2

Fruition

"I swear I'm gonna kill her when she gets back."

Gilda paced around a humble living room, casting worried glances at the front door every so often. Her grandfather Gruff sat in a corner on a well-worn chair, making a single golden bit dance between his talons. An old guitar lay next to him, and mix-match candles here and there cast flickering lights on the wooden walls. An old grandfather clock ticked away next to a sagging couch opposite of Gruff.

"Bah," Gruff said from the corner. "You don't mean that."

"I don't need a lecture."

He yawned loudly. "And ya ain't getting one." He flipped the bit in the air and caught it with his other claw. "I dunno why yer gettin' so worked up anyhow. Greta can take care of herself."

"Yeah, I know, but..." She gestured to the window. "They're not exactly on good terms with her."

"Quit yer worryin' about her. She's fine." He hopped off his chair and stretched. "I'm gonna hit the hay. Holler when she comes back." He waved and walked upstairs.

"G'night, Grampa."

As soon as he was out of earshot, she began pacing again. Where could she be? Gilda had checked all over Griffonstone that day, trying not to act conspicuous, but couldn't find her anywhere. Maybe she had left early for Equestria. No, no, Greta wouldn't do that. Not by herself. Gilda began to tremble. That only leaves the Pride. What if they took her? Or killed her? What if they tied her wings together and threw her into the abyss? Gilda stopped, blinking away tears. Where was she?

She yawned and cursed herself. The grandfather clock read eleven thirty. She sniffed and slowly walked over to the couch. She sat down, making it creak, keeping her eyes trained on the door. Any moment now, she thought to herself. After a few idle minutes, Gilda shifted to let her head rest on the seat next to her. All was silent save for the clock. She let her gaze wander from the door to a candle's flame. She watched it flicker, slowly nibbling on the wax below it. Gilda's eyes slowly shut, and the door was forgotten.

Before she knew it, the doorknob rattled, and she jerked awake. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was now around ten past one. She leapt from the couch, faced the door, and crouched. The door creaked opened, and a gust of night air made nearby candle flames dance. Greta walked in, her green and white scarf wrapped over her beak. She shivered, kicking the door shut behind her. Gilda straightened up and frowned, tapping a claw on the ground. Greta pulled her scarf down and yawned. Gilda cleared her throat, and Greta's eyes snapped to her.

"Oh." Greta faked a smile. "H-hi, Gilda. I, uh," she scratched her head. "I'm back."

Gilda swished her tail. "Yeah, I can tell." She stared at Greta silently.

"So." Greta snapped a claw. "I'm gonna—"

"—tell me what the hell you were doing?"

"What? I thought—"

"No. You didn't. You didn't even leave so much as a note."

"I-I'm sorry Gilda, I thought—"

Gilda raised a claw to silence her. "It doesn't matter anymore. It's done." She walked over to Greta. "But what were you doing? Where the hell did you go? I looked all over for you. I thought maybe the Pride—"

"I talked with Celestia."

Gilda stuttered for a moment. "What?!" She lowered her voice and pulled Greta to her. "You went to Equestria by yourself? I thought we were going tomorrow! You could've gotten yourself killed!"

Greta huffed. "You've seen what the Pride's been up to, running drills every day."

"Yeah, and today they've been... gone." It clicked in Gilda's mind, and her eyes widened.

"Exactly! We couldn't—" Greta started. "Wait, what? They're gone?!"

"Grampa Gruff told me that most of them flew off at dawn."

"Most meaning?"

"I dunno. Gale's still here, along with his guard."

Greta's eyes widened. "That's still like three hundred griffons!"

Gilda could tell what she was thinking and raised a dismissive claw. "Don't worry. They aren't gonna attack Equestria or something stupid like that." She began walking to the kitchen and motioned to Greta. "They went north."

"Oh," Greta said, narrowing her eyebrows. She followed Gilda. "North?"

Gilda shrugged. She spied a plate of leftover scones and grabbed one, tossing it to Greta. She grabbed a scone for herself and took a large bite. "Grampa Gruff said they were carrying barrels."

"Barrels?"

Gilda nodded. "Yep. Dunno what they're for." She took another bite of her scone and huffed. "I'm just glad you got back alright. I was worried about you. I wasn't sure if they, like, took you or killed you or something."

Greta looked down. "Sorry."

"You're fine." Gilda finished her scone, licking her talons clean. "So you told Celestia about the Pride and everything?"

