//------------------------------//
// The Griffons Are Coming 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

"You know how I know you're still yourself inside?" Amber asked, leaning on a railing and looking critically at Valey's shell. "Because it's sunny, the weather is beautiful out, and you think that's a perfect time to bask and do nothing."

The shell didn't respond. It was out on the deck with Amber, having spent long enough around her that she was confident it wouldn't fly away if carefully attended. The thing almost seemed attached to her, following her around unbidden and even attempting to climb into her bed at night, though it mostly slept at her hooves. Now, it was belly-up, all four legs in the air and staring blankly at the sky.

"Well, you're right." Amber paced in a circle before giving it an approving glance, her mane deliberately uncombed and Valey's beret perched casually on her head. "We didn't get a whole lot of sun in Riverfall, what with the trees and all, but that just means you have to soak it up now. Come on, you know you're enjoying this."

Valey's shell still didn't budge.

From the darkened entrance to the stairway, Starlight stood, watching the conversation move along. Amber was remarkably adept at making a one-sided conversation seem engaging, but Starlight could see she was just reaching for something that was gone. Amber's brightness flickered slightly, as if she knew deep down her purpose was futile. The shell didn't have any brightness whatsoever.

Her moon glass sword hovered silently at her side, the same number of sarosian souls trapped inside as there had been for the past two weeks. She had stared at it, willed it, occasionally even talked to it, all to no avail. It was almost like what Amber was doing... though from her own perspective, she knew that shell was empty and the sword was full.

Starlight sat down without a sigh, and took the sword in her hooves. It was hard, being so close and yet so far, but Glimmer wasn't telling her something and there was nothing more she could do on her own. Why could she kill Windigoes and fight off Chrysalis, but not get her friend back from magic she herself had cast?

The sword still felt faintly sticky and malleable in her hooves, the way most moon glass felt when she tried to touch it, only it respected her will to stay separate rather than absorbing into her skin. What would even happen if she willed it otherwise? Most moon glass that was already filled seemed inert to her. She recalled the time she had accidentally ridden along in a crate filled with it and been fine... It was usually only empty glass that she reacted to. Was this different because it was hers?

Silently, she imagined trying to absorb it like empty glass, thousands of cutie marks and all... but the sword was even bigger than she was, and a faint nagging sensation told her that was a bad idea.

"That was a fantastic yawn," Amber encouraged in the background, still talking to Valey's shell. "Nnngh... Making me feel like a nap in the sun too..."

Starlight stared at her reflection in the faceted glass. She felt like she did nothing but rest. Why Amber would want to when there were so many potential things to be done...

"So we have a call from Gerardo and Slipstream," Harshwater interrupted, stomping up the stairs. "They say it's urgent, so all hooves on deck."





"In short, we felt it would be an unfortunate idea not to comply when we were that heavily outnumbered," Gerardo's voice finished, the stone on the dining hall's table glowing with magic. "I know how to size up combatants, and these griffons have a good idea of what they're doing. They also have a very large amount of food I'd love for us to take for ourselves. So while it's technically possible to go along with them and let whatever happens happen, I strongly advise coming up with a more proactive course of action."

"What did I miss?" Amber frowned, Valey's shell right behind her.

Felicity looked up. "Apparently our scouting party has gotten themselves mixed up with some sort of griffon syndicate or mafia who now expects to be led here, on the pretenses of selling us food. A lot of food, mind you, but... still."

"Seems like odd news to me," Saffron said, up and gingerly about despite the braces on her broken leg. "The Griffonstone griffons I knew weren't big enough on sharing and cooperation to form any sort of syndicate. That's the kind of behavior you'd expect from diamond dogs or even ponies themselves."

"Well, they're very low on cooperation," Gerardo replied. "In fact, I'd put money on some higher authority forcing them all to get along through bribery or blackmail."

Grenada shook her head. "I would not count on being able to turn them against each other as much of a plan. Who has a better idea?"

"How many of us do they know there are?" Nyala spoke up, sitting upright in a chair.

"They know we were pleased to see this much food, but we haven't given an exact number."

Nyala nodded. "Lead them to the older, crashed airship. How much faith do they have in us being upstanding ponies?"

Gerardo hesitated for a moment. "They expect it and are likely ready to abuse it."

"Right..." Nyala bit her lip. "So we only need one or two of us there to meet you. Ponies who can put on a convincing act. They wait there to meet you and say the rest of the team gave up on you and left you behind. And you haven't actually promised this syndicate anything in return?"

