The New Griffon Empire

The princesses stand on the balcony of the royal castle, looking down at the encroaching army of griffons.

"They're coming." Twilight comments.

"Yes... I hadn't thought their new leader would do this." Celestia says as she stares at the approaching griffons, both in the air and on the ground.

"We can't let them into the city, it would be too dangerous." Twilight says as she moves next to Celestia.

"Yes, sister, let us confront them now to protect our citizens." Luna says.

"I would hope that this will have a peaceful resolution, but I fear Avian won't listen to reason." Celestia says.

She arcs her wings and takes to the sky, the other princesses follow suite and they land a distance away from the front line of the griffons. A number of which bare their clawed talons and screech at them, but in the back, a huge griffon, twice the size of any of the others, stands firm, glaring at the princesses with an unfounded hatred. He raises his talons, and gives a silent order to stand down with his prosthetic iron claws.

"What is the meaning of this!" Celestia demands.

"We have long since regressed from our once glorious past as predators and rulers of this land our glorious nation turned into ruin and dust! And somehow your weak and pathetic kind has come to rule over us!" Lord Avian states, "But no more! We have decided to stake our claim on all of you, as our prey." Avian Finishes with a prideful smirk.

"We are not prey!" Twilight yells in outrage, "We're not something that you can do with what you want!"

"Twilight." Celstia says to her for the outburst.

Twilight looks away and takes a moment to calm herself before looking back.

"Bold words for such a small creature," Avian says loudly, "But you are in no position to make any sort of impact on what will happen next, warriors! Attack! Kill them all!"

The front line of griffons screech as they take to the air, armed with maces and axes. The first battalion swoops down at them, ready to take them out. But they are stopped in their tracks as Twilight raise a magical shield around them. The griffons slam into it full force, ignoring their own pain as they repeatedly slam themselves into the shield to weaken it.

"G-GAH! I can't hold it for long!" Twilight says loudly, straining to keep the shield up as more and more griffons attack.

Celestia charges her horn and gives Luna a stern look. She nods in understanding and charges her horn as well. They turn to be face-to-face with one another, and connect their horns to add more power. As they start to glow with a strong magical aura, the shield starts to crack and weaken under the assault. Twilight's face contorts from the strain of keeping the spell active as a light starts to grow from behind her. The griffons attacking stop and cover their eyes as the light grows blindingly bright. Several rings of magic form around the shield charging it and sending electricity sparking across the surface.

In the back of the griffon horde, Avian arcs a brow as he watches a show of their power unfold.

The shield then shrinks slightly and rapidly expands, vaporizing the closest griffons instantly and sending the rest flying across the sky, landing hard and shifting the dirt as the slide across the grass they landed on.

As the light's clear, Twilight's panting hard and Celestia is helping her up. Avian motions for a cart within his legion to come closer.

Luna then steps up, "Do you see the power we contain?! You cannot defeat us Avian!"

As she finishes shouting, the royal guard mobilizes and moves to protect the tired princesses from further harm. Many unicorns and earth ponies form a blockade in front of them as the pegasi brigade takes to the air and prepares to fight the bigger, stronger griffons.

Lord Avian only laughs hard at her and their weak army, "That is rich! You honestly believe I came her without making a plan for all of you!?"

The cart stops right in front of Avian and he tosses a cloth cover aside revealing a huge green rock, nearly as large as a griffon.

"No..." Twilight whispers.

Avian then hefts the boulder up in his claws, showing just how strong his muscles are. His troops move to the side and give him a clear shot as he launches the rock directly at the princesses.

The front line unicorns attempt to crate a magic barrier to block it, but it fizzles out the as the boulder flies at them, several troops are hit directly as it continues to fly forward. Luna dives to the side as Celestia grabs Twilight and does the same, narrowly avoiding being hit by the dense rock. It continues to roll through the back lines, crushing a mare in the process, staining the rock with a sheen of red.

