restless little foal (taken)

[Myriad]

It had already been a couple of weeks since Myriad and her family moved to Ponyville from Stratusburg. While she may be used to spending all of her time cooped up inside with nothing to do but read books, play quiet games with her sister, or study music, it just wasn't enough to keep the little filly's attention. She was almost constantly bored and restless and tired of breathing the stuffy air. She wanted to go out in the sunshine, stretch her wings, get to know the neighbors. You know, the stuff normal ponies do when they move to a new town.

"Mom can we go outside today?" Myriad asked her mother as politely as she could, even throwing in her trademark puppy dog eyes.

Of course her mother's response was to scoff and shake her head. "No we can't. Every time I take you outside you wander off and get yourself into trouble."

"Pleeeease?" the young filly pleaded as she laid on the floor, gripping her mother's hoof with both of her own. "It's so stuffy inside."

"I said no and that's final." was her mother's response, putting her hoof down.

Myriad whimpered in defeat. "Well can we at least open up the windows?" she asked in a last ditch attempt to get a little fresh air.

With a roll of her eyes, Myriad's mother sighed, pulled herself out of her daughter's grip, and walked over to the nearest window, pushing it open.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Myriad shouted in joy as she jumped up and down, then hugged her mother before flapping her wings to lift herself off the ground towards the open window. She was so excited about her small victory that she completely missed the small smile on her mother's face at seeing her foal so happy at something as simple as an open window.

She still wasn't the best flier, but she managed to flap her way over to the window where she perched her front hooves on the window sill. She closed her eyes and sniffed the air as a light breeze blew into the open window and through her short blue mane. It felt nice combined with the warm sun on her face. It made her feel so comfortable she couldn't help but rest her chin on the window sill between her hooves. The fresh air was so much easier to breathe than that stuffy indoor air. She wished she could go out, but she knew that she would get in trouble. After all, she kinda had wandered off a few times already. She didn't know how many more times she could get away with being on her own and not getting into trouble.

[Deleted]

Grantisimo checked the place. Yes, this was the home he was supposed to be at. He huffed. By some miracle, an old colleague of his had gotten wind of his actions, and him turning over a new leaf. She offered him an 'opportunity' to do so? He didn't know what she meant, but she had requested him to be here, at her home, at this time. He noticed the words of thanks being said by a small child as the window was opened, her voice somewhat similar to that of his old colleague, Picture Perfect.

Well, apparently he -was- doing this. He was already annoyed... But at least he got to work with somepony who knows their fashion, instead of townsfolk who don't know the first thing about accessorizing and what colours fit what. He respected Picture Perfect's talents, but he was never pleasant to work with, even when working with talented ponies. Their work experiences were superficial smiles at best, as was all too common in the fashion bizz. Put on a smile, compliment their looks and just quickly gloss over what they could have done better, and hope they do it better next time. Don't want to ruin their confidence, after all!

Grantisimo sighed and knocked on the door, waiting for Picture Perfect to open up and explain the task to him. Hopefully it would be something simple like helping her look at a dress that fits her coat colour... Little did he know what he was truly getting in for.

[Myriad]

As the young filly sat at the window, taking in the wonders of the natural world outside, she noticed a group of foals about her age walking by. They were much too far off for her to call out, that and she would most likely get scolded by her mother for not using her 'inside voice.' Turning her head to glance back at where her mother had been only moments ago, then turned to glance longingly out the window once again, Myriad was already formulating ideas of what she could do. Her gaze continued to shift from the window to behind her, back to the window, down to the ground beneath the ledge, a side glance to her wings as she unfurled them and gave them a stretch. With each turn she added a new bit of information to her formula: how likely was it that her mother had truly stepped away? How far up was the window from the ground? How well could she expect to be able to keep herself airborne? All running through her head at the same time. All she needed was a little distraction.

