//------------------------------// // Integration // Story: The Ecstasy of Defeat // by AgentSnail //------------------------------// Rose knocked on a door, waiting a few seconds as muffled hoof steps echoed behind the thin wood. Rarity opened the door a moment later, beginning a word before her face went through an interesting string of emotions. She was staring at Eldon, her mouth a little agape. Little hoof steps pattered behind her, and Sweetie Belle showed up next to her sister seconds later. "Rarity, that's the griffin!" "I know, Sweetie." She replied, getting her face in order. "I'm just not really sure why he's here." Eldon watched her eyes move over him, surely tracing the lines of stitches that criss-crossed his front. He didn't really like it. "We were trying to get something made… a sheath for a hammer style weapon?" He tried. "We figure that if griffins decide to cause a problem, he better have some form of defense." Rose added. "So something like this doesn't happen again." She gestured to Eldon. "Of course, come in." Rarity said, stepping to one side as she held the door open. Eldon limped through after Roseluck. "So what are we looking for, here? Anything special?" There was a bit of waver in her confident tone, as she pulled out a selection of things to look at. "We could do leather… Just got a shipment in from the Griffin… Empire." Eldon didn't react abnormally, so she continued. "That would make a fairly sturdy sheath, and could be tailored to specifications of… what exactly are we dealing with here?" "This." Roseluck said, as Eldon grabbed the hammer from her back and she started to get feeling back in the flesh it had been resting on. Rarity stared up at Eldon again. "Really?" "Tag, you're it!" Sweetie yelled, hopping into the air and poking one of Cato's hind legs before scampering into another room. A few things fell over. "Sweetie Belle!" Rarity yelled, as the filly poked her head back out. "What?" She asked innocently, peering at Cato, who was staring back. "Everything's fine! I mean, I expected more out of tag, but…" "What's tag?" Cato asked. The room went silent. Rose sighed. Same as usual. It'd be nice if there was just a general book on this stuff, so this could stop happening. Cato hopped off Eldon's back as Rarity started taking measurements, eyeing the griffin. "Well," Sweetie began, looking completely confused that someone could grow up without tag. "Somepony's it, and they tag a pony that isn't, and then the pony that got tagged is it." "Oh…" Cato said, realization coming over his face. "Some kid in my school tried to play that, but I guess he got transferred or something because we never saw him again." So then, this was the meaning of complete silence, Rose thought to herself. It was funny from the standpoint that they were just talking about things that were normal to them, and shocking absolutely everypony they met accidentally. Hopefully ponies would take enough pity on the two to allow them a more inclusive stay. Eldon didn't want pity, but it sure seemed to be a helpful thing to have. Not that Rarity was really getting seriously comfortable around him. Eh, at least she wasn't scared. That was good. "I can get this measured out and made in a couple days if you leave the hammer here." Rarity finally said, wrapping her tape measure around a hoof so that it was out of the way. "We can work on a price then, if that's alright. I'm not really sure what'll be involved at the moment, but it won't be backbreaking. The price, I mean." Rose nodded. "So are you going to school here then?" Sweetie asked, gesturing to Cato, who looked at Eldon. "I hope so." Eldon said. "I'm assuming there's no law against that?" "No, Eldon." Rose said before the room could become silent again. She turned to Rarity. "He didn't have a lot where he came from, if that wasn't clear. Not food, amenities or freedom. You keep seeming surprised, so keep that in mind." "How did you get out?" Rarity breathed, eyeing the Griffin's scars once again. "I just broke out and left." Eldon replied cryptically. Images of the griffins he'd killed flashed through his mind. "I don't really want to talk about it." Rarity composed herself, nodding. "I see." "Well anyway, I guess we'll head out." Rose said, turning for the door. "Whatever price you set, I'll pay. I don't want him to be unarmed for long." "What is it you're so afraid of, if I may ask?" Rarity inquired, rummaging through some fabrics half-heartedly with a hoof. Sweetie and Cato were into their game of tag, if the noise in the other room meant anything. Eldon hadn't seen them leave, come to think of it. "That the griffins I escaped from try to take me back." The griffin replied, sighing. "And I'm sure they're not done trying." "But why would they care? I mean, you're not- I mean you weren't- in some position of power, right?" Eldon shook his head. "But they'll want to make an example out of me. Run some fake, rigged trial and then sentence me to death. It's one of they ways they keep order." He paused, shaking his head angrily. "That and I killed the friend of the guy in charge of tracking me down." Eldon shut his mouth quickly. Mistakes were made there. "You what?!" Rarity exclaimed, taking a step back in shock. "You killed him?" Eldon was taken aback. Surely she wouldn't take their side, right? "Roseluck, you never told me he'd killed anypony!" "Rarity, you've got to be kidding me!" Eldon cut in. "Hey! It was us or them, alright?! I had no choice, and there's not a day that goes by where I don't relive those moments. It'd be nice to live in a world where it's just so black and white, you know, but I don't have that damn luxury! Why do you think I wanted to come here?" He grabbed Cato as he ran by, putting him onto his back and stepping away from the mare. "There's a reason I didn't want to talk about it." "But-" Roseluck tried, but he was already gone. She turned to Rarity with a sigh. Rarity immediately took on a dejected look. "It's alright. I'll get him." "You don't have to-" "No, it's