Still wheezing somewhat as he continued to recover from his near-strangling, Gallus stared at Gruff standing in the entry for a long moment, shocked to see the elderly griffon. But finally, as his brain caught up, he quickly snatched Garrett’s fallen dagger and brandished it at Gruff while scooting further away from him. This show of aggression didn’t really faze Gruff though, who only raised a single eyebrow as if to silently ask “really?”
Gallus nevertheless kept the dagger pointed at him, albeit somewhat shakily due to his limbs still regaining their strength. At the moment, all he could think about was how Gruff had to be involved in all of this too, and as such he didn’t want to underestimate him until he was certain what side Gruff was really on. Gruff, apparently thinking this should be self-evident, was content to let Gallus do so with the clear expectation that he’d figure it out himself. In the meantime, he likewise took in Gallus with his good eye, otherwise making no move towards him except to continue to stand there expectantly.
“Why is your face red?” he finally asked pointedly, not so much out of confusion but rather chagrin.
Gallus put his claws to his face, remembering abruptly he still had the inks rubbed into portions of his coat. He chose to return Gruff’s earlier “really?” expression and otherwise not respond, more interested in figuring out Gruff’s game. He still held his longbow, but he hadn’t drawn back the notched arrow to fire and he’d even lowered it from being at the ready. Really, Gruff was just being oddly casual, like all the other times Gallus had encountered him, and didn’t seem to be in too much of a hurry to move on to…whatever the next step after shooting Garrett was supposed to be.
Which finally did get Gallus to pause—if anything, Gruff had effectively signaled he was here to help, not hinder, but he still wasn’t sure he was ready to trust Gruff like that.
Gruff, meanwhile, had begun surveying the rest of the room. He motioned to Spike still lying limply where he’d fallen. “You want to go check on him now?” he prompted, in the sort of tone suggesting Gallus really shouldn’t need the reminder.
But reminder it was, and Gallus’s heart suddenly leapt in concern for the dragon. Keeping his eyes on Gruff as a precaution, he crawled over to Spike and quickly looked him over. He had an obvious bruise on his head and was still unconscious, but had a strong and healthy pulse and stirred faintly at Gallus’s touch, so he hoped that meant Spike would be okay and maybe even wake soon. That done, Gallus returned his full attention back to Gruff only to see that, except for his gaze continuing to follow him, Gruff still hadn’t moved.
“Where have you been this whole time?” Gallus finally asked him in a croak, the best his still-sore throat could do at the moment.
Gruff’s response was typically unenlightening. “I could ask you the same thing, boy.”
Annoyed, Gallus was considering if it was really worth his time pressing the matter when the hallway door suddenly burst open and Ditzy raced in, covered with bits of plaster and a few scratches but otherwise unhurt. She needed only one look at the state of affairs in the room before whirling her crossbow onto Gruff. “Drop your weapon,” she ordered, sternly gazing at him with her eyepatch-free eye.
Gruff, who had whipped up his longbow the same moment Ditzy had, maintained his aim. “You first, pony,” he challenged back.
“I said drop your weapon!” Ditzy stressed again anyway. She was clearly in no mood for games. “We know there are griffons in this conspiracy.”
“And I know there are ponies in it too,” Gruff countered.
Ditzy’s gaze narrowed, catching the implication. “Not this pony,” she stressed before repeating her earlier order. “Now drop your weapon before I make you drop it.”
“Not unless I shoot you first,” Gruff threatened back.
“You would be assaulting a member of the Equestrian Night Guard then.”
If anything, that only made Gruff more resolute. “That seems like a plus to me.”
So Ditzy attempted a different approach. “Look, I’d rather no one be shot here, but I’ll do what I must so to protect Gallus and Spike.”
“Funny, that’s what I’m here to do too.” Gruff’s tone was sarcastic. He tilted his head at Ditzy, clearly unwilling to trust her. “So how do I know you aren’t pretending so to get close enough to kill them yourself?”
“Because she was the one who shot down the airship that brought him here,” Gallus swiftly interjected on Ditzy’s behalf, pointing at Garrett’s corpse with his empty paw. “And we were with her for hours before then without problem. If she really wanted to harm us, she would’ve done so ages ago.”
“Then where was she when he had you by the throat, hmm?” Gruff asked of Gallus, likewise jabbing his head at Garrett’s body.
“I was making sure there weren’t any other survivors to worry about on that airship,” Ditzy explained, her gaze hard. “There aren’t, by the way, but when I noticed one of the three that were supposed to be aboard was missing, I realized one of them must’ve escaped without my noticing and hurried back here.”
“By which point they both probably would be dead if I hadn’t intervened,” Gruff noted pointedly.
Ditzy took a deep breath. “Then it was a good thing that you were here,” she relented in an attempt to show favor.
Gruff tilted his head at her in mild puzzlement, clearly not expecting the compliment.
It was then that Spike suddenly came to with a gasp, before immediately wrapping both arms around his aching skull with a groan. “Easy, easy,” Gallus said gently as he helped the dragon sit up, setting down Garrett’s dagger in the process—he trusted Ditzy would keep him covered now. “You took a pretty good hit to the head there.”
“You’re telling me,” Spike grumbled before taking in the unsavory situation with widening eyes. “…what happened?” he managed to ask with notable alarm, particularly once he saw what had happened to the commodore.
“Helped save your butts, for one thing,” Gruff grumbled, keeping his working eye on Ditzy.
“Look,” Ditzy attempted to reason at this point. “We can’t afford to stay in this standoff forever and you know it. But it’s looking to me like we both might be on the same side anyway.”
“Prove it by dropping your weapon,” Gruff challenged, undeterred.
“Not until you drop yours,” Ditzy stressed, “Because at the moment, you’re the only one who hasn’t proved that assessment’s right.”
Gruff snorted. “And what in Grover’s name is keeping you from thinking I haven’t already?” he asked.
