Scarlet Tears

by Silent Quill

Smoked Feathers

Hooves pounded heavily against a laminated floor, pushing a trolley with a single occupant atop it hurriedly through what appears to be a gleaming hospital hallway. The occupant of the trolley could only watch one half of the corridor pass blearily. She appeared to be a perfectly healthy gryphon cub, her coat and feathers ash brown with dark grey primaries and feather crest, until one took a look at her wing’s pits, between her toes, or at her face.

Her wings or between her toes would be easy to solve, but problematic in the long run if she showed signs of infections, a small hoof-full of ticks clung to her skin and were removed by magic as they hurried to the surgical ward. These menaces to Equestria were, without exception, placed into a small tub which held magical flame that incinerated them upon entry.

Her face was another issue altogether.

The cart thundered into an operating theatre and she was transferred to the surgical bed. A unicorn stallion with glasses and a surgical mask trotted over to her and lay her down, his eyes looking across hers’ with worried professionalism. The cub beneath him was actually bound to keep her from moving, as he wanted to keep her from scratching her injury, but she was crying in pain, and tears mixed with blood streaked down one side of her face. He ran a hoof gently over her scalp.

“It’s alright, sweetie, we’re going to help you, okay? You hurt at the moment, but when you wake up, the pain should be all gone, alright?” The gryphon nodded weakly, and he turned to one of the mares accompanying him. “Nurse, administer an anaesthetic if you please?” He asked calmly, internally worrying about the procedure he was to operate. He waited until the gryphon cub was asleep before he turned to the nurse who was currently intubating their young patient. “I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s rare enough that we get deep wounds to require treatment, let alone on a child, but…” He looked back at the cub sadly, “that she could take such a wound to her eye and not scream in pain constantly…”

He sighed and turned fully to his charge, clearing his throat and levitating an array of examination tools over. He spoke aloud only for the records that he was recording and glancing over before he began, in case he or his superiors needed to review the case –as they might considering the circumstances; “Surgical procedure twenty-eight-nine, being performed under emergency protocols and recorded by Doctor Quick Stitch, nurses Rhythm, Sling, and Silverheart in attendance. Patient is a gryphon cub, female, and appears to be about six years old. Patient arrived approximately three minutes ago in the emergency ward, having been delivered by a resident pony of Trottingham, a member of our fire-fighting team no less, Saddleblaze.

“The patient was found within an abandoned building on Coffin Bone Drive after the building itself was discovered to be on fire. She was showing an infection of ticks, which have been removed as per regular procedure, minor smoke inhalation which will be dealt with over the next few days barring complications, and her feathers, almost sixty percent of them, are dirty, smoky, and badly unkempt. This would be indicative of simple abandonment at a young age, not learning the finer points of coat and wing preening, and having been found within the burning building she was discovered in; however she also has a contusion across her left eye which has caused the affected organ to swell to… a remarkable degree. It appears to have reached a bursting point, however, as blood has begun to leak from her over-stressed tear duct. Upon magical inspection, her eye is non-functional, host to an infestation of fly larvae, and must be removed.” He sighed as he floated over a scalpel and surgical-surface cover, which he placed around the cub’s face before pulling his surgical mask over his mouth and nose. “Dear Celestia I hate this part.”

*&*&*&*

Saddleblaze sat in the living room owned by Whiterobe and Clank Clop, watching Crimsondrop take out her bedding from inside the couch. She’d been moved down from the spare bedroom after Whiterobe and Clank had come to the conclusion that they would need the room for their foal, and the ultimate decision was made when Whiterobe went into labour while Crimson was away in the Everfree visiting the Nightmares.

Crimson had copped a huge lecture from Whiterobe when she’d been told how said nanny had kicked in a pair of solid marble doors, arguing that it was just another reason for her to feel afraid for her foal. This had sent Crimson into recluse for a day or two, and Paige had dragged the nanny out of the attic of Whiterobe and Clank Clop’s house herself only to tell her that White wasn’t mad and that she could go back to normal.

