The Fallen Emperor

by SirCarrot

Chapter III

Grover was getting a bit worried…screw that, very worried. The three servants, Ridis, and the twins Balto and Shosta, had returned some three hours ago with the needed supplies. They’re arrival had woken Grover from his slumber, and he was surprised to learn that neither the other guardsman nor Fulso was with them. Ridis said that they were gathering information on the current situation throughout the fragments of the Empire. Grover accepted this at the time, but he was getting suspicious. Haarsingen was only 20 minutes flight to their camp, and Fulso wouldn’t leave his Emperor for any longer than was necessary. Even stranger was the not exactly subtle prodding by Balto and Loana (who had returned from her brooding), to get back to sleep.

Grover tried and failed to do this, instead, he lay quiet, thinking about the current state of his situation. He was wanted all across the world, for crimes he didn’t really have a hand in, directly at least. Indirectly it wasn’t just his hands covered in blood, but his entire body, which was in turn covered in a mountain of corpses. Now he realized that his insomnia had faded into a dream.

He was falling into a void, and somehow he felt that flapping his wings was useless. Now he walked, although the ground seemed irrelevant. Suddenly, a gaping hole opened in the void. He saw a large battle raging below, with countless Griffons ripping each other to shreds with swords, axes, and arrows. A flash of light broke through a smoking sky, and a crowned Griffon carried a flaming talisman. Then the battle faded, and a city was built on the corpses of the dead. It was grand, and at the top sat another crowned Griffon, who suddenly died.

The talisman vanished into an abyss, and the city crumbled. A weeping voice cried out “It’s a curse and a treasure, an enigma and a reality.” Another Griffon approached the now crumbling city, whispering “Blood and ash shall set you right.” It seemed to Grover that this was true, and the city rebuilt itself with fire and blood. Shortly though, the city collapsed, and Grover was thrown back into his head.

He heard a rustling noise, and slight whispering, “Be careful not to wake him, we need this done smoothly.” Grover could not make out the voice, but it sounded familiar.

Ever so slightly, Grover grabbed his side arm, and though he knew it was probably coming, was still surprised when he was grabbed and pulled from his perch. Not willing to go down without a fight, he randomly fired a shot at his assailants. A gasp escaped one, shouting sounded from another, and Grover was dropped to the ground with a thump. Getting up, he found his voice, “You turned on me quicker than I thought you would, my loyal subjects.”

“You killed her you bastard!” Balto yelled, clutching the body of his sister, who was leaking blood from a shot to the throat.

“Do I need to kill you too, you are a traitor after all!” Normally Grover was levelheaded, but his impulsiveness got the better of him, and he shot Balto point blank.

Grover’s talons quivered as they clutched the weapon, he had just killed two people. A third assailant, presumably Ridis, had scampered off, leaving Grover alone. Something impacted his right flank then, and pain trickled in, slow at first, then mounting to a tidal wave. A moan escaped his lips, which then was exacerbated by the approach of Loana. “Young Kaiser, you’ll be coming with Ridis and I, we have a long way back to Griffenheim. I get payment and you get a rope.”

Grover managed to cough out “Ful-Fu-olsoooo.”

“The servants left him dead in a ditch along with the other guard, who refused to join us.” It was dark, but Grover barely managed to see Loana’s shrug. “Guess that one didn’t wanna get pai–” This proclamation was shortly cut off by another shot, which left Loana as a bag of meat on the ground.

This shocked Grover into motion, and he scrambled backward, trying and failing to ignore the pain in his side, which earned him another gasp. The bad part about being a Griffon is that you can’t really clutch your side after being hit, as your talons will likely make the situation even worse. So, Grover was left with a gaping maw on the thigh of his right hind leg, profusely dripping his royal blood into the ground.

He wasn’t entirely sure what happened after that, as his consciousness started to slip into the inviting darkness. Grover was able to tell that a number of troops (Pegasi? Griffon?) landed. One of them saw him and shouted something about a medic, the prick of a needle struck his other hind leg, and he went completely into bliss.

---

To Rainbow’s eyes, the young griffon looked sickly pale, despite the feathers that almost universally covered his body. Luckily, Rose Bloom, the unit’s medic, had been able to stabilize him. Although the Empire’s crimes were numerous, and despite his age, the young Emperor probably at least somewhat complicity in them, she could not take pleasure in the pain of a child. Rainbow was definitely in for a reprimand, however, her orders had been very specific in that young Grover was not to be harmed, and if all went to plan, he wouldn’t even have to know the Equestrians were tailing him.

The plan was still relatively the same though, The Trackers would head for the River Federation, book ship, sail to the Changeling lands, and then train to Canterlot. It was too dangerous to head into the bloodbath of Western Griffonia, but the River Federation was on good terms with Equestria, and Thorax, who ruled the Changelings now, was on very good terms with Equestria.

Author's Note:

I really have to work on my pacing, but I still have lots of plot left, don't worry!

Comments

[DrLepper]

There really needs to be more EAW stories. This story and this story are some of my favorites because of how interesting the developers of EAW have made the world of MLP.