Guardians of Friendship

by James Pwyll

Arriving in Griffonstone

"Okay, I spy, with my little eye, something beginning wiiiiiith...M!" Silverstream happily declared.

Smolder, rubbing her temples, turned her eyes towards her bubbly seat-companion. "Let me guess...mountain?"

Silverstream looked to her, wide-eyed, and gasped excitedly. "Oh my gosh! How'd you guess?!"

Smolder frowned as she looked out of her window. "Because that was your choice during the last SEVENTEEN ROUNDS!!!"

Silverstream paused, then blushed slightly. "Oh, right. Sorry."

After a while, Smolder sighed. "It's fine. I mean, heck, it's not like you could've picked anything else at this point." She stared out of her window, seeing that, as she'd said, there was indeed nothing but mountains to look at out here. On and on and on the train had gone, and even then there was nothing but steep crags as far as the eye could see. After a while, Smolder looked to Gallus with incredulity. "No offence to your home or anything, Gallus. But you Griffons seriously need to broaden your portfolio of landscapes."

Gallus, looking to her from his side of the carriage, arched an eyebrow. "Oh, like you're one to talk! Isn't the Dragon Lands nothing but some blasted fiery wasteland?"

A moment passed, then Smolder shrugged, affording a quick chuckle. "Meh, good point."

In stark contrast to the way her friends were acting, Ocellus was excitedly looking through one of the books she'd brought with her. "I can't wait to see this place! Oh, the stories about Griffonstone are famous even in the Changeling Empire!"

Sandbar looked to her, curious. "Really? I didn't think the Changelings had ever had anything to do with Griffons until recently?"

Ocellus smiled. "We had a few instances of contact back during..." Her smile faltered, and she cleared her throat. "Back, um...during our bad days."

Gallus looked to her smugly. "You mean back when you guys were still baddies?"

Ocellus rolled her eyes. "Yes, Gallus. Back when we were still baddies." Her mood picked up considerably as she again looked to her book. "Back then, the great King Grover reigned, and we were scouting out the place as a possible source of love to steal." She grimaced at the thought of her people's past. "But then we discovered the various pony nations, so Queen Chrysalis decided Griffonstone just wasn't as appetising anymore."

Gallus scratched the side of his head. "I...don't know whether to feel relieved or insulted by that." Then, shortly after, he folded his arms, content to just stare out of the window. "In any case, I'd tempter your expectations, Celly. The glory days of Griffonstone are long behind us. Whatever big dreamy place you've got in your head, forget it right now. I'd rather not see you disappointed."

Yona smiled to her blue friend. "Dawwww, so nice friend Gallus worried for Ocellus."

Gallus chuckled drily. "Take it from somecreature who knows that place best. Griffonstone is not a place to look forward to. Heck, why do you think I spend so much time away from it?"

Sandbar gave a quick shrug. "Well...it's been a while, so...maybe it's gotten better since you last saw it?"

Gallus looked to him, almost amused by the words. "I admire your optimism, bud, but if there's one thing I know about Griffonstone, it's that it doesn't change."

Yona stared at him for a while, then patted his shoulder. "If Griffonstone no change...then why they okay with sending you to Princess Twilight's school?"

Gallus had no answer for that. Or, if he did, he wasn't willing to talk about it. His friends got the message, and so decided to focus on the trip itself. The train had been going on for some time now, it had to be said, and with nothing but mountains to stare at it was obvious that there wasn't going to be much to do until they arrived. Fortunately for them all, it was at that moment when the door of their carriage opened, and all eyes turned to see that it was one of the ticket-collectors, who cleared his throat before addressing all of those who were here. "The train will be arriving in the newly-constructed Griffonstone train station in a minute. Please prepare your belongings for disembarking."

As he left, the kids started to smile at one another, save for Gallus of course, and they all busied themselves with getting their respective bags out of their overhead compartments or from out under their seats. Ocellus, who was practically plastered to her window, began to squeal giddily when the aforementioned train station was finally coming into view. "Oh, isn't it amazing? The first station to be built right next to Griffonstone itself!"

Sandbar nodded, smiling as he did so. "Yeah, I hear Princess Twilight had to do a lot of negotiating to get the Griffons to accept pony construction here."

