//------------------------------// // Reclaimer // Story: Regression // by chief maximus //------------------------------// Eros At first, there was nothing. As Eros opened his eyes, he saw the impossible. His father stood before him, on an infinite plane of light. Before he could speak, his father held up a talon. "Eros, I need you to know I love you." He was speechless. He wanted to cry, but he felt an unreal joy in his heart. "The fillies and dragon you travel with are more important to the world than you know." Eros managed to stutter a single word. "W-what?" "All of you, you carry the fate of the world on your shoulders. Trust no one but those you are with!" Finally, Eros managed to find his voice. "But, Dad, I miss you! How can I do this without you? I love you!" Argos nodded with a smile. "I know, my son. I love you too. The fillies you travel with must be protected. You are the one with the sword, you will reclaim the glory of the griffon heroes of old." A blinding light washed his father out. As it began to dim, reality set in. His vision focused, on the ceiling of grey clouds calmly passing by above him. He began to cough, as he looked to the weight settled on his chest. "Scootaloo... Scoots wake up," he rasped, raising up on his elbows. She groaned, beginning to stir. Eros turned his head to the side and his beak clanged against the blade of his sword. It had stuck in the ground mere inches from his face. Around them, papers, furniture, and other parts and pieces of the building they'd ridden to the ground lay scattered about. He exhaled heavily as Scootaloo finally lifted her head. Here eyes fluttered open, focusing on the griffon in front of her. "Wha... Eros?" She said, raising her head to look around. There was nothing but trees around them as the breeze rustled the leaves. She rolled off of his chest and tried to stand up, her legs unsteady beneath her. Eros looked back toward the mountain. The wind had blown the buildings of the former Cloudsdale off what remained of the city, some of them slowly falling to earth, the distant rumble shaking the ground. Scootaloo wobbled, then sat on her flank, her hoof on her head. "I think I hit my head on the way down," Eros sat up and checked himself. By some miracle, he was unharmed, save for a few cuts and scrapes. "You might have a concussion, better take it easy until we can find Spike," he said, standing up and removing his sword from the ground. "Any idea where we are?" Scootaloo asked. "None," he replied, sheathing his sword and scanning the horizon for any sign of the others in their party. "Well, what are we going to do now?" she asked. "I've always heard that if you get lost, you should stay put and wait for rescue. Maybe they saw us fall?" Eros reasoned. Scootaloo hummed to herself. "That's an idea, but what if they didn't see us go down? What if they think we're dead?" Eros stretched his wings. "I think I can still fly, we'll have a better chance of finding them from the air." He knelt down. Scootaloo huffed. Although she hated the notion, this was the fastest way to reunite with her group. She climbed aboard and he took off, heading over the treetops to scan for Spike and the others. Gilda "Your Grace, please, your father will be furious if he finds you missing!" her servant pled with her. She looked to him , a deadpan stare across her face. "I don't give a shit," she replied, fitting herself with her armor and sliding her gauntlets over her talons. "The one true friend I have in this world managed to survive the pony apocalypse, and I'm going to find her." "B-but, they'll arrive in the capital in a few days! If you simply wait—" "I've spent my whole life waiting," she interrupted him. "I don't trust that snake Carrion as far as I can throw him." "But, what will I tell the Emperor?" Gilda paused. She knew that her actions were endangering the life of her servant. Then it came to her. "When you wake up, tell them I was kidnapped." "Wake up?" The words had barely left his mouth before Gilda clocked him across the jaw. Her servant fell to a heap on the floor of the armory as she collected the rest of her battle gear. Her armor glinted in the torchlight, having never seen combat. She equipped herself with a broadsword and blunderbuss before donning her helmet, the emperor's sigil on the crest. She came to a window and leapt out, spreading her wings and soaring over the capitol of the Griffon Empire. Here, everything was normal. Subjects went about their daily lives oblivious to the true horror of the pony kingdom. She turned her eyes to the west. There would be a long flight ahead of her, but she was bound and determined to see her friend. Spike He watched the two of them head off toward the destitute city through his optics. Hopefully, they'd find some food, and maybe a few useful tools, but he had almost no hope of finding another actual pony. "How's your head feel?" Sweetie asked. Spike took a seat by the smoldering remains of the campfire. "It's fine, just a headache." "Well, I should change your bandages anyway," she said, stepping towards him. Sweetie Belle had become quite the nurse since they'd set out on this journey. "Thanks." He felt the bandages unwrap as the unicorn filly concentrated