The Rusty feather Inn was the true starting point of my journey. Well it was the point when my theories shattered and reality caught up with me. It was also where I learnt that I had some demons of my own to exorcise before I would be back to one hundred percent. I guess what I’m saying is that my way of pushing problems of the past out of the way isn’t always the solution to said problems.

Stella had been put in charge of watching the unexpected guest that had suddenly come stumbling down the emperor’s road. It had been her big sis that had seen him first and had called out to him, only for him to collapse right there on the road before anygriff had a chance to respond. At least she thought it was a he, she had overheard her dad and sister talking about that he had parts for both a he and a she. They had stopped talking immediately when they noticed her though, just like they always did. It wasn’t fair, she was ten already! She was old enough to be called mature, right? She bristled for a few seconds before assuming an annoyed pout.

Well it wasn’t really that she minded watching the guest though, all in all it was pretty interesting really. She had heard the stories from when her sister studied in Equestria, of all the different races that lived there. Stella had even seen a few minotaurs when they visited the inn during the trading season. But this creature that lay in the bed before her was something new, and neither her sister nor her father knew what he/she was either. It was the first time that her father hadn’t been able to answer a question for as long as she could remember. He had been a lieutenant in the Gryphus army before he had to quit due to a bad leg or something. Perhaps it was the scar on his left hind leg? Her sis had said there was another reason too. Something about when their mother passed away, but Stella had been too young back then to have any real memories of that.

But back to the guest. Was he going to sleep all day? There were so many questions she wanted to ask him. Like, who he was, where he came from, what he was and so on. He looked so weird with that pale skin, blue grey wings and brown tuft of mane on top of his head. Also for some reason she couldn’t really figure out he wore clothes. Wasn’t that just for fancy things? She thought as she lifted the blanket that covered the guest slightly, so she could look at the baggy pants. She just couldn’t figure out this… Well whatever he or she was. It was all very confusing but exciting at the same time. Stella let the blanket drop back down and turned her head to look at its head again. It was looking back with surprisingly clear golden eyes.

It took a second for her young brain to register that the guest was awake before she burst into motion, rushing out of the room while hollering as loud as an exited ten year old could.

“Daaaaaad! Giiildaaaa! It’s awake! It’s awake!”

I watched the young griffin scamper off while shouting in a voice that had to belong to a young female. I had woken up just moments prior to this so when I had seen the griffon my thoughts had run rampant. Ranging from the obvious, no this is impossible to perhaps this is just a dream. I didn’t have time to even begin to formulate a response as the griffin had turned her head and had found me to be awake. I had been about to call out after her but my mind was still in the process of a small mental break down, so I may have misheard the shouts. But it had sounded like she shouted Gilda and that made me pause.

Was this the Gilda? I wondered. From what I had seen in the show there had never been mention of a sister. But then again I had left that world behind so there may have been some sort of redemption arc for Gilda after I stopped watching the show. Whatever is about to happen I’m going to go in without any unfair advantages this time. I realized and a part of me felt at peace with this. Before I had a chance to delve any deeper into just what being back in what I now assumed to be part of Equestria steps could be heard from outside the room.

A second later the young griffin burst back into the room, excitement written all over her face, and following her were two other griffons. One was clearly older than the other two and was the only male besides me in the room. The last griffon was one I definitely recognized, that was Gilda alright. Just as I wondered whether I should say something the male, that I assumed to be the father, spoke up in a deep voice.

“Glad to see that you’re awake son. When you stumbled in late last night and passed out we didn’t really know what to think.”

“I don’t really know what to say but thank you, and I’m sorry for giving you any trouble.” I said once my brain settled on a response.

“No think nothing of it. It was the right thing to do. I’m Ranger and these are my daughters Gilda and Stella.” He said, motioning to both of his daughters.

“A pleasure, I’m Cloud.” I said with a small nod, almost pausing before deciding to go with my real name.

“Now I don’t want to seem rude but-“ Ranger started to say but was interrupted as the young griffin now identified as Stella burst out.

“Hey, hey Cloud what are ya?”

I could see how Ranger resisted the urge to face palm, (face claw?), before looking at me apologetically.

“Yes, what my daughter just asked.” he added, visibly holding back a sigh.

