//------------------------------// // Chpt. 14: Aspirations // Story: Daring Do and the Sword of Excalibur // by Silver Malice //------------------------------// Twilight tinkered again with the small ball like device between her hooves. Her horn glowing bright as she finally installed the last magical touches to her newly formed weapon. The device had come along quite nicely never-mind a few hiccups, which wasn’t too shabby considering she had thought it up and started working on it only two days ago. It had been hard work crafting the shell and exterior of the ball from raw stone, but Twilight had wanted to ensure that it could blend right into the dark and stone corridors of the spire. Hollowing out the inside had been even tougher, but she had managed to do so with only a slight migraine—or two—or three. Her head was pounding, her magical reservoir nearly emptied. The whole ordeal had made her bright mind hard as rock itself from the mental pressure she had been under. Furthermore a continuous diet of lack of sleep and a belly of fear and worry had taken their toll as well, making the recovery of her magic all the more harder. It had only progressed from that point for as soon as the device was completed it had taken a while to install the poisoned darts. Twilight had to make sure she was extremely careful installing the small thorn like appendages. Even the slightest prick from one could be enough to kill a full grown pony twice over. How Fluttershy managed to get these I have no idea , she thought to herself. After they were installed, it had only been a matter of rigging the contraption to fire upon the command of the recognition spell. The spell itself was also taking some serious work. Recognition spells were extremely tricky as they often required intrinsic detail of the subject down to the letter before they could work. If any detail was lacking in anyway, or was poorly written then it would interfere with the magical calculations. This was a serious problem as a poorly written calculation could cause the spell to backfire or worse. Another possibility was that the spell could instead focus on the wrong subject or not activate at all. Considering there was most likely only one shot at this Twilight didn’t want to waste it due to simple or senseless mistakes. “Of course there’s more to it than just that,” Twilight whispered to herself, her conscious flaring up once more as she built her weapon of death--no not death--murder. As much as readying her weapon had taken it out of her, she had been having an even more extreme amount of trouble coming to grips with the ethics of her plan. As a princess--and the princess of friendship no less—assassination in general was not something she wanted to be known for let lone apart of. Just the thought of such a thing made her cringe and nearly vomit. The purple alicorn was no stranger to defending herself, nor was she above using lethal force if the situation called for it. But there was more nuance to defending yourself in a actual battle or fight compared to pre-emptively killing another. If it wasn’t for the goal of ending this conflict and rescuing their captured friends and preventing any further loss of life, Twilight would never have even considered this approach. That is why this had to be perfect, there could be no mistakes, this needed to be decisive and on the mark. The whole affair was distasteful enough, but to have it fall apart or not succeed…well if that was to happen Twilight had no idea how she could justify the whole thing to herself. For this reason she had asked Celestia for her help, the sun princess had been only too glad to give it, despite her own issues with the actions they were taking. The sun princess was no fan of assassination either, but she had agreed with Twilight. This was indeed a necessary (if not the most necessary) action. The battle from the other day had gone even worse than any of them had thought. Mordrue’s forces had not only out maneuvered the Equestrians, but the spires crossbows and defenses had proved more than effective and near impossible to budge. Even with the warning at the beginning the first wave of Equestrians had been unable to avoid the brunt of the crossfire. And despite having captured nearly a quarter of Mordrue’s forces the fact remained the equestrians had suffered massive casualties and wounded of their own and were no further to gaining entrance to the spire or access to Scootaloo. Keeping with its ancient gryphon heritage, the spire had been built with sieges in mind, especially from magical ponies. The base and mortar of the tower had been decorated and sealed with special incantations and power stones known only to the old gryphon mages. Together these features placed special spells to keep the Alicorn’s and the unicorns out of the spire. A massive magical shield covered