Feeling something shifting in the vehicle, Bon Bon turned from her half-asleep state, having been lulled into it from the carts surprisingly smooth drive, and saw one of the griffons climbing over to a set of seats that sat across from hers. She turned to look at Lyra, seeing her friend fully engrossed in writing down notes about what they had already found out about the griffons. The information was important no doubt, the fact that their people had moved their entire capital and population over across the mountains.
Bon Bon saw the one named Jana sitting, having smoothed out a few ruffled feathers before turning back to her with a smile. “Was Anon getting to you?” Bon Bon questioned.
Jana’s smile looked strained, a nervous chuckle creeping out. “Why would you think that?”
“He’s been talking to the three of you for the past few hours about your people’s economy and your usage of black rock, or coal as he calls it.”
“The human is certainly passionate about it,” Jana said with a frown. “Is he like this with you back in your lands? Picking apart things about safety regulations or the environmental impacts we have?”
“Not really.” Bon Bon shifted her gaze to the side, a small smile coming from it. “Ah, wait, he’s very much about the safety regulations. From seat belts and speeding regulations to trying to set up some kind of Oh-Cha, whatever that is. He called that one a necessary evil to keep people safe.”
“When he mentioned wanting to talk about black rock, I was kind of hoping he’d have some interesting contraptions to share ideas about. It just feels strange, how he seems oddly concerned about our safety,” Jana said, turning to Anon who was still talking to the other two.
“－is not a trifling matter you should ignore. You’ve already explained that you’ve advanced to using fast-acting drills and tools to get to the coal, which will kick up a lot of dust. Dust that your workers will be breathing in. Black lung disease will be especially troubling with your species being avian. The coal coats the lungs over time, leaving them damaged and slowly being incapable of normal breathing later in life. With the health of your workers…”
The three of them watched Anon conversing with the two griffons up front, Auctor trying to point out that things will surely be fine but being unable to reason why, while Delano had a haunted look on his face, a muttering of ‘acid rain’ coming out of his mouth every so often.
“I can’t blame him for being concerned,” Lyra said, injecting herself in the conversation. “He used to do environmental work on his planet, something I’m still struggling to understand what that exactly is. Hearing your people are going through some sort of revolution, he likely feels he could help some kind of problem before it starts.”
Bon Bon nodded, “In fairness, we barely use most of the fuel sources his people did. Black rock, lightning, dead plants, the wind, gasses, and the sun where what they mainly used. No magic in his world, so they had to make do with what was available.”
“Our planet self-regulates itself to clean up the bad particles whenever we did use them, like on our trains.” Lyra shuffled some of her papers, writing something down. “We’ve never used it to a massive degree as his people have so we don’t even notice any major effects.
“There are of course other things he worked toward, such as cleaning the oceans of garbage as an example, but he seemed most prominent on promoting different sources of clean energy, as he called it when he could. He even had a few big hogshot many-bit-ilionaires working to make it all possible.
“Until one of them blew him up and he wound up here on our planet.” Lyra snorted. “Moron.”
“So none of that should affect us, right?” Jana looked between the two of them nervously. “That was his world's problems, not ours.”
“That’s true,” Bon Bon said.
“So long as we don’t use those fuels excessively,” Lyra added. “It’s not like we have huge swathes of trees being cut down or massive black rock mining operations to quickly burn all of it into the air.”
Jana shuffled in her seat. “We may… kind of use it in a lot of our current day contraptions. I mean every house burns the stuff in their fireplaces for one.” Bon Bon hoofed her face while Lyra looked bug-eyed. “It’s not like black rock acts like his world will, right? So we should be fine. And it’s cheap and available to everyone.”
“You need to stop burning coal in your fireplaces,” Lyra said shaking her head. “Even I know that’s a horrible idea.”
“It’s going to be hard to convince an entire population to stop doing something they’ve been told is fine for some time. We don’t even have any alternatives for them to use.”
“We’re about to reach the tunnel’s entrance!” Delano yelled out to gather their attention to the front.
“Look, we’ll talk more about this later when we get a better picture of what your people are going through.”
Lyra quickly snatched up her camera, taking a few snapshots just as they were reaching the exit. Massive pillars of trees scattered everywhere with buildings littering the thick branches all about. A bustling city of griffons scattered around, wearing odd garments and using oddly-shaped instruments and geared implements all around.
