Heroscape: The Equestrian Siege

Raelin opened her eyes to once again find them subject to blinding light.  This time, however, the source was not a sphere of raw arcane energy; it was the sun.  She would have liked a cloud or two to obstruct its rays so she could continue to lie down on whatever plush patch of grass she was on, but the sky was cloudless, and rest eluded her.

The kyrie rustled her metal-like wings to ensure they were in working order, and was surprised to feel the ground give no resistance to the movement.  She slowly sat up, the spear that had been lying on top of her rolling into her lap, and began rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.  She then rubbed some more to make sure she was seeing her surroundings correctly.

There was a significant absence of ground in her vicinity; in fact, she was somehow sitting on a cloud many hundred feet above earth.  The sky was not cloudless as Raelin had first suspected, she was simply sitting above the clouds, experiencing the sun's heat and brightness in its entirety.

Questions poured into Raelin's mind as she reflected on the past few moments that she could remember.  Where am I?  Why am I here?  Where are the others?  What was that bright light?  Why can I sit on clouds?  She stood, and, finding the cloud surprisingly stable, began to observe her surroundings in an attempt to answer some of her questions.

The view from her perspective was astounding.  Natural beauty stretched in all directions. The land was pristine, reminiscent of Valhalla before the Valkyries.  In fact, there was even evidence of civilization.  A small village lay nearly directly below her, and the principal mountain of the range no too far off in the distance bore evidence of a mountainside city-fortress.

Everything about the scene reminded her of home, specifically during her childhood, the only peaceful era of her life when power-crazed Valkyries weren't tearing the world apart with their war.  I can't be home, she thought.  But if I'm not home, then where am I?  She considered Earth as a possibility, but quickly dismissed it.  Her close friend Sergeant Drake had described humanity to be much more advanced than what she saw.

“Please, dear Raelin, allow me to answer your questions,” she heard the voice of Jandar say.  She looked about, trying to find the source of the voice.  Her spear grew a silver aura, and a ghostly image of Jandar's form appeared around the spear.  She let it go, and as she expected, the spear remained in place.  Raelin waited patiently for her Valkyrie general to continue.

“I'm so sorry,” the image said, suddenly breaking into soft sobs.  Raelin certainly wasn't expecting that.  She made to interject, but Jandar's ghost spoke first.  “No, let me explain,” it said, quickly regaining composure, tears still evident on its ethereal face.

The image sighed, preparing itself to impart the grim news to his subject.  “I have little time; my power dims, and shortly, I'll be no more.  Please let me say my piece without interruption.”  Raelin indicated to her former general to continue.  “While you and the others fought on the lands below, we Valkyries fought in the skies.  The numbers were in our favor; Utgar stood alone against the four of us.  But his might was unmatchable.  The sad truth is that he was bound to be victorious.  So we...we...”

Jandar resumed his tears.  Raelin had an idea of what was coming next, but was willing to let her general continue at his own pace.  Jandar was quick to compose himself again, and confirmed Raelin's thoughts.

“So we destroyed Valhalla, and everything on it.  It no longer exists to be put under Utgar's subjugation.  And he no longer lives to threaten any other worlds.  Not all is lost from the conflict, though.  Ullar, Vydar, and I...we were able to save some.  You are of the two I managed to rescue, and I am unsure of who Ullar and Vydar managed to spare.  But, that leaves you here.  And I don't know where here is.”

The kyrie loosed a single tear.

“I must go now.  My remaining strength is nearly diminished...go, find Drake, and live free...”

Raelin stood still as a statue.  Jandar's image faded away.  When it was nearly completely vanished, Jandar said his parting words.  “I'm sorry.”  And with that, Jandar died.

Raelin grabbed the spear as it slowly began to descend to the cloud's surface.  Conflicting emotions coursed through her system; understanding at the decision, hate towards Utgar, rage and loneliness from her losses, gratitude due to the conflict's conclusion, and...a festering hatred for Jandar?