the fortress from base to tip, ensuring no one could teleport in, while also providing a barrier from any magical-based energy attacks. Given the size and capability of the defenses for the spire, Celestia had been forced to instead set up a siege, while calling for reinforcements and the picking up of the wounded. For this reason she was just as eager as Twilight to end this confrontation immediately. Luna had definitely not been happy either. The moon princess stuck back in Equestria trying to calm down excessively inept nobles, worried mayors and panicking pony folk wishing to know where their sun princess had gone. . Celestia often worried about leaving her sister in charge of the kingdom in her absence. Luna was not particularly patient, though she had a determined sense of fairness and justice. The sun princess had been sure her moon sister would be fine this time, especially with the grand appreciation for foal’s day. It was a great tradition where the princess would visit and take care of the local maternity ward, daycare, and infirm foals for the day, to show her appreciation for future generations of life. Celestia could still hear the angry rant of her sister as Luna crowed about, “knowing nothing about care-taking no foals .” Having to ask Luna to send more guards and soldiers had been an equally unpleasant experience. “For sky’s sake Sister you need even more troops, can thy not handle those squawking vermin on your own?” ooh Luna did know how to be so condescending sometimes, thought Celestia to herself. “That should be the last magical equation Twilight, all the spell needs now is the exact physical details for the targ-er-subject,” corrected Celestia. Her own horn starting to spark as she lifted up the scroll filled with magical algorithms and mathematical calculations. Celestia had a firm if not stoic expression on her face as her rainbow mane drooped around her shoulders, as if signalling the personal discomfort brought on by the task at hoof. “Thanks Celestia, I’ve got a pretty detailed calculation for Mordrue’s personal armor.” Twilight didn’t even hesitate as she bustled past the taller alicorn princess, picking up the scroll from her. “Are you sure the armor is all we need?” inquired the sun goddess. “I’m hoping so. We have no idea how many black griffons there are in there, or how many of them have green eyes. That armor of his is the only real feature I can be assured is unique enough for the spell.” Twilight was feeling a bit of vindication to learn she had not been the only one worrying over this exact issue herself for hours now. “We’ll just have to roll the dice,” she finally stated flatly. “Agreed, these kind of, issues, always are plagued by the unknown.” Celestia agreeing with Twilight made the purple princess feel a bit better. If only she could help her with the gnawing bear trap growing in her stomach. Twilight was about to ask a question that had been bothering her for a while now, when she heard the crack of a twig outside. “Who's there?” she called out. Pushing the tent flap open as she made her way outside the pavilion. Only silence and empty space greeted her, but she couldn’t shake the feeling she had seen a shadow silhouetted outside the tent when that twig had snapped. Maybe a lack of sleep and her rebelling mind was catching up with her? Limping back into the tent she waved off Celestia’s curious glance. “I guess it was nothing, thought I saw something. Must just be my mind playing tricks on me no doubt.” The purple princess rested her head on the desk by the corner of the tent in dejected silence. The question she had been contemplating retching back up in her throat. “C-Celestia?” she mewed, feeling as if all her fear and disgust were suddenly entwining in her belly and starting to claw up her throat. “Yes, Twilight?” “Is this the right thing? A-A-Am I d-doing the r-right thing?” the purple princess began to shake, staring at the small assassin ball lying before her. Meanwhile Celestia carefully looked over the trembling mare. Peering into her young peers agonized face, she couldn’t help noting how terrible she was looking. “It’s hard to say Twilight. A true leader should take care and pride in always trying an alternative to violence, before using it only as a last resort. Assassinations are horrible, cruel things, no matter how justified. They destabilize and undermine governments, corrupt and erode the trust of the people, and it taints confidence in the prospect of peace.” Celestia stood up from her seated position coming forward to wrap her large pillow-like wings comfortably around Twilight's shaking shoulders. The purple alicorn gave her a thankful look as she cuddled into the warm feathery embrace of her former mentor. “Then why can’t I think of another way? How sick must I be to have come up with this?” she whimpered. The poor