The Alicorn's Pride

Chapters

Prolouge
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11

Prolouge

Author Note: To any readers who are reading this for the first time, allow me to first say thank you for reading. I also wish to warn you that this prologue is by far the weakest part of my story, so I would like to formally ask you to give chapter one a chance. This prolouge is in fact an optional part of the story and has very little effect on the overaching plot anyway. Please don't pre-judge. So, without any further adieu I proudly present, The Alicorn's Pride.

Prologue

All was quiet in the Canterlot royal palace. Guards stood stiff, even more silent then usual, no birds sang, and a Purple mare stood in a hallway looking distraught. The door in front of her opened and the midnight blue head of Princess Luna appeared, followed by the rest of her body.

“Princess Luna,” said the purple mare bowing. The princess looked at her sadly.

“Twilight, I’ve told you time and again to just call me Luna. You’re my friend after all, and you and your friends saved my life before we had even met properly. I’d think after all these years we’d be able to talk to each other as equals.”

“O…okay Luna.” The words sounded strange to Twilight, and to think Princess Luna considered Twilight her equal boggled the purple mare’s mind, “How is she?”

“She says she wants to see you. She says it’s important.” Luna said with a twinge of sadness to her voice. She took a deep breath, then looked up and gave Twilight a little smile as tears formed in her eyes. She started to shake and quickly trotted off to her room. Twilight watched her go, and once the Blue goddess had turned a corner Twilight looked back at the door in front of her. With a deep breath she entered.

The bedroom was large and comfortable, Twilight noticed picture of herself on the wall. She approached the vast bed where a form lay still. A slight cough emanated from the great being on the bed.

“Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student,” it said “I cannot tell you how happy I am to see you.”

“Princess…” Twilight started to say something but trailed off as a lump formed in her throat.

“Don’t be sad my child,” Princess Celestia said, “I thought you would be happier to see me.”

“Not like this… I… I thought you were immortal.” Celestia let out a weak laugh.

“No, no I’m not. Though it may seem that way to you, after all I am over 3000 years old.” Another weak laugh followed, “I may have power over the heavens, but nopony can transcend time.” She stared into Twilights eyes for what seemed like an eternity. “Twilight, there is something I need to tell you.” Twilight was barley able to hold back her tears; she couldn’t bear to see her mentor like this.

“Anything Princess,”

“When you graduated from being my student, what did I tell you?” Twilight could remember the day clearer than anything. She had examined the memory and memorized every word.

“You said, ‘Twilight Sparkle, I have taught you all that my knowledge has to offer. And though you are finished learning from me, there are always more secrets in this world. Your mind and your capacity for magic are the greatest I have yet to see in a pony, and therefore I offer you your place here in Canterlot as the third successor. When the time comes you will take the place of rule in Equestria, and I hope you will use your power for the good of all ponykind just as I have strived to do.’ You made me the successor to Luna if she ever… leaves.” The dying goddess nodded,

“But I also told you that you are never finished learning, and I have two final things to teach you.”

“What are they?” Twilight asked, curiosity mixing with her sorrow.

“I am going to teach you a piece of history that is unknown too all living ponies save me and Luna.” The goddess took a deep breath, “I am going to tell you my story.” The dying mare took a deep breath and continued, “But not just my story, it’s Luna’s as well. In fact it is the story of thousands of ponies, and the story of legions of griffins. It’s the story of many, many people.” The Alicorn tilted her head forward and rested her horn on her student’s head, as she did the horn glowed with magic and, to Twilight, the room seemed to begin to fade.

“A story of so many cannot be told in mere words. Therefore, I believe the best way to tell you… would be to show you.” The room seemed to change around Twilight, and in the blink of an eye the bedroom had been replaced by the night sky, where a lone figure flew.

Chapter 1

Sun Runners and Newspapers

The scouting party was on the move. They flew fast and low above the barren ground of the wasteland around them. The fading light of the late afternoon sun burned on their backs as they flew back towards the border with their homeland. Their pursuers were gaining on them, and they were still hours away from the border.

“Give up!” A gruff voice called from behind them. The three of them kept flying, putting every ounce of energy they possessed into their wings.

“Sir,” said a tired and exasperated voice, “how’re we going to get away?” The voice came from a young alicorn wearing full military attire and a private’s crest around his neck.

“I don’t know kid.” Sergeant Coron responded sadly, fatigue cracking his voice. He was in charge of this operation, and he blamed himself for their failure. The third alicorn of the group was also a private. He flew silently, not wanting to waste his breath on words. They were all tired from a day of work, sneaking across the hostile territory they were now desperately trying to escape. Their pursuers on the other hand had probably spent their day waiting and watching, ready for the unlikely occurrence of alicorns ignoring the border treaty. The ponies faltered and their pursuers used this slowing as a chance to finally close the gap between them and their prey. Once they were on top of the alicorns escape was impossible. The beaked faces of guards looked at the alicorns with expressions of both smugness and anger.

“Gotcha.” Growled one of the griffins as he unsheathed his claws and readied his talons.

The moon glowed softly in the sky, as a form listed lazily in front of it. The form was named Luna; she was a smaller alicorn with a midnight blue coat and deep teal eyes. She shined in the moonlight, and proudly wore the Sun Runner crest around her neck. She floated, rarely flapping her great wings as she gazed across the vast lands of Athelta, and as the mare glided the moon followed making its nightly journey under her guidance. Luna was a Sun Runner, an alicorn so gifted with magic that she could change the heavens. Luna and her Sister Celestia had been Sun Runners for almost seventy years now (which is quite a while, even considering the long life of an alicorn) and Luna enjoyed every moment of her job. She took her shift once every five days and had few responsibilities outside of her job. The night was nearing its end, and Luna picked up some speed for the final descent beyond the horizon. After the moon set she landed in the middle of a forest outside her home town of Passington. She just sat there for a moment, drinking in the smells and sound of a waking forest. Eventually she began to make her way into town. Trotting down the path into town she saw that her timing had been perfect. The bakery was opening its doors and the news stand was up and running. After two quick transactions Luna was in possession of a Newspaper and a Cinnamon Bun, both of which she floated in front of her. She ate and read as she walked, such was her daily routine. Every, “Good morning.” Sent her way was greeted with a friendly nod or a wave of a hoof, but she never looked up from her paper.

Luna always read the paper, in fact she hadn’t missed a morning edition in around six years now, and because of this she was always the first to know about anything big or interesting. She read every section thoroughly (except for the comics, for she thought the quality in them was slowly wearing away more and more each week) and remembered almost every story each day. But on today one headline in particular caught her eye, a headline at the top of page three. Getting home would have to wait, because at that moment she took off into the sky and began to fly north towards the capital.

While she flew she reread the article four times, until she finally stored the paper in her saddle bag and began to focus on her flight. She made good time to Trottington, just under half an hour. She landed outside a smallish but cozy house on the outer edge of town. The blue mare galloped up and knocked on the door, only then realizing how early it was. The door opened to reveal a sleepy-looking tan stallion who seemed rather surprised to see her,

“Luna,” Sothe said, “What brings you here at this hour?” Luna responded by floating the newspaper out of her bag, into his face.

“The top of page three.” she said sadly as she walked past him into the house. Once in the living room, an annoyed squawk greeted her.

“Well good morning to you too Philomena,” Luna said to the disgruntled looking phoenix that her arrival had obviously awoken. The annoyed bird looked away, as if to deny Luna any greeting for interrupting her sleep. Luna chuckled at the spirited bird and dung into her bag, producing a sweet roll.

“Would you feel better if you had some breakfast?” She asked the bird who perked up at the mention of food. She tossed her the roll and watched, amused, as the firebird snatched it out of the air and chewed happily on the treat.

Soft hoofbeats announced the arrival of another Alicorn into the room, Luna turned around to see her sister standing in the door looking half-asleep and more than a little confused.

“Sothe, who was at the door?” She asked, but her mate was too engrossed in the newspaper to hear her. Luna cleared her throat, and Celestia tuned and finally noticed her.

“Luna!” she said, brightening at the sight of her sister, “I didn’t know you were coming, why didn’t you send us a letter?”

“It wasn’t exactly a planning planned visit,” Luna said solemnly, “There was an article that Sothe had to read.” Celestia looked over to her mate, only then registering his expression, one of grief.

“What is it Sothe?” Celestia asked, Sothe said nothing, instead he just floated the paper over to her. She read the article,

Loss on the Frontier
On July 17th a border patrol party scouting the southwestern border with the griffin wastes came across a horrific sight. A scouting party that had been deployed a week ago lay slaughtered on the border with griffin talon marks scoring theirs flanks and a blood-soaked note bearing the mark of the griffin warlord Voltag pinned to their side. The bodies found were later identified as Sergeant Lithe Coron, and his two privates, Pinto Acres and Cal Greatwing. Sgt. Coron was a decorated veteran of the Third Border War, having nearly laid down his life in defense of the Council Chamber in the 20 Hours Battle. Pvt. Greatwing is the younger brother of High Commander Sothe Greatwing, respected leader of the fourth aerial strike force. Chancellor Greathoof had the following statement.
“It has been obvious from the events of the previous months to see that the griffins no longer care for our border treaty. These scouts were border patrol, which of course means that the griffins in question must have crossed the border and attacked them. In my mind this is the final straw. I will not stand for mindless slaughter on alicorn grounds. Voltag will pay for what he has done.” The other council members were unavailable for comment.

The crushing realization of the meaning of the article hit Celestia the moment she read the name of her mate’s brother. She ran to Sothe’s side and braced herself against him as the tears finally broke free from his eyes,

“I’m so sorry,” Luna whispered. Philomena let out a low coo, even she could feel the sadness that had taken hold in the room. The tears only ran from Sothe’s eyes for a moment. He sniffed and looked at Luna with bloodshot eyes,

“Thank you for coming to me first,” he said. The soldier then did his best to hold his composure, but broke back down and returned his muzzle to his mate’s shoulder.

Luna watched them for a moment until she decided to do something more useful. She trotted into the kitchen and began to make breakfast for the others. After about fifteen minutes of rummaging around the unfamiliar kitchen, Luna found the ingredients she needed and slowly put together a breakfast for her grieving brother in law. When she emerged from the kitchen the other two Alicorns looked a little better. Sothe’s eyes looked somewhat empty, but he smiled when she offered him some oatmeal. Celestia just took a biscuit. Philomena happily accepted the some of the toast. They all sat quietly for a time, chewing on their respective breakfast until Sothe mumbled something about a funeral.
“How soon do you think we should hold it?” Celestia asked her grieving mate. He shrugged sadly and returned to eating.
“Sometime this week.” He said, “Tomorrow I’ll look into setting it up.”

After much talk, the two convinced Luna to spend the week with them. The date for the funeral was Friday, five days from then. On the second day Sothe managed to drag himself to the Council Building for work. Luna and Celestia spent the day catching up, the sisters had not seen each other for months now. They talked of friends and family, foods and work. Celestia asked if Luna had her eye on any stallion, Luna would answer as always that she enjoyed her solitude and that she was not in a rush. Celestia took her shift pulling the sun the third day, and Luna spent the day watching after Philomena. The days passed and the funeral approached, the days spent with her sister reminded Luna of their childhood.

On the fifth day Sothe did not go to work. In place of his usual military crest, was a black crest of mourning. The gray stallion looked at his mate sadly as they got ready to leave, she returned his gaze reassuringly. The three Alicorns left the house and flew towards the Council building where they spent the afternoon. The funeral was long, with at least forty different ponies going up to the podium to talk about Cal. Sothe was the last to go up. His speech was short.
“Cal… Cal was headstrong. He was brash, and prone to split decisions. Despite this he never left his mistakes unfixed. He took responsibility for his actions and was a better brother then I could have ever hoped for. Goodbye Cal.” Sothe slowly trotted down from the podium and walked back to his seat. Everypony milled about for a while, talking quietly amongst themselves. Friends of Cal traded stories, and condolence after condolence was offered to Sothe. Luna took her leave as the sun began to set, and flew off to raise the moon.

She glided over the country, staring at the quiet land below, glad to have escaped the countless tears shed that afternoon. She felt sad for Sothe, and happy to get some time to herself. The night was beautiful, a full moon illuminated the endless expanse of trees below her. She gazed across the great forest stretching far into the east, the Everfree Forest, the untamable land. The forest was beautiful at night. The place was… for lack of a better word, different. It worked of its own accord and bent to the whim of no leader, be they Alicorn Griffin, or Dragon, no one tamed the forest.

As she flew she saw something out of place. There was light coming from deep in the forest. Torches blazed, casting their flickering light across a clearing hundreds of feet wide. From her vantage point above the clouds Luna could see everything in the great clearing, and the hundreds of Alicorns inside it. There were rows and rows of tents, all lit by hundreds of torches. All of the ponies moved with purpose. Luna knew that something was wrong. Nopony ever went into the forest, this many in here all at once was completely unheard of. She watched as the ponies below her moved in formation, practicing attack patterns and evasive maneuvers. Swords glinted in the torchlight as the weapons floated in front of sparring soldiers. A small forge could be seen churning out armor at a breakneck pace. These ponies were the beginnings of an army. Someone was preparing for war.

Chapter 2

River of the council.

The Atheltian high council was made up of six members. Together the six voted on all issues, and any ties ended in a vote by the general public. The purpose of the council was to give Athelta a fair and impartial government, but of course the council was of course in no way impartial. The council members each had followers and their own agenda.

Of the council members, Luna usually sided with the decisions of River, an old but strangely beautiful mare with a light blue coat and a sea green mane, and Deepwoods, a dark brown stallion with amber eyes. These two council members made up the unofficial ‘peace’ party, and that’s why Luna sided with them. The other council members included Rust, a fiery tempered stallion with a coat colored the same as his name; Sky Dancer, a mare who had once been a sun runner with a deep seated hatred for griffins; Thelia, a gray mare with a hay colored mane and a very cool calculating demeanor; and Greathoof, a highly violent blood red veteran who was always pushing for some sort of war. The council had been butting heads for centuries over war with the griffins, but the current council had a balance of pro-war and anti-war advocates that they had reached a form of stalemate.

Luna flew back towards her sister’s house, reflecting on what she had seen that night. She needed to inform the council (preferably River and Deepwoods) but listening to a meager sun runner was not the council’s highest priority. Luckily, Luna knew a pony that some council members would listen to in a heartbeat, the very pony who had spent the last week grieving over his dead brother. Luna needed to talk to Sothe.

Luna landed outside of her sister’s house and let herself in. she looked around the humble living room, taking in the familiar sight of the house she had lived in for the past week. All was quiet save for the light breathing that could be heard coming from the bedroom shared between Celestia and her mate. Luna sat down and waited for the sun to emerge. Only after it had reared its head did she consider waking the sleeping alicorns, but her better judgement won out and she decided against it, Sothe needed his sleep, he had been working harder than ever after hearing the news of his brother. She hoped he could rest more peacefully now that Cal was buried.

