“Freydis. Freydis, wake up.”

“Five more minutes,” Freydis groaned.

“You’ll miss breakfast,” I warned.

“Bwaaaah,” Freydis complained as she rolled over and covered her head.

“I guess I’ll just have to eat all this manticore by myself,” I tempted, knowing Freydis’s weak spot.

“Alright...I’m up,” Freydis relented as she sat up.

“Good, you wouldn’t want to be late for your first day of school,” I replied as I ushered Freydis out of her room and into the main room of the cabin. I’d only built three rooms, two bedrooms and a combination of an entryway, kitchen, and living room. Figuring out that I didn’t need to sleep made life a lot easier in that regard.

“Do I really have to go? What could I learn there that’ll help me?” Freydis whined.

“Take that up with your mother, I’m just enforcing her rules,” I deflected, getting a passing nod from Sigrid.

“School is important, not just because of education but because it’s where you’re supposed to make friends,” Sigrid added.

“But these ponies are all dumb and hate me for being a gryphon, why would I want to be friends with them?” Freydis protested.

“Jekyll,” Sigrid said simply, passing the responsibility to me.

“That was Everfree, these are different ponies and I’m sure they won’t be as bad. Besides, you need to have friends or you’ll go crazy like me,” I replied as I willed the tendrils that served as my hair to stand straight up. Freydis giggled at the display and seemed to calm down a little, even starting to eat her breakfast.

We all fell silent as we ate and got ready for the day in our own ways. Freydis grabbed her bag with all the supplies Sigrid had bought for her, Sigrid herself moved to clean the dishes, and I went outside to run the crank that would supply Sigrid’s efforts with fresh water from the well. I couldn’t claim responsibility for that one, a number of ponies had come by a couple days after I finished the cabin and offered to install the system. Sigrid had relented after a hour of discussing the price and was now down to half of her remaining gold coins, but neither of us could complain about the results.

A sharp knock against the wall was my signal to stop the device, courtesy of a hammer Sigrid kept in the kitchen to get my attention with. With a slight effort I stopped the flywheel and reversed direction, sending the water instead to a reservoir in the roof that would heat it for bathing purposes. Once that was full, I departed for the town.

Ponyville, a more self serving or egotistical name I had never heard. Though it would seem to be a trend among all the different species, given Sigrid’s stories about growing up in Gryphonstone. They all knew I was there, even if they didn’t pay any attention to me. They always knew, and it always showed. Smiles flattened, steps quickened, they were afraid.

I didn’t bother hiding this time, I simply hopped from rooftop to rooftop in plain view of all of them. I’d been doing this more and more for the past week to acclimate them to my presence and help me move freely through the town, though I hadn’t gone down to street level yet.

A full month we’d been living on the outskirts of this town, a full month and we’d gotten a grand total of one group of visitors who then sold us a fancy well. Sigrid’s attempts to ingratiate herself had been met with fear, as the locals associated her with me. She’d told them I was something like a servant and was completely harmless, but none of them believed her. I was different, I was new, and that made me something to be feared. So I wandered within their view but out of their lives, watching Freydis’s interactions at school and the perimeter of the town for something tasty to wander out of the forest.

“Excuse me?” a voice asked. Turning, I found a pegasus perched on the same roof as me. The stallion was a dull grey and had a picture of a pencil on his hind leg, but didn’t seem afraid of me.

“Howdy,” I greeted. There was the fear, it had simply been hidden by a false confidence. To the pony’s credit, he didn’t flee. He managed to remain in place and shakily continue.

“Um, I’m-ah-with the-uh-local paper. Could-um-tell me what you’re doing up here? Please,” the stallion managed to ask, looking ready to have a heart attack at any moment.

“Sure. I made a promise to a dying friend that I would look after his family, they have since moved here so I’m watching over the town in order to keep them safe,” I explained briefly.

“Wha-Wait, is that a fact? So you aren’t the pony eating monster that attacked Everfree City?” the stallion confirmed.

“I have never eaten a pony. But if you’re referring to the time I helped two gryphons escape an insane mob out for their blood, then yes,” I responded, my voice losing its friendly tone as I saw how Celestia twisted the event.

“The princess herself said that you were the aggressor,” the stallion pressed.

“What’s your name?” I asked the instant he finished talking, catching the pegasus off guard.

“Headline, Breaking Headline,” Headline replied on reflex.

“Headline, as a journalist, you should know that politicians lie. I don’t know of any princesses, but Queen Celestia was the one who riled the crowd into a murderous mob. I even called her out on it at the time, but they still attacked. You’re looking right at me, do you really think the reports match what would logically happen if I was the aggressor?” I rebutted, forming my claws to emphasize my point. I returned to having hands before Headline could soil himself, but my objective had been accomplished.

“Princess Celestia isn’t a queen,” Headline corrected, looking shaken by both the logic in front of him and being so close to a threat.

“Take some time to think about it, but I’d also point you towards the sharp drop in animal attacks,” I advised, turning to continue wandering the town.

“Y-Yeah,” Headline replied vacantly as I departed. I thought that went well and may have solidified my place here, pointing him towards the side effect of my hunting the nearby woods would insinuate that I was actively protecting the locals and paint me in a better light. I was that much closer to being able to walk around freely.

A pained grunt caught my attention and drew me towards a part of town I didn’t want any trouble in, it had come from the school. Reaching a roof across the street, I found two female ponies cornering Freydis. The gryphon was bleeding from a skinned knee but staying strong as her assailants hurled insults and accusations.

“Dumb gryphons, can’t even watch where they’re going.”

“Yeah, you better apologize or we’re gonna get you in trouble.”

“You pushed me, why would I apologize?” Freydis demanded, catching sight of me and gaining a bit of courage.

“‘Cause this is a pony town and you’re not a pony, that means you have to be the one to say you’re sorry. We could always get Teacher to make you,” the one on the left, a green unicorn, threatened.

Freydis caught my nod and called their bluff, “Do it then, she’ll see what happened here.”

The fillies scoffed indignantly and left, faking limps and acting far more injured than reason should allow. Within seconds, an angry normal pony mare stormed out of the small building to confront Freydis. Freydis tried to explain what had actually happened, but it fell on deaf ears.

This was unacceptable. For a teacher, one who was supposed to be a role model for the next generation, to act so biased against one of their own students. The shouting stopped when I dropped off the roof and into the street, shattering their perception of my normal behavior.

“I saw everything, those two are faking their injuries to lay blame for their own actions on her,” I informed the instructor, pointing first at the two fillies and then at Freydis, “But your reaction is why I stepped in, will you now be as harsh towards the real troublemakers?”

“I-Well, no, I won’t,” the teacher confessed, looking both taken aback and slightly ashamed.

“Because gryphons aren’t worth as much as ponies in your eyes?” I guessed.

“Maybe your eyes are the ones that need checking, gryphons aren’t built to work land and they can’t perform magic. They’re good for nothing but fighting, they’re shameful compared to us,” the instructor asserted. I was both taken aback and more than a little peeved by her open admission, it reminded me of the racism commonly accepted in the nineteen-fifties.

“Then perhaps they will leave and allow the monsters of the forest to kill and eat all of you,” I replied, making the teacher choke, “I sure as hell wouldn’t save you. Come along gryphon, I’ll walk you home so none of these ignorant fools get any bright ideas.”

“You can’t just take one of my students away, that’s ponynapping!” the teacher cried, gaining her the attention of the others in the street.

“I’m safer with him than here with all of you specist ponies,” Freydis spat as she moved to stand next to me.

