Bridge Prologue 1: An Accursed Journey Begins
Three Months before the Summer Sun
It was the eve of many dawning horrors in Equestria. In Canterlot, Vizier Fancy Pants was soon to meet the bludgeon of the murderous Iillor, while in Ponyville Twilight Sparkle was laying her head down for what was soon to be the first of many nightmares.
It was a full moon. The dark profile of the Mare in the Moon glared starkly on the luminescent grey of night's harbinger. From Vanhoover to Manehattan the skies were cloudless. Nothing protected the ponies below from the unbridled light of the stars above.
On the eastern coast of Equestria, in the southern quadrant near the border with the Badlands Marches, was a thriving earth pony settlement. Baltimare, or The Free City of Baltimare as its full title went, was a modest city on the alluvial plain of the Crystal River, where it emptied into the broad and shallow Horseshoe Bay. Ships from all over the world were moored there that night, loading and offloading creatures and goods of all sorts and varieties. High keeps and walls to match any in Equestria presided over a tidy and well laid out hub of industry of commerce. In the dead of night, a thousand lanterns illuminated the city's towers like pillars of flame, and turned the waterfront into a carnival of clashing light and shadow. In the harbor a forest of masts bobbed in the waves and tides as sailors from across the world disembarked for a wild night before another grueling month at sea.
Gilda the griffin was one such sailor.
She stood a head taller than most of the ponies beside her, with an eagle’s head of white feathers and a lion’s bronze body. Her face seemed perpetually twisted into either a sneer or a smirk, as her eagle-like eyes shifted from pony to pony around her. As the supple moonlight guided her ship into port, she clutched the rigging of her ship and fluttering her wings impatiently. A small canvas bag was slung over her shoulder, gripped by a harsh talon.
"Goly, the moon sure is bright tonight." The helmspony observed. "Back in my hometown, we had folk stories about living shadows that came out haunting ponies on nights like these."
"I I tell you this every time you bring it up, I don't give a damn about your boondocks upbringing." Gilda fiddled with the buttons of her oat absently. "Watch the port. There's a couple fishing boats at anchor without lanterns up."
When her ship reached a reasonable distance from the mooring, Gilda bounded off and helped tie it down.
The captain emerged from the cabin, looking annoyed. Once the gangplank was down he descended to the dock. "Gilda, I told you to notify me when we enter the channel. I'm not going to let you have your choice of watch if you keep ignoring me."
"Sorry captain, I got distracted." Gilda clacked her beak. "Had to keep a constant eye on things, since we came in without a pilot."
"Not the worst excuse I've ever heard." Captain Pleiades, was an old pegasus stallion. He was a high tension wire, easygoing until he snapped. "Any sign of customs yet?"
Gilda shook her head.
"Good. " Pleiades grinned. The crew had already started moving cargo up to the deck. "We're out in four hours." He passed her a coin pouch.
Gilda blinked in surprise, but accepted the pouch. "I'm still on watch, captain."
"I'll oversee offloading tonight. Besides, you're always skipping shore leave." Pleiades nodded towards the city. "I thought your friend lived here."
Gilda glanced away.
"None of my buisness I guess." Pleiades shrugged. "Don't get too drunk, and keep an eye out. I'm letting the other watches out for leave and I don't want them in any trouble. "
"Of course, captain." Gilda bowed her head.
She made it down the dock a ways before Pleiades called to her again. "Oh, and nice job with the piloting, Mis Gilda."
"Thank you sir." She called back.
Gilda set out up the dark waterfront. The Baltimare docklands, stretching from the river out into the bay, was occupied by countless trading moors, some Equestrian Oceanic Company offices, and the Imperial Naval Yards. The late hour didn't dissuade bands of drunk sailors, thieves, and disreputable mares. Wagons full of cargo were being shifted all around: On and off the cogs, on and off river barges, into and out of warehouses. Accountants and warehouse guards kept weary eyes on all the inventory being shuffled about.
Wherever there was commerce, there were vagabonds, and wherever there were vagabonds there were places that catered to them. Tonight's destination was the Sandbar, a modest tavern frequented by smugglers. It was nestled between two towering warehouses, with a a thin crowd congregated outside. Clearing her head and taking a deep breath, Gilda ducked into the hazy atmosphere.
Sailors were such rascals, Gilda thought to herself as she regarded the clouds of drunk, stoned, or lasciviously solicitous ponies around her. Sinful, dirty, tough, sinewy. Sometimes though, they were worth some attention.
"Hmm, there's the custom's officers." She observed of two inebriated mares in uniform at the bar. "Bet the whole room's chipping in for their tab."
They were not the only noteworthy creatures in the room.
“Hey G! Over here!” Gilda heard a familiar somepony call her name immediately. She followed the voice until she came upon her hailer.
