Ok, my new plan to help me write again is to write a bit shorter and more laid back. Bigger chapters will come to episodes I feel are more important, including two part beginnings and ends, and don't worry. For Equestria girls I have something special for those parts. So please bare with me every pony.

Chapter 5:The Griffon Brush Off

A sunny day was gracing the sky once again, this town seem quite blessed lately. Orion couldn't help but lay in the dirt outside town and look up to the clear blue sky. He smirked at the stray clouds that made it pass inspection, clearly Rainbow Dash was taken a day off. He spotted whatever cloud he could, they were small but each one to him had its own little story. A breeze then whistled through his black locks and ripple his clothes.

His skin felt the wind sooth him from top to bottom, his muscles relaxing. Though voices chattered in his head at times, spatting curses from old enemies, and former friends. He shook it off and focused on the peaceful tranquility of the sky, and the quick streak of rainbow going passed his eyes. He knew it was Rainbow Dash and ignored it before he was trampled by an unseen and very pink force. He felt fast light hooves cross over his chest and disappear in a cloud of dust.

He flailed and rolled to his flank and looked around and saw nothing, but as his eyes turned to their red crystal selves. He could see them now, Pinkie chasing a scared Rainbow Dash. He only laughed at Rainbow from running from her jittery friend. She always bragged of being the fastest in the world, but she couldn't even get away from Pinkie. He leaned back, lifted himself to a hand stand and hopped to his feet.

"I suppose relaxation time is over, yet there is next to no trouble to be found these days."He sighed in relief and turned to go to town.

Suddenly a twitch hit his eyes and he paused, this infamous twitch meant trouble is coming. He looked around and narrowed his eyes, appearing not to see any trouble at the moment. Though he is never one to ignore the twitch in his eyes, not since he first earned it in the wars. The Pony Griffon War in particular was one such battle that he fought just from letting the twitch be his guide. He shook his head and broke into a stroll, missing two colts narrowly.

"I need to stop thinking of old memories like this. Rainbow will start calling me old stallion if she knew about them,"He spoke to himself upon entering the town before a smell hit his nose,"Strange... This smell is not from Equestria..."

He could make out the details, fur, feathers, sweat, and a ton of pride. A stink was with it, the stench of flesh devoured in the span of hours, viciously from beyond the border. He passed a few houses and the smell got stronger as the faint breeze from powerful wings touched his neck. Finally there was a shadow he could see descending upon the market place before him. That shadow was in the form of a mix of animals, the head of an eagle, the furry body of a lion, and giant eagle wings.

"You gotta be kidding me,"Orion frowned and stopped before the white faced, brown bodied creature landed with a growl,"A griffon...! I thought they had no interest in Equestria."

Orion had shared many historical moments with griffons, not a lot of them pleasant though. Ever since the Pony Griffon Wars more than a millennium ago. He had a bit of mixed emotions when it came to Griffons, after all they were flesh eating animals with a ton of pride. To him, most of their pride was misplaced or undeserved by their lack of humility and discipline. The prince himself scowled at the growling creature before it began stopping ponies and questioning them.

"Hey you! Little colt! Have you seen my friend?"The Griffon gave out her female voice aggressively to a small blue colt, stopping him cold.

"N-no sir, I mean ma'am! Aaaaaagh!"The colt took off out of fright for the intimidating Griffon.

"Great... A bunch of wimpy nambie pambie ponies,"The Griffon scoffed and jerked her neck before she slammed an eagle claw down on a small stand to spook a mare Pegasus,"Maybe YOU know where my friend is? Her name is Rainbow Dash. I heard she was living here in this dump...!"

"And what exactly do you want with Rainbow Dash griffon?"Suddenly the disguised man called out the griffon like she was even a real person.

"Excuse me? Who's calling me out?! It sounds like dead meat,"The griffon growled at the call out and looked around before her eyes met Orion's,"You have something to say? I have a name you can call me by freak...! It's Gilda! Not griffon...!"

"You're animal like behavior says other wise. I however am not so, now answer my question...! GILDA."The prince took her name as a joke as she then began to approach him.

