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// Chapter 9--Griffins 
// Story: What You Don't Know 
// by Flaming Pulsar 
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Chapter 9--Griffins


I’ve noticed something while reading through some of my journals. Interesting things seem to happen almost daily in my journals. That’s not actually true. I’ve had days where all I do is sit in the library and read. There’s days where I just lay in the field and watch the clouds be pushed by the pegasi. There’s days where I spend the entire day in the Everfree just hunting and watching the wildlife. I’ve discovered that manticores are essentially the kings of the forest because none of the other creatures have dared to try attacking me when I’m with Qene. There are some days when hunting is slow so I go around and collect fruits from the forest. There’s some interesting fruit in there, but I think my favorite is one that I’ve dubbed the White Strocoa Bean (I know, I’m terrible with names, shut up). It’s actually pink, despite the name but it tastes like white chocolate and strawberry. It’s shaped like a cocoa bean but it’s somehow already sweetened. There also the normal Strocoa Bean which tastes like regular chocolate and strawberry.
But one day, I met a new species of animal. This was not in the forest, but rather in town at one of Pinkie’s parties. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning. When I was born, I was a very quiet child. Everyone loved me and I didn’t cause any trouble. What, too far back? Fine, the beginning of this day then.
The day began much like any other. I woke up earlier than I wanted because Twilight didn’t believe in sleeping in.
“Come on, sleepy head, it’s time to get up,” she said.
“What time is it?” I grumbled, looking out the window at the barely dawning sun.
“It’s 6 in the morning, and it’s time to get up.”
“Fuck you, Twilight.”
“Any time, anywhere.” I never should have taught her crude humor.
“Shut up, I’m going back to bed.”
“Oh, no you’re not. Don’t make me get the bucket of water.”
I complied because I knew from experience that she actually would get a bucket of water and dump it on me. “Why are we getting up so early again?”
“I wanted to get a head start on my studying.” Seriously, does she do anything except study? I swear that pony needs to get laid. “Unless you had something better in mind,” she added, trying to sound seductive. Can she read my mind? I wonder...Twilight’s a fucking idiot. Twilight’s a fucking idiot. Huh, nothing.
“Nice try, but I’m still not fucking a pony. I’d much sooner stop being a human than fuck a pony.” I would come to regret that statement in time.
“I was only joking.”
“So, why do I have to be up this early?”
“Because, if I’m up, everyone in the house is up, too.”
“So where’s Spike?”
“He’s right there making break--” He was not making breakfast as Twilight was about to say. “Ugh. SPIKE!!”
We heard a loud crash from upstairs and a few minutes later, Spike came falling down the stairs. He got to making breakfast like a good little servant and we ate. “Well, if you don’t need me to do anything, I’m gonna go hang with Fluttershy,” I said when my plate was cleared.
“And I’m gonna go help Rarity,” Spike said, much too enthusiastically.
“What are you helping Rarity with?” I asked.
“Whatever she needs help with,” he replied.
“Whatever. See you guys later.” I left the kitchen to get Qene before heading out.
I didn’t really have a reason to see Fluttershy, she was just the first one to pop into my head when I was thinking of an excuse to not be there while Twilight was studying. Trust me, you do not want to be there when she’s in the zone because she will make you do something for her within ten seconds if you don’t leave. Anyways, Qene and I went to see what Fluttershy was up to today. To be honest, I liked her the most out of all the ponies. She was the nicest and she was always self-sacrificing, putting others before herself. And on top of that, she wasn’t as stupid as some of the others. Of course she was also insufferably naive but I could fix that.
As it turned out, she actually did have something to do today. “Oh, Síor. Would you mind helping me with something?” she asked when she saw me.
“It depends, what do you need help with?” I knew it couldn’t be anything that I would say know to but I always make sure before agreeing to help anyone.
“Well, a bunch of baby ducks have just been born and I need to safely lead them to the duck pond.”
“How many we talking?”
“Well, there are ten families and each family had five to six hatchlings.”
“So that’s seven to eight, including the parents times ten would be seventy to eighty ducks. We’re not doing this in one trip are we?”
“No, of course not. I was going to take them one family at a time.”
“And where’s the duck pond at?”
“It’s on the other side of town.”
“Of course it is. So, you’re planning to make ten trips clear across town? I have a better idea. Why don’t we put them all in a big box and have Qene carry them all over?”
“They don’t like being in confined spaces.”
“No, of course not. So, what, we’re just gonna walk them all over?”
“That was the plan, yes. But with you and Qene here, I’m safe with taking two families at a time.”
“Alright fine, let’s get started then.”