So Gallus answered for him with a question of his own. “You knew…didn’t you, Gruff?” His tone was dark and unforgiving. “You knew why all this is happening, yet you told no one.”
Gruff’s eyes narrowed somewhat. “I have my reasons,” he replied.
“I’d love to hear what they are,” Ditzy remarked.
“I’m not telling you anything, pony.”
“Oh, I’ll get you to talk one way or another,” Ditzy promised severely. “The real question is, will you do it in that gravelly baritone of yours…” she abruptly lowered her aim so to point much, much, lower on Gruff’s torso. “…or will you do it in high soprano?”
To his credit, Gruff managed to mostly keep himself from reacting to that threat, but Gallus couldn’t help noticing him cross his hindlegs protectively.
“The point is, Gruff,” Ditzy continued, “I’m not leaving these two until I see this is all safely over. The only way you will be able to change that is if you shoot me, but I guarantee that won’t do anything to win you any trust. No matter what, you’re going to be stuck with me, so if you want in…you need to earn it first.”
Gruff scowled, but at the same time Gallus could see the gears whirling behind his working eye. Finally, with a huff, Gruff relented and slowly lowered his bow again. In response, Ditzy did likewise. They continued to stare each other down to ensure it’d stay that way for a minute longer, but finally Ditzy turned her attention from him and onto Gallus and Spike beside her.
“You two okay?” she asked as she sat down so to look Spike over.
Gallus had been pawing at his throat again, still sore but slowly recovering. “Shaken, but I’ll live,” he concluded finally.
Spike was still holding his skull. “My head still aches but I think it’s getting better,” he reported while Ditzy looked him over. He eyed Garrett’s graphically dead body. “Can’t help but feel like I missed something, though,” he said in a very weak attempt to make light of the situation, but there wasn’t any feeling to it. Gallus felt pity for the poor dragon, being witness to his second death in as many days.
“If it helps, I was late to the party too,” Ditzy nevertheless played along, holding open each of Spike’s eyes in turn and peering into them, watching how his pupils responded. She hummed approvingly. “Well, you don’t seem to be showing any signs of a concussion or other serious head trauma, so hopefully that means the worst you got is just that bump on the head.” She grinned optimistically. “That dragon skull seems to have pulled through for ya, huh?”
Spike attempted to return the grin but it was half-hearted. He kept rubbing at his head. “Sure doesn’t feel like it,” he admitted while letting her help him stand, doing so rather shakily.
“Can you walk?” Ditzy asked next once he was on his feet. “There’s no way our little fireworks show went unseen, so it won’t be long before we have swarms of griffons sweeping in to investigate. And since I’d rather keep you both out of the public spotlight, we’re going to need somewhere else to hide out.”
“I know of a place,” Gruff suddenly spoke up. When the others turned to look questioningly at him, he continued. “It’s empty, secluded, and barely anyone should know it’s out there. I can lead you to it.”
Gallus didn’t buy it. “And how do we know you wouldn’t be leading us into a trap?” he demanded before Ditzy could speak, which earned him an annoyed glance but she otherwise didn’t interrupt.
Gruff answered by unexpectedly putting his longbow and quiver of arrows on the floor and sliding both over to Ditzy, raising his talons in casual surrender. “Because you will be the ones with the weapons, not me,” he said. He gave Ditzy in particular a pointed look. “You said I needed to prove I can be trusted. Is this proof enough for you?”
Ditzy scooped up the surrendered weapons and looped them over her shoulder. “It’s a good start,” she admitted, sticking with her crossbow as her weapon of choice. “I assume you’ll lead the way while we follow?”
Gruff nodded, so since he was being unexpectedly cooperative, Gallus added another condition. “And then you’ll sit down and explain everything?” he grilled.
Gruff gave Gallus a look he couldn’t quite interpret. “I suppose I’ll have to,” he relented, and nodded his agreement to this too.
Ditzy motioned everyone to get ready. “Then I think we shouldn’t delay any longer.”
They took only long enough to collect Spike’s backpack with their evidence, Ditzy’s transponder, the box of rations, and the communications beetle in its charger before fleeing. The rest of Ditzy’s equipment they had to leave behind, Ditzy admitting she didn’t like doing so but knew it’d take too long to try and move it all out themselves in the scant amount of time they undoubtedly had.
“Besides,” she reasoned as they departed out the embassy’s back door, “with a little luck, any other conspirators who come looking for us may see we did that, think that meant we didn’t flee far, and keep searching in the wrong areas for us.”
Gallus personally thought that was wishful thinking, but agreed there wasn’t time to waste trying either way. They barely had enough time to grab what they did as it was, for the embassy grounds were still within their sight when a griffon patrol airship arrived—no doubt drawn by the column of smoke the downed airship was still putting off, easily visible from just about anywhere in Griffonstone, even in the twilight that had now settled on the land. Gallus further knew that the only reason it’d taken even that long for any griffon to come investigate was probably because most griffons liked to ignore anything deemed not their problem, which on this occasion worked to their advantage—had this happened in Equestria, the embassy probably would’ve been swarmed by concerned ponies almost immediately after shooting down that airship.
Nevertheless, they escaped the embassy without notice, and once off the embassy grounds, Gruff took the lead to silently guide them to their mysterious destination. Gallus still wasn’t sure he wanted to trust him like this, but he felt better about it knowing that Ditzy could shoot him at a moment’s notice, even if she seemed more willing to give Gruff the benefit of the doubt for now. But Gruff seemed to be pulling through, leading them straightaway out past Griffonstone’s eastern border where more trees grew and using that foliage as added cover. He then started leading them gradually to the south via meandering and scarcely used forest paths. Other than to give them instructions on where to go, he didn’t speak much. But then they all didn’t, probably out of an abundance of caution.
