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Chapter Twenty: The Fall of Gryphon (Part 1) (Pre-Beta)

[Current Date: 17/7 - 128 AD]

[Time Remaining. 14 Days]

Spathatos, known as Sword Bearer, was lying down on one of his merchant caravan's wagons. He was still pretty injured, with a limb and strain on his legs and neck. It would be a while until he was completely restored.

Currently, he was looking up at the cloudy sky, enjoying the soothing summer breeze, trying to relax. To his right was a bundle of medical supplies, to his left was a sleeping pegasus mare dressed in armor, clutching a poleaxe to her metal covered barrel. Cute Justice, his self proclaimed fiancee. Not something he had ever considered getting during his first trip s a merchant.

After the siege of Castle Cure, he and Cute Justice had spent a lot of time together, mostly because Cute Justice just would not leave his side, acting more like a love-struck bodyguard/marefriend than the tough and rough knight commander she actually was.

When he was good enough to leave Castle Cure to resume his journey had Cute Justice used the opportunity to insert herself and some knights as escorts. Conveniently were there some of the knights and civilians who were injured during the siege who needed better medical care than what Castle Cure to give. But mostly it was an excuse to stay by his side.

And funnily enough. He did not really mind. It felt... nice. Yeah. It felt nice to have someone who actually cared so deeply for you that they would stick around and take a leave of absence just to make sure you were fine, or to just stay near you.

Not to mention, she was a great lover, careful enough to ensure they both had fun even as injured as he was. By the Creator the way she moved her hips when...

Ah... And he'd ruined his good mood by making himself horny...

Sighing he shook his head clear of his randy thoughts. Who knew that experiencing sex for the first time would make even an adult like him act like a randy teenager? Well, there's not much else to it but try and let it abide.

Tilting his head he looked over the edge of the cart and smiled a little as he saw the large city of Baltimare in the far distance. Carefully he sat up, making sure to not move his left hind leg too much, and looked out as the train of wagons and troops moved towards the coastal town. The journey had taken a fair bit of time but they would soon reach the city.

He then winced slightly as he felt a strangle tingle through his body. Patting his chest, he tried to determine if he had been bitten by an insect.

Then he heard the screams. Jerking his head up, wincing slightly as the movement strained his body slightly, he could see several horses and ponies among the caravan suddenly clutching their bodies, in various places, and fall over screaming in agony. Beyond the caravan, similar screams were emerging from the city.

His eyes widened as he saw some of the skyships above the city suddenly wear and shift in an erratic pattern. Some of them slammed into other airships, some harder than others. Of which four pairs erupted into explosions of lightning and wood as more than likely the storm cloud array on the hulls had been cracked by the impacts.

Eight husks of destroyed airships fell like buildings upon the city itself, and pillars of smoke began to emerge as parts of the city caught fire.

Spathatos, still feeling the tingling sensation through his body, opened his mouth, and screamed out. "HALT! STOP THE CARAVAN! GET ALL OF THOSE IN AGONY OUT OF HARNESSES AND TO A SAFE PLACE WHERE THEY CANNOT HARM THEMSELVES!"

There was a short amount of panic and ruckus but all wagons were soon stopped. Ponies and horses were all being cared for as the disastrous situation in Baltimare kept going. But he knew that his caravan could not travel further, not with so many in it having such painful seizures.

As he contemplated this could the spartan merchant hear the voice of Cute Justice speak up from his side. "W-what's going on?"

He shook his head and looked at the chaos. "I don't know but it is bad."

[Scene Skip]

Within the walls of Canterlot within the Magical Academy, was utter chaos going on. All manners of magic users were running around in a frenzy. Something was going on and they had no clear ideas of what or how it was.

But amid the chaos was a young Horadrim Sage laying down on the floor of one of the larger labs, green sparks arcing out of his eyes, mouth, ears, nostrils, and other orifices. All around the chamber were collapsed ponies and horses, with several of those who had not collapsed trying to aid those who were twitching on the floor.

Young Ciaphas was letting out wailing ghostly cries, releasing bursts of different coloured energy from his body as he did so. Several parchments, books, and lab tools were either scorched, burning, melting, or torn asunder around him. His 'teacher' Holy Preacher, was putting out a force field around herself and his collapsed form to prevent the damage from spreading, all the while trying to calm him down by petting his head and speaking soothing words.

But neither the shield nor the attempted comfort was working. The young sage just kept releasing torrents of magical power as pain coursed through his entire body.

Bolts, blast, and beams of arcane energy were piercing through the forcefield before tearing the lab like a storm of destruction. Holy Preacher could not keep the force field around them too strong while keeping herself safe enough to comfort Ciaphas. She was forced to coat her hooves in magic as she touched and petted the screaming foal's head as to not have her pelt and flesh be seared by the rampant energies being released.

This uncontrolled magical eruption would last for over an hour, well beyond the short moment many others had just felt painful seizures. Several ponies and horses came to offer support for the foal, nothing seemed to help and many just resorted to help in keeping the rampaging energies Ciaphas was release from harming himself and those around him.

By the time it had ended was young Ciaphas unconscious, and yet astonishingly enough could no damage be detected, beyond his body experiencing magic exhaustion. But the mages and sages could confirm a very uncomfortable fact after the reports of the widespread chaos caused by the event reached them.

Something had caused a near species-wide internal magical backlash through the body and magic of most ponies and horses in the country, and for some untold reason had young Ciaphas taken the brunt of it. For no other horse or pony had been in pain for so long or had their magical control thrown into disarray.

Well. What they knew.

[Scene Skip]

Loud screeches of pain had been echoing out over the jungles of the northern coastline of the Dragonlands for well over an hour. Animals and birds alike had fled the area of which the screams were coming from in large numbers. But then the screams stopped and the jungle turned eerie silent.

The source of the screams had been a dark cavern within the dank jungles. And within them laid a lone figure, its body shaking and shifting as if in aftershocks of intense electrical shock. After a few moments opens a pair of clear amber eyes, agonizing pain filling them as their body spasms with the aftershocks of the seizures that had shaken its body to life.

A beak opens and lets out painful coughs and wheezes as air flows down a soar throat and into near-empty lungs. The prone figure curls into itself, trying to endure the painful shock going through its body.

"Haaaaaaaa(Cough)haaaaa(cough)(cough)haaaaa...." Slowly the pain began to decline, and the figure let out pain-filled coughs as it tried to regain air into unused lungs.

After five minutes the harsh breaths had calmed down and the sound of moving limbs could be heard as unused bones and muscles try to move. A body shuffles and turns, a loud thump of a heavy side hitting the ground, followed by limbs straining to push against the ground.

Then staggering steps can be heard. A clop, another, and then clicking, like that of birds talons tapping against a stone surface. The sound is uneven, as the person inside the cave is staggering. As if they had a bit of a problem moving.

A ray of sun lights hits a limb moving out of the cavern, it is a golden brown bird talon with three claws and one thumb claw. Following is not a set of feline paws, but a set of hooved legs on equine legs covered by dark brown fur.

But then a long sharp beak emerges from the darkness. Not curved like a falcon, much straighter and thicker, it was more like that of a crow's... or possibly a smaller bird. A pair of ocean blue eyes blinked as the head of pitch plack feathers emerged from the cavern into the sunlight. Along the upper throat of the bird head was a small tuff of thick brown feathers, two of which were sticking out almost like a thin goatee beard.

A mane of dark brown hair went down from the tip of the head to the base of the neck, the mane itself was braided in an uneven pattern, leaving some straight hair as well, a single bead on the left side on the front was decorated with stone, glass, and wooden beads, it was a very tribal design.

The rear horse body was a similar shade of dark brown, with a pitch-black mane tail, the cutie mark of a pirate flag with a bird skull with two sabers behind them, blue waves circling behind the black rectangular flag.

Squinting eyes looked up at the sun, as the hybrid of bird and pony features got out of the cave. Reaching up with a talon the hippogriff rubbed their eyelids with the soft parts of their fingers to soothe their strained eyes. After a minute the limb was lowered and the hybrid looked around the large empty glade near the cave entrance.

They then saw something through the trees, something that made their hearts skip a beat. they did not know why, but what they had seen a glimpse of was making them excited. Starting a light walk away from the cave they slowly moved past the dense trees and vegetation.

Soon they moved past the final line of thick leaves and vines and saw an amazing sight.

A hidden lagoon. Down, down, far down from the top of the cliffside they had stepped out on was a lagoon-like cove, large rocky walls leaving only a small strip of water leading into the hidden beach. It was a part of the jungle that had sunken down into a hole and left a walled-in coven in its place. And down there, standing on a sandbank, laid a large black ship, with furled sails and a single waving flag. The same flag as the one upon the hippogriff's flank, minus the blue waves behind said flag.

Taking a glance around they looked for a path down, but they saw none. But rather than seeking another way around, they looked back towards the edge before them, and a grin grew by their beak. And then they suddenly rushed forward and jumped out into the open air. As they jumped off they spread their wings, at an upward angle, and started flapping them as they tried to fly for the first time by an over thirty-meter drop.

They were not prepared for their jump, nor had they aligned their wings properly, and thus, began to spin and twist around like a rag doll in a tornado.

Letting out a startled squawk they tried to stabilize themselves the hippogriff tried to spread out their wings and align their lower body as straight as possible to gain equilibrium. There was a brief moment of panic as they kept spinning around, until a powerful gust of wind suddenly blew up from below and caught their wings, pushing them upwards and temporarily halting their descent.

Unknown instincts of a strange body acted and the hippogriff managed to stabilize themselves and began to slowly glide down in a long and drawn out circling descent. Happy to take the extra time to circle down rather than smashing into the ground like they nearly just did.

They saw the soft sands of the lagoon approach and held out their talons. Intent on using their forelegs as springs to dampen the impact of their landing as to land on all for.

That was the intended purpose at least. Their talons struck the soft sand, sank, and suddenly got caught in the weight of the sand as they sank to the joins of the forelegs' reverse elbows. Letting out another startled squawk the hippogriff found their forelegs stopping, but the rest of their body kept going, flipping them upside down before slamming into the sand, back first.

The momentum broke their forelegs out of the sand but ended up making them roll forward like a tumbleweed for about five meters until they finally slide to a halt, beak first in the sand.

They remained in that pose for a moment before slowly pushing themselves out of the sand and sitting up. Looking down on their forelegs they winced as they could see dark bruises where their limbs had struck the ground and gingerly rubbing them with the palms of their talons.

Wincing slightly in pain the hippogriff looked around the lagoon, hoping to find something to aid with the pain. But as they turned to the right their eyes widened, their heart stopped beating and all the pain in their body disappeared.

There, just a few meters away, stood the large black frame of the ship they had seen. Its black hull almost as dark as the night sky. With black painted sails, and no clear balloon nor rune network marking it as a skyship. With a galleon figure of an equine, a female, with the lower body of a fish. Clutching to its front was the mermaid-like equine grasping a large sphere.

Their eyes trailed the galleon figure for a moment until they started to trace the upper hull of the ship. But it was not long until they stopped as they saw the edge of a large wooden sign decorated with a rope carved frame with giant letters of gold come into vision.

Slowly the confused but joyous hippogriff opened their beak to speak. Only for a loud wheezing sound to emerge. The hippogriff frowned and coughed a bit, trying to speak out again. A frustrated look appeared on their face before they spotted something nearby, a coconut.

Getting an idea they slowly reached over and grabbed the hard-shelled nut, noting that it was a green coconut, not an old one. Reaching out with sharp talons they dug the sharp tips into the hard shell's tip and began to spin the nut around. It took around five minutes until there was a gentle thud as the strained talons finally craved off the tip.

But this had left the hippogriff's fingers and wrist aching from the effort. And so they let their strained talon rest on the ground, while with the other hoisted up the green coconut before opening their beak. And then held the coconut above their beak, hole down.