A massive canopy of leaves hung over the town, the sun’s rays streaking through the town. Up in the trees could be seen long, massive, ornate bridges tying all the trees together, forming a sky roadway for the inhabitants to walk upon. It was truly a grand sight to behold. Almost everything was made out of wood, giving it a very surreal sight.
“Dear God, it’s a steampunk’s wet dream,” Anon said, staring at it all.
“Impressive isn’t it?” Jana spoke, clearly happy with the shock and awe placed on their faces. “Welcome to the city of New Griffonstone, capital of Gryphonia.”
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The six of them were walking down the gray cobbled streets, taking in the sight around them. Every single thing they looked at was, as they were told, made out of a wood substance. Even the streets underneath them were made of a highly dense wood, something only native in the griffon lands.
“There are a few varieties of our dura-trees, but the thing that makes them grand is their inability to burn and their strong bodies, acting as if they were made of steel. They are even able to change colors with some work, giving us many different fashions to choose from.”
The hustle and bustle of the city were pronounced, captivating their group. Steam was thrown out of every corner, working some kind of contraption into motion. One served ice cream as it whirled out jolly music from its pipes, while another had its foundations floating in the air, the thing slowly moving down the street trying to sell curios. Throughout it all, griffons worked at repairs to preexisting buildings or coordinating groups around.
“As you can see, we have a lot of masons that work in our city all around the clock. Every single piece of wood is always improved upon where needed and intricately worked and refined over time, imparting our inner energy to strengthen it as we work.”
“Inner energy?” Anon questioned.
“Another way to say mana that’s inside one’s own body,” Lyra answered. “Every being has it in them as you already know. Griffon’s learned to use their inner reserves and work it into their flying manipulations. It also seems like they’ve learned to guide this into their dura-wood. Interesting.”
Delano puffed up his chest. “It was a proud day for us griffons when we learned of our gifts. We have grown to great heights in the past hundred years to the powerful beings that we are today. The fabulous works surrounding us are proof of this!”
“Maybe that’s why the princess signed that document,” Bon Bon whispered to Lyra’s ear. “They wanted some time to learn of their abilities on their own.”
“Makes sense,” Lyra whispered back. “It happened with the minotaurs long ago when they learned about physical enhancements and they were left alone to study for some time.”
“That sounds awesome,” Anon said, taking it all in. “Wish I could do something like that.”
Jana walked up with a smile, “While it’s a griffon ability, we could try to see if you could learn with some private lessons?”
Anon chuckled, getting the hint. “As… fun as that sounds, I genuinely don’t think I can learn it. Or runing, or anything magical. I’ve got this weird negative energy in me that disrupts magic completely.”
“We’ve read the reports on that from the princess,” Delano said with a frown. “We’re still confused about what that is.”
“She just gave you that information?” Anon asked surprised. “What am I talking about, of course, she would. There isn’t much to it. I stop magic by touching it and magic can’t affect me. Oh, I’m slowly learning more I can do with it, like this nifty eye ability I learned it just before we left Ponyville.”
Feeling around inside his inner domain, Anon focused it toward his sight, feeling the weird ability swirling around inside him. The group gave him some room, seeing his eyes now emitting a gray smoke.
“It’s not much, but I can see the magic through this, and also through illusions made of magic.”
“That is so cool looking,” Jana said, unable to look away.
The smoke went away, leaving Anon with smokey gray eyes. “Still trying to learn how to control this. I’ll be stuck with these grayed eyes for a few hours until it fades away.”
Their group stared at Anon, thinking of a multitude of ways such an ability could be useful. Or harmful.
Lyra coughed, gaining their attention. “Moving along, why did you change your capitals location? I thought there was some historical importance to the previous area.”
The three of them stared for a second more before Delano spoke up, “We changed our capital due to griffons believing the place to be a cursed land. It held us back, being tethered to such an area that held nothing but past haunts and no future. The few fools that remain are stuck in their ways as we have moved on to greater pastures.”
“Ah. I, uh, see things have worked out for you all.” Delano nodded his head as the group returned to their walking.