Still recovering from his blow to the head, Spike spent around half the hike riding on Gallus’s back, Gallus’s way of letting him recuperate in peace. But eventually Spike felt well enough to jump off and start walking under his own power. He seemed fine, but Gallus kept a discreet eye on him anyway. He himself was still feeling a bit shaken from the close call with Commodore Garrett, and as much as he hated admitting it, he couldn’t help but shudder in fear at what would’ve happened had Gruff not intervened when he did. Interestingly, Gallus found himself less worried about what would’ve happened to himself and more about Spike. The kid had already been through far more than he should’ve and barely deserved the fate he currently faced even now, so he could only hope they were indeed being led somewhere they could get away from that, if just for Spike’s sake.
Though he came to question even that once Gruff started leading them down another, even less used, path forking off the one they’d been following for the past several minutes. “This way,” the elderly griffon grunted as he started up the small and gradual incline the path went over.
Ditzy and Spike obediently followed him without objections. Gallus, however, stopped dead in his tracks, suddenly struck with an almost overwhelming sense of dread as he stared at the path. The others managed to get a good couple of feet ahead of him before noticing he’d stopped and turned to look back at him in puzzlement.
“Is there something wrong, Gallus?” Ditzy asked.
“We can’t go that way,” Gallus replied reflexively, continuing to stare at the path.
“What?” Spike asked. “Why not?”
Gallus suddenly realized he didn’t know. “It’s…it’s too dangerous.”
“Codswallop!” Gruff declared, “Nobody ever goes down this path. I don’t think any griffons even know it’s out here anymore except for me.”
“Look, I can’t explain it, all right?” Gallus snapped, frustrated. “I just…whenever I look at that path, I get this sense that there’s…something really bad at the end of it.”
The others exchanged confused looks. “Gruff, what’s out here in these woods anyway?” Ditzy asked, turning concerned.
Gruff shrugged. “Nothing out of the normal,” he said, “Really just trees and the usual woodland critters. Squirrels, mice, rabbits, raccoons…all of which are easy prey for griffons. Been out here hunting for them myself loads of times over the years, so shouldn’t be anything we can’t handle.”
Gallus wasn’t convinced. “Then why are we out here?” he challenged Gruff and flung a paw down the path ahead of them. “What’s even at the end of this, Gruff?”
To his surprise, the look Gruff gave him was almost sad. “For you,” he replied solemnly, “home.”
A chill went down Gallus’s spine at that and now his feelings became a lot more mixed, unsure how he should respond. It was at least enough to urge him forward again, albeit reluctantly. The feeling that he was for some reason endangering himself going down this path didn’t go away—in fact, it only slowly grew the further they went—but it was also soon joined by an extremely surreal sense of déjà vu, like he’d seen this path before. And yet it also seemed jarringly unfamiliar too, like he hadn’t seen it before, or rather, like significant things had changed about it since he last saw it. The closest he could think to describe the sensation was to compare it to walking into a house you had lived in your whole life after it had been extensively remodeled—there were parts that still seemed immediately familiar, but also others that seemed completely different.
So it seemed with this path, and Gallus kept getting struck with sensations like the foliage was growing too thick around the path, or that the path should be more worn than it was. It was leaving Gallus with so many crossed wires in his head he felt like he was on the verge of a panic attack trying to process it all. His heart was pounding in his chest, he was covered in a cold sweat, and he had to make a concentrated effort not to hyperventilate. It was so bad that everyone else, even Gruff, kept shooting him worried looks, unsure if he could really take this. But they pressed on anyway, and only a few short minutes later they arrived at a sharp turn in the path where it opened into a small, artificially deforested, clearing.
There, nestled cozily in the middle of it, was a modest two-story cottage-like house with a veranda-like front porch, all built of plain wooden walls likely coming from the very trees that were cut down to make room for it. It seemed to be a good number of years old and bore a worn look to match, but it was otherwise intact and perfectly livable. It, in fact, seemed to be in better condition overall than the average house in Griffonstone. Yet it was clearly dark and vacant, and one had the immediate impression no one was living in the house, at least not regularly.
And the sight of it only redoubled Gallus’s overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
“This is it,” Gruff announced as they arrived, marching right up to the front door while the others continued to take in the exterior. Pulling out a key from a well-hidden cranny somewhere on its porch, he used it to unlock the door and allow them to enter.
Here, Ditzy resumed taking the lead again. She stopped long enough to pile up what they had brought with them on the floor before instructing Gallus and Spike to wait there in the living room while she quickly made sure the house was truly secure. She took Gruff along with her—she didn’t explain why, but it seemed clear it was to keep him close just in case he really had led them into a trap. Gruff did not object however, and seemed content enough to humor her.
Left to themselves for the moment then, Gallus and Spike silently stood in the living room, taking in their new surroundings. The mood was uneasy and the tension thick—Gallus sensed a turning point in this affair was imminent, which did not help with his ongoing feelings of recognition he couldn’t quite place about the whole building, especially now that he was standing inside of it.
And now even Spike looked to be sensing the same thing as he turned around and around, taking in the room with a visibly anxious look. There wasn’t all that much to see, for the furniture had been covered up with white cloth to protect it from years of disuse, and most of the smaller things that probably once decorated the tables and shelves had all been packed away in boxes, stacked up in the corners where they were mostly out of the way. Nevertheless, it didn’t take long for Spike to piece it together.
“Gallus,” he breathed in awe finally, breaking the silence once he was certain, “I recognize this room.” He looked at the griffon. “You can see it in the background in several of the pictures in the photo album.” One paw hesitantly reached around to his backpack containing said album, silently debating whether or not to pull it out to compare.
Gallus, meanwhile, had already reached the same conclusion, but found his déjà vu ran far, far, deeper than that. He had the sense of recognition for this place not because he’d seen it in a photo album…he suspected it was because he had actually lived here once, years now long past. And being here was starting to dredge long forgotten memories back near the top of his mind…though never quite enough to break the surface, as Gallus still had the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach that there was a reason he had the overwhelming sense something terrible had transpired here. Something his mind had spent most of his life wanting to forget.
