Chapter 1:

Firefly

Spitfire was definitely not a girly-girl, oh no, she had us working 24-7 since we first spoke to her, my wings had never be the strongest, but were not weak. The Wonderbolt had us each carrying loads of fifty pounds on each wing while they were outstretched, leading across a room that was as large as a hoof-ball field. The stallion, Cloud Skipper and the Griffon, Ricco, seemed to be having no trouble whatsoever. I could understand why Ricco’s wings were so strong, they were gigantic! But Cloud Skipper moved just as fast as the Griffon with his powerful wing cradling the weights like they were marshmallows.

“What the hell are you doing back here, newbie?!” Spitfire yelled, popping up beside me.

“I’m a mare, Ma’am, I’m not as... strong as those two.” I said, regretting my words.

“Just because you are a mare doesn’t mean you can show weakness, that’s when ponies take advantage of you, because they know...” Spitfire delivered a wild kick to my side, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to fall over, she stood over me with an annoyed smile. “...they can overpower you.”

I jumped up, letting my wings fall to my side. “Neither of them can overpower me.” I said with an angry tone.

“Oh? Is that so?” Spitfire said, turning to the two, who had finished. “Ricco, get over here!”

Ricco tensed for a second, but complied. “What?”

“She thinks that you can’t overpower her.” Spitfire said, staring up at the griffon without a hint of fear. “What do you think about that?”

“I think it’s a challenge.” Ricco said, then his mouth grew into a grin.

“Then a challenge it is.” Spitfire said. “Fight her, right here, right now.”

“Okay.” Ricco opened his wings and lunged at me. We rolled until we hit the wall, where Ricco punched me across the face with tremendous force. My own blood spattered across the floor.

I thought fast and used the wall as leverage to push Ricco away from myself, giving me time to notice just how powerful the punch had really been. It was blinding, and put me in a trance-like state for a few moments. I moved quickly across the ground as the griffon charged again, missing by just mere inches, I delivered a swift blow to the back of his head while I was behind him. Ricco used his tail to trip my hind legs. I fell to the ground and Ricco slammed both fists into my stomach, pushing out all the air in my lungs. He picked me up by the neck and launched me back to the wall.

I felt myself leave consciousness for a split second, but stood up nonetheless, taking in a few quick, shallow breaths.

“You have fight in you...” Spitfire taunted me. “...and that will give you your own advantages.”

She turned to Ricco, “You attack almost blindly, but can hit harder than her, or Cloud Skipper over there.” She explained. “Cloud is almost a mixture between you two, he attacks quickly, but powerfully.”

I tried to talk, but my jaw was in a tight, gripping pain, so I nodded.

“Are we done here?” Ricco asked, sitting down.

I approached the griffon carefully, waiting to see if he would try to attack again. I slowly raised a hoof for a shake and nodded towards it. His hand shot towards my face and I closed my eyes in expectance of another hard hit. Instead, I felt a hand on my head, not a fist to the face, ruffling my mane.

“See you soon, Bubblegum.” Ricco said, getting up and walking towards the door.

I watched him leave, then sighed, “Fherken Dhek...” I tried.

Spitfire chuckled a bit then spoke. “I’ll see you three tomorrow. Your room is in the west hallway, fifth door on the left.”

I walked out of the room with Cloud Skipper slowly, walking side by side with him down the hallway towards my room. I kind of rotated my jaw around, then took my tongue off of my teeth and spoke to the stallion.

“So, you ever met Ricco before?” I asked him.

“No, I haven’t.  I haven’t met all that many griffons come to think of it.” Cloud replied.

“You ever fought one?” I asked, gingerly touching the side of my face.

“Once or twice, yeah.  They always fight dirty, not really caring how much that have to hurt somepony in order to win.” Cloud said.

I stopped at the room I was put in. I looked at the door for a second, then looked at Cloud, who was still looking at me.

“Don’t you need to get to your room?” I asked.

“I was put in this room too.” He said.

