-The Witch’s Fare, Gallus-
I walked in feeling a bit down that Smolder and Ocellus still haven’t come back, but at least I knew that they were still trying.
“Hello and welcome to… oh Gallus, it’s so good to see you!” Kuril the proprietor stated like she usually does whenever I came to this restaurant. The perky white and gray furred Abyssinian in the robes and pointy hat was the Witch of Good Taste, she hasn’t failed to satisfy a tongue yet. Anyone that tries to pretend otherwise is lying through their teeth as they continue to eat the food here like they were starving. I’m not going to call her out on the addictive qualities of her personal cooking. “Come on, I got a table with your name on it. Are any of your friends coming?”
“Yeah, Stream, Yona and Sand, they’ll be by in a few minutes.” I was quickly seated by the nice lady that had quite the personality, especially if you caught her in one her rare bar fight appearances. I have long since learned that you never leave a chair near a La Perm in a bar fight, the end results are horrifying.
“So-- any thoughts about being another one of my lovable kittens Gallus?” Kuril La Perm was not one to let things go and her smile was hopeful. She wanted me to have a family I could go to for help, to be proud of and would support my every endeavor. She has had several sanity challenging waifs already and loved them dearly, not to mention her own flesh and blood daughter is a piece of work all her own and that’s on top of being a good grandma. I have no idea why she was insistent on treating me like family, but I secretly appreciated it. “I ask, because something certainly seems to have you feeling down. Do you need a hug?”
“We’ll discuss this subject later Kuril and I might even consider taking that hug, at least you’re not like Pinkie Pie and just assume someone wants one without asking. Hey, where’s Gavin?” I was like a big brother for that innocent fluffy ball of a griffon. Said fluff ball was why Kuril kept offering her services as a mother, she reveled in taking care of others and was rather whimsical about it. If anyone causes Kuril’s family any problems, then you would have to deal with a whole family of nutcases that live around this location south of Ponyville. You have to be nuts to live next to Barely Bearable Woods and all the deadly giant flora and fauna therein, some ponies from Ponyville even had the gall to say that this place was tamer than Ponyville when it was just as bad in the insanity department. “The little guy usually comes running when I show up.”
When Gavin grows up he may eventually want to visit Griffonstone, one can only hope that Gilda and Greta will have changed things for the better before he does. I wouldn’t want the kid to see what it was like when I grew up there, heck I’m not going to talk about it in any great light around the kid or even talk about it at all. At least Gabriella Gums, better known as Gabby the most notable motor beak and chipper postal worker of Griffonstone, certainly keeps me up to date with what was barely a home to me.
Ponyville and this place felt more like a home, I would rather think over Kuril’s offer at length and get back to her later. She’s a nice lady, but she’s a bit much to get along with even if she means well.
“Oh he’s busy with an appointment with Dr. Bones today. That’s going to take a while since Silvers is having their checkup today as well and they are going first so it may be a while.” Kuril just shook her head at that.
Given that her grand-kitten was a chimera, they need some form of specialized care with needing a personal doctor that understood their quirky form of fused biology.
Looking over towards the entrance, as I heard familiar stomping noise of a yak of a certain weight, I flagged my friends over to the table Kuril chose for us. Eventually we ordered our drinks and received them, along with menus for today’s specials and whatever else Kuril felt like cooking in bulk today.
We were looking through our menus of the daily offerings and when I went to drink some water, I think I saw a sudden evil smirk cross Kuril’s face. I think it might have been my eyes tricking…
“So… is this a double date I’m seeing today?” Kuril asked innocently and quickly, her tail flicking back and forth with excitement as she clasped her claws together.
I spewed water across the table at Yona and Sandbar, I coughed and sputtered in embarrassment until Silver Stream helped me by patting me on the back to get me breathing correctly and she giggled cutely into her other claw while she was at it.
I glared at the witch and Kuril just smiled innocently at us all.
“Yona think this would be a triple date if Ocellus and Smolder were here… they are currently trapped traveling another dimensions at the moment.” Way to bring the mood down with that reminder Yona. “It is why yak and friends haven’t been feeling too happy lately.”
“Eh, can’t be worse than losing my kitten to Limbo for Five years. The longer it goes on, the likelier the more painful your memories will get. Hold onto them and cherish them with everything you have and trust in them to try and come back!” Kuril stated seriously as she pulled out a note pad and smiled at us. “So what can I get you four lovers? I know that Gallus certainly appreciates having a pretty pink hippogriff at his side.”
