---

Twilight woke to sunlight pouring in from the window opposite her bed. She groaned and sat up, looking around the room with bleary eyes. She wiped her eyes and stretched, pulling off the blankets and slowly getting onto her hooves. She walked over and looked out at the landscape before her. She and the others traveling with her had been given rooms in the eastern portion of the palace. She was greeted by a wide spread of houses and other buildings, each having been built in older styles than she was accustomed to. The sun shone on their roofs, reflecting off of the crystalline structures and shining an assortment of rainbow colors everywhere.

But to Twilight, the reflections were only a grim reminder of all that she’d lost. A reminder of what she, herself, had wrought. She sighed, turned away, and began gathering her belongings which had been delivered to her from the train the day before.

Twilight had spent the majority of the previous day in the Crystal Empire’s public library, trying to discover anything she could on Griffonstone or even Griffonia. She didn’t find too much, but what she did find was new to her.

Apparently, Griffonia was once a powerful empire, with borders spreading far east across the Hyperborean mountains. She’d found an ancient map which showed a continent that spread eastward with a massive inland sea in the middle. Griffonia controlled the entire continent, and in the distant past during the time of the Idol, the griffons had ruled with utter surety. They were a proud and powerful race, able to hold their own against any enemy that might have tried to attack.

She had discovered that, once upon a time, griffons had actually had good relations with the crystal ponies before King Sombra broke off all ties. Before that, however, the crystal ponies had provided King Grover with a rare seed for him to actually grow a massive tree, which is what happened when he planted it at the top of one of the mountains. Griffonstone was grown over the course of one single year from that seed, and the legends attributed this quick growth to the Idol of Boreas itself.

She read more about other kings from the height of Griffonia as well as those who were considered to be second in command, the Chancellors of the councils that helped the kings make wise decisions. It was this and a lack of nobles that kept Griffonia strong. However, after the reign of King Guto ended a few hundred years ago, all records ended. She’d searched every section of the library she could before the sun set, but found nothing more.

She had returned to the palace late the previous night, tired, depressed and just eager to fall asleep. However, it wasn’t until past midnight that she finally managed to fall asleep. The shadows in her room would morph and change into Jason Wright so often that she finally had to turn on a crystal night light so she could have some peace of mind. It worked, fortunately, and she managed to fall asleep.

She walked over to the night light and turned it off before she placed her belongings near the door before she opened it, entering the hallway. It was just past eight in the morning and she was alone in the hallway. Turning left, she trudged down towards the dining hall. She remembered just where it was from her previous visits, and Cadance had invited her and the others to breakfast before they left.

It didn’t take her long to find the dining room, only to find she wasn’t the first to arrive. Sitting at one end of the table, she saw Applejack with a large journal open. She was too busy writing in it to notice the Princess of Friendship, and Twilight didn’t want to disturb whatever she was doing, so she softly walked over to another chair and sat, looking around the hall. It was just as she remembered it being: a long rectangular room with sloping walls leading to an arched ceiling. On one side of the lengthwise portion of the walls were evenly spaced windows with sunlight pouring in from the ever rising sun. Three massive yellow crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling, unlit from within thanks to the sunlight. The table itself was shaped like an elongated piece of crystal, widest at the middle section and narrow at the ends, but still wide enough to seat one pony.

As Twilight’s eyes wandered, all she could hear was the familiar scratching of pen on paper as Applejack continued to write. As she did so, it reminded Twilight of their friendship journal they’d written back before Tirek destroyed the Golden Oaks Library and before the Palace of Friendship grew. She thought back to those days, days of joy and happiness. The days before everything was ruined, not just by Jason, but by their own prejudices against anything non-pony. And especially her fear and revulsion of humans.

No wonder Sunset had shouted at her that day. She’d made friends with other humans in the other realm by that time. Younger versions of themselves. It was one of the few reasons she kept the portal to that world open, so that in case of another disaster like the Sirens, she could go and help, even though she hadn’t been too thrilled to do so even if there was friendship there. She’d once felt that the friendship humans had was a pale imitation of what ponies had, but now? Now she derided herself on making such a foolish assumption. Anycreature could have friendship. If Rainbow could make friends with a griffon and Spike could make friends with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, why couldn’t humans make friendships with each other, and perhaps even other creatures.

