Year 983 July 18

The shore was in sight, along with a large river that we headed right in for, from what in told it's called Guto river, it's along the path to the city we are trying to reach, I could smell the nearby forest pine trees from here, as we approached, going from salt water to fresh water around this area the place was much less cold, it was more like summer but not as hot as Canterlot during the summer.

Going from sea to river felt more substantial than I would have believed, the air smells different here, less briny, and the ever present pine aroma is a welcome change, I already want to get out of this damn ship, I don't want to sound rude to the kind griffons who helped us and stood up for us in a fight, but after two full days of being stuck in this floating tiny vessel has me feeling really eager to get back on solid ground.

Thankfully we didn't have to wait long, because not even an hour later we arrived at a port, there were other caravels like ours too, some bearing blue sails and others had a flag on them, one with red and white patterns with the outline of a griffon with a crown, I assume that's this nations flag.

The ship slowly approaches the docks, some of the sailors tie ropes to the mooring lines and pull it into position now that the sails are lifted and tied in place, it doesn't take long for the ship to be properly secured and locked in place, and the wooden ramp lowered for both passengers and cargo to go through.

We are ready to disembark with our bags all prepared, they can be carried on the back with a harness, but we can also use the inventory to keep a whole bag and not worry about its weight shifting around.

Captain Warbler approaches us with a friendly smile, Sylf has already prepared a bit of a surprise for him from what she told us, she's going to give him a rather generous tip, technically this trip on the boat is already paid with the price of the train ticket here, but because the train bridge isn't complete, the Equestrian company hired a shipping business from Griffonstone as a temporary contractor.

3000 bits to be divided between 6 griffons, I would say it's not a bad tip, mom has gotten extremely wealthy in the last few months thanks to her increase in rank in the guard and wise investments in various fields that are in development and have given fruit, having propelled her over the million bit mark, having friends in banking helps, she still keeps in contact with our friends from that bank we used to exchange gold a few times, they hooked her up with the most profitable investments.

Despite her appearance being slightly intimidating for the average pony, mom is the most sociable of us all outside of work, Coconut is sociable with his clients but he absolutely sucks at asking for help or just a favor, he also rarely starts conversations other than with us, he's really an introvert at heart.

"It was wonderful to have you aboard you three, I've not talked much with you mister Coconut, your wife told me about you but I understand being shy, don't worry I don't plan on forcing you to speak, just saying goodbye to all of you, please travel again on the Cirice! Choose Blue Sail company again, we can transport not only you but any cargo you have whenever between any Equestrian city that borders the Celestial Sea and Griffonstone, and as you saw we defend you and your valuable objects with our lives if need be." We couldn't deny that, his sailors were really ready to fight to the death. "We dont deal with the isles though, sorry, my mother nation is at war with them, our company is from Griffonstone."

Sylf approaches Warbler with Coconut right next to her, she hands the bag of bits to her husband who seems really nervous. But holds it in his telekinesis, then he approaches the griffon. "G-good day mister Warbler, hopefully this tip will make up for any trouble we caused you, and any damage or issue we caused by accident, I'm sorry about not speaking more to yoh all, I'm rather introverted when it comes to speaking to others, my wife is the more extroverted between the two, here thank you for everything!" Dad shyly says to the griffon and offers him the bag of bits, who he receives with a big smile, feeling the heft and nodding in approval.

"Don't fret over it lad, you are the way you are, I respect it, thank you three for the tip, and remember if you ever need our services, we have an office in Griffonstone and you can ask for me in particular, see you another time!" And then we waved goodbye and left the ship, walking into the wooden harbor that had dozens of griffons, some minotaurs and even a few diamond dogs, mostly griffons tho, I decided I don't want to have too much attention on me and decided to wear my magical robes, they are nicely concealing, when no one was looking I equipped them and kept walking like nothing happened.

We also have gotten similar robes, even if they are mundane and not magical artifacts, for mom and dad, robes to mostly cover us from prying eyes and make us stand out a bit less, ponies rarely if ever came to this nation, other than to do business and usually under heavy guard, dragons? Well they usually do whatever they want so they sometimes would set out on their own to do who knows what, and they were known for being quite disrespectful of other species sensibilities like manners, or so I'm told.

Once we leave the docks, there is a dirt road leading south, across the forest that will take us directly to the city, so that's our goal, we follow the signs that are occasionally placed next to the road, it forks in some areas into small paths, going into other villages or farms, but the main path remains straight. Some others walked the roads too, but most griffons just flew overhead, with it being faster and more efficient than walking.

"How interesting, my robes despite being black don't really heat up at all, wearing them even in this sun doesn't heat them up, despite the fact that I can feel the cloth touching my scales, how are you two holding up?" I had mostly wore this robes in cold weather before so I didn't notice this nifty enchantment on them, they work well to protect me from the sun.

"How lucky, my black coat is really hot and I'm almost overheating here, I think I'm gonna try that cloak you bought us for Heart's warming last year, it was pretty nice looking and may protect me from the rays of the sun a bit better... How are you holding up my love?" We both turned to look at the unicorn who was just smiling and walking seemingly happy.

"Oh I'm pretty good, the sun doesn't bother me, it's just a little warm sure but not bad, I guess the perk of having a lighter color mane and a light brown coat heh! You should definitively wear your cloack, isn't it like light gray? Its gonna help a lot with the sun, trust me dear." I nodded in agreement with him, of course having black fur is going to suck in summer.

We stopped in the shade of a tree, opening Sylf's bag, taking out the cloak and helping her put it on, it was good quality fabric, gray with white patterns and small golden trim in the edges, however it was too short to cover her legs fully. Overall pretty fancy and beautiful on her, contrasting her black fur.

"Looking good mom! It really suits you, I think I did a pretty good job picking it up for you if I may say so, this was the largest size they had them on, sorry if it doesn't quite cover your legs." I pat her back and close her bags.