Just as she was thinking about a distraction, there came a quick rapping on the front door. It wasn't very far off from the room she was in, so she was well aware of the fact that her mother would be passing by any moment. As such, she quickly turned back to look out side, attempting to be as inconspicuous as she could. Her short blue tail gave a nervous twitch as she heard her mother trotting past behind her towards the door. Myriad really wasn't very good at lying, or hiding her true intentions. However, the door couldn't go unanswered, and as soon as she heard the front door click open, the young pegasus filly hopped up onto the window sill, spread out her wings and began to flap as hard as she could so as to slow her decent into the flower bed below with a dull thump, shaking herself off before she quickly made her escape to try and find those foals that had gone by a few minutes ago.

At the same time, Picture Perfect had noticed the twitch of her foal's tail as she passed, a telling sign that she was not only restless, but planning something. Being as she had been expecting the gryphon to show up meant that she wasn't at all surprised to see a face other than a pony's at her front door. "Grantisimo, you're just in time." The fashion model greeted the creature before her with the same cool attitude that she was well known for as she stood aside to let him in, and gestured for him to follow her. "As you know I have taken a sabbatical from modeling in order to raise my foals, but now that they're older I've been looking into going back to work. A spot has recently opened up and I must be in Manehattan in two hours. You know how these things work, first come first served yes? So I'll be needing you to look after the twins while I'm away, you remember the twins right? Mosaic is in the library reading, you shouldn't have any trouble with her, but I'm pretty sure Myriad is already working on an escape plan. She should be in the foyer at the window. I'll be back by sun down, and if not my husband will be." She rattled off her instructions fairly quickly before taking off for the city.

[Deleted]

Grantisimo accepted her invitation inwards with a smile, the gryphon still a good bit larger than her,despite his shortness among other gryphons. "it is good to see you again." he said, ,short and sweet before Picture perfect started on nher situation explanation. grantisimo listened and nodded, knowing well how the fashion busines was. Before he could ask any questions though, or assert her on how -horrible- he was with children, she was gone.

Wait.. He was... Babysitting? For real? It slowly dawned on him.... "Wait... WHAT?!" he yelped as she was gone, already running out of the street. He rushed outside and watched her go away from his reach,looking back inside as there were kids to take care of. He made his way to the library, noticing a young foal indeed sitting there peacefully. He went to the window.. And saw nothing. Ah. She was plotting an escape wasn't she...? His right eye twitched. He took a deep breath and dashed outside, looking quickly for a foal that was running, his large frame stood wide and his wings unfolded. He noticed a pegasus foal in a hurry and flapped his large wings, his feather head and crest folding to the wind and the coloured featherdo he had shifting about as the deep orange, gray crested gryphon took to the sky, going after the child!

[Myriad]

Taking off towards the main street, Myriad tried to remember which direction those foals had been headed. Was it to the left, or to the right? And where had they gone after that? The young pegasus took a moment to sit back on her haunches and look up at the sky. She was trying to figure out what time of day it was from the sun's position in the sky. After all the books she had read on astrological movements and countless days of being bored and watching where the sun went, she had a fairly good idea, even though it probably would have just been easier for her to look at the clock tower. Not like it was her fault for not knowing there even was a clock tower here in Ponyville when she was barely allowed to leave the house. The foal let out a nicker through her nose in frustration as she looked about trying to piece together the puzzle of where those foals got off to. She wanted to make some friends and have some ponies to play with other than her sister.

The adventurous young filly decided to head towards the school house. Perhaps this was the time of day where young foals attended their classroom sessions, something that Myriad was still trying to convince her mom to allow her to attend. She and Mosaic needed to get out of the house, and it wasn't like they were going to get hurt. As she continued to wander around town, Myriad realized she had absolutely no idea where the school house was. As she looked around, she realized that she had absolutely no idea where she was, or which direction she had come from, which meant she had no idea where home was from here.

The filly gulped as the realization hit her, as well as the fact that she seemed to be in a fairly quiet part of town. There weren't very many ponies around, and even if she could find one, it's not like they would know where she lived. She couldn't ask some random stranger to help her find her way home when she was too new to the town for anyone to know who she was let alone where she lived. Myriad's ears folded back against her head as she drooped into a defeated, almost cowering position as she tried to think her way out of this mess. She had gotten herself lost, with no way back home, and her mother was going to be so cross with her when she found her.

