"Okay... 322, First Avenue, Wingsconsen." I let out a sigh at the absurdity. Primarily a pegasus town, most of the business buildings were built on the ground to encourage trade, while the residences were up in cloud houses, the town threw yet another pun in my face. A feature of this town was, despite it's location in the open plains far from any forests meaning that it got the full wrath of the sun all day, the cloud formations that rested permanently above the town created a constant overcast, ensuring a moderate temperature. Not surprising at all considering the name, the town also had a significant cow population, the wide open fields good for their grazing and stampeding and whatever else cows did in their spare time. So yes, they made cheese. A LOT of cheese. There were also sheep as well, the conditions for cows also being ideal for sheep, so there was a significant wool export.

I learned from the town's brochure that originally, it had been one of the only cow and sheep settlements in Equestria, that soon found itself unable to deal with changing conditions, wound up having a large number of pegasi move in to maintain the location's weather and keep things pleasant for the more ground bound inhabitants.

Now, when I say that it's primarily a 'pegasus town', I mean the 'Wingsconsen' portion. Pegasi straight out of Cloudsdale, accustomed to living on clouds, built 'Wingsconsen' above old Hoofmeyer, which was the original sheep and cow settlement. Eventually, it came to be known by the more popular name, but old bessies and ewes sometimes still refer to it by it's foundation name. All in all, it's two towns in one. One above, one below, but remarkably neither scowl at the other or stick their noses in the air.

As for the pony resident's who live and work on the ground, well, when half the population can't fly, it doesn't make sense to have your business be up in the clouds, and apparently the operations of a weather factory are remarkably similar to the processes needed to turn milk into yogurt, cream, butter, and cheese, specifically how they make rainbows.

I literally read that off the brochure. Even the bit about 'old bessies and ewes'. Apparently they have no qualms about being referred to as such and actually enjoy the title.

This was the city where Gilda lived, and standing at the front door of her modest apartment, I knocked.

There were noises inside, followed by a moment of silence where I assume she was checking the peep hole in the door, followed by the opening of several deadbolts, and finally the door.

"Griffin. You're here." She quickly pulled me into a hug, the one we often shared with her wings around by back.

"Yeah. They finally said I was good to go, so I got released and came here."

"It's good to see you uh... feeling better." The pause was because I knew I felt better, I didn't exactly look better. At least my cheeks had filled back out and I wasn't a skeleton anymore, but I had lost a significant portion of the muscle mass I had built before, and I was pale as a ghost. Having spent so much time either underground or indoors, my skin was in dire need of some proper sunlight, though now that the surgery was completed and I had recovered from it, my griffin form was the worse off.

"Yeah." I paused. Things felt strange, different, awkward. "It's uh, good to be back."

"Well... come and sit down." Gilda motioned towards a couch. "You probably have a lot of questions."

"Yeah, you probably do as well."

I ducked my head slightly to get through the door frame and sat on the couch. Gilda hopped up as well and laid on it perpendicular to me, then rested her head in my lap while I stroked her head.

"So... shot for shot, you go first?" She nodded, then asked her first question.

"I already know the general answer, but I feel the need to know specifically, that and... their families deserve to know. What happened to Geirmund and Trixie?"

I bit my lip as I forcefully brought memories I had been repressing to the surface. I breathed deep, my hands clenching with stress as they kneaded her head and neck.

"Well... when the cave fell in and we got separated, Geirmund got crushed by a ton of rubble. There was nothing left. Trixie had a shard of rock go through her chest. Her lungs were ripped to shreds. She... died in my arms." I swallowed hard. "They stayed behind because they wanted to make sure I got out okay. In the end, off of their skill, their training, their wits, they meant nothing in the face of luck. That pile of rubble could have landed three feet to the left, and that hunk of stone could have gone over her head, or to the side, but they didn't. We didn't expect them to use mining explosives, and they didn't bolster their shields in time. They stayed behind to try and help me, and in that moment... Gilda... it hurts to say it... but...." She shh'd softly. "They... they were useless. Everything they strived for, and in the end they could do nothing to help."

"Grif... it wasn't your fault. You know that. These things happen, no matter how prepared you are, and the fact that we got so far without casualties is proof of that. If not for you, we'd all be in the same place, and a heck of a lot sooner, so stop beating yourself up over it. You can't carry the weight of the world on your own."

"Then how come every time I try to let someone share the burden, they just get crushed?"

"Who knows?" She shook her head. "But I'm still here. Your turn."

"What happened... you know... to everyone else?"

