Feathered Friends! (Closed: Flower, Gerrybirb)

[Elderflower]

Ryx let out a large, groggy yawn and stretched out her wings, followed by her legs and body. Slanted sunlight was flooding in through her large bedroom window to reveal the golden tint of her feathers and coat, coaxing the large gryphon into the waking world. The scholar felt refreshed; it had been some time since she had last visited her home in the rocky Clopton Shores, and she was filled with bliss after a long night’s sleep in the bed she had called hers since she was a little gryphlet. Taking one final, deep breath of salt air she stepped out into the dining room to find her parents gone. Not that she was surprised - the sunrise had happened long ago, and any gryph who lived here in the fishing village Bacalao Bay would be out hauling nets by now. Normally Ryx would be out with them, relishing the salty spray against her face and the sun beating down upon her large, black wings. This morning marked a special occasion, however, for the blackbird was expecting a guest!

Humming in her satin-and-chocolate tenor, the large gryphoness opened the door to her parents’ cottage to let the ocean breeze in and went about her business. Aquaria would be here soon, and the creamy cod pie that Ryx had made the night before needed to be warmed! So she busied herself throwing logs into the wood stove and coaxing them into gentle embers and setting the table. While she worked, the gryphoness couldn’t help but have her thoughts linger on the guest she was expecting.

Aquaria was a sweet and cheerful little bird, full of life and laughter. Ryx had grown fond of her immediately, but she also found the feathered femme to be fascinating in most bizarre ways. After all, the blackbird was only the sixth gryphon her tiger-striped friend had ever met, and for all her claws and feathers, Ria seemed to think of herself as more of a pony than anything! Hopefully she would enjoy her visit to this little fishing hamlet in Southern Aquellia. Like other settlements in Clopton Shores, there was nothing extravagant to be found here. It certainly wasn’t as bustling or busy as Baltimare, but even those who stumbled upon Bacalao Bay and found it terribly dull had their breath stolen the moment they saw its sunset. These lands were half-wild and played host to some truly hardy and good-natured gryphons who loved the water. It might be small, but it wasn’t lacking in charm by any means.

As the smell of cod began to waft through the small stone cottage, Ryx went into her room and began pulling out dusty old journals of hers full of writing and sketches done in ink from the gryphoness’ time spent traveling through Aquellia. She was thrilled to show her new friend all of her drawings of statues, architecture, and folk from all walks of life around the country of gryphons!

[Gerrard]

Today was the day! It was going to be the first time Aquaria had ever been to Aquellia, the supposed homeland of her species. Apparently griffons were not an endangered species and they all just lived on the other side of the universe, or at least on the other side of the continent. She never really took much time to learn about the homeland of her parents, but a chance encounter with a superhero griffoness who was as smart as she was large had opened the world to the excitable lifeguard. And to make it even better, she was going to get to spend time in a fishing village. The tiger didn't know much about fishing or fishing villages, but she did know that the city had to have excess fish, perhaps even fish she had never heard about. The mere notion of tasting new fish practically made Baltimare's fish expert squirm with delight as she struggled to stay upright.

Aquaria was so excited about her prospects that she didn't realize that her wings had gone wild with anticipation, carrying her heavy body to heights she had never tried to reach before. The novice flyer coughed with joy, unaware that she was entering thinning air as the clouds seemed to slowly decrease into the background of the sky beneath her. She could only think about all the different griffons she might meet, combining different assortments of animals in her mind as she trudged onward, oblivious to the fact that she had temporarily stalled out, her wings flapping against nonexistent air as she lost ludicrous amounts of altitude before righting herself. If she had any reasonable amount of awareness, the lifeguard might have panicked, but in her case, ignorance was bliss as she lowered down through the clouds to clear the way for fresher air. It also helped the novice navigate a bit, her directions from her elder counterpart pretty foolproof, assuming of course that she was beneath the clouds and able to see landmarks on her map!

The lifeguard's brush with danger went completely unnoticed by everyone but the clouds who were lucky enough to avoid a belly flop from on high. Aquaria spotted a cottage that matched the description that was penned to her by the fluffiest hybrid she had ever seen. With one final burst of speed, Aquaria bolted towards the ground, pulling up at the last moment as she avoided the ground and kept rocketing through the rough landscape of her species. For reasons unknown to her, the sudden change in directions really strained her body like a gobbling wave, luckily she didn't have to taste the ocean floor this time as she saw the small cottage grow from a small speck into a respectable living quarters. She should have probably paid more attention in flight classes but she never could find any treasures in the clouds, something the ocean had plenty of to sate her adventurous nature. Before her mind could wander off into tangents that distracted her from the task at claw, she was hit in the face by the pungent stench of cod, a smell that she knew by heart and loved dearly. Her rose colored eyes spotted an open window and was quickly able to verify with her sensitive beak nose that her friend was responsible for cooking the delicious smelling dish.

