A Gryphon's Welcome
A gloomy day in the Everfree Forest, so gloomy in fact, that one might mistake it for night. The only indication of the time of day was the slim rays of sunlight the broke through the thick trees overhead. But even then, the lights were hushed and monotone. Almost as if to say that it was always nighttime in the Everfree.
Various creatures of the forest scampered about, fending for themselves in the hostile environment. Every now and again, a slight breeze blew some leaves through the darkness, but besides the occasional chilling wind, not much else stood out in the dense woodland.
However, in a particularly eerie looking tree, a unicorn and a zebra frantically scrambled for ingredients for an especially powerful brew. Well, the unicorn frantically searched. The zebra more calmly gathered ingredients and placed them near the cauldron.
It was Zecora’s hut after all, she knew exactly where everything was. Twilight on the other hoof was a flustered mess. She was either running about thinking the worst had happened to her friends, flipping through books to see if she could find anything that would help, or asking how Zecora’s brew was coming along.
Twilight scrambled fruitlessly through a book on brews, before finally worrying again. “Why would the diamond dogs kidnap Rarity? Well, I mean I know why, but… why?” She looked over to her striped friend. Zecora poured some black powder into the cauldron and stirred it into the other ingredients.
“Patience, my dear, is what you lack.” She stirred for a moment, motioning for silence. She stuck her nose into the pot and took in a big whiff. At first she grimaced, but then she smiled and turned her attention to Twilight. “It’s nearly done now, I suggest you stand back.”
Twilight obeyed taking a few paces back and trying to slow her breathing. Zecora then reached for one last piece of the brew: a simple leaf. At first Twilight tilted her head, questioning the importance of such a tiny component. But as Zecora crushed the leaf in her hooves and threw it into the cauldron, it burst into green flames. The sound was deafening and Twilight had to shield her eyes from the change of lighting, though Zecora stayed in place, staring into the fire.
“Twilight dear, do not turn away,” Zecora said in her usual mystic voice. “To find your friends, this is the only way.” Twilight struggled but eventually succumbed to the light and squinted at the energy emitting from the cauldron. The green flames seeped into Twilight’s eyes and in her mind’s eye she saw them; Spike and Ivory Moon.
“What’s going on? What is this?” Twilight’s voice echoed through the dry desert air. She felt the heat on her face and the sand on her hooves, but she didn’t know how she had gotten there. Could she have been teleported by Zecora’s brew?
“Wow Zecora, this is incredible!” Twilight said with astonishment. “I can see everything that’s going on! It’s almost like I’m there…” Twilight moved around the desert with ease as she flew from place to place. But her expedition would have to wait, for at her feet was a dehydrated dragon and a badly bleeding earth pony. “Ivory! Ivory get up! What’s wrong?” But he didn’t budge. “Spike, what’s wrong with him? Spike? Spike!” Twilight’s cries were only heard by herself as she watched Ivory Moon suffer with a bite mark in his leg.
Twilight cringed as a bright green light filled her eyes. “Twilight, are you alright? Come back to me.” The familiar voice of the zebra alchemist echoed in her head. Twilight looked around, but her friend was nowhere to be seen. “I think you’ve seen more than you wanted to see.” The voice continued as Twilight started coming to.
“Wh-what was that?!” She yelled upon reentering Zecora’s house. The feel of hot sand on her hooves quickly faded, almost as if it was never there.
“You just witness a special brew. For what it does, I’ll give you a clue. If ever you find a friend is gone, the spirit of the user is quickly withdrawn.”
“It was… a ghost brew?”
Zecora just said nothing and simply nodded.
“This is terrible! Ivory and Spike are out in the desert! They may be dying and they’re all alone!”
“A terrible sight for you to behold. But maybe there is more to be told?”
Twilight calmed herself yet again. Ever since Spike and Ivory had left, she was hysterical all the time. “… You’re right.” Twilight said recollecting her courage. “Let me see if I can use it again…”
*****
We rejoin our heroes in a small white room lined with utensils, tools, jars, and picture frames. Ivory Moon had been laid down on a soft white bed, the sheets covering just over his stomach. His hooves and stomach had been bandaged. He breathed into a tube connected to a machine reassuring his lungs got the air they required. Even with the machine’s loud fan and constant clicking sounds, the pony slept like he hadn’t slept in years.