before him. "So, what exactly happened back there with those diamond dogs?" She paused for a moment, before continuing to unwrap his bandages. "Well... I saw those thugs hit Eros, and I got pretty upset. Then one of them grabbed my saddle bag, and that old book you gave me fell out. It looked like it was glowing or something, and it opened to a page that had two weird words on it. For some reason, something told me to read them." She reached into her saddle bags and produced a fresh bandage as Spike kept listening. "I did, and the Diamond Dogs were gone!" Spike thought for a moment. "The blank book... the one that only has words on it some of the time? Can I see it?" She was hesitant, but fished it out of her bags. Spike took the book in his hand and stared at the cover. It was just as he remembered it. Simple, rather plain, just a sun and moon on the cover. "You said it was glowing?" he asked. "Yeah," she said, finishing up his bandage. Spike opened the book and thumbed through blank page after blank page. As he was about to close the book, he stopped on a page with something written on it. He mumbled the single line to himself. Ego sum principium et finis. Mecum omnes innovando. "Spike?" He snapped his head up. Sweetie Belle was looking at him with an eyebrow raised. "Are you okay? You were mumbling something." "I was just reading..." he looked back down at the book. The page was blank. He flipped back and forth between the next few pages. "Nothing, uhm, nevermind." He glanced back towards the mountain. Eros and Scootaloo had disappeared into the remains of the city. In the early morning quiet, his mind began to wonder. He thought about his best friend. He prayed she knew what she was doing in approaching the advancing army that had fired upon the castle. He had to admonish himself for doubting her. She had a plan, she always did. Even in the worst of situations, she was on the ball. She was the acting princess, he had to trust her. "I'm going to try to find us some food," Spike said, standing from the remains of the fire. "But we've got food right here," Apple Bloom reminded him. "We'll want to save our reserves for as long as possible. The more we eat off the land, the longer we can make our stores last." "I'll come with you," she said, rising with him. "Sweetie Belle, will you be alright by yourself?" he asked. "Pfft, she turned three diamond dogs into thin air!" Apple Bloom chimed in. Sweetie nodded. "I'll be okay," she replied, putting the book back into her saddle bags. Spike and Apple Bloom started off into the forest as Sweetie watched them leave. As they walked in silence, he kept an eye out for wild berries and edible grasses. In the back of his mind, however, something else was on his mind. The taste of the rabbit he had killed came back to him in spurts. The savory meat, the slightly metallic taste of the blood... it called to him. He felt his mouth begin to water as he swallowed. Something primal was nipping at the back of his mind, imploring he get another taste of flesh. Spike willed his baser instincts into silence as they continued into the forest. "So, I know you can eat gems and such, but what else do ya eat?" Apple Bloom asked, breaking the silence. He paused. He'd eaten pony food before, and his body seemed to handle it well, but he'd much prefer gems to wheat and vegetables. Then there was his recent affair with a taboo in pony culture. "Well, I can eat pony food, and some of my kind can live off gems alone." He kept his eyes peeled as they kept up the pace. He spotted a few edible grasses and picked them as he went. Spike was content to forage in silence, but Apple Bloom had other ideas. "Do you think Prince Shining and Princess Cadence are still in the Crystal Empire?" "I hope so, I don't know where we'd go if they weren't," Spike replied. That troubled him. If they weren't there, he had no idea what they would do, or where they would go. He could tell his reply worried her. "I'm sure they're still around. Let's go find something to eat." Sweetie Belle She watched her companions disappear into the wood line. For a moment, she allowed herself to relax. It was a rare thing, to be sure, but as she sat back against Spike's pack, she felt her tense muscles begin to loosen. Until she heard it. 'Sweetie Belle' She snapped upright, her eyes darting back and forth. "Spike?" she asked, looking around. "Apple Bloom?" No one was around her, but as she searched for the owner of the voice, she noticed an otherworldly glow coming from her bags. The same glow from when the diamond dogs attacked. "It's the book..." she said to herself, unclasping her saddle bag and retrieving it. A golden light shone from it, as though the sun itself hid behind its cover. She placed it on the ground and hesitated. The last time she messed with this book, she did Celestia-knows-what to those diamond dogs. Although they were trying to hurt them, she sincerely hoped she hadn't killed them. Maybe she simply sent them somewhere else? She hoped that was the case. Slowly, she put a hoof on the cover, and flipped it open. The light bursting from the pages hypnotized her. She was locked into it and felt powerless to look away. A blank page stared back at her, only, she