Equestria Noir "Wild Birds"

Equestria Noir

“Wild Birds”

By DarkSkyz

Perspective: Grimwing

   I sat at my desk, leaning back on the chair. A glass of scotch sat on the mahogany wood, alongside a picture of my family and I back in the old country. By Celestia, it has been so long since I have seen them. Since I have seen the Kingdoms at all, in fact. It may have been tough at times, but I do miss home. But, we all must leave the nest at some point. Never thought the flight would carry me here though…

_________________________________________________________________________________________

32 years prior

   “Are you sure you want to go?” my mother asked me as I boarded the train.

   “I’ve already got the ticket now, I can’t turn back!” I chuckled.

   She looked at me with sad eyes and I realised this wasn’t a time for joking. “Don’t you worry about me,” I said. “I’ll be fine.”

   “You’re 16! You’re too young to be leaving!” she argued.

   “He’ll be fine,” my father reassured. He looked at me with those wise eyes of his. “Good luck out there son.”

   “All aboard!” yelled the conductor. I ducked inside the door and found my way to an empty compartment. I looked out the window to see my family waving at me. I waved back, smiling at them. The smile faltered as the train began to pull away from the station. From the Kingdoms. From my family. From my former life. I looked back sadly at the tall mountains. Even with the hardships and suffering that we were made go through in the Kingdoms, it was still my home. I shook my head, trying to get the thoughts away. Those things were gone now. I was gonna have a better life in Equestria, away from the hardships of the Kingdoms. I put my head down on the seat and closed my eyes, drifting off to sleep.

   The high pitched noise of the train whistle awoke me from my slumber. I looked outside at the train station. I was here. I got off the train and looked at the sign above the exit. All I could make out was the name of the place, Bitallia. The rest was gibberish. I walked outside and looked around, ponies were going about doing their daily business. All were dressed finely, the women in silk dresses and the men in suits. So this was the place that dad picked out for me. Seemed pretty good. And this was the cheapest place we could find? I called for a taxi and threw my suitcases in the trunk. I clambered into the back and showed him the address written on my piece of paper. Dad said there were a lot of griffons around that area. The driver’s face seemed to fall a bit when he read the paper. This wasn’t a good sign. He drove off and after a bit I noticed that the people on the street seemed to me getting less and less well off looking. Eventually, we crossed over a train track and the driver locked his doors. This definitely wasn’t a good sign.

   After another 15 minutes the driver pulled up at an apartment block. He quickly unlocked the doors and I got out. Not a moment after I had closed the trunk after taking out my suitcases the driver sped off. I looked around. It was dark and dingy. The buildings looked like they hadn’t been painted since they were built. My apartment block looked like one of the worst. I shuffled up to the door and looked again at the piece of paper. Apartment 206. I walked in the door and went up to the reception. The guy behind the counter was fixed on reading his newspaper. He didn’t notice me till I rapped on the wooden counter.

   “Yeah, whatta you want?” he said in a weird accent. He was speaking my language, but didn’t sound like a native.

   “I need a key for Apartment 206,” I said, trying to sound friendly.

   “Name?”

   “Grimwing.”

   “You’re the guy who called a few days ago.”

   “Actually that was my fa-”

   “I really don’t give a shit kid,” he said gruffly, cutting me off. He put the paper down. He was a griffon too. He bent over to a shelf and took a key. “Rent’s 50 bits a month, a guy will come to your door looking for it on the first of each month. Now leave me in peace.” He threw me the key and went back to reading his newspaper.

   “Dickhead,” I muttered under my breath as I walked off. The lift was out of order, no surprise there. I walked up the stairs to the second floor. After two minutes of searching, I found my room. I took out the key and put it in the lock. It wouldn’t open. I tried again and still it wouldn’t open. I was about to go down to the reception when I heard a voice behind me.

   “Pull the door knob as you’re putting the key in, then twist and push.”

   I looked behind me to see a black griffon with a white head smiling at me. I did as he said and the door opened.

   “Thanks,” I said, looking at him. He seemed to be studying me for some reason. His concentrated expression faded and the smile came back.

   “The name’s Seth,” he said cheerfully. “And you are?”

   “Grimwing,” I answered. “Just arrived from the Kingdoms today.”

   “Ah, fresh meat off the boat, huh?” he chuckled. His face became serious then. “Why’d you decide to pick here, of all places?

   “Equestria seemed like a nice place,” I answered.

   “Not here,” he said shaking his head. “I mean Bitallia. Why, of all the cities in Equestria, would you come here?

   “We didn’t have a lot of money back home, so this was the cheapest place.” I looked around the hall. “I can see why it is,” I grimaced.

   “Yeah, welcome to the Griff Blocks,” said Seth. “Stick with me kid, you’ll be okay.”

   “Why do they call it that?” I asked.

   “It’s where all the griffons live. Except the rich ones, but they’re really few in number,” answered Seth. “Come on then, put your bags in your room, and I’ll introduce you to the gang.”

