Heroes of Atria

Chapters

1: Griffon
2: Disbelief
3: Suspension
4: Cloak
5: Coffee
6: Dusk
7: Nawir
8: Glik
9: Brinkmanship
10: Theater
11: Plan
12: Jailbreak
13: Answers
8 1/2: Eviction

1: Griffon

Everything was fine in the village of Timal. Every pony was doing their jobs and going about their day as usual, it was a simple job for any guard pony. Solar Rain, being the typical white stallion Earth Pony guards, got along well with every pony in the town. Crime was completely non-existent. He loved when he was tasked with guard duty far from the castle, less effort for the same pay. He and the other guards always got some snacks from the baker every time they went there as a thank-you gift for keeping the town safe. Like most outskirt villages, Timal had only the basics, a baker, butcher, a few farmers, and a hunter. Blacksmiths went completely out of business after the peace treaty, with only one royal blacksmith in the castle to make armaments for city guards. It was a very calm existence for the entire kingdom.

Solar was walking down the road when a little colt asked if he could play tag. As much as it hurt him to let down the kid, especially with those big, pleading eyes, he still had a job to do, albeit a boring one. There was a sudden shriek down the road behind him. Solar, along with the two other guards accompanying him, turned around, shocked at what they heard. It's been weeks since they've had to actually do anything.

"You guys keep going down the road, I'll go see what's up." Solar said, heading off towards the noise. The other guards shrugged, assuming it was just a mother horrified at something that their child broke, and headed on down the road.

Solar trotted the other way, towards the scream. It sounded out of town boundaries, which was weird. Other than the merchant, no pony in Timal had any reason to leave. It couldn't be the merchant either, because he's a stallion, and the scream was definitely from a mare.

"Dear god, you have to help me!" a red unicorn cried as she jumped out of the nearby woods and ran straight for Solar.

"What's wrong miss?" he asked, "Is someone injured?"

She shook her head. "You would...wouldn't....believe..." she coughed and blood splattered on the ground.

"Are you okay? Did you eat anything in the woods?" Solar grabbed her chin with his hoof and looked her over for any sign of illness. That's when he saw several wounds all over her body. "What happened?" he asked, eyeing her up entirely. Then he noticed a large wound on her side.

"Griffons." she croaked. Then her body went limp. There was a puddle of blood all over the ground, and now Solar was covered in it.

Solar sighed. "Must've eaten some hallucinatory plant and got attacked by a bear. I am not looking forward to the paperwork." he muttered to himself. Then there was a high-pitched wail from above, and a quick moving shadow passed by. He looked up and saw a griffon. Oddly, the griffon's head and body were both a dull brown color. It landed right in front of him, shaking the ground from the impact. "Hello there griffon." he said, a hint of fear in his voice.

The griffon stared.

"If you need my assistance, I am legally obligated to first ask you if you have any information on this pony's death." he gulped. Even though peace had been going strong between the two kingdom's for many generations, the giant predatory creatures were still a terrifying sight to the smaller pony.

Without a word, the griffon opened it's beak, showing many tooth-like serrations. It then picked up the deceased pony and flapped its wings, taking to the skies and soaring away.

2: Disbelief

"King Dawn, I swear to you, I'm telling the truth!" Solar Rain begged the monarch to believe him.

"It most certainly cannot be true! The griffon's have been at peace with us for centuries! We have done nothing, what would make them want to break such a treaty?" King Dawn's already imposing figure was made that much scarier when he was angry. His pristine white coat caught every bit of the sunlight, creating a glossy appearance. His golden armor was perfectly kept, reflecting all the light it touched, the topaz sun symbol in the center appeared almost as glass. His long orange mane was majestically flowing in the almost non-existent breeze in the throne room.

Solar dropped into a bow, trying desperately to appeal to the king. "On my good name as a royal guard, I do swear that I witnessed a griffon, with full brown feathers, carry off a dead pony that I am certain they killed. It is in the best interest of the kingdom if you listen to me!"

King Dawn stepped down off of his throne and walked to the bowing guard. "Look at me, in the eyes." his voice boomed around the throne room, his anger very apparent. Solar looked up to his king, who was easily twice as tall as a normal pony. Solar had trouble maintaining eye contact as the King's electric-blue eyes felt like they pierced his soul. "Why are you the only one who saw this?"

"I heard a scream and decided to check it out myself, I told my patrol to go ahead without me, as the town has had no problems with crime before." he finished with a gulp, terrified. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, making him shake visibly.

"And were there no witnesses?"

"Not that I am aware of sir."

"Did you not inform your patrol when you rejoined?" the king spat.

Solar shook his head to break eye contact for a moment. "No sir, I did not inform them. I washed the blood off of me before I rejoined them, and decided it best not to tell them what I saw to avoid panic."

King Dawn shut his eyes and let out a huge sigh. He turned and walked back to his throne before sitting. "Did you go to sleep after the patrol or immediately come here?" he asked calmly, though it was obviously just a facade.

"I took a brief rest to make sense of what I saw."

"Are you aware that the claim you are making is considered highly treasonous against the griffon kingdom?"

"I am sir."

"And you are aware that such a claim can be punishable by death?"

"I am sir."

King Dawn sighed again. "I am contractually obligated by the peace treaty to report your claim to the griffon's leader, who will himself decide your punishment."

"I am aware of this."

"Although I can't say what punishment he will give you, I'm going to tell him that you were on an extended patrol and very exhausted by a combination of extra work and little sleep."

"But sir, I-"

"Solar, I'm going to give you a 1 month suspension from duty to catch up on lost rest."

"But, I'm very well rested."

"It's clear to me that the extra hours I've had you put in recently are adversely affecting your mindset. You likely had a nightmare and are confusing it with reality."

"Sir-"

"Solar, do not argue with your king. A one month suspension is your punishment. You'll be lucky if the griffons don't want your head for this treasonous claim. Now, begone!"

Solar stood up and hung his head. "Aye King Dawn. As you wish."

3: Suspension

"Why doesn't he believe me? I know what I saw." Solar stared out at the lake in front of him, longing to do something. His guard's armor lied in a pile beside him. "This is going to be the longest month of my life." he let out a heavy sigh and hung his head, holding back tears. Right before he started sobbing, he quickly grabbed his helmet and aggressively threw it as hard as he could towards the lake. "Worthless piece of junk!" he shouted at the gold headpiece as it sank into the lake. "I hate this damned kingdom! I've done nothing but help it, and what do I get?" He stood up and stared up at the sun. "Nothing." he whispered before collapsing and sobbing.

To Solar's left, a small group of trees and bushes began to rustle. He looked up with his face covered so that whoever it was couldn't see the emotional wreck that he was. The trees continued to rustle, and Solar watched in anticipation, mesmerized, forgetting about his punishment. After a brief moment, a pony stepped out. They were wearing a hood and cape, concealing most of their features, but their legs and nose poked out, revealing a deep blue, nearly black coat. Wordlessly, they looked at the guard pony and fell.

"Are you alright?" he quickly hopped up and ran to them, his guard's training taking over. When he reached to remove the cloak and assess any injuries, the pony put a hoof to their head, as if to block him. "What happened? Do you need medical assistance?"

The pony's breathing was heavy, as if they just ran a great distance. They nodded their head 'yes' to the best of their ability.

"I'm going to remove your cloak to help you, ok?" The pony gripped their cloak tighter, clearly not wanting it to be removed. "I can't help you while you're wrapped up like this, I need to take it off." Within seconds of him saying that, the pony's breathing calmed, and their body went limp. "Hey, can you hear me? Are you alright? Hello?" instinctively putting his ear to their chest, he could tell they were still breathing. Solar looked around for help, but he was completely alone, no other ponies had gathered at the lake for some reason.

"What do I do?" he whispered to himself. "What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" he repeated. Suddenly, an idea clicked. "Stay here!" he said to the unconscious pony, as if they could move. Then, he quickly ran to the outskirts of town where his friend lived.

"Hurry Darim, they're around here!" Solar shouted back to his friend, running full speed towards the pony.

Dr. Darim, a bulky white unicorn was following close behind. "Slow down, you know I can't run fast!"

"Here they are!" he stopped by the pony, still collapsed, seemingly untouched since he left them.

"Why did you need me again?" he asked when he saw the pony. "You do have a guard's medical training, right?"

"I, I panicked. Plus I was suspended-"

Darim lowered his head to check the pony's breathing. "So you can't use your medical training?"

"Look, just, are they okay?"

"Yes, although I'm going to need to examine them for injuries." Darim said as he reached for the cloak.

"NO!"

"What?"

Solar hesitated. "I uhh, I tried to take it off, but they insisted I don't."

"Don't be ridiculous, we need to-"

"I don't think it's a good idea!" the Earth pony exclaimed.

"Solar, just let the doctor do his job."

"We should take them somewhere sterile, y'know, like your lab!"

Darim sighed. "You're acting so strange lately. But okay, fine. However, if anything happens to them due to delayed medical attention, it's on you. Okay?"

"Of course"

Darim used his magic to pick up the pony and rolled his eyes at his friend. The pony slowly lifted off the ground, a faint white glow surrounding them. "Let's hurry this up then." he said as he broke into a run back towards his house.

4: Cloak

"How are they doc?" Solar asked as he came down the stairs to Darim's lab.

"Stay back and don't touch anything. We can't risk you making it dirty." Darim replied, investigating the pony with a magnifying glass, just below a wing, identifying them as a Pegasus.

"Sorry." Solar took a step back and waited on the bottom step. "So, how are they?"

Darim used his magic to pick up a pair of tweezers. "Well, she's doing just fine." he plucked out a hair and dropped it into a plastic baggie before sealing it and setting it aside.

"So, they're a mare?"

"Yes."

"OK. Well, hey! I thought you weren't going to take her cloak off!"

Darim rolled his eyes. "It was in her best medical interest to remove it so I could check for injuries. I figured I'd only move it out of my way, keeping her face concealed. It's good enough."

"I, I guess. It just seemed important to her, y'know?"

"Clean your hooves."

"What? Why? I'm staying back here. I can't dirty anything."

"No, I need to show you something."

"Umm, okay." Solar trodded over to the sink and cleaned his hooves as best as he could before going to the doctor and his patient. "What?"

Darim pointed his tweezers towards a scar on her side. "Three large claw marks. This area was caked with dried blood when she got here."

"How? She wasn't bloody when I saw her."

"This is the side she was laying on, you couldn't see it."

"Okay, but what's so special that you wanted me to look?"

"Look back at the injury and tell me what you see."

Solar skeptically looked at the three claw marks. "I see three scars where something large scratched her. What about it?"

"Scars."

"And?"

"These were open injuries when you found her."

"What? No way."

Darim nodded. "That's what I thought. I've never seen-" he went silent at the sound of several pots and pans falling down upstairs.

"What was that?" Solar asked.

"I have no clue. There's no way anything could've fallen. I always make sure to put my stuff on a table if I don't have room in my cupboards."

"So what, you're saying your pots and pans fell by themselves?

Darim shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Then came the sound of claws scraping on Darim's hardwood floor. Tk. Tk. Tk. Tk. It was in a steady beat, slowly moving towards the top of the staircase.

"What the hell?" Darim asked in a hushed tone. "Tell me, you shut the door when you came in right?"

