Griffinstone United

"Huh?" Benedict grunted, putting his book down, looking towards the door as the fierce knocking continued. Before she left, Carolyn had told him not to open the door unless she did her secret knock. She had made lots of enemies, and they visited her home frequently, which was why she kept her valuables in an old shack deeper in the forest.

This, however, wasn't her secret knock.

He inched towards the window, lifting the curtain slowly and carefully to look outside. Two rough griffons stood by the door, one a dark pine green, the other of a lighter hue, looking away from him, thankfully. Both carried what Carolyn had redefined to him as flintlock pistol. It was similar to a revolving musket, but with a much shorter barrel, making it less accurate. It was small and easily concealable, though, not that these two cared for that factor.

She'd told him to just stay, but the two looked as if they were ready to break the door down. He went back to the couch, deciding to stay on guard. If they did attempt to break the door down, he'd use the plush seats as cover, dusty crossbow ready to fire.

There was a moment of stasis before they rapped on the door once more. However, it was cut off shortly after, punctuated by a scream. Benedict scrambled towards the window, opening it to its full extent to see Carolyn waiting, two green griffons behind her, face down in the snow which had been stained a crimson red. She held two shopping bags, which Benedict took and set down on the table.

"Seems like you've been busy," she said, looking back at the griffons.

"They just arrived a minute before," he informed, looking through the bags. Some beef jerky (Benedict doubted it would be as good as Gilda's cooking), a couple apples, and a loaf of bread.

"You really strive for a king's meal, don't you?" he said, taking one of the apples and biting into it.

Carolyn smirked. "No, just a humble Empress's," she retorted, taking the bread and slapping it on a counter next to a wood stove. From the cabinets, she pulled out a tomato and some lettuce, cutting it all up to make some sandwiches. Benedict watched as she returned with a plate of them, setting it on the table. They ate the breakfast in silence, staring out the window. The storm had let up, but the remnants of it were still left, the snow nearly four inches deep. Birds chirped as the morning sun rose over a cloudy barrier, naked trees swinging in the breeze.

Benedict swallowed the last bit of his sandwich, getting up. It had been pleasant, or at least interesting, with Carolyn, but it was about time to go. She noticed this.

"Leaving so early?" she asked, mouth full.

"Yup," he responded.

"May I remind you that your wiseass king instructed us to be together?" she said, obviously wanting to show Benedict around more.

Before he reached the door, there was another knocking. He didn't have to check who it was, however, as the familiar dark blue face of a griffon looked through the window, lighting up at the sight of Benedict. He opened the door, Carolyn raising a hand cautiously.

"Hi Benedict!" Gabby squealed, waving an envelope at him eagerly. He took and opened it.

"Hey," he said, pulling out a slip of paper and looking over it.

"Gotta run!" She flew off without another word, more deliveries awaiting to be filled. By the time he had finished reading, Carolyn was peeking over his shoulder.

"What's it say?"

"It's from the King. He wants you and me to come to Craggle Creag to meet the other operatives." At Carolyn's puzzled expression he elaborated. "Oh, Craggle Creag is this small rocky city, just by the border. Anyway, he says to bring all your weapons and gear, and to pack your bags. I guess this is going to be an extended trip."

She smirked. "Well, looks like we'll both be going," Carolyn said happily, grabbing a bag. "Well, lets go to my stash, shall we?"

***   ***   ***

It almost felt wrong, the warmth of Craggle Creag, after being in the frigid temperatures of Cobble Claw. The whole town was bustling with activity, but it always was, no matter the weather.

Encompassed by small mountains and a valley, Craggle Creag was a town filled with merchants located on a rocky plateau, barren of any trees or grass. It was all dirt and stone from there on up. Benedict knew for a fact that if you needed something but couldn't find it, Craggle Creag would have it. Griffons and ponies alike from all over would come here for the thousands of goods that the merchants supplied, or join in with the market. It was all just one giant marketplace.

As Carolyn and Benedict walked through the winding paths of the colorful town along with the crowd, they took in all of the eye candy. Flags and banners were propped up everywhere and at each stand, adding a touch of color to the otherwise barren landscape. People stood at each stand, advertising their wares under a long cloth roof for shade.

"Collectors and normaltons alike, do you wish for a little more pizzazz in your home?" someone yelled, Carolyn looking up at the shady griffon. "Well, I've got some authentic, one hundred percent real artifacts and trinkets that you'll all love!"