"That's a big one." Gilda replied as she got this thoughtful look on her face. "Where to start? Well... the ponies went home. They all had a place before and they all went back to it. Maybe now they're a little wiser to the world and what's going on in it, and they're all a bit more clever than before. Growl is working with Etch now as Diamond Dog correspondence with Equestria and the ND, what they're all calling the New Dominion now, because it's shorter."

"And the rest? What about them?"

"The griffins have all gone south to the ND, the call of friendly skies and warm waters was too great to ignore. And then... there's Steelhorn and Shimmer. Remember how greedy we thought that old minotaur was?" I nodded. "Turns out when he got back to Equestria, he sold the Possibility to a small group of Equestrian nobles who went in on it together. It now serves has a luxury cruise airline. After all, that was it's original purpose. To be a luxury ship that'd travel around the world, with all the arms and armor to keep it's V.I.P clients safe no matter where they went. Given it's history, it's also a huge tourist attraction, and wherever the ship goes draws an enormous amount of business. The oddest thing about all of it? Steelhorn took the bits he made and got a forge somewhere in the Everfree mountain range, a few miles out of the forest, and all the rest of it he donated to researching a cure for degenerative diseases."

"Like what Cable has?" I asked.

"Uh... had." Came her somber reply.

"Oh.. I see. Poor Furnace lost both her parents now."

"Yeah... I went to the funeral. Apparently Nadene got really stressed out after we all escaped. Her nerves started getting to her, and she made a mistake when mixing Cable's treatment. Nobody blames her, but she still blames herself. Says maybe if she hadn't been so keen to run off adventuring and had studied medicine back in the village before we arrived, then she wouldn't have messed up when we needed her most. It's a crock of shit, but she's trying to come up with some way to blame herself for it. She went back to the jungle. Not her home village since she was banished, but... somewhere. Furnace is living with Steelhorn and Shimmer now, working the forge with him."

"Finally, Maria is working as a chef in Manehatten. She got into reading some old books on griffin culture and how they made their food, tried experimenting, and now she's the head chef at some fancy restaurant. Apparently she got a bunch of new ideas which really breathed some life into the old place."

"Maybe... I should go visit them all sometime."

"Yeah... that might be good."

"Uh... your turn next?"

"What happened to you after we got separated?"

I spent the next two hours going over everything that happened. About a half hour in, Gilda had me pause so she could wake Seth up and feed him. Apparently he was at the point that he could eat solid foods now, at less than a year old. I have no idea if that's normal for griffins or not, but she told me she'd never get over having to eat bugs and then puke them back up in her beak, though the vomiting wasn't so difficult after the meal, and apparently he liked it. Because just like baby birds, young griffins lacked certain digestive enzymes that they had to get from their parent's bile. Thankfully, he was past that, and currently ate a significant about of cow's milk, which was thankfully cheap given where they were living, fruits, and bugs. Namely moths and beetles.

Gilda explained that as a special treat one day, she got a net and went out catching butterflies. All the ponies looked at her like she was nuts, but the cows and sheep just smiled and nodded with acceptance. After having a bowl of fresh butterflies, the little rascal refused to eat anything else the whole day and screamed when she tried feeding him anything else, till eventually hunger overcame fussiness and he went back to his normal eating habits. She tried them and said they didn't taste and different from other bugs she'd regurgitated for him, but they were bright and colourful so it was probably the presentation that got him hooked. Either that or they fluttered around in his mouth and that he liked the feeling.

So, after trying my hand at feeding Seth his moths, by which I'd carefully pluck one from a sealed jar with holes in the lid and place it in his beak, holding it by the wings, I was surprised to find that he didn't bite my fingers at all and was actually very careful not to nip me accidentally, to which Gilda only said 'Practice' as she put down an empty box of band-aids where I could see.

After that, I continued my story. Gilda didn't break down, or try and use soothing words, just sitting and listening, trying to understand. She likely knew that there was nothing she could say. I cradled Seth in my arms as Gilda and I went up to the bedroom. It was well into the evening, and the moths had been Seth's dinner. Apparently she buys baby food from a bait and tackle store. Moths, worms, beetles, and on occasion the odd frog or two. Ponies for the most part don't eat fish, but I was surprised to learn that they do enjoy fishing, though it's mostly catch and release. She laid on her back and spread out her wing so I could lay on it, with her arm over my chest, and Seth curled up in a ball on my stomach. That way she could keep an eye on both of us.

And we slept soundly

Author's Notes:

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out, but between the ceaseless distractions, me getting even more hours at work, and then trying to find the right feeling to give to this chapter, it took a while, but I'm glad I got it out. It might be a while again till the next one.