KEYTHONG
It was nearly evening for the cloud city of Cloudsdale. The sun was setting and everypony was finishing their work and heading home for the night. Inside the Griffon Embassy, a lone Griffon Ambassador sat on his big revolving chair in his office, staring out the window. Outside he can see both Griffons and Pegasuses alike, leaving the building and going to their back to their respective homes.
On a normal day, the Ambassador would be joining them, but tonight was different. For tonight he has an appointment with somepony. A young scholar seeking knowledge.
He met the stallion while he was on one of his trips to the city. His name was Sky Blitz and he was a historian. A perplexing occupation, since every other young Pegasus he ever meets was part of the Stormwing's Army.
Apparently, Sky Blitz wanted to know about the Keythongs, the distant cousins of the Griffons. The Keythongs were similar to the Griffons, they both have a lion's body with a eagle's head and talons. However, instead of wings the Keythongs have several pointy spines that grows from their back.
Sky Blitz was eager to learn more about the Keythongs, after he heard stories of their exploits from other Pegasus soldiers. He wanted to know who they are and where they come from.
The Griffon Ambassador was now curious, he asked the stallion if he was doing this as part of his job. Blitz explained that this had nothing to do with his occupation and this was purely out of passion.
The words that came out of his mouth was alien to the Griffon Ambassador.
The Griffon Kingdom has never known peace for a long time, It's people are warlike and if they're not fighting someone else, then they'll fight among themselves.
Because of their nature, most roles were created to help the Kingdom in their war efforts. Farms grow foods so it can feed the soldiers. Engineers and mechanics build large war machines to aid the armies in battle. Knowledge was used to find any weakness the enemies might have and exploit it.
To actually hear that this stallion was doing this for the sake of knowledge and nothing else completely put him off. He then remembered that not everything had to be about the war effort and remembered that this pony's country used to be peaceful before the Great Divide.
The Griffon agreed to explain the story of the Keythongs to him, but due to their busy schedule, they had to do this in the evening and at his office.
A knock on his door broke him away from his train of thought.
“Come in.” He said.
A large light gray griffon, wearing armor opened the door. “Sir, a Mr. Sky Blitz is here to see you.”
“Send him in.”
The Griffon guard step aside and allow a teal Pegasus with emerald hair to enter the room. Once he was inside, the guard close the door, leaving the two alone.
“Greeting, Mr. Ambassador.” Sky Blitz raise his right hoof for a shake.
“Please, call me Albion.” The Griffon said as he shook the stallion's hoof with his right talon.
“Mr. Albion, I would like to thank you for sparing a moment of your time to tell me more about the Keythongs.”
“Well Blitz, I'm just happy to help.” He replied. “Now before we get started, I would like to point out that I am no historian and this is purely only from my knowledge of these guys. So I apologize in advance if I don't get anything correct.”
“That's alright sir, I me what you can.” Blitz assured the Griffon Ambassador.
Albion cleared his throat, while Blitz took out a notepad with pencil and awaited for the Griffon to begin.
“The true origin of the Keythongs is still a mystery to us, even to this day we don't know where they came from. Because of this, many Griffons made up stories about how these creatures came to be. One tale talks about a Griffon being curse and turning into a Keythong. Another tale tells about a Keythong being created by magic. The most popular theory is that the first Keythong was an abnormal Griffon that was abandoned by his parents. It survived and bred, producing more of his kind.”
“Before their discovery, the Keythongs were though to be a specie of myth. There was no evidence of their existence, aside from some old drawings and letters. It wasn't until two decades ago when our kind finally met the creatures of legend.”
“Wait, creatures?”
“Oh yeah, turns out there was a lot of them.”
“Our first encounter with them was with one of our colonies. The colonist set up a village in the far north, For while they never seen any Kethongs, until one fateful day a Griffon Hunter attacked one. The Hunter though it was wild beast and tried to kill it. This didn't go so well, as the Hunter later return to village, barely alive. He retold his tale about a beast that lives in the mountain. He warned them about how the beast was large, vicious, and dangerous. The villagers in response, formed a large hunting party, intending to slay this monster.
“After long hours of searching the mountains, they eventually found his home and slay the beast. This prove to be a grave mistake as the rest of his kind found about his murder. The Keythongs attacked the village, in retribution for their slain packmate.”
“The attack caught attention of our King's attention, who responded by sending a regiment to deal with these savage beast. This sparked the event known as the War of the North. A war between the Griffons and Keythongs that lasted for seven long bloody years, before the war itself ended in a stalemate.”
“The Griffon Commander decided to change tactics and switch to fortifying their positions. The Keythongs would continue to waves and waves of their kind to attack, only to be taken down by our defenses. Soon it finally came through their thick heads that they'll never win this way. So they stopped their assault and fall back to their territory. This was the start of the stalemate, as neither side send any forces. Instead they stayed on their turf, waiting to see if the other side was going to attack.”
“Still to this day the north was divided by a border. One side was the Griffons, the other side is the Keythongs. And while the tension between us has started to simmer down, we still have a long way before we can start trusting each other.
“And well that's pretty much all there is to say about the Keythongs.” Albion finished.
“Aw really, is there nothing else you can tell me?” Blitz questioned.
“Nope.”
“Well can at least tell me, how you managed to get the Keythongs to fight on your side?”
“Oh that? No, only a small group of them joined our forces.” Albion corrected. “Our King managed to strike a deal with this group and they agreed to fight on our side.”
“What was the deal?”
“I don't know, but what ever it was it must have been good for even the Keythongs to accept.” The Griffon then looked at the time and saw that it was getting late. “Well Mr. Blitz, looks like our time is up.”
“Yeah, I should really go home myself.” Blitz said as he checked his watch. “Once again sir, I like to thank you for sparing a moment of your time to tell me of the Keythongs.”
“Well It was a pleasure for me to tell you stuff, Mr. Blitz.” Albion replied.
The two left together out of the building, once they were outside they went their separate ways and wave goodbye to each other.
As Albion was flying home, he couldn't help but still think about the deal his people made with the Keythongs. He lied about not knowing what the deal was to the pony. He knew exactly what the terms of their agreement was and shuddered at that though of it. The deal was simply providing fresh meat to the Keythongs, pony meat, since they have taken a great liking to it.