Svanhild Sharp Talon was stuck.

In her excitement she had somehow forgotten to bring her old rifle with her. She hadn't planned on shooting any of these ponies of course, but it would've helped with the intimidation factor.

Now she was here, surrounded by ponies she knew nothing about -- all memories of proper procedure fleeing from her mind in the face of this ridiculous situation. On one claw, she wanted to show that she was no griffon to be messed with, but on the other, she wanted desperately to ask all sorts of questions.

"Um..."

Svanhild faltered and took a step back. The orange pony raised an eyebrow at her reaction.

"Well?" she asked expectantly.

"Well, you see..." Svanhild replied with a weak smile, "I uh..."

She took off.

She didn't know what she was thinking at the moment, but she badly needed some space, and time to think.

How could she have been so stupid?

She wasn't prepared for this situation in the slightest, and to top it all off she was fleeing from ponies. Cute, cuddly, adorable, squishy ponies of all things.

The thought made her stomach turn.

Some griffon she was.

"Hey!"

Svanhild yelped in surprise and screeched to a halt mid flight as she suddenly found herself face-to-face with an irritated looking cyan pegasus.

"What gives?" the pegasus cried in indignation, "you try to spy on us and then just bail without any explanation?" she folded her forelegs and gave the griffon a disapproving frown, "Not. Cool."

"L-Look, I gotta go," Svanhild replied hastily, "I have a job to do and--"

"Nuh-uh!" the rainbow maned pony interjected with a shake of her head, "first you're gonna tell us what the buck you were doing spying on us."

The griffon gave an exasperated groan.

"It's my job," she answered pointing to the patch on the front of her uniform, "I'm part of the guard for the town up ahead."

The cyan pony's eyes lit up at the news.

"There's a town near here? Sweet!" she replied happily, "don't go anywhere, alright?"

Before Svanhild could reply, the rainbow maned pony was speeding towards the ground, leaving a rainbow colored contrail behind her to the griffon's astonishment.

She was told that ponies were capable of all sorts of amazing things, but that was something she hadn't expected to see. She watched from above as the cyan pegasus flew down to converse with the orange and pink ponies -- presumably to tell them about the town.

She clicked her beak nervously, looking from the ponies below to the direction of Squawken. She turned back to the ponies to see with some surprise that the pink one was happily waving to her from the ground.

Svanhild hesitated for another minute before making a decision.

"I really hope I don't regret this..." she muttered.

With a heavy sigh and a shake of her head, she descended back down to where the ponies were still talking. She squawked in surprise as she was suddenly pulled into a very tight hug.

"Ohmygosh you came back!" the pink one cried, "I'm soo~ glad you didn't fly off before we all had a chance to introduce ourselves!"

"So... much... regret..."

The pink pony paid Svanhild's choked words no mind as she pulled the struggling griffon over to the others.

"This here is Applejack and Rainbow Dash!" she said, using a free hoof to point towards the two slightly amused ponies.

"That's... great," Svanhild wheezed, "can... you please--"

"They can't really talk to you right now since they're all conked out from using too much magic," the spastic earth pony continued, pointing to the white mare on the ground near Rainbow Dash, "but the white unicorn is Rarity and the lavender one on AJ's back is Twilight Sparkle!"

"Uh... Pinkie?" Applejack interjected, eyeing the increasingly tired looking griffon with some concern, "ah think maybe you should--"

"That yellow pegasus over there is Fluttershy!" the pink mare went on unabated, "I don't really know why, but she's also out to lunch right now," she finally let go of the griffon and rose up onto her hindlegs, "...and last but definitely not least, I'm Pinkie Pie!"

Pinkie waited for a reaction that never came.

She looked down at the griffon in confusion to see her on the ground and desperately gasping for air.

"Oh..." Pinkie muttered before giving Svanhild a sheepish smile, "guess I kinda got a little carried away... whoopsie."

"Dagnabit, Pinkie," Applejack chided as she tried to help the griffon up, "ah've told ya before, ya can't be yankin' ponies around like that -- especially not now."