“I’m human, or at least I think I am.” I said as I started to sit up in the bed. It felt rather rude to just lie there and talk.

“You think you are?” Gilda spoke up for the first time since entering the room. She sounded confused.

“Yeah, humans don’t usually have wings.” I said, pointing with a thumb over shoulder.

“But since I really don’t have anything else for you to call me we’ll just go with human.” I continued to explain.

Ranger who had been nodding thoughtfully was next to ask a question.

“Okay Cloud I have plenty of more questions but I need to have this one answered first. What were you doing that led you to our home?”

“Ah, well… How do I put this without sounding completely insane? Three days prior to me arriving at your home I woke up in the middle of nowhere with only the duffel bag I had with me, the clothes on my back and a canteen filled with water.” I explained, carefully leaving parts out.

Ranger raised an eyebrow and for a second it seemed like he was going to drop the issue but then he continued with one more question.

“Okay, what were you doing before ending up in the middle of the badlands then?”

“Honestly, I was lying in a bed. I have no clue as to why I suddenly woke up outside.” I answered truthfully.

“Hmm, I’ll take your word for it. Now I have never heard of a human before so you have to again excuse me if I come off as rude but are you male or female?”

Now it was my time to raise an eyebrow. Where had that question come from?

“I’m male, but why do you ask?” I asked, giving voice to my confusion.

“Oh it’s just that you have the male parts and well.” Ranger said motioning towards my chest that I until now hadn’t realized was bare.

“Ooooh.” I began, as it suddenly dawned on me what he meant. He was confused by the fact that I had teats as a male.

“That’s just a leftover from evolution, you see my kind is related to primates.” I explained.

“Hmm, that brings another question though. I have never heard any kind of intelligent monkeys anywhere on Equus, just from where are you?” Ranger pressed on.

“Nowhere from Equus I’m afraid. I hail from a place called Earth.”

Given the look I was getting from Gilda and Ranger I had just managed to convince them that I was indeed insane, but Stella cried out her excitement none the less.

“You’re an alien! That’s so cool!”

“Yeah I guess I am.” I said with a slightly nervous smile. When Gilda and Ranger still didn’t change their look I launched into further explanations.

“Okay let’s start with what you know. You have said that you’ve never seen or heard of anything like me before, right? This is a world with frequent magic use so a lot of things that previously was impossible may become possible the next day, right? And while I’m not sure how I arrived here, no matter how improbable it may seem to you I’m telling the truth here.” I elaborated, borrowing a bit of logical reasoning from Mr. Holmes.

“I guess that makes sense.” Ranger said after a while.

“Well, I have no more questions that need to be answered this very this moment at least. The rest of us had breakfast about an hour ago but you’re free to get something to eat, you have to still be pretty hungry after all.”

I was hungry that was true. But not as hungry as I would’ve expected. I thought a bit of confusion finding its way back. I should rightfully still be out cold from lack of nutrition.

“Yes something to eat would be wonderful, but I don’t want to be a burden.” I started say, but Ranger cut me off.

“Nonsense all we got you to eat yesterday was some cold leftover soup so once you have something to eat Gilda can show you around.” Ranger stated with finality.

He started to walk out of the room before pausing and turning back to face me.

“I almost forgot, welcome to the Rusty Feather inn. Now come along Stella you’ll help me with cleaning the yard in the morning and then we’ll work on your reading skills.” Ranger said first to me before turning to his younger daughter.

“Aww, but I wanted to talk to the alien!” Stella cried out but followed her father out as they left the room, leaving only me and Gilda. And soon a somewhat awkward silence had managed to manifest itself.

“Sooo-” I began, in an attempt to break the silence. But my attempt only seemed to snap Gilda out of whatever type of funk she had been in.

“Ok, listen up new guy. Since dad asked me to show you around I will do just that, but you will not waste my time with any bull crap, you got that?”

Ah, there was the Gilda I was more familiar with. I pondered, while trying to hide a smile. Apparently I failed since Gilda caught on and questioned me about it the very next second.

“Did I say something funny to you?!”

Okay, now Cloud remember be polite. They took you in after all. Were my first thoughts, but nothing said that I couldn’t have a bit of laugh to disarm her attitude, right?

“Oh no it’s just that I’m flattered but you’re just not my type, also I think you’re a bit too young for me.” I said a mischievous smirk hiding what was a storm of laughter.

