What Must be Done

by Ancient

Rating: mature
Tags: Fetish, Griffons, Violence, Princess Celestia, Death, Drama, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Sad, Original Character
Length: 10202

Celestia has had enough of the gryphons and their war on her people

Canterlot is under attack from the Gryphon empire. Their king and prince try to infiltrate their way into Celestia's throne room to slay her once and for all. Unfortunately, they simply underestimated how truly powerful she was...

Published 2019-10-20 03:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-10-20 03:50:01 UTC

The Beginning of the End of gryphonkind

//------------------------------//
// The Beginning of the End of gryphonkind
//------------------------------//
+++++
The Tale of a Bloodline’s End by Vivid Lucidity
Commissioned for Vaxxus
+++++

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

War is never a triumph. It is never a path of shimmering battles of courage and valour towards an inevitable victory. It is a path forged in blood, violence and atrocities.
No matter the cost, no matter the heartbreak, what must be done is to be done.

But the violence of war can shock even the most hardened of warriors…

==

A bright, moonless night hung over the kingdom of Equestria. Clouds lazily drift over its capital, Canterlot. The serene sky was unaware of the horrors wrought below.

The clouds were illuminated in plumes of orange fire, with a war raging beneath their surface. Gryphons had invaded Equestria and had laid sudden siege to its capital, flying in and attacking the walls with the element of surprise. It had barely begun, but already the sky was illuminated an ethereal glow with the flames of their arrows.

Yet darting through the darkness, with only faint snips of light catching on their wings, two-winged beasts flew. High above the ground they hide in the cover of clouds as the pair of gryphons silently approached the castle. Their fur was dark, their gazes were steeled; not a word was spoken as they soared. The directions were burned into the memories over months of practice and preparation, with one following the other. They could not fail.

Without a word they both dropped, holding their wings close to their bodies as they rocketed towards the ground. Hundreds of metres were covered in mere seconds, the blurry outline of the capital fast approaching. Their primal brains screamed to pull up, less they splatter over the cobblestones, but they kept going. The leader’s gaze was fearless, the follower’s afraid, yet still they plummeted. At a distance way too close to the ground they opened their wings. Forces yanked them back as they sailed towards the castle’s roof, the ground approaching way too fast, no hope of stopping in time…

Until with a forceful jolt they landed on the curved rooftop, without even knocking a tile loose.

Standing tall on the roof was none other than King Grover, leader of the gryphons. His gaze was strong as he looked over the capital and the army, his army, sieging the gates. Some would die, yes, but it had to be done. There was no other way to keep the guards away from the castle. And with the castle unguarded, they could strike at the capital’s heart and end the war mere moments after it began.

Beside him was his son, a prince, a mere shadow in the presence of his mighty father. His body was smaller, his feathers were lighter and messier, while his stature betrayed his fear. He was afraid. Afraid of what might go wrong, and what his father would think of him if he were to fail.

“We won’t fail son.” The King said with forceful intent as if reading his mind. “The guards will be gone. All that is between us and victory is the weak and lazy Princess Celestia. We must go.”

Without another word he leapt off the roof’s crest and dove down the roof, sprinting with his wings beside him. Every step was forceful and fast with his talons blurred lightning from the speed. The prince was now slower, but lacked grace and poise, with his betrayed by his steps.

Quickly running down the roof they leapt onto a balcony and dashed inside, into a small library. Seeing nobody around, they wasted no time dashing into the hallways and heading straight for the throne room. The hallways were opulent, with white and grey checker flooring, marble walls, and motifs of the sun everywhere you could look.

But no people.

The halls were dead and empty, the only sound echoing down them being the thundering of the pair’s claws. During the day the halls would’ve looked radiant, but now they merely felt lifeless and unnatural.

“Where … where is everyone… this isn’t right…” the Prince, gulping nervously as he ran alongside his father.

“Quiet!” King Grover hissed, not even looking back to scorn him with his steely gaze. “They’re all fighting the army, so let’s just move!”

“Even the cooks and servants?” The prince thought yet did not dare to speak up against his father.

After minutes of dashing down perfectly memorised halls, they arrived. Claws scratching the floor, they skittered to a halt just outside two imposing wooden doors marked with the herald of the sun. The tall doors loomed far above them; the prince felt like a mere ant in comparison to them. With bated breath King Grover rested a claw against it but felt no resistance; the door was unlocked. He nodded to this son, who weakly returned it. Taking a step back, they wielded the short-swords across their back, before King Grover gently pushed the doors open. They both stepped inside.

The throne room was beyond opulent. It was a large room with a tall, curved ceiling made from glass, with the herald of the sun etched in the dye. Rows upon rows of benches lined the room with a passage in the middle, giving the subjects a place to sit before their Princess. At the far end was a raised platform for the Princess to stand upon. Behind that was a window that took up the entire far wall, giving a panoramic view of the entire kingdom; and the war engulfing it.

And stood before the window, back turned with a tint of orange light illuminating her brilliant white fur, was Princess Celestia.

Even in the darkness of a moonless night, illuminated by the flames of war, she still looked absolutely radiant. It was as if her white fur glowed with a star burning bright inside her. She wore her regal garb, with her golden crown and hoof-shoes. She didn’t turn as the pair entered the throne room. Standing side by side, King Grover stared with burning fury, while the prince looked up with trembles of fear.

“What I don’t understand is why.” Celestia suddenly spoke without even turning. They both looked to each other uneasily, she was probably just talking to herself…

“Why did you two do this? Why did you attack our peaceful kingdom…”

Even King Grover was shocked, flinching backwards at how easily their ruse was discovered. But he steeled himself with even greater fury.

“So, the mighty Princess admits to our presence at last.” Grover started with a sneer of contempt. They began to walk forwards, carefully watching their step with their swords drawn. “Bow before us, and perhaps we’ll give you a quick death.”

Celestia didn’t turn. She continued watching the world before her, burning with its violence. Her eyes traced a flaming projectile hurled by catapult, before flinching slightly as it slammed into a castle wall. All this violence … all this death…
A tear began to form in her eye.

