Chapter Two: Return of The Clawstons
Right on the outskirts of the mountains that held the city of Canterlot, the Equestrian Airship Port was standing proudly against the unmovable mountainside. Even though most of the ponies that came to this port were fairly wealthy, mostly due to how much a single airship ticket could cost, the port and accompanying shops were surprisingly crowded by the time Troy arrived. Canterlot might have been closer to Ponyville than any other township, but that didn’t mean flying there was that simple. Despite the flight taking less than an hour, the strong wind currents and difficult terrain on the way left Troy completely exhausted when he finally got back on his paws.
After checking to see when the airship from the Gryphon Kingdom was scheduled to arrive, Troy sighed tiredly and rested on a vacant bench. Even though he didn’t bring any books or magazines to occupy his time (or any breakfast, for that matter), the Gryphon was alright with just watching the countless ponies of varying colors and shapes walk past him. Most of them were unicorns, which made sense given how close this place was to Canterlot, but every single pony stood out in their own odd way. Of course, at the realization of how that observation sounded, the Gryphon tried not to chuckle at thinking he was acting more like Canvas.
Troy wasn’t sure how long he was sitting at the bench, but the skies were a bright and cloudless blue when the airship began to be seen from the distance. Many ponies, most being small children, ran towards the observation deck of the port to see the blimp-like marvel of machinery glide closer towards them. As he grunted while getting out of his seat, the Gryphon couldn’t look away from the airship either. Ever since coming to Equestria, the only time that Troy could recall seeing one of those things was when he first arrived from the Gryphon Kingdom to get his papers verified in Cloudsdale; and even then, he only caught a slight glance of the airship from his train window.
But now, the purple and gold-colored machine looked like something from a grand painting of older times when it slowed its descent into the port. Some of the younger ponies were cheering at its arrival, obviously having never seen one before in their lives. While Troy himself was impressed at the grand size of the ornate machine, his smile was kept at a more subdued level when he walked towards the gate where the departures would exit from.
The first dozen or so passengers were ponies, so Troy stepped back courteously so they could have some space when greeted by their loved ones. While most of them looked to be very well-off with their fancy bags and jewelry, it was clear that seeing their family and friends was more valuable to them when hugging and nuzzling in their grasps. Troy kept his distance, but his own beak cracked into an anxious smile when he saw the first few Gryphons begin to exit the airship. Upon seeing the off-white feathers and light grey fur of a certain Gryphoness, he raised his claw to wave and yelled out, “Mom!”
Hearing her son, Angela perked her head up and beamed when she saw him at the gate. Even though she would’ve ran to hug her son, she had to settle with just shuffling with the line of fellow Gryphons at a slightly quick rate. Holding only her pale green purse at her side, the Gryphoness was quick to return the hug that Troy gave her when she got off the airship. “Oh, Troy! It’s so nice to see you again!”
Troy could’ve easily given her a stronger hug, but he didn’t want to crush her after that long of a flight. After letting go of her, Troy kept his smile as he looked past Angela to ask, “So, where are the others?”
“Oh, your Father went to get our luggage,” she said as she went to pull something out of her purse. “You know how he is about others handling his things. I think Lyle went with him to get his bag too.”
“Oh, alright.” Troy turned his attention back to his Mom and asked, “So, how have things been? You only wrote me a couple times this winter.”
“Well, now you know what it’s like to not receive information that often,” jeered the Gryphoness with a small smirk and a raised brow. She had a thin, wrapped item in her claw which she used to point at Troy with while adding, “But I still wrote more often than you did when you first came here.”
“Hey, come on,” said Troy defensively. “I was getting used to living in a new country! I had to adjust to a lot of things.” Of course, after thinking it over for a second, the silver Gryphon sighed apprehensively and made a guilty shrug. “But… yeah, I guess I should’ve written more. And I’m sorry for that.”
Despite still looking peeved by that reminder, Angela was quick to give her son a small peck on the cheek. “Well, I’m glad you’re at least aware of that. And those gifts you sent on Hearth’s Warming were very nice.”
