Gerrard

This mystery couldn't be as lame as it seemed. Surely there had to be some reason for the ghosts and fish in this strange area. Regardless, it seemed as if all would be revealed soon.

When she spoke of his beak, the griffon smirked devilishly as he turned to address her. "You know what they say about griffons with big black beaks? They have big senses! You should be aware of griffon predatory senses from experience. A good secret passage is hard to smell, but the presence of it can be felt if you know what to look for. A building like this would get really hot, but I imagine they cool it off with some sort of air conditioning. That means be on the look out for irrational airflow," he explained with a naughty chuckle before he gave some serious information to his friend. The griffon showed her one of toned forelegs, a keen eye able to see some sort of wind crossing over his coat even though they were inside a facility.

He followed after Pathfinder as she hovered over the plant. It was an illegal bottling plant and as boring as it was, surely this couldn't be the extent of it all, right? "Surely there must be something going on here, a good adventure never let's you down, at least not until the last page," he explained with a serious expression as he hovered with his talons folded at his chest.

Things didn't seem to make sense! That was until things began to come together behind them. Two ghosts slowly began to phase through the wall from out of sight and gently patted the pair on the shoulders.

"Surprise. Two orders of fast food, delicious," a ghastly voice whispered to the pair. Gerrard felt his coat stand on end and turned to see the horrifying visage of two ghosts. These were nothing like the ones from before, they seemed to mean business!

Gerrard smirked devilishly at her self inflicted plight, the hybrid finding it hard to believe that anyone could be so mortified of a pony princess. He slipped off his grin and put on a frown as he approached the nervous mare. The black griffon gently hugged the made and gave her a soft pat on the back. "It might be better to get ahead of this my dear. Imagine if Celestia had to hear of this from one of your subordinates. She might not be too pleased. It's not like she has ever banished anyone to the moon at least," Gerrard explained in a comforting voice as he feigned ignorance to the legend of Nightmare Moon. He of course knew, but she didn't have to know!

He carefully released her and stared into the eyes of the organizer as he prepared to speak. "Of course, Celestial might just look at it is a desperate power grab by one of your employees if it turned out that we were actually friends who were playing around. This is all up to you of course. You should know the capabilities of Celestial better than me. She just raises the sun, right," he added with more fake ignorance as he deftly winked at the professor behind her.

Gerrard loved to play with ponies and his friend knew this well enough. Part of him wanted to toy with the emotions of the mare while another part of him wondered what she was actually like when the public wasn't looming over her. He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts before turning to address the mare.

"I must agree with the professor on this point. I am a very qualified bachelor if I do say so myself. I am wealthy, friendly, reputable and handsome, or so I have been told. Anyway, I think you could use a bit of socialization with my kind. I mean, imagine what Celestia would think if she heard how heartlessly you reacted to my appearance. She would probably make you take some counseling with a grizzly griffon shrink. Or even worse, she could replace you as the chair of this committee," he explained in a harsh manner as if he wanted to help her avoid trouble while scaring her. Gerrard had managed to keep a straight face, even as he wanted to burst out laughing.

After just a moment of silence, Gerrard turned to the professor with a look of shock on his face. "Oh, how could I forget! The representative from Aquellia will be in Canterlot next week to tour the facility. Mr. Bloodtalon was his name I think. I've heard he is one oc the military leaders there. He is quite the imposing figure. All muscle and instinct with scars to accent his noble image. Quite the fierce negotiator if I remember correctly. Do you know anything else about him professor," Gerrard commented thoughtfully as he completely made up the scariest sounding individual he could imagine. He hoped that his friend would catch onto the ruse. Harshwhinney was the type of made who needed a bit of prodding to react in a certain way, and Gerrard wondered if he could get her to agree with his false assertions.

"Most unfortunate indeed. I mean, imagine having to apologize to all the families that you hurt while in search for fame of fame and glory," he added devilishly, the black hybrid loving to toy with her.

When she spoke of her rival though, Gerrard was frozen for a split second. "You should know better than dating the competition! They are out to ruin you! I hope you didn't tell him your secrets. If you want to date anyone, it should be someone who isn't in the same field as you. You are a manager of some sort, you should date someone out of your field. Someone like me, someone who can't steal your job," he explained, almost seeming to suggest that they go out on a fate even!

"Isn't that right professor? Just stay calm my dear. You look positively uncouth at the moment. Anything I can do to help out," he asked again in his original fancy accent while tending to the problem he had gleefully created.

