Daring Do and the Griffin's Seed

Daring Do plunged out the window and into the moonlight. Finally the pegasus was out in the open air. She flapped furiously and felt herself gaining altitude but something was wrong. Her alulas fluttered and her primaries began to separate dangerously. “Don't stall don't stall, don't stall!” she cried in the night air. She wobbled in flight. Despite her increased wing power the mare hadn't flown in the open air in nearly a year. Now she had a great unknown weight in her belly. She could barely maintain altitude without pitching up and stalling.

Then she was struck by something entirely different. Her abdomen clenched in pain and she doubled-over in flight. It was her first contraction! This sent her into a spin. She dropped down and down and down. “Remember what Lieutenant Thunder said, Daring,” she said to herself, “Pitch down gently and let your wings recover.” The pegasus felt another contraction as she spiraled down. The moon glittered on the sea below her as it got closer and closer. Far below she could see a strip of silver coming down the cliff. It was the waterfall! She tried to aim for its base. A moment before impact she flared and touched down roughly in sand. Her hooves dug in and she stumbled to her knees.

The clear water roared down into a pool on the beach directly in front of her. She bent her head and drank deeply of the cool water. Another contraction struck her but she ignored it. She panted and sat on her haunches in the sand. Then she realized there was warm liquid soaking into the sand between her legs. “Oh nononononono!” she said, “I'm totally not ready for this.” Her water had broken already. She'd never be ready to greet her monstrous child but at least her foal would be born in freedom. She could feel it turning inside her. The sensation sent strange shudders through her.

She felt a sharp pang of love run through her body that fought back the fear. Though lost, she was free now and far from anypony. Her body told her she was ready to give birth. It was her heart that wasn't ready to greet the strange child. It would be a creature of a sort Equestria hadn't seen in centuries. Her contractions were less than two minutes apart. Soon there would be either hooves or claws protruding from her marehood. She didn't know which and was terrified by the very idea.

Far above a dark figure wrapped in inky wings stood upon the battlements of the ancient castle. He swirled dark wine in his glass and listened to the sound of the waterfall and the surf far below. Among the sounds of nature he heard a different sound. It was a strange wild cry.

“Aah, my child, a child not seen in Equestria in perhaps a thousand years,” he said to the surrounding night, “I have brought you to life and set you free. I would not be a fit parent, megalomaniac that I am. I would not have my child raised by a griffin such as I nor one like my own father.” He raised his glass toward the moon. “To you, father, and to the crocodile I fed your sorry carcass to. I still keep her as a pet in my garden in your memory. If ever you escape from Tartauros I'll send you back again the very same way.”

Another wild cry sounded far below. It was a wild screech that could only come from a great predatory beak. “Grow and learn my child,” Ricardo said, “Become strong and free in the company of your mother. Live the adventurous life I never could in my youth. Live and grow and become powerful.”

“Perhaps you will find me again some day. You may join me by my side or be a great foe. I do not care. I care only that I have brought such a creature as you into the world. You shall be the best child I could ever have. Even if you ultimately destroy me you shall always be my beloved child.” He took a long sip of wine and saluted the night.