**Author's Note**
Hello again everyone! I wanted to let you know that the commemorative 50 chapter art piece is finally finished! Please take a look at the original version posted at the beginning of chapter 50 as well as the finished version posted at the end of chapter 51! I am very pleased with how it turned out! ^_^

The Heart of Pleasure
By Haunter Rayne
Ch 56 – The Value of Gold

“Wheeeew!” Rayne whistled as he looked down into the Abysmal Abyss. “Wow, the show didn’t do the geography of this place justice. Yeah Canterlot is pretty if you like that sort of thing. But I should probably take Maud on a date here sometime. These rock formations are insane. First I had to climb a stone mountain and now this gorge running through it really lives up to it’s name.”

Rayne was now creeping around in his panther form in case some Griffon flying around caught sight of him. He leaned forward through the bushes he was hiding under and peered as far down into the chasm as he could without falling in. As soon as his snout passed over the edge it was assaulted by a rush of wind. When he tried leaning further the air current threatened to almost throw him back even despite his grip on the ground.

“Geeze. Well alright then. So a literal unpassable air current as well as smooth stone walls that lead to a straight death drop all the way down. No wonder no creature with either wing or claw has been able to explore this. But... lucky enough for me, heh, heh.” Rayne took the unnecessary action of cracking his neck and stretching his legs before suddenly dematerializing into just a shadow. With a slight snicker he effortlessly glided down along the solid stone surface no longer hindered at all by the high winds or by the steep slopes.

“Okay now the bridge is over there... so if I move to this vantage point... I should find what I’m looking for somewhere over..... wow I wonder how far down I’m going to have to go?” He mumbled to himself as he began searching the depths of the Abysmal Abyss like no one in history ever had before him.

- Back in Griffonstone -

“Come on Gabby! Nobody is THAT good at helping others.” Dash complained with annoyance heavy in her voice. “You seriously mean you have solved every issue that the other Griffons have brought to you. EVERY issue?!”

“Yup!” The two tone gray Griffon happily replied. “Absolutely every single one! Oh you are so lucky that you get to live in town with Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all the time. They taught me so many different ways to have fun and to find your purpose in life. If one thing I learned doesn’t work out for a Griffon then something else always does sooner or later. We now have Griffon art classes, Griffon cooking contests, and even our own Griffon sports teams now.”

“Wait seriously?” Rainbow asking, starting to sound a bit interested herself now.

“Stay on topic Dash.” Daring Do reminded her and the light blue pegasus blushed apologetically. “So what about maybe a different kind of problem? Do Griffon’s get attacked by anything up here? Maybe some Griffons are just in danger somewhere? I know you guys don’t live in that broken down castle over there. Do you have any caves or maybe someplace that a few curious young ones might have gone treasure hunting in?”

Dash raised an ear curiously and she thought that Do’s idea did make sense. If the Cutie Map back in Ponyville called a treasure hunter to solve a Friendship Problem then it might make sense that going on a treasure hunt would help them to find where the problem could be. However that was when Gabby just balked at the idea and both she and Gilda shared a hearty laugh together. “Ha, ha, ha! Wait, haha! You think... that some Griffon got lost looking for treasure? Here?! HA, HA, HA!”

Now Daring Do backed off and frowned. “It was just a thought, you don’t have to be rude about it.”

After that Gilda didn’t seem to be bothered by that remark but Gabby’s expression did soften immediately. “Hey, wait. Look I’m sorry. You aren’t from around here so you wouldn’t know. I didn’t mean to laugh at you like that.”

Now Dash looked between them and asked, “Wait, know about what?”

Gilda chuckled and in a sarcastic tone said, “Come on Dashie, don’t be thick headed. You should know as well as any Griffon that there ain’t no treasure to be found in Griffonstone.”

Suddenly Daring Do looked like all of her hopes and dreams were crushed. “Th-there isn’t? There’s nothing?!”

