Blood Dawn flew as fast as his wings could take him. Ever since he lost his unofficial race to Rainbow Dash, he could not take any enjoyment from the things he used to. Cutting and slicing just did not have the attraction it used to hold over him. The feeling of blood running down his hooves… it just did not do it for him anymore, not like it once did. He was the fastest; that is what mattered to him. Now… now he had lost that title, and worse, he did not just lose it, it was stolen from him by that upstart with golden wings. One that was carrying another pony, their bags, and did not even know they were even racing, Yet, she blew him out of the water with ease.

Maybe that is why he was going along with Grim Night’s plan?

Doing anything Grim Night planned was a bad idea on a good day and this was definitely not a good day. He hated Grim Night; he hated him with the very fiber of his being. Everything about Grim Night just set off every single alarm Blood had, from the way he possessed his hosts, to the ever-increasing power of his magic. On any other day, at any other time, Blood would slice him in two with his own hooves.

Those times did not see Blood Dawn dethroned though.

Blood was always the fastest, it was simply who he was. There was no one alive faster than him. It was a fact of life. One Rainbow Dash, one pony, one mare, dared violate. While Grim Night was many things, he was not a liar. Blood was sure this would all be to Grim’s benefit, and that the moment he turned his back, the moment he dropped his guard, Grim would kill him. It would happen when it was the most beneficial to Grim and at the absolute worst time for Blood.

Until then, Blood would play along. He did not need to be a magic user to know that the spell Grim Night cast on him was powerful, very powerful. Whatever it was, it might just give him the edge he needed to kill this Rainbow Dash and reclaim his title. That is what mattered to him more than anything else.

So Blood flew, he flew as fast as he could, heading straight to Warclaw: The capital of the Griffin Empire. In that city was his target, the one that he had to kill. The one that would die tonight by his blades. He did not know who it would be… yet, but it was only a matter of time until he found them, and did exactly what he wanted... needed to do.

Blood Dawn received his name from his master… former master. It is a title given to him for his favorite method of killing, spilling the blood of those he fought, drop by drop. He would use his speed in order to gain the advantage. From there it was a simple matter of death by a thousand cuts. Not that this target would enjoy such a death. Whoever it was, he would kill this one quickly.

He did not know if this spell would last, but knowing Grim Night, he did not have long. He had no doubt that the spell would punish him if he did not kill his target quickly. Blood had seen the results of those who failed Grim Night before… it was not something he wanted to duplicate.

That being said, Blood could not help but notice a small Diamond Dog community to his right as he crossed the border from Equestria to the Griffin Empire. Part of him said not to, it told the revenant not to waste time, not to draw attention to himself by doing something stupid and foolish. That part lost; after all, in life you have got to enjoy the little things, else, what is the point?

“Lets see if I can get the spark back,” Blood said to no one in particular. He did his best work at night, and that was still a few hours off. So for the sake of the mission, what choice did he have? For the mission, he had to go play, at least until nightfall.

…………………………………………………………

“It’s your turn to deal with them, Aurora.”

“Buck you!”

“We agreed!”

“Yeah, but you’re not carrying a foal now are you?”

Icarus had to admit, Aurora was getting damn good at playing the ‘I’m pregnant, you do it’ card. The worst part is he had yet to find a successful argument against it. It was hard to argue against the mother of your child, especially when she was also the sexiest mare in the whole empire, and had a penchant for the more erotic activities in the bedroom.

So, with no real choice otherwise, he stood up and went to greet their honored ‘guests:’ Two of the most annoying diamond dogs this side of Equestria, Bark-tooth and Snout.

At the halfway mark to the door, he turned around and looked at her one more time a pleading expression in his eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want to take this one?”

She returned his puppy dog eyes with a set of her own. Her face pouted up and eyes began watering with tears. If Icarus thought he was good at guilt tripping others into doing what he did not want to do, her skills were on a total different level. One that far exceeded anything he might have thought possible. His heart broke seeing that face.

“You… you would make me get up and see them?” Aurora said with a slight inflection in her voice as she suppressed a sniffle. Her wings went flat on the chair as she seemed to lose all the strength to hold them up.

“No… no, I’ll do it! Don’t worry about it.” Icarus almost tripped over his apology as he swiftly tried to calm the mare down.

“I… I don’t want you to do it if you don’t want too.” She began tearing up again as she went to get up and move to the door.

“No! No, I got it. Don’t worry, sit back down; I want to do this for you.”

“You sure?” she asked as she held back tears.

“Yes I’m sure, sit back down, please, for me.”

“Oh, ok, but only 'cause you want me too.”

“Anything for you.”

Icarus turned back to the door and raised a claw to open it.

“Oh! Bring back some oatmeal cookies when you’re done!”

He turned around, one look at the playful expression on her face told him everything he needed to know, a master just out-played Emperor Icarus of the Griffin Empire. There was no way out of this now; he dug his own grave by walking into that trap.

“Yes ma’am.” It was all he could say.

…

Aurora watched him leave with a slight smirk on her face. No griffin could guilt trip like Aurora Flash, and if he thought that was all she had in her repertoire Icarus was in for a world of hurt. Not that she would ever abuse such power… well, she might abuse it a little bit.

Her smile went away as she thought about what Icarus would have to deal with now, Diamond Dogs. She did not mind them, per se; but the smell. That she could not deal with right now. They always reeked. Right this moment her stomach really was not up for it. She slowly ran a hoof down around her belly as she felt little Orion Knight kick.

“You don’t like those diamond dogs either, do you?”

Another kick.

Her smile returned at that. “You're going to be so much like your father, such a strong fighter and not even half way to your birth yet.” She could only assume that last part. Ponies had a twelve-month pregnancy cycle, and griffins had an eight-month pregnancy cycle. If she had to guess, her little hippogriff, little unborn Orion Knight would probably be somewhere between them, but there was no real way to know. Only one pony might be able to see in the future and that pony was currently suffering from amnesia. Once more her mood got worse.

She missed her mom.

This was wrong, this was wrong on every level she could think of. She should be happy, she should have her parents with her helping her every step of the way. Shimmering Night should be here with her, going on about how lucky she was to be pregnant. She should have her brother here…

The tears slowly returned. Twilight was still suffering from amnesia. She did not even know that Aurora was her daughter, or that her son had saved her life. Dayspring Gleam, her twin brother, was gone. Her brother: The smartest, most talented, gifted, funniest, egocentric, annoying, jackass, honorable, humble, and loyal brother any sister could ask for..

She stopped trying to hold back; it was rare enough to have this time alone, without anyone else being around. So she did something that she needed to do for a while now. She cried. She cried her heart out for her missing brother, for her mom, for her broken family, and for everything else that she had lost.

