The train ride from Griffonstone to Ponyville was going to be a long one, and the dang thing hadn’t even arrived yet. Grey still had another 10 minutes to try and resist his brain’s attempts to get him to just turn around and live out the rest of his days in that pile of garbage other griffons would call a nest, it would be so much easier!
He was snapped out of his mini-battle with his own brain when he saw the vibrantly colored Friendship Express (yes, that’s really what it was called) rolling down the tracks in the distance, about 5 minutes away, he estimated.
“Good,” he thought aloud, since nogriff and nopony were around to hear. “It was getting hard to not just fly back home.” He chuckled to himself; he was starting to lose his mental resolve. Though a nap on the long train ride would fix that. Probably.
The train pulled into the station, and a unicorn pony with a dark blue vest and a stopwatch for a Cutie Mark stepped out. He looked at Grey, who was both the only creature there, and entirely alert. Grey got the message and picked up his suitcases before flying on board the train, his gaze lingering on the unicorn for a moment.
Other than the timekeeper pony, Grey was the only creature on the train. Fine by him; he wasn’t going to strike up any conversation even if there was anycreature else here. He was planning on passing the time with a nap, maybe after a little bit of reading from his magic books.
Grey started his train ride activities by looking out the window, which provided enough of an interlude from his morning that he got to thinking about what he was doing. Thinking about leaving his parents and friends behind made him feel a little empty, but then he started thinking about Ponyville. That place is notorious for being ridiculously welcoming. But then he started thinking negatively, as he often did. How would he find work? It wasn’t like magic researchers would be in crazy demand in Ponyville, and even if there was work for one, they’d want a unicorn, not some griffon they’d never even seen in town before.
With his anxieties about the move starting to gnaw at him, Grey decided to do the thing he usually did to calm down, pass the time, or distract himself; read from his magic books. Doing so was actually quite a good idea, he figured, since he was basically headed towards an impromptu job interview on the topic.
He opened up his copy of Cantrips for Unicorn Foals and turned to the first chapter, which contained the simplest of simple spells, that, like the title suggested, even a child would have no trouble casting. If that child had a horn. Grey shook that thought out of his head and just focused on reading the book for now.
Grey flipped to the first spell listed in the first chapter with the intention of at least trying to cast it. Lux, the simplest spell there is, by many accounts. It was very simple in its description of how to cast it: just focus on the brightest thing in the room and try to replicate it. To most griffons, the open ended and vague descriptions on how to cast spells would leave them scratching their heads, but since Grey had been reading magic books since he was a cub, he understood what they meant, and how to cast them.
If he had a horn.
Again, Grey had to shake that thought out of his head. It was serving as quite the mental ball and chain, he understood that much. He had been toting this ball and chain for many years now, the actions and words of his peers adding to its weight. The weight pulled away at his ability to see the world positively, so it seemed to be a miracle to Grey that he was able to yank on the ball hard enough for this leap of faith, though he wasn’t sure if the ball was heavier or lighter because of it.
With the thought shaken, Grey looked up at the overhead light hanging above the aisle of his car of the train and squinted, both from the brightness of the light and from concentration. With the light slightly burned into his retinas, he looked over at his now open talon and narrowed his eyes in an attempt to force that light in the back of his eyes to materialize there.
After about 5 minutes of angrily staring at his own talon (which he was glad nocreature was there to witness or comment on), Grey gave up on casting Lux. It was far from the first time he had tried, but he had the slightest hope that his leap of faith in boarding the train would have unlocked something in him. He looked down and sighed, he still couldn’t do magic.
Grey rested his elbow on the windowsill and his head on his now structurally sound arm. His eyes fell onto nothing in particular, watching as the lifeless stone cliffs raced by in a blur that would have mixed the colors of the background, if the background had any color. His already slightly closed eyes narrowed a little more from the colors outside reflecting his current hopeless attitude perfectly; they weren’t going to cheer him up at all.
His arm that wasn’t on the windowsill rested on the cushioned seat, idly tapping it out of boredom. Grey noticed this and, to combat his restlessness, reached into his suitcase and produced his copy of Evocation for Self Defense. Even if he couldn’t cast a spell, he could at least make sure he understood them well enough; it wasn’t like he had anything better to do in the 6 hour train ride that he had failed to kill much time of.
