Chapter 4: Pegasus in the Everfree

Fluttershy watched the balloon as it descended and ran forward to greet the occupants,

"Zephyr, Gabby! How are you two?" Gabby hugged Fluttershy happily, the griffin wearing a large saddle bag on either side of her.

"Hey sis!" Zephyr hopped out, his bandaged wings explaining the reason for the balloon as he greeted her, "I received your letter, and here I am," he said dramatically, hoof pointing to the sky as a third figure jumped out.

"Big sister," the white griffin cub tackled her happily, Fluttershy cooed at him,

"Hey Frost, how's my little dove?" the cub blushed in embarrassment, where if anyone else had called him that he would have growled and tackled them.

"Fluttershy, don't call me that," he whined, he got enough ribbing about his delicate features at home!

"Will you three be alright staying in my cottage? Gabby can room with me if she wants to, unless your planning on staying in the cottage with Trade Wind," Zephyr rubbed the back of his head,

"Nah, I'll be staying with you sis, me and Frost, Gabby said she wanted to stay with Trade Wind, help look after the cottage." Gabby nodded at his words,

"Yes, I even accepted a part-time job as one of the mail workers while Zephyr helps out with the interior decorating for the project. I will also be helping fly back any heavy antiques that Trade Wind needs, I'm not much help in anything else I'm afraid," she admitted, but Zephyr wrapped his hoof around her neck,

"Come on Gabby, your multi-talented in a lot of things, remember how fast you mastered carpentry just because you wanted to help out?" the griffin blushed at his words.

"Thank-you, um, you can move your hoof now," Zephyr coughed as he did so, and Fluttershy giggled at her brother's expression.

"So, do I want to know why the two of you arrived together?" she giggled even harder at their darkening faces, Frost rolling his eyes,

"They've been acting like this the entire time, you'd think after being partners in the same business they'd be comfortable with each other by now," the griffin cub spotted something in the distance, "Hey I see Caramel and Glaze, see ya!" he darted off, Fluttershy calling out to him to ask one of the adults to take him to her house before she turned to the two in front of her.

"So how was your stay in Griffin Stone," Fluttershy asked as she walked with the two to her house,

"Well, apart from Gabby, every other griffin treated me with distrust and kept asking for bits for the smallest things. I tried to learn as much as I could about their culture to understand how to help them with the whole zen thing. But we didn't have enough funds and none of them were interested in sending their young ones to Wing Chun summer camp. I'd say Gabby's stay in Cloudsdale was an itsy bit better, minus the charging bit," Gabby agreed with him on that point,

"It was nice to talk with someone who didn't treat me with disdain, though I wish more griffins were accepting and receptive to new ideas on how to improve our community," the griffin said sadly, Fluttershy gave a sad smile,

"Reese is still here if you are interested in talking with her, she's been in Ponyville for the past four years doing her daycare business with Carrot Mash, so the citizens of the town are used to the sight of griffins. And since Wind Scar was arrested so soon as well as his cohorts, the cubs didn't have to disguise themselves anymore either, so everyone knows they are griffins," not that all of the citizens accepted them, there were a few close-minded individuals that thought only ponies can live in the town, not other species.

"That does make me feel better," Gabby declared, cheering up, though they all jumped at the sound of lightning outside Town Hall. The sound of laughing had them looking at a scene where Spike was hiccuping on the ground with Pinkie and Rainbow Dash who was on a cloud were laughing,

"Oh dear, it seems Pinkie finally recruited Rainbow Dash for her pranking," Fluttershy watched Spike's fire come out as he hiccuped, sending all the scrolls he had just gotten up in flames. Zephyr went ahead of her and knelt before him,

"Okay little guy, take a deep breath and count to ten," he fished a bottle of water from his bag and gave it to Spike to gulp down, "Here," he turned to Pinkie and Rainbow with a frown, seeing that Pinkie was now hiccuping as well from the scare Rainbow gave her, "You know how dangerous it is to give a dragon the hiccups? Those scrolls don't look all that cheap either, do you want to send a note to Princess Celestia about sending those scrolls back? The amount looked pretty big," Spike stood up and glanced at the single scroll that survived his hiccups,

"Yeah, otherwise Twilight won't be very happy about paying for more of them," that got Pinkie and Rainbow to calm down.

"Sorry Spike, if I had known you'd end up breathing fire," Pinkie said, feeling chastised, Spike waved it off,

"I'm always up for a good laugh, uh, do you have anything for indigestion? Those are a lot of scrolls Princess Celestia will be sending back," he wrote a quick letter to her explaining what happened on a small piece of paper and sent it off.

"I do have something, I had a dragon roommate who overused his fire gut several times as he showed off, here," he dropped some yellow drops in Spike's claws, "It is not the same considering you are literally coughing out scrolls, but it should help with the aching and burning." Spike gazed up at him with awe.

"You had a dragon roommate?" he said with wide eyes.