"Yes, front door, storm door, and stairway." Solar replied, keeping his voice low.

"You didn't tell anyone where we were going did you?"

"No."

"Did any pony else see her to your knowledge?"

"No."

"Then who the hell is upstairs?"

The two ponies looked each other in the eye in fear, then looked to the top of the stair case. The door was shut, and everything was silent, save for the gentle hum of a generator outside the house. It remained that way for what felt like the longest 20 seconds of their lives. Then the door suddenly shattered, scattering wood shards all over the laboratory turned operating room. At the top of the stairs, a fully brown griffon screamed at them, sending saliva everywhere.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Darim screamed.

Solar stared in horror at the creature, remembering the pony he saw get taken away.

The griffon launched itself down the stairs into the small room and spread it's wings, letting out another horrifying scream. Darim quickly used his magic to throw a scalpel at the beast, aiming for the throat, but just grazed it, clearing a chunk of feathers out. The griffon immediately snapped towards the doctor, clipping his cheek.

"HELP ME SOLAR!" Darim cried as the griffon slowly backed him into a corner.

"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Solar shouted, running at the beast and punching it's rear as hard as he could.

The griffon turned around and almost appeared to smile before it lunged at him. It was too close for Solar to dodge, so he just shut his eyes and braced himself. He felt a liquid spray onto him, and he braved a peek. He noticed the mare had gotten up from the examination table, she had her wings spread, and was floating right next to the griffon's head. She quickly fell to the ground and swung her head around. A black sword mimicked her head's movement and appeared to slice the griffon's legs, then throat. The griffon let out a pathetic cry for help before slumping to the ground dead, its blood splattered all over the room. Darim and Solar couldn't help but stare at the mare in front of them, who had easily slain the beast using a strange magic.

"Who the hell are you?" Solar asked. Before she could respond, the pony collapsed once again.

5: Coffee

"What the hell just happened?" Solar asked his friend.

"I don't know, but is she okay?" Darim replied. He hurried around the griffon's body to get to the mare.

"The griffon didn't attack her, so I don't know why she blacked out."

Darim put his ear to the mare's chest. "She's still breathing."

"How well is she doing?"

"She seems stable, but all this blacking out has to be taxing on her body."

"What do we do?"

Darim looked around the lab. The encounter had surprisingly thrown everything out of order, despite how short it was. "I'm going to take her to my bedroom for a more comfortable rest. Would you mind cleaning up my lab, or removing the griffon?"

"Uh, sure."

Darim used his magic to gently pick up the mare and carried her up the stairs. He opened the door to his bedroom with his hoof and gently set her down on the bed. Using his magic, he opened the drawer of his nightstand and pulled out a flashlight. He then clicked it on and shone it in the mare's face to test for a reaction. She scrunched her face and made a gentle moan in protest.

"How is she doc?" Solar asked from the doorway.

Darim jumped, nearly dropping the flashlight. "Geez, don't do that to me. Anyways, she seems to be okay. Just exhausted, we should give her some time to rest."

"Okay."

Darim walked over to his kitchen, filled his coffee maker, and turned it on. "You want some coffee while we wait?"

"Sure."

"It'll cost you though."

"Ugg, nevermind then."

"All I was going to say is help me hang the pots and pans back on the rack."

Solar sighed. "In that case I might as well." he walked over to his friend and started helping.

After about 5 minutes of setting up, Darim poured them each a cup of coffee. "You want any milk or cream in yours?"

"Do you have any of the little cream cups from the coffee shop? You know, the half and half ones?"

"Yeah, I always take some when I stop there. How many do you want?"

"Three please."

Darim opened the cups and poured two into his coffee and three into Solar's.

"Thanks."

"Your welcome."

"So, what do you think of, all this?"

"It's pretty bizarre."

Solar nodded. "Do you think she came here because of the griffons?"

"Probably just a coincidence. Speaking of which, did you get the body out of my lab?"

"No, that thing is heavy. I never realized how big those things were before."

"Yes, they are quite big," a voice said from the doorway, "but they're big pushovers."

Both of the stallions looked over at the source of the voice, surprised. There was the dark blue Pegasus standing there. She had removed her cloak, revealing her entirely. She had a slim yet muscular frame, she was clearly athletic. Her face was smooth, with large ice-blue eyes and long, full eyelashes.

"You're, better already?" Darim asked in amazement.

The mare smiled. "Yes, thanks for taking care of me doc." her voice was gentle and calming.

"Woah! Where's your cloak?" Solar asked.

"I took it off. It got really hot under those covers, and I figured concealing my identity wasn't worth it. Anyways, can I have some coffee too? " She let out a huge yawn before continuing. "I hate mornings."

"Oh, uh sure." Darim pulled out another cup and filled it for her with coffee. "Do you want any cream or milk?"

She shook her head. "I prefer it black, wakes me up better." She hopped up on one of the stools by the table and spun around in it a couple of times like a filly. "Anyways, I suppose you guys got a lot of questions, so let's not waste any time." she stopped spinning and took a sip of her coffee.

Darim opened his mouth, but Solar cut him off before he even started. "What was that sword magic thing?!" he blurted out, nearly shouting.

"Ehh, I'm not allowed to talk about it."

"What? Why not?"

She shrugged. "Boss wouldn't like it."

"Boss? Who's your boss?"

She laughed to herself, and shot Solar a smirk. "Can't tell you that either."

"Aw."

Darim cleared his throat. "So, what's your name?"

She paused for a moment, debating whether or not she should give her name. "Ancero." she said.

"Ancero?"

"Mhm. Make sure to roll the R though, sounds cooler."

"Ok, Ancero, my name is Darim, and this here is my friend Solar Rain."

"Darim and Solar Rain?"

"Yes."

Ancero broke out laughing. "I'm sorry, but you guys have ridiculous names."

"Anyways," Darim continued bitterly, "Do you have any connection to the reverted griffons?"

"In a way, yes."

Darim nodded, showing he understood. "Does your appearance have any connection to theirs?"

"In a way, yes."

Darim sighed. "Can you be more specific?"

"Of course I can."

There were several moments of silence. "Will you?"

"Since you asked." she cleared her throat. "I was always in the kingdom, living my life as everypony else. However, when I heard of the griffon attack, I just had to investigate. Since then, I went everywhere I had heard of another griffon attack."

"So, why were you at the lake by Solar's house?"

"There was a nearby griffon attack. I saw the thing's shadow and ran. The reason I blacked out was because, as I'm sure you saw, I was attacked myself. I saw the lake and figured somepony was there, so I managed my best to get there."

"Why are you chasing these griffon attacks?"

"I need information."

"What kind of information?"

"Information for my boss."

"And you can't tell us who your boss is?"

"Nope!" she smiled then spun herself around again.

Darim sighed in exasperation. "This barely helped at all."

Ancero drank the rest of her coffee in one sip. "Ahh. Anyways, I should probably get going. I think I have all the information I need."

"Wait, are you going to fight the griffons?" Solar asked.

She snorted. "Hell no, I'm going to look for my friend, Nawir."

"You are aware how dangerous it is, right?" Darim asked, a hint of fear in his voice. "You barely came to after hours of being out cold!"

"I'm fine." she hopped down off the stool and headed for the door.

"What if you're attacked by a griffon?"

Ancero stopped in her tracks. She thought back to when the griffon attacked her, before she met Solar. "I can manage." she stated plainly, trying very hard to seem brave.

"One swipe from the griffon's claws will knock you out again. What if nopony is nearby when this happens?"

"Thanks for your concern Darim, but you two would just slow me down."

Solar stepped toward her and put his hoof on her shoulder. "I cannot allow you to go forward on this journey alone. It's far too dangerous for a lone mare to wander around alone. Allow me, a royal guard, to pledge his life to keeping you safe on your journey."

Ancero let out a sigh. "Fine. You can come with, both of you. I don't care. But I will not slow down if you start to fall behind." she turned around and stared Solar in the face. Her expression instantly turned angry. "And let's get this straight. I am not alone."

"What?"

She turned back around. "Let's go then." Without hesitation, she immediately headed for the front door of the house and left. Darim and Solar followed close behind.

6: Dusk

"So, where does this 'Nawir' live?" Darim asked.

"We lost touch shortly after-" Ancero cut herself off.

"After what?" Solar asked.

"I'd uhh, rather not talk about it." she laughed to herself awkwardly.

Darim shot his friend a suspicious look which was promptly returned.

"Anyways, he used to love spending time with other ponies. Know any places with a tight-knit community?"

"The village of Timal. Every pony knows every pony, probably the most peaceful village I've ever seen." Solar replied.

"Perfect. Where is it?" the mare replied.

"It's quite far away from here. I've worked the route through Timal countless times, so I'll lead the way."

Ancero nodded. "Then let's go."

King Dawn was sitting on his throne with a look of anguish when his wife walked in. All of the royal guards in the room bowed to the black mare. Her gray mane waving in the

"Queen Dusk, what are you doing up so early?" the King questioned.

"May I talk to you privately?" the Queen replied.

Dawn waved his hoof, signaling the guards to leave the room. Within moments, only the royal couple remained in the room.

King Dawn cleared his throat. "What's wrong?"

"Don't beat yourself up about what happened with Solar."

"But what am I going to say to Lord Glik? The peace treaty requires me to tell him about the claims."

Dusk sighed. "Look, I've gotten tons of claims from the Night Guard about these old-world griffons. I haven't met with Glik once."

"You're going against the treaty? What if he's testing us, to see if we're willing to back the treaty?"

"The treaty does say that we can ignore any of its acts if we feel it necessary. "

"What are you saying?"

"If you feel unsafe entering the griffon kingdom, you don't have to tell Glik about the reports."

"I suppose. But, if he doesn't know about these griffons then he can't do anything. What if they're some sort of defectors?"

"I've thought of this too. I sent the MTF to spy on Glik and find any information on these griffons that we can."

Dawn's jaw dropped. "You sent the Midnight Task Force? Without telling me?"

"Shh, hon, you know the MTF. They won't get caught."

"This is blasphemous! If Glik so much as suspects them, we're dead. The pony kingdom is nowhere near ready for a full scale war!"

"Look, the MTF are all hand picked by me. They're the descendants of the survivors of the Great War. They've been in training since they were just foals.

"I know, but, still."

"Just trust them."

There was a long pause and silence fell upon the room. "If the MTF finds anything, no matter how small, I need to know."

"And if they find anything incriminating?"

Dawn sighed. "The MTF has my permission to kill any Old World griffons to protect the lives of ponies."

"Can't say I saw that coming."

"Look, I've been losing sleep over this, just leave me before I change my mind. Please."

Dusk gave her husband a concerned look. "How about I take over for the day, let you catch up on some sleep."

"Yeah, yeah. That sounds like a good idea." Dawn said as he got up from the throne and headed for the front door of the throne room.

"You really aren't yourself. You should get a nurse to check on you."

"I will." When the door shut behind Dawn, the room fell silent once more.

"Did you hear that?"

A black mare shrouded in a black cloak stepped out from the corner of the room. "Yes m'lady. We have permission to kill."

"Only if it's to protect the lives of ponies. Got it? I don't want a repeat of the Great War on my hooves."

"Yes m'lady."

Dusk glared at the mare. "Remember his other request?"