"Yeah, as much as I could remember."

"Good," Gilda nodded. "That's good. And she listened? She didn't like brush you off or anything?"

"Not at all. There was this dragon at the meeting who backed up one of my claims, so I think Celestia's taking it seriously."

Gilda smiled. "Glad you didn't screw it up for us."

Greta looked around. "Uh... where's my guitar?"

"Oh." Gilda pointed back to the living room. "Gruff was looking at it."

"Hey!" A voice called from upstairs, startling the two.

Gilda shook her head. "Speaking of..."

Gruff ambled down the stairs, chuckling to himself. "Would ya look at that? Gilda hasn't killed ya."

Greta started laughing and nudged Gilda. "You didn't mention you were going to kill me."

"I said I was worried about you."

Luna's night had now completely enveloped the sky in a violet shell. Grey clouds occasionally hovered in front of the tiny stars, and small ripples continued to make them dance and shimmer. After eating a somewhat cold dinner and bidding her sister good night, Luna had returned to the balcony. That was only a few hours past. The dream still nipped at the corners of her mind, no matter how far back she tried to push it away. Her calming method no longer worked, but she was too preoccupied to stop. She tried to think of other things in hope they would replace her dream. She thought back to the ambassadors Celestia had talked about.

"Why would the dragons seek to wage war against us?" she asked herself. "We have done them no wrong. We let many a dragon lie in our caves without much question. We even allow them our skies for their migrations. Perhaps they merely want our riches; I have heard stories of their avarice."

She shook her head softly. "But wealth alone surely cannot be reason enough for war. What else would they want? Though, I suppose we know little of their culture. Perhaps we have wronged them unwittingly. But if that be the case, then why not send a letter of their complaints or protests for us to redress? An escalation to conflict seems..." She grasped for the words. "Ignorant. Imprudent. Foolish." She sighed. "Maybe they are simply not ones to negotiate. 'Tis a good thing their Dragon Lord has foresight enough to rule wisely. I hope we shall be able to work something of a deal betwixt us."

Luna made the stars swirl slowly around the new moon. "And as for the griffons... Hmph." She rested her head on the railing. The Griffon Kingdom sparked and fizzled before she had returned from the moon, so her knowledge was limited, anecdotal at best. "I knew not they were without proper governance," she said. "How could that come to pass? What happened to them? How could a nation such as that collapse upon itself with nary a word to the rest of the world?" She frowned slightly. "And now a hostile faction has arisen. But why?" She pursed her lips. She tried to think of any possible reasons, but each one snuffed itself out. She simply did not know.

Eventually, a bit resigned, Luna brought forward the dream from her mind and began to give it thought once again. She relived it in her mind as best she could. Her thoughts turned to her sister, and a new line of reason struck her. "Celestia is the one who has visions between us," she said quietly. "She has been forewarned of many things before, such as Tirek. Perhaps my nightmare was just that: a nightmare. A bad dream."

She grimaced slightly and shook her head. "No. No, it cannot. It has grieved me too much to be simply a dream." She sighed. "But why? Why do I feel this way?" She felt every possible track had already been well-traveled by her thoughts. It demanded notice, but she knew not where to direct her mind. The vision had firmly planted itself in her brain, and there it remained, unyielding.

She toyed with the stars some more and gave up thinking about it. "Well, I guess I ought to..." she yawned. "I ought to dreamwalk, then. Unless Tia has left me some papers to take care of. Maybe there's something about the dragons and griff—"

She yelped and collapsed on her knees. Her heart. Something was wrong with her heart. It was twisting, she knew it. She clutched at her chest, feeling slow leaden thuds against it. Her entire body prickled with sweat. The knot was getting tighter, and she couldn't breathe. Then, as sudden as its onset, the pain and terror left her. Taking in great gulps of air, she shakily stood up again, wiping her forehead. She felt her chest, and her heart beat on. She leaned on the railing again, trying to steady herself.

Twilight was awoken by a white glow and a faint chime emanating from her bed. She groggily raised her head and yawned. Upon pulling the covers away, she sighed and hit her head on the pillow. "Right now?" she muttered, rolling over and squinting at her clock. "It's barely midnight." With another yawn, she sat on her bed and hopped down, stumbling a little. Rubbing her eyes, she stretched out her wings and legs, still murmuring about the hour.

