Even though he was only in the Weather Factory for less than two hours, time passed away faster than expected for Troy. After he told his boss about his spur-of-the-moment volunteer job for the day (followed immediately by a pegasus half his size yelling at him about jeopardizing the schedule for the winter season), Troy headed off to the fields west of Ponyville. He knew that his absence wouldn't look good on his work record, but he also knew that helping a newly appointed Princess would more than make up for it. Looking back, he wished he presented that Royal Excusal sheet in a more outgoing matter to shut his boss up about him leaving, instead of just meagerly pulling it out of his bag like a scolded kit. But regardless of his presentation, the look on that bitter pegasus' face was beyond priceless.

Note to self: invest in a good camera for moments like that.

As Troy reached the airspace above the clear, grassy field, he glided down to the ground where a respectably large crowd was forming. Most of them were earth ponies, which made sense, since the weather was supposed to be for the crops and upcoming harvest. With the summer season almost upon them, ponies had to put in as much work as they could for any upcoming storms. As Troy landed on the grass amongst the crowd, quite a few ponies stepped back from him before his claws even touched the ground.

Troy tried his best not to look around, knowing all too well that the large majority were just going to stare at him. He couldn't blame earth ponies for staring, since he was fairly sure that most of them had never seen a gryphon up close before; but still, it didn't help Troy's composure that he was the only gryphon among the group. He kept his eyes up to the sky to see when other pegasi would arrive and tried to convince himself that the hushed voices he heard nearby was just the wind.

After several minutes of watching more ponies arriving and congregating with each other, Troy sat down on the grass, his thoughts slowly drifting off to think about… Well, nothing specific, really. Just random things that drifted in and out of his head: books he'd recently read; what to make for dinner tonight; how many changelings he thought he could take in a fight; simple stuff like that.

As his thoughts drifted deeper, and he stared further off to more pegasi flying in from above, he didn't notice the young filly who had approached until she poked him in the side.

"Wha!" was probably the only discernible noise Troy could make as he jumped back, seeing that it was just a small, yellow earth pony with a red mane and matching bow, who now looked slightly alarmed.

"O-Oh! Ah’m sorry, mister!” she shouted with an adorably strong country twang in her accent. “Ah didn't mean to startle ya. Honest!" The little pony stepped back from Troy, and tried to give a nervous-looking smile to show some sincerity. Since he didn’t want to look like he intentionally scared the kid, Troy just shakily smiled back at her as he held up his claws (although in retrospect, that probably could've easily been misinterpreted in hindsight) to calm her down.

"It’s… It’s all right, kid. I should've been paying attention." Troy looked around to make sure nopony mistook that he was going to eat the poor child. "So, uhhh… what’s up?"

"Well…” The pony fidgeted a little, and glanced down at Troy's flank as she spoke. "How come ya don't have a cutie mark?"

"Oh,” Troy responded, quickly realizing that this pony didn't have a mark on her flank just yet. "Well… I’m pretty sure that gryphons don't get those. I think that's just a pony thing."

With the way her eyes narrowed, it seemed like the filly wasn’t too convinced. "So… how do ya figure out what your special talent is?"

Troy should've known she would ask something like that, but he wasn’t offended either. Compared to some of the asinine questions he'd heard before from adult ponies, this filly's question wasn't that difficult to comprehend or answer honestly. "Gryphons just have to figure out what they're good at for themselves,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “It can be a bit hard sometimes, since we can't see the proof like you guys can, but I haven't really had any problems with how my life has gone."

"So, whaddya do?"

"Oh, I work in the snow division at the Weather Factory."

The filly cocked her head to the side in slight confusion. "Ya mean like making snowflakes ‘n’ stuff?"

"No, that's not what I do,” Troy said, slightly chuckling at the thought of trying to make tiny snowflakes all day with his clunky talons. "What I do is grind large ice blocks down so that they can be converted to snowflakes."

"Oh, that’s neat!” she chirped with an impressed smile on her face. “Do you use your claws for that?"

Looking down at his talons, Troy could see why she would think that. Even though he wouldn't dare do it in public, he'd opened more than a few tin cans with just his claws after his can opener broke. The only reason he bought himself a new one was because he didn't want to dull his claws down too much. "No, they would get dull really quick if I did that. I just use a big ice scraper."

"Cool! Is there anything else ya can do?"

"Well…” Troy was unsure of whether or not to answer that question, mostly out of slight embarrassment. Fortunately, he didn’t have to give a suitable reply when he noticed an orange mare trotting towards them.

"Apple Bloom! What in tarnation are ya doin’ here?” The farmpony’s eyes narrowed on the little filly. “You're supposed to be helpin' Big Mac out with gettin' the wagons ready!"

The filly’s eyes widened. "Oh yeah! Ah gotta go!" She started to dart off, but before she made it too far she quickly stopped and looked back at the gryphon. "Thanks for talkin' with me, Mister Gryphon Man!"

"Not a problem,” Troy said while waving, trying not to laugh at the “Mister Gryphon Man” bit. "My name is Troy, by the way."

