Chapters I should explain who I am.
My name is Glyph. I am a griffin.
I spent most of my life living in the griffin capital, Cloud Peak, with my family. It was pretty dull, but easy all the same. The surrounding areas of woodland were full of easy prey, and I had only very rarely gone hungry throughout my entire life.
Things started to change when my elder brother, Garth, became...romantically engaged with one of the High King's daughters. I remember back when he first announced his love for her, and it was all I could do not to burst out laughing at his smitten expression, until she just walked into the room. Princess Victoria herself. To which, he hastily added "So I would like you all to meet her!" finishing off that sentence with a nervous laugh.
She regarded us, my family, our small house (especially compared to the Royal Palace, at least) with an air of blatant superiority, which is fair enough, she is royalty after all. But there was also that underlying tone of disdain, very well concealed, but still most definitely there.
I suppose, in hindsight, I should have overlooked that, too, and just tried to get along with her from the start. Of course, I went through all the necessary pleasantries all griffins are taught to extend to those in power, particularly to the members of the Royal Family, but that was all I really did. I never made an effort to get to like her, or in turn, get her to like me. Maybe if the two of us were better friends, I wouldn't be in the situation I am in.
But that's hardly fair. If not me, then it would probably be her, and I doubt she would have lasted this long. I mean sure, I'm no grizzled wilderness survival veteran, but on the other wing, I'm no pampered princess either. I can look after myself.
I'm getting off topic now. So, anyway, my brother and Princess Vicky (I called her that to her face once. Once.) were to be wed, in the most sickeningly formal way possible. The royals always need everything to be...just so. As a result, the wedding was a long and tedious affair, with an equally disappointingly dull party to follow. Don't get me wrong, high class wines and champagne is all well and good, but the person drinking it is the one to watch. As it happens, watching was mostly what I found myself doing in that large, luxurious hall, only occasionally having to politely agree when one of the upper class would decide that I must be so pleased, becoming a member of the Royal Family.
I was not pleased. This would only inevitably serve to separate us even further from other griffins, and from what I had heard, griffins outside the capital didn't exactly have easy lives.
That's an understatement actually. Even the five of us (me, mum, dad, brother and sister), barely scraping by in our tiny house in the big city were still pretty much living like lords compared to peasants. Griffins beyond the admittedly expansive walls of Cloud Peak had it tough. I had heard stories of kidnappings, slavery and dragon attacks, of all the things, out there.
It seemed ridiculous. There's a lot of space in the city, and it makes no sense for any griffin to be turned away simply because they may not have quite enough money to afford accommodation. As far as I knew, no griffins had ever moved in to Cloud Peak, at least not as long as I've been alive. There have been more leaving, in fact.
But, back to the wedding. Thanks to a piercing stare from my brother as he stood beside his bride so proud and happy, a look that perfectly conveyed the message Don't screw this up for me, I always managed to find a polite smile to put on my beak for the nobility. Continuing my stellar performance, I would add a gracious nod and simper, "Oh yes, I am ever so pleased. I wish them both all the best in the future," usually becoming more and more strained towards the end of the overused line, to the point where I would wonder if whoever I happened to be speaking to would notice.
They never did. Part of me wished someone had, and pressed further, so at least something, anything, might have happened to create a worthy memory of the wedding in my mind, as opposed to the slow, tiring music that never seemed to stop throughout the evening, and the tiny portions of food available which tasted dry and left me feeling dissatisfied.
Oh, and the part about the assassination attempt meant for the Princess in her chamber.
If I hadn't decided to slip out and explore the palace a little, I suppose I would never have heard until the news arrived at my doorstep the next day, in the form of an obnoxiously large headline.
Instead, as I meandered into the Princess' chamber, I found myself staring down the barrel of gun, which I soon found out was loaded, although it didn't take a genius to figure that out. The Griffin behind the barrel was wearing some kind of mask, which prevented me from getting a good look at him. All I was able to pick out was his size, as he loomed over me, and his surprisingly rare blue eyes, with a scar over his right. If I had been focusing, I might have noticed the colour of his coat, or feathers, maybe whether he had a crest on chest, as most griffins (not all) had.
If I had been focusing, I probably would have died, so that knowledge would have absolutely no value to me whatsoever.
Instead, instinct took over me when faced with a life-threatening situation, so I allowed myself to drop to the floor while spreading my wings, as the shot was fired, roaring over my head. Pushing my wings down, I surged forwards, tackling the assailant into the opposite wall, a rather impressive twelve feet away, considering how big he was. All I had to do was survive, someone would have heard that shot, and guards would be on their way as I was struggling with the attacker.
Apparently, he figured out the guards would be on their way as well, and, throwing me across the room as he did so, turned around to force open the massive windows that adorned the Princess' room. Before I could get up, he was gone. No sooner had he disappeared through the open window, the guards decided to burst through the door.
I like to think I look fairly innocent, at least innocent enough that a guard would not look at me, still in my formal attire, the still-smoking gun, and finally the open window, before jumping to the conclusion that I was the intruder.
My protests were, rather stoically, ignored, and the two guards that had arrived first began carting me off to the hall. My first thought was how lucky I was that they didn't just throw me in the dungeon until the rest of the Royal Family was safe, but my brief moment of relief was dashed as they marched right up to the King and threw me at his feet, declaring "This one was caught at the scene of the break-in, milord, along with an empty gun."
I do believe I whimpered as the great griffin that was the High King lowered his gaze down to glare at me. I doubt anything I may have said would have come out as anything more that a hatchling's squeak, so I stayed quiet and just hoped for the best.
Luck was apparently on my side in that regard. Princess Victoria, whom I have only ever held an opinion of slight distaste before that moment, decided to speak up in my defence.
"Father, you needn't trouble yourself with her. She is the sister of my husband, and by extension, a member of our family. She is a guest at the wedding, after all, why would she need to break in to the castle?" She finished her speech with a titter.
The High King turned his gaze to his daughter, who offered him a sincere smile. For what seemed like an eternity to me, just laying on the ground afraid to move, they just stood there, however it couldn't have been more than a few seconds, as her smile never faltered.
