The familiar noise of a war camp could be heard throughout the encampment. The all too familiar grinding of metal on stone, the grating thud of hammer on armor, and the heated arguments of impatient chicks and kits waiting for the blood of their enemies. The sounds of war would never grow old to the elder Griffon.

War is bred into the very blood of ever kit and chick. It only festers and grows as they become the feathered Gryphs they are today. Every Griffon knows into what world they are born. What role they must play.

Despite their hollowed bones, they remain strong as the weapon that each of them grip. Despite their smaller brain capacity, each are drilled within them the very basics of war ethic and every strategy under the sun. Their forefather's blood runs through all of them which ignites within every Gryph's heart every time they spill the blood of those that stand against them. Gryphs are literally bred for war.

And war never gets old. It never changes. Senseless blood shed and never ending violence. The endless chasm of the void awaits each and every one of them. Its effects upon the mind and body are no better than the end.

Even as the elder Griffon looks around, he can see the many blood shot sunken eyes of the bird brains around him. Several missing wings and muttering to themselves how they'll never be able to grace the sky just as their ancestors once did. A fate some would consider the ultimate punishment and worse than death. Several look as if they haven't slept for days and are holding on to what sanity they have left. Another Griffon rubs absent-mindedly at the spot where an arm once grew and carried him through his childhood.

The destruction of the lives of their enemies came at a heavy price. A price only a few were willing to make. While the other simply had to make due with the cards they had been dealt. Or have come to simply face the reality that death is none negotiable and wish to make something of it. A pretty death as a warrior may call it. The ultimate end to a Gryphs life would be dying blade in hand beside the brothers and sisters that toss themselves into the slaughter.

But is there truly any glory in it? If all that waits is the void and the death of your own kin later down the road, is there even a point? If the same war you fight only carries onto your chicks and kits, is it truly worth it? Perhaps... Perhaps war is a punishment in on itself.

Perhaps war itself is a sin. And the destruction onto the lives and ways of living on those that actively participate in it is the reward for committing. A taboo unlike any other. Perhaps that is why the Pony race prospered while others suffered. Even the Minotaur kind began to prosper after they got rid of their Manotaur brothers and sisters. And now look at them. Right back to where they began all those years ago.

And the Dragons... The less said the better.

Yes... War was the ultimate sin. All who participate will see the end one way or another and meant their next of kin soon after due to their own negligence. Until the day peace, true peace, rings true as a virtue; there would be no end to sin.

Just as the elder Griffon grows weary and tired of war, he can see many of the younger Gryphs do as well. Many probably assumed they had seen the last of these ruins all those years ago upon the final breach of the Canterlot walls. Yet here they are again. Repeating history as they once more take Canterlot and turn it into what? More ruins? How can you make ruin to something that already lies in it.

Senseless. Idiotic even.

And to think, its not event he true icing on the cake. No. That belongs to the leader of this entire thing. The one that continues to press them on despite the complaints and backlash. Anyone that does not conform to his way find themselves into an earlier grave. Its not like it could be avoided any how. They've all picked their path.

And their is only one destination at the end.

“Out of my way! Where is he!” The Gryphon orders as he pushes and throws various Gryphs out of his way, “I’ll have his gizzard for what he’s done!”

And so the dim witted fool comes. A holder of all but a master of none. His strategy may be sound, but he has put little effort into thinking of his troops.

As powerful as the Gryphons are, they’re rather short on patience and even short on temper management. Their oh so glorious leader has been like this for the past several days going back and forth threatening the lives of those that dare to oppose his magnificent plan. In all retrospect, there wasn’t much any other Gryph could really do against such a monstrosity.

He is the ultimate Gryph and what all Gryphs wish they could be born into. The powerful aspects of both lineages of the Gryph name. Yet the majority of Gryphs had one or the other more powerful than the other. Yet many choose not to follow what is meant to be their ultimate form due to the simple fact that they are more flawed than any other Gryph. Following them to the end would undoubtedly lead to the end of everything.

Which brings up the reason on why many of the injured are gathered in one place to rest instead of following the orders of a lunatic. The balance of the world has already been flipped over several times more than any creature would expect. And yet the Pony breed still finds a way to survive. Any Gryph could see this as the sign of something greater than them at work. There was a reason why they couldn’t find all of them at first and why, despite all the death, capturing, and stock piling of the Ponies, they still seem to remain in greater numbers than before.

It’s almost maddening. Than again, the Gryphs got much of the raw end of the deal as anybody else. Promised an golden age only to fall back into obscurity due to the negligence of their own Gryphs. Their government has always been one sided and it finds itself even more so now than ever with the return of Gryphons into their society. A revolution could be seen on the horizon and every Gryph knows it.