I feared the worst immediately, I swung the door opened and saw a giant griffon lounging on a bottom bunk of a bed.

“Somepony’s going to be in the hospital by morning.” Ricco said as he looked towards us. He probably assumed they’d be in the same room when he saw the bunk beds.

“If it’s me, someone will have a broken beak.” I said, fluttering up to the top bunk of the opposite bed. “I’m lightest, so I get top.”

“I meant whoever put us in the same room, maybe you should stop always assuming you’re the subject of the sentence, Bubblegum.” Ricco said.

“My fur is not bubblegum!” I shouted. “It’s just pink.”

“Somepony is already named Pinkie, so I can’t call you that, Bubblegum.” Ricco said, his voice remained constant.

“Why can’t you just call me by my name, Firefly?” I asked.

“I like nicknames, Bubblegum.” Ricco said.

“Okay, fine.” I said.

“I think we all just need to just chill.” Cloud said. “We all know you two started on the wrong hoof, so why don’t we try to get to know each other, instead of fighting.”

“Okay, we can go in a circle, I’ll go first.” I said. “Ricco, where are you from?”

“Griffonia.” Ricco said.

“Now me, Firefly, tell us about your family.”

I froze. Family wasn’t the biggest part of my life, I knew I had a sister, somewhere, but my dad had left when we were foals.

“I have my mom, that’s about it.” I said.

“My turn, what’s everyone good at? How do you make money?”

“I just worked around, I had gotten out of school awhile ago, so I didn’t really get a job.” I said.

“I’m a guard, as you can see.” Cloud Skipper said.

“So... Butt-kisser and wild card?” Ricco questioned, but didn’t wait for answer, ”Good, your turn, Bubblegum.”

I sighed. “How do you make money Ricco?”

“I do... Things.” Ricco said, “You’d probably arrest me if I told you.

“I’m not gonna judge you if you’re a stripper.” I said playfully.

“You wish.” Ricco said.

“Maybe.” I said, rolling over on my back and looking at him upside down. “But I’m guessing you’d like this mare better.”

“You, still, wish.” Ricco flicked my nose.

“Cute.” I chuckled, “Actually, do all griffons hit as hard as you do? Because I think you dislocated my jaw.”

“Not that I know of.” Ricco said, “That was your question.”

“I’m about ready for bed, so you kids can keep on doing whatever you're doing, I’m going to bed.” Cloud Skipper said with a yawn.

“Whatever.” Ricco said, “So, Bubblegum, What were you doin’ before coming here?”

“Taking a bath, but before that I was beating my ex’s ass.”

“Wow, he must’ve been a pussy.” Ricco said.

“He was fine for awhile, but I found him cheating on me.” I said. “And he was strong, I was faster though.”

“Ok ok.” Ricco said, “Your turn.”

“I think I’m going to turn in as well, we probably need to be up early tomorrow...” I said, feeling a yawn coming.

“Alright, suit yourself.”

I turned around in the top bunk, facing the wall and pulling the blanket over my shoulders. The soft fabric caressed my cutie mark as well as my shoulder blades, it was odd to have a different blanket than my own, one that I had been under for years.

The feeling was alien, but comforting.

It didn’t take long for the darkness to embrace me, gently rocking me to sleep.

Light. A lot of light.

“Fuck... ow...” I grumbled, rolling onto my belly and pulling the pillow over the back of my head.

The rays of the sun had left a little lightshow on the insides of my eyelids, making my idea of going back to sleep more challenging.

I pushed up on my front hooves, pulling my neck back to stretch. I fluttered my wings gently, then stretched them as well, popping a few joints in them. I let out a slow and quiet moan at the nice feeling and left my wings up for a few more seconds.

“Look’s like someone had a nice dream.” I heard a voice say,  I turned left to see Ricco with a grin as he stared at my wings.

I put them down at my sides and jumped off of the top bunk, landing with a light Thunk!

“You wish.” I said, doing a little wiggle as I stretched, pushing my flank into the air and getting my head low to the ground.

