Tales from the Griffin Empire
Tale of Two Apples
Apple Pie and Apple Bloom trot around the outskirts of the griffin capital. After a day seeing all the attractions in the city, the farmers wanted to see where the griffins’ food supply comes from. The earth ponies inspect some of the farms. After a short walk, the come upon the next farm. Out front, a well-dressed griffin with bodyguards is talking with a young couple.
‘You’re overdue on your payments,’ the well-dressed griffin says. ‘Right now, the only way to break even would be to sell your land.’
‘We just planted last week,’ the male farmer replies. ‘You can’t harvest in a week.’
‘You’ve been on this plot for months now. That is plenty of time to have grown something.’
‘The land here was crap!’ the female farmer argues. ‘We had to work all this time to make the land workable.’
‘That is not my problem.’ The fancy griffin sighs. ‘Listen, you’d make more selling to me than you would working the land. You’d have enough to establish yourself somewhere else.’
‘You son of a...’
The male farmer holds back his wife as the bodyguards shield their employer.
‘Listen, I am trying to be civil,’ the well-dressed griffin snorts. ‘I’ll give you some time to consider my offer, but I expect an answer by sundown.’
The griffin flies away with his guards. The farmer holds back his wife from throwing a rock.
Apple Bloom nudges her coltfriend. ‘Ya should totally help ‘em with yer powers.’
‘I don’t know...’ Apple Pie hems. ‘This doesn’t seem like any of our business...’
‘Apple Pie! Ah’m ashamed o’ ya! Yer the Element o’ Loyalty. Ya should be loyal t’ anypony in need, even if the pony is a griffin.’
The young stallion groans and trots over. ‘So, uh, can I be of any service?’
The female farmer glares at the pony. ‘Gonna give us a ton of money?’ she demands.
‘Sorry about her,’ the other farmer apologizes. ‘We’ve been a little on edge getting our farm off the ground.’
‘Then we’re the ponies t’ help ya!’ Apple Bloom states. ‘We run Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville.’
‘Isn’t Ponyville a hole in the ground?’ the female asks.
Apple Pie blocks Apple Bloom from attacking. ‘We did a lot of work to get our farm back to normal.’
‘That is pretty impressive. I’m Patrick. This is Risa. Nice to meet you,’ Pat greets.
‘Hi,’ Risa grunts. ‘You gonna give us money?’
Apple Pie rolls his eyes. ‘My name is Apple Pie. She is Apple Bloom. And...’
‘Money?’
The stallion growls and kicks the ground. A small quake causes a line of disturbed dirt to shoot towards Risa. She flies up in shock, but a flower appears where she was standing.
Apple Pie smirks. ‘And I can do that.’
The griffins stare at the flower then look at the stallion. ‘You’re hired!’
By the late afternoon, Apple Pie and Apple Bloom have helped Patrick and Risa with their farm. The stallion uses his powers to work the field and cause their plants to sprout. The mare gives the farmers cultivation tips and techniques. Shadows pass overhead as the well-dressed griffin returns. He looks at the operation disdainfully.
‘Have you considered my offer?’
Risa glares at the griffin. ‘You can take offer and shove it up your cloaca’
‘Technically, you don’t have cloaca since that would be in the lion half of our body,’ Apple Pie corrects. ‘Though rectum would apply regardless of eagle or lion half.’ Everyone gives the stallion a confused or disgusted look. ‘What? That is the scientifically accurate terminology.’
The well-dressed griffin rolls his eyes and takes a piece of paper from a pocket. ‘Unfortunately, the bank agrees with me. If you are not going to sign to me, I have been authorized to buy your land and your debt. Since you are not selling directly to me, that leaves you with little more than you have now.’
‘Why, you dirty bastard!’ Risa yells, leaping the other griffin.
The guards move to protect their boss. Apple Pie kicks the ground. A soil wall blocks the griffins from fighting.
‘If I may intervene?’ the stallion says.
‘You already have,’ the fancy griffin grumbles.
Apple Pie takes a breath. ‘I am going to have to thank my sister for dragging me to the library last night… Anyway! According to griffin law, land claims cannot be completed until after harvest of any sprouted plants.’
‘Court rulings have stated that you need more than budded sprouts to remain on the land.’
‘Very well, but...’ The stallion slides his forelegs across the ground. All around the edge of the farm, trees shoot out of the ground. ‘As you can see, they have a whole apple orchard to attend too.’ He looks at the trees. ‘Unfortunately for your plans, the trees are a little young, but well within the guidelines, so it might be a few years before their first harvest. Come back then.’
