Login

Azure Memories

by Silvak

Chapter 11: Chapter XI: Griffon

Previous Chapter Next Chapter

Several days passed after Sapphire's visit to both Fluttershy's and Applejack's homes, long enough for her injuries to fully recover. During the meantime, she continued her studies, though she regained the role of being Rarity's pincushion whenever she needed her figure. Her studious effort resulted in her learning how to read on a level similar to Apple Bloom's age group, much to her chagrin. Her friends however disagreed, arguing that she was making amazing progress. Regardless, Sapphire strove to continue her personal education, determined to at least learn enough to make a living for herself. Hence, it was one sunny day where Sapphire was reading a book in Rarity's kitchen when she heard the sound of somepony giggling.

"Huh?" Sapphire said as she looked around for the source of the noise. "Is anypony there?" After seeing no signs of life, she just shrugged before returning to her studies, only for her jaw to drop at the sight before her. Instead of a simple history book about Hearth's Warming that she was reading, she beheld the sight of a tomb about thaumic physics. "The buck?" was her response as she stared at the maze of words before her, until she heard some giggling from outside the window. Trotting over to the window, she looked down to see both Rainbow and Pinkie giggling as they both gave her two awkward smiles.

"Hey Sapphire, how are you doing?" Rainbow snickered. "Enjoying your studies?"

"Yeah, I bet you're having a good read?" Pinkie asked.

Blinking owlishly, Sapphire replied, "Where's my history book?" only to have Pinkie raise a hoof to reveal the missing book. Taking it with her magic, she then asked, "Where did you got that book?"

"From the library, why’d you ask?" Pinkie responded.

"Simple, if you borrowed it from Twilight, then you two are responsible for it, not me," Sapphire answered as she used her magic to chuck the book out of the window. This caused the pair to shriek as they rushed to catch the book, barely succeeding. Turning their heads back at Sapphire, they saw her laughing at the two, while saying, "Nice prank by the way."

This caused the Pinkie to laugh a bit while Rainbow said, "Hey, we could have gotten in trouble if the book got ruined!"

"Well, showing me that book is just mocking me on how uneducated I am," Sapphire replied, causing the two to fold their ears down in shame. Rolling her eyes, Sapphire said, "Oh cheer up, let's just say we're both even, alright? Next time I'm sure you two will pull off a better prank."

Sapphire's words did lighten the two ponies' mood as Rainbow commented, "Yeah, well it's good to see that you're aren't an egghead like Twilight. I don't think she'll ever throw a book out the window like that."

"That goes to show that my studying doesn't mean I'm an egghead. So, how are you two doing?" Sapphire asked.

"We're just having some fun pranking ponies," Pinkie answered with a wide smile.

"Well, have fun with that. I would join you, but... still way too behind on my studies. That and I might just mess up your pranks," Sapphire said as her ears lowered a bit.

"Now cheer up Sapphire. I'm sure that in no time you'll be as smart as everypony, or maybe as smart as Twilight if you put your mind to it!" Pinkie exclaimed as she gave Sapphire a hug. Sapphire was about to give her a hug back when she realized something and did a double take, looking at where Pinkie was just earlier.

Instead of giving an answer, Rainbow just shrugged and said, "That's Pinkie being Pinkie."

"Okay..." Sapphire numbly replied, giving Pinkie a pat on the back in return. That only served to cause her more confusion as Pinkie broke the hug to smile at her before performing a backflip that sent her out the window. "...I'm going to go back to my studies now," Sapphire said as she rubbed a hoof against the side of her head while the duo said their goodbyes.


Time passed by as Sapphire continued her task of educating herself, even though Rarity commented that a pony shouldn't be so focused on learning. Sapphire responded that she didn't had anything better to do, since she can't look for a job, nor did she want to appear as a massive fool for not knowing the most basics of things. She already had enough of that at the party Pinkie threw for her a couple weeks ago.

However, it wasn't long after that when Pinkie showed up with an invitation to a party being held for a griffon named Gilda. Hence, both Rarity and Sapphire were heading their way to Sugarcube Corner as Sapphire asked one question Rarity expected her to say.

"What's a griffon?"

"Darling, I would love to answer that question, but I believe it would be hard to explain it to you when it would be easier for you to just see it," Rarity answered, causing Sapphire to raise an eyebrow.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just trust me dear. It is just one of those things you have to accept on faith," Rarity replied as they reached the front door of the bakery.

Just as Rarity was about to knock on the door, Pinkie opened to door as she exclaimed, "Hi Rarity, hi Sapphire! I'm so glad you two could make it!"

"...How did you know when to open the door right before Rarity could knock on it?" Sapphire asked as Rarity strode past her.

"Sapphire dear, this is just something you shouldn't question. Trust me, it wouldn't do you any good in the long run," Rarity explained, causing Sapphire to let out a sigh before following her inside. The party was small in comparison to the last one Sapphire was at, but she still spotted the snack table, to which she simply made her way to. Other party attendees just raised an eyebrow at Sapphire's eating habits before shrugging it off, leaving her to feasting. Thankfully, Pinkie kept the snacks following, despite Sapphire's ravenous hunger.

