---

It was just past three in the afternoon that early October afternoon when an exhausted Gregory walked through the door to Gabby’s house. Beside him, an equally exhausted Gabby barely had the strength to trudge into the house, let alone hover. Fortunately, it was the weekend and the two had the next two days off. They both walked over to the couch and collapsed onto it, both sighing at the same time. Gregory on the right and Gabby on the left. Gabby leaned against him, taking in a deep breath and exhaling once more.

Gregory couldn’t blame her for being so tired. Ever since the news came in about the invasion of Canterlot and the complete and total destruction of Ponyville, the post office had been run ragged. Not even Gregory was sure what was happening, and he’d been one of the sorters in the main mail room. He knew that Geoffrey had sent out a few letters to Equestria, more specifically to Princesses Celestia and Luna, but there had yet to be a reply from either of them. There had been more letters sent out to the changeling territory, mostly to one Emperor Jason Wright, with a few to Queen Chrysalis as well, but those had been returned with harshly handwritten notes on the envelopes that just read RETURN TO SENDER.

It had been such a busy couple of weeks that Gregory had very little time to think about what had happened to Equestria. He asked his boss for extra hours in the hopes that he could earn more money to get a train ticket to Equestria to try and help, only to be told that the train to Equestria was being stopped at the border for any non-pony for at least a month, maybe more.

So for the next two weeks, he’d focused more on his job, although he’d had to mentally focus harder than he ever had to, mostly because he felt himself going through the five stages of grief. Grief for the ponies he’d hoped to visit, and grief for their loss. Gabby had tried to be supportive of him despite not knowing the cause, and he was truly grateful to her. But he wasn’t ready to talk about it.

The Monday that marked the start of his first day, he woke up from his patchy sleep completely angry. He held it in, however, as he wanted to make a good first impression for his new coworkers. That didn’t stop Gabby from noticing his behavioral shift. During their lunch break, she’d pulled him aside and asked what was wrong, but he just told her not to worry about it and that he would be alright. She didn’t seem too happy to hear that, but she accepted it regardless. In a way, she reminded him of Pinkie, and he wondered what she was thinking about all this. If he knew her, she would be in her darker Pinkamena persona, or ponysona, he guessed. The others were probably just as distraught at having lost their town and livelihoods to a monster in human form.

His anger stretched into Tuesday and lasted until Friday afternoon. Gabby wisely stayed out of his way as he held the anger back while at work, but after work that first week he had gone to the outside of the city to scream into the Abysmal Abyss in an attempt to get all of his anger out of him. It had worked only for a couple hours each time, only for the anger to return in full force. Anger directed at mostly this other human who had destroyed everything he’d hoped to see. The human who had attacked an innocent race for seemingly no reason. He had particularly dark thoughts that first week, thoughts that he had never had before. Murderous thoughts.

It was during those screaming moments on Friday afternoon after his shift where he screamed for so long that Gabby had finally had enough and pulled him away from the edge, yelling at him in terror. It was at that moment that his anger vanished, only to be replaced with a heavy feeling of depression as he finally broke down and sobbed hard. Gabby had immediately hugged him close, allowing him to bury his face in her plumage as she ran her talons through his hair gently, trying to soothe him as best she could.

When Saturday came around, he began feeling his anger ebb away, only to be replaced with a strange feeling of worry and fear for the future. He was afraid that if the griffons found out that Jason was a human like him that he’d be considered an enemy and locked up simply for being the same species. And part of him wondered if he could blame them for reacting that way. After all, how was he any different from Jason? He couldn’t explain why, but he felt like he was blaming himself for something that was clearly not his fault. But as he’d learned back on Earth, emotions aren’t rational.

Unfortunately for him, those feelings only lasted for the weekend before a heavy weight felt like it was pressing down on him. The feeling of being overwhelmed and hopeless struck him with full force in the middle of his second Monday shift. He could barely concentrate on his work and had to constantly pinch himself so he could concentrate on the job. He had to force himself to wash himself and even to eat to keep up his strength despite it making him feel nauseous.

Fortunately for him, nobody seemed to notice his behavior except, of course, for Gabby. She tried a couple times to get him to open up, but he was still not ready to talk to her about it. He would sometimes hide from everyone during his breaks to cry and let the emotions flow away, and it helped for a time. He didn’t even want to leave the house for that week unless it was for work. Gabby was patient with him, but Gregory continued to struggle. He was afraid, too. Afraid that Gabby would think less of him if he told the truth. Or worse yet, be afraid of him.

