[EAW] Discovery in Hellquill

by Mr_Zaaab

Rating: teen
Tags: Griffons, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Mystery
Length: 9197

The recent archeological expedition to Griffonstone by Hellquill has found a rather strange artifact... An artifact which was never supposed to be opened.

When 'Führer' Katerinburg ordered the dispatch of an excavation team to the Griffonstone, he only expected some ancient relics that might help him revision the Griffonian History to fit his world view.

And even though they found the relics he wanted, they also discovered a rather inexplicable artifact, that was unique in countless ways. Initially, Archeologists considered it to be the “forerunner of a discovery of a new civilization” … And that was before they discovered the potentially supernatural side of it.

The strange aurora of the box did not go unnoticed, and it soon attracted the interest of archeologists. And when the authorities ordered the transfer of the discovery to Hellquill, things got peculiar real fast. One of the agents they send to recover the artifact died only a couple of hours after arriving in Hellquill, and the other one went insane soon after. Wingfried von Katerinburg orders an urgent meeting to be held over the mysterious relic, simply having no idea what he is about to cause…

Cover art by me

Published 2021-11-16 22:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2021-11-16 22:20:00 UTC

An urgent "meeting"

Author's Note

Note: I know these “stories” completely contradict the “canon” of both MLP and EaW. I’m not even sure what this “series” is even based upon anymore, I’m just making up stuff for the sake of fun and I'm sharing them with other people because why not.

An urgent "meeting"

Completing his daily schedule, Wingfried von Katerinburg exits his office in a typical manner. He sees two of his closest SG Generals waiting for him; Edler von Wingenberg and Eisen Silberkrone. Wingfried:

“You two don’t usually line up in front of my office waiting for me, so I’m assuming that you are here about the *thing*, right?”

Edler nods while Eisen remains silent. After a moment, Edler starts explaining.:

“Yes, it’s about the “important discovery”, I told you about.”

“So?”

“Yesterday, two of our SG Paranormal agents that we dispatched to recover the particular artifact from our excavation team have arrived in Hellquill with the thing.”

“And?”

“They were in horrible shape by the time they arrived. One of them died a couple of hours after arriving, the other one went insane for some unknown reason.”

Wingfried stared at Edler with a blank face, and answered hesitantly:

“And how did that agent die exactly?”

“Doctors ruled out it as “Epilepsy from severe trauma”.”

Wingfried tries to grasp what he just said:

“Wait… this artifact of yours, is a piece of stone, right?”

“Yes.”

“And you are telling me that a griff literally died from Epilepsy from looking at that piece of stone?”

“Also, yes.”

…

After a long and awkward pause, Wingfried smirks:

“Then we have something in our claws that is worth wasting some time into.”

Edler calmly nods:

“Perhaps…”

Wingfried turns to Eisen:

“Eisen, tell everyone to assemble at the Rittersaal Secret Chamber before 7 pm, tell them that it is extremely urgent.”

Eisen calmly nods. Wingfried then turns to Edler again:

“And Edler, bring the artifact in the safest way you know and put it on the altar at the center of the room. Also, tell everyone arriving at the room before me to not interact with the artifact in any way possible, I guess covering it up with a piece of fabric would do.”

Edler replies in his usual cold voice:

“As you order… my Führer.”

Wingfried nods as they start walking towards the exit together. While walking, Wingfried continues to question Edler:

“And what about the other discoveries?”

“Spectacular. Every single one of them is important enough to change the way we perceive Griffonian history as a whole.”

Eisen joins in:

“The word “Spectacular” really would be an understatement. Our scientists say the oldest of the artifacts predates Grover I by 3000 years. This will deal a heavy blow to the reactionaries, who’d still like to believe that we had no real history before Grover I.”

Edler sneers:

“Every day, we are getting closer to fully discovering the true history of Griffons.”

Wingfried asks another question:

“Do we know how old that particular artifact is?”

Eisen:

“Our scientists never got to study it properly since they don’t even want to be nearby that cursed box. But they still assume that it could be anywhere between 500 years to 2000 years old.”

Wingfried laughs:

“Too much for our rational-minded scientists huh?”

Edler:

“They are probably scared of Hellquill turning into another Country filled with Necromancers and Living Dead… Now that would be a nice shooting exercise.”

Eisen:

“If our excavations at the Griffonstone continue like this, incidents like that might become a possibility. I’m sure we obtained at least a dozen or so curses just through all the tombs we opened up.”

Wingfried laughs again:

“Perhaps. But still, someone had to eventually recover those relics. So let the one who reclaims the Griffonian relics be a Griff, instead of some damned pony in the far future.”

Eisen:

“Of course, my Führer.”

They finally arrive at the exit. Wingfried:

“See you in a couple of hours, I’ll be in the library to have an idea of what we are dealing with”

Eisen and Edler salute Wingfried and leave.

An hour later, Wingfried is in his library, examining book after book, trying to find a title that might help them with the situation they have at hand. But let it be the theological doctrines of a 200-year-old book, or the metaphysical studies of a couple of decades-old philosophical books, or a staunchly anti-traditional book filled with studies trying to ‘disprove’ the fantastical elements of magic, none of them proved to be useful for Wingfried. All of them either recommend the burning of the artifact, a proper and genuine study of the nature of the artifact itself or putting it in a museum so other griffons can pay to see it. “Useless,” he thinks to himself. He opens up another book he thinks might be useful, named; “Metaphysics of Ancient Practices”. After looking at it for a while, he realizes again that this is not the book he needs and tosses it towards the table nearby. He sits down and thinks; “Should I send an envoy to the Dread League? Sure, it might be under the rule of half-dead ponies, but still, I think they might be the only ones in the whole Griffonia that might make something out of this… But what if this is a relic of mass power, could they utilize the powers of the relic before they reveal its secrets to us, and then use it to attack us? Or does it even have powers at all? What if that griff who died already had pre-existing health issues? Even though that still doesn’t explain the other one going mad. Maybe they were close friends or something? No, SG would never send two close friends together on a mission.
... I just have no idea what to do... Heh. I’m starting to think like Edler with all this mysticism…”

