Arcane Equilibrium

by Prane

Chapter 8

Arcane Equilibrium
by Prane
Chapter 8

Rarity was struggling to dig herself out of what was left from the pink balloon.

Twilight’s last spell might have softened the fall, but it didn’t do what it should have done in the first place to ease the white mare’s pain. She was about to shout out her misery and torment when she heard the griffons’ cheering.

‘One hell of a raid, guys!’

‘Yeah, we rule!’

‘That’ll teach ‘em not to mess with us!’

Oh well, her complaint on the lack of proper mane-protecting spells in Twilight’s magical repertoire would just have to wait. For now she had to act fast to at least save her hooficure from this dreadfully cold snow… and her coat from the bloodthirsty griffons, of course.

‘The white one kicked me! Lemme at ‘er!’

On second thought, she could probably bear the weight of the torn, star-decorated fabric for a little longer. It was, after all, just like being wrapped in a gigantic, yet extremely cozy blanket on a Saturday morning…

‘Ey! I found one!’

…only to be ruthlessly stripped of its coziness.

One by one, the griffon warriors were falling from the stormy sky to surround the unicorn. Dashing from one side to the other, Rarity could find no way to get through a barrier made of unsettling laughter, mocking grins and threateningly snapping beaks.

She turned around only to face the reddish, savage-looking griffon. A large bruise over his left eye was certainly a souvenir brought from the recent aerial skirmish.

‘Hi there.’, he said, trying to sound softly but eventually turning out as even more frightful. ‘You missed me, beak-kicker?’

Rarity gasped in horror and tried to scurry away, but the griffon grabbed her pink and white striped scarf with one hand, stretching out a single claw on the other. He pulled the mare closer and pressed the talon against her throat, positioning it sideways. The other griffons were cheering and whistling grossly when he looked straight into her eyes.

‘I asked,’, he slowly repeated, moving the claws up to her chin, ‘if you missed me?’

It took all of Rarity’s self control to withstand the piercing, hawk-like stare and keep her body and voice from trembling. If that had to be the end of her, she would go down with her head high!

‘I’d prefer not to answer that.’, she replied with great dignity.

The crowd murmured, amazed by the pony standing up against their bruised kinsbird.

Events happened in the blink of an eye.

Rarity was knocked into the snow, the griffon unsheathed the rest of his claws and, roaring in anger, jumped at the defenseless mare… but he never reached his prey.

Poof!

The leaping griffon crashed into a pony, whose sudden appearance in midair caused a stir in the crowd. They collided and both fell to the ground, but when a cloud of magenta smoke was gone, it was the pony who got back on her hooves first.

‘Rarity, are you alright?’, Twilight asked with concern, making a stand between her friend and the infuriated feathered warrior. After receiving a confirming nod and a voiceless ‘I’m fine, my dear’ from the snow-covered mare, she shouted at him, and then towards the crowd.

‘You leave us alone! In fact, you all leave us alone!’

‘And who are you!?’, a muscular, well-built silhouette from the crowd yelled. ‘Identify yourself or perish!’

Twilight gulped. She would have to be completely blind to miss the fact that this particular, silver coater griffon was much bigger than the average representative of the species.

‘I’m… Twilight Sparkle, and according to a binding treaty between Equestria and the Griffin Kingdoms…’

The bruised warrior was back on his paws. He dashed in front of Twilight, obscuring the view of the big guy and forcing her to take a step back… or few steps back, to be exact.

‘We do not speak for the Kingdoms!’, he rolled his eyes, following the withdrawing mare. ‘We stand apart.’

Contrary to that declaration, all of the griffons moved closer and tightened the cordon around Twilight and Rarity, who could only hug each other in fear. The red one leaned over them.

‘And I make my own treaties and rules.’

They closed their eyes and braced for the worst.

‘Stand aside, Garrote!’, a new, female voice spoke, towards which the griffons immediately turned.

Still alive, thank the Princesses!

Twilight couldn’t see the individual who just saved them due to the feathery pillars growing around her. She pondered. The voice sounded rather firm and fierce, but at the same time it had a note of… odd familiarity? She looked at Rarity who clearly came to the same conclusion, but wasn’t one hundred percent sure, either. Could it be…?