"I'm an old friend of Rainbow Dash...! I decided I wanted to come see her,"Gilda got closer while some ponies backed away from the scene,"And who are you to get into the others business pal? What are you even suppose to be?"

"A lot more than a mere griffon with attitude could ever hope to understand. I would watch that attitude by the way, especially around me...!"

"Is that so freak?! And what if I don't?!"

Her questioned was met by a hand going around her whole neck, forcing out a small squeaky choke. Her claws wrapped around his arms, but failed to force him off as he lifted her up. He didn't stop till she was barely on the ground clinging to the ground by her lion paws. She glared at him and struggled not to lose her breath under his vice grip that tighten around her neck. She was at his mercy, and her first few seconds of desire to claw his eyes out left within more seconds.

"Let me tell you something here and now bird brain...! You're one of many griffons I have dealt with before,"Orion broke into a growl as his hand fought the urge to crack Gilda's neck as it did with many griffons,"These hands have once been bathed in the blood of many griffons in the old times...! You're no different in my eyes...!"

"Let me go you psycho...! I swear I'll-"Her words were drowned out by gags from the prince's tightening grip.

"You'll do nothing...! Nothing except behave while your here,"He threatened with a sigh and finally began to let her go slowly,"If not, then I won't hesitate to paint my hooves with griffon blood once more...!"

She waited until he finally relent, and free her from the grasp of execution and backed away. She shook her head and worked her sore neck before glaring at him once more. She cracked her neck and growled at him for a moment, she wanted to go for his neck in return. Though the flash of a red crystal pushing itself from his had made the griffon keep her distance to the point that she gave in. She turned away and ruffled her feathers before taking off into the skies.

The prince sighed and looked around to notice ponies from every where a bit worried from the small fight. He nodded and fixed his coat before turning to the ponies.

"Pay no mind! All is taken care off, just a simple understanding to be made with new comers."He announced and quickly scurried off to the library.

He ruffled his cape, and huffed in outrage. Griffon talking to him like that, she should be lucky he didn't take her top beak as a trophy. That was quite a classic move he had done to many high rank Griffon soldiers. He fixed his hood and blew hot steam from his nose to vent before looking up to the sounds of flapping, he spotted Rainbow Dash among the skies once more. This time however, she was with Gilda now, and it left an irritable twitch in his eye.

"Meddlesome birdbrained sparrow. I hope there is a reason Rainbow would associate with such a creature,"He hissed before stopping for young Apple Bloom to run by on her way to Sugarcube Corners,"hmmm... At least the new generation never had to endure such times..."

His thoughts swam in his mind and negated his sight to the point that he slammed into the door of the library. He rubbed his nose and glared at the door for hurting his nose, and making him feel old. He was far more clever and focused than that, what did the door knew?

He shrugged and swung it open only to see Pinkie Pie already chewing Twilight's ear off. It sounded serious, and he focused in the moment he heard the name Gilda come up. Already it sounded like the Griffon was out causing trouble.

"Well I think... You're jealous."Twilight spoke to Pinkie on the matter with the Griffon.

"Jealous?"Both Pinkie and Orion were shocked by Twilight's evaluation.

"Green with envy. Or in your case, pink with envy."Spike chose to add on and got a face full of wood after being planted to to the ground by Orion.

"Envy isn't pink Spike...! And it sure isn't jealousy."He growled with a manically angry look while holding Spike's head to the wood floor with one hand.

"Sorry. Missed that lesson...! When did you get back...?"Spike muffled on the floor.

"Well yes, jealousy. Listen Pinkie, I don't want to upset you, but just because Rainbow Dash has another friend, it doesn't make her a grump,"Twilight said before looking at the man just as he let go of Spike and put him on the couch,"I mean,perhaps it's you, Pinkie, who needs to improve her attitude."

Pinkie was thrown for a loop, stuttering and feeling her mind ready to slip. Her words barely completed before she let out a crazed scream and stormed out in a flash. Her speed rippled Orion's cloak before he slowly closed the door and turned to a sighing Twilight.

"Well that was quite the performance Twilight, a lesson on friendship moving you backwards?"Orion asked while sitting on a chair.

