Seasons

by LucidTech

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Romance, Fluttershy, Bon-Bon, Gilda, Derpy Hooves, Slice of Life, Lyra
Length: 6319

Inspired by Jackleapp's Seasons music. Let's see where this goes.

Jack the gryphon arrives in Ponyville looking for a particular gryphoness that has disappeared from the flock recently, events begin to unfold, a few of which Jack sets in motion.

Inspired by Jackleapp's seasons CD that he recently finished.
http://jackle-app.bandcamp.com/album/seasons

Published 2012-05-09 20:24:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-06-06 20:47:11 UTC

Summer

(http://jackle-app.bandcamp.com/track/summer -N64Fan)

"Where did she go? Crazy gryphoness, just flying off randomly to meet an 'old friend'." The voice belonged to a gryphon who was bobbing and weaving between trees of a forest looking for the tell-tale sign of white feathers that would give away his target. As the male predator pitched wildly through the tight spaces in between the trees his tie flapped wildly but was held in place by the folded piece of stiff fabric that composed a collar. He had left his top hat back at the camp so he didn't lose it in this crazy flight.

There was no sign of what he was hunting but that didn't stop the gryphon, rather it increased his flight speed. The air was crackling and snapping about the form of the part lion, part bird, predator. The trees were darting past his vision but the skilled flyer managed to keep his flight stable and avoid the pillars of bark that would occasionally block his path. Mere seconds after a near miss with a tree a group of them appeared seemingly out of nowhere and the hunter pulled tightly into the air, he managed to break the treetops but felt a snap as he reached the top.

With a cry of pain the gryphon began a heavy and quick descent to the ground he glanced quickly towards the ground and noticed a small clearing in the plantlife. With another screech the predatory creature managed to catch air with his wings and land himself safely on the dirt that had only seconds ago been rushing towards him to end his life. With a wince the gryphon folded his wings against his side and began to berate himself as he began walking in what might have been considered a random direction.

The woods were creaking loudly around him due to the incoming wind gust that had been stirred up by the forest. The gryphon continued his trek into the permanent shade under the trees, unaware of the impending danger. After a few minutes the predator noticed the whistling noise as the wind picked up speed and his feathers stirred. “That’s not a good sound.” he said as he slowly turned his head. Just in time to catch the brunt of the gust in the face.

The powerful wind flow was enough to knock the griffin off of the ground as it carried him through the forest, the wind beat against his sides and smashed him into trees. The pain was excruciating as his already damaged wing was most definitely broken and his wing that had been perfectly fine no longer was. His screech was carried off in the whipping winds and the near blacked out gryphon was close to death.

A flash of light caught the powerless gryphon’s eye and he noticed that he was almost out of the woods, all that was left in his way was a large thick tree that marked the threshold from his current world of pain into a world of mostly open ground. With a forced beat of his injured wings and a self contained exclamation of pain the gryphon managed to dodge the last obstacle and he crashed across the grass. When he finally came to a stop he thought he heard several voices calling panickedly, he had little time to think about it as he passed out in the pile of surprisingly comfortable dirt and grass he had drug with him.

The dream of the gryphon was one of the more common dreams he had had recently, he walked through the town with his regal top hat on his head, his feathers recently cleaned, and his tie freshly pressed. It would have been a dream anyway, if it weren’t for the fact that all the gryphons were pointing and laughing at his attire. It had been a reoccurring theme with the gryphon that chivalry should be alive and well, something the majority of his feathered race didn’t entirely agree on. The belief was that unless you were covered in war scars or you worked for one of the warlords specifically that you weren’t to be noticed.

The gryphon drowsily awoke from his dream to get a look at the white sky above his head, after a pause to think he realized it was in fact a ceiling that he was looking at. He attempted to roll to his side to get a better look of the room when a pain shot up his wing and he fell back into his original position. Deciding instead to look out of the corners of his eyes he managed to deduce that he was in a hospital, the surroundings had been changed slightly to admit the significantly larger bulk of the gryphon, the beds that normally lay on the bed sat forlorn in the corner and the bed itself appeared to be much older then the hospital.

