The three mares stared up at the banner they were about to pass under. The message ‘WELCOME, PRINCESS TWILIGHT’ was written in white letters on a violet background. It was crudely made but was clearly put together by the town's young ones.
“Well, that's a nice banner” Fluttershy chimed. Dash nodded nonchalantly. Twilight, however, had to take a moment to calm herself.
Their journey into town had been quiet up until they were in the midst of paddy fields. It was being attended by earth ponies and a couple of griffins, one of which was a young cub. Who, raced up to three newcomers to greet them.
Despite being younger than any of the Cutiemark Crusaders, he recognized Princess Twilight Sparkle at first glance. His ecstatic welcome drew the attention of the others in the fields, who quickly gathered around them to offer their greetings. Soon, they had a large group following in their wake.
Twilight had been hoping that these talks were to be a low-key affair. The banner, the welcome in the fields, and the gathered crowd in the town square ahead of them made it clear that her arrival was gonna be anything but quiet.
Now Twilight laid her eyes on the two induhviduals she had come to see. Unlike other towns, Three Feathers Rise didn’t have a single mayor. Instead, it had two elders, who oversaw the town's Council. One was an old, gray griffon, with a long whispery beard. The other was an equally old, light yellow unicorn. Both waiting eagerly in front of the town hall.
These two elders, along with the council members, moved up to meet Twilight. Bowing in a customary manner. The griffon elder cleared his throat, “Welcome to Three Feathers Rise, Princess Twilight. I'm elder Jagged Claw. Allow me to introduce my counterpart, Elder Sunny Peak." The unicorn bowed her head, “Welcome, Princess Twilight.”
“Thank you. It's good to be here,” Twilight smiled, before gesturing to the ponies by her side. “Let me introduce my companions, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.” The two mares gave the elders a wave. Fluttershy’s wave was meek, keenly aware of the many eyes upon them. Dash, however, was wearing her trademark toothy grin and had no trouble addressing the elders, “Hi. Sorry, we’re late, We kinda got lost a little.”
“Yes, those mountains can be tricky at the best of times,” Jagged Claw chuckled. “But you made it here by yourselves in one piece.”
“Well, truth be told, we had help” Twilight corrected. “A griffon showed us the way.”
“Ahhh, I see,” Sunny Peak beamed. “Who was this griffon?” She The followed Twilights gaze, as she, Dash and Fluttershy peered around at the crowd for the griffon.
“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, returning her gaze to the elders. “He didn’t give us his name.”
“Actually, he didn’t speak at all,” Dash interjected. “He was kinda weird.”
The two elders exchanged a look before Jagged Claw carefully asked what he looked like. Twilight gave him a general description but when Dash spoke of the horrendous scar on his neck, the gathered crowd erupted in chatter. From the murmuring, one name was bounced about.
“Glare Wing?” Twilight echoed. Jagged Claw looked past them, towards the mountains, “So he is still up there.”
“Who’s Glare Wing?” Dash asked impatiently. Sunny Peak let out a long sigh, “Glare Wing was a magically gifted individual, who used to live here up until three years ago. Until that day…” Her words trailed away as old painful memories resurfaced. Twilight raised a curious eyebrow, “A griffon that's magically gifted? How so?”
“On the underside his wings, there are two spots that change shape when he donned a defensive pose,” Sunny Peak explained, While Jagged Claw demonstrated the pose. His head was crouched low down with his back arched up but his wings were stretched out wide. “In this pose, does spots change shape. Making his wings look like a pair of menacing eyes that captivates all who see them. Even at an early age, his gift was clear. And when Glare Wing came of age, he became our guardian.”
“Guardian?” Dash quizzed.
“These mountains are home to many a creature that would do harm to pony or griffon, given half the chance,” Jagged Claw explained. “Chimera’s, Bugbear’s, and the occasional Manticore. All of whom would take several residents to repel them, yet Glare Wing could send them fleeing by himself. They were terrified of him, so we started calling him the town's guardian.”
Twilight's interest was peaking, “So, why did he leave?”
“Because we forced him out.”
From the crowd stepped a young hippogriff of evergreen. She walked over to them, much to the disapproval of Sunny Peak, “Swiftsure, please control yourself.” She spoke her head vigorously, “No, Elder. They need to know what happened and what we did.”
Before another word could be spoken, Twilight raised a hoof to calm things down, “Ok everypony, just tell us what happened. Jagged Claw let out a long sigh, “We best go inside..” He then beckoned them to follow him into the town hall.