"And a minotaur," Rainbow realized something,

"Wait, you were the other pegasus representative for the University?" Zephyr nodded, "But, I thought the entrance was really exclusive, how'd you get in," he rolled his eyes,

"Yeah there were a few that got in based on certain reasons, but the rest of us had to enter by writing an essay," Gabby nodded next to him,

"I mostly got in because none of the other griffins wanted to enter, but it was still a great experience for me, I decided to enter business with Zephyr here in interior decorating and the practice of Feng Shui (can't think of a pony version.)" that earned her confused expressions.

"What's Feng Shui?" Rainbow asked and Fluttershy was the one who explained,

"Its a way of arranging one's environment that results in harmony, Zephyr also does Wing Chun lessons on the side to help one with wings exercise their body to its fullest potential, he's also versed in the Earth Pony and Unicorn one as well Pinkie Pie," the Earth mare gasped,

"Ooh, that sounds so exciting, but right now I have plenty of ideas for pranks that Rainbow Dash and I can do, see ya!" they dashed off, leaving the four there as Spike started coughing out the accidentally sent scrolls.

"Thank goodness, she sent all of them back," he said with some relief, popping in two of the yellow drops to ease the burning in his throat and stomach, Gabby appeared next to him, holding some of the scrolls,

"Why don't I help you deliver them to the library while Zephyr and Fluttershy catch up some more," the two went off, Spike asking Gabby if she knew any dragons as well

"Come on sis, let's go," Fluttershy took Zephyr to Trade's cottage, filling him in, and gave him a small map that Trade had given her.

"Trade Wind's working in the throne room today, cleaning up debris and putting them in different piles, she spent last week mapping out the entire place with those Pearls your group designed a few years ago. There are pictures of the interior but I know you like to be there yourself to see what you want to do," Zephyr agreed with her,

"So, it's only a kilometer in that direction? See you tonight sis," he accepted a picnic basket she prepared and almost flew up when he remembered his wings and settled for walking instead.

Walking through one of the scariest forests in Equestria was terrifying for those not used to it, but being in Griffin Stone and with his time as part of Trade Wind's group lent him the comfort of being in these unknown parts.

Arriving at the castle took some time, and he had to marvel at the amount of damage that it sustained over the last thousand years, this was going to be tricky.

"Hey Trade Wind, your interior decorator is here!" he stepped in and gasped, "What are you doing?!" he stopped her from taking down the tapestries, "You have to be careful with those, they are heavy! I can't help you because of my wing, but maybe you should be searching for lighter banners.

"I am stronger than I look remember," she said, voice quiet, and he had a good reason why,

"Garble told me you haven't contacted him since graduation," he saw her flinch, "Did something happen that I don't know about?"

"Of course not, I just figured since he's going on tour and everything that he didn't want to be distracted with some letters, this is very important to him, so," she was not going to get into this with Garble's roommate.

"You do know he might stop by Ponyville sometime, look, whatever has happened, you need to talk with him, you two endured a lot at the University with everything that happened with Blueblood. You are not ending your friendship with him are you?" Trade Wind stopped fiddling with the cart filled with smaller tapestries and old clothes.

"No, I just needed time to step back and think, please, I had Fluttershy summon you here so that you can help with the castle, nothing else okay?" seeing how uncomfortable she looked, he stopped his questioning and they continued taking down the other tapestries.

Gabby joined them later in the day and helped take the cart back to Ponyville, placing it in front of Rarity's where Ash and Paris helped put it in the basement,

"We'll get started on this tonight, thanks for the chance," Ash stated, looking at the tapestries with awe, Paris was the same.

"I don't suppose you need someone to look at the rocks in the place or sniff out strange scents?" Trade smiled.

"Actually, apart from Zephyr Breeze, I also invited someone from the Pie family for the stone masonry, but if you find you have time you can come as well. I have a list of professionals needed to give to Mayor Mare who'll do an announcement and post them on the Town Board in Town Hall. She's doing the announcement tomorrow, hopefully, there will be enough ponies interested in doing extra jobs, the budget Princess Celestia set for it is pretty generous, speaking of budget, guess I'll visit Big Mac and ask if he wants to help with the accounting part of it. See you gals later," she parted from Zephyr and Gabby who were going to Fluttershy's for dinner and headed towards Sweet Apple Acres.

She stopped at the entrance, staring at all of the painted apples and watched as Pinkie and Rainbow ran past her with painting supplies, Applejack throwing apples at them,

"I'm guessing the unholy union finally happened," she commented to the Earth mare who rolled her eyes,

"They are just lucky the paint washes off so easily, but it is going to take forever washing all of these apples one by one, well, Apple Bloom did say she wanted to help out more. Sorry, what were you here for?"

"I wanted to see if Big Mac was interested in helping out with the castle project, he's very good with accounting and I thought he might want to keep track of the expenses, he'll receive a commission for it," she added when Applejack opened her mouth.

"Huh, that's a different matter, I know he has a Certificate of being an Accountant, but he hasn't really been using it apart from keeping track of our own books. Since Applebucking season is over, he should have time for it, he loves looking over numbers, sure go ahead." thanking Applejack, Trade entered the Apple's household, seeing a napping Granny Smith and finding Big Mac in the living room going over the books.