Of course she hadn't read about him in any newspaper, a true secret agent would never actually take public recognition of his achievements. His enemies would be onto him in a moment, especially because his form made him stand out among ponies! That being said, another reason why she may not have heard about him was simply because he had never done anything heroic, aside from watering dry ponies of course!

He did get an intriguing idea though, the griffon panning over to his friend as they flew through the rocky terrain. As he prepared to ask for her help, he saw the distracted pony headbutt a rocky wall. While she may have been hard headed, the Griffon guessed that her face didn't defeat too many rocks. "You okay Pathy? I can smell secret passages. No need to face check the walls," he joked while following the pegasus into the lair of the big bad.

The light ringing of metal filled the air as the duo found themselves inside a water bottling facility of some kind. Some monster was stealing water and putting it into bottles! Who knows what evil things they might be doing with an army of water bottles!

Gerrard was familiar enough with water to understand what was going on, strange looking magic devices sorting water into containers of different shapes. Gerrard chuckled a bit as he figured that someone was just trying to profit off of the water. This of course didn't stop the hybrid from having some fun with pathfinder though"

"I have a favor to ask of you. When I bring justice to this evildoer, you need to take credit for everything. Nobody can know of my secret identity! Please use a pet name of some sort if you must speak of my amazing deeds! I can't allow pride and vanity to ruin my promising career of secret pony saving," he dramatically explained to her as they stood on a ledge over the primitive factory. Of course Gerrard was exaggerating again, but he wanted to have as much fun as his clearly crazy associate.

Gerrard knew how mares like this worked. It was always about them and what they could do for themselves. Ultimately, it was understandable, but not something he had to like. Luckily for the griffon though, these types of people were also the easiest to manipulate!

"What, I agreed with you on the elevator. You can't expect me to just eat some hay though. That just isn't in my diet dear," he added with a chuckle, doing his best to subtly prod the mare.

Gerrard glanced over to his friend, unable to control his grin as he struggle to not outright cackle at the mare. "Wait, you are right! You could become the most famous person in Equestria," he commented with the most nefarious expression on his face while he wrapped a talon around the made and leaned on her.

"Ms. Harshwhinney, creates first elevator in Equestria! While giving a tour of it to the princesses, the device breaks, hurdling the guests to the first floor. Harshwhinney, first pony banished to the sun! Everyone would know who you were for the rest of your life," he cheered excitedly, painting a picture of the scene with his claw as he spoke.

"Wouldn't that be something, right Professor," Gerrard added with an out of place smile as he waited for his friend to play along. The griffon had heard of the idea back in his homeland, his kind using pulleys to get large objects into very tall residences.

Gerrard wondered why anyone would want to avoid stairs at all. Most buildings in Equestria weren't tall enough to need such a contraption. Then it hit him, only lazy ponies would need an elevator. If only he could find a place with rich lazy ponies.

The griffon soon had an epiphany and turned to his old friend. "Oh, we could install elevators in the homes of all the flightless ponies! Then they could be uppity on every floor without breaking a sweat! I like your thinking! Together we will go far! He announced excitedly, wrapping his talon around the neck of the pegasus while he gestured with his free one.

He then glanced over to the mare, expecting her to be aghast at his agreement. A grin kept back across his face while he decided go limit the teasing of the mare. "Ah, but I must agree with Miss Harshwhinney. We don't have the budget to build a prototype elevator. We will have to settle on stairs. Not everyone can fly up to the second or third floor," he explained, pointing a talon at the orange pony while he mentioned stairs.

Asteria stared up into the sky one last time as if to verify something before she decided to leave for Canterlot. The stoic mare presented her paperwork to a griffon guard who seemed familiar enough with her to not even verify it. "I have a guest who may be arriving soon. She is a female griffon and might request me by name or description. Please grant her passage if possible," she vaguely explained to the guard.

For one reason or another, she didn't speak the name Gilda, either respecting the privacy of her guest or simply respecting the anonymity of another 'thief". The guard nodded, his keen eyes locked on the staircase that funneled the flightless to the airship. Asteria took a steady step onto the deck, examining the vessel while she waited for their departure. A handful of nondescript ponies and a few elderly griffons hopped aboard, everyone seeming ignorant to the motives of the dark individual among them.

Hello stranger! I'm a guard in real life. Protecting the streets from trouble making ponies out of the kindness of my heart.

