Dear Twilight Sparkle, Selene, and the other princesses,
Sometimes it feels like it just isn’t worth trying to do things for others. You try and do something nice for others and it all ends up blowing up in your face without even an apology once everything is investigated. I was forced to spend the weeks I had planned to rest up in Stalliongrad inside of a jail cell after finding a town that was attacked by windigos, saving the only two filly survivors of said town, then getting chased through the snow to the gates of the city and they think I was the one responsible for it all. They are just lucky that they took good care of the two fillies or else they wouldn’t have had to worry about taking care of a jail as it would no longer be there. You’ll probably be hearing complaints from the town sometime as a large portion of the population will be sporting nice pink coats for the next month or so. I made sure to leave notice that it is all thanks to the care the guards gave me as they barely even tried to verify my story and just assumed it was me because I wasn’t a pony. It’s a good thing that I am leaving Equestria now as any future dealings I would have had if I stayed in the country any longer would have been committed by a pony.
It’s going to be interesting to see how much the gryphon lands have changed since I last passed through them. From what I remember honor was always a really big thing for them as well as actually ability. While I may not be able to fly, the time I spent there before allowed me to at least earn the respect of a couple gryphon guards by being able to outsmart a group of criminals which led to their eventual capture. If things haven’t changed that much since then I may actually enjoy my time traveling through the country.
Even if things don’t turn out well for me I’ll at least have a fallback plan as there are a few diamond dog packs that I plan on passing through as well. If I have to vanish for a while it won’t be that difficult to do so as gryphon don’t like going underground so they tend to avoid the diamond dog dens. I don’t expect any problems but with how things have been going I’ve come to expect my original plans to go completely off track. Still things could still be worse as I’m still alive which not many could say after going through what I have.
Your Friend,
Flarenza
I had forgotten how much more wild the lands the griffons controlled was with all the time spent in Equestria. While they could do little things with the weather they just weren’t up to par with what pegasi could do. Since they flew around everywhere there was little need for them to tame the land so it was relatively dangerous to travel through. That alone was enough to earn some respect from them as only the best or the lucky could travel through their lands unscathed.
Looking down from my perch in the tree I watch as the chimera continues to pace around the base of it. I just shake my head at it and wonder how long the creature is going to chase me and just be an all-around annoyance. “Whatever happened to animals having good instincts for avoiding danger? If I felt like it I could easily take it on without even breaking a sweat even if it was immune to magic which chimeras normally aren’t.” Sighing I put away my maps as I had finished charting my route to the gryphon capitol.
Seeing as I was almost to the city I decided to use the situation to my advantage as the chimera was a decent size and could be sold for a decent amount to a gryphon butcher. I didn’t need the money but the prestige of such a kill, especially solo, would be enough that most gryphons wouldn’t bother messing with me. Stretching out my body to make sure everything is loosened up I then dive down from the tree I’m in and land in front of the chimera. I then quickly turn away from it and kick it in the feline jaw with a hind leg before taking off towards the capital with the now angered beast in tow.
While running on in front of it I occasionally toss back insults and taunts to make sure it stays angry enough to keep chasing me blindly as I consider how to finish it off. Let’s see, fire spells would do too much damage to the meat and ice spells take too much time. I’d rather not cut it up since I’ll still have to carry it through town and leaking blood could cause issues. I guess I could just go with a focused blast of force and break its necks but that seems rather boring. Hmm, maybe I could try out the reversed featherweight spell I’ve been working on; this could be a good test of how effective it is at least.
I’m surprised that the chimera was keeping up as well as it had been chasing me for quite a while now. By the time I was getting close to the capitol it was looking a bit worn out though I wouldn’t have been much better off if I wasn’t using my magic to boost my stamina. Seeing as I was getting so close to my destination I was keeping an eye out for the perfect location to finish the chase. I spot a good sized tree the looks to be perfect for my needs and I angle the chase towards it.
