• Published 28th Jun 2012
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A New Hero - Alex The Lone Wolf



What if there was another pony who joined the pony gang? (Look at longer description...)

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The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone

"Can I really have some after they're finished?" I excitedly asked Pinkie Pie as we both stirred the mixes in our bowls fervently.

"Of course! We're besties now, right? Besides, with you helping me bake today, we'll make a bunch of cakes!" She suddenly gasped and paused. "Maybe we can even make pancake cakes!"

"Yes!" I almost accidently threw forward my mixing bowl, causing me to quickly react and attempt to balance the bowl back.

After sharing a cheerful discussion with her pet Gummy, whom was also apparently helping out even though he wasn't exactly doing anything, she trotted over to the pan on the stove. "I've been waiting for just the right time to finally try Granny Pie's super-special triple-chocolate, fifteen-layer marjolaine recipe! It's gonna be amazing!" Then, she dashed over the list of ingredients physically present before her on the counter. "Let's see. Nutty meringue, chocolate ganache, praline and nuts, cocoa-flavored buttercream... An hour per layer – that's fifteen hours of pure baking bliss!"

"Fifteen hours?!" My eyes shot open in shock. "It takes that long?!"

"Of course it does, silly." Pinkie Pie responded jubilantly. "But with you by my side, we can make all sorts of cakes in between!"

I wonder if I have to stay the whole time… I don't think I can last so long…

She pulled the first steaming layer out of the oven and carefully placed it on a clear empty portion of the counter. "Okay, I think we're ready to start prepping the second layer!"

Before she continued, her eyes quickly turned towards her cutie mark which had seemed to been flashing for some time now. She swept off the dough on her flank and realized that it had been doing that thing to do with the map.

"Oh, my gosh! My cutie mark!" She gasped loudly and turned to Gummy and me. "You know what this means?!" Then, she slowly inched between us and answered herself in a hushed voice as if it was a secret nopony ever was supposed to know. "The map!"

Gummy only licked off the mix still stuck to Pinkie's face.

"What about the cake?" I asked Pinkie Pie, who was already inching to leave.

"Gummy can handle it!" She darted over to her pet.

"H-huh?!" I stuttered out. Gummy? The alligator that had just been standing on the counter the entire time? I don't know…

"Uh, Gummy? Could you take over for a bit? Hopefully this'll be quick. I'll just measure the baking powder for you..." She grinned brightly as she instructed her silent and still pet. "...and when the first layer cools, you can drizzle some of the ganache over it. And don't forget to beat the egg whites for the meringue!" Her cutie mark flashed once more, pushing her to hurry. She inserted the whisk into his mouth and began to say goodbye. "I know you can do this, Gummy! You're the best alligator baker I've ever met!" She kissed her friend straight on the lips and the cheerfully hopped out as I followed hesitantly behind her.

I wanted to ask Pinkie Pie if she was sure he could handle such a task, but then again, I thought about how long she apparently had him for a pet and there were probably situations where she had to leave him to hold things over while she was gone. I still wasn't sure about the entire idea, but I decided it was best that I don't think about it.

"So…" I began, grabbing a thought from my mind out of curiosity. "Did he feel all scaly and dry when you kissed him?"

"Who? Alex?" Pinkie Pie asked, turning her head back at me as she continuously hopped.

Huh?! What?! Where did you get his name from that?!

"Not at all!" She continued cheerfully. "But the one time I did it…Fluttershy said it wasn't exactly appropriate. I don't know why. It's just another sign of appreciation and happiness, right?"

"…right." I decided to end that topic there and shut my mouth for the rest of the way. Who knew what else she would say that was completely different from what I was talking about.


At the castle, we met up with Alex and Twilight. They seemed to already have noticed the changes on the map, indicating Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were to go on a trip this time. This was the reason why Rainbow Dash was sitting at the table holding the map. Eventually Twilight mentioned that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were summoned to go to "Griffonstone" which is where all the griffons lived and stuff.