“You haven’t been dismissed,” the instructor continued, refusing to see how little control she actually held.

“Then do something about it,” I replied mockingly as Freydis and I walked away. I quietly made sure to offer my hand to Freydis while still in their line of sight, allowing the gryphon to climb up my arm and perch in her favorite spot on my shoulder. She somewhat resembled a parrot in the way she sat, her legs folded along her sides and arms low, depending entirely on the grip of her hind claws to remain in place. She’d get tired eventually and settle for hanging from my neck along my back, letting me assist in holding her insubstantial weight, but like this she could see everything that was going on around her.

“Thanks Jekyll, these butts were even worse than in Everfree,” Freydis said gratefully as we rounded the first corner.

“Fuck ‘em, I’m sure your mother will understand,” I replied, though she seemed to grow ever more depressed with every step I took, “What’s up?”

Being Freydis’s friend gave me an insight she would never show a parent. She vented her frustrations and fears freely when talking to me, rather than the tempered respect shown towards her mother, “I was really hoping for better, you know? I didn’t think it could be worse than before, but at least then the teacher just ignored it instead of joining in.”

“Well, I’ll figure something out so you never have to deal with any of that again,” I promised, having no idea of how to accomplish said goal.

“How? You don’t know anything about this world,” Freydis pointed out.

“There are only three real subjects in school: math, writing, and history. I can cover the first two already, but we’ll need a library for that last one,” I replied, a plan forming in my mind.

“What happened to making friends?” Freydis continued.

“They don’t deserve you. Besides, you’ve got me,” I countered, knowing it was a weak argument.

“Mom’s still gonna be mad,” Freydis predicted. I didn’t have any argument against that, I’d gotten to know Sigrid well enough over the past month to know she wouldn’t take this well.

Our journey continued in silence, though I almost spoke up when we passed a newly opened candy shop. I only remained silent because I didn’t have any money to buy Freydis a conciliatory treat with.

Sigrid looked up from her current project when we walked in, she had been carving away the insides of the logs to create flat walls since the cabin had been built and was covered in enough flakes to show how well she was handling being alone all day.

“Something happened,” Sigrid stated as she brushed the bits of wood out of her feathers.

“Yep, enough for me to justify making an enemy,” I replied as I let Freydis down. The gryphon herself fled to the safety of her room and closed the door, sealing herself away from the expected argument.

“Her father did the same thing in Everfree, said no one, pony or otherwise, should be allowed to treat another like that. I actually agreed, but what choice did we have?” Sigrid sighed.

“Her teacher joined in this time,” I revealed, making Sigrid wince as if struck, “But I’ll figure out a way to fix this, I’ll teach Freydis myself if I have to.”

“Am I a bad mother for thinking that’s a good idea? I don’t want her to be isolated from the world like this,” Sigrid asked plainly.

“No, you’re not a bad mother. We’ll figure out who’s a dick and who’s alright as we go and help Frey make friends with the good ones,” I proposed, getting a shallow nod in return.

“Yeah...Yeah, that works for now. There’s just one thing,” Sigrid began cryptically, pausing as to force me to ask what she meant.

“What’s up?” I prompted.

“We’re not friends and we’ll never be friends, but you’ve basically adopted my daughter. My question is what does that make us? Not us as in you and me, us as in all three of us. Where do you fit in and what are we to you?” Sigrid asked with a harshness she clearly didn’t feel, given the apologetic look that followed.

“I don’t know, adopted uncle maybe?” I offered, brushing off her aggressive tone.

“That’ll work for now as well, we get along about as well as I did with my brothers,” Sigrid allowed, “But being part of our family comes with responsibilities, like making sure we have enough to eat and monitoring our finances.”

“I feel like this is going somewhere,” I predicted, prompting Sigrid to flick me a single gold coin, “What’s this?”

“Our finances, so monitor it,” Sigrid replied sourly.

“How are we down to one bit? You said the well only took half of what we had,” I demanded.

“Look, don’t be mad...but I was robbed when I went school shopping for Freydis. Some scoundrel must’ve taken the bits from my purse without me noticing, because I had them when I walked out of the general store. I found this one on the street afterwards, felt like the world was spitting on me,” Sigrid explained.

“That was two days ago and you’re just telling me now? Damnit Sig, this just complicated everything. I’ll have to get a job in town to start rebuilding this mess, but that’s…yeah, that’s going to come with its own issues,” I responded tensely, becoming daunted at the mountain of issues that were bound to arise.

“None of these ponies will hire you, they’d barely hire a gryphon. It would be marginally easier if you could magically shapeshift like a changeling, but wishful thinking never got anyone anywhere,” Sigrid agreed.

“I actually can shapeshift, that’s the problem,” I began, causing Sigrid’s head to snap up in attention, “But only into things I’ve eaten. On top of that, I’ve never done it before and will need time to figure it out.”

“Things you’ve eaten,” Sigrid repeated, “Manticores and hydras aren’t often seen in the common workplace.”

“It was an accident, more like a reflex actually,” I prefaced.

“What did you-no, no you didn’t! Jekyll, tell me you didn’t eat my husband,” Sigrid demanded, picking up my meaning quickly.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized.

Sigrid took a shaky breath as her eyes filled with rage, though her next words carried a deadly calm, “He was already dead?”

“Yes, it just sort of happened after he passed,” I clarified.

“You ‘just sort of’, accidentally, stuffed my husband down your throat before his body was even cold?” Sigrid confirmed dangerously.

“No, it-it’s weird. So you know how my hands break into tendrils to form my claws? One of those came out of my chest and absorbed him,” I corrected, taking a step back from the enraged gryphon.

“Get out,” Sigrid ordered as she turned away.

“Sig-” I attempted, understanding her anger but powerless to ease it.

“I can’t look at you right now Jekyll, just-just go,” Sigrid requested without looking back.

“I’ll be in the forest if you need me,” I relented before walking out.

For the next week my only interaction with Sigrid was when I dropped off their share of my hunts, the gryphon looking away every time I emerged from the trees to leave a fresh corpse at their door.

Freydis, however, was my almost constant companion, returning home only to drop off her kills and sleep. I’d even started teaching her everything both Friedhelm had learned and everything I had discovered while hunting the forest, the signs of manticore tracks along a path and what a cockitrace call sounded like. The young gryphon wisely left the predators of the forest to me, preferring to stalk rabbits and other smaller game.

“I think I need a new spear Uncle Jekyll,” Freydis commented as she looked over the remains of her latest hunt. The fox hadn’t been pierced, but rather broken and torn by her stab. If her angle of attack had been off by any margin, it would’ve just glanced off the animal.

“I think a resharpening will do well enough, though that should be your responsibility. You are only as good as the tools you wield, take care of them and they’ll take care of you,” I chided gently, getting a nod from my new niece as she sat down to sharpen the crude spear into a usable weapon again with a rock. After a few minutes, I reached down and recut the stone blade into shape with a claw, “Now it’ll be your job to maintain that edge.”

“Thanks Uncle Jekyll,” Freydis replied happily as she stowed her sharpening stone and returned to her feet.

“You don’t have to add ‘Uncle Jekyll’ to every sentence,” I pointed out.

“Is it bothering you Uncle Jekyll?” Freydis giggled.

“No, just trying to save you a few words. You only get so many before your voice goes away after all,” I replied, causing Freydis to search my face for signs that I was joking.

“I only get to say so many words? But how do I know how many I get?” Freydis asked, becoming fearful once she failed to find any humor in my expression.

