“That’s not normal. Not at all,” King Grendel said, the curiosity evident in his voice. Around the table, the various griffins stared at the Equestrian princess. Said princess was currently trying unsuccessfully to make herself as small as possible. “I’ve never seen a pony eat more than a single bite of meat,” the King continued, “let alone a whole portion. How?”
Twilight looked away, unable to meet the eyes of any of the room’s occupants. Now was the time to run damage control. It would not be good if rumor made it back to Equestria before she did. “I’ve… had much on my mind lately. Haven’t been sleeping well because of it. Throw in the hunt-” Twilight gave a small shudder “-and I lost focus on reality. I was running on automatic, eating without tasting.” She looked down at her plate, meat missing and salad untouched.
Gilda chose that moment to pipe up. “So, did you like it? I mean, you know now, but you’re not blowing chunks…” Twilight’s blood ran cold. This was the one part of the conversation she had dearly wanted to avoid. Now, every griffin in the room was aware of how abnormal her reaction was. She wasn’t retching her guts out right now. In fact, she did not even feel the slightest bit queasy and Twilight knew that they knew. How can you hide something like that from those whose eyes were designed to spot even the slightest weakness?
“Subdued gag reflex?” Twilight half-stated, half-asked.
The griffin King’s eyes narrowed. One of his advisers called her out. “Don’t lie to us. You ponies are terrible at the art of deception. We do not care if you chose to withhold information, but be honest about it. Lying will only lower our respect for you.”
Twilight sighed, admitting defeat. She turned and addressed the King, “King Ironbeak, I promise you an explanation, but now isn’t the time. Spike and I will talk with you later. Alone.”
The King relented, eagerly awaiting an explanation from, as he called her, ‘the most interesting ambassador to ever walk my halls.’
Princess Twilight Sparkle and Spike sat on one of the plush couches in their host’s study. King Grendel Ironbeak sat in the luxurious chair opposite from the two Equestrians. A fire burned nearby in the large fireplace, casting a warm glow upon the occupants of the room and the surrounding bookshelves. The three sat in silence for a short time.
It was Grendel who spoke first. “Tell me, dear Princess, what you wish to say. Complete my understanding. I find myself… intrigued.” He leaned forwards a small amount, tweaking his posture and facial expression in the process. To most of the ponies he had encountered before, this would have their unconscious minds screaming ‘PREADATOR! RUN!’ Even the sky princesses would instinctively flinch, and he loved it. But – much to his disappointment – Twilight Sparkle did not so much as bat an eyelash.
“Well,” she started, then sighed. “A few weeks ago, I read a book, a biology book. That’s not the strange part – I live in a library, after all. No, it was the idea it gave me. I simply wondered, ‘what does meat taste like?’ The problem is how deeply entrenched in my mind the idea became. I just COULD. NOT. SLEEP. It kept me awake for over a week. Finally, exhaustion overcame my need to adhere to my morals. I consulted a griffin cookbook and made citrus salmon. The thing is, I liked it.” Grendel’s eyes widened, but he did not interrupt her tale. “In the end, I ended up cooking several griffin dishes, most of which Spike and I shared.” Spike nodded as his caretaker finished speaking.
Grendel was silent for a time. His sharp hearing picked up the sound of departing claw-steps from out in the hall: an eavesdropper. Ignoring it, he spoke, “And.. you’re fine with that? You’ve eaten several types of meat without any ill effect?”
Twilight snorted in response. “Of course not, what do you take me for, some kind of pony monster? My subconscious has been rebelling against me since day one. Guilt-fueled nightmares are quite horrible. A side note, it has taken me a considerable effort to protect myself from Princess Luna’s dream-walking. Nightmares are a beacon to her, and if I wish this to remain secret, I had to keep her out.” Twilight stopped talking.
