//------------------------------//
// Generosity and Affirmation 
// Story: Displaced 
// by LeafBug 
//------------------------------//

There was only one word that Albus could think upon waking up, and that word was:

Bathroom.

Groggily opening his eyes, he stood up and stretched, yawning loudly, noticing somewhere in the back of his mind that the blanket he was just under was now on the floor.

Ugh... where's the bathroom? Do ponies even have bathrooms?

He was about to call out to ask Fluttershy, but he noticed two things:

One: Fluttershy was in the kitchen, apparently making something, given the sounds emanating from the direction of said facility.

Two: She was apparently using a sink.

This answered a few things for him, such as where Fluttershy was, what she was doing, and that ponies had indoor plumbing.

Though that last one was a bit more important at the moment.

Figuring that his host was doing something, and not wanting to disturb her, Albus decided to find it on his own; after all, there was the entrance room... den... place, the kitchen, and then upstairs. Not too hard.

Walking up the aforementioned stairs, Albus was pleased to find that the first door that he opened was indeed the bathroom; he was even more pleased by the fact that there was indeed a toilet in said bathroom.

He also noted that it was less of a toilet, and more of a... hole in the floor.

More accurately, it was essentially the same thing as a toilet in, say, America, but the bowl was inset into the floor, the tank in the usual spot right behind it.

After concluding his business in the bathroom which we needn't go into detail about (suffice to say it was awkward), Albus began reflecting upon his situation, as he seems wont to do.

It was awfully kind of Fluttershy to invite me in, even though I damn near pissed myself when she... Stared into my soul... He took this moment to give a horrified shudder.

Various unpleasantries aside, these ponies are... really nice, for the most part. It's odd, but I suppose I can't expect them to act like humans, even though they speak English, and apparently have the same range of emotions, and speak in the same way, barring those insufferable horse puns, and.... okay, the similarities are a bit creepy, now that I think about it.

Deciding not to question his good fortune overmuch, lest it run out, he changed his train of thought.

I suppose it's a bit of a moot point to ask how exactly I got here. I don't have any real reasons to believe any particular theory; other than that this might be some sort of afterlife. I mean, I should probably be dead, so yeah, I suppose that makes sense. A little. Well, at least as much as magic does.

Which is to say: Not at all.

Before he could continue philosophizing, he happened to notice his books still resting on the small table he had set them, waiting patiently for his return.

Hmm... might as well get some reading done, I don't have much else to do right now.

Which wasn't strictly true, but it got him reading.

Picking up the book titled, “A Brief History of the Kingdom of Equestria”, Albus began to read up on his new home, of sorts.

Since reading about someone else reading is, surprisingly, extraordinarily boring, the gist of what Albus was able to read is as follows:

Princess Luna, princess of the moon (Whatever that means), becomes corrupted by jealousy and anger because ponies are sleeping during the night (When else would they sleep?); she then becomes a being known as Nightmare Moon, and attempts to overthrow Princess Celestia, princess of the Sun (The sun and moon motifs feel like some kind of ploy to get them to worship their rulers as gods, or something...). They fight a bit, then Celestia banishes Luna to the moon for a thousand years with the 'Elements of Harmony'.

Before continuing, the book branched off in a chapter explaining the second rise of Nightmare Moon one thousand years later, before being purified by the new bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and being welcomed back by Princess Celestia. It also went into detail about how the story of the 'Mare on the Moon' was thought to simply be an 'Old Mare's Tale' for a long time, but was proven to be fact by the aforementioned event.

Albus skimmed through the rest of the book, which was as boring as one would expect given the fact that pretty much nothing of interest happened between a thousand years ago and the present, and put it back onto the table.

Okay then. Apparently this place actually does have immortal ponies on the throne. Or the same name and title is passed down to each new ruler... but that wouldn't make much sense, given that one of them survived a thousand years on the moon. This place boggles my mind. I'm just not going to think about it anymore, it's not like I plan on meeting the royalty anytime soon.

And what exactly are the Elements of Harmony? For playing such an instrumental part in the Nightmare Moon incidents, they seem awfully obscure.

Shrugging, he picked up the next book, “The Dummy's Guide to Gryphon Physiology”, he began to skim through that for things he didn't already know.

The most noteworthy things he learned were as such:

Gryphons could stand on and manipulate clouds, much like pegasi, but their ability to do the latter was pretty limited. This was due to the fact that their magic focused more on giving them the ability to fly and physical strength, endurance, etc.

The second thing he learned was that male gryphons all had feathered crests upon their head, much like his own, and the size and general flashiness was once upon a time used for attracting mates, and was now used for... pretty much the same thing. Though more by influencing social standing than being attractive, nowadays.

The third, and last socially appropriate, thing of note he learned was that gryphons generally had markings around their eyes, which essentially had the same effect as the crest; though it was considered more of a fashion thing in modern times. He idly noted that he didn't have those, what with the whole 'lack of pigmentation' deal.

