A/N: Huge apologies for the wait, once again. Also, just realized I tend to write chapters day by day, I think there's one that spans multiple days, and that's a time lapse. Continue this pattern? [Y/N]
Sorry about errors, I didn't really proofread this.
Read and review. But read first.
"How did you know to do that?"
"Do what?"
"You just stared down a raging, angry drunk man armed with a gun. And lived."
"It's not like I wasn't armed." I gestured to the yellow handled hatchet embedded in a log beside me. The fire crackled, sending up a shower of sparks.
"Still." I threw some wood onto the fire, slightly annoyed that Cordelia had decided to sit right where I stoke the flames.
"Still what? I did what I thought was right." A small, cool wind came up the hill causing me to shiver, blow on the fire, and pull my up my hood. I peeked out from under my hood to take a better look at the figure before me. The adrenaline rush was wearing off now; she no longer looked like she had seen a ghost. She sat in the dirt across from me, a light fleece jacket draping over her slim frame. Two duffel bags stuffed with various clothing articles lay around her, one behind her being used as a back rest.
"And if you didn't do that, there could have been a problem. Hell, he was going to shoot you." I thought about that for a long time.
"What matters is that I did do it, he didn't shoot me, and you're safe now."
Thunder. Rain falling on leaves. The sound of breaking limbs. Wait, what? I opened my eyes. I immediately saw some red flags so as to my location. Strange. I don't remember coming inside… Where the hell did this blanket come from? I was back on the couch- Gilda on the couch adjacent, facing away from me. What the hell did I do last night? I smelled my breath and wrinkled my nose. Awful, but I don't smell like alcohol. Hm. A clock on the wall told me it was eight o' clock, which surprised me. Dragon-boy is usually up by now; I've heard him grumbling about making breakfast around seven for three days. The darkness probably kept him asleep. … I wonder how a baby dragon ended up with our friendly neighborhood slightly-OCD librarian. Something to ask Twilight. I turned my head to the not-so-friendly neighborhood gryphon. Is it weird I find the fact she's a big softie… cute? I pondered the question for a moment. Yes, yes it is. You're two different species; you don't know how long you'll be in Equestria, not to mention you have bigger problems. … Dammit hormones, not seeing any human beings are not an excuse to screw around.
I stood up, walked away from the couch, and looked out the window. The wind was blowing enough to bend some of the younger trees over. Thatch from cottages blew around in cyclones. Lightning shot across the sky in a shape never to be seen again. One Mississippi, two Mississippi… and there's the thunder. The window rattled in its frame from the sheer volume of the thunderclap. I wondered if the library would hold. I wondered if I would hold. I already felt stressed, but then, wouldn't anyone? Dropped into a world unknown to humankind, inhabited by sentient ponies, and gryphons. It's like a fairy tale. But with ponies. I rolled my eyes. Oh, right, monsters trying to kill me. How could I ever forget that detail?
"You're up early." A feminine voice broke the silence—causing me to jump – and a hoof brushed past the still developing wings and rested on my shoulder.
"Jesus, you scared me." I brushed off the purple hoof and turned around to face Twilight.
"Jesus?" Better not go into this.
"Religious thing. Tell you some other time."
"Um… why not now?" Dammit, why did I have to say that?
"Never mind. Forget I said anything." I tried to think of things to say to break the silence. Tongue-tied again… why am I so inept at keeping a conversation?
"I was wondering about some things last night, and…"
"What?"
"I was hoping you could answer some questions I had."
"Not like there's anything else I could be doing." She laughed. Twilight went and grabbed a notebook, quill, and inkpot. What, no one invented the pen yet?
"You're in a library!" I shushed her and pointed at Gilda. "Oh. Right." She whispered. "But there are so many books you could be reading."
"Just ask the damn questions already."
"Alright, alright. Do humans normally grow wings?" That's a stupid question. Because it'd be totally normal for shit to just, explode out of our backs.
"No." I replied bluntly. She scratched something out.
"Okay…" The question/answer period went on for a while, Twilight asking normal questions like "Where do you live?" and "Do you go to school?" and it was a while before I realized Gilda was eyeing us from across the room. Why is she watching? Why doesn't she get up and join us?
