Culture Shock

Twilight stepped onto a train platform in southern Canterlot. It was nearly sunset and she hadn't slept in a little over twenty hours, but she was ready for her trip. After all, she could just sleep on the train. Looking around, she saw that nopony was really around; the station was abandoned, save a few homeless haggling for money. She knew that his station was one of the busiest in the city, but right now it looked like a ghost town. But why? Canterlot was  huge, and Celestia herself said to her that this station housed the only train to Griffonia. So why wasn't there anypony else waiting?

Curious, she asked a few of the homeless that sat on the edges of the platform. They didn't know, saying that they'd never left the city a day in their life. Stymied, the mare looked around some more. After a few minutes she noticed a rather grizzled looking train conductor sitting on a bench, reading a newspaper while listening to music. He had a cigarette in his mouth and large earphones that blasted music so loud that Twilight could hear it from where she stood by the tracks. He was reading a book while he listened to the blare of orchestral trumpets blare, his eyes skimming over the words intently. He looked ancient, with large rings around his eyes and a gray tail with a silvery mane to match it. His coat was a tan-brown, adding to the unappealing air about the stallion.

But Twilight wasn't to be deterred. She strode up the stranger, mustering her courage, she asked, "Sir, why isn't there any more ponies around here?"

Even though he shouldn't have been able to hear her over his music, he replied curtly. "Mare, there isn't a pony this side of Equestria that wants to go to Griffonia. It's a Celestia-forsaken place that will land you dead in a gutter. That, and that is the only train that runs for the next four hours or so. I think I just answered you question well enough. Anything else digging at ya?"

"Umm... no, thanks."

Twilight trotted back over to her place on the platform, slowly absorbing the new information. She had thought Celestia was being dramatic about how awful Griffonia was. But now she wasn't so sure, with not a single pony in a city of two-hundred-thousand wanting to set hoof there. What could be so awful that a whole city would be repelled? Pondering this, Twilight sat back down on a bench. She had a few more questions, and the best way to get them seemed the stallion two seats down. So, swallowing her sense of nausea, she inquired again.

"Do you run the train there?"

"Sure do." The stallion replied. His manner of speaking was short, to the point. His accent made it sound almost brusque. "For twelve years."

"Okay then... have you ever actually been there? I mean, stayed there in a hotel or something?"

"Nope." He answered. "They don't have hotels there. Not enough visitors. Only time I spent the night was in my old friend's room. He died three years ago of Miner's Lung."

"So what was it like?" Twilight pried. "What did the city look like?"

"Bleak. Gray. Disgusting. Not a hint of color anywhere. Except in the rich district. Their streets are paved with gold and the buildings are made of solid marble. They live high up, ritzy."

"Okay... so how big is the rich district? And is there a sort of middle-class place or-"

"Nope. You're either wealthy or you're eating bugs as they skitter 'round in your mattress."

Twilight silently wretched at the thought, but still had the mental willpower to keep going. "Have you ever seen the palace? Where the Empress lives?" In her head she doubted it, but there was no harm in asking.

"I was held there for over a week, accused of spying when I tried to take a peak over the inner wall. Three walls in the city. They separate the districts. The Palace, The Rich, and the poor. Then there's the mines. They're outside of town."

"Okay but what about the Palace?"

"Only ever saw the dungeon. Sorry."

Twilight personally wanted to slap the old coot for not paying attention to his surroundings, but then she sighed. It was no use. She'd gotten what she could from him, and that would be the end of it. She dropped it, a little glad to hear blessed silence. The stallion's voice wasn't exactly a choir of angels. After a lull, she asked her final question.

"When does the train leave?"

"Five minutes."

An hour later the train was on it's way to Griffonia, one way ticket with no stops. There was nopony else on the train, and there was an eerie sense of loneliness. Like there wasn't another pony in all the world. Even the scenery that zoomed by seemed to fly by in a blur of gray. The landscape went from deciduous forests to alpine climate, snow began to fall down and rush down past the windows faster than before. Twilight felt isolated, alone. The sensation of the world passing her by, accompanied with the fact that there wasn't a single living being within hundreds of miles made the mare shiver.

Halfway through the ride, like most any pony would, she decided that she may as well order something to eat. She went to the back of her cart, making the transition to her own into the kitchen. She looked around to see that there wasn't even a kitchen staff. But what she did see, wasn't a pony. It was a griffon. A very recognizable griffon.

Gilda picked her beak clean, having finished the last steak. "Didn't think to see you here."

Twilight felt the instinct to yell at her, then she felt the urge to walk away. But in the end her mind gave her  a word to speak. "What?"

"What do you mean 'What'?"  The griffon quipped. "You could at least say hi or something."

"But I didn't think that you lived in Griffonia."

" I don't. My folks do. Coming to visit."

Twilight didn't take Gilda as the griffon to visit her family on a whim. She was too independent. Deciding that it'd be best not to ask, she sat down in the booth across form her. The Griffon didn't exchange looks with her, just kept looking out the window.

"So what're you going there for?" She asked, not really curious, but moreover wanting to break the silence.

"I'm going as an ambassador." Twilight said for what felt like the first time. "I'm going to negotiate things with the Empress. Civil rights, economic freedoms."

"Have fun with that. You'll need it if you're going to negotiate with her..

"Have you, er, met the Empress?"

"Plenty of times. I was her friend. And she didn't have many. Don't think that's a good thing, either. It's not. "

Twilight was dumbfounded. Gilda of all ponies knew the Empress of Griffonia? "Umm... I don't know how to ask this politely... but you?! Of all Griffons? A friend of royalty?"