As Gregory looked down at his friend and gracious host, he had an epiphany. He’d been the one who wanted to use that hidden portal spell he’d found on the Dark Web to come to Equestria. He’d been the one who wanted to abandon his life on Earth to come see his favorite ponies and befriends them. One of his favorite songs had said it best. “Que sera, sera. Whatever will be, will be. The future’s not ours to see. Que sera, sera.”

Gabby looked up at him and her turquoise eyes widened when she saw the expression on his face. “Gregory, your face…it looks better.”

“I…yeah, I’m feeling a little bit better than before,” he admitted as he sat up to face her. Gabby did the same, sitting on her haunches as she faced him as well. “I’m not back to one hundred percent yet, but I think I’ll be fine eventually.”

“Are you ready to talk about it now?” she asked in a small but hopeful tone. “It’s fine if you’re not, but…”

“No, I think I’m ready to give it a try, at least,” he said, and he meant it. He knew that the Gabby from the show and the Gabby he knew now were similar enough that he could at least trust her. Even if she didn’t want to be his friend anymore-

He smacked himself, getting rid of the lingering depressing thought. This startled Gabby who moved closer. “What did you do that for?!” she asked in alarm.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said with a self deprecating smile, “just trying to knock some sense into myself.” He swallowed, then took a deep breath and exhaled before facing her once more. “Okay, I’m ready now.”

“I’m all ears,” Gabby said sincerely.

To even his surprise, the words just came tumbling out of him faster than he could comprehend. He told her that the moment he’d heard the name Jason that he associated it with a human name. He mentioned that he had so desperately wanted to meet the ponies of Ponyville, but when he’d heard about this other human’s invasion, he felt angry, ashamed, afraid, every gamut of negative emotions. The more he talked, the more he felt his emotions rising back to the surface, but in a way that felt more freeing than anything he’d felt in the past two weeks. The words kept on coming out of him, and soon he realized that he was very close to revealing the whole truth to her. The truth about My Little Pony and where he was actually from.

When he clammed up, Gabby looked at him worriedly. “Gregory? What’s wrong?”

He inhaled and blew out from his mouth slowly. If he wanted to really make friends in this world, he had to at least trust someone. Slowly, he pulled out his cell phone. “There’s something I’ve been hiding ever since I got here,” he admitted, “but it’s something that I’ve been too afraid to tell anyone.”

Gabby smiled sincerely at him. “Silly Gregory, we’re friends now,” she said with a tender tone. “You can trust me with your secrets.”

“Even if it means bringing your entire worldview into question?” Gregory asked in an attempt to make sure she understood the gravity of the situation. He was actually considering telling Gabby about what her world really was, or at least, what he thought it had been before finding the instructions for creating a portal on the Deep Web. He half expected nothing to happen when he’d first tested it, of if it did work having him end up in someplace like the Backrooms, but when his first test was not only successful, but had brought back images of a real life Ponyville onto his camera which he’d stuck through on a tripod and set with a timer, he’d been incredibly excited. He’d spent the next six months purchasing things he would want to take with him, downloaded hundreds of books which he put on multiple kindles, put every single episode of the show on his phone and laptop, settled any kind of matters he had, then on the last day he was on Earth, donated all but a hundred dollars to a few different charities. The rest of his money he took with him more as a keepsake than anything else.

“What do you mean?” Gabby asked cautiously.

“I mean, what if I told you something that made you question your very existence?” Gregory asked.

She tilted her head in a remarkably birdlike manner before she chuckled. She reached out and pinched his arm gently. When he flinched as he felt the pain, she said, “I exist, see? You exist, too. I promise, no matter what you show me, I’ll be alright. That’s a Gabby Guarantee.” She gave Gregory a thumbs up and a wide smile.

Gregory couldn’t help it. He chuckled. She was a lot like Pinkie, but at the same time she was her own being. He slowly unlocked his phone. “You’re incredible, Gabby. You were always my favorite griffon in the show.”

“Show? Favorite griffon? What do you mean?” Gabby asked, tilting her head again.

Gregory said nothing as he scrolled through his phone until he found the episode he wanted to share. He clicked on it, scrolled to the appropriate scene and unmuted the video. Holding it up behind the couch so they both could watch, he hit play.

