The fields held no grass nor any plants, except for a few trees that had few leaves on their branches. The cliffs, the rocky formations that strutted and rose from the ground—they casted long, dark shadows on the ground. A modest dirt path carved its way through the mountainous cliffs that still had a few trees and bushes. On the flat, stony surface, the dirt path went on, stopping at the entrance to a small village.
The village itself had two neat rows of brick houses that looked the same. The windows were tall and exuded a dark sense. However, the ponies that walked around the place had smiles on their faces.
Blue Alarm and Humerus leaned on the walls. Blue Alarm looked around the house. Then, he went back to where he was.
"Nice and peaceful town," Blue Alarm said. "Happy and cheerful ponies just like in Ponyville. Although the environment is not the ideal location for a town, or any kind of settlement at all."
Humerus looked around the house. He licked his lips. "Maybe the pastries here are better than in Ponyville!"
Blue Alarm looked around the house again.
Ahead, there was a somewhat pink pony behind a brown, wooden table. On the table, there were various sweets—pies, cakes, muffins, and minicakes. With her magic, she levitated a plate of sliced pie to the pony in front of her.
"You wouldn't want to crash the moment, would you, Humerus?"
Humerus flew off.
Blue Alarm kept an eye on the runaway changeling.
The green changeling happily dropped a small bag onto the table.
The unicorn behind the table grinned, sweating a little on her face with her curly mane. "Hi, changeling! We've never had a changeling in this town before!"
Humerus went up the table, not standing on any of the food there. "How much is the chocolate bread?!"
She looked up and stared at the towering creature that smiled upon her. "You might step on the baked goods!"
"I'm a dextrous changeling!" He held a hoof to his face. "I'm an expert at not stepping on pies!"
A crowd was gathering around the two.
"Don't do anything to her or her food!" a pony yelled, having a light blue coat and curly mane. Then, he placed a hoof onto his chin. "Because, uh, that's not the nice thing to do! Or the decent thing!"
The unicorn glared at the pony. "Thanks for helping, Party Favor."
"At least I helped, Sugar Belle!"
She rolled her eyes.
Humerus pushed the small bag towards her.
"Look," a very white pony spoke. "He just wants to get some of your treats."
Sugar Belle slammed the table with her front hooves. "Who asks for treats like that?!" She pointed a direct hoof at the changeling standing on the table. The changeling was still smiling.
"Just give him what he wants!" another pony cried out from the crowd.
Sugar Belle quickly prepared Humerus a glowiing plate of a glowing loaf of brown, soft chocolate bread. She levitated the bag and placed it hastily into her side bag.
There was a laugh from her. Sugar Belle nervously laughed at the changeling as he munched on the bread while still standing on the table. The chewing was noisy, loud. The crumbs fell to the table and to the other sweets there.
"OK, mister changeling," Party Favor said as he walked up to Humerus, "I'm sorry we got off on the wrong hoof. Uh, would you want to stay here for a while and celebrate...uh, something?" He grinned.
"The houses are boring," Humerus blurted out.
Party Favor eyed him. Then, he turned to the houses. "It's a long story."
A dark blue pegasus flew up to him. "So, what's your name? Do you have a name?"
"I'm the funny guy, because I'm Humerus!" He smiled and lifted his front hooves in excitement.
Sugar Belle sighed. "Looks like we're going to have a long day."
Blue Alarm stood on one of the brown roofs. He viewed all that happened before him on the ground.
Humerus was dancing crazily while the other ponies that were dancing slowly stopped as they looked at him. The music went on from the speakers.
Blue Alarm sighed. "Humerus," he said, "this is not how to represent changelings. We're supposed to be friendly creatures, not creatures who dance around and probably cause disasters left and right in the process."
"What kind of dance is that?" a pony loudly asked.
Blue Alarm sighed again. "The ponies here can tolerate Humerus for this long. How much longer?"
He turned his gaze to another place. At the front of the town, there was a lonely mailbox. It stood there.
The griffon flew and dashed, avoiding the trees with their precarious branches and leaves. The wind rushed by her, creating around her a sound of rustling through the open air. She turned to the left, she drifted her way to the right. Now, there were less trees, less obstacles. The ground was now less grassy and more rocky, less green and more gray.
"It's near, it's near!" she shouted.
Then, past the last few trees of the cliff, she saw the town on the ground.
She stopped and flapped her wings, hovering high above the surface. "That's a quaint little town! I wonder why Gilda would want to send a letter there!" She shrugged with her claws. "Oh, well. No time to waste and let's get going!"
She flew towards the town. The wind was rushing by her again.
Blue Alarm's ears perked up.
He looked up.
A creature was heading towards the town.
"No, the wings are too wide for a pegasus, too fast for an alicorn on a royal job." He glanced at the dancing Humerus and looked back at the speeding creature. "Griffon?" He nodded. "Guess so, it's a griffon."
He observed the gray-blue griffon from afar.
