Hippo Posted May 10, 2023 Author Report Posted May 10, 2023 "I will, Dad!" As Silverstream prepared for a flying depart of the tavern, Sky Beak toss several coins onto the bar's countertop as payment and gratuity of the services and beverages rendered during the special guest social gathering. Silverstream gave Gallus a cute glance and nod, an invitation of a trip to somewhere else that held an ambiguous meaning behind it. Gallus would likely be confused. But honestly, Silverstream wasn't privileged with the knowledge of what all the non-verbal cues she gave either, and would have no explanation if asked. Once out of the tavern, Silverstream flew up to get an arial view of their surroundings. "This way!" Silverstream started gliding towards an open vista, an opening among the Aris mountaintops that featured a healthy ecosystem in it, but had little hippogriff intervention. "Let's go here first. I can't possibly go the rest of today without showing you the harmonizing heights!"
SteelEagle Posted May 12, 2023 Report Posted May 12, 2023 Gallus was just happy he hadn't made a fool of himself too much in front of the dad. A little bit of a fool maybe. More than a little, perhaps. But hopefully he wouldn't find himself banned from Sequestria and contacting Silverstream outside of scholastic activities due to being a total loser fool in the eyes of Skybeak. Knowing Silverstream she'd read the news out loud in excitement thinking it was a nice, happy letter and then everycreature would think (and know) how stupid he was. Luckily for him that didn't happen, and Skybeak probably thought that Gallus was a totally cool dude. And he'd be welcomed back and they'd wing wrestle and it would be totally cool because Gallus wasn't a loser. Okay, his thoughts were getting away from him. He felt a little light-headed- he had barely been breathing before, and the rush of oxygen nearly made him lose his wings as he flew next to Silverstream. "Oh...oh, yeah. Harmonizing Heights. I've heard about it before from Professor Rarity's little sister. We aren't gonna be singing any songs while we're up there, are we?" He asked in faux annoyance before looking around, keeping to himself the songs he'd like to sing with her. A duet of a sort..."Wow. This place is beautiful. Does anygriff live here, or is it like some sort of park or nature reserve?" 1
Hippo Posted June 24, 2023 Author Report Posted June 24, 2023 Silverstream was excited to show somegriff the Harmonizing Heights. It was a rare thing to witness since it was tucked away in a small valley on top of Mount Aris. Also, she was excited to see if some of the legends she had heard were true. One legend suggests that if two who possess a special bond with each other enter the heights together, that they are overcome with joy and spontaneously jump into song. Within earshot of the vibrating melodies, Silverstream cringed slightly at Gallus' desire to not sing. "Um, What? Oh, no! Heh, you don't have to. I mean I don't have to, either. We don't have to together. Or separate. We don't need to sing, yeah." Silverstream looked away. "Um, but anyway, here it is. In ancient Hippogriff times, King Vetera helped construct the Iron Citadel, and also fortified the island with these huge walls. Legend says that the walls were built with the magic of love and harmony that came from all creatures that live around the island. It is said that magical songs are emanated here by the trees, the rivers, and the critters and echo indefinitely off the walls that possess the spirit of the ancients who love to hear the songs." "Nogriff lives here. It's not completely protected, but most hippogriffs just allow it to be a place to visit. It would be kinda hard to sleep with the constant ringing though, I would imagine." Silverstream chuckled. 1
SteelEagle Posted June 27, 2023 Report Posted June 27, 2023 "Aww, no singing? And here I thought you were going to sweep my off my wings and force a song down my throat," Gallus said with an delightfully impish little laugh, hiding the fact that he knew well enough that she had some disappointment in him. Had he done something wrong? No, no he had not. She knew he wasn't a song and dance bird. Well, at least until the whole group started- he was a sucker for the saccharine despite all protests to the contrary. He took a perch when she started giving the history, mythological or not, about the heights. Seemed weird that a King would build a fortified island with love and harmony but then again hippogriffs were related to ponies in a few ways and they sure did fortify themselves with love and harmony, so why not the hippogriffs? made him wonder what songs were sung that best fortified the walls. Were they songs sung in the affections of the moment alone, or did they come in duets and ballads sung with others? He could think of some songs that could be sung with love and harmony that would be very, very strong material for the wall. But whether it would be safe for all ages as they were sung infinitely from everything in the Heights? Well, maybe that was best left to his imagination. "Ringing?..." he waited a few seconds. It took a few moments, but he started to hear what he felt was a small harmony, deeply sung but barely heard. No words, just a harmony. "Ahh, yeah. I can hear why somegriffs might not like it...but it is pretty soothing, isn't it?" 1
Hippo Posted August 16, 2023 Author Report Posted August 16, 2023 Sweep him off his wings? Silverstream would appreciate a good sweeping from Gallus, though it would be completely out of nowhere and considerably out of character for the griffon. She supposed it would be more likely that her over-excited personality would eventually sweep him up in some way shape or form, but she hadn't planned for it, at least for now. "Yeah it is pretty soothing. Tonight is a special night for it too, as the entire hippogriff community will join together in a wind song. And you can come participate, too!" Silverstream swooped down to the ground within the heights and started perusing around for something. "Come down here, Gallus. We need to collect our tribute." 1
SteelEagle Posted August 19, 2023 Report Posted August 19, 2023 Gallus had to admit, the entire Hippogriff community coming together to sing sounded special. Before he went to Equestria he would have told you that the idea of a bunch of creatures coming together to sing songs was cheesy, corny, and the antithesis of cool. And now that he had experienced it in the first-griff, he knew that it was cheesy, corny, and not cool at all, and he loved it. Though he also didn't really know what she meant by tribute. He could only guess that she was about to ruthlessly collect the voices of the less fortunate Hippogriffs to power whher own royal voice. Now that he set it up that way, he'd be a little let down if it didn't turn out that way. As she took off Gallus followed, gliding energetically behind her."I think it could be fun. I'll make sure to get my pipes ready. Just promise not to get too emotionally charged by my singing voice. I'm told by reliable sources that it is pretty damn good. But I have to ask, what do you mean by tribute?"