"We may as well have lunch while we are at it, I'm putting all of our bags in the inventory, just so you know, they'll be annoying to haul around all day, is that okay?" I got nods in affirmation so I stored it all, not having to carry around stuff made is much more comfortable, yes sure we are strong enough to carry them without issue but it gets in the way in case anything happens, and here in the trees shade we are safe from the eyes of passerbys.

"All of our food we packed is in the inventory, as well as the water, no more leaving food outside, I think we all learned our lesson from last time right dad?" We share a knowing look, remembering the last time we left our food in a crate when eating and that same crate was used as a weapon against me.

I took an individually wrapped sandwich from the inventory, thankfully the system was smart enough to know which was which, without having to sniff it or open it, I took a pork one and handed a veggie sandwich to dad who thanked me with a smile, Sylf got a chicken one for herself.

We all kept talking while we ate.

"A good reminder to not carry all of your eggs in one basket, the pain is not something you easily forget, that goes for all three of us, right? I still shudder at the memory of breaking my muzzle, I feel every second of it as if happened just a few moments ago, how do you two deal with that trauma?" He asked as he unwrapped the sandwich slowly and threw away the paper, it was fully biodegradable anyways, we all did the same with ours.

"I can only speak for myself, but it takes time and help to heal from such things, Onyx and I have been together for over 10 years now and it takes years to get over that, I'm sure that he is not over everything and still has mental wounds that aren't fully healed, go on be honest with him son." She nosed me gently toward him, who looked at me expectantly, while taking a bite from his sandwich, I shrugged and bit into mine too, enjoying the juicy flavor of the meat and the veggies combined.

After finishing chewing and swallowing the bite I had, I answered him honestly.

"She's right, I'm definitively not over everything that happened to me, I'm terrified of being attacked by powerful spells that I can't defend against or shrug off, thankfully it hasn't happened since...
That pony we fought to the death, he attacked me with magic that caused so much pain that I still can remember everything, almost feel it. He is the reason for my fear, I fear others using their magic on me to hurt me, and that's not all..." May as well confess my other fears too, I trust this two with anything, even with my most sensitive information.

But not before taking another bite of food, which we all decided was the best to do as we spoke, this was pretty much a picnic, relaxing in the shade, talking about our fears, despite the irony talking about them openly felt relieving, like I feared it all a little less.

"I also am afraid of ghosts, not terrified, I can still more or less deal with this fear, but I don't think I can see them as anything other than monsters after having to fight dozens of them to survive and after having taken several painful hits, I just don't want to see a ghost ever again, they scare me."

"I remember that, they are pretty nasty and they hurt you pretty badly, Im definitively terrified of them too, don't doubt that for a second, if it wasn't for you, they would have torn me apart, I just know it." He shook his head, then looked at me in the eyes. "Thank you, I'm glad you were looking after me, I'm honestly really bad at fighting, it's not my thing, but you... you kick flank! And never for a second you stopped trying to protect me, how ironic that a colt not even half my age has to save me every time I'm in danger." He chuckles at that, giving me headpats with his hoof while he bites into the sandwich one last time, finishing the last piece of it.

"Oh don't mention it, I promised I would keep you safe, wouldn't be very nice of me to not keep a promise, now... Let me finish my sandwich and I tell you the rest of my fears, okay?" I shoved the last chunk of delicious sandwich in my maw and began enjoying it, as he nodded to me that I could continue whenever I was ready. This damn sandwich was delicious! Pretty filling too, and we have to save provisions because we only have so many sandwiches, better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them!

After swallowing and drinking a sip of water, I continued explaining to him.
"And then there is spiders, those scare me too, not only do I have arachnophobia, I've also had a horrible situation with a monstrous giant spider that traumatized me. Thankfully I have more or less gotten over this, thanks to having a normal happy life for around 10 years with ma, now for the lasts ones, it may sound a bit silly..."

"This one may sound dumb considering I can use magic to prevent it from being deadly but still terrifies me... Heights, as in being on a tall building and near the edge of a cliff, anywhere really high, it don't even dare to go near those.

"I am not a fan of getting anything sharp or very pointy near my eyes either, I will become aggressive if someone does threaten me with a knife or needle near my eyes, I I'll panic and react quickly and violently, i dont know why i feel so strongly about it, I think because it's a natural vulnerable point on my body, the most vulnerable perhaps, just never get a knife in my face or I may accidentally punch you, and those are all, welcome to the club! But I suspect you already had your own troubles you had to deal with, don't you? Everyone has something they struggle with, after all."

Iooking at his face, he was thoughtful, but answered after a few seconds.

"You're right and wrong, I always used to blame myself for what happened to my family, I used to cry myself to sleep often thinking... If I had not been born, if I had never been conceived then mom would have lived, dad would have been happy with her, but after..." He trials off, thinking of a way to put his thoughts into words.

"Everything that has happened since we met, I've changed my mind, I also had the wonderful opportunity to talk with them again, to be with them! thanks to my dear, wonderful and kind goddess I am forever thankful to, you know?" He looks up at the sky, I could tell he really cared about her, loved her, not like a lover but like a mother, his goddess was kind, motherly and friendly from that time I heard her.

"Yeah, I wanna get to meet her too to be honest, she sounds really nice, and she also wants to help not just ponies, which is something I agree with, how do you... Talk to her? I suppose she wouldn't listen to a non pony like me, but... Well it's just nice to know she accepted you and has chosen you as her champion." I asked but just shoot my head, I wasn't a pony, of course she wouldn't listen to me, she was the pony goddess, not the dragon goddess.