There was a sound of pouring liquid and a gulping dry throat as sweet coconut milk pouring out of the hole and into the hippogriff's open beak, who began to gulp down as much as possible. After a few moments, the coconut was empty and the hippogriff let the green fruit drop out of their talon and leaned back a bit, panting after not breathing for drinking without pause.

Once the delectable juices were emptied out of the shell the hippogriff dropped the coconut to the ground. Wiping their break dry with a foreleg they looked up at the boat's name sign once more, and slowly stood up. On hind legs. Opening their beak they tried to speak, and this time, words began to form. As a deep male voice emerged from their, no, HIS, throat.

"You... you are... you are mine... my ship... my treasure... MY Black Pearl." And then a slow chuckle begins to fill the lagoon until it breaks out into joyous if slightly unhinged, laughter.

[Scene Skip]

It was the middle of the day in the mountain range known as the Jaws of the Earth, in the siege encampment surrounding the southern half of the large city of Eggstone. And currently, within the command tent of the siege camp, was an elderly Horse Lord and Sage clutching his chest in pain, pressing his other hoof against the table to not fall over.

" Lord Asclepius! Is something wrong!?" The worried voice of a nearby pony officer cried out in distress at the sight of the powerful leader suddenly going into a near collapse.

"I-I don't know... hurts..." The elderly horse mutters as he clutches at his chest. One of the ponies reached out to touch him, only to pull back when a jolt of electrical energy shook their hoof.

Celestia quickly moved over to the old ruler and touched his body, ignoring the painful sensation of electrical shocks running through her hoof, and began to use her magic to both analyze him and to try and remove the cause of the pain.

After a few moments, the shocks stopped and the old Lord's breath got easier. He slowly straightened up and gave a grateful nod to Celestia. "Thank you for the aid, Celestia, I have no idea what was ha-"

Celestia held up a hood to stop him before he could finish and gave him a stern look. "We did nothing. Even as We tried to determine the cause of your pain and remove it, We could not find it. It was like your body was forcefully emitting large amounts of electrical currents from your magical core into your nerves. It lasted for but a moment. And though it was clearly painful, could We not see what was causing it. But it could very well have been lethal had it not ended."

Cursed Blessing opened his mouth, closed it, closed his eyes, and let out a soft breath. He then opened his eyes and nodded. "Ah... I see. Thank you still, Princess."

Then a messenger came running into the tent. "We got news! Several of our forces have experienced a sudden surge of pain, over four dozen have collapsed!"

Celestia looked towards the officers by the table, horses and ponies alike looking at each other with worried eyes. "Call the medics. Have all who experienced the pain checked up. Do no-"

But her words were interrupted once more when ten soldiers carrying Comm Orbs came running into the tent.

"Princess! Mass chaos at Baltimare! Several hundreds of ponies and horses have collapsed! Ten buildings were destroyed by eight sky ships crashing because of several crew members experiencing seizures! Over sixty dead ponies and horses confirmed thus far!"

"Bangcolt reports at least thirty ponies and forty horses hospitalized after suddenly collapsing! A construction site collapsed because of workers falling over because of seizures! Eight dead ponies reported!"

"Philydelphia has over a hundred unconscious ponies and horses! Four skyships of a nearby sky fleet crashed because of half the crew suddenly having seizures! Thirty-seven horses reported dead!"

"Blackstone Keep has sent word of a large number of ponies and horses collapsing throughout the East Coast region's smaller settlements! Over two hundred ponies and horses dead as a side effect of this!"

"Canterlot has sent word of several hundreds of screaming and collapsing ponies and horses! Golden Cross Knights also report mass breakouts of identical cases throughout the central regions!"

"Whitestone Castle has reported several dozens collapsed ponies among the scouting parties and recently established hamlets throughout the Unexplored West! No deads reported yet!"

"Thirty ponies and seventy-six horses blacked out in the War Camp! Five injured ponies reported going into shock! No dead reported yet!"

"Princess! Fifty horses collapsed in the Hermes Sky Fleet while on travel between the War Camp and Baltimare! Four ships and over fifty crew members lost!"

"Princess!"

"Princess!"

The babbling messengers, still holding up the Comm Orbs, were filling the tent with their rapid reports. Princess Celestia's eyes widened, and so did Cursed Blessing's and those of the others in the tent. As the sheer impact of what had just occurred struck them.

"What in the Gods' names is going on!?" Celestia screamed out in utter bafflement as she tried to digest the rambling news being shouted out at her.

[Scene Skip]

Deep within the caverns of the secret lab of the Artificer Guild was a large group of griffins working frantically to develop a better containment unit for their prisoner. The figure of Maleficus Victoria was nothing but pelt and bone, his body dried up like a husk, devoid of life. A series of sharp crystalline spear-like needles piercing through his torso was slowly draining a steady stream of glowing blue liquid, the Tears of Sorrow, as called by the Artificers.

Griffins wearing protective suits were analyzing the comatose deity-like being, the samples of pelt and hide were the only things they could gather. Nothing else could be reached safely without risking exposure of the Tears of Sorrow directly restrained being.

Organs, flesh, blood, vessels, even the very colors of the creature's hide and mane had been drained out of it, leaving a deathly pale grey husk. The only solid thing remaining was the mane, tail pelt, and the bones. And the bones just could not be worked with. Even using some of the ancient artifacts kept by the Artificers since before the Age of Chaos, there was no reaction or even slightest of sample to be gathered from the bones.

They could only inspect the bones as they were on the Claws of Sorrow, and even with sensory-based artifacts made out of dragon bones and special crystals capable of reading substances, they could not make heads or talons over what manner of material made up the alicorn's bones.

But whatever it was, was it insanely heavy, dense, and tough. Had it not been for the Tears of Sorrow reinforcing the Claws of Sorrow's integrity as a part of the restraining effect, the Artificers did not doubt that Maleficus could have easily shattered their prototype like common glass.

To even move with such a heavy bone structure meant that Maleficus was immensely powerful, not only magically, but physically as well. And that made them even more nervous. For it was not easy to focus on their duties when there was a living, though not currently breathing, god contained within the heart of their guild, whose power was too much for them to comprehend.

And should he get free. They knew things would go bad. So they had to work fast. For the state of the comatose alicorn would not last forever.

As long as the contraption holding him held was the powerful entity trapped. However, the hollowed-out space making up the base of the contraption was slowly starting to fill up as the magical liquid kept flowing. And the Artificers did not want to find out what would happen once it could no longer contain any more tears.

And the only regret they truly had about trapping this god-like entity with their artifact was the one thing they could not stop thinking about. *Why did we not consider making a tap on the trap!?*

[Scene Skip]

King Craver smiled at his most loyal and favored subject in the castle. Rhumsy Olvor, the Royal Chef, a golden eagle griffin with blue eyes and a dark orange lion body. The chef was currently showing him a big piece of meat. Before starting the process of covering it in spice before wrapping it up in a bundle with white linen.

"The meat is tough and needs time to tenderize your Highness. I'd say a few days at least. A long time for a marinade based tenderizing. But the longer it is left to marinade within the spices in the cold room, the greater the flavor." The chef said with a slight smirk on his lips as he put the wrapped up meat on a tray, before walking over to the large metal door leading to the ice-filled cavern-like room where it would be left to become the next high dish on the King's platter.

"I am drooling already Chef Rhumsy. How do you intend to cook it?" King Craver asked with a grin as drool dripped down his beak and along his chins to the floor.

The Chef smiled and pulled out a scroll and a sharpened piece of charcoal to write with. And as he began to write down on the scroll he began to describe his idea. "Though I have worked with equine meat before have I yet to cook alicorn or horse meat. But the process should not be too different. I shall make a roast out of the meat, fry it in oil before roasting it slowly in the oven in a clay pot filled with mushrooms, onions, and herbs. To serve I will make some mashed potatoes mixed with roasted onion, pony fat, and cream. So serve to it I will make a spicy apple sauce made with red, green and orange apples, some flour, butter and a lot of stock from the chick soup I will be making today."

The King's grin was wide and he was rubbing his talons together like a giddy child. As he was talking were two guards entering the kitchen, carrying a small cage. A small quivering shape could be seen within it. All of the kitchen staff lowered their heads as to not catch the king, or the royal chef's, attention. "Excellent. I will be awaiting your fine dish once it is ready. But do not wait too long, I am not the most patient."

Royal Chef Rhumsy just smiled and nodded as the cage was put on the floor by his side. "Of course your Majesty. But for now, I shall prepare your supper. Cannot have you going hungry now can we?"

King Craver just laughed as he began to leave the kitchen with his guards. "Hahaha! Wonderful. I always love your chick soup. It tastes so good with the boiled eggs and meat in it. Mmmm. I look forward to it."

"I live to serve your majesty." The chef said with his grin still wide as he reached down into the cage and pulled out a griffin chick, limbs tied up, plucked clean of feathers and shaved off fur, alive and wide-eyed in fear. He put the chick on the large wooden table and reached for a large butcher's knife while the rest of the staff closed their eyes, as the King left the room.

"Hahaha indeed!" And with those parting words, the King left the Royal Kitchens and began to walk down the halls towards his throne room for some work. There was a muffled sound of a screaming chick from the closed door, that was quickly cut off by the muffled sound of a heavy knife striking wood with a loud meaty thunk.

[Scene Skip]

Upon a wooden table laid a tactical map of the city Eggstone and the siege camps placed around it. Around the table were several griffins of various military ranks. All of them were frustrated and the air was tense,m their eyes glaring at the map in contempt.

Then one of them broke the silence and voiced the reason for their frustration by slamming their talon onto the table and scream out into the isolated stone chamber. "We have been inactive for several hours now! If none of you are brave enough to state it then I will! Why are we not attacking the ponies and horses as they are in a state of panic!? Many of their numbers were injured today by whatever insane ailment they were afflicted by today!"

"Well, there are many reasons why. But two stand out the most. I believe we all know them. Even if they are more like infuriating orders and excuses than anything." Another officer stated after a few moments of silence.

All of the officers looked at each other with angry eyes but just silently nodded. The situation was not ideal and the orders they had received, not to mention the weak reasoning to hold back from attacking, was making many of them and their troops upset. Very upset.

A griffin lieutenant sighed a bit before he looked down at the city map, and his sad expression turned into a furious glare. "The Lords of the city do not want us to risk afflicting the city with whatever affliction that has struck the equines. A very weak excuse as our spies has reported it in that it is seemingly not a pandemic, nor even a disease but some sort of magical affliction. So we should be safe."

"And then there's the King's orders." And after that statement, there was dead silence in the chamber. Many beaks almost creaked as muscles clenched and bit down to prevent from making angry growls or screeches. Speaking out against the King was not a good idea, even for high ranking officers and nobles like them.

One of the griffins sighed out loud before resting their forehead on a claw. "I know he's our King and Ruler but... still..."

"'I liked the way they were screaming, let's see if they will do it again. So do not attack until I tell you to.' Those were his direct command." A captain ranked officer said. There was another moment of awkward silence and the officers looked at each other in concern.

"How... how... do we win? If we cannot attack them when they are vulnerable?" Another captain stated. And again the silence filled the room and all of the officers glared down at the map.

A major ranked officer shook his head and shrugged in a 'what can you do?' motion. "We can not win. If we are just inactive, but if we break the King's orders. He will do things to not just us but to our families."

"Almost makes you wish for the ponies to end this by leaving or winning." A lieutenant muttered quietly to himself, the others had heard it but did not react to it. For they could not fault them for speaking those words.

After all. They were all thinking the exact same thing.

Then the only Griffin with the rank of general walked around to look closer at the map. He was a tall dark grey and white griffin with an old-style breastplate and mail skirt armour. His name was Baron Hartach Maltkeg, a recent general, it had only been around two years since he reached this rank.

Though he was young was he still respected for his tactics and out-of-the-box thinking. Which had won him several victories against raids from the Sultans to the east.