And just on the other side of the room laid his companion, also nestled in a similar white bed. He wore no bandages or tubes, but he continued his slumber nonetheless.
After several hours of rest, Ivory’s eyes creaked open. His vision was blurred, and for a moment he mistook the white room for the afterlife. But he soon realized that he was still alive. He didn’t remember much of what happened, or how he even ended up in this place. He looked at his wrapped hooves in confusion. Just what had happened to him?
Ivory carefully removed the tube from his mouth and leaned up from his bed. After grunting in pain, he lay back down and peeled the covers off of his stomach. It had been bandaged as well. Looking across the room, he noticed some pictures on the walls. One of them featured a red pony with a white cross on his flank, obviously representing a medical career. Standing next to him was a small yellow filly who had yet to earn her mark.
Another picture featured that same pair, but another pony with them, a light blue mare. Another picture featured none of them, but instead a snake. Ivory frowned at the picture, having been bitten and nearly killed by one of those animals. But the last picture really caught his interest. It contained the same red stallion from before, but standing next to him was a white mare with a pink mane and a cutie mark just like his only red.
“Nurse Redheart?”
“What? What was that?”
Ivory leaned up instantly, groaning a bit from his stomach pains and looked around the room. “Who’s there?”
“Ah! You’re awake! I was beginning to think you had passed on.” The voice echoed from behind a white curtain. Ivory squinted his eyes to see the shadow of a pony standing just on the other side.
Ivory looked around the room for anypony else. But it was vacant aside from him, Spike, and the mysterious pony behind the curtain. “Who are you?” He whispered, struggling to fight the pain in his abdomen.
The curtain peeled back to reveal a red stallion. The same red stallion in the photographs along the walls. He pulled the curtains closed and started towards Ivory Moon. “Ah, where are my manners. I am Dr. Whiteheart.” He said in a deep voice that was somehow soft at the same time. His cutie mark matched the picture on the wall, a white cross.
“What happened?” Ivory asked, watching the doctor take a seat in a stool next to his bed. “How did I end up here?”
The doctor removed his glasses and peered out the window. He placed his hoof at the base of his chin and thought for a moment. “It was just a normal day for me.” He began, putting his glasses back on and turning to his patient. “Just finishing up with my research, when all of the sudden, I see some smoke in the sky. Fires aren’t common around here, so I decided to investigate.”
A fire? Ivory looked at his unconscious partner in shock. There was no other explanation. Fires don’t just get started, especially not in a desert. Spike had saved his life. He couldn’t help but tear up at the thought of Spike’s bravery.
“You’re very lucky my friend.” Whiteheart continued. “If I had not gotten that anti-venom into you when I did, you would not be awake right now.”
“Anti-venom?”
“Yes son. I moved out here so long ago to study snakes in their natural habitat; the desert. Then I ship my anti-venom all over Equestria. You were bitten by one of the desert’s most dangerous predators, the orange hooded cobra.”
“I was?”
“Yep. Their venom is potent enough to kill up to five adult ponies.”
Ivory gulped at the mention of killing multiple adult ponies with one bite.
“But they can only regenerate their venom once every three months. So they rely on their pack to keep them safe until they have venom again. Fascinating, isn’t it?”
“Sorry…” Ivory whispered, grimacing at all this talk about snakes. “But reptiles seem to have bad blood against me.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Whiteheart interrupted, gesturing to the bandages. “What have you been doing to yourself?”
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Not buying it. These kinds of injuries don’t just happen.”
The white pony scratched the back of his head, ruffling his dirty mane. He tried not to make eye contact with the doctor and just said, “Like I said, reptiles hate me.”
Doctor Whiteheart smiled, dropping the subject, and looked to his other patient. “He’s a brave one.” He whispered.
“Is he gonna be ok?”
“Oh, don’t worry about him. He’s just exhausted. He’ll be up and kicking in no time.”
