Ember and Thorax paced around at what they had just witnessed. They felt very bad on seeing these two argue very harshly, especially seeing Greta chasing him to punch right in the face.
“Maybe Gilda was right,” Thorax sighed. “We probably should’ve just stayed out of the way.”
“You can say that again, and now things were going to get worse if we just sit on the sidelines,” Ember stated. “What do we do now?”
Thorax then thought about it for a minute. “The only thing we need to do is to find Gilda and the other two. Greta’s chasing after Garble and was about to beat his tail until he’s dead. Gilda disappeared without us noticing and we don’t know where. If we don’t, then it’ll cause a lot more trouble, and it’ll be neither us, Gilda, or all of us will be responsible for this conflict.”
“You’re right. Where do you think they went?”
“I don’t know, but we’re splitting up. We cannot make situations worse. Who knows what’ll happen next.”
“Right. You know dragons are very deadly when they’re angry. I am not sure about the griffons, but I’ll see if I try to catch them.”
“You do that, and I’ll go find Gilda. She might be still around here.”
“Go ahead. I’ll see you later.”
Ember then spread out her wings and flew out of Griffonstone to find them. She did her best to get to the top speed as she couldn’t see Garble nor Greta anywhere. Feeling that they could be anywhere, she pushed herself to keep going before it was too late. Thorax, meanwhile, had changed back into his griffon form and looked around for Gilda. She wasn’t in the bakery, so Thorax tried finding her in the library. And Gilda wasn’t there either. He tried asking a couple of the other griffons around, but only a few of them have given him proper answers. Most of them ended up telling him along with the lines of ‘buzz off.’ A couple of them were vulgar.
“Gilda?” he called loudly. “Gilda?! Where are you?” He kept searching and searching around the town, even in different corners, and still no sign of her. “Oh, where did she go?”
A little while later, Thorax has reached close to the edge of town, rather close to the cliff. It’s not as wide as the ones in the deserts of Appleoosa. But, it was pretty as deep as a lake, almost like the Abyssal Abyss. This is where he also spotted a brown figure sitting at the edge of the cliff. It was Gilda. He finally found her.
“Gilda,” Thorax yelled, Gilda jumped when she heard her name being called. “There you are!”
She turned around and could see the disguised changeling walking over to her. “Oh, hi Thorax,” she said with a depressed tone. She looked down at the cliff with a deep sigh.
“What happened? I’ve been searching all around Griffonstone just to find you. You vanished without me and Ember noticing.”
“It’s just that…” Her tears start to build up in her eyes. “I couldn’t do it.” She then held both of her claws to her face, covering her eyes.
“Gilda, I understand why it was becoming too much for you.”
“But I kept telling myself to do it,” she wailed, while intensively inhaling and exhaling. And then calmed herself afterward. “When I just saw both of them arguing... I just froze and my instincts told me to run. This cliff is the most deserted part of Griffonstone. It’s the perfect place for someone who wants to be alone.” Thorax walked over to his upset friend and sat beside her.
“I’m sorry for you, this is very hard for you. Then again, I’ve seen harder situations before.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know about Queen Chrysalis, right? The one who’s already turned into a statue with the other two foes?”
“Vaguely. Wasn’t she the ruler of the changelings before you? ”
“Yeah. It wasn’t a pleasant time. Many of us were starving all of the time just because Chrysalis wanted to keep in charge. I hated it. Then, I had enough and I left the hive so I could help bring new hope for them, and to share the love. After traveling to the Crystal Empire and having Spike stand up for me, I went on a misadventure with some other new friends and... Here we are.”
“Sounds a little simplified. What are you getting at?”
“What I’m saying is that you need to push through your worries to get the job done. Equestria would be completely under Chrysalis’s control if I didn’t do that in the first place.” Gilda thought about his words. She looked at the nearby gorge and remember when Dash and Pinkie had visited Griffonstone for the first time. She had to help rescue her rainbow friend and sacrificing the Idol of Boreas to save her.