After a few silent moments of laying on the larger bed that the ponies had placed in the room for his convenience, the door opened at the far end of the room and a white mare walked into the room. Unlike most of his race this gryphon had actually taken a liking to ponies. They were much more refined than his peers were and the chivalrous predator admired that about them. In fact the gryphon suspected that the reason for dislike in regards to the ponies was jealousy, a feeling that he himself had refused to feel about the situation.

The gryphons, as a race, lacked any real connection to one another, whether through community or elsewise. Ponies had tightly packed towns where they could chat, assist, and get to know one another. In addition to this they also had a stable system of government that allowed them more connections and advancements. Gryphons had sparsely populated areas that might be drunkenly construed as towns where no one talked to anyone else and groups were split into factions that were in a constant power struggle.

The unicorn mare hesitantly approached the wound gryphon, he smiled toward her as she approached causing the nurse to shirk away, Ugh, I completely forgot, these ponies aren't used to seeing gryphons on a regular basis, I'm sure seeing a predator smile at you isn't considered the best sign. He thought to himself before trying another approach.

“It’s okay,” The gryphon said in the most gentlemanly tone he could manage with the pain his wings radiated into his body. “I promise not to hurt you.” The gryphon placed a talon above where his heart was supposed to be and the mare smiled in return before approaching once again, a little more self assured then she had before.

Silence reigned as the slightly nervous nurse went about dealing with the bandages that were tightly bound around the gryphon’s wings, with a glow of her horn she lightly touched the bandages with the illuminescent extension of her head. She stood still for a few moments before she lifted her head away and the glow subsided. After that was done she went around to the other side and performed the same spell, with that finished she approached a table that was set in the middle of the room and set about filling in the paperwork.

“Good thing you gryphons are such fast natural healers, I wouldn’t expect a pegasi to recover nearly as quickly.” The comment seemed more for the mare to try and comfort herself then to start a conversation with him, because of this the gryphon didn’t respond and politely gave her a small grin in an attempt to avoid scaring her any further. “So, what’s your name then?” The unicorn asked with a quick glance out of the corner of her eye to the gryphon before she returned to the work in front of her.

“Jack, and I would just like to apologize for causing so much trouble, I was just searching for a missing gryphoness, rumors said she had headed out in this direction, and I ended up taking up this room in your hospital. I should have been much more careful then I was.” The gryphon said, this response earned a curious glance from the unicorn but she didn’t say anything as she placed the finished paperwork and placed it on a nearby table.

“Don’t fret too much about it. We’ve been having a slow season, thank goodness. You’re the first we’ve had in a week.” The gryphon pondered this response. All the few gryphons who became field medics that had set up hospital in between the eras of large wars had practically encouraged injuries to net them more money. It was one of the many policies that Jack had taken offense to in the towns and had been one of the first reasons he had accepted the chance to get away from gryphon culture on this assignment.

The unicorn turned to leave but paused in the doorway, “You should be healed enough to leave the hospital by tomorrow, I want you to stay off those wings for at least a week though, and even then spend minimal time in the air.” Then as an afterthought she added, “Oh, and if you want to thank someone for bringing you here to the hospital, search out Derpy Hooves when you’re back on your claws.”

“I will remember to do that, thank you very much.” Jack reached up to tip his top hat but found it to be missing, he was about to freak out when he recalled that he had left it behind in the forest. With a resigned sigh as the door closed Jack tried to settle into a more comfortable position. He remained fitfully tossing through the remainder of the afternoon until finally managed to get into a sleeping posture as the moon rose into the sky.

Jack managed an uncomfortable dream sequence once again and woke to the rising sun as well as an obnoxious itching feeling that ran through his wings. He was about to start scratching, and indeed had just reached back to do so, when he felt the solid cast under his talons and decided against it. With a rush of pain through his body the gryphon rolled over one of his injured wings and off the side of his bed onto his feet. he took a quick glance around the room for any other ponies before the gryphon slowly began to stretch his corded muscles. In doing so, he revealed long thin scars that only became visible on the taut flesh over his muscles.