Silence made its way into the room again. Ivory found himself laying back down on the bed looking up at the ceiling. He wondered how long it would be before he could get back on his journey. He didn’t want to tell anypony of his adventure, but it would probably come to that. But something else drew his attention. Something that he just couldn’t let go of. “How do you know Nurse Redheart?” He blurted out, staggering the doctor.
The doctor looked confused at first, as if asking himself how he could know such a thing. But as his glance shifted over to the photos on the wall, his confusion melted away and he answered. “She is my sister… how do you know her?”
There it was again, the question leading back to Ivory’s quest. Just the question that he didn’t want to answer. He sighed and leaned up a bit, feeling a bit stronger yet still very weak. “I’m from Ponyville.”
Whiteheart almost fell off of his stool at the mention of his home. He looked stunned, staring at the white pony as if he were on fire. “Ponyville?!” He exclaimed, having finally recollected his thoughts. “Well, what are you doing out here?! Surely you don’t expect me to believe you would just come all this way to nearly die!”
Ivory quickly shushed the doctor, pointing to the sleeping dragon on the other side of the room. Whiteheart quietly apologized, but resumed his questioning. “What possible reason could you have for coming all the way out here?”
A heavy sigh escaped the white pony’s mouth. He shifted into a more comfortable position on the mattress and closed his eyes. He hadn’t wanted anypony to get sucked into his story of misery and loss. The only one he wanted to share this experience with was Spike, and even then, that was only because they had both saved each other’s lives.
Reluctantly, Ivory told the story. He avoided the very beginning involving his family and just skipped to his meeting of Rarity. He told of how they had spent over a year together. Of how they shared something special. And how she was kidnapped and taken away from him a week before their wedding.
When asked how his body got in such a beaten condition, Ivory told him of the hike that he and his friend made over the first mountain. And that they were chased by a dragon, forced to take shelter in a dang cave for a day. Then how he traversed a desert and fought for his life through a field of snakes. Even after he was bitten and struggling to hold on, he explained that he wanted to keep fighting.
Through the story, Whiteheart didn’t do much but nod and occasionally ask a simple question. And when the story finished, he said nothing. He just stared at his patient in awe.
“And…” Whiteheart began, his deep voice reverberating through the room. “You’re still going to go on?”
The pony lay back down, looking up at the ceiling once again. He hadn’t thought about it, but he wondered if it was worth going on. It would be so easy to let go. It would be the easiest thing in the world to give up and go home. And for a while, he considered it.
But something kept tugging at his heart. Logic told him that he had almost died twice, and it was bound to happen again. But then again… he was still alive.
He pulled the blankets off of his body and moved to the edge of the bed. He said nothing as he placed his hind legs off of the bed and onto the hard wooden floor. He sat in that position for some time, collecting his strength and clearing his mind of doubt. After a minute or two, his front hooves touched the floor. He winced a bit sense his hooves were in bad condition to begin with, but stood tall and turned his gaze back to the snoring dragon.
“Yes.” He replied, nothing more, nothing less. He had already decided that if he started this quest to save Rarity, then he was going to finish it. And no amount of dragon encounters, snake venom, or other injuries could derail that.
Ivory Moon took a few steps toward Spike, slowly and carefully. After what he had survived, he could afford to slow down for a while.
“Well then…” Whiteheart said breaking the silence. His voice was a bit shaken, obviously moved by the pony’s dedication to his journey. “Take this with you.” He reached into a nearby cupboard and reached through a cluttered mess of medicines, food, and other unidentifiable items. He finally retreated from the cabinet holding a loaf of bread out to Ivory.
“I appreciate the offer,” the stallion began, pushing the loaf away from him. “But if anything, I owe you for saving my life.”
“Bah, you don’t owe me anything. You will get far more use out of this than I will. Take it.”
“Thank you Doctor.” He reluctantly replied, grabbing the loaf in his mouth and dropping it in his white pack. He then walked over to his friend, still fast asleep. He smiled over him, knowing that he would be dead if Spike hadn’t come along. He raised a hoof and shook his friend lightly. “Spike. Hey Spike.”
The purple dragon’s eyes twitched open sluggishly and his gaze shifted all around the room. Clearly as confused as Ivory was when he came to. “Ivory…?”
