“We've been very lucky, so far...” Silver Farpeak said, stalking back and forth in front of Princess Luna's tent. “But I fear our luck may run out soon. We've spotted our first humans.”

“Really.” Luna replied, calm as ever.

“They were lightly armored, and mounted on those slave-beasts.” said Lady Silver. “Centered around a single, covered wagon. I considered ordering an attack, but for all I knew, that could be some garrison's payroll for the next six months, so I decided on doing nothing. Given their relaxed behavior, they had no idea we are here.”

“Where did you see them?” asked Luna.

“A good thirty miles to the west, in the foothills of these... bigger hills. They traveled along a road that was little more than two wheel-ruts through the woods and fields.” Lady Silver stated, using a wing to point at the location on a mostly blank map that they were slowly filling in. “If you want to remain hidden, I advise keeping our forces away from that area. No flying far above the treetops, keep quiet, keep stealthy. Although I'd prefer a direct fight, myself.”

“We shall stay hidden.” the alicorn princess nodded. “Give out the orders, Lady Farpeak, We do not want to be detected too soon.”

“As you wish.” Silver Farpeak answered, bowing and leaving.

“Whatever else she may be, at least she can follow orders.” Hemlock remarked as soon as she was gone.

“For now.” Goldleaf frowned. He was sure Lady Silver was up to no good, even if he had absolutely no proof at all. Her personality speaks for itself, he thought in his own defense. “I've said it before, and I'll say it again. There are better ways to get what you want than brute force. Lady Silver seems to have the exact opposite belief.”

“That's for sure.” agreed Hemlock.

As usual, Luna drifted off into unresponsiveness. She'd been doing that a lot lately, ever since she managed to get into the late Emperor's dream. It was almost as if the alicorn was putting herself into a trance... Goldleaf was sure that was what she was doing, actually. As to what she was doing in there, only the stars knew. While their princess traversed the dreamworld, he and Hemlock had run out of work. There were no papers to be filed, no letters to be delivered... Goldleaf spent most of his time in the tiny tent given to him for the duration of their stay, reading what few books he had managed to bring. Hemlock wandered off to do whatever it was that she did in her spare time; he had never bothered to find out.

Tonight, Goldleaf was reading up on the griffon migrations to the west. The griffons claimed their gods had struck them down for their hubris, and fled their ruined homeland, settling on a set of large islands in the eastern sea, and even in the north of Equestria. To the unicorn, it sounded like some kind of natural disaster had driven them out, a few centuries ago. Discord was busy fighting the alicorns at the time, so it probably wasn't him... Was it? It presented an interesting problem to Goldleaf. In the world they lived in, coincidences were rare. Every cause had an effect, and every effect spawned more causes. The ordinary pony was unaware of such things, but for a learned stallion of Unicornia University, it was all too obvious. He might have been only a commoner, but at least he could see things few others would ever notice. Ah, the wonders of education-

“What are you smiling about?”

“Huh?” Goldleaf glanced up, and saw a dark beige pegasus standing in the entrance, giving him an odd look. “Oh, nothing, Hemlock. Just thinking. How do you know where my humble residence is, anyhow?”

“I asked where the cripple was.” answered Hemlock, with a satisfied smile of her own.

“And you've found him.” He had learned long ago not to let little comments like that bother him, even if they were probably made in jest. “What brings you here, Hemlock?”

“Uh... Nothing, really.” Hemlock replied, looking around the sparse interior of the tent.

“Nothing?”

“Yeah, nothing.” she affirmed, shuffling awkwardly. “Just thought I'd stop by, I guess. I really don't have anything else to do.” It was Goldleaf's turn to give her an odd look. “I don't mean that you're not important or anything- I'm just bored, you're the only other pony here I know besides Luna and my mother, and one of those is in a trance and the other is... yeah...”

“Fair enough.” said Goldleaf, whom the thought of willingly spending time near Silver Farpeak repulsed. Can't blame the girl, Lady Silver is a real piece of work. And even a unicorn is probably more relatable than an alicorn princess. And a common unicorn, at that. “So...”

“So...” Hemlock repeated.

“Well, don't just stand there-” He stopped himself, and looked around his tiny tent. There were a few blankets, and a little collapsible desk for writing, and not much room for anything else as long as he was in there. “On second thought, I'll join you outside.” Goldleaf's tent was unceremoniously placed on the edge of the camp the Equestrians had set up on the cove's shore, while their ships were anchored just far enough out that they wouldn't be beached at low tide. It was only a few yards between Goldleaf's tent and the slopes of the hills that plunged down towards them. “Well, if you're interested in history and economics, I have plenty of that to talk about.”

“Not particularly.” Hemlock said, pawing at the gritty sand under her hooves.

“Really?” asked Goldleaf. “The Oath of Arminius and Ballomar's Pilgrimage are fascinating accounts, and ones that most historians agree really happened!”