"Nope, just needed to say what I think was going on is all. Pinkie is ok, but I just feel she could work on herself a bit."Twilight said returning to a book she was reading.

"Why? She wasn't lying about that griffon, Gilda I believe her name was,"Orion said wagging his finger around and giving a small chuckle,"I me that new comer, and in the span of a whole thirty minutes she had harassed some honest working ponies and dared to challenge me...!"

"Really? Are you sure? Like... Are you absolutely sure?"

"Hey I'm no lier...! I speak truth, nothing more than that. Gilda griffon is a trouble maker."He stood up nice and tall to assure her of his first hand experience.

"Well... I guess I can take your word for it... And apologize to Pinkie..."

"Not yet. First we need to expose a problem to all that matter to the problem's source, then we can take care of it without back lash."

"How do we do that?"

Just give me a bit to think about it, but until then... Care to share a reading in the history of Cloudsdale?"He smirked and caused a red flash of light in his hand to become a brown and gold book.

"You know it! Where do you want to start?"

"At the very beginning. Where the first two clouds mixed with the great Pegasus king's magical wings of creation..."

For several hours that became their very activity for fun, learning was easier for Orion since he had actually lived to see the historical events. It was very entertaining to see Twilight thoroughly enjoy herself reading about a cities history. The things she could and want to see if she too was immortal. He sighed as they clapped their books shut and let out a big sigh. It felt like both a work out and an adventure all on it's own for the duo.

It was almost enough to distract the man from what he had promised to do about Gilda. Once they were relaxing from their reading, he got up and began to stretch out. After all, too much sitting was bad for his hams, legs and back. He always felt the need to keep moving most of his days to stay flexible.

"Alright... That was fun, but now I feel it is time for me to take a walk and check on our... Guest."Orion said after stretching into a split for his legs and standing tall to leave.

"Ok. Just try not to make a scene. We want to find a solution, not make more trouble."Twilight almost sounded like Celestia for a moment, and it made him roll his eyes.

He was quick to go out the door and smile at the day and the fresh air it brought with it. He took his stroll nice and easy to start, after all he sat for four hours straight reading about Cloudsdale. He stretched and cracked his back before moaning in relief.

"Had that knot in my back since this morning, geez I am old..."He playfully moped before he heard a roar from the middle of town.

His head jerked and his eyes went up into a glare of shiny red gems to see the town. His eyes shift so subtle like and move to spot the issue as he walked towards the sound. He could see Fluttershy running away weeping out of fear judging from her heart rate. Terrified ponies doing their best to stay home and away from who else but Gilda. Putting two and two together, it was clear that Gilda was harassing the townsfolk again.

He snorted out steam once more in annoyance with a griffon, boy how he wished he could do such painful and fun things with her. Yet he remained restraint and quickly walked to the scene. He looked around and felt Fluttershy bump right into him before he grabbed her and felt her yelp. He waited till she stopped struggling and wriggling before her teary eyed face met Orion's red eyes. Only to bury them in his chest and cry.

"Let me guess... Gilda Griffon got nasty with you and roared in your face?"He asked but knew the answer feeling Fluttershy nod in his chest.

He knew it, it kept repeating in his head, but he knew it. That griffon was going to reek havoc in Ponyville so long as she feels welcomed by others. A perfect way to boost her pride and her divine right to be impulsive and trouble making. He looked to his left and saw some ducks quacking at a building in fear and without guidance. He patted her back and cleared his throat to grab the shy Pegasus's attention.

"Your um... Ducks still need to find their way home, they need your kind guidance Fluttershy,"He spoke softly as if he had Luna crying on his shoulder,"I will take care of the griffon, but right now you need to be strong and help the creatures you love..."

"I... Ok..."She peeped and slowly removed her head from his chest before rubbing her eyes.

He watched as she sniffled and took breaths to relax herself before running to her ducks to ensure that they were safe. He nodded and looked forward before spotting the stand of the Apples. He quickly paced up to the stand and looked around before finding Apple Smith herself packing up for the day.

"Smith! I need to talk to you!"His loud voice shocked and stumped the old mare as she fumbled to turn around.

