A Bird's Cage

Chapters

Prolouge
Chapter 1: First Impressions
Chapter 2: Rude
Chapter 3: The Waiting
Chapter 4: House Cleaning
Chapter 5: Reward
Chapter 6: The Leash
Chapter 7: The Clipper
Chapter 8: Apathy

Prolouge

She was floating, weightlessly. Not an unusual feeling, yet it felt off. Maybe because she was on her back and her wings were not moving. Her eyes were closed. Not the best condition for flying.

Flying. She had been flying. This was not flying. Something had stopped her flight. Turned everything black.

She did the mistake of trying to open her eyes to find out what had happened. She did not make it. Nausea attacked her viciously, making her groan. She saw glimpses of dark colours, green perhaps, before giving up and allowed her eyes to close again and stay so. Moving would just make it worse too.

Then how was she moving? It was not her. She was being carried. That did sound to make sense.

She started to notice the aching of her body and her head. The world still felt like it was spinning although she kept her eyes closed now. She just wanted it to stop. To go away.

It was bliss when everything turned black again, more than the dark of just having your eyes closed. The blackness in which the ache or nausea could not reach her.

***

She slowly awoke. The movement she remembered from before had been replaced by stillness. Not on her back this time, so much she could tell. The aching of her head slowly returned to her, but it felt more bearable this time.

Again she was struck by confusion of what was going on, where she was and what had happened.

She took a deep breath and dared to open her eyes. Closing them again with a hiss at the blinding light hitting her, making the ache in her head turn into a sharp stabbing pain through her sockets. Slowly she tried again, opening her eyes just a little at the time. Allowing them to adjust to the light.

The light was not that big or sharp really, she noticed when her sight had adjusted enough. It was simply the contrast of the small beam of light hitting next to her pillow and the big dark room she was in. Details were hard to tell yet, but she was sure she was in a room. Laying on her side on a rather hard bed. Wooden walls, wooden floor, wooden ceiling. A hut properly. The windows bolted shut, but the blinds on one of them did not connect and left crack big enough to allow in some light.

The rest of the room lied in blackness.

Somepony must had found her and brought her here to take care of her after the crash.

Wait, crash? Yes, a crash. She had been flying. She had been surprised by a traitorous wind she had been warned about in this area. That area. Depending on how far she had been moved. The mountains created unpredictable winds and whirlwinds that could throw you off when catching you off guard. Guess she was not as strong a flier as she had thought herself to be. She had lost control and fallen. Hit trees rather than rock, thank the Sun and the Moon. But then everything had gone pitch black.

Whoever had found her and brought her here had most likely saved her life. She did not even know how long she had been out. But the aching of her head made it hard to move; even moving her eyes to look around was rewarded with pain. Left to her own device out there – yeah, she did not want to think about that.

Right now she just wanted to rest again. Already feeling exhausted. Would have to thank her savior later, whoever they were.

Her eyes slowly closing again, she shifted a bit to adjust her position on the bed. Drifting back to sleep again, never noticing the watchful eyes from the darkened part of the room.

Author's Note

First part of my first real MLP fanfic. And first fanfic in a really long time. Been years since I wrote something that wasn't just a roleplay.

Give me all the critique you feel I need as this story will slowly unfold. Thank you for reading.

Chapter 1: First Impressions

She met her savior unexpectedly next time she was awake. Unexpectedly mostly because he was not what she had been Expecting.

***

Her head more clear and less aching, enough so that she could raise it from the pillow this time. Rubbing a temple with her hoof she felt the bandage around her head. Well, by the pain and nausea she could deduct that she had probably hit her head pretty bad so that was no bed surprise. She did not feel as sick this time, but her stomach growled and rumbled to tell her enough time had passed for her light breakfast the day she flew off on adventures just did not do it anymore.

The pegasus slowly sat up, a bit dizzy from the movement. Whether that was from the concussion or hunger she could not tell. She had no idea how long she had been stuck like this and it did not feel like she had been fed while she was knocked out cold. Well, could not demand full service, this was no hospital not some super fancy hotel for the rich and lazy.

The beam of light from the closed window was much dimmer this time. Moonlight, the day had given in to the night. It did not offer much light to see by but it helped her eyes to adjust to the darkness better. A little by little the room came back into view through the darkness. A small room, she saw a chair besides the bed. Rather big one, the bed was big for a pony too. Not that she was a very big pony herself.

Moving around a bit the bed felt like it was just a pile of hay in a wooden frame with a sheet put over it. She had tried better but also worse. The ground always made a worse mattress.

Besides the furniture the room seemed bare. No painting, no pretty curtains, no items. Nothing to live up the place. Nothing to tell her about who lived here and who had been taking care of her.

Rather than sit and wait in the bed she scooted over to the edge to leave it and have a look around. She needed to move around a bit anyway, after staying unconscious for the goddess knew how long. She made it off of the bed, it did not seem to be standing on legs like most beds - it was just the frame with hay, so it was not so far down.

She stretched a little, dared to test how much movement she could do without her head protesting too much. Stepping in something on the floor she brought her hoof up to her nose and grimaced at the stench which immediately made her regret it. She had been vomiting during the parts she could not remember and it had not been cleaned up. She quickly stepped away from the drying pool, not intending on checking how old it was. She was not THAT curious about how long time she had spent in this room. She scraped her hoof clean against the floor, hoping the owner would not be too mad about that. She would offer to help clean it up when she got access to the proper supplies for that.

She made it over to the door and pushed at it with a hoof to open it. It did not budge. She hoofed the handle just to find the door was locked. Who would lock it and why? When she stopped trying the handle she heard the sound of movement on the other side, creaking of floor boards. It did not sound like hoofsteps against wood though. Hearing the sounds nearing the door she stepped back. The lock was turned and then the handle pressed down.

She had not been expecting the creature now standing before her. Not a pony but a gryphon had saved her. Well, gryphons liked to live around mountains, at least so she had heard. Never really thought they lived in huts. She always just imagined them to live in caves or nests up the mountainsides. Never really researched that much on the subject and realizing how something like that could possibly be taken by others she blushed lightly, despite never airing such thoughts.

She managed a smile to the creature standing before her.

He was big. She knew gryphons were bigger than most pegasi, had seen a few visiting her hometown. But this one was really big. He was a dirty, dark brown colour, both in his coat and his feathers. Just one colour. Even with his wings still folded she could tell by the size that he must have the most amazing wingspan. Quite scary to think about. Lion backside and legs, a tail with a fluffy tip. Feathers covering his from and head. The feathers on the top of his head were short and looked messy, like they needed a good grooming but she was not going to question the feather grooming habits of a gryphon, at least not one of that size. His beak was… impressive. Big. Stumpy. Looking like it could chomp her leg clean off if she should decide to do so. He was big and bulky but it was not just the muscles that made him look that big, he just was. Explained the size of the bed.