Aurora laid her head down on the cushion and let them flow. It was not always this bad. Most days she would simply bottle up her emotions without issue, she could go through all the motions of living a normal life... well, as normal a life that a foal of Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash could ask for. However, it was at times like this, the times when she was left alone with nothing more then her thoughts that the tears came. She missed her brother. . For their entire lives the two were together, they trusted each other with everything; every little secret, thought, dream, and desire was shared between them. There was no stronger bond than the one they shared. It was simply enough to be around each other to make them happy. When he died… when she died, it killed the other. Aurora did not have the magical knowledge to bring her brother back, not in the way he brought her back.

“It’s not fair,” She said in tears.

“I was the one that was careless. I was the one that died… why do you have to suffer for my mistake?”

…

Icarus sighed as he closed the door to the throne room and turned to meet his guests. “Ambassador Bark-tooth, Ambassador Snout. To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit today?” He said with a small smile on his beak as he tried to hold back his disgust at the smell in the air.

That smile alone earned him some very odd looks; the emperor had a reputation of not wanting anything to do with the other races. Indeed if it were not for the severity of the situation, they never would have come here to ask for his help in the first place.

For Icarus’s part, he could truly say he did not want to do this. He did not want to talk to these two creatures, and he most assuredly did not want to extend them any sort of pleasantries. However, Aurora would be happy to hear that he made a good impression on them, and very unhappy to hear if he failed to do so. So there really was no choice in the matter. He would play the diplomat to make her happy. That was what mattered most; her being happy made him happy.

He looked at these two; Bark-tooth was the taller of the pair. Gray in color and sporting a red coat over his dirty fur, he looked like he spoke, old, aged, and dirty. Snout was the shorter of the two, with a brown coat and a punched in noise. Icarus briefly entertained the thought that he made someone very mad one day. It was a thought he had to dismiss though, some of their race was just born that way. Although none of their features could hide the stench. Mud pits smelled better than these too.

“Emperor Icarus,” spoke Bark-tooth, his voice dry and raspy as he slurred his words, “we have come to ask for your aid in a matter most dire.”

“Oh, is that why you sent no prior notice of your arrival?”

“We are afraid that there was no time for pleasantries.”

“Tell me, what happened?”

“We… lost contact with the small community you so graciously allowed us to have on the northern border of the Griffin Empire.”

Icarus glared at Snout, he knew what community was there, it was only because of the ‘aid’ from the diamond dogs in rebuilding Warclaw that the empire had agreed to let them set up a digging site for their gems. Icarus had protested that decision strenuously, but Aurora said to let them do it, in that alone he was outvoted.

“When was the last time you heard from them?”

“This morning,” Snout admitted.

“So? It hasn’t been that long. What makes you think something happened?”

“They should have dropped off their load of gems two hours ago; diamond dogs are never late with their gems. We sent a team to see what happened, but they never came back. Emperor, our nearest military reinforcements are over a day away, if you could send out a patrol to investigate, we would be in your debt.”

Icarus thought about this, it was true that they owed the dogs a lot after their help rebuilding, but that did not mean they could spare the resources to launch a military campaign of their own. Most of their soldiers died during the dragon attack, the few remaining were posted all throughout the empire in an effort to help the citizens rebuild, or to guard the rulers. They simply did not have the numbers available for such a mission that did not affect their own citizens.

“I’m sorry, we're still rebuilding our forces from the dragon war, and we simply do not have the numbers to spare at this moment.”

“Emperor, please…”

“I said no.”

“Oh I think we can help them a little.” An old voice said as Siros turned the corner and walked over to join the conversation. At his words the diamond dogs each had a smile on their face, the exact opposite reaction occurred to his son.

“Father, we cannot spare the troops to send for a recon right now.”

“I never said anything about sending troops.” Siros said with a grin on his beak.

“Then… who will you send?” Snout asked the former emperor.

“I shall go myself, I’ll simply take my own personal guard and recon the area to see if it’s anything that might pose a greater threat to the empire as a whole.” Siros replied.

“Father, your personal guard make up twenty percent of the palace defense. We cannot spare that many troops, what if we get attacked again?”

“Let me ask, would Warclaw be left undefended?”

“No…” Icarus did not like where this conversation was going.

“Would the remaining forces have less to protect?”

“Yes.”

“Are they well trained?”

“Of course they are, I trained them myself.”

“So if thirty-three percent of the family is gone at only a cost of twenty-percent of the guards, what’s the problem?”

“That’s not the point.”

“What is the point, son? That we should stand by and do nothing while our allies are possibly under threat in our own territory?”

Icarus hated losing arguments, but he was growing accustomed to it more and more each day. “Fine, if you want to go and risk your life then I won’t stop you.”

Icarus went to turn around and head back into the throne room. As soon as he reached a claw to the door, he stopped and slammed his head against it.

“Aurora’s cookies,” he said aloud to no one in particular.

Siros could only just hold back a small chuckle as he watched his son make a one-eighty and turn towards the kitchen instead. Any other time, under any other circumstances, Siros knew that Icarus would have done a lot worse. Despite his brash demeanor and xenophobia, he was changing, and for the better at that. Siros owed it all to that mare, Aurora Flash. She was making his son a better griffin every single day, and perhaps, maybe, just maybe, a better leader.

‘Thank you Aurora, I owe you everything.’ He thought to himself.

“Diamond dogs, feel free to head back home, I will personally oversee these matters and let you know what I find. You have my word.”

“Thank you emp- former Emperor Siros. Consider us in your debt.”

“No thanks are needed; I simply consider it the neighborly thing to do.”

He watched as they both bowed to him and turned to leave. Once they rounded the corner and went out the giant hole that Rainbow Dash left in the front of the palace, Siros let out a huge breath he had been holding. Not even he could claim some immunity to that stench. “Do they even have toothbrushes?”

“My lord?”

Siros turned to the head of his personal guard, a black griffin by the name of Midnight. “Nothing Midnight, ready your troops and get my finest armor.”

“Siros, do you want ‘that’ armor?” Midnight said with more than a hint of concern in his voice.

Realization of just what Midnight was asking crossed his mind. “No, I don’t think it will be that bad, just my normal plate will be fine.” He shook his head. Only Midnight and Siros knew what they were talking about and it was not anywhere near that bad, not for that anyway.

…

Aurora felt a claw run through her mane, she smiled at the feeling as there were only two griffins that would dare touch her like that without asking her first and Siros would never take such liberties. “Back already, Icarus?”

“Yes Aurora. How long was this one.” When the young griffin spoke, his unusual bravado was gone, there was no hint of his ego or pride. It was only concern for the mare he loved, the one who did him the greatest honor of his life. The mare that would give him his first son, first of many he hoped. He could not imagine a greater showing of someone’s love for him than that alone. Yet somehow, she kept surprising him. It was rare to find someone who you love so much. Yet that paled in comparison to finding someone who loved you back, someone who loved you not in spite of your flaws, but because of them. He would never tell anyone this, but she was not changing his behavior, not in any literal sense. He wanted to be a better griffin, a better ruler, and a better husband simply because he knew it would make her happy. There was no better motivation in the world than when you see the one you love smile at you simply because they are proud of you.