“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s... Try this again.”
“Okay, but we’re going to have to find them first.”
“...Where did they go?”
“Ember’s finding them. Hope she gets them soon.”
Garble hadn’t been out of the Dragon Lands that often, so he had gotten a little lost. He had no idea that he was flying in the wrong direction and soon found himself flying above some sort of western town. He must be in Appleloosa. “What’s this place?” he asked himself. “Am I lost or something?”
Suddenly, without warning, Greta rammed into the back of the drake. The two of them crash-landed in the middle of the town, dragging the dirt of the road. Several ponies and buffalos in this town, who’ve seen and heard the crash, were in dismay seeing the two creatures landed vigorously, and some of them ran away to prevent themselves from getting hurt from them. They watched the rumble before Greta continued with their fight.
“Why do you think that Gilda would go for you?” she furiously said to him, grabbing his chest with both claws.
“Maybe if she doesn’t bring you up,” Garble replied with the same tone as hers. He suddenly decked the griffon in the face, knocking her off of him. “If you want to get physical, it’s time for you to stop pulling my punches!” He quickly stood up and was about to breathed fire.
Ember, meanwhile, was scanning deeply in the area back at the Dragon Lands as she didn’t find Garble or Greta there. “Not here,” Ember sighed. “I should keep looking. Maybe in other locations.” She began to look at other places in Equestria, like Canterlot, Ponyville, Manehattan, Hippogriffia, Yakyakistan, just to name a few, but to no avail, they’re not there. She doesn’t stop there, she didn’t give up on searching for them.
A little while later, she made it to the desert. And that is when she heard some panicked screams from a mile away. She quickly flew over and arrived at the scene of disaster where Greta was having a hard time against Garble. There’s so much destruction going on there. Everything from crushing barrels, destroying wagons, and hard punches. Ember knew that she needs to think quickly or it’ll get worst. Greta’s best counter was to grab whatever random item she could and toss it back at the drake. More often than not, Garble would catch or destroy whatever item with his fire breath.
“You think just because you two lived in the same home means you’ll automatically be a couple?” he shouted.
“It’s better than living in a place that’s filled with things that could kill her like lava,” Greta responded angrily.
She tossed an empty barrel which bounced and rolled towards the dragon before he stopped it with his foot. He then picked it up and hurled it back to her again. Greta ducked out of the way before it shattered upon impact. Many of the residents of the town quickly grabbed some apple pies as their ammo before tossing them at the dragon and griffon. They landed several shots until Ember landed nearby, making sure she stayed out of the crossfire. Some pies almost splattered her and ran towards the side to take cover. As she takes cover, she then saw one buffalo accompanying the shooters. Ember recognized her, it was Little Strongheart.
“Strongheart?” The little buffalo perked up when she heard her name, and turned to see Ember beside her.
“Ember,” she exclaimed. “What’s going on?”
“I can explain,” Ember spoke. “It’s… something about a love triangle. Look, you just get that griffon over there. The dragon’s all mine.” Strongheart nodded and told some of the buffalos and ponies who to target while Ember ran towards Garble and tackled him to the ground without warning.
“Grh.” Garble groaned. “ Hey! What are you doing?” He was forced onto his chest as Ember stepped on his back while tugging on his arm. This caused a good amount of pain to turn Garble’s anger into fear. “GAH! Uncle!”
“About time,” Ember muttered.
She let go of the drake’s arm as stood on his back and looked towards Greta, who was being bombarded by pies. She quickly grabbed a white scarf she saw lying on the ground and waved it in the air like a flag, telling them that they already surrendered. Both Sheriff Silverstar and Chief Thunderhooves, who’re also accompanying the citizens together with Little Strongheart, saw the scarf she waved.
“Everyone, halt!” Sheriff Silverstar called.
