Gilda walked out of the room she shared with Grunhilda. The chilly air smelled of roasted meat. The only light came from the magical fixtures lining the inside of the airship’s hull. Sparkly Chew sat in front of an oven of sorts, in the kitchen, preparing a tea. Gilda could identify hints of chamomile along roasted meat in the air.

“Hi! Did you rest a bit?” The unicorn piped while stirring her tea. “Things must have been kinda tiring for you and your friend.”

“Yeah.” A small office between them drew Gilda’s attention. “We really appreciate it, and it did wonders for me.”

“Aw, that’s great! We don’t usually get travelers.” The pony ‘ponied’ at her. “Say, would you like something to eat? You skipped dinner… And your friend too! I can heat you some of the roasted rat. I’m going to preserve it in salt, but it’s quite fresh yet!”

“Sure! Just for me, though. Grunhilda’s sleeping.” Gilda smiled, pointing back with a thumb. The pony nodded and turned her backside to Gilda, fussing around with the cabinets in the kitchen.

Gilda took the opportunity to quickly glance around the office and noticed a lot of papers everywhere. Some stuck to a corkwood board, others floating freely on the desk. Names of ponies and griffons, probably contacts in different cities. A calendar with ‘Blueblood’ written on the square a few days away, with griffon characters. An empty mug, a few maps.

She stole a glance at the pony, still busy with something inside the cabinet and shuffled some of the papers around. It netted her quite a few overdue bills. Recharging fees, food, docking fees… Some written with the ubiquitous pony ideograms and others with the less common, but still not uncommon Modern Griffonese. Some of those were written in both, and most of them also had formal ‘threats’ along with the bills from all sorts of origins.

She let a small smile show. Grahan had a lot of creditors from both Griffonia and Heartland Equestria. Manehattan, Baltimare. Phillydelphia. Canterlot. Las Pegasus. Beachhome. Greenleaf. Griffonstone… But one drew her attention: written with Common Equestrian.

Even if Gilda couldn’t read the thing, one could look at the bold wings and ship, the chains and the broken heart said everything enough. Especially signed with the compass rose of the royal douchebag himself.

It seemed Grahan needed a lot of money and had run out of options.

She let the things alone before the cheery pony looked up from the short cabinet and put a few strips of roasted meat on a wooden plate. “Here you go! Magically heated, but I promise it had no contact with the water from the engines!”

Gilda chuckled at the pony and her joke, holding the plate in one paw, sitting on her haunches to eat. The rat, once cleaned, roasted and seasoned tasted much better. She wolfed down one of the strips as the pony went back to her tea.

“Thanks a lot, Chewie. Say, how long have you known Grahan?” She smiled at the pony.

“Oh… Some two or three years. He won the airship from a rich unicorn lady in Las Pegasus and hired me just as soon as we met.” She giggled. “Been working together ever since. Trouble left and right, barely any money and the Princess even bailed us out of jail once. Fun, fun!”

Gilda could see who took care of the bills… The pony was in just for the fun. “Well, I’m glad you two met. He would have some trouble running the airship by himself, right?”

“Yeah! You need a unicorn to talk magic with those thaumatic systems. Universities are cranking out operators and engineers like there’s no tomorrow. Job openings are everywhere! Isn’t that great? Everypony wins! Er… Other creatures too because many unicorns working means everycreature can own one of those and employ a friendly unicorn!”

“Yeah. I’m sure unicorns are happy they’re getting easy jobs and the others are stuck with hiring a pony.” She gulped another strip of meat, which helped her disguise her smirk at the easily manipulated pony.

“Well, plenty of ponies willing to work means everycreature gets access to these neat things such as the teleporters and magical induction engine airships! Right?” Chewie grinned widely. “Oh! Did you know there was one griffon lady who graduated with the best grades in the history of the School of Arcane Sciences for Bay County University? Can’t quite remember her name, though. She’s probably somewhere in Manehattan or the Crystal Empire making millions of Bits designing magical induction engines!”

“Yeah. Sure.” Gilda gave the plate back to her. “Thanks, Chewie. I’m gonna go up there and catch some fresh air.”