Finally, the King sighed. "Very well." Then, the moment I'd been dreading, he turned his terrifying gaze back to me. I may have squeaked just due to the sheer intensity of his glare.
I was not prepared for the chuckle. It threw me off completely, to the point where I was just confused. What do you say after that? Scrambling for a response, I hastily gathered myself into a bowing stance and simply said "Your Highness," before risking a glance up at him again. He then nodded, and moved on.
Immediately, the slow music started up again, as if nothing had happened. I realised that it had never actually stopped, and I was just too paralysed with fear under the King's glare to pay attention to anything else.
Still bewildered by how easily everyone had let the incident slip, I was taken completely by surprise as my brother dragged my off to the side.
"Hey!" I protested feebly. He let go and fixed me with a seething look.
"What the hell were you doing in the Princess' chamber!?" he hissed.
Even though they were married, he still didn't use her name. That was a bit pathetic. I voiced my opinion to him, but the ferocity of his glare grew to rival that of the King. " You didn't answer my question, Glyph." Deadly serious.
"I was bored, so I went exploring," I replied, trying to act as nonchalant as I could. His response was pretty funny, though. It involved a lot of spluttering.
"Wha- WHAT?!" He finally managed. I shrugged.
"This place is boring. I got bored. I didn't mean to cause any trouble." It then occurred to me that maybe I should tell someone about the assassin as soon as possible. I really shouldn't have avoided it for so long, anyway.
I attempted to mention it to Garth, but he just cut me off as soon as the first word left my beak.
"Go home." His voice held no inflection. It was just a monotone, signalling that I had no choice in the matter.
"But-" I began.
"No." The rage in his eyes seemed as though it would bore right through me. "Just go. If you're bored, you'll cause trouble. Always do. Just don't okay? This is my night. Mine and Victoria's."
Well, at least he had used her name this time.
I turned to leave, but at the last minute turned back to try and blurt out the assassination attempt before he could recover.
He was quicker. "Just GO, Glyph!" The hiss was rapidly increasing in volume. I had no intention of drawing any more attention to myself so I complied.
I'll admit, I was upset. Being thrown out of my brother's wedding by none other than the groom himself, I felt pretty bad at this point. Despite this, I held my head up high, and strode toward the great doors at the end of the hall.
As I passed through the doors the guards at either side had dutifully opened for me, I paused. I had to tell at least someone.
"Hey, just so you know, there was an assassin in the Princess' room. He escaped. You should probably up the security."
The guard gawked at me. I held the stare. Finally, he decided I was serious, and sped off, presumably in the direction of the barracks or something to pass the message along.
With a sigh, I exited the Palace. The air was slightly chilly, and I knew I would want to get home quickly. I unfurled my wings, no longer caring about the state of my formal clothes, and took off, faster than I usually do, in the direction of home.
Of course, there had to be another surprise when I shambled over to my bed. As I was about to flop into it, fully clothed and grumpy, the unmistakable slam of our letter box jerked me to attention. I hurriedly made my way to the front room to inspect the delivery.
What I saw chilled me to the bone. It was a simple message that read:
If the princess lives, then you die instead.
That was it.
A single line of claw-writing on parchment and suddenly I was having trouble breathing.
Someone wanted me dead.
I was endangering my family by being near them. Probably. The note did say I would be the one doing all the dying...
There was no question in my mind who the note was from. The griffin who had almost killed me earlier, in the Princess' chamber. It struck me as odd that he would leave a note instead of simply killing me, but then I recalled how he had hesitated before pulling the trigger when I entered the Princess' room. If he was an absolute cold-blooded killer, I would be dead already. But he didn't seem as though he was very good at his job.
First of all, he hesitated before pulling the trigger, so he must have seen I wasn't the Princess. Then, he pulled the trigger anyway, after it was clear I wasn't his target. Finally, he allowed himself to be slammed into a wall by little old me.
So he had substandard reaction timing and panicked easily.
Either that, or he enjoyed theatrics.
Big deal. He was still prepared to kill me.
I doubted he would hesitate again, given the chance.
I doubted he would miss the target again, given the chance.
Nor would he give up until I was dead. He said he was holding a grudge, and I believed he meant business.
I suddenly regretted the last thing I said to my brother being admittedly surly and obnoxious. I doubted I would ever see him again, and he would probably blame himself for my sudden disappearance, knowing him.
Well, there's one way to fix that issue. I turned the note over and picked up the quill that sat on the desk opposite the door. I dabbed it in the ink pot and shakily wrote out:
Hey family,
I need to tell you all that I'll be going away. I don't know for how long, exactly. But for your sakes, and safety, it may well be forever. An assassin is going to come after me, and I'm going to have to leave the city if I want to have any chance at survival. Not to mention keeping you lot safe.
On the other side of this note is the message I received from the assassin. I would normally dismiss something like this as a stupid prank, but I've seen this guy. It's real. The note he sent is on the flip side of this parchment.
Sorry it has to be this way, but I have to leave as soon as possible, so I know he won't come for any of you.
Love,
Glyph
P.S. Garth, I wish you and Vicky all the best for your future together. Don't you dare go feeling like any of this was your fault.
Love you, bro.
May your dreams take wing
I ended the letter with the family motto. If nothing else, it was an honour thing, for all the good it did me. With a sigh, I put the quill down. I read over the letter one more time before carrying it through to my room and placing it on my pillow. Hopefully, it would be morning before it was discovered. I needed to put as much distance as possible between that killer and my family.
I dug my saddlebags out of the chest at the foot of my bed. Stripping quickly out of my formal clothes, I discarded them carelessly to the side. They would be useless where I was going.
I paused. Where was I going to go? I had no idea how far I could get before the assassin would start to come after me.
I shook the thought out of my head. That would be something to worry about later. I grabbed the essential gear I would need for this trip, however short it would turn out to be.
Not even five minutes later, I was set to go. I had grabbed my tinderbox, as much money as I could (which still wasn't much, maybe only about two hundred and fifty bits), a hooded travelling cloak which I decided to pack until I got out of the city, and my own personal treasure. A very masterfully crafted pair of clawed gauntlets. They were made of dragon fangs, and were probably the most expensive thing I owned. My father had got the teeth after a hunting party had been dispatched to get rid of a dragon that had been hunting on our land. Apparently, the dragon had not been fully grown, but it had still managed to roast one of the hunters before a spear had pierced its heart.
