//------------------------------// // Lesson Learned // Story: Finding a Home // by Jeckard Cain //------------------------------// Chapter 5: One Train Ride Later **** The cloud was back again. A deep blackness that swept across the sky and seemed to eat away all traces of light. Sparrow was flying again, doing his best to stay away. He remembered the searing pain the last cloud had caused him and he didn't particularly want to feel that again, so he flew. As fast as his wings could carry him though, the cloud was always there to meet him in any direction he decided to take. Thunder crashed throughout the sky and Sparrow was truly afraid of what would happen. He looked down to the ground below him. The clouds had already moved to block him from seeing the ground or even consider flying that way. Sparrow looked to the sky above him, before he'd even turned his head he noticed the movement of the clouds again and they blocked out the sun and the stars that had tried to shine through. So Sparrow hovered in place, trying to find some sort of exit. A form of escape for him. There was nothing. Only the black clouds that covered all. Sparrow felt not unlike a bird trapped in a cage as he saw the clouds begin to shift and rumble closer to him. This time he couldn't even try to fly away, they had him trapped. They wanted him to feel pain. They wanted to hurt him. And he knew why. "Why can't I catch a break here, Grover?" Sparrow sighed to himself as he awaited his doom. Just then, a bright flash of light struck through the clouds and Sparrow braced himself for the coming pain. Instead of the scorching pain that had gripped him before, Sparrow felt like something had brushed gently across his feathers. Then the clouds parted to reveal the moon and some one coming through the clouds. "Be gone from this one's dreams foul creatures!" A commanding voice boomed through the sky. At once the clouds either flew away or turned back to their normal white and fluffy properties. The moonlight streamed fully across the night sky now that the clouds had cleared away. A lone creature flew towards Sparrow, a pony, he realized. One with a dark blue flowing mane that looked like it was made of starlight and a midnight blue coat to match. A crescent moon cutie mark shone brightly against the moonlight behind the large pony and Sparrow realized that this pony had both wings and a horn. He had heard tales about this creature from the older griffons back home and now feared for his life to an even greater extent. "Do no be afraid Sparrow, for I am Princess Luna, guardian of dreams and princess of the night." Sparrow was confused "Wait, so you're not Nightmare Moon? And you saved me from my dream, why? I'm not a pony." Princess Luna flew near Sparrow and began to explain "I once was known as Nightmare Moon yes. I have since recovered to my true self and taken my place back and the princess of the night. As to saving you, any creature that sleeps under the stars of my night sky and requires my help from a nightmare, receives it. I noticed you were having a recurring nightmare and decided to step in." "Oh," Sparrow rubbed the back of his head with his talon "Sorry about assuming you were Nightmare Moon still. And thank you for the help." "It is understandable." Luna responded and smiled warmly at the griffon "And you are welcome Sparrow." She then grew serious in tone and stared at Sparrow directly into his eyes "You know what these dreams mean do you not?" Sparrow nodded then looked down and began scratching at the ground with his talons "I do Princess. But I don't know how to stop them." "I believe you should look to yourself for the answer." Luna walked to him and lifted his chin up with her hoof. He stared into her deep blue eyes and he could see the stars staring back at him. It was like staring into and abyss, one of pain but also of understanding. He felt himself slipping away into the night sky as he stared at the princess before he finally pulled away. "How am I supposed to do that?" Sparrow pleaded to the princess "Look to yourself." Princess Luna repeated as a mirror appeared in front of Sparrow. He raised his head and saw the reflection of himself staring back. It was muddy and distorted and Sparrow couldn't make out all the features of himself in the mirror. "I barely recognize myself." Sparrow realized as he turned away from the mirror and back to Princess Luna and found her smiling warmly at him. "I can make out a few features but it's still blurry. I can't see myself yet because I'm not truly myself yet. But I think, maybe with the help of some friends I could find out who I'm supposed to be in that mirror." Luna bowed her head to the griffon as he smiled