Disclaimer: I do not own Hasbro, My Little Pony or any characters, places, or events in the extended cannon, although it would be awesome if I did.
Flight From Memories Chapter Six:
Annihilate the Corrupt
“There is still a part of me that loves you, Celestia.” She didn’t lose that grin. The one that tells you she knows she won.
Oh how wrong she was.
“The rest of me, however, isn’t stupid enough to fall for an enchanted knife.” Her eyes widened as I spun and bucked her in the chest. I grabbed the knife, swiftly devouring the enchantment on it keeping her from being hurt by it, and threw it straight into her throat.
“Sic semper tyrannis, Celestia. Thus, always, to tyrants,” I growled. “I don’t need you anymore. I found someone else. Someone who would die for me as fast as I would die for her.” Celestia, for her part, opened and closed her mouth, trying to speak. No words came out, only a trickle of red as she drowned in her own blood.
Cadance stared in horror as her aunt stumbled backwards, unable to recover from the combined effects of the surprise buck to the chest and me throwing a knife into her throat. “Goodbye and good riddance.” I turned around and planted my hooves into her chest once more, knocking her into a balcony. There was a creak as she lay against the railing. Time seemed to stop as there was a CRACK, and Celestia disappeared underneath the balcony.
“Try to come back from that, I dare you,” I smirked. “The days of Celestia are over, finally. Rainbow Dash! Get Star out of here.”
I heard a thwack from the other side of the door. “Bit of a problem, here! Shining Armor has a barrier on the door!”
Cadance’s jaw dropped. “Rainbow Dash? What are you doing?”
Star’s voice piped up from the other side of the door, “Right now, or in general?”
“Who–I don’t–Streak!” Cadance stammered.
“That is not my name,” I said loudly enough that the two behind the door could hear. I added, quietly enough for just Cadance to hear, “Streak died two years ago. There are issues caused by that death that are not yet resolved. Let him stay dead, for now.” I walked to the door, opening it. There was a nearly-solid wall of pink in front of me. With a tap, the wall collapsed, falling apart into rapidly-dissolving pink chunks.
“The wall’s down! Hurry up and get up there!” Shining Armor said in a pained voice. He must have put a lot of magic into that barrier, with the strength it had. I don’t think an ursa could break through it if it tried. Rainbow Dash and Star hurriedly headed towards the balcony. I noticed offhandedly that my daughter had dispelled the illusion over the older mare.
“We’re trying, sir! Our pegasi are the only ones who have a chance of getting past that grease, and Rainbow Dash is stopping that from working!”
I stopped Rainbow Dash for a second as she passed by. “Get Star out of here, or you will not be able to run far enough to stop me from finding you.”
“Damn it! Keep pushing! Cadance is up there!”
She saluted me. “You got it, boss! I’ll be back for you.”
“Not if there is the slightest difficulty. Star is the first priority.”
Rainbow Dash hesitated for a second, before resignedly grabbing Star. Star glared at me, “We’re coming back for you, Dad. You don’t have a choice.” Rainbow Dash nodded before jumping off.
Cadance stared at me with an open mouth and wide eyes as I braced myself against the door. There was a thump as the guards finally made it to the door. The slower the guards make it up to the room, the slower they figure out that Rainbow Dash and Star left.
“ ‘Dad’?” Cadance whispered just loudly enough for me to hear.
Actually, why haven’t the guard sent pegasi through the open door to the balcony? That was a severe lack of discipline, there.—There was another, stronger attempt to open the door, using magic this time. It managed to get a good inch open before I ate the spell and managed to push it back.—A full two-thirds of their government was in this room. Well, one-third, now, but it’s the thought that counts.
Speak of the devil, a pegasus landed on the balcony. My hooves started sliding as the door began to open through pure brute force. He quickly moved to the door and helped me brace it, shoving it closed with more strength than any pegasus had the right to have. I stared at him in shock. He got an insufferable grin on his face as his eyes flashed green momentarily. “I said I’m always watching.”
Cadance hissed, “Changeling.” Her horn lit up and she fired a light blue bolt of mana at him. Her aim was thrown off as a brightly colored pegasus slammed into the ground in front of her, causing her to flinch.
“Come on, Premier!” Rainbow Dash shouted at me. “The faster you get over here, the faster we get gone.”
The changeling spoke up from the door, “The guard could only be delayed so much. There will be pegasi in the air when you get out there. Be careful.”
Rainbow Dash nodded, either knowing who he was, or more likely didn’t care since he was helpful. I felt gravity lose its hold on me as she snatched me into the air.
