Growl
As I stood on the top deck by the railing, leaning my head back to look at the moon upside down, when the little yellow pegasus walked towards me. I had seen her talking with the captain, and he thought she was alright, so I guess I could talk to her, if she wants. She's one of the ponies I thought I'd get along with. Mostly because she's quiet. I don't like loud things. It's why the captain put me in charge of the Romak. They were quiet. They were strong. They know what it means to be still. Not like that yapping Etch. I had worked next to him for seven years, and never once did he shut up. Still, sometimes he was good company, and in the mines as a slave you take what you can get. We were treated considerably better than the pony slaves, as well as a number of griffin slaves I had seen before we were sent to the jungle border. After all, we were still diamond dogs. I never understood why the alphas hated the other races so much. When I asked why we didn't just hire them and pay some gems instead of making them slaves and having to guard them, he grabbed my tongue and threatened to cut it off. My father was not the most lenient of dogs.
That's right, I forgot to mention, my father was the former alpha, before he got killed anyway. He was so disappointed that I didn't have the same trait. Sure, I was taller and stronger than the other pups, but I was nowhere near alpha level. He spoke with nothing but disdain for me. It's his damn fault I wasn't born like that, not mine. Anyway, just because I don't talk much, doesn't mean I'm stupid. I'm a thinker. It's just that thinkers in diamond dog packs tend to get into trouble. You're supposed to leave the thinking to the alphas, which I was not. Then again, I partly am. I am, but I am not. Too confusing.
The pegasus came closer, very slowly, very quietly, hoping not to disturb me. I'll just let her do what she likes.
"Um... hello?" She asked carefully. I blew out through my mouth, the vapor turning into a cloud in the cold night air above the sea. She backed away slightly, timid little thing. I let myself slide into sitting position, against the railing. Seeing that as her invitation, she approached and sat down next to me. We both sat there for what felt like an hour, before I finally spoke up.
"You, don't have to sit here if you don't want to."
"Oh, um, I'm sorry, am I bothering you?" She asked, hoping I wasn't offended.
"No, not at all, it's just you don't need to spare any concern for me."
"Oh, well, okay."
We simply sat there for several minutes more, gazing off into nowhere. She began to sing softly to herself, however, with my ears, I was of course, able to hear it. After all, we diamond dogs have much better hearing than ponies, and considering my father was an alpha, I had inherited that trait more strongly.
The meadowlarks sing,
The bells start to ring,
the beat of my heart,
the painter, his art,
the wind and the clouds,
whisper, no-ne too loud,
of nature's secret joy
The rabbits dance,
the gaz-elle prance,
the fish which swim
and on a whim,
I join their song
and all along
the whole world plays, it's symphony,
but only to those, who lend their ear,
it says to open, eyes and see
that mother is here, and nothing's to fear.
She finished, and gave a sigh to herself.
"That was very beautiful." She practically jumped.
"Oh, um, I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd...." She stammered.
"Hear it? My ears can hear the flap of a butterfly's wings, and do not be sorry, I enjoyed it. Far to often we rush through the world, and forget to be a part of it." When I said that, she suddenly came to realize something, what it was, I do not know, but she moved herself closer to me. She didn't even flinch when I brought my right arm up to run my claws though her mane.
"Um, I hope you aren't offended but, the way you spoke before, it gives off the impression that you're......"
"Uneducated? I know. For a long time, I have spoken that way. I am an.... abnormal diamond dog. A thinker. Thinking is not appreciated among the packs. Unthoughtful loyalty to the pack leader, unquestioningly doing what you are told. I speak in broken sentences to give the illusion that I am stupid, so that I fit in. Although I no longer must speak that way, it became a force of habit for me."
"That must be awful." She looked at me with those big blue eyes, which felt like they bored into the very soul, while at the same time not intruding at all.
"It's strange, I wanted to be an artist. I would find myself absentmindedly forming things from clay, drawing, painting if I could. Of course, I was supposed to just dig for gems, but I always found a way to put just a little bit of artistic flare in that drab cave. I also wanted to leave and see the surface world. Oh, father had a fit when he found out." I gave a low laugh, and she smiled sweetly. I gently moved my arm and pulled the little pony closer to me.
"I was supposed to grow up and handle the weather. All pegasi are supposed to help with the weather, but I couldn't fly to save my life. Literally. I fell off a cloud one day all the way to the ground, where I was saved by a swarm of butterflies. Imagine everypony's surprise when they found out that, as a pegasus, my special talent was helping animals which lived on the ground. Of course, my parent's couldn't have been prouder, and helped me settle in to my ground life right away, but the others.... well.... we're supposed to fly and help with weather, but I didn't. So, I guess that made me a little separate from them. It was okay, because I was shy anyway, and they would always tease me because of that. My animal friends never tease.... well, except Angel bunny, but, he's a bit different than normal." She explained a little sad, and a little shy, although a lot more open than when I had first seen her.
"Tease? A sweet and kind pony like you? Who would dream of doing such a thing?" She blushed slightly. Suddenly, it wasn't so cold out here anymore. Well, it was a summer ocean breeze after all. I slid all the way down so I was laying on the deck, and she blushed a bit before laying down beside me. We each curled ourselves up to conserve warmth, our backs to each other, kindred spirits, before she nodded off to sleep. I noticed the butterflies on her flank, and her gentle snoring, inaudible to anyone else.
"Flap of a butterfly's wings indeed."
And a one, and a two, and a one, two, three
D'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
I hadn't gone into Growl's personality much, as for why he's the way he is. So I decided to give it a little bit. I wrote that song just now. Do you like it? Third update of Griffin today, why are ponies so addicting?
