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(Ponyville) Orienteering, and the demand for coffee (PM for invite)


Hurricane

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(Continued from http://www.canterlot.com/topic/8131-canterlot-the-neferset-installation-semi-open-pm-for-entry/page__pid__197658__st__20#entry197658)

As the train pulled in to Ponyville, Neame emerged from the wagon she had spent most of the journey in, a scowl on her face and a crick in both her wings. She stalked over to the conductor, and snarled at him, before waiting for the two ponies to emerge from the carriages. It had not been a pleasant trip. The Canterlot train service had informed them that since there had been som many incidents lately of griffins running amok in the confined carriages, they had introduced a policy that all animals larger than ponies were to ride in the hay wagons.

The wagons, filled mostly with their namesake, allowed for a soft if uncomfortable ride, but the other inhabitant of the carriage had been a Diamond Dog by the name of Rufus, who had spoken ENDLESSLY about the finer points of Lapis Lazuli, and who had tried to take off her golden ringlets several times during the journey. Now, she wanted to just get on with her journey. But first, she needed something else.

"Coffee," she hissed as she glared at the two ponies, her feathers ruffled and her wings spread wide. With the glint of her gold and the position of her coif gave her the look almost of a fury, a taloned, winged beast so dangerous that there was rumours that Celestia herself had wiped them out centuries ago. Seething, her tail twitching like a cobra, she huffed a breath out or her beak, and reiterated her point. "Coffe. Now." she said.

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Cutlass had a rather pleasurable trip. She remembered to pack food and beverage earlier, and was set for the ride. The rolling pastures outside reminded her of days long past. Her extensive travels across the lands of Equestria for loot and adventure in between had taken her nearly everywhere the country had to offer. Watching Neame basically froth over her accommodations highly amused the mare, but she felt a bit sorry for her all the same. Species relations were somewhat tenuous when it came to simple civil liberties like a place on the train.

She ate and drank and promptly fell asleep after the first hour. Adventure was on it's way.

When they arrived, Cutlass stretched and cracked her neck some before exiting the train. What an interesting little city Ponyville was. It was the one place she couldn't bear to steal bits from in her younger days. The folk here were probably the kindest of all in Equestria. Polite, hard working and honest folk who never lived a day of malice in their lives.

But the task at hoof. What of Muffin's little tip about 'Celestia's Student'? Was this even a believable claim? Cutlass was ceased in her thoughts by the sight of an irate Neame, wings spread in annoyance, steely eyes upon her and Muffin Top.

She couldn't hear the word the first time after Neame had said it, but she certainly got the message afterwards! This gryphon was...well, pretty pissed. "Arright, arright, calm down!" said Cutlass, backing away, her maroon eyes scanning frantically for the nearest possible cafe. "Come on...a coffee shop..." she growled to herself.

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Muffin Top was all too happy to leave Canterlot and get away from snooping guards. A couple of guards had regarded him with some suspicious stares upon noticing the stallion's shifty behavior, but in the end, he was able to make it aboard the train without incident. As they boarded the train, although Muffin was offered more comfortable quarters for the train ride, he insisted on riding in back with Neame so he could keep her company. While he meant well, however, his attempts to keep Neame's spirits up during the train ride with stories of his days on the rock farm really did little more than add to her list of annoyances. Muffin himself was not at all bothered by these less-than luxorious accomodations, it was a nice change of pace from sleeping out on the cold ground.

"Whoo, what a trip! There were all sorts of interestin' characters ridin' in back with us. And that hay was mighty comfy to lay down on too. Don'tcha think, Neame?" It was then that Muffin noticed the angry glare that Neame was shooting him, prompting him to cower back over towards Cutlass as they stood on the boarding platform. "Er... Y-You alright Neame?" Muffin asked nervously.