In the middle of his stretching the nurse from the previous day walked into the room, causing him to quickly go into a casual stance, once more causing the scars on his skin to disappear back into his brown hide. The mare frowned when she saw him standing in the middle of the room, “I was going to help you off the bed to minimize your pain, but now..”

“It’s alright, it was only a trickle of pain, really, nothing to worry about.” Jack said as he resisted the urge to finish his stretches. “So, if I remember correctly, then today is the day when I leave?” The gryphon asked as he looked towards the mare.

“Yes, it is, however we ask that you take up residence in Ponyville for a time. Your wings are in worse condition than originally thought and we will need to have a unicorn come make weekly visits to wherever you are to help them set correctly.” She said as her frown deepened.

The gryphon hesitated, he had been sent to retrieve the missing gryphoness and return back as quickly as possible. Of course without his wings the idea of searching on claw to find her would be nigh impossible, and then of course he would have to somehow get home. “It sounds like a plan, I don’t suppose you know anywhere that I could rent for the time being?” The nurse shook her head and Jack sighed, “Oh well, more adventure for me.”

A few signed papers and another unicorn treatment to his wings and the gryphon left the building, his wallet slightly lighter but well worth the kind attitude he had been greeted with. Taking a fresh breathe now that he was outside the medical building the gryphon looked around in an attempt to find a place to stay.

The few hotels around the town all proudly displayed their no vacancy signs to the gryphon as he walked through the streets that were swiftly filling with ponies. A few gave him looks of unsurety and curiosity but all of the ponies gave him space. It was a common fact for these ponies that gryphons had loose tempers. Jack suspected the gryphoness who he was looking for had done little to disperse that stereotype, he knew her quite well and knew that she could rage when she wanted. I just hope no one got hurt like james, poor guy was traumatized for a year. Jack thought to himself.

Eventually the gryphon found what he was looking for and stumbled into the hotel that flashed a singular ‘vacancy’ message to the passersby. Jack stepped lightly into the moderately prepped building and glanced around for an employee before he tapped the bell on the desk in front of him. A few seconds later and the pony who Jack presumed to be the manager rushed out of a door and up the desk.

“Welcome to the ‘Hospitable Hotel’ where we-” the manager stopped when he realized that a gryphon was the one who stood at the desk front. “I’m sorry sir, but we’re all full.” He said quickly as he glanced nervously between Jack and the door, clearly contemplating making a run for it.

“That’s odd, your sign out front says that you have room, and just now...” Jack caught the glances of the manager and rolled his eyes. “Are you refusing me room because I’m a gryphon?” He said to the pony, he could understand hesitation but blatant racism seemed quite out of character for ponies, then again this guy was deeply scared of him so Jack wasn’t just about to dismiss the notion.

“Of course not sir, its just that we are simply full to the brim right now and we can’t set you up with a room.” Jack glanced behind the pony and noticed that there were at least a dozen door keys hanging from their respective hooks.

“And here I thought that ponies were mostly trustworthy, you should know that if there's one thing I hate more than a barbarian, it is liar.” Jack said as he eyed the manager, the pony’s eyes bugged out and he quickly thought better of the idea to dash out into the front door, instead he opted for the room he had come out of and the gryphon heard the lock set in the door. With a sigh the gryphon left the building, leaving the manager to shiver in fear in his room.

As he left the building he ran into an earth pony mare with a two-toned mane. Jack hardly budged at the collision but was briefly confused as he tried to figure out what happened. After he overcame his own stunned situation he noticed that he had knocked the pony onto her rear, causing her to drop the several items she was carrying. Jack quickly reached out and pulled the pony to her feet.

“Thank you.” The mare said as she accepted the gryphon’s pull and began to set out collecting her objects again, the gryphon helped out and in about a minute the dropped pieces were collected once again and stowed in the mare’s saddlebags.

“No. Thank you.” When that drew a curious look from the mare, he explained. “You're the only pony who is actually treating me like an actual being and not some monster.” The mare smiled and nodded. She was about to respond when a voice called out towards them from across the road.