Slowly, as if she’d rather not, she turned around and looked them in their eyes.

King Grover’s stare was wild, angered and determined, while the Prince’s trembled with fear and trepid dedication. But the Princess’s eyes were weary almost as if she had resigned herself to an unfortunate task. There was no fear in her eyes, just … sadness?

“You never answered me why. Why all this violence … why all this death … what do you want?”

King Grover’s response was immediate.

“Heh, isn’t it obvious? You ponies … all of you … you’re weak. Soft. Spineless. Unable to take what you want. Your kingdom will fall easily Princess … just like you.”

“Are you sure about that?” she replied, not even flinching from any of the words. The Prince flinched, terror flashing across his eyes before he steeled himself with determination. Neither spoke, now halfway across the throne room towards her. Silence reigned in the room, spare the far and distance cries of war.

“In case you’re wondering…” the Princess started again, shattering the silence with her warm voice. “…I dismissed the guards and servants. I didn’t want them to be hurt when you arrived…”

The pair stopped dead. Even King Grover looked hurt, for only a moment, before a snarling growling hid any fear. But the prince trembled while his eyes darted in terror; the ruse had been found. His fear of Princess Celestia steadily grew…

“We … maybe… we should go…” he whispered with a trembling voice.

“No!” his father snapped, making him flinch back in greater fear. He began to ascend the steps to the raised platform, his son dutifully following behind him with a flagged tail. “So you think you’re so clever do you, Princess? Thinking you’re as all-knowing as the sun as always, huh Princess? Well, are your grace, all your regality … yet we’re the ones in control now…”

“Are you?”

“SILENCE!” he roared, voice echoing off the walls. This wasn’t just anger, this was fury hiding doubt he himself didn’t want to admit. The prince could see the hidden doubt, and that scared him as well. But still, they pushed onwards. Claws scraped across polished tiles as they ascended the short stairs onto the slightly raised platform of the Princess.

This was it. There was no further they could go.

King and son stood side by side as they stared down Princess Celestia. Their gazes were strong, while Celestia held that same resigned stare. The two were ready to attack at a moment’s notice…

“I will give you one chance.” She said, not even bothering to look at their drawn swords. “One chance to surrender. You will leave the castle and order your soldiers to withdraw. There will be no repercussions.”

Even the prince chuckled at this, an uneasy laugh betraying his fear. But King Grover openly laughed, a cackle of wicked delight.

“Are you delusional?! Hahaha, you stand before the two greatest warriors, unarmed and alone, and you have the GALL to demand our surrender?! You know what? I’ll humour you. What’s going to happen to us if we don’t surrender, oh you powerful and majestic Princess.”

“Then both of you will die.”

Celestia didn’t blink, she didn’t look fazed, she just said it matter of factly as if it was the unshakeable truth.

“Neither of you will leave the room alive. Your bloodline, King Grover, will be extinguished forever. Surrender. Please. I’m begging you.”

The prince could see a tinge of sadness in her eyes as if she didn’t want to say it. That was what scared him the most. This wasn’t the boasting of an overconfident king or the furious demands of a lunatic, but the humble admissions of strength by a person that didn’t want to use it. It was all too much for him. Slowly, he began to step backwards…

“I su…” the prince stammered, but he never finished the first syllable.

“Never!” his father screamed, freezing him in place with the authority of his words.

Silence. Celestia drooped her head, shutting her eyes before looking back up. She was … crying…

“I warned you.” She said remorsefully before her horn began to glow.

The King and Prince tried to attack, but never even took a step before a sudden force gripped them tight. It felt like it was coming from every angle, pinching, squeezing, tugging; it as if they were being compressed inwards. Letting out a pained screech they tried to step forward, only to scream as they looked around.

They were shrinking.

The world stretched away from them like gum as their bodies shrank away at a dizzying pace. In mere seconds they were a quarter of their original heights and it hadn’t even stopped. The throne room became a towering coliseum, while Princess Celestia grew ever larger with every second. And throughout the whole ordeal, she looked down at them with not anger or glee, but regret.

“I warned you…” she said as the last of their height wilted away, leaving them tiny and afraid on the polished floor.

There was no denying it, they were tiny beyond belief. They were no bigger than grape each, a king and prince reduced to bugs in a great hall. Everything was colossal to them, the throne room, the pillars, walls, furniture, and most of all: Princess Celestia herself. To the tiny gryphons, she was bigger than a castle. A morose, towering princess, looking down at them with sadness and regret.

For one moment, King Grover and his son were silent. Silent and still as they took on the might of the formerly unassuming Princess towering over them. She stepped closer. Tremors as violent as earthquakes ripped through the ground with every step that brought her closer. A mere step covered what looked like dozens of metres to them.

At that moment, as their legs struggled to work as they stared upon the approaching giant, they thought one thing. One thought dominated their terror-filled minds.

They were completely and utterly doomed.

King Grover tried to escape. His steely resolve completely shattered, he turned around and tried to run, but didn’t take a step before an unseen force pinned him to the ground. It was the Princess’s telekinesis holding him in place. Letting out a primal roar he tried to drag himself forward with all of his strength but barely budged an inch. His desperate attempts to flee were no more forceful than a scurrying cockroach.

The prince laid stunned as he watched her approach, his throat and chest getting tight with pure fear and terror. By the time he managed to scream at himself to run, he was already pinned by her magic. He was beside his father, both of them with their backs to the floor.

King and son, side by side, but as two tiny bugs pinned against the floor.
Oh, how the mighty had fallen.

Their screams and desperate struggles did nothing to dissuade the approaching mountain that was Princess Celestia. As she passed overhead, they threw up their hands, expecting her hooves to come crush them flat … but they didn’t. For now. Instead, Celestia positioned herself with her hind hooves on either side of the pinned pair. For a moment they thought they had been spared. Their racing hearts slowed slightly. But the terror exploded back in as she lifted her right hind hoof and brought it towards King Grover.

