//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eleven: Past Laid Bare 
// Story: Of Stars and Sails 
// by RadBunny 
//------------------------------//

Skystar woke to Galen’s incoherent mumbles, light barely starting to creep in through the concealed cave entrance. The Knight was securely nestled against her size, and the hippogriff couldn’t help but let out a soft happy hum as he squirmed. Her claws drifted over to stroke Galen’s head feathers; her neck having been draped across his.
Is this what it’s like? To have someone you trust, to…
Galen suddenly stiffened, sides then shivering as he twisted this way and that.
A nightmare?

He awoke with a gasp, sides heaving as his feathers became plastered with a cold sweat. 
“Hey…”
On hearing Skystar’s voice, the Knight shifted, wrapping her up in a half-hug. Tears streaked his cheeks as Galen pressed against the hippogriff’s chest, even as she stroked his feathers to try and ease whatever pain was coursing through his mind.

She didn’t say anything, and it was actually Galen who spoke as soon as his sides stopped shivering.
“You should know.” he whispered; head still held in Skystar’s arms.

“Hmm?”

“It’s not fair to you to not explain, especially since you…” his words trailed off, prompting a tender smile from the hippogriff.

“Care very much about you? Just want you to be happy?”

He nodded, the hint of a smile on his beak making Skystar’s spirits lift.
“Yes, um, that. These nightmares, these memories; they aren’t going to go away completely. Well, maybe once all is said and done with these golden abominations, but until then…”

He was quiet for a few moments longer, then shifting to settle against Skystar’s side, and leaning on her shoulder. She was happy to oblige, similarly resting against Galen as the Knight began to speak.
“It’s a bit of a long story.”

“If it helps you, then I’m all ears.”

A blush plastered itself onto Skystar’s cheeks as Galen reached over to twine a set of talons with hers- the princess still not used to sudden gestures of affection.
I hope I never get ‘used’ to it. 

“It was over two decades ago. I was only a hatchling, barely enough to start my primary education. I was just coming home from lessons in the lower sections when I saw the fire in the palace, and my mother yanked me into a side room…”





“Mother? What’s going on?” The young gryphon chirped, the older grey and brown gryphoness shaking her head.
“No time, Galen! You must run. Do you remember your lessons, what we taught you if enemies get inside the palace?” she asked, the youngster nodding, brow furrowing.
“Y-yes…”

“Now go, down the side passages the maids use to use. Get to either the docks or the forest- we may still have friends there. But my child, trust no-one. Your uncle….”

Her words choked off, the gryphoness swiping tears away so that her child wouldn’t see.
“Your uncle is the one behind this; your father, he went to stop him, and called for aid. But I don’t know if that was successful. Take this-”

The Queen handed over a large metal sigil, golden strands twined around a gem; the Anthracite royal seal.
“You must protect this with your life, Galen. Every one of the Ashen is hiding within that gem. Your uncle and his friends tried to kill them, but they hid. Do you understand? If they get this gem, everyone hiding will die. The Guardian will help you, but she is hurt. Don’t ask for help unless you are about to die, alright? Do you understand?”

Galen’s eyes, wide with fright, then narrowed as he nodded and took the seal, placing it in a small satchel around his neck.
“Y-yes. What about you, mother?”

The Queen walked over to an ancient dark wood cabinet, tapping the side and revealing a secret compartment. Withdrawing a sword, she managed a smile, gesturing to another similar-colored closet.
“I’ll meet you at the docks, if not that, the forests. Now into the closet, and use the secret passage at the back! I know how much you enjoyed escaping your other lessons from those.”

Clambering into the large wooden piece of furniture, Galen paused as his mother couldn’t hold back a soft sob, the Queen yanking him close to give him a tender kiss.
“I love you, son. Stay safe.” she whispered.

“I love you too mother…I’ll see you soon?” he replied, a simple nod being her response.

