A/N- I decided I’d split the most recent chapter, just for the sake of getting some kind of update out.  I would also really appreciate some critique!  If any of you are willing to provide.

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“Well isn’t this a pleasant turn of events?”  A strong and deep voice sounded off in the corner of the hospital room.

Black Brush, Nurse Strawberry, and Sunset each turned their heads to investigate the source of the sound.  They were met with the wise stare of an older earth pony stallion, the color grey intermingled with the dark brown of his mane, his patchy black fur maintained and quite obviously taken care of, a white suit hung loosely around his wiry frame as he nonchalantly brushed a little dirt from the road off of the collar.  A bushy mustache and goatee combo helped to accentuate that leaderly look and aura that seemed to permeate off of him.  And his cutie mark was black star with several smaller golden stars surrounding it.

“Oh Mr. Mayor, I didn’t hear you come in.”  Strawberry greeted him with a friendly tone of voice.

“Yeah Mrs. Swirl, I heard you got back from getting your plants and wanted to check and make sure you didn’t get hurt or anything, So I just kinda let myself in.”  He turned his coal colored eyes onto both Black Brush and Sunset Spring, looking them over in turn.  “I see you picked up a couple new patients while you were gone.”

“Why yes, this is Black Brush.”  She waved her hoof in the unicorn’s direction; he greeted the mayor with a nod.  “And this is Sunset Spring.”  Sunset gave the older earth pony a wave with her hoof.

The mayor began to approach them, holding his head high and proud, each and every step was heavy and clopped loudly against the hard tile floor of the hospital room.  He walked like a pony who demanded respect, and no doubt he was deserving of it, having lived with the burden of leadership for well over forty years.  He looked old, tired, yet at the same time still seemed to hold a feeling of youth and vigor one was hard pressed to keep in their later years.

He smiled, holding up a hoof for Black Brush to shake; when the unicorn did he passed it to Sunset, who did the same.   “It’s good to meet you both; I’m the mayor of Foalton.  Dawnstar’s the name; feel free to call me by it.”

“Nice to meet you Dawnstar,” Black Brush replied with yet another respectful nod.  He hadn’t been on the road for more than two weeks and he’d already fought for his life, gotten knocked out by a griffon, had everything of value stolen, and now he was shaking hooves with the mayor of a town he’d been in for no more than an hour or so.  All things considered everything seemed to be off to a fantastic start.

“Likewise friends,” Dawnstar replied, a shining row of teeth appearing behind his bushy mustache as he gave them a welcoming grin.  “I’d like to welcome you to our humble little town here but…”  The old stallion stopped for a moment as he chewed on the inner part of his cheek, searching for the right words.  “I’m sure you’re both aware that we’ve been having a little ‘problem’ with a rise in griffon population as of late.”

“Yeah, Strawberry filled us in.”  Sunset said.  “It sounds like they’ve been causing you all no end of trouble.”

The old stallion sighed heavily.  “Yeah, well your right.  These blasted birds have practically taken over the whole town.  They patrol the roads regularly, thrashing everyone they meet to a bloody pulp then stealing all their valuables to boot.”  He looked up at them both, heavy lines of age etched into his features as he gave the pair an apologetic gaze.  “It’s gotten so bad that the ponies that end up here who aren’t hospitalized are too scared to leave the town, we’re dealing with overcrowding, ponies sleeping in the streets, an increase in crime, and just to make matters worse those damn griffons are getting cocky enough that they’ve began coming into the town and wrecking things up.”  The mayor leaned back, letting a few lines of worry and fatigue finally crack the brave mask he’d been wearing around his public as of late.  “And everypony is looking at me to fix their problems.”

“Haven’t you considered calling upon the Princesses for aid?”  Black Brush asked.  In a dangerous land such as Equestria situations such as these weren’t wholly uncommon.  Events like bandit attacks and robberies weren’t necessarily an everyday occurrence, but they happened often enough that a special sect of the Princesses’ royal regime had been designated for dealing with such things.   “Certainly they’d be willing to provide assistance if they knew.”

Dawnstar shook his head in a melancholy manor, it was clear the stress of the whole situation was weighing down heavily upon the old stallion’s spirit.  “We tried dispatching some of our best fliers to get help but…I think if you take a look around you’ll see how well that turned out.”

Suddenly the small group of ponies felt their attention get drawn to the bed next to them as pained moaning began to emanate from the blue mare that had shot Black Brush the death glare earlier.

“Nurse…nurse…”  She forced out weakly, her breathing quickly becoming frantic and uneven as panic began to wrap itself around the brutalized mare with its terrifying grasp.  “Nurse!  NURSE!”

Strawberry wasted no time in her response, however, rather than head directly towards the wounded mare crying out for attention she scrambled over to a desk sitting idly in the corner of the room.  Reaching inside she gathered together numerous amounts of medical supplies and, as quickly as her fatigued body would allow, sprinted towards the fidgeting blue pegasus.

“Nurse…it hurts nurse…make it stop.”  The poor thing continued to drone out meekly as Strawberry set herself to work.

“Shhh, you just stay quiet now.”  Strawberry soothed in a sweet motherly voice, stroking the mare’s curly mane a few times in order to calm her down.  “I got some more medicine today so you just relax and we’ll get you all fixed up okay?”  The honeyed tone of voice and gentle show of affection seemed to slow the pegasus’ frantic breathing, a good sign that she was relaxing, if only a little.  “Now this is going to taste bad but I promise you if you drink this the pain will go away.”