Screaming like the trapped animal he was he tried to scramble anyway as the golden surface approached, but there was no hope. Her hoof came down upon his stomach, making him howl in pain as he was forced against the ground. Everything beneath his midpoint was hidden beneath her hoof. The golden surface stretched up and in front of him like a cliff face.

“Please … no … glrk!” he screamed as he desperately tried to break free, claws scrambling over the smooth gold. “I … I surrender! Please … no!”

“I’m sorry…” she mourned, shaking her head sadly. “I gave you a chance to surrender, to turn away, but you were too headstrong. If I let you go now … you’ll just bring an army back to kill me…”

“PLEASE!” he squawked as he felt his bones bend beneath the pressure.

“He … he surrenders! I surrender! I’ll do anything, anything!” the prince yelled, tears flowing down his cheeks. Welling up all the strength he had he crawled towards his father. But he could barely move, his struggles bringing him just out of reach of his father. Tears caked both of their eyes as they stared at each other forlornly. King Grover’s body shook with exhaustion, the prince’s with uncontrolled sadness. Taking his claw away from the hoof, he reached out towards his son…

Princess Celestia could see it. The fear. The anguish. The regret. Her body tensed as she hesitated, unable to do it, unable to do what must be done…
But it had to be done.

“Son … I lo…”

But King Grover never finished his last words. Princess Celestia rolled her hoof forwards, taking him entirely beneath the golden surface as she lifted her other hind-hoof up. With all the pressure upon him, the hoof simply sank down, crushing his body like nothing. With a sickening crunch that made Celestia turn her head away, he was obliterated. In the blink of the prince’s eyes, the hoof crushed his father flat. All the stuck out was his tail, flaring upwards as the last of the crushed nerves fired, before it fell back down, still and silent.

The prince was shocked. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe as he stared at the hoof that was once his father. A torrent of red poured out from beneath the hoof. The prince was soaked in blood, his father’s blood. He merely trembled as the hoof raised up again, with a waterfall of blood and unrecognisable viscera cascading to the ground.

That was all he was. The strong and mighty king reduced to a red, bloody smear on the underside of her hoof. Not even a footnote of history, but a stain. A stain beneath the step of Princess Celestia.

“No…” he stammered, tossing his head in stark raving fear. Celestia didn’t notice, stepping backwards to bring him in front of her. A trail of red hoofprints followed her step.

“No … no … no … no! No!” he stared up at Celestia’s giant eyes. “You … you killed him!”

“It had to be done … I’m sorry…” she said with a teary eye.

“I … I surrender! I’ll never … attack the kingdom … just let me go! Don’t kill me … please! I’m a prince … I don’t want to be just a blood-stain, please!”

A moment’s hesitation as Celestia stared down upon him, before turning her head and shutting his eyes.

“I … I wish I could… but I can’t. I just can’t. Young prince … I’m sorry. Your kind … the desire for revenge burns deep. I know you may regret this now … but later … you will come back for me. That much I know. I must end this now…”

“PLEASE! I’M BEGGING YOU, PLEASE!”

Celestia didn’t flinch. She just looked down at him with those same sad eyes tinged with pity. As if he was a poor, innocent and defenceless creature that did nothing wrong … yet had to be put down anyway.

“I’m sorry … but there is no other way… I wish I didn’t have to do this … I wish things were different … but it is how it is. That is unfortunate. But young prince … you will not die in vain. You will not be forgotten … I will let you live on as a shining beacon of hope… your death … your death will give me life…”

And with that, the crushing pressure became lightness as he was magically brought upwards towards her head.

She wasn’t going to give him a quick, painless death beneath her step.
She was going to devour him alive.

There was no escaping it. He screamed and thrashed as if his feathers had been soaked in oil and set alight, yet the magical bonds didn’t budge. All he could do was thrash his head and scream as the graceful, yet terrifying visage of Princess Celestia approached.

“PLEASE OH NO PLEASE!” he waited. Her eyes faltered and she looked down with concern, yet he did not slow.

“I’m … sorry … young one … but there is no other way. There isn’t…this is the only way to bring peace…”

“I SAID I SURRENDERED! I’LL NEVER DREAM OF ATTACKING YOU EVER AGAIN! JUST DON’T EAT ME!”

Halfway up her body now. Passing her torso, the prince swore he could hear her stomach grumble. A long, low growl of a beast churning inside her, ready to break him down.

“I know your kind … I know what you will do … there is no other way … there is no other way…” she said as she tried to soothe both the prince and her own tortured conscience.

“PLEASE! I’LL DO ANYTHING! PLEASE!”

“This is going to happen … nothing can change that. This will bring the most worth from your life … ensure you’re never forgotten…”

“THIS IS WRONG! YOU’RE WRONG! NO!”

“…and just imagine … the whole world will see you … in me. You’ll live on … in me…”

“NO!”

No amount of screaming would change her mind, as much as she wished it would. But that didn’t matter anymore, as there was no higher he could go, as he was now floating in front of her head. Up close he could see every minute detail: the fur fluttering as she breathed through her nostrils, the worry etched in her eyes, and the faint trails of tears running down her cheeks. He felt like he was going to throw up. His entire body burned with adrenaline while his feathers were soaked in tears and blood. His voice was hoarse from all the screaming.

Princess Celestia opened her mouth, and he screamed as he had never screamed before.

To see the inside of her maw, a dark, rank cavern of saliva and flesh, broke him as the realisation shattered him. He was going to be food. Her broad tongue gently flicked against the edges of her mouth in nervousness, while her gullet waited at the back of her mouth. It was ready for him, ready to drag him down to the stomach where flesh would be burned from his bones. And there was nothing he could do to save himself.

“Goodbye … young prince…” was all she said, before with a final, tiny scream, shoved him inside and snapped her mouth shut.

She could feel him. Struggling, beating, clawing at the walls and her tongue as he begged for freedom. She could taste the saltiness of his body – it disgusted her. The flavour, the blood on his feathers, and even his tears, they all formed a horrific flavour that made her gut churn. She began to push and squeeze him with her tongue, pushing him back towards the throat...