Hooves kicked up on the table, surrounded up empty bottles, framed an arrogant smirk. Her coat and wings were a light blue, her eyes were red, and her messy mane was a whole spectrum of color.
“Dash.” The griffin beamed. She felt her whole body relax, the stress and salt of a month on the ocean evaporating. "Good to see you."
“Gilda.” Dash gave a tight smile in return. She took a healthy sip from her bottle.
“I thought I'd see you here, even if I was hoping you wouldn't be.” Gilda put her bag down and eased into the seat opposite her pegasus friend.
“Course I'm here, It’s dinner time.” Dash said, taking another sip.
“It’s well past dinner now.” Gilda remarked, and her own stomach grumbled. She’d skipped eating in anticipation of landfall.
Dash shrugged. “But I’m still here. Weird.” Gilda gave her a displeased look. Dash returned the glare. “Hey, you come in here and judge me? You haven't even asked me how I've been yet."
Gilda shook her head in mild amusement. "Well then Dash, how have you been since I last saw you?"
"Miserable. Everything in my life sucks." Dash took another swallow of her drink.
Gilda waited expectantly for a few seconds for Dash to continue. "Uh.." She cleared her throat. "You're not going to ask me how I've been?"
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Yeah I meant to to. Ahem. So GIlda, how have you been?"
"I'm alright. Could be better. Been getting into arguments with some of the crew but otherwise everything's fine. Still riding high on my promotion to quartermaster. I get to yell at everypony and get paid to do it." Gilda smiled thinly. "But I miss you. I just... I worry about you in these long stretches where we don't see each other."
"Adorable." Dash snorted.
"No Dash, it's not. I'm genuinely concerned about your state of mind. Every time I come back, you're drinking more and talking less. Doesn't make me happy." Gilda leaned on the table. "You think I want to see you loosing yourself after months away? You know I'd quit just to spend every day slapping you back to sanity."
"Woah, G, I'm perfectly sane. Sober, I am not." Dash wrinkled her nose.
Gilda leaned forward and snatched away the bottle. “It hurts me to see you languish like this Dash.” Gilda took a swig of her own, and gagged. “What the heck is this? Your liquid bread is a moldy.”
"Heck if I know. My tongue went numb hours ago." Dash attempted a laugh that slid into a miserable moan. “There's no hiding it. I'm done for."
"Give me more than that girl."
"There’s new ponies coming from the countryside every day. Ponies who are willing to work for close to nothing. I can’t get more than five bits a day for weatherpony work. I might as well drink myself to death here and now before I loose my job and get kicked out of the worker's barracks. I can't go living on the streets again G, I just can't.”
Gilda nodded. “I get you. Man, that's tough. weatherpony jobs used to be solid before the guild protections got dissolved.”
"Bucking bureaucrats. Why do country hicks deserve my job? I as here first? I do it better!" Dash hissed. “I'm gunna show them. Some day I'm not going to show up and then they'll realize how much they need me. They're going to have a hurricane they can't control, and that hurricane is me!"
"Okay Dash, calm down." Gilda patted her friend's hoof. “Do you have other options lined up? No, huh? Well, are there jobs in the other cities?"
Dash pushed Gilda's claw away and snatched her bottle back. “I’m not moving. I’d never see you if I did.”
Gilda clicked her beak. “Dash, you'd never see me if you kill yourself drinking on my behalf. You know I love you, but you've got to pick your ass up and be proactive. Find a more secure job! You've surely got an in for an apprenticeship in some trade, since you were a part of the Weatherpony's Guild while that was still around."
“Do I look like I want to make horseshoes or repair saddles for the rest of my life? No. I'm like a million percent certain, I'm going to drink myself to death right now.” Dash was insistent. “So back off.”
Gilda threw up her claws in defeat. “Good gods your being stupid. I’m sorry for caring... Gods almighty, five bits a day though. How can you live off that? I get more for sitting on my butt.”
“Don’t sell yourself short G.” Dash said with a hint of a smile. “Your butt deters all kinds of bad sorts." She sighed, then slumped back in her chair. "Yeah... let's talk about you. Enough about me. About you..."
Poor Rainbow Dash, Gilda lamented. The pegasus seemed determined to let herself suffer. "Yes?"
"You got any stories today?”
Gilda paused, then shook her head. “Nah, not really. It’s been pretty quiet. Most of my stress has come from spats with a few of the crew, but nothing actually dangerous. There’s not many pirates on the Griffany coast anymore either. Business is so good that the captain is thinking of making longer runs, to Sahella or Zebrastan.”
“That's great, but… That means longer gaps between visits.” Dash said.
“Look, if I hadn't just gotten my promotion and signed a proper contract and all that stuff I would quit.”
"Oh, so that threat to nurse me back to health was empty?" Dash snickered. “But knowing you, you'd quit anyway.”