dear more disturbed by her own lack of creativity to find a better solution. She was questioning her own abilities, her very soul, and Celestia could not let that stand. Giving her charge a reassuring nod Celestia put her hoof on Twilight’s damp cheek. The younger princess had been unable to stop tears of desperation and pain from trickling down. “Sometimes there is no other choice, Twilight. In order to save lives, to protect your subjects you have to be willing to go the distance. It doesn’t make it fair, it doesn’t even make it right, but we as leaders don’t always have the luxury of such morals.” Wiping the tear from the purple furred face Celestia leaned down to kiss Twilight on the forehead. “You are not a monster Twilight, you’re a considerate and kind hearted soul...would a monster feel this horrible, or this conflicted about taking a life? Even the life of someone like Mordrue?” inquired the sun princess. “I-I suppose not.” stumbled Twilight. “Of course not little one, I can see how this decision is affecting you, it’s torturing you. I wish I could take this pain from you, but I cannot dear, we can only move forward not back.” Twilight seemed to take solace from the words because she gradually pulled herself out of Celestia's warm embrace and pressed forward towards the stone sphere, spell in tow. “You’re right Celestia, this is more important, dealing with the consequences...that can come later.” Celestia smiled at the maturity of her charge, even as her experience made her grimace behind her smile. Oh Twilight, dealing with the consequences is not the hard part. It’s living with them that is the true challenge.” ~:~ Mordrue rolled across his mattress in a sweat induced panic as he once again entered the reoccurring nightmare that that been plaguing him for several days now. It started the same every-time; he was walking down a long bronze hallway until he came to a massive open chamber painted broad gold. In the center of the chamber lay the dark grey stone embedded in which was the blue colored blade with hilt of jewels, gold, and gems. Excalibur . The sword of legend and power! And yet every-time he went to lunge for the sword his talons could only grip the hilt and no more. With all his might, he would pull, using all that his gryphon strength could give him. But, as with every-time he had the nightmare, the sword never budged. It always remained still inside it’s stone casing, no matter how desperately the black griffon tried to pry what was his right from the sediments firm grasp. Then each time without warning or cause the sword started to glow bright red and became hotter and hotter, Mordrue himself would be suddenly thrown from the pedestal and onto the hard floor below. Looking up the black furred gryphon could only tremble in fear as the same terrifying image flashed before him again and again. The silhouette of a mare in front of the stone, Excalibur itself freeing from the stone only to fly towards him, molten gold dripping from the hilt and blade pouring onto his skin and feathers. A scream of pain and the ringing of bells tolling, screams and the sounds of battle echoed in his ears right before the blue blade came slashing down… “Ahhhhhh, MURDER, mommy!” screamed the back furred gryphon for the second time in a week as he came awake screeching in terror. The black furred gryphon’s body was a hassle of fur and sweat. His sanity in a state of mess, his usually piercing jade eyes were bloodshot and wide, and staring right now into the confused and guilty looking visage of Two Bits. The massive brawny griffon looked straight into his leaders terrified and equally confused eyes, the dark steel dagger neatly hidden behind his back while his other set of talons waved across Mordrues eyes. “Boss?” he inquired, not knowing if this was an opportunity to do what he had came to do, or if it was too much of a threat to go forward. Mordrue still didn’t answer, but it mattered not for the moment was lost as Scratch and Shekel burst into the personal quarters. “We’re here chief!” They screeched in unison nearly tripping over each other in their hurry. The two squawking gryphons brought Mordrue out of his stupor as he suddenly shook his head, his eyes glowing bright green as a wave of magic rushed over his body, wiping off his sweat and returning his fur to its normal pristine condition. “Never-mind all that!” he snapped at them. “But you were screaming boss,” mentioned Shekel. “Yeah, should we sound the alarm chief?” asked Scratch. “Think you morons, if there had been an assassin, I would be dead by now.” The black gryphon wasted no more words as he pulled himself off his bed and stretched his long black wings. “Oh right, you got a point there chief,” answered Scratch. “Yep dead and buried like a door-nail,” muttered Scratch. “If they only had a clue how close to the truth