Somewhere, in the distant past a griffoness slept on the snow. The cold didn’t bother her. Her body knew to survive the harshest of colds. The fur and the feathers in her coat stood and trapped the heat from her internal furnace. Her wings closed around herself as a cloak, her heart slowed, and her mind fell into a dreamless slumber. Magic worked, unknown to her. A slight movement roused her, and her body prepared to fight whatever lacked the sense not to approach. Or to chase and kill whatever source of food slipped too close.

Gilda woke to the cold of the morning after the rain. She had found a modicum of shelter under the awning of a storefront. A pair of big eyes stared at her. They recoiled and a tall female pony shrieked. Her legs were covered in faux animal skin, fluffy and white, along with a rosy and fluffy hat behind her elegant horn. A fluffy saddle too protected her from the early morning cold and a strong unicorn accompanied her in formal attire. A well-groomed cyan mane on his white coat, went well with her white coat and pink mane. Most aggravating of all was his moustache and monocle. Gilda wanted to rip them off just because they looked so ridiculous.

“Ma’am… Are you in need of any assistance?” The stallion asked, all politeness.

“Piss off.” Gilda growled at him. Her skin relaxed and her fur returned to its normal orientation, mostly dry, and she folded her wings, letting muscles lose their tension. Muscles responded and the soreness on her hindlegs from sitting hunched over herself disappeared almost instantaneously.

The storm had left the street damp, but it didn’t bother her. She walked past the two ponies.

Around her, the city slowly came to life for the new day. Part of her wanted to see if Greta and Gary were okay. Mostly Greta… But she decided against it. If she went there, she would just bring bad attention to their house.

She didn’t know for sure if she was going insane or if there was some meaning to those visions and dreams, but whoever she tried to seek for help would likely become a target too. Maybe she’d find answers at the city Gabriel told her about. She sure couldn’t stay in Griffonstone anymore and she had to hope there would be an end to the nightmare.

Embracing the madness would move her in the right direction. It had worked last night. She passed the alley and a bunch of griffons gawked and made comments at the grisly scene while the local militia kept them at a distance. The word which came to mind was ‘hypocrites’. Nobody cared. They wanted the spectacle. To the point she walked on the other side of the street, but nobody paid attention to a dirty street vagrant. She had learned a lot about griffons during those last days.

Enough time wasted, she had more important things to ponder about. How to get to Haybale? She didn’t know the city, bit it had the name of a pony city. She would have to cross the ocean. Buying an airship ticket seemed doable, but messy. Especially in her condition. Her best bet would be the teleporter facility. But Haybale should be a small city and they wouldn’t have one. But getting far from Griffonstone should be a priority, anyway.

Of course, she needed money, and her money stayed in Greta’s home. No… She wouldn’t go back there. Greta would help her but would also get herself in trouble. Gilda would endure rather than cause harm to her.

Nobody paid attention, but her face turned to a scowl. She would have to get the money from someone.

The corners of her hard beak formed a devious smile. Maybe she should find those two ponies. They looked like they had money.

Of course, actually doing it… She wasn’t sure she could… Do… That. She would end up forced to hurt them. And it would be wrong! It wasn’t their fault! None of Gilda’s problems were their fault. They weren’t like those murderous thugs who assaulted her.

Her thoughts ground to a stop once she found herself again entering the plaza with Grover’s statue. Guards could be seen everywhere. A few griffons going around the plaza and buying stuff from the stands too. In a normal day, she would be there, selling her scones for a few Bits.

The hospital sat next to the plaza too. She blinked at its large doors. Was… Would the big girl still be in there?

In her mind’s eyes she saw the big hen strapped to a table and some creep touching her. Injecting her with some crap and… Keeping her calm and submissive. Yeah… Sounded like Shatteredrock’s psych ward, alright.

She didn’t mean to do it, but she growled to herself and a griffon walking mindlessly around the plaza almost squealed when he saw her and whatever expression she had put on.

She hadn’t even noticed it, but she had started making her way to the doors. And she didn’t stop either. She had little choice on her future, but she didn’t feel like letting them screw the poor girl. She was bigger than Gilda, but it didn’t matter. Big griffons could be vulnerable too and Gilda would rip someone’s throat out if she had to. A bolt of energy went through her spine, just like last night.

