...and Nosy Reporters, and Bigoted Townsfolk
Grape Vine, even as he trotted into the outskirts of the very small town known as "Our Town", humming a song under his breath that went a little like "Gimme a T for Trottingham, gimme a T for Tenneighsee, gimme a T for Trixie, that there mare made a fool out of me..." with his wagon trailing behind him, smiled and breathed in the fresh mountain air. It had always been said the air coming up from the high mountain peaks where the Griffin Kingdom was located was always the coolest and most refreshing slice of air you could get, and feeling it blow across his purple colored fur, Grape Vine couldn't be inclined to disagree. But the cool mountain air, despite being a major benefit to his being, (His doctor had said it was what he need to relieve some excess stress. Not that he trusted this doctor for one minute, after all, he put a probe up his ass for crying out loud! He was pretty sure that counted as being violated.) wasn't the main reason he was here.
No, the main reason he was here in this little known town on the very edges of Equestria, and crossing over into the Griffin Kingdom's borders, was for one particular pony. Okay, when I say pony I should actually be saying a Griffin. A Griffin named Gilda. The one who made Fluttershy cry and the one who almost grabbed the lost idol of King Boreas? Yep, that is the exact one.
For well over six months now, they'd been trading messages back and forth after somepony unknown on a visit to Griffinstone suggested making a pen pal in order to make friends. To be honest, Grape never thought they'd get on as well as they did. After all, Gilda was at times rude, abrasive, and... Well, a Griffin, whom Grape still didn't entirely trust after the big Griffin Kingdom/Equestria civil war a few years back. And as for Grape, he was neurotic, a bit shy around meeting new ponies and a pony, whom Griffins still had a distinct dislike (Read: Hatred) for after losing the civil war quite badly. Of course, that outcome was inevitable, considering that they really hadn't had much in the way of a fighting force, and without a king, there was constant in-fighting within the ranks. Grape really thought they should be shifting the blame onto themselves, the idjits. Anyways, the point here was that there was no animosity between these two particular creatures. Tartarus, Gilda even gave them a nickname for each other, "The Two Gs"! Grape privately found this nickname a bit dumb and somewhat embarrassing, but kept it to himself. Would rather not tick off any Griffins any time soon.
The last time he did that, and it was all over a mare in a place called the Jug in Neigh Orleans where he was for a show, he ended up with claws in his face and him screaming all the way out the door. And it was all because of Grape, in the Griffin's mind anyways, thinking him having something to prove! ...Either that or it was because said Griffin didn't like the look of his face. (Grape honestly suspected the latter) But if it was because the Griffin thought he was trying to flirt with the mare just to prove something, that was completely untrue of course, as at that point in time Grape was dating Trixie. Yeah, the one that made a fool out of him. It wasn't her fault, to be honest Grape himself was the fool there. Two traveling ponies with a love for the limelight? Yeah, that could have only ended one way. The only good thing that came out of the incident at the Jug was a local band heard about it and wrote a song about it for their debut album which rapidly hit Gold and then Platinum status soon after.
"Welp, here goes nothing..." Grape muttered as he pulled his wagon over the crest of the hill, which was as purple as his fur and covered in grape vines and had his Cutie Mark, a grape vine covered musical note (Yeah, Grape had a bit of a ego, so what?) over the hill and into town, he took a quick gander around the small village. Every home, from down to its paint color to the bricks and mortar used, was exactly the same. This was a leftover from the previous mayor of the town. Grape had heard rumors of a tyrannical dictator of a pony named Starlight Glimmer taking away everypony's Cutie Marks and making them all the exact same until the Elements of Harmony showed up and stopped her and exposed her for the fraud she was. Turned out, she had her Cutie Mark, which was an equal sign like the others, painted over her real one.
"Ya can go tell that long tongued liar..." Grape Vine muttered to himself as he pulled into the village center, noted the looks everypony was giving him. It wasn't the look one would give a stranger arriving in a town, no, it was the look of somepony famous arriving in the town. You see, that was Grape's problem and one he got every time he pulled into a small town. He was famous, for traveling all over Equestria with his wagon full for guitars under the moniker "The Lone Guitarist" and playing good shows, completely free of charge for anypony who'd listen. Mind you, this did attract some unwanted attention, most of all from that annoying reporter Eff Stop who always seemed to be stalking him wherever he went for an interview, but we'll get to him later. Right now, we have another character in our tale to focus our attentions to...
