The cold was as bad as ever, but facing it with full bellies and rested bodies made it seem much less daunting. They picked their way through the village. The pathways were not cobbled. Much like Ponyville, most of it was just worn dirt paths running between the most-used buildings.
A voice called down to them, "Who are you?"
Diamond looked up first, spotting a griffon that seemed comprised of a snow leopard and an eagle. It was massive, and it was looming as only a huge predator could. Diamond cleared her throat. "I am Diamond Tiara, and this is Silver Spoon. Do you know the way to the woodcutters?"
The griffon pointed a talon to a building up ahead. "You're going the right way, but you're both terribly tiny for lumbering work. Are you some kind of wizard, or priest? You aren't going to be able to do anything to those trees otherwise."
Silver advanced with her head held high. "Diamond Tiara's going to review their management and find all the mistakes. She'll, like, have it running twice as fast and profitable!"
The griffon pointed at Diamond's tiara, which had survived the journey so far. "You may have a crown, but that doesn't mean anyone's going to listen to anything you have to say. You're just a tiny, misshapen, pony. Why should anyone care?"
Diamond stomped, crunching snow under a hoof and accomplishing little else. "Because I know how to run things properly. My daddy's run businesses bigger than this whole town, and I paid attention."
The griffon crossed his forelegs as he sat up. "You've got confidence, I'll grant that. Alright, tell me one thing you'd change, and make it good."
Silver tilted her head a little. "Do you work for them?"
He chuckled softly. "Work for them? I own them. These arms have taken trees down in the time it takes others to get started, and I've been working the trade for two decades now. So, again, what do you plan to change that'd make it better?"
Diamond's defensive posture shifted once it became clear she was speaking to someone worth talking to. "I'd want to do a review of the current process first."
He snorted softly. "It's lumber. This isn't complicated, at least until something tries to eat some of my boys in the field. Wolf packs, mountain worms, or worse. They cut into productivity. You got a fix for that?"
Diamond Tiara reviewed the few tricks she knew, but precious few of them had to do with avoiding wild monsters. "Have you considered fencing off the area? Fence off enough so you can cut down some trees and plant more, keeps the wildlife out, which would attract monsters?"
He rubbed his chin. "That'd take an awful lot of setup time, but it might be worth it, long-term. Alright, you got my attention." He jumped off the roof and landed in front of the two ponies, towering over them. "Funny-looking ponies, consider yourselves hired, but I don't pay pencil pushers."
Silver perked an ear even as she shrank back from the intimidating griffon. "Who do you pay?"
He thumped his chest with a talon. "Workers! You'll accompany a team out, help them, and plan this fence. Your idea, you get to make sure it happens right. Since you're too damn small to work the saws, your job will be to do whatever else needs doing, and keeping an eye out for attacks while you're surveying. I'll pay 1 silver piece a day, and you can use the company bunks."
Diamond soured internally. That wasn't a leadership position at all! "Who do you trade with?"
He raised a brow. "Huh? What kind of question is that?"
Diamond pointed at the griffon. "I bet you're being played for a sap. Let me see your ledgers."
He looked a bit nervous. "We don't, I mean we trade with whoever needs wood in the area..."
Diamond looked to Silver, trusting her to follow along. "He doesn't even have a ledger. The money just being thrown into the snow!"
Silver Spoon gasped dramatically and put a hoof to her forehead as if feeling faint. "I can't even imagine it! We got here, like, just in time!"
He grunted and started to look angry. "You're pulling my tail! We've been running fine for years!"
Diamond adopted an expression of cocky certainty. "And you have no idea why. When things start to slide, you won't know where, or how to react. You'll go under with the first market shift, and someone else will become the source of lumber, just like that." She tapped at her chin. "Maybe I should go work for them. I'm sure they'd like somepony to look over their numbers."
He brought a talon down inches from Diamond, cleaving through the snow as if it wasn't there. "You'll do no such thing! You think you're so smart, fine!" His words were cut off as he noticed something, and looked at Silver Spoon. "Where'd you get that bow?"