"Yeah, Pinks," Rainbow added, flying just overhead, "who knows what those hooves of yours can do to a regular pony -- or griffon if you're not careful."

"Ah think we all know, Rainbow," Applejack answered with a disapproving frown in Rainbow's direction. Rainbow Dash went to retort, but saw the dejected look on Pinkie's face and relented.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, AJ," the cyan pegasus turned to the pink pony as she rubbed the back of her neck, "sorry, Pinkie... I... wasn't thinking."

"It's alright, Dashie," Pinkie replied quietly, "I know you didn't mean it."

Applejack looked between the two before turning her attention back to the griffon.

"Sorry bout' all o' this, sugarcube," she said with an apologetic smile, "Pinkie didn't mean ya any harm, she's just a bit... excitable is all."

"Yeah, I noticed," Svanhild replied with a rapid shake of her head, "I hope all you ponies aren't as crazy as that one."

"Oh, we're not all like that, trust me," Applejack said with a chuckle, "Pinkie's just one of a kind," she backed away and adjusted her stetson before addressing the griffon with a friendly nod, "now that all that's outta the way, ya wouldn't mind tellin' us yer name would ya?"

Svanhild coughed a few times and cleared her throat before answering.

"The name," she rasped before clearing her throat one more time and trying again, "The name's Svanhild Sharp Talon. Like I told your loud and colorful friend over there" -- she pointed to Rainbow Dash who gave her a flat look -- "I'm a member of the Squawken Town Guard."

"The squawkin' town guard?" Pinkie repeated with a confused tilt of her head, "that's just silly. Do they have to squawk all the time or--"

"No, you idiot," Svanhild interrupted with a roll of her eyes, "Squawken is the name of the town," she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "It's a little hamlet about half a mile north of here."

Svanhild wasn't sure if it was a good idea to tell them where the town was, but she figured it would probably be fine. She needed to report back to the guard and now that she thought about it, they probably wouldn't believe she ran into ponies all the way out here.

Besides, they were heading in that direction already anyway.

She was inwardly thankful that she had finally gotten over her awe at seeing ponies for the first time -- though Pinkie's 'introduction' had gone a long way in curbing her enthusiasm.

"So you know where we are then?" Rainbow asked looking around, "because we have no idea."

Svanhild raised an eyebrow at the pegasus.

"You're in the Tassel Mountain Range," she replied.

Rainbow Dash gave her a blank look.

"About seven hundred fifty miles from the Empire?"

The look didn't change.

"The Griffonian Empire? In Griffonia?"

"Sooo... how far is that from Equestria exactly?"

It was Svanhild's turn to give the rainbow maned pegasus a blank look.

"...You're flocking kidding me, right?"

"Maybe ah should explain," Applejack cut in as she trotted between the two, "we were in a bit of a... bind, ya see," she gestured to the unconscious form of Twilight, "our friend Twilight here teleported all of us out, but we don't know where in Tartarus she sent us all."

"Teleported?" Svanhild repeated, her brows raising in surprise, "wow, I was told unicorns could do that, but..." she frowned thoughtfully, "I guess that might explain that flash of light I saw..."

"Yup!" Pinkie replied from right next to the startled griffon, "things were getting really crazy and then Twilight was like 'I'm getting us out of here girls!' and then her horn was all fwoom and zap and then there was this bright flash, and then we were here!" Pinkie frowned and shrugged, "well that's not exactly what she said, but it was close enough."

"O... kay?" Svanhild replied, uncertain of what to make of Pinkie's statement, "well I don't know exactly where Equestria is, but I do know it's on a completely different continent somewhere."

"A completely different -- are you serious?!" Rainbow yelled incredulously, "getting back to Equestria is gonna take ages!"

As the cyan pegasus griped and groaned, Applejack chose to speak up instead.

