Griffons were always known for their savage appetite, devouring anything with blood just to satisfy their appetite--One Griffon decides that he was sick of it.
(for the 7/10 Flash Fiction event on EQD)
Griffons were always known for their savage appetite, devouring anything with blood and guts just to satisfy their appetite. Animals realize this, and cower in fear at the sight of any such monsters, hoping to never see the day where they meet one face to face, or rather talon.
Gilbert, brother to Gilda, decides that he was sick of it, and wants to love all the pretty little animals instead of turning them into food. Turns out, it would be a lot more difficult than he thought, and seeks help from a certain Pegasus...
*If you see any mistakes or corrections you deem necessary, please let me know, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!
*Special thanks to TheGreatSako, who has and will continue to edit my story. Without him, I wouldn't have made it into the 7/10 Flash Fic Event, nor would this story be as awesome as it is now.
Like pretty much how all goody-two-shoes stories begin, the sunlight is illuminating a gorgeous landscape--a green forest expanding across the horizon between a grand valley. The smell of fresh dew resting on leaves evaporates into the crisp air, while the clouds part to reveal a clear blue sky.
Goodness, if I had a dime for every time I read an intro like this, I would be...quite broke, actually.
Anyways, moving on!
It was another one of Celestia's countless masterpieces laid out in front of Gilda's eyes as she flew across the sky, yet she paid no heed to it whatsoever. She was focused on something else, something of great importance, of which can mean the difference between life and death in this unforgiving world...
...breakfast.
*grumble*
"Ugh, can't you pipsqueaks come out already so that I can eat you?!"
Gilda screeched in frustration as her head darted back and fourth, scanning the ground for her next meal, which she hoped would be soon after searching for an eternity--also known as five minutes.
Sure enough, she saw a peculiar shape underneath a cluster of trees: two white bunnies, unaware of her looming presence, the animals indulging in their own morning meal. Pity.
She grinned, and began to descend upon her targets, her mind and body focused on nothing else but her reward. Deciding that since it was a slow, and groggy morning for her, she chose not to use the extra effort to scare the living excrement out of the poor things, but instead to become a silent harbinger of doom. She smiled devilishly at the thought of playing that role as she spread her talons...
"Gilbert, I'm back with breakfast. Get your big butt out of bed already!" Gilda said as she landed in front of the cave's mouth high up in the mountainside.
Gilbert groaned as he lifted his head from the pillow, which was made up of a bunch of loose feathers stuffed inside the hide of what used to be a fat bunny. He looked down upon it, and saw its hideously stretched-out face staring back at him. He quickly got up and shivered, then cleared his mind as he walked up to the boulder which served as their table.
Gilda had already laid out her catch across the flat rock: two dead bunnies, with several rather large puncture wounds scattered across each one, no doubt made by his sister's talons. They were holding each other's paws in a dramatic pose. He couldn't help but think they were probably a couple.
Gilda snatched up one of the rabbits, separating them from their embrace as she began to devour it. He stared at the bunny in sorrow as he watched it become an unrecognizable, bloody sack as it was torn apart by her beak. She opened her mouth to take another bite, but then suddenly paused with her mouth wide open when she noticed her brother staring at her with a saddening face.
"Dude, what are you doing? Start eating already, I caught that thing for you."
He looked down upon the bunny she directed him to eat, but only stared with the same face he still carried.
Gilda rolled her eyes and groaned. She couldn't take it anymore.
"Hey, Gilbert!" He looked up.
"You were acting a bit weird for the past few months, but now you're just flat out wacko, it's freaking me out. What the heck is wrong with you? Every time you come to eat, come home after hunting, or even as you watched me hunt, you have the same stupid face every freaking time. What's up?!" she yelled, throwing her food down on the table then leaned over to him, glaring into his soul.
"W-Well, uuuh...the-you see, ummm," Gilbert stammered.
"Yes?"
"I-I don't...the food is, erm..."
"C'mon, spit it out."
"The animals...but, they're, like..."
She slammed down her fist. "What?!"
"I don't like eating little animals!"
They stared frozen at each other in awkward silence as their minds processed what the heck just happened. No one moved, and no one even breathed.
They just stared.
Finally, Gilda found her words first.
"You...don't like eating animals."
He gulped. "Y-Yeah..."
"You have got to be kidding me."
"...no?"
Gilda slumped back and sighed. "Great. Perfect. This is just perfect. I've got a griffon brother who turns out to not like to eat meat, while he has been eating it for his entire life, never bothering to tell anyone until now. So tell me, Gilbert..." she leaned forward, looming over him. "...what do you like to eat?"
He nervously scratched his neck. "Well, uh...when I sort of go hunting, I never really...ate any meat."
"So all those times when you came back with food, saying: 'Oh, I ate on the hunt', you never did?"
"No, I actually, uhhh...ate berries."
Gilda looked at him with utter disbelief. "...berries."
"Yeah, berries...and, uh, sometimes a good plant or two..." He smiled sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders.
