Prince Sugar Hoof of Equestria

The fire crackled pleasantly in our safe house and I pondered my worthlessness. I wish I could help my friends when they go attack a trading wagon, but with my leg in the condition it's in, I don't think that's possible. A twisted and broken lion's paw stood uselessly inside it's make-shift cast. It looked bad, it smelled like infection, and anytime I tried to move, it hurt.

Gwen walked in from outside and took a seat opposite me, "How ya holdin' up, kid?" She asked, concern on her face.

"Same old, same old." I replied hastily, giving her a small smile.

"I was being literal, Greg." She glared back. "Nothing new with your leg, no new pain?"

"No..." I said, looking away.

Gwen got off her chair and approached me, "We'll get the money, Greg."

"I just wish I could help..." Tears were filling my eyes.

"It's okay, you just focus on not getting hurt." She smiled.

"How far along are we, Gwen?"

"Only a hundred bits more, just one more big caravan, then we won't have to do this anymore." She smiled. "We can take you to one of the good doctors in Equestria, not just to the one in Griffonstone."

"No more safe houses?" I asked with a grin.

"No more safe houses, no more thieving, we can all go back home."

She wrapped her arms around me in a warm embrace as I sniffled. While we shared this moment, we began to hear a thundering sound outside, causing her to break the hug. The other griffons woke up groggily while mumbling things similar to 'what's going on?'

Gwen and a few others ran outside and looked around, the thundering grew louder, but nothing was there. "Is it an earthquake?" somegriff asked.

Out of nowhere, vines sprouted from underneath the cave floor, and one of them wrapped tightly around my broken leg. I screamed in pain, falling to the ground as the vine wrapped tighter. Hot tears ran down my cheeks as I saw the vines wrap around my friends' legs too.

Suddenly, the ground opened up violently, and trees, around the size of five average griffons standing on top of each other, lumbered in with the grace of a bull in a plate shop.

"The trees have revolted! Just like in legend!" I heard one of my friends shout as dozens of trees rose from the ground.

Roars of pain echoed through the once safe safe house, all I could think of was, please, let it stop, please. It did not though, I got a front row seat to my friends being beaten.

Gertrude, the cook, tried to escape as a tree stood on her back, crushing her spine under his intense weight. She screamed out as her bones broke and cracked, she cursed the tree, as he hovered his stump above her head. She screamed anew, demanding the tree get off of her, as he lowered his leg on her head, her screaming suddenly stopped as I heard her skull crack. Her eyes turned glassy and one began looking up as the other looked down, then the tree shifted more weight on her head. With a sickening squelch, her eyes bulged before popping out of her head entirely. The worst part, she wasn't dead, I could hear her gasping for breath, her cracked beak opening and closing like a fish.

Gilden, one of the griffons who went out and attacked caravans, was held by the neck by one of the trees. He clawed at the tree's wooden hand, ripping out chunks of timber. I expected him to actually get out, by how much wood the tree was losing, but the tree just leaned forward and held Gilden's neck tighter. Gilden gasped out and began clawing even more for a few seconds before his clawing turned into gentle petting. The tree leaned even closer and held Gilden's neck tighter, with tree's other hand, he held open Gilden's eyelid and watched it. Gilden struggled for a few more seconds before his face turned blue from lack of oxygen, he cried, his eyes turning pink with tears as the tree watched Gilden's eye. A few seconds further, he got to see what he was after, as the light faded from Gilden's eyes.

It was then that I heard Gwen, still outside, "Let go of me! Let go!"

"Gwen!" I shouted as I crawled and hopped out of the room, never letting anything touch my leg.

As I left the safe house, I could see Gwen fighting to get free from one of the trees. It grabbed her neck as it had Gilden, I knew what was coming.

"NO! GWEN!" I shouted as I jumped on my broken leg and darted at the tree with a screech.

A green magic field held me stationary in the air, and I could feel the magic around my neck begin to shift. I expected to go like Gilden, but instead, the magic twisted my neck a full 360 degrees, blood shot from my beak, but with the magic field, it all went back into my lungs.

"Master, the other three locations on the map were searched, but no one else was found." One of my treants explained.

"Good, gather the corpses and bring them to the prisons for resurrection."

The treant raised an eyebrow, "Master?" He asked.

"I promised Gilded I'd let them serve their sentence." I explained back.

The treants close enough to hear me laughed at the prospect. "Gilded is soft, master."

"I would thank you not to insult my friend." I warned, causing every treant to apologize.

I walked closer to the griffon I had grabbed, he was laying outside in the cold night air, surrounded in his own blood, neck broken as he twitched. He was injured before we arrived, a broken leg.

I turned back to my treants, "Bring this one to my lab, I'd like to examine him." I put my hoof on the still warm corpse.

"Yes, master." The treants replied.

I could do nothing but watch as my friend's corpses were gathered. A foal walked out and barked some orders to the trees and Greg's body was picked up with far more decorum than the others. I was sitting in my own waste, shaking in terror, praying to every deity that they did not spot me. They could have my friends, they could have everything we stole, as long as they left me alive!

My relief knew no end when I saw the foal and trees leave. The end of days were upon us, nature was returning to claim it's rightful place as rulers of the planet.

I flew back to Griffonstone as fast as I could, saying the same thing over and over.

"It won't be me. It won't be me. It won't be me. It won't be me."