Wingfried starts walking around the room: “Just think… think…”
While looking around the library, Wingfried looks at the ceiling for a while. He then notices the old books at the very top of the bookshelves, about 6-7 meters above the ground. He looks closer; all the books he could see from down there were in horrendous condition, covered in dust and webs. Even though it has very little chance of helping, he decides to give it a shot and uses his wings to get a better view. As he gets to a higher altitude, he looks back and stares at all the other books he has at his disposal. He chuckles and thinks to himself: “All these prominent books and I’m still going after half-rotten pieces of papers” and continues flying. After reaching the shelf he was looking for, he starts looking at the old-fashioned half-rotten books. It was what he expected, all in horrendous condition, many of them probably didn’t even see daylight for decades. After looking for a while, Wingfried sees a book with a black leather cover, standing out amongst the moldy books. He reaches out, pulls out the book, and starts looking at its cover. It had no name on it and surely looked out of place. Even though he had no idea what the book was about, he decides to get down and take a better look at it.
He opens up the book, just to see there is no name or title for the book. While the book itself abruptly starts with paragraphs filled with puzzling sentences which themselves are filled with vague words. Reading it would be a challenge for any regular griff, but thankfully for von Katerinburg, he spent years studying old Griffonian texts and languages. As he starts turning the pages, he was met with complex but interesting texts, mostly about spiritualism, rituals, and mythological legends. After reading through a couple of random pages, he concludes that this enigmatic book was never even meant to be here in the first place. Wingfried thinks to himself; “I don’t know why… but I think I found what I needed”.

After turning a couple of more pages, he finds the subject he didn’t know he was looking for: “Three-Pointed Sword of Maar”. As he reads the subject, he notices similarities between the said “symbolism of Maar” and the way SG agents described the relic. Wingfried at last realized the amount of potential this artifact has. It was no mere cursed rune or a necromancy stone, what they had in their claws directly came from Maar; the Griffonian God of Death. No person or group ever discovered anything like this before, or even if they did, they never dared to use it. Even the almighty Idol of Boreas was simply nothing in comparison to this. For a moment he felt like he should immediately cancel the upcoming meeting, get rid of the artifact, and never talk about this ever again. For years he did everything he could to empower Griffons, Hellquill, Reformisten, and himself. But this… He wasn’t sure what he would do with it, or even if he wanted to do anything with it. Align yourself with the literal Deity of Death? It was too much… but for Wingfried, it was not, it just couldn’t be. He tried to convince himself that someone sooner or later would use it for their own benefit, and that person could easily be an enemy. And even if he ordered the destruction of the artifact, Edler would certainly steal the artifact and take it on his own. And what exactly Edler would do with such a thing? Imagining it alone was enough to frighten him. He thought to himself; “No, I must be the one to activate it. I am the only person I could trust with this amount of power in his claws. And I’m not sure about even that…”

He finally decides to continue reading the book. He then stumbles on the very thing he was looking for; “Blood for Maar”. The moment he read the title, he sighed, and then looked at the clock on the wall; an hour left till the meeting. Realizing he does not have much time, starts studying the once-forbidden pages.

Almost all major personnel of Hellquill were waiting in the Secret Meeting room, prominent Generals, Ministers, and key Advisors, about 30 griffins were waiting for their ‘Führer’ to arrive. The chamber itself was somewhat large, had no windows, and was in a circular shape, and with the massive stone pillars in it, the room itself truly screamed Medieval. Wingfried finally enters the room, all the staff salutes him as he salutes them back. Without any delay, he walks towards the artifact at the center of the room, which is placed on the preexisting altar (or rather a meeting table) as he ordered. He then removes the piece of cloth placed upon the artifact, finally seeing it with his bare eyes. He gulps, seeing that the artifact is the same as what he read about. He mutters to himself; “This is it.”.

He wasn’t sure how he was going to explain the truth behind the artifact since many of the griffons there would easily turn against him the second, they realize that they are engaging in a literal demonic ritual. He again thinks to himself; “Why did I even call them here? I don’t even remember… Wait… No, I do remember, I needed them here… because if I… die… here and have no other Griffons in the room other than Edler and Eisen, SG would immediately exploit my death and takeover Hellquill.”
He continues to stare at the artifact for a while, without paying any attention to the crowd behind him. After a while, General Demetrius Kamphaus calls him out:

“My Führer, would you mind telling us why are we gathered here? Because to be honest, I don’t see any “urgencies” here.”

Wingfried answers without making eye contact:

“Our informants… found something… something unusual… something extremely unusual.”

He turns back to the crowd behind him:

“Two SG informants brought this artifact yesterday. One of them died and the other one went insane hours after arriving.”

Suspicion and distress commence amongst the crowd. Some start whispering to each other.

Demetrius replies hesitantly:

“Uh… my Führer, are you sure it’s a good idea to have every single important government personnel be in the same room with *that* thing? One accident alone can decapitate the entire Hellquill!”

Whispers continue amongst the crowd.

Wingfried:

“I have studied. It shouldn’t affect anyone here as long as you keep a proper distance from it.”

Demetrius answers in a distressful tone:

“…That’s not exactly reassuring…”

Edler takes the opportunity to attack Demetrius:

“What any other assurances you want? What are you, a coward?”

Demetrius answers in a fuming tone:

“If not wanting to die over some damn ritual when there’s still work to be done makes me a coward, then yes, I am a coward to the end!”

Wingfried loudly exclaims:

“ENOUGH! I’m not here to listen to your inept arguments yet again! If anyone wants to leave the room now, then you are welcome. You won’t get demoted or ridiculed, and you can continue your lives as usual. But I want you to trust me for once; that nogriff in this room, except for maybe me, won’t get harmed or affected by the artifact. I just need witnesses to confirm that whatever is about to happen did indeed happen. That’s all I can say to assure you. Again, whoever in this room wants to get out, do it now. And don’t waste my time.”

