Papers, please.
“Papers, please.”
Rainbow Dash's eyes snapped back to the griffin sitting behind the low wooden desk. The customs officer met Rainbow's stare with her own stern glare, motioning the pegasus forward with a talon.
“It's your turn. Papers. Please.”
Stepping forward, Rainbow Dash suppressed the urge to snort and roll her eyes. The building was sparse, designed to be efficient, with minimal furnishings and only a few government posters on the walls all written in Griffish. This was probably why the griffin side of the border station was mostly empty; she was the only traveler at any rate.
Dipping a wing into her saddlebags, Rainbow pulled out her fresh Equestrian passport and dropped it on the desk. Picking it up, the griffin quickly leafed through it, shooting her a questioning glance.
“Empty. Not traveled much before?”
“I've been busy back home.” Rainbow shrugged, “You read the papers, right?”
The customs officer did not rise to the bait, instead moving into a series of questions.
“Destination?”
“Altenprow.”
“Purpose of visit?”
“Recreational.” Rainbow answered evenly, rattling off the responses that Princess Celestia had drilled into her head, “I'm going camping.”
To punctuate that response, she waved a hoof at the oversized saddlebags that rested on the ground next to her. The agent flicked her eyes to them, motioning to a pair of guards who began to search the contents.
The moments ticked by, punctuated only by the sounds of rummaging and the agent drumming her claws on the table. The guards eventually seemed satisfied with what they found and nodded back at the agent.
Her expression turned on a dime as she stamped Rainbow's passport and presented it back to her, a wide smile crossing her beak.
“Everything seems to be in order! Enjoy your stay in the High Confederation of Wings frau Dash. Currency exchange is to to the right on the way back to the train.”
- - - -
“Damn, it feels good to stretch my wings again!” Rainbow thought as she cut her way across the sky, her rainbow mane and tail whipping about in the chilly northern air.
Truthfully, she would have just flown to her destination from the beginning, rather than spend two days cooped up in a train. Unfortunately, the griffin were very picky and exacting about how creatures crossed their borders. But now she was free to fly wherever she pleased.
As she flew on though, her mind wandered back towards how she found herself in the North Griffin Confederation in the first place.
- - - -
Rainbow Dash forced her nervousness back down into the pit of her stomach as she wandered through the bowels of Canterlot's palace, following a looping set of directions that had been provided to her by Princess Celestia.
Being summoned by the Princess was nerve wracking enough, but wandering around in the depths of the castle? It sounded like the kind of thing that would be in one of those adventure books Twilight liked to read.
Pausing in front of a set of double doors marked with a golden circle, Rainbow took a deep breath and pushed them open. Her eyes grew wide at the combined ornate library and meeting room. Princess Celestia sat at the head of a massive circular table, patiently waiting for the element of loyalty.
“Princess?”
Celestia turned her warm gaze and equally warm smile towards Rainbow Dash, motioning to one of the spots at the desk.
“Please, make yourself comfortable. We have an important matter to discuss.”
Nodding, Rainbow lowered herself onto a full pillow. Her eyes caught the golden nameplate that was set on the portion of the table, clearly indicating that the spot was somehow tied to the High Confederation of Wings.
“What's this room, princess? It looks all official and stuff, but Twilight never mentioned it from her studies with you.”
“Back when I was training Twilight, there was no need for it. But the times do change. This,” Celestia motioned to the room around them with a hoof, “Is the headquarters and meeting room of the Golden Ring.”
“The what now?” Rainbow blinked.
Celestia smiled. “It's an organization of like minded rulers, creatures and adventurers....” She paused, glancing towards one of the paintings on the wall that depicted an older gray coated stallion with an hourglass cutie-mark, “Well, we are all dedicated to protecting the world from threats.”
“And that's what you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Well, in a way, I suppose. I wished to speak with you about your friend, Gilda.”
Rainbow failed to suppress a dismissive snort. “Ex-friend, more like it.”
“Hmm. Yes.” Celestia frowned slightly, “Which is what makes the request I'm about to make...awkward, to say the least.”
Rainbow blinked as she tilted her head in a questioning manner.
“What do you mean, princess?”
Celestia sighed, ruffling her wings.
“Gilda has served as an agent of mine in the High Confederation of Wings for many a year now. But, since the incident between you two in Ponyville, she has all but dropped out of contact.”
“And you think she's in trouble?” Rainbow blinked.