And she hadn’t even given Jason that chance. She’d slammed the door in his face. She felt like she would have done the same regardless of Discord’s spell.

Discord…

She thought back to his confession about what he had done to them and to Jason. She’d had time to think about it since that day, and despite her growing liking of the draconequus, Princess Celestia’s words rang in her ears.

Monster…cretin…

She’d grown to accept that Discord might have said he was trying to change, and he might have, but that didn’t make him any less of a monster in that scenario. Twilight realized, too late, that she had defended him too soon. Discord was a monster. She found herself wishing that he had never been released from his prison.

Then again, she probably wouldn’t have learned the harsh lessons that Jason Wright’s actions had wrought. The one she had forgotten with Zecora.

Zecora…

Her thoughts went back to the shamaness. Her house had been spared from Jason’s wrath, which was understandable since she had lived in the Everfree at the time. Now, Twilight had no idea where she was. When she had gone to check on the solitary zebra, she’d found the old tree house empty, abandoned. There was no letter, not even a note or a forwarding address. Even her welcome masks were gone. With the rumors about changelings in the Everfree, nopony dared to live out there. Well, nopony except for the eccentric Time Turner, who’d snatched up the property and had not been seen much since.

She was so lost in thought that it took her a while to notice that Applejack had stopped writing. When the alicorn finally noticed, she looked down and saw Applejack looking over at her. “Twilight? How long have you been there?” she asked.

“Oh…not long,” she said. It had been the first real words they’d exchanged in months, and she had no idea what to say or ask.

“Ah see,” Applejack said. She put down her quill pen and blew gently onto the journal pages.

The silence between them became deafening, and eventually Twilight couldn’t take it anymore. She had to say something. “What…are you writing there?” she asked.

Applejack stopped blowing for a bit, a faraway look forming in her eyes. After a bit, she said, “Just a journal.”

“Oh…I see,” Twilight said. Not wanting the conversation to die, she pushed on. “What about, may I ask?”

“Nothin’ much. Ah’m just tryin’ to get mah thoughts straight,” Applejack said.

“Yeah…maybe I should do that, too,” Twilight said. “I’ve just been, well, really busy. Preparing for next spring when we begin rebuilding Ponyville.”

Applejack nodded, going back to blowing on the journal. “How’s that goin’?”

Even if Applejack was only talking to her to be polite, it was still a better option than just being ignored. Twilight looked out of the window. “Not as good as I hoped, but we’re getting there.”

“Ah see,” she said.

Twilight wanted to say something more, but she couldn’t think much about what else she could ask that might bring up the elephant in the room. They hadn’t spoken since that day in the throne room, and even now, Twilight’s chest still tightened up whenever she thought about the inevitable conversation they would all eventually need to have about not only their friendship, if that even existed anymore, but how they could learn from this and do better. She thought back to how ferocious Cadance had been the day before when she shouted at Princess Celestia. She’d brought up plenty of good points, especially about the treatment of non-ponies throughout Equestria. Even Gustav, the famous griffon chef, had abandoned his shop and moved back to Griffonia since his business had failed.

As she was thinking, the doors to the dining room opened. Cadance walked in, with her brother and Flurry Heart by her sides. Twilight looked over at her former foalsitter and locked eyes with her. Cadance’s eyes were tired, but they were still full of love.

A love Twilight didn’t feel she deserved even now. Still, she didn’t want to ruin Cadance’s morning, so she just raised her hoof and waved. “Good morning,” she said.

“Morning, you two,” she said, yawning as she took her seat at the table’s head, with Shining taking the seat to her right and Flurry Heart being placed in a foal step stool to her left. “Where’s everypony else?”

“Probably still sleepin’,” Applejack said, finally closing the book and setting it in the saddlebag she had hung over her chair.

“Even Princess Celestia?” Shining asked.

“Forgive me for being late,” Celestia said from the other doorway leading in from the eastern hallway, “but I was speaking to my sister in the dream realm. I was relaying something to her.”

“Oh, it’s alright,” Cadance said. “Breakfast isn’t ready yet.”