Smolder, putting her bag over her shoulder, chuckled to that. "Now there's a meeting I'm glad I didn't see." The group all laughed, even Gallus, and the latter finally managed to get himself out of his seat, albeit reluctantly. The six youths all waited for the other passengers of the carriage to get to the doors, hearing the screech of the train as it finally slowed down to a stop. Eventually, said doors opened, and as soon as the other ponies disembarked, the six friends did also.

Though Gallus had not been looking forward to coming home, he couldn't help but look on with widened eyes when he finally saw this place again. The train station did indeed look impressive, but what really stuck out to him were how many Griffons there were here working. Guards at the doors, ticket-vendors, even those responsible for the selling of snacks. And the one thing he noted about all of them was that they actually seemed happy to be here. He saw his friends move ahead, and so he ran briefly to catch up with them, and as they passed through the main doors of the station, the two guards on either side gave them a friendly nod. "Welcome to Griffonstone. Enjoy your visit."

Slightly taken aback, Gallus simply resorted to giving a little wave, before finally moving past the guard and joining his friends outside the station. His eyes widened as he saw that his friends had the right of it with their earlier predictions. In the past, while Griffonstone was far from being a model city, now it was actually looking to be on the up and up. The streets were being cleaned, there were Griffons actually smiling in public, and the homes were having work done on them to try and undo all the years of neglect they'd been suffering. Needless to say, the young Griffon was somewhat flabbergasted by this turn of events. "Okay...this is just weird."

Ocellus, looking at least a little bit smug, reached out and patted Gallus on the shoulder. "Not so bad after all, eh?" Gallus frowned, turning away from her and walking ahead, thus freeing Ocellus to address all of her friends at once. "Okay, this is a big place and we'll need to start covering ground. Things might be going better here than they have been in the past, but there's no reason to think there isn't a friendship problem or two that could use our help."

Smolder, placing one claw upon her hip, chuckled. "Alrighty then. What's the plan, Captain?" she asked, only half-mockingly.

Ocellus whipped out some of her maps and charts, then pointed to a few of them before looking up at her friends again. "Sandbar and Yona will head east, to the oldest parts of the city. Smolder and I can head north of here, and that leaves Gallus paired up with Silver to cover the west."

Silverstream happily clapped her claws together. "Oh! Isn't this great?! Going out on a friendship mission hunt! Who knows what we'll find?!"

Gallus rolled his eyes. "Oh, we'll find trouble alright, just not the kind you're thinking of."

Silverstream, in response to that, gave him a playful nudge in the side. "Oh, don't be like that. It'll be fun!"

For the first time today, Gallus actually managed a smirk. "Fun isn't a word most would think of when dealing with this place, Silver."

Setting her maps back inside her bag, Ocellus gave a firm nod to her companions before moving off to join Smolder, who was already heading off in the designated direction. "We'll meet back here in an hour. Be sure to keep a watchful eye out for anything that looks like it might be some sort of friendship trouble."

Silverstream gave a merry salute. "Aye-aye, Celly!"

Gallus started walking off without her, and after just a moment Silverstream had caught up with him, just in time to hear her blue friend grumbling under his breath. "I hate coming back here. Nothing good ever comes from Griffonstone."

Silverstream knew his history with this place, but even so, she knew exactly what to say right now. "Well...you came from Griffonstone, right?"

In spite of his bad mood, Gallus actually smiled to her. "Thanks, Silver."

As per Silverstream's usual way of doing things, she leapt forward and embraced her friend in a tight hug. Gallus was taken aback of course, but reciprocated, much to the delight of his bubbly friend. When they parted though, they walked in silence for a while, heading in the direction they'd been sent. Minute after minute after minute passed, and whenever they saw Griffons, they were either doing okay, looking outright happy, or just otherwise looked untroubled with anything. In short, everything seemed fine here, much to Silverstream's confusion. "Huh...I guess Ocellus was...wrong?"

Gallus gave a shrug. "Hey, even big brains like hers can make mistakes, Silver." He then frowned. "So, since we've established that there's no problems here, maybe we should just head on back to..."

"Trying to get out again, eh boy?" another voice called out to them.

