"Griffons. I thought they were extinct," Scootaloo said.
"Well these griffons aren't, and there's a ton of them with spears and swords and club, and we're so crash."
"Rumble, get ta the rear an' tell ever'pony to get up her' now."
"Monsoon tell all of the Pegasi I want them up in the air, go."
"Everypony get into formation. Unicorns closest to the Shielding Gems, get them on now." Sweetie Belle's horn glowed light blue as her voice echoed throughout the barren wasteland. The long column of tired fillies and colts instantly became alive, as ponies run as fast as they can to form a tight circle. The air soon filled with dozens of pegasi and the rainbow colored shield that spread out from the carts.
The griffon flock continues pegasi in the air looking like gnats to them. They pick up speed gnat size becomes bee sized. "Typical ponies making a big circle. What do they think we are stampeding buffalo?" A black griffon asks his commander with a laugh. "They'll be taken care of before breakfast."
"Wait a second," The griffon commander said to herself as she eyes the lead Pegasus. "Is that?" She squinted at the now talon sized Pegasus with little wings. "Halt!"
"Wait what? Why?" A griffon with red head feathers and a panther's back legs asked as he flew past her.
"I said HALT!" She screamed at him grabbing him by his tail and yanking it as hard as she could without tearing it off. He squawked and fell in line behind her. The effect was immediate, every griffon fell in behind their commander. None daring to try her patience, her orders were followed, to the letter.
"What's wrong captain?" Her second in command flew up to her side.
"Nothing." She doesn't look away from the gamboge filly.
"If it's nothing why don't we-" Her glare shut him up and he found a rock on the ground very interesting.
"Gabriella get up here now."
"Yes Ma'am.," A scrawny little griffon called from the back of the flock. "Gabriella reporting for duty ma'am," she said as she hovered at her commander's 7 o'clock. "I'm ready for any mission, or charge, or covert operation or-"
"Yeah that's great, I need you to deliver a message to that little orange Pegasus over there." She pointed at the lead wing. "I want to talk to her, no fighting just talk."
"Commander? What?"
"You got a problem with that Lieutenant?"
"Well." A glare and unspoken promise were all that was needed for him to stop there.
"I didn't think so." She turned her attention back to Gabriella. "What you're still here? Go tell that Pegasus to get over here I want to see her, I have to know if it is who I think it is. Now move it!" The little griffon bobbed her head up and down and dashed away as fast as she could from the griffon flock to the ponies who had remained in position.
"One griffon coming in." Scootaloo rolled her eyes; she never could understand why Pound had to narrate every little thing. Of course there was griffon coming in, she could see it the ponies on the ground could see it, everypony and one zebra could see it. There was no need to say it. "What are we gonna do?"
"Just wait Pound," Scootaloo answered. "We're just going to wait and see what they want. after all it's just one griffon not all of them I want to avoid conflict."
"They didn't seem to want to avoid conflict when they started chasing Monsoon and I across the wastes." Rumble didn't take his eyes of the griffon flock. "And they don't seem to be armed for a peaceful tea party."
"I'm willing to chop that up to just really poor communication skills, their griffons they aren't exactly the friendliest bunch of creatures on the face of Equestria. Now she is about to get here who ever this lone griffon is hopefully she'll put a light on things."
"Hi ya. So I'm Gabriella the griffon and you are going to go talk to my commander, she want's to talk with you."
"Right were Scootaloo goes we go to." Pound pointed to himself and Rumble.
"That's right." Rumble nodded his agreement.
"Sorry but the commander only wants to speak to the orange one."
"I don't care if Celestia want's to take her to a tea party on the moon. Where she goes we go." Rumble flew eye to eye with the griffon, she didn't flinch.
"Nope little orange one up front only."
"Not gonna happen."
"That's so crash." Monsoon and her wing were approaching from Scootaloo's five o'clock, Clearer Sky's and his wing were coming in from eight o'clock and Scootaloo was starting to get a headache from the argument that Rumble was having with the little griffon.
"Hey littlest griffon?" Scootaloo asked getting her attention.
"Gabriella," she answered.
"Right Gabriella, I got one question for you what's your commander's name?"
"That's easy she's only like the coolest, neatest, most awesome griffon ever of all time." Scootaloo waved her hoof for the griffon to get on with it.
"Yeah, but what's her name?"
"You really don't know? You came into griffon territory and you don't know?" Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "This is the vanguard flock of the Remnant of Griffon Stone, only the best flock ever and its commander is the amazing, spectacular, uber awesome." Scootaloo rolled her eyes and motioned with her hoof for her to get on with it. Gabriella huffed and finished. "Gilda."
Scootaloo walked across the barren flat waste, alone toward the griffon flock. "Of course it was her it just had to be her. I can't get a break can I? Here's just as good a place as any, if she wants to do this she can come down here." Scootaloo climbs up a rock easily three times her size and sits down.