"Nevermind that, we should get moving, our short rest to eat was nice but we gotta get to the city before nightfall.
I don't think we want to find ourselves out here in the darkness, who knows what kind of beasts could be prowling in the night out here next to the forest? And ponies like you can't see in the dark." I got up and wiped my paws on the stone to get the bits of food off them, drinking from my water bottle before storing it into the inventory.

"Okay let's go but Onyx... You are wrong, yes she is the goddess to ponies but not because she chose the ponies, it's the other way around, ponies chose her after she helped them in the past and now mostly only they worship her, she has nothing against other species! I can promise you that, why would I come out all the way here to help griffons if she only cared about ponies? She is happy with what you want to do!" He exclaimed and defended her as we got back to the dirt path and walked back under the sun, because it was near noon the sun was high in the sky.

"Really? Hmm I see... So why did she never talk to me then?" I asked with some doubt still lingering, meanwhile Sylf looked at us intrigued, not having anything to say but still wanting to catch every word, did she have any beliefs in any gods I wonder?

"Oh that's easy, because talking to someone in their head without permission and out of nowhere is insanely unpopular with almost all living beings, most will think they have gone insane or will believe she is an evil spirit trying to possess them or something like that, she is speaking from experience." Of course this makes sense, it would be too strange to suddenly hear a voice in your head, no matter how nice.

"I... I see, that makes a lot of sense now that I think about it.
Sorry for being a bit unsure dad, so how do you get in contact with her?" He smiles and pulls me into a hug while we walk.

"I hoped you hear you ask that someday, well you would normally need to do something to catch her attention, but since you already did and she is interested in you, and you even have a holy amulet blessed by her, you must only hold it and talk, she should listen, of course it's not warranted you will get an answer, she is just like any other creature, sometimes she may want to speak and sometimes she may be busy or just not feel like talking, you can't expect her to be available to you all the time, just like she would not expect us to be available at all times." Sounds pretty reasonable, I may try this sometime.

"Thank you for explaining it so neatly dad, now I know what to do in case I want to talk, I am still I admit a bit afraid of doing so, but the way you explain it seems a lot less daunting of a task, I'm just worried it may go like meeting Princess Celestia, I don't really want a repeat of that, you know?" I answer him honestly, I don't trust beings more powerful than myself. "Maybe if I'm extra polite and respectful and don't speak unless spoken to, maybe I won't get smited on the spot? I am willing to try... I'm just scared of those with power over me."

His face seemed to go from hopeful and happy to sad, then slowly growing determined.

"Dear son... She would never do anything to hurt you, she's not like that... I can promise you, if she ever does anything even slightly disrespectful or hurtful then I will denounce her myself, i am so sure of this that im willing to turn my back on her, and i will take your word for it without hesitation, this is how sure I am." I stopped and stared at him wide eyed.

"Hot damn! You really are sure, I can't argue with that determination, you win dad, I will talk to her as myself then, I can't help but trust you tho, your words really came from the heart, what do you think ma?" We both turn to look at the smiling wolf, her face partially obscured by the robe but she has a happy expression.

"He definitively is telling the truth, I know he has grown to love her like a child loves his mother, it's adorable really, and I know he is loved back, I think i want to join in that talk, im curious to talk to her too, i mean how could i not? He cares a lot for her and trusts her."

"I'm his wife, and while I honestly don't believe in gods nor do I believe anyone to be above the rest, I am still willing to try, my lack of belief was what honestly kept me from trying before, because I was also afraid that my lack of faith somehow angered her, not that I ever mentioned it to you my love, sorry i just thought it better left unsaid. You could say it's one of my secrets." Now it was our turn to stare at her, how can she not believe in gods when there literally are and even her husband is the chosen of a goddess?

"Oh, that's fine, I'm sure she wouldn't mind that either, I have never seen her angry, disappointed yes, but not angry, but she is nothing if not reasonable, so... Maybe you two can talk about your beliefs or anything you want! You may even convince her she's not real, who knows?" Coconut said in a playful sarcastic tone, causing me to giggle and Sylf to glare, but give him a challenging smirk.

"Then maybe I'll try that when I talk to her and ask her if she wants to form a herd with us~ what do you say? Want your very own goddess to be part of your herd, my beloved stallion?" Even I was shocked at her words, but he was wide eyed, first confused, then he seemed to think about it and turn red in the face, and finally shake his head, like he was trying to forget some thoughts.

"Sylf, you don't even know her yet! And she is not that kind of goddess, you're just... You're joking, aren't you?" He sighs, his face still really flustered and unable to keep eye contact with her, she nuzzles him softly and pulls him in for a hug.

"Of course you silly colt! Just a bit of teasing, you know I would never do something like that without talking it extensively with you first, I am not fully opposed to the idea of having more others join our herd, but I think we both would need to want that pony in before we can even talk about making it a herd, don't you agree sweetheart?" She softly asked and pressed her nose against his neck while we walked, they really are adorable together... I of course will not get in their way if they want to have a herd, it's not my business unless that pony or other species goes out of their way to spite me.

He relaxes fully, his blush fading as he returns her affections. "Thank you, I agree with you there, talk about it together getting them to know both of us is the way to go, we come as a package of five, including you and the twins." He says with a smile, pointing at me who was paying close attention to their conversation.

"Oh thank you father! But you can count me out, I don't need anyone to approve of me, I'm soon going to be independent, as soon as I finish highschool I'm moving on my own so neither of you will have to worry anymore, but the twins... Yes they must accept and love them as their own, because they are you and mom's precious offspring." They both get close to me and step in front of my path, making me stop, looking at eachother and then at me.

"Really Onyx? You're a little young to move out yet! let's just talk about it okay?" Mom asked with concern in her tone, looking sad at my words, maybe I should not have said it like that...

"Relax I'm just thinking out loud, not sure yet. It's what everyone ends up doing once they are adults right? Don't look so shocked, there is still another five or six years until I finish my studies, and after that I need to see where I will move to, haven't exactly given it much though yet, just thinking about it, thinking about the future." I answered defensively, pulling both of them into a gentle hug.