The changeling was not kidding about there being pegasi in the air. There were dozens of dozens. Rainbow Dash yelled at me over the wind, “Was it really necessary to kick her off the balcony?”
“No, but it made me feel better!” I shouted back as we swerved around a charging pegasus.
“I can’t believe you!” she yelled again. “This is so much harder now that there are pegasi in the air. Half of these ponies aren’t even in uniform!”
Doing a double take, I noticed she was right. They were either off-duty guardsmen or civilians. The former was actually better than the latter, since I felt less guilt about potentially hurting a guard than a civilian.
“They wouldn’t even be in the air if it weren’t for you!” She swerved around another group of pegasi.
“Shit! Wonderbolts!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as some blue-clad pegasi shot into the sky. “I can’t stay in the air with them up, not while carrying you! I’m putting us down. We’re going on hoof!”
We practically slammed into the ground as she landed, both of us going into a sprint. News of an attack on one of the princesses must have spread, because there was a veritable swarm of pegasi in the air above us.
“There they are!” somepony shouted from above us. I smashed through a door, scattering wood slivers into the room. Someone screamed in terror as I shot past her, diving out a window.
I didn’t have to look behind me to see that Rainbow Dash was still there. “To the left!” she shouted.
I took a left without hesitation. Within seconds, I heard shouted from above, “There! They’re going through buildings!”
“Right!”
Gritting my teeth, I took a sharp right, plowing through a pony who thought to stop us on the ground. There were easily a dozen more ponies, most in armor, blocking further ahead.
“Going over!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she grabbed my barrel. She managed to get me just high enough to get over the sharp points of the spears they jabbed at us. I was immediately dropped and resumed running after a negligible pause.
The next few minutes were like that. Rainbow Dash called out directions and got us over barricades, while we dove through buildings and back alleys to try to dodge our pursuit. At some point we had gained pursuit on hoof as well as in the air, as squads of guards, bolstered by civilians, ran hot on our heels.
Eventually, just as the wall got in sight, there was a flash as the Wonderbolts slammed in front of us. Guards poured out of the alleyways, forming a circle around us. The lead Wonderbolt, an orange mare with a fiery mare, shouted, “Rainbow Dash! What is wrong with you?”
The mare in question growled, “I’m doing what should be done, Spitfire! What you would do in my situation!”
Spitfire shook her head, “You’ve gone crazy, Rainbow. This is for your own good. Wonderbolts! Take down the stallion, I can handle Rainbow Dash.”
Four masked faces turned towards me, glaring. I braced myself for a fight. Within seconds, they charged in sync. No matter what I did, there was no way I was stopping all four of them. They were too good and too fast. Next thing I knew, I was pinned to the ground.
Rainbow Dash fared better against this Spitfire character. Currently, they were moving in a blur. I think that Spitfire was just slightly slower than her opponent, but that’s where her disadvantages ended. She was stronger, she was better trained, and she was determined. I could barely see the fight through the bodies surrounding me. There were easily a dozen spears pointed at my face as the two kept getting faster and faster. Eventually, however, I heard something that chilled my blood. There was a loud CRACK, and a cry of pain.
From Rainbow Dash.
I watched in horror as the flier dropped down the side of the building she had just slammed into. My vision turned red as I heard a sound I thought I'd never hear from Rainbow Dash. A sob. I barely saw the orange pegasus land next to her.
I didn't even question how I got it, or how I got out from under the guardsmen, but in a moment driven by pure rage, I threw a spear at Spitfire as hard as I could. I watched as it pierced her upper foreleg and didn't stop until it was buried half a meter into the wall behind her.
There was no sound save the pitiful sobbing of the cyan mare. Spitfire stared at the spear for a moment, then looked at me. "Nice throw," she complimented, before passing out.
The next few hours were a blur of desperation and rage, filled with shouts and sobs. My next coherent memory was around sundown.
"Are you back, Dad?" Star asked me.
I shook my head, clearing the last of the fog from my mind. "Yeah. What happened?"
"Rainbow got hurt, and you snapped. I don't think anyone died, but there will be a lot of business for the local hospitals."
I nodded slowly, looking over at the sleeping mare. "How is she?"
"She's got a broken wing, but besides setting the bone and putting it in a sling, which you did, by the way, there's nothing we can do."
I looked around, noting the miles and miles of plains stretching on all sides of us. I sighed, "How long have we been on the plain?"
"About six hours. Only two or three hours of walking time, though."
"We're close to griffon territory, then. Keep an eye to the sky, they could swoop in at any time."
"Would they attack us?" she asked me.