Great new chapter and btw FIRST!!!
536312 Haha I suggest another good idea into a story. The success has been doubled!!
536497 His adorability levels are dropping! Quick! Nurse! Get me thirty CC's of FLTSHY, Stat! *BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP* Damn, we lost another one to D'awww attacks. This is the third one this week.
536517 Was already planning this, you just read my mind....... A-freakin-gain.
Really like the song...
Daaayyyyyuuuummmm son, 3 chapters in one day.
*clap* *clap* *clap*
best story ever
536536 WHY MUST YOUR WRITING BE LIKE A DRUG?! Very enjoyable....
Seriously, Blackwing. You're faster than a hummingbird on amphetamines. It's insane. It takes me an hour to get 200 words into a coherent form, and you churn out thousands of words like it's nothing while maintaining a great story.
I must find out how to take your powers...
My friend says I'm so hipster because I read this when it had 11 views.
536591 forty three thousand, six hundred and seventy six. Wow.... that's pretty.... high.....
536578
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! Do you have what it takes to defeat him?
I hope we get to see Growl and Fluttershy together some more in the future. They seem almost perfect together.
Oh my god, Growl and Fluttershy? I didn't saw that one coming SERIOUSLY, caugh me off guard.
And you know? I LOVED IT, ITS JUST GENIOUS! Maybe is not turning in that way, but i'm still impressed at the way you are taking this fic, the characters tough, i would like to see more of gilda.
I GOT A IMAGINARY HAT, AND I TOOK IT OFF FOR YOU. Respect for you.
wow. amazing character development. :O
LOTSA CHAPTERS. PONEES ART ADDICTING. D'AAW.
also, HAPPY 40th chapter!
These small side stories is a great way to keep from burning your self out as well as add backround to the characters and story while keeping readers happy. Sorry for stating the obvious but I have no words worthy of your art.
536708
What are you talking about, the link to the person's comment is broken.
Well, there goes my Growl is going to be a traitor or spy theory right out the window
536781
ell it seems knight removed it by the end of April since it was there the last time i checked.
536789 Are you a spy?
No, I'm just quiet.
To be fair, I was thinking of possibly having him be a spy, but I decided against it.
536536 Don't worry this is only the third. A four d'awww death is rare
536565 "Oh look my slow clap processors got into this thing, so at least we still have that."
536867 But, what if it happens? What if we have a full blown D'awww outbreak on our hooves..... oh muffin crumbs, I did it again! Lately, I've been thinking in pony terms more than human terms. I guess that means I'm a brony?
536882 IT MEANS THE DEVICE WORKS YES AHAHAHA SOON I SHALL OPEN THE PORTAL TO EQUESTRIA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
how do you get this stuff out so fast?
can you stop time or something when you write
536801 What do you mean look for G1 on the bottom of the page, I don't see anything
536911
Knighty removed it.
it was a setting that changed all capitlized mane 6 characters to the 80's cartoon names.
536895 Za Warudo! Okay, time to type. Ah crap, it doesn't recognize my keystrokes.
I have found our doctor.
urbantitan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/leshy-tm.jpg
It's a leshy.
536927I'm a semi-newfag to fimfic ( about 3 months now ), who is Knighty?
536946
Co-Creator of Fimfiction, and you have been here longer than me, actually.
536943 Nope, I don't think so.
I realy like how you're setting this up like a chain of events, and not just the same scenes just witnessed for different perspectives like copy off, paste on, copy off, paste on ("now, Blackwing-san. I'll show you....".
536954
How do you know this? Well actually when I think about it, I only come here to read 5 good fics I found and fav'ed and only check every day at about 11:00 to see if any updated. I only ever do anything else if I finish one of those 5 or I am unsatisfied with the current ones. This one is probably the best one of the 5 I have now.I don't know or see anything posted by creators/moderators/etc.
537010
i tend to learn things quickly, a perk of living a bit like the main character of this story, just with a hell of alot less actual fighting. i have time alone in the backyard with my arsenal of homemade wooden weapons and trees to practice on.
536493 I was wondering where I'd see you next
I like Growl.
Is it a bad thing that I am about to hit 14,000,000 words read over 16 weeks. does this make me a brony?
Its nice to see this charecter get some development.
This realm's fluttershy says yay.
[Yay.
{Yay indeed.
FLUTTERSHY :l
That was cool, now I have a understanding as to why Growl is like that. He should be allowed to practice his artistic ability (just for fun). At first I thought he was quiet because he was going to betray them in the long run.
I need moar CRACK!
*ehrm*
I mean ponies...
*shifty eyes*
I now have a better understanding of why Grow acts the way he does. and also when you showed us the concept art i was thinking to myself, my my... doesn't Growl look like an alfa...hmmm :/
i had a d'awww attack
well its official this is better that ascended and monster
sorry
538779 What do I care, I wrote both! And I agree, this is much better. Ascended and monster were my first tries at story writing, and now that they're done, I know what I'm doing with writing, and this fic is turning out REALLY good.
Ponies are addicting because they are more awesome then we could ever be, thanks to magic and Rainbow Dash.
537157
Your name seems very familiar, but I can't name you off the top of my head, where have I seen you before?
536930 dryad nimph other tree folk oh these are Ideas for doctors well speciesw I'm to lazy to design a personality and such
539844 I already have my idea. I know what I'm going to do. Someone gave me an email with an idea, and I happen to like it. So unless something drastic changes my mind, I'll be going with a (Censored to preserve plot) doctor.
536892 When will the portal be operational and where do I meet you to use it?