"Oh, alright! See ya later, Troy!" yelled Apple Bloom as she ran off to the line of apple trees in the distance.

"Ah'm awful sorry about my sis,” said the orange mare, looking slightly embarrassed. "Ah hope she wasn't too intrusive or nothin’."

"No, your sister was fine." Troy scratched the back of his head as he realized that conversation with her was one of the most pleasant (and longest) ones that he'd had since moving to Equestria. "She was just wondering why I didn't have a mark like you guys do." As he stared at the mare before him, he noticed that her flank had three red apples on it, explaining why Apple Bloom ran over to the apple orchard. Must’ve been a family thing.

"Yeah, Apple Bloom's been a bit obsessed over gettin' her cutie mark lately." As the mare spoke, she adjusted the brown Stetson on her head before holding her hoof out to Troy. "Name's Applejack! So, ya helpin' out with storm prep today?"

"Yes I am, although this is my first time." Troy shook her hoof, noting she had a surprisingly strong grip.

"Well, don’tcha worry none,” assured Applejack before she lowered her hoof back down. "Twilight is one o' the best organizers Ah've ever seen, so you're in good… um… claws, Ah guess?"

Before she could stammer on what was the proper term to say, Troy just smiled and nodded his head. Meanwhile, up above their heads, the very alicorn arrived through the thick wall of clouds with Rainbow Dash by her side. As Twilight descended toward the large crowd below, most of the gathered crowd paused and began to bow before her. But to many of the ponies’ surprise, she immediately stopped midair to hover, and held her hooves outward.

"Please don't bow to me, please!" Some of the ponies looked up at confusion upon hearing the Princess pleading for them to not do what was standard protocol. "It's just…” Twilight struggled to find the right words, but remained hovering in the air before speaking again. "I'm still not really used to this whole ‘Princess’ thing, and I'd rather not have everypony bowing down to me when I'm just trying to do my job." As she looked down at the crowd below, she could tell this was an odd request for them to hear. However, the mare breathed out pertly before adding, "I just want you guys to see me as an organizer today, not as a princess."

As Twilight said this, Rainbow Dash just groaned and face-hoofed. "Twilight, you ARE a princess!” she shouted while staring at her friend flatly. “And the last time I checked, princesses organize stuff. So just go with it already!"

"I'm fairly aware of my new position, Rainbow,” she said with a stern stare back at her. “I'd rather just be seen as a team leader than as a princess right now."

As Twilight said this, Rainbow Dash just looked at her with one eyebrow cocked up. "And a princess is different from a team leader… how?!”

Twilight opened her mouth to make a rebuttal, but nothing came out as she realized that, despite her petulance, the pegasus had a fair point. With a deep sigh, Twilight just closed her eyes before giving a rebuttal to both her friend and the crowd below.

"I just don't want everypony to treat me like Princess Twilight right now, okay? I want to help, and I can’t do that with everypony bowing down to me like I'm Celestia!"

With a low groan, Rainbow Dash merely slunk down, knowing she wasn't getting anywhere arguing like this. "Fine, fine, ‘organizer.’ Let's just get this started."

And with that, Twilight's organization skills came to light as she gave everypony and Troy their duties for the day. Troy's job was simple enough: moving the stratus clouds up to the stratocumulus clouds for better storm coverage.

Even though the job took several hours to complete, it wasn't difficult for the gryphon to accomplish at all. After the last of the clouds were placed among the dark grey blanket of sky above, Troy headed back down to the ground to see if he could help down below.

As Troy reached the ground and looked around, he found that most of the earth ponies and unicorns were already done with their jobs and had gone home. Since he felt like resting his wings a bit, he landed nearby on an old dirt road, which nopony had been on for years if the overgrowth was any indication. Troy was surprised that no one was around to check on things, but couldn’t scan anything too off that needed his assistance. The only landmark along the road was a nearby bush next to a sign that said “PONYVILLE 15 MILES - PONYVILLE HOSPITAL 14 MILES.”

Troy looked back up at the darkened sky, and saw that several pegasi were heading back up above the cloudline.

"Hey Troy!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she flew down to the ground. "Everything seems to be done, so you can go home now."

"Oh, okay. Thanks Rainbow!"

As Troy stretched his wings out, he looked back at the bush, which seemed almost out of place among the rest of the clear field. What really caught his attention was how the shadows underneath the bush darkened so unnaturally. Upon closer inspection, the gryphon noticed something small sticking out. It might’ve been just a branch or something, but something about it ate at Troy. Troy walked closer to the bush, seeing that there was, in fact, something there.

A small bag.

"Hey, gryphon!" Troy looked back up to see Rainbow Dash staring at him, while also flying upward like the others. "The storm's about to start! Move your flank!"

"I think I see something by that bush! I'm gonna check it out!"

"Well, hurry up!” she shouted with a clear tone of annoyance. “I'm not gonna wait!"

"Just go! I'll be fine!"