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"Comfy?" Neame snapped, her rage barely contained as she clenched her claws tightly. She had now sat up on her haunches, and her wings were spread wide, shining in the high morning sun. Her tail was now no longer twitching about, but was pointed directly behind her, at an angle, and her beak seemed to be extended a little, like her whole body had gotten a little bit more streamlined, like she was poised, ready to strike out at something. A predatory pose from the predatory creature.

"Let me tell you about comfy! Seven days ago, I woke up at midday. I was woken up by an intern, who was so intent on giving my snacks that she went back out after finding out that I don't like pastries, and fetched me sponge cake. I awoke in a nest of canvas, which I love the feel of. I slid out of my nest at one, and painted until eight, when I went back to sleep. IN THAT... THAT.... THING, I WAS NOT COMFORTABLE!" she all but roared at them, pointing her claw at the hay wagon with a snarl.

"It was demeaning! Not only was I trapped next to a Diamond Dog who would not stop pestering me for my jewels, but I had you, YOU, as my "handler", prattling on inanely about this trip and that adventure, while all I wanted to do, all I ever desired, was to sleep, silently, and without interruption. I detest vehicles, especially trains, and I had to endure EVERY. SINGLE. SECOND of it," she continued, pacing about angrily as her tirade continued. Eventually, she paused, her wings twitching as she sniffed.

"I SMELL KLATCHIAN DARK ROAST," she spoke, her voice gutteral, hewn with desire.

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"You're a spoiled birdlion." said Cutlass, bluntly, yet the smile now resting on her face left her words up to interpretation. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you the real world is pretty uncomfortable sometimes. But that's how it is, Neame."

The fussy gryphon's tirade, while no doubt scary, also ended up being rather...dare she think, cute... In a "oh that's adorable" kind of way. Wait, was she interspersing cute and adorable now? Point, being, her amusement was more powerful than her frantic curiosity of what might happen if Neame had still been stuck in that train car now, listening to Muffin blither on about whatever.

"...I had to endure EVERY. SINGLE. SECOND of it," she ended her sentence, and her pacing all at once. A few moments passed, before Cutlass reached out a hoof to pat her gingerly on the head. "Let it all out, sweetie...let it all out." she said, half serious, half playful.

Suddenly, she spoke and Cutlass immediately moved away.

"Klatchian dark roast?" repeated Cutlass, familiar with that blend, "...oh my... It's..." She sniffed at the air. While not the greatest tracker, Cutlass had learned to trust her nose at certain times during her younger adventures. "There's a cafe around here...about east of here."

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Muffin Top was quite startled by Neame's outburst, backing away from her with is ears folded down. If there's one thing he really disliked, it was getting yelled at, and Neame was certainly not holding anything back. The simple-minded Muffin, however, was having a difficult time comprehending just why she was mad and why she was only just now letting this all out. He flinched as she snarled at him, and was not at all comforted by the fact that Cutlass did not seem to be taking any of this seriously. When she finally did finish, Muffin couldn't do anything but stay quiet for what seemed like a very long period of awkward silence. Finally, Muffin got up enough courage to break speak up.

"I-I'm not sure I understood all of that, Neame… B-But I'm awful sorry if I did somethin' to…" Suddenly Muffin was interrupted by yet another outburst from Neame. "Kla-what?" Muffin said, not sure of what she was talking about until Cutlass clarified for him. "Oh! Well how 'bout we all head on over there and grab somethin' to eat. I'll even treat ya to a cup of coffee, Neame." Muffin said, already trying to make up with the griffon.

Muffin was at the head of the trio as they entered the cafe, holding the door open for the other two females and following after them. "Well this looks like a nice lil' place. Kinda like that place we ate at in Canterlot, huh Neame?" Muffins said to Neame, hoping that she had cooled off by now.

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Rainbow Dash sat in the coffee shop, her eyes half-closed as she sipped at a cup of black coffee. She just felt so drained today... like she could barely reach mach four. It was probably because she'd only gotten ten or eleven hours of sleep last night - she'd have to sneak in a few naps throughout the day, as soon as she was fully awake.