“Griffons are just another enemy of the pegasi, Goldleaf.” stated Hemlock, raising her head and taking a cool tone. “All we need to know is how to crush them, nothing more.” Her voice then returned to its normal, warmer tone, and she released her imperious pose. “Or so a certain Farpeak likes to say. Personally, I don't really care, as long as the griffons just keep to their lands.”

“Thurisind Northbrim isn't likely to stay quiet for long, depending on how things go in this foolish adventure.” commented the unicorn. King Thurisind, like his forefathers who carved out a petty holding for their tribe on the desolate shores of northeastern Equestria just four generations ago, was a bold opportunist. His relative, Audoin the Conqueror, was a larger threat, having managed to take more fertile lands to the south. He was not very creative in naming his new kingdom “Greenland.” Fortunately, the Conqueror was no longer in such a mood to conquer.

“We'll see what those cannibals and miscreants get up to. Nothing Princess Celestia can't handle back home, that's for sure.” Hemlock said assuredly.

“As long as Clothar of Friedeland doesn't do anything rash...” added Goldleaf. The Friedeland griffons were an uppity tribe, always ready to join their brethren who had settled in Equestria in fighting the wretched ponies. Griffons and ponies had never been good friends.

“But I didn't come here to talk international politics.”

“No, I'm afraid not. I'm not sure why you're here at all.” Goldleaf frowned.

“Well...” Hemlock shuffled about again, before looking into the forest. “Have you been beyond camp lately?”

“No.” said the unicorn. “Not once. There's humans out there, you know.”

“They're at least thirty miles away, Goldleaf.” chided Hemlock. “Let's go see what's out there!”

“Are you mad?”

“Come on, there's nothing more dangerous than lions and bears.” Hemlock said. “And maybe some poison oak or something... It's not like we'll be walking into a battlefield.”

“Fine.” sighed Goldleaf, rolling his eyes. “We'll go see what's in the forest.”

“Aren't you even the least bit interested in an entirely new, wild continent?” the pegasus questioned, as she led the way, with Goldleaf hobbling in tow.

“Well, I am.” admitted Goldleaf. “But I think I'd rather be back with my book...” Even if the moon was out, the forest still looked very dark in the night.

“Hah!” Hemlock laughed, as they passed the first trees. They were salt-swept pines, their windward buds killed by the summer breezes off the ocean, no doubt. Indeed, most of the trees here were pines and spruces, going by their differing bark, with a few broadleafs he couldn't recognize in the dark. The forest floor was dominated by ferns and some kind of bush with orange raspberries. They weren't actually raspberries, but they were similar in shape and size, just orange. I wonder if they're edible... He was still disappointed that Sarathûl was so similar to Equestria. It was nearly the same, just rougher around the edges. And there was the issue of uncontrolled weather, but so far, it wasn't a problem. The going quickly became rougher and steeper, and Goldleaf was forced to stop... though he wasn't looking forward to admitting it.

“Up here!” urged Hemlock, as if she sensed his thoughts. Goldleaf gingerly made his way up, wondering what it was she had led him to. “Give us some light.” He did so. The soft glow from his horn revealed a half-buried skeleton. A human skeleton. There were even little scraps of cloth left on it.

“What in the name of...”

“Neat, huh?” Hemlock asked, with a grin. “And look, there's more!” She pranced over the skeleton, and when Goldleaf followed, he saw five more of them in various states of ruin and entombment. “I was keeping this as a surprise for you.”

“But you said you didn't have a reason to come see me.” protested Goldleaf, furrowing his brow in confusion.

“Because it was a surprise! That's not even the issue though!” she said with exasperation, pointing to the hillside they were on. “Skeletons!”

“Yes, I see.” Goldleaf nodded. “Quite a few of them.”

“Do you know what happened here?”

He gave her a flat look. “Hemlock, it's six dead humans. That's piecemeal. They need to die by the hundreds or thousands for it to be noteworthy. So do we, for that matter.”

“Well, can you use your unicorn powers or something?” she asked again.

“I-” Goldleaf snorted. He couldn't expect her to know that magic couldn't do everything. She probably even didn't know how magic worked, given her upbringing. “I'll do my best.”

“Excellent.” declared Hemlock, smiling smugly. It didn't take long for him to figure out what had happened to these people.

“Axes.” stated Goldleaf, looking at each skull one by one. “To the back of the head. Seems like they were executed.”

“Ooh... I wonder what they did?” Hemlock leaned closer to one, staring into empty eye sockets. “Maybe they were pirates! Or mutineers!”

“Or the victims of pirates and mutineers.” countered Goldleaf darkly. “Well, this has been interesting, to say the least.”

“You don't make it sound so.” commented Hemlock back.

“I've always been more of a book pony. Roughing it out in the forest isn't exactly my thing.” he explained.