"Congriffon," she whispered, Benedict nodding.

"Come and get the most ripe, plumb-puckerin' delicious apples you'll ever taste, ya' hear?" another pony yelled, standing on a box behind a rack of opened oak crates, each one holding dozens of red, green, and yellow apples.

"I've got the most colorful tapestries your eyes will ever lie sight on, hand woven!" a griffon yelled, flying over his stand, carrying a pole that reached out to either side of him, each end sporting a beautiful banner.

"What?!" a voice yelled over. Benedict turned to see a rivalry merchant pointing at the other. "My draperies are much more extravagant than those vile pieces of garbage." To prove it, he unfolded a cloth to reveal a breathtaking banner of a griffon flipping his head back on an amber-striped background. The two came together, face to face, the drama attracting a couple shoppers. Carolyn and Benedict weren't here to shop, however.

"So where's the place?" Carolyn asked, looking over the heads of other griffons and ponies.

Benedict shrugged. "It said somewhere around here, but I don't see it."

She stopped. "Maybe it's an old, abandoned warehouse."

"Maybe," Benedict muttered, walking forward until Carolyn stopped her.

"No, look." Benedict followed her pointed claw to an old building, its wood walls rotting.

"Oh." He followed her, the two of them slowly approaching the neglected warehouse. Carolyn rapped on the door, the peephole sliding open immediately. Two eyes looked out at them before a careless voice sounded from behind.

"Well, I've done my job. Banana, go ahead." Soon after, a griffon shot out from the patchy roof, flying away. Benedict's assumptions were correct and he grinned at the sight of the yellow unicorn.

"Benedict! You're here!" she squealed, bouncing up and down. "Oh, and Carolyn! Come in, come in!"

The inside of the building was the same as the outside, forgotten. The only signs that someone had been here were the lanterns and papers everywhere. Rays of sunlight shone through the ceiling of dried grass. This place'd fall apart if there was a slight storm, he thought, looking around. "Er, why exactly are we here?"

She perked up. "Well, just follow me to this back room, it's only a bit smaller than here but its where everyone else is. The guy who left was acting like a squatter, you know, for less suspicion." Banana Toss struggled to keep her pace at a walk as Carolyn stared at her.

"Who in the hell?" she asked.

"Banana Toss," Benedict informed, "she's the headmaster of the Academy."

She cocked her head. "The what now?"

"I'll tell you about it later," he said, going towards the door. He reached for the rusted doorknob, but it turned without his need and opened. He casually strode forward as the door was opening all the way...

...Until he saw the dragon.

"Ah!" he yelped, Carolyn jumping back as Banana Toss held up her hooves.

"No, no, he's friendly guys!" She helped Benedict up who had fallen backwards, Carolyn staring at him.

"Hey, wait a minute, I know you," she said, realization creasing her face. "You're Blaze, right?"

The dragon silently nodded, cheeks turning red. "Sorry if I scared you," he mumbled, surprising both of the two. As Benedict regained his posture and recovered from his sudden blip of fright, he studied him. About three heads taller than him, Blaze was a skinny, grey dragon with a snow white belly, alabaster, rounded spikes jutting out from his back and all the way down to his tail.

"I-I didn't mean to be threatening." He looked at the ground, hands behind his back.

"Aren't dragons supposed to be big and scary?" Benedict asked, wiping the dirt off from his cloak.

"Well, most of us are, but I, uh, well, I was kind of different," he stuttered. There was a short silent until Blaze and Banana Toss made eye contact, him immediately getting out of the way. "Oh, um, sorry, come in."

Benedict gazed at him for a moment longer before heading inside, still unable to wrap his head around a shy dragon, Carolyn and Banana Toss following. Benedict was met by a vast difference in ponies and griffons alike, all of them either sitting down on creaking crates or chatting with one another. The room was about the same size as the previous, but much cleaner and with a shorter ceiling. The floor was of smooth dirt, tables set up around the room with numerous boards and papers pinned to walls. One of the griffons, however, started to make his way towards them.

Carolyn slapped her forehead with a hand. "Shit," she muttered as he approached, Benedict looking at the stranger. He bore a giant grin, his plumage a light hue of blue and his coat of a darker color. He wore a cloak with golden swirls etched into it, leather shoulder pads and a leather top to protect him. To either side of his waist lied an occupied holster for a modified flintlock pistol, a revolving musket's revolving mechanism set into the base of each of them.