‘I said, stand aside! You can make your own rules as long as you follow mine!’

‘B-but…’, Garrote tried to protest, but gave up eventually. Suddenly he appealed much less threatening.

‘Clear? Then MOVE, you nestlings! Take what you can and get lost, ‘cause there’s a blizzard coming this way and I don’t need having my butt iced in here!’

Indeed, it became significantly colder, or maybe it was Twilight’s body reaction to actually starting paying attention to the temperature, now that the paralyzing fear was gone.

The crowd dispersed at once, either flying or walking away from their would-be prey. The mares could now see their unexpected savior in all of her orange-amber glory, proudly stirring towards them, along with… Trixie and Sunseeker?

Twilight felt slightly confused. She didn’t like that feeling. At all. She could easily name a dozen of factors concerning their current situation, but the just didn’t seem to add up! At least not in a preferred way. Logical and reasonable way, that is. Well, at least her initial hypothesis was correct! ‘Thank heavens they’re safe and sound!’, Rarity breathed a sigh of relief. ‘But Twilight, last time we met her…’

‘It didn’t turn out well, I know.’, she replied. ‘And now they attacked us with no reason. Just stay calm.’

‘I’m turning into a snowpony here and you ask me to stay calm?’

The griffon leader had to come closer to recognize the mares, as there was more and more snow whirling in the air. And when she did, along with Trixie and Suneeker, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

‘Oh, horsefeathers…’, Gilda cursed, more with resignation rather than with actual anger. She turned to the azure mare. ‘You gotta be kidding me. These are your friends?’

‘Uhm… hi, Gilda.’, Twilight greeted the griffon in a friendly, but highly cautious manner.

‘You’d better not be hiding that sentient cotton candy somewhere in this mess.’, she hissed. ‘Or I might change my mind about Garrote…’

‘We have a deal.’, Trixie said, figuring out that those two must have already met. ‘Remember that.’

‘What kind of deal?’, the purple mare inquired.

The wind wailed stronger.

‘Not here.’, Gilda shook her head. ‘I wasn’t joking about that storm, you know?’

* * *

She wasn’t.

By the time the merciless blizzard hit, the group led by Gilda had already reached a place called the Amber Aerie. Despite its proudly resounding name, it was just one of a thousand mountain caves, ordinary and indistinguishable from any other – at least from the outside. But when the ponies went further inside, they found themselves in a much warmer place.

It felt that way not only because it was well protected from the cold and wind, had a colorful patchwork of randomly placed carpets covering the floor, or because the cave’s main hall was almost fully furnished with home-made wooden tables and equally mismatched chairs.

There was something unique in a joyful atmosphere amongst the griffons, a sort of an never-ending party. They were laughing at inappropriate jokes, telling more or less exaggerated stories of their soaring achievements and trying to prove themselves in arm wrestling or card games for bits. All to eventually end up singing old griffon war chants and raising their drinks in a boastful manner. And although it was near impossible to find two griffons with the same coat color or shape of the beak, there was one common thing they all shared.

For all of them, this place was home.

In the midst of this safe haven, one mare was doing her best to maintain a protective aegis she conjured. The spell took the shape of a cut diamond seen from the top, with its every optical characteristic preserved, from crystal clarity to perfection in shape. Even more, the hovering shield had a pulsing indigo glow around the edges and sparkled a lot.

All in all, calling this work of art ‘pretty’ would be a rude understatement. Fabulous, that was the word!

Sunseeker picked a chestnut-size pebble from the ground and threw it at Rarity’s shield. The pebble went right through it, shattering the diamond aegis into pieces and bouncing off the mare’s foreleg.

There was a group of griffons gathered around, curiously observing the unicorns’ doings. When Rarity’s shield spell broke, a general cheer was heard, followed by handfuls of bits being passed among the audience.

‘Why would you do that?’, she asked Sunseeker, seemingly disappointed.

‘To prove that you’re still missing the point!’

‘Care to elaborate?’

The griffons burst out laughing and the stallion knew exactly why. He couldn’t really blame them, though. Instead, he took a deep breath and walked towards Rarity. Bluish mist surrounded her horn as she started weaving another spell.