“Sure!” She grinned again. “Just be careful your wings don’t get caught in the wind. Ship’s going at full flux and will leave you behind.”

“Yeah, sure.” Gilda waved a paw and walked up the stairs. She didn’t go there to ‘catch some fresh air’, though. She smiled a little to herself when she saw Grahan minding the helm inside the aftercastle, behind the glass. Tiredly hunched over the helm, he looked bored out of his mind. Although he straightened up as soon as he saw her, and that made her grin. The chilly wind in the night didn’t even bother her. It had been some time since the cold had bothered her.

On her way, she overtly smiled at him and kept walking towards the door to the small living room in the aftercastle.

He came out of the room with the helm holding a yellow coffee mug and what she supposed he considered a seductive smile. “Hey.”

“Heya.” She said, walking towards the couch. “Grunhilda’s sleeping now.”

He blinked dumbly at her as though he hadn’t completely understood what she said. Meanwhile she sat on the couch, on her side, letting her tail wrap around in front of her legs and sighed longingly. “I feel kinda lonely…”

“Heeey… I know how you feel.” He grabbed another mug from a counter and put coffee in it from a jar sitting on a magical heating plate. He walked to her, taking his place on the couch right next to her, giving her the second mug and showing off one of his paws in a closed fist. “You bet I feel lonely too. Sometimes the wind becomes a bit harrying, and the airship needs a pair of strong paws at the helm. Airships are kind of like females. You got the needy ones you gotta keep constantly watching over and the mellow submissive ones that will do all you want. But my favorites are the feisty and angry ones you gotta keep on a tight leash or they go all over the place and don’t respect you.”

“But don’t feel overwhelmed.” He proudfully stared at his talons, stretching his fingers out. “I’m quite good with most.”

Gilda simply took a sip from the strong coffee.

Such is what you yield from a young tom living alone with a pony mare. It is most unhealthy…

Gilda snorted-laughed-coughed, almost spit the coffee, and barely covered her beak in time to keep from laughing out.

“You okay?” He frowned at her.

“Yeah.” She coughed and settled again. So now She decided to speak again. Fine… Supposedly, She gave Gilda space to reach her own conclusions earlier. Fine. That worked. With her mind back at the griffon with her, Gilda took care to lay her weight on Grahan. She cradled the mug in her paws and smiled again. “So, how long you and chewie been together?”

“Oh… A couple of years.” He put his foreleg behind her shoulders and held her close. “When I won the airship from some annoying rich unicorn mare in Las Pegasus she was convinced I just couldn’t do anything with it. She just sat there bragging that she’d buy it back from me for a small fortune.”

He chuckled and made some gestures with his paw over Gilda’s shoulder. “Chewie simply came over with her diploma and said ‘Hey mister, did you say that you need a thaumatoengineer?’ I said ‘Yeah’. And thus started a beautiful and profitable friendship. The mare got so pissed she tried to sue us. Don’t even know if she got anything… We were gone in minutes. Hehe. Afterward, we made some modifications to the ship’s systems and Chewie fine-tuned her engines.”

He kissed his fingers. “Turned her into one of the best smuggling- Er… Transport airships in the Heartland.”

Suddenly, the ship pulled to the side, and Gilda startled a little, more because she didn’t want the coffee to spill, but Grahan chuckled full of himself and stood from the couch. “Don’t worry, babe. All she needs is a little of the ol’ magic touch through some bad winds.”

He even wiggled his fingers at her the same way those immature kids would when she was growing up as he went to mind the helm. By herself Gilda gave a satisfied smile and stood too, leaving the coffee on the floor and walked the other way, to the other door.

“Hasn’t that mare tried to get back at you?” She spoke with a raised voice, slinking into the room that seemed like another office and a small bedroom for one.

“I don’t know. Maybe?” He chuckled, also raising his voice from the helm in the other room.

Gilda allowed herself a dirty little grin under the soft light from the white, little crystal on the ceiling. The window’s shutter was closed and the bed still to be made, but it didn’t matter to her. She slowly and softly pawed around the disorganized papers and booklets. One or two actual books. More bills, more unimportant letters. Some niches on the wall, the shelves held more of those.