Luna waited for some time more before she began to get bored, she fidgeted and looked around for something to distract her from the nagging twitch in her mind that begged for something to do. Her boredom was alleviated a bit when a fiery form shot through the open window across the room.

“Well hello Philomena.” Luna said from where she sat. Ahe was happy to have someone to talk to, Philomena cooed a good morning and motioned to the mouse held in her talons, “Busy night I see.” Luna said, appraising the catch. Philomena shook herself and flew over to her perch to begin her meal. The blue pony looked, away not wanting to see the carnivorous work. Luna sighed and sat back down, boredom returning to the edges of her mind. She paced around the room, wishing that Sothe would wake up.

Eventually her wishes were granted and Sothe entered the room looking tired but more rested then he had all week.

“Good morning Luna.” Sothe mumbled sleepily as he headed towards the kitchen to get some breakfast.

“Sothe,” Luna said “I need an audience with the council.” That stopped Sothe in his tracks. He turned around looking confused

“Why?” Luna took a deep breath and began to recount the sights of the previous night. She told the soldier of the army amassing in the woods, she described their camp and gave a rough estimate of how many soldiers might be there. Sothe listened, a little stunned but nowhere near as surprised as Luna would have predicted.

“So he’s going through with it without a council vote? That bastard’s going to get us all killed!” Sothe yelled once Luna finished telling her story. It was Luna’s turn to be surprised.

“What? Who’s going through with what?” Sothe sighed at this and thought for a moment,

“The council is nowhere near perfect, you understand that right?” Sothe asked. Luna nodded

“Good,” he continued “You must understand that the politics of this country of ours can most easily be described as a complex web of agreements between council members. The soldiers of my unit, myself included, while technically are a part of the Atheltian army actually work for a single council member, namely Lady River. Each council member has their own part of the army that they unofficially run and the largest group currently works for Greathoof.” He growled the name as if it disgusted him, “Greathoof has for months now been pushing harder than ever to break our border treaty with the griffin’s but has never actually had it put to a vote.”

“Why not?” Luna asked.

“Because he knows it will tie in the council, which means the ponies of Athelta will be given the vote. Greathoof would then have to lay his true motives bare to the common people, and that would ruin him.”

“True motives?” Luna echoed.

“Yes, he doesn’t want to invade griffin territory to capture more land or gain resources, he has a grudge. We believe he wants to exterminate them entirely” Luna was stunned at this thought, sure Griffins were not necessarily the nicest creatures on the planet, but to kill them all… that was too much. Luna felt sick.

“Can you get me an audience?” she asked finally.

“Yes, this is a matter of protecting the country now.” He trotted into the kitchen and returned with two cinnamon buns. He offered one to Luna who gladly accepted. After their brief breakfast, the two alicorns flew north, towards an enormous floating building.

Luna had only ever been to the Forum once before, it had been when she first applied for her job as a sun runner. The place was enormous and made of marble. Here scholars met and talked for hours, here debates were held, and it was here that the High Council met. Sothe worked here, in the west military wing, but that wasn’t where he was headed today. Today the two alicorns walked quickly and with purpose towards a large wooden door at the center of the compound, the council room. Once inside Luna stopped, here they were, the ponies that she had only ever seen in her newspapers, the council members. They were currently in the midst of a discussion about trade with the griffins.

“No, trade must remain unhindered if we are to at least keep up the illusion of peace,” said Sky Dancer.

“It’s no illusion,” responded River, “We are at peace with the Griffins, an unsteady peace but peace all the same.”

“It’s not a question on the realities of the peace, it’s the fact that we all know war will return to our borders soon enough.”

“It would benefit both of our nations to keep the trade running freely, tense politics aside.” Deepwoods said in a husky voice, “Money talks, and if we ever wish to alleviate tensions a healthy trade route would be in our best interest.”

“You think griffins are interested in alleviating tensions? Those barbarians don’t know the first thing about peace.” This statement was growled out by Greathoof, “They won’t rest until we’re all dead.”

“Neither will you it seems,” Sothe said clearly from across the room. Greathoof turned his eyes towards the soldier, glaring.

“And what pray tell, might you mean by that?” The blood red council member asked. Luna felt uncomfortable, she wasn’t sure she wanted to tell about what she saw just yet. Sothe’s answer relieved her.

“I mean that you’re constant push for war isn’t only annoying, it could easily lead us to the end of Athelta.” Sothe spoke cooly, meeting the intimidating council member’s gaze without fear. There was silence for a time until Thelia, who had until now remained silent, spoke up.

“We’re off topic, let us return to the matters at hand.” The other members murmured in agreement and the debate resumed.

After another half hour of debate the council had taken a vote. Trade routes would remain open due to a majority vote of four to two. The council members then agreed to take a break and began to leave in search of food. River walked up to Sothe with a mischievous glint in her eyes,

“You gave ‘Hoof a run for his money that time, I thought he’d break.” She said and laughed, “He’s hiding something though, and I assume you’re here with the answer as to what that something might be, am I right?” Sothe nodded.

“River, I’d like you to meet ‘Tia’s little sister, Luna” he said motion towards Luna with a hoof. River looked her over for a moment,

“You look astoundingly like your mother,” she said with a ring of approval to her voice, “Nice to meet you.” Luna was in shock, one of the leaders of Athelta (her favorite leader in fact) was talking to her.

“N-nice to meet you to,” She said doing her best not to stutter. River turned back to Sothe.

“I assume you brought her for more than just a meet and greet?” the council mare asked.

“Yes… How to begin? Luna… Luna is a Sun Runner, she runs the moon shift every five days, but last night she saw something… troubling while flying over the Everfree Forest.” Sothe went on to recount Luna’s story to a slightly shocked River.

“An army… that bastard’s raising an army under our very noses.” River growled.

“How do you propose we react?” Sothe asked. River pondered this question for a moment.

“We can’t do anything, nothing official anyway. If we bring it up he’ll just disband the army and we’ll just look like petty mudslingers.” She began to pace around the empty meeting room, lost in thought. “I have an idea though, it will need to be a covert operation.” She looked directly at Sothe, “do you think you could handle a… a trip into Griffin territory?” Sothe stiffened at this. He looked confused, as did Luna,

“What would you want me to do?” he asked after a short pause. River took a breath and began to explain.

“You understand the griffin hierarchy right? Two main clans, each lead by a warlord. We don’t tell the public this, but we are actually only on bad terms with one clan, the clan under Warlord Voltag. The other clan, lead by a griffin named Scar is in fact on pretty peaceful terms with us. My propostion for you is to go and warn Scar, explain the situation, and help him prepare in whatever way he needs.” Sothe thought for a moment, Sothe’s skill was in tactical planning, his cutie mark itself was a map of a battlefield. He was probably running over every possible complication. After a time he sighed,

“I’m going to need an illusionist,” he stated, “I’ll need to be able to go invisible at any time.” River thought for a moment,

“I can’t send any military personnel, it’ll have to be a civilian, and a powerful magic user.” Luna thought for a moment and spoke up,

“I can hold an invisibility spell for up to two hours at a time, with rest in between usages.” She was a Sun Runner, and only those most gifted in magic could take that job. River looked impressed.

“Two hours? That is quite a feat. Where did you train?”

“At the Mage’s Academy in Manesburg, ‘Tia and I both went there.” Luna responded shyly. River gave Sothe a look and said, “Well?” Sothe shook his head,

“No, absolutely not.” He said firmly.

“it would work to our advantage, she already knows and the fewer who know, the better.”

“No!” he yelled “I… I couldn’t… I something were to happen I… I’ve already lost my brother, I don’t want my mate to lose her sister too.” He sighed, “Luna, I’m sorry but I can’t allow you to come.”

The next morning, Sothe got his things together, preparing for a trip. Celestia asked him where he was going, to which he replied vaguely, “I’ve been given a… assignment” and drop the subject. He kisses his mate goodbye and left the house at 10:15. At 10:42 he arrived at the border, at 10:43 he crossed the border into griffin territory, and at 11:12 he was spotted by a pair of blood red eyes.

Chapter 3

Two Encounters

Eyes stared at the traveling alicorn. The eyes belonged to a Blood-wolf, a fearsome creature by the name of Feega. Feega had gone hungry for days, and now that he had found prey he was already planning on how he would eat it. He hid among the rocks in on a cliff overlooking the path that the large alicorn was traveling, and in moments he would be ready to attack.

Sothe was bored. He had been walking for hours and had not seen a single sign of life. He supposed he should be considering himself lucky to have not run into trouble but it put him on edge. This had been too easy so far. Sothe sighed and floated an apple out of his bad. While he chewed he began to think about how he would approach Scar, and how he would go about enlisting his help.

Feega watched as the distracted pony wander closer and closer to the cliff. He smiled inwardly as the final steps were made. Feega tightened his hind legs and launched himself off of the rocks. He was fifty feet from his target, then twenty, then five, and then he made contact. Sothe let out a surprised yelp as the wolf’s claws sank into his back, and he instinctively collapsed and rolled to escape the dead weight of the assailant that was seconds away. Feega felt the creature slip out from under him and shifted his weight to land on all fours. He hit the ground and spun to face the alicorn. Sothe was ready for the second assult, the magic that now surrounded his horn slid a dagger from its sheath in his bag. The wolf leapt and Sothe swung, his blade finding purchase in the wolf’s foreleg. Feeling a sharp pain bit into his leg Feega landed behins the alicorn and spun to face him yet again. Feega tensed his hind legs and prepared to jump again but didn’t get the chance. As the two prepared to clash once more a streak of fire rocked towards the ground and hit the wolf. Feega screeched in pain as claws raked his face and remained there, whimpering on the ground even after they pulled away. He was blinded and knew struggling would bring more pain then it was worth.

Sothe stared on at the scene in surprise. Of everything that could have happened, Philomena saving him was the last he had expected,

“Good morning, Philomena. How did you find me?” he asked the firebird that had landed on a nearby rock. She cooed a greeting but offered no answer. Luckily for Sothe, another voice did.

“We followed you and she followed us,” the voice of Sothe’s mate said. Sothe turned to see Celestia and Luna now standing next to him, Celestia smiled warmly and Luna looked a bit sheepish.

“Why did you follow me?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“Because you planned on coming out here alone, without even an illusionist to protect you.” Celestia replied. She walked up and nuzzled her mate, “Luna told me about what happened yesterday and after you left she cloaked us and we followed.” Luna looked over at the blinded wolf,

“And by the looks of it, you’re lucky we did.” Sothe stared at both of them, a thousand reasons why they shouldn’t have come flying through his head. He wanted to tell them to turn back, that it was too dangerous, that he could take care of himself, that this was work for a soldier. After a time he just said, “Well… let’s get moving then” the group began to walk, leaving the blinded wolf to wallow in his misery.

“So Griffins actually live out here?” Luna asked, looking incredulously around at the barren desert.

“Well it is technically their territory, but they tend to stick to the mountains further west,” Sothe replied. Celestia had been listening to question after question leave her sister’s mouth for about an hour now, and in all that time had been formulating a question of her own.

“What does Greathoof have against the Griffins?” Celestia asked. The other two turned, as if they had forgotten she was there. Sothe thought for a moment and sighed.

“He… he blames the Griffins for many things. His parents died in the last border war when he was young, and he’s been nursing his grudge for years now.” Sothe’s voice trailed off.

“So he wants revenge,” Luna asked.

“No, he used to want revenge but now… he just wants blood now. Whose blood doesn’t matter, he just wants war.” The other two alicorns didn’t understand what Sothe ment by this, “When you know nothing but violence, you grow detached. Greathoof is full of so much hate that he is incapable of understanding peace anymore, he only knows war. His grief and anger slowly consumed him until he became the thing he is today.” Sothe finished explaining and looked over the rise of the hill they had come to. He could see mountains in the distance, old craggy mountains as old as the land itself.

“That’s where we’re headed,” he said “The Diamond Mountains.” Luna looked on in awe and Celestia rested her head on Sothe’s shoulder.

“Do you want to keep walking?” She asked her mate.

“No, let’s make camp.” The three went about collecting and piling whatever wood they could scrounge from the barren land, and after they had an acceptable pile went about trying to convince Pinlomena to light it. After much coaxing and promises of mice the firebird finally obliged and they all lay around the fire, basking in its warmth.

The griffins have two types of names in their culture. The first type is one that they are born with, a common name. These names are usually a single word that says something about them, such as where they’re from or a feature of them. The latter type is one christened later in life. These names are used as a mark of status, they describe an exploit or a defining feature that they weren’t born with, much like a alicorn’s cutie mark. The birth names are referred to as Home-Names, while the others are Warrior-Name.

Cliff still had his birth name. He had never seen battle, nor had he ever seen far off lands. He rarely got invited to go hunting, and he was a mess in the forge. The only thing Cliff had ever done right was patrol, and so the only thing Cliff ever got to do was patrol. He had enlisted with hopes of being a great warrior, but had only ever been described as a hotshot. In basic training he had attempted a dive bomb but only managed to pass out in midair due to the g-force. He had bragged about his skills in a fight, but only ever managed to be succeed as a punching bag. He couldn’t ever back up his claims in any physical practice, but he was organized. His border reports were always filled out and submitted on time, he always followed protocol, and he never missed his shift. This is why he was fit to be a guardsman.

He sailed high above the ground, staring absentmindedly at the wastes below him.
He sighed, “Nothing… the wastes are so boring.” After a time he alighted on a cliff and just watched the sunset. He did this often, stopping his patrol partway through to watch the ball of light fade over the horizon. He wondered how it did this, what could move something so big. He enjoyed watching the fireball fade and give way to the night. These times when he was alone were the only ones he ever enjoyed. There he stayed until darkness fell completely and he could no longer see. Or he should have been unable to see, if it hadn’t been for a light on a hill in the distance.

“Well what do you know,” he said incredulously, “There’s actually someone out there.” He spread his wings and took off in the direction of the light.

Sothe told the others stories, stories of the border wars, stories of the council members, and stories of dragons. The stories about dragons were the ones Luna enjoyed the most. She had always been interested in dragons, they sounded like magnificent creatures. Sothe told a story about how Dragons had been the first creatures to live in this land, about how they warred for a time until a great peace settled, how they would return to war at the end of times. Luna loved every minute of it, Celestia on the other hand preferred sleep to stories and quickly dozed off. Sothe and Luna talked late into the night until the sound of wingbeats alerted them of a new arrival to their campfire.

Cliff wondered how he would approach them, he thought about dive-bombing them but decided against that since he wasn’t very good at attacking. His next idea was to hide in the dark and whisper to scare them, but he wasn’t very good at hiding either. While he thought about these things he overheard the stories that Sothe was telling the others. These were different storied from the ones he had been told as a chick. The alicorn was a good story teller too, Cliff was entranced. He listened to a story about a dragon and demon, and when the story reached its climax he let out a soft “Wow.” Sothe heard this and quickly stood.

“Show yourself!” He called into the darkness. Cliff felt embarrassed, he knew that had been a childish mistake.