There was something wrong with that logic, but as Dash tried to trace down the stray thought, the door opened and a griffin walked in. Griffins themselves weren't a terrible surprise - but they were rare enough that every time she saw one, it briefly opened that old wound. Gilda. Every time her memory came up, Dash felt the same torn feelings - she missed her old friend terribly ... and she was angry at her old friend for being a big jerk and making her choose between friends.

But this wasn't Gilda, she reminded herself firmly. She was entirely too tired for reminiscing. She sipped again at her coffee, mentally planning out the day's weather route. Maybe she could take a nap in her hidey-hole in the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres. Or in the leaves of the town library. Or maybe both.

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Neame crashed through the door to the coffee house, her face still like thunder as she stormed up to the barista. "Klatchian Dark Roast. Black. Large. And a slice of apple sponge cake. DO NOT bring me pastry," she snapped, before pushing past a rainbow coloured pegasus to slump down in front of a table, groaning loudly. She stretched her wings out wide, shuddering.

"Uuugh... This is ridiculous," she mumbled to herself, watching as her two companions ordered their food and drinks. "What am I doing, a treasure hunt? This is ridiculous, I shouldn't be here, I should be back in Canterlot, in my nice warm studio, painting. AAGH!" she cried out, not realising that she was speaking a whole lot louder than she intended to, her wings sweeping around as she gripped the edge of the table with her claws.

Unbeknownst to her, she had been brushing her wings against the patrons of the cafe. In her last, angry outburst, she knocked the coffee from the winged pegasus hooves, scalding her own wing. "AAAHHH! OWOWOWOWOW!" she cried out, flinching at the hot liquid on her feathers. She hopped about, waving her wing to try and cool it down.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The sandy coated mare sipped at her bottle outside of the cafe after having received it along with her apple fritter, preferring to enjoy what little daylight they seemed to have left. Clouds began to converge over the skies of the city. More natural occurance than pegasi operated. The smell of precipitation was just wonderful, and maybe it was a trick of the light, but she spotted a silhouette of a pegasus with a much, much larger wingspan than the average pegasus. Cutlass let out a low whistle. One of the many impressive sights in Equestria for sure. Maybe she was wrong, maybe she wasn't, who cared?

At the very least, there was finally a spot of calm since they had all left the train. Muffin had decided to stay with Neame in the cafe, and though she seemed to be starting up another tirade, she had calmed down enough that she wasn't yelling at the two of them at least. Her concerns, Cutlass felt, would be better directed at the situation at hoof, and keeping her and Muffin Top updated. This student of Celestia's. Cutlass had thought more and more about the idea, and now she was interested in all the talk. That was plenty of hype to think about when the student of the ruler of the kingdom was involved.

Suddenly, shrieks of pain could be heard from inside the cafe. Cutlass was in there in a flash, mouth reaching for the cutlasss sword on her side. Then, she caught sight of the gryphon hopping around madly and jangling her jewelry covered wing, flinging droplets of hot coffee in every direction. Cutlass spared herself a quick moment to facehoof before grabbing a small stack of napkins with her mouth.

"Shtay shtill." mouthed Cutlass through the napkins, trying to press them against Neame's jangling wings.

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Muffin Top came up to the counter after Neame left and quickly made his order, "Uh... I think I'll just have a muffin, blueberry." he said as he watched Neame complain to no one in particular. He let out a sigh as he saw this. Couldn't that griffon learn to mellow out a little bit? Here was a griffoness who lived a lush and pampered lifestyle, and she was even getting her wish to find out what these dreams of hers mean. Yet in spite of all of this, she didn't seem very happy at all, if anything she actually seemed to be even more irritable ever since they left Canterlot. Why was she even here if she was so miserable?