Then she saw the security guy waving at her.

“Hi, nurse. You’re early today! Geez… Ah… Are you okay?” He frowned at her, and she blinked a few times. She liked him, she smiled for him and curbed her anger.

“Had a rough night. That’s all. Say… Did they get the big lady that the militia brought in yesterday out already?” She asked, friendly enough.

“Nuh-uh!” He shook his head and waved a finger. “Transfers go out at ten. Especially ‘those’. Gotta have a doc available and they are usually busy seeing their patients in the wards. They told us to tell anyone some wards are full, and that emergency isn’t admitting anyone. So, you know they got their plates full.”

“Thanks.” She smiled at the guy again and grabbed her nurse hat, still in the nook under the stairs where she had left it. “I guess I’ll take a bath and get to work.”

She left the stand though. Didn’t think she’d ever use it again.

Up the stairs and along the way to the ward she worked on, griffons and the odd pony stared at her with awkward expressions. Some covered their beaks or muzzles, but nobody bothered her.

The ward really did have much less traffic than the other days. She thought of talking to Gabriel again, but she likely wouldn’t get past the thestral Royal Guards sure to be watching him. Better to focus on what she could fix.

A quick trot through the corridor took her to the nurses’ room. She quickly looked up the board with the patients and found several patients, not one brought by the local militia. She knocked herself on the head. They probably stashed her on a different ward. She had never paid attention to it, but all patients she saw had some sort of injury or had come out of surgery. The hospital had different wards for different specialties.

Duh, stupid.

“Hey, Gilda!” The pale tan ‘crazy one’ Gina came in through the door and walked past her to stop and look at her. “Aaah… You okay?”

Then she beamed. “Did you get in some sort of wild and animalistic fight with another griffon? What did he do? Oh my gosh! Did you make love in the rain?! Like cave griffons?! Or…”

Gilda held the other griffon’s beak and grinned at her. “You’ll read about it in the news. Gina. Now, listen.”

She hum-hummed positively.

“I need a place to take a bath.” She let go of her beak once she had her full attention. “I thought I should come here and be a good girl. You know… Work those bad griffon vibes off. You following?”

“Oh yeah! That is a good thing!” Gina grinned again.

“So, where can I take a bath?” Gilda insisted with a friendly grin.

“Ah! There is the doctor’s quarters and the nurse’s quarters right in the other side of the corridor! There’s a bathroom with a shower! Ours is the one in the right!”

“Great.” Gilda friendly poked her with a talon. “I also need a favor.”

“Sure! There’s not really a lot of complicated stuff to do today! Just don’t hurt me!” She smiled. Whether it was because she suspected something, Gilda wouldn’t know. Maybe she just liked the idea of Gilda being a bad griffon… Seriously, griffons were fucked in the head, but she liked Gina. She reminded her of Pinkie Pie once she stopped wanting to murder the pony.

Freedom both mesmerizes and terrifies the captive, My Child.

“Yeah. Makes sense.” She spoke to the voice in her head, which caused Gina to blink at her, but Gilda spoke to her again before she could ask anything.

“I need you to find out where they put the hen the militia brought in yesterday. The big hen they’re sending to Shatteredrock.” She explained calmly. “Can you do it?”

“Sure!” The other waved a paw. “She’s in the psych ward! It’s past the waiting room, on the other side of the floor! I’ll find what room she’s in! They’re closed too. You know… Too many crazies these days.”

“Thanks, Gina. I’ll be back in a jiffy.” She hoped to whatever god might be listening the nutjob wouldn’t do anything stupid… Or rather, something reasonable, like telling anyone there was a criminal asking about a crazy griffon. To be honest, she didn’t know if she was going crazy herself, but it sure felt liberating. And a little scary. Just a little. Enough to titillate.

Well, at least Gilda had already accepted going crazy. Might as well take a few steps further into the crazy and help someone.

She crossed the corridor and opened the door to the right. Gina’s yellow friend sat on a bunk bed. Gordon, she supposed. He held a small mirror, pawing at his crest feathers, but stopped when he saw her and opened giant eyes.

“Gilda?” He blurted out.

“Hi.” She liked him too, but she stopped for a second before she found the door into the bathroom near small lockers.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t see your name in the schedule for the morning.” He blinked at her.