"Just as long as you don't feel like you have to, we aren't going to kick you out son, when you feel ready, tell us and we will help in every way we can, that I can promise, but until then you are free to go about your life as you want, even with us." After the little group hug we turned around and faced the path forward.

"I'm really lucky to have met you both, I would be bones by now if it wasn't for this big wolf here! You know what? I think we should have you carry me on your back like old times, what say you, my loyal and brave steed?" I smirked and pressed my side to mom's.

"I haven't had you riding on my back in years, I also miss when you would sleep with us in the same bed and your cold body kept us nice and cool in the summer, so yes I would be honored to give you a ride, my silver knight." she sat down allowing me to get on top of her back, I made sure to retract my claws and climb gently to not rip the cloak, using magic to clean my paws before getting them on her.

I was larger than before, now having my tail dangle completely off her, but my whole body fit comfortably laying atop her back, with my head gently laying on her fluffy and strong neck.

"You've gotten bigger... My little hatchling isn't a hatchling anymore, you barely fit on my back. Now let's see if I still got it, come on Coco, race you till we see the city, let's put that increased stamina to the test!" Coconut watched on with an amused smile as his wife took off with me on her back, then blinked realizing he was going to be left behind and what she said, he shook his head and ran after us, the race was on!

"W-wait what?! Race?! I won't let you win again!" Finally he started to run as fast as he could, he was still nowhere as fast as mom with her longer legs, even while carrying me, my forelegs wrapped around her neck to hold onto her, the path was heading up the hill, we were right next to tall snow peaked mountain to our right.

After running around a twist in the path that headed left, and going up slightly more we saw on the horizon something that made us stop on our tracks, and stare open mouthed in awe.

In front of us, distant in the horizon there was a flat top mountain with the largest tree I have ever seen in all my life, present and past. The tree seems to have grayish white wood, no idea which species, or how long a tree would need to live to become that size, probably many millennia, how I wasn't sure.

The sight was incredible, on the branches of said tree and along it's base, various houses were built, and on one near the top, a castle made of what appears to be white stone stood tall, it's structure had long spires going high into the sky, the castle itself being a modest size compared to the one in Canterlot, whoever lived here had a totally different sense of architecture and design than whoever built the one back home.

"Wooah! That must be Griffonstone! It's beautiful from here, look at that castle, it's... This reminds me of the first time I saw Canterlot city, even if it's less fancy looking from here, the size of that tree alone makes me question all my knowledge about trees and how large they can get, I need to ask them if they know what tree they used!"

We heard the sounds of hooves on dirt, but we didn't turn, knowing who just caught up to us, breathing fast but not as exhausted as I would have expected.

"This is incredible! I knew I had more stamina ever since I got stronger but i-" he stopped mid sentence, now seeing what we were seeing.

"I-is that were we're going?! That's a tree!? It must be... Almost a kilometer tall, maybe more? There's a castle in it, too! I hope they let us visit the castle, it's beautiful from here, come on you two, I wanna be there today, let's gawking and more walkin', in fact race you to the entrance to the city!." We stood for a few more seconds until Sylf realized that Coconut had ran ahead and was getting too far, she nudged me and I nodded, grabbing around her neck to hold myself.

Then we sprinted, I mean she sprinted after him while I laid comfortably on her back, but at this speed it was more of a bumpy ride, having to hold my legs tightly around her to not bounce around freely from the sprinting.

She was catching on now, we could see him in the distance, maintaining a pretty respectable speed, a small cloud of loose dust and dirt left every time his hooves hit the ground in the gallop. He turned and saw us getting closer, turning forward he grunted with effort and pushed himself to go faster, now we were no longer gaining on him, and more or less were equally as fast.

"Is he faster than you, or are you letting him tire himself out?" I asked, while above us griffons flew toward their city, but I paid them no mind because it was normal here seeing them come and go, most simply flew overhead instead of walking, as it was faster and more efficient, none of them paid us any mind or they simply didn't look down.

"Neither, I'm just giving him false hope of victory, but I think now that's enough hope, hold onto me firmly and I'll show you what I mean!" I did as she told me and she moved even faster, she started panting and heating up but she also caught up to him, who was also panting with his tongue out as well by this point, but she overtook him and both started to slow down gradually at this point.

They have been running for about half an hour now.
Both of them were low on stamina, panting and sweating, but the faster wolf had been the first one to arrive running past the pony in the last moments of the race.

"You win! Seems like having longer legs does the trick... That felt, pretty good! It was wonderful being able to stretch my legs again after two days." Finally catching his breath, he smiles and moves to stand in front of her, both of them share a satisfied smile.

"I gotta say I'm impressed by your new speed, but not so much your stamina, I already knew it was amazing now~ but I have to agree, getting to run like this again... It really did make me feel better, I missed stretching my legs on solid ground, now come here you sexy and sweaty hunk!" Moving forward she takes him by surprise with a passionate kiss, I get front row seats as I'm right on top of her, she may have forgotten I'm here to be fair.

He returned the kiss gladly, I smile at how cute they look together, even when making out, but I feel it may be a bit too intrusive and decide it's best if I hop off her back and stop staring at them, they still go at it for a full minute before moving apart.

I take the opportunity to stretch myself and take a look around.

The city that was so far away before is now just up this mountain, griffons come in and out flying ocasionally, around this area there are fields of crops and various small farms dotted about, with simple thatch roof houses that seem to be in some state of disrepair, but holding together decently.

The houses are made of white stone in most of the buildings I can see from here, I can't be sure but this place... It looks run down and way worse up close than from afar, at least the roof of the houses I see from here.