It was just a matter of time. It required the right Gryph to lead it though. Or perhaps not even a Gryph at all. Just any creature with good intentions and a plan unlike any other to save not only them, but every body that lives under the sun.

But perhaps is is the wish of a dying old fool. A last chance at redemption before the eternal void came to swallow him much as it has so many others.

Nobody responded to the Gryphon as he marched through the injured flanked by two other Griffons wielding scowls and disgusted look. Little did they know they would look like them soon enough if they continued to follow their foolish leader.

“Look at you all! Weak! Pathetic! Is this really how far our race has fallen! To not even be able to win easily against a lesser race! A prey race!

“You are all nothing more than baggage of the future. If you have enough time to complain about your injuries you have enough time to pick up a spear and fight! Do you truly wish to disrespect our ancestors lineage like this.”

The elder Griffon couldn’t help but snort causing the Gryphon to snap towards him.

“You got something to say you decrepit bird!?”

“No, no. Nobody wants to listen to the wise bird sing it’s melody. You speak of our ancestors, but what do you know of their struggles? Your kind were banished for more reasons than not. I remember how your kind would turn to cannibalize the weak. You would eat other Gryphs kits and chicks just to make sure your own would remain at the top. And when we drove your kind out you begged and pleaded to come back because you couldn’t live without a society.

“And now look at you. Fat and dumbed up from the lack of contact with superior minds. Lost in your old fashioned ways in a ever change hell scape. The way you treat lives and make strategic maneuvers is abhorrent. “

The injured camp grows silent. Every Gryph seems to be trying to advert their eyes and senses from the coming anger they knew would soon follow from their leader. He’s known for his harshness and his seek-age of blood shed for a reason.

“You don’t think I know that.” The Gryphon replies in a somber voice as he straightens himself and makes his way towards the elder Griffon “You don’t think I’ve considered our history and the things my ancestors have done to yours and what yours have done to mine? No. I know what is at stakes and I know the opinion of my army. The Gryphons have paid a heavy cost to gain what we have and we’ll be damned if we lose it.

“You may think I’m being harsh with you all, but none of you know what true harshness is. Being hunted constantly by creatures that should fear you for game and sport. Watching your own kind bend a knee to their sworn enemies. It drove us made. Your kind drove us all mad.

“What’s even worse is that a lot of your ancestors never gave a Vorka’s ass about any of this. They had rather play their make believe game of politics instead of taking what rightfully belongs to them.

“And so here I am gratefully defiling myself with interacting with those that hold grudges and scorn us even after the time we spent repenting and regretting our very genetics.

“So tell me “Elder”, “ he leans in close beak to beak staring into the eyes of the older Gryph, “Which of us is truly hateful. And which of us is trying to do what’s right.”

The elder Griffon grunts, “You would be wise to remember that history is never black and white with things. What’s right today will be in the wrong tomorrow. If not than then long into the future where we both become so obscure that we might not even be remembered as the race we are.”

“You’re a decrepit fool.”

“And you still remain blinded by your hatred. I don’t have to listen to the ramblings of a lunatic.”

The Gryphon growls like a lion before sinking his claws into the elder Griffon’s throat.

“Then don’t. And be remembered as nothing more than a stepping stone for the true Gryphs.”

The Gryphon tears open a flowing river of blood from the dying Griffon’s throat. Bubbling squawks can be heard but never understood as he grasps his next and falls to his back. Several of the nearby Griffons begin to shake shaking and look on in fear as the Gryphon licks to blood dripping from his claw.

“Vile. Kill them all. They’re no use to us anymore.” From around the camp, armored and armed, Griffons come out and begin to slaughter their weakened kin, “Be sure follow as I’ve instructed you both to do. When it comes down to it, it’ll be us or them.”

“”Yes sir!”” They both yell snapping a salute.

“May the great Sphinx have mercy on all of us in the end.”

Twilight stands amongst the unicorn brigade mixed within the midst of the Earth Pony armada. A strategy of having a moving living wall between them and the outside attackers. Several Pegasi fly over hand to redirect the wind flow to prevent arrows from falling on top of them as they cast their spells.

The outer circle of mages are those specialized in healing and shielding. They protect the wall that protects them and tend quickly to any major and minor cuts that could possibly break their formation. The second lining is those specialized in destructive magic. They shift the earth, fling magical arrows, and scorch their enemies with whatever spells they know. In the middle of their square lies the head mage. The head mage specializes in everything but is most known for their war spells.

Unlike normal destructive spells, war spells are specifically made for the one thing it’s name implies. From shattering the brains of hundreds before the advancing line of Earth Ponies to turning the battlefield into a hellish nightmare of fire and lightning to forcing enemy soldiers to fall into a slumber they’ll never wake from. Nothing was off limits to the head mage which is what made them priority number one to both the enemies and the allies.

