Dear Princess Twilight,
I realize that when I sent you that letter a few days ago, I just jumped in without explaining who my friends are. Well, now that I've spent the weekend and the first bit of the school week getting to know them better, I think I should probably fill you in:
Okay, so first. I should get the big one covered. Do you remember the grey and black griffon who followed me after visiting the school? That's Midnight. She has a... rocky history, to say the least.
The same day that I sent the letter to you, she invited me into her dorm room, which was a bit surprising because she had been so quiet at the party the night before. I thought that I might have scared her a bit too much, and that's saying something.
Her dorm room wasn't what I expected. All along the walls were massive religious objects. I know that Griffonstone is the holiest of sites for the Griffonian Empire since it’s the home of the Idol of Boreas, but this was a bit much. And these icons were—how do I put this—twisted? I mean, there was one statue that was a deer skull supported by contorted roots and vines. You can't get much spookier than that!
Well, after my shock—I must have frozen in the doorway, because she pulled me in—she sat down on her bed and started talking. First, she apologized for the look of her room, it's just that her mother may sometimes appear suddenly and she needs to keep up appearances.
Since the Griffonian Empire began restructuring and rebuilding, Griffonstone was one of the top projects by the Emperor's regent. Midnight told me that overnight Eros VII began repurposing the old industrial complexes to begin churning out steel for new skyscrapers.He basically turned the sprawling slums of a dead metropolis into a city rivaling Canterlot! Her family used to be like a lot of the others: homeless scavengers getting by with what they could scrounge up.
When the reconstruction and development began, her dad found work as a grunt worker. It worked for a bit, but then, as griffons sometimes do, they cut corners and someone got hurt. This someone was Midnight's dad, and he didn't make it.
Between sobs, Midnight told me that her dad's death broke her mom. She began praying day in and out to the Griffonian gods that her husband would come back. As days turned to months, her mom became more isolated and unstable. She started dabbling in the occult.
If you didn't know, there are four gods in the Griffonian pantheon. Arcturius, Eyre, and Boreas are worshipped and venerated. There is one more, Maar, whom the Griffons believe controls death and madness. Obviously, they don’t talk about him often.
When Midnight's mom's prayers to the first three went unanswered, she began searching for the underground Maarite cults, and she found them quick.
For years, Midnight watched her mother slowly sink further and further into the cult. At first, it was a few riots or protests. Then it became orgies and other acts. Midnight froze up for a minute after she told me that. Seeing a bunch of guys come in to have "fun" with your mom does wonders for a developing griffon. Eventually, after her mom climbed the ranks, they went further. Kidnapping and maiming innocent griffons, or even flaying their victims alive! They’d sneak into temples to the other gods at night and use the entrails to desecrate them.
Her mom got rich from the cult, and she spent it on everything. A mansion, servants, private carriages, even the new automobile! But Midnight didn’t get (or want) a penny. For years, she scraped up the gold she needed to leave for Equestria, where an aunt helped her apply for the School of Friendship.
I'm still not sure why she told me all this, but she said that she didn't want to hide it. All her life, she’s had to act like she’d follow in her mother’s footsteps. Between a few tears, Midnight added that she just needed somecreature she could tell the truth. She wants to be good and live her own life. Even now, her mom checks in on her to make sure what she’s learning can benefit Maar. That’s why she has to keep all these ornaments and stuff..
As she finished, she started hyperventilating and quickly shooed me out. I know that she has it tough, but Midnight is one of the strongest creatures I know, and I hope she'll be able to sort things out with her mom at some point. Maybe convince her to turn herself in and expose the other evil griffons.
Next up, there's Barnard. Like all yaks, he's big into honoring the family. He told me that he sees all "puny ponies and tiny bird-cats" as family. I still hurt a bit from that group hug.
He knows that something isn't right with Midnight. You can see it in how he treats her. Normally, he’ll stomp up to you and give “best friend big friend hug!” I’ve seen (and experienced) the hugs he gives. Bone-cracking would be a compliment. With Midnight, I don’t think I’ve seen him ever hug her. Maybe a pat on the back or gently wrapping an arm around her, but never a yak hug..
He’ll also do his best to walk past her dorm room quietly. He is a yak, though, so that’s still not very quiet.
As far as I know, she hasn't told anycreature else, but Barnard can tell that she's having problems. These last few days I've seen him go out of his way to help Midnight with some basic stuff that she could have handled just fine. He said that the "tiny bird-cat might go snap" under the weight of the books she was carrying.
I don't know. There isn't much else to say about Barnard. Except, well, to put it bluntly, he isn't too smart. He told me that when he was taking basic math, he got a D. A D! Who gets a D in math that involves counting how many hooves you have? Also, he isn't the best with "fiddly" things, as he likes to call them.
He tried helping Bonfire the other day with some of her homework and managed to break not only the engineering example she was building, but also the table, the door, and the window. I’m glad I wasn’t in Barnard’s hooves at that moment: I could feel the heat of the nirik fire from my dorm room.
Speaking of Bonfire, she is the kirin who hung out with me when you showed me around Ponyville. She's... nice. That's a word for it.
Don't get me wrong, she's a riot. She and Pinkie got into a contest on who could eat the most cupcakes while rubbing their stomachs and patting their heads while reciting the alphabet backwards. Yeah, I know, kind of silly, but they had fun. Then Bonfire tripped and almost set the room on fire. It took a good three minutes to calm her down enough to stop smoldering.