‘As I had already told you, twice,’, he began, ‘you’re putting too much effort in the… visualization of your spell, leaving very little magical energy for its substance.’

The mare finished shaping the spell into an ethereal umbrella.

‘Uhm.’, she muttered.

‘And it’s the substance of the spell, not shines and glows that makes it durable.’, Sunseeker continued his lecture. ‘This is why your defenses are easily penetrable!’

The crowd wheezed, obviously finding an unintended second bottom in the stallion’s speech.

‘Well you can’t possibly expect I’d cover myself with a trash lid, can you?’, Rarity replied, infusing the transparent fabric of the spell with lavender and gold. She then embroidered gilded butterflies on every second section of the umbrella’s rim.

‘Sure, but you’re the one who asked for some combat one-oh-one in the first place! Could you at least try to follow my instructions?’

‘Uhm. How do you like it?’, she asked, presenting the unusually shaped shield spell.

Sunseeker sighed.

‘I don’t think you’re listening to a word I say!’

‘You’re totally right, Matchhead!’, someone from the crowd yelled and the griffons laughed so hard they fell of their chairs.

‘Thank you!’, the red-yellow maned stallion shouted back. He looked at Rarity who was now humming and dancing with her magical umbrella. ‘Could you guys bring me something stronger from the bar? I feel this is going to be a long night…’

‘We sure hope so!’

Again, the griffons burst out laughing. Twilight, who was observing them from a distance couldn’t help not to giggle as well. She had known Rarity long enough to know that Sunseeker’s patience would be tested.

She went back through the main hall of the Amber Aerie to a place where Gilda, somehow the leader of about thirty griffons, had her office. Well, it wasn’t exactly the office, moreover, it technically wasn’t even a room. Just a recess in a wall separated from the rest of the cave with portable plank-made walls and some rugs.

On the other hoof, how could she know any better? She was living in a tree.

The mare looked inside. Trixie was already there, fully occupying and stretching on the only sofa in the room. Gilda was tidying up some documents on her desk made of a cut tree trunk and gestured Twilight to come in.

A read shape suddenly landed, barely two steps from her face, just as she was about to enter the office. Garrote snorted and shamelessly cut in front of her.

‘Gilda, I’ve counted the beaks.’, he reported. ‘With Goriel in the field only Gabriel is missing.’

‘No big deal.’, she chuckled. ‘Thanks.’

Twilight didn’t like the idea of being trampled at the gap serving as the door, so she patiently waited and entered only after Garrote flew away.

‘No big deal?’, she asked. ‘It’s freezing out there, aren’t you worried?’

Gilda raised a single eyebrow.

‘About Gabriel?’, she asked, amused. ‘I would, but have you seen him? He’s the biggest, the toughest and knows every single safe place from here to Gryphus. I bet he could even fly from here Equestria without a sweat. He’ll live through, but…’

Gilda stopped in mid-sentence. Smile on her face faded, she breathed a short, sad sigh and rested her head on the desk, pillowing it on crossed arms.

Twilight’s questioning glance was captured by Trixie who sat straight and nodded at the mare to join her at the frayed sofa. She conjured a door along with a frame and placed it in the gap between the wooden walls, adding a handle only from the inside and closing the room.

‘She is worrying about Goriel, the griffon guide hired by Moonwarden.’, Trixie explained. ‘I was filling her in just before you came.’

‘If what you told me is true,’, Gilda murmured, ‘then he is on his own against the slimy unicorn and few others of unknown intentions.’, she raised her eyes. ‘Pretty dark, if you ask me.’

‘You are really concerned about him.’, Twilight observed. ‘Are you two close?’

The griffon didn’t answer, only stared blankly at the wall in reverie. The azure mare cleared her throat and went for something completely different.

‘So, this Amber Aerie place? Pretty nice, huh?’, she opinioned. ‘But I still don’t understand how it all works.’

Gilda blinked several times and turned back towards the mares.

‘Well, it’s pretty simple. When a griffon has a hard time with his clan, he usually roams through the Kingdoms until he kicks the calendar.’, she said, but after spotting consternation on Twilight’s face, she clarified. ‘Until he dies. Unless he stumbles his sorry ass upon a place like Amber Aerie, where I happened to be in charge.’, she pointed at her black bandana. ‘This may not be a dream come true, but for someone with nowhere to go it is more than enough.’