With a surprisingly deft glide, the tigress found herself stalling out at the window as she managed to stop in complete silence as she poked her head into the room of her newest griffon friend. "Hi Blackbird, whatcha up to. I think I just arrived here," she cutely remarked in her usual upbeat tone. A smile was painted on her pointy black beak as she writhed and hopped with anticipation of hanging out with her personal grif tutor! If Ryx had a larger window she might have spotted the striped flailing tail of her eager guest, but the modest home owner was going to have to settle for watching her excited squirming instead. If Ryx didn't know any better, it might have seemed like she was literally going to burst at the seems from pure joy as she eagerly awaited acknowledgement from her current best friend of the day.

[Elderflower]

From out on the sparkling blue waters of Clopton shores, a loud scrraaaahh-eeeeeeeee! ripped through the skies and many startled gryphons shot up or to the side and collided with one other, tangling their fishing nets. Back in a small stone cottage where the scent of creamy cod pie wafted out of the windows and open door, a large black gryphoness was lying prostrate near a window after being startled so badly she screamed and flew up into her own ceiling then crashed right back to the floor!

“Hullo, Tigerstripes,” the bulky catbird squawked out, “You’re a little early. I wasn’t expecting you...but I think I know your superpower now. You’re super-sneaky, right? Did I guess it?”

Ryx gathered herself and stood up, folding her large wings neatly against her side as she gestured to the open door. “Come on in! I’m just getting breakfast ready, and when we’ve eaten we can go help my parents and the rest of the town haul in their catch for the day! And then I’m going to show you my secret hideout!”

Secret hideout was a bit of a stretch. On the vast, rocky shoes of Bacalao Bay there were many hidden paradises, and one of those was Ryx’s favourite getaway when she was a gryphlet. It was a small cove with a lagoon full of tiny ocean creatures, shells, and seaglass. She had a hammock that she tied up between two large palm trees there and it was also full of the best sunbathing rocks a huge gryph like her could ask for! It was her favourite spot to read and write while she was home, and it was here that Ryx would show her new feathered friend all of her writings and drawings on Aquellia!

Humming, the blackbird went about serving up two plates of pie, dishes clinking and clanking as she moved about. When she set the plates down at the table she squeezed up fresh orange juice, then plopped her feathery bum on one of the large, worn cushions which served as chairs. The dinner table here was massive, even though the cottage was only built to house three gryphons. It was a testament to the strong sense of community found in Bacalao Bay, because if your table couldn’t fit the whole village, then it wasn’t a table worth eating at!

“Eat up, Ria!”

[Gerrard]

Aquaria watched in awe as the startled griffoness screeched and flew into the ceiling. Maybe she wasn't a superhero after all, superheroes are fearless. Unless it was all a ruse to keep her super powers hidden, heroes were tricky individuals after all.

At the mention of the her speed and stealth, Aquaria giggled and squirmed shyly. "Oh thanks, I took a train then flew the rest of the way. I don't fly a lot so I get tired very fast. But I'm a super good sneak. Ponies never expect a griffon to clutch them from the ocean, and save them," she playfully remarked while making a chewing motion with her maw.

Aquaria thought about hopping through the window without checking out what obstacles were in her way. Lucky for Ryx, the door opening coaxed Aquaria into using a normal entrance. She entered the small rustic home and looked at the decor, her eyes going wide with amazement at her secret hideout. "Your secret is safe with me Blackbird," she commented with a chuckle, the hyper lifeguard probably not the best griffon at keeping secrets.

Her mind raced with all of the things she would get to meet today. Lucky for Ryx, she couldn't see all the silly pony centric ideas of what griffons were. She expected there to be tons of fish art and everything water related, the lifeguard forgetting her species was primarily about flying. After trying to picture Ryx's parents as even larger and floofiest copies of her, Aquaria shook her head and gasped excitedly. "Are your parents biiiig," she cutely asked, before being presented with a creamy cod pie.

