//------------------------------// // Clipped Wings // Story: Clipped Wings // by CptBrony //------------------------------//               The day started as it always did; bright, shining sun, and a chilly gust that he had been accustomed to since the day he was born. Living at altitude did that to a society.             The little griffin sat up in his nesting and looked out the stone doorway over the valley. It was a glorious view, one that any ground dweller would rarely ever get to appreciate. Most of them wouldn’t handle the cold too well, though.             “Yafid!” his mother called. “Yafid, wake up, or you will be late!”             “Coming, ma!” Yafid shouted back.             As usual, he had to go to school today. It was a fairly new thing, mandated public schooling for young griffins. Yafid didn’t remember the days where it wasn’t mandatory, but his ma and da grew up in those days. They were raised as a farmer and warrior, respectively. His mother traded as well, which was how she made the money to influence the city governor to mandate public school before he was born.             Yafid’s da had never learned how to read. His mother was very good at reading, and often read Yafid stories to help him go to sleep. Those stories were okay, but he preferred the stories his ma had of her clever trading and his da’s stories of battles won. He had never lost a battle; that was how he was there to raise Yafid.             “I’m here, ma!” Yafid announced as he rushed into the room with his waiting parents.             “Good, can’t have you being late for school,” his da said. Yafid jumped up and tackled his da, who pretended to be knocked over by the sheer force.             “Ah! He has slain me, my love!” Yafid’s da said. “He is too strong! He may resist going to school!”             “Haha!” Yafid said, turning to his ma. “None can defeat me!”             Yafid’s ma chuckled. “Well, you won’t win any battles if you can’t read the strategy books, will you?”             “Oh no!” Yafid said. “Da, I have to go!”             Yafid gave each of his parents a big hug, then ran outside and took flight. He had only recently gotten flying down, with the help of his da and encouragement from his ma. It was still a little awkward, but it was the greatest moment of his young life. Seeing his parents so proud of him was the greatest thing he could have asked for.             The flight to school wasn’t too far for him, which was good, as he still ha dot train those flying muscles. He’s only eight years old, his parents would say, of course he wasn’t an expert at flying. No one expected him to be. But he was determined to be something entirely different from what anyone expected him to be.           When Yafid landed at the school; a repurposed government building from decades ago; he met up with his classmates and waited for the teacher to bring them inside. She was a nice griffin, and she always seemed to have an answer for their questions.             “Yafid!” a voice called. Yafid turned.           It was his best friend Vadim. Their das had been battle buddies, as they said, for many years, before even meeting their mas. When they started sending their kids to school, they made sure to send them to the same school. The kids hit it off instantly, and their das took any opportunity to hang out and drink that nasty Ale stuff.             “Vadim!” Yafid called back. He ran to his friend. “Hey!”             “Hey!” Vadim replied. “Did you fly here by yourself again?”             “I sure did!” Yafid said proudly. “Ma and da taught me well.”             “Awesome!” Vadim said. “I only flew halfway here today, but I wasn’t too tired after.”             “Cool!” Yafid said. “Soon, we’ll be the best flyers in the whole class!”             Before long, the teacher came out and pulled the kids in for the beginning of their lessons for the day. It was Sunday, the first day of the week for school, so it was gym and history day. Everyone loved Fridays because they usually got to reenact battles with pretend swords and armor. Everyone got assigned a part, and they were encouraged to ham it out and make it extra fun. It certainly got them all to remember their history.             Today, Yafid and Vadim got the parts of their own das in the Battle for Bobrov Pass. Their das had been critical in preventing the evil, twisted Arimaspi from crossing the pass into the city’s outer limits. No one knew where the twisted creatures came from, but they could see very clearly that they were full of evil and thievery. They were much smaller than the Arimaspi of legend, though, and no one ever found out why, or where they came from.             They got to swing their cardboard swords at their classmates, bellowing their squeaky battle cries against the rawrs of their foes. The teacher could hardly contain her laughter at the absolutely adorable display of tiny griffins putting on their war faces. When they finished, everyone was completely exhausted, and it was time for some well-earned naps.             When they all woke up, it was time for flying practice. At least, for those who could. The rest had to learn the basics of flight first, and they had to run around and do an obstacle course to get stronger for flying. Yafid flew the whole practice with Vadim, trying to keep him off the ground. Vadim had to land a few times, but he was really getting the hang of it.             “Yeah, Vadim!” Yafid would shout when his friend got off the ground. Vadim always pushed himself to keep up with his friend, just behind but always right there. Yafid had to work hard to stay ahead.             