that was,” whispered Two Bits under this breath, sheathing the dagger behind his back in his belt calmly. Mordrue suddenly became aware of the third griffon in his personal quarters and glared at the massive warrior before him. “And what are you doing here?” “Um, just was passing chief when I heard you screaming, you seemed right out of It.” answered the other griffon on the fly. “Never-mind what you heard, get lost the lot of you, I want peace and QUIET!” screamed the chieftain towards the others. Turning his back on them he began muttering and repeating over and over. “Must find the sword, must find the sword, chamber of gold, bells and ringing, the sword, the sword is all that matters.” The three griffons looked at each other hesitantly as they slowly backed out of the room, not a single one of them were overly confident or reassured by what they had seen. Scratch and Shekel turned to head back to their own quarters Two Bits made his way up the spire ignoring his cubicle roost. His current destination was not sleeping but to head for the dining compartment. Waiting for the large gryphon in the dining area, crouched around a large cast iron stewing pot lay Quarter and Nickel. The two other griffons were stirring the morning’s breakfast as they waited for their elder brother. “That’s it, the old fool is cracking up,” snarled Two Bits as he took his place on the other side of his two brethren. “Huh couldn’t kill him then, didn’t figure you for another big mouth coward,” pressured Quarter with a disgusted snarl. The bright brown griffon had only a second to react before he found himself with the massive form of Two Bits above him, his throat held firmly in the talons of the bigger griffon, and a steel dagger held under this right eye. “I told you I would stick him, and I intend to do so, but only when the time is right.” The hulking warrior grumbled as he held his brother tight. “You said tonight you’d do it Two Bits,” whispered Nickel. “We’re tired of waiting; yesterdays fight with the ponies has only made this situation worse. We want free of this sinking ship!” he hissed. Two Bits snapped his attention to his younger brother. “That’s why we need the old fool, or do you fancy dealing with sun princess all by yourself?” glaring at the silver collared griffon, Two Bits hesitated as he waited for a possible answer. When none came he had all he needed to know. “I swear to you now,” promised the griffon dropping his gasping brother to the stone floor as he loomed over the two of them. “Soon we will be the ones ruling the roost, once we’re all free of Mordrue,” he ranted. “Once Mordrue’s dead the filly and then that sword will be ours… then we’ll feast on sweeter meats, have more swag than we’ve ever seen, it shall be glorious!” he snarled, while the other two griffons gave curt nods of approval. The three of them were so absorbed in their ambitions that they never noticed the pair of red eyes in the cracks in the stone wall behind them, which flashed once before disappearing back into the shadows and darkness of the dimly lit spire. ~:~ Mordrue was pacing back and forth in one of his more frequent occurring self rants, muttering and talking to himself in hushed tones. As he usually did when he was entrenched in one of these fits, he leaped off the ground. Flying throughout the spire was a way to calm his nerves, and it kept him from allowing his doubts to creep upon him while just sitting and waiting. Mordrue made his way around the many compartments and open spaces of the tower. The roost was built to house several griffon squadrons; in the absence of such forces the spire was quite empty and silent. His mind was too overly distracted and full of conniving ideas and merciless thoughts of doubt. Mordrue stopped himself right above the dining compartment and kitchen, the tips of his talons and claws scraped their way over the walls and stone as he paced back and forth in the air. This was starting to become more commonplace as the black griffon had started to grow exceptionally paranoid and self introspective. Sometimes he would spend an entire hour just muttering away nonsense and insane nothings to the void. His entire thoughts were only for focusing on the sword and how to get to it. The old him would have believed this to be insanity and would be alarmed by this behavior, but that part of him was growing fainter and fainter as the pressure around him grew and grew. The siege and fight with the Equestrians had also done very little to soothe him, despite the fact they had been currently fought to a standstill. The Griffons were down a considerable number of forces, but the equestrians had no way of getting into the tower. At first beating back Celestia’s pack of gangling girl toys had been refreshing in the beginning, but now it rang hollow in his mind. The Equestrians were nothing; the