In that spot stood Twilight and her seemingly infinite wisdom upon war spells, destructive magic, unstable magic, dark magic, unstable magic, supportive magic, and much more. She knew she would have to be the one in this spot upon listening to the hair brained scheme of their leader. Hopefully it works as well as he has suggested to them all.

“You seem a little nervous, Twilight.” A camouflage colored Unicorn says to her, “Something on your mind?”

“Mmmmm not particularly honestly. It’s less nervousness and more pre war jitters you know? The last time I was posted into a spot like this…”

“What happened? I know you died fighting but everyone said it was on the final wall not on the battlefield.”

“Yes. That is where I died. But there was a time where I felt that I needed to be there on the battlefield with every pony else fighting against the Darkness. So I took up the position of head mage against Celestia’s and Cadence’s wishes.

“That was the first and last time I did that, till now. Perhaps I was too naive, no, I was too naive. I thought that I would simply demoralize our enemies and send them packing back. No need for casualties and every pony remains safe.

“Oh how wrong I was. It started out with the heavy air fire and the Griffons attacking the Pegasi so their artillery and arrows could reach us. I remained cool under pressure due to having faced, what I had assumed at the time, worse. I had in my mind to use stuns, sleep spells, telekinesis, and teleportation spells in order to help both the ground and air troops.

“At first, everything seemed to be going well until it became harder to stun some of them or suddenly they would wake as soon as they fell asleep. Some of them would fake being affected by the spell only to strike out as soon as a pony grew too close to it.

“I then began to strike out with harder spells. Concussive bursts of energy, mind numbing spells, paralysis, etc. Just like before, they grew used to it and moved to advance their own agendas. I let so many Pegasi and Earth Ponies die to my own negligence and innocence.

“I grew more and more desperate. And with it came anger. I thought how dare they scoff and laugh at this mercy I was trying to show them. And thus I cast a spell that was not like the others. I grabbed held of lighting from one of the Pegasi and threw it through the many soldiers of the sky.

“I’m sure the smell of so much cooked flesh would’ve made me lose my lunch, but I didn’t even notice it. I was angry and just made my first few kills. I felt so powerful.

“That was the moment where I lost most of my kindness and turned to simply magic to slay everything our our path. I used magical energy like a blade and threw the heads of our enemies to the ground. I was unstoppable.”

Silence follows. Several of the unicorns listening in grew nervous as Twilight’s eyes grew further way from the coming battlefield.

“What changed?” One asked to break the suffering of the unasked and unanswered question within their minds.

“I saw the monstrous acts I was committing. I had tripped and nearly fallen forcing me to commit the one thing our commander told us not to do. The one rule for every unicorn that day on the battlefield…

“I looked down. Worst mistake I ever made second to considering letting my friends die to kill Tirek.

“I saw a Minotaur without its body. A headless creature flowing blood and eyes sunken and white. I couldn’t pull my eyes away. Than I froze.

“That’s when I gave our enemies the one thing they had been looking for the entire time. The one thing that condemned so many to death.

“An opening.

“They rushed into the center of the Earth Ponies and made a b line straight for us. I remember each unicorn they killed to this day. I fucked our marching order and cussed so many to die. But you know the funny part? Do to my blunder, we also came up with a new strategy that saw war several times before they caught on to what we were doing.

“Our enemies didn’t think about what would happen if the square closed again while they were in it. And it was a blood path. We used that strategy several more times… so I heard. That was the last time I saw the front line.

“I left it behind to support the troops any other way I could aside from fighting. I walked the very back line burying the dead, healing those I could, and just being a friend to cry to. I received a lot of scorn for not touching the battlefield again. But just as much respect and glory for everything else I did off of it too.

“It’s strange how different the two sides of the street look. But I digress. You’ll have to forgive me for blathering away like that. Sometimes I fall back into old habits.”

“It’s perfectly fine. Oddly enough, hearing how even you could make such a life changing mistakes kind of calms me a little.” One of the fodder states.

“I know right? If a princess can make a mistake and come out on top in the end, we’ll be just as fine.”

“Hey! I’ll toast to that with ya later!”

“Ya damn right we will! We’ll make those Gryphs pay and reunite the Ponies once and for all!”

A chorus of cheers sound out cussing Twilight to smile, just barely, as her mind wanders off to the days before. She can’t help but think how every battlefield always looks the same to her no matter where she stands. A light feeling in her chest makes her feel as if this time… this time could be different.

Author's Note

I didn’t realize November went by so fast but I just finished up these two chapters enough to where I was satisfied with them to help along moving further ahead. Hopefully the next one won’t take as long.