For that, he would move mountains. All she had to do is ask and whatever she wanted would become his mission in life.

“I… I don’t know; I lost track of time.” A claw softly wiped away the last of her tears as she spoke. When she could finally open up her eyes again, what she saw was the face she had known was always there. Yes, Icarus was a loudmouth ass at the best of times, but he was her loudmouth ass. The connection she felt for him, the love they shared… it was beyond description.

“Dayspring?”

She nodded at his question. As if on cue, Icarus flew up and landed right next to her. He placed a bag from the kitchen near her head and began massaging the muscles between her wings. There was nothing he could do about the pain she was in now, nothing he could say would bring back her lost brother. All he could do is comfort her, do his best to remind her that there were still souls out there that loved her, that would be there for her. That is what she needed right now, not some quick platitudes about how things would be better, how it would heal over time. She needed a reminder that there was still something to live for.

That and the fact that no one could give a better massage than Emperor Icarus.

When his claw touched her wing's joints, Aurora melted into a puddle. All the stress of the day was gone in an instant. She had a career as a famous model growing up and was the de facto cover for any and all photo shoots. Several times a day she would receive requests from one end of Equestria to the other. As such, when she wanted a massage all she had to do was let her agent know and a masseuse would be there in the hour. Yet not one of them ever compared to this.

How ponies had not discovered the joys of someone with opposable digits working the knots out of your muscles she would never know. Aurora was sure that griffins and the like would run every spa in Equestria if it ever did become widely known. His claws were magical. Each and every digit worked her muscles in a way that magic just could not reach. Yes, a magical massage was more thorough, but it was less personal. Nothing beat feeling someone reaching into your back and releasing the tension that was there.

Maybe it was less about the digits and more about the owner?

The best part came when her front hoof fully relaxed and bumped into a bag Icarus placed on the floor. Despite the pleasure coursing through her body, Aurora looked down and saw what was in there.

“You brought the cookies?”

“Oatmeal raisin just as you asked,” Icarus said with a smile.

She looked in the bag. “With rainbow chocolate chips.”

“I remember you saying those were your fav-“ he never got to finish that sentence. Aurora swept his legs out from under him and captured his tongue with hers. The poor soldier was taken into immediate custody and held there without bail. When she finally let it go, she looked at him with a glare of wanton desire in her eyes.

“Bedroom?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Here, now.”

“Yes ma’am.” It was all he could say.

…………………………………………………………………………….

The Pen was the name given to the new enactment that the griffins let the diamond dogs setup. While originally a term of disrespect, the dogs had taken it and made it their own. Officially, the land was simply a nice gesture from the griffins as a way of saying thank you for all the help that the dogs provided in the rebuilding efforts of Warclaw and every other city hit by the dragon war. That was the official story anyway. The truth was that it was payment for their services; negotiated between the representatives of the Diamond Dogs, Aurora Flash, and Siros himself. Icarus had ranted and raved against it, but as he was quickly learning, when your marefriend is happy you are happy. As such, it was in his best interest not to make her upset. So, in the end, even he went along with it.

As far as Siros was concerned, the Griffin Empire got the better end of the deal. Yes, the gems they mined out of the land were valuable. However, the griffins lacked any of the resources to get at them. The area was rocky and rugged. There was no shade for miles. In the past they had to rescue the few griffins that tried to get the gems due to the heat stroke they suffered before getting the first cartload of gems out of the mines.

So when Aurora offered the land to them, Siros agreed. There was no down side that he could see. The diamond dogs were natural miners; they would be able to work the dirt far more effectively than any griffin ever could. In addition, it would put them much closer to the griffin cities that still needed their help, their natural digging skills made getting water to the citizens a breeze, something that was desperately needed.

Thinking about that now, he could not help but wonder just what happened to the dogs. They would never ever simply abandon gems. Siros turned to Midnight. “Captain, what do you think of our mission?”

“Sir, most likely a natural disaster or something similar. I don’t expect to find anything of real value.”

“You’re probably right.” Siros remarked, even though he did not share the captain’s optimistic view on this particular occasion. To him, something seemed wrong, very wrong. He could not explain it; it was like a gut feeling that they were indeed going to find something. That was part of the reason why he wanted to come out here for himself, if he could confront it here, they would not have to fight it at home.

They flew into the sunset, arriving at the small diamond dog encampment just as the sun was going down and the moon was coming up. Landing in the center of the town, the first thing they noticed was the complete lack of anyone around, not a sound could be heard anywhere. “Siros, is this usual?” Midnight asked him, as the former emperor, Siros had some experience with the diamond dogs before now.

“They mostly stay underground; however, we should see at least a few on the streets.” Siros stroked his beard as he thought about it. The gut feeling came back ten-fold. He was now positive that something was wrong here.

Midnight had been the captain of Siros’s personal guard for the last ten years, during that time he learned how to read the former emperor better than anyone else, he saw the signs that Siros expected a fight

“Teams one and two take the north side, three and four you got the south. Everyone else, you're going underground.” Midnight spoke with the authority and drive he was well known for. Siros just nodded, this was a military mission now, while he may be the former emperor, he would obey Midnight’s commands, doing otherwise would simply put them all in danger.

“You should ready yourself Siros, we do not know what to expect.”

“Not all situations require violence captain, sometimes a diplomatic touch is all that is required.” Siros smiled at his captain, in truth he did not entirely believe that, there were some things that did require violence, some acts so horrible that someone would have to die for them. However, he had sworn to see every situation through a diplomatic viewpoint. Ever since the war he almost started with Equestria over the selfish desires of his citizens to see vengeance carried out against Princess Luna. It was not even the right princess. He would never see that happen again, not as long as he lived.

“I wish I had your optimism.”

‘Me too.’ Siros thought.

They began the long wait for the teams to make it back and report. In truth, Siros felt even more uncomfortable with this situation as time went on. Unconsciously, his claw made its way to the hilt of his sword as time marched on.

“Is that?” Midnight asked, gesturing with his claw.

Siros looked down where his right claw lay; he looked up and nodded at the captain. “Yes, it’s Dawnbringer, said to have lit the darkness when the empire needed it the most. Carried by the first of the Griffin Emperors.”

“Is such a weapon needed?” Midnight asked, if Siros brought that weapon, this mission just went from bad to worse.

“I doubt it captain, but it would show that we take any threat to our kingdom ver-“

“Captain, emperor, we found something!” A sergeant came up and cut them off, the look on his face excused his rudeness in this situation. Whatever they found was bad, very bad.