Black Brush watched with interest as Strawberry uncorked the top of a glass bottle and steadily began to pour the pinkish liquid inside down the mare’s throat, she seemed to recoil slightly at first, but quickly ceased her resistance as the soothing affects began to take hold.

A health potion huh Strawberry?  Black Brush thought quietly to himself, allowing his curiosity to trump over his worry for the blue pegasus for a moment.  Now where on Equestria did you learn how to make one of those?

Not many ponies knew the right kind of herbs necessary to make such a powerful remedy.  And in all honesty he wasn’t even quite sure how to do it; really he could only recognize the foreign concoction because his mother had fancied herself an alchemist.  And he’d been unfortunate enough to have gotten a bad case of the flue one year; his mother had gone to great lengths to contact an old zebra colleague of hers that had provided her with a recipe.  But one thing was for certain, the look, smell, and taste made one heck of an impression, and it wasn’t exactly a good one.  Really, potions such as this were always more of a zebra kind of thing, since ponykinds striped cousins lacked magical means to heal their people they found ways of using what was around them instead.   And since there was very few zebra’s in Equestria hardly anypony knew how to make such a thing.

Needless to say, where exactly Strawberry had managed to procure such an obscure medicine left him rather intrigued, he figured that he could ask her about it after she was done calming her disoriented patient.

Strawberry gently pulled the glass bottle away from the blue mare’s open mouth, cautiously setting it onto the ground beside her.  “There, you feeling better Cloudchaser?”  Strawberry asked hopefully.

Cloudchaser gave the smallest little shake of her head to show that she was in fact feeling quite a bit better, the searing hot agony coursing through her body had dulled to an annoying yet not unbearable throbbing pain in her lower back.  Whatever was in that drink had done wonders for the pain.

“That’s good, now you want to tell me where you were hurting?”  Strawberry continued with the calming mother like voice.

“I…I rolled over onto my wing and it…I think it broke.”  The mare forced out, her voice cracking with emotion as tears began to sting at her eyes.  Wings were sturdy parts of a pegasus’ body, built to withstand even the most strenuous of physical activities.  Ergo they didn’t break often, but when they did, they were almost impossible to fix.  Cloudchaser feared the worst.

 Strawberry nodded.  “Can you sit up for me so I can get a look at it?”

Cloudchaser swallowed hard.  She barely had enough energy left in her body to even call for help, but her wing was more important to her than anything else at the moment.  “…I might need a little help.”

“Okay, just do your best to sit up and we’ll take care of the rest.”  Cherry instructed before turning her gaze towards the other three ponies.  “Could one of you-’’

But she didn’t even have to finish the sentence before Sunset fluttered over and began to prop up the brutalized pegasus.  Even though she didn’t really know the other mare, something inside Sunset demanded she do everything she could to ease Cloudchaser’s discomfort.  Sunset by her very nature was considered a very helpful pony; ever since she was young she’d offered a helpful hoof to pretty much any and all who requested her assistance.  It was one of the reasons Black Brush liked her so much, a quality like that was a rare find in a pony these days.  But there was no denying that there was some sort of bond between the two that was already formed due to the fact that they were both pegasi, seeing another one of her own kind in such distress called to a more primal part of her, the desire to help one of your own, whether out of pity, kinship, or just the fact that you could end up in their exact same position yourself one day, it was understandable.  After all, you can’t fight your instincts.

Slowly and with a great care Strawberry began to undue the thick cotton bandages that were wrapped around Cloudchaser’s wings.  Sunset, who had been watching every move the nurse pony made with her keen golden eyes, was forced to repress a gasp of horror as she beheld the damage beneath.  A pegasus’ wing was definitely NOT supposed to bend that way.

“We-well…what’s it look like?”  Cloudchaser asked with apprehension, as if sensing Sunset’s anxiety.  “Is…is it broken?  Will I be able to fly again?”  Cloudchaser asked, not really confident she wanted an honest answer.

Sunset tore her eyes away from the mangled wing and looked at Strawberry, expecting the nurse to offer some sort of comforting gesture or apologetic words to soften the blow.  But when all she saw was the nurse continuing to stare at the broken wing with an air of curiosity she decided to do it herself.

“I’m sorry Cloudchaser, but your wing is…”  Sunset felt her voice get caught in her throat as the dark blue mare looked at her with melancholy eyes, tears streaming down her cheeks in thick rivers as she waited for the news she knew would come.

“Now just hold on a minute Cloudchaser, everything is going to be fine.”  Strawberry spoke up, yet she refused to take her gaze off of the wing.  “…just give it a moment.”

“What do you mean everything’s going to be fine!?”  Cloudchaser shouted out angrily, her voice cracking heavily with emotion, she didn’t need to be told what was wrong with her wing, she knew already.  And she sure as hell didn’t need false hope.  “My wing is broken!  I’m never going to fly again!  I’ll lose my job!  I won’t be able to pay for my house!  I’ll have to sleep on the streets and…and…”  Suddenly Cloudchaser’s tirade slowed to a stop.  The pegasus’ eyes widened slightly as a slight tingling sensation began to form in the lower part of her back, and a wondrously warm feeling began to spread throughout her entire body, the warmth curling around her like a cozy blanket.  “Oh.”  Cloudchaser mouthed the word in a breathy wisp of air as she lost herself in the new wonderful feelings now coursing throughout her entire body.

