Canterbury!”

Dawn turned to the old unicorn as he approached the gates. “We are looking for Midnight Sun, the local sorcerer. I guess he is in his tower as always. We need to get there right away.” he explained.

“Oh... “ was a silent reply. After a few minutes gates started to open.

“At least we don’t need to pay.” with a sigh of relief Lightning entered the town.

They walked through the streets, watching as many creatures including ponies, griffons, zebras and some unseen animals (which were really strange in Dawn’s opinion) doing their job around or just enjoying the sunny day.

“Are you sure that you want to go and talk with this oldman there? People say that he is a bit... crazy.” said the grey unicorn when they entered the castle. “My name is Yoshy by the way! It was nice to meet you.”

“Yoshy? Just that?” Dawn asked.

“Yup, Silver Star was not fitting my profession, so I changed it” Yoshy smiled to them.

“Thank you.” Lightning said, looking very bored. “Wait, is the entrance to the tower is in the next corridor?”

“It surely is!” grey unicorn smiled again.

Dawn waved to Yoshy and got upstairs.

He opened the door and the smell of brewing potions knocked his feelings down. Different noises were coming from all sides. A smoke from the boilers, the light from a crystals and spinning mechanisms made the room very mysterious.

White griffon saw Midnight Sun standing at the table in the corner. He was creating another strange magical item, seemed to be very busy.

“I was once known as farmer
Who knows that it’s not right.
When always liking alchemy
They wanted me to sow”

Lightning laughed, looking at the old guy singing. But red unicorn didn’t hear it.

“...then using bit of power
I crafted a new tower and made my way from there! Oh... What is this... Hm?” he turned and saw two warriors, standing right in front of him.

“A-a-a! Ohmygod they came for... Wait, Dawn, is that you?” he asked, rubbing his glasses.

Lightning was laughing, rolling on the floor. Dawn chuckled and said “Calm down, you old magician, it’s me”

“Well then! Next time try to knock at the door before entering. And please, tell your friend to stop laughing, it’s hard to concentrate.” annoyed by the laughing, he turned back to the table. “What do you want?” he asked. “You’re not comin’ only for jokes, if my memory still works as it is supposed to.”

The expression on Dawn’s face instantly changed. He squinted. “The Ironclaw was attacked by an army of Undeads. It fell. Reggie was there and he died, saving my life.”

“Oh no...” Midnight Sun looked at him wide eyed. “Tell me everything, please, if you can.”

Dawn took a deep breath and started his tale.

********

“Now we need you to tell us everything you know about Undead Army or Necromancy.” Dawn said as he finished telling the story of few last days.

“Wait, wait, wait... Purple fire... Hm... Aha!” Midnight ran to one of the bookshelves. He pulled a book with his telekinesis. “ancient... death spells, mhm... what is here?...” he turned to another table and opened another book.

“So, do you kno...” Lightning was interrupted by Midnight Sun.

“Silence! I need to concentrate.” red unicorn said and continued reading.

“I think we got to wait outside while he is doing his job.” Dawn offered.

“Yes, got it!” Midnight shouted and came closer to white griffon. “It’s a Death Mastery. Very ancient, powerful and dangerous magic. Sadly I don’t know much about it, only that it was created by a powerful mage called Soul Reaper. But I do know who might tell you more!” wide grin appeared on his face.

“Who?” Dawn asked suspiciously.

“Whoofdo shamans of Zebrica!” old unicorn grinned even more.

“Isn’t it like... On the other continent?” Lightning wondered.

“Yes! But you wanted to know something about it? So it’s your only way to do this.”

“...Once born, light lives till the darkness...”

It was cold.

“..Are you sure in this? What if he isn’t the one we are waiting for?...”

It was silent.

“...This power is not supposed to be controlled by the mortals. You are putting the whole world in a great danger...”

The feelings were gone.

“...The One is the danger for this world. ‘He’ is our salvation...”