Most griffins, upon seeing clawed gauntlets on display at a blacksmith's, would scoff and mock the seemingly pointless weapon. After all, why wear clawed gauntlets when you have all natural claws built in, right?
I like my clawed gauntlets. Not only because they are incredibly well-made and very beautiful to look at, but also because they grant a longer reach, which is useful not only for hunting, but also in regular brawls. I have escaped a fair few fights unscathed thanks to these babies. Hopefully, I would escape this whole ordeal unscathed as well.
Part of me wanted to leave them behind, in case the assassin caught me and ended up taking them for himself. The thought alone repulsed me. But then a larger part of me wanted to bring them along just to make sure he never would.
I was ready to leave. I stepped outside to face the now colder night air. I was relieved the wedding party was going on so late, or a member of my family might have already arrived home by now and that would complicate things.
I set off into the night. I already knew where to go. The utility that allowed anyone to cross vast treks of land with no effort. I could get well away from the Griffin Kingdom overnight. It was a brilliant idea. I congratulated my own foresight.
"Last call for Canterlot! ALL ABOARD!" the conductor bellowed.
Yeesh. Canterlot? The royal capital of Equestria, home to the Princesses Celestia and Luna, who controlled the day and night?
Better than here.
I dashed to the conductor. "How much for a ticket?" I blurted out.
"That'll be fifty bits, ma'am. Regretfully, we only have space in first class." The conductor did not look the least bit regretful about it.
It would have to do. Admittedly, it was a whole lot more of my total spendings I would liked to have relieved myself of in one place, but there was no other choice. I had to get the heck out of here, and this train was the fastest option available.
I nodded, fishing the bits out of my saddlebag. "I'll take it."
The conductor accepted my money graciously, and handed over a ticket. With further ado, I boarded the train.
"Wow."
First class was first class for a reason. The seats were massive, for a start, and there were only four in the carriage. I also got a generously sized bed with soft sheets and to top it all off, a separating curtain so I didn't have to look at the other griffins riding the carriage with me.
I tossed my saddlebags onto the seat and drew the curtain. "Last call!" I heard the conductor shouting. "All aboard!"
With a sigh, I fell onto the exquisitely soft bed. Drawing the sheets over me, I suddenly realised that this may actually be my very last time in the Griffin Kingdom, my last time in the place I had grown up. My home.
It was certainly a sobering thought. I drifted down into a fitful sleep. When I awoke, I would be in a completely different land.
I allowed myself a quick smile before finally succumbing to sleep. This was going to be one hell of an adventure, no matter how long it lasted.
"Ticket, please!"
Ugh. Mornings.
I am not an 'early bird'.
The train had started moving while I slept, so as I looked out of the window to find myself staring at a very wide and dry-looking desert.
I was still drowsy and must have been staring for a little too long, as I heard the conductor give an impatient clearing of his throat.
"A-HEM. Ticket please. " He snapped the last word. I turned to give him my full attention.
"Huh? You sold me the ticket last night." I didn't get why I had to show it to him. Sure, there may be a lot of people on this train, but I was a little hurt that he didn't remember me. Also, shouldn't one of the perks of first class be a full night's sleep?
The conductor sighed. "You must be referring to my brother." I mentally groaned. "He, as you claim, may have sold you a ticket, but we do get a fair amount of stowaways every now and then so it is customary to check each customer has their ticket in their possession. So." He paused, looking at me expectantly.
I stared back. "You woke me up just for that?" I knew it was important and that I was just being rude at this point, but at least I could blame it on tiredness.
"I did, ma'am." Again with the 'ma'am' thing. I didn't look that old, did I? Usually I was referred to as a 'miss'.
He gave an exasperated sigh. "Look, if you don't present your ticket I have to throw you off the train. It's regulation."
Well, being deposited in the middle of nowhere would certainly make it easy for the assassin to dispose of the body. I shuddered at the thought. I really needed to stop thinking about being dead.
With an exasperated sigh of my own, I pulled the ticket out from my saddle bag and handed it to him. He briefly glanced at it before slipping one end into the slot of the machine he wore hung around his neck and stamped it.
A bit unnecessary, I thought. What was the point if he checked it anyway? It wasn't like we were stopping between now and our destination. An extra hole in one end didn't prove I wasn't a stowaway either.
I shook my head. Those thoughts were just sleepiness taking its toll. The more sensible part of my brain understood perfectly the reason behind the hole punch, but that didn't stop the mental grumbling.
The conductor handed my ticket back. I stuffed it right back into my saddle bag and huffily lay back down, pulling the covers over me. I heard him tut and walk away.
I tossed and turned for a while, getting more and more frustrated as time went on. Finally, I gave up. Sleep just wasn't going to happen now. On top of the fact I now felt wide awake my head was now clear to worry about not only the assassin, but also whether my family had found my note.
I will admit, I felt a little guilty about just leaving in the middle of the night without waiting up for any of them, especially on my brother's wedding, but that very wedding meant they would all be out until excessively late, and I would be all alone, waiting at home like a sitting duck.
And then the assassin might have got bored and come and killed me there and then.
I shook my head, again. Morbid thoughts were not helping now.
I got up with a sigh and stretched. At this point, it couldn't hurt to find a way to take my mind off things. I was pretty hungry, after all.
I drew back the curtain. In the carriage with me were two other griffins and a pegasus. The griffins I could understand, of course, but when and why had a pegasus visited Cloud Peak? There was nothing there, apart from maybe the royal palace and most of that was closed to the public anyway.
A sudden thought occurred to me. She was probably visiting friends.
Well, no point just standing around staring at her. I walked over to introduce myself. I managed three steps before my stomach rumbled embarrassingly loudly. The pegasus looked up from her book in surprise. I smiled sheepishly, and continued over to her, ignoring the other two passengers completely.
She had a dark red coat with a mane of two different shades of orange. One was much lighter, and it was the dominant colour. Her tail matched, but instead of being patches of colour, as her mane was, the darker orange was flanked by the lighter shade in a very elegant swoosh.