The well-dressed griffin growls and flares his wings. ‘You haven’t heard the last of me!’
The griffin and his cohorts fly away. The ponies and farmers cheer.
‘Thank you so much,’ Pat says, shaking Apple Pie’s hoof.
‘Great job, Mr Pie,’ Risa adds.
The stallion laughs sheepishly. ‘I’m just a pony, you know.’
Razzly’s Story
Razzly quietly eats breakfast with Alba and Trixie in the griffin castle. Alba finishes and gets up.
‘I’m going to the library,’ the princess says. ‘Wanna come, Razzly?’
The unicorn nods and starts getting up.
Trixie frowns. ‘The library again? This is three days in a row.’
‘There are a lot of books! I have barely started on the non-pony section back home so this is a great time to see their side of history.’
‘That is good, but do you think your friend really wants to spend another day looking at books?’
‘It is okay, Tr-’ Razzly begins.
‘You’re right, Trixie,’ Alba interrupts. ‘Razzly should do what she wants, not what I want.’ She smiles. ‘Have fun!’
Alba trots off before Razzly can reply. The unicorn sighs and looks at the remains of her meal.
Trixie turns to the younger unicorn, smiling. ‘So, what do you want to do today?’
In the city, Trixie trots alongside Razzly as the filly ponders what to do. They pass by a shopping district. Razzly stops and looks back.
‘Miss Trixie, are you pondering what I am pondering?’
‘Try to take over the world?’ Trixie sighs. ‘I’ve looked into it. It is a lot harder than you think.’
‘No, silly,’ Razzly laughs. ‘Why don’t we make a bunch of desserts for everypony? It would be a great way to thank the emperor for letting us visit.’
Trixie smiles. ‘I am sure he would appreciate it.’ Her mobile rings. ‘Oh. Give me a moment. I have to take this.’
‘I’ll start looking for ingredients.’
‘Be safe.’ She levitates her mobile to her ear. ‘Lyra? What’s the good news?’
Razzly nods and gallops back to the shopping district. She starts looking in the shops for potential ingredients. After checking one shop, she accidentally runs into a griffin.
Razzly looks away, scared. ‘Sorry. I should have been paying more attention.’
The griffin stares down at her.
‘Well, uh, excuse me!’
Razzly gallops to the next shop. The griffin motions to some friends, and they start following the pony. After a couple stops, they stop her as she leaves a shop.
‘Where are you going in such a hurry?’ the lead griffin asks.
‘I, uh, am making a gift for my friends. I need to find ingredients for baking.’
‘Oh! Why didn’t you say so? The baking supply shop is right over there.’ He points.
‘Thank you,’ Razzly whispers as she tries to slip past.
‘Where are you going? Don’t you want our help?’
‘N-no th-thanks. I-I-I n-need t-to find...’
‘No need to be scared, little filly. We’re very nice griffins.’
‘Wh-who d-d-do y-you th-think I-I-I am?’
The griffin smirks. ‘I think you are one of those special ponies visiting and would fetch a high price for your safety.’
The griffin reaches for Razzly. Before she can scream, a bolt of magic catches the griffin in the chest. The others look to see Trixie charging another spell on her horn. Razzly scrambles to her protector.
‘Anypony else want a piece of this?’ Trixie growls.
The griffins pick up their leader and fly away.
Trixie looks down at Razzly, frowning. ‘You should have waited for me.’
Razzly looks up, tears in her eyes. She grabs Trixie in a hug and sobs. ‘Please don’t be mad at me! I didn’t mean to run so far away! I only wanted to find ingredients to make treats for everypony!’ She looks up again and forces back a sob. ‘Don’t hate me… mommy...’
Trixie sighs and hugs Razzly. ‘I don’t hate you. Nopony could ever hate you. I am just upset because you really worried me.’ She laughs slightly. ‘You called me “mommy” by accident.’
‘I did? I’m sorry...’
‘It is okay, dear. It is very sweet that you think of me that way.’ She levitates the filly to her back. ‘Now, let’s get shopping. And if we see anymore scary things, just hug me and I’ll protect you.’
Razzly smiles and hugs Trixie. ‘You’re better than… You’d make a great mommy, Miss Trixie.’
Trixie laughs again. ‘You don’t have to keep calling us by a title. We’re your friends.’
‘Right. Sorry, Trix-my.’
