Prologue: No End in Sight
The killing was done and the war was over! Soldiers of Equestria milled about the decks of their ships, ecstatic to finally be heading home. Soldiers chatted happily with their comrades. They spoke of friends, lovers, and family. It would take sometime, but they would soon be home.
Behind the Equestrian ships lay the Griffin Kingdom, the source of death and pain for the ponies of Equestria. The Kingdom was responsible for the war and too many good ponies had been killed by the brutality of war, but at last the killing had ended! The griffin’s armies had been disbanded, and the griffin’s King had been toppled. Now the soldiers of Equestria looked ahead, to home and happier times.
* * * * *
Skyfall lay shattered before the 22nd Royal Legion of the Griffin Kingdom. Not that the 22nd was much of a Legion anymore. The Legion was well below half strength, with many of it’s soldiers scattered about Skyfall dead. The city smoldered and burned as the victorious Equestrian army, the enemy, piled onto their massive warships and left the Kingdom. As the Equestrians sailed away in victory, the griffins looked about to the grim task of rebuilding their nation.
Eriviara Orn Vorastrix stood facing the sea, the 22nd behind her on the mountainside, the destroyed city of Skyfall and the Equestrian navy lay below them. From their vantage point Eriviara and the 22nd had seen everything that had transpired that day below them. Through a pair of binoculars grasped in her claws, Eriviara watched as the final shots of the war were fired, the last soldiers died a pointless death, and she watched Skyfall burn. The city that had once been the gateway to the Kingdom now lay shattered, open to the world. Eriviara watched as the ponies took to their ships and left.
With the enemy off their shores Eriviara turned her steely gaze to what remained of the griffin forces in Skyfall. The final desperate attempt to destroy the Equestiran army had failed, and now the griffins before Eriviara were all that remained of the garrison force. Skyfall had been the last stand for the monarchy and they had lost.
Eriviara’s voice cut through the silence. “Secure the city and search for survivors.” Without another word to the soldiers Eriviara turned back to the smoldering city and the Equestrian navy, little more than dots on the horizon. “We have work to do.”
* * * * *
A spotted griffin scurried through the rubble of the avian city of Asgard, a small note clutched tightly in his right claw. Glancing about nervously the young griffin paused by an alley for half a heartbeat before rushing ahead.
Behind the little griffin the tiny note he’d grasped fluttered in the air before it was snatched from it’s unfettered flight. A dark griffin carried his prize from the searching gaze of the sun and fled to the dark shade of an old aerie. The griffin’s eyes darted about, checking to insure that he was alone before opening the note.
The griffin read the note several times, memorizing it before shredding it. Clicking his tongue the griffin took a moment to enjoy the silence and sense of calm that pervaded the day. It wasn’t something that the griffin expected to see again for a long while. The war with Equestria had ended, but a greater conflict was approaching, and there was no end in sight. The killing was far from over.