-

But he was barely thinking about his flavour as he screamed his heart out inside the hot and humid maw. The tongue and saliva battered him from every direction and left him unable to tell which way was up. It was nauseating. The saliva was thick and foul, forcing him to cough it up as he swallowed it accidentally during his screams.

His claws raked over her teeth, tongue and gums as he clawed like the trapped bird he was, but couldn’t even draw blood. Her tongue was everywhere, a thick, strong organ that pushed and squeezed him relentlessly. It didn’t feel part of her body, it felt like a raw force of nature.

“GA- NO-NO PL-PLEASE!” he screeched between mouthfuls of foul saliva. But even he could barely hear it beneath the wet, slow licks coming from the tongue that beared down on him. Wet licks that squelched saliva all around him, forcing more of the thick, hot ooze directly into his feathers and very being.

But still, he kept fighting. A rolling surge of the tongue pushed him across a hard set of molars, and he screamed with fresh resolve as he realised where he was. With a surge of strength, he pushed away before she could chew and crush him to oblivion. Momentum carried him forwards towards the tip of the tongue. He pushed out with his claws and feet, shoving away the tongue and pushing him across the slimy floor. Feeling the hard enamel of her front teeth behind him, he rolled over and pushed out of her mouth. The lips were tight, the tongue assaulted his back and tried to drag him back in, but he pushed.

He pushed, and burst forth of her lips a soaked, heaving bird dripping with saliva. Only his upper half was out. Pushing forward, he gripped her lips with one claw, while extending his other in a desperate plea. He could see no-one else, it only being an empty hall, yet still, he reached out.

“HELP ME, PLEASE!” he screeched. Slowly, he dragged himself forwards...

...before the pressure around his waist doubled, and he was effortlessly sucked back in again. Screaming. His screams were abruptly silenced as he disappeared back within the hot, sticky maw once more. The tongue wasted no time in pushing and shoving his battered body, rolling him all around her mouth. But still he continued to fight, pushing and clawing against the overwhelming pressure.

-

All he wanted was for its end.
Unfortunately, she wanted the exact same thing.

To hear his screams when he burst his head out ... Celestia couldn’t handle it. She wanted to roll him around her maw to try and soften him, weaken him, but it just broke her heart further and further. The thought of silencing him screams with a single, wet crunch crossed her mind ... but she couldn’t do it. Every press, every struggle could be felt, and it sickened her to the stomach.

But it had to be done.

-

Crushed against the palate, the Prince gasped and struggled as the breath was squeezed out of his body. Slowly, he began to push his way forwards...

...only for the tongue to drop out beneath him.
And the world to tip back.

What was a flat tongue was now a steep incline. His body slid across it as if it was glass. His heart exploded in terror as she clawed for grip, hoping, praying for any salvation.

“NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!” he gibbered in mind-breaking terror as she clawed onto the tongue.

Until there wasn’t any tongue anymore. A moment of freefall, before he slammed into her wet, fleshy throat.
And it swallowed him down.

He shot down a few inches, while his claws desperately tried to cling onto anything. His entire body thrashed as if he was set alight as he furiously fought his fate. But she gave another swallow. And another. All rippling across his form, until with a final scream, he was sucked down into her throat.
Never to rise again.

-

Unable to bear it any longer and wanted to get it down as quickly as possible, Celestia threw her head back and gulped him down. Her throat muscles hitched, she couldn’t do it, but she had to. With regret, she gulped again and again until the tiny, wriggling morsel slipped into her throat and was swallowed down. She could hear his screams and pleas as they slowly died away in her body. She was thankful for that at the very least, but it made the deed no easier.

-

The prince couldn’t think of a worse way to die. All he wanted was to be at home, anywhere but here, but nothing would change his fate. There was nothing he could do but scream as he slipped down her tongue towards the gullet he knew was there. There was nothing he could but scramble for grip as the throat muscles sucked him down. There was nothing he could do but beg as his grip was worn away by her strong muscles. And as he slipped into her throat, there was nothing he could do but flail as he was dragged towards his doom.

It felt like aeons. He wished it was. It might’ve been chaotic, hot, rank, and left him unable to breathe due to the saliva around him, but it was better. Better than the stomach. The throat would be the last respite he would ever have in his life. His heart hammered out of his chest and he felt like he was going to vomit in pure terror. This couldn’t be real, this had to be a nightmare, he couldn’t die like this!

But he was going to. With unstoppable consistency, he was dragged down her throat by her unshakeable strength. A thick, slimy sphincter slithered over his skin before he was dumped into the churning mass of her stomach.

Even His possible worst nightmares of her stomach were worse than this.

It was hot. Boiling hot, an all-consuming heat that made him feel like he was boiling alive, while the acids lashed his skin. There was no light, only the ever-churning sea of chyme that surrounded him. Over and over he’d be dunked beneath the churning waves, foul stomach juices shooting up his throat and down his nose before he would gasp again in the thick and noxious air. Swirling currents dragged him deeper into the churning mass, away from the slimy stomach walls that offered his only hope of respite.

There were no solids in the stomach, with everything churned away to a thin liquid. Just like he was going to be. Not even ten seconds had passed, and agony blossomed across his skin as the acids began to bubble, sizzle and break him down. Clumps of feathers broke away and joined the all-consuming mire.

Like the drowning bird he was, he slammed his paws into the chyme, trying to swim to a stomach wall, but it was hopeless.

“PLEASE … DON’T DIGEST ME … PLEGLRK!”

A sudden wave splashed over him and dunked him beneath the surface. He was done for. His entire body burned, he couldn’t feel his legs or wings, and his lungs screamed for oxygen. Even if he had the strength to move, he wouldn’t be able to swim to the surface; the churning mess was simply too chaotic.

This was it. He was going to die. He could feel the life leech from his skin and join the stomach juices of his consumer. Everything he did, everything he wanted to be, everything he dreamed of, and it would amount to nothing more than a snack for a princess.

He wished it could’ve been different. He really did. He wished with all of his strength and conviction that it would be anything but this. That he made different decisions, chose not to join his father, anything, just anything, that would mean he didn’t have to die like this.
But nothing answered his wishes.