She landed right in front of the only mailbox there. She placed the letter inside. She raised the flag on the mailbox. The griffon then looked at the dancing going on in town.
"Are you going to dance with him?" Blue Alarm said. "Chances are, maybe. Griffons are a rude bunch, but this griffon seems to be an exception."
Then, the griffon flew to the crowd and hovered over the several ponies just watching Humerus stumble onto a speaker.
The music then stopped.
"That was very great dancing! I've never seen such an exotic style of dance before!" The griffon held her claws while she smiled happily at the changeling.
Blue Alarm sighed another time. "The griffon was one of the few exceptions, then."
"A griffon, and a changeling at the same time?" the white pony said. "This day's just getting weirder and weirder!"
"And cooler!" Party Favor yelled. "Double Diamond, you know what this means?"
Double Diamond opened his mouth.
"To be honest, I don't know what this means," Party Favor interrupted. He looked at the griffon. "So, what are you doing here?"
The griffon gasped for air. "I'm Gabriella, but you can call me Gabby because I wanna be friends with you and my friends call me Gabby and not Gabriella, and as you can see, I'm a griffon, and my bag contains mail and packages to send to griffons and to others Equestria-wide!" She grabbed a pony and hugged. "It's so nice to see you! I'm just wondering why you have a town in the middle of the desert!"
"It's not a desert," Sugar Belle said from her place in the crowd. "Also, you're speaking way too fast." She looked at the mailbox and then back at Gabby. "Wait, you deliver mail?"
As tiny cardboard boxes were closed and stacked on top of each other, the scent of sweet sugar filled the air. Humerus, Gabby, and a few other ponies there were chatting, sometimes laughing as they stood in front of one of the houses. There were no lights turned on, for everypony was outside.
Blue Alarm saw all that was around the town.
Then, he flew down and landed on the rocky soil.
There was a gasp. "Another changeling?!"
Gabby flew up to him. "Aww, Humerus, I didn't know that you brought a friend!"
Humerus covered his mouth with a hoof. "Oops!" He grinned at his friend. "I'm sorry, Blue Alarm! I must've forgotten you."
Blue Alarm rolled his eyes as he walked towards him.
Gabby rushed and stood right in front of him. "Your changeling friend told me all about you! You must be so cool!"
Blue Alarm looked at Humerus.
Humerus shrugged, still smiling. The ponies around him pointed their hooves at him, some of them smiling, too.
The music still blared on from the speakers around the town.
"You told me that you can deduce things and induce things!" Gabby went on.
Blue Alarm sighed then placed on a smile. "It's called deduction and induction...Gabby. Although, I'm not as good as Humerus makes me out to be." He glanced at him.
Humerus waved a shy hoof at him.
"I'm just a changeling trained in the art of observing. From there, I can guess, with good reason, about what they're doing, where they're going. To be honest, I'm on the decline about that but—"
Gabby gasped. "Decline?! I'd love to see you observe a couple of things before you decline any further!" Then, she grabbed Blue Alarm by the neck and brought him up to her head. Then, she turned him around. "Now, what do you see?"
Blue Alarm sighed again. "That's not what I mean by observing!"
Many of the ponies there looked at the held-up changeling and laughed at the sight of him.
Blue Alarm wore a grin. He turned towards Gabby who was happily smiling at the many ponies around as she held him up. "Speaking of observing, you seem to be quite distracted by what's going on around you for a mailgriffon."
"Nah! I don't mind!"
Blue Alarm narrowed an eye at her. "I guess mail is a different sort of thing for you griffons."
Gabby placed him down. "Eh, nothing too important is passed around back in Griffonstone. But, at least I'm helping others along the way, even if they slam their doors in front of my face!" Her grin grew wider.
"Optimistic," Blue Alarm whispered as he walked away from the jolly mailgriffon.
Many ponies danced and talked while the music kept going. Humerus and Gabby had also joined in the party.
Blue Alarm stood in front of one of the houses.
"Uh, sorry, but the house is not for sale," Party Favor said, standing beside the changeling on the same rocky, somewhat dusty ground.
"I'm not looking to buy a house, Party Favor," Blue Alarm replied.
Party Favor took a step back. "How did you know my name?!"
"I just listen." Blue Alarm looked at the pony. "Sometimes, I listen out of sight." He turned his gaze back to the house. "Concerning the houses here, they seem to not have much during the day. Or during the night, for that matter. I've seen your activity today and I've read some newspapers about what goes on in this town, in...well, we don't even have an official name for it, yet. Some call it 'Our Town,' others call it 'Starlight's Village,' which is quite inappropriate considering she isn't here anymore—unless it is still named that to give Starlight Glimmer a name here." He turned his gaze back to Party Favor. "I cannot guess completely correctly about what you do here, so I'd like to hear it all from you while I wait for Humerus to stop dancing around." Then, he stared at some of the sweets that were being placed into the cardboard boxes.