Avian and several of his forces laugh loudly as the pegasi start to have trouble staying airborne and begin to drift back down to the ground, eventually the start to pick up speed and call out for help. They desperately try to flap their wings to slow down. The remaining grounds troops attempt to catch them, many of the pegasi are still hurt badly from the fall. More than half of Celestia's troops are wounded, or even dead, a few of which fell on discarded weapons and got impaled on spears propped in various ways, from speared clean through the chest, to a head that was ripped clean off and got stuck halfway down the spear's shaft.

As they rise and recover from the sudden loss, Avian walks over to them and picks Luna up by the neck with his iron claw, "Heh, heh, heh..." He says slowly, "So much for your precious magic."

Several troops charge at him, but they are quickly tackled by the many griffons in the area, one griffon continues to snap his beak at a mare's face to strike fear into her, and it works, she begs for help and struggles to get free, but without her earth-pony strength, she's as strong as a foal.

Luna struggles in Avian's grip, but the stone is quickly sapping a great deal of her strength, along with her magic. Celestia stands and moves in front of Twilight, hiding her behind a wing.

"Let go of her Avian!" Celestia demands.

He only growls and slaps her with the back of his other talon, sending her a few feet away from the impact. Avian motions his troops to come closer, and a formal looking griffon brings a fancy looking case, he opens it and presents the contents to Lord Avian.

Inside are four iron collars, with a number of green stone spikes embedded in each one. He takes one out of the box and fastens it around Luna's neck before dropping her carelessly to the ground. He picks up Twilight next, his talon wrapping nearly all the way around her chest.

"H-how?" She asks in his grip.

"Spies." Avian growls as he fastens another collar to her neck.

He tosses her towards Luna, slamming right into her and making them both yelp in pain as he picks up Celestia.

She remains limp as he fastens her collar, upon closer inspection, she's fallen unconscious. Avian chuckles and tosses her to the moaning princesses pile.

"Put them in the cages," Avian commands his steward, "As for the rest of you! Take a few carts and start rounding up the livestock, dead, or alive!"

"Leave nothing behind but ruins and blood!" Her roars out, earning cheers from his soldiers.

They quickly disperse, a convoy going in each direction to capture as many ponies as they can.

Avian stands proudly, his plan worked, without the princesses to get in his way, he and his kind could finally ascend to their true calling. He walks over to the bloody green rock and hefts it up, carrying it back to it's cart. Avian sets it down and looks around at the catch so far.

Two carts full of nothing but earth ponies, crammed in like cattle waiting for slaughter and all of them are against the iron bars of the cages and each other. He grabs hold of both cages and shakes them hard, delighting in how afraid his cattle sounds. He stops after a moment to look at the other carts.

The next one is full of what's left of the casualties on both sides, the flattened mare and severed limbs, along with a few dead griffons that hit the ground too hard. He picks up the severed leg of a pony and starts to gnaw on it as he heads to the next cart.

This cart is filled with pegasi, most of which are still trying to flap their wings to get into the air, but only manage to make a gentle breeze. He pops the skeletonized leg of the pony he was eating through the bars, terrifying them and making them back away on instinct. He snarls at them as he passes, striking more fear into them. The last two cages hold the princesses and the unicorns, each of the princesses are chained to the bars of their cage, preventing any movement, though they were practically powerless, he wasn't going to take any chances.

The unicorns continuously try to cast spells, only for them to rebound and give themselves headaches. Eventually they give up and wait silently for whatever is to come. He turns back to the princesses and rattles the cage to get their attention, though Celestia limply shakes from it.

"This is my world... I stand now on the brink of absolute dominion of your pathetic race." Avian growls through the bars, "Your worthless kind will learn it's place, serving our every need, be it food, or pleasure and you will do it."

Twilight quietly sheds tears as fear grips her, Avian was ruthless and no doubt he had special plans for all of them. Her only hope is that somehow her friends could find a way to overthrow him.

Hours pass as he waits for his forces to return, by the time the last group has returned the sun is setting.

The carts they brought back are filled with many maimed and unconscious ponies of all races, though many of them are still ok to walk and stand on their own. With the return of the last few carts Avian takes a seat on a larger cart to address his troops, "Warriors! You have done well, our catch is most plentiful and tonight we will feast well!"