When the practice ended, all the little ones were completely beat and ready to eat. The teacher always finished the day with an awesome meal she cooked herself in the other room while the kids were napping. She made a cooked beef platter with some tasty seasonings on it that helped the kids grow big and strong.             “This is really good!” Vadim said.             “Thank you,” the teacher replied.             “Hey, Vadim, do you wanna try to fly home?” Yafid said.             “I’d rather not fall down,” Vadim said.             “Not high or anything, just a few feet off the ground,” Yafid said. “Come on.”             “Okay, as long as we aren’t too far off the ground,” Vadim said.             When the meal was concluded and everyone cleaned their plates off, the teacher let them go for the day, and Yafid and Vadim flew home to Yafid’s house. They were so good at flying, they could even outfly the Wonderbolts of Equestria someday. They could form their own flying team, and they’d get all the attention and make tons of money.             As they flew home, they noticed something was off. No one seemed to be out in the streets. There were signs that griffins were in their homes, but their doors were all closed and they didn’t seem to be intent on taking visitors.             “Hey, Vadim,” Yafid said nervously. “Is something wrong here?”             “I don’t know, Yafid,” Vadim said. “Let’s just get home.”             The pair of little griffins hurried back to Yafid’s home. When they arrived, they tried to open the front door, but it was locked, and the windows were all bolted shut. Yafid was too exhausted to fly up to the roof and try to look behind the house, so he knocked on the door.             “Ma!” he shouted. Instantly, the door flung open and two claws grabbed the little ones and yanked them inside.             “Yafid!” his ma proclaimed.             “Ma, what is happening? Where is everyone?” Yafid asked.             “The city is under siege again,” Yafid’s mother explained. Yafid and Vadim gasped. “It is nothing we haven’t seen before, do not worry.”             “Why are we hiding, then?” Vadim asked.             Yafid’s mother paused. She didn’t want to scare the children, but there was something distinctly different about this siege than any from the past. They were led by some brilliant tactician, a human of unknown origins. Word was that he had studied extensively war tactics in the human world, and she was a master of seeing through enemy defenses.             “It is standard procedure,” Yafid’s mother said.             “It is?” Vadim asked. He and Yafid had never been under siege before.             “Of course,” Yafid’s mother said. “We are safe, but if something should somehow occur out of nowhere, it is best to be prepared.”             “Okay, ma,” Yafid said. His ma said they would be okay, and if she said it, they would certainly be fine by morning.             It would have been believable if both Yafid’s and Vadim’s das hadn’t rushed in just after  Yafid’s ma said it.             “Da!” Yafid shouted, running to his da.             “Yafid!” his da said. He picked up his boy and Vadim’s da grabbed Vadim. “We need to go, now!”             “Da, what is happening?” Yafid shouted.             “The city is falling, we need to go!” Yafid’s da said.             “What?” Vadim said.             “Gradin, I’ll take the front,” Vadim’s da said. “I’ll take rear. Oleka, hold the kids. We need to leave now.”             “Da, where is ma?” Vadim asked.             “She will meet us outside the city,” Vadim’s da said. “We need to get there to see her again.”             “Okay,” Vadim said.             Oleka grabbed the kids and took her position in between Gradin and Vadim’s da. Yafid and Vadim cowered in Oleka’s arms, terror striking their hearts. Their city was falling, the city they lived in. Where were they supposed to go?             As soon as they left the house, the kids witnessed a battle raging everywhere. In not five minutes, the city went from a dreadful quiet to a manic scene of panic and screaming and clashing of steel. Oleka tried to shield the little ones’ eyes, but she couldn’t stop them from seeing the families of their friends being run through by griffins from another city. Why did they come here to attack them?             It didn’t matter right now; right now, they had to just run. Gradin started moving down the street, Oleka right behind. Vadim’s da kept an eye on their rear as they moved, ready to fend off any cowards who would attack them as they fled.             The battle had already been lost hours before it even started. The human general leading them had her forces set up all kinds of traps to catch the city guard by surprise, and set up ladders that would enable them to scale the wall all the way from the ground, where the sentries wouldn’t be able to spot them advance. The battle hadn’t even started before they were in the city, making their strike.             At this point, it was every griffin for themselves. No one was safe, and the city had fallen. Gradin tried to lead their small group through the streets to the rear exit to the city, but there were so many enemy forces in every direction that there was no way any exit would actually be clear. They couldn’t fly because the human general had designed net launchers that would take a griffin out of the sky. Gradin didn’t want to see his wife and child, his best friend and his child’s best friend fall hundreds of feet to their demise.             The enemy even had long range siege weapons, launching burning boulders into the city, annihilating sentry towers and showering the streets with rubble. Gradin leapt over his wife to protect her and the kids from falling rocks. He held them down, but he couldn’t look up to see a massive boulder coming down on them.             “Gradin!” Vadim’s da shouted.             Vadim’s father rushed the group and shoved them as hard as he could away from their spot. Just as the boulder came down, they fell out of its path. Vadim’s da smiled for a brief moment as his success before the boulder crushed him.             Gradin and Oleka landed with the kids away from the boulder. When Gradin got up, he saw a bloody puddle underneath the boulder where they had been standing. Gradin could only blink and reach for nothing, then turn around and pick up his family.             “We need to go,” he said grimly.             “Da?” Vadim said.            “Vadim,” Oleka said. “We must go…”             “Da!” Vadim said. He tried to fight his way out of Oleka’s grasp, but to no avail. He could only stare at the boulder and cry for his da.             “Let’s go,” Gradin said. He looked back at the boulder. “Your sacrifice will not be forgotten.”             The remaining group ran. Battles raged around them as the attackers ransacked the city, pillaging homes and taking anything of value. Food was thrown into the streets, bodies lay everywhere, fire and death hung in the air. Gradin tried to shield his family from the sights, but it was all around them.             “Hey!” a voice shouted.             Gradin turned to see a group of enemy soldiers pointing at them. He pulled out his sword as they started rushing toward them.             “Oleka, take them and go!” Gradin said. Oleka could only nod and turn around to run.             “Da!” Yafid shouted. His ma carried him and Vadim as fast as she could away from the enemy soldiers.             Gradin stood with his sword drawn against five enemy soldiers. They slowly started to encircle him, all armed with lances and halberds, ready to swing. It was nothing Gradin hadn’t seen before.             “Come on,” he said grimly. And come they did.             Oleka ran until her hind legs couldn’t push her forward. She had made it to the schoolhouse, mostly collapsed and smoldering from boulders crashing into it. Enemies were everywhere around her, slaying her friends and neighbors like cattle.             “No,” she said. Her grip on the kids loosened and she fell. “No… it can’t be…”             “Ma, what do we do?” Yafid asked. Vadim wasn’t able to speak. “What do we do?”             “I… we…” Oleka shook her head. “I do not know, my little Yafid.”             “…Are we going to die, ma?” Yafid asked.             “No…” Oleka said, trying to comfort her boys. Vadim was hers now, she had to take care of him. “You will make it.”             Oleka took the kids by the claws and led them into the burned out schoolhouse. Inside, there were no enemy soldiers, no battles raging. They would just have to wait it out and-             “In here, I saw some go inside!” a voice shouted.             Oleka whipped her head around. “No!” she said.             “Ma, I’m scared!” Yafid said.             “You will be okay,” Oleka said. She looked around frantically and saw a box of gym equipment. “Go, hide!”             Oleka shoved Yafid and Vadim toward the box to hide and stood her ground. The two little ones scurried over and jumped inside, shutting the lid as much as it would close. It didn’t quite close all the way, leaving just enough space for the kids to watch.             Several griffins burst into the schoolhouse and quickly surrounded Oleka. The griffin remained in her place defiantly, as her husband had when he faced these cretins. They had blood on their blades and rage in their eyes.             “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the little lady,” one said.             “Your husband put up quite a fight,” a big one said. He ran up and knocked Oleka over in one quick move.             “Ma!” Yafid cried in his box. He began to cry and wanted to push out of the box, but he was too scared.             “Yafid, stay quiet!” Vadim said, crying himself. “W-w-w-we have to stay quiet, she told us to…”             “Ma-ha-ha-ha!” Yafid cried.             Oleka looked up at her attackers. “You’ll not be taking me anywhere,” she said darkly.             “Oh, we weren’t planning to,” the first one said.             Before she could even move, the big one came up behind her and slashed her neck. Oleka’s eyes shot wide, and moments later, she lay on the floor. She was gone.             Yafid fell back in the box. His parents were both gone. Vadim’s parents were both gone. They were all alone now, except for each other.             Vadim wiped his eyes and looked outside the box one more time. A new one had entered the school, but it wasn’t a griffin. It looked like a taller, straighter-standing monkey with no hair except for its head where it fell long and dark. It was a human.             “Really?” she said, looking at her soldiers.             “She was gonna fight,” the big one said with a grin.             “I’ll be having a word with your commanding officer,” the woman said. “I remember telling you we wanted as many of them to live as possible.”             “Why would we want that?” the first griffin asked.             “To make sure the stories are told as often as possible,” the woman said.             Vadim fell back toward the rear of the box with Yafid. There, they both lay down, crying, covered in dirt and soot and tears, as everything they had in their short lives was torn away right in front of them. They didn’t know what was going to happen, but they knew that they had to rely on each other. No one else could possibly help them.