She nodded. "Any and all information, no matter how small will be reported to you and Dawn before all others."

"Good, now report back to the intelligence team."

"Yes m'lady." the pony immediately spread her wings and shot straight up through a hole in the ceiling.

7: Nawir

"So there's something I've been meaning to ask of you, Darim." Ancero stated, dropping to a hush so that Solar Rain couldn't hear.

Darim looked back at her, slightly panicked. "Okay? What is it?"

"Your name. How come your name follows the old naming ordinance?"

"What do you mean?"

"It sounds like a name given back during the Great War."

Darim sighed. "Yeah, figured it wouldn't take you long to notice. You see, my great great great great grandfather, was it four greats? I think three actually. Doesn't matter. Anyways one of my ancestors fought in the tail end of the Great War. He was the captain of a small platoon who had the top priority of defending a fort on the border of the griffon and pony kingdoms. All of his men fled to the safety of a more defended fort about half a mile back when reports of a griffon assault came in, all of them except for him. He held his ground in the face of what was later counted to be 15 griffons. When reports stopped coming in about griffon advances on that front, the group braved their way back to the fort to find him, along with the whole group of griffons, dead. They say he was leaning against the fort's wall with his sword still in his mouth when they found him. He dropped the sword and smiled when he saw the approaching ponies, and died right there. My mother loved the name and thought the story to be a miracle, so she named me after him."

"Wow. I'm, speechless!" Ancero replied, clearly stunned.

"So then, what's your story?"

"Huh?"

"Why doesn't your name follow the post-war ordinance?"

"Oh, my uh parents just really liked the sound of the name." she shot the stallion a sheepish smile.

Darim nodded slowly. "Sure."

"Ahem." Solar cleared his throat to get his companions' attention. "What do you guys make of this?" he pointed a hoof towards the woods a short distance away from the path. There was a giant hole where trees had been ripped from their stumps, something large had clearly charged through the spot blindly.

"What do you think it is?" Darim asked.

"It's far too big for a pony to have made, maybe the King or Queen, but they wouldn't be out this far from the castle."

Darim nodded agreement. "Especially after you told them about the griffon from the other day. Even if Dawn didn't believe you."

"So," Ancero began, "what do you think it could be? A griffon crash landing maybe?"

"Doubt it, griffons are tough. Plus weapons are extremely scarce nowadays."

"A skilled unicorn could use their magic." Solar suggested.

"Unlikely, advanced combat magics have been completely banned."

Ancero waved her hoof to get the duo's attention. "Why don't we just go investigate?"

Solar and Darim turned to each other and shrugged.

"Come on then. Darim, you know how to use magic for light correct?"

"Uhh, yeah." Darim replied confused.

"Then start it and let's go." Ancero turned and started into the woods without waiting for her company.

Darim used his magic to make a ball of light appear on the tip of his horn. "Wish she'd slow down a bit." Then he followed the mare into the woods, weaving between the mess of shattered stumps.

"Wait for me!" Solar shouted, running to catch up to the others. When he did, Ancero shot him a glare.

"Shut up. We don't know what's in here." she hissed.

"Sorry."

The three then continued on their way deeper. After a couple of moments, Ancero raised her hoof to stop them.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

The stallions fell silent, and for a moment, so did the woods. Then there was a distant clang, like metal on metal.

Darim looked at Solar. "A blacksmith maybe?"

Solar shook his head. "No way, blacksmiths have been put out of jobs after the Great War, and there's no way there'd be one this far from town."

"Shush. Darim turn down that light!" Ancero demanded.

Darim did as he was told. "What do you think it is?" he asked as quietly as he could.

"I don't know, but from now on, no light. Let's go deeper."

As the three went deeper, the only sounds were of leaves crunching underhoof and the odd clang, which progressively got louder and louder.

"It's so dark, I can hardly see a thing." Solar complained.

"Keep going, no talking." Ancero replied bluntly.

"Why is the canopy so thick? How do plants grow?"

"Does he ever stop talking?" Ancero asked Darim's outline.

Darim just shook his head and continued walking.

After about a minute of walking, they came to a clearing. The light spilled in through a single break in the canopy, but it was just enough to light up the entire area. That's when they noticed an Earth pony and a griffon on either side. Grass everywhere was splattered with blood.

Upon seeing this, Solar immediately jumped up and tried to call to the pony. Before he had the chance, Ancero had pushed him down and silenced him.

"Let this play out."

The griffon opened its beak and screamed at the pony. The pony ran straight towards the beast, their ash colored coat caught the light from the center and made them look like they were wearing armor. When the pony got close to the griffon, they jumped, catching all three of the group by surprise. The griffon brought a claw up towards the pony, who deflected it with one hoof, extending the other into a full on punch to the side of the griffon's head. The griffon screamed in agony and backed away, struggling. The pony followed the predator, slowly closing in on it. The griffon swung down one of its massive claws right down on the pony. Again, the pony put up a hoof and blocked the attack, making a loud clang. The pony then stood up on just their hind legs and swung down their other hoof toward the griffon's head again. The griffon stopped the attack with a claw, clutching the hoof as tight as it could so that the pony couldn't take it back. The two held their own ground, the pony's left hoof holding back the griffon's slash, and their right hoof struggling to break through the griffon's defense.

"You two stay here." Ancero whispered before running towards the griffon. She swung her head around a bit and her black sword from the griffon fight in the lab appeared in front of her. She charged the griffon and stuck the sword right into the back of its neck. Blood seeped from the wound and the griffon screamed in pain.

The griffon took its attacking claw back to try to pull the sword from its neck. The mysterious pony took the shot and punched the griffon's gut. There was a dulled thud, and all movement stopped in the clearing. Ancero ripped her sword from the griffon's neck and stepped back, while the other pony wretched their hoof free from the griffon's claw and stepped away. The griffon fell to the ground with a satisfying thud. Ancero's sword disappeared and she looked the other pony in the face.

"Ancero?" they asked in a masculine voice.

"Nawir! I knew it!" She exclaimed and hugged the stallion.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Saving you, apparently."

"Oh please, I had it handled."

Ancero put her hooves on Nawir's cheecks and moved his head around, checking him for injuries. "You're all cut up!"

"Yup, razor sharp claws will do that to ya. Even with hooves of steel." Nawir raised a hoof to inspect it. There was a metal cuff around it that quickly vanished from sight. The leg underneath the armor was completely unscathed. "Heh, easier every time."

"Darim, Solar, get over here." Ancero called back to her companions. The two immediately jumped from hiding and ran to her.

"Oh my, you've definitely seen some better days." Darim stated. He used his magic to materialize a few bandages and gauze pads, applying them to the more serious claw marks.

Solar gawked at the stallion in front of him. "You fought that thing? By yourself! Nearly killed it alone too! How?"

Nawir smirked. "It was hardly a fair fight to begin with, them I broke its wing by throwing it through the woods."

"Cocky prick." Darim spat under his breath.

"What was that?" Nawir asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothing, just talking to myself. Anyways, your smaller cuts and scrapes should heal up within 24 hours, the larger ones I went ahead and bandaged might take a couple of days though."

Nawir nodded appreciation towards the unicorn. "Found yourself a doctor? Nice going Ancero."

"Well I mean really he's the one that found me."

"Ok, but I gotta know, how in the hell did you take that griffon down?" Solar butted in with the impatience of a grade-schooler.

"I knew the bugger was flying around the area, so I took a rope and tied it into a lasso. When I threw it over the thing's neck, I used all my strength to swing him down and throw him through the woods, making that giant ass hole. Broke his wing, made him dizzy, and broke off one of his claws. From their it was a piece of cake. He was a tough one I'll give him that. I'm amazed he lived the throw."

"Amazing."

Ancero cleared her throat. "Well, Nawir, I'm sure you've heard about the recent griffon attacks."

"Heard of 'em? I just bloody stopped one!"

"We should stop by your house. We can discuss privately everything we know."

"Jumping the gun a bit don't ya think? I hardly know a thing and I doubt these two have anything."

"We're trying to stop a repeat of the Great War here. The least we could do is compose our thoughts to tell King Dawn or Queen Dusk."

Nawir sighed. "Alright then. Ya got me. Let's go."

As the small group left the clearing, Darim noticed that very little blood had splattered on Nawir's coat despite having just been in a fight to the death with a griffon. His ashy coat only had little red lines where he had scratches, and the only discoloration on his mane and tail were a single orange strip running down them.

8: Glik

King Dawn approached the massive wooden wall of the capital city of the Griffon Kingdom with a small band of his royal guard.

"Halt." a deep voice commanded from the right side of the door. "All ponies, even the King himself, needs a reason to enter the great city of Taladeth."

"I've come by demand of the peace treaty. I require audience with Lord Glik." King Dawn's voice boomed towards the griffon, dwarfed by his presence.

"Where is the Queen?"

"The Queen did not feel safe coming here due to recent incidents. She urged me to do the same, but I'd rather cross my wife than a foreign leader."

The griffon nodded. "Understood. The Griffon Legion has accepted your presence to the kingdom." The twin doors to the city slowly began opening. "Remember, though you are a foreign dignitary, you will be under the ever watchful eye of the Griffon Legion. Do nothing wrong, and nothing bad will happen."

"Understood, and thank you." Dawn saluted the gatekeeper, who saluted back.

"Enjoy your visit and may peace remain between the kingdoms."

Dawn walked through the front gate and headed down the wide open path straight to the heart of Taladeth, Glik's castle. "Stay close to me, I don't want them getting suspicious." The Griffon Kingdom has definitely fallen a few steps on the economy scale since the treaty. Every single griffon stared as Dawn and his guards passed, and every single one seemed starving. Even through this crowd of curious eyes, Dawn couldn't shake the feeling that someone else was watching him.

When they arrived to the lobby of the castle, Lord Glik was already there, waiting for them. He appeared finely dressed, the only griffon with any sort of luxury in the entire city, and he had quite a lot of it. There was a scar on his face that kept his right eye permanently shut, and his beak was bent, wounds from the Great War ages ago. A testament to the longevity of his kind. His entire body was dirt brown except for his brilliantly kept white head. "Ah, Dawn! My guards informed me of your appearance. To what do I owe this occasion?" his voice was slightly nasally.

"Glik, I've come to ask about these old world griffons."

"Come again?"

"Several of my citizens have reported seeing griffons, like the kind that fought in the Great War."

"As in, fully brown, tufts of feathers on the heads that kind of look like ears, and serrated beaks?"

"Yes. Perfect description."

Glik paused for a moment. "Honestly I can't say I've had any reports of them recently. Maybe a couple decades ago, but they were all hatchlings."

"Well, a chunk of my subjects have been killed by mysterious reasons."

"Go on."

"These deaths line up with reports of sighted griffons, the old world kind."

"Go on."

"That's it, what information do you have to provide on this?"

"All I can say is that it is possible a defector group has split apart from my kingdom and to be breeding them, but I've never had reports about such activity."

There was an awkward pause as the two mulled over what the other was saying.

"Well," King Dawn eventually continued, "is it possible that an old world griffon somehow came to be, legitimately?"

Glik scoffed. "Impossible."

"How so."

"We've established an extremely elaborate process of selective breeding. When a female griffon lays a clutch of eggs, she brings them in. You see, when a griffon egg is laid, it has a certain amount of feral instinct in it. We use advanced technology to remove all of the feral instinct from all but one egg, and inject it into that one. We then smash it. With no feral instinct being saved, nobody can create their own ferals."

