//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: On the Subject of Griffins // Story: Talons of the Storm // by Storm Talon //------------------------------// Talon woke to a slight knock on the doorway to his room. That dream was... weird. He wasn't sure what to make of it at all. His thoughts were interrupted by a pale pony poking her head around the divide between the room and the hall. “Hi there. I'm Nurse Redheart. You must be Talon, is that right?” “Yes.” He responded as he hurried to sit up. “Name Talon.” “My, I'd give anything to see the look on Twilight's face when she hears you talk like that,” the mare muttered to herself, before glancing back up to Talon with a soft smile. “Well, it's nice to meet you. I have your breakfast, some oats and juice with a few baked crickets on the side. From what I hear, you should enjoy them.” As it turned out, she was correct. She could almost swear the crickets were jumping into his mouth by themselves, he was eating them so fast. After he had finished, Redheart took his tray with a practiced motion before turning back to him on her way out of the room. “I believe Fluttershy wanted to visit with you this morning. We're also going to take a look at your legs today to see if either of your casts can come off yet, but that will be later.” As the nurse trotted out the doorway, Talon laid his neck down with a contented sigh. He was starting to like this place if for no other reason than that the food was so much better than the food he normally got. Fluttershy, once finished with her usual morning routine, was surprised when Angel insisted on coming with her. Grabbing something quick for breakfast for each of them, she headed out toward the hospital once more. She hadn't gotten very far, however, before Twilight caught up with her. Twilight for her part seemed even more flustered than usual. “Fluttershy, I need to come with you to the hospital.” “Oh that's fine Twilight, I'm sure Talon would be happy to see you again.” Angel simply huffed and crossed his arms, completely at odds with Fluttershy's demeanor. “No Fluttershy, I mean they won't let anypony in to see Talon unless I'm there.” Fluttershy stopped, wondering what might have changed to warrant such a thing. “He's not getting worse, is he?” “No, nothing like that,” Twilight rapidly replied, causing Fluttershy to visibly sag with relief. “No, it's... well, I got a letter from Princess Luna this morning. She's sending some guards to make sure nopony else goes to see Talon unless I vouch for them.” “Not even us?” Fluttershy whispered, trying to think of why Luna would keep her friends out of the hospital. Twilight fervently shook her head. “Nonono, that's not what I meant at all. You girls will still be able to see him, it's just that I wanted to see if I could figure out what's going on that prompted this. I have no idea how she found out about Talon or why she reacted by sending guards to isolate him. I have to go and sign for the nurses so they can get back to treating him.” “They're... not letting the nurses see him?” “Outside of an emergency, the only ones with clearance to see him already are me, you girls, and his doctor. She didn't even include Spike or Starlight. That reminds me, I have to add them to the approved list. I'm sure Luna knows what she's doing, but why...” Twilight trailed off, walking alongside Fluttershy as she got lost in her own thoughts. Griffonia, high kingship of the kingdom of the griffons, was generally a pretty nice place to live. Even some non-griffons chose to emigrate there, though not as many as went to Zebrican or Saddle Arabian lands. Other griffon lands had more immigrants, but that was understandable given how most of the other kingships were closer to places where ponies were likely to come from. Griffonia's only immediate neighbors were Griffony to the south and the Drakovich Republic to the East. They had won their high kingship fairly from kingdoms as large as Flittaly and Poultrand as well as kingdoms as small as Flierland and Griffinstone. Their economy was strong due to their access to many natural and magical resources, and they were well defended between their status as a peninsula and the warriors who valiantly defended their lands. However, the kingdom of Griffonia had its fair share of problems. Should you listen to a certain gray griffon named Gunnar, who was currently a high ranking member of the Storm clan and an ambassador to Equestria from Griffonia, all of the problems could be traced back to a few issues. Namely, banditry, assassins, and slave trade. This was one of the reasons he had been chosen as an ambassador; while their culture of war and honor often clashed with Equestrian ideals, he more or less agreed with them on the fact that these matters were a problem. Tonight, somepony was listening to Gunnar, unfortunately for her. While she agreed that his intentions were good, she did not have her sister's experience with politics, especially in the modern age. That may be why the griffons had scheduled a meeting during her evening court session rather than try to meet with Celestia; they disliked political dishonesty as much as she did.. As flattering as that was, she had hoped that he would not take an entire half-hour block. In a way, her hopes were validated; he did not take a half-hour block. He had instead scheduled an hour-long block, and was currently approaching the 50 minute mark of his impassioned speech. “And in conclusion,” he stated, causing Luna to mentally perk up, “I believe it would be of benefit to both of our kingdoms if we were to open international negotiations regarding the handling of smuggling and black market deals.” Luna had to admit, his energy had not diminished since he had started. “I believe that would be quite beneficial, Ambassador Gunnar,” Luna replied. “However, we are nearly out of time for tonight, and we shall need even more time to go over the specifics of any such agreement. If you would see our court clerk, Time Table, he will assist you in finding a time for such a meeting that suits you.” Turning to Time Table himself, she added, “Time, see if you can give him a good spot. Personally, I would like to make it a higher priority, but we seem to be quite busy with those recently.” “Very well, your highness,” said the stoic unicorn as he levitated out his quill and appointment book. “Sir Gunnar, would you be available to go to a meeting a week from now? The Princesses are having a meeting in Ponyville, and you should be able