The three griffons escorting them would point out many of the places as they walked by them, hyping their capital up to no end. Lyra and Bon Bon, for the most part, seemed to be eating it up. Anon was keeping an open mind to what he was being told, especially as he didn’t like how the people around him were giving them looks quite similar to Griffonston’s inhabitants.
“Why is everyone giving us the stink-eye?” Bon Bon asked, fed up with the glares.
“I don’t know what you mean by that,” Auctor replied.
“They are, very obviously, distancing themselves from our path.”
Indeed, the group could see griffons keeping out of their way, intentionally leaving what almost looked like a circle around them voided of any traffic.
Auctor cleared his throat, “There has been some… recent talks with the higher-ups about wanting to simply stay isolated and many see your group as a manner of trying to interfere with that.”
“You don’t honestly want to stay isolated from the world?” Lyra asked. “A lot of nations are uniting once more with trades and peoples; keeping to yourselves won’t help your people in the long term.”
“Or even the short term,” Bon Bon said.
Lyra nodded, “The signed treaty keeping you isolated for a hundred years, as stupid as it was in my opinion, has ended. The feline nation, your biggest trade partner, has been wanting to enter your lands for a while now for direct trades and if you renege on reopening your nation, it may sour your dealings with their people.”
Delano sniffed, “Darn cats should be happy we’re dealing with them in the first place.”
Lyra looked nonplussed. “Those ‘darn cats’ are the reason you have so much wealth in the first place as you refuse to do any trades with other nations close by. We have to go through that nation just to trade with you in the first place.”
“I like your calydonian,” Anon whispered to Jana.
“The more popular wild-farmed calydonians are much further inland and harder to come by here. But we have a farm on the outskirts of the capital.”
“I want to check it out.”
“The discussion on the trading of our peoples and our treaties can be held off until later tonight,” Auctor spoke out. “Let us get you to the castle grounds so you can get acquainted with the royals.”
The rest of the trip was dealt with in silence with tensions building as they were guided through the busy streets of New Griffonstone. Everyone around seemed to be enjoying life as it was, yet gave a wide berth from their group, word had already spread about their arrival and what it could mean.
Something the group had also noticed was the odd shape many of them seemed to be in, as if tired, with heavy bags under some of their eyes. They even saw one of them drop, quickly scurried off from the extremely fast aid that came with it. No one seemed to pause or take notice as if used to such actions.
The further they walked, the more they noticed this in many of the griffons. It wasn’t until they were nearing the coal mines that it could be seen in nearly every individual there. Most of them were pushing carts out of the mine or working some kind of machinery. What could be seen in them all was a tired, haggard appearance.
“Isn’t it a bit extreme to be pushing your people to such states?” Lyra asked, seemingly worried.
“It honestly isn’t as bad as it looks,” Delano spoke. “They only work for a week, then rest for the next three, yet get paid for a whole month’s wage. Sure they work hard, but three weeks rest and high pay very well make up for it in my opinion.”
“Can one week's work really exhaust someone to needing three weeks to rest?” Bon Bon asked Lyra, who merely shrugged back uncertainly.
Anon hummed. “I’m not seeing any respirators of any kind. Not even a cloth to cover their beaks with. There’s barely any safety equipment either. I see hardhats, but what about coveralls or thick clothing to prevent cuts and abrasions in their work? And just how are you checking the oxygen levels in your passageways or venting out dust? The very few that even have cloth covering their whole body look sickly and barely recognizable from griffons. Why do you even have those ones covered in so much gear along with those weirdly bent poles attached through their helmets; to hold lanterns? Yep, there’s one with a lantern. That’s especially dangerous to do. With the amount of work－”
Auctor interrupted, “Can we please move on? You can discuss this at a later date and give us some more… foreign insights on how we can do better.”
Forcing the group past the mines they moved further into the city, the buildings starting to look positively ornate in their design. The griffons standing around appeared posher than what they had seen before. And more annoyed, giving their glares openly at the group.
They eventually saw the massive base of a tree, the size of a castle, interwoven, and cut into to give it windows and spires. It was only then they realized the huge canopy above their heads was coming from the very tree they were staring at, amazed at how far it reached out into the capital.
“This is where we shall depart. Perhaps we’ll see you if they have you needing an escort.” Their group flew off, leaving Lyra, Bon Bon, and Anon to walk up to the castle entrance.