She bookmarked her page and closed the book, giving me her full attention. I suddenly and very predictably forgot how to introduce myself using words. Instead, I just stood with my mouth hanging open like an idiot, trying to think of some way to introduce myself without sounding weird.
I didn't have to worry myself with that after all, as my stomach decided to growl again, this time even louder than before. A strange look crossed the pegasus' face, and she fixed me with a stare.
Great. Now I probably looked like I wanted to eat her, with all the staring and the hungry noises. I did the only logical thing to do in this situation, and facepalmed.
To my surprise, I heard a giggle. I removed my hand from my face and smiled the same sheepish smile as before. She smiled back.
"Hi there." She said.
"Hey." Was all I managed. Still hadn't quite recovered the ability to talk properly yet.
She raised an eyebrow. "Usually introductions happen about now?" Her tone was jovial. "My name's Feather Flare," she announced warmly, offering a hoof. I shook it tentatively. I was never great at meeting new people. There weren't a lot of griffins my age back at home, and most families were home-schooled, even though that was predominantly hunting and flying in my family. Sure, I had learned how to read and write, do maths a little, but ultimately, the only real jobs in Cloud Peak were weather patrol or guard patrol.
"Hey," I said again. "I'm Glyph."
She cocked her head a little. "That's an interesting name." She looked genuinely interested too. "How about we get breakfast? I haven't eaten yet, and well..." She trailed off as my stomach complained again, as if on cue. She made an airy gesture. "Well, yeah. So how about it?"
"Err, sure. That sounds great." I smiled. I was a little surprised at how simple talking to others was turning out to be. I should have done it more often at home.
"Well, let's be off then!" She bounded up, full of energy for someone on an empty stomach. She took off down the carriage and paused at the door, looking back at me as I slowly trudged over to her.
She tutted. "Come on, keep up." Opening the door, skipped off to the next carriage, which I assumed and hoped would be where breakfast was located.
Traversing the carriages, I found myself in a very charming little restaurant set-up. I whistled, impressed. It looked the business at least, now I hoped it would live up to appearances.
Feather Flare was already at the counter, deliberating over the menu. I looked up at it, and was relieved to see they catered for omnivores as well as ponies. But, not wanting to seem inconsiderate to Feather Flare, I decided I ought to have a vegetarian option.
"I'll have the fruit salad, please." I said, addressing one of the bored-looking chefs behind the counter.
"Six bits, please." I handed over the money.
"Oh, I'll have the same, please!" Feather Flare interjected, money already in hoof. The chef nodded, taking the money and placing it in the till. "You two can sit over there while we whip these up if you like." He motioned to a bench sitting on the other side of the carriage.
We complied, and sat. I didn't exactly have much to say to Feather Flare, after all the effort I went through to introduce myself. Luckily, she had it covered.
"So, Glyph." She looked at me.
I sensed a question. "What's up?"
"Well..." She looked unsure all of a sudden. I motioned for her to continue. "Okay. What's the story with your name?" She finished. I must have looked a bit startled, because she hastened to add "not that there's anything wrong with it of course! It's just, well, interesting."
Interesting, huh? If only.
"Well..." I began, not really wanting to disappoint her with the story, which I knew I would. "It may be an interesting name, but the story behind it is pretty mundane." I hadn't expected that to rhyme. I hoped she didn't expect a song or poem or something, because that was probably not going to happen again. Especially due to the length of my story.
"My parents apparently liked it, so that was what they chose." I couldn't resist adding "I doubt there's much more to it, but hey, who knows?" I was smiling now. Who knew I was such a poet?
Feather Flare laughed. "Fair enough. So what about your parents? Do they live in Cloud Peak?" Well, someone was full of questions today.
"Yeah, I lived in Cloud Peak with my parents, brother and sister." I decided to elaborate a little, to stave off a further question that I knew would follow. "My parents names are Henry and Martha. My sister's called Melissa, and my brother's Garth." I paused. "Our clan name is Skybreak," I added.
She nodded thoughtfully. "So how come you left?" She asked
Hmm. No easy way to answer this one, and I hadn't come up with a plausible excuse yet. Thankfully, I was saved by the chef calling out "food's here!" so I quickly stood up to grab the bowls. "I'll go get those." I smiled at Feather Flare.
She shrugged. I got over to the counter and immediately remembered how bad I am at walking on only two feet.
Well, this was going to be tricky. I pondered for a moment before remembering my wings. Grabbing both bowls in my talons, I spread my wings and fluttered back over to Feather Flare, with a little effort. The carriages were not built for griffins to be flying around them.
Fortunately, I made it back to her without any mishaps, and placed both bowls on the bench next to each other before I settled back down.
She nodded appreciatively, and took her food. I sat down, doing the same. We sat and ate in silence for a very awkward few minutes.
"So, about my earlier question." She spoke up finally. "What of it?"
I stalled. "What was the question again?"
"How come you left home?" She had suddenly gone all serious. Weird. As far as I know, it's a perfectly valid question, there was no need to act suspiciously about it. I instantly realised that must have been how I acted earlier as I avoided the question at every opportunity.
And here I was, about to do it again.
"Isn't it only fair that I get to ask a question now?" I asked with a wry grin.
"You just did." She had a smile on her face now too, no longer so solemn. Solemn definitely did not suit her.
My smile grew. "Well I'd better even the score. How come you were in Cloud Peak?" I internally winced at the aggressiveness I could have sworn was present in my voice, but she didn't seem to notice.
"I was visiting an old friend." Ha! I knew it!
I raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, well I knew her from Flight School." Flight School? Pegasi needed an entire establishment dedicated to their natural ability?
More to the point, a griffin had attended? Apparently it wasn't all bad for griffins outside the walls of the capital. But then again, how could anyone do badly in Equestria, of all places? It's pretty much a haven, so I've heard.
"We were both pretty competitive back then. Both of us competing to see who was the fastest flier." She smiled fondly at the memories. "We ended up growing apart, basically. I joined the weather patrol and she couldn't get a weather patrol job in Cloudsdale, ponies were bumped up the priority list." She snorted. "It's a stupid rule. She worked much harder than a lot of the pegasi at flight school. The position ended up going to a particularly lazy mare who only barely graduated."