With that final word, Troy approached the bush, and heard Rainbow Dash's wings flutter off into the soon-to-be stormy skies. As Troy got in closer, he saw the large canvas bag that caught his eye. Even though it looked rather small in the distance, up close the gryphon could see that the bag was actually quite large. The bag held numerous paintings and canvases, and the tannish-brown fabric was covered with writing on every square inch―random symbols, words, and sketches―all of which looked like it was drawn on with an ink pen and meticulous precision (likely a unicorn’s handiwork).

While some of the etchings looked to have been added more recently than others, the bag itself looked rather worn out, with several tears at the seams and a few scuffed places where it’d been carelessly dragged along the ground.

Troy wasn't much of a detective, but he could tell that the bag probably belonged to an artsy kind of pony. He grabbed the strap with one of his claws, and could feel from the weight that the bag had a considerable amount of things inside. Knowing the rain would probably ruin this bag and whatever was inside, Troy began to pull the bag out from the bush. But as he pulled, he soon realized that the strap was caught onto something.

He used his free claw to reach into the bush to pull free whatever had snared the bag. When Troy felt the source holding the strap, he looked closer inside the bush to see what it was. The gryphon’s eyes widened in horror when he saw that the bag wasn't being held by a random branch or root.

It was a bloodied hoof.

With a horrified scream, Troy bolted back from the bush as he stared at the hoof. The appendage was now lying limp on the ground, and stuck out from underneath the bush like something from a horror comic. Slowly walking closer again, Troy saw that the fur on the leg was a bluish-green, abruptly changing to a garish mud-brown as it reached halfway up, and then changing again to a deep dark red at the end. Troy’s breathing hitched when he saw that the hoof itself looked like it was almost completely worn down, like whoever it belonged to had been dragged through thistles and loose stones. Trembling with an almost alien sense of worry, Troy reached with both forelegs into the bush to pull the hoof out.

Troy bolted back a second time, although this time only a foot. Lying in a fetal position, an earth pony was seen passed out under the bush with multiple bruises blossoming along his body. His coat, which Troy guessed was supposed to be the same aqua color as his legs, was matted down, and had patches of mud and dirt along his stomach and back. His other three legs were in no better shape, covered in mud and worn down at the hooves in a sickly red. His long mane looked to have originally been a chestnut brown, but now it was badly tangled and darkened, for Troy could see that a large part was matted to the pony's forehead with blood.

Troy was almost unsure of what gender the pony was, since its face was mangled beyond recognition. An almost-blackened coat of dried blood covered most of the pony's battered face, its left eye swollen shut with the flesh around it colored an especially nasty dark blue.

Troy's heart started to beat at levels he didn't think was physically possible for a gryphon, vacillating over what to do. He overheard the thunder beginning to rumble, and Troy immediately flew upwards into the sky, hoping to Celestia he wasn't too late. He began yelling for help as he soared higher, even though he knew the cloud coverage would diminish any sounds he made to the ponies above the clouds.

"SOMEBODY HEL―"

A loud boom! crashed through the sky, and Troy was mercilessly thrown back to the ground in a simmering, mewling heap. There was a protocol for operating during storm preparations, and one of the biggest rules was to never fly up to the clouds unless you had a death wish. The storm wasn’t supposed to start so quickly! Or maybe, with the adrenaline pumping through his system, Troy had lost track of time.

With a sharp stinging shooting through his whole body, especially across his right wing, Troy managed to get back to his legs after falling in the middle of the road. Troy groaned in pain as he regained his balance, his mind racing as to what to do. He limped back to the bush, reaching underneath. As his claws caught a good grip of the pony, Troy was relieved to feel the body was still warm. There was still a chance.

Troy pulled the pony out into clear view, and saw that the other side of the pony's face was even worse. Its right eye was swollen to about the size of a baseball, and the bruising looked pitch black under the limited light; a small sliver of blood seeped out from between the eyelids, much to the gryphon’s dismay. Troy tried his best to keep his composure while looking at the pony, hoping he wouldn't throw up. With a quick check of its pulse, he discovered that the pony was still breathing, although it was very, very weak.

Flinching at the sharp pain in his back and wings, Troy knew he was definitely in no shape to fly anywhere at the moment. He looked back up at the sign, paling at how far away the hospital was; he knew he could've flown that distance in his sleep, but fourteen miles on four legs was a hard enough feat to accomplish alone, let alone while carrying somepony who was hanging on by a thread.

As he looked back down at the pony, Troy knew there wasn't much time. He could hear the aqua pony slowly breathe out, sounding as if the very act of breathing was a struggle in its state. With a quick breath, Troy hoisted the pony up with his claws, and winced as he laid the earth pony on his strained back.

"I can do this. I…” Troy turned forward to the dirt road, just as the first drops of rain hit his face and the storm began. "... I have to do this."

Right as the rain started hammering down to the ground, the gryphon began to run.

Just so any newer readers are aware, I've recently been undergoing a big project to turn the Brushed Away series into physical books for individual sale. Because of that, I just wanted to make a quick note for which chapters have been revised so far, including this one.

I want to give my deepest thanks, as well as some well-deserved credit to the editors helping me out with this process: SirReal, and Double R. Forrest. And if anyone is interested in helping out with making this project a reality, I highly recommend checking out my Official Ko-Fi page dedicated to it.