my fault anyway." Rarity trotted over to the door, disappearing through it a moment later. _______________________________________________________________________________ "Eldon, wait!" Rarity hollered, catching up to the griffin a few strides later. She was breathing rather heavily for the distance of sprinting she'd performed. She needed to get out more. He was looking at her now, waiting for her to speak. "Sorry about that." She said once she was sure her words wouldn't be interrupted by a breath. It was longer than she strictly needed, but she wouldn't be caught in such an uncouth scenario out in public like she was. Running around working up a sweat was bad enough. "You're right about everything you said, and I should have just listened." Eldon's gaze softened. "Thanks." Rarity smiled. "You can come back if you want, I put on some tea just before you came so I'm sure it's ready by now." There was a pause. "If you want." "Who'd you kill to get tea?" Eldon asked, a slight smirk appearing on his face to allude to his humor. The joke was probably a little too edgy but whatever. "But seriously though." "It's just... cheaper here." "Must be nice." He replied, beginning to follow her back to her shop. "Guess you'll be able to finish your game, Cato." "So, um..." Rarity began, trying to make conversation. "How come we don't see more griffins coming from where you live? Don't they all want to escape?" Eldon sighed. "I'm sure they do but it's not really that simple." He paused as they came up to the door of the boutique and he pulled the door open for the mare, following him in. Rose seemed to perk up a bit at seeing him again. "A lot of things had to go right for me to get here, even months before the day I left." He sat down on a small couch that Rarity gestured to, letting out a contented sigh when he was able to rest his sore body. "Months?" The fashion designer asked, pulling a few of her supplies out of a drawer, including a tape measure. "Well yeah. The breaking out part turned out to be easier than keeping under the radar before then. Hoarding food is a crime, for instance. That means any extra food. Around here, I don't think it's allowed for the police to break into your house whenever they like, but if they had any suspicion, or just didn't like you they could get you sent away for just about anything. So I bit my tongue and worked, picked up a coin or two off the ground when they weren't looking. Slowly but steadily began my stash." "But how did you know how to come here?" Rarity inquired, taking a measurement of the hammer. "Books. One of them was about your country, and it mentioned mine as well. I had to figure out what a lot of the words meant myself, since they don't teach you much in school at all, but once I had the general locations of the two places it at least gave me a reason to keep working towards the goal of leaving, and made me think that there would actually be safety at the end of the road. I was half right about that one." "Don't worry, Eldon." Rose piped up. "Celestia won't stand for griffins scaring her citizens." "Maybe, but I doubt she wants to cause a war. I doubt killing these guys would do that, but I don't know. And I'm sure she doesn't either." He paused. "Hey, how come the little purple princess told me about the terms of my asylum here, and not the big one?" "Celestia and Twilight?" Rose asked, and he nodded. "You need to remember Celestia's name, Eldon. She expected you to be a bit skittish that first time you met her, and not know anything, but they demand a bit of respect." "I figured." Eldon replied. "I'll remember it, don't worry." "Twilight came up with the terms of his stay?" Rarity asked. "Well, she did say something about the princess teaching her how to rule. With all the crazy stuff that goes on around here, it's no surprise that they want another pony capable of taking charge." She trotted over to him. "I need a few measurements from you now, Eldon. Mind raising your arms?" He complied, and Rarity measured around his chest in a few different ways, writing down each measurement on a piece of paper she had with her. "When can I pick this up?" Eldon asked. "Well, seeing as you need it to help protect yourself, I'll try to get it done either overnight or the next day. Swing by tomorrow, and I'll tell you where I am in the scheme of things." "Sounds like a plan," the griffin responded, putting his arms back down. "What is there to do around here?" "For you?" She laughed. "Anything. There's food, cider, the plays they put on down the street..." "We can go out for dinner if you're feeling up to it, Eldon." Roseluck interjected. "They probably won't have meat that you'll want, but it'll still be new to you." "What do you mean, 'that I'll want'?" he asked, getting interested. "I just meant that it's not a steak or chicken or anything. Those are sometimes around, but more often than not meat is a sort of accent to a dish. It's not super popular as a food by itself, but ponies don't seem to have much against eating it in small quantities mixed into something. I guess there's seafood too. I mentioned fish once. That's a lot more popular than red meat, and they really like them in Canterlot." "They'll eat anything in Canterlot if somepony calls it fancy." Rarity mumbled, rolling her eyes. "I thought you were all over the Canterlot lifestyle." Rose asked, smirking. "Yeah, and I still am, but sometimes I find myself wondering why. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore the culture and the night life, but it has a quirk here or there that I don't care for. I've often found myself being treated as an outsider among the cliques there, despite their apparent affection towards my designs. One of the few that I've had a conversation with is Fancy Pants. Sometimes I think he's the only relatable pony in that entire town." Rose took a glance at Eldon, who was listening to their conversation with interest. Satisfied that he wasn't bored, she continued. "Canterlot's old money, Rarity, everypony knows that. The culture of that city peaked fifty years ago. Now it's just a bunch of inheritees with no idea how normal life works. You and Fancy Pants are a step apart from the rest because you had to work your asses off." Rose paused, taking a glance around to check for children after her mental slip. The sounds of hooves and talons were somewhat faint, so she figured she was in the clear. "I understand that, Rose, and I thank you for your colorful compliment, but the only way to get anywhere in the industry I'm in is by getting a fashion line taken by one of those guys in Canterlot." "Who says it's the only way?" Rose grinned. "You know what you're doing, and ponies love your dresses. I mean, how many dress shops are there in Aploosa?" "I don't know." Rarity conceded. "Well, you should put another one there. These guys in Canterlot are only a barrier if you let them be one." Rarity thought for a moment. "I suppose you're right. But surely I couldn't make all of those dresses..." "I bet Fancy Pants could." Rose grinned. "Maybe on second thought, I will get in contact with him." Rarity smiled back. "And with our tenacity, Canterlot wouldn't stand a chance!" She disappeared into a closet for a moment, returning with a big square of leather. "Guess I better get cracking, hmm?" ________________________________________________________________ Roseluck looked up from a bill, watching Eldon for a moment. He was in her back yard doing something or other, currently messing with a metal tomato pole she had laying around. He was a curious guy, sort of refreshing in a way. Cato was helping him with part of it, although their bodies blocked out their project nicely. Eldon's arm jerked sideways and came free with one steel pole from the structure. He set the rest aside. Rose's eyes widened. Those things were cheap, but he'd just broken two welds! Eldon looked around, possibly checking for griffins before he started to move around to Rose's front yard. Rose followed him inside the house, watching him come into view in the street. Now the griffin was looking at the old decrepit tree in the middle of the street that the stupid town kept saying they were going to replace. Eldon held up the rod as if making measurements in his head, then picked up a hoofball, holding it up to the rod as well. Rose rubbed at her chin, trying to figure out his plan. He put the rod behind the tree, grabbing the rod on both sides around the tree and bending it inwards. His paws struggled for purchase before they suddenly found it and the rod bent in a smooth motion. It reached most of the way around the tree, and with some jiggling Eldon got it off. Now it resembled most of a hoop, and Roseluck was pretty sure she knew what he was aiming for. Eldon let himself rest for a moment, wiping sweat from his brow and laughing at something that Cato said. Then he crouched, springing upwards at the tree. One of his talons stuck fast in the bark, and with a few more talon holds he was up to what looked like a suitable level. Cato passed him the pole from the ground, looking around at the ponies that had gathered. Eldon jammed one side of the hoop into the tree, switching talons and repeating the action to the other side. She knew she should be running out there to stop him from doing stuff like he was, but she had a hard time keeping him from continuing something that he appeared to enjoying. She just felt like a huge killjoy lately. Rose sighed, but perked up as Eldon hopped down, grabbing the hoofball in one talon and trotting back from the tree. He turned quickly, hopping into the air and letting the ball fly. It bounced off the side of the rim, hitting a pony on its way down. Rose winced, wondering if she should intervene. She made a brief movement for her front door before stopping. Eldon was his own po- griffin. He could figure it out himself. To her delight, the pony laughed, dropping his saddlebags on the ground and taking a shot of his own. That one missed too. Rose shook her head, laughing. She managed to tear herself away from the scene to go back to her bills. With the days she'd missed being in civilized society, these things had piled up. And she'd just now gotten around to getting them done. In fact, her power bill was technically due tomorrow. But the utilities companies usually gave a day or two of grace period with that stupid mare that worked in the post office and lost about half the letters. Eldon had expressed interest in getting a job, which could be nice. He definitely didn't need experience when he had talons like he did. He had some of the dexterity of a unicorn and the mobility of a pegasus. But then again, unicorns didn't really feel the stuff they moved, which often resulted in a lot of construction accidents. Everything that moved had to be watched closely, and one small distraction could mess everything up. Rose had worked in construction for a year or two before opening this place, and she knew the general chaos that went on. At least now cranes were starting to get better, so hopefully unicorns would be obsolete soon enough. It sounded harsh when she said it like that. But with the way these bills were going, she might indeed need a little bit of extra money to push her though to the usual deals she had coming up in a few weeks. She knew her pride would keep her from mentioning it to him. At least she was pretty sure that his pride would keep him from staying cooped up in here any longer than necessary. Ugh. Maybe getting captured was more of a vacation. Rose glanced back at the window, bursting into laughter. Eldon had a full scale game going now, with about half of them wearing bandanas of various colors including Eldon. He was trying to keep a pony away from the basket, but being careful to not make contact. The pony passed the ball and a teenager dove into the way, deflecting the ball. Eldon snatched it up, trotting out a few paces farther. He must have been doing a great job working through the pain in his bad leg, because she hardly noticed