Piece of Parchment

by Metemponychosis

Past Sins

It was a mediocre building in an average neighborhood of Manehattan. It had a central glorified corridor which looked like it should be an open space. Much too wide, and ending in a small, pedestrian garden which barely received any sunlight from an opening above it. The corridor transmitted the impression someone had slapped a roof over the whole thing to make a single building.

Twilight was not an architect, much less an engineer. But she saw they made some eclectic decisions. Probably something to do with taxes. Maybe the rooms used to be one-room homes cramped together. Like bungalows. With their windows open inward into the corridor, that seemed likely. A small condominium turned into a hotel. It was not something she would outright condemn, but it seemed sketchy and strange. However, none of the rooms seemed to have remnants of kitchens. Maybe Twilight was just wrong. Go figure.

The lobby was the least confusing room in the hotel. It almost had the entrance. The door connected to a small foyer, which was a bend in the corridor. The lobby itself had a check-in desk, almost hidden behind a wall following from the entrance. Four square tables, which ponies and griffons joined to share breakfast, and a tacky brown carpet made the dining room behind the sofas by the desk. Plenty of light would liven up the room if they hadn’t curtained the large windows to prevent passersby from seeing the wanted ponies and griffons inside. It was serviceable as a dining room with a bar-like kitchen, thrown together with a living room. And as a lobby, supposedly.

The hotel was satisfactory. The place lacked some of the luxury Twilight had grown accustomed to, having lived most of her life in Canterlot and then at her palace. While the rustic nature reminded her of her old library, the hotel lacked its small-town charm. It was obviously a dry business. And a front for griffon operations, supported by ponies, no less.

In the end, it was a low-tier hotel in a big pony city. The owner had tried her best to make it amenable, with all the pony-like cute decorations. Ultimately, the hotel was meant for lower paying customers. Combined with Manehattan’s less opulent, more practical architecture and decoration, it made for a lackluster pony edifice. Maybe that was why the griffons used it. It lacked the ‘ponyness’ the northerner griffons found so aggravating.

As with any other hotel in the business, theirs provided breakfast in a self-service manner, set on a table apart. A selection of fruits, coffee, milk, juices, tea, and, curiously, spiced wine. Probably a northerner thing. Workers also provided toasts, breads, cookies, butter, jams, oats, and yogurt to the ponies. Strawberry yogurt, or so it seemed, given the flavor and rosy color. Ponies also had fried eggs and omelets, filled with additional tasty ingredients. They had bought accessible products, not exactly cheap, but far from the quality usually found at Canterlot or Ponyville. For the griffons, the hotel served strips of chicken and bacon with their spiced wine, but also a few fruits.

One griffon was missing from the table. Grigory’s friend who had organized the whole thing. The big griffon. He had left in the morning before Twilight had awakened. The others, missing Flurry Heart and Miss Calcite, gathered in the lobby for breakfast. Ponies and griffons talked in mostly discreet voices, still fighting off the sleepiness of the early morning. The predominant noises were of food and tableware.

“Hey…” Rainbow broke the silence under all the munching and clinking, an elbow on the table and her hoof holding her cheek. She stared at the white and caramel griffoness. Gracielle, the sharpshooter with a flat face and amenable humors on the griffon side of temperament. “Can I ask you a question?”

“You just did.” The catbird mumbled mindlessly, distracted with her bowl of strawberries, before she blinked and straightened to stare at Rainbow Dash. “I mean. Sure. What’s up?”

“Why did you quit the Wonderbolts?” The pony rested her hooves on the table and clopped them softly. “Was it some spy thing? To learn about how we do stuff? You were in the scout team… Sure, the acrobatics team gets a lot more attention, but the scouts are… You know…”

Gracielle let go of a deep sigh. “It’s difficult to explain.”

“Yeah…” Rainbow Dash made a frown. “I know the guys didn’t treat you very well in the hospital airship. But you shot Spitfire. You could have killed her. Or crippled her for life. Sounds like evil spy stuff to me.”

“Oh, my feathers.” The griffoness massaged her lores before she stared at the pony glaring at her from across the table. All the others listened but offered no comments. “Look… I… We… It’s complicated, and it’s all because… We were very little when Lady Gwendolen picked us up to be Grigory’s friends.”

“What does that have to do with the Wonderbolts?” Rainbow’s lips twisted and she blinked a confounded stare. Curiosity won, though. “What? Like, he didn’t have any friends or something?”

“No, not like that.” Gracielle rubbed the ruffling feathers behind her neck and her eyes shifted between Grigory to her right and then to Rainbow Dash. “I don’t even remember how many years I had. It’s weird and I’m not sure you’d be interested in it.”

“Well, I’m asking.” The pony shot her a deadpan stare with a raised hoof.

“If she doesn’t want to talk, just leave her alone, for pony’s sake.” Applejack mumbled in between bites at her apple. Surely from Sweet Apple Acres.