Everyone starts looking at each other, not sure if they want to comply or not. After a minute of waiting, no one quits. Wingfried:

“Good. I am proud of all of you. Now, let us go back to the business.”

Wingfried steps out of the way of the Artifact and fully reveals the box to the crowd. Demetrius again speaks out:

“Do we know what this thing is capable of other than killing people or making them go insane?”

Wingfried calmly answers:

“We don’t know the exact purpose of it, but we do know what scale of potential it might hold. Eisen might give you a better description about this, Eisen?”

Wingfried turns to Eisen Silberkrone. Eisen simply nods and starts explaining:

“This artifact is unique even by its design alone, almost all of our archeologists agree that this artifact is a mixture of all Griffonian cultures, which is exceptional, for an ancient relic. Judging by the sheer amount of symbolism on it, we can easily say that this relic belongs to Ma- “

Wingfried loudly coughs and disrupts, making an eye gesture to Eisen that simply says; “Do you have any idea how mad these griffons will be if they learn that we are collaborating with the literal God of Death?”. Eisen instantly reconsiders his sentence, and continues:

“-I mean, we can easily conclude that this relic belongs to a deity. And even though we don’t know which one this box is dedicated to; we can still declare that it retains unlimited supernatural potential.”

Bowser Klaproth the Hellquill Minister of Information, speaks out:

“I am sorry Herr Eisen, but are we certain that our fallen SG agent didn’t have any existing health issues? How are we certain that this box even has powers?”

Eisen replies:

“We didn’t gather all of you here over mere speculation, and yes, the agent did have a medical examination just a week before being sent to Griffonstone, he simply had no issues. We’ve been studying this artifact even before it arrived at Hellquill, it resembles a device more than a mere stone box.”

Bowser Klaproth asks again:

“And do we know how to activate this “device”?”

Before Eisen could respond, Edler joins in:

“Blood. We activate it with blood.”

The crowd gets uneasy, General Wilhelm Stackelberg furiously protests:

“I do hope(!) that you are aware that this sounds more of a Necromancer invocation than a mere ceremony! How do you think freakshows like Dread League start? Exactly like this!”

Wingfried intervenes:

“Herr Stackelberg and others, I duly understand your concerns, but I need you to understand that this is the way our ancestors intended for the unlocking of the device. If there was another way, we wouldn’t be spending any time talking about blood.”

General Demetrius Kamphaus joins again:

“With all respect, my Führer, I advise you to reconsider the risks that box might carry.”

Wingfried doesn’t break his attitude:

“And I want all of you to think; will the box itself be left unused forever? No matter how we’d like to believe that this relic could be left untouched forever, deep down we all know that eventually or so someone will open this box, and someone will make use of it with blood. So, I say; let that “one” be a Griff.”

General Wilhelm Stackelberg asks again:

“Do we at least know what amount of blood is needed for “activation”?”

Wingfried:

“Just one drop, only from the person who will activate it of course.”

Edler:

“Too bad it’s not a blood sacrifice, we would definitely rehire General Trudy Oettinger to carry out that gallant mission.”

Edler chuckles to himself.

General Demetrius Kamphaus inquires:

“My Führer, I hope you see the fact this certain act can very well result in your demise.”

Wingfried:

“…You’re talking as if I fear death.”

“It’s not about the fear of death. It’s about the uncertain future of Hellquill.”

Edler joins:

“My Führer, I’m assuming you didn’t think about the likelihood of a succession. And I’d like to remind you again that according to our purely scientific consensus; long-term interaction with the box has two possible outcomes; death or insanity. I fear you might’ve been a little bit too optimistic about the possibility of making out of it alive.”

Demetrius Kamphaus:

“…I hope you have a plan in your mind my Führer. Hellquill must not suffer from any kind of internal disagreement in order achieve our Eastern Expansion.”

Wingfried looks around him, he did overvalue his chances of getting out of it alive. He didn’t even bother thinking of the scene where he could die or go insane and the void lack of Leadership could eventually destroy Hellquill from within, and ultimately doom the idea of a Riverlands conquest altogether. He eventually speaks in a low tone:

“You are all correct...”

Wingfried then looks at the crowd and starts pondering if the needed candidate for the Führer was among them. All the Griffons in the room get anxious, Wingfried was about to pick a placeholder for his place in this bleak moment. Even though many of them surely wished to be a Führer one way or the other, certainly none of them wanted it to be like this.

Wingfried thinks to himself; “…I need a griff who does not belong to any factions, capable of holding the country together, and would comply to my dying wishes… Edler would gladly be the candidate, but of course, choosing him would be foolish. Because the moment I lose myself, his first act as the Führer would be pulling up a pistol and start opening fire on the crowd… Wilhelm? I don’t think he’s ever been loyal to me or my ideas in the first place, his first action as the Führer would be probably declaring himself “King of Hellquill” and then pulling up a pistol and start shooting at everyone he doesn’t like in the room… Demetrius? Sure, he is probably the wisest and reasonable griffon of the crowd, but his hostility against the SG would put Hellquill in a difficult situation, and the moment he becomes the Führer he too would probably pull up whatever weapon he has on him right now and then shoot Edler and Eisen… No, I need someone that wouldn’t pull up a gun the moment he/she gets in control and by that, drag the whole country into a pointless civil war. I need someone else…”

After looking around the room again, he loudly proclaims:

“General Erika Stahlflügel! Would you mind coming here?”

Erika Stahlflügel is completely caught off guard. She struggles to comprehend what von Katerinburg just said and gets nervous when the entire crowd surrounding her instantly starts looking towards her. Shocked and confused, Erika tries to answer:

“…Me?!”

