Shroud of darkness

by LeTriggs

Chapter 11

Interrogation

Year of Equestria, 602, 15th year of the Alpha wars.

Stargazer slowly came to consciousness in a damp cave, his vision blurred, his heart felt like it was beating inside his skull and everything ached. He saw a pony forced into a wooden chair across the hastily put together table by a griffon. Stargazer recognised the pony as one of the many soldiers that had been left to die at Hill 30. A griffon out of Stargazer’s eyesight began barking at the pony who seemed to be in a similar condition to himself.

“How do you know the pony queen?!” The pony lulled around in his chair almost falling over till the griffon moved over to them and smacked him round the face snapping his attention to his capture.

“How do you know the pony queen? Tell me!” The pony looked from the griffon to Stargazer and back again with fear in his eyes. "So young" Was all that came into Stargazer’s mind before it throbbed again as he felt a trickle moving down the side of his head. The pony broke down into tears saying nothing that made sense until the interrogator nodded to a griffon behind him who proceeded to bring a hatchet into the back of the young pony’s head killing him. The body was dragged out of the room and another pony was brought in.

This pony was allot different to the previous one. From what Stargazer could make out through his spinning and blurred vision he was a unicorn, much older than the other brought in before him most likely a seasoned veteran and as such hadn’t been broken by the torture the griffons were undoubtedly subjecting to those that had been captured. He sat down in the chair of his own accord seemingly knowing of what was going to happen and being at peace with it.

“How do you know the demon?” The griffon seemed more calm than before but was still barking at the pony.

“We're soldiers, I don’t know him personally we were all just placed together while those ass holes made a run for it.” He spat at the ground at the mention of the military and was then grabbed round the throat by the griffon.

“Lies! You work together all of you! You know him and as such you must know the pony queen.” His eyes narrowed as he stared into the pony’s eyes who then spoke back still calm.

“I do not know him and I have never met PRINCESS Celestia.” The griffon thrust him back into the chair grabbed the hatchet from the other griffon’s hand and smashed it into the pony’s face who after convulsing on the floor was dragged away through the same doorway as the other. The interrogator then sat down on the table in front of Stargazer whilst he waited for his subordinate to bring in the next prisoner scratching his talons against one another to sharpen them.

“Tell me how you know the pony queen demon and I may spare your comrades lives.” Stargazer stayed quiet unable to focus on what was happening around him. The griffon’s eye twitched in anger and then he lashed out and bit down on Stargazer’s ear and ripped the top of it off making Stargazer scream in pain.

“I know you know your queen pony, I will get the answers I want from you so why bother going through all this pain?” He brought his talon to Stargazer’s face stroking upwards till he got to the Alicorn’s head wound and pushed the talon into it causing Stargazer to scream in agony till he fell unconscious.

Stargazer awoke as the door closed whilst the interrogator put the chair back into its rightful place. From what he could see there must have been allot of others that were killed in the room and some of them must’ve put up a fight from the different blood splatters on the wall. The griffon looked over to him and smiled

“So you’re awake? Good I wouldn’t want you to miss out we only have one of your little group left demon.” His grin grew as he heard the struggling pony being lead towards the chamber in which they inhabited.

The door opened to reveal a pony that Stargazer had known for nearly a decade. The dark grey earth pony struggled against his captures all the while until he was thrown into the chair almost knocking it over. His purple and pink hair held back by a bandanna seemed to be stuck to his head from blood that was seeping from many different cuts he had on his skull. His magenta eyes stared daggers at the griffon before he closed them and looked at the floor deep in thought.

“Satrenko….Where….” Stargazer almost fell out of the chair as he tried to speak but managed to force his body to stay up.

“So you two know each other. Then you will tell me how to kill the pony queen!” The griffon looked smug at his hard work paying off, he would be promoted for this heralded as a hero, the one who made it possible for the immortal queen to die. Satrenko muttered under his breathe making the interrogator move closer to him.

“What was that pony!?” Satrenko muttered again quieter this time making the griffon lean right up to the earth pony’s face.

“What did you say?” The griffon was clearly aggravated and spat the words at Satrenko who kept looking at the ground with his eyes closed.