He dragged his talon along the tall city gates, noting the streets and buildings located by the high walls. He then looked at the location of the markings of the ponies and their camp, troops, and ships. Before he looked over at the other officers. "I have an idea. We need to clear out the civilians living along the walls and put up barricades. We will build up ambush points all over the streets behind the wall, makeup killing zones so that whatever ground we give these invaders will pay dearly for every centimeter."

The officers started muttering and discussing among each other. But then one of the Lieutenants spoke up, a concerned look on their face. "But sir. Those living quarters make up the entirety of the city slums where the homeless, slaves, and mine workers live. There are at least four thousand of them living there. Where should we put them?"

General Hartach dragged his talon across the map until its point rested over the tunnel entrance leading into the mines of the Thunder Mountain two kilometers to the east of the city. The mines had no surface shafts, to prevent too much air from reaching the volatile substance. Mining, in general, was not safe but mining thunderstone was notoriously more dangerous. "The thunderstone mines beneath Thunder Mountain."

One griffin captain looked up, a bit startled by the plan, and spoke up. "A-are you sure? There are no exits to the surface in the mines, the only way out is by the tunnel. If the invaders assault the mines they will be cornered. Not to mention the ten gates sealing the path to the tunnels makes it difficult to commit transportation as no more than two gates can be open at a time."

The tall griffin just shook his head and tapped his beat with his left index talon. "No worries. The ponies have made their intent clear, their only target is the Royal Palace, so we can count on them ignoring the mines. Besides, this will speed up the mining process of thunder ore so that we can have the artifacts we lost replaced."

Most officers liked the idea but some got worried looks on their faces, thinking that the general was taking the invaders too much on their words. Not to mention there was another matter that made the tunnels important, they were connected to the secret research and production facilities of the Artificers' Guild.

"But we barely have enough food to feed them all. Many of them will be sick and old! Not to mention the number of people placed within the mine might cause a major lack of air!" A sergeant argued, not seeing the benefit.

"Not as if that's going to change the outcome, give them fewer rations and more water. We need every crumb to count. Better it be the kiwis who goes before the more important birds do." The cold and calculated manner of which General Hartach spoke sent shivers down the spines of the gathered officers. Not to mention calling peasants and slaves kiwis were seen as a highly offensive term by griffins, but clearly, the General did not seem to see the problem in this.

Yet again the officers looked at each other nervously. Before just nodding to the General and began to enact the plan. Meanwhile outside of the meeting was one of the city guards standing, able to hear everything from the slightly cracked open door. His eyes narrowing beneath his helmet.

Looking to his fellow guard who was looking back he nodded, and the other guard nodded back. Then they resumed their posture. Acting as if nothing was going on.

Their shift soon ended and they began to march towards the barracks. And as they walked through the halls of the compound one thing stood out, though it was a small thing. Tied to their left shoulders were red bands, and as they walked through the halls, could more and more guards and soldiers bearing these bands be seen.

One of the soldiers with red bands started walking with them. The trio of griffins soon reached the entrance to the barracks and entered together. It was empty inside except for a few sleeping guards.

The two guards looked over at the soldier who closed the door behind them. And then the left one began to speak. "They are going to turn the slums into a field of barricades and murder fields for the defences. They will force all of the citizens and slaves in the slums into the Thunder Mountain's Mines. All. Of them. While lowering the content of food in their rations."

A sharp his escaped the beak of the soldiers who closed their eyes and nodded before turning back towards the doors. "I will send words to our leaders. We must prepare. Keep up the good work, and remember. Saoirse do Chách."

"Saoirse do Chách." The two guards bowed their heads to the soldier and pressed their left talons to their right shoulder where the red ribbons were tied. They then went to get some rest before their next shift.

Meanwhile, the soldier walks out of the barracks and begins to move down the hall towards the exit of the compound, he had information to relay.

For fowl plots were being hatched within the walls of Stonenest.

(A/N: I am just going to say it once, I do not know if I wrote Freedom for All correctly there. I used an online translator to get Saoirse do Chách. English to Irish translator. Not sure if it is correct though. But it took me a few hours to get this and I did not want to work too much on a single line.)

[Scene Skip]

A few kilometers west of the city of Stonenest was a lone guards tower, abandoned by the few dozen griffins who had seen the invading forces and retreated to the city. It was now the temporary Comm Center of the UEF, as the griffins were starting to replace their artifacts, causing interference again. And the Energy Cannons and the special Orbs used for destroying the artifacts needed to be inspected before they could fire them again, which had been delayed by the sudden worldwide seizures hitting horses and ponies alike.

Within the basement of this tower was a closed down chamber, and within it was a circular table and a small chair. On the table laid a small pillow with a Comm Orb which was blinking, signifying an incoming call. And in the chair sat Cursed Blessing, who only just had arrived in the chamber.

He reached out and touched the orb, activating it. And a dim white glow began to light up the chamber, revealing some of the stone walls. Upon the surface of the orb appeared the face of a young horse foal, laying in a bed, with a bag of ice resting on his forehead and a bandage over his left ear that was bloodstained.

"Hey Gramps..." The hoarse and weak voice of Ciaphas spoke out from the Comm Orb in front of the elderly looking horse sage.

Cursed Blessing smiled politely to the young foal and spoke to him in a comforting tone. The sight of the injured foal making him experience a lot of paternal emotions he did not fully understand. "Hello, Ciaphas. How are you feeling?"

Snorting a little the foal turned his head slightly left and right before looking back at the orb with a snarky grin. "Now? Like shit... that was cooked in an oven... Earlier I felt... like I was being boiled and electrocuted... from the inside out..."

The elderly horse frowned a little and shook his head. His uncomfortable emotions making it hard to keep himself from growling in anger and frustration. "I am sorry to hear that. And I am sorry that I have to speak to you like this. But I need your expertise."

On the surface of the orb, the face of Ciaphas just nodded slightly. "Y-yeah... No worries... I can handle a small... conversation..."

The old horse's features softened and he calmed down a bit. He could not add more strain on the hurt foal by dragging out the conversation. So he got to the point. "Our creator has disappeared. I know that he sometimes goes away and out of contact for days, but I am feeling uneasy for some reason. I was hoping that you, with your closer connection to him, could offer any advice."

An awkward look appeared on the foal's face at the request. He coughed a little as he tried to speak. After a short moment, he got control over his throat, Cursed Blessing wincing at the sound of the rough coughing. "...Well... I am not sure where he is... but I know one thing... Whatever that shock was... it originated from our maker..."

Cursed Blessing stood up from his seat and stared down at the orb with wide eyes. His entire body rigid and his hooves gripping the table enough to leave dents in the wooden surface. "Are you serious?"

The image of the foal nodded before taking a long breath and letting it out slowly, to keep from straining himself. Ciaphas then spoke up again as he felt his throat ease up. "Oh yeah... that was his energy flowing through my body... I'd recognize that sensation anywhere... After all... This body of mine is his part-time shell..."

Cursed Blessing's eyes widened even more as he realized what this meant. And he began to move out of the enclosed chamber, looking out into a deep a dark hallway he spoke while he closed the door behind him silently. The only light in the hall emitting from the orb now held by one of his front hooves. "...That's why you took the brunt of it. Your body has an artificial core made out of a Black Beacon. It is a direct connection to Maleficus' influence. The pain being sent out through the bodies of so many horses and ponies. It was his."

The exhausted foal nodded his head and spoke back through the orb, a sigh escaping his lips as he felt the medicine in his blood make him feel drowsy. "Yeah... my thought exactly... whatever caused all of this... came through him... whatever pain we felt... was nothing but feathers compare to what he felt..."

Clenching his teeth in anger the elderly-looking horse walked through the dark hall, the illuminating light of the orb making his elderly features look positively demonic. As he walked he growled out in barely held back anger knowing that his creator had been tormented enough to make his pain course through his scattered essence parts. "We have to find him and quickly. I know he was investigating the ruins and castles here on the eastern continent so there's where our search shall begin. Thank you for your time Ciaphas, it has helped a lot. Rest and recover, I will have our fellows search for our Creator."

There was a slow intake of air on the other end and the tired foal shook his head with a tired grin. "...Yeah about that... Before I spoke to you I received words... from one of the skyship patrols in the Foal Mountains... They could not get in contact with you for some reason... Possibly too much interference by the castle you were at. You know that mountain top... where you're making that Eye of Sauron slash Castlevania inspired castle for the Dark Ones?"

Cursed Blessing paused and looked into the orb with a confused look on his face. He knew that the Dark Ones were currently isolated within the northern mountains of the Foal Mountain Range, but he had not received words from them about any issues. But then again, if the Comm Orbs were being disrupted again he would probably need to contact them. "Yes, I know their location and project. It's located a bit north of the Blackstone Keep. They should be near done by now."

A serious look came upon the foal's fac. "Well it's gone, the mountain that is, and so are the Dark Ones... And they aren't responding to their Comm Orb."

The old horse stared blankly for a moment before wishing he could rest his face in his hoof, which was kind of difficult as he was walking down the hall of the tower's basement. So he settled for muttering and cursing. "Oh, fucking hell."

A low chuckle emerged from the orb as he began to gallop down the hall. "Language old-timer, think of my innocence."

Snorting in amusement, though still frustrated, the elderly horse spoke back through the orb as he began to turn it off. The wooden door to the stairs coming into view. "Oh go to sleep and rest you annoying brat."

The last words his artificial grand foal said echoed through the chamber before the image of a grinning but tired Ciaphas nodded back to him. "Love you too gramps."

Placing the orb in his saddlebag Cursed Blessing opened the door and began to walk up the spiraling staircase. He had to raise his hoof to shielded his eyes from the light of the setting sun as he passed by the windows of the tall spiraling staircase.

Cursed Blessing passed four wooden doors before he reached a hatch on the op, he pushed it open and walked up onto the roof of the tower. Several tents were put up, pegasi messengers flying back and forth with written messages being communed from a group of unicorns and horses utilizing a collection of Comm Orbs.

He walked over to the scribes writing messages and called out. "I need some messages to be sent by Orb and by Scroll."

One of the scribes walked over with parchment and quill ready while a Comm Orb handlers moved over to make a list of which orbs Cursed Blessing would need to use.

"First of, Scribe. I need you to write down the following and have it sent to Princess Celestia by morning at the earliest. No need to risk our messengers with a night flight." The scribe nodded and folded out a scroll and dipped their quill in ink.

The horse lord slowly began to pace back and forth as he began to verbally speak his letter to the Princess. "To Princess Celestia of Equestria. I, Lord Asclepius "Cursed Blessing" of the Horadrim Kingdom, have received words from Ciaphas, my grand foal, about what might be occurring. He theorizes that the shock that caused seizures through ponies and horses earlier in the day was caused by an emotional backlash of a powerful magical entity, possibly an equine, experiencing excruciating pain."

Cursed Blessing walked around the frantically writing pony who was starting to grow pale at the information being given. "More than likely this was caused by Maleficus Victoria, who may have been afflicted with some manner of intense physical suffering that he afflicted thousands of horses and ponies alike. As of now I, nor Ciaphas, have any true clues of how it is possible for such a thing to happen. But Ciaphas is citing his long time theory, the one he has spoken off often in the past. And the implications concern me, a lot."

The scribe was looking sickly as they were writing by now and all activity of the tower had slowly begun to die down as more and more of the ponies and horses were staring at the speaking lord with expressions of shock and horror. "Ciaphas is too hurt from the ordeal to be of any help in investigating the phenomena, but with this, we at least have a slight foundation to work on. And with it, we might find a way to prevent it from happening again. But for now, I will focus on refining the Jam Orbs and the Tracker Orbs for the coming siege. I have found a possible angle to utilize them for either tracking living beings or artifact nullifiers, but the work is still not complete."