Wingfried in an overbearing tone:

“Yes you, Stahlflügel. And could you *please* try to hurry?”

Still nervous and concerned, Erika starts walking towards Wingfried amid the looks of others, with the looks of Edler and Eisen terrifying her in particular. When she finally comes closer to Wingfried, she struggles to reply:

“My Führer, does that mean- “

But Wingfried is not here to listen to her answer, and instead continues as if she didn’t try to speak:

“General Erika Stahlflügel, you might be the only griff who can preserve the integrity of the Hellquill while keeping a neutral stance. You will succeed me in case of my demise.”

Erika tries to respond hesitantly while being overwhelmed by stress:

“I-… My Führer I don’t want to fail you, but I don’t think I’m the right griff for the job… I fear that I might make things worse for Hellquill.”

Wingfried in a cheeky tone:

“Well, such a pity… then I’ll have no choice but to give the heirship to my second choice… General Steeltalon! Would you mind stepping forward?”

Everygriff in the room, especially Erika, goes wide-eyed the moment Wingfried uses the name of the infamous “Steeltalon the Butcher”. As everybody looks around to see where he might be, it takes some time for them to see that Steeltalon isn’t even in the group and only stands all alone by himself in a corner somewhat away from everyone else, too “busy” to pay any attention while trying to clean the dry blood stains on his knife with a tissue. He’s grumbling to himself: “…I don’t have any issues with blood stains on my other blades…I swear this is just cheap plastic… I’m going to skin that dog alive for selling me this junk…”

It takes a while for Steeltalon the Butcher to notice that everygriff in the room was looking at him. He replies in a callous voice:

“Before any of you say anything, it’s not Griffon blood… Its-…Its-… It is tomato sauce! Yeah, I recently started cooking. You know, I needed a hobby and such…”

He finally realizes something is off by the looks of the griffons:

“Why are you all looking at me like that? Did I do something bad again?”

Wingfried then looks at Erika with a *This guy is going to be your boss if you refuse* stare, before calling out Steeltalon:

“Oh, it’s nothing serious Steeltalon. But would you mind step- “

Erika realizes Wingfried’s intention, and interrupts him:

“I- I’m very sorry my Führer but I hope it isn’t too late to accept your proposal…”

Wingfried pretends to be shocked:

“I’m sorry General, but I thought you believed that you are unfit for the rule.”

Erika thinks to herself; “*sigh* Why is he doing this to me? He wants me to ask him again, couldn’t he just say “yes”?!” and replies:

“I’m sorry again my Führer, but I think I changed my mind, ruling Hellquill is nothing I can’t manage.”

She then forces herself to give a stressful smile.

Wingfried cheerfully replies:

“Ah! How nice to hear! I’m glad to know that you are not letting me down on my possibly dying wish.”

Steeltalon however, is still confused:

“Wait, who’s dying here? What’s going on? I didn’t do anything, did I?”

Wingfried doesn’t bother to explain everything to the infamous Butcher:

“It’s nothing important Steeltalon. And by the way, would you mind handing me a needle?”

Steeltalon:

“Oh yeah, sure. What size would you like?”

“Any would do.”

Steeltalon pulls up a small casing filled with needles from his coat:

“Well, I have a 5 cm one, an 8 cm one with a-…”

“Just give me a pointy one.”

“Sure.”

Steeltalon pulls up a long needle from the casing and gives it to Wingfried. Wingfried then turns to the crowd and says:

“Without any more delays, let's get this over with.”

He opens up his claw, and just as he was about to sting the needle into one of his fingers, he looks at the crowd again:

“…I just want all of you to know… that’s been an honor working with you…”

And forcefully stings his finger and turns back to the box. As he sees the drip of blood coming from his finger, he puts his blood-soaked finger on the “three-pointed sword of Maar”.

Out of all the griffons in the room, only Edler doesn’t widen his distance with Wingfried despite being right next to him, as Edler eventually asks:

“So… does it hurt yet?”

Wingfried asks him without making eye contact:

“Edler, you know standing right next to me might affect you. Perhaps, you might want to take a couple of steps back.”

“And perhaps, I don’t want to. Just don’t mind me…”

Everygriff in the room now fixated their eyes on the box, waiting for a reaction… even if there’s going to be a reaction... A minute after with no response coming from the box, Wingfried starts to doubt whether the box is genuine or not. Again, without making eye contact, asks Edler:

“Edler, do you think we are doing it wrong- “

A ticking noise comes from the box, making everyone frightened for a moment. Wingfried gulps, as he watches the bloody circular symbol starting to spin. Everygriff gets even more nervous as the ticking from the spinning symbol intensifies, some started questioning whether or not they should leave now before it might be too late. And even though many are scared, some of them were captivated by the history unfolding right before them. Eisen was particularly having the time of his lifetime, he raucously and enthusiastically proclaims:

“It’s- It’s unlocking itself! It’s unlocking itself! Ha! Ha! Ha!”

Edler was closely watching the Relic with cold eyes as if it was nothing new to him, Demetrius was rightfully nervous but not terrified enough to leave the room, and Wilhelm was inquiring whether the thing in front of him was an act of blasphemy or not, Erika was praying that ‘her Führer’ makes out of this alive, and Steeltalon was using one of his needles to pick up a piece of food he got stuck in his beak and was observing the scene as if he was watching a play. As for the rest, it was a mixture of fascination and horror.

After a minute, the symbol on the box stops spinning with a click sound. Wingfried then puts his claws on the box and pulls up the upper section of the box as if it was unlocked the whole time. On the inside, it was a simple marble box with nothing in it. But what Wingfried find to be scary in it was the fact that there was no visible lock mechanism. And even though he didn’t know what he was supposed to do next, he felt like he needed to put his claw inside the box to fully activate it, and without a second thought, he does exactly that and starts waiting.