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders! I can’t believe it’s really really you! Ha ha, hahahaha!”

“This…griffon…not cranky!”

“How in the bloomin’ apples did you know who we are?”

“Know who you are? KNOW WHO YOU ARE?! Why, I’ve heard about you from everypony in Ponyville! I’m so excited to meet you, I could just EXPLODE! I’m Gabriella, but you can call me Gabby since we’re friends now. Pleased to meetcha!”

When Gregory hit pause and looked back at Gabby, she was staring wide eyed at the miniature screen. There was a look of disbelief in her eyes as she followed said screen which Gregory was pulling away. When he turned the screen off, the spell was broken and Gabby blinked. She looked back at Gregory. “What…did you just show me?” she asked breathlessly. “I never said that…and who are the Cutie Mark Crusaders? But that’s my voice…it has to be!”

When he heard the fear in her voice, he felt a lump in his throat, but he soldiered onwards. “What I’m about to tell you is one hundred percent the absolute truth. Please believe me, please.”

Gabby stared at him for a little while before straightening, taking a deep breath, exhaling, then facing him with a serious expression. “I’m listening,” she said in an incredibly serious tone.

Gregory carefully began to explain where he was from. How back on his actual world there was technology like this that could show images and videos. How there was one show about ponies in Equestria that until recently even he had believed was just a fictional story. How he had discovered a means to travel from his world to this one to meet with the characters he loved as well as simultaneously trying to find a better life in Equestria. How something on his end must have gone wrong and how he’d foolishly not put a camera through during his crossing over to check for dangers and how he’d fallen. “And, well, you know the rest,” he said quietly.

“I…I don’t…I just…fuck…” Gabby was saying.

He was completely blind sighted by her use of the F-Bomb, but he could hardly blame her. He’d done exactly what he’d said would happen. He’d shattered her view of herself and the world. He stood up. “I’m…gonna go for a walk for a bit and give you some space,” he said. “That okay with you?” She silently nodded, so he grabbed his noise cancelling earphones, his phone and his jacket and walked out into the street, switching to his favorite band and hitting shuffle. As he began walking down the street with no clear destination in mind, the song began to play, and thanks to it he began to take notice of the city around him.

“Chiquitita, you and I know, how the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leaving! You'll be dancing once again, and the pain will end! You will have no time for grieving! Chiquitita, you and I cry, but the sun is still in the sky and shining above you! Let me hear you sing once more, like you did before! Sing a new song, Chiquitita! Try once more, like you did before! Sing a new song, Chiquitita!”

He had been so absorbed in his thoughts about this other human for the past couple of weeks that he hadn’t noticed how much Griffonstone around him had changed in those two weeks. Initially, the cobblestone walkways were covered in filth like rotten food, old garbage, even droppings in some back alleys. He’d had to go out for the first few days with a few of the face masks he’d brought to block out the smell. But as time went on, he though he’d gotten somewhat used to it so he just kept a mask with him for the worst parts. He realized, now, that he hadn’t gotten used to the smell, but that the smell had been slowly going away thanks to tireless efforts from the griffons to actually clean up their city, their houses, their entire home. Even the massive keep, a towering alabaster building that didn’t match the normal architecture of the city on a tree, was glistening in the sun slightly more so than usual.

For the most part, however, Gregory noted that the griffons had been focusing more on the domestic instead of the keep itself. Most griffons who passed him gave him a nod of acknowledgment, and more than a few gave him an actual smile. He knew, of course, what they called him when they thought he wasn’t listening: Bearer of the Idol, Hero of Griffonstone, and other flowery names. Now that he had begun to accept that things in this world were nothing like how they were in the show, it felt weird to be this accepted by griffons of all species. Then again, he reasoned that they’d lost a part of themselves when the idol was lost, and it seemed as if they’d found it again when he’d accidentally found it and returned it.

As he walked, he found that more and more griffons greeted him with a few words. Feeling that it was rude for him to just nod and greet them without hearing what they had to say, he stopped the music, turned off his earphones and pulled them around his neck. With the noise cancelling off, he heard the sounds of crews around the city busily cleaning streets, reinforcing older buildings, and in some cases demolishing and rebuilding houses.

Still, even with this shift in the griffon’s attitude, a large part of him was still worried about what Gabby would do when she was finished processing what he had just told her. He knew it was silly to think that she’d make him leave, but emotionally he couldn’t help but fear that.

