Finding a Home

Chapter 1: Leaving the Nest

Sparrow woke up as a gust of wind went through his coat and brushed against his face. He groaned as he turned over so he was no longer facing the wind. He tried to wrap his wings around himself to make some extra warmth.  The twigs that made up his nest cracked in protest of the movement making him more alert of the fact he was now awake. He opened his eyes to look around at the ruined houses around him. The day was just beginning and Celestia’s sun had begun to rise. A semi thick layer of clouds spread across the sky as the breeze continued ruffling Sparrow’s feathers and fur.  Luckily the cold didn’t bother him much, perks of being a griffin, you get used to the cold weather.

He stretched out his wings and legs to ease some of the aches that had built up overnight. He couldn’t remember his dream from the previous night, so he decided today wasn't great for a dream journal. Sparrow always found solace in doing that. It let him run away into his imagination as he wrote, and if he was lucky, he could fall back asleep to return to his dreams. Today he wasn’t so lucky.

Finally standing up from his nest, Sparrow ran a claw through his feathers around his head and looked down at a puddle in the street nearby. Flaring his wings he gently flew down and landed next to it. Slowly he regarded his features in the brown, but still reflective, water. White feathers spread from his beak up to his head where they turned black on the tips. One bent down near his eyes and the next rose above his eyebrows with the third following close behind in a kind of cowlick. His mother had always tried to preen them down but he liked them sticking up. He turned to the side to see his feathers go down his neck with black spots randomly making appearances until it reached his midsection. In the middle of his front legs was a large patch of black feathers that sprouted about. A golden coat of fur stretched along the remainder of his body continuing all the way down to his tail with the few bits of hair on the end. He grinned at his reflection, he didn’t look half bad.

Sparrow was the name given to him after hatching from his egg. His brothers and sisters were all much larger than him, and due to him being the “runt” his mother thought it would be cute to name him Sparrow, after the small bird. Being teased most of his childhood had led him to grow distant from most other griffins, but, anytime they challenged him to fly a grin would spread across his face. Sparrow loved to fly; it was his form of escape from the bullies behind him. They would challenge him and then he would fly, really fast. Being so small meant less weight to carry around and maneuver. It allowed him to try out some advanced maneuvers at a young age to boost his speed, and in doing so, win every race. So when they challenged him to a race, he would meet them at the starting line, and proceed to leave them in the dust. He was elated to be able to beat them in at least one thing. After a while, this had started boosting his ego as one after the other, griffins would challenge him and then lose to Sparrow the runt. He liked to win and show them up. It got him bits and he could prove once again that he was the best flyer in town.

Once he was fully grown he was only about a claw shorter than another griffin named Gilda. She was about a head taller than most ponies with a golden lions coat and white feathers that spread up to her face and beak. The tips of her feathers had a bit of violet on them that he always thought was a little cute. Sadly her personality was quite lacking, she was quite short tempered. Either way, that helped with being picked on over his size, for the most part. Over time though, they stopped challenging him, then stopped bothering him. Now he didn’t really talk to anyone except maybe Gilda once in a while, at least she would still angrily respond to him if he said hello. It must have been because he beat her in a race after she’d gotten back from that Young Flyers camp. She’d challenged him to a friendly race once she got back and without even considering what “friendly” meant, he rubbed her beak in the defeat. He didn’t feel bad about it either; all the other griffins would have done the same. After that she didn’t talk to him unless he approached her first and said something. Most griffins just ignored him at this point though, which suited him just fine. It did make him miss the racing though.

Stepping away from the puddle Sparrow began walking through the streets of Griffinstone. There were puddles scattered through the streets randomly from a slight shower a few nights before A few houses had lights shining through their boarded up windows and Sparrow could smell the faint aroma of bread. That reminded Sparrow that he hadn't eaten much yesterday and his gizzard replied with a grumble. Such things were becoming a commodity in Griffinstone. Not many griffins kept the things around to make bread as well, “too expensive” most of them would tell you, along with not enough bits for them making it for others.