[Deleted]

Grantisimo grunted and flew after the running child, trying to keep an eye on her between the ponies walking through ponyville streets, his wings beating hard. She ran in what seemed erratic or random directions, and at the very least, to his luck, she didn't seem to notice him pursuing her! His wingbeats caused small gusts of wind, of which one pushed down a flowerpot from a window. He noticed it fall and his mind rushed. Remembering he was trying to do good by people, he made a 180 and dived downwards toward the flower pot! With a quick miracle, he caught it, much like the ground had caught his face. The pot was not broken however, and with much chagrin, he pulled his head out of the ponyville dirt. An audible growl escaped his beak as he turned once more towards the direction the foal was running, and once more took off after her.

Along the way, he bumped aside a mare and a stallion, not really bothered by them due to his Gryphon strength, rushing towards the right, his claws deep in the dirt as he lifted his hindlegs for a quick turn. It was much like the skidding of a cart, including his claws leaving behind little trails of dug aside dirt in his path, he used his wings for a loud recovery, the sound of the beat and the wings hitting the ground easily reaching a few dozen yards. After that last turn, he saw the filly standing still. Finally, he had caught up to her and was ready to bring her back home.

He paced closer with a leer of a stare, his claws grabbing into the dirt with every step, his wings ruffling as he shook them, trying to get the hint of dirt that had gotten on them off. "You. Are. A. Troublesome. Insolent. Foal." he snarled towards Myriad in a minor fit of disapproval. The Gryphon closed in on her, his frame large, imposing and his face furious. He had not taken into account that perhaps a foal should be approached in a more friendly manner.

[Myriad]

Now extremely worried that she'd gone a bit too far this time with her curiosity, the blue haired filly tried to think of the best way out of this situation. She knew her mother had to go somewhere today, and that the knock on the door was most likely her foal sitter, but she hadn't stuck around long enough to see who it was. As such, she had no idea if it would be her mother who came looking for her, or the sitter. She also didn't know how long it would take them to figure out she was no longer in the house. The answer, however, came quicker than she had expected, though no less of a surprise.

Myriad winced as the gryphon huffed big words at her, in fact, she winced at every. Single. Word. The young filly was already nervous from the fact that she had just gotten herself lost in the small town, and now some strange creature was yelling at her. She had absolutely no idea what she had done wrong, so her immediate reaction was to cower as tears began to well up in her sapphire blue eyes. She was lost, confused and now terrified. It didn't take very long for her watery eyes to break into full fledged tears as the young one had absolutely no control over her emotions whatsoever. Of course her sobbing had caught the attention of a few ponies that had been passing by, even though Myriad herself hadn't noticed. After all, her vision was blurry from the tears, and it didn't take long before the crying caused her eyes themselves to hurt.

"I. Want. My. Mommy." the crying filly wailed, pausing to take a breath in between each word, continuing to sob uncontrollably after she had finished. "I. Wanna. Go. Hoooooome!" she continued to demand of no pony in particular. If there were any ponies in the immediate area who hadn't noticed the little lost pegasus, they certainly noticed her now. A few of the more worried looking ponies began to make their way over. The rest were murmuring amongst themselves wondering why the filly was crying, and why she wasn't at the school house with the other foals her age, not to mention why there was a strange gryphon in town and what he wanted with her.

[Deleted]

"Well then, lucky for you" he grunted and carefully picked her up, using his dexterous claws and wings to place her on his back. "You will be going home... Thanks to your, now somewhat irritated, foalsitter" He complained, wondering if she'd pick up on the hint. He took a deep breath. he was going to have to be nice about things, and that meant not just giving her a bumpy ride back. "Can you hold on tight, or are your little hooves not so strong yet?" he said, doing his best to sound more friendly, although even with his best efforts, he didn't sound all too welcoming or friendly at all. Before she could answer, or while she answered, he already started walking slowly back towards the direction they were heading, his wings making sure she couldn't fall off, or try to jump off even if she tried. He wasn't sure what to do with her, besides bring her home... but that was then, not now.