"W-w-what..." Luna could hardly speak, still quivering somewhat. She stood in a stupor, swaying a little as she regained herself. She made herself stare at the distant stars until they stopped jittering in her eyes. She felt her heart, afraid it would knot up again, but it seemed to carry on as if nothing had occurred. She finally had power over her voice, but she knew not what to say.

A small creak behind her made her jump. She spun around, thinking it to be Celestia again, but saw a brown griffon in the now open doorway. They both started, and for a moment, did nothing but stare at one another. Luna, extending her wings somewhat, was about to speak when the griffon smiled. Pitching his head up, he let pierce through the still air a terrible screech. Before Luna could think, the griffon turned and pounced on her, both going over the railing and spinning downwards.

The sky and ground flickered between their gazes. The griffon clasped his claws on her wings, but Luna kicked at his stomach with her hind legs. He let go, and Luna was able to punch him across his beak. Luna turned down and saw the ground rushing to her. Spreading her wings, she tried slowing herself down, extending her legs out. She touched down too hard; her left front leg buckled, and she tumbled and skidded across the cobblestone for a few yards, scattering her shoes and crown, before ending up on her stomach.

When Twilight opened the door to the Map's room, it came alive, and six cutie marks appeared and orbited the small replica of her castle. She glanced at it, then did a double take. "Wait, all of us?" She waved her hoof in the cutie marks, making them fizzle as she passed through them, but they remained. "Why all of us? Why here?" She flew over to her chair, worried now, hoping the others would soon arrive.

Coughing, Luna shakily tried standing up, but she fell down again with a cry. A sharp pain stabbed from her left hoof through to her chest, and with a start, she counted an extra joint on her left foreleg. Her rapid heart beat only seemed to encourage it, making the piercing ache spread. With a fuzzy mind, she heaved herself up on three legs. The griffon lay a few yards back, unmoving, a small pool of red growing around him. She barely registered the other scrapes and bruises she accrued upon landing. Before her mind had another moment's respite, more cries rang out from above.

She looked up and gasped. The stars above had almost completely vanished. "Are t-those..." she sputtered through gritted teeth, "a-all griffons?!" She heard something whistling from above, getting closer, but couldn't discern anything. Then, with a loud crunch and whoosh, the object hit the ground in front of her and broke open, a giant yellow fireball engulfing the street and nearby buildings in flames. Luna immediately felt the heat and jumped back, raising a wing to save her eyes and throat.

She heard more whistles and more cries, and one thought eclipsed everything else in her mind: run. She stumbled, forgetting for a moment her now useless leg. After a few haphazard flaps, she was back in the air, getting as far from her tower as she could.

Twilight let her eyes wander around the room. Aside from the roots above and the map itself glowing, the entire room was dark. The windows let in tiny pinpricks of light from the hundreds of stars outside, and the sky they were set against almost perfectly blended in with the darkened walls of the castle. Twilight chuckled; she could barely make out the mountains in the—

Her eyes snapped open. Her heart fluttering, she leapt off the chair and glided towards the window. She landed, staring in complete stupefaction. She wasn't mistaken. Canterlot was on fire. She couldn't help but stare for a few moments. Words finally came to her. "Spike!" She turned and ran back into the hallway. "Spike! Starlight!"

"There! It's the Raven!"

Luna's fur stood on end. She glanced behind herself and saw a group of griffons splinter off and begin to chase her, tossing what looked to be barrels down below. Urging her wings, she dove down between buildings. Her entire leg and shoulder was throbbing, and her stomach threatened to empty itself. More and more flashes of orange popped up before her, and she flew near them in hopes the griffons would cease their pursuit. Instead, she managed to singe her coat and reveal herself to more griffons. Many ponies on the streets watched her and the griffons rush by, and they began running and screaming.

Using her remaining strength, Luna pushed ahead and yelled in her royal voice, "CITIZENS OF CANTERLOT! WE ARE UNDER ATTACK! GET YE TO SAFETY!" With a groan, she gained altitude and began shouting the refrain again. The din from above and below now mingled into one and drowned out her warnings, so the thought of flight consumed her mind once more.

She dove downwards again, thinking to lose her pursuers in some back alley or side street. With a leap in her chest, she felt claws sink into one of her back legs and kicked them away furiously. Another griffon attacked from above, pinning her wings to her back, and they began to fall, the other griffons diving along. Lighting her horn, she grabbed the attacker with magic and flung her into the others. She looked down and narrowly avoided a roof as she leveled out. She didn't dare check back now lest she lost her lead on them.