If he had some money right now he could just go to the local restaurant and get himself something to eat. Sadly there were no odd jobs that needed completion and no one had bet they could beat him in a race for over a month now. Sometimes it sucked being the best. He sighed as he decided that was enough walking. Flapping his wings he rose into the air and decided to go into the fields outside of town to find something to eat.

After about thirty minutes of hunting Sparrow was rewarded a small field mouse. It wasn’t much, but it gave him enough energy for now. While flying back to town leisurely, he noticed two pastel colored creatures. One was a light shade of blue with wings flapping away keeping it aloft, and the other was pink, just pink, and was hopping up and down in a way he’d never seen done before. Getting closer he deduced finally that these were indeed, ponies.

“Why in King Grover's name are there ponies in Griffinstone” Sparrow muttered to himself.

Getting closer still he noticed the blue one had a rainbow colored mane and tail with a rainbow lightning bolt cutie mark.  The other had a mane that was, of course, pink, and looked almost like cotton candy. Sparrow crossed his front legs and tilted his head in thought “Three balloons, does that mean her special talent is helium? I’ll bet her voice is really high pitched if it is.”

Deciding against introducing himself, Sparrow flew back towards his nest in town. With a little food in his gizzard he decided to stop at the local library and grab a book to read since he didn’t have much else to do today anyways. Scanning the bookshelves nothing really jumped out at him, and he’d already skimmed through most of the books on flying or the records on The Wonderbolts. He liked the idea of the fast flyers but couldn’t see why they stuck together. Wouldn’t they just get angry at each other over who was the fastest?

He finally decided on one he’d read before that helped him get to where he was now, The Wonderbolts guide to Speed, when he was still a hatchling he would read parts of this book when he could get his claws on it. When bullies stole the book from him he would challenge them to a race to get it back. This continued for a few years until they wizened up that they couldn’t beat him. Eventually they just started tearing pages from the book much to Sparrows dismay. So he stopped trying to read things where others could see, he snuck it to his nest right before bed and he would read until he fell asleep. Today the afternoon was slow and didn’t seem to have anything interesting in store for him, so he sat in his nest and began to read his book.

****

A delicious smell roused Sparrow as he opened his eyes and saw his talons gripping the book tightly. Gasping to himself he carefully released his grip on the book; thankfully it was safe and no worse for wear. Just a few crinkled pages where Sparrow had nuzzled it like a pillow. Whatever was causing the aroma Sparrow guessed he’d smelled it while he slept and that’s what caused the drooling, yup, he’d go with that. The smell was coming from the middle of town which Sparrow recognized that's where… That couldn’t be right, it was coming from Gilda’s cart, and griffins were nearby her. Griffins were actually buying Gilda’s scones! Sparrow shot out of the nest like a bullet and dove immediately towards the small cart. He had to know what this smell was and then eat all of what was making the smell.  At the last second before hitting the ground Sparrow flared his wings and stopped short of the cart and dropped to the ground. It was there he got a full whiff of the newly made muffins.

The smell was entrancing as Sparrow noticed how these scones looked, full and fluffy, completely alien to him and the other griffins around him. He made his way up to Gilda fully intent on getting one.

Sparrow eyed the muffins “Hey there Gilda, mind sparing a scone for an old friend?” looking at Gilda’s expression of distaste he guessed they weren’t exactly friends.

“Friend? I don’t think we’re quite there yet Sparrow” Gilda responded

Sparrow placed his claw over his heart, “After all we’ve been through?” Gilda raised an eyebrow at the question needing an example clearly. Sparrow threw a wing around her shoulder and stood close “Come on! There was that one time where we raced…And, that’s about it. See all the good times we’ve had together? Now how about a freebie?”

Gilda eyed Sparrow warily and almost said no, but, a little pink pony had reminded her of the true joy friendship could bring, and she wasn't about to ruin that lesson. Plus Rainbow Dash would have told her to give in if only to see his reaction to the new scones. Holding out one for Sparrow she said “If it gets you out of my feathers, then here. Free of charge” handing the scone to a shocked Sparrow she smiled back at him.