Meanwhile he still spoke. “I suppose that she tried, but I guess she didn’t quite have the reach, you know?”

She chuckled for him to hear, busying herself. “What a loser.”

“I got some real dicks hunting me every now and then, but nothing I couldn’t handle.” He bragged from the other room.

“Oh…” She added a sultry flavor to her voice, while opening the drawer on the desk. “You have to tell me about that…”

He chuckled. “Most bounty hunters are griffons, babe. Sometimes a pony shows up, though and they can be deceptively dangerous.”

He babbled on as she, again slowly and softly, patted and moved papers and pointless photographs around. She finally found a small leather-bound booklet tied closed with a natural fiber string.

“Unicorns can be the most dangerous, you know…” He went on. “Little bastards can hit you with all sorts of spells that stun or downright burn you. Nasty.”

She unwound the string around the button holding it shut and as soon as she opened it, she found a piece of parchment, folded twice and easily opened.

“But the pegasi are a pain too if they had training. I hear some of them can simply make weapons out of water.” He still spoke mindlessly. “It’s almost like a cheat.”

“Yeah… I can imagine!” She called back staring at her face drawn on the folded parchment.

This broad Gilda pissed off some big birds in The’stone. Tan coat, around 20, pretty hot, white with yellow eyes. Light purple shadow. Just some bitless loser that managed to escape Gui, somehow. Headed to Haybale, fuck knows why. Usual place, 15 Grand. They say she’s with some white retard. Pay is for Gilda only and the other could be trouble cause the mils hate her.

Goy

“Earth ponies usually don’t get into this sort of work, but when they do… Oh boy… They can mess you up.” He still went on.

She allowed herself a cocky grin and didn’t even get angry. She supposed that was how the game was played. But also, that adversity was a good teacher, indeed. She supposed she would help Grahan become a better griffon. With another grin, she returned everything back to its place. “Ever fought an earth pony, Grahan?”

“Oh, yeah! Once.” He called from the room with the wheel as she demurely returned to her place on the couch and grabbed her mug with time to spare. “Big fellow with retractable blades strapped to his legs. Too slow, though.”

He walked out of the room showing off his wings, playfully flapping just the tips. “And… Big guy didn’t fly.”

She gave him a playful chuckle while allowing him to sit again with her. “If we weren’t going to Canterlot, where would you go?”

He thought for a second. “Ah… Manehattan. To refuel and resupply. Got her sails stripped and she can’t gather mana from the wind. If I had money, I’d repair her. It would save me a lot of Bits. Also, gotta fill the pantry. From there Hippogriffia and then Beachhome back in Griffonia. It’s a nice place to get jobs… I’m tired of Haybale. You know?”

“Hmmm. I’ll bet.” She returned the mug to him and shifted around to rest her paws on his chest. “Thanks for the chat, hotshot.”

He held her mug and gave her a puppy stare as she ran her talon across his fluffy chest. “We’ll get Grunhilda entertained with something and then you can tell me all about your strong paws and your tight leash.”

Before he could answer, she climbed down from the couch and walked outside.

She made her way back to the bed Grunhilda still slept on and returned to her place with her. She didn’t see Sparkly Chew along the way and that was for the best. She would need a few minutes… Or hours, planning her next move.

Heck, it wasn’t all bad… At least Goy thought she was hot. Actually, she would very much like to meet Goy one of those days. Maybe she ought to start making a list.

No more dreams, Gilda woke in the early morning to the cold which seemed to seep into the room. It didn’t bother her because she had a big warm fluffy Grunhilda to hold onto.

Then she startled at the realization she and the big griffon girl had hugged each other and it felt so nice it was awkward. Big Girl looked too damned cute holding her as though she was her personal griffon plushie… And she was strong! Gilda didn’t really have a choice with her face on Grunhilda’s chest.

Ponies usually smelled of something. Fruit. Some sweet. Minty… Something. Grunhilda smelled of griffon and it worried Gilda how much she enjoyed it and the sensations it caused her.

“Grunhilda?” She tried, but the other didn’t let go. She even squeezed tighter. Instead of becoming angry, Gilda’s beak formed a naughty smirk. “Grunhilda, we got stuff to do… Do I have to get you to let go?”

