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// We Cannot Wait for a Second - Gilda 
// Story: Post-Ponies 
// by RomanCandle 
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Griffonstone was in chaos.

Not like it had been in a particularly good order beforehand, but things kind of worked. Griffons might squabble and snap at each other but by and large they all kind of kept to themselves. And, heck, I'm no grand diplomat but I'd like to think I'd been helping spread some camaraderie around. Or at least getting everyone to be a little less of a jerk to each other in exchange for scones.

But when the Sun didn't rise, feathers hit the fan. A few minutes and nobody cares - so a Pony Princess overslept, big deal. A few hours, though, and suddenly every talon is itching to tear down your door for firewood.

Lovely place, really.

That's not to say all Griffons are jerks, just that - well, most of us are. Kind of a default setting there. We're working on it. And by we, I mean myself and about a dozen other Griffons who took the "magic of friendship" to heart. Or maybe just my scones. I don't care, really, except that when Griffonstone was tearing itself apart they came with me instead of after me.

I don't know too many of em that well - I'm no saint. But I know Greta and Gabby by name, and the rest seemed to like me well enough to stick around. There's a small kid, too - I didn't know their name. I'd been a bit too busy to take down everybody's name.

We'd been flying for a day or - whatever. Do days exist without a Sun? Does it matter?

Anyway, we'd been flying for a bit when we came to the ocean shore. Gabby and Greta were having a...discussion about what we were going to do next. I'd already made my opinion on that matter clear.

I fluffed up my feathers - Griffonstone was cold enough on a sunny day; when you skip the Sunshine it starts to get a bit nippy. I was thinking about tucking my head under my wing and catching a quick cat-nap when that darned kid had to poke his beak in my business. Literally. As in, he poked my ribs with his beak.

I snapped my wing out in surprise "-What?" and beaned the kid right in the head. Wings might look fluffy, but there's a ton of muscle behind em, so that kid went rolling beak over tail. It would've been kinda funny on a better day. 

"Ahh jeez." I stepped over and picked the kid up. "You okay there short stuff?"

He looked up at me with the fiercest look you can manage when you're a third the size of someone and holding your hands to your face. " 'M not short."

I scoffed. "You're short to me. How's your beak?" I pulled his talons away. He winced a tad, but there was no blood. "You'll be fine, kid. Go find your mom. Or dad. Whatever." I turned back around to the cliff.

He waddled over to me, for some reason. "I had a question."

I didn't look at him. "Go ask your parents, or something."

"I had a question for you."

I turned an eye towards him. I considered for a moment telling him to scram - not like I owed the kid anything - but instead I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Fine."

He waited a moment, scratching at the dirt. I was about to tell him to stop wasting my time when he finally figured out how to talk again.

"Where are we going, anyway?"

"South."

"But why, though?"

"Cus the Sun's gone, doofus."

I could hear the frown in his voice. "That's not what I meant. Why are we heading there, instead of staying in Griffonstone?"

I pinched my beak-ridge. Ponies aren't the only dense ones, I guess. I waved the kid over with my talon. He shuffled up and I pulled his head up against mine so he was looking at the same thing I was.

"Look, kid. What do you see that way?"

He frowned. "Nothing. There's no light."

I bopped his head. "Look at the whole thing, shorty."

It took him a minute, but I watched his head move around and eyes squint as his tiny little bird-brain tried to put it together. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "I guess there's....less stars?" I nodded. He frowned and started to argue "But what does that have to do with -"

I pinched his beak shut. He glared at me. I ignored it. "There's less stars because, and listen closely kid, there's something bright down that way that's making it hard to see them. I'll give you three guesses why that's important." I didn't. "It's cause light and heat are usually close together. Griffonstone is gonna get awful cold awful fast, and I don't know about you, kiddo, but I don't wanna see how cold it can get. Did all that make it into your head?"

He nodded and didn't say anything. I thought for a minute I was gonna get my nap right then and there, but then he opened his mouth again. "...What do you think is down there, Gilda?"

I didn't answer for a time. I waited for the maps I'd seen - and the warnings that had been scribbled down at the bottom - to fade from my memory. "...What's your name?"

He shuffled his feet. "...Graff."

I sighed. "Right. Okay. Well, squirt - what do you know about volcanoes?"