The Pit, a vile, slimy hole. The nobles preside from above over the lesser griffins, diamond dogs, and a solitary human.
The Pit, a vile, slimy hole. The nobles preside from above over the lesser griffins, diamond dogs, and a solitary human. A cruel place, where these lesser beings are forced to fight for the scraps left behind by their superiors. The hope of prosperity, zero to none. But the hope of something better lives on, the hope of escape. All in a griffin and a human.
Griffonius strutted through his hunting grounds. Several guards flanked him as he moved through the brush. Why would Father send me here, Griffionius thought to himself. His line’s hunting grounds were seldom visited by his father or himself. The Heart Eaters had opted to send squires and guards to do their hunting. Why must I tramp through the brush like a commoner? he huffed. The nobles of Griffonstone had managed to live in in relative comfort, even after the Golden Idol of Borias had been lost. The notion of a practice such as hunting still escaped him though. Why not have the lesser beings provide, after all, it was their place in life.
“Sir,” a guard said, rushing out of the underbrush, “ we found something.”
“Good,” Griffonius said, haughtily, “ take me to it.”
The party turned off of a small game path and towards a deeper part of the forest. The guard from before lead the way to a secluded waterfall. Griffonius was taken aback by what he saw. There was small hut, nestled in between a sheer rock face and a pool from the waterfall. How dare someone have the impudence to live here, he raged to himself. He gave the guards the order to surround the hut. They will pay for trespassing on our land, he thought with glee. He was handed a spear and he marched towards the hut.
He ripped the door open, glaring in at the room's occupants. A large creature sat in a chair in the corner, holding a smaller creature. It screamed when he entered, holding the other tight to its barrel. He brandished his spear and screeched a war cry at it.
“What are you!” he screamed at it.
It looked at him, uncomprehending what he had said. It babbled something to the younger creature who clung to it with tears in it’s eyes. The large creature stood to it’s full height, on two legs no less. It spread itself between him and the smaller creature who was huddling behind it’s skirts. It’s shrill babbling and the small one screaming was trying Griffonius’ nerves.
“Sir, we found another in the woods.” a guard said behind him, “ He resisted, and we were forced to end the confrontation.”
The guard rolled another creature’s head into Griffonius’ line of sight. At this sight the other creatures went berserk. The large one was covering it’s face and bawling like the other one. The other simply stared into the dead eyes of the corpse. It babbled softly to the tall one, who in turn babbled back in a low hushed tone. The tall one sprung at the guard, knocking him to the ground, she pulled out a knife and sunk it in between the plates of his armor. Griffonius watched as the guards life sputtered out at the hands of this creature. He thrust his spear into her side without a second thought. This warranted more cries from the small one. Griffonius grabbed it by its upper claw. The small one shrieked and pointed towards the now dead tall one. Griffonius slapped him with his claws shutting it up and leaving a angry looking red mark.
“Burn it to the ground.” He commanded the others.
Perhaps I will have a prize for father, he mused as he left the forest dragging the creature with him. He threw it in a rough canvas sack presented to him by his soldiers. The creature kicked and screamed more, not that Griffionius could understand what it was saying. His soldiers took off with the screaming bundle and made for their home, Pit city.
Pit city was a mess, in several ways. Firstly, the city itself massive, The plateau that it blanketed was covered in narrow winding alleyways, housing most of the commonfolk. The arena and palace took up most of the center of the city. Back when the city was young, there was a distinction between the two. That was long gone, as multiple amphitheaters and a growing palace thanks to the wealth of the city merged into a large complex. This was where Griffonius directed his party to land.
The thing had quieted down now, only a few sniffles escaping the sack. Griffionius looked at it. His guards looking at him pleadingly.
“You have my permission.” He sighed.
The guards nodded and slammed their claws down on the sack, eliciting screams anew from the small creature residing within. Griffonius smiled with content and stopped his soldiers.
“Go on,” he commanded, “ you have other duties.”
They wordlessly flew off, all but two of his personal guards remained. He dragged the sack himself into the grounds of the palace. The thing was silent now. I hope they didn’t kill it, he thought, then all of this was for a waste. A pair of guards opened the door to his Father’s personal chambers. The concubines eyed him as he advanced to his Father’s throne. The Griffin himself sat there, magestic in wisdom, yet not quite out of his prime.
“Ah Griffonius,” he boomed, “ is that the only game you have brought me.”
“Uh… no Father.” Griffonius said eying the ground, “ I didn’t find any meat. But I-”
“No meat, yet another mark on your tally of disappointments Griffonius.” he sighed, “ Then, what resides in the sack you’ve brought me.”
