Baptism of Fire

Prologue
Echoes of the Past

It was a pleasantly lazy day in Twilight's library. Outside there was a steady, drizzling rain. Normally the dreary weather would mean quite a bit of stress for Twilight Sparkle. The overly-organized pony would panic as she would scramble to rearrange her schedule, but not today. Today the studious alicorn was more than happy to just sit inside with a hot beverage and a good book.

It was a much-needed break for Equestria's newest princess, and she intended to soak it all in. She had cleared her entire schedule for the day and the book in front of her was a novel, not some scholarly work. With a contented sigh, Twilight turned the page and took a sip from her steamy cup. It really was beautifully lazy. She would have to find time to do this more often.

"Uuugh!" a purposefully annoying groan shattered Twilight's perfect atmosphere.

It was Twilight's number one assistant: Spike. The baby dragon was flat on his back staring blankly at the ceiling. "I'm bored!" he complained as he flailed his arms about to emphasize his words. "Why did Rainbow Dash have to make it rain all day?"

"It's not even noon yet," the alicorn chided with a roll of her eyes.

Before Spike could respond, he seemed to get his wish. A loud, frantic pounding at the door announced a visitor and an end to the monotony. "I got it!" the purple dragon eagerly volunteered.

Spike only made it halfway to the door before it burst open to reveal a larger-than-normal guest. Half-lion, half-eagle, the unannounced visitor stepped in and shook the water from her feathers and fur before setting her eyes on Twilight Sparkle.

For the life of her, Twilight still could not tell one griffon from another. "Um, yes?" she tentatively greeted as she got up. "Can I help you miss…?"

"Gilda," she curtly filled in Twilight's unasked question. Slowly kicking out more water from each of her limbs as well as her wings, she finally deemed herself dry enough and began to approach Twilight.

Twilight only vaguely remembered Rainbow Dash's old friend. She had only met the griffon at the party Pinkie Pie threw for her, and the impression she got wasn't a kind one. Could Gilda have come to make amends?

"Are you looking for Rainbow Dash?" Twilight politely asked.

"No," Gilda denied. "I've come for you, Twilight Sparkle!" she spat the name as if it burned her tongue.

In a flash, the powerful griffon had tackled the smaller alicorn to the ground. Using her superior girth to keep Twilight pinned on her belly; Gilda wrapped a claw around the pony's neck and squeezed hard enough to plunge her talons into the soft flesh on either side of Twilight's neck.

"Murderer!" Gilda hissed as she dominated Twilight's struggling. "My father is dead because of you!"

Seeing that her squirming wasn't going to get her anywhere against the much stronger griffon, Twilight summoned her magic to throw the angry beast off her. Forcing the nearby air to fill the space between herself in Gilda, she fiercely expanded it. The resulting icy blast of air was powerful enough to knock the grappling duo to opposite ends of the library.

Twilight was thankful Gilda had gripped her neck from behind. The violent separation caused the griffon's talons to slice through her flesh, leaving deep gashes trailing from the sides of her neck all the way to the back of her neck. Had Gilda grabbed her from the front, Twilight would have likely already bled to death as the razor talons would have ripped through essential veins and arteries.

Struggling to her feet and shaking the frost from her hide, Twilight scrambled to get a handle on the situation before Gilda recovered. Her horn and gashes glowed as she focused on stemming the bleeding in her wounds and took in the situation. Her library was in shambles. The burst of wind scattered everything about. Books, papers, even furniture were all tossed about, accumulating at the edges of the room. Her number one assistant was half-buried in books in front of a nearby bookshelf. Gilda was…already back on her feet!

"Please! Stop this!" Twilight begged as she tried to mend her torn flesh.

Gilda responded by grabbing a table that had fallen near her and hurled it at Twilight with an angry roar. The alicorn was able to put a purple bubble of magic around herself just before it impacted. Even though the splintered wood harmlessly bounced off the bubble, Twilight was obviously struggling. She had to let the bubble fade away to focus again on her wounds.

"Tw-Twilight! What's going on!?" Spike urged as he pulled himself from the rubble.

Seeing Gilda turn her attention to the defenseless baby dragon, Twilight quickly decided that he needed to be well clear of the clash. "Go get help!" she ordered as her horn flared brighter. In a flash of purple light, Spike was gone.

Twilight put her full attention on the enraged griffon now that Spike was safely outside of the library. Harming Gilda was at the bottom of the list of options she could pursue. That left incapacitating her or stalling long enough for Spike to return with help. Those options would be plan B. There was still a slim chance that Twilight could reason with Gilda. Twilight desperately hoped that the griffon would listen to reason.

"Please listen to me, Gilda!" Twilight frantically pleaded as Gilda threw a lectern at her. Again, a timely, purple barrier protected Twilight from the assault.

"Why should I listen to a monster like you?" Gilda accused as she charged at Twilight Sparkle.

The purple alicorn struggled to maintain the small shield protecting her as Gilda furiously lashed out at it. "I didn't kill anypony!" she defended herself. "If your father died, then he was a traitor!"

Instant regret.

Twilight had let her emotions get the better of her and for a second she forgot that she was trying to pacify the enraged griffon. She was so busy trying to justify her own regrettable actions that she just enraged Gilda even further.

"You show up in our empire and our king dies! MY DADDY DIED!" Gilda raged as her vicious swipes started to destabilize Twilight's protective bubble. "And you get hailed as a hero?!"

Finally, the bubble snapped apart and Gilda attempted to grab the smaller alicorn. A column of ice shot between the two as Twilight stumbled away from her assailant. Gilda shattered the thick sheet of ice with a single slash of her talons as she gave chase.

"I will see justice!" Gilda roared as she managed to snag Twilight's rear leg. In an impressive feat of strength and brutality, the griffon reared up onto her hind legs and drew Twilight over her head before slamming the purple pony to the ground with a sickening crash. She then angrily threw the limp Twilight into the middle of the room.

"You. Will. Suffer!" Gilda ground out as she slowly marched towards the vulnerable pony.

Twilight writhed in an attempt to get back up as her vision failed her and her thoughts struggled to cohere. Although she succeeded in getting her hooves under herself, she just couldn't muster the strength to get up off of the ground. The sound of Gilda's steps muddled into the surprisingly loud sound of her own heartbeat as she fell back down.

Finally forcing her eyes to work, Twilight watched a crimson bead of liquid fall from the underside of her muzzle and drip into a small, red puddle. Drawing her head up she had to blink as the shapes and brightness shifted faster than she could comprehend. She finally made out the fuzzy blob of a griffon standing triumphantly over her. It was hard to make out with her vision fading in and out, but Twilight was pretty sure Gilda's beak was pursed into a small, satisfied grin.

Twilight tried to speak up to defend herself, but her voice caught in her throat. Instead of a plea, all that escaped her muzzle was glob of blood.

How did it come to this? Twilight briefly wondered as her strength failed her completely. She closed her eyes as her face fell into the growing pool of her own blood. Against her will, Twilight's mind pulled her away from her plight and into the past.

Author's notes - Eeyup. It's going to be a violent one. I rated it at T. Not sure if the violence exceeds that rating or not. If you the reader have any concerns I can always bump up the rating.

For those whom it may concern: I'm still working on my other stories, but I just couldn't help myself. Must have ADD or something.