"They strongly suspect we have more money, and are interested in the opportunity to trade with us."

Nyala sighed. "Right, so it won't work to say whoever ran took the money with them because then they'll just spread out and search. Back to the drawing board..."

"Trying to con a group of con artists is quite bold," Felicity commented. "Kudos on your fearlessness, darling, but I happen to be a professional at this sort of thing." She winked, standing up, and patted her cutie mark. "Who's to say we can't exploit any tensions within their group, again?"

Saffron tilted her head. "What's she on about?"

"My brand intensifies or lessens emotions in a radius around me," Felicity replied. "And just you watch. Professional mafia or no, I'm willing to bet I'm more than a match for them."

"I'd rather no one get suspicious of how long I excused myself for," Gerardo cut in, "so I'll assume the plan for now is to take them to the other ship, pretend we were using it as a base, and let you fill in the rest?"

"You do that," Saffron insisted. "Don't want to blow any cover."

The sound stone went dim.

Harshwater got up, glancing between the two batponies. "You two seem eager enough to handle this, but since Shinespark won't come out of the bridge and everyone seems to think being the medic makes you the leader, you're going to have to run whatever you come up with past me. We have until tomorrow night, so we'll want to start staging whatever we're staging now."

Nyala nodded. "The best result is for the griffons to lose interest in our friends, leave the food behind where we can carry it back ourselves, and not go scouting around the area and find this ship instead. It will be hard to do all of those at once, but we can't afford to compromise on any. Like it or not, we do need that food."

"Regrettable but true." Grenada looked down at her stomach, and it growled in response.

"Pardon the interruption, ladies and gentlemares," Howe's voice echoed mysteriously from the kitchen. "But if you're entering the dark business of defrauding fraudsters, some proven talent like ours could be exactly what will tip fate in your favor..."

Harshwater shot the kitchen door a look. "The only thing proven about your talent is how unreliable it is. Stay out of this."

"Hah," Howe chuckled, striding into view. "Perhaps we've not been on the best of terms, you and I, but a familiar evil is preferable to an unknown one, is it not?" He waggled his eyebrows. "A true tactician can use unreliability to their advantage."

Grenada looked around the room and sighed. "The only thing I am getting from all this is that every last pony here could be just as questionable as the griffons we are trying to shake. Myself included..." She winced and rubbed her forehead.

Amber nudged Valey's shell with a hopeful smile. "If things come to blows, think you'll be just as good at fighting as always?"

The shell yawned.

"If we have to fight them, I can do it," Starlight cut in. "I can also scare them away." She frowned. "With the Nightmare Modules, I can... do things to my appearance." Her mane shimmered darkly in emphasis, hovering briefly between gas and hair.

"Now there's an idea." Saffron tapped the table. "This isn't something any of you would likely be familiar with, but Equestria has a monster population. Weird, mutant, one-of-a-kind things that will either leave you alone or rampage, and can cause trouble for townships not equipped to send them packing. Starlight, what's the spookiest you can make yourself look?"

Starlight winced. "Are you sure that's a good thing to plan on? They might be brave, and could just go scouting and find us if I scare them away from the abandoned ship."

"True, but they'd need their wings to do it..." Saffron scratched her head. "What do you want to bet they'd drop the food in making a hasty getaway?"

"Unless we have any plans for moving the airship that I don't know about, we can't have them leave us alone for any reason other than thinking there's nothing worth finding." Harshwater shook her head. "The other option we should be considering is actually letting them find this ship. It would put us in a vulnerable position, but if we planned on it happening rather than letting them realize we were deceiving them when they stumble on it later, we could be in a significantly better position than we would otherwise."

Felicity cleared her throat for attention. "So let me get this straight! We have less than thirty-six hours to prepare, and our only options are to either eliminate them in a test of martial strength we're unlikely to win, or convince them there's nothing here worth finding when we have money and they already know it. In short, whether we mislead them or not, they're going to know there's money out here unless they find it alongside a convincing story for how it got where it is. Is that right?"

Harshwater nodded.

"And what exactly are we trying to stop them from getting?" Felicity tilted her head.

"Any sort of advantage over us," Nyala replied. "We're already in a vulnerable position, and it would get much worse if they took us, our healing supplies, our ship... anything."

Felicity frowned. "Well, I still think getting them to fight each other is our best bet. I can do this, everyone. Really, I can! Please let me give it a whirl?"

Harshwater took a deep breath. "Everyone, break for lunch. Eat a good one, since we want to walk out of this with our food resupplied. Then we'll reconvene and see what we can do."