Marked

So many shiny smooth stones. Glittery gems aplenty. The only problem was... One of my talons reached down, and I picked up a tiny ruby. And when I say tiny, I mean that it's like a reddish pebble gemstone. I scowled and put it back in the pile. Sting had a look of boredom on his gray face. His horn sparked with gray-blue magic, and he flicked an amethyst a tiny bit larger than the ruby over his shoulder. It skittered down the tunnel.

"So uncool. Is there anything worth takin' in this dump? Seriously, dudette." Oh. Great. Not the "surfer dude" act again. I tried to facepalm... facetalon? Anyway, it was a bit awkward, so I just let out a big sigh. Then, Sting's voice prompted me to look down the tunnel.

"What's a pretty mare like you doing in a place like this?" Sting had gone from "surfer dude" to "pick-up liner" in a flash. The hot pink pegasus mare rolled her eyes, as the sheer ridiculousness of the question prompted her to do, and ran her hoof through a straight strand of her soft and rosy, but incredibly dirty mane. If she had been cleaner, she would have been quite the looker. And apparently she knew it, as a snooty smirk turned the corners of her mouth upward.

"Pretty? Well, of course I'm pretty, but I haven't had a proper bath or brush in weeks, and I simply refuse to grace this hovel with my wonderful presence any longer." She turned her head towards me, and gave me a condescending glare. "You. Griffin. Carry me out, my hooves have been digging so much I cannot be on them for one more second." I glared right back at her. This insufferable mare was bragging like she thought she was the Great and Powerful Trixie or something. I glanced at Sting, and decided that whoever this mare was, she was not worth pandering to, even if she was Celestia herself.

I said to Sting, "This pony is so insufferable. She can fend for herself, but of course we'll help her get out. At least, if she shuts up we might. I mean, seriously. What kind of stuck-up, braggart, hyper-entitled, spoiled snob is she? And how racist is she?" I deepened the glare creeping into my eyes, and looked right into hers. That pampered pony "princess" flipped her mane, and fluttered her wings at me.

"Griffins are dirty, murderous scoundrels. Can't they just stay in the Mini-onion, or whatever, where they belong?" I was seriously considering smacking her. "This 'dirty, murderous scoundrel' was the one who freed you from those mutts. Can't we all just get along?" I fluttered my eyes at her. The snob rolled her eyes and sighed. "I was captured from my slavers by a greedy, grotesque, murderous, bloody, Celestia-forsaken, brittle-feathered, meat-eating griffion. Can this day get any woooorse?

I couldn't contain myself any longer. This mare was worse than Blueblood, for Celestia's sake!

"Just who do you think you are? Whoever it is, you aren't entitled to treat us like seagull droppings! You're just like that ma- stallion. That smug, insufferable stallion. And he pinned it on me." My eyes filled with murderous rage.

"You don't deserve your fancy life in a utopia like Equestria," I hissed.

Her eyes widened in shock. "Do you know who you're talking to?"

I gripped her head in my talons, and brought her face up to me so I could look straight into her eyes. "No. I don't. And whoever you are, it doesn't matter to me."

Pink hooves shoved my talons away. "Who do you think you are? I'm Rose Quartz, famous jewelry model. And you are... some upstart griffin who forgot her place." She spun around, scattering pebbles. With a very deliberate motion, she kicked a ruby about the size of my fist right smack dab into... my face. I tried to catch it, but however agile a griffin may or may not be... I wasn't enough.

*CLONK*

"Hisssssss..." My eyes narrowed to slits. A comical bump had appeared on my head. However comical... I didn't feel like laughing.

"SCREE!"

*SMACK*

The former sound was an enraged griffin's screech. The latter was my golden talon darting forward, pausing a fraction of a moment in front of her face, and then slapping her, or the griffin equivalent. "You- you'll pay for that..." A hot pink muzzle, a red talon-shaped mark on one of the cheeks... Eyes narrowed, a tangled, ratty mane. "You'll pay for that, I promise..." With that she opened her wings, and flew back down the tunnel. Sting grimaced.

"I can't believe I thought she was cute."

I snickered, and placed a talon on Stingray's shoulder. "Don't worry, Sting. You'll find somepony sometime. Just be careful. I'm not going to be around all the time to smack the idiots." We shared a laugh, and started sorting the stones, trying to figure out what was valuable and what was worthless."

It was a pretty good haul.