“Of course not!” Gilda spat bitterly. “Haven’t you heard about how greedy Griffon’s are?! We even put dragons to shame. That old ruin of a castle is abandoned for a reason. It is because there is literally NOTHING left of value whatsoever in that place. Hundreds of Griffons have searched it over and picked it apart thousands of times looking for their own share of gold or trinkets that were left behind. You couldn’t so much as find a wooden spoon in that place that some greedy birdbrain hasn’t already snatched up.”

“But, but...” Do mumbled. “You Griffon’s once had a large kingdom! That castle used to be like a palace! I’m sure there were riches a plenty at one point. What happened to it all?”

“What happened to it? We spent it!” Gilda laughed and Gabby nodded. “Ever since we lost the Idol of Boreas the only thing that us Griffons have cared about anymore is amassing and spending wealth wherever we could. It wasn’t until recent years, thanks to you ponies, that some of us have started adopting a better way to live.” To this Gabby giggled and gave a wink feeling proud of herself.

But finally Daring Do looked as if she might finally have a glimmer of hope. “The Idol of Boreas? I know that legend. You mean it really existed?!”

“Heh, of course it existed." Gabby said. "If you’re interested in treasure then that is probably the only piece of it from our previous empire that hasn’t been found and sold off already.” Gabby admitted to them absentmindedly. No sooner had she said it then when Gilda smacked her roughly across the back of her head. But it was too late as the damage had already been done.

“You really mean it?!” Daring Do cheered excitedly causing both Gilda and Dash to roll their eyes.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Rainbow said while lifting her hooves up. “Listen, the idol is a lost cause. I’m sorry but there’s no way to recover it.”

However Do looked as if she would not be dissuaded so easily. “If it exists, then I can recover it! I don’t care where it may be laying, I will find a way to it!”

Now Rainbow Dash smacked herself in the face. “Look, the reason why I say that it can't be recovered is because I KNOW that it can’t be. Trust me, I’ve seen it!” She said while trying to explain.

But of course this only managed to excite Do even more as she interrupted by shouting, “YOU’VE SEEN IT?! Then if you’ve already found it, why can’t we-”

“BECAUSE IT FELL INTO THE ABYSMAL ABYSS!!!” Both Dash as well as Gilda shouted together.

Do’s face looked like it fell with disappointment but Gilda quickly spoke up on her own wanting to make sure that this foolish notion was stomped right out. “Look, last time Dashie came here she had the same idea. She thought that what the Griffons needed to be happy was for us to get our idol back. She followed the trail from back when it was stolen and then lost into the abyss. Amazingly she managed to find it stuck on a ledge but the abyss is so dangerous that she also died while she was down there. The idol fell to the bottom of the abyss while we were saving each other meaning that now it really is lost for good.”

“Well... I’m still a treasure hunter. It’s what I do. And the map did call me. Couldn’t we at least take a look?” She pleaded to them.

Gilda and Rainbow Dash looked back and forth to one another before saying, “Fine!”

- Deep in the Abysmal Abyss -

The wind whipped violently across the vertically rising stone. From far below the precipice of the gorge the sky was now nothing more than a sliver of blue which threatened to close above at any moment. Only a few outcroppings of rock existed within those shadowed depths, all of which were crumbling at best.

“Heh, heh, heh... finally.” A sinister voice spoke out as a wave of shadow slithered down the rock face to a muddied platform which cracked loudly as four heavy paw pads sank their claws in against the pull of the wind. “I’ll have to be fast about this...” Sitting there before Rayne rested a massive collection of bones from an ancient creature belonging to an age long since passed. Just the skull alone of the Arimaspi King outsized the panther as it sat menacingly upon the wiltering ledge.

“All your power... wasted on a fateful death. But we’ll see whether or not you still have any gifts to give to this world.” Rayne whispered as he held tight to the ground as the wind threatened to throw him about. Moving quickly now Rayne looked down to the ground as nine canine heads poked themselves out from around his own shadow. “Go! Search! Explore the base of this abyss! Find me whatever you can! Treasure! Other large corpses! Anything of value!" Then without another word the Obsidianwolves barked soundlessly before scurrying down the rest of the gorge to scour the depths below.