Seeing that his mentor was not going to continue, Spike spoke up. “Princess Luna will always give privacy to those who ask her for it. When they are suffering from repeated nightmares and yet guard their minds…”
“It makes her worried,” Grendel finished for Spike, who nodded in agreement.
“And now,” Twilight spoke, “I’ve gone and killed something. Then I ate it. It feels like I’ve swallowed a brick.” Tears started welling up in Twilight’s eyes. Within seconds, she was sobbing uncontrollably. Spike moved closer to comfort his companion by gently stroking her back. After a few minutes, Twilight managed to recompose herself. “Sorry. You shouldn't have to see me cry.” Twilight sighed and looked down towards the floor while Grendel dismissed her worries with a wave of his claw.
“No worries, Princess. You've more than earned enough respect amongst the griffins. A few tears are nothing to worry about.” He extended a claw and raised her chin with it. The King looked her in the eye and said, “You’re in good favor with my kind. Off to bed with you. You want to be well rested for the negotiations tomorrow, no?”
The three stood, Grendel thanking them for their explanation. Twilight and Spike said their farewells and made their way to their room. Grendel stood behind in his study for a moment, thinking to himself about what the Equestrian had said. A minute later, he exited the room and turned the opposite way that the Princess had gone. Grendel proceeded towards the kitchens. After all, the chef needed to know about his guest’s ‘special’ diet.
As Gilda walked away from her father’s study, she couldn't believe what she had overheard. A pony that liked meat? Gilda decided that that had to be the coolest thing about a pony that she had ever heard. ‘If only she could fly as well as Dash…,’ Gilda thought, but her mood was killed by the memory of her ex-friend.
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Thank you! :) Made my day!
4570707
If you notice, it was a year to the day today since the last chapter came out.
First I was all like
And then I saw the cancelled notice and I was like
Sorry to see it end, thought it was a fascinating concept, well executed. I'd offer to adopt it, but I got waaaay too many of my own stories to work on so here's hoping someone does pick it up! Want moooooooore!
For 'unplanned and half-assed' this story was pretty damn great.
I'm sorry to see this story cancelled, it was getting really interesting.
I won't remove it from my favorites, though, I intend to read it again and again, and hopefully, someone will pick it up.
One word of advise for all authors here: NEVER start a story if you yourself don't know how it will end! That's a surefire way of getting writer's block every single time you sit down to continue! Do try to write a complete outline first before anything else, and, if you can, try writing backward, from the end to the beginning. That is one way of preventing writer's block (and it de-blocked several stories of mine, too ).
well nuts I liked this.
Would that <1000 word proposal be an outline or a rough draft of the next chapter? I think I could do both.
Glad you did an update. Sad you will not be continuing.
Well it's nice to see one last update, knowing it's the last. It was very good while it lasted.
4571208
Thanks.
4571235
I once saw a quote about writing, and I'm going to paraphrase it: Writing is like driving on a dark road. You can only see as far as the headlights shine, but you can make the whole trip that way.
I just ran out of gas.
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Just because I am done, doesn't mean that the story is. Hang on; I've had two adoption offers already.
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Either is fine. You just have to convince me that you can do it justice.
Well fuck.
Hmmm, better tell Merlos, I'd love for him to write this.
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FUUUUUUU!!!!! THIS GETS FEATURED NOW? I've worked hard to get a story featured, and it gets it just as I am about to hand it over to someone else? Dang...
First reaction: …IT UPDATED!
[scrolled down]
…TO BE CANCELLED! WHY?!
[reads chapter]
[reads author's note]
Well, okay, that's understandable. Better to end it here then force yourself to press on doing lower-quality work. It sounds like the plot would have been interesting, though.
I do hope that someone good adopts the story, though, as I'd like to see this rather unique concept continued.
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It's not done. I'm giving it to someone else to continue.
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Well, it probably helps that you amassed over 500 favorites in the year's hiatus.
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Two candidates so far have asked for it, and I will be handing it over to one of them.
4571343
4571343
Two may enter. Only one shall survive.