“What?” Midnight asked.

“Sir, I… I don’t have the words. You’d have to see it to believe it.”

“Lead the way,” Siros said.

As they were lead down into the mining tunnels, it was the smell the two noticed first, on their best days, diamond dogs were not the most pleasant of creatures to be around. This place stunk, it’s smell was so appalling to the senses that Siros wished he could cut his nose off right now; the pain would be preferable to the smell. However what they saw next would leave a mental scar on their psyche for the rest of their lives. They found the diamond dogs: They were all still here. Someone had positioned them in a very odd design for whoever would find them; they cut off their skin and laid them out in the largest cavern underground. Whoever did it knew what they was doing. Every eye, every tongue, lay together in an odd pattern. They had lain the eyes out in a circle together, almost as if it was a dot on the ground, the tongues lay on each side of line of bodies.

Siros had a sinking feeling about what this was, taking flight, he ordered his guard to light the area with their torches. Just as he suspected, he was right. This was no random slaying, the bodies did not fall where they were killed, they were laid there, someone left them a message, and someone had fun doing it too.

From up in the air, he could see two things, first was what the message said:

Warclaw is next.

Their remands were positioned in just such a way, almost as if some disgusting parable, the eyes were the dot of the I. The tongues crossed the T. However, that was not the part that truly made him sick to his stomach, the truly disgusting part was that most of the bodies were still moving, writhing in agony, with every tendon cut to ensure they would not be able to disrupt the message. The sacks of muscle where squirming by the sudden sensation of light on their exposed tissue.

“Captain!!! They're still alive!”

“MEDIC!!!” Midnight yelled.

Siros landed next to him. “That won’t do any good, Midnight”

“What are you saying?” He looked at Siros, unsure just what the old griffin was implying.

“They’re dead, they just haven’t died yet… the best we can do is offer them a quick death. However, that is not our only concern, this was nothing more than a message, one left for us.”

“What sort of sick freak would leave such a message?” Midnight’s anger became a palpable thing, something real.

“That we will find out, they told us where they are heading next.”

“Where?”

“Warclaw.”

The griffin’s left the town five minutes later, even with the threat of this creature; Siros could not leave those poor dogs suffering like that, he left half his guard behind to deliver mercy to them and burn the cave. Giving the order to kill the diamond dogs could lead to war in the worst case scenario; however, whatever political fallout came from that action he would face with his head held high. Knowing that he at least did the right thing, a philosophy he tried to live his life by. However, right this second, he was needed back in Warclaw. He had no doubt in his mind that his son, future daughter-in-law, and grandson were in grave danger.

…………………………………………

Icarus walked into the treasury and looked around. He did not know where the object he sought was, only that it was somewhere in this room. It was too important, too precious to be anywhere else in the empire. Of course, none of that made finding it anything less than trying to find the proverbial needle in the haystack.

However, this was worth it, she was worth it. He had put this off for too long, it was something he thought of ever since Aurora told him she was pregnant. That was still and always would be the greatest day of his life. Although, he hoped to make tomorrow a close second, all he needed to do was find what he was looking for.

“Why do we have so much bucking treasure?!” Icarus yelled to no one in particular, his frustration with this task growing as he searched for the one item he needed. He had considered getting some of the palace staff to help search for it, but that would involve letting them know what he was after and he had no doubt that information would get back to Aurora. Something he did not want to happen. She was, barring none, the most popular pony in all of the empire. The way she… how she… he could not narrow it down, everything about her was special. Just thinking about her caused a smile to cross his face.

He redoubled his efforts looking for the item in question. Until, after three hours of searching, it finally paid off. He found it in a small chest at the side of the wall. Imbedded there under a large poster of one of the old emperors, not one whose name he knew, but that included just about most of them.

“Now for the hard part, acting normal and trying to hide this until tomorrow.” He wanted to wait until his dad got back; He knew Siros would want to be there for this, for when he finally asked Aurora to be his wife.

…

Blood flew into Warclaw with a smile on his face. The fresh slaughter of innocents always made him happy, and while it had not worked before, it did the trick now. He did not know if it was as simple as not upping his game like that before, or if it was because he at last had a mission to complete, a way of accomplishing his goals. In truth, he did not care what it was. He was happy and things were dead. That is what mattered.

Blood felt adjuvanted by his actions, such muder, such carnage; for Blood, it was a driving force for him, the reason he got out of bed, not that he ever slept. ‘No.’ he told himself, this was not the time or the place to raise such an alarm, he was not worried about getting caught, he was far too fast and too skilled for that. No, his worry was that his target would escape. He knew Grim Night all too well, there was someone here who he sent Blood after. It was someone special, someone important, and that someone was in the palace.

Yes, it was becoming obvious. This spell, whatever it was would only activate with the death of the right griffin; someone had to die. Someone specific, and there was no doubt in Blood’s mind that someone would be of grave importance. “This is the catch, isn't it Grim. You want me to kill someone important, someone who might cause you trouble.” He laughed at that. “All you had to do was ask, you know.”

With a smile on his face and a spring in his step, Blood sped from shadow to shadow, the grin never leaving as he thought of all the ways that this could go. None of them went bad for him. After all, there was only one being alive that was faster than him and she was all the way in Ponyville reuniting with her long lost wife.

“Was that part of your plan too? Keep her busy with something that would take her undivided attention?”

“Who goes there?”

‘Crap.’

Blood faded into the shadows as a night guard came up. Any other day, any other time, he would have killed this griffin as opposed to simply hiding like a coward. That thought did not sit well with him, he wanted to move, and he wanted to cut this bastard’s head off. It would be easy, quick, and clean. However, he came too far, and too much was on the line to screw it up by revealing his presence.

Not because he was worried of being challenged, but he did not want his quarry escaping, and hunts tended to increase in difficulty if your prey knows you are coming for it.

So he waited, he waited until the griffin found nothing, despite shining his light directly at Blood’s shadow. The griffin shook his head, turned around and left. Blood continued as soon as the griffin was out of sight. He would have to be more careful. Therefore, he kept to the side streets, not that they would ever spot him, but he did not trust himself not to do something fun, or stupid depending on your point of view.

“Faster Alex, faster!”

‘Crap.’

His journey to the palace took him across a small playground, where, it would seem, two little griffin children were playing that night unsupervised. It was as if the world itself was testing him. He longed to slice the delicate flesh of children. The youthful skin, so smooth and unmarked. To defile that pure/purity was the most satisfying pleasure in the world. These two were testing his patience, if he didn’t… He paused. There was a gentle sound of a swing being pushed.

“Just a little higher,” the young female called out.

‘Screw the plan!’ he thought with a smile. These little creatures deserved his attention. To simply ignore them would be a waste of his talents. And besides this… this was too good to pass up.

