Silentwing tipped her left wing avoiding a flight of arrows so narrowly that she felt two brush her outer feathers. Spells and arrows flew along deadly paths downing friend and foe alike. Silentwing used what little magic she had to protect her unborn fledgling and her skill as a flyer to avoid the deadly rain of arrows and spells. So far everything was going alright for her. She saw the spark of a spell rise to meet with Flashfire, her wing leader, ending his life in a shower of heat and flames. At this altitude any fall was deadly. Silentwing twisted away from one spark and did not see the one that followed. She felt the impact hitting her spell and silently wept for the loss of her child. Silentwing fell, her senses reeling she fell as a stone tossed into the air, without her wings she was just a large weight in the sky.
Silentwing groaned upon waking, she was alive and the feeling in her body said that her fledgling had survived but she hurt. Memory was slow to return to her but as it did she knew her mistake. She opened her golden eyes and winced at the bright light from the morning sun. Silentwing was a night flyer. Father had made her and her fellows, her line was the combination of Falcon-Owl and snow leopard. Her coat and feathers were not however the classic white coat with black markings, Father had reversed them making her coat solid black with white spots and chevrons to break up her profile. She winced as she stood and saw how she had landed. For some reason she had hit shallowly and the line in the rich soil proof that what she felt was real. Silentwing took stock of her body starting with her rear limbs. Her feline half felt battered but no breaks or sprains, she had enough of those in her past to know that she was fine. She eased her wings out careful of the delicate structures but again, other than a few twinges she felt she could fly. her front was alright as well save for her right talon, the middle talon felt broken. Carefully she splinted it after the painful aligning the bone putting her kit away she began her stretches limbering up for flight. with a mighty leap skyward and one great down stroke of her powerful wings and she was in the sky. Being a gryphon she had to maintain forward motion to fly, hovering was out so when she saw the area she had landed in was not the torn fields of the war but was an orchard of apples she had to glide. This was not anyplace she had heard about. Silentwing had been born during the war having never known peace in her young life. She also felt the need to nest. She looked for and found an appropriate tree and began to weave her nest.
She made the base out of flexible willow branches. The sides she made out of the apple tree twigs lining the whole thing with leaves to create a soft layer for her egg. Silentwing knew the time was nearing for her to lay her child and there was a sense of urgency in her mind. As a final touch she wove a separate nest inverting it to create a roof to protect from the elements. Just as she was a bout to settle in for the night she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen. the time had come.
Applejack walked slowly through the west orchard looking at each tree with a critical eye. AJ as her friends sometimes called her lightly bucked the base of one tree catching the falling apple to look at critically checking it for flaws and ripeness. a few more weeks and this side of Sweet Apple Acres would be ready for harvest. AJ turned to head back home when she heard a strange squawk coming from deeper in the trees. Running to the sound she rotated her ears listening for the sound once again hearing it. the largest tree in the west orchard she saw what looked like a nest at the top. when a dark wing moved at the edge of the nest she knew something was up. She turned and ran back to the house then to the castle after letting Big Mac know that she would be gone for a while. She went to Twilight's castle.
"Twi," she called out as she ran into the Cutie Mark Map only to find it empty. A quick run to the castle library and she found her friend, "Twilight, can you take a look at something for me?"
"What is wrong AJ," Spike asked yawning right after his question.
"There is some kind of winged creature in one of my apple trees."
"What are you talking about Applejack," Rainbow Dash walked in also yawning.
"I tell you now that there is a nest in one of my trees and a wing hanging out the side. Some weird noises were coming from the thing as if it was in pain. Can you check it out?"
"Sure," Rainbow shot out of the nearest window streaking to the huge orchard and the large nest came into view. Rainbow slowed to a hover when a dark griffin took flight and winged towards the Everfree Forest. Rainbow moved closer and saw the large grey egg with a few white spots