Troy rubbed the back of his head with a smile. “Thanks. Canvas really enjoys that cookbook, by the way.”
“Well, that’s good to know…” Angela waited a moment with both brows raised, like she was expecting to hear something else from her son. However, at realizing what she was probably wanting to hear him say, Troy just returned a flat stare back at her.
“Mom, are you expecting me to say something about that disturbing catalogue?”
“Disturbing?!” Angela’s expression turned to a soured tone of surprise as she asked, “What do you mean disturbing? I figured you’d appreciate that!”
“Mom, Canvas and I aren’t even married yet!”
“So?”
Troy narrowed his eyes on her with a bitter huff. “Mom… Canvas and I don’t want kids. We’re perfectly fine with Tenor.”
Upon hearing that name, it was Angela’s turn to give a deadpan stare. “You mean that puppy you used for my card that brought my hopes up?"
Troy looked away to muffle a giggle with his claw, having forgotten what he and Canvas did. After receiving the catalogue, his fiancè thought it’d be funny to dress Tenor up like a baby, and place a picture of him in a card with the phrase, “Look at our New Arrival!” on the front. Even though it was mostly meant to convey a clear message to his folks, Troy had to admit that it was also pretty damn hilarious.
“Don’t laugh about that!” Snapped Angela more firmly. “That was mean!”
“What, were you seriously expecting us to have a kid?!”
With that, Angela paused for a second before making a meager shrug. She looked away while unwrapping her item to mutter, “It would’ve been nice if it was…”
Troy sighed with a roll of his eyes, barely noticing that his Mom was holding a long, chocolate-covered stick that she took a bite out of. “Mom, I would really appreciate if you didn’t keep pestering me and Canvas about kids. It’s not going to happen, so it’d probably be best to get babies out of your mind.”
Angela stopped chewing as she peered back at her son from the corner of her eye. She stayed silent momentarily, but slowly grew a smirk when she replied, “Well, I have a feeling that might not happen for a while.”
“Ugh!” Troy clenched his beak shut after that groan, not wanting to say anything else and risk getting a smack over the head from blurting anything involuntarily. He finally noticed what was in her claw as his eyes widened in worry. “Ummm… Mom, what is that?”
“Hmm?” Angela looked down at where Troy’s eyes were pointed, and saw that the wrapper’s labeling was clearly visible. She rolled her eyes and moved one of her talons down so the word “Jerky” was out of sight. “Oh, don’t worry. Nobody is going to notice as long as it’s covered in chocolate.”
“You brought--” Troy stopped himself long enough to get his voice under control, and then restarted with a more hushed tone as he bent his head in. “Mom, you seriously brought chocolate-covered beef jerky to Equestria?!”
Another voice spoke up before Angela could swallow her bite. “Don’t worry, Troy. She has a doctor’s note for them.”
Troy peered up at the source of the voice, and widened his eyes at the sight of his Father behind Angela. The Gryphon was just big as before, but his dark brown feathers seemed a bit less frazzled than usual. Even the huge scar that ran down the right side of his face seemed a bit less obvious, although it was still clear as day. When his jagged beak cracked into a subtle smile, Troy almost didn’t recognize him in comparison to the last time they met. But still, it didn’t keep Troy from smiling back at him before leaning in. “Hey, Dad!”
Due to the two massive duffle bags that he was carrying, Jonas couldn’t lift both claws for a hug. Fortunately, the one-clawed “Bro hug” he gave to Troy was able to suffice. When Troy pulled back, he had to re-track his train of thought while saying, “I was wondering where you were. But…”
Troy turned back to his Mother to ask, “What do you mean, a doctor’s note?”
“Oh, it’s nothing!” Assured the Gryphoness with a wave of her claw. “Jonas’s surgeon friend Peter was able to write up some documentation for us. Just in case we got caught with anything.”
Hearing that, Troy narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Why would you risk doing something like that?”
Jonas retorted with a blunt, “What, in comparison to what we send you in the mail?” This is nothing!”
