//------------------------------// // Chapter 1; The Beginning of the End of the End's Begining // Story: Ponyville Apocalypse // by Gryphin //------------------------------// It was a beautiful day and Gryphin couldn't help but want to spread his wings in the light breeze and take a short walk to Sugarcube Corner and say hello to Pinkie. Pinkie was such a silly pony, always bouncing around and being happy. Whenever he was in a bad mood always get a chocolate cupcake from the pink party pony. He trotted out of his small 2 story apartment without noticing that the door was already unlocked. He walked to Sugarcube corner and found it was a wreck, pots and plates scatter around the floor, the cabinets scratched and broken, sweets uneaten still on the tables and... and 'What happened here? What's happened to Pinkie? What about my other friends? What about? Him? Oh Celestia, what do I do? Gryphin ran out of the shop 'Oh, Sweet Celestia, where is everypony?' his thoughts were interrupted as he had arrived at the Golden Oaks, home of Twilight Spackle the student of Princess Celestia and bearer of the element Magic. The door was locked but Gryphin wanted to get in and FAST, he rammed the door and it bust off it's hinges leaving Gryphin toppling onto the ground. "Twilight?!" Gryphin called as he ran up the stairs to Twilight and Spike on the ground. Blood coming out of every orifice. "What's happening?!?" Yells Gryphin at the top of his lungs. "My little pony! Thank goodness you're alright." Called out the Princess of the sun. "Princess Celestia, what's going on?" Gryphin urgently asked "Is everypony at the castle alright?" he was still shocked at these scene. "All of my guards are dead, you are the first pony I've seen that is still alive." She replied "Do you know what's happening here?" Gryphin said nothing for a very long time. After a moment he spoke "I-i don't know..." "Then what is it?" asked the Princess. He tried to say something, to say anything he opened his mouth to speak, then there was darkness. He woke up in Princess Celestia's castle. All of the doors and windows were barricaded and the smell of burn rubber filled the air. Gryphin took a deep breath and his lungs felt awful. "What happened to everything?" Asked Princess Celestia as she walked into the room completely unnoticed. Gryphin turned and jumped into the air in surprise. "What happened here?" asked Gryphin looking around at the broken interior of what used to be a castle to hold royalty. Now it's just a dump. "What happened." She stated each word again and again. She was always known as a Princess that knew what to do, but now with everything in shambles she was panicking. "I-I don't know! Princess." Said Gryphin clearly even more in the blue than Celestia. "Well you must know something. I will make sure you don't leave until you tell me everything you know." Celestia was clearly about to lose it. Her left eye began twitching and Gryphin knew that if he didn't say something she would go berserk. "Well." Spoke Gryphin. "All that's happened to me today is I woke up put on my clothes and walked out the door. I wanted to go to Sugarcube corner and get a chocolate cupcake and I found pinkie on the floor and then-" "Wait did you say you found pinkie on the floor?" Asked Celestia with a face of doubt. "Yeah, didn't you see her in Sugarcube corner?" He said cautiously "Hiya everypony!" Pinkie jumped into the room bubbly as ever. "Wait what?" Asked Gryphin clearly stumped. "But, Pinkie. You DIED. You were DEAD." said Gryphin. "I'm not dead. I'm a chicken!" Pinkie was about to pull out her chicken costume but Celestia glared at her and Pinkie put the costume away. "You obviously need some rest." Said Celestia. "but don't think you're off the hook Gryphin." Celestia threw Gryphin into a room with no windows and locked the door from the outside. "AFTER YOU GET SOME REST I BETTER HAVE SOME ANSWERS." Celestia's muffled voice came from outside the door. Gryphin looked around the room and saw a mattress on the ground and a small dresser. He opened it but there was nothing inside but a small box. "Oh, a small box." says Gryphin. "This seems like a bad idea, but I am being held hostage by my former Princess." Gryphin opened the box but there were only some books. "LAME" said Gryphin taking them out of the box. He flipped through a few pages and puts the book down. He picked up a new book, and it claimed to be a Joke book. "Oh, I love jokes!" Gryphin opened the book. There was a book about quantum physics inside it. Gryphin opened the quantum physics book and inside it was another joke book. Inside the joke book, another quantum physics book. Gryphin decided to stop. "Well, I might as well get some rest." Gryphin gots on the lone mattress and attempted to sleep but it was very firm. After a long struggle of comfort, Gryphin finally started to doze off. When