"Well that's somethin' we'll have ta deal with later," she said, as she adjusted the pony on her back, "but fer right now, we need ta make sure Twilight, Rarity, an' Fluttershy are okay," she turned back to Svanhild, "ah'd be mighty thankful if ya could show us the way to that town ya were talkin' about before."

Svanhild thought it over.

Most of the folks in town didn't really get out of town much aside from the occasional foraging expeditions on or around the mountains. Svanhild wasn't the only griffon in Squawken who had never actually seen a pony before, and she knew for a fact she wasn't the only one who was curious about them -- far from it.

If anything, the hatchlings would probably get a kick out of their visit.

"...Alright, I can take you all to Squawken," Svanhild finally answered with a nod, "just... be cool, alright? A lot of griffons around here have never even seen a pony before and I don't want them to... freak out or something."

"Bah, no worries!" Rainbow replied as she picked up Fluttershy, "we're the coolest ponies you'll ever see, trust me."

"Oh! Do you have anything I can use to make cakes? Or pies? Or cupcakes? Or tarts? Or--"

"Yes already!" Svanhild interrupted, pushing the excitable pink pony out of her face, "we got all of that, alright?" she turned to who she was beginning to suspect was the only sensible pony out of the three, "Hey, Applejack right? Can you tell the Pink One she's gonna have to cool it around the townsfolk? I don't think they'll take too well to her... insanity."

"Hey! I'm not insane!" Pinkie replied with a small pout, "I'm just..."

Her fake pout turned to a real frown as she trailed off and stared at her hooves. Applejack grimaced and decided to change the subject as she turned to speak to Svanhild.

"Well in any case," she said, giving the griffon a grateful smile, "it's mighty kind o' ya to take us all into town. Like ah said, we gotta make sure our friends are alright and... sort some things out once they wake up," she turned back to the rather melancholy looking pink mare with a gentle smile, "come on, Pinks, grab Rarity so we can get goin'."

"Yeah, okay," Pinkie replied half-heartedly. As she went about lifting the white unicorn onto her back, Rainbow Dash lowered herself enough to give the pink pony a nudge with her shoulder.

"Cheer up, Pinkie," she said with a reassuring grin, "once those griffons experience a classic Pinkie Pie Party, they'll practically be begging to hang out with you!"

It took a moment, but a small smile eventually found it's way to Pinkie's face and she gave a slight chuckle before turning to her cyan pegasus friend.

"Yeah, I don't wanna toot my own flugelhorn," she replied with a genuine smile, "but my parties are the best in Equestria!" she winced slightly and her smile fell a fraction of an inch, "well... normally they are anyway," she shook her head and her smile returned in full, "thanks, Dashie."

"Don't sweat it, Pinkie," Rainbow replied, "seriously, we all hate seeing you sad -- doesn't fit you, y'know?"

"I know," Pinkie replied with a single nod, "I'm... well I'll be a lot better when the others wake up, because then we can have that party I've been meaning to throw! Seriously, it's waaaay overdue."

Svanhild watched the exchange between the two friends with some interest before turning towards the path to Squawken.

She honestly didn't know how the townsfolk would react to these ponies -- especially the pink one -- but something about these colorful equines both warmed her heart... and terrified her at the same time.

It was an incredibly odd feeling, and she didn't know what to make of it, but one thing was for sure.

The more she hung around them, the more she felt like there was something off.

"So are we goin' or what?" Applejack asked, snapping the griffon out of her thoughts, "ah don't mean ta rush ya, but I'm awful worried for mah friends an' I wanna see if we can get em' ta wake up."

"Oh, yeah... sure thing," Svanhild replied distractedly, "like I said, Squawken is just up the path here about a half a mile out. Just follow me."

She turned and began walking up the path to town, Applejack and the others following close behind.

So right after I posted my blog about how I was gonna release this chapter tomorrow morning, I got an opportunity to finish it now, and I had already almost finished it before I left for work this morning soooo.... yeah.

Anyway, there will be a bit more story in between all the action this time around as I plan on making this one a lot longer than The Viruses of Harmony. Don't know how much longer, but it'll definitely be longer.