Yes, it was true, the more she though about it.  The Valkyrie that she had devoted her life to had disappointed her, and she hated him for it.  It wasn't just the disappointment; it was the loss and pain he had brought upon her for his inability to logically think through the situation.  Instead of observe and look for a weakness, Jandar -and the other Valkyries for that matter- took the easy way out, and now she was the lone Valhallan to suffer the consequences.  Everything she had held dear had been stripped from her, and she was furious.

The cloud found itself pierced several times by the kyrie's spear several times as she physically expressed her distress, a rare occurrence for the typically stoic kyrie.  Her tantrum lasted for several minutes, until she had worn herself out.  Needless to say, the cloud was no more, but another conveniently drifted by, and Raelin used it to finish her outbreak.

Instead of violence, the kyrie simply broke down.  She cried, allowing the tears from so many years of loss and strife pour out of her.  The cloud almost seemed to rain, and for an hour she cried, until the wear of her raw emotions drew her into a fitful sleep.  One word plagued her thoughts as she tried to wrestle away her conscious thoughts: Drake.

It was quite late when Rainbow Dash left the pizzeria, stomach completely satiated with pizza and root beer.  She didn't often go to Cloudsdale to treat herself out to dinner, but after an intense day of perfecting a new trick too awesome for words to describe, she felt that she had deserved it tonight.

The full moon painted everything a pleasant shade of light blue and provided sufficient light for a pleasant nighttime flying session; which to her meant practicing some more.  However, with her belly feeling like it was about to rupture from its rather generous filling, Rainbow doubted that she could do too much with regards to fancy flying without losing her meal.

Actually, a short walk sounds nice, she decided after feeling a comfortable breeze brush by her.  She began trotting away.  After a few steps, she felt a little queasy.  A short burst of gas lurched through her throat, and she let out a loud and extremely unflattering burp.  “Excuse me,” she said to anypony who heard, which numbered around zero.  Now feeling better, she continued her walk.

And two figures followed.

Rainbow's walk lasted about ten minutes before she became bored.  She was tired; throughout her brief walk, she had zoned out and didn't really think of anything.  Once boredom captured her, though, she shook her head to wake herself up.  Apparently, she had been walking towards the rainbow factory.

Deciding that it was time to return home, Rainbow spun around and prepared to take off.  Considering that the cloudy streets had been vacant of ponies from what she remembered, Rainbow was surprised to turn to two exceptionally bulky figures only a few feet from her.  The dim lighting made it difficult to make any parts of their faces out, but they're bodies had distinct feline and avian characteristics.

“You're Rainbow Dash, right?” one of the asked slightly maliciously.  There was a clicking sound indicative of a beak snapping shut.

“Yeah,” she replied, a little nervous.  “What are two gryphons like you doing in Cloudsdale?  Or more specifically, following me?”

“We were looking for you,” the other one gruffly said.

“Why don't we introduce ourselves?” the first gryphon said.  “I'm known as Talon Ted,” the obviously male gryphon said, extending a talon for a hand shake.  Rainbow Dash hesitantly obliged.

“I'm Lazerbeak,” said the other gryphon, also offering his talon for shaking.  Now that Rainbow was close to them, she could make out some of their facial features.  Talon Ted had a rather plain face for a gryphon, having the rather common white feathers and yellow beak, though it had a black tinge near the tip.  His partner, Lazerbeak, was a bit more extravagant.  Lazerbeak also had white feathers, but red feathers formed a small ring around his golden eyes, and his beak was black, fading to yellow at the tip.  As for their feline parts, Talon Ted was the standard brown while Lazerbeak was white, a rare color for gryphons from what Gilda had told her.

Dash made to pull her hoof out of Lazerbeak's talon, but found that the gryphon clenched it tighter upon doing so.  An evil smirk formed on the gryphon's face.  “Uh, you can let go now.”