Not a moment after the closet was closed, the main door blew apart into splinters, five gryphons stalking into the room as Galen watched from the crack in the door.
“Ah, the Queen. Perfect. The boss took care of the king, so that leaves her and the brat.” The lead gryphon stated, odd grey and tan colors adorning his figure. Blood dripped from his claws as a similar-colored gryphon walked up beside him.
“Vintag, you take care of the others? Any trouble?” The gryphon rumbled, Vintag chuckling darkly.

“They were a bunch of chicks, what do you think?”

An enraged screech left the Queen’s beak, the furious mother taking the head off the nearest assailant with a swipe of her sword. Two others fell to her blade, their heads cleaved apart as golden magic struggled to restore the wounds. As she rounded on the remaining two, the Queen gasped- a blade buried in her chest as she turned around.

“Such a waste, if only they had joined us.” Vintag mused, his brother letting the Queen crumple to the ground as her breathing began to slow.
“Now we find the brat, and the family crest. The boss will not be happy if that gets loose. No point in asking her- she’d take it to her grave.”

Galen’s sides shivered with barely contained sobs as he watched his mother die, her form finally stilling as the gryphons left the room-
“Found you!”

As a large eye peered into the crack of the closet doors, Galen took off running, darting through the passageways carved into the castle as tears streaked his feathers.
Mother…my sisters? Brother? Father?

He tore from the castle as though his feathers were aflame, running between burning buildings as the immediate area around the palace burned. A familiar voice caught his attention however, and an apocalyptic scene burned itself into the youngster’s mind.
“It is done.” His uncle’s voice rang out from a street, Galen taking pause. The Uncle he used to play with was now bowing to a massive golden behemoth, the sparking golden gryphon nodding slowly as flames soared skyward in the background.
Held up by his Uncle’s claws however, was the severed head of the King.




Galen paused, sides trembling as Skystar shifted, resting her head near his shoulder blades. What words could she say to something like that?
She was about to say something, anything to provide comfort, but stopped as Galen began to speak again. Skystar held Galen’s claws tightly in her own, feeling that just her being there, hearing a history very few others knew, was somehow enough for now.
“Some of this next part is from Ley, and my adopted parents as well. It was a blur to me at some points.”





The young prince had been trudging through the waist-deep snow for hours, the thin cloak he had snatched on his mad dash now only barely protected him from the cold. The docks had been aflame, and so into the nearby forest Galen had sought refuge. It was rocky, difficult terrain, and a blind gryphon could have easily tracked the youngster on his trek to the border. Yet soldier on he did, even as a blizzard began to settle down on the area.

Perhaps he had escaped? Given time, the blizzard could wipe out his tracks at the edge of the forest, so maybe-

A blinding pain erupted along his side, a large gryphon exploding out from behind a tree and sending the youngster careening into a nearby tree trunk with a brutal punch.
“Stupid brat, making me track you through this weather. Vintag got the easy job.” he grumbled, drawing a short sword. 

As the gryphon stood over Galen and sent the blade slashing down, the young gryphon drew his own weapon- a small dagger from his satchel. It didn’t stop the blade, but deflected it enough to only have it bite across his chest instead of cleaving it in two. 
Letting out a screech, Galen then buried the dagger into the gryphon’s claw, slicing off a few talons as he scrambled free. Curses lit up the air as the assailant took a few steps back, Galen escaping as he clambered up the tree, then hopping to nearby limbs to get some distance between them.

He’d be dead if he couldn’t stop the bleeding; the wound was almost to the bone.
A simple, crude spell was enough to slow the flow of blood. It would buy some time, but that was it.

“You stupid little- that HURT! I am going to cut off your wings and limbs one by one before you die!” The gryphon roared, looking around as a whiteout of snow descended on the pair.