The lifeguard twitched ever so faintly as she restrained her urge to assault the pie. For just a moment, she was alone with the pie in her mind, a bit of drool escaping her beak before she broke the fish trance. "Thanks for the pie Ryxie, I really owe you," she happily cooed before dicing up her pie with the silverware presented to her. This breakfast had no chance of escaping her rose colored eyes as she started mercilessly eating the food. It was a bit awkward to eat while standing, and she soon found herself sitting down at the table with her host. Her striped tail squirmed wildly with excitement as she savored her meal, delighted chirps exiting her maw between bites of food.

[Elderflower]

Ryx happily began digging away at her pie, her manners escaping her as she sliced off a bite-sized piece and then impaled it with her talon. The salty, creamy, buttery pastry made her tastebuds sing once she had popped it into her mouth and she took a moment to savour the taste. In truth, the dark gryphoness wasn’t a very good cook beyond this one recipe, but she made this one thing so well that she had never bothered to pick up learning anything else! She offered a good-natured chuckle to Ria, plunging a talon into the rest of her slice of pie before tossing it into her open beak and grabbing yet another large slice. A big bird had to stay well fed!

“This isn’t the hideout, Tigerstripe, this is just home. It’s the last place I would want to keep secret, otherwise we’d never have guests!” cheerful laughter boomed from the golden-eyed gryph and she took a swig of fresh orange juice, “As for my parents...well, my ma is actually kinda tiny. She’s the littlest one in the family! But my pops...he’s...well, he’s huge. He makes me look small! His wingspan alone could wreck everything in this house if he wasn’t careful. In fact, he has smashed all our stuff in the past, totally by accident! He’s afraid of ghosts, see, and one night ma told a reeeeeal spooky one. One thundercrash later and pops was flailing about, and everything ceramic or made of glass in here smashed on the floor. The shaking the house did even sent my books and inkpots crashing to the floor in my room!”

Ryx carved out more slices of cod pie and served them up (using a spatula instead of her crumb-covered claws this time) between herself and her new friend.

“You don’t owe me anything, Aquaria. But if you want to repay the favour, then I’d be open to a diving lesson! I’ve done a great deal of swimming and skimming the water while I fly, but proper diving sounds like a lot of fun!”

When she was done eating she cleared her spot on the table, cleaning and humming all the while. Ryx had a habit of eating copious amounts of food quickly, so she tended to be the first one finished a meal.

“I have to say though,” the blackbird hummed while washing off her plate in the sink, “You’ll wanna stretch out those wings of yours before we join the town on the boats! We drag nets from our boats and from the sky, and it’ll make a tough flyer of you if you decide to help out! Of course, you can always hang out on deck and socialize if you’re not in the mood to work. It’s hard labour, and I wouldn’t force you into it! Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll lead us there.”

[Gerrard]

Ryx probably had 1 more recipe in her repitiore than Aquaria. To Aquaria, cooking was applying heat to a fish until it tasted better. She preferred her fish raw, but variety was the spice of life. For Stripes though, that spice often was burn chars that enveloped her food whole she got distracted. Through sheer luck or perhaps close proximity to the fire station, her house never burned down,at least not completely.

At the mention that this wasn't Ryx's hideout, Aquaria gasped and covered her maw with a pair of black talons to prevent her pie from escaping. When she explained that there couldn't be secrets where her gusers were, Aquaria giggled and shook her head. "Silly, you just gotta hide your treasure so they can't find it. I hide my treasure under my bed, nobody would ever think to look there, she proudly declared before grasping her maw in a panic. Her eyes nervously stared at the window, the lifeguard ready to intercept the black bird she tried to steal the tiger's horde! "I'm just joking that would be silly," she nervously commented while taking a step away from the table. Luckily Ryx didn't seem too interested in claiming her booty.

At the mention of her family, Aquaria cheered up, forgetting her last declaration about her goods. She was glad to hear the story until ghosts were mentioned. The lifeguard found her cheeks expanding to puffer fish levels as Ryx presented her with more food. Unbeknownst to her larger counterpart, Aquaria had previously met with a mysterious pony who claimed to have illusion magic. The lifeguard 'knew better' and insisted that it was all ghost summoning. The pony had to have been faking her anger, Ryx just proved ghosts to be real! When Blackbird finished her meal, Aquaria collapsed to the ground and squirmed excitedly. "I knew it! Ghosts are real," she squealed in a vindicated manner while her striped form writhed with excitement.