Interestingly enough, Rainbow Dash had brought up a creature I had never thought about for so long.

Gilda.

She was kind of the first creature I protected Alex from when she tried to attack him.

I wanted to go. I wanted to see her and mess with her for being such a bully, which was the same way Rainbow Dash had described her. Either way, I was eager to go on an adventure to discover a new place.

Twilight really wanted to go to, but she decided she should stay to do "princessy" things. Alex wasn't too keen on going, especially since he thought Twilight would probably need some help. However, after some pleading from me, Twilight encouraged him to come along, and that he could tell her all about it when we came back.

Alex seemed to finally give up and we were right on our way to the…land of the griffons?

Also as Rainbow Dash put it, Twilight had literally written us a book on how to get there and what to do once we arrived. However, after some boring walking, climbing, and some occasional carrying by Alex, I never knew that, with all the hard work it took to getting up there, it would be…

"...a total dump!" Pinkie Pie shouted out loud.

It was so true. It was literally a huge bird's nest. If a giant troll or something came around, I'm pretty sure that's what he would think. A bird's nest.

As we walked through, observing the scenery around us only proved how much the place was in shambles. The best way I could think of to sum the experience up was that the griffons used whatever they had here until it broke and continued using such things without bothering to repair it. Had there been an attempted repair, it most likely would have been done half-heartedly.

"Ugh. Maybe the map should've called Rarity instead of us." Rainbow Dash commented.

"Excuse me, sir?" Pinkie Pie stopped a stranger walking among the dirty road. "This is Griffonstone, right?" She was greeted with rude silence as she was only pushed away while the griffon continued on his way. "Well, that wasn't very nice."

"I'm starting to get the feeling that griffons are naturally like this." Alex said. "Explains why Gilda was the way she was."

"See?" Rainbow Dash agreed with Alex's remark. "These griffons are exactly like I'd thought they'd be."

"Maybe we should just find the palace so we can ask the king what's going on." Pinkie suggested optimistically.

"We don't have a king, losers."

"Hello, Gilda." Rainbow Dash immediately announced distastefully.

"Dash." The griffon returned with the same attitude.

"Pinkie!" Pinkie Pie unnecessarily cut in.

"What are you doing here?" Rainbow asked.

"Uh, I'm a griffon?" She paused to attend to the extra couple of ponies hanging around the altercation. "I see you're still dragging along the flying popsicle." It seemed she directed it at Alex, since she was obviously looking his way. "Just because you're all special now doesn't mean I'll treat you like the rest of your dweeb friends do. Don't like it? 'There's the door, I think you should leave.'" She pointed back in the direction from whence we came.

"Geez…" Alex looked more disappointed or saddened with pity than offended. "'Flying popsicle'? Well, at least I'm not a super salty one…"

"Whatever, dork." She ignored and then finally laid her eyes on me. "Who's buttercream over here? You little dweebs make a new pony friend?"

"Is 'dweeb' the only word you know in that tiny little brain of yours?" I didn't hesitate to react without thinking through.

"You wanna start some beef with me, squirt?" She aggressively raised and clenched her claw.

"Bring it on!" I valiantly held my ground.

"Look!" Rainbow Dash intervened. "We're not here to start anything. We're just here to take care of some kind of stupid problem and then we'll be off on our way and never come back ever again."

"So…" Pinkie Pie chimed in. "If you don't have a king, could you at least tell us where the Idol of Boreas is?"

"Ha-ha!" Gilda surprising shared a brief chuckle. "Don't tell me you really believe in that thing."

"You'd better believe in it!" An old and wrinkly griffon coughed and wheezed as he fell towards our level from his home. Nevertheless, that didn't stop the vigorous spirit that seemed to radiate from within him. "It was the best thing to ever happen to us griffons!"

"Oh, great. Now you got Grampa Gruff started!" Gilda dreaded.

"I'll tell you the whole tragic tale..." He confronted us before laughing greedily. "...for a couple of bits."

Rainbow Dash sighed in defeat since there was no really other way around this, and it didn't help that Pinkie Pie spent all her money buying out the cart of sweets back in the train.

