chapter Five-friendship and war
"Faster! Wind Whistler! Faster!" I shrieked, flying through the mountain passes, as fast as my wings would carry me. "They're gaining on us!"
"I am making haste, as quickly as my stamina will allow!" My out of breath companion yelled, trailing along after me.
Behind us, an angry squadron of twenty griffins flew after us, their razor talons outstretched, and ready us strike.
"Speed it up, boys!" Their wing commander yelled. "We'll teach these Pegasus not to trespass into our lands!"
Oh great horsemaster, how do we always manage to get ourselves into these situations? A few hours ago, Magic Star, our earth pony physician, told me several of the ponies in the castle had come down with Cutie Pox. She said she needed several flowers of truth to mix up a cure, and asked that Wind Whistler and I fly to retrieve some for her. We agreed to journey north to the Purple Mountains , outside the borders of Ponyland, to pick several of the flowers from the edge of the Tambleon Crater.
Unfortunately, those lands are within the griffin kingdom's territory, and a patrol had spotted us on our way back towards the Ponyland border. Now, in the time of Celestia, griffins may have been ponykind's friends, but in the modern world, these territorial beasts saw us as nothing more than their next meal.
"What's the matter, little Pony?" One of them hissed, gaining up to Wind Whistler. "Don't you want to be friends?"
"Aieee! NO! GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU BLOODTHIRSTY CARNIVORE!" She yelled, slamming her hind leg into the monster's face. The hoof-kick shattered his beak, and sent him tumbling downward, towards the jagged peaks below.
"Hmm, looks like we'll be having another type of meat tonight, boys!" Three of the griffins dove after their fallen companion, while the others continued their pursuit of us.
"Savages!" I hissed in disgust, looking back at our pursuers.
"North Star! " Wind Whistler yells up to me. "It is imperative that we approach the Ponyland border through the Greyvale pass!"
"Bright Valley?" I yell back. "But why-" Suddenly, my eyes light up in understanding. "The cliff guns!"
Wind Whistler nods. "It's our only chance! Now hurry!"
We rush ahead, doing loops and spirals to outpace our pursuers. But griffins have more stamina than we pegasus do, and they slowly begin to close the distance on us.
"Wind Whistler!" I yelled back to her. "Below us!"
We both came out of the steep mountain pass, to see the earth pony town of Bright Valley stretching out before us. We soar high over the city wall, staring down at the homes and bell towers below. The earth ponies in the streets gawk and stare up at us , pointing their hooves and yelling.
"End of the road, you foolish mares!" The Commander hissed, as he and his wingmen finally caught up to us. "Horseflesh shall feed my nestlings well tonight! Looks like you ponies are going out with a-"
"BOOM!"
Like a loud pearl of thunder, the city's battery of cannons opened fire. A large projectile zings past me, and nails the griffin commander. He let out a sickening shriek, as his body is reduced to a scattered mess of feathers and blood.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" As three of the massive cannons spin around, three more of our griffin foes are blasted out of existence.
"It's the Bright Valley cliff guns!" One of them squawks. "Back though the pass, hurry!" As another barrage from the cannons kill several more, the rest of the cowards retreat back from whence they came. Wind Whistler and I, totally exhausted, come in for a landing on one of the roads below.
"You ladies all right?" A young earth mare came galloping up. She had a blue coat and a red mane, decorated with dozens of ribbons braided through it. "I saw you two flying and being chased by those nasties, and I went and told my dad- Poppa is the captain of the gunnery crews, ya know- anyway, I told him, and he and his stallions walloped em' good!"
"Then I guess we have you to thank." I told her... though I was well aware the gunnery lookout had probably seen our approach long before she did. "What's your name, my friend?"
"Bowtie Lace, but you can call me Bow Tie." She looked me over. "Hey, aren’t you North Star, the famous explorer from Dream Valley?"
"That's me." I replied proudly, spreading my wings and strutting. "And there's no danger I'm not afraid to face!"
"Wow!" Bow Tie replied. "It was sooo cool how you handled those griffons in the air back there! You are sooo amazing!"
I pawed my hoof at the ground, embarrassed. "Aw, well, I-"
"Pony Feathers! Don't give her an even bigger head, Miss Tie!" Wind Whistler replied, scowling at me. "It was her fault we were in that situation in the first place! And it was the guns that saved our tails back there, not any fancy flying from our 'great adventurer'."
"Yeah, the cliff cannons are pretty amazing, aren't they?" She replied, not missing a beat. "They were installed after the dissolution of Equestria, to protect the from Dragon and Griffon attacks from the north. Nothing can get past those big monsters in the air!"
"Indeed! I have heard one of the mortar shells from those cannons can blow a hole clean through a full grown dragon's scale armor!" Wind Whistler replied enthusiastically. "And that every one of the pony operators is a crack shot!"
Listening to the two tech nerds rattle on, I only roll my eyes. "Excuse me... but if you two are done admiring the canons, Wind Whistler and I need to get back to dream castle."