She kept her smile although feeling more nervous around this impressive and rather scary gryphon. All this time had not said a word to greet her or to ask about how she felt. He just… glared silently at her. Those dark eyes, his expression was harsh yet hard to tell what he might be thinking. No worry about seeing his patient up and about nor relief to see she was awake and fresh enough to walk about. His eyes scanned her, looking her over but he did not say a word.

“U-Uhm, hi, I… I guess I should thank you, you must have seen me crash back then or found me after. Uhm, so, thanks. Heh, wouldn’t want to be stuck out there, knocked out cold and all. I really should have been more careful.”

Her mouth blabbered uncontrollable, uncomfortable about the eerie silence. The gryphon still did not say a word. Did he even understand her, could he be a foreigner? If there existed ponies all over the world speaking all kinds of languages, why not gryphons.

“Uhm, I think I left a mess on the floor, I-I’ll help clean it up. I don’t want it to look like I’m taking the hospitality for granted. Which I don’t, of course. I was thinking, uhm, if I could have anything to eat, I’m kind of hungry. How long have I been out, I can’t really tell.”

Again the eerie silence. This was getting really unnerving now. He was not acting threatening or anyway and he had been taking care of her, she had no reason to feel so… scared of him. She should show the grace of not letting his appearance freak her out like this.

Just as she opened her mouth to speak again and let out yet another stream of babbling nonsense in desperation of ending the silence between them he suddenly backed out through the door again and closed it. She heard the lock click.

Okay… that could have gone better. And why the lock still? It could not be that he was scared of HER, gryphons and pegasi had no reasons to fear or distrust one another. Sure there had been wars about territory in the past but that was many generations ago. And she was a very small pony still recovering from a concussion. Was the lock for her safety? Safety from what.

Confused she sat down on the floor, waiting.

***

A short while later the lock clicked and the door opened again. The smell of food had her stomach rumble loudly, oh sweet Celestia, food!

She instinctively back away from the door at the sight of the figure standing in the doorway as the door opened. Much bigger than before, now standing up on his hindlegs. He barely fit in the door at all. He stepped forward, holding a bowl in his hand. Was he walking upright like this to better carry the bowl without a spill? How odd. Even pegasi could balance a tray with food on the back without spilling, but she was not to complain. She did not want to seem rude.

He slowly leaned down, like one would do when not wishing to scare an animal away, and placed the bowl on the floor. She realized she had kept backing away when her flank suddenly pressed against the bedframe. No wonder he moved so slow and carefully, she was actually acting like a scared animal. Not her fault really, he was pretty big and scary. Walking around on his hindlegs like that without saying a single word.

He stepped back, out through the door and once again closing and locking it. She really needed to ask him about that next time. But now: Food.

She stepped forward towards the bowl and breathed in the scent. It smelled delicious. Looked like some kind of stew. Carrots, peas and other things all mushed together in some deliciously smelling sauce. The mixing giving it all a brown look and it didn’t look too appetizing at any other time but right now she did not care. Forgetting proper manners for now she dug her snout into the stew and began eating. A bit hot but it was durable. Most of the vegetables had been overcooked and gone a bit mushy bit and other parts, things she could not really identify, were stringy and chewy. Chewing on those parts made her head complain about the working of her jaws so she simply spat them out back into the bowl to focus on the mushy bits instead. Eating as much she could, licking some of the sauce up from the bowl until all that was left were those unidentifiable bits of something.

With a deep sigh she sat down again, rubbing her belly. She might get a stomach ache now after eating so fast on empty stomach.

But for now, all was good. Maybe she should have asked for something to drink too, but she really did not want to disturb him again. Right now she just wanted to rest for a bit. Get a better talk with her host after a good rest, maybe he was just grumpy from getting disturbed this late.

She went back to the bed, climbing up to find rest on the sheet covered hay. Her stomach now rumbling as a result of working on digestion her meal. Her head throbbing from her moving about and chewing so viciously on the food. She sighed and closed her eyes, hopefully tomorrow would go much better. She hoped she had not giving off a too bad first impression.

Author's Note

And first real chapter is up. I'm a bit out of habit writing proper stories, so let me know what you think and what you feel is missing. I'm up for any suggestions and corrections you offer.

Enjoy

****
Corrections done with help from ErraticOverlord and L_Wolf

Chapter 2: Rude

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

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

The door was still locked too. No changes there.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Pony better be quiet. I hate noise…”

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

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

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

The sound of a lock clicking.

Author's Note

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

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

Chapter 3: The Waiting

If Sunny Rain felt like she was going to go stir crazy on day one, or two - time was hard to tell - it was nothing, it was nothing as time passed further. Despite the small crack by the window that allowed her light it was hard to keep proper track of the time. Nothing happened. Nothing changed.

She was afraid to kick at the door again. He had not hurt her or anything, not really. But his expression last time, it had been so full of promise of hurt if she had not been quiet. That gryphon was so scary.

She explored what she could see from that crack in the boards covering the window. It was hard during the day, the light too sharp for her eyes that were used to the dimness of the one room she was stuck in. At night it took longer to adjust to see through the darkness outside. Except when the Moon was out, then she could see better but not in clear details. Trees. Bushes. A path further down? Or was it a creek? Could look like movement in it, reflection of the moonlight? Grass. Oh tasty looking grass. Leaves, tasty leaves. She would even be happy to chew on the bark of the trees!

The gryphon, she didn’t like to think of him as her host anymore, had not been feeding her since the delivery of the stew. Had she angered him too much?

Sunny Rain had tried to chew on those stale, odd things that she had left in the bowl. Gotten even more chewy after being left like that. She did not like the taste or texture, still unable to put her hoof on what it could possibly be. She usually just managed a few chews on a piece before she gave up and just spat it back into the bowl. But whenever the hunger began stabbing into her stomach she would return to the bowl and try again. After a few tries she finally managed to chew a piece enough to swallow it without choking on it. It still disgusted her enough to not try more pieces after that. Getting something into her stomach was better than anything. To keep her strength up.

But maybe she should have stayed suspicious of such chewy, unknown foods. It did not feel like her stomach could handle it. Rumbling and disagreeing with whatever it was she had attempted to fight back her hunger with. Making her afraid of trying any more of the whatever it was. Probably some kind of weird gryphon food not meant for ponies and the gryphon just hadn't thought of that.

Sunny Rain tried to conserve her energy, to just lie down on the bed provided. Waiting, not sure for what. Trying to sleep through all the waiting. Waiting for food, for answers… for freedom. She was restless. She wanted to move about, to scream and shout and let it be known how unfair all this was. But that was not exactly the best way to conserve her energy, especially with as little food she had. She wanted her bags back so badly, thinking about all the rations she had packed for her trip, making her mouth water and salivate. Even those dry haybars that were so easy to pack and carry in big amounts but did not exactly taste like a daisy burger. But anything could do. She had never before tried to make through one day without one single meal before. How long had it been now since the stew was fresh? 3 days? 4 days? How long had she been stuck like this already?