Trixie laughs to herself and shakes her head. She trots off with her passenger, ready for some shopping.
A Touch of Kindness
Helios trots through the griffin capital. The prince feels as though he is being watched, and not just by all the griffins on the street. He hides his uneasiness by window shopping for gifts. The young stallion stops in front of a shop and looks impressed.
Helios enters a music shop. He looks at all the griffin instruments. The shopkeeper watches his patron. The prince notices an instrument above the counter and approaches, awestruck.
‘You like that?’ the shopkeeper asks. ‘It is an antique griffin sitar. It is over two hundred years old.’
‘It is very impressive,’ Helios comments. ‘Can I see it?’
The griffin brings down the instrument. ‘Careful. It is very delicate. It is not designed to be played by pony hooves or magic.’
Helios examines the sitar. ‘That is okay. My fillyfriend is a musician. I think she would love having a piece like this in her collection.’ He looks up. ‘Is it authentic?’
The griffin nods. ‘It is truly an antique. I’ve had it checked with independent appraisers who would be willing to certify their assessments.’
‘That is good enough for me.’ The prince gets out his mobile. ‘If I give you an address, can you ship it to Canterlot for me?’
‘Of course,’ the shopkeeper replies. ‘Let me take it to the back to wrap it.’
Helios smiles. ‘Take your time.’
The shopkeeper takes the sitar to the back of the shop.
‘Krille will love that.’
‘If she doesn’t break it right away,’ Octavia comments, stepping out of a shadow.
‘Oh, she is careful. She would take great care before she would even attempt to play it.’ The prince smiles at the assassin. ‘She aims to be a better musician than you.’
‘She has competition.’
Helios gives Octavia a questioning look before turning away. The ponies stand in silence for a moment.
‘Anypony else besides you following me?’ Helios asks.
Octavia pauses for several seconds. ‘No. It is safe out there.’
The prince rolls his eyes. ‘At least you are proving you are definitely not the Element of Honesty.’
‘Of course I am not,’ the shopkeeper says, returning with some paperwork. ‘I am a griffin, not a pony, after all.’
‘No, I meant...’ Helios looks around. He is the only one in the shop. ‘Never mind.’
After completing his purchase, Helios continues his shopping. He spends the next couple hours getting gifts for all his friends and family, including two of every interesting book: one for his sister, one for his cousin Sunset Shimmer. Once his shopping is complete, Helios is ready to relax. He sees a zoo and decides to check it out, wondering what sorts of creatures he will see.
The exhibits near the entrance feature common animals, local bears and large cats. Some cages have animals from Zebra lands. The first exotic animal Helios sees is a large enclosure filled with parasprites. A group of young griffins make a game of matching similarly-colored parasprites. The prince laughs. An older griffin wearing safari gear and sporting scars on his face and wings comes over.
‘Prince Helios,’ the griffin greets. ‘You should have told us you were coming. We would have prepared a special tour.’
‘There is no need to treat me special,’ the prince replies. ‘I prefer a more unrehearsed response.’
The warden laughs. ‘Well, at least allow me to accompany you on the rest of your visit. I can give you the inside scoop.’
Helios nods and continues his tour. He and the warden come to a large enclosure containing a forest. Glowing red eyes stare out at the visitors. A pair of timberwolves rush the bars, snarling, before turning back and returning to hiding. The griffins gasp in awe and exhilaration at the scare.
Helios frowns. ‘It is a little dangerous keeping timberwolves in captivity. What if one runs into the bars and enough of its pieces end up outside, allowing it to reconstitute out of the cage?’
The warden shakes his head. ‘There is no risk of that. The bars are electrified, and we have a force field to catch anything passing either direction.’
‘A force field? Really?’
‘It may not be magical in nature, but it still gets the job done.’ The griffin moves on. ‘Come. There is more to see.’
They stop by a case with cockatrices flying about.
‘Is it safe caging them like this? What if they lock their gaze on a guest?’ Helios asks.
‘Mirrored surface on their side. All they see is a pretty lizard-bird thing on their side.’
The prince gives the cockatrices one last look before moving on. He stops at a seemingly empty cage.
‘Out for repairs?’
The warden smiles. ‘Actually, this is our prize exhibit. Come see.’
The griffin nears the cage. There is a loud hiss as a changeling rushes the bars before being repulsed by a force field. The changeling falls back and watches the shocked pony and smug griffin.
