Prologue

Lightning Shadow flew at the front of a formation of Equestrian soldiers speeding north-west. Two of his Pegasi subordinates pulled chariots full of Unicorn and Earthpony soldiers. The call said that the Talons nearby may be under attack. He didn’t like the idea of Zebra’s attacking here. There wasn’t a reason for it, nothing other than the minor military outpost he was in command of was worth the enemies attentions. He could see the smoke rising from the Talon encampment up ahead. Lightning signaled for his troops to land. They’d approach on hoof from here.
“Sir, we need to have somepony fly over for recon.” a Lt. said, Lightning looked at him and said in a hushed voice.
“Lieutenant, that is what the enemy would be expecting. We keep the element of surprise, assuming you don’t give our position away. I want silence from now ‘til we figure out what’s going on here” with that they split into three groups, one moving in from the south, west, and east. Lightning himself lead the southern approach. He immediately noticed something was off. There were muskets and flintlock pistols laying all over the ground, new weapons of war that were growing in popularity fast. He prefers his blades, silent and no need to worry about misfires or reload times.

He was far more disturbed by the bodies littering the encampment, all of them Griffons, all of them from Rose’s Talons, the company stationed here.

“Son of Nightmare Moon…..there wasn’t an attack, this was in-fighting…..look for any survivors!” Lightings voice raised from a shocked whisper to a commanding bark. They broke formation and all started searching. Lightning headed for the commanders home, she’d have the most reliable info on the situation. As he approached the door he felt his stomach drop. The door was kicked in, he heard two of his soldiers talking from inside.
“Celestia’s mercy... The kid did that to him?”
“That’s what he said. Apparently after they killed the kids parents he just went savage on him. I say we put that thing down and save ourselves the risk.”
Lightning stepped in to the room.

“No pony’s putting anyone down! Especially not a child!” he glared at the two soldiers. They were standing over a badly wounded Griffon. At the far side of the room another Griffon, much younger, was crying and clinging to the lifeless body of Commander Rose. The snow white Griffon’s corpse was stained from her neck all the way down her chest with fresh blood. The charcoal grey Griffon cub, maybe 5 years old, 6 at most, was sobbing into her side.

“You two get him out of here!” Lighting pointed at the wounded Griffon, glaring as they hurried to follow his orders. When the room was clear he turned to the child, heart heavy, and stepped closer.

“I… I’m so sorry, we weren’t fast enough this time, I can’t undo what’s been done here, but… you’re not alone. You can come live with me.” He spoke softly while crouching down to the cub’s level, hoof half held out to him.

The cub growled wheeling on him “I DON’T WANT TO LIVE WITH YOU! I WANT MY MOM AND DAD BACK!” He charged Lightning, who grabbed the kid and hugged him close wincing slightly as the cub clawed at him. He slowly stopped struggling and started to cry again. Lightning hugged him tighter and sighed.
“I know….I know you want them back, and that I can’t replace them. I'm not trying to kiddo, but you don’t have to be alone. Let me help you, please.” he continued to hold the crying cub.

“Can you tell me your name? Im Lightning Shadow.”
“O..Obsidian Shield,” the cub frowned as Lightning picked him up and took him outside. Medics had arrived to aid the wounded, “......I’ll never care about anyone again.”

“That’s the wrong way to look at this. Don’t vow to never care again, vow to never let this happen to those you care about again. It’s better to care about others than to become what they expect you to be. Come with me and let me help you become strong enough to protect those who need it.” Lightning looked into the young Griffon’s eyes.

“It hurts…” Obsidian whispers.

“It will hurt for a long time, maybe always, but you are strong enough to survive this. I promise.”
“I… ok… ok.” Obsidian nodded and wiped the tears from his eyes. Lighting smiled slightly as he set the cub down. Obsidian immediately leaned into his legs “that’s it. You’re a tough little guy, together we’ll get you through this.”

Author's Note

Hey all. this is my first time actually publishing my works. this is an unedited story, I couldn't find editors, Ive been working on this story a while on and off, life tends to get in the way, constructive feed back is more than welcome, key word, CONSTRUCTIVE. Other wise please enjoy.