to her, finally understanding. "Now go Sparrow. Find yourself." Princess Luna said as she began to fly off the ground and away towards the moonlight. With a bright flash she was gone. **** Sparrow woke up slowly as his eyes adjusted to the room around him. He was comfortable, he realized, not sore, not in tree, or a nest. He was in a small bed, well not small for a pony, but small for a griffon. Either way it had been some of the best sleep Sparrow had ever gotten. He lifted his lower half up and sat on his haunches on the bed yawning. Before he forgot Sparrow reached for his saddlebags and grabbed his journal. He began writing down all the details of last nights dream that he could remember. Of the dark clouds once again coming for him. The fear of being locked in a cage. Princess Luna. Finding myself Sparrow thought and wrote down. Once he had finished recounting the events of the dream he put the journal back into his saddlebags and got up off the bed. Stretching himself Sparrow noticed another thing seemed to be off. Stretching once more he realized it wasn't that something was off. It was that something was on, fixed, back again. Smiling in glee Sparrow looked at his right wing which was extended fully, giving a few test movements he found it to be back in working condition completely. Sparrow couldn't hid his excitement as he grabbed his saddlebags and darted out of the room and out of the house. Closing the door behind him he saw other ponies in the streets looking at him. Sparrow smiled and waved to them and they waved back cheerfully. Double Diamond and Sugar Belle must have told them about me "Hey do you guys want to see something cool?" he said to the ponies nearby. They gave some nods and he immediately obliged. He tore off his saddlebags and jumped into the air and began flapping his wings. As he reached past the tops of the buildings and higher still, he stopped his wings and leaned backwards. He began freefalling towards the ground and saw a few ponies gasp, and one pegasus smirk, they knew the trick he was pulling off. An old Wonderbolt favorite, the peregrine dive. Holding his wings to his side and wrapping them around himself he began spinning in the air as he dropped faster and faster. The fresh air passed through Sparrow's nostrils and filled his lungs. Gravity did it's work and pulled Sparrow closer and closer to the ground. At the last second before hitting the ground he flared his wings and passed right over the ponies' heads. Sparrow cheered at the fun he was having and the ponies cheered with him. He flew back over to his bags before pulling them back on. The ponies now done watching him show off, dispersed and were talking amongst themselves of the griffon. The lone pegasus approached Sparrow, a female sporting a white mane and a small amount of pink if Sparrow was seeing right. Her coat was also a darkened blue hue, I seem to be catching the attention of a lot of dark blue colors today, and a cutie mark of a crescent moon with two light blue feathers circling it. "Nice moves there dude. That's a tough trick to pull off. The name's Night Glider." The mare held out a hoof to Sparrow which he curled his talons and bumped against. "My buddies Sugar Belle and Double Diamond told me that you were staying in Our Town for a night, said that you were recovering from some scratches and a hurt wing. Seems like that's not the case anymore though huh?" Sparrow grinned at the pony "Eh, the trick I've known how to do for years, I just needed to get it out of my system. I haven't been able to fly for two whole days!" Night Glider's jaw dropped. "Two Days!?" Night Glider exclaimed getting a few wayward glances their way. "No way I could last that long without flying somewhere. Though Starlight Glimmer always hated when I flew." Glad that he could talk to a fellow flyer who understood Sparrow nodded "But now I'm good as new and I bet I could fly all the way to Ponyville." A familiar voice called out to them from a store "Oh no you don't!" Sugar Belle stepped out of her store front holding a pan of muffins on her back "You're not fit to fly that much distance, not yet anyways." "Oh ya how do you know?" Night Glider questioned her confection making friend Sugar Belle stumbled a bit over her words "I-I just do okay?" blushing a bit before recovering "Sparrow please don't try to make that flight. I know you feel up to it but I think you need at least one more day before you should try anything that long distance." Sparrow tilted his head and opened his mouth to object but saw the concern in his new friend's eyes. Sighing, he agreed "But how am I supposed to get to Ponyville today then?" Night Glider laughed "Besides walking?" "Hardy