I caught Cloud Skipper staring, “Like what you see?” I asked with a little girly grin, still stretching.

“Let’s try to keep what we are doing here as professional as possible.” Cloud said, his cheeks a little rosy.

“I don’t think professionals stare.” I giggled, striking another pose with my wings splayed out and a cocky grin on my face.

“Yeah?  And I don’t think professionals flaunt their body around either.” He said, clearing his throat and looking away.

“I wasn’t at first.” I said, whipping him lightly with my tail and opening the door. “I’m going for a fly, who’s coming?”

Ricco looked at me with an unamused face. “Too lazy.” he said.

“I might as well join you.” Cloud replied, sliding off of the bed and trotting to my side.

I sashayed out of the room, Cloud followed close behind. I had never seen the interior of Canterlot Castle in the day, there were dozens of murals and fancy windows shining brightly in the bright sun. I gawked at the six murals lining a hallway near the entrance of the castle, each one were painted with a different color, violet, cyan blue, a buttery yellow, pink, orange and a deep purple. Each also had intricate designs with numerous shapes and almost visibly swaying lines.

I smiled, there were no castles or grand halls in Haywaii, it was nice to see something so different.

We made it to the grand entrance, where I stopped and looked over at Cloud Skipper, who walked through the halls uninterested in the beautiful works of art.

“What is it like to guard this place?” I asked, “Ponies must try to steal from here all the time.”

“Actually, it is pretty peaceful here.  Ponies respect the Elements of Harmony too much to steal their commemoration from the princess.” He explained.

I was almost startled. “Wow, if we had something like this in Haywaii, it would be empty by nightfall.” I said. “It just shows that everypony here doesn’t know what happens everywhere else except for the princess.”

“If it doesn’t concern a pony’s own well being, they won’t care to think about what happens anywhere else.” He said, turning towards me.

“But it does, ponies die all the time from murder, rape and other horrible things... doesn’t that happen here?” I asked.

“Not really, no.  If it does, the princesses will handle it quickly and prevent it from spreading.”

“That’s... good, I guess.” I said, shaking the thoughts of murder and rape from my mind and opening the door.

The sun immediately burned my eyes and I had to cover them, when I could put my hoof down, I could see that Canterlot was bustling with activity, it was like somepony had started a riot.

“It is... legal... to fly around here, right?” I asked awkwardly.

“Of course it is.  Why wouldn’t it be?”

“In some of our cities you can get arrested and beaten for flying too high.” I explained.

“Well, that won’t happen here.  The princesses try to keep all of the laws as fair as possible.” He said.

“Oh, that’s nice of them...” I said, spreading my wings and taking off.

The feeling of having wind run over you as you glide through the sky is different than swimming, or running, or jumping, it gives an unmatched sense of freedom. To see the ground slowly disappear under you gives an elegant glow to the rest of the world, being locked to the ground you can only see things from a few heights, but flying you can go anywhere and see anything.

I smiled as I looked down on the now tiny city and ponies looking like an ant colony.

An idea popped in my head, I flew down towards Cloud Skipper, who gained height with a lazy speed, almost bumping into him with momentum.

“You wanna race?” I asked excitedly, it had been awhile since I had a good race, I thought for sure a soldier would be faster than any regular pony.

“Really?  I’m not all that fast.”

“Aww,” I groaned, why couldn’t anypony ever work there wings for speed instead of just raw power? “fine, I’ll go easy on you.”

“No, if we race, then you go all out.  It isn’t worth it if you don’t push yourself.”

I grinned and squealed with giddiness, even though it was embarrassing. “Okay, we race through the streets down there,” I said, pointing to the streets of Canterlot. “then we’ll circle around and end at the castle.” I explained, lining the path with my hoof.

“Sounds good to me.”

“Okay, onetwothreego!” I quickly shouted, shooting downwards at the buildings.