“It’s clear,” Ditzy suddenly announced as she returned with Gruff. She flipped up her eyepatch to reveal both eyes again. “Not only is there nobody here but us, it’s obvious scarcely anyone has been here in years.”
Something snapped in Gallus at that point and he whipped around to stare directly into Gruff’s eyes. “Except Gruff,” he stated plainly, absolutely certain of that fact. He stared down the elderly griffon, who only stared back not with a look of resentment as usual…but rather one bordering on pity. “You’ve been here before, haven’t you?” he motioned to the boxes stacked in the corners. “In fact, why do I get the feeling you were the one who packed all of this up?”
Gruff didn’t reply right away despite all eyes gravitating towards him, anticipating his answer. “I was really the only one left who could, Gallus,” he finally admitted soberly.
Gallus’s breathing accelerated, as did his heartbeat to the point it felt like it was trying to bash its way out of his chest. “You knew them,” he challenged resolutely, “didn’t you?”
Gruff paused long enough to weigh his options, but his choice was clear to everyone in the room—the answer was a mere formality at this point and they all knew it. “Yes,” he said simply, yet the word seemed to resonate with a hidden complexity underlying it.
In his growing emotional state, Gallus hadn’t realized he’d started to surge toward the other griffon until Ditzy swiftly halted him with one wing. “Why didn’t you TELL me?” he hissed. The storm of emotions bubbling within him was too thick and mixed up to clearly decipher, but a growing fury was definitely one of them.
Gruff however remained as resolute and solid as a brick wall, more for Gallus’s benefit than his own. “Gallus,” he said unusually gently but gravely, “until I found you working at that stand of Gilda’s…” his gaze shifted so to include Spike as well, “…I had thought you both to be long dead.”
A chilling silence fell in the room for a long moment.
Ditzy moved to Gruff. “I think it’s time you gave us those answers you promised, Gruff,” she urged gently.
To Gallus’s surprise, Gruff readily agreed. “I think so too,” he said.
They all moved to take seats where available in the living room. Gruff chose to take a seat on the covered couch that still served as the room’s centerpiece—an act Gallus found somewhat ironic, because him doing so shifted the white cloth covering it just enough to give Gallus a fleeting glimpse of its unappealing upholstery. He immediately identified it as the same ugly second-hand couch Gruff sat upon in the photo that first clued them of the griffon’s involvement. Ditzy meanwhile made a fire in the room’s fireplace, casting a warm and welcomed glow within the otherwise dark room, before taking a seat on the floor nearby, as if moderating. Gallus and Spike took their seats on a pair of stools they placed opposite of the couch, putting a covered coffee table between them.
Gruff started things off with a heavy sigh, rubbing at the bridge of his beak wearily. “So you all had best start by telling me what you’ve already figured out yourselves,” he prompted.
So Spike pulled out the photo album and turned to a specific page. “Well, this was kind of what got us in the right ballpark,” he explained humorlessly, setting it on the table and turning it around so Gruff could see.
Gruff looked at the photo of the griffoness and dragon with a young Gallus nestled between them with a heavy gaze. “That would do it, all right,” he admitted, letting the talons massaging his beak with run down the side of his wrinkly face. “Always with the photos, those two,” he murmured mostly to himself.
“There was also this,” Gallus added, reaching into Spike’s backpack to pull out the bloodline stone wrapped in its cloth and also putting it on the table.
Gruff reacted with surprise once Gallus uncovered it. “Sweet Grover, I haven’t seen that in years,” he murmured in awe, reaching out to run his talons along it. Tellingly, the stone didn’t react at all to Gruff’s touch. “I’d thought it was lost forever…how did you get it?”
“Gene Type had it,” Spike explained, before elaborating. “He was the geneticist who…”
“I know who he was,” Gruff interrupted in a growl before turning his attention back to the tablet, briefly lost in thought. “They must have taken this the night they…” he trailed off, hanging his head. Seeing Gruff like this was only further unsettling Gallus. “I assume it responds to both of you, then?” he then asked.
Spike and Gallus answered by both taking turns pressing a claw onto the tablet’s surface, which lit up with its eerie green glow each time.
Gruff nodded to himself. “Of course,” he mumbled, “but then it was already obvious it would.” He breathed a sigh, turning his attention back to the open photo album. He seemed to be lost in old memories.
Gallus wasn’t willing to let him reminisce though. “Who were they, Gruff?” he prompted firmly.
Gruff instead gazed at him sadly. “You really don’t remember them,” he asked, sounding almost sorry, “…do you?”
Gallus’s voice caught in his throat, not knowing how to even begin to answer that. “Gruff, all I’ve ever known is being a forgotten street urchin,” he responded, trying to keep his voice from cracking as he said it, “Just…an ordinary griffon nobody.”
“You are far more than just an ordinary griffon, Gallus,” Gruff assured confidently. “The griffon half is just what happened to show most obviously in you.”
The statement, cryptic in its implications but touching in its intent, stunned Gallus into silence, unable to find his voice.
Fortunately he didn’t have to, as Gruff decided he’d beaten about the bush long enough. “I suppose I should start at the beginning,” he said, pulling together his thoughts. He pointed a talon at the griffoness pictured in the photo album. “Her name was Gwen. She was a historian, like me. We often worked together on various projects for the lords. At one time I’d even thought about making her my eventual replacement as the kingdom archivist.” He now pointed a talon at the dragon. “But then she met this fellow, named Spark, while traveling back to Griffonstone from the Lord’s Manor.”
Ditzy frowned. “What was a dragon doing so deep in the Griffon Kingdom?” she asked. “Looking for gems?”