“Show yourself.” Sothe repeated with more force. Cliff stepped into the light of the campfire and watched as Luna reeled back in fear. She had never seen a griffin before.

“Who are you?” Sothe asked in a calm voice.

“I’m a guard,” Cliff responded simply, “And you are an alicorn, and therefore a trespasser.”

“We are here on a mission of peace from Chancellor River. We have a message for Scar.” Cliff thought about this for a moment, he knew the border treaty allowed for diplomats and messengers to cross, but he had never encountered one himself.

“How do I know you’re here in peace?” He asked, trying to match the alicorn’s cool tone.

“Because we haven’t violated the treaty in any way, we walked here, made our camp obvious, and did not attack you on sight.” Sothe responded. Cliff thought about this for a moment, he would have liked for them to be trespassers, he could have arrested them and been awarded for capturing treaty-breakers, but on the other hand if they had been sent by Chancellor River herself then the message might be important.

“If you understand the border treaty then you must know that I am, as a guard, required to offer you an escort to your destination.” The griffin said somewhat forcefully, “an offer that you are required to accept.”

“Of course,” Sothe nodded, “Although we will not be continuing until tomorrow, would you like to join us?” He motioned with a hoof to an empty spot near the fire, hoping to sound welcoming. Cliff considered the offer for a moment and then nodded, it was much more comfortable by the fire than anywhere else in the wastes. All three of them watched each other for a while until Luna chose to break the suspicious silence.

“What’s your name?” she asked the large bird-lion.

“Cliff,” He responded slowly, “And yours?”

“Luna.”

“What kind of name is Luna.” Cliff asked incredulously, he had thought the few alicorn names he had heard before were strange, but this one took the cake.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Luna said defensively.

“I was born on a cliff… and my parents weren’t exactly creative…” His voice trailed off a little and an awkward silence followed.

“My name is Sothe,” Sothe said to break the silence, “High Commander of the Fourth Aerial Strike force, and this is my mate,” He motioned to the sleeping white pony next to him. “Celestia.” Cliff nodded and chose not to comment on how strange those names were too. The three talked for a while, all the time Luna and Cliff butted heads over every little thing. The way Sothe saw it, if they kept this up they would be best friends by morning.

Luna was confused, this griffin was nothing like the feathered monsters she had been told about as a filly. I stories griffin were always described as bloodthirsty and cruel. She didn’t sense any evil in him at all. She actually enjoyed his company, he may have been full of himself and overconfident, but he was also fun to argue with and at times quite funny.

“Can you really do magic?” Cliff asked suddenly. This shocked Luna,

“Of course,” She said “Can’t everyone?” Cliff shook his head,

“Could you show me?” he asked slowly.

“Well….” Luna said as her horn started to glow, “I guess I could.” While Luna talked she silently lifted Cliff off of the ground, he yelped in surprise,

“AHHH!” he exclaimed, “How’re you doing that!?!?” Luna held him there giggling while he struggled against the invisible force containing him. After a time Cliff began to laugh too. When Luna finally freed him he sat down, the past hour had been full of more stories and talk. He was actually finding himself enjoying the company. It was a real nice change to be in the company of people who weren’t going to pre-judge him. Every griffin in the area knew of how much of a klutz he was, but these ponies had never even know of his existence until an hour earlier. Before he had been dreading the prospect of showing up with three alicorns and a phoenix, but as he began to fall asleep he decided that maybe this trip wouldn’t be so bad.

Chapter 4

Stories of griffins

Greathoof surveyed the crowd below him, an army of soldiers all fierce in their hatred of their enemy. Greathoof smiled. An army fit for an Empire, he thought to himself. The ponies below him marched through the Everfree forest, cutting down anything in their path. They left a trail of trampled underbrush and crushed saplings in their wake. Soon actual bodies would lie beneath them, but for now this would do. They marched west for the border, they never stopped moving, they had a mission, and so did another group on ponies to their northeast.

Sothe stirred in the morning light. The fire next to him, long since dead, let off a thin wispy trail of smoke. The soldier raised his head and blinked in the sunlight, surveying the cracked earth around him.

“Morning,” murmured a voice to his right. Sothe turned and found himself looking at the griffin that had joined them the previous night. In the light, Sothe looked at him properly for the first time. He was a small griffin, but with sturdy legs and large wings, he was a lighter brown then most with darker feathers tufting up where his ears would have been had he had any. The most defining feature of Cliff was the streak of white that ran down his back, clashing with his predominantly brown color scheme.

“Good morning to you too,” Sothe replied, “Been up long?”

“Only long enough to talk with your bird for a while,” He replied gesturing to Philomena who sat atop a rock, happy to have company, “she said that she likes it here, lots of lizards to catch.” Sothe nodded, it made sense that a griffin could talk to birds; they were half avian themselves.

“We should wake the others soon,”

“’Okay.” Cliff responded. Sothe had only met a few griffins in his time and not liked any of them, but Cliff was different. He was like a new Private, a bit of a hotshot, but willing to follow orders. He was also relatively curious. Sothe respect him for that, a proper balance of obedience and curiosity was a rare find.

The griffin opened a pouch attached to his waist and pulled out what looked like dried meat. Sothe hadn’t noticed the bag before.

“Want some?” Cliff asked, offering Sothe a strip of the jerky.

“No.” Sothe said; a little disgusted at the idea of eating meat.

“Oh that’s right, you herbivores aren’t you?”

“Yes of course.” Sothe responded.
Cliff shrugged, “Sorry I forget… almost everything eats meat out here.” He motioned to the endless wastes around him.

“What is that anyway?” Sothe asked curiously, he didn’t recognize what kind of meat it was.

“Jerky,” Cliff replied around his mouthful of food, “Well… it’s technically gazelle, but it all tastes the same once you preserve it. You take a strip of meat, salt it, add some spices and then put it in the sun.” He swallowed and continued “The salt keeps it from rotting in the sun, and once it’s dried out I will never go bad.” He then did a strange movement involving bobbing his beak and twitching the skin around it, Sothe assumed this was the Griffin equivalent of a smile. Sothe dug for something to eat, trying to take his mind off of the descriptions of preparing dead animal. After Sothe had polished off an apple from his bag he roused Celestia and Luna and gave Celestia an explanation of the happenings of the previous night. He told her that Cliff was here to guide them. She didn’t seem convinced. Once everyone had eaten (Philomena having caught herself a plump lizard) they set out once again into the wasteland. This time lead by their new griffin friend.

Cliff didn’t like the looks that the white pony was giving him, she kept watching him but when her looked at her she tried to look away. After a time he decided to be forward,

“Why are you staring at me?” he asked.

“I’m not!” She replied, sounding a little embarrassed and looking away quickly.

“Yes you are,” he responded, “Is there something you want to ask me?”
Celestia shook her head “No it just… I’ve never seen a griffin before, and well from what I’ve heard… I mean what books say about you…” She started stammering, but Sothe quickly interjected.

“Tia, you do realize that Greathoof has a good amount of control over Griffin related media.” Sothe said this slowly, “He had been trying to spread a negative viewpoint of them for years now by using the media to… paint them in a different light.” Tia thought about this for a moment. Every account of a griffin encounter she had ever read about had ended in bloodshed. In fact now that she thought about it she had never read one positive thing about a griffin. They had always been depicted as ruthless and cruel creatures, but walking next to her was a griffin in the flesh and he wasn’t trying to rip her throat out, or eat her, in fact he was actually somewhat enjoyable to be around. She took a deep breath and then spoke again.

“I’ve never met a griffin before, and the mental picture I had was very different from you.” She said apologetically to Cliff. Cliff did his twitchy beak smile and replied,

“S’okay, I’ve never met an alicorn before, but from the stories I’ve been told I always assumed you were all evil witches and sorcerer,” He slowed down realizing what he had just said, “I mean… stories tell about you’re people stealing chicks from their nests and tainting water…” Celestia nodded, understanding. It seemed that both of them had been fed some lies.

Luna felt happy when her sister finally opened up to Cliff. Luna had grown to like him rather quickly, but Tia hadn’t been so fast to. But now that they were all talking openly the trip seemed to go faster. They had been walking for hours when they finally entered the edge of a large expanse of shade cast by the mountain range they had been walking for. The sun was on its way down and its eastward light was fading behind the mountain range.

“Are we going to make it before nightfall?” Luna asked in the fading light.

“Maybe,” said Cliff “I’ve never actually walked to the front entrance before” he said.

“Then why don’t we fly?” Luna inquired.

“Because of the border treaty,” Cliff answered, “Unknown people, especially ponies, are easy to mistake for hostiles in midair and are attacked on sight, so if a guard wants to bring someone in then they have to walk.” He shrugged.

“Well I’d rather walk then get attacked.” Said Luna.

“Yes,” Said Sothe, “Fighting is the last thing we want right now, we’re on a mission of peace to avert a war. Fighting the griffins is out of the question.” His words had an emphasis to them that suggested the statement was final. So they walked until they couldn’t see anymore, and made camp again. They ate, and told stories, and laughed until they all fell asleep.

The army marched through the night and into the next morning. Under the cover of the darkness they had crossed the border and as light returned they found the grass under their feet to have faded into barren dirt. At the border Greathoof turned back and returned to the council building, he had to keep his illusion of compliance to the council’s wishes. He slept easy that night, knowing that by the day after tomorrow reports of his army’s exploits would find their way into his chamber. He spent the next day excited; in fact he found it hard to be his usual grumpy self when he knew that his plan was coming to fruition. Thelia noticed something off about him, his snarky comments lacked their usual bite and he conceded to too many points. Greathoof obviously had something else occupying his thoughts, and she was going to find out what that was.

“So anyway, after the Third Border War my brother and I enlisted. Beakshard managed to get all the way into Scar’s honor guard, and I… I got to be part of the border patrol.” Cliff finished his story.

“So you’ve been a guard ever since?” Luna asked.
“Yeah. It’s not the most exciting job but someone has to do it,” He shrugged, “Besides, I’m not exactly fit for combat anyway.” Celestia looked him over. He was a large creature, not enormous but his head was at least a foot higher than her own when he stood. He had said he was actually rather small framed by griffin standards but he looked rather menacing in his own right.

They had been traveling since sunup and were fast approaching the base of the Diamond Mountain. The Diamond Mountain was part of a range referred to as the cloud ridge, but it earned its own name by towering a good three hundred feet above the others. The ice started about four hundred feet up; there was no snow, just a solid sheet of ice that shined in the sunlight looking like a precious gem and not frozen water. The mountain sported few natural cliffs, and many griffin made ones. Griffins swarmed the air above the alicorns, leaving in hunting parties, returning with goods from traders to the south, some griffins barked out orders, and others kept count of who came and went. At the base of the mountain sat a colossal stone door. The thing looked so heavy that the three alicorns doubted than their combine strength, even with the help of their griffin escort, would budge the thing. Fortunately they weren’t expected to open it themselves; the door was guarded by two griffins so huge that Cliff paled in comparison.
One opened his beak and spoke, “Well, well, well… what have we here? A little guardsman brought in some little ponies.”
The other one smirked and added, “What’s the matter Cliffy? Couldn’t handle them on your own?” Cliff scowled.

“We’re here on a mission of peace from Chancellor River.” Sothe stated coolly, “And if you understand the terms of the border treaty then you will let us pass.” The large guards looked surprised to not be feared by the pony. They stared him down.

“And just who might you be?” One of them growled.

“High Commander Sothe Greatwing.” They paused at this. They realized where his confidence came from; they were dealing with somepony of rank.

“State your business.” The second growled.

“We bring a message to Warlord Scar, a message that will benefit him and all of his people.”

“You’d better let him in,” Cliff mumbled, “If Scar heard you weren’t honoring the treaty then you’d have hell to pay.” The guards looked the alicorns over and after a time sighed and opened the gate.

“Watch your step.” One hissed as the door close shut, but the alicorns didn’t hear the threat, they were entranced. They all stood still, staring into the great cavern that loomed before them. There was a city in this mountain, one of the biggest cities any of the three ponies had ever seen.

“Welcome home.” Cliff said happily.

Chapter 5

Scar

The Diamond City most certainly held up to its name. Both the name and the city itself were magnificent. Celestia had never been to a place like this before, until now she had thought Trottington had been large, but this place blew away any competition with that feeble excuse for a metropolis. The cavern that made up Diamond City was fifty feet tall at its lowest, and was upwards of two-hundred at its highest point, and that was just on the first level. What’s more the place was built to accommodate those who chose to walk as well as those who flew. When they first arrived, Celestia had been dumbstruck and three days in the magnificent cavern hadn’t changed that.

The griffins, in general, steered clear of the alicorns. They were tolerant of them, understanding that they were here as diplomats, but few of them talked with the visitors. Celestia didn’t mind this though; she enjoyed exploring this place. She visited store after store, monument after monument, and every evening she loved to watch the sunset from one of the many landing cliffs that dotted the side of the mountain. She would sit there and just look out over the desert until one of the guards started to close the gate, at which time she re-entered the mountain city. Cliff has given them the grand tour on their first day there. He showed them the great hall of statues filled with hundreds of marble figures, each a moment from some point in the past forever etched into stone. All together the statues told the story of griffin history. Some depicted great warlords, others battles, a few alicorns and dragons could be spotted in the mix as well. Cliff has also taken them to the Winged Palace, an enormous building surrounded by countless pillars. This building was the home of Scar, the leader of this griffin society. As the days passed Celestia slowly learned her way around the city, and she had even managed to make a few friends along the way. She had astonished some young griffins with her magic, and charmed some of the more friendly griffins into talking. Overall Celestia enjoyed her stay. Luna on the other hand was bored out of her mind.

Luna spent her three days laying around in the room provided to her group. It was sparsely furnished, having only two beds and a couch surrounded by rock walls painted off-white, but it was comfortable all the same. She lazed away the three days spent in the mountain, napping all day, listening to her sister ramble on and on about the city in the evenings, and spent her nights away wishing she could see the stars. She didn’t like it here. Cliff had made them feel welcome, and while the city was impressive it didn’t feel right for her. She couldn’t wait for the day of their audience with Scar, hoping that they could go home after that. She wondered how Celestia could stand it here.

Then again, she thought to herself, ‘Tia has always been good at making friends. Celestia was most definitely the more personable of the two, but Luna had always valued her solitude anyway so she continued to keep to herself throughout the week.

On the fifth day in the city the three alicorns woke early and did their best to groom themselves to look nice. A guard came to get them from their room and lead them to the front steps of the Winged Palace. The stairs took quite some time to climb, but once they reached the top they had no time for rest as they filed into the great building. An entrance hall was there to greet them. It was filled with hundreds of griffins all moving with some sort of purpose, although it was obvious that each one of them had a place to be, they each made room for the assembly of alicorns to pass through. A labyrinth of halls waited for them deeper within the palace, but after many twists and turns they arrived in a circular room not unlike the one of the High Council. Here sat many griffins. There were scholars, soldiers, commoners, and in a high seat that was made more imposing by the enormous wings carved out of the sides sat the most dangerous looking of all the griffins in the room. He wasn’t burley like the guardsmen, nor was he lithe like the griffin scouts. His physical appearance wasn’t what gave him his aura of power; in fact he looked completely average in every way. What made him so imposing was his presence. He looked down upon everything with piercing, calculating eyes. He was absolutely calm. He exuded confidence. He was in control here. After a time this griffin spoke.