“Bon-Bon, You’ll never guess what I just bought in the marketplace!” a mint green pony shouted as she approached the duo. “It’s this device that uses a magical power source to blend food into a thick liquid consistency, they’re calling it a ‘blender’.” She looked to the white mare who looked first at her then to the gryphon. “Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that you were in the middle of a conversation.”

“It’s all right Lyra, I just met this fine gryphon.” Bon-Bon said with a smile, “One might say we.” The mare pause as she looked to Jack “Ran into each other.” The gryphon returned the smile of the mare.

“Oh yes, I forgot to introduce myself, things must have gotten away from me. My name is Jack and may I say it is a pleasure to meet you both today.” He paused as he looked back towards the building behind him, “If only I could say the same for another pony I met a few minutes ago.”

Bon-Bon looked at his confused but Lyra was already asking the question that was on the earth pony’s mind, “Why the sudden change of mood? Something happen in that hotel?”

“Yes, unfortunately. You see I am looking for a place to stay in town so that I can continue to get my wings treated at the hospital but I am having an issue with that.”

“Well, it says the hotel has a vacancy.” Lyra supplied.

“Apparently such a vacancy can’t be filled by a gryphon though, despite the fact that I know that the room could easily fit me.” This got a glance from Lyra, “I grew up with several brothers, one learns how to be flexible.”

Bon-Bon spoke up “That isn’t fair, you shouldn’t be put out merely because of what you are.” Lyra would have supplied something as well had her face not suddenly lit up.

“We still have the guest room right Bon-Bon?” When she recieved a smile and a nod in return she turned to the gryphon, “You could bunk with us Jack, I’m sure that Bon-Bon would like someone to talk to when I’m out performing at events.”

“I wouldn’t want to impose.” Jack said as he looked at the two mares.

“You wouldn’t be, you’ll pay a slightly discounted price and you can assist with the chores,” Bon-Bon supplied, “Besides we can’t have an injured gryphon such as yourself all alone.”

Jack shrugged and was soon being led to the house by the mares, each with a smile on their face. The chivalrous predator thought he saw the two mares kissing before Bon-Bon fell back slightly to walk next to the gryphon as Lyra continued on ahead. The mint green found getting through the tightly back streets much easier and noticed that they were separating to either side of the street to avoid the carnivore. Bon-Bon smiled and Lyra flashed a grin over her shoulder.

“Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a good year.” Jack said to himself with a smile as the trio walked away down the road to the building where the gryphon would be staying for as long as it took for his wings to heal.

Autumn

(Yes I introduced Dr.Whooves for kicks and giggles. Also, I'm kinda splitting Jack off into his own character and adding additional story behind the song. Hope you enjoy the chapter.
Link to the song.http://jackle-app.bandcamp.com/track/autumn -N64Fan)

The first week of Jack’s house imprisonment went about uneventfully and quickly as he did what chores were asked of him and did what little he could outside the house. During his stay in his new, offered, residence Jack noticed that Lyra and Bon-Bon were a lot closer to each others heart then he originally supposed and couldn’t help but smile to himself as the earth pony mare would blush under the unicorn’s affections.

There was one time that Bon-Bon caught his gaze and made her way over to the gryphon after Lyra finished her good-bye kiss and rushed out to work. Jack immediately snapped his gaze away as she approached and became entranced by the texture of the chair that Lyra had had specially crafted to suit her unique sitting style.

“Did you get a good look then?” Bon-Bon said bluntly as Jack snapped straight.

“I’m so sorry, I won’t tell anyone, who would believe me anyway right? Ahaha.” Jack blurted as the earth pony mare looked into his eyes.

She did this for a few moments before she busted up laughing. “You thought that I was going to punish you for being curious? Oh that is richer than my triple chocolate candies gryphon boy. I assure you that if you told anyone they would respond by telling you that they already knew.” She laughed for a moment longer as Jack looked at her confusedly.

“Regardless of whether or not it offends you it was not my concern to look into your business, Ms. Bon-Bon.” Jack replied evenly.