“We're a sixty yards from camp.”

“Far enough for me.” muttered Goldleaf.

“It's not that bad! Adventures are fun!”

“Hmmph.” The unicorn glanced at his bad leg. Adventures used to be fun, he thought. Used to.

They began to make their way back to camp, or so Goldleaf assumed. Once more, Hemlock led the way. A few times, she had to stop to let him catch up; no doubt realizing he was nowhere near as fast as her. Eventually, they emerged back at the shore, though a ways south of the camp itself.

“Well, that was a nice change of pace, don't you think?” asked Hemlock, not bothering to wait for his answer. “We should do that more often.”

“We?” Goldleaf turned to her, making no attempt to hide his now-weary state.

“Yeah, we...” affirmed the pegasus, suddenly looking concerned. “I mean... we're friends, aren't we?”

“Yes, yes.” sighed Goldleaf. “But Hemlock, I'm not exactly in a condition to go off traversing the wilderness. I haven't been in a long time. And I never will be again. Wandering the woods isn't exactly easy with only three legs to do it with, you know.”

“Oh.” Hemlock said, as if she had just remembered that.

“I appreciate the effort, but I'm afraid it's wasted on me... I'd rather keep to things I can do without worrying about falling on my face.” She nodded in silent understanding. “If you want to join, by all means, feel free.” he stated. “I'd welcome the company.” Well, he wouldn't, not really, but that would have been rude to say. At least Hemlock was more bearable than most of the other ponies here. She was one of the few who didn't believe the humans were leftover agents of Discord.

“Yeah, I get it... I was kind of looking forward to getting out and about, though.” said Hemlock quietly, looking down at her hooves. But she immediately perked up again, offering him a hopeful smile. “But, you mentioned griffon history earlier?”

Goldleaf closed his eyes and exhaled; before they made their way back to his tent and books, though they remained outside. In the end, he did get to speak about the Oath of Arminius and Ballomar's Pilgrimage, and to his surprise, Hemlock actually seemed interested. “I wish Equestrian history had a moment like that.” she commented, after he finished recounting the Oath of Arminius. “One of those moments that's a defining beginning, you know?”

“Oh, I know, alright.” Goldleaf agreed. “The Equestrian realms just emerged out of the oblivion of Discord, fading in. The griffons get a single moment that they can trace everything to. Kind of.”

“Kind of?” asked Hemlock. “Their High King swore that he and his people would never look east again, never be like their ancestors again, and basically started the entire modern griffon civilization around that!” She paused, looking uncertain. “That was what happened, right?”

“Yes and no. Griffon civilization goes back as long as ours does, to a time immemorial.” he explained. “But griffons before the disaster were an entirely different sort than the ones Arminius led west.”

“Ah...” Hemlock nodded. “I see. Funny how they kept moving west instead of reclaiming their homes from the fire god. What was he, anyway? There aren't exactly gods walking around in the world these days...”

“I wish I could tell you.” shrugged the unicorn. “There have been legends of fire-beings as long as there has been recorded history. Who is to say there wasn't a god of flame still active somewhere in the far corners of the Earth, even as recently as a hundred years ago?”

“I wonder what else is out there...” Hemlock looked up at the night. “It reminds me of something my sister said once, not long before Maelstrom Blackwind took her across the sea. Snowy asked me if I thought all the mysteries would be gone one day. It's an odd thing to ask for an eight year old, and hard to understand for a seven year old.” Speak for yourself, Goldleaf almost said. “Well, Snowy was always introspective, always wondering and wandering alone. Mother really hated that. But it makes sense now. Here we are, a world away from home, and nothing has really changed... Are all the mysteries gone, Goldleaf?”

He certainly doubted it, but it was something to think on.

The next night, he managed to catch the Princess before she went into trance, or whatever it was she was doing. “I'm telling you, your highness, she's desperately bored. Bored enough to ask me about history, and that's saying something. Bored ponies out in the world on their own for the first time... It's not a good mix, Princess.”

“What would you have Us do?” Luna asked, obviously not very interested. “Sit Lady Hemlock in a corner and tell her to calm down? She's an adult.”

“No, no, just...” Goldleaf lowered his voice. “I really don't want to be responsible for Hemlock going off and doing something stupid. Like... Oh, I don't know, but you know how youth can be...” The midnight alicorn raised an eyebrow at him.

“Then prevent her from doing something stupid.” stated Luna. “Now, if you excuse Us, We have things to do.”

“As you wish, your highness.” said Goldleaf, bowing out. At least Hemlock was surprisingly good company for discussions, even if she was uneducated. Perhaps this wasn't the end of the world.

Author's Notes:

Oh no, character building at a snail's pace! Yes, I'm afraid so. Hemlock's lines seem kinda familiar, don't you think?

In other news, chemistry is the devil and it's preventing me from writing as fast as I want to.