Wow. "That sounds like racism to me." I chipped in. She nodded.
"Exactly. The job should have gone to Elle, not that airhead Wonderbolt wannabe." She declared bitterly.
I tapped the underside of my beak. "I think I knew an Elle on the Cloud Peak weather patrol." Feather Flare looked at me curiously.
"Really?"
"Don't be so surprised. Cloud Peak may appear big, but it really isn't. besides, weather patrol is the only thing I've ever had an interest for in terms of employment. I mean, we're kind of limited when it comes to jobs." I suddenly remembered I was supposed to be working today.
Oh well. I always preferred being alive to pushing clouds around, at any rate.
"I can't remember her clan name though. Sorry."
She shrugged, finishing her salad. "That's alright. She seemed like life's been treating her well when I saw her, and we visited the royal palace, so that was fun."
Right. I imagine it is, provided you aren't in mortal danger.
"I was there last night, actually." Why was I telling her this? I didn't need to, she hadn't even asked!
"Really? How come?" She cocked her head again. From what I'd gathered so far, that meant she was interested.
"Yeah. My brother actually got married there." Good, that's all you need to say. Now just divert conversation to something else...
"Wow!" She was more excited about it than I ever was. "Congratulations, I guess!" She paused. "But how come the wedding was in the palace? Wasn't there a temple or something available? Usually, the only time a wedding happens in a royal building is when..." She trailed off. I could see the gears turning in her head.
Uh-oh.
She gasped. "Oh my goodness!" Her hooves covered her mouth, which was hanging open in shock. "A royal wedding ?!"
I nodded, feeling glum. The last thing I needed was for someone to tell me how fortunate and blessed I was to be related to royalty. What was even the big deal? It's not like it would change my life dramatically.
I realised the wedding had done just that, as it turned out. My life was completely flipped upside down, and it was all a result of that stupid wedding!
Well, okay, not stupid. I am still happy for Garth, always will be, he is my brother after all. The wedding was important to him, and while it was definitely life-changing for him, I'm pretty sure it would benefit him, unlike how the night had ended up for me.
Feather Flare was still gushing over the fact she was sitting with a member of the royal griffin family.
"Okay, hold on there." I had to put a stop to this ridiculousness. "First of all, I'm not royalty, just because my brother is now technically a prince doesn't make me a princess." I almost gagged at the thought. "Second, as great as it was for him and the rest of my family, probably, I don't exactly share their enthusiasm."
She looked at me quizzically.
"I-I don't mean I'm not happy for them!" I quickly added. "I just mean..." What did I mean? I couldn't just tell her about the assassin who was now after me after I foiled his attempt to kill the princess.
"I just don't want to be treated any differently," I finished lamely.
She nodded wisely. "I completely understand what you mean. I'm perfectly happy with my life now at the moment too, I wouldn't want anypo- er, anyone to treat me any different if some major event happened in my life." She paused. "Well, at least not forever," she finished with a grin.
I laughed and shook my head. "I'm glad you see where I'm coming from." Time to change the topic! "So you said Elle went to flight school with you, were there any other griffins there?" This intrigued me. If nothing else, flight school sounded like it might have been fun, despite it's pointlessness. "Also," I added, wanting to know if it really was just where pegasi learned to fly, "what did you actually learn there?"
She let out a sigh, leaning back. "Well, there were a whole lot more pegasi there than griffins," she began. "There were only two or three griffins while I attended, and obviously one of those was Elle." She stopped.
I looked at her, waiting expectantly. After a minute passed, I decided she must have forgotten about my other question.
"And?"
She shook her head slightly and blinked heavily, as if emerging from a trance. "...Sorry?"
I resisted the urge to facepalm. "What did you learn there?" I repeated.
"Oh yeah..." She stared at the ceiling. "You know, I can't even remember. I guess a lot of it must have been to do with teaching us how to fly, and then there were sports and trick-flying for when we got better and older, but other than that..." She trailed off again.
Well, that was helpful. "Trick-flying?" I tried. "What's that?"
Now it was her turn to be cynical. "Surely you've heard of the Wonderbolts, right? The most talented fliers in all of Equestria?"
Oh yeah. "The name rings a bell." Performers, as I recalled.
"Yeah, well, they do shows and stuff where they basically dazzle a crowd with aerial acrobatics for a given length of time, depends on the event, and that's their job. They are pretty famous." She had a dreamy look in her eyes.
"Whoa there, girl," I chuckled.
She snapped out of it. "Yeah, well, you know..." She stammered. I fought back a snicker while she flustered her words. Finally, she said "I used to want to join them."
Please don't go down this path, oh please not the childhood dreams...
"Ever since I was a little filly..."
Dammit!
"...I always wanted to be one of them, you know? Just being so brilliant, and admired by everyone, fans chanting and begging for autographs, ponies recognising you wherever you went..." She sighed dreamily.
Sounded more like a personal hell to me. Who needs fame, being recognised wherever you are, never a moment to yourself...
Feather Flare was still talking, I realised with a pang of guilt. "...But I guess I just grew out of it. I mean, I was never an amazing flier, not like the Wonderbolts at least." She suddenly looked depressed.
I sighed. "Look, Flare. Do you mind if I call you that?" She shook her head. "Okay then. Flare, don't ever sell yourself short. There's always a lot more potential in yourself than you ever realise." Like how I had narrowly avoided getting shot in the head.
She was looking at me now. "What do you mean?"
I took a breath. "What I mean is, you still have time, right? I mean, I bet you're a damn good flier, I mean, you raced Elle when you two were in school, right? She's a pretty fast flier now, and all she's doing is moving clouds. If you could compete with her, then I bet you're a lot better than you say you are, am I right?"
She looked away. "I did beat her a few times..." She looked back at me. "But it was close! Besides, I'm out of practise. Why would the Wonderbolts take me? I'm no athlete." She'd gone back to looking dejected. Luckily she looked away again, which gave me the opportunity to pinch the bridge of my beak.
"Then you need a training partner!" I declared. "Someone to keep you motivated, push you above and beyond your limits, help you to be the best you can!" I was liking this idea. So was she, by the look on her face. "And then, when the next Wonderbolts try-out comes along, you can blow them away!" I finished by making a grand swooping gesture with my arms.