And so we did. We lead ducks to and fro through town. We were on our last trip when Fluttershy ran into what looked like a griffin. There was some squabbling and the griffin roared in Fluttershy’s face which made her start crying and run off. I decided to step in because no one makes my friends cry. Have you ever wondered why no one is two words but someone and anyone are both only one word? Oh, right, the griffin.
“Hey, that wasn’t very nice,” I said.
“Yeah, what’s it to you,” she said. She sounded like the typical cool girl mixed with punk and goth. It got on my nerves.
“She’s my friend, that’s what it is to me. How’d you like it if someone roared in your face? Why don’t I show you? Qene roar.” The manticore beneath me roared louder than anything I have ever heard and easily louder than the griffin’s roar.
She didn’t look to happy about it. “Alright, fine. I’m sorry. You happy now?”
“Don’t apologize to me, apologize to Fluttershy. And anyone else you’ve wronged today.”
“Hmph, why don’t you make me?”
“Qene, death glare.” I assumed it worked because she complied and went to Fluttershy’s cottage to apologize.
I followed because I knew Flutters would never answer the door for her. “Fluttershy, there’s someone here that wants to tell you something,” I said through the door.
She opened the door but when she saw the griffin, she immediately shut it. Griffin-girl decided to just talk through the door. “Hey, look. I’m sorry for scaring you and roaring in your face.”
“And?” I said.
“And I got a short temper that I should work on.”
“And?”
“And I promise to never do it again.”
“And?”
“And...um, I don’t know what else to say.”
“I suppose that’ll do then. Whataya say, Flutters? Will you accept...what’s your name?” I asked the griffin girl.
“Gilda.”
“Will you accept Gilda’s apology?”
She opened the door and weakly said, “Yes.”
“Alright, Gilda. You’re free to go. Come on Fluttershy, let’s go find the ducks.”
We found the ducks quickly enough and took them to the pond. Pinkie Pie found us there and told us about a party so we went to Sugarcube Corner where it was being held. As it turned out, Gilda was an old friend of Rainbow Dash and she was in town to visit her and of course Pinkie used that as an excuse to throw a party. When Gilda finally got there, Pinkie shook her hand and Gilda was shock by the joy buzzer that Pinkie was somehow wearing. The party continued from there.
I was enjoying the pepper-laced lemon drops when Gilda came over to the snack table. “Hey, Gilda,” I said when I saw her come over, “Lemon drop?”
She took one and tried it. Clearly it was too hot for her. It seemed they were too hot for anyone except me and Pinkie. She ran over to the punch and tried to drink some before realizing that it was served in a dribble glass. She quickly found a real cup and drank from it.
Then the cake came out and, being the guest of honor, Gilda was given the privilege of blowing out the candles. We quickly found out that they were relighting candle which I still need to figure out how those work. She eventually gave up just in time for Spike to pop out of the top of the cake from his tunnel that he had ate out from the bottom and spread cake everywhere.
“Hey everypony,” Pinkie yelled, “It’s time for Pin the Tail on the Pony.” Of course Gilda wanted to go first. she was spun around by Pinkie and set en route for the board. But Gilda apparently didn’t trust Pinkie because she started going the other way. She slipped on some cake and slid to the punch table causing the punch bowl to spill all over her. And of course, that made her lose it. She started yelling about all the lame pranks which turned out to be set up by Rainbow Dash but before she got too riled up, she got a triple onslaught of death stares from Fluttershy, Qene, and me. That made her calm the fuck down and she started apologizing. After the party, I found her in the crowd to talk to her.
“Hey, listen,” I said. “I know these ponies can be, what’s the word, fucktarded and annoying sometimes but they’re nice folks once you get to know them.”
“Yeah, I think I’ll stick mainly to my griffin friends. But you’re not too bad to hang around. Especially with that manticore of yours. How’d you manage that anyways?”
“Pulled a thorn from his paw and he adopted me as his owner. I consider it more of a friendship than an ownership though, since he does seem to be sentient, even if he can’t communicate.”
“Huh, I never knew manticores were sentient.”
“Yep, so you think I could come to Gryphus sometime? Twilight won’t let me leave Ponyville except to hunt in the Everfree unless I have an official summons.”
“Well, I don’t know if I can get an official summons but I’m sure I can pull some strings to get you up there.”
“Sweet. You’re officially the best griffin I’ve ever met.”
“I’m the only griffin you’ve ever met.”
“All the more reason to be the best.”
She rolled her eyes before giving me a farewell and heading back to Gryphus. And thus ended another interesting day in Ponyland.