“You don’t, no one does. Some find out, though it’s usually when they only have a few left,” I answered, still maintaining my serious attitude.

“But...Wait a second, I get it now. You’re making a death joke,” Freydis accused, her grin returning as she solved my little riddle, “The people who figure it out are condemned criminals, they know how many words they have left because they get to say a few before they’re executed.”

“Very good, but it could also be the terminally ill,” I corrected. Riddles like these were nothing new, a game my own father played with me to get me to think beyond the obvious.

“You always find another exception though,” Freydis complained, “It isn’t fair.”

“That’s how the game works, you have to figure out what I’m talking about and everything that doesn’t fit. My dad did the same thing to me,” I explained.

Freydis paused for a long moment, her furrowed brow silencing my continued teasing as she thought through something important and difficult to put to words. When she finally did speak up, I was the one who had to think about a response, “Can you be my...pretend dad?”

I took a step back as the words registered and jammed the metaphorical gears of my mind. How was I supposed to take that? She’d only known me for a couple months and wanted me as a father figure? Could I be that kind of role model?

Freydis looked more and more despondent with every passing second, only halting her withdraw of her statement because of my raised hand.

“That’s a very big question, one I’m not really prepared to answer, and one I wasn’t expecting you to ask. I get the need for a male figure in your life, that’s a small part of why I spend so much time with you, but to ask me to be your stepfather so soon after meeting me? That caught me off guard,” I explained.

“Not for gryphons, I had a friend back home that got a new daddy just a few weeks after losing his real one. I took extra time to think about it,” Freydis countered.

“Yet another thing I didn’t know, sometimes I wonder who’s teaching who here. But if that’s the case then you can call me whatever you want, as long as it isn’t a bad hunter,” I allowed as I pulled Freydis into a hug. I didn’t really feel it, but it was important to her and all I had to do was answer to another name.

“Mom’s gonna be pissed,” Freydis warned.

“Then just say it out here, so she doesn’t have to deal with the added stress,” I suggested, wincing as I remembered how I had ended up living out here, “And watch your language.”

“You don’t,” Freydis pointed out.

“You’re right, and that’s something I need to work on, but I’m also an adult and it’s more accepted for an adult to use bad words. I promise I won’t care as much when you get older and learn how to make those decisions,” I admitted.

“But it’s just us out here, who’s going to mind?” Freydis argued.

“I am, swearing in private builds a habit of swearing in general. That’s how I got so bad about it,” I rebutted, “Besides, I can always ground you if you keep swearing.”

“From what? We’re hunting in the forest, there isn’t anything to ground me-” Freydis began before I reached out and snipped off the end of her spear, “Oh shit.”

“I’ll let that one slide because it was funny, but no more. I’ll fix your spear in a little bit, but first, what’s forty-five divided by nine?” I asked, switching seamlessly into Freydis’s lessons.

“Five. Come on, give me a hard one,” Freydis snarked, crossing her arms over her chest confidently.

“Find the derivative of six ‘e’ to the power of seven ‘x’ squared plus two,” I instructed.

“Eighty-four ‘x’ ‘e’ to the power of seven ‘x’ squared plus two. I said I wanted a hard one, not more simple math,” Freydis complained.

“Uh, Frey? That was calculus. You just did some of the most advanced math you’ll ever find...in your head,” I pointed out.

“Oh. Does that mean I don’t have to learn any more math?” Freydis asked.

“I guess it does, huh. Remind me how old you are?” I allowed.

“Seven,” Freydis replied easily.

“And gryphons live to be?” I pressed.

“Between eighty and a hundred,” Freydis answered.

“So you are most definitely a child?” I confirmed.

“Oh yeah,” Freydis agreed.

“Then how on earth did you get to calculus in a week?” I demanded, more than a little shocked by my own words.

“I dunno, math is easy,” Freydis replied with a shrug.

“I’ve got a mathematical prodigy in front of me and she can’t spell to save her life,” I sighed.

“I can too spell, I just get the letters mixed up sometimes,” Freydis protested.

“Spell your name then,” I challenged.

“F-A-R-I-D-E-S,” Freydis attempted.

“Fairy Days?” I teased, “I think we found your pony name.”

“Aww,” Freydis groaned, lowering her head in disappointment.

“Hmm, I want to try something,” I began as I tore the bark off a nearby tree and formed a claw. After a few seconds of scratching on the smooth side, I turned it around so Freydis could see what I had written, “What does this say?”

“I have no idea,” Freydis admitted after a moment.

“Then just give me the letters in the order you see them,” I instructed, wondering if Freydis’s issue might be caused by dyslexia. These thoughts were banished when she repeated every letter back to me in the correct order.

“Did I do badly at that too? I hate reading,” Freydis complained.

“I was just checking to see if you were dyslexic, it’s a brain thing where words are all messed up and unreadable. Don’t worry, you don’t have it. We’ll just have to keep working on it,” I sighed, pulling another couple pieces of bark off and passing one to Freydis, “Let’s go over nouns again.”

“Those are things right?” Freydis confirmed.

“Yeah, and they’re almost always the subject of the sentence so they’re very important,” I replied as I settled into my spot and went over the basic pillars of language again, though Freydis made very little progress.

When we returned to the cabin that night, I stopped Sigrid before she could turn away and ignore my existence. I felt the gryphon’s muscles tense when I grabbed her shoulder, my grip loose but firm. Sigrid’s eyes filled with pain when she turned to look me in the eyes, seeing only the monster that took her husband from her.

“Freydis is a math genius but sucks at literature, it’ll be a while before she can read at the level of her peers. I thought you should know how her lessons have been going,” I informed the gryphon.

“Just leave me alone, please,” Sigrid requested weakly. I noticed she was looking thinner than I remembered and gently lowered her into a seated position.

“I bring you plenty of food, what’s wrong with you? Are you eating?” I asked worriedly.

“I didn’t today, had a scrap or two yesterday. Not hungry,” Sigrid responded.

“This is my fault, I shouldn’t have left you alone,” I lamented as I picked Sigrid up and carried her inside. To my surprise, she didn’t struggle or try to fight beyond her continued protests.

“No, don’t touch me,” Sigrid whined, though her body didn’t mirror her vocalized resistance.

“Here we go, nice and comfortable in bed,” I stated gently as I set Sigrid on her bed and pulled the blankets over her. After a moment’s thought, I adjusted how Sigrid was positioned and pulled her up into a sitting position with her back against the wall, “There, now you can eat too.”

“Not hungry,” Sigrid insisted.

“You’re weak, your body is eating itself because you aren’t getting enough. You can’t just quit like this when times get hard, what kind of example does that set for Frey?” I countered, a touch of anger seeping into my voice.

Sigrid fell silent once more and just looked at me with that same pained expression.

“I gave you the space and time you wanted. If that wasn’t enough, tough shit. You’ve gone from the tough and stubborn gryphon that punched me in the face to a paper thin bag of bones in my absence, when did you get pathetic? There’s no honor in starving yourself, there’s even a slur about eating your feathers, but here you are commiting suicide like a fucking coward,” I ranted, allowing my true feelings about the matter to show themselves.

Sigrid’s eyes hardened, her despair turning to the anger I was more familiar with. She tried to make a fist and looked surprised when she couldn’t close her talon all the way, the strength to do so long gone. Sigrid seemed to see her condition for the first time, her expression turning to one of horror as she realized what she had done.

“Oh gods, I-I’m so thin!” Sigrid cried in alarm, though her voice barely rose past a conversational volume. The shock claiming her mind shattering as a familiar stimulus was applied. Thank you psychology elective.