"With best regards, Lord Asclepius "Cursed Blessing", Lord of Horadrim." The scribe finishes writing the letter and beings to slowly roll it up into a scroll and shakily seals it with yellow wax and the sun seal of Celestia.

Cursed Blessing turns and looks at the staring ponies and horses on the tower and frowns. "What are you all staring at? Get back to work!"

The eerie silence of the tower was ended with the abrupt start of ruffling papers and voices speaking up again. Shaking his head the horse lord turned towards the Orb Comm Handler, who was looking nervously around themselves. He patted the nervous handler on their shoulder and spoke up in a softer tone. "Prepare Comm Orbs for the following locations. The Temple of Law, the Blackstone Keep, the Whitestone Keep, and Grithenburg. I need to send reports before starting on my experiments."

[Scene Skip]

Within the clouds above the Foal Mountains was a storm brewing, blackened smog-like clouds were emerging from deep within the mountain range. It was like the clouds were being converted into darkness itself. The floating islands of Jarngard and Saints' Chapel both sent reports of the odd weather phenomena.

But thus far was no one really taking it seriously as the weird weather pattern was not the strangest thing that had been seen within the last couple of decades.

And yet there was an eerie feeling over the mountains and woodlands as the clouds slowly spread out over the sky, blanketing the land below in a dark shadow. Animals could be seen fleeing out of the woods in wild stampedes. From the small of mice to the large manticores were the woodlands being abandoned by the fleeing animals. But no ponies or horses had witnessed these sightings yet as the animals had yet to reach any of the horses' ground bases or the ponies' villages.

With the war in the Kingdom of Gryphon going on were ponies and horses working on keeping their homes and roads safe while the UEF were fighting across the sea. But even with the Three Armies of Equestria, the Order of the Golden Cross, and the Horadrim Kingdom's sky islands and sky fleets, were there too much to keep control over to investigate the weird clouds, as even the common couriers, mercenaries, and scouts were working overtime to keep the two nations safe-

What could be determined was that the origin of the dark clouds seemed to be centered in the middle area of the mountains, south of the main path towards Canterlot. Near one of the ten spots, the Horadrim Kingdom claimed to make their ten sky islands. There was no settlement there however as it was far too isolated to be of much use.

So most ponies and horses determined it to be of no issue as nothing bad was seemingly going on. Even though the sky fleets and the sky islands still kept watch over the growing shadow like clouds in case something was going on.

But because of the split attention of the horses with the growing dark clouds and the current political situation between them and Gryphon, was a large cloud cluster able to float past the slightly overworked patrols and float eastwards at rapid speed, merging into various cloud layers to keep itself out of sight.

The only clue of its passage was a low rumbling that occurred every other hour. A rumbling that made it sound like the clouds themselves were on the prowl.

[Scene Skip]

[Current Date: 18/7 - 128 AD]

[Time Remaining: 13 Days]

A lone figure was standing on top of a hillside. Dressed in golden painted plate barding made of sacred bronze and bearing a white tabard bearing the symbol of the sun. A prismatic mane and tail both tied back into braids, not currently in the shape of gaseous clouds but of solid strands of multicoloured hairs. By their side was a poleaxe made out of a mixture of iron and bronze, crackling green gemstones decorating the sun shaped axe head, hammerhead, and spear tip.

The figure reaches up and grasps the visor on the helm and flicks it open, revealing the slightly unwashed white pelted face of Celestia. As her pink eyes look upon the darkness of the night she can see clouds blotting out much of the sky. Not much sunlight would be getting through the cloud layers with how thick they were today.

But still, she had a duty to perform. And so she calls forth her magical power, she grasps onto the sensation of the sun and slowly lowers her head slightly, before raising it again. And slowly, in the distance, could the first crimson rays of the morning sun be seen. Though only slightly with how dense the clouds were this day.

As her head stood straight she deactivated her grip on the sun and turned around, walking towards the large circular shaped tent used by the UEF to determine their next action.

Several of her officers were absent from the tent, having been sent with some troops to guards the tower to the west to keep the communication line open and safe. Warlord Thunder Hammer and General Rough Stock were both inspecting the large map on the table in the center of the tent.

The map was a simple but well-detailed overview of the griffin capital, its fortress, and the positions of the war camp's tents and buildings. With several wooden tokens marking down the positions of ponies, horses, siege engines, skyships, and the opposing griffin forces. Some tokens were placed outside of the map to mark them as absent.

Celestia looked around at the gathered officers and took note that many of them had tired looks on their faces, the past day and night had been exhausting for many. Hundreds dead, and thousands more wounded across all of Equestria and Horadrim. Most deaths had been caused by crashing buildings, ships, and other lethal accidents, which in turn had been caused by the bizarre seizures afflicting a small, but not insignificant part, of equine-kind yesterday.

So she decided to try and distract their tired minds with some good old work and effort. "We know that we all are exhausted, but we still have work to do. Lord Thunder Hammer, have you found out what may hath caused this disaster."

The large horse shook his head and tapped at the dormant Comm Orb sitting by the table. "Not yet Princess. The griffins are keeping their artifacts out of our cannons' range so we can't clear up the jamming. We also have yet to receive news from the Communication Tower."

General Rough Stock butted in at that, pointing with a stick at the path between the tower and the camp, over two kilometers away. "But that's to be excepted as it is not yet safe to send messengers between the tower and our siege camp during the night time. Too many griffins and beasts in the mountains for us to risk spilling important information or losing important pegasi."

A Viking bearing the ranking of Captain points with the tip of his great axe at the tokens marking the skyships of the UEF. "Nor can we send out the skyships needlessly, the griffins have made attempts to attack small groups of ships many times and we cannot split up the ships we have more than we already have. Otherwise, there won't be enough of them to protect the war camp."

Another officer spoke up, a Sergeant of the Wonderbolts. And pointed out with their left wing at the markings of the walls. "Not to mention that the griffins were quick to repair the few major damages we made to their walls and towers. While some of the towers are too demolished to be of proper use is the majority still intact enough to house troops and siege engines. Though we have yet to see any other siege engines from the griffins outside of their lightning cannons is it not good to make assumptions."

Princess Celestia nodded at this, contemplating on what to do next. The original plan for invading the city had been delayed and thus needed to be altered. With the recent event, they could not take any risks. "How long doest you think it may be until We receive news?"

A Cleric with a golden star on the left side of his robe's neck, marking him as a High Priest, spoke up. "By the hour at most, as the sun has just been raised. I and the other higher-ranked priests of the Kind Order have prayed for the Gods' blessing for our coming battle, we have received no clear message yet but we do have a good feeling in our hearts. There should be-"

The priest's dialogue was broken when one of the guards outside of the tent suddenly shouted out something. "Messengers incoming! Seven of them!"

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Thunder Hammer commented with a grin.

Another horse looked out at the rising sun and whistled. "Very swift delivery, the sun has not even been up for ten minutes."

Then all of a sudden a staggering pegasus came scrambling into the tent causing many to jerk back in surprise, even Celestia and Thunder Hammer. Normally the messengers would wait for approval before entering. Then an uncomfortable feeling rose in their stomachs, the only reason a messenger would be allowed to rush inside would be if- "Princess! we have several scrolls relaying important information! One of them was sent by Lord Ascelipus High Priority Sun Seal!"

Celestia swiftly held out a hoof and gave a command. "Give it to us messenger."

The sealed scroll was handed over and Celestia swiftly broke the seal before unfurling it. She began to read the message while the messenger handed out two more scrolls, one for General Rough Stoc kand War Lord Thunder Hammer, before bowing and moving out of the tent.

Thunder Hammer and Rough Stock both held their scrolls, but did not open them, as they were a bit busy looking with worried eyes at Celestia, who was still reading the message on the scroll. The only difference being that she was angrily stomping in a circle and her horn was starting to glow and emit sparks as her pink eyes were starting to glow like lanterns.

Whatever was on that message was pissing her off and neither of the two war leaders wanted to be the one to ignite the powder keg by asking the Princess what was making her so upset.

But then a young, innocent, naive, and fucking stupid Scorpion officer, walked over to the princess and quietly asked her to not make her too upset. "Umm... Princess? Are you ok-"

Before the young officer can finish his inquiry erupts Celestia's mane and tail into golden flames, the letter in her grip burst into flames, turning into ash in an instant. Her eyes, burning like twin suns, glares at where the letter was and then she walks out of the tent in heavy stomps.

The officers look at each other nervously. And then all jump a bit in fright as the ground and air shake for a few moments as the furious voice of Princess Celestia explodes from outside the tent.

"DAMN YOU MALEFICUS!!!!!"

"Well... that's not good." General Rough Stock muttered to himself as he looked at the exit of the tent.

"Indeed. She's going to be in a bad mood all day." Thunder Hammer said with a frown, an angry Celestia was not one you wanted to risk upsetting. She had a habit of lashing out at those who would make her angry while upset with a swift punch to the face, not that anyone she had already punched did not deserve it but it made things a bit uncomfortable.

Rough Stock took out his pipe, lit it with a sulfur stick, and puffed it a bit while chuckling. "Heh. Almost thought you were going to make one of those awful bird puns the troops have been making lately."

War Lord Thunder Hammer slowly turned to look at the General and gave a wide grin that only spelled mischief. "Oh please, I don't need puns to preen myself." And there was a mixture of groans and chuckles in the tent.

But sadly enough would the plans for the invasion of the city take another day as the new information being given made things a lot more uncomfortable for the ponies and horses. The horses for it revealed that their creator was in deep manure somewhere and in deep pain.

While the ponies were disturbed that somehow they were able to feel the pain of the most hated enemy of Equestria's Princess. The unspoken idea that so many ponies and horses somehow were connected to Maleficus close enough to feel his pain was disturbing, and quite frankly terrifying as the Princess' mood was very fowl. And no one wanted to bring her attention to them and be struck because she might consider them enemies for being afflicted by Malefcicus' pain.

Even though she clearly had never acted out such things before, were the ponies more than able to come up with worst-case scenarios. And it did not help that she was constantly frowning for more than a day after receiving the message.

Needless to say, the situation in the war camp was very tense for several days as the officers tried to work out a plan with an agitated Princess smoldering like a boiling kettle.

[Scene Skip]

Within a large lagoon on a tropical island northeast of the Dragon Lands, northern shores lie a large harbour town by the name of the Port of Skulls. An infamous pirate and black market hideout made by and for pirates and merchants as neutral ground. It is the most well-defended island in the Celestial Sea.

Races from all over the sea came here to engage in trade, piracy or lawless activities. Ponies, griffins, a few dragons, merponies, diamond dogs, and even a few rare reptiles from the north were active in this region.

But for many would-be pirates were the days of sailing free and taking what they wanted over. With the arrival of the armed trade vessels of Equestria and the skyships of the Horadrim Kingdom, were there not many pirates who dared to do as much as leave port.

For many, this was thought to mean the end of piracy. Though not many would say that, that would be a bad thing.

A pony and a griffin were sitting and talking on a bench by the harbour. The pony was a pirate and the griffin a merchant, and they had known each other for years.

So they would often discuss rumours or news from across the ocean. And currently, it was the merchant who had some recent gossip. "Hey have you heard?"

Removing the bottle of rum from his muzzle the pirate looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow. "About what?"

The griffin snorted and waved a talon towards the open sea, the thick morning mist shrouding it."The ghost ship sailing across the sea last night. It's the biggest news on the docks."

Pausing a bit the pony slowly blinked before giving an uneasy response. "No? What do you mean ghost ship?"

Rubbing his talon against his beak the griffin groaned in disbelief before continuing. "There's been sightings all night of a pitch-black ship without a crew floating over the waves without so much as a sound. Moving like a phantom through the waves. At least five ships saw it and fled here to evade it."

The pirate just rolled his eyes at the merchant. "Oh please, it's probably one of those large sailing ships from Bangcolt. They probably just painted it black ad made it look spooky to discourage sailor."