He was so lost in thought and in taking in all the new sights before him that he nearly ran into a griffon walking the opposite way on the street towards him. Mere seconds before they collided, he saw the griffon and moved to the side quickly, but a bit too quickly as he stumbled over a small pile of swept up dry roof thatch. He fell onto his ass onto a small yard in front of a random house.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” a higher pitched female voice said apologetically as the griffon he’d nearly run into ran over and held out one of her claws towards him to help him up.

Gratefully, he reached out and took it, letting himself be pulled to his feet. “I wasn’t looking,” he said as he brushed the dirt and thatching material off of his ass. “It’s not your fault.”

The griffon before him, with dark green fur and wings, dark red plumage, bright yellow eyes and red claws, looked up at him and smiled a bit. “It’s my fault, I was the one who wasn’t looking,” she insisted.

Gregory saw that she looked a bit nervous as she looked at the ground beside her. Instinctively, he waved a hand. “Let’s just agree that we were both a bit spaced out, then,” he said with as gentle a smile as he could muster, trying to calm her down.

It seemed to help as she visibly relaxed and her plumage even seemed to puff up slightly. She finally looked up at him. “I guess so,” she said.

“Haven’t seen you around before,” Gregory observed, trying to make small talk, “but…then again, this place is pretty big. I haven’t really seen too much since coming here. I’m Gregory. Gregory Graystone.”

“I’m…Gracie,” the griffon said, hesitating as if she had to think about her name for a bit. She smiled a bit nervously. “I know who you are, Mr. Graystone. Everygriffon in town knows your name.”

He scratched the back of his neck. It was his turn to be nervous now. “Yeah…still not quite used to that,” he admitted. “Back where I’m from, I was just another human working in some grocery store. Here? Being some celebrity? It’s a bit weird. Still not used to it, yet.”

Gracie giggled a bit. “I can only imagine,” she said. “Listen, it was really nice to meet you, but I actually need to go. Maybe we can sit down and talk sometime?”

Gregory nodded. “Yeah, I think that’d be nice,” he admitted. “You’ll have to recommend a good spot, though. I haven’t really had the chance to really explore. I haven’t exactly been in the best mood ever since my second day here.”

Gracie nodded, giving her beak a slight lick. “Well, I hope you start feeling better, soon,” she said.

“I’m starting to,” he said honestly. “Well, I shouldn’t keep you, Gracie, so I’ll say farewell for now.”

“See you later!” she said as she spread her wings and flew off into the air, heading towards the business section of the city.

Gregory watched her go for a little while, feeling a bit jealous that he couldn’t fly. Since humans didn’t have wings or magic, it was highly unlikely that he’d be able to fly, which was a little bit of a problem in a city where everything was designed to accommodate for only flying beings. With that, he turned and continued walking, but his thoughts now seemed clearer than they had been in the past couple of weeks. As if there was some kind of magic that had passed between the conversation between him and Gracie.

He wandered the streets, allowing himself to get a bit lost in the hustle and bustle of griffons going about their day, cleaning, talking, watching little griffon chicks playing in large piles of clean dried grass, and generally letting the hopeful faces on the vast majority of griffons boost his own spirits. He had been walking for about half an hour before he came upon a large destroyed building near a large intersection. Old, weather stained papers were scattered around and there were plenty of books either falling apart or just collecting dust on exposed and rotten bookshelves where books still sat.

He recognized the place instantly since he’d seen it in The Lost Treasure Of Griffonstone. He was in what remained of the Griffonstone Library. Only, unlike how it was portrayed in the show, it was larger and dirtier than it had appeared. This place seemed to have been untouched by any of the griffon cleaning crews, but Gregory couldn’t fault them for that. A library wasn’t as much of a priority as houses and businesses.

He wandered through the library, picking up a few books and reading the strange Equestrian language that he somehow knew after coming through the portal. The letters were similar to English letters in certain areas, but with more flowing characters and extra strokes for certain letters. He picked up old scrolls which talked about old griffon trade agreements with other nations, books that had recipes for ever conceivable occasion, and even some old nursery rhymes for younger griffons.

Looking around, he eventually saw a large crumbling stone statue sitting in the middle of what once had to have been the main lobby of the library. A circle of bookshelves, some still standing, some sagging from overexposure to weather, and others completely destroyed, surrounded the statue. Gregory walked up to the statue and looked at the inscription on the front.