“Actually, there's something we need to discuss, and we can't have you trying to escape,” Talon Ted  said gravely.  “So until we're done with our chat, you're coming with us.”  Without waiting for a reply, Lazerbeak pulled Rainbow Dash behind him as he and Talon Ted walked into a nearby alley.  Once there, Lazerbeak threw Dash into one of the surrounding walls, though being made of cloud made the impact more comforting than painful.

“Geez, if you just wanted to talk, you don't have to be so pushy,” she complained.  Though she appeared to be calm and collected on the outside, her mind was in complete panic.  What she was experiencing was something she might find in a cheesy fan fic -Daring Do, of course- and however cliché it was, it was no less intimidating.  If these gryphons wanted to hurt her and she managed to get away, her stomach full of undigested crap would punish her later.  If she managed to get away, a very unlikely looking prospect due to her pizza driven slowness and the gryphons' apparent fitness.

“Uhm, so why did you want to talk to me?” she asked while looking around for a quick escape if the situation came to it.

“We're here on behalf of a certain...someone, who I've heard you're quite familiar with, who you've also hurt tremendously.  All we want to do is get you to agree to apologize to her,” informed Talon Ted.

“By any means necessary,” Lazerbeak quietly added, taking a menacing step toward Dash.

She took a step of matching size away from him.  “And who is this certain some...one?  Not a pony?”

“Good observation,” Talon Ted smirked.  “No, this someone is indeed a non-pony you're quite familiar with.  A gryphon named Gilda.  Ring any bells?”

“Of course she does!” Rainbow shouted.  “She was, like, my best friend until I saw her last.  Last time I saw her, she had become a complete jerk to my real friends.”

“Oh?” Lazerbeak said.  “That's not how Gilda described the situation.”

“Indeed,” agreed Talon Ted.  “No, she said that she had gone to check up on her best friend, but arrived to find that her once best friend had abandoned her, and even downright refuted her attempts to continue their friendship.”

“Well, yeah, that's kind of what happened,” Rainbow relented.  “But, she was treating my other friends like trash, and I can't stand for that kind of behavior.”

“And yet you go about rejecting her in the most cruel way possible,” Talon Ted retorted.

“How so?”

Lazerbeak spoke this time.  “Well, let's start with the fact that you didn't even tell what she needed to change about herself to get accepted again.  Let's follow that up with the fact that you're, I don't know-”

“-the element of loyalty?” Talon Ted finished.  “Kind of ironic, being betrayed by Miss Loyalty, don't you think?”

“My tastes in friends has changed, okay?” she defended.  “And if she can't get over that, then she won't be my friend; simple as that.”

“Did we ever say we disagreed with you?” Lazerbeak asked.  Dash cocked an eyebrow at him in confusion.  “We're friends with Gilda too, her last ones, to be precise, and we know how she is.  We know she was the one to bring up this conflict in the first place, but it's the way you handled the situation that puts us on edge.  For the poor gryphon's well being and for the aforementioned reasons, it is...extremely well advised that you apologize to her and work out your problems.”

“For her well being?”

Next to her Talon Ted pulled a switchblade out from under his wing.  “This blade here...we found it under her pillow.  Coated in her blood.  Ever since you rejected her, she's grown depressed and has had suicidal thoughts.”

“What?!” Rainbow shouted, now concerned for her old friend.  “That's...that's awful.”  Unshed tears began to line her eyes.

“And it's your fault.”

Rainbow snapped, her sadness and concern now turned to anger.  “How is it my fault?  I don't control her!  Her behavior is her choice alone, and while it's sad to hear she's acting immaturely, I'm not going to apologize to her for something she did.”

“The thing is, Dash,” Lazerbeak said maniacally from behind her, “you are, and we're going to make sure that you do.”  Talon Ted withdrew the short blade from the switchblade.  “By any means necessary.”