"Dude. How could you eat those things? They're disgusting. Hello? You're a predator, your supposed to like meat. It's MEAT. How could you NOT?" She waved the shredded carcass in front of his face, making him recoil back.
"Ew, get that poor thing away from me!"
There was a moment of silence before Gilda got up and stomped around the small cave-hole, pacing back and fourth.
"Outstanding. I've got a griffon brother who not only does not like eating meat, but is a stupid, pathetic moron who is a freaking vegetarian." she shot her head towards him, not hiding an ounce of fury in her glare. He shrunk back, and began to hide behind the table as she slowly made her way towards him.
"Think about it, Gilbert. What's this going to do to us? What's it going to do to me and you, huh? When everyone finds out my brother is a freaking vegan, they're going to-"
Gilbert interrupted, peering out from his cover. "Uuuh, actually, vegetarian and vegans are diff-" She glared at him again, causing him to clam up and immediately hid behind the table again, shrinking further back.
"They're going to make us a laughing stock. My whole life is ruined. Gilbert the Vegetarian Griffon! Uuugh, I can't believe this. This is so lame!" She buried her face in her paws.
"You know what? If you're going to be like this, why don't you leave, huh? No one will know you're gone, no one will know you're a stupid vegetarian, and our lives would be all better then, wouldn't it? You can continue to be a vegan, while-"
"Vegetarian."
"Shut up! You can be a vegetarian..." she emphasized the word with as much venom and bitterness the world could possibly allow. "...in Celestia knows where, while I can live as if nothing happened. How about that? Everything's solved! NOW GET OUT." She waved her hand at him, not bothering to look back as she made her way to the table to continue eating.
He stood there, struggling to find the right words. First, he just confessed that he was a vegetarian the entire time. Then, his sister, who was forced to take care of him when their parents dumped them here to do Celestia knows what, just told him to leave his home.
"Gilda, I-I live here. I can't just get up and leave!"
"Sure you can."
"No, I belong here! You're my sister, so you can't just make me go away!"
"Uh-huh". She continued to eat, still not bothering to look back at him.
"Think about everything! I'm your brother! We lived together for years! C'mon, Gilda!"
"Sure. Whatever". She tossed a bone still covered in bloody tissue over her shoulder, landing right in front of him. He reeled back, looking at his sister.
"You know what? Fine! I'm getting out of this dump! Yeah, I don't need this place! I'm going to move to...Equestria! Yeah! Then, I'm going to go find that Pegasus you told me about and scared, because she loves animals, just like me! And I'm going to change my ways! I'm not going to be a ruthless, beastly, primal monster! I'm gonna be sophisticated, moral, and do the right-"
"Hey, you're not eating that are you?". She finally turned around to look at him, the second bunny dangling between her talons.
"Ugh!". He groaned, and walked over to his corner of the room where he had his belongings. He picked up his pouch which was always neat and ready to go, unlike Gilda. Then he began to pick up his pillow until he saw the hideously contorted face. He decided against taking it with him, and leaped out of the cave, not bothering to look back.
He was going to change. He was determined to turn a new leaf, and begin a better, brighter life--the life he always longed for...
Gilbert soared across the noon sky, the sun shining brightly above him, making him sweat as he flapped his wings and glided. He has been traveling for a few hours now, and still hasn't eaten anything yet as of today, his stomach growling in protest. That's another downfall of being a vegetarian griffon: meat, and only meat, can truly fill your stomach up for an extended period of time while giving the needed energy to...well, be a griffon. Nothing else. With only leaves and herbs, he could barely contain his hunger, feeling tempted at times to just swoop down at the animals that he would occasionally see on the ground. But then he mentally saw his victim alongside it's family pleading at him with begging eyes, and thought better of it. If suffering meant not killing cute, innocent beings, then he was willing to pay the price.
His wings and body started to ache as loosing stamina more quickly than the average griffon due to his diet. Despite his rather large size compared to other animals, he would be considered a scrawny loser to any griffon his age, younger even.
Just as he lost hope and began to dread the sinking feeling of going the wrong direction, he saw a familiar mountain range in the distance, creating a beautifully crafted valley towering over the landscape of lush trees, a smooth, sparkling river flowing in between. After a few more minutes, he approached the mountains and saw the grand, majestic city of Canterlot, its white towers dominating the mountainside. Below it, large green plains expanded throughout the countryside. On it, a small town stood, with the mountains of Canterlot presiding over it. He smiled to himself, and burned whatever energy he had left, propelling himself towards what he hoped would be his new home.
He finally landed in the middle of Ponyville, and collapsed next to the fountain as he panted heavily, his whole body stiff and throbbing. He hasn't been sore since he flew for his life after pulling a particular prank on Gilda--that apparently brought up infuriating memories.
After resting for a minute, he instinctively dunked his head in the fountain for desperately needed water. The water tasted pretty weird, but it felt so good to finally drink something, quenching his unbelievable thirst. By the time he was done, he noticed the fountain seemed considerably more shallow, making him confused.