After ending the kiss, my beloved and I shared a look, one that promised we would have much more intimate fun whenever we had the chance, for now however I turned to look at the final stretch of road before entering the city proper.

I focused my eyes on the pair of griffons by the entrance, there seems to be a checkpoint of sorts, something as all the griffons, even those who come flying by, land there and seem to speak to them for a few seconds, I couldn't be sure from here.

"Look up there, I see a pair griffons wearing padded armor, maybe they're city guard, from the look of their armor it looks rather plain and lacking decorations, they also have shortswords and crossbows across their back, there is only two, so I think we are fine, come on follow me, I'll do the talking and ask for directions, we need to find a hotel or rent a room or two." After that they nodded and we started walking up the path, I had my cloak on but the hood off so I would be easier to see and they wouldn't be suspicious, I asked Onyx to do the same, and he agreed.

He has such a pretty face that it's a shame he thinks he should cover himself out there, but I understand, almost every race is wary of dragons and they are often treated with hostility, mistrust or with rudeness, I was lucky I was a mostly an unknown species otherwise they'd do the same with me, even then I got the ocasional hateful glance or whispered words behind my back when they thought I couldn't hear, even in the Royal Guards when I started my career, many thought I was nothing more than a monster that the Princess had tamed to become a guard dog.

Now that I think about it, its not far from the truth, I have become her loyal guard wolf, but I wasn't sure i felt the same way I did back then, all my respect for her and my appreciation had gone away when she mistreated my precious hatchling, even if he said it was fine, I still feel upset and angry at her when I remember that day.

"Mom? What's wrong? You've been staring at me for a good minute and now you're getting angry, y-you're staring to scare me momma..." My face immediately went back to calm and concerned as I realized I was staring at him without looking, my eyes unfocused as we walked, but I was showing my emotions, baring my fangs and narrowing my eyes.

"I'm really sorry! I wasn't looking at you, I was... Thinking without realizing where I was looking, I promise I wasn't angry at you... Please come here! I just can't stand thinking I scared you!" Thankfully he isn't scared of me and moves closer, clearly understanding the assignment and comes running to hug me across my neck his snout pressing against my tense muscles at the base of my neck, he starts massaging and touching my back and sides, he loves to knead my muscles like that for some reason, and it feels really good so i would never complain.

He really is a sweetheart and even when it was me who scared him, he is the one happy to come running to hug me and try and calm me down in such a tender way.

"I love you momma, it's fine I wasn't really scared of you, it's that when you get angry you have a really scary aura and your expression shifts, but I know you are you, and you care about me a lot, but you do have a very effective angry snarl heh, I pity whoever has to face you when you're really angry." His small chuckle is exactly what I needed to feel like everything is okay now, I smile and pet him with my magic hand, he lets out a content sight as I start to give him back and chest sxratches, I can also feel the muscles under his scales, while he isn't visibly muscular, he is developing quite nicely, he has mostly muscle under those interlocking beautiful silver scales of his, despite how little exercise he gets he somehow stays lithe and strong.

I wonder how much muscle he will put on once he starts to train properly, and exercise his body, not just the sword training.

I shake my head clear of those thoughts, not wanting to stay quiet and make things awkward I smile and keep letting him.

"Love you too Onyx, you don't need to worry about me using my power on you in purpose, ever! I'll do my best to, even if I do get angry at you, from time to time you make some decisions that I find questionable, but so do I... And I expect you to tell me when I mess up so you can help me get back on track, even if you have to be rather blunt." He looks at me with a doubtful face, not convinced.

"You never do mess up I think, i mean... You are the voice of reason normally, and you are more cautious than me, I think you and dad are the best at talking to others for different reasons, and you're much better at fighting than me!
I lack the expertise in combat that you have... Well here we are! I'm leaving this to you." He smiled and winked at me, nodding towards the guards.

As we approached they stared at us with open worry, holding their talons over their scabbards, ready to pull out their weapons, I kept a wary eye on them, ready to pull my longsword from the inventory at a moment's notice, but deciding this required a touch of diplomacy and charm.

We stood about 4 meters away when one of them called out.

"Halt! You are not griffons, state your reason for entering the city. Specially you!" He says, gesturing with his head at Onyx who just gives him a tired look.

"Good evening sirs, I'm Sylf and this is my family, the little dragon there is my precious adoptive son, Onyx, and the pretty unicorn stallion over there is my husband, Coconut. Our reason for coming to your city is to see the sights, we are tourists on vacation, we are curious to taste the foods and enjoy the sights of this city I've heard so much about, I have to say, this is the biggest tree ive ever seen in my entire life!
We also have bits to spend in the various business here, is there an entry fee we arent aware of to enter the city?" I smile and gesture my family, the guards seem to relax fully at the mention of bits, and their frowns change into happy smiles.

"You have bits to spend, should have just said that first! The entry fee is only 20 bits each, for your group it would normally be 60 but since you all are really polite I think reducing it by 10 would be reasonable, so 50 bits and you may head right in, just one thing... The dragon stays outside, no fire breathing creatures allowed in the city." One of them says while looked pointedly at my son, who sighs and looks sad, but tries anyways to convince him.

"I promise I'm not like most dragons, I was raised by this two all my life and I know how to behave myself mister, I promise! Please let me stay with them?" Onyx answered with a pleading expression, It was perfectly understandable, a being who could breathe fire was a huge threat for the safety of the entire city. The griffons looked slightly moved by the look he was giving them and his plea, I decided to add some information to help calm them.

"I'll let you in on a secret you two, my son is not a regular dragon, in fact he can't even breathe out fire, show them Onyx, please? This will make them let you stay."

"Look gentlegriffs, my son is going to use his breath attack into the air to show you." He agrees to my request, and the two griffs look confused, paying close attention and nodding.