With a final spasm of his corroded muscles, he went still, never to rise again.

He didn’t die like a prince. He didn’t die with honour, or with reasoned thoughts.
He died afraid. Afraid, screaming and begging, but with no way to change his fate.

He did not die like an animal.
He died as a piece of food.

The End.

Epilogue:
Placing a forehoof to her stomach, Celestia let out a sobbing sigh of relief as the struggling inside her gut finally went still. She wasn’t able to hear him before, but she could feel him. Every splash, every struggle, every fight he put up, all clear as day within her.
It all told her what she didn’t want to know.

She was killing him.

Several times throughout, she thought of letting him back up. Of regurgitating him, bringing him back to health. But she couldn’t. She just couldn’t. She had to do this, he had to die.

War made a monster of them all, and Princess Celestia was no exception.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she sobbed in anguish, the guilt wracking through her body like poison. Leaving a trail of tear-drops behind her she limped to the window and stared out at the night before her. The flames of war still burned bright, but she knew they would die down before long.

She’d planned this, really. She’d knew they would attack. She knew that King Grover, boundless in his ego, would expect to try and win it with a daring sneak attack. His son … that she did not anticipate. Holding her hoof against her stomach she mourned the loss of him; he had such hope.

But this had to be done, it was the only way to win the war with as few casualties as possible. The army would undoubtedly have no more orders than to siege, with King Grover not imagining that his daring attack would fail. The armies, leaderless and without a plan, would fall in a few days. And then, peace would return. Sweet, beautiful peace.
A peace that was worth anything in the world to bring it.

But as the young prince’s screams echoed in her mind like a torture she could never escape, she doubted that fact.

Sobbing, she rested her head against the glass and watched as her tears trickled down.

“It had … had to be done… what must be done … what must be done!” she sobbed in agony for the rest of the night.

Author's Note

+++++
Commissioned for Vaxxus by Vivid Lucidity
+++++

The Taste of Victory

Delicious Justice
+++++
A Tale of Dragon Justice by Vivid Lucidity
+++++
Dragon pred, gryphon prey, F/M, unwilling prey, hard vore, soft vore, hypnotised prey
+++

War is never a triumph, even after the victory. For after the fighting, there is still hatred, and the crimes committed in the name of victory are yet to be repaid. For the population of gryphons who had laid siege to Equestria, and failed, this point was very salient to them. They had mustered all of their forces and fury in a desperate attempt to take the capital in one night. But all they secured was their defeat. King Grover, their leader, and his son disappeared on the night of the invasion. Without leadership, they quickly faltered. Only one in the entire world knew what happened to them, and she never wished to speak of what happened on that fateful night.

After their defeat, prisoners were taken en-masse, and the ponies had little patience for the rude and selfish gryphons that tried to take their kingdom. They might’ve been kind, but after an attempted invasion and no attempt at an apology, their patience was worn a little thin. So, to work through the immense backlog, Princess Celestia had to call on an old friend...

A week had passed since the invasion, and the capital of Canterlot had been repaired since then. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and birds chirped in the trees. It was bright, happy and pleasant, a far cry from the grim event taking place on that day. At the edge of the city by a gap in the walls, overlooked a deep pit. A pit that was not quite empty, but from the safety of the city, one could not see what was inside. A precession of pony guards stood in attention, and sitting upon a chair, overlooking it all, was Princess Celestia herself. Her fur was still dazzling white while her mane shone every colour of the rainbow as she looked on with a wary gaze.

She looked down at three gryphons, wings bound and blindfolded as they faced the edge.
She was overseeing their execution.

The three gryphons stood silently and stoically as they awaited their fate, with only a faint tremble of fear showing in their bodies. The pony guards held their spears towards them regardless; they’d had a few try and escape before. A heavy silence reigned over the procession, with nobody daring to make a sound.

“I hereby order you to death.” Princess Celestia began, her regal voice cutting through the air like a knife. “For your crimes against Equestria, for your attempts to invade our peaceful nation, and for refusing to repent your crimes. You shall all walk off the edge of the city and never return. Decide amongst yourselves who shall be the first to go. That is all.”

After a few seconds, the leftmost gryphon began to walk towards the edge. He held his head high as he strode towards his doom with a calm heart.

“I do this willingly!” He yelled. “You ponies may be inferior to us majestic Gryphons, but to die by my own claw is noble! I swear to you all that one day, we will take our rightful place as your rulers!”

And with that triumphant defiance to the very end, he strode off the cliff’s edge. His body plummeted without a sound and disappeared from view.
Silence.

Screaming. A horrific, gut-wrenching cry of the formerly stoic gryphon ripped from over the edge mere seconds after he plummeted. The two prisoners began to tremble.

Before it was all silenced by a wet crunch.

And then came the chewing. Twisted gnashing of teeth rending bone and muscle, chewing and crunching with relentless pace. It was all so loud, with every chew, every bite, every tear clear for all to hear. The prisoners couldn’t bear it any longer and ripped their blindfolds away, thinking they were ready for any horror before their eyes.

But they were wrong. They both stopped and stared in dead silence, beaks wide and body unmoving at what they saw. For what they saw was Ember, loudly and messily chewing him up.

It wasn’t the dragon either of them knew, but a large, quadrupedal behemoth that made them look like mere grapes in comparison. She sat at the bottom of the deep pit with her head coming up just below them. Her body was covered in glittering cyan blue scales, while her underbelly was a lighter white and her wings were a dark purple. A crest of purple ran down the top of her head and back. Two curved white horns hung on either side. Her bright red and orange eyes, ringed with what looked like eyelashes, smugly looked up as she eviscerated the gryphon.

Her lips were curled up with a faint smile as she mashed the remains over and over again. Every chew was announced with a fresh squelch of meat. With every chew, the sounds became softer, sloppier, with the gryphon worked down to a fine paste. A faint bulge pressed on the side of her cheek; the gryphons were only tiny meals after all. She just continued to stare up at them with a smug smile as she chewed, while the two gryphons looked down in absolute shock. Here she was, chewing up their friend like a piece of meat, and she had a smug, playful smile. A tiny drop of crimson leaked out of the corner of her mouth, a bright contrast to her cyan scales. It slid down slightly before it was slurped back in with an equally stained tongue.