"Well shoot! You scared me to mah apple core youngin. I was just about to pack up fer the day...!"Smith said before turning back to her bags of apples.

"How many apples did you have with you during your sale today?"

"What...? Well... I had a hundred since we reckoned it was going to be a slow day. I sold sixty two. Strangely enough I only have thirty seven left now... Weird..."

"Indeed... So Gilda is even a bit of a thief as well... I should have known."He pounded at the stand table and moved on to find the perp.

He was about to move towards Sugarcube Corner for more clues, but a hiss like noise froze him. Only for the man to be grabbed and pulled into a bush and silenced by a pink hoof over his mouth. He ranted and roared into the hoof until he was looking into the blue eyes of Pinkie Pie. He went silent and fanned his eyes into a glare and muffled four words. Hoof off my mouth.

"Shhhh. I made a realization that Gilda griffon is a bully, a thief and a big meany pants."Pinkie whispered before getting her hoof off of Orion's mouth.

"Bleh... You're just figuring that out? I've been keeping tabs on her since she first arrived...!"He spat while tasting cup cake icing on his tongue.

"What?! And you weren't going to defend me when Twilight kept saying I was jealous...?!"

"Hey you and her were heated, I needed to wait till tempers were cooled down before I could tell Twilight myself...!"

"You could have told me and supported me...!"

"Well I had very little option in the matter before, but now we can act some how,"Orion spoke with a sigh and chose to let Pinkie in on something,"Look I was in the middle of finding a way to handle Gilda. We first need to show the others that she is trouble. Including Rainbow Dash..."

"I don't know... Most of our friends, sure. But I don't know about Rainbow Dash. We just started to become good friends."

"And you're being a good friend by opening her eyes to the truth..."

"Well... Ok... Any idea of how we do that?"

He smiled from behind the darkness of his hood for he knew the answer to that. His eyes flashed red for a moments before he chuckled and put a hand to her shoulder.

"I think you yourself hold that answer, it's pretty much what you use to solve about anything...!"He spoke and Pinkie lit up with the answer herself and smiled back at him.

An hour later they were both preparing what else, but a party just for Gilda of course. Set up for the perfect party and way to bring their friends together under the same roof. They had already began to arrive at the party while Pinkie handled the cake, and Orion handled the game of pin the tail on the pony. Punch was already being disperse to every pony, and Pinkie was about ready with the cake. Now all that was left was the guest of honor, and right when he expected it, she showed.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome!"Pinkie announced while Orion stood at attention.

"Who's this Gilda, I have heard nothing about?"Applejack questioned.

"I hear she's an old friend of Rainbow Dashes, a Griffon! Quite rare."Rarity inquired in the conversation.

"You've met Gilda before right? What's she like?"Twilight decided to ask of Fluttershy.

"Oh, um... I'll tell you later Twilight..."Fluttershy dared not to think of how mean Gilda was with her and her ducks.

"Welcome, welcome!"Pinkie repeated herself to the crowd before Fluttershy protested.

"Um... Pinkie Pie? About this party for Gilda. Are you sure it's a good idea I mean-"

"Don't worry your pretty little head about mean old Gilda. Auntie Pinkie has it all taken care of."

"I'm a year older than you..."Fluttershy tried to remind her.

Orion saw Gilda approaching the crowd, Pinkie made a break to intercept her and succeeded. Everything was just as her and Orion hoped it would go. She was leading the griffon to the punch that he himself knew was rigged, just not by him or Pinkie. But first a hoof to claw shake to break the ice between them, one filled with shocking and buzzing. Gilda felt the full jolt of a hoof buzzer through her whole buddy as the crowd began to giggle and laugh.

"Oh Pinkie Pie. The old hoof shake buzzer, you're a scream...!"Rainbow laughed as Orion nodded in agreement.

"Indeed...! You hear that...? Rainbow thinks it's a scream Gilda..."He whispered into the ruffled bird's ear as she then shook it off.

"Oh great... You again,"She growled but then smiled to stay friendly looking,"I mean... Yeah...uh. Good one Pinkie Pie."