Twilight looked between both princesses nervously. Ever since their confrontation in the throne room the day before, she’d been anxious about their next encounter with the other. However, she was surprised when Princess Celestia looked at Cadance. “Listen, Cadance, about what you said yesterday? You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I have babied my ponies for too long. I haven’t acted much like a ruler these past years. I suppose even I am capable of xenophobia. And they’ve learned from the worst. I’ve discussed what you said with my sister, and we’re ending the ban on interspecies travel between our borders.”

“And what about the nobles?” Cadance asked, raising an eyebrow.

“They’re just going to have to learn to deal,” Celestia said with a frown. “I’ve been making mistake after mistake for years. It’s time for me to start educating my ponies better. I’m thinking about other ways to soothe relations over between other nations and kingdoms. Maybe some kind of multinational summit.”

Cadance nodded. “That’s good, but are you sure about acting so fast? I remember the nobles from Canterlot really well. They won’t be happy with that.”

“I’ve been giving them concessions for too long,” Celestia said, and Twilight shivered at the tone in her old mentor’s voice. The temperature in the room seemed to rise slightly at her anger. “I gave it because I didn’t want to become a dictator, but they’re going to learn why I’m the princess. Why my sister and I ruled for over a hundred years side by side before I had to banish her.”

“Well, if you do have an international summit, I’ll be glad to attend as a representative of the Crystal Empire,” Cadance said.

“I wonder if you can get whoever’s in charge of Griffonia to accept,” Shining said. “I don’t know much about them, but the ones I’ve known are fairly grumpy. But…maybe that was just them,” he admitted, looking sideways at Twilight sympathetically.

Twilight’s ears lowered and she looked away from her brother. He hadn’t taken her actions well, but that had paled to how her parents had reacted when they heard the news. Their disappointment had hurt worse than their anger. She looked down at the table for a while, not noticing the presence that appeared beside her. A foreleg wrapped around her neck and pulled her closer. Looking up she saw Shining looking down at her with the same brotherly concerned look she’d realized she’d missed. “Twily, are you okay?”

“I…” She trailed off and all she could do was lean into his strong, brotherly embrace. She couldn’t reply. She still felt like she’d never be okay…

---

Breakfast was a quiet affair for most, Celestia noted. The others had filed in on their own time, sat down quietly and ate. She took note of how they did so. Twilight are slowly and thoughtfully, Rainbow did so mechanically, Fluttershy did so mournfully, Pinkie Pie barely touched her food at all, Rarity did so without noticing some of the times she spilled and Applejack ate everything set before her.

When Spike had come in last, Celestia had asked him to join her by her side. She hadn’t expected him to do so, so it shocked her when he quietly walked over to the chair next to her and sat quietly. He gave single word answers to questions from either Cadance, Shining or Celestia as he ate the gems he’d been given. She noted that he’d begun to trim out and had grown slightly ever since Jason’s invasion and Twilight’s revelation. She prayed to the Maker herself that he was getting enough nutrition. She knew dragons needed meat eventually, and made a point to try and talk with him about it and provide some for him if he asked.

After breakfast, Celestia and the others had gotten their belongings and headed towards the train station. She’d said goodbye to Cadance and Shining and a sad looking Flurry. However, the latter had quickly cheered up when Celestia promised to see her when she returned. She made a mental note to see if she could find anything for a Hearth’s Warming present for the little filly alicorn in Griffonstone.

After reaching their train and seeing a newer, sleeker but grayish locomotive, Celestia couldn’t help but be relieved. This train looked like it was more up to snuff than the older colorful engine. They reached their old car and sat back down in the same seats as before.

Well, almost all.

Spike had once more sat in the booth opposite Celestia’s own and spent the next few hours just reading. Celestia noted that he wasn’t reading any comic. Instead, he was reading a proper book. She tilted her head curiously, trying a few times to get the title. Finally, about the third hour into their trip, she broke down and asked, “Spike, what are you reading? I’m curious.”

He stopped, looking up at her surprised. He lifted the book up allowing her to see the title: Treatise On The Races Of Gaia by Opal Shine. Celestia was familiar with the author. She’d lived around nine hundred years prior and the solar monarch had actually had the pleasure of meeting the author a few times. She was a well traveled pegasus author who went around the world, living with other cultures and studying them extensively. It wasn’t a very popular book in Equestria, and for that Celestia was regretful. She herself had read it, but at the time she’d not paid as much attention to it as she should have. The banishment of her sister had still weighed heavily on her mind at the time. “Is it any good?” she asked.