“Darling, you just said you leaving the Wonderbolts related to the way you grew up.” Rarity left her fork on her plate with the omelet and her shining horn fizzled out. “You have made us curious, and that was entirely your fault. Besides, I see no more interesting conversations happening right now.”

“Fine.” Gracielle huffed and took a breath in. “We lived almost isolated from the other noble cubs in Griffindell. Lady Gwendolen made us stay with Grigory and… I don’t want to get into details, but she wasn’t the nicest mom to him. Some weird things happened and we, well, I think she wanted us to comfort him. Or something. I’m not sure to this day. But we spent most of our time learning things, studying and then some more. Together. While the other cubs, even the ones born from nobility, spent most of their time playing and having fun.”

“On my feathers, Gracielle…” One of the smaller griffons, Gewehr was brown, with a darker chest and head, much lankier than the others. He did have the same unnerving, stern stare. Twilight knew him to be the gunsmith responsible for the creation of their most advanced firearms, and Gracielle’s mate. Or lover. Or something. Those griffons were weird. “One would think you resent Lady Gwendolen.”

“Well, I didn’t say that!” She made a funny face and mumbled a couple of unintelligible words, fidgeting with her fingers before speaking again. “I just think it would’ve been nice to date a little, like the other cubs.”

“The entirety of Griffindell knew you and Gewehr were fooling around, Gracielle.” The other lanky griffon, but in shades of gray and white, casually ripped apart pieces of chicken with his talons and drew some chuckles from the others. “It is what made you, maybe, the best sharpshooter in the world.”

“While you were partying, I studied the blade…” Pinkie made a serious frown and spoke with an ominous tone that belonged on Manehattan’s Grand Theater while she waved her hooves. “While you wasted your days playing, I cultivated my strength. Ooh… Uuh... Aaah… I am the edgelord catbird of the North.”

“Darling…” Rarity did her best, but she ended up losing her composure and snerking at Pinkie’s joke.

“I find that comment to be unnecessarily provocative. If not offensive.” Twilight grumbled while Cadance giggled, and the griffons laughed or chuckled. Finally,. Rainbow Dash straight out snorted the yogurt out of her nostrils. “And I’m not even a griffon.”

“Well, yeah. I’m just saying it would’ve been nice to do that without having to hide from the Loremasters.” Gracielle got her raspy chuckling under control, softened her stare and her voice.

If anything, Twilight noted, the griffons understood their culture often seemed to try too hard. Maybe it stemmed from a combination of ancient customs and modernized sensibilities conflicting with them. Or maybe it was a way to cope with the fact they spent their lives fighting monsters for the sake of griffons that didn’t understand what they did. With a pinch of still being bitter with the end of the Empire and the territory they lost. Sprinkled with their beliefs about their origins. Probably a combination of those. A dangerous blend. Hence, the present situation. But Twilight kept such thoughts to herself.

“Right.” Rainbow snickered at Pinkie’s antics. “But I still don’t get how that landed you with the Wonderbolts, only to leave us all of a sudden. You know… Most creatures that get invited stay until they retire. It’s a big deal!”

“I had to.” The griffoness reigned in her cheeky mood and her frown turned sad, which surprised Twilight. And since the pegasus nodded her to go on, Gracielle did. “My papa taught me how to shoot. It’s about the first thing I remember, and it was my life. He was an important hunter under the Master Hunter of Griffindell… Being noble-born and showing prowess at a young age, Lady Gwendolen took notice of me.”

The griffoness lady clicked her talons at the table. “One day she introduced all of us to Grigory. We used to play together all the time since then until one day it changed. I can’t tell you exactly, but like I said, she wasn’t the nicest mamma to Grigory. And we were always there with him.”

“What?” Pinkie Pie’s ears perked despite being told the griffoness wouldn’t go into details. Twilight came to a hair’s width of telling the mare to stop prodding, and AJ’s glare didn’t dissuade Pinkie either. “Did she beat him or something?”

“It was part of a training regime.” Gracielle again strummed her talons on the table. “She demanded a lot of him. And we stayed with him. We grew up together, and she made us focus on our studies and training routines. We barely had any time for ourselves and what time we had, we spent together. Almost always under supervision.”

“Bummer!” Pinkie grimaced.

“Do you guys realize he’s sitting right there?!” Applejack came short of yelling at them, but Grigory paid it all no mind. He silently popped grapes into his beak and left the conversation to others. Twilight knew that low-browed, distant stare. He was thinking.

“That’s weird.” Pinkie Pie came out from under the table next to Gracielle, gone from her place. The poor griffoness almost jumped and her feathers stood. Pinkie gave Gracielle an inquisitive stare, speaking in a distrusting tone. Just Pinkie Pie being her ‘Pinkie Pie’ self. “It’s like she has some complex and evil plan, and you are all pawns that she moves around with little regard to your dreams and hopes.”

Twilight let her ears fold back while she stared intensely at her oats and yogurt. The entire conversation had become tiresome and rude. Not to mention too close to home for her tastes. Gracielle deadpanned at the pink pony and shoved her away with all the niceness she could afford. “You know, it’s not really funny when you state the obvious like that. Especially when it is regarding my life.”