After apparently literally taking a taste of the bits and probably making sure they were the real thing, he began filling us with more information on the history of griffons. "The first griffon king, King Grover, united our kind like we've never been united before or since! And he did it all with that incredible Idol of Boreas." Behind him, Gilda mocked him as if she's heard the story a thousand times and knew how exactly he would tell it. However, she ceased once the old griffon turned back with a cold scowl. "That idol brought pride to the heart of every griffon that saw it! From one king to the next, Griffonstone had our golden idol. We were the envy of all other species. It held us together – it gave us an identity – right up until the reign of King Guto. That's when Arimaspi came to steal our griffon treasure! King Guto tried to fight him off, but Arimaspi managed to get away with the idol! They say when our treasure fell into the Abysmal Abyss, our pride went with it. King Guto was the last king of Griffonstone, and we all lived miserably ever after. The end!"

"That was the saddest story ever!" Pinkie expressed emotionally as she teared up.

"Aw, well..." The griffon looked as he if was about to comfort her until he raised his voice to full blast, his vocal chords surprisingly coming close to screeches from a speaker. "Tough tailfeathers! No refunds!"

"No wonder Twilight's book ended with the coronation of King Guto." Pinkie continued after our paid speaker flew off and left with his money. "Who would want to record a history that sad?"

"It's not sad!" Gilda angrily denied. "Do we look sad to you?"

"More like something crawled up your…" I muttered and mumbled the last few words.

"I think I know why the map sent us here." Rainbow Dash spoke up after having had her attention focused on something else. "We need to find the Idol of Boreas and bring glory and pride back to Griffonstone!"

"Ha-ha. Here we go – typical pony hero complex." Gilda fired once again. "None of us care about that dumb old idol. Don't you get it? We don't care about anything, and that's the way we like it!"

"I think Rainbow Dash is right! The map sent us here to fix some sort of problem!" Pinkie Pie advised, somehow making her way up to Gilda's flying back.

"The only problem Griffonstone has is you!" Gilda aggressively bumped Pinkie Pie off herself and tore away from sight.

"Well, I don't care what she says. We're gonna find that treasure, make Griffonstone cool again, and get back to Ponyville! Come on!" She began to direct our attention before Pinkie stopped her.

"Wait, Rainbow Dash. What about Twilight's advice?"

"What, taking a bunch of pictures?"

"She mentioned finding answers at the library."

Rainbow Dash threw Twilight's instruction booklet, smacking Pinkie Pie dab on the face. "Knock yourself out. But when you get bored with Twilight's tour book, I'll be at the Abysmal Abyss finding the Idol of Boreas."

"I…better go with her." Alex suggested as began prepping his wings for takeoff. "Don't know what a pony like her might get herself into…"

As I hesitantly watched him leave, Pinkie Pie suddenly grabbed ahold of my foreleg and dragged me out. "Come on! I know just the thing to bring this place together and you're going to help me do it!"


Long story short, we met up with Gilda again, but of course she wasn't delighted to see us. I didn't blame her, since I didn't like her to begin with either. After getting heaps of rudeness from mean old Gilda, we found the library to be in the same shape the town was. Let's just say the books weren't the only thing torn apart. In fact, like Pinkie Pie mentioned, Twilight's heart would be added to the list of torn and thrown objects had she set her eyes on this place like we did.

Taking a break from swimming through a sea of broken dreams, I did manage to see Pinkie at her weirdest, and it was a whole lot weirder than I've ever been…I think. She talked with a statue who was apparently King Grover and I think she even flirted with it a bit after making the inanimate object compliment her hair.

Despite that slightly awkward scene to watch, Pinkie decided the answer to saving Griffonstone was to sing, but of course, Gilda brought that hope of hers down when she pointed out that there was a no singing rule in Griffonstone.

There was no party store either.

Or a bakery too.

Maybe I shouldn't have come after all… I thought there would at least be some interesting things to do alongside bugging Gilda.