Gregory looked up at the statue, which had an old book covering the statue’s eyes. The statue itself showed the ancient Griffon king sitting with both his claws outstretched, his wings wide too as if in welcome. He couldn’t tell for sure, but he thought that the statue was smiling a bit. Somehow, seeing the brown book with yellow pages and a golden title card on the front, which ironically read HISTORY OF THE KINGS OF GRIFFONSTONE, seemed wrong. It seemed dishonest to hide the eyes of said statue.

With that in mind, Gregory looked around, trying to find a way to remove the book without having to climb up the statue itself, especially since it looked unsteady and liable to break if he tried climbing it. Finding a few long branches, he tried at first to reach up and push the book off, but when he tried he found that it was stuck on something and nothing he did was working. He came at it from a few different angles, getting more and more caught up in the task, but no matter what he tried, the book didn’t move much.

He was just about to climb up to try and get a better angle when a familiar gravely female voice said, “Wouldn’t it just be easier to ask somegriffon to fly up there and take it down?”

Turning, Gregory saw a familiar individual. With brown furred, brown winged, white plumage, gray feathers around her yellow eyes, and yellow beak and talons, there was no doubt he was looking at the infamous Gilda. Of course, he remembered his brief first meeting with her a couple of weeks prior, but since then he hadn’t seen her around. She was dragging an old rickety cart behind her with the same dry and disgusting scones she had made in the show. “Yeah, I suppose it would,” he admitted, “but I’m a stubborn son of a bitch. I like trying to do things myself.”

Gilda groaned, rolled her eyes, then spread her wings and flew up to the statue. She grabbed the book and tossed it to the ground without a care. She did it with such force that the bottom part of the statue’s lip came loose and fell. She flew back to her cart after that. “There. Can’t have the Hero of Griffonstone getting hurt because he can’t get a book off of a statue.”

“Ah…yeah, guess not,” he said. “Thanks, Gilda.”

She turned on him suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at him. “How’d you know my name?”

“Gabby told me about you on one of my first days here,” he said honestly. “I’m sure you remember me. I’m the weird human who spaced out and was staring at you.”

“Yeah, I remember,” she said dismissively as she turned back to her scone cart and began setting it up. “Kinda creepy.”

“Yeah…I’m really sorry about that,” he said as he approached the cart to get a closer look at it.

“Eh, I’m over it now, don’t worry,” she said. “I was having a worse day than normal and lashed out. And it wasn’t just to you.”

“Still, it’s a bad habit of mine, and I’m still sorry.”

“You’re good.”

When he reached the cart, he saw that it was made of very old wood, the normal brown having faded to a dark and dull gray. The planks holding it together were uneven and had holes in them. The oven was made of bricks, a hollowed out stone with an oven door made of a somewhat rusted metal archway. There was small covered smokestack coming out the top of the small fire oven. Gray smoke came out of it, and he could smell something that made his stomach turn, but he didn’t show it. “Are these the griffon scones I’ve heard so much about?” he asked, looking at the uneven display shelves on one side of the cart.

She nodded. “Yeah, they’re my specialty,” she explained casually.

“Mind if I try one?” he asked, pulling out his change purse which jingled with bits. He pulled out one and held it up.

“Knock yourself out,” she said, taking the bit from him and handing him one of the gray scones.

Learning his lesson from the episode, he broke off a small piece with a large effort and took a tentative bite. If the smell had been revolting enough, the taste was downright toxic. It was also hard as a rock. He looked at it carefully, then looked back at a somewhat expectant Gilda. “Lemme guess, no refunds, right?”

To his surprise, her eyes lowered sadly and she held out the bit he’d just given her. “Here,” she said gruffly. “Nogriffon wants to buy my scones anyway…”

Surprised by this, Gregory simply pushed her claw back. “No, keep it,” he said, “but maybe I can give you some help? I have a few scone recipes I could share with you. They’re going to waste in my care, anyway.”

“Help with what?” she asked.

“Help with making scones griffons will want to buy,” he said. “What’s your recipe, anyway?”

“That’s a secret,” she said defensively.