I know I haven’t met many kirins before her, but, well, she fits the stereotype. You could say she has the tiniest bit of a temper problem.
When I was invited into her room, there was a massive wave of smoke that hit me. I guess she had been upset that her favorite music group stopped touring, or something.
Inside her room, she has a lot of different performing equipment. They’re literally stacked to the ceiling. The place would give you nightmares!
Guitars, a piano, costumes, you name it, she probably has it. She told me that back in the kirin lands, she and her aunt, Autumn Blaze, would do all kinds of plays, slam poetry recitals, or concerts for everyone else
Well, after one too many flubs, she may have accidentally set fire to the kirin's theater building. She said that her aunt recommended she come here because she could learn to control her emotions better.
I mean, yesterday she caused the sprinkler system of the school to go off because she got upset over her toast being a bit too crispy. I’ve heard that kirin can have some anger management issues, but I think a book can be written just on her.
I've seen the way Mom looks at her when they pass in the halls . Most of the time it’s one of her patented vein-bulgers. Occasionally if I’m at her place for dinner, I hear her muttering about the expenses caused just by Bonfire.
Apparently, Bonfire has already had to help repair the school a few times, but she doesn't mind, because she can then help entertain the repair ponies as they work.
So, lastly, there's Kaiser Roll. He isn't special. Honest. But he is the absolute cutest sweetest kindest pony you'll meet.
He's poor, Princess. Like, really, really, poor. Poorer than the poorest Griffonstone griffon poor.
Absolutely nothing in his dorm room, save his bed and a small table where he keeps his study books. But you know what? He's happy. When he has nothing to do, he just daydreams about ways to improve ponies' lives. He says his cutie mark is in hayburger flipping, but he was going to go to Canterlot's art school before he decided to go here.
He has almost no free time. Either he’s holed up in his dorm room studying, or he’s at work, at Hay Chewer's Hayburger Palace. It’s not a bad place, actually. The rest of us try to go there when we can to hang out with him.
His parents never had much, and they still scrape by on their paychecks, so he helps where he can between tuition payments. Also, he's a bit, well, odd. He sees things differently than most ponies, I think.
I mean, he complimented me on how my eyes bring out the best working environment for him to concentrate on studying. What? If that isn't odd, then tell me what is, because that is odd.
Anyway, aside from that weird comment, I've seen him notice things about other ponies that nocreature else does until after he points it out. While he doesn't have much, he has already multiple times volunteered to help me adjust to Ponyville again and even offered to help cover any unforeseen expenses from the trip (He does realize that my parents run the school, right? I don't need to worry about money at all). Despite everything that takes up his time and money, he's always willing to help others. I don't think I've met a more adorable generous pony.
So, I think that wraps up the talk of my friends, Princess. Hopefully my rambling didn't bore you: I'm just so excited to finally have some creatures who are genuinely interested in spending time with me! I never realized what I was missing!
Well, obviously you cared about me. And Mom and Dad, in their own way, I suppose. I guess you were right? Maybe staying stuck in Canterlot wasn’t the best for me.
I do have one other thing to write about.
It’s a bit awkward, because it's so minor. I'm sure that you and your friends never had to worry about this when you were in Ponyville. I don't know why I'm writing this, to be honest. I guess because this is a "Friendship Report," as you called it in your last letter?
Anyway, on the last day of the weekend, we were all hanging out in the courtyard of the school, trying to figure out what to do. It was just after lunch, for reference.
Kaiser suggested that we head back to his dorm room and play some Settlers of Ponan. For months he had been saving a bit or two from his paychecks to get it. I suppose the game is popular in Ponyville? I never really understood it.
Bonfire proposed that we see a play that had just come to town, as they were doing a performance in the square in an hour or so.
Barnard said that we should go for a walk outside of town to experience the "pretty flowers and cute, smashable animals." Midnight informed us that a new shipment of art from Manehattan had arrived at the art gallery, and that we should see what the great minds of our time had created.
And me? Oh, you know, Princess, nothing exciting. Everything was so new, so I didn't really care. I think I suggested a movie or something.
Well, it didn't take long for things to devolve. All of us said that we had the best idea and that the others' were worse. At the time, I had the biggest lump in my stomach you could imagine. I felt like I had already torn the five of us apart!
When Bonfire had exploded into her nirik form and was about to pummel Barnard, I realized something and, well, I started laughing. Everycreature stopped and looked at me as I ignored their fighting. Soon, the others began to see how silly we all were and joined in the laughter. Instead of doing any of the things we wanted, we just kept talking in the courtyard. We had already wasted more than an hour arguing, what was a little more talking going to do?
I guess that's something you find out, Princess. So long as you have shared memories with each other, it doesn't matter what you and your friends do. It's those memories that create the bond, not the activity.
Well, I think I've bored you long enough, Princess. I don't plan on writing this long again. I'll write again soon, I hope. If not, school is out for spring break in a couple of weeks, so I already let my parents and friends know that I'm planning to visit you then.
Your faithful student,
Luster Dawn
P.S. Do you know of any anti-kirin sprays? Bonfire constantly smells like smoke, and I swear that it's ingrained itself in my own coat.
P.P.S. Sorry again, Spike.