Silver blinked in surprise before pointing up the trail they came in from. "It was laying there with the arrows."
His face contorted. "No way... Look, kids, foals, whatever you are. You want to look over numbers, fine. I'll pay you half the extra profit you pull in, if you can prove you did it. In the meanwhile, I need that." He reached for the bow.
Silver danced away from the grasping talon, almost tripping over herself. "What, why?! Finder's keepers!"
"This isn't funny," said the large griffon with a scowl. "Let me see it. It looks familiar."
Silver Spoon pulled the bow free and held it up with a sticky hoof, which confused the griffon a moment before he returned his attention to the bow. "Yeah, right here." He pointed a talon at a tiny maker's mark of two crossed talons. "This is Bright Feather's, or was. He didn't come back... yesterday..." His expression darkened. "How'd you find this again?"
Silver Spoon pulled the bow close. "It was just laying there."
Diamond Tiara stepped between the griffon and Silver. "That's beside the point. Nopony cares about a stupid bow. Where do you keep what little ledgers you do have?"
He pointed a talon at Diamond. "Don't test my patience. Bright wouldn't put down his bow for any reason. He practically slept with the damn thing. Hiring you two's gonna have to wait, seeing as you're prime suspects for his death."
Silver sank to her haunches. "D-death?! We didn't hurt him! We didn't even see him!"
Diamond scowled at the griffon. "Who are you to--"
"Did I mention I'm also the sheriff?" The griffon raised a brow. "Go back to the inn and wait. I'll investigate, and if you aren't there when I get back, I'll just have to assume you ran away to avoid justice and hunt you down." He pointed at the inn. "Get."
They sullenly turned back to the inn and began retracing their steps. The massive griffon took flight and vanished up the path. Silver glanced at her friend as she walked. "Do you think the ghost will get him?"
Diamond sighed softly. "We should be so lucky. Why'd you have to pick that thing up?! We were so close to getting it."
Silver shrank a little. "I just... I'm sorry. I didn't know it would cause trouble. I just liked the look of it."
Diamond shoved lightly at Silver. "You can't even use it!"
"Can too!" Silver pulled it off her back and drew an arrow. She knocked it and pulled it back with quivering legs, barely strong enough to bend the bow, and it didn't bend much. The bow was clearly meant for someone much stronger, and likely larger. With a loud twang, the arrow launched, sailing for about twenty feet before coming to a gentle landing in the snow. Silver smiled even as she tried to hide the wince from her lousy firing position and the sting it left in her leg. "I just need a little practice." She quickly fetched the arrow and put it away.
Diamond rolled her eyes. "Well if we end up in jail, I guess you'll have plenty of time. Oh, wait, they'll take your stupid bow away."
Silver frowned at the mental image. "But we didn't... kill... him, or anypony."
Diamond stomped in the snow just in front of the inn. "We were there! Who do you think that was that got attacked? He's going to figure it out, and we're going to jail."
With shared foul moods, they stepped inside, where it was, at least, warm.
It wasn't long before another griffon stepped in, a female with a raven's forebody and a housecat for a back end. She quickly found them in the main room and approached their table. "So it was you?" She pointed at Silver accusingly.
Silver rolled her ears back. "I didn't!"
"I should think not," agreed the griffon. "A final insult on his good name, telling me my husband was slain by a little pony whelp. What is he thinking?! You're not even large enough to fit his bow, let alone take him down. If you did, you deserve what you took, and he deserves to lose it, being killed so pathetically. No, I refuse to believe it."
She frowned at Silver Spoon. "And what kind of pony would butcher a griffon like that? That isn't how ponies behave, even in their darkest times. No, he was clearly slain by something with a much harder heart, twisted and vile."
Diamond Tiara tapped at the table. "Does that mean we're free to go now?"