Gruff smirked. “Actually, he was looking for plants.”
“Plants?” Gallus and Spike both chorused together, confused.
“That was my reaction too,” Gruff admitted, amused by their response. “But most plant life fascinated Spark—there’s barely any growing in the Dragon Lands, see, so for him it was new and unusual. He wanted to learn what they were, how they worked, and how you could use them for yourself.”
“So, what, he was something of an herbalist?” Gallus attempted to summarize.
“Sounds to me he was more of a botanist,” Ditzy reasoned instead.
“More both, really,” Gruff admitted, “He’d go out to some new land, look for plants he hadn’t already learned about, and come back with bags full of samples, sharing tales of his adventures. He’d then record what he’d found and go and do it all again.”
“Wait, so you’re saying he was a roamer?” Spike declared, eyes lighting up with intrigue.
Gruff shrugged noncommittedly. “Sure, I guess.”
“Since I clearly don’t know,” Gallus interjected, “what’s a roamer?”
“Basically any dragon who doesn’t spend their entire life in the Dragon Lands and…well…roams around instead, taking in the sights,” Spike explained, glancing at Gallus. “It’s actually how other dragons learn what’s going on in the rest of the world, from what the roamers learn in their travels and come back to tell.”
“Well, that was what Spark was doing when he met Gwen,” Gruff summarized, getting back on topic, “He always claimed that she was lost and he helped give her directions…but I’ve long suspected it was actually he who was lost, he just didn’t like admitting it. Regardless, they ended up accompanying each other back to Griffonstone and got to talking. Gwen saw Spark as an opportunity to learn more about dragon history, so she struck him a deal—if he’d share what history he knew, she’d point him to a grove of rare plants she knew of. Spark agreed, they spent the day doing just that, then parted ways on cordial terms, figuring they wouldn’t ever cross paths again.”
“But they did anyway, didn’t they?” Gallus asked, eyeing the couple in the photo album.
Gruff nodded. “They kept finding excuses so to meet up again and on it went from there. Gwen had kept insisting that they were just acquaintances, but it was obvious they were crazy for each other. Finally, after nearly a year of this, Spark brought Gwen to the Dragon Lands for her first time. The idea was to just show her around, but things…ended up escalating instead.”
Spike perked up, blushing faintly. “You saying he added her to his hoard?”
“Added her to his hoard?” Gallus repeated with an amused snort. “What, is that supposed to be a dragon euphemism or something?”
“Yes and no, because there is a…literal…element to it,” Ditzy explained awkwardly. “The dragon lord explained it to me once, but without getting too detailed, it’s the dragon way of declaring their interest in someone.”
“And they were effectively ‘official’ in the dragon eyes after that,” Gruff continued. “Then in the griffon eyes too once Gwen arranged a wedding for them not long thereafter.”
“So they were legally married and everything,” Ditzy concluded, surprised.
“Yes, and as you can imagine, that drew a lot of attention,” Gruff added, his tone darkening slightly. “Two creatures that weren’t even the same species as a couple? Some weren’t comfortable with it.” He lowered his gaze slightly. “I admit even I thought Gwen was making a mistake at first.” He then perked up a little. “But Spark and Gwen refused to let that keep them apart. Since the griffons seemed to ignore them so long as they stayed out of the way, they eventually settled here, on the outskirts of Griffonstone.” Gruff gazed around at their surroundings. “They built most of this house themselves, putting a lot of love and care into it…like they did for each other.”
Gallus had turned distant, looking at the family photo in the album again, specifically himself. “I’m guessing that’s when me and Spike came in?”
“Not like you’d think,” Gruff replied pointedly. “Because they thought, like most everyone, that such hybridizing was impossible and thus couldn’t have any kids of their own. But they accepted that and didn’t worry about it.” He paused to take a deep breath. “So it was a shock when Gwen unexpectedly laid an egg that, against all odds, eventually hatched into their first child.”
He reached down to the family photo and tapped Gallus’s image on it.
Gallus’s breath abruptly caught in his throat, his beak working up and down repeatedly to say something but the words were jamming up within him. He slowly squeezed his eyes shut. “…so what happened then?” he asked, already having an idea.
Gruff’s gaze formed a dark scowl. “Something that never should’ve happened, never needed to happen,” he replied with a faint snarl, a glimmer of a barely controlled anger simmering in his eyes. “Like I said, some creatures opposed Spark and Gwen coming together from the start, but once word got around about them having a hybrid child…”
“Didn’t like the idea of them reproducing, huh?” Gallus mumbled darkly.
“They thought you a freak,” Gruff spat with unexpected venom, “Unnatural, that you’d somehow taint everything just by existing, that you were a monster that would threaten everyone if allowed to grow up.”
“They were probably thinking of hybrids like chimeras, bugbears, manticores—all very dangerous creatures,” Spike reasoned uneasily.
“They were being discriminatory against something they didn’t understand,” Ditzy corrected, her tone betraying a hidden anger too.
“And they had no reason to,” Gruff added. “Most of them hadn’t even seen Gallus, which is infuriating because just a passing glance would’ve been enough to see he was harmless, hybrid or not. Yet they were still determined to ensure he would never become the threat they imagined and that no one, let alone Gwen and Spark, would produce another.” He paused to growl to himself, one paw curling angrily into a fist. “Spark reported that dragons were starting to rally together, protesting Gallus’s existence and seeking to force him and Gwen from committing further abnormal deeds, as they called it. The griffons, meanwhile, were less in their faces about it, but some very nasty rumors still started floating around about what should be done about it. It eventually got to the point that Spark ceased visiting the Dragon Lands altogether, while Gwen started going into town less and less. Even I wasn’t immune to the ridicule, just because I often worked projects with Gwen.”
Spike’s snout wrinkled in distaste. “That’s terrible!”