Luckily for Grey, Evocation for Self Defense was a more mentally stimulating book than Cantrips for Unicorn Foals, so he was able to kill a solid hour just by leafing through it and pondering how he might be able to alter some of the spells. Though quite a while had gone by, no new creatures boarded the train at any of the 2 stops between Griffonstone and its current location, which was fine by Grey.
Grey knew, however, that the next stop was at a mildly more populated village than the other stops were, so there was about a 50/50 chance of at least one creature boarding the train there. He planned to be asleep by then, since he wasn’t in the right headspace to be having a conversation with anycreature. The next stop was about 30 minutes away, and Grey knew he’d probably need all 30 of those minutes to fall asleep, so he claimed all of his bench by lying down on it and closed his eyes.
30 minutes passed, and although he had tried his hardest to fall asleep, his anxieties about the move were still fresh enough in his mind to thwart his attempts. He kicked himself for worrying so much, since it meant that he’d probably have to talk to somepony; his peers told him often of how “annoyingly friendly” ponies are. Though, he figured, he ought to get used to talking to ponies more often, since he was moving into a town where he’d be the only one who isn’t a pony.
The train stopped at a small village, and though Grey thought he could use practice talking to ponies, he crossed his talons that nopony would board so he would be able to just sit in silence for the rest of the ride. But, as if fate was testing Grey, a poofy yellow maned pegasus with a white coat of fur boarded the train. Grey sat up, not wanting to look upset, since that would probably cause the pegasus to come over and ask what was wrong, ponies were usually nice like that.
The sound of hooves stepping lightly against the wooden floor of the train car got closer to Grey, which caused him to begin mildly panicking. Though he knew he could use the practice of talking to ponies, he really didn’t want to. But the pegasus was already sitting comfortably on the bench directly across from Grey, and despite his best efforts, his involuntary concentration on the mare naturally led to the two of them making eye contact soon after she sat down.
The pegasus politely waved at Grey, which he nervously and perhaps too quickly returned, then she did the one thing Grey hoped she wouldn’t: Try to strike up a conversation.
“So where are you headed?” She started, her voice was confident and relaxed, lacking the undertone of ‘I’m talking down to you’ that Grey had become so accustomed to in Griffonstone. Despite the sinking feeling in Grey’s chest that told him that this conversation was going to be a disaster, he tried his best to respond cordially and appropriately.
“O-oh! I’m moving to Ponyville,” Grey started, his nerves unhidden. “I’m kinda nervous about it, if that wasn’t obvious.” Grey added a little chuckle at the end of his statement, doing his best to keep the mood light. “I’m Grey, by the way.” He extended his talon for the pegasus to shake, though his thoughts fell to whether shaking appendages like that was normal for ponies.
“Charmed, Surprise.” The pegasus replied while extending her hoof and shaking Grey’s talon energetically.
Grey looked at the pegasus, confused. She had said two words in conjunction that could mean any number of things considering pony naming conventions. Was her name ‘Charmed Surprise’? Or was her name ‘Charmed’, and she was about to pull some kind of prank? She must have noticed Grey’s confused expression, because she relaxed backward into her seat with a slightly humored smile and cleared up his confusion.
“My name is Surprise. I get how that could’ve been confusing.” She chuckled a little, which both embarrassed Grey from his apparent inability to discern what Surprise meant, and calmed him, since her demeanor was calm, which encouraged him to be calm as well.
“So Grey, why’s a griffon moving to Ponyville? I figured Griffonstone was the best place for any griffon.” Surprise’s question caused Grey to narrow his eyes a little from annoyance, he’d never been asked this question before, but he didn’t like the assertion that all griffons were just okay with living in the squalor that was Griffonstone.
“Well first of all, I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Griffonstone, but that place is filthy.” Grey started, letting his agitation with Griffonstone show through. “And second, nothing ever happens there! I mean sure, Gilda’s been selling Griffon Scones, but they taste like she just baked some mud and called it food!” Grey’s anger was palpable, and though none of it was directed at Surprise, she was still caught off guard by it. Grey realized this and immediately retracted into the back of his seat and looked at Surprise, mortified that he had already made a bad first impression before he had even made it to Ponyville.
