//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Serenade the Dawn // by AtlasAbove //------------------------------// The diminutive purple drake sighed over his tea cup. "I guess I should apologize in advance for them. They can get pretty crazy. How'd you even get stuck in this mess?" The young dragon swirled the contents of his cup, looking between Aesa and I and the six mares still in conference. Aesa and I took turns explaining. She talked about our trip from home, and I picked up the story when we came to Ponyville while she took a drink of tea. The dragon nodded along, following the story with some interest. "I had no idea that the griffons were in trouble like that." "We don't really talk about our races problems much. Can't really show weakness and all that," Aesa sighed. "How often do they do this," I asked waving vaguely at the mares who had suddenly nodded in unison. "I guess they've reached a verdict," I said with a chuckle. A table and matching chairs poofed into existence in a fuschia haze. The mares took one side and motioned for Aesa sit on the other. "Just great," Spike grumbled(he had informed us of his name after bringing the first tea set). "I'll put another kettle on the stove." "Thanks Spike," the purple unicorn called after him. Turning to us, she spoke again, "First off, I would like to apologize for our rash behavior. Secondly, while the way we went about it was wrong, we still need to know who you are and why you are here. Ponyville has had issues with a griffon before." "Maybe you should tell us your names first, seeing as we have been taken into your home forcibly, had our things stolen, and we ourselves attacked." "Fair enough. I am Twilight Sparkle, personal student to Princess Celestia. Girls, introduce yourselves." From left to right, they named themselves off. Applejack was the mare from the store, still glaring daggers. Her dark yellow coat covered a body of iron, muscles no doubt earned from working her farm. Next to her was Rainbow Dash, the quick pegasus who Aesa had knocked over. True to her name, the mare had a shock of rainbow colored mane sprouting from her head. It had probably never had a brush run through it. She seemed rather annoyed with our existence as well. Rarity the fashionista announced herself with some flair. She was a sparkling pure white with a deep purple mane. It was quite obvious she took her profession very seriously. The pink earth pony finally zoned in on Aesa and I, and sprouted a steam of absolute gibberish. I chocked it up as a lost cause and just nodded. The squeaking yellow pegasus squeaked some more. Her pale yellow coat and beautiful mane went well together. I mentioned such to Aesa playfully. She shoved me. Rude. Twilight spoke again. Definitely the leader of the group, this one. "There, now, what are your names." I glanced over to Aesa, she just glared at me again. "Fine, fine," I huffed after losing the stare down. "I am Sven QuickTalon, skald by rite and profession. This is Aesa, my mate and skald of her own rites." She blushed again. I'm not sure if this has ever passed your mind, but detecting a blush on a griffon is quite the skill. Unlike the thin coated ponies, the color is not easily seen through the feathers. It becomes more of a body language guessing game. When Aesa blushed( which I found happening more and more), she scrunched her shoulders up and flashed a quick little smile. Her pride would kick in quickly and she would wipe the delightful smile off her face, glaring about hoping no one had seen it. It was beyond adorable. "We left our clan," I continued, "searching for a new life and a change in scenery. The flight to Pony Lands was relatively boring. On reaching the border, we met the guards stationed there. We were granted entrance to Equestria, and pointed in this direction when we asked for the nearest small town. This is our first day in town. An eventful first day at that." Aesa spoke up. "I wanna know why you took our stuff. You have no idea how precious those are to us." "When you left to go off huntin', I sent my sis to go get Rainbow Dash here. She knows a bit about griffons, more than the rest of us anyways, and I wanted to make sure you were here on good intentions." "I found your wing-blades stashed in one of the bags in a small side pocket. I know griffons take those things everywhere but I had to be sure. The last griffon here, we didn't exactly part on good terms," Rainbow Dash explained. "I had Applejack get the rest of the girls to the library, and send Twilight out to help me get your stuff. My mouthwriting is crap so she wrote the note too. I saw you two come back and zipped back here to get everyone ready. Pinkie Pie-" So that's what the pink one's name was"-wanted to throw you a welcome party, but after what happened at the last one the rest of us figured it wasn't too smart." "We heard you two bickering outside," Twilight said, "and I didn't really know what to do so I just pulled you two in here. I hadn't heard that you had been playing in the market all day, I had just heard that there were two griffons in town and they had weapons with them. Surely you can understand my reaction," she said, pleading more with herself than us. Quite the guilty conscious on that one. "If you return our items, I'm sure Aesa and I can let it go." The mare nodded and walked out of the room. Applejack and Rainbow seemed unconvinced. Rarity sat patiently, examining us with calculating eyes. Pinkie Pie seemed fit to burst at the seems. All I cold see of the yellow pegasus, who's name I still hadn't caught, was the top of her mane. She seemed to be hiding under the table. To say that the silence was awkward was a understatement. Aesa tapped a small tick tacking beat on the table as I twaddled my talons. Rarity broke first. "Honestly Twilight, what is taking you so long?" She called up after the lavender mare. "Huh? Oh, I got caught up trying to figure out the symbols on the side of their instruments," the missing mare said, poking her head around the corner. She trotted in quickly, our missing items held firmly in her magic's grasp. "It's an ancient griffon language. You could've just asked," Aesa huffed. "Alright, what do they mean then?" "The first set is the creators personal glyph. Sven's guitar was made by a woodsmith from the long dead OakShaper clan. They were masters of their trade. My lyre was carved by Sven's tutor, Skjor. The second set is the principles of the skald that most affect the instrument. You'll notice that Sven's set and mine differ since the instruments are usually played in different ways." I was rather pleased with how well Aesa had retained all that. When we covered that, it had been an active day for us. "Fascinating," Twilight said, looking over the instruments in a new light. "Each piece is hoof-carved and then fit to the others in the instrument. Each is unique." "As is each skald," I spoke up. The mare handed over the bags, wing-blades, and instruments. Aesa rooted through them, nodding that everything was still there. Donning the harness and slotting the instruments into it, we made ready to leave the madhouse. As Aesa put the wing-blades back in their rightful bad, Rainbow looked over my burden. "Does the added weight make it harder to fly? It looks like it might screw with your aerodynamics." "I've grown used to it. I've carried these since I was a young chick. Good for the heat, mind, and wings." The mare nodded, her curiosity satisfied. As she trotted away, glanced over her. Shuffling over to Aesa, I poked her to get her attention. "Bet you that Rainbow would give you a run for your money, just look at that flank," I needled playfully. "Sven, if we weren't surrounded by crazies and if you didn't have my lyre on you, I'd beat the crap out of you for that." "Pft, you can certainly try later," I chuckled, flicking my tail. She caught it in her beak and gave it a hard tug. I sat down, hard. "Don't tempt me Sven, you might just regret it," she said getting close. "Feisty," I mumbled. I glanced at the other mares who seemed to be staring. "We'll finish this later." Spike saw us out the door. When it closed, you could just hear the sound of hushed whispers from the other side leaked through. Although the night was still young, Aesa and I decided to retire to the nest. Setting up camping I the same field we had been in the previous night, we quickly finished the discussion we had started in the tree-library. A small yellow frame watched the campsite. She had been curious where the griffons were staying. She didn't want them to eat any of her friends after all. Glancing back toward the campsite, she promptly slapped her hooves to her eyes. "Oh my," she said quietly, shooting away in the night with a bright blush.