“In a manner of speaking, at least. Her own friends, have informed me that she seems to have fallen into a deep depression.”
Rainbow almost fell off her seat. The Gilda she knew had a stubborn streak a mile wide, and a fiery temper to match. The thought of her just laying in bed, doing nothing...
A soft cough from Celestia caught her attention again.
“And you want me...?”
“To go talk to her.” Celestia explained simply, “I can not ask you to forgive her actions, but I am hoping that perhaps you could talk her into action again, or failing that, get her to live her life again.”
Rainbow's head was swimming. This was a lot to take in. A large part of her didn't want to see that griffin again. But, the loyalty that had lead her to claim her element stirred in her heart. She was loyal to the princess and loyal to her friends. And Gilda, well....
“All right,” She nodded, “I'll do it princess. I'll try to shake Gilda out of her funk.”
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash.” Celestia beamed, “Now, here is what you need to do...”
The instructions that followed were clear. Rainbow would use camping as her cover, travel to the forest slightly to the east of Altenprow, and then meet up with Gilda's home grown group of friends. Then they'd loop back into town proper and Dash would speak with Gilda.
It was a little bit of cloak and dagger in nature for a simple conversation, but Celestia clearly laid out the reasons why she felt it was necessary. What Gilda was doing for the monarch of Equestria, as well intended for both nations as it was, was technically high treason under griffin law. And a direct and public visit by one of Equestria's heroes would certainly cast more suspicion her way.
A slight smile did cross Rainbow's muzzle as she left the office. Heading across the border, conducting almost spy work. It was an adventure, to say the least, like something out of those Daring Do novels Twilight always liked to blab on about.
“I just might have to give those a look.”
- - - -
Rainbow's bout of reminiscing was interrupted by the sudden sensation of her over-stuffed saddlebags shifting on her back. Glancing at them, she watched the straps slip down her sides some more their buckles loosened.
“Ugh.” She groaned, winging over into a slow spiral loop so that she could come into a landing and re-adjust her pack.
A vast coniferous forest stretched out below her hooves, the sea of green rapidly growing closer as Rainbow Dash adjusted her flight path to drop through a slight gap in the tree line.
Flaring her wings, she wove through the branches of the pine trees and landed just in time, the saddlebags having almost completely slipped off. Sighing and grabbing the strap in her teeth, she began to re-adjust it.
For a few minutes the sounds of leather being stretched, metal clanking, and Rainbow Dash grumbling through her teeth echoed through the clearing. She had just gotten things re-adjusted when she realized something.
It was deathly silent.
Rainbow Dash wasn't as attuned to nature as Fluttershy, but even she could pick up on just how wrong her surroundings were. She was used to hearing the sounds of nature around Ponyville. Birds, insects, small animals. Even the Everfree had a certain natural rhythm to it (weird though it was). But aside from the trees and herself, Rainbow Dash wasn't sure there was anything else alive in here.
Letting go of her bag straps, she straightened up, taking a fuller stock of her surroundings. It was obviously a very old forest. Some of the trees looked large enough that she was unsure that Princess Celestia would be able to wrap her forelegs around the trunk.
She was also surrounded by fog.
“Where the hay did this come from?” She frowned, quite sure that it hadn't been there when she had first landed.
Frowning, she crouched down, lashing out with a powerful buck to disperse the offending fog. It melting away at her strike, Rainbow Dash was greeted by green moss growing over bleached white bone, accented by the red of rusty equipment.
The forest floor was strewn with skeletal bodies that had definitely not been there when she first landed. Rainbow wasn't well versed enough in history to identify them as anything other than “old”, but it was plain enough to see that the skeletons were a mix of ponies and griffins; the pony bodies out numbered the griffin ones by a great margin.
Gulping, Rainbow beat her wings, rising into the air to move away from the site of the ancient battlefield. The fog seemed to be growing thicker as she continued to rise, almost as if it was alive and responding to her attempt to get away.
The living nature of the fog triggered something in Rainbow's mind. A warning given by Celestia that had slipped her mind in the boredom of the train.
“Do not trespass through the forest immediately north of griffin border. The Teutonburg still bears scars from ages long past. More than history haunts that place.”
Something moved out of the corner of her eye. A dark blur of shadow that sent a chill down her spine. Swearing under her breath Rainbow threw caution to the wind, throwing extra power into her wings.
Bursting through the branches, she basked in the sunlight, as it pushed the unearthly chill from her bones. Falling back onto her original path, she shook the image of the bone yard from her head.