Guards stood at attention, eyes staring ahead in a thousand-yard stare as their group walked right by them and into the tree castle. Inside was a massive foyer that could hold a hundred griffons, now only holding a few guards and two well-dressed figures, one a griffon and one surprisingly being a pony.
“Welcome to Sootworth Castle,” the well-dressed griffon spoke. “Please, follow me to your rooms to drop off your items.”
The foreign pony that stood beside the griffon went to their group as they followed through the long halls, mostly full of doors and griffon guards standing attention.
“How has your stay here been, Haze Friction?” Bon Bon asked.
“Tiresome. The griffons are notoriously hard to deal with, even worst than the yaks. I swear taking up this ambassador job is not what I thought it would be. There have been talks about staying isolated and simply kicking everyone out of their lands. That clearly includes me!”
“Do you know why they’re doing this?” Lyra asked
“I don’t! Things started to build up about a year ago when some gung-ho griffons decided they wanted to keep their people to themselves. Many of them had the backing of the black rock mines, which is fueling the entire economy right now and has the public’s interests at heart. They managed to make the mining process cheaper and easier to come by. Everyone in this town is siding with them, making this difficult to deal with.
“Most of the dura-wood handlers and miscellaneous trade partners are trying to fight back against the black rock faction, but each passing week another one seems to randomly turn over to the isolationist side.” Haze Friction sighed. “If things continue, trade between the griffons will all but cease as they’ll close off their borders entirely. Who knows what will happen if that comes to pass.”
The rest of the walk was in silence as the griffon led them through many corridors. It eventually led them into a hall lined with doors, two guards on either side of each door. The leading griffon stood in front of a set of doors, inviting them in. A spacious room, with one massive bed and several sets of wardrobes, could be seen. A window allowed them a grand sight into the capital, showing just how high up they currently were.
“No jumping out of that,” Anon said.
“Your group will be staying the night here. Dinner will be at seven tonight, please make sure you are presentable. Or as much as one can be with the lack of clothing you are wearing.”
“Griffons in the capital sure care about their clothing,” Anon muttered, pulling at his jacket.
“When can I go out in town?” Lyra asked. “I wanted to check out some of the establishments close by and ask about some of the dura-wood operations.”
The griffon gave her a flat stare. “There will be no going out in town while you are here.”
“Excuse me? Uh, no. As the komlas, I have every right to go out.”
“You are here as a guest, we could care less about your,” he sniffed, “little title, pony. The guards will ensure you abide by staying in the room. A good day to you all.”
He left promptly after, leaving Lyra gobsmacked. “He… He can’t do that!”
“I think he just did,” Anon said.
Bon Bon hummed, “We were informed before arriving that the princess sent out a letter discussing this very thing and being told there wouldn't be any problems. What’s going on, Haze?”
“As I said, there’s been some tension between the griffons here,” Haze Friction said. “They won’t even allow me to talk to anyone for the past few weeks about this. Things look like they’re coming to a head, just as their borders were supposed to start opening up. Look, for the time being just follow along and don’t do anything stupid. Our best chance to find things out is during the dinner scene where we can discuss this with you there.”
Haze Friction left soon after, leaving their group now locked inside the room.
“They can’t just keep us in here!”
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Several hours passed by in irritation, Lyra trying her best to leave the room. Each attempt was met with failure as the griffon guards would stop any attempts to leave. From trying to impersonate a griffon to simply jumping out the window using a featherfall spell didn’t work.
They were eventually let out, led down the halls once more into a massive banquet hall where a long table could be seen. Many griffons stood by their seats, not even taking a glance at Lyra and her group who made their way to their chairs. They all stood, waiting for the king to be announced in by trumpets, taking a seat only as he did, eating only once he had taken his first bite.
The dinner meal was an awkward setting. A multitude of foods sat on plates, steam rising from their meats and vegetables, many decadent dishes showcased, and sparkling from some kind of light setting. Barely anyone dug in, small bites being taken, whispers shared between one another. Everyone seemed to ignore their guests, pretending they didn’t exist.
Fed up with the quiet scene, it left Lyra with starting a conversation directly with their ruler, making her voice loud enough to be heard. “I noticed that you were preventing me from leaving my room so that I could go into town since we’ve entered this castle, holding me in like a prisoner. Is there a reason for this?”
