Just Another Day
With nothing better to do, or rather with nothing else he wanted to do, Damien had slunk off to his room as soon as the meal had finished, declaring that he was going to make it impervious against nosy griffons with no proper ideas of what constituted a good night’s sleep. Tyra had tried to stop him but quickly discovered that Damien had no compunctions about sneaking mildly paralytic poisons into other’s food and had escaped with depressing ease. Any further attempts at trying to force her way into his room had resulted in the sort of abject failure that only the truly sadistic and well-prepared can engineer.
That’s not to say that Tyra gave up quickly. She spent several hours attempting to drag Damien back out of his magical bunker, at first due to a desire to actually get him out but later due to the simple fact that there was precious little else to do this early in the morning. It was after a particularly distressing failure that she heard the crash. Her head snapped up and her gaze locked on the front door. Several different theories went through her mind as to the origin of the crash before she remembered that since she was in Ponyville right now all of her usual ideas were invalid. Realizing then that a crash usually meant someone needed help she decided to see what exactly had happened outside.
He opened the door quickly and scanned the front lawn to see a grey pegasus mare lying in a crumpled heap a few yards from the front door. She blinked in slight confusion as the pegasus in front of her twitched slightly and suddenly sprung up as though nothing had happened.
“Mail’s here!” she chirped enthusiastically as she reached into her saddlebag and pulled out several letters.
Tyra glanced down at the proffered letters, noting that without even looking into the bag the mare had somehow managed to grab only the letters addressed to this house. However before she could reach out and take the letters a small hole of pure darkness opened up between the two of them and a familiar forearm shot out to grab the letters before vanishing again. Tyra glanced down in shock at the hole’s sudden appearance and similarly sudden disappearance while the pegasus simply turned around to leave. Apparently she had dealt with this sort of thing before.
As Tyra shook her head and turned to head back into the house a new thought shot through her mind. Gilda worked at the post office. That mare was a mailmare. That mare worked with Gilda. A happy smile spread across her beak. Surely the mailmare would be able to tell her how Gilda was doing at work. Her grin now fully bloomed across her beak she spread her wings and took to the sky with a mighty gust of air.
<=[XXXXX]=>
Derpy’s mind was wandering as it always did when she was doing her mail runs. Surprisingly the fact that she was paying almost no attention to her surroundings actually reduced her accident rate to near zero. It was only when she had to sweep down and make a bee-line towards a customer’s mailbox and focus directly on something that she tended to crash. However one downside to her lack of spatial awareness was that she never quite realized when someone else was nearby. Although this was usually not a problem in that very few ponies willingly got within several yards of her for fear of getting caught in one of her legendary accidents.
“You’re Derpy right?” a sudden voice asked just off to the side.
She blinked in confusion. Everypony in Ponyville knew better than to fly next to her, especially after the waffle incident. One of her eyes rolled around and fixed itself on the griffon flying next to her. “That’s me! Who’re you?”
Tyra grinned and gave a small wave, shaking hands, or hooves, midflight was a hard thing to make end well for all involved. “I’m Tyra.”
Derpy’s eyes widened happily as she gasped in recognition of the name. “You’re Gilda’s mom!”
Tyra laughed easily and nodded. “Sorry for not introducing myself when I saw you earlier.”
Derpy was silent for a moment as she thought back to their first exchange not ten minutes ago. “Oh yeah! You were at Damein’s house! I thought you might be his marefriend,” she said thoughtfully.
Tyra laughed again. “I doubt any female would be able to stand him long enough to start a relationship. No, I’m just here to visit my daughter.”
“Hooray!” Derpy cheered as she dropped out of the sky like a rock towards a waiting mailbox.
Tyra flinched slightly at the dull thud from Derpy’s crash landing, but like earlier she seemed completely unfazed by her drop from the sky. A powerful flap of her wings stopped her above the house in question while Derpy quickly placed the letters into the mailbox below. “Do you always land like that,” she asked when Derpy rejoined her in the sky.
“Course not! Just got distracted,” Derpy explained cheerfully before quickly segueing into the next subject. “Gilda mentioned you today.”
“Really now,” Tyra said with a smirk. “What did she say?”
Derpy looked pensive for a moment and suddenly shot down towards the ground again before offering any sort of answer.