“That’s what I’ve been saying. Now it’s my turn to be in charge around here, starting with your recovery,” I declared forcefully. Sigrid’s instinctive argument died in her throat when she saw my expression of anger and concern, instead nodding meekly as she recognized her position, “And next time you decide to push me away, I’ll break your fucking legs and tie you to my back.”

It was an empty threat and Sigrid knew it, but she nodded again just the same, “I wouldn’t blame you.”

“Yes you would, and you’d bitch about it constantly,” I accused as I left to shear off a portion of my freshest haul. I’d eat the spoiled meat later, it didn’t seem to affect me.

“Yes, I would,” Sigrid admitted with a weak chuckle as I returned with a heaping plate of raw chimera.

“Eat slowly and take breaks often, your body will need to re-adjust to having food in your stomach,” I advised as I set the plate on Sigrid’s lap and sat down by her knees. I recalled documentaries about the second world war and how those treating the concentration camp survivors had a hard time withholding food even though those poor souls would kill themselves if they ate too much. Sigrid wasn’t even close to being in that kind of condition, but a little caution went a long way.

“I still hate you,” Sigrid commented between bites.

“I still don’t care,” I replied.

“Did you make any headway on wearing Friedhelm’s face?” Sigrid asked, pretending the question didn’t bother her.

“Some, but I didn’t want Frey to see me like that so I don’t know how good of a recreation it is,” I answered with a shrug.

“Well, come on then,” Sigrid urged with a flippant wave of her talon.

“No, it can wait a few days for you to recover. I have a feeling you’ll want to punch me and I’d rather you didn’t hurt yourself in the process,” I responded.

“I wouldn’t hit you so often if you weren’t an idiot,” Sigrid countered.

“I’m not stupid, I’m just new and still learning about this world. By that logic you’d strike Frey for not being able to read,” I rebutted, silencing the gryphon for a moment as she tried to figure out a new angle.

“This is different, you don’t even feel it,” Sigrid attempted.

“Yes I do, it just doesn’t physically hurt. The mental effect is still present, therefore you are still doing harm,” I reasoned.

Sigrid glared at me for a few seconds before changing the subject, the obviousness of her hypocrisy and her bullheadedness warring on her face, “Would I be correct in assuming you and Freydis are getting along?”

“If there was ever a dumb question,” I teased before answering properly, “She likes having an uncle around to teach her things, we’ve been getting along pretty well.”

“Would that be her spear leaning against the wall in the main room? I hope you’re smart enough not to put her in danger,” Sigrid pressed warningly.

“She goes after rabbits and foxes mostly, I take the things that fight back,” I confirmed.

“Good, that’s good,” Sigrid commented, looking down at her plate in unease, “Take this away, would you? I’ll be sick if I eat much more.”

“Alright,” I replied as I removed the plate from Sigrid’s lap and set it on the side table. A clawed kick prompted me to move and allow Sigrid to settle into bed.

“I expect to see your imitation skills tomorrow, no excuses,” Sigrid declared, her tone brooking no argument.

“Just go to sleep already you insufferable bird,” I ordered jokingly.

“Buck off you slimy...what actually are you? You never said,” Sigrid attempted, her insult dying as she ran out of information about me.

“A disease, I’m a sapient cluster of viral cells,” I confessed.

Sigrid stared blankly as she processed this, not quite looking at anything. When she finally managed to speak again, it was a raspy, “What?”

“I became this thing when I appeared in the forest, before then I was a human. That’s not as important right now though, but it does help me understand what I am now. This virus I’ve become, Blacklight, existed in one of our fictional stories, a plot element for an end of the world scenario. The main character was like me, made entirely of the stuff, but worked to help contain the threat to the island it began on. His story is what I’ve been basing my assumptions about my powers on,” I explained, leaving out the sequel because it undermined everything established in the first game.

“Will you? Will you contain the disease?” Sigrid asked, visibly shaken.

“I’ve seen nothing to indicate that there’s anything other than me. Keeping myself in check shouldn’t be too hard. So yeah, that’s been the plan,” I answered honestly, allowing Sigrid to take a relieved breath.

“Don’t scare me like that again you cretin,” Sigrid jokingly snapped as she swiped at my head, though I was well out of range.

“Whatever bitch,” I replied with a smile, “Goodnight Sig.”

“Goodnight Jekyll, thanks for breaking me out of my stupor,” Sigrid returned with a wave as I turned towards the door and moved to leave.

“Anytime,” I responded as I walked out and hooked a left to check on Freydis.

I found Freydis pretending to be asleep in her bed, a thin smile on her face following her eavesdropping. I let it slide, everything said to Sigrid would have been told to Freydis eventually.

I spent the night walking circles around the cabin, as I had most nights. There was a relaxing element to it, an ability to think on everything that had happened so far and experiment with my abilities. Within the first week of my banishment, I had figured out all of the in-game weapons. They were simple things, completely unworthy of the effort required for Mercer to get them. Instead I devoted my time to setting up my claws the way I wanted, figuring out how to adjust their shape and size. Tonight, I got them perfect.

My claws were now long enough to scrape the ground when I walked, though I had found a way to have even more blade per claw within that distance. Each claw hooked around like a talon, with the backsides just as sharp as the normal claw edge. I had dulled the edge on the hooks, finding that they had been too sharp when I had attempted to hook myself to a hydra the other day and fallen off when the flesh parted instead of holding me.

The issue with this was that I was now without anything to focus on except my disguise. With a thought, I broke the surface of my body apart and assumed the form of the only sapient being I had consumed. Dropping to all fours, I continued along my path until dawn.

Freydis was the first one to walk outside, spotting me and instantly going rigid. She seemed torn between an urge to flee from the imposter before her and a desire to embrace her father. I took the decision from her and pulled her into a hug. It wasn’t long before her tears began, her cries awakening Sigrid.

“Je-Fr-” Sigrid stammered when she appeared in the doorway, showing the same distress as Freydis though she seemed to have regained much of her strength. I waved her over and allowed the gryphons one last time to be a family before I broke the illusion.

“Sig-” I managed before a talon closed around my beak.

“I know who you are, let us have this for a little longer,” Sigrid requested. I nodded and maintained my silence as they released some of their repressed grief. It only lasted a few seconds, but it seemed like they needed the moment. I only started getting concerned when Sigrid spoke again, “Freydis, go back inside honey. Mommy needs a moment.”

Freydis gave her mother a confused look, but only hesitated a moment more before she obediently walked back inside the cabin and closed the door. I raised an eyebrow as I gave Sigrid an inquisitive look of my own.

“You do know that I’m not Fried, right?” I confirmed.

“I know,” Sigrid replied.

“Then why are you giving me bedroom eyes?” I continued.

“It’s been a difficult month and you look just like the gryphon I loved, can you really blame me?” Sigrid countered.

“I’m not comfortable with this. We may both be adults, but you’re Fried’s wife. I don’t like you like that,” I objected gently, conscious that this was a very delicate situation and that she saw her husband rejecting her.

Sigrid flinched, but seemed to recover quickly enough, “How about we meet halfway and go kiss behind the cabin like a couple of teenagers?”

“That’s less morally objectionable, alright,” I relented, mostly because Sigrid was already dragging me across the ground. She didn’t waste any time roughly pushing me against the side of the cabin and kicking my hind legs out from under me, dropping me in a seated position against the wall. I made a mental note not to get into a real fight with Sigrid, she had some real skill.