“Dreams and hopes are flights of fancy.” Grigory finally spoke, although still staring at the purple grapes in the white bowl before him. “We make the best we can with what opportunities are given to us. It is something young northerner griffons understand early on. This is particularly true of noble-born cubs. I do not resent Lady Gwendolen and neither does Gracielle. She has made us be best we could be.”

Pinkie remained unfazed, taking notes on a little cupcake shaped notepad. “So, Lady Gwendolen did the evil laughter. Then what?”

“You ponies don’t understand.” The purple and gold griffon went on, staring at Pinkie as only someone who didn’t know seriousness didn’t work on the mare would. “I owe to her what I am. Was I born in Griffonstone, I cannot even imagine what sort of life I would have led to this point, much less what future I would have. It is thanks to her I am prepared to, one day, rule the New Empire.”

Twilight kept her thoughts inside her head. Mindlessly stirring the oats and yogurt in her bowl, carefully listening. Grigory almost spoke too much. He shut his beak before, but almost. Regardles, Harmony forbid he grew up happy, and unworried with prophecies and future. Like a little griffon just enjoying life while they prepared themselves for a future that didn’t involve enslaving or murdering others. With a mentor that actually guided him towards reaching his potential, without using him as a pawn in a godly chess. Despite what some of the ponies Twilight knew would say about Princess Celestia, she saw that was exactly what Celestia wanted to avoid when she ended the Cult of the Alicorn Sisters.

Twilight understood she didn’t even know the half of Celestia’s lie about the past. The point was that Twilight grew up happy, with a teacher that challenged her, and it led to her understanding why shunning the hippogriffs for being half-pony, half-griffons was bad. But she kept that to herself too. They had enough problems without her accusing their allies of things they didn’t couldn’t change. For now.

Gracielle sighed and rinsed her eyes. “Look. What I’m trying to say is that one day she shooed us away from Griffindell. She gave us some Bits, our things, and orders to perfect our skills. So, that is what I did. I took mercenary jobs in Thunderpeak. Did private jobs for the Griffonian Standing Army. I joined monster hunts. I took part in marksmanship tournaments and one day I got invited to a Wonderbolt scout tryout.”

“I joined the academy and then the scouting team. I liked it there. Except for Spitfire, that is. One day, I got a letter from Lady Gwendolen. I had to leave everything and return to Griffindell. And that is it.” She opened her forelimbs in conclusion. She only neglected their ‘evil plan’ to conquer Saddle Arabia and Hippogriffia, and do Harmony knew what to hippogriffs. Did she even process what she was a part of? But again, Twilight kept such thoughts to age inside her head.

Pinkie returned to her place, and that would have ended the already too annoying conversation. Until Gallensa, Grigory’s alluring yellow and white mate, murmured from behind her mug. “See in on the bright side.”

She held it with both delicate paws and a contemptuous glare from behind it. “The Mare didn’t forbid you work, nor shut down your research. You didn’t have to leave your documents behind for some crystal-y equine to find and invent magic induction engines in your place. Much less had your brilliant achievements ignored and your skills reduced to gold-soldering airship thaumatic circuits. Or had…”

“We understand, Gallensa.” Grigory finally growled at her. Which silenced the griffoness, but Twilight could see the covert, contemptuous smile she had.

Back at the center of attention, Gracielle let out an exhausted sigh. “And that was it. The others did similar things. I mean, Gewehr worked on his weapon making skills, Gallensa got enrolled into Bay County University…”

“Gallensa became the foremost researcher in thaumatengineering. Despite not having a horn. Specifically, in thaumatophysics. Gallensa is actually a genius.” The former complained again. “Who’s been forced to sit with ponies at her table in a dump of a hotel in a pony city.

“And!” Gracielle insisted. “Garvie went to Canterlot medical school while Gray got into the criminal underworld…”

“How unorthodox…” Rarity raised an eyebrow, but then her eyes shone, and her grin brightened. “Goodness! Like a dangerous and efficient killer? A spy? Or maybe a cloak and dagger free agent?”

“Like bribing law agents and smuggling things into otherwise safe pony towns.” Shining Armor barely more than mumbled over his oats and milk, pouting like a colt with an injured ego. “When this is over, there are gonna be bucks all over. The painful kind.”

“Uh-huh…” Pinkie murmured inquisitively, turning from the unicorn back to the griffoness. “What about Grigory? What happened next?”

“Grigory stayed in Grifindell.” The mostly unseen and, until then, unnoticed elderly griffon lady spoke. Twilight had even forgotten she was there. Madam Gehenna, all silvery and white under her blue satin cape, sat at the table, but was too easy to ignore, so subtle she was. She and a cup of steaming tea. When she spoke, though, her tone properly killed the conversation. “And he learned things such as not talking too much or nosing into the matters of others.”