Quite a few griffons were shocked by Lyra’s directness. A female griffon sneered at her. “Did anyone give you permission to look around our lands?”
“Are you the type of people that likes to break treaties and deals with other nations?” Lyra threw back hotly.
Bon Bon looked worryingly at her friend. “Lyra…”
Lyra glanced at Bon Bon, slightly shaking her head before turning back to King Cyrus. “You already know what my position is and what it entitles me to with our treaties. Unless you want to declare that you are breaking treaties with all the world’s nations, I demand you allow me the freedom to do my job.”
A griffon off to the side tittered, “And who said we were preventing you?”
“I’d say it was whoever had guards stand outside our door and keeping us inside for several hours.”
A huff from another, “We have a komlas finally out on their excursion and decided to come to our lands as their first stop, the heir of one of your largest trading companies strolling alongside said komlas, and the… foreign entity from another planet that is making waves coming to our lands. We’re a bit wary of what your intentions are. Maybe you should explain yourself and what you want to look at first.”
Throughout all this, Anon was noticeably getting more agitated, his eyes lightly smoking gray as he looked around the table. A rather large griffon, sitting across from him, wouldn’t stop staring at him, not having taken a single bite from the delicious smells invading Anon’s nose.
“Are you examining me with your alien ways?” the massive griffon asked him.
Anon blinked, trying to clear his eyes. “No, sorry. I’m ah, still learning to control that ability.”
“Is that what you used when you defeated Bombastic Boom Bill?”
It took him a few seconds to remember the odd name, ignoring the building tensions with Lyra and the table. “That minotaur that challenged me? No, I learned this after that fight.”
The griffon smiled at him. “So you did fight him. I was wondering how much of a challenge he was to you.”
“It wasn’t too hard fighting him off. Dodging him was easy enough. He couldn’t fight after I negated his attacks and threw him down.” Anon frowned. “Why are you asking about him? Do you know the guy?”
A dry laugh, “We’ve fought in the past several times. Generally, it ended in a stalemate between the two of us, with an equal amount of victories for us both. Hearing how you easily trounced him, even when he had the upper claw in the exchange with the challenge… I feel an exciting chill I hadn’t felt in a long time from you.”
“I’m not sure where you’re going with this.”
A menacing grin overcame the griffon. “It should be clear then: I want to fight you.”
A tug was felt on his jacket, Bon Bon having him lean to her. “Things aren’t looking good.”
“You’re telling me. I’ve got a behemoth wanting to fight me on top of me seeing… something seriously wrong with the griffons.”
“Really?” she deadpanned before moving to his ear to whisper. “I think you should take Giant Gil up on his offer.”
“His name’s really－ Wait I should what?!”
“Shh! Yes, take him up on his offer for a fight.”
“Are you mad?!” he harshly whispered back. “Do I look like the kind of guy that likes to start fights or even be in them?”
“If you take him on his offer, they’ll have to allow it. He’s one of their heroes, and him challenging you would mean we can set the time three days from now. And if we don’t do something soon they’ll be kicking us out in three minutes. Whatever is happening in these lands, it has them wanting to break blood-binding treaties. We need to stall for time.”
“And a fight will do that? I repeat, how will I fighting him give us time to look into this?”
“He’ll challenge you to a fight that we’ll postpone for three days in their arena, and we’ll also force in an allowance for Lyra to do her job as part of that agreement. It’s that or we’ll walk away.
“Why would they even care if we walked or not?”
“Anon, everyone knows of you. If you hadn't noticed, a lot of griffons were pointing you out in the town, discussing your fights. The public would be enraged if they ever found out a fight between one of their biggest names and you were blocked.”
“But a fight? Seriously? It’s like you’re TRYING to set me up to fight at this Camelot thing!”
“It’s the only chance we have at keeping us here for Lyra to investigate things. Just let me talk and we can get some time for Lyra to look into this. Are you willing to help us?”
The two of them stared at one another, Anon mulling over the idea of taking on the giant griffon. Turning back to Giant Gil, who was nibbling on his food in boredom, Anon narrowed his eyes.
“I better not regret this,” he mumbled to himself before speaking to the griffon. “So why exactly do you want to fight me? I’m not sure I understand the circumstances.”
