//------------------------------//
// Smoke 
// Story: Gryphon Problems 
// by Scootaleuz 
//------------------------------//

A few minutes later, I heard more knocking. I decided not to answer, but then I heard Pinkie on the other side. Pinkie? Oh, this was the invitation to Bon-Bon’s party, right? I couldn’t have been more wrong. She was with Gilda! Really? Like, was this happening? I questioned myself for a second before opening the door. Why would Pinkie be with Gilda? Weren’t they enemies? Was Pinkie just oblivious to what happened? Why was Gilda even here in Ponyville? Doesn’t she know she’s not welcome around here, especially at my house? Does Gilda know I as the one who set up the pranks? Oh wait, yeah, she does. I told her before she left. Man, I am good at pranking ponies. I decided all of these could be answered by simply opening the door and talking to them. Reluctantly, I opened the door and angrily asked Gilda why she was here. Gilda started to talk, but Pinkie Pie answered me instead.

“Gildaneedsustogotohertownandhelpherbecausethereissmokecoveringherskiesandmostofthegryphonscan’tbreatheandweneedtofindthesourceofthesmokeandtakeitoutsothatGilda’stownisn’tcoveredinsmokebecauseifitiscoveredinsmokethenthatwouldbebadbecasue…...” Pinkie was talking really fast, like she sometimes does, and I couldn’t tell what she was talking about. So I turned to Gilda. “What did she just say?” I asked, gesturing towards Pinkie, who was still talking. “ I don’t know, but I can tell you why I’m here. If you want to know, of course.”, Gilda replied. “This better be good. Don’t you know you’re not welcome here?”, I said, repeating one of the questions I asked to myself.

“Listen, Dash. Of course I know I’m not welcome here. I messed up, and left in a fit without apologizing, or even a goodbye. I know you think I’m a real bad friend, and I probably am. But I need you and your friends’ help right. now. You see, our entire city is covered in smoke, and we have no idea why. I heard Ponyville had something similar once, so I thought you might know something.”

I flew into Twilight’s castle library, where Twilight was reading, as she always does. I immediately started rummaging through books, trying to find one that would help me. “Hey! What’re you doing with that? Be careful, that’s a rare- WHOA! Seriously, stop-” I wasn’t really listening to Twilight, and continued my search. Twilight eventually had to fly up and tackle me out of the air. She kept asking questions, but I stopped her. “I need something on dragons. Do you have anything?”, I asked quickly. I didn’t want to waste any time. “Of course I do, Rainbow”, Twilight said, surprisingly calm. “But you didn’t have to make a mess of everything.” I looked round. Man, I DID make a pretty big mess. “Can you at least tell me WHY you need a book about dragons?”, asked Twilight.

Spike walked into the room, right on cue. “Why wouldn’t Rainbow want a book about dragons? We can breathe fire, fly around, and do TONS of other cool stuff!”, Spike commented. That wasn’t why I needed a dragon book, though. “I need a way to move a dragon, like we did before, remember?”, I asked Twilight. “Why would you need to remove a dragon?”, Twilight asked, clearly puzzled. Now that I think about it, this WAS a pretty sensible question to ask. But I didn’t feel that way then.”None of your beezwax, Twilight! If I can’t find a dragon book here, then I’ll just find one somewhere else!”, I yelled. I stormed off, ignoring Twilight and the rest of what she had to say.

Apparently the land of the Gryphons was separated into 2 factions: Lion and Eagle. Each faction showed slightly more of their respective animal in the way they looked and acted. Gilda was in the Lion faction, and lead us to their library. “Jeez, this place is FILLED with smoke.”, I commented. And it really was. Most of the time, gryphons had to stay low to the ground just to breathe. But Pinkie was still taking in the sights, blissfully ignorant of the troubles around her. “What’s that?”, and “What’s this?”, she asked repeatedly. Gilda didn’t answer, and neither did I. I’d been here before, but never like this. Everypony, or should I say, everygryphon wasn’t having a good time. Gryphons all over were struggling. Due to the smoke blocking out the sun, the gryphons couldn’t grow any food, which was a major problem. There were soup lines. Nopony….. *ahem*....... Nogryphon was happy with this, at all. Once we got to the library, we found what we were looking for. And somepony else along with it.