   I walked into the apartment and quickly jumped back. I could here Seth laughing and saying something about the smell of the place. I threw my bags into the bedroom. Well, by bedroom I mean a room with a horrific looking mattress and a wardrobe. I walked out to see a giggling Seth.

   “Enjoying the smell?” he snickered.

   “Oh, it’s a rather divine aroma!” I replied, putting on my poshest accent.

   “It’s the same in every room, you’ll get used to it after a while,” he explained. “Now come on, let’s get you introduced!”

   I followed him down the hallway. This wasn’t so bad, at least I’d have other griffons to talk to. And Seth was pretty nice. Wait a minute…Seth? “Hold up,” I said slowly. Seth turned around to face me, a quizzical expression on his face. “I’ve never heard of any griffon called Seth. That’s not your real name at all, is it?”

   He chuckled and looked at me. “You’re a clever egg, aren’t you?” he said. “There’s a reason I keep to just ‘Seth’, a reason I don’t feel like telling you yet. That okay?”

   I nodded, and we continued walking. I was cautious of him now, watching his movement. Why couldn’t he tell me his real name? Was he in some serious trouble? Did he not trust me? Was he going to kill me?

   “Here we are!” he announced, returning to the happy state that he was in before. He entered a big room and I followed. Inside a group of 6 griffons were sitting at a table, playing cards. They looked up at us as we entered.

   “Who’s the new guy?” one of them asked.

   “This is Grimwing,” replied Seth. “Grimwing, let me introduce you to our little group…”

_________________________________________________________________________________________

   About 5 hours had passed and I was gathered around the table with the other griffons. I had got to know each of them a bit better. Despite their intimidating looks, they were very friendly. There was Boneclaw, an ex-soldier who had trained the group to be able to fight. He had many a tale of great battles that he fought in against the enemies of the Griffon Kingdoms, and his scars on his dark brown body proved it.

   Pennyfeather was the only female of the group. Young, with pretty blue eyes and sandy brown fur, she was the daughter of her old town’s baker, so she knew how to cook for the boys. She was also very handy at smashing things with a rolling pin, particularly the rats that inhabited this place.

   Sharptooth was the brain box of the group, a very good strategist who had escaped from prison and fled to Equestria with another member of the group, Saberhusk. Saberhusk was very handy with a knife…his tale of how he ended up in prison was disturbing to stay the least. Both of them were almost identical, with golden fur and very big beaks. The only way you could tell them apart was that Sharptooth wore glasses and had green eyes, while Saberhusk’s eyes were as golden as his fur.

   Ravenspear was next, a brilliant engineer who had basically re-wired the entire circuit for this floor. His messy brown fur stuck out in several places. He said it’s stayed like that ever since he electrocuted himself a few years back.

   Then there was Grafton. He was a very shy golden griffon, whose head unlike the others was brown instead of white. He didn’t say much at first, but once I got to know him a bit he was very friendly.

   Lastly, there was Seth. He was the leader of this group, a very cheerful and funny griffon. There was something about him though, something off. Why couldn’t he tell me his name?

   “Royal flush, bitches!” cried a very drunk Grafton, slamming his cards on the table. His demeanour had very quickly changed once he had a few ciders in him.

   “Grafton, you have a 2 and a 3,” pointed out Pennyfeather.

   “Oh,” he mumbled, analysing his cards for about half a minute. “So I do!” he proclaimed. “Penny, what’s a royal flush again?” Everygriffon siged and I drained the rest of my cider from my mug.

   “I’d best be off then,” I said, rising from my stool.

   “It’s a bit early, don’tcha think?” said Seth.

   “Seth, it’s 2 in the morning,” I replied.

   “Still, it’s not like you’re doing anything tomorrow…” he trailed off.

   “I’ve got to find a job,” I said. “Someone’s gotta pay my rent.”

   “And you can speak the local language?” he quipped back. Damn, he had me there. “Don’t you worry, Grim boy!” he chuckled. “We can have you almost fluent within a month!”

   “A month? What are you, a language course?” I retorted.

   “Hence the ‘almost’ fluent part,” stressed Seth.

   “Well…fine, I’ll take you up on you’re offer,” I told him. “But I’m still going to get some shut eye. The train didn’t make for a good sleep, and I’m tired.”

   “Take this lump with you!” Pennyfeather laughed, picking up Grafton. “Room 209, it’s open.” She gently laid Grafton on my shoulder and I slung his wing around my neck for support. We walked down the hallway and suddenly he threw his talons up in the air.

   “Sweet Caroline! WOAH OH OHHH! Good times, never seemed so good…” he sang drunkenly. I shook my head at him and laughed. Finally, we arrived at his room and I opened the door.

   “Now Grafton, you go into bed and you don’t come out until morning, got it?” I said naggingly. My response was very loud snoring. “Oh, give me strength,” I sighed. I put him to bed and walked up to my door, unlocking it like Seth told me. I went into the bedroom and threw my suitcases in the wardrobe, I’d unpack them tomorrow. I flopped on to the mattress and was happy to find that the cider seemed to mask the smell a bit. I smiled, realising I may have found something good here. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep…