1st Month, Day 27th of Year 2549 of Our Lord Emperor Grogar’s Reign.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a cold and windy night within the capital, Crystal City. The homeless huddled for warmth in alleyways hid from sight from the Grogarian Guard while the nobility slept peacefully under blankets within palaces made of crystal. All seemed as it had always been within the eternal crystal city.
Yet for how normal all seemed, the immortal emperor was dead.
From the royal chambers walked out a young light green mare, a regular at said chambers. This had not, by any means, been the first time she had ever left the royal chambers but it would be her last. As she made to leave, two of the Elite Guards (the most loyal and devout of Grogar’s servants) stoped her.
“What are you carrying in your bag, whore of the great immortal?” asked Swift Response, probably the most loyal of all creatures to the immortal emperor besides her sister in arms Strong Defense.
“Merely compensation for my work, the Emperor blesses me with a gift on this fine night” replied the light green mare.
“Blessed are you servant of the great immortal, you are proof that even the lowest of sins when in service to our great immortal lord can be made into virtue” blurted Strong Defense, easily the most devout of all creatures to the worship of the now dead emperor.
“Very well whore, you may leave the royal chambers” permitted Swift Response “my apologies for holding you.”
“Thank you Swift but before I leave, I have one question for Strong Defense” stated the light green mare “Why do you hunt down those of my profession who service creatures other than our Emperor while you permit me to lay with Grogar nearly every night?”
“From the tone of your voice, it almost seems as if you seek to blaspheme against our immortal lord! Is it not obvious that sin committed for our lord is justified and virtuous!” sermoned Strong Defense in rage brandishing her staff “If you didn’t have the blessing of our infallible lord and emperor I would slay you on this spot Gusty!”
Gusty chuckled internally at the use of the word infallible of all things. After what had just transpired mere minutes ago, it was obvious that while rarely making mistakes, the emperor was still capable of making a fatal mistake.
“I think you should leave, Gusty” ordered Swift Response “I don’t wish to displease my lord by being witness to his whore’s death by my sister in arms”
“Very well, I shall leave now. I think you should think about my question and about what makes things virtuous and sinful, without your lord’s laws and commandments” Gusty ominously said before leaving.
The barely contained rage of Strong Defense was palpable in the air but alas Gusty was free to leave the scene of the regicide.
——
Gusty laid the bell she had been carrying on the table in front of the middle aged griffon “so he died when this was removed, just as I had predicted?”
“It would appear so” Gusty nervously said “I can’t believe I have killed the immortal tyrant, he has been alive so many generations it seems impossible that he can die”
“But when this bell was removed his body went still as a corpse” the griffon remarked “technically he probably is still alive but for all practical purposes he is indeed dead”
Blood drained from Gusty’s face and her eyes went wide at the griffon’s remark “What do you mean he is technically alive! If he is, he will surely torture what remains of my family to death and kill me slowly over centuries! I knew we could never be fully free of the emperor!”
“Relax young one” the wise griffon spoke “this bell kept his mind and soul tied to his body. If his body indeed went still then it is fair to conclude that both his mind and soul have left his body. Unfortunately however it would appear that he also enchanted all three parts of his being so that they will never leave this plane.”
“Well if all his parts still do exist, wouldn’t that mean that he would be resurrected if they were to reunite?!” questioned Gusty.
“Possibly young one” the griffon replied “but we have the advantage of having his soul in our possession.”
The griffon brought a piece of paper containing magical runic scripts to the bell and activated the enchantment. The paper lit up and displayed the name “Grogar” hovering above the paper.
“As I suspected, the bell was enchanted with a fail safe that would absorb the soul should the bell ever leave Grogar’s body” the griffon remarked “This rune detects if there is a soul attached to it and will display their name. I don’t know where his mind could have gone but we know the body is still on the bed in the royal chambers.”
“So as long as we keep this bell away from his body and his mind, he will remain dead?” asked Gusty.
“Yes,” replied the griffon “I would advise you to flee this city at once and never come back. Hide the bell far away, somewhere safe and guard it with your life. Even if you didn’t have something so important to guard, it is best not to be in this city now. The amount of chaos that the death of the one that has been the sole pillar of this whole nation is bound to cause chaos not seen in many millennia.”
“If this is the cost to permanently kill the tyrant who killed my mother and has terrorized these lands for as long as anyone can remember, I will gladly give the rest of my days to safeguard the bell” proclaimed Gusty “do you plan to come with me Amarok?”
“I’m afraid I won’t follow you on your mission Gusty” the griffon Amarok stated “for too long my people have lived subjugated as slave labour in the lands of Griffonstone. I will fly east and proclaim the death of the tyrant to all griffons and hopefully unite them to cast off the oppressors.”
“Well goodbye old friend, I wish you luck with your journey ahead” Gusty said while leaving the old shack on the outskirts of the city.
“I wish you luck as well, may we meet again someday” Amarok said while taking off to fly east to the distant lands of Griffonstone.
——
In the king’s room within the crystal spire lay the king of the Crystal Kingdom, King Dark Rail, on his bed. While most kings of Grogar’s Empire ruled lands far away from Grogar’s actual residence and thus far away from his immediate wrath, the king of the Crystal Kingdom had the misfortune of ruling the kingdom the immortal Emperor resided in and ruled from. Of all the beings the old emperor was paranoid about, the king of the Crystal Kingdom was always in the crosshair of his paranoia. Thus it was always said that the Crystal kings live short lives and have even shorter reigns.
Amazingly for Dark Rail, he had managed to keep his head while being king for nearly twelve years now. This was almost a record for the longest reigning Crystal king. While Dark Rail attributed his longevity to staying out of trouble and enthusiastically agreeing to whatever the emperor said, the truth was that the now dead emperor thought he was an idiot incapable of being a real threat.
When Dark Rail woke up the next morning, his eyes had a noticeable green tint with a small cloud of purple smoke rising above them...
Author's Note
So this is the first chapter of my first story. I hope it is good or at least decent. Been planing out a whole timeline of events for awhile now leading up to when the show starts with this story being basically the start of said timeline. Plan on it mostly following the canon of the show with leeway in what is presented in plays in the show (Harth's Warming Eve, the pageant about Celestia first raising the sun, etc). Anywho hope you all enjoy.