Big Girl squealed ‘awake’ and let go immediately. “Sorry miss Gilda!”

Gilda sat and grinned, looking at the other griffon, sitting on the other side of the bed, staring down and away. Gilda couldn’t wipe the grin off her face. “Come on, Grunhilda… We gotta be ready to disembark as soon as we get to Canterlot. Let’s get up top and talk to our hosts.”

“Okay!” The big griffon girl brightened up. “Are we going to take Mister Grahan and Miss Sparkly Chew with us to see Miss Gerdie?”

Her first reaction was to tell Grunhilda not to be too friendly with the two. But it would be easier to let her encroach to those two and then spring her surprise on the traitorous douchebag when he least expected.

“Just don’t get too attached to them, Grunhilda.” She admonished like a mother talking about a pet. “We’ll have to take care of ourselves without them.”

“Okay.” The other nodded obediently.

Gilda then stared at Grunhilda for a second. She was ‘technically’ clean… As in, her coat and her plumage held no grime, but her coat was messy, and Gilda didn’t even have to look at herself to know that hers was too. They could use a brush.

She sighed. They would draw a lot of attention in Canterlot. Ideally, they should wear something and have their coats brushed, at the least, but she didn’t really have time to go to a damn spa. Maybe they could make a brief stop at a hostel, or something of the sort. There should be one near the airdocks. Probably a bad idea, though.

Yeah… Screw that. Ponies and their frilly bullshit… She didn’t have time to waste. First thing out of the airship should be dealing with Grahan and Sparkly Chew, then talking to Gerdie. And she had an idea. A great idea. But it would require some luck.

“Come on, Grunhilda.” She nodded at the door and grinned at her friend. “Let’s go see Mount Canterlot from the air.”

Grunhilda wore her backpack and followed Gilda to the deck. Sparkly Chew never showed up, but she saw Grahan behind the big wheel inside the aftercastle. He grinned and waved at her. She winked at him, unbothered, and then turned, letting her feathers flutter in the chilly wind. Beyond the ship’s bow stood the steep mountain, crowned by the ostentatious pony city.

“How does that thing not fall?” Grunhilda frowned and cocked her head as though she saw something impossible.

“Clever architecture!” Sparkly came from behind. “Good materials and laws upon laws and regulations upon regulations on construction. And on land acquisitions… It’s what makes living in there so expensive. Now there is a princess living in Ponyville, some nobles have decided to move there. But… Canterlot is Canterlot. Hurray for the capital of the world. You gotta see the Harmony Esplanade, with the palace and the Hall of Friendship, all the offices. Harmony Plaza with the statues of the Mane Six.”

Gilda had to admit. It was impressive.

“No magic?” Grunhilda turned to the pony with a grin, almost disappointed.

“Well, they say not as much as most would assume.” Sparkly frowned and turned her stare up, thoughtfully. Then she started talking again! “The truth is most magic in Canterlot are military-grade defensive spells and they don’t like civilian constructors messing up their spells. So, most of what makes Canterlot stay up there is clever engineering. There is actually a crystal mine inside the mountain, you know. Though it’s not good crystal for magical components. Those would be the crystals from the Crystal Empire. Not to mention most modern pony airships will have a hull made of crystalized metal. Crystal ponies are good making it. Ours is just a cheap adapted seafaring vessel.”

Grahan approached them. “Hey girls, we’ll be landing soon in the upper layers of the city. As high as my permit will allow. That is where the rich ponies disembark when they hire transport and the closest place to get us to meeting your friend Gerdie.”

Gilda hummed and her fingers strummed the railing. She nodded. Rich was good. Thus, she turned to him with a sultry smile. “Alright. I’ve been thinking… There is a chance I can summon some favors to get Blueblood off your tail. Plus, they can give us some nice shelter. You now… To rest for a bit before Blueblood and your debt are dealt with.”

She could swear she heard the testosterone-lubricated gears spinning in his head and suppressed the smug smile almost creeping into her beak.

You are fortunate he is so easily manipulated. A cleverer griffon might not fall for this ploy. You are attractive, but you are not a manipulator.