his limp. He threw a fast pass to an older pony, who bounced the ball around a stallion at least five years his junior to laughter. He tossed it upwards, and everypony stopped to watch it arch through the air. It went straight through the hoop, to uproarious cheers from the bandanna team. Rose finished off a bill, getting up to leave. The bills could wait a game or two. __________________________________________________________________ "So how'd you learn about this game?" A pegasus asked, who Eldon had learned was called Thunderlane. Rose had mentioned trying to make his stories sound at least slightly better. Omitting details wasn't too hard, at least. "My father used to play this game, and he taught me it as a kid. It's been years since I actually played it though, but I just happened to remember it today." "Well it's a hell of a lot more interesting than hoofball." He replied, chuckling. The resting ponies joined together in a general consensus. "What day is it, Tuesday? You want to make this a weekly thing, anypony?" He paused, as a few raised their hooves. "Maybe Tuesdays and Thursdays, show up to whichever?" "Sounds good to me," an older pony said, stretching out a hind leg. "Doc says I could use a little more exercise." "That okay with you?" Thunderlane asked Eldon. "After all, this is your game." "I've got nothing else going on." Eldon replied. Rose had a slight grin, staring downwards in thought. He wondered if she was as happy about the fact that he already knew ponies and was fitting in as he was. "It'd be nice if you all were't so tall." Cato murmured, drawing a laugh or two. "Hey, you'll hit a growth spurt pretty soon." Eldon said, poking him in the stomach and making him giggle. "You know, you could always set one up at the school and he'd have some guys his own size to play with." Eldon grinned. "You know, that doesn't sound half bad." Rose jumped, looking at the position of the sun as she grimaced. "Eldon! We need to get Cato registered for school before the city hall people leave for the day." She took a few steps away as Eldon got up, looking sore, but stopped to turn to the group. "Thanks for joining in. It was a lot of fun." "Thanks for showing us the game!" Thunderlane replied, followed by a chorus of thanks. "See you on Thursday." Eldon laughed. "You know it." _________________________________________________________________________ Eldon arose from his seat, following a pony down a corridor and into an office. An oldish pony was sitting behind the desk, looking at them expectantly. "You're the ones here to register a new child for school?" She paused. "I'm mayor mare, by the way." She exchanged a hoof shake with the two adults. "Yeah, but I didn't think I'd end up seeing the mayor for it." Roseluck said, looking around the rather ornate office. "Well normally I would have one of my secretaries give you the paperwork and then put it on the books, but the stallion that usually does it came down with quite the flu." The mayor handed over a small stack of papers. "I've taken the liberties of getting everything I could done ahead of time, as soon as I heard you were out there. I heard about you two," she continued, looking at Eldon and Cato, and while I don't know your names, I assumed that you might want to get the little one into school as soon as possible. Education is hard to come by in the griffin lands." "How did you know?" Eldon asked. This was probably the first pony to even vaguely understand what was inside the Griffin Empire. "I've been in office a long time, and Ponyville has had its fair share of encounters with the griffins. Being right on the border of an aggressive country does that to you. In fact, we're receiving ten or so soldiers later today just in case. Sent straight from Canterlot by Shining Armor, I hear." "So Celestia's going to force them to have a stand off?" Rose asked. "Technically speaking, from what I've heard about the royal power structure, Shining probably sent them of his own volition. The princess, I'm sure, would not be adverse to that decision." She paused. "Anywho, fill those out and hand them back, and we'll get him registered in a few minutes. What is his name, if I may ask?" "Cato." Eldon said plainly. "C-A-T-O." "Alright, got it." The mayor replied. "Last name?" "Arnason." It had been a long time since the name had crossed his lips. It had come to mind so quickly despite the years of disuse. "A-R-N-A-S-O-N." The mayor recorded the name, and Rose handed her the stack of paperwork. "Hopefully I didn't miss anything." The mayor shrugged. "I can fill in most of it myself. So unless you missed something really important it won't matter, but even then you can just get me the papers tomorrow." "Thanks for being so accommodating," Rose replied, giving a slight tilt of her head. "I really appreciate it." "It's no problem, really!" The mayor responded. "And I may as well make a good impression on our newest residents!" Rose grinned. It had turned out to be a quite a nice day after all. ______________________________________________________________________________ "What is this?" Eldon asked, picking up the suspiciously filled sandwich and letting it hand from between two of his talons. "Peanut butter and jelly sandwich." Rose replied, pulling it from Eldon so that she could get it wrapped up. "It's something we eat around here, and I had the ingredients. And I figured for Cato's first day of school, he might as well have something normal-ish. There's no point giving him something that will just estrange him on day one. "If you say so," Eldon replied, watching her a little more closely than she would have thought necessary. He was silent for a while. "Smells good." "You want one?" Rose asked, already making one for herself. Eldon nodded. "Well why don't you go wake your brother up and I'll have one ready for you when you get back?" Or ten, considering his appetite... Eldon wordlessly left the room. Apparently he wasn't much for talking in the morning. But she doubted he slept that