"Yes mom!" Onyx takes a deep breath and inhales, filling his lungs and then releasing a cone of frost from his mouth into the air, away from the griffons, who then start getting closing and standing under the falling snow like residue from the breath attack.

"Look at this Fred! It's really cold like standing in a snowstorm!" The one with dark brown feathers exclaims to the lighter brown feathered griffon, who joins him in the cold cloud falling to the ground, they stand in it right in front of Onyx who just looks on with a happy smile.

"You're right!" He turns to look at my son, still smiling from the odd and unique sensation of experiencing cold in the middle of summer.
"Are you even a dragon dude? I never heard of any being able to blast frost out of their maws like that, you are either a new species or some other creature we never heard off." The other guard whispered to him something and he nodded with a smile.

He then announced a bit louder for our group to hear. "Please forgive our rudeness, you can stay now, it's just that dragons tend to be... Less than friendly and any of their usual 'pranks' could cause a big fire here, the houses have thatch roofs that can catch on fire easily, the tree however doesn't burn, but... The houses themselves are in disrepair and the floor has flammable material that can spread a fire from a house to the next, causing a disaster."

He looks apologetic, staring into Onyx's eyes, who just nodded with a slight smile, he was affected by it but didn't show it.

"No worries dude, I understand why you don't want fire breathing dragons in your city, I wouldn't want to bring a walking fire hazard in there either, but you can be sure I don't use fire, in fact I dont like fire or heat near me." He gestures to his silver scales.

"I'm not fire resistant or immune like other dragons, but cold doesn't affect me, I'm the opposite of the ones you know, good to meet you two, can we go into the city now? And also directions to a hotel or a place to stay and sleep?" He asked politely while opening his saddlebag with one of his claws and pulling out two 50 bit coins, something that made the eyes of the two griffons to sparkle with obvious excitement and greed.

"Here you have, one for each, I think it is better than having to share one coin, don't you think?" He gave them a wink and handed them each their own coin.

Now the two griffons were behaving completely different, being much more cheerful and friendly after getting bits, all the previous doubt they had gone with the wind, they eagerly explained to Onyx everything.

"So there is a tavern where you can drink, eat and sleep, it has decent rooms, but it's quite expensive, then you have a few houses where regular griffons will rent out beds for travelers at a much cheaper price than what the tavern charges you, however there is no warrantee you'll be comfortable there."

"What about the castle? It's what caught out attention the most when heading here, who is the king now? You're the royal guard, right?" Onyx's question was the same one I had, I always wondered who ruled this nation.

"Oh, there has been no king since Guto, and since he fell, the nation has been ruled by the remaining military, now the castle is the high command of our military and our nation, which we are part of, they do whatever they can, and things were looking up for a while until the Isles on the Celestial Sea who were our most wealthy provinces have declared the whole nation belongs to them, including this here city." So... That explains why the griffons are so militaristic in their society, I've been taught this in the academy, about many aspects of their lives, they are trained to earn to use a weapon from a young age, and there is obligatory military recruitment for males, something considered horrible back home even for the writers of the book I read it on.

It makes sense to me, if there are similar numbers of male to female griffons why not send the strongest gender in? Even Equestrian males are stronger, but much more rare so they are considered more valuable, which they are, in that case, and even then many stallions join the guard.

"That's all I know, head on inside! and remember, absolutely no singing within city borders... I don't want to arrest such a generous family for such a silly crime, thank you three for visiting and I hope you have a good night." And with that they went back to guarding the door, leaving us pass unimpeded.

As we headed inside, it was dusk there were still some griffons around, flying or walking inside the city, looking around we finally saw the true state of the city, it was a mess, houses full of holes, bits and pieces of them scattered through the streets, even bookshelves left outside, maybe as a sort of public library? At least they had covers on them to keep the rain off.

But the city was greatly lacking in business, only a few stores were here, the tavern being one of them with brightly colored signs and being slightly larger than the average house.

After talking with the guards and reassuring them I wasn't going to set the city on fire, they let me in and I realized they were pretty reasonable griffons, just very greedy, I could understand being greedy I mean I collect gems, gold pieces and bits.

As we headed inside I finally saw the extend of the problem facing this place, they were incredibly poor and in a really bad situation both economic and moral, griffons mostly looked sad and grumpy, many were outside selling their wares, including an old griffon with a cart of what appeared to be food.

We approached the old griffon who despite being partially bald on the head, seemed to be in good physical shape, he has a scar across his left eye and seems to be blind in that eye too, from the way it looks. He also is wearing a red fez hat with golden tassel.

He notices us coming closer and turns fully to face us, his expression doesn't change from a slightly frown but he gesture us closer, I oblige and approach, standing in front of him, looking at the products he sells.

Looks like some cookies.

"Hello? What are you selling? Is that cookies I smell?" He gives me a small glare, but it goes away when I pull out a sack of coin from my saddlebags, his attitude does a 180 and he smiles at us like a car seller.

"Good evening youngsters, I'm selling delicious griffon scones, my own recipe only one bit each!" I nod and pull out 3 one bit coins from the pouch.

"I'd like 3 please? I've been craving something sweet all day." I hand him the coins and he gives me the 3 scones, I quickly get one a bite and crunch down on it.

It is sweet and tastes nice, but it's extremely dense and dry, overbaked and missing baking powder, still it sates my cravings for sweet, if only slightly.

"Pretty tasty, here you go, one for each of you! But please don't bite into it, they're rock hard and you will chip a tooth... Just suck on them like hard candy until they get wet and break down, okay?" I advised my parents who didn't have fangs capable of crushing rocks like me, this scones were literally rock hard.

Both nodded and took one each, it was unusual but not terrible, like eating sweet hardtack.

"Thank ye for the purchase, are ye three looking for a place to stay for the night? I run an orphanage, and I have some spare beds I can rent for some bits, cheaper than the alternative, the tavern is charging 20 bits for each of you, per night." He scoffed angrily looking at the tavern with disdain.