Galen perched on a small branch, watching as the other gryphon bumbled around below. He couldn’t run, couldn’t fight openly, but maybe…

The Golden gryphon was suddenly pushed face-first into the snow as a massive weight slammed onto his back. Thrashing around, he could barely utter a scream as a dagger sawed into his neck, stabbing into his skull at moments when it was torn free. 
Frantically holding on with his claws, Galan hacked at the murderous creature, finally tearing through half of the gryphon’s neck before being tossed off. As golden magic began to weave the wound together, Galen’s eyes widened in shock.

That wasn’t enough?!
Feeling the wound on his chest tear open, Galen launched himself at his mother’s murderer with a vengeance, hacking at the closing gash with the last bit of strength he had.

With a sputtering of magic, the nearly-decapitated gryphon then slumped to the ground and lay still. Blood began to seep into the slow, even as thick snowflakes began to cover the scene.

His sides heaving and blood dripping steadily from the slice in his chest, Galen nearly stumbled backwards over a ravine, hearing voices in the distance through the snow.

He had to hide, and somehow cover this body.
An idea edged into his mind, the prince weaving together a haphazard but passable spell, then dragging the body over and letting it slide into the ravine. Making a dead body look like one’s self was fairly basic magic, but it would wear off within a day. The tricky part was forming the dead gryphon, or at least half of him, into a passable Galen-like shape. The other half was tossed farther down the ravine.
Hopefully that would be enough.





Hours later, Galen finally slumped to the rocky ground, his chest burning as his limbs gave out from exhaustion.
He could go no further, and yet had escaped the murderous mob that sought to chase him down. The wound on his chest had stopped bleeding, at least for now. Whether that was due to frozen blood or the hasty magical stitching, the hatchling didn’t know.

His mother’s words rang in his mind, and Galen pulled out the royal amulet, tapping the object with the last of his strength.
‘The Guardian will help you.’

“P-please. I can’t do this.” The prince whispered, tears finally making their way from his exhausted eyes.
“I tried. I really did…but I c-can’t…”

As he cried into the rocky ground, a green glow began to ignite from within the amulet. A Kirin, nursing a gash along her entire side, appeared with a flash and looked around. Her eyes widened in horror, then seeing the distraught gryphon on the ground. She only said three words at first, but they were laden with sorrow, regret, and raw pain. Unspoken was the weight of a failure that was born of a responsibility that spanned a millennium.
“We failed you.”

The gryphon looked up, tears staining his cheeks as Ley gestured to his wound.
“I don’t want to die.” he whispered, the Guardian’s mouth setting in a firm grimace.

“We can save you. But the price is steep since your wounds are grave. We can attempt the conversion spell, but that would make you an Ashen, and everything that entails. It may fail however.”

Galen’s eyes narrowed as he nodded, managing to stand up on shaking legs.
“Do it.”





Fillbar glanced over to his wife with a smile, the gryphoness stirring a steaming pot of soup as a blizzard howled outside their dwelling. Bordering the nation of Anthracite and a few other gryphon provinces, they made quite a happy but simple living managing a few family-owned mines and odd cave crops.

A hammering at the wooden cottage door prompted the pair to jump, the gryphoness, Deseri, grabbing a long knife that lay nearby. Who would be knocking at this hour?!

Opening the door cautiously, Fillbar gestured to his wife in shock to come and look.
Standing at the doorstep, a glowing green Kirin looked at them, eyes seeming to be wet with tears as a slightly glowing and barely-moving gryphon hatchling was balanced on her back. The sigil of Anthracite dangled from his bloodied claws, and Fillbar’s chest constricted.
“What has happened?” he whispered, the Kirin shaking her head. The words she spoke made his mind ache, but conveyed their meaning nonetheless.

“He must live. Please help him. You must go to the Sun Princess in Equestria. Do not trust anyone, they will find and kill anyone near him.” She whispered, form starting to flicker.
“I cannot sustain this form any longer. We must trust in you. Run, run to the Sun Princess. Not safe here. Flee!”