Her brow furrowed. "But I don't really know anyone who I could ask to help me..." Her face lit up. "Would you do it?"
I was more than a little taken aback. Me? We'd only known each other for what, an hour? Maybe two?
Besides, I couldn't afford to stay with her and potentially put her life at risk.
"Erm..." I faltered. The assassin was a griffin, I knew that much. Maybe I could pass on a message to the first guard I saw, tell him to watch out for a large griffin with a scar on his eye...
I doubted that would work. No, better to lay low and keep moving until he showed himself properly.
"I don't think that's possible. Sorry."
She looked crestfallen. "That's a real shame...do you mind if I ask why?"
Great, put me on the spot why don't you. I scrambled for an excuse that was definitive, but also vague enough she didn't infer anything from it.
"I'm...I, er...I just need to keep moving. And I doubt I'll be heading to Cloudsdale any time soon. Sorry again." I tried to look apologetic. To my surprise, it came easily, most likely due to the fact I really was sorry.
"That's okay." Wow, that pitiful excuse for an...excuse...worked? Today must be my lucky day! No way that assassin could get me now!
"But, what's really going on?" The words were like a dagger to my heart.
Bad mental image! Bad!
"Okay." I'd have to tell her the truth. She'd think I was crazy but I had to get it off my chest to someone.
"It's kind of a weird story. I'll have to tell you all of it. It's not long, really, but it is...unusual?" I looked at her.
She nodded for me to continue. I glanced over to where the chefs had been. Luckily they had left, as breakfast had stopped being served a while ago.
I took a deep breath. "Right. Well, it happened at my brother's wedding." I ignored the dubious look that now adorned her face. "I was bored, frankly, so I went exploring-"
"Wait." She interrupted. "You were in the royal palace?" I nodded. "And you just wandered off?" I nodded again.
"I was getting to that, actually. Most of the guards were in the hall anyway, with the party, and I was in my formal clothes, so I figured if I was stopped I could just say I got lost on my way to the bathroom. But, nobody stopped me. So I was just wandering about, as you say, when I happened across the princess' royal chamber." I paused, expecting her to cut in again.
I was not disappointed. "So hang on, wait, just hold it, let me get this straight." She was looking severe. Aren't there supposed to be guards everywhere? What if you were an assassin or something? The guards could have just let anyone past if they didn't question you." She hadn't seemed to have noticed my stunned expression. What if the guards had just accidentally let the assassin slip past? What if someone let him through on purpose? As these worrying thoughts circled my mind, I noticed Feather Flare was still talking.
"...then you just wandered in to the princess' private chamber. Surely you knew you could have got in massive trouble?" She was having trouble believing my story. To be fair, I wouldn't believe it either, if I was her. Any sane griffin would have just stayed in the hall and waited it out, or simply gone home early. But of course, I just had to be difficult. And just look where that had landed me.
"I knew I might have got in trouble, of course, but I was pretty much willing for anything to happen that would liven up the evening." Maybe that had been my problem. "So anyway, I pushed open the door to her room and to my utter bewilderment, I found myself looking down the barrel of a loaded gun." I paused to let that sink in.
"You...wha?" She gasped.
I nodded. "Luckily for me, the would-be assassin had poor reactions as he hesitated before pulling the trigger, letting me get out of the way of the shot and then tackle him onto a wall." I was way more proud of that than I should have been. "So then the guards heard the shot and they were on their way, but the assassin dropped the gun and escaped out a window. Then the guards arrived and took me back to the hall, where my brother had a go at me for wandering off, and told me to go home." I paused for breath. "I got home safe and was just about to go to sleep when I heard the letterbox. I went to get it and it was a note from the assassin saying he was coming after me because I foiled his attempt to kill the princess. That's when I got my stuff and got on this train." Well, that was certainly a weight off my shoulders. I looked back at Feather Flare who was just staring incredulously at me.
"That's it." It was probably unnecessary but the awkward silence needed to be broken.
"...So you're running for your life," she summarised.
"Yep." That was a very apt way of putting it. I could have saved a lot of time if I'd just gone with that from the start.
"We have to tell someone!" She stood up. "When we get to Canterlot I'm alerting every guard I see. You need to be put under protection."
"How will that work? I never got a good look at him, all I know is he had a scar on his eye. Even then, how long will it be? I doubt the guard will go along with it for much more than a week."
She huffed. "We still need to do something," she insisted.
"No. I'm not dragging you into this mess." I was determined to keep as few people involved as I could. "Anyway, what time are we arriving at Canterlot?" I asked, unsubtly trying to change the subject.
Feather Flare looked outside. "Well, judging by the mountain right there, I'd say we aren't far at all." I looked outside too. There was indeed a mountain quite close to us in fact. It struck me as a drastic change of scenery from the expansive desert I'd seen when I first woke up. How small could Equestria be?
She looked back at me. "Well what are you going to do? You can't just keep running." She stopped, looking thoughtful.
"What're you planning?" I asked suspiciously.
She shot me a look. "I'm not 'planning' anything. I was just thinking. If this guy's so intent on killing you, why did he just leave you a note? He clearly knew where you lived, he could have," she shivered. "killed you while you were sleeping."
I must admit, that had been bothering me, too. "I guess he likes to be dramatic."
"Well, you've also been on this train all night. Now unless he got on the train too I don't think it's very likely he'd be able to catch you. If he was on the train, he could have got you already, again, but to be honest, I don't think he will kill you at all."
Oh?
"Do explain." I was interested in any theory that involved me staying alive.
She nodded. "I think he only wanted to scare you. And if that is what he's after, then mission accomplished. You left town on a train headed to a different country. Besides, you said he hesitated before pulling the trigger, I don't think he ever wanted to kill at all." I was looking at her incredulously. Why bother with the gun then?!
She seemed to read my mind. "I think he acted more out of desperation than of any real intent to kill."
I found my voice. "What would drive anyone to even think of trying to kill the princess? She's not that bad."
She sighed. "I dunno. I'm just speculating."
"Oh. Okay."
Silence reigned for a good ten minutes.
"Honestly, though..." I began.
