The sun had just peeked over the horizon when the dirigible Golden Talon started on-boarding its passengers. The ship was the star of the Griffon air-ship fleet. It had three decks, the lowest one serving as a launching and landing strip for Pegasi and Griffins who wished to stretch their wings. Luxurious cabins and private berths for day-trippers made up the middle deck while an enormous dining hall that served both meat and vegetarian dishes was located on the top deck. Most of the passengers were Unicorns just out for a floating tour of Equestria and its borders. Some were Pegasi heading to the mountains of Yakyakistan for some extreme skiing. For one little brown Earth filly it was the trip of a lifetime.
“Bye, Sugarcube!” Applejack hugged Cinnamon Roll tightly as a thin line of tears ran down her face. “We’re gonna miss you somethin’ fierce!”
“I’ll miss ya’ll, too,” the filly whispered, wiping her own eyes.
“Bye, baby girl,” Spike murmured hoarsely as he joined the hug. He glanced over at Gulliand who stood nearby. “You take good care of her now, you hear?”
“Yes, sir. I will,” the griffin promised.
“Bye, Sis,” said Cinnamon Stick gruffly. His mouth wobbled slightly. “Take care of yourself.”
Dinky hugged her neck. “You and Gulliand will do great. I just know it!”
Apple Bloom and the other CMCs hugged and kissed her cheeks. “Take care, now. And don’t forget to write.”
Prism, the Tri-Pies, and Gemstone piled in for a ginormous hug.
“Take care, darling.”
“You’ll do great, kid.”
“Don’t forget us! Pinkie Promise you WON’T FORGET US!” shrieked Cherry Pie.
Cinnamon Roll rolled her eyes and made the motions. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I will NEVER forget you girls! And thank you all for the gifts! They are amazing!”
“And heavy,” a Pegasus porter grunted as he dragged Cinnamon and Gulliand’s bags to the luggage trailer. “Sheesh! Sweet Mother of Celestia, what you packin’, iron skillets?”
“Yes, actually,” said Gulliand stepping over to help. He picked up the heavy bags with one claw and laid them neatly on the trailer. “Three cast iron skillets, two cast iron cornbread molds, four stainless steel mixing bowls, and one iron pot for cooking gumbo.”
“That one was from Mom,” said Blueberry. “She loved your gumbo.”
“It was the best she’d ever tasted,” attested Raspberry.
“You are the Gumbo Griffin!” squealed Cherry.
Gulliand blushed as his sisters snickered behind him.
“All aboard!” the conductor called. “The Golden Talon will be leaving port in five minutes!”
“Goodbye, everyone,” cried Cinnamon Roll turning towards the gangplank. “I love you all!”
“WAIT!”
Cinnamon felt someone grab her back legs. She looked back and found Applespike, his front hooves wrapped tightly around her knees, tears pouring down his face.
“Don’t go!” he wailed. “I don’t want ya to go! Pa, please make her staaaaaaaaaay!”
Cinnamon swallowed a lump in her throat as tears spilled from her eyes. Spike stepped forward and gently pried his youngest son away. In spite of his being sixteen and nearly grown, Applespike clung to his father like a foal, sobbing into his shoulder.
“Come on, Cherie,” Gulliand murmured in Cinnamon’s ear. Nodding, the brown filly quickly walked up the gangplank onto the ship. A few moments later, the magically propelled engines buzzed to life and the enormous airship lifted into the air. Cinnamon Roll ran to the railing watching the dizzying sight of the earth quickly dropping away. A unicorn mare standing next to her screamed in fear, but the little Earth filly was not affected. Years of flying on a griffin’s back had taken away her fear of heights.
“Are you all right?” asked Gulliand, sidling up beside her.
“Yeah,” said Cinnamon leaning her head into his feathery neck. “I’m sad about leavin’ my friends and folks but I’m excited to be goin’ to Griffinstone!”
Gulliand lifted her head with a talon. “So am I, Cherie,” he whispered softly before claiming her mouth in a tender kiss.
Gidget and Gigi cocked their heads like a pair of curious parrots, watching as their brother made out with his fillyfriend.
“I don’t know how they do it,” muttered Gigi. “She doesn’t have a beak. Hey! Get a berth you two!” she yelled at the couple.
Gulliand didn’t break the kiss though he did make a rude gesture with his middle talon.
“You better be glad Mother’s not here,” said Gidget walking over to slap her brother’s shoulder. “I can hear he now: ‘Only low-class griffins make vulgar gestures like that!’”
“Where is your mother?” asked Cinnamon Roll. “I haven’t seen her since we got on board.”
“Resting,” replied Gigi with a shrug. “She rented a private berth for the trip so she could take a nap.”