“It’s outdated,” Spike said. “No…body…has written anything much like it since then,” he added as he went back to reading.

“What race are you reading about now?” she asked.

“Griffons,” was all he said. “Not a long chapter,” he added.

“It was written only four decades after Nightmare Moon,” Celestia said.

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Really?” He turned to the book’s front page and looked at the information. “Written in 46 Anno Luna, 980 Anno Luna release date…It really is old.”

Not wanting the conversation to die, Celestia continued, “I’ve met her, as a matter of fact. The author.”

That caught Spike’s attention. He turned to her. “What was she like?” he asked.

Happy that he was at least talking to her and interested in what she had to say, she faced him. “Well…I think you’d have liked her, Spike. She was a really jovial soul. She attended an author’s symposium at Canterlot and I had the pleasure of talking with her. She’d apparently just come back from where the reindeer live. I learned more than I expected about reindeer society that day.” Celestia smiled at the memory. She had a long memory courtesy of her alicorn nature, so she remembered more than most. “I do wish there were more ponies like her around,” she added with a hint of sadness.

Spike nodded solemnly. “Well…can I make a suggestion?”

That surprised Celestia. In all her years, she’d never once had Spike make a suggestion to her. “Please do,” she said, inwardly eager to hear what the young dragon had to say.

“Have someone go out and explore again,” he said. “Someone who’s interested in learning about other cultures. Someone who can actually…well,” and here he lowered his voice and whispered, “hold back their revulsion.”

Celestia’s ears flattened at Spike’s bluntness, but it wasn’t uncalled for. She remembered a few months ago during the meeting with the nobility just how deep their own revulsion for other races had gone. They might not have come outright and said it, but they had stuck to their pathetic reasons for wanting the borders closed. And she’d given in.

Not anymore. “That’s actually a good idea, my young dragon,” she said. “I’ll talk more about it with Luna later and we’ll bounce around ideas.”

“Good luck,” Spike said, and she noted the lack of sarcasm in his voice. In fact, he sounded like he sincerely meant what he said.

“Thank you, Spike,” she replied, deciding that it was best to let him get back to his reading. She leaned back and picked up a book of her own from her saddlebag. It was a romance novel, penned by Lovesick Mare, another fairly unknown author who’d actually been good friends with Opal Shine. Lovesick was a fantastic author, but she was largely unknown due to her, at the time, controversial romance stories between ponies and non-ponies, and there were even romance books between two non-ponies or even love triangle books. Even today, they were still fairly unpopular. Still, Lovesick was a phenomenal writer even by modern standards. She wrote incredibly realistic and believable characters and, if her theory was correct, learned a lot about her non-pony characters from Opal.

She was, ironically enough, reading one called A Storm Of Feathers, a love story between a griffon princess and a pegasus adventurer. The two had not gotten along at first, and not because of their species but because of their station in life, her being a princess and him being a lowly peasant. However, Celestia had reached the middle of the story where they had both been grounded on a deserted island in the middle of the Celestial Sea due to a massive storm where they’d been forced to rely on each other to survive. Romance novels were one of her weaknesses alongside cake, and with her being out of Canterlot, she could at least indulge in her hobby without needing to deal with the ugliness that had become the nobility.

She remembered a time when there had been honor and decency in them. When they had actually cared about the common pony. When they would use their wealth to improve not just their lives, but the lives of those not so well off. But, as with all things, that hadn’t lasted. With each generation, they had grown more and more greedy and selfish. Their money had gone to their own comforts instead of what it should be used for, helping the poor and destitute and improving the lives of others. Even if it was their money to do with as they pleased, it was the chivalrous thing to do.

Especially Blueblood.