After cringing at the sight of Pinkie Pie trying to chew and swallow a 'griffon scone' Gilda happened to be selling at the time, I decided there was another opportunity to act dirty.

"Are you sure you're just not selling rocks? Because I'm pretty sure we can get that anytime anywhere for nothing at all."

"What's your problem?!" Gilda pointed a sharp talon at me. "You come to where I live and start beef with me?!"

"Well, doesn't that sound familiar?" I ricocheted back. "I swear there was a griffon who came to Ponyville that did just the exact same thing!"

"How do you even know what happened?! I've never even seen you before in my life!"

"I know plenty! Especially right when you tried to attack my b—!"

"Ow! I think I broke a tooth!" Pinkie Pie suddenly cried out.

Giving one final heavy snort back at me, she turned to face Pinkie Pie.

"Well, whatever. No refunds. I don't even care anyway. I just want to sell enough of these so that I can leave this lousy town."

Pinkie Pie spat out and grinned bright, as if the quarrel between us never even happened in front of her. "I can help you with that!"

I didn't know if it was just me, but anytime I got into a fight that began to push the buttons of my emotions, I couldn't easily forget or distract myself from it. In this case, as Pinkie Pie began instructing Gilda how to actually bake, I kept and paid attention to only myself. I keep thinking over the things we threw at each other, which bothered me even more, ironically. I didn't care about Gilda, yet it seemed like I might have regretted saying what I said.

I tried to focus and prevent my mind from getting lost in the sea of thoughts that were always tearing up inside me. I only ever really remembered or noticed them when I couldn't find things to distract myself and push them further away from me. I guess that was one reason why I always wanted to be around Alex because he kind of made me feel like everything was going to be alright. Like I've told myself before. He's the only pony I can confidently one-hundred percent trust with my life, and I wouldn't trust any pony else with bonding and merging that life for eternity.

"We gotta go now!" I felt a fierce tug pull me away from both my current physical and mental place.

"Wh-What's going on?!" I asked Pinkie Pie for practically startling me.

"We need Rainbow Dash! She doesn't need to get that lousy old idol!" Pinkie Pie darted straight through town before she came across a giant gorge. "Rainbow Dash!"

"Rainbow! Just hang on!" My eyes shot open at the sound of this worried voice.

Alex had been worriedly staring past the gorge as if he had dropped something of deep important value.

"What's going on?!" I raced towards Alex's side.

"Rainbow Dash's stuck down there! And the stupid guide left because all she wanted were bits!" I could hear and sense both the anger and distraught in his voice. However, there was nothing I could really do to help… Well…technically, I guess there was one thing, but I swore I would never ever even try to use it again.

"Throw down the rest of the rope!" Rainbow Dash could be faintly heard through the heavy air current only by shouting out loud.

"It's not enough!" He argued. "And the freaking guide took the extra rope she had with her!"

"Ohmigosh!" Pinkie tiptoed over the cliff, catching Rainbow Dash at the bottom. "Dashie, are you okay?!"

"Does it look like I'm okay?! I'm hundreds of feet below the ground and there's thousands of more feet below me and I'm literally stuck between a bunch of rocks and hard places!"

"Don't worry! Stay right there! I'll go get help!" Pinkie Pie directed before scurrying off.

If Alex wasn't keeping an endless watch over Rainbow Dash, he paced back and forth like a worried parent. I had to uncomfortably sit by as we waited for Pinkie Pie to bring help. Where was she going to go? All the griffons here only wanted bits for any little service they offered, even if a pony's life was on the life. Was she going to go all the way back to Ponyville and bring Twilight or something?

"Move aside, dweebs." An unexpected voice shoved through us.

"Gilda?!" Alex stood briefly dumbfounded at the sight of the unfriendly griffon tying an extra length rope to the nearby sturdy rock. "What are you doing here?!"