began to realize that it wasn't blank. The more she stared, the more she saw. Monsters, creatures that defied imagination were revealed to her, battling for supremacy in a barren landscape. She saw primitive looking griffons, yaks, ponies, donkeys, mules and dragons all fleeing for their lives as the monsters fought. Then there appeared a great monster, one putting the others to shame with its size alone. Then, like a bolt of lightning, a blistering light pierced the heavens and struck the beast down. A ball of pure energy, bright as the sun itself hung in the sky. The monsters that had the creatures of her world living in fear vanished one by one to the ball of light's onslaught. The residents of the now free land all bowed before the light. The image began to wash out, and Sweetie Belle found herself staring at a blank page once more. Before she could break her stare, a single word flashed across the page. Epona "...you okay?" Sweetie snapped her head up with a start. Apple Bloom and Spike were staring at her from across the smoldering campfire. "W-what? Yeah, I'm fine." she replied. "You were staring at that book and talking to yourself," Spike said, walking over to see what she had been reading. Nothing, the page was blank. "Oh, uhm, I was just seeing if this thing had any more spells in it," she lied. "It doesnt." She said, quickly closing it and putting it back into her saddle bag. "You two weren't gone long." Sweetie commented, trying to change the subject. "Not long?" Apple Bloom parroted. "We've been gone for two hours!" She glanced back at her bags. 'Two hours?' It felt like only a few minutes! How had it done that? Something was special about this book, but she couldn't place why. There were many magical artifacts floating around Equestria, so a magical book certainly wasn't unheard of. And yet, this wasn't just any magic book. Spike had told her this book was given to Twilight by Celestia herself, and then entrusted to them by Spike. He was told to bring the book to the Crystal Empire along with them. "Spike, can I ask you something?" she asked. "Sure," he said, sorting the food they'd found in the forest. "What about?" "It's about, the Valuntas Domini." Spike raised an eyebrow and looked up from his work. "The what?" "The book," Sweetie clarified. "What exactly... is it?" Spike sat down, taking a bite of the gem he had pulled out of the bag. "Well, Twilight told me it had something to do with the secrets to the powers of the alicorns. But, I mean... it's just an empty book. I didn't really see how it could hold the secrets to anything," he explained, continuing to munch on his gem. "But, Twilight was pretty serious about me keeping it safe when she gave it to me, so I went along with it." He sighed. "Celestia, I hope she's okay." A clap of thunder snapped him out of his mournful thoughts as they looked towards the mountain. A storm had swept in, sending buildings and pieces of the crumbling city hurtling towards the ground. "Oh no, Eros and Scootaloo might still be up there!" Sweetie Belle screamed as they watched helplessly. Spike threw on his gear and hurried the others to do the same. "C'mon, if we can get below the city, we might be able to help them!" Fluttershy She followed Gart to a fancy looking tent. He told her he would only be a minute as he disappeared through the flap. As she waited, the camp went on about its business. Behind the tent, there was the sea they'd be sailing on. Even though the waters close to shore were a muddy brown, the farther out she looked, the more blue it became. The gulls squawked overhead as they circled around the shoreline, looking for any scraps the army might leave behind. Fluttershy had always loved trips to horseshoe bay, and for a moment, the salty air and caw of the gulls brought her back to an easier time. A time when everything made sense. Before she knew it, Gart had reappeared from the tent. "Ah, if you're still interested, I'd be more than happy to show you my collection of photos from the empire!" he said happily, adjusting his glasses. "That would be lovely," Fluttershy agreed with a smile. Together, they walked towards one of the larger tents where most of the soldiers slept. In between two rather massive tents, there was a small pup tent, nearly big enough for three. "Is this yours?" she asked, wondering if she'd find more griffons inside. "Sure is!" he said proudly. "One of the perks of being a highmaster's assistant!" "More like highmaster's suck up!" A burly griffon called from inside the tent next to them. Gart turned a furious red, but sighed in defeat. Fluttershy knew his frustrations. He was far too small to do anything to almost any soldier here. She put a hoof on his shoulder and smiled at him. "I think it's a lovely tent, let's go see those pictures." His eyes brightened as the flush left his cheeks. "Yes, very well." There was a small table for tea, a cot, and a small shelf filled with maps, scrolls and books. On the table, he lit a candle and produced an album from underneath his cot. He opened it and revealed a palace, with hundreds of steps leading from the street to it, the flags of the griffon tribes lining the walkway. Guards in glistening armor stood along it as the Emperor