“I don’t know,” I sighed again. “A thousand years ago we would be welcomed with open arms, especially if I revealed who I was. Now though? The border is closed, something that has never happened before as far as I know, so anything is up for grabs. However, I don’t think we’ll be attacked.”
“Quite right of you. However, we do have to ask you to turn around and continue back the direction you came from.” I heard a voice from above. Looking up, there were two griffons in what looked like leather armor, holding very sharp looking swords. Legionaries. One was the splitting image of Gil, save with a more average light purple crest, rather than Gil’s red. She was nothing special, maybe considered pretty by griffon standards, going off of what Gil told me during our “guy talks”, but nothing unusual. The other griffon wasn’t different either, being a fairly standard grey body, with a white head and crest fading to a dull green.
Rainbow Dash stirred and spoke up weakly, “Gilda? When did you start speaking fancy?”
The griffon that talked paused for a moment midair, “Rainbow Dash?”
“You two know each other?” I asked.
Rainbow Dash nodded, “Junior Speedsters in Cloudsdale.”
Gilda smirked, landing next to us. “Yeah, I was the only one who would accept the new kid. Finally stop hanging around with those lame-o ponies?”
“It was less of a choice and more of a necessity,” I explained. The cyan mare went to speak again, but I cut her off. “Rainbow Dash, you’re hurt. Rest, I’ll talk with them.”
She grumbled something unintelligible, before turning back over.
The other griffon, a male, from the sound of it, landed as well. “Look, even if you’re a friend, we can’t let you through. We have explicit orders to turn away all non-griffons from the borders.”
“We’re political refugees.” I cracked my neck, stretching. “I was hoping that the Griffon Empire would accept us.”
“Look, it doesn’t matter why, the border is closed to all non-griffons. I know it’s xenophobic, so don’t try arguing that way, either.”
“Why are the borders closed?” Star asked.
“We’re not allowed to tell ponies,” Gilda spoke up.
“Good. I’m not a pony.”
The male griffon raised his eyebrow, “Then what are you?”
Gilda answered that question for me, “He’s a demon.” She turned to me. “You are a demon, aren’t you? Not some lame pony that looks like one?”
“Yes.”
Gilda held a claw out at her companion, “Pay up, Murphy.”
“Damn it,” Murphy groaned, reaching into a pouch hanging off his armor.
“You were betting on what I was, weren’t you?” I asked, stating the obvious.
“And I just won.” Gilda grinned as Murphy placed five coins in her outstretched claw.
“Five denarians, just as asked,” Murphy sighed. “You always beat me at these bets, why do I still take them?”
“This is amusing and all,” I cut in, “but we’re on the topic of why you aren’t letting us in?”
“Emperor Gil-Throm has announced a closing of the borders due to Celestia’s many crimes,” Murphy explained. “Gilda here was one of the ones to bring him the news.”
“At first, I thought I was just really, really drunk, but when there were other reports exactly like mine, the decision was made. If she had been slain, this could probably have been avoided,” the griffon in question elaborated.
I arched an eyebrow, “So you’re saying that the borders are closed because of Celestia’s continued survival and place in the Equestrian government?”
“In essence, yes.” Murphy nodded.
I smiled at Star, “Well, looks like we’re going to the Griffon Empire after all.”
Gilda narrowed her eyes, “Explain yourself.”
I laughed, “Celestia just took a long drop and a sudden stop with a knife in her throat earlier today.”
The griffons were silent for a moment, before Murphy smirked, “ ‘Political refugees’ my ass! You’re on the run for killing Celestia!”
I nodded. “She was overconfident. She won’t be a problem again.”
“Well, then,” Gilda finally spoke up, “I think the Emperor will want to hear this. Welcome to the Griffon Empire—err what are your guys’ names?”
“You know Rainbow Dash, she has a broken wing, by the way. My name is Premier”—
Murphy grumbled quiet enough that only I heard him, “You’re a horrible liar.”
—“and this is my daughter, Star.” I shot Murphy a look for his comment. He gave me a smile filled with false innocence.
“You brought your daughter, a little filly, with you to potentially hostile territory?” Gilda asked, flabbergasted.
“Hey! I helped hold off the guard while Dad killed that bitch Celestia!” Star exclaimed.
“Feisty one,” Murphy commented.
“Don’t get any ideas, Casanova. She’s no older than eleven,” Gilda shot him a glare. He held his claws up in mock surrender.
“I’m twelve and a half!” Star pouted.
“Still too young for me,” Murphy said with mock resignation. Gilda smacked him playfully on the arm. Suddenly her eyes widened.
“Wait, Rainbow’s wing is broken?” she exclaimed loudly.
