Beginning of Autumn

by MagicTypingPony

Chapter 6

Autumn slowly trotted down the stairs, with Vigil beside him, “D-Do you know why my father wants to see me?” Autumn asked, his voice quivering slightly.

“No he didn't tell me why. Do you have any idea why he'd want too?” Vigil responded respectfully.

“M-Maybe the school contacted him abo-“Autumn covered his mouth with his hoof to stop himself from speaking any more.

“Autumn?” Vigil looked at Autumn, wondering what he was talking about. They arrived at the bottom of the stairs, where Autumn’s father was patiently waiting for them.

“Hello Autumn, ” he greeted his son. “Please tell me, how was your first day at school?”

“I-I-It...I-It was...” Autumn could barely finish his sentence. His tongue was refusing to cooperate, while his mind was busy playing out all of the possible reactions his father might give about his little ‘moment’ with the princesses.

“Speak up Autumn.” his father commanded, giving his son an intimidating glare. Autumn was paralyzed with fear by, what he only describe as, some kind of intimidating aura surrounding his father.

“His day went fine, Master Storm.” said Vigil, speaking up for Autumn whilst bowing her head to show her respect.

“I wasn't asking you, servant!” His father spat. He took a few breaths to compose himself before turning back to Autumn.
“Now...Autumn, tell me, how was your first day at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?”

“I-I-It...was good...” he replied, trembling and trying avoiding eye contact.

“Really now? Because the principle sent me a letter...”

‘Letter?!...ohhhh buck me’ Autumn thought to himself as his father walked up closer to him. Autumn felt his body instinctively back away.

“Do you feel alright Autumn? Maybe a little...light headed?” his father asked. His voice was monotone and pierced though Autumn's mind like a spear.

“N-No...I-I mean yes. I feel fine.” Autumn responded, his voice wavering slightly.

His father glare didn't waver, and continued to fire daggers into the colt's timid eyes. When his face eventually relaxed, he turned to Vigil, “You! Servant!” he ordered in a raised voice. “From now on you shall be accompanying my son throughout his time at Celestia's School...and make sure that he doesn't have anymore... incidents.”

Vigil nodded her head obediently. “Yes Master.”

Autumn shook his head in disbelief. He stared at his father in shock. “F-Father?! Why?”

“So that you no longer embarrass yourself and your family,” his father answered, a hint of venom in his voice. With that, he turned and walked back to his study before saying over his shoulder “You’ll come to thank me later.”

You'll come to thank me later. That was his excuse for everything. And upon hearing his reasoning again, Autumn felt his anger flare.

“You always say that!” The infuriated colt yelled before running back up to his room, not giving his father an opportunity to retaliate. Autumn slammed his door shut and leaned against it. After a few seconds, he heard a gentle knock at the door.

“Master Mist?” Vigil’s soothing voice drifted softly through the door, calming Autumn as if it were a quiet lullaby. “Master Mist, please...I know this must be difficult for you but...I’m sure your father is doing what he thinks is right. So...do you think you could open the door for me?”

Autumn stood up and opened the door for Vigil. He tried to avoid looking into her eyes, but failed as he was drawn in to their peaceful, yellow glow. Vigil gave a warm smile and embraced him. Autumn took a deep breath and tried to contain his emotions, but the warmth emanating from Vigil's fur was too much for him to bear. Tears ran down his face as he embraced her back, and quietly sobbed into her chest.

“It’s okay Master...”

“Autumn.”

“I beg your pardon, Master.”

“D-Don't call me that. I hate it whenever somepony calls me 'Master'. S-So please, j-just call me Autumn.”

Vigil blinked several times as she comprehended what her master was ordering her to do. Eventually, she smiled in acceptance at the colt. “Very well, Autumn.”

--

Autumn tossed and turned in his bed, his stomach still growling at him for skipping dinner. He opened his eyes and glanced at his bedside clock for the hundredth time. He'd lost count of the amount of times he had looked at his clock ever since he went past 20. Both of the clock's hands were pointing at twelve. He sighed and rolled himself over so he was facing the opposite direction. Autumn forced his eyes shut and tried to fall asleep again, only to find that he was still as wide awake as he was an hour ago. And the hour before that. And the hour before that when he wasn't even in bed.

Slowly but surely, another hour ticked past, and Autumn's eye lids started to finally grow heavy. Just as he felt himself starting to drift off, he heard a tapping sound, coming from the window. Autumn groaned in annoyance. Was the whole world trying to keep him awake tonight? Growling slightly in frustration, Autumn picked up one of his pillows, and shoved it into his face, trying to ignore the tapping at the window.