- Up at the Surface -

“Oh wow.” Do exclaimed as she, Dash, Gilda and also Gabby stood together looking down upon the windy chasm that lay before them. “You weren’t kidding. This trench looks terrifying.”

“Yeah, and don’t try to fly down it. You can’t. Trust me I tried.” Dash sighed frowning to herself over the memory.

“Well if there is anyone’s word I would trust on that it would be yours Rainbow Dash. But still, there has to be a way. I’ve faced tougher obstacles than this before. It just might take some time and some planning.” Do said in an inquisitive voice.

“What did you have in mind?” Gilda asked as she saw the light golden pegasus counting through the sack of bits that she had.

“Well...” Do began. “The first thing to do is to figure out the best method of approach. This gorge has to start and end somewhere. We could find the base of it and see if it is possible to circumvent the air current from beneath. But of course, it looks like this goes on for miles.”

“Yeah, so that’s out.” Dash grumbled.

Do nodded and looked around. “There are plenty of rock formations nearby. The quickest approach would probably be to just tie off a line and slide down. But the problem here is that we don’t know how deep this goes and if the wind gets too strong we could get blown around against the rock walls. That could cause us to get tied up in our own rope or make us lose our grip and fall. Or even worse yet cause a collapse within the gorge on top of us.”

Gabby shook at the thought and whispered out, “That doesn’t sound like it would be pleasant.”

To this Do shook her head in agreement. “I suppose the safest way to go about this would be to take the industrial approach. We could hire a crew and build a support rig that spans across both sides of the gorge. Then from there we could construct a tunnelled path down through the abyss made of reinforced support beams to create a safe way to travel both in and out.”

“Whoa, hold on now!” Dash yelled out. “Support rigs? Hire a crew? How many bits are we talking about here? And just how long would that take?!”

Scratching her chin a bit Do thought it over before saying, “A big operation like this could take a couple of weeks at least to reach all the way down to the base. Maybe a month. And in total it would take a lot more bits than what I brought with me here.”

Rainbow suddenly looked like she wanted to pull her mane out. “Weeks?! Months?! I can’t be stuck here on a Friendship Mission for that long!” To this Gilda looked over to Gabby to see if she had any ideas but the smaller Griffon just shrugged. “Okay, hold on...” Dash continued. “We have to be going about this the wrong way. Don’t forget that we were sent here by the map. This can’t be what we were supposed to be doing. We’re supposed to be solving a friendship problem, remember? Not blowing our live savings on something to get ourselves killed.”

That was when Gabby looked up to the group as she suddenly had a different idea come to her mind. “Um, Rainbow Dash? And uh, Rainbow Dash’s friend? What... exactly were you planning on doing with the idol even if you two did manage to recover it?”

Now the two pegasi looked to Gabby as if she had just asked the most obvious question in the world.

“Deliver it to a museum, of cour-!”

“Return it to the Griffons so that-!”

Now the two of them stared at each other in amazement. Their eyes spread as they suddenly realized they had very different goals in mind. “Oh.” Dash mumbled as Gilda and Gabby gave each other worried expressions. “I guess NOW we know what the Friendship Mission is about. Probably something along the lines of whether the idol should be returned to the Griffons or not...” She sighed.

Daring Do turned to Gilda and Gabby but they looked stunned as if they had no idea what to say about the matter. “Okay so I think the artifact should be delivered to someplace safe like a museum where it can be kept under guard but in a way that everyone can come visit to appreciate it’s historical significance. You Dash feel like it should be returned to the Griffons so that maybe it can help them reclaim the previous glory that their fallen kingdom had been built upon. We both have strong points to argue for but none of this will really matter until we can find the idol and-”

But to this Dash just crossed her hooves and shook her head. “If I’ve learned anything from doing these crazy missions is that the opportunity is more likely to just present itself which will leave us to decide how to respond to it once it does.”