‘What the hell!’ Helios gapes. ‘You are keeping an intelligent creature captive!’
‘Oh, please. Changelings are no more intelligent than the timberwolves we saw.’
‘They can speak and have societies!’
‘Bees have societies, and parrots can mimic speech. That doesn’t make them intelligent.’
Helios goes to the cage. ‘That’s horrible. He looks malnourished.’
‘That is the safest way to contain it.’ The warden approaches and stares smugly at the changeling. ‘Keep it fed enough so it doesn’t get sick, and never show it any positive emotions. Keeps it alive but without enough energy to change. There is no better way to control these monsters other than extermination.’
‘They are not monsters...’ Helios reaches out but is blocked by the force field. ‘I am so sorry.’
The changeling slowly approaches, sniffs the prince then leaps back, hissing.
‘Hmpf,’ the warden snorts. ‘I can see what you are trying to do, but the creature is too primitive to understand. Come. We have much more to see.’
‘I think I have seen enough,’ Helios mutters, spreading his wings. He looks into the cage. ‘I will be back.’
The prince flies away, disgusted.
Rainbow’s Day Out
Rainbow yawns as she wakes up. She looks out the window at a beautiful day in the Griffin Empire. The pegasus immediately rolls over and falls back to sleep. Raindrops looks into the room. She sees the sleeping young mare and sighs. She trots to the bed and nudges her friend.
‘Rainbow. Time to get up.’
Rainbow grumbles and covers her head with a pillow.
‘Rainbow! Get up!’
The young pegasus groans and sits up. ‘Time for dessert?’
Raindrops shakes her head. ‘Rainbow, it is morning.’
Rainbow flops over. ‘Wake me when it is time for dessert.’
‘You can have all the dessert you want if you get up.’
The young mare thinks. ‘My gut says this is a trick, but my gut is also hungry.’
‘If you get up and follow me, I’ll show you how to get all the dessert you can eat.’
Rainbow ponders the offer then slowly pulls herself out of bed.
‘Excellent!’ Raindrops cheers. She gets out a brush. ‘First thing you have to do is brush your coat and mane’
Rainbow moans when she realizes the trick.
Rainbow putts around on a cloud, having been convinced by Raindrops to get out and see the new country. The older mare follows behind, making sure the younger pegasus actually does something.
The young mare mopes on her cloud as she flies around looking for something to do. She yawns out of boredom. She stops mid-yawn and her ears twitch. Rainbow flies to the source of the sound and sees a group of young griffins playing a game. They throw a ball around with their wings, talons and tail and trying to score goals in a pair of nets. A stereo blares music for everyone to hear. The pegasus flies down in the middle of the game. The griffins stare at the pony.
‘Hi!’ Rainbow greets. ‘Is that the new Synth Tech album?’
‘Good ears,’ a light grey griffin replies. ‘How’d you know?’
‘Oh, I’m a huge fan. I’d dump my sorta coltfriend to have Synth’s foals.’
The griffins laughs.
‘What’s so funny?’
‘Nothing. Just haven’t seen a diehard fan like you.’
‘Hmpf!’ Rainbow snorts. ‘I know everything about him. Ask me anything.’
The griffins huddle for a second. A tan female breaks out.
‘Um, what hoof does he use for..?’ she asks, blushing.
‘Right,’ the pegasus states.
The tan griffin turns redder. ‘How do you kn-?’
‘Well, when I do that, I use my left since my right side is my dominant side and I use that for browsing and the like,’ Rainbow replies. ‘If you watch carefully, you can tell that Synth’s dominant side is his left, though he is generally ambidextrous. I figure since I am a righty and use my left, then he uses his right since he is a lefty.’
The griffins stare in shock.
‘Though to be fair, my only other data point is from a couple years ago when I was visiting my big brother and his fillyfriend, and I caught him doing that. I didn’t think I would ever sleep again, but I had a big apple pie sandwich and that put me right to sleep.’ She pauses for a moment. ‘That was almost dirty since my brother is named Apple Pie.’
The griffins remain frozen.
Rainbow thinks. ‘Although, Synth could use his magic since he is a unicorn...’
The light grey griffin coughs to break the embarrassment. ‘Well, uh, would you like to join our game?’
‘I don’t know… I am the Iron Pony after all...’
The griffins surround Rainbow. Raindrops gets ready to leap from her perch in case things get violent.
‘I knew you looked familiar.’ ‘You’re an Iron Pony?’ ‘That is so cool!’ ‘Can I have your autograph?’