Shaking his head the merchant swiftly denied the conspiracy theory. "No, you know that is not true. Bangcolt doesn't have an active sea trade with the war going on in the north. They only allow independent traders and their sky fleets to move in and out of the city. Their own fleet is used for supply deliveries between the continents."

Shifting his head side to side the pirate tried to find a counter to the statement. "Yearrrrh. That might be true. But that still does not mea-" The pirate's statement was silenced however by the sound of something from the sea. It was a deep spine-shivering sound reverberating from the dense fog shrouding the sea.

The docks turned dead silence as the sound died off and the dockworkers, merchants, sailors, and pirates all slowly turned their heads to look towards the dense fog.

A pirate pony froze with his rum bottle in a mid gulp, excess rum was pouring out from the crook of his muzzle as he stared at the fog. By a ship had a merchant griffin frozen while writing on a checklist with a piece of charcoal, the charcoal had snapped when she turned her head and what was left was being grounded up against the clipboard by the griffins twitching talons. Two dockworkers were standing frozen holding a large crate while standing on a set of stairs leading to a warehouse.

Five sailors pulling on a rope to a large sail that was being raised up were frozen in the process of pulling up the sail. While on the docks had a trader selling fish, frozen while holding up a large freshly caught grab to a griffin hen to look at. He nor the griffin had noticed the grab aggressively snipping the rim of the griffin's fine hat into shreds.

Then again a sound reverbed out of the shrouding mist. And now it was more clear. It was a loud groan of moving wood, shifting ropes, grinding nails, and shifting waves. Which shook through the mist in a gentle gust of wind, which also carried the sound of shifting fabrics.

Two loud crashes erupted from the docks and when the view zooms back to loo kat it, it is empty and abandoned. The only telltale of the people once standing there being a broken crate by a staircase and several dropped or abandoned items, including a dropped sail on one of the merchant boats.

The sound echoed out once more. This time even close. And a dark shape could be seen moving through the mist. Slowly. Slowly.

Until the pitch-black frame of a large ship moved out of the mist like a wraith moving through the dense fog of a graveyard. Ponies and griffins backed away fearfully as the large vessel slowly moved closer until it reached an empty spot in the piers. And then there was a loud cranking sound, followed by the sound of falling chains and something big hitting water.

The anchor had been dropped. A landbridge slowly slid over the edge of the ship's side and slammed down with a loud thunk on the wooden docks. Pirates and merchants alike held their breath as they hid out of sight of the spooky ship. Waiting for its ghastly crew to disembark.

But instead of a crew, there was only the sound of a single person walking down the plank. Slowly and steadily. A tall dark figure could be seen walking down the landbridge, the dense fog shrouding their appearance.

Then, emerging out of the fog. Was a tall familiar-looking hippogriff, now dressed and armed. On his head is a red bandana wrapped around it, with a faded black tricorn hat on top of it. Both of the head accessories were complemented by the bead decorated braid draped over his forehead, as well as the regular braids, giving him a rather eccentric pirate look. His rear legs are dressed with long, hard-wearing linen trousers, ending with his bare hooves. A knotted striped-red sash is tied around his stomach.

Bellowing in the misty air is a long brown coat. Beneath it rests a faded blue waistcoat with a shorter lightly-colored back area and a torn white undershirt makes up the rest of the ensemble there.

Over the sash around his stomach is one belt with a sheathed saber. While across his barrel from shoulder to hip is a second belt, bearing several smaller bucklers and pouches, as well as a single holstered strange-looking hoof size crossbow without any bow part.

Taking a final step off the landbridge the hybrid grinned widely and took a deep breath of the harbour's morning air. Before letting it out slowly. Before breaking out into laughter.

"Ahahaha! Nothing like some fresh sea air to wake you up! Haha!" The cackling hippogriff said as he began to walk down the pier. The salty waves move beneath him as he walks over the wooden boards and looks around.

"Hmmm... not many out today. Quite strange. I would have liked to ask for directions." Another turn of his head and he finally spotted something in the distance down the center of the harbour.

"Oh! Of course! Where else would I go!? Hahaha, how foolish of me. Where else to get a crew but the haven of all denizens of the sea?" With a wicked glint in his eyes, he strode down the abandoned dock, his coat flapping in the misty wind, making him look like a dark phantom of a pirate.

Slowly he strode forward, each step of his hooves echoing through the docks until he slowly came upon a building made out of a boat frame. A sign in the shape of a barrel-shaped ship with the name 'The Sailing Keg'. "Ah, a sailor's home on the shore."

Raising a left hind leg the hippogriff kicked in the door with a loud crack and stepped into the suddenly silent tavern and with a talon on his tricorn hat, slightly tilting it. Causing his eyes to become shadowed.

"By me mother's dried up teats! Who are ye to kick down me door!?" An elderly horse with an eyepatch serving bottles and tankards behind the bar disk shouted with a glare at the figure walking inside.

Even with a beak, the grin could be seen growing on the hippogriff's cheeks and he made a slight bow to the tavern before standing. "Oh, my name? Why I am Wild Sparrow, Captain Wild Sparrow. Skuldugging, rum gargling, smog spitting, sword buckling, and seafaring pirate extraordinaire!"

"That still does not-" There was a sudden jerk of the now named pirate's left foreleg and a small pouch flew into an empty tankard.

The barkeep gently opened the bag and whatever he saw made him swiftly tie up the bag and put it aside. "Alright. Ye seem like yer marbles all cracked, but ye don't seem harmful."

A strange chuckle broke out from the stranger who looked over the still silent and tense tavern. Everybody could see the saber strapped to his side as well as what looked like some kind of bowless small crossbow in a holster on the other side. They did not know why but this strange mixture of griffin and pony felt wild and dangerous. "Hehehe wonderful! Now let me tell your wonderful customers about an offer of a lifetime!"

Wild Sparrow stood there, his wings unfurled, his talons spread out, the light of the open doorway behind him shadowing eyes but not the slightly made smirk on his face. And the entire tavern felt a slight chill fill their spine at the sight, and some even jolted, as he spoke up, his voice echoing through the Sailing Keg. "How would you lads and lasses feel like earning a spot among legends? Are you swashbuckling buccaneers? Savvy sword-swinging and rope climbing seadogs? Do you desire wealth? To experience a grand adventure? To feel real freedom? And enjoy exquisite food and rum? Then come with me and experience the voyage of a lifetime."

Flipping a solid gold coin to the barkeep the smarmy bird horse grabbed a tankard of rum and holds it up for the tavern to see. "The offer to join my crew stands until dawn. And if you are not there by then? Then better luck next time."

Downing the tankard in a single gulp the hippogriff then let out a low rumbling burp, and the bar froze when his eyes began to glow blue and arcs of lightning flew out of talons and hooves for a few seconds. With a smirking face and still glowing eyes, Wild Sparrow drops the tankard onto the floor and turns around, and exits the tavern. "I hope to see you on the Black Pearl soon. Savvy."

There was total silence well past the point when Wild Sparrow's steps disappeared. And nobody seemed to be even breathing.

Then someone in the back of the room nervously asked out loud. "...Is it wrong to admit that, that turned me on?"

There was a moment of silence before everybody shook their heads.

"No." "Nope." "Nothing wrong there." "I want to lick his beak." "Don't see the issue." "I feel the same." "Can't blame ya."

[Scene Skip]

"Hello there you guys. How've you been?" The bedridden foal commented with a grin on his face at his visitor.

"We should be the ones asking you that." Grand Music stated as he levitated the bouquet of flowers into a nearby vase by the window.

Happy Meal nodded with a grin as she reached over and rubbed the foal's head with a wide grin. "Yeah! We're not da ones whose stuck in bed after being toasted by magic ye know."

"Happy Meal! No need to be rude!" With a powerful glare and a stern voice only a mother could make, the matriarch of the Feast and Grand Clan scolded her oldest. Placing a round cloth-wrapped package, that smelt of raspberries, on the nightstand next to the bed.

The tough mare, easily twice her mother's size and dressed in full plate armour, folded her ears and lowered her head and murmured out an apology to her mother. "Sorry Mama..."

Ciaphas chuckled a bit at the sight as he laid there. "Hehehe, always a riot to see you guys. How are the kids?"

Grand Music's horn began to glow as he telekinetically griped the foal and gently lifted his head off his pillow, so it could be removed and replaced with a freshly cleaned one. All the while smiling and talking. "Cutie Pie, Twinkle Twinkle, and Grand Symphony are all at the Temple of Law being given their daily lessons. With the city as it is was, it decided to hold the majority of the classes for the foals in the temple until things become more stable."

Gently lowering the foal's head down onto the pillow Grand Music pulled open the curtains to let in some sunlight into the room. The open window gave a clear sight towards the foal mountains, where dark storm clouds could be seen over the peaks. "The army and the knightly orders are doing their best to keep the order in the country for the moment. There is still a lot of damages, dead and injured. Thankfully are there no sign of another invasion wave from the griffins, and that storm in the mountains will hopefully give any sky-bound invaders second thoughts. But that's no reason for us to slack off."

Chuckling slightly the young horse sage shifted his neck side to side, popping some bones into proper place as he did so. "Great. Speaking of schoolwork. Did you happen to see Holy Preacher on your way in?"

"Yes, she was getting some notebooks fer ya." Grand Feast said with a kind smile as she was untying the wrapped-up package, revealing a slightly steaming raspberry pie. A low growl comes from Ciaphas belly but he doesn't as much as a blush as he simply drools at the smell and sight of the pie.

"Wonderful. At least I will be able to do some light work while resting." At those words, the three ponies looked at each other in concern.

"Are you certain Decade's Gain? Your body is very weak at the moment." Grand Music stated while his wife and stepmother started cutting up the pie and putting pieces on some small wooden plates.

With a saucy smirk, the foal lifted his left hoof and suddenly one of the plates levitated off the nightstand and into his hoof. "Oh please, I might be inconvenienced for a short while but I am by no means out of action just yet. Maleficus made me to last and I will recover soon."

"Ye still should be careful there little one. Eat good and rest good, that is what mama always says when any of us get sick." Happy Meal said with a grin as the foal began to eat the pie, her own muzzle stained with raspberry pie as she had eaten it in an instance.

But Grand Feast was not amused by this display. "Happy Meal, what have Ah told ye about making a mess!?"

"Sorry Mama!" And laughter filled the room as the fuzzy mare began to dot on her adult daughter, cleaning her stained muzzle with a towel.

[Scene Skip]

Within the basement of the Sleepy Egg tavern in Eggstone was a certain group of griffins meeting once more. Their expressions serious and their eyes were tired.

"We cannot use the mines to hide my fellow slummers. Not like the nobles intend to do. If we sealed off the rest of the mine and kept the main tunnel open for air, and not forcing them to work in the dangerous mines, they could have used it. But to utilize all slummers as a slave workforce in an air depleted area is not going to help anyone." The well-connected slave was a bit different than the last time he was in the room. His left hindleg was in a splint and the left side of his head was wrapped in bandages.

"Indeed. We cannot let those fools do this. And with the King just frolicking in his castle things are not going to get better soon. It is only thanks to the ponies having a sudden collapse yesterday that we haven't been attacked yet."

"Is everything in place?" The hooded assassin asked the twin smugglers. His robes and hood were slightly torn, revealing some black panther-like fur on his hind legs.

"Yes/Yes." The twins said without hesitation. And one of them unfolded a scrolled up document before placing it on the table for the rest to read.

Each member of the group read the document before handing it over to the others. After about ten minutes had everybody by the table read the paper and there were grim looks on their faces, even more so than when they first entered the basement.

"Weapons, armour, food, medicine, and anything else we could scurry away. This is as prepared as we can get with the city in the state it is now. How prepared are we?" The trader asked the others, his clean clothes dirty, and his feathers unkept from a lack of time and supplies.