“Sore subject, huh?” Surprise regained her relaxed disposition quickly, which surprised Grey. He really thought that he had ruined his chance of friendship with this pony. “Sorry for assuming Griffonstone was the best option for every griffon.” Grey was a little taken aback that Surprise hadn’t gotten up and left because of his little outburst, but not so much that he wasn’t able to quickly regain his composure and respond.
“I-it’s really not a big deal, sorry for going off like that.” Grey started, trying to get past the emotional moment as quickly as possible. “Anyway, where are you headed?”
“Yeah,” Surprise started, also content to move on with the conversation rather than lingering on the emotional moment. “I’m headed to Cloudsdale, but I’m gonna be staying in Ponyville for a few hours for food and whatever. Can’t stay long though, being a Wonderbolt is great, but it also means I don’t get a whole lot of vacation time. Gotta keep up the training!”
“You’re a Wonderbolt? That’s so cool!” Grey responded with genuine enthusiasm; he was enjoying this conversation. “What’s it like? I’ve heard of the Wonderbolts, but Griffonstone doesn’t exactly stay up to date on pony culture.” Surprise looked at Grey, a little taken aback that Grey didn’t know what the Wonderbolts were, though she should’ve expected that the Wonderbolts existing at all wasn’t common knowledge among griffons.
“Oh, the Wonderbolts are a group of elite fliers,” Surprise started, trying her best not to sound condescending. “They were formed as soldiers for the Crown, but since the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Wonderbolts were needed less and less for fighting. Not like it was common before that, though.” Surprise paused for a moment to think, which gave Grey a moment to realize that he might’ve just made his first friend. “We mostly do flight shows where we perform a routine, you should come to our next one! Actually, wait a second.” Surprise reached into her saddlebag with her wing and took out a ticket, then extended it toward Grey. “Each member got a ticket to give to a friend, but all of my other friends are busy. You can see what we do in person!” Grey didn’t expect this at all, not the gift, and definitely not Surprise implying that the two of them were friends. He smiled, this friendship evidence that he might be able to make it, and politely took the ticket.
“I don’t know what to say except for thank you,” Grey’s wings flared from excitement. “And that I’ll definitely be there!” The two new friends continued their conversation, Grey interjecting with additional ‘thank-yous’ for the ticket from time to time. The time flew by, which is just the way of things when you’re spending time with a friend. That thought rose to Grey’s mind again, he had made a friend. He figured it awkward to ask Surprise if they were friends in the middle of the train ride, so he decided to do so once they both got off the train at Ponyville; there was no way they’d both end up walking the same way, right?
The train finally pulled into Ponyville station, an event that, at this point, was just being patiently awaited by Surprise and Grey. Other ponies had boarded since they met, but Grey had been so absorbed in his conversation with her that he didn’t really notice anypony else on the train, and they didn’t bother him and Surprise. They walked to the doors together, and Grey prepared to ask his question.
“Hey Surprise,” Grey started, shockingly, without a stutter. “Maybe a weird question but, are we friends now?” Surprise looked at Grey, obviously a little confused at the question, but she had been cordial this whole time, and she wasn’t about to make an obviously very anxious griffon even more so. She wanted to give him a good introduction to pony society, since she was well aware that not everypony was nice.
“Of course dude,” She answered energetically. The energy wasn’t falsified, though she was trying more than usual to be cordial. She had even avoided making a single sarcastic remark! She deserved a medal. “Gimme a hoofbump.” She extended her hoof, and though Grey did not know what a ‘hoofbump’ was exactly, he could make a guess, and lifted his own talon, curled into a fist. The two appendages collided, and Grey looked into his empty talon and realized something important.
“Shoot, I left my bags on the train.” There went the chance of him looking cool at the end of this interaction. He swiftly went into the car, grabbed his suitcases, and left. He looked at Surprise with a mildly forced grin, trying to maybe still look cool. Surprise looked him in the eyes, blinked twice, then spoke.
“Good luck, man.” Surprise lightly hit Grey’s shoulder with her hoof. “I’m rooting for ya.” Then she flew off.
With Surprise gone, the weight of the task Grey now had to do fell on him. He stood at the train station for a solid ten minutes, grappling with his situation fully for the first time. He had to find work in a field that probably wasn’t in high demand, as a creature that could only perform half of the job. And he had to do it all alone.