well in the first place. He was clearly pretty sore when he went to bed, and it definitely couldn't have helped. The physical activity he'd gotten yesterday was nice in a sense, because it kept him from healing poorly, but it also kept him from healing as quickly. Choosing between only those two options, she'd much rather see him regain full use of his leg and be good and strong afterwards if it meant more pain now. It was just a little hard, watching him like that. She really did care about him. This wasn't anything about debt, though she sometimes thought about it that way. It was about him, and the bond that they had formed over their days in the wilderness. He'd taken her under his wing, literally, and she would never be able to thank him enough for it. But she was also left with a deeper sense of caring than the sort between brethren. There was a long list of qualities she admired about Eldon. He was pure, despite his society's ingrained brutality. And he was generous and selfless and so on. Or maybe this was just more deliberation in her head that would never go anywhere. That happened a lot, boring as her life often was. She loved her job, and while it had its fair share of adventures out in the wilderness, she didn't need that much from the Everfree that she couldn't grow herself. A few times she had contracted with Zecora and found things for her. The zebra was very knowledgable about most plants, but those that didn't exist in her homeland were still shrouded in a bit of mystery. That made it sound like she didn't know much, actually. Well, suffice to say there were enough she didn't know as well as she did that Rose felt she was still of help. And the knowledge went both ways, to a degree. Zecora was somewhat reserved with her potion making, but she had occasionally given Rose a hint or two, which she had made sure to remember. And she'd also thrown a few full recipes at her, like to fix poison joke and a few other small things. Basically so that if Zecora left town, they could survive a few things like that. Ponyville always seemed woefully unprepared for almost anything, but at least they had more soldiers coming into town now to help put up a show. Rose jumped as somepony banged on the door, getting irritated at herself for being so on edge. Admittedly, she hadn't slept well because of a nightmare about Eldon that she only vaguely remembered, but still. "Just a second!" She yelled, finishing up a sandwich. Rose opened the front door, wondering who would be by at such an hour. When she opened the door to Shining Armor himself, she figured she still had to be asleep. "Hi." She said. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best thing to say to the pony with the largest amount of military power at hoof in Equestria. "To whom do I owe the honor?" "Well, technically I'm here of my own accord. Celestia warned me about your guests, but I doubt we're going to have much of a problem from one refuge. But I'm not here because I wanted to say hi." ______________________________________________________________________________________ Eldon walked out into the hall, ducking back in as he noticed an armored pony downstairs. Why were there soldiers here? He knew they'd be in town, but here in Roseluck's house? Were they even soldiers? He didn't know the uniform, and they could be mercenaries hired by the griffins. Those existed, because he'd heard stories from the government itself about pony mercs. Usually they weren't a reliable source, but there had to be at least one mercenary, right? Okay, maybe that was overkill. But why would they show up so soon after he'd arrived, and in such force? "Cato," he whispered, setting his brother on the floor, "go hide in the closet, and don't come out until I tell you to." "But why-" "Do it." Eldon exited the room slowly and moved along the side of the hallway, peering down the stairs. "We've had a few run-ins with the griffins before. Their government is unpredictable and so we worry about the validity of the stories that refugees tell." Said a pony that Eldon couldn't see. "How can you say that!" Rose exclaimed, angry sounds following as she struggled with words. "He got torn up by griffins, why would he do that just to turn on us?!" The guard at the bottom of the stairs started to turn towards him, and Eldon dove to the floor. It was a perfect maneuver, other than the fact that his elbow made a thump on the way down. There was some hurried, muffled talking going back and forth, some of which he recognized as Rose. Then after a few seconds a knife came free from its sheath and slow, deliberate hoof steps started making their way up the stairs. Eldon snaked around the corner, back into the room he'd come out of. Okay. So they might not be hostile. They might just want to chat. But what if they wanted to take him away and the princess had just put on a show for her subjects? What if this was the end? He couldn't take that chance. He looked around hurriedly, but there was no place he could hide. He was far too large for the closet, especially by the time they got here. At least ponies weren't silent. Eldon waited for another step to sound out against the hardwood before he jumped sideways into the hall, catching the two ponies by enough surprise to punch the knife out of the white one's hoof. It clattered on the ground behind the both of them, and Eldon grabbed a punch by the second pony, twisting and throwing the guard further down the hall. He spun back just as fast, narrowly avoiding a punch and throwing one of his own. It got caught in a blue aura, and after a brief second off balance Eldon threw a punch with his other talon, watching it get stuck as well. The pony hit him in the gut with his fore hoof, pivoting on the other front hoof to go in for the finisher and buck him. Eldon swung himself forwards with the blue things, managing to make contact with a paw to the pony's cheek as he spun. It knocked the guard backwards, distracting him enough to stop his weapon from working. Eldon