"I don't think all that eating is good for you, Sapphire," Twilight commented as she came over to her.

"But I just can't resist," Sapphire replied, before stuffing her face with more cupcakes.

"Sapphire, all that eating wo—" Twilight started to say before Rarity came over and spoke up.

"Twilight dear, while I would normally agree with you on a matter like a mare's figure, Sapphire somehow keeps her lithe figure, despite all the food she consumes. She even eats triple the amount of food each meal, every day," Rarity said, causing Twilight to give her a skeptical look before looking over Sapphire's body.

"Hmm... I guess Sapphire has a fast metabolism like Pinkie then," Twilight finally concluded, to which Sapphire just shrugged before resuming her feast. Time passed by for a bit until something drew the attention of all the party attendees, including Sapphire as she saw a strange creature coming into the bakery.

Huh, I guess that's a griffon, based on what Rarity told me, Sapphire thought to herself, as she observed what appeared to be a creature with the rear of a feline and the front of some avian. Observing her from her place at the snack table, Sapphire saw Pinkie giving the griffon a shake, only for it to appear to be having a spasm for some reason. Guess Pinkie is still pranking ponies today.

"Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Gilda, a long-time dear friend of Rainbow Dash. Let's honor her and welcome her to Ponyville," Pinkie announced, to which everypony began to cheer for her, though Sapphire opted out due to stuffing her face with a cupcake. However, Gilda eventually made her way to the snack table as Pinkie said, "Please, help yourself."

"Vanilla lemon drops. Don't mind if I do," Gilda said as she grabbed a piece of yellow candy from a bowl before popping it into her mouth, only to scream out in pain as she yelled, "Hot!"

Sapphire just watched as Gilda rushed over to the punch, trying to drink a glass of it only for it to spill out a hole onto herself. As ponies just laughed at her, Sapphire sniffed the lemon drops, before using her magic to pop on into her mouth as Applejack warned, "Sapphire, didn't you see..." before stopping as Sapphire just chewed on the candy. "Ain't that candy hot?"

"Yeah, it's a bit spicy, but it's still okay," Sapphire answered as she popped another lemon drop into her mouth.

"...Is there anything you won't eat?" Applejack said in a bemused tone, to which Sapphire just shrugged as she continued to eat. However, her feast came to an end when everypony gathered around a cake for Gilda to blow out the candles. However, instead of the candles being blown out, the flames returned no matter how hard Gilda tried to blow them out. Ponies began to laugh as it was revealed that the candles were really trick candles, though the cake was partly ruined when Spike decided to eat his way into it before popping his head out on top. Sapphire frowned at the loss of most of the cake, though she noticed the look of growing irritation on Gilda's face. She chose to ignore it as she used her magic to get a unmarred slice of cake before returning to the snack table. From there, she could see that Gilda was blindfolded as she began to play some game, though she ended up stepping on a piece of cake that sent her sliding into the kitchen, creating quite a racket before she finally came out.

While ponies were amused by the sight, Sapphire was about to take a bite of her cake when Gilda suddenly roared, which scared Sapphire enough that she dropped her cake. "My cake..." Sapphire bemoaned, before looking at the griffon to see her ranting and raving as she insulted everypony. However her rant came to an end when Rainbow revealed that she was the one that set up all the pranks, before declaring that Gilda should leave if she wanted to find some 'cool' friends. In response, the griffon let out one last remark before making her departure, all the while Sapphire rubbed her chin in thought of what she just witnessed.

"I'm sorry that your first experience with a griffon had to be of that dreadful Gilda," Rarity said as she came to Sapphire after having a chat with Rainbow and her other friends.

"So I take it that griffons don't have a temper like that," Sapphire replied as she looked down at her cake before letting out a sigh of disappointment.

"While I can't say for certain since I don't see many of them, it would be wrong to judge all griffons based on how a single one acted," Rarity responded, as her horn lit up before levitating a piece of cake over to her.

Eyes blinking in surprise, Sapphire took the cake with her own magic before saying, "Thank you, Rarity."

"It's my pleasure dear, for I saw that you dropped your slice when Gilda surprised everypony with that shriek of hers.I thought you would like to have a new piece to replace the one you lost. However, I insist that you mingle with everypony, you shouldn't just spend your entire time at the snack table," Rarity replied, to which Sapphire agreed to as she accompanied Rarity as she returned to chatting with the rest of the party goers.

Today was an odd day... though... this wasn't the first. Is this a regular thing for Ponyville? Sapphire thought to herself as she stuffed the cake down her mouth in one bite, to which Rarity just released a long suffering sigh, something that was also becoming a regular thing whenever Sapphire forgot her manners.

Next Chapter: Chapter XII: Talent Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 19 Minutes
Return to Story Description

Login

Facebook
Login with
Facebook:
FiMFetch