"Yeah, well you, you—you are such a, a flip-flop! Cool one minute, and then lame the next. When you decide not to be lame anymore, gimme a call."
A brown griffin with white head feathers flew angrily from her party in Sugar Cube Corner. She distanced herself from the building quickly, subsequently landing and walking purposefully in the opposite direction of the building where she'd just been made a complete and total fool.
As she made her way to the outskirts of Ponyville, her face was etched with anger and shame. Ponies were looking at her questioningly, and she did her best to hide her face and ignore them.
Finally, the lone griffon arrived at the edge of Ponyville. There were no ponies around that she could see.
She sat down on the ground and let a few tears fall.
"No, no. This is so not cool." She stood once again and took to the air, winging off into the blue, sunny day.
One set of eyes watched her go.
Several months later, that same griffon shivered in an alleyway of Manehattan.
She'd never asked for help; she never needed to ask for help before. That wasn't going to change now.
She was still certain that she was awesome. She stared into a puddle that had formed earlier that day, looking into the eyes of her own reflection. Within them, she saw pride, fearlessness, and capability, all well within her reach.
If that was all true... then why was she here?
She reflected on the last 6 months of her life. She'd traveled back to her home a short ways from the edge of the Hollow Shades Forest, about an hour away from Fillydelphia. After settling in for a week or so, she set off once again to look for somewhere to work.
Things had gone downhill shortly after. Her family said they were tiring of her attitude, and one day, she came home to find all of her belongings at the edge of the property, and a new sign erected that said, "No Trespassers." She sighed and sifted through the pile for her necessities, leaving her memories behind.
She had tried living in Fillydelphia for a little while, but the weather team there was ruthlessly efficient. Even if she'd gotten a chance to show her stuff, she hadn't been working together nearly as long as all those ponies. There was no way she could compete.
She tried to find some work on the farms between Fillydelphia and Manehattan next, but they proved just as fruitless. What small amount of work she did get only lasted a day or two; she wasn't used to manual labor, and the jobs that took a flier were handled by the Fillydelphia weather team.
Nopony required her talents. She had no home. Despite how capable she was of turning her life around, no opportunity had presented itself.
So, here she was in Manehattan. She'd tried to clear a smog cloud in the city, but it had gotten the better of her and still had her wheezing two days later. Needless to say, the weather team here wasn't interested if she couldn't get rid of such a small cloud without issues.
She shifted from her side to her back, her lungs protesting by forcing another shuddering cough from her spent lungs. She spat out a wad of black goop, her misery compounded into this one moment.
She was alone. Her life was nothing.
The griffon awoke the next morning shivering. It was cold.
She attempted to lift her head, something on her head shifting. It had snowed. How had she slept through that?
She groaned and pushed her body from the ground. A light blanket of snow shifted and fell off her. There was still plenty more collecting on the ground. She gesticulated annoyance at the snow, kicking it and mumbling incoherent insults. Satisfied that she had taught the bothersome stuff a lesson, she spun around to leave the alleyway and find more to do with her day.
There was a pony standing in the entrance, just off the road, who was watching her curiously.
She knew she'd just been caught throwing a tantrum. There was no way she could save face now. So, instead of ignoring this stallion, she chose instead to gaze back at him. "What?"
The pony continued to watch her. He was wearing a cloak that shrouded his face, though his legs and part of his body were visible below it.
She looked around in irritation. "Say something, dude."
The pony spoke. "I'm aware of who you are, Gilda."
She walked angrily toward the stranger, her coolness suddenly melting away. "You don't know me! You have no idea what I've been through! I...." She paused in thought for a moment. "Wait. How d'you know my name?"
The pony replied, "I can help you."
Gilda was instantly mad again. "I don't need your help! I don't need help from anyone, especially a pony! I'm outta this place. This is so lame."
She marched haughtily past the passive pony. As she brushed by him, she caught what he looked like. His coat was a dark brown, and all along his body were white jagged markings. Despite his choice in fashion, it was still relatively easy to see his looks. Pirouetting off his flank was a twisted black tail with the same white markings shooting all the way through it.
He looked... cool. No, not cool. He was awesome.
She ignored this, instead opting to feign indifference, trying her best to suppress a shiver as it ran over her body. There was a lot of snow.
"I have a home here. 314 Herbert Hoofer Avenue. You are invited."
Gilda snorted derisively. "I'll think about it. Don't expect me any time soon, though; I got things to do."
About an hour later, Gilda found herself at 314 Hoofer Avenue.
She had checked the mailbox at the street corner for his house. The name printed on the side simply said "Grey." She begrudgingly admitted to herself that even that was cool.
The proud griffon disinterestedly approached the door, raising a clawed leg and rapping on it.
The door opened, and on the other side stood a young filly. Gilda eyed the little unicorn suspiciously before saying, “Is, uh, Mr. Grey here, dude?”
The filly smiled and said, I'm a filly, not a colt! I'll go get Mr. Grey for ya, miss.”
Gilda was left tapping her clawed foot against the stoop of the building while she waited for the bizarre yet cool pony to appear. Finally, the door opened again, revealing Mr. Grey, who was standing behind it.
Now Gilda had a good look at him. Sure enough, he had jagged white marks literally everywhere on his dark brown coat and his jet black mane, including a single mark that spanned all of his right eye. Coming from the center of his head was a horn. His eyes were a mellow green color, which he used to look calculatingly at the griffon on the other side of the entryway. His tail looked just as jagged as his markings, seeming kinked at odd angles, yet still managing to look completely natural, and just as thoroughly bedecked with the white jagged lines.