“Break the contract? That's a whole legal rigmarole that I'd rather not launch into.” Gilda huffed, but a lopsided smile crept its way onto her features. “But thinking back on it, I didn't actually sign the contract.”
"Uh... why?"
"For just this occasion, Dash." Gilda grabbed her friend's hoof, and this time did not let Dash bat her away. "I will quit, and I'll stay with you twenty-four seven here in Baltimare, unless you get your act together."
"Hey, let me go!" Dash squirmed and tried to get her hoof lose of her friend's tight grasp. "The hell, Gilda!"
"Promise me, Dash!" Gilda insisted, squeezing harder. "You've gotta promise me you'll improve yourself!"
"G, you're hurting me!" Dash squealed.
Gilda immediately let go, and discovered that she'd dug her talons in a little too hard. Rainbow had shallow cuts around her ankle. "Oh... Dash I'm so sorry."
"I- It's fine." Dash insisted, cradling her hoof against her chest." She looked shaken. "I know... I know you just want what's best for me." She fell silent. The din of the bar filled the empty air between them with the jumbled cacophony of profanity and sin.
Gilda took the time to smooth out some ruffled feathers. Had she gone too far? She brought her claw to her face and caught a whiff of Dash's blood. Her heartbeat quickened. She slowly inserted a talon into the side of her beak and began to suckle on it.
Ohh, it had been too long. Even a taste made her smarter, faster, stronger. Griffins didn't eat bread and beer. They were predators.
"G, what if I took you up on your offer?" Rainbow Dash's words yanked Gilda out of her reverie.
"Huh?" GIlda pulled her claw out of her beak.
“I..." Dash squirmed bashfully. "What if I joined you, on the ship I mean."
Gilda was struck, wondering why she had not considered that. Well, for multiple reasons. Rainbow Dash had never even set foot on a boat before. Pegasi got along infamously with salt water too. “I don’t know Dash. The ship is full-up on crew right now, and I can't think of anypony who'd be willing to quit.”
A look of supreme disappointment washed over Rainbow.
Gilda immediately felt compelled to do whatever was necessary to get her friend a job on the ship. It was her duty as a friend to save Rainbow from herself, and that was the clear way to do it. But how?
In her head, multiple strings slowly came together. She thought about the trouble she'd been having with a few ponies. She thought about what they would be doing at that moment. She thought about the blood she still tasted on her tongue.
They sat silently for several long minutes.
Gilda spoke again, starting out slowly, mindful of ears in the crowded tavern. “Thinking it over, there might be a spot open for a watch guard. You know what you have to do as a guard, Dash?”
Dash didn’t answer right away, but came to an answer eventually. “Fight.”
“Yes. You’d have to fight pirates, privateers, corsairs.” Gilda expanded. “But fighting isn’t really the point.”
Dash let out a sigh. “Kill.” She said, like she’d reluctantly known it would be the answer all along.
Gilda nodded grimly. “That’s more in line with this job’s expectations, because if you don’t kill them they’ll kill you. There will be ponies, just as real and alive as you are. Griffins and zebras too. It may be a job for them, just like it’s a job for you. Or they may be bloodthirsty psychos.”
“And?”
“It can get to you if you aren’t callous enough. And you're not." GIlda frowned. "It's a tough life on the seas. The discipline, the food, the strain and exhaustion, the loneliness... " She sighed. "You're a sensitive pony, Dash, and I mean that in only the best way. I know it’s been years, but you’re still aching for the Cloudsdale thing. So, can you handle what I'm talking about?"
Dash stared into the rafters. “I-" She worked her jaw, mechanically piecing together the painful words in her mind before she said them aloud. "I’ve done it once, and I can do it again. I can’t be that hard.” She said listlessly. She reached for her drink, but Gilda had pushed it aside.
“I believe you, Rainbow, but that doesn't mean I don't want to make sure.” The griffin had a dangerous glint in her eyes. “Come on, let’s get a proper dinner.”
From out of the east, clouds had crept over the full moon, plunging the Baltimare waterfront in inky blackness. The lanterns and torches still shining made little clearings of existance in a land of darkness. It was late, and even indecent ponies had begun to stagger home or go back to their ship. Those who had nowhere to go sheltered in place.
Those with sin on their mind, sinned.
A unicorn stallion staggered across the empty space, sloshed. He struggled to remember where he was or where the ship he sailed with was on the harbor.
“Hey, Luite!” A mare’s voice whispered.
The stallion perked slightly. That was his name.
"Yeah, you're the right one. Luite." The voice continued. "You're a real peg-head, I've heard."
The stallion peered into the offending darkness. There were no lanterns on the stretch of docklands, so he saw nothing. "Uhhh, h-huh? Washh that?" He blinked. "P-peg?"
"That's right." The voice came again, closer. "I don't like the look of your face either, peg-head."