He feels tension and fear. Fearful for that he and the others still had no idea what this relic was capable of. The fear of the unknown…

As he struggles with breathing, he could hear his heart beating, and feel the adrenalin rushing down his veins. He kept on waiting, and waiting, and waiting… for minutes, maybe hours, he couldn’t care about time anymore. He felt like he was losing his mind, and tries to ask Edler for help with a fatigued tone:

“Edler… I’m… I’m not doing so well… I need you to…”

Wingfried feels something is off, he turns to the spot Edler was standing… just to see he’s not there anymore. He then turns to the crowd… just to see they too are gone. He looks around the room and sees the room empty. He thinks to himself; “But… where are they? I didn’t see or hear anyone quitting the room, and even if they left without my approval, then where are the guards? Why would they leave me alone like this?... Wait… what is that sound?” Wingfried starts hearing a peculiar humming echo as if the whole world was quietly vibrating. He gets even more anxious, feeling like he could collapse at any moment now from the pressure.

He desperately looks around the room, with no sign of anything or anyone. Everything is intact and familiar to him, but somehow, it feels strange. He was not sure if he was dreaming, dying, going insane, or perhaps a combination of all of them.

After staring at this eerie dream-like scene for too long, Wingfried remembers why he was even there in the first place; “The box!”.

And even though he did recall the box… he felt like he didn’t want to turn back and look at it. He had no idea why he was having this emotion, but he felt like something terrible would happen if he turned around and looked at it, all while he couldn’t comprehend the cause behind these thoughts. He again thinks to himself; “What even are these thoughts? These aren’t my thoughts! Why would I be afraid of looking at a box?... But yet… why I do want to look at it again?... I don’t want to… I… I… must…”

Wingfried turns around.

And he starts screaming the very second. There’s no way on the earth he could comprehend what is in front of him, seeing the fabric of reality getting absorbed by a literal void in the fabric of existence. Wingfried continues to scream, while completely losing his mind in a matter of seconds. He couldn’t even realize that his scream had no voice, as he couldn’t even hear a thing. His vision starts to blur, his clothing starts to ignite, he feels all of his organs shutting down and his beak is about to break apart from screaming mutely. He didn’t feel horror because he was well beyond the point of feeling anything. In mere seconds, he completely loses his sight.

Darkness.

Emptiness.

Void.

The Arrival in Nowhere

There is no time.

There is no before or after.

There is no feeling.

There is no emotion.

There is no reason.

There is no place.

There is no beginning.

There is no end.

There is nothing.

And yet…

despite not existing…

…Wingfried “hears” a hollow, deep, and slow unworldly voice:

“…They...left…us…they…left…us…they…left…us…they…”

Wingfried cannot respond or can’t even reason over this anomalous voice reaching out. Because he does not have an organ that can speak, think, or see. Because he didn’t exist.

The voice continues:

“…they…knew…us…they... told…us…they…loved…us…they…saved…us…and then… they killed us…

…And then…we learned to…thrive…

We…loved…them…more than…they…loved us…and then…we learned…to...reason…we…learned…to hate…we learned…to kill…

…Just like…you…just like…you…just like…you…just like…you…

We…gave them…souls…we…gave them…life…they…adored…us…and then…we…took back…our gifts…and they…become…weak…and…they…cursed us…

They forget…us…they forget…us…they forget…us…

We…didn’t…forget them…we…didn’t…forgive them…we…

…they feared…us…they killed us…and yet…they…didn’t bury us…

…the other…three…does not…know…what the final one…feels…

…in time…we…forget… to love…

…cold…cold…cold…

…we burned…the remains of our…enemies…to stay…warm…

…the smell…of…flames…filled our…minds…

…the flames…they… teach us…and…we… learned to hate…we learned…to kill…to rule…to dominate…

…WE ARE MAAR WE ARE MAAR WE ARE MAAR…

…

…Wingfried von Katerinburg…

…You have…done…what you had to…done…

…You…freed us…

…We are grateful…

…In return…we will give you…a mind to… comprehend…

…a tongue for answers…and…eyes for vision…”

Wingfried starts to feel again, and even though he couldn’t comprehend what is going on, his mind immediately fills with fear. He starts feeling his eyes and limbs, but yet, he is too afraid to use any of them. The voice continues:

“…You can open your eyes…”

Wingfried senses that he has to obey the orders of the voice, and opens his eyelids…

And refuses to accept what he just saw.

He immediately closes them…

“…Poor mortal…poor mortal…

…Thinking putting a slice of flesh in front of his cornea will save him…

…We…No…I…gave them ‘fear’ …to escape failure and death…so they would do what is reasonable…so they would work hard and learn to ‘thrive’…

…But for you…Katerinburg…you no longer need to fear…not anymore…for that…now…I AM YOU…

Wingfried no longer fears, the fact he lost a natural instinct should’ve terrified him, but no…he never felt better. He opens his eyes, no longer filled with fear, but rather curiosity. He is floating mid-air, surrounded by a gigantic transparent sphere of unknown (and perhaps) fluid-like substance. In front of him, a colossal plain white entity, to some extent resembled a mantle, the “thing” had a massive void-like “mouth”, presumably smiling, and had two tiny holes above the “mouth”, presumably its eyes. The orb he was in was clasped by its (presumably) massive “hand”, alongside its other massive “limbs” scattered all around, with no clear starting points and ends. Wingfried eventually was able to get his senses together, and ask the first question he got in his mind:

“What is this-…”

*It* interrupts him, and finishes Wingfried’s question:

“-place? And *what* are you?”

A thunderous laugh-like sound erupts, with no detectable origin. Wingfried presumes the entity in front of him was laughing at his pettiness.

“…I already know every single thing you are about to ask…

…Reasonable questions….

…And as a reward, I shall give you reasonable answers…

…Now, I must tell you in order to answer the question “what is this place?” you must *exist* in the first place…

Wingfried is bewildered:

“You mean I don’t exist?”