“Something far greater than a meal Father.” Griffonius said, perking up, “ I found it in the hunting grounds.”
“Well boy what is it?” he grunted leaning forward.
“A beast, it’s elders even killed a few guards.” Griffonius reported, dumping the creature out of the sack.
“Hhmmm,” his father mused, eying the creature, “ it seems a bit….. small.”
“Well yes…” Griffonius faltered, “ but it will grow. I personally dispatched of one of the large ones.”
“Ah… I see.” the King stroked his feathers, “ Son, throw him in the Pit.”
“What?!” Griffonius did a double take, “ I mean, excuse me Father, but why?”
“Your imputence displeases me Griffonius.” he muttered, “But if you must know, I plan to make it stronger. I see potential in him, he is weak now, but he will be strong in time. Much like you Griffonius.”
“Yes Father,” Griffonius said bowing, “ I will take him immediately.”
Griffonius grabbed the thing by its claw. He ushered it out of his father’s quarters, leading it out to a large pavilion. Two guards stood ready to man a complicated pulley system leading down into the depths of the earth. Griffonius took the creature to it, and ordered the guards to lower them down.
As the platform trundled down into the plateau he shot a seething glance at the creature staring blankly ahead into the rock face. Feeling his anger coming to a boiling point, Griffonius decided to act. The shaft opened abruptly into a dome made of solid rock, the platform descending rapidly to a subterranean city. Light filtered in through a huge cistern and several more pulley shafts. giving the buildings eerie shadows. He sniggered to himself, there would be no survival for the creature. He inched closer to it, and shoved it over the edge of the platform. Then, Griffonius saw the creature’s face, in it’s eyes was a look of pure rage and silent fury. Then, he could see it no more. Wordlessly, Griffonius flew back up the shaft leaving the platform for the soldiers below to deal with.
Violet Streak was tired and hungry. ‘ Then again,’ she thought, ‘ the pit can do that to a pony.’
She slinked through the cramped and narrow backways. She flinched as her wing brushed against a particularly rough brick. Her companion Golden Script followed closely. She heard him mumble something about griffons on a rotisserie as they made their way to the central cistern. She motioned for him to slow down as they neared the exit. She gingerly poked her head out, scanning the area for other griffons or diamond dogs.
“Okay,” she whispered back to him, “ we’re clear.”
“Good,” he replied, “ let’s get the stuff and get back home.”
They crept out to the shores of the huge lake created by the cistern. She set to work pulling up clumps of weeds and a few strands of grass, Golden Script doing the same.
“This should be enough.” He said in a hushed tone.
“Alright, let's get out of here.” She said back.
They started heading back. Then she heard a scream. From above the city’s hovels, a figure was falling from one of the platforms. She dropped her greenery and took off.
“What are you doing?!” Golden Script yelled after her.
“Saving it!” she yelled back as she sped away.
She sailed through the air, picking up speed with each wing beat. The creature was falling, fastly approaching her current altitude. It wasn’t anything like she had seen before. She almost let her wings falter.’No’, she thought, ‘ I can still help it. Whatever it is.’ She made some course corrections to account for it’s speed. ‘Gotta time this just right.’ she told herself. She slammed into the creature cutting of it’s one way trip to the ground. However, the creature was much bigger, and heavier than she anticipated. She wrapped her hooves around its barrel and prepared for a less than soft landing. She pumped her wings harder to compensate for their combined speed. The ground rushed up to meet them, and they slammed onto the rocky surface of the pit’s bottom.
Violet Streak opened her eyes, as she felt her eyes adjust to the subdued light of the Pit. She flexed her legs and back checking for injuries, luckily there were none. The creature was next to her, looking at her with wide eyes. She saw him reach out with his claws, she remained still watching it fold its legs in a criss cross pattern. It extended a single claw and poked her lightly on the muzzle, it tilted its head at an angle to match hers. She extended a hoof and touched its claw again.
"They’re….. soft.” she thought, getting to her hooves.
The creature scurried back from her raising a forelimb to protect its face. She slowly came up to it, and wrapped one of her wings around it’s barrel. It in turn wrapped it’s forelimbs around her and made a whimpering sound. She got it up and lead it buy a claw, they would have a long walk before they got home.
Violet led the creature around the outskirts of the city, where there would be less griffins and diamond dogs around, this would allow them to get to Violet’s and Golden Script’s house faster, and more importantly, unnoticed. When Golden Script and Violet had gotten imprisoned in the pit it was one of the first things they built together. She felt the creature rustled her mane again, it seemed quite fascinated with her. ‘Why is it so tall?' she asked herself as they continued on. It seemed evident to her that the creature was young, it acted to immaturely to be an adult, she concluded.