“Really Kuril?” I asked with a flat tone as Silver Stream, Yona and Sandbar started laughing.
“Oh come on Gallus, you know she loves to tease you.” Silver Stream, then leaned closer while smiling at me. “Though if you want to make this a double date…”
Silver Stream pecked my cheek and smiled as she went back to her menu, my face felt like it was on fire.
“Ah, young love, it’s so sweet.” Kuril looked towards the kitchen when we all heard a noise. There was the resident assistant chef, a bat pony named Blade Bright, being held in the flailing tentacle of some large monstrous octopus thing and she was stabbing it with two knives repeatedly. “It seems eldritch horrors got into the kitchen again… at least it’s not those turn left signs stealing my rye bread. Excuse me, but this might take a few minutes kids, I’ll be back for your orders soon.”
Kuril rolled up her sleeves and stomped her way towards the kitchen.
-Planet Elhorn, Time: ????, Location: tent, Pom-
Ugh… my head. I sat up slowly and felt awful, I looked at my side to see that I was properly bandaged and so was my poor battered muzzle.
“Huh, oh, you’re awake!” Smolder came into the tent I found myself waking up in and she looked me over. “Need anything, the guys were about to start on breakfast and Ocellus is translating our unique needs to them.”
“How long was I out for?” I grunted and slowly tried to stand almost flopped onto my face, if not for Smolder catching me.
“Careful there, you lost a lot of blood and are still weak. You’ve only been out for about twelve hours, Shanty said it would take you less than a whole day. Now I owe her a few bits when we get back to Equestria…” Yes, Smolder, I’m now quite clearly aware of the fact that I could hardly stand. Though I had to wonder where this tent came from, it wasn’t from our bags or personal supplies. “So do you want the Worst news, the bad news, the good news or the best news for what’s happened recently?”
“Thank you for preempting me, just tell me everything in that exact order.” I had a headache and was quite lightheaded, I tried to steady the spinning room with my right hoof. “I’m not going very far in this state, I need something to drink and eat.”
“Okay worst news is this, the thing that was destroyed… that train? There’s far worse machines than that thing out there if you can believe what Ocellus has been learning from the locals. Said machines are being brought out by the Gedol Empire.” Smolder must have seen the look on my face as she answered the unspoken question. “Apparently the Gedol is the name of the guy behind all those lizards we’ve been facing… and why I got a few awkward looks from the villages. They apparently have frogs, half snake half lizards and other scaly, reptilian or amphibious beings in general under their banner. Not all of said beings agree with them or even like the Gedol Empire and are possibly being forced to work for it from what Ocellus has found out.”
“The bad news?” I was already thinking that I suffered some sort of permanent injury.
“We’re actually in the middle of a contested zone at the moment and things aren’t going so hot when it comes to fighting the machines they deploy that are like the ones we've already seen.” That… was very worrying Smolder. “We should be fine though, considering that a famous hero of the kingdoms just blew through here and took out a majority of the Gedol Empire’s mechanical offensive power in this region. He left soon after destroying that monstrous train and took the time to converse with Ocellus over a few things. Guy sounded busy as he’s searching for six magical swords, which honestly sounds like more Elements of Harmony stuff, so he can defeat the evil sorcerer Emperor Gedol who is threatening to take over this whole world.”
“Okay, with all that horrible stuff aside… what’s the good news in all of this?” Especially if we’re in a contested zone, I really don’t think we were safe. “How far have we gone exactly?”
“We’re still next to the train tracks where the fight took place, its good news that we have a contingent of Zephyrus, Eginasem and Zebulos soldiers helping the raccoons back to their homes after they helped with seeing to your wounds. They had to leave quickly as they very well couldn’t leave those children alone in the mountain village, the soldiers are also taking back the supplies for the people and a little bit for the war effort as needed.” Well that is somewhat comforting Smolder, unless these soldiers are about as effective as the royal guards of Canterlot. “So we’re currently in the camp they quickly set up and you’re being hailed as a hero for holding the train off as long as you did. As for the best news, while your injury was pretty bad and one of your internal organs was slightly nicked, it wasn’t really debilitating in any permanent fashion aside from the large amount of blood loss you suffered. We also know the magic we’re going to need to get us out of this world and hopefully home… I’m not holding my breath even if it will be third times the charm.”
“Really, we know how to leave this world already?” I perked up and then wilted as Smolder frowned and looked away while flexing her wings a bit in agitation.