The waiting was making her go crazy. This was not fair! What had she done to deserve this? At least the gryphon should try and explain himself. She was fine; she should be allowed to leave. At least allowed to get some eat!

Her head shot up from the bed at the sound of a lock clicking.

He was back.

***

The young pegasus mare stayed put on the bed. No screaming or running, no yelling or kicking. Good. He hated noise. The noise of blabbering voices, of chaos and disorder. Why did ponies have to be so difficult creatures in general? Always gave him an aching headache, made him want to break something.

She watched his every move closely while staying put herself. Good. No running around and risk breaking things. The room was a mess though. It had not been cleaned since he had left her in there the first time. Old vomit on the floor, the stew bowl with the leftovers half chewed and spat out. The used bucket. That was not good, but it was an evil he had to bear to teach the pony to be quiet, to stop being so noisy.

The gryphon’s eyes moved over the pony, she was a mess too. The gently pale pink coat was still a mess from her time in bed with the concussion, sweating and trashing about when needing to relief her stomach. The carrot coloured, curly mane was even worse of a mess. Did not even look like she had taken any time to at least preen her wings. The feathers standing out in all directions, possibly from the stress of being locked up like the way she was.

“Please…”

The sound made his eye twitch as he glared down at the pony. She had dared to speak up; after he had thought she finally got it. She flinched under his stare, her own eyes big and fearful, making rage build up inside of him. If she was so fearful, why would she keep break the rules?

“I… I just wanna go home… I’m hungry. Just, please, this isn’t fair… It isn’t fair….”

He stepped forward, rapidly, soon standing by the bed, looming over her. She flinched again, pressing herself up against the wall, kicking out her hooves to get away from him. A wing had moved up to try cover for her, she was expecting an attack. She was expecting right.

The puny pegasus wing was a pathetic shield against the talons of a full grown gryphon. He simply smacked it aside as he reached down, fast, to seize her around the neck. Making the pegasus gasp in shock. Not for breath, he was only holding her. Not squeezing. It was a first warning.

“Clean up the room…”

He hated to talk just as much as he hated to hear it. It hurt his throat from misuse, that hoarse growling he managed to make. It was no voice but simply a noise.

“Clean up the room and stay quiet.”

With that he let go of her. Keeping his eyes locked on her as he stood back up again. He had entered the room the same ways as before, standing up on his hind legs. To make it easier to move while holding something in his talons. He slowly backed away from the bed, eyes kept on her in case she would find the energy to try anything. As soon he was blocking the door again he reached out the hand he had been holding the gift he had come to bring her for being quiet for so long. Although she had broken the silence, he guessed she still needed it. A promise of more if she just followed the rules and did as told.

He saw how her eyes locked onto the lone carrot as he let it dump down onto the floor. Fresh from his garden, cleaned for any dirt.

With the delivery done he backed out from the door and closed it, locking it with a click.

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait, been busy weeks. But next chapter is finally up! A bit rushed to get something done, but I hope to get things moving very soon.

Thanks for the patience and as usual I'm open for corrections and suggestions.

[Edit] Ops, very tired when I put this up, accidentally claimed it to be chapter four when it was chapter 3. Fixed now! [/edit]

[Edit2] Quick thanks to ErraticOverlord for their help with correcting my worst mistakes! [/edit2]

Chapter 4: House Cleaning

Sunny Rain was over the carrot faster than she thought she was able to move in her current condition. Finally real food! Not odd chunks of something unknown in a bowl she had already licked clean several times.

As soon he was out of sight, the door locked between them, she had managed to push herself up from the bed and leap down onto the floor where she stumbled and fell a few times on her weak legs. But she had soon enough dragged herself to the carrot left on the floor.

She managed to get herself under control before she would try and swallow the whole thing in one bite. That would not be the proper approach. She tried to keep some kind of control over herself as she dared a nibble of the carrot, to start out gently. But as soon her teeth hit the surface of the treat she dug in, taking a big bite which she chewed eagerly. At least she managed to remind herself to chew it properly before swallowing. Giving herself time to just enjoy the taste and texture in her mouth. Fresh, not stale or chewy or disgusting or anything like that. Not as nice as the stew had been as a whole, but still the best carrot she had ever had in her life for sure! This was the best carrot in the whole known universe ever!

Far too fast the carrot had been devoured and was gone. Even the green top had vanished into her mouth, the sour taste ignored as she chewed on it eagerly to get every bit of juice out of it. Oh, so thirsty she was too, but for now she had food to chew and that had to do.

Her miniature orgy of taste soon over, now the carrot was gone down into her stomach. She sighed, letting herself dump onto her side on the floor and just enjoy the moment. She snapped out of her blissed state when realizing she was mentally sending her thanks to the gryphon for bringing her the great gift matching her mane colour. She shouldn’t be so thankful! It was her right to eat and he was starving her!

She sighed again and rested her cheek against the harsh wooden boards which made the floor. She had no energy to build up proper anger for now. She didn’t want to be thankful but truth was she was going to starve to death in this room if he didn’t felt like bringing her more to eat. Was he punishing her by not feeding her? But, for what? What could she possibly have done to this oversized cat-bird thing to deserve this treatment?

She was too tired to puzzle over it further, she just wanted her strength back. Her stomach starting to become noisy as it finally had something proper to work on. She slowly managed to get up from the floor to drag herself over to the bed. It was far more comfortable than the floor itself after all.

She woke up, again not knowing when, only knowing where. The light from the crack in the window was low on the floor. Possibly midday if she considered how the sun had to stand on the sky for that position of the light. She couldn’t remember how the light stood when she lied down to rest.

She felt less lightheaded than before, the carrot in her stomach had done good. But her mouth was as dry as ever, now her mind filled with the thought of gaining something to drink. No point in kicking at the door and demand room service again. He didn’t like that.

But how could so get something to drink and more to eat? He couldn’t possibly plan to just let her starve or he wouldn’t have brought her the treat.

Slowly she managed to sit up right, resting her back against the wall behind her. Okay, Sunny Rain, think. What did she even know about this whole situation so far?

She was stuck in one room with barely any light other than that crack in the window. It seemed bolted shut, she doubted she could force it open or make the crack bigger without the gryphon catching sound of it and that would definitely earn her a lot of hurt, she was sure.

What did she know about her… warden? He was a big and scary gryphon. Always looked angry and ready to hurt her. So far it had mostly been physical threats than actual hurt, but she didn’t dare to doubt that he would truly hurt her should he decide to do so. Such big talons could probably do some lethal damage if he didn’t decide to just choke her or throw her against the wall or… and no more thinking about that for now please.