The finely dressed officer and noble sighed as he rubbed his head while gingerly rubbing the pommel of his saber. "The troops on our side have received their orders. And several nobles and even a few lords, have given our support, while many have stated to remain neutral."

"A large portion of the city guards have joined our side as well. And are more than willing to desert their posts to the invaders if needed." The guard stated as he rubbed his dirty helmet clean with a rag.

The three griffin hens looked at each other before one of them placed a blank parchment on the table and spoke out to the group. They all had work to do. "Then we better plan accordingly to what we can do. After all, we have ears and eyes in the fortress and castle. But that doesn't help us in handling the invaders. We need contingency plans so we know what to do if the ponies and horses prove to be hostile, friendly, or neutral to us."

And so discussions broke out among the rebels as they began to plan the final steps of the first part of their revolution. Unknowing about the death and destruction about to be spilled upon Gryphon soon.

[Scene Skip]

[Current Date: 20/7 - 128 AD]

[Time Remaining. 11 Days]

Deep within the Foal Mountains is one of the ground side settlements of the Horadrim Kingdom, a small town by the name of Maneflow. Located near a large waterfall and lake that split out into several smaller streams. It is one of the highest settlements within the region and is a large outpost for prospectors of both Equestria and the Horadrim Kingdom searching for valuable resources within the harder to reach places of the mountains.

One of these prospector groups was currently moving along a small overgrown path. The leader of the group was a hardened war veteran Spartan by the name of Theleus, also known as Bronze Helm. Following him were twenty others.

Two prospectors, one from Horadrim and one from Equestria. Two scholars from Equestria acting as record keepers and sample takers. Four local ponies whose families have traveled the mountains for generations, their duties were to act as guides, assistants, hunters, and scouts. Five carriers, all of them horses, were carrying the packs for the group. A single priest of the Old Religion who wanted to investigate ancient ruins for lost religious knowledge. And finally, there were six guards directly under his command who would keep the group safe from monsters, beasts, diamond dogs, bandits, and so on.

The group had just left the town a few hours ago to investigate one of the unexplored regions. But only after a few hours there was a low whistle from up ahead and Theleus walked up to investigate. He came up to see one of the locals, the one who was designated as the group scout, sitting behind a boulder and looking up over it towards the path leading up towards a ledge on a higher part of the mountain up ahead.

"What is it?" He asked the pony, who raised a hoof to signal he needed silence to concentrate.

After a few moments, the pony lowered the hoof and hummed to himself before speaking. "Hmmm... there's something moving up ahead. Moving down the mountain path along the ledge."

Raising an eyebrow the spartan spoke up in a curious voice. "What does it look like? Manticore? Mountain lion? Goats?"

The pony looked over the boulder again and after another few moments lowered himself down again and shook his head at that. But Theleus would probably have preferred the monsters and beasts to what he heard next. "No... Diamond dogs. Large group, easily fifty of them. Probably more."

Nodding Theleus looked towards the rest of the group standing ten or so meters back and began to give out orders to prepare for the oncoming danger. "Alright, all of you get into cover, I and the guards will prepare an ambush fo-"

But his commands were broken when a loud voice suddenly shouted out in broken equine words. "Stop! Stop! We no want to fight!"

Blinking the ponies and horses looked at each other in confusion. Then they looked towards the path up ahead and saw an elderly looking diamond dog dressed in leather and bone waving a brown stained rag on a stick.

"That's new. Normally those things are hostile or flee whenever they see any of our kinds." The local pony muttered. And Theleus couldn't help but agree, something was off for even the aggressive diamond dogs to not want to fight, or flee.

Stepping out from behind the rock the spartan stood tall and shouted back at the elderly looking diamond dog. "Why are you here, what do you want!?"

The response he got was a set of panicked and downright terrified words rambled out which echoed over the mountains. "Running! Sprinting! Fleeing! We want to escape twisted darkness!"

Theleus got a very uncomfortable feeling as he was starting to sense a theme of what was going on. And his creator's memories did not help in the slightest in making him feel at ease about it. "What are you yapping about!?"

Another shout of fearful words and panicked yapping echoed out over the mountains. But Theleus could hear everything clearly, and it was making him mighty uncomfortable. "Danger in mountains! Twisted! Wrong! Bad! Evil! It sickens the air and earth! Frighten beast and diamond dogs alike! Ponies and horsies should flee too!"

The ponies and horses looked at the terrified expression on the diamond dog's face, and the similar looks on the faces of the group behind him. They then looked at each other for a moment. And then the young priest in the group muttered. "That would explain the uneasy feeling I've been having since I did not get a response from my morning prayer..."

And that made Theleus' decision rather easy all things considered. He just hopes it wasn't one of those, no matter what you pick it would still end badly for you anyway, decisions. "Okay. You may come with us to the town. We shall go with you, as to make sure nothing bad happens when you reach the town. After that, we will send words to other towns and villages."

The diamond dog elder bowed to the group, even going down on its knees as to bow done its head into the dirt road. and the ponies and horses all felt uncomfortable at the sight of the group of diamond dogs behind the elder. Young, wounded, sickly, and elderly. These were refugees from a bad fight. "Thank you! No one safe! All must escape mountain! Escape the badness!"

Not eager to listen to more panicked shouting from the frantic elder Theleus turned around and shouted out, waving his head for the diamond dogs to follow. "I get it! Let's go before your shouting attracts that badness of yours."

Thankfully those words caused the panicked elder to shut up and there was a stiff and morbid silence between the dogs, ponies, and horses as the expedition ended its track into the mountains rather early.

It would take a few hours to get back to the walled town of Maneflow. And Theleus would have to have word with the mayor about getting in contact with the nearby settlements. If what the diamond dogs said was true. Then something was seriously wrong in the Foal Mountains. And the rest of the kingdom would have to be warned swiftly.

The problem was that there were no Comm Orbs in the settlement and the Skyfleet only arrived once every week, and it had only been two days since their last visit. So they would have to send messengers to spread the news.

[Scene Skip]

Deep within the center of a certain crater is a glowing pentagram filled up and emitting a swirling mass of dark clouds into the sky. A deep vibrating chant is echoing out over the peak as hundreds of robed cultists are dancing around on the massive glowing mark.

[Play your choice of Gangnam Style MLP video here. I am not adding a link.]

[A/N: I am just going to be honest here. I hate Gangnam Style. It is one of the most infuriatingly annoying songs and the most irritating dance style I have ever seen and heard. So Please. If you want to listen to the song that these cultists are chanting in the name of Discord for several days without pause? Just google Gangnam Style MLP and you got yourself more than enough material to torture yourself with.]

At random a single cultist suddenly collapses, their robed body falling to the ground like a feather. Before suddenly the robe twists and bulges before tearing apart as a twisted mutant in the shape of a three-headed hippogriff with chicken heads, chicken wings, breathing fire, and a tail like a scorpion.

The mutant is quickly tied up with glowing black rope and dragged into a large chicken coop. Were dozens of more mutants of pony and chicken mixture stands pecking the dirt or eating the grass.

At the epic center of the grand ritual stands the head cultist, his twisted three-eyed head cackling in madness as he sings out the chants to the Lord of Chaos. His shape is obscured by the black swirling mass of clouds rising up from the point he is standing but he is not affected by it, his voice echoing out over the pit along with his followers.

Grass begins to curl and twists, turning into flesh, rock, or sugar canes. The mountains around begin to shift and alter themselves. Avalanches of ice cream flow down one mountain. A rain of salt hits somewhere else. Neon pink lightning strikes a peak, making a tree bearing live bear cubs on its branches grow. Another mountain blows its top as an eruption of salted caramel popcorn and licorice spews out for a few moments before being replaced by green slime filled with snakes with five legs, each leg from a different animal.

All the while the cursed chant continues to echo through the mountain.

[Scene Skip]

Within the walls of Eggstone there is a large open space by the eastern wall right next to the tunnel to the Thunder Mountain mines. It is the area where the freshly produced ore, glass, metal, and artifacts made from thunder stone were delivered out of the tunnel.

No one among the commoners or even the low ranking soldiers know where the thunderstone gets refined, they only know that it is somewhere near the thunderstone mines and its tunnel. Normally the square would be a high activity of workers and wagons. But at the midday hour, there was no such activity.

Instead, there was a massive gathering of what could only be described as the poor and homeless of the city being guided by rows of soldiers into the open tunnel. All of the griffins were nervous and looking around nervously. They were those who lived in the slums along the city walls where the ponies were laying siege. From crippled slaves to poor peddlers, they were all located within this mass of griffins.

The large gates leading into the underground tunnel was open and the slum dwellers were not eager to get inside- They knew of the horrors of the mines, the lethal accidents, the lack of pairs, the explosions, and so forth. But with armed troops setting up barricades and aiming crossbows at them there was little to do but obey.

And so they slowly marched in, while several officers flew above them with troops. One of the officers pointed at one who looked like they were about to run out of the line. "Get in line! Or we will shoot you! You will all enter the mines soon enough! One way or the other!"

Those words did little to calm the peasants down and the atmosphere of the tunnel was growing tense. But soon had over two hundred griffins been pushed into the first segment of the tunnel.

The officer who had shouted landed by the gate and untapped a bronze pipe leading to the other end, and spoke into it. "The first group of kiwis is ready! Open the gates!"

After a minute there was a loud clanking sound from behind the thick bronze gates. Dust and small rocks erupt from the joints and gears as the large gate splits apart in the center and slides into the walls. Revealing a deeper section of the tunnel which leads to another gate further down. Behind the gates can eight griffins be seen rotating a large wheel to pull the door open.

As the crowd begins to enter the space the eight griffins pulling the wheel stops moving, leaving the doorway halfway open. At first, this didn't seem suspicious to the officer as he flies in with his troops. He lands on a catwalk and peers down at the crowd as they move into the deeper tunnel to make sure there's no suspicious activity among the crowd.

He crooks a brow when he notices something strange about the crowd. There are mostly elderly, young, and sickly griffins moving into the tunnel. There's barely any young adults or adults in the crowd. He peers down the slowly emptying tunnel and notices that most of the younger griffins are keeping behind, letting the weaker go first.

The officers gets an uneasy feeling and peers around the tunnel to see if there's something odd going on. He then sees a large collection of crates and barrels piled up near the other end of the tunnel. He turns to one of the soldiers next to him and asks for clarifications. "What are those barrels and crates doing by the gate soldier?"

"We got them delivered to us last evening, sir! We were told they were part of a special delivery, sir! They have the royal mark stamped on them, sir!" The soldier shouted out loud and clearly while saluting the officer. Unnoticed by the officers is he slowly being surrounded by soldiers and guards.

Scratching his chin the officer hummed softly to himself, trying to figure out where those supplies were going. Before coming to the logical solution. Seeing as he had at least high enough clearance to know that the Artificers did receive supply deliveries directly from the crown. "Hmmm... must be for the Artificers. Well, nothing to it then. Send words to have the next group enter the tunnel and then start filtering them down into the next section and repeat until they reach the mine."

The saluting soldier nods and speaks out. "As you say... sir."

At the momentary pause in the soldier's voice, the officer looks at him with a raised brow. "What's with the- GHARFGHHGGHHHHGH!" Only to be silenced as a pair of talons grabs hold of him from behind, one of them stabbing a dagger into his neck, before slicing up his throat in a spray of blood and gore.

The soldier who stabbed his own superior from behind pushes the corpse off the catwalk. There's a loud sound of gasps and some screams for a moment before the entire tunnel turns eerie silent.

Then a griffin walks out onto the catwalk from a shadowy doorway leading into the barracks in the tunnel. It is the wounded slave leader, next to him is the noble and the crow assassin. As the three revolutionaries stand there the crowd looks u pat them in concern, awe, fear, and wonder.