"It was as if I was designed for this job! How many architects can fly to a job site and manipulate it like I can," he asked with a grin, seeming to pull a wrench out of nowhere as he deftly juggled the metal object between the dexterous digits of a claw. "I'll get the job done on budget, and I am known for speed, at least my constructing anyway," he explained nefariously as he gave the mare an insidious look.

He looked his surroundings over and nodded, seemingly pleased with the conditions he had to work with. The griffon knew there were many in town who prided themselves on their work. A few choice words and the griffon figured he would practically have volunteers.

"Yes Ms. Whinney, I will deliver you the greatest of victories! So long as a meteor doesn't crash into the site from outer space, everything will be great! And in the unlikely even that a celestial body ruins the project, I'm sure you can explain to your bosses why you failed," he added coyly, almost as if it were a common occurrence. For the sake of everyone here, they had better hoped it was just a funny tangent.

Gerrard grinned as she explained that they probably wouldn't get a parade. "Oh, they haven't given YOU, a parade yet? That's a bit odd, maybe you lost the artifact that you eventually had to recover. To get a parade, you need to do something that seems more substantive to the average Joe. An artifact is something foreign to them, but rescuing a drowning foal out of a burning building that was getting dragged into a sinkhole, that gets you on the front page of the newspaper. Not that it was too much for me to handle," the griffon smuggly explained as if it happened. It seemed that a bit of her insanity was rubbing off on the griffon. Surely that never happened, right?

Gerrard didn't let her words get him down though, the hybrid knowing that a true hero does things because they are right. Fame, glory, women, those were all perks or penalties that came later.

His golden eyes scanned the rocky walls around them as the pair slowly meandered through the tunnel. It was long and boring. Too boring, at least that was what Gerrard thought as he saw a cave in the face of the canyon. Water seemed to trickling out of it, a strange sign considering that the area had no water anywhere else above the rocky canyon floor.

"There, that must be the lair of the big bad! Ready to lay the smack down on a criminal mastermind," he asked with a grin, deciding to treat this like something normal. This was all too crazy to Gerrard for it to be real. This was a dream or some game to be played for fun. It had to be, right?

Gerrard followed after his friend, the golden eyes of the griffon examining the building plans in silence. He nodded while moving from section to section, the hybrid not seeming to find any problems.

Gerrard paused for a moment, placing a talon up to his face while he coughed loudly. Ah, yes good sir. Your design is simply marvelous. I can't think of much else to improve it. If anything, I would suggest some post construction motifs to help inspire unity and cooperation. You know, a griffon greeting an ungulate, preferably one that is a bit, down to earth if you know what I mean sir," Gerrard explained in the original voice he had used earlier. It was a bit unclear as to which was his actual voice , but his puffed out chest and extended pinky talon did seem to indicate that he was fancy. Assuming of course that ponies knew anything about hands in the first place.

"That settles it! The work will start tomorrow. Any last requests my friends?" Gerrard commented in a less formal manner as he seemed to count both ponies as his friends again. There didn't seem to be any real rhyme or reason to his sudden shift, but the Griffon probably preferred being hard to understand.

Asteria listened to the approval of the younger griffon, completely silent as Gilda seemed to agree with her own cold views. Usually there was some dissent fro from her associates, Gilda being an exception, at least until she complained about her moniker. Asteria blinked her crimson eyes while maintaining her static posture, the odd mare seeming to formulate a response.

"I apologize for the misunderstanding Gilda. I prefer formality, but I will adapt to your request to respect your wishes," she explained in her ever static voice, the unicorn still seeming perpetually disinterested in everything.

She examined the griffon one last time as she thought of replying to Gilda and her quips about other griffons. "I am not qualified to make assertions about the familial relations of anyone. Thank you for the information about your family status, I will try and remember it for later reference," she explained in her usual awkward manner.

Asteria peered up into the sky, her eyes wincing from the light as she seemed to measure something. "I wish you great fortune in your futures endeavors Gilda. I anticipate the next plausible crossing of our paths," she politely remarked to her acquaintance with a most peculiar set of words.

When finished speaking, the unusually tall made headed off into the distance, quickly scaling the tower before having to wait for the arrival of her transportation.

"Ahh, you know how I like to grab everything I can with my talons. Old hunter instincts," he explained with a grin, making up a fake background his friend would have known as false.