Well, as subjectively normal as things could get in Equestrian day-to-day life when you’re an alien from another dimension, one of your friends was a robot, and another had a mane and tail made of magical fire.

She recalled Holly Seams saying something about them hosting a scrying spell that had shown her going into the hospital in labour a month after Cimson’s arrival, and that she was confused as to why she’d dropped so soon. Both Shadow Gazer and his mother, a newcomer to the town and a second Nightmare skilled in future sight Star Gazer, had told her that unless it was a trained and heavily practiced user of future sight, such as their own skills, it was unlikely to be very accurate.

Star Gazer had then complained about how births were rarely predictable, and that her own son had been three weeks early himself. She’d predicted him arriving at a later date the day before and had been furious with herself when she was proven wrong.

Still, said mare had been around this particular household since Whiterobe and their new colt, Stealthy Step, had returned, and he’d been lavished with her attention.

The foal in question skittered past and into the kitchen, where he found a place to hide from his ‘aunt’ playfully.

After the bedding had been stowed away within a chest in the corner of the room placed specially for such a purpose, Whiterobe and Crimson sat upon the couch and waited for the noise of Stealthy Step being overexcited died down.

Said nanny goat was also looking into getting a flat or home of her own within Trottingham with the aid of Silent Quill, and the pair were eyeing up a modest little two-bedroom building that had long been on the market down near the farmyards. It had been on the market so long that the building was in dire need of repairs, but Paige had said that, should they manage to acquire the building, she would help pay for Roof Raiser’s team to do the work.

“So, I’ll assume ye didn’t hang around after bein’ healed of yer burns just because ye wanted some company.” Crimson said almost bluntly. She’d seen Saddleblaze come in covered in high-degree burns, blackened and bleeding, and she’d gone to throw up as Whiterobe used her magic to heal the wounds. “I cannae speak for Clank Clop and White, but your visit is appreciated; well, with th’ exception of ye comin’ in lookin’ like ye went toe-t’-toe with ae volcano.”

“As I told you both, the old amphitheatre building on Coffin Bone Drive burned down a little while ago; we’re suspecting arson as there was no power within the building and only water was being supplied to the property.” She said calmly. She’d explained earlier that water would never be cut off from a building in case somepony became trapped within, or if water were required in the case of an emergency. It was possibly the only free resource that anypony could rely on. “But… when I arrived on scene and entered the building to check for any potentially trapped ponies inside, I came across a gryphon. She’s young, younger than she should be to be alone or within such a building. She… she was in poor condition. Ticks, mild emaciation, smoke inhalation, and there was a… a wound to her eye. It looked kind of old, and her eye was damaged to a degree that was…” She sighed heavily. “It hurt to look at.”

“That bad..?” Whiterobe asked sadly. “Since this is coming from a mare that can walk several city blocks with third degree burn just to see me for healing as if she’s not hurt at all…”

“Worse, White; notice they’ve not called you in to help her? The docs don’t think that even you could save her eye; they were talking about something called ‘enucleation’, whatever that means.”

Whiterobe balked. “They’re removing her eye?!” She asked slightly louder than she thought she would. “Dear Celestia, I didn’t think I’d hear of the day that such a procedure would need to be undertaken while I worked there… There’s nothing that I can think of that would be able to recover her eye once removed, either; not for sure. We have the Snake-Eyes method where we replace the missing organ with a donor and use magic to make it fit the patient, but that’s notoriously unreliable, or the Jelly-Crème and healing patches, but that has low reliability on other species… Since I’ve not been called in, they’re unlikely to want to risk either, so she may have to put up with a half-face for the rest of her life.”