Troy wanted to open his beak to say something in response, but nothing could come to mind that could actually counter what his Dad just said. Realizing his point, the Gryphon took a second before shrugging his shoulders. “Eh, that’s true.”
“Hey Troy!”
The unfamiliar voice caught Troy’s attention enough to make him look past his parents. As soon as he saw who was waving at him while leaving the airship, the Gryphon’s eyes nearly shot out of his head in shock. “LYLE?!”
The Gryphon only grinned in response, as if that would change how different he looked. Even though the black and white feathers on his chest and head were the same as before, it was clear that he grew a couple feet over the winter months. And when he ran down the walkway to the gate with his luggage strapped to his back, his voice was noticeably deeper when he shouted out, “C’mere, man!”
Troy was quick to lunge towards his younger brother with gusto, and the two nearly crushed each other as they hugged at the gate entrance. Despite his massive growth, Lyle was still about a foot shorter than his brother, so Troy was able to use his foreleg to lay an easy noogie on top of his head. “What the buck has Mom been feeding you?! Steroids?!”
Angela rolled her eyes while behind the two. “Oh, very funny. Your growth spurt happened pretty fast too, you know.”
“Hey, c’mon!!” Lyle said while giggling. He finally managed to pull himself out of his brother’s grasp to say, “I didn’t grow THAT much!”
Troy only gave him a baffled stare in response to that comment. “Are you kidding?! Canvas is gonna freak when he sees you!”
As soon as he heard his brother mention that name, Lyle’s smile instantly grew bigger. “Dude, please tell me he’s somewhere around here!”
“Ah, sorry bro,” said Troy with a disappointed tone of voice. “He’s back at the house. The triplets just showed up with two cages full of chickens, so we couldn’t exactly leave them alone.”
“Aww…” Despite the pained slump that Lyle made with a pout, he eventually sighed before shrugging. “Eh, I suppose that might be best.”
“Wait, they actually brought those chickens?!” Asked Jonas surprisedly. “I thought they were joking about that!”
“Hey, I got the feathers in my backyard to prove it.” A loud gurgle interrupted anything else that Troy was going to say, which prompted him to wince while putting a claw against his stomach. “Urgh… why did I skip breakfast?”
“You skipped breakfast?!” With the way Angela yelped that response, it sounded like she just heard Troy say he lost his wings or something. She went to grab one of the luggage bags resting on Jonas’s back while saying, “Well, that certainly won’t do! I’m just glad I was able to bring--”
“Hey, HEY!” Jonas pulled back from Angela before she could zip open her bag. “At least wait until we get in a train or something! Those doctors notes can only go so far.”
Despite that brief outburst from her husband, the Gryphoness let his point sink in before complying. “Oh, alright…” She pulled her claw away and turned back to Troy with a grin on her beak. “It might be worth waiting for the train anyway.”
“The train?” Asked Troy in confusion. “Why don’t we just fly back?”
Jonas answered with, “Your Mother and I wanted to visit that Ponyville town and get some errands done. Plus, she figured it’d be better to catch up in a private car as opposed to shouting over wind currents.”
Troy raised his brows in surprise, having figured his Dad would fight beak and talon to go into town the cheapest route possible. But before he could ask why, Angels chimed in while standing closer to her husband. “Also, your Father promised he would make some due apologies before helping with your wedding plans.”
Angela’s gaze turned up towards Jonas, her eyes giving a silent but very apparent “Right?” Without opening her beak. The larger Gryphon may have been a Brigadier General, but he still nodded timidly while trying to avoid his wife’s stare on him. “Y-yeah… That’s the plan.”
Lyle tried to stifle a snicker, and made a soundless whip-cracking motion towards Troy out of Jonas’s line of vision. But as soon as Troy covered his beak with a claw, Jonas noticed enough to turn his head towards Lyle with a knowing stare. Of course, despite the way he was peering down at his youngest son like a peeved hawk, Lyle just raised a brow with a flat stare back at him. “What?”