“Yeah.” She put her hat on the bed and walked into the bathroom. Entered the box and didn’t bother closing the white curtain. Put a paw to support her weight on the wall and turned on the water. Magical heating made the water nice and warm, washing the grime away.

“Hum… Are you okay?” The yellow guy asked from the door.

“I can’t believe you just walked into the bathroom with the shower on.” She looked back at him with a sultry smile.

Only a second later he noticed he kept staring at her taking a bath and squeaked an apology, blushing under his eyes and retreated, closing the door.

She also took some of the liquid soap in the form of small plastic balls. Just because she was going crazy, it didn’t mean she couldn’t smell nice. Come on, she always smelled nice in the past. She couldn’t attend to temple procedures smelling of blood and grime. Those weren’t hers, but if someone put them there, it meant anyone could use. She didn’t really care, and there found a strange serenity in not caring.

She also didn’t hurry herself too much, taking care to make herself fresh and doing away with the filth in her sensitive areas too. Blacking out in the middle of a dirty and bloody alley and in the rain and murdering thugs made for a messy job. Whenever she fought in the past she’d end covered in blood, so it wasn’t anything new, really.

Once done and after shaking most of the water off, she walked out of the bathroom and the yellow Gordon sat there and he blushed, looking away from her again.

“Towel.” She said.

“Uh? What?” He avoided staring at her.

“Pass me the towel, dude.” She pointed at a white one folded in a pile on top of the lockers.

He blinked twice before he understood but did as she asked. He kept avoiding staring at her while she used the towel. Funny. She could swear he looked smaller than last time she had seen him. Regardless, she found some fun in torturing him for a while. She never minded anyone staring at her, not in the present, not in the past anyways.

She threw the towel next to him and stared for a second. He and Gina actually would make a nice pair, kinda like Greta and Gary, if Gary wasn’t a scaredy pussy. She talked to him while she straightened the feathers in her crest. “Hey…. Suppose you wanted to leave the hospital, but not through the front door…”

“Uh…” He took a second before he managed to form a coherent phrase. “I guess you could use the service doors. There are many. For the kitchens, supplies… But why?”

“Nah…” She ignored his question, putting back on her nurse hat after batting the dirt from it. “Too many nosy griffons.”

“Hum… I suppose you could just fly out of a window. Or the roof? It might raise a few eyebrows, but nobody would care.” He shrugged at her, and Gilda smiled.

“Yeah! Should work. Thanks!”

She opened the door to the hallway and Gina sat there, all smiles. “Got it! It’s room two-oh-four you want! Her name is Grunhilda!”

“Thanks.” Gilda thanked her and casually pulled Gina inside. Took the key from door and walked out.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Gina blinked at her.

“Locking you two in.” Gilda told her casually while closing the door. Then she locked it and tossed the key over her shoulder. That should keep them from talking too soon.

Satisfied, she made her way past the sitting room that connected the two wards. No one there or on the other hallway. The entrance had a security guy, though. Just the security cap and nothing more. But he didn’t bother her, and she quickly found the room she looked for.

The door had been locked, but the key was in the lock, and she entered without any issues. The big hen laid on her side, tied to the bed with belts across the sides, a red collar with a tag Glda didn’t bother reading, and had her beak tied with a small belt.

“For fuck’s sake…” Gilda cursed under her breath and approached.

She put her paws on the bed and approached a little more. Grunhilda seemed so young, despite her size. Not too big, or tall, but she had some crazy muscle mass under her white coat. Not like a freak, but an elegant powerful physique. Sharp facial features too, and quite young, indeed.

Gilda spoke softly to wake her up. “Grunhilda?”

The other startled awake and struggled against her binds but Gilda put a paw on her head. “Easy. I’m Gilda. I’m gonna take you out of here.”

Then she pulled the belt from around her beak and Grunhilda whined like a scared child. “But they said I’m sick and I have to go to somewhere, so I don’t hurt other griffons!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Gilda loosened the straps and freed her, after taking out the collar too. “Let’s go, I’ll take care of ya.”

Grunhilda stood while Gilda opened the window, and it had bars on the other side. She supposed they would put bars in the windows of the psych ward. Big gal just stared at her and waited. Then Gilda had an idea. She went to the small locker in the room and found a gray blanket.