“I said. Fuck you.” He smashed his head against the griffon’s throwing him back then snapped the bindings that held his hooves together. He pirouetted around the other griffon who charged him from behind brandishing the hatchet that had taken so many pony lives that day. He grabbed the griffon and snapped his neck taking the hatchet from his claw as he fell to the ground and threw it at the first griffon that had begun charging him. The hatchet smashed straight into the griffon’s face making him collapse and skid against the floor stopping by Satrenko’s hooves. He wrenched the weapon out of the griffon’s head and then moved next to the door before another griffon opened it hiding Satrenko behind the door and moved into the room with his assault rifle at the ready hearing the commotion. He moved into the room pointing the weapon at Stargazer having heard many rumours of the infamous pony demon. Satrenko brought the hatchet down upon his head embedding it into his skull. The griffon dropped to the ground with only a slight gasp, Satrenko picked up the rifle from the griffon along with his ammo.

Satrenko untied Stargazer and hefted him onto his shoulder and held the rifle tight against his body to try and limit the recoil he would get from the weapon. He dragged the barely conscious Alicorn through the cave trying to keep out of sight, they made their way into the room where the other prisoners had been kept to see the guards walking away into a different section of the cave having no more prisoners to guard. Satrenko looked at the tiny rusted cages that were lined haphazardly against the walls, Satrenko thought about the many days that he had spent inside his cage watching the prisoners led out one by one to meet their doom then to watch their corpse dragged out and taken into a different part of the cavern. He hefted up his friend and moved forwards through a different door into a room he had spotted when he was brought into the griffon base.

The armoury was filled with piles of different weapons stacked around. Satrenko dropped Stargazer gently to the ground and began scouring the room. He quickly found Stargazer’s chest plate amongst the piles of equipment taken from the mercenary ponies that had been captured, he put it onto the Alicorn and gave the front of it a tap the sound of the emerald ringing through the room before he began re-searching the room.

“Come on there has to be at least one here where are they? Where are they? Damn griffon’s don’t have any sense of order. AHA!” He pulled a small object out of the box he had uncovered with a small grin on his face.

“I knew they would have a time bomb here somewhere and they just went and left a big box out for little old me to take.” He picked up a few of the bombs and placed them into a satchel which threw over his shoulder then picked Stargazer up and made his way out of the armoury.

He followed the route the griffons he saw earlier had taken and entered into the main cavern in the network of caves, all around were boxes of ammo and shells to be used in cannons and tanks along with fuel drums and other items all stacked neatly in different piles. Satrenko leant Stargazer against a group of fuel drums praying that the griffons wouldn’t come into the room whilst they were there. He ran around the room attaching the time bombs he had to different items within the room and whilst placing one against a large shell he saw a map on the wall with many ink marks and circles round different locations which he snatched and stuffed into his satchel. Satrenko picked up Stargazer once more and moved through the room pressing the small button on each of the small bombs starting their countdown. Almost on cue a group of griffons came into the room from one of the many doors and saw Satrenko heading through the largest tunnel, they pulled up their weapons and fired at the pair, Satrenko turned and returned fire at them whilst moving backwards struggling to aim and hold his friend at the same time. He reloaded as the weapon clicked and began running as fast as he could firing madly behind him at the pursuing griffons whilst the light approached them as they headed towards the entrance of the tunnel network.

The light stung the pair’s eyes as they emerged into the open air from the griffon’s underground base. Satrenko didn't have time to admire the view and kept running. He kept running forwards and after a few moments found himself on the edge of a cliff. He cursed to himself at the prospect of being trapped in the open, he placed Stargazer amongst a group of rocks where he should have enough cover from the gunfire and pulled up his rifle ready to fight the incoming griffons.

The explosion rocked Stargazer from his daze he looked around with his still blurred vision, time seemed to slow as he peered round the rock to see Satrenko fighting the griffons furiously. The cloud of the explosion loomed in the distance the combined explosive force of the bombs and other devices within the base had seemed to blow the ground apart and as such killed many of the griffons within the base. Satrenko fired another burst of rounds dodging out of the way of a hail of gun-fire, a griffon tried to slash him with his claws whilst the pony was reloading but Satrenko saw him and hit him with his weapon knocking the griffon to the ground and then fired a shot into his head. He kept firing at the dwindling griffon force, a bullet flew into his shoulder knocking him off balance but he turned and kept firing as more pushed into his body. He kept firing till the last griffon fell then dropped his rifle onto the ground, he coughed up some blood then let himself fall backwards onto the ground at the tip of the cliff. Stargazer pulled himself up his body screamed at him to rest but he ignored it and moved to his friend.