“What the feathering Tartarus are you talking about?” she answered sounding confused again.

“Did I misread you? Oh I’m so sorry, you see when a female back on earth acts all bossy it means that she is actively pursuing a relationship.” I said with a surprisingly straight face given how I hard I was laughing inside.

“I wha- Bu- I did- No- I-” Gilda sputtered as her face quickly grew bright red.

It may not have been the best way to break the metaphorical ice but I laughed at the reaction anyway. A good hearted laugh mind you.

“Relax Gilda, I’m only messing with you. A prank if you may.” I said as my laughter finally died down.

“That wasn’t fair.” Gilda said with a pout that made her seem much younger than before.

“No, but neither was your attitude earlier. But I’m benevolent so let’s say we just start over and I won’t have to tell your sister about this little incident.” I said with a glint in my eye.

Gilda however looked up horrified.

“You wouldn’t.” she gasped.

“Wouldn’t I?” I asked dead serious.

“You’re evil.” She sighed, before perking up.

“I guess you aren’t too bad. Name’s Gilda Rustfeather.” She continued, offering a talon to shake, which I grasped.

“And again I’m Cloud, just Cloud.”

I realize now that I never gave you a proper description of what the Rustfeather family members looked like. Let’s start off with Ranger, he is at least fifty percent larger than Gilda which I think is an adult female griffin. Compared to me I think he has more mass, but I am still taller should he stand on his hind legs. His coloration is a dark gold coat for the feline parts and white feathers with dark red markings around eyes and primary feathers. Stella seems to pretty much be a smaller version of Gilda but where Gilda has a light purple color for her markings Stella’s are darker. I wonder if the mother had blue markings to create the purple seen on both daughters. It’s a thought that I may explore in the future but for now I’ll leave this topic by mentioning their eye color. Ranger’s eyes border are yellow bordering on green, while both Stella and Gilda share the same rich yellow color.

But enough of that Gilda had led me down a set of stairs and into a large kitchen area, all while giving me a basic rundown of the inn. From our short walk I learned that while Ranger was the owner of the inn, Gilda and Stella helped out a lot during the busy seasons. In fact there were no other employees, other than the Rustfeather family. So after a quick “breakfast”, it was actually close to lunch from what I could tell, Gilda started to give me the tour of the inn.

The first thing of note that was introduced was the large yard facing the road. Here there was enough space for multiple merchants to park their wagons for the night, or just for a quick break. In the daylight I could see that area around the main building, a large thing of two stories and space for an attic, was kept very clean from weeds and the like. Out of curiosity I asked Gilda what type of trees the forest was made up of since I had not seen this particular type anywhere before. She gave a warning look at first, but eventually gave me an answer anyway. Turns out that they were something called Steel bloom oak, the name originating from the strangely hard flowers the tree produced during summer.

From here Gilda led me back inside and proceeded to show me around the first floor. I guess you could divide this floor into three main parts with a few smaller rooms here and there. The main parts though would be a dining hall that was directly connected to the kitchen and a common room of sorts. The dining hall was very reminiscent of what I would call a taverns main floor, with a large hearth for a fire and assorted tables. The common room was a simple room with a bit more comfortable furniture and a few bookcases.

With the ground floor done Gilda had us go back upstairs. Most of this floor was dedicated to guest rooms she explained, one of which they had put me in. The rooms were nothing special by any stretch of the imagination, but then again they were meant to be for a single night before the guest moved on. When I asked Gilda about the maximum amount of guests they could have staying for the night she was quick to run the numbers for me. Turns out that they could have ten guests staying the night and a little bit over twenty when it came to stopping for a quick meal. It was clear that this establishment lived on the amount of traffic the road outside got, and since they seemed to keep the inn in a good condition my guess was that they were doing pretty well.

Last on the list was the backyard area which served as a private area for the Rustfeather family. Here was a small garden for vegetables, a shed of some sort and a few fruit trees I couldn’t identify since they were about to bloom. Overall I had to admit that I was impressed that the three of them were managing this relatively large inn by themselves. I turned to look at the large main building again, it definitely looked inviting with its seamless blend of stone and wooden walls. The windows while simple in design supplemented the wall perfectly and a tiled roof with a large chimney finished the look.