Her adopted nephew used to be the sweetest little colt she’d ever had the pleasure of raising. He would follow her around, wide eyed with wonder and asking so many questions about the world. Ever since his parents had been indicted of foal abuse and fraud and sent to the dungeons for it, he had been in the care of the princess and her staff. She’d taught him personally about the basics of magic. When he was fifteen and legally able to inherit his family’s estate, he’d become more and more like the other nobles. She’d tried to steer him towards the right pathway, one of peace and harmony, but she’d failed. She still loved him with all the love an aunt could give a nephew, but he had become unrecognizable to her. He’d been influenced by the wrong crowd and become proudful at being related to her. Whether by adoption or not, it didn’t matter.

She just prayed that he wasn’t getting so involved with the other nobles that he would get into something criminal. Like those pony supremacist movements she’d heard about. Pushing those thoughts out of her head for the time being, she went back to reading. She would begin dealing more with those movements the moment she and the others got back

---

It was late afternoon when they arrived at the Griffonstone Station. Going through border patrol had been a bit of a hassle, but it was easier than if they’d traveled by airship. Spike was surprised to find the border guards, two unicorns on Equestria’s side and two griffons on Griffonia’s side, playing a very friendly looking game of cards. Spike had been more surprised to hear the good natured ribbing between the four guards, exchanging insults with grins on their faces. It was quite relieving to him to see such camaraderie among different races.

As they disembarked from the train at the Griffonstone Station, Spike saw that their group were the only non-griffons around. He counted at least twenty tired but excited looking griffons who all grabbed their belongings, spread their large wings and flew up towards the mountain where Griffonstone sat on the eastern portion of the twin peaks. To say that the city glistened on a hill would be an understatement. Spike had actually enjoyed living in Canterlot, which Celestia had ordered built after she banished Nightmare Moon, but Griffonstone was equally as impressive to him. Possibly even more so.

“Wow, that’s gonna be a looong walk,” Spike observed as he grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

“Indeed it is,” the familiar voice of Celestia said from behind him. He gave her a small glance, noting just how much in awe she was. Even the other ponies were staring up at the massive structure, albeit with differing degrees of awe than the Princess. “Unfortunately, I’ve never been to Griffonstone, so I can’t teleport up there, and I don’t think those of us who can fly should go ahead, so it looks like we’re walking.”

“Fine by me,” Spike said, turning away and beginning to walk up the long path up the Hyperborean Mountains. Only to find himself caught in a magical aura and floating backwards. He found himself sitting on Celestia’s back. She was looking back at him with a small smile. “Um…I can walk, you know?”

“I know,” she said softly, “but even for a dragon, especially one without wings, the walk is not going to be a short one. And you are still only a child.”

Spike frowned and put his claws on his hips. “I might be a child, but I’m still capable of walking, thanks.”

“Spike, please let me do this,” Celestia asked, and the tone in her voice made Spike pause. He couldn’t really tell why he paused, but there was just something in her voice that gnawed at him. “You deserve that, at least.”

A part of him really wanted to refuse her and walk up the pathway on his own, but on the other hand, she was offering. And he didn’t really want to walk all the way up. It was just his stupid dragon pride getting in the way, he realized. And besides, the Princess was actually trying to make things right with him. He’d looked up to her once, blinding himself to all her faults just like Twilight had done. However, he knew now that even the imperious Princess Celestia was imperfect.

Even he knew he couldn’t stay angry at her forever. He hated the feeling, which lessened and sometimes even vanished whenever he was with Sweetie Belle. So he nodded. “Alright. Thank you, Princess,” he said coolly.

She frowned a bit, then leaned back and whispered, “You can call me Celestia. We’re not in Canterlot right now, or even in Equestria.”

“I’ll…I’ll keep that in mind,” Spike said quietly as the Princess began walking away from the train station.

As they did, Spike took one last look at the train station. It looked like it had been recently renovated and repainted, albeit with less colors than he was used to. The station itself looked like any normal house, with a large hole in each side in front of a few perches. On the front was a large pair of red wings connected by a dark green crystal. Above the wings hung a wooden crown. He saw a couple of griffons inside talking and laughing, and to his surprise, he also saw a small tree decorated with blue candles with a blue moon on top of it and blue and silver garland wrapped around it.

As they walked away, Spike turned and looked ahead. The pathway that led up the mountain had a few spots of snow on it, and there was a recently constructed smoothed out wooden fence along the side that hung over the edge to keep anyone from falling into Griffon Gorge below.