A couple of minutes passed as the group finished their breakfast in silence when the main door to the hotel lobby opened. The entrance was on the side of the building, after a soft ramp crammed between the wall of the hotel itself and a low-level tourism company. The rare movement in their neighbors and the hidden nature of the hotel’s entrance made it a good place to hide. So, they knew not to worry.

Who entered was Grigory’s missing friend. The big soldier type, all gray and seriousness, gazing stoically at the assembled creatures as his tail closed the door behind him. Grigory greeted him. “Welcome back, Gray.”

“Hi. I have news from Griffonstone and from Canterlot.” Gray declared in his soldier-like posture. He pawed the dirt off his fluffy chest, climbing down a couple of steps into the lobby. “The dust seems to have finally settled at Griffonstone. Celestia’s arrival during our escape caused a mess. We finally have confirmation that all our supporters have left. Including elements in the Griffonian Standing Army. Not all though. We lost a few key elements.”

What a way to mention their friends who had died, but Twilight said nothing. She knew that the reason was that the griffon wanted to avoid mentioning names. Rainbow growled at the big griffon. From afar. “I still can’t believe you guys tried to stage a… Uh. Twilight, what’s the word?”

“Coup d’état.” Twilight obliged, unamused . “The exact word in Common Equestrian being ‘coup’, an attempt to forcibly switch the government or policies. It was something bad.”

“Yeah! That!” Rainbow waved a wing at Twilight’s explanation.

“These things happen.” Rarity added from her place at the table, holding her cup of orange juice in her telekinetic grasp. “Why, it could have avoided an all-out war had they succeeded. Especially since everypony knows The Lion is to be the Griffon King.”

“This is not a thriller novel, Rarity.” Twilight sighed. “Griffons suffered and died. Along with all the creatures who also lived in Griffonstone. Please go on, Mister Gray.”

“There were some elements in the criminal underworld who attempted to gain some traction, but the Local Militia has them reigned in.” The griffon sat by the table, next to Gallensa, with the other gray griffon, Garvie, giving him space. “We have confirmation that a caravan left Wayfarer’s Rest with the majority of our griffons. Another is on the way too. The important thing is that Griffonstone is safe once again, if still under loyalist control. Celestia had summoned the Royal Guard, but they withdrew as soon as the bulk of the fighting ended, and relinquished law enforcement back to the locals.”

Twilight appreciated his respectful silence and tone once he resumed telling them the news, given the content which followed. “I have some bad news for you ponies. Relating to your princess and her consort… There is never any easy way of saying this, so I’ll say it as plain as it can be. One of our agents, Lady Gwineth of Thunderpeak, killed Chocolate Velvet during a raid at the GSA intelligence branch headquarters. I don’t know the details.”

Ponies gasped. Tableware clinked, and even Shining Armor’s moody brooding over the past couple of days ended with an exasperated gasp. “What do you mean, killed?!”

Since the answer was obvious, the big griffon just offered his respectful silence again until Gallensa spoke to him. “What of Gwineth?”

“She seems to have escaped unharmed and is on her way to Griffindell.”

“Shame. I would have preferred that she died instead of the Prince-Consort. Even if he was a pony.”

Whether it was from humor or pure lack of empathy, her comment shocked Cadance out of her stupor and she banged her hoof at the table. “Well, what about Princess Celestia?!”

“The Royal House’s spokespony says she and Luna have taken a few days of rest to mourn.” Gray stared at her while he spoke. “But there are some apocryphal accounts that attest to the contrary. It seems Celestia could not contact Luna, and that she has taken the events poorly after she heard of our escape and the Break of Dawn’s destruction. No one’s seen Luna since she went to sleep a few nights ago, and Celestia has disappeared.”

“We have to go see her!” Twilight blurted out. Ears hanging and frowning. Luna’s words from her nightmare came back to her like a condescending ‘I told you so’. Many creatures had died in the events following their escape from the Break of Dawn. Things may have permanently changed. But it would never change enough that Twilight would not worry about Celestia. While they were not responsible for what happened, the guilt of her participation had been gnawing at Twilight’s mind for some time. It became impossible to ignore. “She’s not well right now.”

“We can’t, Twilight.” Spike grimaced and strummed his claws together.

“Spike is correct.” Rarity nodded with an equally grim tone. “If we turn back now, we will have nothing to show for all the trouble we caused. Not that I am trying to skirt the consequences, but we did it believing something important.”

“This is terrible!” Twilight covered her eyes with her hooves. “I can’t even imagine how she is feeling right now! And poor Chocolate Velvet!”

“I don’t think terrible even begins to describe it, Twilight.” Spike could have afforded not to throw his sarcasm around, but he wasn’t entirely wrong either.

Applejack cleared her throat intrusively, to speak in an angry tone along with her usual drawl. “Excuse my ignorance, but I don’t think we are responsible for that whole griffon fuss. In fact, given the relations between our quest and their legends, we’re bound to fix everything.”