Gilda's gaze traveled a short ways up from the tail to his flank. On it was a strange, cylindrical object. It had a small part sticking up on one end, and on the other end it was smooth. It looked like a metal canister.
Grey's voice cut through her fascination. “Enjoying the view?”
Gilda couldn't hide her blush in time. Her feathers tinged red as she stammered, “N-no way, dude! I was just wondering what that weird thing is.”
Grey nodded his head. “That's a battery. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of them. They're like a way to give power without magic or electricity. Just put one into a receptacle, and it will last as long as it can before it uses up all of its energy and dies.
“Your next question is going to be, 'Why is it your cutie mark,' yes?” The fascinating unicorn nodded knowingly. “Because I create them.”
Gilda was even more fascinated by this cool-headed pony now. She still didn't know much about him, though. “Who are you, dude?”
“I,” he began with a lavish bow, “am Alkaline Grey. Only manufacturer of batteries in the world that I'm aware of.”
“Uh-huh.” Gilda attempted to feign boredom, but she couldn't hide the interest in her eyes. “You wanna, uh, show me how one works?”
Alkaline Grey nodded and moved behind the door, holding it open with a small spark of magic from his horn. Gilda entered the home, immediately shocked by the sparse furnishing and simplistic decorations for such a cool pony.
After she had taken a short look around, her host trotted in front of her to a small living space just in and to the right. She followed him, looking at the familiar household items: A lamp, a calculator, a vacuum cleaner. Alkaline grabbed the nearest object, the lamp, and floated it in front of him.
As Gilda observed silently, Alkaline's magic wrapped around one of the cylindrical objects—a battery—from a nearby bowl that held a few. He inserted the battery into a receptacle on the underside of the lamp, then he set it down. He turned to Gilda. “Hit the switch.”
Looking at the lamp thoughtfully, Gilda hit the switch on the side of the lamp. It illuminated as brightly as any lamp she'd ever seen, but there was no glow of magic around it, nor was there any cord running to it. It appeared the lamp was running independently of any power source.
“Now, take the battery out.”
The griffon obliged, yanking the battery from the bottom of the lamp. The light immediately flickered off.
“And put it back in.”
She once again thrust the battery into the lamp. The room was once again more brightly illuminated.
Alkaline nodded his head to himself and picked the lamp up with his magic, yanking the battery out and placing it back in the small bowl of its brethren. Gilda looked at the unicorn with a kind of newfound awe. Not only did he look really cool, he'd created something really cool, too. This guy just seemed extremely cool all around.
“Gilda... I saw you. On the last day that you saw your friend, Rainbow Dash.”
The griffon, who had just been smiling, froze. She turned slowly, angrily, toward her newest enemy. “Oh yeah?”
“They made a fool out of you, Gilda... but you're not a fool. You're not a fool,” he repeated, as if trying to convince her of something she already knew. “I know it's been difficult for you since. They took something special from you... something you would not release.”
“Shut UP! I don't need your lectures, and I don't need your sympathy! I'm fine on my own! She just needs a bit more time, and she'll... she'll find me! And she'll apologize!” Gilda was instantly furious, advancing on Alkaline and shouting into his face while he averted his eyes and did his best to look uncomfortable, but stood his ground the entire time. “You know nothing about me! I never even saw you until today! How can you just walk into my life and tell me everything is going to be all better? You can't do that!
“You think I got where I am by telling everyone else how they feel? That's not... not okay! How dare you try to tell me who I am!”
Alkaline Grey simply looked to the side and kept silent for the remainder of Gilda's tirade. As she spoke the final words, she seemed to be searching for something more to say. Alkaline took this moment to quietly state, “You're all alone.”
Gilda had had enough. She turned around and tore open the door, stalking out and leaving it ajar. Alkaline Grey trotted over to watch her go.
As Gilda barged down the narrow stairs, she attempted to focus on the walkway ahead. A few feet away, she unwittingly turned her head for a moment, tears falling from her face. Alkaline Grey stood, maintaining a vigil over the hurt griffon.
Gilda gave a few powerful beats of her wings and flew into the evening, her tears spattering on the ground where she'd forsaken them.
Alkaline Grey approached the spot Gilda had left. He watched the tears as they slowly turned to ice.
Alone and abandoned in an alleyway, a proud, angry griffon was shivering.
Her life was so dark. So bleak. So pointless.
She gazed out into the winter night. She watched the snowflakes gather together on the ground, slowly lowering her head as she watched the little white dots land on her feet.
Who was this Alkaline Grey? Perhaps he was plain, like her. He was blank, hollow... nonexistent. The snow reflected its utter nothingness to Gilda as she reflected upon the utter nothingness of her life.
She had no ambition, no future, no plans. This was her life. Perhaps she should just let the snow take her. It would make no difference.
“They don't know you like I know you.”
She jerked her head up. Standing right in front of her was that accursed unicorn. “Just. Go. AWAY!”
“I know you better than they do, Gilda.”
She huffed a large gust of air through her nose. “And what do you think is so special about you? What makes you think I even want to know you exist?”
“I swear I won't go away.”
She stared blankly into his face. Her pride screamed profanities at this upstart. He was acting all cool, but he was taking advantage of her. Manipulating her.
And she was so weak.
She stood up and walked next to him. They went back to Alkaline Grey's home together.