She finally made it to the cobblestone streets and began weaving through as many buildings as she could. She slammed into one building as she turned tightly into an alley, causing her to cough a bit, but the griffons overshot the turn altogether. She was able to put some distance between herself and them though the narrow alley. Emerging on the other side, she was blasted with heat and staggered backwards. Everything around her was orange and yellow—cobblestone and marble only proved to contain it all. Canterlot had become a giant white kiln.

Hearing griffons behind her, Luna leapt and flew upwards, but the smoke was growing so thick and foul she had to backtrack towards her pursuers. Going a different direction now, she dove back down to the streets, resuming her frantic tactic of weaving. She almost wished she hadn't.

Bodies lined the streets, stabbed, torn, gutted, mangled, burned. Other ponies ran by her as she flew past. She saw griffons swoop down and pluck kicking and screaming ponies from the street, carrying them away. She then heard screaming from above, and before she could look up, a pony crunched onto the street before her, crumpling into a heap. Luna's conscious mind barely registered it as she passed over, though she nearly began weeping.

A griffon hit her hard from the side, sending her crashing into a large window of a shop. She landed behind a counter away from the shattered glass, her head in a daze. Griffons outside began shouting at each other, and Luna hastily stood and buckled on her leg. Through new hot tears, she spied a quill and parchment. Thinking of Twilight, she quickly levitated them toward herself and began scratching out a desperate 'HELP' on the parchment.

A cry shocked her, and before she could send it away in a puff of green smoke, a griffon pinned her against the counter's shelves. The griffon twisted Luna's leg out of the way and made a swipe at her throat. Luna enveloped the griffon in magic and slid him out of the way. His claws still connected, and they tore long gashes in Luna's left side beneath her wing. With a flick and a cry, Luna tossed the griffon away and began to hobble out of the shop.

She took off once more, forgetting the note. Her whole body began to ache, and she became more and more aware of every inch of her leg and side. She quickly glanced at her new additions and saw four jagged scarlet lines stretching from her chest to nearly her flank. Fresh blood flowed freely from them, and just looking at them nearly made her falter. She firmly decided the open air above was far better than the maze-like streets.

She climbed straight up despite her wings' protests. She finally saw, with full clarity, the inferno that was Canterlot. Entire towers now were swallowed up in cackling yellow flames, curling and swirling higher than the towers themselves. Every building in front of her was engulfed in bright fire that cruelly mocked them. She spun as she ascended, and with relief, she saw a small portion of the city untouched by the blaze. She looked down and saw she was still being chased. She leveled out for a few yards and tucked her wings in, diving straight past them. Her left wing felt sticky as she extended it outward and slowed herself down.

Pulling out of her descent, she found herself near the mountain to which the city was anchored. She flew next to it and hugged it, looking for any chance to escape. She finally found a large cave opening and turned inside, again hitting the far wall as she went. The cave remained alight as she plunged deeper, which helped both her and the griffons navigate it with relative ease. The griffon's shouts, yips, and cries bounced and echoed everywhere, and Luna had to remind herself many times they were only behind her. Spying a set of tracks, she followed close, hoping the tight corridors and winding tunnels would throw the griffons off. They only served to amplify their bloodthirsty calls and reinforce her paranoia. One passage in particular seemed to go one for miles. Luna was seized with fear. What if it was a dead end?

The calls behind were growing closer, and the tunnel only became less defined as she sped along. Turns only led to more turns. To Luna's relief, the tunnel opened up, and the claustrophobia left her. She thought she could see stars again through an opening a few hundred feet ahead, and she pushed her wings harder. Suddenly, the stars vanished, and Luna threw her wings out, landing just short of the mouth of the cave. The griffons out there were surely looking for her. She limped backwards, and her ears picked up the sound of the others behind her. Desperate, she saw a fissure in the wall to her side and wedged herself inside.

She tried to slow down her breathing, gradually becoming aware of her injuries again. She wracked her brain for a healing or numbing spell to no avail. She pressed her left wing down on her gashes and leaned against the wall. It soon felt sticky again, and then worryingly warm, and Luna was struck with her own mortality.

Somewhere, off in the distant, untouched parts of Canterlot, a lone siren began wailing.