Griffon? Griffoff! ( closed! )

[albinear]

    Words could not begin to describe just how enraged Gwendolyn was. She was keeping her anger locked down inside, of course, staying entirely silent and still as she trudged away from the departing train - but despite this calm demeanor, her eyes told a different story altogether.

    Three weeks ago - she'd booked those tickets three weeks ago! And, yet, that disgusting stallion had the audacity to stare at her for a solid minute, observing her claws and her beak and her admittedly mismatched parts, then refuse to let her on the train. He'd shrugged and said, 'Sorry, ma'am. This ticket is expired.' Too aggravated to keep her beak shut, the griffon mumbled aloud to no one but the air, "Yeah, right."

    She retreated a fair bit back onto the platform, ponies nervously parting to let her through, and heaved herself onto a bench with a loud huff, not really taking note of whoever had the pleasure of sitting next to her until one of them moved. And she wasn't moving anytime soon - it wasn't like she had anywhere to go. Not even a train to catch. Not anymore. Ponies could be so ignorant at times, that she didn't see what they had against griffins in the slightest.

    But despite her unreleased fury and rage, ready to boil over and transform into a storm of wrath at a moment's notice, she could feel the eyes of the one sitting next to her. Voice shaking with the effort of staying quiet and level, she tilted her head in their direction and said, "Before you start judging me, I'd like you to know that I've been having a very bad day."

[Rapid Quill]

It was a nice warm sunny day in Ponyville and there was a calmness in the air. All the ponies could feel that today was going to be a good day. Even the local animals could sense the shared happiness of the residents. The birds were all singing while the squirrels gathered their acorns. All seemed well in Ponyville. Rapid Quill was wearing his reporter uniform: a grey trenchcoat with a matching grey reporter hat and camera hanging from his neck. The investigative journalist was busy prowling around town in search for the latest gossip. His boss requested he bring him the juiciest, the most personal, and the most interesting of stories. It had to be something new. Something fresh, unusual, and original. The writer wasn't sure how or where to find such a story, but he figured his boss wasn't limiting him to Ponyville. Perhaps if this one horse town was fresh out of news then he would simply travel finding news elsewhere. After all, there are plenty of other places outside of Ponyville he could visit; that he wasn't banished from.

That in mind, Rapid headed for the train station with the hopes of purchasing a ticket to well anywhere really. He wasn't too picky. At this point he figured just about every place had better potential news stories than plain ole Ponyville.

Upon making it to the train station, Rapid took a deep breath and was just about to purchase a ticket for the next train when lo and behold something unusual did indeed catch his eye- a griffin and from the looks of things she seemed very angry indeed or in the very least visibly annoyed. Observing her from where he stood, a sly smirk crossed his face. 'Maybe I won't have to go anywhere after all... Still, I must act with caution. I have never met a griffin before and so I have no idea how one may react. Time to try the ole aloof approach,' thought Rapid to himself. So keeping his cool, he slowly approached the griffin and sat down beside her without even asking for permission. Picking up a newspaper with his red unicorn magic, he opened it up and pretended to read it while acting oblivious to the large griffin sitting right next to him. After doing so for a few moments, he gave a bit of a loud cough and opened his mouth to say something when the griffin interestingly enough beat him to it. 'Now's my chance. You probably only have one shot at this, Rapid, so don't mess it up. Yeah, sure, easy for you to say. You're just the little voice in my head who has the tendency to butt in matters that don't concern him! I mean... Just be cool, confident, and whatever you do, don't act too interested or she might think you're weird,' he thought anxiously to himself.

Lowering his paper down some, Rapid rolled his eyes. "You know, I don't think I really care all that much. I mean I've had bad days myself. So many bad days," mused Rapid coolly with a shiver as he recalled several previous Friday the 13ths. Shaking the thought away, Rapid Quill continued, "But, you don't see me huffing and puffing about it. But hey, if you really want to feel better uh not that I care or anything, but if you really wanted to I suppose you could release all of your built up frustrations by telling me all about it. It's a healthy way to relieve stress or so I've been told." The blue unicorn then waited anxiously for the griffin's response. He hoped his aloof approach worked. If it somehow didn't then no big deal he would either just try some other approach or get on the next train. After all, this frustrated griffin was not the only one with a story to tell.

[albinear]

    "Tell you about it, huh?"

    She merely squinted at him for a moment, yellow eyes gleaming, equally because of the hostility within them and the bright sunlight reflected off of them. But she saw no reason not to talk about what had gone on; it wasn't as if she'd been the one to do anything wrong. All she'd done was try to get on a train, after all. After purchasing a ticket. With her own bits. And she knew there was some truth behind the unicorn's words, that talking about something which had angered her would supposedly relieve some of the stress that it caused. Supposedly. Although Gwen wasn't sure if this particular method would work for griffins like herself, there was only one way to find out.

    Plus, this would just be another act of spreading the truth. The truth about an ignorant stallion who seemed more than a little bit inclined against creatures who weren't just regular old ponyfolk. Everyone deserved to know about that, did they not?

    "...I bought a ticket to Canterlot a few weeks ago, for a train that departed today," she explained quickly, as if trying to dole out as many facts as possible in minimal time. As Gwendolyn continued, she held up the ticket in her talons, so the date on them could be read. The date was clearly printed on them in red ink, a burning color, as if they were angrily demanding to be looked at and acknowledged by all. "But as soon as that ... that ... that disgusting conductor saw I was a griffon, he made me get off of his train."

[Rapid Quill]

Catching the griffin's gaze, Rapid Quill looked her back in the eye to show he was unafraid and very much interested in what she had to say. "Tell you about it, huh?" At her words, the blue unicorn merely smiled and nodded. "I'm all ears beautiful. Just start at the beginning and don't leave anything out. Oh and more details the better," Rapid casually responded. He had paid her a compliment without really seeing anything wrong with it. "Oh, that is if you don't mind of course," Rapid quickly added hoping that the she griffin did not feel obligated to answer his questions. Though he hoped she would.

However, as luck would have it, the she griffin did proceed to answer his inquiries and so he listened as she explained her plight. As soon as she finished, however, Rapid couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed. After all, missing the train due to a rude conductor hardly seemed newsworthy. But then again there was one tiny little tidbit in the she griffin's story that very well had the potential of becoming news. The bit about the conductor only giving her a hard time merely for being a griffin.

So in response he stuck his muzzle high up into the sky and snorted. "Madam, I'll have you know that what you just described to me was merely bad luck. Hardly newsworthy. Unless..." began Rapid only stopping to pause for dramatic effect. "Unless of course you have reason to believe that the conductor in question is a speciest who acted out against you in a discriminatory manner. Now if that were the case that would certainly make headline news as well as turn a few heads. After all, we live in Equestria during a time when such speciest attitudes are simply not tolerated. Why, how could we possibly be living in a world that claims to promote love and peace when there are still pony conductors who continue to disallow non pony folk onto trains simply because they are not ponies? So would you, a recent victim of obvious discrimination not agree that speciesm is indeed a problem that really needs to stop?" inquired Rapid. "I can make it happen, you know. One word and I promise you I will have this story all over the paper. And as for the conductor, let us just say he won't discriminate against you griffins ever again! So, what do you think? Want me to do it?" he asked looking all excited. His voice was cool, confident and very reassuring. All the while he wore a sly smile on his lips. Almost as though he were up to no good.