"What are the odds that a clutch goes unchecked?"

"Zero. We heavily reward every griffon that reports a clutch laying or even a pregnancy. Not only this, but we keep close tabs on our griffon's behavior and we can tell when that happens very easily."

"What about the feral egg hatching?"

"Again, zero. I have twelve separate officials working on the breeding process at any given time, and I spent most of my free time watching this."

"I see. Has any griffon shown signs of resilience to this?"

"Well, most are visibly upset by the smashing of the eggs, and I understand why. But really it has to be done and they all know it's for their own safety. We've occasionally let ferals hatch for testing. No matter the amount of feral instinct in a griffon, it's impossible to reason with them, even communication is difficult. Two eggs worth of instinct is enough to make them completely berserk, five eggs worth makes them next to impossible to even restrain."

Dawn sighed, clearly disappointed in the trip. "My most trustworthy royal guard has told me that he saw a griffon fly away with the corpse of a pony firsthoof. The pony apparently said something about griffons before passing out to blood loss caused by a giant wound. Are you telling me that his quite detailed report is a lie?"

"I guess it may be possible, but surveillance on my kingdom covers every square meter. There's nowhere a defector group could even breed ferals. Census reports line up perfectly with birth certificates and death certificates too. Well, within about 20 or 30, we lost some files in a fire about 70 years back. Since then we've kept four different copies of everything in different locations kept secret from any griffon that doesn't need to know. The odds of unannounced ferals is so minute it might as well not even count."

"This is in clear violation of your citizen's basic civil rights!"

"Is it truly worth preserving the rights of an unhatched chick if it means endangering hundreds of innocent civillians?"

"I understand." Dawn thought for a moment. "Thank you for your cooperation Glik."

"It's the least I could do for the stallion who took my eye."

"May your kingdom prosper."

"And yours."

King Dawn and Lord Glik bowed to each other before Dawn signaled to his guards that it was time to leave.

When the band of guards and the King stepped back into the throne room. Either side was lined with ponies colored a very dark purple with black manes and tails, identical to the Royal Guard in all ways except color. Queen Dusk was still sitting on the throne when the King had returned.

"Dawn?" she asked, "It's ten at night, what are you doing up? Shouldn't you rest for the daytime?"

"I spoke with Glik. I have reason to believe he is withholding important information from me."

The Queen eyed her lover up and down accusingly. "Okay, and?"

"All guards have permission to kill a griffon on sight inside the kingdom."

Queen Dawn was taken aback. "What? Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Are you hearing yourself right now?"

"We cannot risk any feral griffon attacks. Any griffons that are housed in the kingdom will receive a 24 hour warning for evacuation before anything can happen to them. After that time period, all guards have permission to use whatever force necessary to get them out of the Pony Kingdom, even killing them if need be. Non-residential griffons receive four hours. If any griffon so much as thinks about attacking a pony, they will be killed on sight."

A heavy silence fell upon the throne room.

Dawn was serious.

9: Brinkmanship

After a brief walk, the four ponies arrived at Nawir's house. It wasn't impressive, just a small cottage on the outskirt of the village with a patio attached to it where there were remains of a blacksmith's forge. Nawir led them all inside and locked the door behind them.

"One of your ancestors was a blacksmith back during the war?" Darim asked the earth pony.

"Yeah. He was heartbroken about it at the time, but the King and Queen gave him lots of bits for reimbursement."

"Interesting." Darim replied absentmindedly as everyone took a seat by a wooden table in the middle of the room. "How old are you Nawir, if you don't mind me asking."

Nawir leaned back in his chair. He put his legs up on the table and crossed them before putting his hooves behind his head. "Oh gosh, hadn't been asked that in a while. Twenty-four if I remember correctly. Hard to remember when nobody asks you."

Darim nodded absentmindedly. "And where did you name come from exactly?"

Ancero cleared her throat to draw attention to herself. "Guys, lets get down to business. What all do we know?"

"They kill ponies, and likely eat them." Solar chimed in. "At seemingly no provocation."

"They're tough fuckers." Nawir added.

"Despite their massive size, they can somehow fit inside pony-sized doors and wreck your basement." Darim added with a hint of resentment. "I don't think that's covered by insurance."

"Good good." Ancero nodded. "When was the first time any of you saw them?"

"A day or two before I found you unconscious." Solar replied.

"The day he found you." Darim answered.

"Probably about a month ago." Nawir added.

Ancero put her hoof to her chin as she thought. "The Pony Kingdom has a population of twenty six million. The odds of any of the four of us having the first sighting is highly unlikely. They likely started five months ago. Do we know of any major changes in the Griffon Kingdom from that long ago?"

Solar raised his hoof.

"You don't have to raise your hoof Solar," Ancero facehoofed, "just say it."

"Well, uhh, Glik did go on a tour of the Pony Kingdom five months ago to make sure the griffons making residence were being treated well. It lasted about a week."

"So it's likely during that time that something happened."

Nawir set his chair back down and looked at Ancero. "Do you think it was a defector of some sort, a terrorist?"

"Possibly, griffons are stronger than ponies, and they could be upset about how prosperous our kingdom is."

"And they knew that Glik was out at the time, so they could breed their super soldiers easily with little legal interference."

"Perhaps, or-" Ancero stopped herself when the group heard some commotion outside.

"What was that?" Solar asked, getting out of his seat.

"Let's check it out." Darim suggested, heading for the door. The unicorn unlocked it and led the way out, with Solar close behind.

Nawir grabbed Ancero's shoulder to stop her from going out. "Do they know, about us?" Nawir asked her.

"No, it's too risky."

"What about him?"

Ancero shook her head. "It'd be best to keep that secret as long as possible."

Nawir nodded before heading out after the two stallions.

A few houses down, a guard pony was talking to a griffon at the front door of the griffon's house.

"What do you mean I need to leave?" the griffon spat, clearly angry.

The guard pony swallowed nervously. "King Dawn made a new decree, all griffons are to leave the kingdom immediately."

"What for? I haven't hurt a single pony for the thirty years I've lived here!"

"There have been reports of attacks made by griffons on innocent civillians, the King is taking no risks." A noticeable group of ponies had gathered to see what was going on.

"This is complete bull! Why should I leave if I've done nothing?" the griffon's voice raised to a shout.

"I'm sorry sir, but you have 24 hours to leave, or else all guards will have permission to kill you."

The griffon slashed at the guard in anger, his claws grazing the guard's armor. Though he wasn't cut, the blunt force was still enough to stagger the smaller pony. "Take your decree and shove it!"

Nawir ran up to the two. "Hey, what's going on here?"

"Get out of the way shrimp, this guard's been discriminatory against me since the day I moved in. I'm sick of it!" the griffon put his claw on Nawir's chest and tried to push him aside. "This is between me and him!" The crowd of ponies gasped and took a step back.

Nawir set his hoof on the griffon's claw, not moving a cetimeter from the force of the shove. "You better tell me what happened right now, because all I know is this guard was doing his job and you just assaulted him." The two locked eyes.

"I don't want to fight you kid, step back and I won't hurt you."

Nawir shot the beast a devilish grin. "I'd like to see you try."

"Fine then." The griffon went to swing his free claw at Nawir. Nawir grabbed the claw on his chest with both hooves and swung the griffon over him, smashing him onto the dirt road.

"Mistake number one, don't announce your attack."

The griffon let out an eagle screech before rolling over and standing back up. "Alright then, I won't go easy on you." He darted at Nawir with claws outstretched.

Nawir sidestepped the attack then tackled the downed griffon. Nawir wrapped his hind legs around the griffon's neck and pulled one of his claws back as much as he could without causing damage. "Mistake two, don't fight someone stronger than you. Now you better explain what happened here."

"I don't have to say shit!" the griffon tried to slash with his free claw. Before he could connect with flesh, Darim had grabbed it and restrained it with his magic.

"Mistake number three, don't fight if you're outnumbered. I'll ask one more time. Whats going on here?"

"Tch. Fine. This guard pony here tried to kick me from my house for no reason."

"I find that hard to believe, after all, you just attacked him for doing his job."

"Did you not hear him? He doesn't have a reason to kick me out!"

The guard pony got up with Ancero's help and walked over to the griffon. "As I said, due to the recent griffon attacks throughout the kingdom, all griffons are to be evicted from the kingdom, regardless of citizenship."

Solar ran over to the guard. "Wait, was this King Dawn's command?"

"Yes."

Solar stared at the guard. "Then it's a lot worse than I expected."

Ancero's eyes went wide. "We're on the brink of war."

"Do you promise not to attack the guard and listen to what he says?" Nawir asked the griffon.

"Fine." the griffon replied, defeated.

"Good." Nawir got off the griffon and Darim released his magic. "We're wasting daylight, we need to find two more ponies. Let's go guys." Without waiting for a response from any of his new allies, Nawir took off down the dirt road.

Ancero chuckled to herself. "He hasn't changed one bit." She turned to Solar and Darim. "Let's go boys." she called back, then turned and chased after her friend.

"I suppose we don't have much choice then." Darim said, starting his chase with Solar short behind.

10: Theater

"Ok guys, the next pony we're going to find is named Kren. She's a yellow unicorn with an emerald green mane and tail." Nawir explained to Darim and Solar. "The hard part though, is that her father was a changeling, so she has shape-shifting powers."

"What was the point of telling us what she looks like if she can shape-shift?" Darim inquired.

"She doesn't like to shape-shift if she doesn't have a reason."

Ancero cleared her throat. "Since Kren can be so difficult to find, I'm going to split us up to cover more ground. She loves drama and all things theatrical, so Darim and Solar, you two go to the theater in the capital. If you can't find her in the audience, she may have used her powers to be an actress, just be careful though. She gets paranoid, so we don't want her to know you're looking for her until you can tell her that you're friends with Nawir and I. Nawir, you go check out her old house in Clover Village, I doubt she's there but you may find something. I'll go ask around town to see if anypony can help me scrounge up some information. Meet back here in twelve hours."

The three stallions nodded before the group split up and headed off in their own directions.

"What time does the next show start?" Darim asked the pony at the ticket booth of the theater.

"Two minutes," they replied, "and tickets are five bits a head."

"Do you have any money on you?" Darim asked Solar.

Solar shrugged. "You know me man, I never carry cash on me."

Darim sighed. He used his magic to teleport his pouch of bits from his house. Then he spilled it out on the counter, gave ten to the cashier and put the rest back in before sending it back.

"Okay, you can go in and sit down. Bathroom is on the left if you need to use it during the show."

"Thanks." Darim replied as he and Solar entered the theater. They stopped just past the doorway and looked around the audience for the pony Nawir described. "I don't see her anywhere."

"Well, Ancero did say she may be one of the actors."

"Maybe, let's keep an eye out for any pony walking in late though, just to be safe." Darim said as the theater's lights started to dim.

Darim and Solar watched the whole two and a half hour recreation of Hamlet, glancing around the audience every couple of minutes to make sure Kren didn't slip in unnoticed. Neither of them saw her through the whole thing, nor did they see her walk out at the end. So they stood up and walked towards the stage.

"Hold it." A black Earth pony stopped them. "What are you two doing?"