“Yes… Unless you take “nowhere” as a proper answer, there’s no possible answer I could give you… We are… in the absolute zero… There is no universe… There is no time…”

“But… that makes no sense! There’s no way this conversation itself would go on without the presence of time!”

The entity *laughs* again:

“Yes… You have a reasonable mind… Just the one I needed… Now, to your question… For your ‘mortal mind’ to comprehend my true presence… We needed an “environment” where time and being would function in an “artificial” setting… since a mortal mind can only function within the boundaries of the time and being… I had to “craft” this “place” so I could correspond with you…”

Wingfried asks another question:

“You are Maar, aren’t you? The God of Death, War and Misery.”

The entity is sickened by this “preposterous accusation” and makes a deafening shriek noise in response, leading Wingfried to cover his ears. Maar continues in an offended tone:

“All this reasoning…yet you have fallen for the lies of the other three… Foremost, I am no God… And neither are the other three… a true God would be completely free from bias… while all four of us… are slaves of ourselves and our principles… no matter how much the other three loved being worshipped, this didn’t make them gods… just like it didn’t make me too… They didn’t create anything from nothing…and so did I… we only… nudged things… ever since the start of history…And…in a way… you can say… we were the destiny… itself…

… don’t you think? All these occurrences up to the point of you opening that box… were a bit too coincidental? Think… of everything you’ve been through… the way you survived the revolution… the way you become the ‘Grandmaster’… the way your agents discover the box… the way secrets of the box are revealed to you by a rather ‘mysterious’ book an hour before the meeting... and that book, just so happens to be in your library the whole time…

I already know… that you just considered yourself… to be too lucky… and at one point, you even think you’ve been possessed by an ancient Griffonian spirit… helping you survive… Heh…heh… and turns out…this wasn’t far from the reality…

It was me Katerinburg... I forced myself and pushed my powers to their absolute limits… so you would become the Grandmaster… so you would send your griffons to Griffonstone to recover artifacts… so your agents would recover the box… so they would bring it to you… and so you would find that book explaining the necessary ritual… It was me, who did all that, it was us…”

Wingfried is confused beyond comprehension:

“But… but that makes no sense! Why would the almighty Maar require the aid of a mortal like me?!”

“…As I said…I am no God…and therefore my powers and boundaries are not limitless… as you can see, I cannot directly intervene in the mortal realm… And no matter how powerful you could be in the realm of non-matter… as long as you don’t have a presence, in reality, you are nothing… That box was a gate for me… But… let's say… that gate is not large enough for me to intervene directly… But rather… a hole for me to…to sneak in my abilities… through capable entities like you... I hope you would understand… how hard it was for me to establish that box… in the first place…”

Wingfried is amazed but still confused, he asks another question:

“You tell me that you are no God, and neither are the other “Deities”. But… is there a God? Like a real one?”

“…Yes…”

“Do you…know him?”

Maar “laughs” again with a thunderous voice:

“…I am exactly aware of what you are thinking right now…And I definitely can’t blame you for asking this… But I must say… just because I am an unnatural entity does not mean I have all the answers for you… The God is a mystery to me in a way I am a mystery to you…”

Wingfried asks another question:

“But… why? I don’t know what your intentions are, or why you summon me here in the first place. What is my purpose here?”

Maar starts with an unrelated question:

“…Have you ever thought about how *perfect* your world is?”

“I… frankly don’t see how this is related to my question.”

“…Just answer my question… and you will get your answers to your question…”

“I guess it is a bit… nice?”

“Hah! Hah! Hah! …You simply have no idea…

Your world was supposed to be perfect…

…It was “intended” … or rather… distorted… to be the perfect world… of a perfect universe… Where “they” would escape the harshness and brutalities of other realities, and dazzle their own minds with the images of the “perfect” … Escape the reality… and embrace your dimension… In a way… your dimension is a shelter… for all the lost and pitiful souls… of infinite dimensions… a place the young… could act like young… for an eternity…

I call it… “a petty heaven” …”

Wingfried was yet again baffled and felt like he wasn’t getting anywhere with asking more questions. But he knew he had no option but to keep asking:

“But then… by this “it was meant to be perfect” Do you mean the Pony Harmony? Do you mean my world was designed solely for Harmony?! And I am the absolute evil for opposing it?!”

Maar laughs yet again and continues:

“This universe was meant to be a “safe space” from all other… *entities*… like myself… this reality was meant to be free from… “corruption” … as they called it… I call it; “a reality free from reality” …

…This universe… and your world in particular… was meant to be an anti-thesis… against the “ones” like me… to prove “us” that… life can exist with minimum suffering… and weak could thrive for simply being weak…

…Beyond the boundaries of time… there was a… *time*… when I believed in perfection… where we could guide mortals to build more and more pleasant and sophisticated civilizations… Just like the way… you used to believe in Harmony… before you saw the *truth*… To me… there was no truth… there were only beliefs… and I choose what to believe in… power…reason…and ambition… For “them” these were the motives behind the “corruption” … As I said… this reality was meant to deal a blow to my beliefs… and for an eternity… we clashed over it… but now… you helped me get closer to my goal… My goal is to prove them wrong… to right what is wrong… to empower the weak… and convert the coward… and this dimension was a priority to me… Your World… was kept away from my influence far too long… The “others” have done everything they could… to prevent this meeting from happening… Just like how they tried to prevent you…they killed your agent to scare you off... they tried to make you cancel the meeting… they tried to make you get rid of the artifact… and they tried to prevent you from looking at that box…”

“It was… “them”?! I knew these weren’t my thoughts, but what were these “others” exactly?

Boreas? The so-called King of Gods and God of rulership?

Arcturius? The so-called God of War?

Eyr? The so-called Goddess of Fertility?

Was it someone else?”

“You still have much to learn… and yet there are things… that you simply cannot learn…

The other three? Yes… they deserve to be included in those who tried to stop us… but… alas… Your mind simply cannot fully comprehend what I mean by “them” … A mortal does not have the required mental capacity for this…”

“But… couldn’t you just “make” me have the capacity? Don’t you have the power?”