"What does it look like?!" She bitterly snapped back as she tightened the other end of the rope attached to her harness. "Your stupid friend kept bothering me about helping Rainbow Dash and I've got scones to make and sell, so get out of my way!" She then balanced herself at the edge of the cliff and called out to the pony in peril below. "Hang on, loser! I'm coming!"

"What took you so long, doofus?!" We heard Rainbow Dash respond in somewhat relieved banter.

Just before Gilda could safely make her way towards Rainbow, the remains of the rock beneath her broke apart and sent her tumbling down the abyss. Pinkie Pie immediately panicked and without thinking, ripped off the tied end of the rope from the rock and hopped off the cliff.

"Pinkie, wait!" Alex tried to call and reach out to her. His hoof caught the rope, but this only sharply pulled him alongside Pinkie Pie whom dove after Rainbow Dash.

"Alex!" I then cried and raced after him, reaching for and immediately wrapping my forelegs around his hind legs.

There was that extremely uncomfortable feeling of falling to your death before something caught hold of a steady bearing, practically bouncing us almost like a bungee cord and ultimately leaving us dangling to a scary infinite depth below.

"Hold on!" I heard Gilda call from above.

I couldn't imagine the weight all of us had added along with the force of gravity.

Through grunts and groans, Gilda informed us with bad news. "Y-you're all too heavy!"

"I'm slipping!" Rainbow cried out.

Alex's eyes squinted as he seemed to focus on us below him. A hint of glow protruded from his horn and it seemed he attempted to take most of the weight off with his magic. However, especially due to the strong currents, we were nowhere light enough to be taken higher than a few inches.

Finally, we were slowly being lifted up to higher ground. Once Gilda was safe, Alex helped the others, including me, get to Gilda's place before bringing himself up and joining us. Everyone panted and caught their breath after staring into the eyes of our doom.

"That was too close." Rainbow released after exhaling a huge sigh of relief.

"The Idol of Boreas…" Gilda brought up, pointing past us to a small section of rock where a piece of gold hung dangerously at. "I wanted to get it…" She admitted, looking mostly towards Rainbow Dash. "Even though we might not be friends anymore, there was no way I could forget everything we went through together just for some dumb chunk of gold."

I felt myself perk up when I realized the idol wasn't too far of reach.

"Hold on! I think I can get it!" I energetically perched up.

"Hey! Wait!" Alex called out, trying to stop me.

"It's okay!" I assured as I wiggled my behind. "All you need is a hop, skip, and a jump!"

I broke on through to the other side with a light hop. When my hooves landed, there was a small shaking vibration, causing me to lose my balance for a moment before I quickly steadied myself by practically hugging whatever ground I had. I then slowly reached for the Idol, but the smallest poke at it caused to immediately fall over. I instantly lurched forward to grab it, not realizing that I didn't have any safe ground left to keep me in sight.

"Aah!" I yelped before I suddenly stopped in midair, watching the Idol continuously fall below until it was no longer in sight. I was then pulled back and found myself among the others once again.

"Are you stupid?!" I heard Alex scold towards me. "You heard what Gilda said, didn't you?"

"I just thought I could help…" I replied with wounded emotions and a shattered dream.

Alex shook his head and sighed. "Let's get out of here while we still can."

After Gilda brought us back up and out of the abyss. It seemed we headed back towards town, but I was too busy depressingly staring at the ground and felt the strong urge to blame myself for not being able to get the Idol.

"I'm really sorry about how I treated you all and everyone else." Gilda apologized.

"Thanks, Gilda." Rainbow expressed.

"Apology accepted." Pinkie nodded.

"Well, I guess it wasn't really that bad." Alex admitted. "No offense, but seeing the kind of place you live, I don't really blame you. You'd probably be kicked around here if you didn't learn to be mean like everyone else."

"Why do you think I want to move out of this lousy place?" Gilda reinforced her goal.

"I'm just sorry we couldn't get your idol back." Rainbow Dash mentioned, unintentionally stinging and poking my already jumbled emotions. "Now we'll never be able to solve Griffonstone's problem."