“Yeah… about that. Until the Gedol Empire is put down we won’t be able to leave, of the few active magic users three of them are the princesses of the kingdoms I mentioned.” Smolder stated with a hint of annoyance. “One of them is currently being held by Gedol’s forces and is slowly being moved towards the capital of the empire.”
“Let me guess… we need those three princesses working together for the dimensional portal spell, or at the very least all of them focusing on our plight alongside a few other small details?” I received a pointed claw and a nod from Smolder. “Otherwise they will mostly be using their magic in the defense of the realm on a war time footing… well joy.”
“Exactly, which is why we’re going to be stuck here for a while.” After saying that Smolder sat down next to me. “How are you feeling Pom?”
“How do you think I feel?” I grunted and clutched at my side. “I’m feeling rather pathetic, I couldn’t even slow that machine down for very long by myself.”
Arizona would have torn that thing in half with raw force. Velvet could have iced it over until it was brittle. Tianhuo would have melted it with raw fury. Paprika would have just hugged it. Oleander would have ripped it apart with dark magic. I really shouldn't be making comparing myself to them, but it's kind of hard not to.
“Don’t talk and feel that way about yourself Pom, you did more than anyone could have asked of you! I certainly didn’t expect you to actually try and take the fight to that thing, even then you still successfully kept its attention on you the entire time and you succeeded in keeping it distracted until it was taken down.” Ocellus stepped into the tent and Dodo poked his head in after her, Dodo pulled his head out when Shanty called out to him. “I couldn’t do anything at all thanks to all that malice in the air, it was almost acting like a slow acting poison to me and I was being absolutely suffocated by it. The best I could do was watch you struggle against it and relay how you were doing to Shanty, Smolder and Dodo as they freed the people in the train cars. I couldn’t even use my emotional sensory abilities to tell which cars had people in them, it was so horrible Pom! If anyone should be feeling useless, then it should be me, I couldn’t do anything. So don’t demean your accomplishments!”
Smolder started hugging and, obviously enough, feeding Ocellus love as she nuzzled her neck affectionately making her smile weakly.
I didn’t say anything and looked away.
“Yeah, Ocellus couldn’t do much other than watch, that machine reeked of evil and I didn’t even know that was a smell I could identify until now. I’m highly magic resistant and even I could feel that something was wrong with that thing.” Everyone and anyone with even a small sense of decency who saw that ‘thing’ would agree to that sentiment Smolder. “Apparently some of the machines from the empire use what are called ‘Evil’ cores. They are also called, according to Ocellus, Fury cores, Malice cores, Rage cores, Wrath cores and on and on like that. Ocellus here has been doing a lot of talking with the various soldiers that set up here about it. Nasty piece of work those things, but they are a major weak point to any machine they are attached to.”
“All of those are technically correct terms for an ‘Evil Core’. Some machines like Dodo do have something similar, but it’s not nearly as strong to really be as bad as that train was. That there are worse machines than that out there scares me on a number of levels.” Ocellus rubbing at her head with her hooves, she seemed as stressed out as I usually am. “That you could even move, think and act near that thing is a miracle Pom. Changelings could likely die just from being in one of those things presence for too long.”
“Speaking of Dodo, did you ask about what exactly he is?” I know that Dodo is alive, but I’m still concerned about the how and why of it. “We know the farmers didn’t know much, but I’m wonder if you asked around.”
“From what the soldiers told me, he’s a land strider model four which is known as a Stampy-Do. Five years ago the model one was larger, clunkier and didn’t have nearly anything approaching the same capabilities that Dodo has. At best, the model one had an inbuilt flamethrower and fell apart easily if one of the legs was taken out. The model ones were larger and energy inefficient and were used to raid villages at the start of the war with the pigs, said pigs were shoved out of the capital of their empire a year or so back. It’s where Emperor Gedol is operating from now and has been building up forces for the ensuing war that’s just getting started. Aside from the war five years ago, there was the Lioness Crisis in the Eginasem Kingdom which was more of a series of skirmishes than a full out and out war.” Ocellus freed herself from Smolder’s embrace and came over to me, she poked me lightly in the side making me grimace. “You’re really tough Pom, with an injury like that someone would have been screaming their head off and all you did was stay focused, got up and tried to keep going. Even Smolder and Shanty would have been hard pressed to do anything like that. So we’re all feeling a little useless here, some of us more so than others… Anyway, Dodo did the most damage to the train and even then he still wouldn’t have been fast or strong enough to survive for too long if the hero hadn’t show up.”