Every pony in the room gawked awkwardly at the nearly unbelievable event taking place before their eyes.  All save for Black Brush, who watched with a knowing grin, he’d seen the effects of healing potions before.  And he’d had practically the same reaction.  A faint golden glow began to envelop the broken wing, the bright colors dancing across the appendage daintily as pure relief began to wash over the pegasus’ blissful face.  And suddenly with a final flash of light the glow was gone, leaving behind a troupe of flustered ponies and a healed wing.

Cloudchaser shook away the fog floating around in her head, the magnificent feelings slowly dissipating into the ether as her wits began to return to her.  “What happened?”  She asked after a few moments of basking in the afterglow, though when she flexed her wing and felt it move she didn’t care about an answer anymore.  “My wing’s fixed…”  She craned her head back, looking at the feathery appendage with wonder.  “MY-MY WINGS FIXED!”

The pegasus suddenly took to the air, forcing both Strawberry and Sunset to take a few steps back as the mare’s sudden take to flight nearly knocked them over.

“MY WINGS FIXED MY WINGS FIXED!”  She continued to chant methodically as her wings beat furiously in the air.  The sheer joy and wonder now coursing throughout her body filling her with a sense of euphoria!  Right now nothing else mattered, all her worries melted away and all she wanted to do was fly!  Fly as far and as fast as she could!

“Cloudchaser calm down!”  Strawberry ordered sternly.  “Just because you feel better doesn’t mean everypony else does, now stop hollering so they can get their rest!”

“Sorry nurse, right now all I can do is fly!”  Cloudchaser retorted as she did another loop in the air.  “I’ll be out of your hair right after I do one last thing!”

Strawberry frowned and opened her mouth to say something along the lines of ‘you’ll be getting out of here right now.’   But she felt her mind go blank as the exultant pegasus suddenly swooped down and planted her lips firmly, yet passionately, against the stunned nurse’s open maw.

Cloudchaser held the mare for a moment; she’d wanted to do that for the longest time but never had the courage.  But right now she felt invulnerable, like she was capable of anything.  Quickly she pulled away, shooting the stunned pony a quick suggestive wink before bolting out the door, the sound of her whooping voice gently fading into the distance as she took to the sky.

Strawberry blinked once, then twice, and a third time.  Her body running on autopilot as her brain decided to take a break for a few moments.  She gently drew up a hoof to touch her lips, recalling the feeling of Cloudchaser’s kiss.  It took a pretty loud throat clearing from Dawnstar for her to piece enough of her sense back together in order to feel embarrassed.  She quickly shook her head, attempting to clear the blush now stinging her cheeks, it was now she realized how happy she was to have dark fur.

“So Strawberry, mind clueing me in on how exactly you came across a health potion?”  Black Brush asked after waiting a moment to let the mare collect her thoughts, doing her an unintentional favor as he drew the attention away from her not so subtle little make out session, which was something she was quite grateful for.

“Why um yes, a zebra by the name of Zecora passed through town a few months ago.  She was quite kind and managed to teach me a few recipes for some very useful potions.”  Strawberry managed to explain, holding her head up and trying to look unfazed from her recent, ‘encounter’, with Cloudchaser…though not with much success.  “And recently we had a forest fire, thanks to those griffons, so there’s plenty of red root growing nearby.”

“Red Root, that’s the ingredient.”  Black Brush mumbled, gently clonking himself on the head as he remembered the missing component.  Health potions needed a couple dashes of red root in order to get the body to produce enough heat to heal itself.  “Very potent stuff, I used to mash it up and make some paints with it.  It makes a brilliant shade of red.”

“Oh really?  I didn’t know you could use Red Root for something like that.”

“Yeah, I had to add a little bit of Ice Bloom in order to keep it from burning a hole through the canvas but it still worked out.”

Sunset shook her head.  “Okay hang on a second you two.  Just what on Equestria are you talking about?”

Black Brush turned his head towards the orange pegasus.  “Sorry Sunset, I’ll do a little explaining.”  His face contorted into a wry little grin.  “Try and keep up.”  Black Brush’s mocking tone caused Sunset to huff, he was about to go off on another tangent again.

‘Well, it’s good to see your getting back to your old self Blackie.’  Sunset thought with an inner smile at her friend’s change in demeanor.  Returning to the playful, somewhat light hearted stallion she’d come to know and love.  She felt like smiling, but kept up the appearance of being annoyed at his remark, you know, just to toy with his emotions.

“You see Red Root is an extremely potent magical plant that is native to Equestria.  When fertile enough soil is exposed to high temperatures, typically due to things like forest fires, they can sprout up out of the dirt.  Now while most plants survive on water and healthy doses of sunlight, if you want to keep Red Root around you have to keep them sustained at the perfect temperature.  Since the plant by itself is hot enough to burn a hole through my hoof just by holding it you’d definitely want to make sure it’s cool enough to, well…not do that.  But at the same time you can’t let it get to cold otherwise it’ll shrivel up and die.  So you don’t typically see them in flower shops since their so hard to take care of.”  Black Brush explained, like he’d just read all of his information straight out of a textbook.  Sunset really had no idea how he could store so much information in that head of his, but she typically wasn’t one to complain when he’d give her answers to test questions back in school.

“Strawberry here must have lucked out with that forest fire.  Seeing as Red Root is a very important ingredient for health potions.  I take it you have them secured?”  Black Brush asked the mare with a raised eyebrow.  “It would be a shame if they got to cold and wasted away…or worse, if they got too hot.”

