Slephnir's Will

War can happen anywhere; all it needs is time, a spark, and anypony with a thirst to fight. Ugh that stupid tic again, it's so ingrained on our psyche that it just comes out. Most ponies believe Equestria is a peace filled utopia full of rainbows and sunshine. That's a load of bullshit...Equestria has a dark side as well. Murder, robberies, rape, drugs...it's all there. Celestia...excuse me, Princess Celestia does a good job of having us clean her shit up. Wars break out regardless of how "cute" you try to keep your land. That woman is a psychopath and she's let this place become a cesspit with a sparkly shell. Tension between us and the Griffins have been mounting in recent years, rather than simply challenge the Princess to a one on one duel, the griffin Empress engaged her in verbal combat. Griffins aren't as...articulate as we are and Celestia tore her to shreds. Empress Sinnea was furious; she was publicly embarrassed in front of the World Counsel at the world banquet. She declared war right then and there...of course Celestia simply looked down her snout at her and gave her that smile...the smile that simply showed how unafraid she was of the winged creature. Me being the Commander of her strike forces I was there the entire time and quite frankly...I think we're in serious shit...

Commander Croix Havoc kept pace with Princess Celestia as she cooed to her little protégé' Twilight Sparkle. Why she was wasting her time with this friendship crap at a time like this was beyond him. The ram cleared his throat, getting the Princess's attention. He gave Twilight a curt nod which she returned in kind. "Princess, we need to talk, it can't wait either." The red eyed Ram stared at the unicorn before she sighed and turned back to Twilight. "I'm sorry; I guess I have to go back to work now. Please, keep up the good work...my dearest student." She remained silent until the young unicorn had departed and turned to her special force's leader with a darker look. "Report Commander, how did the raid fare?" She turned and began to head in the direction of a certain unicorn he'd rather not see...they say not to date in the workplace...this mare was a sure reason why that saying should be taken to heart. He blew steam out of his nose as a sign of displeasure and trotted alongside her, making sure his bladed wings didn't scrape her or her overly ornate wings. "The griffin stronghold was completely decimated; we lost a battalion of earth ponies and a squad of unicorns. We can't keep pressing these attacks your Majesty, earth ponies can't take a griffin in full on combat. Even my Pegasus Squadron is having trouble, the Griffin Empire is built up on corpses, it's a military empire. You built this one up on rainbows and other such bullshit; our forces aren't trained for this." The ram hated talking to Celestia when she was acting like a prissy bitch, but she was his liege and he aimed to keep his oath and do her dirty work.

Celestia nudged the archaic looking door and the two were hit with the tangy smell of ozone, brimstone, and blood. The dark Warlock Hellvetica Sindelise...his ex and current head of Celestia's secret Arcane Magic sector was in charge down here, her dark experiments kept from the public eye. He didn't enjoy being around her when she was in research mode, the Demonicorn was more than willing to use live subjects to further her experiments. Aside from her dark tendencies she was a strangely sweet mare. Celestia sighed and flipped her mane aside and nodded. "I'm well aware of our militaristic short comings Commander. It is, however your job to make them deadly enough to kill my kingdom's enemies...is it not?" Croix was about to retort when the Warlock trotted up with a giggle. "Keep at it and people will begin to think you two are...cavorting together. Oh hohohoho!" Ah that laugh...he hated it but a part of him still liked the melodic sound. Of course it also meant she was plotting something unsavory, the Demonicorn might not look like much but she was one of the most magically inclined ponies alive. "Good morning your Highness, good morning...Croix...I take it you're here to see what I can do to magically enhance the little Pegasus? Trot with me and I'll show you. Oh, Croix...how are those new wings working out?" She nuzzled him mockingly and giggled before bounding over to one of her swirling orbs of arcane energy. The ram blew steam again and looked away to keep from snapping at her. After losing his wings as a young ram, he was cursed to stay flightless. Hellvetica took a scientific interest in the ram and after befriending him did research to restore his wings. The arcane wings she fashioned for him were taboo and looked at with a bit of fear; the demonic energies streaked his body with blue bands full of the arcane power needed to power his bladed wings. Hellvetica smiled and turned back to the Princess who had a bit of a scowl on her face. "Stop it Sindelise, I don't have the time for your teasing today. What have you come up with?" The Demonicorn smirked and turned to her aids running around. "Bring me my notes would you?" One of the ponies trotted up to her and passed an energy orb to her. "My research Princess...is inconclusive. The magic I use is from the dark god Slephnir and I doubt a Pegasus, a creature of light would survive the treatment my loving guinea pony; Croix here received...unless...you give me leave to test on a live subject..." Celestia stared at the Demonicorn almost as if she was contemplating it. She silently turned around and left. "Sindelise, I never come down here so I personally don't know what you’re doing down here so I'll trust your judgment." With that she slipped out of the lab leaving a cackling Hellvetica and a glaring Croix...what Celestia hiding?