“Come on.” Gilda put the blanket on her back, opened the door and peeked out. The hallway remained mostly empty except for a security griffon at the entrance and on the end. Seemed like there could be some stairs there, opposite to the entrance. Perfect. She gestured for Grunhilda to follow, and she did obediently all the way to the security griffon.

Gilda tried to pass him with a simple greeting but had to stop when he complained of Grunhilda. “Hey. Patients aren’t supposed to leave the hallway. Where’s her collar?”

“I gotta take her to a sunbath.” Gilda said casually. “Collar is in the room. She doesn’t need it.”

“What?” The griffon looked confused. “That’s the first I ever heard of it.”

“Dude, I work here.” She pointed to the little nurse hat. “I got a nurse hat. You got a security hat. You do security stuff and I do nurse stuff. You watch doors and I take patients to get some sunlight.”

She wasn’t even lying. The book said it was important.

“Okay…” He didn’t sound too sure and raised an eyebrow. “Alright… But don’t take longer than necessary.”

“Awesome. Let’s go Grunhilda.” She motioned with a nod for the other griffoness to follow, which she did as obediently as before.

Past the guard she found a stairwell, going up and down, as Gilda had supposed. She started up alongside Grunhilda, but the guard griffon came after them. “Ma’am… You’ll need the key to the roof.”

He held a bunch of keys and took the lead. “I’ll open it for you.”

After a few flights of stairs, they reached the top and he did open the metal door, then made way for them. Gilda led Grunhilda outside to a flat roof covered in concrete and with several vents popping out of it.

The big griffon lady looked up to the dark clouds and the wind fluttered her white, gray-tipped ears-like crest while she stared dumbly at Gilda. “No sun… Just clouds.”

Great. The weather department was slacking off. They should have cleaned the whole thing by then. She should have thought of checking the damn sky before… Gilda sighed and looked at the guard. She had hoped that she’d get Grunhilda to lay in the sun and he would go back to his post, or something. “Look, I’m sorry. You look like a nice guy...”

“Sorry for what?”

She sat on her haunches and punched him. Out cold, straight to the floor with a broken jaw making his beak look awkward.

Grunhilda sat too, but giggled all excited, holding her paws to her beak. “That was awesome!”

“Guess I’m good at punching griffons…” Gilda looked at her own fist. Then she threw the blanket over the guard, threw her nurse hat from her head, and stood calmly. Opened her wings, looking at Grunhilda. “Come on. We should have some time, but we gotta get to the teleporter and find a way to pay the fee before they figure out something is wrong. They’re gonna be looking for us when this guy wakes up.”

“What? No sunbath?” The other whined.

“We’ll get you a sunbath when we can. Right now, we gotta bail.” Gilda insisted.

“Okay.” She followed Gilda, hopping, and flapping wings, taking flight while steering towards the teleporter facility.

Gilda had never been there but knew it had been built on the richer commercial areas of the city. To be honest it surprised her Griffonstone could afford one of those. She had no idea how they worked, but it probably had something to do with subsidies and private interest. The operation generated ridiculous sums of profits, but also required a large investment. Or so Greta had told her. She often needed their services, traveling from city to city and talking to her business’ suppliers.

It should be a short and quick flight, but Gilda checked to see if Grunhilda still followed her. It disturbed her a little… The big girl just followed her without questions, but if anything, it ought to make things easier.

Flying above the city had its dangers, but it they ought to be fast and parctical in their situation. The thermal islands caused updrafts strong enough they could throw a griffon to faceplant on one of the taller buildings. It happened too often and brought with it a ticket to a slow death on a bed or never waking up again. The solution involved flying slowly or so high one would have time to recover.

Gilda didn’t have time to be careful and too much height would draw attention. Grunhilda didn’t seem to mind.

Regardless, she found the teleporter facility amid the sea of houses and stores. A stone building mimicking the city’s older districts, all gray with a gray-green slanted roof. Long and with wide doors to a plaza with some griffons trying to scrape a living by doing stupid stuff like selling scones.

She was bitter, it seemed.

Some homeless griffons idled nearby, all dirty and looking hopeless in their corner of the plaza, where they didn’t bother anyone.

The pair landed on the plaza, and she thought if The Lion had any idea how to fix that sort of thing. The Chancellor and the mayor just ignored them or couldn’t fix the problem. Considering her own situation, Gilda imagined it the former. Some kid interrupted her. He ran up to them with a packet of some stuff she had no interest in and shoved it on her face. “Ma’am! Buy some sunflower seeds?”