"Alright, we've got them now, you're a genius commander; one ease in out and their lead flyer is done then the rest of them will drop like flies, only a stupid pony would think-" Gilda glares at him eyes glowing. "What that is the plan right? Trick the ponies into thinking we just want to talk."
"Shut up, I swear by the great egg you are unbearable! Stay put," she growled. "Don't move, don't talk, and definitely don't think. The only thing you're allowed to do until I get back is to breath, hopefully even you can't completely screw that up!" she looked behind her to the rest of the flock. "that goes for all of you no one leaves this formation for any reason." With her standing orders given Gilda descends down to the flat rock and the waiting Pegasus.
"Hello Gilda," Scootaloo begins as soon as the griffon lands on the stone. "I heard that you wanted to talk."
"Yeah, I wanted to make sure that it was you."
"And now that you know?" Scootaloo laid down on the rock, exhaustion finally over coming her resolve to not be seen as weak. "Now what? Do we fight, talk. Hug?"
"I don't hug." Gilda looked indignant. Concern for the little Pegasus however laced the edges of her voice. "And I don't really care for a fight." She looked at the pony caravan in front of her. "Why wasn't Dash leading the charge?" Scootaloo just looked at her eyes tired and full of hurt. "So she really didn't make it out of Canterlot? I always thought, I hoped that if anypony would make it, it'd be her." Gilda looked down at Scootaloo eyes softer than the Pegasus ever thought a griffon's could be. "We had started a correspondence, the two of us, guess neither of us were willing to let the other go. Every letter she sent me had a picture of you, did you know that." Scootaloo started to shake. "She was always saying how proud she was of her 'little sister'. Every letter had at least a whole paragraph about you. It was kinda sappy, but still Dash made it cool."
"Always twenty percent cooler." Scootaloo hiccupped.
"Yeah that's our Dash." Gilda smiled. "She always had that thing about her. Even back when the two of us were just a cub and filly, back at Junior Speedsters Flight Camp. She was awesome, didn't even have to try either. I kinda hated her for that you know, just being born cool. So unfair." Gilda sighed and lay herself down next to Scootaloo. "You know kid, she did have her over dramatic side to her though. I mean woo could she be a drama queen. She wrote me one of her letters while she was in the hospital apparently Dash had crashed." Gilda cocked. "She said that if anything happened to her she expected me to look out for you, or she'd haunt me forever."
"So what happens now?"
"I don't believe that Dash is gone, but I owe her more than I'd ever dare admit to anybody, so as far as I'm concerned you're as much a part of my flock as my own second in command." She looked up at her flock. "And if you want the job its yours." Scootaloo smile.
"No. I have my own job to take care of." Scootaloo looked over her shoulder. "We need to find a new place to live. For the time being anyway. Until we're ready to take down Despair." Gilda perked up.
"What do you mean take him down, I thought that not even the princesses could beat him. Not even Rainbow Dash and her lame friends could beat that monster."
"Apparently he has a weakness." Scootaloo waved her hoof in front of her to tired to notice Gilda's change. "It's in these two books that were in the Canterlot royal library Star Swirl Section, Restricted, Princesses only. We lost a lot of good ponies getting those two books. And just before Screw Ball had cracked the code, he came in broke our defenses and turned her to stone right in front of us. That's why we're here we couldn't save her when she needed us the most. That'll never happen again; I want us to have a place that even he'd have a hard time breaking into."
"Well since you mention it I do know of such a place." Scootaloo was shocked to see Gilda grinning the biggest grin she'd seen in weeks. "There's just one little catch."
"A dragon!"
"That's a bit more than just a little catch don't ya think Scootaloo?"
"A Dragon!"
"True but they can be negotiated with I mean Spike was a dragon, when our sisters and their friends went to stop the smoke they convinced a fully grown dragon to get up and go somewhere else, and when the dragons arrived in Manehattan they held off Despair for nearly fifty minutes." Scootaloo looked around the small table at her friends.
"A Dragon!"
"We'd need something to negotiate with it," Comet said. "We could offer the shielding crystals. I think that those could work."
"A Dragon!"
"Yes, Sweetie Belle, we can hear you very well," Zecora said from across the table. "I think this is our best choice, a fact in which I do not rejoice."
"The dragon's cave is a weeks walk from here and is right beside griffon territories in these parts." Gilda pointed to their map. I'll leave you Gabby here and my second in command to make sure you get there safely and to ensure that things remain the same." She glared at black feathered griffon daring him to say anything. He doesn't take the bait. "Just make sure that when you move out I know about it. I want to come along for the final butt kicking."
"I guess it's okay a weeks walk to an actual destination is better than just wondering aimlessly through these wastelands."
"That's the Crusader spirit Sweetie Belle."
"I still don't like it."
"Yeah I don't think any of us do, but like Gilda an' Zecora said it's our best choice."
"A dragon would help with the deciphering."
"So we can all agree on a direction let's point everypony in the right way and start moving."