Her wings shivering lightly in response, not liking to consider what he could do to her.

What else did she know? Whenever she talked it seemed to anger him. He did tell her to be quiet to, now she finally thought about what he had actually said to her. Be quiet. No noise. Okay, noise angered him. Stay quiet. She guessed no point in pleading no matter how quietly or politely she had tried in the past.

What else? He had told her to clean the room. She looked around, yeah it didn’t look so good by what little she could see in the dim room. Knowing the mess she had left. Not really wanting to think about it more than necessary, the stank already being hard to ignore. Okay, so cleaning up would make him… less angry? But she had nothing to clean with. The vomit had most likely dried by long ago. And she couldn’t do anything about the bucket really.

She had nothing else to do though and she had to do something to hope and appease the gryphon and possibly get on a better hoof… paw… claw? To get on a better foot with him. Just to get something to drink and more to eat in the future.

It wasn’t easy, trying to clean up dried vomit with nothing but your bare hooves. The smell probably wasn’t as bad as on the day it was fresh but being all close to it on the floor only reminded her of what it was and it was so nasty to handle. Trying to scrape it off the floor boards. She used the empty bowl she had eaten stew from, to put the flakes into after wiping them up in a pile to then wipe into the bowl itself. She needed water to truly clean it but for now this was the best she could. She poured the uneaten food things and the flakes into the stinking bucket in the corner, might as well gather all the stinky things in that.

The empty bowl was placed by the door, right next to it up by the wall. Just to have it somewhere. Couldn’t clean it properly either, with what she had which was nothing. She rubbed her hooves to get the imaginative vomit off of them, needing water to clean herself up too. This was so pointless, how could somepony clean anything like this? But she had to do something. Anything.

She walked a pointless round through the small room, finding nothing else she could do for this cleaning up she had been told to do. She tried to correct and straighten out the bed sheet over the mattress of hay. And then, with absolutely nothing else to do, she climbed up and lied down. To do what she had done a lot of already – sleep. Pass time by resting, by preserving her energy until the next “generous” meal.

Author's Note

Ops, finally got around to add some more chapters for this story. Sorry for the long wait, I promise the pace will begin to pick up... at some point.

As always, I'm eager for any suggestions, advices and corrections you feel like giving.

Chapter 5: Reward

The pony had been quiet for a long time now. He had heard her move about, making a few noises to herself. He wasn’t sure what they meant; they were just noises to him. But it at least didn’t sound like she was trying to break anything and she was being relatively quiet. He could have ignored what little noise she was making at this level, but found himself listening in just to try getting an idea of what she was doing.

After a while she was quiet again. He waited further time before getting up and making his way to the door to the locked room which used to be his bedroom but was now functioning as guest room.

Expecting to find her resting he moved the key in the lock very slowly, to try make the click of unlocking less sharp and noisy. Slowly creaking the door open for a peek inside. He used a moment, as the times before, to adjust to the dim light in the room. He usually kept the rooms in his home dark, as it was his retreat from the world outside and not even the outside light was welcome to invade it.

There she was, resting on his bed, curled up like the times before he had watched her sleep. Details and colours were hard to tell, but her eyes were closed and her wings folded without looking tense. He scanned the room from his spot in the door to see what she had been doing. Finding the empty bowl by the door. The pale pink pegasus had been attempted a light cleaning it seemed, just as she had been told to. She had been kept relatively quiet too. Looked like the pony was finally learning to listen to what she was being told.

Of course he realized it wasn’t much she could do without being provided the tools needed for a proper cleaning. But simply showing she was listening instead of talking and demanding and being so noisy was an improvement.

She had earned herself another treat, when she woke up again.

***

Sunny Rain stirred in her rest before slowly opening her eyes. Awake again to nothing. The light from the crack was high on the opposite wall. Morning? Evening? She wasn’t sure, hadn’t figured that out yet. Once again she couldn’t tell how much time had passed. Her mouth was as dry as ever as she tried to move her tongue around, making her grimace. She needed something to drink so bad. Food wasn’t as important anymore. Just something to drink, anything.

She sighed heavily slowly rising from the bed to stretch her sore limbs. Another glance over the familiar room. What she wouldn’t do to get out of it, out of this dreadful hut and back into the open sky. She doubted she had much strength to fly with at the moment, but then just out on an open hill or something. Feeling the wind through her curly mane, through the feathers of her wings.
She wanted to scream and buck and kick and destroy the whole hut surrounding her and keeping her from the freedom outside, but she knew that would be rather pointless. It would only anger him.

To try and cope with the feeling of going stir-crazy again she get up and leaped off of the bed to move about a bit and properly stretch out her limbs. Her landing not as graceful as originally planned - she found herself face planted on the floor with a thud.

Had that been too much noise? She stayed there, flat on the floor, afraid to move. Then she felt it, a light vibration through the floorboards. Movement. Steps towards the door. In a panic she scampered back up on her hooves and back away until her rump was pressed against the bed, oh no!

The clicking of the lock, the creaking of the door opening. And there he stood, like times before, upright on his hind legs and blocking the door with his harsh eyes locked onto hers.

She waited. For anything really. Was he going to be mad for that noise? Would he be mad over how little she had managed to actual clean the room? All she could do was stand there and wait for the judgment. No place to run, no place to fly, no place to hide.

Then the gryphon bent down and placed something on the floor by the door. Picking up the empty bowl she had left there. Nothing was said, just those eyes keeping her frozen in place. He slowly backed out of the room again and closed it – the clicking of the lock.

The pegasus mare didn’t dare to move the first while until she was sure he was gone. Her eyes finally moving down to the items he had left. New bowls, bigger ones. With… with water!

Sunny Rain stumbled clumsily in her eagerness to make it to the nearest bowl, dipping her snout in deep to drink as much she could in first go and immediately found herself gagging and spitting it out. Soap water! That was… that was just horribly! That… wait, how about the other bowl?

Carefully she sniffed the content of the other bowl on the floor, carefully licking the surface of it. No. No new soapy taste other than what had already been on her tongue. At least she thought so. Then her snout dived in and she began drinking and slurping up the content. Oooooh, wonderful water, wetting and clearing her mouth and throat oh so wonderfully. Forget the carrot, this was how heaven tasted like.

Soon licking the bowl clean for every drop of fresh, wonderful water. Her stomach expanded lightly from being filled quite more than just a single carrot, she sat down with a heavy and very happy sigh. Just what she had been needing so badly. It took her a while of just sitting there in bliss before finally returning her attention to the first bowl, the one with the soap in the water. What was that for? It even had a small piece of cloth in it. Clearly it was given to her to do some more proper cleaning. Of the room or… of herself? She was suddenly aware of the mess she was herself. With her worries over other things it hadn’t been high up on her list of things to worry about for the time. But she really could do with a bath.