‘H- Hey now, my head is b-bloody well NOT a peg, and I *hic*, want y-you to remember it.” The stallion slurred. "M'face... it's fine too."
"Worst of all, I hear, is what's in your head."
"Errr...." The stallion squinted, about to pass out.
“You think you could take me?” The mare voice asked.
The stallion scratched his head. “D- D- d’you mean fight? Or f-”
A hoof lanced out of the shadow, knocking him across the face. “I mean fight, you stupid lout!” Rainbow Dash jabbed again, but the drunk had teetered out of range.
“I could f- fight, f- fifty million ponies.” He slurred. He lurched forward, but Dash had fallen back.
“Thats right, you ingrate. You couldn’t hit mist in a fog bank.”
She backed up farther and farther and the stallion pursued, away from the waterfront, into pitch black of one of the allies between warehouses. He teetered and tripped over boxes, his face turning even redder.
"Why're y- you so mean!" He protested. He couldn't even gather the willpower to take a swing anymore. He just wanted to pass out where he was, but the mare wasn't letting him.
"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not. I'm keeping my friend safe." The mare said resolutely.
“S’not like you-r even hitting me!”
Rainbow wasn’t looking at him, but past him. “I won’t have to.” Confused, the stallion turned to see what his opponent was looking at.
The talon caught the stallion across the throat, tearing three gashes. The pony reeled and blood immediately began to spurt out. Gilda watched as the pony tried futility to yell, but his windpipe had also been punctured. He sunk into a sitting position, watching his life drain out over the ground. Gilda was surprised he hadn't gone into shock or unconscious. The pony wobbled as he weakened, finally slumping face forward into the stone.
Dash shuddered. “That... That was the worst one yet."
Gilda smoothed some errant feathers. “That's the kind of thing you get to when you're a professional.”
"Yeah, but..." Dash wavered. "He was your comrade, wasn't he?"
"I told you, he knew too much. He could have put my life in jeopardy. We've done worse things to keep ourselves safe." Gilda insisted.
"That was a long time ago." Dash mumbled.
Gilda knelt by the body. He was dead alright. She dipped a talon into the pooling blood and took a lick. Rainbow Dash watched silently.
“Too tangy. He's anemic.” Gilda pronounced.
Rainbow bit her lip, relieved but also upset. “You're just going to leave him here?"
"Of course not. The bay is welcoming."
Dash groaned. Gilda's ways were not always easily to cope with. "So, um, do we need to find you another?"
Gilda shrugged. “If you're offering."
Dash cringed, regretting what she'd said. "Gilda, you know I try to be understanding-"
"You're very understanding. This is to help you, Dash." GIlda nodded.
"But could you..." Dash paled a bit. "Like, cook him first? I really don't know if I could do that again tonight.”
“I made a mistake, alright? I'm sorry. He's just not going to do it for me." Gilda insisted. "You're a mare of principle, Dash. You understand.”
“Standards, G. Not the same as principles.” Dash was becoming agitated. “You have standards, and I have principles. Usually, my principles don't let me get involved in this. I'm happy forgetting about it.”
"Forgetting about death? Said she who was determined to kill herself at the bottom of her mug three hours ago." Gilda smiled thinly. "You know you can't escape. We're cursed, Dash. We've always been cursed, by the circumstances of our birth and the contrived ambitions of our mind."
Dash said nothing to that.
"Are you a good pony, Dash?"
"..."
"You try to be." Gilda answered for her. "But what does that matter to this world. Has the world given you anything but pain? What is your world?"
"You are." Dash said softly.
"Your my best friend, Dash. I know what hurts you, and you know that I'd never in a million years do anything that I thought would hurt you." Gilda lay her claw on her friend's shoulder. "This is all for a better life, Dash. A little pain and discomfort is worth that, right."
Rainbow Dash said nothing.
"Well, I think it is." Gilda scooped up the stallion's body and cantered to the edge of the water. There was nopony to be seen on the enshadowed waterfront. With a grunt, she heaved Luite into the dark waters. "By your principles, you want to avoid this. But you know you're drawn to it. It's in your cursed nature."
"In our cursed nature." Dash watched the late stallion float slowly downstream. By dawn, he would be far out into Horseshoe Bay. “This is really happening.” Dash realized. “I’m leaving Equestria.”
Gilda clapped a talon on her friend’s shoulder. “Yes it is, Dash, yes it is. You deserve this. It’s been a long time coming.” The griffin moved away now, looking inland. “Come on, lets see what's available outside one of the public houses. There's usually a vulnerable meal or two staggering their way out of those.”
Gilda took to the air, closely followed by her friend. Dash had buried any reservations deep under a smirk to match Gilda’s.
“I thought you were worried about diseases G.”
“It's the sirloin forward I'm concerned about, ya sick freak. I don't play with my food.”
They both had a good laugh, though one more forced than the other.