"That's what I was trying to tell you!" Pinkie Pie excitedly announced as if she had outstanding news to share, perking my ears up in attentiveness. "The map didn't send us here to find the lost Idol of Boreas. It sent us here to replace it with something better!"

"Nothing's better than gold to a griffon." Gilda stated.

"That's because you don't have friendship!" Pinkie hugged Gilda. "If you can learn to care about each other again, Griffonstone could be a mightier kingdom than it ever was before! And you don't need some golden idol to do that. You just need each other."

"Whoa, Pinkie." Rainbow Dash reacted with surprise before toning it back down. "That was... really sappy."

"Eh, what can I say? That's how I roll." Pinkie noticed another griffon walking by before encouraging Gilda to move towards her. "Go on, Gilda! Go make a friend!"

Gilda, of course, hesitated before being given the fresh new scones she made and pushed towards the other griffon.

"I don't know, Pinkie. You really think these griffons are up for this?" Rainbow doubted. "We aren't exactly in Ponyville, you know."

The sight of the other griffon sort of proved Rainbow Dash's point as she looked like she had no interest in conversation until Gilda offered one of her freshly made scones. Then, she raced back to us with good news.

"Okay, so she was really weirded out until I gave her the scone. Then she tried it and said it tasted good! That's the first nice thing any griffon's ever said to me!"

All of a sudden, Pinkie Pie's and Rainbow Dash's cutie marks flashed and rung, just like the other time back at that village when the job was done!

"Whoa, Pinkie. I guess that really was the problem we needed to solve." Rainbow said.

"Wow. Who would've known." Alex seemed to say rather sarcastically.

Pinkie Pie smugly pulled out a can of baking powder from her mane and announced proudly. "Baking powder makes baked goods and friendships fluffy and delicious!"

"Well, we'd better be heading home." Rainbow decided.

"What?" Gilda cried out in distress and agony. "Y-Y-You want me to spread friendship here by myself?! How am I supposed to do that?! I haven't even made one single friend yet!"

"No, you haven't. You've made four." Rainbow sounded brutally honest before revealing her true intention.

"Hugging! Hugging now!" Pinkie teared up as she signaled us to gather together.

"But you'll come back and visit, right?" Gilda asked as Pinkie still clung tightly to her.

"Just try and stop us!"

When Gilda finally managed to pry Pinkie off, she sent a small wave over to us before she returned to the griffon she offered the scones to.

As we made our way back to the entrance of the town, Pinkie Pie looked back at something in particular with half-lidded eyes. "See ya later, you old charmer."

"Uh, Pinkie? Who are you talking to?" Rainbow caught sight of the weirdness I witnessed earlier ago.

"Nopony! Come on, let's go home and see how Gummy did with Granny Pie's marjolaine recipe!"

I remained quiet and still pretty disappointed for majority of the way back until Alex slowed his walking and stayed by side.

"You alright?" He asked.

"I guess I'm just thinking back when I tried to get the idol..."

"It's not your fault." He assured. "No way should you even have tried to get it in the first place."

"Sorry, I worried you." I apologized with a lowered head. "I guess I still can never really do anything right."

"You think more about your failures than accomplishments, don't you?" He mentioned, confusing me at the moment.

"What?"

"I understand. You think all you do is bad because you only ever think about the times when you've failed. But you've got to stop and think back on all the good you did."

"Pfft." I reacted in an unaccepting tone. "If it's so easy, why don't you name something I accomplished?"

"Seriously?" He chuckled and laughed. "Look right in front of you."

"What are you talking about?" I began feeling a little upset, unsure if he was just trying to tease or mess with me.

"I'm where I am now because of you, Spirit." He enthused. "You've kept me safe all this time, remember? In a pretty literal way, you're the light of my life. If that isn't an amazing accomplishment, I don't know what is."

My low self-esteem didn't allow for my mood to skyrocket as it probably should have, but I realized that maybe things weren't so bad after all.

Gaining a small smile from me, I answered.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

However, as I thought more into it on the way home, I couldn't quite settle with it.

But is it really a good thing?

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