“Welcome,” his voice was not loud, but it had no need to be for it had strength behind it, “I hope you have enjoyed your stay in our fair city. My name is Scar.” The three alicorns looked up at him and Sothe gave a respectful nod.

“Greetings Scar, I am Sothe Greatwing,” Said the stallion, “I come on behalf of Councilor River.” The griffin sized him up before speaking again.

“And what brings dear River to command alicorns to cross into my territory?”

“We come with a warning,” Sothe’s voice was strong, “A week ago, by sister in law Luna,” he motioned to the blue alicorn beside him, “Made a grave discovery. The usurper Greathoof is building an army; we believe it is his intent to return war to our borders. River wished for me… for us to bring you this message and along with it offer our services in defending your land. She wishes to make clear that this is not the beginnings of the Fourth Border war, but is a war brought on by the acts of a madpony. A madpony with disregard for your kind.” Sothe finished his little speech and breathed deeply. Scar looked troubled, not flustered or scared, just troubled. He closed his eyes and opened his beak, this time his voice boomed.

“Send a scouting party to the south, if what they say is true, and we have not yet been attacked then the fool ‘Greathoof’ must be wishing to attack Voltag’s forces first.” A group of four griffins to the left of the room stood to leave, but Scar wasn’t done, “Remember. You are scouts. Do not engage, no matter the circumstances.” His orders were unquestionably clear.

“Understood” The leader of the group barked before the four left the chamber. Scar then turned his attentions back to the group of alicorns.

“You three are to come with me.” His voice was no longer booming.

“Of course.” Sothe replied in an even tone.

The Winged Palace had many levels, the meeting hall was on the main floor, and Scar’s quarters were three stories above it on the top floor. The Celestia, Sothe, and Luna were on neither of these floors. They had followed the warlord down many flights of stairs until they found themselves in a stone room deep in the base of the mountain. Here there were tables littered with maps and letters. On the walls hung more maps, alongside paintings of landscapes from around the world. Scar stood at the end of the long central table, and once the alicorns had settled themselves he began to question them.

“Where was the army based when you first saw them?” He asked of Luna.

“They were hidden, deep in the Everfree Forest. A clearing about…” She racked her memories for the details, “Maybe ten miles in. They had tents, and training dummies, and a forge…” She trailed off after the griffin gave her a look that said ‘that’s all I needed to know, stop talking before I force you to’ she looked down at the floor and her sister put a hoof on her shoulder. Scar surveyed a map of the great forest before turning to Sothe.

“What sort of time could a group their size make? How quickly could they cross the forest and make it to the wastes?”

“On a steady march? About four days.” Sothe replied. Scar nodded and returned to his map, but Celestia looked up suddenly.

“But that means they could already be here!”

“If they were here they would have attacked us already” the griffin growled.

“What about Voltag’s people?” Luna asked. Scar looked up from his maps with an aggravated look on his face.

“That was the purpose of the scouting party.”

“You’re not worried that griffins could be dying right…” Celestia was cut off when Sothe fanned his wings and covered her face with one.

“’Tia. Drop it please.” Sothe said, trying to keep his voice steady. Scar eyed the two of them coldly and retuned to looking at the maps spread out in front of him.

“Gone?” Celestia asked dumfounded, “The whole town just… gone” Sothe sighed; he knew when he had first heard the news that he would have to expect such a reaction.

“Not entirely gone… they found burning rubble… and… no survivors” He decidedly left out the fact that the scouts had found a pile of about one hundred griffin bodies in the town square. Celestia sat down, the shock registering in her eyes. Voltag’s territory was arranged differently from Scar’s. Unlike the single mega-city here, the southern griffins arranged themselves into small townships, each with a town guard and a small military garrison, while the rest of the military remained in the capital. The scouts that Scar had sent south had returned a few hours ago with a report that the army had indeed arrived, and decimated one of the small towns. Sothe left Celestia laying on the floor of their room, she needed time to think, Sothe on the other hand needed to talk to Scar.

Greathoof was ecstatic. The report had just come in. His plan was working, and a griffin town had already fallen. He was going to crush them with ease.

“The scum didn’t have a chance.” He mumbled happily to himself. He decided that this was a time to celebrate, and he made a mental note to order a cake after the next meeting let out. He trotted back to the council chamber with a spring in his step. An early meeting has been called, and any other day Greathoof would have complained, but not today. He was whistling a joyful tune as he entered the chamber. The place was empty, save for Thelia who was already in her place at the table.

“Good morning Thelia.” Greathoof said smugly.

“What’s this? Councilor Greathoof, happy?” Her voice was laced with sarcasm, “And might I inquire as to the occasion?”

“Do I need an occasion? You are happy often enough, why can’t I have my turn?”

“Because your happiness is never a good sign.” She said flatly. Greathoof shot her a glare.

“Shut up, where are the others? We begin soon do we not?”

“We would begin soon if there was actually a meeting,” her horn glowed and audible clicks could be heard as the doors to the room locked simultaneously, “as it stands, this ‘meeting’ is merely going to be a conversation between you and me.”

“Are we?” the joy in Greathoof’s voice had been replaced by his usual coldness, “And what, pray tell, are we going to talk about?”

“As I said before, you’ve been very happy recently. Why?”

“Why?” He replied with a snicker, “Because my dear, it is a momentous day. The world is changing for the better, and my name is going down in history.”

“Oh really?” Thelia replied, “Please, tell me more.”

“MY PEOPLE.” Scar’s voice boomed, “TODAY, NEWS HAS REACHED MY EARS. NEWS OF AN ARMY, BUILT BY A FOOL. NO DOUBT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU KNOWS OF GREATHOOF. HE HAS RAISED AN ARMY AND BROUGHT IT TO OUR DOORSTEPS, HOPING TO WIPE US FROM OUR ANCIENT HOMES.” The crowd below him began to grow loud with concerned chatter, “DO NOT WORRY. WE WILL NOT ALLOW SUCH FOOL TO GO FAR, ALREADY HE HAS HARMED HOUR BRETHERIN TO THE SOUTH, AND ALREADY THEY HAVE RETALIATED. WE TOO MUST READY OURSELVES, WAR IS ONCE AGAIN COMING. AND WE WILL MEET IT HEAD ON!” he roared his final words and the crowd exploded, they believed his words completely. Scar stepped back inside from the balcony where he had given his speech. The room inside was filled with many griffins alongside the alicorn messengers. Scar approached one large griffin and spoke,

“Ready sixty warriors and send them south. They must tell Voltag that we are ready to fight beside him.”

“At once.” The other griffin replied and left the room. Scar then continued around the room, going from griffin to griffin giving out orders until the room was almost empty.

“What would you have us do?” Sothe asked after a time. Scar turned to face the tan stallion.

“I appreciate the offer of assistance, but as it is three alicorns would be of little help.” He sighed a little and continued, “And I must take into account that one of you is a fighter.”

“But we’re-“ Luna began, but was cut off.

“Sun Runner or not, magical skill is not the same as combat experience.” Scar said flatly.

“There is nothing we can do? Nothing at all?” Sothe asked. Scar sized him up for a moment before responding.

“How did you handle traveling?”

“I don’t see how that’s relevant.”

“How did you three as a group handle spending days in the open in unknown territory?”

“We held up fine.” Sothe replied flatly.

“I actually enjoyed it.” Luna chimed in. Scar gave her an approving nod.

“I have no place for you three on the front lines, but I may have a… a mission that may suit you. How would you three feel about traveling west?”

“West? Into the Dragon Lands?” Sothe asked, surprised.

“Yes. There is something there that would be useful for this war, but as it stands so griffin seems capable of… obtaining it.” Scar said slowly, “If you truly wish to help me end this war quickly, then you will go west and search for this artifact.”

“What artifact?” Celestia finally said.

“It is an ancient piece of dragon magic. It’s called a Flame Orb.”

“Well…” Sothe said slowly, “What do you think?” He asked the group. Luna was the first to reply.
“Let’s do it!” She yelled. She was ecstatic. Her lifelong dream was going to come true. She was going to get to see dragons.

Chapter 6

To the west

Thelia stood silent. Greathoof watched her, waiting for a reaction to the tale he had just told. She was in shock, but was determined to not let it show.

“An army?” She said accusingly, “You marched an army into griffin territory without the council’s consent?”

“You sound surprised,” Greathoof mused, “I fell as if my feelings towards those half-birds have been rather obvious for quite some time now.”

“But annihilation? How do you plan on justifying this needless slaughter” she yelled back.

“I won’t need to. Within a week or so my army shall have destroyed Voltag’s hold on the southern wastes. After that all I need to do is announce that I’ve captured land for Athelta, no one will question what lengths I went too to get it, so long as the land is available for settlement.”

“That assumes I won’t tell anypony about you’re plans,” Thelia replied hotly, “Which of course we both know I must.” She gave him one last glare before turning for the nearest door.

Of course you must, thought the blood red stallion, I would expect nothing more from one as lawful as yourself. A faint aura enveloped his horn as a knife was slipped from its hiding place under his right wing. At the same time Thelia’s horn began to glow as well, unlocking the door as she prepared to leave, but she never made it outside the council room. As the lock clicked the knife spun through the air and embedded itself in her back. She let out a gasp before falling. Greathoof smiled as the blade found its mark, he hoped he had punctured a lung. He approached her and admired the elegance of his attack for a moment, while she stared up at him, gasping for breath.

“I hold nothing against you Thelia my dear; you have the interest of the country in mind as well.” He smiled and raised a hoof above her head, “You’re just not thinking as big as I am.”

The last thing Thelia saw was a hoof coming down on her head, followed by darkness.

“So you guys are going to find… what’d he call it again?”

“The Flame Orb.” Sothe replied to the confused griffin, “It’s some sort of dragon artifact.”

“Right, right. But how’re you gonna’ find it? I mean no offence to you guys,” He said to Celestia and Luna, “But you two aren’t exactly fighters.”

“No, but Sothe can fight and we are rather skilled with magic,” Celestia shrugged, “And if it prevents more killing then I’m glad to help…” She was still shaken up over the news of the slaughtered town. Cliff sighed; he didn’t want to see his newfound friends go so quickly. He had enjoyed their company the last couple of days.

“Can I come?” he asked simply after a moment of thought.

“What?” Sothe replied.

“Can. I. Come?” He enunciated each word.

“Why do you want to?” Sothe replied.

“I never get to do anything here. Everyday it’s ‘Patrol!’ or ‘Cliff turn in your reports!’ I want to actually DO something for once… and besides, I kinda’ like you guys” Sothe appraised the griffin.

“If you come you’re in if for the long haul.” He said, “What can you offer us.” Cliff looked up with a spark in his eyes.

“I’m not a heavyweight fighter, but I can do this.” He jumped up and opened the window, “Just watch.” He said as he grabbed a pillow from one of the beds and tossed it outside. He leaped after it and disappeared down the side of the mountain. The three alicorns approached the open window and looked down, Cliff was in a dive and was approaching the ground fast. It looked as if he’d hit but at the last possible second pulled up and began his return. This alone would have been impressive if he hadn’t also been expertly tearing the pillow to shreds on his way up. The group made room for him and he landed back inside.

“Aerial combat,” He boasted, “Not bad for a guard huh?” Sothe was stunned, only a few of the alicorns under his command could pull off such a dive.

“Where’d you learn to do that?” He asked, clearly impressed.

“Practice,” Cliff answered happily, “I was never really good at fighting, but I did lots of stunts when I was little.” Sothe looked him over slowly.

“Alright, you can come,” He said slowly, “But, you have to be willing to follow orders. Understand?” Cliff nodded vigorously.

“Of course!”

The four set out the next day, each with a pack full of supplies. They carried food, tinder, some rope; all the essentials. Cliff was wearing a leather vest that offered a decent amount of protection. Sothe had a scroll, it contained a report he had prepared to send back to River, detailing the events of the last week and a half.

“Take care of it Philomena, make sure River gets this as quickly as possible.” He said to the waiting firebird as he floated her the scroll. She squawked happily, took the scroll in her beak and flew away.
“Right,” Celestia began, “So how do we plan on getting to the dragon lands anyway?” They were on top of the Diamond Mountain which she found strange if they planned on setting out on a journey.

“There’s more ways to travel then just over land” Cliff chuckled.
“There’s an ancient road that cuts across the entire northern range of these mountains,” Sothe replied, “There’s a few towns along the way, and it’ll lead us straight to the dragon lands.”
“Sounds more comfortable than the wastes” Celestia said happily. Everyone but Luna chatted as they set out down a hidden path leading away from the mountaintop. She was too giddy with excitement to make small talk.

DRAGONS! She thought, we’re going to see dragons! All her life she had wanted to see a dragon. She loved reading the myths and legends about them, telling how they were the first creatures on the planet, how they had crafted the world, how they had created the alicorns. Even if half the stuff she read about them was untrue, they still sounded like the most interesting creatures in the world. The four of them walked for a time, talking about anything that came up. Celestia told Cliff about life as a Sun-Runner, Cliff asked Sothe about what it was like to be a commander, Luna question Cliff about the southern griffins. Eventually they got tired of talking and were silent for a while. They had no need to exhaust their conversation topics this early in their trek anyway. They still had a long way to go.

The first hour was fun; they talked and dreamed about what they might see. They felt like they were on a real adventure. The second hour was still enjoyable. Sure they were a bit tired, but they still talked and laughed together. The fourth hour was boring, the seventh infuriating, and the twelfth all but unbearable.

“GAAAH,” Celestia screamed, “We’re not getting anywhere!” The terrain never seemed to change. It was rock after rock after rock after rock.

“It’s a mountain road, of course it’s gonna’ be boring.” Cliff said apologetically. Celestia just sighed.

“Why can’t we just fly?” She asked for the fourth time that day.

“Because,” Luna groaned, “We’re on top of a mountain range, the air is so thin up here that the energy it’d take to fly makes walking the easier option. I’ve told you this at least… I dunno’ three times now.”

“So why do we have to take the mountains?” Celestia retorted crossly.

“By the moon! How many times are you- MMPH!” Luna was cut off when she walked headfirst into Sothe’s outstretched wing.

“As much as I enjoy listening to you guys bicker,” Sothe began, sarcasm dripping from his voice, “I really do think you’d enjoy actually looking down the road.” Celestia squinted, trying to see what Sothe was referring to. There was what looked like a house. Many houses actually.

“A town!” Celestia exclaimed.

“Yeah, you guys only just noticed that?” Cliff mused.

“What do you mean? It’s way off in the…” She stopped when Cliff pointed to his eyes, “Oh right, eagle eyes.”