Strawberry nodded her head.  “Oh yes, I’d never let that happen.”

“Why, what happens if they get warmed up?”  Dawnstar asked with a stroke of his facial fur, he was quite honestly intrigued.

“Well they kind of…”  Strawberry pawed at the ground nervously as her voice trailed off, she certainly didn’t want to worry the mayor about the possibilities.

“Explode.”  Black Brush finished for her, earning both himself and the nurse a shocked look from both the mayor and Sunset in turn.

“Strawberry your keeping explosives in a hospital!?”  Dawnstar asked with a shaken voice.

“It’s perfectly safe I assure you!”  Strawberry rushed to explain herself.  “I have all of them kept perfectly safe within enchanted capsules!”

“Are you sure they work?  We don’t have any magically gifted unicorns around here.”  The grizzled old stallion reasoned, his eyes darting around the hospital room uneasily, like he expected something to spontaneously combust any moment now.

“Why yes we do!”  Strawberry egged on, attempting to calm the startled stallion.  “That showmare who’s staying at the inn, she sold them to me! She says she knows everything about magic, and nothing’s exploded as of yet so I think we’re okay.”

Suddenly one of the patients from across the room raised his head from the pillow.  “Did you say something about the hospital blowing up?”

Strawberry shot him a look that could kill.  “Go back to bed…right now.”

The colt wisely did as he was told.

“I hope your right about this Strawberry.”  The mayor continued on, pinching his eyes with a hoof in aggravation.  “It’s pretty warm out today so make sure those plants don’t sit in the sun or anything stupid like that.”

“Of course Mr. Mayor, I’ve been very careful so far.”  Strawberry smiled.  “And with all that I picked I could make dozens of health potions, I could have everyone in here back on their hooves within a week!”

“Yes well, let’s not be too hasty with speeding up their treatment, at least in here they have a pillow underneath their heads.”  The mayor turned his gaze back towards Sunset and Black Brush.  “But back to the matter at hoof, are you two really willing to help us?”

The pair exchanged a quick glance, as if checking to see if the other had any doubts.  When they found none, Black Brush gave him an answer.

“Yes, now I can’t guarantee we’ll be a big help.  But the situation here has spiraled out of control; somepony has to put a stop to it.”  He grinned at Dawnstar.  “Might as well be us.”

Dawnstar smiled thankfully.  “I can’t thank you enough for what you both are doing here, why don’t you two head into the city?  Talk with whoever you have to, do whatever you have to, but if you can find a way to get rid of these griffons we will forever be in your debt.”

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Gilda slowly chewed on the chocolate candy bar that she and a couple of other griffons in Dax’s crew had found tucked away in one of the numerous stolen saddlebags that were lying around in the camp.

“Man its freaking hot today.”  She mumbled, simultaneously drawing up a talon to wipe away some of the sweat sinking into her feathers.

She finished off the candy bar with one last bite, eating the rest up before the chocolate melted in the sweltering heat.  The others had stolen some cupcakes from the bakery in town not too long ago, but she’d stayed away from them.  Just looking at one of the sweets immediately made her think about that pink pony who had turned her best friend into a total lame dweeb.  And thinking about either Dash or the pink one made her want to go find something and smash in its face.

That was part of the reason she’d joined up with Dax, he didn’t like ponies and she didn’t like ponies so it seemed like they had something mutual going on.  But over time it had become pretty clear that Dax didn’t just hate ponies, he hated everyone, griffons included.  It showed in the way he treated all the others under his ‘command’.  All in all their little gang had sprouted up into about ten to fifteen other griffons, all of which down on their luck and looking to make a quick buck or two off the suffering of others.

At the time of her joining Gilda had thought she was ready for something like this.  She’d been in some scraps before, wasn’t a fan of laws or rules, and didn’t really give a damn about the wellbeing of others.  So joining up with his gang seemed like a great way to work out some frustration and get the revenge she’d been stewing over since her flight from Ponyville.

But as time went on…doubts began to creep into her mind.  She knew things were going too far when the town had sent out a bunch of pegasus to get some help, and she, Dax, and the other griffons had all gone out and beat the living crap out of them.

Gilda herself had only given the ones she’d run into a good whack or two, making sure they were out cold.  Heck, she’d even been nice enough to drag them all back to the hospital afterwards; just to make sure they didn’t get concussions or whatever.  But if Gilda knew what she was going to see when she got back to camp…she would have stayed as far away as she could.

Upon her return she was treated to the sight of three other pegasi lying, bruised and broken, in the middle of the camp.  Dax had brought them back in order to have a little fun with them, all the other griffons had gathered around and they…they beat them, for what felt like hours Gilda was forced to watch as one after another the other members of the gang took turns pounding on them.

And that wasn’t the worst part, after they were done, after all of them had been beaten so badly they could barely walk let alone fly, Dax had dragged them out to the road and left them there to die.  It was a horrid scene, and she’d thought about flying out of here as soon as she got the chance.  But before she could act on these thoughts Dax had immediately squashed them down.  He’d come up to her once he’d gotten back from dumping the ponies out on the road, he…told her how he’d noticed she didn’t partake in their little game, that’s all it was to him, some sick game he got to play with the wellbeing of others.  He’d said if she even considered taking off, he’d find her and make her regret it.

Gilda didn’t consider herself a coward, far from it in fact, but she couldn’t help but feel the icy claws of fear dig their way into her heart when he’d said those words.  So she stayed, and for the last two weeks they’d kept up with their thieving and beating.