har har" Sparrow responded Sugar Belle giggled at the exchange "Take the train silly." Sparrow's eyebrows raised up "There's a train here?" Night Glider nudged his side playfully "Uh ya, how else do you think we get any food supplies and water out here?" "Well I don't have any money for a train ride anywhere sadly." Sparrow said to the mares. As soon as he did another mare ran up to him "Hi there, that trick was really impressive. Thanks for sharing." The mare reached into her own saddlebags and grabbed a small bag and dropped it into Sparrow's outstretched talon. He heard the clink of bits inside. "I can't accept this-" He started The mare interrupted him by putting her hoof over his beak "No no, you showed us a talent that you've been practicing obviously. I wouldn't take no for an answer anyways. Come back and perform again sometime!" She turned and walked away as quickly as she had shown up "Guess that takes care of that." Sugar Belle said while giggling. "Did you two plan this?" Sparrow sat on his haunches and crossed his arms. "Maaaayybe." Sugar Belled said again while giggling "Hey, you needed money, and some seems to have found its way to you. I say don't question it." She smiled at Sparrow and they began laughing together as Night Glider joined in. **** Standing at the train stop Sparrow breathed in the fresh morning air. He'd found out that he had slept through the entire previous day and into the next morning from Double Diamond. Sugar Belle had invited Sparrow and Night Glider in for breakfast after his little stunt and he'd had a delicious breakfast of sweets and other snacks. Double Diamond had showed up to eat as well and they sat and ate together like the previous night swapping stories. Now with the addition of Night Glider, Sparrow was able to share plenty more of his flight stories with the group. He'd asked more about the group of six mares who'd saved the town. Particularly about Rainbow Dash. Now that he had his wings back he was back in a challenging mindset. After the group had finished eating they had all walked with Sparrow out of town and towards where they had built their impromptu train station. It was only a small wooden deck with an overhang meant to keep the rain off of anyone waiting. They explained that the train stopped by once every couple days to drop off food and supplies for the town. Sparrow had never heard of a train just bringing supplies to a town for free before. Griffonstone had always had to pay in large sums of bits. His friends explained that any town that was struggling out in the empty lands of Equestria usually were given royal aid. It made sense to Sparrow. The kingdom offered help outside its borders for a cost and in doing so creates the funds needed to distribute food to any towns needing help. Sparrow heard a train whistle in the distance, not long now until it would be here and he would be on his way. He'd already said goodbye to his new friends when they arrived at the station. He hugged them all again in a group and told them thank you for everything. They had shown him what true friendship was and given him something to strive for in the future. Sugar Belle, Double Diamond, and Night Glider all said their goodbyes as they walked back towards the town and left Sparrow to wait for the train. He'd opened his journal and this time instead of jotting down something about his dreams, he made a few notes instead. Dear Princess Luna, No Idea if you'll see this, I assume you'll find it if you check up on my dreams again. Well I think I've made the first few steps in finding myself. My new friends have shown me such kindness and I don't think I can ever truly repay it. The only thing I can do is take the lesson they taught me to heart and treat any and all who need help with kindness in turn. Sometimes all anyone needs to make their lives better is a little kindness. Sincerely, Sparrow the Griffon Sparrow finished writing and closed his journal before putting it back into his saddlebags. The train whistle sounded again as it crossed the horizon and cam into Sparrow's view. It was brightly colored and a small puff of smoke shot out of the top of the train. Once it had finally stopped at the station Sparrow paid the attendant and let him know he was heading to Ponyville. He went to the train car for guests and sat down in one of the many open chairs. Seemed that not many ponies came out this way very often. After the train had offloaded its supplies for the town it began to back up and chug along the tracks again. Sparrow couldn't wait to get to Ponyville. Pinkie Pie would be there with her famous treats and he would finally be able to challenge Rainbow Dash. Just one more day. ****