Before he even realized it, Blood was moving closer, and closer. His hoof transformed into a blade. He was close now, so close he could smell them. His mouth started salivating at the thought. This was perfect, too perfect. He could take them both at once… maybe, just maybe there was a way to take them alive, take them somewhere… quiet, and really have some fun. He would leave one alive, someone to tell of what happened later. That would really be interesting.

“Alex! Anna! Time to come home!”

“Coming mother!” The two kids hopped off the swings and flew to their mother’s waiting claws. Blood transformed his blade back into a hoof and gave the mom a little salute. ‘That was stupid…’ he told himself, ‘I risked everything on something so fleeting with so much at stake.’ He watched as the mom led her two kids away with a smile on his face. ‘Well, maybe after I’m done here I will come back and pay those two a little visit.’ He took special note of just what house they went into.

Blood took flight again and went to the palace, this time he did not stop, he really did not trust himself anymore, not after that anyway.

As he looked, he could not help but notice how massive the palace really was. It easily put Celestia’s Palace to shame in sheer size. However, that was to be expected. The Griffin Empire was old, far older than Equestria. Given, it did not know the prosperity of Equestria, but the griffins had a certain tenacity that the ponies did not, that is why they were able to survive and thrive out here for such a long time, in such harsh conditions.

Getting in, that would be difficult. The walls were well guarded, lit, and had formidable weapons placed over them. Blood heard the rumors, the dragon war was still recent in their minds, it made sense that they would prepare for them to come back, such things were hard to forget, and you would naturally make yourself ready for the worst. Of course, that was his issue right now, how to get in without tipping his hoof far, far to early. It would not due to raise the alarm too soon.

When he saw his way in, Blood almost did give away his position with the volume of his laughter. Someone left the front door open for him. The large doors that should have acted as the main gate were gone, the hole in its place was well guarded for sure, three teams of griffins stood watch; however, there were blind spots. Spots in their defenses that might as well been gigantic signs saying ‘sneak in here’ to someone like him. Not that there was another soul like him.

So blood made his way inside, he stayed in the ceiling, watching, and waiting... waiting for the one who he needed to kill, or for whatever opportunity presented itself. The truth was at this moment, he did not care. Grim Night’s game was such that a simple slaughter fest should be sufficient, provided he got the right griffins. Or… should he say, pony?

Blood watched as the most beautiful dark blue pegasus with a diamond cutie mark walked underneath him. He paused when he saw her; somehow, he knew she had to die. She was important; he could sense it in his very bones. Another memory tried to come up while he followed her into a huge kitchen, he did not fully remember events of his old life, as Bright Dawn’s memories were being overshadowed, but he could not shake the feeling that he knew this pegasus. That thought almost made him laugh again.

The pony herself looked like she had seen better days, scars down her flank and sides told a tale of a tragedy that had occurred to her. Someone else had already taken a piece of her; Blood could read those scars all too well. He waited; there would be a time to strike, sometime soon, as after all, there was an art to this sort of thing.

…

Aurora went into the kitchen; a feeling of dread seemed to follow the mare. She shook it off; she had been feeling something like that ever since Siros left earlier that day. She missed having her uncle in the same building. Not that his son did not provide his own special brand of company for the mare.

“Miss Aurora, what can we make for you tonight.” The chef asked, to say they were used to her late night requests would be an understatement. There were more cooks in the kitchen at night than any other time in the history of the palace right now. It seemed as if the mare would visit six or seven times each evening. They tried to tell her to send down a runner instead, but she did not want to be such a bother.

“Oh, Can I get a daffodil sandwich?”

“Of course, anything else?”

“Maybe, hay fries and a large glass of tea. Oh, and some no-bake cookies.”

“Absolutely, shall we send it to your room?”

“No, I’ll take it now and eat it on the way to the throne room. I kind of feel like stretching my legs for a little while.”

“Yes ma’am.” They said, Aurora took her food and turned to leave before they could see her face start to blush, that expression was quickly becoming tied to something else, thanks to Icarus. She would have to remember to get him to stop saying that; else, she would never live it down.

…

Blood followed the mare into the throne room; he noticed something was off about her, something not quite right… he just could not place it right now. So he waited; it was the most self-control he had ever shown in his long, long life. However, this was important, of that he was sure.

He smiled as it finally clicked, this mare was pregnant, that just made killing her all the sweeter.

When she reached the throne room, he watched as she began walking around the huge room in a circle, apparently with the need to stretch her legs. There were only three guards in the whole room, each stationed above her watching as their charge walked around. Killing them was easy, they were guarding her, but no griffin was guarding them. He made it quick, quicker than he would have liked, but there was no need to scare his prey, not yet anyway.

When the last guard died, blood slipped down behind the throne. She would get tired soon, would want to take a break, or she would want to rest her legs. That is when he would strike, a quick slit to her throat and it would all be over. She would be dead and he would be free to move on, killing everyone he found to ensure that he got the one he needed, assuming she was not that one. If she were, he would simply empty the palace for the fun of it.

Hiding behind the thrones almost cost him his life, a spear came down and cut it into two, the point of it millimeters from his face. Blood jumped back; shocked that someone had the skill to detect him so easily without him knowing.

Aurora stared on in shock as Icarus jumped down from the rafters with his spear in claw; he cut the old throne in twine with one blow. “What are y-“ She did not finish that sentence as a black shape darted from behind the throne.

“An assassin.” Icarus said.

Blood smiled, “I suppose that’s true. I must ask though, how did you spot me so easily?”

“You killed three guards.”

“Yes.”

“There were four.” He pointed a claw to the ceiling, revealing the fourth’s hiding spot.

“Careless…”

“Yes, yes you were.”

“No, I mean you, you were careless coming after me yourself, young emperor.” Blood recognized the medallion on Icarus’s neck all too well.

“Who said I was by myself.”

With that declaration, Icarus’s honor guard jumped down from the rafters, each in full battle plate and holding weapons. All of them pointed at the black pegasus in the room. For Blood’s part, he just laughed. “All these little griffins, and I didn’t get you anything.”

“Your head will work.”

“Indeed, if you can take it.”

At that the soldiers moved in for the kill, each of them acting as a well-oiled machine, guarding their brother in arms from any move that the creature in their midst might make; it was quick, clean, methodical, and textbook. However, none of them stood a chance of living this night.

Icarus could only watch as this creature decimated his forces. He did not know what to call it. It moved as if it were the serpent of darkness, of shadows, jumping wherever the light was the weakest only to lash out with strange and exotic weapons he seemed to grow from his hooves. It was almost as if his blades were an extension of his own body.

Despite it all, all the death and carnage of his men, Icarus’s mind was on one thing and one thing only, Aurora. He turned around and faced her. “Aurora, you need to run!”

“No.”

“Aurora, this is not the time or the place, get out of here!”

