Codex Ponera - Cliffside Eyrie

by Pepperbrony

Chapter Six

Half An Hour Earlier...

Apple Bloom backed away from the griffon in shock. The griffon was holding onto the trunk of a tree, off the ground but low enough that Apple Bloom had quite literally run into her. She was only slightly larger than Apple Bloom herself, and was coloured light grey, with large blue eyes and a very small beak. She looked as surprised as Apple Bloom felt at the young pony’s arrival.

Apple Bloom whirled to run, but before she could take two steps, the griffon pounced onto her and tackled her to the ground. The griffon then wrapped one claw around Apple Bloom’s muzzle while the other held her under the barrel, and Apple Bloom felt herself being lifted up and sideways into the canopy.

She struggled to get free, but the griffon held her too tightly. Then, she heard the sound she had been dreading - the griffon conspirators that she had escaped from had finally caught up. Apple Bloom renewed her struggles, determined to escape, when the griffon whispered to her.

“Stop that, or they’ll hear us!”

Confused, Apple Bloom stopped fighting her captor and looked at her. The griffon’s gaze was locked on something back down on the ground, so Apple Bloom turned to see what was happening. The griffons that had been chasing her seemed to be investigating the ground near a tree. Apple Bloom also spotted hoofprints in the soil, and deduced that the griffons had used them to stay on her trail after they had lost sight of her.

“I’ll need my claw,” whispered her captor, “so will you please keep quiet?”

Apple Bloom nodded gently in response, and the griffon released her muzzle. Apple Bloom took in a quiet breath while the griffon carefully used a talon to cut free a small but sturdy stick from their perch. Then, while the griffons on the ground were looking the other way, Apple Bloom’s new companion threw the stick far off into the forest, where it clattered against a distant tree trunk.

The group of griffons on the ground looked toward the sound before bolting off in pursuit of what they thought was their quarry.

“Silly Effai, they always fall for that trick,” muttered the female griffon before turning back to Apple Bloom. “Anyway, why were they chasing you? What are you doing in Effoh lands? Ooh, wait, you’re a pony! Can you call on the spirits? How do you do it? Can you teach me how? Oh, and cutie marks! How do you get one of those? Do you need the spirits to -” She stopped when Apple Bloom shoved a hoof in her beak.

“Shh! Or do you want those griffons to come back?” hissed Apple Bloom.

“Mrmphmph!” replied the griffon.

“Let’s take this slowly, alright?”

“Mmkmm.”

“What? Oh, right,” said Apple Bloom, withdrawing her hoof from the griffon’s beak. “Sorry ‘bout that, but after you keepin’ my mouth shut I figured it was my turn,” she grinned.

“That’s okay,” replied the griffon. “Sorry if I hurt you, but if they had found me watching them they would not have been very nice.”

“They wouldn’t have been much better if they caught me, either,” said Apple Bloom. “So thanks for the rescue. And sorry about runnin’ into ya before.”

“No problem,” said the griffon. She looked in the direction the griffons had run. After a few moments, she spoke again. “Looks like they’re gone for now. Now, hold on.”

She held Apple Bloom by the barrel and flew her back down to the ground. Apple Bloom found the experience much more pleasant this time around, on account of the griffon being able to support her weight with both claws and being able to breathe without a talon gripping her face.

“Thanks again. I’m Apple Bloom,” she said, extending a hoof.

“Hi Apple Bloom, I’m Gabriella, but my everygriff calls me Gabby,” replied the griffon as she took Apple Bloom’s hoof and shook.

“Pleased to meetcha,” said Apple Bloom. “Now let’s see if we can get out o’ here before those guys come back and find us.”

“Good idea.”

The pair began to move south-east, away from the direction Gabby had sent the griffon pursuit squad. At Gabby’s suggestion they used their tails to wipe the ground as they walked, erasing their tracks as they went.

“We need to tell Gilda what those Effai were up to,” said Gabby. “Um… what were they up to? I saw them sneaking around in our lands, and decided to follow them, but they got ahead of me before I found out what they were doing.”

“They were makin’ plans to - wait a minute,” Apple Bloom interrupted herself to glare at Gabby. “How do I know you’re not really with them?”

“Why else would I have pulled you up a tree?” answered Gabby.

Apple Bloom considered that for a moment. “Huh. Good point. Okay, they were makin’ plans to team up with some ponies to attack Cliffside Eyrie. I bet-”

“What?” interrupted Gabby. “Why? How? They’re Effai, they’d have to come through our lands to attack a pony city.”

“What do you mean? I thought this side o’ the canal was all griffon land,” said Apple Bloom.

“Well, yeah, it is, sort of,” Gabby said. “But this part of it belongs to my clan, the Effoh clan. The Effai clan holds the lands on our other side, and out beyond them is the Waipi clan.”

“Oh, I get it,” said Apple Bloom, “it’s sorta like how Duchess Coloratura rules the lands around Cliffside, and Duchess Rarity rules Carousel Island, and all the other dukes and duchesses rule the lands around their cities.”