Bon-Bon stopped laughing and looked at the gryphon, in the past week he had been in the house neither mare had noticed anything different about him. All ponies had heard of the militaristic country of the gryphons of course, but Jack hadn’t ever shown anything that would separate him from the common pony. Here it was though, the training that had been beaten into him since he was young.

Silence hung heavily in the room for a few moments before Bon-Bon broke the silence. “Did you have anyone before you came here? Some special gryphoness that you shared your time with?”

“Yes, I did.” Jack said slowly as he refused to meet the eyes of the earth pony at his sides.

“What is she like?” The earth mare asked, confused by the body language that Jack was portraying.

“What was she like you mean.” Jack replied coldly. Bon-Bon gulped slightly at the implied outcome and a sad demeanor came over Jack. “She was wonderful. We weren’t the best couple according to the higher officers but I felt that we knew more than they did in that regard.” Jack paused for a moment as he looked towards his hind legs. “And sometimes I still miss her so.”

Neither spoke for a few moments until Bon-Bon stood from her position on the couch and approached the fridge. “What say you to some lunch hmm? This dark mood is ruining the spirit I think.” Jack nodded slowly and stood from his seat as he too approached the fridge.

“So what is this then?” Jack said as he looked over the impressive white box that he had seen the mares pull food from occasionally.

“Its a fridge, runs on magical energy and keeps food cold. Had to pay a year’s worth of money for this but Lyra couldn’t resist herself.” Bon-Bon said with a smile.

“It just, keeps the food cold? With no ice? How is that possible!?” Jack said as his excitement grew. From there the conversation had devolved into a chaotic field day about the power of unicorn magic and what it could do.

After that day neither mares nor the gryphon spoke of his life prior to coming to Ponyville but every day Bon-Bon would look over to him and feel a pity for the predatory race of the gryphons. They seemed to be quite the opposite of ponies when it came to emotions, ponies would face their emotion and do their best to work to overcome the trial. Gryphons on the other, they appeared to merely shove their emotions into a closet and lock it as tightly as they could.

It had been several weeks since his talk with Bon-Bon and Jack still couldn’t quite get used to the idea out of his head that he imposing on the two mares. He did the chores just as they asked him to but his insanity at being cooped up would often lead him to overdo a job. Lyra had laughed at the look on the earth pony’s face when she walked out the restroom after seeing the extent to which Jack had cleaned it up, Bon-Bon had to admit that she didn’t think the grout in the bathroom could shine.

Despite this activities the gryphon couldn’t help but think about all the things he still needed to do. However, with his wings as they were, Jack didn’t like the idea of going out into the forest. So, as the season turned to mid autumn, the gryphon was ecstatic to hear from the unicorn doctor that he would be able to use his wings to some extent. Using this news as an excuse the gryphon left the house around midday (Saying goodbye to Bon-Bon as he left.) and set forth into the Everfree to find his old camp where he had left all the belongings that he hadn’t had on him.

This list included, and was entirely limited to, his top hat. That was really all he had left behind that Jack felt he needed to retrieve as any food he may have left behind had either rotted or had most likely been hijacked by some forest animal. The hat itself wasn’t especially important in and of itself, but the relationship it stood for meant almost the entire world to the chivalrous gryphon and he wasn’t about to lose it. So, with a rejuvenated body and a renewed spirit that he had gained from his season of resting, the gryphon approached the forest and made his way into the shaded wood.

Inside the treeline the gryphon carefully wound his way between the trees; trying his hardest to ensure that he avoided any unnecessary confrontations. Occasionally having to backtrack to avoid an animal den the progress in the direction of the camp he had set up a month or two ago was quite slow and Jack couldn’t help but wish that his wings were still working. Jack had a few scuffles with a timberwolf but managed to make it to the clearing where he had set up camp. Immediately Jack noticed the tree where he had rested his top hat and, somewhat clumsily made his way up the bark. Upon reaching the branch that his hat rested upon Jack was relieved to see it undamaged.

After descending the tree once again in an act that looked closer to falling then it did to repelling Jack reached the grass of the clearing once again and made his way back across the open grassland to head back toward ponyville. As the gryphon did so his eyes fell on a set of tracks that had been left across the ground. Upon closer inspection Jack was astounded to find that they were gryphon tracks, they were not his own, and they looked familiar.