I slow down enough so that the chimera thinks that it is about to catch me so that its focus is entirely on me. Reaching the tree I rapidly climb its trunk as the chimera crashes faces first into it below me. Once I reach a good height up the tree a flip off of it and aim towards the chimera’s back as I cast the stoneweight spell on myself. Immediately I feel the effects of the spell as I plummet down towards creature at a faster pace. The chimera’s necks audibly snap as I impact into it, killing it instantly leaving only its tail to flail in pain. Unfortunately I wasn’t ready for the spell myself as when I land my left legs fold under me in pain as I sprain them from the landing and extra weight.
“Mmmph, that’s going to be a problem with this spell if I want to use it again like that.” I look over at the chimera and fire a focused blast of force at the snake tail, snapping its neck and making sure it doesn’t come after me. “Well at least I know it works well in theory even if there are a few things to work out with it. I think I’ll just rest a bit here before going anywhere though.”
After about an hour I finally feel well enough to move again though there is still a bit of pain to work through. Getting up I levitate the corpse as I make my way to the gates of the city which are visible from my position. I wonder why nobody had bothered to see what was going on as I did make a good amount of noise, but arriving at the gates I found the guards asleep and nobody in sight that would even need to use it. “Huh, well when the surrounding area keeps most ground-borne beings away and the usual groups fly it makes sense that the guards would get bored. Of course if they get caught sleeping like this I bet they’d still get into trouble.”
Walking through the gates with the chimera’s corpse my eyes are immediately drawn to the multitude of airships that are floating around the city. I could tell right away that they weren’t meant for simple trade or travel as a majority of them had small catapults and ballistae hanging over the edges of them. Strange, I haven’t heard of any major conflicts that would require that many ships to be gathered together. Most of them look pretty new as well. I also make note that they all seem to be connected together by ropes bridges for whatever reason as well.
Shaking my head I search out for a butcher shop and easily find one by following the smell of blood. Many gryphons look at me strangely and look to be about to do something but when the see the body behind me they turn away. I’m not sure of the exact reason for most of them, but as long as problems are kept away from me any reason is fine. This allows me to make it to the shop unhindered.
Business with the gryphon butcher goes relatively quickly as any being that can take on a chimera is one that isn’t worth trying to cheat. It also helped that he knew some gryphons that needed a good amount of chimera meat at the time so he wanted things to go quickly. Leaving the shop with a bag of gryphonic currency I turn my attention to the next thing on my list of things to do in the city.
It doesn’t take me long to find exactly what I was looking for just by following the smell. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had anything other than fish and vegetation to eat. The ponies rarely have any place that serves things like that and the diamond dogs eat mostly gems. While I don’t mind the other stuff it’s nice to have a little bit of variety once and a while.” I’m almost skipping as I walk into the restaurant that I had found.
I am soon seated in a private booth with a succulent plate of meat and potatoes on the table in front of me. I sit there and just savor the smell coming off of it for many minutes before even reaching for my eating utensils. The first bite actually brings a tear to my eye as it had been such a long time since I’ve had red meat of any kind and the taste of the warm blood of the slightly bloody meat just satisfies a craving I hadn’t thought about in years.
The rest of the restaurant watched me as I dig into my meal with gusto. I pay little attention to them beyond noting their staring but I care little about anything beyond my food at this moment. Even the sight of a group of guards entering the building isn’t enough to draw my attention away from my entrée. Of course a sword being stabbed into the center of the table is enough to at least cause me to look up and see what is going on.
Staring down at me is probably one of the most gaudily dressed gryphons I had ever seen. The sight of him in such a garishly green and frilly outfit almost makes me forget about my food. While I’m not a stickler about fashion, being around ponies that made it their job to know what looks good has given me at least some idea of what looks horrible. The lime green of his suit just doesn’t work with the orange highlights of his feathers or the black of the rest of him. I almost miss what he says due to the horribleness of it all.
