The Speech recieved a mixed assortment of responces. Mostly against this new discovery of "war". Twilight might have been a little too through in explaining it. She should of just listened to Celestia and just sugar-coated it and make it seem "cool". Now she had to sit for hours reassuring the Ponyville residents that they were not all going to be sluaghter viciously. After the meeting she got to the job of putting the posters that Celestia gave her. If She remebered them correctly they were called propaganda, but she wasn't quite sure.

Later she got a letter from a mayor from the twon over asking if she was having trouble with declaring war with the townsfolk. Twilight argreed that she could use some help and was told that a reputable "entertainer" was going from town to town helping the mayors and such deal with the problems, for a price of course.

She managed to get the mayor on board with having some of the town's funds go to this mysterious magician. After a few days she saw a suspicious looking trailor rolling up to town. On the side it said "The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

"Oh great." Twilight said. She didn't need this on top of everything else that was going on. The trailor rolled right up to Twilight.

"My, my, my. What do we have here?" Trixie was grinning as if she just beat Celestia in a duel. "Expecting someone?" Twilight screamed in her head.

"Oh, please, tell me your just trying to show me up again." Of all the ponies in Equestria, the one that she needed was HER!?

"Though I would love nothing more than to prove my true power, I am here on a different note."

"Alright, we have your payment ready. Just get the job done, in anyway possible."

"Oh! Your the pony who needs me. Well, in that case I'll charge double."

"What!?"

"These roads are treacherous  and very difficult to traverse. I will need the extra pay." Trixie had a grin that made Twilight want to knock her teeth out, but she couldn't. "Anyways, it's not like you can actually bargin with me. No matter what I do today, I lose nothing." Twilight doubled her pay and Trixie bagen to set up shop right away. "The show shall be tomorrow!"

"What show?" Twilight was confused. She paid for a speech, or something, not a show.

"It's simple really. The best way to gain hype for a war, or anything for that matter, it to 'explain' the rewards. Seeing the world, getting money, and more importantly, us." She gestured to herself. Great. She had just paid for a peep show. That'll really reasure Mayor Mare that the money was well spent.

"You know what? I don't care anymore. Just be ready tomorrow." Twilight was really questioning her decisions now. She could've been home, reading, not giving a care in the world. But now she was doing THIS. She didn't want to think about it. She just wanted some sleep.

==================

The moonlight showing through the leaves made the trek even more spooky. Cherry Strudel and Burnt Oak were pulling overtime in getting these pies to Ponyville. Burnt Oak sat down on a rock.

"We need to take a break." He wasn't used to all this running.

"Ya'll is being weak." Cherry Strudel said. They had been stoping ever hour since they began at the start of the day. "I'm getting mighty annoyed by your inability to run for a couple of hours at a time."

"Well if you didn't say 'Sure, we can take twice the load of any other pony' we might not be havin' all these breaks!"

"Funny. I thought ya'll were tough guess I was wrong."

"Why you little!" Oak took a big swing at Strudel. Strudel backed away just in time but tripped over a conveniently placed branch and fell into a ditch just below the road. Oak gasped. "Are you all right!" He couldn't see two feet down the ditch. He took the torch from the carridge and brought it over to the ditch. "Can you see this?" No answer. He heard twigs breaking and ran over to where he heard it to greet Strudel. "I am so sorry Strudel. If you could only forgive-" He saw a purple-hued figure approaching him.

Chaos couldn't find where the first pony dropped, but a fresh one would do much better. He stared into the eyes of Burnt Oak, paralyzing him. "Do not run! Running only delays the inevitable." Oak disregard what the pony-looking creature said and dashed directly towards the carridge. Chaos got very angry. "The only reward you shall recieve for that act will be death!" Chaos tackled Oak down with little resistance. If all those years of training taught him anything, it was that all startled enemies are more prone to falling.

He had a lot of difficulty holding down the pony, so he decided that a dead specimen was better than none at all. A twist of the neck and he was dead. The dead weight was much better than the risistance of a live pony. He decided to merely kill the rest of his victims, instead of trying to get them alive. Cherry saw with horror that Oak was just killed he made a mad dash for the town of Ponyville, if he was safe anywhere it would be there. Right? RIGHT?

After a good five minutes of pure sprinting he came to a stop. Good thing that other, thing, headed in the opposite direction, 'cause his tracks were so easy to follow. His stomach growled. "Great." He thought to himself. "Not only did I just witness the death of a friend but now I'm starving. He took out a pie he had stolen from the carridge earlier and began to chomp down on it. It tasted good. Something was odd though. He started to survey the road when he suddenly felt a pair of hooves on the sides of his face. Chaos then twisted his neck as well. He hesitated for a moment, and then threw the body into another ditch. He wasn't going to carry TWO dead bodies with him.

===================

Silver Claw gazed out at his subjects. They were all living a misrible exsitence, but something was different about them. You could sense a feeling of hope, almost. It was odd to the king. It was as if they wanted a war. That brought worry to Silver Claw. He wanted to rule a great people not ruthless barbarians. He knew what he had to do, though. There was no turning back. This would be the beginning of the end. The start of a new era. Either an era without The Elder or an ear without gryphons! Which ever fate decides it to be, he will accept the change with open arms.

"Gryphons!" He shouted to the subjects below, "Today is a day that will live in infamy. It is a day that the books of history will see as world changing. It is a day all will look upon and shake thier heads in shame, for they know they could have prevented this. It is the day that you will look upon your kin and tell them this is when you stopped living your life as a peasent and began living your life as a true gryphon! It is the day that we march upon the lands of our enemies with no regret and we prove that we gryphons were to have always been feared.Join me in our march to redemption for it is on this day that all the world declares war on us! And it is on this day that all who opose us DIE!" The crowd burst into cheers. This generation had never seen a speech at all but they were inspired. They were ready to die, not only in the name of Silver Claw, but in the name of gryphons. They would meet incredible odds with their chins high and their claws ripping at it with glee. They wanted this war for a long time... Next Chapter: Unexpected, Univited Estimated time remaining: 34 Minutes