“Glad you’re awake bud.”
“… Are we dead?”
Ivory couldn’t help but crack up, which made Spike worry that his friend had gone insane. “No bud. You saved our lives.”
“I… did?”
After a long silence, Ivory smiled and pointed to the doctor on the other side of the room. “Yes. Doctor Whiteheart here found us and took us in. If you hadn’t set that fire, we’d both be dead.” Just then, something struck Ivory and he jerked his head to the doctor. “Wait, doc. Where are we right now?”
Startled at first, he looked befuddled for a second, but then realized what Ivory meant. “My home is set up right on the border of the Gryphon Kingdom. I use their postal and delivery services to ship my medicine and anti-venom all over Equestria.”
Doctor Whiteheart continued rambling about the benefits of living where he did, but Ivory stopped listening after he said ‘Gryphon Kingdom’. “Ya hear that Spike?! We’re closer than ever!”
He rocked the bed back and forth violently until Spike fell onto the wooden floor face first. Ivory let go of the bed and covered his mouth. “… Sorry.”
*****
*Ding* The bell rang as the door swung open. Ivory and Spike walked out of the small abode back into the evening heat of the desert. Just as Doctor Whiteheart had said, the Gryphon Kingdom stood only a mile or two away. The massive gate wide open and welcoming any weary travellers into the city. And that’s just what Ivory wanted to see.
“Thanks for everything Doctor Whiteheart.” Ivory called back, setting hoof onto the sand. The bandages on his hooves had been removed as well as the ones on his stomach. At first the hot sand blistered his hooves, but he pressed on, ignoring the mild inconvenience.
“Before you go Ivory,” The doctor called back waving his arms to get the stallion’s attention. “I live on the borders of the kingdom for a reason. The gryphons are unkind to us ponies. Watch your back and don’t get on their bad side.”
The two nodded, understanding exactly what they were getting themselves into… or so they thought.
“Hey Spike.” Ivory said, looking up at the magnificent walls growing closer by the minute.
“Yeah Ivory?”
“How’s about we finish off that pie now?” He gestured his head back to his pack. “We’ll need all the strength we can get for the rest of this journey.”
He felt a hand reach down into the saddlepack and move around, trying to find something. “Not much left.” Spike said pulling out a single piece of pie.
“Yeah, but every little bit helps.”
Spike broke the piece as evenly as he could and handed a slightly larger piece to the earth pony. The pastry was cold and battered, but it tasted fine nonetheless. And just like that, the pie was gone. It had served the two well, keeping them alive in a hostile and unwelcoming environment. The only supplies left in their inventory to make any use of was the loaf of bread and the map of Equestria.
At long last, they reached the enormous marble gates of the Gryphon Kingdom. The path outside the gates was decorated with marvelous stone statues and a lovely flora. Several bushes had been trimmed in figures of gryphons, others were left untouched, but one was only half complete. A pair of hedge clippers lay on the grass next to it leaving Ivory to assume that this part was under construction.
The gates grew significantly as the two strolled down the stone path. The sheer scope of the kingdom’s walls was enough to frighten the two a bit. They had never seen something so grand. Even Canterlot wasn’t as spectacular as this city, and they hadn’t even set foot inside the gates.
They stopped at the foot of the white, gleaming gates and stared up the structure. It was even larger than they had thought. But with no guards around, it left them wondering how to enter the splendid city. They looked around for a minute or two, but no one showed up to help them.
Fed up with waiting, Ivory Moon pushed his weight against the right door. His hooves dug into the ground pushing dirt upward as he struggled to move the giant structure. Eventually, the marble gate moved back a bit few inches. At that moment, Spike jumped off of the pony’s back and started to push with him. The two strained against the door pushing as hard as possible.
It continued moving back at a snail’s pace, until Ivory was finally able to squeeze his body through the tight gap between the gate. He wasn’t exactly expecting a warm welcome, but he was in fact expecting something. But what he got was nothing short of rude.
The city itself was a glorious sight. The buildings were tall, but none as tall as the castle in the center of the kingdom. Clothing lines hung in between buildings, creating a rather rustic environment. But the grand decorations atop each building and near the windows brought back a sense of elegance.