Crimson huffed. “This is soundin’ more and more like somethin’ from m’ own world.” She grumbled before giving Saddleblaze a firm look. “But I doubt ye would come tae us just tae tell us of ye work. Don’t get me wrong, Blaze, ye likely saved that Gryphon’s life and ye’re a hero for doin’ it, but if ye needed comfortin’ for what ye’ve seen I’d assume yeh’d have gone tae Snow.” She only smiled when Saddleblaze’s eyes widened and she blushed. “Oh don’t deny it, even I can tell ye’re sweet on th’ stallion. If y’ think nopony saw ye sneak that kiss at th’ spa, you’ve got another thing comin’ to ye.”

After getting herself back under control Saddleblaze nodded. “I’m a bit torn; normally I’d think nothing of leaving a rescued individual at the hospital, but…” She sighed forlornly, “From where she is, she would be put into the Equestrian Foster Care system and placed in an orphanage if her family isn’t found, and the fact that she wasn’t with her family in the first place means she’s either a runaway, abandoned, or orphaned... And the nearest orphanage to Trottingham is either Canterlot or Ponyville, and that is a hay of a trip for somepony of her age and with her injury. You’ve never seen the foster system, have you, Crimsondrop?”

She shrugged. “It’s not somethin’ I’m familiar with.”

“Foals are placed into orphanages, essentially mass-housing for dozens of children.” Saddleblaze explained. “Usually there are three or four caretakers who look after the foals until a family can come along and adopt them. It’s… not a nice system for those who are different. Some foals become bullies, others the bullied. Most are adopted by ponies who want a new addition to their life, and it’s a joyous thing. For those like the gryphon I saved… she’ll probably be in the system for her entire childhood because of what’s happened to her.

“Don’t get me wrong, there are as many children of other races in the foster system as there are ponies, but she’ll be singled out by bullies because she’ll have one eye, and she’ll be less likely to be adopted for the same reason. Few ponies will want to adopt a special-needs child.” She paused for a moment to think and sigh. “Her life, if she goes into the foster system will not be a happy one; she may not be adopted at all, and that’s no life for any child.”

“So what do you need from us?” Whiterobe asked, shifting a little as her son threw himself into her forelimbs and snuggled down. She looked down at him irritably. “You know, most newborns can’t even walk yet, and here you are driving mommy crazy.” She said before nuzzling his head.

Star Gazer dawdled in from elsewhere in the house, her hooves still slightly damp from being recently washed. “I just changed him.” She said, almost hauntingly. “Do you know how hard it is to put a new diaper on him? He doesn’t have magic, yet he’s more trouble than Shadow was when he was newborn.”

Whiterobe giggled. “He’s proving to be a hoof-full, yeah.”

“You misunderstand,” Star Gazer retorted sharply, “I spent half the time I was changing him trying to find the diapers, only to find that he’d hidden them when I was finding a safety pin. How does a toddler hide diapers? Stars help you if you play hide and seek with him, I could swear he can turn invisible.”

“I need advice.” Saddleblaze cut in, trying to return to the conversation that had been going before the interruption. “I don’t know what to do in relation to the cub. If I leave her to the mercy of the foster care system, she could be ruined for life; but on the other hoof, I can’t just adopt her myself, as I’m not in a safe profession and she could wind up orphaned a second time. I… I just can’t bring myself to let her go into an orphanage. What if she’s never adopted? She could be scarred for life… she is scarred for life…”

“I think it’s easy t’ see.” Crimsondrop said firmly. “Take her in.”

“But my work-“

“Take her in.” Crimsondrop said more firmly. “Would y’ rather risk her never findin’ a place for herself than findin’ even short amount ae happiness with ye?” She smiled across at Saddleblaze warmly. “Take her, ye’ll not regret it. As much as I don’t like kids,” her sentence was punctured by Stealthy Step jumping onto her back heavily, “they’re still nice t’ have about.” At this she turned over sharply, catching the colt unawares and grabbed him before planting him firmly on his back and starting to blow raspberries on his stomach. “And fun t’ tire out.”