She’s been here, the tracks look a few days old a best, but if I leave now maybe I could- The gryphon paused in his thoughts as he looked to the sun that had just started to set. As if in response to his thought process an uncomfortable shiver ran through his wings to remind him of his current handicap. I can’t do anything about this right now, if I’m caught by any of the predators of this forsaken forest I’ll be a sitting duck without my wings. Regardless the rational the gryphon still didn’t move for several minutes as he looked off in the direction that the tracks led as if hoping that his target would show herself if he looked long enough. With a shake of his head the gryphon cleared his thoughts and, with a moment more of hesitation, Jack proceeded towards Ponyville, leaving the tracks of the gryphoness behind.

Jack managed to sneak past the creatures that were beginning to stir in the forest and made it back to Ponyville with his top hat intact and securely on his head. As he exited the forest the gryphon found himself in a lightly wooded area that felt familiar but he couldn’t quite place it. Only when he saw a large trench of grassless dirt did it hit him that this was the same place he had crash landed a few weeks back.

The gryphon strolled casually through the lightly wooded area until he realized he was almost completely lost. Just as he was about to say ‘to heck with it’ and fly above the canopy he heard a filly laugh in the distance. His own dilemma currently forgotten the gryphon began to head toward the laugh. If nothing else then he could ask for the way back to town.

After he had walked for a minute or two Jack found himself looking at a grey pegasus mare who was playing with a young grey pegasus filly. The gryphon approached slowly from the shadows until he came into the area where the two were playing. Jack quickly deduced that the pegasus was the mother of the filly and smiled to himself. I still have to admire how ponies can treat their young so tenderly and have them end up so strong in character. Jack thought to himself.

Realizing that if one of them were to spot him right now he would look like an uncouth stalker the gryphon lightly rapped his claw on a nearby tree to get their attention. The pegasus turned around to face him with a puzzled look on her face and a pair of oddly crossed eyes. The puzzled look quickly faded and was replaced with a smile.

“It’s good to see you out and about again after that injury you had when you were flung from the forest.” The grey pegasus said with the same smile splayed wide across her face, giving her a distinct appearance of being quite a happy-go-lucky pony.

“Ah, you heard about that did you? Yes a kindly mare helped me to the hospital and I have been resting for the past few weeks to get my wings working again.” Jack said as he smiled kindly to the unicorn filly. It was at this point that he recalled what had occurred with the nurse when he had smiled at her and hesitated. The filly paused for a few minutes as she tried to decipher the strange smile his beak-like mouth produced. After a few moments the filly started laughing again.

“I was just happy that I was there to take you to the hospital.” The mare replied as she bent her neck down and nuzzled the grey unicorn filly with her muzzle. The filly smiled and nuzzled into her mother’s neck as well.

“Oh, so you must be Derpy Hooves then? My apologies for not recognizing you sooner. My name is Jack.” As the gryphon spoke the mare froze up and the filly looked to the chivalrous predator.

“My mommy doesn’t like that name. You should say you’re sorry for that.” The filly informed the gryphon. Jack looked from the filly to the mare before he bowed his head slightly.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t aware that you’re mommy’s name wasn’t what I just called her. I was going off of some other pony’s words. Would you be a good little filly and tell me her actual name so I can apologize correctly?” Jack asked as he raised his head and smiled at the small off-pink filly kindly from underneath his top hat. The black felt headwear always seemed to make the gryphon feel more like a gentlecolt. Gentlecolt, though the term was originally derived from ponies it had eventually drifted over to the other races as well.

“Oh that’s easy. Her name is mommy, duh” The filly said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. With those words the unicorn filly began to bounce around, quite proud of herself. With a small grin the gryphon turned his look to the mare with inquiring eyes.

“That’s my little muffin, protective of her mother as always.” The grey pegasus said with a short laugh as she turned to face Jack once more. As she did so the gryphon’s attention was attracted towards the mare’s eyes once again for a moment before he blinked and managed to move his gaze directly behind the mare. “My name is actually Ditzy Doo, a few people around town call me Derpy though. Mostly due to the way my eyes look.”