The griffons cheer and praise Lord avian for his leadership as the carts are pulled down the road, Avian lies back in his cart and relaxes after a long day, forcing his servants to pull his cart along. As they begin to leave he motions his commanders to come over, the approach and await his orders.

"Status report, how many were captured?" Avian asks them.

"Very well milord, I estimate an eighty-seven percent capture rate." One of them says.

"Unacceptable!" Avian screeches, rising up to look at them, "Congratulations, you just volunteered to lead the raids to round up the last of them."

"M-me?!" The male griffon squawks, "B-but I'm only the sub-commander!"

"Well then congratulations, you're now a commander too, and I expect results, if a single raid fails to bring me something of value, don't bother returning." Avian commands.

"V-very well sir, I won't let you down." He says.

The newly promoted commander flies off to the rest of his unit to spread the news of their orders. Avian dismisses the remaining commanders and lies back in his cart preparing to take a nap before they reach their home.

Some time later as griffonstone comes into view, the many unconscious ponies start to stir awake, many fearing for their lives from the sight of the cage's surrounding them. Near the front of the line of cages is the ones that went to ponyville, and inside one, Applejack was stirring awake, questioning how she got here.

"Urrfhh...." Applejack moans, looking around groggily.

She was near the top of a pile of unconscious ponies, many of which she recognized. She lifts herself up, feeling worry wash over her that some of them might be dead. Her eyes shrink as she looks through the bars at griffonstone in the distance, a series of walls were build around the edges of the town, with a large gatehouse at the only entrance to the city. Many heavily armored griffons stand guard on the gate, watching for any signs of trouble. Applejack can only manage to tear her eyes away from the sight as another groan comes from behind her.

She turns to spot Lyra shifting the others around to free herself, she holds her head with a hoof near a spot that had dried blood stuck to her fur and mane. She looks at AJ, then around barely realizing where they were.

"H-how did... I get here?" Lyra asks tiredly.

"Ah don't know, but things sure ain't lookin good fer us." Applejack says, rubbing her head to try and recall what happened.

"They hit my head..." Lyra says, continuing to rub her head wound, "All I remember is these weird green stones on their weapons... I never felt so weak, like something was stealing my magic..."

"Ah heard from Twilight that there was a big green stone that stopped magic, but how did they git their grubby claws on em'?" Applejack asks herself.

Her thoughts are cut off by the sound of metal hitting metal from one of the griffons walking along side the cage, "Hey! Quiet down in there, no talking!"

Applejack bites her lip as she glares at him, she wants to put him in his place, but with those stones keeping her weak, she has no choice but to keep quiet for now. Lyra moves closer to AJ and holds her close, clearly afraid of what was going to happen to them soon. Applejack holds her back, and was keeping a brave face on, if she could get a chance to fight back and escape she would take it, but for now she needed to stay low and keep quiet. She looks back out past the bars, the first few cages were rolling past the gatehouse. The armored griffons that stand at the front gates are larger than the average griffons, and strapped to their sides are huge hammers that would require even them to use both claws to hold.

The inside of the city fares no better than the outside, a number of ruined buildings have been converted to massive cages, no doubt where they would be kept. All of the existing structures have metal plates welded on, reinforcing them from any impacts. The first building they pass is a blacksmith, working on forging more armor as what must be his assistant takes measurements of another muscle-bound griffon. They pass quickly enough and soon are pulled off to the side of the main road, the griffons smack their maces against the side of the cage, waking up a few of the ponies inside as they open the cage's door.

"All of you, out! One at a time!" An armored griffon shouts.

Applejack helps Lyra up over to the door and drops down with her close behind, a pair of griffons then take a long chain and connect one shackle to each one of their legs as another one takes the front and pulls them along. Several more ponies exit the cart and are pulled to a large open area where the largest griffon any of them has ever seen sits, one of talons is replaced with a metal claw with what looks like the same green gems from earlier imbedded in the back of the palm. As the remaining, ready to walk ponies are dragged into the open area the ones left in the cages, the dead are pulled off deeper into the city.