And then the slave leader speaks up. His voice is tired and hollow. "Listen to me, my fellows. We have all suffered for years ever since King Craver took control. It was not perfect, but slavery was not a thing in this proud nation until the coup. Many noble and common families were ruined, captured, tortured, and destroyed. Thousands of innocents turned to the chains or the chopping block. And not to mention the untold amount of chicks and eggs eaten by our so-called king."

Murmurs begin to fill the tunnel and it spreads out from the tunnel and towards the crown outside of the tunnel. Many soldiers and guards are asking outside for orders or clarifications while nobles and officers are all screaming out a mixed mass of orders to the soldiers. To either hold, attack, kill, and so on.

It was an unorganized mess. A mess that the revolutionaries would take advantage of. And like the slave leader, stepping forth next is the noble, no longer bearing his officer's uniform, but the old noble garments from before King Craver. A buttoned navy blue coat with a golden chain bearing the achievements of his family, and a fine golden eagle decorating his shoulders.

And when he speaks out to the crowd, his voice full of passion and anger. "Well, this is where it ends. No matter our ranks, no matter or upbringing, no matter our professions, we are all griffins. If I had been old enough I would have stood up to stop the coup, but my father did nothing! I'd rather have died than serve a butcher! We do not deserve a king who would rather eat us then lead us! So today, we say no! Not as peasants! Not as nobles! But as Griffins! Today we say no! Today we say enough! Today! We! Say! It! Ends!"

The crowd joins in the noble's anger. With many years of persecution over them is it hard to not feel anger. And to see and hear a noble speak out for them, and against the king, felt exhilarating.

And then, the crow steps forth. Even as the crowd gets riled up and begins to chant out together. The assassin holds up a talon and points towards the open gates, where out of the glimpse of light, every griffin can see the dark shape of the fortress Stonenest. And he speaks out a single clear line, that reverbs in the hearts of the crowd.

"Down with the King."

[Start Emotional Music: [Les Miserables Live- Do You Hear the People Sing]](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL8gH0yELbk)

[Disclaimer: I do not own this music nor the video, please support the official release.]

A/N: Slightly Altered Lyrics by Staadnauthursil.

Outside of the tunnel, there is a moment of silence before slowly the crowd begins to chant out together.

"Down with the King!"

As the crowd begins to chant this out the soldiers and city guards draw their weapons as many of the crowd begin to raised their talons to the sky and scream out together in a mass of rage and hysteria.

"Down with the King!"

Near one of the barricades closest to the gates to the tunnel, a city guard officer bearing an armband turns towards his troops and whistles to them. As one the guards rush away from their barricade and into a nearby supply tent. Out of the guards pulls out two wagons bearing crates and bundles of weapons.

as the crowd's chanting distracts the loyal troops are the majority of the troops around the barricades pulling out hidden reserves of weapon and armour and pushing them into the crowd, and begins to hand out weapons. Out from the center of the crowd stands a single officer, waving a crimson flag bearing a golden eagle, the old flag of the nation before the coup.

And as weapons and armours were being spread out to the lowest of commoners of Eggstone, a deep reverbing music begins to fil lthe air as street performers, military musicians, and orchestra members, pulls out instruments and begins to play music.

And soon, the entire crowd, begins, to sing.

"Do you hear the griffins sing?"

"Singing the song of angry hens."

"It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again!"

"When the beating of your heart echoes the beating of the drums."

"There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!"

"Soldiers! Prepare to fire!" An officer screams out to his soldiers by the second line of barricades, as he can see how the majority of the first line of barricades had essentially just rebelled and joined the crowd of peasants. His group of twenty crossbow wielding soldiers aimed over the barricade and at the crowd.

As they did this was another group of soldiers, these ones flying, given different orders by their officer. The officer in question drew and pointed his traditional claymore at the group of soldiers aiming at the crowd. "Troops! Take out the loyalists!"

"Will you join in our crusade?"

"Who will be strong and stand with me?"

"Beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see?"

"Then join in the fight."

"That will give you the right to be free!"

The crowd begins to move forward, their marching paws and talons stomping the cobblestone of the city streets in a steady rhythm while flags were being waved. Spears, claymores, crossbows, swords, axes, javelins, and pitchforks being held high by the invigorated commoners.

A brave group of city guards held their spears ready, quivering at the sight as the rebels started flying and climbing over the first line of barricades. The few loyal troops o the first barricade easily tackled down and torn to shreds by the angry mob. They looked at each other nervously, their officer screaming at them to prepare to kill the rebels.

But the guards suddenly turned around and stabbed their weapons into their officer. They bore no armbands, but they were just as eager as the crowd for the madness to end. And as the crowd marches on, leaving the shaken guards alone, a few rebel soldiers offer the shaken guards armbands, which they slowly put on.

"Do you hear the griffins sing?"

"Singing the song of angry hens."

"It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again!"

"When the beating of you heart."

"Echoes the beating of the drums."

"There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!"

Fights break out in the sky above the crowd as loyal and revolution troops attack one another. Soon bodies of griffins, rebels, and royals alike, fall to the ground. Some hitting those marching on the streets while others hit buildings, streets or barricades.

"Will you give all you can give so that our banner may advance?

"Some will fall and some will live

"Will you stand up and take a stand?

"The blood of the martyrs will water the valleys of our land!

A section of the marching crowd charges at a column of marching city guards. The city guard captain leading the large group of guards points his saber forward and screams out for his group to enter formation. "Prepare for combat! Enter spike formation!" The first row hunches down, aiming their spears in an upward angle, the second row of spreads only kneels down and holds their spears straight, while the second stand straight and aim their spears upwards against any incoming flyings, while the other five ranks behind holding their spears upwards, for anyone seeking to attack from above.

It was a tense moment, the charging peasant moving at the formation still holding together at the tight bottleneck of the city streets. Then over ten griffin rebels impact the spear wall and are impaled by the weapons. Some don't die instantly and stabs the guards they can reach before expiring. Then the second wave of attackers hit and take down the first row before dying. And soon the guards have to retreat as the mob starts to overcome their formation, even after losing over thirty rebels to the spike formation.

The singing still echoing over the streets and through the city.

"Do you hear the griffins sing?"

"Singing the song of angry hens?"

"It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again!"

"When the beating of your heart."

"Echoes the beating of the drums."

"There is a life about to start when tomorrow comes!"

A rebel runs towards a line of barricades between two houses and throws a bottle with a burning rag. It strikes the barricades and puts it aflame. The single rebel is shoot down by five crossbow bolts before he can see his attack take out the barricade and the soldiers behind it.

A wave of loyal soldiers flies over the crowd and throws down rocks, spears, and axes. Even though the song can the screams of dying or wounded be heard. Then several crossbow bolts are shoot out from random spots of the large mob. A griffin gets shoot through the throat and falls. While several others are either mowed down or flees.

By now has the battles started to spread even further. And the soldiers and guards of the city have to speed make barricades to hold off the revolutionaries.

"Do you hear the griffins sing?"

"Lost in the valley of the night!"

"It is the music of those who are reaching to the light!"

"For the wretched of the world!"

"There is a flame that never dies!"

"Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise!"

[End Emotional Music]

"Down with the King!"

The crowd has splintered up now and floods the streets of the eastern section of the city. Lines of barricades, pushed over carts, and piled up rocks, blocking their paths.

"Death to the tyrant!"

A lone griffin soldier drew his claymore and readied to swing it at the closest rebel attacking his barracks. Before suddenly swing around at his commanding officer, screaming out as his blade cut off the officer's head, spraying blood over himself and those around him. "Saoirse do Chách!"

Several other soldiers and even some officers also broke from their barricades. An entire unit just abandoned their positions and attacked another group from the side as the charging peasants got closer. And then, as swords and bolts flew between fellow soldiers, the wave struck the barricades.

A shower of splinters, clouds of dust, and screaming griffins emerged through the evening rain as the rebels broke down the last piece of resistance within the eastern district. A red flag bearing a golden eagle flying with spread wings being waved in the rear.

And soon the voices of anarchy, freedom, vengeance, rage, and desperation spread out and signaled the start of a hellish fight between the rebels and the crown's servants.

Total chaos was erupting throughout Eggstone. The wave of charging rebels struck the unprepared and sabotaged soldiers, breaching the defences and spreading out like a swarm of angry locusts into the open streets. Even with so many barricades and loyal troops was the number of peasants fighting making it difficult to hold them back.

Not all of the hidden rebels acted upon the orders, they had been told to keep their heads low as to not draw attention. For the leaders of the rebellion knew that it would not to do overplay themselves so early on.

[Scene Skip]

As the rain kept falling was the war camp of the UEF preparing for their first attack upon the city walls. It had been slowed down immensely because of the recent happenstance, but now things were progressing in order.

Princess Celestia was in a private talk with General Rough Stock and Thunder Hammer in her personal tent when a mare pegasus messenger comes running in. All wet and dirty from the wet weather. "Princess! Reports from the skyships about the situation within the city!"

The alicorn of the sun waved at the messenger to give her report. "What doest they wish to tell Us?"`

After gathering her breath the peagaus messenger spoke up the information she had received to the leaders of the UEF. "There are signs of infighting going on within the city itself! By the eastern wall, there are columns of smokes and a large gathering of guards and soldiers fighting what looks like rebelling civilians, guards, and rebels!"

"Thank you for the report las, go clean up and get some rest." Rough Stock said to the messenger who saluted them all before leaving the tent.

Celestia looked at the others and asked the opinion o the matter. Her bad mood from the past few days more soothed from the lack of incidents. "Hmmmm... What do you think gentle colts?"

Thunder Hammer hums a bit before sipping some mead from his personal flask. He then points at the city walls through the open flap of the tent. "We are not yet prepared for invading the city so this revolution might be a boon or a curse depending on how things go. But this does give us a chance to improve our plans. IF we can send support to those within the city causing problems, then we will have far less organized defences to handle."

General Rough Stock hums while taking a sip from his cup of coffee, a brew he had gotten a liking to ever since being offered a taste by a visiting zebra merchant. Then he taps his helmet a bit in thought before speaking up. "Indeed. By supporting those fighting against the King we might even be able to obtain a peaceful resolution by having these revolutionaries give us the King if they manage to usurp him. Or killing him before we can reach him."

Rolling her eyes at their choice of beverage Celestia walks over to her desk, pulls out a flask of apple juice from her nearby cabinet, and drains half of it in a few gulps. Putting down the bottle on her desk she begins to write down possible ideas on how to utilize the revolution. "Very well. But let us not put all our apples in one basket. We need intel on the factions within the city, and for that, we need to get someone inside the city."

General Rough Stock nods at that before speaking up, having gotten an idea already. "I might have a solution."

"What would that be?" Thunder Hammer asks as he munches on one of the cupcakes left on the silver tray on the dining table he and Rough Stock were sitting next to.

He reaches into a small pouch on his side and pulls out a badge for the Wonderbolt Squads and flips it in his hoof. "Have a squad of wonderbolts sneak in at night. Dress them in all black and have them be as stealthy as possible. They are our fastest and most skilled scouts. Not sure how well they are at stealth but they are excellent flyers."

Thunder Hammer nods at this, it is a solid idea. But he feels like it is not counting for all the options. "That's not a bad idea. But I'd like it if I could have some horse units sneak in as well."

"Which units of thy army would thou recommend Lord Thunder Hammer?" Celestia asked as she wrote down the suggestions so far.

Sipping his mead a bit the warlord thinks before counting up the different stealth units his kingdom has available. "From the samurai, I'd recommend the shinobi, they are some of the stealthiest all around warriors of horse kind. Then there's the rangers and peacekeepers of the knights, both of them are good at stealth but focuses on either ranged or close combat. Of my kind are the Valkyries the stealthiest, though most vikings know how to be stealthy if we need to be are they the best with their light gear. While the spartans have the hetairoi, also known as companions, stealthy fighters who utilize lance-like spears, javelins, and curved blades."

