//------------------------------// // Ruffled Feathers // Story: Arrived at Dusk // by aliengirlguy //------------------------------// Chapter 6: Ruffled Feathers It was a common factor of Ponyville that Pinky Pie adored Rainbow Dash. It took a while for Rainbow Dash to eventually warm up to Pinky Pie, but when the two realized that they had a mutual love for good-natured pranks, the two soon became the best customers of Glad Giggles, the owner of Ponyville's joke shop, which resembles a jester's hat and has a sign shaped like a laughing pony's head in cap and bells, complete with an "arrow through the head" prop. They pranked a wide variety of ponies, with the exception of Fluttershy of course. It is a common conception in Ponyville that she was rather sensitive. Dusk himself was not completely immune to their attempts, but, like his continual sidestepping of Pinky's parties, he was somehow, much to their frustration at times, able to sense when a prank was in the offing and avoided it smoothly, occasionally some other pony falling victim by accident. Only one school year with the Weasley twins had taught him a few things Rainbow Dash admired his avoidance skill, and made it her personal mission, along with Pinky who also had a personal mission already in regards to Dusk, but was willing to multi-task, to get him good. They tried everything. Sneezing powder, whoopie cushions, jumping out of a closet shouting surprise party!...well, the last one was more Pinky's mission then Rainbow's, but she got props for trying anyway. One day while Dusk was wiping down some tables during a break in pony traffic, He warily came alert when Pinky walked in though his door, the bell jingling merrily and took a seat. For once she looked the completely opposite of her normally bubbly self. It disturbed Dusk to see the excitable, slightly insane mare looking so serious and unhappy. It was completely out of character, even her mane looked somewhat deflated. "Pinky?" he asked in concern, had someone died? Was someone hurt? "Oh hi Dusk, can I have an Apple iced tea with a squirt of caramel…no two squirts." Dusk got her order and took a seat across from her. This was the part of friendship that was still new to him; dealing with a blue pony (metaphorically speaking) that he had recently acknowledged might be a friend, despite their mutual duals. In his days as a human, he hadn't had to deal with this situation with his friends from Hogwarts. They had been too busy dealing with classes and the whole incident with the philosopher stone and the various other things like Voldemort trying to kill him, git classmates, quidditch and Norbert. Before Hogwarts he'd never had a friend before, and after his human days he'd not had any friends to deal with until Ponyville, and his surrogate family were reasonably happy and healthy ponies so he hadn't needed to deal with them being emotionally distraught. So what was he to do? He decided finally that the direct approach was best. "So…what's wrong?" That seemed to be the ticket as Pinky went off into a long rant about some griffin that was visiting Rainbow Dash, and how mean she was, describing her encounters with them, then finally her conversation with Twilight who seemed to believe that her judgment may be clouded by jealousy. Dusk considered her words a moment, while Pinky disconsolately drank her ice tea. "Well, it's possible that Twilight may be right, and that you could be projecting your jealousy onto Gilda…and by the way, I've meant a few Griffins back in Canterlot, and while gruff, they aren't all mean or anything, however, I have to admit that it also sounds like she could be trouble as well." Dusk frowned, getting up and with a gesture of his head; the two left the shop, Dusk leaving Derpy Hooves, who he had taken on as an employee when she wasn't doing her mail route, in charge. The streets were bustling as usual, and after a look around, he eventually spotted this Gilda the griffin individual (though it wasn't hard) wandering around, looking bored. She wasn't a bad specimen for a griffin, and bore the purplish tipped head feathers of the warrior class griffin, the fact that it was just the head feathers though, indicated an apprentice within that class, so relatively young, the same age as Rainbow Dash, though still an adult by pony standards. He sighed, trouble indeed. While they weren't all bad, apprentice warrior griffins were notoriously rowdy and often spoiling for a fight, having yet to gain a full fledged warrior's restraint and experience. It didn't surprise Dusk at all, given what he knew about Rainbow Dash, that she would get along with a the pegasus pony. Dusk explained this all to Pinky Pie who looked rather fascinated. "Wow! How do you know all that?" Dusk cleared his throat uncomfortably. While his mentor had griffin clients upon occasion, the son of one of his most prestigious clients in Equestria had taken a fancy to Dusk one day when he spotted the stallion dusting shelves when he had accompanied his father on business and stopped in for tea. The griffin had been tirelessly relentless in his pursuit, but Dusk had not been interested in anypony, male or female, and had been too busy with his studies and duties as an apprentice to care for such things. Fortunately, the client had to leave Equestria not long after, and Dusk was always careful to make himself scarce during further visits. It is no laughing matter when a Griffin takes a liking to you. They can be ridiculously territorial and possessive. It was because of that incident that Dusk made extra special time to research everything there was to know about griffins. "The best thing to do," Dusk explained to Pinky, ignoring her question "is to observe her circumspectly without interaction." "Oooh…were going to spy?" that notion seemed to cheer her up some, so Dusk merely rolled his eyes and replied dryly, "I guess that's one way to put it. I'm sticking around because having a neutral pony present will ensure that what you find out isn't biased by any possible emotions." So the two observed Gilda and her interactions with Ponyville and he had to say that Pinky was right, the griffin was definitely a brat. She reminded him a bit of Dudley. Dusk had enough however when the griffin roared at Fluttershy. He sprang into action and took a defensive stance in front of the upset mare, the ducks she had been guiding had scattered. He looked the griffin in the eye, and with a deep breath and a bit of magical aide, let out a startling lion-like roar right back. "Apprentice Warrior!" he growled sternly to the rather shocked griffin, "how dare you enter my protectorate and cause those