The two glanced at each other then back at the pony. "Our friend was an actress in the play." Solar stated.

"Yeah, would it be alright if we went back there and congratulated her on a job well done?" Darim asked.

The bouncer eyed them with suspicion. "What's her name?"

"Kren." Darim answered.

"And yours?"

"I'm Darim, and he's Solar Rain."

"Solar...Rain?"

Solar gulped. "Yes, that's me."

"The guard pony?"

"Yeah."

"You were the guard that told the King about the griffon attack and got suspended, right?" the bouncer asked for clarification.

"Did word really get around? It's only been a couple of days."

The bouncer stepped aside. "It was my sister that got attacked by that griffon. I feel like I owe you after your punishment."

"Oh, thanks!"

"Your welcome."

Darim and Solar quickly went through the doorway to the backstage area. Several of the actors were standing back there talking to each other, still half in costume. It didn't take long for the two to be noticed.

"Who are you two?" the pony who played Hamlet asked, drawing the eyes of the ponies that hadn't noticed the strangers.

"I'm Darim, and this here is my friend Solar Rain. We just really loved the production and would like to know more about how to be good actors." Darim lied.

The pony looked over at the Earth pony who played Ophelia. "You finish cleaning up K, I'll show them around I guess. Bouncer wouldn't have just let them back here."

"Ok. I'll meet you in the green room in half an hour."

"See you then." he blew a kiss to the mare as she walked away then turned back to his visitors. "So you want to be actors you say? First things first, you introduced yourselves so it's only fair that I tell you my name is Broken Flame! I am the owner of the Atrian Actors Society and the main actor here at the Royal Crown Theater." He led the two out onto the stage and staged in the center, the bright stage lights were still on. "This is what I live for. I don't do it for the money, or the glory. I do it to inspire others, to spread the word and magnificence that is being a professional actor! You see, acting is not for the faint of heart, or those who are in hard times. It takes up much of your free time to memorize lines and stage directions, and the pay doesn't come close to compensate for it all. The only reason any pony does it is for the enjoyment, to see the faces of the audience light up when you do something funny, to feel the weight of the sadness when a character dies, to make them feel the suspense in a fight scene. It isn't about the before or the after of the play. It's all about what happens during! I-" he was cut off by a cough from stage left.

"Ok Drama King, you don't want to overwhelm them." the mare who played Ophelia smirked, that's when Darim noticed that she fit the description of Kren perfectly.

"Yes, you're right. My apologies, friends." Broken Flame said.

"Blue brought donuts in for us, they're in the greenroom. Go finish changing I'll take over the tour from here."

"Thank you, K." The two of them swapped places, giving each other a quick kiss as they passed.

"Darim and Solar I heard you say your names were, right?"

Darim nodded. "You heard correctly."

"I must say Darim, I like your name, following the old naming conventions."

"Yeah, named after my ancestor who fought in the Great War."

"Well, I was also named under the old conventions too. My name is Kren." she held out a hoof and Darim shook it.

"Kren?" Solar asked. "We were looking for you!"

The color in Kren's face drained. She whispered something under her breath before turning and running.

"Good job Solar." Darim took off after her. "Wait, Kren!" he shouted.

"Son of a-" Solar was about to give chase when the bouncer called his attention from downstage.

"Solar, you have a visitor."

Solar looked towards where the Audience usually sits and noticed a large white alicorn sitting in the dead center. "King Dawn?"

"Solar Rain, my most trusted Royal Guard. It's been a while, hasn't it."

"What do you need, your majesty?" Solar bowed before the king.

Dawn smiled. "After careful consideration, your punishment has been revoked. You are officially reinstated as a guard."

"Kren, wait! I can explain!" Darim shouted as he chased her.

Kren ran herself right into a dead end. She frantically looked around for an escape, but couldn't find one. "What do you want?" she cried. "I didn't do anything! I wasn't going back I swear!"

"Kren, no, don't be afraid. Solar and I are friends with-"

Kren let out a shriek before she shape shifted into a pegasus and flew over Darim.

Darim used his magic to slam Kren to the ground and pin her there.

"BROKEN FLAME, HELP ME!" she screamed.

"Kren, you don't understand, Solar and I are friends with Nawir and Ancero."

"What?" she managed to roll over and look Darim in the eyes.

"They're looking for you. We need you."

Kren's eyes darted around, looking for an escape as she processed what she was hearing. "Why me? I told them I was done! I'd never raise a sword again in my life."

"The reverted griffons are back. They haven't told me anything, just that we needed to get you."

Kren locked eyes with him. "They're back? After all this time? And they told you nothing?" Kren's breath slowed down to normal pace. "Have you met Gunon yet?"

"Gunon? No."

Broken Flame came careening around the corner and head-butted Darim as hard as he could. "What are you doing to K? I thought I could trust you!" he shouted.

"Broken, no, it isn't what you think, I swear!"

"Then why did she scream for help?"

"I, I don't think I'm allowed to say."

"You better start talking kid, or I'll break you like a twig."

"Broken, no, it was just a misunderstanding!" Kren said.

"How so? You were screaming, I ran over here, and he was on top of you with you pinned to the ground! You even used your power, you never use it!"

"I just, I thought he was somepony else. He's okay, trust me."

Broken stared Darim in the eyes. "Fine, but I'm watching you. If you so much as think about doing anything to her, you're dead." he spat before walking away.

"Sorry about that," Kren apologized, "he's a sweet guy, but he's a little over-protective."

Darim let out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "It's okay. I've been in worse situations."

"So, where are Ancero and Nawir?"

"We split up to find you, but we were going to meet near the crossroads in a couple hours. We should head there now."

"Okay." Kren changed back into an Earth pony and the two walked out of the theater. "Where did your friend go?"

Darim looked back and didn't see Solar anywhere. "Probably has to use the bathroom. Oh well, he knows where we need to meet."

11: Plan

Ancero waited at the rendezvous point for roughly twenty minutes before Nawir had returned.

"What took you so long?" she asked. "It's been thirty minutes, I was starting to worry!"

Nawir smirked. "In the long time we've known each other, have you ever had to worry if I'm running late?"

"I guess, but these griffons seem more powerful than what they used to be."

"What about these griffons?" Darim asked as he walked over, catching the two off guard.

"Oh, Darim, you're half an hour late." Ancero stated.

"Well, I found Kren." he gestured behind himself to the mare observing everything nearby hesitantly.

When she saw her friends, Kren's face lit up. "Ancero, Nawir! I haven't seen the two of you in so long!" She ran over to her friends and gave them each a hug. "Darim here told me that you were working with him in regards to the griffon attacks."

"Kren!" Ancero shouted, "I've missed you!"

When the two mares hugged, Kren whispered in her friend's ear. "When we get the chance, I need to know how much we're hiding from Darim."

"It's been so long! I-" Ancero cut herself off and looked at Darim. "Wait, where's Solar?"

Darim shrugged. "He disappeared when I talked to Kren. I figured he just left early. Didn't he stop by?"

"Nope, I've been here a while and I haven't seen him since we split up."

"Maybe he got lost?" Nawir suggested.

"He knows this kingdom better than any pony." Darim replied.

"He wouldn't have abandoned us without a perfectly good reason." Ancero assured them. "Anyways, now that we have Kren, we just need to get one more pony."

"Chase is the missing one?" Kren asked.

"Yes." Ancero answered despondently. "And I don't think he'll be very easy to find."

"Well," Nawir butted in, "I may not have found Kren, but I did gather some information on a pony that I think may be him."

"What?"

"I think he's in a maximum security isolation prison cell."

The group fell silent for a long moment before Darim broke the silence.

"Why would he be there, exactly?" he questioned.

"He likes to fight." Ancero answered.

"Like, really likes to fight." Nawir added.

Darim nodded.

"Sometimes I feel like his purpose in life is to fight with every pony ever." Kren finished for them.

"Thanks, I uhh, kinda gathered that." Darim said apathetically.

"Just remember not to piss him off. He won't hesitate to kill you, or us for that matter." Nawir warned.

"If he's so dangerous to even us, then why should we rescue him? We have four ponies right here, three of them are possibly the strongest I've ever seen. We even have a fifth who was trained to be a Royal Guard! Nothing stands in our way!"

"Darim," Nawir began, setting a hoof on Darim's shoulder and staring him in the eyes, "buddy, you don't even know the extent of Chase's strength. You saw me kick two different griffon's asses, right?"

"Yeah."

"Chase is so powerful, he could easily beat the rest of us by himself."

"So what you're saying is we need an uncontrollable pony who could kill all of us without breaking a sweat to be free to fight an enemy that the five of us could already beat? Besides, if all it took to prevent an all out war is for him to be released, we could just ask King Dawn."

"NO!" Ancero, Nawir, and Kren all shouted in unison.

"What? Why not?"

The three of them looked at each other nervously, silently trying to figure out a response. They were locked in the silence for about thirty seconds before Nawir spoke up. "Look, we've all been pretty secretive to you and Solar this far, so if you help us free Chase and don't let the King or Queen know about us, we'll tell you everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything. Just ask us any question, and we'll answer it truthfully."

Darim was clearly displeased with what he had to do, but he decided it was worth it. "Okay, I'll help you free this, Chase, or whatever his name was."

"Awesome! Ancero, what's the plan?"

Ancero cleared her throat. "Kren, we need your transformation ability to pose as a guard and infiltrate the prison. When you get inside, locate Chase's cell and try to make a mental note of where it would be on the outside. When you find it, come back here to us. Then you will take Darim, who will pose as a criminal, inside where he'll do something to create a distraction. A brawl or something, anything to draw the guards' attention away from Chase's cell. Next I want you two to both get out and signal us that it's time to continue. Nawir and I will do the next part when we get one signal, but it'd be best if you both assumed the other can't make it. Nawir will go around to where Kren tells us the cell should be from the outside and he'll smash it open. Nawir will then break free any possible bonds Chase is held in and take him back here. I'll go in with Nawir in case he needs help, and I'll also help either of you two if you can't get out for whatever reason."

"Sounds good." Nawir nodded.

"I'll do my best." Kren added.

Darim remained silent.

Ancero glared at him. "Do you understand the plan Darim?"

"Yes, create a distraction, signal you, meet back here."

"Good. Then Kren, it's time for you to start."

"Ok." She shut her eyes and slowly her coat turned white while her mane and tail turned blue. The mane and tail also retracted slightly to match the style of the guard ponies. "How do I look?" she asked when the transformation was done.

"Perfect. Just needs armor and we're golden." Ancero answered. "You should be able to get some just inside the entrance."

"Give me twelve hours. If I'm not back by then, assume I was caught."

"Understood. Good luck."

Kren saluted the other three before turning around and heading towards the prison.

"And now we wait." Kren said with a yawn. "I'm gonna sleep for now, wake me up if something happens."

Kren arrived at the front door of the prison complex in a short couple minutes. Several fully armed guards stood outside, two outside the door directly, while the others sparred with each other, or rested for their next shift. The two guards at the door stared Kren down.

"Where is your armor, soldier?" The left one asked. He was slightly larger than the other and had a gray coat with a white mane and tail.

"I left it in the barracks." Kren said unwavering.

The two guards looked at each other before nodding. "You may pass, but don't leave your gear unattended again."