She turned her head to look in the direction of where she had tried to clean up the vomit. That spot could definitely need some soap and water. So could she. She would have to ration it properly. Starting with herself, carefully grabbing the cloth in her hoof, dipping it into the water and twisting it. Slowly she tried to clean herself up the best she could without wasting too much of the soapy water. Spread it out as much she could to make herself feel fresher. She could tell how much of a mess she was without a mirror. Her wings too, the stress had made them start to moult. Small downs hanging loose and ready to drop off without having to tug them. Not how a pair of proper pegasus wings should look like. She would have to look at that later, at least she would have something to do.

Feeling she had done what she could with a piece of cloth and some water with soap, she pushed the bowl over to the spot on the floor needing to be cleaned properly. The smell of soap was a relief compared to what she had been living in so far. When done she regrettably pour the rest of the water into the bucket in the corner. She knew she couldn’t drink it, no point in trying again, and perhaps it could help on the stank from the stinky bucket.

The now empty bowls were gathered by the door for when he decided to come back and pick them up. The light had moved on the wall while she worked, seemed like it was a sunset as it was changing colour and slowly disappearing.

Once again she retreated back to the bed without anything better to do. With all the resting she did to pass time she didn’t felt so tired at the moment. The cleaning hadn’t been so much activity to tire her out again already.

So she began preening her wings to get rid of the loose down and try get them to look somewhat respectable again.

Author's Note

And another chapter! I'm spoiling you peeps!

Chapter 6: The Leash

And so the first pattern began. She stayed quiet and kept the room clean the best she could. She gathered everything she counted as garbage and waste, like food she couldn’t eat or the loose feathers she had removed during preening, in the stink-bucket in the corner. She noticed it would sometimes have been emptied while she slept. It was a relief to know that was taken care of, but she didn’t like to know he could come and go in the room while she slept without her noticing. She thought that loud clicking noise of the lock would wake her up, but apparently she slept more heavily than that. It wasn’t like her sleep made her that much more vulnerable; she already was at his mercy even when awake. But it still felt… scary. Creepy.

If she stayed quiet and kept clean, he would reward her with food and water. If she behaved she wouldn’t get physically punished. No pain, no starvation.

But her stay in the wooden room didn’t become any less maddening. She wanted to get out; she wanted to see other ponies again! To be free, to fly, to run, to just get out of there and be able to breath fresh air again!

She couldn’t even ask why she was kept locked away like this, since talking only angered the griffon. No matter how hard she thought about it she never found any reason, any excuse for locking her away without an explanation. Nothing she had ever done in her life could make her deserve this treatment.

Right?

And all that time at her hoof. Sunny Rain had no idea how to pass the time and make it easier. She would lie in bed and dream, dream about flight, even dream about doing her job. Pushing around clouds, gathering water for rain, all the things a weather patrol pony would do. At least it was something to do.

Sooner or later she would think about her family, although she would often try not to. She missed them. Even the times she would be far away, exploring to see parts of Equestria she always wanted to visit or to meet the migratory birds and lead them back home for the summer, she would always be around other ponies. But now there was nothing to keep her from missing them. Her parents, her siblings, her friends, her uncle, her aunts… She reached a point where thinking about them just hurt, because it reminded her of how alone she felt.

If she just knew a reason for all this! So she could make up for whatever wrong she had done! She would do anything to see the face of another pony again. Anypony - didn’t even need to be somepony specific, she didn’t had to know them. Any company would do.

She kept failing to keep track of time. She had somewhat figured out how to tell time of day by checking the small stream of light from the window. But even her sleep schedule was all over the place, sleep was all she had to pass the time without going stir crazy and do something radical. So many times she was ready to simply scream and shout, to kick everything around her in the room, to somehow break down the door or the bolted windows and escape. Not very likely though. It would only cause the griffon to come in and punish her and it was the thought of that which kept her from throwing such a fit.

***

The loud clicking of the lock awoke her from her state of apathy, watching the beam of light move across the floor towards the wall. She raised her head from the bed to look over at the door. Nothing she could do but simply await what the griffon would bring to her this time.

As always he stood in the doorway and blocked it with his big frame. Staring at her lying on the bed, always keeping his eyes locked onto her as to make sure she was there and not going to do anything rash.

Sunny Rain sat waiting, staying put as he stepped into the room slowly.

“We are going outside.”

The pink pegasus blinked, at first not registering the words since she was surprised to hear him talk. That happened only very rarely and had often been a quick order before or after punishment for her behavior. Wait… Outside?

The big griffon saw he had her full attention now. He raised a taloned hand out in front of the pegasus. Watching her eyes going wide as she saw the item he held out to her.

He was holding a collar in his talons. With a leash and everything.

“No way am I wearing that! I-“

Instinctively she stopped her protests, closing her mouth at the warning glare from the griffon. He held the collar out to her, the other hand beckoning her to move off the bed and come closer. He couldn’t be serious about that. That was just too humiliating; she was a pony for Celestia’s sake, not some kind of pet.

Her hesitation turnede the warning glare from the griffon even darker, scarier. But she stood her ground. She was not going to accept a treatment like that.

He was surprisingly fast for a creature on his size. He had lunged himself forward, his taloned hand now wrapped around her throat. Effortlessly pulling her up from the bed. Not giving her a chance of basking her wings to make up for gravity’s pull as he slammed her back up against the wall.

She barely managed to gasp, air knocked out of her while held around her throat. Her hoof desperately pawing at the hand holding her throat, she fought for breath. Her back pressed up against the wall she couldn’t use her wings, there were no space for them to move.

“Ngha-haaah! St-Stop…!”

Without a warning she fell to the floor, as he released her from his hold. She lied there in a heap, greedily gasping for breath in big gulps to fight back the lightheadedness the treatment had caused. She did not fight back as he leaned down and put the collar around her neck, she barely even noticed him doing it as she still recovered from the shock. Feeling it tightening around her neck though – that she felt.

Another gasp from the small pegasus at the testing pull of the leash - that was very uncomfortable. She flinched as he leaned down towards her again, the collar tightening around her neck more as he pressed a claw down between it and her neck. Then he loosened it, surprising Sunny Rain. Testing with his claw again to see how much space there was between her skin and the collar until he was satisfied that it wasn’t too loose or too tight.

She would have preferred to be completely without it, but wasn’t going to air that opinion.

He rose up on his hind legs like times before, a hand clutching the leash connected to her collar. With a light tug he turned to the door to lead her out. A stubborn part of her had her put her hooves down on the wooden floor hard to not just let him pull her along, this was still very indignifying.