The griffon paused, looking at Anon. That mean glint came back to his eye. “I’ve fought many minotaurs several times, always a grand spectacle with those people, trying to sneak into our lands just to fight us. We always kick those minotaurs back out, knowing they’d try once more in the future to rechallenge whoever beat them.
“Bombastic Boom Bill was different, one of the top fighters from their lands. He was the only one that ever gave me trouble when I fought. I found myself over time enjoying each confrontation we had. To hear of you beating him with just one round, and barely a scratch on you has me… shivering in excitement with just the thought of fighting you.”
“Freaking meathead,” Anon mumbled before clearing his throat.
Bon Bon started, “It’s unfortunate you won’t be able to fight him then.”
Giant Gil frowned. “I don’t see why not. I’ll be at the Camelot Challenge like everyone else.”
“Anon won’t be going to that. He’ll be traveling around with both of us to other nations so unfortunately, we’ll miss out on it. And from how it looks, I don’t think you’ll ever get the chance to fight him in the future at all, or at least, be the first to.”
Bon Bon turned her head to the others arguing with Lyra. “Too bad, they’ll be kicking us out of your lands soon. Anon not only fought Bombastic Boom Bill but also took on an entire rebel army all on his own.” Anon froze, giving a nasty glare at her. “He doesn’t like to talk about that one, how he took down everyone in his path and their leader. Why, there’s even been rumors around he’s been sneaking out into the Everfree Forest, just so he can fight the hydras and chimeras in there for sport.”
Anon was grinding his teeth, hearing Bon Bon pumping up his abilities far beyond what was reasonable. The griffon was hunching over the table, leering down at Anon with an eagerness that made him uncomfortable. A few griffons sitting by him finally took notice on Giant Gil’s ruffled form.
Bon Bon shrugged both front hooves in the air with a look of indifference. “Oh well, guess the fight of the century will have to happen somewhere else and not here, with you, in New Griffonstone, surrounding all the griffons to spectate and－”
Giant Gil slammed his claws into the table, pulling them back as claw marks trailed behind on the table. He jumped up on it, pointing a clawed digit at Anon. “Alien dignitary! I challenge you to a showdown of combat in the arenas!”
The entire room was in silence, watching the display. A griffon screamed out, realizing what had just transpired. “OH COME ON.”
“Tomorrow evening－”
“DON’T ALLOW THIS,” another griffon screamed.
“We shall perform glorious combat－”
“SOMEONE SHUT HIM UP.”
“For all of griffon-kind to witness!”
“We need three days to prepare ourselves,” Bon Bon said. “To give you the best fight between the two of you, that is.”
The griffon stared at her, then turned to Anon, jabbing another pointed claw at him.
“In three days－”
“IT’S CLEAR WHAT THEY’RE DOING.”
“We shall encounter in the arena for maximal conflicts－”
“HE’S BEING BAMBOOZLED.”
“For all of Gryphonia to spectate!”
The griffon flew off away from the table and through an opening in the ceiling, drawing gasps at his departure.
A few seconds of silence before Lyra coughed in a hoof. “Looks like we’ll be staying for another three days then! We’ll have to postpone our break-the-treaties talks to a later date.”
Across the table, a griffon growled. “If you think we’ll allow you to roam around as you please then you’ve got another thing coming.”
“I suppose we’ll have to leave then,” Bon Bon said, giving off fake-devastation. “Oh, woe is us, for the griffon public will know that an epic fight could have been taken place, if not for the griffons here preventing such actions.”
A clink could be heard, King Cyrus placing his goblet down. He took his napkin, wiping his beak. “It seems I will have to allow the komlas her freedom then if we are to keep the public happy. Is that not right, Mordecai?”
“Ooh,” Anon whispered to himself, “dat’s an evil name right there. Yup. That’s a good one alright.”
“But my king, we can’t allow them the freedom to do as they please in our lands.”
“It is in our signed treaties to allow such actions. Besides, they can walk away as it is, and that would upset the public knowing such a fight was taken from them. You’re always about making the public happy, are you not Mordecai?”
“...Yes, my king.”
“Then let us make the public happy. You’ll have your three days, komlas. Then I expect a grand showing in the arena for all our troubles.”
“Why, of course, King Cyrus.”