"It won't happen again." Kren replied before scurrying inside.

"Damn newbies." the guard on the right muttered. His coloration matched his partner, though he was smaller.

After passing through the main doorway, Kren looked around. In front of her was a heavy iron door with metal detectors on both sides that lead to the main prison containment, on the right was a purple watchpony that operated the door, and her left was a similarly heavy iron door to a long room filled with beds.

"Excuse me?" Kren asked the watchpony politely.

The pony looked at her. "Where's your gear?" he asked as if it was an insult.

"I left it in the barracks."

The pony shook his head before disappearing underneath his desk to flip a switch. There was a small click followed by a startlingly loud buzz before the pony popped back up and the door to the barracks creaked open. "Get your stuff and get back."

"Thank you." Kren added before darting into the barracks. Along each wall was countless sets of bunk beds, each with one giant chest at the front of it. There were only a small amount of ponies in the room lounging around. They all shot her a single glance before returning to whatever they were doing. Kren went down about halfway through the barracks to a bed with no pony nearby and opened the chest. Inside was a set of the golden armor and a short sword. As luck have it, the pony whose stuff Kren was stealing happened to also be a unicorn, so there was a hole in the helmet for her horn. Although the armor was slightly too small. Kren used her shapeshifting ability to carefully shrink down to just the right size, making sure nopony was watching her as she did it. Then she used her magic to fasten the sheath around her torso and sheathed the sword. Finally she exited the barracks and back to the watchpony. "I need to enter the prison now."

"Do ya now?" the purple stallion asked sarcastically. "Are you late for this shift or early for the next?"

"Umm, what time is it?"

The pony gestured towards a clock above the barracks door. Kren checked it. 5:05 it said.

"Late by five minutes."

"Ah, you must be Whisper Shade then, the new girl. Don't be late again kid." he said as he flipped another switch to open the first prison door and turn off the metal detector. Click. Click. BUZZ. Kren stepped through. The pony shut the first door then opened the second. Click. Thud. Click. BUZZ! Kren then went through the last door and the pony shut it behind her. Click. Thud. "Your shift lead should be at the cafeteria."

"Thank you! That's forward right?"

The watchpony sighed. "Yes."

"Okay." Kren looked around at the bleak building. It had a whole three stories that split off in three directions. Forward led to the cafeteria which was next to the showers and yard. To the left and right were countless prison cells filled with ponies of all walks of life. The first floor had a solid concrete floor, but the second and third floors only had a metal walkway wide enough for two ponies to pass, with a flimsy fence to keep them from falling. Kren walked forward, deciding it would be best not to piss off the shift lead and risk blowing her cover.

In the center was the regular door while on the side opposite the showers was the staff door, which had stairs leading to the catwalk above. At the top of the stairs was a larger white male Earth pony with scars all over.

"What's your name?" he shouted when Kren entered.

"Oh, uhhm. Whisper Shade, s-sir!" she saluted, her calmer demeanor suddenly melted in the stallion's presence.

He walked down to her and checked her up and down and all around. He prodded her equipment to see that it was indeed put on and fastened correctly. Then he slapped her cutie mark, which was currently a shield. "New girl eh?"

"That is, uh, c-correct sir."

"Listen here Whisper, I got one rule on my shift." he leaned in close to her face. "And that rule is do your job right. Being late ain't how you do it." Despite the fact that he was chewing minty gum, his breath smelled horrible, way overpowering the candy.

"Understood."

"Striker." he shouted at the guard that let Kren in.

The stallion jumped in surprise. "Yessir?"

"Show her around."

"Gotitboss."

"Dismissed, both of ya." he turned and headed back up the staircase, ignoring the two guard ponies.

"Whisper Shade wuzit?"

"Uhh, yeah, Striker I take it?" Kren extended a hoof for shaking.

"Yes'm. Striker Bolt th' Third." he took the offer energetically. "Lemme show ya'round."

"O-okay." Kren said hesitantly. The pony seemed awfully excited for his job.

Striker led the way out the door and took Kren back to just inside the entrance. "As ya'know this 's the prisn. Forwrd is th' cafeteria n' showers n' yard n' such. Left and right of us 's regular confinement. Underground 's solitry confinement."

"Underground?"

"Yes'm."

"How do we get there?"

"I'll show ya at th' end. Gotta make th' rounds." Striker took Kren left first. "Nopony 'mportnt here. Just lowly crimnals, purse snatchas n' th' likes."

The two of them slowly made their way around all the cells and up all the floors then down, all the while Striker blabbed on and on about how the prison was "the most s'cure in the pony Kingdm." and how "its 'mpossble fer a pony to escape."

On every floor, right in front of the staircase was a typical propoganda poster to keep the guards motivated and scare the criminals, but the last caught Kren's attention, as it was unusual compared to the others.

"Hey Striker?"

"Yes'm?"

"What does this poster mean?" she asked, pointing at the odd one.

"'Evn th' smallest flame c'n cause a wildfire.'" he read aloud. "Well y'see, they ran outta th' reglar posters so they just grabbd an extra one. It s'posta remnd us that if one gets out, they all c'n."

"I see."

"'Nywho. Solitry confinemnt now." Striker took out a small metal plate from a pack Kren just noticed. He set it on the ground right at the intersection of the three paths. "Wenya get enuff promoshns you'll get one too." He stomped it with all of his might, then the ground shook. The chunk of concrete they were standing on slowly started lowering.

Kren looked around in a panic as she sunk into the ground. After they went down a ways, another concrete slab replaced the one they took down, and everything was pitch black.

"Evryone freaks out their first time. Just stay calm, almost there." Striker reassured her. After about a minute of descending, the slab stopped in the ground of a small room. Striker stepped off and Kren followed, then the slab was pulled into the wall. "Cool rite?"

"Yeah, freaky too."

Underground were a handful of cells with small windows on the doors so guards could look inside. There were also seven guards, not counting Kren or Striker. The only lighting was by torches, lanterns, flashlights, and magic glowing on the tip of the one unicorn's horn. Kren took a hint and did the same with her horn.

"Striker!" one of them shouted. "What are you doing down here?"

"Showin the new gurl 'round. Boss told me ta."

"Okay. Carry on then."

"As ya c'n see. Theres no way out unless you have that plate, so don't go too far frm me."

"Okay. Wait, whats behind that door?" Kren pointed at a door with easily triple the locks of the others and was at least twice the thickness. It also had a table propped on it's side resting against it.

"Oh, thts our numbr one prisnr. I forget his name, but he's supa dangrous."

Kren peeked through the window on the door to see the pony. The cell itself had walls, floor, and ceiling made of metal rather than concrete, and were splattered in dried blood. At the back corner, Kren could make out the figure of a male Earth pony with a black coat. "Oh my." she was at a loss for words. There were giant spikes driven into the pony's front legs, pinning him to the wall.

"Only way we c'n contain 'im. We have to starve 'im and do that, else he'd break free. Kilt twelve guards jst tryinta get 'im in. That metal there is a super alloy of Tungst'n, Plutonum, Rad'n, and Xen'n. It emits just enough radishun to keep 'im weak, and it also repairs itself."

Kren held a hoof to her mouth and stepped away from the cell. "That's Chase." she thought to herself. "I'm not feeling well. I need out." she bluffed.

"Mkay." Striker stepped where the concrete slab disappeared and did the thing with the metal plate when Kren got there. The slab took them upwards and the replacement slab was pulled back. When they got to the top, the concrete formed a perfect seal so no pony could tell the difference. "Staff bathroom 's this way." Striker pointed towards the cafeteria, but Kren was already going through the doors with the watchpony.

"You feeling well?" the watchpony asked, showing genuine concern.

Kren shook her head, keeping her hoof to her mouth. As soon as the second door opened, she bolted out of the prison entirely and ran straight for the rendezvous point where Ancero, Nawir, and Darim were waiting.

12: Jailbreak

"He's underground and we need a special device to get to him!" Kren blurted out when she got back to the others.

"What?" Nawir asked, confused.

"Yeah I know, it's ridiculous! Also he has giant metal spikes through his legs and they're starving him so he has no energy. It's not right!"

"Chase?"

"No, King Dawn, of course I mean Chase!"

"What the hell do we do then? I can't burrow through the ground."

"Can you smash through two steel doors and a few meters of concrete?"

"Easily."

"Okay. That's all we need. Change of plans then. ANCERO WAKE UP DAMNIT!"

The pegasus was jolted awake. "What? I'm up I'm up!"

Kren drew a simple diagram of the prison in the dirt, labeling the cafeteria and main entrance. "When I was in there I noticed that this area here had a ton of open cells. When I take Darim in as a criminal I'll put him in those cells, which are part of lunch group B. At precisely noon is when group B's lunch starts, so start looking for a signal then. When all the prisoners are inside, Darim will start a brawl and I'll signal you two. Ancero will fight off the guards that try to stop us and Nawir will punch down the doors. I'll show him where the concrete is and he'll break us in. I'll shapeshift into a Pegasus and fly the two of us down, Ancero can follow if she's free. Then we bust out Chase and I'll activate the concrete lift with the device from one of the guards. Darim, you'll have to get yourself out if Ancero is busy fighting because Chase will definitely need two of us to support him as he's way too weak to move by himself. Otherwise one of us will come get you out. Everyone meet back here and we'll figure it out from there."

The group nodded in unison.

"I better get all the damn answers for this." Darim muttered under his breath, just loud enough for everyone to hear. He looked the other way while Ancero clasped him in heavy chain cuffs. "I don't even want to know where you got these."

"Alright, let's get going, we're wasting time." Kren commanded.

When they were within the line of sight of the guards outside the prison, Kren started pushing Darim ahead instead of letting him walk on his own.

"Cut it out will ya? I can only go so fast in these." he spat.

"Keep going prisoner." Kren replied sternly. When they got to the door, the guards of the front door stopped them.

"Whats the crime?" the bigger one asked.

"Petty thievery." Kren replied confidently.

"How so?"

"Pickpocketed an old mare. Stole about a day's wage from her."

The two looked at each other then back at Kren and Darim. "The watchpony inside will tell you what to do with him." the smaller one said as they both stepped aside.

"Thank you." Kren said as she pushed Darim through the door.

"Cut it out I'm going I'm going!"

The same purple pony from earlier was still on watchpony duty, though it was obvious that a shift change was happening soon as he kept checking the clock. "Crime?" they asked.

"Petty theft."

The pony turned and checked a clipboard hung on the wall behind them. Then he picked up a pencil and wrote a number in one of the boxes. "Cell number 217. Somepony will be by within two hours for new prisoner orientation and to give you your stuff. Do you have any weapons on you or personal items you wish to have kept for the end of your sentence?"

"Nothing." Darim replied spitefully, though who the anger was directed at wasn't fully clear.

"Whisper, have you checked him for weapons?"

Kren nodded. "He's clean. All he had when I clasped him were the stolen goods."

"Okay. Prepare your sword and unclasp him. If he tries to run, stop him, kill him if you need to."

Kren used her magic to pull the sword out of it's sheath and touched the point to Darim's rear. Then she used her magic to undo the locks around his legs.

"Step through the gate, and before you try, the prison is in an anti-magic forcefield. Only guards can use it here."

"I understand." Darim said solemnly as he walked through the doors and metal detectors, Kren shortly behind him.