A Few Days Later
Seven days out from Baltimare, and the Seapony’s Pride was making good time for Griffany. The endless ocean, from horizon to horizon, had struck Rainbow with a melancholy she could not explain, but also a profound sense of relief. The cares and worries of the old world were falling away. The weight of her life there, which had built and built until it felt like it was crushing her, lifted.
She couldn't be more thankful to Gilda for negotiating her acceptance onto the crew. To do their harsh timetable, Captain Pleiades could not afford to wait for missing crew members. It was at the last moment, offhand, that Gilda had mentioned bringing Dash on. If the captain suspected anything, he didn't say anything. Sailors disappeared into bars and whorehouses all the time.
But life on the open seas was not sunshine and rainbows, as Rainbow very quickly discovered.
Most prominently, her stomach disagreed violently with the swelling seas. It had made her so ill that most days she flew just above the carrack. Captain Pleiades, being a wiry pegasus himself, let Rainbow fly as long as her duties on the ship were fulfilled. Gilda accommodated her friend, and picked up slick since she had only modest task herself.
Rainbow also flew to avoid the rest of the crew of the Seapony’s Pride. Furtive they were not, and they made their displeasure at her presence known. The captain's pet giriffin had been getting away with too much, and to them Dash was culpable. Dash did not deal well with the taunts and insults, especially since Gilda had warned her against starting a fight.
At night, Rainbow had taken to sharing Gilda’s roost on the crow's nest. When the weather was clear they were treated to a beautiful and star-speckled sky. They were far away from the ponies on the deck or in the rigging, but the downside was that the most gentle sway got translated into violent rocking in the nest. Thankfully, Rainbow was a sound sleeper.
Sleep she did. The guilt and nightmares of Equestria did not follow her.
By two weeks, Rainbow was able to stand on the deck all day without becoming ill. Whether she wanted to, with hostile ponies surrounding her was another question, but she now was able to complete all her responsibilities. Gilda began to instruct Rainbow in swordfighting with a cutlass, in case trouble found them in Griffin waters.
"Gilda!" One of the sailors yelled from the rigging. "When are you going to do your damn job?!"
"Has the tack changed? Has the wind changed?" Gilda sneered back at him. "No? Then stop bothering me!"
A couple of moans and jeers came back at her from the rigging, but they died off quickly.
"Am I keeping you from something G?" Dash asked.
"Nah. fourth watch Quartermaster is never a very taxing job, especially in Spring seas." Gilda shrugged. "Unless these assholes cause trouble."
"Okay..." Dash scooped up her dropped cutlass with a wing. "Um again?"
"Of course again! Here's what you did wrong that time..."
The halfway mark point of the voyage found the Seapony’s Pride in doldrums. The long periods of inactivity left Rainbow time to fly again, this time with Gilda. Once in a while, the captain joined them, and Rainbow found him to be more than just a hardass sailor.
Captain Pleiades was a colt in his mid fifties, a gaunt and salty pegasus. His mane, tail, and eyes were a speckled white, his mark a circle of tiny stars. His coat had been a deep blue, but was now bleached to a cyan near to Rainbow’s.
At a young age, Pleides had followed the pegasus tradition of striking out on his own. He’d had found his way to Los Pegasus, and joined the Western Fleet of the Imperial Navy. He’d served as a navigator for twenty-five years. He’d fought changeling pirates at the height of their power in the South Seas War, navigated through the perilous veils of mist separating Sahella Ocean from Zebrastan Sea, and had borne witness to the EOC invasions of Hornzhou and Manegalore.
The Seapony’s Pride was an old ship that had been in Pleiades’s fleet, but it was retired near the same time he was. It took the sum of his earnings in the navy as well as a number of loans for Pleiades to buy the Seapony, but he’d earned it back quickly as an independent merchant in the eastern oceans. He was not business savvy, but compensated with record-breaking runs and a good reputation.
Rainbow leaned a respectable amount about oceanic weather patterns from the old sailor. By the time the winds picked up again, she’d taken on a new job helping the ship’s navigator with meteorological considerations.
Week four found the Seapony’s Pride entering passing the outlying archipelagos of Griffany. They were not islands so much as enormous pillars, spires of black rock topped with vegetation. They reminded Rainbow of the mountainous mesas under Cloudsdale. Here too, it seemed, the mesas were inhabited. Griffins watched the intruding ship pass from high atop their roosts.
“The islanders think they’re so much better than the mainlander griffins.” Gilda explained over a lunch of slightly stale biscuits in the crow’s nest. “They think the mainlanders have been polluted by pony culture and ideology. So they absolutely hate the pony traders. Luckily they don't want to pick a fight today.”
Rainbow had slung up a small hammock, and was laid back in it. “Are the mainlanders the same or different from the highlanders you told me about last week?”