She cast a wary glance over towards where Dax sat from her little secluded corner of the camp.  She watched with keen eyes as the burly griffon continued to toy with the gleaming blade he’d lifted off their most recent robbery.  Now she was even more frightened of the guy, Dax was already a textbook description of the word nutjob.  Word was he was the reason Flappy, his younger sibling, was missing an eye.  Even though she didn’t really believe that, considering most of the other griffons in camp were about as smart as a bag of rocks, and everything that came out of their mouths should be ingested with a healthy dose of salt, but she certainly wouldn’t put it past the guy.

And now he had a deadly weapon at his disposal.  She could only wonder how long before he’d put it to use.

“Um, hey Gilda.”  A familiar hesitant voice brought her out of her thoughts.

She cast an uninterested glance over towards the source.  Not to her surprise she saw Flappy, the scrawny griffon standing off to her side, pointing his one eyed gaze towards the ground, as if scared to make eye contact with her.

“What do you want Flappy?”  She asked, even though she really didn’t care.  Flappy had made it a routine to bother her about once a day over something trivial.  Maybe it was because she was the only one that didn’t abuse him on a regular basis, or maybe the scraggly guy noticed that she didn’t want to be here about as much as he did.  Whatever it was, she wasn’t entirely unwelcoming to the meeting.  Even if Flappy was a few twigs short of a birds nest.

“Um…well.”  Flappy seemed to be choking on his words, darting his one good eye around the campsite like he was searching for an escape.

“Come on dude, spit it out already.”

“Flappy, has to go into town with some of the others and was wondering if Gilda would come to?”  The smaller griffon rushed the words out of his mouth, before clamping his beak shut and waiting for his answer, when all he received was a raised eyebrow Flappy decided to elaborate somewhat.  “Flappy doesn’t want to go alone with them because all the others have been very mean lately and well…Gilda’s nice…but she’s also tough so Flappy was wondering if she would make sure they don’t hurt Flappy while he’s away.”  He met her gaze now, his scarred face registering some degree of hopefulness.

Gilda mulled over the offer somewhat.  She thought about blowing him off, just because.  But then again she’d seen Flappy sneak off to help the injured pegasi once his brother had gotten back.  He was probably the only reason that any of them made it back to town at all.  Not even she would have been brave enough to do that.  And she admired the little guys guts, none of the other griffons here were even willing to talk back to Dax, let alone disobey a direct order.  Then again, Flappy might not be brave at all.  He could just be really stupid.

“I’m not ‘nice’ Flappy.”  Gilda forced out the word like it left a bad taste on her tongue.  And Flappy’s face took on a noticeable amount of disappointment as he prepared for the rejection he knew would come.  “But what the hell, I’ve got nothing better to do.”  Gilda stood up, stretching out her stiff muscles and flexing her talons.  “I’ll watch your back if you want.”

Flappy’s beak curved into a jubilant smile.  “Thanks Gilda!  Flappy always wanted a friend!  Flappy and Gilda are friends…right?”

Gilda looked over at the other griffon, eyeing him over.  She wasn’t too keen on friends; she’d only ever had one.  And that ‘friend’ had stabbed her in the back only a few short months ago.  But, Flappy was pretty harmless, and they were the only two here who weren’t sociopaths.  So if the little guy wanted to give their relationship a label.  Why not?

“Sure Flappy, we’re friends.”

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Black Brush opened the large wooden door leading out of the hospital.  He stepped outside, raising a hoof to shade his eyes from the sunlight; he briefly scanned the town surrounding him.

“Sure is hot today.”  Sunset came up to stand at his side.  “You couldn’t have picked a cooler time of the year to fall into a crippling depression and start some foalish journey?”

“Oh I’m sorry, next time I’ll postpone my own personal suffering so we can trudge down the road together knee deep in snow.”  Black Brush chided.  “Does that work better for you Sunny Bunny?”

Sunset raised a hoof and knocked him upside the head, the strike eliciting a pained groan and a pitiful “Ooow” from her traveling companion.

“That’s still sore you know.”  He told her while rubbing up and down on his throbbing skull in a soothing manner.

“Nopony calls me Sunny Bunny but my grandma.”  She frowned at him.  “You hear that?  NOPONY.”

Black Brush only responded to her annoyance with a toothy grin.  “Whatever you say…Sunny Bunny.”

Sunset sighed heavily.  “I’m so going to kill you.”

“Looking forward to it, this place certainly looks a lot better on the brochure.”  Black Brush decided to comment on the current status of Foalton.  

And Sunset was inclined to agree with him.  The town itself was practically in shambles, buildings were vandalized, garbage was thrown about upon the white cobblestone of the roads and alleyways, and not to mention that the streets were overcrowded with ponies, all of which bustling and moving about with no real place to go.  Most of the shops and homes were boarded up and closed, signs that said things along the lines of, No free Lodging,  And No bits no purchase, were nailed on buildings of all kinds, no doubt put there by aggravated shopkeepers that were upset with the current influx of bitless vagrants.  Without all of this the town would have no doubt lived up to its reputation as a decently sized and stocked business crossroads, the last stop inland before one would either continue heading north, deeper into Equestrian territory, or east, towards the ocean.

That’s no doubt why the griffons have picked here to set up shop.  Black Brush thought to himself.  There’s lots of valuable trade coming in from both the East and the South, all heading north towards Canterlot to offload their goods, pretty clever plan to be honest.