"Not quite." She crossed her forelegs. "That bull of a sheriff's certain. Certainly an idiot, perhaps. I don't want this going to trial. The shame of it, no matter which way it is found, is too much to bear. My husband doesn't deserve to even be accused of being killed at the little delicate hooves of... this." She waved a talon at Silver Spoon. "Koidon would shove him free of the last nest for such an insult, and me after for allowing it."
Silver nodded slowly. "Alright, so, like, what should we do about it? You know I totally didn't kill him or anything awful like that."
The griffon's features softened slightly and she reached for Silver, patting her on the head. "Poor thing. You're just as much a victim, but you will recover, my husband is dead. His wounds won't heal. Tell me everything. Leave out no detail, no matter how small. He always said I was too clever for him, let's put that to work to get us out of this shameful mess."
Diamond began to recount the tail of finding the cabin, and the ghost they met, including the grisly end and their fleeing of the cabin. Silver interjected when they got to the part with the bow, and the griffon frowned.
"The bow is a gift, or a curse. You were meant to find it. It was put there by the angry ghost as a gift." She sighed softly. "I'm not arguing with a Koidon-damned ghost. If she wants you to have it, keep it. But I think I know what to do."
Everyone seems to be pointing that out, but so far we have not seen any Everglow ponies for comparison. With the isolated nature of the griffons and more than a dozen native variants of pony, I would think some of the griffons would just assume they were yet another variant. "Meh, whatever. It has hooves, must be a pony."
Funny-looking
There's a bit of a logical disconnect here. If he had heard their story at the inn, he would have already suspected them of foul play. Since he doesn't know that story, he doesn't know that Bright Feather is dead, meaning he should just suspect them of theft, not murder. Or maybe he's just jumping to conclusions; he does seem pretty gullible and a little dim.
it didn't bend much
bear
It seems the griffons have a Viking/Klingon sort of religion, where you have to die in a cool way to go to the happy place.
Are you making a deliberate association between the animals used to make a griffon and their personalities? i.e. is Bright Feather's widow clever because she's part raven?
6167141 Fixed, and their manner of life also weighs in on it. A griffon that did cool things in life will be measured well, as will one that died in a fitting way. A griffon that lived quietly and did nothing of importance can be denied access to the eternal nesting grounds.
Griffon parts do influence them. A raven's head makes her a clever griffon, while the snow leopard was one of the bigger tribes of griffons. It's all detailed in the Griffons of Everglow book, available now for only $9.99! Act now while supplies last!
6167180 Haha, already have one.
6167180
It's a good thing ponies don't work that way, or the shortlegs would be vicious little turkeys.
6167200 Some of my players adore playing viciously adorable little short leg fighters/barbarians.
All of your chapter lengths are within 60 words of each other. How are you doing that? Are you counting words or are all of your thoughts exactly 2070 words long?
6167256 I type a lot, then check how far I am, nope, not 2000, more words. Nope, not 2000, MORE WORDS, ooooo, 19something, let's wrap up! Done.
before I even start the story.
got to love the art work.
Harts Fire
Whelp. Pinkie Pie certainly didn't windup being with them, now was she? Makes me wonder where the party pink planner got sent to.
Good thing they weren't colts. Yeesh. That yuki ona does one heck of a number on males. She's so sexist!
Gotta say, loving miss Silver Arrow there. But darn if little miss "Has to have the last word" didn't get them into some unneeded trouble.
Good thing Diamond has her business sense about her, lot of good that does one though when your best friend stuck trotting around with a dead griffon's bow. Also, Diamond is so adorable when she's drunk. All her little pretenses just shatter upon getting some hard cider in her system it seems. ;P
Whelp. Great story so far, and so many updates in such a short amount of time. Looks like I found myself another story worth tracking. Loved the first story. CMC paced pretty well in that. And of course, nice to see where these two landed of course.