Twilight hadn’t been the only one who’d read Bygone Griffons Of Greatness. Ever since the revelation about Jason, Spike had spent less time reading comics and more time reading books about other races. Especially ones he’d met before. He read about the Diamond Dogs, how they’d once been a great civilization in the past only to succumb to a plague which permanently altered their descendants so that they were less intelligent. He’d read about the ancient buffalo cultures from before ponies even came to Equestria. He’d even read about older dragon cultures in that book Opal wrote. It wasn’t modern, but it was still something about his kind.

A sudden memory popped into his head. He was back in the Golden Oaks Library, standing at one of the tables in the main library section. He was smiling at a yellow phoenix newborn chick.

“Hey, welcome to the family, Peewee!” Spike had said as the young chick jumped into his open claws. “Stick with me, I’ve got plenty to teach you about being a pony.”

He smiled wistfully at the memory. He’d become to Peewee that day what Twilight had been to him. Or really, should have been, he thought bitterly.

Looking back at Twilight, he noted how worn down she looked. Her wings were unkempt and he hadn’t even seen her fly for months. Even if he was furious at her, a part of him still cared for her wellbeing. She’d been working herself ragged trying to get plans in place for a major building project. She was trying so hard to get Ponyville rebuilt, he knew. Rebuilt with better building structures, but at the same time she wanted to try and keep things similar to how they had been.

He wasn’t too sure something like that was a good idea, to be honest. It might just be a painful reminder of the original. Still, he didn’t really want to see Ponyville become a more modern city like Manehattan.

He turned away from her and looked back ahead. The walk up to the city looked like it would take a long time. Hours even. With that in mind, he pulled out the book he’d been reading on the train and opened it back to the chapter he’d been reading. It was about the culture of the zebras back in the time directly after Nightmare Moon’s banishment.

Zebras are one of the more fascinating races on all of Gaia. They might look a lot like ponies, but they are vastly different in the way they view the world around them. Hailing from the southern continent of Zebrica, most of the zebras I encountered during my travels among them lived in small towns near the coastal areas or near some of the larger rivers that form from the melting snows on their main mountain range, which they call the Spine of the World.

However, I encountered tribes of zebras who still embrace what they called The Old Way, which is more akin to old pony Wanderers traditions from centuries past. The nomadic cultures which died out with the founding of the three tribes are still alive in Zebrica today in the form of these zebras.

But before I get to them, I’d like to talk about the villages I visited.

I spent at least two weeks in a village, observing and talking to the locals. They speak a surprisingly old dialect of old Horsish (Editor’s Note: This was the way the Equestrian language was referred to in the time before Princess Celestia’s reforms, but for accuracy’s sake it will be used throughout the book), and it didn’t take me long to figure out the main differences between our languages. I spent the first ten weeks in five of their major villages around a large circular portion of the shoreline they call Caign’s Hoof (E.N.: See Index page 413 for her hoofdrawn map), a massive peninsula on the western coast of the continent.

Each village had varying degrees of designs, but there were several constants I noticed. Each village had a chieftain or chieftainess who lived in the exact center of town in the largest hut. These huts were guarded by at least four of their guards.

Chieftains of the villages were normally either the strongest or the oldest and wisest of the zebras there, and one thing I noticed was that with one notable exception, each one had multiple mates and many foals as well. The largest family I saw was in the third village I visited, where the chieftain had five mates and twenty two foals of varying ages.

The village populations varied from around five to six hundred zebras, from what I managed to count. Interestingly, each village chieftain actually required a census taken of everyzebra every two or three years.

Even though they live in what modern day ponies would consider primitive conditions, they have a deep understanding of Gaia’s Harmony. They live in unity with nature instead of trying to control it like the pegasi do. They live mostly off of the bounty of the Zebrican jungles, gathering food from the plentiful environment and water from the rivers and, surprisingly, the oceans as well. I was never privy to their methods, but their shamans have a way of purifying ocean water so that it’s sweet. I tried some, and I couldn’t taste any discernable difference between purified water and river water.

