I awoke feeling rather warm. When I opened my eyes and fully regained consciousness, I realized it was because Gilda was using me as a snuggle pillow, and I still had Seth atop me, though he started squirming as he was beginning to wake up as well. I gently ran my fingers through his downy fluff and he let out a soft trilling noise to show his approval. Gilda groaned and tried rolling. I was in the way so she tried rolling in the other direction and fell right off the bed with a loud thump. She blearily picked herself up and shook her head to rid it of the confusion. She seemed surprised at the fact that I was laying in her bed until the events of yesterday caught up with her.

"Mmm.. good morning."

"Sleep well?" I asked. She nodded with a mmm hmm. Seth let out a little yawn of his own before opening his steely blue eyes and climbing off of me to nuzzle up to his mother's leg. She returned the affection before gently picking him up and depositing him on a table to change his diaper. Once she finished with that she threw the dirty one out and looked to me.

"... Right... prolly would have been good to have you do that once in a while." She seemed to think about something before shaking her head no for a minute. "Anyways, it's time to go get breakfast. I'll show you around town."

We walked through the 'Old Hoofmeyer' part of town when something dawned on me. We were being watched. Not the casual glances of a passerby who wanted to see without staring, but the more sinister kind. The looking without wanting to be seen, the stalking. Gilda seemed to notice my concern by the way I clenched my fists and kept looking to the clouds, so she brushed my side with a wing to get my attention.

"Don't worry about it. They're ours."

"Ours?" I questioned before looking up again. Apparently one of our stalkers saw fit to make himself seen because for a moment I saw a stallion wearing the golden helm of the royal guard poke his head over the edge of a cloud and give me a slow nod before vanishing again.

"It's part of why we moved here." Gilda began to explain. "There's such a large pegasus population that the guard is almost entirely pegasi, and they can keep an eye on us 24/7. Originally we had lived up above, but I started having nightmares about Seth falling off a cloud since he can't fly yet. About a week in we moved down to the surface. It's a bit safer for Seth I think, and the guard is there in case we get attacked. I mean, it's not pleasant to think about but someone might try to get at us again. That's also why we avoided a larger town. We could have gone to Ponyville I suppose, but it's near Canterlot, and it seems like the end of the world happens there once a week. A city of sheep and cows seems ideal and they've long gotten over the whole 'predator' freak out that happened when I first moved in. Helps that Seth is just so cute! He did that thing with the big sad eyes and they all practically melted."

"Sounds like he learned real quick."

"Well, he is your son." Gilda laughed. "In more ways than one I assure you, little gremlin." She shot the fuzzball a glare and he giggled.

"So, here's my favorite dairy store," she motioned to a simple, rustic looking building where I could see a cow passing out cartons of milk and wedges of cheese in exchange for bits. " and here's the clothing store. They mostly sell things like hoof socks, hats, saddles and such, but they've got some skilled weavers in there. We can probably get you some new clothes." She poked my bare chest. After all, my shirt had been ruined, so all I had on was a pair of jeans. I had been wearing hospital clothes the entire time I was there.

"Ahh cra...." I glanced to Seth. "Crud. Speaking of clothes I just remembered I promised to do a modeling gig for Fancypants to pay for the mercenaries I used to distract the army while we escaped. He's probably going to want to collect on that at some point, if I can stop being a string bean and making things explode when I look at them."

"Or shooting lasers out of your mouth when Seth bites your hand?" Gilda chided.

"And that. I have a few ideas on how to deal with that, but they involve me leaving town for a while and, well, I've been gone so long that NO. Just no. I'm not going anywhere for a long time." We arrived at a stall that had a large assortment of fish on it, with a big sign showing a fish on the end of a line. Manning the station was a unicorn stallion wearing a fishing hat.

"Ah! Good morning Gilda! Six perch and a small carton of worms for the young one?"

"Better make it ten. Griffin got out of the hospital and he'll be living with me now."

The stallion looked at me when I noticed something familiar about him.

"Aren't you Rarity's dad?"

"Why yes I am! How'd you know?"

"I saw a picture of you on her table."

"Ah, how is she then?"

"I uh... wouldn't know. It's been about a year since I last saw her."

"Righto. I went to visit her a month or two back."

"If you don't mind me asking... why do you run a fish and bait shop?"

"Well, as you can see by my cutie mark, I used to be an all star hoofball player. Well.. then I got old and I took up fishing as a hobby. Not much you can do to make a living on that, until I moved out here. Pegasi here are less picky than you find out in Cloudsdale, and a good number of them like eatin fish, but most can't catch them, so I do this now. Have to say I like it."

"Alright, well, see you around then."

"Yeah, that'll be 16 bits for the fish, and the worms are free." The stallion leaned over to take a peek at Seth, who chirped happily at the sight. I reached for my pocket when I realized I didn't have any money, though Gilda had already taken out a pouch of bits and paid him. I felt uncomfortable at that.

"I need a job." I announced to Gilda once we finished breakfast.

"I agree. I work the spinning wheel over at the Sweatershop..." She said, which sounded far too close to 'sweat shop' for my taste. "but it would be nice to bring in some extra bits. I've gotta get ready for work. I bring Seth with so I can keep an eye on him, and he likes to play with the sheep and spare balls of yarn. He's 'quality control' they called it. If the wool and cotton can't survive baby griffin claws then it's not good enough to make clothing out of. I think they just wanna see him be adorable all tied up in string but I'll take it."