‘I shouldn't get aggravated at this.’ he thought to himself. ‘It's probably just a bird trying to get a late night snack or something.’ But the tapping continued, and Autumn started to feel himself slowly losing his sanity. After another five minutes, he reached the end of his tether.

Autumn's horn glowed, and the sheets flew off his body. He jumped off the bed and made his way to the window, trying not to stomp as he did so. His magic parted the curtains and opened the lock. The window flew open, and Autumn finally came face-to-face with the cause of his annoyance. He didn't expect that face to have a beak though.

Autumn backed away in surprise, and the griffin on the other side of the window mirrored his action. “H-Hey.” the griffin whispered fiercely, “Don't scare me like that. You're supposed to be asleep.”

Autumn didn't respond. He could only stare in surprise at the feathery being in front of him; he had read about griffins but had never seen one in person. From what he'd read though, he knew griffins could grow to be bigger than full grown ponies. But the one in front of him was about his size. So it was probably about his age as well.

“W-Who are you? And what are you doing here?” Autumn asked, putting on a brave voice.

The griffin just smiled sneakily, “That's for me to know, and you to find out.” The griffin then glanced down at an imaginary watch on his talon, before looking up at Autumn again. “Well look at the time. I'd best be off. Bye.” he said hastily.

His wings flapped and he started to fly away, but a white aura grabbed him, and dragged him back down to the window. Autumn pulled the griffin down to eye level with him, and glared. “I'll ask again,” he said, putting some assertiveness into his voice. “Who are you? And what are you doing here?”

“Alright. Alright. I'll tell.” The griffin said. “I'm William. William the Third. Will for short. You happy?”

The two of them stared at each other awkwardly for a few seconds before Will spoke again. “So why are you in such a foul mood?”

“I was trying to get to sleep. And your tapping wasn't helping.”

“Heh. Yeah. Sorry about that.”

“I wasn't expecting to meet a griffin though. I thought you were a bird.”

“Well, you were half right. So what's your name?”

“I’m Autumn Mist, of the Pure Magic Blood family” Autumn said, making his voice sound official.

“Autumn Mist? Really? You ponies make no sense. Why can’t you just have normal names?” Will asked rolling his eyes.

“Ummmm...I-I don’t know” Autumn admitted.

“Wait? Pure Magic Blood? This place belongs to the Pure Magic Blood?” Will asked in shook.

“Errr...Yes. Is that bad?”

“Bad? Well...look at it from my perspective, I was trying to get into one of the most powerful families in the pony empire.”

“You...made your point but...what where you trying to do?”

“Ummmm...Clean your windows?” Will said putting on an awkward smile.

“But didn’t you say you were trying to get in?”

“N-N-No...No I didn’t say that, what are you talking about? I didn’t say anything about robbing you...” Will quickly grabbed his beak to prevent himself from saying anymore.

Autumn gave a harsh look at him, “So you were going to rob us?”

“No......” Will was starting to sweat as Autumn continued to question him.

“Then what were you going to do once you got in?”

Nothhhing...I-In fact...M-My name isn’t even Will.” He said, stressfully chuckling. Autumn growled in annoyance. He was in a bad mood now, something that rarely ever happened. All he wanted to do was go to sleep. Not play mind games with some griffon burglar.

Will's chuckling was cut off as Autumn violently tugged him towards the window, until he was halfway in. “I've had enough,” announced Autumn, trying not to yell. “Start telling me the truth. Now.”

Will put one of his talons on Autumn's nose, infuriating the colt even more. “Well since you asked so nicely,” he said slyly, tracing his talon up Autumn's face to his forehead. “I'll tell you.”

Autumn leaned forward slightly. “Go on.”

“On second thoughts,” announced Will suddenly. “I'll tell you next time.” With that, Will quickly raised his talon from Autumn's forehead and flicked his horn. Autumn stumbled as he felt his skull vibrate from Will's flick, causing the white aura imprisoning Will to vanish.

“Well it was a fun chat.” said Will. “But as I said before, I really have to be going. See you round.” Before Autumn could do anything, Will gave his wings a strong flap, and vanished into the night.

Autumn put his fore hooves on the window sill and stretched his head out as far as he could, trying to catch a final glimpse of the feathery nuisance. His eyes scanned the sky, but he only saw the towering buildings of Canterlot, dimly illuminated by Princess Luna's moon. Sighing, he closed the window and hopped back onto his bed. His discarded doona gently floated off the floor and covered his body.

“I'd probably shouldn't tell Father about this.” Autumn thought to himself. “If he found out, he'd start hunting down every single griffon in Equestria.” The colt looked over at his bedside clock again. 1:30. He sighed and stared at the ceiling, preparing himself for a long night.

Comments

[NobleValor]

Oh yeah, that griffin will be back.