“I’m not leaving without you.”

“Dammit Aurora, go!”

“She's not going anywhere.” The creature appeared right behind the pegasus, he inhaled deeply of her scent, as there was something there, something he was starting to remember. Blood just could not place it yet. It would come, in time.

Icarus did not waste any more time with words, he attacked. Stabbing his spear directly for the creature’s chest. He knew it would not connect, he saw that much earlier. However, that was not the point, this shadow, he was a cocky son-of-a-bitch, and that is something Icarus knew all too well.

As expected, the shadow easily sidestepped the blow, laughing as he did so. Icarus lashed out with a claw and left three gashes into his shoulder.

Blood held a hoof up in shock as Icarus’s back leg made contact with his chest, sending the creature flying across the room with all his might. Blood slammed into the wall, leaving a loud bang in his wake.

Icarus should have capitalized, but for him winning was not killing this creature, his victory came with Aurora’s survival. “Please Aurora, for me, for you, for us, for Orion, please, please, get out of here. Leave him to me.” The tears in his eyes spoke volumes to the mare.

Those tears spoke to her. “Okay, but only if you promise to come back to me.”

“I promise.”

She kissed him one last time, and then took off, heading straight for the window. Almost flying head first into Blood as she did so.

“What part of she is not going anywhere did you miss out on?”

Aurora stared in shock as the wounds Icarus left on him were already healing. Icarus did little more than stare, he charged at the shadow with all his might. It did not matter if he lost his life in this fight, if she lived, he would win the only thing that really mattered, her safety. Let her hate him forever, as long as she lived.

Blood easily parried the attack and kicked Icarus in the face for daring to hurt him as he had. Aurora took off to the other side of the room, seeking another window to fly out of. However, the pregnancy made her slow; she could not fly as fast as usual.

Blood waited for her in every window, enjoying the look of horror in her face as he did so. It was fun catching a little birdy in a trap and watching as realization slowly dawned on it that there was no escape.

After the fourth such attempt, it was Blood that found himself outplayed. Aurora received a slight hint at what to try next, she immediately took to it. Choosing the window in the middle of the north wall to try, she flew straight for it. Once more she was stopped by the shadow. “Give up yet? Little bir-“

A spear stabbed down, directly through his right shoulder as Icarus sprung his trap. Blood looked up, enraged that he fell for something like this. He transformed his right hoof and cut the spear in twine, causing a surprised shock to come from the griffin at the sudden loss of his favorite weapon. “Well, I think I've had quite enough of this game.”

Blood kicked the pegasus in the chest with all his might. Aurora landed on the ground, badly. Icarus jumped down, seeking to gouge Blood’s eyes out with his own claws at the rough way he just treated Aurora.

Blood threw the griffin off him. “Let me guess, you’re the father, aren’t you?”

Icarus stood up, he glanced to the other side of the room, relief flooding into him as he saw Aurora start to stand back up, she was shaken, but nothing seemed like it was permanently injured.

“You will die for that.” Icarus growled at the shadow.

“Humph, I thought so. I think I will kill her first, and I will do it with the tip of your own weapon too.” Blood pulled the spear from his shoulder and brandished it like a sword. “But please, try and stop me.” He made for the mare at his top speed.

Icarus was a good flyer, but he was by no means the best. In his prime, Aurora could easily beat him, right now, he was tired, he was hurt, but he had someone to protect. That gave him all the strength he needed to come to Aurora’s rescue.

He intercepted the shadow at the last possible second. Well, part of him did. He protected her, but at the cost of his left wing.

Blood Dawn just cut it off.

The pain was immense, not even Ataxia’s blast hurt him that much, yet it only served to focus him on what was important, the battle was not yet over, not by a long shot.

Icarus kicked back and tried to strike the shadow’s chest, he put everything he had into that blow. It was all for naught. Blood was used to his tricks at that point. He sidestepped the kick and slammed the spear tip into Icarus’s chest. Causing the griffin to fall back, clutching at the new wound.

Icarus managed one more word before he hit the ground. “RUN!”

Aurora wanted to do many things at that moment, on the top of them was to run, to save her… their foal, but she knew, without having to be told, that running was not an option. This creature would not let her get away. She was the one he wanted. All of this, all the death and pain was nothing more than his way to get to her. Once more, others had to pay for her mistakes. This was Dayspring all over again, at least this time she would pay the price as well.

Blood looked at the mare, a look of pure, unadulterated hunger in his eyes. The forces against him were decimated, not that any of them stood a chance anyway, not against him. Their new emperor, this young upstart, he had put up a fight, but the rest never stood a chance. Staring at the pregnant pegasus, the true target just dawned on him on just who Grim Night was talking about. It was not the pony, it was not someone active, it was her unborn child. He knew it would involve the royalty of the empire, just not an active member.

“Grim was right, this will be fun,” he said with a smirk as his front hoof transformed into a long sword.

“NO!!!” the shout came from the wounded emperor. Blood wrote him off as dead, there was certainly enough of his blood on the floor that he should not have been able to move. He smiled at that, the emperor’s moves were sloppy, this was not the actions of someone who was legitimately a threat, as these were the actions of someone who was desperate, someone weak and fearful, someone that deserved to die.

Aurora could only watch in horror as Icarus threw himself back at the shadow pegasus. The black pony impaled him with a hoof-blade, cutting into his shoulder and out the side. This creature, this nightmare made real, this shadow, he was everywhere. Every time she had tried to flee, he stopped her. He was toying with her. Worst yet, he seemed to enjoy taking his victims apart one piece at a time. Icarus, the stupid, brave, noble, idiot, he had already lost a wing to this creature, but now… now he would lose his life.

Icarus coughed up blood as the blade cut right through his body, he knew that a lung had been punctured sometime during the fight. “No!” Aurora screamed at the sight.

“You’re as pathetic as they come, the griffins were once mighty warriors yet you let yourself get beaten time and time again, all to save a little pony. You do your race shame, false emperor.” Blood spoke venom into Icarus’s ear. “You never stood a chance, why did you throw away your life like this?”

“She’s worth it.” Icarus responded as he raked a claw over Blood's face. Blinding him once more, Blood threw the emperor against the back wall, Aurora cringed as she heard a sickening snap come from his direction.

“YOU BASTARD!” Blood yelled as he held a hoof to his eyes, concentrating his magic on trying to heal his eyes and regaining his vision.

Aurora flew over to Icarus, she did not want to believe what her eyes showed her. When she landed, she held her ear to his chest. Relieved that he was still breathing.

“Aurora…”

“Don’t speak, save your energy.” Aurora pleaded with him to save his strength, to not die, not as Dayspring had; she was not worth another death.

“Aurora, please... run.”

“No, I won’t leave you like this,” she said with tears in her eyes.