"Croix, come with me, we need to talk. No it's not a trick either." Croix had a skeptical look on his face and trotted next to her as the other ponies scattered around doing odd jobs and conducting experiments. Hellvetica lost her normal mad scientist look and had replaced it with the tender face he'd loved years ago. “Croix, did the Princess basically give me leave to test on a live Pegasus? I only asked her because I was certain she'd say no. Did I miss something?" Croix had to admit he'd wondered the same, was the war getting to her or was the Princess actually more than she let on? "Honestly... Celestia has been acting weird since her sister returned...at first it was just a few strange acts here and there, but she's been steadily getting worse. I mean she started a fucking war against the Griffins, anything less than a skilled Pegasus is normally torn to shreds. The Wonderbolts can barely out fly them, hell I can barely out fly them." As Hellvetica and Croix entered her room, Croix had to wonder how he let himself be led back here. The mare sat on her floating pillow and pats a spot next to her. "I'll stand. So I'm sure you have some ulterior motive for bringing me here, what is it?" Hellvetica rolled her yellow eyes and sat up; she flipped her mane to the side and thought a moment before speaking again. "Would it surprise you if I just wanted to seduce you again?" "Yeah I'm leaving." She scrambled off of her pillow, faceplanting while she was at it. "Oh come on I'm just picking on you! An ex marefriend isn't allowed to tease? Oh, fine I was done with you anyway...Come back later tonight, I should have figured something out by then." Croix shook his head and made his way from the Warlock's chamber and back into the main court. The Imperial Guards bowed to him as he trotted by more so out of respect than any formality. The ram powered his wings and took to the sky, he contemplated checking on his niece, Fluttershy but he decided against it, last thing he needed was to scare the living hell out of her. It was weird that she was so docile, his family was known for defending Equestria so he assumed the family marring into his would be just as formidable. Nope...in fact they were pacifists, a pacifist's pacifist even with Fluttershy at the helm of the wuss boat. But despite her tendency to be afraid of her own shadow, he loved her like she was born into his family. Unbeknownst to everyone else the mare was a brutal killer with a penchant for butchering her victims. Croix covered for her killings and struck a deal with the Organization that Pinkamina was a part of. They take Fluttershy in and he doesn’t kill them. "Ah what the hell, I could use a break from all this insanity." He diverted her flight path towards Ponyville and made his way there rather quickly, Croix was quite the flyer. He heard giggles from some random ponies as he made way to his niece's ultra-flowery house, just being a ram with wings made him stand out not to mention he was muscular from all his combat training. Good to see mares were still into that, he flashed the mares a smirk and inwardly chuckled as they practically melted under his gaze, seems propaganda has built him up into the ideal. Sure the stuff about him was mostly true but at the end of the day there's not enough water on the planet to wash away all the blood.

The presence of Angel; Fluttershy's pet rabbit and assertive coach, showed she was indeed home for once. The rabbit had taken and immediate liking to Croix which was rare for the rabbit. The bunny took his place on his head and silently pointed to where the soft spoken Pegasus was. Fluttershy jumped when he nudged her, she still didn't pay much attention to her surroundings it seems. He half expected her to faint thanks to the mare's "weak" constitution. Luckily she didn't and simply smiled when she realized it was him. "Oh Croix, it's good to um…see you." Yup still ultra-shy, she still won't speak up not even with family. "I see you're doing alright still kid, that's good." She nodded and nudged a baby squirrel towards its parents and smiled softly, before turning back to her uncle. "I'm sorry I don't have anything ready to eat...I-I wasn't expecting company." She fidgeted a little, most likely freaking out inside if he knew his niece as well as he thought he did. He nudged her again and smiled. "It's ok Fluttershy; I just came to check on you while I'm near Ponyville…" She cocked her head to the side in confusion; as far as she was concerned he was Captain of the Guard...at least she thought he was. "So...you'll be leaving soon?" The ram nodded and flicked his sharp tail. Her expression fell slightly, he hated when she frowned, and she’s the kind of mare that needs to be smiling all the time. "Don't worry I'll bring you a gift back before you know I'm gone. I might even treat your…friends while I'm at it." He reflexively looked up to see if her hyper active “friend” Rainbow Dash had heard the mention of free food. Luckily she wasn't around or was passed out on some cloud. He nuzzled his niece goodbye and took off gently as not to demolish her garden. He'd make a point to keep the Griffins from his niece, even if that meant hunting them to extinction...He'd protected the mare from worst and refused to let her be affected any more than she had to.