When she apologized, the normally jovial griffon was stunned for just a moment. He didn't often succeed in shaming out apologies from uppity folk. Regardless, he was used to ignorant outbursts and it never really bothered him. "Ah, thank you dear, it takes courage to apologize for making a scene. I accept it, tentatively of course. You understand Ms. Harshwhinney, I presume," he replied, drifting back to the fake formal voice he had used earlier.

He nodded for the mare as she held the door open for him, the griffon seemingly able to put her outburst behind them. "Now what are the details on the project? My colleague only gave my a brief summation of my duty. I presume you have a blueprint, or will I need to draft on as well," he added nonchalantly for his host. His keen eyes finally drifted away from the mare and decided to inspect the building, hoping to see a rhyme or reason about its layout.

Gerrard wasn't quite the seasoned adventurer his partner was, but he had read enough stories to know many of the rules that all great adventures followed. The villain strikes at the most opportune time and both have had more than enough opportunities to mug the other. Pathfinder seemed nice and honorable to him. Just not nice enough to be hiding an evil secret from him. A true villain always gave themselves away by being too selfless for any reasonable person.

His personal speculation aside, the griffon welcomed her help, using his flexible talons and the 'gentle' pulling of his friend to get through. It felt like she was trying to pull his head off, the griffon grinning and bearing it ad best he could. He sucked his already lean chest in and finally managed to slip through, the griffon doing his best to hold back a yelp as he felt a hip seem to bend to fit through.

Gerrard gritted his black beak as used all of his manliness to hold back a tear. "Ah, freedom. A few flaps of the wings and we will be home free," he explained carefully as he disguised his groan as a sigh of relief.

"Let's just snatch up whatever magic pony is causing all the problems here and drag them back to Canterlot. They will throw parades in our honor and everyone will know the names of Greyfeather and his trusty steed named Pathfinder," he joked play full as he poked a pink tongue out of his long black beak at her. For one reason or another though, the griffon had pinned this whole incident on a pony, quite the charge considering how little information they had.

Regardless of his goal though, it seemed that the pair still had a bit of work to do before they collected any prizes. They were no closer to figuring anything out, unless of course the masterful griffon was holding out on her to take all the credit for the capture later!

Asteria had been silently studying her peers as she slowly at her lunch. She had read that slow eating would allow her to better recognize when she was full. This seemed to be working, her form perfectly balanced for cross country running. Upon hearing someone address her, the young athlete blinked her fiery eyes and turned to face the person that called her a babe.

"Hello Sir Mojo, I am Asteria, honored to meet you," she politely replied in a vaguely alluring voice as she politely bowed for him. For one reason or another, she didn't seem offended by his broad descriptor of babe, either not understanding or caring what he meant. "I will afford you all the support I am allowed to in regards to your choice of seating. I am not aware of any rules that might prevent you from sitting here," Asteria added in a strange manner as she gestured with an obsidian hand for him to sit in her proximity.

There was something rewarding about the screams of uppity ponies that just resonated with the dark hybrid. It was like a karmic justice being served and he he could never seem to say no to it. He didn't even need to growl to startle this one, something he only did to the nastiest of ponies.

Gerrard put on a devilish grin and glanced at the mare, almost in a subtly aggressive manner as before he gave the elderly pegasus his attention. The hybrid nodded as the green pony offered him a meal. "You know that I don't shake peoples... hooves if they are my friends," he replied in a less eccentric voice as he hesitated on the word hoof. It seemed that his fancy tone that he greeted the pair with was little more than a facade to catch her off guard.

After he had spoken, his intense eyes narrowed and he started a light growl as he slowly approached his old friend. The griffon pounced forward and scooped the pegasus up into a tight bear hug, flailing him about carefully. "Friends get hugs, strangers get shakes," he explained with a hearty laugh before releasing the old pony.

Upon registering that she had called him a creature, Gerrard raised his brow, almost in disbelief of her cruel words. "Creatures eat ponies. Do I look like a creature," he asked rhetorically as his fierce eyes pierced her form.

"Ma'am, please call me by my surname. It would be unprofessional for you to speak to me in such a familiar manner. And from what I have already seen, you can't afford to lose any more professionalism. You may call me Mr. Greyfeather," he explained coldly to her while stretching out a sharp taken for her to shake.

The griffon wasn't quite as offended as he lead on, years of experience tempering his reactions to negativity. He had learned many things in his time in Canterlot, especially ways to replicate their 'charm'.To him, it was more rewarding to make snobs squirm than it was to simply scold them. After a moment of awkward silence, he nodded and gestured for her to lead him to his work site.