Maybe Applejack had it right. A better interpretation would be that the griffons used Princesses Celestia’s and Luna’s absence from the fleet to facilitate their escape. But Twilight should still be there to help Celestia. She would be hurting without her friends and her sister. Without her consort. The silly alicorn… Even Twilight would miss him. She loved talking to him about the things in his original world. Even if he hated it, he would still oblige Twilight out of his friendly desire to help. And even then, guilt still wracked at Twilight’s thoughts. Even if she never caused the problem to begin with, she was a part of it.

“That was not intended.” Grigory said plainly, cutting Twilight from her thoughts.

The griffon’s tone was grim and unironic in the silence the others made to let him talk. “My mother may not be disappointed at his death, nor at the news of Celestia’s plight, but that was not intended. Our plan included you and your friends because we needed reasons for the public to distrust Celestia’s leadership. The change in government was supposed to be mostly peaceful. Celestia’s presence in Griffonstone triggered this. Things ran out of control and escalated much faster than I and my father had intended. Any war was to come only after we had secured the throne and the Hader. Mother would need it to further convince griffons to side with us.”

The only noise came from outside. Horseshoes against the stone and wheels rolling against it, a whistle. Distant music, little birds. Ponies, griffons, and dragon silenced inside the hotel’s lobby, each looking inside, alone with their own thoughts. To Twilight, his admission brought no respite. But worst of all, the griffon never seemed to tell the complete story whenever they said anything. At least he sounded sincere, but that would be little consolation to Celestia, and would not bring Chocolate Velvet back. Or whoever creatures lost their lives because of the situation.

“Do you know what it is that ponies did in the past that convinced the princess to alter our historical records, Grigory?” Fluttershy’s soft words broke the silence. It caused Twilight to raise her gaze from the table and turned all eyes to the purple and gold griffon.

After an instant of hesitation, he shook his head softly, inhaling deeply before releasing a sigh. “All I really know are our legends. As they were told to me.”

Rarity cleaned her throat this time, although in a contained and more delicate manner than Applejack. She raised her hoof, her tone showing the obvious as she directed her gesture to Madam Gehenna. The old griffoness sat right next to them at the table, quietly tasting a piece of a grilled chicken filet.

“Ponies and griffons,” Gehenna started with a petulant tone after half a minute of intense staring from all directions. “You have already been told. You have simply not looked beyond the words. At their meaning.”

Twilight frowned, distracted from her previous thoughts. Why did she have to be like that? “Ponies summoned the Windigos as weapons to take over the griffon lands. If I recall correctly, that is what your legends say. Although there is more: that the world has existed many times over and that every time it reaches a certain point, it goes back to the beginning. That ponies rebelled, at some point very early on. Rightfully, or no, that is not the point. If I correctly remember our conversation from that dinner.”

“It is not so much that ponies rebelled, princess.” Grigory spoke again. “They turned nature against their masters.”

Of course, he would believe that. Or, rather, would say that. It was what the northerners told the others and themselves. Layers upon layers of half-meanings and incomplete truths.

Twilight nodded and her thoughtful frown turned confused when her eyes aimed at the table under the plain white sheet. There was still something she didn’t understand, and that prevented all the pieces from falling into place. She still didn’t know what it was that made the Princess take such drastic measures. The Cult of The Harpy was a part of it. The fact that ponies worshiped the alicorns was too. But Discord said something was wrong with the ponies. Had they actually used the Windigos as weapons? Was it the fact that they worshiped the alicorns that he meant? Is any of that something that warranted changing their past? Something more happened and Grigory either didn’t know or would not say.

Curiously, after a moment of pensive silence, Grigory spoke again. “Do you remember I told you and Luna about the Gathering Storm?”

Twilight nodded at him. “Back when we were talking about the traitor soldier with Luna and Chrysalis? Does it have anything to do with our situation?”

“No. Not really.” His eyes shifted from hers, aiming at the curtains before the windows. Pulling her ears back, Twilight hummed an angry murmur. Again, hiding information. His eyes avoided hers. Did he want to tell her something but refrained? How much of that was because of the old Loremaster griffoness being there, Twilight wondered. Pressuring him would be a bad idea, and Twilight let it go for the moment.

“Hey! What is up with that?” Rainbow flared her wings in the confined space and raised her voice. Her glare at the griffons would have been enough. “If you have something to say, say it!”

Rather than ignoring her, Grigory avoided Rainbow. Applejack spoke in his place, giving the griffon the evil eye treatment. “Leave him, Dash. These griffons don’t wanna talk to us ponies. They’re like them Canterlot nobles, full of their secrets and secretive, self-important nonsense.”

The griffon frowned, sighed, and made an apologetic gesture. Opening his beak again, he meant to say something, maybe some platitude excuse that would just make Applejack angrier, but something cut him short by banging against a window. It ruffled griffon feathers and made pony hairs stand along with a few yelps. After a tense moment of suspense, it sounded again, but instead of banging, it was a clicking sound of glass striking glass.

“Be quiet!” Grigory’s big soldier friend whispered with a sweeping gesture. “Remember, we are hiding.”