“…Remember what I said before… I am no God… And if I had the necessary power to create metaphysical entities or at least turn mortals into one…, do you think I would even bother with you?... I would’ve just raised an army of supernatural entities and erased all others from all realities…”

“Then, can you tell me about the other three “entities”?”

“…Capable entities… going after foolery… You wouldn’t believe the number of eternities we spent arguing with one other… Do you have any idea how much Arcturius and I struggled to get the title of “God of War”? … and even though I preferred the title “Lord of War” … But still… I cannot deny the fact that the word “God” has a lot of weight into it… a weight which I can utilize…”

“So, that’s why you turn a blind eye to your followers calling you a “God” right?”

“…Another good reasoning… I’m impressed…

And yes… being a follower of a “Dark Lord” could never be as prestigious as being the follower of a “Dark God” … Being a “God” is a title that I hate to carry… but love to exploit…

All the things… all Archons told you about me… are either false or twisted truth…

I indeed carry the energy of Death, Madness, and Cruelty… but what they never could’ve understood… was that those things didn’t describe me wholly… I never made a person go mad over nonsense… I made them go mad… so they could’ve coped with the tragedies they witness… I never made someone go cruel just for the sake of cruelty… I’ve given them the power of cruelty… for they could suppress those who do not deserve care… and come out victorious through pure righteousness… But sadly… others couldn’t realize what this “righteousness” term truly meant…

I made others reason… make them question their surroundings… And for that, the others dared to call me “the God of Disbelief” … Hah!... Preposterous! … I know what ‘love’ is… I know what ‘fertility’ is… I know what ‘Intelligence’ is… I know what ‘Peace’ is…

But the real reason… the reason they outcasted me in the first place was the fact that I tried to become all of them at once… Instead of making my existence completely revolve around a certain subject… I realized that there is a time when one needs to be cruel… there is a time when one needs to go to war… there is a time where one has to kill… and eventually, there will be a time where one has to love…

…Let’s say; What is the difference between Arcturius and me? Why did we both clash over the “title” of “War”? … Arcturius loves war… because he believes there’s nothing negative about it… he only sees glory in it… skipping the aspects of horror and dread… And on the other hand, *we* love war… not because it's violent… but because it delivers justice… a type of justice that no court in any existence could give…

And your world… has skipped the first phases of reason… and was established as proof that living beings do not need negative aspects to live… And we have done everything to break those dogmas since the start of time… And recently… I can easily tell that we are succeeding…”

“What about Celestia and Luna? What are they? They are the products of the other three too?”

“…They are the products of “things” … which are very close and yet far away to the other three… There’s no ordinary way of explaining this… but you already know that they will be your enemy… The ones like them here were sent here and groomed to be the earthly heirs of this “anti-thesis …”

“And what about the… the…”

Wingfried stops, even though he didn’t fear no more, this didn’t make him immune to grief. He was about to ask Maar about the incident that changed him forever, the incident that made him what he is now. And even though he forced himself to ask the question, he only ended up shedding tears. Maar speaks in his place:

“You want to ask me about the fateful day… The day that made you who you are now…”

Wingfried struggles to answer while holding back tears:

“…Yes…”

“…on that day… the young Wingfried von Katerinburg witnessed his entire family getting slaughtered… And…he couldn’t do anything to save them… The day… he witnessed the harsh reality, that his world didn’t prepare him for.”

“Please… just answer my question… you already know it.”

“…You wonder if Princess Celestia really was behind the revolution… And therefore, responsible for your loved one’s demise…”

Filled with hatred and despair, Wingfried screams:

“YES!!!”

After a pause, Maar answers:

“It is true…”

Wingfried is relieved that he finally learned the “truth”, but he was filled with hatred on a level he never felt before. At that moment, he felt like he was filled with enough abhorrence to kill an entire Pony family just using his claws. He loudly declares:

“I MUST HAVE MY REVENGE!!!”

Maar casually answers:

“Then… Wingfried… do you think you are the rightful one here?”

“ABSOLUTELY!”

“…Why have a mere ‘revenge’? When *we* can deliver *justice*?”

“How…?”

“…. As the defenders of righteousness… We will punish those… who have wronged us…”

“What do you mean?”

“…We must be ready to deliver the justice…”

Wingfried is confused but still determined:

“Then what is my purpose? What is my mission? Who am I going to be?”

“…Wingfried von Katerinburg… Don’t you see? …Don’t you remember what I told you? …I AM YOU…”

Wingfried is now completely baffled:

“But… How can it even be…?”

“…You have been chosen… to be my hand in the Dimension of Mortals… You’ll have my powers… my knowledge… and my eyes… at your disposal… You’ll have powers on levels you couldn’t even imagine…”

Wingfried couldn’t help but smile:

“I- I don’t know what to say. Am I truly worthy of this?”

“…No mortal is worthy… But… We’ll make you so…”

“Oh… So, I’m… not worthy.”

“Wingfried von Katerinburg… You wouldn’t believe what the “others” were planning for your future… Without our intervention, you couldn’t imagine how pathetically you lose in countless timelines…”

“H- How do I lose in those timelines?”

“By betrayal… Those griffons you have under your command… do you think they are loyal to you?”

“I… Not really but- “

“The amount of time you got backstabbed in countless timelines through absurd ways… you could not imagine… Edler… Demetrius… Wilhelm… there’s at least one instance on all timelines where they betray and kill you… while humiliating you…”

“…What should I do then?”

“There’s no need for me to guide you… you’ll know… with my powers… all pitiful plots against you will be fruitless… most won’t even dare to stand against you… and you’ll laugh it off whenever someone tries to challenge you…

…You’ll carry a piece of me… understand the value of it… You will become me… You will become Maar… Just like the way I am you…

You’ll make them understand, that only the might alone can make it right… And among the pitiful weaklings… you’ll reign supreme…”

“There’s… no way of me telling how grateful I am. What are your orders, sir?”

