//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Mommy Dash // by Noratcat //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash knew little to nothing about baby griffons. That much had been established. But she remembered a good friend that held a book. Rainbow Dash received a few stares as she trotted along with a baby griffon in tow. The rainbow maned pegasus took the looks in stride smiling nervously. The little griffon stuck by his adoptive mother very closely, never straying from her side. Rainbow Dash had tried moving faster, but the little one would simply speed up to be with its parent. Not that Rainbow Dash would ever admit to that. Her mind solely focused upon her destination; Twilight's house. That book on griffons would be really helpful right about now. Good thing she was just about there, all she had to do was open the door and... "And so I said to her-" The voice stopped dead in its tracks the moment its recipient noticed Rainbow Dash. It's recipient Twilight noticed Rainbow Dash. "Oh, Rainbow Dash, I didn't see you there." Twilight spoke noticing her friend. The owner of the previous voice stood silent for a moment, observing the tiny package at Rainbow Dash's hooves. "Is that?" Rarity pointed with her right hoof; the owner of the voice. "Perfect." Rainbow Dash thought sarcastically. It was nothing against Rarity herself, but Rainbow Dash didn't want anypony else knowing about her little "problem". Rarity trotted over to the baby griffon. The baby trilled and hid behind one of Rainbow Dash's legs the moment Rarity neared him. Rarity let out a tiny squee at the little one's action. "Goodness! That is so adorable!" Rarity cried. "It really thinks you're its mother." Rainbow Dash sighed lamentably. "Tell me about it. The little squirt won't leave me alone. It wouldn't even go with Fluttershy." Twilight let out a tiny gasp. "You tried to dump him on Fluttershy! Dash, I told you how damaging that could be for him!" "Well what was I supposed to do?" Rainbow Dash countered. "I don't know! Act like a mother!" Twilight hotly declared. "I'm not his mother!" Before the fight could get any worse, Rarity stepped between the two of them. "Now, now, Twilight, you can't blame Rainbow Dash. She was simply doing what's best for the child." Rarity defended. Rainbow Dash grinned triumphantly. At least somepony was on her side. "I mean after all, Fluttershy is responsible and would know how to handle this little dear." Rarity beamed. "Besides, Rainbow Dash isn't equipped for such matters." "Yeah I'm not-" Rainbow Dash began, but stopped midway. "What's that supposed to mean?" Rarity could pick up the trace of a tone withing Rainbow Dash's voice. Suddenly she felt nervous for a moment. "Well I merely meant that...it's just...well you don't seem like the kind of pony to handle a child." At first, Rainbow Dash paused. Shortly though, Dash could thought something to say. "I can so handle a child!" Flying up to her friend, she dug her face right into Rarity' with a snort. "What? You think I'm not up to it?" "I-I never said that." Rarity answered. Rainbow Dash wasn't convinced "No but you were thinking it! You probably think the same thing don't you!" Rainbow Dash pointed an accusing hoof towards Twilight. Twilight didn't know what to say. She knew it was Rainbow Dash's responsibility to protect and raise this child, but in all honesty, Rainbow Dash didn't seem like the kind to deal with children. Have them admire her, yes, but not deal with them. "Oh I see. None of you think I have what it takes do you?" Again, no answer came. "Well I'll show you! I'll show you all!" Rainbow Dash spied the book Twilight was reading earlier and picked it up before she slammed the door behind her. A few second later, the door opened again, as Rainbow Dash returned to pick up something she had neglected to grab, the baby griffon. Not sparing her friends a look, she took to the skies and headed home, book and griffon in tow. XXX "Okay. Where is that part? Griffons, griffons." Rainbow Dash flipped through the pages, searching for the entry on griffons. "Ah here it is!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she at last found the correct entry. She began to read the the first paragraph, learning all she didn't know about griffons. Even during her time with Gilda, she didn't know much about griffons. However, the entry she was looking for was about newborn griffons. It didn't take long for her to find the entry. Guuuuu A low but deep sound interrupted her chain of thought. Her eyes turned to the baby griffon, who was currently holding its claws over its belly. He looked up to Rainbow Dash with a pleading look within his eyes. "I guess you're hungry." Rainbow Dash noted. Flipping through the pages, Rainbow Dash looked for anything on what griffons eat. Reading, she could see their diets were closely the same to ponies, with the sole exception of eating hay and plants. Meat was a prime diet among griffons. Rainbow Dash could cross that off of her list of foods to eat. But what she was looking for was how to feed baby griffons. What she found nearly made her gag. "No way." She muttered. When feeding their newborns, adult griffons pre chew their food. That sentence alone was enough to halt Rainbow Dash in her reading. "Uh uh! I am not doing that!" She boldly declared "Warrk!" The baby griffon trilled, hungry for food (and attention). "Okay okay. Hold on I'm going to feed you." Looking through her fridge, she pulled out various fruits which she placed in front of the baby griffon. "Come on, eat up." She beckoned. The baby griffon merely stared at the fruit, cocking his head to the side, "Wark?" He trilled in a confused tone. In response to the request, the baby titled his head back and opened its beak. Rainbow Dash knew what it was trying to say. "You got to be kidding me." Apparently nopony was kidding. Reluctantly, Rainbow