Whiterobe sighed. “Blaze, you’re unlikely to come to a conclusion tonight; you’re likely still exhausted from work, and that’s not a mind to come to conclusions with. Not of this magnitude. Get some sleep, think on it, and talk to Snow in the morning. Get his opinion, because if your little get-togethers with him evolve how we all think they will, it’ll be something he really needs to have his opinion weighed into.”

“I suppose so.” Saddleblaze said distantly, before standing and dipping her head to her hosts. “Thank you for this, you’ve been most helpful. ‘Til later, White.”

“Of course, Blaze, anything for a friend; have a good night.”

*&*&*&*

Crimsondrop woke to a knocking on the front door the next morning, and she woke with a stretch before getting up and standing by the door.

“Who is it?” She asked. At this time of morning, she wasn’t sure that anypony sane could be out there beside the mailmare delivering a package. The voice that returned was a familiar one, Saddleblaze’s.

“It’s just Blaze, Crimson; could you let me in?”

With a grumble, Crimsondrop opened the door and let the mare in; she looked like she hadn’t slept a wink. Her mane was dishevelled –though for her that was a norm- and she had bags under her eyes. Still, through all this, she was otherwise cheerful. Behind her, Snowy Doublescoop stood idly watching, fully dressed in his usual armour.

Crimson stepped aside and let the pair in, closing the door behind them before returning to the couch. She wasn’t surprised to find Stealthy Step lying atop her pillow on his back, legs in the air and one twitching idly as he slept. She sighed.

“Every time; I get up f’ two seconds and he manages t’ break out of his crib and get t’ m’ pillow. I don’t even know how he manages it.” She grumbled to herself before picking him up in one hoof and moved to carry him off. “One sec, I’ll just get ‘im back into his crib.”

She moved off through the house while the visitors found seats to settle on, waiting patiently for her to return.

“Right,” Crimsondrop’s voice called from the stairway, “now, what’re ye here for? Clank and White’re already awake and goin’ through th’ usual rituals, so they should be down soon enough.”

“We talked.” Snowy said as bluntly as he ever would.

“Talking is what ponies do, Snowy.” Crimson huffed in reply as she tucked her bedding away inside the couch. “I, for instance, talked t’ th’ stallion who runs th’ orange grove on th’ outskirts o’ town about ae job yesterday. Sure as heck ain’t hangin’ about here bein’ a drain on White and Clank forever, I feel terrible stayin’ when they’ve got ae foal.”

“We talked about the gryphon.” Snowy said with a huff, before grumbling sidelong to Saddleblaze, “that was a worse rant than when Paige gets preachy.”

Saddleblaze cuffed his shoulder playfully. “Be nice, Snow.” She scolded, before looking back over at Crimson. “But yes, we’ve talked about the cub. We chatted with the mayor on our way through town before coming here, too; he said that adopting her should be fine, since we both have comfortable income, but that because of my risky profession it should be a form of joint custody. Since we’re not married, or even living together yet, it’ll be a little tricky; but with the cub’s approval it can all be official by sundown.”

“We just wanted somepony to join us to the hospital.” Snowy said calmly. “We… might need a little moral support.”

Crimsondrop blinked at him and developed a playful grin. “You need moral support? The stallion who mixes and eats ice-cream that should be classed as ae weapon?” She’d not enjoyed that dessert one bit. “The stallion who wears armour fittin’ an icy solider –armour that, I might add, looks like th’ stuff worn by some of th’ most formidable and dangerous equines from where I hail. And th’ mare who can be burned almost to ae crinkly crisp and walk it off, who I watched walk in ‘ere with burns that put my own cuts tae shame as if she were walkin’ in tae have a simple cup ae tea? Two ponies that’ve seen what Paige looks like beneath her mask? You need moral support?”

Snowy Doublescoop, face unchanging, said but one word in response: “Yes.”

Again Crimsondrop blinked, but only for a moment before her smile turned warm. “Alright then, when d’ we leave?”

“After we see if Clank or White want to come along.” Saddleblaze replied with a grateful smile. “But thank you for offering.”