After half a minute of chewing that reduced him down to a red liquid, she tilted her head back and swallowed. The gulp echoed through the square and made them flinch. She then slowly yawned her mouth open wide to reveal the slick, hot cave, with not a trace of them left. The only sign of him left was a trickle of blood dripping down one of her fangs. The gryphons looked down in horror, while she just gazed up with the same playful smile. Right up until she burped, ruffling their feathers with a wave of hot, acrid air and sending tiny fragments flying to land at their feet. It took them a few seconds to realise what it was: blood-soaked feathers.

It broke them. The one on the right froze in absolute terror. The one in the centre ran. No grace, no plan, no poise, he ran in an instinctual fear of predators, away from the beast. Scrambling and tumbling he ran away from the edge and the guards swarmed to stop him.

But they weren’t needed. Princess Celestia sighed as she watched him run.

“Even when it’s inevitable, they still fight...” she muttered, before closing her eyes in concentration. Her horn glowed a bright pink before a wave of magic erupted from the tip and blasted the gryphon before he had taken ten steps. It flung him back, tumbling and turning over the ground, right towards the edge.

“NONONONONONONONO!” he wailed as he watched the lip approach, his claws desperately trying to slow him down. But it was all for nought. Ember raised up to catch him and rested her tongue level with the ground, meaning he slid straight onto the center of the slick organ.

No place better showed the all-encompassing nature of the maw than within it. Hot, slick gums hung overhead, while the swaying tongue squelched beneath his body. The outside world was gated through the prison bars of her ivory white teeth. At the back was her gullet, a squelching, all-consuming dark portal slithering with saliva.

Facedown in the mire of the saliva of her tongue, it took him a few seconds to come to grips with what had happened. The dripping of her spit, the gush of her stale breath tinged with blood washing over him: it was too much to handle. But when it all slammed into him, he immediately sprinted forwards along the tongue, hoping to get out. The tongue simply bucked up and pinned him to the palate with a squelch of slime, before rolling him around her mouth. She was tasting him. She tasted every feather, every patch of skin and every tear dripping down his cheeks.

“Mmmmh ... so tasty.” She rumbled, her voice reverberating up her throat and rattling through his body. “That’s all you gryphons are good for ... food. You can barely fly, you can barely fight, ha, you couldn’t even defeat a bunch of ponies!”

Her forked tongue tip then deftly rolled around his chest, squeezing him tight and forcing a squawk out of his lungs. It then flicked him out the front of her muzzle and dangled him in the air, right in front of the still-frozen prisoner. They were both completely still, one frozen with terror, the other pinned with a sopping wet tongue. They were inches away from each other. The tongue-tied gryphon reached out with a claw to touch his friend one last time ... before the tongue flicked back and threw him into the maw, screaming. She quickly resumed his relentless tasting.

As he tumbled around her maw, every brush against her dangerous ivory spires sent another jolt of terror through his pounding heart.

“You don’t even taste that good.” Ember mused, dragging him towards the sharp teeth at the back of her mouth. With a little flick, he was nestled between two massive incisors, with a deadly spike hanging just overhead. One squeeze of her mouth and he’d be skewered, before being rendered into a bloody pulp. Like a trapped animal he clawed desperately but didn’t budge an inch.

“Your greatest value, gryphons,” Every syllable trembled her mouth, inching the deadly spike closer and closer. “, is nutritional. That’s all. Goodbye...”

The upper tooth began to lower...

“WAIT WAIT NO, PLEASE NO! DON’T CHEW ME!”

...before stopping just before his chest. The deadly point pressed down on his feathers, mere millimetres from his supple skin. It then pulled away.

“You’ll wish I did... but I’ll grant your request~”

She rumbled, before digging him out of the nook with her tongue and flicking him onto the centre. The maw began to tip back, saliva tumbling down her bumpy tongue towards her gullet. He began to slide towards it. His relief turned to ice-cold dread. She was going to swallow him alive.

“NO, OH PLEASE, NO!” he wailed as he desperately scrambled for grip on her slick tongue, sliding back towards the deep, dark pit of her gullet. He slid over the edge of her tongue, giving him a moment of freefall before landing in the slick flesh of her throat. With a quick gulp, his lower half was engulfed with crushing pressure, leaving him desperately clinging onto the tastebuds on the back of her tongue. The throat continued to tug, dragging him backwards. He had no grip, no hope – this was it. Eyes darting, he looked around in pure terror before settling on the one thing he could see outside of the maw.

Princess Celestia. Sitting on her chair and staring him dead in the eyes.

The last thing he would ever see.

GULP

“NO ... NOOO!” he wailed as one final gulp ripped him away and dragged him down the throat in a torrent of saliva. All he could do was scream as the throat dragged his flailing body in tight peristalsis towards his doom. The slow, gentle pound of her heartbeat reverberated through his body like a drum announcing his doom. There was nothing he could do but scream.

--

“YOU MONSTER!” The remaining gryphon screamed as he ripped away from the bulge going down Ember’s neck and back towards Celestia. His eyes were bloodshot while his body trembled with raw fury.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” He screamed, before bolting towards the nearest guard. Unprepared from an attack from a gryphon thought broken, they were unable to defend. The gryphon prisoner grabbed his spear near the head and yanked it back towards him. Unbalanced from the sudden tug, the guard was quickly dispatched with an elbow to the snout. The gryphon then sprinted straight towards Celestia, screaming in primal rage while the spear was pointed directly at her heart.

And Princess Celestia didn’t even bat an eyelid. She just met his fury filled eyes with her same tired, weary stare, as if he wasn’t worth her time. Metres disappeared; he was almost right upon her!

“Halt.” She said with that same bored disinterest. And much to his surprise, he did. His body, as if not listening to him anymore, skidded to a stop with the tip hovering just before her heart. He was hypnotized. His eye darted with the same fury, but was unable to look away from her eyes, and couldn’t move a muscle.