I rubbed my ear, shooting her an annoyed glare. She got similar glares from Murphy, Star, and Rainbow Dash. She laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck. “Yeah, got broken when the Wonderbolts cornered us during our escape,” Rainbow Dash said.
“You escaped from the Wonderbolts?” Gilda asked with more than a little surprise.
“Yeah, I’m not quite sure how, though,” I said, suddenly sheepish.
“Whenever somepony tried to get close to you, they just fell over. Pegasi weren’t affected, however you just smashed them into the ground,” Star elaborated. “Rainbow Dash wasn’t affected either.”
Murphy gave me a scrutinizing gaze, letting out a thoughtful hum. Gilda just looked at me in shock. “How did you do that?”
“Honestly? No idea.” At the looks on their faces, I continued. “Once I saw Rainbow Dash get hurt, I just snapped. I don’t remember much, just blurs and flashes, between then and a few minutes before you guys showed up.”
Murphy let out another thoughtful hum, examining Rainbow Dash’s broken wing. “Sling looks good. Did you set the bone, or do we need to do that?”
“He set it.” Star shivered. “Wings aren’t supposed to move in that way.”
“Good,” he continued his humming as he poked and prodded the broken wing. “Well, griffons don’t do much for broken wings. We’ll probably have to euthanize.”
It took less than a second for him to be pinned to the ground. I had a hoof pressed against his throat and my face was centimeters from his wide eyes as I growled, “On your damn life.”
He gasped as he had difficulty breathing past my hoof. I felt claws grab me from behind and yank me off of him. Gilda turned me to face her with an incredulous look on her face, “Sure, the joke was in poor taste—” she shot Murphy a stern glare. “—but that reaction seemed like a little much.”
Rainbow Dash spoke up from her prone position, “Gilda, what do you know of demons?”
Gilda cocked an eyebrow, putting me down as she answered, “Just that they come from the Void. Celestia didn’t say much more than that. There was that one thing about them being ‘semi-living parasites’ or something, but I don’t remember much, I was drunk.”
The cyan pegasus nodded slowly, “Premier, why don’t you explain how a pony becomes a demon.”
“First, a living pony, or griffon, dragon, minotaur, etcetera, but we’ll go with a pony, gets thrown into the Void. Over the next few years, anywhere from two to a thousand, the pony is converted. Their soul is torn apart and the pieces are replaced with Void. When there is nothing left of the pony, physically or mentally, their conversion is complete and they are a demon,” I lectured. “Usually the mind is the last part to go. The most telling sign that the conversion is complete is when the screaming ends.”
Gilda shivered, shaking out her wings. “Geez, that sounds pleasant.”
“Image going through it,” I sigh. “Luckily, the memories of being torn apart are removed, so no demon remembers the pain. Just the screams of the others being converted.”
“That explains that reaction,” Rainbow Dash chuckled. “He thought Murphy was being serious.”
“Well,” my favorite griffon coughed, “that’s definitely no good. Good thing Celestia is gone, right? That means no more demons being made.”
“Wrong.”
All around turned to me with befuddled looks on their faces, so I continued, “Someone, possibly Luna or Cadance, was opening portals to the Void to allow Celestia to keep throwing her victims in for the last two years. After the loss of Nihility, it was left to me to stop her.”
“Well, she’s stopped. Why haven’t you gone back yet?” Gilda asked. “What’s keeping you here?”
The grey griffon spoke up, “More like ‘who’ is keeping him here.”
Gilda shot him an annoyed glance as I spoke up, “I refuse to leave my daughter.”
“If that’s what you’re telling yourself,” Murphy chuckled.
“Murphy!” Gilda snapped. He held his talons up in his usual position of surrender to the more aggressive female.
“You two are mates, aren’t you?” I asked.
Gilda’s face instantly turned red as she locked up, while Murphy looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. “No, just friends.” I saw the way Gilda reacted to that, and from the look on her face, Rainbow Dash saw it too. This must happen a lot, because she is really good at hiding her disappointment.
“Hey, it’s relatively dark right now, so why don’t we be good neighbors and share a campfire?” I suggested.
“Look we really need to get back and—” Gilda started saying, before Murphy jumped in.
“Sure. Sounds wonderful.” If looks could kill, we’d need a squeegee to take Murphy with us to the Empire.
“Alright. You two can set up the fire, I’m going to try my hand at finding some food for us all.”
Murphy grabbed a pouch from his belt and threw it on the ground. Opening it, I found dried fruit and some smoked meat from an unknown source. When I picked one of the meats up, it was brittle, thin, and dry. I popped a piece in and gave it a thoughtful chew. “Beef jerky. Nice choice.”