The watchpony nodded at Kren. "Show him his cell."

"Two one seven?"

"Yup"

"Odd numbers are left side, the two means second floor am I correct?"

"Yup."

"Thank you. Get going prisoner! To your left!"

Darim glared at Kren. "Bite me." he mouthed.

When they got to the cell, Darim walked in and Kren locked it behind him.

"Somethings off about this place." Darim whispered.

"I know, they didn't even ask for proof that you were convicted, or how long your sentence is."

"Something else too, I can't quite pin it."

Kren nodded. "I'm not feeling anything, it could be the anti-magic forcefield reacting to your horn."

"Possibly. Anyways, when does lunch start?"

"Your group is in about three hours if I remember correctly."

"Okay, well you better go get Ancero and Nawir then. They probably followed us a ways so they shouldn't be too far behind."

Kren nodded before heading back downstairs and out the front door. She found a fellow guardspony who was sitting around and asked them to spar with her, and they obliged. While they fought, Kren kept a close watch on the clock, which that paired with her inexperience made her lose every bout. An hour had passed, then two, then three. Not a word about anything happening inside. Four hours after they arrived, an hour late, and Kren began to fear the worst, "Maybe he gets a private lunch for his first day? Was he busted? Maybe he tried to start a fight and the guards stopped him." Another half hour passed, and finally, Kren got what she was waiting for. An alarm sprang, alerting all the guards that something was happening. The watchpony quickly stumbled out the front door in a hurry.

"There's a fight in the cafeteria! All personnel with combat training are required! This is not a drill!" they shouted. Immediately, all of the guards that were outside except for the two at the door, Kren, and one other, flooded through towards the cafeteria, the watchpony had left both of the front doors open so they could flow in easier.

When the last one that was going had entered the prison, Kren looked around the bushes for any sign of her friends. She saw them a ways up, hiding in the bushes just well enough so you wouldn't notice them unless you were looking. Kren pulled out her sword and a rag and started polishing it, making sure to shine as much light at the two as possible as the signal. Kren then went over to the extra guard pony sitting around and started talking to them to take his attention off the path Ancero and Nawir would take.

"So, you must be new too huh?"

"Yeah, they hired me just a couple days ago." they were the usual white unicorn guard.

"Cool! Me too!"

"Kind of odd seeing a mare in the guard."

"Yeah, that was my thought too when they hired me. My friend told me to apply, I really didn't think I'd get the job."

He nodded. "I hear they've been getting desperate recently."

"I wonder why."

"Yeah, I've never seen- hey wait a second, what's that?" he pushed Kren aside and squinted down the road. "Hey, HEY HEY HEY!" he shouted, pointing at the two ponies sneaking through the bushes. "OVER TH-" he was cut off when Kren pinned him to the ground and put the sword to his throat. The two guards by the door saw this and immediately rushed over.

"Drop your weapon!" the larger one shouted.

"Put your hooves in the air!" the smaller one demanded. Both of them had spears pointed directly at Kren.

There was a long pause as everyone tried to process what was happening.

"You have three secon-GYAH!" the larger one cried as Nawir spun him around and threw him back. He hit the ground with a loud THUD! The other guard quickly swung his spear at Nawir, who raised both front hooves with his gauntlets on to stop the attack. Then Ancero sprung from the bushes and tackled him to the ground. She kicked his helmet to knock him out and Kren did the same to the other guard. Then the three went inside.

"Do you think we went too far?" Ancero asked.

"Not at all." Nawir replied. "We went just far enough.

When the watchpony saw the two strange ponies walk inside, he immediately shut the doors. "Woah woah woah. Who the hell are you?"

"I'm your worst nightmare." Nawir replied, giving the purple pony a death stare. "Unless you open these doors that is."

"Authorized personnel only!" he said, reaching for the panic button beneath the desk. His hoof met a magic sword and he looked at Ancero. Her face turned rough and rugged, the intent to kill in her eyes.

Nawir grabbed the pony out of the booth and flung them at the iron door of the barracks. BANG! "Oh that felt great," Nawir smiled, "haven't done that in sooo long."

After Ancero returned the sword, she glared at Nawir. "Smash the damn doors!"

"And hurry!" Kren added.

"Alright alright, calm down you nags." Nawir said as he effortlessly punched the first door off of it's hinge. "As long as there isn't an alarm built into these, we're perfectly- FINE!" he shouted as he punched the second. "Now where's the lift?"

Kren stepped in front of her friends and felt the ground with her hooves for a few seconds. "Right here, this is the center of the block."

"Okay, one of you two grab me so I don't fall." Ancero picked up the Earth Pony as he prepared to smash the ground and Kren transformed into a Pegasus, sending her armor flying.

Hovering just a couple inches off of the ground, Nawir punched the concrete floor, and it crumbled to pieces. Without delay, Ancero flew Nawir down and Kren followed close behind. At the bottom of the concrete elevator shaft, a new group of guards had heard the noise and had their weapons drawn, and pointing towards the entrance.

When they were just above the bottom, Kren transformed back into a unicorn and dropped the rest of the way, Ancero threw Nawir towards the guards, then followed up herself with her sword out. Kren grappled with another unicorn over a sword with their magic, eventually overpowering the other then slamming the hilt into their helmet, knocking them out. She then dueled a second guard, who was a perfect match for her. Nawir stood on his rear legs and punched out to both of his sides, each hoof connecting to a guard, sending them flying into the walls on either side. Then he picked up a third guard and slammed him into the ceiling with enough force to crush a car. Ancero swung her sword around, intentionally missing exposed flesh on the final two guards. She slammed over the top of the helmet with the flat of the blade then hilt bashed the other's chest, taking both of them out of commission. Kren was still struggling with her second guard, so Nawir came over and slapped him, making him go limp and unresponsive.

"Oh my, Nawir! I think you killed that one!" Kren shrieked.

Nawir looked down at his hoof. "Shit. Didn't see that coming."

Ancero waved them away from the guard in question. "Get Chase, I'll make sure he's okay."

"Which cell?" Nawir asked, eyeing them all up.

"That one, with the door in front of it and the extra locks." Kren said, pointing at the over-protected cell.

Nawir pushed the table aside then punched open the door, shattering the hinges. For a moment when he locked eyes with the pony, Nawir was taken aback. "No way." he whispered under his breath. "Ch-Chase? What did they do to you?"

The black pony looked up and cracked an eye open, it was glazed over and entirely red, though it was difficult to tell in the low lighting. He opened his mouth as if to say something, then hung his head in defeat.

"He looks so different, are we sure this is him?" Nawir asked Kren.

Kren nodded. "We both had the same reaction when we saw him, I know it's him."

Nawir got closer to the pony and rested a hoof on one of the spikes lodged in his leg. He jiggled it around as much as he could, the only response Chase offered was cracking open an eye.

"We'll get you out of this buddy, we'll fix you up. Then we can go out for a drink when this is all over, on me." Nawir tried to laugh at his own joke but only offered tears.

"Hurry up Nawir!" Kren shouted.

Nawir shook his head. "Right, we don't have time to mess around. I'm sorry if this hurts." He grabbed one spike and ripped it out of the wall, the leg it had pinned slumped downwards. He did the same to the other spike and removed the bonds on the lower legs, then found one on Chase's neck and undid it, freeing the pony entirely.

"Good news, the guard is alive!" Ancero said cheerfully as she entered the cell. The instant she caught sight of Chase, her heart dropped. "No." she whispered.

"Ancero, you carry Nawir back up, I'll get Chase."

Ancero nodded and wiped away tears. She flew over to the shaft and waited for Nawir to join her. Then she picked him up and flew out. Kren meanwhile transformed back into a pegasus and grabbed Chase's back as well as she could, but she was definitely not strong enough to carry him out, so she simply dragged him to the elevator shaft and dug around in the unconscious guards' pockets for the metal square. Then she set it down on the elevator and stomped it. She rode the elevator all the way up with Chase.

When they all met back up at the top, Ancero looked around. "That must be the cafeteria where Darim is. Nawir, since you're stronger, carry Chase to your house. Kren, I want you to help take care of him, he needs food and water immediately. I'll go in and get Darim."

"Okay." Kren and Nawir said in unison. Nawir slung Chase over his back with Kren's help before the two of them set off. Ancero then headed towards the cafeteria. As she approached the door, Darim happened to be leaving. Other than a new black eye, he had no visible injury.

"Are you okay?" Ancero asked.

"Fine, I got the brawl started, is everything else going according to plan?" Darim inquired.

"Yes, just need to get you out."

"Good." The two of them headed for the front door, but were stopped by a lone guard pony.

The guard stood prominently with pristine armor and a sword at their hip. "By the order of Queen Dusk, I must either slay you both right here, or put you behind bars. Make your choice now!" the white Earth Pony drew his glistening sword with his teeth.

"Solar?" Darim asked shocked.

"Solar what the hell, let us past." Ancero cried.

Solar Rain shook his head.

Ancero took out her sword.

Darim put a hoof across her chest. "No, this is my fight."

Ancero returned the sword before talking. "But you can't use magic here, remember?"

"I don't need magic, I'll distract him, you slip past, I'll meet you back at Nawir's house."

"What? No! He'll kill you!"

"TRUST ME ANCERO!" Darim shouted, shooting her a glare.

She nodded and added a quiet "okay."

"Solar, I don't want to fight you, but if I need to, I won't go easy on you." Darim lowered his head and charged straight at his friend. Solar stood his ground, analyzing the situation, confused at his friend's sheer stupidity. He dipped the end of the blade lower and took one step sideways so Darim would pass on the blade's side. When Darim got to Solar, he flicked the hilt of the sword down, bringing the Blade up. The blade caught Darim's horn, tilting his head back and eventually flipping him over. Ancero tried to glide past, but Solar was ready for it, he put a hoof on Darim's chest to keep him from getting up then threw the sword at the Pegasus, causing a massive gash in her side. Within seconds, blood coated the floor where she crashed down. "Ancero!" Darim screamed.

"Easy to take down as always." Solar said snarkily. "Now it's your turn."

"Are you serious? We're trying to help the kingdom here!"

"No, you're killing it!"

"But you know about the old world griffons! They'll kill us all!"

"Your friends here are the cause of the reverted griffons!" he emphasized the word 'reverted' as if it was an insult.

"You can't prove it!"

"I can't, but Queen Dusk can. Any pony associated with Ancero and her friends is to be killed on sight. They're terrorists Darim. But you can't know that, they brain washed you!"

Darim struggled out from under the hoof and back onto his own. "You imbecile!" Darim tried another charge, but Solar was easily able to get his hoof under Darim's chest, and kick him. This knocked all the air from his lungs and sent him sprawling.

"I'm sorry Darim, I really didn't want to do this to you. But I have no choice, it's for the safety of the innocent." Solar said in monotone as he walked towards Darim, picking up the sword from Ancero's limp body.

"What's wrong with you? They did something to you!" Darim cried desperately, scrambling away from his friend.

Solar smirked. "Promotion." he managed to say around the sword. Then he quickly spun his head so the point was aiming downwards and stabbed at his friend's exposed stomach.

"NO!" Darim shrieked, putting up both hooves and closing his eyes in reaction. There was a strange bloop and a moment of silence before he opened his eyes. Around him was a transparent blue sphere. "What? Magic?"