Gerrard wasn't the greatest flier himself, the hybrid taking university courses instead of flight classes. Instead of practicing flying and using it to show off, he took an extra course in architecture. Building layouts are like pipe layouts, just with different materials and ways they are arranged! He was almost glad to see that his partner was a spectacularly average flyer as well, the griffon always having to claim he was sandbagging when a hyper pegasus pestered him for a race. It was good not having to heave and struggle for air because he was forced to go full throttle over a petty race.

He saw the source of the light more clearly, a hole in the wall that hopefully lead to a better place, like outside or maybe Canterlot. "That would be nice, anywhere that isn't here," he thought to himself, the hybrid grinning at that lovely thought just in time to see Pathfinder squirm her way through the hole. He looked at the spectacle and marveled at her 'form' for a moment, getting a feeling of deja vu as he looked at the black maned sandy mare. Gerrard couldn't quite put his talon on it, but when her hooves slipped through and he saw the last traces of her greyscale tail, a thought crossed his mind. Her form vaguely reminded him of a standard griffon, the back portion anyway. While one might have thought this was a plus to the dark hybrid, he actually shivered at the thought, remembering that his advances were usually met with sharp claws.

"Coming, just give me a moment. You know the saying, griffons can get through any hole that they can fit their head through," he remarked deciding to interchange griffons and cats in the sayings. And while griffons were similar to cats, cats didn't have wings and such. Griffons were a lot more flexible than ponies, that was sure, but they were also a bit larger than them as well. Well, larger than normal ponies that weren't musclebound behemoths. Of course he remembered seeing a few griffons like that and wondering how they could fly with giant barrel chests. He shuddered to think about the amount of weight that had to be lifted to create such a mass of muscle. Regardless, he shook off the thoughts and slipped his talons through the hole, and followed with his head, slipping his long black beak through as he awkwardly squeezed through. He wheezed a bit and sucked in his chest and squeezed his wings in as much as he could, the architect not finding it quite as easy to slip through.

"It appears that this hole is not agreeing with sliding through. I believe I may have done a few too many bench presses to be able to squirm through such a tiny hole. Give a griffon a helping claw or hoof. I don't want to flex and destroy this entire wall and collapse a mountain on top of us. That would be rather unfortunate if my might was our undoing," he explained in a completely straight face. While he was lying, it wasn't very clear, the hybrid learning a lot about maintaining his composure from his strange courier friend. He hoped it wouldn't take too much effort to dislodge himself from the hole, and while Pathfinder had a lovely face, he wanted to be able to look at where he was escaping into.

Canterlot was enjoying a nice overcast summer day. The weather kept the city cool and cast a light shadow over the city. It was the perfect day for sneaking around in broad day light, not that there was a lot of daylight to hide in of course.

A pair of golden eyes peered down on the two ponies from a shadowy portion of the city behind the pair. As quickly as they were visible, they vanished from sight, only to reappear on an unlit balcony. With a quick leap, they were gone from the building, gliding lightly to the ground with a pair of large black wings. A pair of talons and paws silently tread on the ground as a black pelted griffon with silver head feathers prowled through the work site as he stalked the unaware earth pony. When he was within striking range, he raised his posture and looked over the ponies with his golden eyes, recognizing the mare from the description given to him previously.

"Ahh, Madame Harshwinney, I apologize for being terribly late. I live only a few blocks away but the directions seemed to be written somepony with terrible penmanship. I mean, it is like they wrote it with their mouth of all things. Alas, I was lead astray and had to use some intuition to recover," the griffon replied in a formal Canterlot voice as soon as he stood behind the blonde mare. He grinned devilishly and leaned forward, placing his long sharp black beak uncomfortably close to her face should she turn around to look him over. He secretly loved scaring ponies with his presence, especially ones that bemoaned petty things. He was going to enjoy his afternoon with the mare, she seemed almost as stuffy as his neighbors in Canterlot.

While dropping the people's elbow on giant fish was fun, Gerrard felt that living another day would be much more fun in the long run. He lead the charge (retreat) out of the cave system, assuming that Pathfinder was more interested in flying than racing. While he was clearly wrong, Gerrard didn't glance back to confirm his theory. He didn't fly too fast, especially in the dark, still within reasonable proximity to the made as she vanquished her fishy foes.