“Present itself?!” Do shouted in disbelief. “Okay so I might not know that much about magic and friendship, but if the Idol of Boreas really did sink to the bottom of the Abysmal Abyss like you say then it isn’t just going to crawl it’s own way out from- NO WAY!” She shouted as they all suddenly heard a loud crash followed by a series of scraping sounds coming from the depths nearby.

- Down at the Arimaspi Grave Site -

Rayne had been spending the last twenty minutes exploring the crumbled skeleton with his magic. He found that the bones had worn away to become very brittle. Despite that, he could still sense the overwhelming power that this beast had once commanded even though it’s body now sat lifeless and eroded. “I can do it. I can do this. Maybe not ressurecting the thing... but just enough. I believe in my ability to accomplish this!” He said encouragingly to himself trying hard to not worry about the immediately consequences that will follow from his pending decision.

Rayne stood biding his time until several shadowy feet scratched their way back up to him. First two, then five, then all nine of the Obsidianwolves he sent out had returned to him. Some dropped bits of stone from their mouths while another dropped a necklace or a rather plain looking ring. One of the wolves did produce a stunning chalice like object made of gold that was shaped like a wing with a striped gem of cherry red and crimson. However other than the idol which he expected his hounds to find Rayne looked around at all else that was brought up in disappointment.

“That’s it?! There was nothing else down there?!” The Obsidianwolves seemed to just chatter their jaws in response. “No other treasure?” One by one they each shook their heads. “I assume there were other corpses? Fallen Griffons or other creatures?” Now they all nodded as the gorge base had been litered in skeletons. “But nothing like this?” He pointed to the Arimaspi remains and again they all shook their heads. “Well alright then. Stand at the ready.” He ordered and they nodded. Two of them took position at his sides while the rest staggered themselves upwards at different heights upon the walls of the abyss.

Rayne paused now as Maud’s words came to him. He thought of her and of Applejack. He remembered how much he was looking forward to seeing Rainbow Dash again and how much fun it had been to 'celebrate' with Zecora. Lastly his mind drifted to images of Starlight and then to his two ultimate goals who to this point he still sought after. “I’m not going to get trapped! I won’t fall, I won’t get stuck down here! I have too much to live for!” He chanted to himself encouragingly. “Only two seconds... that should be more than enough time. I can do this... as long as I can be fast enough... no, I WILL be fast enough!” He growled out as he felt the stone platform beginning to give way under his weight. “Alright, it’s now or never!”

The Obsidianwolves watched from their staggered positions between Rayne and the surface above. The black panther opened his jaws towards the skeletal remains and a flash of light now enveloped the perished creature. “Revive you wasted pile of bones...!” Rayne hissed as he pressed harder with his healing magic. He tried to use Starlight Glimmer’s focus to narrow the healing to just restoring whatever magic might remain in the corpse. “Bring back your energy... refill your might! I don’t need your heartbeat, I just need your power!”

Tears began to stream down the panther’s cheeks as he felt the healing magic burn through the synapses of his brain. Pushing the healing power like he never had before he could feel that it was his Umbran magic that conflicted with it. “GGRRRRAAAAHH! THIS, WILL, WORK!” He cried as it felt like fire was tearing through his face and down his neck as the magical circuits built within him burned. “I... I can feel it! IT’S THERE!” A pained hiss cried out across the walls of the gorge but were swept away by the wind where no one could hear them. Slowly a fiery trickle of light started to creep out in small drops from the bones as Rayne felt like lava was pouring through his spine.

The shadowy hounds barked without sound becoming agitated as their watch their master begin to struggle in pain. Fatigue began overtaking Rayne already and the black cat ground his claws into the dirt as the familiar feeling of his guts twisting had now been brought to a whole nother level. “JUST... A LITTLE... MORE!!!” He roared as one final thick goey bubble wafted slowly through the air from the Arimaspi’s eye socket. “COOOMMME OONNNN ALREADY!” The magic thief pleaded as he had to blink several times, almost losing his vision of that last drop he attempted to steal.