"Hm?" Feather Flare looked at me from my left. She had chosen to sit after we didn't say anything for the first two minutes or so.
I sighed. "This is probably a good thing for me. Obviously I don't mean the whole 'running for my life' issue, but...I think it's the motivation I needed to actually get out of the boring routine my life had fallen in to." I stood for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, joints popping as I did so. "I'm glad I'll be getting out and seeing the world for a little while. If it turns out the whole assassin thing was a dud, I guess I'll go home." I shot her a smile. "Maybe I could visit you every once in a while."
She returned the smile. "I'd like that."
"All passengers, please return to your seats, we will be arriving at Canterlot shortly." A mechanical voice announced to the entire train.
"Guess we better had, then." I set off back to our carriage with Feather Flare close behind.
I held the door open for her and we stepped through. The other two griffins hadn't appeared to have moved throughout the journey. Even their books seemed to be in the same spots as when we left.
I smirked. First class, indeed.
So, I thought to myself as I stepped off the train, this is Canterlot. The supposed home of the pony "elite".
And didn't they know it.
If disapproving glances and sneers held a physical force, I probably would have been launched right back to Cloud Peak. It was, to say the least, a little unnerving. I had only been on the platform for about a minute before I got the impression that foreigners, or maybe just griffins, weren't exactly welcome in the pony capital.
I turned to Feather Flare, who didn't appear phased at all. Then again, she hadn't received even half the glares I had. Perhaps she was just used to this kind of behaviour.
"They don't exactly seem friendly," I grumbled. She just shot me a look.
"Well what did you expect? This lot have never done a proper, honest days work in their lives." She stated flatly.
In truth, I knew exactly this kind of behaviour. The nobles in the griffin court held themselves in the same regard. The difference was, there wasn't an entire city full of them.
With a sigh, I started walking, only to realise I hadn't planned this far ahead. Looking around, all the streets looked pretty much the same, with the exception of the main road leading directly up to the very grand-looking palace that seemed formidable even with the towering mountain alongside it.
Wow, though. Canterlot Castle was easily twice the size of the royal griffin palace. It struck me that there were supposedly only two princesses living there, at least, those were the only two I knew of. I suppose they must have employed servants who probably had rooms there, and there were probably guest rooms. Or maybe the royal pony family was just larger than I thought. That seemed the most likely, at any rate.
I turned back to Feather Flare to find she was looking at me trying to keep a smirk off her face. "Lost?" She tittered.
I sighed again, and nodded. Her smirk became a warm smile. "Need a guide?"
Well, that was certainly kind of her to offer. "Thanks, but I don't really intend to stick around." As much as I want to, I neglected to add. "I was planning to stay on the move. You know..." I let the sentence hang.
Her smile faded. "Yeah," she began. "But come on. When are you ever going to get an opportunity like this again? If you move on now, you'll never come back."
Well, thanks for the vote of confidence! She was right though. Even if I survived the whole assassin thing, I doubt I would ever come back. And while snobbish cities weren't exactly to my taste, I would rather endure one with a friend. Besides, as long as all these crowds were present the bastard chasing me would be spotted easily and be taken out by the guards as soon as his gun went off. If he still had one, of course.
"Alright, you win." I winced at her sudden outburst of joy that followed. It wasn't that exciting, right?
"Calm down!" I snapped, probably a little too harshly. I massaged my right temple with a thumb. "Look, you've been round Cloud Peak. It's only fair that I see Canterlot." Even though I hadn't met her until we were out of Cloud Peak and already on the way to Canterlot, but still. Call it honour.
She regained her composure, completely ignoring the piercing glares she was receiving from passers-by. "First, we get lunch!" She declared with a stomp of a hoof, drawing yet more stares.
"Fine, fine," I hissed. "Just stop drawing so much attention to us. I could really do with keeping a low profile right now."
She nodded, accepting this. Without another word, she trotted off down one of the streets. With a shrug, I followed. This pony was weird. She had seemed mostly normal on the train, but now she was acting erratically. Probably just hungry, I decided. I was hungry, too. My stomach seemed very insistent that I acknowledged this.
She was trotting fairly quickly, so I had to jog to keep up. I felt awkward moving faster than walking pace amongst the crowd of ponies who apparently had all the time in the world to get to wherever they were going. Where do they even need to be? I wondered to myself. There can't be that much to do here, unless they are all of to spend some more money.
I was lost in my musings when I noticed Feather Flare had abruptly stopped outside a suspiciously normal-looking café. I stumbled a little to avoid crashing into her, before righting myself and looking up at the sign.
"Pony Joe's," I read aloud. I turned to look at Feather Flare, only to find she was marching rapidly towards the entrance. Can't she slow down a little? I thought while following.
The interior was equally normal-looking. Isn't this city supposed to be upper-class only or something? Maybe I had just got my impressions completely twisted again. Of course normal ponies had to live here. How else could the rich be expected to keep their giant mansions clean?
I was letting my imagination drift off again. "Must be hunger," I muttered. Feather Flare looked over from the counter, where she was ordering. "Hm? Did you say something, Glyph?"
"Oh, err...I'll have what you're having, that's all." I babbled. She nodded, and relayed this information to the pony on the till, who I assumed was Pony Joe himself.
I looked around the little doughnut shop. There were only three ponies there, not including Feather Flare and Pony Joe. No griffins, luckily. One benefit of griffins being so rare was that the presence of one was usually very obvious. It was also a disadvantage, though. I don't mean to flatter myself, but word had surely spread by now of a griffin in Canterlot. Probably snide comments from the higher tier of society.
I shook myself out of my reverie. Looking over to Feather Flare, I saw she had sat at the counter, so I walked over to join her.
She looked up at my approach. "I got us the house special." She said with a grin.
I was instantly wary. "And that would be...what, exactly?" House specials tended to be either slight spins on perfectly normal and acceptable recipes, maybe larger portions, or they were ridiculously over-the-top concoctions the head chef just made up on the spot one night and deemed safe to eat.
She opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by Pony Joe, making his way out of the kitchen with a large tray in his mouth.
"One doughnut platter! Extra sprinkles!" He announced, somehow talking around the tray clenched between his teeth. He set it down before us, and I nearly fainted from just looking at the masses of sugar contained in the selection.