I saw the horrified gapes from Rainbow Dash and Star, as well as the astonished looks from the griffons as they shook their heads and looked at me again. “What? Oh, please don’t tell me you guys are some of them. I hate vegetarians.”
“No, we’re confused because you’re a pony. Ponies are herbivores,” Murphy slowly said.
“You’re shitting me. That’s the bullshit that Celestia decides to pass off as true?” I was incredulous as I popped another piece of jerky. What? It was good! “It is physically impossible for a species to develop the level of intelligence ponies enjoy while only eating plants. You don’t get the right nutrients.”
“And you know this, how, Mr. No Memories?” Gilda accused me.
“I’m pretty sure that my conversion wasn’t complete. I’ve been regaining memories of my past life for the past day or so. They’re about a thousand years out of date, however, so some things will be very wrong.”
Rainbow Dash spoke up, “That’s enough talking about heavy stuff. Let’s talk about something more lighthearted. So Gilda, anyone in your life got your loins on fire?”
Gilda let out a very un-predatory squeak as she quickly became a very red griffon. I shuffled my hooves, uncomfortable. Murphy spoke up, “Yeah, how about St-Premier and I go grab some wood for the fire while you talk about female things? Good? Good.” The two of us beat a hasty retreat while Rainbow Dash and Star laughed. Gilda just sat, frozen like a statue.
When we were out of hearing rage of the womenfolk, he turned to me. “First off, I’m not fooled, Streak. You may have everyone else fooled, but not me.”
“I don’t have Cadance fooled, but I think I convinced her to be silent. What I want to know is how you know.”
“I know many things I shouldn’t be able to.”
My eye twitched. That was word-for-word what Redheart said to me when I asked how she knew I was going to kill Celestia. “I’ve heard that before.”
“Really? From whom?”
“One of the local Ponyville nurses,” I looked at him, waiting for a reaction.
I didn’t get nearly what I wanted. “Yeah, I got nothing. What is interesting, however, is since I know you know that the Griffon Empire frowns upon euthanizing a rational being, why you reacted so extremely to my little joke.”
“Rainbow Dash is my friend, of course I’m going to react poorly to that ‘joke’ of yours.”
“There’s reacting poorly, and there’s reacting as you did. I’m serious, you need to get your head out of your ass and—” Murphy was interrupted by the sound of crunching grass. We turned to see Star walking up to us.
“They’re talking about grownup mare things, so I thought that I’d head over here and talk with the guys.”
“Well, I was just about to start talking with your father about why he attacked me, since it seems he doesn’t know.”
Star gave me that woman look again. Welp, I dun goofed. There was something painfully obvious that I missed, here. “Really, Dad?”
“Really. He honestly doesn’t know,” Murphy smirked.
“Well, why don’t you two enlighten me?” I harumphed.
“You broke her out of jail, were willing to potentially die to save her, flipped when she got hurt, and you did what amounted to fighting an entire city worth of ponies, and winning, to get her to safety. Do you seriously not know?” Murphy asked me.
At my silence, Star sighed, “Dad, you love Rainbow Dash.”
I locked up for a good thirty seconds. Love? Did I love her? To be honest, I cared for her, I would die for her, I would kill for her, as evidenced, but no, I didn’t love her. Not like they said I did, at least. “Be really careful with the big four letter L-word,” I advised. “That gets thrown around way too much from my experience. I would have done the same thing for Wonderbolt, Brick, and the others.”
“Your ‘experience’ amounts to Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Celestia, Streak.” Star stiffened as Murphy used my real name. “Keep that in mind as well. And make sure that you don’t spend so long keeping yourself hidden that she moves on. She’s waited two years already. Don’t make her wait more if she doesn’t have to.”
“Alright, before you even start lecturing me about relationships, how about I point out something you missed?”
“You mean the massive crush that Gilda has on me? I am well aware.”
I growled at the nonchalant way he said that. “You’d better explain yourself.”
“I have my reasons. Trust me when I say that they are good reasons.”
Star interjected, “Good enough to string along that poor woman?”
“Yes.” No hesitation, no thought, no doubt. He was one-hundred percent certain that he had a valid reason for putting Gilda into the friendzone for years.
“Care to share?” I asked.
“No.”
That was the end of conversation, at least from our end. After we had found some material to use for the fire, we returned to camp. Well, mostly returned to camp. As we approached, Murphy held up a claw, signaling for us to be slow and stealthy. When we got close, I could hear the two womenfolk talking.
“I just don’t know, Gilda. I’ve been looking for two years, and nothing. If he wanted to be found, I would have already.”