Gruff snorted. “The worst part is this was just the precursors,” he rumbled, but now his anger was fading into sadness. “Gwen and Spark tried putting up with it for far longer than they ever should’ve had to, but it kept getting worse…” Gruff’s gaze wandered to meet Spike’s, “…especially once Gwen had her second egg, this one with clear draconic markings.”
Spike jolted upright at this, growing wide-eyed in realization. He knew only one creature could be inside that egg.
“Word about this second hybrid child pushed it all to a tipping point,” Gruff continued on. “Death threats were being made against the whole family. It got to the point that Spark felt the intervention of a higher power was necessary.” Gruff’s expression turned resolute. “I agreed. So I arranged to meet with the griffon lords on their behalf while Spark went to then-Dragon Lord Torch, hoping to get them all to at least do something. It wasn’t without risk, due to all the vehemence Spark faced from the other dragons, and the lords weren’t exactly being buddy-buddy with me either.”
“I’m guessing this all backfired then,” Ditzy prompted.
“Well, the lords were reluctant,” Gruff admitted, rubbing at his balding forehead in residual frustration, “fearing the public’s opinion more than mine. But I still got the lords to agree it was out of control and promise to work at keeping it in check. Torch, meanwhile, reasoned it was a private matter that the dragon lord shouldn’t be interfering in, for fear of the favoritism it’d show. But he did offer his protection and blessing for Spark to use the dragon egg-hatching grounds undisturbed, ensuring their second egg’s safety until it hatched. So, to exploit that offered safe haven, it was agreed Spark would take it to the Dragon Lands until it hatched, then he and Gwen planned to move the family somewhere else entirely, away from all the persecution. But in the meantime, this meant leaving Gwen and Gallus—about a fledgling by then—here and on their own. Gwen waved off any concerns though, assuring that everything would work out.” Gruff’s eyes visibly saddened here. “Oh, how I wish she’d been right.”
Gallus felt his stomach drop, filling with dread. “What happened?” he asked in a whisper.
“Did something happen at the egg-hatching grounds?” Spike asked, wringing his paws anxiously.
Gruff shook his head. “Spark never made it to the egg-hatching grounds,” he stated solemnly. “I was still at the Lord’s Manor when word reached me—something had happened in Griffonstone. I immediately sent notice to Spark, still on his way to the Dragon Lands, and he immediately turned around to come back while I tried to hurry here, both of us fearing the worst…but word hadn’t reached me until a day after already, and we were further delayed another day due to bad weather…so by then it was already much too late.” He squeezed his eyes shut and bowed his head. “A group of griffons, hired muscle rallied together in secret, had raided the house, catching Gwen by surprise. We figured she tried to escape with Gallus, but they caught her in Spark’s greenhouse out back, and…” he drew in a shuddering breath, “…the greenhouse was burnt to the ground…along with anyone who’d still been in it.”
He didn’t need to elaborate who. Feeling a little shell-shocked, Gallus slumped back, numbed by the implications. He saw Ditzy bow her head respectively out of the corner of his eye. “What about Gallus?” she asked after a moment.
Gruff just shrugged helplessly. “I genuinely don’t know.” He averted his gaze suddenly, as if ashamed. “Like I indicated before, we…thought he’d died with her.”
A heavy silence followed as everyone needed a moment to process that.
“Spark was rightly devastated,” Gruff continued on finally, almost on automatic. Clearly relating the tale was dredging up hard memories for him. “But he still had Spike’s egg, so it became his priority to ensure its safety. Since Griffonstone and the Dragon Lands clearly weren’t safe, he chose to petition Equestria for asylum there. The moment he got confirmation that Princess Celestia herself would hear his case, we made plans to get him and the egg there, no matter the cost. Certain that creatures would be lying in wait for him the moment he left Griffonstone, I rented a dinky old airship and deliberately got word around that he would be leaving with me in it. The idea was that I’d fly to Equestria on a fairly obvious path, serving as a decoy, while he took Spike’s egg and flew there separately on a more discreet path. That way, any attackers would target me and my airship and not Spark.”
“Good plan,” Ditzy murmured in approval.
“It was a good plan,” Gruff agreed, yet his face remained sullen. “But it didn’t work. I got most of the way to Equestria completely without incident before realizing something was wrong and doubled back to search for Spark. I found him a day later…or at least…what was left.” He squeezed his eyes shut, pinching at the bridge of his beak again but this time out of dismay. “It’d looked like a large horde of creatures had swarmed him suddenly, catching him unaware and stabbing him dozens of times before he went down.”
They were interrupted by Spike making a choked noise. Reflexively, Gallus pulled him close to try and comfort him, but it only weakened Spike’s composure further, proceeding to tear up into Gallus’s side for parents he never knew.
“What about Spike’s egg?” Gallus asked numbly, willing himself to not break down also.
Gruff met Spike’s eye as he suddenly pulled his face away from Gallus’s side. “I searched for your egg everywhere,” he told Spike. “At the time, I thought maybe Spark had dropped it in the fight…but I found nothing.” He hung his head again, but this time in shame. “Ultimately, I assumed the attackers had taken it to smash somewhere and assure it never hatched. So…after burying what remained, there wasn’t really anything left I could do but…climb back aboard my airship and…move on.” He then harrumphed and his gaze turned into a glare he directed at Ditzy, “…at least until I learned more about what really happened that day.”
Ditzy gave Gruff a wary look. “I’m guessing this has to do with why you’re so reluctant to trust me,” she guessed.
Gruff nodded gravely. “I didn’t find out until years later,” he admitted. “After Gwen and Spark died, the whole thing seemed to have ended and everything went back to normal. I hated it, but it was too late to change it, so I tried to get back to normal life too. And I’d very nearly succeeded too.” His eyes narrowed in Ditzy’s direction again. “But then I happened to cross paths with one Ambassador Geoff.”