“I have been meaning to ask for a while now, why haven’t you used your wings yet?” Gilda suddenly asked, causing me to turn around.

“Honestly, I don’t know how. Remember I got them a few days ago.” I answered truthfully to Gilda’s horrified face.

She seemed to have a small mental debate with herself and when she spoke next I had a hunch of what it might’ve been about.

“I guess I can help you with that. I mean it’s not like I have anything to do right now anyway. I mean we don’t have any other guests.” She offered, trying her best to sound nonchalant.

“Really? I’d owe you one if you did.” I said, having a hard time believing what I just heard. Perhaps she has matured more than I gave her credit for. Now I’m starting to become curious whether she patched things up with Rainbow.

“Yeah, I mean yes you’d owe and you better not slack off!” Gilda said, quickly jumping onto the safer path that I had offered. A favor could be a good excuse after all.

You really have changed, haven’t you? I thought before deciding to accept her offer. These wings should theoretically carry me given where I was, I had no real doubt about that anymore.

“Of course not, I’ll do my best.”

“Alright then let’s start!” She declared.

“Right here?” I questioned surprised.

“Yeah, why not? You agreed so you don’t get to back out now. So now extend those wings let me see what I have to work with.” Gilda pushed on.

Seeing no reason to not do what she said I fully extended my wings, which was accompanied by a, low but impressed, whistle by Gilda.

“Damn, you’ve got some large wings, but since you can’t use ‘em they’re pretty much useless.” She said smugly.

My response was to raise an eyebrow slightly and give her a deadpan look.

“Alright, alright, I get it enough joking around. Now let’s see you flap them.” She demanded.

I did as I was told, but instead of the lift I had been expecting the flap threw me on my back.

“Yeah I kinda expected that to happen.” Gilda said as her face appeared over me.

“Since your wings are on your back you’ll need to angle them appropriately during takeoff.” She explained calmly as I got back on my feet.

What followed was a long session of Gilda carefully instructing me on how to use the wings by going over muscle groups and useful tips on how to improve them. We also practiced how well I could move my wings in their current state, and once again improve performance.
So while controlled flight would still be far off for me I was confident that I could re-learn this particular skill. Throughout our session my respect for Gilda grew, the weak memory I had of her as a bully was slowly but surely being replaced by this mature and dedicated older sister. For if I had to guess it had to be Stella that had played a major part in her change of character.

We had probably been at it for hours for when Gilda finally called it for the day, the light from the sun had traveled from above us and to the west. Gilda had left with the statement that she had something to do, so I was left to my own devices for the time being. Without any real plan I walked back into the inn and eventually ended up in the kitchen. Seeing that it was empty for the moment I started to look around a bit. I had probably checked around sixty percent of the cupboards and drawers when someone cleared his or her throat behind me. I wheeled around and found Ranger observing me from the door leading into the dining room.

“You seem pretty familiar with your way around a kitchen.” He remarked.

“I guess you could say that.” I admitted, I was rather proud of my culinary skills after all.

“You’re free to use the kitchen if you want to, it’s normally my domain here at the inn.” Ranger offered.

I tapped my lower lip thoughtfully before throwing out a suggestion.

“Say how about I make dinner for the evening, it would only be fair if I do something to repay you and your family for the hospitality you’ve shown.” I said.

Now it was Ranger’s turn to look thoughtful, which I could understand perfectly well. I was a stranger that they had taken in and they didn’t know anything about me really.

“Normally I’d say no since I don’t like others in my kitchen but I have a feeling that I should allow you to try, call it a hunch or something.” Ranger finally answered.

“Alright, tell me what you had planned for the evening and I’ll make something along those lines.”

“Well what I had planned to make was a chicken stew, but you’re free to use any ingredients in the kitchen. Just take care with the spices on the top shelf of the spice rack they’re rather expensive.” Ranger elaborated.

“Aight, then I’ll have something done in about an hour.” I said, turning to the fridge to gather ingredients. As I did I heard Ranger give an affirmative before leaving again.

Alone in the kitcehn again I started to gather what I needed for the meal I had in mind. I had to thank this world for its screwed up technology progression though. Because even if they were behind in some technological aspects the kitchen was full of modern appliances like a stove, fridge and freezer. Whatever had caused this weird curve of development at least made my current job that much easier. I thought as I grabbed a pair of plucked chickens and got to work. My plan was simple as there was no need to go overboard, moreover I had the perfect recipe in mind.