Silly. Anyone looking for them would already know they were there and wouldn’t be playing games at the window. Twilight stood, and hoof after hoof, started on her way to the window. Rarity whispered her name as loud as she would dare, but Twilight didn’t care. Reaching the beige curtain, instead of grabbing it with her telekinetic magic, her hoof pulled it to uncover the window. Slowly, still taking care not to be seen by any passerby.

The glass had cracked but didn’t shatter. A magical beast stood on the other side of the window, standing on the sill, and looking at Twilight with empty crystal eyes. Twisting its head like only a bird would. A strange, parrot-sized hawk hopped twice and poked at the window again with the glass-on-glass sound they had heard.

“Twilight, get your royal flank back here!” Applejack too whispered as though she were in a silly spy novel. “They’ll see you! You kinda stand out from the curtain!”

“Wait…” Twilight ignored Applejack. Her tone was non-committing, and curiosity moved her hoof as if it had a will of its own. Her eyes remained glued to the thing on the other side of the window. A small hawk made of pure crystal ice. Maybe an infant? It was unlike any magical beast in any encyclopedia she had read. A strange magic radiated from it, like swirls of disease the eye could not see, but that Twilight could feel through her magical senses. The strange bird pecked at the glass again and Twilight moved slowly not to scare it off.

The glass fogged up with her proximity and a magical cold touched Twilight’s hoof. She finally reached the little clasp that locked the window and flipped it. A cold air seeped into the room and, once the window was open enough, the strange bird flew into it.

Twilight shrieked at the sudden movement and the others inside screeched and cried. The glass-like bird flew circles close to the ceiling and around the walls as Twilight quickly closed the window. Gallensa cried and hid under the table along with Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Applejack. The latter looked up from it, wearing the tablecloth over her hat. “What in tarnation is this weird thing?!”

“It’s a frostwing!” Grigory ducked and protected his face with his wings needlessly as the bird flew overhead. He then raised slowly and frowned at the bird circling above. “It’s small. But it certainly feels like a frostwing.”

Cadance hugged herself with her wings as did Rainbow Dash. “Is it making the temperature drop?”

The old griffon lady, Madam Gehenna, scowled at her now not-steaming tea and sighed. “It is a frostwing. Yes. It is diminished, though.”

“Did this thing fly all the way from Snow Mountains?!” Applejack hid under the table as the bird passed closer to her in one of its rounds. Meanwhile, Fluttershy kept staring at the thing, flying round and round near the ceiling.

“Is it native only to Snow Mountains?” Twilight came closer to the table. “I’m sure I have read nothing about it.”

“It is native to the Whitescape!” Grigory’s words came out with a mist as he spoke, and so did Twilight’s breath. “They usually stay there. Entire flights of these things can end even resilient plantations like broccoli during summer. They are harbingers of the Windigos’ magic and often prelude the approach of monstrous hordes!”

“They rarely fly alone. This is exceptional.” Gehenna’s feathers gathered frost crystals shining under the light filtering from the curtains. “Someone should capture and deal with it before it freezes us in this confined space.”

First Twilight made a mental note that the northerner griffons ate broccoli. Meanwhile, Cadance and herself, along with Starlight Glimmer, reached for the swift creature. It slipped from their telekinetic grasp like slippery wet ice. But then it did a sharp turn and flew buzzing over the table, barely avoiding the frost-covered jars with juices, straight at Twilight. She gasped, but before she could properly shield herself, the bird flew into her chest and exploded into a million shards.

Cold. Unimaginable cold. Closing her wings barely helped at all. It was within her, not outside. Darkness surrounded Twilight from one side to the other. Snow-covered plains, a white desert at night, had replaced the hotel’s lobby. No moon, no nothing. Only the purple light from her horn tinted the snow with her color about five hooves from her. She turned on her legs, nothing but the dark beyond the circle of magenta snow surrounding her. She shivered, despite the nervous fretting.

“Girls?” Her voice came out broken. Cold tremors weakened her legs as much as the realization that no one answered. Her heart began thumping in her chest and her voice broke further. Her breath and words made a thick mist before her. “Shining?”

Her ears perked up. She heard someone. As absurd as it would be. “Discord?”

He materialized before her, but he didn’t focus on her. He spoke, his arms opened, and he spoke to the sky.

“I will prove you are wrong!” He pointed a claw at the circling wind above. Snaking shapes made circling clouds like a tornado. The cold stole away Twilight’s will to speak to him again. “Take a message to Twilight Sparkle! Tell her that Lady Gwendolen is the Harpy and that she must find a way to destroy her and the northerner griffons. Or they will destroy Celestia and all Ponykind will be enslaved again!”

“What?” Her face contorted into a confused grimace while her body rattled with cold. That didn’t sound like Discord at all. Was the magical bird meant to deliver a message to her? From Discord? “Discord? What do you mean??”

He faded, losing his substance, as if he shifted in and out of existence. “I will prove you are wrong!”

