Several Years Ago
Feather sat quietly at the gryphon’s head table. If he was being honest with himself, this was a first in a very long time. Eating quietly in a dignified home? Madness, the colt thought inwardly. There was even a roaring fire in a stone hearth, keeping the room nice and warm even on such a cold mountain night.
The dinner room was a cavernous oval shape that allowed the seating of many more spaces than were currently being occupied. Rough, heavy beams held up the ceiling, arrayed evenly around the flickering lamplit room, connected by smaller beams of the same rough oak which also served as shelves. Looking around, the colt was astounded at how many knickknacks lined those shelves, from small gryphon statues to an odd looking clock that was ticking quietly, and appeared to have a door on it of some kind.
To take his mind off how awkward the whole situation seemed, Feather decided to focus on some of the pictures on the walls around them. Oddly enough, he was able to pick his hosts out of group pictures, even the black and white ones. Seeing them next to other gryphons, Feather noticed that they were both a little on the stout side, even back then.
While the two talked with one another, Galion always appeared to be smiling and laughing. It was almost like watching a massive child who’s grown old, but hasn’t grown up. After the two had talked it out, she turned to Feather and the nudging of his fork promptly stopped.
“Something wrong with the food? I know Givvon here doesn’t make the best salads, we can make you something else…” She playfully teased him, hoping to get a response.
“No, it’s fine. Um, I guess I’ve never been in a gryphon’s home before. It just feels weird.”
Givvon, who had a smaller body than his wife, responded in an oddly thick accent that Feather couldn’t quite place. “Hey, if it makes you feel any better, we’ve never had the company of a pony here before, either,” the male said it in such a blunt manner that Feather almost felt unwelcome. His wife shot him a glare, and he quickly added, “Not that you aren’t welcome, of course!”
Feather nodded and munched a bit on his meal. “So, what do you two… um, do?”
His question caused both to remain silent for a few moments. Givvon coughed and replied first, “Well, before and I suppose during the war, I was a mechanical engineer for weaponry and other devices. No one likes to talk about it… eh, except Galion.” He shot his wife a smirk, and she only shook her head and rolled her eyes.
Feather frowned, then promptly asked aloud, without thinking. “What war?”
The stallion gryphon snorted and then slammed one of his claws on the table, then shot his wife a glare that only seemed to last for a bit. Feather jumped a bit, but was a bit too frightened to say anything. “I told you! I told you they wouldn’t teach ponies about our war! They barely got involved in it!”
She ignored him and looked to Feather, who seemed to be having a mini panic attack; his eyes were cast wide and unmoving. ”Nice going,” she said, and he blushed and coughed again. She turned back to Feather and smiled. “Relax, Givvy here is just upset over nothing. Around twenty years ago, us gryphons had a war with with another large clan.” She saw his confusion and quickly elaborated. “You can kind of think of them as a small country, with different laws and beliefs.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Eventually, the situation escalated until a small unit of troops sent by your princesses helped us end it.”
He quirked a brow to that. “Help you? Why not them?”
“It’s complicated,” they both replied in unison.
Givvon was the first to explain. “Probably because we were closest to the border on their country. I think she tried to reason with the so called Gryphon King, but in the end he was dethroned by her. Heh, not that he ever had a real throne to begin with.” He chuckled and went back to his meal.
After a few minutes of silent chewing, Feather cleared his throat. “Did you work on things that aren’t weapons?” The two gave him a curious glance. “Um, it’s just… I heard gryphons are good at making mechanical devices and all…” He trailed off, not really sure how to phrase his question without letting too much out at once. He didn’t want to rush or overload them.
Interesting… Galion pondered numerous different reasons for just why the colt was here, but she knew now at least one of them had to do with him wanting something made, or fixed. She decided to escalate things, she liked taking risks. She looked pointedly at Givvon. “Maybe you should show him your workshop? Hmm?”
“Sweetie…” he warned, hoping she would get the hint.
However, her smile never wavered. “Come now, you’re always so proud when you show me… let him see,” she urged.
“No, that is for our eyes only, there’s stuff in there I’m not even allowed to show you!”
“Can I see it?” Feather’s eyes widened in what he hoped was a cute enough look to bribe the gryphon entry into his ‘inner sanctum’.
He turned to the little one, eyes wide. “I- But I just- You! Ugh…” He sighed and shot his wife a dirty look, though she just kept smirking. He finally conceded defeat. “Fine, after dinner. Just don’t touch anything!” he warned, and he quietly grumbled to himself as he kept eating.
His wife giggled. “Oh Givvy... quit blushing and eat your food! Time's a wastin’!” Again she had this hearty laugh about her, an accent that screamed both power and playfulness.