"What are y'all looking at? Go back to yer business. And no, Ah'm not givin' out autographs."
Then, Grape was mobbed by ponies looking for exactly that, and the sound of a camera flash was heard in the background.
"Aw ponyfeathers..."
A white feathered face with purple feathers surrounding her yellow colored eyes peeked out of a window through the blinds of her house and saw the commotion. Her eyes widened considerably when she saw the unicorn pony in the middle of the mob, and recognized him from the description he'd sent to her in one of their letters back and forth to each other. She swallowed nervously. While part of her was excited to finally meet Grape S. (She'd never been exactly told what the S in his name stood for, and whenever she tried to inquire, Grape clammed up at once.) Vine, the other half was as nervous as a turkey before Thanksgiving day for in fear of discovering her secret. What would he think? What would he say? Would he laugh in her face, or worse, call her a freak just like all the others back in Griffinstone did? Gilda still remembered the day all too well...
Gilda was having a normal day, and for the first time in a long while she was actually truly smiling, she hadn't smiled this big ever since the days at Junior Speedster's Flight Camp with her ex-friend turned back to best friend Rainbow Dash. It had all started when she, along with that annoying, if not perhaps as annoying as before in hindsight came to her town and showed her what exactly she needed to do to get Griffin Stone back up and running to it's former glory. She'd even made a friend in a fellow Griffin named Greta. Of course, little did she know all that was about to change for her. You see, while Gilda sat passively and peacefully on a mat sucking away on a pacifier and in a diaper which adorned her rump, (She never had figured out why she had suddenly started on this, her best guess was that it made her feel safe and secure) a Griffin, a young one with grey feathers happened to accidently see Gilda in this state, gasp and fly off, her completely unaware of this little scene. Of course, this tidbit of gossip, as gossip always does, made it's way around town and soon Gilda, while she was cooking her now famous scones, found herself in the middle of a mob of her fellow Griffin-Kind. And in the middle of that mob was a Griffin with green feathers around her eyes and another Griffin, a much older one with a balding head and wearing a fez on top of his head. Gilda raised an eyebrow.
"You need something? I didn't accidently give anygriffin food poisoning from one of my scone batches didn't I?" Gilda inquired, her eyebrow still raised.
"Fuck you, Freak." Greta growled and threw a stone at Gilda, and soon the poor Griffin, who had done nothing wrong but indulge in her desires she wasn't ashamed about in the least, found herself pelted with stones with other Griffins soon joining in on the calls of "Freak", and other far worse names were called, like "Pedophile!" and such. The words stung Gilda like a Manticore's tail. But the worse bit of all came from Grandpa Gruff, who slashed her across the face, drawing blood and saying to her in an angry, yet frighteningly tranquil tone "You don't deserve to be my granddaughter. In fact, I dare say I never wish your mother, bless her soul, would have birthed you at all. In fact, she'd probably be as ashamed as I am to have an adult hatchling as a daughter!"
"N-No... G-Grandpa... Please..." Gilda whimpered, her eyes glistening with tears before she was soundly slapped across the face by Gruff sending her sprawling to the ground due to a Griffin's natural strength.
"Get out." Greta growled, and Gilda scampered off, still being pelted with rocks and called names all the while, while she freely sobbed. She knew the place she once called home was no longer that, and she'd never be welcomed back. And looking from above was that same young grey-stone feathered Griffin who whispered sadly to herself "By Boreas... What have I done?" as a small tear dripped from her eyes. Yes, she truly deserved that nickname of hers. That nickname? Gabby.
Gilda wiped away the tears that were dripping from her eyes and gathered as much confidence as she could. No, Grape Vine wasn't like that. He'd always been kind in his letters, maybe at times a bit snarky about things he disliked, but still kind and always asking about how things were going in her life. She knew in her heart he'd never say such horrible things as her kinfolk did back home. But a nasty little voice in the back of her head whispered "But then, you never thought your kinfolk would say such things to you did they?" Gilda shook away the thought and pushed it into the back of her mind and took a deep breath even as she hid away her foal toys and diapers in a chest next to her bed. "Fuck it." She thought, time to face the music...
Gilda, with a forced smile plastered on her face walked out of her home and onto the streets of Our Town, where the mob had dispersed somewhat and ponies were going back to their daily duties now that the initial excitement was over. Some waved at Gilda, whom she smiled back at. As for Grape Vine, he was fighting off a white coated pony with a light blue mane and wearing a tan fedora with a camera around his neck.