only thing that truly mattered was finding the sword for his people… or perhaps just for himself? There was only one way to find the blade, only one way to finally end his torment and need, and that was through the little brat. A part of him wanted to torture the little filly until her mind melted into ooze or she told him what he wanted, but of course that was the wrong way to go about it. So far he had the little fool believing all she needed to do was help him find Excalibur and she could return to her life. Better keep her believing that rubbish for if the little filly had any idea about what was really required of her, she might throw herself off the top of the spire. And of course there was still the pressing matter of what to do, with Daring Do. The annoying thorn in his side was still hanging from her prison in the lower chambers. At the thought of the golden brown adventuress, Mordrue couldn’t help but grin. From all the reports he had been given Daring had been truly broken, both physically and mentally. She would cry herself to sleep in the darkness of her prison—barely eating anything—her only vocal sounds the wracking of her body in sobs and tears. All he needed to figure out now was exactly what to do with her. Perhaps it could be solved with a private execution for his troops. Or he could let his followers do whatever they wanted to her? He could always simply leave her to die from hunger, that would be slow enough wouldn’t it? They were all good ideas, but they lacked the grand finale touch he was looking for. Perhaps he could melt the flesh from her bones in front of the Equestrians as a warning…decisions, decisions. The black griffons ears suddenly swiveled up as he could hear and feel the air around him change, hinting at the presence of another creature just below him. With a flash of his talons he gripped the throat of the young slim griffon underneath, dragging the red eyed straggler from the shadows. “Ah, Coin, my spy—my eyes and ears in the dark and night.” he hefted the smaller griffon to his feet, scraping the dust from his shoulders and wings. “Report spy.” Coin flashed his red eyes as he regained his breath, released from the tight grasp of his master. “Uh humphth, yes chief,” he spluttered. “Important news from the enemy camp. That purple princess is here.” “Twilight?” muttered Mordrue, “that friendship obsessed bitch has come back to my clutches has she...what about her?” he inquired. “She’s developed some kind of new weapon…and you are the target,” hissed Coin. The smaller wriggly looking griffon was trying not to look at the piercing glare of the black griffons eyes. “A weapon…heh hehe hehe, ah finally a pony after my own heart. None of them ever tried to assassinate me before, not even Celestia dared to cross that path. This princess of friendship is my kind of lady.” “I heard her say the weapon was magically targeted to attack the griffon wearing your personal armor,” added Coin. “Of course, recognition spells. She couldn’t risk one of you lot having the same fur color as me, nor did she want the device to activate prematurely.” Mordrue took the opportunity to look down at the armor he had started wear more frequently even while asleep. “That’s not all chief; there are also some domestic issues that need immediate serious attention.” “Such as?”came the reply. “Well…there are rumors in the camp…about a change of leadership…if you get my drift,” whispered the conniving spy, his calm and cold voice lowering as if he didn’t want anyone else to hear it. Fitting since there was no one else here. “Yes surprisingly I do,” answered Mordrue dryly. “Who?” he demanded. Coin flashed his red eyes nervously, before looking over guiltily towards the three griffon brothers huddled around the cooking pot to the left of them. Mordrue’s eyes narrowed as he gritted his beak. “Mutiny,” he growled right before dropping Coin onto the floor. Fastening his toe claws into the stone of the ceiling, he wrapped his black wings about himself. Inside his winged embrace he contemplated the information he had just received. The Equestrians were planning to assassinate him and as it turns out so were some of his own warriors. There had to be something he could do to make this work to his advantage, but how? If Twilight’s weapon failed, the Equestrians might try again, or they might immediately attack to make up for their failure. Such an action would only keep him too occupied to search for the sword, and every moment wasted would only further task his sanity. Not to mention how should he deal with the growing insurrection his own ranks? Allowing mutineers to fester and grow in malignancy was a recipe for disaster. He could make a public matter of it, but he didn’t know how far the plot went. Nor did he truly want to make it known among his followers that he did not have the full