//------------------------------// // I Found a Little Gryphon? // Story: Road to fame: My new life... As a gryphon. // by lord indisar //------------------------------// I woke up from my after-work nap, packing my things for my evening hike up the scenic mountain. It was always lovely to watch the sunset and moonrise from the side. Of course, there was a reason that I was the producer of the bestselling sun and moon shaped lights over all of Equestria. Always went out to admire the setting of Celestia's sun, and rising of Luna's moon. Haven't missed a day for the past seven years, and that's something, I was barely 25 years old! I entered my kitchen, grabbing a few canisters of water using my magic, and I strapped on my hiking boots. Was a serious pain without them, I can say from experience. I also grabbed my alarm clock, a bedroll, some food ( a few oats here and there, and a nice daffodil sandwich for breakfast), and a pillow, because I had special plans tonight. I was going to sleep on the mountainside. I wanted to catch the opposite of my daily routine this time. Besides, what kind of pony doesn't want to go on a mini camping trip every once in a while? I'd have to get up real early however, and the faster I got to the mountain side, the more time I'd have to sleep. I do admit, I had to go to work tomorrow as well, but when I have a plan, I go through with it! So I'd have to get home quickly to prepare for the day. But it was all okay, I had a hobby to do, and I was dedicated to it. I hadn't been late to work in the past seven years.... Okay maybe a few times, but it wasn't too serious. I looked at the time, and I still had a good three and a half hours till sunset. I looked at the food I had packed, and... It was pretty pitiful, really. I only ever had enough food in the house to last a few days, what with the vegetable garden I had outside.... another one of my hobbies. So my food situation in terms of traveling was poor at best... Picking up a bag full of bits, and leaving my things, I decided to head over to the local grocery store. A little bag of oats and a sandwich wasn't proper nutrition for camping. In fact, the sandwich would probably go bad overnight. So I stuck it in the refrigerator, deciding it would make a decent breakfast or lunch, and left. ***An hour and a half later*** I left the store with well... a big bag of oats, enough to get me through much more than just my little overnight. I decided that, since oats don't go bad (For a long time at least), and that I'd probably make another, maybe longer trip at some point, I might as well get a stockpile of them. I also got some hay, figuring that, hey, hay doesn't go bad either so.... Oh dear, what a poor choice of words.... I did get some more bread and apples(from Sweet Apple Acres, no less!) though, so... I guess I needed to go to the store soon anyways. I mean, I had some extra bits, and I didn't really spend my money on a lot of things. After taxes, there's really just the water bill, the electric bill, and I tend to have money just piling up. My garden was well maintained, so I just gathered the seeds when ready, and replanted them. So yeah... Extra money that I didn't need, might as well buy some surplus. Actually, I probably did buy too much, because it looked like I could live on oats and hay for the next month.... Oh well, it's good to have a fall back plan in case your garden fails or something. I even bought a container of sleeping pills, for those hard nights. I also bought a coconut. What? I have cravings some of the time! Everypony gets them at some point.... I think.... Returning home, I quickly packed up my things, and packed some of the oats and hay I'd just bought, as well as a few apples. Was going to take me at least an hour to get to the spot I always chose, and sunrise was in two hours, so I had to be quick if I wanted to have enough time to unpack my things at the site. I bit into an apple, for now, as I hastily double checked for all my supplies, and left the house. Huh... You know what I forgot to buy? A tent, but that store was 40 minutes away from my home, and I wouldn't have had time to get to the mountain before sunset. Get a tent...Add that to the to-do list when I get back... Living on the edge was rough. Living on the edge of town, I mean... My life was pretty normal. Though it did mean I was already pretty close to the little forest path that led up to and through the mountain, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I was probably the only pony in town who knew the woods like the back of his or her hoof, and it meant I could always sleep in a bit before I ended up taking my little hikes. A few minutes later, I found myself trotting in the little forest, the Horseshoe Mountain Woods. It stretched for barely a mile long, really, and you could easily and clearly see the mountain trail that the forest led to from the other side. It certainly wasn't as big as the Everfree Forest way down south, but It made up for that, given how winding the path was. Nopony really ever made an effort to straighten the path. The forest wasn't dangerous or anything, minus maybe a few bee hives in the area, and the occasional timberwolves, but the latter was few in number, and the former was perfectly fine with you passing through, so long as you didn't bother them. It's important to note that ponies generally run faster than timberwolves can, and they also didn't tend to venture out of the forest, on either side, so it was pretty easy to get away from them. I was also prepared with a few minor, easy offensive spells, but in all these years, I never had to actually use them. The timberwolves weren't really too dangerous, there was maybe a single pack of them in the entire forest. Beyond those, the forest was populated with little animals, which was pretty normal, I suppose. Squirrels, rabbits, mice, and birds, Nothing really too interesting. Thirty minutes or so later, I was at the final trek of the forest path, and from here on, It was just a straight journey to the end of the forest, where the little road continued. I drank some of the water I carried, and looked ahead, seeing the end of the trail and the mountain beyond. But something else caught my eye. I saw a little shape skittering forth, towards the forest. It was too small to be anything in particular, not even a timberwolf pup, but it was much too large to be a mouse or rabbit. I stepped into a nearby bush, and continued forward, a little wary, but it was quite apparent that it had already noticed me, as it was frantically looking around, up, left, and right. Then it.... covered its head and went low to the ground, motionless? And that's what I found strange. If it was an animal, it would've darted off, scared. If it was a predator, It would've dove into the bushes or something, and tried stalking me. At the very least it would've stayed in the trail, standing, while I trotted forward... I emerged from the bushes, getting closer, keeping my guard up, until I noticed exactly what it was. It was, what seemed to be, a very young, black gryphon. It was barely a year old, I'd dare say. But that was even stranger. I knew for a fact that there were no gryphons in Buckston, the town that I lived in, and while I knew that there were such things as wild gryphons, not only had I never seen any in the forest (Which again, I came here every single night. I would know if there were any at all), but if the stories I'd heard were true, young wild gryphons were invariably never found without their parents, or at least their mother. So why was one here now? I looked around frantically, scared that I would be pounced upon by an angry mother. But there was nothing around to account for such a thing. The child was alone, with no family. I approached the young gryphon, who was still clutching its head, as if it was waiting for a death blow. "Are you alright, little one ? What's wrong? And what are you doing here?" I asked softly, taking care not to appear threatening. The gryphon looked up at me, eyes wide with fear, though it didn't seem to understand my words, which hinted that it might not know Equestrian at all. Which, while it was young, was also strange. It only looked at me, and cawed weakly, though I did notice a slight change in it's expression while doing so. I looked around one last time, to confirm if there were any parents nearby. "Hello? Anypony.... Anybody there? I..." I called out, uncertain, and waited for a few moments... No answer came. So I did only what any sane pony would do. I lifted the young gryphon with my magic (as well as confirmed his gender), and placed the child on my back, and turned home. I wasn't going to watch the sunset tonight. No, this was far more important.