“RUN!!” He reached up a claw and held her as tightly as he could. The emperor looked her in the eyes, for the first time she could ever remember; it was the look of fear. He was afraid, not of dying, but of losing her.

“You still think you can escape me, don’t you.” Blood would not let his prey escape that easy, yes his vision may not be a hundred percent right now, but he would still be able to kill her easy enough.

Aurora turned around in horror as the black pegasus stood back up; the wounds around his eyes were already closing as he glared at her. “You're my ticket, little pony. I'm going to enjoy this.”

She did not see it; she did not feel it, not at first anyway. However, when the blood splattered against the ground, the feelings returned. The pain shot through her side, forcing it’s way into her brain where it became all consuming in her mind. She cried out as she felt it, as she felt every single agonizing second of it. Worse, her mind put together the long term ramifications of what it meant.

Her stomach… her son… she placed a hoof down to try to apply pressure. It was too late… Blood stood by her side, his blade covered in blood; it sickened her to her core because, deep down, she knew that blood was not her blood, it was her son's blood. She could only watch in horror as he licked the blade.

“The blood of the pure, I've never tasted anything sweeter. With this, I can kill Rainbow Dash.”

Black energy emanated from the pegasus, swallowing all of the light from the moon and torches that lit the room. It radiated off him in waves, causing pain to every being it touched.

Blood laughed through it all, he finally understood what Grim Night had done to him. He made him into a God… Well, that was not exactly true; he made him into a demon, a demon that would feast on the blood of every living thing in this world.

Of course that would have to wait, first things first, he wanted to feast upon the blood of Rainbow Dash.

While he laughed, Aurora screamed. She screamed her impotent horror at everything that had happened, at the death of her son, and her powerlessness to stop it. She screamed out in agony at such a horrid event happening to her, again.

………………………………………………………………………

Ataxia landed with a heavy heart, in truth, she had taken the roundabout way back. That alone caused her to feel guilty, yet she also had to explain why a huge tract of land in Equestria’s northern half was now on fire, and would be for quite some time. Worse yet, she had to explain it to Princess Night. That alone made her think this was a bad idea.

No, she would not run from this. The Wonderbolts were nice enough to let her tell the story. Provided it was told. That meant she had to face the music, so she would see this through to the end. Even if it would leave Night mad at her for a while. She was sure that would not last though.

An assurance that was fading with each and every step she took. It seemed as if the closer she got to Night’s bedchambers the less certain she became. Her uncertainty stopped her dead in her tracks half way there. So, with few other options remaining, she thought of a different strategy, one that would be sure to see her the rest of the way there without difficulty.

“I get to see Shimmering Night in her bedchambers.”

…

Knock, knock.

Shimmering Night groaned as she got up out of bed. Someone was at her door; someone wanted something other than for her to sleep. That was rude on more levels than she cared to count.

Knock, knock.

“I’m coming!” Night shouted as she tried to focus her vision back on the real world. It was not easy; she had just fallen asleep too. That annoyed her to no end. However, they would not wake her up for just any reason; it had to be something important, something that might need her immediate response.

That thought got her up. She walked over to the door and opened it to a very flustered looking Ataxia on the other side.

“Ataxia, what’s wrong?”

“Why would you ask?” her face was covered in a blush that only seemed to get worse. “Nothing’s wrong, well, something wrong, but nothing is wrong with me anyway, not that you asked that of course, I mea-“

“Hold up girl, I only followed half of that right now. Come inside and start over.”

“Come inside…” Ataxia’s coat could be mistaken for red as she heard that comment.

Night chose to ignore that odd behavior as she gestured with a hoof for Ataxia to take a seat on the bed. This only seemed to make things worse for the mare.

Ataxia gulped and took a seat on the bed; very different visions began playing in her head about what would happen right now. She did her best to try to fight those off; it would not do any good right now. However, it distracted her so much that she missed the question Night had asked.

“Ataxia?”

“Huh, what did you say?”

“I said you said something was wrong, what happened?”

“Oh, that.” She got a small break from the ‘other’ thoughts, but of course that came with the requirement that they visit what she had been trying to put off. Telling the truth about what happened.

“I… Night, something bad happened, I did something bad.”

Night’s concern increased several fold, she was not sure what was going on, but Ataxia had been good lately, like creepily good. If she did something wrong, something to cause her to wake up her friend in the middle of the night, this could only mean the worst kind of trouble.

“Whatever you did, just tell me. We'll deal with it together.” Night said softly as she sat down next to the mare and placed a kind hoof on Ataxia’s shoulder.

Ataxia smiled at the kind deed. Several of her fantasies started this way but she pushed those to the side, for now anyway. “Night… Let me ask, do you know Galloping Gorge?”

“I know of it, can’t say I have ever been though.”

“Yeah, about that. I kind of… well….”

“Ataxia, what happened?”

“I kind of… burned it to the ground.”

“What?”

“There was this rat, I was chasing it but the damn thing kept hiding under rocks, I got pissed.” Ataxia looked down sheepishly at that admission, what really stung was not what she did but the fact that she was lying about it. That was not the reason why she was pissed, her thoughts had betrayed her. However, she could not bring herself to admit to that little reason, not yet anyway.

“So you burned down a large stretch of Equestria because you were after a rat? Like a metaphorical rat or a literal rat?”

A confused look from Ataxia told Night she needed to specify that question. “I mean was it an actual rat that you were chasing?”

“Oh, no, it was an escapee. I started classifying them for myself just so I would not make ‘that’ mistake again.”

Night understood just what she was talking about. It still upset her friend how she had let Tirek trick her like that. It seemed that this new classification system was her way of gauging the threats that these creatures represented. “So, you were hunting an escapee and lit a fire that engulfed all of Galloping Gorge.” Night restated the problem in a slightly different context.

“Yeah, but....”

“Ataxia, we send you out there each and every day to do this job that only you are capable of. Now we usually send someone with you to help make the best decisions when they come up like this, but that did not happen this time. I wasn’t there; I’m not going to second guess what you had to do in the field.” She smiled at the mare, somehow that made Ataxia feel worse.

“Yeah, but it was just a rat, there was no need for that level of force. I… I let my emotions get the best of me.”

Night laughed at that. “It’s not the first time and I doubt it will be the last. Let me ask, do you know what went wrong?”

“Yes.”

“Are you going to let it happen again?”

“No.”

“Then there is nothing more to be done on the subject. We need you Ataxia; I need you for this job. I'm not going to punish you for doing it. We will get the fires dealt with and ensure that from now on you have someone there with you, not because we don’t trust you but because you should have someone you can talk to on these hunts.”

Night’s smile made Ataxia smile as well. “Ok.”

Night went and hugged her friend; they embraced each other and simply enjoyed the warmth the other provided. Although Ataxia did hold on for a little longer than was normal. Night found that she did not mind all that much, something about Ataxia choosing her to finally open up to felt right to the mare. Like an honor she never expected or wanted but was grateful to have anyway.

