The Great Gryphon Adventure

Gilda had chosen to walk beside Jacob out of respect for his lack of wings. Jacob had made note of this to her once before and she fained that her wings hurt after the previous events earlier. After that no other mention was made, Gilda answering Jacob's questions concerning Equestria. Jacob had learned that besides a few mythical races of animals, the primary ruling class seemed to be sentient equines. He learned that there were three main classes. The first was the earth ponies, from which Jacob gathered was quite similar to his land's horses. The second was pegasus ponies whom had the ability to fly. The last were unicorns. Gilda expressed that the unicorns were more likely capable of magic than any other race of ponies.

After digesting this bit of information into his mind, Jacob learned the basic jobs of each. The earth ponies tended to the fields and the earth itself, thus their namesake. They normally could be found on farms or at the head of shops. Pegasus ponies were mainly tending to the skies and weather, from which when Jacob explained the difference between his lands weather patterns and Equestria's Gilda seemed at a loss for an answer. He left it at that and was finally told that unicorns mainly concentrated on the magical side of Equestria, something which to Jacob seemed a far and away thing to his people's technological mindset. Gilda was sure to explain that anypony could be at any position, with the exception of pegasus ponies whom could only walk on clouds and tend to the air properly.

Jacob thought quietly on the importance of what he had learned. While this land probably didn't have technology similar to where he came from, it was highly likely with the introduction of magic to the equation it was probable they lived similar lifestyles to humanity's. This was important because while he was in an entirely different place far from his home, he could still acquire the commodities that he was used to. He also believed if the civilization was built on the back of magical principals than he could use it to find a way home. Any worries he had of never going home quickly faded.

Their conversation finally shifted to the personal sides of each individual. Gilda was first to tell some of her story. Jacob suspected that she withheld a great deal, but he gathered from some of her story that she had a bad relation with a certain pony named "Rainbow Dash" and a few of the pegasus' friends. It could be a slight kink in his plans to befriend the locals but one he had little choice but to confront.

"So what about you?" Gilda asked as they sat a opposite of each other around a campfire. The night had come and Jacob used his skills to craft their fire from some spare wood and and branches lying around. During the process Jacob noted that Gilda was highly observant of his actions. "What's your story?"

Jacob shrugged. He had taken off his jacket and set most of his gear beside his sleeping bag. "Not much to say really," he chuckled.

Gilda raised an eyebrow and smirked. "I don't believe that." She pointed a claw at Jacob, "I bet I know one thing about you."

Jacob raised his eyebrow, "Oh?"

"You're a soldier," she grinned.

He laughed. That much was obvious! "You got me," he said. "I'm a soldier."

After a few moments of silence Gilda tilted her head, "Well?"

Jacob sighed and shrugged again. After she had told him about herself he saw it only fitting to reveal some things about him. He started with the basics.

"Okay, well, my full name is Jacob Ramnsey Stein. I was born in the town of Trinity in the state of Arkansis. I spent most of my time with my mother and father on the farm we had helping with the crops before going to school and finally graduating. I joined the Confederate States Army at the age of eighteen and soon became a Lieutenant. Not long after I went to Officer's Academy and spent a few more years on the field, gaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel." He smiled, looking up to notice a confused expression on Gilda's face.

"What's a state?" she asked, puzzled.

"A -" Jacob started, then sighed and chuckled. "I'm sorry, I forgot I'm in someplace that would know very little of my world." He looked up at the stars as he leaned back on his arms, trying to think of how to properly explain. He noted how extremely beautiful they were and how amazing the moon shinned. Something inside him told him it wasn't natural. He left that mystery for another day, looking back to Gilda.

"A state is like a piece of territory with a government properly established to rule it," he explained. "Instead of being its own independent nation, however, it is a part of a larger nation that is often made up of like-minded states. For example, the nation I live in is properly termed as the 'Confederate States of Anagonia'. Where Anagonia is the name of the entire nation, the Confederate States describes the form of government that holds each state into a combined whole, or Republic in proper terms."

