A cyan colt stood up, shivering. His blue ruffled mane hung loosely over his head. The dark skyline and thick fog made it impossible to see, and it drove him mad. The weather Ponies had covered up the skyline to prevent the griffons from detecting them. The colt's fur and mane were covered in mud, as a means of camouflage.

"Mom, can we fly now?" The young colt said quietly, crawling around three-foot high grass.

"No. I want to fly too, but we have to keep going, the Elements of Harmony depend on it." His mother said softly, her voice scratchy and weak from the fighting.

They had come from Cloudsdale, a dangerous journey all the way to Canterlot. Recently his mother had received a letter of request, asking them to come to the princesses chambers in order to use the Elements to hopefully weaken the griffons.

Hours became days as they slept in the unbearably hot afternoon and traveled in the cool night. On the rare occasion that he and his mother could relax at night, she would point to the constellations telling him the myths that went along with them. A pattern of stars soaring across the sky had always interested the young foal.

"Mom, what are those?" The colt asked innocently.

The mare snorted, "I told you that thousands of times before, kid." She grinned. "If you must be told again, that's called 'Soarin's Mane', acquired from your father. He was a brilliant flyer, almost better than me." The cyan Pegasus chided, "he was a brave Pegasus, he knew what had to be done. Even if that thing cost somepony to forget their morals."

The young Pegasus had heard the story thousands of times. Not from his mother, of course, but from other admirals. He remembered the head general, Titus Wing, tell him all about it.

'Your dad was the finest pony I'd ever had the honor of working with. It was a darker night, he and the rest of the recruits had to go and shut down the major generator in Griffonspeak. That's the place just near Cloudsdale. It was becoming a large threat with the war just starting. Your father was to shut down the generator while I cleared the landscape.'

'He was so close, he and your mother had made the entrance untouched, but I had miscalculated the timing and sent Griffinspeak into chaos. The whole system had a major lockdown, encasing your parents inside. Soarin had an idea, but it would only work if there was a sacrifice. He would stand guard while your mother shut it down, then, he would hijack an exit. He told your mom that he would make it out with her, but had different intentions completely. When your mother sent the generator down, he opened the central gates. Your mother left, then she waited for him to return. She found him standing on the other side, ready to come out as he'd promised. He winked and flew into the generator's core, destroying the thing completely.'

'War comes with a price, and Soarin paid it well. He, along with the machine, disintegrated into nothingness.'

The next day he and his mother crawled into the princesses chambers. Inside he faced more ponies, five were waiting next to the Princess. He assumed that they were the elements. The royal room was in tatters, singed carpets and broken window glass filled the large once-stunning room. His mother stood par to the ponies, and they all started to feverishly speak.

All of a sudden, the barred entrance doors blasted open, revealing about a dozen griffons. The colt's whole body wracked with fear.

The princess yelled above the chaos, "Luna! Take the foal!"

The mare adjacent to the princess jumped up and gathered him, trying desperately to pull the colt from the ruckus. The cyan colt stayed stubbornly still, watching as his mother, along with the others, started to glow.

In the midst of their power, one griffon shot up, sending his mother barreling down. The trance-like spell vanished as the other five crashed against the cold ground. The colt raced forward towards his mother, watching as the griffon tore her apart. He cried out in rage and bucked the griffon with all his might. The young griffin stumbled back, amazed at the young pony's nerve. She cocked her head slightly and gave him a menacing growl.

"Run." She spat, fury and anger dancing in her eyes.

The adrenaline rush wore off, fear wracked the poor colt, and he ran.

A dark calm night enveloped the foal, it's darkness surrounding him as he walked along with Princess Luna to see the damage. He had hoped against hope that somehow, someway, his mother survived. He raced out into the destroyed room, right into his mother's lifeless body.

"No!" He screeched, tears now streaming down his face, "NOO!"