Heirs of Chaos

5 Years Ago

New Griffonstone, population 20,000 with 80% being griffons, had the highest ratio of griffons in Equestria, and the second highest griffon population in pony country. Located in the northwest part of the Crystal City metropolitan area, most citizens worked out of town.

On this day, with the Crystal Faire on the morrow, Monsoon and his friends traveled to New Griffonstone to uncover a dangerous mystery.

Cheap Trick pulled the wagon which held Monsoon, Sho, and Glitzy. Sho was writing notes in a journal as the wagon suddenly halted, Cheap Trick rearing and tilting the cart.

'Yo, what's your deal?' shouted Glitzy, peeking out towards Cheap Trick. A bat pony mare had collapsed from out the alley, blocking the road. Two griffons- both dark cyan with wood brown beaks, one thin and lean while the other was thick-set- exited the alley after her, and one looked up at Cheap Trick, saying with a grin,

'Scurry away, city boy, we'll take care of her.' Glitzy recognized the pony those griffons were roughing up. She was a lime mare, her short, pale brown mane split into bangs that faded to red, her tail marked with a patch of orange. When she forced open her maroon eyes under the drips of blood forced out, Glitzy was certain.

'Get your dirty talons off Rosetta!' shouted Glitzy, lunging out of the wagon.

'What's wrong, pony fucker?' spat the thinner of the griffon thugs.

'H-hey mate, just leave the damn filly,' said the other, stepping away, warily.

'The hell I will! This dumb thessy doesn't answer when I ask for the toll, and then she fucking bit me!'

'You idiot, don't you recognize that griff! I am not picking a fight with Glitzy!'

'Oh please, no way in hell her reputation is from anything but paid off rumors! Look, it seems she has a Cadenza as her sugar daddy-' He pointed at Sho, then paused, eyes widening. 'Oh shit, that's Sho Cadenza!'

'Sho is not my fucking sugar daddy!' shouted Glitzy, leaping, talons outstretched, at the thin griffon. Blood sprayed from his neck as Glitzy's talons wrapped around him. Her eyes flicked to the right as the other thug ran towards her, and she circled about her grappled opponent to kick the other onto the ground. 'Mind telling me your names so I can inform your kin of their loss?'

'F-Freezeframe,' choked the thin griffon. The other griffon pushed himself up, running away. Freezeframe shouted for him, 'H-hey! Don't leave me here, Centerfold!'

'A pity,' muttered Glitzy, 'I was hoping for a good fight.' She released Freezeframe, licking off the blood he left on her fingers. She turned back towards bat pony Rosetta, lightly grasping her hoof. 'Hey, you're safe now. Do… do you remember me?' Rosetta looked at Glitzy's grasp, then into her eyes. A tear formed in Rosetta's eyes, and she opened her muzzle, saying,

'Gli- tsi.'

Cheap Trick gasped, seeing Freezeframe struggle towards Glitzy. He tried to shout, to warn her, but no sound came out. In an instant, all was silent, not just voices, but the flow of the wind, the shifting of hooves on gravel. Not even a breath sounded. Even without the warning, the stillness struck Glitzy, chilling her.

'I didn't want to display my power,' quoth Freezeframe. His words echoed as if coming from everywhere and nowhere. 'Not with all these onlookers, but I guess they just have to die next.' Glitzy looked back, Freezeframe already swiping down. Rosetta pulled at Glitzy's leg, tripping her but keeping Freezeframe's strike from connecting.

Glitzy recovered, and swung up at Freezeframe, talons catching and tearing away feathers on his left cheek. Freezeframe ducked under her, headbutting her underbelly. In response, Glitzy dug her talons into Freezeframe's shoulders. Freezeframe shook erratically to break Glitzy's grapple, and she toppled over, vulnerable and downed.

Freezeframe crouched beside her, pinning her down with his talons and lightly rubbing his sharp beak against her throat. He laughed, the sound reverberating through Glitzy's ears. 'Any last words?' he asked, 'Oops, heh, guess you can't share.'

A blast of magic covered his face. Sho had leapt out the wagon, preparing a barrage of spells. Before Freezeframe could even think, Sho released a dozen more, tearing through his face and splashing his blood against the ground. One last blast, prolonged into a blinding beam, burrowed through his head, cutting the grand silence with a harsh whine. Freezeframe toppled, followed by a dull thud.

'Oh, oh come on!' protested Glitzy, 'I almost had him, Denza!'

'You almost had your throat torn out,' corrected Sho, the last of the energy from his attack fading off his horn. Just then, Monsoon awoke, having slept through the entire fight.

'Mmm, Sho, your spells always smell like muffins,' said Monsoon. After a second, he exclaimed, 'You used an offensive spell? What happened?' Monsoon peeked out the wagon, seeing the dead Freezeframe. He noticed a peculiar mark on the griffon's shoulder, and glanced at his own, faint mark.

'I didn't think griffons had magic,' noted Cheap Trick, 'Good thing his ability was shit.'

'Griffons? Magic? The hell?' asked Monsoon.

Sho climbed back into the wagon, nuzzling Monsoon. 'Relax, I'll explain later,' he promised. 'Glitzy, get Rosetta in here, we're going to fix this.'

Eventide Carol, Calluna, and Flurry Heart sit, burrowed and camouflaged, in the cold, icy fields outside Crystal City. They watch the wagons and carts trekking across the westward road, waiting.

'How can we be sure which courier is ours?' asks Eventide.

'I enchanted the letter,' admits Flurry Heart, 'Once they leave the confines of the city, we'll get a nice, clear beacon.'

'Ah! What luck!' shouts Calluna, pointing to the southernmost road, 'Then we already have it.' In the distance, a slim mare trots along the road, a small bag glowing and shimmering against her waist.

'Quiet down, Doc,' shushes Eventide, 'We'll wait till she approaches, then tail her, but let's try not to scare her away.' As they watch, the courier approaches, the group can see her clearly, a grey pegasus with a yellow mane. Once she passes the group, Flurry Heart digs out from the hiding spot, trailing behind her.

'Hey,' says Flurry Heart. The courier rears in surprise, accidentally landing on her rump.

'O- oh, sorry,' says the courier, 'Do you need something, your majesty?' She looks curiously at Flurry Heart with one eye- the other more venturous.

'Those letters, where are they going?' asks Flurry Heart.

'I don't know that I should say… but you are a princess. I go between Welarapeg and here. That's really all I should tell.'

Flurry Heart nods. 'No, that will do.' The courier carefully gets up, continuing on her path as Flurry Heart returns to the burrow. 'We have a long day's trot ahead, best be rested before that.'

'Why can we not go to a proper inn?' pleads Eventide, 'The city is just over there.'

'That would be a loss of progress,' notes Calluna.

'The ponies would notice me,' says Flurry Heart. Eventide hums in dissatisfaction, wrapping his scarf about himself again as he lays down to rest in the burrow. Flurry Heart uses a simple blanket that she had prepared. Calluna decides to snuggle up to the princess, who looks at her in surprise, but carefully lays a wing on her. 'I hope we can find the real Cadence before the Crystal Faire. I fear that may be the time the fake makes her move.'

'On the twenty-fifth Faire since the reappearance of the Crystal Empire,' mutters Eventide, 'Why do things always have to go wrong on the big anniversaries?'