The knights had escorted the new visitor to the barracks, where Commander Minty Breath waited stoically. She gazed over the ram-goat hybrid warily.
"A lot of ponies are interested in you." She stated.
"I would expect so. From what I hear, I'm the only outsider from a civilised region to have visited your charming city in quite some time." Groger replied off-handedly.
"Not only are the populace gossiping about you, but the Union would like to speak with you." From his quizzical look she clarified. "They are our leaders, our governing body. Much like you act as king towards your own people but far less...archaic."
"I'm very interested in meeting with them as well, since I'm assuming they will ultimately decide the fates of my prisoners."
Her eyes narrowed. "What crime did these 'flutterponies' commit? Why do you want them back so much?"
Groger gazed steadily at her. "They are vile criminals I wish to see brought to justice, and since they have wronged me and my kingdom, I feel it is my duty to personally ensure they serve their time. As for their crime, well, they have committed high treason, and as it stands as long as they remain free, I fear for my life and the lives of others, especially your own people."
Her eyes widened slightly. "They are that dangerous?"
His lips thinned as he looked at her with utmost seriousness. "As it stands currently, yes."
"Be that as it may," she said, "we still have to wait till they wake up to hear their side of the story, and we have no idea how long that will take. However, we will be cautious and have guards standing closely at all times until they awaken."
He smiled. "I am willing to wait as long as it is required. Now if you don't mind, I would wish to speak to those that are known as 'Unicorns'."
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Razzle sighed. The knights were probably furious she had wasted their time, especially since a stranger from another land had to help instead.
She was intrigued by the mysterious outsider. Much like everyone else, she had assumed that no other civilisations had existed outside the Kingdom. But this 'Groger's' very existence has unearthed some intriguing possibilities.
Of course, any questions would have to wait. After all,it was likely the knights and the high ranking wizards were going to come and reprimand her for her actions.
She was waiting outside one of the wizarding community towers, nervous, scared to move in, until she saw someone approach fom the corner of her eyes. She turned to look, and saw it was Groger himself. She fought to compose herself, despite her excitement mixed with her nervousness and worry.
"Greetings, traveller from beyond our civilisation." She greeted stoically, giving him a stately bow.
Groger nodded. "It is rare to see one so young treat someone of my stature with the proper respect."
"I am a Unicorn, we all strive to present ourselves in a higher regard than others." She blinked. "What do you mean, 'of your stature'?"
"Surely you have heard, I am a king, a ruler of my entire land, and of my people."
Her eyes widened at that. "So...you are like the Union Councillors?"
He nodded. "Similar, but I dare not bore with the trivial details and differences. I am much more interested in meeting you and your kind. I have heard that all Unicorns can perform magic from birth, is this true?"
She nodded. "However, we need a long time of studying to learn the appropriate spells and skills needed to become a full-fledged wizard." She turned to the tower. "The six towers that surround the Senate are used to house every Unicorn citizen, as well as teach the young and unskilled."
He stared at her slightly. "So, your kind can perform magic, but do not gain mastery upon birth? I had heard that Unicorns were born with great power and skill."
She laughed at that. "Oh excuse me, but its not that simple. Not only do we need to learn several spells to prove ourselves as true Unicorns, but we can't simply memorise every spell in existence. Most of us learn a select amount and use books as reference guides for more complex magic."
Groger smirked slightly. "I myself am quite gifted in magic. In fact, in my younger days, I was known as a prodigy."
She gasped. "B-but you are not a Unicorn!"
He laughed. "For creatures like us, the gift of magic requires but two things, great knowledge, and a horn. Due to my heritage, I was gifted with four horns, granting me superior magical ability and affinity than most others."
"You must show me!" She pleaded. "I would love to see your skills!"
"I will do more than show you, I will teach you what I know. I am correct in assuming you are a student?"
She looked down. "Y-yes, I am, my Master is out of town at the moment, I know not what he is doing...Are you sure you can teach me? I'm...not the ebt student, regardless what anyone says..."
Groger leaned in close to her and gave a small grin. "My dear, you sell yourself short. Among my many skills, I have the ability to measure one's magical ability from simple sight. You, my young Unicorn, have quite a fair deal of untapped potential. Come, let me teach you."
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"What the hey were you thinking!?"
Horseshoes grimaced as Green Acre reprimanded her. "I-I didn't think it would be a problem."
He sighed. "Look, I know you didn't mean to, but the way it looks, it looks like you were impersonating a knight, and that's a crime. Not a serious crime, but still a crime. I'll try and blow it over for you and lessen your punishment...again."
"thanks."
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking away. "You know I always got your back sis."
Her eye twitched. "How many times must I tell you not to call me that?"