And with that, she vanished, Galen then dropping to the ground if not caught by the older gryphons.
“Dear,” Fillbar whispered to his wife as his eyes saw the gaping wound on the prince’s chest,
“I think we should go. This is one of the royals from Anthracite.”

His wife was already packing some bags, getting out some medical supplies to treat the youngster’s wound.





Celestia yawned, looking at her daily schedule for the court. It was the usual line of petitioners, contractors, and groveling nobles desperate for a piece of the golden crown.

There was a commotion outside the door, a gaggle of guards unceremoniously flopping into the room as they tackled two, no three gryphons. They looked half-starved and exhausted, now not offering any resistance as the royal guard bundled them up in the throne room.
“YOU!” A voice cried out, laden with rage.

Celestia blinked, a young gryphon trotting forward, his chest wrapped in bandages. The guard that moved to stop him was slammed to the side by a burst of magic, the furious hatchling stopping to point a shaking claw at Celestia.
Who was this?

“Y-you. My father called for you. You promised to help. Where were you? WHY did you not come?” Galen asked, limb starting to shake, but from exhaustion or rage Celestia wasn’t sure.
“You promised. He trusted you, and you could have helped. You could have saved them.”

A cold shiver ran down Celestia’s spine, now starting to recognize the gryphon. It was not only rage or exhaustion that made this gryphon’s limbs tremble.
It was grief.

“Guards. Clear the room, and lock down the upper sections of the castle. Now.” Celestia ordered, walking close to sit in front of the gryphon.

“Prince Galen, is that right? I recognize you now. What are you talking about? Where is your father, your mother?”
The grief-stricken gaze that radiated from the young gryphon had Celestia nearly gasp, head shaking slowly.
“What has happened in Anthracite?” she asked slowly, confusion then replacing the anger that burned behind Galen’s eyes.
“Y-you don’t know, do you?” he asked, tears starting to drip from his eyes.
“Three weeks ago, and you don’t know?”

Celestia summoned a golden amulet- tied to a matching one hanging in the King’s Chambers. If activated, it would alert her that assistance was needed-
And Celestia had promised she would answer.

The artifact wasn’t glowing crimson, yet something seemed off.
“You didn’t know, you really didn’t…” Galen whispered, as though convincing himself. Waving a set of claws, the amulet sparked-
And then began to glow a bright red.

“T-they couldn’t block the spell, so they slowed it. I sped it back up.” he stated, limbs giving out as the prince struggled to maintain some semblance of decorum. That attempt crumbled, and tears began to run freely from his eyes once again.
“I thought it was your fault, why you d-didn’t come! N-now they’re all gone!”

The alabaster mask Celestia wore cracked, her mouth tightening as realization began to chip away at her heart.
“Prince Galen, what do you mean?”
She had to hear it.

“N-nobody knows about it, do they? It all burned. M-mother. Father. Sisters. Brother. G-gone. Uncle made sure they were a-all….” he paused, the final word ripping from his throat.
“Dead.”

The gryphon now looked up to Celestia, and the ruler’s heart broke as he spoke again.
“W-will you do something?”

She shook her head, not able to meet Galen’s gaze.
“I cannot, and you know why. I hate it, but I can’t. If I were to help now, three weeks, you say, after this has occurred, how would that look?” Celestia asked, despising the look of crushing realization that dawned on Galen’s face.
The realization that policy, stability, and the needs of the many, sometimes flew in the face of justice.

“If I haven’t heard of it, it must have been masked well. To do anything drastic would be an invasion of a province, and that would…” her words trailed off as Galen nodded, the gryphon stumbling to his feet.
“I understand. I just finished one of my policy classes.” he said, tone almost lifeless.
“I cannot go back home. There is no more home. So, what do I do?” Galen asked, the other two gryphons now walking forward.

“You can stay with us, until you’d prefer otherwise.” Fillbar said softly, his wife nodding in agreement.
“Not safe.” Was Galen’s only reply, quickly countered by Celestia.