“What can I say?” Cliff said playfully, “They’re a gift.” Luna snickered and ‘Tia rolled her eyes. The group redoubled their pace now that they had a real goal in sight. They needed to get to that town. It was a town outside of any country, and therefore outside of any laws. It was a town of outcast and bandits, a town that some might call a ‘Wretched hive of scum and villainy’. But of course none of the group of questers knew that. They looked forward to food and beds, none of them wanted to sleep out in this rocky place.

Greathoof looked down at his work with a cold sense of satisfaction.

“Well,” He mused to nopony in particular, or maybe it was directed at the carcass, “That was fun. I mean I wasn’t planning on killing you this early on but still, that added some spice to my day.” As he said this he used his magic to lift the body. He noted the red stain where the head had lain, “Looks like I made a bit of a mess. Oh well, it was still a pretty clean kill.” The body remained floating and after a moment the knife dislodged itself from Thelia’s back and returned to its hidden sheath. Greathoof worked quickly, he cleaned the bloodstains from the floor and cast a cloaking spell over the form that had once been Thelia. He took a deep breath, did his best to hold his composure, and walked out of the council chamber with the invisible carcass in tow.

Philomena alighted on River’s windowsill. River lived in a quaint house, quaint in comparison to the other councilors in any case. It was just a little bigger than Celestia and Sothe’s house, and was lit by magic lanterns as opposed to their more traditional skylight system. The place had the air of a forest grove to it. The lanterns cast a dark green around the main room and the walls had a leaf pattern upon them.

The firebird rapped her beak against the window, and was greeted with a surprised look from the mare sitting inside. The window opened.

“Well hello Philomena. Do come in.” River cooed, she had always loved Sothe’s phoenix, “Do you have something for me?” She asked after the bird settled on the arm of a chair. She nodded and held her beak out, offering the scroll. River floated it out and settled down to read it, only to jump up moments later. The scroll was short, if gave a quick rundown of events in the wastes and the Diamond City before giving the news of the battle.

“It’s as we feared,” She read aloud, “Greathoof seems to wish nothing less than the destruction of the griffin race. Keep an eye on him.” The mare thought on this. An entire town dead in a few hours… she thought, How long has he been planning this? She continued through the message and came to the part about the quest from Scar.

“The Flame Orb… what does Scar want with something like that?” she thought aloud. Philomena gave a short squawk in response. River smiled at the bird.

“Alright Philomena, you rest up. I have a letter to write and a meeting to arrange.” The council mare left the room and Philomena closed her eyes, ready for a good nights sleep, completely oblivious of the fact that sleep is exactly what her owners would be getting very little of tonight.

Chapter 7

Deadrocks

Deadrocks was a town of misfits. It didn’t belong to anyone except for its inhabitants. Alone this rundown town stood in the gray of the northern mountains, the only speck of life in that otherwise desolate but safe place. It was here that someone could buy most anything if they searched long enough. Anything from a bed for the night, to an ancient tome of spells was available for purchase if you could make the right offer. It was Deadrocks that the group of alicorns and their griffin companion saw.

“We’re almost there!” called Cliff happily as they four raced towards the small town. The place was not in the best of shape. It looked old and run-down, but sturdy enough to have stood the tests of time. They made it to the town after a few more minutes of running and when they did, slowed to a trot (or a walk in Cliff’s case). They looked around at the wooden houses, many of them resembling shacks in structure.

“I wonder who lives here.” Luna asked.

“This far north?” Sothe “Well there’s bound to be griffins here, might see some elk. Who knows, we might even run into a-” Sothe was cut off as Cliff finished his thought for him.

“Diamond dog.” Cliff hissed. In front of the group stood a strange looking creature, it stood four feet tall, had mangy gray fur, and fangs poked out from between it cracked lips.

“Well well, what have we here?” It mused in a shrill voice, “Whats’a matter little griffin? You get captured by these big strong ponies?” the thing giggled to itself, obviously finding the statement more funny than anyone else did.

“Our business is our own.” Sothe said heatedly.

“Oh of course it is,” The upright dog taunted, “It’s completely normal for a group of ponies to be traveling with a griffin in these parts.” He snickered again at his heavily sarcastic comment.

“Look you little mutt, get out of our way before you piss off our beaked friend here,” Luna motioned to Cliff and shot him a look that said ‘just roll with it’ “He eats scrawny things like you for breakfast.” Cliff caught on and did his best to turn his face into a scowl. The dog was not impressed.

“Fine,” he said flatly, “I’ll drop the sarcasm. Why’re you here?”

“We’re on a mission for Scar.” Sothe said, matching the diamond dog’s flat tone.

“We’re traveling and need beds.” Celestia chimed in. The dog sighed.

“There’s an inn near the center of town. Alicorns aren’t usually welcome here, but if you’re just spending the night you’ll be fine.” He stepped aside to let them pass, “Just watch your step.”

The inn was dim, but nowhere near as empty as they would have expected from the looks of the town. The place had creatures of all sizes. About twenty griffins were in there somewhere, alongside two elk, a buffalo, and some indistinguishable creature hidden in the shadows of booths in the corners.

“Well… this place looks… clean.” Celestia said slowly.

“Get used to it,” Sothe sighed to his mate, “You chose to leave Trottington. We’re not going to have beds laid out for us out here. An inn is a lucky find.” The two continued to talk for a while, and as they did the ears of one of the creatures hidden in the shadows pricked up. The ears were covered in red fur, and below them sightless eyes scanned the room.

“Those voices.” Growled the creature.

“Something wrong Feega?” Another voice, similar to the first barked.

“Groth… did an alicorn just walk in?” Feega asked slowly, keeping his voice low.

“Yeah, why? They are three of them actually. They’re with a griffin… something bothering you?” The blood wolf looked at his blinded friend with sympathy. Feega had only been blind for around two weeks now. Groth had found him out in the wastes with bloody eyes and a bad leg wound. If it had been anyone else, Groth would have taken his friend’s helplessness as a chance for a meal. Lucky for Feega, Grothe was loyal to his friends.

“That voice.” Feega said again, “the male one. That’s the one who’s damned bird blinded me.” Grothe’s eyes narrowed and he gazed over at the ponies hotly.

“Are you certain?”

“Of course I am!” Feega almost yelled, “His voice has been running through my head ever since… ever since it happened.” Groth looked sadly at his friend.

“I’m sorry,” His voice then gained more malice “If they took your eyes then why not return the favor?”

“So you’re from Trottington?” asked the innkeeper. He was a gruff looking alicorn with wings that looked to be at odd angles.

“That’s right. Well except for Luna… and Cliff obviously.” Celestia replied. She had just paid him for their rooms for the night.

“I haven’t seen that place in years.” He mused, “Sure you can’t share your quest with a fellow alicorn?”

“No sorry… but I can give you some news.” She recounted the story of the army invading the southern griffin lands.

“Well, I’ve never been a fan of Greathoof myself. My parents supported him but I… and to do that… I take it you’re being here has something to do with that huh?”

“Yeah,” Celestia replied sheepishly.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what’re you doing here? Not your group, I mean just you.” Celestia had to think about this. Why had she come? All she could remember was that the moment Luna told her the story about seeing the army she had immediately felt the need to follow Sothe. It had all seemed so glamorous back then, but it wasn’t. They weren’t defeating bad guys and saving the world. They were just messengers, following orders from somepony or other.

“Because… because I wanted adventure.” She replied after a while, “I never got out. I was always know as Commander Greatwing’s Mate, or Miss Greatwing, or ‘Tia. I was… I don’t know I just never did anything back home.” The innkeeper shrugged.

“Well so long as you have a reason. Enjoy your stay.”

“I will; thank you.” She walked away from his counter and scanned the dim room. She couldn’t see them anywhere.

“Excuse me miss,” Said the recognizably shrill voice of a diamond dog, “Are you looking for you’re companions?” Celestia turned around and was face to face with a mottled brown dog. She did her best to keep an even voice.

“I… uh… yes. Did you happen to see where they went?”

“But of course. I was wondering why they’d leave you in here. Seemed strange that they’d leave such a...” He searched for the right word, “Demure specimen like yourself all alone, so I thought I’d tell you they left.” He pointed a filthy claw towards the door. Celestia looked a little surprised.

“Oh? Really? Okay thank you.” She trotted towards the door. The dog watched her leave, and once the door swung shut behind her he made his own way to the exit, silently following her.

“What’s taking ‘Tia so long?” Luna complained, “I want a bed!”

“Give her time, she’s probably talking with the innkeeper.” Sothe replied. The two of them were at a table, sitting on cushions on the floor because the seats were made for diamond dogs, not alicorns. Cliff was chatting with one of the griffins at the bar. They sat there for quite a while, not talking. The atmosphere of the place was not very welcoming and neither of them liked the lighting of the place. After a while Cliff returned to them.

“’Tia back yet?”

“No.” Luna responded.

“How long does it take to get a room?” Cliff said with an edge of annoyance to his voice.

“That’s what I said.” Luna matched his annoyed tone. As they talked a wolf stalked his way through the dingy room towards them. Sothe saw him and narrowed his eyes.

“Might I have a word?” The creature growled.

“Why not, but watch your tongue.” Sothe replied to the blood-wolf, “I have experience fighting your kind so keep them peaceful words.”

“Oh, I already know you’ve fought one of us before. In fact that’s why I’m here, and if you care for the white one then you’ll not mind if I use words that are… less then peaceful.” Sothe’s horn flared and his dagger appeared at the wolf throat. Luna and Cliff backed up.

“And where, pray-tell, is she?” He growled through clenched teeth. The wolf met his gaze.

“Watch your temper pony.” He barked, “You don’t get to make demands here. You’ll come with me and put the weapon away.” Sothe was seething, but after a moment of considering his options he returned the dagger to its sheath.

“Cliff, Luna, I believe we need to go with this mutt.” He eventually sighed. The three of them followed the wolf out of the inn towards the edge of town.”

The council met late the next morning. There was a noticeable absence of a certain member that left the council chamber feeling empty.

“Where is Thelia?” Deepwoods grumbled after more than an hour of waiting.

“Who knows.” Responded Sky Dancer.

“Well we can’t begin without her.” Rust complained. River sat quietly, thinking about the letter that she had sent that morning. It had detailed her plans for exposing Greathoof, starting with her getting a vote for a heavier border patrol passed. She was certain that if presented right, passing such a decision would be a cinch. She had not however planned on the meeting starting so late.

Greathoof had been the last to arrive, his angry demeanor had returned in light of yesterdays events. Hiding the body hadn’t been easy, but Thelia now had a grave under a bridge here in the capital city. Her death put a hamper on his plans. Originally he had planned to wait to make his move until Voltag’s lands had all fallen under his control, but this required the council to run as usual for at least two more weeks. As it stood he likely had fewer than two days before somepony discovered what had happened, bodies were not easy things to hide from magic. His mind raced through the possibilities. Of course he could play it cool until the evidence forced him to confess. Hopefully by then his army would have captured a significant enough swath of land for his to simply defect to the newly conquered wastelands. That would be the easiest way out of this, any sane pony could have seen that but Greathoof had bigger plans, and they did not include running away from the country he had so long sought to rule. He stood.

“Thelia’s disappearance is of little consequence compared to recent events.” He said, mustering up his best speech voice.

“What events might you be referring to?” River asked.

“Events, my dear, that are too grand on scope to even consider reversing.” was his response. He took a deep breath, “Of course we cannot begin talk of such things without Thelia with us.

“True.” Said Deepwoods, “What do you propose?”

“We adjourn for the day, dig up information about just where Thelia has gone, and tomorrow I will return with a far more… eloquent speech than what I would say with no planning.” He hoped this ruse would work, it was a gamble. The council members each considered their options.

“I’ll get the police to check her house,” said Sky Dancer, “If she isn’t home then I’ll have them do an actual search.” It was worrying for a council member to be missing, they were chosen for, among other things, their punctuality.

“Very well.” agreed Rust.

“That sounds fair.” Deepwoods admitted.

What is he planning? Thought River, “Fine.” She concluded. The council members gathered their things and adjourned for the day.

River headed home, hoping idly for a response from Sothe. She had sent the letter very early that morning, and assumed the phoenix could make it to the northern range by nine and it was already midday. Of course that was wishful thinking, Philomena would have to locate them in that rocky expanse. She arrived at her home and thought. What could Greathoof be planning? What could he achieve with one day of preparation? Where was Thelia? All these questions ran through her head until after an hour of thinking, a rapping sound yanked her from the depths of her thoughts. The familiar form of Philomena sat happily on her windowsill. A smile grew on River’s face as she opened the window for the bird. She had expected a short note telling of their progress that day. Instead the bird carried a long scroll. Thelia had experience reading reports, and that much writing from one day of travel could only mean trouble. She thanked the phoenix who cooed happily in response, then picked a comfortable place to sit and read of the events of the previous day.

They followed the wolf for a time until they arrived at a large building that matched the rest of the town in griminess.

“Here we are,” the wolf growled smugly. Sothe glared at him, his eyes angry enough to burn holes in the wolf’s fur. “Well go on.” The three of them entered to find a large room, just as dim as the inn filled with a strong scent of musky fur.

“So kind of you to join us,” came a deep, gruff voice from deep in the room, “I think you lost something earlier.” A light illuminated the back portion of the room, making visible a group of maybe fifteen wolves, six diamond dogs, and one white alicorn bound with ropes. Luna gasped at the sight of her sister. Two dogs stood by her, one pitch black with red eyes, the other red with ruined eyes. The black one motioned a paw towards the other.

“I believe you’ve already met Feega here.” He directed the statement towards Sothe. It took him a minute to recognize the blinded wolf.

“We fought in the wastes, what of it?” he asked.

“You left him alive. You left him blinded and alone in the wastes. That’s not how you fight. If you fight, you kill.” The black one’s eyes grew cold, “Because you failed to realize this, his friends,” he swept a paw around the room to motion to the other dogs, “Don’t exactly hold you in the highest regard.” The dogs growled and moved closer to the alicorns and griffin until they were in a tight circle around them. In the next second, three things happened. The first was that one over-enthusiastic wolf leapt towards them; the second was that Sothe’s horn glowed and his knife once again was loosened from its sheath; the third was the least expected, Luna’s horn glowed as she cast a spell. The wolf crashed into an invisible barrier surrounding the three of them and fell to the floor whining.

“Well well, at least one of you knows how to protect themselves,” Giggled the black wolf, “Kill them.” The dogs all leapt at once and Luna could feel the strain on her barrier.

“Cast the shield around Celly,” Sothe commanded her, “Cliff, get ready. I’m going to have Luna drop the shield the moment they try to attack again. Got it?” the two responded in unison.
“Got it.” Luna cast her magic and Cliff took on a fighting stance.