“Highlanders are a variety of mainlander.” Gilda took a bite out of her biscuit. “If you’ll indulge me, I think you’d find griffin history fascinating. But I’ll warn you Dash, I like to talk, and this happens to be a subject I know a lot about.”
Dash shrugged. “I couldn't stop you if I wanted to. You love to show off your education.”
Gilda threw her friend a sour look, but launched into a lecture anyway. “Mainlanders are a pretty diverse group, but can be divided based on where they live. The highlanders, or Falcons, are the griffins who still live up in the mountains, divided into clans and following the ancient ways. They’re kinda like the islanders out here, but way more confrontational.”
“Reminds me of the highland unicorns who live in Foal.” Rainbow noted.
"Pshh, I guess. Comparing pony and griffin cultures doesn't alway's mean they line up one to one. Ponies care a lot more about pride and honor. Griffins, even chiefs and nobles, care about money." Gilda rubbed her talons like she was rubbing coins against each other. "A thousand years of unity has changed pony cultures in many ways. You'd have to ask a sociologist about more details on that."
"I thought you were telling me about griffins, not ponies." Dash said slyly.
"You brought it up." Gilda stuck out her tongue.
"Back on topic, every region of Griffany has a unique culture. Where we're headed, Clawstantinople, is inhabited by the southerners, sometimes called Terns. Not many know this but the Tern originally lived way in the east, but migrated to west coast during the fall of Roan. That was a thousand years ago but they're still not well regarded in Western Griffany." Gilda chuckled. "I have to admit, Terns get on my nerves too, but they've been getting pretty rich off of trade with Equestria these last few years."
"They must be doing something right, since that's where we're headed." Dash nodded.
"Clawstantinople's prosperity's as much a fluke of geography as anything else, but the Terns do keep it safe from corsairs and the constant EOC-GOC trade wars." Gilda agreed.
“Since I’ve mentioned trade war I suppose the coastals, or Egrets, are next. The Egrets are a very strange bunch, and this is coming from a half-Egret. They are almost like the unicorns: Dabble in magic, avoid open hostility, but still hold themselves superior to everyone else."
"And you said comparisons to ponies were wrong." Dash said.
"I said they were hit-or-miss, you bothersome pony."
"Fine, continue."
"I don't need your permission." Gilda squawked in mock anger.
"Anyhow... The Egrets. I'll tell you, I never came away from a conversation with an Egret upset, but always uncertain. They live in the coastal plains alongside the Prench and the colonial ponies up in Trottingham, but their base of power is Anterpwren in the lowlands. The Griffin Oceanic Company operates from there, so this ship steers well clear of those seas.”
“GOC doesn’t like independent traders.” Rainbow surmised.
“Not so much, no.” Gilda confirmed. “They have a habit of funding privateers and seizing ships that anchor in their ports.”
“Wow. So who else is there?”
“A bit further east of the Egrets are the Kestrels, or midlanders. They’re a bit of a hybrid of Falcon and Egret culture, industrious and aggressive. They have evolved past clans, but are still divided into a hundred little kingdoms and states in the forests where they live. The Gull islanders sometimes trade with the Kestrels because they give proper respect to a griffin’s privacy. You know, my dad was a Kestrel."
"So you're, like, half Egret you said. That means your mom's an Egret? I remember you telling me she wasn't around much." Dash said, but her levity drained away when she saw how much discomfort her question caused Gilda. "I, uh, shouldn't have asked."
"Sorry for bringing it up. I get too comfortable around you that I forget my own triggers. I'll just remind you that the creature that called me her daughter was not my mother. We can leave that discussion at that." Gilda cleared her throat. "Okay, let's stop going on tangents. Talking about griffins; I'm still keeping your attention here, right? You get everything so far?"
"Yup." Dash lied.
“Great. Second to last. The eastern border of Griffin civilization are the Grouse, a friendly if isolated bunch. They’re a bit backwards, but it’s mostly because no traders venture that far inland. Many moose and deer migrated that way when the Kestrels started asserting themselves more over the midland, so the eastern reaches is diverse second only to the Egret lands. The Grouse don’t have much of a centralized society, just a bunch of villages in the hills.
“Now I saved the worst for last-”
“Worse how?” Rainbow interrupted to ask.
“Worst to explain.” Gilda snorted. “The situation in the far east in hard to explain to a pony because you haven’t had the same kind of turmoil that we have. When the ponies of Equestria first arrived hundreds of years ago, all the griffins lived like the Gulls and the Falcons-”
“Remind me who those were again.” Rainbow said.
Gilda scowled. “Gulls are islanders, Falcons are highlanders.” She resumed her story. “We were disorganized and standoffish bunch. The Prench and Frisian ponies started trading across the oceans and we weren’t, meaning they started accruing wealth and we started losing ground. At their height, the Prench were even a force to match Equestria.