This thought also brought another question to Muffin's mind, one that he really hadn't gotten a chance to ponder yet: Just why was he here? Because it was either run off with Neame and Cutlass or get arrested in Canterlot of art vandelism? Now that he was out of Canterlot, he could just leave them, yet at the same time, he didn't feel he could. Perhaps it was his mother's teachings to always help a female in need, or maybe it was just because Neame was one of the few friends that he'd made on this journey of his, but Muffin felt an obligation to help see this expedition through. Besides, wouldn't seeing a lost ancient city be an impressive sight to see?

As he followed Neame to their seat, however, Muffin couldn't help but notice the cyan, rainbow-maned pegasus sitting at the table that Neame was passing. He wasn't sure why, but for some reason she looked very familiar to him. Had he seen her the last time he was in ponyville? Before he could think on it any further, however, he heard Neame let out a scream of pain. "Gah! Wh-What happened?" Muffin asked in somewhat of a panicked tone, but he quickly figured out what was going once he spotted Neame flailing about with coffee dripping off her wings and Cutlass trying to wipe her off with some napkins in her mouth as well as the pegasus who's coffee was spilled, some of which ahd gotten onto her as well. "Aw schucks... Er, sorry 'bout your coffee, m'am." Muffin said, deciding to take the iniative to help the pegasus while Cutlass helped Neame, grabbing some napkins in his mouth.

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Rainbow Dash scrambled backwards as the wing swept across her table, smacking the mug out of her hooves and splattering several drops of stinging, hot coffee over her, scrambling backwards and accidentally kicking the table, popping the sugarbowl up into the air to land on the top of her head in a white cloud. Well, that woke her up! And got her back up, too! She wiped a hoof over her face, smearing the coffee, then popped up out of her chair. She totally ignored Muffin to get up in Neame's face.

"What's *your* problem?" she cried angrily, her wings flapping slowly to hover her in the air right before the griffin, glaring right into her eyes. The smeared coffee had stained her face tan, the sugar had greyed out her rainbow mane, and a fierce light was in her eyes. "You got somethin' against me enjoyin' my coffee?"

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Neame reared back, and up, standing on her hind legs as she glared down at the now tan coloured pony, her blood boiling as Cutlass attempted to soothe her burned and dripping wing. She was all ready to bellow at this pony, when, all of a sudden, she let out a deflated sigh, and fell back down onto her claws, her head hanging low. She slowly folded her wings up, being careful not to knock over anything else.

"I'm sorry. Everyone, I'm sorry," she said, addressing the shop in general, before turning to the pegasus. "And I am especially sorry to you, miss. It was rude of me to get annoyed when I was the one at fault. Please, let me buy you another coffee to replace yours, it is the least I can do," she said, before turning to Muffin Top and Cutlass. "I have to apologise to you two the strongest. I have been a pain to travel with," she said, sitting down next to the table the formerly rainbow maned pony had been at.

"Perhaps we should abandon this quest... We have only come from Canterlot to Ponyville, and we've probably got a long, long way to go before we even begin to find hints of these ruins, if they even exist at all..." she said, her head hanging low. She took a deep breath, and let out another sigh. "We should find this student of Celestia's, though... she might be able to tell me something about this dream, even if it doesn't help us with the hunt," she said with a weak smile upon her beak.

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Cutlass raised a hoof, and for one fleeting second, she recognized that in her time with Steelwalt, she had ended up picking up plenty of the old mare's traits. One was whacking a silly pony (or in this case, gryphon) upon the head with a hoof.

"Don't...you...quit." Cutlass firmly punctuated each word with yet another strike upon Neame's head. "Don't apologize to us, and don't feel bad. We chose to come, we chose to travel with you but we choose not to let you give up. So quit blubberin'..." she set a hoof under Neame's beak and planted a gentle kiss upon her forehead. "...and lets get another coffee. On me."

She looked over to the tan pegasus who Neame managed to spill her coffee all over. Cutlass blinked once and then blinked again. Her mother had read the stories to her when she was just a filly, but she had no idea they were biographies and not fiction! About the only thing missing was her hat. And her vest too.