“Hey, Star we had a good run huh?” He coughed letting more blood come from him.

“Don’t talk like that it’s just a flesh wound”

“Liar, I know I’m done old friend.” He coughed again. “Take this it’s a map of griffon bases around.” He pulled the map out of his satchel and handed it to Stargazer who took the map with a tear in his eye.

“Renko…..” The pony grabbed the rifle he had dropped and thrust it into Stargazer’s chest.

“Take it Star, give ‘em everything you got. I’ll be seeing you on the other side.” He gave in to another fit of coughs and spat out a large pile of blood before he closed his eyes. Stargazer looked at his friend as panic rose in him, he checked his pulse. Nothing. Stargazer started pressing down on his chest in rhythm then blew air into his lungs through his mouth the tears streaming down his face.

“Come on Renko you never gave up on anything before and you’re not going to now!” He began punching Satrenko’s chest in a desperate attempt to bring him back. He gave up on his attempts and looked over to the rifle that he had been told to take. He picked the rifle up and stood up looking over his friend’s body.

“Goodbye brother.” As he spoke unbeknownst to him the emerald in his chest plate cracked.

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The griffon guards looked out into the darkness spanning from their base. They tried as best as they could to stay focused but they were tired and hadn’t seen any action since the cease fire was called over a week ago. Through the darkness one of the guards noticed something that shouldn’t be out there, movement. A shot rang out against the night as the bullet flew straight through the griffon’s skull. One of his comrades saw him fall and sounded the alarm which blared through the base alerting the soldiers.

Stargazer emerged from the darkness heading towards the base with a look of pure hatred smeared onto his face. He fired a number of shots at the griffon who sounded the alarm which collided with him in a puff of blood and feathers. Stargazer moved into the base courtyard where a number of soldiers were to which he began firing at his shots ripping into them. He reloaded the rifle as more griffons poured out of the main structure and began firing at him. He took cover as a griffon moved onto a machine gun turret and poured bullets at him like fire. The griffon kept shooting whilst Stargazer was behind the cover letting the bullets chip away at it until the machine gun inevitably overheated. He took the chance and aimed at the griffon as he struggled to cool the weapon, he fired a single bullet that went through the griffon’s face splattering the wall behind him with blood. He then moved onto the rest of the griffons firing at him and unleashed the rest of his magazine at them killing them all in one fell swoop.

A single tank rolled round the corner and took aim at Stargazer with its main gun he threw his weapon to the ground and galloped as fast as he could towards the tank. He dodged the shot from it and brought his hooves against the front of the vehicle and began pushing with all his strength he heard the engine of the machine rev as it pushed against him. His hooves dug into the ground as he kept pushing the tank with everything he had, he pushed up against the tank and slowly began lifting the front of it up into air. He threw the tank over making it land on its lid trapping the griffons inside then he jumped onto the underside of the machine and used it as a platform to jump through the window on the second floor of the structure in the middle of the base. The window shattered as Stargazer fell through it landing behind one of the pair of griffons that had taken shelter inside the command centre. He snapped the griffon commander’s neck making the other turn round at the sound dropping his weapon in fear at the sight of the fabled demon.

Stargazer followed slowly after the griffon that had bolted through the door and into the dimly lit corridor. He wrenched a piece of lead piping from the wall and held it in his hooves as he followed after the young griffon. The griffon turned to see Stargazer and tripped falling onto the floor, he scrabbled at the floor trying to move away from Stargazer but unable to take his eyes off him. Stargazer swung the pipe at the griffon smacking him in the face, he grabbed the griffon and pulled him to a standing position and hit him again with the pipe making the griffon drop to the floor once more. He hit the griffon again and again each hit making the emerald in his chest plate crack slightly more which went unnoticed by Stargazer. He then pulled the bloody and bruised griffon up to his face and growled at him.

