Grey was now pacing back and forth just outside the train station, his bags haphazardly dropped onto a bench. He knew exactly what he had to do next, but without Surprise to distract him with a conversation, all of the horrible little thoughts plaguing Grey’s mind came to the surface, unable to be ignored. He was pacing because, at this point, he was considering just riding the train back to Griffonstone, which he probably would have done if he had any bits.
Oh Celestia, he didn’t have any bits.
He started to panic externally instead of just internally, but still managed to keep it mostly under control. What was he going to do!? If he couldn’t get a magical research position today, he’d have literally nothing. Nothing at all.
He suddenly became aware of his external panic, and because he had no money, the only option was to go to the castle of Princess Twilight Sparkle, one of the most gifted magical minds of the time, and ask her if she needed a magical research assistant, and also convince her that a creature lacking any magic at all would be fit for the position.
He ultimately decided that he was in no state to be having the most important conversation of his life, and it really wasn’t that late, so he figured he could read for a while, since that always improved his mental state. He was making excuses, but the points he made to himself were at least mildly valid concerns, so off he went to find a nice place to read.
He selected a nice cloud that was out of the way and opened Fun Facts and Figures Volume 2, one of the few books he owned that wasn’t about magic, and began reading. Usually reading magic books was what he did to calm himself down, but he was trying to get his mind off of the gravity of his situation, and reading magic books was going to do the exact opposite of that. Soon enough, it was 4:30 PM; Grey had sat in the cloud for longer than he would have liked.
“Alright,” Grey thought aloud to himself in a whisper. “Time to bite the bullet.” He quickly put his book into his suitcase and produced a black clip-on bow tie that he thought looked nice on him, then put it on. He wanted to look nice for his visit to the castle, since it was pretty much going to be a job interview.
He grabbed his now closed suitcases and flew down from the cloud with a renewed mental vigor, though the heavy feeling in his chest refused to subside. As soon as he turned a corner and saw Princess Twilight’s castle, his flight slowed down a little; he still very much did not want to have this conversation. But he was going to.
He was now standing in front of the large, ornately designed crystal doors with his suitcases set down lightly to the left of him. He looked at the door, about a million thoughts rushing through his head, unable to take any action. He didn’t have a choice in the matter; he needed the job, but speaking with a princess? He was woefully unprepared for such a thing. Even though he had been planning this trip for months. He mentally kicked himself for preparing so inadequately and, considering his situation, he knocked on the door, then immediately considered flying away.
But something kept his talons and paws firmly locked to the ground. Call it fate, call it Grey subconsciously knowing that he 100% needed to have this conversation, but either way, he stood there, digging his talons into the ground beneath him, partially sullying the ‘slightly cleaner than usual’ look he had cultivated with his bow tie.
After what felt like a few hours of trying to grasp the Earth like he was preparing to throw it, Princess Twilight Sparkle, the paragon of friendship and the most adept magic user Equestria had seen for many moons, opened the door, prompting Grey’s grip to tighten.
“Can I help you?” The Princess didn’t seem irritated at a random visitor, in fact, she spoke softly, possibly noticing the painfully obvious anxiety her feathered visitor sported.
Grey stumbled before responding, his emotional center having been thrown off by meeting a pony he looked up to greatly. “Uhhhhh,” Grey’s eyes widened at his own behavior in front of a princess and mentally scrambled to say something, anything at all. “Uhhh, right! Um, ok here we go, hello, my name is Grey, and, uh, I get that this is probably a long shot, but I’m looking for work as a magic researcher and was wondering if you needed any help? And if not, maybe you could direct me to somewhere in town that needs that kind of help?” Grey wore an awkwardly wide smile as he awaited Twilight’s response, the true depths of his desperation hidden from the princess.
“Um, well, I don’t need any magical researchers as a job, but I would like to be friends with somepony who likes talking about magic!” Twilight’s response naturally crushed Grey’s spirit, though he didn’t show it in his expression. “I’m really busy today, but tomorrow you could come over and we could talk about magic, get to know each other?” Though, Twilight did seem genuinely excited to have a magically inclined potential friend, so Grey nodded, grabbed his suitcases, and flew off to nowhere in particular.