“THERE!” His mind screamed as his powerful jaws snapped down around the orange magic as quickly as he could. In an instant the skeleton before him crumbled completely to dust which was then ripped away by the soaring winds of the abyss. “NOW! HURRY!” Rayne screamed to himself. Immediately he realized he was falling but could not muster the focus to know if it were from him fainting or if it were from the platform collasping beneath him. “NOOOO!!!!” He shouted as he glanced up with the blue sky looking like a fadding thread in the darkness.

Then was there a single flicker in the dark as the panther disappeared.

“Urgggh!” Rayne groaned as he teleported higher through the gorge but only managed to slam himself into a wall. There an Obsidianwolf attempted to grab him but missed as he fell again.

“Flinck!”

Again Rayne tried his best to teleport himself to the surface and almost succeeded in materializing himself into the side of the stone wall.

“Flin- Flinct!”

Looking like a firefly with its light going out, Rayne struggled as he could hardly tell up from down anymore. After another attempt with his magic staggering from exhaustion he managed to reach a point where he could see the sky above him clearly. Just then four of his hounds managed to latch upon before he could sink any further into the gorge. There suspended over the chasm which threatened to take his life Rayne sighed as he realized his healing magic might really do him in this time. The wind swept through his fur causing the hounds to struggle to hold him in place. Gritting his teeth Rayne looked up for one final attempt as he stared at the ledge to freedom above him. “rrrrrrRRRRRRRAAAAWWWW!!!”

“Flinck!”

Rock exploded outward from the wall of the gorge as the feline attempted to dig his claws as deep into the stone as he could. He snarled using his might from the Diamond Dogs to save his life as he clung to the wall merely ten feet from the surface. One heavy paw after another, he rammed his grip angrily above him as he raked and scraped his way toward the surface. “Al-.... most... there!” He cried as he reached up to grab a branch that was extending from the ledge. But to his dismay the soft ground did not hold the against his weight and he started to fall backwards with the branch in hold.

That was when his entire horde of wolves managed to catch back up to him from below. They jumped from the opposing wall to kick Rayne back to where he had fallen from before the entire lot of them howled silently as they fell through the center of the gorge. Fastening his paws to the rock face again Rayne gasped as his heart almost leapt from his mouth. Looking down into the darkness he focused his magic as several shadows were pulled up from below to reintigrate back into his own shadow. “One, two, ... four... six... nine! Gotcha!” He smiled and then with a heavy pull managed to hurl himself up over the edge of the Abysmal Abyss before gasping in relief that he was finally safe.

“Uhhhhh! Uuhnnngg! Phewwww! Oohhh my gossshhh!” He panted but he knew that his struggle wasn’t over yet. “I... I did it! I have the Arimaspi’s power! Now... Now I just... One more teleport... Teleport to anywhere, the base of this mountain, anyplace... and I’ll be safe. I’ll just close my eyes for one second.. and then I’ll...”

- From the Other End of the Ledge -

“NO! I DON’T BELIEVE IT!” Daring Do shouted as they all heard a mysterious sound coming from the gorge. Rushing closer to the ledge they watched as they all saw a sight so curious that they could only watch in disbelief. There clinging to the side of the abyss appeared to be a panther of some sort. A gigantic black feline of unnatural proportion who sank it’s claws into the solid stone as if it were loose sand giving way to his strength. The creature hissed and snarled, leaving a trail of indentation marks scratched in its wake. After a tremendous struggle from the exhausted looking feline it finally managed to surface on the far side of the ridge and collapse onto its back. The beast huffed and then seemed to pass out almost immediately.

“I think he needs help! Let’s go!” Gabby said not even questioning what the right thing to do in this situation was.