The pair were forced to shoulder their way past uncountable amounts of ponies.  The city was indeed overcrowded, stallions and mares alike were filling the alleyways and spilling out into the streets, some sleeping in the byways and gutters throughout the town.  Others were scrounging around for some form of shelter or sustenance.   A group of Earth ponies sat around a makeshift fire pit off to the side, cooking up some carrot and cabbage stew.  It looked like they were all ready to fight over the food if necessary, a few burly stallions in the group clutching onto makeshift weapons and eyeing everypony that came near suspiciously.

All of this was a pretty jarring change in setting from what they were used to, considering the two had only ever lived in a small town, populated by no more than thirty to forty individuals.  But the worst part…the scene that shocked Black Brush most of all?  The theatre that Black Brush had wanted to visit, one of the biggest and most popular stages in Equestria mind, had been practically cannibalized.

The polished wooden floorboards had been torn asunder, thrown together to create makeshift lodgings for those who wanted shelter, the lavish bright red curtains with golden stitches and embroidery had been sliced apart and made into blankets and beds for ponies in need, and worst of all…the wonderfully painted backgrounds, the backgrounds that created scenes so real you could believe you were there, had been smashed and used as tinder.  As an admirer of all things artistic, Black Brush was appalled at this crime against the performing arts.

“Oh no…”  Black Brush mumbled as Sunset saw him practically deflate before her very eyes.  His emerald gaze glued to the butchered stage.

“What, what’s wrong?”  She asked with worry.

“That poor beautiful theatre…”

 Sunset followed his gaze, before rolling her eyes and giving a huff.  “It’s just a stage Blackie; we have bigger things to worry about.”

Black Brush looked at her like she was insane.  “Wha- bigger things to worry about!?  Maybe you don’t understand but theatre is the pinnacle of pony achievement.  It takes every form of art out there and mixes it together in the most positively beautiful way imaginable.”

Sunset drug a hoof across her face before letting out another aggravated groan, “Oh here we go again…”

“You see it takes the intricate storytelling and character development of a novel and lays it out on display for everyone to see, and then it must rely on the performance and acting skills that only a true lover of the performing arts could put to good use.  And musical accompaniment, where would ponykind be without the creation of music!?  Lyrical poetry used to tell the tales and sorrows of all kinds, capable of bringing forth emotions the likes of which rarely seen!  And last but not least let us not forget the paintings!  The blood sweat and tears poured onto the canvas in order to set the scene for the story.  Everything from starry night skies to bloody battlefields have been created in order for us to truly be immersed in the scene playing out before our very eyes!”  Black Brush took a deep breath and pointed a damning hoof at the dilapidated stage.  “AND THIS IS A CRIME AGAINST ALL OF IT!”

Sunset waited a moment for Black Brush to catch his breath after his tirade, a deadpan expression lying on her face as she waited impatiently for her art loving friend to calm himself.

“Are you done now?”  She asked with a colorless voice.  “Or are you going to leap into a rant about how the varnish used on the floorboards is an intricately woven form of political satire.”  Suddenly Sunset blinked, scrunching up her face as her brain finally registered what just came out of her mouth.  “Whoa…big words...”

“Big words indeed,”  Sunset looked up to see Black Brush giving her that playful smirk that made her want to punch him and kiss him at the same time.  “I think I’m starting to rub off on you Sunset.”  He leaned in a little closer, causing her to blush as his face now measured only a few short inches away from her own.  Now was a bad moment for her love sickness to kick in, but she couldn’t help it.  “If I hang around you any longer I might catch you saying magenta is your favorite color.”

At those words Sunset immediately felt the fluttering in her chest die down and the heat recede from her face, that same playful aura settling around the pair once again.  

“Not on your life Blackie.  Emerald will always be my favorite color.”

“Oh really?”  He raised an eyebrow, his emerald eyes flashing in the light.  “And why would that be?”

And there it was again, that damn feeling of unrequited passion and love, just sitting there like a rock in her chest.   She couldn’t believe that she had let this one slip.  No way was she about to say because it was the color of his eyes, that would make her feelings for him all too clear, as if they weren’t already laid out bare for anypony with an ounce of intelligence to see, but she liked to think she did a good job of hiding it.

“Be-because it’s a pretty color!”  She swiveled around and started walking towards the center of town.  “Well come on!  We don’t have all day!”

She heard Black Brush’s hooves clopping along the ground behind her as he followed her lead.  She could practically FEEL that smug little grin of his, digging into the back of her head with a feeling of self-satisfaction as he, once again, managed to successfully toy with his best friend’s emotions.  Oh Celestia did she want to turn around and punch him right now!  And oh Luna did she want to turn around kiss him right now…

“It seems like the bar is the only thing still open.”  Black Brush pointed out.

Indeed the only establishment that seemed to resemble any form of parlay was the local pub.  The lights inside shone warmly and welcomingly and the sounds of rambunctious voices and clanking bottles no doubt meant that the building was in use.

“Why is the bar the only place that’s still open?”  Sunset asked incredulously, she detested these kinds of places.  “I thought nopony in town had any money.”

“Well no doubt that a few here were able to scrape together a paltry enough sum for a pint or two.”  Black Brush explained.

“But shouldn’t they be spending those bits on things like food?”

“Yeah well it’s easy to forget you’re bitless and hungry when you’re incredibly drunk.”  Black Brush added dryly.  “I would know, I was an alcoholic once.”

Sunset scoffed.  “Oh come on, you went booze crazy for like two weeks tops.”