Ditzy’s own eyes narrowed distastefully. “Oh. Him.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Gallus interjected here, waving one paw to get the attention of the two. “We’re not talking about that one crook of an ambassador from like a decade ago who was canned for snooping around, are we?”
“Try international espionage,” Ditzy clarified darkly. “I was still in basic training at the time, but when he got found out, word of it was everywhere. The guy was using his post to collect government secrets on both sides, including his own government, and then secretly sell them to the highest bidder.”
“Wait, that guy?” Spike asked in surprise, the recap suddenly cluing him in on where he’d heard the name before. His brow furrowed in confusion as he wiped his eyes and put his full attention back on the tale. “How the heck does he fit into all of this?”
“My thoughts exactly when he first came to me at my home, offering me information he figured I’d want,” Gruff explained with a huff, “For a hefty price, of course. Rumors about what he was doing were already starting to circulate and I figured he wouldn’t be willing to haggle the price anyway, so at first I didn’t want anything to do with whatever he thought he had to offer…until he name-dropped Spark.” Gruff reached up to pull off his fez, reaching inside of it. “And then, once he had my attention, he showed me this.”
He withdrew from a hidden pocket in the fez’s silken lining a folded up photograph, which he then spread out and tossed onto the photo album still on the table between them. Gallus, Spike, and Ditzy all leaned in to better see what the worn black-and-white photo portrayed, only to swiftly realize it was of absolutely nothing pleasant. Spike summed it up the best by making a noise somewhere between a horrified gasp and a gag.
It showed Spark, freshly killed, laying in a puddle of his own gore with a look of betrayed shock frozen on his face and a metal harpoon protruding grotesquely from his middle.
Gallus felt his beak drop as he realized what the photo was—proof of a successful assassination.
Ditzy, meanwhile, was focused on the murder weapon, eyes darting around as she rapidly took in all of the gory details. “That’s an airship’s harpoon,” she deduced through gritted teeth. She shot a look at Gruff. “You said he was mobbed and stabbed to—”
“Clearly that was done afterwards so to cover up how he really died,” Gruff interrupted harshly, before reaching out with one talon, “as well cover up who’d actually done it.” He tapped the photo’s bottom corner where it’d been stamped with an official timestamp and, chillingly, the seal of the Equestrian Royal Guard.
Gallus didn’t realize he had grabbed Ditzy with his paw or that his talons were digging into her shoulder until she let out a hiss. “…ow,” she said sarcastically.
Gallus didn’t let up his grip though, suddenly understanding where Gruff had been coming from. “Ditzy,” he growled dangerously, trying to keep the fury building within him from just bursting out, “Explain.”
“Gallus, I swear to you—swear to all of you,” Ditzy shot a look in Gruff’s direction, “that I knew nothing about this.” She swiftly motioned for all of them to stay silent when they started to object. “I get how this makes me look, but I was not involved, and whoever was involved was doing so behind the backs of everyone else.” She snatched up the photo with her hoof and held it up angrily. “I don’t know who was responsible for this…this atrocity, but the second I set hoof back in Equestria, I WILL be finding out, and when I get my hooves on those ponies,” she threw the photo down again, “heads WILL roll! Assuming Twilight Sparkle doesn’t beat me to it FIRST!”
It was clear she was just as enraged by this reveal as Gallus was, but nonetheless Gallus stared into her uneven eyes for a long moment to be sure. Only then did he release her shoulder. “Someone was responsible for this though,” he nonetheless growled. “I’d like to know who.”
“Join the club,” Ditzy replied before turning to Gruff. “Gruff, where did Geoff get this photo? How did he get this photo? Because I somehow doubt he was participating in this conspiracy, not if he was going around trying to sell details about it.”
“He claimed he’d stumbled across it when last in Equestria, while going through some paperwork as per his duties,” Gruff replied skeptically, folding his forelegs, “but I had my doubts about that. More likely he’d been digging into things he shouldn’t have while no one was looking. However he got it though, he claimed he knew where more information lay. He tried to extort a huge amount of bits from me in exchange for the rest, but I managed to…coerce…him into cooperating for free.” Gallus could just picture Gruff pinning the swindling griffon to a wall and yelling in his face over it. “However, he didn’t actually have the material—he had to go back to Equestria to get it first.”
“…and?” Ditzy prompted.
“…and nothing,” Gruff replied curtly. “That was the last time I saw him. He was arrested before he could make good on the deal.”
Ditzy let out a frustrated growl at that, wrapping her hooves over her head.
“But what’s the problem?” Spike asked, not understanding. “If he’s just sitting in a prison somewhere, can’t we just go and ask him if—?”
“We can’t,” Ditzy interrupted crossly. “Only about four months after he was arrested, Geoff was found dead in his jail cell.” She ran her hooves down her face. “The coroner at the time determined he died naturally from heart failure, but…”
“He was almost certainly killed so to silence him,” Gruff concluded with a nod, following Ditzy’s line of thought. “So from that point on, I’ve been trying to unbury all this on my own.”
“…and?” Ditzy inquired hopefully.
“Well, Spark had mentioned a dragon named Rhyolite as being a ringleader of the protesting dragons, so I figured he was likely involved. And after finding that members of the Royal Guard were involved, I swiftly started suspecting Dr. Gene Type of being one of them due to him often being in the right place at the right times for it. I already suspected Garrett was in on it, so I kept an eye on him, but I’ll have you all know it hasn’t been easy. I’ve long thought Garrett was catching onto me, so I’ve been trying to keep him off my own tail too.” Gruff then suddenly flung his paw at Gallus. “And then you had to turn up at that stand of Gilda’s, impossibly alive and completely ignorant of the danger you were in if anybody else found out!”
“Danger?” Gallus repeated, before his eyes went wide in revelation. “Is that why you sent me away to the school, why you acted so…ambivalent…towards my existence?”