That only rewarded her with a much harder tug, powerful enough to pull her off of her hooves. He didn’t give her time to recover as he began moving, pulling the mare along across the floor. She gasped, trying to get a protest out but the tugging around her neck made it hard to get enough air for any words. Her hooves flailed over the wooden planks below her, trying to get herself up while she was kept moving and pulled along.

Not until he stopped was she allowed a chance to breath and stand up again. Trembling and wheezing from the rough treatment. She had a moment to notice that she was finally outside of that dreadful bedroom, now in a new room. A bit bigger, more furniture. A fireplace by the wall. A window with simple blinds and not just bolted shut. The items hanging on the walls and the furniture making it look like a mix of a livingroom and a kitchen.

Then light hit her and she squinted her eyes, turning her head to find the source. She felt a breeze against her face. He had opened the door out, blinking against the light too as he took his time to adjust from the dimness of his hut to the sunny day outside.

Sunny Rain wasn’t thinking, simply acting out at a whim. Outside! It was so close! The outside!

She ran for it. Out the door, out into the fresh air, the taste of nature and life in the air itself. The warmth of the sun’s light, the coolness of a gentle mountain breeze, the freedo-

A hard tug and she was down on the ground, landing hard in the dirt. Another tug and she was pulled off of the ground by the collar, hanging with her legs jerking as she gasped for breath once more.

Not given time to recover from the shock and use her wings, she felt the ground connect with her again, hard. Knocking what air she had out of her chest, turning her gasps to pathetic coughs. She stayed there on the ground, shaking and trembling, allowed time to recover her breath. She felt a shadow moving over her and looked up to see… him. As dark and gloomy as ever, the rage in his eyes making her flinch.

“I-I’m sorry, I…”

She clasped her hooves against her mouth to shut herself up. Staring terrified up at the griffon, expecting more punishment for daring to speak up. She was roughly pulled up by the leash again, but this time up to a height allowing her to reach the ground with her hooves. Standing again she was pulled closer to the griffon as he leaned down his head to be at level with her. Just glaring into her eyes, the message was clear. Another stunt like that and he wouldn’t be as gentle again.

Sunny Rain nodded to show she understood the silent threat.

Seemingly satisfied the griffon continued on his way with the pony following behind him as far as the leash allowed. Trying to shove aside the shock so it couldn’t poison the experience of finally being outside again. Outside - in the breeze, the fresh air, the light. Her eyes did feel a slight burn from the light after being stowed away in the dimness of the hut for so long, but she didn’t care.

Looking back she could see it wasn’t a very big hut, probably only made up of the two rooms she had seen. All wooden planks, squeezed in between the trees surrounding it. Hidden from the air, this place was probably left undisturbed by any travelers passing the mountains from above.

She turned her head to look forward again after nearly stumbling over a small rock, to better keep an eye on where they were going.

He was leading her to a small creek, stepping into the cooling water and dragged her along with him. It was very shallow, just a few inches but it was a nice, cooling feeling over her hooves. Something new and different from the wooden boards she had been surrounded by for so long. Not feeling any tugs on the leash to keep going she leaned down her head to quickly lap up some water, drinking eagerly. Fresh and clear mountain water.

While the pony drank the griffon sat down next to the creek. Letting her enjoy the moment of being outside, as long it lasted. He had taken her out to keep the pegasus from going completely stir crazy, hopefully this would work to keep her behaving properly. A little treat, despite the way she had behaved up until now.

When Sunny Rain had had her fill of water she dared to stretch her wings to let every feather feel the warmth of the sun upon them. Just as refreshing as the cool water filling her stomach. She first dared a glance at the griffon when no longer sensing his eyes on her. He was looking up at the sky, seeming to search for something. Making her look up too, only to see a bright blue sky with the occasional small cloud. Clouds would often drift away into such areas, even when the sky was supposed to be clear. She had hoped to move from her usual task in the weather patrol to search for and gather such stray clouds. Just to get to fly about more freely and see more broad horizons than from her daily job of just watching over one certain patch of the sky.

She glanced back at her captor. He was still gazing at the sky, not seeming to pay much attention to her. She moved her focus to the leash in his claws. Not directly clutch around the leather strap but still held onto it. Maybe, if she just moved fast enough…

Not giving herself time to think the plan through she decided on the spot to use the element of surprise and made her move. With a jerk of her body she yanked at her leash to free it from his grasp. Surprisingly it work, she felt the leash fly out from his hold. Not wasting one second she turned around and went into a sprint down the creek. Heart pumping, she spread her wings to take off. Could she outfly a griffon? Could she outfly this griffon, despite her weakened condition after her long captivity? Maybe his big, bulky size meant he wasn’t as fast in the air as a small pegasus.

She dared to hope as she fought to take air. Not looking back to see if he had taken up the chase, only focusing on making her wings obey. Maybe filling up her stomach with so much water had not been such a good idea.

She got into the air without being stopped, without feeling powerful talons grabbing for her or shredding her apart. Don’t think, just fly. Fly and escape, don’t think of what he’ll do to you when he… if he catches up to you. Just keep going!

The griffon had been caught by surprise. Busy watching the sky for any trespassers in his parts of the mountain, at least what he called his parts, he had not expected the pony to be foolish enough for such a stunt, to try and run for it and take flight. It gave her a head start, which he allowed her after gathering himself.

Then he was into the air after her. Despite his size he was fast, a griffon’s superior wingspan compared to a pegasus’ puny wings. She was flying in a panicky way, probably not even caring about what direction she was going as long it was away from him. He allowed her the attempt to teach her yet another lesson about breaking the rules.

Sunny Rain already felt a pain in her side, her breathing and the movements of her wings weren’t in proper balance, she was already short of breath but didn’t care. She couldn’t fight the urge any longer and dared a look back. The leash flailing behind her from her collar, but no sight of the griffon. Not even down on the ground by the creek. So, where…?

Her only warning was the shadow passing her, something above blocking the sun. She didn’t have time to look up before she felt the weight press down upon her. He had proven himself faster than she had expected, flying up high above her to dive down on top of her with a precision of a bird of prey. She felt claws grab onto her, felt skin getting pierced as gravity took over, her wings unable to keep flight as she was pressed downwards by the weight of the diving griffon.

The world was spinning, she couldn’t even scream as she watched the blurs of colours she identified as the incoming ground grew closer and closer too fast for comfort. Then he spread out his wings to end the dive with a glide, straighten up over the ground horizontally instead of keeping the crash course straight down. Still holding onto her with his front claws as he broke the glide and landed on the ground on his hind feet.

