//------------------------------// // Challenge // Story: Mass Effect: Element of Kindness // by CommanderApplejack //------------------------------// Chapter 159 Challenge "You are familiar with this Equestrian, Gilda?" The elderly leader of the group asked sternly, Gilda grimaced in response. "I do, grandpa. She's an old classmate from my time in Cloudsdale," Gilda answered with a deepening frown. "That is correct, we had a mutual friend in flight school," Fluttershy added. "My name is Fluttershy." "Call me Grandpa Gruff or just Gruff, it's what these knuckleheads do." He pointed at the group surrounding them, falling into a momentary coughing fit. "On the topic of your family, mister Gruff, you are related to Gabriella?" "She's part of the family, yes," He replied in the affirmative. "After having had someone check up on her I am happy to have her under your princesses care, it's an honour knowing a family member to have such an important role for your kind. The pay sounds great too." "She'll have a very important role indeed, But not just for our kind," Fluttershy replied, ignoring the bit about pay as the group surrounded them while they walked deeper into the city. "With what's coming our way she might very well be instrumental even." "That it may indeed, Princess Celestia's warnings should be taken with the utmost seriousness after all. It is also why you are here now too of course." One of the griffins in the retinue huffed, getting the attention of the elder. "If you have something to say then speak." "What is a pony going to help us with? They're not fighters," the griffin growled. "You might be surprised," Fluttershy flatly stated, content to leave it at that herself but the griffin's view was obviously different on that matter. "Oh yeah? How about you prove it then?" he said drawing his sword, the other griffins took some distance from him and made sure no other griffin would interfere. Fluttershy could see Gilda glance at her with a look of trepidation as she looked over to Grandpa Gruff. "Hey, he challenged you, not me," the elder shrugged. "You can just give up, pony, no-one here would be surprised," the challenging griffin taunted as he started circling predatorially. Fluttershy passively followed his movements, looking fairly unimpressed at him. Gilda offered Fluttershy her own sword so she had at least something to duel her opponent with but the pegasus refused it. "Or you could put away that blade before I hurt you with it," Fluttershy replied, the temperature seemed to drop several degrees as both she and the griffin had icy expressions on their faces. They silently circled each other, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike. The griffin decided the moment he had the sun at his back was his opportunity and charged forward. Fluttershy in a lightning fast motion activated the omni-blade around her foreleg and dove out of the way, cutting at the griffin's claw and making him drop his sword. Snatching up the metal weapon she got onto her hind leg and aimed the pointy end in his direction. "Still don't want to call it quits? My threat still stands," Fluttershy taunted with a smile on her lips. In a roar of anger the griffin charged again, the pegasus having but a fraction of a second to dodge. Using the sword, she managed to cut one of his hind legs but in the process also had the weapon flung from her hooves. Instead of going after his sword the griffin jumped on Fluttershy instead, trying to dig his claws into her through the futuristic materials that made up her armor. "I'm going to tear that cocky grin right off your face!" He growled raising a claw to add to the scarring on Fluttershy's exposed head. Not having it, Fluttershy bucked up with her hind legs and flung him off of her, smoothly rolling over and reversing the position. "Stay down before you really piss me off," Fluttershy growled as she was holding him down. He of course completely ignored her, grabbing her by the hair and smashing her muzzle into the pavement before pushing her off and grabbing his sword. Fluttershy saw red as she faced off with him again, blood dripping down from her nose as she lit her wings and tossed a singularity the griffin's way. It wasn't a powerful enough one to to rend him in half, she was trying to teach him a lesson not murder him after all, but enough to be lift him off the ground. "I said..." Grabbing a hold of him with biotics she waited for the singularity to run its course. "STAY-" as the biotic black hole disappeared she rammed her opponent into the ground so hard he bounced. "-DOWN!" Holding him in a biotic field he simply couldn't move anymore as Shy approached him. "I... yield..." He gasped with the last bit of air in his lungs, Fluttershy let her biotics fizzle out immediately and opened her omni-tool's medical scanner to check on his injuries. "Don't start fights that are out of your league," she simply warned him as she jabbed him with medi-gel to heal all the cracked and broken ribs she detected. Turning back to Grandpa Gruff she wiped away the blood from her nose and gave him a smile. "We were discussing the matter of Princess Celestia's warning?" she casually stated, Grandpa Gruff fell into a bout of loud laughter as he was addressed. "See this?! This is what a real warrior looks like." He looked at all of his retenue one by one. "Not the pathetic excuse you all seem to be!" He fell into another coughing fit as they all looked away in shame. "Now back to the matter you came here to discuss, Celestia's letter said something about an underground base like the one your kind found on your land." "Indeed, we found records in that place that seem to indicate that another base is located to the east of here," Fluttershy told him. "Is there anything out there that could give us a clue?" "Thunder's peak," Gilda answered without hesitation, Fluttershy looking at her in surprise. "What's that?" "A cursed place," Grandpa Gruff growled. "If that's where your're going to look I suggest going back to Equestria, that way you'll at least still be useful." "What's so bad about that place?" Fluttershy pushed. "Everygriff who goes there and looks around those caves never comes back," Gruff told her. "Not in one piece at least, sometimes they find bits after they go looking," Gilda added with a shiver. That's... mildly terrifying. Yet I did come her with a task but is it really worth losing my hide over? I could focus more on Amethyst that way... but the potential of finding new gear is great as well, though I might need a griffin if this base was built by them... 1. Return to Canterlot. 2. Go to Thunder's peak alone. 3. Take Gilda with to Thunder's peak. [Vote link]