I waited before Pony Joe had moved on before whispering to Feather Flare, "How are we supposed to eat all this ?" She had already begun eating, so the only answer I got was a flat look and a vigorous gesture toward the mountain of sweets.
If I thought she had been acting erratically earlier, I did not want to see her after a kilogram of sugar. I started eating, not only for my benefit, I was starving at this point, but also to prevent her from gobbling the lot and slipping into a sugar-induced coma or something.
We tackled about two-thirds of the pile fairly rapidly, but began to slow down after that. It did allow for some conversation, however.
"So," I started, "How often are you in Canterlot?"
She chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then replied "Not that often, really. Mostly I come here for the train to Cloud Peak, but I don't even do that as often as I'd like. Other times it's just for fun. Like the last Grand Galloping Gala."
Grand Galloping Gala? "What happened at the last Grand Galloping Gala?" I asked. If it was anything like the Stately Swooping Soiree then I had a hunch it had been a disaster.
I have a weird perception of fun.
"Well, it started off like any other, of course. I was just hanging out in the main hall, by myself, as no-one else I knew had decided to attend. But as the night went on, things just kept going wrong. For starters, there was the orchestra performing a rendition of the 'pony pokey' led by an extremely lively pink mare, that was completely shunned by the elite. I kind of wanted to join in, to be honest, but it would have been the two of us..." She paused, thinking. "And that would have been awkward." She then added, deciding to clarify in case I hadn't figured it out.
I nodded. "You said things kept going wrong. What happened next?" It certainly sounded a lot more entertaining than the last time I attended the Soiree.
She continued. "Well, like I said, I was in the hall pretty much all night, so I might have missed some other stuff. But, anyway, a little later, that pink mare from earlier did a stage-dive onto a food cart, launching a cake up into the air."
I laughed a bit at that. "Brilliant. Was anyone hit?"
She nodded, a small smile playing about her lips. "Oh, yes. The cake was sailing through the air directly towards Prince Blueblood, but at the last moment, he grabbed some poor unsuspecting unicorn and used her as a shield."
I gasped. "She got splatted?"
Feather Flare nodded, her smile never leaving her lips. "Big time. Well, obviously, she was mad, and she just started shaking all these bits of cake towards Blueblood as he backed up to try and escape." She snickered. "But he backed into the statue in the middle of the room, and somehow managed to knock it over."
I gasped again, this time in alarm. "Was everyone okay?"
She held up a hoof. "It's not over yet. The statue began to fall and another mare, pegasus, flew to try and save the day. She actually managed to catch the statue, which would have been impressive, had she not lost her balance and knocked over all the pillars around the room. It's honestly a miracle no-one was hurt. But then, as the dust was settling and everypony was just staring in shock at her, the statue cracks and breaks, falling in two pieces off her back."
"Wow." Was pretty in awe myself. The Soiree had just been a bit chaotic, but nothing had broken. There had been some cake-flinging, however.
"Yep. As if things couldn't get much worse, the princess walks in right at that moment, to see the last of the dust settle and most of her hall in ruins." She laughed again. "But then things just got weird."
"Weird? How?" I was completely enthralled by this strange story by now. Why couldn't griffin parties be this fun?
"The side door burst open and a stampede of animals from the castle grounds swept across the hall, which of course caused all the pampered rich ponies to throw fits over the critters. The animals were quickly followed by another pegasus who stood in the doorway and roared, and I quote; 'You're going to LOVE me!'" She broke down into a fit of giggles.
I just sat, in awe, while she laughed. Eventually, she composed herself. "Finally, the princess leaned over to the unicorn mare next to her, who, incidentally, was looking about as shocked as you are right now, and said, loud enough for everyone in close proximity to hear, 'run.' Just 'run.' So the mare, did, along with five other ponies, the pink mare, the other unicorn who shook cake over the prince, the pegasus who tried to save the statue, the other pegasus in the doorway, and another earth pony. Everyone else was panicking enough that no-one really noticed both exits were available. Personally, I was in hysterics the whole time." She paused, the smile on her face fading slightly. "I don't think I'll be invited to the next Gala."
I had been absent-mindedly eating the doughnuts off the platter the whole time, so there were only two left by this point. Feather Flare took one, giggling to herself again. I reached for the other. "I wish I could match a story like that. I really wish I'd been there." I finished the doughnut in three quick chomps.
"So," Feather Flare had finished her doughnut too. "Where would you like to go next?"
I shrugged. "I don't know this city, remember? Although I could do with some gloves or something. Are there any clothes shops about?"
She shook her head. "None that would sell gloves, anyway. Hooves, remember? Besides, all the clothing outlets are way too expensive in Canterlot. You'd be better off in Cloudsdale, or Ponyville isn't far. In fact, there's a seamstress there who I believe has made gloves before."
This was news to me. I had come up with the gloves thing on the spot hoping to kill a few hours wandering around some clothing stores, but had never actually expected any to be available in the land of ponies. "She's made gloved before? For who?" Or what, I decided against adding.
"A dragon, I think. It might well just be a rumour." She replied.
A dragon? Yeah, right. "Dragons are huge, and fireproof. What use could they possibly have for gloves?"
"Cold-blooded, I think. It was for a winter wrap-up or something. We don't really have to bother with that in Cloudsdale."
Ponyville sounded interesting, to say the least. And now that I had the option of acquiring some gloves for real, I intended to take that chance.
"Well, maybe we could go to Ponyville next? How far is it, anyway?" I asked.
"We could fly there in a few hours, at least, assuming the wind's in our favour. Or we could get the train and arrive in less time regardless." Feather Flare weighed up the options. "On one hoof, free travel. On the other, easy travel." She looked at me. "But you haven't seen enough of Canterlot before I let you just dash off." She stood up, dropping a pile of bits next to the now-empty platter.
"Come on, we're going to see the castle before we leave. It's only fair," She said, winking at me while she walked away.
I grumbled incoherently. I didn't care for castles. I wanted to get out of here as fast as possible. But...
It was fun, to be honest. Just hanging out with a friend. So despite the fact that castles and palaces were lame, I went along with Feather Flare's plan. I got up and followed her out the door.