Party Favor had his mouth wide open, his eyes staring at the changeling. He shook his head. "Apologies for that, but I didn't expect you to introduce yourself like that. A-heh-heh." Then, he waved a hoof in front of Blue Alarm's eyes. "Hey, hello! It's rude to just do that!"
Blue Alarm blinked and looked back at Party Favor. "OK, where were we?"
Sugar Belle levitated yet another small box and placed it inside a sack.
Gabby dashed her way to the unicorn and placed another box inside the sack.
"What, I didn't—"
"But you didn't need to ask, anyway!" Gabby then grinned even bigger at the pony.
Sugar Belle smiled, too. "I appreciate the help." She noticed one more stack of boxes nearby. "Would you mind if you carry more of those boxes?"
Then, Gabby flew, grabbed several boxes with one claw, flew back, held the sack with another claw, and slowed down to gently yet quickly place the boxes inside.
"Wow, that was really—"
Gabby flew again and grabbed the rest of the boxes and brought them into the sack. Then, she hung the sack on her bag. She landed on to the ground and looked at Sugar Belle. The griffon was still smiling at her.
"Uh, as I was saying—" she faced Gabby "—you were just helpful."
Gabby giggled through her grin. "Just like my cutie mark!"
Sugar Belle raised her eyebrows. "Your what?"
The griffon waved at the waving ponies then flew away.
The speakers were turned off.
Several ponies were going into their houses.
Many lights were turned on, brightening the rooms.
The sky was orange and the sun was setting behind the mountains and the tall rock formations of the wastelands there.
The sound of buzzes filled the quiet air.
A few ponies who were still outside faced upwards and saw the two changelings hovering above one of houses. The two were waving their hooves at them—one of them waving more rapidly and more happily than the other. Also, he was wearing a shiny grin as he did so. In the background of the sunset sky and in the light of the sun, their eyes and their translucent wings glistened and glittered.
"Bye, everypony!" Humerus shouted.
The ponies waved back.
Then, the changelings flew off.
An old and musty wooden train station stood in front of the soaring cliffs and mountains. Dust covered much of the building, and several branches were scattered on the floor. On the front wall, wooden crafts of a pair of a wings and a yellow crown.
The path winded through a great many turns and heights. Rocks and stones, both big and small, littered the dirt around it. There were a few trees around—the trees were long, twisted in their branches.
Past the open arch of red wooden feathers, yellow archway, and blue gem, above the great ground that surrounded the city, Griffonstone was still in an unfixed condition. The houses were unkempt and unkept, having holes of incomplete or rather destroyed materials. Branches, pieces of wall and hay roofs, papers—these were strewn on the ground that was festered and pestered with tall, yellow grass. Several houses stood on nests that overlooked the branches and the ground that was much below them.
In one place, wooden bookshelves were decaying as they laid on the ground, most of them broken and ruined in one way or another. Books were scattered on the ground, not in clean and tidy stacks but in a disarray of chaos.
A stone statue of a crowned griffon remained. Cracks were in its stately state. Dirt and dust was on its grand shape.
Some griffons flew around, almost all having faces of annoyance, irritation, and grumpiness. There was no smile on their faces. Others sat on their nests, looking up to the sky or looking down to the ground. They, too, had no smiles.
A griffon pushed a gray, timber cart around. In the cart, yellow-gray scones were on display, emitting an air and a smell of sweetness.
Then, Gabby flew to her and landed right in front of her. Gabby threw the sack of boxes at her.
The other griffon caught it with her claws. "Hey, Gabby! Careful with your aim!"
"Don't worry about it, Gilda! At least the sweets you ordered are here!"
Glida opened the sack and took out a box. She scratched it open with a swing of her claw and brought out a plastic-covered whole pie.
She smiled.
"Selling it to Greta and the others?" Gabby flew closer to her and inched her happy face closer.
"Yeah," Gilda replied.
The griffon carefully placed several boxes inside the cart. Gabby brought carried some more boxes.
After the storage of the sweets was complete, Gilda looked at her scones which still stayed proudly in their place. "I don't know about this. Griffons never had a taste for pony desserts."
"But, I do!" She held up a claw. "It was delicious! They were all delicious! The chocolate bread was so soft and it was so...chocolate!"
Gilda chuckled. "You like it, and that's a start. Greta's gonna like it, I'm sure. I'm not so sure about the others."
Gabby hugged Gilda. "It's going to be great! You're going to sell pies and muffins and other sweet food to all the griffons in Griffonstone! Who wouldn't be proud of that?"
Gilda smiled again.
Gabby removed her grip around Gilda.
She threw a scone at Gabby. "Here, it's free, 'cause you helped."
"Oh, thank you! I'm glad to be of a glad help to you!" She took a loud bite off the scone and chewed noisily.
Gilda recoiled a little. "Uh, get yourself some table manners, Gabby!" Then, she laughed.