He didn't pay much attention to the ponies staring at either him or the foal he was going to be foalsitting. If anyone asked what was going on, he was sure to simply assure them that he was her foalsitter, and was bringing her home. He was just... Foalsitting her for the first time and she wasn't used to him yet! yes, that was the issue. Definitely not his unfriendly demeanor and intimidating Gryphon glare. Nope. Couldn't possibly be the cause of anything. He thought back to the work he had done with picture perfect and if it was worth having a crying foal on his back which he would have to watch for a whole day. To be completely honest, he doesn't remember her overperforming, but she did always perform well. He didn't -want- to do this for her, but he wouldn't turn her down either, since she was decently pleasant to work with.

As he wondered how the rest of the day would go, he asked his passenger, the foal on his back. "Are you... comfortable?" he said with a slight sigh. He didn't like carrying someone, but it seems he had too. He wasn't exactly walking extra carefully, so her ride miht not have been the smoothest, with his lower back raising and lowering a bit as his catlike hindpaws made their steps.

[Myriad]

Always the one to make a scene, even if it was nothing, Myriad continued to sob as one of the nearby ponies asked her if she was alright. However, the young one didn't get the chance to answer as the gryphon answered for her that he was going to take her home, as well as the fact that he was her foalsitter. While this seemed to be enough to get some of the ponies to back off from the direct intervention, they were still muttering amongst themselves just out of earshot. She hadn't exactly been fond of him just picking her up, and while her initial reaction to being lifted off the ground was to kick out and flail her hooves, the filly wasn't exactly strong enough to wriggle her way out of the grip of Grantisimo the gryphon. As much as she was scared and wanted to go home, she still wasn't going to go without a fight, nor would she go quietly. Tears still streaming from her eyes, she let out a high pitched squeal as she struggled.

All of this, however, was short lived since the little blue maned filly was placed on the gryphon's back. There was just something about being so high up that immediately switched her curiosity back on. It's not like she had completely calmed down though as she was still crying, and with that came the sniffling and the runny nose and the heavier than normal breathing. But she wasn't kicking and flailing anymore, nor was she wailing or screaming, just crying as she wiped her runny nose with her hoof as her sapphire blue eyes scanned the nearby houses, some of which happened to have store fronts right out of ponies' homes! She had heard him ask if she could hold on tight, but she hadn't really been paying him any mind - her attention was on her surroundings. As Grantisimo began to walk, Myriad began to sway as she sat on top of his back, looking every which way as her crying began to slow, only to be replaced with hiccups.

"Where did you *hic* learn to walk? *hic*" she asked, hiccups interrupting her question as she started to giggle at her own hiccups. "You're all *hic* bumpy haha *hic* hahahaha!" she continued. The more she hiccuped while talking, the more she laughed, and the more she laughed, the more frequently the hiccups came. Eventually, she laughed so hard the tears turned from upset tears to silly tears as she giggled the rest of the way home as she babbled incoherently amidst her hiccups and laughter until she exhausted herself and started breathing heavily.

[Deleted]

Luckily for him, Grantisimo's strong personality made the full experience much easier on him, as he scared off or assured any pony who expressed their worries. He grunted and squinted his eyes in irritation as she squealed. What a horrifying, dreadful sound. Children were truly the worst thing to have ever come into existence. Atleast she slowly calmed down when he had placed her on his back. She slowly began to look around, and did not hold on any tighter when he had asker her to do so. Maybe she could not or wasn't paying attention. It didn't really matter, as either way, it meant he couldn't fly.

As his feathers shifted over one another with his slightly swaying body, the young foal started hiccuping, and laughing with some kind of strange joy. "Incomprehensible." Is the first thing that Grantisimo said, moreso thinking out loud, not really actually speaking towards myriad. He simply did not understand her behaviour. "I learned to walk in Griffonstone. Like every griffon. our legs are different, so i'd recommend you get USED to it." he snidely commented in return. Grantisimo looked around himself. Quaint little shops surrounded them, as was the standard for ponyville. Such a peaceful little town. Grantisimo's eyes widened, and he felt himself wanting some food, as he observed a stand where they sold produce. "We're getting something to eat." he simply said, not giving myriad a choice on the matter. after all, she was on his back, breathing somewhat heavily, although he did not seem to notice in the slightest.