“Drop it.” She ordered, and the spear fell from his trembling hands and clattered loudly against the ground. They continued to stare. Darkness overtook the grounds as Ember loomed high, intrigued by the noise, but the gryphon couldn’t move.

And then, Celestia said four, fateful words.

“Feed yourself. To her.”

And his body listened. Jerking as if possessed, the gryphon strode towards Ember, who had a wicked gleam in her eye. He struggled and fought every step but it was for nothing. Chuckling to herself wickedly, Ember then swayed her body before lowering her head to the edge and opening wide. It was as if a furnace opened with a blast of hot air gushing past him, but he didn’t change course. He thought he could hear gryphon screams on her breath...

“This is all you’re worth, little snack~” She cackled. “Your life’s purpose is now being served ... as my snack, little bird~”

She then rolled out her tongue in a deluge of saliva and slapped it against the grass. It formed a thick, heavy red carpet directly into her maw, right at his claws. But he stopped, his screaming mind able to overpower Celestia’s hypnotism. But it was for just a moment before she shut her eyes in concentration, and with a burst of will, forced him onto the maw. The squishy flesh dimpled beneath his weight as he walked inside, deeper and deeper towards the very centre.

He stared dead at the gullet that was almost calling him inside, and with it, the last of his mind broke. The doom, the terror, the fear, it broke his weary mind. His struggles went still, and the screaming voice in his mind died. The hypnotism left him, and he was just left standing there, staring at the gullet.

But Ember didn’t notice, nor did she care. Content with the flavour of a gryphon from the first and second snack, she snapped her teeth shut and tilted her head back. She felt the still, unmoving bulge of his body slip down the tongue before she swallowed him with ease. A nice, easy meal. Smirking, she gripped the edge with one claw and hefted herself up, holding her head high and showing off the bulge in her throat. She traced the bulge with her claw as it slipped down into her body and disappeared. Her claw went lower and lower, before tracing around the ever-faint bulge in her gut.

“Mmmh, another tasty meal~” she murmured while staring at the dock of gryphon prisoners awaiting execution. Both ponies and gryphons alike stood silent and stared up at colossal Ember and the bulge in her gut. Nobody moved, nobody said a word, they just stared. Not a single pony so much as flinched for the fate of the three prisoners.
None except for one.

Princess Celestia, the one responsible for their ends, shuttered and looked away from their sentence carried to completion.

--

Yet the peace and shocked silence was a far cry from her noisy gut, that twisted, churned and groaned. A pitch-black chamber ringed with fleshy walls dripping with acids and mucus, it was half-filled with a churning sea of chyme. It was big enough to fit numerous gryphons, with the two solid meals inside nothing more than grapes to her. In the chyme were tiny fragments of feathers and bones, the only remains of the first gryphon of the three. The second prisoner screamed and hollered as he clawed at the walls to no effect. Boiling acids lashed at his chest as he desperately tried to claw out, but it was hopeless. Already he could feel his body start to break down, while his head grew weak from the oxygen-deprived air.

And the third prisoner? He sat in the acids, unmoving, as the heart of her hunger growled around him. Broken, he could only watch as his body slowly slipped into the mire. He couldn’t move, he could only watch and scream in his mind. Looking up one last time, he shut his eyes as the last of the acids claimed him, and he slipped into the mire, never to be seen again.

--

But they weren’t the only gryphons to meet their end in Ember’s jaws or stomach that day. There were a hundred prisoners lined up, all executed one after the other, until Ember was left stuffed and very well sated. Yet even that was only a fraction of the gryphons that had to be worked through.

Several days later, in a cavern deep underground, a solemn line of prisoners shuffled to their doom. They were gryphons, wings bound with them chained to each other with a long line of shackles. They were all terrified. Stoic pony guards flanked them on all sides, poking their spears to corral anyone back into line.

They entered a large, open cavern, illuminated with magical gems. Beside them was a pile of brown mud that was massive, bigger than a house. Much to their horror, they saw it was filled with gryphon bones, strewn carelessly along the surface. As they recoiled in terror, Ember merely licked her lips as she gazed down at the fresh batch of prisoners. She rested on a pile of regal fabrics and jewels as she gazed over them, drool dripping from her lips. One set of claws brushed over her swollen belly, packed with fat from an abundance of fresh meals. Her other drifted along her private slit, a slight part in her scales revealing dark, pink insides. A pair of gryphon hind legs vigorously kicked from outside the tight depths, before being forced in with a simple press of her claw and a deep moan.

“Ahhh, yummy~” She murmured, as the wailing gryphons were forced closer and closer to her. “I was just starting to get hungry~”

The End.

End of a gryphon city

END OF A GRYPHON CITY

Gryphon trotted down the street early in the morning. Everything was calm and peaceful as not a single bird had taken to the air. He inhaled a crisp breath of air and continued on his way

Princess Celestia hung her head low as she gently strolled towards the gryphon village, not even breaking a blade of grass beneath her stride. She knew what she had to do and why she had to do it, the safety of Equestria had made her needs clear, but that didn't mean she had to like it. These innocents, these gryphons... they didn't deserve this. They didn't. Her head was hung low, while her body sagged slightly.

But regardless, she had to do it. their war against Equestria had to be punished and the gryphon empire city of Volstagg would be but a taste of the future for gryphonkind.

The sun shined brightly down on the village, rays of yellow light illuminating and warming it to the core. Flowers beamed, soaking up the delightful, innocent rays. The call of birds gently rippled out across the village, forming a beautiful melody.

Only for the bird calls to suddenly stop. No warning, they just ended.
And then the light faded. A massive shadow formed over the village. A few were bewildered, thinking there was an eclipse ... only for them to look upwards.

It wasn't an eclipse. It wasn't a cloud.

It was a massive, gigantic hoof, belonging to an equally massive Celestia who had taken it upon herself to use her vast amount of alicorn magic to grow herself until her horn pierced the clouds.