Fair. But Gilda had the cat wrapped around her finger and she didn’t really need much. Just get him to a place where she had the home-field advantage. It could prove to be a problem, but she had been playing a bit of a desperate game for quite a while. If things would go wrong, then she’d have Grunhilda to back her up. Hopefully, the dumbass tom wouldn’t be any the wiser and she wouldn’t need Grunhilda to put herself in danger.

“Alright.” He agreed without much delay. “I suppose I’d rather not be on the ship when the Archduke’s thugs show up anyways. Yeah. For now, I’ll be at the helm. Let Chewie do the talking when we arrive unless someone talks to you. Alright?”

“Cool.” Gilda waved at him, as chill as she could.

Grunhilda seemed to like the wind at her cute ears-like crest, sufficiently entertained to not create trouble, just standing near the edge, and holding onto the railing. Meanwhile, the unicorn mare went down the stairs, no doubt busy with something relating to the functions of the ship’s magical engines.

It seemed Gilda could just relax and enjoy the short last leg of their travel to Canterlot, so she sat next to Grunhilda and let the wind caress her feathers too.

Grahan maneuvered the flying vessel around the city, keeping a small distance. It made for an entertaining arrival, so beautiful the city. Grunhilda held at the railing and hopped a little, excited at every beautiful pony structure she saw. They could see well-dressed ponies on the luxurious terraces with fountains and statues of ponies, along with a lot of green. One or two fancy food carts here or there, surrounded by tables and over-dressed ponies everywhere. Most of them unicorns, but the city certainly had a few pegasi that took advantage of the open nature of the terraces to quickly shift between levels. Winds must be carefully controlled around the city, because a weird draft could kill one of those. Lightweight pegasi and airships alike could end up in a weird draft, shoved against the city. Then everyone was going to have a bad day. The ships, and the Century Hawk shared her approach with a few, kept their distance from the city, though.

Lots of many-sized mansions dotted the city, especially in the higher levels. But also, some store fronts. Mostly restaurants and fancy stores with large showcases behind wide clear glass panes with painted decoration and impressive names.

All the white, gold, silver and blue spires drew attention. As though the city existed to support the palace. Probably not the intended effect, but the place dominated the highest level of the city, with the market in a wide alley that started at the palace’s gates and snaked around the city, going down her levels. At the top level, opposite to the palace, though, was a large plaza decorated with six statues of six very well-known mares.

The highest level had a beauty of its own, built not to cast too much shade upon the lower levels. Mostly white, gold and blue, but other colors seemed prevalent. The green of trees and gardens, channels of clear water from the top of the mountain pooled in artificial lakes here and there along the levels of the wide and, literally, tall city. It seemed bigger than Baltimare if one would spread its levels in one single city. An organized and carefully planned city, with clear districts and spanning bridges connecting even more districts which protruded from the mountain.

Soon, the airdocks came into view. Gilda expected something similar to Baltimare, but she she couldn’t be more wrong. The docks Grahan had chosen had a compact shape, denser and more efficient. They made full use of verticality with several ‘stacked’ hangars. Golden hulled vessels, broadsides filled with cannons and white sails watched over the perimeter as vessels went into and out of the airspace surrounding the port. An organized dance Gilda had no idea how it worked. It seemed to involve different flight levels and right-of-passage rules, including keeping to the left or right, coming in or out… Everything just worked. Probably unicorns and their rules.

Green and red banners seemed to indicate free and taken docks, and all the ships kept to low speeds until they cleared the immediate area of the facility.

“This is so cool!’ Grunhilda flapped her wings all excited. “That is a lot of airships!”

Didn’t seem like too many airships flying around to Gilda, but there certainly enough to cause a lot of chaos without those rules. She just smiled at Grunhilda having fun, though.

Soon enough Grahan maneuvered his airship with its stupid name into one of the hangars showing the green flag and the airship gradually slowed into the indoor berth. Her engines whirled down to silence and blue metallic doors closed behind her, pulled by a system of pulleys and ropes.

Light came from gas lamps around the dock and from the large, shining crystal fixtures in the ceiling.