“Who was the hero, I only saw a blue blob, frankly my vision was a bit poor and I’m still rather lightheaded.” I felt something roughly pushed into my hoof and I looked down to see Shanty came into the tent with a bright smile on her face and a load of fruits. I took up the canteen and started drinking the water slowly. “Thanks Shanty.”
“It be no problem, are you being okay?” Reaching towards Shanty, I patted her head and ruffled her ponytail affectionately.
“I will be.” I turned back to Ocellus.
“From what I gather the hero that saved you and Dodo was known as the last true Rocket Knight of Elhorn, most of the other rocket knight’s kind of… well five years ago they were all taken out except for him by a traitor and he singlehandedly won the war by being a one opossum army.” So what you’re saying Ocellus, is that he was a respectable hero. One that came to our aid without a second thought and someone who pushes himself to risk his life for others at a moments notice. “I would really like to know this world’s history where someone that small can total large machines with such ferocity, with regularity and an alarming amount of ease no less. The soldiers here say he’s nearly unstoppable when he’s actively using his rocket pack.”
“Does he have a name?” I asked.
“Hold on, I’ll go ask…” Ocellus got up and exited the tent and started asking something of someone nearby. After some rapid fire squeaks in that strange language later, Ocellus came back into the tent with an opossum clad in a blue shirt and brown pants with a sword at his hip and a shield on his arm. “If I got this right, the heroes name is Sparkster Sanjuro in their language. Which translates to Lightning Strikes Rapidly in ours. I’m think I’m getting better with actual names now, so I should be really good at translating anything said to me soon.”
“It’s alright Ocellus. With how fast that guy could go with that thing strapped to his back, I’d definitely believe that was his name.” Stated Smolder. “The last we saw of him, he was driving a blue vehicle with a large flat back end to it. He apparently stole it from an enemy convoy and drove it in our direction to show up in time to help us with the train.”
The opossum said something to draw our attention to him, he bowed to me and then continued speaking to Ocellus.
“He’s thanking you for helping the citizens of the kingdoms and he wants to know what our next move is and if we need to coordinate while Sparkster continues his quest for the magic swords.” Ocellus translated for the opossum as I got started on eating some fruit, I really needed some energy right now and I didn’t want Shanty eating it out from under my poor bruised and damaged face.
“Tell him I was only doing what I felt was right.” I trusted Ocellus to know enough of their language to translate my sentiments correctly. “As for us, what do you girls want to do? I’m not making a decision for all of us without some input from you.”
“We could join all these knights in kicking butt, but I don’t think you’d want to do that. If we run into any more of those machines that can incapacitate or even kill us like the one that almost got you… and then there’s how Ocellus faired with just being near one.” Smolder was wary and thinking about Ocellus’s safety as much as that of our group, but she was wanted to take aggressive action out of aggravation for our current situation. Fairly understandable, I almost felt the same way. “I’m up for doing almost anything as long as it doesn’t endanger us too much, not like we have much else going on.”
“I be thinking we can be helping greatly, but I don’t know what with.” That was Shanty’s take on things, she was sending me a worried glance. “I know I can’t be fighting the bigger machines with my bare hooves, not after seeing what be happening to you Pom. If I be getting my hooves sharp enough to cut metal, then maybe I can be taking them if I be hitting something important.”
Shanty was ready to charge forward, but she was also as cautious and doesn’t know what we should be doing.
I now turned to Ocellus for her opinion on what we should do.
“I’ve got nothing Pom, I really don’t want to go near one of ‘those’ machines again, but I still want to help people like Smolder and Shanty.” So we’re all indecisive and wanted to do something, but we had no direction at the moment.
“Ocellus, ask the opossum if there is anything we can do.” I raised my left hoof and rolled it in front of me trying to think of what else to say. “Something that isn’t overly dangerous, but would be very helpful overall to their current war effort.”
Ocellus nodded and turned to speak with the opossum about what we could do to assist their forces, the conversation went on for a few minutes.
We didn’t really know much about the regions we were in very well aside from the map we were given, but we at least knew that the Gedol Empire was definitively openly hostile to nearly everyone.
We’d at the very least need a guide, to make some local friends and to assist the war effort to earn favor from the kingdoms in the hopes they would be more open to helping us get back home.
I, out of a sense of personal honor, couldn’t back out of the war. I made the call that I would fight the tyranny of the Gedol Empire and that could mean anything from passively or actively defying the empire. I really didn’t want to face another machine like that train monster or worse, but I was bound to eventually from what we’ve learned.
“He said they could use some scouts or couriers.” Ocellus spoke up and turned to me.
“That sounds simple enough for us.” I really shouldn't have said those words.