The Long Road

The screech of a fearsome predator was thrown across the sandy dunes of the Zebrahara. All eyes turned towards the sky: A Griffon patrol flew overhead of the Zebra convoy. The convoy was being evacuated from their tribal village by the imperialist Griffons. It was a long and sad journey that many tribes had to make in order to preserve their safety.

"Come along Lucky One, we are not to linger...." A female zebra, a blue cloak around her nudged along her child. Her child however, was not just a regular zebra, he was a hybrid. Two little black and white wings were folded against his back.

"I don't wanna leave, mommy! I wanna stay in the village!" The hybrid foal pushed against his mother's legs in a futile attempt to stop her. It only caused him to be pushed along the sand. "Can't daddy stop the Griffons from making us leave?" His father was a pegasus, a very important one. Big Talk was the Equestrian Ambassador to the Zebrahara, and in love with his mother.

"Your father is away on business, Lucky...." Her voice seemed sad, hurt. Lucky didn't know why, but it made him sad too. It hurt his heart to hear his mother sad.

"Looks like we got us a little hybrid." One of the Griffon sentries walked over to the duo, his armor blinding them from the sun overhead. The imperialist's claw grabbed Lucky's head and made him look up at him. "Ugly little creature, ain't ya?" Lucky pulled his head away and glared at the creature that towered over him. "I bet that one of the reps would like you."

His mother pulled him close to her. "Leave him alone..." His mother covered his head with her cloak, hoping to shield him from what they might say or do.

"Oh and this one has some fight in her." Lucky saw the Griffon's talons grab his mother by her cheeks. "I like that.." The Griffon. which Lucky identified as a commander from his armor, grinned evilly. "Take her back to the camp..."

Those words, he'd heard them before. Every time the Griffons came to their village, that Zebra was never seen again. Tears started to well in his eyes, the thought of his mother leaving was overwhelming. The way she held him when sandstorms raged outside, the comforting words she whispered when the other foals made fun of him, and the bedtime stories of the old spirits she told him each and every night....all the reasons he loved her..and why he didn't want her to go. It filled him with something he had never felt before, something welled up within him, deep from the pit of his stomach. In the years following, it would be the only feeling he would ever know, it would become who he was, it would consume him in an indefinite spiral: It was rage.

"L-Lucky...." His mother's striped hoof pulled him out from under her cloak, she craned her head to nuzzle his own, her hoof brushing his mohawk. "I love you, my little miracle...never forget that.." She was speaking in the Zebra's native tongue now, the words seemed more comforting than Equestrian in his mind. "I will be gone for a while....but I will come back for you...." Tears were streaming from her brilliant blue eyes as she caressed him lovingly.

"D-Don't go mommy..." His unpracticed tongue couldn't speak his mother's language, but he could understand it. "P-Please..." His rage was still there, but waves of sadness washed over him, his own dark eyes tearing up.

"C'mon y'damn Zebra, we don't have all day." His mother, released him, reluctantly. He held onto her hoof for as long as he could, then she let go....and the Griffon walked off with her.

He did the only thing he could, he vowed revenge, he vowed his mother's safety.

--

I watched as Lone's eyes opened. We were still on the deck of the ship, his mouth had been conveying a story to me, it was devoid of emotion, but I knew that tale was important to him. I had asked him about his past, and he told me. That's how all of this started.

"'I'm so sorry, Lone...I didn't know.." It was something, granted it was little. But it was still something.

"Do not be. It is the one thing that has kept me going...It is my motivation for my quest." Lone sighed heavily, his face was still shadowed, but I could see the pained look on it.

"D-Did you ever find your mother, again..?"

"Yes, but that story...I cannot recall that on this night...All of these tales, they pain me to remember. I...I must venture deep into my mind, deep into places that nopony should go..." Somehow I knew he was telling the truth. "But perhaps another time, we are approaching the dock."

--

Gilda watched over the bustling city known as Gull, it was the Griffon Kingdom's only port, and the only city where non-Griffons were allowed to settle. Her prey's boat was to arrive this very night, and this night....her prey would fall beneath her mighty talons.