"Carrie, what's up?" he said in a smooth voice, wrapping a arm around her and grinning at Benedict. Carolyn looked as though she was ready to snap his neck.

"Get. Off," she growled.

He backed away, chuckling. "Woah, calm down, Carrie!" The invader of personal space looked up at Benedict. "And who's your date?"

"Alexander, why the hell are you even here?" she grumbled, not giving Benedict an opportunity to answer.

"Was invited," he answered simply, pulling out one of his revolving flintlock things and spinning it around with one claw. Upon further inspection, it also had intricate golden swirls etched into it, a tiny skull at the end of the barrel.

"What are those?" Benedict asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh, these? They're just the newest model for the arsenal, they call 'em revolving flintlocks. I just call 'em revolvers." He was pleased to be able to show them off before snapping it back to its holster. Benedict eventually strayed away, letting him chat with (Annoy) Carolyn while he went over to Banana Toss. She was standing behind a small stack of crates, shuffling a pack of cards before Benedict caught her eye.

"Oh, hi!" she said, tossing the stack away to let it all flutter to the floor, quickly teleporting back to her in a neat pile.

"Hey Banana, can I ask why we're here?" he asked, looking at the crowd. There were two ponies across from them, one of them Benedict recognized to be Big Mac, both chatting in hushed tones and glancing at him.

She stirred after what seemed like a daydream. "Oh, yeah! So now that Griffinstone is united and all that jazz, the King and the Empress decided, 'hey, lets get some people to look into this whole weather thing,' so they asked me to round you all up!"

"Wait, what?!" he loudly whispered.

"It's okay, they all know."

"That's not why I said that," he muttered.

"Well, before I go ahead and tell this boring speech, go ahead and meet all the people here. That way you all are a bit more 'acquainted' or whatever," she said, looking back at her cards that Benedict had caught a glimpse of to find that they were all just sketches of goofy faces.

"Er, alright," Benedict said, looking around. Big Mac and the unicorn were already in a conversation, Alexander was still annoying Carolyn, and Blaze was silently standing in the corner of the room. That left a single griffon with a bright white plumage and slightly blond coat, yellow dots on her face making it seem like she had freckles. She looked pretty young compared to the rest of them, younger than Benedict even. She wore a white cloak and a rough bow was on her shoulder, a quiver equipped on her back. As soon as he started stepping towards her, she looked up from a book.

"Hey," Benedict said awkwardly, unsure of what to say. "I'm Benedict, and, er, I guess Banana Toss wants us to meet one another?"

She grinned and nodded eagerly. "Yeah, alright!" she said in a high voice. "I'm Ellie. So you've heard about what Banana's planning for us, right?" Inside, Benedict sighed with relief that he didn't have to start the meat of the conversation.

"Yeah, she just told me the gist of it, but could you maybe explain to me a bit more?"

"Oh, sure!" she said, putting her book on a nearby table. "Well, requested by the King and Empress, Banana Toss has recruited a bunch of people — us — to look into the strange weather recently, as well as the murders near Whitewing, and the King was specific. He wanted to get seven people, each one to fulfill a role needed for this squad. Me, I'm a student Aid, but she says I've really progressed.

"Oh, and him over there," she pointed a claw towards Big Mac, "That's Big Macintosh, a master of Geomancy."

"Yeah," Benedict interrupted, "I know him."

"Oh, neat!" Ellie stopped, looking at the mare. "Do you know Amethyst?"

"Er, no," he said, following her gaze to the purple unicorn. Ellie was more than eager to explain.

"Well, Amethyst Star is a master of Elemancy and she's been researching advanced techniques of telekinesis."

Something clicked in Benedict's head, and he remembered the whole gem fuel thing. "Wait, what kind of gems do Elemantics and Aids use?"

"Well, we use pearls, so we always carry a pouch of them." She pointed at a small bag on the table beside her book. "Elemantics use rubies. Her advanced telekinesis doesn't take anything, though, since she's a unicorn and all unicorns have telekinesis.

"Anyways, that over there is Blaze," she said. "He's like the marksman of our team, I guess you could say. He's super reserved and shy, which if you ask me is pretty ironic. I don't know much about Alexander though, he was trying to flirt on me a minute ago." She lowered her voice, raising a hand to her beak and whispering, "He's kind of an asshole."

Benedict watched as Carolyn gave him a brief slap, making him stumble. "I noticed."

"Who's the girl you came with?" she asked.

"Oh, that's Carolyn. She's like an ex-assassin-ish."