“Are you crazy!” Gilda shouted. “You can see the claws on that thing from here! They’re bigger than ours! I’m not going near that thing!” But Gabby was already halfway across the bridge by then while the two ponies just looked on frightfully.

Racing around to where the black cat lay Gabby looked it over and turned its face seeing that it was out cold. “Help me! Please!” She shouted back to them. Quickly the pegasi looked to each other and nodded. Do pulled out a canteen of water while Dash checked to see if she they had brought any medical supplies along with them. After they had both rushed along to follow Gabby, Gilda just growled out and begrudgingly followed just so she would not be left behind.

Now the four of them stood around the oversized feline trying to understand exactly what it was that they were looking at. “What is it?” Rainbow Dash asked as she tried picturing in her mind a bear and a lion coming together to make something similar to what she was looking at.

“Don’t be stupid Dashie, you know it looks like a black panther just as much as I do.” Gilda said from a few steps back compared to the others. “Things like that will try to creep around and take one of our eggs or pick off one of the younger chicks if they can catch one alone.”

Gabby spoke next as she seemed to measure its paws and stare inquisitively into the cat’s face. “It has the look of a panther, the details would certainly match up. Of course a panther is a subspecies. This would definitely be more of the jaguar type than the leopard kind. Notice how he doesn’t have any spots on him anywhere. He-OUCH!” Gabby yelled as Gilda stepped closer to slap her across the back of her head again.

“There! You’ve got your zoology pat on the back for today. We can SEE that it’s a panther!”

Ignoring this Gabby stepped closer to the two pegasi and said, “Yes but not a normal one. Even with a heavy diet or good breeding I wouldn’t think it possible for one to ever grow to become this size. Also, he is too broad around the shoulders. I’ve only seen that kind of definition among bears or maybe some of the bigger Griffons.”

“That’s because this is no normal cat.” Daring Do said sternly. Dash looked to her curiously as Do went on to say, “This thing… It’s intelligent. I wouldn’t be surprise if it could speak.” She said while carefully looking at its jaws and the muscles around its throat.

“How can you tell?” The other pegasus asked.

Do just chuckled. “Because… it looks nearly as big as Ahuizolt. And tell me honestly Dash, if you hadn’t read my books and saw old Ahu’ sleeping around somewhere… just from the look of him wouldn’t you be able to tell that he was more than what he seemed to be?”

Dash took a moment to think back but then she sighed and nodded. “Yeah… yeah I would.”

Do continued as she walked around from the face to the lower end of the creature. “Whatever this is, it is not like what attacks your eggs and chicks Gilda. This thing is new. I doubt that it is even native to Equestria. If something like this had ever been seen stalking around before then I would have heard about it. Also, the second reason why I think it’s intelligent is because it went into the abyss on purpose. And came out with this...” She said before reaching down to dislodge something from being wrapped up in it's tail.

“No way!” Dash exclaimed as Gilda and Gabby cried out in shock. There in Daring’s hoof sat the Idol of Boreas looking just as awe striking in it’s glory as the day that it was lost. “That’s it! That really is it!” Dash shouted in disbelief. “Wait really? This thing climbed all the way down there and back just to retrieve it?"

“I think there are more important things to worry about here Dash!” Gilda shouted as she looked to the golden and jeweled trinket with amazement. “I mean look, it’s here! Yeah sure, Griffons stopped caring about it a long time ago but that is mainly because none of us ever thought we would see it again! But it’s really here!”

Now Rainbow Dash did an arm pump through the air. “Heck yeah it is! So once we bring this back to town and every Griffon sees it again, BAM! Magic happiness and they all can stop being so grumpy all the time.” She hastily said.

“Not so fast there Dash.” Do admonished. “There is a lot to consider here. Maybe returning the idol wouldn’t be for the best. Think about it. Griffons have gotten by for a long time without it now. It may have held their culture together in the past but who knows if it would still do the same today? Not to mention, what if someone tried to just steal it from them again? Do you think the Griffon community could handle losing the idol twice?”