As I mentioned before, they have shamans and shamanesses. I noticed that they were not only set apart by their normal dwellings, since they tended to hollow out a special tree and live in there, but they also tended to speak in rhymes. When I asked why they spoke like that, I was basically told it was a method they used to keep their minds sharp. Paper is hard to make for them, so while they do have papers made of papyrus and other plant based products, they’re harder to make at their current level, so most shamans have to memorize recipes for their potions and brews.

“Spike? What are you reading?” a familiar mare’s voice asked from beside him, breaking the young dragon out of his reverie. Startled, he looked down. Twilight was looking up at him with a somewhat curious expression. He held up the book so she could read the title. As she read it, her ears flattened a bit. “Oh…I’ve…never read her books.”

He raised an eyebrow. “That’s surprising,” he muttered.

“Do you have any more of her books with you?” Twilight asked cautiously.

Spike shrugged, reached into his backpack and pulled out another book, this one called Deer In The Moonlight: A Year Among Gaia’s Nocturnal Species. “Here,” he said, holding it out to her. “I finished this yesterday.”

Twilight took it in her magic and looked it over, reading the blurb on the back before opening it. “Thank you…” she whispered.

“Sure thing,” he said calmly as he went back to his book.

As he continued reading, he wondered just why Zecora had abandoned her house. He got so lost in thought, thinking about the older zebra mare that he had to go back and read passages over again multiple times. Finally, he gave up, closed the book and looked up at the sky. It was cloudy now, threatening snow. In fact, a few flakes had begun falling already. He pulled Sweetie Belle’s scarf around him and put on the hoodie. He hated the cold, especially since it reminded him of his first Winter Wrap-Up in Ponyville. He shuddered again at the memory of having been rudely awoken by falling into the still ice cold lake and the nasty cold that followed. Even then, Twilight had still insisted he write the letter to the Princess.

His resentment and anger towards the ponies around him flared at that thought, and not just at that. The incident with Discord where the Princess used the spell to remind Twilight of all those friendship lessons, being teased for being a different type of dragon, being used as practically slave labor by them even though he was only a child. Sure, he was older now and could be considered a teenager in pony terms, but he still hadn’t gotten wings, yet!

However, something made him pause. He looked over at where Celestia’s head was, only to find the Princess looking back at him with a concerned look in her eyes. He realized then that he was clenching his legs a bit. He exhaled deeply, forcing himself to relax. “Sorry,” he said softly.

Celestia smiled. “It’s alright,” she said. And with that, she turned back to focus on walking.

However, when they reached another turn in the road, they were greeted by a strange sight. Three large gondola lifts sat on the ground near one of the upper turns, and each one looked big enough to fit all of them inside. A large black strand of wire ran from that spot all the way up to the city’s lowest level. There were two griffons dressed in bright red and white jackets standing nearby, each one wearing a red and white stocking cap with a white ball of fur at the end. “Hey, maybe we don’t have to walk after all,” Spike said as he pointed.

The other ponies looked up at the lift. Celestia stood up straighter. “It might be faster than walking. Let’s have a look.” With that, she sped up, making her way towards the lift and the two griffons standing there. As they approached, Celestia raised a hoof and waved. “Good afternoon,” she said in a regal polite tone, “does this lift go to Griffonstone?”

The griffons looked at the ponies with confusion, not that it surprised Spike. With the borders being closed, and what with ponies being how they were, he really doubted they’d seen a pony in a while if at all. “It does,” one of the griffons said.

“Well, how much for seven ponies and a young dragon?” Celestia asked, lifting a bag of bits out of her saddlebags.

“Seven bits,” the second griffon said, and to Spike’s surprise there wasn’t a look of greed in his eyes, just professionalism.

Even Celestia seemed startled by how cheap it was, but pulled out the aforementioned amount and floated it over to the griffon. He took it then placed it in a nearby chest while the other unlocked the sliding door. “The trip up shouldn’t take more than five or so minutes,” the first griffon said as he stepped aside. “Find a seat anywhere, and welcome to Griffonstone.” With that, he gave them a warm smile. “I know you ponies celebrate something called Hearth’s Warming, but here we celebrate another holiday.”

“The Blue Moon Festival, right?” Spike asked as he jumped off of Celestia’s back and hopped into the lift.

The second griffon chuckled. “That’s right, young dragon,” he said.