"Hmm… multiple races, but no real defining characteristics besides skin and hair colors. Interesting. What do you do for fun?"
"What does my species do for fun, or what specifically do I do for fun?"
"Why not both?" She shrugged.
"Sleep. Eat. Play with fire and sharp objects."
"Whose interests were those? Yours or everyone else?"
"Hm? Oh, that was me. I don't know what the rest of my species likes to do besides my age group. Even then, I don't know much. Total hermit until recent developments, remember? Wait, never told you that. Never mind."
"What your age group does should suffice."
"Well, Aidan likes to watch movies, play video games, read when he actually takes his ADHD pill. Then again, Aidan isn't exactly normal. The rest of them bitch about the other gender. Gossip behind each other's backs. Bitch about each other some more. Some of them are real assholes and beat up the smart kids solely for the reason that they're smarter than them, but not as strong."
"Bullies." She spat the word out like it was poison, but I couldn't blame her. Gilda cringed on the couch. Forgot about her for a while.
"Exactly." I said brusquely.
"Did they bully you?"
"Heh, I can't tell if that's an indirect compliment or not." She gave a confused look. "You know, because I said they beat up the smart kids..?" Nothing. I sighed. "They tried."
"… What do you mean?" Twilight asked slowly, her voice shaking slightly.
"Long story." I rubbed my right arm, but I soon realized what I was doing and stopped.
"Plenty of time." The unicorn countered.
"Answer's still no."
"For now." My head hurts. I glanced at the clock. It's not even nine o' clock. Shit, I need to get out of here.
"This may seem like a weird question, but do you have a box of matches anywhere?"
"Um… yes, I do, why do you ask?"
"I need to think."
"Why do you need matches?"
"Thinking matches." If she didn't think I was crazy before, she probably does now. "Lighting a match helps me think."
"You're kind of in a place full of old, dusty paper, which just so happens to be inside of a tree. I don't think that'd be the brightest of ideas."
"Then I'll go outside."
"It's still raining cats and dogs out there."
"Oh. Right. Got any good books?" I immediately regretted asking this question, as I was grabbed around the waist faster than the lightning outside could flash. An impromptu tour of the library that I was already pretty familiar with commenced, multiple books new and old thrown into my open arms. Two tomes caught my eye- Races of Equestria: Everything You Probably Already Know About Sentient Species and More! by Cpt. Obvious Facts, and The Equestrian Bestiary: An A-Z Guide by Spaced (A/N: This is an actual fan fiction on fimfiction that is a collaboration between multiple authors, check it out). I waited for Twi to stop throwing books at me before I set the ones I had managed to catch down on a conveniently placed table and grabbed the two out of the pile.
"What do you have there?"
"I want to know about the creatures here. That's about it." I flipped through the bestiary to find all pages after Gryphon were left blank. Well, that's helpful. I set it aside and grabbed the first book and opened it to the first page.
"That book is like a failed world cultures textbook, it says everything – " Twilight tried to explain.
"That everypony already knows. I am not a pony. Thus, I wouldn't know. Let me read the damn book." It was, at that moment, I caught a bit of motion in my peripheral vision. Gilda was moving silently across the library towards us. We made eye contact, the gryphon holding a talon up to her mouth. I nodded slowly. She creeped quietly over the solid oaken floor, the sound of her lion paws masked by the books Twilight was shelving. She slid slightly to the unicorn's right, remaining in her blind spot. She mimed snapping her neck, but I shook my head vigorously. Too vigorously. Twilight stopped shelving books and turned suddenly.
"What are you doing?" she asked. Shit. Gilda just gave me a thumbs up.
"Um, shaking my hair. It was… in my eyes."
"Hm. Maybe you should talk to Rarity about getting it cut. Or you could go to the spa." I shuddered. I don't even want to know what they'd do to me there.
It was at this time that Gilda leaned into the lavender mare's ear and whispered quietly, "Boo." The next couple of seconds brought me to tears of laughter, the first time in a long time I had laughed so hard. Everyone's favorite librarian, having still not been fully awake, screamed comically jumped high into the air and hit the ceiling. I moved quickly to catch her if she fell, only to see she was stuck in the ceiling. Needless to say, I busted out in laughter, double high fived Gilda, and fell over laughing.