Gregory raised his hands. “Okay, okay, that’s fair,” he said. “Hold on, I’ve got a few other scone recipes you can look at.” He pulled out his phone, opened the kindle app and found one of the cookbook’s he downloaded before arriving. He walked over and held it up for her to see. “See, look at this recipe,” he said. “Flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cold unsalted butter, heavy whipping cream, egg and vanilla extract. And then there’s this other one.” Gregory showed her a few other recipes, then turned to her. “What do you think?” He, of course, knew the problem she was having, but he didn’t want to come off as a cooking expert. Especially since he wasn’t one.

“Is baking powder really that important to have?” she asked, sounding more curious than anything else.

“I’m no baking expert,” he said, “but I’m pretty sure it is. If I remember right, I read that it makes the scones fluffy instead of hard. Do you guys have baking powder here?”

“Yeah, but it’s expensive,” she said. “We import it from Equestria, and they hike the prices for it over there for us. One jar of the cheapest stuff is ten bits at least.”

“Jesus, that’s almost a third of a day at my job,” he said incredulously. “Does the recipe you have call for baking powder?”

“Yeah…but I’ve been trying to just improvise,” Gilda admitted. “Nothing’s worked so far.”

“Here,” he said, reaching into his bag and pulling out fifteen gold coins which he handed to her. “Go buy some. And keep whatever change you have left over.”

“Wait, are you sure?” she asked, looking surprised at what just happened.

“Think of it as an investment in your enterprise, Gilda,” he said with a knowing smirk. “You can’t sell these here. They’re liable to break someone’s tooth. You need the proper ingredients, That way, you can sell what you do have, then use said profits to buy more ingredients, and in the end make profit. Capitalism at its finest. And if there’s one thing I’m sure you griffons value highly, it’s the almighty bit.”

“Well, not as much as we used to,” Gilda said, “but…thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” he said. “Go ahead. Get those ingredients.”

Gilda didn’t need to be told twice. She hitched herself up to her cart and practically sped away towards the upper marketplace level. When she was out of sight, he turned back to the destroyed library. “Okay,” he said to himself as he walked over to a nearby table, took off his jacket, set it down, and faced the books, “I can’t let this slide. It’ll be a good distraction anyway.” And thus, he began to work cleaning up the books, gathering them and setting them in as neat of stacks as he could manage. Some of them, sadly, were damaged beyond repair, the words within faded and the pages sticking together. However, the majority were somehow still more or less in decent condition. The pages were a bit coarse, but if he was careful, he could turn the pages without breaking them.

About half an hour after he started, he heard someone land behind him and wander towards another section of the library. Turning, he saw yet another familiar griffon he hadn’t yet seen since coming to Equestria. The young Gallus was picking up a few books, dusting them off with a dirty yellow rag before placing them down as carefully as he could. His back was turned to the human, who curiously approached. “Pardon me, but are you helping me?” he asked.

Gallus turned quickly when Gregory spoke, his blue eyes wide in alarm. However, when he saw the human, he relaxed. “Yeah,” he said in what sounded like a bored tone as he began piling books in his arms and carrying them towards the other stacks.

“Well, thank you very much, um…what’s your name?” Gregory asked.

“Eh, I’m Gallus,” he said. “And I already know your name.”

“Yeah, I guessed that. Everyone seems to know my name,” Gregory said. “But what made you wanna help me? Just curious.”

“Eh, I’m bored. Needed something to do before I go back to my place,” Gallus said as he grabbed a few more books. “Exercise might do me some good, anyway.”

Gregory looked closer at the young griffon. The light blue creature before him did look a bit thin and he could even see patches on his body where no fur was growing, or at least, where they hadn’t been growing before. He thought he saw new growth there, but he couldn’t be sure. “I see,” he said with a frown. “Well, you shouldn’t overexert yourself. Just do what you can.”

“Hey, what’s going on over here?” an older female griffon voice asked. She had a light maroon fur coat, the general yellow claws and beak, and white feathers on her plumage and head, albeit with a few light green ones mixed in, the same green as her eyes. She was wearing a simple greenish gray scarf around her neck and had, of all things, golden hoop earrings attached to the sides of her head where Gregory assumed her ears were. As she approached, she looked around the old library, then at me. Her eyes widened. “Are you…cleaning this up?”

“Yeah,” Gregory said. “It’s about time I did something instead of moping around at home all depressed.”

“Mind if I help?” she asked, looking at a large pile of books.