“What is it about, anyway?” Spike asked. “I never found anything about it when I’ve read about griffons.”

“Oh, it celebrates the day when King Grover first showed the Idol of Boreas to the first Griffon Summit,” the first griffon said. “It took place the same day as a blue moon, so we celebrate it.”

“It’s gonna be so good this year,” the second griffon said excitedly.

“Anyway, we hope you have a good stay here,” the first griffon said as the last of the ponies got into their seats.

“Thank you,” Celestia said as she too entered the lift and sat down next to Spike.

“You bet. Here we go!” The first griffon closed the door and locked it, then stepped back and walked over to a large wheel. Both griffons grabbed onto a large spoke on the end of each and began to push.

Spike watched in awe as the wheel began to turn. At the same time, they began to move. Celestia, too, watched this with astonishment. As they ascended, there was another jolt and the lift began moving faster. The two griffons fell away quickly and the scenery below them came more clearly into view.

Despite their varying degrees of sadness and depression, even the ponies in the car couldn’t help but look out of the window at the view before them. They were rising above a large slope which looked like there had been new coniferous trees planted there only recently. Large patches of snow sat on the ground below, but the few flakes that were falling now had only increased, and Spike had seen enough snowfalls to know this one would only increase. Of course, he realized that griffons didn’t control the weather like ponies could, so it might not stick around, but the sudden increase of snowfall probably would cover the rest of the ground and the trees before the next morning.

He then realized something. They’d more than likely have to stay the night at least once, and he knew Griffonstone didn’t have phone lines yet so they couldn’t call ahead and find an inn or something. Looking up at Celestia, he asked, “Where are we gonna stay tonight?”

“We have time before I need to lower the sun to find a place to stay,” Celestia said, “so don’t worry.”

“I hope so…” he said as he leaned against the window, watching the scenery below.

It didn’t take them long to reach the other end of the gondola lift line. Their lift stopped perfectly and lowered slightly. Spike saw two other griffons, each looking a bit winded but smiling. They were both wearing similar outfits to the griffons below, and one of them was wearing an obviously fake beard and mustache over his beak. It was this griffon who came over and unlocked the gondola. “Welcome to Griffonstone!” he said in a cheerful voice.

“Well, I’ll be. I never expected to see another pony here, let alone seven,” the non-bearded griffon said as he walked over to secure the gondola lift. “What could bring you all the way here, and especially a couple of Princesses.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “You know about us?”

“Alicorns are pretty rare, and they always get the princess title,” the griffon replied with a shrug as he finished securing the lift. “Anyway, if you have any questions before you go in, we’d be glad to help.”

Spike was beginning to wonder if Gilda was just a fluke of nature in how she’d acted while Celestia asked, “Well, could you direct us to an inn somewhere in the city?”

“An inn, huh?” the bearded griffon said. He looked up at Spike, and his eyes widened. “You know, there’s a brand new one in town that caters to as many races as we can. It’s called The Green Dragon. Wait right here and I’ll get you a map.” He rushed into a small structure nearby, then came back with a folded map. He opened it and pointed to the map. “We’re right here,” he said, pointing to the bottom of the map, “and The Green Dragon is on the mid-level here.” He pointed somewhere near the halfway point between the center of the map and the bottom edge. “If you need help reading the map, you can ask for directions. It’s a pretty famous inn considering it was only built this past month.”

“Really? Why is it so famous?” Celestia asked.

“It was christened by the Idol Bearer himself,” the non-bearded griffon said with a smile. “That, and it’s the first establishment run by a non-griffon.”

“Really? Who runs it?” Spike asked curiously.

“A pair of dragon siblings who moved here only a week after the Dragon Lord herself visited,” the bearded griffon said. “Anyway, it’s the perfect place for you to stay. They cater to ponies, reindeer, dragons, griffons, anycreature really.”

“Actually, it’s ironic you should come here today, of all days,” the other griffon said. “Today’s a special occasion.”

“How so?” Celestia asked.

The two griffons looked at each other, grinned, then faced the eight Equestrians. The bearded griffon was the one who said, “Today’s the day when the first non-griffons become official citizens of Griffonia!”

Next Chapter: 10: Stripes of Friendship Estimated time remaining: 19 Hours, 17 Minutes