Well, I'm disappointed but I can't say I'm surprised either. I suppose now I should wait for someone to pick this up.
"*Ding!* Cancelled!" I am disappointed. Was a good story, though. At least, what you had written down...
4571343
When exactly does this chance for adoption end? Obviously I want a writer just as good as you (or maybe better) to take over the story, someone like Merlos or RealityCheck, and it'd be a shame if they never got the chance.
4571343 where will you direct to their story? on here or on their page?
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I don't really have a set time limit. If you have someone in mind who might want this, then let them know that it's up for adoption. I'll probably close it when people stop asking. I'll give it a few days...
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I'll have the mods put it on the winner's page.
*thinks*
Do you think you can have another chapter of links to the stories?
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As I understand it, the story in it's entirety will move accounts. Nothing will change for you except the name of the author. You will still come here to read it.
A pity the story ends here, but oftentimes the motivation runs dry when a plot lacks a clear conclusion for the author to focus towards. I'm also writing a story similar to yours.This story even provided some of the motivation for my story, so I have you to thank for that. I wish you luck with your future projects!
Ah, although I'm sad to see it end this way, I'm happy to see you're putting it up for adoption.
really a shame, this story is one of my favourites.
I first I declared to my self "this story, it's alive!". It took a very interesting concept and ran with it well, with good writing.
Though I am saddened for it to be discontinued, I have hope for someone to take it up.
It's great that it got this far though; it's not everyone that can muster up an ending to a story they hadn't written for for literally a year, even if the ending is a half-assed one...
Too bad this got cancelled. I quite enjoyed it, but I understand that sometimes the motivation or inspiration simply runs out. Good thing you put it up for adoption, I would love to see it continued even if it is by another author. And that little bit of closure, as you put it, was a nice touch.
Good luck with your other projects and projects-to-be.
well, it seems like my comment on the last chapter prompted something.
It's a shame that you don't have the drive to continue this anymore, but at least you gave it some closure and are letting another writer take it over to give it justice.
Thanks for the story.
Now that's just not fair mate. Well, at least we got closure, and there's a chance of it getting continued under someone else's hand.
I literally re-read this 3 hours before you updated and cancelled it.
I would very much like to adopt it, but my motivation to write is zero right now, and I should probably try to write something of my own before starting to write other peoples' stories.
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Actually, that was a half-completed chapter that I've just had sitting on my hard drive for almost a year. I just finally admitted that I was done, tossed it up, and said, "That's that..."
It never was supposed to be an ending.
Awesome final chapter! Thanks for the story, and the explanation...do you suppose you could post a bit about who adopts this so I can keep following? please?
I was excited to see the update, but not surprised to see it cancelled. It has been a while, after all.
But it’s been a fun ride, too. Similar to those stories of Twilight waiting a hamburger, but played straight, which was a refreshing change.
…
You know what? This is going onto my favorites. And I want everyone here to know that it was willie179 who got it there.
well, that's a damn shame
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Everything transfers over with the story. Including the favs, I think.
That's sad; I liked this story. I'm even tempted to give it a go, but I run off to military basic in a month and time is one thing I don't have. Lots of stuff to try and finish before I go, you know?
Anyway, it's nice of you to at least give us this much and something of an ending. Kudos to you.
I hope that the future owner of this story treats it good. I really loved this concept of a story and forgot about it.
Just the other day I was thinking 'I wounder what ever happened to that story about Twilight liking meat?'
Well you gave it a good start, now to see what a new author can do with it.
And this, people, is exactly why you don't go putting words on paper without at least a vague outline of the whole story.
Still, it was good while it lasted.
It's sad to see this now going on
I hope someone adopts this story
it's finished? i feel only despair!
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And here I was thinking it was supposed to be a kind of "open-ended, sequel bait" kind of thing lol.
Have fun!
Good luck continuing the story!
I just realized that I've read one of our stories before.