"I need to maintain the orphanage so I'm here selling this scones, and offering cheaper rooms than the tavern, only 10 bits for all of you per night, how does that sound? I know you are not from here, you think I'm ripping you off, but go ask in the tavern if you don't believe me, they'll charge you double and for each of you." I shrugged, helping this griffon with his orphanage was much better than getting slightly better rooms in a tavern, and nothing was stopping us from going there to eat either way if we wanted.

"Mom, dad? What do you think? Wanna help this old griffon out?" Both of them looked at each other and sighed sadly, then nodded.

"We are here to help after all, who better to help than the youngest and most vulnerable? I accept."

"You heard my husband mister...?"

"You can call me Gruff, missy, thank you for agreeing, follow me now youngsters." Then he turned around and made a gesture with his talon for us to follow, we stayed close behind, I pulled out bags from the inventory discretely under my robes, pretending they were just behind us.

"Mister Gruff, what do you know about this city? What happened to it? Everything looks... Broken and run down, it's still beautiful in its own way but... The houses are not properly maintained and every griffon looks sad and miserable." I couldn't help but ask, seeing the state of the place was a clear sign of something going terribly wrong, at least this place still had some farms but... From what I was told by the sailors who brought us here, food was really expensive for the average griffon, maybe they lacked infrastructure.

"Oh I can tell you everything that happened, to cause this city to become such a mess, for some bits." He turned to me and got close to my face, asking in an almost desperate tone.

"I... Okay? Please calm down, I'll pay you, in fact here you go." I started searching the coin pouch for any large coins of 100 bits, after some rummaging I pulled out a shiny golden coin of a hundred, his eyes seemed to widen and sparkle with excitement, like a person seeing an oasis of pure fresh water after days in the desert, I offered it to him and he held out his talon, I dropped the coin and he grasped it and held it like it was a priceless artifact.

Damn, and I thought I liked bits, this guy likes them way more, and this is just 100 bits.

"Thank you! I'll brew you my best tea, there I will explain everything to you." He offered with a previously unseen politeness, his rough attitude completely flipped.

We neared a house slightly larger and much longer, where he opened the door that was locked with a key he pulled out from his hat. Above the door a sign reads: Gruff's orphanage.

He invited us in and closed the door behind us, locking it and putting the key back inside his hat.

"Welcome to my home, you have already provided much more to me than I would earn in months of selling my scones, now let me show you to your rooms and I'll introduce you to the little ones, they will be curious to see other creatures from distant lands, let's get introductions out of the way first." He offers us an honest smile, he may be greedy and fascinated with coin but he has a reason, he clearly is doing whatever he can to raise this orphans, something even people who consider themselves generous would never do.

Our nod of approval is the only thing he needs before running off and a few minutes later coming back with 3 griffons of different colors and different ages.

They look either shy or curious about us, the smallest one seems the most curious, running over and starting to look us over excitedly, after giving us a visual examination she approaches me, and we share a look, I get the feeling I have seen her before somehow. She has white plumage on her head, with lilac tipped feathers covering her forehead and around her eyes. Her hind legs instead were cedar brown, with her wings and tuft of her tail being wood brown color.

It took me a few seconds but I recognized her, Gilda!
She was really unpleasant to the others in an episode of the show that I barely remember, but I can't blame her for that after knowing shes an orphan, and she has not done that yet, she must be not even 5 years old.

She played with my moving tail and paws, grabbing and poking at me which made me giggle sometimes, while I thought to myself, the others came forward and introduced themselves, being older than her.

"Hey... I'm Sable, I'm 13 years old and I'm really thankful for what you did for us, it's good to meet you!" She introduced herself with a small but polite bow of her head, sounding nervous but trying to keep a brave face.

"I'll... Be preparing your tea and if you want anything else let grandpa Gruff or me know, I'll do my best to help." She finished her introduction and approached us, greeting us personally with a handshake, I smiled at her when it was my turn, looking her over quickly.
She has orange, tiger striped hind legs and dark orange wings with a tiger like tail, with white feathered head with back highlights on the forehead feathers, similar to the ones Gilda has. The area around her eyes is grayish black.

"What a nice name, Sable." I tried to pronounce it just like she did, only butchering it a little, she giggled at my attempt and corrected it once until I was able to say it right.

"Name is Onyx, never seen a griffon with those patterns, you look incredible." I complimented her honestly and she blushed and looked me over too, I have to admit when I see something I like, I hope she doesn't take my compliment the wrong way, but have you seen a half tiger half eagle? She just looks really cool!

"T-thank you, I've never seen a dragon before but... You do look really incredible too, your scales are shiny like the armor from the knights mentioned in the old books of the library, and also smooth and soft, a-anyways I better go greet the others!" And with that she went over to greet my parents who also introduced themselves, she seems like a nice sweet griffon, glad she's not afraid of me like some of the ponies my age I've met, or even adults.

Despite her being older by two years we are the same height, I suppose my growing body is catching up to the rest, I'm slightly taller than foals my age now, something which I'm proud of.

All of this while little Gilda was fighting my tail like it was a wild snake, wrestling it and batting it with her talons, even biting at it, but I kept moving it around, giving her a 'fight' and smiling at her adorable antics.

She wasn't strong enough to hurt my tail at all, so there was no harm on letting her have fun for a while, I even pretended to lose a couple of times and then, when she celebrated victory I would surprise her with a sneak attack of my tail poking her on the side.

Then the last griffon came forward, he is the largest, black hind legs that look like a black leopard, gray wings and white head feathers, with dark blue highlights on the feathers of his head

"Hey y'all, I'm Treble, just wanted to say thanks for helping out gramps, you're all the coolest creatures this side of Griffonstone! I'm 14 by the way, next year I'll begin helping grandpa Gruff earn bits with the whole scone business." He then came over and greeted my parents, his eyes locked into mine next and we stared into each other's, a silent battle of wills unfolded, who broke eye contact first was the loser.