hit the ground on his back, rolling onto his stomach to get up. He charged into the pony he'd thrown earlier, throwing them both down the hall. Eldon got a glimpse of at least five more soldiers in the hallway behind him, and decided it was now or never. Their leader, the one that had had the knife and the blue stuff, he assumed, was the key. Eldon sprinted off, zigzagging down the hall. He was maybe three feet from him when he lurched to a painful stop, his whole body becoming alight with pain for a moment. It quickly drowned itself out with adrenaline as Eldon realized he was completely ensnared, and started straining to get out. The pony's eye twitched, but otherwise the field was resolute. Once he was sure Eldon was secure, he raised the griffin a few feet, looking him over closely. Blood had begun to drip from one of his hind legs, presumably from some cut he'd opened back up. He couldn't feel it, though. There was still too much adrenaline pumping through him. "Where's the other one?" The stallion asked after a few moments, making a gesture back to his buddies. "Look, you can force me to leave as much as you want, but let him stay! He didn't do anything!" Eldon yelled, feeling tears well up in his eyes and cascade down his cheeks. He'd hardly been here a few days, and it was already over. After all those months of planning, and all the relief he'd felt having gotten here, only to be rejected. "Why won't you let me stay? I just want to live my life and fly and raise my brother not be killed because of it." He saw thinly veiled confusion on the faces of the ponies, which in turn confused him. "Then why did you attack us?" "Because I didn't have a choice! I can't hide, and I just didn't want to get sent back." He had never been so afraid or frustrated in his life. The world he had know had seemed bad before, but now that he knew what it was like to have meaningful companionship and play games with other laughing individuals and not need to worry about a midnight raid when he was asleep, it made his old home seem twice as bad. "I can't be sent back. They'll kill me, and they'll make an example of it! And they'll torture me for hours and hours just because they can." "I know." Eldon was lowered to the ground and the forcefield suddenly dissipated. "I know what you thought you heard, but we don't want to deport you. The military griffins that we sometimes see disguised as refugees like you still have old symbols reflecting their past. They usually come from the training they go through or tradition, but there's always something. Most commonly, it's a symbol on the talon somewhere that gives it away." He paused, sighing. "You're not the only one to react like this, though. The spies always bide their time and wait for us to tell them what we're going to do. But the ones that are desperate, that have everything to lose, they try to fight." He put a hoof to his quickly bruising cheek, grinning. "But man, can you griffins fight." He gestured for Eldon to follow him, returning back down the stairs. "That's why you have all the guys?" The pony nodded. "You can be tough to take down." They made it to the living room, where Rose was standing nervously, a guard in between her and the stairs. She ducked around him, jumping into Eldon and hugging him around his neck. Eldon took the force with an 'oof', taking half a step back before he put a talon around her back. "I thought they were going to hurt you." The white pony laughed. "Us, hurt him?" He paused. "Oh yeah, I'm Shining Armor by the way, captain of the Royal Guard and co-ruler thing of the Crystal Empire. Sort of, my wife does most of that stuff. Doesn't trust me with non-military stuff, you see." Eldon grinned, extending a talon. "Eldon." Shining shook his talon. "Oh, Roseluck, could you perchance get Cato out of the closet upstairs?" Rose nodded, letting out a few nervous laughs about the sudden friendliness of the males that had just beat each other up. "So that was magic?" She heard Eldon ask as she wandered upstairs, walking into her bedroom. She'd insisted that Cato sleep in a real bed for the night before classes started, and she take the couch. She'd made a small dent into the space she'd always used as storage, and she knew that the stuff farther in was bigger, and in a sense, easier to deal with. Maybe Eldon could help her out a bit with the heavier ones. Worry settled into her heart. She had seen the lines of blood popping up on his body just now, numerous cuts that he had opened up. Definitely the bad one on his leg. If he continued pushing himself like he was, he wasn't going to heal correctly, and he might end up making his life a lot harder in the future. She slid open the closet door, watching Cato shrink back inside before he realized it was her. "Where's Eldon?" He asked. "He's downstairs. He's fine." Cato gave her a look that seemed to suggest she was under pressure to lie. The tension ran thick. Eldon laughed downstairs, a hearty sound that Rose didn't hear often. It always made her happy when he could find something to laugh at. He'd probably kill her for the bit of pity that came out in her occasionally, but for all the time he was beaten down, he didn't seem to care. Rose's thoughts shifted suddenly. "Oh shoot! You're going to be late if we don't get going!" Before Cato could protest Rose picked him up and tossed him onto her back, trotting downstairs. Eldon was still chuckling at some story Shining was telling, responding with a few words she didn't quite sort out from the rest of the conversation in the room. Then it was Shining's turn to laugh. "Hey Rose." Eldon managed to get out between laughs. "We need to get this guy to class." Rose replied, the guffawing of the two forcing her to grin. She laughed to herself. "Come on, no sense him being late on day one." "I guess you're right." Eldon replied, wiping a tear out of his eye. He turned back to Shining. "Hey, say hi when you come back to town." "Actually, I'm going to be here for a few days," Shining explained, "I've