It took the lifeguard a few moments to regain her composure, Aquaria excited about the prospects of diving. "I know all the best locations for treas-" she explained confidently, interrupting herself as she realized she didn't know any local spots! One might be scared of the unknown, but Aquaria loved not knowing, her feathers poofed near their limit of excitement!

She listened to her friend talk about fish, and Aquaria found herself excitedly hopping around. The hopping was harmless, but her tail was like an uncaged beast, flailing wildly as it bashed into... everything! "At the challenge to fly, Aquaria poofed her feathered chest out proudly! I was the best flyer in my class, I beat that one book pegasus by a solid half length," Aquaria remarked, telling the story of her 'great victory' in a class race!

At the offer of net fishing, Aquaria excitedly hugged her friend, the lifeguard unable to complete the wrap because the immense amount of feathers and fur padding her form. "You can teach me net fishing, but I will teach you spear fishing. You get a weapon and dash at the water at maximum speed! If everything you do works, you get a... sushkibob," she excitedly remarked while inventing the worst pun of all time!

Upon being offered to leave, Aquaria turned to her meal and nodded. "Yes! I'm ready to go," she explained while stuffing the meal down her craw so she could escape! The lifeguard coughed up bits of pie and pounded on her own chest as she cleared her throat. After overcoming her near death experience, Aquaria dusted off most of the crumbs on her beak as she eagerly awaited direction.

[Elderflower]

Ryx flashed a playful and wicked grin towards her new friend when she had let slip the whereabouts of all her valuables. The large gryphoness was preparing to tease Aquaria, slinking towards her with every intention of tickling her and joking about knowing the secret stash of all her goodies! Before she had the chance, however, her stripey friend had fallen over in floofy fits, exclaiming about ghosts. Aquaria sure did get excited easily. Things would never be dull with this one around!

The blackbird decided to let go of her plans to tease Ria for now and instead made even better plans for later. There were many caves along the coast that were huge, dark, and empty. Lots of old folk tales from her hometown had roots in those spooky caves, and many young gryphlets took to exploring their depths as a way to prove their courage. That would be a fun way to spend a summer night with a new friend! And who knows, maybe they actually would see a ghost! Looks like there was another item of their list of things to do!

Before Ryx could make the suggestion, however, Aquaria was bouncing around and...wrecking things! Well, that was it. She really would fit in with the blackbird’s family. Once you broke something in this cottage, it made you family! “Sounds like you showed that pony what us gryphs are made of!” Ryx laughed heartily, tidying up after the stripey one, “I’ll bet it was one heck of a race to watch!”

While Ryx busied herself with cleanup, though, Ria distracted her yet again. This time with a big, friendly hug. Smiling widely, the larger gryphoness squeezed her friend back and lifted Aquaria into the air! A bear hug had nothing on a Ryx hug. After properly squishing her new friend, the blackbird set her back down and said happily, “A sushkibob sounds delicious. I can’t wait to learn! But I’m sure I’ll be clumsy with a spear...my best weapon is a pen, after all.”

When Aquaria was finally ready to go (after nearly choking on the remainder of her meal), Ryx led her out the door, spread her wings, and shot into the sky with one large flap. She went up and up above the little cottage she called up, until she was high enough to see the fishing boats from her little village out to the west. On the ground, a lookout that jutted out into the sea blocked out the view of the fishergryphs, but from the sky you could see anything!

“There they are, Tigerstripes!” the large gryph boomed while pointing to the boats, “That’s where we’re heading!”

[Gerrard]

Aquaria went wide eyed as her friend playfully threatened to claim her treasure horde with a few trace glances. She let out a sigh of relief as the threat was removed, Aquaria audibly sighing as her tresure horde seemed safe. The goofy lifeguard made a mental note to hide her treasure horde in a new spot when she got home. Her long striped tail wagged as she decided to hide it behind her bookshelf, another top secret location that nobody would ever think to look! She finished off her meal before deciding to speak more on her great victory.

 

When complimented on her great victory, Aquaria excitedly nodded, hopping with joy as she relived the moment for a second longer. "Yeah, I zoomed around clouds like a fish! I hopped the kelp beds and then the peg got lost and went out of bounds and I won. He was a lap ahead, but he broke the rules and got disqualified. I won by a million lengths, well pony lengths anyway," she cheered, admitting she was both a winner and a terrible flyer at the same time. Regardless, she was proud of herself, Aquaria valuing control over speed, her lifeguard instincts taking over as she awkwardly mixed her race story with that of one of her lifeguard rescues.