When they finally let go, Ataxia had a smile on her face. “Thanks Night, it means a lot that you would put your trust in me like this.”

“You came to me and told me the truth, you did not try and hide it, and you admitted it yourself. I could not be mad at you for a mistake, for a stupid accident, and besides, nopony lives there so there was no real harm done. Always remember Ataxia, regardless what may happen otherwise, I am your friend, and that will never change. No matter what you might accidentally burn to the ground.”

Ataxia laughed a little at that.

“Now get out of here and let me get some sleep, I've got a long day tomorrow.”

“Sure, thanks Night.”

“Oh and Ataxia.”

“Yes?”

“Do try and be a little more careful in the future, for me?

“Sure.” She turned and left her friends room with a smile on her face.

Night sighed when Ataxia left. This was a problem, a big one at that. Ataxia’s fire could not simply be put out, that meant containment, a long process that would take several hours to complete. She readied a letter to send to Firestar. Only Cloudsdale had the resources to deal with this issue. However, telling Ataxia the truth would not solve anything, she meant what she said, they needed the mare and seeing her this upset hurt Night in a way she did not fully understand.

“Sorry about waking you up, Spike.” Night said aloud as she sent the letter to the dragon. He would get it and pass it along to Firestar. Many ponies were about to lose sleep over this. Fortunately, Night was not one of them. She would personally inspect the damage in the morning, but there was not much she could do about it tonight. Even if she left now, by the time she arrived, Cloudsdale would have the work already done, Firestar would see to it herself.

…………………………………………………………………………

When the lights came back on, Blood stood over the sobbing mare. “Don’t worry, I don't plan on leaving any survivors.”

“KILL HIM!” as the shout came from across the room, it was accompanied by a dozen arrows shot by the finest archers. Blood may be one of the fastest beings alive, but you cannot dodge what you cannot see. Every arrow struck true, embedding themselves into the pegasus’s back.

He grunted in pain before the dark magic caused the arrows to fall out of him and began healing him. “So, the old one has returned? Tell me, did you enjoy my present of the doggies? I left that just for you.”

Siros had never been a griffin of rash action, preferring to analyze every situation with a calm cool head. Given, there were times in his past that he was not proud of, when he had to do something that he knew in his heart was wrong, but even in those times he could always say he stood by his principles and did what was good for the empire.

Looking at his son lying on the ground bleeding out from multiple wounds across his body. The little girl he owed everything to laying at this creature’s mercy. Siros finally understood what true hate was, what it was to truly wish someone dead. Never before had he wanted someone dead like this creature that hurt his family.

Siros drew Dawnbringer, “Light our way,” he spoke to the blade causing it to glow with arcane energy. Siros flew at Blood with all the rage in his heart, his son was lying on the floor, missing a wing with a claw bent at an impossible angle. Aurora, Rainbow Dash’s daughter, she lay at this twisted freaks mercy, desperately holding onto her stomach to try to trim the flow of blood from her womb.

After the Equestrian war some forty-odd years ago, Siros studied every form of martial practice imaginable. He did it just as an excuse to spend more time with Rainbow under the guise of ‘fostering relations’. She matched him step for step, of course, she made it into a competition with her weapons of choice, her wings, and of course, he lost. However, because of that he was easily one of the most dangerous sword fighters in the Griffin Empire.

That was in his prime, now he could no longer make that claim. Blood grasped the former emperor by the neck and blade. He snapped Dawnbringer, the ancient sword in two, causing his victim to gasp in horror as such a legendary blade was so easily felled by this creature. “You know, it would be easy for me to kill you right now, but I see the true horror in your eyes, the pain, the fear, the indignation of knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are simply too weak to stop any of this. How does it feel to be so old, to be so useless that you could not save anyone? You should just die old one; you should lie down in a pit and let them cover you in dirt. After all, feeding the worms is all someone like you is good for.”

He spun the old griffin around and held him tightly in his hooves. “I think… instead of killing you, I will simply make you watch.” Growing out a wing, Blood ran a feather through each and every one of Siros’s guards, killing them all one-by-one. When it was over, and Midnight, his oldest friend fell to this creature's attacks. Siros could only scream his frustration out into the world.

Blood laughed at his new abilities, it was almost as if he were the polar opposite of Rainbow Dash right now, he could grow and shrink his wings at will, he knew, without even having to test it, his speed would be limitless. He would win with this power. He would kill her with this power.

“Now the real question… should I finish her off?” Blood spun them both around, facing the fallen mare yet again.

“Yes or no? Yes or no? Tell me old fool, what you would have me do. Answer truthfully; I'll know if you’re lying.”

“Just kill us both and be done with it, monster. I refuse to play your game.” He spoke with conviction in his voice. “But, whatever you were planning, I can promise you this, you will fail.”

“Oh? Why's that? It seems to me that I have all the advantage right now.”

“Because you killed her grandson and are about to kill her daughter. Rainbow Dash will track you to the end of the world for that; your death will come soon enough after ours.”

Blood dropped Siros and stood with a shocked look on his face. He looked at the mare on the ground as some very old memories came back. He knew this mare, he knew her from Bright Dawn’s early life. This was his ex-wife’s sister… his shock was quickly overcome with a smile and then by laughter. “You mean to tell me the one you sent me after was the grandchild of Rainbow Dash?! Grim, I could kiss you right now. You know what; I will leave you both alive, just so you can tell her who did this; the one that was responsible for the death of her grandson. Tell her, I will be waiting on the tallest mountain in the Griffin Empire. If she wants revenge, she can find me there.”

In a blink of an eye, the demon was gone.

Siros’s mind went blank; so many conflicting emotions happened all at once that he went dead inside. His body began moving on its own, walking over to the young mare and began dressing her wounds. Aurora did not even fight it, the pain of her loss… it took her normal spunk away, she simply lay there, allowing Siros to do whatever he wanted. That alone caused one emotion to trump over all others in the old griffin.

The former emperor of the Griffin Empire, Emperor Siros, one of the most levelheaded rulers in the entire world, was pissed.

Siros wanted to give chase, he wanted to spend the rest of his life hunting down that monster and make it pay for this.

There were other priorities though. So for now he forced all of that to the side, in his mind he made a checklist of the most important things that had to be done. He needed to get these kids to a doctor; he needed to send a letter to Aurora’s parents, letting Rainbow Dash know what happened. Then, the last item on the checklist, he needed to kill that motherfucker. If he died doing it, he would meet his death with his head held high.

Siros would get his revenge after the kids were safe, and he knew the perfect tool to use: the Oathkeeper Armor.

Author's Notes:

Siros is after Blood.

In his anguish, what will he do? What can he do?