Giving the two gryphons no time to make their move, she flew straight up as fast she could.  The gryphons quickly gave chase, ever so slowly closing the distance between them.  As they approached her, she spun upside down and stopped.  Talon Ted zipped past her, followed by Lazerbeak, whom she swiftly bucked in the gut as he passed.  Dash then dashed in the opposite direction, her pursuers gracelessly pivoting and following suit.

Her stomach was already protesting to her movement, and the slight pain was distracting her from flying fast.  The gryphons were quickly coming upon her, and in her panicked state of mind, she did the only rational thing her mind could think of:

“HEEEELLLLP!”

The weary kyrie had eventually fallen into slumber, but that was several hours ago.  As of now, she had calmed and collected herself, and had decided it best to scout her surroundings and gather her bearings.  It was rather late, but the brilliantly shining moon provided sufficient light for her to see well.  Currently, she stayed high so as to avoid detection from whatever lived on the ground, though her reflective wings could potentially spoil her cover.

As she flew, though, she happened upon a curious discovery: a city made of clouds in the sky.  The clouds that resembled streets were void of occupants, and the kyrie took the opportunity to investigate and find out what she could of the inhabitants.  She landed softly.  None were around to see her, but she held her spear defensively in case she was caught and the inhabitants were hostile.

Raelin only managed a few steps before she heard a faint scream.  “HEEEELLLLP!”

The noise disturbed something in a nearby building.  A light turned on in one of the cloud buildings, and Raelin quickly dove out of sight of the building.  “What was that?” Raelin heard a voice from the disturbed building say.

“Sounds like somepony's in trouble,” came the reply.  “I'm going to go notify the guard.”

“Probably a good idea.  Be safe.”

“You know I will.”  There was a light flapping of wings, and the building returned to silence.  Raelin broke her cover to investigate the source of the distress.  In the distance, she could see three silhouettes, one of which was being followed by the other two significantly larger ones.  “THEY'RE GONNA HURT ME!”  This scream seemed to originate from roughly the direction of the silhouettes.  Raelin sped off without any hesitation.

Well, this is the end, thought Dash as the two gryphons got within inches of her.  At this point in the pursuit, Rainbow's stomach and other weary muscles began to falter.  Talon Ted and Lazerbeak were nearly upon her, and none had responded to her desperate request for help.

So far, the crazed gryphons had managed to keep up with all of Dash's maneuvers.  Had they not been attacking her, she might have commended their speed, agility, and determination.  This was not the case, and thus she found herself fearful of them rather than awed.

She gave one last attempt to shake her pursuers, repeating the same move that she had done at the beginning of the chase, only omitting the kick in exchange for flying early.  Once again, Talon Ted and Lazerbeak passed over her, and it took them a few seconds to reorient themselves and continue.  Rainbow had gone ahead several meters in those precious seconds.

Dash heard the sound of another set of wings joining in behind her, followed by two loud thunks, then, surprisingly, followed by silence.  She allowed herself to fly ahead for a couple of more seconds, and after continuing to not hear her pursuers, she chanced a look back.

Once again, Talon Ted and Lazerbeak had been outmaneuvered by the rainbow-maned pest.  They heaved their hefty bodies around to continue to chase their prey.  The two of them sped forward to make up lost distance, only to fly head first into a glowing blue magical shield.  Stunned by the impact, they paused to let the daze pass.

Within a couple of seconds, the fuzz in their vision dispersed, and they found themselves standing off against a strange creature they had never seen before.  It was tall, easily almost six feet in height, and very slender.  It had a pair of arms and a pair of legs that indicated plantigrade locomotion.  The creature also had a head that, to the gryphons, seemed too small for its body, and a large set of wings sprouting from its back.  Additionally, it was clothed in flexible armor and wielded an imposing looking spear.

“Whatever you are, you're in our way,” Talon Ted said to the creature.  It tensed and eyed the open switchblade in his talon.

“I'll not let you continue with your plans,” it replied in Equestrian, shocking both him and Lazerbeak.

