A Bird's Cage

by Ravenpuff

Chapter 2: Rude

Another day stuck in the same room. She woke up to sunlight beaming through the crack in the window, although not sure what time of day. A quick exploration of the room proved no changes had happened during her rest. Her head was starting to feel better and her stomach had recovered from getting filled a bit too fast while completely empty. The bowl with the leftovers was still at the floor where she had left it. The bits and pieces of whatever it was still there. It did not look much more appetizing than the night before after she gave up chewing the tough whatever. Really odd texture. No idea if it was a fruit or vegetables or roots or whatever. Never tasted anything like it before and she still did not feel adventurous enough to try it again after it went stale.

Today she finally realized she was without her belongings. She could not find her saddlebags anywhere, she was pretty sure she crashed with them. Her… host could not simply have left her bags behind when finding her. Nor could she find her flying goggles anywhere, not even by the bedside where one would expect belongings and clothing would be placed. If the big, scary gryphon had taken her things he had not left it anywhere in this room.

The door was still locked too. No changes there.

Why would it have to be locked? Why would she have to be kept in this dark room with even the windows bolted shut? Without her things and without that gryphon bothering with saying a single word to her. This was starting to get really bothersome. She needed to get on with her travel. Passing these mountains was going to be hard to begin with and she did not want to use more travel time on it than necessary.

A pegasus could only wander about and explore the same small room so many times before getting bored. And so long a time before getting frustrated with the small room, the constant darkness with just enough light to get a sense of her surroundings. Such a small room without even a chance of opening a window was like slowly choking her. Her wings basking impatiently to get out again, stirring up the dust around her.

Finally losing her patience she made it to the door and hammered her hoof against it. Occasionally she had pressed her ear against it without hearing anything on the other side. Was he even there? Well, if he was, he surely had to be deaf to not hear her.

“Hey! Hey… you! Anyone!? I need to get out of here, I gotta pee!”

She immediately regretted to shout that need out loud. But she had not realized how much she needed to go before she started hammering on the door. Well maybe that was what it took to be noticed around here. Ironically she was rather thirsty too, all she had been given was that stew to eat last night. No water. She had stopped the noise and listened with her ear to the door. Still no sound. Oh, come on!

She turned around to begin kicking the door with her hind legs, to make as much noise as possible. He could not just lock her up in here and then just leave. Seriously. What if she was still sick? That is not how you treat a patient!

Suddenly she kicked out into thin air and then found herself lying on her stomach on the floor. The door had been opened without her noticing and she had lost her balance. Looking up and over her shoulder she saw her host once again. Somehow he had managed to avoid getting hit by her kick when opening the door; she had been so focused on making noise she had not even heard the door being unlocked.

Silence. A bit awkward as she regretted her very rude behavior. She excused herself with going stir-crazy being locked up like this.

The gryphon still said nothing, just glaring down at her. A step forward to stand fully in the doorway, as if to make sure he was blocking it. She quickly crawled away to make a bit of distance between them before she got up from the floor again and back up on her hooves. Turning around to face him.

“U-Uhm… S-Sorry about that. I really don’t want to give any bad impressions. But I reeeaally need to get out of here. An-And yeah, I really need to go. Uhm, my name is Sunny Rain. What’s yours?”

A nervous smile, suddenly remembering it was more proper manners to introduce herself instead of just talking about her needs. As the night before the gryphon seemed to refuse to say a single word to her. He simply pointed to a corner in the room where she earlier had noticed a bucket. Wait, no, he could not be serious. Could he?

“Wh-What? No, that’s not… I can’t just. I mean… Come on! And seriously, you don’t have to lock the freaking door! Just let me out of here already! I need to get outside! And where are my things? Those goggles were a gift you know. And another thi-“

She had not noticed he leaned down closer to her during her rambling until his talons had grabbed around her snout to effectively close her mouth to silence her. Those dark eyes staring right into hers, she could see controlled anger in his beaked face. She wanted to back away from him but he held onto her snout.

“Pony better be quiet. I hate noise…”

The voice was rough and deep, like a stallion recovering from a sore throat or something. An odd rumbling to some parts of it. Well, at least she now knew he understood and spoke common Equestrian.

They stayed like this for a while, he kept staring her in the eyes like he wanted to make sure she understood what he had said. Her wings had been spread out earlier to show her aggravation, but were now slowly folding again to rest close to her sides. She really did not want to anger him further. Perhaps it was better to just play along for a bit. At least until he would remove those talons from her face. They looked rather sharp. She did not even dare to nod her head to show understanding.

Finally he would let go of her and free from the talons she quickly backed away from him, knocking over the bowl on the floor. Not breaking eye contact with the gryphon. He just stood there, staring at her. Then he finally backed out and closed the door.

The sound of a lock clicking.

Author's Note:

And second chapter is up. Thanks for your patience. Things will move a bit faster as we get into the setting just the way I want it.

Same as the other parts, don't be shy to complain or correct me if I made mistakes or could do something better. Thanks and enjoy.

Comments

[ShadowsInTheDark]

Hmmm not much of a talker is he?

[Ravenpuff]

4702782

Definitely the quiet type, but you'll see.

[L_Wolf]

Good chapter, and much easier to read with the spacing

Did miss the indent on the first paragraph though. If you copied it from a different document write it might of missed it. Happens to me sometimes.

[Ravenpuff]

4704819
I never use a first indent on the first paragraph. Was taught that you don't use the indent there to show it's the start of the text. How I was taught and what I'm gonna stick to If that's okay.

[L_Wolf]

Ah, didn't know that. Was always taught to indent the start of a paragraph. But if that is how you was taught then stick with it.

[ErraticOverlord]

4702782 I prefer "succinct"

[Ravenpuff]

4707261
Dear Princess Sunbutt,
Today I learned a new, fancy word. All is good.

[ErraticOverlord]

4708122 Haha, glad to help.