 

She was oblivious to her wild tail like any excitable creature would be, only being reminded as the blackbird started cleaning up the various items that had found their way to the floor. Aquaria had no idea that it was her, but her tail calmed down as she examined the spectacle that was before her. And her hug of the blackbird was quickly returned as she was lifted off the ground, her paws flailing around around as she experienced a  hearty hug. "So this is what a griff hug is like," she cheered helplessly, her frame squeezed tightly as her cheeks poofed, this time in an attempt not to pop. After almost exploding in the grasp of her friend, the lifeguard was placed on the ground and gasped excitedly, amazed with her best friend of the day. "How did you get so strong! I'm like the strongest pony in Baltimare and you can snap me in half," she playfully remarked, having no evidence or proof at all of her strength!

 

"Sushkibob is my specialty dish. You let your stomach do all the cooking! The spear is beginner friendly! Just hold it steady and fly super fast. It does take a lot of practice to get used to belly flopping into the water though. I think it knocked the stripes off me a few times," she jokingly remarked while making a few spear thrust motions with her invisible weapon. After hearing that Ryx's pen was her best weapon, Aquaria audibly gasped, imagining her friend fishing with a pen. She wasn't sure how that worked, but her mind imagined Ryx poking the water with feather. Maybe her secret power was steel feathers! Aquaria looked over to Ryx and gently poked the wing feathers of her friend, careful not to cut her talon on the steel feathers of her superhero friend.

 

Aquaria was soon lead out of the cramped cottage into the cool air of Aquellia. She eagerly watched her friend burst into the sky with one flap of her massive wings, leaving the lifeguard to gasp in awe, just knowing this was a super special griffon. She had seen ponies fly before, but had never really watched other griffons fly, especially with the power of Ryx. The striped hybrid always preferred a running start, her limbs bounding quickly as she slowly sprinted to full speed and took off like a plane, extending her wings and letting them catch air like a parachute as she let the lift pull her back and into the air. It was an awkward process to get herself started, but Aquaria thought it was fun and wasn't entirely keen on optimizing it! Aquaria circled around like a buzzard, flapping her wings as she gained altitude to match her quick friend. After lackadaisically flying about in a surprisingly relaxed manner, she glanced up and realized that her larger counterpart was already hovering high above the home. Aquaria got a bit serious and darted up with a slightly uncharacteristic burst of speed, quickly catching up with her friend.

 

Her arrival was greeted with the booming voice of her friend. When Blackbird pointed to the boats, Aquaria gasped excitedly, already able to taste the fish. Her belly was almost full with cod, the lifeguard never able to say no to any fish. There was also the option of selling the fish. She knew that they were priceless artifacts though, not many ever actually getting sold in Equestria. She rarely ever saw ponies buy fish, all the ones who did seemed to have animal shaped or themed cutie marks. They probably liked to share their fish dinners with animals, it just made so much sense to her! "Oh, lead the way, teach me the way of your people," she cutely remarked, admitting she was bad at being a griffon.

[Elderflower]

Ryx merely winked at Aquaria when asked how she had gotten so strong. The tiger-striped gryphoness would get her answer soon enough, once she saw Ryx’s father. He was even bigger than she was! Only by an inch in height, but his muscles…they were scary. Ryx at least maintained some of her feminine features. If she were anything like her pa, she’d be a walking brick of muscle. She kept the mischievous grin that she was wearing while she climbed into the sky, taking deep breaths of the salty air. Sheer bliss - this smell was sheer bliss! She hadn’t been home in so long that she had nearly forgotten how precious this ocean air was to her! When Ria joined her in the sky she began to boom with laughter simply because she was so happy to be home.

“Isn’t this the best feeling in the world, Tigerstripes?” the blackbird just about sang out to her new friend, “To be this high in the air with the ocean stretched out before you? It’s divine! It’s perfection! And it gets even better. Follow me!”

