And this is the reason I hate cold weather!
Princess Luna,
I am glad to report that I made it to Talon's Peak. Though, I will say that this little town has probably never seen a unicorn before, considering how a lot of the younger griffins look at me like I'm lunch. But joking aside, I found our pianist. His name is Hercule, and if I said playing the piano was like painting, then this guy is Da Hoovsie with it. Not only does he tickle the ivories with grace and finesse, but he is also not afraid to tackle some of the weird chord progressions that jazz calls for. I am going to be meeting with him one on one, which the guide that you assigned to me says that it's pretty much a duel of wills if we want our band to be able to get the recognition you want. I will need a will liken to that of a minatuar. I will send a letter on my success or my failure and if you don't hear from me, I'm probably in a griffons stomach, so tell my parents I loved them.
Swing Beat
It is times like this that I wish I was a pegasus like my mother instead of a unicorn. The need for flight as well as the low oxygen content at this level of altitude would make a pegasus at home, but for we earth bound unicorns and earth ponies, it causes a bit of a problem. Also, it may indeed be June, but I am right now bundled in a scarf, jacket, two sweaters, and had to pull a heating spell on my boots just to keep away the frostbite from my hooves. It's that cold but the denizens of Talon's Peak seem more than content to have just a light coat and a scarf. All the more reason to hurry up and get this done with.
Now, I know that griffons are indeed omnivorous, meaning that a lot of their diet contains meat. Thankfully the animals here are not like they are in Equstria. They don't have the life magic found in places like the Everfree or in general with Equestria. Guess that means that Equstria has a more predominantly magical atmosphere around it (case in point, I found that my magic here is actually weakened and my pegasus guide, named Thunder Trotter, can actually tread on the clouds here, but he can't chase them a bit and corral them) it is of little relief though.
The town itself was a mixture of buildings and mineshafts that were renovated for life on a more permantnt setting. Matter of fact, I was staying at an inn which used to be a gold mine (the gold has long since been gone). But what really sucks is that most of the sections of town require either flight or the use of very old and rickety gondolas to traverse the many caverns and gorges here. More than twice I have had vertigo when it finally was time to meet with Hercule. It was going to be at his place of residence, a small apartment complex that looked more like a urban bird house which left me in a bind. After having T.T. carry me up to the landing, I walked up to the door and knocked.
No answer.
So I knocked again a little louder.
“I heard you the first time!” came a very irritated voice. My legs were quaking. I will admit, griffons scare me more than the threat of Tartarus opening up and releasing who knows onto Equstria. When the door opened, I saw the griffon I was to meet with. He was fairly built, defiantly could snap my spine like a twig, but lanky enough to hide his strength. His head was like a red tailed hawk’s and his talons were the typical yellow, but his eyes were a shade of dull orange that could make even the body builder Bulk Biceps cry in fear.
“You must be Swing Beat,” he said in a baritone voice.
“Yes, I am. This is my guide, Thunder Trotter, and I was sent here to…”
“I know why you little ponies showed up. Come on in. It must be Tartarus for you out there.”
“Thank you monsieur Hercule.”
“Just Hercule. Monsieur is a title that I have not earned yet.”
The guide jabbed my side a bit with the reminder that here being called mister or miss or anything other than a name was an honor earned, not given.
As we walked in, everything was a bit bigger than a ponies belongings, but that is because of the size difference. I noticed that it was fairly sparse in the way of furniture, giving, instead, the majority to an upright piano and a vast amount of of sheet music. When Hercule asked for me alone to enter his private music room, I knew it was time to nut up or shut up. So, I entered.
“Hercule,” began, “as you know, I want to enlist you as a piano player for a Jazz band that will be playing a venue and will be the personal band for Princess Luna of the Canterlot Castle.”
“I know all about it, little pony. I read the dispatch that your princess sent me. I am also aware that our races have not been to kind to each other.”
“I was made aware of that as well, but what I am asking goes beyond simple politics. It is a movement of music of a type nearly forgotten in recent history and I know that griffons are always wanting to out do the rest. So, I am offering that chance for you.”
The griffon then grabbed a copy of the employment papers that were transcribed into griffon for his benefit. “It says here that I will have to move to this little town called Ponyville, but that room and board are already included in the pay, which, if Luna's accountants were correct, would equal the sum of roughly 23 thousand bits in your units. That's quite the sum for a band even your princess doesn't know will work.”
He was right, I couldn't deny it. We had no clue if this really could work. So, I said, “You're right but, it is a win-win situation. If we succeed, you will be able to say that you helped to bring a genre of music back from the point of near extinction. If we fail, you still get that sum of money. Either way, the most you lose is time.”
As he thought to himself, I saw him pick up a photo of him and what appeared to be a zebra in some part of a city. The zebra was female and the griffon looked longingly to it. If you've seen this before, you know what it means.
“I will join on the condition that the zebra named Pundamilia, she is one of the best drummers that I had the pleasure of working with, deems your enterprise as worthy for her. Then I shall join as well.”
After that, we left in no short order. Who knew gathering a band required me to go globe trotting?
“Dear Princess Luna,
Well, I got good news. The good news is that he didn't say no. The bad news is he only says yes if a zebra named Pundamilia joins as well and, according to him, her tribe, or whatever you call the zebra's form of family, is thankfully close enough to the Saddle Arabian's nation that it should be okay to travel there within a day of travel. Though on a personal note, if I had known I would be globe trotting, I would have thought twice about this whole idea. So if you can please use your resources to find where this zebra is, I'm tired of traveling!”
Your very weary Minstrel,
Swing Beat”