"Ah've told ya for the last time, Ah'm not going to be giving any damn interviews Eff!" Grape snapped and shoved the pony away but it seemed Eff couldn't just quite take the hint.
"Aw, come on, just one?" He asked, and Grape glared hard enough to make ice melt. Eff swallowed nervously and walked off. As soon as Grape's head turned and he saw Gilda his mood immediately improved.
"G-Gilda, is that you?" He stuttered out in a nervous and shy tone of voice, agape at finally meeting the Griffin he'd been pen pals with for so long.
"Yeah, it's me you dork." Gilda responded and noted that Grape was staring at her from behind his glasses.
"What, am I that hot that you immediately fall head over hoof for me or something?" Gilda commented and batted her eyelashes. Grape blushed heavily. He had to admit, Gilda was attractive... For a Griffin anyhow. He simply wasn't into that particular species.
"N-No, i-it's just that you didn't look like I was expecting, that's all." Grape replied, losing the stutter now that he was slowly getting more comfortable around Gilda. She did look and act like she was in her letters to him, all confident and tough looking, and a bit flirty as well. Gilda smiled back at him, and this time it wasn't forced, as she too slowly got more comfortable around him. He too was exactly like the letters described him. A bit nervous at first, like he had been in the first letter, but like in the letters that followed, she could see he was slowly getting more and more comfortable around her.
"Sooooo..." Grape began. "What is there to do around here?"
"Well, there's muffin baking competitions, racing for the pegasi, (And me) 'round here and that's about it really. Much as I hate to say it, this town is rather b-to the-o-r-i-n-g. It's that bad."
"N-Not even a music store...?" Grape asked, his voice coming out as almost a whimper. When Gilda shook her head, Grape muttered a few small curses under his breath and muttered "Damn it, Ah was hopin' to buy Lynyrd Skynyrd's latest album, "One More From The Road." to himself.
"Tartarus, the only other thing to do around here is talk with the other ponies and I'm not much the sociable type." Gilda continued. Grape raised an eyebrow. Gilda then answered Grape's unasked question.
"...Reasons." Gilda muttered to herself. "Now come on "G", I'll show you round town. Maybe you'll make a new friend, or get a new marefriend. Boreas knows you need one after that nasty breakup with that stagemare." Gilda commented.
"...Ah still hate that nickname." Grape muttered as they walked off.
Later that night, Grape found himself wandering to Gilda's home. He was the curious type. Gilda had been always rather vague about her hobbies, and why exactly she'd come to such an out of the way place to begin with. So, he figured it was high time to get the answers straight from the horse's, or Griffin's mouth in this case, as it were. With hints of trepidation, he walked up to Gilda's door and knocked. When no answer came, Grape sighed. Maybe she wasn't home. But then another thought struck him.
"Aw, screw it. After all, it's what they say. Nothin' ventured, nothin' gained after all." Grape mused and with a swift kick of his hind legs, bucked the door open. After walking in, he was treated to quite a sight. There was Gilda, drinking from a filly's milk bottle and in a diaper fashioned comfortably around her rump playing with some plush toy blocks on the floor.
"Gilda, are you ho..." Grape started, but his voice trailed off as his eyes widened somewhat. He knew he had something to say, but it had conveniently left his mind for the moment. As for Gilda, the bottle fell from her beak and she at once stopped what she was doing.
"N-No, g-go away! I-I don't want you to see me, not like this!" Gilda said fearfully, her eyes glistening with tears. "Now you'll just think I'm a freak, like all those other Griffins back in Griffinstone!"
Grape, seeing his possibly best friend reduced to nothing but a sobbing wreck curled up pitifully as if expecting to be hit, couldn't help but let a small tear slip from his eye at seeing the normally tough Griffin reduced to... Well, this. He trotted over to her, and embraced her in a hug, his front two forelegs wrapping around her as he let Gilda sob into his shoulder.
"W-Why can't I win?" Gilda blubbered. "E-Everytime I-I think things are going well for me, they just go right back to shit again! First it was me losing Rainbow Dash, and then it was my kinfolk in Griffinstone kicking me out! Kicking me out of my own town! N-Now I'll just lose you too!" She sobbed, and Grape's eyes widened. Was that really what she thought? That she'd think of him as a freak?
"No. No, you won't lose mah friendship. Even if you are an adult hatchling, Ah'll always be there for you, always." Grape reassured, and Gilda's face looked up at his, her eyes still glistening with tears.