The pegasus trembling in his hold, blood dripping from where his talons had dug into her coat. Not meant to make deep damage, only to scare her by showing how easy it was to make her bleed. And he wasn’t done yet. Raising her up to throw her to the ground, the pegasus gasped and coughed at the rough treatment. Her whole body aching. Before she could gather herself she was rolled onto her back and felt a weight press down onto her chest. Looking up she saw him looming over her, a backpaw pressed firmly into her chest, just enough weight to press the air out of her and keeping her from sucking more in.

This was it. This was how she was going to die. At the mercy of this… this monster!

She gasped desperately for breath but couldn’t expand her lungs enough to suck in any air, the paw weighting down on her too heavily. Her hooves scraped pathetically at the paw, her throat convulsing as she tried to force it to make sound, to plead, without the needed air.

The edges of her already blurry vision was growing dark, the darkness taking in more and more of her vision until everything finally went black.

Author's Note

A bit longer chapter than the others, I hope it is still a good read.

Things finally starting to happen.

As usual, I am open to any corrections and advices you feel like throwing at me. Enjoy and thank you for your patience with me ^^

Chapter 7: The Clipper

Sunny Rain woke up to agony. Her body was aching all over, making her groan as she did the mistake of squirming on the bed sheets, hoping a change of position would make the soreness of her body go away. Instead it made it worse. Her chest was particular sore and it hurt to take deep breaths, it didn’t felt like she could expand her lungs enough for proper breathing, without it hurting.

Slowly the small pegasus opened her eyes, only to face the usual dimness of her prison cell. She remembered a short taste of freedom, the fragile hope of escape which had cost her dearly.

Yet… here she was, still alive. But aching all over from the rough treatment when he had captured her again. So easily catching up to her. She shuddered at the memory, getting plucked from the sky like a small sparrow taken by a falcon. The sky was the domain of the pegasi yet she had been no challenge for the big, scary griffon.

The skin around her neck felt red and sore from the pulling and tugging of the collar and leash although thankfully she wasn’t wearing any of that anymore. The rough treatment when captured had caused her quite a few bruises. Searching her sides with her hooves she felt the scratches and wounds from his claws, no longer bleeding but left as a reminder of how easily his claws could hurt her.

She had tried and failed. A moment of desperation and all she got to show for it was pain. And misery.

Without warning the tears began, pathetic sobs only worsened by the pain from her chest. Made worse with each convulsion. She couldn’t hold it back, her failure to escape too great a loss of what little hope she had left to be free. It had been made clear to her she wasn’t going to be allowed to leave from this place. At least not without HIS permission. And she highly doubted he would ever permit her to leave by the look of things.

And still, after all she had been through by now, there were still no reason. No explanation, no excuse, nothing. Why? The question she would never get an answer to if everything else up to this point had a say in how the future would look. If she just knew what she had done wrong to deserve this, then she would do anything to make up for it again. Anything to at least know a reason.

The pegasus pony was still crying her heart out into the dirty bed sheets when the door was unlocked and the griffon loomed in the doorway once more. She wouldn’t even look up at him, to acknowledge his presence. Let him be mad, she just couldn’t stop her tears of despair. She didn’t care if she was being too noisy, what more could he do to her by now? She was already in pain.

She felt the weight of her warden as he sat down on the bed, next to her trembling and convulsing form. She still refused to look up at him, didn’t want to see him. A desperate hope deep inside that she could just cry and ignore the monster away. If she didn’t look up and just pretended it wasn’t there, it would just return to its den in the closet and stop bothering her, just like when she was a little filly.

Sunny Rain flinched at the touch, a hand stroking her side gently. She refusing to look up, she tensed and dreaded what this would lead to next, having no idea what he was up to now. What else could he do to try and break her?

The talons gently inspected the scratched on her side, seeing they had stopped bleeding, was closing up and going to heal on their own. Sunny Rain gasped at the pain as he forced her to roll onto her back, pressing onto her chest with his bird claw hand to inspect the damage done there. Making her squirm, breathing in small gasps as the pain made it hard to breath properly. She kept her eyes clenched shut, stubbornly still refusing to look at him, shivering and tensing at his touch. Now feeling her sore neck and throat, seemingly examining the damages he had left on her. Except the pressure on her chest his touch was surprisingly gentle and painless despite she was expecting otherwise. Why would he worry about her injuries anyway? He was the one who had inflicted them on her.

Her head was starting to hurt from the extensive crying. She grimaced as she now had yet another inconvenience to be bothered with above everything else.

Almost getting used to his gentle touch over her hurting areas she didn’t notice his hand had wandered up to her wing until he grabbed onto it firmly. One of the few parts not hurting from the failed escape despite the rough treatment. She gasped none the less as he held firmly onto the wing and pulled her up onto her romp, making her sit up with her back to him. Panicking she tried to pull away from him, her hooves grabbing at the bed sheet without much luck. He held onto her firmly.

The griffon pulled her closer, wrapping his thick, strong arm around her, pressing her front legs firmly down her body to keep her squirming at minimum. She finally turned her head to look at him, her eyes big and fearful as she really didn’t want to see what he had planned for her, yet didn’t dare to just sit and let it happen without warning. Her back was pressed up against the side of his chest, the only free part one of her wings which she had spread out at the shock. Her other wing kept folded under the hold of his arm around her. His free hand was holding a… a pair of blades. A form of scissors. A clipper.

She didn’t know what it was for, but she didn’t like it either way. She liked it even less as he moved the tool towards her free wing. In another burst of panic she flapped her wing as hard she could to try and hit the tool out of his hand. All she got out of it was an angry growl, a rumbling, deep sound she felt vibrating through his chest before he strengthened the hold around her. The pressure around her own chest making her gasp at the pain. He kept on squeezing her until she stopped moving her wing, letting it hang limply down her side. Trembling and sobbing once again, gasping for breath greedily when he loosened his hold on her just a bit.

Trying to recover she was distracted from the subject of the small struggle until she felt the cold steel against her feathers, eyes widening at the first cut. She froze, in shock at the thought of what he was doing. The first feather tip falling gracefully to the floor.

Forgetting about the pain and punishment she found a last reserve of energy to panic and struggle widely, fighting to get her limbs free from his hold. Her wing flapping, hoping to hit him as hard she could, to make him let go of her so she could make a run for it. Even if she knew she had no place to run.

The punishment came immediately; once again he squeezed her in the hold of his arm. Squeezing hard around her body, ignoring her gasping and crying from pain and panic, kept on doing it with the intention to first stop when she had given up the fight.

The pegasus first gave up the fight as her vision began to blacken again, warning her she was about to pass out once more. Maybe that was to be preferred, over being awake during the… treatment.

She became limp in his hold, unable to fight anymore yet still halfway conscious. Still sensing his hold although the pain was slowly getting replaced by an uncomfortable numbness through her body. Her breathing felt shallow, it was so hard to get enough air down her lungs, even after he loosened his hold on her again.