“What is with this country....”
That dark forest was far behind her by the time she set up camp on a small ridge that night. But as she bedded down before her fire, she couldn't shake the slight chill that ran down her spine.
- - - -
The next night, Rainbow was huddled down in front of a fire that she had built. A dull ache from flying all day pulsed through her wing muscles, and her stomach was rumbling, but she had reached her target destination.
It was a forest to the east of Altenprow. A much more normal forest, thankfully, with birds, small animals and all of the other proper foresty things that Fluttershy could talk about until Rainbow would want to fall asleep.
After building a camp site, she had caught a quick nap and was now eating a quick dinner. “When are these griffin going to show up anyway?” She muttered, wolfing down another carrot.
A rustle cut through the underbrush and the camp site, Rainbow's ears swiveling to catch the sound.
“Who's there?” She demanded, jumping to her hooves and taking on a defensive stance.
For a moment the small clearing remained silent, save for the soft crack and pop of the fire as it danced away. Then the silence was shattered as an explosion of movement erupted from the bushes. Rainbow beat her wings, throwing herself backwards as three griffin bounded into view.
The first two appeared to be siblings by Rainbow's guess. Large and well muscled, their reddish-brown feathers were contrasted by their black hindquarters. Their movements were full of a confident swagger as they strode into the clearing and sat down next to the fire.
They were followed by a griffin that reminded Rainbow Dash distinctly of Fluttershy. She was hanging back, her eyes fixated on the ground, her snow white feathers matching well with her yellow hindquarters. But she took a seat next to the fire all the same.
No one said anything for a moment, pony and griffins just staring at each other before the brothers exchanged glances and then looked to the white feathered griffin. Coughing, the older of the two elbowed her in the side.
“The phrase Whitewing. Ask her the pass phrase.”
“Oh! Right.” She grinned nervously, taking a deep breath, “What gift does the light bring?”
“The light brings assistance to all who are willing to ask.” Dash responded.
“See?” The older brother grinned, “I told you Agid. Celestia wouldn't leave her uninformed.”
Agid waved a talon at his brother, dismissing the jibe. “Hush, Adelulf. We should set to delivering our rainbow colored package.”
Rainbow Dash nodded, getting to her hooves and kicking dirt over the fire. “Lead on then.”
Setting back off through the forest they took a winding circuitous route , Agid and Adeluf leading the way, Whitewing walking alongside Rainbow Dash. Dash glanced from griffin to griffin as they walked along in silence, the tension in the air as thick as the fog she had seen before.
“So,” She finally interrupted a few minutes later, “I can't help but get the feeling that I'm not exactly welcome here.”
“Quiet.” Agid hissed, “We aren't sure if we were followed here or not.”
Frowning, Dash turned her own gaze towards the tall black shadows of trees that surrounded them. Even with the aid of the moonlight shining down from above, picking out anything from the collection of black blobs that was the forest was basically impossible.
After walking for what felt like quite a while to Rainbow Dash, motes of light became visible in the distance. As they approached, they became more vivid, and the tree line began to thin out ; the wilderness falling away as the hallmarks of civilization became more prevalent.
“Frau Rainbow Dash,” Adeluf drawled, waving a talon at the city before them, “Welcome to Altenprow.”
Altenprow was larger than Ponyville, a proper city for thousands of griffin to live and work in. Set atop a ridge of rock that overlooked the nearby valleys, the city was arranged in a vertical manner; narrow winding streets that weaved between orderly stacks of buildings.
Like most cities in the High Confederation, it was heavily industrialized. Great black clouds of smoke rose from factory smokestacks scattered about the skyline. She could even make out an airship tethered to a tower on one of the upper levels.
The brothers continued to lead the way, entering the city via a street that was smaller and narrower than the others. A glorified alleyway, really.
“So,” She asked, “How is Gilda doing? Celestia said she was depressed?”
“Shhh!”
Dash frowned.
“So, how did you all meet?”
“Quiet!”
As they continued to move through the city, Dash felt her annoyance grow. They were just pulling her along, saying nothing, treating her like some kind of obligation. She had to guess that they were angry over what happened with Gilda themselves.
Rainbow was still lost in thought as they stepped out of the alley and onto one of the other streets of the city and continued to resolutely trot onwards, missing that her entourage had dropped back in the crowd.