And only darkness was around.

“...Of course he won’t be able to do this alone, but I know what to do....”

The burst of a white, warm light enveloped him.

“...Wake up...”

Two Paths

“Reggie! Hey Reggie!”

Reggie heard the voice behind and turned around. A little white griffon, flew to him from the small forest. His name was Dawn and he was a son of a guard captain in the Yellow Claw clan.

“Hey there! What you’re up too?” he said as his friend approached him.

“Dad told me not to go in the forest, so... I went there and guess what I found!” white griffon was very happy. He was hiding something behind him and Reggie became very curious. Brown griffon tried to look what was it, but Dawn sneered.

“No no, that doesn’t work like this, you should guess!” Dawn said.

“It’s a... Stone?”

“Nope!” white griffon laughed.

“Em... Something really old and cool?” Reggie scratched his head. He had no clues.

“Bullseye! It is this!” he showed what he had behind him. It was an amulet with a picture of some griffon warrior, perhaps a hero.

“Just a piece of metal, nothing interesting.” Reggie said.

“No, you don’t understa...” Two friends heard a voice from Dawn’s father somewhere behind.

“Dawn! Dawn! Come back to home, mom is worried!”

“Oh dude, I gotta go. See ya later! I hope your dad won’t be mad because of this.” white griffon blasted of the ground.

“That’s alright. Take care!” Reggie smiled.

Dawn woke up. “Another dream...” he sighed. He scratched his head, trying to remember last day. They met a group of ponies, who said something about a ship to Cervidas and Dawn was going to know more about their way. There was only two of them, both earth ponies dressed in a leather clothes and armed with a simple short swords.

The door to his room opened and Lightning Reel flew in.

“Ready to go?” he asked, flying under the celling.

White griffon looked at him suspiciously. “Why are you so excited?”

“Well... I never travelled by ship before and now I can’t wait to try it!” said pegasus.

Dawn rolled his eyes and took his equipment. His new metal targe shield was not the kind of shields he got used to, but it still was a good protection, so he has no doubts in buying it the day before. He even started to think about enchanting his scimitar, but there was two problems: First - money, Second - he didn’t knew anyone who could enchant items with different spells. Enchanting in Equestria was used mostly for dresses and other casual stuff that couldn’t help in battle and that was a problem as well.

“Give me a second, I need to take something.” he said

He finished putting on his armor and they left the inn and went to the docks where they planned to meet other members of their new group. It took them an hour to get in there, because the town wasn’t small at all and the crowds of ponies around blocked the path in some streets.

When they approached the first pier, a familiar green pony, who stood on the barrel, turned to them laughing.

“Well well well, look who is here! You bloody bastard! What are you doing in Canterbury?” he yelled.

“Arh?!” both Lightning and Down looked at him wide eyed.

“Hell yes! I heard that two new guys will join our party today, but never expected that it would be you.” Arh jumped from the barrel he was standing on and walked to his friends. “But damn, can you tell me what the buck are you doing here? I thought you settled down in the Ironclaw, didn’t you?”

Dawn gave a cold look to him. ‘There is no Ironclaw anymore. That’s why we here and that’s why we need to travel with you. And Arh...” he stopped, trying to find correct words.

“Reggie is dead.” said Lightning.

*******

“Something is wrong... Oh no. That can’t be happening! Increase the power of the spell! The Dark one is trying to disrupt it! No!...”

The cold breeze was blowing around him. Heavy silence left him alone with his senses. He opened his eye and looked around. The darkness was impenetrable.

“Wha... Where am I?”

He tried to stand up on his legs, but felt the weakness in whole body. The last thing he remembered was a blade from his chest and the voice of Dawn.

“What happened?”

A dark deep voice came from the blackness. “How pathetic. They’ve told me that you are a savior, that you are the one who can stand against me. I see only a little bug which could be easily smacked by my power. But I wont do that.” loud demonic laughter pierced cold air. “I want to play with you. That’s so boring to live forever, you know. Come on Reggie, why so sad?”