She gave off a smug smile at the griffons that were previously arguing at her. The griffon across from her growled, snapping his wooden utensil in half. King Cyrus throughout this all merely sighed, taking a sip of his drink.
“Can’t have a single meal in peace, can I?”
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“That was awesome!” Lyra was jumping around their room, brimming with excitement. “I’ll have three days to explore around the area and figure out what is going on, and it’s all thanks to you!” She gave Anon a large hug. “Thank you!”
He rolled his eyes, reciprocating the hug. “Yeah, I just have to fight a steroid-abusing griffon. Hurrah.”
“...What are steroids?”
“I’m not getting into this conversation.”
“I don’t see this as a victory!” Haze Friction was walking in circles, looking tired. “We’re going to be kicked out in three days regardless! All you’ve done is held off the inevitable. We’ll be going back to our lands with the griffons breaking their treaties, and when the other nations hear of this, it’s going to be a living nightmare! We’ll have to reroute trade routes, have additional eyes on griffon travelers which could promote some of the griffon blockages we’ve been trying to deal with in court, and my name’s going to be attached to all of this!”
“Everyone, chill.” Anon waved his hands up and down. “I’ve got this. I already know what’s going on.”
Everyone looked at him. “You do?” Bon Bon said.
“Sort of. Lyra will have to look into why the griffons are being possessed but that should be doable in three days.”
Their eyes widened at his words. “Possessed?” Lyra sputtered.
He pointed at his eyes. “My sight allows me to see magical things and right through magic. I was wondering what I was seeing out in town and at the table, but it occurred to me that the griffons are probably being led by some weird plan to take them over through possessing their leaders.”
Anon looked smug, crossing his arms. “I saw them out in town over by the mines leading up to the castle as well, so that’s a good starting point for you Lyra. Probably has to do with the coal mines. Bam! Probably some dead spirits being dug up or something in there. Hmph. Yeah, ruined this plot didn’t I?”
“They’re possessed?!” Haze Friction was tip-tapping around the room now. “What am I supposed to do about that?! I can’t leave this castle like you can Lyra, I’m stuck with griffon-possession and WHAT IF THEY POSSESS ME NEXT?!”
Lyra didn’t look as pleased about hearing that, also tip-tapping around. “I don’t want to go into town with possessed griffons! I hate ghosts! They give me the heebie-jeebies!”
Bon Bon turned to Anon. “You saw the griffons being possessed? As in you could see the spirits themselves?” Anon nodded his head. “Not the griffons there with the ghosts in them, but just the ghosts themselves?” He nodded once more, looking confused with what this was leading to. “Wouldn’t that mean that it’s something taking their place, and the griffons are not there?”
Anon rubbed his chin, thinking that over. “Good point, I will correct myself: The spirits have kidnapped the griffons and are taking their place.”
Bon Bon and Anon ignored Lyra and Haze Friction running around the room, freaking out as they thought over what he saw. “Why would spirits foalnap them when they could possess them? Why even pretend to be them? Anon, could you describe the ghosts to me. Depending on what kind they were could lead us to what is going on.”
“The ghosts looked weird, like they were, well… ponies. I assume they came from some old pony burial grounds or whatever. Probably mistakenly dug them up in the coal mines or someplace close.”
“I’m only remotely familiar with spirits in my work, but I don’t think there’d be any burial grounds close to griffon lands.”
“Surprised you would know of them at all.”
“I’ve had a run-in with spirits once in the past, and that was by accident. If ever given the chance to see a real mummy, don’t have your colleagues touching the tomb to check for clues to their investigations.”
“...Duly noted.”
“Okay, I don’t think it was windigos, they’re usually vicious and congregate more in our lands than outside. Perhaps you saw a púca, they like to teach lessons of humility. Anon, was there anything noticeable about their appearance? If we can narrow down the spirits that are foalnapping the griffons, we might be able to turn this all around and exorcise them.”
“I remember they all had crooked horns on them. Buggy eyes, with a lot of holes taken out of their bodies. Kind of freaky to look at. I noticed wings as well, on top of the weird fangs coming out of their mouths. Their bodies－ Why are you all looking at me like that?”
“Anon, those aren’t ghosts,” Lyra said with a shiver in her voice. “Those are changelings. The griffons are being taken over by changelings.”
~End Chapter Twenty-Six~