“Breakfast first.” Whiterobe said from the stairs. “Step’s had his, I ache, and it’s our turn; Crimson, go turn on the kettle then go get cleaned up.” Crimsondrop did as she was told and hurried into the kitchen, leaving the couch for Whiterobe to occupy. She groaned as she sat down. “I cannot wait until he’s on solids, really, though I do dread when his teeth come in.”

“It’s the midnight changing that drives me bananas.” Clank said as he stumbled through the living room and towards the kitchen grumbling something about coffee so black it put the heart of King Sombra himself to shame.

“You’ve yet to reach the Terrible Twos;” Saddleblaze teased, “one of my officers has twins, and I have never seen a more stressed pony in my life.” She giggled when Step crawled out from beneath the couch; none of them having seen him get there in the first place. “His foals didn’t get up to the kind of nonsense that yours is, though.” She groped out wildly to grab Step, succeeding in getting a hold on him and drew him in close. He struggled impotently against her grip until she turned him over and began to tickle his stomach, making him writhe wildly and giggle madly.

“I’ll probably stay behind to keep an eye on and entertain Step, but Clanky should be available to join you before he goes in to work.” White said patiently. “I’m on paid parental leave for a while except for emergency calls, but I’m not going to go back and risk him going for a trip through the hospital.” She shuddered faintly. “The trip to the store was bad enough.”

Clank Clop laughed from the kitchen. “Those folk had a field day ripping that store to bits trying to find him; how he managed to hide inside the watermelon display I’ll never know.” He called jovially. “I swear I’m thinking of putting a bell on him, he’s going to drive me to drink more than my students do.”

“Alright, breakfast and then a walk,” Crimson began positively as she walked down from upstairs, where she’d been using the bathroom, “great way to start the day.” Her mane, tail, and coat had all been brushed neatly, and she looked much better than she had when she’d awoken. Granted she still had a few pale patches where her wounds were healing and the fur growing back, but she didn’t need bandages anymore, and she wasn’t limping either.

“If only everypony were as enthusiastic as you.” Whiterobe chuckled, eyeing her husband as he dozed in the kitchen. The toasted snapped up and flung the toast into his face, waking him with a start. “Oh, he is going to be so energetic at work today.” She said bluntly before bursting into laughter.

*&*&*&*

“Alright, we need to ask the nurse at the counter about a gryphon child that I brought into paediatrics last night.” Saddleblaze said for about the tenth time. She’d been going over their plan for the entire trip, and it was slowly driving the others crazy. Well, except for Snowy, who seemed to have been going through it in his head himself. “Then, provided they let us see her, talk to her doctor about adoption procedures, and finally talk with her.”

“If everything goes as planned, she’ll be your little bundle ae joy by th’ time th’ sun goes back down.” Crimsondrop cut in. “Calm down, lass, ye got this.”

The four walked into Trottingham’s only hospital, trotting up to the front counter and ringing the bell that sat in wait. It was empty this day, with no injuries or illnesses having come in overnight or during the morning, and the nurse at the desk seemed to be utterly bored. She’d been playing a game of some sort with cards –possibly making up the rules as she went along- before they had rung the bell to get her attention.

“Yes, is there something you need?” She asked as her eyes lifted from the stacks of cards before her. “Oh, Saddleblaze, I wasn’t expecting to see you this morning; I assumed that Whiterobe would have healed you after you just sort of left last night.”

“Good morning Cast, I brought in a gryphon child last night, should be on the books. Ashy brown, with dark grey, she had an eye injury..?” Saddleblaze asked a little shakily, earning a nudge and a smile from Snowy.

The nurse looked through the files at her desk, a simple reference file for each patient resting in a cabinet neatly organized for her to reference through. “Let’s see, gryphon cub… here we go, just the one in at the moment.” She read through the file before stopping, her breath catching as her eyes went wide and she shut the file. “Oh dear Celestia… Uh, Blaze, the cub…”

“I heard the doctors say that they were doing something about her eye, Cast, and upon mentioning the word to Whiterobe she told me what it meant.” Saddleblaze said calmly. “Big words are nice to keep younger patients from knowing what will happen should they overhear, but adults aren’t that easy to fool; I know she underwent a major operation.”