Murphy gave me a look that somehow communicated “You’re going to have a lot of explaining to do later.”
“Don’t give up. He’s out there somewhere, and when you do find him, beat the shit out of him for me, for putting you through this.”
“It’s just that, well, Premier is just like him. It’s uncanny how similar they are. If you took Streak and removed the playful flirting, you would have Premier. He’s essentially a less fun Streak.”
I flinched hearing that. Boy was I going to have a talk with Rainbow Dash when—if—I reveal myself.
“And what he did, fending off a city full of militia and trained guards, just to get me to safety. I don’t know what to think anymore. Part of me says to keep looking for Streak, that he’s out there, somewhere. The other part tells me that I’m being an idiot, and that Premier is not only just as good—if not better—but he’s right here, right now.”
“Don’t make a decision like this lightly, Rainbow,” Gilda advised. “Spend the time to think about it.”
“Trust me, I know all about making bad decisions rashly,” Rainbow Dash scoffed.
“Hmm?”
“It was before Cloudsdale.”
Gilda nodded, “Then I’ll drop it. I know how much you hate talking about your past. But RD, you’ll have to tell someone eventually.”
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Premier—”
“ 'I’ve held onto it for almost thirteen years, I think I’ll be fine for a few more.' Is that the one?" I asked, walking back into camp with supplies, Murphy and Star close behind.
She jumped. "Premier! How much did you hear?"
"Not much," I replied truthfully. I had only been listening for twenty seconds, after all. I turned to the griffons. "It's less than a day's walk to the border of the Empire, right?"
"It's only two hours by air, so about that," Gilda replied. "Why?"
"Because I like knowing when I'll arrive. Tell me something about this Emperor Gil-Throm."
Murphy sighed, "Where to start? He's a sociopathic, machiavellian, egotistical asshole."
"Murphy!" Gilda scolded. "Show some respect."
Rainbow Dash smirked. "Respect and trust are both earned, and it sounds like this Gil-Throm has done nothing to earn either from Murphy."
The griffon nodded. "Precisely. He's slowly been destroying the Empire from within with his incompetence."
"Says you," Gilda snapped.
"Gilda, you've heard the guy talk. He's been hyping the public up with fear of everything not griffon!"
"And he's been right about all of them! Celestia was in charge of Equestria, the minotaurs have been stocking up weapons, and dragons have never been trusted by any race—"
"I'm going to stop you right there with a reminder that the Griffon Empire has been allied with the dragon race for longer than it has even existed," I interjected myself into the conversation.
"Nobody asked you," Gilda snapped.
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouted, grabbing all the attention. "Back off, Gilda."
Gilda stared at the cyan mare for a minute with an unreadable expression, before saying, “So you still choose your lame pony friends over me, after everything.” Spreading her wings, she took off into the night.
“No–Gilda, wait!” the lamed mare tried to catch up with her airborne friend, but found she couldn’t. She hung her head, watching her longtime friend fly off.
Murphy placed a claw on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. “I’ll talk to her, she’s just being stubborn.”
She gave him a thankful look as he took off. I walked up and sat next to her. After a minute of sitting, Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Is it not too much to ask to have at least one friendship left untouched by the end of the day?”
“What do you mean?”
“Twilight, Gilda, Cloud Chaser, hell, probably even the rest of the Bearers don’t want to be my friend right now.”
“There was a misunderstanding with Twilight and Gilda. I don’t know anything about Cloud Chaser, but it can’t be that bad. And, really? You’re worried about your friendships with the other Bearers? After all you’ve been through?”
She sighed, choosing leaning against my side to responding. I chose letting her over complaining. We sat like that for a while, Star giving me a look from just inside my range of vision telling me to stop leading on the flier.
I promptly ignored it.
Some hours later, our griffon escorts returned. Nobody talked about what had happened, and Gilda and Rainbow Dash couldn’t look each other in the eyes. We all pretended to not see how red Gilda’s eyes were.
It was late, so we decided to head to sleep. I was out the second my head hit the ground. Thankfully, my sleep was not interrupted by dreams of memories. However that doesn’t mean that it was a restful sleep. Sometime about halfway through the night, I was woken by silently arguing griffons.
“Why didn’t you tell them?” Gilda hissed.
“Because they don’t need to know,” Murphy responded quietly. “Their arrival will negate his need to.”
“And if it doesn’t? What then?” she asked, obviously not happy about it.
“We’ll deal with that bridge when we get to it,” he said.
“But he’s trying to—” Gilda tried to say.
“And it won’t work.” Murphy had a level of confidence and certainty in his voice unusual for the submissive griffon. “Trust me.”