Chewie rushed up to the deck and welcomed a pegasus dockhoof flying close to the airship with a rope and moored her to the berth. A wedge-shaped nook in the end of the dock locked her perfectly into place. Other pegasi placed a fancy plank, complete with edges protected by safety railings. All while a white and cyan unicorn mare with a red and gold cap took notes into her clipboard with a pencil.

Gilda and Grunhilda obediently waited as Sparkly Chew talked to the pegasi dockhooves gathered in front of her and Grahan came from the aftercastle and actually addressed the unicorn.

“Hi there!” He waved.

“Greetings, Captain Grahan!” The mare stopped by the plank. “May I come aboard?”

“Please do!” He grinned and Gilda didn’t know if he was just friendly or nervous, but the pony didn’t seem to mind as she walked and then hopped onto the deck.

“Welcome to Canterlot! Do you need anything?” She smiled all pony friendliness at him.

“Yeah.” He nodded and pointed at his unicorn crewmate. “Talk to Sparkly Chew… But we need her mana batteries recharged and her galley could use a resupply. I’ll pay whatever she asks for. Should still have credit with the port admin.”

The mare looked up the airship’s retracted sails with a frown. “It seems her sails are not in great condition…”

“Yeah…” Grahan scratched his nape. “They got ripped apart. That’s why I need the recharging.”

“Well, I must fine you on flying a damaged airship, mister. Sorry.” The mare let her ears flop.

“It’s cool.” Grahan shrugged. “I’ll get them fixed, eventually.”

“Alrighty then!” Then the mare perked up again, looking at Gilda and Grunhilda after taking some more notes. “Passengers?”

“Yeah.” He waved a paw at the pair of griffon ladies and the unicorn mare turned her attention to Gilda and Grunhilda. The later blinked dumbly at the pony.

“Hi! Welcome to Canterlot! May I have your names?” The pony grinned at them.

“Yeah…” Gilda coughed. “I’m Gilda. She’s my friend, Grunhilda.”

“Okay…” The pony noted that down. “May I have your identification numbers?”

Oh, shit! Flashbacks of Baltimare and the whole shitstorm they dodged rushed back to Gilda’s mind with renewed dread.

“Sure…” Gilda spoke slowly, stuck between not freaking out and trying to conjure up an excuse before the mare became too suspicious. She ended up reciting her number. “It’s uh… Two-four-five, five-nine-five, thirty-nine-four. From Griffonstone.”

She finished with a half-panicked smile, but the mare had distracted herself writing it down on her clipboard and as soon as she finished, she turned her attention to Grunhilda.

“Hum…” The big griffon started with a shrug. “Nnnn… Nine-eight-five… Five-six-two… Uuuh… eighty-nine… Eleven.”

Gilda’s heart skipped a beat.

“Uh-hu…” The pony noted her number too. “Where from?”

“Oh. Thunderpeak?” Grunhilda smiled nervously. The pony didn’t notice or didn’t mind. Maybe she became used to creatures reacting weirdly because they might do something wrong unintentionally… Gilda didn’t know, she just suddenly felt a weird urge of thanking The Harpy.

“Thanks!” The pony pipped. “Where did you come from and was there any particular reason to travel?”

“Yeah.” Gilda did her best not to stutter and managed well enough. “We came from Haybale… For Tourism. You know? Then I decided I’d come to Canterlot to see a friend and she came along.”

The pony nodded and hum-hummed, satisfied. “Enjoy your stay! If you need housing or food the port has both at a discount for tourists!”

And just like so, she walked out the ship and talked to the pegasi bringing stuff over from the dock.

“Wow. Good job, Grunhilda.” Gilda sighed her relief and smiled at the other, coming closer and speaking in a hushed voice. “They should take some time before they realize something is wrong.”

“Thank you, Miss Gilda!” She grinned triumphantly, if also keeping a low voice.

“Well, things are proceeding as planned.” Grahan approached them with a grin and wearing a black leather pouch hanging from a strap around his neck. “I guess we jump ship now?”

“Do you trust these ponies to leave your ship alone with them?” Gilda turned to him.

He simply shrugged. “Nothing of value. Got my money here.”