She swatted it away. “Buzz off, dipshit.”

It fell to the artistic, colorful, cobblestone and the kid, some little blue and yellow loser stared angrily at her before stomping off. Gilda ignored both the packet and the kid, surveying the plaza. Grunhilda lowered herself to the ground with a whine at the sight of a pair of griffons in the militia barding patrolling the plaza.

“It’s cool. They’re not looking for us.” She petted the other’s shoulder before she made it more of a scene.

“Okay.” Grunhilda blinked compliance and stood.

“C’mon. Let’s see if we get lucky.” She walked off, expecting the other would follow, and she did, carrying the packet of black seeds on her paw. Gilda wanted to tell her to leave the thing, but it was not like it was dangerous or anything.

Inside the building, the whole thing seemed cleaner than the town itself. Probably because the creatures who owned it had more money than the city. Some of the most powerful individuals in the world, or one of the new conglomerates. Mostly ponies and it showed. Hearts, horseshoes, little clouds, moons, suns, and stars in every direction.

But she didn’t let it bother her and walked to one of the counters. She actively chose the least cutesy of them, which still looked cutesy to her tastes. A cyan stand with a stormy cloud, complete with a lightning bolt for logo saying ‘Wild North TP’ above the cloud. In griffon characters rather than the typical pony glyphs. It also had a cute griffon girl instead of a pony behind it. Gilda chose it because it seemed right griffons had part of that overdesigned monstrosity. It looked like it belonged to griffons in the middle of all that pony cuteness.

“Hi!” The overly cheery griffoness, lime colored with a yellowish plumage and a crest of upward feathers greeted her. She even wore a nice and proper suit with the company’s colors. “Wild North Teleportations at your service, wherever you must go!”

Guess she seemed so happy because she had a job. Nonetheless, Gilda kept a civil tone. “Gotta go to Haybale.”

“Uh… It may not be possible, ma’am.” The cheery hen deflated, and her crest even bent a little. The closest teleporter is Baltimare and they are closed because there seems to have been a terrorist incident. All companies can only teleport there if it is an emergency.”

Well, it kinda was an emergency. Only one nobody cared about. Gilda’s eyes shifted away while she remained sat before the stand. “Crap… I really gotta go. Gotta meet someone there. She has important information that I need for personal reasons.”

“Is that so?” To Gilda’s surprise, the cute griffon girl squinted at her. “Who would that be?”

“Hum… It’s a griffon hen called Gerdie.” It was such a far-fetched hope it felt like it was worth it.

“Gerdie, you say?” The griffoness behind the counter rubbed her jaw with her fingers, frowning in the cute way the more innocent griffons did when they were thinking. “Master Gabriel’s daughter?”

She’s gotta be kidding. The guy was famous? Well, the Curator of a museum gotta be an important job. She just nodded, while Grunhilda stuffed her face with those black seeds. “Yeah.”

“Say… Can you hear the storm?” The attendant asked in a lowered voice.

Whoa! Gilda didn’t even blink and whispered back. “I can hear Her cry.”

“Alright. I’m gonna get you through. But I need a justification for the union’s supervision. And you may have to wait until tomorrow.” The hen on the other side of the stand chirped. Just like that, a door opened.

“Say my friend is sick and gotta see her doctor in Baltimare.” She pointed back with a thumb at Grunhilda who stopped eating the seeds for a second and then coughed a couple of times into her fist.

“Right!” The hen typed words into her bulky typing machine for a while. Once done, she dropped red wax and marked it with a seal. A pair of open griffon wings. She even grinned, giving Gilda the paper. “Room five! Just follow the yellow line. Wild North’s got you covered!”

“Thanks!” Gilda took the ticket with her beak and followed the lines in the floor, while Grunhilda followed her.

It took them to a rather isolated sitting room with some rustic, but not cheap at all, furniture. A glass placard with the company’s logo imprinted with acid confirmed the place. Grunhilda looked at everything with a hanging jaw as Gilda presented her ticket to a huge griffon by a door. The guy wore leather armor and had one of those revolvers she had heard about in a holster to the side of his chest. But not only that, he looked fierce, with sharp aquiline facial features and a pair of dark blue eyes which looked like they had seen a lot of shit.