Without waiting even a moment for a response, Ryx angled herself into a slow descent in the direction of the fishing boats. Every now and again she would dip and weave and rise up again when she caught a thermal, still humming the same little ditty she had been humming back in her kitchen. Once they were close enough to the boats she flashed Tigerstripes a devilish smile that seemed to say “Watch this!” and fell into a sharp dive, her bulk helping her rapidly build speed. Quickly, quickly she fell towards the larger of the four boats, causing the gryphons standing on them to cry out in alarm. With another boom of laughter she snapped her wings open with a flourish at the last possible moment, her feline paws stretched to touch down first. She stood on her hind legs, wings fanned wide open, and took a little bow.

“Rotten featherbrain!” a massive, golden gryphon even larger than the blackbird roared before tackling her and pinning her down with his massive bulk, “Ya nearly gave yer mudder a heart attack, b’y!”

Lost beneath the blanket of golden fur and feathers, Ryx’s gold-tinted, black body was wiggling.

“Rotten pops!” she echoed, laughing, “I had to show off to my new friend! It was necessary!”

“Friend! Right!” the golden gryph cried out, casting his gaze around before locking on Aquaria, “Hi friend! My rotten daughter is going to teach you how to fish!”

[Gerrard]

Aquaria watched her friend while waiting for a response on how she gained her immense strength. When she winked, the lifeguard gasped and covered her maw with a pair of talons, knowing that it was her super power after all. Before she had met Ryx, the strongest person in her world was her dad. He wasn't actually that impressive of a physical specimen, but the young griffoness probably just had dad envy. She was sure that his secret power was story telling, her dad able to tell stories about everything! She would tell all of his crazy stories, but he always told them better, and maybe some day Ryx could meet her bard of a dad! The easily distracted diver found herself thinking about her family, only to be interrupted by a black blur as the smart griffoness burst past her and quickly zeroed in on a boat. "Ryx was super fast, strong, big and friendly?" she silently thought to herself, wondering if this big bird couldn't do something.

 

With that thought though, Aquaria remembered that she had to keep up! She quickly nose dived after her friend, the scholar super fast, fast enough to throw a wink her way on the way down! Ryx did a cool manuever where she pulled up at the last second and stopped herself. The lifeguard though had payed attention in geometry class and knew that the quickest route between two routes was a straight line! She may or may not have had the best grade in her class, but that didn't stop her from shooting downward, the inexperienced flyer getting pushed around by the rogue thermals. Lucky for Aquaria, she knew how to solve for X and aimed for the edge of the boat, coming in almost as fast as her larger counterpart. Then it entered her mind, "Yes, I made it to X, time to stop. Wait, stupid wings, why wont you stop?" Aquaria thought to herself as she realized she hadn't planned her stop!

 

A few moments later, a loud splash filled the air as the life guard hit the water at a startling speed, spraying all the fishing boats with a small tidal wave of salty ocean water. A rough stinging of salt and water took over the lifeguard as she clawed her way back to the surface, her underside sore from basically what amounted to the world's fastest bellyflop. With a few quick grabs of her dark talons, the now drenched hybrid managed to pull herself back up onto the boat that seemingly belonged to Ryx's father. The tired lifeguard looked up at the even more massive golden griffon as gasped in awe as she realized that this must have been the biggest griffon in the world. She noticed he was squishing his slightly smaller giant of a daughter and gasped in excitement, wondering what dastardly thing she had done to deserve this superhero hug from her super huge dad. "Oh! Ryx is a supervillain. It all makes sense now," she cutely replied to the father as he called his mischievous offspring rotten. The excitable hybrid took a seat in front of her now squished friend and poked her while waiting for the superhero to release the criminal into her custody! It was all a game to Aquaria, and she seemed very amused by it all, her long striped tail wagging excitably while waiting for further direction on the collection of tasty fish.

[Elderflower]

Ryx continued wiggling for freedom in vain while her father just laughed triumphantly, giving her head a condescending little pat. Dripping wet from a rather...graceful landing, Aquaria approached the father/daughter duo and poked at the blackbird. When she came to the conclusion that Ryx was actually a supervillain, the cogs in the scholar’s head began moving and she was struck with a sudden genius idea. It would require her best acting skills and for her father to behave exactly as usual. When she caught a glimpse of his tail moving towards her new friend, she knew it was the time to act!

 

In a matter of moments, Ryx’s expression turned quite dramatic (and a little bit hurt, just for flavour) and she cast her friend a desperate look, “Don’t fall for his tricks, Tigerstripes!” she called out, reaching a clawed hand forward to grab hold of Ria’s, “This is Galahad...the Golden Gryphon! A treacherous villain who’s famous for charming any gryphoness he can get his claws on! And he’s married! It’s shameless! Why do you think I left home? Living with a supervillain...I had to leave so I could find a way to defeat him and free my ma’! And now with you at my side I know I can win! Don’t let him fool you...we’re friends, right? You trust me, right? Please, help me defeat him!”