his eyes closed he could hear Princess Celestia's pacing feet and he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep for long. Gryphin woke up about an hour later and he could still hear Princess Celestia pacing. "C-can I come out now" asks Gryphin as he knocked on the door even though he could hear Princess Celestia right out side. The pacing stops and Princess Celestia asked "Will you tell me everything you know?" "Yes." says Gryphin. Princess Celestia opened the door and Gryphin followed her into another room. "After you" Called Celestia holding the door open for Gryphin. "You better not lock me in another room." said Gryphin. "I won't" said Princess Celestia rolling her eyes. He was directed to a chair and sat "So, what do you know." asks Princess Celestia . "Well, I have a theory, one of the Elements of Harmony may have become corrupt. I believe if we find the pony responsible for this we can purify them and bring peace back to the kingdom." explained Gryphin. "But how would we know if it's true?" asked Princess Celestia, she was obviously skeptical about that statement. "It's just a hunch!" Yelled Pinkie from down the hall. "Well. Let's go find that element of harmony!" shouted Princess Celestia. Gryphin was unsure how the Princess suddenly agreed with him but its probably Pinkie Pie, just go with it. Princess Celestia and Gryphin realized they couldn't be sure what would happen. "We might need something to defend ourselves with Princess, if this pony can make other ponies appear dead I think they are pretty powerful." Suggested Gryphin. Without saying anything Princess Celestia nodded and walked back down the hallway. "Where are we going?" Asks Gryphin. "The royal Armour?" The Princess again nodded. "Wait really? There really is a royal armory? I was just kidding around I didn't know that it existed." Said Gryphin. "Well it does, did you seriously thought we didn't have an armory? What do you think I am an idiot?" Asks Princess Celestia. "Oh, look at me! I'm going to make a community with no defenses against oh, I don't know. Discord? Changelings? Ersa Majors? Everypony would be dead by now if we didn't have things like horn attachments, magic amplifiers, and wing upgrades." Princess Celestia was on a little bit of a rant. Gryphin, felt dumb and had to speed up his walking compared to Celestia's, with her long legs and all. Her confident strides returned with the thought of experimental weapons of harmony. Her confident strides made Gryphin more confident as well but with the returning thought of death made him lose that confidence very quickly. Entering the armory Celestia opened a small locker containing horn attachments. She handed one to Gryphin and equipped her own. "Thank you, but I'm a pegasus" said Gryphin. "Oh, I forgot. Most of the time I give my soldiers horn attachments. Sorry, it's a habit of the mind." Replied Celestia "Meh, I don't mind." Said Gryphin handing back the, let's say, "Body mod". "OH, CAN I GET ONE OF THOSE SWEET WING UPGRADES PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE." Yelled Gryphin doing a little dance of excitement, his hooves tapping the ground making small clinks, due to his metal hoof bracelets clanking up and down. "Well, it won't get any use here now will they?" Princess Celestia said with a smirk. Gryphin took hold of the upgrade, but realized he has no idea how it worked. Princess Celestia merely pushed a button on this machine that was godly to Gryphin and little more that a hunk of metal to a Princess. It wrapped around Gryphin's wings and emitted a pink glow and tightening slightly and giving a small pinch, like getting your hoof stuck in between a buckle. "Oh, and by the way you might want to stay-" Said Princess Celestia right as the upgrades stop being weightless and came crashing to the ground pulling Gryphin down in a heap. "Supported..." Celestia finished. "Wow thanks. You are the most helpful pony EVAR." Gryphin retorted. Princess Celestia gave a chuckle. "You need to be supported so the wing upgrades can boot up. They have a mechanism in them that uses perpetual motion to stay lightweight whilst your flying. Once activated you can gain speed whilst gliding straight. Pretty cool right?" Celestia continued on about what benefits and skills you could achieve whilst using the upgrades, but I don't think you want to read all of that, do you? While Celestia was talking she equipped a defensive horn attachment, evasive wing upgrades, and 3 magic amplifiers. One Defensive, One Offensive, and one that wasn't very easy to distinguish from the other two. Princess Celestia told Gryphin it was a secret. It probably isn't. After Gryphin and Celestia finished up in the armory they head for the doors of the castle. Unbarricaded, the door is opened revealing the entirety of Ponyville, uninhabited and destroyed. "Let's go find that element."