got to get some things set up and then there's my sister. You've met her I think, Twilight Sparkle? Lavender with wings and a horn?" "Oh yeah, she told me I could stay here first." Eldon confirmed. "Guess I'll see you around maybe." "Yeah, I'll try to make a point of it." Shining replied, twirling a hoof above his head in a sort of military signal before pointing towards the door. His soldiers chuckled and followed him out. The pony that Eldon had thrown tapped at a dented piece of armor and grinned as he walked through the door. He shut it behind him, and the house became completely silent for a few moments. "Thank god that's over." Rose sighed. "I thought you were in a lot of trouble, Eldon." "So did I." "At least you're making friends. I didn't know you were so charismatic." "Neither did I. But he was good at turning stuff into jokes. Really funny guy." Eldon replied. He stamped a knuckle into the ground suddenly, making the hardwood ring out with a dull thud. "Alright, let's get going." "Wait, one sec." Rose spoke up, stopping Eldon mid stride. "You hurt yourself." "It's fine. I've had worse." "Let me see." Rose replied with a sound of slight annoyance, parting the hair where the cut was. The stitches were clearly still intact, so that was good. She was worried he may have popped a few out with how it sounded up there. But it was just a little cut next to it that had pulled apart, a shallow one that looked worse than it was. But he kept pulling it apart anyway. "We're going to have to jog, but this can't wait." She trotted from the room, pulling a first aid kit from an upper cabinet in her kitchen. "You think you can handle an extra stitch or two?" "Ugh, why?" "Because you keep pulling this cut apart and I want you to heal." "Fine." He paused. "How many?" "I don't know. We'll see." Rose poked him with the needle, slightly surprised that he stayed still. She had experience with simple operations such as these, and they weren't foreign. She'd had to repair herself from worse out in the Everfree anyway. Rose shivered. Way worse. The needle went back and forth, Eldon's leg giving a twitch here and there. Nothing she couldn't deal with. "There." Rose said. "Now we can go." Twelve more. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Eldon walked up the small hill towards the school house, getting a few looks from ponies around them. Cato hopped off Eldon's back, fluttering to the ground. At the rate he was going he might not even need a lesson. Must be instincts. "Hey, be good." Eldon warned. "I better not hear anything about fights or backtalk or anything of the sort. School is a privilege." Cato gave Eldon a salute, scampering inside excitedly. Eldon grinned, almost thinking he might be dreaming. Maybe if his leg didn't hurt so much. But Cato was in a school with a teacher that wouldn't hesitate to answer his questions, or try to brainwash him. "They usually don't go in so eager." Eldon jumped, snapping out of his thoughts. The red pony seemed to think it was funny as he chewed at some grass or something. "Yer the new citizen?" It must be the grass making him speak like that. "Yeah." Probably wouldn't be good to ask him in case he was wrong. "Name's Macintosh. They call me Big Mac, much to mah chagrin." Eldon shook his hoof. "Eldon." Letting his eyes shift around, he figured he was one of the few that saw eye to eye with this one. "Wish Ah could get mah critter ta go in there that easy." Eldon refocused and shrugged. "We didn't really have school. I taught him some things, but I think I drilled in the gravity of the situation enough for him to understand." "Ah see." He responded. Silence drew on, and Eldon wondered if he was going to be a mute for the rest of his life. "So what do you do?" Eldon asked, quickly adding, "For a living?" He pointed to trees with red things in them. "We grow apples." "Oh, is that what those are?" Eldon asked. Damn. Well, may as well continue so as not to sound like an idiot. "We didn't have those." Mac glanced at Roseluck, who gave a slight nod. He gave her a meaningful look. "Shame." Another pause. "Anywho, Ah've got to get back ta work. Ah'll be seein' ya around, Eldon." Mac walked past him, wandering back towards the apple trees. "He's notorious for being a man of few words." Rose explained. Eldon nodded. "So when should I come back to get him?" The pain in his leg was quickly fading as the bleeding stopped entirely and with the momentary pause in movement. "They get out at three or so, so that's when we should be here. But until then, you're resting." _________________________________________________________________________ Eldon shot a hoop, celebrating to himself as Rose watched through the window. Griffins only seemed to live until they tore themselves apart. But his cut had scabbed over, and until she looked up and saw blood she wan't going to stop him. The cut hadn't been pulling apart that much in the first place so there wouldn't be that much stress on the stitches. She'd put in more than she thought she needed in case he didn't feel like laying down. And she'd also been productive in here, working on bills and a few shipments from Canterlot. The storefront had been busy when she had gotten back, and Eldon had helped a little, but since then it had been quiet. It was a moderately successful day of sales, and she was still getting the occasional pony here and there. Eldon seemed to be a nice attraction. Rose finished the last bill in a stack, putting them all into a neat pile and letting out a contented sigh. She could just stick these in the bin across the street and play some sports with Eldon. She didn't get enough physical activity this time of year anyway. She exited, thinking about changing the sign on the door before deciding otherwise. She would see customers anyway, so there was no point in turning them away. Plus, in a small town like Ponyville most ponies knew what she looked like, so seeing her in the street ten feet away wouldn't be hard. Rose got the lid to the bin open