"Hey Big Mac, got a second?" he set down his quill,

"Eeyup."

Frost and his 'siblings' were talking with one another, Frost especially excited about Scootaloo being a new sister and her skills with a scooter,

"I've been trying to get Fluttershy or Zephyr to let me do skating, or at least maybe cart racing, but I have to wait till I'm older, a scooter is still cool tho-" he was cut off as he bumped into something and he saw Caramel, Glaze, and Scootaloo look a bit worried, which worried him as well even as he turned to the pony he bumped into, "Sorry about that! I wasn't-" he was cut off by glaring yellow eyes of an unfamiliar griffin who while she looked surprised at seeing griffin cubs in Ponyville, looked more annoyed than surprise.

"I'm walking here!" she snarled at him and he felt tears coming to his eyes,

"I-i'm sorry, I was-" his voice squeaked, he hated it when that happened,

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she mocked, "Watch where you're going freak! What are you a dove lion combo? This is what a real griffin is," and she roared right in his face.

"Frost!" his siblings cried out as he stood frozen under the onslaught before tears came to his eyes and he flew off, sobbing as he searched for his big sister Fluttershy.

"Ugh, must have been raised by ponies to be so pathetic," Gilda scoffed, leaving herself, the two griffin cubs and filly staring after her,

"I can't believe she just did that, it was only an accident," Scootaloo huffed, it wasn't Frost's fault he was busy telling her about something that sounded cool!

"Look there's Pinkie Pie, maybe she'll know of a way to get back at the mean lady," Caramel approached the pink pony who had a scowl on her face as she stared after the spot Gilda had been.

"Auntie Pinkie Pie, we need your help," Glaze stated, his wings ruffled.

When the welcome party for Gilda came, Trade Wind was meeting with Madame Mayor, Big Mac at her side as they went over their figures,

"Rarity and her fellow seamstresses agreed on doing it for half their normal price and the chance of having their names get the credit. The Pie Family is sending a stonemason for help restoring the castle and providing material. Derpy Do and the Cakes said so long as we provide money for ingredients, they would cater to all the workers. We will also be raising money by providing articles of our progress in the North Star magazine, and the princesses agreed to let us provide pictures of what is going on. A librarian or archivist isn't needed because I'll be recording all the books that are listed, and Princess Cadance will be coming over to deal with any of the forbidden magic books not needed. Twilight Sparkle expressed interest in seeing the books, but I'll need to clear it with Princess Celestia just in case. Time Turner is going to check all the timepieces and use his scientific knowledge on how to include any pipes and other odds and ends." they all looked up at the sound of a faint roar that came from Sugarcube Corner, the mayor frowned.

"I do hope no one is giving Caramel and Glaze a hard time, again, Reese can be very protective,"

"I don't think that was Reese," Trade pointed out the window at an unfamiliar griffin to the other two but familiar to her fly out of the place, "Looks like Gilda lost her cool," she said with some satisfaction, at least now Rainbow knew the truth about her friend.

"Gilda? That griffin Pinkie threw a party for? The same one I have an incident report for roaring at the cubs in public?" the Mayor frowned, she adored those little griffin cubs and hearing about Frost being driven to crying (he was getting better at not crying at everything, but this was definitely going to be a setback.)

"Yep," Trade knew it had been Fluttershy who ran away crying in the show, having been the one to bump into Gilda while guiding the ducks (something that didn't happen here because Fluttershy had done that earlier with Zephyr.)

They left Town Hall, Big Mac heading back to the farm while Mayor Mare went on her lunch break, and Trade Wind headed towards the party, maybe she could ask for one of those spicy lemon drops Pinkie Pie makes?

Several Minutes Before

Frost was cuddled next to Fluttershy who gave him a cupcake,

"Wait here a moment little dove," she comforted him, they had hidden in the corner of the room, Fluttershy letting Pinkie do whatever she needed first before the pegasus would go up to confront the griffin about roaring at her little brother.

So when Rainbow Dash was scolding Gilda for ruining the party, Fluttershy stood in the doorway to stop the griffin from leaving, which everypony noticed.

Gilda turned to go but found a yellow pegasus stopping her, one she recognized from flight camp,

"Move it, weakling," she growled, but Fluttershy straightened and stared, freezing Gilda in her tracks,

"The next time you bump into a child, I expect you to accept their apologies and not make them cry." her gaze kept Gilda where she was, "So I want you to turn around, approach my little brother, and say you are sorry for roaring at him," she made Gilda back up all the way to the back where Frost was watching with wide eyes.

"I-i don't need to," Gilda struggled to look away from the yellow pegasus who merely narrowed her eyes,

"Now!" she said sharply and Gilda forced back the whimper as she turned around to the white griffin who was staring with wide eyes,

"I'm sorry for roaring at you and not accepting your apology," she forced out, and the moment she felt herself free she flew out of there, she was not going to stay here a moment longer, no matter Rainbow had told her about her loser sister being in town.