“Yes, her eye was removed.” The nurse said sadly. “Though that may be both good and bad news; she didn’t get an infection from the wound, but we did find that some fly larvae had begun to, well…” She coughed back the bile rising in her throat. “It must have been excruciatingly painful for her, I can’t even begin to imagine…”

“We’d like to see her, if that’s alright?” Snowy asked, seeing as Saddleblaze was busy looking shocked.

“Of course, she’s in the paediatric ward, room three. She woke up a little while ago and we gave her some breakfast, but I’m not sure if she’s eaten it.” Her face turned stern. “If you cannot stomach seeing her eat meat, now is the time to turn away. She’s partially omnivorous and meats are the majority part of her diet. As such she’s been given something that is suitable for her; fish, some fruit, and nuts.”

“We should be fine.” Snowy said, before looking around his companions, “Right?”

Saddleblaze and Clank nodded, and Crimsondrop only shrugged. The four then began wandering to the ward in which the gryphon was resting. “Oh, like seeing something eat meat is going tae send me intae shock.” Crimsondrop mocked playfully as they walked through the halls. “I used to hang around wolves th’ same size as us, and I’ve seen things that’d put these healers through their paces.”

“Such as?”

The four stopped and turned sharply to the pony who had called out, the stallion looking at them disapprovingly.

“Ah, Doctor Quick Stitch, it’s nice to see you this morning.” Saddleblaze said quickly, trying to diffuse the situation and failing miserably.

“Indeed, though there have been better ones for many of our patients I’m sure.” He replied dismissively. “Now, what was this about things that would put us through our paces?”

“Do ye really want tae know?” Crimson asked, getting a nod in response.

“Oh yes, I would very much like to hear the sort of things you think we’d find difficult.” He snorted dryly.

She put a hoof to her chin. “Let’s see… well, there was that one time I went intae a portal and m’ old owner and twenty four of his buddies fought with him against ae massive fire elemental.” She probed. “What was he called again, I keep forgettin’ on account of me tryin’ tae make myself look as small as possible and not get burned to a crisp at th' time.”

“Okay…”

“Or there was that dragon keep we went into; poleaxes th’ size of my whole body… That was ae bloody one, now that I think of it.”

“What..?”

“Maybe the sewer city of th’ undead that we used tae run through on ae regular basis..?” She shuddered faintly. “I still remember th’ smell, ugh.”

At this one, the doctor looked affronted. “Where in Tartarus are you from?!”

Crimsondrop smiled wanly. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told ye.”

“Anyway, back on track here,” Saddleblaze cut in, hoping that Clank could keep himself from bursting out laughing. Snow was grinning himself, something that didn’t happen often. “I wanted to talk about the gryphon cub I came in with last night, remember?”

“Ah, yes, right.” Doctor Quick Stitch managed to blurt, trying to keep himself focused. This strange female could come later, he had work to do. “Now, after you left without treatment for your third degree burns which I see have miraculously healed overnight –White does good work- we had to perform an emergency procedure to remove her protruding and damaged eye. Magical scanning showed that there was nothing we could do to save it,”

“Nurse Cast told me at the counter that it was infested with maggots.” Saddleblaze mentioned.

“Yes, it was.” Stitch confirmed sadly, clearing his throat a second before continuing. “There was very little left, really. We don’t want to risk putting her through more pain just to replace her eye should our other procedures fail, so we’ve closed her eye-socket and stitched her eyelid closed. She didn’t use it anyway, so she’s unlikely to try to open it until the stitches come out. With the adapted healing magic we’ve placed on her, that should happen this afternoon. We, also, had to remove her tear duct for that side of her face, a procedure which has damaged her operculum, the fleshy growth at the base of her beak. While removing her tear duct, which was beyond repair, was a necessity and has obviously made an impact on the function of that side of her face, the minor damage to her operculum is merely cosmetic and should show no long-term complications.”