Despite the crushing defeat at the hooves of Princess Twilight, the fact that she wanted to be his friend filled him with a minor sense of optimism that he had lost when Surprise had to leave. He knew a thing or two about the town, specifically that there was an apple farm. If he had to work there until he found an opportunity in magical study, he would do it. His own optimism and determination surprised him, and he figured it wouldn’t last long, but off he went anyway to Sweet Apple Acres.
He removed the bow tie and tucked it safely back into his suitcase; he figured that a farm would value such a mildly fancy accessory. The farm was quite a short flight from the castle, and when he got there, he immediately saw an orange earth pony with a yellow mane with a brown stetson resting atop it manning a cider stand, though still obviously trying to set it up. He approached her, trying his best to look ‘hireable’.
The mare looked up and started speaking before Grey could. “Howdy, cider stand won’t be up till’ 6pm.” Grey blinked, a little confused at first, then quickly understood the pony’s assumption of his reason for approaching the stand.
“Oh,” Grey started, a slight shake in his voice from earlier still present. “I’m actually here because I’m looking for some work and figured a farm like this could use some help.”
“Oh, sorry sugarcube,” the orange mare replied, already putting a dent in Grey’s spirits. “We can’t really afford to hire anypony at the moment, and even if we could, we probably wouldn’t, we got everything handled here.” Grey didn’t want to start freaking out in front of a total stranger, so in lieu of using words, he simply nodded, grabbed his suitcases, and flew away.
Grey didn’t know where he was going exactly, but he needed to find a single place that would hire him. Alas, he went to a shop called “Quills & Sofas”, and they weren’t hiring. He stopped at a sweets store called “Sugarcube Corner”, but the owners seemed to have their reservations about having a griffon work there, though their words were courteous as they rejected Grey’s employment request. He even asked a couple pegasi if they knew whether or not the weather ponies needed any help, but every last one of them said they had enough workers.
All the rejection, no matter how reasonable and, frankly, expected it was, wore down on Grey over the course of the day, and it was getting harder to keep his composure. He walked into the park, which was completely void of anypony, which made sense because it was 8pm. Grey was glad there was nobody at the park; he needed some time alone. He had needed to stay composed despite his unstable emotional state, but now that he was alone, he could act as upset as he wanted.
That was until he heard a timid voice speak up with a slight undertone of caution being heeded. “Um, a-are you alright?” Grey looked up to make eye contact with a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and blue eyes. From her stance and how her eyes seemed a little afraid, Grey discerned that she was probably the shy type.
He almost snapped at her because of the million negative feelings swirling around in his brain, but smarter heads prevailed, and he instead had to decide whether or not to be honest about how horribly his day and life were going, which he ultimately decided that he would talk, but no specifics would be provided.
“Uhhh, well, not really.” Grey had surprised himself with the words leaving his beak, they were more honest than he had intended, so he backtracked with a half-lie. “Nothing too serious though, I was just trying to find a job and nopony was hiring.”
The pegasus tilted her head ever so slightly to the left, her eyes adopting a more concerned air about them. She then spoke with a gentler, less afraid voice. “Oh my, I’m so sorry to hear that. I wish I could help you somehow.” The pegasus lowered her head a little, she seemed to feel guilty that she couldn’t help a complete stranger that she had just met, which completely baffled Grey.
Grey looked up at the purple sky, it was now about 8pm. He shuddered a little at the thought of having to live outside at least for tonight, then looked back at the pegasus. She looked a little guiltier than she was before, like she was about to say something she would be ashamed of.
“I’m sorry about your job situation, but I really have to go home to my animals now.” Her head hung a little lower after she said this. Grey just looked at her, thinking that a verbal response reassuring her would be useless; such anxieties can’t be dispelled so easily, he knew that much. He nodded, then rested his head back onto where it was before, on top of one of his suitcases.