"NOT FUNNY GUYS, NOT FUNNY!" Twilight yelled, still dangling from the ceiling. I was too busy rolling on the floor to care. When I finally stopped rolling, I put my hands on the ground and placed my weight on them, only to slip and hit my head on the ground. My vision, slightly fuzzy from the collision, showed that my palms were slick with blood. The fuck?
"Shit. What the hell did I do now?"
"Let me—oh crap, did I slice you?" All of my fingertips were cut and bleeding, the blood flowing down my arm.
"No, I totally just spontaneously started bleeding." I replied sarcastically, strangely fascinated by the crimson coming out of my hands. A slight twinkling sound came from the ceiling, Twilight falling to the ground a second later.
"How the hay did you claw him up Gilda?" I glanced at Gilda's hands, then back at mine.
"I guess our hands just… mismatched. Her talons just raked through the skin. Shouldn't be any serious damage. It's actually surprisingly painless." I guessed. Gilda opened her beak to apologize only for me to continue, "Very sharp. I didn't lie when I said those talons might come in handy." She flustered and closed her mouth. The same music-box sound from before came, this time I recognized it as Twi's magic as bandages enveloped in reddish-violet began wrapping themselves snugly around my hands. The bandages weaved around wrist, palm, and fingers before tying themselves off. I wiggled my fingers. That's… amazing. No resistance. Like the bandages aren't even there.
"You know, I would put pressure on your hands, but I don't know how much."
"It's fine. I'll just lean back on them. Just show me the book." I winced as I put weight on them. Pain really is just mental, you feel it once you've realized you're injured.
"Which one again?"
"Races of Equestria."
"Right." Gilda reached to grab the tome, only for it to be magicked away into my lap. I picked it up and flipped through the pages, noting the glare the gryphon gave Twilight. Twilight stuck her tongue out. What's their issue? A voice in the back of my head told me I was missing something in this scenario. I felt all my pockets before letting it go and looking at the page I opened.
Pony
Equus Terra
Equus unicornus
Equus Pegasus
Location: Mainly Equestria, but can be found in many other places across the globe.
The first species to form a civilization dates back thousands of years ago. It is often said that ponies have been through four evolutionary generations, despite the disappearance of unicorns and pegasi in the second and third generations. All ponies have low (Earth ponies, Pegasi) to high magical aptitude (skilled unicorns), and . The earth pony lacks both horn and wings. Although it is often said that the earth pony cannot use magic like its sub-species, equus unicornis and equus Pegasus. This, however, is not true. The magic within all unicorns is active, and can be drawn upon at will for tasks varying from levitation to summoning otherworldly beings. For both Pegasi and Earth ponies, the magic is passive. The passive magic manifests itself in a more apparent state inside Pegasi, allowing for weather manipulation and flight. Earth pony magic forces the viewer to look deeper. The magic in this species gives them the ability to lift large loads, up to ten times their body weight. It also allows for an aptitude with dealing with nature, some examples being shepherding and farming. There is only one species in which all are manifested, see Alicorn for details.
"… why the hell didn't anyone tell me these things?" I said, looking up at Twi.
"You didn't ask." The unicorn responded, shrugging.
"Not like I spout facts all over the place. Although," Gilda faced Twilight, "you probably do."
"HEY! That's not… oh."
"That's what I thought."
"Girls, please, you're both beautiful." I said almost automatically, then froze realizing I was actually speaking to two females. "Er. I mean… uh…" I felt my cheeks get hot, and brushed my hair into my face to try and hide it.
"Never heard that one before." Twilight murmured. Peeking through my hair, I noticed I wasn't the only one blushing. Then Gilda busted into laughter again.
"Look at him! His face is like a tomato!"
"You stopped bleeding, at the very least." Looking at my hands, I saw she was right.
"Um… that's cause all the blood is in my face."
"I dunno about that, might be headed somewhere else if you're making comments like that." Gilda chuckled.
"No—it's not—I don't even—screw it. I swear it was reflex!" I replied, blushing even harder. More sexual innuendoes in a place like this. Ugh.