I had no trouble occasionally blinking but picking his left eye and stared at it without stopping, he also blinked but seemed to struggle to focus for so long, not even 4 minutes later he broke eye contact, closing his eyes for a few seconds and looking away, huffing in annoyance.

"Damn! You win, I can't keep my eyes focused on something for so long, and I've got good eyes... Nice to meet you by the way, I'm Treble and you? You're the first dragon I met and you're pretty chill, how old are you?" He finally said extending his talon, which I slapped, moving back and coming in for a fistbump, he understood right away and imitated me, and we did a fist bump, a proper one this time, since we both actually could make a fist. We shared a friendly smirk after.

"Name's Onyx, and I'm the coolest dragon you'll ever lay eyes upon." I smirked confidently and he raised a doubtful eyebrow. I simply blew a cloud of supercooled air that froze the water in it, instantly and lost all of its power, creating the mist that was cold like winter snow.

That seemed to catch his attention and he put his talon in the cloud of cold mist, his eyes widening and a big smile spreading across his face.

"I'm also 11 by the way, but what you just saw is like a tiny fraction of what I can do, think I'm cool now? I am my own cold generator, I can cool down my room until it's colder than the coldest winter day, all inside a single room, but it can break things so I usually don't go that far." He seems excited to try this trick, maybe he likes summer as little as I do?

If that's true then I already made a new friend!

After meeting everyone, they left to their rooms and I went to our rooms to leave the bags, then headed back to hear the story of Griffonstone. The whole thing, we had tea served to us by Sable, the tea was pretty good and made me feel more relaxed, feels like home.

The story was told to us long into the night, and I learned a great deal, the sad tragedy of the griffons is not a mere accident, it was orchestrated by another ancient nation, one from which almost nothing is known about.

The race is known as Arimaspi, large bipedal creatures that have only one eye on their heads, they are said to live south west of Equestria in inhospitable rocky mountains.

Somehow one day during the reign of the last king, Guto, many decades ago, the creature sneaked inside the castle during a stormy night, and ran off towards the Abysmal Abyss, attempting to jump over it when a bolt of lightning fell from the skies and made it falter on the jump, and it fell to it's death with the Idol in hand.

The Abysmal Abyss is a ravine that goes all the way down the mountain and into a deep cave system, and because its a space between two mountains and it's relatively narrow, the wind that would normally flow around the mountains in fast but manageable currents, is funneled and compressed into extremely fast and deadly winds.

Or at least that's what I can theorize from his explanation about rushing winds only in that area and nowhere else, the reason no griffon before tried retrieving the Idol is because many of those who tried, didn't make it, some survived and gave up before getting close and some were thrown so fast by the wind they couldn't recover in time and crashed against the rock face, sadly killing them.

The reason the Idol is important is because their god, Boreas was displeased by the griffons inability to protect the divine artifact, when it was stolen their promise was broken, when King Grover had received it, he swore he would guide his people and that he, the citizens and his descendants will forever safekeep the Idol and protect it, and as a way to honour him, the god of ambition, freedom and wind, they were just meant to live their lives to the fullest, to be proud of who they are and be ambitious for wealth, coin is important to griffons just as it is for dragons.

Flying came naturally to griffons just as well as it did to pegasi so they already fulfilled the wind and freedom part just by living their natural lives.

By breaking the promise Griffonstone as a whole had made, they lost the favor of Boreas and the blessing was lost, and it would remain lost at least until they recovered the artifact, something that still has not happened.

We had many questions, all of us, but we were sure of one thing now, if we wanted Griffonstone to have a chance to recover and prosper once again, we needed to fix this, and the only way to do that was to return the artifact to them, It was extremely risky, while sure I could use the spell feather fall to fall slowly, the wind would NOT care about that spell, it slows my descent but it didn't make me unmovable, in fact I would get pushed around even by the wind while falling as if I was flying.

I did not want to learn what it felt like to slam snout first into solid stone so I would need to do this another way, there was always the teleportation option, but for that I needed to see where I would go, and that was a big problem too, my ways of scrying required a floating sensor, a scrying eye, and such strong winds would also throw it around like a ball in a hurricane, and that would destroy it.

Another option discarded, it was good knowing that at least I would be able to teleport back if something went wrong, and short ranged teleportation was also possible, none of my spells would make me able to simply fly in, gaseous form would be blown away by the wind and disperse, ending the spell.

A shield around me would work for surviving some impact but shields don't work very well if you are falling quickly, concentrating on holding the shield while falling to your possible early death was more or less impossible.

Only remaining option was old school rappelling down the mountainside, something extremely dangerous with this worlds primitive equipment.

After that, we had a small dinner and got ready for bed, finally having running water was wonderful, it was cold water from rain collection and we had a limited amount but we could take a quick shower and use the bathroom without worry, we could even heat up the water with magic since the shower had its own water tank.

Now finally in bed, sharing a room with Treble because the house wasn't big enough for an extra room for me, which is fine, I had my own bed at least, it was a bit too overused and sinks near the middle, but I just sleep on my belly or side and it's fine.

Sleeping on my back as a dragon was very uncomfortable, tail got in the way, I could not even remember what that was like to sleep like that, it's been SO long!

I drifted of to sleep with a smile, traveling all the way here was a journey in itself, but we had a clear goal now, and dad said he also wanted to go and find the hospital, and do his thing here as well, or go house to house healing the sick and injured if he had to.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading! Remember that Onyx does not know much about the show, only remembers key aspects that he watched and only the first few seasons, like he remembers the Gilda episode but he doesn't know what happened to the griffons or what Griffonstone is like at all.