As the mare trotted away, Grey got to thinking about the day. It had gone exactly the opposite of the way he planned, and he couldn’t even afford a ticket back to Griffonstone. The ponies were nice here, nicer than he expected. He really didn’t want to leave. He thought for a moment, unsure of what to do next. He could very well just sleep outside, but that had a few downsides, namely the ruining of any chance of having a good reputation in this town.
Grey thought for a while, then made a hasty decision and took off with his bags for Twilight's castle. This was going to suck.
After a few swift knocks at the large crystal doors, Twilight Sparkle answered, immediately sporting a confused look at seeing her feathered visitor from earlier again. “Hi, I don’t mean to be rude, but I did mention that I was busy today and couldn’t hang out, in fact, I was just getting ready for bed.” Grey’s expression shifted from one of nervousness and shame to one of those two emotions with an added dash of guilt. He sighed heavily, then spoke entirely truthfully for the first time today since Surprise had to leave.
“Um, well, here’s the thing, I moved here from Griffonstone with about only half of a plan in mind. I figured I could come here and maybe get a job, but I knew it was kind of a long shot. I checked out a couple of other places for work, but nopony was hiring. I figured before I just found a nice tree to sleep under, I’d come here and maybe ask for some help if you could give me any. Celestia knows I need it.”
Princess Twilight blinked. She really had no idea that this griffon was in such a tight spot. It may have been his own fault, but she was shocked at the honesty coming from somecreature she had only met this afternoon. She thought for a while, then offered a proposition that would change the course of Grey’s life.
“Okay, I see that you’re in a bit of a tough spot.” Her voice was calm, calmer than Grey expected. “I have a proposition that you don’t have to accept, but I have no reason to think that you wouldn’t. I have a spare room in the castle that you can stay in free of charge, and I will provide the essentials.” Grey’s eyes widened significantly, but he remained silent. “But, if you accept this offer, you will have a list of responsibilities each day, like cleaning certain rooms and running a few errands here and there. Do we have a deal?”
Grey’s eyes remained wide, at a loss for words. He managed to shake his shock off and shakily respond to the princess. “O-of course, I’d have to be stupid to refuse a deal like that! Thank you so much, I can’t even say thank you as much as I need to!” Twilight stepped aside and gestured for Grey to come inside, then started walking to lead him to the spare bedroom.
Twilight opened the door with her magic and let Grey inside, who set his suitcases down next to his new bed. Neither creature spoke a word, Twilight with tiredness from her busy day, and Grey from his shock that this was his new home. Twilight’s eyes widened for a moment from a quick realization, then got Grey’s attention.
“Um, sorry, but I never got your name.” Twilight put one hoof on the back of her head and assumed a slightly embarrassed smile.
“Oh, my name is Grey. Thank you again for letting me stay here!” Twilight chuckled a little at that.
“Should I be expecting a lot of you thanking me?” Twilight asked with a grin on her face. She could tell that Grey was incredibly nervous, and she wanted to provide some levity.
“Yeah, probably.” Grey replied with a small smile. “I’m sure you’re tired, I’ll get settled on my own so you can get to bed. And thank you again.” Twilight let out a small chuckle at the third thank you and turned to go to her own room after closing Grey’s door with her magic.
Grey didn’t have anything to unpack, so he just laid down on the comfortable luxury bed; he had lucked out in the most impossible way. He scooched under the covers and got comfortable, then, as he always did when he was getting ready to fall asleep, he reflected on the day. He figured that he was the luckiest griffon in the world, but he also felt the pressure that came with his deal. He had to make sure he worked his hardest for Twilight, there was no way he was risking losing this incredible deal.
Grey closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, the anticipation of the next day full of tasks and possibly magic discussion with the princess keeping him away from it for a little while.
Grey had been given a boon, one that he wasn’t going to let slip away. He was fully aware of his own anxiety surrounding living in the same house as his idol, but he was too excited for tomorrow to care about that at the moment. Today had been the worst day of Grey’s life, but with Twilight’s unexpected generosity, it had quickly turned into the greatest day of his life. Though tomorrow’s work was likely to be hard to justify what he got, he couldn’t be more excited for it.