“Why are ye telling us all this..?” Crimson asked curiously. “I don’t remember askin’.”

“Because it may help Miss Saddleblaze knowing that her work will have saved a life, but also because I’m certain that she would ask for the information as well.” He replied smoothly. “Now, come on, say the line I know is coming.” He added shortly.

“Doc, I want to adopt her.” Saddleblaze blurted bluntly, before blushing hideously and hiding her face. “I mean-“

“You said exactly what you meant to say, Miss Saddleblaze.” He said bluntly. “And while I’m all for her going to a good home, we don’t know if she’s even available for adoption yet. We’ve had no word from her family or from her if she even has a family, and we cannot complete any of the required paperwork until then.”

“Is she awake?” Snow asked calmly. Or maybe nervously, it could be hard to tell with him sometimes.

The doctor looked at the room in question. “I believe she’s still eating her breakfast. She looked somewhat overwhelmed at the amount of food that was offered to her, so we’re waiting for a call nurse button to indicate she’s finished. She didn’t seem to be frightened of any of our staff, but I would suggest not going into her room in large numbers, she might be intimidated by groups.”

The four friends nodded, and Saddleblaze indicated for them to remain out in the corridor before she headed in, opening the door and peeking in before stepping in fully. She smiled to the young gryphon who sat mid-bite of her portion of fish, looking up at the new yet somehow familiar face quizzically.

“Hello?”

“Hello, little one; do you remember me? From last night?” Saddleblaze asked with a smile. “And no, I was not the arsonist; that particular Minotaur was found. I pulled you from the building?” At this the gryphon nodded and Saddleblaze smiled wider. “My name is Saddleblaze; I’m a member of the Trottingham Fire Brigade, we respond to fires and attempt to put them out or rescue any trapped survivors. Last night, I found you inside what was once Trottingham’s old amphitheatre.” She paused at the confusion that spread across the gryphon’s little face cutely. “The building you were in, it was once a theatre for seeing plays.” She said, taking note to dumb down her language a little for her to understand. “As the building was going to be torn down in a few days, it may have been a good thing that we found you, but the, ah, circumstances could have been better.”

Saddleblaze sighed. “I hate to ask this, but do you remember anything? Your name, age, your family? We need to know to see if we can contact them.”

The cub’s furious eating stopped and she put the food back down on her plate –she’d finished the fish and had started on the fruit, but now her mood for eating had halted altogether. “I’m six,” she began cautiously, “my name is Softcrest, and my family… I don’t have a family.”

Saddleblaze could see the gryphon cub struggling with something in her head, be it her ability to hold back a breakdown, or just to remember anything, or even just to hold down the serving of fish she’d evidently scarfed like it was her first meal in months. She carefully moved closer to wrap a hoof around her and let her lean on her.

“I… I remember mommy calling me Softcrest, but she wasn’t around for long. D-daddy didn’t want me, and he l-left me in that b-building…” Now tears were running down her cheek, and she was leaning much more heavily into the figure beside her.

“How long have you been there?”

“T-two years.” She admitted shakily. “I-I would take things that restaurants threw out, mainly fruit or things in boxes...”

Saddleblaze nodded. “I understand, sweetie.” She cooed, “But what did you do for food besides that? Don’t worry about upsetting me, I’ve seen a lot and I know that you need to eat meat.” She softly said, though mentally she was growling. ‘What kind of parent would abandon a four year old in such a way..? How much hurt has she been through..?’ She sighed and nuzzled into the gryphon’s head gently.

The cub shivered in her bed and took a shaky breath. “I-I hunted rats in th-the building you found me in.” She said. “I cooked them by using a grill thing I found in the trash one night by plugging it into an outside plug in somepony’s back yard.”

‘And that would explain the complaints of a strange smell near the amphitheatre.’ Saddleblaze thought with a smile. “How did you injure your eye?” She asked.