“Yeah I went booze crazy for two weeks and had to work off damages around town for five.”  The stallion was quick to point out.  “Anyway, let’s get inside.”  Black Brush started towards the entrance of the bar.  “Drunks are incredible conversationalists.”

“Wait!”  Sunset stopped him.  “It looks like we’re getting some unexpected visitors.”  Sunset gave a quick nod of her head over towards the direction of the rapidly approaching silhouettes of five or so very griffon like figures.

Black Brush followed his friend’s gaze, his expression forming into a scowl as the troupe of griffons landed across the street from where they currently resided.  When the group finally landed on the notched white cobblestone below them Black Brush did a brief scan over each for any details he might be able to put to use later.  In all there were a total of four, one female, three male, though none of them seemed to be the nearly giant griffon he had faced down at his campsite earlier today.

He and Sunset both continued to study the griffons within the camouflage of the bustling crowd of ponies around them.  The male in front, leading the pack, wasn’t incredibly large, he looked a bit unkempt, the lion fur on his body was sticking up and the eagle feathers on his head and wings were tussled.  Though whether that was from the wind resistance during flight, or a lack of personal hygiene neither really knew.  He also bore a long, jagged, scar across the broad side of his right hind leg, the injury having caused enough damage to keep the fur from growing back, which left him with a gnarled looking line of skin across the appendage and a slight limp.

The second male, standing off to the lead griffon’s right, was fairly unremarkable, that is to say he looked pretty average.  Or well, as average as the pair of ponies thought griffons looked anyway.  But the third was a different story.  Black Brush couldn’t help but think that he had seen this one before; he spent a moment or two to mull over the sense of familiarity tugging on him until he finally placed it.  This was the griffon he’d hit with the frying pan, he’d remember that black eye patch and splotchy set of feathers anywhere.  If only because it made him look completely ridiculous.  He seemed to be lagging behind the other two males in front, maybe his injury kept him from traveling at the same speed of the others, or perhaps he stayed behind due to personal reasons, though the way he ducked behind the female as he felt several curious eyes run across him made Black Brush suspect the latter.

“Can you hear what they’re saying?”  Sunset asked him.

He nodded his head negatively.  “No, let’s try getting a little closer.  Maybe we can find out where their camp is.”

The pair quickly approached the moving griffons, making sure to stay out of sight, though with the throng of moving bodies around them it was far from difficult.

“I told you I have no clue where the loot keeps going Scar.”  The griffon on the right of the leader, apparently called Scar spoke with exasperation.

Scar huh?  Fitting I suppose, if not painfully cliché.  Black Brush thought caustically.

“And I told you I don’t care where it goes either.”  Scar answered back icily.  “But Dax does, and unless you want to piss him off I suggest you help me look Lightfoot.”

Lightfoot groaned in aggravation.  “Fine, whatever, but did we really have to bring along the retard?”  Lightfoot pointed nonchalantly over his shoulder, his hooked talon aimed at the eye patch wearing griffon for just a moment, the use of the word causing him to flinch and hang his head lower in shame.

“Dax told me to bring Flappy.  I don’t know why and I really don’t care, so long as he doesn’t do anything stupid and Gilda keeps her mouth shut we can just find the loot and get out of this stinking pony fill- HEY WATCH IT WALLEYE!”  Scar suddenly barked as a grey furred and blonde maned pegasus with bubbles as her cutie mark bumped into him.

The mare shrunk back, surprised at the sudden verbal assault.  As she stumbled a light pink gift box fell to the ground in front of her with a gentle thump.  Black Brush and Sunset Spring watched from their current position, they had snuck around the back of the group and tailed them as they walked, being sure to keep just within earshot, though not within sight, as to avoid suspicion.

Something interesting that caught Black Brush’s more sensitive eye was how Flappy, the eye patched griffon in the very back, seemed to raise his head and tighten up nervously at the sight of the grey mare who’s eyes didn’t quite match up.  This was odd he thought.  Certainly the griffon couldn’t see well, but he was fairly confident that he wouldn’t be scared of any kind of assault from the grey mare…unless he was worried for a different reason.  Black Brush made a mental note to pay attention to how the griffon reacted as the situation played out.

“I-I’m sorry!”  The mare shrieked, scanning around for her package with her good eye, the other rolling around sporadically like a towel in a washing machine.

When she spotted the slightly crumpled pink wrapping paper she shot out with her hooves to protect it, only for her movement to be cut short by a large talon stamping down on the stone in between her and the present.

“Now what do we have here?”  Scar asked menacingly as he scooped up the package.

The mare’s good eye shrunk to the size of a pinprick as panic filled her.  Whatever was in that package seemed very important to her.

Scar toyed with the box, chuckling as he watched the pony’s reaction.  “Who’s this for?”  He asked her, though he didn’t really care about an answer.

“My…my daughter Dinky…it’s her birthday tomorrow.”  The trepid mare replied, her yellow eye following the gift wherever it went as the griffon continued to study it.

“What kind of a stupid name is Dinky?”  Lightfoot asked with a sneer.

Scar ignored him.  “So this is the little pony’s birthday present?”  She nodded.  “Well, you don’t exactly seem fit to take care of a child.”  Scar chided, causing the mare to wince as the words grated against her confidence and pride as a mother.  Living with a disfigurement always meant her pride was dealt many a low blow, but mostly they were hushed whispers whenever her back was turned.  Most weren’t so forward about their hate.