"Huh," she said, looking at her. After a moment, she turned her head back up to Banana Toss and pointed. "Oh, she's getting ready to give a speech or something." Benedict looked and saw that Banana Toss was, indeed, getting ready to tell the short speech, though Benedict had saw that the cards were just sketches of goofy faces. She cleared her throat so that everyone looked up, shifting. Benedict saw a red mark on Alexander's cheek, the aftermath of the hard slap.

"Hi!" Everyone just looked at one another, and someone coughed. "I'm Banana Toss, and I bet you all have noticed all the freezing snow that's been dropping near the north lately. Well, to make it short, you all have been recruited to be in a special squad to investigate the oddity!" She did a whispered yay. "Um." She looked at her cards, thinking.

"Welp, I guess that's kinda it," she said, awkwardly laughing before regaining her train of thought. "Oh, right! So, here's what you're all tasked to do. Griffinstone is supplying you all with a net mass of fourteen hundred bits for you to shop around here for anything you'd think you'd need, two hundred for each of you, as well as some food and water." Carolyn's eyes widened. "After that, you'll all be tasked with going to Whitewing, checking out the camp where the one thing happened, then to Stonetail City where you'll meet me."

Very specific, Benedict thought. She started to trot away from the podium before perking up, remembering something and rushing back.

"Oh, and we'll be supplying our mages with all the gems you'll need, just stay here with me while the rest leave, Amethyst and Ellie. So, you'll find the caches of bits outside in the first box on the left, grab one and go ahead. Once you're all done, meet back up in this warehouse." Everyone was silently standing. "What are you waiting for? Shop on!"

People started shuffling towards the doorway, awkwardly. Benedict kind of felt bad for Banana Toss to get such awkward feedback as he went out with Carolyn, opening the box that Banana Toss had told of. Inside were several large rucksacks, each one bulging with bits. He hefted two of them, giving one to Carolyn who greedily accepted, flying off to the market place. Benedict himself made for the door, slinging the sack behind his shoulder.

It'd be a long day of shopping.

***   ***   ***

The sun was setting when the blue griffon finally returned, his sack even heavier than it was before with anything but necessities for their trip. Now the shafts of sunlight came from the holes in the walls, the orange sky dying out.

Benedict sat on his crate, quietly cursing as he put his hand of cards on Big Mac's deck, right beside the two empty bottles of hard ale. He'd bought a pack of cards, but he turned out to be no good compared to Big Mac, his poker face never faltering. It was pretty much a game between him and a drunk Carolyn, who'd joined shortly after Benedict's third loss in a row. Big Mac then had some actual competition.

Amethyst Star had stayed away from everyone but Big Mac, her gaze distrustful. Benedict had been the third to arrive, just after Blaze and Amethyst, and he hadn't been able to get any words out of her.

Blaze had been silently sitting alone in the corner of the room before Ellie had joined him, now both of them reading their own books that the two readers had bought. The dragon was skinny, scrawny even, compared to other dragons. Benedict slowly pulled out of the game, letting Carolyn and Big Mac keep his deck of cards. Instead, he watched as Alexander started unpacking all of the needless garbage he'd bought. His skull wasn't too thick so that he didn't think of buying a thick coat like the rest of them, but the reasonableness ended there. Broken swords, empty jars, and more junk tumbled out from his sack.

Despite that they were getting food for free, Benedict had went ahead and bought a couple dozen packs of beef jerky, as well as two decks of cards and a thick, warm coat, as did everyone else for the latter. This left him with about a hundred bits. Carolyn had spent most of her money on booze, drunkenly claiming that she'd stop at her stash on the way to Whitewing, since Cobble Claw was on the way. Benedict had no idea what Big Macintosh had bought, but Ellie and Blaze had both purchased books, and Benedict had learned that Ellie's arrows were enchanted.

That left Amethyst Star, who was in the other corner of the room near the entrance, a weird set of objects that she'd purchased laid out on a couple crates, along with multiple volumes. When she made eye contact with Benedict, she pouted and turned back to her work. He'd been observing her for a while and learned that the strange magical array of tools and objects were all some sort of spell-combining set, which she'd been working on ever since she'd arrived back. She was the only one, besides Alexander, who'd spent all of her bits.

Eventually Benedict left for the back room, going to lie in one of the neatly made beds that Banana Toss had procured while they were gone. He fell asleep pondering what would happen the next day. He was sure it'd be eventful.