The ponies and buffaloes all heard him and stopped throwing the pies just as he said. Both Sheriff Silverstar and Chief Thunderhooves then walked over to her and looked at her. “I swear I wasn’t planning on this.”
“We believe you,” the chief said. “What I want to know is what we should do with these two.” They looked around at damages the two arguing creatures had caused. Not to mention the pies being thrown left a bigger mess.
“I think I know what they can do.”
Meanwhile, Thorax and Gilda were flying, still looking to see if they could find Greta and Garble. “You found them yet?” the changeling asked.
“Nothing,” the griffon sighed. “Where they could be? I hope they’re okay.”
“Just keep searching.” They both searched everywhere, but still, they can’t find them. That was until Gilda found a town that was in a big mess with scattered wood and splattered pies everywhere. She was in shock.
“Thorax,” Gilda said, calling him. “You might wanna see this.” Thorax then looked down to see what she’s talking about.
“Woah! What happened there?”
“We should take a look.” Curious, the two flew downwards to get a closer look. When they landed, they saw broken material and splattered pies were all over the place. Walking down the aisle, the two found Greta and Garble cleaning up the mess they were responsible for. Sitting by the town saloon, they found Ember and Strongheart enjoying some slices of pie that weren’t splattered.
“Gotta admit, these ponies make a good pie,” the Dragon Lord spoke.
“Yeah, but most of them are relating to the Apple Family,” Strongheart noted.
“I see.” She then could see Gilda and Thorax walking over to them, with the griffon tried to hide in the shadows.
“Hey, Ember,” Thorax said. “What going on here? That’s the huge mess.”
“The town helped me end their fight,” the dragoness explained. “Honestly, I’m surprised this wasn’t all Garble.”
Gilda poked her head out from her hiding spot behind the building. “Hey... Strongheart,” she said meekly.
“Come on, Gilda, we’ve already talked about this,” Thorax said.
“Gah, I know but... I keep getting this feeling. It’s dragging me down.”
“Again, don’t let your emotions hold you back. They’re right over there.” Thorax pointed over to the two creatures that were still mad at each other as they cleaned up.
Gilda took a deep breath before responding. “Okay. Be sure to stop me if my body starts to run.”
“Got it,” both Thorax and Ember said. Swallowing her pride, the griffon stepped towards the two creatures who she had been worried about meeting together in the first place.
Greta and Garble could only stare daggers at each other until Gilda slowly walked over to them. “Hey... guys,” she said meekly. The two gave a low brow at the griffon before she spoke again. “Listen, I know you’ll not believe me, but I wasn’t even planning on dating both of you. You were the ones who jumped at the fact that you both had crushes on me and decided to fight to see who got to be my date. I got so distressed because I have to choose neither one of you, and I knew that you’ll be upset if I didn’t. And now look at this,… Appleloosa became a sweet battlefield full of apple pies and broken barrels. Please, you guys, what’s the point of brawling with each other just for the one who’s very close on your side? I’m still your close companion.”
The two creatures look at each other realizing that their friend was right. “Yeah, you’re right,” Garble sighed. “Not our best moments.”
Greta knew that she was right. “Uh-huh,” she sighed as well, “We were kind of dumb for doing this.”
“Sorry for dragging you into this Greta.”
“Nah, I’m the one who started this mess. I was just very mad.” Both of them looked towards Gilda, knowing there was still an elephant in the room. “So... about the dating.”
“Uh-huh,” Gilda said. She looked between the griffon and dragon feeling a little unsure. Ember was watching this with Thorax and Strongheart, the dragon lord looked like she ready to pounce.
“Hold on, Gilda, before you say anything, let me speak first,” Garble said. “Since you, Greta, and I have been together longer, I think you should date her.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’d be better if we are just friends.”
“You really think so?”
“Yep. It’s probably for the best. I mean... We’re quite a distance apart and I don’t think we’d do well if we stayed at each other's home.”