“I agree. I will gladly arrange to have you all live here for a time- and then in a different province, wherever would be safest, if that is permissible. You can stay in the castle for now, to rest and be treated for your wounds.”

Galen nodded, and Celestia saw the weight that she bore daily now beginning to settle on the Prince’s shoulders. She saw the amulet he carried, and knew a few of the details the King had told her of. The fact Galen didn’t tell her anything else was understandable. There was a greater secret being held here- and she didn’t push things. Youngster or not, Galen was the rightful ruler of a nation, and entitled to the full respect that deserved.
And, at this moment, empathy.

“I hope that in time, you will forgive me for my failure.” Celestia whispered, seeing Galen’s ears prick up ever so slightly. He then shrugged, not able to look at the Sun Princess as they turned to go, escorted by the guards.
“I don’t…I don’t think it was your fault.” He managed to say, clearly still conflicted.

It was only after the three gryphons had left that Celestia had sent her guards and everypony away for a moment, going to her private quarters. Only once there did she let a few angry tears slip from her eyes as she looked at a small painting on a bedside table. A happy blue-furred smile stared back at her, a reminder of days long past and the approaching, and inevitable, confrontation.
“Luna, am I destined to repeat my mistakes? So many centuries, and now another to add to the list of friends I have failed? I could have saved you, countless others…and now I have failed not only King Ralthur when he called for my aid, but his entire family?
Forgive me, Galen.”





Skystar blinked as Galen’s words trailed off, the gryphon shaking his head slowly.
“I have forgiven her, of course. It took some time to process through all the rage, but it wasn’t Celestia’s fault by far. She blamed herself for so long though…” he sighed, turning to nuzzle into Skystar’s neck.

“The rest is what I told you. I was adopted by those two gryphons, who are still safe today, thankfully. I went to school, delved into training, and sought to be a captain. Ley was there, once she had healed for a year or two. She took the entire thing harder than me, honestly. Every creature trusted her with safety, yet she was blindsided by treachery. She didn’t want to push me too hard, but begged me to find a home for her and the Ashen that were hiding in the amulet. I did that of course, after I got my first vessel. The rest…well, here we are. Once we’re at Anthracite, I can explain more of the history a bit better. I became a reluctant leader, but that reluctance quickly faded.”

Skystar nodded slowly, finally posing a question she hoped wasn’t too sensitive.
“Galen, who, or what, is Ley?”

He sighed, wings shifting slightly at the question.
“The self-determined Guardian of the Ashen. Simply put, she’s one of many magical beings in this word. In this case, she’s tied to the leylines, specifically the ones the Ashen use. She’s been around probably longer than the Alicorns- but not in as a cohesive form. To answer the other inevitable question, that Golden creature is the opposite side of the coin. He inhabits other leylines, ones used by that cult. The reason Ley failed, and was nearly killed during the attack, was because she hesitated when he struck.” 

Galen shook his head slowly, claws tracing over Skystar’s briefly.
“I don’t blame her of course, not anymore. How could I even fathom it? My own brother wanting to kill me.”

“WHAT?!”

Galen chuckled, but it was devoid of much mirth.
“Yep. They are siblings, or at least as close to that term as possible. He played that card to get close to Ley, and tried to kill her and all the Ashen. She took the brunt of the attack, which is why only a few Ashen died. The rest were just dispelled- something He didn’t realize.”

“What do you mean?”

Galen was quiet for a time, and Skystar had the creeping suspicion this conversation was leading somewhere much more personal than Galen’s past.