Of course, he, in typical male curiosity, looked up tidbits about his junk, but that's less important.

As he was about to continue his reading with “A Guide to Equestrian Anatomy”, a soft call came from the kitchen.

“Albus? Dinner is ready.”

Oh, yeah. This is Fluttershy's house, isn't it? Wait, dinner? She made me food? This woma-... uh... mare, is amazing.

Setting down his reading material, he was let known of his stomach's annoyance with him sleeping through lunch with an angry growl.

“Your timing is impeccable as always, Fluttershy,” he called back whilst heading into the kitchen. The first thing he noticed was the veritable feast laid out on the small-ish table decorating the room; in which was two trout, cooked to perfection and still sizzling a little. If he could smell worth a damn he would probably be drooling.

“Oh my,” he said, dumbfounded.

Fluttershy appeared in his vision from somewhere to his right, carrying two plates in her mouth. Upon setting them down in the proper places, she asked, “Do you like it? I don't know what you can and can't eat out of my normal fare, so I made a bit of... well, everything, I guess. I also figured eating fish raw would be a bit unpleasant, so I went ahead and deboned and scaled and....” giving a small shudder, she continued with, “Gutted them. And then I roasted and seasoned them a bit...” she trailed off, eagerly awaiting her guest's feedback.*

Realizing he was still gaping like an idiot, Albus snapped his beak shut with an audible *click*, and articulated his response for a moment before replying with, “Oh, I love it! I'm sure I can eat pretty much everything here but the...” he trailed off for a moment, analyzing the food and visually picking out things he knew would be inedible, before carrying on with, “Various grasses and flowers.”

Turning to her and giving a wide smile, Albus made his other thoughts known with, “I can't thank you enough for this, Fluttershy. Really,” seeing she was about to smother his praise with modesty, he prevented her by continuing, “And not just for the food, though that's still very appreciated. Letting me, a complete stranger who smashed into you on the street, stay in your house... well, suffice to say I'm thanking my lucky stars that you're such a gracious host. Words cannot properly express, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy had been, quite noticeably, turning a deeper shade of red with every second of praise and gratitude Albus bestowed upon her; in fact, by the time he was done she was doing a passable impression of a ripe tomato.

“Oh, uh- Well, I mean...” she stuttered, unsure of how to reply.

“Don't hurt yourself, Fluttershy. How about we just eat?”

Nodding silently, and still a shade of red, Fluttershy turned to take her place at the table.

Not much conversation was to be had past that point, except Fluttershy explaining why exactly she had made so much food after Albus asked.

“Well, as flying creatures, pegasus ponies and gryphons both have very fast metabolisms. Of course, that means that both species have rather... voracious appetites.”

And it was true, the mound of food was disappearing fast between the two 'voracious' diners.

Glancing up from his food at one point during the meal, Albus could only think, Damn, this girl can pack it away; she's eating almost as much as I am! I'm like twice her size!

After the spectacle that was the two of them eating twice their body-weights combined, they sat in silence for a moment before the achromatic gryphon of the story commented, “I don't have much of a sense of taste, but I'm sure that was absolutely delicious.”

Fluttershy gave a small laugh at his statement before saying, “I can assure you it was, Albus. Not to be immodest or anything.”

He could only give a derisive snort at that, “You? Fluttershy? Immodest? I don't think that's even a trait possible for you.”

He stood and stretched his characteristic cat-on-the-windowsill stretch before asking, “Want any help with the dishes? And before you say anything about being a good host, consider it me trying to start paying you back for imposing upon your generosity.”

Fluttershy looked like she was about to protest, but sighed in resignation, “Oh, I suppose if you insist. I suppose there's no convincing you otherwise?”

Well, maybe if you ripped out another portion of my soul with your Stare, he thought, but the only response he gave was a shake of his head.

“Oh alright,” Fluttershy said, sounding about as close to exasperated as she could normally get (which is to say barely at all), “I suppose I should enjoy the novelty of a helper while it lasts, hmm?”

With that, she scooped up a pile of plates on her wing and took it to the sink. Albus admired her dexterity for a moment before moving to help her.

After an indeterminable amount of time washing the nigh infinitude of dishes that had accumulated during their dinnertime feast, and, surprisingly enough, none of them being broken, the duo settled in the den of the cottage.

The usual smalltalk was absent as Albus resumed his reading on the couch and Fluttershy went upstairs to do... something or another.

Sparing the reader the boring parts, Albus found out many new things about the ponies of this land from his borrowed book. Some less appropriate than others.

For example, he discovered that a pony's fur was, in fact, completely transparent; and it was indeed their skin that was so brightly colored. It also explained how you could see them blush even through their coat, something that had previously perplexed the gryphon.