Gallus halted, his face bearing unmistakable discomfort. It was a look universally understood as one only put on when someone was coming across a person they really didn't want to meet. Silverstream, confused, turned to face the voice first, and she recognised the caller instantly as Grandpa Gruff. The two had never spoken before but she knew that he was technically Gallus' guardian. This knowledge didn't seem to cheer up Gallus at all, so the Hippogriff Princess did the honors. "Oh! Hello, Mr Gruff! Nice to meet you!"

But Gruff was unconcerned with her, letting out a quick snort before walking straight over to Gallus, who at this point was finally turning to look at him himself. "And here I thought you couldn't wait to get away. Guess ya can take the Griffonstone out of the Griffon, but ya can't take the Griffon out of Griffonstone."

Gallus' eyes narrowed. "Oh, trust me, I wouldn't be here if I hadn't felt like I had to be."

Gruff waved his cane at him. "Bah! Typical kid! Always grumbling over nothing!"

Gallus frowned further. "Trust me, I've got plenty to grumble about!"

It was now Gruff's turn to frown. "If ya got something ta say to me, boy, then say it already!"

Gallus very much looked like he wanted to, but in the end he just turned away, grunting with clear irritation. "Ugh! Let's just go, Silver. We're wasting our time here."

Silver hesitated, but after a moment she elected to follow her friend, all while Gruff was rambling behind them. "Fine! Go on already! Griffonstone's doing just fine without ya, if ya hadn't noticed!"

Gallus seethed, but Silverstream decided it might not be best to just do her usual thing of being perky and happy right now. Instead, she walked with him quietly until they were well past the street where they'd encountered Gruff. And as soon as they were out, Gallus took a deep breath to calm himself, then looked to Silver apologetically. "Sorry about that, Silver. Let's just...let's just try and find those friendship problems."

He tried to walk away, but was kept from doing so when Silverstream placed her claw upon his shoulder. And when he looked to her, he saw her staring at him with worry, with a voice to match. "Gallus, I'm sorry, but...I think we've already found it."

Comments

[Late_Night]

"Gallus, I'm sorry, but...I think we've already found it."

o lawd, it's gonna get ugly before it gets cute again

[Yoshifan30]

"Gallus, I'm sorry, but...I think we've already foundit."

Yeah Silverstream is right gallus We did find a Friendship problem its you and Grandpa Gruff I can't wait to see how this will work out because this should be very interesting to see😅

[Comickook]

REALLY good job on the latest chapter. Yeah, the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up are all pretty well done in all the right places. Yeah, the exchanges between the gang concerning not just Griffonstone, but also the Changeling Kingdom and the Dragonlands make a lot of good points and I DO like the nod to your other series about Twilight's Reign. And, yeah, I would have thought they would check with Gabby as to where there could be a friendship problem to solve (as she would be the one most likely to know where to find one because of her job and how much she likes helping others), but yeah, Silverstream might have a point concerning how they already found one (Gallus DOES have those issues with Grandpa Gruff to address after all).

But, yeah, definitely looking forward to more of this.

[SpikeSmolder fan]

He tried to walk away, but was kept from doing so when Silverstream placed her claw upon his shoulder. And when he looked to her, he saw her staring at him with worry, with a voice to match. "Gallus, I'm sorry, but...I think we've already found it."

Ohhhh boy, you couldn't ask for a better friendship problem than that!

Can't wait to see Gallus reaction to it next chapter, also cool nod to your other series *Twilight's Reign* with the train station & Griffinstone's new look, kudos for that!

[Scyphi]

The bigger question is this a friendship problem that can actually be fixed? Even from a generous standpoint...there's a lot of bad blood between Gallus and Gruff.

Well...I suppose they wouldn't be very good guardians of friendship if they couldn't fix even this. But, you know, not beating about the bush here and instead going right for the difficult ones.

[OmniFox]

Could this be where Gallus and Silverstream finally ship?

[Scholarly-Cimmerian]

"I'd tempter your expectations"

That should be "temper". Because "tempter" is a word with a whole other meaning. XD

But anyway, nice work - and yeah, I had an inkling that *this* was gonna be the reason for the friendship mission out there. Whoof!