“Play?” griffon asked weakly.

A monstrous roaring behind made Reggie jump up and turn back. Many black timberwolves were looking right at him. Their wooden teeth sharper than the best daggers he ever saw, they eyes glowing purple.

They started to run.

Reggie clenched his beak, turned again and raced through the darkness ahead. It seemed like some kind of a horrible fores. He never saw something like it before. The trees were terribly distorted and he had to jump over their long roots as he ran away from the terror which was following his every step.

“How do you like this nightmare?” the voice said, laughing.

Tree by tree he ran as fast as his body let him, but the timberwolves were always behind. Finally he noticed something dark ahead. It was a stone wall. The dead end.

Reggie stopped and looked back. Dozens of beasts rounded him, preparing to end this chase once and for all.

“As I thought, nothing special. And you were meant to defeat me? This is so sad.”

Reggie knew it was the end. There was no way from this. “This time I wont let them get me so easy!” he thought. Brown griffon stood on his paws and prepared his claws to slash as much creatures as he could. Suddenly he remembered a strange meeting not long ago. The mysterious fire pony, who said something to him about a great dangers. “What was that?...Once born, light lives till the darkness?” he said.

"WHAT?!"

Strange pulse appeared inside him. It felt like fresh, warm light removed the weakness and pain from him, letting to see everything clearly. Then the feeling of light was replaced by the power that filled his claws and every piece of his body. There was so much power that the ground around glowed with a light. The white fire burst from his eye, something pulled him in the air.

“A-a-a-a!!!” he screamed and the bright explosion of pure energy destroyed the illusive world around. Reggie fell down and lost consciousness.

*******

“You sure about it?” Arh asked. “No body... Hm, that’s really strange.”

“The fire covered the ground. Who knows where he was.” said Dawn and noticed few earth ponies coming their way.

“Howdy guys!” one of the ponies waved to them. It was a purple earth pony with a cutiemark of a sail. “I see everyone is ready? By the way, this is Dawn” he nodded to white griffon.”And this is Lightning Reel” Another earth pony shaked pegasus hoof. “We are taking off soon, let us show you our ship!”

The ship was not big nor small. It’s sails fluttered on the wind. “The best in the entire Southern Ocean. The Hurricane! ”

“The Hurricane? Seasharp, it’s a ship, how could it be called like that?” Lightning wondered.

“We will show you...” Seasharp grinned.

When they were just about to get on board, grey pegasus crashed down in front of them. She stood up and shook her head.

“Dangit! I’m late again, ain’t I? That’s unfair! Ya guys r always wanna get off to fast!” she said, smiling.

“Cloudcrash, for Celestia’s sake, not again.” Seasharp facehoofed.

“Cloudcrash? Hm... Hello there!” Lighting said.

“Heya! Ya wondering ‘bout my cutiemark, right? This baby describes my awesomeness, yea!” she pointed at her flank. A black cloud with many cracks on it looked interesting with the colour of her fur.

“But ‘nuff talking, Imma tired of that town. Where do we go now?”

“Cervidas.” Seasharp answered.

After an hour of preparations everyone was ready. Purple earthpony stood on the main deck. He looked ahead of the ship and yelled “Alright guys! Time to take off! Pull it up!”

The ship rose above the water and started to move up.

“What the hell?!” Dawn gripped the sailyard.

“Ha-ha-ha! I knew you will be surprised.” Seasharp laughed. “My sweet baby can fly and that’s why this is the best ship in these places!”

“But... How?! I see no pegasus pulling it, nothing what could do this!” Lighting blasted off the deck and flew around the ship.
“Magicks.” wide smile crossed Seasharp’s face.