6167542 Welcome aboard! I'll try to keep it interesting. It was the ghost's active decision to not bring down her wrath on the little foals. Whatever bound her to her lamentable position, it wasn't a pair of little pony fillies, and she spared them, but such mercies do not extend to others.
Well, Diamond Tiara is certainly in her element. Silver Spoon, meanwhile, seems to be trying to find a new one, though archery probably isn't it. Not with a high-strength composite bow, anyway.
In any case, given the sherrif's intelligence, I get the feeling that that lumber company is going to see a sharp rise in productivity... unless he pulls an Inspector Javert and decides to incriminate the pair regardless of such minor trifles as evidence. If that's the case, they're going to want to leave as quickly as possible. Still, I've heard worse starts for adventurers.
6167623 Diamond Tiara is trying to be in her element, and make her daddy proud. She's bluffing a lot.
So excited, I have been waiting for this story from the moment AJ shoved them through that portal!
I am seeing changes in the too now and I am really liking the story and I have a feeling this is going to get really good.
I can't wait for Diamond Tiara to take over the lumber guild. Have DT and SS changed their form to Everglow ponies, or do they still look the same?
6169280 They look exactly the same as they did before.
6169302 Well that's weird. Pinkie was sent through in the same manner, I wonder what she will look like...
There are two spaces between "to" and "listen."
It might be worth it "long-term."
Don't capitalize the "k" in "keeper's."
I don't think that that sentence is supposed to end with "book."
6178191 Typos evicted from the town, may the winter be kind to them.
6178251 Following up on her resolution from the previous chapter, Diamond is doing remarkably well for herself...at least until she and Silver Spoon are accused of murder. Still, given that the deceased's widow seems to realize the obvious (and has standing to make sure this fact isn't glossed over), this doesn't appear to be too dire of a predicament, at least not yet.
I was initially a bit leery of how the owner of the lumberjack operation just happened to not only spot the pair as they left the inn, but started up a conversation as well, as that seemed a little too convenient. However, my skepticism was alleviated with the revelation that he was also the town sheriff; things made a lot more sense then. After all, it's the sheriff's job to be on the lookout for trouble, or even anything out of the ordinary, which two odd-looking foals certainly would be. Moreover, it even makes sense that this nameless griffon would have both jobs at once, since in such a small town it's unlikely that law enforcement would be a full-time job. So props for making that particular setup work.
As it was, Diamond Tiara was actually very impressive in terms of showing off her business acumen, particularly for being put on the spot the way she was. She was very cogent in noting that her suggestions depend on how much she knows about the operation, though she could have done a better job of mentioning that that was largely confined to the various management-related aspects of business. That was driven home by the fact that she leaped on how that griffon had no ledger, which was a far more important - and relevant - part of business than building a fence, at least insofar as Diamond is concerned. As it is, I wouldn't be surprised if she audited the business and found that someone was skimming off the top...catching someone stealing from his employer is likely to make her perceived value absolutely skyrocket...though given the harsh nature of punishment in such a small, rural community (and with the griffons apparently being so aggressive), I'm not sure she'd feel proud of what the perpetrator would receive because of her.
That said, the murder charge pending against them both is flatly ridiculous, as Bright Feather's widow noted. That that sheriff could even think that two little fillies could kill an adult male griffon, not to mention would then be dumb enough to take his stuff back into his home-town...it seems clear that the sheriff's job in this town is less investigatory than it is being the muscle who goes after some sort of obvious threat. Perhaps ironically, this is good news for the pony duo, since if that's the general level of intellect in this town - the raven-headed she-griffon notwithstanding - then they'll absolutely be able to figure out a way to make themselves useful.
...presuming that they can beat the murder charge they're currently faced with, that is. Hopefully that cabin is some sort of local legend or something, since otherwise a defense of "a ghost killed him" isn't likely to get them too far, even on Everglow.
6178268 Small-town justice can be swift and skewed at times...
Ok, previous question withdrawn, as they're noted as funny looking several times here, they must still be in Equestria forms.