“Right. I don’t like the idea of getting burned.” Both of them turned their attention to Greta, who remained a bit silent throughout this. She just smiled as she continued with the cleanup. “Don’t you have anything to say?”
“Sure do,” Greta replied. “The sooner we get this finished, the sooner we can go home.”
“Sounds good to me,” Garble commented. He went back to picked up broken debris while Greta resumed with the splattered pie. Gilda thought it would be a good idea to give them a claw to speed up the process.
“Is she allowed to do that?” Thorax asked.
“We never said anyone could help them,” Strongheart said. “Nobody here wanted to, however.” Ember offered the rest of her pie to Thorax, who accepted the offer.
“So, you sure you’re going to be okay, Garble?” Greta asked.
“I think so,” the drake responded. “Besides, I think there’s someone else in the dragon lands that might need some help.”
In the Dragon Lands, Prominence was doing some target practice. Some other dragons were there and even to them, the dragoness was quite violent. She completely obliterated every target in her sight followed by the sound of her low growling. A few of the dragons were tempted to stay away from her. Spear and Flicker both looked towards the angry dragoness with the white and pink one hiding behind the blonde and purple one.
“Relax, she probably doesn’t want anything to do with us,” Spear stated.
A few moments later, Garble and Ember landed nearby, along with Thorax and the griffons. “Hey, guys, I’m back,” Garble said.
“There you are, Garble. What took you so long?”
“We... Had a bit of a fight,” Greta explained. “Both verbally and physically. It didn’t end well for either of us. Long story short, pies are surprisingly good weapons.” Both of Garble’s friends were pretty confused by this.
“Long story,” Garble said. “I’ll tell you later.” He looked past his friends to see Prominence letting out her anger. “How long has been like that?”
“About five minutes after you left,” Fizzle explained. Bits of rumble landed beside him as the dragoness had blown up another boulder.
“I’m going to talk with her.”
“Whoa, dude, do you want to lose your spine?” Spear questioned.
“Well, if I do I’m going to, at least try to make sure nobody else will lose theirs.” Garble bravely walked towards the fuming dragoness. Prominence looked at him and looked like she had a vein showing.
“What do you want?” she yelled.
“...Just to talk,” Garble said. “I understand that Spear didn’t want to take you back. I technically had a breakup myself. Someone I was trying to go for was already taken.”
“How’d you take it then?”
“Similar to you. I got into a fight with the girl who beat me to the punch.” Prominence looked a little puzzled from this claim. “They’re both girls.”
“...So, those two girls are dating each other?”
“Pretty much. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that. Heck, Fizzle admitted he’s like that.”
Overhearing the conversation, Ember, Thorax and the griffons looked at the white drake, who blushed from the embarrassment. “Good for you,” Greta said.
“So it didn’t work out with Spear, but I had the same luck with Gilda over there. Either you can keep up this kind of attitude or you catch a breath and try again.”
Prominence crossed her arms in a huff but thought about what was just said. “Okay, I’ll give it a shot,” she grumbled.
"That's the spirit. Listen, I think I know a few bits of poetry that could help calm you down. Think that'll help?"
"Be my guest." Her tone depicted that she was still upset but still she followed Garble as they went to get his gear.
"I say our work here is done," Ember commented.
"Looks like it," Thorax said. "I should really get back home."
"Us too," Greta spoke. "We probably shouldn't have let the bakery unattended."
Gilda realized her mistake. "Uh... Yeah," she said, "Bye guys." She quickly took off back to Griffonstone as Greta followed shortly behind. She caught up with her fellow griffon and held her talon. Gilda blushed.
"Listen, Gilda, I'm sorry for acting like that. It was pretty immature."
"No, it's fine. I just... Didn't understand how I didn't find out about this until now."
"Maybe I should've just told you how I felt instead of just chickening out." Greta sighed as her friend gave a sympathetic grin.
"We all make mistakes. As long as we learn from them, they're okay." Gilda nuzzled up against the griffon holding her talon as they both blushed while they flew home.