//------------------------------// // Making Friends // Story: Displaced // by LeafBug //------------------------------// Blearily opening his eyes to the early morning sun, Albus let out a large yawn. Standing up and stretching, he absentmindedly started walking to the bathroom. Just as he was about to put his foreleg down, he stopped. Wait... Looking down, he saw himself about to step off of a 30 foot drop onto the ground, and wisely decided to stay on his perch. Right, fell asleep in a tree. He gave a shiver and brushed some of the morning frost off of his plumage, mentally noting, That wasn't the best idea. Sitting down for the moment, he tentatively extended his wings, waiting for the sharp pain he had felt yesterday. It never came. Perplexed, he experimentally flapped his wings a few times. Lo and behold, all better! Looking around him, he noted that, except for the balcony he had used last night, there was no particularly safe way of getting out of the tree. The problem with that option, however, is that the same unicorn he had woken up last night was currently on that balcony, apparently enjoying a book, some tea, and a blanket. Thankfully, she was facing the town, and not him. He was momentarily mesmerized by the purple glow surrounding the pony's horn, similar auras around the book and mug, before noticing something a bit more relevant to his current situation. It's a nice thought and all, but I doubt it's all that comfortable to be reading out on the balcony on a cold Winter morning. To hell with your tea and blanket, Pony, you're fucking insane. Regardless, this didn't help his situation at all, and was about to start looking for another way down, when a voice made him jump. “Not going to stay for some tea?” The question was completely out of the blue, and the pony still had her back turned to him, and he wondered for a moment if she was talking to someone else before the unicorn continued. “Yes, I know you're up there. Stay, have some tea.” With that, he noticed a second mug, steam coming off the top, levitating next to the apparently telepathic pony. Wait, can they read minds? Dash said unicorns could use spells, didn't she? This train of thought wasn't getting him anywhere, so he resigned himself to his fate, sighed, and decided to take the pony up on her offer. To his credit, he landed quite nicely on the balcony, only shaking it slightly more than a 7 on the Richter scale would. To her credit, she only jumped a little bit. Sitting down next to the pony, he took in her appearance. Her coat and horn were a light shade of lavender, with her mane being a darker purple, though not quite the lustrous amethyst that was Rarity's coiffure. Two small stripes, one a light blue and the other a rosy pink, ran through her mane side-by-side; but other than that, the blanket covered most of her features. Taking the mug that she had offered him sometime during his observation of her, the lavender pony broke the silence with, “You snore really loudly.” Giving a snort of laughter as he tested the temperature of his tea, much too hot for now, Albus replied with, “Well, that's one way to address the guy who slept on top of the library and, evidently, kept you up all night with his monstrous snoring. Though I was expecting a bit less civility.” The unicorn gave a small chuckle, before giving her own retort of, “Yes, well, I figured that sleeping out in the open in the middle of a Winter night was enough of a punishment for disturbing my sleep a bit.” She paused before continuing with, “Speaking of civility, my name is Twilight Sparkle. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?” Classy. “I've been called quite a few things in my stay here, but you may call me Albus Vires. A pleasure, Ms Sparkle.” Looking over at him for the first time to offer a smile, Twilight instead had a look of surprise for a moment before regaining her composure, “Quite, Mr. Vires. I have to say, I thought you were much smaller when I saw you sleeping...” Feigning indignation, he replied with, “Are you calling me fat?” This sent Twilight for a loop, and, blushing profusely, she attempted to sputter an apology for a second before noticing the mischievous grin adorning the gryphon's face. Pouting, she called him out on it. “Poor show, Mr. Vires. And here I thought you were quite the gentlefowl.” She sounded somewhat relieved, and Albus picked up on it, so he responded more casually with, “Only when the situation dictates, my good pony. And please, call me Albus, I'm not the biggest fan of unnecessary formalities.” Letting out an almost explosive sigh, Twilight said, “Oh thank Celestia, it's way too early for that nonsense, anyhow. I'm honestly really glad to drop that whole 'unending pleasantries' act. I had to deal with pompous nobles almost every day back when I lived in Canterlot; the niceties and 'proper' responses got a bit stale after a while, you see.” Celestia? Canterlot? I can probably feign-, well, it's not really 'feigning' if I actually don't know, ignorance on the part of the second one if I play the 'foreigner' card, but she used 'Celestia' like I would use 'God'; I'm assuming it's some sort of religion, but I don't want to risk asking about it. For all I know, it could be like asking someone on my world, 'Who's that God guy they keep talking about'? Regardless of his internal monologue, Albus played his part in the conversation with, “Oh, that's fine, I understand. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing, but too much of something like that would probably make me go postal.” Twilight seemed confused. “Postal? I don't get it...” Cursing his ignorance of usable expressions, he replied simply with, “Insane,” and took an experimental sip from his mug, pleased to find it drinkable. Twilight still seemed perplexed, “That's an odd expression for something like that... “ Albus opted for a shrug and a change of subject, eager to avoid explaining a postal worker's homicidal rampage, “Yeah, I guess. So, Twilight, I assume you're the librarian here?” His companion visibly perked up at that, responding with, “Oh, yes. I've always loved books, so living in the library is a bit of a dream come true,” at this, she frowned a bit, “It's a shame it doesn't see more use though; I can understand the fact that the library isn't exactly a hot hang-out spot, but it would be nice if ponies here took more of an active interest in reading.” The gryphon gave a wistful smile at this, crimson eyes a bit glazed over. “Yes, it's nice for your work to be appreciated, isn't it? I'm glad that you keep working here despite the lack of interest; it's always a shame when somepony just quits in life,” he stopped, lost in thought for a moment, before continuing with, “Speaking of interest, I would like to read up on a few subjects, if you don't mind.” Twilight looked delighted at the prospect, “Oh, of course! Which subjects, exactly? We should be able to accommodate your needs, assuming it isn't anything too exotic.” We? “I need a few books on anatomy, both that of ponies and gryphons, if you could, Equestrian history, and the dynamics of flight,” the gryphon rattled off. Seeming a bit confused by his choices, Twilight shrugged and with a short, “Be right back,” was walking back into the house, book, blanket, and mug in tow, shouting out, “Spike! Help me find some books!” Spike? Must be the other person she was talking about. As per usual, Albus took the momentary silence to think upon his situation, gazing out upon a slowly awakening Ponyville. It was nice that the locals were apparently so friendly, and it certainly worked in his favor, but he wasn't really liking the idea of putting his life into the hooves of these ponies. Unfortunately for him, he didn't have much of a choice at the moment. Come Spring, he could probably get by with just a quality net and some waterside property, but for now he had nothing but his wit and his... friends. Were they friends? Dash, maybe. She seemed like a good enough pony, and he sort of trusted her. More than anything else in this place at least. Rarity and Twilight were more... acquaintances. He paused in his thoughts for a moment. Acquaintances. The word brought back bad memories, namely that of getting his dumb ass ran over by a truck. But was it really so bad, being brought here? He wasn't exactly much of a socialite as a human, and he had never even known his family. His life wasn't a sob story, even with him being an orphan since birth. All of his friends had drifted away at some point, both physically and mentally. Plus the fact that he probably should be dead, and looking a gift horse in the mouth was generally a bad idea. This was a good opportunity for him, a new life where he wasn't stuck in a dead-end job working for some bigwig company. And it's not like being changed was all that bad, either. Given, he would have probably preferred to stay human at first, but he was getting used to the idea of being a gryphon. Besides, gryphons were awesome. He liked being awesome. The whole thing would be just that much better once he got the hang of flying. I need a job. What could I do for a town of ponies? Maybe they have a blacksmith, and I could try getting an apprenticeship or something. Looking over himself, he gave a smirk. I certainly have the build for it now. “Hey, gryphon guy.” Albus blinked in surprise. That wasn't Twilight, unless she suddenly turned into a guy and forgot his name. Turning around to face the doorway, there seemed to be a pile of books with purple reptilian legs and a pudgy green belly talking to him. Of course, that was when the pile of books lowered, and revealed the speaker to be a really short... bipedal lizard thing. He, at least Albus thought it was a he, based on the voice, had green spikes cresting the top of his head and running down his back, ending on a swaying purple tail that had a broad, spade-like tip. “Twilight said she had some errands to do before the snowstorm today,” continued the small reptile, “So she told me to give you these books and apologize for running out on you like that.” Taking the books under an arm from the little guy, Albus said, “Thank you. The name's