“But then some of us got wise, set aside the petty squabbles, and found the value in ties with ponykind. Garl the Martin, the Eagle of Boseburg, crushed Prance at the zenith of their power and founded the first griffin nation. Within a generation, a hundred years of occupation was reversed. Garl’s griffins were the ancestors of the Egrets, the first of the ‘new griffins’."
"So you're a 'new griffin'." Dash teased.
"If I'm not wearing a kilt and screaming in some indecipherable accent, I'm a 'new griffin'." Gilda confirmed with a sassy stroke down her body. "My ancestors were among the first to descend from the mountains with Garl. Some griffins love stroking themselves off talking about their glorious highland ancestry, but-"
"Yeah, like you don't have things you're overly proud of."
"Are you going to let me finish the damn narrative or not? The point I was trying to make, is that the question of old versus new is still very fresh in our minds. The clans were, for the most part, meritocracies. Power went to the strongest and fastest chieftain, who could lead the clan to victory. But the new griffins needed constancy and central authority to lead them through the change, and the monarchies were born. In some places, particularly former Prench lands, griffins even adopted pony-style feudalism.
“But the wars for survival are over, and the need for a king or queen has passed. Griffins want a return to meritocracy, but the new nobility is unwilling to give it. Anterpwren shook off their queen a couple decades ago, but the nobles still share power with the merchants of the GOC. Clawstantinople actually started as a republic, but the Terns have always been a progressive bunch, probably a reaction to their ostracization."
"It might be rude to say but I've noticed Griffins have trouble talking there problems out." Dash said.
"When both sides think they have more to gain from violence, there will be violence. And, in the far east, it has come to that. The far eastern reaches never felt the effects of Prench expansionism, and never faced the threats that pushed the western griffins to evolve. The land is barren, and population centers scarce, unified in disunity for most of history. However, they still felt the change in their brethren indirectly.
“The far east is almost like a dumping ground for society's undesirables. The monarchist exiled the republicans there, and so too did the republicans to the monarchists. Slowly, the exiles have been gathering power, forming two distinct camps. The western griffin kings have been sending troops and advisors to their potential allies out in the wastes, and so have the GOC. Unwilling to fight each other directly, the nations of Griffany are spending the blood of the impoverished far-easterners.”
Gilda concluded her grand treatise, and looked to Rainbow expecting questions.
"Wow Gilda. You've always been so good at explaining things. You'd make a good professor!" Dash said. It was hard to tell if she was being sarcastic.
Gilda's expression darkened. "No Dash, I don't think so. Professors, universities, it's all the way knowledge gets controlled and kept out of our hooves. Er, or talons. I have zero interest in talking about this stuff with anyone other than you."
"Um, okay." Dash pursed her lips.
Gilda sighed. "I don't want to talk about it right now."
"Third time you've said that."
"Don't be a pain. This information will be useful to you. Have any questions, concerns, comments?" Gilda asked. "Because you know, I just love showing off my education. Makes me feel smart. Tell me how smart I am Dash."
Dash tried to think of the think most likely to get a reaction. “Could you start over? I kinda stopped paying attention after that part about the Gulls.”
"Don't tempt me." Gilda settled down in her hammock.
Dash laughed to herself. "Yeah, you'd do it." Her dopey smile last a few more minutes, as she stared into the blue sky. "Hey G, thanks for taking me with you. I know I'm not the easiest pony to deal with."
"Yeah no prob. You're my friend." Gilda yawned.
Dash smiled. "Not going to admit you're not the easiest griffin to deal with?"
"Nope I'm perfect." Gilda cackled.
"No thanks to yourself. You were designed that way." Dash snorted.
"Hey, hey, too far. Let me joke about my past, and you about yours. I think that'll be better." Gilda said. "Keep an eye out. We should be nearing the mainland."
Rainbow Dash was the first to spot the mainland, a sliver of black on a horizon of blue. The Seapony’s Pride immediately veered south-by-southwest. Too far south was an inconvenience, with the slight possibility of corsairs. Too far north was a dangerous risk, full of privateers and GOC gunboats.
The remaining days to Clawstantinople were the most eventful. Rainbow began seeing more and more ships in the seas around them. Most were merchant ships, smaller cogs or caravels. Every so often, a warship the same size or greater than the Seapony was seen, patrolling the trade lanes.
Gilda’s fighting lessons had stopped, but Rainbow (incorrectly) felt like she was a match for any earth pony or zebra at least: Flying circumvented a lot of the hazard of ship to ship combat. Magic even moreso.
"Hey Gilda, why aren't there any unicorns in the crew?" Dash asked.
"You mean, why is everypony but us an earthpony of zebra?" Gilda chuckled. "It's all about cultural affinities, I guess. Seafaring isn't as socially accepted in unicorn culture. For pegasi, I think it has more to do with us being in the Eastern Sea. There's a lot more pegasi on Equestria's west coast, so more pegasi sail in the West Sea."