after a few tries and ignored the horrible squeal the rusty hinge made. She put in her mail and punched it closed, making sure she heard them hit the other mail. "So how's it going, Eldon?" Rose asked, turning to him. He shrugged, taking a shot that bounced off the tree. His reaction time was commendable, as was his speed in recovering the ball. "It'd probably be more interesting if we had a bunch of ponies to play with like yesterday." He replied. "But I'm totally down if you want to shoot a few with me." Rose nodded and he tossed her the ball. "You go first." "I don't think I've ever lost worse than I'm about to." "Oh, come on, that's no way to think about it." Rose shrugged, bouncing the ball a few times to get the feel of it again. She dribbled it to one side of Eldon, changing direction fast enough to get an opening. She shot it from a long ways back, watching it sail through the air and through the bent tomato pole. "Woah, did you see that?!" Rose exclaimed, shocked that she had made the first shot. She had played some yesterday, but she had only tried to shoot once. It had gotten blocked. The rest of the time had been her playing some pretty good defense in her opinion. She was good enough at this game to have fun while playing it. "Yeah, nice." Eldon said, grabbing the ball and switching positions with her. Eldon started his move, doing a similar juke to her. But he was faster, getting more free space between the two of them. He dribbled forwards and Rose struggled to catch up, diving to put a hoof in front of the ball. She felt it make a bit of contact, and watched the ball go off target before she skidded on the ground. "Woah there, Roseluck. It's just a game." Came a new voice, followed by laughs. Blue hooves hit the ground in front of Rose's face as she started to get up. She dusted herself off slightly, not particularly worried about a little extra grit. "Why're you coming by on a day like this, Rainbow Dash?" Rose asked. "Cuz of him." She replied, pointing to Eldon. Roseluck gave him a quizzical look. "Yo, Eldon." "I didn't ask to be so popular." He said with a shrug. "You're that mare from the hospital, right? I saw you there." "Yeah. Twilight asked me to look at your wings because she thought they looked weird. Clipped to keep you from flying, huh? Sounds like hell." "I'll probably only realize how bad it was when I fly again." "Why not now?" Dash asked, gesturing to the sky. "Beautiful day!" "Because last time I crashed and knocked myself out. Until they look a little closer to wingtips, I'm not leaving the ground." "Suit yourself. Anyway, I'm really just here because Shining Armor said you're the reason the side of his face is a little blue." Eldon turned a faint shade of red. "I thought he was there to deport me." He paused. "So I hit him first." Dash laughed. "You've been here like three days and you've already bunched a guy that has to be at least the fifth most powerful pony in Equestria. Hopefully it won't go outside us or you'll be swarmed with reporters." "Not like a little press would be a bad thing." Rose laughed. "Free advertising is the best advertising." "Ha, yeah. Well I heard it through the grapevine, i.e. Rarity that you're concerned with defending yourself. Because you bought a giant hammer or something." "Yeah." Eldon replied simply. "Well I know a bit of martial arts, and if you want to I could spar from time to time. There's nothing wrong with getting a little better, right?" "Strength only works against ponies, I guess. When would we start?" Dash shrugged. "I don't care, man. Whenever you want. I'm not doing much and the weather team is pretty idle this week." She paused, looking at the goofball and the hoop. "What even is this game?" "I don't remember the name, but apparently it's a lot different from hoofball. Basically you have to shoot this through the hoop, but you can't move without bouncing the ball on the ground. There are other rules, but that's the short version." Eldon chuckled. "All I know is, its fun. But I think probably I'll finish this game and take a nap. Then how about at... what time is it anyway?" "Twelve." Rose said. "Okay, so lunch first, then nap." Eldon laughed. "I bet you eat meat like Gilda, huh?" Dash asked. "I mean... like other griffins?" "Yeah." Eldon replied. "How many other griffins would you say live in... Equestria?" "Probably at least ten thousand or more. We've had a griffin population for a long time, before anypony can really remember. You know, Equestria's got like ten million and they're not that rare along the coast so its probably at least a hundred thousand." Dash waved a hoof dismissively. "In any case, you're going to have a hard time not seeing some. But according to Shining, the ones that escape like you are fairly rare. And they're also usually in a sort of witness protection sort of thing. I'm guessing you're going to be asked a few more questions by Shining for intel or something." "You ponies seem loose-lipped with your information." Eldon noted. "You two are the only ones hearing this. Shining said he'd rather you know before his cheek gets punched off. He laughed after that, but it was getting pretty swollen so I think there was some truth there." Dash laughed. "Anyway, I'll stop by in a few hours, after I've come up with a way to keep you from accidentally tearing me a new one." She made a cutting motion across her neck. "You know, literally." "Yeah, see ya." Eldon replied, watching the mare nod and turn, taking a few strides to get up to speed before she hopped into the air. She gained speed quickly, disappearing beyond the houses of the town. He turned to look at Roseluck, who was grinning widely. "Looks like you're going to get that taken care of." She said, chuckling. "I guess I won't have to worry about you so much anymore." "You'll find a way." Eldon chuckled, turning back to the storefront. "Yeah, you're right. Probably right after you get beaten up by Rainbow Dash." Eldon grinned, holding the door for the beige mare. "I guess we'll see."