Jacob saw she still had a confused look but nodded slightly. He continued. "The name of the state I was born in is called Arkansis. The six others are Lexington, Orgath, Liberty, Plymouth, Saratoga and Imperium. Each one has its own unique culture, way of life and things they produce, but all have a common interest. So while each one could rightfully be called a nation, they are instead called states and are therefore unified in a Confederacy of States under the name of Anagonia."

Gilda blinked. All this was new to her. She knew the concept of nationhood from school, but the only type she really knew about was a Kingdom. She looked down, then back up at Jacob. "So what about you?" She asked again.

Jacob chuckled, "Alright. What do you want to know?"

Gilda shrugged, "I dunno. Your favorite color, how old you are, what you are?"

He smirked, "My favorite color is purple, I'm forty-two years old and my species is called Human." He sat up and placed his hands on his lap, "Anything else?"

"Yea," she said as she tilted her head. "What's a human?"

Jacob laughed. "Obviously me." He noticed her glare, then sighed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sound condescending." She nodded, edging him on to explain with a wave of her clawed hand. He continued. "A human is classified as any species of -" He stopped. He placed a hand to his chin, thinking. "Well, anything that looks like me and walks on two legs. From where I come from, we believed we evolved from other creatures called apes or monkeys. Unlike our ancestors we have very little hair over our bodies and have opposable thumbs-" he emphasized this by waving his thumb to her "- that can be used to manipulate the world around us. One difference is that where I come from we have no magic, but instead use the earth to gather resources and construct our cities and -" he motioned to his weapon, "- weapons to defend ourselves."

"Ah," Gilda nodded, "We have monkeys here. Odd to think they'd look anything like you."

"True," Jacob admitted. "There are many explanations from my land that describe how we came to be, but the most popular explanation and the one most widely accepted is evolution." He saw that confused look again from her and started to explain. "It's a theory that was created to explain how humans came to exist. Basically it describes how we descended from apes and over the course of millions of years evolved into humanity based on the circumstances of our environment. There is a lot to it and I admit I'm not sure if I can explain it all properly, but there it is in brief."

Gilda again gave a nod of understanding and left the topic alone. She yawned. "So do you have any family or friends?"

Jacob stared at her for a moment. He then looked at the fire, softly replying, "Yes". His head went down and he cleared his throat. The emotions he had quelled from earlier in the day were resurfacing. It was a battle in itself to calm them. When he looked back up he noted a concerned look on Gilda's face. "I'm alright," he assured the griffon. "I do have family, a son to be exact. He's in his twenties though and in the Marine Corps, so he should be alright without me." He gave a brief smile before looking back to the fire.

Before he knew it Gilda had walked over and laid beside him. Her head nudged his arm. "I'm sorry. It has to be strange for you suddenly being away from your home."

He smiled at her kind gesture, rubbing a hand over her head and down her neck as if petting a faithful dog. He felt her churr at the petting and he continued. "Yea," he said, "I'm kind of worried I might not ever get back. I'm not ever sure how I got here."

"Mmm," was her reply at first. She was enjoying the petting through her feathers too much. After a moment she looked up at Jacob. "We'll find a way for you to get home. Together. It's the least I can do to repay you for saving my life." She smiled.

Jacob smiled back, "Thank you Gilda." The amount of faith she had placed in her words was not lost to him. He sighed. "Time for bed I suppose."

Gilda nodded and stood. She watched as Jacob made his way to his sleeping bag and got comfortable. She sat, simply watching as he drifted to sleep. When she was sure he wouldn't notice she came over and laid beside him, curling up. "I'll get you home," she whispered. "You're the only friend I've got." Then she too drifted off into dreamland.

• • •

As the sun slowly rose over the two traveling companions, Jacob felt a warmth at his back. He thought at first that perhaps the fire was still going and that was the cause of it. He slowly opened his eyes and sat up and saw that the campfire was reduced to ash. He blinked. As he reached his hand to the ground to brace himself to stand it passed the feeling of feathers. He looked and saw that Gilda was sleeping soundly. Her back had braced against his while he had slept. He couldn't help but give a smile. He remembered when she had described to him what happened to her in Ponyville.