The ship was flying high above the Islands of Galloprey, heading to the Fawntaine. Both Lightning and Dawn have never left the Equestrian lands. Dawn saw a debris in the ocean to the left. It looked like a enormous bridge from one continent to another. Huge columns still stood from the ground, many of them broken and crashed.

Lightning landed right next to the grey pegasus. “What is it?” he asked Cloudcrash.

“Oh, it’s the Ruins of Eternity’s Bridge. Smthn like an ancient pony creation. Dunno what happened, but I guess it was badass!” she said.

Dawn walked up to Lightning. “How are you?” white griffon said.

“I’m alright. Do you think he’s alive?” pegasus asked.

“I don’t know. I want to believe that, but from what I’ve seen... No one can survive this.” was the reply.

“And your wing?”

“It’s good. Still hurts a little, but when we’ll reach the Cervidas I hope I will be able to fly again.” Dawn said.

Suddenly a heavy wind turned the ship around. “... the hell...this damn fu... piece of useless wood...” Seasharp was yelling as he tried to take back the control of the ship. Everyone held on the deck, holding everything that could help them not to fall down.

Seasharp released the steering wheel, saying something nice about unicorns who made this “piece of uncontrollable crap” and was blown away from the deck. He was falling down very quick, but the only pegasus from his crew, Cloudcrash, was trying to pull the ship ahead.

Lightning jumped off and dashed to the falling earth pony. Wind changed the direction of his fall, but he pushed harder, moving himself towards Seasharp. The water below got closer. Blue pegasus spread his wings and caught the pony right before his death.

“Holy sh.. Oh, am I still alive?” Seasharp said, recovering from the shock.

“Eh...” Heavily breathing, Lightning looked up. “We gotta hurry! The ship is about to crash!”
Meanwhile Arh ran down on the second deck. The main operator’s room was ahead, but everything was shaking so hard that he couldn’t make a few steps without falling. “It’s some kind of a sorcery!” he heard a voice of Dawn from above. “Do you have any kind of magic shields on this ship? If we won’t stop it now, it will be our last mistake!”

“Of course! I know what to do, damn you!” Arh yelled and continued moving. He opened the door. The ship turned again, smacking him against the distant wall. Green pony stood up and pushed the button on the dashboard. A loud noise from magic generators filled the room and the shaking stopped.

Cloudcrash entered the operator’s room and gave a cuff on the nape to Arh. “Ya should’ve been sittin’ here, monitoring EVERYTHING! Where were ya?” she asked with a rough tone in her voice, but a little grin appeared on her face.

“I was asleep. Yes! Satisfied?” Arh said, realising that she was kidding him.

Lightning landed on the main deck, releasing Seasharp and turned around, checking if somepony was missing. Everypony seemed to be alright, so he walked down to Arh.

“Couldn’t you use this thing earlier?” he asked.

“He was to-o-o busy doin’ very important things down there.” Cloudcrash laughed.

“Screw you! I didn’t know that we could get in some kind of a magical storm up here. And we are very slow, when this shield is activated. Also we have never encountered such troubles before. What was that?.” Arh replied.

“I guess you got to blame us for that.” said Dawn, who came into the room after Lightning Reel.

“Oh guys, now I see that the thing you are getting me in is more serious than I thought”.

********

The headache was unbearable. Although he felt himself different. The usual ache in his wing was gone and he could hear everything around clearly. Reggie shook his head and looked up.

High mountains above were a giant volcanoes and the lava flow from the mouth of them. The burned ground around him smelt like thousands of dragons breathed fire on it. He turned back noticing a movement.

“Talking about dragons...”

A huge six feet dragon stood up in front of him.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I... Better to ask how i got here, because the answer is I Don’t Know.” Reggie answered, thinking about the way he can escape a fight with this creature.

“My name is Helleon and I’m going to find this out.” the Dragon said and grabbed the brown griffon. “You will meet my master and for your own safety - be polite.”

“Your master?” Reggie thought, as the dragon blasted off. “This. Is. Bad.”