Dash nosed a fruit. There really was no way around it. Normally she would enjoy a good peach, but not today. With a quick snap, she bit into the fruit and began to chew. Slowly she went, grinding it into a fine mushy mass. Rainbow Dash could feel the taste leaving the fruit, her tongue now tasting something something bitter and devoid of fruit juice. When she felt she was done, she neared her head towards the griffon's open maw and let loose her mouth's contents, pushing with her tongue. The mush entered the griffon's mouth who gladly ate it. When it was done, the griffon trilled happily. "Wark!" Came its happy response. Rainbow Dash shivered at what she had just done, but halted when she noticed that griffon still had its mouth another piece of fruit, Rainbow Dash did the same the same thing as before, filling the young one's stomach, Rubbing it's belly, the baby griffon gave a sign it was satisfied. Rainbow Dash sighed. "Glad you're happy." She recited bitterly. She made a mental note to herself. "Buy baby food." XXX "Quit squirming." Rainbow Dash demanded. After eating, the baby griffon was starting to become active. Rainbow Dash was about to take them both shopping for baby food. Rainbow Dash was not going through that again. However, the baby was not making things easy. The moment they took to the air, the baby began to squirm upon Rainbow Dash's back. It made flying difficult nonetheless. Luckily, they managed to make it to the ground. "Stop moving! I'm just going to the store for some baby food okay? I don't want to play." Rainbow Dash warned. The baby continued to tussle against Rainbow Dash's mane as if it were a toy; biting down on it hard and pulling it just the same. "Ugh you're impossible!" Rainbow Dash groaned. If only somepony could take this little nuisance off her hooves, just for a moment. And then she spotted somepony, or a trio of somepony's. An idea struck her. Hopefully this nuisance would be taken care of. "Hey girls!" Rainbow Dash called. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetiebelle looked up as they knew the call was directed towards them. "Hey Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo happily called as her idol galloped up to them. All three girls immediately noticed the adorable specimen atop Rainbow Dash's back. "What's that?" Sweetiebelle asked. Rainbow Dash glared at the baby, "Some kind of bug." She replied with a hint of annoyance in her voice. Apple Bloom cocked her head. "Ain't that a bird?" The filly asked. Rainbow Dash didn't really care much about what it was; to her it was a bug. A cute bug that is. Not that she would ever admit that. In fact, she shouldn't even be thinking that. Why was she thinking that? "Never mind." She said both to the filly and to her own thoughts. "How would you girls like to do me a solid favor?" Just hearing that spurred Scootaloo's response. "Oh anything for you Rainbow Dash!" Rainbow Dash grinned at that remark. "Perfect, I need to do something, so I was wondering if you girls would watch this little guy for me." Rainbow Dash asked. "I'll throw in five bits for each of ya." She extended the offer. Five bits sounded good from the expressions Rainbow Dash noticed. Scootaloo beat her friends to responding once again. "You don't have to pay me Rainbow Dash! I'll do anything you want." "Yeah this could be a way to gain our cutie marks!" Apple Bloom happily cried. The three girls put their hooves together and cheered. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Babysitters!" Rainbow Dash had to grin at the enthusiasm the girls presented. And with this out of the way, she could have some peace. Removing the griffon baby from her back with some pulled hairs, she presented him to the girls. "Wark!" He cried, showing plenty of resistance as his adoptive mother pulled him off his favorite perch. "Cut that out!" Rainbow Dash harshly scolded. "I really don't have time for this." The baby griffon kept its mouth shut, doing what it was told for once. Rainbow Dash's face etched in surprise. Surprised or not, her package was delivered and now it was time to go. "Waarrk." A tiny trill behind her made her stop momentarily, but she kept going. "I'll be back soon." She muttered underneath her breath XXX "So how exactly do we babysit?" Sweetiebelle asked perplexed. That was a good question. The girls really had no idea on babysitting and what not. "That's easy, we just watch em." Apple Bloom suggested. Taking that into notion, the girls did what came to mind, watching the baby. The griffon stared up at his sitters with the utmost confusion upon his feathered features. "This is boring." Scootaloo griped. It was unanimous to all of them, this was boring. When they had started this job, they had hoped for a bit of excitement, or at least something to happen. They wanted their cutie marks, but they wanted to at least earn them in an exciting way. "I got an idea!" Apple Bloom suddenly piped up. "Why don't we take him into town?" "I don't know girls. Rainbow Dash wanted us to watch him." Sweetiebelle cautioned. "Duh! He'll be with us." Scootaloo reasoned. That seemed logical enough besides, what could happen? The baby on the other claw had had enough of these strange ponies. His mind was amiss with thoughts. He didn't want them, he wanted Mommy. Where was Mommy? "WARK!" He screeched. It grew into a more incessant cry as he flailed his legs and spread out his underdeveloped wings. Both girls covered their ears at the shrill sound. "Ugh make him stop!" Apple Bloom whined. The trio closed their eyes momentarily but when the opened them, the baby was gone. "Where'd he go?" Scootaloo cried. This was not good. She couldn't let Rainbow Dash down, not now. "There he is!" Sweetiebelle cried. The Cutie Mark Crusaders saw a trailing speck of golden brown, running right towards Ponyville. Seeing that, the Cutie Mark Crusaders trailed after him.