“Now.” The shield dropped as the dogs all crashed into it for the second time and Sothe’s knife bit into one of the nameless dog’s skin. It howled as the others readied themselves, Sothe bucked another before it could attack again. One of them saw this as his chance and leapt, landing squarely on the large alicorn’s back. Cliff was ready when the first jumped and let his talons fly, sending the first to the ground, he ducked under the attack of another. When Sothe yelled in surprise Cliff spun and knocked the wolf from his back. The two began doing their best to fight off the ravenous predators.

Luna was scared out of her mind as the wolves leapt for their first real assault. She knocked to the floor as one landed on her with ease. It smiled down at her and lunged for her throat. She closed her eyes and flinched away to find its weight leave her. The wolf crashed to the ground next to her, a large price of debris from the decaying building had broadsided him. Luna saw her sister’s horn glowing. I guess they forgot about magic. Luna though to herself, smiling inwardly. Celestia concentrated her magic on the ropes around her and the knots untied themselves. The black wolf tried to knock her back to the floor but was blocked by Luna’s barrier. Celestia cast the barrier spell around Luna and the two slowly worked their way outside, protecting one another.

“So how do we get out of here captain?” Cliff asked, adding the ‘Captain’ on for fun.

“Ideally?” He responded as he bucked out again, keeping the wolves at bay, “through the door, but I don’t think that’s a real option right now.” Cliff tensed his hind legs.

“We have wings though,” He reminded the alicorn, “Why don’t we use them?” He took off and Sothe followed his example. The two hovered above the wolf pack. The two of them dove for the door and smashed the frame away, widening their escape route. There they met up with Luna and Celestia.

“Welcome back.” Luna let them inside the barrier spell. She and Celestia looked shaken but otherwise unharmed.
“Lets move,” Sothe commanded, “Back to the inn.” They all ran back through the town until they reached their destination. The innkeeper was shocked at their story.

“They can’t touch you here,” He promised, “I won’t allow it.” The four of them found their rooms. Cliff nursed a shoulder wound, and Sothe had a torn leg, but they agreed that it had gone better than it could of. After a time the four of them slept, tired from the scuffle.

River stopped reading, and let out an audible sigh of relief. They were safe, at least for the time being. She set the scroll down and vowed to finish it later. The reading had taken a while and the sun hung low. River got something to eat and settled back down to thinking about the next day. What was Greathoof planning? She thought late into the night before passing into troubled sleep.

Author note: Okay, I know I dont usually bother with adding an author note but I think this one is important. I wrote this chapter between naps on a car trip. a long car trip. Add that to the fact that I've never really wrote fight scenes before and you can probably imagine why i'm worried that it may not be up to snuff. So if you read it and see anything wrong, story-wise, character-wise, grammer-wise, ANYTHING, please tell me. I want to keep this story as good as possible and since I lack pre-reader, some feedback would be appreciated.

-juyunseen

Chapter 8

Treeflame

When the meeting adjourned at midday, three things happened. The first was that River headed home to think and plan her moves for the next day. The second was a mere coincidence, and it was at that very moment that the travelers to the north noticed the town of Deadrocks on the horizon. The third important thing that happened was that Greathoof began his own plot for the next day. He thought quickly as he paced the empty council chamber, doing his best to concoct a scheme to for the coming meeting. He would have to reveal what was happening in the griffin lands, that much was assured, but how to go about this without getting executed? After a time he decided that to do that he would need help.

How do I do this? He thought to himself, How do I pull this off without ruining everything. He paced the length of the stone room at least fifty times before it hit him, the simplest, most blunt way of going about this. He smiled inwardly. He knew that this plan would work, the only problem would be timing.

He quickly produced a pen from his bags and with it a blank scroll. The words made their way onto the page quickly, but he wasn’t attempting to be eloquent with this letter. He finished his hasty letter and opened the window nearest to him with his magic.

“Step one down.” He muttered as he focused the magic in his horn on the letter. The scroll began to glow a soft green, and then it began to burn and sublimate into smoke. The smoke spiraled and swirled before, as if taken up in a gust of wind, flew out the window into the open air. Greathoof heaved a sigh of relief as he began to pack his things. He stood up once his bag was full and looked around the room one last time before turning and galloping off towards his home.

Far to the southeast, a great fire was raging. The fuel for this inferno had once been a griffin town, but it was now reduced to rubble. The fire radiated heat onto the alicorn soldiers who ringed the town. The alicorns had been watching the fire for some time now, but as time passed many had chosen to back away and prepare their tents for the night. Among the tents, one stood out. It was smaller than all the others, smaller and green. The emerald green tent all but glowed among the tan tents that housed the rest of the army, but the tent didn’t house an alicorn soldier. It housed a young dragon.

Treeflame was a deep blue dragon. She stood three feet tall when walking on all fours, and five and a half feet if she stood on her hind legs. Her wings were eight feet wide when fully spread, and each wind sported a single claw at the joint. Treeflame hid in her tent, the fire outside scared her. She, being a creature of flame, could almost fee, the bodies burning inside when she stood too close. She huddled on the floor of her green tent, claws slowly running across her forelegs feeling for her scars. At her wrists she lacked scales. Instead she had long scars where ropes had once dug into her. She was not here of her own accord, she had been taken. Three years ago, when she was little more than a hatchling an alicorn had stolen her in the night. She had no idea at the time why she had been taken, but had learned that her purpose here was simple. She was to act as a messenger. She was to send a receive messages from the red alicorn that had stolen her away. In fact, tonight was one of the nights that she would do her job. A telltale pressure began to build in her stomach as the scroll arrived, and one belch later the scroll was in her hands.

“What could he be planning,” General Vice murmured, “Send five fastest soldiers to Trottington. Give them orders to arrive tonight or not at all.” He read the letter aloud slowly as he tried to decipher what Greathoof could need soldiers for.

“What does it matter why he needs us?” asked a lithe, dangerous looking alicorn, “Just send me on my way and I can get there by nightfall.”

“The letter calls for five of you,” Vice responded, “As it stands, I only count one.”

“I can get my men together quickly.” The soldier replied bluntly, “Do you really want to keep ‘Hoof waiting?” The general grumbled at this.

“Fine. How many men do you have that can make the trip in time?” The soldier’s face fell a little at this.

“Four,” He responded slowly, “Including me…”

“Four?”

“Yes…”

“You expect him to be satisfied with four when he specifically calls for five?” Vice asked slowly.

“Well I…” the soldier began.

“I could make the trip.” A new voice entered the conversation. The two alicorns turned their heads slowly to get a look at who had spoken. They were face to face with a blue dragon. “I could make it in a few hours if I had to.” Treeflame said eagerly. The soldier looked a General Vice pleadingly.

“Dragons are fast fliers.” He said with an edge of sheepishness to his voice. The General looked over the two slowly before sighing.

“Fine. Fine go, but you,” He said to Treeflame, “Send my reply scroll before you leave.” The blue dragon nodded eagerly and waited as the alicorn wrote out a letter back to his leader. He passed her the letter, which she took and doused in green flame.

“There, it’s on its way.” She said happily.

“Good,” The general sighed, “Now go, both of you.” The two of them left the large tent as Vice turned back to his table covered in maps, much like the one residing in Scar’s chamber.

Celestia woke to the sound of arguing. Two of the combatants in the verbal battle sounded distinctly canine, while the third had a far less growly voice. She slowly got up from her bed and trotted into the main room of the inn to be greeted with the sight of the innkeeper facing down two of the wolves from the previous night. The wolves looked up upon her arrival.

“There she is. Now hand her over Greywings and we leave in peace.” The larger of the two growled.

“For the third time; no. I’m not handing over a customer to you just because Mange demands it.” The grey innkeeper retorted.

“I’m sorry, do you want to get on Mange’s bad side?” the second wolf hissed.

“You know what?” Greywings began, “Fine take her. You can have her, if you go home to Mange and ask him who gave him food when he showed up in town as a pathetic half-starved pup. Ask him who gave him a room. If it wasn’t for my generosity, he wouldn’t be alive to order you pathetic fleabags around now would he?” The smaller of the two wolves let out a deep, angry growl at this and took a step forward only to receive a hoof to the face.

“Go home.” Greywings hissed, and the wolves obeyed.

“Wow… thank you.” Celestia whispered from the doorway. The older stallion turned and smiled.

“If you’re in my inn, you’re under my protection.” He said warmly, “no thanks are needed. Besides, you guys are on some journey right? I wouldn’t want it so suddenly end here in the middle of nowhere.”

“You stood up to wolves for somepony you don’t even know, I think that sort of thing does, in fact, deserve thanks.” Celestia joked, “I mean really, if there’s anything I can do…” Her voice trailed off.

“Anything huh?” He chuckled, “Well I hate to ask the same question a third time… or does this make it four times now… anyway, you think you could tell me exactly what it is you’re up to? I know it’s secret and all, but curiosity keeps getting the best of me.” Celestia sighed, wondering how best to apologize for her inability to answer the question when another voice spoke up.

“Aw, go ahead and tell him.” Cliff was awake now, and had obviously heard the fighting, “If the captain gets mad then I’ll take the heat for you. Secrets are no good anyway, they just leave people confused and unsatisfied.” Celestia sighed.

“Okay,” She began, “It all started a few weeks ago when Luna showed up at our front door…”

Treeflame hadn’t felt so free in a long time. She soared over the wastes alongside the four alicorns.

“You look like you’re having fun.” One of the soldiers grumbled. She shrugged smugly in response and continued enjoying her freedom. They had been flying for a few hours now and had covered quite a lot of distance in a relatively short time. Treeflame felt like she could keep this up for hours, but the strain was beginning to show on the alicorns. She smiled inwardly. She had real stamina for someone who had been in captivity for so long, enough to outfly these alicorns any day.

“Let’s land.” The leader of the group called out as soon as a river came into sight. The group seemed to heave a sigh of relief as they began their descent towards the inviting shores. Treeflame shrugged and few alongside them, not tired in the least. Once they landed, two of the four alicorn collapsed on the cool, wet earth, this sort of place was a rarity in the wastelands and was to be treasured where it could be found. The group landed by another wasteland rarity, a tree. It wasn’t in good condition, but it was a tree all the same. Treeflame sat on the bank, thinking.

This is my chance, she thought, my one shot at getting out of here for good. She looked around, doing her best to formulate a plan. Her gaze stopped on the tree between her and the rest of the group. She smirked, Well well well… I suppose it’s time to make good on my name. she took a step back, away from her target and released a green globule of liquid fire from her mouth. The tree caught almost instantly and in the seconds of confusion that the building inferno gleaned her she pumped her wings once and was aloft in moments. The soldiers watched helplessly as their captive, and more importantly, their fifth part member flew away in the midday sun.

“Greathoof is going to kill us…” muttered one of the fatigued soldiers. His companions nodded slowly in agreement.

“And that’s how we ended up here.” Celestia finished her story. Greywings looked impressed.

“This really is a big mission isn’t it?” He asked slowly, the sheer magnitude of what was going on outside his small town only now beginning to register with him.

“Yeah, it kinda’ is.” Cliff agreed.

“Well then, I’m now more glad than ever that I helped you.” He said happily, but he soon sighed again. “A new war huh? The last one was what… ten years ago? Fifteen? Why can’t the borders remain peaceful?” Celestia shrugged at this, she felt the same.

“I don’t know… but I know that this one needs to be stopped as soon as possible. I really hope that finding the Flame Orb will help…”

I suppose you’re going to need to head out as soon as the other wake up right?” the kind innkeeper asked.

“Yes.” Sothe’s voice came from the door to the bedroom, “I’m getting our stuff together as we speak.” Celestia blushed at the sound of her mate’s voice.

“I thought you were…” She began.

“Asleep?” He finished for her, “No, I woke up the same time Cliff did.”

“If you were awake then why’d you let her spill your secrets?” Greywings called back.

“Because, you helped us so you deserve to know.” Sothe replied simply “C’mon Luna. Wake up.” He prodded the sleeping blue mare. “We need to get going.” Celestia sighed and headed back into the bedroom.

“If you want to wake her you need to play to her interests.” She giggled a moment before leaning down to her sister’s ear and whispering, “Luna look, a dragon.” The effect was instantaneous.

“WHERE!?!?” Luna jolted up out of bed and looked around the room frantically. The others laughed. The day seemed to be off to a good start.

Author note: Oaky, I know this chapter feels like it ends too quickly, but if I was to continue i'd get into so much exposition that it'd become unreadable, but i promise to get the next one out fast.
Also, I think I may have the lowedst views to comments ratio on the site. I don't know what to make of that...

Chapter 9

Greathoof’s plan.

“Are you certain you want to give us all of this?” Sothe asked, incredulously eyeing the pile of supplies laid out before him.

“Of course. You have a big journey ahead, this is the least I can do.” Greywings replied. He had spent the morning readying as much food and various other supplies as he thought the group of four could carry.

“Look, it’s very generous of you to offer, but please just let us pay for it.” Luna wasn’t sure she felt right taking this much from the innkeeper.

“No. You are on a mission that may stop a war from escalating. That’s payment enough for me.” He said simply. Luna looked like she wanted to protest some more but her older sister cut her off.

“Thank you Greywings, I’m certain these will be very helpful. Although I think,” She pushed part of the pile back towards the grey innkeeper, “That much probably won’t fit in our bags, so please keep it.” She smiled at him. He stared at the declined gift for a moment before smiling back.

“As you wish.” He replied, and took the food back into the inn’s kitchen. The group got to work on packing their provisions away. Cliff was quite happy to find some jerky among the various forms of vegetarian food present.

“Score!” He cried happily as he packed it away. Luna laughed at his enthusiasm, she was ready to get out of this town. Of everyone here it seemed that only Greywings was enjoyable to be around. After a few minutes of hasty packing all of the supplies were squared away. Cliff now sported a loop of rope attacked to his belt, and had also laid claim to a file which he was using to sharpen his somewhat dull claws. Luna had taken only one thing outside of food, and that was a book. The volume was at least a good five-hundred pages thick and was a history of the north range. She planned on reading some once they ran out of things to talk about on the trail. Sothe had elected to take another knife alongside a map of the mountains. Celestia had taken a whistle that Greywings claimed could scare off dogs that she now wore around her neck at all times. Once everyone had their new supplies settled they bid farewell to Greywings before leaving to continue their journey down the mountain road.

The four soldiers landed outside of Greathoof’s house just as the sun was setting. The first of the soldiers took a deep breath and idly ran over the plan in his head once more.

Blood wolves, he thought, we were attacked by blood wolves and during the fight our fifth member was killed. They had agreed earlier that there was no need to let Greathoof know that the dragon had escaped too. The soldier sighed once more and knocked on the wooden door to Greathoof’s home.

A deep voice emanated from the house, commanding, “Enter.” The four soldiers did as they were told. The room they entered looked like it had once been a rather elegant one, but there was now so much clutter that the signs of that time long past were few and far between. The desks were piled high with papers, books covered the floor, maps adorned the walls, and a red alicorn occupied the center of the mess.

“Good, you made it in time… where’s the fifth?” he asked accusingly. The soldier at the front of the group gulped and began the story they had weaved during their flight.