Jonas didn’t say anything, but his eyes narrowed enough to show he definitely had some words in mind. But instead of opening his beak, the General exhaled strongly like an aggravated bull before turning away. “Let’s just get a train ticket,” he muttered in a low tone.
As Jonas walked away towards the ticket booth of the adjoining train depot, Troy walked alongside his mother as they followed. “Umm… is everything okay?”
Angela sighed briefly. “You really shouldn’t worry about it. He’s just trying to get used to changing his attitude about things recently.” While walking, she looked to her son with a pleading expression and added, “I really don’t want you two to repeat any discrepancies, so can you please promise to not push him? Lyle’s given him enough trouble as it is.”
“Hey,” barked Lyle from Troy’s other side, “if I was giving him any real trouble, you would know. I’ve been holding back just as much as he has.”
Troy’s beak skewed uncomfortably, not needing to ask what the tensions were about. Even though things were resolved partially the last time they were all in Equestria, it was clear that a lot of things might still be below the surface. Of course, given everything that was said and done between them and Jonas, he couldn’t necessarily blame Lyle for any lingering feelings.
After a deep breath, Troy turned his attention back to his Mom to say, “Well, as long as he doesn’t start anything, neither will I.”
“Thank you,” said Angela sincerely, “and just so you know, he’s not the only one who’s trying his best. I’m doing my part too.”
“Yeah, I know.” Troy gave a warm smile towards the Gryphoness. “I read about what you’ve been doing in your letters, and I’m really proud of you.”
Angela smiled back with a caring blush on her cheeks. But still, she looked away from her son with a wave of her claw. “Oh, that was nothing! Believe me, I have even bigger things planned aside from a simple change in workplace reform. You’ll see.”
“Oh, really?” He asked with a skewed brow. “Like what?”
Angela didn’t say anything for a few seconds, like she was contemplating her words. But after a brief shrug of her shoulders, she gave a glance back at Troy to say, “Well, I did manage to bring something from Highmount which you can eat on the train. From a little place called… Burger Box?”
The very instant she said those last two words with a raise of her brows, Troy’s eyes shot wide open. Having been in Equestria for over a year, hearing that statement made his tail wave around sporadically and nearly smack Lyle several times. “Mom, you better not be joking.”
Seeing the wide-eyed, serious stare he had on her, Angela could only giggle in response. “Well, I figured you would miss some local cuisine, so… I may have gotten some of those taco things you like so much.”
Troy’s eyes nearly popped from their sockets as his face lit up like a Hearth’s Warming tree. Lyle, on the other claw, just looked away with a groan. “Ugh, you mean those ‘Two for One Bit’ things?! Even I can’t eat that crap.”
“ShutupIlikethem!” Snapped the silver Gryphon in a split-second turn towards his brother, before looking back at Angela to ask, “How many?”
“You’ll see on the train,” she answered with a smirk. However, that vague answer was still enough to get her lifted off the ground by the massive bear-hug Troy pulled her into. Before he could give his Mom an especially tight squeeze, Angela became wide-eyed and shouted “NOT TOO TIGHT!”
Since that scream sounded way more frantic than expected, Troy quickly let go of her worriedly. But before he could ask anything, Angela put up her claw when she was put back on the ground. “S-sorry, I just... “ She took a step back with a quick breath before saying, “I kinda had a big breakfast on the ship, so I’d rather not get squeezed too tightly.”
“Oh, of course.” Feeling guilty about what he did, Troy didn’t notice his Mom’s skewed beak as he said, “I really didn’t mean to--”
“No, it’s alright,” assured Angela with a smile on her beak. “At least I know I got something you like.” She then lead the way towards the train and said, “C’mon, let’s meet up with your Father for the tickets.”
While she walked ahead of them, Troy turned to Lyle with a raised brow. “You know what that was about?”
“Beats me,” answered the younger Gryphon with his shoulders raised. “They’ve both been acting weird lately. Probably just trying to act more ‘PC’ before meeting Canvas again.”
