As my training with the Duskraptors neared completion, they began to take me on hunts (Olin ferrying me in the air by wrapping her talons around my midsection). They even dropped me on unsuspecting prey a few times – I impressed them when they dropped me on a mountain goat and I grappled him, tumbled down a cliff with him, and snapped his neck against a rock on the way down. Poor bastard didn't even have time to plead.
One day, I was informed that I had to lead them in the hunt for ponies if I was going to use their blood for potion practice. At this point, they also explained to me exactly how close to the cave we had to be before they were allowed to hunt these ponies (according to various treaties with other griffin clans, and one ancient one apparently negotiated with Princess Luna). Brute force wouldn't suffice in these situations, at least not without some strategy to guide it. Luckily, I'm no slouch when it comes to strategic thinking.
About a week after we first discussed the subject, a pegasus mailpony was seen flying through the range on a track between the mountains that would lead him near the ancient Duskraptor boundaries. Stormare tailed him, lingering behind and to one side of him close enough that we would feel uncomfortable and try to shake Stormare by taking certain turns through the mountains. He broke off the chase just before the pegasus got to the location Olin and I had flown ahead to, just inside the territory. I was 'pinned' under a 'rockslide'. When he got close, I called out pitifully to him for help, saying I was a hiker who had gotten trapped and I had been getting ready to gnaw my own foreleg off. What manure. He bought it long enough to try moving the rock, and then I grabbed him long enough for Olin to swoop down and silence him. It was the first time I murdered my own species, although I didn't do the actual killing on this occasion or the next.
The next came almost two months later. I had spent the better part of a year with the Duskraptors by now, and I had earned their trust as much as any featherless creature ever could. But that's just a role I played. My whole life – anypony's whole life – is playing a role. So when an earth pony couple passed nearby on their way to visit a friendlier griffon clan, it was no trouble for me to brush my hair, wash the blood off my hooves, and put on the mask of the meek, polite earth pony. This time I didn't pretend to be trapped – I pretended the avalanche had buried my very special somepony! I didn't lay it on so thick this time, since I needed the couple to follow me for almost half an hour. In fact, they were starting to get skeptical towards the end. Luckily, by then they were surrounded – although they didn't know yet exactly what was circling overhead. Keep an eye on the shadows, colts and fillies; silhouettes can reveal a lot. That was a rough experience for us, actually. Killing the stallion was easy. Keeping the mare alive and quiet until I was ready to try another variation of the Draught? That was hard. I made a decision after that misadventure on the subject of keeping prisoners – I wasn't going to do it in the future. I broke that rule once, but it wasn't with a pony.
Finally, after a year's hard work, I had a result I could be proud of. I let Kier know, and he sent out Stormare and two others on a special mission. They came back the next day with a half-blind old white griffon, an exile, they said, of the Owlbear clan. I assembled the other ingredients, but the blood still went in first, even in this version, so I bent him over the cauldron and Kier slit his throat personally. I slaved over that cauldron for hours, and then jealously guarded it for the two days it needed to settle and reach peak efficiency. Finally, I had a finished version – my final draft of the Drought.
"Kier," I said, "I present to you, the Draft."
Well, that's all for tonight. Wing Power's been practicing his hate speeches all day, and I have a terrible headache. There are a lot of really interesting safeties and countermeasures in this dungeon, but the sound dampening needs work. I wish we could just soundproof Wing Power's cell entirely…nopony wants to hear that master race crap.