Among the streets Gryphons walked about doing their business and chatting with friends. An unusual sight for Ivory and Spike, as they were used to seeing ponies. Stands were set up along the sides of the roads selling all manner of wares. Everything from food to jewelry.
As Ivory and Spike walked through the road, they heard all kinds of conversations involving numerous subjects. But as soon as they heard a gasp in the crowd, all of the conversations ceased. No noise whatsoever. In a split second, the hustle and bustle of an entire kingdom was silenced.
Soft whispers emanated from the audience as the two made their ways down the road. They couldn’t help but wonder what they were saying about the two.
“Boy, some welcome wagon, huh Ivory?” Spike said still looking worriedly at the crowd. His eyes shifted nervously, not knowing what to expect at all.
“Yeah…” Ivory retorted, also anxiously expecting something bad. “You’d think they’d never seen a pony before.”
“Stop right there, criminal scum!”
Ivory stopped in his tracks, horrified. The words erupted out of nowhere in a loud, booming voice. He eventually worked up the nerve to turn his head just in time to see two gryphon guards walking up to him.
His breath caught in his throat when they stopped right in front of him. He didn’t know what to say. Were ponies not allowed in the Gryphon Kingdom? If so, Doctor Whiteheart really left that detail out.
“Is this the one?” The second guard uttered in an easier, but still very threatening voice.
“It sure looks like it.” The first one said.
“What’s… what’s going on?” Ivory whispered, afraid to even speak.
“You’re comin’ with us, pony.”
Ivory backed away from the two. “What did I do?”
“We’ve got a warrant out for a white pony with a dark mane. And you fit the bill.”
At first, Ivory feared for his life. He didn’t know what they were talking about. But suddenly, he quitted his worried thoughts and repeated the guard’s words in his head. Did they mean… Rarity?
Of course they did! Who else could they mean? If Rarity had passed through the Gryphon Kingdom, then they would have seen her. A white pony with a dark mane fit her description perfectly. Ivory was overjoyed as all of his fear melted away. The feeling was short-lived as he snapped back to reality. Back to the guards.
“But I haven’t done anything. You’ve got the wrong pony.” He hated accusing his beloved, but it was his only chance of escaping.
“Ha! A likely story!” The rough guard bellowed, his counterpart simply eyeing Ivory down. “But you’re the only pony to come to our kingdom in years!”
“But… But…” Ivory struggled to find an argument. But in a land pitted against him, what was one pony to do? “You’ve got no evidence!” He blurted out.
“No? We’ve got this!” The guard held out his talon and revealed several colorful gems. “You came to our kingdom, stole our gems, and then you think you can get away with it?!”
A glimmer of hope in Ivory’s eyes told him that the gems meant it couldn’t be any other pony but Rarity, but now the guards had all the evidence they needed. Ivory had backed himself into a corner, mentally and physically. The two burly guards grabbed him and restrained his movement.
“I got him! Get the little one!” The first guard said, pointing to his counterpart and then to Spike.
Before he could grab him though, Ivory broke free of the guard’s grip just long enough to send Spike flying through the air, landing a good fifteen feet away. “Run, Spike!” Ivory called, the second guard getting ready to chase. “RUN!”
The purple dragon hesitated at first, his eyes watering up at the thought of leaving his friend behind. But with the guard gaining on him, he turned about face and made a mad dash for the gate. Gryphons standing in his way moved aside, chattering all the while.
Just inches away from the gate, the guard grabbed hold of his tail. “Gotcha!” He called out, smiling grimly. But he let go as soon as Spike breathed fire in his face, scorching his flesh and setting his feathers on fire.
“Augh!” The guard cried in pain, releasing the small dragon and letting him escape through the still open gate. Screams erupted from the crowd while the guard ran to the nearest source of water he could find, being a river running through the kingdom, and leapt face first into it. The loud sizzling of the dousing fires rose over the commotion of the mass of citizens, shocked and horrified at what they just saw.
But Ivory smiled, still in the grasp of the first guard. Though he was in trouble, at least he managed to save one friend. His joy was soon shattered by the guard whispering into his ear, “You will pay for that…”