“So this is the thing that supposedly took down a chimera by itself? It doesn’t look that tough to me.” I just roll my eyes and try to ignore him as I continue eating my food. Oh great, he must be some overly self-important noble. This is going to be more annoying than it needs to be doesn’t it? I just sigh as I try to block out his ranting and finish my meal before things fall through. I am lucky enough to be able to get to the last bite before the gryphon finally goes berserk at me ignoring him.
“Hey! Are you even listening to me? How dare you ignore me!?” With that he rips the sword out of the table and tries to swing it at my head. Sighing I just pull up a bit of magic and redirect the blade upwards into the ceiling with telekinesis and when he’s off balance from his body being forced into an upraised position I then slam him backwards so that his head impacts with the floor knocking him unconscious. The rest of the restaurant is silent as all this goes down and they even start backing away in horror for some reason.
After paying for my meal as well as a bit extra for cleanup I try to leave but one of the guards tries to stop me. “Don’t you know what you just did? That’s the crown prince!?” I look back at the fallen fop and internally wince at the potential problems this is going to cause me. “Is he? He seems to be rather clumsy for someone of that stature.” The guard just sputters as he tries to come up with a reply as I slip out the door. I decide to try and find a place to lay low for a while and hope everything blows over by tomorrow.
Unfortunately I found myself being chased through the streets of the city by the griffon royal guard a few hours later. Of course things don’t work out as planned yet again. Why did it have to be not only a noble, but the heir to the throne that decides to start something with me? So much for gryphons being more straightforward than Canterlot unicorns usually are. I look back at the chasing gryphons and wonder what the best way to lose them would be as well as the fastest way out of the city.
Losing the guards is often easy enough but it doesn’t take long for them to find me again seeing as I’m the only one of my kind in the city. I could use my magic to lose them but I didn’t want to reveal too much of what I could do just in case I needed a trump card for later. Still I’m able to do simple things to throw them off a bit such as using an aversion spell on tree branches and bystanders so that they don’t see them and crash into them while they focus on me.
Eventually I find myself up on one of the airships hovering over the city and I wonder how I even got up here in the first place. Looking back at the catwalk that led from the building I just left to get here I notice that the guards are still following me and in even greater numbers. Shaking my head I decide to resort to drastic measures since turning myself in is not an option as things definitely won’t turn out well for me with a pampered noble brat involved.
Seeing as how I’m already up here I guess these things will have to do as a distraction. It’s just too bad I don’t know what these airships are supposed to be used for in the first place. Looking around a notice a nearby lit lantern and grab it up by the ring with one of my tails. The guards just look at me oddly for a moment until they see me toss it in the air when they just watch in horror. Once it reaches the apex of its flight I split it in two with a burst of energy sending flaming oil across the deck as I take off towards the next ship.
While the guards try to stop the flames on the first ship I start up another conflagration on the second and third ships. By the time I make it to the sixth ship things are getting out of control on the previous ships and I spot gryphons pouring out of buildings to either watch the inferno or to try and put it out. Eventually I reach the last airship where I notice that there isn’t a building connected to the final ship in the chain. Looking over the edge of the ship I spot a cloud a good distance below and come up with a risky plan.
“Well nowhere else to go but down I guess. I just hope that I remember this spell correctly.” Closing my eyes for a moment I cast the cloud-walking spell on myself before taking aim at the cloud and leaping off of the ship. My aim is good and I sail through the air at the cloud but when I collide with it, it only slows me down a good deal before I break right through it. “Oh crud, this is really going to hurt.” I wince as I see the city rise up at me rapidly and I close my eyes and try to go as limp as possible.
The first impact isn’t as bad as I expected as I hit something made of cloth and break through it. This happens a couple more times before a hit the ground hard. Unfortunately by that time I had tensed up in reaction to the other impacts and land badly on one of my legs where I hear a loud snapping sound from causing me to let out a large yelp. “Frig!” That is all I can really force out as a reaction as I clutch at my now broken left foreleg.
Painfully climbing to my other three legs I decide now is a good time to use magic as I hide myself with everything I can and limp my way out of the city. I only glance back once when an explosion erupts from one of the airships and see them all slowly falling to the ground in flames.