Albus, I assume you're Spike?” The little library assistant beamed, “Yep, that's me. Twilight's number 1 assistant and Ponyville's resident dragon!” ...dragon? Must be a baby, or something. Wait, snowstorm? Turning his attention to the skies, sure enough, there were pegasus ponies flitting about, collecting clouds and combining them into one, steadily growing cloud. Giving a thoughtful hum, Albus turned back to Spike and asked him, “Do you know what time the snow is supposed to start? They don't seem all that close to finishing.” Spike thought for a moment before replying decisively with, “Nope!” Gee, thanks. Regardless, Albus shrugged and said, “Eh. Oh well. Thanks anyway, and tell Twilight I said thanks for the help, alright?” Giving a nod, the tiny dragon walked back inside, saying over his shoulder, “Will do. See you around.” Now that he was alone again, Albus took a look out at the town. Obviously, nopony was setting up their stalls or whatever in the marketplace due to the apparently scheduled storm, so there were very few ponies actually out and about at the time. Hmm.... high up on a balcony, nopony around to see if I fuck up... seems like a good opportunity to try and fly, maybe. Or at least glide, just so I know what it's like. This, of course, wasn't his brightest idea, but Albus Vires wasn't exactly known for being the sharpest tool in the shed; just look at how he got to this place. So, before that nasty little thing known to some as 'Common Sense' could kick in, he jumped off of the balcony and snapped open his wings, books secure under his arm. The sensation of air flowing around his wings was one he was unfamiliar with, quite obviously, and he wasn't quite sure how to describe it. Neither did he really know how to feel about falling the way he was. Which, thankfully for him, was with more forward momentum than downward. While his ignorance thankfully didn't throw him straight into the ground, as the air foils of his wings and the magic in his body took care of that little fact for him; his ignorance of how to land from a glide was made all too obvious when he had to barely avoid running into a building because of his forward momentum. He did, however, bowl over a certain canary yellow pegasus, nearly dropping his books in the process (honestly, it was a feat in itself that it hadn't happened yet), and somehow ending up on his back, stars in his eyes and vision spinning. After righting himself and shaking off the impact, much like he had done yesterday, he checked on the pony he had accidentally smashed into. Hey, it's that one that fainted when I looked at her. Wait, if she fainted from me looking at her, what... His answer was found in the form of a cowering yellow and pink pony, shrinking even further into herself (somehow) when he turned his gaze to her. Oh. These ponies are kinda sensitive.... “Hey, uh...” he paused when she gave a start at his voice, but continued anyway, “Are you alright, miss? I hope I didn't hurt you or anything...” he trailed off, shifting his weight awkwardly. “I'm okay...” Say what? “Pardon?” “I'm okay...” Letting out an explosive sigh of relief at her barely audible response, he said, “Oh, good. I was afraid something was wrong. Other than the whole 'knocking you to the ground' thing, at least,” carefully setting his books down on a dry patch of ground, he offered a talon 'palm' up to the still huddled pony. “Need help?” Poking an eye out from behind her rather long pink mane, she gave a barely perceptible nod before putting a hoof on his claw and using it to help push herself up, muttering a barely audible “Thanks...” Albus just smiled, “Not a problem, ma'am. I'm terribly sorry for running into you like that, I'm, uh, not used to landing with only three legs,” he said, gesturing to the books still on the ground before picking them back up. “Again, terribly sorry. I'll be out of your mane presently.” Best part about that was, technically I wasn't lying. As he turned to leave the shy pony, he was pretty sure he heard her say.... something, he wasn't really sure. Sure enough, when he glanced back at her to make sure, she was standing there with a hoof out in the universal 'hold on' pose. Of course, once he made eye contact with her she retracted her hoof and hid behind her mane again. “I'm sorry, did you say something?” She seemed to stop and collect herself for a moment before coming out from behind her mane.... sort of, and said in a much more audible voice, “I wanted to know if you got that fish I left you...” Realization struck him like lightning. This was... what's-her-face that Dash mentioned! Butterfly... no that wasn't it... erm.... Fluttershy! That was it! ...fitting name. Before he could stop himself, he asked, “Oh, so you're Fluttershy?” This caused her to give him a strange look, “How did you...?” Albus was sure he would be blushing if he could, and amended his blunder with, “Oh, sorry. It's just that Dash said that one of her friends, which is you, I guess, left me that fish yesterday; and I was just anxious to thank you, I really appreciated it. My name is