"And the zebras?" Dash asked. "I mean there's hardly any zebras in Equestria. Like, I don't think I've ever seen one!"
"Just because this is an equestrian ship, it doesn't mean it is a purely equestrian crew. We stop in at Shahellan ports all the time, and there's some pretty great zebra sailors in Talzgiers and Mare Kesh."
"Okay. Why no griffins?"
Gilda scratched her head in diluted apprehension. "Most griffins, uh, just don't like ponies that much. They stick to themselves and crew on griffin owned ships. What can I say." She shrugged. "We're a little bit prejudiced, even the 'new griffins'."
"After I spent all those years yelling at ponies for excluding you, you know I understand that animals can be nasty to each other." Dash nodded solemnly.
"It'd be my privilege of getting run out of town with you again, Dash." Gilda grinned. "But, uh, maybe not for a couple years. This job's still paying steadily."
Within a day they were in sight of their destination.
Rainbow had seen much of what Equestria had to offer. She had been born and raised in the great pegasus city of Cloudsdale, a metropolis high in the clouds. She’d seen Canterlot, the Foal Mountains, Filly Delphia, and Baltimare. Clawstantinople was somehow a mix of all these cities.
Beak Bay, the great sea separating southern Griffany from northern Sahella, met the East Ocean on it’s western corner at the hundred kilometer wide Marble Strait. On the Griffany side of the strait was the waterway’s namesake, the Marble Mountain, and the city of Clawstantinople. But Rainbow could not distinguish them, for Clawstantinople was the Marble Mountain.
This was not the gleaming white of Canterlot’s halls, but a streaked orange-red, that rose above the ocean like a massive pyre. Most of the city had been carved into the rock itself, creating dozens of unbroken rings of buildings. The bottom of the mountain touched the water, and was ringed by docks were boats bobbed like little toys. Nearer to the pinnacle the rings got taller, until the top hundred feet of the mountain were a single enormous basilica.
Tethered at various points were something Rainbow had missed since leaving Cloudsdale: Airships. Most of the griffin airships were diminutive, probably able to hold ten passengers or an equivalent amount of cargo at most. But this was the largest airship Rainbow had ever seen! It’s carriage alone was the size of a galleon, and the balloon matched the basilica for length.
"Woah." Dash gawked. "That thing's bigger than Clousdale's Stratus District!"
“I bet you can’t guess who owns that monstrosity.” Gilda taunted Rainbow.
“It must be the princess of the city, right?” Rainbow guessed.
“Clawstantinople is a republic, remember?”
“Uh, a rich trader?”
“Most of the traders and merchants who operate here actually live in north Griffany, where the markets are.”
Rainbow exhausted her short list of ideas. “I dunno. Who?”
Gilda grinned. “A mercenary company. The Princes of Equestria.”
Rainbow was at once impressed and annoyed. “It should have counted when I guessed princess.”
“Ha! These mercenaries are no royalty. They’re ruthless murderers, willing to do inflict whatever their employer desires, for as long as the money keeps coming. Mercenaries like them are particularly popular with the GOC.”
“Then what are they doing here?” Rainbow pointed to the airship.
“The Princes of Equestria are under contract to protect the city. The Clawstantinople contract is incredibly lucrative, and has made the Princes enough bits to buy that thing. Most mercenaries aren’t, they’re just regular griffins and ponies who fight as a job. But the Princes…” Gilda shuddered. "Err, it's a little embarrassing but I looked all this up thinking I might join up with them. I decided against it in a soberer hour."
Dash frowned. Gilda was thinking about joining a murderer troupe? "G, you're getting better about controlling your urges right? How are you feeling?"
Gilda's smile vanished. "We went over this in Baltimare. Everything's fine for a few more weeks at least."
"You sure?"
"Yes I'm sure. If you're worried because of the whole mercenary thing, don't be." Gilda insisted gruffly. "Like I said, I decided against it, after I'd had some time."
"And a meal I bet."
"So what if I did indulge a little. You know I can't help it." Gilda clacked her beak in irritation. "Dash, why do you do this to me? You know I get uncomfortable talking about this."
"That excuse is starting to wear on me. Maybe I'm uncomfortable with you partaking."
"Gods help me woman, I'm doing my best. It's an iterative process." Gilda smoothed her crest back. She sighed. "You're right though. Geeze... Sorry for snapping. You're here to steer me right, huh Dash?"
"Always, Gilda." Still, out of the corner of her eye, Dash couldn't help but admire the magnificent airship. It sickened her to think it, but she could understand somepony becoming a murderer to get to fly around in that thing.
“It’s still something to strive for.” She said to herself. "Celestia willing, accomplished by different means."
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You keep writing 'shuttered' when you mean 'shuddered'.