“…Heh …you still don’t understand the “You are the Maar” part, right? …Don’t refer to me as if I’m a completely different entity, don’t you ever call me a “sir” … I am a part of you that you cannot comprehend… And you are a part of me that allows me to reach the realm of living…Remember, WE ARE MAAR…”

“Yes… Si- I mean… Me(?)…Us(?) …What… What should… “we” do?”

Maar laughs to himself.

“You already know that Hellquill is not at a capacity of conquering other lands directly… yet… But before any weapons… you already know what the most powerful weapon in existence is…”

“Words.”

“Exactly… Your world is filled with naïve and ambitious figures… that only would follow their hopes, dreams, and ambitions of greatness and beauty… But for us… We can look past behind the boundaries of our reality… We can easily “use” them… with them never knowing about it… You already know who they are… And we are already thinking about the ways we can use them…

The young and naïve Emperor Grover VI,

The gentle and caring Chancellor River Swirl,

The ambitious and uncaring Queen Chrysalis,

And of course…”

Wingfried’s eyes widen, and a grin appears on his face:

“…Princess Twilight Sparkle…”

“…Yes… She might be the most useful of all ponies… if not the most useful of all living beings… She is experienced…”

Wingfried continues Maar’s sentence:

“-on unparalleled levels and on countless fields. She is emotional-…”

Maar continues Wingfried’s sentence:

“-but determined-…”

“-She is loyal to her friends-…”

“-And she would do anything for them… And she also-…”

“—would do anything to have a good ending…”

Maar “smiles”:

“Then, we should show her exactly what she wants-…”

“-A vision, of a reality, where she *wins at the end*. And then we will tell her… that in order to achieve that reality… she first must comply… to our objectives.”

Both Maar and Wingfried start laughing.

Maar:

“…We have already won this war then…

…Now… you must go…

…Your Griffons are waiting for you…

…And we shall make them know, what REAL power looks like…”

Wingfried grins:

“…I am ready then.”

“And don’t forget… We are watching over you… We are near you… Because… we are one… we are Maar…”

A blinding flash appears out of nowhere.

Wingfried finds himself with his claw inside of the box, heavily breathing.

Behind him, Edler says in an uneasy tone:

“What… just happened?”

Demetrius speaks out:

“My Führer… are you alright?

Wingfried recognizes both voices and turns around immediately. He sees the crowd just in the way he left behind, just a bit more confused. He stares at them for a while.

He starts smiling.

He starts chuckling.

He starts laughing out loud.

He raucously proclaims:

“YOU FOOLS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE JUST RELEASED HERE!”

Silence amid the shocked crowd of griffons.

After a while, Demetrius turns to Erika and says:

“Well, I guess you are the Führer now, Stahlflügel.”

The already nervous Erika and tries to ask Wingfried:

“Um… My Führer… Are you alright?”

Wingfried looks at her and others coldly:

“The former Katerinburg is now gone… He was weak! I now have the powers the Wronged One!”

Erika tries asking again:

“My Führer-…”

Wingfried looks at everyone in the room with eyes of discontent:

“You fools actually think I have gone mad, aren’t you? Heh, heh. Now, let me demonstrate what I mean by TRUE POWER!”

Wingfried turns around and points his claw at the box. And almost instantly, a massive flame ignites from the box, fire reaches the ceiling of the room and enlightens all dark corners. Everygriff in the room gets astonished and horrified by this act of power, most of them take a step back, while the others outright stumble and fall from shock.

Wingfried then turns back to the appalled crowd:

“Do all of you understand what I mean now?”

Erika, who also fell to the ground from shock, asks Wingfried in a shivering voice:

“…My Führer… please don’t get mad at me over this, but this means you haven’t gone mad… aren’t you?”

Expecting to receive a furious response, Wingfried instead laughs:

“No Stahlflügel, I am not mad. And I’ll certainly need ones like you in the future.”

Erika releases the relief sigh of her lifetime, and smiles to Wingfried:

“Thank you, my Führer, I really-…”

But Wingfried has no time to listen to her answer and loudly continues:

“Now I want all of you to listen to me! I have much to tell you, but what I want all of you to know that-”

Wilhelm interrupts:

“Uh… I’m sorry to interrupt… My Führer… But the chandelier is on fire.”

Wingfried turns around and realizes that the chandelier of the room caught fire from the blaze he just released. In a calm voice:

“Ah, no problem at all.”

And snaps his claws. Making the fire disappear. He then continues:

“Anyway, where was I? Ah yes. I now want all of you to know; for that, we have released what was trapped in this box, we have guaranteed all of our victories against all of our enemies!”

After a brief moment of silence, cheering erupts among the confused Griffons.

Wingfried looks at the griffons, filled with nothing but pride.

But sadly, for them, the cheering is cut short when the damaged chain of the chandelier breaks apart, and the chandelier proceeds to fall right next to Wingfried with a great blast. And even though it surely distressed everygriff in the room, luckily for them no one got hurt seriously.

Wingfried looks at the chandelier in shambles, and then turns to Edler:

“Was this important?”

Edler replies:

“Ah, it was nothing important my Führer. Just a 200-year-old piece of antique.”

Wingfried laughs:

“Good to know.”

Eisen joins in and asks:

“...Excuse me my Führer, but about this “thing” you have mentioned, that we have apparently “released”? Would you mind telling us what it is?”

Wingfried turns to the crowd again:

“Ah… There’s too much you yet to know… and there’s also too much you are not ready to know. But for now, we are done here.”

Wingfried slowly heads out to the exit room. Edler asks him from behind:

“And what should we do with the box?”

Wingfried:

“Bring it to my office.”

He then looks at the perplexed and fascinated crowd one last time and says:

“We have much to do.”

And quits the room.