As soon as Grif blew into Tex's mouth, her eyes shot wide open and she instinctively rolled out of the way and began gagging. While she did that, Grif let out a violent shudder and trotted up to the bed and resumed his eating. Once Tex had finished nearly throwing up, she squinted at Grif and began walking towards him. As she neared him, her eyes darted to the other side of the fire. She sighed and walked next to it, then sat on the grass near the fire where the snow had melted to dry off. She watched silently as Grif munched on cookies, paying her no attention.
"Why'd you save me?" Tex asked flatly.
"Yeah. You're welcome." Grif mumbled sourly, not turning to look at her.
Tex looked back to the fire and the pair sat in silence for a few minutes while Grif ate. In the throne room, the girls stared at Grif, slack jawed. They knew there was no love between them, nor even the slightest bit of respect. Even Caboose tilted his head at the sight. Church, however, stared silently, eyes darting between Grif and Tex.
"Church, it's okay, he just saved her, that's all." Twilight assured him, but he paid no heed. "Church?"
"I think he seems to be enjoying it." Discord noted as Church started to smile.
"How can't I? Now I have something to blackmail both of them with once they beat your little game."
"Oh?" Discord asked with a strained chuckle. "Being open minded now, are we?"
"The only time someone should be an optimist is when there's nothing left to do."
"Who's Kaikaina?" Fluttershy asked, watching Grif as he ignored Tex.
"His sister."
"Oh, okay." Fluttershy nodded gratefully, then cleared her throat and stared at Discord.
"Come now, Fluttershy. Do you really think he really save her with the kindness of his heart? Didn't you notice how he saved her under the pretense of him thinking she was his sister? No, Grif's scenario has only just begun, along with Tex's." Discord said, looking into the sphere to resume watching them.
"So." Tex coughed when she had dried off. "What do we do now?"
"We?" Grif asked with a harsh laugh, now looking at her. "If you think I'm going to go anywhere with you, you have another thing coming. I saved you and that's all you're getting. But me? I'm going to sit here and keep eating."
"Come off it. You know you have to keep going." Tex growled. "You need me to be able to get anywhere."
"Yeah, but on my own time. And not with a complete bitch, also known as you."
"Right, well maybe I wouldn't be a bitch if all of you were somewhat useful."
"You're right, saving you was useless." Grif said as he rolled his eyes. "I should have just let you sink. Would have been less of a hassle on my part and I wouldn't have to be talking to you right now."
"That's because you knew that it would be easier for you if I was here. Besides, I'm not that bad."
"You're not that bad? You're fucking horrible. The reason I saved you was just a fluke. I saved you because I remembered my sister and how much I care about her, but once I got you out of the water I saw it was you. Even though I knew it was you at that point, I still fucking saved you. And you know what's funny about that? I expected not to hear a thank you. I expected you to beat me to death for saving your life! Do you know what that says about you? It says that you're not worth saving, but I did anyways, so if you would kindly fuck off and just leave me alone, that'd be great. It would be enough of a thanks and you won't even have to go against your terrible attitude." Grif growled. "And that's me putting it lightly."
As Grif turned around on the bed so his back could warm up, Tex looked back down to the fire and focused on it, watching as it flicked about.
"I have my reasons for being this way." Tex said quietly.
"Sure you do." Grif mumbled sarcastically. "You can go away now and do your little tests. If you see Simmons or Tucker, tell them good luck. If you see Sarge, well, tell him he can fuck off too."
Grif sat on his side, listening to the sound of Tex getting off the ground and the crackle of the flames. Satisfied that she was leaving, he sunk his head further into the pillow and closed his eyes. He then opened his eyes several seconds later when he heard Tex cough, just to find her standing in front of him.
"What?" Grif asked, closing his eyes again.
"Maybe I am a little harsher on you than the others, but you can't say you're a saint either." Tex sighed.
"No, I'm not, but at least I know I'm not a saint."
"Yeah... I guess you do..." Tex nodded, taking a step away from him. "Thanks. For saving me, that is."
"...You're welcome..." Grif muttered reluctantly. With great hesitation, he sat up on the bed and yawned. "Let's get one thing straight, just because you thanked me doesn't mean I like you."
"I was going to say the same thing." Tex smirked at him, then frowned. "Listen, I know I said it would would be better for you if you came with me, but I also think it would better for me if you came with me."
"How do you figure that?"
"Because I'm strong enough to do all the heavy lifting."
"Right, but how could me going with you benefit you? I thought I was a lazy piece of shit."
"You are, but... you seem to have a better grip on things than me." Tex sighed. "Like this place. Or, you know, not the maze, but the place where you're actually staying."