According to Gilda she had traveled there to spend some time with Rainbow Dash, an old friend from her flying academy. Dash's friends had intervened at every turn and rudely shrugged the griffon off. In the end the entire town had turned against her and bullied her to go away. He felt sorry for her. Realizing then that his kindness to her must make her believe he was her newest friend.

Some part of him believed secretly that her story had a lot of missing pieces. At the time he hadn't pressed her for further information. All he could do now was take her word for it. Even if things got bad when she returned to Ponyville with Jacob in tow, he had to make every effort to stay neutral and if possible mediate any hostilities. He needed to befriend as many people - ponies he corrected himself - as possible. He reached to her side and started to stroke through her feathers into her fur. Gilda shifted and slowly raised her head, at first noticing Jacob and smiling. Then she shot up in a hurry and stood a few feet from him.

"U-uh," she said in a stutter. "I-I must have been so tired I didn't see you there! I'm sorry!"

Jacob chuckled and started to fold his sleeping bag properly, "It's okay, Gilda. I understand."

"Y-you do?!" Gilda stared wide eyed. Her breathing picked up and she became nervous. However Jacob was too busy in his organizing to take notice.

"I do," he said while strapping his sleeping bag back to his pack. "It must be hard not having any real friends for a while. After all," he said smiling as he finally looked at her, "from what you said they all turned against you, right?"

"Uh, right!" Gilda said quickly. She lowered her stance and looked away. "Yea. Right."

Jacob picked up that she hadn't told him everything. He suspected as much. As he previously determined he wouldn't get involved, but promised himself no matter what happened he wouldn't be mad at her. After all, it wasn't his place to judge someone based on their past experiences. "Don't worry," Jacob said, "I am glad we're friends."

Gilda stood straight and blinked at him. Jacob was so direct, unlike anyone she ever encountered before! The last thing she expected was such a blunt answer like that. In fact, it would probably be the last thing anyone expected! She smiled and scratched her beak with a claw, "Yea me too. You saved my life, so I guess that does make us friends." It was already obvious in her actions. Though what she didn't know was how much Jacob understood them. He was growing on her, so much so that she had a slight crush on him. This was, thankfully, something that still was oblivious to Jacob.

Jacob stood as he put his pack on. He finished by placing his weapons strap around his shoulder and neck and looked at Gilda. He motioned towards the direction of Ponyville. "Guess we should get going then?"

Gilda looked at him and blinked several times. At first she just said "Uuuh" before looking back at the dirt road. "Oh yea!" She said, shaking off her previous thoughts. "Yea we should go."

Jacob chuckled. If everyone was like Gilda, then this land was truly innocent to the setbacks of the world he lived in. It was another reason he had to be careful. Any introduction of methods or understanding alien to this culture would be harmful to their natural growth. He started walking beside Gilda as she made way, the two finally exiting the forested area they had for so long been passing.

Ahead of them Jacob noted a wooden fence extending as far as he could see. At first there was only tilled land and dirt. Then he started to note the apple trees. He was shocked by how many there was. Literally thousands littered the landscape. He rubbed a hand through his hair. His helmet had been placed in his pack before he had been teleported here by unknown means and he saw no need to replace it on his head. He looked down to Gilda for answers to what he was seeing.

"It's called Sweet Apple Acres," Gilda said seeing his confusion. "The ponies eat the apples and other green food." She stuck her tongue out and shook her head in disgust. "I like meat myself, not this veggie stuff."

Jacob smirked. "So do I. But a few apples here and there don't hurt."

She huffed. "Whatever." Gilda then looked back up at him with an quizzical look, "You eat meat?!"

"Yep," he responded. "In fact, humans are omnivores. It means we eat both plants and animals, though the meat has to be properly cooked to be consumed."