Finally the large griffon speaks, "Welcome slaves, to your new lives."

A round of whimpers and the sound of crying comes from the chained ponies as he speaks.

"I will only say this once, so listen well." He states, "You are all mine, you belong to me. And I will NOT tolerate disobedience."

"I am griffon Lord Avian, but to all of you, I, and by extension my race, we are your masters."

"Obey us and you may live long, but resist..." He chuckles darkly, "Let's just say, it wont end well for you."

He then motions for one of his armored guards to bring a heavily tied mare over. Judging by what can be seen of her she had fought long and hard before they captured her.

"As you can tell this wretch resisted our rule, and killed one of our own. And so I will make an example of her." With a wave of his claw she's thrust face first into the dirt.

"Teach her a lesson." He says to the guard.

The griffon growls and reaches for his weapon, an axe and brings it over her neck. The mare shivers as the touch of metal on her coat as he slides it across. He then shifts over to her bound fore-legs and raises his axe before striking it down, nearly slicing right through her bone. The mare shrieks and thrashes as he raises the axe again and strikes her leg again ,this time severing it completely and cutting her side as it moves past. He tosses the severed limb into the crowd and does the same with her other fore-leg, this time picking it up in his beak to lap at the blood drooling across it. The mare, now unable to move shivers and twitches as her blood rapidly drains from her, the griffon removes his helmet and looks to Avian for direction. He motions to the side and he drags her to a cart, but not before he starts to tear the flesh off the leg in his mouth, though it's clear he doesn't like the feel of the fur in his mouth. As he throws her into the cart she's stopped moving and her blood has run dry.

Lyra starts to sob loudly behind Applejack, unable to cope with what she was seeing. Applejack looks away too, thoroughly disgusted by the sight. The griffon returns to his kings side and puts his helmet back on before discarding what's left of his snack into the crowd as well.

"I think you've made your point." Avian says, laughing loudly, "And that is why you will do as your told, maybe, if your lucky, we'll kill you painlessly, maybe."

The rows upon rows of ponies are stunned, many of which hove vomited onto the dirt in their disgust. One daring pony even makes tries to run, but only tugs at the two ponies he's tied to.

"Commanders," Avian says, "I leave it to you to sort our cattle, once you've finished come to the castle to celebrate our success." The commanders nod and thank him for the trust he has put into them.

Lord Avian turns to leave, motioning for a still full cart to follow him, as well as the cart with the princesses. The commanders watch them as they head down the road to the very back of the city, to the castle they managed to build from metal plates and rubble of buildings that had fallen into disrepair.

With his departure the commanders quietly converse amongst each other, then turn back to the crowd.

A commander steps forward, "Everyone listen up!" The griffoness shouts.

"I am Freya!" She shouts, "High Commander of Lord Avian's vast armies, my words are as his, law."

"Any that are sick, wounded or too weak to work to the right, the rest, to the left!" She commands.

The ponies all look at her confused, some even rattling their chains to remind her that they can't do as she says.

She growls and drags her claws down her face, "Idiots! Start unchaining them and sort them!" She shouts at the guards.

Most of them yelp and get to work, inspecting each pony and telling them which way to go. Applejack, at the front of the line, is told to go to the left, much to her relief, though a life of hard labor didn't sound pleasing, it was better than any alternatives she'd seen so far. Lyra is also told to move to the left, and she moves next to Applejack.

"D-do you think we can get out of here?" She asks as quietly as possible.

"Ah don't know, there's too many to fight, an' they have those crystals keepin us weak." AJ whispers back.

She looks around, and spots a griffon eyeing her as he walks towards the High Commander. He gets her attention, much to her annoyance and he whispers something into her ear and points at Applejack.

She gulps hard and starts to sweat, was he turning her in for talking? The High commander turns and starts to walk towards her.

"You." Freya says, "State your name."

"W-well... it's uh... Applejack." She says timidly.

"Looks like you're right..." She says to the other griffon, "Inform the other commanders that I have more pressing matters to tend to."

"Right away, Ma'am" He says with a salute.

"So, why don't you come with me... Applejack." Freya says with a devilish grin.