This war had many facets to it, there was the open combat Croix was used to, the political side that Celestia reigned over, and there was the innocent side...the side that made this look like a minor squabble. Then there was Vienna Moon's side...a side no one but Celestia and Croix knew about. Moon was an assassin...one of the best. The Unicorn had murdered and killed her share of Griffins, and then some. She took the missions Croix had found best suited to a little subtlety, the small Griffin encampment was a bit too close to Ponyville for comfort and Celestia had ordered their elimination. That was earlier in the morning of course, Vienna hated to work during the day and simply observed her targets until night fell, and once the darkness descended it would be time to make the Griffins fear the night. The raven maned assassin silently nodded her head and the silent shadows of her assassin unicorns vanished, to pick their targets off. Vienna drew her katana and silently faded into the darkness. Normally a pony had to carry their weapons in their mouths or hook them into specialized harnesses, specifically made for weapons. Being a unicorn made it amazingly easy for her, the blade was wrapped in dark wisps of magic, and Vienna didn't even need to touch the sword. She slid from the shadows behind an unsuspecting Griffin and rammed the blade through the side of its neck and slid it forward slitting its neck. The griffin had only a second to register what happened before it collapsed in a pool of its own blood. The unicorn used her magic to move the corpse into the realm of darkness and smiled softly when she saw her assassins do their job and quickly and silently kill their targets without fail. The dark purple unicorn was proud her squad was as adept at killing as she was. She went to the leader's tent and stared the griffin in the eyes. "Unicorn...you must be with that assassin's corps I've heard so much about. If you're showing yourself...it must mean my men are already climbing mount Olympus. I commend you for showing yourself to me though; it's not every day I get to kill a high ranking unicorn. Prepare yourself little girl."

Vienna smiled and let herself out of the tent and awaited the griffin, it didn't take long, the griffin burst from the tent with his claws bared and his bladed wingtips already spread. Vienna had already seen this move, she flipped over the griffin and tossed her sword straight down with a magically backed toss, the blade completely impaled the beast and pinned him to the ground. The griffin screeched in pain but didn't try to rip himself free; he already knew he was dead. The Unicorn trotted next to him and gave him a soft smile. "I've lived for quite some time griffin…you're a century too young to even think of fighting me. Sing a song of me in the afterlife..." The griffin spat at her feet with a defiant look on his face. "Good, I'm glad you won't cower in fear at the bringer of your death, go with peace." She told him softly before she decapitated him in one fluid slice. Her assassins stood next to her and cleaned up the mess, she turned to Spike and nodded at him. The young dragon sent a letter of completion to the Commander and rested his hand on his claymore, awaiting more orders. Twilight Sparkle didn't know he was part of the Assassin Corp, hell no one knew what he did when he was away from the other girls. How would they react if they ever found out he was a skilled killer? That he'd taken more lives than the population of Ponyville alone? Honestly Fluttershy and Pinkie…Pinkamina would commend him, Rarity would most likely think it was cute and Twilight would probably snitch to Celestia. "Captain, are we done? I'm sure Twilight is starting to wonder where I ran off to." It was amazing how he was able to keep his childlike personality intact, when so much death was happening around him. Vienna sheathed her katana and gave the dragonling a soft smile. "Oh, yes you can go now Spike, clean the blood off of yourself first…no need to scare her right?" The dragonling nodded and unfurled his wings...wings he could only use in combat and flew back towards Ponyville. Vienna and her assassins razzed the camp and dispersed as the crimson flames erased the presence of anyone ever being there. Vienna stripped her dark blue bodysuit off and stored it in her pack before putting her normal clothes on as if nothing ever happened.