Tyra rolled her eyes but excused the interruption; the mare had a job to do after all, and hovered less than contentedly over the most recent mailbox. As soon as the mare rejoined her in the sky she immediately brought her question up again. “What did Gilda say about me?”
“Not much,” Derpy acceded. “Just that you were here.” A kind smile spread across her muzzle. “She looked really happy ‘bout it though,” she chirped.
Tyra blinked in slight surprise and paused in midair as Derpy’s words struck home. A small smile broke out on her beak as she flapped her wings to catch up with Derpy. “Wait up. I still need to know how she’s been doing at her job. Girl never tells me anything.”
<=[XXXXX]=>
“I still say this would be a good deal easier if your people actually wrote these things down,” Damien said wearily as he slowly measured out a portion of heart’s desire.
“Our ways are only for those of that we chose, in writing them it is that we lose,” Zecora responded easily as she began sorting through the herbs and plants Damien had brought to her hut.
“I suppose I should be grateful that you deem me worthy of learning these secrets then,” he chuckled as the mortar and pestle floated through the air into his absently outstretched talon.
Zecora favored him with a small smile before responding. “It is try that I see that in you, but I was willing to teach the crusaders too.”
Damien grimaced slightly at this. “Ah, yes. So you’re willing to teach all who ask so long as they are willing to come to you to teach?” he asked. “And here I thought I was special,” he said as she nodded with that small secretive smile. “Bah, then I suppose it’s just everyone else’s loss that they don’t all come to learn from you.” He swept the ingredients he had been working with into a small clay bowl, examining it with a careful eye.
“I suppose I must admit, you surprised me quite a bit. Many come to me to learn, knowledge of my potions they wish to earn. Yet few possess that special skill, to make the potion do what they will. A special talent so rare to find, to these potions the magic bind. The crusaders had the spark it’s I knew, but not the gift whole and true. Yet you bind them all with ease, your potions eager all to please,” she practically sang.
“Gates,” Damien muttered appreciatively. “I never really stood a chance against you in that rhyming competition did I?” he asked with a chuckle.
Zecora simply smiled and finished started the long task of tying up the herbs that needed to be dried as well as putting the remainder into small clay jars for safekeeping. “I remember now you have yet to say, why it is you came so soon today,” she prompted him as she began to expertly loop string around the branches of several plants.
“Couldn’t it be for desire both to learn from and be near such a beautiful mare such as you?” Damien asked as he spread his talons beseechingly.
Zecora snorted and continued to tie up the plants before her. “You honeyed words and silver tongue will not suffice, for you to tell me truly is my advice.”
Damien sighed melodramatically and shot a quick glance at the potion he was working on, a few moments more were needed for the ingredients to mix perfectly. “Sometimes you are no fun at all my dear.” He shook his head resignedly. “It seems Momma Tyra’s idea of a good morning involves waking me before the witching hour and undergoing a rigorous but blessedly short workout until her daughter has to go to work.” He laughed lightly. “It took me some time to escape and dredge up more potent defenses for my room. When I was finished with that I had nothing else to do than attempt to bump our little soiree forward a notch.” He fixed her with a resolute eye. “Is that explanation enough for you m’lady?”
“Indeed it is my griffin friend, even if I am simply a means to an end,” the zebra chuckled.
Damien rolled his eyes at this and almost absentmindedly dumped the small mortar of ingredients into a larger metal bowl that boasted several glowing red runes. “You are more than a means to an end; you are one of the precious few I have met since coming here that I actually respect.” A far-away look began to creep into his eyes as heat began to rise from the interior of the bowl in front of him. “Those that I would place so highly in my mind are few and far between and you are one such individual.” He favored her with a short bow before turning his attention back to the potion in front of him. The next few steps would be crucial for its success.
Zecora was slightly stunned by his moment of frank sincerity. “It is rare to hear such a thing from you, to the point where one might doubt if it was true. But such honesty shines in your eyes, when like that you can tell no lies.”
“Or I am very good at lying,” Damien shot over his shoulder as he poured his mixture into a glass vial and held it up to the light. “What do you think?” he asked Zecora as placed the vial in the air between them.
Zecora chuckled lightly at how quickly Damien had changed the subject and turned her gaze to the floating vial. The vivid yellow fluid within seemed to pulse and dance with a life of its own and fill the air around it with energy. “Indeed you have made this potion true, will you say why you wanted this brew?”
“Nightmare Night is coming up and this little vial will get me exactly what I need in order to make sure everything works out perfectly.”