“… and by that time we decided we must leave him, for we had to arrive here be tonight.” He finished. He had done his best to play up their loyalty in the story, hoping to gain favor, or at least suck up to, the fearsome leader. Greathoof looked them over and sighed.

“Four will have to do. You have a lot of work ahead of you tonight.” He said simply, “Now allow me to explain the… situation I’m in. I am in a position where I’m forced to tip my hoof. I plan on revealing what exactly we’ve been up to.” The soldiers were surprised, they knew that the war was a secret, but didn’t expect for it to be one even to the other council members.
“Then why do you need us?” One inquired curiously.
“Because,” the council stallion responded, “I need insurance that the other will… how to put this? See things my way. I plan on using you four as insurance.” He smirked as he began to give them their orders. Tonight would be a long night, but if events played out like they should he would be even further along in his conquest and on the fast track to the final parts of his plan.
This mistake may just turn in my favor. He thought happily as the soldiers set out to fulfill their assigned duties.

River woke up to cold autumn sunlight cast across her face. She blinked herself awake and looked around. She had fallen asleep at her desk, reading about the adventures of the party to the north. She sat still for a moment, letting her thoughts return to her. She had not managed to come up with any sort of plan to counter whatever Greathoof had planned for today, the only thing she could be thankful of was that Sothe’s group still remained unknown to the red stallion. She sighed heavily and slowly got to her hooves,
“By the sun, it’s going to be a hard day,” she cursed lightly to herself before readying her things and magicing a muffin from the kitchen to eat on her way. She stopped halfway out the door as she realized that Philomena still stood on her makeshift perch.
“I almost forgot about you,” She murmured as she pulled out a scrap of paper and scribbled a note for the adventurers, “There you go.” Philomena took the small scroll and cooed before swooping out the open door in a flash of bright fire. River sighed as she watched the bird fly out of sight.

I took her a few minutes to travel to the council building. The stone corridors seemed awfully empty today, they lacked their usual bustle of alicorns running to and fro with papers, letters, and memos destined for the offices of various ponies. As it stood she only saw three or four ponies in the whole building on her way to the main chamber.
This feels almost… ominous. She thought as she pushed open the stone council door.
“River! Welcome!” boomed the voice of Greathoof from atop an unfamiliar armchair that now sat in the center of the room. With a swoop of magic the door slammed shut behind her and was locked. “Now, take a seat. I’m certain you won’t want to miss this.” Said in the smuggest voice River had ever heard.

The other council members were already seated and looked uncomfortable. In the center of the room, four heavily armored soldiers stood in a circle around Greathoof, each with a sword levitating next to them at the ready. River slowly walked to her seat, taking care to give the drawn blades a wide berth.

“All of you are no doubt curious about today’s arrangements, are you not?” the red stallion asked one they all were settled. A quiet murmur ran through the questioned councilors, “There have been some… events put into motion. Big events. World changing events that will no doubt be remembered for centuries to come. Events that not only will-” he was cut off as another voice spoke out.

“If you’re referring to the slaughter to the west, which I am almost certain you are, then I’ll have you know that I’ve know about it for some time.” River said, doing her best to keep her voice level, “In fact, you hid the army rather sloppily if I do say so myself.”

“Well well, somepony found me out. Whatever shall I do?” he asked this with sarcasm as all the soldiers turned to face the light blue mare. The sarcasm left his voice as he spoke again, “Hold your tongue or you may find my… assistants to be less than friendly. Now that that matter is settled, let me enlighten those of you who,” He threw a sidelong glance at River, “Didn’t feel the need to snoop around in affairs that don’t concern you.” He began to weave a tale about his plans to destroy the griffins. Every word he spoke, dripped with self-praise as he told of his sacrafices and heroic deeds that it took to bring this plan to fruition. The story took hours and hours to tell in its entirety, but the presence of the soldiers managed to keep the bored audience in line.

Freedom was sweet for Treeflame. The wind had never felt so clean, nor the grass so soft. Everything seemed heightened as she was experiencing things for herself, alone for the first time in years. She’d flown at least twelve miles or so before landing. She was certain that the soldiers hadn’t followed her. The land was different here. There was far more grass and much less dirt visible, and the dirt she did come across was not cracked and dry like that of the wastes, rather it was cool and damp. She figured she must be across the border, or at least very close to the alicorn lands.

Where do I go? she thought suddenly, I’m free now… but what do I do with myself? She puzzled over the newfound question. She had never thought about this before. Her dreams of freedom had always been happy ones of rescue and daring escape, and they had always ended with her finding the perfect mate and settling down in a lovely cave, or reuniting with her people and being welcomed back as a long lose sibling. As it stood, she was somewhere between alicorn and griffin lands, two peoples that would likely be in the midst of a bloody war soon.

She sat down and considered her options. Returning home was at the very least a feasible plan.

“I’d have to go north,” she said aloud, “the caves were somewhere to the north.” Saying it aloud helped to strengthen her resolve. She stood and stretched her wings. Her wings, and no one elses. The dragon’s face turned skyward as she saw her freedom laid out in front of her.

“North.” She said again, “…Which way is that?” she sat back down, “If we were traveling west… yes,” she turned northwards, “yes, that should be north.” She stood again and stretched her wings once more, ready once again to face her free life head-on. With that thought she pumped her large, leathery wings and was airborn.

I’m going home. She thought happily.

Author note: I'm sorry for the time it took to write this. I got stuck about halfway through and just couldnt decide where to go. I also want to apologize for how little happen her, this is my shortest chapter yet. I promose though, Chapter 10 will not be considered 'finished' until i'm past 2,300 words. In fact i'll aim for 3,000 words, 10 is a big number and should be celebrated with another big number.

Chapter 10

A Journey Ends.

“Look. I’m not saying it’s inexplicable, I’m just saying I don’t want to explain it.” Luna and Cliff were deep in one of their regular arguments regarding magic.

“I still say you just don’t get how it works!” Cliff called back.

“I do to!”

“Then explain it!” the two had been arguing in circles for the better part of an hour, and as of yet neither of them had gained the other hand.

“For the last time.” Luna huffed, “It’s MAGIC I don’t have to explain it. It just works.”

“Will you two kindly shut up?” Sothe asked heatedly. Although he enjoyed listening to conversations while they traveled this one got old within the first five minutes. Cliff and Luna glared at each other for a few minutes more as they walked. The four of them had been traveling for the better part of the day and the sun hung low far off in front of them. The horizon had been bare for hours after leaving Deadrocks, but around midday Cliff declared that he could see another mountain range off in the distance. Luna had then decided to test out a spell that was supposed to increase her range of vision for a short while, which had been the spark that had lit their debate on magic in general.

They walked in silence for a while after, staring at the gray lumps in the distance. Being in sight range of their destination hadn’t done much for their moods. They were still at least a day or so away from them, and Greywings had told them that Deadrocks was the only town on the northern road, so they would have to camp on the rocks. The prospect of this had knocked everyone’s mood down a bit so arguments had become more common than normal conversation. The four of them trod on in silence, unaware of the distant shape of a form in flight off to the south.

Treeflame knew she must be on the right path when she saw the northern range. She remembered the road that run along the top, allowing passage from the griffin wastes to the dragon lands. She was ecstatic at the sight of the mountains, they reminded her of home.

“Here I come.” She mumbled as she flew, “I’m coming home.”

“So… you mean to tell us that not only have you ignored the council entirely, but you have also slaughtered three towns worth of griffins? No vote on the matter? What gives you the gall to think you could make such a choice on your own?!?!” Rust asked angrily through his teeth. Greathoof had spent more than an hour telling his story, and now that it was over the other councilors were more than a little shaken.

“You make my crusade sound petty Rust.” Greathoof smirked at the rusty brown pony, “Do you have any idea what this means for the country? Athelta could effectively double in size.”

“Athelta,” Rust seethed back, “Is run by a council. No single pony makes decisions on the country’s behalf.” He stood, “Again I ask you. What gives you the right?” Greathoof eyes him coldly.

“You know…” He began pacing the floor of the chamber, “Thelia began asking such questions when she found out the truth. She argued in circles with me, demanding I stop my ‘insane plans’ or to step down.” He stopped and turned to face the other alicorns once again, “Tell me, did any of you manage to find her?” The room was silent, the gravity of the situation seemed to weigh heavier on the councilors as they looked down on this bloodthirsty pony. Greathoof smiled at their lack of response and slowly slid his hidden knife from under his wing.

“She died. Right here in this very room.” Greathoof said with and edge of insanity, “She didn’t want to see the possibilities that lay before us. She refused the destiny I’ve laid out for us. She proved herself to be useless to this grand new world we’re entering, so with this knife I made sure that she stayed in the old world forever.” As he finished, his voice grew cold again. He glared daggers at the ponies who watched him in fear.

“You… you killed her.” Sky Dancer managed to say.

“Naturally.” He smirked, Seems that they’re finally beginning to understand. Rust leapt to his hooves.

“Not only are you a traitor to your people, but you are also a murderer!” The brown pony flared his wings and was face to face with Greathoof in a heartbeat, “You are not one of us. You aren’t worthy of power of any sort.” He spat, oblivious of the knife that still floated in the grasp of Greathoof’s magic, “You are hardly even an alicorn.”

“Choose your words wisely, Rust my friend. Lest you wish your fate to match her’s.” Greathoof stepped away, “He’s right on one account. I am no longer one of you. No longer am I a council member, but then again neither are any of you.” The knife flew and struck the Atheltian banner that hung above the council chairs. “This council is no more.” His soldiers stepped forward, brandishing their swords. “No, instead I think I shall lead alone, and all of you will do as I say if you wish to live.”

A squawk broke the silence of the mountain path as a dot of flame grew closer to the group of travelers.

“Welcome back Philomena!” Celestia called out, happy to see her pet once again. The group stopped walking as Philomena landed on a boulder and offered up the small scroll in her beak. Sothe took it and scanned the parchment. His eyes narrowed.

“Something wrong?” Cliff asked as he dug through his bag for some food.

“From the looks of it, Greathoof has something planned for Athelta… River can’t seem to figure it out yet…”

“Well nothing we can do about it from here.” Cliff shrugged and bit into his newfound jerky strip. Luna munched on half of an apple from her bag.

“I wonder what’s going on back home…” she mused around her chewing.

“Please don’t talk with your mouth full.” Celestia pleaded after getting a good look at a wad of half chewed apple.

“Bleughhh.” Luna opened her mouth more before swallowing and giggling. Celestia hit her playfully on the shoulder, and Luna retaliated with a tackle.

The sun began to set as the group ate. Philomena set some sticks ablaze for the travelers before promptly falling asleep.

“So… should we make it to the dragons by tomorrow?” Luna asked, staring up at the stars.

“If we make good time, yeah we should.” Sothe assured her. Cliff stretched before laying himself down on his side, exposing his belly to the heat of the flame. He let out a contented purr. Celestia giggled at the sight.

“I guess no matter how big they get, they’re still part cat.”

“You’d better believe it.” Cliff murmured sleepily. Luna began to clear rocks from the space around her, doing her best to make a makeshift sleeping space. Celestia followed suit, and mas asleep in moments. Sothe lay down next to her and after a moment of stretching, he too fell into slumber.

Luna rolled onto her back and gazed up at the night sky. It was so pretty, daytime couldn’t compete with the beauty of the night in her book. She missed flying her rounds. She missed the time alone in the darkened, starry sky. She sighed.

“Tomorrow…. Tomorrow I get to see dragons.” She whispered into the night as enormous, scaly creatures entered her thoughts. As she thought and stared sleepily, something flitted into her field of vision, something new to the night sky. “Dragons,” She said again, “Just like that one.” She sat up. There was a dragon overhead, a real dragon. She opened her wings and took flight, struggling against the thin air.

Treeflame flew long into the night. She flew while the sun was setting, she flew while night was falling, and she flew as a blue form followed her. She did a double take. There was an alicorn flying towards her.

“Oh no, they can’t have found me.” She whispered, pouring more speed into her tired wings, but a full day of nonstop flying had finally taken its toll. She struggled forward through the air, but the exertion was too much and she sighed, defeated as she began her descent towards the mountain path below her. She landed and readied herself for the inevitable.

The sound of hooves on stone rang out as Luna landed next to the tired form of the dragon. She took a deep breath. This was a real live dragon.

“H-hello?” she asked tentatively. The dragon looked up, surprised. This alicorn didn’t sound angry or threatening. In fact the voice sounded nothing like that of a soldier, the foremost difference was that this voice was distinctively female.

“Who are you?” Treeflame asked. Luna cleared her throat excitedly.

“My name is Luna. I… we’re… me and my friends… we’re traveling.” She stammered a little, “You… you’re a dragon aren’t you?” She asked, her voice betraying her enthusiasm. Treeflame looked the young alicorn over, bemused.

“No, I’m a manticore, can’t you tell?” She said arching her tail over her head like a scorpion’s sting. She giggled for a moment, “Yes Luna, I’m a dragon. My name is Treeflame.” Luna smiled.

“Nice to meet you Treeflame.” Luna said happily. She suddenly noticed the dragon’s heavy breathing, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine… I’ve just been flying all day… and then seeing you gave me a bit of a fright.” She giggled again.

“Why’d seeing me scare you?” Luna asked, “Is my mane messed up? Is there something on my face?”
Treeflame laughed out again at this, “No, nothing like that… I…” the dragon sighed, there’s no use trying to hide it, she thought.

“I’ve spent the past three years of my life in captivity.” She tried to keep her voice even as a look of surprise crossed the blue alicorn’s face, “I’ve been forced to work for a horrible alicorn by the name of Greathoof.”

“Greathoof?” Luna half yelled the name, “You’ve been a… a slave for him for three years?”

“I think so… it may have been longer…” the dragon sighed again, “you… you don’t work for him do you?” Luna gave what was likely the coldest look she had ever given in her life.

“No. No I don’t. Nor do I ever plan on getting close to that monster in my life. He’s completely evil, he’s ordered the slaughtering of cities and the killing of thousands. He’s hardly even an alicorn in my book.” She finished her short speech in a huff and then looked down at her hooved, embarrassed. “Do you… I mean those rocks can’t be comfortable… would you like to stay by our campfire tonight?” She sounded nervous.

“What these old thing? These rocks are the finest in the land, not even the softest bed can compare,” She giggled at her own sarcasm, “But I suppose I could stay with you, if you insist.” Luna brightened at this.

“Great!” She exclaimed, “I’ll show you the way.” and so the two walked back towards the makeshift camp. “You know, I’ve never seen a dragon before… what do dragons talk about?”

“Well what do you want to know?”

“Absolutely everything.”

River slumped onto her couch when she got home. Today had been awful. Not only had she been unprepared for Greathoof’s course of action, but she had been unable to do anything to stop him from taking over the council. The only upside so far was that he hadn’t publically announced his takeover yet, hopefully the general populace would stay in the dark for a time.

She hit her head against the arm of the couch.