Albus Vires, it's a pleasure to meet you Miss Fluttershy.” Geez, when did I get so polite? This seemed to make her come a bit more out of her shell, prompting her to respond with, “Oh, well, it's just that I had seen you while I was out looking for any animals that may have gotten up early from their hibernation, and I... kind of chickened out when I tried to approach you... so I thought that I should at least give you some food if I wasn't going to help you get to town, and I had some left over fish from when I was helping the local wolf pack get food and...” Blimey, this girl can talk once she gets going... “...so I asked my friend Rainbow Dash to go and help you, and, um... I guess you would know the rest better than I do...” Other than the whole 'giving him food' thing, one thing happened to stand out to him through that whole thing. “Wait... I'm really thankful for the fish and everything, but why exactly were you out looking for animals that woke up too early?” he asked, a perplexed look on his face. And, for that matter, how close is Spring if animals would be waking up? She seemed surprised, replying with, “Oh, that's right, I suppose you wouldn't know. I'm Ponyville's resident animal caretaker, which means that I provide food, shelter, and... well, care, for the animals of the forest. I was out looking for early risers because it's really bad for them to wake up too early; they would have nothing to eat if I didn't help them, and I just couldn't bear the thought of a cute little bunny or mole starving because I wasn't there to help them...” Hmm... pegasi that control the weather, and now a pony that takes care of what should be wild animals. Weird. It's like the natural order of things doesn't exist around here... Regardless of his confusion, he replied pleasantly with, “Oh, that sounds like a nice job. I don't know if I could do it, though. I don't think woodland creatures would much like being in the presence of a predator like me,” he mused aloud before a thought struck him, “Say, do you happen to have any more fish? I'd be willing to work for them, if you don't plan on using them to feed the wolves again or something.” Fluttershy seemed alright with the idea, replying with, “Oh, that would be nice. I have some extra that the animals don't need, and all of the carnivores that would normally eat them... well, the eagles and hawks are migratory, the bears are hibernating, the owls don't eat fish, the wolves don't really like me doting on them too much...” Albus was delighted, “Oh, thank you! Anything you need me to do, just ask! I'm totally in your debt!” he exclaimed, grinning ear to ea-...wait... Fluttershy bashfully pawed at the ground before saying, “Oh, no, you don't have to do anything, I don't want the fish to go to waste after all, and you need them more than I do...” “Ah-ah-ah! None of that, Miss Fluttershy. Whether you like it or not, I'm in your debt already for the fish you gave me. I am at your service whenever you need me, at least until I feel my debt is paid. Though, probably even after that, because I'm such a nice guy.” Albus retorted with a wink and a grin. A blush rocketed across the pegasus' face, “Oh! Well, if you insist... I suppose I could find some work for you if you really feel so adamant about it, but for now follow me and I'll get your fish for you,” the pony said, turning and trotting away. Falling into step behind her, he took a moment to observe her cutie mark, namely 3 pink butterflies. 'Butterfly' is a more fitting name than I thought, heheh... During the walk to Fluttershy's house, a rather long walk from the middle of town, mind you, Albus took note of how hard it was to walk with 3 legs when in a quadrupedal form. At least we aren't flying there, I don't think I could even get off the ground, much less fly when imbalanced like this... Sure enough, however, they arrived at Fluttershy's house; which quite reminded Albus of a hobbit hole from Lord of the Rings. Except with a lot of birdhouses and rabbit holes and the like. Her abode definitely screamed 'animal caretaker', that's for sure. Looking around, he commented, “Homey.” Fluttershy smiled and was about to reply when the first snowflakes started to fall. Giving a growl and cursing his luck, Albus muttered, “Of all the times to get caught out in the snow, when I have books...” Fluttershy was quick to put his fears at ease, though, when she said, “Oh, dear. Please, do come inside. This is supposed to be quite a storm, the last of the season, in fact.” Note to self, last storm of the season, Spring soon... Albus sighed with relief, “Oh, thank you, Miss Fluttershy, these are the library's books, and I'd really rather they didn't get wet...” Nodding, she responded with, “Oh, but of course. I couldn't just leave you out here, since you don't have anywhere to stay...” Oh yeah, I'm still homeless. God, this pony is an angel or something. “You're a godsend, Fluttershy. I find myself ever more in your debt, heh.” Albus said, though that last part was more to mess with her than anything else. On her part, Fluttershy looked