Twice I had to push Sigrid back and remind her of our deal, but otherwise I allowed her to molest my face and neck without further complaint. I knew she was just having difficulty rationalizing that I wasn’t her husband, but I didn’t know what to do. What could I do? Deny her outright and let her last memory of seeing her husband’s face be one stained by that rejection? That would’ve been cruel, so I let her make out with me and cry until she felt better.

“Thank you for this,” Sigrid whispered as she settled in to rest her head on my right shoulder and idly stroke my feathered head with her right talon while her left dug into my side as though afraid to let go.

“I...if you...you’re welcome,” I finally replied, stumbling over a few attempts at speech.

“I know you aren’t my Friedhelm and you didn’t have to do this, but I never got to say goodbye. Now it feels like I have, in some way or another,” Sigrid continued.

“Sig...you did. I should’ve told you this before. I didn’t eat your husband, I absorbed his body. I got most of his memories, his skills, his way of thinking, everything he was got added to me. In a very direct way, you were saying goodbye to him,” I explained. I expected Sigrid to get angry, but she deserved to know. What I got was a sad sigh and a tighter grip.

“Is he awake? Does he know I’m here?” Sigrid asked, her voice quiet as though she risked spooking Friedhelm’s ghost.

“I’m sorry, he’s dead. It’s a predatory ability, used to help me evolve and become a better hunter. It isn’t a way to survive death,” I responded softly.

“That you know. I’d rather believe he’s in there, watching over us in the only way he can,” Sigrid refuted, settling in on my lap and making it clear that she was exactly where she wanted to be for the time being.

Freydis found us like that two hours later, though she seemed more jealous than anything else. It would appear she missed her father just as much as Sigrid missed her husband. Being Freydis, she didn’t give voice to her complaints and instead brought us lunch before worming in to take a nap between her mother and I.

“Hey Sig?” I asked after I was sure Freydis was asleep.

“Hmm?” Sigrid replied quietly.

“Do you still hate me?” I wondered, receiving a weak slap to the side of my head.

“I want to hurl insults for hours, but the short answer is no. I’m not sure when that ended, but it wasn’t today,” Sigrid answered.

“Just curious,” I commented before falling silent and allowing Sigrid to take a quick nap as well.

Things seemed to be looking up. Once the gryphon family cuddle nap ended, I reminded Sigrid that we’d need to alter my appearance so as to avoid suspicion among any of the villagers that might have met Friedhelm.

“You should make a male version of Mom, that way you can claim to be brother and sister,” Freydis suggested as she wandered off to find something to eat.

“Good idea,” I replied, looking at Sigrid expectantly.

“I wasn’t being serious, that’s weird,” Freydis complained as she turned to walk around the corner of the building.

“No, it’s a good idea and we can use it as a place to start working on giving Jekyll his own gryphon identity,” Sigrid responded.

“I’ll start with your colors and we can tweak it from there,” I proposed, throwing everything I had learned so far at the supposedly simple act of changing the coloration of some hair and feathers. It took me a solid ten minutes of concentration to alter the colors, but I was now a black and white version of Friedhelm instead of the mottled brown he had been. At least my feathers alternated between black and a very light gray, the fur was all black.

“Are you sure you can do this? You said you could only change into things you knew,” Sigrid confirmed as she steadied my swaying form with a talon. She was right, I had broken what I thought was a rule of my biology. What else had I been wrong to assume?

“No, the story got things wrong. I’m fine,” I insisted.

“You’re about to collapse, you need to stop and rest,” Sigrid asserted.

“I’m fine,” I repeated, “What’s the next thing I need to change?”

“My family line has skinnier beaks than Friedhelm’s,” Sigrid sighed, gripping my shoulders to balance me as I threw myself at the next part of the process. It only took seconds this time, much of the discovery process being incorporated into the first step.

“Next,” I demanded, looking to continue while I was on a roll.

“Fill out your chest and forelimbs, the males of my family are military and show their strength with pride. Wings too, they need to have corded muscle and about six inches more wingspan per side. Backside is good, but lose the tail. They cut their tails to remove the risk of it getting injured. Paws, longer but just as wide. The eyes are random and can be whatever you like. I’m not discussing the last part,” Sigrid continued, listing off everything I could need.

“Alright, how’s this?” I asked as I completed the last section and turned to face my ‘sister’.

“You look like a coward, put some scars on your face and forelimbs. Claw marks and sword strikes if you can replicate them,” Sigrid critiqued, “Maybe some on the sides of the torso, nothing on the back or hindquarters. Never show scars on those places, it means you were hit while running away from a fight.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I responded as I embellished my disguise. It was becoming easier with every adjustment, like moving an atrophied limb into a more comfortable position.

“The cracked beak is a nice touch, makes you look like a knight,” Sigrid complimented.

“Thanks, I guess,” I replied.

“Got something against knights?” Sigrid pressed.

“I don’t really like the idea of pledging my support to some ruler I’ll never know, seems more like weakness to me. As though they need to attach themselves to that person to feel like they mean something,” I explained.

“They aren’t all like that,” Sigrid rebutted defensively, “Gryphonia has contracted the Northern Kingdom’s army for hire in the past and they’re known for being personal friends with their king. At least I think that’s what that place was called, maybe something about glass or crystals...”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I allowed, cutting off Sigrid’s reverie.

“Anyway, you look just like my brothers and shouldn’t have any difficulty claiming a relation. You could even say that you heard about my husband’s death and came to help, we don’t actually do that but the ponies will eat it up,” Sigrid continued, snapping out of her wandering thought quickly.

“Hmm, we should have a contingency in case we have a well travelled local call us on it,” I suggested, nodding at Sigrid’s reasoning.

“Twins?” Sigrid guessed with a shrug.

“Could work, push the ‘we were always close and I couldn’t leave you alone’ angle. It’ll do, and it’ll reinforce the sympathy thing in the process,” I agreed. We had a plan and I had a disguise, now I would be able to find a job and utilize the library for Freydis’s lessons as soon as it was built.

With nothing to keep me hanging around the cabin, I said my goodbyes and walked into town. I received plenty of second glances, though mostly a mix of sympathetic and disgusted looks crossed their features when the ponies saw my scars. I looked the part of a half crippled warrior wandering into town for reasons unknown.

I knew there wasn’t a job posting board in any of the outdoor areas, but assumed one of the public buildings would have one or that one of the employees would know where to find one. That didn’t stop me from looking for signs in business windows, though I found that the few buildings that posted a ‘help wanted’ sign pulled it down at the first sign of it gaining my attention.

I understood, of course, I didn’t really have a face for retail work, but they could’ve at least said it to the aforementioned face. It didn’t matter, I’d find something eventually.

As I walked into the, mostly built, town hall, the first thing I noticed was how spartan it was. There weren’t any adornments or embellishments on the walls or knick knacks on the receptionist’s desk, it gave off a cold, purely utilitarian vibe. Nevertheless, I was on a mission and confidently walked straight towards the small desk on the opposite side of the expansive, domed room.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for work,” I asked, mixing politeness with the gruff bluntness expected of one with my current appearance.

The light blue earth pony mare working the reception desk didn’t even look up from the newspaper in her hooves as she lifted a single foreleg. I stared at her, not comprehending the action, until I realized that she wasn’t throwing a Nazi salute but was rather pointing at something behind me with her entire leg.

“Right, much appreciated,” I replied as I turned to see the posting board on the wall right next to the door I had entered through. It was easy to see how I had missed it when I walked in, the double doors opened inward and I had inadvertently covered it as I entered.