“Well, well...I must say that I am surprised to see one of Equestria's heroes in our little city.” Came a deep, calm voice from directly in front of her.
Looking up, Dash found herself face to beak with a large, almost rotund looking, griffin. His tawny hindquarters coat was graying from age but his mottled black and white feathers were impeccably cleaned.
His expression was what really put Rainbow on edge, however. While a smile played across his beak, his amber eyes were devoid of warmth. Instead they drilled right into her, probing for any kind of weakness.
“Uhh...yes.” Rainbow blinked, “Who are you?”
“Ahh. Where are my manners. I am known as Horst, and I am in charge of security for Altenprow.” His smile grew wider, his glare all the more probing, “What brings you to my city?”
“Camping.” Rainbow responded, keeping her jaw set.
“In the middle of the town?”
“I wanted to come in and experience a real griffin town. Maybe look around, experience some authentic griffin cuisine.”
“Well, there are plenty of fine restaurants in our city. Allow me to escort you. It's only proper for a visiting dignitary.”
“Oh no, that's fine.” Rainbow smiled, “I'm a very independent pony. I'd like to go and find something myself.”
“Please.” He placed a claw on her back, “I insist. We wouldn't want you to get lost.”
Frowning, Rainbow Dash allowed herself to be lead away.
- - - -
“Und for you, frau?” The waiter griffin asked in his very thick accent.
“Ummm...”
Rainbow stared at the menu, trying to work out what the long strings of consonants and vowels actually meant with very limited success. Horst sat across form her at the table, having insisted on joining her for dinner; he hadn't eaten yet, or so he claimed. Frowning, she pointed at a random item.
“What's this? Schw...abischer...Kart...Kartoffelsat.”
“Schwabischer Kartoffelsalat.” The waiter finished for her, rolling his eyes at Rainbow's butchered pronunciation, “It iz a warm potato salad served vith mustard.”
“And this?”
The waiter peeked at the item. “Brieschen. Those are sweetbreads.”
“Give me the salad and the sweetbreads then.”
As the waiter walked off, Dash scanned the rest of the restaurant. The place reminded her of the Cafe in Ponyville. A nice kind of working class restaurant, full of people enjoying a night where they didn't have to cook for themselves.
While most of the other patrons were griffin, she did notice a few ponies eating in one of the corners of the room. It was easy to forget that ponies lived in nations outside of Equestria as well.
Horst picked up on Rainbow Dash's observations, nodding towards the pony families.
“Surprised to see them?”
“Not really.” Rainbow lied as she tried to play it off, “Everycreature knows that ponies are like...everwhere.”
Horst shrugged. “Most visitors from Equestria are surprised that ponies would want to live in any country aside from the land of the pony sisters.”
Rainbow shrugged, falling back into silence. The uncomfortable tension hung in the air until the waiter returned, balancing a few dishes in his talons. She looked over what she had exactly ordered, raising an eyebrow at the little pink bits scattered through the potato salad.
“Is that...?”
“That would be bacon.”
Dash made a face, pushing the plate aside and instead grabbing one of the fried sweetbreads and popping it into her mouth.
She immediately regretted it.
The spike of salt and fat. The rancid taste that made the bile rise in the back of her throat. It wasn't bread, it was meat.
Spitting the mess out, she fired a glare at Horst that would have blasted him across the room if looks could kill. In a form of response, her host speared one of the sweetbreads on the end of a talon and popped it back like it was candy.
“You could have warned me.” Dash growled.
“My apologies. It slipped my mind. Tour guide really isn't my job. Besides, you come to our country and don't bother to know our customs?” He chuckled, wagging a talon as if she were a rebellious child, “You'll forgive me frau Dash, but that sounds just a tad bit arrogant.”
“So, what's the point of all this?”
“Why, I have no idea what you mean.”
“Come on. You're trying to make some kind of point, so why not just spit it out?”
Horst's arm lashed out, spearing a few more sweetbreads that were snapped down in quick order. His expression had lost it's false joviality; now his beak matched his intense amber eyes.
“It is my suggestion that you finish your camping, and then do us all a favor and just leave. While you Equestrians do believe your own propaganda about friendship being “magic”, we do things differently here. And we will handle our own affairs.”
Getting to his feet, he gave Rainbow a curt nod.
“Enjoy your meal. It's on the state for tonight. Consider it an expression of courtesy to a true Equestrian hero.”