“A holiday I have I'm sure you will celebrate quite fine, but what help can you get from bottled sunshine?”
Damien grinned evilly. “It’s not what I can do with it but what others are willing to do in order to get their hands on it,” he said ominously.
Zecora gave him a flat stare and merely shook her head. She knew better than to rise to his bait. “Since your potion now is done, I believe I must go to town on a supply run. The forest holds many treasures foul and fair, but Ponyville too has treasures to share.”
“I’ll come with. The market should be set up by the time we get there and there are a few things I need to pick up. That and no gentleman would leave a beautiful lady to navigate such treacherous woods alone,” he said with a smirk and a grandiose bow.
“I will keep that in mind should I run into one, now shall we go or are you not done?”
Damien merely smiled and grabbed the vial out of the air, quickly stowing it inside his satchel. “No respect at all.”
<=[XXXXX]=>
Unsurprisingly Damien and Zecora managed to pass through the forest completely unmolested. Apparently the thought of angering The Forest Witch as well as the Griffin Hunter at the same time was too horrific for even the boldest predator to contemplate. In fact the first few moments of entering Ponyville were more eventful than their entire time in the forest.
Despite months of intermittent visits Zecora’s appearance in town was always met with trepidation at best and outright disapproval at worst. A fact that Damien did not let pass without comment.
“It never ceases to amuse me how the presence of a flesh eating griffin is seen as less of a potential threat than a well-intentioned zebra alchemist,” he said with a chuckle.
“It is not surprising it is me they fear, unlike you I am rarely here. And that terror is not just for me, but for my life inside the Everfree,” the mare said sadly. “The Everfree is strange and fae, it will take some time their fears to allay.”
“I’m going to take that as meaning that I need to force you to come into town more often.” He paused momentarily as his eyes brightened with inspiration. “Maybe if I set up a gateway between your home and the town! Give you a way to avoid the commute and make travel easier. Would take a good deal of blood though, virgin preferably, some fully charged gemstones, and a way to protect beings that aren’t me from being devoured by What Lies Between.” He caught Zecora’s deadpan glare. “Fine!” He threw his forelimbs into the air exasperatedly. “Why does no one ever take me up on that one?” he grumbled.
“Damien, are you trying to tempt ponies with dark magic again?”
Damien blinked in surprised and turned to see Twilight giving him a long suffering look. “It is but a part of who I am my dear, you should know this better than most.” He smirked. “Still waiting for you to take me up on that offer on how to make a mentally commanded self-updating scheduler by the way.”
“You said that would require siphoning off a part of my soul and permanently bonding it to my day planner.”
“And I still say you ponies are far too attached to those things. It’s just a small piece and it’ll grow back in only a couple decades! Pit, I’ve done it to myself a dozen times. The pain only lasts for a few seconds. Sure it feels like millennia during those few seconds but you get used it after a while.”
“Somehow that doesn’t really make it any more appealing,” Twilight replied before turning to Zecora. “Hello Zecora, is anypony giving you trouble?”
“My time in Ponyville has improved to be sure, but some distrust I must still endure,” she replied with a small, sad, smile. “But true friends I have made, others they try to persuade.” Her smile became far warmer as she nodded towards Twilight and shot a quick glance towards Damien. “But is my turn to ask of you my dear, why is that you are now here?” she asked as she gestured towards the restaurant Twilight sitting at.
“Oh! Gilda wanted her mom to meet all her friends so we’re gathering here for lunch,” Twilight explained. “Well, except for Applejack. She has some things to take care of around the farm and she said that she already met with Tyra,” she quickly amended. “Everypony else should be here soon, would you like to join us?”
“I’m afraid I have many tasks to do, and thus I cannot be joining you,” Zecora replied apologetically.
“I’ll have to decline as well. I don’t think I’ll be getting much time in the house alone to work on my enchantments. That woman strikes me as the type to drag all those around her into something or other if she can,” Damien replied.
“You still aren’t done enhancing your house? I thought you said your wards were done,” Twilight asked suspiciously.
“I said that the wards were passable. They still need a lot of work. But I have other things to focus on right now. Self-cleaning rooms, indestructible walls, a way to open the Gates from this world... the usual really,” Damien replied before his gaze snapped to a distant stall. “Is that Alloy? I thought he wasn’t going to get back from his mining expedition for a week! He better have some more silver this time!” he grumbled as he spread his wings and shot into the sky.