“To kill a Golden cultist, you need to basically cause extensive physical harm to override the regeneration spell. An Ashen is even harder to kill. We’re energy, a more refined being, and feed off the leylines themselves channeled through the mana crystals. The attack by the Golden Guardian fragmented the majority of the Ashen, actually killing only about seven hundred in Ley’s vicinity by dispelling them. For the fragmented ones, it has taken years for them to coalesce back into form, and that has been slow. New Ashen have been born of course, but that is why I had to save the amulet. All of their energy was stored in there. If that was lost, then they’d vanish, possibly forever. I don’t know if they’d ever be able to re-materialize again. Making an Ashen die…I’m not entirely sure the exact methods, only that it can be done with a lot more power than is feasible.”

Skystar blinked, her throat suddenly closing up as Galen’s words hammered home, something about the odd phrasing…
“Galen, how long do Ashen live?”

She felt his sides shiver, and hot tears dripped onto her feathers as the gryphon shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Galen…so….

“Hundreds of years? Thousands? The past decade has not shown any signs of aging, and Ley has lived well past a millennium. We don’t really age like m-mortal creatures. And now you know why I….”

“Why you never wanted to be involved with anycreature.” Skystar finished, her ears flat against her skull.
Because you would just end up watching…

“I s-saw it once, Skystar. I can’t watch the ones I love die again. I just can’t.” he whispered, an emotionally spent laugh leaving his frame.
“And then you come along, one the most interesting and gorgeous individuals I’ve ever met. How could I not fall for you? And yet it is cursed from the start. I am so sorry, Skystar, for not saying it earlier. But no creature knows, not outside of Staunch and the Ashen. Any fellow Ashen like myself see me as a Prince, a ruler and a child at that. I don’t want a subservient Ashen female to dote on me. I want a partner who sees me as an equal, to live, explore, and occasionally rule with. Yet if I were to fall for someone mortal, someone who could see me like that…”

As Galen’s sides shook with grief, Skystar didn’t say anything for a time, a rather blatant hole in the gryphon’s sorrow making itself apparent as her brow furrowed.
“Galen, you became an Ashen, right?” she asked, eliciting a nod.

“Yes. Funny enough, I am as all Ashen should be, and we’re trying to transfer the effects. The ability to shift forms, the durability, but having a physical form, that’s how it should work. The spell worked on me, for whatever reason. The Ashen exist because the spell failed- but for me, it succeeded. I’m the blend of both worlds.”

“Soooooo why couldn’t someone who loves you turn into an Ashen?”

Galen’s head jerked up, the gryphon pulling back slightly to stare at the Princess in shock.
“That procedure has never been tested, not fully, and I wouldn’t ask that of any creature. To go through life watching their family die, just for me? To risk the chance of death, however small, for me? No. I will never, ever ask or expect that.” he hissed vehemently, shaking his head.

Skystar hummed, a slight smile on her beak.
“Probably best you don’t ask. But nobody says you’d have to.”

Seeing the completely shocked expression on Galen’s face, Skystar leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then resting against his shoulder.
“I’m not there yet, Galen. But I think you’ve wrapped up that idea in far too much doubt and fear. Creatures do crazy things for those they love, and spending a near-eternity with your special somecreature has an appeal I don’t think you’ve considered.”

Galen was quiet, very quiet for a good long few minutes. When he finally spoke, he seemed to be on the verge of tears, giving Skystar’s claws a squeeze.
“Thank you, Skystar. I can’t…I never even considered anycreature who-”

She reached over and placed a claw on his beak, shaking her head.
“I get it, Galen. Grief can cloud our thoughts. I know, at least to an extent. I’m just glad I could open your eyes a bit.”

“And my heart.” Galen whispered.

If one could fall ill from an affectionate phrase, Skystar would have been diagnosed as a terminal case. Her entire face lit up with a blush, even as Galen reached over to nuzzle her head feathers.

“I haven’t forgotten about our breakfast date. Probably about time for that in an hour. Maybe after we doze for a bit more?”
A soft affirmative squeak was Skystar’s reply, a familiar deep and affectionate chuckle resounding in her ears as Galen settled back down.
No, I’m not quite ready to make such an eternal leap, Galen.
But this path is leading me there, of that I’m certain.