Don't fountains come from a source of flowing water?
He looked up to see a bright yellow Pegasus with long pink hair standing across the fountain from him. She looked at him with an awkward, unsure face, as if she saw something gross.
"A-Are you, uh...new around here?"
Gilbert wiped his mouth, and replied after catching his breath. "Yeah, heh. I kinda flew a long way here."
"oh, I see..." She said, shrinking back a bit, but still carried the same face as she stared at the fountain and back at him.
"Uuuh, is there a reason why your looking at me like that?"
"Oh! Um, usually anybody around this area, including animals, know better than to drink from...this fountain."
"Why? It's a fountain with water. That's what they're for, right?"
"They're more...to just look at, not drink. It's pretty...dirty."
Well, that's kinda useless. "Why would that be?"
"Do you really want to know?" She said nervously.
"Erm...sure, I guess."
"Ok, ummm...the water isn't linked to an actual source, so it's not recycled. Pegasi just come to refill the water with small stormclouds when there's not enough water. The fountain doesn't filter, there's no cleaning agent like Chlorine, and sometimes more than often birds poop in there..."
She finished in a near audible tone, and her head was almost touching the ground, trying to hide behind her hair. Gilbert, on the other hand, was looking at the water the whole time, and he suddenly felt like throwing up, his face turning green.
How a griffon's face full of feathers managed to turn green at being nauseated, I have no idea.
"Uh, a-are you ok, mister?"
"Ugh, yeah, I-I think I'll be fine...hopefully."
"Here, let me take care of you, i'll let you stay at my cottage for a while."
"Y-You'd really do that for me?"
"Well of course! You're exhausted, and you need to be taken care of somewhere, especially if your new from around here!"
He was very surprised at such a kind gesture, having rarely ever been treated so kindly in the griffon society, especially from Gilda.
"Wow...I'm so grateful, I don't know what to say!"
"Your welcome, mister, uh--"
"Oh, I don't believe we introduced each other! I'm Gilbert."
"Nice to meet you Gilbert! I'm Fluttershy, I take care of all the animals around here!"
"Wait...your name seems familiar. Do you happen to know a griffon named Gilda?"
Fluttershy suddenly seemed scared, and ducked under her hair.
"Gilda? Where?! eeep!"
"Ah, I'm guessing your the one she scared. I'm sorry about my sister doing that, that was awfully mean of her."
"Wait, your her brother? You're not going to...HURT ME?!"
"What?! No! In fact, the complete opposite: I came for your help!"
Fluttershy collapsed with relief.
"Oh, ok then. I thought you were like...her. But of course i'll take care of you!"
They made their way towards her home, and Gilbert took in his new surroundings. The beautiful scenery, Pegasi flying about, some playing while others move clouds, and the ponies commuting through out the town. This was so much better than he could have ever imagined; it felt like paradise!
They neared her home, and Gilbert saw the incredible tree-home across the river, animals everywhere, full of life.
"Wow...that is AWESOME."
Fluttershy chuckled. "Oh, hehe. Thank you."
They stepped in front of the door and Fluttershy stopped.
"Uh, your not going to, like...eat anyone, will you?" Fluttershy said nervously, hoping to not provoke him.
"Oh right, I totally forgot to tell you this, but uh...I'm a vegetarian." He said awkwardly, his hand massaging his neck. Fluttershy seemed taken aback, staring at him with a confused look.
"You're a vegetarian...Griffon?"
"Uh, I hope so? Was I a Giraffe the whole time?"
"Wow, that's...unique! In a way, I'm pretty relieved by that, because most of the animals are scared of predators like you, so that's good!" She nodded approvingly.
Wow, she took that a lot better than Gilda... He thought, the clear image of her rejecting him only hours before.
Fluttershy opened the wooden door, and Gilbert made his way inside, seeing several animals staring at him in surprise. He knew what they were thinking, as did Fluttershy who spoke to them.
"Don't worry, everybody! He's not going to hurt you, he doesn't eat meat!"
The animals seemed hesitant, but soon they knew to trust Fluttershy, and relaxed considerably.
All except a particular bunny, who ran up to him and hopped up and down, waving his paws and screaming something he didn't quite understand. All he knew was that it was adorable.
"Aw, hi there little bunny! Your so tiny and cute, I'm so glad I don't eat nice bunniez like you! Your such a nice little bunny, yes you are!" He praised, leaning down to the ground and making baby faces.
Just kidding, sheesh. Calm your bowls. This idea just came to me, and I HAD to do it for the laughs. So there ya go, you just got trolled. You can blame Celestia for that.
Anyways, Amer. Gov't summer school course is pretty hectic due to the shortened schedule from four weeks to only three. That's pretty short considering it's originally an entire school semester, so yeah.
I'll start working on it after THIS WEEK, so expect an update somewhere NEXT WEEK.
aiight? gud (spelling mistakes are implied. Getting on your pet peeves, grammarz poeple? No offense, just for the laughs :P)