"R-Really?" She asked, and Grape nodded in confirmation.
"Sure. After all, Ah've seen weirder. Much weirder. Now lemme tell ya a little story. Remember that Discord fellar? When he came to Ponyville and turned it into chaos central, he turned me into an actual pony made of grape vines, just for a laugh. Called me Baklava or somethin', know it started with a B. So compared to that, this is nothin'." Grape explained. "And that's nothin' compared to all the weird ass stuff that goes down in that town. There's a reason I don't go there very often. Heck, I think there's a mare there who hasn't quite grown out of her fillyhood."
"I... I think I know the one you mean." Gilda chuckled, all the while neither of the two friends noticing a light coated figure snap a picture with his camera from outside the window. He chuckled to himself as he ran off. Now, time to make some copies of this and spread it all over town! This would be news to be sure, and as for Grape, there wasn't such a thing as bad publicity... Right?
The next day, Grape, who was packing his things back up in his wagon and getting ready to leave town, suddenly heard shouting. His ears perked up, and his head whirled around to see a pink coated mare with a purple mane tied in a braided ponytail shouting at Gilda. Then he saw the newspaper on a nearby doorstep. He picked it up and read the headline.
Famous Traveling Musician Grape Vine Spends Night With Adult Hatchling!
Below that was a picture of him hugging Gilda while she cried. Grape growled and didn't even bother to read the rest of the story nor who even wrote it. He already knew. Cursing a certain reporter under his breath, he walked over to where Gilda was and his eyes widened before they narrowed. Gilda was in tears. Grape let out a small snarl. Nopony, and he meant NOPONY made his best friend cry and got away with it.
"Hey, what in the Nine Realms of Tartarus do ya think yer doing?" Grape shouted, his horn glowing with a purple aura.
"Teaching this FREAK a lesson she'll never forget!" a pony, Grape vague remembered to be called Knit Wit shouted, pointing to Gilda, who was trembling. All around them, the rest of the townsfolk had gathered to watch the developing scene.
"Honestly, wearing a diaper at her age and such! She brings shame onto Our Town!" The stallion continued. By now, Grape's mane had little purple embers in it. Despite her fear of Knit Wit and being outed, Gilda couldn't resist holding back a chuckle. It seemed, no matter what, everything about Grape would be purple.
"She's not a freak. You, however, that's a different story." Grape snapped, and Knit Wit gaped at him. "I thought this town was SUPPOSED to be about equality, ponies, and Griffins living in harmony together, despite their differences?" Grape inquired, his face looking as if he was considering transfiguring Knit Wit into either a toad or a bug of some sort.
"That's right, equality, but only for ponies and ponies alone! Griffins are freaks of nature, and she's even more of a freak than most!" Knit shouted back at Grape. Gilda was openly crying now, completely not caring if anypony saw her. The cycle, just like in Griffinstone was repeating once again! She'd been outed, and now she'd be chased out of town!
"You know, Ah know your cousins back in Ponyville. They even made some stagewear for me and helped promote my debut album! They'd accept any creature, no matter what their lifestyle choices may be. They'd be ashamed of you, Knit WIT, and completely disgusted with your behavior! Ah know for a fact Ah am." Grape snarled, his voice completely cold as stone. It was a calm and tranquil fury, which to Knit, who by now was the one doing the trembling, far scarier than Grape completely exploding at her. She looked around, and noticed all of the rest of Our Town was glaring harshly at him. He had no platform left to stand on.
"Get out." Grape said as his final words, and Knit Wit turned and ran. His job done, Grape walked over and pulled Gilda into a hug and whispered to her in a calm and reassuring tone "See, Ah told ya Ah'll always be there for you."
"T-Thank you..." Gilda whisper and kissed him on the cheek, which Grape rubbed with a hoof and let out a small "Huh." in response. A few days later, Grape, using the money from his debut album, along with the novel he was writing "Going Deep Under", a small music store called "The Guitar Station" was opened in town where albums of all kinds were sold and guitar lessons were given for a price. But that wasn't Grape's main reason for staying here. He knew Gilda might face further bigotry in the future, and so he would be there for her if needed. Grape, as he finished recording the notes to his latest song, smiled. The wandering musician had finally found a home. Oh, and as for Eff Stop, he eventually did get that interview... Which consisted of a singular punch to the face.
THE END
"You can go tell that long tongued liar, go and tell that midnight rider, tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter..."