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// Chapter One: A Pound Of Feathers For A Pound Of Rocks 
// Story: Corrupting Knowledge 
// by Greentea68 
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	“Thine transaction art in-admirable!” a cloaked pony was brawling with a griffon merchant, under the Crystal Kingdom brewery. The griffon was selling exotic goods the the hooded pony needed for his experiments.  “dost thou not recognize mine goods art taboo,” the griffon said with a frustrated expression and a scowl.

 It was about this time that the shady equine had started to note the appearance of his potential assailant. The griffon wore leather armor which was holstered two crossbows in a crises-cross fashion. This was common for griffons because in the event of an attack they could fly upward and shoot at somepony with laser Precise accuracy. This is due to the fact that griffons evolved from eagles, making them extremely handy with a bow or crossbow.

 “Do we still have a deal?” he asked with a less than friendly tone. 
“Unquestionably, let us proceed,” the hooded pony said with a calm tone. 
“Wonderful that will be 2,500 bits,” the griffon said smugly. 
“2,500 bits!? thou dist say 500 bits were adequate!” the hooded one said with pure fury. 
“Thou hadeth a bargain, before thee had wasted mine time.” The griffon said as he spread his wings to make himself look bigger. This gesture meant one of two things: that the griffon was preparing for a fight, or he had suddenly became attracted to the mysterious equine. 

Knowing battle was imminent the caped one took off his cloak and hood revealing his features. He was average size stallion and had a baby blue coat, lyme eyes, with a  long wavy light orange mane and tail. He had a blocky head which was common among stallions. He was also a unicorn which allowed him to cast magical spells.

"For if a dual is thine wish, a dual thou shalt get!" the cyan unicorn said smugly as he spat at the at the griffon's claw.
"Very well!" the griffon squawked as he used his powerful wings to thrust himself behind a crystal barrel at lightning speed. The navy blue unicorn quickly dove into the cover of the shadows. Though the battle between both parties had but one flaw. The brewery (just like everything else in the Crystal kingdom) was made of pure crystal. This made finding cover a problem, due to the fact that everything was both delicate and transparent. 

"Hast thou surrendered hope?" said a now echoing voice from the griffon.
The Navy blue equine glanced out from behind a cask of crystal wine which gave him a small amount of cover. Not long after this quick peek at the griffon, the navy blue pony was introduced to a barbed arrow flying at his head. Thinking quick the unicorn cast a spell of reflection, which stopped the arrow mere millimeters from his head. He quickly took his newly obtained weapon to his advantage and shooting back in the griffon's direction.

 The navy blue pony heard a loud "SQUAWK!!" as the arrow had drove itself into the griffon's claw. going in one end then coming out the other side as blood slowly oozed from the wound. This would not kill the griffon, as their race are extremely good healers. To bring down a griffon meant to hit the heart, eyes, or sever a major artery. 


“Tis but a flesh wound,” the griffon yelled with agony trying to rip the jagged arrow out from his claw with his beak! The navy blue unicorn took this to his advantage and shoot a bolt of pure magic from his horn at the stalled griffon. Around the same time the griffon ripped part of the barbed arrow out from his claw, only noticing the the bolt of energy screaming toward his face. However by the time the griffon realized this, the bolt of magic impacted his head and throw the griffon against the wall.

 The unicorn watched in the reflection of the crystal how his foe slammed against the crystal wall, the sound of bones snapping and crystal shattering giving way to the griffon. The navy blue pony walked out with caution readying his magic for a quick teleportation spell. As the crystal dust cleared the air the griffon laid on the floor blood now pouring out of his body.

“Who… art … thou…?” the griffon asked weak and rapidly approaching death’s door. 
“Mine name…” the unicorn said with a short pause. “Mine name tis Sunlit Tides. Thou art?”
“Steel Wing-” Steel Wing let out a violent bloody cough and continued with a deep gasp “-thou hast made worm meat out of me." Steel Wing entered another a fit of bloody coughs while his pale white eyes rolled back into his head. Then he was dead, stone dead.