“Really?” Gulliand’s golden eyes widened in surprise. “I can’t believe Mother actually paid extra for a private berth!”
“We couldn’t either,” Gidget agreed with a snicker. “Until we found out private berths come with certain... amenities.”
“Amenities?”
“Oh, you know: comfy blanket, pillows, drinks, snacks…private massage…”
“WHOA! WHAT?” Gulliand cried.
“Oh, yes! A private masseuse is part of the package. I hear he’s he’s in high demand among the…winged kind.” Said Gidget, waggling her eyebrows suggestively.
Gulliand screwed up his face in disgust as he tried to block that image. “EWW!” He shook out his claws as if he had stepped in something foul. “Just... EWW!”
“Well,” said Cinnamon, trying to save the situation. “At least your Mother is enjoying herself.”
“Yeah,” said Gigi. “And we don’t have to worry about her bothering us for the rest of the trip. Let’s enjoy ourselves for a while!”
“Sounds good to me,” put in Gidget. “What do you want to do?”
“How about we take a flight over the plain?” asked Gulliand. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to really stretch my wings.”
“That sounds good to me,” said Gigi brightly. Suddenly her face fell. “Oh, I forgot. Cinnamon Roll can’t fly.”
“That is alright. I can carry her on my back.” Gulliand knelt in front of his fiancée.
“That’s alright,” said Cinnamon shaking her head. “You three go on ahead. I’ll be all right here.”
“Are you sure?” asked Gulliand. "I would hate to leave you all alone."
“Yes, Sweetheart,” said Cinnamon giving the griffin a peck on the end of his beak. “You haven’t seen your sisters in a long time. Go spend some time with them. I’ll just stay here and explore the ship. I've been meaning to talk to the chefs here anyway. ”
“Thank you, Cherie,” he murmured, giving her a nuzzle.
The three griffins ran to the launching pad.
“Your fiancée is really nice,” said Gigi smiling.
“Yeah,” Gidget agreed. “I really like her.”
“Thank you.”
At a signal from a Pegasus traffic controller, the three leaped from the launch pad. The griffins allowed themselves to drop several feet before unfurling their massive wings and soaring up into sky. They circled the ship, waving to Cinnamon as they passed, before darting ahead of the blimp’s planned flight path. There were a few Pegasi and a couple of griffins out but everyone kept their distance. Gulliand sighed in delight.
“Sacre Bleu Cheese!” he exclaimed. “It feels wonderful to be able to fly free!”
“I thought you had plenty of chances to fly in Canterlot,” said Gigi. “Especially with it sitting on the side of a mountain.”
Gulliand shook his head. “Too much traffic in Canterlot. Always worried I might hit a Pegasus or worse, one of the castle’s swans out for a fly. The sky over the valley wasn’t bad but you still had a lot of traffic.”
He soared straight up then hovered in midair before allowing himself to drop from the sky. “Wheeeeeeeeee!”
The sisters followed behind, shaking their heads at their older brother’s antics. After a while the three found themselves flying in an easy formation, gliding on the thermals with just a little flap to keep up their momentum. Gulliand glanced at his sisters, one on each side of him.
“So,” he said conversationally. “Father’s in the Changeling Lands now.”
“Yeah,” said Gigi simply.
“Any idea why he was transferred?”
Gigi winced. “Not really,” she admitted. “But word is a certain Yakyakistani official requested that he be removed and placed… somewhere else.”
“Somewhere else?”
Gidget chuckled darkly. “I believe he suggested... Tartarus.”
“Ugh! Not again!” Gulliand groaned. “Let me guess, this yak caught Father nesting with his wife or daughter. UGH! You would have thought he’d learned his lesson after that affair in Abyssinia.”
“I know!” cried Gigi. “The doctor still claims that was the worst case of Cat Scratch Fever he’d ever seen.”
Gidget smirked. “He’s lucky that Yak just got him expelled. Otherwise the last words he’d have heard was ‘YAK SMASH!’”
The girls giggled derisively, but Gulliand shook his head in disgust. Their father was a skilled diplomat, but his philandering ways had made him a source of embarrassment. Their mother, acting as a good diplomat’s wife, pretended to turn a blind eye to his exploits, but her children knew his betrayal cut her deeply.
“Well,” he said bitterly. “I suppose that explains why he did not come for the graduation. I thought he stayed away because of my engagement to Cinnamon Roll.”
Gigi looked away guiltily. “Um…Yeah…about that….”
Gulliand looked at her sharply. “What?”
“He…well…he…doesn’t know about it.”
“WHAT?”
“You better sit down for this,” said Gidget guiding them to a large cloud. As the three settled down, Gulliand turned so he faced both sisters squarely.
“All right, you two, start talking,” he growled. “What do you mean by Father doesn’t know?”