Another thing was that while a unicorn's horn was normally mostly dead to feeling, whilst channeling magic through it it became an erogenous zone. The same was true for the base of pegasus wings, though with those the sensitivity applied all the time.

He was cursing his curiosity of sexual matters by the time he declared himself done with the book.

Totally didn't need to know how a female pony's estrus cycle worked. Why am I still reading this?

Snapping the book shut, he gave a loud yawn, indicating that, once again, he was tired.

What? That's not right... what time is it?

Glancing at the clock upon the wall (and trying not to think of how improbable it was that a completely different planet would have a 24 hour day like Earth), he was surprised to see that it was almost 10 o'clock; upon glancing out a window, he saw that it was indeed quite dark out.

Frowning, he mentally berated himself a bit for letting time get away from him like it had, and set his book of equine anatomy back with its fellows.

Giving another yawn, he went upstairs for two reasons; to check if Fluttershy was still awake, and to use the bathroom. Though more the latter, unsurprisingly.

After confirming that Fluttershy was in all likelihood asleep, given the fact that all the doors were closed and none had light coming from under them, he did his business and returned to his temporary quarters.

After getting settled in the blanket that Fluttershy had, at some point in the day, found the time to fold and place upon the couch, Albus began to drift asleep. As oblivion was slowly making its way into his mind, he could only think, Today has been pretty good, all things consi-

* KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK *

Of course.

Stumbling his way to the door, a sleepy Albus was greeted by the sight of a distraught and surprised Rainbow Dash.

“Wha...?” was all he could say before she suddenly let out an explosive sigh of relief and started talking in a manner much like a certain pink party pony.

“Oh thank Celestia I found you I mean I was so worried about the storm today and getting it right that I totally forgot that you didn't have a place to stay and I got so freaked out when I realized that you were probably stuck out for the whole storm and I couldn't look for you because-”

“Oh, Rainbow, what are you doing here?” a soft voice interrupted her tirade, leaving Dash to give a dramatic gasp for breath.

Albus moved aside in order to get out of the figurative verbal crossfire before Rainbow Dash said, “Oh, hey Fluttershy. I was just checking to see if Grumpy Beak here had found a place to say during the storm and the like,” she paused before asking 'Grumpy Beak', “You did make it here before the storm, right?”

Giving a grimace at the name, Albus responded with, “Yes, Dash. Fluttershy was kind enough to let me into her home for... the night, I guess. And give me breakfast. And cook me dinner...” he trailed off, frowning as he began to think of how much he was in Fluttershy's debt.

“Oh, it was not a problem at all, I assure you,” Albus gave Fluttershy a look, which she tactfully ignored, before she continued with, “I couldn't just leave you out there with nowhere to go, after all. What kind of pony would do something like that?”

Dash nodded in seeming agreement, but Albus could only think, No pony would do that, sure; what with their whole 'decent beings' thing going on. Humans, on the other hand... It's funny how these ponies are more 'humane' than the actual humans...

“Well, now that that anxiety attack is over with, I suppose I'll be heading back home. See you two around!”

And with that, Dash was off like a shot, leaving her trademark rainbow contrail that was visible for a good half second before Albus closed the door again.

Turning back to look at his host, he noted that she looked a bit... disheveled. Normally immaculate mane a bit frizzy, eyes that were just noticeably drooping, the whole shebang.

Barely stopping himself from blurting out 'You look like hell warmed over', Albus queried, “Did we wake you up?”

Shaking her head, Fluttershy replied, “Not really. I wasn't actually asleep, just... half asleep.”

“Yeah, same with me. Just about to fall asleep and then suddenly Dash is pounding down the door.” Albus said with a small chuckle.

Giving a tired smile and a small yawn, Fluttershy declared the day over with, “Good night, Albus. Sleep well,” before walking back upstairs.

Giving a nod that he knew she wouldn't see, Albus trudged back to the couch, glancing at the door for a moment before settling back into his 'bed' for the night.

This place is so strange. Welcoming a stranger into your home, cooking them food. Making friends with people you were having a yelling match with just that morning... These ponies are strange. Alien. I can't hold them to human standards, I know, but... I don't know. I guess having over a thousand years of nigh interrupted peace will make a culture less xenophobic than mine is.

No, was. I suppose I'm not really a human anymore. Well, that's not entirely true either, my mind is the same as when I was a human... I think. I suppose it comes down to what I identify as...

Do I want to think of myself as a human anymore? Humans are flawed, yes, but I suppose its in our nature to be violent. Predators, and all that. On that note, gryphons could very well be just as warlike as humans are. I don't know anymore... It's too late for this kind of crap.

I'm a gryphon now, that's what it is, that's what it will remain to be. Given the chance to go back... I don't think I would.

The former human slipped into unconsciousness, still convincing himself of his identity.