“But what if it’s already done when we get there?” she asked.
“He won’t be.”
“Would you be willing to bet on it?”
With no hesitation in his voice, he replied, “I’d win.”
“You never win,” she said in disbelief.
“I will this time.”
They quieted down, settling onto the ground to finish out the night. I sat awake for a few more minutes. What were they talking about? Who were they talking about? Was it Emperor Gil-Throm? If so, what was he planning? Knowing I’d get no answers from either myself or the griffons, I returned to sleep.
That morning, we moved with minimal talking. The griffons split us up between them, Gilda taking Rainbow Dash, and Murphy taking Star and me, being the stronger flier. It seemed they wanted to fly there as fast as they could. We couldn’t move too fast due to Rainbow Dash’s broken wing, and the flight there was quiet, since the rushing winds caught your voice right as it left your mouth and threw it far enough back that nobody could hear you.
It didn’t take us long to reach the foothills of the Eyries of the Empire, only an hour and a half or so. Settled inside that mountain range were dozens of cities and villages, including Eyrie, the capital of the Griffon Empire.
As we flew, I saw houses, farms, ranches, and more carved into the sides of the mountains. There were no griffons in these buildings, however, lending the entire flight through the Eyries an eerie air.
I saw Gilda pause for a second when we drifted around the next mountain. I didn’t blame her. Eyrie was an even more impressive sight than it was a thousand years ago. It was much larger than Canterlot by an order of magnitude. Massive stone buildings jutted from all over the side of a large mountain, from the foot to the peak. On top of that, there were uncountable numbers of dark forms flying all around. Something big was about to go down, I called it.
Our escorts sped up, angling for the largest building in the city. Massive, jagged towers that took function over form to a new extreme caused it looked like someone had broken the jaw off of a gargantuan stone monstrosity and placed it around the peak of the mountain. That was the Castle of Eyrie. I let out a low whistle of appreciation, it hadn’t been nearly that large last time Gil had shown me how the city was progressing, just days before I caught Celestia.
As we approached the city, a griffon intercepted us. He cut an intimidating figure with his pure black feathers and piercing golden eyes. The armor he wore was metal, unlike what most griffons seemed to be wearing. Our griffons hovered as the much better armored griffon glared at them with skill only a predator could have. "Gilda! Murphy! What is the meaning of this? I should have you flogged in front of the legion! Not only are you late, but you come bearing ponies into our land?"
"First off, them being late was my fault." I said.
"You speak when spoken to, worm," the griffon growled.
"This is how you treat visitors?" I asked rhetorically. "Threats and insults?"
"Premier," Murphy scolded. He turned to the other male griffon, "Sir, these ponies bring joyous news for our most beloved Emperor."
"Then they can tell me and be on their way," he growled. "The borders of the Griffon Empire are closed by royal order."
"He'll see me. Unless griffons have gotten cowardly enough in the last thousand years for their Emperor to be one, too."
There was a sharp intake of breath as Gilda tried to patch up what she could, "What he means, centurion, is that—"
The older griffon growled, "Are you calling me a coward, worm?"
"I don't know, am I, or are you going to let me see your Emperor?"
He was torn between getting insulted and attacking me, and thus acknowledging that he thought the Emperor was a coward, and letting me past, and thus being forced to swallow his pride.
There was a palpable silence as the centurion stared at me with a look that could kill. Eventually he grunted, “Go.”
As we flew toward the castle, Murphy scolded me, “Are you stupid? You could have died!”
“I’ve died twice already, and I’m in no hurry to add to that tally. Dying sucks,” I commented. “I know his type. He didn’t have nearly as much authority as he was trying to exert, and he knew it.”
“Actually, he did. That was Kaiesar, the first spear of the First Eyrie Legion.”
“I just pissed of a powerful griffon, didn’t I?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Excelent. Well this bodes well for the meeting with your Emperor.”
“Kaiesar is powerful, yes, but he doesn’t have the ear of the Emperor. As Exploratores, Gilda and I have the authority to report straight to the Emperor if we deem it necessary.”
That was. . . convenient, to say the least. We landed on a platform on the highest tower. A spindly pale griffon hurried to us from a nearby doorway set into the tower. “Who comes with business with our most beloved Emperor Gil-Throm?”
“I do,” I hopped off Murphy’s back. I bowed to the griffon. “My name is Premier, and I bring word for your Emperor.”
“I see, I see,” he said, nodding his head slowly. “What business is this? Our most beloved Emperor is a busy griffon, you know.”
“Business for the Emperor and the Emperor alone,” Murphy answered. “Step aside, Senator Sicarius, lest the Emperor be informed of your breach of protocol.”