For once in her life, Gilda gave a chuckle. Not in contempt or malice, but of real humor. A peculiar sense of humor, but humor nonetheless. "Yeah, I know. It's weird, but I was. I'm going back now."

"So... you lied to me about your family living there?"

Gilda scowled. "I did, so?"

"So where does your family live?" Twilight pried.

"A lot farther North."

A long silence ensued, in which Gilda rapped her talons along the edge of the edge of the table. She didn't even care that her razor-sharp talons were leaving massive gouges in the wood. After a few long, drawn out minutes, Twilight gets up out of the booth, returning to her train cart.

The train stopped with a ear-puncturing screech at the station. Twilight got out of her booth and retrieved her luggage, hoping to avoid the other passenger. Gilda left before her, with only a small rucksack on her back. Twilight made sure to get her umbrella, which she had stashed in the far back of the baggage stow. The purple mare made sure she had everything, then trotted out onto the platform. What she was strangely normal. It looked quite typical, an average train station with a few fearful griffons sweeping and keeping the floor spotless and free of so much as a speck of dirt.

Most of them were younger, about nine to ten years old, and in the beginnings of adolescence. They looked well enough off, but the sight of a pony seemed to make them wary. Apparently the ratio of ponies to griffons in Griffonia was about one to a thousand and two, so the sight of a pony, and specifically, a unicorn, was rare. A lot of them hadn't seen a pony in all their lives. Twilight avoided their curious, but estranged glances and headed to the exit of the station. She hadn't taken a step outside before she smelled something foul.

Sulfur, sulfur and machine grease. It permeated the air and made it smell like the inside of a crematorium. Or a peat bog. Twilight breathed though her mouth as she trotted out onto the street. She took in her surroundings with fervor, absorbing the architectural detail while trying to ignore the smell. The houses were made mostly out of solid brick. She had read that Griffonia was rich in clay deposits, and under that, silver. One didn't have to strain their imagination to figure out that the smell was the mines to the east giving off fumes. She could only imagine how the miners felt, being right there next to the fumes.

As she took in her surroundings, a carriage pulled up on the side of the street, drawn by oxen. Twilight was too busy sightseeing to notice a small griffon, roughly half her height, approach her. The young page tapped her on the shoulder, then scrambled to move away from her when she nearly trampled him. The mare had to actually  tilt her head down to look at the page, as the griffon didn't have much in the ways of height. He had a scruffy head of feathers and she couldn't help but be reminded of Pip. The page looked at her and spoke in an accent that Twilight couldn't help but take as slightly Slavic, if not Germanic.

"Are you Twilight Sparkle?" He inquired. He blinked up at her with golden eyes.

"Yes? And who are you?"

"Never mind that. The Her Majesty requests your presence in the carriage."

Twilight couldn't help but feel a little flattered, she'd thought she'd have to walk all the way to the palace. She looked past the young griffon to see a carriage with massive, silver engraved wheels and leafing patterns spreading like vines over the sides. The page jogged up to it, flapping his undeveloped wings a little as he ran, and opened the door for Twilight. He bowed as she walked past and proceeded to follow her inside the cabin.

The inside of the cabin was dark green colour, with the ceiling being a faded sanguine. The seats were the same moss green and the floor was a thickly woven rug. The space was cozy, but something was very much detracting from the coziness of the cabin. Gilda sat on the seat across from a pure white griffon,  looking down at the floor with a scowl so intense that Twilight felt a little fearful. The pure white griffon wore a large black hat, brimmed so wide that the mare couldn't see her face. Only her beak showed.

The white griffon gestured to the seat across from her, right next to Gilda. Twilight sat down. The griffon looked at her from under her hat with a broad grin. With a snap of her fingers, the carriage started to move. Twilight winced a little as Gilda spoke.

"You didn't tell me you'd actually be meeting her." She whispered.

"I can hear you." The griffon spoke, taking off her hat. "And yes, she is here to meet me."

The Empress lounged on the seat, a proud, beautiful creature to behold. Her front talons were painted a vivid mauve and her eyes matched the same hue as they bore into her guests. Her beak was wide, and made her smile seem even warmer than it seemed with her hat on. Her wings had speckles of dusty gray and so did her flanks and back legs. Although the spots were very light, it tied her form together by making the eye take in her whole form. One had to look at the whole of her to really appreciate what she was. On her breast was soft, fluffy down and the same silky feathers wrapped around the border of her elbow and her forearm, where it lapsed into an eagle's leg. It did the same with her lower back legs, wrapping around the border like the edge of a fur coat.

Her smile held the warmth of a small sun and her eyes invited Twilight in like an old friend. Everything about this griffon made the mare want to be her friend. She was just that elegant, that majestic. Something you'd think popped out of a fairy-tale or perhaps a lucid daydream. The Empress held her front talon out to Twilight, and Twilight took it in a gentle shake.

"I've been waiting for you, Twilight." She greeted. She spoke softly, but it held a slight force behind it that made her seem even more a leader. "Although I would have preferred you next week, when the palace would be more to your liking, I assure you that you will receive the best I can offer in terms of comfort. Anything you need and you must only ask."

The mare was too stricken by her presence to respond. Seeing this, The Empress moved on to Gilda. But as she did, her demeanor changed. It became hostile. Her previously beautiful feathers rose along her spine, and her talons started to curl like vices. Her back paws dug into the seat and her eyes narrowed. Her wings opened to reveal a scar, running along the inside of both her wings. It started at the base of the left wing, then moved over the underside of her ribcage and up onto the other wing. What Twilight saw now was more of a true Empress. Spiteful, bitter, and angry.

"Sister." She spat.

Comments are appreciated! ^-^