My eyes turned into slits as I neared the ground at air-slicing speed, just before I collided I tilted my wings and shot through a crowd of ponies, never even clipping one. I turned right on the first road, flying past windows and shooting a cocky grin towards the ponies inside. I turned my head back to the path and noticed a sign coming at me at blinding speeds, I curved around it just in time to not hit it, brushing off the little bit of panic that had gone over me. I turned left then right again swiftly, frightening some of the ponies under me.

I remembered the race, I looked behind me, where Cloud Skipper was nowhere to be seen, I grinned confidently. Turning back, I was surprised to see a figure flying in front of me.

Cloud Skipper.

I was so confused I almost missed the next turn. I pushed the beat of my wings to a new extreme, pulling ahead of him and focusing harder on the race and my wings. I didn’t pay attention to the mass amount of papers and other light things flying up from under us as we sped by.

I grinned, giving an extra boost of confidence soar through my body, tickling my spine and sending adrenaline roaring through my veins.

I noticed a black spot clouding my vision, I looked over casually, feeling my body turn and react before I could think about it. As I stared longer into the spot I noticed the odd rotation it was doing, it seemed like the more I tried to make sense of it the more my mind was... off.

“Distracted are we?” A voice asked.

Suddenly, a unreal force stopped me, holding me in place. The buildings around me seemed to fall off the face of the earth and the sky steamed and melted into an endless black. Absolute nothingness surrounded me, I tried to judge if I was falling, or upside down. Wherever I was, it was almost dizzying.

I tried to move, but only found myself locked in place. I struggled harder, the blackness felt as if it was choking me.

“You think you know what you’re getting into, don’t you?” The voice from before reappeared, but echoed from all around, making it impossible to judge where it was coming from.

“Wha-? Who are you? Where am I?” I asked, I feeling of panic had leaped into my heart.

“You think you know darkness, think you know pain... Let me tell you something, doll...” It said, ignoring my question.

Suddenly, a figure broke the endless black barrier and appeared right in front of me. A pair of yellow and red eyes stared with a menacing glare, a jagged tooth in a devilish smile disturbed my very being.

This... thing, floated before me in an almost casual manner, like it had done it millions of times before, yet the wings on it’s back did not move an inch.

It chuckled and grabbed my chin with two griffon talons. “You don’t.”

I tried to scream, his talons were beginning to dig into my lower jaw, but I felt a smoke-like substance imprisoning my throat from making a noise.

It cleared its throat “I want to show you something.” It said with a disturbing giddiness. “It will be the last thing you see, and the last you forget.”

The thing dragged me with some intense magical power, a more... ‘full’ enviroment built up around us, a room, white walls, stone floor. In the middle of it...

Me.

My left front hoof was completely gone,cleanly cut through, my face was brutally beaten, both eyes blackened, light streams of blood and an oil-like substance streamed from my closed eyes. Both of my back hooves were twisted in impossible ways, both bleeding at knee joints, my right ear was half gone, and I crawled slowly, painfully with one right hoof. I watched helplessly as the doppelganger bled out onto the floor.

My body was past panic, I was in full-stage freakout mode, trying desperately to free myself from the unbreakable magic surrounding me.

“So let me start this, as punishment for ever accepting your mission, you can choose to go on, and end up like this, or stop now, and leave for home.” It said, turning me towards him so I faced him.

He pressed his paw and griffon claw against my face and leaned in to my ear, whispering with it’s foul breath. “Discord.”

Suddenly a claw on his right and a talon on his left extended into my eye sockets, pressing against them with tremendous force.

A sharp, blinding pain shot through my brain, I felt myself tumbling erratically, an invisible fire burned my eyes, I heard somepony scream, my eardrums felt like they were going to blow in my ears. I felt my lungs light on fire, like I had been inhaling smoke for the past hour. I rolled, feeling a hot liquid under me, something crunched as I moved, I heard another scream before I noticed it was me who was causing it.

I had never felt so many things in my life, the fright of me not being able to see or even hear as I felt like I was hauled away was hellish. I had no idea where I could be, I was on somepony, or somethings back, moving rather quickly.

That was the last thing I remembered. Next Chapter: Chapter 2 Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 13 Minutes