The first steps took a bit longer than I was used to since I had to work with entire chickens rather than finished filets. But before long I was humming along as a knife flashed in the light streaming in from a large kitchen window. I was just about to flip a plate on the stove on when I noticed that I wasn’t alone in the kitchen anymore.

The big eyed form of Stella was observing my every move from a tall chair that she brought in from the dining room. When she noticed that I had seen her she smiled widely and asked.

“What are ya doin’?”

“Tonight’s dinner if everything goes alright.” I answered amused at the inquisitive look she gave me.

“Are you an alien chef?” She asked slowly.

“Ah, nope. But I’m pretty good at making food.” I answered as I added some cooking oil to a frying pan when it started to heat up.

“Sooo do you need any help?” Stella continued her barrage of questions.

I was about to say no when I noticed the slightly pleading look on her face. Ah what the hell I had been humming along already anyway. I thought as I reached over to a cupboard a pulled out a large bowl. I handed it over to her and showed her a beat that I wanted her to drum on it.

“Is this really going to help?” she asked cocking her head to the left in confusion.

“It’ll help I promise.” I said, and it wasn’t really a lie either.

“Okay then, here I go!” she declared before falling into the steady drum beat I had showed her.

Stella drummed on her bowl as I got back to work and steadily I began to sing, which caused her to redouble her efforts.

They came for him one winter’s night
Arrested, he was bound
They said there’d been a robbery
His pistol had been found

They marched him to the station house
He waited till the dawn
And as they led him to the dock
He knew that he’d been wronged
You stand accused of robbery
He heard the bailiff say
He knew without an alibi
Tomorrow’s light would mourn his freedom

Over the hills and far away
For ten long years he’ll count the days
Over the mountains and the seas
A prisoner’s life for him there’ll be

He knew that it would cost him dear
But yet he dared not say
Just where he had spent that fateful night
A secret it must stay…

The Rustfeather’s had eaten the curry chicken and rice dish I had made happily and were not shy of telling me that they had liked it. Well, Ranger wasn’t at least.

“That was one of the better meals I’ve had in a very long time.” he announced appreciatively.

“Say, it didn’t seem to me like you were in a particular hurry to get anywhere and the trading season is just around the corner. Would you be interested in staying to work here as a chef?” he offered.

That had come out of the blue but I had to ask myself. Was I interested? I had to admit that the offer sounded appealing. But what about Equestria and Celestia? Another part of me countered. Yes that was certainly another option now. I had to agree. But on the other hand, it had been what? More than two years? What right did I have to go back and to throw their lives into chaos once more? For all I knew Celestia could’ve found someone else. With that thought I extended my hand towards Ranger.

“I’d like that, I’m onboard.” I agreed, much to Stella’s delight as she near shouted.

“So you’re going to stay? Yes! We have an alien! We have an alien!” before quieting down after a stern look from Ranger.

“Thank you Cloud that’ll definitely help alleviate some of the stress coupled with trade season. I’ll go prepare one of the rooms in the attic for you, I hope that’s fine?” Ranger said as he rose from the table.

“That’ll be perfect, I’ll help you.” I offered.

“Nono sit back down, you made the dinner so I’ll do this.” he said over his shoulder as he left for the stairs.

The rest of the evening passed without anything else noteworthy happening and before I knew it we had all bid each other good night. I didn’t sleep well that night though, my dreams kept returning to a certain hospital room. And every time I found myself trapped on that bed, the same scenario would start to replay. In short it involved me starting to relive the slow suffocation I had experienced moments before waking up in that strange chamber, causing me to jolt awake drenched in cold sweat. In the end I left the bed in my small room and sat down in a corner. I wrapped the blanket from the bed around me and was finally able to find sleep albeit a fleeting one.

Author's Notes:

Aaand here's chapter three! Now some of my older readers might have started to wonder if I've gone insane with the frequency I've been releasing new chapters lately. (It is very different from my previous time in between chapters after all) Well in short no I'm not insane but I have gotten into this writing groove that I hope will last.

Well now to the obligatory thank you to my readers and the working title of the next chapter. 'Rebuilding life again'