"How could that possibly be reflex? Your two friends are of opposing gender! Either way, you'd be complementing one." Twilight said, a rather amused look on her face. Damn it. Think of something...
"Boy Scouts, I use it to break up arguments." POKERFACE.
"Suuuuuuure you do. And I'm Princess Celestia's secret daughter." Gilda said, stiffening for a second. Something about the insignificant motion sent a red alert off in my head. I shook the feeling away. Why would that mean anything? Probably just a twitch or something.
"Hey, the storm let up!" Twilight said. I looked up and out the window to see the sun peeking through some of the clouds. To my surprise, a couple dissipated quickly, then I noticed the sky blue blur moving through them.
"Yeah." I glanced at the clock. Noon. "Check it out, it's already noon."
"Care to get some lunch? I know a place a short walk away." Twi offered.
"Uh," I glanced at Gilda, who looked away and gave an indecisive shrug. "I don't want to impose, you've harbored me here for a while."
"Just let me be nice."
"If you insist." I folded my wings in manually (they were stuck halfway out) pulled my jacket on, as I didn't want to go out without a shirt on despite the sheer amount of bandages on my torso.
We ended up going to a café with a nice outdoor patio. There wasn't much I could eat, and by the way Gilda glanced disapprovingly at the menu, neither could she.
"Hello, my name's Sir and I'll be your waiter today." An earth pony with a notepad popped up out of nowhere, a grin plastered on his face. I, raising an eyebrow, glanced at the nametag that was somehow pinned near one of his shoulders. Sir Vent. Sir… vent? Wait… His name… is Servant? It took me all of my willpower to keep from snickering or making a wise remark.
"Sir? Sir What?" Gilda asked. The stallion's face darkened a little bit.
"Sir Vent." He said quickly. Twilight saw the lines on Gilda's face go up a little bit, and the frown on our waiter's deepen. She quickly stepped in.
"Anyways, could I have a daisy and daffodil sandwich with some hay fries?" Sir Vent's frown was replaced with a fake cheery smile.
"Absolutely, and you?"
"Just coffee. With wild honey if you have it. Normal honey if not." I said, holding his eye contact so he would stop looking at the rest of me.
"Sure. And for you, sir?" Sir? I thought, coughing awkwardly at the situation.
"I'm a girl, idiot." The stallion immediately flushed.
"I'm so sorry ma'am, just the voice and it's hard," Gilda interrupted, cutting off the blustering stallion in front of her."
"To tell us apart. Yeah, we get that a lot. And I'll just have water, if you ponies don't mess it up." The waiter left, leaving us alone. We stared at each other for a while, waiting for someone else to break the silence. So this is what happens when you put three introverts in the same place and try and make them socialize.
"Wild honey, huh?" Gilda broke the ice.
"Read about it in a book, managed to acquire honey from a nest on a nearby farm. Surprisingly good. But that's beside the point. Why the rudeness?" I said quietly.
"I agree, that was pretty uncalled for." Twilight added her two cents, really only making things worse.
"So was calling me a dude." Gilda glowered at the lavender unicorn.
"To be fair, male and female gryphons look rather similar. And your voice is rather low compared to other mares."
"I'm not a mare. I'm a gryphoness." So that's the term. Twilight sighed, rolled her eyes, and looked at me and gave me a look saying something like 'You seriously want this bitch around?'
"Guys." They both glared at me. I coughed uncomfortably. "Girls. Sorry, still not used to being surrounded by those of the female gender all the time."
"I'm starting to know where you're coming from." Twilight said, smirking.
"Yeah, at least we agree on something." A somewhat mischievous smile from her as well.
"What might that be?" I inquired, scratching my head in confusion.
"You're a dork." I flushed, realizing I was the butt of their joke. Not if I can't help it.
"I just realized, we sound like a bad joke."
"Huh?"
"A shut-in" I pointed at Twilight, who frowned slightly, then moved on to Gilda "a…" I paused a little too long trying to think of a nice way to point out Gilda's anger issues, so I didn't. "… An outcast, and a loner walk into a café."
"You pretty much just made this that much more awkward, you know that right?" Gilda muttered. "Twit." Ouch.
"It does sound a bit like a joke. But why the 'shut-in'?"