When she spoke, Gerrard couldn't help but chuckle, Pathfinder apparently loving battle above even flying. He would have applauded her dedication, but decided that it would probably encourage her. His better reason for holding though was unbelievably simple. "If I praise her, that would show that I'm impressed. I could only be impressed if I wasn't the legendary hero of prophecy," Gerrard rationalized in his mind as he held back a deep laugh. These thoughts would need to wait for later though, the pair needing to escape before they could reminisce over their exploits.

A light could be seen in the distance, its mere presence seeming to signal freedom. Gerrard didn't know for sure, but it always seemed best to expect the worst and hope for the best. "Take the point Pathfinder, it's your turn for dome limelight," he cheered in an excited manner, using a sly excuse to let the faster pegasus ahead of him.

"Perhaps we will meet again in the near future. I can not make any promises, aside from taking your words under consideration. Regardless, this night was a unique experience and I will try to remember it for the foreseeable future," she remarked in her perpetually stoic voice. She blinked her fiery eyes as she looked over her friend one last time.

"Farewell Sir Saddlesore," Asteria added softly as she trotted away from her friend. The unicorn was headed home to Canterlot, taking in the last few hours of the night.

The cold mare patiently waited in silence for a response from the curious griffon. It was strange that she would so openly disclose the information about her prior dealing, perhaps being blinded by arrogance or somehow having nothing to hide from the nosy griffon. Regardless of why, she had done so, and nonchalantly at that, the unicorn probing the slightly younger griffon. Her fiery eyes showed no immediate reaction to the remark of being impressed, the poker faced mare only intermittently blinking as Gilda hypothesized about her work.

Asteria paused and thought over her question. [colour=#996699]"I take if your the sort who takes on a lot of jobs like this one, eh?"[/colour] echoed through her mind as she decided to give a response that might satisfy Gilda. "I do take on many jobs similar to this one. My past experiences have shown that griffon employment is substantially more profitable. I find notions of preferential treatment irrational, and go where the bits are most plentiful. Is my response adequate, I hope I am not confusing you Lady Gilda," she responded formally, doing a similar subservient bow to before, her tall form still hidden away beneath her form fitted cloak.

When her idea of visiting Canterlot was questioned, Asteria blinked, realizing that she had been misunderstood. "I aplogize for the misunderstanding ma'am. Yes, I can catch a ride on an airship back to Canterlot. There is one scheduled to leave here every night at approximately twenty hundred. I could arrive there and it still would be dark outside. The museum itself wouldn't open for a few hours. Perhaps a 'tour' of some kind might be in order," she explained nonchalantly, her words suspiciously vague as her gaze drifted towards one of the spires that housed the airships. ''I believe that I can provide you a spot on the ship if you wish to accompany me," she added in a surprisingly generous manner. It was unclear if there was some sort of charge involved in the offer, but this unicorn didn't seem to outright make her declarations.

"If you decide to accompany me, I will be at the northern air dock, I have a spire to climb and I believe you would prefer flying to the top regardless. If not, may you have an acceptable evening and farewell," she politely added as she trotted off towards the spire she spoke of. It would be a little while before her flight would leave, and it seemed like she would be lounging about in the sky until then. If Gilda wanted more information, she would need to be more specific, the unicorn not one to disclose very much extraneous information. That of course was a risk, both characters seeming to avoid any direct mentions of illegal activity for one reason or another.

The dark ears of the mare perked up from beneath her cowl as a rough sounding voice came at her from above. A pair of intense crimson eyes peered up from beneath the cowl to examine the young griffon. They coldly examined her frame and appearance for details and information. It almost seemed as if she were sizing up the thief or comparing her to some internal database, the odd unicorn not immediately speaking until she heard out the interested griffon. Her expression was as completely stoic as she stared down Gilda, the cowled mare showing no sign of fear from getting caught. She had either done nothing wrong, or just had ice in her veins, her exp<b></b>ression one of minimal interest. As Gilda mentioned Goldplume, the scarlet maned mare blinked her fiery eyes and cocked her head to the side as if she were somehow confused.

"I acquired the item from the Museum of Equestrian History in Canterlot. In regards to it being a nice favour, I am unable to speak on Sir Goldplume's behalf. I found the arrangement agreeable of course, I accepted the terms that he presented me," the mare answered in an almost defiant manner as her cold voice continued on in an uninterested manner. Something about her was strange, but it was hard to pinpoint the exact cause, her words seeming to undermine her secrecy she had undertaken just moments earlier. "Would you like to visit the museum, I am returning to Canterlot tonight?" she added in a strange manner, her voice seeming to betray her words as she stood before the griffon.