“So what are you suggesting?” Rainbow asked.

“I’m not sure yet. But it’s a choice important enough to give some thought. I think it really should go to a museum. A guarded museum. Where it can be appreciated by all from a distance. But that’s a fate which only works for some artifacts. I’m not greedy. I’ve sacrificed a treasure before because it was for the good of a local tribe or some community out in the wilderness. If giving the idol back to the Griffons is what really would be for the best then I won’t stand in the way of that decision. But if it isn't, we need to consider that too.”

“Dont...” Sudden a soft voice spoke up from behind the three of them. Dash, Do, and Gilda all looked to see Gabby staring at them with a desperate expression on her face. “Don’t hurt us… don’t do that to us, please. I beg you.” She almost whimpered as she put her front claws together and knelt down. “I’ll do anything, just don’t return the idol to Griffonstone.”

“GABBY!” Gilda admonished and rose her fist to hit the younger Griffon upside her head. But she was surprise when Gabby caught the blow and scowled at her. “Ugh! Let me go! What is with you?! Why wouldn’t you want the idol to be returned?!”

“Because it would destroy us!” Gabby cried out and that made the other three freeze. “Think about it! Haven’t things been better in town lately? Haven’t Griffons been happier? Look at you with the baked goods store you opened Gilda. And your friendship to Greta! Normally Griffons would never ask for help, they just argue and ignore each other. Now Griffons line up to find new ways to resolve their problems. What about Gallus? Whenever he visits can’t you see how happy it has makes him to go to that school in Equestria? Why do you think that is? Is it because of some dumb old idol? No! We Griffons did that ourselves! With friendship! We don’t need the idol anymore! We have something better now! But if the idol is returned, we will fall into our old ways! Valuing gold more than each other!”

“Wow Gabby.” Dash sighed and rubbed the back of her neck bashfully. “I never thought of it that way. But you make a really good point. So, what do we do now?”

Do sighed and held the idol in her hooves as she said, “Okay now let’s everyone sit down and we will talk-” But then she was quickly interrupted as both Gilda and Gabby quickly planted their bottoms to the floor.

“Hey what gives?!” Gilda shouted angrily.

“I didn’t want to sit down.” Gabby questioned, wondering why her back legs had suddenly bent.

Noticing this Do looked to the two of them and said, “Stand up.” Instantly the two Griffons stood upon their claws. “Fly into the air!” Then without a moment’s delay they were flapping upward.

“HEY! CUT THAT OUT!” Gilda snarled.

“Be happy...” Do suggested.

“Or well… Griffons do like flying so this isn’t so bad I guess.” Gilda said, quickly changing her attitude.

“HEY! What are you doing?!” Dash yelled to the other pegasus in shock.

“Hold on a minute here Dash, I think I just figured something out.” Do said before trying one more command. “Love this idol. Be proud of it. Bond together over it…”

Now both of the Griffons stared at the golden trinket in awe. Gabby was next to speak saying, “Oh forget what I said a minute ago! I’m young and never got to really see the idol for myself! We don’t need friendship, all we need is the beauty of the Idle of Boreas and the joy that it fills my heart with. Isn’t that right Gilda?” She asked as the two griffons hugged each other while staring forward together.

“Go back to being your normal selves.” Do said before Gilda looked disgusted that she was hugging Gabby and pushed her away. “Okay now before you get angry,” Do began as both of the griffons scowled toward her. "Listen to me for a moment, I think I know why this hunk of gold brought you kingdom together in the past. Yeah it’s pretty, but doesn’t explain the legends of peace which followed after King Grover just suddenly appeared with this thing one day. Apparently it’s a magical artifact that seems to control Griffons which is how your entire culture was able to be united so easily.”

“Why that lying, two timing snake!” Gilda screamed.

“Wow, I had no idea.” Gabby said afterward. “I guess it really would be a good idea to not return the idol after all. Now I don’t think that anyone have it if it can be used to control our entire race so easily.”