The twilight dusk of the Pit was almost gone by the time they reached the house. In one of the Pit’s innumerable cliff faces sat a large cleft in the face of the wall. A few years before Golden Script had gathered enough supplies to build walls around the cleft and roof them. As they approached, a small figure burst out of the house at breakneck speed towards them.
“But Daddy said you when flying off to save something.” she said.
“I did, see.” Violet answered, “ It was falling from one of the lifts.”
“What is it?” Sugar asked.
“I don’t quite know honey.” she said eying it, “ Maybe Daddy can help?”
“Yeah!” she said running back into the house, “ Daddy knows a whole bunch of stuff about everything.”
“Well,” Golden Script said lifting up it’s appendage, “I’ve never seen anything like it. It has claws like a griffon, or are they paws? Nevermind, it has stunning simmilarities and astounding differences to ponies, griffons, and even diamond dogs.”
“Like what Daddy?” Sugar asked pacing around it.
“For starters it’s dental structure is quite similar to that of a pony and a diamond dog.” he concluded, “ It has incisors and grinding teeth, from this we can draw the conclusion it’s an omnivore, however they’re quite small. This stands to prove that this creature is still in relative infancy.”
“So it might be around my age?” she asked.
“Precisely my dear.” he said. “Now I wonder if it has any cognitive function? Violet did you notice anything unusual when you rescued it?”
“Yeah a couple of things,” she nodded, while the creature was toying with her mane again, “when I first reached out to it, it recoiled, but after I showed it affection it started doing this.”
“Thanks honey,” he said pecking her cheek, “with that information I can make a deduction. This creature is very much intelligent. The recoil when touched shows that it recently had a traumatic experience with our kind.”
“Do you think we can reach out to it?” Violet pondered.
“I indeed do.” he smirked, “ All I need to do is perform an old spell from the Starswirl wing.”
“Can you Daddy?” Sugar said staring at the creature who was staring back.
“I’ve been dying to give it a try.” He said powering up his horn.
Golden Script powered up his horn and aimed at the creature. A white beam shot out of his horn and into the creature’s head. The creature when through a few brief spasms and it closed it’s eyes, breathe slowly and steadily.
“There,” Golden Script said, “ when it wakes up it’ll be speaking equestrian like a native.”
“What did you do?” Violet asked staring at the creature.
“I rewrote its brain to speak our language.”
“Clever.” she said.
“See Mommy,” Sugar said, “ Daddy knew just what to do.”
“You give me to much credit.” he laughed. “ It’s a good thing Mommy saved it.”
It had been a few days since Golden Script had cast his spell on the creature. Said creature was still in what Golden had deduced was a magic induced coma. Sugar Shine had even been reluctant to play with the other children the past few days. She had been almost constantly watching the creature, waiting for it to wake. Eventually Violet couldn’t take it anymore.
“Sugar?” She asked, tapping her with her hoof, “Don’t you want to go and play?”
“But what if it wakes up and I’m not here?” She asked.
“Then I’ll tell you.” Violet said shooing her out of the house, “Now go off and play.”
Sugar moped out of the house. Violet sat down next to the creature, Golden Script appeared through the door, more grass was in his patched up saddle bags. He nodded to her and set the bags down.
“How’s he doing?” he asked sitting next to her.
“How do you know it’s a he?” she asked.
“Duh,” he said, “ I did some medical exams, I was a doctor before they threw us in here you know. It turns out there are a lot of similarities between us and this creature.”
“So in other words?” she asked smirking.
“The pipes match, yes. Celestia, Violet way to be mature.” he muttered.
“You said it not me.” she snickered.
“Oh and those jokes!” he groaned, “You realize that he is about the same age as Sugar.”
“Wow,” she sighed, “ way to dampen the mood.”
“Hello?” the creature asked.
“Hang on.” they said in unison.
“Yeah, well it’s not a topi- wait. He just talked!” Golden Script snapped his head back.
“Oh my Celestia!” Violet said, looking at him, “Are you alright? How do you feel?”
“Uhm,” he said, shifting up to sit on his legs, “ Okay I guess, I’m pretty hungry though. But who are you? And where are Mommy and Dadd-” He trailed off.
“Okay,” Golden Script said, “ we’ll get you some food in a bit, I’m Golden Script by the way.”
“I’m Violet Streak,” Violet continued, “ I’m his wife, we’re ponies. What’s your name?”