The pony was simply massive. Her body stretched up several hundred meters, the tallest of trees coming only up the bottom of her mere hooves. Her white fur gently rustled in the wind, a sea of colour rippling before their eyes. It was beautiful ... if not for the sick, terrifying sight of her hoof above the village. It was so wide, so all-consuming, it was bigger than the mere village itself. All of it would fit beneath her hoof, all of it would be crushed beneath the shimmering, golden surface.

A blastwave of air ripped through the village as Celestia sighed, her chest contracting as she made her dissatisfaction known. She could see them. All of them, living content in their lives.

And she was going to kill all of them.

But she had no choice.
It had to be done.

the screams were subtle as the gryphons realized doom was upon them. Gryphons ran to take cover, some hugged in a final embrace to their brothers and sisters.

Princess Celestia heard them. She heard their screams, their begging, their pleas for mercy. It was only a small comfort that she knew that the younglings or eggs were there. But it still hurt. A massive teardrop fell from her cheek, splashing in the woods.

But none of the villagers heard it, too preoccupied with their impending doom.

She faltered, hesitating, her hoof wavering as she tried to well up the courage to bring it down. So much pushed her forwards, but so much held her back.
But she had to do it.

Hanging her head low, her body relaxed as finality and resolution coursed through her. It had to be done.

"Forgive me..." she said, her gentle voice washing across the village. It wasn't harsh, it was tear-soaked, it was the quiet resolve of a person that knew what had to be done.

And then her hoof lowered. The sky fell towards the gryphons as it came down. She brought it down slowly, but the destruction of the city was still assured. Darkness enveloped them, a gush of air washed over them, this was it.
They had but mere moments before oblivion...

Her hoof hit the watchtower first. The roof groaned before simply shattering as the hoof came down, wood and metal rended asunder as it ploughed through it like nothing. Her hoof might've been slow, but its mass and momentum were absolute. It was impossible to stop. An unstoppable force against the gryphon village.

Darkness had completely enveloped the village, faint light only coming from torches and the gap between her hoof and the ground. They would barely see their oblivion. A horrific sound of ripping and tearing filled the air as the hoof ploughed through the buildings, crushing them like paper. Those still in the buildings were crushed.

But the hoof kept lowering.

It was just above the ground now. Those running, those on the street, they would feel the golden surface of the royal hoof shoe push against them. Knocked against the ground, they'd feel one moment of pressure... and then oblivion.

The hoof effortlessly squelched them into nothing more than a thin, red sludge as it pressed against the ground.

The village was gone. Crushed beneath her mere hoof.

Princess Celestia sighed as she pushed the hoof all the way down. She barely felt them. The buildings felt like eggshells crushing beneath her hoof, while the gryphons felt like tiny ants. Faint pinpricks of pressure, of struggles, before becoming nothing more than faint wetness beneath her hoof.

The village was gone.
The deed had been done.

Silence reigned over the forest, the sound of destruction gone, and she started to feel guilt tickling in. She had just destroyed them all...

But she kept the guilt at bay. For now. She kept telling herself that it was necessary, that they didn't suffer, that there was no better way. There was no better way, there was no better way...

"I'm sorry..." she muttered, quiet enough for only her to hear.

Slowly, she lifted her hoof away. Her skin crawled when she felt it stick slightly to the ground, a faint pressure that she had to overcome. There was no doubt as to what it was.

She lifted her hoof. Chunks of the buildings fell from it like rain, sprinkling down around the devastation she caused. Gulping hard and trying to prepare herself, she moved it to the side and looked at the remains.

And despite all her efforts, despite all of her conviction, what she saw shocked her.

It wasn't even a village anymore.

Her hoof had pressed down into the ground, forming a faint depression in the shape of Princess Celestia's star, a pattern put onto her hoof. There was nothing left. The entire place was nothing more than rubble, wood and stone crushed and flattened out into woodchips and gravel. It was nothing more than amorphous mass spread out beneath her hoof, yet with her mark still clearly visible.

Dotted in the mess were bright splashes of red. Each splash, a splotch of the last remains of a living, breathing gryphon. Their whole lives, with all of its hopes, dreams and fears, reduced to nothing more than a red stain. Faint grey feathers could be glimpsed floating in the gooey mires.

Her hoof came off no better. The golden surface was stained a bright red, gryphon splattered across the entire surface. Only specks of gold shined through the bloody covering. Raised above the ground, drips of blood fell and stained the grass red, while chunks of viscera and building sprinkled like sugar.

"It had to be done..." she said with a resolved, convicted tone. Sadness bled into her words, sadness and guilt, but there was a sense of finality to it all. It had been done, there was nothing more to say, there was nothing left to do. Yet still, the guilt coursed through her and left her guts grumbling in discontent. Her body trembled slightly, her lip quivered, she felt like she was going to throw up...

But it wasn't done, not yet. She could feel it: faint squirming beneath her hoof.

Some of them were still alive. By sheer luck, they had survived the falling of her hoof. She couldn't hear them, she couldn't see them, but she could feel them. Gryphons, stuck to the underside of her foot, cemented in place with the churned remains of their friends.

As soon as Princess Celestia realised that there were some alive, she shuddered and choked out a sob, feeling like she was going to puke there and then. This was supposed to be quick, clean, painless, not leave them squirming on the underside of her hoof. For a brief moment, she thought about letting them go, nursing them to health ... but that wasn't an option.
She knew it.

"Forgive me for this..." she said, before lowering her hoof again. A faint flurry of screams rippled from her hoof ... then a pound, and silence. She stamped back down onto the village, crushing it flat once more. She leant onto her hoof, pushing it deep into the mire, feeling the bodies squelch beneath her hoof.

After a few seconds, she was content that the deed had been done. All the movement had gone still. Raising her hoof again, she bent her knee to let the bloody mire slide off, before scraping it off on the ground, leaving a trail of red across the grass.

She couldn't look at the village anymore, but a sense of finality had fallen over her. It had been done, she could go.

So with a heavy heart, Princess Celestia turned and walked away from the crater of a gryphon village.

Leaving a trail of massive red hoofprints in her wake.
The End.