Just then, Gilda realized she had gotten herself involved with something, and she had no idea what. But it beat sitting on her ass in Griffonstone doing the Militia’s job of dispatching the thugs the mayor’s wife sent after her.

“Ma’am.” He took the ticket and looked at it. Then gave it back. “Welcome. Please step inside.”

He opened the door, and she did as he told her, closely followed by Grunhilda who, at some point, let go of the paper bag with the sunflower seeds.

They found themselves in a corridor. White marble floor with white masonry walls and ceiling. Rather than magical lights, it had elaborate sconces like golden figures of beautiful griffon ladies holding torches. On the deep end sat a large, black statue of a strong female griffon laying on her stomach with her forelegs forward, wings stretched upwards and her neck straight, staring down.

Gilda didn’t even know what the thing was made of, but it intimidated simply for the way it stared down at the entrance to the corridor. Its eyes held a pair of large diamond gems and the whole thing must be twice the worth of Gilda’s burnt house.

She just couldn’t tear her eyes from the thing. The statue. It meant something. Something important just at the edge of recognition.

“Greetings, young ladies!” An older griffoness talked to them and distracted her. Salmon coat with similar pinkish plumage and red eyes. She wore a glossy blue silk cloak and a small chain of delicate iron links for necklace. A little older than Gilda, carrying herself with an eerie composure which made Gilda think of some sort of queen, or something. Stupid, but she just seemed different. Still, she stared at the two of them with an amused stare. “What a curious pair you are. How may I call you?”

She also put forward her paw for Gilda to give her the ticket, which she did.

Gilda immediately thought a pair of fake names. Simply because the whole thing seemed way too creepy for her tastes, but Grunhilda just giggled and chirped off. “I’m Grunhilda! I was in the hospital, but Gilda is helping me escape because they were going to take me to some bad place!”

Fortunately, Gilda didn’t have time to react. The older griffoness just chuckled, covering her beak with a paw and then she gestured to the door on the left. “Right this way.”

She took the front and Gilda glared at her companion. “You let me do the talking from now on, got it?”

“Okay.” The other stared down with her crest hanging from her head and quietly followed Gilda past the door.

Both gasped at what they saw on the other side, though. It resembled one of those ultra-fancy hotels in Manehattan or casinos in Las Pegasus. The sort she would never be able to afford even staring at it for too long.

Black, mirror-polished, marble floor with gold inlays between tiles. Round pillars in green and black marble. An actual mirror for ceiling and gold molding for finishing. A large room with several different areas, including a fancy bar, a sitting area, a giant aquarium with all sorts of colorful fishes. A pair of black double doors led away, and in the center, a giant candelabra of gold and crystals. So many crystals Gilda believed it had more of those than she had feathers.

And beneath it, a freaking fountain. A sculpture of a couple of attractive griffon ladies flying and dancing around each other with a pole in between them, from where the water showered. Gilda half chuckled at a sexual innuendo in her dumb head but kept it under control. It was marvelous craftsmanship either way.

“Don’t touch anything!” She stared at the fountain.

“Okay.” The other did the same but nodded at Gilda’s command.

The older griffon lady who welcomed them returned and she brought something on her beak. “This is for you, Gilda.”

She wrapped a red scarf around Gilda’s neck and left a leg hanging, showing a brooch in the shape of a pair of griffon wings made of a black metal. Gilda just held and stared at it. The same symbol in the wax seal. She had seen it before too. To Grunhilda, the griffoness gave a small wristband made of delicate iron links. She snapped it on her wrist. “And this is for you.”

“It’s pretty! Thank you!” Grunhilda cheered.

“What is going on?” Gilda rose an eyebrow and the older female smiled.

“Yours says you’re one of the ‘cool griffons’, and hers says she’s your charge, so others don’t mess with her.” She winked.

“Yeah...” Gilda insisted. “What is going on?”

"We can’t get you to Baltimare today, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t help you. You are between friends now, Miss Gilda. Real friends and griffons interested in your well-being.” She smiled at Gilda. “For now, let’s get you two settled. There is a lot we need to talk about.”

Next Chapter: Meeting the Cool Griffons Estimated time remaining: 30 Hours, 30 Minutes