confidence of all his soldiers. Having to worry about two threats at once was a hindrance, if only both of these threats could be utilized to his own advantage…oh but of course, it was so perfect, all he needed to do was play this right and he could rid himself of both threats at once and engineer their escape out of this stalemate with the Equestrians. Dropping from the ceiling Mordrue flew past the kitchen area, picking up a small plate before heading downwards back to his throne. Stopping midway, he flew back up to come face to face with his spy. Coin had held his place while his leader rambled in his own thoughts; still standing as they came face to face. “Get back to the pony camp and wait there. When they’re ready to launch their little surprise, come and alert me got it!” Coin nodded furiously, giving a salute with his right wing. “You can count on me chief.” “I sincerely doubt that,” grumbled Mordure before turning around and flying back down the tower. Coin himself took the lapse to slink back into his shadows, back to spying for him. The black griffon made barely a sound as he settled from the air and upon the grand stone that he used as his seat of power. Making a comfortable landing spot beside his set of scrying mirrors he touched down upon the polished stone. Hefting off his armor Mordrue gently placed it on the pedestal beside his collection of mirrors, stretching his wings and arms as he adjusted to the loss of all that weight. Taking a deep breath, Mordrue readied himself, “TWO BITS FRONT AND CENTER!” he screamed, his voice carrying throughout the spire’s gloomy tower. It took a few minutes before the flapping of wings echoed down the rafters as the griffon in question made his way to answer his chief’s call. Landing on the ground in front of the stone, Two Bits kneeled. “Reporting in my lord, you called?” keeping his eyes down the warrior griffon waited patiently for whatever the griffon lord intended for him. Mordrue himself did his best to look occupied as he lifted the plate of cake he had snagged from the kitchens up into full view. Watching with delicious mirth as the blue eyes of the hungry griffon focused on the glazed portion of dark forest chocolate éclair surprise in front of him. Using one of his talons Mordrue daintily cut a piece of the cake off and with another picked it up and plopped it into his open beak. From where he was standing Two Bits gulped and licked his own dry beak hungrily…Being in charge of making the breakfast he and his brothers hadn’t been allowed to eat anything yet. “Ah Two Bits my old lad,” began Mordrue putting an effort into making his voice soft and sweet as honey. “You know I haven’t really appreciated your work of late. Your command and service in the battle the other day was most impressive.” “Oh, well thanks chief, just doing my duty,” replied the hulking warrior, himself covering the surprise in his voice with fake adoration. “Yes indeed, and I think it’s high time you were rewarded for doing so. It’s not the first time you’ve had to spill some blood in my service is it?” “Uh no chief, it isn’t.” “Well such dedication to the cause deserves recognition,” taunted Mordrue holding out another slice of the cake towards the now salivating griffon at his feet. “Oh thanks chief,” mentioned Two Bits as he reached for the slice only to have it plucked away from his talons and dropped like its predecessor into the warlord’s beak. “Yes, a proper reward for you, you see over the next day and so I intend to interrogate my young daughter, to learn the location of the sword. I shall be locked away from everything else until that is completed. Now normally I would leave Dukat in charge, but he’s been too sore lately since his injuries, and I don’t think he’s up to the task.” Placing the cake back on the ground by the pedestal holding his armor, Mordrue dropped off his rock to land right beside the kneeling griffon. “You are one of my more trustworthy officers, so I have decided to leave you in charge.” Two Bits was flabbergasted, it was beyond what he could have ever hoped for. Now not only was he being recognized for his service, but he was getting a chance to show everyone what he was truly capable of as a leader. Mordrue didn’t know it but he was helping to ensure his own end and his replacement all in one. “Aye, thank ye chief, this is an honor, it really is,” exploded the overconfident griffon. “It is indeed, now why don’t you let everyone else know while I’m away, got it?” quipped Mordrue intently his keen eyes flashing with the trepidation of a predator snaring its prey. “RIGHT chief, I’ll make sure they know who's in charge by the time the day is done,” snarled Two Bits, launching into the air in both excitement and pride. “Yes,” answered Mordrue watching him go with rapt intent. ”By the end of the day they will know that indeed.”