"May I ask for your name stranger? You don't appear to be a member of the Goldplume family. You may call me Asteria or any other moniker that you are comfortable with," she added in her perpetually monotone manner of speaking. Her gaze drifted away from the hybrid and examined their surroundings, this section of town surprisingly baron aside from a few guard ponies for the embassy. The nondescript white pegasi stood at attention their training and dedication to their craft apparent as they managed to maintain their statuesque postures.

Celestia's sun leaned on the Griffon capital of Talonopolis on a scorching summer afternoon. The industrious city was bustling with activity, one of its cliffs exceptionally busy as a cowled figure trotted through the crowded streets on their way to the Equestrian Embassy. The figure deftly weaved through the crowded streets, not even tarnishing the attention of the businessmen who normally frequented the area. As quickly as the stranger had appeared, they were already at the embassy, the mysterious character standing in the presence of a goldplume, a member of one the three ruling families in the industrious nation.

The keen eyes of the griffon examined the shadowy figure before receiving a subservient bow from the cloaked stranger. A crimson glow enveloped the cowl of the stranger as they lowered their hood with a deft flick of magic. The thick fabric quickly lowered to reveal the stoic face of a black pelted unicorn mare. Her fiery eyes were locked on the ground in the most submissive of manners, her posture suggesting a clear familiarity with griffon culture as she dealt with the influential hybrid.

"I have acquired the item you requested. You were correct in your assertion that it would be a quick and painless recovery," she remarked vaguely, avoiding the details as she kept her discussion as secret as possible. The scarlet maned mare lightly shuffled her hooves as she patiently awaited his expert opinion. Whatever was going on, the courier seemed surprisingly used to the strange formalities in dealing with nobles.

A smirk crept across the maw of the griffon as she spoke, the hybrid lifting a golden talon off the ground as he eagerly awaited his prize from the solemn mare. "Of course, the stories of your exploits are not exaggerated. I expected you to arrive a few days from now, this is a welcome surprise. Hand over the artifact, we both know this is no place to store it. Your payment will be transferred into your account when I examine the object," he commented excitedly, the royal unable to wait for his prize as he spoke to the courier. "I apologize for my inability to fly. I understand the dishonor involved with you climbing down from your loft. Here is figurine Sir," she replied in robotically as she slipped a golden figurine out from beneath her cloak and presented it to the fancy griffon.

The object in question was a golden sculpture of the original head of the goldplume family. It was talon made and showed great age and craftsmanship. If one thing was clear, the item was valuable. This of course begged the question, where did she get it?

The royal examined her find and nearly squealed with joy, clearly impressed. "A thousand thanks Miss Stillheart," he replied quickly before flying off to the upper roosts. As quickly as the spectacle had begun, it was already over, the unicorn raising her cowl as she prepares to leave.

Asteria stood at the side of her date, her scarlet mane shifting lightly as she panned her head up to take another glance at the moon. She blinked her fiery eyes and returned her attention to the stallion. "I apologize Sir Saddlesore. You are correct in regards to my opinion. While I may not be officially certified in my experience, relatively speaking, I would be more familiar than the average person. Perhaps there is some value to be gleamed from my opinion. It would be unwise and pointless to immediately dismiss my perspective. Thank you Sir Saddlesore, you have made me more self aware, a useful trait, at least in my personal opinion," she replied in her usual robotic manner. It was a bit odd, but for one reason or another, she seemed to value his attempt at being nice, even if wasn't immediately intended to increase her confidence.

After a moment of awkward silence, she shook her trimmed tail and lightly shuffled her worn hooves. It was obvious that she we traveled more than her fair share of miles, but was not the type to complain, the mare collecting words before she spoke out. Every action was of course calculated and planned, her next words no exception as she squared her footing to give her date a fitting farewell. "I appreciated the time we have spent together this evening. It has helped make me or a more experienced and open minded individual, at least in my own biased opinion. I believe that I must take my leave soon and return to my residence in Canterlot. If you have no objections, I will leave as soon as is comfortable. You can look up my business in Canterlot under my surname of Stillheart. I don't believe there are any individuals in Canterlot with that name who operate any businesses," she explained calmly, giving him a clear way to contact her in the future. A few shooting stars shot across the sky above the pair as she waited for his response, the cold courier not paying any heed to the objects as they shot across space harmlessly.