Gabby paused to blink at Apple Bloom. “Huh, I guess I’d never thought about that. I just thought that all pony lands belonged to all ponies.” She resumed walking to keep pace with Apple Bloom. “Anyway, if the Effai clan want to attack Cliffside Eyrie, then they’d have to go through Effoh lands, and Gilda at least would never let them.”

“Well, I don’t know about all that,” said Apple Bloom, “but one o’ those griffons chasin’ me, some griffon called Garry, said that they’d be attackin’ Cliffside tomorrow.”

Gabby looked at Apple Bloom, her eyes wide. “But… but ever since you ponies captured Cliffside Eyrie from us griffons all those years ago, you’ve always used your spirits to help you hold it. That’s why we gave up trying to retake it ages ago. How do they think they’ll do what we Effoh couldn’t?”

“The ponies they were talkin’ to said that they’d be helpin’ them,” replied Apple Bloom. “They have an airship, and they said they were workin’ for Duke Svengallop. I reckon Svengallop wants to make Duchess Coloratura look bad, and then he’ll be friends with these griffons. Then he probably thinks all the other dukes and duchesses’ll be really impressed with him.”

“Argh,” Gabby groaned. “And if Effai can take Cliffside Eyrie, through Effoh lands, then their clan will get more powerful. They already have a lot of influence, but if they can get away with this, then they’ll take away some of our friends in the council! They’ll be even more powerful!”

Apple Bloom thought for a moment. “So… I don’t want ‘em to attack Cliffside, and you don’t want ‘em to either. Do ya think we can get your clan to stop them?”

“Maybe...” replied Gabby. “I know most of the Effoh clan would want to stop the Effai from doing anything just because they’re Effai and we’re Effoh, but most griffons probably wouldn’t want to help ponies do anything.”

“Well, we’ll just hafta try and convince ‘em, then,” said Apple Bloom.

“How?” Gabby asked.

Apple Bloom shrugged. “I dunno. They’re your clan, you know ‘em better than me. What do you think we should do?”

Gabby fell silent, thinking about their options. Eventually, she spoke up. “We should try to talk to Gilda. She’ll listen to me, at least. Maybe I can get her to listen to you too, and then together we can get her to help somehow.”

“I guess we just have to hope that your clan likes us ponies better than that other clan then,” Apple Bloom said. “Who’s this Gilda you keep mentionin’?”

“She’s a nest leader,” replied Gabby. “She’s the griffon in charge of this part of Effoh’s lands.”

“Ah. Kinda like a duke or duchess, then,” said Apple Bloom. “Do ya think she’ll want to help stop the attack?”

“I think she’ll do whatever gets her more influence with the other nest leaders,” Gabby answered. “Usually, stopping anything the Effai from getting their way do would do that, but if Gilda was a part of the group that retook Cliffside Eyrie from the ponies, that would be really impressive. So she might try to work with the Effai to attack the city instead of helping it.”

“But thousands o’ ponies live there! They’d get hurt! Or worse!” Apple Bloom cried.

“I know, I’m trying to think of a way to make sure that Gilda would help, but I can’t think of anything,” Gabby replied.

They walked in silence for a little while, before Apple Bloom slowed as a thought occurred to her.

“Wait a minute,” she said. “These Effai griffons are only gonna attack because they got some ponies workin’ with them, right?”

“Yeeaah…” said Gabby.

“And then they’d be all friendly with those ponies afterwards, right?” continued Apple Bloom. “Well, what if we could get Gilda to be friends with Duchess Coloratura? They’re already neighbours, and maybe all them other nest leaders would be really impressed with Gilda if she was friends with a pony duchess.”

“I guess that could work,” mused Gabby. “Okay, yeah. So that’s the plan then. Get a griffon and a pony to be friends. For the first time in history.”

“Doesn’t sound too hard,” Apple Bloom replied, before sighing. “It’ll probably be a while before I get back home, though.”

“What do you mean?”

“Aw, don’t worry about it,” Apple Bloom said. “I just hope Scoots got out okay.”

“Who’s Scoots?” asked Gabby.

“Scootaloo,” answered Apple Bloom. “She’s my best friend. When we saw the airship fly past, we decided to follow it to see what it was up to. After we heard the deal they made with the griffons, we decided to try to warn somepony, but I think one of us must have made a noise, ‘cause that’s when those griffons started chasin’ me.” Apple Bloom sheepishly grinned and said, “I musta been on the wrong side of the tree, ‘cause I ran the wrong way.”

“How did you stay ahead of them?” Gabby asked. “We griffons can fly faster than most ponies can run.”

“I dunno what happened,” said Apple Bloom. “One moment they were flyin’ after me, the next they’d all crashed and hurt their wings or somethin’, ‘cause they started runnin’ instead.”

“Was it one of your spirits?” asked Gabby.