He repeated his movements as much as his words, pointing a claw at the circling wind above. Everything was fading more and more, like a memory of a dream that refused to return once she had woken, but his voice came clear to her one more time. “Take a message to Twilight Sparkle! Tell her that Lady Gwendolen is the Harpy and that she must find a way to destroy her and the northerner griffons. Or they will destroy Celestia and all Ponykind will be enslaved again!”

“Twilight!” Fluttershy called to her, and a warmness oozed into the oppressive cold. Darkness surrounded Twilight and Discord was gone, but her friend’s voice softened her grimace of cold.

“Twilight!” Rarity’s voice too reached her from the darkness, sobbing and wailing in the distance. “Please wake up!”

The cold left her, more and more, replaced with the bodily warmth of another pony. Someone hugged her and the snow faded more and more, replaced with a welcoming light. She couldn’t see anything anymore, but she heard a river. She saw the sun above, and its light showered her, washing away the cold.

“Twilight! Wake up! Come on!” Her body shook, aggressively shoved around by a pair of hooves while Rainbow Dash yelled at her.

“You know it is hard to feel her pulse with you shaking like that, don’t you?” A male griffon voice spoke in the northerner accent. His fingers held her neck.

Jostled from one side to the other, the princess alicorn opened her eyes to see Cadance right in front of her, worried as Twilight seldom saw her before. Coming to her senses, Twilight found herself on her back against Shining Armor, on his lap. On one side were Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash while Starlight Glimmer and Pinkie consoled Rarity. On the other side was the lanky, light gray and white griffon doctor with focused blue eyes and Applejack behind him.

“Twily! Are you alright? Twily?!” Her brother held her tighter.

“I’m okay. I’m okay.” Her eyes went from one side to the other and then focused on Cadance’s. She lacked the strength to move her head and her voice slurred, just like her thoughts. “What happened?”

“The frostwing crashed into your chest!” Cadance gasped. “Please, are you hurt?”

Her sister-in-law didn’t wait for her answer and had already begun casting a spell over Twilight. The small alicorn’s legs wouldn’t move, too heavy for her to touch her chest. She tried moving her head again, but her neck too lacked strength. “I… I think it brought me a message from Discord.”

Recalling the vision, the dream… Whatever it was, a frown wrinkled her brow. “I never saw Discord talking like that before. I… It was so strange.”

Cadance’s magical aura brought Twilight a steaming hot cup of milk and chocolate, but it had gone cold before it even reached Twilight’s lips. Fluttershy covered Twilight with a blanket from a room. The cyan unicorn mare who owned the hotel brought it and watched from afar with a couple of her employees.

“No.” Twilight drank the lukewarm drink, still sweet and tasty. It livened her up a touch and she shook her head. “I was in a snowfield, and I saw Discord. He talked to something stirring in the clouds.”

Her frown deepened, and his words repeated themselves, echoing inside her head.

I will prove you are wrong! Take a message to Twilight Sparkle! Tell her that Lady Gwendolen is the Harpy and that she must find a way to destroy her and the northerner griffons. Or they will destroy Celestia and all Ponykind will be enslaved again!

“I think he was talking to the Windigos.” Twilight grimaced at her own words. Could one even talk to the Windigos? The realization that ponies actually knew next to nothing about the Windigos made the hairs in her mane stand. “Is it possible? Are they intelligent?”

“I can guarantee you, Princess. The Windigos are not only intelligent, but incredibly malevolent and cruel.” Madam Gehenna approached Twilight too, with an inquisitive stare. “Those are, after all, the tools they were given to destroy and kill. Born out of hatred, what else could they wield? What did the vision tell you? Was it the Lord of Chaos talking to them?”

“I think he was…” Twilight’s words trailed off. No. Something was wrong. Something didn’t fit.

“What did he say, Twilight?” Cadance’s worried gaze matched Twilight’s.

“He said.” The smaller alicorn hesitated and her eyes drifted lower. Her eyes avoided Gehenna’s. Luna feared the old griffoness. She had strange powers Twilight didn’t understand. Grigory and the griffons were there, too. Every care should be taken with what she disclosed about Discord’s message. “He said Lady Gwendolen is The Harpy.”

Ponies gasped, and the griffons exchanged worried stares. Gehenna glared at Twilight. “Did he now?”

“He did. Word for word.” Twilight stood wobbly and almost immediately lost her balance. She remained on her hooves, spreading her forelegs and her ears pulled back flat at her head. “And I know Princess Celestia sent Discord to Griffindell. As do you all. So, there.”

“Suddenly,” Cadance started with a fiery scowl, “some things make more sense, don’t they?”

The old griffoness allayed, Twilight held a relaxing breath with all her willpower not to alert Gehenna she had not entirely said the truth. Thank Harmony, Cadance distracted the loremaster. But an awkward silence formed afterward. One of their biggest secrets had finally come into the open.

The room temperature started going back to normal. Twilight groaned and shook a small headache from her. She felt better, but her limbs still failed her, and she collapsed back into Shining Armor after sitting on her haunches. “I got you. Try to rest for a bit, Twily.”