Hippo Posted August 21, 2023 Author Report Posted August 21, 2023 Gallus had questions. Silverstream expected he would and counted on it. It allowed her to pour out to him her understandings of her kind and gave her an excuse to ramble on like she enjoys. "When they expanded the freedom celebration to three days, one of the things they added was a symbolic bonfire on the second day. Hippogriffs join together and gather debris from the storm that passed us during the Storm King's tyranny, and burn it away as a metaphor for our vanquishing of old material possessions. Of course, hippogriffs also do bonfires to burn away fallen sticks and leaves when it storms for real, but the event is an excuse to do both!" Silverstream started picking up medium-sized sticks, as if she was attempting to build a fire for a campsite. "I'm surprised the horn hasn't sounded yet. The fire should be lit pretty soon. So we might as well get our tribute ready. Oh, and by tribute, I mean our offering for the fire. Some hippogriffs offer to add old possessions and belongings that they feel is keeping them from enjoying life to its fullest, or as a way of renewing our perspective on how we use resources on the island and respecting our home. But, most of us just grab sticks that need to be cleaned up. I figured the sticks in the harmonizing heights need to be picked up anyway."
SteelEagle Posted September 18, 2023 Report Posted September 18, 2023 Gallus was fascinated by Silverstream's story. Most creatures just went about their traditions without understanding all the nuances that lay at the foundation. Gallus was no better than most in this regard and would easily admit that only a smattering of Griffon holidays and customs found within him the knowledge of what created them, their meanings and places in society. She was royalty and hadn't led him astray once so far, but still, the fact she rattled it off as easily as she did and how off base he was came together to create a rather inspiring piece of off-winged oratory. He followed her, picking up sticks as he went. "Well, not exactly what I had in mind regarding tribute but certainly a lot nicer. So this bonfire- I bet it gets pretty big, right? Can't imagine wanting to toss away old possessions, though. Probably just my innate Stonebird coming through," he chuckled as he started rapidly adding to his stick collection. Most of the sticks were right and ready to be tossed, though he wasn't being too picky. If it was easy to grab, if it was a stick, if it could burn, he was gonna grab it. He was trying his best to get into the mood of the thing, cleaning the island and helping the hippogriffs think about their world with...well, with a huge fire. He was excited to see the big fire. "How do you stop the bonfire from getting out of control? Seems like half the island could go up in flame with the wind being a little active." 1
Hippo Posted June 25 Author Report Posted June 25 "Oh, there are stone barriers to contain the fire. It's a whole production. Firegriffs on standby and all that jazz, heh." Silverstream zigged and zagged underneath bushes, picking up small loose brush from the grassy floor. The pieces she gathered weren't very big, but over time they quickly became a large bundle of branches and fallen fern leaves. "Got enough? lets go up to the collection. I think it's up where it normally is." Silverstream flew up the mount from where the majority of the Harmonizing Heights lay. After the boundary of the heights but before the Mount Aris topside township, a large bonfire was being built. The pile of wood and brush piled very high, and large permanent stone barriers surrounded the pile. Hippogriffs that looked like they knew what they were doing were directing everygriff where to place their collected fuel one by one. The pile was a work of art, something you may only see a few times in the lifetime of any-creature who didn't live in the area to see it every holiday season. Silverstream waited her turn in a line of hovering hippogriffs and then when it was time, chucked her clutch onto the pile. She looked back at Gallus to see him follow suit. When she looked at him, she noticed a temporary stage built for the occasion. "Oh! Look! Are they gonna play live music!?" The celebration always included music. It was already part of day one in the ocean concert, which included a singing whale. Silverstream was glad Gallus got to see it, because he might not have believed it otherwise. But in truth, she didn't recall music for the bonfire. "They didn't play live music last time!" Even atop Mount Aris, the sky started to rust as the sun crept towards the horizon. 1
SteelEagle Posted June 26 Report Posted June 26 Gallus did all he could and then some, trying to ensure that the tribute he collected fit the spirit of the event as best he could. Unlike his time as an unlikely champion or when shaking down through comedic error somegriff he really shouldn’t have tried it on, this was an activity that spoke to him well and true. Griffonstone was a mess. He hated thinking about the smell of those streets, the filth that he remembered so vividly. It was why he did his best in school to keep himself clean and presentable. Sure he didn’t think that Mount Aris really needed all the work to remain as beautiful as it was, but it was something he was happy to do. Especially when it ended up in a pile as large as it ended up being. Holy smokes, look at the size of it! He didn’t even bother trying to hide his amazement at it. So many spare branches and sticks that it felt like a whole forest was in it, and in it were all sorts of possessions. He couldn’t even make a solid third of it out. Clothes, old toys, various knick knacks and accumulated junk. A part of him wanted to go bonfire diving. After all, just because it’s trash doesn’t mean it’s waste. “Music for the bonfire?” He snapped back as he dropped all his tribute and then sat perched under a shaded tree. “Well, I think that sounds pretty cool. And if it hasn’t happened before, well, I guess you should just thank me. I guess they’re going all out to impress me!” He said with faux arrogance, chest puffed playfully.
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