Rainbow laughs humbly. ‘How about I join you, but I’ll go easy so we can all have fun. Okay?’
The griffins nod and start explaining their game to their guest. Raindrops calms down, laughs and flies off.
A while later. The game in winding down, but Rainbow is still going. The griffins slowly stop playing.
Rainbow stops as well and frowns. ‘Sorry. Was I playing too hard?’
‘No way,’ the light grey griffin replies. ‘You weren’t. Totally not what we would expect from an Iron Pony.’
‘Yeah. I thought you would have pounded us into the ground,’ the tan griffin adds.
‘I didn’t want you to not have any fun...’ Rainbow pouts.
‘Can you at least show us one cool move?’
The other griffins voice their agreement.
Rainbow sighs and looks around. She spots the player with the ball. ‘You take a shot, but I’ll be the one making the goal in the opposite net.’
The griffin shrugs. He lines up his shot and whips the ball with his tail. Rainbow dashes to intercept the shot, headers the ball up, flies after it and delivers a powerful bicycle kick. The ball shoots into the goal and embeds itself in the ground. The young griffins stare in awe as the pegasus lands.
‘So, uh, sorry for ruining the game...’ Rainbow apologizes.
The griffins surround their new friend cheering.
‘That was amazing!’
‘Can you show us how to do that!’
‘I am so into you right now!’
Rainbow smiles and laughs, embarrassed. ‘Hey, uh, how about we try this game I know from Cloudsdale? It might be fun for us all.’
The griffins cheer in agreement. Rainbow spreads her wings and flies into the clouds with the griffins following.
Near sundown. A couple older griffins are looking for their children. They are wandering in a field, calling their names. Raindrops trots up.
‘Little trouble finding the young ones,’ the pegasus jokes.
‘You have kids of your own?’ one of the mothers asks.
‘Yeah, but I have worse than that to foalsit.’ Raindrops scans the clouds. ‘I think I can help.’ She clears her throat. ‘Rainbow. We have churros.’
There is a burst from overhead, and a rainbow streak shoots towards the pegasus. Raindrops calmly holds out the sugary treat. Rainbow comes to a halt instantly, staring at the snack. Overhead, the young griffins have to catch their fall as they are knocked from their perches. The parents round up their children.
‘Were you a good filly today?’ Raindrops asks.
‘Yes, Raindrops,’ Rainbow replies.
‘Did you have fun with your new friends?’
‘Yes!’
‘What do you say?’
Rainbow flies above her friend. ‘I had a lot of fun today!’ she shouts, waving. ‘I can’t wait until next time!’
The griffins wave back as they leave. Raindrops tosses the snack in the air. The other pegasus catches it in her mouth.
Raindrops laughs as she joins her friend in the air. ‘Let’s get back to the castle. I bet you want a nap before dinner.’
Rainbow smiles and nods, her mouth full of churro. The pegasi fly back to the castle together.
Alba’s Amazing Adventure
After spending the day researching the Griffin Empire, Alba trots out of the castle library, waving at the librarian. She levitates a couple books with her as she returns to her room. The filly princess smiles and greets all the guards and servants she passes. The griffins respond kindly to the friendly princess. Alba turns a corner, stops and frowns.
Down the hall, Morgan is barking orders at a group of griffin scientists. The unicorn continually berates them as she reads reports on her tablet.
‘Morgan! Hi!’ Alba calls to the other pony.
The unicorn looks back, rolls her eyes and turns away. She bats her hoof to shoo the princess away as she leaves. Alba narrows her eyes and growls but continues on to her room.
The princess smiles to herself as she enters her suite, excited to read the books she checked out. Before she can completely cross the threshold, a talon grabs her over her muzzle and pulls her aside. The door is slammed behind her. Alba uses a burst of magic to free herself. She turns to face her attacker, a spell ready on her horn.
‘Did you have to be so violent, princess?’ Shaun gripes, shaking the excess magic from his talon.
‘Shaun?!’ The magic surrounding Alba’s horn grows. ‘What are you doing here?’
The griffin smiles and poses gallantly. ‘I am here to rescue you.’ He drops his pose and grabs Alba’s hoof. ‘Seriously, call the others. My partners and I are getting you out of here.’
‘What are you talking about?’
Shaun looks into Alba’s eyes. ‘Alba, your life is in danger. Please come with me to save the Elements of Harmony.’
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Because the element of honesty totaly isn't a griffon