"Seriously? You hardly go outside, this is the first social encounter besides that party a couple weeks ago. I find it a miracle you made friends at all. Old habits die hard, and your extreme lack of socialization goes on to show it." I remarked.
"If the pot ever called the kettle black…"
"Right, because living in the woods to escape from an abusive mother is totally arbitrary. It's not like I said, 'I want to go on an adventure! Why don't I go live in the large forest a couple miles from home and school?' and did it because of that. I still went to school, from everyone else's point of view everything was fine except for maybe my hygiene." I spoke exasperatedly, somewhat frustrated at the reversal of roles.
"You still went to school? I thought you said you didn't really know what humans your age did."
"I don't. I know what Aidan does, er, did, considering he's here now. I know kind of what Cordelia does, but I'll never understand it."
"We're getting off topic. You're not exactly a social one."
"Correct. Out of necessity." I retorted. "I don't think it'd be a good idea to hand out the information that my mother's a drunkard."
"You could have just informed the authorities. Or a teacher, or someone."
"Which would have me with a foster family likely far from my old home, and my mom in prison or something. I don't know."
"How is that really a bad thing? You get food and shelter without the fear of being beaten." Gilda piped up, having been watching this whole event unfold.
"I've heard some stuff about foster homes." And I still love my mom. The words rang in my head for a second or two. Do I?
"Like?" Twilight asked.
"Like a huge set of rules and standards you have to follow." Gilda gave an understanding nod of approval, but Twilight Sparkle pressed on.
"So you find personal freedom important."
"Simply put, yes."
"Alright, coffee for the hairless diamond dog." The waiter muttered, finally back with our orders. I cleared my throat. If I didn't know better, I'd say this guy is trying to piss us all off.
"Human. I'm a human. Haven't you heard? One of two, and I just happen to be the mean one." I remarked. Now I know how Gilda feels. That forced smile was still on his face, but it became gritted teeth once I finished. He set my coffee down and tried to ignore me.
"Water for the gryphon and finally, a daisy and daffodil sandwich for the lovely mare." It just so happened that I was cracking my knuckles at this point in time, which made our waiter twitch.
"Oh, thank you, but you forgot the hay fries." The compliment went right over the librarian's head. I facepalmed.
"I'm sorry ma'am, they'll be right out." He hissed and turned his back to us, heading back to the kitchen.
"Jeez, what's his issue?"
"We are." I chuckled. "Well, Gilda and I that is. Maybe because… oh wow, this is actually the first time I've been able to pull the race card."
"Welcome to the club, population—every non-pony in Equestria." I raised my eyebrow and took a sip of my coffee. Not bad. A little watery, though.
"Discrimination?"
"Sometimes. There's a lot of places who won't let us in at all, and then there's others who raise costs for non-ponies."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"They really do that?"
"Do you pay any attention to world news? Or stereotypes even? Ponies stereotype gryphons as liars and thieves, and it's true. But it's because we have no money, because ponies won't hire us, because it's easier to steal than deal with the bigotry and racism we have to put up with. That's what Sir Vent over there is doing right now, he sees Brian and I and says 'Shit, there's different species here. Charge double and hope they don't notice.' I can deal with ignorance, Sparkle, but that's the kind of stuff that makes me real mad."
"You just swore." I pointed out.
"Thank you Lieutenant Obvious, anything else?"
"I thought that was just me who did that."
"Nah, we swear just like you, just not as much. Although, you make sailors look like children."
"Am I over doing it?" I asked, I wasn't aware of it.
"Just a bit." Twilight said.
"I'll work on it, if it's really that bad."
"I don't know, I think it's kind of cool."
"Hay fries." The stallion practically threw them on the table and trotted away.
"Bastard."
"Gonna have to work harder than that."
"Sorry, reflex." Truly, it was. I was nine when I had run away, and my mind had been overwhelmed with the freedom independence brought once I was established in one place. Thus, every curse word imaginable became a part of my vocabulary. "You gonna tip that ass…" Glare at me, fine, I'll figure something out. "… assuming mean son of a bitch." I finished quickly, then facepalmed. "Damn it. I mean, dang it."