‘At first I wasn’t sure.’, Twilight shook her head. ‘When Garrote said that they didn’t speak for the Kingdoms I figured out that they’re all… outcasts?’

‘Well, aren’t you a clever birdie…’

‘But since the last griffon king passed away,’, the purple mare said, almost seeing a history book she once read, ‘the Twelve Clans are using this kind of ostracism only for the most serious offenses! Are you telling me that we’re surrounded by criminals?’

Gilda stood up.

‘Criminals? Hay no!’, she busted and started walking around the trunk, waving her hands angrily. ‘Let me tell you something. The system sucks! Shitheads of the Clans are using it to get rid of inconvenient griffons that didn’t do a thing!’

‘Is that what happened to you?’, Trixie cut in.

‘Damn right!’, Gilda continued her rant. ‘Long story short, about one year ago I was accused of some bullshit I didn’t do. Wretched Clans’ business, let me spare you of that. There was a trial and I got myself and Goriel kicked.’, she stopped for a while, then went on with a sadness in her voice. ‘Sure, there was one gyal that could prove my innocence, so I went to find her, talk about old times and ask to testify in my defense. But it didn’t exactly work out.’

There was a moment of silence with only Gilda’s heavy breathing being heard.

‘Did Goriel was also accused of that… of those bad things?’, the azure mare asked after a while.

‘Nah, he just couldn’t stand that I’m going down.’, the griffon sat back at the trunk. ‘So he formally resigned from our clan’s affiliation.’

‘Can you do that?’, Twilight asked. ‘I had never heard of such a procedure.’

‘It’s ‘cause it’s not a procedure.’, she said and giggled. ‘He showed his middle claw to the clan’s leaders. Literally. And got kicked out with me.’

‘Literally, I suppose?’, Trixie asked with a blink in her eye.

‘Funny.’, Gilda frowned.

‘So this is why you’re so worried about Goriel.’, Twilight drew a conclusion. ‘There are many griffons in here, but he is your friend.’

The griffon leader sighed. It seemed that she really needed to get that of her chest.

‘Yeah, I guess you could say that.’, she smiled. ‘You know what, I feel kinda lame now. I should have refused those bits and told those archeologists to buzz off. Good luck in finding that pony castle. I just… I feel like I’ve sold Goriel to death.’

‘Don’t give up on him.’, Trixie said. ‘We share a common enemy now. We will help you, but only if you’ll get us to the castle. Can we count on you?’

‘Well, duh!’, Gilda rolled her eyes. ‘If that Moonwarden of yours will pluck a feather of Goriel’s wing,’, she grinned. ‘I’ll tear his heart out. Literally.’

‘That’s the spirit!’, the azure mare clapped her hooves. ‘I guess we’re done here?’

‘We have to wait ‘till morning for the blizzard to calm down. You’re welcome to stay overnight.’

‘Excellent! Now excuse me.’, she got up from the sofa. ‘One of your guys offered me a drink and I think I’ll go for it… for a better sleep.’

Twilight watched Trixie as she dispelled the door and trotted out of Gilda’s office.

‘Thank you, Gilda.’, she said. ‘And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry you got banished.’

‘Don’t mention it. Just…’, the griffon hesitated and ultimately turned her back on the mare so she couldn’t see her face. ‘Just say hi to RD when you see her.’

‘I will.’

Twilight left the office to find Trixie and make sure she wouldn’t do anything stupid.

Comments

[Frankie2]

No comments on this chapter? That's weird. In any case, interesting back story for Gilda. I'm just waiting to find out what Equestria will be up against (and if Moonwarden is actually a double agent sent by Luna.)

[TranscendenCelestia]

‘If that Moonwarden of yours will pluck a feather of Goriel’s wing,’, she grinned. ‘I’ll tear his heart out. Literally.’
‘That’s the spirit!

Um........ Trixie? You do know what literally means, right? It seems a bit harsh.

[Emperor]

Aw, poor Gilda. I have a feeling there'll be a kick the dog moment upcoming.

All this talk of wind and snow makes me wonder if the Windigos are coming back and will need to be dispelled in the next few chapters.