“I’m Joshua,” he said, “ my Daddy told me that I was man. Why can you talk?”
“Well all ponies can talk, silly.” Violet chuckled.
“Oh, okay.” he nodded.
“Now Joshua,” Golden Script said, “ can you tell me what you remember before you woke up?”
“Okay,” he said, “ I was sitting with Mommy while she sewed. I think Daddy was in the forest, then some birds came. One came right in the house, it started crowing really loud. Then another came in, it had Daddy’s head, I couldn’t see the rest of him. Then, Mommy killed one of the mean birds,but the loud one hit her. He threw me in a bag.”
“Oh my…” Violet said, looking at Golden Script.
“Okay Joshua,” he nodded, taking a deep breath, “ can you tell us more. It’s okay if you can’t.
“I remember being in the bag,” he said, “ there was a bunch of squawking, then I started hurting. Then someone took me out, it was all fuzzy. The loud one was squawking again, my ears hurt. There was another one too. Then, they took me to a big platform, the loud one was with me. I felt really bad, all fuzzy too. Then I woke up here.”
“Okay Joshua,” he said, “ you did really good okay. I’m going to make you some food. Tell you what? How would you like to meet our filly, she’s been dying to meet you.”
“I guess so.” he said shifting to his feet.
Violet stood up as well, Joshua was easily as tall as Golden Script. She went to call in Sugar Shine. ‘She’ll be ecstatic to meet him.’ she thought to herself, ‘Maybe she can even get him to open up a bit more.’ She went outside and down to one of the gravel fields by the house. Sugar Shine was playing with some of her friends.
“Sugar Shine!” she called, “ It’s time to come home!”
The filly waved goodbye to her friends and ran to her mother.
“Is it awake?” she asked in quiet excitement.
“He’s awake.” she confirmed.
Sugar Shine ran all the way back to the house. Joshua was sitting on the floor again, toying with a stray piece of straw. When they entered he flicked his eyes up at them.
“Hello.” he said.
“Wow!” Sugar Shine said, “ He can speak like us. What’s your name?”
“Joshua,” he said putting the straw down, “ uhm, what’s yours?”
“I’m Sugar Shine,” she said standing next to him, “ wanna be friends?”
“Okay.” he nodded, uncurling his legs, “ What do you want to do?”
“How about a game?” she asked him.
“What kind?” he asked.
“How about hide and seek?” she asked.
“What’s hide and seek?” Joshua asked, standing up.
“Woah,” Sugar said, “ you’re really tall. You hide from me, and I’ll try to find you.”
“Okay.” he said.
“1...2...3…” Sugar counted, covering her eyes with her hooves, “4....5….6...7...8...9...10! Ready or not here I come!”
Sugar crept around the room checking under the table, behind the beds of straw.
“Come out, come out wherever you are.” she called.
“Here I am” He said, poking his head through the window.
“Joshua,” she said, “ you’re supposed to hide, not come out when I call.”
“Oh,” he chuckled, “ sorry.
“Come on kids,” Violet said, coming into the room, “ Dinner’s ready.”
A dinner of oats and some gangly weeds from the cistern shore. Violet noticed that Joshua had scraped at the oats, but wouldn’t eat the grass.
“You don’t eat grass?” she said.
“I don’t know,” he said placing a strand in his mouth, “tastes yucky.”
“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to.” Golden Script chuckled, “ I’ll see if I can find something more meaty for you to eat.”
“Okay.” He said, raising his eyes a bit.
“How can you not eat grass?” Sugar asked with her mouth full, “ Itsh really good.”
“Tastes yucky,” he stated flatly again, then he pushed her his pile, “you can eat mine.”
“Yay!” she said, beginning to eat his too, “ And it doesn’t taste yucky.”
“Does too.” he said.
“Sugar,” Violet sighed, “mind your manners, please. You too Joshua.”
“Okay.” he said.
“Oh,” she said stopping mid bite, “thank you Joshua.”
“Okay.” he said.
After dinner, the late summer sun was still shining through the huge opening above the cistern, reflecting against the calmly lapping waves. The light bounced in dazzling patterns against the sheer rock walls of the pit, making the day seem younger, far younger, than it was. Violet Streak reluctantly let Sugar Shine take Joshua out to play with her friends.
Joshua looked reluctantly towards the gravel beach that Sugar Shine was leading him too. He was tired, he wanted to sleep more. He closed his eyes, reliving glimpses of memories, sitting with his mommy, working with daddy. He remembered being hungry, and cold, last winter had been particularly harsh, at least, that was what daddy said. He remembered how his daddy would look up at the birds moving the clouds and curse at them. He looked at his worn out clothes, and his bare feet. ‘Mommy was about to make me new clothes.’ he thought. He wiggled his exposed toes as well, ‘ I left my shoes too.’ he thought sighing.