“I tripped over a wooden thing in the building and a nail poking out cut me.” She admitted, curling up a little and hugging her tail. “It hurt so bad I just screamed and screamed until I passed out. When I woke, I couldn’t use that eye, and the pain was mostly gone…” She groped about her face with a forepaw for a moment, feeling the stitches left where her eye had been. “I suppose it’d stopped working altogether, since the nice doctor took it out…”

Saddleblaze sighed. “Yes, sweetie; your eye had been damaged to a point where it no longer worked, and it was becoming dangerous for you to keep it. You could have gotten much sicker if it had stayed in, so Doctor Quick Stitch had to remove it. I’m sorry, sweetie.” She gave the gryphon another gentle nuzzle. “You’ve been really brave to be in pain for so long; a lot of ponies would have given up.”

The cub shook her head faintly. “It’s okay, I guess.” She mumbled. “If it didn’t work, what’s the point of keeping it? Besides, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“I suppose that’s a good point.” Saddleblaze giggled. “Would you feel comfortable if a friend of mine came in?”

She nodded, and Saddleblaze gave her a smile before calling. “Snow, you can come in.”

The door clicked and said stallion stepped in, closing it behind him. He looked completely impassive as he gazed over at Saddleblaze and the cub. “Snow, this is the gryphon cub I was talking about; she’s told me that her name is Softcrest. Softcrest, this is Snowy Doublescoop; he and I have been seeing one another for a few years as special someponies,” She gave her a silly mock-conspiratorial look, “Don’t worry about his face, he was born with a frown. He’s smiling on the inside.”

Snow chuckled. “Very funny, Blaze.” He said. “You try thinking of ways to –no, I won’t say it; it’ll ruin the surprise.” He sidled over, his armour clinking gently as he moved, and gave the mare a chaste kiss. “Now, little miss Softcrest, I’m going to assume that Blaze has already asked you a few important questions, but I have one myself.”

“Y-yes?”

He cracked a small smile. “Do you like ice-cream?”

*&*&*&*

Crimsondrop sighed as she leaned against the wall outside of the room in which Snowy and Saddleblaze were talking with the cub. It had been ten minutes or so since the doctor had been called in to help with some forms, and Clank had left for school, something about ‘dodgeball’ and needing to be there to oversee his class injuring one another.

Okay, maybe he didn’t put it quite like that, but she knew that was what he meant when he gave his almost evil grin.

A little pain never hurt anypony, after all.

A pony coughed to get her attention, and she looked over at them disinterestedly. “Yes?”

The pony, a mare with a cap on her head looked a little nervous. “I-I couldn’t help but notice your flank,” she said, before blushing furiously and shaking her head, “I-I don’t mean like that, I mean-“

“You mean th’ cut, right?” Crimsondrop asked her, cutting off her embarrassed rambling.

“Y-yeah… w-we don’t get many injuries like that, not in Equestria.” She blurted. “Where are you from, anyway?”

Crimsondrop’s eyes narrowed as she observed the mare, something Whiterobe once said flicking through her head for a moment, something about ‘news ponies’ and her not wanting the hospital to be swarmed with them.

“Somewhere else.” She firmly stated.

“O-okay; I’m sorry to bother you Miss.” The mare blurted, scurrying off into the hospital and out of sight. Crimsondrop only blinked confusedly.

‘What in the name of Princess Celestia’s ruby boxer-shorts was that all about..?’

Author's Note:

And this begins the Softcrest arc.

If anypony finds a spot where she's called or referenced to as 'Giggle' please let me know, as that was, I suppose, her codename before I settled on the one she has now.

An image of Softcrest has been uploaded to my Deviantart, go check it out!

Comments

[Liqwidice]

Now i really can't wait for the next chapter.

[cssalpha]

Is this story dead?Please tell me it is not dead.That would be extremely sad.

[Cr33p3r]

the rock kicking needs to be a thing,