"How many do you think would be needed?" Rough Stock asks as he sips his coffee some more, eying his half-eaten muffin and pondering how in Tartarus someone had managed to make a hay-based creme filling.

Sighing a bit Thunder Hammer thinks. He did not like to admit it but even with how his creator had made all horses and given them equal knowledge, was it not easy for the different tribes to work together as their training didn't mix well all the time. "I'd say two of each type. Group them up together is for the best as even though we are part of the same nation are most of our different units not used to working with the other tribes. So it is for the best to keep those familiar with one another together."

Rough Stock blinks as he took note that while Thunder Hammer had spoken of the different tribes of the ancient horses. He had not spoken of the Horadrim clan and their forces. "Doest the Horadrim sages not have stealth units?"

"No, they only have one set of warriors and those are the Svaldirfaris. They are capable of enacting all manner of warfare, they can fulfill any role and have excellent magical prowls. But they are not stealth experts and thus not suited for stealth missions. Especially not with the artifacts making it impossible to use scrying magic." Thunder Hammer stated without a hint of shame or worry. It was just as it was.

Celestia rereads her note before nodding and speaks out to the two military leaders. "Very well. We shall have one squad of six wonderbolts act as the aerial infiltrators. And on the ground side, we shall have two of each type of stealth specialist utilized by the Horadrim Kingdom to infiltrate from there. Any opposition to Our command?" At the query Rough Stock and Thunder Hammer shook their heads silently. It was a good and clear plan with what they had available.

"Excellent, We shall have the plan enacted post haste." And so the first, unofficial, stage of the siege of Eggstone begins.

[Scene Skip]

Directly south of Eggstone was a trade route used by private and crown owned airships to transport goods from the various towns and settlements near the southern border by the Dragon Lands, and the southeastern border by the Grand Desert. The woodlands and trade industry there was what supplied the majority of Eggstone.

And currently was there a big call for supply runs to send supplies to the capital, a lot of prestige and money to be granted to those who succeeded in delivering their cargo. Not only the navy but also the private traders were eager to get some of those rewards, even if it meant risking ship and cargo.

One group of three supply ships were acting as supply convoys was on a single route heading towards the capital utilizing the clouds as cover to later send down supplies with parachutes to the capital. These three ships were all under the command of a single captain as the other two ships were more or less floating cargo balloons being pulled by the large frigate leading the way.

Captain Thelek was a proud member of the Royal Navy, having served on the STA (STA = Supply & Transport Airship) Golden Egg for ten years. He had been the captain of the old girl for four of those years. He was not a battle-hardened veteran, instead, his work was to send supplies. And he had many years of experience doing just that.

And with the prestige he and his crew were about to earn by sending down over a hundred tons worth of supplies to the capital in a day or so, he was more than happy to not be a combatant. As rumours were flying around that the King was not pleased with how the Royal Navy had handled things at the failed raid of Equestria and the Horadrim Kingdom, nor how they failed to spot or hold off the current invasion.

Looking through his spyglass he looked out over the fading evening sun, the clouds below his ship covering his ship and cargo from sight below. "Looks like another calm night. How are things with the crew first mate?"

His first mate was a promising young recruit who had been an active member of a sea ship for over four years and was an experienced airship sailor who joined the Royal Navy last year. "The crew are slightly nervous about the supply drop. But then again, most of the mare former sea sailors and thus feel more afraid of pirates than they do the strange cloud ships of the invaders."

"Well, we are hardly going to see any pirates up here."

A sleepy crewmember on watch duty nearby jolted awake and almost drew his claymore as he looked around frantically. "Pirates? Where? Should we raise the alarm?"

Captain Thelek mentally cursed the eccentric behavior of seaside sailors and shouted at the fool. "No, you dolt! I said we're hardly going to see any pirates up here. By the King's beak, you cannot really think pirates smart enough to get hold of or even use an airship do you?"

The crewmember blushed and looked down in shame. While the first mate snorted in amusement at the sheer concepts of pirates even getting into the air. The technology of airships and skyships was so secret and guarded that one had to steal a ship to even get a hold of one, let alone use it. "I hardly think pirates can even get hold of a flying ship, let alone use it."

From behind the first mate and the captain, another voice spoke up. Its tone was calm and amused as if enjoying an inside joke. "Oh, I don't know about that mate. I'd say pirates can be pretty savvy when we want to."

Snorting Captain Thelek made a dismissive wave as he pulled up his spyglass again and looked out over the horizon."Oh please. Even if for some miraculous reason pirates get into the skies then they still cannot handle the might of the Royal Navy. The day pirates manage to lay claim on my ship is the day I eat my hat."

"Well, funny thing about that mate. Never make promises you don't intend to keep." There was a loud thump from all around him and he blinked a bit before pulling back his spyglass and looked over his shoulder. And grew pale.

A wickedly grinning and strange-looking griffin was staring at the captain, holding a sharp saber blade against his throat, while all over the deck were the tied up forms of the crew being carried out of the lower decks by a bunch of pirates. Ponies, griffins, and even a few diamond dogs. "Good evening mateys, I am Captain Wild Sparrow and I and my crew will be your pirates for the week mate. So I will be obliged to ask you to give up your cargo in a peaceful transaction of no payment costs or toll taxes, and still keep your ship. Or give it up in a violent corporate takeover that will cost you your cargo, your ship, and your life. What do you pick lads?"

The captain looked around, looked at his second in command. Before groaning out in frustration before untying his belt and dropping his sword on the deck as his first made did the same. "Oh pluck me..."

Tooting at the foul language Wild Sparrow berated the officer. "Now, now mate. No need for such bad language. Save it for the privy."

Thelek was momentarily confused before the smirking pirate slowly used the tip of his saber to poke the large officer's hat on his head. "What do you meaannn... oh no...."

Wild sparrow just kept grinding widely, his crew mimicking it at the sight of the uncomfortable airship captain who would be regretting his words a few moments earlier. "Oh yes. I am sure we can cook up that fine hat of yours and serve it with some fine gravy to get it properly digested. Wouldn't want to back out on your word now because of indigestion now would we mate?"

Captain Thele's first mate made a grumbling growl in the background at the sight of his captain being humiliated, cursing in a rather poetic fashion while some pirates tie up his wings and forelegs. "Grrrmmmmbh... lousy lice laced low life larcenists."

Wild Sparrow just laughed and patted the tied-up griffin on the side, knocking him on his side, and began to lead the disgruntled captain towards the lower decks. The rest of the pirates laughing and jeering as well. "Nice alliteration mate. But I'd save it for later when your captain gets out of the privy."

The first mate's eyes widened as he watched Wild Sparrow walk away, seeing the horse legs and hooves on his rear body. And the thought of a hybrid of horse and griffin made his worldview crash rather exceptionally.

And so the first ship to fall to the Black Pearl was ransacked of all its wealth, provisions, and equipment, only leaving enough to keep the crew alive until they could get free from their bonds. Would not do to cause needless deaths, kind of hard being a pirate without someone to steal from.

[Scene Skip]

[Current Date: 21/7 - 128 AD]

[Time Remaining. 10 Days]

Deep within the tunnels were the lesser citizens of Eggstone were being transported through there was a sealed off side passage behind a massive powerful doorway of reinforced iron mixed with thunderstone to make it stronger. Past the blue-tinted metal doors laid a long length circular-shaped tunnel the same size as the one leading to Thunder Mountain.

This massive twisting path goes straight northwards for several hundreds of meters and through three more massive metal doors. And behind the last doorway is a massive underground complex. The entire complex is built around a deep cylindrical shaped hole that goes straight down for over fifty meters. At the top is a large mechanical doorway of bronze, used only for airships or royal visits.

Along the walls are rooms carved out of the solid stone, over twenty floors go along the deep cylindrical hole and each floor has 5 to 10 rooms, each floor has a specific purpose. And all over the place can the white robed artificers be seen scouring around working with research, crafting, and so much more. Though many of them were wearing expressions of worry or panic.

At the bottom of the pit are two large doors on the western and southern parts. The southern leads to the refinery where thunderstone gets refined into glass, metal, and so on. But the northern doorway leads to the main testing chamber, where a large group of thirty artificers is working frantically to solve the issue they're having.

So busy in fact that they hadn't even noticed the lack of supplies being delivered to the facilities for the past couple of days, nor any news or requests. The artificers, even those on the upper levels, were so isolated that they didn't even know a civil war had broken out.

And in their panic, even as they tried again and again to device an external storage device for the Claws of Sorrow. They never saw the liquid slowly start to rise up the claws. Until finally one of the claws embedded into the skeletal husk of Maleficus Victoria, released a drop of liquid into the husk.

And then there was a soft shift in the husk. Before a low vibrating up began to emit from the glass, and a small almost unnoticeable clink could be heard, as a hair-fine crack appeared on the claw. And the husked form of Maleficus, began to swell up from the inside, a blue glow flowing out from the holes in his hide.

The artificers barely had time to spot the husk's swelling until it accelerated at massive speed and in a few seconds the husk of Maleficus swelled up like a grotesque balloon, blue tumors growing out of the leather hide. And then a loud crack emitted from the claws of sorrow, as the entire structure cracked. And shattered.

Screams of terror erupted from within the chamber but were swiftly silenced as the bloated up husk of Maleficus popped like a geyser. Thick slime-like, and glowing, blue liquid erupts from the incapacitated alicorn in waves.

It washed out over the safety zone and struck at the panicking artificers who tried to run away. But their protective gear slowed them down and they were covered in the goop. And with the goop sliding down the hole in their protective helms there was a moment of painful screams before said screams were strangled out as the griffins' bodies swelled up within the safety suit, their throats and heads squeezed within the suddenly too small helmets. Before they too popped, only in a far less impressive magnitude as Maleficus had.

Several griffins had flown off and tried to reach the exit when the screaming swelling bodies of their colleagues suddenly erupted into geysers of liquid mana as well. And then there was suddenly a secondary eruption from within the center of the flowing blue goop, as Maleficus' body again tried to regenerate and repeated the process all over again.

The artificers scratching at the doors screaming to be let out were swiftly silenced and popped like zits, as a wave of blue swallowed them up, breaking down their bodies into more tears of sorrow. And even as the last griffin was gone the chamber was still being filled, as the regenerating body of Maleficus kept trying to restore itself within the sea of liquid mana.

And slowly but surely the airtight chamber was slowly being filled up, the liquid rising and rising. And the doors leading to the chamber began to slightly groan and creak.

[To Be Continued]

Author's Note

Staadnauthursil: Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. I hope all of you are feeling well during this time of isolation and pandemic. Now as you all know, I have had a hard time working on my story for rather obvious reasons. Some of which I am very upset about because I cannot be part of it because of my current state of health. And yes, I probably should have made some regular update notes or blog posts but I have not been able to drag my sorry ass out of the dark pit of illness and self-pity to do so.

Pinkie: YOU'RE BEING A SAD PONY!? YOU NEED A GET-BETTER-WITH-SWEETS-&-HUGS-PARTY!!!

Staadnauthursil: Glad to see you too Pinkie. Anyhow. I apologize for my silence and lack of updates. But here it is, my latest work. It is not a big one, but I am trying to make smaller chapters so I can make them more frequent. Though with the Covid situation I am uncertain if it is going to be that effective, the isolation makes a mess of your sleeping habits.

Pinkie: Yay! More chapters!

Staadnauthursil: Well, I am not making any promises about my speed in making chapters. I have always been clear about that. But I can promise this. Just as I have told yakopak, who sent me pms asking about my chapter and my story. I AM NOT GOING TO ABANDON THIS STORY.

Pinkie: *Walks out onto a stage wearing sunglasses and rapper jewelry stating the name, Punky Pie* You all heard him! He's Not Dropping The Story! *Drops microphone on stage, pulls off sunglasses with her happy grin face on*

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