"Maybe saying I have a grip on things is being a little too nice."
"Maybe, but you're closer than I am. I don't fit in well here. Not that I fit well with you guys before, but now this place is all about peace... You know what I've done basically the entire time? I've been sitting in Twilight's little tree-house doing nothing." Tex said with a small, forced laugh. "And let me tell you, I have not really been enjoying it. I mean, Twilight's been trying to make it easier for me, which I guess I am a little happy for, but it hasn't been helping that much. Like this Elements of harmony garbage? I fail at things I'm good at, so I'm not afraid to admit that I'll need more than just determination to actually do well in... well, being nice."
"Nice speech."
"It's true." Tex said quietly. "I actually doubt I'll ever really fit in here."
"For starters you can stop hitting people." Grif muttered.
"How will I explain how I got this?" Tex asked, looking at her skull shaped Cutie Mark.
"Could get a job as a gravedigger." Grif suggested with a smile. "I mean, you might as well be one for all the people you've murdered in cold blood."
"Yeah... I don't think so."
"Well, you can't use magic so being a crazy ass necromancer wouldn't make any sense either." Grif grunted, then shrugged after a few seconds. "I guess you don't really have to think of that now. So what should we do now?"
"I don't know, just keep going I guess. This guy seems insane, but he also does it because he enjoys chaos. He wouldn't put our objective too far away from us, especially in a maze. It would make it too boring to watch." Tex scowled.
"Well, as long as it's not too far, I can go." Grif sighed as he hopped off his bed. He looked back at the tray, where a fresh stack of oreos was already awaiting him. He then grabbed the plate with his teeth and put it on his back, then nodded at Tex. "Let's go."
"That's the spirit." Tex rolled her eyes as he walked next to her. "Can't forget the cookies..."
"Hey, don't get me wrong, not hitting people is a good start, but there is probably a bit more you could do to fit in."
"What did you have in mind?"
"You can stop being a cunt."
"Don't push it."
Hilariousness will undoubtedly ensue. I wonder how many nutshots there are going to be.
Grif and Tex. Heretics.
want!!!! More ball kicking!!!!!
wtf? where'd my comment go?
Tes's cutie mark is he freelancer logo. That took a loooooooooooooooooooong time.
1495918
Not sure if you got the memo, but I delete any comments that say first.
Heh, looks like Fluttershy has been rubbing off on Grif. He's displaying a fair bit of kindness.
1495919 *Cough*Tex*Cough*
1495918. You sir got trolled by our overlord Darkwing.
This was a slightly moving chapter with the character development between Tex and Grif. I can only wonder what would become of Simmons or Sarge.
wait....is this tex the real tex that is also within the maze, or is she a fabrication just meant for grif's senario?
1496177 thats a very good question
all this kindness and friendship makes me want my RvB hero: North Dakota, i know hes not having a chance at coming before book 2 and in RvB he's dead but so are the fragments . i like him everything about him, the skill with a sniper rifle to Theta, to purple Armour, to bubble shield. so basically:
I WANT NORTH DAKOTA, AND I WANT HIM NAOW!!!!
can we see how ponyville is doing spisificly Delta Omega and Theta
Sigma's a jerk teaming up with discord and convincing him alpha is chaotic
So. cant say first eh? ok ill say this once and only once(hopefully) *gasp* LAST!!!
And now im screwed
THE UNSTOPPABLE DUO OF TEX AND GRIF!!!
this cannot end well.
YES YES YES YES YES! I KNEW IT! Tex did shit bricks.
what the i never...wait in retrospect that was incredibly bad wording i meant first time managing to stay up lol
this... may actually end well... Go figure.
1496714
I agree, I bet her scenario is not to kick the shit out of grif....
Kinda mushy I really wanted him to take a. Crotch shot
1496714
Ah okay thanks
1496184
soone siad they as they belive its the real tex
1498948 o ok I guess it is I just thought It was 1 character per test
How about this Tex: Why don't you FAIL at being BAD at the things you're bad at?
1499263 took me a couple seconds...
Great loophole!
1500414>>1499263
Because that is a paradox.
If she purposely tries to fail so she can succeed she will fail because she's failing on purpose to succeed, so all she will do is fail at failing to gain success and never succeed.
1500457
Bummer...
1500457
ummmmmmm... could someone explain thisfor me
1894022 y'know Tex will fail at everything right? so if she DECIDES to FAIL on whatever she's trying to do, she will succeed on her original plan. but seeing as she fails at everything, she'll also fail at failing because she's trying to succeed by doing it
if that makes even more sense..
You all know that after this he will be keeping the plate of endless Oreos.