A teaser · 7:02pm Jan 9th, 2017
Hachikō seemed so very large and Sumac felt so very small. From where he was sitting, the colt looked up at the diamond dog, having to tilt his head back quite a ways. The diamond dog was holding Silver Lining in his arms and stroking her neck with his broad, well calloused paw. There was a bond here, an old one, and Sumac likened it to butting into an ongoing conversation; any new bond of familiarity happened while intruding on the one already in place.
He wasn’t sure why he thought that, but think it he did. There was a certain level of awkwardness in meeting a friend’s old friend, but Sumac didn’t understand why. Perhaps he was having an introvert moment and overthinking everything involved. Octavia had warned him that most ponies, and for that matter, most others, didn’t share his quirks. His issues, his problems, they existed within his own headspace.
“Sumac, Pebble, this is Hachikō,” Silver Lining said, making an introduction. “Hachikō, this is Sumac and Pebble, my friends from school. My friends from school don’t seem to mind that I’m a griffon.”
“Wait, ponies mind that you are a griffon?” Pebble asked.
“Well, most,” Silver Lining replied, “but not a lot of my fellow students.”
“I wonder why that is...” Pebble, squished in a chair beside Sumac, looked thoughtful.
“Why what is?” Silver Lining’s head turned to one side as she waited for Pebble’s answer.
“Sumac and I, we’re different. A lot of the foals in Twilight’s school are different. We think different, we act different, but I don’t want to just say that it is just because we’re smarter. It’s more than that.”
“I have a problem with acceptance,” Hachikō remarked. “Many ponies are afraid of me, and for good reason. Much of my kind are not to be trusted.” The diamond dog mused on the issue for a moment, his face becoming wizened, and the grey patches around his eyes became far more pronounced as his wrinkles multiplied. “In my experience, ponies seldom ask why, but rather, go with what they know. Diamond dogs are dangerous and griffons are jerks. Changing these perceptions might be dangerous, maybe even fatal. It is better to go with the safe assumption.”
Vinyl’s head bobbed up and down and it wasn’t from the music.
“But Silver Lining is little and harmless,” Sumac argued.
“She still bears the stigma of her species,” Hachikō countered.
“I know what stigma means.” Sumac’s lips pressed into a straight, pinched line. “Trixie and I had to deal with it on the road. There is a stigma that belongs to ponies that live in wagons and roam the countryside. Many times, we weren’t trusted and we were asked to move along. It’s part of why we stayed in the cemeteries.”
“Already you are wiser than most your age.” Hachikō bowed his head, then, bending over, he placed Silver Lining down upon the floor. He patted her on the head as she scrambled off to go and be with her mother, her claws scratching and scrabbling over the stone floor. The diamond dog watched her go for a time, he sighed, and then he shook his head.
“Something wrong?” Pebble asked, cottoning on to the fact that something felt off.
“Nothing is wrong,” Hachikō replied, still shaking his head. “Time passes and my life grows ever shorter. I now have more years behind me than ahead, I think. I have watched her grow… When she is grown up, I will be very old, or maybe dead. I do not live a safe life.” The diamond dog sighed again. “I used to believe that the worst indignity that I could suffer was to die of old age. Now, as I grow older, as the battles become harder, as I have to rely more upon cunning and guile rather than power, I find that I want to die of old age, but I am now afraid of dying alone. I fear I have become unreasonable in my silver years.” The old diamond dog’s shoulders heaved up and down as he chuckled. “Enough about me, we have a wedding to celebrate…”
Not edited and maybe not the final product.
It's very soul-searchy, and it fits quite well for Hachiko's character.