The snipping sound of the clipper could be heard as he resumed his work. Feather by feather he shortened them all down, focusing on cutting the main control feathers she would need to stir her flight. Shortening them all down to make her unable to gain enough wind and air under her wing to be able to raise herself from the ground. She wouldn’t even be able to glide through the air with her wing in such a state.

The lightheadedness made it easier for her to just leave her mind and body, to ignore everything happening to her. The fight squeezed out of her once more.

She didn’t even bother to take up the struggle again when he released her to switch side and begin working on her other wing. Giving it the same treatment. Letting her keep her feathers, just shortened down to a grotesque length, making her wings useless for flight or anything.

As soon he was done he let her go, dumping her back onto the bed. Gathering up the pieces of feathers, cleaning away the proof of the crime. A terrible crime to do against a pegasus, especially when being avian himself. It didn’t seem to face the griffon though. It was just another task which had to be done. A final punishment to teach the pony its proper place. Now she couldn’t try and fly away again and the loss of her flight feathers would possibly teach her the seriousness of her situation. Despite having nothing left, he could still find something to take from her until she would learn.

She didn’t even have the strength left to continue her sobbing. Just lied there on the bed, eyes empty and unseeing, she had tried to escape into her mind. Away from the dreadful moment and her terrible situation. Just away from it all. He left her to it.

Raising from the bed, walking on his hind legs once again to carry the pieces of feathers and the clipper he left her to her solitude and despair.

Locking the door with a loud click behind him.

Author's Note

Quite surprised by myself, writing a new chapter so fast. But I felt this was so much connected to the previous chapter I just had to get it finished at the same pace to not lose the beat of.

I hope it's to your liking. As always I look forward to any comments you may have for this story so far.

Chapter 8: Apathy

Sunny Rain was left to her own device as she stayed in her state apathy on the bed. She did not know what to think or feel anymore, she just wanted the pain to go away. The physical pain and soreness of her body went away on its own. It was the pain on the inside that just would not go away.

She did not even ask why anymore. There was no answer. She never got one, she never found one and was just left to suffer in silence. All she wanted was to know why and now that was pointless too. Do not ask questions without any answer.

He had entered the room some time ago to place the usual bowl of food on the floor. She did not get up to see what he had brought her. She did not feel hungry. Whenever she thought of food she simply felt sick and doubted she could keep any of it in for long.

Time stood still. Mostly because she refused to keep track of it by watching the travel of the beam of light on the floor to the wall anymore. It did not change anything to sit and guess what time it was and only get reminded of the time passing by outside and all the things she missed out on.

Letting time pass by without her.

***

He started to worry about the state of the pegasus under his care. She just lied there all day and night, refusing to move besides the occasional shift of position. Her wings staying unfolded with their pathetically shortened feathers, hanging down her sides onto the mattress. She even did not eat the food he had brought her.

What was up with her now? If it was not one thing then it was another, aggravating the griffon. She would eat when she became hungry enough, he was sure of it. No need to waste more food, she would have to do with what he had put out for her.

He would find himself checking on her though, standing in the doorway to the bedroom and watch her sleep. Ponies were so small and delicate. She seemed even smaller now after he had clipped her wings. Thin too. From being disgustingly eager for food she had turned to simply ignore the generous offering he had placed on the floor.

The griffon slowly stepped into the room, making sure to close the door behind him. Stepping quietly over towards the bed he had allowed the pegasus to have while he slept in front of the fireplace in the other room. He knew every floorboard in his hut and could move without a single creek. He had done it times before, moving close to the sleeping mare for a look, to observe her rest and his her back rose and fell with her breathing. Looking so fragile.

It was in her sleep she looked the most peaceful, when she was quiet and still – causing no noise or bothersome trouble. The times he checked on her while she was awake he had noticed how empty her eyes were, not even looking up to acknowledge him anymore. No fear.

He had thought he would like that. No fear or aggression, no disapproving frown and none of those annoying sounds forming words. He had enough of that in his life. Yet… he did not like how she seemed like a corpse when she was awake, her eyes so dead. Then he could just as well had left her for dead out in the woods. Or kill her now before the last of the meat on her bones would disappear to her chosen hunger.

He had no problems raising his talons to harm and punish her but leaving her to die or actually killing her with his own claws did not sit well with him. He had never killed a pony before. Maybe hurt a few until they understood he wanted his mountain to himself without their neighbourly bothering of his peace and quiet. He thought he would be happy to be left alone and forgotten on this green, lone mountain. Yet he still just felt as irritated every day. Even when far away from others, ponies or fellow griffons, did he feel bothered. Perhaps more peaceful and less angry but definitely still bothered.

What did it take to feel… good?

Maybe company he had thought. But that was such a terrible bother. Then a pegasus fell into the woods near his hut. Alone. Small and harmless, a pathetic thing whom would have died had he turned his back on her.

He had no idea still what he had been thinking that day. Things just began unfolding from then off. He made clear rules for her to follow and she would be allowed to stay. Out there she would die on her own. All she had to do was to follow the rules. Why was that so hard to understand?

The big griffon had moved to sit on the bed, next to the pony. Looking her over, watching her sleep. She could be such a heavy sleeper. She did nothing but sleep, even when she appeared awake. It bothered him for some reason. She was not running amok or being noisy like in the beginning. Yet this bothered him too. Had he hoped for another kind of company than this dead doll?

Hesitatingly he raised a taloned hand and reached it out for the sleeping pony. A gentle touch of her back. A light flinching of her wings in response. Was she awake? It could be so hard to tell when she refused to react to his presence.

On an impulse he suddenly grabbed the pony around her sides and lifted her up. She yelped, a surprised noise and a light kicking of her hooves. Then she was still again even before she could feel a frown from him. He picked her up and put her on his lap. Holding her he had felt it. Ribs. Bones right under the soft coat. How often did a pony need to eat? He ate when he felt hungry and fed her when she had been good and had no food in her room. He had not fed her since last time, the bowl still left to itself on the floor.

His hand ran over her sides and chest again. Not even the hares he caught outside during winter would feel this skinny and meatless. If he caught one in this state he would simply throw it away again. No point in killing it if it had no flesh on it for his meals.

The pegasus shivered with a low whine from her throat. Not high enough a sound to truly grind him yet it still did not sit well with him. She did not more, did not look at him or shift her position.

With a decision the griffon stood up on his hind legs, holding the pegasus firmly in his arms. Causing another whimper from her. Leaving the bedroom with her as silently as he had entered it.

Author's Note

A fairly short chapter after such long procrastination. Not much time to sit and write, sorry. A lot of things going on, but I still want to tell this story the best I can.

Done some editing of the typos in past chapters. As always I'm happy to get comments on your thoughts about this story and if you find any errors in my writings to help me get better.

Thanks and enjoy.