Culture Shock

Twilight walked out into the living room, scowling fiercely. She marched up to Aria, who was lounging on the couch in a way that suggested boredom. She wanted to hit him, to call him a liar and a cruel, sick person. But she didn't. She still knew, in the back of her head, that what she'd seen had been real. So, she decided that she'd take the griffon's word for it. She sat down across from him, put her hooves down beside her, and gave him a look. He gazed back at her with slight curiosity as she sat, completely calm, across the table.

"What did you see Miss Twilight?" Aria asked, looking into her eyes as he did so. It didn't take a genius to see that Twilight was actually ready to scream out of stress and nerves, but he didn't make a comment.

"I..." Twilight hesitated. "I saw what you meant for me to see... but I still don't understand something. Say that I believe you, that I think that the Empress is an awful ruler and a terrible griffon. What do you want me to do about it?"

The servant was silent for a long while, until he spoke the complete, utter truth. "I hope... and I know this will sound ridiculous and like I'm a sentimental, soft-hearted foal, but I want you to befriend her."

"You want me to be personal friends with Lady Elusia." She said again, trying to work out the reasoning behind his suggestion. "What purpose would that serve? She's mad and both of us know that she doesn't like me anymore-"

"It's your best chance of living." Aria stated bluntly, bringing things back into perspective for his new acquaintance. "And my only purpose in life is to make my master happy. She suffers extreme paranoia and sudden fits of dementia, sometimes she has to bring in a magician to bring her out of the hallucinations. She is unstable. She uses magic to help her remain in control around others, but when she's alone she shows her true colors. I want you to get her to open up to you. If you're close, you might be able to keep her fancy, and that will keep you alive."

"This is crazy! I don't want to be friends with some schizophrenic nutjob!" Twilight yelled.

"Do you want to go back to Equestria?"  Aria countered, again. "You keep saying that this won't work, but you don't seem to grasp that this is your life on the line! I need you to be her best friend! She's really not a bad griffon once you get to know her. If you look at the past, it's easy to hate her, but if you look at the present, she's really a good griffon. Honest."

"What about Gilda?"

"I suspect that you won't be seeing her again unless you personally go see her. She is on the other side of the castle, and she'll only be staying a few weeks."

"But I'm only staying a few weeks!"

"Not true unless you plan on leaving in a body bag."

Twilight reeled for a moment, trying to absorb what he'd just told her. It was insane and improbable, and it would most likely end up with her pegged to the side of the castle as a warning to all those who dare toy with the ruler's emotions, but she had to do it if she ever wanted to see her family and friend's again. She had to fake being a friend, something that she wasn't sure that she could do. She was taught that if you had to be nice to somepony, you were their friend, and you committed to the role one-hundred percent. But this time she just had to pretend and then run at the first chance she got. It tore at her morals, but she reached a decision quickly.

"Okay... but what exactly do you want me to say?"

"I can't tell you exactly what to do, but I want you to at least try your hardest. Some things to avoid at all costs are things like how she treats her servants, as well as her people. She loves to talk about me, though... as much as I hate it." He hissed. "She likes art and literature, and she loves magic. She can perform magic, by the way. Never doubt that. It's stronger than yours, never doubt that. And... I'm fairly sure you can make it on your own from here. I'll cheer you on and give you little hints, but do we have a deal?"

"What if I don't agree?"

"Then I'll tell Milady that you know about her condition, and she'll hang you from the top of the tower."

"Fine then. When do you think she'll be back?"

"In an hour or so... for now, I'd make sure that you're ready to talk to her. My suggestion is, do your mane."

He was right, her mane was very tangled, filled with knots and loose strands of hair stuck up everywhere. She decided that the first way she could impress Elusia would be to look groomed. She grabbed a hairbrush and was about to start when she saw Aria across from her, fidgeting.

"You have no idea how to do your mane right, do you?"

"What do you know? You're what, six?"

"Yes, I am six."

Twilight continued brushing her hair, looking at the griffon with distrust. He was her only ticket out of here and if he turned out to be untrustworthy he could get her killed or worse. But again, he was the only route. She quickly made her mane as glossy as possible, making sure there were no loose hairs sticking up. She set the hairbrush aside and turned, once again, to Aria. She had a few questions for him if she was going to trust him with her own life.

"How did you get here? According to some of the writing up there you're a chimera. "

"I am a chimera." He replied. "A sort of conglomerate being made up of four or so other beings. When Elusia made me, she designated me to have the form of a griffon, although I'm only one fourth griffon. I'm also part cat, part unicorn, and part dragon. You're probably wondering how my master had the magical capabilities to do such a thing. I don't have any answers for you, since the only memory I have is waking up on her floor, and from then on I've served as her one and only personal servant. I wish I could give you more, but it's not within my power to say with any measure of accuracy."

Twilight had heard of such creatures, but most every attempt had been a failure. Star-Swirl had made one, and to that day it wandered the halls of his mansion, moping about its lost friend. But that creature had been made by a master of magic, this foal, this... chick, had been made by a griffon of immense magical prowess. Something Twilight didn't believe possible. It made her head hurt to think about the possible ways she could have pulled it off, because there were none. It was the same problem she had with the Empress lighting the candles at the entrance of the castle. It just wasn't possible.

After a while she sighed, knowing that if she sat there thinking she'd never come to a conclusion. She got up off the couch and walked over to her new acquaintance. She held out her hoof in a gesture of friendship, smiling. She knew too much about him now for him to double-cross her. He held out his talon, and they shook on it. So the deal was made.

"Now could you please take off that ridiculous outfit?" Twilight asked.

"Fine." He nodded, smiling. "Why, though? Does it just bother you?"

"It's just... strange."

"Okay then, do you want the key to the door?"

"You had the key out the whole time! I could have broken and made a run for it!"

"You wouldn't have made it past the guards."

Aria handed over the key and sighed, heading off to her washroom. He returned minus the maiden's outfit, which he threw onto the couch. He had the same neat, snowy white feathers of the Empress, plus the downy fluff that most griffon chicks had. He sighed and stretched a cute motion for such a young creature. He looked at Twilight, who had grown a little weak in the knees from his motion. He was adorable, and he knew it. The mare shook her head.

"Yeah yeah, you're cute. We get it." She grumbled, annoyed that he'd been able to get obtain her sentiments so easily. "So when do you expect Elusia to be back?"

"She should be in about another hour now. Do you want to do something in the meantime? I play a good game of chess if you feel up to it."

"I don't think you could beat me." She rolled her eyes. "You're looking at the three time Canterlot champion."

"That'll make it interesting!" The young griffon half ran, half hovered over to the cabinet beside one of the bookshelves. He took out a large chess set, one with obsidian and diamond pieces.

Twilight didn't win the game the first time... or the twenty-first time.

Okay, explanation chapter. I love those. Anywho, leave a comment if you enjoyed! (*Or if you didn't*)