"Should get you a swear jar, I'd make so much from that." Gilda said jokingly.
"Well, if I had any money, it wouldn't be going to that stallion, that's for sure." I looked at Twilight. "How much do you tip here?"
"Twenty percent, give or take."
"What's our bill?"
"About 21 bits. He didn't charge double or anything." Gilda put a few bits on the table. I stabbed my knife into the grain of the table, not leaving much of a mark. Twi stared at it, as did some of the passers-by.
"Give him a bit." I commanded.
"You really don't like him."
"Wrong. He really doesn't like me, I'm just repaying him in kind."
"Never thought of it like that. One bit it is." She smirked. I smirked right back, and pulled my knife out of the wood and put it back where it belonged.
"Care for a tour of Ponyville? I never really showed you around, did I?"
"… I figured most of it out anyway. Small town, I couldn't get lost if I tried. But why the hell not?"
The rest of the day went by quickly. We walked through the town, Gilda flying above because she could, or so she said. She just doesn't want to be seen by Dash, but wouldn't she be more visible in the air..? Whatever. Gilda logic. When we got back to the library, I spent my time trying to find anything about the Elders. No such luck.
"How can there be NOTHING about these things if they're so incredibly important, evil, and dangerous?"
"Ponies probably thought they weren't real, like with the Nightmare Moon thing."
"Whatever the reason, they should still have SOMETHING. It's a miracle ponies have lasted this long."
"Even more so with gryphons."
"Why gryphons?"
"We're actually endangered, compared to ponies, our numbers are in the tens of thousands, but we're better off then a lot of other species. Minotaurs are really rare now, satyrs even more so. "
"Both of those have half human bodies, so why is it so surprising to see me? Minotaurs are men with bull heads, I think, and satyrs have goat legs instead of human legs."
"Really? Never noticed that."
"Hey Twilight!" I raised my voice to reach Twilight, who was writing at a desk on the other side of the library.
"Yeah?"
"Is hunting a recreational sport here?"
"For non-ponies, yes, but no ponies do it as far as I'm aware. Why?"
"I just realized, I'm one of two of the rarest species in Equestria. Not a good feeling to think that someone might be gunning for me just to mount me on their wall."
"Hunting sentient species is illegal in Equestria." I grimaced.
"That doesn't mean there aren't poachers. I mean, Aidan would be safe in a hospital or something, and some fanatic poacher would probably want some semblance of sport in it."
"Something you're trying to tell us? You seem to have this pretty well mapped out."
"I had to trap for food, but no, I'm not a crazy honor-bound poacher type guy, or whatever the hell the thing is. But again, poaching out of necessity, not for sport. But it does get me thinking…"
"About?"
"There's no way any of us are going to survive this, is there?
"There's a way. We just don't know it yet."
"Good point." I stared at the book in my hands, not really reading it. Just staring. I went up onto the balcony, and lay down. I don't know how long I slept, but it didn't feel like long. I was awoken by claws clacking on wood.
"Brian? Are you awake? I have an answer."
"I am now. An answer to what?" I stood up and stretched. I want my sleeping bag back, or I'll have back problems by next week.
"You asked who I wanted to be yesterday while spouting a bunch of philosophical crap, I have an answer." Oh, that. I didn't expect her to actually approach me and say she had an answer.
"Which is..?" I queried, she walked over to the railing, leaned over, and began to speak.
A/N: Sorry about the cliff hanger, but I want to show you I'm still alive, and, even better (while you probably don't care), my aunt who was critically injured and paralyzed from the waist down by the car crash my uncle was killed in, is recovering and is now HOME. I find it nothing short of a miracle that she survived, so miracles do happen. In the meantime, my (fucking mandatory year and a half long) SCIENCE FAIR is done, which was another large part of the reason I have not been here typing. Again, I'm so sorry this took so long, but I have to put the necessary above the recreational. Thank you for waiting for those who ARE reading this. I wouldn't say expect too many updates, so don't expect a hell of a lot of updates. But I assure you, I AM working on this now. I have time. I have resources. I have inspiration. Now, I need the drive—and that comes from you guys. Review, peoples. Sorry again.
Oh, and before I forget…
PONY ON!
-Lazer