"D-D-Daring Do?" stammered Cutlass through her napkin with big shining maroon eyes before rushing forward to wipe feverishly at the pegasus' wings. "Omigoshomigoshomisgosh!" gushed the sandy coated mare.

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Muffin Top backed away from the now-tan pegasus as she confronted Neame, he braced himself for a seemingly inevitable confrontation between the two strong-willed females. To his surprise, however, it didn't come. Instead what he saw was Neame suddenly acting in an apologetic manner, a complete turn-aroudn from where she was before. Muffin couldn't bring himself to say anything for a moment as he watched the griffoness apologize to the pegasus mare, then to both himself and Cutlass. He was already starting to feel bad about those complaining to himself about her a moment earlier, even though they were just thoughts. He then found himself nodding in agreement with Cutlass's words. "Yeah, Cutlass is right; there ain't nuthin' for you to be apologizing about. It's your first day out travelin, the first day was hard for me too. But don't you worry 'bout a thing, we'll find that student of the princess's and be to this old city of yours before ya know it!" Muffin said, offering Neame a warm smile. He was then caught offguard by Cutlass's sudden outburst at the Pegasus mare.

"Huh, ya mean you know her, Cutlass? Y'know that's funny, 'cause when I saw her sittin' over in the, I coulda sworn I'd seen her somewhere before." Muffin said as he turned to the pegasus, completely unfamiliar with the Daring-Do series and not noticing the uncanny resemblance that her stained face bore to the adventure novel heroine, instead only seeing a coffee-stained of a mare with a previously-cyan coat. "Oh, ya still have coffee all over ya, and some sugar in yer mane too, lemme help ya with that, m'am…" he said as he wiped a little bit of the coffee away from the mare's face as well as some of the sugar from her mane, revealing her cyan coat beneath and rainbow mane. Upon seeing her face for the second time, Mfufin instantly recognized her. "Now I remember! I saw you 'round here when I helped out at Winter Wrap-Up. You were shoutin' out stuff through one of them… uh, whattya call 'em… Megaphone!" Muffin Top said excitedly, happy to run into at least one familiar face since their arrival in Ponyville, even if he didn't know her name.

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Rainbow Dash blinked in surprise as the Griffin backed down, and she was suddenly fawned over by ponies with patting napkins. She was quite taken aback, blinking in surprise. "Oh, uh, yeah, um, no problem, then. Yeah, I'm Rainbow Dash," she said, her eyes flickign back and forth between the three of them ... then she quickly wipe-wipe-wiped at her face with her hooves, getting rid of the last of the coffee and sugar, leaving her with her normal colors. She grinned as she looked up, her chest puffed out a bit, at Cutlas' obvioand she grinned at Cutlass. "You hearda me already, huh?" she asked, grinning broadly as Cutlass was obviously so eager to see her. "Course you have, I'm Rainbow Dash! Fastest Pegasus alive! Only Pegasus ever to perform a Sonic Rainboom! No adventure too grand for me!" She nodded to Muffin. "And yeah, that was me, just trying to get things organized!"

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The griffon didn't want to admit it, but the words of Cutlass and Muffin had indeed cheered her up immensely. She was glad to have companions who believed in her, ponies who for once actually thought that the city actually existed, and wasn't just the delusions of some weird griffon who couldn't even fly properly. She let out a sigh, and wrapped her bandaged wings around the two, hugging them gently. "Thank you, both of you. I'm just not used to being this far out of my comfort zone... I miss my nest," she said with a faint smirk upon her face.

Neame's ears and wings perked up at the mention of Daring Do. She had been shown comics and stories by Picture's aides, of an adventurous pegasus who had been all over the world, collecting treasures and exploring ancient ruins. If what Cutlass said was true, then she might have finally found a reliable lead. Of course, it was then that Muffin revealed the truth. The Griffon let out a sigh, and her perked wings flopped down against the floor with a clatter of metal.