“You… don’t think he was serious about that opening the Gates thing right?” Twilight asked hesitantly as she watched Damien land in front of the distant stall.
“Damien makes great wonders but sings tall boasts as well, on his common lies we should not dwell,” Zecora replied easily, despite a small part of her wondering if this really was one of Damien’s idle boasts. “In any case it is nice to see you I must say, may you enjoy the rest of your fine day,” she said in farewell as she bowed and turned to the market.
“It was nice to see you too!” Twilight called after the zebra mare.
“Was that Zecora?”
Twilight turned inquisitively towards the questioning voice. “Gilda! I didn’t expect you to get here so soon!” she exclaimed as she saw the mildly irate griffin standing before her. “Oh, right,” she amended as she noticed the scowl on Gilda’s beak. “That was Zecora, yes. She comes into town every now and again to buy things she can’t get in the forest. How do you know her?”
“There isn’t exactly much good conversation in the Everfree. I ran into her every so often and we’d usually chat for a while.” A soft growl rumbled up from her chest as she looked at Twilight’s expression of slight disbelief. “Even I get lonely form time to time!” she cried defensively.
Twilight merely smiled at Gilda’s reaction and pulled a chair out for her to take. “Where’s your mom? I’ve got lots of questions to ask her!”
Gilda groaned and dropped her head to the table, her beak eliciting a sharp crack as it collided with the tabletop. “She’s spending some time with Derpy. Probably swapping embarrassing stories about em or something.”
“I’m sure she’s doing nothing of the sort,” Twilight replied confidently.
Gilda’s scathing response was cut off as a gust of wind blew past them and the mothers in question landed before them, one with slightly more grace than the other.
“Gilda!” Tyra exulted. “Derpy told me about your first mail run!”
Gilda’s only response was to give Twilight the clearest ‘I told you so’ look in the history of Equestria.
<=[XXXXX]=>
Thankfully Tyra’s near continuous recitations of stories about Gilda’s childhood was quickly brought to an end by the arrival by the rest of the party. Pinkie arrived in her usual manner, bouncing along the street as though she had forgotten what she was doing and somehow managing to make a perfect 90 degree turn, midair no less, as she was about to pass the table. Fluttershy and Rarity arrived together, Rarity having been enjoying the larger than usual bazaar turnout and Fluttershy visiting with a number of pet owners that had required her assistance with one subject or another. Rainbow Dash was, true to her style, last and arrived with her usual over the top style. Instead of simply flying down to the gathering or, Celestia forbid, walking there, she had chosen to run through one of her more complex sets of tricks the moment she was in view of the group, an effect that was spoiled when she picked up a touch too much speed on her last loop and nearly slammed into the ground, only turning aside at the last second. Not that she admitted to having messed up of course.
“Well since all you’re other friends are here I think it’s time for some introductions!” Tyra said with a grin as she surveyed the five ponies in front of her.
Gilda jumped slightly at her mother’s outburst but dutifully began pointing out and naming her friends. “This is Twilight Sparkle. She runs the town library and is the student of Princess Celestia.” The faintest hint of a smile graced her beak. “She helped me a lot when I moved here.”
Tyra smiled as she saw the nearly imperceptible smile on her daughter’s beak and shook Twilight’s hoof warmly. “Glad someone out there is willing to put up with my daughter enough to help her out so much. I’ll definitely be sleeping easier knowing she’s got someone like you looking out for her,” she said as Twilight blushed at the compliments.
“It’s nothing, really. She just needed help and I’m learning so much about friendship myself I figured it helping others would be a perfect way to see how far I’ve come,” Twilight responded humbly.
Gilda groaned slightly and turned to the next Pony in line. “This is Pinkie Pie, she works at the bakery and probably keeps every single party supply store here in business by herself.”
Pinkie didn’t wait for Tyra to extend a talon in greeting, instead rocketing around the table and grabbing hold of a talon with a huge grin. “So you’re Gilda’s mom right? I always kinda wanted to meet another griffin after I met Gilda ‘cause I wanted to know if they were all meanies because Gilda was kinda mean when she first came to visit but then she came back and started acting nice because she wanted to be friends with Dash again and I started wondering if more griffins were like meanie Gilda or well not nice Gilda because Gilda doesn’t like being called nice maybe happy Gilda or peaceful Gilda I like happy Gilda more because it has the word happy in it and HEY do you like cupcakes or cake or strudels because I’m thinking of hosting a ‘Enjoy your Stay in Ponyville’ party for you so that you’ll have lots of fun while you’re here and I want to make sure that there’s plenty of food that you like ad Gilda never really tells me if other griffins like sweet things or if they all just nibble at them at try to say nice things about the like she does it’s a little weird that she doesn’t really like sweet things all that much do you like sweet things?” Pinkie said to a stunned Tyra.