“I’ll be going too, if you don’t mind.” Sparkly Chew apparently finished dealing with the dockhooves and wore a pair of cute pink saddlebags with her cutie mark. “I don’t wanna be here alone when Blueblood’s ponies show up.”

“Yes. I also don’t want to leave Chewie here alone.” Grahan offered his paw. “Where to, then?”

“I suppose we should go to the hotel…” She told him, though she had a plan. “Where is it?”

“The Harmony Esplanade.” Sparkly pipped. “It used to be called Royal Explanade, and originally the term referred to the open area around forts so wall-mounted cannons and defenses had an open field of view…”

“Yeah, yeah… It’s the large street in between the palace and the plaza with the statues of Princess Twilight and her friends and that goes down to the next level below… There is a fancy market there.” Gilda interrupted before the desire to leave the unicorn in the airship became overwhelming. “Not my first time in Canterlot.”

Not that she knew it enough to know they didn’t have a teleporter, though… She grunted at herself. “How come Canterlot doesn’t have a teleporter?”

The pony grinned at her. “Terrain prices are astronomical in here. Setting up a teleporter is already ridiculously expensive and usually involves grants from city administrations in spacious cities like the Crystal Empire. Ponyville just has everything and is just a short flight from Canterlot. One doesn’t even need much more than a pair of wings or a pegasus and a taxi. You see, these teleporters are usually co-owned by the companies running the individual teleporters, except for freight teleporters… They’re owned by the Crown and a single company operates them with operators funded by the Princess. It’s kind of a mess.”

Yeah… Everything involving ponies had a tendency of turning into a mess. But Gilda supposed that was part of their charm.

Anyways, as the pony still spoke, she concluded the present situation was good enough for her. The fanciest market in the fanciest town in the world ought to have what she looked for. So, walking around the city with them would take her there, and even better the two of them went along. It should simplify things.

They left the ship behind, and nobody asked any further questions. They exited the complex of airship hangars after a few stairs and Gilda liked the lack of bureaucracy. She supposed things went so smoothly because they already knew Grahan and his airship. Not to mention he also worked for Blueblood…

They probably had an office full of paper loving unicorns keeping those records straight and sending them to and from. Who to ignore and who to make problems with. She knew ponies, though… They were too nice for the sort of corruption which ran rampant in Griffonstone. It was one rotten asshole with a name and some obscure reason Celestia didn’t end him already.

She only hoped the unicorns organizing the communication with local militias weren’t so good, because Gilda happened to be one of those with whom to make problems.

The airport turned out exactly what a fancy Canterlot airport would look like. Several levels of fancy. Full of glass, gold, whites and blues, with a small square and a fountain in front of the passenger entrance. An inconspicuous road led to a cargo processing facility. Everything very neat and organized, more so than Baltimare and certainly squeakier-clean than Haybale. Filled with frivolous, if pretty and neat, decoration in the form of flowing lines and some stars, the moon, the sun, hearts, horseshoes… Pony stuff.

Ghadah would have suffered a mental breakdown.

Grahan knew the way, so he led the group. Meanwhile his unicorn friend/employee/whatever the heck she was, talked about every single statue of every stallion and mare they found along the way. Even in Canterlot’s skyways wich stood vertiginously high above the ground below, the city was full of… She supposed ‘history’. In every corner some detail could be found, everything meant an important pony or event.

Sparkly Chew spoke without end. Good thing she had entertained herself with Grunhilda who paid attention to the pony’s prattling. They really looked like tourists and it gave Gilda some time to think as they crossed another skyway into the next protruding plate holding the city on the mountain.

For some reason she thought back to the mess which caused all that. It didn’t escape her that had she remained docile (as docile as she ever was), she would still be living her little life. Baking scones and scraping a few Bits to survive until the war blew over.

Ghadah would have retched at witnessing Gilda just living her life, but she found pride over her life. She did the best she could do with what she had. She survived. Easily while the basic income kept her afloat, but circumstances forced her to adapt, she made it.