"Well, I should probably try and find someplace that's hiring." Preferably somewhere not surrounded by flammable things. My first thoughts went to Rarity's father. Thanks to that bit of 'networking' I did earlier, aka small talk, I felt certain I could get a position if he had one available.

"Sorry there Griffin, but I already catch more than I sell. If I had a position available you'd have it, but I'm just not lookin to expand right now."

"Ah, well, thanks anyways."

"Don't look so down. I hear the dairy across the street is hiring."

"Thanks, I'll check it out."

I walked away from the fishing shack and crossed the street towards a barn with a dairy shop in front of it, and a 'Help Wanted' sign. I approached the proprietor and inquired about the position. A tan coloured earth pony stallion was manning the stall, being yelled at by a mare for some reason or another. It seemed to be a normal occurrence because he just took it in stride and nobody on the street paid any attention to the commotion.

"Um... excuse me. I'm here about the job?" I asked quietly, not really wanting to interrupt the apparently furious mare and bring her wrath on myself.

"Oh. Uh..." He looked at me suspiciously. Obviously a human isn't all that common a sight. "Good. We could use the help. You'll be..."

"Oh hello deary!" The mare, now suddenly cheerful, cut the stallion off. "Finally! We could use some help around here! Since my oaf of a husband accidentally bruised one of the cows with his blundering hooves, they're not takin all that kindly to him milkin em. Follow me 'round back, I'll get ya started."

"How much does the job pay?"

"Well, it's 11 bits a..." The stallion started.

"It's 13 bits an hour." The his wife interrupted, glaring at her husband. He nudged her for a moment and they began to whisper among themselves.

"Is.... much... 11... fine." He muttered.

"Need the help.... seen his hands?"

"Fine.... 13... higher." He relented.

"Alright, 13 bits an hour, if they take a liking to ya." He stated aloud.

"Follow me around back dearie. My name's Milky Way" The mare motioned and walked into the barn. I went after her. First thing I noticed was the smell. It was a building full of cows. I mean, these cows used toilets in proper bathrooms instead of shitting in a trough or on the ground like earth cows... but they were still COWS. So yeah. They smelled of hair and flatulence. It took a great deal of mental effort to not recoil at the stench. The mare showed me to a stool beside one of the cows and had me sit down.

"Well? What are you waitin for? Introduce yourself!"

"Uh... Hello. I'm Griffin."

"Yoooo mean THE Griffin? Ooh! Ladies! I'm about too be milked by a famooooos person!" All the others turned their heads to look. Having all eyes on me did not help with my confidence in this task, which I'd never done before. "My names Marlene. Nice to meet yooou. Since this is your first time, I'll walk you through it."

"Uh. Okay." Who knows. Maybe this won't be that hard. If Marlene's willing to work with me on this, it might be relatively simple. "So, first, put your hoove... her, hands on my udders, just one at a time, and ooh! not too tight. Don't want to pinch em. Yes.. there, just like that, now give a gentle tug." So... I followed her directions.

"Uh.. is that right?" A squirt of milk went into the bucket below.

"Oh MOOoooooo.. Yes, just like that." So... I continued milking her, all the while her mooing became louder and more... moan like. "Oooh.. your hands are so smooth, nuthin like those pony hooves. Oooh. Just like that... Don't stop! MOOOOOOO." Fifteen minutes of this before I finally emptied her udders entirely and she was ready to leave.

"Thank yooouu very moouch." Marlene turned to face me. "I'll be back this evenin. I hope to see you again." With that, she gave me a wink.

I turned to the Milky Way who had been watching my progress, then to the large lineup of cows all giving me bedroom eyes.

"And.... I'm done here." The cows all moo'd in disappointment as I left the barn and found the nearest bathroom.

20 minutes later, Milky way came into the bathroom, concerned that I was still in there. She found me viciously scrubbing my hands, a mass of suds going all the way up to my elbows.

"Clean... clean... have to get clean... never be clean again...... clean..." I could just hear the lusty moo's ringing in my ears, making me cringe and my whole body spasm awkwardly. "Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu."

So, after that horrifying experience, I decided to drop by the local clothing store to see about ordering some new clothes. I couldn't just wear the same pair of pants every day. At that point I realized something. I have hands. Most sewing is done by unicorns. I have HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDS. Even if I was a griffin at the time, I'd have claws, which are still infinitely more dexterous than hooves. Why then, have I not been making my OWN clothing? Because I don't know how to knit, sew, or work a loom. Which means that getting a job at a place where you work a loom to make cloth, then stitch and sew that cloth into clothing would be killing two birds with one stone. The only issue is finding someone to take on an apprentice who knows nothing about making clothes.

Dear Rarity,

How have you been? It's been a while since we last spoke. I've found myself in a bit of trouble. It's a long story, but the short of it is I need to learn how to sew, and to design my own clothes. I cannot think of anyone better to teach me than you. Who knows? Maybe I'll make a bit of money as well. If you'd be willing to teach me, I'd be glad to learn. The only issue is transportation. Since I'm missing a wing at the moment, it'll take me a while to go between Wingsconsen and Ponyville. Under different circumstances I'd move back in with you, but I'm simply not willing to leave Gilda and Seth, I've missed them too much already. Still, I intend to come for a visit to see if we can work something out.

Sincerely, Griffin.

Author's Notes:

Notice me, Rarity Senpai!