 

------

 

Finally cluing in to his daughter’s plan, Gal fell naturally into his new role. His posture eased and he flashed Aquaria his most winning smile. Even at his age, Galahad was quite the looker. Very rarely did a female resist his charms, be she gryphon or pony or what-have-you. He slid his lion’s tail up her flank, her side, her neck, until the little golden tuft of hair at the end was resting beneath her chin and pulling her face close to his.

“Shhhh, Aquaria, don’t listen t’her,” he growled softly, staring into the gryphoness’ rose-coloured eyes, “A gryphoness black as night, dat’s what m’dodder is...Ryx th’Blackbird, a villain cast from ‘er ‘ometown. Ignore ‘er, ya lovely creature, and come wit’ me...I will show ya wonders ya’ve never known!”

 

All around the trio, Gal’s crew had gathered around to watch the show. They were laughing along, some telling the newbie to listen to Galahad, most telling her to listen to Ryx...because Gal is an idiot. The golden gryphon’s suave demeanour was quickly crumbling, and right when he began to lean his face in close to Aquaria’s, he jumped away from her and his daughter to snap at peanut gallery.

“Whaddaya mean, idiot?” he roared, fanning his wings menacingly and pounding the deck of the boat with a balled fist, “I’m tha cap’n while Nessa’s off doin’ ‘er ting, ya arses! Clear off-”

He was cut short by a triumphant call of, “Now, Ria! Get him!” from his daughter.

“Uh oh…”

[Gerrard]

Aquaria watched her friend squirm in vain to escape her super villain dad. A smile was across her maw the entire time, the lifeguard asked to chose between her best friend and the magnificent golden griffon. When Blackbird extended a claw to her, Aquaria grabbed onto it and gave her friend a comforting look as if she were in a hospital. At the mention that he was an infamous charlatan, Aquaria gasped and wondered if it was true. It made sense though since Ryx was his daughter!

When he used his charms on Aquaria, the easily impressionable diver giggled bashfully. She shivered as his tail rubbed against her flank and chin, the lifeguard seemingly under his spell. "You really like me? Are we gonna get married? Oh wow," she cooed back in an impressed manner as she quickly snatched his talon in both of hers like a lovesick kitten. She had never thought about getting married, but this was her chance! Love worked in mysterious ways and it had presented itself to her, as weird as the situation might have been! It was okay to marry him if his old wife was evil right? She was about to marry a super hero after all, imagine how proud her parents would be!

He went on about how his daughter was an evil blackbird, Aquaria gasping in horror at this revelation. Ryx was evil the entire time and had been fooling her since day one! Was her whole life a lie? The diver had to think about this situation, seemingly at an important crossroads in her very young life. She was stuck between deciding to go with the most romantic griffon she had seen, and her new best friend! To her, the answer was clear as day, her tail wagging, even as the peanut gallery tried to influence her. When the dreamy griffon started yelling, she then knew her decision! To her, there was no choice at all. It was a matter of love!

Aquaria's rose colored eyes looked up at Galahad, the hybrid doing her best to look as appealing as possible. "I choose evil, love triumphs over all! Marry me," she cooed loudly, while extending a talon to Galahad. Upon giving it to him, she excitedly declared, "Evil is more fun, come with me my evil black brethren," she declared while contorting her body and tossing the super villain into the cold ocean water! With her best friend freed, Aquaria cheered and hugged her best friend with all of her misguided might! Life was a game to her, and sometimes it was fun to go off on crazy tangents! "Who is going to marry us Ryx? Is anyone here able to do that?" she excitedly asked, not quite clear on how it worked as she celebrated their triumph over 'good', even though he was technically evil! Evil, good, they were both just perspectives anyway, to someone with a spirit as free as Aquaria!

[Elderflower]

Ryx gaped as Ria sent her fathered flying overboard to crash into the gold ocean. Whooooooooo! she thought, impressed, Gotta be made of tough stuff to send dad flying like that!