 Sunlit Tides placed his hoof over the deceased griffon's pale white eyes, closing them with respect. “Hush now, thine soul tis at peace now." The respectful mourning for Steel Wing was interrupted by several shadowy hisses. "Soul Seekers!" Sunlit Tides gave a sad glance at Steel Wing. "I'm sorry, mine friend," grabbing the griffon's bit-bag and drawing a quick transportation circle around Steel Wing's cart. "I do not thinketh thou shalt be needing thy possessions anymore," Casting the activating spell for the circle, the wagon slowly sunk into the ground while bolts of red lightning shot out in all directions.  A high-pitched scream could be heard just outside of the brewery, Sunlit Tides slowly opened one eye with all of his strength, knowing that advanced magic such as this even with the aid of a enchanted ring, was no simple task. 

Sunlit Tides's spell fizzled a little when he heard the sound of shattering crystal. In the corner of his eye he saw the thing anypony trespassing in the crystal kingdom never wishes to see, a Soul Seeker. These shadow-like creatures were created by King Sombra a dark lord who enslaved the Crystal Kingdom years ago. There purpose is to seek out the souls of any intelligent life form that crosses the Crystal Kingdom Dead or alive. When a Soul Seeker finds a body, it will go in through the nose and posses that body as a slave to fight, mine, or serve King Sombra in any way it can. Although that these seekers can posses the living or dead, they seem to prefer the dead ones for some reason. Thanks to this fact they ignored Sunlit Tides and went after Steel Wing’s corpse instead. Sunlit Tides knew that he needed to hurry, Soul Seekers travel in swarms but only one the enter a body, giving them them their nickname: The King's Seed. 


Sensing his life would soon be in danger, Sunlit Tides halted the spell. The sudden stop of the cart’s transportation sent an explosive discharge of pure energy in every direction. This caused most of the Soul Seekers to flee. Sunlit Tides to be thrown upwards through the brewery, fine techno-colored crystal shards penetrated his coat as blood quickly oozed out of his various lacerations like an ice cube on a hot summer day. Sunlit Tides was hurled outside, the smog tainted sky smelled strongly of death.The cries of fillies and foals could be heard in the distance, followed by the crack of whips and the agonizing screams of the crystal slaves who were to being tortured for betraying King Sombra.Though one would hear this if one's ears were not ringing from an explosion, having numerous fractures, and laying in a crater of razor sharp crystal, which was the situation Sunlit Tides was in.

Sunlit Tides opened his eyes to try and make sense of his possession.

Me hast been thrown through a brewing shack, fell onto now shattered crystal roads, and now Me hast an undead Griffon pursuing mine body, Sunlit Tides thought to himself.
Sunlit Tides tried to lift himself from his crater and immediately regretted it. Sunlit Tides let out an ear bursting scream as he looked down to find he had been impaled by a large shard of red crystal protruding out from his gut, Though that could have been his blood...

A ear bursting scream caused a pulse of fear through Sunlit Tides, as he was reminded that the zombified corpse of Steel Wing was pursuing him. In vain, Sunlit Tides attempted a spell to mend his wounds. His horn glew a faint red but fizzled out, Sunlit Tides’s vision also started failing him as darkness crept slowly inwards due to blood loss. 
“Faust… spare me…” Sunlit Tides mumbled with the last of his strength as he entered a world of darkness. the last thing he remembered before his journey into unconsciousness, would Steel Wing’s reanimated corpse. Steel Wing’s pitch blackened eyes appeared to glow with ominously purple and green as he stared deeply into Sunlit Tides soul.

 The zombie opened it’s beak as an aura started ripping violently at Sunlit Tides's soul. A white blow started to from in the space between the zombie’s maw and Sunlit Tides’s chest as he was thrown into what would appear to be a seizure.
 Sunlit Tides quickly started to feel more like he was death every passing second. Sunlit Tides was powerless to the hijacked body.


Then as if by chance, the living corpse of Steel Wing stopped and the aura faded into the air. Its eyes widened as it put both talons on its head and stood on its hind legs then screamed. Its cry was so loud that one may think it might have made the very earth shake. After what seemed like a century to anypony who was close, the ghoul exploded in a blinding flash of white light. This caused Sunlit Tides to snap back to reality. Sunlit Tides’s vision was blurry but he could make out a shadow, a shadow of a pony. Though, due to extreme blood loss and nearly having his soul ripped out of him, Sunlit Tides did not stay conscious for long. Sunlit Tides slowly made a peaceful slip back into 
darkness. Although if he where to note more of the features of his Sauveur, one would see that rescuer had steel armor, a gray coat, and red cat-like eyes and a horn. Nopony else could mistake the stallion, it was King Sombra.