to see them afterward at Princess Twilight's castle.” “That works quite well, thank you. Courier Rok, please note that on our own schedule as well.” Talon was dozing when the doctor came into the room, followed by two strange ponies. The first, a dark gray mare, had cat-like eyes and bat wings. She was wearing a set of dark blue armor, and was sporting a small smirk. Her companion was... sparkly. And green. He kind of hurt to look at, to be honest, but Talon could make out the clear blue armor he wore and unicorn horn on his head. “First that purple pony with wings and a horn, and now this. How many kinds of ponies are there that I don't know about? Next there'll be some sort of ponies with fins or bug wings or something.” Talon thought, surprised that he was being visited by these ponies instead of Fluttershy. “I must ask, what prompted the Princesses to send guards here? We've had no problems involving Talon as of yet...” Doctor Oath trailed off. “Aside from his health, obviously.” “We don't really know why they wants us to guard him, only that they do,” stated the mare, rolling her eyes. The stallion was quick to follow.“Yeah, doc, we don't really get all the details behind some assignments. You'd be better off asking Captain Shield Burst, he might know more. So where is the little colt, anyhow?” Doctor Hippocratic Oath valiantly kept his face stoic as he simply pointed to the bed upon which Talon rested. Talon started curl up a bit, uncomfortable with the scrutiny of the guards. His current state left him less than successful in doing so, however. The guards noticed him for the first time since entering the room, although only the mare showed her surprise at their charge who was decidedly not a pony. Just then, much to Talon's relief, Fluttershy peeked into the room. “Um, I'm not interrupting, am I?” she asked. “No ma'am, just establishing procedure with the doctor here.” The unicorn stepped a bit closer to her. “One moment ma'am, I need to cast a detection spell for security purposes.” As he said this, his horn lit up with a blue aura, and after a moment died back down. “All right, all good ma'am.” “Oh, um, why do you need to cast a detection spell?” “Well, ma'am, it's just a basic security precaution. I don't know what the princesses are expecting, but illusions are apparently within the realm of possibility.” The crystal pony seemed like he would have continued his explanation, were it not for the appearance of one particularly perturbed purple princess. “Alright, I think that's taken care of. Both nurses, Starlight, Mayor Mare, Spike, and Angel are all certified to visit, and the secretary knows how to get in touch with me if anypony else wants clearance.” As she entered, both guards bowed, though the night guard's bow was somewhat more reserved. After straightening from his bow, the unicorn stallion addressed Twilight. “Excuse me, your highness, but I still need to-” “Yes, go ahead and cast the detection spell,” Twilight harrumphed as her patience had already begun to wear thin. “After you're done, please stand in the hall so we can give Talon a little more room. Who is your commanding officer?” “Our CO is Captain Shield Burst, Princess,” stated the bat-like mare. “He's going to be working the night shift along with Radiant Dawn, so me and Emerald Cut can tell him you wanted to see him before we swap off.” “Thanks,” Twilight replied, breathing out a sigh of relief. “That would be a big help... eh... what did you say your name was?” “Day Break, Princess,” She answered. As Twilight's eyebrow shot up, she continued. “My parents had a bit of a sense of irony.” Chuckling a little, Twilight moved to allow the guards egress before going back into the room herself. She made a mental note to mention Day Break's helpfulness to her captain before sidling into one of the chairs at the side of the room, sitting beside Fluttershy. “Well, Princess, Fluttershy, he seems to be doing well. He should even be able to get the casts off his legs later today or early tomorrow, though he should avoid doing anything strenuous for a while yet. After he's out of those casts, we'd like to see about doing a deeper scan of his wing.” “Don't forget that we can start giving him a mite bath.” Nurse Redheart walked into the room as she spoke, glancing over to Talon in his bedraggled state. “He really does need it, even if we won't be able to wash out his wing for another week or so.” “A week?” shrieked Twilight, the room's other occupants wincing at the sudden sound. “But... Rainbow was only here for a few days, and she completely totaled her wing!” “True enough, Princess,” agreed the doctor as he readjusted his glasses on his snout. “She, however, was able to be treated with more magic than we really feel comfortable using on Talon.” “Oh. That makes more sense,” admitted Twilight, looking down and looking sheepish. After Redheart had made a few checks on Talon and the equipment surrounding him, she and the doctor both left the room to attend to their other duties. Once they'd left, Twilight didn't waste any time.“So... Talon. Is it alright if I ask you a few questions?” Talon, who had been staring at Angel while the ponies talked, turned slightly toward her and nodded slightly. “Great! Fluttershy says you remember being from Griffonia. Do you know why you were there?” She leaned forward a bit expectantly, her quill and parchment levitating beside her. Talon looked down before softly saying “Mom home.” Seeing his reaction, Twilight's enthusiasm slipped down a few notches. “Oh.” Awkward silence settled over the group for a few moments before she continued. “Are... are you okay talking about your mom, Talon?” His response was simple “Yes.” His demeanor, however didn't change at all. “Well...” Twilight looked over to Fluttershy, who seemed as lost as her, and Angel, who was frowning at her. “Alright. Was she... like you?” Fluttershy looked like she was about to interrupt that line of questioning, but Talon spoke up first. “No, not like. Griffon.” At that, Twilight and Fluttershy both widened their eyes as their pupils shrank in surprise. Twilight's focus jarred, her quill kept on attempting to write, but only succeeded in tearing straight through the parchment. Twilight didn't even notice this as her mind worked on overdrive to process what she had just heard. Interspecies romance was not too rare, but she'd never even heard of a griffin hybrid before. Of course, she conveyed this in the most well-reasoned, thought-out way she possibly could. “What?!”