and a griffon that seemed awfully familiar to her walked down the steps. She squinted, before realizing she was looking at a much younger Gilda. "Is that... Gilda?" she gasped. "Ah, yes, Princess Gilda, next in line to the imperial throne." Gart turned to her. "Have you met before?" "Actually, yes, but not in quite a while." "Well then I'm sure she'll be delighted to see you and your friends!" Fluttershy rolled her eyes. Excited to see one of us, maybe she thought to herself. Gart continued on through his gallery, showing her beautiful pictures of parks, statues, government buildings and some of his favorite restaurants. By the time he'd gotten to the end of his album, Fluttershy felt as though she'd just walked the streets of the capital herself. "My, those were wonderful pictures," she said as he put his album away. "I had no idea there was so much history in the Griffon Empire. "There certainly is! In fact," he said, opening a chest and rummaging through it. "Here, I want you to have this." He handed her a rather thick book on griffon history. "I know it's not much, but, just in case you wanted to know more, and I wasn't around to ask." She took it in her wings and placed it in her bags. "Thank you, Gart. I hope to see you on the boat." "As do I, miss Fluttershy!" She walked back to the royal carriage and found it empty. She settled into her bed and glanced over at the book she'd been given. With nothing else to do, she supposed reading up on the place she'd be going couldn't hurt. She opened the book and scanned the first chapter. "In the old times, the tribes of the world were scattered, living in fear of the great beasts, monsters of incredible size that terrorized the land. For most of history, we hid from the beasts. Armies were massacred, heroes fell, all our efforts against them proved futile. Then, a mighty griffon emerged, the hero of our kind, Syrell. He was a mighty warrior wielding a mythical sword. The lesser beasts soon fell one by one, each victory emboldening our people as our tribes united and expanded. Soon, however, he met a monster that would not be defeated so easily. Battle after battle resulted in defeat." She scanned further down the page and continued reading. "The beast marched on his tribe's capitol, the army holding fast behind the walls of its fortress. Syrell commanded the defense, and held fast his catapults as the monster approached. Before the first blow was struck, the sun itself descended from the heavens. It blinded the defenders and the monster alike. A shriek echoed through the plains as the last monster fell to the ground. The defenders looked to find the sun still in the sky, but the brilliant ball of light hovering over the slain monster. The early griffons bowed to it, praising it as a sign that our kind was to dominate the world. But it was not as it appeared." The door of the carriage drew her from her readings as Twilight and Rainbow Dash walked in. They seemed quiet. More so than usual. "Everything okay, girls?" They glanced at each other. "Yeah, it's just... I can't put my hoof on it, but something about this isn't right," Twilight replied. "What's the matter?" Twilight sighed, sitting on her bed. "That's just it, nothing! Everyone we've met seems genuine, and I haven't even caught a whiff off secrecy. But..." "She doesn't trust Carrion, and neither do I," Dash completed. "I called this from the beginning. I don't know what he's up to, but it's not good." "What about the itinerary for the capitol?" Twilight laid back onto her pillows, rubbing her temples. "We meet with the Emperor the day we arrive, then we'll need to get settled in the palace. After that, I'm heading to the labs to help research the cure. Apparently, they're giving me access to the restricted section of the imperial library. Some of those books haven't been opened in hundreds of years!" she said, a bit of the Twilight Fluttershy remembered coming back. "Well, a friend of mine gave me this book on griffon history if you'd like to read up on them," she offered, passing Twilight the book. She took it in her magic. "Printed by the Imperial Ministry of Information," she read aloud off the cover. "Hopefully, this book is more objective than it sounds." Twilight set the book on the nightstand. "Well, I'm famished, how about lunch?" Grand Marshall Carrion The Marshall found himself looking over the routes for his ships into the harbor of the capitol. The routes were top secret, for his eyes only, delivered to him by one of the most devout carriers in the imperial fleet. He sipped his brandy as he traced the route with a talon. He sat back in his chair. A knock at his door drew a reply. "Come in." "Sir, we've received word that Princess Gilda has left the palace and is en route to our location. She'll be here tomorrow evening." He drug a talon over his face. There were already to many moving parts to this plan, and now, even the supposedly stationary parts were moving. "Is the Emperor aware of this?" "Our sparrows say no, but that will not last." He grimaced. This certainly complicated things. "Very well, prepare the appropriate welcoming party." "Yes, sir." "And fetch me a carrier." He threw back the rest of his brandy. "I have a letter to write."