Fluttershy squeaked and jumped a couple of hooves in the air when someone pounded on the door. The cyan mare in a blue suit who owned the hotel coughed and walked to the door. “This must be one of the northerner agents. We put up the ‘no vacancy sign’, and they are the only ones who know you are here.”

The door was a simple wooden door framed by thin glass panes just outside the lobby. While the mare was away, Cadance glared at the griffons across from the ponies. Like she was someone’s angry mom. “This conversation isn’t over yet.”

She received no answer, but things happened fast as the owner brought a griffon into the lobby. Thank Harmony he never questioned what had happened there. Why was there heavy condensation on the walls, Twilight laid on the floor with her brother holding her, and why were there angry stares all over?

He was a normal griffon, as normal as they came, darker shade of tan than the usual ‘Griffonstone tan’, and white. Maybe that was the Manehattan tan for griffons because he spoke Common Equestrian without the northerner accent, but with the Manehattan inflection. And he talked fast.

“Cats in the alley sent me to give you a message. Two, actually.” He wore a green and white shirt, a brown duster, and a black beret he removed while he spoke. Kept it by his chest, giving Gallensa a respectful nod. Then he showed one finger while holding the beret. “First, we caught wind of a smuggler with the magitech you need for your fancy airship. He wants to meet the princesses at twenty-one hundred hours by the docks. Not the airfield, the docks.”

“Not shady at all…” Shining rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, well… You deal with bandits, that is what you get.” The griffon then showed a second finger. “Got one of Naminé’s weirdos willing to meet you on neutral ground. Wasn’t easy ‘cause they won’t talk to griffons, but once the news that the Princesses were in town came up, they changed their minds. They won’t see any griffons, though.”

“That was supposed to be a secret!” Rarity whined at him like he had stolen her fun.

He laughed. “Secret. You ponies really are funny. The damn princesses showed up… Everyone in the streets knew the in the next day and the local militia in the following. Seriously, though. They wanna meet. Today, midday. Clock Plaza. No griffons.”

“It can’t be helped.” Twilight tried standing up, but her limbs failed her again. “Oh, no…”

“You are not in condition, Twilight.” Cadance put a hoof on her chest. “I should go.”

“But we both need to be at the docks at night!” Twilight complained. “We don’t know how things will go with Naminé’s friend and we can’t take chances.”

“Yeah… Someone they would recognize would be better, but… Nope. No offense, but even if you cover your wings and horn, you’re not the normal size. I don’t want nobody asking questions about why a freaking princess is skulking around our turf wearing a cape or some shit.” He made a rude, dismissive gesture. “All of you are trouble magnets bound to be recognized just as soon as some random pony stares you in the face. None of us need the Local Militia scoping us out. So, you better start feeling better, Princess. We really want you gone.”

“There’s a big dragon community here. I could go!” Spike put forward his chest. “I could go and not draw too much attention. Starlight Glimmer could go with me.”

“I’m pretty sure they’d recognize me too, Spike.” Starlight scrunched her nose. “Wait. Did you mean I’m not very well known?”

The young dragon started counting on his fingers. “Well, griffons are a no. Twilight can’t go now and needs to rest until night. Our friends can’t go. Too con… Cons… Uh. Obvious. Twilight’s guards stayed at the Break of Dawn, and her airship’s crewponies are busy. Shining is just as likely to draw attention. We can’t ask Miss Calcite. It’s on us.”

A cold rope of sorrow tied around Twilight’s throat at the mention of the two loyal mares who served as her Royal Guards. So much had already gone wrong. Hopefully, they would be alright, but Spike was right even if both he and Starlight would be in danger. “Fine. Just be careful. Please.”

The griffon would take Spike and Starlight Glimmer to meet Naminé’s friend, hopefully to arrange an actual meeting with her. At night, Twilight and Cadance would go to the meeting at the docks.

Somehow, the whole thing seemed too easy, and too hard at the same time. And to top it all off, there was Discord’s strange message. If time spells were easier Twilight would be going back in time and telling Cadance to burn that letter.

Comments

[new55]

That was a good chapter. I wonder how Twilight and her friends will react to discords warning.

[Frazikar]

Shades of Oliver Twist (or Hitler) - Train the youth to follow and they will ...

[Metemponychosis]

11520475
If you look back at chapter 23 - Court Intrigue, you'll see Discord's message is actually very different.

11520581
The Harpy, when you look at it, is basically a power-hungry dictator with a lot of influence. Also a lot of butthurt after a bitter war. And she's a god-like being with a lot of plans and little pawns to move around. What a combination... The thing about the northerner griffons is that they are very loyal and that is something that can be very good, but also very useful.

[Jinnchin]

Have to say that Windigo message worked out better than expected!

Too bad it arrived in the presence of Gehenna and her freaking mind mojo!

[Metemponychosis]

11839829
The windigos changed the message, but Twilight knows Discord and is smarter than they gave her credit.