The blackbird flapped her large wings to lift herself up and get herself back on her feet, just in time for her new friend to sweep her into a hug. Laughing, Ryx wrapped her large forelegs around the aquatic gryphoness and squeeeeeeeezed! She lifted Aquaria off of the deck and spun her around and around before collapsing backwards on the slick, wet wood of the fishing boat while her father’s crew cheered and hollered and congratulated them on their victory! Most of them had tears in their eyes from laughing, and soon enough they were all keeled over when Galahad dragged his soaking-wet body back on deck. The once-majestic “Golden Galahad” now looked more like a weird, wet, lump of a gryph.

Ryx pointed at her father, “That’s who! That drowned, golden rat is going to marry us!”

The gryphoness laughed and got back on her feet yet again, stepping towards her father with a big, beaky grin lighting up her face. “Hear that, old man? You’re gonna marry me and Ria. My blushing bride is waiting!”

 

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Galahad, dripping wet and wearing a theatrical frown, shook the water out of his fathers with a “Harrumph.”

“Fine. But Aquaria, y’should know that y’can’t marry a Bacalao Bay babe widdout an offerin’ o’ cod. So I’m gonna haveta teach ya how to fish!”

The other gryphons on deck, taking that as their cue to get to work. They began to take out their nets and spread them out on deck while Galahad bonked his daughter on the head with a wing, nodding at the nets.

 

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Ryx nodded back at her dad, fully understanding what he meant. She rubbed her head where he had bonked her, then pointed a claw at the nets.

“Once those are ready, Ria, I’ll show you where you’re going to be holding on. These drag nets are typically pulled by boat, but we find that having a team of strong gryphons pulling them is much faster and more effective! You ready to learn how to fish?”

She turned towards the tiger-striped gryphoness and beamed, fanning her massive wings in excitement. It had been so long since she had helped her little village with the drag nets! She was eager for the hard work and the salty sea air, and sharing the work with Ria just made it all the more exciting!

[Gerrard]

Aquaria couldn't restrain her squirming, the lifeguard on the edge of exploding as she tried not to cheer her victory. Her rose-colored eyes saw the approval on the face of Ryx, the striped hybrid lapping up the attention. She couldn't remember the last time she had so much fun, and while her memory only seemed to go back a few days at a time, this was an actual boat load of fun! When Ryx lifted her powerful form up from the deck, Aquaria watched in awe as the powerful muscles lifted the blackbird to her feet.

And as soon as the scholar was upright, her dastardly talons had enveloped Ria, lifting the giddy lifeguard off the ground. Aquaria knew the rules of bear hugs and it was her obligation to try to break free, as hopeless as escape might seem. And squirm she did, her flexible feline frame unable to escape Ryx's grip. Ria's penalty for getting caught was a body slam as her larger counterpart seemingly bodyslammed the lifeguard to the deck. It hurt, like more than it probably should have, but Aquaria was having too much fun to care about that, her chest heaving from her stream of giggles.

Upon seeing the drowned rat Galahad appear, this only served to worsen her giggling, the 'evil' lifeguard feeling bad about her nefarious trick. Upon hearing that he would get his revenge by marrying them and forcing them back into being good griffs, she gasped and looked over to her potential wife expectantly. This was fun overload for Ria and the howling of the crew wasn't helping things either! Before she could muse over things too much, Ria was asked to collect fish and prove her worth! Aquaria was a great fisher, her pointy grebe beak letting her spear and catch fish whenever she swam into range of her unsuspecting prey. When told that she had to use a net, her poofy feathers visibly deflated.

Stripes might have pouted if she were a less positive 'pony', but the notion of getting lunch and proving her fishing skills to the others was too much to resist. "I will get all the Bacaloe Bay fish to show how great a friend I am. I won't let you down," she cheered excitedly, nuzzling Ryx before snapping up a net. Ria didn't have any knowledge or experience with nets, but she was ready to learn or get ripped off the boat while trying. Ria's eyes went wide with anticipation and awe of the majestic hybrid as the Nets on the deck were collected for use.

The lifeguard was used to being pretty large, her form usually more imposing than most ponies. But on this boat, she seemed to be in the land of giants. Lucky for everyone involved, she was a professional swimmer and had had powerful limbs! "Yes what do I do boss? Want me to catch the fish now," she cutely asked, standing at the edge of the boat with an awkward posture as she looked over the edge of the boat. To even the most new of of fishers, it was clear that Aquaria was a complete greenhorn, maybe even a dangerous one if guided poorly. Hopefully her good intentions would mask her sheer ineptitude!