It's that time of year again. Hearth's Warming is on its way in Equestria, and ponies are getting festive just like every other year. But, when Pinkie Pie asks Rainbow Dash to hang up the lights on Sugarcube Corner, she'll face a challenge tougher than opening peanut butter jars and having a lasso contest with Applejack.

EDIT: What?? My story is on the popular list at 8:12 PM on December 24th, 2014???? It's a Christmas miracle!

12/25/14: Still going strong...
Late evening of 12/25/14: Aaaaaannd... it's gone.

Cover art by Aurora-Borealis

[img]https://i.imgur.com/GizVyc0.png[/img]

The gryphons were not always monsters. That came later.

In the earliest days, they were our friends. They flew alongside pegasi. They shared the land with earth ponies. They studied beside unicorns. There was no fear between us. That came later too.

Time drew our people apart, but it was not time that made them monsters. They made that choice themselves; they chose their fate. And it was the greatest gryphon who sealed it.

He was born, many years ago, on a mountain far to the north...

When your life is as dull a gray as the world that surrounds you, the mundanities can make it all seem meaningless. Sometimes all we need is a little color -- or six -- to reintroduce us to what truly makes life worth living.

*6-16-2017 Edit, added Rainbow Dash tag because it triggered knighty.*

Motley outcasts, dejected mages, and sordid warriors find themselves on a collision course with destiny in this budding epic.

Set in an Equestria wounded from Tirek’s bout for power. Where once compassion and warmth was well in stock, tragedy wrings the hearts across Equestria dry from the values they once so cherished. Monsters lurk blin everyone’s shadow. Some are beastly, some are equine. All of them are working to tear down the paper thin peace holding the kingdom together.

Can courage and loyalty stop the darkening of Equestria's soul? Come, get swept up in a whirlwind of intrigue and action to find out!

Parts Edited by:

JR Black Wing.

FtDLulz

Myrkur

0_0

"The characters in this story are protected by OCRA"

Things are hard in Ponyville for Fluttershy and Discord; mainly because of Discord. But when magic starts to go on the fritz and eventually starts failing altogether, it's up to the main six and the Draconequus to find out what's causing it and, more importantly, how to fix it.

This would be a lot easier if anypony trusted the King of Chaos to begin with, but with bigger problems on the horizon, some things will have to wait to be dealt with. Like trust. Or loyalty. Or friendship.

Of course, sometimes what we think isn't important to deal with right now, is exactly what's needed to prevent things from getting far, far worse.