"All the time. Anyway, since you alerted us to the situation, it'll make convincing a more lenient action towards you much easier. Speaking of, what do you think of our recent visitor?"
She blinked for a few seconds. "Oh, you mean that goat guy? I dunno...He looks kinda creepy, but he knows the two...fugitives I guess we should say."
His eyes narrowed. "Indeed. However, something about him is making me think there's more to it, that he's hiding something. Call it a gut instinct."
She nodded. "Your gut never steered you wrong so far."
"So far. Anyway, until we get things sorted, could you go visit Lickety Split and make sure he's doing alright? And get an update on the Flutterponies."
"Lickety who?"
"The witness, the black Pegasus who found the two 'fugitives'."
"Oh, right. Will do!"
With that, she hastily dashed off to the Pegasus' house without a second thought.
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Razzle Dazzle was giving Groger an in depth tour of the wizard community towers, even showing where the libraries of spell books were and introducing him to many esteemed wizards her Master had introduced her to.
They now stood in a largeish room, reserved for practicing magic in doors. They stood facing each other, Groger frowning sternly.
"Now, I will begin to teach you what I know, but first, allow me to demonstrate my own abilities, as proof of my words." He held up his forelegs, giving the Unicorn a good look at the scaled talons he had instead of hooves or cloves. "I am sure you were curious about these? My mother was a ram and my father was a got, and yet I have the talons of a baby dragon."
Razzle Dazzle looked down. "I-I merely assumed they must have been some form of mutation.."
"Nay, it is merely powerful magic, transformation magic, or alteration magic as more...snobbish people would say. It took many years of practice, but I am able to perform it permanently, and alter my body at a whim. Watch."
She watched, wide eyed as two of his horns glowed and then his body turned to gold and he walked around her, smirking. "As you can see, I am quite healthy."
"Teach me! Teach me!" She pleaded, forgetting herself in her excitement.
"No, it is too difficult for one so young, I will however teach you spells that most would deem are far beyond your level, I however believe you'll take to them like a fish in water."
She nodded eagerly and he smirked.
"Very well then, first I shall teach you location charms, so you may never get lost or ever lose any items or persons..."
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When Horseshoes entered Lickety Split's house, it was much messier than before. The floor was dirty and covered with cables and cogs and various metals. She blinked when she saw that the unconscious injured creatures had been moved to a larger room, inside which dominated a massive machine that almost filled a good portion of the room. The Flutterponies where positioned on beds inside the machine, Lickety Split standing in front of it wearing a dirty white coat and large goggles.
"What the hey is all this junk?" Horseshoes wondered aloud.
"Junk?" Lickety Split snapped, turning to her. "JUNK!? Zis machine iz a vonder of zcienzzze! A modern miracle that will improve the practices of medicine for generationz to come! How dare you call it mere junk, dumkoff!"
She grimaced, looking at him oddly. "Um...is...Lickety Split here?"
The Pegasus lifted his goggles off and blushed in embarrassement, ruffling his feathers as his wings jittered a little. "Oh sorry...I'm a bit of mechanic and science buff, mainly the practical side of things, and well...I go a bit...weird when I get into it..."
Horseshoes shook her head. "It's...fine...I guess...Still, why were you talking like that?"
"All great genius' talk like that, it wouldn't be traditional if I hadn't." He stated matter of factly.
Her eye twitched rapidly and she started to sweat a bit. "I...I see..." She quickly decided to change the topic lest she get weirded out any further. "So umm what IS the deal with this...machine? And why are our potential witnesses in it?"
Lickety grinned excitedly. "Oh that's simple! You see, its clear that the main reason they haven't woken up yet is that their bodies are conserving energy to allow them to heal. However, assuming they have greater healing abilities than we do, it will still take a good while and it will not fix their wings. And so!" He donned the goggles again. "I invented...ZE REGENERATOR! Yez, it Vill boozt the healing procezz zo zat, not only vill they heal vizzin hourz razzer zan days, but it vill heal what may be nigh impossible to restore, such as zeir vings!" He took his goggles off again, thinking. "Of course, that is assuming I set everything up right. Still, it'll give them a chance get up and talking much sooner."
Horseshoes grinned wide. "Oh my gosh, that's amazing! Fantastic! How soon can you get it working."
He slumped morosely. "Therein lies the rub...I need a massive source of energy to power the damn thing to the level it needs to, and the best source...no, the only source, is Unicorn magic, released at a constant rate. Sadly, I doubt any of those uppity snobs would even consider it, not to mention most ponies these days thinking what I do is 'unnatural' and 'dishonest'."
Horsehsoes grinned. "Hey, my best friend is a Unicorn, I'll bet she'd be glad to help if I asked!"
"Really?" He asked, eyes wide.
"Sure! Just give me a sec to go fetch her!" And so she ran off without letting him reply.