“Sure, I don’t mind, miss…?” Gregory prompted.

“Greta,” the older griffon female said with a small smile.

“Nice to meet you, Greta,” Gregory said. “Well, if you want to help, could you start over in that pile? I’m just stacking them by author in alphabetical order right over where those stacks are already.”

“Sure, I can do that,” Greta said, and with that she flew off towards another corner of the open air library.

“Never seen her like that before,” Gallus said, sounding slightly surprised. And Gregory had to agree with her. If this was the same Greta that the cartoon version of Gilda said she’d known in the show, it was indeed a surprise to see her so helpful. Then again, he had to remind himself what had happened and how these griffons had changed in the past two weeks. With a small smile, he went back to work.

---

The sun was just beginning to set when Gregory called it for the night. In total, about twenty griffons had joined in the impromptu cleaning crew. The temperature was dropping fast, and Gregory had to put his jacket back on an hour before they stopped. Still, he was impressed by how much progress had been made so far. A few of the griffons who’d arrived to help had carts with them. They would stack the books in them and took them to the Keep to keep them safer from the elements than they had been, then would come back and reload. Even Gilda helped by baking the scones and selling them for cheap to those of us working. And with the baking powder added to the scone recipe, Gregory instantly became a fan and promised a slightly smiling Gilda to purchase any scones he wanted only from her.

As he was thanking the griffons who had volunteered to help even when they didn’t need to, out of the corner of his eye a familiar arctic blue griffon flying over to where he was. She had a worried look in her turquoise eyes, which turned to relief when she saw him. He continued thanking the other griffons, then let them go. As they walked away, Gabby flew up to Gregory, looking slightly at the ground nervously. Gregory tensed up, waiting to hear just what she had to say. Neither of them spoke for a while, unable to really look each other in the eyes.

At last, Gabby spoke. “Gregory…I’m sorry.” He felt a lump rise in his throat, but when she continued, he only grew confused. “I’m sorry for how I reacted back there. I didn’t mean to chase you away.”

“You didn’t chase me away,” Gregory said. “You needed time to think. We both did.”

She slowly looked up at him, some slight tears in her eyes. “I…there’s a part of me that still really doesn’t want to believe what you showed me,” she admitted, “but I know you wouldn’t lie about that.” She held out her claw. “Come home, Gregory. We’ve both had long days, and we should probably have some dinner then go to sleep.”

Gregory yawned and stretched, looking up at the darkening sky. “Not a moment too soon, I shouldn’t wonder,” he said. “Yeah, after the long day I’ve had? Sleep sounds perfect to me.”

“We can talk more about things tomorrow anyway with clearer heads,” Gabby said with a small smile.

Gregory returned said smile as the two began walking back towards the center of the city. “Yeah, that sounds good. I could use a clearer head.”

“Not too clear, now,” Gabby said in a slightly teasing tone as she hit his legs with her tail, “don’t want you spacing out too much now, do we?”

As the two laughed, Gregory felt his spirits lift a bit. He should have known Gabby wouldn’t have done anything to him just because of his revelations. And he felt things would be alright in the end…

---

“Commander, Agent O reporting. I’ve had an encounter with the target.”

“Agent O, you were to observe him only.”

“My apologies, sir. It was an accidental encounter.”

“Very well. Proceed with your report, Agent.”

“He’s…well, he’s not like our Emperor. He was very polite to me. Our talk wasn’t long, but he did express interest in meeting up at a later time Should I?”

“Not at the moment. I’ll consider it, but your instructions still stand: observe and catalogue only. You are to be cautious, Agent. He’s not to be underestimated. His kind can change from friendly to vengeful instantly.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, sir. Has the Emperor given any instructions?”

“I’ll let you know when he does. For now, keep your eyes on the target Is there anything else to report?”

“Yes, sir. The griffons have begun rebuilding their city in earnest. I’ve never seen them like this before. I think it has to do with their Idol of Boreas.”

“Can you get close to it?”

“No, sir. It’s being guarded and even if I could get to it, it’s embedded in a stump. I’m not sure my magic’s strong enough to get it out.”

“Very well. I’ll inform the Emperor and Duchess right away. You might be receiving some backup soon. Report back the same time next week, sooner if something major happens.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“You have your orders, Agent. Now carry them out for the glory of all changeling-kind! Long live the Emperor!”

“Understood sir. Long live the Emperor.”

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