"Ah," she said, gazing back down the road we walked. "That's actually... kind of cool." She looked back at him, beaming. "In fact almost everything about you is super cool!"

Jacob smirked. "Thanks." He shrugged and smiled, "What can I say? I like my protein."

They both laughed. The sound of which did not escape one inhabitant of the orchard. Jacob had to resist the urge to bring his weapon up and go prone when a sudden "Hey!" came from their side. Both had missed the orange-colored pony with a cowgirl hat running up to the fence line to investigate the noises along the road. She seemed to have a very angered look at Gilda. "Wha' in tarnation are YOU doin' back 'ere!?"

Jacob noted the pony's question was directed specifically at Gilda. He stood his ground and watched as the griffon looked angrily back at the pony. He was determined to stay out of this unless it warranted an interruption.

"Didn' ya learn last time, you nasty griff'n!" Her southern accent reminded Jacob of the common accent back home. The pony tipped her hat over one eye, "Why I aughta giv' ya a lesson after wha' ya did ta Fluttershy!"

Gilda looked back at Jacob. She had a horrified look on her face, as if a nasty truth had been exposed. Jacob remained calm, giving her a quick look before looking back at the cowgirl pony. Finding no support, Gilda gave a hiss, "I'm not here to deal with you losers! I'm here for him!"

The pony's head rose as she finally made notice to the human. She tilted her head. "What in Sweet Apple Acres are you and why are you with THAT thing?!"

Jacob gave a stern expression. "My name is Jacob Stein, ma'am. I'm not from here." He looked at Gilda and gave her a smile. "As you so rudely pointed out," he said taking a step forward to confront the pony, "this thing here is actually a griffon and her name is Gilda. I saved her life." He took a breath, reminding himself that he already decided to keep a distance between confrontations. "Now I'm not sure what exactly happened between the two of you and every other pony in this village, but I'm not here to start trouble. I'm in a strange land and Gilda has been my only friend so far. She's treated me right and has been kind enough to tell me a little about Equestria here. All I need is a good place to rest and I'd think she might like one too."

The cowgirl pony jumped over the fence and slowly clopped up to Jacob. Her eyes met his and they stared down one another. Beside them Gilda was gawking at how anyone would defend her like Jacob did. Seeing that this would erupt in a situation that her friend might not like, she sighed. "Jacob, I haven't been completely honest with you."

Both the cowgirl pony and Jacob looked at Gilda. She pawed the ground nervously, "What I said to you earlier about -" she gulped, "- about Ponyville... I-I was the one who bullied them. I'm sorry for calling you a loser, Applejack. I'll go away now." She started to turn and leave.

Jacob quickly gave a look to the cowgirl pony. So this was Applejack. He was about to call out to Gilda when Applejack spoke up. "Now hol' on a secund." The pony looked at Jacob and then at Gilda. "I guess I was a might bit rude thar, so let's start these rounds of introduction over." She raised a hoof to Jacob who quickly took hold of it for a shake. "I'm Applejack," she greeted. "I'm sorry 'bout that gettin' in yer face and all."

Jacob smiled. "Nice to meet you Applejack. Completely understandable." He raised an eyebrow. "I suppose we can work beyond past experiences so my friend here can come with me?"

Applejack sighed, looking to Gilda. The griffon had hid her face in her wing out of complete embarrassment. Punishment enough, she thought. "I 'pose we can werk sumthin' out. Might have to get her ta apologize properly, but 'at can be arranged."

Gilda slowly retracted her head from her wing, looking hopeful but still having an expression of guilt. The only reason why she did what she did was to keep Jacob as a friend. If it meant she had to apologize properly, she would do it. The last thing she wanted was to have another one of her friends turn her away, especially Jacob because of all he had done for her. She nodded slowly. "I think I can do that."

"Alright then," Applejack said satisfied as she turned to leave. "Y'all two follow me to the home now. Y'all look like y'all need a good bite to eat anyway."