Gruff hesitated then let out a weary sigh. “Yes,” he relented. “That pony princess of yours was so big on the whole friendship between creatures thing, I hoped at the time that meant you’d be safe and out of harm’s way there, more than you could’ve been in Griffonstone, and away from me, who was close enough to the whole shebang I worried someone would notice you hanging around me I didn’t want to. Besides,” his gaze wandered off of Gallus and onto Spike, “I figured you should be closer to him.”
Now Spike’s eyes bulged. “You mean you knew about me too?” he asked, motioning to himself.
“I suspected,” Gruff corrected swiftly. “I had only ever seen you as an egg, so I couldn’t know for certain you were who I thought until that settled the matter for me.” He motioned to the bloodline stone where it’d been left on the table before them. He then pinched his beak with his talons. “But then you both had to go and get yourselves in the headlines! You realize that’s probably how they found out and put us in this mess, right? Because it was from that point on that I started catching wind of renewed activity from them, realizing they were plotting to strike again and soon.”
Gallus frowned. “And that’s when you started nagging me to leave the school and come back to Griffonstone,” he deduced, it all starting to come together in his head.
“By then it’d be better to have you where I could keep an eye on you,” Gruff stressed, staring Gallus down. “I didn’t want history to repeat itself. I needed you where I could keep you safe!”
“NO!” Gallus suddenly snapped, slamming a fist into the table. “If that was what you wanted, you shouldn’t have sent me there in the first place! Because there I found friends and a better life that I never had here! I was happy, more than I had ever been before! And I wasn’t about to let you strip that ALL away from me just because you couldn’t be bothered to tell me the TRUTH, you—!”
He had to cut himself short there, squeezing his eyes shut so to try and hold back the tears now threatening to burst forth, his body shuddering from the effort. A heavy silence fell upon the group as nobody dared to speak. Then, as if using some sixth sense, Ditzy gently took Spike and urged him to follow her out of the room, leaving Gallus and Gruff alone for a moment—she understood this was something the two needed to work out on their own. Once they had departed into the next room though, neither of them spoke for another long moment. Gruff merely stood there sullen and resolute, apparently waiting for Gallus to make the first move. Gallus meanwhile stared him down with angry and misty eyes.
“You should’ve told me,” he finally managed to murmur to the older griffon.
“And for what?” Gruff challenged back. “It would have only drawn you closer into the matter, put you in more danger, and weighed you down with a tragedy you couldn’t change. What good would it have done you in the end?”
“You don’t understand!” Gallus hissed. “You haven’t spent your life alone, living on the streets, with no one but yourself to look after you, to keep you company when alone, to comfort you when it’s cold and dark, to help you stay fed and healthy, and…and…” suddenly his anger was consumed by a deep sadness. “…do you realize how many years I’ve wondered what happened to my family and where they were? Were they even still out there? Did they even still care about me? Do you know how much I’ve ached to have that again in the thick of a Griffonstone winter with nothing but a tattered blanket, a moldy cardboard box, and a pawful of scraps to eat, only to get…nothing? Do you know what that was like? Do you? Do you?” He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to hold back tears. “Gruff…I needed to know. I deserved to know. But you…you…”
He hung his head, unable to hold back the tears any longer. He spent a few moments shuddering his way through the sobs while Gruff looked on, attempting to stay straight-faced. He found himself gazing down at the open photo album and at the picture of his long-lost parents grinning back up at him. He suddenly wanted so badly to actually remember something meaningful of them now…but the memories remained frustratingly close and yet somehow still entirely out of reach.
The frustration must’ve showed on his face. “You really remember nothing about them?” Gruff asked, sounding almost hurt. “Nothing at all?”
Gallus gazed pleadingly at the photo, hoping it’d spur something out from the depths of his mind. “…no.” he admitted sadly.
“But there must be something,” Gruff pressed, unwilling to give up. “If not of them physically, then of something they did, like…” He trailed off for a moment. Gallus took it to mean he’d run out of straws to grasp for.
So he was shocked when instead Gruff abruptly started singing in a soft voice. “The moon has risen, the little golden stars shine in the heavens so clear and bright, the woods stand dark and still, and out of the meadows rise a wonderful fog…”
Gallus ripped his eyes off of the photo to look at the older griffon. Out of nowhere, the next words came spilling out his beak unbidden. “…how the world stands still in twilight’s veil, so sweet and snug as a still room, where the day’s misery you will sleep off and forget…” Chills ran through him with every spot-on note and lyric sung while gaping at Gruff. “How…how…?” he breathed, stunned at the suddenness of the song coming to him.
“Gallus, I heard your mother sing you that lullaby many times, often when trying to calm you down,” Gruff responded back with startling gentleness. “It had always been a favorite of hers.”
Gallus felt his heart pounding in his chest again as he looked back at the photo, focusing on the griffoness and dragon. The words to the lullaby were still playing in his head with crystal clear accuracy, but now in a surreally familiar female voice, singing gently…lovingly…holding him close in a tender cradle. A warm sensation filled Gallus’s chest, making him feel like he was a mere mewling fledgling again, and he longed for that cradling sensation now. Instead, he settled to sit himself on the floor and wrap himself in his arms and wings, shuddering at the suddenness, but certainly not unwelcome, of the memory unlocking.
Gruff used that chance to get back on topic. “Gallus, I won’t pretend the right choices were made throughout any of this,” he admitted. “Nor will I pretend you and Spike weren’t dealt terrible hands. But…keeping you out of it…I was just trying to protect you.”
Gallus thought about that for a long moment. “I’m just not sure that was good enough, Gruff,” he admitted truthfully.
Gruff went silent for a long moment, before bowing his head. He picked up the incriminating photo of the murdered Spark and folded it up, hiding away its grisly visage once more. “I’m sorry then,” was all he had to say in response.
He then turned and exited the room too, leaving Gallus alone to ponder it all.