She glared at him as he left, not taking his eyes from the griffin until he was completely out of sight. Once he was gone, she raised a hoof to flag down the waiter again.
“Can I get you anything elze frau Dash?”
“Is what he said about my dinner being covered by the state tonight true?”
“Yes.”
“Good!” Rainbow beamed, “Put every creature's dinner on my tab and bring me a mug of hard cider...and a plate of this potato salad without the bacon.”
- - - -
Thirty minutes later Dash strode confidently from the restaurant, her belly full of potato salad and booze.
“Best trip to the High Confederation of Wings ever.”
“Glad you're enjoying yourself.”
She glanced towards the voice, spying the annoyed form of Whitewings as she nervously tapped her talons against the street.
“You're supposed to be taking this seriously.” She whispered.
“Hey, I got to stick a really big tab to a jerk of a griffin! What's not to smile about that?”
“You're supposed to be here to help Gilda!”
“And if she was here, she'd think this was hilarious!”
Clacking her beak in frustration, Whitewings grabbed one of Dash's forelegs. “Come on. The others are back at the house already, we need to...”
A blood chilling scream cut through the night, making Whitewings shriek in shock and cower for a moment. Dash on the other hand, spread her wings and immediately flew towards the scream.
It wasn't a long flight. A large crowd had gathered on the next street, and as she grew closer, she could see what they were gathered about. One of the ponies from the restaurant was holding what Dash assumed was the body of his wife in his forelegs, sobbing.
She almost wanted to throw up again when she saw the body. The head had been removed, sliced off clearly at the neck. The wound seemed to have been burned shut as it was cut. She really wasn't sure if that made the situation better or worse, in all honesty. Whitewings squeaked in fear behind her, just as horrified at what she saw.
Rainbow was about to ask what could have caused that when an icy chill ran through the street. The lamp posts all flickered for a moment as a black shadow coalesced upon one of the nearby roofs.
From the neck down, the figure was a pony mare that seemed to be forged out of living shadow, clad in ancient Equestrian armor. The wings, covered in ceremonial wing blades, spoke to pegasus heritage. From the neck up, however, the figure was the headless unicorn laying on the street.
Dash could almost feel Whitewings trembling behind her, the griffin's voice was almost a squeak.
“T-t-the H-head-head-less H-horse!”
The Headless Horse snorted, pawing the tiles of the roof with a ghostly hoof.
“SEIGFRIED!” She shouted, voice echoing with the vocal tones of two different mares, “GIVE ME BACK MY LEGIONS!”
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Ooh, can't wait to see more. Always good to have a ghost story running around, especially one that doesn't look like it will go Scooby Doo on us. Sorry I didn't get the references; history is as much my bane as over-analytic English teachers.
So, you did manage to locate your flash drive, or you hardcore rewrote this, Cops & Robbers, and both chapters from Boast Bypassed, almost almost 20,000 words, from scratch, in less than 24 hours?
Aside that, I’ll see if I can hit you up tomorrow; I probably won’t finish Rockets & Rainbooms before I’m off on holiday, but I can at least give your Griffish the once over.
3742507
*chuckles* No worries Lab. I'll spell them out in the authors comments in the story in one of these chapters. Probably after the in universe historical events as touched upon some more.
Dang, I really enjoyed this first chapter. Is this still on-going, or is it on hiatus?
Perry curious to see how you write Gilda, because you have Dash down pat, and your OC griffons seem reasonably layered. World-building on Griffon society seems to be coming along without stealing too much spotlight.
Nice!
3905077
It's still ongoing. I just kind of made an amateur mistake and started chasing too many story ideas at the same time.
I do fully intend to finish this, though, so worry not!
3905842
Well, no rush. I'd rather you write what you want and come back to this when it strikes your fancy.
It's an awesome start! Rainbow is in character and I'm glad for that can't wait for more keep up the great work!!
Well, one of the obvious historical references that I can see is that the High Confederation is basically this worlds version of late 19th early 20th century Germany. I'm not sure if I can spot any others though, maybe it's because it's 12:30 in the morning right now, I'm not sure. But I have a feeling that that cursed battlefield that Dash stumbled upon might be a reference to something. I don't know, I'm just guessing at this point, guess I'll find out tomorrow when I finish the rest of the story.
Cheers.
Say it like it is! They're U.N.I.T! (Also known as the UNified Intelligence Taskforce) Or Torchwood! If we don't get to see Doctor Whooves in this story, I'm going to be very upset at you!