“It’’s very nice to meet you Ditzy, and you as well little filly. Pray tell, what is your name, you little ball of energy?”

After a brief pause the filly broke out into a set of giggles. “My name is Dinky!” She said as she smiled up at the gryphon. So very different from the near-militaristic attempts at raising the young. If I had asked that of a gryphon child I would probably be more likely to get their I.D. number and serial code then their actual name. Jack thought to himself as the filly once again started jumping up and down, she was so proud that she knew all the answers today.

With the names of all parties correctly assembled the two adults began a conversation that ran over a few of the more common things that one would chat about. As they did so the filly stopped her bouncing and yawned loudly. By this time Jack had laid down on the ground to rest for a bit and a chill had settled into the air. As he lay on his stomach the small filly climbed onto his back and within a few moments a snore sounded from her tired body.

Realizing that her filly had just fallen asleep on Jack’s back Ditzy stood to retrieve her. Jack silently waved her off and stood slowly from the ground. “It’s fine.” The gryphon whispered to her as the filly curled up tightly on top of his feathers. Derpy nodded in response and indicated that if he would carry her home it would be much appreciated. With a affirmative from Jack the duo set off back towards Ponyville.

Ditzy was leading the way towards home as the cold air of the night settled about them. Ditzy began to shiver as a small gust began to blow through the wooded area and she clenched her muscles as she walked. Jack and Dinky were perfectly warm under his layers of feathers and hide but after not but a minute of witnessing Ditzy shiver Jack stepped alongside the mare and curled his wing over her back and down her back. The mare blushed in response to this but walked closer to the gryphon as they trekked the remainder of the distance to Ponyville.

As they walked in their symbiotic warmth both the gryphon and the pegasus were reminded of their respective mates that they were no longer able to walk with. In this warmth as their minds drifted to happier thoughts Ditzy barely noticed when they had arrived outside her house. She stopped and tucked tightly against Jack’s feathers before pulling away and retrieving Dinky from the muscular being’s back.

They stood their for a moment looking into each other’s eyes before Jack tipped his hat to the mare. “I think I’ll be going now Ditzy, have a good night.” Jack said, breaking the silence as he did so.

The gryphon had just turned to leave when a hesitant call from the gray pegasus reached his ears. “Wait, Jack.” Jack turned expectantly as he looked into the mare’s eyes. “I don’t mean to seem forward but... would you mind coming over tomorrow? For lunch maybe?” Ditzy asked.

The gryphon gave a small nod and a smile “It would be my pleasure Ditzy, I’ll see you for lunch tomorrow yes?” The gray mare returned the nod and the gryphon once again walked away from the door, this time without interruption. As he heard the door to the house swing shut behind him.

As if the door had given the queue Jack let out a sigh and turned around to take a look at the door that had been closed behind him. If only you could see me now Andromeda He thought to himself as took one more lingering glance towards the building. Little did he know that a gray pegasus within the structure was looking towards him with similar thoughts about her late husband.

With a steady walk the gryphon meandered through the silent town of Ponyville until he stumbled upon the door to his rented home. Subconciously the gryphon reached for the handle out of habit but something made it pause inches from the metal surface. The gryphon remained like that for a few odd moments where his claw hovered inches from the passageway but he couldn’t get the idea out of his head that he went in that house tonight he would leave something behind.

Just as he was about to abandon the door and find his way back to the tracks in the Everfree the door to the building swung open and a brown earth pony looked out towards the street. He quickly discovered a gryphon was in his way.

“You must be Jack, come in quick. Lyra bought a new device called a juicer and we are trying it out. Apparently it can liquify fruit into a drink and let it keep its taste and all you have to do is shove the food into the shaft. It really is quite amazing I think for this time period.”

Without further explanation for his words the stallion retreated into the building and Jack continued on with a smile. He may have a duty but he very much doubted his target would leave anytime soon. She was much too stubborn for that. Definitely Andromeda's sister. Jack thought to himself with a smile as he swung the door shut behind him.