Society as We Know It

by Comma Typer

Changeling and Griffon

That sweet and familiar sugary aroma drifted through the vast room of bright colors and checkered tiles. Several ponies at the round wooden tables chatting and talking and laughing, all smiling with that smile that most ponies seem to have anytime of the day or night when one would casually bump into them; donuts and glasses or bottles of various drinks from water through tea and to soda.

There was a long line at the counter; some ponies had saddle bags, others were wearing fancy clothing—there was Upper Crust, giving nervous turns of the head and having on her a face of moderate fear. Then, the pony in front of her grabbed a paper bag and trotted away, making her the first in line.

"Upper Crust!" Joe said, strong in his gruff voice. "Didn't expect to see you in here, but, you're here! What can I do for you, ma'am?"

"Uh, hmm!" Rubbing her chin and scanning the variety of choices telling of different types, flavors, and sizes—all pleasing to the eye and bringing some ponies to water their mouths.

"Also, will you hurry up?!" the hatted stallion behind her yelled, holding in his hoof a balled up fist of money.

Upper Crust flinched at that and went closer to the counter, wearing a slightly scared face. Pointing to one of the donuts, she said, "I'll have that one!"

"You mean the plain chocolate donut?" Joe asked.

Upper Crust nodded, still wearing that slightly scared face—now with some worry in it.

Joe took out his tongs and grabbed one of the many plain chocolate donuts out from its line inside the heated and lit display. After placing it inside a paper bag, he hoofed the container to the mare.

"Enjoy, ma'am!" Joe said as he waved at her.

She was already trotting her way to one of the few remaining empty tables. She sat on her chair and, her horn glowing green, levitated her donut out of the paper bag. Rotating it around, she kept looking at it. Looking left and right once more before turning back to the donut, she resumed rotating it with her magic.

"Do you like the donuts here?" a male voice asked from another table.

"I think so," a female voice answered, authoritative in the delivery.

Upper Crust turned her gaze towards the table beside her, one occupied by Thorax and Galena.

---

Galena, the griffon, had her wide brown wings folded. Brown coat with black stripes, a darker brown head.

She was holding a half-eaten strawberry donut with sprinkles and chocolate syrup drizzled on it. Within her reach was an unopened bottle of soda.

"Fun as a snack and as a dessert!" Thorax said, gesticulating with one hoof as he smiled while holding a blue donut with the other. Close to him was a bottle of soda, this one being open and close to being half-full.

"What did you order again?" Galena asked. "Because, I don't remember seeing blue fruits around here."

"Blueberry," Thorax answered. "It's blueberry."

Galena nodded her head. She rested her head on a claw as she looked around and saw what wasn't surrounding her—griffons and changelings or any of their old homes of either mossed and plant-like hive or hay-sheltered houses and trees. Instead, there were ponies and more ponies all talking to each other while eating donuts and drinking drinks.

Yet, between the two of them, it was a crowded silence, a bothersome quiet with only a table, two donuts, and two soda bottles in the way.

Thorax's smile faded, becoming similar to Galena's neutral expression as they both ate their donuts. Thorax, though, kept a subtle smile about him, whereas Galena only had a neutral expression and not much more than that.

"I never thought much about it before," Galena said. "Historians always speak of an empire's long night."

Thorax placed the donut down on his plate. "What's that? I've never heard of that before."

Galena sighed, closing her eyes. "Some say that kingdoms and empires rise and fall based on cycles. A great empire grows, taking territory and spreading influence. Then, it stabilizes, making sure that its territory, wealth, and influence doesn't go away. After that, it declines, and there are lots of reasons for it: maybe well-intended bureaucracy becomes too much for the normal griffon to handle, or perhaps it's something sudden like what happened to us, as you know."

Thorax leaned closer. "Then, I guess the last step is—"

"—the long night," Galena said, raising a claw. Sighed again. "The Griffon Kingdom, Griffonstone, is far from what it used to be in the past. I'm sure you've read the history books—whenever you see Griffonstone of millenia and centuries past, you see these beautiful paintings of griffons wallowing in prosperity. Everything is clean and whole; ponies, dragons, zebras, and more visited our lands to see what was there, to behold the wealth we've amassed and to feel the influence that we had. Had." Looking off to one of the windows, she saw some ponies on the sidewalk, smiling and talking. "And, now, this is our long night. You've already visited Griffonstone, so I won't waste my time telling you what's there."

Thorax placing a hoof on his chin, resting. "I can see that and you and I both know that it doesn't have to be that way. It can be much better than it is now."

"Thanks for the encouragement, but you can't rebuild Griffonstone overnight," Galena said. "Being its representative taught me that. It's bad enough when Griffonstone is in a tattered state without all of us squabbling and fighting over the most petty of things while being stingy to the point of making a business out of anything that you can imagine. One time, if anyone who wasn't a griffon took an extended walk to sightsee—and, I don't get why anyone would go sightseeing in our place—they would be hampered by lots of griffons who'd demand them money just for walking in Griffonstone. It must feel bad to those who travelled such a long way just to be let down by griffons who want their money." With a bigger sigh, she continued: "Even I fall into that, and I fall into it a lot, but maybe you shouldn't blame me. Or, I guess you should, since I'm the representative."

"What about all those friendship meetings with Princess Twiligth and her friends?" Thorax asked, hopeful. "They must've done something to help your condition."

"It's something you can't erase in a week," Galena responded, still sounding depressed. "I do my best to convince others that friendship is good and that we should be friends and not just neighbors and griffons who live in the same kingdom, but we're getting desperate here."

"If you're getting desperate, why not turn to friendship?" Thorax asked further; after that, he took a bite out of his donut, watching Galena.

"Before you say the standard argument of, 'Look at what friendship did to the ponies,' understand that ponies' society is practically built upon friendship. Equestria was founded in friendship and ponies have been living in friendship ever since. Maybe friendship is just a peculiar pony thing. We didn't have to rely on friendship for greatness—if you know your history, you also know that we got lots of what we wanted by force. Invasion, coercion, rough-and-tumble fights and battles to take away what they have and make it our own and to turn it into something better than what they could ever make it to be—that's our thing. So, don't be surprised when we griffons resort to being grumpy than to this pony thing."

"What about Gilda and Gabby?" Thorax said. "And Greta, also?"

"They're better," Galena said. "They're better."

Then, she took a bite out of the donut.

"At least this can take my mind off of the situation," she said, glistening and smiling for a quick moment at Thorax before it went away and turned back to an expression of fatalistic distraught.