The point, though… Griffons had decided they wanted to live easy lives and she didn’t really think it wrong. But at the same time… The Harpy wanted them to experience their lives to the fullest, not accommodate into something. If Gilda had not acted in such impulsivity, she would be safe, but she wouldn’t have experienced what she had. Of course, it worked out until then, but… That’s the point!

She frowned at no one as she walked. Had she experienced it, though? Ghadah did. She just remembered and rode along.

Once again, Gilda expected The Harpy would chime in, but She didn’t. She had an incredibly annoying tendency of silencing Herself when Gilda needed to hear Her.

Gilda just never got used to talking to herself and thinking through to making up her mind. She became used to snapping to reactions instead of hearing herself think. Her impulses controlled her more than herself. Ghadah with her life streamlined for her, had much more control of her thoughts and of herself.

She concluded she should be herself more, and not just let impulses control her. She had allowed her life to blow past her, and she only really felt something when her world turned upside down and she found herself with no option but to fight. When she let go and let her instincts guide her. When she let the most honest part of herself, deep inside her heart, take control… She let go of everything and nothing but herself reached out and acted.

She was so afraid before. When she met Gertrude and Griselda. When she had to face Judge Gracie. When she had to pick a job from the list, and she hated everything in it. When those thugs cornered her in that alley. It took her losing everything to see who she was, and she concluded she passed the test.

That was, exactly, what The Harpy wanted from griffons. That they lived their lives. Not because she wanted it of them, but because that was who they were.

There, probably, was a lot of space to discuss about the differences between how Celestia and The Harpy thought they should live. But… Well… Celestia let the griffons mess up whatever she wanted for Griffonia.

Thinking of Ghadah again, she realized Gilda was her, and was Gilda just the same, but, at different times. Different lives. Nothing wrong in learning from herself in another life, but she didn’t want to let go of everything she was before she met The Harpy and Ghadah.

Then again, she didn’t have to, did she? She only supposed The Harpy would not approve of her friendship with Rainbow Dash.

Could they still be called friends, though? They had grown apart simply because Gilda lived in Griffonstone and the pony lived half the world across from there. They fought once, but the second time they met each other, they worked together in the end.

She kept going in circles whenever she thought about Rainbow. Maybe she feared committing and it either meant dumping Dash forever or going back to being the lame Gilda who thought herself so awesome.

Truth be told, The Harpy hasn’t asked her to do something she didn’t like… Yet.

Maybe she could find a middle ground she could stay on? She wanted to be on The Harpy’s good side. She wanted to keep being Rainbow’s friend… Even if she did believe she had it much easier. Gilda wanted to help the griffons change, but she didn’t want to hate the ponies. She certainly didn’t want to carve out hearts of intelligent creatures, or any creature.

There had to be a middle ground around there, somewhere.

Suddenly they had walked to the top area. Following the wide street past one store or another, and rich mansions all the way. A few ponies walking around greeted them, and they reached the large and luxurious plaza. A large fountain occupied the middle, surrounded by six statues of the very famous ponies who were Rainbow Dash and her friends.

Six individual statues of the ponies as though they posed for a photograph, each with their own walkway that led to the center fountain. Lots of ponies loitering around, talking, just enjoying the nice sunny day. No food carts or any sort of commercial activities whatsoever in the plaza. Just ponies chilling.

On the other side of the wide walkway sat the magnificent Canterlot Palace. Residence to the The Mare and her sister, the two most powerful individuals in the world. And right next to it, the Hall of Friendship where all the nations of the world discussed through their representatives, and on the other side, Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.

Grahan pointed to a rather tall building, like a three-story high mansion with countless windows. “That is the place. High Hoof Hotel. It houses rich ponies coming to see the Princesses and it is the place the Goldies stash their charges until the Princess has decided what to do with them. If Gerdie is under arrest, it could be trouble.”

Gilda would deal with it soon. Before, she needed to figure out a way to deal with Grahan and his friend. She hoped her plan wouldn’t flop because she didn’t want to be at his mercy. She’d end up wherever the ‘usual place’ was and Grahan would be getting fifteen thousand Bits richer at her expense. She didn’t even want to think what would happen to Grunhilda.

But so far, things remained under control.

- Added a mention that Grunhilda wore her backpack before leaving.