“I’d better make sure you didn’t put something dangerous in here.”  And with a swift move of his talon he sliced open both the gift wrap and the box, revealing the prize within.

Black Brush once again took a brief notice of Flappy’s reaction.  It looked like the griffon was frowning and shifting uncomfortably, either he really needed to go to the bathroom, or something going on had really struck a nerve.

Scar took out a small shining necklace from the box, the piece of jewelry catching the light in a way that caused it to sparkle and shimmer in the bright golden rays of the sun.  The chain loops were made of precious silver, which led down towards a golden heart near the bottom of the necklace, the heart itself contained a small sapphire in the middle.  An extremely rare Baby Blue Sapphire if Black Brush remembered correctly.  That along with the exquisite make of the chain itself must have meant that the necklace was worth a small fortune.

“Now would you look at that?”  Scar said, holding the necklace in the light as it gleamed tantalizingly, bright flashes of blue bouncing around when the shining rays managed to strike the blue sapphire within the golden heart.  “You know this must have been pretty expensive.  A pony like you must have plenty of spare change on ‘em.”  Scar eyed the cowering pony, a devilish smile on his face.  “I tell you what, you hand over the rest of your bits, and we’ll let you keep this present for your little Dinky.  Sound fare?”

“B-but I don’t have any more bits.”  She choked out; the pegasus seemed on the verge of tears.  Then Black Brush noticed it, the grey mare’s gaze shifted over to Flappy, if only for a fraction of a second.  Her big tear filled eyes pleading, a look that Flappy returned with a remorseful frown.  Then her gaze immediately shifted back towards the imposing griffon standing over her now.  “Please, I’ll already be late to her party!  Don’t make me go back home without something for her!”  She begged with a repressed sob, a single rebellious tear breaking free from her lazy eye and trailing down her cheek.

“Well then I guess you’re just not a good parent.”

“Please!”  The mare shot out her hoof for the gift, only to be shoved back to the ground with a thump.

“Don’t get yourself hurt over this retard!”  Scar shouted her down.  Snarling intimidatingly as he watched the mare shrivel into a ball and begin to weep.

“Stop it!”  A sharp voice broke out over the sound of aggrieved sobbing and Lightfoot’s mocking laughter, silencing them both.  To Scar’s disbelief he turned around to see, not the pleading face of another sniveling pony, like he’d expected, but instead the outraged scowl of Flappy.  “Stop hurting Ditzy like that!”  The griffon barked, stamping his talon against the ground in fury.

Scar seemed surprised, if unimpressed at Flappy’s show of bravery.  He gave the other griffon a questioning look.

“You know her name?”  He asked dubiously.

Flappy opened his mouth like he was going to speak, then snapped it shut with a clack.  Deciding it was smarter to keep his mouth shut for once.

“So this is where you’ve been sneaking off to every night.”  Scar deduced, stepping closer to the smaller griffon, staring him down with an imposing glower.  “Your late night visits to little walleye over there doesn’t happen to have anything to do with our missing loot does it?”  Flappy didn’t respond, but managed to hold the larger griffon’s glare with his own.  “Well come on Flappy!  Speak up!”  Scar lashed out and secured the smaller griffon’s neck in his iron like grip!  Eliciting a pained squawk as the powerful appendage wrapped around his windpipe.

That’s when Black Brush saw it; the female griffon that had remained largely silent sprang into action!  Her fist sailed through the air with nearly blinding speed, slamming into Scar’s cheek with the force of a sledge hammer!  He fell to the ground, dazed and confused as he scanned around with blurry vision for the sign of his attacker, the sounds of hushed whispers from surprised onlookers filling his ears, disorienting him further.

“What the hell Gilda!?”  Lightfoot shouted in surprise, taking a few steps back to avoid a possible strike himself.

“He was getting out of line.”  Gilda answered plainly.

Scar rubbed his sore cheek with a talon, he quickly scrambled to his legs and attempting to look unfazed from the blow.  “I’m gonna make you pay for that you son of a-”  He cut off his own sentence as his wobbly head took over and threatened to send him careening back towards the earth.

“Yeah pal I’m sure you are.”  Gilda couldn’t help but smile smugly.  She’d been pulling her punches for months now, making sure not to hurt the ponies they robbed to severely.  But Scar’s attitude had allowed her a brief chance to cut loose, something she’d wanted to do since this whole stupid mess started.

Scar scrunched up his face, making a scowl in order to hide his burning cheek and damaged pride.  “I’ll make sure Dax hears about this.”

Gilda let out a chuckle.  “What, you gonna tell him you got knocked on your ass by a girl?”

Scar opened his mouth to retort, only to find nothing but his own personal shame on the tip of his tongue.  He clapped his beak shut and turned around.  Heading deeper into town, refusing to look back as Lightfoot ran after him.

“Th-thanks Gilda…”  Flappy finally managed to choke out, his voice scratchy and hoarse.

“Yeah don’t mention it.  Come on, let’s get out of here.”  Gilda suddenly swiveled around to leave.  She expanded her wings and gave them three hard flaps, the force propelling her into the air with a loud whooshing sound and a thick cloud of dust.

Flappy began to follow suit, but he stopped halfway between extending his wings and cast one last forlorn gaze towards the crying mare, lying on the cold, hard, stone of the street with no money and no place to stay.  All because of his brother…he’d fix this, he didn’t know how and he didn’t bother to think about it…but he knew he’d find a way to stop all this, one way or another.

He began to fly.