To this the pegasi nodded. “So what? Do you want me to throw it back?” Do asked, showing that she had been serious about wanting to make the right choice for Griffon-kind.

That was when Dash suddenly raised a hoof. “Hold on a second. Maybe it’s just the egghead in me talking but I think I’ve got a better idea of what to do with it. Gilda, Gabby, will you trust us to hold onto this for just a little bit longer? I PROMISE we won’t use it for anything against all of you!”

The two looked to each other and Gilda was the one to respond saying, “I trust you Dash. But what do you intend to do with it?”

Smiling now she took hold of the idol and stored it away in a bag before anyone else to come by and see them holding it. “I’m going to take it back to Equestria. I’m willing to bet that the princesses can find a way to break the magic off of this thing. Then once they do, we could put it up in a trophy case in the School of Friendship! We could call it a fake, just a memorial that the school supports Griffons. I could talk to Twilight about hosting a culture day or something for all of the students.”

There was a silence for a bit as everyone else thought it over. Then Gilda stepped forward and placed a hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “You know, I think that would be a great idea. And that is really sweet of you to suggest. Thank you Dash.” Then the light blue pegasus was surprised when her normally gruff friend hugged her tenderly.

Once they pulled apart Daring Do turned to Dash and said, “I couldn’t agree more. I think that sounds like it would be the best thing for everyone.” Suddenly the two pegasi gasped as their cutie marks began to glow. “What the-? Heh, does this mean the Friendship Mission is done?”

“You bet it does! A complete success!” Dash shouted as Gabby bent down to look at their glowing flanks in amazement.

With a smirk to her lips Do now leaned over and whispered in Dash’s ear, “Thanks for bringing me along. And you know what? I think this gives me plenty of inspiration to complete my next book. A story about the hard choices Daring Do needs to make, along with the help of her world class adventuring assistant!”

“OHHHHHH YEAAAAAHHH!” Rainbow cheered in excitement.

However just then the pegasi were interrupted as Gilda started looking all around them with a frightened kind of nervousness. “W-wh-where did the big panther thing go?!” Suddenly the other three gasped as they all looked around frightfully as they realized the giant black cat was gone from where it had been laying.

- At the Base of Griffonstone -

Not a sound was made as the long ebony body of the great black cat slide seamlessly across the ground. It’s heavy lungs rumbled and it’s mighty limbs twitched in slumber as several shadowy paws carried the cat away without leaving so much as a track to follow in their wake. Far down the mountainside and behind the cover of an outgrowing tree the Obsidianwolves stopped and laid the panther softly upon the ground. Then they seemed to disappear without really disappearing at all as they continued to watch over their master from the shadow beneath the black cat. They watched and waited guarding over Rayne in his sleep until the being they were bound to finally reawakened from his slumber.

Author's Notes:

Okay so hopefully this chapter was liked, as opposed to upsetting any of my readers. This was a controversial scene I wrote here but it's the one that I'm going with for this story. As far as I'm concerned, the idol being a control device makes much more sense than anything else. I thought of this myself but... I did hear a rumor online that there was a comic which also said this. I searched but could not find any such comic to exist. So this is based on my creativity and any other relation is coincidental.

Also, I did not mean to imply that Griffons make a regular practice out of eating ponies. But they have claws and are based upon birds of prey. So there isn't any reason why a Griffon 'couldn't' eat a pony. That is all I meant when Do was attacked.

I am not intending on writing a Dash/Gilda ship. ...I mean I might. But that's not currently the plan.

Lastly, Rayne just got a tremendous power boost from this. And now you know why Maud thought his plan was stupid. Rayne knew that using healing magic on the Arimaspi's corpse was going to take a toll on him. And his plan was, "Teleport out before I pass out." Clearly not his greatest idea. But luckily for him he escaped falling to his death though. It was very close. Not to mention, he didn't intend to get caught by Rainbow Dash (of which he doesn't even know happened.) Luckily for him she doesn't know that was Rayne.