"North Star!" My companion whinnied, annoyed. "We were merely observing that the cliff guns are very effective at dispatching attackers on the town!"
"Yes..." I replied, looking out at the mountain pass, towards the fleeing griffins. "Enemies who used to be pony kind's friends..."
"Anyway, anything you two want in town before you head home?" Bow Tie asked. "I know of a nice little delicatessen, that serves the best soup and oats this side of the Mastificent forest."
"That sounds delicious! I am definitely hungry!" I replied enthusiastically.
"I am uncertain... perhaps we should wait until we return home to eat...." Wind Whisler replied.
"There's also a beauty salon and spa near here, where you can totally relax in hot water, and they can do fabulous things with your mane." Bow Tie continued.
"That sounds like a relaxing and refreshing experience!" Wind Whistler whinnied. "I most certainly need to relax in a hot tub for awhile!"
"Well, I don't know..." I replied uncertainly.
Bow Tie narrowed her eyes, a wry smile on her face. "Did I mention that both places are within viewing distance of a construction site? One where big, studly stallions covered in sweat are hard at work?"
"I'm in!" Wind Whistler and I both replied in unison.
----
We had a pleasant enough time in Bright Valley.. it is always interesting spending time in the only remaining pony city in Ponyland. We were lucky I carry a few bits on me I found at a dig site, as Bright Valley is the only place where ponies still use money. The food was great and the spa was pleasant.. and the show at the construction site wasn't bad either. (Get your mind out of the trough! Wind Whistler and I are both married mares, and the good races in ponyland don't do things like that. All we did was look!)
Anyway, it was not long before we delivered the plants back to Dream Castle, and we were on our way back to the Canterlot ruins. I hoped to speak with the old unicorn about something that had been weighing heavily on my mind.
"Something troubles thee, child." She told me, appearing out of nowhere, as always. "Tell us, is there something that thou wishest to say?"
"Elder, was not ponykind once friends with the Griffins?" I ask her.
"Indeed they were, child." She responds, regally tossing back her mane. "They once did visit Equestria frequently, and even attended our schools side-by-side with thine pony ancestors."
"Then why do we hate each other now?" I ask her. "I recently was ambushed by a patrol of Griffins, when Wind Whistler and I went to the North for something dream valley needed, and they attacked us without even listening to why we were there."
"It was the events that surrounded the fall of Equestria, my child." She explained. "When the humans did cometh to this land, they and the Griffins did not get on well. The Griffins did steal the humans crops and attack their villages, whilst the human knights did hunt them for sport."
"And when we befriended the humans, they think we betrayed them." I continued sadly. "That's why they allied with the goblins against us.”
“Indeed.” She replied. “They did believe that ponykind had turned their backs on them."
I thought for a moment. “Elder, is there no way for our two races to make amends?"
"They are a degenerate nation, child. A fallen folk, descended from greater sires." The unicorn replied, looking away. "They hath become more like unto their goblin allies than ponykind now, whilst ponykind itself hath become more warlike."
"What?!?" I protest. "We are not more warlike than our ancestors!"
"The ponies of Equestria would hath sought a way to understand why their enemies acted evil, and even try to befriend them- to 'love and tolerate' as was the Equestrian credo.” The unicorn countered. "To be sure, they would have defended themselves against their foes, but even the harshest enemies of Equestria- such as Discord- were sealed away rather than Slain, until Celstia did have no choice but to do so."
"Then what happened, elder?" I asked in surprise. "Why did ponykind change?"
"When the goblins did cometh under the leadership of the dark lord Tirek, ponykind did find a foe that was cruel and unforgiving... to a degree they hath never before seen. Villages were burned, mares and foals slain, and ponies were taken into slavery." I saw a wave of pain pass over her face. "Our kind did tap into something dark in their nature to survive... and we did surprise our foes, by fighting back as ruthlessly as they fought! Now, a pony can slay a goblin, or a griffon, or even a fellow pony gone bad, as easily as if they were swatting a fly. Not an ounce of guilt or shame is felt, for an action your ancestors would hath called murder."
I tried to argue with her, but I could not. I remembered a story Applejack had told me once, about how she once came across an evil human wizard who had enslaved several twinkle eyed ponies, and was forcing them to work as slaves in his mine. AJ killed the wizard after freeing the ponies, but she never seemed to show even a hint of remorse for her actions. More personally, I recalled the survivors of a goblin raiding party that had attacked my family, when we were traveling between Dream Castle and Hoofkaido. They threw down their weapons and begged for mercy, but Barnacle and I killed them anyway.
I had always believed when we were slaying an evil foe, that we were ridding the world of an enemy, so they could never harm anypony again. But had ponykind gone too far in it's fight for justice? Had we become the very thing we strove against?
"Thank you elder, you have given me much to think about." I graciously bowed my head to her. "I hope the great Horsemaster allows us a sixth meeting, so we may talk again."
"Why, whatever doth you mean, child?" The unicorn asked in a puzzled tone, as she vanished. "We hath only spoken four times since we hath met..."