under my protection grief?" he gestured to the tearful Fluttershy, though the pony in question had stopped crying in the shock of seeing another Pony, who was usually so calm and introspective suddenly roar in the face of a griffin. Gilda though recognized the choice of words for what it was; she stiffened her plumage, fluffing up in challenge. "Oh really? You have an impressive roar for a dweeby little pony, and a pretty speech, but that doesn't make you the boss of this territory, just 'cause you know a little something about griffins." "If you recognize those words then you'll recognize these, Pinky Pie!" he called out to the rather shocked pink pony who had slid in behind him to comfort Fluttershy, "take Fluttershy somewhere else and then when you return, make sure that everyone else is out of the way, and remain, you got it?" his tone was stern, and Pinky didn't bother trying to question the strangely authoritative voice, and did as asked. Everyone was soon clearing off, sensing trouble. Twilight Sparkle and Rarity came upon the scene though, both of them having been having a spot of tea in Dusk's shop when the racket had started and came to see what was going on. The scene they found was a much larger griffin and the slim small silver stallion facing each other beadily with an unusually silent Pinky standing nearby. The two trotted up to Pinky and asked her what was going on. She explained what had happened and when she was done, Twilight apologized for doubting her. "But what is he doing?" Rarity whispered, "if I didn't know better, I would think that the two were about to engage in some sort of primitive brutality of some sort." Twilight looked suddenly alarmed and she left the girls and trotted, carefully, towards the two angry figures and spoke as calmly and reasonably as she could. "Whatever is going on, I'm sure that we can reason this out like sensible ponies…" "That's the thing though," Dusk cut her off seriously, "this isn't a reasonable pony situation, in fact, it isn't a pony situation at all. This is a matter settled like reasonable griffins." "But you're not a griffin," she tried to persuade, "I know what you're planning to do, but this doesn't have to get violent…" Dusk stamped his hoof in annoyance. "Enough," he commanded, "I get what your trying to do, but this has to be done, the griffin way, even if I'm not one. So get out of the way and let me handle this." Twilight closed her mouth and nodded with a defeated sigh, rejoining the others. "What was that all about?" Rarity questioned as the two began circling each other, "I've never seen him talk or act so harshly before." "Twilight? What's going on?" Pinky chipped in, looking worried. Twilight sighed and explained for those who weren't familiar with griffins information that she had gathered from previous studies during her time in the castle. "In griffin culture, when one griffin has acted unfavorably in another griffin's territory, the initial accusations are made, and the affronted griffin has the right to challenge them. It's a sort of a status thing. If the interloper wins, he or she proves themselves superior to the other, and thus the loser has no complaints that can be made, if the interloper loses, he or she is proven inferior and thus must follow the command of the defender while in that territory." "Oh my!" Rarity said horrified. The three ponies watched in the empty streets as the confrontation heated up. "So you think your puny pony self can hold up to my superior skills?" Gilda hissed mockingly, "I doubt it. But I'll tell you what, since your just a pony, I'll let this go. You can just turn away now and we can go about our business, or you can continue on with this farce and be torn to shreds, your call skinny hooves." Dusk ignored the offer and the insult and continued with the formal words. "You have been found guilty of undesirable behaviors such as thievery, bullying and endangerment of the people of my protectorate, by the honor of griffins, you are being called to task though challenge! Do you agree with your honor intact, or do you disagree and dishonor your blood?" Seeing that Dusk was indeed serious, Gilda's claws began raking the dirt and she arched her back and replied the ritual words she had been taught since a hatchling. "By my honor as a griffin and through the honor of blood, whether generations past or to come, and blood to spill between us, I accept your challenge!" With that, the two of them dived at each other. "Oh! I can't look!" Rarity moaned, covering her eyes with a hoof dramatically. Surprisingly, it was over quicker than either of them thought. A punch from Gilda never landed on the unicorn, instead, the griffin was grabbed and thrown into the air and into buildings and vending stalls over and over again, no matter how she lunged at him. With each successful dodge and continual throw, Gilda became more and more angry, until she finally soared upwards, very high into the air and then came spiraling down like a spinning bullet. The girls gasped, holding each other when Dusk remained calm and unmoved, directly within the devastating path. When the wind of the impeding blow ruffled the tips of his mane, he suddenly stepped aside and Gilda ended up smashing into the ground. With that, the unicorn won the battle. Gilda was a little woozy from the impact, but grudgingly accepted her defeat, and was ordered to apologize to the towns people for her attitude, pay for the apple she had stolen (though Dusk offered to pay for the damaged stalls, since he had been the one to throw her into them). She was also commanded to apologize to Fluttershy and help collect all the ducks and heard them to the pond that she had been guiding them to. The piece de-resistance for Pinky was when Gilda was made to admit to her wrong doings to Rainbow Dash when she returned from handling some weather problems just outside the city. Rainbow Dash had not been pleased, and the two left, with permission from Dusk for Gilda, to have a few words. Eventually things calmed down and went back to normal. Rainbow Dash apologized to Pinky Pie for not realizing that Gilda had been so rude to her and so on. Pinky happily accepted her apology but was sad for her friend that after a heated argument, Gilda had left Ponyville and doubted that she would see the griffin ever again. Pinky threw a party to make everyone feel better, though it had mixed results since it had been in Dusk's kitchen, Dusk of course had been conveniently absent, picking up an order at Sweet Apple Acres and had enjoyed a quiet afternoon and early evening with Mac who had kept him company as the two chatted about the latest rodeo stars.