bemused by the strange expression before flustering over his second proclamation. “Oh! Uh, you don't have to-” Cutting her off before she hurt herself or something, Albus said, “It's fine, Fluttershy. It's not like I'm offering myself to you as your slave. Just know that I plan on paying you back someday. Also, we might want to head inside before the wind picks up...” Fluttershy looked a bit embarrassed by his word choice for a moment before realizing they were still outside. “Oh, dear. Yes, we should probably do that, shouldn't we?” she asked rhetorically with a small laugh, before entering her house and gesturing for him to do the same. Upon entering and closing the door, Albus immediately noticed that the animal caretaker motif, obviously, extended to the inside of the house as well. Placing his books on a small table, he reiterated his opinion of the place. “Yeah, definitely homey.” The hobbit-hole-esque house was a very cozy affair, and it was pretty aesthetically pleasing in general, even with the multitudes of birdhouses, mouse holes, perches, etc. “Oh, thank you. I've put a lot of work into this house to make it as comfortable as possible for the creatures I take care of, but it's nice to know that someone else thinks so...” Fluttershy trailed off for a moment before seeming to remember something, perking up and saying, “Oh! I forgot your fish, I'll be right back.” Oh, right, the fish. At this thought his stomach gave a gurgle. That sounds good right now, actually. It's a good thing I apparently don't have to cook them, otherwise I-.... wait, I can't eat them in here! I'd get blood all over the place! And I'm not swallowing a fish whole again, that fucking hurt! At that thought, Fluttershy hovered back into the room, a fish between her front hooves. Ooh, a salmon... Wait, what?!? The hell did she get a salmon in the middle of Wint-... you know what? Screw it. Not questioning it. Taking the slimy meal from her, Albus gave a sheepish smile before saying, “Uh, I'm gonna have to go outside to eat this, I'll be right back.” Before she could protest the thought, he was already opening the door. And promptly got blasted in the face by an ice-cold gust of frigid wind. Of course. Quickly exiting the cottage, he ducked around to the side where the wind would affect him the least and got to work; thankfully having much more success in getting meat than last time. He tried not to pay attention to the texture of the raw fish meat as he swallowed it, and had surprisingly quickly picked the thing clean of the edible parts (which left pretty much only the bones and digestive tract bits still intact). Now came the worst part, though. Wanting to dispose of the fish carcass as quickly as possible, he started digging through the rapidly accumulating snow, freezing his claws numb; and after managing to dig a hole into the frozen dirt somehow, he buried the fish with all due haste, washed the blood and dirt off of himself with some snow, and hurried back inside. He was totally unprepared for what happened next. As soon as he was in the cottage, the door slammed shut behind him and he found himself being rather furiously rubbed down with a towel, all the while getting a scolding for going outside. “...honestly, Albus, if you weren't so well adapted to the cold, than what would you have done? And even with your natural resistance, you're still shivering! You had me worried sick, you know; what if you caught pneumonia? And for that matter...” Good god, you sound like you're my mom or something... “Well?” He found himself snapped out of his thoughts, and locked in a.... Stare. A Stare, worthy of the capital S; it made him feel as if all of his sins were exposed to the world, and feel as if he had nothing to be but ashamed of himself for them. Oh god, this is scary. “I, uh- I mean, I didn't, uh-” He was cut of by Fluttershy sighing. “Please Albus, take into consideration what ponies around you will feel if you do something rash like that. If gryphons weren't so well equipped to deal with the cold, you could have very easily gotten sick from being in a storm like that one.” As if on cue, silenced reigned for a moment, letting the howling wind and rattling shutters make their presences known. Her look was one of concern, if a bit of annoyance, and the gryphon couldn't really think of a way to reply to what she said, other than, “I'm sorry, Fluttershy.” This seemed to work, however, as he was led to a lit hearth by the small yellow pegasus, a small smile on her face. “Good. Now you just warm up here by the fire, and I'll get a blanket for you. Would you like some tea?” Giving a small smile of his own, Albus sat by the fire and respectfully declined the offer as Fluttershy went off to some other portion of the cottage. Laying down and curling up, Albus relished the exquisite warmth of the fire, thinking of how the day was technically only a few hours in, yet had been so tiring already. Actually, I feel a bit... sleepy... By the time Fluttershy had returned with the promised blanket, Ponyville's newest arrival was already out like a light.