“Well, Father returned from Yakyakistan about a week before your letter arrived,” said Gigi rubbing her claws together nervously. “He was really angry about being asked to leave.”
“Even though he deserved it,” huffed Gidget, angrily.
“We were walking on eggshells the whole time he was home,” Gigi continued. “Mother especially. You know how mean he treats her when he’s angry.”
“I do,” Gulliand growled, clenching his fists. While their father never laid a claw on his wife, that didn't stop him from making fun of her and insulting her to her face. “So…what happened then?”
Gigi shrugged. “A few days later, the Consulate sent word that Father was to be transferred to the Changeling Lands. The former head ambassador there had decided to retire so they sent Father to replace him. Your letter arrived just after he left.”
“And Mother hasn’t written to him, I see,” sighed Gulliand. He flopped on his back and stared up at the sky. “Sacre Bleu Cheese, what a mess! I’m guessing if Father doesn’t know then Grandmother LeGrande is also in the dark!”
“Of course, she is,” snorted Gidget. “You know she and Mother are not on speaking terms. Not since Mother lost her temper and called Grammy an old buzzard.”
Gulliand closed his eyes and pressed his talons against the bridge of his beak. “So, Grandmother is letting me have this property to build my restaurant and she doesn’t know that I am marrying a pony? I was hoping we were already past this point. UGH!”
“Look on the bright side,” chirped Gidget. “You’re both great chefs. I’ll bet if you and Cinnamon Roll do really well with that restaurant and make a lot of bits, Grandmother won’t mind a little pony in the gene pool.”
“I hope so,” sighed Gulliand. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
The three siblings lay on the cloud in peaceful silence, feeling the warmth of the morning sun soaking into their feathers. In the distance the dirigible droned on, the sound of its whirring engine like a soft hum.
“I wonder how Father likes it in the Changeling Lands,” Gigi mused after a while. “I’ll bet it’s not as extreme as Yakyakistan.”
Gidget grunted. “He’s probably nesting with the Queen right now,” she growled.
“Oh, I don’t think so,” replied Gulliand, chuckling darkly. “I happen to know that Queen Bellatrix is happily married.”
“So?” snorted Gidget. “That never stopped Father before.”
“This might,” Gulliand let a malicious grin crawl across his beak. “Her husband is a Minotaur.”
“WHAT?” Both girls sat up on the cloud and stared down at their brother. “Queen Bellatrix of the Changelings is married to a Minotaur?
Gulliand nodded smugly.
“You’re lying!”
Gulliand shook his head.
“Well…why haven’t we heard about it?” demanded Gigi. “A royal marriage is a big deal.”
Gulliand shrugged. “The groom did not belong to a royal family so there were no big announcements made. And the ceremony was a private affair held at the hive with few outsiders in attendance.”
"Really," Gidget narrowed her eyes at her brother. “And you know this…how?”
“Well, remember that pink pony with the lollipop eyes from dinner yesterday?”
“You mean Discord’s kid? Yeah, so?”
Gulliand paused before dropping his bombshell.
“Queen Bellatrix is her sister-in-law.”
His sisters gasped in unison.
“Get outta here!” yelled Gidget, giving her brother a hard shove.
“It’s the truth!” Gulliand laughed as he fended off his irate sister. “I’ve met her husband. He’s an actual Changeling Prince. He was supposed to succeed his mother Chrysalis to the throne, but he abdicated in favor of his sister Bellatrix so he could be with the mare he loved.”
“Wow,” Gigi murmured. “That sounds like the story of that Bitian King Deadwood and his wife Wallflower!”
“If it’s true, Father will be in a real bind” snorted Gidget, “I’ve heard Minotaurs are very temperamental and very protective of their families.”
The three settled back down on the cloud, each imaging (and enjoying) the idea of their father getting his just deserts from a Minotaur. After a moment, Gulliand broke the silence.
"Have either of you seen the property Grandmother LeGrande is giving me?" he asked. "Mother just said it was near the market place."
"Yeah, we've seen it," said Gidget. "It's pretty big. Used to belong to a wealthy merchant who died without an heir. Don't know what it looks like on the inside, but it does need a new roof and most of the windows replaced."
"That shouldn't be a problem," said Gulliand with a shrug. "I've got the bits to fix it up and Cinnamon Roll knows all about tools from working on the farm. Until then, we'll be living at the mansion with you."
"Yeah," murmured Gigi, looking away. "About that..."
"What?" asked Gulliand, looking at her sharply.
Gigi nibbled her beak. "Well...I wasn't sure if you knew, but...you see...
"Yes?
His sister sighed. "Uncle George is living with us again."
Gulliand's beak fell open in horror. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"