I browsed the jobs posted on the corkboard for several seconds as I looked for one I could perform without risking my cover. Menial labor was my optimal choice, but I didn’t find any listings. I did, however find a single foalsitting job. It wasn’t the best choice, but it was the only one that wouldn’t have my abilities on full display within the week. Everything else had to do with pulling trees out of the ground or recruitment into the local militia, neither of which I was very keen on doing.

The foalsitting job was little more than a reminder of how superior the ponies thought they were, given the earful I got for even responding to the notice.

“Are you blind or just a stupid featherbrain? You can read right? Did you not see how the flier called for ‘anypony qualified’? What makes you think you’re qualified anyway? This is a house, not a warzone. Did you lose some of your feeble brain when your beak got wrecked? Stupid gryphons, you think every problem can be fixed with the point of a sword. I won’t have any of that around my son, now get lost before I report you for trespassing!” the ivory mare raved the instant she saw me. I hadn’t even spoken a word yet, but I departed the scene before I could end up in trouble with the law. That was the last thing I needed.

“Hey soldier bird, come here a second,” a voice beckoned as I fled the crazy pony’s wrath. I paused as I looked for the source and found a slightly overweight but well muscled pegasus stallion looking right at me. I cautiously approached and kept my eyes scanning for new threats to my continued use of this facade.

“Yes?” I asked suspiciously as I searched the pegasus’s face for any sign of malice.

“No worries about her mate, the ground pounders don’t realize what it means to be a flyer. But not all ponies are that daft, I for one remember the old days when we’d take to the skies together. Better times, they were. But they’re long past and now we birds have to look out for one another to get by,” the stallion began, painting him as the long winded type but at least he was friendly enough.

“I wasn’t here for those days, I only just got here. You’ll have to give me more than that for me to trust you farther than I can throw you,” I warned, aware that I was letting my previous experiences with ponies taint my view of this pegasus.

“That’s fair, you don’t know me from Celestia. But I’m speaking the truth when I tell ya that I’ve had too many gryphon friends to leave one of your kind hanging,” the pegasus continued.

“One of my kind?” I repeated dangerously.

“Shoot, sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. Tell you what, I’ve got a decent bit here overseeing the construction teams. If’n you can carry bricks and lay them straight, I can give you a job,” the stallion offered.

“Tempting, but I don’t trust you. All I’ve gotten from this shit country is more shit. I only came here because my twin sister’s husband was murdered and she needed help with their daughter, since then I’ve been yelled at and spat on for no reason other than the fact that I’m a gryphon. Where do you buckers even get off on the superiority thing? I can actually eat you, you are a prey species, that does not make you better than me. All of that and then suddenly you show up and act all nice, sounds like a baited trap to me,” I responded, never once raising my voice but my tone made the pegasus blanch as he understood me that much better.

“Look bird-” the stallion attempted.

“Stop calling me that, I am not a pest animal,” I snapped.

“But it’s a flyer thing, pegasi and gryphons call each other birds all the time...Sorry, not important. I’m really sorry Equestria hasn’t treated you well, but I wouldn’t dare double cross you like that. I know the marks of a veteran, the value of your honor, and I know exactly how much of me would be left if I challenged it. If you don’t believe anything else I’ve said, trust that I wouldn’t risk my neck like that,” the pegasus placated, easing my worries.

“And why would you want to give me a job?” I asked, nearly convinced of the stallion’s stated intentions.

“I’ve seen the other two and I recognize the relation, helping them out is a good thing and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t at least try to help,” the pegasus admitted.

“We can handle ourselves, but...it would be irresponsible to refuse a job,” I allowed, pretending to choke on the words as though they offended my pride.

“Glad I could help out. Name’s Blueprint, though most call me Blue,” Blueprint replied, extending a hoof in greeting.

“Sigfried, and you’re orange,” I responded, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, there’s a running joke among the crews that I’m colorblind. Jokes on them though, I actually am colorblind,” Blueprint chuckled.

“So when do you need me to start?” I asked, bringing the discussion back on topic.

“Tomorrow if you can, we’ll be setting up to finish the town hall around dawn. You can meet with us there. I’ll tell you now, you’ll be the most popular bird on the site if you can carry bricks and fly at the same time. Getting materials to the roof has been worse than a stay in Tartarus,” Blueprint complained.

“I’ll be there,” I promised as I turned to leave.

“See you tomorrow Sigfried,” Blueprint called in farewell as I walked away. The walk back seemed much shorter now that I had a way to replenish our funds, albeit at the cost of time with Freydis. But that was the trade off, nothing I could do to change that.

“Gonna try again tomorrow?” Sigrid asked as I walked in, immediately assuming I had returned in failure.

“I’ll be too busy at work to look for jobs tomorrow,” I replied, surprising the gryphon.

“How’d you manage that? It took Friedhelm a week to find a job that would have him,” Sigrid pressed.

“Some pegasus that kept calling me a bird offered me a job in construction, seemed nice enough,” I explained.

“You took offense, didn’t you?” Sigrid guessed.

“I told him to stop, yeah,” I allowed.

“That’s a flyer’s word, it’s only offensive if an earth pony or unicorn uses it. It’s a term of endearment if used by a pegasus,” Sigrid corrected, seeming to find this amusing.

“To be honest, I was a bit of an asshole towards him. I blew up about all the stupid supremacy shit they’ve thrown at us and he took the brunt of it, still offered me the job though,” I added, feeling embarrassed about how I had treated Blueprint.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ve done that at least thirty times. Nobody would believe you were a gryphon if you didn’t lose your temper,” Sigrid reassured me, “Also, ‘us’?”

“Right, yeah, this is confusing. It’s weird having racial slurs thrown at me even though I’m not really the right target, still stings though. I feel like I’m the dude playing the dude that’s disguised as the other dude,” I offered with a shrug.

“Might be a bit of Friedhelm floating around,” Sigrid mused, though mostly to herself.

“Might be. Whatever the case, I found a job and start at dawn tomorrow. Couple that with my hunts and we should be net positive very soon,” I replied.

“I take it my lessons are on hold then?” Freydis asked as she walked in with three dead foxes.

“It’s impolite to eavesdrop,” Sigrid chided lightly.

“No, they’ll just be shorter and later in the day,” I corrected.

“That’s good, I like your lessons a lot more than the school’s,” Freydis commented.

“I still have trouble understanding that. On my world, you’d be the most popular kid there. You hunt and fish, you’re tough, and you’re smart. You’d have tons of friends and none of the bullies would dare mess with you,” I thought out loud.

“Because on your world she’d have beaten the bullies into leaving her alone, we don’t do that here,” Sigrid responded, a hard edge forming in her voice.

“That’s exactly what I’m stuck on, you don’t fight back. You’re carnivores, you eat meat, that makes you a predatory species. Ponies are herbivores, they only eat plants, they’re a prey species. What twist of irony has the predators afraid of the prey?” I demanded.

Sigrid paused as she followed my reasoning, the gears in her head almost visibly turning as she hit the same logical walls. Eventually she looked back at me with a furrowed brow and shrugged, “I really don’t know, I’ve never thought of it like that before.”

“Has any gryphon?” I pressed.

“Not that I know of, everyone I know storms off before they get the chance to become violent,” Sigrid continued, “But only with ponies, we regularly fight each other and the other species. And only when isolated, there have been a few wars between us.”

“This is scary,” Freydis added.

“Okay, yeah. Magic might be involved or it could be cultural conditioning, but I doubt it’ll be too difficult to find out,” I reasoned, a test forming in my mind.