But then something hit her. This pegasus was apparently quite well known in this town. She was involved with it's Wrap Up, and she seemed to like adventure, especially is she cosplayed as Daring Do as a hobby. "Cutlass, Muffin... I think we should ask Miss Dash if she knows where we can find this student of Celestia. She might be able to help us in our hunt for the missing city," she said with a smile.

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The hug did not go ignored, and Cutlass reciprocated in kind. There were times where one could feel overwhelmed by the pressures and responsibility that came with achieving one's own goals. A little companionship was exactly what Neame needed in order to take this journey on. And Cutlass would help her see it through to the end, as well as help keep her and Muffin Top alive if it ever came down to it.

"You'll get back to your nest soon enough, but until then, we've got a job to do." said Cutlass, smiling back at her before turning to look back at Daring Do--

"Oh, uh, yeah, um, no problem, then. Yeah, I'm Rainbow Dash,"

"What?" said Cutlass, taken aback.

"Course you have, I'm Rainbow Dash! Fastest Pegasus alive! Only Pegasus ever to perform a Sonic Rainboom! No adventure too grand for me!"

Cutlass pouted. She couldn't help it. Daring Do was the kind of mare she imagined herself moving like in combat. Nimble, graceful and swift. And now she had the be Rainbow Dash instead of Daring Do. Her disappointment was hidden behind a small grin as Neame mentioned that Dash would have knowledge of Celestia's charge.

"I'd hope so, Neame." she said to the gryphon before turning to the rainbow maned mare.

"A pleasure to meet you, Rainbow Dash. The name's Cutlass." She turned to catch one of the mares who stood behind the counter on her way back to it, "One coffee for Rainbow Dash please. Cream and sugar, normal servings, thank you." she dug into her saddlebags with her muzzle and spit out about ten bits that flew through the air and pitter-pattered onto the counter from where she stood. "I know that's more than the price. Keep the rest." Back to Dash.

"Ma'am, my companions and I are searching for a student of the Princess? Princess Celestia that is. D'you know where we can find her?"

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Muffin Smiled and blushed slightly as Neame hugged both him and Cutlass. "Aww schucks Neame, don't think nuthin' of it." Muffin said nervously, still not quite used to female company himself, let alone getting hugged by one, even if it wasn't another pony. As their attention turned back to the now-clean Rainbow Dash, Muffin was a bit confused by the look of disappointment on Neame and Cutlass's, yet he simply shrugged it off, nodding in agreement with Neame's suggestion. "Yeah, that's a good idea! I reckon someone like Miss Rainbow Dash would know everypony 'round these parts." Muffin said enthusiastically as Cutlass got Rainbow Dash another coffee and explained their situation to her.

"It'd really be alotta help to us, Miss Rainbow." Muffin added after Cutlass's explanation. "Y'see, Neame here is tryin' to look for some ol' city where a bunch of Griffon's used to live, but she ain't had no luck findin' anything 'bout this place so far. The only thing she hasn't done is asked the Princess, but the Princess is mighty hard to see these days." he continued as he took a seat at the table that Rainbow Dash had been sitting at. "So that's when I remembered hearing about some student of the Princess's livin' here when I was helpin' with Winter Wrap-Up, and I say, 'Hey, we should go to Ponyville and see if she knows anything.' And well… here we are!" Muffin finished with a grin on his face.

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Rainbow Dash looked around at the three, all leaning in to ask the same question. "What?" she asked, confused, her brows furrowed in perplexity. "You want Twilight? And an old abandoned Griffon city? What was that about Daring Do?" She laughed. "Is this a joke? Next thing I know, you're gonna tell me you've got a treasure map to Queen Neferset's lost Crown of Storms!" She laughed some more, then took the new coffee, dropped several sugarcubes into it along with enough milk to make it less scalding, and brought it up eagerly, anticipating finally getting her morning caffiene...