“You can...talk?” Lazerbeak asked, mentally stunned this time.

“I suppose so,” the thing answered.  “And I heard your victim's pleas for help, and will oblige it.”

“Then I'm afraid you're making a mistake,” sighed Talon Ted.  He then rushed the thing.  Its spear glowed blue, and another shield formed in his path.  He crashed into this shield as well, and the creature took advantage of his daze to smack him across the face with the blunt end of its spear.  The blow wasn't too hard, but it still chipped his beak.  The pain made him bring his talons up to his beak to suppress the pain, and his grip on his switchblade loosened.

Lazerbeak charged so as to protect his companion, but a swift uppercut with the spear's shaft caught him in the neck.  He choked for a second, which was long enough to leave him vulnerable to the creature's follow up strike.  He felt the flat of the spear strike him across the face.  He allowed the force of the blow to carry him to a nearby cloud, where he landed and fell unconscious.

With his companion down and himself still in pain, the lonely gryphon simply stayed put and allowed the creature to thrust the blunt end of its weapon into his chest.  The pain he felt amplified suddenly, then faded as his consciousness did as well.  Luckily, his body landed on a cloud not too far below him.

After confirming that the two gryphons that she had beaten were still alive, Raelin looked around the vicinity for the thing that they had been hunting down.  A head darted behind a nearby cloud, and she chose to investigate.

Raelin approached the cloud, and it stirred.  She waited a few seconds for any further reaction.  “Come on out,” she said soothingly after a few seconds, and almost instantly, a head popped out, followed by the remainder of an equine form.

The equine was short, a little more than half Raelin's height, and had wings.  It's mane and tail were long and multi-hued, though the moon's radiance made determining the specific colors somewhat difficult.

“Who...what are you?” the equine asked.

“My name is Raelin.  I am a kyrie from what was once Valhalla.  What is your name?”

“Uh, Rainbow Dash.  You didn't kill them, did you?” the now named Rainbow Dash questioned, indicating to one of the downed gryphons with a nod.

“They will be fine.  A few bruises, maybe, but no lingering harm will come to them.  I'm going to guess that an occurrence like that isn't common?”

“Which part?  The 'chased by two maniacal gryphons' part, or the 'alien creature saving me' part?”

“The second is obvious,” Raelin replied.  “I'm specifically talking about the gryphons.”

“Um, no, gryphons are a rather rare sight around here.  I should probably get the Guard to deal with these guys.”

“Someone else has gone to do that,” assured Raelin.

“Okay...” Dash said awkwardly.  There was a short pause.  “...So, while we wait for the Guard, would you mind telling me why you're here?”

Raelin sighed; this was not a story she had wanted to repeat.  “I'd rather not go into details,” she started, “but what I can tell you is that my home was destroyed, and I've been sent here to escape destruction.”

“Oh.  So, what are you going to do here?”

This was something Raelin hadn't given much thought.  “I do suppose I've overlooked that detail.  Finding some lodging seems like a logical place to start, then I'll try to find a way to contribute positively to this society.”

“The Princess is probably going to want to know about you.  Maybe she could be convinced to get you a place to stay until you're ready to leave,” Rainbow suggested.

“That sounds like a viable course of action.  I know not where this Princess is, though.”

“How's this: once we deal with the Guard, we can head over to my house.  I've got enough room for you, and it's the least I could do to return the favor.  Tomorrow morning, we'll fly over to Canterlot and get you situated with the Princess,” Rainbow Dash offered.

“Your hospitality is most welcome.”

A few minutes later, several members of the Royal Guard were upon the scene.  They were surprised to see Raelin just as Dash and the gryphons were.  Upon Dash's insistence, they allowed her to take the alien for the night, with a small escort, of course.  Talon Ted and Lazerbeak were quickly arrested, and within a few minutes, the guards minus Dash's escort had vacated the scene.

With nothing left to do there, Dash led the way to her house so she could finally conclude her chaotic day.