Walking over the store, he carefully lowered himself and expanded his wing so Myriad could harmlessly get off of him, while he already eyed some of the different berries that were available, his griffon tastes far preferring these delectable little fruits over the horse tastes for grasses and flowers. A thing he would never understand.

[Myriad]

Much too busy laughing and hiccuping, Myriad didn't catch the extra big word that the Gryphon had thought aloud. She did however, catch his response to her question. The way he spoke reminded her of her brother, a bit sarcastic when she asked questions, although she didn't pick up on any negativity. She just thought he was doing it on purpose to act like he was mean. After all, there was no way her mother would leave her int he care of a creature who intended her any harm. He couldn't see it as she was still on his back, but the young filly playfully stuck her tongue out at him before bombarding him with questions as she tried to catch her breath again. "Why are your legs different?" she inquired as she tried to peek over the edge of his back to see his different legs. However, she couldn't see them from up here without falling off, so she gave up rather quickly. "And what kind of legs are they anyway? Don't you have hooves? Or do you have something else? Your steps sure sound weird when you step on the ground. Not a clop like hooves, but more scritchy scratchy, and then soft."

Her questions were interrupted by a blunt statement that they were stopping for food, and he tilted his wing down for her to use as a slide. A quick squee of laughter followed by a giggle and she landed on the ground next to him and was finally able to see these mis matched legs of his. They did, in fact, appear to match the sound that she had heard with every step he had made. Instead of hooves he had claws on his front legs, which explained the scratching sound. Then on his hind legs he had paws, like a cat's, even his tail was more like a cat's than a pony's. Now that her vision wasn't blurred by tears, she could see his figure more clearly. She had never met a gryphon before, or at least she couldn't remember having ever met one before. He was bigger than any stallion, and prettier than any mare with all the different colors of his feathers. Myriad just couldn't help but stare at him as he approached a stall that sold berries.

"And what about you dearie?" the question broke Myriad's gaze at the gryphon. The filly shook herself out of her stupor to look to the mare behind the berry stall. It was brutally obvious that the filly had been crying what with her eyes still being red, both eyes and cheeks still wet from the tears, and her nose still running. "Huh?" Was the filly's dazed response, which made the sales mare stifle a small chuckle and a grin as she came up to the young foal with a handkerchief to wipe her nose. "Would you like some berries as well?" the older mare offered as she pointed to the baskets of separated berries at which the foal's eyes went wide as her mouth began to water before she sheepishly backed away. "I." she paused as she glanced between the mare, her berries and the gryphon as well. "I can't eat berries." she whispered sheepishly. "Anything with sugar makes my tummy sick. They do smell good though. OH! Mosaic likes blueberries! Maybe we could bring her some?" she finished as she looked up at the mis matched creature who said he was her foal sitter.

[Deleted]

The young foal asked him why his legs were different, and he slowly turned his head to her, narrowing his eyes slightly. Was she for real? he shook it off and went off to get the bite to eat instead, not distracting himself with her strange giggly shenanigans and childish attitude. He could not imagine himself having ever behaved like that, or any young griffin behaving like that for very long. As he let her off, and Ordered his fruits, it seemed she was trapped staring at him. To be honest, he didn't mind the attention, and her thinking he was eye-catching. Before he really could say anything though, the shopkeeper went up to the young foal and offered her some berries too.

Grantisimo heard she couldn't have berries because they were too sugary, but wanted to buy some for her sister instead. "How.. about we buy you a.. uh.." Grantisimo looked over the different fruits there were, noting that apples were apparently in high supply. He had no idea what had lots of sugar and what didn't though. All he knew was calories... Apples were sweet though, and probably contained lots of sugar. "uh... Cellleeryyyy?" He asked, slowly turning his head to her and lifting an eye a bit questioningly. He didn't realize that foals commonly didn't understand this expression, and even if he did know that they didn't communicate the same, he would have no clue in the slightest from what ages it applies to. With some fortune he could simply gauge if he had made a good choice or not based on her expression. Regardless of said expression, he would purchase himself a mix of local berries, and bought a separate bag of Blueberries for Myriad's much more obedient sister. Part of him thought he would like her more. he was probably right.