“Spirits? You asked about spirits before,” said Apple Bloom. “Do you mean our furies?”

“Furies? Is that what you call them?” replied Gabby. “The spirits that let you control the wind and trees and fire and everything.”

Apple Bloom pouted to herself. “Yeah, we call ‘em furies. But I can’t do it.” She thought back to her escape from the clearing. “Although, maybe somepony else windcrafted at those griffons. I think I might have heard a gust o’ wind while I ran.”

“You can’t make the spiri- the furies do what you want?” asked Gabby. “I was always told that all ponies could do that.”

“Well, you're lucky then,” scowled Apple Bloom. “You’re talkin’ to the one pony who can’t do it.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” said Gabby. After a moment of silence, she said, “Maybe Scootsaloo made that wind?”

“It’s Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom corrected, “and she can only craft fire. It must have been somepony else. I wonder who, though. Those ponies from the airship wouldn’t have done it, it was their boss who wanted to catch us.” She looked around. “Whoever it was, I guess they aren’t too interested in helpin’ me, or they’d be here now.”

“Well, maybe someone else was watching, and whoever they were, after they made the wind blow down the Effai griffons, they went to help Scootaloo?” suggested Gabby.

“Yeah, maybe they did,” Apple Bloom said.

“So, how does it work, anyway?” asked Gabby.

“What, furycraftin’?” said Apple Bloom. “You’re askin’ the one wrong pony to ask.”

“Aw, come on, you must know something,” badgered Gabby.

Apple Bloom sighed. “Okay, fine. We ponies can talk to furies. All of us - except me - can talk to and control at least one kind o’ fury really well. Some of us can work with more than one kind.”

“There’s different kinds?” asked Gabby.

“Sure, there’s six,” replied Apple Bloom. “Earth, air, water, fire, wood, and metal. Like I said before, Scoots has a fire fury. Applejack, the mare who raised us, has a wood fury, and her brother Big Mac has an earth fury.”

“Oh, I get it,” said Gabby. “Each kind of fury lets you control that kind of thing.”

“Yeah. Scootaloo has a fire fury, so she can control fires. Applejack can control plants or anything made of wood.” Apple Bloom frowned. “And I control nothin’.”

Gabby winced at Apple Bloom’s tone. “Sorry. We can talk about something else if you want.”

“No, it’s okay,” replied Apple Bloom, “I can tell you’re excited about this stuff. Anyways, with furycraftin’ a pony gets some extra stuff to go with it. Earth furies let you be really strong - like earlier today, when we were harvestin’ apples. Big Mac was pullin’ a huge wagon, big enough to fit about thirty ponies, filled with all the harvested apples, up hill. He wasn’t even sweatin’.”

“Wow. What else can furies do?” asked Gabby.

“Well, firecrafters can push some of their feelin’s out to other ponies around them,” replied Apple Bloom. “Scootaloo tries not to do that to me, but sometimes she can’t help it, and then I find myself standin’ on a board with wheels, rollin’ really fast down a really big hill. Or I suddenly get scared o’ fallin’ off of a perfectly good rope bridge.”

“What else?”

“Applejack could always use Winona to hide anywhere there was a few plants growin’, even if she was bigger than any o’ the plants she was hidin’ with,” said Apple Bloom. “Some kinda woodcrafty hidin’ trick, I guess. I don’t know much about the other kinds o’ furies though. I think one o’ the neighbours used his metalcraftin’ to not feel the pain when he broke his leg once, until a watercrafter healed it for him.” Apple Bloom shrugged. “I dunno. I don’t know many other ponies all that well, ‘cause they all call me a furyless freak and mean stuff like that. So I stay away from ‘em. I haven’t seen all that much o’ what all the other kinds o’ furies can do.”

“Wow,” said Gabby. “I’m sorry that the other ponies call you mean names. I promise I won’t let anygriff call you anything but ‘Apple Bloom’.”

“Thanks, Gabby,” replied Apple Bloom, “I appreciate that.” She chuckled as a thought occurred to her. “Maybe Gilda and Coloratura won’t be the first griffon and pony to be friends.”

“Really? Who was first?” asked Gabby.

Apple Bloom smiled at her. “You haven’t heard o’ the friendship between Apple Bloom the pony and Gabby the griffon?”

Gabby stopped in her tracks. “Oh. My. Gosh. I’m friends with a pony!” she squealed.

“Well, that friendship was easy,” muttered Apple Bloom, watching Gabby bounce with joy. “Gilda and Coloratura should be a piece o’ cake.”

Comments

[CTVulpin]

Heh heh heh. Well, Gabby is definitely not Kitai, personality-wise, but she'll work well with AB and Scoots. And probably Sweetie Belle, if she ever joins the story. (I'm guessing that'll happen around the Academ's Fury period, and since Rarity's a Duchess, that'd make Sweetie the politically-experienced friend, or Max without the family problems)
Utilizing Gabby like that made for a very smooth integration of a fury-craft infodump into the narrative, so extra kudos.