WHY!?! She mentally screamed at herself, Why did I have to be so adamant against those standing army votes? Months ago there had been talks about whether or not to garrison a standing army in the city, and River’s vote had been the deciding factor. She had kept thinking that maybe if there had been an army available, today might have turned out differently.

She hit her head again. Greathoof had spent the day making rules and putting things in order. His first order of business had been to send for some of his sympathizers and accept them into his ‘grand army’. One such pony now stood outside of River’s door, keeping her under house arrest. His next decision had been to strip the other councilors of any power, they were mere figureheads now. She sighed, unsure of how the night could get worse. It did.

The telltale squawk rang out from her window, and she cringed. Philomena stood on the sill, letter in beak just as always. River slowly opened the window, hoping the guard out front had hear nothing.

“Hi Phil…” She murmured to the phoenix. The bird squawked again, this time loud enough to alert the burly stallion out front. The door crashed open.

“What’s going on in…” His eyes fell on the firebird.

“Get out of my house.” River commanded with as much bravery as she could muster. Her command was met with the open window slamming shut in a burst of magic and the letter getting torn out of Philomena’s grasp. River sat down as the guard’s sword was turned on her, sighing in defeat.

“So you’re headed to the dragon lands too?” It was morning, and Sothe was having a discussion with the newcomer to the camp.

“That’s right, I’m headed home.” Treeflame responded happily. She felt that she couldn’t have had better luck, she hadn’t met one new friend, but four. Everyone in this group seemed nice and they also hated Greathoof. That was always a plus. Add to that the fact that the group was headed in the same direction as her and she felt like the luckiest dragon alive, “You guys have any room for another in this group?”

“I don’t see why not, so long as you can put in a good word for us with the elders once we arrive.” Treeflame giggled.

“So long as you’re not a bad alicorn at heart, the elders will be fine. I’m certain of it.” She had vivid memories of the elders, great dragons of even greater wisdom. Every one of them were as old as the caves they lived in, and they were still going strong.

“Welcome to the team.” Cliff said happily, extending a clawed hand in greeting. Treeflame gave it a shake. Celestia greeted her as well.

“You’re a lot smaller than I’d have expected a dragon to be.”

“Well I’ve got quite a bit of growing ahead of me.” The blue dragon laughed. She was ecstatic, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in a group of people who didn’t hate her, much less a group of new friends. She assisted with packing the campsite away, and on request, roasted a strip of jerky for Cliff. He chewed the meat happily.

“Let’s keep her.” He said around his food, and with that the group of five was off.

“I have to say, I’m impressed.” Greathoof mused, “Not only did you manage to get a warning to half of the griffin population, but you’re also helping them, and all so stealthily too. Very, very impressive.” His eyes scanned the letters splayed out on the table before him for what seemed like the hundredth time. His mind was methodically going over his options. He couldn’t decide on how to deal with this situation.

“Sir? Do you wish for us to hunt the group down?” Asked one of the soldiers who stood perpetually at Greathoof’s side.

“No. We don’t have enough forces here to spare... wait… there’s an idea.” He smiled evilly at River, who stood on hooves chained together, “I think I need to send a letter of my own.” He trotted to River’s desk and took up a quill and blank scroll. His horn flared red as he scribbled furiously, and once he was finished he went to the window where Philomena always brought her letters.

“You will not ruin my plans.” He hissed at the restrained mare before sending the letter away with a burst of fire.

“And that’s how I learned to fly.” finished Cliff. They had been traveling for quite some time now. It was almost midday and everyone was lost in conversation, so lost in fact that they took very little notice of their surroundings. They stopped caring about the bleak, rocky world that surrounded them, they took no notice of the sun making its daily journey, and they most certainly didn’t notice the great mountain looming in front of them. They did however finally notice it when Cliff, preparing to preform a trick, took off and rammed headfirst into the wall of stone.

Treeflame fell over laughing, and Cliff stood shakily.

“Who put this… Woah.” He said in awe of the enormous mountain in front of them, one that could rival the Daimond mountain is size.

“We’re here.” Said Luna.

“Great!” Exclaimed Treeflame, “Now we just need to-” She was cut off by a sudden pressure in her gut that grew and pushed its way into her throat before releasing itself with a great belch. A scroll fell from the cloud of smoke that now hung in front of Treeflame. “Find the cave.” She finished with slightly labored breathing. The group huddled around the scroll.

“what is that?” Asked Sothe.

“It’s probably a letter from Greathoof.” Replied Treeflame slowly.

With a faint glow of magic, Sothe nudged the scroll open and floated it up to eye level. Everyone gathered close and began to read, and as they did, the color drained from each of their faces. The letter told of the events in the capital, and now the group knew that all was not well.

“We need to go home.” Celestia whispered.

Author Note: Here it is, my unoffical end of part one. And with it I want to once again thank everyone who has taken time to read so far. I love everyone who has followed it and so I want to make an announcement.

I'm taking a break. Just for a week or two. I want the next chapter to be rather epic, and I also just need some rest from all this writing. During this break I hope to make major edits to the original 10 chapters, and possibly find an Editor or a Pre-reader. I'd love it if anyone could take time to Pre-read any of my chapters before posting, I'm sure that the quality of them would go up if somepony did.

See you in a week or so, and thanks for reading.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11
A Cave and a Crag.

The dragons had always lived there. This mountain had been their home since the beginning of time. Long ago they had walked freely under the sun, all across the land. In those times it had been their land, but as alicorns and griffins spread the dragons chose to pull away and hide in the depths of the mountains. Some people thought that they were scared, others believed the dragons had a reason for this retraction from the world above, and many more simply thought that dragons no longer existed. Their exploits had faded into legend, and their existence, slowly forgotten until they were creatures that occupied bed-time stories and dreams.

After a few minutes of searching the group came upon the entrance to the mountain, a cave whose mouth was dotted with stalactite teeth and exuded a warm wind. It had been a few hours since the five of them had read the letter meant for Greathoof’s armies in the griffin lands.
“So this is it?” Cliff asked, “I would have expected something a little more… I dunno, grand.”

“It’s probably far different from the cave you’re used to, Cliff” Sothe replied to the unimpressed griffin, “Don’t judge it.” Cliff just shrugged.

“What should we expect inside?” Celestia asked warily.
Treeflame giggled a little, “Dragons of course.”
The group approached the entrance cautiously, wary of every sound around them as they stepped into the cool of the cave. They began walking, slowly at first, but after a light spell from Celestia illuminated the path around them they began to push on faster.

“Sothe?” Luna whispered as they traveled.

“Yeah?”

“What do you think is happening in Athelta? I mean that letter was… ominous…”
Sothe sighed, “Likely when Greathoof realizes that no help is coming he’ll send a messenger to bring more soldiers back home. From there it’ll likely devolve into military rule until… well until we can do something about it.”

“… I want to go home…” Luna murmured.

“I know you do, but we have a job to finish. The moment we get Scar’s artifact, we’re heading home.”
Luna sighed and gave her sister’s mate a long look. She had never given her standing in his eyes thought before now. She had always assumed she was just Celestia’s sister to him, but this journey had brought about a change in her mind. He came across as a brother to her, which made sense. He was strong, and a leader, the kind of pony she would look up to.

Luna let herself fall a few steps behind the group. She gave each of them a turn under her gaze, first Celestia, her sister who had always been there with her, next Cliff, the slightly awkward griffin who she was proud to call a friend, and then the newcomer Treeflame. Luna knew very little about this dragon, but from the short time they’d spent together she could tell that Treeflame was full of life and laughter, and that had been enough to prove that she was at the very least, and enjoyable person to be around. She smiled to herself and then quickened her pace to catch up.

As the five traveled deeper into the caves, lead only by the light from Celestia’s horn, they slowly noticed a change. The air began to get warmer, and the tunnels wider (not that the entrance itself hadn’t been wide in its own right).
“We’re getting closer. I can feel it.” Treeflame broke the silence, sounding slightly giddy as they approached the place of her birth. The tunnel slowly began to grow wider and wider until it gave way to a full blown cavern. Stalactites littered the ceiling and the floor in front of them gave way to a chasm after about a hundred feet. A rope bridge that looked to be ancient spanned the gap as if creatures of their own size were once accommodated here. Far off to the left there lay a vast underground lake, big enough to have its own set of small islands within.
The most stunning feature that met them was a grand statue of a great wyvern that looked to be carved from milky quartz with eyes as deep as amethyst. It appeared to be a statue anyway, and the travelers were quite certain that it was, until it moved.
“What have we here?” mused a voice both ancient and wise, “In a hundred years we have had but ten visitors from the surface. All of them were griffin, and thus all killed, but here, unless my eyes fail me, I see alicorns and one of my own people. Very curious.”
The group stood in shock, unsure of how to respond. Sothe, always the diplomatic one, attempted to croak out a greeting.
“H-hello d-dragon…” His words were too quiet for the beast before them.
“Excuse me? Speak up boy, my head is rather far from yours and words don’t carry well in here.” The drake almost seemed to smile; perhaps he enjoyed seeing Sothe scared. Sothe had right look rather frightened. He had never in all of his life seen a creature so BIG!
Cliff took Sothe’s silence as a chance to speak up.
“You killed all the griffins? Why?”
The dragon looked down at the smaller creature, and appeared to almost smile.
“You know that my kind are a reclusive bunch yes? We have not had affairs in the world at large for at least three centuries, and as such many of our achievements have been forgotten through time.”
Luna quickly spoke up, her vast knowledge of dragons finally getting a chance to shine.
“Yeah! Uh, the dragons were the first beings to live in the world. Many scholars of draconic lore even say that dragons created most of the world.”
“Well, well,” the wyvern mused, “This little alicorn knows her dragon lore. Yes, yes we did create most of what you see today on the surface. The land was first barren, but with time and effort we took that land and shaped it into something magnificent. Then, we populated it.”
“Dragons lived on the surface?” Celestia asked, seemingly intimidated by his size.
“Yes. We did for a time. But that isn’t what I meant by ‘populating’ the land.”
“what did you-“
“We have been standing here for quite some time.” The white lizard interrupted, “ I believe that introductions are in order. I am Crag, the gatekeeper. And you are intruders.”
Sothe finally managed to speak, “Uh, yes. We are travelers. My name is Sothe, and these are Celestia, Luna, Cliff, and Treeflame. We… well all of us but Treeflame, are seeking a… an object.”
“And what sort of object might that be?”
“It is called the Flame Orb.”
The great dragon’s face grew solemn.
“And artifact such as that… the surface must be in dire times indeed… we have felt the rumblings of the earth. The stones above tell us of battles and bloodshed on the surface. This dragon is very curious of your reasonings to seek the Orb. Follow me, we shall talk in a more… comfortable place.”
He lead the group even deeper into the mountain, crossing the caverning with a single wingbeat. The travelers were forced to take to the bridge and inch their way across. Needless to say, the conditions of travel were not easy for the five. Keeping pace with the dragon was a rather daunting task.

A day. A full day Greathoof had been without a reply. The letter couldn’t have been lost in transit, magic didn’t work that way. What could have gone wrong? Punishments would have to be doled out for this lack of punctuality. He tossed around the idea of sending a second letter; possible one that would scare the generals into actually responding.
A loud rap to the door shook Greathoof out of his thoughts. With a slight thought and a small burst of magical energy, the door opened to reveal a soldier from the front who quickly fell to a knee in a respectful bow.
“Stand.” Greathoof barked blankly, not in the mood for this sort of interaction at the moment.
“Sir.” Said the soldier as he stood once more, “I’m here to fill the dragon’s post.”
Greathoof stood, confused.
“You’re here to do what?”
“Take the dragon’s post. My companion outside will escort her back to the front.”
“There are no dragons here soldier.”
“But… we sent her with the soldiers you requested. She was the fifth.”
Greathoof’s eyes narrowed as the implications became clear. The soldiers he had been sent had lost the dragon. His secret weapon. He turned his harsh gaze back to the soldier.
“Send your companion back to the front with a message. Tell him I need forty soldiers here as soon as possible. They are to come no matter how detrimental to the war losing them may be. Holding Athelta is far more important than the griffin lands.”
The soldier nodded slowly before leaving the house once again. Moments later, Greathoof returned to his thinking.
No dragon… that throws a wrench in the works… no matter though. The time will be made up once the city is under full control. He then turned his ponderings to a map laid out on the table in front of him. A map of the northern mountain range.

Of all the walking the group had done, this trek through the caves was by far the most tiring. Even Treeflame, who before had been unable to shut up about how great it was to be in a cave again, had quieted into nothing but the occasional grunt brought on by sore feet. Crag on the other hand seemed to be completely unaffected, save a little annoyed by the slowness of the visitors.
Through the trudge, only Cliff seemed to remain with the ability to talk.
“What were you saying before? About killing griffons?”
“your kind are not held in high regard with my people.”
“And why’s that?”
“You invaded this land, claimed the east for your own. We had populated this land with creatures of our own creation. To the mountains we gave diamond dogs, to the wastes, blood wolves. Of all the creatures we crafted, only one was our true pride.”
“Alicorns” Whispered a tired Luna.
“And again our little dragon scholar speaks the truth. Yes, we dragons fashioned alicorns from our own magic. We gave them the lushest land and the knowledge and power to care for it. We were more than content to watch them from atop the mountains, prospering. And then your race came and tried to claim the land.”
“… Not my fault… I wasn’t there.”
“No, I do not hold you specifically at fault, but your people, all griffins. I believe the saying is, it’s nothing personal.”
“Alright…” Cliff murmured.

The journey eventually came to a halt at the entrance to a vast cavern lit by the light of a pillar of what appeared to be stone that glowed with heat from within. The pillar gave off a warm, orange light that permeated every corner of the cavern, serving to also illuminate the three other dragons in the room, each matching the size of Crag, or greater. Although their bodies were ancient, they still appeared strong and their eyes burned with the same fire of life.

“Outsiders, Crag?” The central of the three spoke up, his voice seeming to rumble and shake the stone around him. His scales may once have been blue, but all the time away from sunlight had dimmed them to the point that only hints of color shined through.

“Yes,” Crag responded, him voice betraying no sign of weariness from the multi hour travel to this deep cavern, “They came from the surface, bringing one of our own, and coming with a request. Their prize is a troubling one to say the least.”
The dragon that had spoken leaned forward, as if to get a better look at the small creatures below him.

“Who is your leader?”

Celestia and Cliff nudged Sothe forward.

“I am…” Sothe murmured, clearly intimidated by the giant lizards.

“… well? Get on with it. What do you and your group seek.”

With a deep breath, Sothe explained their mission for the second time that day.

In the grey of the morning, five bodies lay on the dirt with slit throats. The five were the soldiers who had been sent with Treeflame. Around them, fourth-three alicorns stood, staring at the sight.

“I’d make a speech,” Greathoof began, “Something to make an example out of them, but I think it’s already apparent what happens to those who get in my way.” A soft murmur of agreement flowed through the crowd.

“Good. Now, all of you return to your posts. This city is to remain under my control.”

The group quickly dispersed.