Two hours later, we were all in position. Sigrid wandered from shop to shop with an artificially heavy purse, having been loaded down with coins I’d carved from wood and stone. Her instructions were clear, she was to wander until a pony tried to rob her and then strike out with her claws. She was staying in public so there would be witnesses to the actual crime, but wouldn’t hesitate to make a scene and slash at her attacker.

I spotted Freydis flagging down a brown earth pony that kept glancing at Sigrid’s purse and looking around. Though he was obviously planning to steal from her, no one else seemed to notice his shifty behavior. I waited and watched from my vantage point as she stallion crept closer, waiting until there was a hoof in Sigrid’s purse before releasing a loud screech.

SIgrid instantly grabbed the stallions leg, trapping it in her bag as she turned to round on him.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” she shouted, drawing the attention of the other shoppers away from the loud noise I had made.

The stallion looked terrified as he looked around at his peers, though it disappeared when his gaze returned to Sigrid. It was replaced by anger.

“How dare you embarrass me like this, don’t you know who I am?” the stallion retorted, “I’ll ruin you for this insult, I’ll make you rue the day you challenged me. Nopony messes with-”

Sigrid slapped him, her talons carving deep cuts along the side of his face and opening his cheek. She huffed and walked away as the thief screamed his pain into the dust of the street.

I met up with Sigrid on the way back to the house and clapped a hand on her shoulder in congratulations, “Good show out there, way to fuck up that asshole.”

“It did feel pretty good, almost too good,” Sigrid replied, sounding shaken.

“And we’ve learned that it’s a cultural thing and not some fucked up mind control,” I continued as we reached the cabin.

“So what happened?” Freydis excitedly asked the instant we walked inside, having gotten away before things could turn violent for her own safety.

“Your mom fucked up that thief, it was glorious,” I replied jovially.

“Language,” Sigrid chided, though her mind was elsewhere.

“Right, sorry,” I apologized, “It’s just awesome to finally see a hint of justice.”

“About that, the guard will probably be here soon,” Sigrid commented, “Just let them take me in, it isn’t worth the fight.”

“Absolutely not, they’ll have to get through me if they want to abduct one of my charges,” I rebuked as I dropped my disguise and formed my claws in the same action. Sigrid looked saddened by that, but nodded before retiring to her room.

“Mom seems messed up by this, why is that?” Freydis asked as she climbed up my leg and back to hang from my neck with her head over my shoulder.

“Everything she’s learned tells her that what she did was wrong, but her heart knows that standing up for herself was the right thing to do. She’s having a hard time balancing the two,” I explained as I reached up to ruffle her feathers with a freshly declawed hand.

The guard didn’t show up that night, nor while I was at work the next day. It took them another two months before they finally appeared at our door.

“Can I help you?” I asked, wearing my gryphon disguise.

“We’d like you to answer a few questions involving an assault,” one of the guards stated.

“Check your information, it wasn’t an assault, it wasn’t a male gryphon, and it was months ago,” I responded warily.

“Are we to understand that you are being uncooperative?” the same guard threatened.

“No, you can ask whatever you like,” I allowed.

“When you were arguing with Mister Rich, why did you resort to violence so quickly?” the guard asked.

“And just like that, you’ve lost my cooperation. You’re not looking for information, you want a confession. So let me be perfectly clear: no one survives to press charges when I get violent, therefore I am not the one who was involved,” I warned.

“You’re under arrest for assaulting a pony and threatening members of the town guard,” the same guard declared as he stepped forward and with drew a pair of manacles. He froze when I rose to stand on my hind legs and dropped my disguise, his gaze slowly panning up to meet my furious stare.

“You,” I began, pointing at the guard that hadn’t spoken, “You hold still and write down everything I’ve said.”

“Alright,” The guard agreed easily, showing no fear. His expression was of one who had seen far too much to be surprised by anything. I’d seen the same look on the faces of a few friends I’d had back when I was human, specifically the ones who were cops.

“As for you,” I continued, refocusing on the biased guard, “You and I are going to have a long chat about preconceptions and biases.”

“Help meeeeeee!” the guard wailed as I picked him up and carried him inside the cabin.

“And that’s why your actions here have hurt the community as a whole and not just one gryphon,” I concluded.

“But what about-” Steadfast, the guard, attempted.

“Every species has their place and purpose, that doesn’t mean any one is better than any other. What would you do if we weren’t here to keep the forest’s monsters in check? You’d be their dinner, just like you were before we arrived,” I answered, not needing to hear the rest of the question.

“So you’re saying that-” Steadfast began again.

“No, I’m saying that you, as an officer of the law, need to keep your own feelings about the different species as irrelevant as possible. You should treat everyone equally, not rush judgements because a gryphon was involved,” I corrected.

“I think I understand, but I have one last question. Why did you tell me all of this when you’re about to kill me?” Steadfast asked.

“Why would I do that?” I countered.

“Because I saw you as a gryphon, I know who you are now,” Steadfast replied.

“Are you going to betray that trust?” I asked.

“I mean, I don’t plan to,” Steadfast offered with a shrug.

“Then go on and be a better pony, but remember that I’ll pull you apart and eat you piece by piece if you betray me,” I casually threatened as I gestured for Steadfast to leave. The pony guard looked slightly disturbed by the warning, but nodded and got up to leave, “And let your buddy know the deal as well.”

“I-I will,” Steadfast responded before walking out into the night.

“You are an insufferable parody of yourself,” Sigrid asserted as she made her presence known.

“And yet you continue to forget that I don’t sleep,” I teased, referencing the increasing frequency of Sigrid’s habit of using my body heat to stay warm whenever I would stop moving for a while to think.

“Do you know how long Friedhelm and I were married?” Sigrid asked, her posture changing to match her defensive tone.

“Sixteen years,” I replied easily, pulling from the memories I had stolen. Sigrid flinched in surprise but recovered quickly as she formed the rest of her point.

“I hadn’t slept alone for sixteen years, not having another body there makes my bed feel cold and lifeless. I know I should be over it by now, but I can’t help feeling that loneliness every time I lay down,” Sigrid explained.

“And you know I won’t complain,” I added, giving her a soft smile, “Is it really that bad?”

“Yes, could you just…” Sigrid trailed off as I shifted back into my gryphon disguise and hugged her.

“Yeah, I’ll wait until you fall asleep before I go hunting,” I replied.

“Thank you, I’m sorry for being a burden like this,” Sigrid whispered.

I held the sides of Sigrid’s head and looked her in the eyes as I made it clear that she wasn’t a burden, “We’re friends, friends carry each other when they’re down. That’s not being a burden, it’s healing. The biggest issue should be that you’re asking your brother to share a bed with you.”

“Really? You had to go there? Don’t be gross Jekyll, I’m asking for something to trick me into thinking I’m not alone. If you want that then go find it somewhere else, my body still belongs to my husband,” Sigrid rebuked, her face a mixture of amusement and disgust.

“Just messing with you, damn. Besides, I’ve haven’t felt anything like that since I got here anyway,” I revealed, choosing to ignore the advances Sigrid made when I looked like Friedhelm.

“Nothing at all? No desire to find a mate? That’s rather sad actually,” Sigrid responded.

“Whatever the case on that front, it’s convenient for your current issue,” I baited, drawing Sigrid towards the obvious conclusion.

“Yes, I guess it does offer some assurance that you won’t accost me,” Sigrid reasoned as she guided me into her room and onto her bed. I let the conversation die as the gryphon closed her eyes and pulled herself into my chest, getting the impression that any further speech would only be counterproductive. Sigrid was asleep in seconds and I was free to return to my usual routine.