Feather soon found himself in a dark room with tons and tons of tarp-covered inventions, what he assumed were weapons and unfinished projects. He heard a loud crackling noise coming from the ceiling and shot his head up, which caused him to look directly into a sudden, blinding white light. He stumbled backwards, blinking furiously. Wow… It wasn’t as if Equestria didn’t have light bulbs, because they did; however, they tended to use magic for such things. Seeing electricity used in such a manner was rare. He smiled, then turned around to face a less-than-happy gryphon.
The bird rummaged around in a few bins. “Let me see if I can find something you would enjoy…” Feather already seemed bored, but the gryphon kept at it. “Ah, not the most exciting thing, but this will do.” Feather tried to see what he was looking at, but the particularly large head of the bird blocked his view. “Come over here, sonny.”
Eager to obey, Feather ran over and promptly his face fell. “Uh, what’s that?” Feather pointed to a peculiar box constructed of metal. On each side were decorations of flowers and a tiny rotating switch on the right wall.
“It’s a music box, broken for the moment. We’re going to repair it,” the gryphon answered.
“Uh… okay.” He grudgingly followed the gryphon to what he assumed was a workbench. Though workbench was a very strong word for it; the thing looked more beat up than a dying tree. Still, it had tools laid out on it. The box was laid down in a dark section.
“Do me a favor and flip that switch there.” His feathers pointed to a switch right next to Feather. He could easily reach it, but figured the colt would get a kick out of it.
Feather rolled his eyes, but used his right hoof to push in the big red button on the wall. Two streams of lights shined down on them, illuminating the table entirely. Feather looked to the box and practically scowled. This isn’t what I meant! Feather anxiously glanced at his bag, but remained silent.
“Where are my tools?” Feather quickly spotted a tiny red metal box seated at the back of the table and pointed. “Oh, thank you.”
“Yeah…”
Givvon took note of the colt’s response and frowned. “Bored already, huh?”
Feather shot out of his stupor and quickly shook his head. “No, I was.. just thinking is all. Sorry.” The colt inwardly cursed. I still need his help, gotta pay attention! Feather scrambled onto the table, using his hooves to make himself seem more attentive and looked down at the box.
The giant bird chuckled. “Alright, first things first, you should get that hair out of yer eyes. You seem like you need a manecut, sonny.”
Feather blushed and complied. “Heh, yeah, it’s been awhile.” Feather brushed the hair strands away from his eyes. More like a long while… Feather shifted uncomfortably, causing the contents of his bag to shift slightly.
“What do we have here?” Feather’s eyes shot down to his bag in shock, confirming his suspicions. A golden wing had slipped out of the bag and was revealed for all to see.
“Uh… that’s… err…”
Before Feather could even think of a coherent response, the gryphon had swiftly opened his bag and examined what was inside. “My word… it’s beautiful.” Feather looked down and could only nod in response. Givvon looked to him and paused for a moment, fully taking in the colt for the first time. He was dirty, he looked tired, and simply seemed uncomfortable. “Feather, is it?”
He nodded.
“Is this why you’re here?”
It was a simple question, but simple was good. “Y-yeah, I figured gryphons were good at building things. And… maybe I could learn about it? How it works, you know?”
Givvon sighed and nodded. “Alright, son, if you’re gonna learn about that,” Givvon paused and pointed at quite possibly the most artistically finely crafted machine he had seen in all of his years, “then you’re gonna need to fix a lot of music boxes.” Feather quirked a brow at this. “But first, how about a manecut? Oh, and a bath.”
“Uh…” Feather felt weird for nodding, in another life he would have hated accepting a bath. Why bathe when you would simply play more? That life seemed so long ago. Right now, he wanted to feel clean. “Alright!”
Feather sat in a rather large wooden chair, practically soaking it with his coat. Galion hovered over to him and smiled. “Oh you ponies, such marvelous creatures. You’ve managed to stay away from war and conflict… unlike us gryphons.” She hummed and traced her beak along his wing, causing him to blush, but the feeling wasn’t unwelcome. It felt nice. “How do you ponies do it? Ugh, I’m just so sick of all this fighting.”
Feather shrugged. “I never really thought about it, I guess…”
She chuckled again, something that was becoming quite infectious as Feather followed. “And I’m sure your Princess Celestia never thinks much on it either; not anymore, anyway. All getting along, no war. Must be nice.”
Feather nodded. “I don’t see any war here, though,” the colt pointed out.
“Ah, not now, of course. But war always breaks out here. It’s practically inevitable. Funnily enough, there are very few casualties anymore. Last few were the dolt-heads who started it!” She cackled and then quieted down almost immediately. “But enough of that, how would you like your mane?”
Feather wasn’t sure how to respond to a joke about war, or to her question, so he just shrugged. “...Shorter?”
She smiled wickedly. “If you say so…”