Sparrow had never seen this kind of display from Gilda. He was taken aback completely as if she'd lost her mind. "Thanks Gilda" He said with as much sincerity as he could muster.

"Don't worry about it dude, but next time you'll have to pay live everyone else alright?" Gilda responded with a friendly tone.

Nodding to her and smiling he trotted away from her cart and rounded the corner before looking at his prize. He bit into the delicious smelling treat and stopped. His eyes went wide as the flavor spread across his tongue. It was almost as if his mind was pulling the reigns on the rest of him because this thing demanded his attention before anything else. He slowly began to chew; the scone coated his taste buds in sweetness and fluffiness that he’d never experienced before. Sparrow’s mouth almost hurt from the sugar and he couldn’t help but smile as wave after wave of flavor passed through each bite.

Sparrow knew that this wasn’t fully Gilda’s baking. It was just too good. He spun around and dashed back down the street towards the now extremely crowded cart. Gilda was already busy with customers but Sparrow needed an answer now. He decided that shouting would be an effective tactic “GILDA! WHO HELPED YOU MAKE THESE!?”

Gilda glared back at Sparrow then turned and smiled to her customer as she handed over a scone and got some bits for the exchange. Before dealing with the next customer she waved Sparrow over and got a few annoyed looks for her trouble “Sorry guys, this’ll be quick.” She called out to her line.

Sparrow flew over and landed besides her anxiously awaiting an answer “So who helped you Gilda? Please let me know because I have to find them and, I don’t know, figure out how to get an endless supply. It’s incredibly important.”

Gilda sighed “It was one of those two ponies who came to town today. Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash.” Sparrow cocked his head to the side as Gilda looked down and scratched her other claw, “Pinkie gave me the last bit my recipe needed and now everyone wants some of my goods.”

Sparrow grinned at that last bit which he received a smack to the shoulder for.

Rubbing his shoulder in pain Sparrow asked, “So where are they now?”

“On their way back to Ponyville on the train; what, did you sleep through their entire visit?”

Blushing Sparrow nodded “So they left what, a few hours ago?”

“Yup” Gilda responded while quickly handing over some scones for a bag of bits, “You could try to catch the next train to Ponyville, but knowing you, you’re completely broke.”

“Good to see you know me so well,” Sparrow rolled his eyes “I can just fly there, it should only take me a day or so.”

Gilda stared at him wide eyed and her mouth hung open for a second before she closed it “Sparrow that flight is dumb, even for you. That’s a lot of uncharted mountain terrain to cross, not to mention what would happen if you got hurt.”

Sparrow raised an eyebrow and looked at Gilda smugly “What’s this, Gilda the Griffin is worried for my safety? When did you start caring about anyone but yourself?”

Gilda blushed and took a step back towards her cart “Since, shut up! It’s a stupid idea and you shouldn’t do it.”

“You know, if you tell me that I shouldn’t do it, that just makes me want to try even more” Sparrow responded before lifting off the ground “See ya Gilda, might as well get out of this town while I still can.”

Gilda clicked her tongue and turned back to her cart. Then promptly turned back towards Sparrow and shouted after him “Rainbow Dash is the fastest flyer I’ve ever seen, I bet she would give you a real run for your money!”

Sparrow heard her as he flew away towards his nest to grab a few things. He grinned at the thought of someone who could be as fast as him. Now that he had to see to believe. The scones would just be a welcome side effect of the visit at this point. Plus he’d wanted a reason to get out of Griffinstone for a while now. Might as well test his endurance with the trip, he’d always had speed, but now he could see how long he could continue to fly.

In Sparrows nest he had a set of saddlebags that he’d used during school a long time ago, now he filled them with whatever provisions he had stashed away in his nest. This turned out to be nothing except the book he nabbed from the library. Well if he had to stop and rest he could at least read something. Looking out across the horizon Sparrow decided to leave while there was still some light out. Flapping his wings he took to the sky and started flying south, towards Ponyville

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