Solar tried swinging the sword at the bubble, trying to break it, or get this sword through, but it didn't work.

"I must be outside the anti-magic forcefield!" Darim stood up and glared at Solar. He wasn't fully sure what happened still as he was a solid two or three meters past the doors still.

"Damnit." Solar said after he spat the sword out. "What the hell is this?" he was panting from the flurry of attacks.

Darim looked between Ancero's limp body and Solar before deciding to grab Ancero and leave, the blue shield around him the whole time. "Next time, decide to be on the right team!" Darim shouted behind him.

13: Answers

"Make room, make room!" Darim shouted at Nawir and Kren. He wiped away some leaves and other debris from the ground and dropped Ancero's limp body on the spot. He used his magic to teleport a bag of medical supplies from his cabinet at home to right in front of him. Frantically, he began work on the mare.

"What happened?" Kren asked, gagging when she caught sight of the blood. "It's horrible! I've never seen anything worse!"

Nawir poked his head over Darim's shoulder and watched his hooves and magic operate the tools for a bit. "Dude that's nasty!"

"Can you two shut up? Step back and let me fix her."

"But, this area is so unsanitary!" Kren complained.

"I'm sorry, would you rather I carry a wanted fugitive through town to my nice clean operating table in my house at least a day and a half walk from here?"

"Fugitive?" Kren asked herself quietly.

"Wouldn't the blood trail lead them to us though?" Nawir argued.

Darim sighed. "I suppose you're right, if we went to my house the bleeding would likely stop around the halfway point."

"Then let's go!"

Darim stopped for just a moment to glare at Nawir before returning to the operation. "The bleeding would stop because she'd be out of blood you idiot, dead."

"Oh, that does make more sense." Nawir trailed off, feeling really bad about his suggestion.

"Now, do either of you know anything about botany?" Darim asked, continuing his work.

Kren nodded. "I dabbled in it a bit in college."

"Of course you did." Darim mumbled, "Alright then, I may run out of gauze and bandages so I might need some Lamb's Ear and Marsh Woundwort."

"Okay, I'll get you as much as I can find." Kren immediately left the area to search for the plants.

"Good, and Nawir, do you know what poison ivy is?"

"Yeah." Nawir said suspiciously.

"Get me as many leafy plants as you can find that aren't Poison Ivy. This is going to be for a soft bedding, so if the plant has thorns or hurts you when you pick it up, don't bring it back."

"Okay!" Nawir bolted into the forest after Kren.

"Finally I can work in silence." Darim mumbled to himself. After about ten minutes of quietly working on Ancero, he heard a strange wheezing from behind him. Darim turned around to see Chase, watching intently. "Right, I forgot about you, Chase. Don't worry, once Ancero is stable, I'll help you. You could probably make it a few days without help, but she might not even make the hour."

Another half an hour passed, and Darim was about empty on gauze. He managed to stitch the wound shut and wrap her body in several layers of gauze to catch any more bleeding, after some minor cleaning with some chemicals. He just hoped there wasn't much contamination from the woods and his hooves.

Behind Darim was the sound of several sticks snapping, and he turned around to see Kren return. She had taken the form of a unicorn and had a single plant suspended in the air above her in her magic. "I couldn't find any Woundwort, but I found a single plant of Lamb's Ear."

"Thank you, I'm honestly surprised you found even that. Now I need clean water to wash my hooves in, after that I can start work on Chase."

"I saw a creek about five minutes walk from here, is that water clean enough?"

"We don't know what's upstream. Look for a well or spring that looks clean, otherwise go as far upstream as you can."

"Okay." Kren left, just to be replaced by Nawir, who had a whole mess of leaves lying on his back.

"I got you some leaves and plants."

Darim took the mess with his magic and spread it out along the ground in a large blanket. "Thank you, I'm not seeing anything dangerous in here, so you did good. Can you lift her onto the pile please? I need to save some energy."

"Gotcha." Nawir said, walking over to Ancero. He gently lifted her up and stood on his rear legs.

"Don't touch her wound, and don't let it touch the leaves. We can't risk any more contamination."

Nawir set his friend down as gingerly as he possibly could on the leaves. "So, is she gonna make it?"

"I hope so. I've never seen an injury that bad, and I've seen some shit."

Nawir looked over at Chase, who watched them quietly. "You gonna help him?"

"Yeah, I just need cleaner hooves."

"Anything I can do?"

"Umm. Get some rocks and make a ring a few feet away from Ancero, then make a campfire in the middle, we'll definitely be here for a while."

"Aye aye."

After only a few minutes, Nawir had gotten a small campfire blazing and Kren brought back a bucket of clean water. Darim dunked his hooves in the water and scrubbed off all of the blood that he could before holding them near the fire to dry and bake off any leftover contaminants.

"Alright, question time." Darim said as he rubbed the Lamb's Ear leaf up and down one of Chase's wounds. "What's up with the weird magic type stuff you guys can do? Ancero's sword, Nawir's gauntlets, Kren's shapeshifting, and what does Chase have?"

Nawir cleared his throat. "It's an old technique of magic that any species can learn, Earth Pony, Pegasus, Unicorn, even non ponies can if they meet the requirements. It used to be called 'Weapons Magic' but was changed to 'Illusion Magic' during the Great War due to new research done at the time. The magic is a manipulation of the fourth dimension to alter this reality. Also, Chase's ability is that he is able to manipulate body and muscle mass to enhance his physical characteristics for combat. He can basically shift the fourth dimension to make him stronger or faster to an unparalleled level."

Darim used his magic to hold a stick on either side of Chase's leg and wrapped some gauze around it. "You mentioned requirements for the magic, what are they?"

"From the research done, the creature needs to be open-minded about the impossible, smart enough to comprehend the fourth dimension, and have the 'Coju gene'. Coju being an ancient word for illusion. This gene is a recessive trait so it tends to skip several generations from time to time, although it doesn't need to as the creatures with this gene age extremely slowly."

Darim began work on the next leg. "I see, Kren, form a shelter over the fire so the light doesn't spread out as far."

"Okay." Kren did as she was commanded, making sure to leave big enough holes for airflow.

"Is this Illusion Magic affected by null-magic fields?"

Nawir looked at Kren, and she offered up the answer. "Only extremely powerful ones being actively monitored and empowered by somepony more powerful than the Illusion Magic user."

"I see. Could you explain a little more about your specific powers?" Darim queried.

"Ancero can create a sword that's basically an extension of herself, she swings her head around for show, she doesn't really need to. Kren creates his gauntlets which multiply his power immensely. I am able to shift into the form of any pony I know the name and face of. And Nawir told you Chase's."

"Right right." Darim paused his surgery just shy of the end to process the information. "So, why did Solar call us fugitives?"

Kren and Nawir locked eyes, both of them shook their heads. "We don't know." Nawir began. "Who was it that said we were fugitives?"

"Solar told me that Queen Dusk said we were fugitives to be killed on sight."

"Maybe she thinks we're the cause of the reverted griffon attacks?"

"Okay." Darim went back to work and finished up Chase's bandages. "One last question." He turned around and locked eyes with Nawir. "How old are all of you?"

"Not too old, 25 for me and we're roughly the same age."

Darim turned to Kren. "He's lying, isn't he?"

"What? Why would I-."

"Be quiet Nawir, I want Kren's answer. How old are you?"

Kren swallowed nervously. "We were, uhh. Born before the war."

"I knew it!"

"Knew what?" Nawir butted in.

Darim glared at him. "I knew you all were older than you wanted me to know! My great great great grandfather, the one I was named after, wrote a letter before he died. He told me that his squad abandoned him, 5 ponies left him to die. Although I don't remember the names he wrote down because I threw the note away when I was a colt, I do remember he mentioned immortal ponies with unimaginable powers! Not to mention, when Solar asked Ancero her age when we just met, she insisted it stay a secret. She's also able to switch between silly and serious in an instant, making me think the innocent goofy mare was just a ploy. Plus Kren is clearly more experienced in theater than any pony her age should be."

Nawir and Kren kept quiet.

Darim looked at the sky and saw that the moon was already a significant way through the sky. "I suppose we should go to sleep now. I made sure Chase and Ancero are stable enough to last at least the night."

"I'll keep lookout tonight." Nawir offered.

"Although I won't stop you, I have a strong feeling we won't be needing a lookout tonight, we've made enough preparations to not be noticed."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Plus we haven't been getting much sleep lately due to all of our travelling, I'd rather have no lookout at all than a tired one that doesn't notice anything."

"Okay."

"I have some questions to ask Ancero tomorrow. Mostly about that fifth pony mentioned in the letter." Darim settled down and promptly went to sleep.

Kren looked at Nawir worriedly. "You don't suppose he'll come out tonight, do you?"

Nawir put a hoof to his chin. "I sure hope not. It'll be easier if he doesn't, but I think he probably will."

"I was afraid of that."

"There's only one way to find out. Wake up in the morning and find out." Nawir stood on his rear legs and stretched all fours before plopping down backwards. "Good night Kren."

"Hm. Good night, Nawir." Kren said with a tang of worry in her voice.

8 1/2: Eviction

Knock knock knock A Royal Guard tapped his hoof on the wooden door to a house. The address specified by a list he was given by the King. He quickly glanced over the information provided while he waited for the residents to respond.

"How may I help you?" A slightly-larger-than-a-pony sized griffon asked as he opened the door.

"Ah yes, is this the, oh wow, the 'the Griffon' household?" the guard questioned, adding "What a terrible last name." under his breath.

"Yes it is. Why, exactly?"

The guard looked down at the ground and sighed before making eye contact. "I've been sent here by King Dawn. Under a new brinkmanship ordinance, griffons are temporarily banished from the Pony Kingdom."

"What? But, we just moved in!"

"I'm sorry sir, but those are the rules. The King understands that there may be issues with this. When the ordinance is lifted, contact the King and he will immediately send you and your family compensation."

"We don't have the money to integrate back into the Griffon Kingdom! We spent all that we had."

"I'm sorry sir, but you have 24 hours to flee the country before the Royal Guard and Night Guard are allowed to kill you and your family."

The griffon was taken aback. "Only twenty four hours? My wife is about to lay a clutch of two eggs, and we're so far from the border! How do you expect a man like me to escort his pregnant wife to the border in a day?"

"The most I can do for you is extend it to 36 hours in your case specifically due to the pregnancy. If you need additional aid, you must seek audience with the King, although he will likely turn you away."

"But, why?"

"There have been attacks on the Pony Kingdom by griffons, ones from the Great War."

"Ferals? In the modern world? Preposterous."

"I'm sorry sir. But you have been warned. I'm afraid that I have to mark down this meeting."

"Can't you do anything?"

The guard pony caught sight of the female griffon standing behind her husband and nearly began crying. "No sir. I already gave you an extra twelve hours."

"Fine." The griffon spat. "Hon, we're leaving."

"What?"

"We have to leave the Pony Kingdom. Are you ready for a long walk?"

"I don't know if I can make it to the border. There's no way little Grizelda will stay in until then."

The Royal Guard cleared his throat. "I'm sorry. I really am." tears started rolling down his face.

The father griffon saw this and guilt rushed over him. He hugged the guard to reassure him. "You did all that you could. Thank you for that. I understand that you're just doing your job."