“You tell the griffon king what happened here. Then. You tell him I’m coming.” The griffon nodded causing his body pain but he knew he had to otherwise he would be dead. Stargazer dropped the young soldier to the ground then moved towards the command centre and took off into the night sky leaving the base. The emerald laying shattered by the half dead griffon.

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The griffon king left his carriage in an uncommon wariness he was within a pony fortress about to have talks of peace with Celestia and the other leaders of each country throughout the world but that wasn’t what made him nervous. He thought back to the lone soldier approaching him stating he would speak to none but the king and informed him of the demon’s words. He moved through the courtyard of the impressive fortress looking at all the sights. Ponies were everywhere staring daggers at the griffons but they kept their calm, he saw the Dragon Monks making their way towards the same entrance as him along with the Zebra Prime Minister each with their own escort of personal guards. To his right he saw the President of The Ponies Republic with his own set of guard which stroked their weapons at the sight of the king that had invaded their country. They each made their way into the fortress without a word uttered between them and were led by the Royal Guard Captain to a large chamber containing a table at which Princess Celestia sat. The Captain held a hoof up to stop the world leaders.

“Your escorts are to wait out here.” The dignitaries each nodded and entered the room taking seats in different positions around the pentagonal table the Griffon king and President taking opposite seats so as not to look at each other. The door to the chamber slid closed cutting all light from the room before Celestia’s horn glowed causing the gem in the centre of the table to light up casting a glow around the table and no further so that they could focus on what was happening rather than focusing on the room itself.

“Well then shall we begin?” The silence from the others was all Celestia needed to continue on.

“I am sure you are all wondering why I have summoned you here. I want us to end this senseless violence.”

“Then why have you invited these two!” The President of The Republic snapped smacking his hoof onto the table making it shake.

“I am not just talking about this war . Although this has been the bloodiest and longest yet.”

“Where do you get off calling this war long out of everyone here? My dear immortal Queen?” The griffon king’s sarcasm could be almost felt as the words rolled out of his beak.

“I am no Queen Victus and I believe that my……condition so to speak gives me more right than most of you to talk of a passage of time.” Her words cut down King Victus making him shuffle in his seat.

"What I have called you all here for is to make sure that this kind of bloodshed never happens again.” The others sat in shocked silence as they heard her before the Zebra spoke in his thick accent.

“Do you mean to say a as you would call it peace treaty between our lands?”

“Yes I do and yes I realise that such a thing has never been spoken of before even from before my time.” Celestia sighed, war was something she had known throughout her long life and even she knew it was sometimes necessary. The dragon pulled his hood from his head revealing his face. He looked ancient his eyes showing every bit of knowledge he had gained through time. His once magnificent scales had dulled and become white along with his spines. He bowed his head as he spoke clasping his claws together almost as if he were praying.

“Your highness peace has never been spoken of anywhere near this kind of scale before not any of the ancient texts have spoken of it. Do you believe it possible to achieve peace when nations are left to those that chase after their own desires instead of what is best for the world?” The monk raised his head after finishing his sentence and looked towards Celestia who sighed again hearing his wise words.

“Yes I am afraid that peace as we would all like to have will be impossible to keep throughout time but I believe that if we make the right choice here that future generations will be able to learn from our mistakes and not let violence escalate to this level again. But I believe first that we must talk about ending this current war shouldn’t we King Victus?” He slammed his claw onto the table in frustration again before he shouted at her.

“You blame me for this! You dare make such an accusation? We allowed The Republic to have our ancestors land and they returned our kind favour with their acts of terrorism! I am merely taking back what is our birth right!”

“I never authorised any attacks on your country! They were ponies working on their own accord!”

“Lies I say! You hide now that you realise you cannot stem the tide coming towards you!”

“GENTLEMEN PLEASE!” Celestia’s voice roared throughout the chamber silencing them all. She had not used the Royal Canterlot voice for a number of centuries and didn’t like using it.

“We are not here to cast blame for something that is in the past. We are here to make a better future.” The others nodded and Victus fell back into his seat.

“I believe that the acts of violence against Griffonia were done by those working outside the government and I also see your side of the argument Victus but what has happened over the past fifteen years has been murder, on all parts. What I suggest is that we return to how things were before this horrible war. Victus and I pull our armies out of The Republic and Moon-Dance here regains full control of his state.”

