In Reflection, The Same

by Faedelaide

Microcosm

"So why is a griffon of your talents working in such... rustic conditions? Surely such monumental works would send you to the top of griffon society," Rarity asked.

"Oh it did. I'm the chief of engineerin' for the whole griffon kingdom!" the griffon stated proudly.

"Then why are you working as a mere deckhand for one of your own ships, darling?" Rarity inquired.

"Well, besides those lugs up above, I was th'only one who agreed to be a part of th' trade route reconnaissance team. Everyone else's too scared to even look in the direction o' the sea now. Must'a been a week ago when one o' my engineerin' assistants comes up to me and says, 'Hey Gillian, you wanna meet the princess of friendship and test out your latest construction?' and I'm like 'absolutely'!" Gillian crunched into an odd fruit that Twilight had never seen before. It was a deep vibrant red, with large, leaf like folds of skin that ended in a green tip.

"Well I'm flattered that you were excited to see me. Sorry I'm not all that interesting," Twilight muttered.

"Ah, don't sell yourself short, princess. You've been makin' good comp'ny so far." Gillian forced out through her mouthful of fruit, spattering its white flesh on the table. Twilight could hear Rarity's gasp of disgust, though she attempted to hide it.

"Why are all the griffons so afraid of the ice anyway?" Spike questioned, sitting comfortably on a barrel that most likely held more foreign fruits.

Gillian took a moment to chew as another griffon walked into the galley. This griffon was almost the exact opposite of Gillian. He was bright white, with a plume of vibrant red feathers decorating his head like a crown. In stature, he was closer to a yak than any griffon Twilight had seen before. Though if she were honest, she'd only really met one.

Gillian, upon hearing the distinct sound of her door, turned around to look at the other griffon.

"Hey Gerret, come sit with us! We're talking about the Wall, your faaaaavorite."

"Ugh..." the big griffon let out an exhausted groan, as if he had heard it all a hundred times before. "What do they want to know?" he groaned.

"They wanna know what it's deal is. Y'know, why everyone's freaked out by it'n all that. You've been gawking at that big ol' block alot more'n I have, tell 'em about it!" Gillian teased.

Gerret groaned again. he walked over to the barrel Spike was sitting on, and nudged him lightly. The little dragon obliged, hopping off the barrel to sit next to Twilight. Gerret popped open the lid to reveal it was full of a bunch of odd, yellow, star-shaped fruit. He grabbed a handful, stuffing them into his face.

"Some griffons think the ice is cursed. I've heard of farmers losing their entire farms to some unkown disease, or having all their livestock go missing in the blink of an eye. I heard from a fisherman that about a week after the ice showed up, he goes fishing only to see some snake the size of Mount Griffus come pouring out of the wall like water. Scared the poor guy so stiff he had to get his son to escort him around after that.

"Wierd... where did the ice come from, and how long has it been here?" Twilight wondered out loud.

"Well 'sfar as we know, th' ice showed up... maybe a month ago?" Gillian guessed, turning to Gerret.

"I'd say about a month. And in that time, we've lost half our total livestock, a quarter of our total food reserves, and over 100 square miles worth of farmland."

"Goodness, that sounds awful. All those poor hungry griffons and lost animals," Fluttershy lamented.

Gillian nodded. "Worst yet, that damned wall has been blocking our most important trade route. If we don't find a solution for this ice, we're gonna end up frozen and hungry before the winter ends."

"Well you can be sure Equestria will do all it can to help you. We would hate to lose such charismatic and talented friends."

"Well aren't you just a sweetheart?" Gerret joked. "Y'know, some of the griffons back home told me you were obnoxiously bright-spirited, but You all seem pretty alright to m-"

The clicking of the door signified the arrival of another creature, but it seemed they were in much more of a rush. As they rushed through into the galley, Twilight recognised them as the puffy griffon from before.

"There you two are! The ice is starting to roll in. Gerret, I need you to help me with the sails. Gillian, go get the motor running! Posthaste!" He shouted

"Yes sir!" they spoke in unison.

Gillian and Gerret dashed out of the Galley to their respective positions, but the dark brown griffon stayed a moment longer.

"Princess, Would you like to see the Wall now?"

Twilight nodded fervently. She trailed right behind the griffon as he flew back up towards the main deck. To Twilight's surprise Applejack was no longer kneeling over the edge of the boat She was now stood upright, staring at the sky with a look of equal parts fascination and horror. It didn't take Twilight long to realize why.

To describe the Wall as big, titanic, or tremendous would be an understatement. The incomprehensibly large sheet of ice seemed to stretch into infinity in every direction. It soared into the sky, where the shadow of it's peak leaked through the thick mist. Behind the ship, she could see the beginning of the great glacier begin to fade away into the obscurity of the mist, but in front of her there was only more ice.

The brown griffon wasn't kidding either. As she stared at the glacier, she shivered violently. It felt as if the glacier were staring back at her with the contempt of a million dead spirits. The whooshing of the wind sounded like whispers of wicked plots and murders of the vilest sort. By all means this glacier was the opposite of everything Twilight felt within her. It felt like this ice didn't belong in this world. It wasn't magic, it wasn't normal, it didn't even feel real.

It was nothing but a chilling blue void.

Twilight stood enamored for a while as the griffons attended to their tasks. She snapped out of her trance when she heard the familiar patters of her assistant's feet.

"Hey Twilight, I brought you your coat since it's getting colder," Spike called out to her. "Is it just me, or did it get a lot colder really qui-"

Spike stopped in his tracks next to Twilight as he stared up at the Wall.

"Woah. That's a lot of ice."

Comments

[Mr cold ghost]

Interesting update. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

[overdue]

What they need is a penguin in a sled-launched aircraft to ram the wall and break it
^{_{(did anyone get that)}}

[Faedelaide]

11262685
lol. too bad they don't have old flash games in Equestria.

[ponepony]

To describe the Wall as big, titanic, or tremendous would be an understatement. The incomprehensibly large sheet of ice seemed to stretch into infinity in every direction. It soared into the sky, where the shadow of it's peak leaked through the thick mist. Behind the ship, she could see the beginning of the great glacier begin to fade away into the obscurity of the mist, but in front of her there was only more ice.

Hey, at least Equestria now has a tower to space for free.