“Oh, never that,” Sicarius backed away, lowering himself towards the ground. We passed him without incident. For some reason I felt compelled to look back, catching the Senator’s malicious glare. We locked eyes for a second, before he snorted and spread his wings, taking off into the city.
That one was going to be trouble.
But a trouble for another day. We had no sooner gotten past the shady Senator, when Praetorians blocked our path. One nearly identical to Gilda spoke up, “Halt. State your name and your business.”
“How many freaking griffons are going to hop in front of us today?” I pondered out loud.
The Praetorian that had spoken didn’t take kindly to my attitude. He slowly drew his gladius, placing the point inches away from my eyes. “State your name and your business.”
Gilda stepped forward, using a single claw to push the gladius down. “Stand down, Custos. They’re with me.”
He sheathed his sword. “Yes, Filia Gilda. The Emperor is about to start his speech.”
“He’s on the balcony, correct?” she asked.
Custos nodded. “If you want to catch him, you need to move fast. Your friends will stay where they are until further notice.”
“Understood,” she turned to us. “You better behave yourselves, my brother is not the most forgiving when it comes to punishments.”
“You have a brother?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“Later,” Custos interrupted. “Go, Gilda.”
Gilda nodded, disappearing behind a doorway. Custos sat between us and where the Emperor was, keeping us in his sight at all times.
Rainbow Dash sighed, “It’s Twilight all over again.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean that Twilight didn’t tell us she had a brother until she received the invitation to his wedding,” she explained. “I’ve known Gilda for twice as long, and am now just finding out that not only does she have a brother, but he’s a Praetorian.”
“A Praetorian prefect, actually,” Murphy mentioned. “He’s one of the leaders of the Praetorians.”
“Even better!” she exclaimed, throwing her hooves into the air in frustration.
“Nopony wants to question why she’s allowed to just see the Emperor with no prior notice?” Star spoke up.
“And what does ‘Filia’ mean?” I asked.
“ ‘Daughter’,” Custos spoke up. “I’m Gilda’s twin brother. She doesn’t like to talk much about me because she views me as the favored sibling, staying in the Empire to become a soldier while she got sent to Cloudsdale to hone her flying abilities with the greatest fliers in Equestria.”
“Daughter? Why is her title Daughter Gilda?” I mused.
“She’s the Emperor’s daughter,” Murphy spoke up.
If I had been drinking, I would have done a spit-take. ‘Good reasons’ is right! I would avoid anything romantic with someone if their father was in charge of an entire nation that rivaled the economical strength of Equestria, while blowing it away in military strength.
“The Emperor let his daughter go to Cloudsdale without an armed guard?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“He’s only been the Emperor for two years,” Murphy explained. “His base of his entire rule is founded on hatred and fear of Celestia.”
“There are other reasons, but mainly just those two,” the Praetorian agreed. “Not the best place to be, if you ask me. But you didn’t, because I wouldn’t say any of that.” He glared at the three of us. I nodded, and he relaxed.
“Griffons of the Griffon Empire, I thank you for making your way to Eyrie!” a magically projected voice echoed throughout the hallways. “I know it was a long and arduous journey for some of you, so I’ll endeavor to keep this short.”
Gilda whipped around the corner. “I couldn’t stop him! He’s going to do it!” she shouted at us.
“Damn it!” Murphy swore. He turned to me. “Get in there now and stop him! The balcony is enchanted to project your voice over all of Eyrie!”
Custos stepped into the doorway Gilda had just come through, “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”
“Like hell,” Murphy growled, tackling the much-larger Praetorian. “Your damn father is about to destroy the Empire!”
I saw the opening and took it. As I ran past the grappling duo, the voice rang out again, “For too long have we been submissive to Equestria! For too long have they languished in their corruption and filth, treating us as pests! As RODENTS!”
I quickly made it to a lavishly appointed room, and just as quickly dashed out the door on the other side of the room.
“For two years, we have waited for Equestria to do something about Celestia! Do punish her for her crimes! It seems they have seen fit to start restoring her position, and so it has finally become time for us to do something!”
I slammed into the wall as I took a corner too fast. Not even registering the slight ache that gave me, I sprinted for the now-visible door to the balcony. I saw a very Gilda-like griffon with a crown wrought with stone and iron.
Right as I passed through the door, he got to the climax of his speech, eliciting a tremendous cheer. “It is time to forcibly remove Celestia and all those who have facilitated her attempt to return to power! It is time to declare Blood Feud on Equestria!”
Vision going red at the cheering of the crowd, I shouted with all the fury of an enraged deity, “Like fuck it is!”