Even though he wasn’t sure how that would fit with how Angela just acted, it was the only answer that kinda fit. So, Troy shrugged before walking alongside Lyle once more. “Well, maybe…”
Seeing the way Troy was looking at the ground while walking, Lyle gave him a little nudge from the side and said, “Hey, cheer up, man. At least they’re actually trying, aren’t they?”
“Yeah, I guess…” Troy’s head slowly raised up before turning his gaze to Lyle. “How about you? Are things going alright?”
To that, Lyle made a brief sigh and looked back ahead of him. “It isn’t about me. Just focus on yourself for now. I’m fine.”
Given the firm tone of Lyle’s voice, Troy was sure that he was lying. But instead of trying to push things any further, Troy took a breath to alleviate his nerves before lifting one of his wings. He draped it across Lyle’s back, and looked down at him with a smirk to say, “Well, I certainly hope that’s true. Because I don’t want my Best Man to flake out on me.”
That statement was enough to make Lyle return a genuine smile up at Troy and say, “Hey, there’s no way I’m gonna do that to you. ‘Birds of a Feather Flock Together’, right?”
Troy’s smile widened as his wing tightened around his brother. “Right.”
With that, the two brothers walked towards the train depot with their heads held high, and their minds only occupied with the catching up that needed to be done.
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Yay! I love the new chapter.
MY reaction to the chocolate cover beef jerky and doctor's note: pfftahahahahaha!!
Seriously?
Calling it now: She's pregnant.
Also, chocolate-covered jerky? Sounds gross.
While I've enjoyed the stories in this series I ponder the strict ban on eating meat. Equestria isn't just ponies and not everyone can survive on vegetation alone. Ponies can while not seen and joked about in many stories eat grass and survive off it others not so much not to mention flowers can be food as well as decorations
7075653
Yeah I was just thinking that too.
Also if done right chocolate beef jerky is good. Well at least I think so.
7075830
It's more about the fact that in many episodes, you can see that most animals are fully sentient beings. In fact, many of them are able to talk (like the cows in season one). Because of that, eating meat is much more taboo due to the fact that it's basically murder.
I brought up in Brushed Away 2 that Equestria has an enchantment across the nation which gives most animals sentience, but it doesn't reach the Gryphon Kingdom. The animals there don't have the intelligence or thought processes like the ones in Equestria. And like Troy said, it's hard to crave a T-Bone steak when you can have a nice conversation with the cattle.
This is a male on male romance, right?
7075901
Yes, it is.
7075859 understand all that but still have the same issue with people that can't live on veggies alone. So there would have to be a way of dealing with it maybe fish though not sure. maybe controlled import
I have to wonder: Wouldn't the gryphons find other sources of protein in Equestria? Like certain types of nuts
7076088 that might cover it certainly would help
Both of my parents are doctors, and I can confirm, you can get away with some serious sh!t with those notes (i.e. skipping out on test days and being able to stay at home all week when awesome games like Bloodborne come out).
Hehe, I'm calling it, she's pregnant! Pregnant females, at least omnivores, need high quantities of protein, thus the doctors note. The odd behavior between the parents, and her skitishness about a tight hug. Not to mention the obsession with kids... Yup, she's pregnant.
7076146 Also, Chocolate Beef Jerky. Totally something I'd expect from an expecting mom.
7076088 I think it's because they don't have the right kind of beaks... unless there's actual teeth in them beaks.
Ok its official, the clawstons are going to get a new member soon
7075923 One question for you:
Are ponies omnivores?
I think that covers everything up.
7078565 Ponies are considered herbivores though they can eat meat. Pegasusi who knows but that would only be the whole story if Equestria was only ponies
7078825
7078565
54 second mark:
7078846 MY POINT IS PROVEN!
I call, that , anglea is pregnant. That is the reason she is acting wierd.
7079850 I second that
7079850 third that
She's either pregnant or terminally ill.
7079850
Especially considering she ate chocolate covered jerky plus it would explain the doctors notes they mentioned
9121024
I call that too.
7096086
Wow. Those too options are on the complete opposite of the spectrum.
IS THERE ANOTHER CLAWSTON BABY ON THE WAY? 😃🥳