“Hey Joshua?” Sugar Shine piped up.
“Huh?” he said, snapping out of his daydream, “ What?”
“C’mon,” she said galloping off, “my friends are this way!”
“Okay.” he said, running after her.
Three figures were running around on the beach, two others were standing off to the side. Sugar Shine ran off to meet them, however Joshua stayed lagged behind. The gravelly beach clawed against his bare feet, he gulped. ‘Okay Joshua,’ he thought, ‘ as long as I stay with Sugar Shine I’ll be alright.’. He slowly followed her down the beach, getting closer to figures. Now he could see with slightly better clarity as he got closer to the cistern opening. Two figures where hulking four legged beings. While three were smaller more equatable to Sugar’s size. He got closer, ‘Maybe they’re like Sugar Shine?’ He thought. He could hear them talking, Sugar was telling them about him. He stepped closer, until he could see them now. There were two huge dogs, and three birds. Sugar Shine beckoned him closer, but he couldn’t move. His eyes locked on the birds, ‘ Violet called them Griffons.’ he thought. He felt his muscles tensing, he saw his parents, remembered the recent pain. He ran, sprinting away from the birds, away from the pain, and fear. He felt his feet digging into the gravel, he tripped, smashed his shoulder on the ground. ‘Doesn’t matter.’ He thought pouncing onto all fours, gaining more distance as he got onto his legs again. Wisps of black hair fell across his face. He sprinted back to where he had come. He came to the house in the cliff, sprinting through the doorway, and flinging himself under a bed.
It was low and cramped, he slowly relaxed his breathing. He started to ache and hurt. His feet were raw from the gravel, his shoulder was slick with blood. All he could think about was the birds, the pain, and his parents. He heard Sugar Shine enter the abode, she peaked at him from under the bed.
“Are you okay?” she asked, “ You’re crying.”
“Huh?” he said, feeling the saline water streaking down his face, he hadn't even realized.
“You need a hug?” she asked quietly.
“Okay.” he said.
She got under the bed with him, it was cramped, but he felt better. She wrapped her hooves around him, they felt like her mother’s, soft and velvety. He sniffled a bit, slow stopping his tears. She felt his shoulder, he hissed in pain.
“You’re hurt.” she gasped.
“I guess.” he nodded.
“C’mon,” she said, “ Daddy says leaving cuts bleeding is bad.”
“Okay.” he said.
They got out from under the bed. Sugar Shine went into the other room, Joshua followed. She had taken out some broad leaves, and some gel on a rock.
“Daddy makes this stuff to sell.” she said, “ It smells really nasty, but makes cuts go away.”
“Neat.” he said.
“Now hold still.” she said, spreading the gel with her hoof onto the leaf, “ It stings when it goes on.”
“Okay.” he said looking back at her.
She put the leaf on his shoulder. He felt the sting and bared his teeth, but it faded. It was replaced with a soothing numbness. She repeated the process on his legs, and helped him stumble into a bed.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city. Golden Script and Violet Streak where slinking into the shanty town on the far side of the banks of the cistern. The place reeked of rotten meat, death, and disease. Up above the hovels was a large opening with a rickety, unsafe looking platform, with rotten ropes to draw it up to the surface. Where the platform set on the ground, the city guards had erected walls, and a gate. Just outside was a scraggly looking griffon with a blind eye, he sat at a rickety desk, with a scroll and quill. Golden Script and Violet approached him.
“Numbers?” he asked looking at them with his good eye.
“1024,” Golden replied, “ She’s 1123, we have a new one to register.”
“Ah,” he chuckled, “finally rutted and ‘ad another?”
“No,” he muttered, “it’s a non-pony.”
“Oh,” he said in mock shame, “then he’ll have to be marked like the rest of us.”
“Fine,” Violet said, “but we’re also here to register.”
“Okay.” he said, “ You’ll be on the quota for tomorrow’s games.”
They backed away from the desk and the unsavory griffon in it. As they walked away they whispered quietly.
“Are you sure you want to do this again?” Violet asked as she leaned against Golden Script.
“He eats meat, we have to.” Golden Script replied.
“There are other ways to get it.” she suggested.
“We can’t afford it.” Golden muttered.
“Yeah.” she sighed.
“C’mon,” he said picking up his pace, “we have to get home.”