Things settled down after that night, expenses were paid, grudges were forgotten, life moved on. Stupid Rich even paid me the relative kindness of ignoring my existence when I was on the work team that built his house. It was far from easy, but we managed to scrape by in peace for a whole six years before the universe shit on us again.

“GAAAH, HEEELLLLPP!” Freydis screamed, jolting Sigrid and I out of bed to investigate. It wasn’t like Freydis to have a nightmare, especially at thirteen years old. There was only one reason I could think of for Freydis’s scream, an intruder.

I burst into the room with bared claws and a snarl of rage, though all I found was a terrified Freydis sitting up in her bet with her blankets pulled up to her neck. She was shivering in fear and pointed a shaky finger towards her window, the window on the opposite side of the room.

“Find out what happened,” I instructed as Sigrid caught up to me, giving her only enough time to nod her acknowledgement before I threw the window open and jumped through. I spent several minutes checking the area for disturbances or strange smells, finding nothing. There weren’t even any foot or hoof prints to indicate anyone had been there.

I ran through the list of possible interlopers that didn’t leave tracks, manticores, pegasi, Celestia, but none of them could do so without leaving their scent behind. There hadn’t been an intruder, it was just a random nightmare.

“There’s nothing there,” I stated as I returned to Freydis’s room by more conventional methods.

“There was, i-it was dark but I saw its fangs in the moonlight. Its eyes...they were glowing,” Freydis recalled, reminding me of the shadowy figure that had spoken to me after my first encounter with Celestia.

“It was just a nightmare Frey, I promise. Otherwise I’d smell them and hunt them down for scaring my niece like this,” I reassured her, getting a relieved look from Sigrid, “Come on, let’s get you tucked back in.”

Freydis was still visibly shaken by the nightmare as she laid back down and allowed me to pull the blankets over her. I saw this and motioned for Sigrid to offer her brand of encouragement as well.

“Where’s your spear? Would that make you feel safer?” Sigrid asked, looking around the room for the weapon.

“B-By the front door, but it’s a hunting spear…” Freydis replied, recognizing that the flimsy wooden haft wouldn’t offer her much protection. I fell silent as Sigrid left to retrieve the weapon, wondering what I could offer to help. I placed my left hand on Freydis’s shoulder comfortingly as I reformed my right hand into a familiar clawed appendage. On a whim, I grabbed one of the sword-length talons and pulled until it was ripped from its socket.

“Well that hurt less than I thought it would,” I commented as I ran my fingers over the fleshy finger part of the improvised weapon, reducing it to the underlying bone. Freydis watched in grim fascination as I collected a few of the materials she kept on hand to maintain her equipment and used them to fashion a crude handle.

“Uncle Jekyll?” Freydis asked as Sigrid returned, though my back was to the door and blocking her ability to see what I was making.

“There, now you have something to protect yourself with,” I announced as I set the awkwardly shaped sword against the corner of her bed and the wall.

“I don’t know how to use a sword,” Freydis confessed even though we all already knew that. Still, I understood her true request.

“Why don’t you go back to bed Sig, I’ll stay here and watch over Frey,” I suggested.

“I’ll be right next door if you need me,” Sigrid allowed before leaning the spear against the wall and taking a long look at her daughter before easing out of the room.

“I’m right here Frey, you’re perfectly safe,” I reassured the young gryphon, stroking the feathers on her head comfortingly.

Freydis continued to shiver in fear, though it seemed to be easing as she slowly calmed down enough to fall back asleep.

“You don’t really need me anyway... Hmm, this would be better if I knew how to play an instrument or three,” I began before going into a purely vocal version of a fitting lullaby. Freydis’s fear evaporated and she even managed a giggle at some points in the song. I heard her breathing change as I spoke the final lines and knew her to be asleep.

I slowly retracted my arm and backed out of the room, more alert to any sounds outside the cabin than ever before. There was nothing, not even crickets. I could see Sigrid’s prone form through her open door and the slow movements of her chest as she slumbered uneasily. I scanned the main room for anything out of place, finding nothing. Next was Sigrid’s room, again I found everything to be in order.

Still paranoid about Freydis’s uncharacteristic fear, I walked back outside and walked a half dozen laps around the small building. I searched every possible hiding space for trespassers and periodically sniffed the air for any scents that didn’t belong, still nothing. I found no peace that night, my only relief coming with the rising sun and the banishment of the shadows around the property. Blueprint could hang if he cared that much about me being late for work, I wasn’t stopping until both Sigrid and Freydis were awake.

And so they did, seeming surprised to find me wandering the cabin and property with my claws bared. No one asked why I was on edge, they were too and for the same reasons.

“What do you think Sig, should I stick around today and apologize to Blueprint later?” I asked, pushing the option onto Sigrid.

“No, we can’t risk our only income because we’re scared. Besides, we’re the predators here right?” Sigrid replied, though she didn’t seem to believe it.

“Keep that sword close by, just in case,” I responded quietly before patting Freydis on the back and assuming my gryphon disguise, “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“We’ll be fine, we’re just being paranoid,” Sigrid reassured everyone.

With nothing else to say, I made my farewells and started my trek into town. Blueprint asked about my tardiness when he saw me approaching the job site, but accepted my reasoning of a trespasser in the night and subsequent hesitation to show up at all. I was mildly surprised to get stated permission not to come in to work if it happened again, both from Blueprint and my coworkers. It was interesting to see this side of the ponies, the side that cared about preserving the safety of their fellows, even if it meant that of non-ponies.

I thanked them for their kind words and asked if I could head home during the lunch break to check on Sigrid and Freydis.

“Of course you can, go ahead and stay with them too. The job will still be here tomorrow. Honestly, I’m amazed that you don’t have this happen more often, what with how close you live to the forest and the monster we sometimes see prowling your property,” Blueprint allowed.

“Jekyll? Tall, dark, and scary claws?” I asked, getting wide eyes and a shallow nod as though any further reaction would attract...me, “Nah, he’s alright. He actually helps out with the pests from the forest and gives us a good portion of the meat. I suppose he’s something like my brother at this point, considering that’s what Sigrid calls him.”

“That’s your sister right? She calls that thing her brother? I heard it saved her daughter from some bullies, but that seems like she’s taking it too far,” Nails rebutted from the roof of the bank we were building.

“Call it what you like, but we all get along well enough for me,” I countered with a shrug.

“I think you’re being too harsh Nails, it could clearly take any one of us if it wanted but instead it’s over there helping out a widow. Sounds like a stand up stallion to me,” Cutter added from his spot on the saw.

“Huh, you might be onto something there,” Nails conceded as he returned his focus to the framework he was fitting to the building.

The conversation turned to things of little import as the day progressed, ending for me when the sun peaked and we broke for lunch. I waved my goodbye as I separated from the group and turned to follow the path back to the cabin.

Blood.

There was blood in the air, carried on the wind in quantities too strong to be from one of Freydis’s hunts. I felt a pit form in my stomach and energy flow into my legs as I sprinted back to the cabin, I had to know they were okay. They had to be okay.

Two guards stood outside, their grim faces telling me everything I needed to know.

Author's Notes:

And here's the second part of my re-write of the mess that was chapter 1, I hope you all enjoy. That said, expect a sharp drop in quality after this chapter that then increases back to this point.

Eric's Editor's Note:

Hey look! Two rewrites for the price of one!

Militia's Editor's Note:

Once more, with feeling.