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It happened almost instantly. At the mention of the word Neferset, Neame lunged forwards, grasping the pony in her claws. "WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT NEFERSET!?" she barked, before taking a deep breath, setting the pony back down. "I'm sorry," she said, hanging her head, "but I have to know. Please. Tell me eveything you know about Neferset. She's the name of the griffon I see in my dreams... I just..." she began, halting as she felt a stab of pain in her temple.

"Nngh..." she managed, before falling to one side, curling up slightly to try and abate the pain. "Every night... it's the same thing... I can't take it any more... I just want sleep," she said with a grunt, pushing herself back upright as best she could, claws shaking as she stood. "Cutlass, could you please get me a tea, Earl Neigh, with milk and sugar, " she said, pointing to her bits bag. "I think I might need to sleep soon," she said softly.

"Miss Rainbow Dash, unless any of my companions have anything else to say, I believe we would be indebted to you if you could lead us to the student, this... Twilight," she said, adding, "and if you could let me know all you do about Neferset," as a reminder.

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Rainbow Dash let out a faint 'eep,' her eyes wide as a very large, very intense griffon was suddenly up in her face and shaking her. She hadn't even really gotten to her first sip of the fresh cup of coffee, and now it was jostled onto the floor and pooling out in a brown puddle. She looked down to the floor, her lip wibbling and a faint noise of disbelief sounding from her ... then up to the griffon with a helpless expression ... and in a pained voice, she whimpered, "Is this some sort of cruel joke to you?!"

( sorry about breaking turn order ... but I needed to bump that into the middle. I'll wait on the rest till the other two have their turns. )

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  • 2 weeks later...

The sword-carrying mare buried her face in a hoof, as it was the only way to effectively express her exasperation over the situation. She dipped into her saddlebag and spit up another few bits toward the grinning cashier who seemed to be raking in amusement along with profit before disappearing off to let another waiter know to bring the poor rainbow pony another cuppa joe. She pushed a hoof inbetween the two to separate Neame and Dash and spoke up with authority.

"Yes. We want to find Celestia's student for reasons I'm not entirely sure about, now can you help us?" she said to Rainbow Dash.

Not expecting her to understand, she continued, "Neame here is a famous artist, and among her works are a set of paintings from a different time. A different place. She's been having dreams about such, and those usually seem to manifest themselves in her art, I gather. So we decided to tag along with her to find somepony who could help. We believe that pony is in this very town. Mind you, she'd need to excel in magic, and maybe a good history head on her shoulders would help too."

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  • 2 weeks later...

Upon seeing yet another spill Muffin gathered some more napikins from the the dispenser on the table, "Don't worry, I got it ladies." Muffin said as he got down on the floor and began wiping away the spilled coffee. "Golly, ya sure are spillin' up a flood here." Muffin said as he cleaned up the mess while the waitress came with another cup of coffee and the muffin that he had ordered. "Oh, thank you, m'am." Muffin said to the waitress as he finished cleaning up the mess and took his seat back at the table. As Cutlass spoke, he promptly tore the top of the muffin from its stump, just as he ate them growing up. After Cutlass had finished, he nodded with her in agreement. "Yeah, that's what I was sayin' before."

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Rainbow Dash's head was whirling from all the commotion... a third cup of coffee brought to her hooves, and questions from everypony present... especially from the extremely excitable griffin. She addressed the Griffin directly, deciding that it would be best to keep her *calm* as possible.

"Well ... I could take you to Twilight, sure ... but Neferset's just a story - and a griffin story, at that. I used to hear it in Junior Speedster Flight School from the griffins there." She paused, rubbing under her chin as she strove to remember it. It'd been so long! Her voice got a bit distant and pedantic - easy for her when she was *this* tired...