Once he was done buying his berries and whatever extra produce, be it Celery, Lettuce, Carrots, a Daisy, Grass or whatever else, he would Turn to the young myriad, facing towards the direction of her home. "So, can you walk back with me now?" he asked, fairly sure he didn't want to carry her, although he would definitely do it, if she made it necessary.

[Myriad]

It seemed as though the gryphon was puzzled by the things Myriad had said about berries, and she found his expression amusing, even if she didn't fully understand what he was actually thinking. He was definitely a funny looking one, but that was what made him interesting! He seemed to search for something nearby that she could eat and finally suggested celery. "Celery?!" the foal exclaimed with a tone that was a bit more questioning at the same time. She paused for dramatic effect as her eyes rolled around in her head as she tried to remember what the best kind of celery snack was. "OH! Momma keeps a jar of peanut butter in the pantry, and raisins too! Daddy calls them 'ants on a log' cuz the raisins look like ants, and the celery is shaped like a log, but it's the peanut butter that makes it really look like a log." she finished with a giggle. She really did love making snacks in the kitchen with her parents, it was like making edible arts and crafts, and Myriad really did love playing with her food as much as she enjoyed eating it.

The shop mare, of course, found Myriad's joke mildly amusing as she gave a chuckle and shook her head while taking the gryphon's bits for the berries. The celery, however, was at another stall a few spaces down, so it's not like it was very far to walk to get her snack as well. Once all of the food had been bought and paid for, Myriad looked up at the fashionable creature before her as he asked her if she could walk back home. She took that moment to sit on her haunches and give herself a moment to think. Her eyes drifted from the feathery plumage on his head, down his neck, and to the wings on his back. Her eyes grew wide as a brilliant thought came to her mind as she glanced sideways at her own tiny wing, then back at his, then wordlessly back to his face as she flashed him a playful grin.

"HEY!" she squeaked excitedly as she sprang back up on all four hooves. "You can fly us back!" she exclaimed, making no effort to hide the joy she felt at the thought of flying, even if it was assisted. Honestly, who would even want to walk when they could just fly?! Sure he had the food, but she could just ride on his back again and hold on. His wings were so much bigger than any pegasi's wings, so surely he could carry a lot more weight, and she had seen some pegasi carry a lot of weight before.

[Deleted]

The Gryphon beak is not as mobile as the horse's mouth, something that quickly became evident as he kinda just stared for a second. She mentioned celery in the strangest tone. Was she... asking a question? Just... Exclaiming it because she was a weird kid? If only the beak was more expressive... but instead, he kind of only had the slightly wider and unsure eyes. They relaxed when she started talking about her weird snack, although it didn't sound -too- horrible. He had a horrible time swallowing peanut butter properly though, stuff was too sticky for him. Not too mention that he found it slightly greasy. Myriad giggles and was happy to talk about it, however. it was kind of cute.

They walked over to the celery and he offered the shopkeeper some bits again. "One piece of celery... uhm, please." he said, glad to once more be a bit calmer, able to continually remind himself to be polite. He grabbed the piece and looked to her. "do you want to carry it?" he said with a rather flat tone, holding out the stick of greenery. He didn't handle it with instant disgust or gratification of any sort, not even the movement of an eye. He would have bought more, some for himself aswell. But today, today was a berry day, as one might be able to tell from his eyes.

Myriad suddenly sprang filled with energy, suggesting he fly back... Or, they fly back? He wasn't sure yet, but she seemed really in on the idea, especially as she observed his body. "Well, yes, that's why i asked if you could hold on earlier. but you seem fine now, don't you? Can't you fly yourself? you -are- a pegasus." He said, not really realizing her situation. he did hold onto all the groceries himself now, seeing he'd like to just carry them himself with his claws now that he might be flying. and especially if he was flying her as well, since she would have to hold on.