“I agree that this is the best course of action but may I suggest that both Equestria and Griffonia send aid to help rebuild the country that has had so many of its children return to the universe.” Celestia looked at the dragon shocked by his sudden interruption knowing the Dragon monks to always wait to be asked a question before speaking.

“Yes I believe that would be for the best but it will be hard both mine nor Victus’ soldiers can help with a relief effort and your people are scholars not a workforce.”

“I can send many worker to The Republic Princess. They are hardy and a great work-force.” The Zebra chimed in with his solution to the problem smug with his action.

“That would be most helpful Tovas now you have been uncommonly quiet Victus. What do you say to this?” The king shuffled in his seat as he snapped his full attention back to the table instead of around the room trying to spot something that none of the others could see.

“I will agree to this but on one condition. That those found responsible for the attacks on my land be transferred from your countries custody to mine.” His eyes narrowed looking at President Moon-Dance trying to see any sign of treachery.

“I think that is more than acceptable for the return of my ponies’ country. You will have those found responsible for the crimes against your griffons.” They each nodded in agreement before Celestia spoke.

“So it is settled then from this day forth the Alpha war is over. Now let us move onto making sure this never happens again.”

“I hope you are not talking about disbanding our militaries Princess. Doing so would cause our economy to crumble under a wave of unemployment that would destroy Griffonia.” The King looked around the room nervously at the sound of the wind buffeting the stone structure.

“I am not talking about that but merely that we agree now on the spirits of those that have died in the needless bloodshed that has befallen us. And that we pass on this pact to each of our successors in private our subjects cannot know of this otherwise there would be uproar on a global scale.” The other four looked at each other then back to Celestia and spoke in unison.

“I agree to peace for all.” Moon-Dance, Tovas and the dragon each stood and left the chamber leaving Celestia and Victus alone.

“What is it your excellency?” The griffon fumbled for a moment before speaking back to Celestia.

“Princess you talk of peace amongst our lands, you asked for the cease-fire. Why then have you unleashed your demon upon us….upon me?”

“What do you mean demon?” Victus reached into his cloak and pulled out a couple of photographs which he threw across to Celestia.

“Just over two weeks ago we had our first base fall off the grid. A short time after that I had a soldier come to me on the brink of death who said that he had seen the demon himself.” Celestia looked at the images and recognised the pony in them straight away.

“He told me that demon had given him a message that he was only to give to me. He said that the demon was coming for me. Now tell me why you have unleashed this upon me and my land?” Celestia looked up at the griffon keeping her composure.

“I assure you Victus that I have not sent this pony towards you but if you will allow it I will have my guard deal with him.” The King noticed the change in tone of her voice and nodded.

“I hope that your guard are up to the job. He has destroyed five bases in but a few days single hoofed as you would put it.” With that he bowed and left the chamber hurriedly making his way towards his carriage.

Celestia watched him leave then called for the Captain to enter the chamber who did so and sat down in front of her in silence.

“I need you to gather your ponies. I have an important mission for you.” He replied with a nod and moved out of the large chamber to gather his soldiers and prepare for their mission while Celestia looked over the photographs once more with a tear in her eye.

“Oh Stargazer what happened to you?”

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Stargazer moved across the rocky plain through the dead of night. His rifle held loosely in his hoof whilst he scanned the map of griffon bases making sure he was heading in the right direction he would be at the castle of Griffonia and King Victus soon to exact his revenge for the death of Satrenko. He thought about his fallen brother, all the battles they had faced all the time they had spent together fighting and how he had laid down his life to save Stargazer. Confident he was headed in the right direction he slid the map into his satchel and carried on walking.

Suddenly a blinding light appeared before him making him go momentarily blind.

“Stop right there! You are surrounded!” Stargazer looked around him to see the booming voice was right all around stood shapes with the bright lights behind them.

“Lay down your weapon or we will open fire!” Stargazer took another take on the group surrounding him when he realised they weren’t griffons but ponies. Royal guard to be specific. He weighed up his options and threw the rifle away from him then took the bag off his shoulder and threw it too.

“Hooves In the air! Now!” He slowly moved his hooves up and put them in the air as commanded. He felt something strike the back of his head. He fell to the ground and into darkness.