"Neferset was the ruler of this ancient Griffin city built into the side of a mountain ... a golden age for Griffins. It's said that despite all her success, she waxed melancholy because her people, despite their strength and glory, were still dependent upon the Pegasus Ponies, their allies, to control the weather. She brought together all the most brilliant Griffin sages in all the Griffin lands and skies to address to them a question - how could the Griffins take control of their own destiny, and become true rulers of the sky? The sages worked on the problem for seven years before finally presenting a solution - a brilliant golden crown, shaped like intertwined lightning bolts. It was said that this crown would magically steal away the pegasus' magic, and give it to the griffins, for as long as the ruling griffins had it ... but even as they handed it over, some great catastrophe happened, some natural disaster, and the city fell off of the mountain and was lost, along with the crown."

Her voice lifted a little, back to her normal way of speaking. "But that's just a story, of course, there's no such ruined city, and nothing could *actually* steal a pegasus' AWESOMENESS! It's part of who we are!" Having answered that questions to the best of her ability, Rainbow Dash's eyes lit up as the server returned with another coffee, then stepped back a couple of feet, as if waiting for something. Dash lifted the mug to her lips. At last! Beautiful, wonderful, magnificent coffee!

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Neame sighed softly, her wings sagging a little. "The kids story comes out... I AM a griffon, I grew up in Talonopolis. Do you not think I haven't heard this story before. I've done a lot of research on this, Miss Dash. I know for certain that parts of it are false. Griffons never build into mountains, there are no examples of that kind of construction. We also never appointed 'sages', not for a millenia and a half of our history have we had anybody appointed as a sage," she said, her tone becoming a little bit more smooth, a little more cultured, as she spoke. Settling down onto her rear, she ruffled her feathers a bit, to make herself more comfortable.

"Neferset DID exist, however. Her name was mentionned in an old tome, from before even Celestia's time, in a scroll supposedly written by Pegasus himself. Yes. THAT Pegasus. It says that he met a griffon queen named Neferset, and gifted her with one of his feathers," she said, reaching carefully into the large bag of tubes that she had had Cutlass and Muffin fetch from her studio. "I know that I cannot vouch for the authenticity of my dreams, but my companions have seen many other images similar to this, too many for them to be absolutely made up. I have only ever been to Talonopolis, Canterlot, and now this town. I have never seen environments like these, arcitecture like this," she said, pulling a small canvas from it's tube, showing the mare one of her paintings, a wide angle shot of the town, with the meeting point of the river shown.

Pulling out another, larger tube, she unravelled it and held it to the wall, gesturing for Muffin to hold the other side. "I don't know a lot about fate, Miss Dash. But I do know this. You are the first person I've ever heard mention the crown. Look at this painting, Miss Dash," she said. The canvas upon the wall was a picture of a throne room. Large alabaster columns lined the room, and upon the walls were etchings painted in gold and bronze, stylised figures of griffon, pony, dragon, even creatures Neame could not name. Hundreds of figures were in the image, a crowd stood before a raied figure, a griffon, regal looking, in a long flowing gown that seemed to be made of light itself. Upon her head, a golden crown rested. It should have been dificult to see, but, the picture itself seemed to be focused upon the small headwear. The thing was jagged, like it could have been made from thorns, and there was a small white protrudance coming from the top.

"It looks right, doesn't it? A crown of lightning bolts, adorned with the feather of Pegasus, the gift of the flying ponies," she said in a hoarse whisper. She wanted to see both the mare's reactions to this, as she knew that, if nothing else, Cutlass would want to know more. Unfortunately, she had little more information to give. "This is why I need to see Celestia's student, Miss Dash. My dreams hold the key to learning where the city was, and that key is that river delta. We need to look through books, and the royal library is closed to us. As a student of Celestia, she must have some sort of historical tomes," she stated, glancing to Muffin. She suspected he would be impressed too, but she did not quite get the same vibe from him, the same lust for adventure feel as she did from Cutlass.

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