Orion smiled as he watched the three trade words ad move towards the lemon drop punch. Only for Gilda's first sip to be her last as her mouth went up in flames and forced a chuckle from Orion.

"Hey careful. The punch might be a bit hot...!"Orion joked.

"Ha! Priceless, priceless...!"Rainbow laughed.

"Yeah. Hilarious...!"Gilda growled showing that she was "on" to Pinkie and Orion.

Only for her to once again be berated by snakes popping from presents, a classic one Applejack seemed familiar with. The cake itself was set with relighting candles. So they laughed watching Gilda try to blow out relightable candles. Finally it was on to the game of pin the tail on the pony and Pinkie had Gilda all set up to win. Though it was no surprise to Orion that she would choose to ignore Pinkie's direction.

It left her spinning and flying the wrong was as she crashed to the ground. Not only that, but she failed the game by putting the tail on the wrong end on the pony. Once more they all shared a laugh, but Orion felt the tension. Gilda's temper finally boiled over and showed her true colors to all of them.

"Rrgh! This is what you do for fun? I've never met a bigger bunch of dweebs in my life, and you Pinkie Pie, you,"Gilda pointed out and taunted her and boated of her and Rainbow Dashes coolness,"Come on Dash, we're bailing on this pathetic scene."

Rainbow remained defiant as Gilda called for her a second time, and that's when Rainbow had enough. Orion smiled as Rainbow went in and tore Gilda a new one, revealing that she was the one that set up all the gags. Gilda wanted to deny it and pin it on Pinkie Pie and Orion. This only made Rainbow more furious as she finally decided that they should part ways.

"You know, if this is how my OLD friends treat my NEW friends. Then maybe you should go find COOL friends someplace else...!"

"You tell her Rainbow Dash...! Some pony needed to tell her off...!"Orion snickered at Gilda's embarrassment before Gilda glared to him.

"You stay out of this...! I know you're the root of it all! I knew you were trouble the minute you stopped me at the market place...!"Gilda pointed to him and he only approached as a result.

"You brought this on yourself when you chose to steal, bully and break up a friendship. You should be happy I didn't throw you in jail,"He body checked Gilda back towards the door nice and solid,"Now I would scram before I'm tempted to cast you down where you now stand...!"

"I don't take orders from a lamey freak that hangs around ponies like you're one of them...!"Gilda tried to shove back and found the human's hand wrapped around her throat.

With one show of force he threw her back out the door, and into the dirt. She spat and coughed with dirt in her mouth before looking back to see the man looming over her with Rainbow at his side.

"Come on Gilda...! Just...go. I'd rather not see you get hurt any more."Rainbow warned while Gilda was dusting herself off.

"Whatever...! When you decide not to be lame anymore Dash. Give me a call."Gilda took off screeching while hiding that a bruise began to form on the shoulder she was body checked on.

"Not... Cool...!"Rainbow concluded before smiling.

"You did what you needed to do, and that griffon will get what karma owes her..."Orion inquired and fixed his cloak.

"Thanks... I guess there was a reason you were asking me to set up these pranks. You knew how she would react, and made sure I saw it for myself to believe it."

"Yes. Now don't you think you have something to say to your friends?"Orion asked before gesturing to her friends.

She nodded and went to apologize to her friends before venturing over to Twilight with the same request.

"And you. I think you owe Pinkie an apology for doubting her don't you think?"He asked once more as Twilight sighed in respond.

"You're right... I shouldn't have misjudged Pinkie when I thought she was misjudging Gilda."She said before going to Pinkie to apologize.

Orion sighed and watched the ladies make up for their mistakes before joining in himself. They all hugged and decided the time had come to continue the party they started. Only now there was nothing to ruin it, along with a lesson of friendship he got to watch Twilight write to Celestia. Perhaps friendship really was quite the clever creation Clover made after all, to this day it still seems to work. His only concern now was to enjoy this friendship, and be ready for more to come in the future.

Hey guys, Spirit is kind of back. But I'm going to be taking it slow for a bit. More life stuff once again happened and it kind of has me in a rut once more. I'm sorry to hold out, but writing itself has become a bit hard on top of life itself. Please be patient and hopefully I can recover from these issues as soon as I can.