“Yes?” she managed to respond as soon as she was sure that Pinkie’s tidal wave of words had finally rolled over her and gave her daughter a questioning look.
“Yes she’s always like that,” Gilda said with a smirk before turning towards Fluttershy. “This is Fluttershy, she’s the vet and occasional impromptu nurse.”
“H-hello,” Fluttershy squeaked as she tentatively held out a hoof.
Tyra smiled and rolled her eyes as she shook the proffered hoof. “You knew Gilda back in Flight Camp right? Thanks for patching up Gilda so often.”
“Y-you’re welcome,” she stuttered, a small smile on her face.
“Then Rarity, she owns the local clothing boutique.”
Tyra blinked in surprise as Rarity delicately held out a hoof. “Hard to believe you’re friends with her,” she said as she shook Rarity’s hoof.
“You were surprised when you heard I’d made any friends,” Gilda pouted.
“Not you. Rarity. Hard to believe a situation where a lady like her would have met you,” Tyra said with a chuckle.
“Gilda has actually been quite courteous when the mood strikes her,” Rarity said graciously.
Tyra snorted doubtfully. “And Rainbow Dash correct?” she asked as she held out a talon.
“That’s me, best flyer in Equestria,” Dash said proudly as she held out a hoof.
Tyra grabbed Dash’s hoof and pulled her close. “I don’t blame you for breaking my daughter’s heart but if you hurt her again I’ll tear out your eyes and feed them to you,” she whispered, just loud enough for Dash to hear. “Now where’s that waiter?” she asked the table at large.
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This updated?
~~yay~~
Now time to read it.
Also:
FIRST!
590872
Took me long enough eh?
Between finals, final projects, and some damnably selective writer's block, probably wrote well over 10k words between this chapter and last, only 4k were for this, I have had a hell of a time writing this sucker.
590889
Well, It took you what? 3 weeks looks like it.
But I feel it was worth it.
You know what? Damien is one awesome Troll.
Edit:
Well that was another damn good chapter. And Tyra is Awesome.
Yeah awsome , just awsome.
More?
To see this story dropping in to the Dashboard is an awsome feeling.
Hmm, I wonder how Rainbow Dash (and the others for that matter) are going to react to that threat.
"I’ll tear out your eyes and feed them to you." Oh dear Celestia!
And another one down! Great job, keep goin and stay golden^^
"that you like and Gilda "
Simply being an annoying bastard pointing stuff out
MUHAHAHAHA
"he slowly heat began" and "ad"
grammar fixing time.
>He opened the door quickly
Tyra had a sex change operation? dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Octavia_O_O.png
>You were at Damein’s house! I thought you might be his marefriend
Double space + you spelled the name of your own character wrong
>The Everfree is strange and fae
What does "fae" mean?
>she asked as she gestured towards the restaurant Twilight sitting at
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_TwilightWut.png
>Even I get lonely form time to time!
>Probably swapping embarrassing stories about em or something
You're typing too quickly again! dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Twilight_Sparkle.png
>Well since all you’re other friends are here
>I’m thinking of hosting a ‘Enjoy your Stay in Ponyville’
Double space + shouldn't that be "an" ?
>plenty of food that you like ad Gilda never really
>ad
dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Mr_Cake.png
dang... you make writing zecora look so effortless
691083 "Fae" is generally a referral to a type of mythical creature most closely associated with faries (who are themselves known by many names including, but not limited to "the fae" and "the fair folk" =3
722898 I see
= “You said that would require siphoning off a part of my soul and permanently bonding it to my day planner.” =
What, and that's is a change?
He opened the door quickly — …It was supposed to be Damien opening the door at the first draft, huh?
591721
I LOVE IT!
The end of every chapter always leaves me smiling XD
".... that there’s plenty of food that you like ad Gilda never really tells me if other griffins like sweet...."
Found a typo for you.